Saw this at BalloonJuice, and had to bring it over:
Kent
March 15, 2026 at 1:06 pmLiberal or Progressive (I think of myself as both) are not about where you stand on some spectrum. They are about what you believe. I am an unabashed liberal which means I have certain core beliefs that turn out to be the opposite of everything Trump and MAGA stand for. Namely:
First, I believe in the Constitution, the rule of law, and equal justice for all. All means ALL. Whether you are White, Black, LGBT or straight, old, young, immigrant or native, religious or secular.
Second, I believe the purpose of government is to serve the people and make our lives better. The Constitution starts with this basic principle: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” This means healthcare, education, infrastructure, housing and so forth.
Third, I believe the pursuit of knowledge is the highest human endeavor. This means science, the arts, literature, music, architecture, etc. We should strive to learn and achieve great things. And follow science whether it comes to climate change, medicine, or economics.
Fourth, believe diversity is our strength. We live in a cosmopolitan world and should embrace it. That has always been the special genius of the United States. Although we have also always been engaged in a battle against the forces of racism, division, and insularity.
Those are the four basic and non-negotiable beliefs I have as a liberal in 2026. Republicans in 2026 under Trump believe in the exact opposite of those four fundamental principles of liberalism. This is a fight about what we believe and what kind of country we want to live in. It isn’t about trying to position oneself on someone else’s spectrum.
Amen.
I am a liberal.
Just decided to stick with it.
Too many progressives are purity ponies.
I’m from an ethnic group that it we had chosen purity, we never would have gotten anything.
It took nearly a century from the end of Reconstruction for my Elders/Ancestors to get me the rights to where I am the FIRST PERSON, in my family, who has been here since before America was America, to be born with FULL RIGHTS IN THE LAWS OF THIS COUNTRY.
THE FIRST ONE.
If I didn’t believe in pragmatic, incremental change, where would I be?
Purity ponies have a privilege that I’ ve never had and never will have.
And, because of what happened in November 2024, I am back fighting for those rights that my Ancestors/Elders thought they had secured for future generations like me.
My level of disgust and anger and bitterness towards those who voted for this in November 2024, will never ease. I will always despise them.
ABC News
@ABC
Pope Leo XIV enjoyed a lighthearted moment Wednesday as he welcomed the Harlem Globetrotters to St. Peter’s Square. https://abcnews.link/Ve90928
https://x.com/ABC/status/2041936691988992446?s=20
The United States versus Elon R. Musk
@Needle_of_Arya
I want the Democrat to win in Texas but his campaign has attracted the types of white people & non-Black POC who openly resent Black people as a race *to their faces* on here, and sound just like 🍑🕳 conservatives in the process.
It all leaves a bad aftertaste to the campaign.
1:42 AM · Apr 9, 2026
·
758
Views
Hemant Mehta
@hemantmehta
“One hundred and ninety-three million acres of your national forests. An area larger than Texas. The largest public land agency in the country. Just handed, on a silver platter, to the people who’ve spent their entire careers trying to destroy it.
And they did it with a press release on a Tuesday.”
https://x.com/hemantmehta/status/2042061650350473239?s=20
MAGA Cult Slayer🦅🇺🇸
@MAGACult2
I still can’t get my head wrapped around this one. The president is having a satellite burnt up because he doesn’t like the information It is sending back to us telling us we are killing the planet.
https://x.com/MAGACult2/status/2042082860778086495?s=20
lips so pursed
Aaron Rupar
@atrupar
JD Vance in Hungary highlights the importance of eliminating racial discrimination “especially against middle class white kids” in the American education system
https://x.com/atrupar/status/2041893398391787579?s=20
Don Salmon
@dijoni
600,000 black women lost their jobs And 700,000 black men lost their jobs. You think Tariq. And FBA would push back against the problem. Tariq said it’s a lie.. He defended Trump in every step of the way.. he’s a shield for Trump. He’s a shield for the right wing.. and he’s a foot soldiers for them.
https://x.com/dijoni/status/2042158434737377667?s=20
Aaron Rupar
@atrupar.com
Q: As of today, who controls the Strait of Hormuz?
LEAVITT: We expect that the strait will be opened immediately
Q: Who controls the strait right now?
