Magdi Jacobs Profile picture
I write about politics, culture, & science for https://t.co/Gti12sLy1c. Bylines in @PostOpinions, @ForeignPolicy, @Slate, @damemagazine, @Alternet. She/her
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Aug 31 11 tweets 3 min read
This video should make it abundantly clear that JD Vance would ban IVF, if given the chance. It makes it clear that he has a detailed ideology that IVF violates, just as much as abortion does. Women should be impregnated when they are under the age of 35. Others put to pasture. No, I am not saying that *only* women over the age of 35 receive or require IVF. I'm describing how Vance views the process. He describes, in detail, how women who can't have children have delayed too long. To Vance, we made bad choices. We should be punished, not rewarded w/ IVF
Aug 29 12 tweets 8 min read
I could be wrong, but I'm sensing a possible shift: From the Arlington scandal to Trump's social media content, the press appears to be actually reporting on Trump's malfeasance for the first time in a very long time. Why? My guess is that Democrats have deprived them of content. Another possible, & more generous, explanation is that the media is actually listening to evidence-based criticism. As all things are, this media shift, if it continues, is likely multiply determined, but I really do think a driving factor is Dem discipline on social media.
Aug 28 9 tweets 4 min read
Something to put on everyone's radar, including Democrats campaigning in swing states: Schools in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, & Ohio are having to close this week due to excessive heat. These schools didn't need air conditioning before; now they're over-heating.


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This is a crisis that families in several states are facing. I'll give the example of Pittsburgh, where I live with my two stepchildren. Older child went to the 1st day of school on Monday. We then found out school would be let out early today, due to excessive heat.
Aug 22 5 tweets 1 min read
Republican men do not think Ella Emhoff is ugly; they think she is attractive. They simultaneously see that she lives her life & her identity without any reference to their opinions. This is how they always are w/ liberal/leftist women. In a constant state of raging blue balls. I don't know if I would have seen this so clearly if I hadn't spent so much time in rural PA. The conservative men there: I've never felt a kind of hatred like that. The hatred of a men who find me attractive, but otherwise hated me. There was a powerlessness beneath their hatred
Aug 9 18 tweets 4 min read
I have never felt anything so deeply in my bones as I do this. We're done. That doesn't mean we're done caring about issues, whether it's universal healthcare or M.E. conflict; rather, we're done being bullied & misrepresented. We're done letting that dynamic hurt good causes all while Fascism is rising. Not agreeing w/ your tactics does not mean we don't agree w/ the ostensible cause. Let's be clear about that. You want to discuss the best tactics to bring about public awareness to a give cause you're passionate about? Let's discuss those tactics.
Aug 9 6 tweets 3 min read
I think there are many things going on with Trump. I also think it's revealing that very few of us have considered that one factor (among many factors) might be trauma from being shot at. The press hasn't considered it. I didn't consider it until yesterday. I'm not advocating for sympathy for the man. I'm pointing out something about the press's default-beliefs about Trump.

The press is likely somewhat driven by "He's so Big and Invincible" bias. There's something else here too: an implicit, unexamined recognition that Trump is a monster. A psychopath. Psychopaths can be "traumatized" by near-death experiences just like the rest of us. Psychopaths want to live; Psychopaths don't like being shot at. But the rest of us are not moved to imagine their trauma. To sympathize with it. To empathize with it.

I'm certainly not arguing for us to change our emotional response. Trump deserves neither our sympathy or our empathy precisely because he is an abusive monster.
But I think it's of genuine interest that the press seems to have defaulted to the idea that an attempted assassination wouldn't affect the man, either because he is All Powerful or because they have accepted he is soulless.

In any case, Trump's campaigning behavior is genuinely bizarre. The press should consider figuring out why. The first step might be to examine their own examined beliefs about Who Donald Trump Is. Why have they not asked how his psychological recovery is going? They did this with Fetterman post-stroke. What is it about the press's beliefs about Who Trump Is that removes such questions from the realm of their interest?

