Maybe the worst thing about this is that some people are still surprised by his lack of self awareness.
People! He has never had the tiniest sliver of self-awareness. Hell, he’s never had much of a sliver of any awareness, period. Throughout his life, he’s basically been an empty sack held together by gradually increasing amounts of abdominal fat and with a skull that’s likely host to more hair implants than brain cells.
He’s the King of Cluelessness and has been for decades upon decades. Although somehow his (alleged) 'charisma" and “star power” hide this fact from many.
IIRC, Biden and the Dems tried this approach when they located a majority of the IRA projects in red districts, hoping the citizenry might appreciate the new jobs and tax revenue coming their way. The Repub. reps in those districts claimed credit after voting against the IRA, trashed the Dems that made the projects possible, and have now cancelled many of them in their Big Ugly Travesty. It seems there’s some movement on the other side needed for your idea to work.
I am usually willing to at least listen to what someone has to say. But listening and respect is a two-way street.
As we have often discussed, and we have cited political science research to support it, the polarization is asymmetrical. Democrats have not moved farther left over the years, whereas the Republican Party has veered sharply to the right.
Once again, folks assume that only Democrats have agency.
This whole thing is so strange, especially given that these people would absolutely just release a fake list to make their base happy. It feels like they were teeing up to do that then learned that the folks are ready to drop the real shit.
You’re talking macro, when what is called for is micro. Neighbor to neighbor, face to face. Not something mediated through the political parties, the media, the agitprop mills.
Also, it will take time. This ain’t a 30 minute sitcom.
There is a counter argument regarding polarization as the enemy. Social media platforms are designed specifically so we can talk to each other. I would argue that has hurt, not helped our situation.
Of course, there is a reason for that. The social media platform search for ways to keep us engaged. So, the algorithms prey on our emotions in a self-reinforcing manner. Soon people are stuck in camps depending on where they started out.
My point is that you are not wrong that there is polarization, just that this is not a simple nut to crack, even your neighbors are online. A way to understand this issue, think of what most people process emotionally-intellectually as being as being about 90% internal and only 10% of what comes in from the environment/other people. So, if you think you are walking up a steep incline when talking to a MAGA cultist (sorry being a bit polarizing here), it is because you are.
My point here, the problem is that if you put humans in a certain environment, they are going to behave a certain way. There is your problem, how do you move to a better environment? What does that look like anyway?
I guess the trouble with a fake list is that they’d have to come up with excuses about why they weren’t gonna actually prosecute the people on their list. Might disenchant the faithful even more.
Merci beaucoup! I am proud to be an American in France these days. We Americans and French have taught each other about liberty, imperfect though its experience and expression has been these past two and a half centuries as our attempts at republican governance have chugged along. They funded and helped us during the Revolution, we saved them from German tyranny in two world wars.
France is on the ropes, but not over the edge yet, unlike the US. Just recently France enshrined the right for women to choose into its constitution, which is far easier to amend than the US constitution. I hope France will survive Le Pen and its sometimes revanchists politics, and I hope we can all help one another towards a society where the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Declaration are realized.
And there are certain things that are broadly agreed on: health care, social security, gun control, and taking care of children for starters, which are still mystifyingly controversial in the US. In my life I’ve lived in Oregon, New England, DC, Rome, and Athens. Right now I would not want to be anywhere else than where I am, not because I dislike the US, but simply because I’ve always simply preferred life abroad where my historical interests (qua historian) reside. Well, I also love the food, wine, and cafes.
Back to basics. In what scenario could the unredacted Epstein files/list be released without defaming/implicating uncharged individuals (insert your own speculative list of characters), regardless of their political persuasion. Epstein gathered wealthy movers and shakers supposedly to raise money for institutions and causes. What inducements were on offer is a separate question, and whether the likes of, say, Bill Gates, knew what they were walking/flying into is complete conjecture. If Epstein hadn’t died, and the goods had come out at trial, or if things had leaked, that would be one thing. But it’s really hard to imagine how the government can release unsubstantiated, uncharged personally identifying information. Ghislaine Maxwell or Michael Wolff, on the other hand…?
