The Memory Hole Election
This wasn't a win for independent media. This was a win for gross distortion of the truth.
As soon as the writing was on the wall on Tuesday evening, I made the surprisingly easy decision to shut down my Twitter account. It truly was the Rubicon moment that I think many other truly independent thinkers have already crossed on their own over the past year, when they discovered that Elon “New World Order” Musk never intended to make Twitter a free speech platform, but instead enable it to serve as a me speech platform: a bully pulpit for all the grievances the elite tech cabal never had space to share.
Since then, I’ve been getting occasional dispatches from friends as they observe the collective cheers from tech leaders across the political spectrum. There is, of course, the as-expected diplomatic congratulatory messages that seek to smooth over Trump’s infamously fragile ego and presume that enough appeasement will satiate his desire for vengeance. I half-expect this and, honestly, if i were someone who was responsible for the livelihoods of tens of thousands of workers, I would adopt a similar concilatory stance.
But then the other positive reactions (of note, i’m ignoring the sheer volume of downtrodden reactions from very thoughtful tech leaders) fall into two separate camps.
You have the obvious sycophants - Elon, David Sacks, and others - that had much to lose in a continued Biden-Harris administration and everything to gain with a Trump election. Rumors swirled that many of these leaders faced imminent lawsuits for behaving egregiously, harming individuals, and fleecing investors, and they needed someone to magically make all those go away. I can also understand why they behaved this way; a cornered animal always finds ways to lash out. Within this group is also the rank hypocrites who, just a few years ago, considered Trump’s actions on January 6th “disqualifying”.
Then, there are the tech pundits. These are the “citizen journalists” whom have taken to the public digital square to wax philosophical on the election, presumably from an independent voice. If you know me well enough, you know that my typical target when referring to this group is Mike Solana at Pirate Wires whom - while being nauseatingly smug about his points of view and equally coy about his non-Founders Fund financial ties to Peter Thiel - is a really, really good writer. He’s essentially the Ohio State of citizen journalists.
Let’s dive into that second group a bit more.
Much of what these pundits are sharing - including tech commes “whisperer” Lulu Cheng-Meservey, “American Dynamism” investor Katherine Boyle, and others - is the idea that this election is a notable and clear victory for independent journalism (labeling it “the podcast election”) and a resounding defeat for their favorite “wokism” punching bag. The noisy pundit class on traditional media is running with similar takes, something that Desi Lydic so deftly pointed out this week on The Daily Show. In many ways, these citjournos are falling for the same trap - blaming Democrats for crime, taxes, immigration, regulation, trying to label an actual insurrectionist as an insurrectionist….you know, those sorts of things.
In the midst of these grievances, though - Solana may be the only one who kinda gets it right: people weren’t voting for Trump, per se. They just hated Democrats. Why I say this is kinda right is because a) Trump didn’t really gain any support from his 2020 election and b) the Harris ticket lost over 10 million votes from their 2020 turnout. So in the midst of a victory lap for Trump, what they really should be thanking is the egregious own-goal that Democrats scored.
But it’s also partially wrong. Given the massive shifts in voter sentiment from 2020, we would have also expected resounding wins up and down the ticket for Republicans. Instead, this is what we saw:
In four states which Trump won - Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Michigan - Democrats won Senate seats, pacing far ahead of the Harris-Walz ticket. And while Democrats lost the senate overall, this felt more like a foregone conclusion.
In nearly every other congressional race, Democratic candidates outpaced Harris-Walz voters - including noted Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who won her re-election campaign by +38 points and was only one point off her win in 2022.
In a personally satisfying note - my longtime friend Nicole Uhre-Balk will be one of only eight Democrats sitting in the South Dakota State House after ousting her Republican challengers.
I’ll also note that, here in DC, a foolhardy attempt to pin an uptick in crime on Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen and attempt to recall him was so panned, that it didn’t even make it to the ballot. San Francisco could learn a lesson here.
This doesn’t sound like a wholesale rejection of Democratic ideals and norms, and so it’s important to bring it back to what I consider perhaps the three more apparent factors that led to this outcome.
