S. Lant

There's a tragic pattern playing out where voters reject the incumbent party for largely economic and material concerns, but this wave brings into power a group of ideologues with their own radical agenda and identity grievances incompatible with economic growth. With Trumpism, you got: - sudden tariffs and betrayal of international allies - major war with no exit plan disrupting global energy - immigration crackdown throwing wrench into workforce with no transition or reform plan With Democrats, it's looking like they're leaning into: - maximally complicate construction of data centers, despite these being the factories of the green economy Democrats 20 years ago saw as the future - kneecap Elon companies out of spite - public sector protectionism to enrich job holders at a time when value for money is a voter concern and major city public school enrollments are shrinking - DEI reinstatement and racial spoils At least with Trump the tariff and immigration impact was blunted, because the Republican party was still institutionally pro-business and was never going to pass a major immigration restriction bill or target employers of illegal immigrants. The high-visibility street enforcement satisfied the political urge while being ineffectual and creating no permanent policy. Dems though, I don't see having much internal opposition to prevent them going fully insane. And they're actually competent enough to pass laws and create lasting effects.

Salon was dumb but at least it consisted of articles which made arguments about policies that relied on factual claims which you could plausibly debate. Most of these sites at one point even had direct comment sections (remember those?) where outsiders could argue with them. The young people today are all scrolling short form video feeds where they're presented with a ceaseless barrage of conspiracy and rumor and misinformation. There isn't even much of a shared venue for discussing content now, like Facebook comments sections where you argue with your classmates about the article. The idea that we were coming together around pieces of journalism, which had some institution and brand with them, is gone.