Video summary
Brett Cooper argues that conservatives and Republicans are currently missing a crucial opportunity to compete with Democrats among Gen Z voters, particularly in cosmopolitan areas like New York where there is significant female swing potential. He suggests that this shift mirrors the energy Mamani brought as an outsider disruptor during her campaign, similar to how Donald Trump succeeded in 2016 by offering something new to a left-wing establishment that was equally frustrated with its own politicians and their handling of figures like Kamala Harris or Bernie Sanders. Cooper emphasizes that for JD Vance to succeed if he becomes the nominee in 2028, his messaging must be incredibly clear and avoid falling prey to neocon rhetoric. The core issue is not just policy but tone; a major error Vance could make would be adopting a diplomatic, politician-like demeanor that talks down to people, as politics remains deeply personal and personality-driven. The conversation highlights the stark contrast between radical economic proposals and relatively normal cultural stances in recent campaigns, noting that voters are increasingly prioritizing tangible improvements like owning a house over culture war battles. Cooper illustrates this with his own experience regarding Mamani's campaign, where issues such as gender reassignment surgeries were secondary to practical concerns about affordability for groceries and housing. He observes that many people feel trapped on a hamster wheel by the political establishment, tired of hearing "he said/she said" narratives without seeing their lives improve. This sentiment is echoed in comments from listeners who expressed exhaustion with endless culture war debates and a desire simply to move forward economically rather than engaging in ideological posturing that offers no real solutions for everyday struggles like high taxes or inability to start families. Cooper introduces the concept of the "culture wars shiny object cycle" to describe how trivial news stories, such as cats suffering from racial discrimination or specific sexual kinks involving light bulbs, are amplified by both sides into massive events before eventually being mocked and dismissed. He details a six-step process where woke news triggers a right-wing reaction that gains traction through signal-boosting, followed by a left-wing counter-response that further inflames the issue until it becomes absurd enough to be ridiculed as meta-commentary. Despite the repetitive nature of this cycle, which he compares to being addicted to cocaine with Pablo Escobar next door, participants remain captivated because each story is sprinkled with just enough novelty to feel like a new event. This distraction prevents attention from focusing on genuinely meaningful issues such as fentanyl epidemics in American cities or suicide rates among young men aged 18 to 24. Reflecting on his own content creation habits, Cooper admits that he previously fell into the trap of producing two episodes daily by pulling topics out of thin air just because they were funny or seemed important at the time. He acknowledges that while laughing at absurdity can be cathartic and healthy for navigating outrage cycles, it is essential to extract kernels of truth from these events rather than merely wagging fingers or pointing jokes without purpose. After realizing how often he was chasing shiny objects instead of addressing substantive problems, Cooper scaled back his output significantly to focus on fewer but higher-quality topics that truly matter in the long term over a 50-year horizon rather than fleeting moments. He concludes that humor is an effective tool for processing absurdity from both sides without losing sight of what actually matters, urging listeners and creators alike to step away from the bottomless pit of endless outrage cycles and focus on issues with lasting significance.
Read the full video transcript
What do you think conservatives and
Republicans are missing in how they can
better compete for Gen Z if you've got
this huge female swing? I'm aware it's
New York
>> centric,
>> but it's probably indicative of other
cosmopolitan areas around the country.
>> Mhm.
>> What are the right missing that Mamani
got correct?
>> Again, I I think it goes back to saying
the right things, unfortunately. like
it's like the right has to deliver. Like
that's easier said than done, but we're
at such a turning point as we've been
talking about. Um that I think people,
especially in New York, especially
people who are on the left were
desperate for something new because I
think people on the left uh are just as
fed up with their own establishment
politicians. They were, you know, they
didn't want Kamla to be insated. I think
they were tired of the fact that Bernie
never got a fair shot because they prim
whatever it is they primar him
>> and so I think that we're dealing we're
all dealing with the same type of
feelings
>> and Mumani was an outsider and a
disruptor and so I think that worked in
the same way that Trump worked in 2016
and so I do think that it comes down to
what Trump and Vance are able to deliver
and I also think if Vance is the nominee
in 2028
his messaging has to be so incredibly
clear and he cannot fall prey to, you
know, the neocon messaging. Uh,
>> what would be what would be the biggest
error errors that he could make in a if
you were to design a campaign for JD to
fail as impressively as possible? What
would he be talking about?
