The Republican Party’s Decay Began Long Before Trump

[@canadiangemstones7636]

Clarence Thomas has taken $4,000,000 in “gifts.” There’s some serious decay right there.

[@cactustree505]

gifts or grifts?

[@johndietz3735]

And you counted every penny.

[@joshntn37111]

Thomas is MAGA so I love him!!

[@GiorniVenibato]

It’s crazy a super corrupt justice can’t be impeached????

[@GiorniVenibato]

@@joshntn37111disgusting

[@millenialsmom2214]

I felt the shift start post, Reagan. The right hated Clinton. They REALLY hated having a black man in office. I saw this coming with the Tea Party. I told republican friends their party was being highjacked by nuts. I sold advertising on News Talk radio, which carried Limbaugh. I watched his listener's hate build and build. And Trump came along and tapped that vein of discontent and hate.

[@os2958]

Hate is and was purposely manufactured by the leaders of the right.

[@FieldBlaser]

Trump the antichrist.

[@anthonybrown5522]

You are nuts

[@phylis3917]

Didn’t see nothing but I did see Donald was a fraud FROM THE GET GO.

[@Cmkrs34]

No youre not nuts.

[@freeheeler09]

Your comment about how the “GOP is an engine for turning social resentment into tax cuts” is spot on! I’d add “tax cuts for corporations and billionaires”.

[@JenniferNIsbet-n6d]

and yet, it's the wealthy Dems like Oprah and Swift and others like Obama and Clinton whom have made their money from politics who are urging the poor and middle class to vote Dem. hypocrites, The dems have all but eliminated the middle class and small business and redistributed our tax dollars for programs to reward illegal aliens along with other migrants such that the poor and middle class are being displaced from their own communities using their own tax dollars. I see more foreign flags flying than American flags here. It' s disgusting. Come to our country, use our resources, put your country first, tell us how awful we are and try to change our government. The Dems have done this and the Dems supported the Corporations bringing in this slave labor. That is why they raised so much money. It;s the Dems and not the GOP who have a machine going on and are being supported by the corporations and millionaire as well as billionaires.

[@paulwolinsky1538]

Please see Michael Reagan's paper on the New York City bankruptcy. It is very clear that once Lewis Powell wrote the White Paper, Republican conservatives only had to light a match to NYC to take over the entire country with the hot-head Ronald Reagan. The austerity imposed by Wall Street bankers and right-wing fascists was the beginning of the end - the early signal of what neoliberal policies such as trickle-up economics would entail.

[@richardcaves3601]

As an outsider from NZ looking in, from the 1960s, I can precis this with two points. 1. Right up until the resignation of Nixon, both democrats and Republicans were intrinsically linked to the Keynesian economics of the New Deal, high wages and high taxes, unionism and fair bargaining, protected pension schemes, and progressive development lead by government intervention. That ended after Nixon, with the take over of the Republicans by the extremist monetarist elite under the disguise of Milton Friedman and associates, advocating a complete reversal of those policies. They lied to the electorate and pushed through monetary reforms that ended all the protections, economic and political, for the average voter. 2. The Bushes continued with the same policies and further poisoned politics by sharpening the political divide by terming Democrats as traitors, especially with the connivance of Gingrich and others. They did this partly to entrench wealth and partly as revenge for Nixon. By the time Clinton and Obama came to power, the rot had set in, with Americans disinterested and suspicious of politics. Trump is the result. Lack of civics education isolated the masses of voters, and "race to the bottom" economics created sn underclass in America. At the moment, that underclass is leaderless because Trump betrayed them, but many don't recognise that fact - yet!!!!! When they do, there will be one of two things: either a revolt, or a resurgence of interventionist economics under real left wing Democrat politics.

[@intuitionz1198]

you are 100% correct! I find an astounding that an outsider can pick up on this and make such a well-thought-out, detailed comment while people here in America don't seem to know Jack diddly about how government works.

[@richardcaves3601]

@@intuitionz1198 if there's one thing that the history of America teaches onlookers, it's the power of resilience. Americans have this inevitable quality in spades. That's why I, and outsiders who are historically educated, never give up on our allies. Ultimately, we all come from the same stock, - English yeomanry, - the original settlers of Britannia dating back to the Beaker people and beyond. We all have imprinted on our DNA self reliance, self sufficiency, and community first. Their ancestors populate UK, USA, NZ, Canada, Australia, and their moral and legal codes are prevalent world wide.

[@pjpredhomme7699]

​@@intuitionz1198 Not 100% but in the high 90's - he is missing that the democrats are complicit in this also. When Reagan /Friedman declared war on labor - it decimated Unions - which was the primary source of funding of the Democratic party. Subsequently - they went towards - corporate funding - similar to Republicans . Historically repubs got their funding from extraction industry's -oil , mining - defense contractors . The Dems aligned themselves more with more white collar industries Banks, Insurance, finance subsequently they adopted economic policies that are "republican light " that eroded a lot of their base - and despite what people like to say - those people are not stupid - they know it - and in 2016 Trump had no record to run on - so he spoke very directly to those people - and told them that they had been lied to - and they knew that is true . That is why they took a chance and tried to go with Trump when in reality - he did not really deserve any more consideration for President than he did when he ran in 1988 . He was probably less qualified by then in that he had a considerable record of failure in business - that he did not have in 1988.

[@visionpersistance]

Let’s not forget the indigenous peoples of the United States, Canada and Australia and New Zealand and the descendants of African Slaves brought to South and North America and the Caribbean and, of course the United States, starting with the original cargo of Africans brought to “Virginia” in 1619

[@trinacogitating4532]

Well said. We were better off, largely, in the Keynesian days.

[@Conway773]

It’s pretty simple: money, money, money. Get the excessive dark money out of our politics.

[@PaquitoNYC]

Amen.

