“Nothing is more annoying than the image much of the world has of American presidents: a heroic action figure, a kind of cross between Harrison Ford, Clint Eastwood and Bruce Willis, with limitless power”
-Aaron David Miller, on the misconception about the US & the world that drives him crazy
ugh, i’m sooooooo sick if this. this whole storyline is clearly written as yet another storyline where the white option for the costumizable love intrest is clearly the ‘intended’ one for the story to make any sort of sense. how are people even gonna believe it was Alexei in the picture when you can clearly see Blaines black ass, face or no face. do better pixelberry.
16th May 2022 // The King and Crown Princess attended a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee at the Royal Palace. The Foreign Affairs Committee is a consultative body between the Riksdag and the government, of which the King is chairman. The committee consists of the Speaker and nine other members from the Riksdag as well as nine deputies.
Fox News hosted a town hall with Bernie Sanders on Monday, and I decided to watch it. Here are my impressions and takeaways:
Audience Reception on the Issues
The town hall took place in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, described by Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum as an industrial town with a closed steel plant that voted for Obama and then voted for Trump. These are swing voters who Bernie Sanders should appeal to on issues like trade and workers’ rights. And, to be certain, when NAFTA, CAFTA, and TPP were brought up, the audience sided strongly with Sanders.
But on other issues, even though this town hall aired on Fox News, the audience was often very supportive. This might have best been illustrated by one of the most interesting moments of the town hall: Bret Baier asks the crowd how many of them have private work-provided health insurance, by a show of hands. Many hands raise. When asking the crowd whether they would want Medicare for All, more hands shoot up, some people stand, and some vocalize their support, as well. This is, I’m sure, not what Baier was expecting, because one of the arguments used against universal healthcare, often framed disingenuously, is that people want to keep their private insurance. The audience responded very positively to the idea of having stable, ongoing coverage.
Later, I was surprised by how loudly the crowd applauded the following comment:
“The American people, I think, are ready to deal with justice in America. That is what we’re fighting for. And that’s economic justice, social justice, environmental justice, racial justice.”
Even though this was a Fox News town hall with attendees who appeared to be mostly white, the audience got really excited and loud when Sanders brought up racial justice. From that point through the end of the town hall, it was fairly clear that the majority of those in attendance supported most if not all of what he had to say. Viewers could hear Bernie chants here and there, particularly in the second half of the telecast. Towards the end of the town hall, one of the hosts was booed for asking if Bernie supported prisoners having voting rights for his own political benefit. When he was given an opportunity to provide a closing remark, he and the audience engaged in some call and response, and he was sent off with repeated chants of Bernie.
The message
The case Bernie Sanders made was for a politics and a movement for the working class. He’s advocating for a positive agenda that benefits all workers. In many ways, he appealed to liberal Democrats: he proactively discussed climate change, he discussed suppressing black people’s voting rights, advocated for universal healthcare, challenged the demonization of immigrants, and he didn’t criticize other Democrats when given a chance while criticizing Fox News. But he also advocated for policies further to the left of Democratic Party dogma: he criticized the military industrial complex and the Pentagon for refusing to do an audit and for wasting incalculable amounts of money, he called on us to “rid the world of nuclear weapons,” he said it’s not anti-Semitic to criticize Israel, and he brought up poverty over a handful of times, even mentioning childhood poverty. And that’s where the strength of Bernie’s campaign lies: appealing to the shrinking middle class on standard Democratic issues while also appealing to the poor and working classes of all ethnicities, and he was particularly effective in advocating for inclusive class-based politics and policy, even on Fox News.
What the town hall achieved
First,he looks like the front-runner and a leader. He was criticized by the center and the Democratic Party for appearing on Fox News, and he was criticized by some of my compatriots on the left for platforming Fox News. I see the merit in the latter argument, but Fox News is mainstream and has been for a long time. I’d be concerned if he went on Tucker Carlson, but that’s not what this was. That said, being a leader means making choices you think will be beneficial even when the decision is unpopular. Effective leadership also means walking the walk: Bernie Sanders is about working class politics; refusing to go on Fox News does, to some extent, leave out a platform where some of the working class goes for news–even if the outlet itself is a horrible news source. Trump won the votes of some Americans who voted for Obama; failing to try to bring those voters back into the fold would be political malpractice.
