I think the whole idea of Dems need a leftie Joe Rogan is wrong. They simply need to go on Joe Rogan’s show and Theo Vaughn(sp?) and whoever else young men listen to. Fox News too. That’s where the audience is, that’s where you go.
They complain they don't want Luna with a noisy baby on the floor of the house, but at the same time say she shouldn't be able to vote remotely. We all know it's easier to take care of a baby if you can work from home. For that matter, why can't all members of congress vote remotely? Most western countries allowed that during Covid and never got rid of it.
Didn’t read the whole newsletter. Really don’t think I need to. If democrats want to follow a guy who is involved in adult films more power to you. But no thanks. If that’s all we got then we’re really screwed. No pun intended.
Will Sommer presents a case study on the question: can we/how can we find common cause with people we wouldn’t have spent time with before the necessity of expanding an anti-MAGA coalition. The Comments take that in a couple directions.
Not likely I’d have pictured allying with Liz Cheney in pre-Trump era. But now is now.
Ive also read about this guy who mentioned some things about relating with people that others judge pretty harshly: Matthew 9:10-13
Trying to suss out how we move forward in these difficult days, my friends.
This is so fascinating, Will, thank you for writing this article. I'm not sure where I stand on whether a Democrat should take a chance and go on Adam22's podcast. I'm leaning towards, sure, give it a try.
At the very least, I keep learning about these layers of society that are unknown to me. It is giving me a lot to think about within my own biases. Good for the brain.
Luna is my Representative and I had plenty of vitriol for her BEFORE this stupid idea.
"For whatever reason, the party obsessed with declining birth rates has lost their collective minds over the idea that, in 2025, a new mother might want to spend some time with her baby."
Fine spend time with your baby but don't expect to have a vote in Congress while you are doing it. Mothers have been sitting in Congress for decades and 10 have given birth while serving in Congress or Senate. The first was Yvonne Brathwaite Burke in 1973. All were granted maternity leave but a special privilege to vote by proxy was never contemplated.
The vote by proxy experiment came during the pandemic when every member of the House was potentially at risk for getting and spreading COVID. The decision was to facilitate carrying on business and was in the interest of every member (and staff) of the House. This proposal was in the interest of individual (female) members... a special right as it were.
AND No babies do not belong on the floor of the House when there are armies of baby sitters, nannies and plenty of breast pumps available.
Mike Johnson was right--- it would be bad law--- and would have been made law with help of Democrats. Ham handed strategies was all he had left to stop the stupidity.
I would go even further In my opinion Congresspersons and Senators should be confined to the District of Columbia with exceptions for emergencies and during actual recesses (no Pro Forma BS). No more leaving town on Thursday and flying home until Monday morning.
They can do video-conferences with constituents back home and and do their fucking fundraising by phone.
Interesting. I feel differently. If my representative had a baby - there are reasons why it can be hard to travel with a baby. I would still want them to vote to represent my interests. Of course, I would also want this for a representative that is medically unable to travel, but doing it for new parents is a small concession.
Confining them to DC? What about those with small kids at home - when will they get to see them? not family friendly, to lock the reps up in DC. Also we don't want them losing touch with their districts - if they don't visit the districts regularly, how do they stay in touch? You're ok with remote zooming to stay in touch with constituents, but not for voting? I think it works for both, but that also "in person" is better and should be the default mode.
Gee, there was time back in the ancient days when Congresspersons and Senator lived WITH their families in DC. Their spouses interacted and their children played together and went to the same schools---even dated each other! Sometimes across party lines! They made regularly scheduled visits to their districts when they had recesses during the regular legislative sessions. Occasionally they might miss a vote because they had to attend a funeral or other event back home. They do not need to be home every weekend. If they worked a Monday through Friday schedule they might get more done.
There are even more ways of staying in touch with constituents today. I have a collection of my grandfather's letter to his congresspersons from the 1930s through to the 1970s and the responses that were ACTUALLY signed by them. Grandpa didn't have email and the antisocial media to communicate.
Most of them have offices in their district. Those offices can also facilitate zoom calls between individual constituents or groups of constituents. They can have access to all the TV station news feeds and the newspapers in their districts.
Today I would have less of a problem with long distance voting although that would be subject to lots of abuse. What I reject is the proxy vote where you turn your vote over to a member of your party just so the tally can be made in your party's interest while not being inconvenienced.
If the Speaker needs 218 votes on the floor to pass a bill then you need 218 votes on the floor.