[@dirkhamilton2709]

You think there was more Dark money going to Trump than to Biden? No way.

[@cfsk6h34]

$5,688,069 - Joe Biden $2,510,005 - Bob Menendez $2,362,312 - Hillary Clinton ^Money from Pro hIsraael to US Senators 1990 - 2024 225.2 billion from 1951 to 2022, hello to the defender of democracy who will ban me for wrting this comment of publicly available data!

[@lynnefox4892]

If I had a magic legal wand, I would pass a law requiring anyone who donates to a candidate must be able to vote for that candidate. Corporations can't vote. PACs would still exist, but candidates would have to certify that every donor to the campaign was an eligible voter within their constituency.

[@testboga5991]

​@@lynnefox4892there also should be an upper limit a state funding for all parties that pass some vote limit

[@brianmacadam4793]

I often go back to the Newt Gingrich era, the "zero sum" attitude arrived. But it would NOT have worked if the majority of the party had not bought in. The GOP defined a grievance. The GOP offered a relief from the grievance. And in Trump they put into place their solution. This fall the electorate will decide if the solution will work.

[@DennisMoore664]

It started with Nixon, was supercharged under Reagan/Bush, then Gingrich and his cohort nailed the coffin shut.

[@intuitionz1198]

we can't simply blame one person or even five or six people, this has been the goal of movement conservatism since its inception. furthermore, y'all need to watch more Chomsky. Democrats are not any less guilty they're just better at giving us a just a little bit to pacify us. even Carter was controlled by monied interests. I also recommend watching the plot to unalive FDR. this evil goes back to the very beginnings of our country.

[@j.f.fisher5318]

​@@DennisMoore664and Rush, Fox. And the broader process of disintermediation

[@phil20_20]

GOP's Final Solution...

[@johncarrigan9352]

Lee atwell

[@mikeyang6003]

Worms can only thrive on something that's already rotten.

[@stevenpace892]

True, and in this case it is the shift in demographics. GOP had little sway on nonwhites until it abandoned ideology. Demogogary works on any ethnic group.

[@johndietz3735]

Like in the Rotten Apple 🍎🍎🍎

[@AntonioPeralesdelHierro]

He made social divisions, including racism worse. The macho mentality, unimaginative, anti-intellectual, risk taker is the antithesis of creativity. Trumps the dangerous dolt he appears to be.

[@Semper_Iratus]

Like a woke world view.

[@Ruteger100]

same with these two.

[@manyeyedcrow9391]

The media used to play a gatekeeper role, too, at least against those who said things that were profoundly ignorant, unhinged, and incoherent, remember that, Ezra?

[@os2958]

Sadly the media now promotes that behavior. The Murdoch's and Fox Corporation were successful in changing the laws and removing guardrails to allow unethical reporting

[@davidfoster5906]

The media created the narrative that , if you are not a Republican , then you are liberal.

[@MPR2]

💯

[@MrMarinus18]

I would say the decay of the republican party started in the 1930's when the democrats started to introduce the new deal. This pushed the republicans into supporting the capitalist elite who will do anything to gain more power no matter what the consequences for anyone. After the success of the New Deal they became about denying reality which was doubled down on with the civil rights movement. The rot became cemented by Ronald Reagan who combined these two denials. The denial of the success of the mixed economy and the denial of America's racism and it's just been escalating ever since. Trump really was just an accelerant and pushed the republican tradition of denying reality to the extreme. One of the most leftist presidents in US history was Teddy Roosevelt and he was a republican. It was really the New Deal where the modern republican and democrat parties were born with the democrats siding with the unions and the republicans with the capitalists.

[@Frankyc1953]

I agree, the media is culpable, CNN in particular

[@peachdog1193]

Electoral College, Popular Vote, House, and Senate. Suck it!!

[@Rudenbehr]

fr, balls deep, tongue swirling around the head

[@Mouse01011]

oh, so now you accept this outcome but the last one you didn’t? No; you guys suck it! And warning to you all; a lot of liberals are legal gun owners, so don’t come for us: just a warning. Incels are already on social media threatening to form “rape squads”. Again, us liberal and independent men WILL side with women and be their allies for the next four years. FAFO!

[@Robert-l4c7l]

TRUMP IS an ENTERTAINER, I'M NOT BEING ENTERTAINED by him as PRESIDENT 😢😢😮

[@phylis3917]

🎯ONE HUNDRED PERCENT. Thought I was the only one who knew no one else has said it.

[@phylis3917]

People like being entertained. Slip in some lies and see what works - got ya.

[@lindadeal3344]

No one is entertained by DJT and I believe that he wants to destroy America and build an autocratic government and he would be a regime that has all the decisions made by DJT.

[@phil20_20]

I never liked his show. I think there were always suckers to go on there.

[@xiangli4383]

You are clueless. People who are fed up by the government failed policies want someone who shares the same sentiment. Trump’s policies both foreign and domestic proved to be much more effective than those of Neocons. He exposed what many have suspected for a long time that these so called politicians and experts are grossly incompetent.

[@petersouthernboy6327]

This aged so so well

[@annsanse2935]

compromise is the heartbeat of democracy. to perceive the opposition as your enemy puts you on the road to creating autocracy.

[@RebeccaTreeseed]

There is no compromise with the Corporate Succubus Slavers, they bought both parties. Both parties sold humans down the river.

[@johndietz3735]

That's exactly what Joe Biden has done.

[@johndietz3735]

Funny because the Democrat Party has been a problem for over 50 years.

[@annsanse2935]

@@johndietz3735 please clarify.

[@intuitionz1198]

​@@johndietz3735😂 shhhhh 🤡

[@talkndrideas]

No legal consequences to lying is key. Trump and Fox is the prime example.

