Latest / The Opinionated Ogre Podcast / Ep.11: President Kamala Harris Makes MAGA And The Press Cry

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Ep.11: President Kamala Harris Makes MAGA And The Press Cry · The Opinionated Ogre Podcast

0:06
SPEAKER_00: This is the Opinionated Ogre Podcast,
0:08
SPEAKER_00: your weekly rampage to current events with a little snark,
0:11
SPEAKER_00: a bit of foul language,
0:12
SPEAKER_00: and a lot of strong opinions.
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0:20
SPEAKER_00: New episodes every Wednesday,
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SPEAKER_00: and don't forget to visit the Opinionated Ogre newsletter on Substack to vote for
0:26
SPEAKER_00: next week's main story.
0:29
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Episode 11 of the Opinionated Ogre Podcast.
0:33
SPEAKER_00: This is the episode for July 24th, 2024, and whew!
0:36
SPEAKER_00: This election is going to be revenge of Dark Brandon.
0:40
SPEAKER_00: They struck him down,
0:42
SPEAKER_00: and he will have the last laugh on January 20th as he watches his Vice President
0:46
SPEAKER_00: Kamala Harris get sworn in and cement his legacy as one of the greatest presidents
0:51
SPEAKER_00: in American history.
0:52
SPEAKER_00: And there's nothing the press or the GOP or Trump can do to stop it except cry salty,
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SPEAKER_00: bitter tears of rage.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: Ha.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: Ha.
1:03
SPEAKER_00: Fucking.
1:04
SPEAKER_00: Ha.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: All right.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, we have to discuss Biden stepping down.
1:10
SPEAKER_00: Then we're going to discuss Kamala's warp speed ascent and how it wrecked the best
1:14
SPEAKER_00: laid plans of the rat fuckers.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to discuss the media's absolute capitulation to Trump and why this
1:20
SPEAKER_00: is going to be a problem for them going forward.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: And finally, we're going to get into this week's main topic, which is now very relevant.
1:28
SPEAKER_00: relevant relevant and that is what is the alt left because i promise you they're
1:35
SPEAKER_00: about to kick into high gear trying to sabotage kamala harris and i think they're
1:39
SPEAKER_00: about to meet the find out part of fa fo lots of delicious schadenfreude to get to
1:46
SPEAKER_00: so let's get to it it's time for the ogre nation news update
1:52
SPEAKER_00: OK, so Joe Biden stepped down at Sunday at about 115, 120 or so.
2:03
SPEAKER_00: He sent out press release explaining that he was stepping down.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: And 15 minutes later, he put out another press release saying that he was endorsing Kamala Harris.
2:17
SPEAKER_00: This is what the press has been working for.
2:21
SPEAKER_00: All year, they've been trying to get him to drop out.
2:26
SPEAKER_00: They've been pushing and pushing.
2:27
SPEAKER_00: This is what the Biden age plot was about, was to get him to step down.
2:33
SPEAKER_00: And they really, really kicked it into high gear after the debate.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: They saw this as their chance to make the news and to help Trump win the election.
2:47
SPEAKER_00: And that's what this was always about.
2:51
SPEAKER_00: was getting Biden out because they figured this would give them the best shot at
2:56
SPEAKER_00: putting Trump back in the White House.
2:58
SPEAKER_00: The press has hated Biden for years because he's bad for business.
3:07
SPEAKER_00: and also because he just ignores them.
3:12
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't play their games,
3:14
SPEAKER_00: and they resent that because he won't give them the juicy headlines they want,
3:18
SPEAKER_00: right?
3:19
SPEAKER_00: Trump was always a source of chaos, and the chaos was great for the bottom line.
3:25
SPEAKER_00: And Biden governed like an adult,
3:28
SPEAKER_00: as Democrats tend to do,
3:30
SPEAKER_00: which is why the press doesn't like Democrats being in power.
3:34
SPEAKER_00: They're boring.
3:36
SPEAKER_00: They do the job.
3:37
SPEAKER_00: They do it well.
3:39
SPEAKER_00: And when government is working well, that's not a lot of big juicy headlines.
3:44
SPEAKER_00: And that's boring, which means they don't make money and they can't sell book deals and they don't get...
3:52
SPEAKER_00: Pulitzers.
3:53
SPEAKER_00: No one gets a Pulitzer for writing about roads, potholes getting fixed and bridges getting repaired.
4:00
SPEAKER_00: That's not a thing that happens.
4:03
SPEAKER_00: So the incentives are all wrong.
4:06
SPEAKER_00: The incentives are there to keep Republicans in power because Republicans make money for the press.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: So they pushed and pushed and pushed and they finally got Biden to step down.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: Now,
4:20
SPEAKER_00: they'll give you all sorts of reasons and excuses,
4:23
SPEAKER_00: oh,
4:23
SPEAKER_00: blah,
4:23
SPEAKER_00: blah,
4:23
SPEAKER_00: blah,
4:24
SPEAKER_00: this and the other,
4:25
SPEAKER_00: but we'll get into it later that they didn't hold Trump to these same standards
4:29
SPEAKER_00: because Trump makes them money.
4:33
SPEAKER_00: Trump is the golden goose for them.
4:35
SPEAKER_00: Now,
4:37
SPEAKER_00: as I wrote about on Monday,
4:38
SPEAKER_00: this turns out to be a huge miscalculation for them because they were expecting chaos.
4:47
SPEAKER_00: And that didn't happen.
4:49
SPEAKER_00: So we're going to move on.
4:51
SPEAKER_00: Joe Biden, actually, let me say first, Joe Biden is a fucking American hero, right?
4:57
SPEAKER_00: He did a thing that very few people are capable of doing.
5:03
SPEAKER_00: He walked away from the thing he's been searching for and fighting for his entire adult life.
5:10
SPEAKER_00: He reached a pinnacle of power and he walked away for the good of the country.
5:16
SPEAKER_00: There are vanishingly few people who are capable of doing that.
5:23
SPEAKER_00: And even Democrats, right?
