 Good evening 40 here. So in places like Nascar and high schools and colleges There's this F Joe Biden chant Breaking out. And so I wanted to talk to my right wing friends. How do you feel about this? Obviously, this isn't traditional family values. I'm not a big fan of this chant and I wouldn't want to be in a crowd that was doing this as a friend. So I guess I'm opposed and my Friends says I prefer the passive aggressive. Let's go Brandon That's what it's saying F Joe Biden. There's the passive aggressive. Let's go Brandon Now another friend says how do you feel about a president who is clearly unfit for office? I don't think Joe Biden is clearly unfit for office. I Certainly don't think he's any less fit than Donald Trump or Barack Obama So I think Biden's doing an okay job And I think he's definitely running the show because his policies and the way he's operating Are exactly what you would expect from someone with his 50 year long track record in national politics So yeah, I'm not a big fan of F Joe Biden as a chant I would prefer a Republican I would refer Donald Trump in office, but I think Biden's doing okay It seems to me that Biden comes across and the Biden administration comes across as more competent with regard to COVID I'm not saying that they are I don't have like public health knowledge sufficient to make that claim But the Trump administration definitely came across as incompetent with regard to COVID and the Biden administration I think comes across as competent now There's no necessary connection between how you come across and and the facts on the ground. So I don't think I Don't think that the Trump administration did a particularly horrible job It's not clear that any industrialized Non-Asian nation did particularly well with with regard to COVID. So there's so much that we don't know So I don't think the United States was particularly incompetent under Trump But it certainly did come across that way something as it was filtered through in the media I think this played a big role in Trump losing a Small swing in the suburbs. So there was a 2% swing against Trump in the suburbs and I think I'll be much of that Was a reaction to To the administration seeming chaos with regard to COVID Now did France or Germany or Spain or the United Kingdom or Sweden or Norway Did any of these countries do substantially better with with regard to COVID? No, not really So another friend says when you shout shout I want a nice white country into the abyss f Joe Biden Shout her back at you Then a friend said I listened to a lot of Richard Spencer last night his reason for supporting Joe Biden the Democrat seems to be They are winning Well, I think I think Richard would say that the Democrats at this point are better for his concerns that they're more competent and Another friend says I was genuinely surprised when Richard was questioned about leading his movement off a cliff at Charlottesville He responded that movements have failures and he used Uncle A's failed beer hall push in what 1925 Like they got Uncle A and a bunch of others in jail. I mean what a horrible comparison like how delusional I mean Spencer is like, yeah, I'm a Nazi. I mean How insane is that comparison to justify your bad decisions? So I think humiliation has been good for Spencer But he's still clue clearly Substantially disengaged from reality and you'll know that when Spencer's made a change In a pro-social direction when he starts taking responsibility for his own bad decisions As long as people like Spencer or anyone you meet regards their problems is primarily the phone of other people Then you're dealing with a loser and someone who embraces a victimhood mentality someone who's able to say hey, I play a substantial role in my own troubles and that's someone I think who's much more touch with reality and My friends say that there's really no answer to Spencer's shift from Charlottesville and the alt-right to Joe Biden backer other than personal aggrandizement just showing how special I am and My friends as I've noticed this from all the great talents Michael Savage look forward Richard Spencer When leading an audience that has many potential competitors from the same right-wing camp It's it's a good strategy to quickly do a series of off-speed pitches to reassert that you have a distinct brand and That you become something special You avoid becoming run-of-the-mill and my friend says I would definitely be doing something similar If I had a mass audience with rivals and worrying we were becoming too similar. So this is another example of why Pundits are useless to what extent your present perceptions of Biden's competence vis-a-vis Trump shaped by radically different media coverage Each received. Yeah, it's I can't disentangle it from that So I think the media portrayed Trump is particularly incompetent with regard to COVID. I think they were harsh on him then Then reality would warrant given the troubles that other industrialized Western nations have had conducting COVID and the media of course vastly prefers Joe Biden and Yeah, Spencer took a lot of abuse from his own team at a certain point. You might have just said F you Michael Savage used to rail against moving the embassy to Jerusalem that was a needless provocation But for years previous to that he trashed those who worried about the sentiments of the Arab Street So Savage was just re-asserting an idiosyncratic identity apart from the Rush Limbaugh cartel Again pundits are useless and to the extent that I'm a pundit. I'm I'm equally useless Remember when Michael Savage was mad at Ann Coulter actually said how many effing Jews are there in America? I remember when Michael Savage used to attack Patrick Buchanan Saying he was trying on all these weird Nazi uniforms in private and then Michael Savage did a 180 degree and had him on for Buchanan's latest book So Michael Savage has always