Friday Mailbag!

It's go time.

Happy Friday!

We made it!

I am getting ready to reach my second-ever campaign journalism class at Georgetown later today. Excited!

Speaking of excited, the first (and only???) presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is Tuesday. This is a HUGE moment in the campaign — obviously — and I will be ALL over it.

Have a few fun surprises about what I am doing…will make sure to let everyone know Monday. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, here’s some news about me: I signed on as a political contributor at Scripps News! I really love their nonpartisan approach to the news and have really liked everyone I have met over there!

Ok, enough announcements and teases of announcements. If it’s Friday, it’s Mailbag time. The chance for you all to steer the conversation in this newsletter.

So, what was on your mind this week? LOTS. We had almost 100 questions submitted! I got to as many as I could below. But if your question didn’t get answered, make sure to head to my weekly Friday livestream over at my YouTube channel. It’s at 1 pm eastern — and I will spend an hour (or so) answering questions there too!

But, before we do, a reminder: The weekly mailbag is a paywalled post. It’s an end-of-the-week treat for paid subscribers. If you aren’t a paying subscriber just yet, you’ll be able to read some of it. To get the whole thing, you need to join the ranks of the paid! Do it today! It’s just $6 a month or $60 for the year!

To the questions! Soundtrack for today’s mailbag: The new MJ Lenderman album “Manning Fireworks.”

Q: Hi Chris- I was rather stunned to hear you say that you had not decided on who to vote for yet in the latest Friday livestream. One of the qualities we admire about you is your honesty & transparency. Please level with us. I don't see how you could be undecided? You often write about Trump's danger to our country & democracy. You mock his non-sensical ramblings with awesome gifs from The Office & Zoolander in your transcript breakdown. You have mentioned that this election is a binary choice, you either vote for Harris or vote for Trump.

I can think of three reasons you want to avoid admitting who you vote for. 1. You believe it is private. 2. You believe it may turn off potential or current subscribers. 3. You believe who you vote for is irrelevant to the analysis you provide to us.

Please clarify your rationale for us. Are you truly undecided or is it some combination of the above three reasons?

A: Thanks for the question. And for the chance to clarify.

So, when I do my Friday livestream over at YouTube, I don’t read the questions first. I try to just go, in real-time, through what people ask me. I feel like that keeps me from editing out uncomfortable questions and just picking the easy stuff.

I read the question about who I am voting for then in real time. And didn’t have a good answer in the moment. I just wasn’t prepared for it.

The real answer is that I am keeping my voter preferences private — for all the reasons you suggest above but mostly #3, which is that I don’t believe that who I vote for has any impact on how I analyze politics and elections.

I appreciate your thoughtful questions and reasoning.

Q: [Editor’s note: This question has been trimmed down for space] I was attracted to the blog because Chris was recently laid off from CNN, and in many of his postings he openly discussed the challenges he was experiencing (lapsed contacts with former colleagues, difficulty for men to make friends these days, getting past the fact that his layoff was less about him and more about being a large number on an expenses worksheet, the fictional community of Three Pines, and the realities of a CPAP [which hit home since I use one also]). In short, Chris opened himself up to all of his readers and shared his human side (quirks and all) with us.

But somewhere along the way his human side disappeared. His posts are more arrogant and his replies to comments are more defensive. Could it be that Chris's truer personality was now shining through; now that his personal challenges and insecurities are in the rear-view mirror?

All I know is that I haven't enjoyed his posts nearly as much today as I have in the past.

But what really drove it home for me was the major dust-up that resulted regarding his post of 9-4-24 "What Does Kamala Harris *actually* believe?". Many readers took objection to his post, with the majority taking him to task for focusing on the five (six?) week Harris campaign and ignoring the 30000 (+/-) lies and unfulfilled promises Trump has proclaimed during the past nine years. Full disclosure - I left a particularly nasty comment.

What hit home for me was his reply to reader objections, essentially saying that this was his blog and he writes about topics that interest him.

He is 100% correct.

For me, that was the point that made me realize that I could not continue as a subscriber.

A: I wanted to make sure to include this because, well, I think it’s important that people who disagree with me get a hearing. A big part of the problem in this country right now is that we aren’t willing to listen — especially to those who don’t agree with us.

Let me first say: It’s always disappointing to lose a subscriber — free or paid. I like to think of this newsletter firstly as a community, a place where people of different background and political views can come together and talk civilly to one another. Losing a member of that community sucks.

As for the particular criticism in this note, let me say a few things.

First, I have found that when I write critically about Donald Trump, the comments section — which is, of course, not necessarily reflective of the views of the broader “So What” community — is thrilled. I am the best! I am doing invaluable work! I have found my voice post-CNN!

But, when I write critically about Kamala Harris, the same is not true. I am arrogant! I have lost the thread! I am electing a fascist!

I am, of course, the exact same person.

Second, a word on Donald Trump. I do not think he is a fascist. I do not think he will end democracy if he is elected. I DO think he has authoritarian tendencies. I DO think he would work to fundamentally re-define the presidency and invest it with more and more power. I have written extensively about Trump in this space. And will continue to do so. The vast majority of that coverage has been critical — because he deserves it!

But, I also do not believe the fact that Trump is a radical candidate means that we should entirely ignore Kamala Harris. That because Trump is Trump that we should dismiss the fact that she won the Democratic nomination without receiving a single vote. Or that she has switched positions — with virtually no explanation — on a slew of issues.

I do not believe Harris deserves a pass on, well, everything because Trump is bad. That logic precludes any debate or discussion. And I am big believer in both.

One last thing: I am not right about all of this. It’s uniquely possible that Harris’ flip flops on issues won’t, in the end, matter to voters. I do not have a monopoly on good or right ideas. What I will ALWAYS do, however, is tell it like I see it. I won’t pull punches. I won’t tell you what you want to hear because I know that makes you more likely to become a paying subscriber. And I will always be honest — not just about politics about my life. The good and the bad. The ups and the downs.

That’s it. That’s my vow. If that sounds like something you can get behind, I’d appreciate your support.