LEAVITT: *refuses to answer*
Tater Tots McGee
@tatertotsconor
Commentary account
Y’all said not to vote for Democrats cuz they were just as evil as Trump. Y’all said allowing Trump to win would shift us into a revolutionary period and we’d organize, rise up, and take back our country. Now you’re saying it’s too hard and dangerous cuz Democrats let the police and military get too powerful. Lol the most unserious people ever.
https://x.com/tatertotsconor/status/2042066118710587686?s=20
Citizens for Ethics
@CREWcrew
A new Trump admin proposal would require 65 insurance companies covering millions of Americans—including federal workers, retired Congress members, mail carriers and their families—to provide OPM with reports of sensitive health data on their members.
https://x.com/CREWcrew/status/2042196053231902987?s=20
Reagan Gomez
@ReaganGomez
During the election I was talking to some college kids & they were all in on the lunatic. I told them, you know he wants to bring back The Draft & that’d mean YOU. They had no idea what I was talking about 🙃
https://x.com/ReaganGomez/status/2042126499378295177?s=20
Gandalv
@Microinteracti1
A few weeks ago I had a conversation with an American who genuinely believed Europe and Canada would help the United States in its war with Iran. I asked him why he thought that, given that Trump had spent months threatening to annex Canada and seize Greenland. He went quiet. Then he said he had never heard of any of that.
Not that he disagreed. Not that he thought it was exaggerated. He had simply never encountered the information. It had never arrived.
This is worth pausing on. Because in every other functioning democracy on earth, that information would have been impossible to avoid. Not because Europeans are smarter or more curious. But because of how news works outside the United States. The BBC and The Daily Telegraph hate each other. Le Monde and Le Figaro disagree on everything. Aftenposten and Dagbladet have been arguing since before most of their readers were born. But they all cover the same events. A threat to annex Canada is not a left-wing story or a right-wing story. It is a story. It runs everywhere. You hear it on the radio driving to work. You see it on the newsstand. Your colleague mentions it at lunch. Facts are not a channel you choose. They are the weather. You step outside and they hit you.
The only media ecosystems on earth that work differently are not political opposites of each other. They are North Korea and Russia. Not because the content resembles MAGA content. But because the architecture is the same. In all three cases, outside information does not get filtered or reinterpreted. It gets blocked at the door. A completely parallel reality is built inside, maintained by repetition, and sealed from correction.
This is why the rest of the world does not just disagree with MAGA voters on foreign policy. It finds them genuinely disorienting to talk to. Not offensive. Disorienting. Like speaking to someone who is absolutely certain the building has two floors when you are standing on the third.
Which brings us to today’s masterclass. And this screenshot says everything.
A Trump supporter posted: “Absolute masterclass by Trump. He got the Strait open without any help from Europe and without any boots on the ground.”
That post was written on the same day a refinery on Lavan Island burned for hours after the ceasefire was announced. On the same day Iran’s own official statement read “this does not signify the termination of the war.” On the same day Iran kept its toll system, its uranium program, its protocol over the strait, and walked away with sanctions relief and reconstruction aid.
The post is not stupid. It is not written by a bad person. It is written by someone who received a completely different set of facts than the rest of the world did. And from inside that information environment, with only that data, the conclusion is perfectly logical.
That is what makes it so unsettling. It is not ignorance. It is a sealed universe, doing exactly what sealed universes do.
Gandalv /
@Microinteracti1
https://x.com/Microinteracti1/status/2041899713952096639?s=20
Nancy Pelosi Stock Tracker ♟
@pelositracker
Breaking: Vietnam War veterans are suing President Trump
Trump wants to build a 250-foot arch in the sightline of Arlington National Cemetery using taxpayer money
The view between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington has been untouched since the Civil War to symbolize national unity
Congress has not authorized the project and no environmental review is being completed
Trump told the public the arch was “fully funded” by donors
But a filing from April 7 shows $15,000,000 in taxpayer funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities is being used instead
https://x.com/pelositracker/status/2041962202660589919?s=20
Tim
@trouble_man90
I’m not sure if it was always this way and I never noticed it but over the past couple years leftists, and some liberals, have developed a disdain for Black democrats because they grew resentful of the power we have inside Democratic politics
https://x.com/trouble_man90/status/2042230853682491805?s=20
Philip Bump
@pbump.com
Follow
It’s hard to overstate how much of this moment is driven by people who got a taste of accountability and were very, very mad about it.
6:25 AM · Apr 9, 2026
https://bsky.app/profile/pbump.com/post/3mj2p4coxx22f
Marc Elias
@marcelias.bsky.social
Newly unsealed search warrants in the California ballot seizure case paint a chilling picture of how the types of anti-voting conspiracy theories weaponized by the White House to investigate the 2020 presidential election can be used to target elections on a state and local level.
https://bsky.app/profile/marcelias.bsky.social/post/3mizkn3wbjc2e
The United States versus Elon R. Musk
@Needle_of_Arya
Conservatives among white Gen X intend to be in a lifelong temper tantrum that Obama was ever elected (and especially re-elected) until the day they die.
9:41 AM · Apr 9, 2026
https://x.com/Needle_of_Arya/status/2042251524097847390?s=20
Neera Tanden🌻
@neeratanden
If all the Republicans who are now crying about VA redistricting had actually fought Trump’s Texas mid-decade gerrymander, we wouldn’t be here. Instead they criticize Dems who are now responding to the GOP efforts, while sitting silently by as TX GOP did its dirty work.
https://x.com/neeratanden/status/2042220639474401460?s=20
Malcolm P. Johnson
@admiralmpj.bsky.social
· 19h
Watch.
I am going to criticize Israel without calling into question its right to exist.
It’s REAL easy:
– Netanyahu’s choice to attack Iran was stupid.
– Israel giving weapons to Azerbaijan to kill Armenians was wrong.
– Israel’s counterattack on Gaza killed too many civilians.
SEE??
https://bsky.app/profile/admiralmpj.bsky.social/post/3mizcsmqgnc2b
they were obviously a MUTHAPHUCKIN’ OP
KennyMack1971
@kennymack1971.bsky.social
· 3h
Reading this everything we said about these performative clowns has been proven right. They had all the smoke for Biden and Harris but with Trump it’s excuses and word salad. Free Palestine was and still is an op to assist Republicans and that’s the bottom line.
KennyMack1971
@kennymack1971.bsky.social
If the Free Palestine people were truly about that life there’s nothing that Trump could do or threaten to do that would stop them from being out in the streets the way they were during the Biden administration. They’re fraudulent and always were.
8:28 AM · Apr 9, 2026
https://bsky.app/profile/kennymack1971.bsky.social/post/3mj2vz7lnqs2k
J P
@johnathanperk.bsky.social
Follow
Black people wrote America’s soundtrack.
To the extent any musical genre has ever been popular, be sure Black people invented it.
Jazz, Country, Blues, Funk, Soul, R&B, Neo Soul, Hip Hop/Rap, Disco, Rock and Roll, House, Swing, Bluegrass, Electronic, EDM and much more—all invented by Black people.
7:46 PM · Apr 8, 2026
Marc Elias
@marcelias.bsky.social
🚨BREAKING: Federal Court DISMISSES DOJ lawsuit to obtain Massachusetts’ unredacted voter file. A victory for our clients the New England NAACP and the MA Alliance for Retired Americans and the Commonwealth.
My firm is now 4-0 in these cases against DOJ. http://www.democracydocket.com/cases/massac...
Bobby LaValley
@Bobby_LaVallley
CNN’s
@DanaBashCNN
: “Hasan Piker is excusing sexual violence by Hamas terrorists. He also claims Hamas is, quote, ‘a thousand times better than Israel.’ Hamas is a designated terror organization, not just by the U.S., but by the EU, Canada, Australia, New Zealand.”
https://x.com/Bobby_LaVallley/status/2041924850449613271?s=20
Tim
@trouble_man90
The media is doing exactly what we said, all those fluff pieces were a trap for democrats. As you see here the media will turn on Hasan and use him as a means to hurt Democrats. It was so obvious what they were going to do. You could see this coming from a mile away
https://x.com/trouble_man90/status/2041976220825301356?s=20
Los Angeles Dodgers
@Dodgers
The Dodgers mourn the loss of Davey Lopes, who passed away today at age 80. Lopes was a member of the team’s record-setting infield of the 1970s and 1980s and one of the finest basestealers in MLB history. Our condolences go out to his family and friends.
https://x.com/Dodgers/status/2041949445349077317?s=20
Mattia Ferraresi
@mattiaferraresi
The Trump administration summoned a Vatican diplomat to the Pentagon, and during the tense meeting a U.S. official invoked the Avignon Papacy. On July 4, the American pope will be in Lampedusa — he didn’t pick that date by accident.
@TheFP
https://x.com/mattiaferraresi/status/2041825883301044675?s=20
toomas hendrik ilves
@IlvesToomas
Utterly bonkers. The Defence Department’s Elbridge Colby summoned the Nuncio of the Vatican protest the Pope’s speech. 1/2
“Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby summoned the Holy See’s then-ambassador to the U.S., Cardinal Christophe Pierre, to the Pentagon. The meeting may be unprecedented in the history of relations between the two countries—there is no public evidence of any Vatican official ever taking a meeting at the Pentagon.
According to both Vatican and U.S. officials briefed on the meeting, Pentagon brass picked apart the pontiff’s January speech, reading it as a hostile message directed at Trump’s policies. What particularly enraged the Pentagon, one Vatican official said, was the passage in which Leo appeared to challenge the Donroe Doctrine—Trump’s update of the Monroe Doctrine, which asserts unchallenged American dominion over the Western Hemisphere.” (2/2)
https://x.com/IlvesToomas/status/2041891408647217160?s=20
Glow Lee
@GlowanneLee
The BBC breached editorial standards airing a racist slur at the BAFTAs directed at two black actors.
They had hours to edit it out.
https://x.com/GlowanneLee/status/2041843391026094168?s=20
Kyle Griffin
@kylegriffin1
NEWS: Pam Bondi will NOT appear before the House Oversight Committee in its Epstein probe.
DOJ says Bondi was subpoenaed in her capacity as attorney general and, since she’s no longer AG, she will not appear.
Democrats wanted Bondi to testify regardless of her status as AG.
10:05 AM · Apr 8, 2026
https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/2041895198112858304?s=20
Barak Ravid
@BarakRavid
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt tells me Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire agreement with Iran
9:51 AM · Apr 8, 2026
https://x.com/BarakRavid/status/2041891692287012922?s=20
Gregg Carlstrom
@glcarlstrom
Day 1 of the ceasefire: bloodiest day of the war in Lebanon, one of the heaviest days of Iranian attacks on the Gulf since the first week, and also the Strait of Hormuz still isn’t open
It’s a ceasefire only in the sense that America has ceased firing and declared victory
9:02 AM · Apr 8, 2026
https://x.com/glcarlstrom/status/2041879457225469964?s=20
Acyn
@Acyn
Reporter: Why did you fire General George in the middle of a war?
Hegseth: *ignores question*
https://x.com/Acyn/status/2041860545121546304?s=20
MeidasTouch
@MeidasTouch
STUNNING: Trump is now bragging about agreeing to use Iran’s 10-point peace framework as the basis for negotiations.
Here’s what that 10-point framework includes.
There’s no other way to spin this—it’s complete and utter capitulation.
https://x.com/MeidasTouch/status/2041677357866783161?s=20
Chris Murphy 🟧
@ChrisMurphyCT
This is an account close to the Iranian leadership. We are now seeing the shape of why Iran agreed so enthusiastically to this “ceasefire”.
They will control and toll the Strait for the first time. They keep their nuclear program. They keep their missiles.
What a disaster.
https://x.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/2041847886405673006?s=20
The Lever
@LeverNews
Montana just moved one step closer to challenging Citizens United.
https://x.com/LeverNews/status/2041531502182170994?s=20
The Political HQ
@ThePoliticalHQ
🚨BREAKING🚨
Democrat Chris Taylor has defeated Republican Maria Lazar in the Wisconsin Supreme Court Election.
This expands the liberal majority on the court from 4-3 to 5-2.
This is a flip from 🔴 to 🔵.
Zachary Donnini
@ZacharyDonnini
BREAKING — Democrats flip a Tulsa school board seat.
Conservative E’Lana Ashley goes down, who faced backlash after suggesting immigrant students endangered school safety.
Headquarters
@HQNewsNow
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has released a statement amid ongoing clashes with Pete Hegseth, who is openly pressuring Driscoll to resign:
“I have no plans to depart or resign as the Secretary of the Army.”
https://x.com/HQNewsNow/status/2041634376752988464?s=20
Dan Shafer
@DanRShafer
In Menomonee Falls, all three Moms for Liberty-backed candidates lost in school board elections.
https://x.com/DanRShafer/status/2041717886792736851?s=20
The Political HQ
@ThePoliticalHQ
🚨BREAKING🚨
Democrat Alicia Halvensleben has defeated Republican Scott Allen in the Waukesha, Wisconsin Mayoral Election.
This is a flip from 🔴 to 🔵.
Friend of Big Bear Valley have to come up with $10 million dollars by July 31 to buy the land that Jackie and Shadow’s habitat is on or else developers are going to swoop in and destroy it for their hotel or whatever. So far they’ve raised just under $2M
https://x.com/Suzierizzo1/status/2041253076175036705?s=20
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