Clown Car: 6/8/23

This week, Inez and I start by talking about Chris Christie and Mike Pence entering the 2024 race. We talked about the potential impact of a Trump federal indictment, which we found out was happening less than two hours after our recording. That led to a discussion of the slippery concept of norms, why they’re necessary, and how they’re broken. I bring up my theory that Bob Dole hawking Viagra breached some kind of threshold and changed our politics. We also talk about the role of the Clinton impeachment. We close by talking about Pride Month, and the backlash to it. People appear to have had enough, with recent successful boycotts against Target and Bud Light, and the resistance to what is happening in schools. Inez has some opinions on where LGBT craziness came from. She thinks it has something to do with a misplaced maternal instinct. I think that’s part of it, but am still not completely sure why trans in particular has become such an important issue to educated white women. I have my own theories, which I don’t get to here. I enjoyed Inez’s critique of TERFs from the right.I realized during this conversation that we’ve probably been limiting ourselves by talking too much about the horserace, and we have many more interesting things we could be discussing. So while we’re still going to focus on 2024, expect broader conversations like this one in the future. Listen here or watch on YouTube.Links: * Bob Dole 1998 Viagra commercial* On George W. Bush speaking at a marketing company* Members of Congress beating the stock market* Mike Pence on a potential Trump indictment* California office of the governor bullying localities and Armenians* Machaela Cavanaugh screaming about trans kids in the Nebraska legislature. Her profile in New York (Apple News link).* Backlashes to Pride month: Muslims in Montgomery County, MD, and Armenians in Glendale, CA* Me on the LGBT dialectic * Semafor on the backlash to Pride Month This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.richardhanania.com/subscribe