David Roberts Profile picture
Jan 19 5 tweets 1 min read
I find pieces like this utterly surreal. Thousands of words on Biden's approval rating & at no point is the tone, tenor, or character of the media's coverage even *mentioned*. Everyone pretends voters are responding directly to what Biden actually does. washingtonpost.com/politics/biden…
The US political media treats itself as a transparent eyeball, simply reporting facts, not as a volitional agent directing the public's attention & coloring its perceptions. It's so common I don't think people even notice any more. But it's bizarre when you think about it.
The average individual's experience of most issues of political significance is 100% mediated. Even if you disagree with me about the character of the mediation in Biden's case (relentlessly negative), it's wild just to ignore mediation entirely as a factor.
I don't know how much this is institutionally reinforced by editors & owners vs. being internalized by journalists. I suspect some of both. If journalists acknowledge their own role then they have to take *responsibility* for it & its effects, and they really don't want to.
To take one familiar example (& then I'll shut up about this): I'm not aware of a single journalist who a) acknowledged the political effects of Her Emails coverage & b) acknowledged (much less lamented) their own role in driving that coverage. Is there one?

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More from @drvolts

Jan 18
The argument about "how far left" the Dem Party has moved conflates two separate questions. One is where the party is ideologically-- that is, what it would do if given the power to act freely. The other is about the party's political posture, ie, how hard it is willing to fight.
If you simply look at the policies that draw majority support among Democratic elected officials, there's no question that the party has moved left in the last several decades. Universal pre-K, CTC, massive climate industrial policy, etc. -- the BBB Act is incredibly ambitious.
It's the other question that draws most online heat: whether GOP opposition is a sharp limit on Dem ambition ... or whether Dems are in some sense complicit, giving up too easily, rolling over, not seriously committed to (&/or lying about) their stated policy goals.
Read 12 tweets
Jan 17
The most striking thing about the entire pandemic, to me, is the raw, spontaneous, primal anger some people felt at being asked to make personal sacrifices in the name of the public good -- a kind of gut-level anti-solidarity.
Most arguments about masks & other restrictions had that vibe to me -- people groping to reverse-engineer epidemiological arguments to justify what was, in essence, a pre-verbal feeling: "how DARE you ask me to sacrifice for the collective. I will NOT & you can't make me."
This is the only way to make sense of the endless string of often self-contradictory arguments about alternative treatments, "herd immunity," transmissibility, private vs. gov't mandates, etc. etc.
Read 5 tweets
Jan 15
Great piece from @tomperriello draws on his experiences in other countries struggling in the wake of civil wars, schisms, etc. to argue that accountability is vital. Simply "moving on" is a recipe for trouble. crooked.com/articles/democ…
While I think Perriello is right, I'm somewhat fatalistic, because it's not just about Jan. 6 -- the US has been through *decades* shaped by the lies & lawbreaking of powerful white men who escaped without a hint of accountability. The horse is already out of the barn.
I guess Watergate is the last example of accountability I can think of. Iran-Contra, S&L scandal, theft of 2000 election, Iraq War, torture, financial collapse, voter suppression ... these are just the big ones. You could fill a book with GWB-era fuckery that was never punished.
Read 8 tweets
Jan 14
So, y'all, I have a theory about Joe Manchin. To be clear up front, this is just deduction & speculation, not any kind of inside info. But I think it explains some otherwise puzzling facts. A thread.
Recall that, early in Biden's term, the common take on Manchin was: "He'll kick up a fuss, demand a few symbolic concessions, but in the end, he'll vote w/ Dems." And that take held true through the Covid relief bill, even through early BBB negotiations, until late last year.
Around autumn of last year, the vibe shifted from "grumpy guy in the caboose begrudgingly going along for the ride" to "asshole who's determined to stop the train." People in talks w/ Manchin about the BBB's clean energy standard say he went from constructive to obstinate.
Read 14 tweets
Jan 13
This seems like an opportune moment to reiterate my view that much of the behavior of rich/famous/powerful people that we ordinary folk find mystifying is best explained by the composition of their epistemic environments: who's around them, who they listen to.
When you become a US senator, it is incredibly easy to slip into a bubble where you're only talking to other senators, lobbyists, rich people, & lifer pundits. They all flatter your ego. You feel like you're seeing into some special inner circle that knows the *real* truth.
Read 8 tweets
Jan 13
The real problem is not the horrible things conservatives do. The real problem is other people holding them accountable. washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
I remember a whole series of studies & surveys around 2015-16ish finding that the most predictive factor for intensity of Trump support was hostility toward out groups, primarily women, minorities, & immigrants. Trump's cult consists of *self-selected sexists & racists*.
Some links -- and a lot of other interesting stuff I'd forgotten -- in this dazed piece that I wrote shortly after Trump was elected. vox.com/policy-and-pol…
Read 4 tweets

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