The Index
/theindex2077
Truth in an age of noise. @joanwestenberg.eth
The international immune system is activating. Democracy, flawed and fragile, is developing antibodies against a very specific kind of viral politics. The backlash is electoral, cultural, and institutional. And it is spreading.
https://www.theindex.media/rebuke/
https://www.theindex.media/rebuke/
“Do food stamps make people fat?”
No.
But publishing lazy classist propaganda to flatter your rich readers definitely makes you a hack.
https://www.theindex.media/a-war-on-welfare-wrapped-in-fatphobia/
No.
But publishing lazy classist propaganda to flatter your rich readers definitely makes you a hack.
https://www.theindex.media/a-war-on-welfare-wrapped-in-fatphobia/
The midterms are not a contest of ideas.
They are a contest between democracy and permanent minority rule.
The GOP isn’t trying to win the debate.
They’re trying to rig the scoreboard — forever.
https://www.theindex.media/the-midterms-are-coming-the-gop-is-going-to-cheat/
They are a contest between democracy and permanent minority rule.
The GOP isn’t trying to win the debate.
They’re trying to rig the scoreboard — forever.
https://www.theindex.media/the-midterms-are-coming-the-gop-is-going-to-cheat/
Confidence is cheap. Competence is rare.
We built a culture that can’t tell the difference.
Now we’re ruled by influencers in suits.
https://www.theindex.media/americas-next-top-conman/
We built a culture that can’t tell the difference.
Now we’re ruled by influencers in suits.
https://www.theindex.media/americas-next-top-conman/
Today in The Index's Meta Media series: Marco Rubio wrote a sweaty little op-ed claiming fact-checking is tyranny. Turns out when you can’t tell the truth, the next best thing is banning anyone who can.
https://www.theindex.media/rubio-isnt-ending-censorship-hes-ending-oversight/
https://www.theindex.media/rubio-isnt-ending-censorship-hes-ending-oversight/
“Freeze the conflict” = Let Putin keep the land he stole.
“Block NATO membership” = Leave Ukraine defenseless.
“Recognize Crimea” = Erase international law.
Trump’s peace plan is a blueprint for capitulation.
https://www.theindex.media/trumps-ukraine-plan-is-just-the-moscow-memo-with-a-new-header/
“Block NATO membership” = Leave Ukraine defenseless.
“Recognize Crimea” = Erase international law.
Trump’s peace plan is a blueprint for capitulation.
https://www.theindex.media/trumps-ukraine-plan-is-just-the-moscow-memo-with-a-new-header/
The Cold War blocked exports.
It didn’t stop the Soviets.
It built their underground tech ecosystem.
Now it’s China’s turn.
https://www.theindex.media/chip-wars-are-the-new-cold-war/
It didn’t stop the Soviets.
It built their underground tech ecosystem.
Now it’s China’s turn.
https://www.theindex.media/chip-wars-are-the-new-cold-war/
Liz Truss blew up the UK economy in 49 days and still thinks she’s qualified to write foreign policy fanfic.
Now she’s praising Trump like he’s Churchill with a spray tan.
The Telegraph really said: what if delusion had a byline?
https://www.theindex.media/trump-has-not-been-proven-right-about-pretty-much-everything/
Now she’s praising Trump like he’s Churchill with a spray tan.
The Telegraph really said: what if delusion had a byline?
https://www.theindex.media/trump-has-not-been-proven-right-about-pretty-much-everything/
The government has already decided it can control the curriculum by controlling the cash.
What happens next is not up to them.
It's up to everyone else.
https://www.theindex.media/harvard-didnt-blink-the-fight-starts-here/
What happens next is not up to them.
It's up to everyone else.
https://www.theindex.media/harvard-didnt-blink-the-fight-starts-here/
The exhausted majority didn’t leave democracy.
Democracy left them.
It turned into content.
Into noise.
Into a circus run by clowns with Super PACs.
https://www.theindex.media/what-happened-to-the-exhausted-majority/
Democracy left them.
It turned into content.
Into noise.
Into a circus run by clowns with Super PACs.
https://www.theindex.media/what-happened-to-the-exhausted-majority/
This week wasn’t a crash.
It was a warning.
When power governs by impulse, the economy can’t forecast, and institutions can’t think.
The cost isn’t just money. It’s memory.
https://www.theindex.media/the-epistemic-costs-of-erratic-empire/
It was a warning.
When power governs by impulse, the economy can’t forecast, and institutions can’t think.
The cost isn’t just money. It’s memory.
https://www.theindex.media/the-epistemic-costs-of-erratic-empire/
Anyone still thinking this is about protecting American steelworkers or rebalancing trade with China hasn't been paying attention—or worse, is clinging to the fairy tale that this movement is tethered to any rational economic theory.
https://www.theindex.media/america-the-isolated/
https://www.theindex.media/america-the-isolated/
Kennedy didn't create the outbreak in Texas. The virus doesn't need him to replicate. But the ecosystem that enabled it—the swamp of conspiracy, pseudoscience, and libertarian moralism—that's his kingdom.
https://www.theindex.media/measles-misinformation-and-the-death-cult-of-wellness/
https://www.theindex.media/measles-misinformation-and-the-death-cult-of-wellness/
There are no “good Republicans.” There are cowards, enablers, and people praying SCOTUS legalizes dictatorship. That’s it. That’s the list.
https://www.theindex.media/the-gop-is-the-most-dangerous-organization-in-america/
https://www.theindex.media/the-gop-is-the-most-dangerous-organization-in-america/
Trust doesn't return with a photo op, a handshake, or deals signed under duress.
It is built slowly, consistently, through a pattern of behavior.
Trump broke that pattern.
He salted the earth.
And now he struts through the wreckage, calling it a win.
https://www.theindex.media/trust-is-dead-trump-keeps-selling-the-corpse/
It is built slowly, consistently, through a pattern of behavior.
Trump broke that pattern.
He salted the earth.
And now he struts through the wreckage, calling it a win.
https://www.theindex.media/trust-is-dead-trump-keeps-selling-the-corpse/
Every time an authoritarian con-artist is held accountable, every time the mask slips in a courtroom, the spell weakens.
It takes pressure. It takes a public that doesn't flinch when the volume gets turned up. It takes faith - not in the perfection of institutions, but in their potential.
https://www.theindex.media/authoritarian-grift-meets-the-grind-of-justice/
It takes pressure. It takes a public that doesn't flinch when the volume gets turned up. It takes faith - not in the perfection of institutions, but in their potential.
https://www.theindex.media/authoritarian-grift-meets-the-grind-of-justice/
Car prices: up
Jobs: down
Allies: pissed
Economy: unstable
Trump: still convinced tariffs are cheat codes
https://www.theindex.media/the-stupidity-will-continue-until-morale-improves/
Jobs: down
Allies: pissed
Economy: unstable
Trump: still convinced tariffs are cheat codes
https://www.theindex.media/the-stupidity-will-continue-until-morale-improves/
Democracy isn’t dying in a blaze of glory. It’s getting quietly repo’d by wealth-hoarding sociopaths who see human rights as inefficiencies and elections as an annoying pop-up they should be able to block.
https://www.theindex.media/the-fascist-tech-bro-takeover-is-here-2/
https://www.theindex.media/the-fascist-tech-bro-takeover-is-here-2/
If a grand strategy existed behind this circus, there could be something to debate. Something to argue against. Something to disprove. But there isn't. There is only racism, bigotry, hate, jealousy, vengeance, stupidity, recklessness, incoherence, and grift.
https://www.theindex.media/what-the-hell-are-we-doing/
https://www.theindex.media/what-the-hell-are-we-doing/
The world's most powerful nation has become a pathological liar - breaking treaties, abandoning allies, shredding regulations, and destroying its own institutions.
The American guarantee is a joke.
https://www.theindex.media/the-american-guarantee-is-a-joke/
The American guarantee is a joke.
https://www.theindex.media/the-american-guarantee-is-a-joke/
Sudan is being erased in real-time.
A million refugees. A military ruling over ruins. A famine engineered by war. And the world? Silent. Watching. Pretending it isn’t happening.
The least you can do is pay attention.
My column on The Index:
https://www.theindex.media/the-sudan-crisis-is-a-slow-motion-man-made-catastrophe/
A million refugees. A military ruling over ruins. A famine engineered by war. And the world? Silent. Watching. Pretending it isn’t happening.
The least you can do is pay attention.
My column on The Index:
https://www.theindex.media/the-sudan-crisis-is-a-slow-motion-man-made-catastrophe/
Trump is playing a game of chicken with two million Palestinian lives, betting that someone—Jordan, Egypt, or the world—will flinch first and accept the burden of his forced displacement plan.
https://www.theindex.media/a-game-of-chicken-with-two-million-lives-at-stake/
https://www.theindex.media/a-game-of-chicken-with-two-million-lives-at-stake/
Can you name a single position that today's Republican Party would maintain if Trump tweeted against it tomorrow morning? Can you imagine any principle they wouldn't abandon if he demanded it? Is there any line they wouldn't cross?
https://www.theindex.media/the-republican-party-is-dead/
https://www.theindex.media/the-republican-party-is-dead/
The Democratic leadership has convinced itself that each yes vote on a Republican nomination somehow banks political capital for the future. What future? When your opponent announces their intention to end democracy as we know it, what exactly are you saving your political capital for?
https://www.theindex.media/its-scorched-earth-time/
https://www.theindex.media/its-scorched-earth-time/
This isn’t trade policy anymore—it’s economic warfare waged by clowns with sledgehammers, and the wreckage will define the next century.
https://www.theindex.media/trade-war-2-0-dumber-deadlier-and-destined-for-disaster/
https://www.theindex.media/trade-war-2-0-dumber-deadlier-and-destined-for-disaster/