had a conflict with his inner Jew Now Victor Davis Hanson He has parted ways from national review. So how do you feel about that? So He says there are certain issues that would pop up occasionally and I could predict what the national review answer would be the Covington kids So Victor Davis Hanson's interesting Bloke who stands betwixt several worlds so on the one hand he has done some serious scholarship on The other hand he has churned out a ton of non-serious scholarship so much so that he's probably You know cross the line into hack. I Mean he crossed that line probably 20 years ago partisan hack But at one point he did do some some serious scholarship say 30 years ago then over the past 2025 years he's just become another partisan hack so He's Cross the line and once you cross that line to be just becoming another partisan hack I don't think you can ever return to your identity There's a serious scholar now So on the one hand he's got some serious scholarly credentials on the other hand. He's a partisan hack On on another hand. He's another Republican conservative on another hand He's outside basic Republican conservatism as a substantial bit of the American nationalist in him so he stands between normie Republican conservatism and nationalism So he's a little more edgy than national reviews so he's a little bit like Tucker Carlson and so he went on Tucker Carlson show and And Victor says he's part away with national review because they were just too eager to condemn people like the Covington kids or Donald Trump the access Hollywood tape or national review did a whole cover story against Donald Trump in something like January 2016 and He thought that national review was too hard on the January 6th rioters on Capitol Hill and Looking at outside the Beltway they say this conversation shows that tone policing is not just confined to the left of course Every group has has tone policing Victor David Hansen has always been a right winger. He's usually been fairly normie conservative He's also defended What outside the Beltway cause some of the rights outrageous conspiracy theories? I'm not sure which ones they're talking about in particular and So this this perspective says Victor is upset that what's left of what Bill Buckley built is still clean some semblance of rational argument and principles So it's hilarious that there was a reporter at Talladega Thinking that the crowd chanting F. Joe Biden was cheering. Let's go Brandon in honor of Brandon Brown's victory So apparently after buying to become a regular thing at football games in the South So yeah, we've become politically polarized and Nascar and SEC fans Are all riled up. They think Trump got a real deal So right now Trump is looking good for 2024 and there's an article in the Washington Post About that. So Democrats are concerned about Republicans winning three key governor's races so Greg Sargent who's a sometimes insightful left winger He writes a column for the Washington Post. He says the Trump threat may soon get worse. Here's the under the radar reason for it and Democrats are worried about three gubernatorial races in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan So in all three states there are GOP controlled legislatures And if any of the three Democratic governors replace with a Republican it will mean unified GOP control Which will from a Democratic perspective or a media perspective means will ramp up voter suppression and other anti-majoritarian Tactics, I don't think that Republicans are really ramping up voter suppression. There may be a very mild mild Verging on insignificant amount of voter suppression But from a left wing or a mainstream media perspective, this looks like election subversion I think that's overstating it, but I'm kind of in between. I haven't haven't fully Work things out here. Very interesting article in the New York Times an op-ed column Trump's true believers have their reasons. So I love Thomas B. Edsel He always publishes an informed column once a week on on Wednesdays So who believes the claim that Donald Trump won in 2020 in the election was stolen from him So apparently 35% of Americans believe that Biden's victory was illegitimate 6% say they are not sure So those who believe that Biden's victory was illegitimate a disproportionately white Republican order less educated more conservative more religious more Protestant and more likely to Describe themselves as born again So people who believe in replacement theory that immigrants are invading our country replacing our cultural and ethnic background 60% of Republicans agree 55% of conservatives So I don't think replacing our cultural and ethnic backgrounds are a strong argument. You could argue it's diminishing its influence So apparently 70% of Republicans believe the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump but This is easy to say you believe that but very few are actually doing anything about it Because if they really believe that seriously, then they they would try to document their case and so far Attempts to document this case have been absolutely pathetic. So I think this is more an expression of anger rather than some deeply thought through perspective Republic white Republicans with college degrees 51% believe the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump And this level of belief is remaining consistently strong Over 60% among Republicans of all ages living in rural suburban and urban areas So what's going on? so From from the left wing academic perspectives This is because of a growing preference for right wing authoritarianism by Republicans So they're turning to aggression to change our political structure To maintain their group group based hierarchies and I think that's accurate Another way of phrasing this is that christianity in the south is becoming more muscular So what explains the appeal of authoritarian