Sitting in, social engineering, elbows up
Ten questions for the first 100 days
Hello all! Unfortunately, we’ve had an unforeseen situation crop up and today’s planned conversation with Ruth Ben-Ghiat is cancelled. Apologies to everyone, and Ruth and Anand will be back next week! We look forward to seeing you then (and at our other scheduled Live conversations this week).
What should — and could — Democratic leadership look like right now?
What was the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner for, anyway?
Has Trump managed to unite Canada behind Mark Carney’s Liberals to break the spell of incumbent-itis? We’ll find out in today’s elections.
Are Americans ready for empty shelves?
Did elite group chats break America?
Can alternative town halls turn the tide for Democrats — and democracy?
It’s a long list, but is selling dinner reservations to the highest memecoin bidder the “most brazenly corrupt thing” a President has ever done?
Are Musk, Rubio, and Trump on track to be remembered as some of history’s greatest monsters?
Why let democracy die in darkness when you can call out corruption in broad daylight?
What finally pushed the universities to find courage in solidarity?
A programming note: More Live conversations this week!
On Wednesday, April 30, at 11:30 a.m. Eastern, we’ll speak with the political historian Julian E. Zelizer. Then on Friday, May 2, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, we’ll be joined by Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. You won’t want to miss any of it!
To join and watch, download the Substack app (click on the button below) and turn on notifications — you’ll get an alert that we’re live, and you can watch from your iOS or Android mobile device. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to The Ink to access full videos of past conversations and to join the chat during our live events.
Add to the list of monsters (and these may outrank Rubio, Musk and even Trump): Homan, Miller, and Leavitt.
to the question: "Has Trump managed to unite Canada behind Mark Carney’s Liberals to break the spell of incumbent-itis? We’ll find out in today’s elections".
Writing from Canada, we can only hope! The initial shock of Trump's CUSMA violating tariffs has worn off a bit, and the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on the 'con' bots and disinformation campaign to discredit PM Carney are clogging social media with vitriol and distortions. I will say that Trump's blast today about Canada becoming the 51st state could be the jolt we need to help people remember the true state of play. Poilievre is just a weak-kneed Trump acolyte following the Stephen Harper (previous PM) IDU authoritarian playbook, and Mark Carney is the leader Canada and the world needs to navigate this new geopolitical landscape. Even Ian Bremmer calls him a 'generational mind' - what a gift that he has stepped up in this moment to defend Canada against the banality/predations of Trump and his oligarchic ilk. ELBOWS UP CANADA!!!