I'm going to write a comment that you and your readers probably aren't going to like but I'll write it anyway. Around 2020, as I watched our media gaslight us over the protests and I watched a massive machine put Biden (who didn't campaign at all) in power, something switched for me. I realized that I, as a prominent blue check Democrat, was living in a bubble. It is a bubble of delusion that both told me what I wanted to hear AND told what I was supposed to think. So I've spent the last two years making sure I knew the other side - Trump world especially - because I could not count on the media or the Democrats to tell me the truth.
I woke up this morning thinking that the reason the Democrats 1) were pushing for war, and 2) tying Putin to Trump and the GOP was that it was yet another effort by them to stop Trump. How horrible that it would be THIS way, where bodies are being blown to bits but this is how desperate the Left and the Democrats are. They're willing to even go this far to stop someone they don't know how to deal with. But if you spend time in Trump world, if you listen to HIM and to people like Tucker Carlson you will know that once again it's all a fucking lie. They aren't pro-Putin. They are anti-American involvement in the war. They are anti-globalist energy supply. They are pro-drilling at home.
How gross that the shaming of Lauren Boebert took precedent over the shaming of an administration that could not mention 13 dead soldiers, or Afghanistan at all, which by the way is in a full blown humanitarian crisis. Other than brave Ezra Klein at the NYT they are invisible people enduring an invisible tragedy.
So - not only is it wrong to make this connection but it's also wrong to think this is what will hurt Trump. The only thing that will hurt Trump is if the Left somehow gets a grip. And I don't see that happening any time soon. Trump world is very specific about what they are fighting for. The Left has it completely wrong. That gives the Trump Right a clear advantage because they know that anyone who knows them knows the media and the Democrats are lying about them.
If you want to know what Trump world is all about - and you should, being that you are a smart and funny person -- you should listen to Steve Bannon's podcast the War Room. It is ground zero for the populist (very energized) movement that the Left writes off as "racist." NOPE. Wrong. Once again, that gives them the advantage because the people on the Let are digging in the wrong place. It is about, what Bannon calls, "inclusive economic nationalism."
This movement is charging forward with or without Trump. It's just that because the LEFT has lost its mother fucking mind Trump is the only person with the power and the lack of fear to challenge them. That is what the Democrats don't get. They are stuck back in Obama Camelot of, like, 2011. This isn't that world anymore. The Democrats can't be fixed because they can't even say what's wrong out loud. It would be nice if there were alternatives. But right now, I don't see any.
He overwhelmingly beat Trump in the general election, winning more than 51% of the votes cast, more raw votes than anyone else in history, winning nearly every swing state Trump won in 2016, and winning electoral votes in Arizona and Georgia. In addition, McSally managed to lose BOTH of Arizona's senate seats to Democrats AND the Trump-led Republicans lost BOTH Georgia Senate seats to Democrats.
The "normie" Democrats represented by e.g. Josh Barro were out in force and controlled the election. Biden is in real danger if he can't appeal to this electorate (and as of today, I think he's seriously risking this outcome!).
Substituting a left wing twitter bubble for a right wing Steve Bannon bubble seems like a big mistake to me.
I don't want to speak for Sasha, but having read her essays over the past year+, she is certainly not "Pro Trump" nor in their bubble. She is merely warning us that if we (the left) continue to write off his undying support as just a product of racism, we will continue to lose. It is crucial to understand what they are fighting for, and it isn't racism.
Agree with her, the left needs to fix itself, and do it quickly. I *think* they are starting to understand this based on the SOTU address which pivoted towards funding police, protecting borders, and ditching their masks.
Ahhh, I have not read any of her stuff so I may have to walk back some of my comment, but yes, the left keeps shooting themselves in the foot but now seem to be turning things around.
Reading IMBW is pretty outside of the Bannon bubble, is it not? It is possible to consume media from the other side and not be influenced by it, at least that's what I hope.
Great post. The Ds REALLY don’t like being faced with a foreign crisis where non-renewable domestic energy production-fossil fuel and nuclear is the glaringly obvious correct strategic move. Windmills and solar panels aren’t going to fix this-and I think Biden is coming to this realization. The left wing Ds can’t spin the environmental angle.
I say, stop discussing Trump. This post gives him the free "media coverage" he desires. I honestly didn't read it beyond the headline, because he's not a valid topic of news right now. He doesn't care what criticisms or prognostications you make -- as long as you're talking about *him*, he's pleased.
Maybe it’s whistling past the graveyard. Maybe you’re the Pied Piper of political obsession. Maybe your columns really will be thrown back in your face someday. But thanks anyway. Have been wondering for decades if anyone would ever come up with a funny riff on the doomsday clock, and you’ve undeniably succeeded. Have a nice day!
I'll explain Trump's appeal as simply as I can; it's the fact that people like yourself hate him with such intensity that makes him so popular, as firing squads for smug liberals aren't on the ballot. The people who vote for him want to hurt you (the collective you) for a variety of reasons, some more valid than others, and you're telling them exactly what you don't want, like a bunch of reverse Br'er Rabbits.
The following comment in your opening paragraph, "Of course, I also don’t understand why every woman in North America is lining up to fuck Pete Davidson, but apparently they are, so I just need to accept that there are things in this world that I don’t understand", is....
One of the most important questions of the decade.
I love that men are baffled by what is perfectly obvious to us women. Pete Davidson is tall, confident, successful, and very funny. Of course he’s super-attractive to women!
Trump’s problem is that he doesn’t have an off switch-he can’t make a mental recalibration on thing’s like Putin’s evilness, and adjust his public thinking accordingly. Putin has gone batshit crazy-he was always bad, but Trump isn’t processing that change.
It’s not ideology, it’s psychology.
Hopefully De Santis wins the GOP primary, and the WH in 24’.
Trump's blatant ass-kissing of Putin....should destroy his electoral prospects, maybe, perhaps, hopefully.
But never underestimate the Democrats ability to fuck it up. They have alienated so many gettable voter constituencies with woke idiocy... and with the cultural left's obvious disdain, if not outright hostility, towards working class people...of all colors.
I hope you're right. I want my fellow liberals to wake up from the spiral of Twitter-fueled outrage they find themselves in every day. I thought Trump's loss in 2020 would calm everybody down, but then January 6th happened and those hopes were dashed.
A Trump loss in the 2024 primary would finish off his career for good. Although honestly, I don't think Woke liberals will start calming down until after he dies.
I don't care much what "woke liberals" (whatever that specifically includes and excludes for you) feel about Trump, or when they calm down. I do care about the substantial number of us center left and center right who are appalled that someone so clearly a grifter and so thoroughly anti-America still is in the limelight for something other than a sedition trial. And I am country miles from a woke liberal.
I am objecting to marginalizing folks who find him shameful and disgraceful as woke liberals. Unless you mean woke in the unlikely literal sense, as in not factually asleep. Be well -
Actually I think “I Might Be Wrong” just might be right regarding the waning love affair with Trump. Jeff makes the case as only he can, with razor sharp wit illustrating compelling facts. The most disturbing aspect of this crisis from a domestic point of view is the sickening support for Putin and Russia ranging from Tucker Carlson to Michael Flynn. Flynn continues to refer to “the Ukraine,” which couldn’t be more insulting to the Ukrainian people. The Ukrainian government disapproved the use of that long distinction when they declared its independence and its constitution in 1991, and stated the official full name of the country is Ukraine. Guess who wanted martial law on that infamous January 6?
Eh, Trump did condemn the invasion of Ukraine. He did also call Putin smart, but hey, Trump is dumb and doesn't think through what he's saying, that's not new. He might be tarred a bit by association with Russia, but he's not gone fully off the deep end on this specific issue. Might have to deal with some factional conflict with the pro-Putin far right.
Who is Pete Davidson? I am a woman and never heard of him. Also, afraid to look him up, because it might be send me into a sexual frenzy! Trump…we are riding in the same boat. I personally don’t understand how he resonates with the factory workers and farmers in the country. He represents everything opposite of them in general. Note, I do know people in the country that are liberal and/or Democrat. Yet there are a lot of Trump 2020 flags up still in the wilds.
