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Adam Johnson Profile picture
Adam Johnson
@adamjohnsonCHI
co-host @citationspod, writer at https://t.co/pKhO6hyJ5M
9 subscribers
Aug 23 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
This has every dishonest liberal cliche:

1) One Bad Man Theory

2) Reinforce “Hamas must go” pretext for genocide (how exactly, magic??)

3) meaningless “offensive” vs “defensive” weapons

4) “two state solution” pablum

5) centering needs and ego of state committing genocide It’s got (2), (3) and (4) with (1) more or less implied
Aug 14 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Not sure what it would look like to “turn” on Mamdani, but I assure you any such “turn” will be grounded in (admittedly difficult and complex) value judgments on key issues. All politics requires subjective analysis of priorities and compromises, this is kind of its whole deal I assure you conditional support is not some neurosis of the left, and we know this because Mamdani won the democratic primary and the whole of the democratic establishment—from Schumer to Gillibrand to Jeffries—refuses to endorse him. This is also known as “purity politics”
Aug 12 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
The thing is this isnt really a change. Conditioning bombs to the flow of aid is consistent w/ 2024 Dem consensus of Bomb Palestinian Kids on 600 Calories a Day vs the (R) position of Bomb Palestinian Kids on an Empty Stomach—modestly preferable but still objectively pro-genocide The fact that this very low bar is now considered some type of “break” from Israel is just further evidence that this latest round of performative outrage is an ass covering exercise, something that can be pointed to at a later date.
Aug 9 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
As Dems struggle to find an off-ramp for the increasingly unpopular Gaza genocide, they've settle on blaming "Netanyahu." I wrote about the rise of One Bad Man Theory and how it serves to obscure much deeper issues with the logic and reality of zionism. columnblog.com/p/its-not-just… ‘Opposition’ leader below. “Netanyahu” is not the issue and the sooner we are honest about this fact, the sooner we can normalize a full arms embargo and sanctioning of the govt in question rather than pinning the genocide on One Bad Man
Aug 4 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
This is hilarious. Two recent polls by @GQRResearch and @ZenithPolls show Mamdani with a commanding lead among Jewish NYers but rather than cite them, @liamstack frames the question as ontologically unknowable and ignores them. GQR was commissioned by a pro-Israel lobbying group Image I'm no statistics expert but I'm pretty sure 1.3 million is not too small a number to poll. One can read Zenith's methodology on their website
Aug 3 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
A series of recent “ok maybe it’s a genocide” pieces all have the same “yes but acknowledging this hurts my feelings” front-loading and it cannot be stressed enough how little a particular truth making you A Sad matters. Go get a binky! Children are fucking dying and starving! Sorry what is basically a whitegenocide narrative turned out to be solipsistic intellectual toilet paper justifying an ongoing genocide but maybe let’s remove ourselves as the protagonist of history, buckle down, beg for forgiveness and try to save some lives
Jul 31 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
If the word genocide “turns off allies” they shouldn’t be allies. it’s the conclusion of HRW, MSF, Amnesty and virtually all genocide scholars to say nothing of Palestinians who correctly assessed Israel’s motives while JStreet was threatening lawmakers calling for a ceasefire If Gaza isn’t a genocide then the term literally has no meaning. If one wants to argue that the term itself ought to be retired they are welcome to make that argument but it cannot exist and also not describe Israel’s actions in Gaza. This is not remotely a credible position.
Jul 31 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Once again for the millionth time, demanding as a condition of a “ceasefire” one side surrender and disarm is not a call for a ceasefire. It’s a reiteration of surrender terms and an argument in favor of the pretext for the genocide (“war on Hamas”) to continue indefinitely Liberals parroting this nonsensical position are being cowardly and very dishonest. this have your cake and eat it too-ism is the primary reason a consensus for an actual ceasefire cannot be reached. It’s an evasion, a cop out and a complete dodge of the central issue.
Jul 30 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
To blunt increasing pressure from the US left and the intl humanitarian and medical community, centrists (and the WH) embraced a “temporary pause” in Nov 2023 that explicitly did NOT end the “war.” This pause was later rebranded a “ceasefire” by Biden and Dem media in Feb 2024 tbc this REMAINS the mainstream liberal opinion. Instead of explicitly supporting the “war on Hamas” indefinitely (because this became impossible) the “ceasefire” rebrand demanded “Hamas have no role in post war Gaza” while nominally calling for a ceasefire which makes zero sense
Jul 29 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Not trying to be a moral hipster here but it’s worth examining why virtually no media outlets critically examined the fact that what the Economist says here (minus the “Iran humbling”) was also true in Oct 2023. Nothing changed except countless Palestinian lives are now destroyed The fundamentals are the same, all that’s changed is 10,000+ more dead Palestinian children. This campaign was always, at best a nihilistic campaign of mass killing and, at worst, genocide. It turned out to be both. The nominal logic of the “war” never made any sense.
Jul 25 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
NYT's morning newsletter parroting @PatrickKingsley's absurd and deliberately credulous "failure to plan" framing. It wasn't the open pronouncements by Israeli officials they were cutting off food, or the bombing of and propaganda against UNRWA, guys, they just neglected to PLAN! Image nytimes.com/2025/07/25/bri…
Jul 25 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
My sense is this is too optimistic. I think emaciated children is a bridge too far PR-wise. There’ll be pressure on Israel to allow the UN to do a fraction of whats needed, then it’ll return to the pre-March 2025 status quo and Dems will go back to ignoring/cheer leading genocide If one reads the statements the demand isn’t an end to the genocide, or “war,” or an arms embargo or demand Trump compel a lasting ceasefire, it’s a return to the pre March 2025 status quo, a/k/a the NYT editorial board line demanding Washington Bomb Children On A Full Stomach
Jul 20 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
I know the 2024 Dem pitch for Gaza was 10% less genocide but Trump’s been in office 6 mo’s, and accelerated the genocide for four, and the two most powerful Dems, Schumer and Jeffries haven’t issued a single criticism of Trump’s Gaza policy. Neither has Harris, Biden or Obama. We have zero evidence of any institutional Dem opposition to Trump’s Gaza policy. At this point this can only be read as agreement. A letter proposed by Rep Tlaib opposing mass starvation in Gaza only garnered 18 Dems. 18. a LETTER. This means 239 democrats didn’t give a shit
Jul 17 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
I’m baffled as to what conspiracy they’re going for anymore. MAGA media is playing catch up trying to square the circle of whatever an increasingly senile Trump vomited out that day and I need a whiteboard to keep track of what the Deep State is supposedly doing now hate when that happens Image
Jul 16 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
This is where superficial generational discourse gets you: An AOC and Bernie-endorsed candidate wins and it’s somehow an indictment on Mamdani—who didnt endorse anyone and has nothing to do with the race. The similarities, like Weisman and Healy’s analysis, are purely superficial To paraphase a @BrandyLJensen classic: @jackhealyNYT has the comprehension of a dog, he can parse tone but not content. Image
Image
Jul 13 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
New neoliberal front group just dropped Image There’s been 90000 of these billionaire funded “we just want to win” “drop liberal orthodoxy” “big tent” front projects launched in the last six months. More consulting grifts designed to push the party right under the auspices of Savvy Pragmatism
Jul 11 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
This article is pure liberal revisionism.

