WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2026
Joe Rogan, one columnist says: Our nation is in a world of hurt. It's amazing to see how many people seem to be lingering in various forms of denial.
As we noted yesterday, we thought David Brooks—a good, decent person—was lingering there, last Friday night, on the PBS NewsHour. Before we return to his puzzling conduct, Bret Stephens is attempting to help us see part of the mess we're all in.
Rather, Stephens outlines two parts of the existential mess we're all in.
Midway through his new column for the New York Times, Stephens describes the pair of titans who performed a three-hour podcast last week. No names are included in the passage posted below, though one titan will be easy to name.
For the record, Stephens is a man of the center right. This is the truth as he sees it:
Call the Veep, Agent Mulder!
[...]
The truth—that the most influential media figure in America today, with tens of millions of followers on social media, is a jocular bro with an Everyman affect who seems never to have encountered an idiotic or despicable conspiracy theory he isn’t willing to promote (moon-landing denial) or platform (Hitler revisionism). We are a nation that has moved at speed from the realm of fact colored by opinions to a kingdom of delusion infested with fear.
The truth—that the current vice president is by far the worst person ever to hold the office (move over, Aaron Burr, John C. Calhoun and Spiro T. Agnew). ...The prospect of this callow and sinister opportunist taking the place of the erratic buffoon now governing us may be the single scariest thought in world politics today.
It's easy to see who he's talking about in that second paragraph. In Stephens' opinion, JD Vance is a "callow and sinister opportunist" who is "by far the worst person ever to hold the office" of vice president.
Opinions on that will differ. Opinion will also differ on Stephens' description of President Trump as "the erratic buffoon now governing us."
Is President Trump an "erratic buffoon?" At present, opinions differ. In fact, they differ quite widely—but Vance is easy to spot in the passage we've posted.
More interesting, in our view, is the first paragraph we've posted. In that paragraph, Stephens describes "the most influential media figure in America today."
According to Stephens, who is that person? We'll give you his name:
Joe Rogan!
Is it possible that Stephens is right? Is it possible that Rogan—the former host of The Man Show—really is "the most influential media figure" in our flailing nation today?
At the time of the Vietnam War, it was widely believed that Walter Cronkite—a deeply experienced war correspondent—was the most influential such person.
(Before his work in World War II, he had served as Moscow bureau chief for CBS News.)
The deeply experienced Walter Cronkite was most influential then. Is it possible that Rogan—"a jocular bro with an Everyman affect"—holds that position today, as our flailing nation keeps starting and stopping its ongoing war with Iran?
Is it possible? Yes, it probably is. Yes, we suppose it's possible, though it would surely be hard to say.
That said, is Stephens' unflattering description of Rogan accurate? Because we've never listened to Rogan's podcasts, we can't quite tell you that.
We've never listened to Rogan! But on a daily basis, for years, we've watched the aggressive buffoonism performed on such corporate propaganda shows as The Five and Fox & Friends Weekend, mixed with the ugly aggression of the prehuman Gutfeld! program.
No serious nation can expect to survive the culture created by such undisguised garbage can "cable news" shows—or the garbage which flows, on an hourly basis, from our failing nation's assortment of deranged podcasters of both the left and the right.
What happened on last week's podcast, triggering this column by Stephens? Right at the start of his column, Stephens attempts to explain:
Call the Veep, Agent Mulder!
Somewhere around the two-hour mark in JD Vance’s nearly three-hour podcast interview last week with Joe Rogan, the pair got into a serious conversation about supernatural and extraterrestrial phenomena. By serious, I mean it in the sense that Rogan seemed to take the subject seriously while Vance cynically, or cretinously, or cravenly, or credulously or conspiratorially—or perhaps it’s all of the above—played along with him.
[...]
By this point, the two men had already propounded one conspiracy theory—that the Los Angeles mayoral election had been rigged (a claim previously debunked by a Trump-appointed federal prosecutor); followed by Vance’s accusation that Joe Biden’s staff got him to eat ice cream “in the most ridiculous, suggestive way imaginable” (a remarkable way of turning naked mendacity into adolescent prurience into another conspiracy theory); followed by an exchange about eating corn dogs in public (because, you know); followed by an argument about whether the Ten Commandments should be mandated in Texas public schools, in which neither man appeared to be aware that the commandments are not originally Christian.
We've omitted three examples of Vance's pronouncements concerning demons and the like. Regarding Vance's claim about the way Joe Biden ate ice cream, we'll tell you something Stephens probably doesn't know:
Back in the day, the brain-numbing stupidity about Joe Biden's eating of ice cream sprang full-blown from the empty head of Jesse Watters on a regular basis (along with so much more). On The Five, the other children would titter and chuckle, pretending that this inane behavior made sense.
