The Lies They Tell Themselves

Sarah made the mistake of letting me near voters this week on The Focus Group. I have some extended thoughts to share. If you would, please watch or listen to the show because if my episodes crush, Sarah might bring me back sooner.

But first, a quick Trump Ballroom update.

I don’t think that Democrats need to campaign on restoring the East Wing. But what a Democratic candidate might say, if asked about his plans for the Trump Ballroom, is something like this:

A lot of people are very angry about Trump’s ballroom and think it was paid for by friends of Jeffrey Epstein. They think it’s an outrage that Trump spent hundreds of millions of dollars on it when he couldn’t even fund the government. Many people say that you could actually make money by tearing it down and auctioning off the pieces. We’re going to look into this very strongly and when we come to a decision, it’s going to be one that you like.

Then, the minute after a Democratic president is sworn in, he signs the order to restore the East Wing. And then he moves on to the next thing.

This isn’t hard.

Okay. Let’s talk about The People.

1. Dirty Jersey

All of the usual caveats: It’s a big country. People are complicated. When we say “the voters” it is unfair because it treats them as a uniform whole instead of distinct individuals. Etc.

Yet at the same time, some generalities are useful to observe because even if they do not hold for an entire population, they are true for a sizable enough percentage to be important.

Can we agree on this?

Good. Because the generality I took from Sarah’s New Jersey voter Focus Groups this week was the same one I see in 99 percent of them: Some large portion of voters do not appear to understand elementary, objective aspects of reality.

So let’s talk about three of the recurring themes I heard from undecided voters in Jersey. ...