Finally,Sanders effectively demonstrated that he can take on Trump. At multiple times during the broadcast, he spoke directly to Trump: when he brought up his support for staying out of Syria and Yemen and ending endless warfare, he called on Trump to sign the measure he introduced to end America’s support for Yemen. He also went after Trump’s hypocrisy of refusing to cut Medicare on the campaign trail but then proposing budgets that support Medicare and other social insurance programs. At multiple times during the town hall, he positively contrasted himself with Trump. Democrats and many independents–and some Republicans–want to envision a candidate who can emerge victorious against Trump. Bernie’s performance could help some of those voters envision that.
Was his appearance effective?
Press coverage suggests it was. Here’s a sampling of headlines:
“Bernie Sanders may have just set the model for 2020 Democrats with his Fox News town hall” -The News-Times
“Sanders takes on Fox” - and emerges triumphant -Politico
“Bernie Sanders Beat Fox News on Its Own Turf” -Spin
“How wide is Bernie Sanders appeal? This cheering Fox News audience is a clue” -The Guardian
“Bernie Sanders Shines on Fox News” -The National Review
“Bernie’s victorious Fox News town hall” -Vice
“Bernie Sanders on Fox News is Most-Watched Town Hall of 2019″ -The Wrap
What could he have done better?
The first ten minutes of this town hall were particularly combative, and I think that largely stems from the initial focus on Bernie’s tax returns, which revealed him to be a millionaire, and possibly his desire to ensure that he articulated clearly that he is not on board with Fox News as a media organization. While the line of questioning about why Sanders wouldn’t just send his tax cut from Trump back–even though he voted against the bill–is completely asinine, I would like to see him come up with a better answer to what he’s doing with his newfound wealth. Ultimately, though, I think this is a debate of minimal consequence. You can certainly support policies that benefit the 99% without actually being in the 99%. Sanders, as he pointed out, also supports taxing himself at a higher level. And I think most people can draw a distinction between the Clintons, Donald Trump, Jeff Bezos, and others and how they generated their wealth versus how Bernie made his. And, not to forget, the very real degree of separation in their wealth.
And while I think that Bernie has improved on his messaging around foreign policy and developed a better vision of what that would look like, he didn’t proactively bring up foreign policy in the first half of the event. Mostly, I’d like to see him connect what’s happening at the border with our foreign policy. He said that people are desperate and “fleeing violence and misery in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala.” This is true. He said we need more immigration judges. That’s also true. But he needs to then say that we need to stop intervening in the affairs of these countries and using diplomacy to support stability and economic growth throughout the Americas by supporting workers’ movements at home and abroad.
Final Thoughts
If you know me or were aware of my blog during the 2016 election, you know that I was a strong Sanders supporter and that I volunteered for his campaign. Over the past few years, my political views have shifted more to the left, and I’ve developed more criticisms of Sanders. In spite of that, I did come away from this town hall reminded of the appeal of the Sanders campaign: one that could represent a shift towards an inclusive working class policy focus and movement building, and away from a divisive Red State/Blue State paradigm.
I haven’t made any kind of endorsements for 2020 because, again, it’s too early, and there are many candidates running who will be out of the race a year from now. However, it was difficult not to come away from viewing the town hall with some combination of familiarity and inspiration. One could say I was feeling the Bern…
“excuse me i’m really trying to work rn” – Tatum probably
Ooookaay, so I decided to join the Tatum appreciation art train. :D This started off as a sketch but I ended up spending a lot more time on it than I thought. But I also couldn’t stop looking at Tatum, sooooo
“You can’t care about problems of every single country in the world!”
Beside the fact I’m human and I naturally wish everyone would get what I’m lucky to have, I’ll tell you why I do care.
I have friends in Ukraine. None of them have left or plan to do so. It’s their home and even though at least one of them has relocated, talking people out of returning home because it’s not safe, knowing damn well how it feels to miss your home, if it’s in the middle of a whirlwind or not, is not something I got prepared for. So I understand.
I have friends in southeast Asia. I would argue about how the palm oil is bad with anyone but them. Because they know. They do. But at the same time, they know that we have been going down this environmentally bad path for too long and cutting it off would make many of their fellow citizens fall into extreme poverty, the economy would fall apart and it’d be mainly the ordinary people who would suffer. So I understand.
I have friends in the US who are genuinely afraid of the prolife movements and feel sad when they hear how much we learn in our schools. The “stupid Americans” stereotype has made us mock the wrong people, those who became victims to the insufficient education system. So I understand.
