...it's always a work in progress...I take pictures...a lot of them...
Earth
Joined August 2012
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CaptainWombat retweeted
There will now be two megachurch pastors in the Senate, but they're both Democrats so there will be zero thinkpieces about a threat to separation of church and state or the rise or Christian nationalism.
CaptainWombat retweeted
We're in a new era of communication, and only one side seems to be living in it. The old guard consultant class is about to be relegated to the dustbin of history.
If you think that high prices lost the election for the right, you don't understand marketing. Humans have no problem paying a premium for a good quality brand. Notice the word "brand", not "product". Are Nikes better than New Balance? Nope. But the brand is better. And notice what happened when they tinkered with the brand and screwed their core narrative? Nike stock fell through the basement. Did the product change? Nope. The brand did.
It's not the product, it's the brand. Results don't sell the product, the storytelling does. Will these newly-elected commies lower prices? Of course not. Are they gonna get you free healthcare? No, your insurance is gonna get even worse, just like it did the last time they tried socialized medicine. They're not going to do anything they've sold you, but...like Saul Goodman said: if you're committed enough, you can make any story work.
The committed storytelling of a couple insane podcasters was enough to fracture an entire political coalition from their own side in less than 2 years...they have zero power, zero credibility, they've never actually governed anything nor produced any results, but...they're good storytellers, and that's all that matters. Are they telling a good story? No, it's atrocious, but they're telling their atrocious story effectively and compellingly.
It is 100% true that everything's too damn expensive, and we all know that inflated prices are always sticky. Does anyone know that it's entirely the result of shutting down the global economy over the flu and (both naive republicans and democrats) printing infinity dollars for several years? Nope...because nobody has effectively told that story, and it's an unsexy story to tell. "Free stuff!" is a VERY easy story to tell, and when everyone's gotta take out a second mortgage just to pay their insurance premiums, "free healthcare" is an unbeatable story. It doesn't matter that "free healthcare" doesn't exist and socialized medicine is a terrible product...it's not the product, it's the brand. And "FREE!" is a great brand.
You can't get mad at people for having the financial literacy of a 9 year old. I mean, you can, but they outnumber you a million to one, so it's not going to be productive. You need to figure out how to make an unsexy story sexy, or else the "free stuff!" crowd is going to eat your lunch every time. If you give people a choice between earning a six pack on a treadmill or taking Ozempic, they're gonna choose Ozempic...they don't care about the side effects. If you give people a choice between fiscal discipline or free stuff...guess what they'll pick? They don't care about the side effects.
With projected growth of 5%, the economy right now is stronger than it's been in generations. Is that the story you hear? Nope. Is that the vibe you feel? Absolutely not, especially when every time you fill up your gas tank, it feels like a diesel enema.
It's not the product, it's the brand. A great product can fall into oblivion with bad messaging...a single bad review from one effective storyteller can tank a restaurant. The "influencer economy" is lucrative for a reason; everybody inherently understands the importance of effective storytelling...except the right. Zohran Mamdani gets it...he has an army of influencers on staff. In a perfect metaphor of this transitional phase of old guard vs new wave political messaging, Zohran nuked the Vice President into oblivion with maybe the biggest ratio in the history of the internet. By simply posting the subway assistant meme, Mamdani got 2 MILLION likes, quoting a post from the VP that had only 10K likes. If you're reading that sentence thinking "this is fucking ridiculous, you're talking about social media likes as political analysis now?"...you are the problem.
Yes, this stuff matters. Rizz matters. The President did a masterful job of this kind of retail politics in his historic 2024 campaign...you can be angry that this is what politics has been reduced to, but you can either adapt or die.
"No the problem is, you didn't deliver enough for the American people!" Are you a moron? Since when does anybody care about that? What have democrats delivered for Californians in the last 20 years? Unmitigated wildfires, homeless drug zombies everywhere, roads that look like Fallujah in 2004...people don't care about results. They think they care about results. That want you to believe they care about results, just as Nike wants you to believe their shoes are better than New Balance...but at the end of the day, all people really care about is the swoosh.
Adapt or die.