[@damienpace7350]

Got it Biden shoudn't lie or else he'll be punished for it

[@DianaHylandTX]

So Republicans have Fox, but the Democrats own nearly every other media…NYT, Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, Reuters, AP… This fear is exaggerated and creating unnecessary fear. I would be more worried about campus extremism fighting for terrorism, dividing Democrats and losing support on all sides.

[@johndietz3735]

Don't you mean CNN and MSNDNC?

[@joesaine3418]

Lying is only illegal in advertising. All other lies covered by 1st amendment. Being able to lie easily is a prerequisite for all politicians.

[@joesaine3418]

@@johndietz3735 Trump has been successfully sued for defamation (lying) and so has Fox, for huge sums. As far as I know MSNBC and CNN have not.

[@thehumburger6009]

I would highly recommend Heather Cox Richardson's "Democracy Awakening", which traces the roots of the authoritarian right back to before the Confederacy and shows how figures from Nixon to Reagan and Gingrich, while not ostensibly authoritarian figures themselves, employed authoritarian tactics and language in pursuit of power and got the snowball rolling.

[@lalaboards]

How were they authoritarian ?

[@joesky011]

@@lalaboards The commentator did not say they were authoritarian but rather they "employed" authoritarian tactics and language. Read any history of how Newt Gingrich employed a calculated campaign of attacks against political opponents, casting himself as a saviour in a fight of good versus evil. His vicious yet totally hypocritical weaponised campaign against good government is right out of the authoritarian's playbook. People forget that while the Republicans were trying to impeach Clinton over his affair with a White House intern, Gingrich was cheating on his wife with an intern!

[@Conway773]

I can’t recommend Heather’s blog: ‘A Letter from an American’ more! The historical context she brings to our current events is priceless.

[@ryeisenman]

And why not trace everything back to the garden of eden ... Or Cain & Abel

[@intuitionz1198]

​@@ryeisenmanfiction? lol please be serious.

[@johnpirritano5502]

This podcast doesn’t age particularly well (on comments about the Dem party at least) now that Biden has bowed out and enthusiasm is through the roof for VP Harris’ run. Thank God.

[@diannerenn4726]

I don't think the Dems getting their act together alters analysis on the growth of the GOP as illegitimate.

[@j.f.fisher5318]

I'd like to see an update

[@Zorazora1234]

I know right lol

[@progressiveGal73]

No, it does not~and I’m especially peeved that when the author is asked what fueled the rights will to conflict…”to beat the libs!”…ok. This podcast just went out of its way to ensure the twin towers of misogyny and racism at the foundations of our culture stay elephants in the room. Then, the take on Kamala~which they can’t explore in any meaningful way because they’ve already decided one primary factor, or possibly two-will be elephants. Poof!

[@steviecrow914]

Yes!

[@donaldwarriner1640]

"Ineffective presidency...", about Jimmy Carter? We'd be lucky to have someone of such integrity. But integrity is not important I guess.

[@murasaki848]

Nobody can argue against Carter's integrity, but the fact is Carter did not handle well the realities of the 1970s post Vietnam, post oil embargo, post Watergate era. Inflation was in double digits and not because of an overheated job market ("stagflation"). Military readiness and professionalism were very bad (firsthand account from my brother who enlisted in 1973, comparing then to when I enlisted in 1985). There was the death of a thousand cuts with events like Three Mile Island, acid rain, the decline of Detroit and rise of the trade deficit with Japan, etc. Then to cap it off there was the Iranian hostage crisis, dragging on in the news for over a year compounding the notion that post Vietnam America was no longer respected and was in decline. All blamed on Carter because he couldn't wave the magic wand to fix it all nor at least spin the press into more positive messages. So we get Reagan coming along, a nostalgic grandpa of "America Ascendant" for the "greatest generation" and a promise of a more muscular, stable America for younger voters, so Carter had no chance of reelection.

[@glasperlinspiel]

What’s not to understand about kingmakers when 10 or so families control more wealth than half of the country’s population. Historically, oligarchies evolve toward autocracy.

[@progressiveGal73]

This is part of the story~but to understand how to solution you must understand how we got here~and have the courage to take in the truth.

[@debbieshultz7335]

This is so interesting to listen to AFTER he’s won the Presidency…..again.

[@darkfool2000]

Yeah, you can hear the contempt at the end that they have for the common man.

[@elizabethdavis2070]

Trump is the apotheosis of McCarthyism, & i refer to both Senators McCarthy...

[@grouchomarxist666]

Well put.

[@deloreswillis9224]

Agree

[@bold810]

Personally,? I Prefer Melissa McCarthy. And we should. 🎉

[@billmitchell2080]

Trump uses the word communism in the exact same method as Joe McCarthy. Fear mongering on an ignorant audience to exact a political goal wholly unrelated to communism.

[@billmitchell2080]

The only difference, Trump is drunk on power.

[@mgriff0309]

The inmates took over the asylum …and the guards and wardens helped

[@JDK516]

It's really bizarre to hear political scientists making a case for an anti-democratic structure like superdelegates.

[@j.f.fisher5318]

Pure democracy isn't strictly good. Certainly the "America is a republic _NOT_ a democracy" crowd has gone overboard the other way and tend to secretly view a republic as merely a stepping stone to imperial autocracy.

[@norats122]

I agree. Also find it weird to hear very informed factual historical marks interspersed with complete opinions asserted with passion without much space between them.

[@Randall-w4i]

trump went after his own party with WARP SPEED.

[@johndietz3735]

While Biden is completely WRAPPED!!!

[@MPR2]

The party didn't matter to him, he just wanted the party most easiest to con. That was the "poorly educated" GOP voters, they were his only option and he was right!

[@Randall-w4i]

@@MPR2 But, Joe did follow up with the same push for the axv

[@MPR2]

@@Randall-w4i What is "axv"?