(After that, it would often be time to over-talk Tarlov again.)
Watters co-hosts The Five each day, then hosts his own program, Jesse Watters Primetime. They're the two most-watched programs in the American "cable news" firmament—and Watters, the most-watched person in cable news, is a gender buffoon and undisguised tribal clown well past all the way down.
Out of madness of this sort, very bad politics grows. But on Friday evening's PBS NewsHour, David Brooks seemed blissfully unaware of the mess we're all in:
What, us worry? he said.
David Brooks is a good, decent person. Also, he's very bright. Tomorrow, we'll return to an ongoing mystery:
Why is the world—why on earth—did David Brooks say what he said?
Tomorrow: Jonathan Capehart's concern
So the VP has nothing more important to do, then to waste three hours w/joe Rogan? How much are we paying him?
ReplyDeletePR and public appearances are part of the VP's job during every presidency. This isn't the problem to focus on.
DeleteTake away the bigotry and fascism, and the Republican Party is nothing but a cabal of child rapists.
ReplyDeleteYes, the Others are all the same, and they're evil.
DeleteIf they aren't evil, why haven't they dealt with the Epstein child rapists? The Others have the power in both the House and Senate.
DeleteDG, 11:03 is talking about the GOP, a political party, not the voters. Can you grasp that? What do YOU call a political party that supports a psychopathic, pathological liar, corrupt as fuck, a party that lies for him and debases themselves before him, allowing him to rule as a king, demonizing all liberals and trying to steal elections, sending a mob to attack the Capitol? If you don’t like the word “evil”, then you can supply your own.
DeleteYes, the GOP is a cabal of people, and these people are all bigoted, child-raping fascists.
DeleteWell, they are fascists, DG. That word seems to fit them, as a factual matter. Do you object to it? Leaving aside the child raping (they are hiding the Epstein files because Trump is all over them…meaning, in your estimation?), how do you respond to 12:11, DG?
DeleteNo doubt, ignoring the open bigotry, fascism, and sexual predation of the Republican Party makes it harder to call them fascists bigots who support sexual predation.
DeleteThey are all enablers of child rape to the extent that they do not prosecute the people who committed crimes against children along with Epstein. Including Trump. Using the word "cabal" changes nothing about their culpability under the law and the refusal of Republicans in congress to take this seriously.
DeleteThe bigotry is displayed by the Republican gerrymandering of districts to eliminate minority representation in states that have large minority populations.
DG thinks that if some individual Other can be shown to be non-guilty of bigotry, then all right wingers are excused from that accusation.
Yes, and calling the Others bigoted, child-raping fascists invariably leads them to reconsider their evil ways and start voting for Democrats.
Deletemaybe overgeneralizing is a right wing trait?
DeleteDG's point is that not each and every Republican voter threw a childish temper tantrum at the United States Capitol just because black people's votes were counted in the 2020 Presidential election, so you can't say all Republican voters are the same.
DeleteOthers point out not one Republican voter threw a childish temper tantrum at the United States Capitol just because the Republican Congress passed Trump's HUGE tax breaks for the rich and corporations, so you can't say any of them are economically anxious.
I dunno, DG. This is a comment section of a blog, where you can be candid in your assessments. If you consider how democrats vs republicans actually campaign, you will see that democrats usually appeal to bipartisanship, whereas republicans almost never do. Few if any democratic politicians call the GOP bigoted evil child rapist enablers. Yet it is SOP for republicans to publicly call democrats evil communists. “Fascist” is a term that fits the GOP, and it seems to me that voters should be told what the GOP stands for, in all honesty. If they are being lied to, you tell them they are.
DeleteDG thinks he's making a point that if we want to lead Republican voters to reconsider their evil ways and start voting for Democrats, we should excuse their bigotry and fascism.
DeletePersonally, I don't think that will work, and DG is kind of a knucklehead for thinking some that ridiculous.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAnd you're kind of a knucklehead for thinking that I think that we should excuse anyone's bigotry and fascism.
DeleteOk, DG. But when we call out someone’s bigotry and fascism, we are told, by you and Somerby, that we are just being woke, and that pushes voters away.
Delete1:13 -- There are some who spend their lives seeing bigotry and fascism everywhere. (Several are prominent anons in the very comment section.) The backlash against these scolds fuels the "anti-woke" and "anti-DEI" campaigns which power Repubican victories in many states. Perhaps incessantly calling the Others evil comes with a political cost.
