No One Wants Politicians Who Are This Online

At least one senator who recently voted to send billions more in aid to Israel amid its war on Gaza is now answering the real questions, such as…who is in her “dream blunt rotation.” At a stop on Pod Save America this week, host Jon Favreau asked Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) pressing questions like who she’d choose between President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to smoke it up with.

“This has nothing to do with weed. It’s who you think is fun…these are people you’d go get pedicures with, this what you’re telling me,” Warren says, before naming The Rock without missing a beat. Even when Favreau puts former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), rapper Snoop Dogg, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Taylor Swift on the list, Warren says: “I’m still with The Rock.”

@ewarren chooses her dream blunt rotation and talks about legalizing marijuana.#PodSaveAmerica #CrookedMedia #ElizabethWarren #Marijuana pic.twitter.com/DGln5IEv9B

— Pod Save America (@PodSaveAmerica) February 19, 2024

Sure, Warren didn’t bring up the topic, but that’s honestly beside the point. Who decided that our septuagenarian and octogenarian elected officials should know what a “dream blunt rotation” is? (The Pod Save crew…I guess?) Or that they should create hyper-specific hashtags like “#HillaryBarbie,” or attempt to be in on the Dark Brandon meme?? It reeks of pandering and in light of… everything happening in the world, it goes beyond cringe to deeply upsetting. I don’t know what the point of seeming like you’re in touch with youth culture is if you, as someone with actual power, won’t do anything to materially improve the lives of said youths—like, say, call for a ceasefire, codify abortion rights, actually act on student loan forgiveness…literally anything!

At this point, it feels like we’re about one degree removed from some Democratic senator tweeting about the importance of having enough “rizz” to get a defense bill passed, or defending Biden from questions about his age by insisting he has “BDE.” (A Republican politician already used that phrase about Trump in 2022, and yes it still makes me throw up in my mouth.)

I am going to light myself on fire https://t.co/JW9CXOjesV

— connor (@connor_soup) February 19, 2024

As I wrote last week, when Biden (well, realistically, someone on his team) shared a Dark Brandon meme after the Super Bowl, while Israeli forces killed dozens of displaced Palestinians in Rafah:

No one is asking for funny politicians who are ~good~ at social media. What we’re asking—begging—for is a fucking ceasefire. Anything in lieu of that (especially stale attempts at comedy and reliability) is just an insult.