they aren't keeping a muzzle on him. he just doesn't desire the camera like trump did. that's not the presidential norm.
That’s a good thing, for sure. But they’re definitely keeping a muzzle on him. I mean the guy barely campaigned.
In other news I enjoy the golf references too- Biden is like 140 years old, he couldn’t play golf more than once a week even if he wanted to. He’s old- that’s not his fault, but he has a tough time remembering how to dress himself let alone the number of shots it took him to get out of a trap. Comparing Biden who can’t walk without assistance to trump who owns golf courses and likes to play at them is not comparable other than they were both presidents.
can't walk without assistance? come on, now, you're just doing your best at trolling here. trump hasn't golfed without a cart since the 80's, if ever. biden routinely cycles and runs and the most movement trump does is his Double Hand Job Dance.
Trump, in perhaps his most egregious violation of social norms, drives his cart on the GREEN.
If near the end of my life the biggest complaint on a social norm someone had for me was how I drove a golf cart, I'd consider myself a pretty good person. But I don't think that was his biggest infraction on social norms.
Yeah no shit.
Never underestimate how seriously golfers take etiquette.
1995 Milwaukee 1998 Alpine, Alpine 2003 Albany, Boston, Boston, Boston 2004 Boston, Boston 2006 Hartford, St. Paul (Petty), St. Paul (Petty) 2011 Alpine, Alpine 2013 Wrigley 2014 St. Paul 2016 Fenway, Fenway, Wrigley, Wrigley 2018 Missoula, Wrigley, Wrigley 2021 Asbury Park 2022 St Louis 2023 Austin, Austin
they aren't keeping a muzzle on him. he just doesn't desire the camera like trump did. that's not the presidential norm.
That’s a good thing, for sure. But they’re definitely keeping a muzzle on him. I mean the guy barely campaigned.
In other news I enjoy the golf references too- Biden is like 140 years old, he couldn’t play golf more than once a week even if he wanted to. He’s old- that’s not his fault, but he has a tough time remembering how to dress himself let alone the number of shots it took him to get out of a trap. Comparing Biden who can’t walk without assistance to trump who owns golf courses and likes to play at them is not comparable other than they were both presidents.
can't walk without assistance? come on, now, you're just doing your best at trolling here. trump hasn't golfed without a cart since the 80's, if ever. biden routinely cycles and runs and the most movement trump does is his Double Hand Job Dance.
Trump, in perhaps his most egregious violation of social norms, drives his cart on the GREEN.
If near the end of my life the biggest complaint on a social norm someone had for me was how I drove a golf cart, I'd consider myself a pretty good person. But I don't think that was his biggest infraction on social norms.
Yeah no shit.
Never underestimate how seriously golfers take etiquette.
I mean...its literally one of the worst things you can do on a golf course. Nobody even thinks of driving a cart on a green.
they aren't keeping a muzzle on him. he just doesn't desire the camera like trump did. that's not the presidential norm.
That’s a good thing, for sure. But they’re definitely keeping a muzzle on him. I mean the guy barely campaigned.
In other news I enjoy the golf references too- Biden is like 140 years old, he couldn’t play golf more than once a week even if he wanted to. He’s old- that’s not his fault, but he has a tough time remembering how to dress himself let alone the number of shots it took him to get out of a trap. Comparing Biden who can’t walk without assistance to trump who owns golf courses and likes to play at them is not comparable other than they were both presidents.
can't walk without assistance? come on, now, you're just doing your best at trolling here. trump hasn't golfed without a cart since the 80's, if ever. biden routinely cycles and runs and the most movement trump does is his Double Hand Job Dance.
Trump, in perhaps his most egregious violation of social norms, drives his cart on the GREEN.
If near the end of my life the biggest complaint on a social norm someone had for me was how I drove a golf cart, I'd consider myself a pretty good person. But I don't think that was his biggest infraction on social norms.
Yeah no shit.
Never underestimate how seriously golfers take etiquette.
I mean...its literally one of the worst things you can do on a golf course. Nobody even thinks of driving a cart on a green.
And that's really what I was getting at. Even if in a setting like golf, he can't bring himself to follow the rules that EVERYBODY ELSE follows.
they aren't keeping a muzzle on him. he just doesn't desire the camera like trump did. that's not the presidential norm.
That’s a good thing, for sure. But they’re definitely keeping a muzzle on him. I mean the guy barely campaigned.
In other news I enjoy the golf references too- Biden is like 140 years old, he couldn’t play golf more than once a week even if he wanted to. He’s old- that’s not his fault, but he has a tough time remembering how to dress himself let alone the number of shots it took him to get out of a trap. Comparing Biden who can’t walk without assistance to trump who owns golf courses and likes to play at them is not comparable other than they were both presidents.
can't walk without assistance? come on, now, you're just doing your best at trolling here. trump hasn't golfed without a cart since the 80's, if ever. biden routinely cycles and runs and the most movement trump does is his Double Hand Job Dance.
Trump, in perhaps his most egregious violation of social norms, drives his cart on the GREEN.
If near the end of my life the biggest complaint on a social norm someone had for me was how I drove a golf cart, I'd consider myself a pretty good person. But I don't think that was his biggest infraction on social norms.
Yeah no shit.
Never underestimate how seriously golfers take etiquette.
I mean...its literally one of the worst things you can do on a golf course. Nobody even thinks of driving a cart on a green.
And that's really what I was getting at. Even if in a setting like golf, he can't bring himself to follow the rules that EVERYBODY ELSE follows.
oh pshaw. hes just driving on his yard... it IS his home.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
they aren't keeping a muzzle on him. he just doesn't desire the camera like trump did. that's not the presidential norm.
That’s a good thing, for sure. But they’re definitely keeping a muzzle on him. I mean the guy barely campaigned.
In other news I enjoy the golf references too- Biden is like 140 years old, he couldn’t play golf more than once a week even if he wanted to. He’s old- that’s not his fault, but he has a tough time remembering how to dress himself let alone the number of shots it took him to get out of a trap. Comparing Biden who can’t walk without assistance to trump who owns golf courses and likes to play at them is not comparable other than they were both presidents.
can't walk without assistance? come on, now, you're just doing your best at trolling here. trump hasn't golfed without a cart since the 80's, if ever. biden routinely cycles and runs and the most movement trump does is his Double Hand Job Dance.
Trump, in perhaps his most egregious violation of social norms, drives his cart on the GREEN.
If near the end of my life the biggest complaint on a social norm someone had for me was how I drove a golf cart, I'd consider myself a pretty good person. But I don't think that was his biggest infraction on social norms.
Yeah no shit.
Never underestimate how seriously golfers take etiquette.
I mean...its literally one of the worst things you can do on a golf course. Nobody even thinks of driving a cart on a green.
And that's really what I was getting at. Even if in a setting like golf, he can't bring himself to follow the rules that EVERYBODY ELSE follows.
oh pshaw. hes just driving on his yard... it IS his home.
I had shown my father the picture of Trump driving on the green once. Months later as the 2020 election neared, Jack Nicklaus (a hero of my father's) came out and endorsed Trump. My father was appalled Jack would do that. Not because he thinks Trump is awful (though he does, and was the only one in his neighborhood with a Biden sign in his yard), but how can Jack possibly endorse someone that would drive his cart on the green?
they aren't keeping a muzzle on him. he just doesn't desire the camera like trump did. that's not the presidential norm.
That’s a good thing, for sure. But they’re definitely keeping a muzzle on him. I mean the guy barely campaigned.
In other news I enjoy the golf references too- Biden is like 140 years old, he couldn’t play golf more than once a week even if he wanted to. He’s old- that’s not his fault, but he has a tough time remembering how to dress himself let alone the number of shots it took him to get out of a trap. Comparing Biden who can’t walk without assistance to trump who owns golf courses and likes to play at them is not comparable other than they were both presidents.
can't walk without assistance? come on, now, you're just doing your best at trolling here. trump hasn't golfed without a cart since the 80's, if ever. biden routinely cycles and runs and the most movement trump does is his Double Hand Job Dance.
Trump, in perhaps his most egregious violation of social norms, drives his cart on the GREEN.
If near the end of my life the biggest complaint on a social norm someone had for me was how I drove a golf cart, I'd consider myself a pretty good person. But I don't think that was his biggest infraction on social norms.
Yeah no shit.
Never underestimate how seriously golfers take etiquette.
I mean...its literally one of the worst things you can do on a golf course. Nobody even thinks of driving a cart on a green.
And that's really what I was getting at. Even if in a setting like golf, he can't bring himself to follow the rules that EVERYBODY ELSE follows.
oh pshaw. hes just driving on his yard... it IS his home.
I had shown my father the picture of Trump driving on the green once. Months later as the 2020 election neared, Jack Nicklaus (a hero of my father's) came out and endorsed Trump. My father was appalled Jack would do that. Not because he thinks Trump is awful (though he does, and was the only one in his neighborhood with a Biden sign in his yard), but how can Jack possibly endorse someone that would drive his cart on the green?
they aren't keeping a muzzle on him. he just doesn't desire the camera like trump did. that's not the presidential norm.