5:26
SPEAKER_00: It's not just like, you know, a Republican thing.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: There are just vanishingly few people who are capable of looking around them and saying, you know what?
5:35
SPEAKER_00: I could still win, but...
5:39
SPEAKER_00: There's a better chance of someone else winning.
5:42
SPEAKER_00: My girl, Kamala, I'm going to step down and give her the shot.
5:47
SPEAKER_00: And he stepped aside because that's what's best for the country.
5:51
SPEAKER_00: And he did that.
5:54
SPEAKER_00: You know, Donald Trump says he took a bullet for the country.
5:57
SPEAKER_00: Fuck him.
5:59
SPEAKER_00: Joe Biden took a bullet for the country, and it was fired by the fucking press.
6:04
SPEAKER_00: Prick bastards.
6:05
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, that man's going to go down as a fucking legend.
6:08
SPEAKER_00: Dark Brandon Rising, bitches.
6:12
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, speaking of, moving on, that is President Kamala fucking Harris to you.
6:20
SPEAKER_00: The party is rallying around her at lightning speed, and oh my, are people unhappy about that?
6:28
SPEAKER_00: Ha ha ha ha ha ha.
6:31
SPEAKER_00: Fuck off.
6:32
SPEAKER_00: All right.
6:34
SPEAKER_00: Whitmer, Shapiro, Newsome.
6:36
SPEAKER_00: I think Cooper's on board already.
6:38
SPEAKER_00: I don't even know who else is because the endorsements pouring in too quick for me to keep up with them.
6:45
SPEAKER_00: She already has enough delegates locked in as of either this morning or last night.
6:53
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, I'm recording this on Tuesday.
6:56
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to be at Great Wolf Lodge on Wednesday and Thursday with the kids,
6:59
SPEAKER_00: so I had to record this a little early.
7:01
SPEAKER_00: But,
7:03
SPEAKER_00: Kamala Harris is already locked in enough delegates to be the nominee at the convention next month.
7:11
SPEAKER_00: So this is already done, and it has been less than three days.
7:17
SPEAKER_00: That's how fast this happened.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: She already has more than half the delegates,
7:22
SPEAKER_00: and I'm sure she'll end up getting the majority,
7:25
SPEAKER_00: if not all of them.
7:27
SPEAKER_00: Nobody else is stepping in to try and claim the nomination because nobody wants to.
7:35
SPEAKER_00: As much as as much as other people have been demanding, you know, an open convention.
7:41
SPEAKER_00: We had a primary and Biden and Harris Harris being the key word there on the other half of that.
7:50
SPEAKER_00: She was the other nominee there.
7:53
SPEAKER_00: It was Biden and Kamala fucking Harris.
7:57
SPEAKER_00: People already made their choice.
8:00
SPEAKER_00: So,
8:02
SPEAKER_00: that dream the press had of a mini primary and a contested convention with chaos
8:07
SPEAKER_00: and violence,
8:08
SPEAKER_00: they really wanted another Chicago 1968.
8:10
SPEAKER_00: That's dying a quiet death while Joe Biden's laughing in the White House.
8:17
SPEAKER_00: Ha ha ha ha ha.
8:19
SPEAKER_00: Fuck you, New York Times.
8:21
SPEAKER_00: Because they put out an article the next day like, oh, there's going to be a contested convention.
8:25
SPEAKER_00: No, there fucking isn't.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: Now, that doesn't mean that delegates shouldn't have the option to have their voice heard.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: They should, right?
8:34
SPEAKER_00: They should be allowed to vote for whoever they want.
8:37
SPEAKER_00: But on the other hand, let's not forget the delegates don't speak for themselves personally.
8:43
SPEAKER_00: Right?
8:44
SPEAKER_00: They speak for the voters who sent them there.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: Right.
8:48
SPEAKER_00: If a state votes for, you know, Dean Phillips, those delegates should vote for Dean Phillips.
8:58
SPEAKER_00: Not I mean, again, there's some wiggle room there.
9:01
SPEAKER_00: Right.
9:02
SPEAKER_00: If it's proportionate.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: You know, like 80 percent of them vote for Dean Phillips and 20 percent, then it should be 80 and 20.
9:10
SPEAKER_00: But if it's a winner take all, well, then winner takes all.
9:15
SPEAKER_00: That's how your state is set up.
9:16
SPEAKER_00: You don't like it.
9:17
SPEAKER_00: Change them rules.
9:18
SPEAKER_00: Not every state set up that way.
9:20
SPEAKER_00: But those that are.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: You have four years between elections.
9:25
SPEAKER_00: Change those rules.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: If a state voted for this particular candidate, well, then that's who you go for.
9:35
SPEAKER_00: Now, technically, Biden's released his delegates, so they can technically vote for whoever they want.
9:42
SPEAKER_00: But again, the voters voted already.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: Their primary vote is voted now.
9:48
SPEAKER_00: Tens of millions of voters already had their say,
9:52
SPEAKER_00: and they picked Harris and Biden in overwhelming numbers.
9:58
SPEAKER_00: No one gives a fuck about Joe Manchin,
10:00
SPEAKER_00: who said he's going to run,
10:02
SPEAKER_00: and no one gives a shit about Dean Phillips.
10:04
SPEAKER_00: He got some votes.
10:06
SPEAKER_00: However, they should give it their best shot.
10:09
SPEAKER_00: Not that Dean Phillips has said anything, but Joe Manchin certainly has.
10:12
SPEAKER_00: I want him to show up and, you know, say, vote for me so he can be humiliated all over again.
10:21
SPEAKER_00: I could use the laugh.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: Now,
10:24
SPEAKER_00: also,
10:25
SPEAKER_00: fuck anyone that uses the word coronation,
10:28
SPEAKER_00: as in,
10:29
SPEAKER_00: we can't have a coronation of Kamala Harris.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: We're in a democracy, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
10:34
SPEAKER_00: Those are the same people who've been rushing to throw Joe Biden in the garbage,
10:39
SPEAKER_00: and those people can eat a bag of dicks.