OR maybe go the complete opposite direction EVERYTHING is done remotely and none of them go to DC except for special events, like the Electoral College certification and the inauguration. That way they can't meet in secret caucus meetings behind closed doors, can't meet with lobbyists in swanky restaurants and clubs, make the lobbyists and donors fly to them where they entertain them at the local diner or steakhouse.
Let's agree that I don't have a high opinion of the House and Senate. The more personally inconvenienced they are the better!
well, I agree on not allowing proxy votes, assuming remote votes are allowed. I think leaving the family in the district increases the ties to the district. But I was in a district for years represented by a "carpet bagger" - he didn't live in the district (not required to in the house of reps) so I'm burned by that experience. (I moved, he's still in office.) You are influenced by other experiences. I appreciate reading your perspective.
Yeah, exactly. I've been thinking that there is just no "left" podcast that's actually entertaining. But Democrats and Independents can start getting creative. Try to get on like, engineering youtube channels, Mark Rober. Invite the QI podcast over, it has a ton of American listeners.
Sincere question after reading: to what extent are podcasters with “normie”-anything political labels, but who don’t normally focus on politics or political policy questions, owed the attention of political figures just because they might have around 4 million listeners? Like if I was an influencer and got 4 million likes a day, could I expect a public figure would drop what they were doing to talk to me, even if politics and running for office was not the focus of my influencer brand? These aren’t questions limited to this particular podcaster, but more about this gray space between podcasters with personal brands selling their potential to influence a demographic and places like The Bulwark that are using similar tools, but are overt that their mission is political communication and analysis?
Anyone who wants to fight for Democracy against fascists needs to stand in complete solidarity. No one is the perfect ally & none of us are perfect. Watched a video by Parkrose Permaculture on this just today & it really resonated with me!! 👏
Not sure if anyone down in the comments mentioned this, but adam22 is a crypto scammer. Dude is shady.
https://youtu.be/3OT4N5l3BxI?si=USoZRQvksjsIwu85
Can you imagine getting booked on his "other" show by accident?
He has a face tattoo of Lisa Simpson. Why not run him for office somewhere?
I think the whole idea of Dems need a leftie Joe Rogan is wrong. They simply need to go on Joe Rogan’s show and Theo Vaughn(sp?) and whoever else young men listen to. Fox News too. That’s where the audience is, that’s where you go.
Dems are idiots if they refuse to join a fellow Dem on a podcast. We need new leadership!
Don't ever accuse them of consistency.
They complain they don't want Luna with a noisy baby on the floor of the house, but at the same time say she shouldn't be able to vote remotely. We all know it's easier to take care of a baby if you can work from home. For that matter, why can't all members of congress vote remotely? Most western countries allowed that during Covid and never got rid of it.
Didn’t read the whole newsletter. Really don’t think I need to. If democrats want to follow a guy who is involved in adult films more power to you. But no thanks. If that’s all we got then we’re really screwed. No pun intended.
Will Sommer presents a case study on the question: can we/how can we find common cause with people we wouldn’t have spent time with before the necessity of expanding an anti-MAGA coalition. The Comments take that in a couple directions.
Not likely I’d have pictured allying with Liz Cheney in pre-Trump era. But now is now.
Ive also read about this guy who mentioned some things about relating with people that others judge pretty harshly: Matthew 9:10-13
Trying to suss out how we move forward in these difficult days, my friends.
This is so fascinating, Will, thank you for writing this article. I'm not sure where I stand on whether a Democrat should take a chance and go on Adam22's podcast. I'm leaning towards, sure, give it a try.
At the very least, I keep learning about these layers of society that are unknown to me. It is giving me a lot to think about within my own biases. Good for the brain.
You and me both, Helen! I keep learning I always have more to learn about 🙂
Luna is my Representative and I had plenty of vitriol for her BEFORE this stupid idea.
"For whatever reason, the party obsessed with declining birth rates has lost their collective minds over the idea that, in 2025, a new mother might want to spend some time with her baby."
Fine spend time with your baby but don't expect to have a vote in Congress while you are doing it. Mothers have been sitting in Congress for decades and 10 have given birth while serving in Congress or Senate. The first was Yvonne Brathwaite Burke in 1973. All were granted maternity leave but a special privilege to vote by proxy was never contemplated.
The vote by proxy experiment came during the pandemic when every member of the House was potentially at risk for getting and spreading COVID. The decision was to facilitate carrying on business and was in the interest of every member (and staff) of the House. This proposal was in the interest of individual (female) members... a special right as it were.
