Sunday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Sunday, April 12, 2026
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36 comments
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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I’m just marveling at the negotiating prowess of Team Trump once JD is added to the real estate boys. Amazing technique he’s got — according to the VP, they entered negotiations by demanding the Iranians capitulate to their conditions, the Iranians declined the offer, and then Team USA couldn’t figure out what to do next, so they went home.
The Art of the Deal!!!
@wr:
Nothing VP Eyeliner negotiates will be as effective as the JCPOA was.
Friggin’ idiots.
@wr:
Do you think JD knows Trump is setting him up?
Here is an explanation of the significance and importance of Vance’s efforts to prop up Viktor Orban of Hungary.
“Fabio Sabatini”
Etc., etc.
@Michael Reynolds:
Trump doesn’t know that Trump is setting him up
@Michael Reynolds:
J D Vance is aligned with Putin and Orban etc., with Trump not so much.
ETA: I am sure Vance has studied Trump enough to have him well figured out.
Ezra Klein on cancel culture:
It’s gratifying when mainstream pundits come around to where I was a decade ago. We need to stop telling people what words and phrases they can use, and engage them. When we try to constrain free speech we lose. When we engage we win.
No more elitist academic jargon, no more neologisms, no more euphemisms, when we speak clearly and in language that can be understood without a special progressive’s glossary, we win. Why? Because for the most part we’re objectively right.
@Daryl:
I think he does, ETTD, this is a recurring behavior of Trump.
@Michael Reynolds:
Vance no, but for an example of someone too stupid to know he is being set up consider Pete Hegseth.
@charontwo:
You’re giving both Trump and Vance too much credit.
@Michael Reynolds: I assume that’s why he’s paying the NY Times so much to mention he “opposed” the war every time they print his name. Homer didn’t attach “wine dark” to “sea” or “shining” to “Achilles” as often…
@Michael Reynolds:
The felon was upfront with that, told the press the other day if the negotiations fail it’s on JD and if they succeed, he’s taking credit. Morons.
From the NYT:
This is an entire galaxy of wrongness in two slim paragraphs.
With one brilliant stroke, Trump has made Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz completely irrelevant.
Suck on that, you stupid libs.
sigh
@drj:
@Sleeping Dog:
Then what?
What’s that about noses and faces?
@Sleeping Dog:
@Sleeping Dog:
Per the Taco Doctrine, American civilization should be destroyed tonight.
@Sleeping Dog:
More details to be found in tomorrow’s NYT:
“Donald J. Trump is Blockading the Strait of Hormuz the Right Way”
By Ezra Klein
@Kingdaddy: I will say that Trump going to some UFC event while the US was negotiating with Iran is a chef’s kiss of symbolic perfection for the utterly unserious nature of this administration.
@Steven L. Taylor: Or an indication that an honest attempt at negotiation was never the goal.
@Scott:
To begin with, given there was a 2 week ceasefire in place, one would expect talks to take like 5-7 days at least. Certainly more than one day. It’s not as if they’re haggling over something simple and routine.
@Kathy:
The JCPOA took a year to negotiate. That, however, was the result of serious diplomacy. Not to mention being effective.
As I mentioned yesterday…$5+ for a gallon of premium.
And to add insult to that injury, and contrary to the propaganda, I just paid taxes on my SS.
Never did recieve my DOGE refund, nor my Tariffs dividend.
F these guys.
@Michael Reynolds:
Of course he does. Vance is evil, not stupid. But what’s he gonna do about it? Trump has the power.
In any sane world, the level of incompetence and stupidity that led to the all-too-predictable failure of negotiations between the U. S. and Iran would be incomprehensible. Trump sent his real-estate lawyer and idiot son-in-law, along with the V. P. who has less charisma than a used dishrag, to Islamabad, while the Secretary of State–you know, the guy who supposedly leads the government organization that exists specifically to deal with foreign governments and leaders–can only be seen in pictures on milk cartons.
Now, Trump is responding to Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz by saying “OH YEAH? Well, I’m going to blockade the Strait of Hormuz TWICE AS HARD!”
He also seems to think negotiations don’t matter because “we won,” which is news to pretty much anyone who thinks “winning” something means “actually having gained something from the effort.”
