The Taylor Swift Grift

Is Biden rigging the Super Bowl?

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Jonah and Mike join Sarah for an episode-long digression about Taylor Swift.

The Agenda:
—Tech CEOs at Congress
—Regulating children’s access to social media
—Performance vs. results at the border
—Trump says the quiet part out loud
—Immigration in psychological terms
—The Taylor Swift conspiracy theories
—The issue with Benny Johnson
—Why Trump should demonize Taylor Swift
—Not Worth Your Time Extended

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Comments (70)
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  1. Avatar photo
    Patterico

    The notion that the GOP is just holding out for a better bill is so laughable that it ought not be taken seriously.

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  2. Kalo

    It’s an old story in politics to keep the issue alive rather than solve the problem. Theres a great example of this on The West Wing where Bruno Gianelli chides Josh for his victory in getting money to fight Big Tobacco. Bruno says “you don’t want the money, you want the issue.”

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    Tracie

    I'm too much of a GenXr to identify with the Swiftie cult. The two songs of hers I'm aware of include the "She wears short skirts / I wear t-shirts" song from her teenage years, which strikes me as cute and poppy, and understandable in it's projective appeal for girls establishing their identities and navigating what must have been a more confusing hell of adolescence than the one I navigated.

    The only song of hers I sought out was her cover of "September", the original a great harmony soul pop song of the 1970s familiar to anyone who grew up on classic radio.

    https://songwhip.com/earth-wind-and-fire/september-2018

    If not terrible, Taylor's version is definitely in the why-bother-with-your reedy-little-voice class of covers.

    You tube: https://g.co/kgs/t7iPs9E

    That said, I really admire her personal aesthetic. She appears a secure in herself beautiful woman, who doesn't pander to the mail brainstem in her personal style choices or behavior, and thus is the kind of woman that girls want to emulate - never mind that if you're not 5'10", and blonde with a classic ingenue face, it probably won't work as well for you. Nevertheless, I suspect she will photographically navigate the aging process better than her contemporaries, and keep her female admirers as they move toward prime voting age.

    Given that her appeal appears more about sing-along identity than great music, I suspect she could continue to be a potent force in politics. They're right to be a little afraid.

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  4. Russell J

    What a shame we didn’t hear Steve’s take this week. That should be in the Skiff.

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  5. VV

    Sarah, given your 3am adventures with your son, you may enjoy a delightful book by exasperated dad Adam Mansbach called “Go the F*** to Sleep.”

    WARNING: do NOT actually read it out loud to your son unless you want his vocabulary to expand by a handful of four-letter words.

    There is also a video on YouTube where it is read by Samuel L. Jackson which you will find here: https://youtu.be/teIbh8hFQos?si=SVrpT4vMPqiyhWpu

    If you do listen to it, do so with headphones on. DO NOT listen to it out loud where your children can hear.

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    Ehoop

    1. Don't fail to name the real issue, hiding it won't help: 80% of the reason visa overstay isn't a concern is because it's white people. No one cares about an illegal immigrant who can stand in a crowd and not look different. Partly due to race and partly due to lack of awareness.
    2. The border is exactly like climate change, in that it IS an issue, but it IS NOT an immediate existential crisis; and in that it CAN be improved, but it CAN NOT be "fixed." Not dealing with it has no tangible cost, so dealing with it vs. not dealing with it is a real no-brainer, unless you want to work on it more than hold office. The two sides basically each take one of those opposing points on each situation, in reverse.

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  7. NotTheEditor

    Great pod!! I always enjoy the evident camaraderie -- and the humor (and the not taking things too seriously) is always good leavening for the smart analysis and insights. Thank you!!

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  8. Sai Ayila

    Frankly this bill is weak, not because of more enforcement or tightening assylum claims that part is fine Dems agreed to that part . It's weak because there is no daca reform in this bill. Democrats are begrudgingly agreed to this because they are under pressure to do something and yes it helps them in the short term. Same for Republicans, trump may or may not get relected the recent qunnipaac polls are showing Biden leading trump by 5 points and haley is actually leading Biden by 5 points if she were a nominee. Even if trump gets relected Dems will no longer agree to the current terms and they are 90% favorites to retain the house no matter what happens in the senate even Lindsey graham agrees with this current bill. Ted cruz is irrelevant do nothing senator who would rather spend his time in Cancun rather than helping his freezing constituents. Nobody trusts him and you guys shouldn't either. Also it's quite hypocritical of Republicans who often go to the far right Texas court to challenge Biden executives thinks he can use executive orders on border. The same Republicans who stopped daca because they said Obama created with an executive order. Stop lying Mike johnson

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    Jen

    Somewhere Benny Johnson is laughing his ass off at everyone taking the bait spending even one second on something so stupid. I thought TD would be smarter than that. Apparently not.

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    BrandonAlleman

    Regarding the border, I don't think there is an everything solution Republicans would commit to. The whole MAGA brand is 'everything or nothing' which in practice means nothing is what you get.

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