Seth Masket

2 weeks ago | smotus.substack.com | Seth Masket

Earlier this week, a friend of mine – a fellow social scientist who is a local college professor – was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department at a demonstration near downtown LA. They were not jailed or harmed, and they were able to get home early the next morning. But the story was nonetheless jarring, and I invited them to tell their story to me, reproduced below as a transcript.

2 months ago | smotus.substack.com | Seth Masket

I’m recently back from a very good conference of the Midwest Political Science Association conference in Chicago, where I attended and participated in a number of pretty timely panels and conversations about the state of U.S. democracy and higher education. I’ll probably have a lot to say about these in the coming days. But one question I heard a few times there was, should the Democratic Party be pivoting to the left or to the center right now? Tusk is a reader-supported publication.

Mar 1, 2025 | smotus.substack.com | Seth Masket |John Ganz

Yesterday’s stunning exchange between President Trump, Vice President Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signaled a blatant, predictable-but-shocking U.S. alliance with Russia and support for its invasion of Ukraine, and earned the U.S. widespread reprobation from Europe and Canada. It’s not a particularly popular move in the U.S., either. So it’s worth pausing at this point to ask, why did Trump do it? Just what is it with Trump and Russia? Tusk is a reader-supported publication.

Feb 2, 2025 | smotus.substack.com | Seth Masket

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Feb 1, 2025 | smotus.substack.com | Seth Masket

Friday was a busy day in national politics, with the media fixated on two plane crashes, a tariff order that sparked vows of retaliation and a stock market selloff, embarrassing Senate confirmation hearings for a number cabinet appointees, and more. But we need to talk about the massive assault on democracy and the rule of law that occurred this day. It occurred across several steps. Tusk is a reader-supported publication.