The Banter Brief: BoJo Massacre, The AOC Slap, And Vegan Science

The ultimate guide to the week that was.

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Banter Brief, your free, absolute must read guide to the week that was. If you aren’t already subscribed to The Banter, you are missing out on the best political newsletter in the entire galaxy. Ok, that might be a bit of a reach, but we are pretty goddamn awesome. How do you subscribe? Just pop your email address in below!:

1. Most important story of the week

In a highly contentious election that continued tearing Britain apart in the wake of Brexit, Boris Johnson won a landslide victory and is set to lead the country for the next five years.

The election was devastating for Jeremy Corbyn, who lead the Labour Party to its worst defeat in more than 80 years. The Tories won 365 seats in Parliament to Labour’s 203, paving the way for Britain’s certain departure from the EU in the coming months. With such a large majority in the House of Commons and a clear mandate from the election, Johnson now has free rein to rule Britain.

Banter Hot Take: The UK election might not be as bad for the left as the results might seem. Johnson shamelessly used Brexit and the far right to get himself elected prime minister, but now in power he no longer needs them. Johnson, who is instinctively a liberal, pro-European Tory, is likely to move rapidly to the middle where he will try to make amends with Europe, invest heavily in infrastructure, and inject much needed cash into the NHS. The far right no longer has a raison d'être, and Johnson will discard them as quickly as he embraced them.

The Labour Party will have to go through an extremely painful period of restructuring, but that is no bad thing. Jeremy Corbyn was disastrous leader and proved himself completely incapable of controlling antisemitism in his party or effectively opposing Brexit. With him gone, Labour has a chance to rebuild and redefine itself to become politically relevant in the coming years.

Second Most Important Story: The impeachment of Donald Trump is now upon us as the House Judiciary approved articles of impeachment, paving the way for a floor vote. Read Bob Cesca’s take here (you can get a free 30 day trial on a Banter Membership by following the link below):

It’s Reality vs Fantasy As The Impeachment Of Donald Trump Is Upon Us - Bob Cesca on the vote that will define America for years to come.

2. Poll Analysis

Trump: Still deeply unpopular with the majority of Americans as his approval rating is stuck at 41.9%.

Impeachment: There is much confusion over the popularity of impeachment. From The Washington Post:

Trump claimed that poll numbers “have gone through the roof in favor of No Impeachment especially with Swing States and Independents in Swing States.”

It was not clear what polls Trump was citing. Two national polls released this week showed a bare majority opposed to ousting Trump from office.

Forty-five percent of Americans say that Trump should be impeached and removed from office, while 50 percent disagree, according to a Monmouth University poll.

A Quinnipiac University poll showed that 45 percent of registered voters say Trump should be impeached and removed, while 51 percent say he should not be.

Some other recent polls have shown a somewhat different picture.

An Economist-YouGov poll released this week, for example, showed that 44 percent of Americans support the Senate removing Trump if he is impeached by the House, while 40 percent are opposed.

When you look at the average of national polls, a different picture emerges. FiveThirtyEight’s polling average shows more Americans want Trump impeached and removed than do not, and that number has barely budged in weeks.

Democrats: Nationally, Biden is still way ahead of the pack. In a bit of a shake up, Bernie Sanders is now in second place as Elizabeth Warren continues to slump. Pete Buttigieg is ahead in Iowa, but his lead is slipping as Biden surges.

3. Quote of the Week

“I go back and forth on whether to go on Fox News. The main reason I haven’t is squaring the fact that the ad revenue from it bankrolls a white supremacist sympathizer to broadcast an hour-long production of unmitigated racism, without any accountability whatsoever. Immigrants are dirty’ is a lazy, tired, racist trope. Secondly, environmental injustice is a major motivation as to why we introduced and wrote the Green New Deal the way we did in the first place.”

-Alexandria Ocasio Cortez responding to Tucker Carlson’s claims that she is responsible for trash in Brooklyn

4. What to Watch

The Game Changers

You might love meat and despise vegans, but this Netflix documentary provides extraordinarily compelling reasons to at least incorporate far more plants into your diet and cut down on meat consumption. Produced by James Cameron and featuring high profile celebrities and athletes like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jackie Chan and Lewis Hamilton, The Game Changers looks as the effects of veganism on athletes and people at risk from cardio vascular disease. The documentary follows former UFC fighter James Wilks on his quest to heal himself from multiple injuries, and his father from heart disease. His research leads to some stunning revelations about the benefits of a 100% plant based diet that have been backed by leading nutritionists and scientists around the world.

It’s an extremely well produced documentary and is packed full of information that almost everyone can incorporate into their lives. You might not become a vegan, but you’ll certainly want to eat more broccoli after watching it.

5. Good news

European Union leaders have agreed to make the bloc carbon neutral by 2050. They announced a $110 billion “European Green Deal” package designed to rapidly transition EU economies from oil and coal to renewable energy resources. Britain did not attend the summit held in Brussels as they are leaving the EU, but have also pledged to become carbon neutral by 2050.

Also, the extraordinary climate activist Greta Thunberg was announced Time’s “Person of the Year” for 2019.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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Read the latest for Banter Subscribers:

A Trump Win In 2020 Would Be Catastrophic For Republicans - by Ben Cohen

It’s Reality vs Fantasy As The Impeachment Of Donald Trump Is Upon Us - by Bob Cesca

(Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash)