Perry Bacon Jr. @perrybaconjr Twitter profile

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

Biden's agenda is quite popular, per new ABC News-Ipsos poll. 81% percent support mask-wearing requirement on federal property, 77% support government-wide focus on racial equity, 70% percent support rejoining WHO, 65% support rejoining Paris agreement.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

7 years

This is first quote I've seen from one of the kneeling SF players, in response to Pence today.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

Journalists have to get clearer about the values of our profession and clearly articulate them. For example, journalists are evidence-based, not just repeating 2 sides (or 7 sides) and treating them as equally valid. "Evidence-based" is an important idea.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

2 years

Stacey Abrams didn't win. But her ideas did. 1. That Georgia could be won in part by boosting the Dem vote share in the Atlanta area, among minorities, among younger voters 2. That Georgia was more of a swing state than places like Ohio

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

Mike Lee (America is not a democracy), Greg Abbott (limiting ballot drop boxes in Houston) and Ron DeSantis (you can hit a protestor with your car and not be held liable) are likely to run for president in 2024. They are assuming these moves help them with GOP primary voters.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

The press needs to consider if debating with Republican elected officials over whether Trump won or lost is a useful exercise. It sounds like "no concession, continue meritless lawsuits" is now the GOP position. We should accept that and move on to covering the Biden presidency.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

3 years

I will be going to the Washington Post as a columnist. Excited to join @hiattf , @RuthMarcus and the team there. But sad to be leaving @FiveThirtyEight and the great team there led by @NateSilver538 and @micahcohen . I have enjoyed my time at 538 immensely.

Perry Bacon, Jr. joins Washington Post Opinions as a columnist

Bacon will write on issues pertaining to politics, governing, identity and American society.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

2 years

I get dunking on individual reporters for their "both sides" takes on democracy. But CNN leaders have been leaking to media reporters for months that they want the network to be more "neutral." They just fired Stelter, whose work emphasized the GOP's anti-democratic turn.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

3 years

This is useful context. The "reconciliation" bill is $3.5 trillion OVER 10 YEARS, which should be included in every story. So about $350 billion a year--about $1000 in spending per person.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

6 years

Susan Collins basically defends the policy of separating children from parents and all but blames the media for the controversy about the policy

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

7 years

Seriously? One of them talked to the Washington Post. Another filed a lawsuit against Conyers. A third reached a settlement with him.

NBC News PR

@NBCNewsPR

7 years

. @CHUCKTODD : “Do you believe John Conyers’ accusers?” @NANCYPELOSI : “I don’t know who they are. Do you? They have not really come forward." #MTP

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

5 months

"It is the job of The New York Times to point out a demonstrable, undeniable fact: Joe Biden supports democracy and Donald Trump doesn't. That is not opinion. That is fact. Now, if Times readers still want to vote for Donald Trump after that, good luck."

Mehdi Hasan: The media should pick a side — democracy

The veteran journalist talks about why the longstanding habits of journalism are inadequate to this moment, how he wants to change things with Zeteo, and staying hopeful

the.ink

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

Important thread. This is why what happened in Georgia is so important. The lesson many Repubs seem to have taken from 2020 was not, “don’t try to overturn the election results,” but, “let’s make sure the system is set up so we can actually execute the overturning next time.”

b-boy bouiebaisse

@jbouie

4 years

if a Democrat wins a GOP-controlled swing state in 2024, I think there’s a very good chance the victory isn’t certified

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

2 years

"You know what I mean," Biden responded on Friday when asked about his semi-fascism remark. I don't fault the reporters for asking. But when DeSantis is bragging about arresting people who were confused about whether they were eligible to vote, we all do know what Biden means.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

2 years

High inflation. Manchin and Sinema. Some of his own mistakes. But in my view, one of the biggest challenges for Biden has been facing a mainstream media looking to "balance" its anti-Trump coverage from 2017-2020.

Opinion | How media coverage drove Biden’s political plunge

These poll numbers reflect something gone wrong.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

3 years

I am alarmed. I see 1. a political party radicalizing against multi-racial democracy 2. intense polarization ensuring that party can keep and even grow its power 3. institutions and 4. another party that don't seem up to taking on the radicalizing party.

