Substack author. Plain English podcast host. Abundance co-author. Contributing writer at The Atlantic.
Washington, D.C.
Joined May 2009
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Derek Thompson retweeted
Nate says the group with notable underperformance in competitive seats were progressives who had faced competitive primaries (AES, Lawrence, Nixon, Dunlap)
New pod: THE TRUMP DECADE ENDS
2024 discredited the Democratic establishment. 2026 has discredited MAGA. The next election will be a head-to-head between two currently headless parties that have an opportunity to define themselves for the next generation.
Plus @Nate_Cohn on:
- the myth of the death of the swing voter
- the myth of the Trump racial realignment
- the limits of money in politics
- studying 1974 and 2006 to understand what might come after a midterm wipeout like this
- what makes the Times-Siena poll so accurate
- how The Needle became our election night god
youtube.com/watch?v=fa3q7iHq…
Derek Thompson retweeted
BAAJA is an opportunity for Democrats to return to holistic energy policy that balances reliability, affordability, and sustainability.
@IrvingSwisher and I wrote about it for The Argument. theargumentmag.com/p/climate…
Derek Thompson retweeted
1 million views in 4 hours is a record for me. Thank you all for sharing and commenting. I had a blast making this one, felt giddy and enjoyed every minute of it. Remember this is still scripted by me not ai, each video edit is still intentionally made by a human, the world was carefully constructed, researched and designed by me with ai tools but it’s not pressing a button. We see tons of AI automated slop “video” every day on these platforms so I appreciate people recognizing the human touch.
Derek Thompson retweeted
Dems won by focusing on affordability.
As it happens, the Senate’s first vote when it returns Tuesday will be on a bill to lower energy costs by modernizing the permitting process. It will be first test of whether affordability is a governing priority or just a campaign slogan.
Derek Thompson retweeted
Democrats are poised to flip 7 Senate seats in states Trump carried by 10+ points in 2024.
That’s the most in a century. Since 1926, the party out of power has never flipped more than 4 Senate seats deep in the president’s territory.
Derek Thompson retweeted
It wasn't so long ago in the Dem party that if you held Talarico's position on fossil fuels and immigration, you would be considered persona non grata among the left.
The fact that some people don't call that moderation today just goes to show how much those interest groups have lost the intraparty argument (at least on the politics)
Derek Thompson retweeted
This is very well said:
New newsletter: THE TRUMP DECADE ENDS
Ten years ago this week, Trump won for the first time. Last night, his party got crushed. Today, his own VP is publicly brainstorming ways to distance himself from the admin's core agenda.
A new chapter in American politics is beginning, and the level of uncertainty is off the charts:
- Nobody knows what the post-Trump Republican Party is, right now. (It's not entirely clear what the Democratic Party is, either!)
- AI is booming. It's the single most powerful force in US macroeconomics and ... Americans absolutely hate it
- Last night was a good night for both cultural moderation *and* economic populism. Talarico is a great e.g.: walking back his woke commentary while practicing a unity politics that's for everyone except "the top"
- Fears that "billionaires are buying elections" were both powerfully felt and also proved quite wrong, as Elon torched half a billion dollars for nothing
- Do not mistake the Democrats' huge night for a demographic realignment. Young people and Hispanics -- who both moved 30+ points between 2024 and 2026 -- are not setting up home in either party, they more like renters, signing a one-year lease for whoever makes the best incumbent critique
derekthompson.org/p/the-trum…
Derek Thompson retweeted
Talarico agrees with Trump on securing the border and cutting red tape for housing
Good start
Derek Thompson retweeted
reading derek on last night and the massive shift in younger votes (espcially young men) made me think about tiktok and attention spans more than anything...
what if the half-life of everything is shrinking and along with attention spans goes political affiliations
New newsletter: THE TRUMP DECADE ENDS
Ten years ago this week, Trump won for the first time. Last night, his party got crushed. Today, his own VP is publicly brainstorming ways to distance himself from the admin's core agenda.
A new chapter in American politics is beginning, and the level of uncertainty is off the charts:
- Nobody knows what the post-Trump Republican Party is, right now. (It's not entirely clear what the Democratic Party is, either!)
- AI is booming. It's the single most powerful force in US macroeconomics and ... Americans absolutely hate it
- Last night was a good night for both cultural moderation *and* economic populism. Talarico is a great e.g.: walking back his woke commentary while practicing a unity politics that's for everyone except "the top"
- Fears that "billionaires are buying elections" were both powerfully felt and also proved quite wrong, as Elon torched half a billion dollars for nothing
- Do not mistake the Democrats' huge night for a demographic realignment. Young people and Hispanics -- who both moved 30+ points between 2024 and 2026 -- are not setting up home in either party, they more like renters, signing a one-year lease for whoever makes the best incumbent critique
derekthompson.org/p/the-trum…
Derek Thompson retweeted
Biden refusing to drop out as part of his master plan to create a 2026 blue wave and guaranteed decade of congressional control
Derek Thompson retweeted
This is an absolute massacre for Republicans. It might be the worst environment seen in the last 40+ years. They're losing South Carolina, on track to lose Texas, and are getting the rug pulled out from under them with Hispanics and working-class whites.
Derek Thompson retweeted
This is a fantastic idea - a mass attempted replication of old findings of LLMs with new models. Much conventional wisdom is outdated.
Recent models no longer invent citations and both hallucination rates & stereotyping has dropped. But they are still sycophantic & lean left.
Derek Thompson retweeted
Update: as of 2pm, Florida has crossed 7M ballots cast (final was 11M in 2024, 7.8M in 2022). Registered Ds are at 71% of their 2024 total turnout, Rs at 63%, NPA/others at 56%.
Overall turnout is R+7.1 pts (2024 final was R+11.1 pts). Modest but clear Dem enthusiasm advantage.
Derek Thompson retweeted
Good time to bring back the greatest chart of all time
Cowboys are 49-6 with Dak when the run it at least 50% of the time on early downs.
@PaulHembo
Derek Thompson retweeted
I quit The Atlantic having raised 0 dollars because I felt it was inappropriate to raise money while working for another magazine -- others have made different choices but that was mine.
Emergent Ventures, which is run by Tyler Cowen, exists to empower young people who think they can do big things. Tyler gave me a grant of $100,000 from this fund to build @TheArgumentMag.
I then raised $4 million from an array of investors with various backgrounds and interests to build a liberal magazine where people could debate big questions.
Zach, who has recieved direct or indirect funding from the founder of eBay, Charles Koch, Exxonmobil, Chevron, BP, JP Morgan Chase, AWS, Meta, and Google, is, I suppose, telling on himself about the nature and origin of his views.
Personally, I think Zach came by his flawed viewpoint honestly but if you follow his logic he's an agent of Big Oil and Big Tech.
I find it galling when those who have been funded by tech billionaires and the failsons of the wealthy have the temerity to cast stones at anyone else for trying to make something of themselves despite not having access to institutional wealth.
Perhaps if I had been born the daughter of a billionaire and devoted myself to the cause of making the left historically unpopular, I would have Zach's respect. Alas, I think I'll live without it.
Derek Thompson retweeted
A whopping 79 NBA players are listed on today’s 2:30 PM injury report for tonight’s games.
That’s roughly 15% of the entire league 🤯
(h/t @keerthikau )
