TPM THIS WEEK...

One post-election take that appears to have staying power is that this was the first, true internet election. The Harris campaign had the advantage in traditional campaign measures like money raised and ground game. The Trump campaign had the podcasters, Twitter (X), trad wives, and the manosphere. Trump won. So maybe the internet is real life now.

But where does one live on the internet?

This may seem rhetorical, however, it's a serious question if one of the prevailing takeaways from this election is that meme-ing now outweighs door knocking.

Before being purchased by Elon Musk and rebranded as X, there was a notion mostly held by members of the media (and Musk) that Twitter was the digital equivalent of the public square. Its oversized influence on our culture and platforming of historically marginalized voices gave it a plausible case. But it was still a for-profit tech company that made money by incentivizing engagement, which typically means rewarding the most extreme views. Trolling, disinformation, mob justice or "cancel culture" is all part of that. And whether Twitter was ever representative of public discourse is mostly beside the point. For a while it was undeniably the locus of media and left-wing culture on the internet. For better or worse, it was where many influential people staked their ground.

It was the predominance of this culture that Musk sought to dismantle when he bought Twitter in 2022. He started by removing status, eliminating the "blue checks," then reinstating the banned accounts of the mostly right-wing agitators, eliminating moderation positions and guidelines and weighting the algorithm to promote his and other right-wing ideologies. If there was any doubt that Musk was turning the platform into a tool for the right, his use of it to broadcast (unsuccessfully) DeSantis's campaign launch and his fawning, pre-election interview with Trump likely put that to bed.

It's no surprise then that after the election liberals and progressives finally fled the platform en masse. When The Guardian announced its departure last week, some critics took the opportunity to cast the decision by the outlet and others as "abandoning the battlefield of ideas." X/Twitter being the "battlefield of ideas" is ridiculous on its face, but it's worth taking one assumption made by the critics seriously. For any political movement to grow, it does need to make an effort to persuade others to join. But this doesn't mean adopting or participating in a framework of engagement established by the opposition. When conservatives thought broadcast media was biased toward liberals, they didn't redouble their efforts to engage, they attacked and undid the fairness doctrine and established conservative radio and Fox News. Are these also battlegrounds of ideas?

In the wake of defeat there is an urge to understand what the other side did effectively and to try and emulate it. This is how you end up in nonsensical places like finding the Joe Rogan of the left. The fact that "debate me bro" shows are popular with young and influential voters doesn't automatically prescribe that the left appear on these shows or make one of their own. To influence culture you often have to change it, and that means offering something new.

If the internet is real life now, the goal shouldn't be winning it. It should, rather, be to create a place worth living in. And if that place is good enough, you might even persuade others to join you. 

On TPM this week, Josh Kovensky takes you inside the frenzy among Jan. 6 plotters to snag a trump pardon and Khaya Himmelman explains how the North Carolina GOP is using its waning supermajority to strip power from newly elected state dems. 

In the Backchannel, Josh Marshall lays out some miscellaneous thoughts on a Democratic path forward.

On the podcast, Kate and Josh discuss Matt Gaetz's quick rise and fall, RFK Jr.-curious Democrats and the worst people in media this week.

And ICYMI, Emine Yücel broke down RFK Jr.'s long history of embracing junk science and spreading dangerous anti-vax disinfo.

By Josh Kovensky

It's a lobbying blitz as unprecedented as it is bizarre: Now elected, Trump is being asked to pardon people that he encouraged to commit crimes in furtherance of him staying in power the last time. And, it's proceeding in typically chaotic fashion.

The North Carolina Republican-controlled legislature is attempting to pass a sweeping bill — a power grab tucked inside a hurricane relief bill — in a blatant attempt to shift power away from newly elected statewide Democrats just weeks before Republicans lose their supermajority in the state General Assembly. 

These thoughts are provisional and in process ... 

Related ➡ It's Not as Simple As Saying 'No' to Interest Groups

While Democrats have long embraced some of the reforms RFK Jr. endorses when it comes to regulating aspects of the agricultural industry, like factory farming and pesticides, his other outlandish, crank science beliefs have Democrats and Republicans concerned about how he would run the federal public health department. 