I have friends in southeastern Europe. I have a friend in Azerbaijan. I have friends that are children of emigrants, that want to study abroad but don’t have finances, friends that are forced into some religion, friends that have never felt plight in their country, yet they’re not happy. Friends that are being told by ignorant people that they don’t understand their own history.
So I understand. I have opened my heart to people who are different from me, yet very similar and we talk a lot.
Before I met them, I had no idea what the world is like, that it’s so full of problems that get pushed aside. That we’d rather complain about how our problems are what we should focus on the most when some are dying for their ethnicity, religion, can’t find a job because of something their leader did and they speak against, are dependent on the brands we all know and love quite literally with their lives.
I decided to take the time to understand them. Because to understand is to love and to love is to understand.
For this month, I’m bringing you three options per day inspired by various worldly holidays, fun random dates and events that only happen in November. You can choose the prompt you vibe the most, pair up two prompts, use all three and even combine with prompts from Choices fandom events and other general prompt lists.
1. writing | job | veggie
2. soul | pray | silence
3. culture | sandwich | tradition
4. lights | candy | Diwali
5. readhead | bonfire | Portuguese
6. cake | garden | laugh
7. bittersweet | sunlight | marathon
8. cooking | coffee | radio
9. read | adoption | freedom
10. memory | cupcake | pen
11. sundae | single | origami
12. soup | shaving | hip hop
13. lady | kind | power
14. father | nursing | learning
15. peace | clean | drums
16. revolution | bear | hamburger
17. creativity | bread | hiking
18. tiara | philosophy | country
19. party | crafts | moon
20. black | fight | proud
21. lie | hello | TV
22. ride | music | freckles
23. cranberry | beloved | dance
24. drinks | challenge | pie
25. thankful | perfection | loss
26. shop | welcome | chill
27. idea | games | ending
28. Hanukkah | waiting | hope
29. generosity | resilience | holy land
30. home | hero | friend
Just a reminder that I’m still receiving submissions for any day of November Challenge until December 11th!
For this month, I’m bringing you three options per day inspired by various worldly holidays, fun random dates and events that only happen in November. You can choose the prompt you vibe the most, pair up two prompts, use all three and even combine with prompts from Choices fandom events and other general prompt lists.
1. writing | job | veggie
2. soul | pray | silence
3. culture | sandwich | tradition
4. lights | candy | Diwali
5. readhead | bonfire | Portuguese
6. cake | garden | laugh
7. bittersweet | sunlight | marathon
8. cooking | coffee | radio
9. read | adoption | freedom
10. memory | cupcake | pen
11. sundae | single | origami
12. soup | shaving | hip hop
13. lady | kind | power
14. father | nursing | learning
15. peace | clean | drums
16. revolution | bear | hamburger
17. creativity | bread | hiking
18. tiara | philosophy | country
19. party | crafts | moon
20. black | fight | proud
21. lie | hello | TV
22. ride | music | freckles
23. cranberry | beloved | dance
24. drinks | challenge | pie
25. thankful | perfection | loss
26. shop | welcome | chill
27. idea | games | ending
28. Hanukkah | waiting | hope
29. generosity | resilience | holy land
30. home | hero | friend
Just a reminder that I’m still receiving submissions for any day of November Challenge until December 11th!
For this month, I’m bringing you three options per day inspired by various worldly holidays, fun random dates and events that only happen in November. You can choose the prompt you vibe the most, pair up two prompts, use all three and even combine with prompts from Choices fandom events and other general prompt lists.
1. writing | job | veggie
2. soul | pray | silence
3. culture | sandwich | tradition
4. lights | candy | Diwali
5. readhead | bonfire | Portuguese
6. cake | garden | laugh
7. bittersweet | sunlight | marathon
8. cooking | coffee | radio
9. read | adoption | freedom
10. memory | cupcake | pen
11. sundae | single | origami
12. soup | shaving | hip hop
13. lady | kind | power
14. father | nursing | learning
15. peace | clean | drums
16. revolution | bear | hamburger
17. creativity | bread | hiking
18. tiara | philosophy | country
19. party | crafts | moon
20. black | fight | proud
21. lie | hello | TV
22. ride | music | freckles
23. cranberry | beloved | dance
24. drinks | challenge | pie
25. thankful | perfection | loss
26. shop | welcome | chill
27. idea | games | ending
28. Hanukkah | waiting | hope
29. generosity | resilience | holy land
30. home | hero | friend
Just a reminder that I’m still receiving submissions for any day of November Challenge until December 11th!
