James Downie

@jamescdownie

Columnist and editor at MS NOW (formerly MSNBC). WGAE member. Ex-Washington Post Opinions. DC born and raised. D.C. United and Montreal Canadiens fan. Email: jim.downie at versantmedia.com; jdow.92 on Signal

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James Downie@jamescdownie· Jul 10

Somebody's in trouble:

“Patel was coming (to Chicago) today for a fake office visit for his girlfriend’s country concert this weekend,” one of the sources briefed on the trip said. The source noted Patel “cancelled the trip while on the tarmac at Andrews” and was “summoned to the White House immediately,” adding that it was “apparent panic” and “believed to be in response to his morning tweet today.”

James Downie@jamescdownie· Jul 10

Started / Going (Source: www.ms.now/news/kash-pa...)

Kash Patel
@Kash_Patel
·
10h
Nah, my jet ski is gold plated….dumbass.

Your job is to lie. Mine is to protect the American people, and business is good!

Kash Patel called to White House on heels of continued questions over his behavior
The embattled FBI director was set to travel to Chicago in the Bureau's jet to see his girlfriend perform at a music festival when he was called in, sources tell MS NOW.

James Downie@jamescdownie· Jul 10

It's just sad at this point. (Source: apnews.com/article/iran...)

"AP: US demands Iran publicly state that Strait of Hormuz is open and Tehran won’t attack ships anymore"

James Downie@jamescdownie· Jul 10

"This was not a deal. To paraphrase Tacitus, Trump baked a dessert for Iran and called it a memorandum. The problem is that Iran has all the initiative.” – @edwardluce.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/0f45...

FT Swamp Notes Middle East warAdd to myFT
Iran is seeing through Trump’s bluff
The US president finds himself stuck in a cul-de-sac of his own making

James Downie@jamescdownie· Jul 9

"Trump’s Justice Department is moving to scuttle lawsuits and investigations for a string of proposed corporate mergers, which experts fear could raise prices for consumers for years to come, according to three people briefed on the plans." www.ms.now/news/trump-a...

"
Trump appointees are overruling DOJ lawyers scrutinizing corporate mergers
Justice leaders are blocking the enforcement of laws meant to protect consumers from price gouging, sources say."

James Downie@jamescdownie· Jul 9

A "masculinity" guy put out a video refusing to take accountability and generally acting like a giant baby?

James Downie@jamescdownie· Jul 8

No World Cup but at least there's the Tour de France. Now to check the stage profile for all the exciting climb...oh.

James Downie@jamescdownie· Jul 7

New Economist/YouGov poll (July 3-6): "71% of Independents strongly or somewhat disapprove of Trump’s job performance, and only 21% approve — a net approval of -51, the lowest ever for Trump. At this point in Trump’s first term, his net approval among Independents was close to break-even at -6."

"Net approval of Donald Trump's job handling from independents in Trump's first term and second term."

Most recent finding is a net of -51%

James Downie@jamescdownie· Jul 6

Politico: "A woman who dated Maine U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner says he forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections, an allegation Platner denies." www.politico.com/news/2026/07...

The woman, a 41-year-old Maine resident named Jenny Racicot, detailed the alleged incident to POLITICO in three interviews over the past two weeks. POLITICO also spoke with a man Racicot dated and confided in the years after the alleged incident, and reviewed documents, including emails between Racicot and her therapist and messages between Racicot and an acquaintance whom she warned against getting involved with Platner years before he ran for office.

James Downie@jamescdownie· Jul 6

Many are calling it "the most Bloomberg sentence of all time." (Source: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...)

The even larger millennial generation is entering middle age, the prime years for joining country clubs, getting into golf and looking for activities for their kids.

James Downie@jamescdownie· Jun 29

Alito's argument – that counting ballots after Election Day means "the electorate’s choice does not occur on election day, and the federal election-day statutes are violated" – is some of the dumbest reasoning I have ever seen. The "choice" doesn't occur at the time of counting!

"If ballots received after election day are added to the set of ballots that dictate the election’s outcome, the electorate’s choice does not occur on
election day, and the federal election-day statutes are violated."

James Downie@jamescdownie· Jun 27

Noted liberal George Will: "Kagan refuted the majority’s claim to see 'no evidence that race played any role in the Haiti decision.'...[Vance] said creating 'stories' (his word) makes the media notice Americans’ suffering. Surely justices are not required to ignore such rhetoric?" (wapo.st/3T3m9l6)

George F. Will
The Supreme Court errs in this immigration ruling
The justices get it wrong on temporary protected status for Haitian and Syrian immigrants.

James Downie@jamescdownie· Jun 26

"9/11 attacks Americans to church like never before"

James Downie@jamescdownie· Jun 26

What's the conversion rate from "conversation" to "entire book"? (Source: www.businessinsider.com/anthropic-cu...)

The judge also wrote that Anthropic, which is backed by Amazon and Alphabet, downloaded more than 7 million pirated books to train Claude.

Alsup wrote that Anthropic's cofounder, Ben Mann, downloaded "at least 5 million copies of books from Library Genesis" in 2021 — fully aware that the material was pirated. A year later, the company "downloaded at least 2 million copies of books from the Pirate Library Mirror" also knowing they were pirated.

James Downie@jamescdownie· Jun 25

@jonathanbernstein.bsky.social: “The bigger reason that ‘Freedom Caucus of the Left’ talk gets it wrong is because at least so far AOC and her allies in the House have been interested in winning policy battles and taking on Republicans.” Unlike, say, Manchin/Sinema: open.substack.com/pub/goodpoli...

Besides, over time the types that have given Democratic leaders on the Hill the biggest headaches have been either idiosyncratic Senators (such as Kyrsten Sinema and John Fetterman) or the least liberal Democrats (such as Joe Manchin, Jared Golden, Henry Cuellar) or both (Holy Joe Lieberman, anyone?).

James Downie@jamescdownie· Jun 23

Justice Jackson: "Today’s decision magically transforms a federal statute into an invitation to be accepted or declined, deemed binding only if each particular defendant has explicitly agreed to be penalized. No matter that laws, as opposed to contracts, don’t ordinarily work this way."

This severance of rights and remedies is a sleight of hand;
it comes by way of the majority’s full-throated endorsement
of a contract analogy even though what secures the rights
at issue is not a contract but a law. Today’s decision magically transforms a federal statute into an invitation to be
accepted or declined, deemed binding only if each particular
defendant has explicitly agreed to be penalized. No matter
that laws, as opposed to contracts, don’t ordinarily work
this way. The trick here is the majority’s effortless conflation of law making and agreement making—two different
sources of binding authority.
The majority’s analysis is spellbindingly straightforward:
Spending Clause statutes are contracts, and contracts bind
only those who consent. Ante, at 6–8. But pulling this rabbit out of the hat requires misconstruing the Spending
Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause, and ignoring
decades of precedent affirming Congress’s authority to use
the power of the purse to govern. In the end, the Court reduces some of Congress’s greatest legislative achievements—federal laws that secure civil rights, environmental
stability, healthcare, and more—to nothing more than the
wheelings-and-dealings of an especially wealthy private
party. Because I would not so trivialize a federal statute or
the constitutional powers pursuant to which it was passed,
I respectfully dissent.

James Downie@jamescdownie· Jun 19

There are fewer federal employees now than at any point in the last sixty years. fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CES90... (The occasional spikes are census employment.)

James Downie@jamescdownie· Jun 19

In retrospect, the signs were there all along:

The connection of Greenwater Services — also known as Green Water Solutions — to Mr. Cafaro is being reported first by The New York Times.

Neither Greenwater Services nor Mr. Cafaro responded to requests for comment on Thursday. The chief executive of Greenwater Services previously declined to comment to The Times about its contract.

James Downie@jamescdownie· Jun 18

The rating agency analyst:

James Downie@jamescdownie· Jun 18

My favorite harmless example was a 2009 story declaring the hug millennials' favorite greeting. The evidence was one high school in New Jersey. www.nytimes.com/2009/05/28/s...

For Teenagers, Hello Means ‘How About a Hug?’

James Downie@jamescdownie· Jun 17

"Actually here's a super secret second deal that's totally awesome. We brokered it with a Nigerian prince."

US officials downplay text of the Iran agreement, saying it doesn’t account for back-channel commitments

James Downie@jamescdownie· Jun 16

Remember when Republicans treated Covid quarantines as the greatest crime against freedom in human history? www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

RFK Jr. Orders American Exposed to Hantavirus to Stay Quarantined Against Medical Advice
Health secretary says cruise passenger Angela Perryman has to stay isolated in Nebraska despite CDC report advising otherwise

James Downie@jamescdownie· Jun 10

Golly gee, it's an absolute mystery who talked to Haberman and Swan for their book.

Wiles snapped back, “Well, we all got ourselves into this —— ”

Bongino cut her off.

“No, no, no, no, no. We didn’t get ourselves into anything. I warned you guys about this the whole time, and you ignored me. And exactly what I said was going to happen happened. And now you’re pretending I was in on this. I was never in on this.”

