What it means is she’s a vapid ideology-free fame chaser desperately looking for an angle/ niche that she found by feeding fox-drunk losers stale right wing talking points. Glad I could clear that up. (I would tweet this at him but the ‘free speech’ lover has me blocked) Evolving on a few issues over time is called being human. A complete shift in focus & rapid change of ideology like a religious conversion over a short time is not. Tulsi couldn't even hit the softball of 'droning kids is bad' that Tucker threw at her. Shifted to 'Islamism bad'

The media response to Biden on Afghanistan is proof that they disliked Bernie bc of his policies. They're treating Biden the exact way they'd treat Bernie if he was president & he left Afghanistan. If you cross the establishment they don't care how many times you served them. "but Kyle they're just reporting true things that are happening" -- the issue is a matter of emphasis. There wasn't this hair on fire coverage when we learned we were funding & arming warlords with child sex slaves or when we hit RECORD civilian casualties just a few years ago.

Never in a million years would I have guessed that some on the left would oppose a vote on medicare for all during a pandemic where 300k people have died and 15+ million have lost their insurance. I'm genuinely astonished and disappointed. If you oppose the current plan to fight for medicare for all it's incumbent upon you to tell us what *your* plan is, in detail. When do you want the vote? What benchmarks have to be met before you call for the vote? Nobody against the current plan is answering these questions.

I'm gonna start tweeting good things but do it like Trump (thread)... MEDICARE FOR ALL!

I've deconverted a lot of people from the ugly right-wing pipeline & 1 of the things I've learned is there are no shortcuts in changing minds. It's a long arduous process that that requires thought, nuance & effort bc people are complex. Anyway keep shaming voters good luck! This is especially the case where identity is concerned. If people perceive you as attacking their being they just further retreat into the comfort of what they already know and they shut off to new ideas.

I see a lot of pushback to this but the letter is basically like hey please don't fire people or totally socially ostracize them for having questionable or fringe opinions. Disagree, but don't try to ruin their lives.

https://twitter.com/Mediaite/status/1280544057538818048

I think the letter is correct. I think critics are right to point out some of the people on the list being complete, disgusting hypocrites and not actually abiding by the principles laid out in the letter (Bari Weiss, for example)...

Trump's rally made clear that his strategy now for 2020 is lean into the culture war and try to tie Joe Biden to the far left. This is the worst strategy possible for him. It won't work. When you still have a pandemic, 20% real unemployment and tumultuous uprisings your bitching about statues and the fake news media being mean to you rings hollow. It's also obviously untrue that Biden is like pro-antifa or some shit. Embarrassing strategy.

You will never ever ever bring about real change from inside the system unless you're willing to be smeared and hated by your party leadership and corporate media. And I haven't seen a single elected lefty who is truly comfortable with that. All of the institutions perpetuating the status quo (media, party leadership, big business etc) are deeply unpopular. Their agenda is directly counter to what opinion polls show the American people want. Point that out, make your enemies known & the solutions known.

As a left-winger who will not vote for Biden I want you to know I'm 100% okay with you blaming me if Trump wins a second term. I mean it. Blame me. Then get to thinking real hard how you're gonna get me to support your candidate the next time! Maybe even ask me, I'll tell you! We shouldn't be defensive about this. If they're blaming us for Trump that's an admission that they need us to win. If they need us to win then they need to make concessions. Own it!

One of the biggest problems left wing leaders face is that they're generally naive about power. The 'unity' cries from neoliberals are a cynical ploy. It's never called out or treated as such. You can't win a democratic civil war by pretending it's not happening. Neoliberals win with technocratic maneuvering, using the levers of power. The left wins by harnessing and leveraging the power of movements and giant numbers of people. You can't sacrifice your biggest weapon.

So a guy working hard for the Bernie campaign had a PRIVATE account where he made jokes about the other candidates and shitposts, the media digs it up, writes a faux-outrage article on it, and the dude gets fired. I hate this shit. I feel terrible for Ben. The left needs a spine.

https://twitter.com/shoe0nhead/status/1232160472348184577

Bad faith smear merchants are unappeasable. You give them an inch, they'll take a foot. You validate their witch hunt by taking them seriously. They'll never give you credit or stop. They simply don't like you, this is divide and conquer. Brush them off and move on. Nobody cares.

A weird thing I always encounter in left circles: good people generally seem to think all criticism is genuine. There's a bizarre mental block into looking into motive, and how indeed some criticism is just a cynical ploy. It's not a coincidence that Bernie is the only candidate who is regularly asked to apologize for his supporters. Either:

1) his supporters are uniquely bad (lol), or
2) there's a dearth of material to criticize about him, so portraying his supporters as uniquely bad is strategic

Don't get why people are giving Chuck Todd credit here. Ron Johnson cites a specific politico article from 2017 that lays out how Hillary's campaign did the same thing Trump is doing now, namely getting dirt on political opponents (it's how we learned of Manafort's corruption)

https://twitter.com/MeetThePress/status/1180837420285214720

I mean, he's objectively correct that nobody gave a shit about it when Hillary did it. Sorry but that's just true. What Trump did is very bad and when you dismiss the same point about Hillary it does prove bias.

Holy shit this is grossly misleading. The framing of the question makes this a push poll. They were fishing for this response.

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1171807625987678208

If you ask about medicare for all, and you say it "eliminates private insurance completely" - support tanks. But if you follow that up with the accurate statement, "you get to keep your doctor and hospital" support instantly bounces back up. They of course left out the latter.

The Iraq War turns 16, here are the facts about it (some outdated, but still relevant):
- US soldiers killed: at least 4,400
- US soldiers injured (not including PTSD): 32,200
- civilians directly killed: 134,000
- indirect deaths from the invasion: 655,000
(1/?) Iraq War turns 16, facts about it (continued):
- reporters killed: 150
- 2.8 million: internally displaced or fled the country
- $1.7 trillion: direct war spending as of 2013
- $5,000: amount spent per second
- $490 billion: war benefits owed to vets
- $7 trillion: cost by 2053..

Incomplete list of policies dems can & should pursue:
- medicare for all
- living wage + right to a union
- free college
- end the wars
- public financing of elections
- no corporate pac $ & no big $ bundling pledge
- body cams on lobbyists
- green new deal
- new new deal Incomplete list of policies dems can & should pursue (cont):
- national direct ballot
- end the drug war
- release non-violent drug offenders
- social security for all (UBI)
- reinstate glass steagall
- penalize corporate outsourcing
- close tax havens
- prosecute wall st crimes

Thread: let’s talk about this flippant talking point from centrist Dems, and why it’s deeply unserious... 1) nobody on the left said the election of a literal Nazi was because of ‘economic anxiety’, nobody. It’s a straw man & cheap point...

I'm watching the Trump rally and it's a really bizarre experience. Here are my initial thoughts. (thread) It strikes me that the description of him as 'the fox news president' is very accurate. He's hopping from one right-wing bubble buzz-issue to the next, and getting applause lines in the process.