Matthew Bruenig[1] (born November 22, 1988)[2][3] is an American lawyer, blogger, policy analyst, commentator,[4] and founder of the left-leaning think tank People's Policy Project. He was a blogger for the American think tank Demos covering politics and public policy[5] and has written on issues including income distribution, taxation, welfare, elections, the Nordic model, and funds socialism.[6][7][8][9]
In 2016, Bruenig was fired from his part-time job blogging for Demos after he posted a series of what Gawker called "rude tweets" targeting first Joan Walsh and later Center for American Progress president Neera Tanden.[16][17] Demos stated he was let go due to a pattern of "online harassment of people with whom he disagrees";[18] some journalists nevertheless speculated there may have been outside pressure on behalf of Tanden.[19][20][21]
Bruenig has stated that he was diagnosed as autistic in adulthood.[30]
Political views
Bruenig describes his brand of socialism as follows:[31]
Socialism is the idea that capital (the means of production) should be owned collectively. There are divergent ideas about how to achieve this in reality. One approach is to have the government hold it collectively in social wealth funds. This is (more or less) the socialism of Yanis Varoufakis, Rudolf Meidner, and John E. Roemer. It is also my brand of socialism, at least for the time.
^Trotter, J. K. (May 20, 2016). "Liberal Think Tank Fires Blogger for Rude Tweets". Gawker. Retrieved July 21, 2017. ..the organization clarified, 'We are not taking issue with our blogger's political opinions or with him challenging prominent, powerful people. What troubles us is a pattern of tone and conduct, not his chosen targets or the content of his ideas.'
^Goldberg, Michelle (May 23, 2016). "Is Matt Bruenig a Populist Martyr?". Slate. Retrieved October 14, 2018. As the feminist writer Sady Doyle wrote in an email to Demos, 'Bruenig is not only directly aggressive, he is a ringleader who inspires people to be aggressive and commit harassment in his name. Reports of being stormed after Bruenig points his followers at people are ubiquitous, and they most often come from women and people of color.'
^"Reflections on Social Media and Our Responsibility" (Press release). Demos. May 20, 2016. Archived from the original on May 20, 2016. Retrieved July 21, 2017. After our tweet apologizing for Matt's personal attacks including the term 'scumbag,' we received emails from multiple individuals who made it clear that we were not aware of the extent to which Matt has been at the center of controversies surrounding online harassment of people with whom he disagrees.
^Yglesias, Matthew (May 21, 2016). "Bruenighazi: How a Feisty Bernie Blogger's Firing Explains Democratic Politics in 2016". Vox. Retrieved July 21, 2017. Demos then responded to the ongoing Twitter thread, calling Bruenig's tweets 'unacceptable,' and apologized for his words. The organization released a lengthy statement Friday night detailing its differences with Bruenig, who has more than 270,000 Twitter followers, and his departure from the group.
^"About". People's Policy Project. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
^Newcomer, Eric (May 26, 2020). "Left-Wing Podcasters Are Charting A Future Without Bernie Sanders". Bloomberg News. Retrieved November 13, 2021. 'Left leaning podcasts have been listener funded,' says Matt Bruenig who hosts a podcast with his wife....'With the podcast there are no costs so it's up to basically $100,000 a year. That's pretty good money.'
^Benet, James (May 12, 2021). "Elizabeth Bruenig Joins Opinion". The Atlantic. Retrieved May 15, 2021. Elizabeth Bruenig to Join The Atlantic as a Staff Writer
^Benet, James (December 23, 2019). "Elizabeth Bruenig Joins Opinion". NY Times. Retrieved February 18, 2020. Elizabeth Bruenig will join The New York Times as an Opinion writer.
^Yglesias, Matt (August 31, 2020). "The Case for Adding 672 Million More Americans". New York Magazine. Retrieved September 24, 2020. the most serious plan for dealing with it comes not from any of Washington's many mainstream think tanks but from the People's Policy Project — essentially a one-man show run by Matt Bruenig, an eccentric socialist who, along with his wife, New York Times columnist Elizabeth Bruenig, is a parent of two young kids. They whimsically call their proposal the Family Fun Pack, and while it's rigorous in its details, it's also strikingly simple in concept.