The Daly Weekly (10/31)

Zohran Mamdani, Bill Kristol, horror movies, and more!

Hi everyone.

Welcome to this week’s Daly Weekly, where I answer whatever questions you throw my way.

Let’s get right to it…

---

Seems to me that Trump has been able to build a base of supporters who are authoritarian minded and find comfort in some measure of dictatorial rule. I don’t believe this mind set is limited to one party. Is it possible pollsters keep missing the boat on Trump popularity by not testing for this in their surveys? — Scott K.

I think there’s something to that, Scott. I think part of the issue is that, for a very long time now, there has been far more media-focus and public attention placed on the presidency than the U.S. Congress, or really any other component of our politics. I think a lot of people, who aren’t particularly savvy on the topic of U.S. civics, already kind of view the presidency as a pseudo-authoritarian role. I suppose it’s even easier to do that when a congressional majority blindly does whatever a president wants (which is not how our system is supposed to work). What also bothers me is how much of the electorate seems to treat Trump like a “daddy” or “boss” figure. I’ve heard him literally referred to as “Daddy Trump” and “The Boss” by enough of his supporters to see further merit in your point about people being comfortable with dictatorial rule and political obedience (as long as it’s their guy in charge, and not the opposition party’s). The same goes for disinterest in whether the president is breaking laws.

Personally, I view political obedience as unpatriotic. Elected leaders work for us, not the other way around. Far too many people have lost track of this concept.

What’s with Bill Kristol saying he would vote for Mamdani? Is he not even conservative at all anymore? — Ben G.

Kristol has been shifting in this direction for a long time, unfortunately. I haven’t followed him closely in a while, but I don’t think he’s become a hard-lefty or anything (though he’s definitely moved left on some issues). I think he instead sees the GOP as wholly irredeemable under Trump, and wants them punished politically — perhaps until there’s some kind of internal-reset. Or maybe he thinks he can help move the Democratic party to the right. I’m not sure, however, how Mamdani (a proud socialist) becoming mayor would advance either cause. It’s all very confusing. All I know for sure is that up until 10 years ago, I agreed with Kristol on most issues. That’s not the case anymore, and it wasn’t me who changed.

It is unbelievable to me that Zohran Mamdani, an anti-capitalist anti-Semite, is about to be mayor of New York City, the financial center of the world and home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel. But looking inward, are we free market capitalists to blame for this insistent rise of socialism? Have we not defended and explained capitalism’s tremendous building of societal wealth throughout the world, thus allowing the left to co-opt the argument for a generation? The 2008 financial crisis produced virtually zero accountability among the finance elite and resulted in only one jail term by a mid-level executive (Kareem Serageldin, a Credit Suisse trader). In short, we have not cleaned up our messes, held our own to account, or tended well to our own garden. How do we start tending it better? — Steve R.

Are free-market capitalists to blame? No. I do think it’s important for conservatives to promote conservative tenets (including economic ones), and that’s one of the many things that anger me about today’s Republican Party: They’ve given up on virtually all of that, in favor of the culture-war stuff (that often has no policy answer).

But I don’t think Mamdani’s popularity in New York has much to do with economics at all. I think my new friend Jay Nordlinger, who I recently interviewed on the Daly Express podcast, has it figured it out. He posted this the other day:

As someone who wants to believe that ideas rule the world, I was slow to accept something, and bitter when I did: Voters care relatively little about ideas; they care about how candidates make them feel. Mamdani exudes a certain joie de vivre. This accounts for a lot.

Barack Obama certainly benefited from this (“Hope and Change”). This is a large part of Trump’s appeal as well. Case in point, lots of people rightfully focus on Mamdani’s socialist agenda. But as I’ve pointed out a number of times, Trump’s second-term policies are objectively closer to textbook socialism than anything even Democratic presidents have done in my lifetime. Trump’s also signed into law more dept-spending than any president in U.S. history (and it’s not even close). And guess what: Republicans don’t care… while still decrying socialism on the other side. In many ways, we unfortunately live in a post-policies political era, which lets some really bad candidates rise to the top.