Perhaps Trump is too traumatized to campaign. The press would ask this about any other person who was shot at & then disappeared. They don't ask it about Trump. Why? To be abundantly clear: I do not care how Trump is feeling. I do care that the press seems to treat him differently than all other politicians. I do care that a lot of this differential "treatment" seems to stem from 1. normalization of just how monstrous the man is & 2. acceptance of his I'm All Powerful fascistic message.
Aug 8 13 tweets 3 min read
Republicans,
You can't effectively respond to "Did JD make sweet love to a couch?" w/ your own jokes or rumors. School Yard Rules. Whoever did it first has the power. Republicans w/ their attempts at Walz-rumors have all the energy of a kid saying, "Well, well, YOU'RE ugly TOO!" No I am not participating in any pearl-clutching about Vance-Couch-Love. That's ridiculous. We're not lying about policies. Which they do all the time. We're telling a joke everyone knows is a joke.
Aug 7 19 tweets 4 min read
I would like to alert people to something. There is a lot of foreign interference occurring on this website. I do not have much time to write now, but I do want us all to be aware of the nature of this interference. I want us all to combat it. Collectively. As Democrats. A 🧵: Much of the interference is Russian. Some could be from other countries, such as Iran & China. There's also interference from elsewhere in the Middle East. Hamas. Hezbollah. The Houthis. Most of the interference is Russian, I think. All of it follows the Russian playbook.
Aug 5 18 tweets 5 min read
I would like to suggest some very simple social media tactics that all Democrats should engage in before the election. A 🧵 1. It's fine to disagree w/ Dems from now until #EDay; That said, plz do so respectfully & kindly. The media thrives on Democratic discord. Every time Democrats/Leftists/etc engage in ferocious debate online, editors contact people like me to write Op-Eds. This drives coverage.
Aug 3 8 tweets 2 min read
"EARN MY VOTE BY AGREEING WITH ME ON EVERY ISSUE INCLUDING THE EXTREMELY NICHE ONES AND ALSO YOU MUST PHRASE YOUR DISAGREEMENT EXACTLY THE SAME WAY ME AND MY COLLEGE ROOMMATES WOULD PHRASE IT" yells a person who lives in a democracy. I'm getting more frustrated by this as I age. I am a very liberal woman. Most people in this country are more moderate or conservative than I am. If my POTUS, Senator, or Rep shares 75% of the same views as I do, I'm pretty damn lucky. I live in a country of 300 million people.
Jul 26 12 tweets 4 min read
When we witness acts like these, it is incumbent to consider 2 sets of questions
1: How do we feel about the protests themselves?
2: What would happen to these protesters if Donald Trump were president, given SCOTUS's immunity decision? What would then happen to the rest of us?

