The New 95 Theses for Democratic Reformation!
The Ninety-Five Theses by Wendy Lee
Written periodically between 11/12/24 and 12/18/24
Grand Rapids, Michigan
The Ninety-Five Theses for Democratic Reformation
The Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences
Posted: December 21, 2024
On the Eve of National Mathematics Day
Forwarded to colleagues for debate on December 22, 2024
Out of love and zeal for truth and the desire to bring it to light, the following theses will be published in hopes of creating constructive civil discourse. It contains merely the suggestions of a young person searching for answers in this post-election uncertainty. It was written over a five-week period, by fits and starts, in break rooms and libraries and mass transit seats. The treatise is intentional in its attitude and earnest in its attempts at humor. But, nevertheless, rigorous and serious in its reflections. Nobody should agree with everything below.
The Opposite of a fact is a falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth.
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1: This is a time for reflection.
2: Doubling down, blaming the loss on global trends, racism, sexism, and blanketed “hate” is the easy way out. A defeatist mentality. And it all but assures future losses and more suffering. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing expecting different results. In many ways, this is an intervention.
3: Don’t blame the loss on global trends, however, don’t ignore them either. Democracy doesn’t die in darkness it dies in the 21st century, in front of our eyes, greeted by both applause and jeers. Democracy is dying. It’s been dying. That’s a fact. I’m not ready to give up on it, not yet. I love this country too much. This will be an exercise in embracing certain things that are simply out of our control, minds we simply can’t change, and still find the bravery and courage to fight for it, for Democracy. The clarity to distinguish the two will require keen and objective thinking, and compromise after intense internal discourse. You know, Democracy.
4: We don’t know what exactly is going to happen when Donald Trump takes over. We have clues and he’s rather predictable but unfortunately we cannot predict the future itself. The news media will be cynical and push fear. Focusing on our side of the street, what we can do, seems healthier.
5: Stop begging for money. Please, for the love of God, stop begging for money. Working class folks pitched in the little they had, me included. When you raise a billion dollars don’t text working class donors 4 times the week of the election asking for more. It comes off at best annoying and at worst insulting. I am an aspiring novelist in 2024 (not rich). When I give 25 dollars and you go 0 for 7 in the swing states, don’t ask me for MORE money. For what, a bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild to wash down the L? Please, refer back to thesis 1 (with a bottle of Josh Cabernet.)
6: The Historic Gender Gap That Wasn’t… 45% of all women voted for Trump. A key reason being some felt put off with democrats reducing them to a single issue. Abortion, abortion, abortion. If you were a woman, and abortion wasn’t your number one issue, you were side-eyed. Considered to be of inferior intellect. But women contain multitudes. They can be pro-gun and pro-immigration. They can dislike the repealing of Roe and be bothered by other issues all the same. Don’t reduce them to a single issue, women care, and have the right to care, about so many more issues than abortion. That’s totally legitimate. Women are allowed to support trans rights and hate identity politics. They can be pro-life atheists. Radical environmentalists. Prison abolitionists. Religious fanatics. Anti-Globalists. They can be insufferable brainwashed Q-adjacent Karens, just as they can be misinformed Queers for Palestine students. Women can be happy homemakers or WNBA superstars depending on them. They can read smut and love foreign films. Women have money in the stock market, in real estate, they care about the economy. They can think biological men don’t belong in women’s sports without being bigots. They’re allowed to think Joe Biden doesn’t perform the act of the presidency well enough to educate their children. In short, women can think for themselves… Approach them accordingly (and without Liz Cheney next to you.)
7: Take a fearless and honest assessment of our own force of ideology. How much of this list is already thoroughly understood but ignored by the sheer force of intolerant ideology? How brainwashed are we?
8: If your first reaction to the previous thesis was, “Well what about MAGA!?!” This treatise is especially for you.
9: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Self-Reliance, Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841.
10: Don’t chide people in non-border states for caring about border security. Between 60k-100k people will die of fentanyl again this year. Countless others, many innocent, murdered on behalf of the operation. Until that changes, we all should care.
11: EAT THE RICH! (The best we can!) Then, now, always. It’s what brought us together. Now, we're losing economic populism contests to Elon Musk and Donald Trump. I’d elaborate (I won’t be able to help it later) but I'm afraid that would take away from the impact of that sentence. I’ll say it again for those in the back. We lost a contest of economic populism to Elon Musk and Donald Trump. This election will likely make Musk the first trillionaire in history. You don’t need to be a Socialist to think that’s insane and undemocratic and anti-American. Kamala Harris wouldn’t even say Elon Musk's name never mind take him to task on the second biggest lie of the decade (see thesis 54).
12: “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little… Inaugural Address, Franklin D. Roosevelt, January 20, 1937.
13: This is about us. This is about cleaning up our side of the street so we can ensure future success. Some tough subjects need to be discussed, some ideas need to change. These are the thoughts of Wendy Lee, as best she can, in service of the country she loves more than anything. Without further ado… (I’m going to use the idiom ‘walk and chew gum’ a lot. My grandpa always used it as a stand-in for objectivity/nuance and it’s good plainspeak jargon.)
14: BRAG! A booming labor sector, a growing stock market, low gas prices, curbed inflation, etc., and nobody knew it. Or, even worse, nobody wanted to acknowledge it as fact when voting on their future. Instead of stating these facts in plainspeak, you know, like a human, we talked about an “Equal Opportunity Economy” that went over people’s heads. Economic trends are inherently complex and take time to play out, especially after a global shutdown. Nobody explained that in a way that reassured Americans. Marty Walsh was bad in 2021 and it only got worse. If this was a Trump economy, during his presidency, he would be screaming everyday about it being the “GREATEST ECONOMY IN THE HISTORY OF ECONOMIES.” If this economy was his economy, and he was the incumbent, he would’ve won. Democrats whisper their accomplishments, too modest, too classy, too elegant to boast? We let the right-wing media brand our success as failure. We can, ironically, take a page from Trump on this…
15: We are the Anti-War party, right? Remember? While John F Harris of Politico acknowledges Biden carried out, “the programmatic portion of the presidency — presiding over far-reaching legislation and aggressively using the policymaking tools of the executive branch — as effectively as any president in recent decades. He is also rightly states, “On the performative dimension of the presidency — using words to inspire his supporters, box in his enemies, to reframe debates — he has been arguably the weakest Oval Office occupant in more than a century, back to the days before television or even radio, when most Americans might read about a presidential speech but had never heard the president’s voice.” This was the downfall of many things, but most of all, it let down our children. College kids were rightfully upset by BiBi’s incessant bombardment of a defenseless people, regardless of how it started. They were right to ask questions about our blind and long-standing ties to Israel. These questions needed to be answered, clarified and explained. POTUS and co. did nothing but ignore them. They called the students reductive in their thinking before pointing again to the Orange man. It wasn’t enough. Both global conflicts, Ukraine and Gaza, are complex with history dating back forever. There was no leadership, no education on this. Good faith kids were yearning for guidance, for the truth, and it was left blowing in the wind. If we want to get back to being the party of Eugene McCarthy, RFK, Barbara Lee, Thomas Hayden, Eugene V Debs, then we need to start speaking, loud and candidly, about the conflicts at hand and the reasons they exist. There is no better place than the Oval Office to wage a national argument, to shape its image. Biden failed on that. Democrats are proudly the party of education, rightfully so. Yet, from the pulpit of all pulpits…geriatric paid programming…radio silence.
