12 Comments

This is from Andy Borowitz's blog - please subscribe, it's free for emails and you can pay for additional content. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't mind me sharing this here:

(FROM THE BOROWITZ REPORT)

Quick quiz: what do these three statements have in common?

1) Donald Trump won in a landslide.

2) Kamala Harris lost because she ran a terrible campaign.

3) The Democratic brand is toxic.

Answer? They’ve all been spread by the mainstream media. And they’re all false.

Let’s take a moment to factcheck these classics of the gaslighting genre.

1) Donald Trump won in a landslide. FALSE. As of this writing, Trump’s popular vote margin over Harris is only two percent. As votes from western states continue to trickle in, his margin may be even tinier (insert Stormy Daniels joke here). This election will likely wind up being the closest since the 2000 contest between George W. Bush and Al Gore.

As for the Electoral College, Trump’s margin there was far from a landslide by historical standards, as I showed here. What’s more, only 780,000 votes separated the two candidates in all swing states combined. That’s how close Kamala Harris came to being president.

Why does this matter? The fact that this election was so close means that the 2026 midterms are eminently winnable for Democrats. If, on the other hand, the media convince you that Trump won by a huge mandate, you might feel hopeless. And hopelessness is not a plan.

2) Kamala Harris lost because she ran a terrible campaign. FALSE. No campaign is flawless, but Harris’s came pretty close. She had to mount hers in a mere hundred days and did so brilliantly, with a masterful convention and a dominant debate performance.

So why did she lose? For starters, Harris was linked to Joe Biden, who was deeply unpopular. His approval rating was a lowly 40, which she wildly outperformed. She also had the misfortune to run in a year when incumbent parties were swept out of power around the world.

And last—but certainly not least—she made the fatal error of being a woman. That’s no small data point in a nation that has yet to choose a female head of state—something that 88 other countries have somehow managed to do. Even macho Mexico just elected a woman, and—eek!—a Jewish one at that.

Evidence that Mexicans are smarter than we are: they wouldn’t pay for Trump’s border wall, and they elected Claudia Sheinbaum. (Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images)

3) The Democratic brand is toxic. FALSE. As Democratic “strategists” (euphemism for “unemployed gasbags”) bloviate on cable news about why their party lost, I’m reminded of a famous quote from the great political humorist Will Rogers: “I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.”

The mainstream media have been amplifying the lazy critiques of this circular firing squad to attract clicks and viewers. But there’s no evidence that the Democrats—who have a stellar bench of popular elected officials including Andy Beshear, Gretchen Whitmer, Josh Shapiro, and Wes Moore, to name just four—are in such dire straits.

And there was good news for Democrats this cycle. In North Carolina, for example, Democrat Josh Stein defeated MAGA Republican Mark Robinson by a thumping 15 points. If that proves anything, it’s that the Black Nazi brand is toxic.

If you’re like me, you’re sick of being gaslighted and have decided to turn off the gaslight.

Since the election, cable news channels have seen their ratings crater. And hundreds of thousands of Washington Post readers have cancelled their subscriptions to protest the craven behavior of the paper’s owner, Lex Luthor wannabe Jeff Bezos.

So you might be wondering: now that I’m over mainstream media, where do I get my news?

Answer: mainly from BBC Sounds, the app from the BBC, which delivers high quality radio reporting from all over the world, for free. It’s not perfect, but it’s a huge upgrade over what the for-profit American media companies have been dishing out.

For example, you could watch MSNBC’s entire primetime lineup and never know that there’s a continent called Africa. Tune in to the BBC and you’ll learn all about the civil war in Sudan, which is affecting a huge swath of your fellow humans. Such coverage will make all those cable roundtables about whether Tim Walz was the right choice seem pretty silly.

But I wouldn’t recommend consuming the news—even from an excellent source like the BBC—around the clock. I’m not a neuroscientist like George Santos, but in my experience, turning off the news is good for your mental health. And you’ll have more time for things you actually enjoy. Read a novel. See a friend. Walk your dog. Which is what I’m going to do right now.

Expand full comment

Why is somebody not asking for recounts in some of these very close areas? Were we perhaps too quick to concede? There have been things floating around that many voters were taken off the voting lists. Why is someone not looking into possible election tampering? Are we that afraid of being accused of being conspiracy theorists if we say something? Remember - just because you're paranoid doesn't mean somebody isn't out to get you.

Expand full comment

I remember when President Biden won and all hell broke loose. We found out this Nov 5th before 10 pm that Trump won. How was it that fast? Why is no-one asking questions. We the blue are just saying ok, and we are in for hell the next 4 years starting in January.

Signed,

So sad, so blue

Expand full comment

Grief & anger are holding hands in my head.

Expand full comment

The other two things - rage and outrage??

Expand full comment
founding

💕

Expand full comment
founding

Send

Expand full comment
founding

I’m still grieving! Hopefully we’ll all soon feel a bit better.

Expand full comment

Just bluuuuuu…😒

Expand full comment

All the therapy in the world isn’t going to do much for me but moving to New Zealand might help!

Expand full comment

This is the first time I didn’t find humor in your writing. Maybe it’s just too painful because I sure as hello am grieving!

Expand full comment

Lots of grief to go around today not only for the nation, but also the passing of John McLean a candidate for LD 17.

Expand full comment