What's happening: Obnoxious liberals (many of them journalists) are performatively fleeing X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter, and signing up for Bluesky, an inferior copycat app that caters almost exclusively to obnoxious liberals who think it's absurd to suggest that people like them exist in a bubble and are hopelessly out of touch with normal Americans.
• It's a low-intensity alternative for annoying Democrats who threatened to leave the country if Trump won but never intended to follow through. It's also much easier than boycotting Amazon or Whole Foods because Jeff Bezos blocked the Washington Post from endorsing Kamala Harris.
• The libs don't like X anymore because its owner, free speech advocate Elon Musk, is a Trump supporter who will play a (largely symbolic) role in the second Trump administration. They seem to genuinely believe that Musk has transformed the platform into an engine of right-wing propaganda.
What they're saying (about leaving X): "I'm leaving Twitter," author Stephen King proclaimed last week as though anyone would care. "Tried to stay, but the atmosphere has just become too toxic."
• In an interview with the Guardian, NYU history professor and "fascism" "expert" Ruth Ben-Ghiat warned that after Trump takes office, the X platform's functions "as a Trump propaganda outlet and far-right radicalization machine could be accelerated." The Guardian, a left-wing British publication, announced last week it would no longer post on X due to the "disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism."
• "You have to wade through a lot of dreck and just abuse and a lot of negativity and it's just not worth it," the invective-spewing MSNBC host Joy Reid said last week in a video explaining her decision to leave X for Bluesky. Former CNN host Don Lemon also left the platform last week, telling followers he no longer considered it "a place for honest debate and discussion, transparency and free speech."
What they're saying (on Bluesky): "I wake up as always, every day after November 5th, frankly stunned at the short sightedness of American voters," Reid wrote on Sunday. "Most of them have no idea what they’ve wrought. My guess is only a small percentage of Americans are actual, knowing fascists. Most just don’t know basic things about government."
• "Bluesky feels like I took a Time Machine back to 2009 when I was still like 'Hey this social media thing is going to make the world a better place,'" wrote Kumail Nanjiani, an actor and comedian of middling renown.
• "Nancy Mace is trash," former Hillary Clinton strategist Adam Parkhomenko wrote of the GOP congresswoman who recently introduced legislation that would prevent biological men from using women's bathrooms at the U.S. Capitol. "Given how much [R]epublicans love projection, I have to assume Nancy Mace is hung like a horse," he added, thoughtfully.
• "Disgusting," Jennifer Rubin, the obnoxiously partisan Washington Post columnist and MSNBC contributor, seethed in response to the news that her colleagues, Morning Joe cohosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, went to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump. "The market works great," she added. "You can stop watching Morning Joe anytime." Rubin has now lashed out at two of the media outlets that employ her. She raged (but did not resign) last month in response to Jeff Bezos's decision to block the Post editorial board from endorsing Harris. The Libs of Bluesky X account on Tuesday posted a video of Rubin warning other deranged libs that "Republicans want to kill your kids."
By the numbers: Bluesky surpassed 20 million users on Tuesday, according to TechCrunch. That's a small fraction compared with Threads, the Instagram-affiliated app, which has about 275 million users; X has roughly 588 million users.
How to do it: If you are an annoying liberal partisan who can't live without Jennifer Rubin's penetrating insight, we kindly implore you to take the following steps.
1) Deactivate your X account.
2) Don't tell anyone you're leaving. (No one cares.)
3) Create a Bluesky account.
4) Upload a profile pic.
5) You did it! Share your thoughts!