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I think everyone who follows me knows, at this point, how I feel about these specific protests. They are counter-productive at best & antisemitic at worst. There has been illegal behavior, incl. violence that should be addressed by police. All of this deserves to be talked about.
Jul 23 12 tweets 3 min read
My partner is white-working class from rural PA. I showed him this, expecting him to mock it with me, as it seemed so stilted. His impression was wildly different than mine. He said that white people in rural PA would love this. Not saying we should cater to this, just understand it I also want to point out just how divergent my impression was from my partner's. I lived in rural PA for almost four years & I understand it better than most commentators do, but I still don't *feel* the dog-whistles like someone brought up in the culture does.
Jul 18 14 tweets 3 min read
I have an observation. It will be a depressing one, but my intent is not to depress you; it is to diagnose an issue so that we can collectively treat it. I believe Democratic voters, at this moment in time, feel like they have just enough strength for one more big fight. We lived through 4 years of Trump. We fought him at every turn. We defeated him. We lived through COVID. We've overcome that, as well. Then, we've lived through the Biden presidency & we've had to experience the fatigue of No One but Us seeing the good Biden has done.
Jul 17 10 tweets 2 min read
Anyone who acts pompous about Biden vs. someone else at this stage is lying to you. There is no certainty here, other than the election can be won. There is no perfect way to turn the dial. To gain just enough voters such that you don't lose so many others. This is ridiculous. I have no real knowledge of how Biden or Harris would do better in terms of the general election. All I have are arguments, tied together w/ data-analytic observations & personal reflections. That's all any of us have. I'm so tired of know-it-alls. People w/ humility know more.
Jul 16 15 tweets 4 min read
We have to start connecting the dots. Here are 2 examples:
1. Climate Scientist @MichaelEMann, writing about how Doom is exploited by Russia to degrade climate change action
2. Historian @TimothyDSnyder, writing about how Doom has been exploited by Russia & fascists everywhere
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I began to connect the dots earlier this year. I had been feeling doom since 10/7. Doom b/c of all the real, awful events. Then doom b/c of what felt like a shared reality & purpose becoming unraveled. Doom at what felt like an inability to influence anything. Loss of agency.
Jul 15 13 tweets 3 min read
A personal story: I would not have known that there were people in the U.S. who genuinely loved Hillary Clinton if I hadn't had Tuberculosis in 2016. I learned what "Hillary Love" was from my healthcare worker. Her love for Hillary made me see Hillary differently. When you have TB, you are assigned a healthcare worker to deliver your medication every day. Often, you are put in quarantine & your healthcare worker is the only person you see. My healthcare worker, my beloved J, was with me every day from April 2016 to October, 2016.
Jul 13 17 tweets 4 min read
I have seen people panic these past few weeks that I'd never thought I'd see panic. Same with despair. Then, when I saw someone panic or despair who I would never have expected panic or despair, I started to panic & despair. Then you would too. We fed off of each other. Even those of us who could see the vicious cycle felt compelled to return again and again and again. Each one of us was affected by someone we know & respect showing panic & despair. I've never been in the middle of a psycho-social whirlwind like that one.
Jul 12 11 tweets 3 min read
Hi, folks, I have some good news. It's based somewhat in anecdote, but I am confident in my anecdotal experience reflecting reality. The Biden campaign & others want the focus to turn to Project2025. The good news is: It's working. This is from the past week: Image Social media is not reality, but what we talk about in social media is what drives narratives. There is much to learn about the fact that Israel/Gaza consumed all of our energy for 9 months & now is a "non-story." We stopped talking about it when we panicked about the debate.
Jul 12 19 tweets 4 min read
I feel like people aren't getting this &, personally, I think it's the most critical calculation about "winning" that we need to be having. Let's put aside our emotions for a minute; our loyalties, etc. Let's consider what we "know" vs. what we "don't know."🧵 We know what Biden's floor is. We know what it is after many years of elections & his presidency. Critically, we know what the floor looks like after a bad debate performance & an onslaught of negative media. Biden is at his weakest moment right now. He is still tied w/ Trump.
Jul 10 12 tweets 3 min read
Hi. I am about to swear. I apologize for this. I don't think it's particularly becoming. I also think there is no way to convey my thoughts without swearing, perhaps to a great extent.

Democrats: Get Your Fucking Shit Together. The truth about why we lost 2016 was not a Trumpian revolution. It's because we looked weak. We made ourselves weak. We made HRC look weak. What y'all are doing right now makes this weak-ass shit from 2016 look like fucking pudding. You Are Weakening Us.
Jul 10 20 tweets 8 min read
I will put this plainly, w/o hyperbole: If the U.S. leaves NATO, we will be looking down the barrell at a level of European warfare we haven't seen since WWII. Putin will invade more countries. Europe, for the 1st time in 80 years, will go it alone, w/o the U.S. Look at a map. Consider a captured Ukraine, which is very possible if Trump wins. Romania, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, & Poland have all said they are prepared for greater warfare. France, Germany, & Britain are preparing to defend them. Image