F*ck silence podcast

Zoidberg

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So, to mark my arrival to the Promised Land, to the Great Beyond that is this forum, I thought I'd create a new post.

Earlier today I saw a post by @Scepticalscribe on the other forum asking about sane conservatives. As I'm banned from posting there, I sent her a PM, which I'm going to paste:

"If you want to listen to a sane conservative's take, I suggest you listen to Joe Walsh on his eponymous show (around 1 hour/episode) and his podcast F*ck silence (20-25 minutes/episode).

He was originally in the Tea Party movement, so at the time he was classed as arch-conservative and went to Washington as a congressman. However, he was too naive and lacked the astuteness to survive in politics and he lost the reelection after a couple of years.

Back home, he kept at it (muh gun rights, etc), he was on Fox news, he was on the Trump train, etc. but he increasingly started calling out Trump on his radio show whenever he felt what Trump did or said wasn't right. Eventually (after Trump's meeting with Putin in Helsinki) he came to the conclusion that Trump was unfit, and kept saying so on live radio until he became too much of a nuisance for his employer and got fired.

He then decided to run against Trump in the primary (again, the lack of political survival instinct was evident). Unsurprisingly, he lost, but as it was a matter of principles, he persisted and left the Republican party. Some time later, he even pledged to vote for the Democrat's candidate to defeat Trump (including Bernie Sanders or Warren). When the pandemic started, he started doing a podcast (**** Silence) on his own to try to convince Republicans to vote for the Democrats, and soon after he started doing the Joe Walsh Show on the radio where he takes calls from all sides.

I'm not saying he's one of the great thinkers of the century, and as a left leaning European I disagree on most issues with him, but it really makes for an interesting listen, since he comes from the cult, and knows the Republican party quite well (he was one of Pence's protégés in Congress, and was friends with many in what later became Trump's praetorian guard). Some of his podcast episodes are great, others are a bit too "rambly", but if you do want the opinion of a sane republican, it's a great choice."

I figured more here would like to give it a try. The election's over, but if you have someone who's -somehow- still on the verge about whether Trump and the current GOP are good guys, it could also be a good way to get them to listen to a different point of view that might be more palatable as it comes from someone staunchly conservative.

Classic talk show format: 1-1.5 hours, daily, radio + podcast, takes calls from listeners, no profanity

Short form: 2-3 updates/week, podcast only, frequent profanity.

He's also on twitter @walshfreedom
 
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Chew Toy McCoy

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Thanks for the recommendation! Maybe a positive side effect of Trump is that some conservative views that were labeled loony by the left pre-Trump will come off as more nuanced post-Trump.
 

Zoidberg

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Thanks for the recommendation! Maybe a positive side effect of Trump is that some conservative views that were labeled loony by the left pre-Trump will come off as more nuanced post-Trump.
I don't live in the US, but I do have the option – and might have – to move there at some point, so I try to keep track of everything going on (also, it makes for some good drama).

Listening to this show has provided me the chance to hear at length about some arguments that I'd normally not be exposed to, and it certainly has made me more perceptive to nuance on their side. I believe it's a bad idea to stay in an echo chamber where everyone thinks alike, so on twitter I tend to follow people I disagree with). Conversely, a small but non-negligible minority of sane Republicans seems to have warmed up to the Democratic party, and will be key swing voters for years to come. I don't think principled conservatives like Walsh are loonies, they just tend to cling to ideals that are far removed from modern issues (e.g the founding fathers didn't have an opinion on healthcare, simply because healthcare at the time was non existent and just a matter of hoping for the best) so it makes it hard to have a fruitful conversation with them.

In any case, if Biden wins and wants to rebuild the US he'll have to be inclusive: as it is, ~69 million people think Trump has done a good job (!) and the margin in many places is too thin to be comfortable so he can't afford to alienate people. On the other end, you've got the younger voters who expect reforms to a system that has been screwing them for a long time (housing, education, healthcare, etc). To top it off, as of now it seems he won't have the luxury of a friendly Senate so he'll have to either negotiate every step of the way, or govern by executive order (depending on how cooperative the GOP senators are).
 
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Chew Toy McCoy

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Been listening to both podcasts the last couple days and they're great. It gives me great hope that both sides can be level headed and work together again, or at there are people on polar opposite ends of the political spectrum who both want that to happen. Also it was comforting to hear people on the right feel like they don't have a political home with the current Republicans, much like how the Progressives feel about the Democrats. Thanks again for the recommendation. I'm sure you'll see me referencing it or what was said on it in future posts.
 

Zoidberg

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You're welcome. I'm glad it's appreciated. We could create a thread so that everyone can recommend podcasts (not necessarily political).

Been listening to both podcasts the last couple days and they're great. It gives me great hope that both sides can be level headed and work together again, or at there are people on polar opposite ends of the political spectrum who both want that to happen. Also it was comforting to hear people on the right feel like they don't have a political home with the current Republicans, much like how the Progressives feel about the Democrats. Thanks again for the recommendation. I'm sure you'll see me referencing it or what was said on it in future posts.
 
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