I thought you were going great until you said ‘we are the adults in the room’
No adults would have gotten Biden to step down - he was a child not to.
Adults would not have put Kamala in the VP role, a role that she failed at, and then promoted her to presidential candidate.
Adults would not have run for office promising to convict trump and then use ‘Novel’ legal concepts to convict their political opponents, and then accuse him of being the one threatening lawfare.
Adults would have invited a representative from Tesla to the electronic car symposium that they had.
We are letting young women think that the election was about women’s reproductive rights when it was so obviously not.
I’ve got to call bullshit on Tony Hinchcliffe “berating” Puerto Ricans for being garbage. He’s a comedian, he specialises in insults and it was obviously a joke. You can definitely argue he shouldn’t have been on the line-up but he did what he does and the media turned it into something it wasn’t.
If he were on stage in a comedy club I'd agree with you. He was at a political rally. The connotations and expectations are completely different. Yes, he's a shock comedian... and his intentions may have been the same between the two venues, but the audience's expectations and responses aren't. You think the average person on that rally was considering the implications of poverty and the long term ramifications of the non-response to the last hurricane that devastated the island (of course not because it was Trump who failed them), or that they were like 'hee haw' latinos are dirty like garbage.
Comedians have a responsibility to know their audience. Daniel Tosh says there's certain jokes he doesn't tell in the south cause once the 'yee-haw's hit a certain octave you know a hate crime's a comin. Obviously that's a joke, but the truth at the foundation is that an edgy comedian is responsible for knowing their audience and the context in which they're telling the edgy joke.
You comment on ‘why people in Pennsylvania can decide about the Federal Reserve’ is one of the reasons people in the right vote for Trump. Since when does the left have the supreme knowledge? Most lefties I know have a B degree in stick figures and gender colouring and know less of ‘federal reserve’ than my sausage dog.
As (mostly) Australians, can we avoid discussing politics using the silly US conservative/ liberal binary? Edmund Burke shares zero in common with Trump. ZERO. And there’s not a lot that’s liberal about many of US liberals.
The binary is dumb enough without resorting to the American formulation.
I think people are drawing the wrong conclusion from the election result. It’s not that Trump is popular, i’m sure he’s more reviled than he was in 2016 and 2020.
To me, the story is the absolutely unbelievable hubris of the Democratic party and its supporters in the media and elsewhere.
People were told, relentlessly, that democracy is ‘at stake’.
Many of the same people then enthusiastically supported a campaign to vanquish a political opponent through a wide range underhanded means, including dubious legal charges and having him excluded from state ballots (imagine if Trump were to even suggest these tactics?!).
The same people responded to this ‘existential threat’ by enthusiastically getting behind a candidate in an advanced state of cognitive decline, and aggressively attacking anyone who dared to notice it.
They then backed a wildly unpopular and mediocre VP, and again daring anyone to notice her obvious weaknesses. One who talked about defunding the police in 2020, but was now a political centrist, obviously. Amazingly, for a while it seemed the party would try to shepherd her through to the election without having her actually talk to anyone about anything!
For me, the blame for the fact the US now has a deeply flawed Trump is 100% on the Democrats.
During the “4 images from Eli Lake” part, you mentioned the mugshot and the popular refrain Trump uses: they hate you, I’m just in the way. I wasn’t sure if you were acknowledging it exists or saying it’s an enticing misdirection, but considering a good deal of the narrative on American news today and i suspect going forward, is blaming the electorate for their hateful/ignorant beliefs rather than on the party’s failures or candidate’s failures, isn’t there some credence to that claim?
alas, the gaslighting continues. They were probably racist, sexist, dont understand what they are voting for blah, blah, blah.
The uptick in minorities voting for Trump, who are supposedly the beneficiaries of so much benevolent democrat empathy, just projected back, as the insult of low expectations to most Americans. Maybe just for once, someone said what they have been wanting to say. The American dream is on life support, even so, dont underestimate me, my love for my country and what i am willing to put on the line to claw back control of my life and realise that dream.
I thought it might be interesting for Josh to know, that in DC there was a ballot initiative for ranked choice voting. They were a lot of signs in favor of it, and then a few signs against it, which were funded by the local Democratic Party.
