‘Useful Idiots’ Podcast With Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti on Election Day 2020 and the Future of Both Parties
In the latest socially distanced episode of our Useful Idiots podcast, hosts Matt Taibbi and Katie Halper are joined by friends of the show Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, of The Hill’s “Rising.”
For Republicans Suck, Matt submits a clip of Jared Kushner that’s made the rounds for it’s repugnant take on how a Trump government can address social equity.
“One thing we’ve seen in a lot of the black community, which is mostly Democrat, is that President Trump’s policies are the policies that can help people break out of the problems that they’re complaining about. But he can’t want them to be successful more than they want to be successful,” says Kushner.
Matt observes that Kushner has really embraced his Patrick Bateman vibe these days.
“He looks like a wax museum’s rendition of him,” says Katie.
“It does look like not quite a real face,” adds Matt. “He’s sitting there and he’s wearing his $10 million-dollar tailored suit talking about how you’ve got to want it enough to improve your material circumstances. This is a guy who married into money, money that was itself inherited, from a person who surely would have ended up in some dire circumstances if he had to fight and claw his way out of the ghetto.”
Our hosts then discuss their fears about what the censoring of the Hunter Biden story portends.
“The issue here is that Twitter and Facebook are stepping in here to stop this story,” says Matt. “The companies that control 80 to 90 percent of the distribution in this country for news stories suddenly decide that they’re going to start making decisions on what we can and cannot see, based on what’s clearly an evolving standard of tolerance for unverified-type stories.”
Katie and Matt are joined by repeat guests Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti of “Rising,” who give across-the-aisle takes on Trumps reelection chances, and what a Biden presidency could mean for the future of the Democratic party.
“I just don’t see how it’s really in the cards for Trump. It would have to be the greatest polling error in modern American history, since 1948, for that to happen,” says Enjeti.
But even with a Biden win, Ball doesn’t think it will mean much for policy.
“My prediction for the Biden era is that very little actually happens,” says Ball. “Democrats are very good at feigning impotence. We saw this in the SCOTUS hearings as well. They’re very good for coming up with reasons why, ‘oh those mean Republicans, like we want to do better healthcare and we want left wages, but oh gosh, Mitch McConnell, he’s so wiley, we can’t get it done.'”
Ball and Enjeti also reflect on their show, a unique combination of left and right wing anchors, and wonder if it will be replicated on major news networks moving forward.
“Ive been extremely heartened that there’s such a clear appetite for what we’re doing,” says Ball.
“I don’t think anybody else will do it,” says Enjeti. “When you’re an unreliable actor, they don’t really know what to do with you.”
For the first time, Rolling Stone and Yappa will supercharge the Useful Idiots conversation by bringing the podcast to life within a live, virtual event series featuring special guests kicking off with Tinashe on November 2nd at 12 p.m./3 p.m. EST.
Leave your Yap below and the most engaging yaps will have the chance to be aired during the live event and responded to by special guest Tinashe.