I really, really hope that you're right but I really, really fear that you're wrong. As you acknowledge, his (political/financial) obituary has been written more than once and yet, here he remains. Those who support him will never be dissuaded. NEVER. I've encountered enough of them at this point to offer that opinion based on personal knowledge. People forget how close the last election actually was. Yes, I know that President Biden ultimately won by about 7,000,000 votes, but the margin was truly razor thin in the swing states (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin). And, that's with all of the scandals (including an impeachment) and his obvious conflicts of interest, kowtowing to Putin, condoning an assassination attempt on a sitting Governor (Governor Whitmer in Michigan), assaults on the environment and gross mishandling of a pandemic, leadings to the needless deaths of tens of thousand of people, etc., etc. Even with ALL of that, President Biden didn't win by all that much, so it wouldn't take a huge shift in the swing states for TFG to retake the White House. Let's all hope that that doesn't happen, but I think that it's an all-too-plausible situation.
In Trump’s defense with Whitmer, I don’t think he sees women as people. (Wit, sorry.) I moved from California to Michigan during all this and feel rather confused why I did so.
The following comment in your opening paragraph, "Of course, I also don’t understand why every woman in North America is lining up to fuck Pete Davidson, but apparently they are, so I just need to accept that there are things in this world that I don’t understand", is a demeaning, misogynistic statement that is offensive to every woman in North America. Cancelling subscription.
One question: Who is Pete Davidson? I am a woman and apparently want to bump uglies with someone whose existence is a mystery to me. I afraid to look him up because it might drive me into a frenzy!
See my comment above. He’s an SNL comedian who made a successful film, The King of Staten Island, inspired by growing up without his dad (who was a fireman who died on 9/11).
I think it’s funny that men are so confused that women love Pete Davidson. Does he look like a Marvel superhero? No. But he is super funny, and probably a great guy to hang out with. It is totally obvious to me why he does so well with the ladies!
Oh, that guy? Then it is a Steve Buscemi thing? Was he the one that did the NYE show with Miley Cyrus? I felt that was pretty good. SNL was really unfunny for awhile so I stopped watching. I never really felt a sexual urge watching the guy during the NYE gig. Of course, I never though Buscemi was hot either but I am obviously in a minority.
I'm going to write a comment that you and your readers probably aren't going to like but I'll write it anyway. Around 2020, as I watched our media gaslight us over the protests and I watched a massive machine put Biden (who didn't campaign at all) in power, something switched for me. I realized that I, as a prominent blue check Democrat, was living in a bubble. It is a bubble of delusion that both told me what I wanted to hear AND told what I was supposed to think. So I've spent the last two years making sure I knew the other side - Trump world especially - because I could not count on the media or the Democrats to tell me the truth.
I woke up this morning thinking that the reason the Democrats 1) were pushing for war, and 2) tying Putin to Trump and the GOP was that it was yet another effort by them to stop Trump. How horrible that it would be THIS way, where bodies are being blown to bits but this is how desperate the Left and the Democrats are. They're willing to even go this far to stop someone they don't know how to deal with. But if you spend time in Trump world, if you listen to HIM and to people like Tucker Carlson you will know that once again it's all a fucking lie. They aren't pro-Putin. They are anti-American involvement in the war. They are anti-globalist energy supply. They are pro-drilling at home.
How gross that the shaming of Lauren Boebert took precedent over the shaming of an administration that could not mention 13 dead soldiers, or Afghanistan at all, which by the way is in a full blown humanitarian crisis. Other than brave Ezra Klein at the NYT they are invisible people enduring an invisible tragedy.
So - not only is it wrong to make this connection but it's also wrong to think this is what will hurt Trump. The only thing that will hurt Trump is if the Left somehow gets a grip. And I don't see that happening any time soon. Trump world is very specific about what they are fighting for. The Left has it completely wrong. That gives the Trump Right a clear advantage because they know that anyone who knows them knows the media and the Democrats are lying about them.
If you want to know what Trump world is all about - and you should, being that you are a smart and funny person -- you should listen to Steve Bannon's podcast the War Room. It is ground zero for the populist (very energized) movement that the Left writes off as "racist." NOPE. Wrong. Once again, that gives them the advantage because the people on the Let are digging in the wrong place. It is about, what Bannon calls, "inclusive economic nationalism."
