Comments on Matt Taibbi and Walter Kirn, America This Week Podcast
My favorite podcast, but I always have comments
I am trying something different, posting my comments on the weekly America This Week with Matt Taibbi and Walter Kirn podcast here. I love it every week, but I tend to save it and savor it for relaxed listening, so I listened Saturday. It is the best and most thoughtful podcast I watch/listen to. It is worth the Substack fee, the best value in town. Here is a link to Friday’s episode, the free version. The paid version is around two hours long.
Note that the comments section on Racket News is really good, but I thought I would post my more fleshed out comments here because I don’t want to overwhelm the comments section with long posts. You don’t have to listen to the podcast to get my comments. But if you subscribe to Racket News, you get the full America This Week podcast and the great comments section you may participate in. Plus, you get Matt Taibbi’s wonderful journalism.
Some thoughts on this week’s podcast:
Walter quoting Wikipedia. Wikipedia is not reliable, especially for anyone not approved by the Democrat establishment. It is even inaccurate in some areas of ancient history that I am well versed in. It is totally inaccurate regarding anything to do with modern times and people. So, of course Google pushes Wikipedia all the time, LOL. Walter did acknowledge that the information may or may not be true. I would also add that it is really hard to find accurate information on people who do not adhere to the Democrat Party line on Google and DuckDuckGo search. I am switching to Brave search and browser. But, I do like to do comparison searches every once in a while and things are getting worse every time I do it.
On no mention of Vivek Ramaswamy being a Hindu by the media, which would be an historic American first, being Hindu, black, etc. never “counts” except for Democrats. See Herman Cain for reference. And being Hindu didn’t mean a damn thing for Tulsi Gabbard. Fun fact, I met her in Iraq in 2004-2005 when she was a Specialist because I was treated by her medical unit that was deployed the same time my unit was. I remember her because she was beautiful. Yeah, I am probably a jerk for that.
A major reason the campaign isn't being covered is that the mainstream media wants only Biden to be discussed as a presidential candidate. Trump as criminal is designed to reinforce the Biden is great theme. There is going to be very little coverage other than to beat down Trump. Which is one reason I will be voting for Trump. I also remember how much gas and groceries were before Biden, not to mention no new wars. I am one of the Bernie people who switched to Trump.
Bernie got the media hate all the way until he endorsed Hillary/Biden in both 2016 and 2020. My catchphrase in 2016 was that NPR was the “All Hillary All the Time Station.” Bernie got more coverage when he endorsed Biden than his entire campaign. I haven't listened to NPR in years. But, I didn’t realize Bernie was controlled opposition until he folded like an accordion in 2020.
The base of Americans wants someone who is not establishment. Only the establishment (of both sides) wants establishment. So, we have Trump, RFK Jr, and Cornell West. DeSantis is firmly a neoliberal war monger, as is Biden. I don't want either of them anywhere near the presidency. I also sure as hell don't want Newsom. And entirely too much time was spent on West versus other Democrat and Republican candidates who weren’t mentioned at all.
Biden didn't campaign because of the elephant in the room. Democrat fraud. Biden didn’t have to campaign. He wasn’t capable of it even back then. It didn't matter what he did, Trump was losing in 2020. Democrats were horrified they were so confident in 2016 that they didn't get the fraud machine in place. They did big time in 2020. Big Democrat cities in otherwise red states. There is so much evidence now for fraud, but it was evident election night. Trump was ahead around midnight and I was waiting for the election to be called at any time. Then, counting stopped in key states. Somewhere around 3 AM, they had “found” tens of thousands of ballots and, surprise, surprise, they were almost all Biden votes. Yet, we are told over and over that there is nothing to see here. I would like to see Matt do a Twitter Files on how election fraud coverage was censored. If there is such a Twitter File, I missed it. The Twitter Files is the most important journalism that has happened in years.
My biggest confusion with the podcast was the assertion that only West was an anti-war. Trump is an anti-war candidate, so is RFK Jr. That is as much as it gets in our war loving country. Anti-Trumpers say that Trump being the first president since Carter to not start a new war is a “nothing burger.” Nothing burger is such a cute phrase, yet today, when I see people calling something a “nothing burger,” I immediately know it has to be important. Same with the phrase, “cherry picked.” And, we have found that the phrase “conspiracy theory” actually means something true that the establishment doesn't want you to believe. Bottom line is there are three anti-war candidates and none are named Joe Biden. As a veteran of two establishment wars, I know what no new wars actually means. And Trump was the first president since Carter to do that. Note that I voted for Carter twice and was in the US Army on active duty back then.
Trump has talked about issues like inflation, Ukraine, etc, so has RFK Jr. It is one reason I like RFK Jr, because he actually talks about the working stiff. But no one is reporting on Trump or RFK's talking about the economy or other issues. They are only reporting on how great Biden is. All Biden does is lie about the economy.
Cornell West is way too intellectual, unfortunately. Bernie appealed to the masses in a way West simply never has and probably never will. I like him, but I won't vote for him. I do think West hurts Biden, though, way more than he will hurt Trump. I like that. LOL. That said, I am thinking about voting in the Democrat primary (we can vote in either, but only one) to cast a vote for RFK Jr). But, DeSantis has put a ton of money into my state (SC) (because we are an early bellwether state) and it depends on if I think Trump needs my vote.
Matt needs to get out of his bubble like Walter has. I don't think Matt really sees those campers on side streets like Walter does. He tends to approach these topics more abstractly. And, Matt can afford his mortgage and groceries. So can Walter, but he sees the despair. I don't think Matt fully gets the abject despair of many of us, including me. Poor people don't get coffee at Starbucks. LOL.
No mention of Marianne Williamson and many Republican candidates were also left out, like Nikki Haley. Haley has a better chance than Christie. Way too much time was spent on Cornell West.
Great episode, as usual. The highlight of my week. The short story segment was great, as always, Flowers for Algeron.