[@darkfool2000]

@@MPR2 More like the party didn't matter to the republican base. After 8 years of Bush's Neocons followed by two election cycles with McCain and Romney as the presidential candidates, the Republican base was very eager to dismantle the party apparatus that had failed them for so long. These guys talk so much about Jacksonian Democracy, but Andrew Jackson was entirely the opposite of the party systems these guys are praising. After serving brief terms in congress and the Senate, he came to prominence after leading a band of militia in War of 1812 in a scorched earth campaign against the Creek indians, and then rallied a diverse group of militia, pirates, free blacks and army regulars to succesfully defend the city of New Orleans, and then when he was order into florida to deal with escape slave, he destroyed the Spanish fortress against direct orders. He ran for Preisdent 3 times, and won the 2nd two. He famously continued with the trail of tears despite the judicial decrees, he dismantled the national bank that the old party elites had desperately wanted to maintain, he investigated all the executive offices for corruption, he removed 10% of federal employees and replaced them with his loyalists. He fought with his own cabinet ministers and even forced all but one of them to resign at one point, he fought with vice president, pushed congress to enable him to use military force to enforce tariffs. These people use Jacksonian Democracy as term for legitimacy, despite it being the opposite of what they claim to want.

[@Eurydice870]

This is what I needed to hear, and, read. Thank you. Having lived to my mid-70's, i was bewildered by the 2020 Republican "convention". Well, both conventions really. I'm going to listen to this a few more times, take notes, anf order the audible version. Clearly, I'm way behind the curve of events. Who scares me more than Trump is Mike Johnson, the True Beliver. Bring back the gatekeepers? 😮

[@itsajahthing]

Mike Johnson does not scare me...he puts me on guard....makes me require boundaries...and keeps him under my microscope....

[@itsallminor6133]

The true believers. There's a subject.. that's ghengis Kahn type stuff

[@itsallminor6133]

​@@itsajahthingwon't do you any good. This craps all going to crash either way.

[@maureen9635]

I think DJT gets too much credit for his come behind win n 2016. He was surrounded by people like Bannon, Stone, Limbaugh, Steven Miller and many others who had already identified the huge dissatisfaction in the working classes both republican and democratic with their “establishments”. They just needed a narcissistic strong man - enter DJT. He followed their script for the most part. He would have just raised his brand name and walked off into the sunset except by exploiting those schisms in both parties he unexpectedly won the election by a very thin margin. With the taste of power and the immunity that goes with being a sitting president, he doesn’t want to let go of either. Again in 2024, he doesn’t care about governing, he just wants the power and to stay out of jail. Democrats need to be pointing this out and talking to the working class about why Biden does want to be president and what he can do for them.

[@markg.7865]

So many in the white working class only listen to right-wing media. They live in a different reality now.

[@markg.7865]

@SideYardCat How about Vladimir Putin or Bozo the Clown.

[@bchristian85]

@SideYardCat No there's not, and the preachers know it. That's why they want a Trump autocracy.

[@johndietz3735]

Mumbles????

[@martinbrizuela3289]

But if you listen to Trump from as far back as 1992, it's obvious that Trump identified that same dissatisfaction. Also, a lot of those people, like Bannon specifically, were probably more trouble than they were worth. They brought a lot of bullshit with them to his campaign.

[@ekaterinaponizovskayadevin2812]

Interesting to learn the history of this question. Thank you. But I see the problem of the old system for the Democratic party. People will not vote for the candidate if he is elected by the "establishment". I also understood the problem of "establishment" finally. I am a naturalized US citizen, I was not born here and I didn't get the sentiments behind "government is run by the establishment". It looks like the reforms were inevitable. I also understood why Republicans ever were winning the elections on such ridiculous issues. They created more illusion of care about the voters' needs. I think the establishment can't be a gate against populists anymore. It should be education and a better understanding of your interests for people who vote. But I disagree about Joe Biden. So far I see him as the strongest candidate among Democrats. He is moderate, he reduces the antagonistic pressure, he is willing to compromise where it is possible and stay strong where compromise is impossible. I see few candidates who can be good in the future. Gavin Newsom for example. But I see that right now he will be attacked worse than Biden - the narrative that California is a communist state with a failed economy is very strong and supported by the media. I live in California and I know that it is a false narrative but even in California people believe it. Politicians also think that if you have a woman candidate then women will vote for her, or if it is a black candidate - blacks will vote. Also false narrative most of the time. I am a woman but I will not vote for Nikki Haley because she will destroy the middle class and most likely cause a recession. I support women's rights and I am pro-choice but the same is Biden. I also like Pete Buttigieg as a candidate but I don't think that the fact that he is gay will be beneficial for his election. It doesn't influence my vote, and there could be few people who will vote for him just because of that, but there would be lots of homophobes who wouldn't. And he needs to prove himself positively so he will be able to show more of his achievements. Kamala Harris is also a great politician, but she is not popular either. The fact that she is a woman and a person of color will not help her at all. So I see Biden as the strongest candidate so far.

[@os2958]

good points. But in a country of over 300,000,000 million people there are much better candidates than Biden and Trump. The narratives you mentioned are from the powerfully successful right wing message machine and until the Dems learn to message better they will continue to lose to it. This same machine continues to promote bigotry so any minority candidate would need to have enough charisma to overcome US bigotry. Only Obama could do that so far.

[@DanielCohn-cp3he]

The governor's name is Gavin Newsome.

[@ekaterinaponizovskayadevin2812]

@@DanielCohn-cp3he Thank you for the correction. Actually Gavin Newsom. Sorry for the misprints.

[@maxheadrom3088]

Delegates as gate keepers seems to contradict the analysis of political science: delegates who go vote in converntions always represent the more radical groups of a party.

[@lindencamelback2305]

Maybe your judgment was a little premature? Like massively premature?

