I miss him but an election wonk character probably had to die with electoralism
Isikoff was the guy who broke the story about Clinton/Lewenski and about Abu Ghraib, so you'd think he's an informed insider who knows how the imperialism gears are oiled. He should know better. Except in this interview he sounds identical to some goofy Russiagate Twitter liberal. He's got nothing. He can't conceive of any alternative, like that moment he's like "I assume Elizabeth Warren is your second pick."
I've been trying to figure out for a while if DC liberals are purely cynical or if they really believe they're saving the world. I think Isikoff is somehow both.
He can’t conceive of any alternative, like that moment he’s like “I assume Elizabeth Warren is your second pick.”
I mean, in a saner world she would be, because she and Sanders would be working hand-in-hand to advance the policies they both claim to espouse. If you just kinda take what everyone says at face value, then sure - ranking the candidates puts Warren roughly behind Sanders.
But Warren's not working hand-in-hand with Sanders. And these aren't people with an equivalent amount of credibility who are just working at adjacent points on the political spectrum.
I’ve been trying to figure out for a while if DC liberals are purely cynical or if they really believe they’re saving the world.
If you spend your whole life doing something, I have to assume you either become a cynical turd about it or you build up some kind of fantasy about your self-importance. Because otherwise why wouldn't you just fuck off to the Hamptons as soon as you had a big enough pile of money?
Matt thought the same, that he was going to get creamed by a seasoned pundit
Isikoff and Corn wrote the definitive book on how the Bush administration manufactured the Iraq war, Hubris in 2006. It was a legitimately ground breaking book becuase war fever was only just beginning to break and not many mainstream journalists were prepared to say the pretext for war was completely fabricated.
Isikoff also did a lot of good reporting on Gitmo and torture during the war on terror as well. Its genuinely disappointing, and emblematic, that he abandoned all of that to become an Obama admin cheerleader and then went all in on Russiagate.
That's why I'm so perplexed by him. Is it the old "no one is immune to propaganda"? Did he just get old? Did he smell where the blood in the water was and hopped on board with mainstream liberals?
Basically I don't want to end up like this guy and it frightens me to think I might
They've spent their entire lives within that framework, and they're old as shit. So they can critique the inefficiencies of the empire, but ultimately it must exist.
He is the co-author with David Corn of the book titled Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin's War on America and the Election of Donald Trump, published on March 13, 2018
Wonder what he thinks of the CIA run anti Russian bot army that's happening right now. Is that the USA interfering in other countries elections, foreign policy and political struggle?
I’ve been trying to figure out for a while if DC liberals are purely cynical or if they really believe they’re saving the world. I think Isikoff is somehow both.
I think it really comes down to the media they consume. If you've only gotten your news/political content from TV and newspapers, and also stopped trying in the 90s when you were in your 30s and had "established yourself", then nothing has really changed. They still think politics is one or two west wing gotcha-remarks away from fixing america's problems.
Like a lib Glenn Greenwald, you'd think he knows better and then he goes out posting shit about how the US establishment hates and fears Bolsonaro and prefers Lula.
My favorite Virgil moment is when he has trouble thinking of a food item that isn’t spaghetti
This whole thing was just him being annoyed that his grandchildren preferred Chapo Trap House over his podcast, according to the Chapo episode after this one.
Ah, early 2020, when we thought that a WW3 near-miss was one of the worst things that could happen that quarter.
I ended 2019 with appendicitis, and started 2020 with fear of nuclear war and finding out my fiancée was cheating on me.
And then things got worse.
Is it just me? Interviewer really sounds full of smug contempt for his interview guests.
He's massively smug and talks to them like a kindergarten teacher chastising misbehaving children. Which is how most of my interactions with older liberals have gone.
Talking politics with my parents is like a game of predicting when they'll start using the n-word (or other slurs). My current record is 9 seconds.
lmao same, theres a level of psychological manipulation when parents are arguing with you, and especially when they're smug ass libshits
I think this really shows how much dead weight Virgil really was. Every time he starts talking the interview kind of grinds to a halt, and he never really advances a position as forcefully as Matt even once
Eh, the part about "diverse interests" and getting the hosts to try defending enviromental pollution because "b-but planned economies bad!" was pretty good. And Virgil was clearly fucking with them, like just talking with his mouth full. Nobody can really match Matt's righteous anger :matt-jokerfied:
I mean, that wasn't really his role in the crew. Virgil brought the wonk, Matt brings the rage, Will brings dad energy, Felix brings the off-topic, and Amber brought the bad takes.
Be fair now Amber also brought the super good takes too. She either hit a home run or truck out in three swings.
However in groups it is often important to have different people so that points can be formed. Thinking with talking works often better than thinking without talking. Sure you can write stuff, but it will be a very different kind of thinking.
So I am not sure what role in output Virgil did play if you get my drift.
Unfair. He was supposedly very hung over and sleepy and clearly also busy eating during the interview. He was better on the show
Matt Christman and who?
Is this one of the cumtown guys
I have no idea who this guy is and im a long time chapo listener
