Factually! with Adam Conover - Why I'm not worried about the election.

Episode Date: November 4, 2024

(In addition to your weekly Factually! episode, this week we're bringing you a monologue from Adam. This short, researched monologue originally aired on the Factually! YouTube page, but we are sharing audio versions of these monologues with our podcast audience as well. Please enjoy, and stay tuned for your regularly scheduled episode of Factually!) It's time to ask what you're hoping to accomplish by worrying about the election.Visit https://groundnews.com/factually to stay fully informed, see through biased media and get all sides of every story especially during this election season. Subscribe for 50% off unlimited access through my link. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is a HeadGum Podcast. Hey everybody, listen up. The 2024 election isn't just another political event, it is a turning point for our country's future. There's a plan out there called Project 2025 aiming to drastically reshape our government and potentially limit personal freedoms that we hold dear. Policies affecting your privacy, freedom of expression, and personal rights could be at risk and that is why it is vital to vote like your rights depend on it because they do.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a free thought association dedicated to protecting the separation of church and state and ensuring that our government respects the personal freedoms of all citizens. So visit FFRF.org slash vote to learn more about Project 2025 to register to vote and discover how you can take a stand. Don't let others decide your future. Your vote is your power. So use it to protect your rights paid for by the Freedom from Religion Foundation. So the election is this Tuesday. And have you noticed that

everyone is worried as hell? Democracy is literally at stake. And 2024 is the final battle, that's gonna be the big one. The future of America and the future of civilization is at stake. I mean, we're gonna be fully Mad Max, you know? Okay, I know Elon thinks he's Furiosa, but he's clearly Immortan Joe. He's even got an army of tattooed idiots

who would die to protect him. But look, it's not just Elon. Almost everyone I know is worried sick about the election, and I understand why. People's actual lives are at stake. The right to make decisions about your own body, the right to protest, the right to even exist in America as an immigrant. All of them depend on the outcome. But despite all of that, I want to tell you that I am genuinely not worried about this election. And in this video, I'm going to tell you why.

But first, I want to remind you that I'm going on tour. Coming up soon, I'm headed to Denver, Austin, and all these other wonderful cities. Head to adamconover.net for tickets and head to patreon.com slash adamconover if you'd like to support the channel directly. So look, I'm not saying I know what's going to happen in the election. I definitely do not. Do I look like an election predictor to you? Honestly, thank God I don't, because all of those guys look really weird.

Why is that? Are they all too busy crunching polling data to get a normal haircut? I don't get it. Right now the race is polling almost exactly 50-50. It's literally a coin flip. And depending on how that coin lands, America is gonna go in one of two diametrically opposite directions. If it's heads, oh, Kamala will do the same thing Democrats always do. She'll try to make slow, small improvements to the status quo, you know, protect a couple

rights, give a little bit of economic help to the poor, but you know, not nearly enough, and hopefully keep on our girl Lena Kahn so she can keep breaking up those monopolies. Love you girl. Is that sexual harassment to Lena Kahn? Ah ha, whatever, we're a fan here. Life in America will not fundamentally change under a Harris administration. They won't upend our economic system,

which is destroying the planet and impoverishes millions. They definitely won't stop Israel from flattening Gaza, but you know, couple things might get a little bit better, otherwise business as usual. But if it's tails, we go down a much darker path. If we believe Trump about what he says he's going to do, and I really think we should, he's going to deport 20 million people, which is ethnic cleansing. He's going to work to take the right to abortion and gender-affirming care

away from women and queer people, and plus he'd likely get to appoint two more Supreme Court justices, which would mean all that sh** would be locked in until Gen Alpha kids are saying skibbity toilet at their retirement parties. Not to mention if you're worried about Gaza, well Trump would be even f**king worse on that. Now, you might be thinking that the reason I'm not worried about the election is because I'm a white guy and those things don't affect me. And that is not true. First of all, because I care about other people and like whether they die or not, I don't know, crazy thing about me. But secondly, even white guys like me are not safe in Trump's vision of the future

