Hindsight Is 2020

[GoTfan]

Who was challenging Bernie in Vermont?

[GoTfan]

Hmm. Since I'm a sucker for new media, I'll sign on as Kyle Kulinski of Secular Talk Radio.

[GoTfan]

Kyle doesn't usually do interviews, but I can make an exception given his new studio. How do we request interviews?

[GoTfan]

Excerpt from a Secular Talk segment entitled "DNC Primary Process for 2020"



Okay, so this morning, Keith Ellison, the DNC Chair *he makes a sideways glance at the camera* announced the Democratic Primary process for 2020. He's said there's going to be 15 debates-I'd prefer more but it's already better than 2016-and if more than ten candidates are declared, then the candidates will be divded into two debates on the same evening, each being treated with the same importance.

Okay, so what's my take on this? Well, it's already proving that Keith Ellison's a better Chair than Debbie Wasserman Schultz. 15 debates? That's a lot more than we got in 2016. Now, you guys know that I'm in favour of having as many debates as possible, so I'd prefer 20 at a minimum. As we saw in 2016, the more debates there were, the more people liked Bernie and the less they liked Hillary. So, I believe there should be more, but 15 is good.

Who do I think would be the best candidate for the Democrats to put forward? Honestly, I don't know. I'm still a little frustrated that Sherrod Brown or Russ Feingold aren't running, but that's the way things go sometimes. Honestly, I would tentatively say Elizabeth Warren. You guys know from my interview not that long ago that she's still going strong at 71. No-on cared that Bernie was roughly 1,012 years old when he ran, so why care now?

As for the Republicans, well they've still got Ted Cruz trying to be relevant by competing against Trump. It's almost like *goes into Ted Cruz impression* Meeeeeehhhhhh I'm Ted Cruz meeeehhhhh I'm still cool meeeeehhhhh *end impression* You f***ing kiddin' me? Dude, no-one cares about your crazy theocratic nonsense anymore. No-one cares. You ain't getting nowhere in the primary; the President's daughter is the Chair of the RNC for f***'s sake! So Ted, my advice, give up now son. Save yourself further embarrassment.

[GoTfan]

Clip from Secular Talk's show on Monday June 10, 2019

Okay, so the Democratic field widened on Friday. Senator Tammy Duckworth announced her entry into the Democratic primary. She said:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

So what do I make of this? Well I'm not so sure. She's been a good Senator, she has progressive credentials and she's a veteran, but I really hope we don't start getting people who support her just because she's a minority or a woman; the same goes for every candidate in the field. I don't want people supporting Elizabeth Warren just because she's a woman and the same goes for Tulsi Gabbard if she decides to run.

Ultimately though, I think this is a good thing; the Democratic Party is moving in a more progressive direction, amd that is only a good thing. You guys watch them now; they'll get the sort of cross-party support that Hillary Clinton could only dream of.

[GoTfan]

Clip from Secular Talk's show on Guesday June 11 2019

Okay, so the field continued to widen for the Democratic nomination. Sherrod Brown and Tammy Duckworth recently announced their entry into the race, and yes, I am very happy about that because the field of progressives has increased; we now have:

Sherrod Brown
Bill De Blasio
Al Franken
Tammy Baldwin
And Elizabeth Warren

This is absolutely fantastic. Now of course, there's still Cory Booker to overcome, but Elizabeth's the established frontrunner, so there's  that.

The other one is Ron Wyden. Now I'm a little skeptical of his commitment to progressive causes; he's more of a libertarian Democrat than anything else, and libertarians are usuallt good on half the issues, and then just complete bats**t on everything else. He has his fans though, as we saw from John Avlon's giant b***job of him the other day.

As for Sherrod Brown though, oof, that guy is doing daaaaamn well in the polls. He's exactly the candidate the Democrats need too; he's a progressive midwesterner with a pptential to bring the Rustbelt plus Ohio into the Democratic column. Most of the races come down to Ohio or Florida. You nomimate him, then you got a real chance of flipping the White House.

I really hope the Democrats have learnt their lesson, because if you go with someone like Cory Booker or Andrew Cuomo, you're going to lose; that's  just a fact.