10:41
SPEAKER_00: They were also hoping to toss Kamala Harris in the garbage,
10:45
SPEAKER_00: and they're pissed off now at how quickly the party is coalescing around her.
10:50
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, no shiny white male beholden to corporate interests for you this year.
10:55
SPEAKER_00: Fuck off and keep fucking off.
10:58
SPEAKER_00: It's President Kamala fucking Harris on the way.
11:02
SPEAKER_00: Deal with that shit.
11:04
SPEAKER_00: Now, moving on.
11:06
SPEAKER_00: What comes next?
11:09
SPEAKER_00: What comes next is a concerted effort to rat fuck Kamala, both by undermining her and protecting Trump.
11:18
SPEAKER_00: It's been a week and a half since Trump was injured by something that was not a bullet,
11:24
SPEAKER_00: because if it had been a bullet.
11:27
SPEAKER_00: Well,
11:27
SPEAKER_00: one Trump wouldn't have an ear,
11:29
SPEAKER_00: and he would be waving around a medical report like a badge of honor.
11:34
SPEAKER_00: The fact that we haven't heard from a single person who's treated his wound means
11:39
SPEAKER_00: that they were forced to sign NDAs,
11:41
SPEAKER_00: and the press is refusing to follow up on this.
11:44
SPEAKER_00: It's been reported by Josh Marshall and Greg Sargent that the press is afraid of
11:49
SPEAKER_00: being attacked by the Trump campaign,
11:51
SPEAKER_00: so they're just not asking questions.
11:56
SPEAKER_00: They waited a few days and they went right back to attacking Biden because that was
12:00
SPEAKER_00: the story they wanted to tell.
12:02
SPEAKER_00: We don't get to have a national conversation about easy access to guns.
12:06
SPEAKER_00: We don't get to talk about Republican violence.
12:09
SPEAKER_00: We don't get to talk about Donald Trump egging his cult on to be domestic terrorists.
12:14
SPEAKER_00: We don't get to talk about the fact that Trump is almost certainly lying about his
12:19
SPEAKER_00: injuries and keeping everyone involved from treating him with treating him from
12:23
SPEAKER_00: talking about it.
12:24
SPEAKER_00: The press loves to whine about how secretive the Biden administration is,
12:30
SPEAKER_00: which they will almost certainly be doing with the Harris administration in several
12:36
SPEAKER_00: months when she's president,
12:38
SPEAKER_00: because she's going to be president.
12:39
SPEAKER_00: But Trump is literally lying to the public about his injury and bearing the truth is fine.
12:45
SPEAKER_00: That's no big deal.
12:46
SPEAKER_00: We're just going to move on because they got to protect Trump because they want him back.
12:54
SPEAKER_00: Now,
12:56
SPEAKER_00: The next part of this, however, is how long will they be able to pull this off?
13:04
SPEAKER_00: The press just spent a full year steadily escalating gets, quote unquote, concerned.
13:12
SPEAKER_00: about Biden's age.
13:14
SPEAKER_00: And now that Biden's gone,
13:17
SPEAKER_00: literally every single thing they were so worried about applies to Trump,
13:24
SPEAKER_00: but worse.
13:26
SPEAKER_00: The physical problems.
13:28
SPEAKER_00: Trump has repeatedly had trouble with steps and ramps, and he's had a weird limp with his foot.
13:34
SPEAKER_00: The cognitive issues.
13:36
SPEAKER_00: Trump slurs his words,
13:38
SPEAKER_00: mispronounces things at alarming rate,
13:40
SPEAKER_00: forgets names and dates and places,
13:43
SPEAKER_00: loses track of what he's saying in the middle of a sentence.
13:46
SPEAKER_00: He talks about fictional people like they're real.
13:49
SPEAKER_00: He rambles in a stream of consciousness that babbling and ranting.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: Biden mixed up two names and it was front page news last week.
14:01
SPEAKER_00: They're just not talking about Trump.
14:04
SPEAKER_00: Now,
14:04
SPEAKER_00: the press will try to ignore Trump's worsening mental condition,
14:08
SPEAKER_00: but there's going to be a tidal wave of criticism they will not be able to hide
14:12
SPEAKER_00: from forever.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: I personally plan to write about this constantly because I will never forgive these
14:19
SPEAKER_00: miserable rat fucking scumbags for what they did to Biden and what they're trying
14:23
SPEAKER_00: to do to this country.
14:25
SPEAKER_00: Ever.
14:26
SPEAKER_00: I look forward to buying the last issue of the New York Times and the Washington
14:30
SPEAKER_00: Post because they're going to put themselves out of fucking business.
14:33
SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to put them on my wall and I'm going to use them as dartboards.
14:38
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
14:38
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
14:42
SPEAKER_00: Let me catch my breath there for a second.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: All right.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: That's it for the Ogre Nation news update.
14:47
SPEAKER_00: It has been a momentous week and a really, really bad one for Republicans.
14:53
SPEAKER_00: Oh,
14:53
SPEAKER_00: by the way,
14:54
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what she's up to now,
14:56
SPEAKER_00: but Harris raised over $100 million in a little over 24 hours,
15:01
SPEAKER_00: which is...
15:06
SPEAKER_00: The best fundraising the Democrats have ever had.
15:09
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it's the best fundraising anyone's ever had.
15:13
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, that's a problem for Trump, too, because his fundraising.
15:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he's got billionaires funneling him money.
15:21
SPEAKER_00: But this was all grassroots.
15:23
SPEAKER_00: And now the big donors are coming back.
15:25
SPEAKER_00: So.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: Fuck off.
15:28
SPEAKER_00: Alright, so now it's time to move into the Ogre Opinion.
15:32
SPEAKER_00: That's the part of the show where I focus on a single topic for a deeper dive.
15:36
SPEAKER_00: As mentioned at the beginning of the episode, this week's topic is quite relevant.
15:41
SPEAKER_00: What is the alt-left?
15:43
SPEAKER_00: I hate these people with the fire of a thousand exploding stars,
15:47
SPEAKER_00: so please excuse me the coming wave of hostility.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: Now, let's get into it.
