Hi everyone, with Ron DeSantis’ announcement yesterday, it feels like the 2024 election is officially underway. A lot of smart people I talk to hate the superficial aspects of politics, as I learned when interviewing Bryan Caplan recently, but I can’t help myself. To me, it’s the best show on earth.

I like to think my social and political views are sophisticated and nuanced, but I find the sillier aspects of our democracy as enjoyable as boomers who spend their evenings glued to cable news. Yes, I want reasonable legislative and regulatory changes that improve the world, but I also want to be entertained, and there’s nothing like the arena where policy and showmanship interact, especially during election season.

I’m going to be having a lot of thoughts on the 2024 cycle, so I decided to start a podcast to get it all out of my system. It’s called Clown Car, and it’s going to focus on the election, along with other topics in American politics. My co-host is Inez Stepman, who is a policy analyst for the Independent Women’s Voice and whose work appears across a wide swath of conservative media. We’re aiming to release a new episode every Thursday evening, after being recorded on the same day. She’s right-wing and smart, so I enjoy talking to her, and I look forward to many more conversations. This week, the topics covered are:

* The glitchy DeSantis rollout

* The state of the 2024 race

* What DeSantis’ strategy should be

* Whether focusing too much on wokeness issues is a mistake

* If optimism or pessimism sells in politics

* Tim Scott’s campaign announcement as a kind of throwback

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Links:

Kornacki on the Obama/Hillary race

Trump’s hilarious response to the DeSantis launch

Trump talking about his “button”, and Kim Jung Un being able to compare it with that of DeSantis

Blacks for Trump

DeSantis answer on the Ukraine War

How Trump once handled his own glitch

Poll showing Americans believe the country is on the wrong track

Most and least popular public figures

Rankings of governors, senators

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