Opinion | American democracy is in even worse shape than you think

We have four huge problems. I don’t see solutions to any of them.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

2 years

This is why activists are so focused on reducing the broader police apparatus/structure and its political power. Reform efforts are often futile, since many local policy departments do not respect civilian control.

🕷Dante Atkins🕷

@DanteAtkins

2 years

Pittsburgh police are "demoralized" that the city's laws prevent them from harassing Black motorists over trivial offenses, so they're literally violating municipal law in order to continue "enforcing" trivial violations.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

We took a detailed look at how and why Jaime Harrison is basically tied in the polls against Lindsey Graham. A big part of the story is not about the candidates, but simply that South Carolina isn't that red in the first place.

How Did Lindsey Graham End Up In Such A Close Race?

Recent polls of the U.S. Senate race in South Carolina have found third-term Sen. Lindsey Graham effectively tied in his contest against Democrat Jaime Harrison…

fivethirtyeight.com

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

5 years

In Kentucky, Republican state senator breaks with GOP/Bevin and endorses Democrat Andy Beshear for governor. Potentially the start of something big--Laura Kelly beat Kobach in Kansas last year with the aid of GOP electeds there backing her.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

5 years

Collins and Murkowski know the evidence against Trump. They also know voting against Obamacare repeal and for Trump’s removal would get them cast out of the GOP. So feigning outrage at how Dems speak about Trump’s behavior, instead of Trump’s behavior, is their only real option.

Burgess Everett

@burgessev

5 years

Murkowski is PISSED “He was going fine with moral courage until he got to head on a pike. That’s where he lost me”

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

6 years

I try to avoid too much criticizing of other journos. But any tweet that starts with, "This is exactly why Trump won" you should be skeptical of. Trump won for lots of reasons. But the main one is he was the Republican nominee for president, basically giving him a 50/50 shot.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

6 years

An actual US senator. The context is important: it is a Republican senator being asked if his state’s gubernatorial candidate and secretary of state is complicating the voting process in a way that disproportionately affects blacks.

Lauren Gambino

@laurenegambino

6 years

"Give me my phone back, senator" – GA senator David Perdue snatched a student’s phone while being asked about Georgia voter registration uproar

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

The savvy approach is to not be alarmed. Don't take the savvy approach. We don't know the future. We don't know how seriously the Republican Party will push this effort. The first steps to overturning the election results are taking place. That is the most important story now.

Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

Not sending out a press release congratulating Biden is not a big deal, even if it's breaking with traditional norms. Actively launching investigations whose goal is to disqualify votes hits at real core democratic values, and we are seeing more of the latter than I expected.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

What Rand Paul tried to do this morning ("I am just giving my side," he said essentially) was once the problem with how the media covered climate change. The media eventually started covering climate policy in an evidence-based way. The same should apply to elections and voting.

Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

Journalists have to get clearer about the values of our profession and clearly articulate them. For example, journalists are evidence-based, not just repeating 2 sides (or 7 sides) and treating them as equally valid. "Evidence-based" is an important idea.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

Electoral politics matter. They do. But they can't be allowed to swallow every conversation.A lot of the police reforms haven't really worked. So more drastic ideas deserve a hearing. And people pushing more drastic ideas aren't all involved in the horse race--nor should they be.

Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

At the same time, I have had more deep conversations about police budgets/funding/power in the last 7 months than I had in the previous 7 years. And I'm not alone--cities all over the country are having real debates about the power/funding of their police departments.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

Today was quite bad. Georgia GOP senators attacking the sec of state (a Republican) basically for administering an election that Dems won. Republicans AG’s across the country trying to get votes tossed out in Penn. Pa GOP legislators calling for an audit of the results.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

7 years

Curry, Durant, Kerr have blasted Trump. Brady, Belichick, Kraft have not. So I am not surprised Trump sees Pats differently than Warriors.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

Trump is very savvy at constantly forcing fellow Republicans to choose between 1. doing his bidding and therefore remaining a Republican-in-good-standing in GOP circles or 2. acting according to normal democratic values, but losing Republican-in-good-standing status.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

3 years

This idea that Manchin and Sinema are not beholden to Dem voters is a bit off. A rough estimate based on the exit polls is that 65 percent of Manchin voters are Biden voters, as are about 90 percent of Sinema voters. Yes, they need swing voters to win, but they need Dems too.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

Good Politico story here. And this is a big part of the broader story. Editors, I plead to you, your plan for covering the Republican Party in the next two years can't be just covering Republicans in Washington, the Trump family or the 2024 candidates.