Guys, I hate to break it to you, but most political advisors are so bafflingly incompetent, it would make your head spin. All the talented communicators go work in Hollywood or at Saatchi and Saatchi, and these political bros never tap these agencies for help...I've connected several campaigns with literally the best marketing geniuses in the game, got them discounted rates, even...and they just never even bothered calling. It truly feels like a lot of consultants and candidates just want to lose.
You ever wonder how my ads went so massively viral, but there's not been a single candidate who's come close to it? It's their dumbass advisors. I didn't go with any political advisors, and they were SO mad about it. I partnered with a filmmaker and marketing wizard, instead of political grifters. Why? Because I wanted our messaging to be effective. Political ads suck. Nobody watches them. I wanted people to want to watch my ads. The fact that nobody else understands this is...I honestly don't know how to explain it, other than they want to lose.
There are a bunch of candidates who love it when their party loses power. It takes all the heat off them, because then they can't be expected to pass legislation when they're in the minority, plus they can fundraise way better off of the rage when the opposition is running roughshod over the country. Baffling to watch.
CaptainWombat retweeted
I don’t ever want to hear from anyone ever ever ever again that money buys outcomes in politics. Elon spent hundreds of millions of donors and his candidates got thumped, especially Paxton, who he most heavily bankrolled. Money doesn’t win elections. Bad political environments for incumbents and competent challengers do.
CaptainWombat retweeted
Californians watching everyone crash out over seeing some commie turbo freak take power in their state:
CaptainWombat retweeted
This is fantastic.
I’m never gonna be that pompous, condescending, know-it-all who’s gonna lecture you on who to vote for today. I don’t even like voting for people. I vote for policy. I vote for principles.
Politicians are rental cars: use em to get where you wanna go, then broom em and never think about em again. Don’t get attached to the person. They are flawed, fallen human beings like anyone else, and they will most certainly let you down, eventually.
I’m not a fan of Machiavellian strategizing with elections…I think that kind of scheming is hubristic, and it can often backfire. I prefer to just vote my conscience, and trust that God will guide the right outcome. That doesn’t mean immediate “victory” in any given race…God’s timeline is much deeper and it exceeds our limited vision. Sometimes things need to get worse before they can get better. Sometimes things are better than you even realize.
I respect my supporters far too much to instruct any of you how I think you should vote…I won’t even demand that you DO vote. All I will ask is that you reflect on the fact that you can vote. We forget, so easily, just how blessed we are to be Americans. It’s not luck. We don’t have magical soil. We have a legacy of brave and brilliant and principled men who fought and died to forge our destiny here, setting us apart from every other human civilization.
Every day I think about how I can honor their sacrifices that I’m not worthy of. I felt a call to run for office. I feel an undying duty to advocate for my community…I don’t know if I’m earning my American birthright, but it is always on my mind. I feel the weight of America’s grace just as heavily as I feel the glory of God’s grace. Heidi and I are so, so blessed.
If I can be forgiven just one moralizing lecture point today: have gratitude.
Gratitude is the ultimate virtue that precedes all other virtues, and it is the skeleton key that unlocks joy in even the darkest times in your life. Many people will be devastated and disappointed by the outcomes today…the rest will cheer today, but will be disappointed 6 months from now when your victory celebrations wane and your lauded candidate inevitably lets you down.
Gratitude. Thank God you can vote today without getting beheaded. You can vote however you want today…and while some of my fellow former Mayoral candidates may not realize this…you don’t even have to tell anyone who you voted for. You can just…do you.
I will continue to remind you all…Jesus has the wheel. You will adapt and overcome whatever happens today. Or in the case of Gavin Newsom’s CA, 48 days after the polls close.
CaptainWombat retweeted
I’m never gonna be that pompous, condescending, know-it-all who’s gonna lecture you on who to vote for today. I don’t even like voting for people. I vote for policy. I vote for principles.
Politicians are rental cars: use em to get where you wanna go, then broom em and never think about em again. Don’t get attached to the person. They are flawed, fallen human beings like anyone else, and they will most certainly let you down, eventually.
I’m not a fan of Machiavellian strategizing with elections…I think that kind of scheming is hubristic, and it can often backfire. I prefer to just vote my conscience, and trust that God will guide the right outcome. That doesn’t mean immediate “victory” in any given race…God’s timeline is much deeper and it exceeds our limited vision. Sometimes things need to get worse before they can get better. Sometimes things are better than you even realize.