DeleteI’m not what way is the current iteration of the GOP, as a party, not fascist, DG?
DeleteI mean, for example, that calling all those who identify as GOPers "bigoted, child-raping fascists" may be a tad bit over the top. And may, even, be counterproductive to the electoral prospects of Democrats.
DeleteNow provide an example of a Democratic politician publicly calling the Republicans that, DG.
Delete1:29 - I agree: These bombs are being launched by people like us.
Delete“People like us”? You mean people at political blogs and such? Why should that influence how people vote in an election? Are commenters at blogs and such supposed to be good little boys and girls (but only if they’re liberals) and never say anything that might upset a right winger?
DeleteIt's America. Say anything you want. And then, if you habitually call all GOPers child-rapers, bitch and moan when we lose elections.
DeleteBut since it's America, I'll say what I want. And what I want to say is that it would be nice to persuade even 1% of the Others to vote for Democrats; that at least 1% are not child-rapers; and that calling all of the Others child-rapers tends to discourage that 1% from listening to what we have to say.
So all of us here at political blogs should stop saying these things, even if we feel they are true, because that’s why we “lose elections?” Do we lose every election? Are there possibly other reasons we lose (some) elections? Is it untrue to call the current Republican Party fascists, and it’s just politically bad to say it, or is it perhaps true? Is bigotry a big thing in their party? It seems to me it is, but I’m not supposed to say that because it will cause some Democrat somewhere to lose her election?
DeleteI think I'm dealing with two types of anons here. One type gets an orgasmic rush of moral superiority from calling others "bigoted, child-raping fascists." These anons are addicts to the rush and can't be reasoned with.
DeleteThe other type sees a Republican party pursuing an anti-immigrant program because of its racist fear of black and brown people, a party protecting child-raping predators likely including President Trump, and a party engaged in entrenching its rule beyond the power of elections to displace.
And that's how I see the Republican party.
And yet, we're the minority party. As such, it seems to me that we should be especially disciplined in how we confront and defeat the Republican party at the polls. While we still might be able to do so
“its racist fear of black and brown people, a party protecting child-raping predators likely including President Trump, and a party engaged in entrenching its rule beyond the power of elections to displace.”
DeleteDG…you just called the GOP a racist, fascist, child rape protecting party. How in the fuck is that substantially different than what the original commenter said?
2:07 -- What I would suggest? Truth, that's all. For example, it's not true that all GOPers are child-rapers. In my view, we should not say untrue things.
DeleteAgain: What are the rules of propaganda? One, the Others are all the same. Two, they're evil.
I would avoid propaganda because it's not true.
Is it really calling a GOPer a child-raper when we ask why Republican voters vote for those who hide/excuse the child-raping activities of men like Trump?
DeleteThe Others are not the best source of new Democratic voters. Our strategy is to attract young voters, Independents and less-consistent voters who sit out elections when they don't see a personal interest. Trying to attract anyone who would tolerate the right even one second is a lost cause, because they have demonstrated that they don't have the empathy to care about the issues important to Democrats.
You are exaggerating when you suggest that we on the left consider all Others to be actual child-rapers themselves. It is the men elected or appointed to Republican office who engage in child raping (via Matt Gaetz and his pimping of 17 year olds to House members, for example, or Lutnick who visited Epstein island claiming it was a family vacation). Men who will not prosecute the clients of Epstein's sex trafficking are child-raping enablers but no one thinks all Republicans commit incest (like the quiverfulls). We think they are unwilling to prosecute those who do rape children.
If an Other cannot get behind prosecuting child rapists, then they aren't going to care about anything else Democrats care about, which makes changing our priorities to appeal to them a waste of time, not to mention a dilution of our efforts that undermines our ability to achieve change.
DG, if you are not a child rapist yourself, why do you tolerate those guys in office?
2:16 -- Some, say even 1%, of GOPers do not see that the project of their party is racist deportation, pedophile-protection, and party entrenchment. (And I could add, crony-capitalistic corruption.) Calling ALL GOPers "child -rapers" and such tends to prevent us from helping them see what has become of their party.
Delete"DG, if you are not a child rapist yourself"
DeleteHere's exactly my point. Do you think I'm going to bother to read what this anon has to say?
DG,
DeleteAgree, it would be much better if we charged the child-rapers in the Republican party, so we could differentiate then from the few Republicans who don't commit child rape and are accused of doing so wrongly by bloggers.
Remind me again which party runs the Department of Justice, which refuses to do, when you have a minute.
We should all just pretend that the the gop isn’t racist and fascist. Maybe they will stop being racist and fascist then.
