Substacks recommended by Jon Saxton

Recommended by Jon Saxton

Robert Reich

Daily newsletter exposing where power lies — and how it's used and abused

Letters from an American

By Heather Cox Richardson

A newsletter about the history behind today's politics.

The Bulwark

The Bulwark is home to Sarah Longwell, Tim Miller, Bill Kristol, JVL, Sam Stein, and more. We are the largest pro-democracy bundle on Substack for news and analysis on politics and culture—supported by a community built on good-faith.

Mostly former Republicans turned Never-Trumpers with lots of useful perspective.

- Jon Saxton

Poetic Outlaws

A place for the outlaws of poetry and the written word.

I Might Be Wrong

By Jeff Maurer

Comedy, politics, and swearing in pretty much equal amounts.

Always fresh and intelligent.

- Jon Saxton

Noahpinion

By Noah Smith

Economics and other interesting stuff

The Contrarian

Unflinching journalism in defense of democracy

Malcolm Nance: Special Intelligence

By Black Man Spy

Geopolitical Intelligence Analysis & Warnings on Democracy, War, Espionage, and Terrorism. XFind me on Tiktok: @OfficialMalcolmNance Youtube: @MalcolmNanceMedia, BlueSky: @malcolmnance.bsky.com, X - @MalcolmNance FYI I DO NOT DM PEOPLE FOR MONEY.

Solid!

- Jon Saxton

Michael Moore

I was born in Flint, Michigan and raised on a dirt street by loving parents, two sisters and a lot of Green Giant in a can.

The Warning with Steve Schmidt

Explains what is happening, and why in our turbulent era. Speaks truth to power. 1 written & 1 broadcast commentary/day 6x/week.

Always on point. Often cathartic.

- Jon Saxton

Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance

By Joyce Vance

Worried about the state of the republic? Get the legal knowledge & analysis you need to be an advocate for democracy, along with a dose of savvy optimism.

Always essential reading on the most important topics.

- Jon Saxton

History, Etc

By Dan Jones

A weekly newsletter from Dan Jones, about medieval history (mostly)

Lucid

By Ruth Ben-Ghiat

A newsletter for big-picture thinking about autocracy and threats to democracy around the world

Phillips’s Newsletter

By Phillips P. OBrien

Whatever intrigues me--these days the Russo-Ukraine War with regular departures

The Present Age

By Parker Molloy

Parker Molloy’s award-winning media criticism, culture, and politics newsletter.

Smart, needed commentary on issues that matter.

- Jon Saxton

Magic + Loss

By Virginia Heffernan

Politics for English majors.

Stat Significant

By Daniel Parris

Data-centric essays about movies, music, TV, and more.

Michael Cohen

Principal of Crisis-X #1 and #8 NYT Bestseller Author Host of The Mea Culpa Podcast Co-Host of The Political Beatdown Former Personal Attorney To President Donald J. Trump Discharged Felon

The Cosmopolitan Globalist

By Claire Berlinski

Edited by essayist Claire Berlinski, this is Substack's top forum for the discussion of international news among readers and writers, around the world, who are concerned about the future of liberal democracy and the gathering storm of global war.

Harry's Last Stand Newsletter

By John M Smith

Survival, socialism, cancer and left wing politics for all with a dash of humour.

The Briefing

By Brennan Center

Our democracy is facing the biggest crisis in decades. The Briefing is a weekly deep dive by Brennan Center experts into the key issues impacting our democracy.

The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak

A war correspondent's open notebook, reporting live from Kyiv. Human stories that illustrate what’s happening during the war in Ukraine, and elsewhere on the frontlines for democracy. Issues 3x a week!

So Here’s a Thing

By Michael Marshall Smith

Words about writing, and the world, and the weird and fascinating things in it. Everything's interesting if you give it a good look — so let's go do that.

Everything Is Horrible

By Noah Berlatsky

Culture, politics, and misery.