values? Well, let's let's be honest here democracy brought us gay marriage And so from any kind of traditional perspective gay marriage is such an abomination From a traditional perspective a traditional religious perspective a traditional christian perspective a traditional jewish perspective gay marriage is is an abomination that that blows the mind and discredits any moral standing for democracy so from a from a traditional jewish perspective or any kind of traditional perspective you can argue that The putans regime is far more moral than what's going on in the western world when the western world embraces gay marriage So I think people see things like gay marriage and the growing transsexual movement and Black lives matter and they think look the system has failed us Constitution no longer protects us Democracy doesn't work for us. We need more authority And remember even within every working democracy a substantial elements of dictatorship There's never been a democrat working democracy does not have substantial elements of dictatorship so Some people simply want a little bit more top-down policy People want a little bit more authority So what explains the appeal of authoritarian values? Well, I would say most of the appeal comes from people are disgusted by the results of democracy They see their country being polluted So what problems Are so for people who embarrass who embrace authoritarian values So apparently authoritarian messages Influence people on two levels It makes them feel happier And it enhances their meaning in life Okay, so it gives people Embracing a more authoritarian approach apparently gives people more happiness More significance and more meaning. All right. Those are pretty substantial contributions. So embracing a right-wing authoritarian response gives you a feeling of significance that your life and contributions matter You have purpose Your life is driven by the pursuit of valued goals your life has coherence your goals comprehensible And you believe that the world and life makes sense. You have something to work towards So you might think authoritarianism Where people sacrifice their personal freedom to a strong leader would diminish meaning in life because you you you think that you feel less personal significance but When you embrace an authoritarian solution, I think whether it's right wing or left wing It probably gives you more meaning in life You have more of a sense that your life matters So saying we need, you know, a strong authority to take charge And and then as a supporter of this you get a sense of symbolic or vicarious significance through the strong leader So I like that. I think that's true embracing authoritarian solutions Does help people get a sense of happiness in a sense that their lives matter and adds coherence to the universe And lets them feel significance vicarious and otherwise People want a life that works people want a life that matters And people need to make sense of the world right people not down in general living with not knowing people want coherence in the universe and coherence largely exists in the artificial structures that we impose from our thinking All right, the outside world is so confusing that the the only major coherence we get Is from structures from our minds that we then impose upon reality So I think a lot of this is when people feel insignificant. They seek out groups and policies and leaders That will empower them with the feeling of significance so You can I think you can understand much of what people do From a drive for feeling significant. We all want to feel important We all want to matter and we all want to make sense out of reality And we all want our values to triumph So endorsing authoritarianism creates high meaning in life Interesting Look seems to me that all these academic deconstructions are right wing motivations or just dressing up damning with faint praise Well, it's either accurate or it's not and so I believe that our politics primarily or at least partly comes out of our biology and you can You can get a gauge of someone's political instincts by the intensity for example of their disgust reflex so I think people want to feel significant. That's absolutely true and when people Embrace the trump phenomena. I think it allowed Hundreds of thousands if not millions of people who otherwise did not feel particularly significant Who felt that the country had left them behind to find meaning and purpose and significance How does believing in radical egalitarianism bring us coherence? How does it make us feel better? Good good questions, but I am not primarily a scholar of The left. I am primarily someone who's interested in right-wing thought and that means I'm interested at times in left-wing critiques A right-wing thought and I'm interested in the the real thing the right-wing thought itself So I'm not particularly interested in in the left Yeah, did democracy bring same-sex marriage or did critocracy meaning judge made law Because same-sex marriage lost on the california referendum so Gay marriage was a top-down policy not a populist democratic policy, but it has one popular support And in many countries it has one overwhelming popular supports close to About two-thirds of australians voted for same-sex marriage And so it seems according to polls and surveys in almost all western industrialized countries A strong majority of the country believes in same-sex marriage now this movement was driven from the top driven down Into society, but it's it's one right now overwhelming majorities in all industrialized nations of which i'm aware strongly support same-sex marriage Which is just completely unfathomable from a perspective from 30 years ago. So yeah social norms have changed And it's left people with a traditional perspective They're mind-spinning like you know what the hell's going on here? Let's go brandon Let's go brandon