State Republicans push new voting restrictions after Trump’s loss

Georgia is at the center of the effort, with state Republicans discussing voter ID changes and other new policies after Biden won the state.

www.politico.com

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

6 years

There has been some great access-based journalism the last two years. But there has also been way, way too much, overhyped, thinly-sourced stuff that confuses readers and over time erodes trust in the media overall.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

3 years

The people and groups who will be hit hardest by these GOP voting laws did everything they could to get Biden elected. They deserve a full-throated, aggressive push from his administration on voting and democracy issues that goes beyond a speech or two.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

2 years

Biden did something super-important tonight in stating clearly, in a high-profile setting, that Donald Trump and the people aligned with him are regularly taking anti-democratic actions and are right now a threat to America as we know it.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

2 years

All presidential speeches are "political." A speech about democracy in 2022 must be "partisan," because Republican officials are the ones are taking anti-democratic actions, like Jan 6.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

5 months

"The student left is the most reliably correct constituency in America. Over the past 60 years, it has passed every great moral test American foreign policy has forced upon the public, including the Vietnam war, apartheid South Africa, and the Iraq war."

US students, once again, have led the way. Now we must all stand up for Palestine | Osita Nwanevu

Campus protests in solidarity with the people of Gaza have braved abuse and police raids but history will be kinder

www.theguardian.com

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

2 years

Loan forgiveness, which I keep reading is only a concern of wealthy college graduates, is being championed by the AFL-CIO, the NAACP, both black Democrats in the Senate (Warnock, Booker) and the Congressional Black Caucus. Is the argument that these people only care about grads?

Reverend Raphael Warnock

@ReverendWarnock

2 years

Students deserve our support when it comes to student debt relief, and they can count on me to push for loan forgiveness.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

Really important story. More focus should be on local and state Republicans, who are going to play a big role in whether or not the party gets off its current anti-democratic course.

Christopher Ingraham🦗

@_cingraham

4 years

Our democracy didn’t fail in part because of the consciences of a handful of state and local GOP officials. The party is already trying to replace them

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

2 years

It's important that people understand the stakes of the fall elections. They are not about inflation, infrastructure or climate policy, as important as those are. We could be putting into power a bunch of people who will not acknowledge election results unless their party wins.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

The media plays an important role in our society, so strong criticism comes with the territory and sometimes that criticism will feel disrespectful to us. I strongly disagree with the sentiments expressed in this tweet and want to emphasize that all reporters do not share them.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

3 years

I know we in the media (myself included) have trained everyone to be a savvy observer of politics, to count the votes, read the polls, know what is "realistic." But it's okay to be just really alarmed about what is happening to our democracy and want something to be done.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

5 years

I am a journalist and think the people on Twitter seem perceptive about the incentives that shape reporters’ work. But if you think the Hicks story was really solid, feel free to defend it, as opposed to vague insinuations that Times readers and subscribers are misinformed.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

7 years

This is, wow. Barack Obama literally predicted last week in November.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 months

"Project 2025 is telling us exactly how the conservatives plan to take away the rights of women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community. I beg the American people to believe them," writes @ElieNYC .

Under Trump, the DOJ Will Become the Legal Wing of the MAGA Movement

Should Trump win, conservatives have a plan to use the DOJ to make their darkest desires legal, while removing the legal means to stop them.

www.thenation.com

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

2 years

So it's worth considering if the management of CNN and other orgs are pushing this approach, and the journalists are on some level just engaged in job preservation. (So blame the managers more.)