That’s a good thing, for sure. But they’re definitely keeping a muzzle on him. I mean the guy barely campaigned.
In other news I enjoy the golf references too- Biden is like 140 years old, he couldn’t play golf more than once a week even if he wanted to. He’s old- that’s not his fault, but he has a tough time remembering how to dress himself let alone the number of shots it took him to get out of a trap. Comparing Biden who can’t walk without assistance to trump who owns golf courses and likes to play at them is not comparable other than they were both presidents.
can't walk without assistance? come on, now, you're just doing your best at trolling here. trump hasn't golfed without a cart since the 80's, if ever. biden routinely cycles and runs and the most movement trump does is his Double Hand Job Dance.
Trump, in perhaps his most egregious violation of social norms, drives his cart on the GREEN.
If near the end of my life the biggest complaint on a social norm someone had for me was how I drove a golf cart, I'd consider myself a pretty good person. But I don't think that was his biggest infraction on social norms.
Yeah no shit.
Never underestimate how seriously golfers take etiquette.
I mean...its literally one of the worst things you can do on a golf course. Nobody even thinks of driving a cart on a green.
And that's really what I was getting at. Even if in a setting like golf, he can't bring himself to follow the rules that EVERYBODY ELSE follows.
oh pshaw. hes just driving on his yard... it IS his home.
I had shown my father the picture of Trump driving on the green once. Months later as the 2020 election neared, Jack Nicklaus (a hero of my father's) came out and endorsed Trump. My father was appalled Jack would do that. Not because he thinks Trump is awful (though he does, and was the only one in his neighborhood with a Biden sign in his yard), but how can Jack possibly endorse someone that would drive his cart on the green?
what an odd breaking point.
It's a joke. All of this golf cart stuff is a joke.
they aren't keeping a muzzle on him. he just doesn't desire the camera like trump did. that's not the presidential norm.
That’s a good thing, for sure. But they’re definitely keeping a muzzle on him. I mean the guy barely campaigned.
In other news I enjoy the golf references too- Biden is like 140 years old, he couldn’t play golf more than once a week even if he wanted to. He’s old- that’s not his fault, but he has a tough time remembering how to dress himself let alone the number of shots it took him to get out of a trap. Comparing Biden who can’t walk without assistance to trump who owns golf courses and likes to play at them is not comparable other than they were both presidents.
can't walk without assistance? come on, now, you're just doing your best at trolling here. trump hasn't golfed without a cart since the 80's, if ever. biden routinely cycles and runs and the most movement trump does is his Double Hand Job Dance.
Trump, in perhaps his most egregious violation of social norms, drives his cart on the GREEN.
If near the end of my life the biggest complaint on a social norm someone had for me was how I drove a golf cart, I'd consider myself a pretty good person. But I don't think that was his biggest infraction on social norms.
Yeah no shit.
Never underestimate how seriously golfers take etiquette.
I mean...its literally one of the worst things you can do on a golf course. Nobody even thinks of driving a cart on a green.
And that's really what I was getting at. Even if in a setting like golf, he can't bring himself to follow the rules that EVERYBODY ELSE follows.
oh pshaw. hes just driving on his yard... it IS his home.
I had shown my father the picture of Trump driving on the green once. Months later as the 2020 election neared, Jack Nicklaus (a hero of my father's) came out and endorsed Trump. My father was appalled Jack would do that. Not because he thinks Trump is awful (though he does, and was the only one in his neighborhood with a Biden sign in his yard), but how can Jack possibly endorse someone that would drive his cart on the green?
what an odd breaking point.
It's a joke. All of this golf cart stuff is a joke.
It's a joke.. but totally consistent with his personality.
they aren't keeping a muzzle on him. he just doesn't desire the camera like trump did. that's not the presidential norm.
That’s a good thing, for sure. But they’re definitely keeping a muzzle on him. I mean the guy barely campaigned.
In other news I enjoy the golf references too- Biden is like 140 years old, he couldn’t play golf more than once a week even if he wanted to. He’s old- that’s not his fault, but he has a tough time remembering how to dress himself let alone the number of shots it took him to get out of a trap. Comparing Biden who can’t walk without assistance to trump who owns golf courses and likes to play at them is not comparable other than they were both presidents.
can't walk without assistance? come on, now, you're just doing your best at trolling here. trump hasn't golfed without a cart since the 80's, if ever. biden routinely cycles and runs and the most movement trump does is his Double Hand Job Dance.
Trump, in perhaps his most egregious violation of social norms, drives his cart on the GREEN.
If near the end of my life the biggest complaint on a social norm someone had for me was how I drove a golf cart, I'd consider myself a pretty good person. But I don't think that was his biggest infraction on social norms.
Yeah no shit.
Never underestimate how seriously golfers take etiquette.
I mean...its literally one of the worst things you can do on a golf course. Nobody even thinks of driving a cart on a green.
And that's really what I was getting at. Even if in a setting like golf, he can't bring himself to follow the rules that EVERYBODY ELSE follows.
oh pshaw. hes just driving on his yard... it IS his home.
I had shown my father the picture of Trump driving on the green once. Months later as the 2020 election neared, Jack Nicklaus (a hero of my father's) came out and endorsed Trump. My father was appalled Jack would do that. Not because he thinks Trump is awful (though he does, and was the only one in his neighborhood with a Biden sign in his yard), but how can Jack possibly endorse someone that would drive his cart on the green?
what an odd breaking point.
It's a joke. All of this golf cart stuff is a joke.
It's a joke.. but totally consistent with his personality.
Oh it totally is. It's as telling about him as anything he's ever done. But "his most egregious violation of social norms" or my dad being "appalled" by Nicklaus is a joke.
they aren't keeping a muzzle on him. he just doesn't desire the camera like trump did. that's not the presidential norm.
That’s a good thing, for sure. But they’re definitely keeping a muzzle on him. I mean the guy barely campaigned.
In other news I enjoy the golf references too- Biden is like 140 years old, he couldn’t play golf more than once a week even if he wanted to. He’s old- that’s not his fault, but he has a tough time remembering how to dress himself let alone the number of shots it took him to get out of a trap. Comparing Biden who can’t walk without assistance to trump who owns golf courses and likes to play at them is not comparable other than they were both presidents.
can't walk without assistance? come on, now, you're just doing your best at trolling here. trump hasn't golfed without a cart since the 80's, if ever. biden routinely cycles and runs and the most movement trump does is his Double Hand Job Dance.
Trump, in perhaps his most egregious violation of social norms, drives his cart on the GREEN.
If near the end of my life the biggest complaint on a social norm someone had for me was how I drove a golf cart, I'd consider myself a pretty good person. But I don't think that was his biggest infraction on social norms.
Yeah no shit.
Never underestimate how seriously golfers take etiquette.
I mean...its literally one of the worst things you can do on a golf course. Nobody even thinks of driving a cart on a green.
And that's really what I was getting at. Even if in a setting like golf, he can't bring himself to follow the rules that EVERYBODY ELSE follows.
oh pshaw. hes just driving on his yard... it IS his home.
I had shown my father the picture of Trump driving on the green once. Months later as the 2020 election neared, Jack Nicklaus (a hero of my father's) came out and endorsed Trump. My father was appalled Jack would do that. Not because he thinks Trump is awful (though he does, and was the only one in his neighborhood with a Biden sign in his yard), but how can Jack possibly endorse someone that would drive his cart on the green?
what an odd breaking point.
It's a joke. All of this golf cart stuff is a joke.
It's a joke.. but totally consistent with his personality.
Oh it totally is. It's as telling about him as anything he's ever done. But "his most egregious violation of social norms" or my dad being "appalled" by Nicklaus is a joke.
I'm a huge Nicklaus guy. My main reason for rooting against Tiger was about Jack's records. He is a buckeye and dotted the I. That being said, his support of Trump has both vexed and troubled me. I don't get it.
"Commander in Cheat" by Rick Reilly is a great read. Short and breezy. But it really gives you an insight into this morally bankrupt human being by telling a bunch of stories about him on the golf course over the years. You can learn a lot about someone by how they act on a golf course.
"Commander in Cheat" by Rick Reilly is a great read. Short and breezy. But it really gives you an insight into this morally bankrupt human being by telling a bunch of stories about him on the golf course over the years. You can learn a lot about someone by how they act on a golf course.
i heard his favorite club is the foot wedge.
"You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry." - Lincoln
"Commander in Cheat" by Rick Reilly is a great read. Short and breezy. But it really gives you an insight into this morally bankrupt human being by telling a bunch of stories about him on the golf course over the years. You can learn a lot about someone by how they act on a golf course.
i heard his favorite club is the foot wedge.
Lol....one story that comes to mind is from Mike Tirico, the ESPN/NBC sports announcer. He was playing with Trump and John Gruden back when they did Monday Night Football.
