Losing My Perspicacity November 8, 2024

Good morning and Happy Free Friday. I hope everyone is hanging in there despite what has turned out to be a truly awful week.

Given what’s transpired with media outlets over the last few weeks, I hope you’ll consider upgrading to a premium subscription. Legacy media owners like Jeff Bezos and dot com billionaires like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have already begun kissing Donald Trump’s ring. In the coming days, an independent media that holds Trump accountable will be more important than ever. I wish I could do this newsletter free for everyone every day but, like so many other out-of-work journalists, I have to find a way to make living, even though the media landscape has been decimated by layoffs and shuttered outlets. I know you’re being bombarded with requests for donations and support right now — I am, too. And I know that none of us have the money to give we wish we did.

Here’s my promise to you: I remember what it was like during the last Trump administration. I remember the sheer exhaustion of waking up every day dreading looking at the news. I remember how tired the raging at watching institutions that have defined our democracy tossed aside like Kleenex. I certainly don’t want to contribute to tanking anyone’s mental health or their strength to fight back. So I will do my level best not to bombard you with nothing but bad news each day. I will try to make you laugh. Where I can, I will tell you what you can do to push back against racism, sexism, restrictions on our reproductive freedoms, transphobia, and everything else that’s about to come barreling down the pipe from the White House. I promise to leave you each day on a hopeful note. Sometimes a funny one.

We are, all of us, in this together.

It’s the sexism, stupid

I was listening to the first few minutes of Pod Save America this morning, a podcast I generally like. If you’ve never listened, PSA is Crooked Media’s flagship show, and probably the most popular lefty political show out there. It’s hosted by a bunch of a men, and I listened for about 15 minutes to them break down why they believe Kamala Harris lost the race. They talked about the border issues, the economy, and the drag of having an unpopular President in office during a time of high inflation, which, by the way, is happening globally and has nothing to do with the President of the United States.

But not once in these 15 minutes or so did I hear these men talk about sexism. They mentioned Trump doing better across every demographic than he did in 2020, but never mentioned sexism/racism as a likely factor. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I’m sure plenty of people would jump up and say, “Wait a minute! I didn’t vote for her because of X, not because she’s a woman!” This is exactly what we heard with Hillary Clinton, with Elizabeth Warren, with Amy Klobuchar, with Kamala Harris running in 2020. It seems people are always willing to vote for the theoretical woman President, just not any of the women who have actually been up for the part. Funny, that.

There are subtle and not so subtle forms of sexism. There’s the Nick Fuentes “Your body, my choice” assholes who are talking about forming rape squadrons over on X. There are men who speak about women like they are lesser creatures who should be subservient to men, always. There’s the kind of sexism we often see from religious men, who talk about men needing to “lead” their women, couching the subservience in language from the Bible and making being a homemaker sound like the ultimate act of love for a ife to take on (ask any woman who’s done it, it’s the hardest, most thankless job in the world). We see these guys coming a mile away.

Then there are the men who purport to be allies. Perhaps they even think they’ve unlearned the sexism America ingrains in boys from birth. But they hold women in power to standards that are impossible to meet. They will always find a reason not to support a woman for a leadership position. Sure, they’ll always have an alternative reason for why they chose the man, but the end result is the same as the guy who flat-out says he’ll never vote for a woman. And it’s not just the men, internalized misogyny is rife among conservative women. If you watch Always Sunny, think of Charlie’s mom being afraid to fly when there’s a woman pilot.

Donald Trump was found to be a rapist by a jury of his peers and has been accused by dozens more women of various forms of sexual misconduct. He routinely calls women “dumb” and comments on their appearance. He’s admitted to groping and kissing women without their consent. He threatened to “protect” women “whether they like it or not.”

None of these things, which would have sunk the electability of any other candidate in history, was a dealbreaker to 72 million Americans, including many women. But Kamala Harris, in the limited role of Vice President to an unpopular President, was found to be lacking, despite being one of the most qualified candidates ever to run for the office. Despite economists telling Americans that her economic plan was better than Trump’s. Despite coming up with a road map to address some of America’s most pressing problems in only 100 days.

When a woman is required to sell every aspect of her candidacy and vision for her Presidency while the man is allowed to skate with “concepts of a plan,” that’s sexism. It’s the kind of sexism nearly every woman has experienced in the workplace, where she is handed an assignment at the last minute, forced to clean up the mess the man before her made, and is met with disappointment for not having done more. Those who voted for Trump can claim they aren’t sexist all they want. Their vote says otherwise. (Of course, I’m not dismissing the racism at play here, as well. But at least America has elected one Black president in 248. years.)

My fear now is that the Democrats will wait 20 years to run another woman, despite Harris having run an incredible and disciplined campaign. I weep for what where this country could be had Hillary and Kamala been voted into office. Instead, we keep sending not only mediocre but avaricious and morally deficient men to Washington. Then, the masses complain that the government doesn’t work for “regular people.” And around and around we go. Rinse and repeat.

