Firehose #103: They Gaslit You

Also: Bootleg fan merch FTW!

I was this past week talking to the charming wife of a well-known podcaster and former Fifth Column guest, and the subject came up of podcast tours. “Oh, if it was up to me, we’d be touring constantly between now and the election,” I said (quote horribly inexact; sue me). “It’d be kinda like a Grateful Dead situation, what with the crazy fan merch & commerce.” Granted, I had already seen a version of the above image, from beloved listener Nika Scothorne (formerly known as Not a True Scotsman), but also I just know from experience how you crazy mothers behave in the wild. Let’s goooo!!!!! (And yes, there will be some officially sanctioned Fif’ shirts/hats in Chicago as well.)

* I went Friday night on CNN’s NewsNight program hosted by Abby Phillip. They have recently switched to the same-panel-all-hour format that some of my favorite former TV haunts (MSNBC’s Up and Melissa Harris Perry; Fox News’s Red Eye, The Blaze’s Real News) used to do, but have increasingly retreated from in the era of cable-as-cope. With fellow co-panelists S.E. Cupp, former Kamala Harris comms guy Jamal Simmons, former Trump White House communication director Mike Dubke, and Daily Beast Chief Content Officer Joanna Coles, I chewed the cud on campaign 2024’s remarkable reversal of fortune, the stumbles of J.D. Vance, the underappreciated swing bloc of former third party voters, and whether Ben Carson was on to anything when he complained that the media was turning Harris into a “god-like figure.”

Very much channeling Fifth listener Mark V., who earlier that day wrote us an email under the subject line “The nonstop Kamala Harris lovefest by the MSM is, quite frankly, gross and only further cements my desire to rage-vote for Trump,” I disagreed with my co-panelists about ol’ Gifted Hands’s main point:

Here is our segment on Vance:

And, via the ministrations of Busty Wimsatt, here’s a supercut of me yakking:

* Before Moynihan jetted off to Italy for R&R, The Free Press squeezed one last video out of him, a quickie post-Biden-dropout reaction interview with former Democratic primary challenger Rep. Dean Phillips:

* Let’s get Kmele in on the fun. The Free Press et al have finally released the full video of KF’s tag-team June debate with Lara Bazelon (vet of Episodes #357, #369, #417) and against Michael Shellenberger and Seneca Scott over whether criminal justice reform has made cities unsafe:

* Axios political reporter and Members Only #215 redeemer Alex Thompson went on Reason’s Just Asking Questions podcast this past week to talk with co-hosts Zach Weissmueller and Liz Wolfe about “the internal politics behind Biden's decision to drop out, the prospects for Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement in the 2024 presidential race, the media's insistence that Harris was not the president's ‘border czar,’ and the reluctance of former President Barack Obama to endorse Harris…. Liz and Zach also react to Biden’s exit speech, Harris’ recent rally, and musician Charli XCX endorsing Harris as ‘brat.’”

* Did someone (too many people, really) say “brat”? New Free Press columnist Kat Rosenfield (#448) explored the meme so you don’t have to, along the way explaining my own 16-year-old daughter to me:

In her ambition, the brat is clearly the heir to the throne left vacant by the girlboss, who was famously toppled in 2020 for being an avatar of problematic white feminism. But where the girlboss had to strive for her success, the brat simply expects it. The idea that she should have to earn the things she wants, rather than having them handed to her, is not just an affront; it is unfathomable. Don’t you understand? She wants it! She wants it now!

As such, the brat is a living embodiment of feminism as imagined by Gen Z, as infantilizing as it is superficial. She is the “if you can’t handle me at my worst, you don’t deserve me at my best” meme that used to circulate on Facebook in the early 2000s, except now she’s dancing on TikTok in a green vinyl miniskirt. Brats are selfish, self-involved, superficial, and careless with other people’s feelings—and convinced that in being like this, they are living their best lives. In her purest form, the brat marries the arrogance of a demanding toddler with the self-conscious slyness of an adult scam artist. She knows she’s behaving badly; she just thinks she should get away with it.

(Unrelated pic of Kat copy editing bridges in Cooperstown)

* Also going hmmmm at the euphoric media coverage of Kween Kamala is Fif’ den mother Nancy Rommelmann (#79, Special Dispatch #27, S.D. #30, #198, #203, S.D. #34, S.D. #50, S.D. #64, S.D. #111), whose pie-making Spidey sense (pie-dy sense?) went to max tingle after we suddenly learned this week about our Top Chef Veep:

I imagine the country’s editors working double-time, trawling for stories that made the vice-president look, if not cuddly, then at least relatable, and didn’t she do some cooking thing a few years ago?

Which is how we wound up with multiple national reporters snorting up what crumbs they could from a short-lived “Cooking With Kamala” series on YouTube, in which -- spoiler alert -- the only item Harris herself cooks to completion is a tuna sandwich.

(Unrelated pic of Nancy traipsing through the grass in Cooperstown)

* Probably the best single Harris-criticism I read this week came from our friend Andrew Sullivan (#139, #200 & #449), titled “The Kamala Chimera.” Excerpt:

[S]he is a world-historically bad manager of people. That’s not my view or the view of the GOP. It’s the view of almost everyone who ever worked for her. In just her first year-and-a-half as veep, Harris lost her chief of staff, communications director, domestic-policy adviser, and national security adviser. After three years, she had a 92 percent staff turnover! Only 4 out of an original 47 could stick it out.