15:54
SPEAKER_00: Once upon a time, I was only dimly aware of the alt-left.
15:59
SPEAKER_00: During the Obamacare debate,
16:01
SPEAKER_00: I watched a group on the far left work ceaselessly to sabotage the Democrats and
16:07
SPEAKER_00: try to destroy the bill.
16:09
SPEAKER_00: They were,
16:09
SPEAKER_00: at the time,
16:10
SPEAKER_00: called firebaggers,
16:13
SPEAKER_00: a cross between teabaggers who virulently hated the Democrats...
16:19
SPEAKER_00: and Fire Dog Lake, the ostensibly progressive website that these quote-unquote progressives were aping.
16:32
SPEAKER_00: They were aping the teabaggers, right?
16:34
SPEAKER_00: And that's where they were coming from.
16:37
SPEAKER_00: So Fire Dog Lake, teabaggers, hence firebaggers.
16:42
SPEAKER_00: This movement was led by a woman named Jane Hamshner.
16:48
SPEAKER_00: And she was,
16:49
SPEAKER_00: again,
16:49
SPEAKER_00: an ostensibly progressive voice who declared,
16:52
SPEAKER_00: and this might sound familiar to you,
16:55
SPEAKER_00: that since Obamacare didn't give the left every single thing it wanted,
16:59
SPEAKER_00: it was worthless and had to be stopped.
17:02
SPEAKER_00: This is a recurring theme for the alt-left.
17:06
SPEAKER_00: Better nothing than half of nothing,
17:09
SPEAKER_00: or better nothing than half of what they want,
17:11
SPEAKER_00: with the option to build on that to get closer to your goal.
17:16
SPEAKER_00: Because that makes sense, right?
17:21
SPEAKER_00: It's a recurring theme for the alt-left.
17:23
SPEAKER_00: Better nothing than half of what you want with the option to build on that to get closer to your goal.
17:30
SPEAKER_00: Because that makes sense, right?
17:33
SPEAKER_00: They waged war against Obama, the Democrats, and the Affordable Care Act the entire time.
17:40
SPEAKER_00: And they were furious when it passed.
17:45
SPEAKER_00: Mind you,
17:46
SPEAKER_00: the ACA has saved hundreds of thousands of lives and allowed millions of people
17:51
SPEAKER_00: access to health care they never had before.
17:54
SPEAKER_00: And that was with a decade of Republican obstruction and four years of Trump's
17:59
SPEAKER_00: regime trying to undermine the law at every opportunity.
18:03
SPEAKER_00: And yet, they still hate the law.
18:07
SPEAKER_00: They still would rather that law go away despite all the lives that it saved.
18:12
SPEAKER_00: Now,
18:13
SPEAKER_00: I thought this was an isolated thing because when Hampshire became ill and went away,
18:18
SPEAKER_00: the fire bagger movement collapsed without her.
18:23
SPEAKER_00: Sort of.
18:26
SPEAKER_00: But then came 2016 and Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: Out of nowhere came this massive anti-Hillary movement.
18:38
SPEAKER_00: Later,
18:38
SPEAKER_00: we found out that it was heavily organized and funded by both the GOP and Russia,
18:43
SPEAKER_00: which,
18:44
SPEAKER_00: let's be real,
18:45
SPEAKER_00: they're one and the same now.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: But I say anti-Hillary and not pro-Bernie because they don't really care about Bernie.
18:55
SPEAKER_00: Bernie was a useful idiot for them.
18:57
SPEAKER_00: He was a figurehead to rally around and scream their hatred of all things Democratic and Hillary.
19:03
SPEAKER_00: And when this happened, for the first time, I found myself being viciously attacked from the left.
19:10
SPEAKER_00: It got so bad, I stopped posting for a few weeks because I had no idea what the hell was going on.
19:15
SPEAKER_00: I was suddenly a fake liberal and a closet Republican.
19:20
SPEAKER_00: And that had never happened before, so I pulled back.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: Then I took a closer look at these people in a way I hadn't needed to before.
19:31
SPEAKER_00: I applied the same type of critical assessment that I had been applying to Republicans all this time.
19:37
SPEAKER_00: I never needed to look at the left that way because with a few exceptions like
19:41
SPEAKER_00: Michael Moore,
19:42
SPEAKER_00: the left generally didn't lie with every other breath.
19:46
SPEAKER_00: Don't even get me started on Michael Moore.
19:49
SPEAKER_00: But when I looked at the screaming mob of Bernie bros,
19:53
SPEAKER_00: it became really obvious,
19:55
SPEAKER_00: really fast,
19:56
SPEAKER_00: that something was really wrong.
19:59
SPEAKER_00: Nothing they did or said was in good faith.
20:02
SPEAKER_00: For a group of people who said they were the most progressive progressives who ever progressed...
20:06
SPEAKER_00: They didn't seem even slightly interested in advancing the progressive agenda, like, even a little.
20:13
SPEAKER_00: They had zero interest in beating Republicans,
20:15
SPEAKER_00: zero interest in passing progressive legislation,
20:18
SPEAKER_00: zero interest in stopping Trump.
20:20
SPEAKER_00: The only thing they seemed to care about was making Democrats lose.
20:25
SPEAKER_00: When Bernie lost the primary...
20:28
SPEAKER_00: Long before California held its primary,
20:31
SPEAKER_00: because that was like one of the last states,
20:33
SPEAKER_00: they lied and they lied and they lied that Bernie could still win because it was
20:38
SPEAKER_00: possible for him to win all the California delegates,
20:41
SPEAKER_00: which was as likely as me winning the lottery three days in a row.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: It's not mathematically impossible, but who the fuck are we kidding?
20:49
SPEAKER_00: But they kept pushing that lie and sowing division.
20:53
SPEAKER_00: One of my closest friends went absolutely apeshit on me because I kept saying it was done.
20:59
SPEAKER_00: Bernie had lost.
21:00
SPEAKER_00: He swore it wasn't over and started accusing me of being a Republican.