because he's explicitly said that he wants to send the military after anyone who disagrees with him politically. And that's me, baby! I can't fight back against the military! Look at these hands! They were made to type YouTube videos, not be thrown against the National Guard! I mean, even if you're on Trump's side, you will suffer if he wins. I know his supporters are mad about inflation, but Trump's main economic proposal is to put a tax on all imported goods, which would make everything from iPhones

to AR-15s more expensive. I mean, can you really afford to be paying more for your assault rifle in this economy? But look, I don't even know why I'm bothering to list all this stuff, because despite everything that Trump has promised and done, the dude is popular, and he has been for nearly a decade now. You know, I think one of the reasons liberals get so worried about the election is that they refuse to accept reality. They're always just shocked and in denial, like, can you believe that anybody is voting for this guy?

Yeah, I can believe it. It's a f***ing fact of life. 46% of voters voted for Trump in 2016, 47% of voters voted for him in 2020, and they did so not in spite of Trump being a racist, sexist idiot whose only goal is to punish immigrants and destroy the federal government, but in large part because of those things. They just like that sh**. They see a guy who's been convicted on 34 counts of hush money payments to a porn star and they say that's my dude, sign me up. And there's this persistent f***ing fantasy among liberals

that the problem is that the media just isn't covering Trump correctly. If the newspapers said Trump is bad a little differently, everyone would realize the error of their ways. But come on, do we really think there are people out there waiting to hear the news that Trump is a piece of s***? Are there really voters in Georgia and Arizona saying, oh my god, well now that the New York Times says he's a fascist, I'm voting for Kamala.

No! Media coverage is so polarized in this country, it doesn't matter what the newspapers say because only liberals read that shit. Like check out how our sponsor Ground News breaks it down. They have this blind spot feature that shows you which stories are covered by different publications on the left and right. So at a CNN town hall, Kamala Harris said she believes Trump is a fascist, just like all the liberals want her to, right? But only 15% of the coverage of that story was by conservative media, which means that

no one who likes Trump is even seeing it. And if you're a liberal, there are news stories that you're likely missing too. That is why I recommend ground news as a way to get outside of your bubble and make sure you're getting every angle on a story. If you go to groundnews.com slash factually or scan this QR code, my viewers get 40% off unlimited access.

They are totally subscriber funded, which means they put your needs first. That is groundnews.com slash factually. So look, liberals, you gotta get through your stages of grief about Trump, okay? The man is popular, his policies are popular, and yes, he could win. But despite that, I am still not worried about this election. And that's because I'm moving to Japan to work at Nintendo! Just kidding. Miyamoto personally rejected my application and I am devastated.

No, the real reason I'm not worried is because worry is a useless f***ing emotion that does nothing but paralyze and control us. Think about this. Why do so many of us follow the polls day after day when we already know how we are going to vote? Why are we glued to cable news on election night, when we know that that doesn't change the outcome? Why do we watch Steve Kornacki and John King run through their horrible scenarios over and over again, other than the fact that they're stone-cold hotties and we'd love to watch them kiss?

I mean, why do we watch these things? Well, it's because we're worried and worrying feels bad, and getting a little bit of good news might change that emotion and make it a little better. That's the essential truth about the entire political news media machine. It feeds off of our worry. Steve Kornacki is an energy vampire.

Hell, I'm doing it too. You probably clicked this video because you're worried and you wanted me to tell you it's all gonna be okay Well, I'm not gonna do that. It might not be okay But I am gonna tell you why you shouldn't worry anyway, because let's talk about what worry Actually is see worry is the emotion you feel when you fear an outcome over which you have no control It's why you worry when you watch a World Series game. You don't want your team to lose, and you can't do anything to help.

