The Big Election Recap: I was right.

~ Laura

To remind everyone, I was NEVER a fan of Donald Trump. In late September, I wrote, “Obviously, I’m going to vote for Harris. I’m a left-tilting centrist, who would rather vote for a bowl of warm pudding over Donald Trump.“ 

But I was also never enthralled with Harris’s campaign. If found her to be a big “meh,” whose chief advantage was that she wasn’t Trump. I also saw weakness in the Democratic message during conversations with my neighbors and family, aka people who vote. 

Because I’m not in DC, I had a more realistic picture of this election than other pundits. A few years back, I hit a glass ceiling with punditry, because I couldn’t relocate to DC and was too old to be taken seriously by my 20-year old editors. Turns out being in the DC bubble was a liability. Who knew? 

Too many of the pros had their heads up their asses in this election and were genuinely surprised, despite the ominous polls. While I was momentarily swayed by the Harris good vibes, for the most part, I wrote about my worries for a year. Y’all need to listen to the old broads from Jersey. 

On July 15 — after the bad debate and the assignation attempt, but before the Harris replacement — I wrote that that Trump’s re-election seemed inevitable. The assignation turned him into a Messianic figure among his supporters, I said. But it wasn’t only about the assassination. I was also seeing surprising support among Suburban moms.

Read more at Apt. 11D, the newsletter

Published by Laura

6 thoughts on “The Big Election Recap: I was right.”

  1. I stopped respecting Joe Rogan completely after a secretary I know spent all her family’s savings to take her paralyzed son to Central America for a “miracle treatment” he touted on his show. I tried to talk her out of it, did a lot of research on my own to try to figure out if it had any legitimacy, encouraged her to talk to her son’s doctors, to no avail. No improvement for her son, of course, but I’m sure the conversation was awesome and entertaining for his listeners.

    I imagine Rogan would say he was just “presenting both sides” and “sticking it to the medical establishment” – but this will be the real result of RFK’ing health. That’s the least of my own personal worries right now – the purge of the military is much higher up – but whenever I hear about Rogan, that’s what I think of.

    af

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    1. Oh, Rogan is an IDIOT. Massive idiot. I’m listening to him, because he helped sway the election and I want to know what’s coming next.

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      1. It’s funny – because I loved NewsRadio (not specifically Rogan, but the whole show) for a long time I assumed his show was basically entertainment with a bit of news commentary thrown in.

        Someone on bluesky was asking about alternative podcasts because her husband enjoys Rogan but would be willing to listen to something else. I wonder how well the Smartless guys are doing – and if they can do more shows! Like, lots more shows. I think they recently sold their rights for a bunch of money. Maybe there’s a way to develop more long-form entertainment that isn’t so damaging. Could be lucrative for anyone who comes up with a good formula.

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  2. I have been reading opinion pieces since last week. I found this take to be interesting: https://www.profgalloway.com/the-podcast-election/

    I’ve never been able to get through a Rogan podcast; it’s too male for me. However, I do think that podcasts show that there is a huge audience for long-form interviews or lectures that established media houses are ignoring.

    Instead, my impression is that established media houses have been playing a long-term game of dumbing everything down to the lowest common denominator. However, take that with a grain of salt, as I “cut the cord” about 6 years ago. We stream 95% of our media consumption now. We also subscribe to about 10 newspapers, so we’re not cut off from news, just from broadcast stupidity.

    The Free Press has also had interesting pieces.

    Cranberry

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    1. Yeah, I couldn’t listen to Rogan the first two times I tried last year. It was too bro, too many inside jokes for me. And the IQ level was too low.

      But he definitely helped contribute to Trump’s win, so I feel like I should listen to him to find out what’s going to happen next.

      Yeah, totally agree with Scott on the impact of podcasts. Super interesting. Thanks for the link. I had just seen clips on Instagram, but missed the larger piece.

      I need to get a podcast.

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      1. I have found discussing the election with my children to be very interesting–particularly when it branches out to “life for young men right now.”

        For example, I raised the question of age verification for online p * rn with one of my sons. He had an interesting take–interesting because it was neither panic over its effect, nor laissez faire indifference. He said for most normal young men, it isn’t a big issue; certainly, some become addicted, but viewership counts show the average visit is something like 6 minutes (ahem.)

        However, he thinks that the age verification systems are a good idea, because in his opinion, the companies that control the content and/or its delivery, want to “catch” young viewers. Rather like providers of tobacco and alcohol have been accused of wanting to addict teens.

        I know you’ll be interested in this article, even if you haven’t seen it yet:https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/11/12/metro/boston-massachusetts-autism-dyslexia-students-private-school-special-education/?p1=Article_Inline_Related_Link

        Cranberry

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