16: The campaign advisor who thought it was a good idea to parade Liz Cheney out in Detroit, Michigan needs to be sentenced to three years hard time. I was going to include this in the long-winded thesis above but it was already long-winded and it deserved special recognition anyhow.
17: Understanding Fascism LOLZ a.k.a our new brand of government. Donald Trump is indeed a fascist. Calling him one when he calls political opponent’s vermin is appropriate. But, he’s not exactly a fascist. It’s a new brand of authoritarianism I can only describe as Fascist Lolz. It’s fascism, but not exactly. Yes, the playbook is there (demonizing the media, blaming those for that which you are guilty of, the anti-intellectualism, the manipulation of religion, the cult of personality, the xenophobia, centralizing power *see Thesis Project 2025*, calling Americans you wish to lead enemies from within). But it now comes with a TikTok twist! Bringing us to Fascist Lolz, our new form of government. Understanding this is the key to defeating it. F. LOLZ is when you, Trump, intentionally make a farce out of yourself like your Nicolas Cage in Vampire’s Kiss, letting the meme’s go bananas while you parade yourself through an empty lot in an orange jump suit to match your orange face while driving an 18-wheeler. The disillusioned masses head to the breakroom, check their phone, and laugh hysterically at his antics. They render their conclusion. “Look at this guy! How can a guy so orange, so affable, so hapless, so unserious, possibly be the danger to democracy Dems say he is. Look at his McDonald’s costume. His cheeks! Lolz. It’s so funny.” Many apolitical people voted for Trump because he’s funnier, he produces better memes for the cynical working class on their lunch break. They don’t care if he floats terminating the Constitution or calls Americans enemies because all that resonates with them is the funny McDonald’s costume and a wisecrack. Understanding this, even if it seems unsubstantial and remissive, is important in winning back those disillusioned men and women (of all creeds and colors). Trust Wendy Lee. I see it everyday. I’ll say, but co-worker Shane, “he’s a fascist.” And the response will be, literally, “Yeah, but it’s soo LOLZ.”
18: With LOLZ also comes the erosion of democratic norms (unprecedented interventions and sanctions under the guise of “America First” and protecting free speech will come swiftly), increased surveillance and control (also under the guise of protecting the first amendment), manipulation of information (unprecedented disinformation and propaganda on X), cultural homogenization (unprecedented jingoistic displays), and the suppression of dissent (unprecedented). His intention is to make such a farce out of himself (LOLZ) we forget this is intentional. While fighting him in the court of public opinion, to a certain extent, is important, let’s keep our eye on the fine print and not get caught up in the spectacle he creates and thrives in.
19: A rogue state is a country that defies international norms, pursues aggressive and extremist policies and sponsors terrorism. While we still, by the definition of F. LOLZ, are more ‘soft fascist’ than ‘Nazi fascist’, we might be a soft rogue state LOLZ hybrid in a similar way. Rogue states keep terrorism at a distance but manipulate them from that distance. “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.” being a soft American example of the terrorism part. The rest of the definition hits on the nose. Understanding this and just how much has already fundamentally changed, with a lot still holding, is essential to maintaining objectivity in quality resistance.
20: Donald Trump is an incoherent megalomaniac and some people love him for it and that is simply out of our control. But our indecision, our collective “I'm scared to say the wrong thing so I don’t say anything” hypervigilant messaging lends it an authenticity people wouldn’t otherwise see if we just, to be reductive, went for it. Go on that podcast. Speak from your HEART. We collectively lose so much in indecision.
21: If it even still matters, win back the narrative on the Afghanistan withdrawal. It’s when POTUS’ approval rating slipped and never recovered and it was again because of bad messaging, not policy. Sure, it was messy and done in haste. Americans tragically died. Those men and women are among millions who have sacrificed themselves for the country. But Biden actually did it, something no other president, Obama included, would do, for the exact reasons that came about. Joe didn’t care. He said bring our troops home from a country that has no interest in upholding what we tried to set up. Since the withdrawal, it has broken my heart to see Afghanistan ban women yet again from education, restaurants, etc. But we are not dying for it any longer and that’s okay. The country didn’t want to fight for itself and Joe Biden was the first president who said enough is enough, get our troops home. We have also remained safe from any Taliban orchestrated domestic attacks, something the right claimed was all but certain at the time of withdrawal.
22: "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." - Ike’s farewell address, January 17, 1951
23: When Gretchen Whitmer speaks, listen. The day after the election, everybody had a finger to point. Gretchen instead reached out on Instagram, giving out her direct phone number, asking voters what happened. I live in Michigan. That kind of good faith governance is why there are a plethora of people who love Gretchen and voted for Trump. I can’t explain all of that, but they exist, and we’d be wise to listen to all Gretch has to say going forward.
24: The rule of taking offense. From this day forward, you cannot be more offended, or offended on behalf of the group you think was insulted, if that said group are themselves not offended. E.g. If there is an off-color joke made about Asian’s, and the only people who show up to the protest are white women, the situation is a non-issue.
25: Stop telling men they are the problem. Young men haven’t been drawn to Trump as much as they have been driven to him. The 2024 Democratic party's official platform listed 16 ethnic/diversity groups they represent on their website. Certain men were left off. Which left around 76% of the American populus included. This can be seen as inclusive to 3/4ths of the country, or discriminatory towards 25%. Society needs healthy young men. Don’t blame them for being uneducated idiots when you didn’t even try talking to them. And if a man does bring up these concerns, don’t look at him at once like he’s Tucker Carlson or some kind of replacement theorist. Walk and chew gum. "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena." - Theodore Roosevelt, 1910. Let’s invite them back to the arena. Let’s take what Scott Galloway has to say seriously, except when he makes predictions about the future of X. And when he vilifies porn like it’s heroin. He’s a little over the top and cringey but I think he means well. A good wank in a blue, I’m sure, does the body good. Moderation. Walk and chew gum boys.
26: The Proliferation of the 3-Point shot is out of control and ruining the NBA. There are actually going to be teams that finish the season with more than 50% of their shots coming from beyond the arc. I don’t think that’s good basketball. I don’t think that’s watchable. I do— wait, what’s that? Oh, sorry… wrong assignment.
27: Crime and Drugs Still = Bad. We are rolling back laws e.g. Portland, laws the common sense voter knew had no chance, with egg on our face. We’ve done little to condemn criminal smash and grab organizations. We aren’t taken seriously in our fight against opioids with the border in its current state. And in the area’s crime has been well-managed, the messaging has not been braggadocious enough to land with today's American voter. Not amongst the fearmongering, the conspiracy caterwauling. It’s loud in there.
28: We too riot (and we shouldn’t again with the exception of a coup). While there is a false equivalency comparing the BLM riots of 2020 with the systematic attack Trump waged on democracy that culminated on January 6th, (BLM protestors were not given instructions from a sitting president) the worst parts of summer 2020 (police officers shot dead in their car in St. Louis) are associated with “the left.” We did no favors in not distancing ourselves from, to quote an aging president, the malarkey. We can walk and chew gum on this. We can condemn police brutality and condemn citizens who destroy the small business of a first generation American. “Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.” - Martin Luther King Jr. Exception: If Trump abolishes the 2-term limit and cancels the 2028 election, we find guidance in different MLK quote. “Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest.”
29: The ACLU needs to wake up. Lately, they have been flimsy in adhering to all core values, veering too often into the subjective. Putting forth battle pledges before he’s sworn in, despite the past legal battles (which were erratically handled) is further proof of this. I understand. We all know it’s coming. But we need a sharp and robust ACLU running night and day on its original mission statement to survive. Anthony D. Romero needs to buy his staff, himself included, copies of these three books for guidance. "Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion" by Edward J. Larson, Defending My Enemy: American Nazis, the Skokie Case, and the Risks of Freedom" by Aryeh Neier, and Mailer’s the Executioner’s Song.
30: The Obama coalition is dead. Throw out the playbook.
31: A plea to Obama: You aren’t Kamala Harris. You’re not some ivy league strategist. Not Tim Walz or Gavin Newsome or Taylor Swift or Adam Schiff or some Bulwark bore. You are, objectively, (by a longshot) the best POTUS of my lifetime. You pulled us out of the 2008 financial crisis and into prosperity. You signed into law Obamacare. You won re-election. You expanded civil rights. You gave me a country to believe in. So, in a way you are the person to lay the least amount of blame on. But, seeing I expect so much more, genius from you even, I can’t help but ask you what’s up? I was baffled watching you, the greatest campaigner/orator I’ve ever seen, play things so safe, so scared. Acting out antiquated reruns... The Obama coalition/playbook is dead. Can the greatest American political mind of the 21st century find a new angle? Maybe he’s got more documentaries to produce, an Oscar to win…
32: The Double Standard: Call it out! We’ve been put into a box where the “unwoke” crowd gets to call 3.05 gas prices “traumatic” with a F**K Your Feelings shirt on. I don’t how backwards things must’ve gotten for that high ground to be assumed by millions without themselves becoming “woke losers” but it sure did happen. They can’t have it both ways; right now they do. Other double standards are obvious. Kamala couldn’t have a hair out of place while Trump can ramble incoherently as long as it's meme-able, as long as it’s Fascist LOLZ!. While some of that has to do with things out of our control, I still suggest self-reflection on the decisions made that led to that shaping.
33: Nebraska and the tragic irony of the celebrity endorsement. If only we just got one more celebrity out on the campaign trail… Yea no. A little less having Springsteen perform, a little more listening to Nebraska. A little less time with Oprah, a little more time with the writer’s on her booklist. Less time cracking jokes with Dinero, more time watching A Bronx Tale. Matt Damon is cool. Will Hunting is cooler. They themselves losing touch with the work they so empathetically represented is emblematic of a solvable problem.
34: “The Flow State” in positive psychology, known colloquially as being “in the zone,” is the mental state in which a person performing some activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by the complete absorption in what one does, and a resulting transformation in one's sense of time. That said: Regardless of how dangerous, how insane and incoherent Trump gets when he enters this state, he enters this state. He “looks” like he’s having fun because he is having fun. I haven’t seen a (federal) Democratic candidate enter flow state since Obama. He was in it when he replied, “Well Hillary I look forward to you advising me as well,” after she laughed at him in an early primary debate. He was in it when he reminded the GOP he won both of his elections at the State of the Union. He was in it when he told us Bin Laden was dead. Flow state has since escaped our candidates, with some exceptions, but none of those exceptions have been on the national stage. We looked nervous, again. Scared to offend. To make a mistake. Uptight. Uptight. Kamala Harris was so uptight. And Walz tried to add something of a human element, using his midwestern folksy schtick but it didn’t stick and I don’t blame America for that. The 25-year coach actually lost his home county. Sheesh. He started to irritate me 72 hours after he was (foolishly) announced. At least Hillary told us to Pokémon-Go-to-the-polls. That was close…
35: Oppose Trump on the obvious, which will be a lot, but on things like immigration, entitlements, and federal spending, work with him. Or at least listen.
36: “White Americans, what? Nothing better to do, why don’t you kick yourself out? You’re an immigrant too. Who’s using who? What should we do? Well, you can’t be a pimp and a prostitute too.” Icky Thump, The White Stripes, 2007
37: Men don’t play in women’s sports, vice versa. In 3000 BCE Mesopotamia, the Sumerians figured this out when competing in honor of their gods. The Greeks came to this common sense conclusion in 776 BCE for the first Olympic Games. It’s AD 2024 and a large faction has somehow regressed on this issue.
38: Bigots with a gluttony for attention need to be opposed vehemently at every turn. We have to do this carefully, without losing high ground by pointing and shouting. Nancy Mace is a good example right now, although there are plenty of examples to draw from, Ms. Mace is a special type of hypocrite. Not all Nancy’s are equal. Ms. Mace doesn't, at first, appear transparently unhinged the way MTG does. She’s well-dressed, usually cordial, has appeared on Bill Maher, and has in the past refrained from entering the culture wars. In 2021, when it was cool to do so, Nancy Mace said verbatim, “I strongly support LGBTQ rights and equality.” This isn’t fascism lolz as much as it’s literal lolz as now she’s solely obsessed with making sure Sarah McBride, a duly elected member of congress, who campaigned as her true self and was elected as her true self can’t use her bathroom. While our messaging around trans issues needs refinement, this is black and white. Hatred is in and Nancy Mace doesn’t have any shame in capitalizing on it. There are simply no issues of foul play surrounding this topic documented anywhere. Yet, Nancy Mace is silent on Matt Gaetz, all the while claiming to champion women around a contrived issue to play on the worst of people’s impulses. I call that a fraud at best and a thug at worst. Trans people are real. Sara McBride and the community at large deserve equal civil protections. We are the party of that.
Thesis Project 2025: Take it from me, an unpublished novelist, Americans don’t read much anymore. And while that doesn’t stop my commitment to storytelling, to exploring life through language, telling Americans to read anything won’t get you far. It’s hard to sit alone in a quiet room and give yourself to something like a book. Read Project 2025 was the line. It was the post on Instagram. READ PROJECT 2025. I did. The “playbook” is nearly 1,000 pages. It has the same amount of words as Infinite Jest and it's far less entertaining, although it’s just as scary as something like 2666. There was NO messaging on just how unamerican the set of plans really is. Sure it was mentioned, but American’s still, as of now, have no idea what it really is! How can that be?!?!?! Because it wasn’t clearly articulated. Here’s a few very actionable proposals American’s remain woefully in the dark on (some of which is on them). 1. Eliminate the Head Start program for young children in poverty. 2. Dismantle federal funding that protects disabled children’s right to an education. 3. Puts crosses in public classrooms. 4. Rescinds civil rights protections for EVERYBODY. Some of this would need a very sympathetic congress (which he has), others, like rolling back Title IX, he could do unilaterally. Did I mention the destruction of the department of Education?
40: "...as the government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion…” George Washington, Exc. Treaty of Tripoli, 1796
41: Make America Healthy Again (yeah, I said it). We fumbled this cabbage so hard it’s now in the hands of a former Democrat who believes in the following: That vaccines, especially the ones including thimerosal, give children autism. This is a lie. He believes 5G technology is linked to cancer. This is a lie. He’s super buff. This is true. He believes fluoride in water can make kids stupid. The NHI says, at extremely high volumes, this could be true. He believes wind and solar projects do more harm to the environment than good. This is a lie. He had an affair with a New Yorker reporter named Olivia Nuzzi this summer. Olvia Nuzzi and I went to the same high school and graduated the same year. Actually true. He is an HIV denialist. This is true. If we weren’t so sensitive, if we didn’t pander to the worst of us, chances are this crank who bragged about housing a worm in his brain and wants to bring back Polio like it’s a fashion trend never sees the DHHS. If we were able to walk the line (walk and chew gum) between body positivity, acceptance, and glorification, a quack wouldn’t be America’s top health specialist. We made Weight Watchers change their name to WW. We lost all sense of the notion that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but being overweight is scientifically unhealthy. The folks with the “Science is Real” signs seem to ironically struggle with this. Advocating for health isn’t or xenophobic or sexist or racist, it’s not undermining anyone, it’s the right thing to do. We lost this basic, basic, Michelle Obama in the garden, human principle. If RFK Jr. focuses on getting our youth back in shape and not on conspiratorial nonsense, some good could come of it. Make kids run the mile. Do pull ups. Bring back a little fat shaming? (Gosh, Eisenhower, founded the DHHS. This appointment cuts deep.)