Delete3:15 -- I'll try one more time, and then give up. Not everyone in the GOP is racist and fascist. There are Latinos in the Rio Grande valley who voted for Trump; maybe, after seeing what he's done, they might be able to reconsider their views of the GOP, leading to a Talarico win. But -- call them racist, fascist child-rapers, and see which way they vote.
DeleteDG, do you realize the republican controlled Senate is about to make Todd fucking Blanche the fucking AG of the United States of America. Do you notice any fucking republican objecting? Get back to me when you find one and is willing to act on it.
DeleteDG: He calls them child rapists to get attention. The whole shtick is trolling. A lonely, unserious person trolling for attention.
Delete3:35 -- You're right. That proves the Latinos in the Rio Grande valley all like to rape kids, deport brown-skinned immigrants, and salute dictators, and we should denounce their innate and intractable evilness!
Delete3:53 -- Perhaps you're not aware of the comment that spawned this thread, which says, "the Republican Party is nothing but a cabal of child rapists."
DeleteNo, DG. It proves any fucking Latino in the Rio Grande dumb enough to vote for the rapist felon racist bastard doesn't care about any of that shit.
DeleteI'm aware. That was trolling. Saying that is a way for them to get attention.
DeleteThey make statements like that every morning. And all the time. They may as well just write in big block letters I NEED ATTENTION!
If someone in the Rio Grande Valley votes for a child rapist like Trump out of their own self-interest, you are welcome to keep them in your own party. Even Marjorie Taylor Greene had the integrity to break with Trump when she realized her own party was refusing to prosecute Epstein-file child rapists. No one on the left is foolish enough to believe that people who tolerate child rape are going to be attracted to the Democratic Party platform. It supports the rights of women, minorities, immigrants, the poor, disabled and needy, health care for all, unions and workers, environmentalism, and a whole slew of things that anyone attracted to Trump is not going to be for.
DeleteWe are not going to pretend that Trump and his right wing cronies are not child rapists (corrupt criminals, warmongers, sexual abusers, etc etc etc) simply because it hurts the feelings of some Republicans who may not be child rapists themselves but are willing to vote for them in order to make a little more money. The Latinos in the Rio Grande have already been switching to Democrats because they have seen ICE up close and personal and are scared shitless by their tactics.
It is wrong to support evil doing. If that makes Democrats morally superior, then so be it, but I would rather be called morally superior than enable evil, as occurs among Republicans.
Do you condone whatever is happening to Mitch McConnell just to gain a temporary political advantage in a Senate vote? Is it right to pretend he is still alive or still functioning in order to cast a fraudulent vote? That is a moral issue. Republicans are A-OK with such things, based on their behavior.
4:34 - I apologize. I completely misread the tone of your comment.
DeleteBut you don't have any proof Trump or Epstein ever raped a child. So the accusation doesn't really mean anything. You just use it as a way to get attention for yourself.
DeleteI hear you DG. You're good.
DeletePeople vote generally by party affiliation, not by carefully considering all the factors and reaching a logical conclusion.
DeleteHow people vote is largely baked in by their upbringing.
There is not a significant amount of Trump voters that will ever switch their votes. The swing voter myth is a ploy that Republicans use to try to con Dems into endorsing strategies that only Republicans would benefit from.
The US experienced a major partisan realignment over the last 70 years or so, and it is now complete and essentially set in stone.
Trump wins in large part via bombastic rhetoric, because it is highly effective, particularly with Republican voters, who are a distinct cohort from Dem voters.
Calling out Republican corruption and criminality is highly effective for motivating and mobilizing Dem voters. Dems are also motivated to protect the oppressed and those in need.
When people say the GOP is the party of racists and child predators, that is accurate regardless if some individuals do not engage in that behavior in their personal lives, because they support people who do engage in that behavior. The only significance this kind of rhetoric has is to mobilize Dem voters.
DG in the 1930s: Now hang on gang let's give this Hitler guy a chance, he says some reasonable things. I mean, who doesn't want the trains to run on time?
DG in the 1850s: I don't like slavery but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater, let's compromise, after all slavers are only about 1% of the population.
DG is a troll, he never supports his weak claims with evidence, and he typically doesn't even offer claims but just rushes to blindly defend his hero blogger mainly by baseless insults.
