Biden: [saying things]
Me: [nodding along] mmm, yeah, Chant bullshit, Chant bullshit, it's not so much that I MIND per se, propaganda has its uses, but i See You and I understand Why you're Doing That

This right here is what i'm talkin about https://twitter.com/RaeLoverde/status/1325259813203292163

Putting it another way: There's a lot of things that are broken right now, and Biden can't start fixing most of them until January -- but the thing he can start fixing RIGHT NOW TONIGHT is the damaged "American story", in his own words.

And that's what he just did -- he told us an old, familiar story. Sang us a song that we know the chorus of from way way back. That's the thing he can do RIGHT NOW, and it lays foundations for doing a lot of other, more concrete things later on.

He is also laying the groundwork to *EDIT* the story, if you believe that his propaganda has a backbone of truth to it -- the old song didn't have space for very many people, and it was deeply flawed and problematic along multiple axes.

But you can take the good parts of the old song -- the best verses and the chorus -- and sing new words to the old tune and goddamn but it'll still work like it's supposed to. It'll remind people What America Is.

and that's the thing -- propaganda isn't good or bad. It's just a tool. Stories are a tool. You can use them for good or evil, for building or for breaking. I have written two heckin books about this.

Frankly, I'm glad to see our side using this tool, rather than disdaining it. We've had a horrible, poisonous, toxic story for four years... and the only thing that can defeat a story is another, stronger story. So cool, yes, good. Defeat it. Tell a better story.

IMO Vice President Elect Harris (!!! <3) did a better job from a purely technical storytelling/performance standpoint. She made me cry and kept me focused on WHAT she was saying; Joe made me tilt my head and listen VERY closely to WHY he was saying it https://twitter.com/ChrisWilde801/status/1325263254818418689

She's the better storyteller. Watch her, these next four years. She's gonna be incredible.

(people are liking this thread and so now I feel like I have to explain -- "Chant bullshit, Chant bullshit" is me pretentiously referencing a couple of characters from my own books.)

Nono, it's not an "oh no"! It's a good thing. It's a SMART thing, like @RaeLoverde said in her thread. He's hitting the ground running and he's already getting to work. It's like laying down sandbags to stop (or at least slow) the oncoming flood. https://twitter.com/pearwaldorf/status/1325266960393752577