All Americans who love this country and hate Donald Trump deserve answers about Thursday's abysmal performance—and how we are going to move forward. And do not answer our doubts about Biden and his staff with a MAGA-style blaming-the-press bit. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court recklessly assists Trump yet again, and Bannon goes to the big house. Tom Nichols joins Tim Miller.
Louisiana...... yeahhhhh I live here.. phewwww. I ranted to JVL a year and a half ago when he was kind enough to answer an email. I am dumbfounded by the Jeff Landry governorship but the whole process of watching pre-election the "When Jeff Landry is Governor we won't have to put up with all the b.s. anymore!" ....50 things he would do and after reading the posts from his A.G. about his pursuit of the FBI and Biden(along w/ Missouri AG) that it was going to be nothing short of ridiculous. I am unsure what it is like in those "liberal commie hell holes up North" etc... for certain but it amazes me what people will choose and believe here. And let state many many of these people are the "shirt of my back", stop in the rain to help change a spare tire types but they are convinced MAGA is the answer.
“Whooping Cough is the Roar of Freedom!” 😂 I put off this podcast for fear that I’d jump off a cliff after listening to this duo at this particular moment in time. Who knew Tom Nichols would bring in a (wee) side of hopium AND a laugh. Or my baseline has descended into Hade’s underworld. Hard to tell.
Thank you Tim Miller and Tom Nichols - a podcast I listen to faithfully with a guest I enjoy and seek out for written work in The Atlantic.
I am beyond frustrated with comments here chastising you for questioning the wisdom of Biden at the top of the ticket.
Lifelong D. Would NEVER EVER vote for Trump. However, after the debate I don’t think I can vote for Biden. Both parties are on the verge of nominating, at their respective conventions, two men neither of whom is fit to be President of the United States, albeit for different reasons (fwiw, RFK, Jr. is unfit as well).
1. Trump is morally, intellectually, and temperamentally unfit.
2. FFS, it is not Biden’s age, it is his mental capacity/competency. I have not seen anyone pushing back on Axios reporting that WH staffers stated that Biden is “reliably engaged between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.” That’s not good enough. I am not voting for his team. The President has to be “with it” mentally more than 6 hours a day. He could be 100 years old, and if he could currently speak forcefully (extemporaneously, not reading from a teleprompter) I’d have no compunction in voting for him again, and hope for the best for the next four yeses. The fact that he has not been sitting for unscripted interviews since the debate is compelling circumstantial evidence that he is not capable of doing so NOW. That is disqualifying in my view. There’s too much going on in the world. Who is going to be making decisions the other 18 hours of the day when the President is not fully engaged?
3. I don’t care how many good things the administration has done in the last 3 1/2 years. President Biden has to inspire confidence that he is electable in November and after the debate he clearly is not. His margin in the Electoral College in 2020 was under 45,000 votes I believe. After the debate, if he continues as the nominee, independents and suburban R’a that he needs in swing states that will determine the outcome of the election will leave the top of the ballot blank. There is no margin for error and Biden doesn’t appear to be adding enough to his 2020 coalition to offset the voters he is losing.
4. Watching the debate, I wondered for the first time whether the Cabinet should consider acting under the 25th Amendment. I am angry with President Biden, his family, and campaign staff. I feel like I have been lied to. Arguably, Vice President Harris should perhaps be President Harris right now.
5. The pro-Biden constituency is not enough to carry the day in November. Give me Harris/midwestern Governor, the inverse, or an entirely new ticket, and I will vote enthusiastically for generational change regardless of the composition of the ticket. I am now “Anyone but Biden.”
5. The debate wasn’t one bad night. It’s not that President Biden’s “performance” was lacking. Anyone who has gone through it with a parent can see that something is wrong with President Biden. CNN made it clear they weren’t going to fact check - that’s on the debater. So don’t blame CNN for not fact-checking Trump’s lies. Any decent trial lawyer knows you don’t have to respond to every lie when they are coming out of a firehouse. You have to be nimble enough on your feet to pick out the main one or two, address them, and then pivot to make a point in your favor. I have seen no evidence recently that President Biden has any current capacity to do that.
Joe Biden got knocked down and got back up again, when he was a younger man! It gets a lot harder the older you get. Mika should have acknowledged that.
Leak the texts! Leak the texts, Tim! Do it! It's the right thing to do in this time of crisis for your country, as you've just said yourself. It's also the best thing to do for the rest of the world who is staring into the Trump abyss.
Damn, if you read the whole NYT article, it's really just about the past June while he was traveling continually and doing way too much. The idea that he's being pilloried for being tired . . . damn, let's get the whole picture why not?
Thank you Tim and Tom. As always I appreciate your opinions and food for thought. I think the bottom line is just how you put it, Just Show Up! We must protect our democracy!
Hi Tim! Thank you so much for this episode - it is the first thing that I’ve heard after the “debate” that does not make me want to pull my hair out. It was so good to hear someone calling all this justification for the bs it is. Spinning and justifications are making me crazy. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart!
Whatever Kamala Harris's failings as a retail politician might be, she is at least coherent in unscripted press encounters, and it's very clear at this point that Biden no longer has that ability, at least not reliably. It's been 5 days since the debate, plenty of time to let him do something that shows he can do more than read a teleprompter. If they thought he could pull it off, they would have let him. The Joe Biden of 2020 would have insisted on getting out there. That man is no longer with us, sadly. I'm not saying he's necessarily incompetent to govern, but part of being president is being available to the people. It's an essential part of leadership. It's ironic that we're all so furious about SCOTUS enabling Trump as an American king while it's our side that's hiding our standard bearer as if he were a mad king.
Part of me wants us to hunker down and just get through this with careful stage management because I know there are swing voters out there who might vote for Biden but will stay home if it's Harris, or even vote for Trump. But I also know that there are many Democrats who will likely stay home if they feel like their only choice is to vote for a senile old man. Everyone is so focused on pleasing the swing voters in MI, WI, and PA that I'm afraid they're forgetting about the need to rally the disaffected portion of the base in those states. Harris can help with that. I know she's not appealing to the Never Trump contingent, but she is well liked by many Democrats and she can make the case against Trump. Even if Biden is not going to step down, the campaign should have her out there doing the stuff he can't do.
Good podcast. We have until the convention to figure this all out. I am not concerned about the current debate. But once it is time for the convention we have to join arms and be together in this fight. It will take every single one of us plus those we can convince to join us in this battle to defeat Trump. #NeverTrump
Can someone please tell me the name of the man who Tim Miller interviewed this past year. He had an Irish last name and he talked about Russian disinformation and talked about the tragedy of dissaffected young men and boys. I've been trying to find his work online. It was a fabulous interview.
Louisiana...... yeahhhhh I live here.. phewwww. I ranted to JVL a year and a half ago when he was kind enough to answer an email. I am dumbfounded by the Jeff Landry governorship but the whole process of watching pre-election the "When Jeff Landry is Governor we won't have to put up with all the b.s. anymore!" ....50 things he would do and after reading the posts from his A.G. about his pursuit of the FBI and Biden(along w/ Missouri AG) that it was going to be nothing short of ridiculous. I am unsure what it is like in those "liberal commie hell holes up North" etc... for certain but it amazes me what people will choose and believe here. And let state many many of these people are the "shirt of my back", stop in the rain to help change a spare tire types but they are convinced MAGA is the answer.
“Whooping Cough is the Roar of Freedom!” 😂 I put off this podcast for fear that I’d jump off a cliff after listening to this duo at this particular moment in time. Who knew Tom Nichols would bring in a (wee) side of hopium AND a laugh. Or my baseline has descended into Hade’s underworld. Hard to tell.
Tim, you've got to release the texts! Even if you anonymise them it's your civic duty to let the people know what Democrats really think.
Thank you Tim Miller and Tom Nichols - a podcast I listen to faithfully with a guest I enjoy and seek out for written work in The Atlantic.
I am beyond frustrated with comments here chastising you for questioning the wisdom of Biden at the top of the ticket.
Lifelong D. Would NEVER EVER vote for Trump. However, after the debate I don’t think I can vote for Biden. Both parties are on the verge of nominating, at their respective conventions, two men neither of whom is fit to be President of the United States, albeit for different reasons (fwiw, RFK, Jr. is unfit as well).
1. Trump is morally, intellectually, and temperamentally unfit.
2. FFS, it is not Biden’s age, it is his mental capacity/competency. I have not seen anyone pushing back on Axios reporting that WH staffers stated that Biden is “reliably engaged between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.” That’s not good enough. I am not voting for his team. The President has to be “with it” mentally more than 6 hours a day. He could be 100 years old, and if he could currently speak forcefully (extemporaneously, not reading from a teleprompter) I’d have no compunction in voting for him again, and hope for the best for the next four yeses. The fact that he has not been sitting for unscripted interviews since the debate is compelling circumstantial evidence that he is not capable of doing so NOW. That is disqualifying in my view. There’s too much going on in the world. Who is going to be making decisions the other 18 hours of the day when the President is not fully engaged?
