Chris, this might be the best thing I have ever seen of yours. You and Baldwin were fantastic
It is always good to reminisce. Unfortunately, or fortunately, time moves on
We’re not going back but maybe we can grab some of the good stuff like friendly dialogue and disagreement
A line I have to return to many times daily is from the St Francis prayer, “It’s better to understand than to be understood”
Politics were broken long before any of us were alive. Do you remember the Burr/Hamilton duel or Charles Sumner practically being caned to death by Preston Brooks on the senate floor while fellow southerners cheered him on
We have always had radical influential media. Greeley, Hearst, Whitelaw Reid.
We have always had the money
Look up some of the political signs and cartoons from the 1800’s
Finally JFK’s assassination was most likely a coup d’etat
Trump is unique in some ways but this stuff isn’t new
Lee created the Southern Strategy to harness white nationalist southerners into leaving the Democratic Party.
Roger did it for the money. Fox decided that alternative news was going to be much more profitable than a 4th network spouting the same news. Figure in older white Americans who had seen minorities increase and you had a juggernaut that made Murdoch billions of dollars.
Tabloid TV journalism. Add in a racist reality TV star and all three cherries line up on the slot machine.
The democrats ain't got nothing to compete with that shit show.
100% agree. From what I've read, I think the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society also played a supporting role - more along the lines of giving all that crap a veneer of respectability. I saw Lee Atwater's despicable shenanigans during the GHW Bush vs Dukakis election in 1988 (my first exposure to US politics as a foreign grad student). What Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch did with Fox is exactly as you say.
The way you were talking saying both sides say bad things,,,, are you for real? You know the Dems never ever acted like this This is not normal not right. He is not a leader
I'm sick and tired of this stupid "both sides" bullcrap.
That is NOT "just calling balls and strikes". It's presenting a false equivalency that is the hallmark of the failure of almost ALL media since the days of Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh.
The “serious” media actually treated (and for the large part still does) Trump like a regular politician. Gave him loudspeaker to spew his hate, demagoguery, racism, bigotry, misogyny and then gave it the “this side says this, but this side says that” mumbo jumbo when he goes off the rails with pathological lying like we have never seen before. (yes, pun intended)
The truth is that Fox News and other right-wing media, and the bro-blogosphere literally act like Trump’s and the Republican Party’s propaganda department.
They don’t report or even just present opinions. The indoctrinate and work hand in glove with Trump, MAGA and the GOP. This is why so many Fox celebrates are literally in Trump’s government.
That does NOT exist on the left of the Democratic side in any equivalent amount or with such shamelessness. To deny that is to fall into the same dumb “both sides” shit.
Chris, I love your written pieces but I'm very tired of all the videos that do not seem to offer transcripts (I use my laptop). Glad you like video but I don't. I would guess I'm not the only one. Please don't push us away.
Not really a big fan of the video stuff but did listen to this one. Since the last two of your substacks were on how pissed you (and I) are about how this one incident has once again poisoned our collective dialogue. There are so many things that contribute to this some of which you and Brooke touched on that I agree with. One of the things you both mentioned which I agree w/ is we cannot even agree on facts. Social media and now AI are not making this better nor will they ever w/o some type of regulation, imo. I felt that your previous substack about fucking pissed was too much both sidesism to me. There is no question in my mind that it is the domination of the right wing media that is contributing more to this poisoning that anything left wing, bc just as you and Brooke said, there is money to be made by stirring the pot than to say, well, the argument is more nuanced that this or that. For example, right after the incident all of the right wing-o-sphere were in unison and coordinated about building this idiotic ballroom. Another example, in our local Next Door threads there are people who just parrot Trump’s call that after this assassination attempt that his ballroom would have eliminated the threat, which is total unadulterated bullshit. I tried to point out that the WHCD is a private affair, not govt and it couldn’t be held at this folly of a ballroom. No avail bc they are listening to their own tribe like which was one of your points w/ Brooke. However, I am a proponent of trying to listen to the other side if there is a way to do that but the times I have tried to engage seems to revert to each other’s tribal sound bites. I have long said that Dems need to go on Fox News, like Mayor Pete, and defend themselves. Why they don’t is beyond me. To continue as to one reason why I think the denigration of our dialogue lies more w/ the Republicans than the Dems is, for my entire adult life (born in the fifties) the Republicans have campaigned on dog whistles and racist tropes. Think Willie Horton but Bush Sr (who should have known better) and the Jesse Helms vs Harvey Gantt in NC when Gantt, who was the black mayor of Charlotte, was possibly going to win the election when Helms put out and ad that showed a black hand taking a job application away from the white hand. That is about what it took in a state like NC. And who can forget Reagan’s demonization of the fictional welfare queen who was mining the welfare system and driving around in a Cadillac? Did anyone in the R Party or “esteemed” columnists like George Will of Bill Kristol condemn that shit? No, never. So that has been the MO for many, many decades. Sorry for the length and stream of consciousness nature of this post.