How do you solve a problem like our media?

I wanted to touch on this briefly, as it’s something I’ve been thinking of a lot. I make a lot of Idiocracy jokes, but it’s whistling in the dark, as we now have the guy from Fear Factor (don’t you dare drag News Radio into this) and a guy on trial for sex trafficking influencing huge swaths of young men on the right. There is simply nothing on the left to counter it.

There was a time when guys like Charlie Kirk, Nick Fuentes, and Ben Shapiro were pathetic little wannabes that we all laughed at on social media. Now, they influence millions of young men and have the ear of Trump’s inner circle. The incels have entered the building, and nothing good will come of it. In hindsight, Gamergate was the herald of what was coming. (I hate tossing clicks to the latest iteration of Deadspin, but that really is the definitive GG article.)

I wanted to share a bit from Laura Bassett’s excellent newsletter, Nightcap:

The entire situation is horrifying. I’ve got some thoughts on how we got here, but I’ll save them for next week when (hopefully) my mind is clearer than the Golden Oreo and Diet Mountain Dew-addled mess it currently is. (Was I the only one who did the “calories don’t count this week” thing?) For now, I’ll just say this: For the love of God, please pay attention to what your kids are listening to.

A way forward

I’ll be blunt: I’m terrified about what the next four years will bring, even as a white woman in a blue state. It’s almost as if the intervening four years of Joe Biden caused people to forget how much damage Trump did while in office, and how much time the Biden administration had to spend putting things back where they belonged. I’m thinking of things like the regulations surrounding sexual assault and Title IX, which Trump allowed Betsy DeVos to gut, protecting fragile ecosystems and federal land that Trump had tried to auction off to the highest bidder, and even major policy milestones like student loan forgiveness and capping the price of insulin. Biden made short work of Trump in 2020 for a reason. That’s why I believe that harm mitigation should be the focus for the next four years. A lot of people are going to be put in painful situations.

All that said, one of the things I’m going to be doing going forward is sharing some organizations that you might wish to support, however you can, to help alleviate some of what is about to happen to the most vulnerable people in our country. If there’s an organization near and dear to your heart, please let me know and I’ll include it in a future newsletter. You can always email me at [email protected].

Planned Parenthood: When I was a poor law student with no health insurance, I went to PP for yearly exams, screenings, birth control, and every other mammary and gynecological need I had. As an adult with decent health insurance, I still give to PP whenever I can, in part because I want other young and disadvantaged women to have the same care I did, and in part to spite the jerks who stand outside my local PP and yell Bible verses at the women entering the clinic. I hate those guys.

ACLU: Growing up, calling someone a card-carrying member of the ACLU was an insult intended to convey that the target was too liberal for polite company. I’ve not always agreed with the cases the ACLU has taken up, but their mission is to protect and enforce the Constitution of the United States, not to seek my approval. Given that Trump has promised to prosecute his enemies (and the journalists among them), I imagine we’re going to see something like the House Un-American Activities Committee, and we’re desperately going to need the ACLU.

The Collette Louise Tisdahl Foundation Thanks to reader Mark Tisdahl, the co-founder of the organization along with his wife. Here’s how Mark describes the Foundation’s work:

“In 2018, our daughter Colette was born 4 months premature and survived for 9 days. In that experience, we started the Colette Louise Foundation. We give direct financial support to those dealing with pregnancy complications, NICU stays, and loss. In the 6 years we’ve been in operation, we’ve supported over 2600 families across all 50 states with more than $1,600,000. This enables families to follow doctors orders and take bedrest instead of working, get to and from the NICU, and bury/cremate when there is a loss. When Texas’ first abortion ban went into effect, about 2 weeks later our applications from Texas doubled. You can see more here.

We also have a fundraiser coming up next week where we still have tickets available and volunteer opportunities. It’s in Kenilworth on Thursday Nov 14 from 6-10 pm. 

You can see them here: https://colettelouise.com/night-at-the-races/”

Thanks to Mark for bringing this one to our attention.

The Trevor Project: The Trevor Project provides support, advocacy, counseling, and suicide and crisis intervention for the LGBTQ+ community and education for their allies and families. My feelings about the trans community were set when I learned that 50 percent of trans people attempted suicide. The Trevor Project aims to reduce that number to zero. I can’t think of a worthier purpose, particularly for trans kids in red states.

I promised to leave you on a positive note

• The NWSL playoff start this week. You can check out the full schedule and how to watch here.

• We finally have a method and price tag to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch:

• The FBI recovered the life savings of an entire small town when a local bank was taken in by a crypto-scam.

Finally, please enjoy this video of the incredible Olivia Coleman (you’ve all seen Broadchurch, right?) finally receiving the Blue Peter badge that evaded her in childhood. What a delight she is. I want to be her best friend.

And above all, remember:

Take care of those you love this weekend, and take care of yourselves. I’ll see you all on Monday.