Note About The Banter Podcast
A goodbye and a hello from Banter central.
A note to listeners of The Banter Podcast:
After 63 episodes, Mike Luciano and I have decided to discontinue the podcast in its current format. Mike now writes full time for Mediaite, thus making it increasing difficult to find a convenient time for both of us to record.
We started The Banter Podcast at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 as a way to help Banter fans, and ourselves, digest what was happening in the world. It was an extremely scary time, particularly given Donald Trump was in charge doing his best to make everything infinitely worse. I looked forward to recording every week, mostly because speaking to Mike helped me rationalize a deeply irrational time. Mike was a fantastic co-host with a razor wit and extraordinarily sharp eye for detail. His ability to synthesize complex information from a variety of sources was second to none, and I will miss listening to his take on the news. Mike edited the show every week and did a superb job. The feedback from readers was fantastic and I like to think we made a fun and interesting show.
I do have plans to continue the podcast in another format, so please stay tuned. I’ll have more info in the coming weeks. A big thanks to Mike, and to our listeners for tuning in each week.
Ben
Read an excerpt from the latest piece for Banter Members and get a 50% discount on a membership:
Matt Taibbi Says George W. Bush Was 'Worse Than Trump'. He's Wrong, And Here's Why.
Taibbi insist that liberals are giving George W. Bush a pass, but he has an ulterior motive to do so.
by Ben Cohen
He [George W. Bush] was also a worse and more destructive president than Donald Trump, and it wasn’t close. - Matt Taibbi
Much has been made of Matt Taibbi’s political transformation in recent times. Some ascribe financial motivation, others a more unhinged disdain for the “corporate Dems” — the nefarious cabal of puppet masters (read: Hillary Clinton) working in collusion with big business and the military industrial complex to destroy the working class etc, etc.
It is impossible to know why Taibbi has spent a good part of five years trashing his journalistic reputation, but it has been remarkable to watch. When a bright and talented person spends his days spreading grotesque right wing propaganda it is a warning sign to other reporters that even the best of us can get trapped in an ideological bubble and owned by our most rabid fans.
Taibbi’s latest attempt to rewrite history is, if you look closely, an attempt to rationalize his descent into the Alt Left grifting world — a place where rogue journalists monetize far left outrage and good journalism goes to die.
The Trump denialism grift
For most well-adjusted people it was obvious that Donald Trump was a wannabe tyrant who would do anything in his power to destroy democracy in America. This was not the case for Taibbi, who instead focused all his attention on the people freaking out about it. Just as Bernie Sanders’ fanatical fans insisted Hillary Clinton was “just as bad” as Donald Trump, Taibbi jumped on board and began a reality distorting campaign to distract attention away from the clear danger Trump presented.
When Trump won the presidency it was immediately clear that the American democratic experiment was in severe crisis. When a deeply damaged, power hungry narcissist assumes a position of power, history shows they never, ever let it go. The Alt Left on the other hand seemed relish the upending of the US political system. It was all the establishment’s fault and America’s elites were about to get a much deserved lesson they had been itching to teach them…
NOOOOO!
I'll miss hearing you two together and I'm anticipating the next iteration of the Bantercast. Great work was done here and and I'm confident that will continue.