42: “There is nothing more unfortunate, I think, more unfortunate than having soft, chubby, fat-looking children who go to watch their school play basketball TikTok reels, every recess, and regard that as their week’s exercise. I hope that all of you will join in making sure that our children participate fully in a vigorous and adventurous life which is possible for them in this very rich country of ours.” - John F. Kennedy, 35th POTUS, 4/9/62
43: The View needs to be canceled. Is that misogynistic? The worldview expressed on that show, daily, through the airwaves of a major network is a real cancer to democracy. They are not all equal offenders; however, the show has become the epitome of the ‘elitist out of touch liberal’ who obsesses over nothing but plastic surgery and identity politics. It’s against my Jeffersonian principles to call for the cancellation of a show, however, the personalities are so embedded into the minds of Americans there can be no rebrand. It must be canceled, ironically, for the sake of free speech. (The role the rest of the media played will be included in another thesis).
44: Americans love lore, use it. Small pockets of the left this decade seemed hellbent on dismantling the legacy of those who built the framework for the greatest country on earth. While that small group of idiots who don’t understand historical context (and have no interest in understanding it), aren’t loud enough to get their own thesis, it is evidence of a greater problem. The geniuses who got us here, all liberal for their time, have been at best not defended and at worst pushed away. I hate projecting what dead people I haven’t met would think of people today I haven’t met, but on two accounts, I’m all but certain. One is that the founding fathers, especially Jefferson, would absolutely hate Donald Trump. Project 2025 is Jefferson’s worst nightmare. But you can’t reference the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, an American principle we ALL used to cherish, if you don’t defend them when they are attacked by the radical left. And the other, lastly, although touchy and maybe ill-suited for a line of attack, is that JFK and his brother would be positively ashamed of RFK Jr.
45: While most overt displays of jingoistic patriotism make me nauseous, I don’t like how we let the right completely dominate all forms of patriotism on an aesthetic level. Bogarting the American flag. Hugging it like a support animal. Like the act itself is what defines patriotism. Trump called for the termination of the Constitution. Trump waged war on the American voter. Trump is leading the party of unamerican ideas. He warped the meaning of the flag and the flag people voted for him. Take it back. Just a little bit.
46: More HYPERBOLE! “That American Rescue Plan act of 2021 was straight heat. Can you imagine the GOP got their way and had unemployment benefits canceled? Child tax canceled? Thank God for us.” “Oh gtfo! Getting out of Afghanistan was never going to be clean. But I had the gumption to actually do it despite knowing it would hurt me politically. I brought our men and women home. How many Americans died in Afghanistan yesterday? That’s right 0. What about a year from yesterday? Correct again, 0. Because I'm that dude. The spirit child of Nelson Mandela and Bertha von Suttner. I got our troops out of a country we didn’t need to be in and we remain safe.” “The GOP is coming for your pacemakers, your birth control, your psychiatric drugs (RFK Jr.), your hip replacements, your alcohol on football Sunday.” “The GOP believes old people are worthless, just look at their Medicare statements. “They got no respect for this here thing of ours.” “Our inflation reduction act actually got Medicare to negotiate drug prices on behalf of folks, capping the out-of-pocket cost. That’s the single greatest policy passed in THE HISTORY OF HEALTHCARE.” “Carmine always said, the GOP are nothing but a glorified crew.” God that felt good. Try it.
47: Hollywood’s consistent misunderstanding of action-comedy. It’s a classic genre hybrid but it needs to deliver on both fronts: the adrenaline rush of action and laughs to get the label. (Beverly Hills Cop, Tropic Thunder, The Other Guys, even the Guardians of the Galaxy) So many films lately think that simply being unserious is the same as being funny. It’s not. Slapping a veneer of irony on top of explosions doesn’t create comedy—it just makes the action seem weightless, as if the film isn’t even sure what it’s trying to be. To be an action comedy, you need to at least attempt telling real jokes or else it doesn’t count. The Fall Guy was a recent one that fell victim to this misunderstanding. Others are — Damn, wrong theses project again…
48: Every House Has a Hunter. Some people, Hunter Biden, my neighbor, me, have had a little too much fun too many times. That’s not okay, but it is a disease worth curing. And when it is cured it should be celebrated. The line from POTUS should’ve always been “I’ll let the law play out, but again, this is my son we’re talking about. Hunter has a disease and he’s better and he’s my son. I’m making no guarantees.” Instead, the democrats did what they do, so scared to say the wrong thing they ended up saying nothing at all, reaching nobody. Every house has a Hunter. The above message would’ve resonated as deeply human with the working class, with every class and it was squandered. Family matters. People like people who think family matters. Hunter is not an anomaly. His story, besides the money, is a very common story in today’s America. And if any addict had the money and access Hunter did, the result would’ve been the same if not worse. Just ask them. Joe should, before he leaves office, do the right thing and pardon his son. He might not. He made it really hard for himself by not taking the offensive on the issue. The president-elect is literally a felon. The first AG nom is a pedophile. Trump pardoned his father-in-law and appointed him Ambassador to France. Who cares anymore? After you pardon the Turkey, PARDON YOUR SON and don’t bother explaining yourself. Don’t dress it up. “He’s my son. He was sick and made amends. This is family business.” America eats that stuff up.
49: Pardon Donald J. Trump. Now that we understand Fascist LOLZ as the new form of government, let’s try our hand at playing. This would be the ultimate power move, a disarming troll job that would baffle Trump into inaction. He would be so confused, so caught off guard, maybe the public would even get a moment of quiet to rethink the man they just elected. Make a point to emphasize the felonies with a straight face, while we all know it’s coming with a wink. Trump from the day one DNC 2016 playbook, has seen the same pitch. Straight fastballs. 4-seamers with no arm side run. This is the perfect time to mess with his timing, to drop over a curveball for a strike. Pardoning him would be the ultimate form of troll induced public humiliation at a time he’s riding high.
50: Pause. Take a deep breath and remember this is a time for reflection.
51: Don’t chide voters who don’t prioritize the environment. They are not inherently bad, ignorant, or evil. Firstly, in this world, when all you see is corporations continuing to do as they please, it’s very hard to take the issue seriously. The corporations will always get away with murder. The whole thing is a total farce on nearly every level. From the leftist carbon dating grifters to the democratic politicians who still take in massive fossil fuel donations and claim to be green, to the celebrities flying private while doing the same. It’s a total joke. Gen Z is just as bad as the boomers, acting like they care while letting Kylie Jenner shape their consumption habits. They pretend, they live in denial, telling themselves they are a bunch of Greta’s when they are, in fact, a bunch of Kylie’s (they just don’t have the money for mink PJs on Pjs). Writing it off, the climate, as a lost cause is sometimes the only way to sleep at night. Because it will kill us. Which is a tricky thing that plays on classicism. It’s very hard to worry about sea levels when you can't afford a can of tuna fish. Getting through the day is too important to vote on something like climate initiatives. When you’re mentally uncentered having a panic attack on the way to work in the icy midwestern morning and see you can’t afford gas never mind breakfast, then remember after work (if you make it to work), you have to meet your child’s principal at four because of an ‘incident’ and what’s for dinner? It’s tough to think about your carbon footprint. It’s not that that person thinks carbon footprint isn’t important or even essential, it’s just that there’s a luxury with having it at the top of your list of things to care about. Just recycle, don’t shower forever, and turn the lights off when you leave the room.
