Are We Doomed Yet?

Legion of normals unite.

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Making sense of the latest carnival of inanity posing as a presidential debate is a task too great for Steve and Jonah. So they have summoned the fabled (and bingo’d) Yuval Levin, director of social, cultural and constitutional studies at AEI, to help them analyze the GOP primary debate, rank pre-government shutdown asininity, and determine whether we should even be paying attention at all.

Show Notes:

-Yuval Levin’s profile at the American Enterprise Institute

-Watch our pre-debate discussion featuring Kevin, Jonah, and Chris (Members only)

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Comments (73)
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  1. Avatar photo
    The Bell Tower

    I hear quite a bit of dismissal about “culture war” issues that are of interest to small numbers of the country. This is a grave mistake.

    I’ve personally seen white, male job candidates de-emphasized or openly let go from their positions simply to satisfy DEI aims in large companies. My three year old is watching Muppet Babies and they’re picking out a dress for Gonzo. I’ve been asked to declare my pronouns in serious places of business and I’ve had to sit through “training” for all this sort of baloney at multiple private companies. That’s not to mention some of what I’ve seen in public education.

    I don’t often vote based on these sorts of things but I think you’re mistaken if you think it doesn’t bother a lot of other folks. Then you have Gavin Newsome openly choosing an extremist gay black woman to replace Feinstein just because of those accidents of her birth. Joe Biden paved the way for that with his bull crap VP and Supreme Court choices for precisely the same reasons.

    The Democrats could easily center their approach around serious issues like health care or Ukraine but they ignore (and lend credence) to these idiotic culture issues to their peril. It’s only a matter of time before there is a real backlash - electoral or otherwise.

    The risk is that Biden is so weak and Democratic leadership is so craven that Trump does win in 2024. You can only appeal to Park Slope for so long. Whether the media wants to take this stuff seriously, it’s real life and it affects real people and the only thing keeping rank and file Americans from rallying to Trump is Trump himself. It isn’t his politics, it’s his character (or lack thereof) that’s keeping him at bay.

    This is why I constantly repeat the observation that Democrats are chasing a constituency that doesn’t exist while Republicans are running from one that does. This was proven when Biden won his primary over numerous sharper, younger, more diverse and more capable options. The Democratic electorate is the more conservative electorate now.

    What if Trump does win? Does anyone really think Democratic leadership will accept such an outcome and treat a duly elected Donald Trump as a legitimate president? Hillary herself suggested they should do no such thing 4 years ago. Especially if the election is close as it is likely to be, how will there be a peaceful conclusion?

    And if Trump loses? Zero chance Republicans accept the outcome. Zero. Herman Munster and his cohort of make believe Nazis in Congress can’t wait to seize on any issue that will give them an excuse to be even more extreme. The I told you so chorus will be deafening.

    I feel like Andy Dufresne looking at a dank, dark, shit filled tunnel as the only option for escape.

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  2. Chipwatkins

    One reason for the depth of the divisions in our nation is that we have two competing and irreconcilable world views. Consistent with the Biblical world view underlying the Constitution, conservatives generally believe that men and women tend toward advancing their self-interest as against others, and that government should have well-defined and limited powers whose purpose is to secure and defend our God-given rights to life, liberty, and property (or the pursuit of happiness, if you will). In contrast, liberals and progressives generally believe that men and women tend toward altruism, and that omniscient experts (in an earlier generation, "pointy-headed bureaucrats") working for the government should have broad authority to limit or eliminate our freedoms in the service of imposing one-size-fits-all rules that allegedly have no unanticipated consequences.

    God help us if we allow the liberal/progressive world view to prevail.

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  3. Avatar photo
    Anne W (Raw5254)

    I shared this one with a friend (who is taking advantage of the 30 day free membership!) because it was so upbeat, despite Steve’s best efforts! It gave me hope, something I haven’t had for awhile. Thank you, everyone.

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  4. Avatar photo
    J.R.Bohl

    Is it too late for Levin2024? One of the clearest communicators about America and the opportunities/obligations she offers.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Anne W (Raw5254)

      I found myself thinking the same thing.

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    Larry.Jones

    Really excellent. Thanks Jonah, Steve and Yuval. Jonah your closing comments about keeping our personal priories at the center of our lives as a method to fix our collective disfunction hit the mark for me. Thank you

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  6. Payette

    Excellent podcast! Please don't wait a year to have Yuval Levin back.

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  7. Kvleininger

    One of the most uplifting pods yet, thanks to Yuval’s optimistic history regarding our political evolution. Yet I remain more with Steve’s cynicism, now somewhat uplifted. I can envision more calamities before the clouds begin to part.

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  8. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    Best episode of this podcast all year! Yuval should be a regular guest!

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  9. Avatar photo
    Marc Frischhertz

    So, in MAGA world, it’s okay for the 3 stooges to use democrats to cause a government shutdown, but it’s heresy to use democrats to prevent a shutdown?

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    1. Avatar photo
      George.Skinner

      They’ve consistently and diligently applied their Underpants Gnome approach to politics for over a decade:
      1) Force a government shutdown through intransigence
      2) Make extreme demands completely unpalatable to the party controlling at least one other part of the government
      3) ???
      4) Triumph and political domination

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      Kmregan7

      In MAGA world, it’s okay for a lot of things. I have about given up trying to figure it out.

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  10. David Murphey

    I would love for the candidates on the debate stage to be asked the simple question, "Are you running against Donald Trump?" How revealing would those answers be!

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      Charley Warns

      WELL ... it's a simple question ... you got that right. "YES" would be the coherent response irregardless of his or her take on Trump (or any other candidate) given the context that it's a debate between competitors for the same position.

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