AND No babies do not belong on the floor of the House when there are armies of baby sitters, nannies and plenty of breast pumps available.
Mike Johnson was right--- it would be bad law--- and would have been made law with help of Democrats. Ham handed strategies was all he had left to stop the stupidity.
I would go even further In my opinion Congresspersons and Senators should be confined to the District of Columbia with exceptions for emergencies and during actual recesses (no Pro Forma BS). No more leaving town on Thursday and flying home until Monday morning.
They can do video-conferences with constituents back home and and do their fucking fundraising by phone.
Interesting. I feel differently. If my representative had a baby - there are reasons why it can be hard to travel with a baby. I would still want them to vote to represent my interests. Of course, I would also want this for a representative that is medically unable to travel, but doing it for new parents is a small concession.
Confining them to DC? What about those with small kids at home - when will they get to see them? not family friendly, to lock the reps up in DC. Also we don't want them losing touch with their districts - if they don't visit the districts regularly, how do they stay in touch? You're ok with remote zooming to stay in touch with constituents, but not for voting? I think it works for both, but that also "in person" is better and should be the default mode.
So we will disagree on this one.
Gee, there was time back in the ancient days when Congresspersons and Senator lived WITH their families in DC. Their spouses interacted and their children played together and went to the same schools---even dated each other! Sometimes across party lines! They made regularly scheduled visits to their districts when they had recesses during the regular legislative sessions. Occasionally they might miss a vote because they had to attend a funeral or other event back home. They do not need to be home every weekend. If they worked a Monday through Friday schedule they might get more done.
There are even more ways of staying in touch with constituents today. I have a collection of my grandfather's letter to his congresspersons from the 1930s through to the 1970s and the responses that were ACTUALLY signed by them. Grandpa didn't have email and the antisocial media to communicate.
Most of them have offices in their district. Those offices can also facilitate zoom calls between individual constituents or groups of constituents. They can have access to all the TV station news feeds and the newspapers in their districts.
Today I would have less of a problem with long distance voting although that would be subject to lots of abuse. What I reject is the proxy vote where you turn your vote over to a member of your party just so the tally can be made in your party's interest while not being inconvenienced.
If the Speaker needs 218 votes on the floor to pass a bill then you need 218 votes on the floor.
OR maybe go the complete opposite direction EVERYTHING is done remotely and none of them go to DC except for special events, like the Electoral College certification and the inauguration. That way they can't meet in secret caucus meetings behind closed doors, can't meet with lobbyists in swanky restaurants and clubs, make the lobbyists and donors fly to them where they entertain them at the local diner or steakhouse.
Let's agree that I don't have a high opinion of the House and Senate. The more personally inconvenienced they are the better!
well, I agree on not allowing proxy votes, assuming remote votes are allowed. I think leaving the family in the district increases the ties to the district. But I was in a district for years represented by a "carpet bagger" - he didn't live in the district (not required to in the house of reps) so I'm burned by that experience. (I moved, he's still in office.) You are influenced by other experiences. I appreciate reading your perspective.
Thanks, Anne, but mostly I am an old geezer, who has probably outlived my welcome on the planet and whine a lot! ; )
right there with you....
Thanks for the info. Wake up Dems. .! Stop hate!!
No. Pornography is a scourge. Democratic politicians are right to stay away.
Yeah, exactly. I've been thinking that there is just no "left" podcast that's actually entertaining. But Democrats and Independents can start getting creative. Try to get on like, engineering youtube channels, Mark Rober. Invite the QI podcast over, it has a ton of American listeners.
Mark Rober is cool! My nine-year-old son loves him. The squirrel maze is awesome and hilarious!
Will, did you pick Grandmaison as today’s subject matter to flush out the mansplaining trolls who post here? If so, you got a live one with Neil M.
Sincere question after reading: to what extent are podcasters with “normie”-anything political labels, but who don’t normally focus on politics or political policy questions, owed the attention of political figures just because they might have around 4 million listeners? Like if I was an influencer and got 4 million likes a day, could I expect a public figure would drop what they were doing to talk to me, even if politics and running for office was not the focus of my influencer brand? These aren’t questions limited to this particular podcaster, but more about this gray space between podcasters with personal brands selling their potential to influence a demographic and places like The Bulwark that are using similar tools, but are overt that their mission is political communication and analysis?
Anyone who wants to fight for Democracy against fascists needs to stand in complete solidarity. No one is the perfect ally & none of us are perfect. Watched a video by Parkrose Permaculture on this just today & it really resonated with me!! 👏