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

3 years

In 2017, Collins, Murkowski and a few other Senate Republicans (Dean Heller) communicated in a thousand different ways that they were wary of repealing Obamacare.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

3 years

It would be useful to know what are woke policy positions/words in the view of Carville/Dowd and then find out which ones were adopted by Murphy/McAuliffe/Biden, the figures at the center of the Tuesday results. That kind of precision would make this discourse more productive.

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

@KeeangaYamahtta

3 years

Does the punditry ever have to explain what they mean by “wokeness” or are they just allowed to dribble it out as an informed talking point that they never have to define even as they claim it is unraveling the Democratic Party??

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

I think it is very likely that Biden will be president on Jan 20. But a lot of Republicans, facing the choice of acknowledging the results of an election the party lost or actively supporting bad faith efforts to contest the results, are choosing the anti-democratic course.

Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

Today was quite bad. Georgia GOP senators attacking the sec of state (a Republican) basically for administering an election that Dems won. Republicans AG’s across the country trying to get votes tossed out in Penn. Pa GOP legislators calling for an audit of the results.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

3 years

Trump-skeptical Republicans like George W. Bush are 8-10 percent of the electorate. They could defeat Trumpism. But that would require them to move on from their version of identity politics---insisting they are Republicans no matter how the party changes.

Opinion | The misguided identity politics of the anti-Trump Republicans

Liz Cheney, Mitt Romney and other anti-Trump conservatives are choosing their sense of who they are over the health of our democracy.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

3 years

I wrote about Michelle Wu, who won the mayor's race in Boston, becoming the first woman and first person of color to do so. She once worked as a staffer for Elizabeth Warren and ran on a Warren-ish agenda for the city.

Opinion | The progressives break through in Boston

Michelle Wu's victory in the mayor's race sets the stage for a test of the left's governing vision.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

8 years

Conservative writer at Washington Post

Jen "We aren't going back " Rubin 🥥🌴

@JRubinBlogger

8 years

Congress should convene, reverse the ban by legislation and demand creators of this mess testify under oath

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

3 years

I promise that Al Sharpton, Sherrilyn Ifill and all us pleading for every step to be taken to address this issue have done the vote counts and read the polls. But none of us knows the future. It's okay to push for the outcomes you want to see, even if the odds are long.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

At the same time, I have had more deep conversations about police budgets/funding/power in the last 7 months than I had in the previous 7 years. And I'm not alone--cities all over the country are having real debates about the power/funding of their police departments.

Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

The slogan Defund the Police, like Black Lives Matter in 2014, created a dialogue that turned some people off--even some black ones. Since all black movements are linked to the Dems, I have no doubt these slogans, particularly Defund, were not helpful to Dems electorally.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

Exactly. It is not up to him. If he loses the election, the message from everyone should be unequivocal that Jan. 20 is his last day. He and his staff have now basically announced that he will not consider any election that he loses fair. Seems fairly unlikely he will concede.

The Volatile Mermaid

@OhNoSheTwitnt

4 years

WHY ARE PEOPLE ASKING TRUMP IF HE’LL LEAVE OFFICE IF HE LOSES THE ELECTION AS IF IT’S A CHOICE

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

7 years

A lot of political journalists, myself included, implied last summer that John Kelly was a "non-ideological" figure who would reshape the Trump White House as chief of staff. How did we get it so wrong? I explored that here.

How The Media Bungled The John Kelly Story

Last March, in an article describing the various power centers in the Trump administration, I listed then-Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly as part of the …

fivethirtyeight.com

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

2 years

3. That Warnock would be a strong candidate (she encouraged him to run.) 4. That Dems should invest in Georgia in the 2020 cycle.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

. @ezraklein is right here, and I am glad he used such blunt language. COUP. People voted. Biden won. The press is under no obligation to air frivolous vote fraud charges or downplay an undemocratic effort to reverse the results.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

69% approve of Biden's handling of COVID-19, 29% disapprove. 71% liked his unity message, 56% percent support reversing Trump policy of excluding non-citizens in Census, 55% percent support ending travel ban, 65% support restarting DACA.

Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

Biden's agenda is quite popular, per new ABC News-Ipsos poll. 81% percent support mask-wearing requirement on federal property, 77% support government-wide focus on racial equity, 70% percent support rejoining WHO, 65% support rejoining Paris agreement.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

3 years

I doubt Feinstein, Coons or Warner is willing to do that. Perhaps Manchin and Sinema would. But that would be quite a vote to cast. Which is why ideally Biden and Schumer push the process to an actual vote. Manchin and Sinema should actually have to formally vote down the bill.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

Daniel Dale, through his work, has been a leader and innovator in covering the Trump era. I would be more interested in how he thinks the NYT should cover politics than how the NYT thinks he should cover politics.

Jay Rosen

@jayrosen_nyu

4 years

Dean Baquet, top editor of the New Yorrk Times, comments on the work of @ddale8 .

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

3 years

A lot of the debates about the Democratic Party are proxies for a broader question: How does the party advocate for civil rights causes and a truly multiracial nation while not offending too many White voters? We took a deep look at that question.

Opinion | Have Democrats reached the limits of White appeasement politics?

For half a century, as the Republican Party has stoked White grievance, the Democrats’ answer has been hiding in plain sight. It’s time we took a closer look at it.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

7 years

It is not hard and a sound journalistic practice to avoid quoting people directly making false claims. We are in this for truth first.

NPR Politics

@nprpolitics

7 years

Trump Supporter: 'He Called For Unity, I Never Saw Obama Call For Unity'

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

In America's "uncivil war," Republicans, particularly GOP state-level officials, are increasingly the side taking the most hostile and undemocratic actions against their perceived enemies.

In America’s ‘Uncivil War,’ Republicans Are The Aggressors

In his inaugural address, President Biden described America as in the midst of an “uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative vers…

fivethirtyeight.com

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

This list of restrictive voting proposals in Georgia is breathtaking. Wow. Aiming for urban-area, Atlanta and black voters with surgical precision.

stephen fowler

@stphnfwlr

4 years

NEW: the Georgia House Special Committee on Election Integrity is meeting at 3 this afternoon and just added HB 531 - a 48 page omnibus elections bill that proposes a *lot* of changes. #gapol Here's the text:

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

The level of victimization from Mattingly here is so jarring. He is alive, Breonna Taylor is dead. She is the victim.

Roberto Aram Ferdman

@robferdman

4 years

New: LMPD Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly (who is being investigated as part of Breonna Taylor’s case) sent an email to around 1,000 officers at 2am that calls protestors thugs, complains about the government enforcing civil rights violations, and claims this is "good versus evil”

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

2 years

The managers have been announcing their priorities for months. They are not being subtle.

Opinion | It appears CNN and the New York Times forgot a lesson of the Trump years

Honest coverage of the Trump presidency is nothing to be ashamed of. But executives' promises of independence and less use of Twitter imply that some of that coverage was misguided and won’t happen...

www.washingtonpost.com

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

It gets worse. Even if this is all just to please Trump, it is very worrisome to have the nation’s top law enforcement officials on a fishing expedition to prove the president’s claims of voter fraud. To quote @BrendanNyhan , what would you say if it happened in another country?

Mary Clare Jalonick

@MCJalonick

4 years

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Barr authorizes DOJ to probe 'substantial allegations' of voting irregularities despite little evidence of fraud

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 months

"Biden [is] not only the best domestic policy president of my relatively short lifetime, but the best since at least Johnson. But like Johnson, Biden has done his level best to mar and overshadow that record with an indefensible foreign policy project."

Where We're At

Writing from Osita Nwanevu.

www.ositanwanevu.com

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

7 years

"Do you condemn the actions of neo-Nazis? Do you condemn the actions of white supremacists," reporters just asked Trump. He did not answer.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

3 years

Being centrist on policy (think Amy Klobuchar) is an important, valuable part of politics. What seems to me to be "performative centrism" is less useful.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

3 years

Maybe a voting rights bill will pass. Maybe one won't pass. But all of this is to say that's entirely logical and appropriate for people to push the president hard to push people in his party hard to back things the overwhelming majority of people in the party support.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

3 years

I worry the "let me show you how contrarian/not liberal/not with the pack I am" instinct leaves you writing phrases like, "If we leave aside the administrative provisions and the question of intent."

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

3 years

Reality validated many of the progressive left's views about racial and economic issues. So the Democratic Party and the country adopted them. Reality seems to validating the left's views on foreign policy too.

Opinion | The progressives are right about foreign policy, too

The president and his team have been willing to discard old norms on race and economics. They have a similar opportunity on foreign policy.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

23 days

“Locally rich” white people, those who had higher incomes than others in their zip codes, were much more likely to support Trump than those who were locally poor."

Trump’s biggest fans aren’t who you think

A new book shows how people are getting the right’s class appeal all wrong.

www.vox.com

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

5 years

Pelosi notes that one of the articles of impeachment against Nixon was not cooperating with congressional investigations. She also uses the word “lied” to describe Barr’s testimony. Some other Dems had avoided that word.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

3 years

2021 has seen a continuation and in some ways acceleration of the eroding of core democratic practices and values in America by an increasingly-radical GOP. And as @tzimmer_history and @dshyde told me, time is running out to reverse some of this.

Opinion | We may have already missed our last, best chance to bolster American democracy

In 2020, Donald Trump was defeated, but Republicans weren't punished enough to persuade them to change course.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

3 years

There was never a pipeline problem. I looked at how lots of institutions in America are finally letting Black people flourish and why that will benefit Black people but also non-Black people. With ideas from @biblioracle , @DrIbram , @hmcghee and others.

Opinion | America is having a Black Renaissance. We should learn from it.

This Black Renaissance is the result of a real mind-set shift in America.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

The slogan Defund the Police, like Black Lives Matter in 2014, created a dialogue that turned some people off--even some black ones. Since all black movements are linked to the Dems, I have no doubt these slogans, particularly Defund, were not helpful to Dems electorally.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

He is literally and personally trying to overturn the election results by disqualifying the ones from a heavily-black area. Terrible.

Greg Miller

@gregpmiller

4 years

Trump called Michigan canvassers who had refused to certify Wayne County votes.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

2 years

American policing needs to change dramatically. And it's a shame that the people who were forcefully making that case in the summer of 2020 have been subsequently ignored.

Opinion | The police killing in Memphis is a reminder we must change policing

America desperately needs to rethink its approach to policing — it’s a shame that we started that rethinking in 2020 and then stopped because of politics.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

Democrats adding justices to the Court is unpopular right now. It might remain so. But it's worth recalling what happened with impeachment. Polls showed it was unpopular, Dem leaders embraced it, basically all Dem voters then did and it was a 50/50 issue.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

3 years

And if they vote down the voting rights bill, it will not be easy for them to vote against other major party priorities too. Particularly Sinema, who is very much vulnerable to a primary challenge.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

3 years

Breyer and Manchin are never going to admit that the criticism is getting to them. Powerful people rarely admit they are moved by the views of the less powerful. But basically everyone that they respect blasting their decision-making right now is of course having an impact.

Will Stancil

@whstancil

3 years

It sort of feels like, contrary to the widespread insistence that Joe Manchin feels no political pressure, that Joe Manchin is feeling some political pressure

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

Yeah, these kinds of stories are a problem. Trying to stay in power after you lost the election should not be covered as a political strategy but as a step towards trying to create a dictatorship.

Matt Negrin, HOST OF HARDBALL AT 7PM ON MSNBC

@MattNegrin

4 years

God damn I’m fucking good

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

7 years

"The people of Alabama have spoken," says Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, a Republican, seeming to reject Moore's contention that the result is somehow in doubt.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

Exactly. Even Lindsey Graham, who has become of the most Trump-aligned Republicans in Congress, thought this went too far.

Aaron Rupar

@atrupar

4 years

"That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me" -- even Lindsey Graham can't defend Georgia Republicans making it a crime to give food and water to people waiting in line to vote

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

1 year

Don Lemon, John Harwood and Brian Stelter are excellent journalists. CNN's new leadership should make clear it understands those dismissals were mistakes. The real problem isn't Licht's workout comments but a flawed journalism vision that seems to come from Zaslav.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

3 years

The Rick Scott plan is scary, radical and represents the GOP's broader goals. Notice the racial segment---if you are part of a movement committed to not addressing racial inequality, the next logical step is to eliminate evidence of that inequality.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

3 years

More than 80 percent of Americans received $1400 cash payments from the Biden stimulus plan. Per new poll from @Civiqs , 37 percent of Americans say Biden has done something that benefited them personally, 57 percent say he has not.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

That Trump lost and people like McConnell and Graham just won new six-year terms and are still behaving like this is a real problem. There is no longer a choice between supporting the president of their party and respecting democratic norms and values. He has lost.

Manu Raju

@mkraju

4 years

“This is a contested election,” Lindsey Graham says on Fox. “President Trump should not concede.”

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

6 years

Here's another example of this point. Gillum, who favored abolishing ICE and Medicare-For-All, got about the same number of votes, in the same areas as Bill Nelson, a more establishment Democrat who backed neither of those ideas.

Nate Silver

@NateSilver538

6 years

The author *is* claiming causality, BTW, that progressive candidates like O'Rourke and Abrams are causing these big rural-urban divides. It's a claim that demands evidence and I don't see too much of it. Also weird given that Beto wasn't really running that much to his left.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

Biden's early executive actions are quite popular. Part of the story is simply that Trump implemented a lot of policies that he believed in but were unpopular with the public--so Biden could walk in and do popular things simply by ending Trump's policies.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

3 years

Loved this @ElieNYC piece, which so precisely said the quiet part out loud.

Democrats Are Ready to Abandon Black Voters, Again

The data scientist David Shor is urging Democrats to dump their racial justice message if they want to maintain any power. That’s a terrible idea.

www.thenation.com

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

5 years

A lot of "Twitter is not real life" is really, "Twitter gives people who don't have a lot of offline power the ability to criticize/disagree with me--and do they know who I am?"

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

3 years

Political journalism was Politico-ized for much of the 2010s, in my view. I looked at the pluses and minuses of this approach and the signs political journalism is shifting (slightly) in a better direction. With thoughts from @jayrosen_nyu and @nikkiusher

Opinion | How the rise of Politico shifted political journalism off course

Politico found enormous success by shaking up a political press that was too dull and slow. But it also reinforced many of the press corps' worst habits — and at exactly the wrong time.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

7 years

The shift of Graham from Trump critic to loyalist has been very sudden and it's not clear exactly what happened. Graham and McCain, once aligned on most issues, are far apart on Trump's breaking of norms, the defining issue of politics right now.

Brendan Nyhan (@BrendanNyhan on 🟦☁️)

@BrendanNyhan

7 years

What would you think if you saw it in another country?

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 months

"In the 40 years since the US created its asylum system, no other Democrat suspended people’s ability to seek refuge in the US – an international right."

Biden’s migrant order is recipe for chaos at US border: ‘It will only cause suffering’

With high levels of people seeking asylum, and after failed attempts to pass reforms, Biden has presented his most aggressive restrictions yet

www.theguardian.com

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

7 years

This is a good thread. CNN and others have broken so many important stories this year, despite facing constant misinformation.

David Frum

@davidfrum

7 years

It's true: in piercing the dense thicket of lies told by Trump and his circle to conceal their deep wrongdoing, some media organizations have sometimes made promptly corrected errors.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

7 years

North Carolina passed a voting law that a judge ruled targeted blacks with "surgical precision." In 2013. This is not just a Trump story.

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

We did a really deep look at Georgia going blue and why it might not stay that way. You've probably read a Georgia story (or six) but I promise you'll learn some things in this one.

How Georgia Turned Blue

In 2008, Barack Obama won about 47 percent of the vote in Georgia, a huge improvement for the Democrats from four years earlier, when John Kerry received just 4…

fivethirtyeight.com

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Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

Not sending out a press release congratulating Biden is not a big deal, even if it's breaking with traditional norms. Actively launching investigations whose goal is to disqualify votes hits at real core democratic values, and we are seeing more of the latter than I expected.

Perry Bacon Jr.

@perrybaconjr

4 years

It gets worse. Even if this is all just to please Trump, it is very worrisome to have the nation’s top law enforcement officials on a fishing expedition to prove the president’s claims of voter fraud. To quote @BrendanNyhan , what would you say if it happened in another country?

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