The original drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers has a new band, The Speaker Wars. You’ll love Stan!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stan-lynch/id1316200737?i=1000696520478

 

 

 

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/a713a39a-14c2-4288-be9b-3c779fb628cd/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-stan-lynch

 

“The right-wing media machine is hitting a wall”

Free link: https://wapo.st/3XgG5QU

Most of the negative feedback I get is anti-Biden, anti-Democratic party, there’s not so much support for the efforts of Trump other than to say the government wastes money and THE DEBT!

But how many of these people are there?

Turns out Trump and Musk are not viewed so favorably by the public at large.

“Consider recent polling conducted by YouGov for the Economist. It found that only about a third of Americans supported the Trump-Musk push to fire hundreds of thousands of federal workers. Among Republicans, more than 6 in 10 supported the idea. Among non-Republicans, though, fewer than 1 in 5 did.”

But here’s the nougat:

“Why the divide? Unquestionably in part because Trump supporters exist in a disinformation bubble, to paraphrase a prominent foreign leader. They don’t see it that way, of course; in their view, their news diet represents an escape from falsehoods propagated by left-leaning elites. But the falsity of that framing is easily demonstrated.”

Of course Trumpists will dismiss these statements out of hand, if for no other reason than they’re in the “Washington Post.”

But it’s not all bad news for the right:

“The news sources most trusted among the strongest Trump supporters? Fox News and Musk’s X. The effort to denigrate the media has been so effective, in fact, that other recent YouGov polling shows that Americans — and not only Republicans — have more confidence in the accuracy of the Trump administration than of the media overall.”

In any event, despite the falsehoods and propaganda of the right, when it comes to Trump and Musk’s actions since the inauguration, most of America is thumbs-down. And it’s only Trump and Musk and their cronies who are unaware of this.

Now of course this may not matter. Trump is not only President, he controls the military and the money and…

But this discontent amongst the hoi polloi… As we learned in Vietnam, it’s not so easy to defeat hearts and minds.

So how does this play out?

Spontaneously. We cannot predict the future. For decades we’ve depended upon our elected leaders to foment change. That’s history when it comes to the left. No, it will be something from the grass roots, akin to the Arab Spring. A person or group who acts and captures the public’s will and desires in the process.

If this sounds ridiculous, just think back a couple of months to UnitedHealth. The fat cats, those with money, those with power, were lamenting the death of the executive, meanwhile, the public was on the side of the shooter. They were frustrated, finally someone had taken action.

Now it turned out that Luigi was crazy.

And I’m not advocating assassination.

But there is an undercurrent of discontent that can be tapped into.

Will this happen?

I won’t guarantee it.

Will Trump and his team quash any uprising?

Possibly.

Then again, look at the protests in Israel prior to 10/7, about the undercutting of the Supreme Court’s power. The government ultimately blinked.

We are in uncharted territory. But if you think the public is calm, that everything is hunky-dory…

You think that you finally own the libtards and are posting for virality on X.

Pride comes before a fall. Never forget it.

P.S. Trump and his team are not bulletproof. They are incredibly vulnerable themselves, just read this:

“Speaking of excessive government spending, it was reported last week that the Department of Homeland Security would spend $200 million on an ad campaign touting administration efforts to restrict migration across the border with Mexico. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem — very familiar with the right’s attention economy — stars in the ads, heaping praise on Trump (reportedly at his request).”

P.P.S. I know you’re busy, I know you’re burned out. But you should read this article. It’s not only opinion, there is quantification, there are numbers. When one team takes it too far…the pendulum usually swings back.

“U.S. Clashes With European Allies at the U.N. Over Ukraine – The United States voted against a resolution, backed by most of Europe, demanding Russian withdrawal from Ukraine — a deep fissure between allies, and a sharp shift in American policy.”

Free link: https://rb.gy/m00i1l

Who is going to stand up to this motherf*cker?

Is this the will of the people? To do a 180 on eighty years of American policy? To say the good guys are Russian and the bad guys are those fighting for western interests?

