Blake Abbott
@blakeabbott.bsky.social
he/him/his
Associate Professor of Communication Studies at Towson University
team rhetoric
Arsenal supporter
Posts reflect my personal opinion
Associate Professor of Communication Studies at Towson University
team rhetoric
Arsenal supporter
Posts reflect my personal opinion
Pinned
Blake Abbott
@blakeabbott.bsky.social
· Jun 24
My forthcoming book from MSU Press, Investment Citizenship: Rhetoric and Affect Beyond Late Neoliberalism has a cover!
Design by David Drummond
Design by David Drummond
Generally speaking, Trump has 2 moves:
1. Break things/hurt people
2. Threaten to break things/hurt people
He’s temperamentally incapable of constructive action because the above are the best ways he knows to get attention and he’s too lazy to consider alternatives that aren’t one of the above.
1. Break things/hurt people
2. Threaten to break things/hurt people
He’s temperamentally incapable of constructive action because the above are the best ways he knows to get attention and he’s too lazy to consider alternatives that aren’t one of the above.
Very much like his approach to the Kennedy Center. Trump is incapable of fixing anything, so is resorting to threats to break things unless he gets his way. It’s a minor miracle he hasn’t nuked California yet.
Trump: if you don’t let me keep prices high I will create a depression www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2026/09/trum...
September 13, 2026 at 11:52 PM
Generally speaking, Trump has 2 moves:
1. Break things/hurt people
2. Threaten to break things/hurt people
He’s temperamentally incapable of constructive action because the above are the best ways he knows to get attention and he’s too lazy to consider alternatives that aren’t one of the above.
1. Break things/hurt people
2. Threaten to break things/hurt people
He’s temperamentally incapable of constructive action because the above are the best ways he knows to get attention and he’s too lazy to consider alternatives that aren’t one of the above.
Reposted by Blake Abbott
Our society's unfathomable cruelty to homeless people is not just morally unjustifiable, but more expensive than housing people would be.
Cruelty against the homeless is an unaffordable luxury. Abandoning homeless people to avoid offending the Protestant work ethic is an unaffordable luxury.
Cruelty against the homeless is an unaffordable luxury. Abandoning homeless people to avoid offending the Protestant work ethic is an unaffordable luxury.
ProPublica spoke to dozens of people who had lived in homeless encampments when cities cleared them out in “sweeps.”
We distributed notecards so people could tell us about the toll in their own words.
➡️ This is what they wrote:
We distributed notecards so people could tell us about the toll in their own words.
➡️ This is what they wrote:
September 6, 2026 at 1:50 PM
Our society's unfathomable cruelty to homeless people is not just morally unjustifiable, but more expensive than housing people would be.
Cruelty against the homeless is an unaffordable luxury. Abandoning homeless people to avoid offending the Protestant work ethic is an unaffordable luxury.
Cruelty against the homeless is an unaffordable luxury. Abandoning homeless people to avoid offending the Protestant work ethic is an unaffordable luxury.
Learn the phrase, “born on third, thinks he hit a triple.”
Trump is an economic illiterate. But Democrats in general have been hesitant to simply say this. About time.
August 26, 2026 at 10:53 PM
Learn the phrase, “born on third, thinks he hit a triple.”
Reposted by Blake Abbott
I hereby publicly state that I shall never, under any circumstances, be loyal to this man or those who wholeheartedly support him.
August 24, 2026 at 11:19 PM
I hereby publicly state that I shall never, under any circumstances, be loyal to this man or those who wholeheartedly support him.
Reposted by Blake Abbott
You don't get alt right/manosphere without what happened to alt rock radio & its bro-ification (remember Mancow?), and that was made possible by a combo of the telecom act & the way the welfare & immigration acts reshaped white masculinity
August 21, 2026 at 10:33 PM
You don't get alt right/manosphere without what happened to alt rock radio & its bro-ification (remember Mancow?), and that was made possible by a combo of the telecom act & the way the welfare & immigration acts reshaped white masculinity
Remember, hypocrisy is a feature of fascism, not a bug.
August 18, 2026 at 1:42 AM
Remember, hypocrisy is a feature of fascism, not a bug.
Reposted by Blake Abbott
it was a generational fumble for the dems to pull back on letting coach tim, our gentle midwestern uncle, stand in front of a mic and express disgust and bewilderment at what an absolute grab bag of misfit freaks this admin is. this is weird! these people are fucking weirdos!!! it’s yucky!
Trump aide Natalie Harp spent a summer sleeping in the locker room at Trump's Bedminster golf club to remain close to him after she was denied a room.