>> Um, I think a big part of it would be
tone and talking down to people. Uh, I
think that's one way that he shines
right now is that JD Vance sounds the
same when he is speaking to a supporter
in middle of America. He sounds the same
when he's speaking to a reporter. He
tweets in the same way. He doesn't take
himself too seriously. I think that is a
great quality. And I think if he loses
that and becomes a bit too uh, I guess
politician speak and a bit too
diplomatic, I think that that's where
he'll start to lose people again because
politics is personality. So I think that
is like going to be the driving force
here. Um, I think if he talks a lot
about foreign affairs, I think if he's
saying we're going to send all of our
money overseas, I think that's going to
be a a problem for young people because
again, if we're looking at our own
country and going, you know, if my
generation is saying, I don't feel like
I can buy a house, I am, you know, under
all of this debt, um, my taxes are so
high, I can't start a family, whatever
it is, if that is the attitude that they
have and what they feel like their
reality is, the last thing they want to
hear is, hey, we're shipping our money
overseas. Um, and so I think that's
going to be a real pressing issue. Um, I
also think, and I said this in a recent
episode, I was interested to see how
people responded to it and they actually
agreed, but I kind of made a joke and I
was like, I don't think my generation
cares as much about owning the libs.
They care about owning a house. And the
culture war is obviously important, but
it felt less important in Mundan's
campaign. And I think that showed a lot.
Like obviously he was like you can come
here and you can get your gender
reassignment surgeries whatever but that
wasn't the key point of his campaign. He
was talking about making your life
better.
>> Interesting. Very radical economically
but relatively normal culturally
>> I guess c normal culturally for his
base.
>> Yes. Yeah. Not
>> not normally I would say. Yes. Um but it
was not the focal point of his um of his
campaign. His campaign was New York
first, allowing New Yorkers to be able
to stay in their city and afford homes
and afford groceries. And that worked
for people. And I think that that is
working for people on the right. Like
when I said that, I had hundreds of
comments being like, "Oh my gosh, this
yes, that is exactly how I feel. Like
I'm fed up with going back and forth
about he said, she said, oh, this crazy
person did this on the left." Like I'm
tired of it.
>> I just want to be able to move my life
forward and not feel like I'm a hamster
in a wheel and I'm, you know, both sides
are giving me the same solution that
isn't making my life any better.
>> I had a uh
I had a shiny object cycle that I
tweeted about uh a while ago and I think
this kind of explains at least a little
bit of what people have become
frustrated with. So, this is the culture
wars shiny object cycle.
>> Here's how it goes.
>> Okay.
>> Number one, some woke news story hits
the press. cats suffer from racial
discrimination or screwing in light
bulbs needs to be recognized as a valid
sexual kink or something. Number two,
the right-wing antibody response
activates. Look at how insane these
people are. Matt Walsh quote tweets the
article and calls it obnoxious. This is
the problem with our convenient,
decadent Tik Tok society. Number three,
>> this reaction causes the story to gain
infinitely more traction than it ever
would have done by signal boosting the
original fringe scenario into a much
bigger event.
>> Number four, the left-wing counter
response activates. Right-wingers lose
their minds over one woman with a
particularly dark cat. The Daily Wire
has a meltdown over an insignificant
troll article. In times where the
original story is less insane, this
includes a defense of the original
article, too. Cats actually can
experience trauma. Minimizing this is
the real problem. Number five, the
right-wing re-reaction kicks into gear.
Apparently, I'm insane for pushing back
against cat trauma. See, this is the
problem. If we don't stand our ground,
these blue-head idiots will take over
the country. And number six, and
finally, the touchgrass meta reaction
reein. The real issue is people talking
about this issue. Look at how silly this
whole thing is. It's time to check out
of the culture war. We should reconnect
with what really matters. Should move
into the ranch next to Ryan Holidayiday
and hammer a fence post into the ground
for the rest of time. This cycle is
benal. It's excruciatingly repetitive.
So why does it sustain our attention if
basically every discussion follows the
same cycle? Because every story is
sprinkled with just enough novelty to
give it the illusion that this is a new
event, which legitimates the push back.
We've not seen this trans flag with
people who suffer from a gluten
intolerance included in it before. It's
like a 20th season of Lost where they're
back in an island for the seventh time
and need to escape. But this time, it's
winter. The Culture War shiny object
cycle does my head in. It does my head
in because I get captured by it. I see a
bank rewriting classic fairy tales into
a boss [ __ ] remake called Fairy Tales.