21:04
SPEAKER_00: This is a person who had known me for almost 20 years at that point.
21:10
SPEAKER_00: Actually,
21:10
SPEAKER_00: it might have been,
21:11
SPEAKER_00: it was like 23 years and he knew I was a rabid liberal and he started to tell
21:17
SPEAKER_00: people on my Facebook page to stop listening to me because I was lying to them.
21:21
SPEAKER_00: Something he knew I did not do when it came to politics.
21:24
SPEAKER_00: He knew that was a point of pride for me that I didn't lie or distort or exaggerate
21:30
SPEAKER_00: because I'm a liberal.
21:31
SPEAKER_00: I don't fucking have to, right?
21:34
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of the point of being a
21:39
SPEAKER_00: because Republicans are just that fucking awful.
21:42
SPEAKER_00: But he said it anyway because he was so caught up in the Bernie fever,
21:47
SPEAKER_00: anyone who wasn't an ally was an enemy.
21:51
SPEAKER_00: I blocked him on my public page,
21:52
SPEAKER_00: and he accused me of all kinds of heinous shit,
21:56
SPEAKER_00: and we stopped talking for a long time.
21:59
SPEAKER_00: He's never apologized, and we only kind of talk now.
22:03
SPEAKER_00: It is what it is.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people never accepted their responsibility for putting Trump in power.
22:09
SPEAKER_00: But my friend and a lot of people like him were misled by people who absolutely knew better.
22:15
SPEAKER_00: Glenn Greenwald,
22:16
SPEAKER_00: Matt Taibbi,
22:18
SPEAKER_00: Michael Tracy,
22:19
SPEAKER_00: Nina Turner,
22:20
SPEAKER_00: Katie Halpers,
22:22
SPEAKER_00: my good personal friend,
22:24
SPEAKER_00: David Sirota.
22:26
SPEAKER_00: The list goes on and on and on.
22:28
SPEAKER_00: These people are the ringleaders of the alt-left.
22:31
SPEAKER_00: But what exactly is the alt-left?
22:34
SPEAKER_00: I've given a chunk of history, but not a clear explanation of who or what this group is.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: It's not actually that complicated, although a lot of people really don't want to hear it.
22:47
SPEAKER_00: The short answer is that the alt-left is a quote-unquote far-left group of Democrats,
22:53
SPEAKER_00: not Democrats,
22:54
SPEAKER_00: of people who want to make Democrats lose.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: That's like their entire purpose in life.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: They're not
23:02
SPEAKER_00: really far left, because they don't care about anything the left cares about.
23:07
SPEAKER_00: They only care about making Democrats lose.
23:12
SPEAKER_00: This kind of simplifies it a bit, and it's ignoring a few important aspects.
23:18
SPEAKER_00: There are people on the far left who oppose both the Democrats and Republicans in
23:22
SPEAKER_00: equal measure,
23:23
SPEAKER_00: and they actually do mean it in good faith.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: I think those people are misguided, but at least they actually mean it.
23:34
SPEAKER_00: That is not the alt-left.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: The alt-left is staunchly anti-democratic, but they're not anti-Republican.
23:45
SPEAKER_00: They'll say they hate Republicans, but they actually do not.
23:49
SPEAKER_00: They hate both sides, but actually Democrats are the bigger threat.
23:55
SPEAKER_00: A pox on both houses, but 95% of what they say is about how Democrats are the absolute worst.
24:02
SPEAKER_00: And when you corner them on something Republicans did that was particularly foul,
24:08
SPEAKER_00: which again is everything,
24:10
SPEAKER_00: they will never change.
24:12
SPEAKER_00: ever agree that Republicans dare say something,
24:15
SPEAKER_00: even if it's something only Republicans do,
24:18
SPEAKER_00: without adding,
24:20
SPEAKER_00: but Democrats.
24:22
SPEAKER_00: They cannot stop themselves from doing this, no matter how nonsensical it is.
24:28
SPEAKER_00: If you pin them on the Republicans' incredibly anti-women, misogynistic, anti-abortion stance, right?
24:41
SPEAKER_00: And again, this is only a Republican thing.
24:44
SPEAKER_00: There is nothing like it on the left or in the Democratic Party.
24:48
SPEAKER_00: They will still say, but Democrats or find some way to blame Democrats, right?
24:55
SPEAKER_00: Something about it will be the fault of the Democrats,
24:58
SPEAKER_00: even though Republicans have been trying to undo Roe and ban abortion and birth
25:05
SPEAKER_00: control pills and everything else for the last 50 years.
25:09
SPEAKER_00: Somehow they cannot say that without saying, but Democrats.
25:16
SPEAKER_00: every single time the worst of them the greenwalds and the helpers and the tabbies
25:23
SPEAKER_00: are not pro-republican but anti-anti-republican which is the same thing but insult
25:31
SPEAKER_00: your intelligence while they're doing it and it doesn't matter what you bring up
25:35
SPEAKER_00: they have a reason it's not really a republican sin republican russian interference
25:40
SPEAKER_00: in the 2016 election to help trump liberal hysteria
25:45
SPEAKER_00: Trump's multiple indictments and convictions?
25:49
SPEAKER_00: Democratic lawfare.
25:51
SPEAKER_00: January 6th?
25:52
SPEAKER_00: Was it really an insurrection, or was it actually the FBI setting the GOP up?
25:58
SPEAKER_00: There's always a new excuse not to hold Republicans responsible for anything they do.
26:03
SPEAKER_00: It's important to note that Democrats are not afforded the same grace, ever, under any circumstances.
26:10
SPEAKER_00: Everything Democrats say and do is regarded as corrupt, no matter what it is.
26:17
SPEAKER_00: Democrats can do no good, even when Democrats deliver on their promises.
26:23
SPEAKER_00: When the alt-left demands something and Democrats deliver,
26:26
SPEAKER_00: the alt-left simply moves the goalposts and continues cursing at the party as if
26:31
SPEAKER_00: they were pure evil,
26:33
SPEAKER_00: but not Republicans.
26:35
SPEAKER_00: Never Republicans.