We have finally made an important impact on American culture. A mention on Jeopardy was nice, but SNL? Cool. Not funny, but fun for us anyway.
@Michael Reynolds:
Very next breath…
LOL
The problem with free speech absolution is that like most purist or extreme beliefs, it can’t hold up to the demands of real life.
Most of these pompous free speech warriors don’t have the power of their convictions, so they keep showing their opposition to cancel culture is conditional: they want to be the deciding who and what gets canceled. Free speech absolitists are so high on their own supply they don’t even notice their own constant and obvious attempts to control speech they disfavor. So self-impressed they assume it doesn’t count when they do it.
Boycotts are free speech. “Cancel culture” (in the way insufferably whiny modern American men use it) is in fact speech. Neologisms? Euphemisms? Academic jargon? Disassociation? Gatekeeping? Free speech, free speech, free speech, free spreech, free speech.
Those who argue such speech is harmful and should be suppressed can press their position. But they cannot both do so and at the same time raise themselves up on a holier-than-though free speech pedestal.
“You put your academic jargon out into the marketplace of ideas, I’ll try to stop you and out out my preferred rhetoric, and we’ll see who wins” is what real free speech warriors would say. But they don’t, because they’re not.
Hasan Piker is an asshat. Dem voters have absolute free speech right to criticize him, boycott him, or try to persuade their politicians not to appear with him. If Ezra Klein doesn’t understand that, then he doesn’t understand what free speech is.
It is also empirically false that Carlson has more power now than as a Fox News Pundit, that Fuentes has ever operated from the “shadows,” or that violating a social media platform’s TOS makes one a victim of cancel culture. If one must deploy fake facts to make an argument, it’s probably a weak argument.
P.S. Tucker Carlson lost his Fox News contract because his lies and lack of rudimentary journalistic standards finally cost his employer money. It had nothing to do with Bernie-style progressives, Hillary-style liberals, Biden-style Democrats, cancel culture, or anyone trying to suppress speech.
Carlson’s regressive, Republican, pro-Trump employers decided one day Carlson was a terrible employee. People get fired every day for less than costing their employer a billion dollar lawsuit — they also victims of speech suppression? Please.
Was I being “canceled” that time Meta decided my thirst traps were a bit too thirsty and temporarily disabled my Instagram account? Social media sites have rules and terms everyone agrees to when they sign up, including Fuentes and Trump. Millions of accounts have been deactivated for TOS violations several times lower than organizing a neo-Confederate rally where Nazis chanted “The Jews will not replace us!” or inciting fkng terror attack on Congress.
This fake cancel culture narrative is so tired. But we knew from his cringe Charlie Kirk sanewashing that Klein was aiming to become the Ross Douthat of left-leaning NY Slimes pundits. Ick.
@DK:
I don’t know who you’re debating with. I don’t recall saying I was a free speech absolutist. Nor did I remotely suggest Democrats don’t have a right to criticize. I do think they could try framing it in ways that don’t scream, ‘college kid who attended a seminar,’ or, ‘lawyer,’ or, ‘professor speaking jargon’ or ‘virtue performer slash grievance monger.’
Let me be very clear on one thing, so clear even you will understand: until we are rid of Trump I don’t give a single fuck about anything but beating him and MAGA. I think we have a pretty good chance of doing that and I would really, really like Democrats not to blow it. And I have very little confidence that Democrats have the good sense to prioritize winning because Democrats – you in this case – would rather score supercilious points than face the truth that we have made mistakes we should correct and not repeat.
You talk to the enemy to know the enemy so that you can defeat the enemy. But a great many Democrats lack the confidence or the ability to engage in open debate with humans outside of our silo. We are right on the issues. Most Americans are with us on the issues. But we suck at communication. There’s a reason we are still up just 5 points in the generic polls. No one – not even Democrats – likes Democrats. We need to face reality: we come off to the public like smug, elitist assholes.
One more thing, my attorney (IIRC) friend. Unlike almost everyone here, I have a job that requires me to be able to communicate with children and teenagers and their associated adults. You write briefs, I write books, who do you think has a better handle on messaging the public?
