Never take yes for an answer w/ David Dennison

After having read David Dennison (and listened to his mellifluous baritone) for many moons, I reached out to him to talk about his project Aged Well. David gravitates toward a genre of article I dub The Dear Democrat Letter (AKA Dear Democrats, why are you being Democrats?).

We talk about why David wasn’t able to muster up enough care to vote for Harris in 2024 and I push David on the idea that the Democrats have been acting out of sorts rather than conducting themselves as they’re wont to but with decreasing credibility.

After the paywall

We talk about David’s piece The Strange Return Of The R-Word and my piece Why you can’t say the r-word, wherein I complicate David’s theory of why the slur is uniquely heretical under American civic religion. I also ask David about his Dear Liberal White Ladies series, and I defend Katie Porter while arguing that politics isn’t about being nice to your staff.

Topics discussed:

• Big dumb stupid questions

• The Dear Democrat genre of Substack

• AP’s defense of Katie Porter

• Should Trump send in the feds?

• Dear Liberal White Ladies

• Rosa’s Law (Obama, 2010)

• David’s coinage, “The Cringe Identity Mantle”

• Iryna Zarutska

• The host imperative

• What it’s like to live in a country that doesn’t tolerate disorder

• How to not date people with Down Syndrome

• Dave Barry

• Genetic testing

• Shopping for rugs and guitars

• Shitting in front of ASOS stores

• Speaking loudly in public and other antisocial behavior

• Why Ancient Egyptians didn’t have a Human Resources Department

• Why being a politician is not at all like being a business owner

• AP’s theory of power

• Disavowing the most annoying representatives of your group