So yeah, here's hoping that progressives can take the White House this year.

[GoTfan]

Clip from Secular Talk's show on August 5 2019

So over the last two days, we've had the Democratic debates. So obviously the big question is: Who won them.

Well the first debate I had as a tie between Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker. Now I know that sounds stupid and makes me nauseous, but the reality is that Cory Booker is just a masterful debater. He had a couple of epic lines in it, and in this style over substance world, that will count for more. However, on substance, it was Warren hands down. She ran on her ability to effectively oppose Trump and her liberal record, and she did well for herself.

Now the second night was easily won by Tammy Baldwin. She was able to give proper attacks on Trump and not the fake PC outrage that Hillary Clinton relied on. Moreover, the policies she gave are progressive. Now you guys want to see a progressive win and so do I, but those out there who want a woman President, you have people like Tammy Baldwin who can unit both wings. Now she's going to face undoubted opposition from social conservatives, but she is now one of the frontrunners for the nomination, and honestly, that's only a good thing.

Now I know there's a lot of people out there who thought I was going to say Sherrod Brown won the first debate, and he did do very well, don't get me wrong. When Ron Wyden tried to pick a trade fight with him, he absolutely mopped the floor with him. The second debate was even better because Andrew Cuomo, who is the epitome of the Democratic establishment just became a massive punching bag for everyone. I would say he's done, but I don't think he is.

As for Sherrod Brown doing well, he is still doing well in the polls. Now we actually wrote to Sherrod Brown's campaign and we got the following response:

"At the end of the day, this election is going to be about who has the best vision for America going forward. While we can't guarantee that Sherrod Brown will be in first in the polls forever, we do believe that he has the message, the vision, and the drive to be a powerful standard-bearer for the Democratic Party, and after the debates and campaigns have run their course, we believe the American people will see that and agree."

Now he's from a state the Democrats need to win. In my mind, he'd be a great nominee and even if not, I'd imagine he'd be the VP nominee by default.

There's also a lot of people who are thinking to themselves 'why isn't Martin O'Malley running? '. If we're being honest, I was too, so we also wrote to him and got the following response:

"To be completely honest, I have given a Presidential run a lot of thought. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't. Having said that, my campaign in 2016 never got off the ground, and after some soul-searching, I decided I'd rather be a Senator and work for the people of Maryland than try to run for President again. It wouldn't be right to enter my new job and then turn around and ask for another one right away."

Now I think in the first part he is being hard on himself to an extent. He was running against Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and the fact is he was never going to get off the ground against them. That being said, I think he can position himself as the liberal firebrand in the Senate if Elizabeth Warren gets the nomination; not to mention he'd be a good VP pick.

So overall, good times to be a progressive in this country.

OOC: I know I'm using the same image as before, but there's few better ones I can find

[GoTfan]

Hope my interview answers are coming soon!

[GoTfan]

Transcript of a clip from Secular Talk's show on Monday, August 19 2019

Okay, so out show's gotten really high-profile lately and we seem to have been gaining a bit of a following on the Hill. So in keeping with this, I would like to welcome a woman who is a very long way from home, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard from Hawaii's 2nd District. Congresswoman, thank you for being here today.

Thank you for having me!



Let's jump right in. Four years ago you supported Bernie Sanders for the Democratic Presidential nomination after he got steamrolled in the South Carolina primary. Why did you endorse him after he just got crushed by about 20-30 points in a contest?

I was putting in my best effort to stop a consensus from forming that the primary was over just because Bernie lost in South Carolina, and I figured that making my endorsement then would give the message that the primary was still on.

Going off that, you delivered Bernie's nominating speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2016 and when he was declared a write-in candidate in some states he was required to nominate a running mate and he chose you. So my question is, given all this, why have you decided not to run in 2020?