But the players aren't worried. They're out there trying their best, and they know no matter what happens, they gave it all they got. Unless they're Aaron Judge, then they clearly could have given a little bit more. But, you know, the rest of the players. They're not worried because they're in the game, but you're worried because all you can do is buy another $40 hot dog and hold in your stress diarrhea while you spectate like a chump. Worry is specifically an emotion of powerlessness.

And here's what you need to know. You are not powerless in America. You are, in fact, one of the players. On a baseball team, there of the players. On a baseball team there's nine players, but in America there's 337 million and you are one of them, which means you have the power to change the outcome. And I want to be clear, I'm not talking about voting. Because yes, voting is important, but the biggest lie told in America is that voting is where your power begins and ends. That you should cast your ballot, donate to a candidate, and then sit back and worry on

the couch as you watch history unfold as a spectator. But if you buy into that, you are voluntarily giving up your power. You are letting the runner steal second without even trying a throw. Because after you vote, during the other three years and 364 days, you have the ability to take direct action to fight back against bullsh** and fight for yourself and those you care about. You can organize your workplace and go on strike to gain power and force your employers to make your industry better, like workers are doing all across the country. You can start a tenant union in your apartment building

or attend a neighborhood council meeting to fight for more affordable housing. You can protest in the street and join a group that organizes year round for a more just world where you live in your community. You know, the silver lining of the last Trump administration is that it made millions of Americans stand up and fight for change in their own communities.

In 2016, here in Los Angeles, where I live, a bunch of us got really involved in our city. I personally was sick of walking by homeless people sleeping on my own street and feeling helpless to do anything about it. I had voted for politicians and ballot measures and I still wasn't seeing the change I wanted to. So I started volunteering at a local homelessness coalition called CELA. In CELA, we went out as volunteers with food and water. We talked with our homeless neighbors, and we got to know them. We connected them with services.

We built community. We literally learned how to help folks get into housing, and then we did it. We got over a hundred people into permanent housing, and then we did it. We got over 100 people into permanent housing, and in so doing, we literally started to build the world we wanted to see. And then, one of the founders of the group decided to run for city council, and a bunch of us didn't just vote for her.

We campaigned for her, we knocked doors for her, we organized for her, and you know what happened? She fucking won, and since know what happened? She f***ing won. And since she has gotten into office, she has actually made our city a better place. She's taken what we learned at CELA and used it to get so many people into housing that homelessness overall has actually gone down in our district. We didn't just vote and then wait for a candidate to solve our problems. We showed up and put direct action into solving them ourselves, and we made f***ing progress.

And I cannot begin to tell you how powerful it feels to do that. I mean, it just transforms your relationship with our political system. Like, a few weeks ago, a bunch of us from LA traveled to Phoenix, Arizona, to knock doors for the election with this amazing group of organizers called Worker Power. And you know what, while I did that, while I was out there in the hot sun with my friends in my dorky hat, having doors slammed in my face,

but also having real conversations with other Americans about issues I actually care about, I stopped worrying about the election because I was playing in the f***ing game. I was giving it my all and swinging for the fences. And now, win or lose, I know that I tried my best. And you know what? No matter who wins on election day, no matter which timeline we go down, I'm still going

to be here fighting. And so are you, if you choose to. Because you know, it's true, a lot could change in America based on the results of this election. But one thing won't change. There's gonna be a lot of f***ing work to do, and there's gonna be a lot of us here who are ready to do it. And I think you know that because you are not tuned out. You're watching this video. So here's the choice before you. You can either sit there, glued to the couch, biting your nails and tweeting like David Zaslav

and Elon Musk want you to, or you can make a plan for what you're going to do the day after the election, no matter who wins, to make your community and therefore the country a better place. Because you know what? The cure for worry isn't better poll numbers. It isn't a candidate who says all the right things. It isn't a good outcome on CNN's magic wall. It's you hitting the fucking pavement with your friends. That was a hate gum podcast.