[@MG-ge5xq]

And the other problem is that voters only have the realistic choice between 2 parties - and not between 3 or 4, as it is possible in more advanced democracies like in Europe. If voters dislike the Democrats and dislike Trump - so what then?

[@AvantTom]

To bad, us pleebs aren’t intelligent enough to make decisions for our selves. Better leave it to the insiders in Washington to decide for us!

[@Eurydice870]

The deck is stacked.

[@stephenbonaduce7852]

For me, I stopped voting "for." In 1980, I couldn't stand Reagan, but was not excited by Carter. So I went instead for third-party candidate John Anderson. But I would have been okay if Carter had won a second term. Obviously, I got my worst-possible outcome. So I stopped voting for the person I wanted and started voting AGAINST the candidate I thought was a disaster. I have to admit, the Republicans have made that approach pretty easy.

[@os2958]

@@stephenbonaduce7852 that is the reality

[@kevinJmadsen]

No behavior in humans or animals can be understood except under the light of evolution. We (and other animals) have formed tight social groups since before we left the trees for defense and survival. Call them tribes or cults, they are all the same. When environmental stressors rise, so too does our tribal behavior. This is how you get Nazis or Islam or the Khmer Rouge or Rohingya genocide or Christianity or Rwanda genocide or MAGA or Aztec human sacrifices or Jonestown. The list is too long to write out or read. The stressor we have now, besides climate change, is the consolidation of wealth and subsequent corruption of government that has shipped American manufacturing out of the country (NAFTA) and left millions of disaffected, oxycodone addicted Americans with no hope except for the lies of a con man. Only critical thinking taught in K thru 12 could give us any hope of avoiding this human pitfall, but the religious right (cult) will not stand for that. Cults are based on lies, which are the differentiator and the glue that holds them together.

[@richardsimms251]

@kevinJmadsen : You comment is very, very accurate

[@tiskahar9738]

Nothing about Bernie? odd. It seems to me that the elites keeping him out led to a significant chunk of people moving to trump.

[@matthewsemrad1474]

They did talk about it, but more in the light of "who would be the anti-Bernie", as if we can just assume that there NEEDED to be such a person.

[@AvantTom]

Bernie doesn’t even enter into the minds of these swamp creatures. They automatically write off anyone who isn’t “moderate” as loony and unelectable. Even though he came close to beating Hilary and Biden despite their cherished dnc sabotaging him at every possible turn.

[@AvantTom]

@StringerNews1 did you listen to the whole thing?

[@manyeyedcrow9391]

There is zero correlation between Bernie core supporters and Trump core supporters.

[@56spider]

@markofuranus5032 except Bernie knows not one whit about business whereas Trump would be trading with Russia and the mid east and the southern hemisphere right now Transactional to the benefit of all whomever is the best negotiator but in 2020 not enough people saw it to overcome 40,000 votes across three ....states. Flimsy Biden does not have a hand on the till of this world so everything fell apart disastrously

[@inga-kseniamarks1235]

We are witnessing a political crisis in the US. One party bent over to a tyrant, and both parties could not put forward leaders who are younger than 77 years old. This is not normal situation but a manifestation of a crisis.

[@PolferiferusII]

First generation with a boom in population that lived on for so long, due to longevizing factors which may or may not continue to recurr (population trends suggest that that isn't likely). One result: that generation holding onto the reigns of power for ten or more years longer. All other generations before them were, going back through prehistory, through the process of natural attrition, forced to relinquish leadership to the the generations that followed, earlier, mostly much earlier. In this aspect, interestingly, the human species is living through a first (ever!), with all of it's rammifications, positive and negative. This, I believe, deserves more consideration.

[@snooks73]

I hope listeners sit down with their high schoolers and listen and discuss. There was a time that was different. Trump and the GOP have cast a pall over our society. It's too late to save the GOP. The youth need to have a better political space to land before they too become cynical. It's all up to them.

[@williammoore841]

Groomer....... You sound like an ice cream salesperson living in a white van down by the river

[@phylis3917]

🎯

[@DianaHylandTX]

They are already doing that. Our education system is totally aligned with the left….

[@johndietz3735]

Funny because I see more cynicism in the Democrat Party.

[@intuitionz1198]

​@@johndietz3735because that's what you want to see. I'm not a Democrat or a liberal, but it doesn't take a genius level IQ to see that that's just not the case.

[@rettif9]

I'm old enough to remember the '68 Democratic convention in Chicago. If you don't remember look it up. Things have changed since then.

[@greengandalf9116]

Delegates choosing presidential nominees is a less democratic system, even if it guards against the excesses of primary voters.

[@JamieBigelow-d5p]

Good call

[@johnguild8850]

Oh.. this is terrible, how could this even happen. Harris loses the electoral collage, the popular vote, the senate, the house and DT get to pick judges for another 4 years. How could this happen

[@brothajohn]

It’s amazing that this is one month old and it seems ancient because of everything that happened one week ago.

[@Despondencymusic]

The Republican Party is the bottle and Donald Trump is the KOOL-AID!! 😂😂

[@markg.7865]

Orange flavored kool-aid.

[@os2958]

poison koolaid

[@phylis3917]

Here here. 👏🏿

[@johndietz3735]

And you are very Despondent.

[@Despondencymusic]

​@@johndietz3735Only in Black Metal

[@whyukraine]

Direct democracy is the only path to freedom. Party politics ends in oligarchy & corruption. We have the technology to govern collectively, we don't need representatives any more. That is the future of free peoples.

[@itsallminor6133]

No way

[@whyukraine]

@@itsallminor6133 said the fascist

[@itsallminor6133]

@@whyukraine same ole name calling huh? Typical b.s. no one cares

[@Jeffhowardmeade]

Hard to say a party is “decaying” if it keeps winning elections.

