Open in TheBrain

Matthew Yglesias


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6 26

The Argument is a mission‑driven media company based in Washington, D.C. We make a positive, combative case for liberalism through sharp, well-argued opinion pieces, original reporting, and multimedia content that confronts the illiberal drift in our politics.

We aim to persuade, not preach; argue, not just diagnose. Our coverage will focus on the politics and economics of growth, technology and society, gender and family.

The Argument was founded by Jerusalem Demsas. Kelsey Piper is a staff writer and our director of political data is Lakshya Jain. Our columnists include Derek Thompson, Matt Bruenig, Matthew Yglesias, Rachael Bedard and Robinson Meyer.

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reving dr

Abundists haven’t been shy about their support for high level Trump toadies.
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum

A billionaire software magnate with a side hustle leasing his land to oil companies, Burgum has become a favorite of the Abundance crowd. When his name was announced, Politicoreported that much of the jubilation came from Burgum’s attention to “one of the abundance agenda’s key fixations, or bogeymen: permitting reform.”

In Open Philanthropy’s announcementof their $120 million Abundance And Growth Fund (funded largely by tech titans Dustin Moskovitz and Patrick Collison), they cite Burgum’s previous calls for zoning reform and infrastructure investment as proof that abundance ideas have been “gaining traction for some time on both sides of the U.S. political spectrum.”

Matthew Yglesias, who Derek Thompson described as the “OG grandfather” of the ideas in Abundanceand is a Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center, reassured his liberal audience that Burgum is “a totally solid pick who’ll do good things.” Yglesias also previously supported Burgum for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Alec Stapp, the co-founder and co-CEO of the Institute for Progress made his support for Burgum very clear, saying “Excited to see Burgum land a cabinet role in the new administration. He’s a YIMBY abundance guy.” Aidan Mackenzie, an infrastructure fellow at the Institute for Progress, also chimed in, adding “I think it was a really good pick.”

When speaking about Trump’s intent to nominate Burgum to lead the Department of the interior, CEO of theInclusive Abundance Initiative, Derek Kaufman said “We are excited for the abundance community to resume work with the new administration on electricity transmission and permitting reform, which came so close to becoming law at the end of 2024.”

Alex Trembathof the Breakthrough Institute celebrated Burgum’s first day in the Trump administration simply, posting a quote from Burgum that reads simply: “We are entering an era of abundance”

Armand Domalewski, a self-appointed abundance influencer with an increasingly prominent voice in the abundance world, celebrated Burgum’s appointment, posting “BURGUM BROS WE ARE SO BACK.”

Thomas Hochman of the Foundation for American Innovation has been particularly thrilled with Burgum’s inclusion in the Trump administration, declaring “In Burgum we trust” and celebrating Burgum’s role in exempting companies from the Endangered Species Act and in ensuring further fossil fuel exploitation.

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright

Oil and gas magnate Chris Wright is perhaps the single most popular Trump appointee among the Abundance crowd. Politicodescribed his nomination as having brought together “unlikely friends” to support “Chris Wright’s ‘energy abundance’ future” and as being backed by “the loose coalition of analysts and writers pushing for an ‘abundance agenda.’”

Inclusive Abundance’s Derek Kaufmanhas praised Wright’s appointment as a win for abundance and helpfully pointed out that “The word ‘abundance’ appears 11 times in the confirmation hearing transcript for President Trump’s nominee to run the Department of Energy, Chris Wright. It was invoked by Senators across the political spectrum, ranging from Mike Lee (R-UT) to Bill Cassidy (R-LA) to Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) to Martin Heinrich (D-NM).”

In their $120 million abundance grant announcement, Open Philanthropycelebrated the conservative embrace of abundist ideas, citing Wright’s appointment as evidence. “On the right, President Trump has issued an executive order focused on reducing energy costs […] and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has argued for the removal of burdensome regulations on nuclear power.”