Every single person in the GOP who voted for Trump knew they were voting for a treasonous insurrectionist, just as Lindsay Graham did for about a day. There are more of us than the fascists weirdos in the GOP. That's why they work day and night to make sure our votes don't count; and discourage low information voters to vote GOP with a new turd to polish every two to four years. The Iraqis! The queers! The abortionists! The trannies! Diversity? Equity!, Inclusion!, Woke!, The Haitians! The Commies!, The Dumocrats! (did u know if you took the B out of Dumb , and replaced the E with a U, you have Dumocrat? Also too, a lot of people don't know there is a B in groceries. Whatever. Fuck these fucking assholes. We quit all Trumper friends, even the nice fake Christian couple. Go punch a fascist in the face DG, you'll feel better.
DeleteSo now that you've been called on it, they're not child rapists.
Delete"DG in the 1930s: Now hang on gang let's give this Hitler guy a chance, he says some reasonable things."
DeleteI think I need another lecture about civility and focusing on the arguments rather the person from you anons.
Can you imagine? This anon calls me a slavery-supporting Nazi in the very same comment that he rails against "baseless insults."
DeleteDG, just go away. If life is too complicated for you and you can't figure out the rules or how to get along with other people, get a therapist or get lost. This isn't rocket science.
DeleteLol! They are comically hypocritical and poorly reasoned.
DeleteBut the only way to go DG is to ignore them. They will always win. The weakness of their reasoning is part of the troll. It's bait. The stupidity is part of the troll. It's also just bait designed to get a response.
DeleteDG unironically being all butt hurt is too funny.
Deletewomp womp
Agree, the only play for DG, the only way for DG to win is to ignore everyone else, ignore even this blog, and go outside and touch grass.
DeleteYou'll be missed DG, but we know you'll be in a "better" place.
Fifi and 5:51 -- Thanks. You're right, of course. Maybe I'll take your sound advice.
DeleteDG,
DeleteIt could be far worse.
They could be calling Republicans "pro-life", without a speck of evidence.
DG could be correct that not all Republicans are okay with child rape, even if they support Todd Blanche's cover-up of the Epstein Files.
DeleteThere could be any number of other reasons they support the cover-up, even if they don't rape children. For instance, they might support Blanche's cover-up of the Epstein Files because they don't want to see their colleagues accused of child rape in the news.
Joe Rogan is no Walter Cronkite and opinions vary about the President. Somerby is really profound today.
ReplyDeleteSomerby calls hardcore right winger Stephens "center right" which is laughably off-base.
DeleteSomerby would rather not talk about Walter Cronkite's politics, but when Powell was appointed to the Supreme Court, Cronkite volunteered to emcee the party the Republicans held to celebrate Powell's appointment.
Powell is the author of the infamous Powell Memo, which has been a guiding light for Republicans ever since, and one of its main directives is to have a right wing takeover of media.
Republicans continue their effort to takeover media to this day, but it is severely hampered by the democratization of media, which Republicans hate and Somerby is right there with them.
We are not in a mess because Joe Rogan has influence. We are in a mess because Trump is president and has staffed his administration with incompetents and grifters. Somerby is obsessing over something Brooks said, which he doesn't quote so we can obsess too, while calling Brooks good, decent, sharp, all praise for a conservative opinion writer. Tomorrow he will do Brett Stephens, another conservative. Are there no liberals Somerby can quote, ever? There are a lot of good decent Democrats saying astute things, especially on Substack (where literate people go for opinion). But we have to hear about Joe Rogan?
ReplyDeleteIn the old days, Somerby used to explain the difference between reporting and propaganda. Now he just promotes the propaganda while pretending it is informative. Too much Illiad rots the mind.
DeleteIt's surprising to see Stevens call a fellow Republican a "callow and sinister opportunist" who is "by far the worst person ever to hold the office" of vice president. Someone whose potential election as President is the "single scariest thought in world politics today."
I would like to know the reasons for this evaluation.
"It's surprising to see Stevens call..."
DeleteAre you referring to Stephens? This is the kind of mistake a foreign troll might make, not anyone familiar with the conservative op-ed writer Somerby mentions. No one familiar with the guy would call him Stevens.
It’s an innocent mistake. David is real.
DeleteI’m sure Stephens has articulated his reasons. It’s called “the internet” DiC. None of us has to remain ignorant. It’s a choice.
DeleteAnyone who thinks Trump's daily corruption and criminality is worse than any other businessman has a bad case of TDS.
DeleteThere is no similarity between Trump's sociopathic behavior and the conduct of business in our cities. A business who behaved like Trump would go out of business, as Trump has many times. Trump behaves like a gangster with dementia. He had to be bailed out by Russian oligarchs who own him, making him a traitor to his country. He is a sex criminal and felon. Most businessmen are not, aside from a bit of infidelity and tax evasion. That is a difference of both scale and kind.