Do you think I want to write about Trump and Musk? OF COURSE NOT! I’d rather go back to my regular life. I regularly think what it was like, back in the day, when politics was over there, not top of mind, when I thought the people in D.C. had a handle on it.

Not anymore.

The problem is many people did not live through the Cuban Missile Crisis. Just like they didn’t live through polio and measles. So they’re not aware of how bad these actors are.

You’re safe until you’re not. You don’t get the MMR shot and are worry-free until you get measles and are hospitalized. And don’t look at my generation, we all got the disease back in the fifties, those who survived have natural immunity. It’s the younger, know better, ignorant generations who are paying the price.

Let’s put everybody at risk. From politics to health. Let’s throw truth out the window. Let’s make it up as we go along. THIS IS RAW INSANITY!

It’s like my entire education was worthless. What I learned was the power of analysis. Trump knows the power of the dick. He’s the guy who wants to make sure he’s not left out of the bathroom when the two most famous people are in there doing coke. He’s worried about his image, not the country. Getting rich all the while. Did you see that Melania is going to pocket $28 million from that Amazon documentary? And that you can get your name in the credits for ten mil?

Never mind the business leaders kowtowing to this doofus.

And if you think Trump is for the underclass… You never took a sh*t on his golden toilet. You don’t know rich people. Most of them want nothing to do with the hoi polloi. They live behind gates and they vacation on private islands that they fly to on private jets…

Everything is up for grabs. Everything you know is wrong, like the Firesign Theatre said.

But that was a different era, when artists questioned authority. Now they just accept it. You play music to get rich. Or you bitch that you’re playing music and are not rich. For what it’s worth…this is not the sixties anymore, with musicians speaking truth to power with the entire younger generation in thrall.

So…

Putin is smarter than Trump. Period. He’s got a failing economy, he’s nationalizing private businesses. The country is barely hanging on. And now he’s playing Trump like a fiddle.

And what is end game here? Putin is aligned with China and North Korea. Are we part of that club now? Are we part of the axis of evil?

And who is going to trust America ever again. We say we have your back and then…tough noogies.

And what about Europe, sharing boundaries with Russia. Have you ever been there? These countries are oh-so-close. Like New York and Connecticut. What’s to stop Putin now?

We let this guy get Crimea after the 2014 Olympics without uttering a peep.

Then he invades Ukraine and the entire globe thinks it’s a fait accompli that he’ll triumph, but Zelensky and the will of the people stand up to this world power. And continue to do so. Sure, with our money. But what is our money for if it not safety? If you don’t draw the line over there, it will come closer to you over here.

I want to know the MAGA people who support this. Who think this is a good idea. Tell me what’s in it for you. Tell me how it helps the United States.

I can’t figure it out.

So we’ve been bitching for decades that the U.N. is worthless, beholden to minor countries with flawed agendas preventing any true progress. And now we align with THEM?

Russia is the aggressor here.

As for Trump demanding minerals from Ukraine… That’s not America, we help people, we don’t rape people. We want to be your ally.

So now with this alignment with Russia and the end of USAID…the front moves here. Our lines of defense over there are evaporating. They attack here next.

And who is aligned with the U.S?

Not Europe, not Canada, not Mexico… All we do is threaten our allies with tariffs, trying to extort money from them.

As for other countries not paying their fair share for the Ukrainian war effort… They’re stepping up now. And is everything transactional? If you’ve got more, you can pay more. And that’s America. And if you’re always trying to balance the books you’re losing sight of the goal.

As for NATO… Europe is SOL.

Trump has gone rogue. The party of Reagan…who is standing up now? Where are those on the right who will loudly proclaim this is wrong?

And it is.

Making a peace deal while leaving Ukraine out?

Musk and Vance advancing the cause of the anti-immigrant right in Germany?

Be afraid, be very afraid.

I just can’t understand this. The Gulf of America was one thing. But are we now truly supposed to believe that Trump is going to annex Greenland and the Panama Canal and Canada is in play?