26:38
SPEAKER_00: Nothing the alt-left does is in good faith.
26:41
SPEAKER_00: Here's a good example of this,
26:42
SPEAKER_00: and I've written about this more than once because it's so fucking galling.
26:48
SPEAKER_00: When George W. Bush was president, we started using drones to wage war.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: Something I'm not thrilled about, but it's something that we were doing.
26:58
SPEAKER_00: The alt-left had nothing to say about this.
27:02
SPEAKER_00: Until Obama.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: When Obama was president, the alt-left announced him as a bloodthirsty murderer because of drones.
27:12
SPEAKER_00: During Trump, though?
27:14
SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
27:16
SPEAKER_00: Absolute silence.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: Remember, Trump died.
27:20
SPEAKER_00: vastly expanded the use of drones and allowed the slaughter of civilians on a scale
27:26
SPEAKER_00: no other administration had even contemplated,
27:29
SPEAKER_00: not even Bush.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: The alt-left couldn't be bothered to raise an objection.
27:35
SPEAKER_00: But, like magic, when Biden became president, they rediscovered their rage at drone warfare.
27:43
SPEAKER_00: So much anger at Biden, the bloodthirsty killer.
27:48
SPEAKER_00: But then Biden ended the war in Afghanistan and widespread drone warfare ended.
27:53
SPEAKER_00: You could hear the sulking of the alt-left a mile away.
27:57
SPEAKER_00: Boo hoo.
27:59
SPEAKER_00: So, what motivates these assholes?
28:03
SPEAKER_00: You will find,
28:05
SPEAKER_00: if you pay attention to them,
28:06
SPEAKER_00: and I have,
28:07
SPEAKER_00: that the alt-left hates some Democrats more than others.
28:12
SPEAKER_00: They, for some reason, hate women Democrats.
28:16
SPEAKER_00: But, holy shit, if you're a Democrat who is also a woman of color, they hate you most of all.
28:24
SPEAKER_00: You will also find,
28:25
SPEAKER_00: if you pay attention to the alt-left,
28:27
SPEAKER_00: and I have,
28:29
SPEAKER_00: that the alt-left has no time for identity politics.
28:32
SPEAKER_00: It's all a waste of time and a distraction.
28:35
SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm not talking about stuff like pronouns and how many colors should be on the pride flag.
28:42
SPEAKER_00: I myself really don't have a ton of time for that.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: I leave that to my girls and their generation to hash out.
28:50
SPEAKER_00: What I'm talking about is a little more foundational.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: The alt-left thinks your silly Black Lives Matter protests are a waste of time and
29:00
SPEAKER_00: your marches for reproductive rights are
29:04
SPEAKER_00: The only fight that matters to them is the fight against wealth inequality.
29:09
SPEAKER_00: Now,
29:10
SPEAKER_00: the funny thing about that is,
29:12
SPEAKER_00: if you do eliminate wealth inequality,
29:16
SPEAKER_00: but leave in place systemic racism and systemic sexism,
29:20
SPEAKER_00: who benefits the most?
29:24
SPEAKER_00: Hint, white men.
29:28
SPEAKER_00: Ah,
29:29
SPEAKER_00: and if one looks at the alt-left,
29:31
SPEAKER_00: one finds that their embrace of socialism,
29:34
SPEAKER_00: socialism,
29:35
SPEAKER_00: is very much white and male-oriented.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: You will find a lot of people on the alt-left who love to call themselves
29:42
SPEAKER_00: socialists and communists and scream about how the only fight that really matters
29:47
SPEAKER_00: is wealth inequality.
29:48
SPEAKER_00: And this is why.
29:50
SPEAKER_00: This is the part no one wants to listen to.
29:54
SPEAKER_00: The alt-left,
29:56
SPEAKER_00: by and large,
29:57
SPEAKER_00: is a movement comprised of people furious that the left no longer centers white men.
30:03
SPEAKER_00: We used to, because of course we did.
30:07
SPEAKER_00: Everything used to center white men.
30:09
SPEAKER_00: But then women and minorities demanded a seat at the table,
30:12
SPEAKER_00: and the Democratic Party is where they found it.
30:16
SPEAKER_00: White men on the left,
30:18
SPEAKER_00: not all of them obviously,
30:20
SPEAKER_00: but a lot,
30:21
SPEAKER_00: found themselves a voice among many,
30:23
SPEAKER_00: and that was intolerable.
30:28
SPEAKER_00: Now,
30:28
SPEAKER_00: they were unwilling to become Republicans,
30:31
SPEAKER_00: and they've been trying to wrest control back by pushing their own version of
30:36
SPEAKER_00: identity politics on a party without admitting that's what it is.
30:41
SPEAKER_00: It's been going very badly.
30:44
SPEAKER_00: The party has been getting more diverse, i.e.
30:47
SPEAKER_00: less white and male, and the alt-left has been getting angrier and angrier.
30:51
SPEAKER_00: The election of Barack Obama broke their fucking brains, just like it did with the right.
30:59
SPEAKER_00: Now,
31:00
SPEAKER_00: their only goal is to make Democrats lose,
31:04
SPEAKER_00: because even if Republicans will do the exact opposite of everything the super
31:10
SPEAKER_00: quote-unquote progressives claim to want,
31:12
SPEAKER_00: white men will still be in charge promoting white male power,
31:16
SPEAKER_00: and that's good enough.
31:18
SPEAKER_00: How else do you get far-left people who claim to hate oligarchs,
31:23
SPEAKER_00: imperialism,
31:24
SPEAKER_00: and warmongers to fully embrace Russia,
31:28
SPEAKER_00: a country run by a warmongering imperialist oligarch?
31:31
SPEAKER_00: What makes him a hero to the alt-left?
31:34
SPEAKER_00: Republicans love him, and Democrats oppose him.
31:38
SPEAKER_00: And that's it.
31:40
SPEAKER_00: That's the entire extent of it.
31:42
SPEAKER_00: Literally anyone Democrats oppose is considered a friend.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: A few months ago, the alt-left literally embraced the Houthis.
