Friday Mailbag!

So long 2024...

“This is the end / Beautiful friend / This is the end / My only friend, the end”

Confession: I think the Doors are WAY overrated but I do like that line by Jim Morrison!

So, this is AN end — the final Mailbag of 2024, a chance to both look back at where we’ve been as a country and to look forward to where we might be headed in 2025.

But it is not THE end. Politics will rumble on — and I will be right here to document and analyze all of it for you!

Posting will be light and intermittent over the next few weeks — my wife is celebrating a birthday, there’s the whole Christmas thing etc. — but I will still show up in your email inbox from time to time.

Let’s send this year off right with our best Mailbag ever. Maybe the best Mailbag in the history of the world.

If I don’t answer your questions, never fear! I am doing a livestream at 1 pm eastern today over at my YouTube channel. I usually spend about an hour answering questions and, uh, riffing. It’s super fun! So come and hang out — and if you aren’t a subscriber to my channel yet, become one today!

Ok, now to the business at hand — your questions about the week in politics. This weekly post is for PAID subscribers. So everyone will be able to read the first few questions and answers but to check out the whole thing you need to become an investor in “So What.” Which is super easy! Give yourself an early Christmas present!

Here. We. Go.

Q: I understand that by passing over AOC as a committee chair, the Democrats are ignoring a young, vigorous spokesperson against Trump--which you think is a mistake. But isn't AOC viewed as being pretty far left on social issues, which was a significant factor in the Dems' recent loss? Don't you think there's a good argument to be made that she should not be one of the faces of the party at this moment? Thanks.

A: Great question.

No question that AOC is to the left of the average swing voter in the country. But, I also think she has gotten a whole lot savvier about how and when to talk about those issues since she came to Congress six years ago.

Unlike some other members of “The Squad,” she is not simply a bomb-thrower. I think she is more strategic — and wants a bigger future than just being some sort of liberal firebrand in the House.

Would putting her forward as a face of the party get Republican energized? Maybe. But they are pretty energized already! And I just think Democrats need to worry less about specific ideological positioning and more about elected officials who are able to relate to people where they are.

AOC is, to me, one of those people.

Q: How should a moderate Republican navigate the next 4 years? How does a presidential hopeful that is a centrist Democrat navigate the next 4 years (looking at Shapiro 👀)?….Also, really appreciate the work you do here! It has . . . showmanship, but does not feel histrionic or pandering. That I cannot tell if “So What” has a political affiliation is a welcomed sight and a true accomplishment!

A: Thanks so much. I aim to be a balls and strike caller — no matter what uniform the pitcher is wearing. It’s not for everyone — some people just want predictable partisanship! — but it’s what I deeply believe is necessary if we want to find our way back to some sense of normal.

As for your question, I think — per my answer above — an aspiring Democratic candidate like Shapiro (or AOC) would do well to not talk in ideological terms at all. Like stop saying “liberal” and “moderate” entirely.

Look at Trump. Did he win because he is a moderate? Or a conservative? Nope! In fact, he purposely tried to disrupt those labels by taking positions all over the map. And somehow he became the voice of “common sense.”

To my mind, Democrats need to worry far less about where a prospective candidate fits on an ideological spectrum and far more on whether or not they can connect with the anger and alienation that people — of all parties — feel. And offer them credible and serious solutions to their problems.

Q: How much of a problem is it that Biden has basically checked out and there is still a month left in his term, and so much chaos ready to boil over? Would a more capable lame duck president be in a position to do something to bring some level of calm? Or does it really not matter? It just all feels very awkward, and I’ll just say it, horrifying as we think about the next four years.