For this month, I’m bringing you three options per day inspired by various worldly holidays, fun random dates and events that only happen in November. You can choose the prompt you vibe the most, pair up two prompts, use all three and even combine with prompts from Choices fandom events and other general prompt lists.
1. writing | job | veggie
2. soul | pray | silence
3. culture | sandwich | tradition
4. lights | candy | Diwali
5. readhead | bonfire | Portuguese
6. cake | garden | laugh
7. bittersweet | sunlight | marathon
8. cooking | coffee | radio
9. read | adoption | freedom
10. memory | cupcake | pen
11. sundae | single | origami
12. soup | shaving | hip hop
13. lady | kind | power
14. father | nursing | learning
15. peace | clean | drums
16. revolution | bear | hamburger
17. creativity | bread | hiking
18. tiara | philosophy | country
19. party | crafts | moon
20. black | fight | proud
21. lie | hello | TV
22. ride | music | freckles
23. cranberry | beloved | dance
24. drinks | challenge | pie
25. thankful | perfection | loss
26. shop | welcome | chill
27. idea | games | ending
28. Hanukkah | waiting | hope
29. generosity | resilience | holy land
30. home | hero | friend
Just a reminder that I’m still receiving submissions for any day of November Challenge until December 11th!
For this month, I’m bringing you three options per day inspired by various worldly holidays, fun random dates and events that only happen in November. You can choose the prompt you vibe the most, pair up two prompts, use all three and even combine with prompts from Choices fandom events and other general prompt lists.
1. writing | job | veggie
2. soul | pray | silence
3. culture | sandwich | tradition
4. lights | candy | Diwali
5. readhead | bonfire | Portuguese
6. cake | garden | laugh
7. bittersweet | sunlight | marathon
8. cooking | coffee | radio
9. read | adoption | freedom
10. memory | cupcake | pen
11. sundae | single | origami
12. soup | shaving | hip hop
13. lady | kind | power
14. father | nursing | learning
15. peace | clean | drums
16. revolution | bear | hamburger
17. creativity | bread | hiking
18. tiara | philosophy | country
19. party | crafts | moon
20. black | fight | proud
21. lie | hello | TV
22. ride | music | freckles
23. cranberry | beloved | dance
24. drinks | challenge | pie
25. thankful | perfection | loss
26. shop | welcome | chill
27. idea | games | ending
28. Hanukkah | waiting | hope
29. generosity | resilience | holy land
30. home | hero | friend
Just a reminder that I’m still receiving submissions for any day of November Challenge until December 11th!
For this month, I’m bringing you three options per day inspired by various worldly holidays, fun random dates and events that only happen in November. You can choose the prompt you vibe the most, pair up two prompts, use all three and even combine with prompts from Choices fandom events and other general prompt lists.
1. writing | job | veggie
2. soul | pray | silence
3. culture | sandwich | tradition
4. lights | candy | Diwali
5. readhead | bonfire | Portuguese
6. cake | garden | laugh
7. bittersweet | sunlight | marathon
8. cooking | coffee | radio
9. read | adoption | freedom
10. memory | cupcake | pen
11. sundae | single | origami
12. soup | shaving | hip hop
13. lady | kind | power
14. father | nursing | learning
15. peace | clean | drums
16. revolution | bear | hamburger
17. creativity | bread | hiking
18. tiara | philosophy | country
19. party | crafts | moon
20. black | fight | proud
21. lie | hello | TV
22. ride | music | freckles
23. cranberry | beloved | dance
24. drinks | challenge | pie
25. thankful | perfection | loss
26. shop | welcome | chill
27. idea | games | ending
28. Hanukkah | waiting | hope
29. generosity | resilience | holy land
30. home | hero | friend
Just a reminder that I’m still receiving submissions for any day of November Challenge until December 11th!
For this month, I’m bringing you three options per day inspired by various worldly holidays, fun random dates and events that only happen in November. You can choose the prompt you vibe the most, pair up two prompts, use all three and even combine with prompts from Choices fandom events and other general prompt lists.