[@AussieGriffin]

It's just simple-mindedness and shortsightedness that's lead to this. If you let people shape your politics into "policy creation so you can oppose people" you get Jim Crow and when the racist stuff doesn't work, Jospeh McCarthy. When you run out of external enemies AND you don't have a leash to hold these people back with? You start turning the colonial attitude inward, picking people inside your own country to attack. A.G.

[@markboland1181]

The assumption of perfection of these disconnected Ideologues, dripping with molten superiority is the fuel that drives MAGA. The accountability that awaits after the restoration of constitutional government will be rich.

[@phylis3917]

👍🏿👏🏿

[@PolferiferusII]

The future is not yet written, but one thing that goes with the universal will/instinct to survive is hope. I hope you are correct. However, thus far we arguably live in the curse of 'interesting times, and cannot be sure. However

[@yoshimeier3060]

As a German/European I disagree very strongly with the statement that there should not be democracy within but between the parties. I think that we have plenty of democracy between our parties here but a distinct lack of democracy within parties. Now that aint solved with open primaries but more dynamic party processes. But yeah we nees more of that over here.

[@lesliejohnson4339]

As a a young reporter in the mid-80s, I met Mitch at some press day in Kentucky. I'm going with 6 weasels.

[@joecanuck3751]

What a difference in conversation now. Biden stepped down 6 days ago.

[@thomasd2444]

50:00 - Political scientists tend to adhere to some version of Elmer Eric Schattschneider's claim that democracy exists between the parties, it should not exist inside the parties.

[@amosbatto3051]

There is another way to look at this problem that Ezra Klein does not even consider, which shows his inherent bias as a centrist. If the primary system had functioned correctly, it would have produced Bernie Sanders as the candidate in 2016 and 2020 and Bernie would have easily defeated and discredited Donald Trump in the general election. The Democratic party has been fractured and its voters have been disheartened because the party refused to allow the outsider to win in 2016 and 2020, and refused to even allow a real primary in 2024. Many in the Democratic base are disgusted and alienated from the party because it refused to listen to them, and instead has listened to the big money interests and the special interests that do not want to allow reform from the left. They have refused to allow the party to move to the left, which would who have made the party a far more potent force politically. What would have happened to the Democratic party if it hadn't allowed FDR in 1932? That is functionally what the party did to Bernie Sanders and it has dramatically weakened the party and alienated the working class and youth who feel that the party doesn't represent them.

[@Professor_SpaceTime]

This right here!

[@elliotstamler1244]

Bernie Sanders: Lifelong Marxist-Leninist quasi-Stalinist Communist pretending to be a "democratic socialist" because he knows leftists like you won't go to the point of voting for an outright communist.

[@kehlcassidy9562]

Say it louder for the folks in the back!

[@DennisMoore664]

It goes back generations to when the problem was with racist Democrats and Republicans alike. But in the modern era, like most of the problems of today, it can largely be traced back to the Reagan administration.

[@johndietz3735]

No Problem!

[@DennisMoore664]

@@johndietz3735 I don't know which drugs you're on but they must cause hallucinations.

[@vvvvxxxx9999]

North vs south. The poor southerners have always been used. Black, white, red and yellow.

[@yehonasonmeegan]

Perhaps it’s mirror time, as they are who the American people chose.

[@irockuroll60]

Do yall mean the Democratic Party? Can we say “out of touch”? Anyone getting fired?

[@bold810]

I have read you for years, Exra- but I never knew what your voice sounded like until today. You sound youthful. 🎉

[@RZ1776]

Very poor analysis/political science. Describing Trump as "relatively unpopular", but Trump was popular with the group that mattered, citizens who actually voted. What is a political party convention for but to replace a poor relatively unpopular candidate, you ask? How did relying on the Democratic Party Convention to replace such a candidate work out?

[@kitrana]

51:27 until bernie, screw the gate keeper crap. 53:26 she probably wouldn't say it because the voters wouldn't buy it and she would have just gone and said "yes we decide who you can elect not you.". like yeah just say it out loud, this isn;t democratic and it isn;t supposed to be in a conversation where the people are rallying against the anti-democratic process.

[@JohahnDiechter]

Bernie is not a Democrat. His socialist appeal was anything but for a lot of moderate Dem voters.

[@kitrana]

@@JohahnDiechter and how many on the left were turned off by yet another milk toast candidate? like i said earlier screw the gate keeper crap, you've already got representative democracy you don't need less democracy in the selection of candidates.

[@JohahnDiechter]

@@kitrana not enough to make the difference. Bernie did an amazing job at being influential despite losing.

[@Raidersfan-gn7zo]

It started with Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan!!!!

[@stevenhenry5267]

1970s. Reagan was the harbinger.

[@MdAlamin-y5v5y]

You have a knack for storytelling. Well done! 🎥

[@thunderbiltstormcrow9542]

also, a distillation of generations old problems: those first three words, "We the People"... in Seinfeld speak, "who ARE these people?", if they drew it up better would we have picked 2/5's more cotton? and who are these deviants procreating with non-people....? just saying. ; )

[@phylis3917]

Be glad it’s generational. Will take years to get some form of sophistication.

[@SRSAHIDKHAN-c8j]

Amazing video! Your hard work truly paid off. 👏

[@shutrucknahunte2843]

The nyt's decay began long before klein.

[@stevenmaginnis1965]

How about a national presidential primary in which eight or ten candidates run, no one gets majority, and the delegates and party leaders sort it out at the convention? Wouldn't that work?

[@DKudratt]

When he was an entertainer, hosting The Apprentice, Trump’s theme song was “For The Love Of Money”. Don’t forget that.

[@phil20_20]

I think the reality is that Nixon ruined it, and it's taken all this time to come to an end. What works better in other countries is a plurality of parties. That can arguably temper the partisanship that Washington warned against.

