Riots on the National Mall. National Guard troops shooting protestors. Broken windows at the White House. An assassination attempt. Violence at state capitals around the country. Attacks on an American embassy in a foreign country, or an American airbase, or an oil tanker, that require some sort of presidential response. Attacks on health workers at…
Last week, Donald Trump’s Twitter feed disappeared. After seeing the violence in the Capitol, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey decided that Trump’s feed was inciting violence and removed it. But Dorsey’s tweets explaining the ban were meandering and confusing. Let’s take a look at what Dorsey tweeted . . . and what he could have said…
I’m struck by how one psychological tendency — confirmation bias — is at the root of all the trends undermining our society. There is a solution: it’s called “farming for dissent.” Confirmation bias is “a tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions.” And as humans, we are all…
There’s something about that word “sedition” . . . something that stirred a memory deep in my past. If you recall the classic musical “Fiddler on the Roof” this may resonate for you. If not . . . well, you’ve missed something that might make sense of the current moment. A fiddler with the truth…
A tweet from last week said that Trump, once impeached, would lose his pension, travel allowance, secret service protection, and ability to run again. It got 193,000 retweets. And it’s quite wrong. Here’s the tweet, the contents of which circulated widely, not just on Twitter, but on other social networks: To start, Trump was already…
![Incomplete pass[ive]: Bill Belichick rejects the Presidential Medal of Freedom](https://bernoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/medal-of-freedom.jpg)
Donald Trump proposed to give New England Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Belichick’s statement declining the honor twists, turns, and lies down passively like a quarterback about to be sacked by the defense. A bit of background. Belichick is part of the holy trinity of New England football, along with…
Trump supporters have been decamping to Parler, a social network started as an alternative to Twitter and Facebook. Now, due to decisions by Apple, Google, and Amazon, Parler has had to shut down. Is this fair? Is it right? Or is it a threat to open operation of the internet? After the invasion of the…
Simon and Schuster cancelled its book contract with Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, and he’s pretty upset. Here’s what Simon & Schuster announced in a statement: After witnessing the disturbing, deadly insurrection that took place on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., Simon & Schuster has decided to cancel publication of Senator Josh Hawley’s forthcoming book, The Tyranny of…
After the Congress certified Joe Biden as the winner of the presidential election, Donald Trump pledged an orderly transition of power. It wasn’t. And it likely won’t be. Here’s the statement, posted on the Twitter account of Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino (because Twitter had suspended the President’s @realDonaldTrump account for inciting violence): Even…