Matt Lewis On Moneyed Elites And Corruption

Matt is a political journalist. He’s been a senior contributor for The Daily Caller and a columnist for AOL’s Politics Daily, and he’s currently a senior columnist at The Daily Beast. He also hosts his own podcast and YouTube show, “Matt Lewis & The News.” In this episode we discuss his new book, Filthy Rich Politicians.

You can listen right away in the audio player above (or on the right side of the player, click “Listen On” to add the Dishcast feed to your favorite podcast app — though Spotify sadly doesn’t accept the paid feed). For two clips of our convo — on the perception of insider trading in Congress, and how Palin paved the way for Trump — pop over to our YouTube page.

Other topics: Matt’s upbringing in rural Maryland with a father who worked as a prison guard; listening to early Limbaugh religiously; his defense of working-class populists but not their victimhood; their support for Trump despite his opulence and contempt for the poor; Trump as “deliciously funny” (especially compared to DeSantis); the fake populism of Ted Cruz; how members of Congress are 12 times richer than the average voter; the exorbitant wealth of Dem leadership; the suspicious stock trades of the Pelosis; the influence peddling of Hunter and Jared; how neither party challenges the grift on their side; George Santos; the Kennedys and FDR as aristocrats with policies for the poor; Obama cashing in after his presidency; even Bernie becoming a millionaire after his book; moratoriums on lobbying for ex-members of Congress; public financing for campaigns; rich foundations embracing “white supremacy”; how Palin and Kamala and Boris didn’t grow into the office; and why DeSantis looks great on paper but is struggling against Trump.

Browse the Dishcast archive for another conversation you might enjoy (the first 102 episodes are free in their entirety — subscribe to get everything else). Coming up: Lee Fang on the tensions within the left, Josh Barro defending the Biden administration, and Michael Moynihan on general kibitzing. Please send any guest recs and pod dissent to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

Here’s a listener on last week’s episode on Gen Z:

I loved your interview with Jean Twenge.

As a Gen X parent of 20-somethings and a teenager, it occurred to me that the simplest reason kids aren’t having sex or in-person relationships is not TikTok or living on phones: kids are sooo scheduled by parents nowadays in a way we never were. Teens are just never alone with each other the way we were. They have after-school travel sports, clubs so they can get into college, service groups, etc, etc. Otherwise they are home where mom and dad can make sure they got their homework done.

I’m a guilty parent who is going to schedule my teens less.

Here’s another listener on teen sex:

I think you both missed one of the main reasons that Gen Z is so risk averse. Compared to when we grew up, the consequences of misbehavior are completely out of proportion to the actual “crime.” Getting drunk at the prom? Slap on the wrist in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Drunk at the prom in 2018? Suspension from school and a record of the infraction included on all college applications. The school might even call the police if you were suspected of DUI.

I guarantee you my kids would love to be having the carefree sex that we had, but the consequences of misreading a signal are dire. You’re marked as a misogynist sex pervert if you make a mistake. Each fall, their colleges require them to attend a SIX-HOUR “conversation” on the ins and outs of what is appropriate sexual behavior. As you can imagine, the talks are basically a mishmash of Newspeak that marks the boys as horrible for even wanting to fuck.

If you do make a mistake, you get lectured, shamed and humiliated. In the ‘80s, if someone made an unwanted advance, I told them to cut it out. Most often they tried again, to make sure the answer was no. I’d tell them to stop, and we all went on with our lives. 

So of course Gen Z is risk averse. If they make a mistake, they’re screwed, and not the good way.

Another adds, “I suspect that believing life is more risky than it actually is provides some people with an inflated sense of importance.”

A dissenter is more sanguine about Gen Z: