American Politics 3.0 - Back to Brunch

[GirlySports]

Podcasting is where I thought the left would be and should be killing it. Shows like Pod Save America

[Itse]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Podcasting is where I thought the left would be and should be killing it. Shows like Pod Save America

They are killing in the sense that there are a ton of really high quality shows. But the shows generally aren't about party politics at all, and many are actively dismissive of voting.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by DownInFlames

I think there are tons of men who fit that description out there. The problem is that for every young guy following Hank Green on YouTube there are 100 following Logan Paul. We need to make science cool again, I guess?

[Cappy]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Podcasting is where I thought the left would be and should be killing it. Shows like Pod Save America

I would say podcasts (exluding sports podcasts) are generally on the left and centre spectrum. There are just a ton of them.

Right wingers i know basically listen to Joe Rogan or (if they are intellectual) Lex Friedman.

Centrists/leftists i know are all over the map on what podcasts they listen to. There are just way too many occupying that space.

[Cappy]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

I'd argue that there is a distinct lack of gentlemanly, articulate, and intellectual male role models in popular American culture. Name 5.

That's a problem with current pop culture, there are few who fit that criteria nowadays, because we as a society amplify the lowest common denominators.

But to look exclusively at pop culture is too narrow of a focus.

Boys need male role models. We have spades of them. Take your pick. What does your kid find interesting? you're telling me there isn't man occupying that space that is worthy of looking up to?

[calculoso]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

It was my impression that boomers and truckers weren't on social media and liberals could use social media and podcast to usurp talk radio. I guess I'm wrong if the right is winning that war too.

Social media like Twitter that is such a lefty haven, or Facebook where the memes are obviously very progressive?

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Podcasting is where I thought the left would be and should be killing it. Shows like Pod Save America

What do you mean? People are going to seek out podcasts that align with their current views.

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by Cappy

I would say podcasts (exluding sports podcasts) are generally on the left and centre spectrum. There are just a ton of them.

Right wingers i know basically listen to Joe Rogan or (if they are intellectual) Lex Friedman.

Centrists/leftists i know are all over the map on what podcasts they listen to. There are just way too many occupying that space.

Ugh, and that Lex Friedman "interview" with Trump was Friedman just lofting up nerf balls, letting the old idiot rant and then moving on when he didn't answer the question. He must have gotten quite the payday for that from the Trump campaign.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by Cappy

That's a problem with current pop culture, there are few who fit that criteria nowadays, because we as a society amplify the lowest common denominators.

But to look exclusively at pop culture is too narrow of a focus.

Boys need male role models. We have spades of them. Take your pick. What does your kid find interesting? you're telling me there isn't man occupying that space that is worthy of looking up to?

Sure, me and his grandfather. There's nobody else in his immediate universe that fits the description.

You're right that it's a problem of our society amplifying crap on social media. We've dumbed down the last two generations so badly and asked nothing of them in their own personal development. It has become a sin to be demanding of your child, especially academically (especially for boys!), but even in terms of just being a kind and polite human being, the expectation is near zero.

It's distressing to be the only voice in a room asking for some accountability for oneself.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

Sure, me and his grandfather. There's nobody else in his immediate universe that fits the description.

You're right that it's a problem of our society amplifying crap on social media. We've dumbed down the last two generations so badly and asked nothing of them in their own personal development. It has become a sin to be demanding of your child, especially academically (especially for boys!), but even in terms of just being a kind and polite human being, the expectation is near zero.

It's distressing to be the only voice in a room asking for some accountability for oneself.

Sin to be demanding to your child? Especially boys? What are you even talking about?

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

Sin to be demanding to your child? Especially boys? What are you even talking about?

Culturally it is frowned upon. Lowered expectations seem to be normalized these days, especially for boys.

[PepsiFree]

Maybe it’s less a culture/children issue and more a confident parenting issue?

I don’t think my dad could tell you what the “culture” said about parenting and would’ve thought the idea of having a cultural role model as totally absurd.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

Culturally it is frowned upon. Lowered expectations seem to be normalized these days, especially for boys.

I've raised 16 & 18 yo boys mostly by myself without a lot of advantages other than being in a good public school district. Oldest is in a top 15 Engineering school and has probably read at least 300 novels. Younger isn't as academic but keeps a 4.3 gpa and has a good shot at playing d1 golf in a couple years.

I am not a demanding parent at all, granted, but have always but a lot of effort into supporting whatever it is they are interested in.

I can't fathom that anyone would ever criticize my parenting for being too demanding. Lots of times I felt like maybe I wasn't being demanding enough.

I just don't have a basis for where your comments are coming from. It really doesn't seem to be the case in this part of the country.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Itse

Millions less compared to what? Trump got 2nd most votes of any presidential candidate ever in 2020, 74 million compares to Obamas previous record of 69.5M from 2008 and 12 million more than he got in 2016.

In general the Trump era elections have had record turnouts and they've all been close. GOP won the popular vote by 4 million votes in 2022. They're doing fine and would likely be fine even without Trump.

Their competitor obviously lol

Dems have won the popular vote 7 of the last 8 presidential elections
GOP hasn't won a popular vote in a presidential election since social media became a thing...like are you even serious?

It will be 8 of 9 in a couple months...that's 36 years for christ sake

[LanceUppercut]

I ran across a YouTube video about this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation...rstate_Compact that a bunch of states have signed onto.


Basically, once enough states that sign on that have 270 electors, whoever wins the national popular vote will automatically win the Presidency. If they get 2 more states with 11 electors combined, the Republican's will very rarely see the White House again.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Their competitor obviously lol

Dems have won the popular vote 7 of the last 8 presidential elections
GOP hasn't won a popular vote in a presidential election since social media became a thing...like are you even serious?

It will be 8 of 9 in a couple months...that's 36 years for christ sake

How is that relevant? They can still win elections, now and in the future, despite being absolutely incompetent and downright insane a lot of the time... and that's why they CAN be so insane.

That's the social media effect, it's the post-factual era and all that matters is how people feel.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

I've raised 16 & 18 yo boys mostly by myself without a lot of advantages other than being in a good public school district. Oldest is in a top 15 Engineering school and has probably read at least 300 novels. Younger isn't as academic but keeps a 4.3 gpa and has a good shot at playing d1 golf in a couple years.

I am not a demanding parent at all, granted, but have always but a lot of effort into supporting whatever it is they are interested in.

I can't fathom that anyone would ever criticize my parenting for being too demanding. Lots of times I felt like maybe I wasn't being demanding enough.

I just don't have a basis for where your comments are coming from. It really doesn't seem to be the case in this part of the country.

Putting in a lot of effort is demanding on yourself, no?

In fact I would say your effort as a parent is the reason your kids are successful. Parenting isn't always about drawing a hard line in the sand and being 'tough' on kids, but rather creating an environment where kids can be successful. Part of that is setting a standard of success, but its its not fair to expect kids to maintain a high standard if parents don't hold themselves to the same high level. Cali is right, its not seen as culturally appropriate to be demanding, and that is why we're seeing kids with some many struggles. Just think the definition of what that means isn't quite explained properly.

Much easier to just give them a phone and let social media raise them.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by LanceUppercut

Basically, once enough states that sign on that have 270 electors, whoever wins the national popular vote will automatically win the Presidency. If they get 2 more states with 11 electors combined, the Republican's will very rarely see the White House again.

They would move towards the middle, probably.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by SebC

They would move towards the middle, probably.

I can't see that happening as long as there are primaries.

A strong majority of Republican voters will pick the most the most depraved, deplorable candidate every time even if hurts their chances of winning.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

I can't see that happening as long as there are primaries.

A strong majority of Republican voters will pick the most the most depraved, deplorable candidate every time even if hurts their chances of winning.

Yeah, we've seen this in conservative movements in a lot of places, including Canada and Alberta. When faced with the choice between moderating toward the middle or courting the extreme, a conservative movement frequently divides into two factions (either formally or informally): the fringe who care more about ideology than power, and the establishment, who only care about power. Ultimately, what we tend to see is that the establishment will always sell out to the fringe because they can't win without them. (This can happen on the left as well, but is far more common on the right for reasons inherent to differences between left and right-wing politics.)

These calculations get pretty complex in the US if the demographics shift such that MAGA-style politics become unwinnable on a national level. I remember how after Romney's defeat, the Republicans, already divided into the establishment and the Tea Party movement, did a postmortum about how they needed to moderate towards the middle or they would lose for generations... and then Trump emerged, the Tea Partiers dove wholly into that, and the establishment had no choice but to follow. Trump unlocked a group of low-likelihood voters who allowed establishment Republicans to convince themselves that they didn't need to move to the middle to win national elections.

In a post-Trump era, the vast majority of Republican politicians will still benefit from MAGA-style politics. Go away from that, and they lose most of the MAGA voters, without gaining those centrist voters who still associate the Republican brand with Trump. So on an individual level, it's still going to be the best strategy for any red or purple state politician. This makes a really tough path to get a presidential candidate through the primaries and able to thread that line between keeping the MAGA voters engaged, and courting enough centrist voters to make up for the demographic drop-off they'll be faced with.