31:51
SPEAKER_00: The fucking Houthis.
31:54
SPEAKER_00: A group of Islamic extremists who rape children and keep slaves.
31:59
SPEAKER_00: But they're the enemies of the Biden administration, so they must be the good guys.
32:04
SPEAKER_00: It's insane,
32:05
SPEAKER_00: but when you make hating Democrats your entire identity,
32:08
SPEAKER_00: you go down some really dark roads.
32:12
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, people have been giving me grief about this for years.
32:16
SPEAKER_00: Even now, people constantly telling me on Substack, there's no such thing as the alt-left.
32:21
SPEAKER_00: You're wrong about their motivations,
32:23
SPEAKER_00: which I might be willing to entertain,
32:26
SPEAKER_00: except for the fact that using this particular understanding of who they are
32:32
SPEAKER_00: has led me to predict their reactions with startling accuracy for the last eight years or so.
32:39
SPEAKER_00: Once I really understood who and what they were, it became ridiculously easy.
32:46
SPEAKER_00: For example, the last time I threw down with my good personal close friend, David Sirota, was in 2017.
32:54
SPEAKER_00: He blocked me after this.
32:56
SPEAKER_00: He tried to bitch me out on Twitter.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: And we went back and forth.
33:00
SPEAKER_00: And I told him that, again, this was in 2017.
33:05
SPEAKER_00: I told him that after the Democrats stomped the GOP in the dirt in the 2018 midterms,
33:11
SPEAKER_00: Sirota was going to be absolutely furious and spend the next two years trying to
33:15
SPEAKER_00: get Trump reelected in 2020.
33:18
SPEAKER_00: Now,
33:18
SPEAKER_00: remember,
33:18
SPEAKER_00: in 2017,
33:19
SPEAKER_00: the press swore Democrats were doomed in the midterms because they always do that.
33:26
SPEAKER_00: I knew they weren't,
33:27
SPEAKER_00: but I told Sirota exactly what he would do and how he would respond years in
33:33
SPEAKER_00: advance because I understood his motivation.
33:36
SPEAKER_00: Now, David Sirota is super progressive.
33:40
SPEAKER_00: He's so progressive, he was Bernie Sanders' communications director in his 2016 campaign.
33:48
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, not a Republican, and yet I knew what he was going to do.
33:53
SPEAKER_00: And what do you know?
33:55
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what he did.
33:58
SPEAKER_00: After 2018,
33:58
SPEAKER_00: he was pissed that Democrats had crushed Republicans,
34:04
SPEAKER_00: and then he spent the next two years trying to undermine the left,
34:11
SPEAKER_00: and he was anti-anti-Trump.
34:14
SPEAKER_00: He did everything possible to put Trump back into office, and he was pissed when Biden won.
34:21
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's a fun tidbit.
34:23
SPEAKER_00: I was working on the outline for this podcast yesterday morning, that being Monday morning.
34:30
SPEAKER_00: Earlier on this podcast,
34:32
SPEAKER_00: I had mentioned that people would whine about Kamala Harris's coronation and demand
34:38
SPEAKER_00: an open convention because they want chaos and they want Democrats to lose.
34:44
SPEAKER_00: I'm recording this on Tuesday.
34:46
SPEAKER_00: Tuesday morning,
34:47
SPEAKER_00: I pop open a Guardian app on my phone and wouldn't you know it,
34:51
SPEAKER_00: there's an article from my close personal friend,
34:54
SPEAKER_00: David Sirota,
34:56
SPEAKER_00: demanding an open convention because a coronation would blah,
35:00
SPEAKER_00: blah,
35:00
SPEAKER_00: blah,
35:00
SPEAKER_00: blah,
35:00
SPEAKER_00: blah,
35:01
SPEAKER_00: blah,
35:01
SPEAKER_00: blah.
35:02
SPEAKER_00: Am I psychic or do I just know how these miserable fucks think?
35:07
SPEAKER_00: Hmm.
35:09
SPEAKER_00: But wait, I'm not done.
35:11
SPEAKER_00: I also knew the alt-left would turn on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a year before they did.
35:19
SPEAKER_00: I watched her and I saw that even though she was part of the Bernie squad and
35:23
SPEAKER_00: occasionally butted heads with the party,
35:25
SPEAKER_00: she didn't spend all of her time undermining Democrats.
35:30
SPEAKER_00: Worse, she didn't center white men at all.
35:34
SPEAKER_00: She did her job and held up women and minorities, which is the bulk of her constituents in Queens.
35:41
SPEAKER_00: Lo and behold, the alt-left despises her.
35:47
SPEAKER_00: And yet she's rabidly progressive.
35:50
SPEAKER_00: But it's not about being progressive for the alt-left.
35:53
SPEAKER_00: It's about making Democrats lose and attacking the party.
35:58
SPEAKER_00: Look at who they rallied around in the primaries.
36:01
SPEAKER_00: At no point did they rally to Biden.
36:04
SPEAKER_00: Remember, Trump is a literal white nationalist fascist.
36:11
SPEAKER_00: But they rallied around every single person challenging Biden, no matter how ridiculous they were.
36:19
SPEAKER_00: They rallied to Marianne Willingsham,
36:22
SPEAKER_00: the flake,
36:23
SPEAKER_00: RFK Jr.,
36:24
SPEAKER_00: their anti-vaxxer,
36:25
SPEAKER_00: Cornel West,
36:26
SPEAKER_00: the deadbeat,
36:27
SPEAKER_00: Dean Phillips,
36:28
SPEAKER_00: the whatever the hell he was,
36:30
SPEAKER_00: Jill Stein,
36:31
SPEAKER_00: the Russian asset.
36:33
SPEAKER_00: Literally anyone who might pull votes from Biden because the only goal was for Biden to lose.
36:40
SPEAKER_00: There's still people flocking to RFK Jr.,
36:44
SPEAKER_00: even though he's literally making deals with Trump to work in his administration if
36:50
SPEAKER_00: he endorses him.
36:52
SPEAKER_00: RFK Jr.
