S15 EP164: Hour 2 - Where Have All the Normal People Gone?

Erick opens with a progressive tech writer's essay about neighbors named Bob and Van, men whose politics never came up because politics was not the whole of life, and turns it into an argument that social media has catechized both parties out of normalcy. He plays Bill Maher's Real Time monologue on radical Islamism, Osama bin Laden's polling among young Americans, and the parallel between 2020 stolen election claims and Gaza genocide claims as tribal loyalty tests, then walks the Senate Leadership Fund's $25 million ad buy across seven states and explains what the missing Georgia money says about Mike Collins, Jon Ossoff, and the AI generated attack ad nobody asked for. He closes on Ken Paxton's AI generated James Talarico ad, Abdul El-Sayed's refusal to answer for Hasan Piker in Michigan, and President Trump lifting tariffs on Irish whiskey as a favor. TOPICS Where have all the normal people gone: the Bob and Van essay, Lindsay Clancy defenders on TikTok, Beau French and the University of Texas photo, and why normal people who work, watch football, and skip conventions still decide elections Bill Maher on Real Time: radical Islamism versus Western liberalism, one in five young Americans with a favorable view of Osama bin Laden, Luigi Mangione, and the stolen election and Gaza genocide as matching tribal loyalty tests Senate Leadership Fund drops $25 million across Ohio, North Carolina, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, and Alaska, with nothing for Mike Collins in Georgia and the Trump super PAC covering Texas instead The AI generated ad problem: the Ossoff ad calling him too pretty for office, Ken Paxton's AI James Talarico bible spot, and why using fake video when real video exists is political malpractice Abdul El-Sayed dodges on Hasan Piker in Michigan, John Sununu versus Chris Pappas puts New Hampshire in play, plus Irish whiskey tariff favors, the 10 year Treasury yield at 5%, Speaker Mike Johnson and David Sacks on AI regulation, and Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson's step by step progress on crime