52: Re-read (or read for the first time) the following letters. Profiles in Courage by JFK (especially the chapter on Lucuis Lamar and his message of coming together), The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck (black, white, gay, straight, we are all still Tom Joad). The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead (no modern-day letter shows the resiliency of young men, the importance of educating and empowering them better). A Theory of Justice by John Rawls (He muses “If you want to conceive a fair society, put on a veil of ignorance. He’s asking you to consider how you’d arrange this perfect society if you were unaware of your position e.g. your race, class, religion. Ponder that.) The Road by Cormac McCarthy (Because we need to dig deep and make sacrifices to save our kids.) Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance (Because it can’t hurt. If it’s frustrating, good.) The Plot Against America by Philip Roth (Because, as Thom Yorke would sing THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING.) Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (Because gender ambiguity/dysmorphia is fucking hard. It’s not a fad. It’s not ‘cool’, although it’s not uncool either: it simply is. And it requires a deep empathetic understanding). Where the Birds Play by Wendy Lee (Because it’s blue collar af, equal parts thrilling and tragic and has something to say about America. And it’s entertaining as hell.) Girl, Woman, Other" by Bernardine Evaristo (because women are too complex to be reduced to one issue voters).
53: Universities need to do better. I’m going to speak more generally here, with less conviction, than any other time in this treatise. I barely graduated high school. I don’t know where higher education went wrong exactly. I wasn’t there. But I know what I see. I see a society that’s lost faith in higher learning. I’ve heard some of the most uneducated and ignorant takes from the students enrolled in our most prestigious universities. I am concerned we are focusing more on ideology than critical thinking. That we aren’t pursuing knowledge by any means necessary but up to the point where it becomes a controversial subject. Presidents have stepped down. Professors have caved to the twitter finger fascists. They have taken DEI, something that was initially a good thing, and somehow turned it into an illiberal endeavor. Maybe I'll go back to school so I can be more thorough in my suggestions for repair.
54: Susan Collins is the worst (with the possible exception of Chris Sununu). Oh Susan! Here we are again, right now as I type this you are having “moral concerns” over the Pete Hegseth nomination and took to the microphone to brag about how long your meeting with Pete was! You’re such a hero! Boasting yet again you are the republican that still does her due diligence when it comes to the nominating process, the oh so most moral GOP Senator. Except Susan I'm kidding and you’re actually the worst. Just like with Kavanaugh, you again can’t help yourself. “Look at me, look at me,” you say with a face that fakes ethical struggle, “I really have to search high and low before this vote.” We know you’re going to vote to confirm Susan, you always do. My sister in Christ, who do you still think you’re fooling? Chris Sununu is another one who thinks because of certain past statements indirectly shading Trump he’s better than MTG but really he’s worse. Don’t let his red cheeks and affability fool you. He laughed at the notion, out loud, on television, multiple times, at the prospect of Trump being the 2024 nominee. Gov Sununu laughed at the prospect of a Trump nomination through a primary process dominated by a Trump who didn’t even participate. Chris, my brother in Christ, what world and what party do you think you operate within? Where have you been my guy? MTG and You both live in a fairy world but at least she is who she is about it. You’re inauthentic and as Democrats are (hopefully) starting to learn that's a mortal political sin. Then, like a good little trooper boy, he towed the line nicely and became yet another “practical voice” for Trump., constantly stating his case on the talk shows, loving the sound of his own voice. These people, Collins and Chris, are menaces. I don’t think this is a thesis but don’t let them fool you, please. They’re every bit the same as the transparent ones.
55: The Bromance will end and we need to be prepared to capitalize on the chaos. The USA is all in on Elon Musk. Apart from MLK Jr, he is the most powerful private citizen in our country’s history. The first amendment, the truth, the fate of the stock market, all now rests on his shoulders. That would give anyone a big ego. Stephen Miller, that fascist little snake I'm still unconvinced is human, is the only man (I think) from the first administration to still be in good graces with the second. And the only reason for that is because he’s not ‘soft fascist’ but ‘actual fascist.’ An objective white supremacist. There is no line he won’t cross and Trump enables this or else he too would be gone. Campaigns are a bit like the lavender haze, the honeymoon phase among the like-minded. In 12-16 months, and certainly by the midterms, the egos will clash and Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s bromance will come to an end. Likely, in swift and dramatic fashion. When that inevitable day comes the stock market will crash and all hell will break loose. Other terrible things will happen that folks smarter than me can figure out. A battle plan for that day, on messaging, on policy, needs to be drawn up before Trump Truths: ‘ELON MUSK IS AN AFRICAN BORN ANTI AMERICAN FRAUD WHO I HAVE ONLY MET BECAUSE HE WOULDNT STOP BEGGING TO SEE ME’ sometime in the near future. Chaos is a ladder and we know this day is coming.
56: “For Twitter to deserve public trust, it must be politically neutral, which essentially means upsetting the far left and the far right equally.” - Elon Musk via tweet @ 1:38 PM April 27, 2022. 923 days before the election. Not once was Elon or Trump asked and confronted about this. Not by liberals, pundits, journalists, lawmakers, the podcasters, those free speech absolutionists, the great Lawrence O’Donnell…NOBODY. The guy who bought it for the sake of protecting free speech wasn’t asked about the century's second biggest lie. Not once. 0%.
57: I don’t even know where to start with MSNBC (and a few sorry podcasts I'd be embarrassed to mention). The channel’s post-election coverage has saddened me so deeply that constructively critiquing it is a near impossibility. I can’t watch long enough to give them the fair shake they don’t deserve. They are doubling down on the crazy that got us here as I type this, still woefully unable to grasp the cause and effect. Watching Jack die in Titanic isn’t as downright depressing. MSNBC continues to contradict so much of what is included in this love-led treatise. I care and love America so deeply (if anything comes from this, I hope that part is evident. I care). But I can’t care enough to tear MSNBC apart limb from limb. I can’t, I’ll get committed. I could write a book the size of 2666. But I just can’t. I can’t go into Lawrence O’Donnell leading his July 28, 2024 segment, the first after THE Debate, by telling me. “The very first thing you need to know, about what we all saw last night, is that most voters didn’t see it.” Again, I can’t. I can’t talk about Joy Reid’s election night ramblings, especially her astute offering that she couldn’t believe Harris performed so poorly because, “Kamala had the endorsement of Queen Latifa.” Oh, Rachel. Oh, Mika and Joe. CNN believe it or not, didn’t do a terrible job this cycle at reporting news and diversifying opinion. I’d offer a deeper analysis, but I haven’t been able to put the channel on since election night. Every time I do, I walk around for the next 72 hours like Kirsten Dunst in Melancholia. I just can’t anymore…
58: MSNBC, or even better, the DNC, should seriously consider hiring Wendy Lee as a strategist/consultant going forward. W.L is all-American, speaks softly and carries a big stick. Wendy would preside over the restoration of democratic sanity, abruptly mitigating a future plagued with more losses. Something she is trying to do for the sake of the USA anyway!