August 17, 2026 at 5:20 PM
it was a generational fumble for the dems to pull back on letting coach tim, our gentle midwestern uncle, stand in front of a mic and express disgust and bewilderment at what an absolute grab bag of misfit freaks this admin is. this is weird! these people are fucking weirdos!!! it’s yucky!
Reposted by Blake Abbott
every single day I am baffled by the fact that this man - this incredibly, astoundingly embarrassing man - is the one half the damn country built a cult of personality around
Trump: “The Winning Shot in the Bedminster Club Championship! Thank you very much to all of those who participated. I won with a 70, & am so honored in that, unlike the rest of the field, I’m given very little time to practice, bc I’m focused on many other things. It’s called TALENT, and I have it”
August 2, 2026 at 7:03 PM
every single day I am baffled by the fact that this man - this incredibly, astoundingly embarrassing man - is the one half the damn country built a cult of personality around
Reposted by Blake Abbott
We can make a society that exists for the care and thriving and enjoyment of the actual people rather than for the enrichment of parasitical greed freaks and the comfort of creepy-minded religious bigots. All that's needed is for more people to stop fearing good things and start fighting for them.
July 18, 2026 at 6:15 AM
We can make a society that exists for the care and thriving and enjoyment of the actual people rather than for the enrichment of parasitical greed freaks and the comfort of creepy-minded religious bigots. All that's needed is for more people to stop fearing good things and start fighting for them.
Reposted by Blake Abbott
Every day this guy does something like this and every day the same people who dress him up as a terrifying commie destroyer of civilization do a dozen things to sabotage the public good, to murder and destroy and hate and kill, and I can't anymore handle those who won't see the clear difference.
This summer, we kept the lights on all night, every night, at five soccer fields across New York City.
This was the scene at Calvert Vaux Park in Gravesend, Brooklyn Tuesday night.
July 18, 2026 at 6:08 AM
Every day this guy does something like this and every day the same people who dress him up as a terrifying commie destroyer of civilization do a dozen things to sabotage the public good, to murder and destroy and hate and kill, and I can't anymore handle those who won't see the clear difference.
They’re calling it the “Trump Dump.”
Weird how there’s just always an epidemic disease outbreak with this guy. prospect.org/2026/07/16/h...
How Donald Trump Created the Worst Diarrhea Outbreak This Century - The American Prospect
The ‘MAHA Trots’ are what happens when Republicans implement their anti-government agenda.
prospect.org
July 16, 2026 at 12:37 PM
They’re calling it the “Trump Dump.”
Reposted by Blake Abbott
This morning in Biddeford, Maine, a 26-year-old man said goodbye to his wife and daughter and left for work. Moments later he was dead, shot in the head by ICE agents, the second man ICE has killed in six days.
ICE is killing our neighbors. ICE cannot be reformed. Abolish ICE.
ICE is killing our neighbors. ICE cannot be reformed. Abolish ICE.
July 14, 2026 at 12:11 AM
This morning in Biddeford, Maine, a 26-year-old man said goodbye to his wife and daughter and left for work. Moments later he was dead, shot in the head by ICE agents, the second man ICE has killed in six days.
ICE is killing our neighbors. ICE cannot be reformed. Abolish ICE.
ICE is killing our neighbors. ICE cannot be reformed. Abolish ICE.
I think this is a potentially useful rhetorical framing. Some have tried “everything Trump touches dies,” but the idea that he’s a vibe killer takes that a notch further and helps to make him and his followers pariahs.
There’s never been anyone whose involvement more completely and immediately poisons vibes and destroys joy. No good thing survives contact.
July 7, 2026 at 2:29 AM
I think this is a potentially useful rhetorical framing. Some have tried “everything Trump touches dies,” but the idea that he’s a vibe killer takes that a notch further and helps to make him and his followers pariahs.
It will never stop bothering me how many people refuse to see (or overlook) just how much of a loser he is. He should have been properly laughed out of the race in 2016. Biggest unforced error ever.
Everything he touches dies, and we have know this for 40+ years but the mainstream media just loves sucking his little tiny dick.
Atlantic City
Trump Planes
That football league
Knicks Game 4
The Reflecting Pool
Trump Steaks
Miss Universe
Dignity of the Presidency
USA and World Cup FIFA
Atlantic City
Trump Planes
That football league
Knicks Game 4
The Reflecting Pool
Trump Steaks
Miss Universe
Dignity of the Presidency
USA and World Cup FIFA
July 7, 2026 at 2:15 AM
It will never stop bothering me how many people refuse to see (or overlook) just how much of a loser he is. He should have been properly laughed out of the race in 2016. Biggest unforced error ever.