1) relies on ex-Biden official sources reinforcing myth of Helpless Biden desperately seeking a ceasefire without addressing the fact that, according to Israeli officials, he NEVER demanded one. this key dynamic is hand-waved away 🧵 2) the idea that Netanyahu dragged on the war “for political gain” is partly true but misleading. Polls showing 50%+ Israelis prefer a ceasefire to more war ignore the common assumption they’d get captives back then RESTART the genocide. This is & was the Israeli “left” position
Jul 1 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
important to understand what pro-Israel lobbying org ADL is doing here: they are issuing a mob threat to continue demagoguing this issue and exploiting the public’s ignorance and racism until Mamdani “comes to them” e.g. toes the line on Israel. This is extortion plain and simple It has nothing to do with him “condemning” anything. If he condemns “globalize the intifada” they will demand he condemn “intifada,” if he condemns this they’ll find some other expression for him to “condemn”. The point is for him to accept the minimum axioms of liberal zionism
Jun 29 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Again this never a thing that ever happened I am losing my mind. Just pure racist libel. Are any “fact checking” groups or reporters going to note Mamdani never said “intifada” anything but simply said, when asked about it, it wasn’t a call for violence against anyone, much less Jewish people (the thing he’s also being accused of saying that he never said)
Jun 24 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
It’s funny how every article on Mamdani has to include a to-be-sure paragraph about his “impractical” redistributive policies or “tone deaf” Palestine positions. There’s always an air of menace, a “if only he didn’t do this things would be easier” message to any future Mamdanis It’s the most brainless ideological disciplining, typically shrouded in “inviting controversy” meta discourse or, in the case of the NYT, an alleged “trouble with Jewish voters” horserace framing that’s basically made up. Editors view it as their job to gate-keep Seriousness.
Jun 23 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
given what we know, and what’s currently happening in Gaza, it is deeply insensitive and glib to write “throwing around hot-button words like genocide”. It is near universal consensus in the human rights world—HRW, Amnesty, MSF—Israel is committing genocide, it is not a buzzword. Image Dr Melanie O'Brien, president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, the largest group of genocide scholars in the world has argued Gaza is genocide very conclusively. Among scholars it’s near unanimous. Yet it is repeatedly reduced to a fringe leftwing neurosis