The top-line Democratic ticket did a shit job marketing itself over the past four years, and I think it’s reasonable to place the blame on Joe Biden and his inner circle. Somehow, they allowed truth-benders to steer the Inflation Reduction Act, the strongest market bull run in decades, and massive necessary investments in infrastucture to be co-opted by a deeply unserious crowd of critics - many of whom were in their own party - that would rather focus on the no good, very bad things Democrats were doing when it came to immigration and transgenderism. Biden and his team had a really, really shitty PR infrastructure, hoping beyond hope that every angle of the media would pick up on it. On this point, absolutely - they missed out on the citizen journalism aspect of pushing this forward in a grossly damaging way. Harris, unfortunately, wasn’t afforded much time to dig out of the multi-year hole that Biden had dug for her, and (fortunately) down-ballot races were rendered somewhat immune, which I chalk up more to general sentiment on where ire is directed.
We also need to have a serious reckoning around what “prosperity” truly looks like, and what the avatar should be for an ostensibly suffering part of our population. For much of our parents’ generation, hard work was rewarded with security and a better life for their families. It truly is the backbone of the American Dream. That avatar has been co-opted by extraordinaly wealthy people, including Donald Trump, which now suggests that our young people and immigrants - two groups that wildly swung to Trump in this election - can have a successful life if they 1. make millions of dollars and, when that’s not possible, 2. craft a bogeyman to direct all your blame at. There is a combination of anger and sadness when I see that women are now being acosted with the “Your Body, My Choice” meme, crafted by one of Trump’s associates, in the wake of his victory…because the people these young men have looked up to have not been given a replacement role model. We must not ignore this as an important factor in how this election turned out.
But we also need to look at the other obvious factor: people who know better straight-up memoryholed everything we know about Donald Trump. When I examine the apparently honest takes from citizen journalists, I notice a particular glossing over of a few things, like….
when Trump incited an insurrection against the government
mismanaged a pandemic that killed nearly half a million Americans
separated children from their families and lost those children in the bureaucracy
tear-gassed peaceful protesters on Lafayette Square so he could hold a photo op holding a Bible in front of a church
got impeached
got impeached again
had the worst jobs record of any president in modern history
pressured Ukraine to dig dirt on Joe Biden
fired the FBI director for investigating his ties to Russia
then bragged about firing the FBI director on TV
took Vladimir Putin’s word over the US intelligence community
diverted military funding to build his wall
caused the longest government shutdown in US history
banned transgender people from serving in the military
ejected reporters from the White House briefing room who asked tough questions
vetoed the defense funding bill because it renamed military bases named for Confederate soldiers
refused to release his tax returns
increased the national debt by nearly $8 trillion
had three of the highest annual trade deficits in U.S. history
called veterans and soldiers who died in combat “losers and suckers”
coddled the leader of Saudi Arabia after he ordered the execution and dismembering of a US-based journalist
refused to concede the 2020 election
hired his unqualified daughter and son-in-law to work in the White House
called neo-Nazis “very fine people,”
suggested that people should inject bleach into their bodies to fight COVID
abandoned the Kurds to Turkey
pushed through massive tax cuts for the wealthiest but balked at helping working Americans
withdrew the US from the Paris climate accords
withdrew the US from the Iranian nuclear deal
withdrew the US from the Trans Pacific Partnership which was designed to block China’s advances
insulted his own Cabinet members on Twitter
pushed the leader of Montenegro out of the way during a photo op
failed to reiterate US commitment to defending NATO allies
called Haiti and African nations “shithole” countries
claimed that he single handedly brought back the phrase “Merry Christmas” even though it hadn’t gone anywhere
believed he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
berated and belittled his hand-picked Attorney General when he recused himself from the Russia probe
suggested the US should buy Greenland
colluded with Mitch McConnell to push through federal judges and two Supreme Court justices after supporting efforts to prevent his predecessor from appointing judges
repeatedly called the media “enemies of the people,”
claimed that if we tested fewer people for COVID we’d have fewer cases
violated the emoluments clause
called his exceedingly faithful vice president a “p---y” for following the Constitution
nearly got us into a war with Iran after threatening them by tweet
nominated a corrupt head of the EPA
nominated a corrupt head of HHS
nominated a corrupt head of the Interior Department
nominated a corrupt head of the USDA
refused to allow the presidential transition to begin
insulted war hero John McCain – even after his death
spent an obscene amount of time playing golf after criticizing Barack Obama for playing (far less) golf while president
falsely claimed that he won the 2016 popular vote
called the Muslim mayor of London a “stone cold loser,”
falsely claimed that he turned down being Time’s Man of the Year
mocked wearing face masks to guard against transmitting COVID
locked Congress out of its constitutional duty to confirm Cabinet officials by hiring acting ones
used a racist dog whistle by calling COVID the “China virus”
hired and associated with numerous shady figures that were eventually convicted of federal offenses including his campaign manager and national security adviser
then pardoned them
got into a telephone fight with the leader of Australia(!)