59: Oh, back to speaking of belt high low 90’s Marcus Stroman 4-seam fastballs… To the media: let up on the pushback at press conferences. Ask the question with no spin and let Trump speak. We can’t do this again. Respond like “Oh wow, oh wow… OH WOW.” Troll a bit. Instead of pushing back and putting the debate into a chaotic, combative place where he feels comfortable, as Nas would say, let that bitch breathe. He’s so comfortable in conversations spoken in interruptions and insults. Space can be a slurve, a splitter, a Devin Williams change-up; it can shine a bright light on his idiocy. Only the great hitters can adjust mid pitch and hit the off speed well placed pitched for a base hit. Do we really think he’s capable of the political equivalent of that? Of keeping his weight back and serving the pitch/question to right field for a single? I doubt it. Against our current pitching, he’s Babe Ruth. With a little trolling, a little off speed, we can turn him into a .210 hitter who strikes out way too much to justify his place in the lineup. Give him space to shoot himself in the foot and Pete Alonso will turn into Joey Gallo. When he has a chance to spar with the press, to call the media nasty people or the enemy, he loves it because its time spent off topic, the topic being he doesn’t know a thing about anything. The chances of this are slim because the arguments between reporter and Donald make for great primetime pieces and high ratings. But he won the popular vote this time. Right now, he keeps saying “you’ll see”. Fine. The government he keeps blaming is going to be his again soon. Let’s see.
60: We're simply no fun anymore. We lost our sense of humor. We rip the fun out of everything e.g. Halloween, dating, childhood, food labels, straws, aspects of sports, the workplace, college, the Boy Scouts, patriotism, award shows, classic literature, classic films, health, neighborhood block parties, and yes, sometimes comedy. They were always the Moral Majority (sigh). Richard Nixon started the war on drugs. And that Republican first lady wouldn’t stop yapping, just say no just say no like a Pat Robertson ventriloquy dummy (ugh)... WE are the party of fun. Of free love and legal weed. Of festivals and forgetting where you woke up on Sunday morning. JFK DID NOT DIE FOR THIS. Frankly, he’d be ashamed.
61: "The only thing they have to look forward to is hope. And you have to give them hope—hope for a better world, hope for a better tomorrow. And maybe, if hope includes a good party, even better." Harvey Milk, 1978
62: Oh, and back to the subject of pardons…Although accused of no wrongdoing, Biden should preemptively pardon Liz Cheney (maybe), Letita James, Jack Smith, and Kamala Harris. Merrick Garland was so spineless as AG I don’t care if he’s pardoned or not. The first Trump administration carried out 13 executions. Biden should pardon everyone on Death Row. Trump is going to try to expand the death penalty to lesser offenses, the least POTUS can do is clear death row. He can go pardon crazy if he wants to. It’s all LOLZ now.
63: Oh, those signs of virtue! I used to think though misguided; the signs meant well… after this election I’m not so sure. I stopped for coffee in Grand Rapids 8 weeks before the election. The place was called…agh I won’t. On the door hung three signs. Three. The first one sign, bordered in rainbow hearts, notified that this special coffee shop valued things like Diversity, Inclusion, Kindness, and Respect for All. It then goes on to list (in all caps) HATE, RACISM, VIOLENCE, MICROAGGRESSIONS, HOMOPHOBIA, and DISCRIMINATION to say they have NO PLACE HERE. It finished up by reaffirming the place is a safe environment (environment spelled without the o). The H.R at the Door then refers you to sign number two which further elaborates on what is NOT ALLOWED. UNWANTED COMMENTS OR TOUCHING. INAPPROPRIATE GESTURES OR LANGUAGE RELATED TO AGE, RACE, OR ANY PERSONAL CHARACTERISTIC. It ends with a threat to ban anyone who doesn’t adhere. The last sign just said FIGHT HATE. Which, from my pacifist perspective, is a bit of an oxymoron. This is all before you open the door. How does one litigate what constitutes a microaggression? Do they think we were all raised in a barn on Mars? I’m not so bothered by it, not really, but I understand why it’s pretentious woke bullshit like that that has common sense people pointing and saying, “wow that’s way too much.” “That’s too extra.” I was raised by my father and mother thank you very much. It’s so insufferable, so snobby to think we need to be collectively reminded not to call the barista a slur after he/she/they hand us a latte. Grotesque racism will always live, especially anonymously. I remember COD Modern Warfare chat rooms in middle school. Today there’s forums. It sucks. But when was the last time, in a public store, you saw an overt display of homophobia and/or racism? e.g. “Excuse me, faggot, I’m cutting you.” Never. So those signs, inadvertently or not, drive people away. It’s not deep. They look and say, “wow, are we that irredeemable? These progressives today are looney.” And they’re not all bad people. But they walk away and chew gum.
64: You hear time and again on CNN, “data this and that shows the Vice-Presidential pick doesn’t have an effect on the outcome of the race.” This is categorically false, according to Wendy Lee. I don’t need to look at the analysis. Sarah Palin hurt John McCain in 2008. Tim Kaine was an all too establishment pick that did Hillary no favors. On the flip side, Mike Pence did wonders for Donald Trump, providing unsure voters with a splash of evangelical ease. An ease similar to the one Biden provided voters when running with the young upstart. I’m not saying Tim Walz was the wrong pick or the reason for losing, but picks need to be considered with more objectivity and less “vibes” because contrary to some popular belief, the VP matters.
65: Trump and Tariffs. He doesn’t understand them. On the trail he framed tariffs as a financial burden borne directly by foreign exporters, claiming that countries like China were "paying billions and zillions of dollars" to the U.S. in tariffs. In reality, tariffs are typically paid by importers—usually U.S. companies—when goods cross the border. These costs can be passed down to consumers through higher prices, absorbed by businesses, or shared between trading partners through price adjustments. We didn’t explain this to the American public nor did we make fun of him for being so oversimplified in his own understanding of them. The man doesn’t know what a tariff is. But the public will soon when it causes economic turmoil, when the abstract term that sounds good has real life consequences. We need to be ready to hit him over the head, again and again, with this issue when it comes back to bite the consumer. His tariffs will hurt the economy and when they do we have to hurt him in the court of messaging/public opinion.
66: “The pure contralto sings in the organ loft,
The carpenter dresses his plank, the tongue of his foreplane whistles its wild ascending lisp,
The married and unmarried children ride home to their Thanksgiving dinner…” - Walt Whitman, 1855
67: I have a thing for leaving a witty comment on the Joe Rogan Experience official YT page. I’ve left over 100. Never once has it lasted more than 12 minutes before being deleted. I just wanted to say that. It's not really a thesis. #freespeech gang amiright?
68: Give me student loan relief or give me death!
69: We need to talk about Covid. History is not going to be as kind as we think to those who favored prolonged lockdowns and other draconian measures. While Trump's handling of the pandemic was atrocious, “we” didn’t get everything “right” either. And to protect us from penetrating questions, “we” set up a tent on the highest high ground we could find and used pretentious blanket statements like, “Science is Real” to thwart any discourse. There's a hundred and one reasons why “we” performed at historic lows with voters under 30. But one still not talked about is how the paradigm flipped, just a bit. Kids that age want to rage against the machine, for better or worse. And the “machine”, in this instance, was keeping them from building the basic life skills they knew necessary, life skills that could only be attained through intimate interaction. That machine was branded “the left.” There are voters, some nutjobs, some legitimate, who hold a grudge over COVID still. It would be wise to talk about it instead of ignoring it.
