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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<body>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What Biden Should Say About the Economy During the State of the Union</strong> - With the President’s economic approval rating standing at just forty per cent, it’s imperative for him to highlight some of his substantive achievements and talk about the future. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/what-biden-should-say-about-the-economy-during-the-state-of-the-union">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Forty-three Mexican Students Went Missing. What Really Happened to Them?</strong> - One night in 2014, a group of young men from a rural teachers’ college vanished. Since then, their families have fought for answers. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/03/11/what-really-happened-to-the-forty-three">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Lucy Prebble’s Dramas of High Anxiety</strong> - In plays such as “The Effect” and TV shows such as “I Hate Suzie” and “Succession,” the writer has become an expert at getting deep inside worried characters’ heads. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/03/11/lucy-prebbles-dramas-of-high-anxiety">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Joe Biden’s Last Campaign</strong> - Trailing Trump in polls and facing doubts about his age, the President voices defiant confidence in his prospects for reëlection. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/03/11/joe-bidens-last-campaign">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Legacy of RuPaul’s “Drag Race”</strong> - The drag star brought the form mainstream, and made an empire out of queer expression. Now he fears “the absolute worst.” - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/03/11/rupaul-doesnt-see-how-thats-any-of-your-business">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>Democrats’ latest problem: 1 in 5 Latino voters are considering switching parties</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/hWMd7E5EaPZaTOfueeKXRGqlC0k=/747x0:6720x4480/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73185774/1234035161.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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A Trump 2024 flag waves at a “Freedom Rally” in support of Cubans demonstrating against their government in Miami on July 17, 2021. | Eva Marie Uzcategui/AFP via Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Both Democrats and Republicans are considering making a change, but it’s Biden’s party that has more to lose.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tb4mRa">
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Since 2020, one of the major questions hanging over the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2024-elections">2024 election</a> is whether <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/5/4/23708278/joe-biden-kamala-harris-2024-election-latino-voters-julie-chavez-rodriguez">Latino voters</a> will continue to ditch Democrats in favor of the GOP. Now, a new national poll of Latino voters offers some warning signs for Republicans as well as Democrats as the general election crystallizes: A sizable chunk of Latino voters appear to be willing to rethink their party loyalties.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jep2pV">
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Some 19.4 percent, or about one in five Latino voters, say they have considered changing their political affiliation either by switching parties or becoming independents, according to <a href="https://gordoninstitute.fiu.edu/research/latino-public-opinion-forum/annual-hispanic-public-opinion-survey-2023.pdf">a national survey</a> released by Florida International University (FIU) and the marketing firm Adsmovil. A majority of those wavering voters (61.1 percent) say they’d be open to leaving the Democratic Party and a plurality of those Democratic waverers (38.1 percent) would become Republicans.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p8KbMX">
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Though that’s a small share of all Latino voters, that’s still a significant number for a demographic group whose loyalty to Democrats has been eroding since <a href="https://www.vox.com/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>’s presidency.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wuBQ0f">
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“We used to say in political science that party [identification] was one of the most stable things that we could use to study,” Eduardo Gamarra, the co-director of FIU’s Latino Public Opinion Forum and the author of this study, told me. “It was generational. You could go back three or four generations of voters and [party ID] would remain stable. Now, all of that is changing, and especially so among Hispanics.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="og0Zop">
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To be sure, a majority of Latino respondents say they are still pretty firm in their political identity and affiliation. Democrats — including <a href="https://www.vox.com/joe-biden">President Joe Biden</a> — still win the support of an outright majority of Latino voters.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vfe6XT">
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Some caveats are also in order when looking at polls: This result is just one data point — a snapshot in time at the end of 2023. And the election is still eight months away, so dynamics could definitely change.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tItkDn">
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But it’s a large, high-quality piece of data — a nationally representative sample of 1,221 Latino voters instead of an extrapolation from a tiny crosstab sample of a few hundred. Since 2020, other <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/23770342/latino-voters-democrats-2022-2024-election-new-reality">surveys</a> and <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/re0gtn1o57fzwp5/Catalist_What_Happened_2022_Public_National_Crosstabs_2023_05_18.xlsx?e=1&dl=0">election results</a> have also <a href="https://x.com/admcrlsn/status/1765069855173337401?s=20">shown</a> that Democrats are struggling to retain the support of Latino voters and reverse Republican gains. This FIU report suggests that trend is continuing.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0Y94fv">
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It also suggests that 2024 is shaping up to be a tumultuous year for American voters, particularly those younger and more diverse constituencies that make up a core part of the Democratic coalition, including Latino and Hispanic voters. These voters are feeling pressure from many directions, and Republicans have an opportunity to expand the inroads they have made and held since the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020-presidential-election">2020 election</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uq8RC1">
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The Democratic coalition is changing. The open question is just how drastic that change will be.
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</p>
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<h3 id="vbqHE7">
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Latinos’ partisanship has been fairly stable
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LPuVRq">
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Gamarra is right when he says that partisanship has tended to be a pretty static factor in American politics; the same is roughly true for Latino voters. Looking at survey data from 1994 to 2017, the Pew Research Center reports that partisan affiliation among all registered voters has <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2018/03/20/1-trends-in-party-affiliation-among-demographic-groups/">generally not changed</a> in those two decades. The same has been true for Hispanic and Latino voters in the years for which Pew has data available: The share of Latino voters identifying as Democrats or leaning to that party has stayed roughly the same from 2004 to 2017 with about a 60-30 split in affiliation.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rcRztd">
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But more recently, those allegiances have shifted a bit — and to Democrats’ detriment. Trump made electoral gains with Latinos in 2020 that Republican candidates were generally able to keep during the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23357154/2022-midterm-elections-guide">2022 midterms</a>. And the Democratic advantage in Latino partisan affiliation began to shrink during and after Trump’s presidency. In 2017, for example, Democrats enjoyed a 35-point advantage over Republicans with whom Latino voters identified; two years later, that advantage was 28 points, according to <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/race-ethnicity/2022/09/29/most-latinos-say-democrats-care-about-them-and-work-hard-for-their-vote-far-fewer-say-so-of-gop/">Pew’s numbers</a>. That smaller gap stuck around in 2022.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3sZN8N">
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Those are small shifts, but they point to there being fertile ground for additional changes in partisan loyalty during the 2024 cycle.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dEEQtc">
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And this is where the FIU/Adsmovil study adds new insights: Those 19 percent of Hispanic and Latino voters who say they’d be open to switching parties are mostly voters who’d be open to leaving the Democratic coalition — about 60 percent of those voters.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Agw99K">
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More specifically, 38.1 percent of these wavering voters would flip affiliation from Democratic to Republican. An additional 23 percent would switch from Democratic to independent.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UKAIfw">
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The survey also showed Latino Republicans rethinking their chosen party. But those Democratic losses are greater than whatever gains they would make from Republicans changing their loyalty. Of these waverers, 11.1 percent would flip from Republican to Democrat and 6.2 percent would leave the Republicans to become independent.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="s9ofWy">
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There’s a silver lining for Democrats among self-described independent Latino voters who are considering a change. There, 9 percent would become Democrats, as opposed to the 5.3 percent who would become Republicans.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l114CI">
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These numbers confirm a<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/race-ethnicity/2022/09/29/most-latinos-say-democrats-care-about-them-and-work-hard-for-their-vote-far-fewer-say-so-of-gop/"> finding</a> from Pew after the 2022 midterms that, though partisan affiliation has been relatively stable for most of the last 20 years, the future of these patterns “remains uncertain.” A good deal of Latino voters are the kind of partisans “with soft ties to the political parties.” According to Pew, there are about one in 10 Latino voters who call themselves Democrat or Republican but hold political and ideological views that are much closer to the opposite political party.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hhqw9g">
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These are the kind of cross-pressured, persuadable voters that could be won over through smart campaigning, tailored messaging, and exploiting the preexisting sense of dissatisfaction many voters have with both parties.