forced his press secretary to claim without merit that his was the largest inauguration crowd in history
charged the Secret Service jacked-up rates at his properties
claimed that COVID would “magically” disappear
called a U.S. Senator “Pocahontas”
used his Twitter account to blast Nordstrom when it stopped selling Ivanka’s merchandise
opened up millions of pristine federal lands to development and drilling
got into a losing tariff war with China that forced US taxpayers to bail out farmers
claimed that his losing tariff war was a win for the US
ignored or didn’t even take part in daily intelligence briefings
blew off honoring American war dead in France because it was raining
threatened to go after social media companies in clear violation of the Constitution
botched the response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico
and threw paper towels at Puerto Ricans when he finally visited them
pressured the governor and secretary of state of Georgia to “find” him votes
allowed White House staff to use personal email accounts for official businesses after blasting Hillary Clinton for doing the same thing
rolled back regulations that protected the public from mercury and asbestos
rolled back regulations that stopped coal companies from dumping waste into rivers
refused to attend his successors’ inauguration
threatened judges who didn’t do what he wanted
attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci
promised that Mexico would pay for the wall (it didn’t)
allowed political hacks to overrule government scientists on major reports on climate change and other issues
called an African-American Congresswoman “low IQ,”
threatened to withhold federal aid from states and cities with Democratic leaders
…and continues to claim that he never lost the 2020 election.
Let’s be clear here: when you literally claim to be a journalist and spend more of your time focusing on that one moment where Kamala Harris said in 2019 she would support gender reassigment surgery for undocumented immigrants in custody, while ignoring that policy was implemented in 2016 and NOT REVERSED BY THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION, you should be deadass honest and say that you intentionally want to put the thumb on the scale. You want to mold and shape your avatar of these two sides into how you feel about them, and - in the case of Solana - you can almost sense the gritting of teeth behind the smirk as he jots down words about the badness of wokism and how Democrats - and society writ large - should be punished for ever constructing such an egregious idea of….letting people live their lives and holding fast against the businesses and institutions seeking to make their lives a little harder.
Solana attempts to square this circle by stating the following:
“In the end, Americans weren’t nearly so worried about the man Democrats dragged to court as they were the Democratic Party’s wild, historic abuse of power.”
And this is the coda. Never mind that these abuses of power were in no way egregious violations of the Constitution that resulted in impeachment. Never mind that it was a former Republican in Robert Mueller who instituted the initial investigations into Trump’s activity. And never mind that both Republicans and Democrats voted to convict Trump on the charges laid before him. It is really just convenient to place transgender rights (by misgendering Imane Khalif for some ghastly reason) on the same plane as an attempt to subvert the Constitution, because that is how you square the pretzel-twisting going on here.
So, no. I refuse to say that this election was a referendum on small-d democratic ideals, the ideals that ushered in Social Security (which people like), Medicare (which people also like), and the totally non-partisan idea of putting fluoride in drinking water (which your dentist likes). This was an election in which the so-called decentralized approach to information, in perhaps its biggest test, failed miserably to inform the voting population of what really is going on.
And that’s something these tech leaders will never cop up to, in the same way that they will never admit when their technologies create egregious harm or division or pain. If we expect honesty and contrition from them, we will be waiting a very, very long time.