I respect my supporters far too much to instruct any of you how I think you should vote…I won’t even demand that you DO vote. All I will ask is that you reflect on the fact that you can vote. We forget, so easily, just how blessed we are to be Americans. It’s not luck. We don’t have magical soil. We have a legacy of brave and brilliant and principled men who fought and died to forge our destiny here, setting us apart from every other human civilization.
Every day I think about how I can honor their sacrifices that I’m not worthy of. I felt a call to run for office. I feel an undying duty to advocate for my community…I don’t know if I’m earning my American birthright, but it is always on my mind. I feel the weight of America’s grace just as heavily as I feel the glory of God’s grace. Heidi and I are so, so blessed.
If I can be forgiven just one moralizing lecture point today: have gratitude.
Gratitude is the ultimate virtue that precedes all other virtues, and it is the skeleton key that unlocks joy in even the darkest times in your life. Many people will be devastated and disappointed by the outcomes today…the rest will cheer today, but will be disappointed 6 months from now when your victory celebrations wane and your lauded candidate inevitably lets you down.
Gratitude. Thank God you can vote today without getting beheaded. You can vote however you want today…and while some of my fellow former Mayoral candidates may not realize this…you don’t even have to tell anyone who you voted for. You can just…do you.
I will continue to remind you all…Jesus has the wheel. You will adapt and overcome whatever happens today. Or in the case of Gavin Newsom’s CA, 48 days after the polls close.
CaptainWombat retweeted
When they say “AIPAC,” they don’t mean Israel, they mean Jews.
Do you think Bibi Netanyahu or anyone in Israel’s govt has spent even a minute thinking about Chicago public schools in the past 50 years?
The left has imported Third World conspiracism that blames the Jews for all social ills—including failing public schools in Chicago that the left has controlled for decades.
It’s just like the corrupt Arab govts that say “don’t blame us for all your misery, it’s the Jews’ fault!”
It’s a psy-op for those in power to escape accountability. America has been practically immune to this illness for 250 years, which is why America has thrived. Succumb to it, and we’ll end up like the Third World—as Europe is discovering.
CaptainWombat retweeted
Much like Fetterman, I'm not going to magically like Haley Stevens because she did something I think is good, but man oh man have the reactions to her belied the narrative that only one of the parties is a dangerous toxic mob that you never want to cross.
CaptainWombat retweeted
Abdul El-Sayed’s 60 Minutes interview broadcast on Sunday summed up his antisemitism in under thirty seconds.
Asked if Palestine has a right to exist, he said yes.
Asked if Israel has a right to exist, he said yes — if there is a shared understanding.
In other words, no.
El-Sayed gave an unconditional answer for one side and a conditional one for the other. That’s not a neutral position on two states. It’s a position that treats Israel’s legitimacy as negotiable while treating Palestine’s as settled. The same pattern has shown up throughout his campaign: the “hurt people hurt people” framing after the Temple Israel attack, the repeated reluctance to affirm Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, and the ongoing association with figures who traffic in the same double standard.
El-Sayed’s antisemitic segment aired Sunday, but he originally made the remarks on October 22 during his 60 Minutes interview in Detroit. It’s pertinent now considering El-Sayed was dropped by Rep. Haley Stevens on Sunday in part because of his antisemitism, and because one of his supporters on Sunday committed an antisemitic violent hate crime attack against a Jewish woman at the University of Michigan.
When you’ve got a candidate like El-Sayed who preaches hate against Jews and who can’t clearly say Jews have a right to their homeland of Israel, that candidate is inciting hate and violence. El-Sayed knows what he’s doing. He needs to be condemned and rejected by the entire Democrat Party.
Democrats and Republicans can disagree about taxes, regulations, and investments. But what we can’t disagree on is that antisemitism needs to be stopped completely. What happened during World War II started with tolerance of the same kind of antisemitism that El-Sayed is promoting. It can’t be allowed an inch of acceptance.