This guy has too much power. And for years, the Republicans have been advancing the idea of an executive presidency, with the official having more power.

Where is Congress?

Where are the American people?

Silent as history is being rewritten.

Actions have consequences. And if you think it will be easy to pull back from this alignment with Putin…

You’re wrong.

Because the networks and the cable outlets are afraid of being sued by Trump.

The real reason the politicians wanted to get rid of TikTok is because they didn’t want you to have a voice. They wanted to quash public discourse. They wanted to continue the twentieth century top down paradigm which has been eviscerated by the internet.

But the revolution is happening. And it’s happening on TikTok. Because that’s where you see the stories in the news come alive. Most specifically, the town halls.

Accountability. While President Musk asks government workers to justify their jobs, to prove they’re working hard, congresspeople have been slacking. The only problem is, unlike Musk, congresspeople are accountable to the public.

And the public has had enough.

Oh, let’s not relitigate the last election. Trump won fair and square. Because Biden kept saying he was competent when he wasn’t…notice we haven’t heard a peep from him since he stepped down…and Kamala Harris was anointed the candidate and evidenced the inauthenticity that killed her presidential campaign in 2020.

So, the people voted for Trump. But that does not mean they believe in Trump.

And now they feel they’ve been sold a bill of goods.

The Democrats may evaporate, like the Whigs, we may need a whole new party. They’re living in the last century. The Republicans have been fighting for decades, bullying the Democrats, spouting falsehoods and like teachers’ pets the Democrats have remained silent, for fear of getting in trouble, losing points on their grade. And now the backlash is getting bigger.

So, you’ve got the Pritzker speech. Man, at least he spoke English. And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, just scroll TikTok for a while and it will come up.

And the press has anointed Chris Murphy of Connecticut as the attack dog for the left.

But the real action is taking place at the grass roots level. If you’re on TikTok you’re inundated with videos of town halls wherein citizens ask straightforward questions and the Republican officials…

It’s hilarious, you’ve got to watch. Do you support Russia or Ukraine? Who started the war? And the response is…IT’S COMPLICATED!

But no, it’s not. And the people know this.

In one state after another you’ve got informed citizens asking elected officials why they’re doing nothing, sitting on their hands, as Trump rapes and pillages.

Sure there is a minority who still believe in him. But even Kid Rock said he’d have trouble if Trump ran for a third term, which the Donald keeps talking about.

What you’ve got mainly is the bros on TikTok, the outcast males who bit back. They’re the driver of the right wing tsunami. But the problem is much of what Musk says is untrue and he even has his minions attacking a blind person. So the scope and influence of X keeps declining. It’s an echo chamber even worse than Fox News.

So who are the people still on the Trump bus?

Well, you’ve got to know that many of them hate liberals more than they love Trump. And now that the liberals are inactive, out of power and somnambulant, there is no enemy and they’re confronted with Trump’s actions. And the fallout is just beginning. All the services people count on…they’re going to find out they’re not there.

And since the Democrats are asleep, Bernie Sanders is doing their bidding. Then again, the Dems are in bed with the oligarchs and Sanders never was. Sanders invented the paradigm of the small donation.

We’ve been screwed for decades. The biggest problem in America is income inequality. And the politicians have been partaking from the trough, both right and left, but you and me know…

We can’t trust the “Washington Post” because they refused to run an anti-Trump ad after they said they would. You can undercut your credibility with one action. Bezos, et al, are so busy sucking up to Trump that they’ve lost track of the fact that their businesses depend on purchases by the public.

You’ve probably seen that economic blackout memo that’s going around.

It’s on Facebook, where the old people are, still boasting via vacation pictures and missing the memo that they’re out of touch. They should all jump to TikTok and Instagram Reels immediately. But they’re afraid. Yes, old people are afraid of change, it’s documented.

So we rely on the young ‘uns to foment change.

As for boycotts…

The problem with the Facebook echo chamber, the left wing echo chamber, is these people are completely out of touch with society today.

YOU ONLY BOYCOTT THAT WHICH HAS AN ALTERNATIVE!!!