DeleteD in C, you seem to have your head in the sand. There are reasons why some Republicans, like Stephens, have turned on trump. Maybe if you read something other than demented, or disingenuous propaganda purveying, right-wing sites you could figure it out. the surprising thing is why you, an intelligent person, are motivated to apologize for Trump and overlook the reasons why he should never have been elected.
DeleteWhy is Ka$h meeting with the FSB (KGB) in Moscow? Don't forget to wave Hi!, David in Cal.
DeleteProbably for similar reasons why the daughter of a KGB operative married Trump.
DeleteThat daughter made the mistake of mocking Trump for his new hair plugs and he promptly sexually assaulted her.
Years later, after they divorced, she died falling down the stairs in her own house, cause of death curiously was blunt force trauma...to the abdomen.
Trump then unceremoniously dumped her body in an unkempt grave in a deserted part of one of his golf courses, in an effort to get a tax break.
It makes as much sense to believe in demons as it does to believe in angels (which many religious people do) or God for that matter. Religious beliefs are not subject to logic because faith is the heart of belief, not reason. There are worse things about Vance than Somerby appears capable of observing.
ReplyDeleteHere is a man who lied in his autobiographical book about his upbringing. He is a guy with no firm sense of himself, having changed his name multiple times:
"James Donald Bowman: His birth name.
James David Hamel: The name he used throughout his childhood and early adulthood after his mother remarried and his stepfather adopted him.
James David Vance: His current legal name. He adopted this surname in 2013 to honor his maternal grandparents, who played a major role in raising him.
J.D. Vance (with periods): The name he used when he first rose to prominence and published his 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy.
JD Vance (without periods): His current preferred public and political name."
This kind of shapeshifting is a psychiatric symptom.
This is the man who called Trump "America's Hitler" but is now his chief sycophant. A person with a weak sense of himself has no moral compass. Now he is a newly hatched Catholic with a religious rebirth, another symptom of his lack of a stable sense of self, an identity up for grabs to the highest bidder (such as Peter Thiel). These are personal choices but they also display the same kind of erratic behavior as Trump.
Somerby might have identified Trump's problems much earlier in Trump's life, but he needed Mary Trump to tell him what was wrong with a man with obvious major flaws. JD Vance is the same kind of guy and sane people should be able to recognize that he has as much integrity (or as little) as George Santos. Vance is a threat to our nation, not just because of his maladjustment but because he is smarter than Trump. We don't need to elect a smart demon to office when a stupid one has just done so much damage to our nation.
And what is Somerby's focus? On Joe Rogan and conservatives such as Brooks and Stephens. This is why we blues are in such deep shit. The people who are supposedly part of our coalition are reading and talking about assholes on the right instead of our country's need for leadership. Somerby's identity problems are as obvious as Vance's and arise from the same source -- money and attention to an unstable narcissistic self-image. Too bad it has to be as sell-outs.
When your own life is a construction and not a reality, why shouldn't the rest of experience be the same? Making conspiracy theories out of unrelated events or circumstances is little different than making a narrative out of your past and fabricating fictitious life events, as Vance did with his own childhood. He grew up in middle class Middletown Ohio not Appalachia.
DeleteVance's mother apparently had addiction problems but Vance has borrowed her struggle as a hard-luck story to ride into office. I find that despicable. A book about HIS pain is little help to her but reveals a kind of narcissism and opportunism borne out by his subsequent performance as a politician. Those cats and dogs aren't going to eat themselves when facts become convenient lies, they are tools to manipulate others, make money and evoke sympathy for a life he didn't live. Those who live in Appalachia were as maligned by his book as the Haitians who never ate pets.
"Sam Workman, a professor of political science at West Virginia University, called the book “poverty porn.” He said the reception to it has more to say about the disconnect between intellectual pundits in academics, politics, the media and rural working-class people than anything else.
Delete“‘Hillbilly Elegy’ was so popular at the start, and all of a sudden everyone now dislikes it, because they realize the rabbit’s out of the hat in a way,” said Workman, who runs WVU’s Institute for Policy Research and Public Affairs. “This is really about a lot of liberal intellectuals being caught off guard as to what the real purposes of ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ were. It was the first foray into a really potent, conservative political career.”
On the heels of the book’s popularity, Vance started a charity called “Our Ohio Renewal” that he said he would use as a vehicle for helping solve the scourge of opioid addiction that he had lamented in the book. He shuttered the nonprofit shortly after clinching the Senate nomination in 2022."
https://apnews.com/article/vance-rnc-appalachia-republican-vp-b666f86429ace1d29a13691f6254ff79
Middle class people do no go around talking about ancestral homes, as JD Vance does in his book. They talk about visiting their grandparents or a summer vacation home.