Bongino’s aggressive response to Wiles startled the others; she was the White House chief of staff, essentially a stand-in for the president. Wiles put Bongino on the spot. “Going forward,” she said, “we’re all in. We’re all going to agree to move forward. Are you in or not?”

“No, I’m not,” Bongino said. “This is not my plan. I’m not part of this going forward. Forget it. I’m out of here.” He stormed out of the Situation Room and onto West Executive Avenue, where he climbed into the back of Patel’s armored S.U.V. and directed the driver to take him to F.B.I. headquarters.

Some of Bongino’s close friends hoped he would resign right then — an act of protest that would have made him a MAGA martyr and only increased his following. But White House advisers intervened, urging him to stay. If he quit over Epstein and went public, it could severely damage the president. Bongino told associates he would remain for Trump’s sake and keep pushing for more Epstein information to be released.

James Downie@jamescdownie· Jun 4

Personally I wouldn't gamble perhaps the most important Senate race in the country on a guy who can't even tell the Democratic caucus the truth.

In a private meeting Tuesday with some Senate Democrats, Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner attempted to quell growing concerns from some in the party that a string of negative revelations about his life had jeopardized his candidacy.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders asked Platner if any additional allegations would emerge against the embattled Democratic candidate, according to people familiar with the discussion. Platner said there weren’t any.

James Downie@jamescdownie· May 29

Just gonna leave this here.

Jason Aldine Williams was born in Macon, Georgia,[1][2] on February 28, 1977. His parents separated when he was three. He was raised by his mother in Macon, and during the summer he spent time with his father in Homestead, Florida. He attended Windsor Academy, a private Christian school in Bibb County, Georgia.[3]

James Downie@jamescdownie· May 29

Ahead of the SpaceX IPO, I highly recommend @quinnslobodian.com and @bentarnoff.com's "Muskism." They do as good a job as any I've read of drawing a line through Musk's whole life and career, from apartheid South Africa to DOGE: www.harpercollins.com/products/mus...

Like Fordism, Muskism is a modernizing project. But Fordism rewrote the social contract with a promise of rising living standards for all: cars in every garage, fridges in every kitchen, wages climbing with productivity. Muskism does not distribute rewards broadly. Its promise is sovereignty through technology. Musk does not just sell cars, rockets, or satellites. He sells the fantasy that, in an increasingly unstable world, both states and individuals can fortify their self-reliance by plugging into his infrastructures. The paradox is that, in doing so, you become reliant on him. What is sold as techno-sovereignty is entry into Musk’s walled garden, to which he holds the master key. Both the Pentagon and NASA depend on SpaceX; Starlink has become indispensable on the battlefield and in the wilderness; X and Grok are being woven into the state. Trying to unplug from Musk, you realize he owns the socket.

"Muskism" – Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff

James Downie@jamescdownie· May 27

Given how many companies' strategies over the last few years depend on pivots to AI and/or short-form video, I think @ryanhatesthis.bsky.social is asking the right questions here. (www.garbageday.email/p/the-bubble...)

This is a question I keep asking myself about, well, the entire internet lately. “What if this all just doesn’t work this time?” What if AI companies can’t replace search? What if streaming video can’t replace Hollywood? What if short-form video apps can’t replace social media users? What if Silicon Valley can’t brute force their products — and ideology — onto the masses again? To take it even further, what if the dot com crash and the AI crash are actually part of the same 25 years epoch of technological stagnation? I’m not going to lie, I find this line of questioning exhilarating.

James Downie@jamescdownie· May 23

"By pretty much any estimation, President Trump has had a very bad week." "New poll numbers show his approval rating has hit a second-term low....And his grip over Republican lawmakers is beginning to slip." Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/05/23/u...

Defiant After Bad Week, Trump Pushes Ahead on Politically Unpopular Ideas
President Trump continues to act like he’s politically all-powerful, even in the face of indications that he is not.

James Downie@jamescdownie· May 22

WaPo reports that the merest gesture at AI regulation from the White House led Musk, Zuckerberg and co. to call Trump to change his mind. Guess what happened next? (Gift link: wapo.st/3RThEsK)

Eleventh-hour phone calls with industry leaders and former AI and crypto czar David Sacks helped persuade President Donald Trump not to sign a highly anticipated executive order on artificial intelligence on Thursday.

The tech leaders who spoke with Trump, who included SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, warned that the administration’s new vetting system could inhibit development of a technology at the heart of the U.S. economy, according to three people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private conversations.

James Downie@jamescdownie· May 21

The thing is, David Ellison genuinely believes he knows what the public likes, to the point that (pre-merger) Paramount executives had to explain to him that he doesn't. www.vulture.com/article/larr...