[@waynedawson7613]

Golly, this one made me anxious, astonished, and angry. Anyway, my nativity about the ways of the world. I should know that there is nothing new under the sun.

[@1928House_Washington]

"Harris didnt work out as VP" lol😅

[@PolferiferusII]

There's some value to hearing these guy's opinions/this discussion, but they are people who have a rather narrow scope of factors they deem as holding importance, it seems to me. I heard a lot of assumptions (along with thoughtfulness) just blithely expressed as though almost unworthy of scrutiny, or, in some cases mildly laughed off. That doesn't mean they are stupid, or deliberately snobby, but it does mean, I think, that they are more out of touch than they realize. I think this is what happens when the usual suspects mostly only interview other usual suspects, and avoid speaking candidly with those outside their circles. I literally can't really blame them, though, much as I would like to. Don't we all do this on some level (whatever level we personally identify with)? We tend to avoid being with people with whom we aren't fully comfortable with, whether through prejudice, or unpredictability. We like being with people who we believe at least share the same ground rules with us. I think, especially in forums like this, people tend to worry that they will offend, or be offended, by interviewing a person who is in an outgroup from their own (and by 'outgroup', I don't necessarily mean people with whom they could disagree, but, rather, persons who they suspect will be aggressive or hostile, 'unpleasant' even to us). Sadly, as a consequence, they (or we) may be shutting out people with perspectives vital to our understanding, or, at the very least, people with whom we hold more in common with than we imagine. One reason for this impasse is that we civilized humans have gradually cultivated a generally coursened society, wherein we have lost a lot of the trust we used to hold between one other, all for various reasons (too long for this), one of which is this very spiral of avoidence, as in the previous paragraph. I could pomposely ponticate (not my intention) on and on... But this is enough. All just my opinion.

[@PolferiferusII]

*pompously pontificate :)

[@Kevin-yt9or]

This aged well five months later😂😂

[@Mr.Alfred-z9x]

Your life looks so exciting. Thanks for sharing!

[@cbbcbb6803]

A nominee not a public officer. Political parties are private social clubs.

[@billmitchell2080]

The New York times has now become a propaganda outfit. Yellow journalism.

[@DennisMoore664]

Like most news sources, the NYT was always a propaganda outfit. It just depends on whether their propaganda fit with our propaganda.

[@johndietz3735]

As well as the Washington Compost.

[@billmitchell2080]

​@@DennisMoore664 you are correct. My view has changed more than the New York times.

[@Gnofg]

@@DennisMoore664for dumb people this is an editorial and not news reporting.

[@YaseenSindhi-q3s]

This helped me with [insert task]. You’re a lifesaver! 😇

[@wilbertwallace6655]

All this makes sense if you don’t think the establishment was always a front for the oligarchy.

[@TenaciousDmitchell]

Great info thank you professional journalist😊

[@johndietz3735]

Mere opinions

[@wegder]

In our maga future I expect to see statues of Newt.

[@DavidTichEnnis]

They did fantastically in the election, you can hardly say they are decaying.

[@dewberry3043]

Wow this did not age well. Can you do a deep analysis on this Video why you got it wrong and need to re check your analysis.

[@jimfisher1616]

Yes, yes, yes! Finally. I dated it to Newt Gingrich's Contract on America. It could go back to the Carter-Reagan years. The rot has been festering for decades.

[@itsallminor6133]

So where did the majority of the actual conservatives go? Because "drill baby drill,". Or overpaying the mic for planes and rockets, running national debt isn't very conservative

[@davidhurley2656]

I appreciate the elaboration on Richard Viguerie and the importance of direct mail (around minute 35.00). I think it's important to understand this anjd how it works.

[@Thejeffvella1]

U don't get it. The political system no longer serves the America people We are done We need accountability of all of the promises that all the politicians give

[@thunderbiltstormcrow9542]

ok, good stuff. first time on this channel, i must suggest as i have elsewhere,, y'all got to stop, or minimize terms like "Playmate" or "Porn Star" as if it is some kind of hall pass. pretty sure most dudes would want to be in (or out of, lol) them shoes, and most of the ladies gonna say, "of course, what you gonna do? who can compete?" please just call it adultery, out loud, that may get the attention of these weirdly conflicted evangelicals. just sayin'. just call it adultery, label the man an adulterer and one will be hard pressed to find a stray stone on the street. ; )

[@iconifyme]

I'm disappointed to hear even Ezra Klein minimize that case by calling it the "hush money trial". The trial was never about hush money. Paying someone hush money is not a crime. This was about business fraud and election fraud and this case has never been taken seriously because irresponsible media talking heads keep dumbing it down because they think the audience is too dumb to realize the implications. The issue is that Trump committed fraud to effect the outcome of the election. And that IS a crime.

[@reflectsonlife]

I know right? The slut shaming misogyny by politicians and media is intense. Sex with a pornstar is not illegal or immoral, but adultery is immoral and using campaign finances as hush money is illegal.

[@barbarafletcher121]

Thank you for this.

[@brachiator1]

Weird political noodling that says nothing meaningful about either party. Biden is old. Harris is just not right, for some strange reason. And let's throw in some snarky reference to Martin Van Buren.

[@SCL8294]

I especially don't understand the dismissal of Harris from certain reasonable center-left types. "She sucks because reasons."

