The election stories the press missed
A live election dialogue between me and Andy Borowitz in the Substack app
Today, I’ll be joined by
, fellow Substacker and author of , for a live conversation at 8am PT/11am ET. We’ll be talking about overlooked narratives and blind spots in media coverage in the lead up to the 2024 election, which, in light of last night’s Republican hate-rally in New York seems even more relevant.If you haven’t already, please subscribe to Andy’s Substack. He’s brilliantly funny and may be one of the few people on the planet to make you feel better during these extreme and extremely challenging times.
It would be great to have you there.
In the run-up to November, the Substack Election Dialogues are bringing together influential political figures, writers, and commentators for live video conversations on some the most consequential questions of the political moment.
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See you soon!
Mary
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I AM CONFUSED
As an avid follower of politics, I have witnessed the discussions and policy differences between competing sides in a number of countries.
I have witnessed the British Elections first hand as a student in London and was affected by Margaret Thatcher's pole tax and the significant opposition to it.
This election in the United States will be the first that I take active notice of what the discussions are on the various policies, and frankly, I am confused.
Prior to migrating to the US, I considered myself aligned to the Conservative ideals of the Republican party. In 2016, I was part of a group of Caribbean conservatives who were guests of the British Conservative Party, where we were coached on how to win elections, using big data, by none other than Alexander Knix.
Fast forward 8 years, and as a first-time voter and keen follower of politics, I am confused by the Republican Party led by Donald Trump. I'm trying to rap my mind around how the Party that believes in the "right to life" so easily supports the death penalty. How that same part abhors abortion but will not give families the means to support those children after they are born.
I'm trying to reconcile how the party that wants to legislate morality, is being led by an individual whose moral compass is so far off kilter that his supplicants must feign laughter when he openly describes the manhood of an American golf icon.
I'm a little concerned that trying to assess how, the party that once boasted fiscal conservatism, allowed Donald Trump to use quantitative easing to give tax breaks to the very wealthy, while increasing the American debt by more than any other President in one term.
More importantly, though, I am sincerely trying to reconcile how the same party that is seeking to control women and how they can live their lives is keen on removing government oversight on the conduct of business and the need to ensure that necessary regulatory control of business practices are destroyed.
Finally, how can conservatives embrace a morally bankrupt individual and his numerous distasteful utterances, while they completely ignore that teachings of the bible and Christ like conduct.
I'm confused that the party that touts “America first” is banrolled by and pushing the agenda of an Australian media magnate and a South African former illegal alien whose Agendas are personal.
Listening to Republicans try to normalize Trump's hateful rhetoric, laced with racism, misogyny, anti-Semitic tropes, pure puerile pique, and outright dirty old man talk, I am reminded of the following Australian advice. "If it wags its tail and barks, its a dog, stop trying to convince yourself that it's a kangaroo with an attitude problem."
I am confused because of all of these any many other issues.
First time voter
Yesterday, buried within the hate-filled spewings of Trump's legion of right-wing celebrity followers at his Madison Square Garden rally, that was designed to mimic the Nazi rally in that very same venue on February 20, 1939, was a curious denial by Donald Trump.
Trump, out of nowhere, voluntarily denied that he had ever read Hitler's "Mein Kampf". Perhaps this was in response to the widely-circulated report that his late first wife, Ivana, stated that he had kept a copy of it by his bedside.
I think that the true reason for why he volunteered this denial was to take great pride and credit in claiming that he himself thought of and has weaponzied the two most important learnings from "Mein Kampf":
Matthew Parris ( former Member of Parliament) in "Scorn" quotes:
"Only constant repetition will finally succeed in imprinting an idea on the memory of the crowd". (Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf)
"The broad mass of a nation … will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one." (Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf).
That Trump has rarely, if ever, come up with an original thought suggests that his first wife was right after all.