Two months and what feels like 20 years ago, the fabulous Tess Rafferty was on the podcast. Our original discussion ran long, so we wound up recording a separate “after hours” edition that I’m sharing now. It was a more hopeful time. There was still a chance that America might reject Donald Trump’s obvious fascism. Los Angeles, where Tess resides, was also not on fire.
Several friends of mine have lost everything in the California wildfires. Fortunately, Tess is out of immediate danger. Still, the trauma remains for those who the incoming administration views as second-class citizens.
Edited excerpts from our conversation:
TESS: A couple months ago when I was doing … TikTok more often, I said, “Let’s talk about amplification because we don’t amplify the good stuff. We share the bad stuff. We like to tear down.
If Marjorie Taylor Greene does something stupid, we like to share that. If Amy Klobuchar goes on a TV show and talks about why the Senate passed a bill, nobody's sharing that.
So, what happens is people [say] “the Democrats aren’t messaging.” And I [say] “Who do you follow on Twitter? Who do you follow on Instagram?
They’re posting stuff all day, every day. Are you not sharing the message? What are you doing to get it and pass it on? There is something instinctive about all of us right now where we’re much more comfortable tearing down,
We should be sharing the evil that [Greene] is, but we’re not matching it equally or more so with uplifting the people doing good.
SER: Nancy Mace is a good example of that, right? You could see the decision she made after 2020. She’s someone who doesn’t like Marjorie Taylor Greene. She would not want to sit with her at the table but she realized, “Well, this is the path to fame and fortune.”
I could try to be a “reasonable” Republican but that’s not going to get me anywhere. I’m going to go this direction because people go where, sadly, they view that the money is.
And Marjorie Taylor Greene has gained a lot of power influence without actually doing anything decent for anyone.
Watch “The Play Typer Guy After Dark” edition above and catch our original conversation below.
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