PREVAIL by Greg Olear

PREVAIL is a regular column about politics, history, national security, foreign affairs, organized crime, dirty money, global corruption, the fight for democracy—and, on Sundays, poetry and literature.

Fixing Bugs In Democracy - by Sam Wang

By Sam Wang (newsletter)

Data, politics, and necessary repairs

The Freedom Academy with Asha Rangappa

A interactive community and college-level course about disinformation, its impact on democracy, and how we can make America's social fabric more resilient to this new threat.

Dispatches From A Collapsing State | Jared Yates Sexton

Diagnosing a world in crisis while finding means and strategies for a better, realer, more human future.

American Freakshow

By Nina Burleigh

A weekly newsletter from veteran journalist Nina Burleigh keeping an eye on MAGA extremism and its absurdity.

Hey, Slick!

By Slick

Myths with teeth, futures with soul. Sharp with the quill, cutting through the noise. Meaning, critique, and defiance in a world losing the plot.

Lucian Truscott Newsletter

By Lucian K. Truscott IV

I've covered everything from three wars, a few presidential campaigns, the Stonewall riots and the Rolling Stones. This column reflects that history and is about politics, culture, personal stories, and the nation's descent into anti-democratic madness.

Commonplace

By Oren Cass

A magazine about what matters in America

The Hartmann Report

By Thom Hartmann

A Daily Newsletter of Renaissance Thinking about Progressive Politics, Economics, Science, and the Political News Issues of Our Day

Deep dives into all of the issues from the sane left.

- Jon Saxton

Garbage Day

By Ryan Broderick

A newsletter about having fun online.

One First

By Steve Vladeck

A weekly newsletter aiming to make the Supreme Court’s rulings, procedures, and history more accessible to all

Adjacent Possible

By Steven Johnson

A newsletter from author Steven Johnson exploring where good ideas come from—and how to keep them from turning against us.

Richard Hanania's Newsletter

Foreign policy, American politics, and social science

We the People Dissent

By K. Starling

Boycotts, strikes, protests, and phone calls—We can make our voices heard. At We (the People) Dissent, I gather and publish lists of ways everyday Americans can stand together.

Continuous Variation

By Alex Williams

Continuous Variation is a journal of the current past.

Slow Boring

By Matthew Yglesias

Start your day with pragmatic takes on politics and public policy.

America’s Fractured Politics

By Mark Mansour

A publication about politics and the law by a longtime Democratic activist and attorney.

The Liberal Patriot

By John Halpin

Political and policy analysis from the vital center.

Convulsions

By Ron Fournier

A witness to change in an age of acrimony: Essays on politics, communications, culture and life.

Symbolic Capital(ism)

By Musa al-Gharbi

Exploring the relationships between social justice discourse, inequality, and the rise of the symbolic professions.

Best analytical framework I’ve seen in understanding our current politics.

- Jon Saxton

Singal-Minded

By Jesse Singal

A newsletter about science, social-justice-activism, why they sometimes fight, and how to help them get along better -- plus a good deal of other, more random stuff.

America in Crisis

By Michael A Alexander

Retired industrial scientist with a lifelong interest in social sciences. I write on economic and political topics from a cultural evolutionary standpoint.

Political Currents by Ross Barkan

This is Ross Barkan's newsletter - original essays on politics, society, and culture

Blue Amp Media

By Cliff Schecter with Blue Amp

Cliff Schecter & David Shuster didn't just discover the GOP's evil, find our voices, switch sides. We've been at this 25 years. Cliff wrote ads that helped Pres Biden beat Trump in '20. David exposed GOP corruption as an Emmy-winning anchor at MSNBC & CNN

Special Projects by The Bulwark

The Corruption of Lindsey Graham by William Saletan

This looks to be a very good deep dive into the Trumpitization of the Republican mind.

- Jon Saxton

Josh Ostroff

Jon Thinks Out Loud

Recommended by Jon Saxton