1. writing | job | veggie
2. soul | pray | silence
3. culture | sandwich | tradition
4. lights | candy | Diwali
5. readhead | bonfire | Portuguese
6. cake | garden | laugh
7. bittersweet | sunlight | marathon
8. cooking | coffee | radio
9. read | adoption | freedom
10. memory | cupcake | pen
11. sundae | single | origami
12. soup | shaving | hip hop
13. lady | kind | power
14. father | nursing | learning
15. peace | clean | drums
16. revolution | bear | hamburger
17. creativity | bread | hiking
18. tiara | philosophy | country
19. party | crafts | moon
20. black | fight | proud
21. lie | hello | TV
22. ride | music | freckles
23. cranberry | beloved | dance
24. drinks | challenge | pie
25. thankful | perfection | loss
26. shop | welcome | chill
27. idea | games | ending
28. Hanukkah | waiting | hope
29. generosity | resilience | holy land
30. home | hero | friend
Just a reminder that I’m still receiving submissions for any day of November Challenge until December 11th!
For this month, I’m bringing you three options per day inspired by various worldly holidays, fun random dates and events that only happen in November. You can choose the prompt you vibe the most, pair up two prompts, use all three and even combine with prompts from Choices fandom events and other general prompt lists.
1. writing | job | veggie
2. soul | pray | silence
3. culture | sandwich | tradition
4. lights | candy | Diwali
5. readhead | bonfire | Portuguese
6. cake | garden | laugh
7. bittersweet | sunlight | marathon
8. cooking | coffee | radio
9. read | adoption | freedom
10. memory | cupcake | pen
11. sundae | single | origami
12. soup | shaving | hip hop
13. lady | kind | power
14. father | nursing | learning
15. peace | clean | drums
16. revolution | bear | hamburger
17. creativity | bread | hiking
18. tiara | philosophy | country
19. party | crafts | moon
20. black | fight | proud
21. lie | hello | TV
22. ride | music | freckles
23. cranberry | beloved | dance
24. drinks | challenge | pie
25. thankful | perfection | loss
26. shop | welcome | chill
27. idea | games | ending
28. Hanukkah | waiting | hope
29. generosity | resilience | holy land
30. home | hero | friend
Just a reminder that I’m still receiving submissions for any day of November Challenge until December 11th!
For this month, I’m bringing you three options per day inspired by various worldly holidays, fun random dates and events that only happen in November. You can choose the prompt you vibe the most, pair up two prompts, use all three and even combine with prompts from Choices fandom events and other general prompt lists.
1. writing | job | veggie
2. soul | pray | silence
3. culture | sandwich | tradition
4. lights | candy | Diwali
5. readhead | bonfire | Portuguese
6. cake | garden | laugh
7. bittersweet | sunlight | marathon
8. cooking | coffee | radio
9. read | adoption | freedom
10. memory | cupcake | pen
11. sundae | single | origami
12. soup | shaving | hip hop
13. lady | kind | power
14. father | nursing | learning
15. peace | clean | drums
16. revolution | bear | hamburger
17. creativity | bread | hiking
18. tiara | philosophy | country
19. party | crafts | moon
20. black | fight | proud
21. lie | hello | TV
22. ride | music | freckles
23. cranberry | beloved | dance
24. drinks | challenge | pie
25. thankful | perfection | loss
26. shop | welcome | chill
27. idea | games | ending
28. Hanukkah | waiting | hope
29. generosity | resilience | holy land
30. home | hero | friend
Just a reminder that I’m still receiving submissions for any day of November Challenge until December 11th!
For this month, I’m bringing you three options per day inspired by various worldly holidays, fun random dates and events that only happen in November. You can choose the prompt you vibe the most, pair up two prompts, use all three and even combine with prompts from Choices fandom events and other general prompt lists.
1. writing | job | veggie
2. soul | pray | silence
3. culture | sandwich | tradition
4. lights | candy | Diwali
5. readhead | bonfire | Portuguese
6. cake | garden | laugh
7. bittersweet | sunlight | marathon
8. cooking | coffee | radio
9. read | adoption | freedom
10. memory | cupcake | pen
11. sundae | single | origami
12. soup | shaving | hip hop
13. lady | kind | power
14. father | nursing | learning
15. peace | clean | drums
16. revolution | bear | hamburger
17. creativity | bread | hiking
18. tiara | philosophy | country
19. party | crafts | moon
20. black | fight | proud
21. lie | hello | TV
22. ride | music | freckles
23. cranberry | beloved | dance
24. drinks | challenge | pie
25. thankful | perfection | loss
26. shop | welcome | chill
27. idea | games | ending
28. Hanukkah | waiting | hope
29. generosity | resilience | holy land
30. home | hero | friend
Just a reminder that I’m still receiving submissions for any day of November Challenge until December 11th!