Kate and Josh discuss Matt Gaetz's quick rise and fall, RFK Jr.-curious Democrats and the worst people in media this week.

ONE MORE THING...

TPM Weekly will be off next week for Thanksgiving. We want to thank everyone who sent in their post-election news needs and we will do our best to respond to as many of those emails as we can over the holiday break. We will be back the following week.

Happy Thanksgiving!

TPM THIS WEEK...

As Trump continues to roll out nominees and his potential Cabinet comes into focus, it's hard not to laugh. 

It's not that putting forward picks like Tulsi Gabbard, Matt Gaetz, Pete Hegseth and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is inherently funny or that creating a government department overseen by Elon Musk is hysterical, it's that Trump seems to think that the punch lines (even if they are barely comprehensible) are worth the risks. It's hardly surprising that he doesn't appear to be taking the job seriously, but the extent to which he's willing to jeopardize certain government functions (and the country) for a laugh is kind of funny, in a dark way. 

For instance…

Tulsi Gabbard is considered somewhat of a confounding pick to be the Director of National Intelligence. She was a Democrat until recently and, as Josh Marshall explains, she's pretty new to the MAGA world. Not necessarily a "loyalty" pick, like many of the others, in other words. But if you've been following conservative media, you'll know Gabbard offers something almost as good as loyalty: she's a victim … of the "Deep State." 

As the story — now right-wing canon — goes, Gabbard became persona non grata in the Democratic Party after criticizing Kamala Harris in the runup to the 2020 primary for her performance as California's attorney general. Supposedly in retaliation, Gabbard was called an apologist of the Assad regime in Syria by Harris and her campaign (allegations that were out there long before Harris raised them in the primary). The story, however, supposes that Democrats and the "Deep State" then ratched up their persecution, ultimately casting Gabbard as a Russian agent.

Gabbard's supposed fight against the "Deep State" resurfaced this summer when she was placed on a TSA threat list (the Quiet Skies program) which subjected her to enhanced screening. In August, Gabbard told Fox host Laura Ingraham that the move was "a clear act of political retaliation" for an earlier appearance on Ingraham's show in which she said Kamala Harris did not have "the strength to stand up to the military industrial complex." 

So, now she'll be in charge of "The Deep State." It's retributive. It's funny. Get it?

Nominating the legally beleaguered (but duly loyal) Matt Gaetz to run the Justice Department doesn't have the same long-tail punchline of the Gabbard pick, but the intended effect is similar. A man who was just investigated ("victimized!") by the Justice Department under Biden could now run the department. It's gross! It's dangerous! Ha Ha Ha.

Creating a government department with the acronym DOGE and run by Elon Musk is almost too stupid to include here. However, it is genuinely funny that Vikey Ramaswaney will also be needed to run the Department of Government Efficiency, which is a joke that pretty much speaks for itself.

As Josh Kovensky wrote after the Gaetz nomination, "It all looks — and is intended to look — like an absurdist attack on the institutions that the nominees are being asked to lead."

For more on Trump's cabinet nominees, Hunter Walker looks back at how Trump's Pick for Defense Secretary spent his college years crusading against "Glorification of Diversity" and "the homosexual lifestyle.

And on the Podcast, Kate and Josh discuss how Democrats can ready themselves to take back power and analyze Trump's early cabinet picks.

By Josh Marshall

There's a method to this madness.

Pete Hegseth, the Army National Guard veteran,  and former Fox News weekend host and President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Department of Defense, experienced a political awakening at Princeton University. 

It takes all kinds to make the incoming Trump administration.

Kate and Josh discuss how Democrats can ready themselves to take back power and analyze Trump's early cabinet picks.

ONE MORE THING...

This week marks the 24th anniversary of TPM. Thanks to all our readers who have helped make our work possible! If you're interested, you can read more about how the site was founded in this (unpaywalled) edition of The Backchannel by Josh Marshall.