Tirico talked about this one par 5 where he hit his second shot with his 3 wood from the fairway flush. Absolutely crushed it. Best shot of his life and it appeared to have landed right in the middle of the green by the hole. His caddie even high fived him and they thought he may have actually holed it. So he was so excited to see where it was on the green. He said Trump's shot was decent too but not on the green. But, of course, Trump got to the green well before anyone else because he was the only using a cart. Anyway, instead of Tirico's ball being in Eagle territory on the green, it was 50 yards to the left in a bunker. Of course Trump's ball was right on the green. Took Tirico a couple tries to get out of the sand and he finished with a 7 instead of having a shot at an Eagle 3.
After the round, Trump's caddie told Tirico that he watched Trump pick up Tirico's ball and throw it in the bunker.
they aren't keeping a muzzle on him. he just doesn't desire the camera like trump did. that's not the presidential norm.
That’s a good thing, for sure. But they’re definitely keeping a muzzle on him. I mean the guy barely campaigned.
In other news I enjoy the golf references too- Biden is like 140 years old, he couldn’t play golf more than once a week even if he wanted to. He’s old- that’s not his fault, but he has a tough time remembering how to dress himself let alone the number of shots it took him to get out of a trap. Comparing Biden who can’t walk without assistance to trump who owns golf courses and likes to play at them is not comparable other than they were both presidents.
can't walk without assistance? come on, now, you're just doing your best at trolling here. trump hasn't golfed without a cart since the 80's, if ever. biden routinely cycles and runs and the most movement trump does is his Double Hand Job Dance.
Trump, in perhaps his most egregious violation of social norms, drives his cart on the GREEN.
If near the end of my life the biggest complaint on a social norm someone had for me was how I drove a golf cart, I'd consider myself a pretty good person. But I don't think that was his biggest infraction on social norms.
Yeah no shit.
Never underestimate how seriously golfers take etiquette.
I mean...its literally one of the worst things you can do on a golf course. Nobody even thinks of driving a cart on a green.
And that's really what I was getting at. Even if in a setting like golf, he can't bring himself to follow the rules that EVERYBODY ELSE follows.
oh pshaw. hes just driving on his yard... it IS his home.
I had shown my father the picture of Trump driving on the green once. Months later as the 2020 election neared, Jack Nicklaus (a hero of my father's) came out and endorsed Trump. My father was appalled Jack would do that. Not because he thinks Trump is awful (though he does, and was the only one in his neighborhood with a Biden sign in his yard), but how can Jack possibly endorse someone that would drive his cart on the green?
what an odd breaking point.
It's a joke. All of this golf cart stuff is a joke.
It's a joke.. but totally consistent with his personality.
Oh it totally is. It's as telling about him as anything he's ever done. But "his most egregious violation of social norms" or my dad being "appalled" by Nicklaus is a joke.
I'm a huge Nicklaus guy. My main reason for rooting against Tiger was about Jack's records. He is a buckeye and dotted the I. That being said, his support of Trump has both vexed and troubled me. I don't get it.
My dad also cheered against Tiger for that reason. Not that there’s a chance in hell he’ll remember it because we made the bet in like 2002, but if Tiger doesn’t win his 18th major by time he turns 47 (which he won’t) I owe my dad $100. Jack was 46 when he won his 18th.
"Commander in Cheat" by Rick Reilly is a great read. Short and breezy. But it really gives you an insight into this morally bankrupt human being by telling a bunch of stories about him on the golf course over the years. You can learn a lot about someone by how they act on a golf course.
i heard his favorite club is the foot wedge.
Lol....one story that comes to mind is from Mike Tirico, the ESPN/NBC sports announcer. He was playing with Trump and John Gruden back when they did Monday Night Football.
Tirico talked about this one par 5 where he hit his second shot with his 3 wood from the fairway flush. Absolutely crushed it. Best shot of his life and it appeared to have landed right in the middle of the green by the hole. His caddie even high fived him and they thought he may have actually holed it. So he was so excited to see where it was on the green. He said Trump's shot was decent too but not on the green. But, of course, Trump got to the green well before anyone else because he was the only using a cart. Anyway, instead of Tirico's ball being in Eagle territory on the green, it was 50 yards to the left in a bunker. Of course Trump's ball was right on the green. Took Tirico a couple tries to get out of the sand and he finished with a 7 instead of having a shot at an Eagle 3.
After the round, Trump's caddie told Tirico that he watched Trump pick up Tirico's ball and throw it in the bunker.
LMAO what a loser. How the fuck did he almost become a two term president.
On Thursday and Friday of last week, April 22 and 23, President Biden convened a virtual meeting of 40 world leaders to discuss addressing climate change. It is no longer possible to ignore changes in the world’s climate: the last decade was the hottest in recorded history, and the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached record levels. Arctic ice is melting; last summer’s fires in Australia, California, and Colorado were catastrophic.
In 2015, representatives of more than 190 countries, including the U.S., gathered in Paris and hammered out an agreement on mitigating climate change, adapting to it, and financing those changes. Former president Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement. On his first day in office, Biden took the U.S. back into the international agreement.
But Biden seems not simply to be trying to adjust the nation’s energy production. With the Leaders Summit on Climate, Biden is taking what his Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm called “our generation’s moonshot,” a reference to the American determination to reach the moon in the 1960s, a goal that spurred previously unimaginable developments in technology, computers, and science.
In the past, refusal to address the issue of climate change has centered around the idea that cutting back on fossil fuels would take jobs from coal miners and those in related fossil fuel industries. That focus was always about more than jobs: the hardworking white man in a hardhat was a cultural symbol for a certain political stance more than it was about reality. Walmart, for example, employs about 28 times the number of people as does coal, even including executives, office workers, and so on. Still, it’s a trope that worked in 2016: Trump won West Virginia by 42 points.
But a lot has changed in the last four years.
For one thing, the market for coal has slid, illustrating that old blue-collar jobs are not coming back. Trump promised to make coal great again and seemed to think that slashing environmental regulations would do the trick, but even combined with an infusion of up to $1 billion, slashing regulations could not stop Trump’s administration from overseeing the fastest decline of coal-fuel capacity in U.S. history. The U.S. lost 10% of coal-mining jobs—5300 of them—between 2016 and 2020. Low natural gas prices and the rise of wind and solar alternatives pushed coal aside. At the same time, mechanization across blue collar industries means the recovery of old manufacturing jobs is not in the cards.
On April 19, the United Mine Workers of America, the largest coal miners’ union, backed Biden’s plan to move away from coal, so long as miners get government support to transition into similar jobs. In a plan endorsed by Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia (who is well known for delivering for his constituents), the union asked for funding to plug abandoned oil and gas wells, clean up mining sites, and train workers for new jobs in new energy technologies.
The sentiments of business leaders have shifted, too, as they recognize that climate change is a financial disruptor. Earlier this month, leaders of more than 400 businesses that collectively employ more than 7 million Americans signed a letter asking Biden to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% below 2005 levels by 2030. “To restore the standing of the U.S. as a global leader, we need to address the climate crisis at the pace and scale it demands,” they wrote. “New investment in clean energy, energy efficiency, and clean transportation can build a strong, more equitable, and more inclusive American economy.” Signatories included Etsy, Facebook, Nike, Microsoft, Verizon, and Walmart.
Biden has already embraced the idea that addressing climate change is not a loss but an opportunity. It will, he insists, bring good jobs to ordinary Americans. “When people talk about climate, I think jobs,” Biden said on Thursday. “Within our climate response lies an extraordinary engine of job creation and economic opportunity ready to be fired up.”
Indeed, Biden’s American Jobs Plan already calls for $16 billion to clean up abandoned mining sites and more for the training in new infrastructure jobs coal miners want. It also addresses job losses in rural areas in an obvious but novel way: by supporting the caregiver economy. Caregiving jobs cannot ever be mechanized, and there are caregivers—and people who need care— in every single community in this country. Supporting those positions will bring money into towns left behind by the loss of jobs like mining.
Biden’s emphasis on new energy jobs is part domestic politics, but it is also a major play for redefining future world power. It was no accident that the overarching political theme of last week’s conference was “America is back.”
As the White House fact sheet on the conference stated: “Over the course of two days and eight sessions, President Biden convened heads of state and government, as well as leaders and representatives from international organizations, businesses, subnational governments, and indigenous communities, to rally the world in tackling the climate crisis, demonstrate the economic opportunities of the future, and affirm the need for unprecedented global cooperation and ambition to meet the moment.”
America is back, indeed.
But what does that mean, in this context? At the summit, Biden announced that by 2030 the U.S. would reduce emissions by 50–52% from the levels of 2005, more than doubling our commitment under the Paris Agreement. He called for other countries, which make up 85% of emissions, to “step up” to “tackle the climate crisis and support the most vulnerable.” (The U.S., which has 4% of the world’s population, emits 15% of the world’s greenhouse gases). This is all pretty standard for U.S. climate statements. Biden went farther, though, calling for changing the American economy over to renewables, including wind, solar, nuclear, and so on, to make the country carbon-free by 2035.
