This is not good.
06.03.2026 13:40
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This is not good.
This was great and we covered some deadly serious stuff, stay tuned for the full convo posted later but—yes I couldn’t help myself and I had to ask what she thinks of The Diplomat
In today’s political economy, the whim of a president can by itself affect daily life in real time.
The terrifying scenario is with this increasingly erratic aspiring autocrat, people WILL perceive crisis.
But too few will directly blame Trump and his crisis is more pretext to seize more power
Join me live with Ambassador @bridgetbrink.com
open.substack.com/live-stream/...
Ambassador @bridgetbrink.com was Biden’s chief diplomat in Ukraine and the first woman to serve as ambassador in a war zone.
At 10am we’re going live to talk about Trump’s war in Iran, the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, and why she moved home to Michigan to run for Congress.
The reason we have “stupid rules of engagement” is to make sure we don’t bomb elementary schools.
Super interesting chat w/The Atlantic’s @elainegodfrey.bsky.social earlier.
We covered the Texas primary, and recent reporting on MAGA women, culture wars, and the Democratic coalition.
She told me how excited voters on the ground were to hear Talarico talking about education👇
GOP politics around abortion are so fucked up that the oppo dump today on Talarico is treating this (theologically correct) statement about consent as a hit
This is a great article and got too little attention when it first came out. @propublica.org is doing amazing work.
Full conversation with The Atlantic’s @elainegodfrey.bsky.social 👇
open.substack.com/pub/joshcowe...
Super interesting chat w/The Atlantic’s @elainegodfrey.bsky.social earlier.
We covered the Texas primary, and recent reporting on MAGA women, culture wars, and the Democratic coalition.
She told me how excited voters on the ground were to hear Talarico talking about education👇
They’ve already seeded the next few generations.
Join me live with The Atlantic’s @elainegodfrey.bsky.social to unpack the Texas primary results, and hear about some of her recent reporting on culture wars, gender and the Democratic coalition.
2pm today!
open.substack.com/live-stream/...?
@propublica.org ’s series on vouchers in southern states has been a particular object of McMahon, DeVos & above all Heritage hatred.
Here’s an example of that reporting on former segregation academies getting taxpayer cash, with a couple comments from yours truly
www.propublica.org/article/segr...
I sat down with @ginafortexas.bsky.social a few months ago to talk about her vision for Texas—and why this governor’s race is so important both inside and outside the state.
open.substack.com/pub/joshcowe...
🚨 Something that has flown under the radar is the right-wing “Phoenix Declaration” organized by the Heritage Foundation.
Setting aside the characteristic self-importance, it’s a radical document intended as a vision for education and child policy in the states.
1/🧵
@propublica.org ’s series on vouchers in southern states has been a particular object of McMahon, DeVos & above all Heritage hatred.
Here’s an example of that reporting on former segregation academies getting taxpayer cash, with a couple comments from yours truly
www.propublica.org/article/segr...
Here’s a summary video of early Arizona ESA analyses. Much of this debate asks whether purchases are allowable. The real question is return on investment. A chicken coop or infinite Legos or 3D printers may be allowed, but they're not the same investment in a kid's future as books & instruction.
Mississippi doing what it does.
I'm thrilled to see unallowable purchases called out, but the real scandal is what is allowed & the absence of oversight to ensure kids are being educated.
Public money=public accountability. Require every ESA kid be tested on core academic subjects every year, and publicly report results
Love @jamestalarico.bsky.social framing here both for Texas and national moment.
Much of what MAGA does is flagrantly illegal. Some of it is legal.
All of it is corrupt.
The administration is setting up the idea that anyone opposing Trump is engaging in "domestic terrorism," as Trump's EO set out. (This is a way to get around the specific definition of "domestic terrorist" in U.S. law.)
Right-wingers are obsessed with education as the vehicle for “cultural transmission”—as well as garden-variety misinformation.
It’s their why, when it comes to school policy.
The Heritage Foundation’s “Phoenix Declaration” is a new example.
8/8
www.heritage.org/phoenix-decl...
And state agencies and legislatures in places like Iowa are creating resolutions honoring Heritage’s the Phoenix Declaration too
7/8
A number of right-wing elected and officials have also signed Heritage’s Phoenix Declaration in their own capacity.
6/8
Now, you’d be forgiven for thinking this is the work of a few dilettantes and self-styled “conservative” intellectuals—and nothing more.
But this is Heritage, so they are targeting policy and politics.
Florida signed on from the start—its announcement came from the state Dept of Ed itself
5/8
But in particular, Heritage’s Phoenix Declaration demands “cultural transmission” as an educational mission.
Whose culture, do you ask?
Why, Judeo-Christian and “Western” culture of course: “the best that has been thought and said”
4/8
And alongside head nods to policy items like accountability and school choice, the Phoenix Declaration focuses on character formation and “truth and goodness”
3/8
Its guiding principle of Heritage’s Phoenix Declaration (if you want to give it that much credit) is that “information without moral formation is insufficient” for schools.
2/8
🚨 Something that has flown under the radar is the right-wing “Phoenix Declaration” organized by the Heritage Foundation.
Setting aside the characteristic self-importance, it’s a radical document intended as a vision for education and child policy in the states.
1/🧵