36:53
SPEAKER_00: is just a Republican in everything but name only.
36:57
SPEAKER_00: And yet the left is still supporting him because he opposes Biden.
37:03
SPEAKER_00: So when you see a progressive, I'm telling you, these people are not progressive people.
37:11
SPEAKER_00: There's a whole bunch of progressives, and they're doing great work.
37:15
SPEAKER_00: And these people are not it.
37:17
SPEAKER_00: They are a poison fucking pill in the progressive movement.
37:20
SPEAKER_00: Now,
37:21
SPEAKER_00: but when you see one of these people who only seems to hate Democrats,
37:25
SPEAKER_00: but never complains about Republicans,
37:27
SPEAKER_00: you're talking to someone from the alt-left.
37:30
SPEAKER_00: you are talking to someone who,
37:32
SPEAKER_00: in the fullness of time,
37:34
SPEAKER_00: will put on a red hat of hate and blame you for forcing them to do it.
37:39
SPEAKER_00: It's inevitable.
37:40
SPEAKER_00: They'll say identity politics have run amok have made them turn to the right, or
37:45
SPEAKER_00: I didn't leave the left.
37:47
SPEAKER_00: The left left me.
37:49
SPEAKER_00: The Young Turks are in the middle of doing that's a YouTube channel, right?
37:52
SPEAKER_00: It's huge, progressive YouTube channel.
37:56
SPEAKER_00: And they're in the middle of doing that transformation right now.
37:59
SPEAKER_00: I saw that coming years ago, too.
38:02
SPEAKER_00: Now, if I'm wrong, the alt-left won't come out swinging against Kamala Harris.
38:09
SPEAKER_00: But they will.
38:10
SPEAKER_00: They will run a coordinated campaign full of racism and misogyny designed to get
38:15
SPEAKER_00: people on the left to stay home.
38:17
SPEAKER_00: Because that's what they did in 2016.
38:20
SPEAKER_00: They tried again in 2020.
38:22
SPEAKER_00: And they're absolutely going to do it now.
38:26
SPEAKER_00: Will it work?
38:28
SPEAKER_00: I don't think so.
38:30
SPEAKER_00: They blew their wad on Gaza and embracing open hatred of Jews.
38:35
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of hard to pivot quickly from, you know, I hate Jews and Joe Biden to I also hate black women.
38:44
SPEAKER_00: But they're going to try because they're really desperate.
38:47
SPEAKER_00: They want Trump back in power.
38:50
SPEAKER_00: Remember, Supreme Court is at stake now and they know it.
38:55
SPEAKER_00: This is who the all left is.
38:58
SPEAKER_00: If you doubt me, that's cool.
39:01
SPEAKER_00: But here's a challenge for you.
39:03
SPEAKER_00: Find one of those progressive friends who hates Democrats and just talk to them for a while.
39:12
SPEAKER_00: Ask them specific questions about things only Republicans do.
39:17
SPEAKER_00: And when they refuse to say something bad about the GOP without also slamming
39:22
SPEAKER_00: Democrats every single time,
39:26
SPEAKER_00: ask yourself why that is.
39:29
SPEAKER_00: And remember what I said here.
39:32
SPEAKER_00: I think you'll find their behavior far less confusing when you look at it through my eyes.
39:39
SPEAKER_00: Here's the part I'm looking forward to.
39:43
SPEAKER_00: In 2016, these assholes came swarming out of the woodwork to heap massive abuse on Hillary supporters.
39:51
SPEAKER_00: It got so bad that literally millions of women,
39:54
SPEAKER_00: because of course they abused women the most,
39:56
SPEAKER_00: went into hiding online.
39:59
SPEAKER_00: They had to make secret Hillary groups where they could talk about how much they
40:02
SPEAKER_00: loved their candidate without being attacked by raging fake progressive misogynists.
40:08
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you've met the K-Hive, but that's not going to work on them.
40:14
SPEAKER_00: When these pissy little white boys come around and spew their racism misogyny,
40:19
SPEAKER_00: they're going to get beaten into the ground by a whole lot of angry black women who
40:24
SPEAKER_00: truly do not give a fuck.
40:28
SPEAKER_00: People have been whining about them since Harris first ran in 2020.
40:32
SPEAKER_00: They're too loud.
40:34
SPEAKER_00: They're too over the top.
40:35
SPEAKER_00: Why can't they just calm down?
40:37
SPEAKER_00: You know, the usual, why don't black people just shut up and sit in the back of the bus crap.
40:42
SPEAKER_00: But what do you think is going to happen now that Harris is the nominee?
40:47
SPEAKER_00: Do you think the K-Hive is going to sit down and be quiet?
40:52
SPEAKER_00: Or are they going to come for the people attacking their girl and eat them alive?
40:56
SPEAKER_00: There's not enough popcorn in the world for me to properly enjoy the absolute
41:01
SPEAKER_00: destruction the all-left is going to face when they come for Harris.
41:05
SPEAKER_00: These are bullies used to abusing people, and they're about to go through some things.
41:11
SPEAKER_00: If I could sell tickets, I could pay off the national debt.
41:14
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be that fucking funny to watch.
41:18
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's it for today's show.
41:21
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening and please share this podcast far and wide.
41:25
SPEAKER_00: There are 103 days left to the 2024 election.
41:29
SPEAKER_00: Vote blue like your life depends on it.
41:31
SPEAKER_00: And that's President Kamala fucking Harris to you.
41:35
SPEAKER_00: This is the Opinionated Ogre Podcast,
41:38
SPEAKER_00: your weekly rampage through current events with a little snark,
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SPEAKER_00: a bit of foul language,
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SPEAKER_00: and a lot of strong opinions.
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SPEAKER_00: Take a moment to give this podcast a five-star rating wherever you're listening to it,
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SPEAKER_00: and share with your family and friends.
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SPEAKER_00: New episodes every Wednesday,
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SPEAKER_00: and don't forget to visit the Opinionated Ogre newsletter on Substack to vote for
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SPEAKER_00: next week's main story.