Bernie’s Weekly Q&A (10/4)

Border blame, newspaper endorsements, online fans vs. bots, and more!

Welcome to this week’s Premium Q&A session for paying subscribers. I appreciate you all signing up and joining me.

A quick reminder first

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Let’s get started:

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Kamala Harris is blaming the Border on Trump’s sabotage of a Border Bill that wasn’t proposed until almost 3 1/2 years AFTER 8 million people had already illegally entered the country. And Couldn’t Biden immediately sign an Executive Order to stop this anyhow without a Bill. What gives? Thanks for your always authentic, and honest opinions. — Rob O.

The Harris campaign figures if they blame everything on Trump, they might get away with it. And, you know what Rob — they might. Trump and Vance need to make the case that Harris is saying really dopey things (wait for it) because they think you — the voter—is too stupid to notice. That’s my suggestion. Let’s see how it plays out.

John and Bernie: It's newspaper endorsement season again, and I am of the opinion this practice needs to go away. Except for far down-ballot races like commissioners and state representatives, newspaper endorsements have little useful purpose other than to put media bias on display and make publications take a side and their place in political partisanship. What is your opinion? — Steve R.

From John: I’m with you, Steve. I think they’re largely irrelevant to today’s elections anyway, and nine times out of ten you can guess ahead of time who they’re going to endorse. I just don’t see the point, unless, as you say, we’re talking about very local races, where there may be some unique insight to be given.

From Bernie: The last time the New York Times endorsed a Republican for president was when they backed Eisenhower in the 1950s. So when they endorse Kamala Harris, let’s just say, I won’t be shocked. Which gets to your main point, Steve: Endorsements now have little effect to change the minds of readers. The news consumer enters the editorial page with his or her mind already made up. If the endorsement does anything, it simply reinforces the voters’ partisanship. You got it right, Steve.

Bernie & John: If I understand correctly, only paying subscribers can post in the comment section here. Right? If so, its beyond crazy to me that a couple people who regularly comment here are paying you guys money to: 1) ignore everything you guys write and say, 2) accredit you with positions you don’t have, and 3) tell you that you’re left-wingers who are on “Team Harris.” Are these actual people or troll-bots? Do bots have credit cards? — Alex D.