This movement is charging forward with or without Trump. It's just that because the LEFT has lost its mother fucking mind Trump is the only person with the power and the lack of fear to challenge them. That is what the Democrats don't get. They are stuck back in Obama Camelot of, like, 2011. This isn't that world anymore. The Democrats can't be fixed because they can't even say what's wrong out loud. It would be nice if there were alternatives. But right now, I don't see any.
Seems like you traded one bubble for another. Biden was the Democratic primary leader for the entire time except for a basically one month period from February 2020 to March 2020 (source: https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/us/2020_democratic_presidential_nomination-6730.html)
He overwhelmingly beat Trump in the general election, winning more than 51% of the votes cast, more raw votes than anyone else in history, winning nearly every swing state Trump won in 2016, and winning electoral votes in Arizona and Georgia. In addition, McSally managed to lose BOTH of Arizona's senate seats to Democrats AND the Trump-led Republicans lost BOTH Georgia Senate seats to Democrats.
The "normie" Democrats represented by e.g. Josh Barro were out in force and controlled the election. Biden is in real danger if he can't appeal to this electorate (and as of today, I think he's seriously risking this outcome!).
Substituting a left wing twitter bubble for a right wing Steve Bannon bubble seems like a big mistake to me.
I don't want to speak for Sasha, but having read her essays over the past year+, she is certainly not "Pro Trump" nor in their bubble. She is merely warning us that if we (the left) continue to write off his undying support as just a product of racism, we will continue to lose. It is crucial to understand what they are fighting for, and it isn't racism.
Agree with her, the left needs to fix itself, and do it quickly. I *think* they are starting to understand this based on the SOTU address which pivoted towards funding police, protecting borders, and ditching their masks.
Ahhh, I have not read any of her stuff so I may have to walk back some of my comment, but yes, the left keeps shooting themselves in the foot but now seem to be turning things around.
Reading IMBW is pretty outside of the Bannon bubble, is it not? It is possible to consume media from the other side and not be influenced by it, at least that's what I hope.
Great post. The Ds REALLY don’t like being faced with a foreign crisis where non-renewable domestic energy production-fossil fuel and nuclear is the glaringly obvious correct strategic move. Windmills and solar panels aren’t going to fix this-and I think Biden is coming to this realization. The left wing Ds can’t spin the environmental angle.
Basically said all the things I've been wanting to say to everyone I know, thank you!
I say, stop discussing Trump. This post gives him the free "media coverage" he desires. I honestly didn't read it beyond the headline, because he's not a valid topic of news right now. He doesn't care what criticisms or prognostications you make -- as long as you're talking about *him*, he's pleased.
Maybe it’s whistling past the graveyard. Maybe you’re the Pied Piper of political obsession. Maybe your columns really will be thrown back in your face someday. But thanks anyway. Have been wondering for decades if anyone would ever come up with a funny riff on the doomsday clock, and you’ve undeniably succeeded. Have a nice day!
I'll explain Trump's appeal as simply as I can; it's the fact that people like yourself hate him with such intensity that makes him so popular, as firing squads for smug liberals aren't on the ballot. The people who vote for him want to hurt you (the collective you) for a variety of reasons, some more valid than others, and you're telling them exactly what you don't want, like a bunch of reverse Br'er Rabbits.
The following comment in your opening paragraph, "Of course, I also don’t understand why every woman in North America is lining up to fuck Pete Davidson, but apparently they are, so I just need to accept that there are things in this world that I don’t understand", is....
One of the most important questions of the decade.
I love that men are baffled by what is perfectly obvious to us women. Pete Davidson is tall, confident, successful, and very funny. Of course he’s super-attractive to women!
Trump’s problem is that he doesn’t have an off switch-he can’t make a mental recalibration on thing’s like Putin’s evilness, and adjust his public thinking accordingly. Putin has gone batshit crazy-he was always bad, but Trump isn’t processing that change.
It’s not ideology, it’s psychology.
Hopefully De Santis wins the GOP primary, and the WH in 24’.
Trump's blatant ass-kissing of Putin....should destroy his electoral prospects, maybe, perhaps, hopefully.
But never underestimate the Democrats ability to fuck it up. They have alienated so many gettable voter constituencies with woke idiocy... and with the cultural left's obvious disdain, if not outright hostility, towards working class people...of all colors.
