“O What A Paradise It Seems!”

"I think all of our politics are defined, not just the Republicans at this point, by who you hate and who hates you back. [Trump] just happens to fare very well in that kind of an environment, because … he sees hate as a civic good." @maggieNYT Listen: https://t.co/pD1Mgh76dt pic.twitter.com/0tPq2ksjmN

— Fresh Air (@nprfreshair) October 10, 2022

It is a pity how many Republicans will vote for Satan, isn’t it?

(Although I think there’s a massive reset coming in November. Not to our politics, but to the narrative about our politics. Our political discourse is set by shock, not reasoned analyses. In 2016 538.com had Hilary Clinton leading by 71%. The shock of Trump still convinces the pundits (who must never stray far from the herd) that Trump is a power broker. Except he lost re-election, lost the House and Senate, and his hand-picked Senate candidates are failing (and likely to fail in November).

But like Texans who still “Remember the Alamo!”, pundits remember the last political shock. Relentlessly.

The other factor is political Twitter. It seems 25% (or less?) of people on Twitter generate 97% of the tweets (I’m remembering this from “Meet The Press” last Sunday, so I could be less than accurate). 75% of the people on Twitter are just reading (raises hand).

And there aren’t that many people on Twitter; but the people there think they are the nation. In fact, as a percentage of the population, they aren’t even the tail, much less are they wagging the dog.

Lots of political pundits on Twitter, all talking to each other. Also lots of people on Twitter hating people not on their side of Twitter. Not sure they are really defining our politics, but everyone lets them think they are. It’s a free country, right?)