No one thinks Trump is the “working-class everyman.” Everyone knows that person is incapable of climbing the ranks in the political world. The genuine “working-class everyman” just feels like Trump’s the only guy who listens to them, and takes their problems seriously. Right or wrong as they may be, ignoring this has bend the Dems downfall
Kos Samaras - ALP strategist - has the best take on the election in the AFR. Essentially the ALP is no longer the "moral" party (as you claim). They've chosen identity over class, and the lessons of the Queensland election in Rockhampton etc have not been learnt. The Left presided over the worst excesses of Covid authoritarianism (Trudeau, Dan, Jacinta), whereas the Right just settled for plain old incompetence (Boris and Scott). This over-reach hit the people in West of Melbourne the hardest in Vic where I live. I was a swinging voter before Covid, but I could never vote for Left parties of the current ilk, as that is where antisemitism has risen from, due again to identity politics. The Left has also become the party of censorship (Starmer, Albanese, Harris), and in the US the party of war (Hello Dick Cheney). Next year the Left will be in a tizz over Murdoch's press coverage in an election year, but they may also have to content with Meta, X and Google (much more potent force than News), who Albo is so keen to pick a fight with, or to put it another way Dutton could curry favour with.
There's lots of dumb takes coming out now that people are upset and trying to figure out who to blame.... democratic party was terrible... gaza... ukraine... ect. So here's my dumb take. Inflation hit people hard. They blamed the in power party (whether it was their fault or not). They voted them out. This has been happening all over the world to the party in power no matter their political leanings. Inflation is psychologically confusing for people, and there was always going to be a backlash. Unfortunately we get someone like Trump instead of Haley which would have been much more palatable for the left.
“Democracy is kinda depressing, what do voters in Pittsburg know about the federal reserve…” Josh Szeps. That is why America is NOT a democracy but a Republic. They use democratic means to elect current officials that preside over the affairs of the country. They have a constitution that can only be changed by a super majority/majority. Their human rights aren’t just flowery philosophical ideas like in Europe or Australia, but are enshrined, valued, taught and mostly respected. They are ideals that governments are there to preserve, they are not given to Americans from their government, they pre exist. Voters do not have to know about the federal reserve, they just need to vote for the candidate who is better than the other candidates on offer.
I thought you were going great until you said ‘we are the adults in the room’
No adults would have gotten Biden to step down - he was a child not to.
Adults would not have put Kamala in the VP role, a role that she failed at, and then promoted her to presidential candidate.
Adults would not have run for office promising to convict trump and then use ‘Novel’ legal concepts to convict their political opponents, and then accuse him of being the one threatening lawfare.
Adults would have invited a representative from Tesla to the electronic car symposium that they had.
We are letting young women think that the election was about women’s reproductive rights when it was so obviously not.
We are not the adults in the room.
100% agree
I’ve got to call bullshit on Tony Hinchcliffe “berating” Puerto Ricans for being garbage. He’s a comedian, he specialises in insults and it was obviously a joke. You can definitely argue he shouldn’t have been on the line-up but he did what he does and the media turned it into something it wasn’t.
Trump also dressed as a Garbage Man in response to Biden’s comments calling Trump supports garbage, NOT because of Tony’s joke.
The Left used to have a sense of humour.
If he were on stage in a comedy club I'd agree with you. He was at a political rally. The connotations and expectations are completely different. Yes, he's a shock comedian... and his intentions may have been the same between the two venues, but the audience's expectations and responses aren't. You think the average person on that rally was considering the implications of poverty and the long term ramifications of the non-response to the last hurricane that devastated the island (of course not because it was Trump who failed them), or that they were like 'hee haw' latinos are dirty like garbage.
Comedians have a responsibility to know their audience. Daniel Tosh says there's certain jokes he doesn't tell in the south cause once the 'yee-haw's hit a certain octave you know a hate crime's a comin. Obviously that's a joke, but the truth at the foundation is that an edgy comedian is responsible for knowing their audience and the context in which they're telling the edgy joke.
You comment on ‘why people in Pennsylvania can decide about the Federal Reserve’ is one of the reasons people in the right vote for Trump. Since when does the left have the supreme knowledge? Most lefties I know have a B degree in stick figures and gender colouring and know less of ‘federal reserve’ than my sausage dog.
One gripe:
As (mostly) Australians, can we avoid discussing politics using the silly US conservative/ liberal binary? Edmund Burke shares zero in common with Trump. ZERO. And there’s not a lot that’s liberal about many of US liberals.
The binary is dumb enough without resorting to the American formulation.
I think people are drawing the wrong conclusion from the election result. It’s not that Trump is popular, i’m sure he’s more reviled than he was in 2016 and 2020.
To me, the story is the absolutely unbelievable hubris of the Democratic party and its supporters in the media and elsewhere.
People were told, relentlessly, that democracy is ‘at stake’.
Many of the same people then enthusiastically supported a campaign to vanquish a political opponent through a wide range underhanded means, including dubious legal charges and having him excluded from state ballots (imagine if Trump were to even suggest these tactics?!).