Institute for Progress’ Aidan Mackenziealso praised Chris Wright’s nomination, saying “Both Burgum and Chris Wright seem committed to an all-of-the-above approach to energy; they’re very pro-oil and gas, but they’re also excited about forms of clean energy, especially nuclear and geothermal.”

The Breakthrough Institute’s Alex Trembatheven defended Wright’s assertion that climate change is not a crisis, saying “Chris Wright’s claim that climate change is not a “crisis” is, while not the last word on the subject, much more scientifically defensible than the claims of his environmentalist critics.” Trembath later posted “Chris Wright: smart choice.”

Thomas Hochman summed up his opinion of the appointment simply: “Wright pursuing an all-of-the-above approach to energy production… pretty ideal”

NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya

The Trump administration has utterly dismantled the National Institutes of Health and is currently proposing a 40% cut, which would devastate scientific advancement for generations. But don’t worry, abundists have full confidence in Trump’s NIH Director, Jay Bhattacharya. While he does have a medical degree, Bhattacharya has never practiced medicine nor even completed a medical residency.

Open Philanthropy was bullish on Bhattacharya in March, when they said, “There is also cross-partisan interest in improving science policy, from newly nominated NIH director Jay Bhattacharya’s calls for a focus on reproducibility and funding high impact research, to the launch of the new Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships directorate at the NSF during the Biden administration.” Tragically, the Trump administration has proved less interested in funding research than cutting it, throwing the NSF that Open Philanthropy was so excited about into complete chaos.

The Foundation for American Innovation’sChief Economist, Samuel Hammond,said Bhattacharya’s appointment was cause for optimism, posting “That said, how many people do you know going into HHS? The folks I know around Jim O’Neill, Jay Bhattacharya and Martin Makary are extremely high quality and serious about reform. Doesn’t mean I’ll agree with all their ideas, but there are some genuine reasons for optimism if you know anything at all ahout [sic] the behind the scenes.”

Institute for Progress’co-founder and co-CEO, Caleb Watney, elevated Bhattacharya’s analysis of the “increasing difficulty of funding novel research and younger scholars at the NIH,” a hobbyhorse of the abundance community, and said he was “very glad to see a larger focus on this issue.”

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2 25 WIKI

Matthew Yglesias (/ɪˈɡleɪsiəs/; born May 18, 1981[2]) is an American blogger and journalist who writes about economics and politics.[3][4] Yglesias has written columns and articles for publications such as The American Prospect, The Atlantic, and Slate. In 2014, he co-founded the news website Vox.

In November 2020,[5] Yglesias left his position as an editor and columnist at Vox to publish the Substack newsletter Slow Boring. In the same month, he joined the Niskanen Center as a Senior Fellow.[6][7]

Early life and education

Yglesias is the son of Rafael Yglesias, a screenwriter and novelist. His paternal grandfather, novelist Jose Yglesias, was of Cuban and Spanish Galician descent, while his paternal grandmother, novelist Helen Yglesias (née Bassine) was the daughter of Yiddish-speaking immigrants from the Russian-controlled portion of Poland. His mother, Margaret Joskow, was the daughter of Jules Joskow, founder of National Economic Research Associates; economist Paul Joskow is Yglesias's uncle. His maternal grandparents were also of Eastern European Jewish descent.[8]

Yglesias went to high school at the Dalton School in New York City. He attended Harvard University, where he was editor in chief of The Harvard Independent and graduated in 2003 with a B.A. magna cum laude in philosophy.[9][10]

Career

Early career

Yglesias started blogging in early 2002, while still in college, focusing mainly on American politics and public policy issues, often approached from an abstract, philosophical perspective. Yglesias joined the American Prospect as a writing fellow upon his graduation in 2003, subsequently becoming a staff writer. His posts appeared regularly on the magazine's collaborative weblog TAPPED.[11]