3. I don’t care how many good things the administration has done in the last 3 1/2 years. President Biden has to inspire confidence that he is electable in November and after the debate he clearly is not. His margin in the Electoral College in 2020 was under 45,000 votes I believe. After the debate, if he continues as the nominee, independents and suburban R’a that he needs in swing states that will determine the outcome of the election will leave the top of the ballot blank. There is no margin for error and Biden doesn’t appear to be adding enough to his 2020 coalition to offset the voters he is losing.
4. Watching the debate, I wondered for the first time whether the Cabinet should consider acting under the 25th Amendment. I am angry with President Biden, his family, and campaign staff. I feel like I have been lied to. Arguably, Vice President Harris should perhaps be President Harris right now.
5. The pro-Biden constituency is not enough to carry the day in November. Give me Harris/midwestern Governor, the inverse, or an entirely new ticket, and I will vote enthusiastically for generational change regardless of the composition of the ticket. I am now “Anyone but Biden.”
5. The debate wasn’t one bad night. It’s not that President Biden’s “performance” was lacking. Anyone who has gone through it with a parent can see that something is wrong with President Biden. CNN made it clear they weren’t going to fact check - that’s on the debater. So don’t blame CNN for not fact-checking Trump’s lies. Any decent trial lawyer knows you don’t have to respond to every lie when they are coming out of a firehouse. You have to be nimble enough on your feet to pick out the main one or two, address them, and then pivot to make a point in your favor. I have seen no evidence recently that President Biden has any current capacity to do that.
Looking forward to the Iron Lungs and calipers being dusted off to treat the Polio patients again. Not.
Joe Biden got knocked down and got back up again, when he was a younger man! It gets a lot harder the older you get. Mika should have acknowledged that.
Leak the texts! Leak the texts, Tim! Do it! It's the right thing to do in this time of crisis for your country, as you've just said yourself. It's also the best thing to do for the rest of the world who is staring into the Trump abyss.
Damn, if you read the whole NYT article, it's really just about the past June while he was traveling continually and doing way too much. The idea that he's being pilloried for being tired . . . damn, let's get the whole picture why not?
Tim, thank you for bringing up the Hur report tape!!!!! Imagine if that is as bad as could be and comes out the last week of September?????
Thank you Tim and Tom. As always I appreciate your opinions and food for thought. I think the bottom line is just how you put it, Just Show Up! We must protect our democracy!
Hi Tim! Thank you so much for this episode - it is the first thing that I’ve heard after the “debate” that does not make me want to pull my hair out. It was so good to hear someone calling all this justification for the bs it is. Spinning and justifications are making me crazy. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart!
Other commenters are saying what I wanted to say here, so I will just say thank you, thank you. I’m not going crazy, after all.
Whatever Kamala Harris's failings as a retail politician might be, she is at least coherent in unscripted press encounters, and it's very clear at this point that Biden no longer has that ability, at least not reliably. It's been 5 days since the debate, plenty of time to let him do something that shows he can do more than read a teleprompter. If they thought he could pull it off, they would have let him. The Joe Biden of 2020 would have insisted on getting out there. That man is no longer with us, sadly. I'm not saying he's necessarily incompetent to govern, but part of being president is being available to the people. It's an essential part of leadership. It's ironic that we're all so furious about SCOTUS enabling Trump as an American king while it's our side that's hiding our standard bearer as if he were a mad king.
Part of me wants us to hunker down and just get through this with careful stage management because I know there are swing voters out there who might vote for Biden but will stay home if it's Harris, or even vote for Trump. But I also know that there are many Democrats who will likely stay home if they feel like their only choice is to vote for a senile old man. Everyone is so focused on pleasing the swing voters in MI, WI, and PA that I'm afraid they're forgetting about the need to rally the disaffected portion of the base in those states. Harris can help with that. I know she's not appealing to the Never Trump contingent, but she is well liked by many Democrats and she can make the case against Trump. Even if Biden is not going to step down, the campaign should have her out there doing the stuff he can't do.
Tim, you should get Rep. Auchincloss on - he’s articulating the case you are making so well!
Good podcast. We have until the convention to figure this all out. I am not concerned about the current debate. But once it is time for the convention we have to join arms and be together in this fight. It will take every single one of us plus those we can convince to join us in this battle to defeat Trump. #NeverTrump
Can someone please tell me the name of the man who Tim Miller interviewed this past year. He had an Irish last name and he talked about Russian disinformation and talked about the tragedy of dissaffected young men and boys. I've been trying to find his work online. It was a fabulous interview.
Scott Galloway?
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/tim-miller-scott-galloway-elon-musk-ai
Thanks a million.