Fully Gruntled

Seeing that there’s literally one story in the news right now (AN ELECTION IS HAPPENING ...

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Seeing that there’s literally one story in the news right now (AN ELECTION IS HAPPENING SOON), Jonah decided to use his time on this weekend’s Ruminant to touch on some topics adjacent to the election, but also to incorporate some more evergreen topics into the mix. For example, there’s a discussion of the eternal return of the “get money out of politics” argument – and why Jonah thinks the argument is pointless in a world where the biggest benefit a candidate can get is a hysterical cycle of earned media – an unpopular defense of the slow, ungraceful politics of Mitch McConnell, equally unpopular opinions (at least in some quarters of the right) on the Biden scandal, and most importantly, why “your meatloaf is, like, 5,000 years old.”

Show Notes:

–Get tickets to The Dispatch’s post-election event, “What’s Next: Election 2020 and Beyond”

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  1. Avatar photo
    C C Writer

    Just catching up with my podcast listening.
    Jonah, you'd be quite useful in 18th-century America. You might not know all the technology, but you could found and run a newspaper, and help write the Federalist Papers.

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  2. Joe1776

    I don't mind if you don't want to talk about the Hunter Biden story. Not everyone needs to be interested in the same stories. But I don't like it when you run interference.

    I already said most of my views in your last piece or two. You refused to address any of them so I see no point in repeating them.

    Here I would just clarify what Bobulinski said. Bobulinski said the dispute was that he did not want Hunter using these Chinese "investment" money as Hunter's own personal piggy bank. If you were the CEO of an investment company you wouldn't want your partner using your investors money as a personal piggy bank either would you? Do you understand why? If you do then you understand what the issue Bobulinski had with them. That he had this dispute is documented in the emails.

    Bobulinski didn't get it. He didn't understand that the Chinese were not actually "investing" in anything they were just using this as a facade to give Joe Biden money. He eventually understood this and said he came to understand China was not interested in an ROI. So Bobulinski was naively trying to actually treat this like a legitimate investment company and trying to limit Hunter's access to the Chinese "investments" his company was supposed to manage. Everyone else understood that was not what was happening but poor Bobulinski seemed oblivious - at first. So the Bidens' cut him out of the deal and did the deal with out him involved.

    You are saying he is just upset that he was cut out of the deal. Well I think that played a role but I think he wanted to be in some sort of legitimate deal where he was actually *investing* the Chinese partner's money. But he eventually realized this whole deal was not a legitimate "investment business" and instead just way to buy influence from the Bidens. Bobyulinski thought the deal fell through. If the deal didn't happen he wouldn't have cared any more than you do. Since you apparently believe the deal didn't go through either.

    But then Bobulinski saw the deal actually did go through just without him. So he is concerned just like you should be. It's the same main players for the same amount of money. This is the same deal. It is Chinese giving the Bidens money under the guise of an "investment."

    Jonah, what were the Biden's selling? You can say they were "selling their name." But that is interesting way to put it, because China/CEFC couldn't use Joe Biden's name. Biden's involvement had to be kept secret! Normally when you sell your name the buyer can, well, use your name. So what were were the Chinese buying when they did this deal back in 2015?

    The obvious is answer is what Bobulinski says. They were buying political influence.

    For those of you interested in the story here is an article by Andrew McCarthy where he goes into a bit about who exactly was buying the influence.

    https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/10/a-collusion-tale-the-bidens-and-china/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=river&utm_content=featured-content-trending&utm_term=second

    Spoiler according to hunter Biden the buyer was “the f***ing spy chief of China”. You may think this is no big deal. But you admit Joe Biden was likely lying about his involvement. You try to dismiss his involvement as being for some illogical motivation but regardless, at least you can understand why people might be very interested in knowing what exactly happened. It is time the Bidens and others involved come clean. They can all plead the fifth if they want but the media pretending this has already been debunked or is a nothing burger is worse than any Russian misinformation effecting our elections that I have ever seen.

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    Dan Jett

    Jonah, keep up the great work. Listening to the Ruminant installment on Saturday while walking the dog or washing my car is simultaneously terrific relaxation and mind stimulation. I understand your inhibition re speaking into a microphone alone, but I learn so much listening to you. It’s like being back in a college philosophy class (which I loved, btw). Keep hope alive! (My favorite JJ quote!)

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    Deb4711

    Jonah, where did you learn German? You consistently choose just the right German words to make your point, usually with a nice edge of irony. And the fact that they're long and complicated adds to the impact.

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  5. Kevin Sunday

    Just a quick point on McConnell - he didn't get into the Senate primaries in force until 2014 (and this is something talked about in the Tim Alberta book, American Carnage). You had plenty of looney tunes come ahead in the primaries in 2010 and 2012 in what should have been winnable seats. The irony in all of that is that if McConnell was able to actually organize "The Establishment" in the 2012 Nevada primary to beat Sharron Angle (as he would do in subsequent cycles against bad general election candidates), Harry Reid (who had a very bad approval rating in the state) very well may have lost that year, and wouldn't be around in 2013 to nuke the judicial filibuster - leaving the door open for Cocaine Mitch to four years later remake the fedearl judiciary. Now maybe Schumer or Durbin would have ended the filibuster anyway, but I could see a reasonable argument that a fresh face as Senate Majority Leader is slow to pull that trigger 10 months into their new job. It's an interesting sliding doors scenario to think about.

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  6. Avatar photo
    Collin

    Jonah brought up the topic of Replubicans and cities. To dilate on that subject further, Republicans could actually do something about the riots and police that concern them, if they were actually involved in city politics.

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    CynthiaW

    Fun and informative as always.

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  8. ROBERT

    Ok, I remember now some of what i think were the more important things I tried to write the first time.
    Accumulated knowledge- the part where Jonah was discussing how useless he would be if he were to go back about 500 years in time. We all enjoy and benefit from a vast amount of accumulated knowledge- we use modern technology but know none of the details of how it works. I believe his point was that if you want to create something truly new then you first have to understand all of the details of how existing things actually work.
    For instance we all know Picasso's later work- the crazy stuff. But I once had an opportunity to see some of his early work in a museum exhibit. There is a vast array of huge beautiful paintings that are completely traditional and look exactly like many paintings from the past. Some of which were painted when Picasso was 17 years old. He mastered all of the details of traditional painting at an early age. He knew all of the rules before he began breaking them - and he always knew why he was breaking them. He built upon accumulated knowledge.
    We all know Einstein. But check out what he said about standing on the shoulders of James Clerk Maxwell. How many of us know of Maxwell? Or how about Michael Faraday- Maxwell was standing beside him. And both of them were standing on the shoulders of hundreds of scientists that came before them. They built upon accumulated knowledge.
    This makes me think of the role I believe The Dispatch is trying to play - imparting upon us a vast amount of accumulated knowledge about political engagement the responsibilities of good citizenship. They are using this accumulated knowledge to help us understand the importance of and some of the how to for conserving our nation's founding principles.
    I do my best to remember this whenever The Dispatch publishes an article containing opinions that I disagree with.

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  9. PJ Heyer

    Jonah - can you please use a column, or at least provide links, to expand on your points re: public unions, local election rules, and holidays? I am always surprised, in particular, by my NY/DC friends’ misunderstanding of the politics of teachers unions and local power

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  10. Scott Mc

    Jonah nice bounce back! As always this remains my weekly favorite. The great thing about this weeks was I was continuously worried you would go on twice as long as necessary on each subject but thankfully you read my mind and moved on well within a few minutes of my deep sighs. 😏😏😬😬
    Thank you for sharing your ideas every week. It always makes me a bit happier. With gratitude.

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