@DavidAvromBell

Historian, writer, teacher, author of Men on Horseback: The Power of Charisma in the Age of Revolution.

 Princeton, NJ
davidavrombell.com
Joined January 2012
  • Tweets9.1K
  • Following400
  • Followers9.7K
With Twitter quite possible sinking, I've decided to start a Substack to let anyone who is interested follow my work. It is entirely free, and I promise not to flood your Inbox with random musings and hate posts. Please consider subscribing! davidabell.substack.com/p/ab…
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waprog🌲@waprog15h
I just checked and they accidentally spent double digit figures on anti Troy Jackson ads running exclusively in OREGON. This is not a joke, I have the receipts.
Lillian Belle@LillianBelle2Oct 11
I’ve gotten 5 anti-Troy Jackson ads in the last 24 hours. I choose to believe they mixed up Portlands.
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David A. Bell retweeted
Bill Kristol
@BillKristol16h
NEW. Andrew Egger & Will Sommer on an attempted MAGA smear of James Talarico, and its spectacular implosion. What other lies will Trumpists try in the face of their impending rout? Be ready for more desperate acts by desperate men. thebulwark.com/p/maga-james-…

MAGA’s Talarico Mental Breakdown Conspiracy Implodes—Instantly

The holes in this one were evident pretty quickly. Now the big question is will there be lawsuits in response?

thebulwark.com
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David A. Bell retweeted
Jeet Heer
@HeerJeet10h
The smear campaign against Talarico is a byproduct of plutocrats dominating social media. thenation.com/article/politi…

Elon Musk's James Talarico Smear Blew Up In His Face

But that doesn't mean the danger from Musk's lies is over.

thenation.com
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David A. Bell retweeted
mkazin@mkazinOct 10
Powerful, truthful, painful writing haaretz.com/jewish/2026-10-0…
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My new column, on the French Protests: davidabell.substack.com/p/th…
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The rue de Rivoli in Paris after the lycée riots this week.
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(actually, after the Paris Commune of 1871, but tell that to the right-wing media that keeps posting old videos of cars burning and blaming it on the students...)
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A Moveable Fast
Literary Loves ✍️ 📚 Caroline Malcolm-Boulton@TheScribblerCMBOct 4
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I’ve recently gotten to know @A1ex_MacArthur who is a great young writer. Here’s his latest: “If Bolsonaro’s son Flávio beats Lula in the presidential election, he will encounter much less resistance from state institutions.” jacobin.com/2026/10/brazil-e…

The Stakes Are High in Brazil’s Upcoming Election

During Jair Bolsonaro’s term as president, he faced a liberal establishment that acted as a bulwark against his worst excesses. If his son Flávio beats Lula in the presidential election, he will...

jacobin.com
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"I'm not defending Hitler, but..."
Republicans against Trump
@RpsAgainstTrumpOct 2
Tucker Carlson defends Hitler’s decision to invade Poland, arguing that Britain shouldn’t have fought the Nazis: “The UK had nothing to do with it, at all, and they destroyed their empire and their country fighting this war that they still pretend was a good idea, but it wasn’t”
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David A. Bell retweeted
Terrible Maps
@TerribleMapsOct 2
An Anglicised Germany, reconstructed from historical name forms.
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Friendly note to academic job applicants: Be careful when converting Word files to pdfs. I have seen several cases this year where pdfs inadvertently included "Comments" that advisors, colleagues and friends made on draft materials.
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I didn't read these comments, and I suspect in most cases it wouldn't be a big deal if I had done so. Still, better to delete the comments before converting to pdf.
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Aaron Rupar
@atruparOct 1
I recommend people read Time's interview with Trump to get a sense of the president's grave cognitive impairment. Trump is either unwilling or unable (or maybe both) to answer the questions he's actually asked, so he just rants and raves while the interviewers do their best to provide structure to his random brain firings. time.com/article/2026/10/01/…

Read TIME’s ‘What Trump Has Built’ Interview Transcript

The U.S. President discussed the war in Iran, press freedom, AI, and more ahead of the midterm elections.

time.com
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David A. Bell retweeted
Jesse Singal
@jessesingalSep 29
This is the most incredible moment you will ever see during this sort of testimony. Don't let anyone spoil it for you before you watch! After you understand the perjury Schmitt is accusing Smith of, you can jump to 4:30. Genuinely have never seen anything like this.
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Hey @grok - create an image of what the world would look like if I were in charge, based on my tweets.
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Important piece: Opinion | The Humanities Need to Do More to Reach Non-Majors chronicle.com/article/the-hu…

Opinion | The Humanities Need to Do More to Reach Non-Majors

What we can learn from the “service departments.”

chronicle.com
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Have a Substack post about my forthcoming intellectual biography of Raymond Aron: substack.com/@dsj2110/note/p…
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David A. Bell retweeted
Gabe Gottlieb@xgabegottliebxSep 22
Life. Today.
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The third very long piece by Jill Lepore in 6 weeks in The New Yorker. Like everything she published it is smoothly written, well informed, and has some very nice lines. But it doesn’t take a stand. For a major intellectual, she is remarkably risk-averse. newyorker.com/magazine/2026/…

Is A.I. Above the Law?

Our legal system isn’t ready for machines that act on their own.

newyorker.com
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And it makes too much of what she writes too easily forgettable.
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