How do we change this, at a time when voters largely don’t care about ideas and policies? Maybe the answer (at least in the short term) is to get behind candidates who are like Javier Milei — a charismatic figure who talks like a populist but governs like a responsible adult (his policy positions are basically Paul Ryan’s). Unfortunately, few such U.S. leaders immediately come to mind. In the long-term, the answer is to make ideas, policies, and principles important again, and at the forefront of voters’ minds. That, of course, is easier said than done — especially after this lengthy cult-of-personality political era we’re still stuck in.

This is the most worried I’ve seen Bernie on the current state of affairs in the US. So things must be fairly dire. Having said that, who do you think is going to come off worse for wear when SNAP benefits stop getting paid from November 1st, due to the Government shutdown? (This is assuming the shutdown goes on beyond that date). Democrats because they refuse to budge on having millions of people’s health care premiums increase or cut altogether? Or Trump and the GOP as even more people’s lives become worse off because they can’t get food assistance through the SNAP program? — FDM

As I mentioned on this week’s No BS Zone, I blame the Democrats for this shutdown. The Republicans offered a clean CR, and the Democrats rejected it. I think they’re holding out largely to show their base that they’re “doing something” to fight Trump, which is a stupid rationale. That said, Republicans historically get blamed for government shutdowns (since they used to be the “small government” party who drove these shutdowns), and I’m not sure most voters understand what’s going on here. I think a lot of voters just know that Republicans hold the presidency and both branches of Congress. So Republicans may indeed get the bulk of the blame — unfairly so.

John, A Government Shutdown is the epitome of Congress not doing its job, and it’s obviously financially hurting innocent Americans. And worse, Congress is still getting paid. A shutdown should be made illegal. Deadlines need to be legislated or imposed, and if not met, you automatically implement the previous year’s budget. This is what you get when neither Party trusts the other. A polarized, dysfunctional, mess. I wish I trusted the words coming out of our politician’s mouths as much as I do yours and Bernie’s!!!!! — Rob O.

I’m not sure you can make a government shutdown illegal, but I do like the idea of having automatic triggers, and members of Congress not being paid during a shutdown.

Also, thanks for your trust in us, Rob. We appreciate it.

Great interview with Don Bacon! I really enjoyed his principled-conservative perspective, which you almost never hear from Republican leaders any more. How did you manage to get him on your show? — Alex D.

My Reagan Caucus Podcast co-host Thomas D. Howes gets credit for that one, Alex. He had been in talks with Bacon’s comms people for a while, and finally made it happen. I thought it was a great conversation.

Trick or Treat Sir John. In the spirit of Halloween, are there any favorite horror movies or books that you enjoy? Also, I ask you which political figures would you compare to the classic monsters? Trump, Biden, Harris, Obama, and Sanders?

I would compare the unquestioning MAGA loyalists to the victims of the “Invasion Of The Body Snatchers.” Not to be left out (pun intended), I compare the woke left wingers to the mindless zombies in “Dawn Of The Dead.” If anybody else wishes to play along, I welcome it. —“Spooky Halloween Regards” from The Emperor

I’m going to take a pass on the politician-to-monster comparisons, Emperor (it would take too much time and brain-power on my part), but I’ve been a Halloween guy all of my life, and I do watch a lot of horror movies. In fact, I’ve been hosting an annual Halloween horror-movie party for almost 30 years now (though I took a few years off when my children were quite young). I always show two movies to a house-full of guests. The first is a super-cheesy, unintentionally funny one (usually from the 70s or 80s), and the second is a legitimately scary, well-done horror film. It’s always a lot of interactive fun. This year’s selections were “Sleepaway Camp” and “Bring Her Back.”

As for my favorites, that’s a hard question. My all-time favorites tend to be multi-genre horror films… like Jaws, The Thing (1982), and Aliens. With most straight-up horror movies, it’s certain scenes that stick with me — not so much a fondness for the entire film (even really good horror films tend to have inescapable problems). The most chilling (and memorable) horror movie scenes for me include: The Exorcist III hospital-hallway scene (maybe the best ever), the end of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), the end of The Mist (2007), and the super-freaky possession scenes from Talk to Me (2022).

---

Thanks everyone! You can send me questions for next week by leaving a comment in the comment section.