The same people responded to this ‘existential threat’ by enthusiastically getting behind a candidate in an advanced state of cognitive decline, and aggressively attacking anyone who dared to notice it.
They then backed a wildly unpopular and mediocre VP, and again daring anyone to notice her obvious weaknesses. One who talked about defunding the police in 2020, but was now a political centrist, obviously. Amazingly, for a while it seemed the party would try to shepherd her through to the election without having her actually talk to anyone about anything!
For me, the blame for the fact the US now has a deeply flawed Trump is 100% on the Democrats.
During the “4 images from Eli Lake” part, you mentioned the mugshot and the popular refrain Trump uses: they hate you, I’m just in the way. I wasn’t sure if you were acknowledging it exists or saying it’s an enticing misdirection, but considering a good deal of the narrative on American news today and i suspect going forward, is blaming the electorate for their hateful/ignorant beliefs rather than on the party’s failures or candidate’s failures, isn’t there some credence to that claim?
Thanks Josh, your positive attitude and sensible take on this result is much appreciated.
I just wanted to say thank you. Your take on Trump made me feel better today.
Also thanks to your husband, who made me laugh. There you go - you’re both awesome.
: )
I feel like we (lefties) will be proven correct on so many issues in the coming 4 years. It will be the most hollow of victories for us all.
“Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see” - http://www.drmarlo.com/dr-marlo-speaks/maybe-so-maybe-not-well-see/
alas, the gaslighting continues. They were probably racist, sexist, dont understand what they are voting for blah, blah, blah.
The uptick in minorities voting for Trump, who are supposedly the beneficiaries of so much benevolent democrat empathy, just projected back, as the insult of low expectations to most Americans. Maybe just for once, someone said what they have been wanting to say. The American dream is on life support, even so, dont underestimate me, my love for my country and what i am willing to put on the line to claw back control of my life and realise that dream.
I am 59 and voted democrat all my life but this time I proudly gave my vote to the Republican Party and I feel so good about it!
The Democratic Party used to be the party of the people and freedom of speech, now it’s all about censorship and war!
Looking forward to see what Trump and his team will be able to accomplish!
I thought it might be interesting for Josh to know, that in DC there was a ballot initiative for ranked choice voting. They were a lot of signs in favor of it, and then a few signs against it, which were funded by the local Democratic Party.
No one thinks Trump is the “working-class everyman.” Everyone knows that person is incapable of climbing the ranks in the political world. The genuine “working-class everyman” just feels like Trump’s the only guy who listens to them, and takes their problems seriously. Right or wrong as they may be, ignoring this has bend the Dems downfall
JD Vance, on the other hand, is actually the rare person who does meet that description and yet made it into national politics.
Kos Samaras - ALP strategist - has the best take on the election in the AFR. Essentially the ALP is no longer the "moral" party (as you claim). They've chosen identity over class, and the lessons of the Queensland election in Rockhampton etc have not been learnt. The Left presided over the worst excesses of Covid authoritarianism (Trudeau, Dan, Jacinta), whereas the Right just settled for plain old incompetence (Boris and Scott). This over-reach hit the people in West of Melbourne the hardest in Vic where I live. I was a swinging voter before Covid, but I could never vote for Left parties of the current ilk, as that is where antisemitism has risen from, due again to identity politics. The Left has also become the party of censorship (Starmer, Albanese, Harris), and in the US the party of war (Hello Dick Cheney). Next year the Left will be in a tizz over Murdoch's press coverage in an election year, but they may also have to content with Meta, X and Google (much more potent force than News), who Albo is so keen to pick a fight with, or to put it another way Dutton could curry favour with.
There's lots of dumb takes coming out now that people are upset and trying to figure out who to blame.... democratic party was terrible... gaza... ukraine... ect. So here's my dumb take. Inflation hit people hard. They blamed the in power party (whether it was their fault or not). They voted them out. This has been happening all over the world to the party in power no matter their political leanings. Inflation is psychologically confusing for people, and there was always going to be a backlash. Unfortunately we get someone like Trump instead of Haley which would have been much more palatable for the left.
“Democracy is kinda depressing, what do voters in Pittsburg know about the federal reserve…” Josh Szeps. That is why America is NOT a democracy but a Republic. They use democratic means to elect current officials that preside over the affairs of the country. They have a constitution that can only be changed by a super majority/majority. Their human rights aren’t just flowery philosophical ideas like in Europe or Australia, but are enshrined, valued, taught and mostly respected. They are ideals that governments are there to preserve, they are not given to Americans from their government, they pre exist. Voters do not have to know about the federal reserve, they just need to vote for the candidate who is better than the other candidates on offer.