I hope you're right. I want my fellow liberals to wake up from the spiral of Twitter-fueled outrage they find themselves in every day. I thought Trump's loss in 2020 would calm everybody down, but then January 6th happened and those hopes were dashed.
A Trump loss in the 2024 primary would finish off his career for good. Although honestly, I don't think Woke liberals will start calming down until after he dies.
I don't care much what "woke liberals" (whatever that specifically includes and excludes for you) feel about Trump, or when they calm down. I do care about the substantial number of us center left and center right who are appalled that someone so clearly a grifter and so thoroughly anti-America still is in the limelight for something other than a sedition trial. And I am country miles from a woke liberal.
I am objecting to marginalizing folks who find him shameful and disgraceful as woke liberals. Unless you mean woke in the unlikely literal sense, as in not factually asleep. Be well -
Actually I think “I Might Be Wrong” just might be right regarding the waning love affair with Trump. Jeff makes the case as only he can, with razor sharp wit illustrating compelling facts. The most disturbing aspect of this crisis from a domestic point of view is the sickening support for Putin and Russia ranging from Tucker Carlson to Michael Flynn. Flynn continues to refer to “the Ukraine,” which couldn’t be more insulting to the Ukrainian people. The Ukrainian government disapproved the use of that long distinction when they declared its independence and its constitution in 1991, and stated the official full name of the country is Ukraine. Guess who wanted martial law on that infamous January 6?
Eh, Trump did condemn the invasion of Ukraine. He did also call Putin smart, but hey, Trump is dumb and doesn't think through what he's saying, that's not new. He might be tarred a bit by association with Russia, but he's not gone fully off the deep end on this specific issue. Might have to deal with some factional conflict with the pro-Putin far right.
Who is Pete Davidson? I am a woman and never heard of him. Also, afraid to look him up, because it might be send me into a sexual frenzy! Trump…we are riding in the same boat. I personally don’t understand how he resonates with the factory workers and farmers in the country. He represents everything opposite of them in general. Note, I do know people in the country that are liberal and/or Democrat. Yet there are a lot of Trump 2020 flags up still in the wilds.
I really, really hope that you're right but I really, really fear that you're wrong. As you acknowledge, his (political/financial) obituary has been written more than once and yet, here he remains. Those who support him will never be dissuaded. NEVER. I've encountered enough of them at this point to offer that opinion based on personal knowledge. People forget how close the last election actually was. Yes, I know that President Biden ultimately won by about 7,000,000 votes, but the margin was truly razor thin in the swing states (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin). And, that's with all of the scandals (including an impeachment) and his obvious conflicts of interest, kowtowing to Putin, condoning an assassination attempt on a sitting Governor (Governor Whitmer in Michigan), assaults on the environment and gross mishandling of a pandemic, leadings to the needless deaths of tens of thousand of people, etc., etc. Even with ALL of that, President Biden didn't win by all that much, so it wouldn't take a huge shift in the swing states for TFG to retake the White House. Let's all hope that that doesn't happen, but I think that it's an all-too-plausible situation.
In Trump’s defense with Whitmer, I don’t think he sees women as people. (Wit, sorry.) I moved from California to Michigan during all this and feel rather confused why I did so.
The following comment in your opening paragraph, "Of course, I also don’t understand why every woman in North America is lining up to fuck Pete Davidson, but apparently they are, so I just need to accept that there are things in this world that I don’t understand", is a demeaning, misogynistic statement that is offensive to every woman in North America. Cancelling subscription.
One question: Who is Pete Davidson? I am a woman and apparently want to bump uglies with someone whose existence is a mystery to me. I afraid to look him up because it might drive me into a frenzy!
See my comment above. He’s an SNL comedian who made a successful film, The King of Staten Island, inspired by growing up without his dad (who was a fireman who died on 9/11).
I think it’s funny that men are so confused that women love Pete Davidson. Does he look like a Marvel superhero? No. But he is super funny, and probably a great guy to hang out with. It is totally obvious to me why he does so well with the ladies!
Oh, that guy? Then it is a Steve Buscemi thing? Was he the one that did the NYE show with Miley Cyrus? I felt that was pretty good. SNL was really unfunny for awhile so I stopped watching. I never really felt a sexual urge watching the guy during the NYE gig. Of course, I never though Buscemi was hot either but I am obviously in a minority.