70: I’m aware of how the two major political parties are. The money, the norms, the legal and structural barriers. It’s nearly impossible to upend. We have been told it simply “is what it is.” And contrary to what’s below, I haven’t complained much. I usually don’t have too hard a time getting behind the D nominee, but the party I voted for on my 18th birthday in 2012 is not the one it is today. If the Democratic establishment can’t learn from this treatise, and improve its messaging about (former?) Democratic principles such as union advocacy, jobs programs in sustainable industries, progressive taxation, youth outreach, affordable housing, if those issues aren’t properly addressed going forward, we have no choice but to form a Labor Party and support it. Donald Trump is the president again. I am no longer concerned with the lesser of two evils, especially when the Democrats lose so much. We could, after these four years, very well have nothing to lose. Literally. A practical and working-class movement that isn’t led by Bernie Sanders has yet to emerge. It needs to be an outsider.
71: Will the new Nancy Pelosi please stand up!? Say what you want about my girl Nance, when it came to the Game of Thrones, no politician played it better. Sure, she skimmed a little money off the top, who in Washington doesn’t? With her leadership—at least on the programmatic portion of politics, e.g. the vote counting, the whipping, the policy chops, the back door deal making—she was incredibly effective, both as an opposition leader and as a wielder of power. She single handedly stopped Bush from privatizing Social Security in 04, she took on HIV/AIDS when nobody would touch it, she was instrumental in establishing a thriving post 08 recession economy, she passed the Affordable Care Act, repealed Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. She gave Trump hell, beating him to the punch on both border wall funding and impeachment. She stifled his dangerous agenda the best she could through procedural tactics deployed like knights from a grandmaster. Kendrick Lamar released a surprise album, just yesterday, and on the first song he raps, “keep your head down and work like I do. But understand everybody ain't gon' like you.” Nancy has been on that! Nancy owns that mindset. I’ve never seen someone so unconcerned about what others think of them. But it’s no longer her responsibility. It’s on the new generation. It’s on us now. Do we have young leaders strong enough to be unliked for the greater good? Somebody needs to fill the thankless task or the resistance has little chance. I like Hakeem Jeffries. This isn’t a criticism of him as much as a mass call to arms. And a chance to recognize and thank the work she’s done on behalf of LIBERAL ideals. Work that led her to being one of America's least favorite politicians, while championing incredibly groundbreaking and favorable policies all at the same time. I can’t square all that either. But sometimes you don’t know what you had till it’s gone…
72: The gerontocracy the democrats are considered is, with a drop of Pentobarbital and Potassium Chloride, (it’s a joke!) a removable stain. The GOP also has this stain but right now they are a cult of one and that one has been inexplicably immune to the age criticism so back to us. The average age of key senate D leadership at the moment is 74 years old, the average. While the house average has actually lowered to around 57 this last congress, it remains to be seen which leader will become the answer to thesis 71.
73: The squad and the social media advocacy success paradox. AOC, Pressley, Tlaib, Omar, have collectively close to 10 million followers on the gram. Most politicians have around 20-40k followers. On these airwaves, they have been essential in progressing advocacy for popular programs like universal health care and student loan forgiveness. They’ve platformed important social issues, connected with the grassroots and represented America's growing diversity. All these things are great. But when you have little to no legislative accomplishments surrounding the issues platformed, it’s hard not to take all the social media content as shallow and superficial. Especially when you're one of the six contrarian goofballs to vote against a much needed infrastructure bill, just to flex some moral superiority. This promotion of slacktivism seemingly reflected back into the behaviors of politicians themselves. Some members are finally feeling the effects of not being honest with their massive audience about the structural barriers to their bold ideas. It creates frustration when things aren't done quickly, then folks get angry and look elsewhere. Theses 71 and 72 need to be addressed, but that doesn’t mean the squad, although the most famous, are the best to do so. They have a lot to prove. Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman can’t even win primaries.
74: If your reaction to that last thesis was “well that was because of Jewish money,” you are part of the problem. Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman are performative politicians set to divide for camera time e.g. Bowman and the fire alarm, Bush and the Eviction Moratorium Protest. Cori Bush also claimed to heal a woman of her tumors by simply touching her. If MTG said that it would be a top of the hour joke on Seth Meyers. Politicians like that don’t think long term for their constituents. We need to somehow find young leaders more concerned with writing policy in a dark room after hours alone with cold coffee and cold pizza instead of going viral for a virtue signaling stunt that really doesn’t mean anything. Get Things Done then Talk Your Shit.
75: “For Twitter to deserve public trust, it must be politically neutral, which essentially means upsetting the far left and the far right equally.” - Elon Musk via tweet @ 1:38 PM April 27, 2022. 923 days before the election. Not once was Elon or Trump asked and confronted about this. Not by liberals, pundits, journalists, lawmakers, the podcasters, those free speech absolutionists, the great Lawrence O’Donnell…NOBODY. The guy who bought it for the sake of protecting free speech wasn’t asked about the century's second biggest lie. Not once. 0%.
76: A potpourri of people/orgs who give “liberal” opinions you should be wise to never again take seriously: Whoever it was who decided to campaign in Michigan with Liz Cheney, Liz Cheney, anyone still involved in any Lincoln Project/Never trump nonsense, (Tim Miller makes Andrew Yang look like a born winner) Andrew Yang, Brian Tyler Cohen (was good, sold out), Lawrence O’Donnell, Jemele Hill, Pod Save America (delusional), that guy from Pondering Politics who never shuts up long enough for the clip advertised in the thumbnail to play through, James Carville, Lawrence O’Donnell, Jaime Harrison, Adam Kinzinger, Joy Reid, Roxane Gay, Seth Meyers, Anne Seltzer and the greater polling establishment, people who still use the terms Anti-Racist and Latinx, Briahna Joy Gray, and Lawrence O’Donnell. And Joy Reid.
77: If you took any above as an endorsement of orgs/people such as: Matt Walsh, David Harris Jr, Charlie Kirk, Al-Jazeera, Candace Owens, Maria Bartiromo, Old Row, Stephen Crowder, Jill Stein, Matt Walsh, Dave Rubin, Tim Pool, Jesse Waters, Benny Johnson, Q (never forget), Kevin Roberts, Mel Gibson, Jordan Peterson, Nick Fuentes, Chaya Raichik, wow how many white middle aged guys who say the same exact thing in a row was that? Oh, no! I almost forgot Tucker! Hannity too. The listeners of these shows commonly refer to others as “sheep” for their “blind following” of “the status-quo.” LOLZ If you took thesis 76 as an endorsement of these voices.
78: If someone is 5 or more steps from the door, don’t hold it for them. They feel obligated to “hurry up” and you end up needlessly rushing them despite your good intentions. This, especially in the Midwest, with its blanket of black ice, can be dangerous. I’m not, I swear to God, writing this at the library with an incredible sore backside.
79: The generational divide in liberals trusting government. My Dad lives in NJ. He’s a big democrat, capital D. He’s such an anti-conspiracy theorist that he himself is somewhat of a conspiracy theorist. “The Pentagon and Murphy say it’s nothing to worry about, so it’s nothing to worry about (in reference to the drones flying in and around the area).” Find a person in life who has the same faith in you that my father has in the government and never let that person go. The reality is, the fascination with drones among conspiracy leaning circles has my dad so blocked off from the story he wouldn’t believe it if a drone hit him in the forehead. My Mother on the other hand is on Facebook. Enough said. But back to my dad, a man born in 1950 New York. 18 in 68. Protested his entire high school existence and good things happened as a result. Advances in civil rights. The Vietnam war ending. That beautiful and direct waterfall of personal reaction flowing into political action. One action begetting the other. Kids today don’t see that, don’t have that relationship with their federal government. And while it might be hard for older democrats to stomach the cynicism, especially around certain issues, it’s important to understand why it's a valid position to take in this new world.