DeleteWell said.
DeleteVance is weird af.
Middle class people do go around lying about everything, everywhere, all the time, all at once.
DeleteWhat middle class?
Delete"Why is [sic] the world—why on earth—did David Brooks say what he said?"
ReplyDeleteWho cares? Why should anyone care?
Why doesn't Somerby capitalize the name of our planet, Earth? Is it unimportant to him?
Deletemercury, venus, earth, and mars are small planets, so they get small letters. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are giant planets, so they get capital letters.
DeleteYou just make that up 12:15, or is that real. I once had a girlfriend with a big Uranus. It was a source of voluminous fanny burps, here on small planet earth.
DeleteBoycott Nolan’s Odyssey. He filmed some scenes in Western Sahara, which is illegally occupied by Morocco.
ReplyDeleteBoycott yourself and take your OT trolling elsewhere.
DeleteThis is a serious matter. Western Saharans are being deprived of their land and despoiled of their resources. Morocco is violating international law and UN resolutions.
DeleteMusk called Nolan a “worm” for apparently not having an all white cast.
DeleteThis film has nothing to do with that dispute.
DeleteIf Nolan is woke, I applaud that aspect, but I don't watch his films because they are bad.
DeleteIt would not surprise me if Nolan callously filmed in an occupied area.
Odyssey is a silly and goofy story made up by a string of people through the years that had no particular insight into human nature. It is meant to promote fantastical awe among it's young listeners, I would be concerned if a contemporary adult feels like they relate to the story.
They film where it is cheap to film. It is financial not political.
DeleteWasn't DG voted off the Island yesterday? What is he doing coming back here?
ReplyDeleteHe’s an Other.
DeleteAlways a good political strategy for the smaller Tribe to start tossing people out of the tent.
DeleteWhat do you mean, DG? The tribe of people who criticize you is smaller than the ones who support you?
DeleteDG, you have the right to vote for whoever you want. No Democrat can throw you out of that. But we don't have to believe you hold claimed views when you contradict them so often. Same goes for Somerby.
DeleteThrowing DG off the island has nothing to do with voting or political strategy. It means he fails to play well with others here. Who wants a guy around who does nothing but attack other commenters on a personal level?
"Who wants a guy around who does nothing but attack other commenters on a personal level?"
DeleteLook at this thread: Who is attacking whom on a personal level?
That's what gets me. You anons attack me mercilessly on a personal level, which is OK with me: but then you whimper and snivel about how I'm attacking others.
If you want to attack me out of the blue, like in this thread for example, fine. But please don't blubber like a baby if I say something as innocuous as "We liberals shouldn't throw other liberals out of the tent." It's annoying.
You never do anything but attack others. You come here but you don't discuss the topics. This thread does not stand in isolation from other threads.
DeleteHere is what was said when you talked about the tent:
"DG, you have the right to vote for whoever you want. No Democrat can throw you out of that."
How is that an attack on you? It sounds like an affirmation of your right to hold your opinions.
But I don't believe that tent comment is what anyone was complaining about. It is stuff like this:
"You anons attack me mercilessly on a personal level, which is OK with me: but then you whimper and snivel about how I'm attacking others."
This is a clear attack on "you anons" not even a specific commenter and it calls all those anons whimperers and snivelers and say we "blubber like a baby." This is troll behavior. If you are an actual troll, please tell your supervisor that people are tired of you here and ask to be transferred to a different blog assignment.
If I have one pet peeve, it's anons who cry about being attacked after spewing vicious insults at me.
DeleteIf I have two pet peeves, it's anons who complain that I confuse one anon with another.
anon 4:21, DG is one of the only rational persons commenting here. There are actual standards of reasoned argument. The "anons" who FG, quixotically engages with, cheat against those standards.
Deletebullshit
Delete4:47 - The epitome of reasoned argument.
DeleteAC/MA is not the boss of me. Him calling you reasoned is a fucking joke. You guys are right wing trolls. It is nicer here when you are not around, but I expect that Leroy and Cecelia will be back soon enough. Why does Somerby merit a horde of fanboy trolls to defend his ugly screeds? I guess there is more free money floating around on the right than I thought.
DeleteDG is playing dumb. He can address any comment individually by using the time stamp. Pretending to be confused by anons is a game he plays here, allowing him to attack everyone everywhere all at once. Asshole.
DeleteIt is wild that Dogface thinks anyone cares about his pet peeves.
DeleteHe is obviously a lonely person desperate for attention, deserving only of our pity.
We got rid of Cecelia and David barely peeps anymore, let's ignore this loser Dogface, since he never has anything coherent or serious to say.
5:01 - 5:04 -- The epitome of reasoned argument.
DeleteFuck off DG
DeleteI learned it from you, DG. I learned it from you.
Deletewomp womp
bwahahahahahahahaha
"President Donald Trump declared it is really simple to understand during a Wednesday rally in Georgia: “With communism, everything turns to sh*t!”
DeleteApplying reason, because everything has turned to shit, that means Trump mustbe a communist! Do his followers know?
Hegseth is being offered $10,000 to take a public testosterone test. Apparently we can hold these guys accountable on the trivia but not the bigger issues, such as stats for injured US soldiers in the Iran war
ReplyDeleteHe needs to time it for about five days after two weeks of 3x's/day ball tanning exercises to assure his testosterone is maXXXed out. GOD"S SPEED BRAVE WAR FIGHTER!!!
DeleteWhat until he finds out testosterone and masculinity do not connect in the way he thinks they do.
DeleteScience is hard.
Delete“David Brooks is a good, decent person. ”
ReplyDeleteIs this sarcasm?
yes.
DeleteNo.
DeleteSomerby has long professed his admiration for Brooks.
Brooks is the kind of mealy mouthed right winger that gets Somerby excited.
“deranged podcasters of both the left and the right. “
ReplyDeleteDoes Somerby have an example of a deranged podcaster of the left, especially one with as many listeners as Rogan? ??
Some New York Times' moron is envious of Joe Rogan.
ReplyDeleteWhat else is new?
Somerby has become a rabid both-sidesist.
ReplyDeleteConsumption of info is not a contest to see who can become most influential. For those concerned about democracy, it is the means to an informed voting populace. This shouldn't be about whether Rogan has a bigger audience for Somerby either, but about who provides the best source of current events, political analysis, financial advice, etc.
ReplyDeleteThat's why this kind of essay by Somerby makes no sense to me. Rogan may have acquired a big audience, but obviously not for his info but most likely for entertainment value. Or it could be because he confirms preconceived opinions and beliefs or reinforces a sense of self-worth of some kind, or is unobjectionable as background noise. Somerby needs to figure out what Rogan provides and then think about whether that is worthwhile to listeners.
I do not understand why Somerby continues to watch Gutfeld and Fox given their offensive content and uselessness to anyone seriously interested in politics. To my knowledge, Somerby makes no recommendations about good places to go for liberals to find news. So what purpose does Somerby serve? Nothing helpful, as far as I can see.
anon, why couldn't the same question be asked of you? why you continue to follow TDH given that without fail you find his musings offensive and useless?
DeleteI have not professed the same concerns or goals as Somerby. He is a hypocrite according to his own standards, not mine.
DeleteSomerby originally made a name for himself by calling out corporate media for doing little more than repeat Republican talking points. And he further demonstrated that by delving into the issues from a "blue" perspective.
DeleteThis garnered him a predominantly "blue" audience.
Then Somerby quietly realigned himself with Republicans and his blog became an angry finger wag at Dems, while still claiming to be "blue".
That kind of hypocrisy and lack of integrity warrants criticism. It is the criticism that has driven this now right wing vanity blog into the ground.
I think Somerby may have become a paid influencer. There is evidence that happened via Tenet Media to standup comedians such as Tim Pool:
Delete"Podcaster and political commentator Tim Pool was named in a federal indictment unsealed by the U.S. Department of Justice regarding Tenet Media. Prosecutors alleged that the Tennessee-based media company, which Pool licensed his shows to, received nearly $10 million from covert Russian operatives to fund conservative content.The Department of Justice alleged that two employees of the Russian state-media network RT used shell companies to fund Tenet Media. The company then distributed the funds to several high-profile right-wing influencers, including Pool, Dave Rubin, and Benny Johnson."
Somerby has a higher profile in the Baltimore/DC area than nationwide. He used to be mentioned occasionally by national figures. He changed around 2015, which is when this media campaign happened on behalf of Trump.
I agree that is reasonable.
DeleteBut if so, it is money down the drain, few read TDH anymore. Aside from the astute criticism it is a cesspool of right wing trolls.
The discussion goes on, and I still hate Dogface George.
ReplyDeleteWere you the one lecturing me about how we should focus on the merits of the arguments rather than on the person?
DeleteObviously not, DG.
DeleteIn this case it works out the same DG.
DeleteI get it, I get it.
DeleteNobody likes DG.
Fair enough.
We are never short of some clown like DG taking pride in being a dramatic troll.