@Michael Reynolds:
Are you Charles Dickens? Have you run successful political campaigns? Have you been elected to anything everywhere? I enjoy your contributions here, but other than that I’ve never heard of you.
So sorry, but I’m not nearly as impressed with you as you are impressed with yourself. You’ve had far more than time than I’ve had to persuade Democrats. Unlike you, I never shouted “Fuck Joe Biden!” in the summer of 2024, as I’m vocally opposed to tossing Democrats of a certain age into the trash — because I value wisdom and experience over physical youth. That said, if you’ve been unsuccessful in teaching Dems how to message despite your decadeslong head start, outsized publishing presence, crackerjack comms skills, and intimate knowledge of the public pulse, that’s hardly a reason for me to replace my own judgment with yours.
@Michael Reynolds:
@DK:
It’s not hard.
If Dems focus on….
1. Prices, Inflation, Costs
2. Health Care, Health Affordability
3. Trump is insane and he broke everything, including all of his promises. We will fix it.
… they win 40+ seats in the house and possibly eke out the Senate.
If Dems focus on…
1. Climate Change
2. Abortion
3. LGBTQ rights
4. Any number of other issues that the GOP will toss at them
…they win 20 seats, and maybe two seats in the Senate.
It’s not hard.
@EddieInCA: If this is accurate, sounds like Dems are on their way to a pretty nice midterm win.
@Michael Reynolds: I agree that Ds should drop faculty lounge jargon, to the extent they use it, and should communicate better. But I don’t see that in Klein’s column. He’s complaining about a rabidly centrist organization, Third Way, wanting to cancel an “anti-Zionist” lefty streamer for being, in their view, anti-Semitic. You usually seem in favor of centrism and complain about lefties.
(Could someone come up with a better term than “anti-Zionist” for people who have no problem with Jews, often are Jews, but hate Netanyahu and Likud?)
And I have a complaint against Klein. While I agree with most of his column, this isn’t why there are no Joe Rogans on the Left. It’s basic psychology. We Ds don’t need to wear American flag tee shirts to feel patriotic, and having arrived at our beliefs rationally, don’t need to go to services daily to reinforce our faith. That said, I’ve waved an American flag at No Kings rallies. Symbols aren’t that important to us, but parallel with your argument, they are to people we’re trying to reach. We need to use those symbols.
Orbán out! And the opposition’s victory was too big for the “Rigged! Stop the steal!” shenanigans the far right telegraphed. Looks like opposition will win ~140 seats vs the incumbents’ ~60. Orbán conceded to the reality of his massive defeat.
Terrible day for Putin, MAGA, illiberalism, and Putin’s puppets Trump and Vance. Great day for Europe, NATO, classical liberalism, and Ukraine. And really embarrassing for Vance, who spent the last week on vacation in Hungary, trying save Orbán while Americans suffered the costs of Trump’s Iran War loss. The slimy, sanctimonious Vance is truly the laziest, most unlikeable veep in a while.
The new guy, Péter Magyar, is seen as a moderate conservative. He has been pro-EU and anti-Putin, but lukewarm on Ukraine aid. The EU seems to believe he can be persuaded.
The fun of all this is that before the war started, Iran had agreed to terms more stringent than the JCPOA, but Trumpus just couldn’t take the win.
And so now he must take the L.
Too bad, so sad.
The NY Times has this little article headline:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/11/business/lauren-sanchez-bezos-jeff-bezos.html
I haven’t read the article, having no NY Times subscription, because they publish the most amazing shit like this regularly, but I cannot imagine anything good coming out under that headline.
Also, it’s nice that the ultra wealthy are willing to take on this burden of happiness, so the rest of us can carry on whittling pitchforks or whatever.
Also, the picture. The terrible cosmetic surgery. The Trumpistan Lips. Good lord, how did this become a thing? She looks like she’s halfway through an evolution into something completely inhuman.
I want to blame AI for this, somehow, but instead I will blame Animorphs — she looks like she’s the second image in the progression to some kind of animal, where you can’t quite tell what animal she is turning into.
I suppose it brings up the question of whether Bezos married her for her looks, and if so, why?
Maybe he was really into Animorphs. Like, really into Animorphs.