Still, what jumps out from the rest of the Biden proposal is what sure looks like a major reworking of the world economy and thus its political tensions.
While the U.S. focused on fossil fuels and refused to jump wholeheartedly into research and development of alternative energies, China did. That nation is still dependent on fossil fuels and expects not to reach its highest pollution levels until sometime before 2030, but it has heavily subsidized solar power and now has 8 of the top 10 solar companies in the world. America has one; Europe has none. Chinese dominance of the technology and supply chains for the solar industry threatens to sideline American technology and national security, as even American solar manufacturers depend on Chinese materials.
Dominating the world of alternative energy would give China a powerful geopolitical tool. Remember how hard the supply chain failures in China during the early days of the coronavirus hit the U.S.? Now, think energy. A recent piece by Emerging Markets journalist Kenneth Rapoza in Forbes is titled: “How China’s Solar Industry Is Set Up To Be The New Green OPEC,” a reference to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, whose oil embargo to the U.S. in 1973 slammed the U.S. economy.
Countries, especially weaker countries, would need to turn toward China if that’s where they get their energy technology. And even stronger countries would be dependent on China for one of their most vital needs. To forestall that scenario, Biden has stepped in to reclaim leadership on new energy technologies for the United States, enabling other countries to work toward an energy future that is not dominated by China. On April 22, North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg signed onto the idea of NATO cooperation on climate change and other security challenges.
After four years in which our leaders saw the height of American strength as standing alone, our leadership is now focusing on the idea of international teamwork. Biden’s climate plan is about saving the planet, but it also seems to be about saving global alliances, binding countries together with a new climate agreement to retain their power over their own energy in the future.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
100% spot on. Everything. James Carville is speaking my language here
If you gave me an environment in which the majority of voters wanted to expand the franchise to felons and raise the minimum wage, I should be able to win that. It’s certainly not a political environment I’m destined to lose in. But in Miami-Dade, all they talked about was defunding the police and Kamala Harris being the most liberal senator in the US Senate. And if you look all across the Rio Grande Valley, we lost all kinds of solidly blue voters. And the faculty lounge bullshit is a big part of it.
I called James Carville hoping to get his thoughts on President Joe Biden’s first 100 days in office.
He obliged — then, one question in, brushed aside the exercise to talk instead about why the Democrats might be poised to squander their political advantage against a damaged GOP.
His failure to cooperate may have been for the best since the first 100 days ritual can sometimes lead to dull, dutiful analysis. What Carville offered up instead was a blunt critique of his own party even after a successful 2020 election cycle — a sequel of sorts to his fulminations during last year’s Democratic primaries. The longtime Democratic strategist is mostly pleased with Biden, but it’s where much of the party seems to be going that has him worried.
“Wokeness is a problem,” he told me, “and we all know it.” According to Carville, Democrats are in power for now, but they also only narrowly defeated Donald Trump, “a world-historical buffoon,” and they lost congressional seats and failed to pick up state legislatures. The reason is simple: They’ve got a “messaging problem.”
A lightly edited transcript of our conversation follows.
Sean Illing
What do you make of Biden’s first 100 days?
James Carville
Honestly, if we’re just talking about Biden, it’s very difficult to find something to complain about. And to me his biggest attribute is that he’s not into “faculty lounge” politics.
Sean Illing
“Faculty lounge” politics?
James Carville
You ever get the sense that people in faculty lounges in fancy colleges use a different language than ordinary people? They come up with a word like “Latinx” that no one else uses. Or they use a phrase like “communities of color.” I don’t know anyone who speaks like that. I don’t know anyone who lives in a “community of color.” I know lots of white and Black and brown people and they all live in ... neighborhoods.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with these phrases. But this is not how people talk. This is not how voters talk. And doing it anyway is a signal that you’re talking one language and the people you want to vote for you are speaking another language. This stuff is harmless in one sense, but in another sense it’s not.
“IMAGINE IF IT WAS A BUNCH OF NONWHITE PEOPLE WHO STORMED THE CAPITOL. IMAGINE HOW REPUBLICANS WOULD EXPLOIT THAT AND MAKE EVERY NEWS CYCLE ABOUT HOW THE DEMS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR IT.”
Sean Illing
Is the problem the language or the fact that there are lots of voters who just don’t want to hear about race and racial injustice?
James Carville
We have to talk about race. We should talk about racial injustice. What I’m saying is, we need to do it without using jargon-y language that’s unrecognizable to most people — including most Black people, by the way — because it signals that you’re trying to talk around them. This “too cool for school” shit doesn’t work, and we have to stop There may be a group within the Democratic Party that likes this, but it ain’t the majority. And beyond that, if Democrats want power, they have to win in a country where 18 percent of the population controls 52 percent of the Senate seats. That’s a fact. That’s not changing. That’s what this whole damn thing is about.
Sean Illing
Sounds like you got a problem with “wokeness,” James.
James Carville
Wokeness is a problem and everyone knows it. It’s hard to talk to anybody today — and I talk to lots of people in the Democratic Party — who doesn’t say this. But they don’t want to say it out loud.
Sean Illing
Why not?
James Carville
Because they’ll get clobbered or canceled. And look, part of the problem is that lots of Democrats will say that we have to listen to everybody and we have to include every perspective, or that we don’t have to run a ruthless messaging campaign. Well, you kinda do. It really matters.
I always tell people that we’ve got to stop speaking Hebrew and start speaking Yiddish. We have to speak the way regular people speak, the way voters speak. It ain’t complicated. That’s how you connect and persuade. And we have to stop allowing ourselves to be defined from the outside.
Sean Illing
What does that mean?
James Carville
Take someone like Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She’s obviously very bright. She knows how to draw a headline. In my opinion, some of her political aspirations are impractical and probably not going to happen. But that’s probably the worst thing that you can say about her.
Now take someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene, the new Republican congresswoman from Georgia. She’s absolutely loonier than a tune. We all know it. And yet, for some reason, the Democrats pay a bigger political price for AOC than Republicans pay for Greene. That’s the problem in a nutshell. And it’s ridiculous because AOC and Greene are not comparable in any way.
Sean Illing
I hear versions of this argument about language and perception all the time, James. It’s an old problem. What’s the solution?
James Carville
That’s why I’m doing this interview. Lots of smart people are going to read it, and hopefully they can figure out that which I can’t. But if you’re asking me, I think it’s because large parts of the country view us as an urban, coastal, arrogant party, and a lot gets passed through that filter. That’s a real thing. I don’t give a damn what anyone thinks about it — it’s a real phenomenon, and it’s damaging to the party brand.
Sean Illing
Part of the issue is that Republicans are going to paint the Dems as cop-hating, fetus-destroying Stalinists no matter what they say or do. So, yeah, I agree that Democrats should be smart and not say dumb, alienating things, but I’m also not sure how much control they have over how they’re perceived by half the country, especially when that half lives in an alternate media reality.
James Carville
Right, but we can’t say, “Republicans are going to call us socialists no matter what, so let’s just run as out-and-out socialists.” That’s not the smartest thing to do. And maybe tweeting that we should abolish the police isn’t the smartest thing to do because almost fucking no one wants to do that.
Here’s the deal: No matter how you look at the map, the only way Democrats can hold power is to build on their coalition, and that will have to include more rural white voters from across the country. Democrats are never going to win a majority of these voters. That’s the reality. But the difference between getting beat 80 to 20 and 72 to 28 is all the difference in the world.
So they just have to lose by less — that’s all.
Sean Illing
So what do you want the Democrats to do differently besides not having people peddle politically toxic ideas like abolishing the police? How do they change the conversation so that Republicans aren’t defining them by their least popular expressions?
You’re a strategist, James. I want to know what you’d advise them to do. You don’t have any complaints about Biden because he’s getting stuff done. He’s putting money in people’s pockets. But the Democratic Party is a big coalition and you’re always going to have people promoting unpopular ideas, right? Whereas the Republican Party is more homogenous, and that lends itself to a tighter, more controlled message.
James Carville
Tell me this: How is it we have all this talk about Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and we don’t talk about Dennis Hastert, the longest-serving Republican speaker of the House in Congress? If Hastert was a Democrat who we knew had a history of molesting kids and was actually sent to prison in 2016, he’d still be on Fox News every fucking night. The Republicans would never shut the hell up about it.
So when Jim Jordan was pulling all these stunts with Anthony Fauci [Fauci was speaking at a congressional hearing about ending coronavirus precautions], why didn’t someone jump in and say, “Let me tell you something, Jim, if Fauci knew what you knew, if he knew that a doctor was molesting young people, he would’ve gone to the medical board yesterday. So you can go ahead and shut the fuck up.” [Ed. note: Jordan denies knowing about the allegations of abuse when he was an assistant coach at Ohio State University.] I love that Congresswoman Maxine Waters told Jordan to “shut your mouth,” but that’s what I really wish a Democrat would say, and I wish they’d keep saying it over and over again.