Princesses doing it for themselves and
think this is [ __ ] dumb. Where's
Douglas Murray? I need him to decimate
this idea with me. It's cathartic.
Calling out insane ideas written by
idiots is so compelling and fun and easy
to do. It's like being a cocaine addict
with Pablo Escobar as a next door
neighbor. The memes of production are
worring at maximum RPM when we're all
caught in the vortex. But it's a
distraction. It's a distraction from our
attention being focused on the things
which are actually meaningful. Not
meaningful in a will you remember this
when you're dead way, but in a there's
other issues that are more important to
talk about way. There's entire American
cities with fentinel epidemics. 80% of
suicides are people aged 18 to 24 that
are men. I want to hear Peterson talking
about dealing with finding meaning in a
world stripped of all its guardrails. I
want Talb to be writing about applying
complex maths to simple life problems.
Many of the smartest people on the
planet have had their attention captured
arguing about whether men and men and
women are women or not over the last few
years. And even more of the less smart
ones, too. All of our collective minds
are held hostage by an endless cycle of
shiny objects that aggravate both sides
and make them feel righteous for
standing their ground. It's a bottomless
pit. I don't think it's going to stop. I
will almost certainly bring up stories
like this in future, but I'm going to
try hard to focus more on stuff that
matters in 50 years, not just in 50
minutes. And probably so should you.
>> That's great. And I and I think that you
have the self-awareness to acknowledge
that you get captured by that as I do.
Um, and that's something I've thought
about a lot this year. That was actually
something that I was really considering
as I, you know, left comment section and
was going out on my own was how often
did I fall into that out of the
necessity of having to do two shows a
day.
>> I was like, okay, so [clears throat]
I'm, you know, contract I'm contracted
to do these shows, need to come up with
two things to talk about every single
day.
>> I was doing 10 episodes a week.
>> And in looking back, I was like, how
often
>> was I just pulling things out of my ass?
and they were all things I enjoyed
talking about and I thought that they
were, you know, funny. And I do think
that in those situations, I'm of the
opinion that yes, there are far more
important things to talk about. I think
I'm landing more there these days,
especially with the content that I'm
doing. However, I do think it's
important when something is so egregious
and ridiculous. It's less that I think
it's important to wag the finger and say
this is so awful and you know
>> a atrocity but also just to like laugh
at it.
>> And I think that's why and yeah because
it's so absurd and the right is doing
things that are absurd and the left has
been doing things that are crazy but
also the right has been doing the same
thing. Um and I think that's kind of
where I found myself landing even
even throughout you know comment section
when I was doing two episodes a day. I
did always come from a place of, you
know, can what can we actually learn
from this? Like I don't want to just
make fun of something or bring something
up for the sake of, you know, haha and
pointing a finger, but
>> what can we actually take away from this
>> kernel of truth that sits in it? Yeah.
>> Uh and I always tried to end my episodes
with that because it was like if I don't
care about what I'm talking about if
there isn't something that people can
learn from, then why am I even talking
about that? Um but that was a big piece
of reflection as I was leaving and I
scaled back my show tremendously. I was
like, "Okay, I'm only going to do two
episodes a week. They need to be really,
really good topics. I need to really
care about them and I'll build from
there. But I need to completely take a
step back from this, you know, hamster
wheel that I've been in of two episodes
every single day. Um, and really find
out what do I like talking about? What
is meaningful? What is meaningful right
now? Um, cuz no, I think everything you
said was completely true. And it's it's
so funny with the outrage cycle of then
whoever is being critiqued just digs
your heel in even more or their you know
claws in whatever it is
>> response and the re response and then
the mentor
>> it's not actually happening and then
they're like no but it's a good thing
that it's happening and the right's
doing that too now
>> it's not happening and it's good.
>> Yes. Exactly. And two you know two
things can be true at once. Um, but I
found that humor was the best way to
navigate that was like I'm not going
home at night and thinking about the
glutenfree
trans flag, but I do think it's funny to
laugh at it and we can spend 10 minutes
going, "This is really absurd. Can you
believe our culture has gotten here?"
Um, and that felt like the healthiest
way to go about it.
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Thank you very much for tuning in. If
you enjoyed that little mere teaser with
Brett Cooper, full episode is available
to watch right here.
Come on.