To be honest, it wasn't a decision I was hoping I would make. I put together an exploratory committee like most Presidential candidates do in early 2019, and the purpose of the exploratory committee is to see how likely my campaign would be to get off the ground. What we found is that the primary voters care more about someone who picked high-profile fights with Trump than someone who fought against Hillary Clinton and the DNC. Voters who would have been receptive to my message were also big fans of Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown and Tammy Baldwin and Al Franken. I know them well. They're all good, genuine people who I would be very happy to work with in 2021, and I couldn't say the same for Hillary Clinton.

There's also the fact that there's not as much point to running in opposition to the DNC when the DNC has changed so significantly since 2016.

There were some rumblings about you running for the Senate two years ago, but you ultimately rejected it. What's the future for Tulsi Gabbard in politics? David Ige is term-limited in 2022. Are you possibly considering running for Governor of Hawaii?

It's absolutely something I'm considering. I'm actually in close contact with Governor Ige. He's been a wonderful Governor and he's expressed interest in having me take up the mantle after he leaves office.

Could you, at any time, see yourself running for President at any point in the future?

Yes. *laughs* The exploratory committee didn't work out for me this time but things can change drastically in a few years.

Okay, so we're going to have a new tradition on Secular Talk; we're going to end with a silly question. If you were stranded on a deserted island, what three things would you bring with you?

My family, the Game of Thrones books, and a first-aid kit.

Congresswoman and possibly future Governor Tulsi Gabbard, ladies and gentlemen.

[GoTfan]

Clip from Secular Talk's February 21st, 2020 shoe. Title: Winners and Losers of the Early Primaries

Okay, so we had the first . . . round, I'd guess you call it, of the Democratic primary come to an end yesterday. Now these early states are always critical to the race, as you know. So who were the big losers?

Well first: Andrew Cuomo. The first candidate to drop out. Let's face, he was gonna get nowhere in the first place; he's so blatantly corrupt that he doesn't even try to hide it. Maria Cantwell. Who is she again? I don't remember. Tammy Duckworth. This one I'm a little upset about because she's a center-left to left liberal, but she'll remain a strong voice in the Senate. Tom Wolf. On paper, he's the perfect candidate; he's won twice in a midwestern state that Trump won in 2016 against a Republican legislature, but he's just SOOOOOOOOOOOO boring. Kate Brown. Again, someone I'm a little upset for because she's a true progressive. Ron Wyden. This guy's a libertarian Democrat, so while he's mostly good on social issues, he's completely bats**t on everything else. The final big loser? You get one guess *pauses* you're right, it's *Ted Cruz impression* Meehhhhhhhhh I'm Ted Cruz meeehhhh *end impression*. I said at the start of the primary that his crazy theocratic nonsense doesn't have any place anymore, but he refused to lister; therefore, we have him embarrassing himself yet again.

And the winners? Well obviously we have Donald Trump. So the news there isn't brilliant, but for the Democrats, the news is just f***ing brilliant. So currently leading the delegate count is Tammy Baldwin with 29. She's one of the most progressive Senators in the country, so that's good. Right behind her on 28 is Elizabeth Warren; no need to explain why that's good. Then right behind them is Sherrod Brown; you already know my opinion on him. Then we have Al Franken on 16; he's a solid liberal. Then we have *shudders* Cory Booker; the last gasp of the Third Way Democrats on 10.

So, we're going to have a pretty interesting Primary ahead of us. Not to mention that if Cruz gains some steam (which he unfortunately seems to be) then the Republicans might end up with their own Carter-Kennedy situation from 1980. In fact, this already resembles 1980 in reverse; an unpopular incumbent facing a powerful primary challenge from the grassroots wing of their party; while the other has a charismatic radical as the frontrunner.

So, it's a great time to be a progressive in the United States at the moment.

[GoTfan]

Clip from Secular Talk's show on February 23rd, 2020. Title: Tal Schnieder, Israeli politico, live via satellite

So we're trying something different today. Joining us live from Israel is journalist Tal Schneider. Thanks for being with us today.

Hello, Kyle! Thank you for having me!

Okay, so jumping right in, then. To an outsider like yourself, how does this election look? Purely from an outsider perspective.