From June 2007 until August 2008, Yglesias was a staff writer at The Atlantic Monthly, and his blog was hosted on the magazine's website, The Atlantic. In July 2008, he announced that he would leave The Atlantic Monthly for the Center for American Progress where he wrote for its blog, ThinkProgress, because he missed "the sense of collegiality that comes from working with like-minded colleagues on a shared enterprise" and thought he could "help advance their mission."[12] On November 21, 2011, he left ThinkProgress to work as a business and economics correspondent at Slate's Moneybox.[13][14]

Vox

In February 2014, Yglesias left Slate and joined Vox Media to co-found Vox with Ezra Klein and Melissa Bell.[15] On November 13, 2020, Yglesias announced that he would no longer be writing for Vox.com.[16] Yglesias moved to Substack for editorial independence.[17]

Controversy

In 2013, Yglesias garnered controversy for his statements about the 2013 Dhaka garment factory collapse, with Yglesias arguing that the lower building standards that partially led to the factory's collapse make "economic sense"[18] in developing countries, later tweeting that "foreign factories should be more dangerous than American factories"[19][20] and "the current system of letting different countries have different rules is working fine."[21] His comments were widely criticized in The Daily Beast,[22] Time,[23] and other outlets,[24][25] with The Guardian commenting that Yglesias is "confusing a person's human worth with their socio-economic status. That's wrong."[26] Yglesias later clarified some of his comments, but stood by his original position.[27]

Yglesias deleted his past Twitter feed in November 2018, after controversy over tweets which defended the motivation of protesters who gathered outside the house of Tucker Carlson. The tweets also expressed a lack of empathy for Carlson's wife, which caused outrage.[28]

Books

Yglesias authored the political nonfiction book One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger, released on September 15, 2020.[29] It was inspired by Doug Saunders' Maximum Canada.[30] According to an analysis by British digital strategist Rob Blackie, Yglesias was one of the most commonly followed political writers among Biden administration staff on Twitter.[31]

Andrew Sullivan, a fellow blogger, takes nominations on his blog for the Yglesias Award, an honor "for writers, politicians, columnists or pundits who actually criticize their own side, make enemies among political allies, and generally risk something for the sake of saying what they believe."[32][33]

Political views

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In 2011, The Economist wrote that Yglesias espoused "left-leaning neoliberalism" in his writing.[34] In 2017, Vice listed Yglesias among a group of political writers who were labelled "neoliberal shills" in left-wing Twitter communities.[35] Yglesias himself embraced the "neoliberal shill" label in a 2019 podcast.[36]

Yglesias initially supported the US invasion of Iraq. He referred to Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as "evil" and argued that "we should take them all out", although he criticized the term "axis of evil".[37][38] Reflecting on his support for the 2003 Iraq War in 2010, Yglesias identified several reasons for his "mistake" at the time. He cited his belief in a more assertive American foreign policy, shaped by the idea that the US should have intervened more decisively in conflicts such as those in Haiti, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Kosovo. This belief contributed to his predisposition toward military intervention. He was also influenced by the support of prominent political figures, including key Democratic leaders and Tony Blair, whose positions he largely deferred to. Additionally, Yglesias acknowledged that he had underestimated the political risk for the Bush administration, even in the absence of confirmed weapons of mass destruction.[39]

In or before 2010, Yglesias coined the term "pundit's fallacy" to denote "the belief that what a politician needs to do to improve his or her political standing is do what the pundit wants substantively."[40][41][42] In 2012, Yglesias stated that he voted for Mitt Romney when he won the office for governor of Massachusetts in 2002.[43]

Personal life

Yglesias is married to Kate Crawford. Yglesias and Crawford met in 2008, and have one son together. Crawford now serves as editor for his Slow Boring newsletter.[44]

Works

References

  1. ^ "Matthew Yglesias Profile and Activity". Vox. Archived from the original on May 28, 2024. Retrieved June 5, 2024....

2 25 DUCK

Slow Boring

https://www.slowboring.com › p › climate-is-the-problem

Climate is the problem - by Matthew Yglesias - Slow Boring

Jan 16, 2024Matthew Yglesias. Jan 16, 2024. ∙ Paid. 343. Share this post. Slow Boring . Climate is the problem. Copy link. Facebook. Email. ... The climate advocates had the privilege of being the Democratic Party's favored children during 2021-2022, even though the voters didn't like that idea, and now it's time for climate advocates to repay the ...