The attack we saw Sunday against a Jewish woman at the University of Michigan by an El-Sayed supporter is a clear reminder that El-Sayed and the antisemitism growing within the Democrat Party can’t be allowed any power. History’s already told us where that leads.
To be clear, it’s not just El-Sayed who has made hating Jews a primary theme of his platform. So have AOC, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Zohran Mamdani, and others. Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, and other Democrat leaders have disgracefully tolerated their antisemitism.
To be fair, some congressional Democrats have spoken out against the antisemites in their party, but those voices are becoming more of a minority.
The Democrat Party needs to expel its antisemitic voices and not let ones like El-Sayed gain a seat in Congress. There’s no negotiating with anyone who says Jews don’t have a right to Israel existing.
El-Sayed is unacceptable. As is any politician who shares in his hate.
CaptainWombat retweeted
NYT reports AK Dems put spoiler candidate on ballot with same name as Republican incumbent senator.
Dems: "Yawn," "It's just politics," "Nothing illegal," "I don't like it but it doesn't matter," "norms, schmorms."
A week later, MI Dem politician endorses GOP senate candidate.
Dems: "This is the biggest outrage since the Defenestration of Prague!" "this will radicalize people!" "this Quisling should be flayed alive!" "Why has she not been turned into a pillar of salt yet?!?"
CaptainWombat retweeted
It’s fine to believe that being anti-Trump justifies supporting every Democrat imaginable, but just don’t pretend it’s a principled stand to demand higher standards for Republicans while applying zero standards for Dems.
Abdul El-Sayed was the easiest litmus test imaginable for anyone who claims to have actual standards that aren’t just based on partisan hackery. He’s a radical extremist. He surrounds himself with the most hateful and extreme people imaginable. That’s also his support base. These are people he chooses to promote and associate with because he agrees with them. His own past positions and statements back that up.
Again, you can justify it however you want. Say that having a Dem in that seat is more important than opposing such radicalism on the left. But stop gaslighting people by pretending there are any principles that apply here other than being anti-Republican.
CaptainWombat retweeted
Abdul El Sayed may have lost Haley Stevens' support but he still has the support of the Muslim Brotherhood ikhwanonline.com/article/275…
CaptainWombat retweeted
This is exactly how Communists think: anyone who dares to disagree with them deserves the wrath of the State and the Party.
That is why Communist regimes have killed more people than any other political systems in history.
CaptainWombat retweeted
Interesting see all the Democrats who have praised Mitt Romney for standing up to his party now pivot and condemn Haley Stevens for taking the same moral stand against hers.
CaptainWombat retweeted
MICHIGAN. FWIW, Haley Stevens’ price for endorsing El-Sayed was something nearly every Dem could agree with:
1. Denounce Hamas.
2. Recognize Israel has a basic right to exist, and
3. Denounce an overtly antisemitic ad.
Instead, El-Sayed uninvited Stevens from his big rally yesterday. So, today she is campaigning with Mike Rogers.
CaptainWombat retweeted
If Israel was “bombing Gaza indiscriminately”, why did those indiscriminate bombs kill under 2% of women, 6% of men, but “discriminate” against
100% of these generals? Could it be the IDF was, in fact, as discriminating as it’s possible to be in an urban warzone?
Generalocide.
These are Sinwar’s generals—Mohammed Deif, Marwan Issa, Ahmed al-Ghandour, Ghazi Abu Tama’a, Mohammed Odeh, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, Ayman Nofal, Rafa Salama, Raed Saad, Mohammed Shabaneh, Hakem al-Issa, Bassem Issa, Raed Thabet and Mohammed Sinwar—laughing as they planned their war to destroy Israel.
Israel killed them all, and all their allies, up to Nasrallah and Khamenei. They failed totally.
CaptainWombat retweeted
You can cancel an election and ban the winner from running (Romania), you can ban your opponents from ever running again (Hungary), you can threaten to ban the main opposition party and subject it to relentless investigations by the secret police (Germany), you can threaten a ban on the leading presidential candidate and make them wear an ankle monitor (France), every member of your circle can be investigated for corruption (Spain), you can try and cancel local elections because you will lose them (Britain), and you can storm the constitutional court with riot police because you want to control it (Poland).
You can just do all these things. The secret is you just have to be on the right side of the European Commission.