She wasn’t much better in the Senate, ranking #9 out of 114 for highest turnover from 2017 to 2020. Her presidential campaign was plagued by in-fighting, family members — her sister, Maya, in particular — pulling rank, constant leaks to the press, strategic incoherence, and endless resignations and layoffs. She blew threw $40 million and had to pull out two months before Iowa. “You can’t run the country if you can’t run your campaign,” wrote Gil Duran, a former staffer.

If you want to read a classic examination of how not to run a political campaign, check out the NYT’s retrospective piece. It’s brutal. Think of how Obama ran his campaigns. Now imagine the exact, polar opposite. That’s All-Drama Kamala. And all the staffers echo the same complaint: she doesn’t do her homework and then berates aides who try to help her. She was vindictive and toxic as an employer. In greasy pole Washington, attaching yourself to a veep is a rare chance for access to power, a jewel in the careerist crown. And yet so many ambitious and previously successful people simply couldn’t work for Harris without quitting in bitterness and disdain.

* Feel like we need a super-paragraph to get in Fifdom-world work related to this past week’s crazy political news. Matt Taibbi (#226, #348) picks up the gaslighting theme, in a piece headlined “Meet the New Lies, Same as the Old Lies.” Similar stuff from Bari Weiss (#89, #115, #159, #180 & #187): “The Era of the Noble Lie.” Ben Dreyfuss (#83, #97, #148, #214, M.O. #129, M.O. #140, #392, M.O. #180) wrote about his boyfriend Joe Biden, in a piece most notable for the character in the lede. Fave non-blonde negee Olivia Reingold (#459) interviewed a bunch of Democratic delegates as they were transitioning from grumpy Biden support to full-on membership in the K-Hive. Mike Pesca (#343, #418) interviewed Jonah Goldberg (#182) about Biden’s dropout speech. Speaking of which, alert listener Bill Duross discovered that David Letterman pre-taped a Top 10 list about Biden dropping out 37 years ago:

* Events? How about this one!

In addition: The next SoHo Forum debate, on Aug. 12 in NYC, is on the question “Among the candidates actively running for President in November, Donald Trump is the best choice.” Combatants are … curvy economist Art Laffer, and Libertarian presidential nominee Chase Oliver! On Aug. 25 in Sydney, Australia, Josh Szeps (#25, #80, #103, #117, #196, #328, #423, #445) is bringing out Coleman Hughes (#121, #144, #181, #188, #201, #379, #412 & #442) for his “Festival of Dangerous Ideas.” Also, I see that the (unofficial/independent!) Book Club is meeting Aug. 4 to discuss Martin Amis’s The Zone of Interest.

(Unrelated pic of Jaye dominating at gin rummy at the VFW bar in Cooperstown)

Oh: Anyone in the mood for a Fifdom meet-up in Pittsburgh on either Aug. 11 or 12? Me & Nancy R. might be stopping through Steel City on the way to Chicago…. Please indicate interest and potential venues in the comments.

* Re: Kmele’s great (unnumbered!) Special Dispatch with the late Steve Albini: The legendary audio engineer’s work takes up about half of the 40s in my summer playlist. Also, here’s the Big Think episode in which Albini was featured:

* Comment of the Week, with one spelling correction from me, comes from kkmoresi:

Okay Kmele you asked for thoughts & comments so here comes a truckload lol :-). Some things that came to my mind in no particular order:

--regarding the notion of our desire for artists to suffer as a prerequisite for their art, for some reason I'm reminded of an interview I once did as a writer with a hospice director who's statement always stayed with me: "It's a privilege to be with someone who is dying." When we share life's most intimate moments (the "thin times" as my favorite Episcopal priest used to call them, a Celtic notion I think) it's a tremendous privilege which can be seen as a gift to both the audience and the performer rather than a demanded blood sacrifice

--His dedication to helping artists craft their own sound vs. putting his trademark "stamp" on the work was admirable; no Albini *wall of sound* lol

--I loved punk rock (still do) and I traveled on the edges of that scene via a double-life while a young professional; that included seeing the Johnny/Joey/DeeDee/Tommy lineup of the Ramones at the Agora Ballroom in Atlanta, Georgia back in the day; I understand from elsewhere that they were Albini's gateway drug too (many such cases :-)

--Albini's recollection of recording the band Sunn O)))'s extreme music brought to mind controversial British industrial rocker Genesis P -orridge and his band Throbbing Gristle, who's shows and even recorded music, it's said, would cause numerous audience members to throw up (not my cup of tea but if you're looking to provoke a visceral reaction then mission accomplished I guess)

--As a self-proclaimed *creative* who's also a pragmatist I appreciate Albini's pretty utilitarian (contrarian?) views on "meaning"

--His comment about the normie with a giant playlist full of a wide variety of both popular & obscure music from many genreseras made me feel seen🙋‍♀️

--as mentioned elsewhere here his comment about being an 80 year-old was very poignant💔

--My autocorrect has continually insisted that I want to say Albino :-/

Thanks again Kmele!

Walkoff music, from the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, emptied my eyes of fluid. Looks like you’ll have to double-click it: