CityNerd examines Agenda 47 and cities in 'And You Thought Project 2025 Was Bad'

Ray "CityNerd" Delahanty has uploaded a second follow-up to CityNerd explaining 'What Project 2025 Means for Our Cities' can drive one to drink, the first being CityNerd responds to comments on his Project 2025 video, a reaction to the general tone and contents of the bulk of the replies to the video. There was another critique that Project 2025, which Trump himself has said isn't his agenda, doing his best Sergeant Schultz impression in the process. Instead, convicted criminal Donald Trump's supporters say Agenda 47 is Trump's real platform. CityNerd decided to take this claim seriously, so he examined it, telling his viewers And You Thought Project 2025 Was Bad.

Against my better judgement, I accepted the idea that Project 2025 isn't Trump's "real" plan, and instead looked into Agenda 47, which I was assured by certain viewers was much more reasonable (and an accurate description of what Trump proposes to do if he wins back the presidency). What I found was disturbing on more levels than I can count.

As CityNerd observed, at least the writers of Project 2025 could put together coherent policy proposals, even though their ideas are bad. They're supposed to persuade Trump and the people around him to adopt them should he be elected. Since a lot of the chapter authors were members of the previous administration and would be likely to be part of the next one, heaven forfend, that isn't a hard lift. On the other hand, the individual items that compose Agenda 47 are emotional appeals that Trump himself can understand and get behind and that he thinks will appeal to his supporters, although it's not always clear who those are. They're definitely not the same supporters for every proposal, which makes them as incoherent as a whole. In that case, they reflect the candidate.

One of those proposals, "freedom cities" to solve the housing crisis, is one of the "cyberpunk villain ideas straight out of Snow Crash that are influencing Vance" I referred to in Kosta, Colbert, and Hayes react to the VP Debate. They're also influencing Trump, too, or this concept wouldn't be in Agenda 47. I wrote "They would be right on target for this blog" so expect me to blog about them.

I'm responding to the item "ending Biden's war on the suburbs" by recycling what I wrote in 'CBS This Morning' comes to Michigan to record the pulse of voters — literally.

Gayle King asking "Save the suburbs from what?" reminds me of what I wrote in Kunstler said Americans would elect maniacs.

Five years ago, I juxtaposed two quotes from James Howard Kunstler to reconstruct a prediction about American politics from the movie "The End of Suburbia."

There will be a great battle to preserve the supposed entitlements to suburbia and it will be an epochal act of futility, a huge waste of effort and resources that might have been much better spent in finding new ways to carry on an American civilization.
...
Americans will elect maniacs who promise to allow them to keep their McMansions and their commutes and that’s going to produce a lot of political friction, probably a lot of violence, probably a threat to our democratic institutions.

Kunstler was both right and wrong about that prediction, as I pointed out when I revisited that quote in my comment on Slowly, Then All at Once (ETA: this is now a dead link, as Kunstler has moved to Substack).

As for Trump, you once predicted that Americans would elect maniacs who would promise that they could keep the entitlements of suburbia. Trump has shown you to be right and wrong about that. Yes, they'll elect maniacs to protect the entitlements of suburbia, but those entitlements turned out to be psychological and social, not physical. Trump's support is more a response to threats to the social environment as it is to losing SUVs and McMansions, which with the price of oil being low right now, are not issues like they were in 2008 and 2012. Instead, it's immigration, terrorism, and "law and order."

What I also wrote, but didn't post because I didn't want to inflame Vlad, who now goes by Janos, and his fellow deplorables was a second observation.

The one thing missing from "The End of Suburbia" was any discussion of White Flight; the movement to the suburbs was all phrased in class terms, not racial ones. That's something my students from Detroit and its suburbs notice.

It's not what, it's who Trump promises to save the suburbs from. I know who and so does Governor Whitmer, which is why she called it a dog whistle, one people in Michigan have been hearing for decades. I suspect King does, too, which is why she asked.

Trump is still blowing that dog whistle and it sounds throughout all these proposals.

That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned for a highlights post of tonight's Saturday Night Live as the Sunday entertainment feature.

Colbert and Kimmel examine Jack Smith's filing

While I was busy with the vice presidential debate, there was another development in convicted criminal Donald Trump's legal travails. Stephen Colbert detailed them in his monologue last night, Jack Smith Drops Massive List Of Trump’s Election Crimes | Donald To Ivanka: “Fight Like Hell”.

The 165 page filing by Special Counsel Jack Smith details the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and cites evidence, including conversations with Trump’s family members, that shows his actions were not covered by the Supreme Court’s ridiculous presidential immunity ruling.