Can I step back for a second and give you an example of the broader problem?
Sean Illing
Sure.
James Carville
Look at Florida. You now have Democrats saying Florida is a lost cause. Really? In 2018 in Florida, giving felons the right to vote got 64 percent. In 2020, a $15 minimum wage, which we have no chance of passing [federally], got 67 percent. Has anyone in the Democratic Party said maybe there’s nothing wrong with the state of Florida? Maybe the problem is the kind of campaigns we’re running?
If you gave me an environment in which the majority of voters wanted to expand the franchise to felons and raise the minimum wage, I should be able to win that. It’s certainly not a political environment I’m destined to lose in. But in Miami-Dade, all they talked about was defunding the police and Kamala Harris being the most liberal senator in the US Senate. And if you look all across the Rio Grande Valley, we lost all kinds of solidly blue voters. And the faculty lounge bullshit is a big part of it.
Sean Illing
If you’re a Democrat, you could look at the state of play and say, “We’re winning. We won the White House. We won Congress. We have power. It ain’t perfect, but it ain’t a disaster either.”
James Carville
We won the White House against a world-historical buffoon. And we came within 42,000 votes of losing. We lost congressional seats. We didn’t pick up state legislatures. So let’s not have an argument about whether or not we’re off-key in our messaging. We are. And we’re off because there’s too much jargon and there’s too much esoterica and it turns people off.
Sean Illing
Not to beat a dead horse, but Democrats and Republicans are dealing with very different constituencies. Democrats have a big tent, they have to win different kinds of voters and that means making different kinds of appeals. Republicans can get away with shit that Democrats cannot.
James Carville
Yeah, that’s a problem. We can only do what we can do. People always say to me, “Why don’t Democrats just lie like Republicans?” Because if they did, our voters wouldn’t stand for it. But I’m not saying we need to lie like they do. I’m saying, why not go after Gaetz and Jordan and link them to Hastert and the Republican Party over and over and over again? We have to take these small opportunities to define ourselves and the other side every damn time. And we don’t do it. We just don’t do it.
“DEMOCRATS ARE NEVER GOING TO WIN A MAJORITY OF THESE VOTERS. ... BUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GETTING BEAT 80 TO 20 AND 72 TO 28 IS ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD”
Sean Illing
Republicans aren’t just more comfortable lying, they’re more comfortable with slogans and sound bites, and that’s partly why they’re more effective at defining themselves and the Democrats.
James Carville
Let me give you my favorite example of metropolitan, overeducated arrogance. Take the climate problem. Do you realize that climate is the only major social or political movement that I can think of that refuses to use emotion? Where’s the identifiable song? Where’s the bumper sticker? Where’s the slogan? Where’s the flag? Where’s the logo?
We don’t have it because with faculty politics what you do is appeal to reason. You don’t need the sloganeering and sound bites. That’s for simple people. All you need are those timetables and temperature charts, and from that, everyone will just get it.
That’s not how the world works; that’s not how people work. And Republicans are way more disciplined about taking a thing and branding it. Elites will roll their eyes at that, but I’d ask, “How’s that working out for you?” Most people agree with us on health care and minimum wage and Roe v. Wade and even on the climate.
So why can’t we leverage that?
Sean Illing
What would you have Biden do to counter some of these messaging problems?
James Carville
I’d have him pick up a phone. I’d have someone in the White House pick up the phone. And when someone in the party starts this jargon shit, I’d call them and say, “We’re only a vote away. Our approval rating is 60 percent. We got a chance to pick up seats in 2022, and if you did this, it would be very helpful to us.”
Sean Illing
Are you sure those calls aren’t happening already?
James Carville
Maybe they are, but they need to be more effective. And we need more of them.
Sean Illing
There’s a philosophy on the left right now, which says the Democrats should pass everything they possibly can, no matter the costs, and trust that the voters will reward them on the back end.
Where do you land on that?
James Carville
First of all, the Democratic Party can’t be more liberal than Sen. Joe Manchin. That’s the fact. We don’t have the votes. But I’ll say this, two of the most consequential political events in recent memory happened on the same day in January: the insurrection at the US Capitol and the Democrats winning those two seats in Georgia. Can’t overstate that.
But the Democrats can’t fuck it up. They have to make the Republicans own that insurrection every day. They have to pound it. They have to call bookers on cable news shows. They have to get people to write op-eds. There will be all kinds of investigations and stories dripping out for god knows how long, and the Democrats should spend every day tying all of it to the Republican Party. They can’t sit back and wait for it to happen.
Hell, just imagine if it was a bunch of nonwhite people who stormed the Capitol. Imagine how Republicans would exploit that and make every news cycle about how the Dems are responsible for it. Every political debate would be about that. The Republicans would bludgeon the Democrats with it forever.
So whatever you think Republicans would do to us in that scenario, that’s exactly what the hell we need to do them.
Is everyone that is wholeheartedly agreeing with carville over 40? I’m wondering if this is a generational worldview thing. Most of the people I know would disagree with a lot of his opinion. And they aren’t all “far left”. For instance the Latinx thing, that is something that I was unaware of until people I know who are younger than me and identify as Latinx and prefer the term explained it to me. I don’t think this is from those high falutin university teachers lounges as carville claims. I think there is a lot of societal awakening to problematic cultural norms across t he board.
It kind of mirrors the right in a way, where when there is something he can’t understand he just blames academic echelons, that actually seems to be the Teapublican playbook of the last 15 years. I hope that isn’t what he meant by messaging more like republicans.
Is everyone that is wholeheartedly agreeing with carville over 40? I’m wondering if this is a generational worldview thing. Most of the people I know would disagree with a lot of his opinion. And they aren’t all “far left”. For instance the Latinx thing, that is something that I was unaware of until people I know who are younger than me and identify as Latinx and prefer the term explained it to me. I don’t think this is from those high falutin university teachers lounges as carville claims. I think there is a lot of societal awakening to problematic cultural norms across t he board.
It kind of mirrors the right in a way, where when there is something he can’t understand he just blames academic echelons, that actually seems to be the Teapublican playbook of the last 15 years. I hope that isn’t what he meant by messaging more like republicans.
I don't have an issue with the nomenclature per se. Language changes over time and it's always painful for those that are older and don't want to adjust their language. My issue with wokeness is on two things, connected:
1. Holding people accountable today, based on actions years ago when those actions were socially acceptable. Black face is a good example. It's a terrible thing, but black face in the 80's was nothing. In fact, there was a friggin' big movie in the 80s called Soul Man that was about a white guy that got into Harvard by pretending to be Black. C. Thomas Howell was in Black face the whole movie! 2. Correspondingly, the unforgiving nature of the media, twittersphere, etc. on these items. They just want a scalp and to wreck people's lives.
Is everyone that is wholeheartedly agreeing with carville over 40? I’m wondering if this is a generational worldview thing. Most of the people I know would disagree with a lot of his opinion. And they aren’t all “far left”. For instance the Latinx thing, that is something that I was unaware of until people I know who are younger than me and identify as Latinx and prefer the term explained it to me. I don’t think this is from those high falutin university teachers lounges as carville claims. I think there is a lot of societal awakening to problematic cultural norms across t he board.
It kind of mirrors the right in a way, where when there is something he can’t understand he just blames academic echelons, that actually seems to be the Teapublican playbook of the last 15 years. I hope that isn’t what he meant by messaging more like republicans.
he knows who are the majority of voters, and it isn't the people who use that type of language. democrats keep trying to tap into the under 25 voter, but it seems to be very difficult to tap into, but when they try, they often turn off the regular voter they've come to depend on.
Is everyone that is wholeheartedly agreeing with carville over 40? I’m wondering if this is a generational worldview thing. Most of the people I know would disagree with a lot of his opinion. And they aren’t all “far left”. For instance the Latinx thing, that is something that I was unaware of until people I know who are younger than me and identify as Latinx and prefer the term explained it to me. I don’t think this is from those high falutin university teachers lounges as carville claims. I think there is a lot of societal awakening to problematic cultural norms across t he board.
It kind of mirrors the right in a way, where when there is something he can’t understand he just blames academic echelons, that actually seems to be the Teapublican playbook of the last 15 years. I hope that isn’t what he meant by messaging more like republicans.
I don't have an issue with the nomenclature per se. Language changes over time and it's always painful for those that are older and don't want to adjust their language. My issue with wokeness is on two things, connected:
1. Holding people accountable today, based on actions years ago when those actions were socially acceptable. Black face is a good example. It's a terrible thing, but black face in the 80's was nothing. In fact, there was a friggin' big movie in the 80s called Soul Man that was about a white guy that got into Harvard by pretending to be Black. C. Thomas Howell was in Black face the whole movie! 2. Correspondingly, the unforgiving nature of the media, twittersphere, etc. on these items. They just want a scalp and to wreck people's lives.