[@mikemccarthy1638]

@@SCL8294- Hear-hear !! (Or is it, “Hear-here” or “Here-here” ??) A main point of the vice presidency is to allow maturation of a younger-generation future candidate. You just watch her if Biden is intellectually-disabled or dies before election-day. Once in office, if w/ a democratic Congress, she may be the first president to begin unwinding America’s de facto empire & re-allocating those foreign anti-democratic values to a new re-construction of American citizenship and domestic life. What a better way to end the authoritarian sentiments of January 6, than an inaugural address concluding with a new Pledge of Allegiance that parallels the oath of office she has just taken - not to a flag or other symbol but to our Constitution and republic - I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, One Nation, Indivisible, with Liberty, Dignity, and Justice for All. Hey, I made all that up w/ no knowledge of how Harris would do the presidency… but the one thing we might hope for is that she’ll not be an imperial president who, eg, reverses good things done by their predecessors - Bush 43 reversing the bipartisan Clinton budget surpluses or earlier in their terms - Johnson adding the Vietnam escalation deficits on top of infrastructure, social spending & the space race. LBJ tore a big rip in the social fabric and set us on a long period of inflation, the combination enabling reactionary neoliberal policies adverse to the working class. Bush ended the deficit reduction surpluses while falsely getting us into the Iraq invasion, prolonging it beyond reason, and getting us into the Afghan forever war by refusing to accept the quick defeat of the Taliban.

[@angelahall4402]

But how do we stop it? Where are the guardrails to prevent tyranny? Help!!!

[@cald1905]

Now in Aug 2024 when it’s almost certain that VP Harris is the democrat nominee, can you update us on your conversation?

[@patrickfrazier5740]

We should have an open primary to decide the top two candidates for the general election, or just go back to conventions. This system we have is a joke.

[@phylis3917]

It’s generational. Give the society 20 years.

[@Gazcarter111]

Institutional decay has a long trail of decisions, missed opportunities and luck before it becomes noticeable and blatant. Depending on how far back you want to go, you could point to Jackson, Tammany Hall, Nixon, Perot’s success as root causes. But at that point we’re in the realms of genealogical, and not necessarily historical analysis. For me, the inflection point that seems to have set the parties on this path is Robert Bork. The rejection of his nomination of the Supreme Court opened the window for zero-sum politics on a level never seen before.

[@twhite8308]

Don't forget Bush's failed response to the Katrina disaster

[@adekleva]

This song is on repeat! 🎶

[@dalepetersen1166]

It's all about Evangelical and woke people and they need to feel like they are better than someone else. I call it socially acceptable racism

[@jonathanrossddsmhs1271]

Explain what is so scary about “woke”?

[@stella-gx8ne]

All good Christian 😂 soldiers. 🤮

[@yore5]

@@jonathanrossddsmhs1271 don’t act like you’ve never seen unreasonable radical left wing people

[@jonathanrossddsmhs1271]

@@yore5 I haven’t because they pretty much don’t exist in America. “Left” in the US is pretty much centrist in the rest of the world.

[@yore5]

@@jonathanrossddsmhs1271 that’s such a lie but okay

[@craigshagin5506]

I quite agree with this analysis. The parties were at one time the font of the funding of most candidates. They could fund a candidate…like Nixon, Johnson or Lincoln who were not wealthy men… and filter out some of the clowns. Not every state had a primary. Most states had alternative means of nomination that required the approval of the party leaders. Now it is all money; no vetting; and no need to get the money from the party.

[@spacemonk26]

Discussing this stuff is a complete and utter waste of time. The only thing that is important to understand is that political party policies are now just branding, the political parties are just tools to create policies for their donors, so they have to adhere to brands that they know have traction among a constituency, and maybe the brand has to be compatible with their donors. There is no such thing as integrity in politics anymore, its all an illusion, you have a handful of genuine politicians who are actually concerned about issues and the parties have to incorporate them, but there are too few to actually change any real policy in ways that are sound and comprehensive. In other words its a shit show, its all an illusion. Maybe if we get money out of politics this will somehow change but right now its a complete waste of time to discuss this, the parties will. just opportunistically do whatever gets them elected.

[@christianstough6337]

Klein's explanation of the Trump phenomena as a non-verbal acknowledgement of the bankrupcy and failure of traditional Republican ideology was quite brilliant. Deregulation and Ayn Rand worship proved a disaster. Forcible democratization was shown as bankrupt. "Family Values meant nothing in a society where the nature of family was changing enormously (thank god). On and on the ideas proved vapor.

[@freedomofreligion3248]

Dedicated to Bill Krystal, who lets his partisan hatred boil over at unfortunate times. His harshness when speaking about Hunter Biden was Republican pearl-clutching, and R jealousy, on full display (Krystal's paragraph of a contribution in Harry's TALKING FEDS, alongside the gracious Tara Setmeyer and the lovely Ted Lieu, recent podcast.

[@bettybeeler5579]

Well-worth listening to, from beginning to end.

[@nathanielparker4421]

18:50 lol. I am 14. Lmao YOURE WELCOME

[@phylis3917]

💕

[@VeronickPatrick]

Omg, I didn’t see that coming! 😱

[@martinrichard2156]

Well functioning parties that have a life on their and are more than just plattforms are somehow vital to democracies they act as mediators and backstopps offer room for debate and engagement and avoid certain cultish behaviour that just center arround a leader. This such an important piece of journalism. Great i found it.

[@photonotavailable7936]

Began with Goldwater.

[@59swl]

So true. Goldwater begot Richard 'Southern Strategy' Nixon, repackaged as the 'New' Nixon by 1968. Then, Reagan challenged and almost won the nomination from Ford in 1976, lost, but bid his time too run against Carter in 1980 (high interest rates and the Iranian hostage situation weighed in Reagan's favour). Since then, George W. Bush's re-election in 2004 and Donald Trump's win in '16 tells us American voter have long gravitated toward strong man presidencies. Will 2024 be different?

[@johncurry5007]

Is the playback speed increased on this video?

[@bernooski5128]

This comes from 2 people who would be considered far left extremists in any other period in history

[@Jesse-ey5xd]

At the very least it's been gratifying to watch the so-called moral majority and GOP debase themselves for this man-child.