Well, so far, it certainly looks better than the previous elections. Sure, Donald Trump is still insulting fellow politicians, but at least in the Democratic Party it looks like a much more friendly, and more importantly, balanced contest. They manage to make this election season, so far, look much less dark than 2016. As for the country I come from, from what I can tell, the majority of the Israeli public doesn't really follow the primaries, or really any part of the elections too closely, but since the majority of Israelis are in the right I'd say Trump has an edge in support here.

You recently had Sherrod Brown as the leading Democrat. Has this changed at all with Tammy Baldwin's win in Nevada?

Well, Baldwin certainly moved up the list, but seeing the South Carolina polls, it looks like Brown is in a unique position to gain the support of both African-Americans and the working class voters. So no, I still have him on top.

Okay, so now for Donald Drumpf. Can you see any major bumps in the road ahead for him?

*Laughs.* Well, certainly. He can't really claim to be an outsider anymore, and the Democrats seem poised to nominate someone with little to no baggage and strong grassroots support. If I were Trump, I'd be rooting hard for Senator Booker. As for Cruz... so far he doesn't seem to be much of a road bump, more like a mosquito, but that could change if Trump becomes less popular because of some special event and Cruz remains as an option on the ballot.

Can you see any parallels with the 1980 election? To me, it seems like this is almost 1980 in reverse; particularly if the Texas theocrat gains steam.

Well, if we see any strong third party emerge, it will seem like a very good comparison, if not on the ideological level, on the statistical level. Ted Cruz is no Ted Kennedy in his party, but both are very ideological, and if Trump continues to lose popularity, the incumbent could lose in a landslide- though I doubt that anyone could lose by so much in 2020.

Israeli journalist Tal Schneider everyone. Link to her website's in the description below. Do take a look at it; it gives a great insight into the election and rates how likely a candidate is to be inaugurated as President on January 20th.

[GoTfan]

Looking forward to the special announcement.

[GoTfan]

Next time:

There's going to be another debate.

HOWEVER!

This debate is going to be a collaboration between myself and two pundits: Kyle Kulinski and Tal Schneider. HUGE shout-out to GoTFan and Parrotguy for this. We're hammering out the questions and rebuttals and back and forths and followups now and we should have it up in a couple of days!

I'll be making the announcement from Kyle's perspective soon.

[GoTfan]

Clip from Secular Talk's March 10, 2020 show. Title: Special Announcement

Okay, so I have something pretty special for you guys. Recently our show's gained a following on the Hill. We've had some pretty important interviews with people like Elizabeth Warren, Reuss Feingold, Tulsi Gabbard and so on.

However, this takes the cake.

Not that long ago, I did an interview not that long ago with Tal Schneider, and it was actually pretty widely praised. It was a pretty serious discussion of the future of the primary, and well, apparently we impressed some major people. So a few days ago, I got a call from a DNC representative, saying that he was offering myself and Tal one of the debates.

Dude, that's f***ing amazing. Look, I'm a YouTuber. I'm an affiliate of a much larger network. Yet, apparently I seemed to have gained a larger profile lately. Naturally, I jumped at the chance. I called Tal later in the day and she was really excited to do it, so we pooled our money and she's flying out here. It's going to be held in Chicago, Illinois. As you know, very important primary state, so I'm pretty excited that we were picked for such an important debate.

Now, how can you watch the debate? Well we'll be live-streaming it on the YouTube channel. Cenk and the rest of The Young Turks crew are going to be live-streaming it. Tal's show will be live-streaming it as well. In addition to YouTube, we'll also be using Facebook Live-on both of our accounts-to stream it.

Now don't you guys worry; I'm going to be asking some pretty loaded questions. We need concrete answers and I don't believe we've been getting that. Tal's going to be focusing on foreign policy, and I'll be looking at fiscal and electoral policy. We are trying to fundamentally change how debates are held. Hopefully we'll be successful in that.

Anyway guys, I'm really f***ing excited for it and I can't wait.

[GoTfan]

So the debate will be up tonight if all goes well! After that, it's back to business as usual!

Don't forget my Trump tweet!