You don’t boycott Amazon. Nor a specific social media outlet. When the right boycotted Bud Light, there were a bunch of alternative beers.

Want to boycott?

Start with Chevron or some other gas company. You don’t need to buy your gas at Chevron.

Or CVS or Walgreens. They don’t have a monopoly, you can go to another outlet.

You don’t boycott monopolies, never ever, it doesn’t work.

Now the details of the boycott spreading on Facebook tell us these efforts will only last one day, and that’s okay, then again, if I don’t order from Amazon today, I can order from the company tomorrow.

You need to make people HURT!

Just like Trump is making people hurt.

And since the Supreme Court said corporations are people… These are the duplicitous people we need to hurt.

Once again, this is no longer a left versus right battle. It’s an us versus them battle. And we are the people, and they are Trump and Musk and everybody pledging fealty to them.

As Bernie Sanders said… Two hundred fifty years ago the colonies stood up to big bad England and triumphed.

So if you’re on TikTok you’re also seeing the video of James Carville on Hannity. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel. The right wing positions are so lame.

Sure, we want government to be more efficient. But we don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater!

And Musk is lying as much as Trump. Every major media outlet has said the $55 billion he claims to have already saved is fallacious.

Every day I wake up, look at my phone and am horrified. It’s hard to function. The analogies to Nazi Germany are true, things can change on a dime, in an instant, that’s what the past few weeks have taught us.

But I thought if autocracy was imminent, the public would rise up, but for over a month people have been asleep, seemingly going on about their business as the right lionizes people like Orban in Hungary.

You see there’s so much news that people are better informed than ever before, this is what the internet has wrought.

Of course, of course, there’s a ton of misinformation out there. Spewed by Fox News and right wing sites the left hasn’t even heard of.

But the puck keeps moving. Talk radio, yesterday’s news. As is print. Everything is about video now. The left wanted stories on the “Times,” Trump went on Joe Rogan, podcasts were king.

But the game has already moved on. Podcasts are entertainment. Social media video, primarily on TikTok, is directly from the proletariat to the proletariat, with no middle man/woman. And that’s its power.

Rogan? Theo Von? Shawn Ryan? They’re still powerful, but they’re not where the battle is being fought. The battle is being fought on TikTok, where the public is mixing it up.

And strangely unified in the belief that Trump and Musk are out of control and screwing things up. And because of the algorithm… The echo chamber of yore is not as prevalent. You don’t get to choose your videos. You’re gonna see stuff you wouldn’t pull, but it’s being pushed to you.

So…

I’m suddenly optimistic. Because unlike the politicians, the public has woken up.

And let’s be very clear, most of the public is on the same page. They want to live safely and get their Medicaid/Medicare and Social Security. Just over half the voters were burned out on Biden/Harris, but don’t think they wanted the American way of life undercut. Which is what is happening.

Now the truth is no one can predict the future. But one thing we’ve learned, even in this century, is one person can make a difference. One overeducated fruit vendor started the Arab Spring. And we’re on the verge of the same thing happening here. Because both the left and the right, the Democrats and Republicans, have lost touch with the people and the people have no choice but to take matters into their own hands, WHICH THEY ARE DOING!

The smartphone is your friend. It’s how you connect with others. TikTok is the heartbeat of the world, if you’re not on it you’re out of touch. Sure, you can waste time on it, but chances are you’ll learn more about what’s going on than reading a newspaper or watching cable news.

And TikTok is back in the app stores of both Apple and Google.

Don’t be afraid. Don’t be left out. This is the battle of your lifetime. You have more power now than ever before. This is the time to join the campaign, to get your hands dirty.

And this is about America, this is about freedom. Musk talks all about freedom, but keeps naysayers off his platform. Meanwhile, X is so lean that it can’t control the platform.

Musk may be rich, but he’s just a person. More flawed than many.

This is a movement. Forget trying to convince those who don’t believe, most of them will come around, if they haven’t already. Join the fray, join the charge…

IT’S HAPPENING NOW!