I’m with you on this, but I think extreme examples like you have just given are used to justify not holding anyone to any accountability especially on the right.
Is everyone that is wholeheartedly agreeing with carville over 40? I’m wondering if this is a generational worldview thing. Most of the people I know would disagree with a lot of his opinion. And they aren’t all “far left”. For instance the Latinx thing, that is something that I was unaware of until people I know who are younger than me and identify as Latinx and prefer the term explained it to me. I don’t think this is from those high falutin university teachers lounges as carville claims. I think there is a lot of societal awakening to problematic cultural norms across t he board.
It kind of mirrors the right in a way, where when there is something he can’t understand he just blames academic echelons, that actually seems to be the Teapublican playbook of the last 15 years. I hope that isn’t what he meant by messaging more like republicans.
I don't have an issue with the nomenclature per se. Language changes over time and it's always painful for those that are older and don't want to adjust their language. My issue with wokeness is on two things, connected:
1. Holding people accountable today, based on actions years ago when those actions were socially acceptable. Black face is a good example. It's a terrible thing, but black face in the 80's was nothing. In fact, there was a friggin' big movie in the 80s called Soul Man that was about a white guy that got into Harvard by pretending to be Black. C. Thomas Howell was in Black face the whole movie! 2. Correspondingly, the unforgiving nature of the media, twittersphere, etc. on these items. They just want a scalp and to wreck people's lives.
I’m with you on this, but I think extreme examples like you have just given are used to justify not holding anyone to any accountability especially on the right.
I don't know.. if you do something like storm a Capitol, that's never socially acceptable. Sexual assault? Nope. Harassment? Nope. Now have I ever called a friend "gay" or a "fag" in high school? Mmmmm maybe. I've seen it done for sure and no one meant it like they wanted to commit a hate crime. It was just language back then, but that's not okay today.
"But the Democrats can’t fuck it up. They have to make the Republicans own that insurrection every day. They have to pound it. They have to call bookers on cable news shows. They have to get people to write op-eds. There will be all kinds of investigations and stories dripping out for god knows how long, and the Democrats should spend every day tying all of it to the Republican Party. They can’t sit back and wait for it to happen."
Hey Carville - Didn't you just describe your fucking job?
Carville keeps saying "they, they, they". Isn't he a Democratic strategist? Shouldn't he be saying "we, we, we"?
Maybe spend more time messaging about the Republican Party, and less time sabotaging your own party. What rock did you crawl out from under, and where were you hiding during the Trump years?
Carville's time has past, this article shows his antiquated thinking and inability to evolve. Time to ride off into the sunset Carville!
"But the Democrats can’t fuck it up. They have to make the Republicans own that insurrection every day. They have to pound it. They have to call bookers on cable news shows. They have to get people to write op-eds. There will be all kinds of investigations and stories dripping out for god knows how long, and the Democrats should spend every day tying all of it to the Republican Party. They can’t sit back and wait for it to happen."
Hey Carville - Didn't you just describe your fucking job?
Carville keeps saying "they, they, they". Isn't he a Democratic strategist? Shouldn't he be saying "we, we, we"?
Maybe spend more time messaging about the Republican Party, and less time sabotaging your own party. What rock did you crawl out from under, and where were you hiding during the Trump years?
Carville's time has past, this article shows his antiquated thinking and inability to evolve. Time to ride off into the sunset Carville!
I think he's retired. He's not an active consultant for anyone now.
"But the Democrats can’t fuck it up. They have to make the Republicans own that insurrection every day. They have to pound it. They have to call bookers on cable news shows. They have to get people to write op-eds. There will be all kinds of investigations and stories dripping out for god knows how long, and the Democrats should spend every day tying all of it to the Republican Party. They can’t sit back and wait for it to happen."
Hey Carville - Didn't you just describe your fucking job?
Carville keeps saying "they, they, they". Isn't he a Democratic strategist? Shouldn't he be saying "we, we, we"?
Maybe spend more time messaging about the Republican Party, and less time sabotaging your own party. What rock did you crawl out from under, and where were you hiding during the Trump years?
Carville's time has past, this article shows his antiquated thinking and inability to evolve. Time to ride off into the sunset Carville!
I think he's retired. He's not an active consultant for anyone now.
Is everyone that is wholeheartedly agreeing with carville over 40? I’m wondering if this is a generational worldview thing. Most of the people I know would disagree with a lot of his opinion. And they aren’t all “far left”. For instance the Latinx thing, that is something that I was unaware of until people I know who are younger than me and identify as Latinx and prefer the term explained it to me. I don’t think this is from those high falutin university teachers lounges as carville claims. I think there is a lot of societal awakening to problematic cultural norms across t he board.
It kind of mirrors the right in a way, where when there is something he can’t understand he just blames academic echelons, that actually seems to be the Teapublican playbook of the last 15 years. I hope that isn’t what he meant by messaging more like republicans.
he knows who are the majority of voters, and it isn't the people who use that type of language. democrats keep trying to tap into the under 25 voter, but it seems to be very difficult to tap into, but when they try, they often turn off the regular voter they've come to depend on.
"But the Democrats can’t fuck it up. They have to make the Republicans own that insurrection every day. They have to pound it. They have to call bookers on cable news shows. They have to get people to write op-eds. There will be all kinds of investigations and stories dripping out for god knows how long, and the Democrats should spend every day tying all of it to the Republican Party. They can’t sit back and wait for it to happen."
Hey Carville - Didn't you just describe your fucking job?
Carville keeps saying "they, they, they". Isn't he a Democratic strategist? Shouldn't he be saying "we, we, we"?
Maybe spend more time messaging about the Republican Party, and less time sabotaging your own party. What rock did you crawl out from under, and where were you hiding during the Trump years?
Carville's time has past, this article shows his antiquated thinking and inability to evolve. Time to ride off into the sunset Carville!
What part didn't you agree with? I thought it was spot on. (age 43 chiming in)
Comments
2013 Wrigley 2014 St. Paul 2016 Fenway, Fenway, Wrigley, Wrigley 2018 Missoula, Wrigley, Wrigley 2021 Asbury Park 2022 St Louis 2023 Austin, Austin
Pearl Jam bootlegs:
http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
oh pshaw. hes just driving on his yard... it IS his home.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
I had shown my father the picture of Trump driving on the green once. Months later as the 2020 election neared, Jack Nicklaus (a hero of my father's) came out and endorsed Trump. My father was appalled Jack would do that. Not because he thinks Trump is awful (though he does, and was the only one in his neighborhood with a Biden sign in his yard), but how can Jack possibly endorse someone that would drive his cart on the green?
Pearl Jam bootlegs:
http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
www.headstonesband.com
It's a joke. All of this golf cart stuff is a joke.
Pearl Jam bootlegs:
http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
Pearl Jam bootlegs:
http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
Tirico talked about this one par 5 where he hit his second shot with his 3 wood from the fairway flush. Absolutely crushed it. Best shot of his life and it appeared to have landed right in the middle of the green by the hole. His caddie even high fived him and they thought he may have actually holed it. So he was so excited to see where it was on the green. He said Trump's shot was decent too but not on the green. But, of course, Trump got to the green well before anyone else because he was the only using a cart. Anyway, instead of Tirico's ball being in Eagle territory on the green, it was 50 yards to the left in a bunker. Of course Trump's ball was right on the green. Took Tirico a couple tries to get out of the sand and he finished with a 7 instead of having a shot at an Eagle 3.
After the round, Trump's caddie told Tirico that he watched Trump pick up Tirico's ball and throw it in the bunker.
Pearl Jam bootlegs:
http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
On Thursday and Friday of last week, April 22 and 23, President Biden convened a virtual meeting of 40 world leaders to discuss addressing climate change. It is no longer possible to ignore changes in the world’s climate: the last decade was the hottest in recorded history, and the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached record levels. Arctic ice is melting; last summer’s fires in Australia, California, and Colorado were catastrophic.
In 2015, representatives of more than 190 countries, including the U.S., gathered in Paris and hammered out an agreement on mitigating climate change, adapting to it, and financing those changes. Former president Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement. On his first day in office, Biden took the U.S. back into the international agreement.
But Biden seems not simply to be trying to adjust the nation’s energy production. With the Leaders Summit on Climate, Biden is taking what his Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm called “our generation’s moonshot,” a reference to the American determination to reach the moon in the 1960s, a goal that spurred previously unimaginable developments in technology, computers, and science.
In the past, refusal to address the issue of climate change has centered around the idea that cutting back on fossil fuels would take jobs from coal miners and those in related fossil fuel industries. That focus was always about more than jobs: the hardworking white man in a hardhat was a cultural symbol for a certain political stance more than it was about reality. Walmart, for example, employs about 28 times the number of people as does coal, even including executives, office workers, and so on. Still, it’s a trope that worked in 2016: Trump won West Virginia by 42 points.
But a lot has changed in the last four years.
For one thing, the market for coal has slid, illustrating that old blue-collar jobs are not coming back. Trump promised to make coal great again and seemed to think that slashing environmental regulations would do the trick, but even combined with an infusion of up to $1 billion, slashing regulations could not stop Trump’s administration from overseeing the fastest decline of coal-fuel capacity in U.S. history. The U.S. lost 10% of coal-mining jobs—5300 of them—between 2016 and 2020. Low natural gas prices and the rise of wind and solar alternatives pushed coal aside. At the same time, mechanization across blue collar industries means the recovery of old manufacturing jobs is not in the cards.
On April 19, the United Mine Workers of America, the largest coal miners’ union, backed Biden’s plan to move away from coal, so long as miners get government support to transition into similar jobs. In a plan endorsed by Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia (who is well known for delivering for his constituents), the union asked for funding to plug abandoned oil and gas wells, clean up mining sites, and train workers for new jobs in new energy technologies.
The sentiments of business leaders have shifted, too, as they recognize that climate change is a financial disruptor. Earlier this month, leaders of more than 400 businesses that collectively employ more than 7 million Americans signed a letter asking Biden to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% below 2005 levels by 2030. “To restore the standing of the U.S. as a global leader, we need to address the climate crisis at the pace and scale it demands,” they wrote. “New investment in clean energy, energy efficiency, and clean transportation can build a strong, more equitable, and more inclusive American economy.” Signatories included Etsy, Facebook, Nike, Microsoft, Verizon, and Walmart.
Biden has already embraced the idea that addressing climate change is not a loss but an opportunity. It will, he insists, bring good jobs to ordinary Americans. “When people talk about climate, I think jobs,” Biden said on Thursday. “Within our climate response lies an extraordinary engine of job creation and economic opportunity ready to be fired up.”
Indeed, Biden’s American Jobs Plan already calls for $16 billion to clean up abandoned mining sites and more for the training in new infrastructure jobs coal miners want. It also addresses job losses in rural areas in an obvious but novel way: by supporting the caregiver economy. Caregiving jobs cannot ever be mechanized, and there are caregivers—and people who need care— in every single community in this country. Supporting those positions will bring money into towns left behind by the loss of jobs like mining.
Biden’s emphasis on new energy jobs is part domestic politics, but it is also a major play for redefining future world power. It was no accident that the overarching political theme of last week’s conference was “America is back.”
As the White House fact sheet on the conference stated: “Over the course of two days and eight sessions, President Biden convened heads of state and government, as well as leaders and representatives from international organizations, businesses, subnational governments, and indigenous communities, to rally the world in tackling the climate crisis, demonstrate the economic opportunities of the future, and affirm the need for unprecedented global cooperation and ambition to meet the moment.”
America is back, indeed.
But what does that mean, in this context? At the summit, Biden announced that by 2030 the U.S. would reduce emissions by 50–52% from the levels of 2005, more than doubling our commitment under the Paris Agreement. He called for other countries, which make up 85% of emissions, to “step up” to “tackle the climate crisis and support the most vulnerable.” (The U.S., which has 4% of the world’s population, emits 15% of the world’s greenhouse gases). This is all pretty standard for U.S. climate statements. Biden went farther, though, calling for changing the American economy over to renewables, including wind, solar, nuclear, and so on, to make the country carbon-free by 2035.
Still, what jumps out from the rest of the Biden proposal is what sure looks like a major reworking of the world economy and thus its political tensions.
While the U.S. focused on fossil fuels and refused to jump wholeheartedly into research and development of alternative energies, China did. That nation is still dependent on fossil fuels and expects not to reach its highest pollution levels until sometime before 2030, but it has heavily subsidized solar power and now has 8 of the top 10 solar companies in the world. America has one; Europe has none. Chinese dominance of the technology and supply chains for the solar industry threatens to sideline American technology and national security, as even American solar manufacturers depend on Chinese materials.
Dominating the world of alternative energy would give China a powerful geopolitical tool. Remember how hard the supply chain failures in China during the early days of the coronavirus hit the U.S.? Now, think energy. A recent piece by Emerging Markets journalist Kenneth Rapoza in Forbes is titled: “How China’s Solar Industry Is Set Up To Be The New Green OPEC,” a reference to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, whose oil embargo to the U.S. in 1973 slammed the U.S. economy.
Countries, especially weaker countries, would need to turn toward China if that’s where they get their energy technology. And even stronger countries would be dependent on China for one of their most vital needs. To forestall that scenario, Biden has stepped in to reclaim leadership on new energy technologies for the United States, enabling other countries to work toward an energy future that is not dominated by China. On April 22, North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg signed onto the idea of NATO cooperation on climate change and other security challenges.
After four years in which our leaders saw the height of American strength as standing alone, our leadership is now focusing on the idea of international teamwork. Biden’s climate plan is about saving the planet, but it also seems to be about saving global alliances, binding countries together with a new climate agreement to retain their power over their own energy in the future.
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If you gave me an environment in which the majority of voters wanted to expand the franchise to felons and raise the minimum wage, I should be able to win that. It’s certainly not a political environment I’m destined to lose in. But in Miami-Dade, all they talked about was defunding the police and Kamala Harris being the most liberal senator in the US Senate. And if you look all across the Rio Grande Valley, we lost all kinds of solidly blue voters. And the faculty lounge bullshit is a big part of it.
https://www.vox.com/22338417/james-carville-democratic-party-biden-100-days
“Wokeness is a problem and we all know it”
I called James Carville hoping to get his thoughts on President Joe Biden’s first 100 days in office.
He obliged — then, one question in, brushed aside the exercise to talk instead about why the Democrats might be poised to squander their political advantage against a damaged GOP.
His failure to cooperate may have been for the best since the first 100 days ritual can sometimes lead to dull, dutiful analysis. What Carville offered up instead was a blunt critique of his own party even after a successful 2020 election cycle — a sequel of sorts to his fulminations during last year’s Democratic primaries. The longtime Democratic strategist is mostly pleased with Biden, but it’s where much of the party seems to be going that has him worried.
“Wokeness is a problem,” he told me, “and we all know it.” According to Carville, Democrats are in power for now, but they also only narrowly defeated Donald Trump, “a world-historical buffoon,” and they lost congressional seats and failed to pick up state legislatures. The reason is simple: They’ve got a “messaging problem.”
A lightly edited transcript of our conversation follows.
Sean Illing
What do you make of Biden’s first 100 days?
James Carville
Honestly, if we’re just talking about Biden, it’s very difficult to find something to complain about. And to me his biggest attribute is that he’s not into “faculty lounge” politics.
Sean Illing
“Faculty lounge” politics?
James Carville
You ever get the sense that people in faculty lounges in fancy colleges use a different language than ordinary people? They come up with a word like “Latinx” that no one else uses. Or they use a phrase like “communities of color.” I don’t know anyone who speaks like that. I don’t know anyone who lives in a “community of color.” I know lots of white and Black and brown people and they all live in ... neighborhoods.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with these phrases. But this is not how people talk. This is not how voters talk. And doing it anyway is a signal that you’re talking one language and the people you want to vote for you are speaking another language. This stuff is harmless in one sense, but in another sense it’s not.
Sean Illing
Is the problem the language or the fact that there are lots of voters who just don’t want to hear about race and racial injustice?
James Carville
We have to talk about race. We should talk about racial injustice. What I’m saying is, we need to do it without using jargon-y language that’s unrecognizable to most people — including most Black people, by the way — because it signals that you’re trying to talk around them. This “too cool for school” shit doesn’t work, and we have to stop There may be a group within the Democratic Party that likes this, but it ain’t the majority. And beyond that, if Democrats want power, they have to win in a country where 18 percent of the population controls 52 percent of the Senate seats. That’s a fact. That’s not changing. That’s what this whole damn thing is about.
Sean Illing
Sounds like you got a problem with “wokeness,” James.
James Carville
Wokeness is a problem and everyone knows it. It’s hard to talk to anybody today — and I talk to lots of people in the Democratic Party — who doesn’t say this. But they don’t want to say it out loud.
Sean Illing
Why not?
James Carville
Because they’ll get clobbered or canceled. And look, part of the problem is that lots of Democrats will say that we have to listen to everybody and we have to include every perspective, or that we don’t have to run a ruthless messaging campaign. Well, you kinda do. It really matters.
I always tell people that we’ve got to stop speaking Hebrew and start speaking Yiddish. We have to speak the way regular people speak, the way voters speak. It ain’t complicated. That’s how you connect and persuade. And we have to stop allowing ourselves to be defined from the outside.
Sean Illing
What does that mean?
James Carville
Take someone like Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She’s obviously very bright. She knows how to draw a headline. In my opinion, some of her political aspirations are impractical and probably not going to happen. But that’s probably the worst thing that you can say about her.
Now take someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene, the new Republican congresswoman from Georgia. She’s absolutely loonier than a tune. We all know it. And yet, for some reason, the Democrats pay a bigger political price for AOC than Republicans pay for Greene. That’s the problem in a nutshell. And it’s ridiculous because AOC and Greene are not comparable in any way.
Sean Illing
I hear versions of this argument about language and perception all the time, James. It’s an old problem. What’s the solution?
James Carville
That’s why I’m doing this interview. Lots of smart people are going to read it, and hopefully they can figure out that which I can’t. But if you’re asking me, I think it’s because large parts of the country view us as an urban, coastal, arrogant party, and a lot gets passed through that filter. That’s a real thing. I don’t give a damn what anyone thinks about it — it’s a real phenomenon, and it’s damaging to the party brand.
Sean Illing
Part of the issue is that Republicans are going to paint the Dems as cop-hating, fetus-destroying Stalinists no matter what they say or do. So, yeah, I agree that Democrats should be smart and not say dumb, alienating things, but I’m also not sure how much control they have over how they’re perceived by half the country, especially when that half lives in an alternate media reality.
James Carville
Right, but we can’t say, “Republicans are going to call us socialists no matter what, so let’s just run as out-and-out socialists.” That’s not the smartest thing to do. And maybe tweeting that we should abolish the police isn’t the smartest thing to do because almost fucking no one wants to do that.
Here’s the deal: No matter how you look at the map, the only way Democrats can hold power is to build on their coalition, and that will have to include more rural white voters from across the country. Democrats are never going to win a majority of these voters. That’s the reality. But the difference between getting beat 80 to 20 and 72 to 28 is all the difference in the world.
So they just have to lose by less — that’s all.
Sean Illing
So what do you want the Democrats to do differently besides not having people peddle politically toxic ideas like abolishing the police? How do they change the conversation so that Republicans aren’t defining them by their least popular expressions?
You’re a strategist, James. I want to know what you’d advise them to do. You don’t have any complaints about Biden because he’s getting stuff done. He’s putting money in people’s pockets. But the Democratic Party is a big coalition and you’re always going to have people promoting unpopular ideas, right? Whereas the Republican Party is more homogenous, and that lends itself to a tighter, more controlled message.
James Carville
Tell me this: How is it we have all this talk about Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and we don’t talk about Dennis Hastert, the longest-serving Republican speaker of the House in Congress? If Hastert was a Democrat who we knew had a history of molesting kids and was actually sent to prison in 2016, he’d still be on Fox News every fucking night. The Republicans would never shut the hell up about it.
So when Jim Jordan was pulling all these stunts with Anthony Fauci [Fauci was speaking at a congressional hearing about ending coronavirus precautions], why didn’t someone jump in and say, “Let me tell you something, Jim, if Fauci knew what you knew, if he knew that a doctor was molesting young people, he would’ve gone to the medical board yesterday. So you can go ahead and shut the fuck up.” [Ed. note: Jordan denies knowing about the allegations of abuse when he was an assistant coach at Ohio State University.] I love that Congresswoman Maxine Waters told Jordan to “shut your mouth,” but that’s what I really wish a Democrat would say, and I wish they’d keep saying it over and over again.
Can I step back for a second and give you an example of the broader problem?
Sean Illing
Sure.
James Carville
Look at Florida. You now have Democrats saying Florida is a lost cause. Really? In 2018 in Florida, giving felons the right to vote got 64 percent. In 2020, a $15 minimum wage, which we have no chance of passing [federally], got 67 percent. Has anyone in the Democratic Party said maybe there’s nothing wrong with the state of Florida? Maybe the problem is the kind of campaigns we’re running?
If you gave me an environment in which the majority of voters wanted to expand the franchise to felons and raise the minimum wage, I should be able to win that. It’s certainly not a political environment I’m destined to lose in. But in Miami-Dade, all they talked about was defunding the police and Kamala Harris being the most liberal senator in the US Senate. And if you look all across the Rio Grande Valley, we lost all kinds of solidly blue voters. And the faculty lounge bullshit is a big part of it.
Sean Illing
If you’re a Democrat, you could look at the state of play and say, “We’re winning. We won the White House. We won Congress. We have power. It ain’t perfect, but it ain’t a disaster either.”
James Carville
We won the White House against a world-historical buffoon. And we came within 42,000 votes of losing. We lost congressional seats. We didn’t pick up state legislatures. So let’s not have an argument about whether or not we’re off-key in our messaging. We are. And we’re off because there’s too much jargon and there’s too much esoterica and it turns people off.
Sean Illing
Not to beat a dead horse, but Democrats and Republicans are dealing with very different constituencies. Democrats have a big tent, they have to win different kinds of voters and that means making different kinds of appeals. Republicans can get away with shit that Democrats cannot.
James Carville
Yeah, that’s a problem. We can only do what we can do. People always say to me, “Why don’t Democrats just lie like Republicans?” Because if they did, our voters wouldn’t stand for it. But I’m not saying we need to lie like they do. I’m saying, why not go after Gaetz and Jordan and link them to Hastert and the Republican Party over and over and over again? We have to take these small opportunities to define ourselves and the other side every damn time. And we don’t do it. We just don’t do it.
Sean Illing
Republicans aren’t just more comfortable lying, they’re more comfortable with slogans and sound bites, and that’s partly why they’re more effective at defining themselves and the Democrats.
James Carville
Let me give you my favorite example of metropolitan, overeducated arrogance. Take the climate problem. Do you realize that climate is the only major social or political movement that I can think of that refuses to use emotion? Where’s the identifiable song? Where’s the bumper sticker? Where’s the slogan? Where’s the flag? Where’s the logo?
We don’t have it because with faculty politics what you do is appeal to reason. You don’t need the sloganeering and sound bites. That’s for simple people. All you need are those timetables and temperature charts, and from that, everyone will just get it.
That’s not how the world works; that’s not how people work. And Republicans are way more disciplined about taking a thing and branding it. Elites will roll their eyes at that, but I’d ask, “How’s that working out for you?” Most people agree with us on health care and minimum wage and Roe v. Wade and even on the climate.
So why can’t we leverage that?
Sean Illing
What would you have Biden do to counter some of these messaging problems?
James Carville
I’d have him pick up a phone. I’d have someone in the White House pick up the phone. And when someone in the party starts this jargon shit, I’d call them and say, “We’re only a vote away. Our approval rating is 60 percent. We got a chance to pick up seats in 2022, and if you did this, it would be very helpful to us.”
Sean Illing
Are you sure those calls aren’t happening already?
James Carville
Maybe they are, but they need to be more effective. And we need more of them.
Sean Illing
There’s a philosophy on the left right now, which says the Democrats should pass everything they possibly can, no matter the costs, and trust that the voters will reward them on the back end.
Where do you land on that?
James Carville
First of all, the Democratic Party can’t be more liberal than Sen. Joe Manchin. That’s the fact. We don’t have the votes. But I’ll say this, two of the most consequential political events in recent memory happened on the same day in January: the insurrection at the US Capitol and the Democrats winning those two seats in Georgia. Can’t overstate that.
But the Democrats can’t fuck it up. They have to make the Republicans own that insurrection every day. They have to pound it. They have to call bookers on cable news shows. They have to get people to write op-eds. There will be all kinds of investigations and stories dripping out for god knows how long, and the Democrats should spend every day tying all of it to the Republican Party. They can’t sit back and wait for it to happen.
Hell, just imagine if it was a bunch of nonwhite people who stormed the Capitol. Imagine how Republicans would exploit that and make every news cycle about how the Dems are responsible for it. Every political debate would be about that. The Republicans would bludgeon the Democrats with it forever.
So whatever you think Republicans would do to us in that scenario, that’s exactly what the hell we need to do them.
www.headstonesband.com
It kind of mirrors the right in a way, where when there is something he can’t understand he just blames academic echelons, that actually seems to be the Teapublican playbook of the last 15 years. I hope that isn’t what he meant by messaging more like republicans.
There are no kings inside the gates of eden
1. Holding people accountable today, based on actions years ago when those actions were socially acceptable. Black face is a good example. It's a terrible thing, but black face in the 80's was nothing. In fact, there was a friggin' big movie in the 80s called Soul Man that was about a white guy that got into Harvard by pretending to be Black. C. Thomas Howell was in Black face the whole movie!
2. Correspondingly, the unforgiving nature of the media, twittersphere, etc. on these items. They just want a scalp and to wreck people's lives.
www.headstonesband.com
There are no kings inside the gates of eden
Hey Carville - Didn't you just describe your fucking job?
Carville keeps saying "they, they, they". Isn't he a Democratic strategist? Shouldn't he be saying "we, we, we"?
Maybe spend more time messaging about the Republican Party, and less time sabotaging your own party. What rock did you crawl out from under, and where were you hiding during the Trump years?
Carville's time has past, this article shows his antiquated thinking and inability to evolve. Time to ride off into the sunset Carville!