[GoTfan]

Clip from Secular Talk's show on March 19, 2020. Title: Booker Drops Out

Okay, so we had the debate the other night, and apart from John Avlon who just seems to support whatever candidate takes Wall Street money the most; it was pretty well received. Who do I think won it? No-one. I asked question the candidates should've been able to answer, and instead what we got were defenses of securities & investments industry donations; defenses of SuperPACs, and opposition to single-payer healthcare. This was on a Democratic stage too; imagine what the Republicans would be like!

But still we had another withdrawal lately. That was . . . Cory Booker.

So you guys know I'm practically over the f***ing moon about this. Cory Booker represented the last gasp of the Clinton-Obama Democrats to keep control of the party; it was their last stand. And it failed. So now we have three progressives all competing for the nomination.

Let's be absolutely clear: I liked Cory Booker when he was Newark's Mayor. He did a lot of progressive things. That changed when he got to the Senate, as we all know. This is a guy who publicly defended BAIN F***ING CAPITAL! HOW MUCH MORE OF A G**DAMNED RED FLAG DO YOU NEED!? HE TAKES SPECIAL INTEREST MONEY BY THE F***ING TRUCKLOAD!

So yeah, really happy that he did drop out, 'cause now we have three progressives left in the race, and it looks to be a good one. Who's going to win? Very tentatively, I'd say Sherrod Brown. That said, Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin are right on his tail. Should we worry about a contested convention? Like I said on Stephen Colbert's show not that long ago, we start worrying if there's no clear frontrunner after New York. Now the New York primary isn't that far away, and as I always do, I'll tell you guys who I voted for.

But yeah, great day to be a progressive American.

[GoTfan]

Public statement issued by Kyle Kulinski in conjunction with legal counsel

The accusations of Mr Avlon and Mr Oliver merely show how mainstream media feels threatened when someone does not defer to the established sensibilities. Mr Kulinski's refusal to apologize for a relatively simple question that should've been easily answered is soemthing that has been lacking from the mainstream media for generations.

Both Mr Avlon and Mr Oliver showed deference to Mrs Clinton four years ago while openly mocking Mr Sanders, and we can produce evidence of this upon request. All this does is showed that they feel threatened.

Furthermore, I would be very interested to hear how Mr Oliver got a hold of my recordings; The Young Turks, Secular Talk, no other TYT affiliates nor The Plog Show have freely released footage, despite the fact it was streamed live on these channels.

I have consulted with legal counsel and am currently reviewing all available legal remedies to the situation.

[GoTfan]

Time for Senator Warren to give it up.

You can't down Brown.

#cantdownthebrown

[GoTfan]

Clip from Secular Talk's show on April 23rd, 2020. Title: Who I voted for in New York

Okay, so we just had the New York Primary two days ago, and Sherrod Brown won, so he is now the obvious frontrunner for the nomination. The final result was Sherrod Brown with 58% of the vote and 160 delegate and Elizabeth Warren with 42% and 116 delegates, leaving Brown in the lead with 1042 delegates to Warren's 755.

Okay, so if I'm Keith Ellison, now I start worrying about a contested convention. Even Sherrod Brown still needs over 1000 delegates to lock up the nomination, so it's obviously getting to crunch time and the next round of primaries will likely either kill or save Elizabeth Warren's campaign if she wants to avoid dragging the party into a contested convention.

But, now it's the moment you've been waiting for. Who did I vote for in the New York Primary? Well, originally, I planned to write in Bernie or Tulsi Gabbard or Jeff Merkley, but I realised that was probably pointless, so I voted for . . .

Sherrod Brown.

In my opinion, neither candidate is the progressive we were hoping for, but Sherrod Brown is already a very, very strong candidate; I mean, this is the guy who beat John f***in' Kasich in the 2018 Senate race. Granted, that partly was because Brown ran one of the best Senate campaigns I've ever seen and John Kasich's was basically *does "memememememememememme" then farting noise*. Seriously, it was one of the worst Senate campaigns I've seen.

But yes, I do believe that Sherrod Brown is the best candidate we have to beat Donald Trump.

Also, make sure you tune in after the Northeastern primaries soon, because after them, the Justice Democrats organizing committee is meeting to vote on who we'll be endorsing for President. So, watch this space.