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Slow Boring

https://www.slowboring.com › p › how-i-went-from-left-to-center-left

How I went from left to center-left - by Matthew Yglesias - Slow Boring

May 29, 2024The countries poised to suffer most from climate change are not the ones that have benefitted most from industrialization. Those three considerations do add up, in my opinion, to a compelling moral case for American climate leadership. ... Matthew's journey also reflects that he was and is highly focused on policy, while both left and right ...

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https://www.slowboring.com › p › sunrise-movement

Climate politics for the real world - by Matthew Yglesias - Slow Boring

Matthew Yglesias. Mar 16, 2022. 189. Share this post. Slow Boring . Climate politics for the real world . Copy link. Facebook. Email. Notes. ... Climate is a global problem and solutions require global coordination, which is inherently difficult and involves players who want to free-ride and also those who worry about others free-riding.

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Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Matthew_Yglesias

Matthew Yglesias - Wikipedia

Matthew Yglesias (/ ɪ ˈ ɡ l eɪ s i ə s /; born May 18, 1981 [2]) is an American blogger and journalist who writes about economics and politics. [3] [4] Yglesias has written columns and articles for publications such as The American Prospect, The Atlantic, and Slate.In 2014, he co-founded the news website Vox.. In November 2020, [5] Yglesias left his position as an editor and columnist at ...

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Vox

https://www.vox.com › future-perfect › 21449512 › matt-yglesias-one-billion-americans

One Billion Americans: The case for many more Americans, explained - Vox

A conversation with Matthew Yglesias on families, the economy, global competition, and One Billion Americans. ... climate change is a much more serious problem than our current policy makes it ...

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Substack

https://substack.com › @matthewyglesias

Matthew Yglesias - Substack

Matthew Yglesias . @matthewyglesias • Links. Blogger, journalist, podcaster, trying to get back to my roots. 191K+ subscribers. Subscribe. Slow Boring . By Matthew Yglesias. Start your day with pragmatic takes on politics and public policy. Activity Posts Likes Reads (25) Get app

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The Seattle Times

https://www.seattletimes.com › author › matthew-yglesias

Matthew Yglesias - The Seattle Times

Nov 21, 2024A pipeline in a climate bill? Yes | Matthew Yglesias. With today's technology, in today's global economy, more gas means lower emissions, not higher. Opinion; Syndicated Columnists; 1; 2; Last;

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CSIS

https://www.csis.org › analysis › transition-changing-politics-climate

The Transition: The Changing Politics of Climate - CSIS

Matthew Yglesias: So climate change is genuinely occurring. It is bad. In so far as it is possible to have less warming, that is good. It's also not an extinction level human threat by any means necessary we should be reducing emissions. And I think really importantly, the United States is only one of many countries, and we can't force India ...

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https://podcasters.spotify.com › pod › show › reversingclimatechange › episodes › S2E35-Matthew-Yglesias-tells-us-why-climate-people-should-root-for-One-Billion-Americans-ela0sg

S2E35: Matthew Yglesias tells us why climate people should root for One ...

Matthew Yglesias is the cofounder of Vox, host of The Weeds Podcast, journalist and author of the national bestseller, One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Matt joins Ross and Paul to discuss the premise of his book, explaining why it's crucial for the US to grow its population and ...

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https://poddtoppen.se › podcast › 1321759767 › reversing-climate-change › s2e35-matthew-yglesias-tells-us-why-climate-people-should-root-for-one-billion-americans

S2E35: Matthew Yglesias tells us why climate people should root for One ...

Matthew Yglesias argues that while electoral politics is a zero-sum game, policy is not. And any two priorities can be reconciled to craft a win-win, provided both sides accept the premise that we need to take action on climate change. Matthew Yglesias is the cofounder of Vox, host of The Weeds Podcast,