I've been waiting for Jack Smith's response to the Supreme Court's immunity ruling as well as the opportunity to laugh at it for more than three months. I'm glad it came before the election. As for the prosecution itself, it's another example of what I repeated most recently in Meyers and Kimmel take closer looks at Sidney Powell pleading guilty and Jim Jordan's 'Groundhog Day' of losing votes ETA — I repeated it more recently in Updates on three Trump trials: "'The wheels of justice are grinding slowly in this case, but I expect they will indeed grind exceedingly fine.' May they also grind exceedingly fine for Trump and his seditious supporters, if not as slowly." No thanks to the Supreme Court, the wheels are grinding slowly here, too.

Jimmy Kimmel joked about the filing the night before Colbert did, then followed up on the debate in Trump Exposed in Damning 2020 Election Report, Pressured Pence Relentlessly & JD Vance's Untruths.

We are now 33 days away from the election, Special Counsel Jack Smith’s damning new report was unsealed and it details a mountain of evidence against Donald Trump in relation to the January 6th case in DC, many of the names are redacted but it’s not difficult to figure out who is who, Trump pressured Pence relentlessly to break the law, more than 43 million Americans tuned in for the debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz, JD had many untruths but it was an otherwise civilized discussion, Orange Julius Caesar was said to be very pleased with JD’s performance, he appears to be running out of steam on the trail, we pull out the chalkboard to break down a crazy lemonade rant Donny went on, Forbes Magazine unveiled their list of the 400 richest people in America, and fellow luminaries wish Jimmy Carter a happy 100th birthday.

No, it's not difficult to figure who is behind the black spaces. I don't even have to go to Emptywheel to find out who is who. Also, Jimmy wasn't buying Vance saying that Trump saved Obamacare, either.

Jimmy had more to say about the filing in last night's Trump's MELTDOWN Over New Election Fraud Evidence, Melania's Abortion Stance & GOP Hypocrisy is REAL.

A new bill was signed into law this week by Governor Newsom that will allow marijuana dispensaries to serve food and non-alcoholic drinks, Trump hit Truth Social hard last night to complain about the 165 pages of incriminating evidence the judge released detailing every step of his attempt to overthrow the election, he visited Michigan to rave and rant about windmills before his teleprompter went out, Republicans who were very worked up about Joe Biden’s age don’t seem to have the same problem with Trump, the MAGA faithful are still showing up and buying merch, Melania came out to promote her book and to reveal that unlike her husband she is pro-choice, RFK Jr. has reportedly had affairs with at least three women over the past year, Americans are panic buying rolls of toilet paper in response to the port strike, Trump loves America a lot, and This Week in Unnecessary Censorship.

"Rignoramus" — snort! That reminds me of what I recall writing in a tweet four years ago in response to someone posting that the Republicans were going to steal the election. I wrote that they would try, but that they would fail. That came true, but the outcome was closer than I expected. I wasn't pessimistic enough!

That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned for something other than talk show hosts tomorrow.

Meyers, Kimmel, Colbert, and Kosta take more closer looks at the vice presidential debate

I finished Kosta, Colbert, and Hayes react to the VP Debate by telling my readers I might have more reactions to the debate. I do, beginning with Seth Meyers: Vance Lies About Obamacare, Jan. 6, Abortion; Trump Backs Out of 60 Minutes Interview: A Closer Look.

Seth takes a closer look at Trump backing out of a 60 Minutes interview while JD Vance brazenly lied about everything from health care to abortion to January 6.

As I wrote yesterday, "Vance saying Trump saved Obamacare didn't pass the smell test. Really? Even if it were true, most people wouldn't believe it." Seth certainly didn't.

Next, a monologue I should have embedded last night, Jimmy Kimmel Breaks Down the Vice Presidential Debate Between JD Vance & Tim Walz.

Tonight was the Vice Presidential debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz, Fox News is desperate to exploit any kind of oddness that they can conjure up about Tim Walz, the two candidates were pretty polite to each other, CBS opted to not fact check live but to have a QR code on the screen instead so we created our own – just go to MattDamonSucks.com, Trump did a play by play of the debate on Truth Social, he was in Wisconsin today where we was in full babble mode, and JD Vance (Haley Joel Osment) has released a new ad making his donut shopping a top priority.

Jimmy remarked about how polite the debaters were, but I'm reminding my readers that "the civility of the debate, the 'Midwestern nice,' masked two political movements at total odds with each other." Still are, as evidenced by convicted criminal Donald Trump's (un)truths. Histrionic him couldn't help but make it all about himself.

I wasn't planning on embedding Colbert's monologue from last night, but I forgot to turn off autoplay, so I watched Vance-Walz Debate Was “Normal” | Worn Out Trump Says “There’s No Hope” | It’s Fat Bear Week! Behold the power of the YouTube algorithm!

The Vance-Walz debate was universally hailed as “normal,” the former president looked tired and confused at recent speeches, and Stephen’s favorite Alaskan forest animal has returned in time to defend his Fat Bear Week title.

Stephen didn't buy Vance saying Trump saved Obamacare, either.

I also wasn't planning to share last night's opening segment of The Daily Show, but I saw Pundits Spin the Walz-Vance Debate While Trump Talks Baseball and couldn't resist.

Michael Kosta tackles last night's VP debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz and the cable news pundits who have been hard at work spinning who won. Plus, Troy Iwata is in the post-debate spin room with a definitive, scientific debate-scoring system.

I agree that Vance was slick. If he won, and the polling was a statistical dead heat, it was on style, not substance. He lied more smoothly than Walz told the truth. That's not a good thing.

I close with Governor Gretchen Whitmer on JD Vance vs Tim Walz Debate, Donald Trump & Americans Finding Unity from Jimmy Kimmel.

Governor Whitmer talks about all the artists on the “True Gretch” playlist from her book, her friendship with Tim Walz, her response to tonight’s VP debate between Walz and JD Vance, being 30 minutes late to her first debate, being described as a “Happy Warrior,” her grandmother teaching her to look for the best in everyone, something nice she could say about Donald Trump, her parents being in a mixed marriage politically, and whether or not Americans will ever be able to find unity.

That was an insightful take on both Walz and debating. I'm glad I included it in today's post.

That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned to see what I blog about tomorrow.

Kosta, Colbert, and Hayes react to the VP Debate

I closed Randy Rainbow sings 'Blank Space (Donald's Version)' with today's topic.

Stay tuned for reactions to tonight's Vice Presidential Debate. As I wrote in Dailyshowographies of Tim Walz and JD Vance plus 'The Daily Show's Emmy Awards, "May the better man win...and I'm pretty sure Walz is the better man."

I begin with The Daily Show's VP Debate: Tim Walz and JD Vance’s Biggest Moments and Misses.

Michael Kosta goes live after the first and only vice presidential debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance. The stakes are as low as possible: one of these men will lose and we’ll never hear from them again, and one will win, become vice president, and we'll never hear from them again.

The opening joke, which is in the video description, reminds me of the vice presidency being described by John Adams as “the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived” as I quoted in A History of the US Vice Presidency for Veep Day. Kosta returned to the next joke at the end, when he pointed out that the civility of the debate, the "Midwestern nice," masked two political movements at total odds with each other. The Trump supporters could have just said "yes, we are" to "we're not going back," but instead they were vulgar and misogynistic. Yuck.

Stephen Colbert made different jokes in LIVE Monologue: Hillbilly Energy vs. Minnesota Nice | Fact Checks & Mic Drops.

Stephen Colbert delivers his monologue LIVE from New York City following the debate between vice presidential candidates J.D. Vance and Tim Walz.

Yes, a literal mic drop. ABC's moderators should have done that to convicted criminal Donald Trump the the last debate.

Follow over the jump for Chris Hayes joining Stephen for his reaction to the debate.

Randy Rainbow sings 'Blank Space (Donald's Version)'

I was wondering what I would blog about today. Then I saw Blank Space (Donald's Version) - A Randy Rainbow Song Parody in my notifications. Problem solved!

Parody of “Blank Space” (Music/Lyrics by Taylor Swift, Max Martin, Shellback)

After I posted Stewart, Colbert, and Kimmel recap last night's debate, I had at least one request to continue mocking convicted criminal Donald Trump repeating the fiction of Haitian immigrants eating pets, another example of his vulnerability to conspiracy theories. I decided not to do that until this month to see if that particular kooky claim still retained relevance. It has, as witnessed by Randy Rainbow singing about it, so back to that well I go, too.

Speaking of mocking Trump, I'm sharing The Kiffness - Eating the Cats ft. Donald Trump (Debate Remix) as an encore.

All proceeds from this song will be donated to Clark County SPCA in Springfield, Ohio.

My wife and I were already fans of The Kiffness for his musical remixes of pet sounds (no relation to The Beach Boys album), but we really loved this video. So did nearly ten million other people, as the video now has 9,916,667 views. Wow!

That's a wrap for today's musical comedy. Stay tuned for reactions to tonight's Vice Presidential Debate. As I wrote in Dailyshowographies of Tim Walz and JD Vance plus 'The Daily Show's Emmy Awards, "May the better man win...and I'm pretty sure Walz is the better man."