80: Ethics, in a Kantian sense, is a tough sell these days. Trump warped reality. He’s distorted the truth and moved the goalposts of morality to such an extent that you can no longer blame the masses, whether you are brainwashed by him or cynical because of him, for feeling the way they do. This relates to the previous thesis.
81: Anyone see that show the Acolyte? Yeah, me neither. But nevertheless, don’t do that again. Plenty of “fanboys” are toxic, sure. But there are others who aren’t bigots, that just want their escapist franchises focused on story telling rather than pontificating new wave politics to them on their day off. Especially from a galaxy far far away… Diversity is great. Children seeing themselves mirrored back to them through art is very important. But it’s not more important than putting the story before identity politics. We can walk and chew gum on this, too. (I might say that a lot). A show with more non-binary characters than Caucasians isn’t representative of America. That being said, Miles Morales is awesome. P.S my favorite films this year were The Beast, Anora, Strange Darling, A Real Pain, The Substance, La Chimera, Flow, and Dune 2. Follow me on letterb– nvm…
82: Why can’t we house the homeless? Post-WWII there was a huge housing shortage in LA when all the soldiers returned home and needed places to live. So the government, believe it or not, had their backs and made sure to find space. In mere months they built Quonset huts for 6,000 or so veterans for what in today’s dollars would be around 20 million bucks. Now, every time we try to put together funding for a low-income housing project, the total costs balloon to something like 350k a unit. This is due to a bunch of unnecessary red tape. Over regulation is also a thing. Time and time again, layer upon layer of crooked consultants and erroneous inspectors and labor unions have their hand in the pot, skimming money off the top and ballooning the price of each unit to the point where projects are halted and nobody is housed. Democrats are the party of red tape. It takes forever to get housing approvals. It takes 870 permits to go to the bathroom in a public restaurant. A kiss from the head of the public planning commission to have a catch in the street. And a signature from the building inspector so your kid can legally build a fort in the backyard. It’s insane and robotic and it’s a problem in local democratic local cities, one that often stifles a good faith agenda. Like housing people.
83: These phrases mean nothing and shouldn’t again be uttered in any online forum or at any political protest: ‘Silence is Violence.’ ‘That’s cultural appropriation, and it’s offensive.’ ‘Check your privilege.’ ‘Defund the Police.’ ‘Believe ALL women.’ ‘If You’re Not Part of the Solution, You’re Part of the Problem.’ ‘Science is Real.’ ‘Queers for Palestine.’ ‘You're/they're voting against your/their best interest.’ No borders, no nations.’ ‘Support for the 4B movement’ ‘(insert buzz word e.g. DNC or Patriarchy) shill say what?!?!’
84: The trans community should make no concessions (except on some of the dramatics). “Dear New York Times: Stop questioning Trans Peoples’ right to exist & access to medical care.” This was a paid for billboard placed outside the NYT offices sometime around a year ago. It’s over dramatic and counterproductive. The NYT isn’t the Daily Wire. GLAAD knows this. The New York times didn’t “question their right to exist” they simply did, you know, journalism stuff. But asking questions around this touchy subject has been so touchy in itself civil discourse is often impossible. Muted for the best interest of nobody. The majority of Americans and essentially all democratic voters aren’t doing anything as extreme as denying someone the right to exist. But transgender as something of a movement is new and has been brought on fast and a lot of people simply lack education on it still and that’s okay. That doesn’t inherently make them bigots. So when a trans person is misgendered or the wrong pronoun is used, most of the time it's not an act of verbal violence, but rather a correctable misunderstanding. Nobody is denying anybody's right to exist unless they are. Like on the republican side. Like Turning Point USA and PragerU and The Heritage Foundation and the ADF and the APP and Focus on the Family. In order to fight these bad faith, fanatical bigots, meeting us in the middle, cis gendered folks who care about ensuring equal rights for the trans community, on certain issues, can lead to a more effective and cohesive approach to solidifying rights through legislation and education. There’s a difference between folks who want to help and don’t exactly know how and Turning Point USA. That's an important nuance. We have to listen attentively to the trans community. We have to be able to disagree with them too.
Thesis 14%: of the LGBTQIA+ community said they were excited for a second Trump administration. It’s a small portion, but it's significant and I found it important to note here. Those are people. With opinions.
86: Matt Walsh doesn’t understand the essence of comedy. The essence of comedy is timing, yes, but it’s also understanding the difference between provocation for the sake of it and provocation for a purpose. To be a real comedian, one cannot just provoke. Shock value with no punchline and nothing to show for it isn’t art. Like the action-comedy, performers must both provoke AND deliver on the punchline. So while the silly people Mr. Walsh is “exposing” in these unfunny exposés are morons, he himself is no better. And he’s no better because he forgets to tell jokes. He only delivers on one half of the gag and calls himself Sasha and because the right has no sense of humor he’s embraced as such. No. No. Michael Scott voice, No! People who think Matt Walsh and Sasha Baron Cohen are the same are the people who can’t see the difference between The Human Centipede and A Clockwork Orange.
87: Our reactionary moral pandering over Al Franken cost us a crucial senate seat. The adoration he’s still shown as well as the success of his podcast illuminate what a ridiculous charade that was. A catastrophic political miscalculation (Senator Gillibrand we don’t forget). While it may be too late for Al to reenter government (he’s 73), Katie Hill should be uncancelled. Katie was the executive director of People Assisted the Homeless (PATH). She’s young and smart. We claim to be progressive, the party of free love, a champion for sex workers. We claim to support women in those arenas, yet we can’t forgive Katie Hill for a consensual affair. I’m not equating Ms. Hill to a sex worker, simply using her story to point out yet another left-wing hypocrisy. We should embrace Katie. We should have always defended her. If she wants to run again, she should have the full support of the party.
88: The party of Artificial Intelligence can be the D. A.I is scary. The unknown is scary. Especially when it involves robots and such. Mark Zuckerberg is telling me what I should say to my girlfriend, offering suggestions, sowing doubt in my rizz game. ChatGPT is smarter by the second. Everyone is terrified because there isn’t one sector that won’t be affected. Bus drivers and poets. Data entry and food service. The D-Block can be the party that leads on AI messaging, most importantly educating the public about its wonderful potential while listening to their calls for regulation, their concerns. Create an AI safeguarding agency that is transparent with the public about AI and its side effects. Maybe one that works with international allies. Good and Bad and Inevitable. A place where ethical standards are established and risk assessments conducted. We can do this all while fostering innovation.
89: Mark Zuckerberg is almost as bad as Elon Musk. This Musk villain arc is unprecedented yes, but don’t take your eye off the Zuck. He’s a liar. He’s just as shady in his dealings, and even more pernicious in his ideas and outlook on the future of humanity than any other billionaire.
90: Pay homage and always mind your business.
91: Please believe when I say I wrote this reeling, barely hanging on, in desperate search for any meaning or truth post-election. It’s a state of mind that’s been different shades of light and very dark for everyone I’m sure. My worry is no greater or more important than anyone else’s. In an attempt to tip the scales towards the light, I picked up a pen and wrote things down. It was cathartic and it helped me, even if it doesn’t reach a party in need of help. What you read is simply my thoughts, messy and brash yet well-intentioned and kind. That's my hope, the hope. If this is criticized up and down, or even worse, ignored, it’s hope it’s not for a perceived lack of sincerity.
92: Lock down more celebrity endorsements next time.
93: Juan Soto made a terrible mistake.
94: Did I mention identity politics?
95: ‘And let them thus be more confident of entering heaven through many tribulations rather than through a false assurance of peace.’ Acts 14:22
USA, I Love You, please stop bringing me down…
Xoxo
Wendy Le