Reposted by Blake Abbott
every time a stutter step penalty is saved an angel gets its wings
July 5, 2026 at 8:15 PM
every time a stutter step penalty is saved an angel gets its wings
Wait…Germany lost a penalty shootout?
June 29, 2026 at 11:58 PM
Wait…Germany lost a penalty shootout?
Reposted by Blake Abbott
It is core to the nature of reactionary politics that its adherents *always* conceive of themselves as aggrieved victims, no matter how much power they amass. It's a permission structure for their own lawlessness & violence.
Massie: "I think it's ironic that we control the House, Senate, Supreme Court, and the White House, and we're yelling 'election fraud'? I mean, we won all the damn elections."
June 27, 2026 at 4:12 PM
It is core to the nature of reactionary politics that its adherents *always* conceive of themselves as aggrieved victims, no matter how much power they amass. It's a permission structure for their own lawlessness & violence.
My forthcoming book from MSU Press, Investment Citizenship: Rhetoric and Affect Beyond Late Neoliberalism has a cover!
Design by David Drummond
Design by David Drummond
June 24, 2026 at 12:52 PM
My forthcoming book from MSU Press, Investment Citizenship: Rhetoric and Affect Beyond Late Neoliberalism has a cover!
Design by David Drummond
Design by David Drummond
Reposted by Blake Abbott
Seattle elects a socialist mayor, wins the Super Bowl
NYC elects a socialist mayor, wins the NBA finals
Win your city a major sports title with this one neat trick
NYC elects a socialist mayor, wins the NBA finals
Win your city a major sports title with this one neat trick
June 14, 2026 at 3:34 AM
Seattle elects a socialist mayor, wins the Super Bowl
NYC elects a socialist mayor, wins the NBA finals
Win your city a major sports title with this one neat trick
NYC elects a socialist mayor, wins the NBA finals
Win your city a major sports title with this one neat trick
Ossoff is banking on the great silent majority now being people planning their outfits for “when it happens.”
Ossoff: He’s trying to put his face on the money. He's building a monument to himself . But see, Atlanta, he's doing these things now because no one will honor him when he’s gone… because he's a failed president and a national disgrace.
June 1, 2026 at 2:05 AM
Ossoff is banking on the great silent majority now being people planning their outfits for “when it happens.”
Reposted by Blake Abbott
Every accusation is a rationalization. Trump & his allies were investigated for actual crimes, therefore it’s OK for Trump’s DO”J” to indict his enemies list for imaginary crimes.
It truly is incredible how much the MAGA world insists that the Biden DOJ was "weaponized" against them when the level of pure weaponization against perceived enemies in this DOJ is truly unprecedented.
CNN: The DOJ has launched a new criminal investigation into one of Trump's enemies, E. Jean Carroll. The source is telling CNN that the investigation now is focused on whether she committed perjury during her two civil lawsuits against the president.
May 28, 2026 at 1:23 AM
Every accusation is a rationalization. Trump & his allies were investigated for actual crimes, therefore it’s OK for Trump’s DO”J” to indict his enemies list for imaginary crimes.
This reminds me of one of my all-time favorite Onion articles.
May 27, 2026 at 6:53 PM
This reminds me of one of my all-time favorite Onion articles.
Reposted by Blake Abbott
As a communication scholar, I agree, seeing as all these norms and institutions are just socially constructed and imbued with power through our accepting and enacting them.
As an anthropologist, I endorse this message!
May 27, 2026 at 6:51 PM
As a communication scholar, I agree, seeing as all these norms and institutions are just socially constructed and imbued with power through our accepting and enacting them.
Reposted by Blake Abbott
People don't long for "inconvenience." They long for permanence. And though streaming services may be convenient, people are waking up to the fact that we are paying rent-seeking middle men month after month for things we will never actually own.
People are pining for old technologies—CD players, VCRs, Walkmans. What’s behind our longing for inconvenience? www.newyorker.com/culture/essa...
Our Longing for Inconvenience
People are pining for old technologies—CD players, VCRs, Walkmans. What’s behind our longing for inconvenience?
www.newyorker.com
May 26, 2026 at 4:55 PM
People don't long for "inconvenience." They long for permanence. And though streaming services may be convenient, people are waking up to the fact that we are paying rent-seeking middle men month after month for things we will never actually own.