Politics has always been broken to some degree. Some of the stuff people hate about politics today were said 25-30 years ago. What has changed is the reality tv feel to things and that is thanks to Trump. There was a poll out the other day that showed a significant amount of people thought the assassination attempt this past week was staged. I don’t think you can chalk that up to just polarization, but that people see today’s politics as reality TV and not real.
Spot on. The Admin runs the country like they are in a reality tv show. First priority is how engaging or popular they are. Policies and results are entirely incidental No wonder the public wants get in on the game. A similar paradigm is used in Pro wrestling. You know it’s all staged, but keeps watching for entertainment. This is the real mechanism for why so many say the attacks were staged.
Chris, you were an excellent reporter on CNN, but now your Substack posts and interviews are more authentic, original and interesting, probably because you’re not limited to reporting within the constraints of mainstream media.
A nice move for you, and great for us who appreciate your unique insights!
Chris, this might be the best thing I have ever seen of yours. You and Baldwin were fantastic
It is always good to reminisce. Unfortunately, or fortunately, time moves on
We’re not going back but maybe we can grab some of the good stuff like friendly dialogue and disagreement
A line I have to return to many times daily is from the St Francis prayer, “It’s better to understand than to be understood”
Politics were broken long before any of us were alive. Do you remember the Burr/Hamilton duel or Charles Sumner practically being caned to death by Preston Brooks on the senate floor while fellow southerners cheered him on
We have always had radical influential media. Greeley, Hearst, Whitelaw Reid.
We have always had the money
Look up some of the political signs and cartoons from the 1800’s
Finally JFK’s assassination was most likely a coup d’etat
Trump is unique in some ways but this stuff isn’t new
Cmon Chris. You're a sharp guy.
Two people broke politics.
Lee Atwater and Roger Ailes.
Lee created the Southern Strategy to harness white nationalist southerners into leaving the Democratic Party.
Roger did it for the money. Fox decided that alternative news was going to be much more profitable than a 4th network spouting the same news. Figure in older white Americans who had seen minorities increase and you had a juggernaut that made Murdoch billions of dollars.
Tabloid TV journalism. Add in a racist reality TV star and all three cherries line up on the slot machine.
The democrats ain't got nothing to compete with that shit show.
100% agree. From what I've read, I think the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society also played a supporting role - more along the lines of giving all that crap a veneer of respectability. I saw Lee Atwater's despicable shenanigans during the GHW Bush vs Dukakis election in 1988 (my first exposure to US politics as a foreign grad student). What Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch did with Fox is exactly as you say.
Chris
The way you were talking saying both sides say bad things,,,, are you for real? You know the Dems never ever acted like this This is not normal not right. He is not a leader
,
I'm sick and tired of this stupid "both sides" bullcrap.
That is NOT "just calling balls and strikes". It's presenting a false equivalency that is the hallmark of the failure of almost ALL media since the days of Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh.
The “serious” media actually treated (and for the large part still does) Trump like a regular politician. Gave him loudspeaker to spew his hate, demagoguery, racism, bigotry, misogyny and then gave it the “this side says this, but this side says that” mumbo jumbo when he goes off the rails with pathological lying like we have never seen before. (yes, pun intended)
The truth is that Fox News and other right-wing media, and the bro-blogosphere literally act like Trump’s and the Republican Party’s propaganda department.
