16 Comments
Commenting has been turned off for this post

Too, too many common insipid commercials and promos! Aside from point of view, these are no different from traditional noisy media. Listening to them is painful. Honestly, listening to your ads is indistinguishable from AM radio. Sure, make a buck. But stop betraying your founding goals. It's very disappointing.

Expand full comment
Aug 26·edited Aug 26

Wow that was hard to listen to. Does anyone in America know how to say words that are connected to what they believe? Or do they really only have the beliefs they have been told to believe? Most of it was one thought-free cliche after the next. I am personally really struggling in this election. Trump is erratic, Harris is, as John Podhoretz at Commentary puts it, a "cipher" a stand-in for a real president. I think I am more afraid of the illogical gibberish of the Democrats themselves than the lunacy of Trump. Forget the faculty lounge they talk like they are from planet no-truth, where all opinions are true so long as you just say them. "You know the Arab tent is more complex than the George Washington Bridge." "The entire substructure of Capitalism is built with the intent to kill subalterns and eat their sheep." It seems this is more an election about the electorate than the candidates themselves. I dislike Trump but I cannot see this diaphanous Harris as much of anything. I do know most Democrats seem to me more dangerous as people than most Republican people. In other words I like to spend time with Republicans more than with Democrats. Republicans never tell me they are Republicans, but Democrats never stop telling me to be a Democrat. (I already am; maybe just STFU?... a little??)

Expand full comment

What will accomplish the most good for this country? Personality or actions? Harris can do no better than using joe or Obama's advisors. What do you think of those two administrations?

I've come to believe that military might isn't all it is cracked up to be. although I also believe peace through strength. But real power comes from those who control the economics of the world. If both parties want to advance their agenda, then that can best be accomplished by being the strongest and most stable economy in the world. There doesn't have to be an either/or when you have the economic ability to be both. But that requires dropping agendas and "laser focus", I hate that phrase, and becoming the country that can afford it, at least in a moderated form. But then, as long as 80 years old run control the power, this is a concept they will never understand. What if joe actually used the real science of climate change and quit wasting so much money to virtue signal to his radicals? Ford is cutting back on their, I believe, forced climate change model and many companies are dumping DEI as fast as possible. If we stop focusing on identity politics and focus on what is best for the whole country and for everyone, how much better would it be and the "oppressed" will become an integral part of the successful. Not to mention, the scepter of the ruling elites can be taken from them and we can become truly, by the people and for the people. It seems to be too simple for our two stupid political parties. They are to steeped in the past and can't see past their Pavlovian worldviews.

Expand full comment

Who is the interviewer? It frustrates me that I have no idea who he is. I scoured the post and the transcript to try and identify him. This should be easy to find.

Expand full comment

Michael C. Moynihan

Expand full comment
Aug 24·edited Aug 24

Honestly, I listened to the whole interview of congressman Khana, and then I had to turn it off. I normally enjoy Michael’s work. The complete lack of pushback when he allowed Khana to talk about Democrats being the party of peace was journalistic malpractice! Remind me please who was in charge when Russia invaded Ukraine, when terrorists attacked our ally October 7, 2023, when the Taliban was allowed to subjugate women with billions of dollars of American military equipment. I’m so disappointed in this interview! I’m a subscriber to the FP because I want you to search for the truth and call out the bullshit no matter who is saying it. Do better!

Expand full comment

No I think the excruciating pain of having to listen to these people talk gibberish is actually good for us. I mean sometimes I think it is an exaggeration. But it is not. Every so often you actually have to watch a snake swallow a whole pig to realize what seemed impossible is not. It is however extremely disgusting to endure! Oy Democrats!

Expand full comment

As an Israeli ex‐patriot, the line that caught my ear was from rep. Ro Khana that said: we support Israel, BUT are working for peace. My emphasis is on the BUT. I think this was a Freudian slip that reveals much more. In the progressive perspective the reasons for many of the issues are opposite of the facts.

The BUT suggests the Isreal is the obstacle of peace, while Isreal never attacted it's neighbors and the cardinal issue is the refusal of the Arabs to accept it's existence. I think they are equally wrong about the problems with immigration, racism, and the role of government fiscal stimuli.

Expand full comment

I thought this was about what the people thought being a Democrat meant. How disappointing. I moved on after 12 minutes. Ro gets enough airtime. Throw in purging the Republican party remarks and it's a podcast of hog wash and deception. Why not edit out Mr. Kana? and just publish what was promised. SMH

Expand full comment

I started listening on my drive to work and will finish on my drive home, but I was struck at how the democrats he was interviewing sounded so racist and classist even though they probably wouldn’t have thought of themselves that way. They want the low skilled people to do the low skill work because…they can’t better themselves so they need to do low pay work? Also, the people sounded like well off people, kids going to Ivy League schools etc. The one lady bringing up Vance’s yard is weedy…too many weeds…then goes on to say how it’s democrats that care about others…really? Sounding like a HOA Karen and wants to be the one concerned about others lol. Well, my yard is weedy too bc I don’t use chemicals bc I have dogs and I like chemical free water going into our storm water drains. Plus weeds help feed the local bee population. I care too, but apparently about different things.

Expand full comment

Michael, you are such a joy to listen to! The thought that kept coming to mind during most of the interviews except the lady commenting about the 'hood was "do you all realize she's been in the White House the past 3.5 years?" It's as if Trump were President right now.

Expand full comment

Great job Micheal!

Expand full comment

Pulling the wool over our eyes. Not sure of the origins of that saying but it certainly feels fitting here. I don’t for one moment believe what Harris said about October 7th. Nor that her plans for folksy economic growth driven by non-binary knitting circles will supplant the world’s most successful corporations and keep everybody fed.

That scene in Chicago was what it looked like. Mass hysteria and self-delusion.A vote for Harris is a vote for incompetence, social experimentation and hatred of the Other. Probably the biggest leap in the dark the country has ever taken.

And I don’t like Trump either.

Expand full comment

Great podcast. The interviewer pretty much got out of the way and let people express their opinions. I certainly didn't agree with all of them, but it was certainly illuminating to hear from actual Democrats rather than pundits and analysts telling us what Democrats are and what they believe.

Expand full comment

I wonder if it's true that all the MAGA dissenters had been "purged" from the RNC? Perhaps that unity is simply an effect of actually following a democratic primary process and unifying behind an obviously flawed but known quantity to defeat a party (not a candidate — those are clearly interchangable) that does hews ro none of those norms.

Expand full comment

JD Vance has not said legal migration should be reduced. That is a lie.

Expand full comment