They don’t report or even just present opinions. The indoctrinate and work hand in glove with Trump, MAGA and the GOP. This is why so many Fox celebrates are literally in Trump’s government.
That does NOT exist on the left of the Democratic side in any equivalent amount or with such shamelessness. To deny that is to fall into the same dumb “both sides” shit.
So called “independent media” is not much better.
Chris, I love your written pieces but I'm very tired of all the videos that do not seem to offer transcripts (I use my laptop). Glad you like video but I don't. I would guess I'm not the only one. Please don't push us away.
Peggy,
I write something every day. Also as long as you are not watching on the app, every video has a transcript you can read!
Chris
Not really a big fan of the video stuff but did listen to this one. Since the last two of your substacks were on how pissed you (and I) are about how this one incident has once again poisoned our collective dialogue. There are so many things that contribute to this some of which you and Brooke touched on that I agree with. One of the things you both mentioned which I agree w/ is we cannot even agree on facts. Social media and now AI are not making this better nor will they ever w/o some type of regulation, imo. I felt that your previous substack about fucking pissed was too much both sidesism to me. There is no question in my mind that it is the domination of the right wing media that is contributing more to this poisoning that anything left wing, bc just as you and Brooke said, there is money to be made by stirring the pot than to say, well, the argument is more nuanced that this or that. For example, right after the incident all of the right wing-o-sphere were in unison and coordinated about building this idiotic ballroom. Another example, in our local Next Door threads there are people who just parrot Trump’s call that after this assassination attempt that his ballroom would have eliminated the threat, which is total unadulterated bullshit. I tried to point out that the WHCD is a private affair, not govt and it couldn’t be held at this folly of a ballroom. No avail bc they are listening to their own tribe like which was one of your points w/ Brooke. However, I am a proponent of trying to listen to the other side if there is a way to do that but the times I have tried to engage seems to revert to each other’s tribal sound bites. I have long said that Dems need to go on Fox News, like Mayor Pete, and defend themselves. Why they don’t is beyond me. To continue as to one reason why I think the denigration of our dialogue lies more w/ the Republicans than the Dems is, for my entire adult life (born in the fifties) the Republicans have campaigned on dog whistles and racist tropes. Think Willie Horton but Bush Sr (who should have known better) and the Jesse Helms vs Harvey Gantt in NC when Gantt, who was the black mayor of Charlotte, was possibly going to win the election when Helms put out and ad that showed a black hand taking a job application away from the white hand. That is about what it took in a state like NC. And who can forget Reagan’s demonization of the fictional welfare queen who was mining the welfare system and driving around in a Cadillac? Did anyone in the R Party or “esteemed” columnists like George Will of Bill Kristol condemn that shit? No, never. So that has been the MO for many, many decades. Sorry for the length and stream of consciousness nature of this post.
Politics has always been broken to some degree. Some of the stuff people hate about politics today were said 25-30 years ago. What has changed is the reality tv feel to things and that is thanks to Trump. There was a poll out the other day that showed a significant amount of people thought the assassination attempt this past week was staged. I don’t think you can chalk that up to just polarization, but that people see today’s politics as reality TV and not real.
Spot on. The Admin runs the country like they are in a reality tv show. First priority is how engaging or popular they are. Policies and results are entirely incidental No wonder the public wants get in on the game. A similar paradigm is used in Pro wrestling. You know it’s all staged, but keeps watching for entertainment. This is the real mechanism for why so many say the attacks were staged.
Good to see Brooke again. And you both have good chemistry! Enjoyed the discussion, despite the fact that solutions are elusive.
Brooke and anyone else. If you are not subscribing to Heather Cox Richardson you are missing a lot of historical perspective
Fantastic. Keep it coming
Don’t whitewash people who want to expell nonwhites.
Not everyone wants to force everyone to become white nationalist!
GOP is really filled with Neo nazis now. Just look up their texts.
Where CAN we find the facts nowadays? Can you recommend sources?
Chris, you were an excellent reporter on CNN, but now your Substack posts and interviews are more authentic, original and interesting, probably because you’re not limited to reporting within the constraints of mainstream media.
A nice move for you, and great for us who appreciate your unique insights!
We each have the responsibility to decide how to respond to what is happening.