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</p>
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<h3 id="z0I0a9">
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An opportunity doesn’t guarantee an outcome
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KXdTxA">
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These figures all suggest that Republicans have a big opportunity in 2024 to reorder demographic and political coalitions. But it won’t be easy.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="erUGTm">
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When asked which political party would better handle specific issues, Democrats still receive the support of a majority of Latino voters on traditionally Democratic topics, like education or <a href="https://www.vox.com/health-care">health care</a>, in this FIU/Adsmovil study. But they only get a plurality of support on the <a href="https://www.vox.com/economy">economy</a>, immigration, and foreign policy — areas that make sense for Republicans to center as campaign issues this cycle.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lpEBnT">
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At the presidential level, the FIU poll also shows that Trump and Republicans can hold onto their 2020 gains. A third of Latino voters say they’d back Trump now, while a slight majority of 53 percent would back Biden. A separate 13 percent aren’t sure about their pick, and it’s this wavering group of voters that Republicans have a chance to attract and that may have a wavering loyalty to Biden specifically.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bPMacW">
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Still, about 60 percent of Latino voters in this poll think the Democrats are the political party that best represents them, compared to the 24 percent who say that about Republicans. That 60 percent is higher than both the share of voters who would call themselves Democrats (56 percent), and who would back Biden now (53 percent), which suggests room for Democratic growth and a challenge for Republicans who will have to do a lot of persuasion in the next few months.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rdEKGz">
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And there will be more to complicate the path for Republicans: Latino voters have a lower propensity to vote, to be tuned into the political cycle at this point, and to hear from political candidates, meaning they’ll have to invest heavily in outreach and specific messaging to these communities. Democrats have a slight leg up on this, given how much they have relied on Latino voters before.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nU0iiv">
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But all the signs are pointing toward an electorate in churn. It may still shift a lot in the coming months, and it may surprise a lot of people come November.
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>Republicans just passed up the chance to win a historic landslide</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Presidential candidate Nikki Haley onstage waving to supporters." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/e58UIhlYefN_yeyJ5gXdQQ--d_Y=/0x0:7339x5504/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73185766/2051572700.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Nikki Haley waves to supporters in Texas. | Mark Felix/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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If Republicans ever figure out how to nominate a normal human, Democrats could be in trouble.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wQ2has">
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<a href="https://www.vox.com/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a> are among the <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/favorability/donald-trump/">most</a> <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/biden-approval-rating/">unpopular</a> politicians in their respective parties. And yet, both routed their competition in Super Tuesday’s primary elections. Unless either man dies or abruptly retires, they will both be on the presidential ballot this November.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RcEiHN">
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Although both parties are uniting behind weak standard-bearers, the Democrats’ apparent strategic failure has <a href="https://www.vox.com/joe-biden/2024/2/23/24081128/joe-biden-age-mental-fitness-brokered-dnc-kamala-harris">attracted greater scrutiny</a>. Which is understandable. After all, it is Biden — not Trump — who is on pace to lose, if <a href="https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/president/general/2024/trump-vs-biden">current polls are any guide</a>. Given the president’s advanced age and extraordinarily low approval rating, it’s hard to believe that he is Blue America’s best hope.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ppCIdd">
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And yet, when pollsters ask voters for their preference in a hypothetical race between Trump and various other prominent Democrats, no Biden alternative consistently outperforms the president. An <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4470956-biden-trump-harris-newsom-poll/">Emerson College poll</a> released last month showed Trump leading Biden by 1 point, besting <a href="https://www.vox.com/kamala-harris">Kamala Harris</a> by 3 points, and routing California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer by 10 and 12 points respectively.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SX3WoM">
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These results likely reflect Whitmer’s and Newsom’s low national name recognition more than anything else (in Michigan, where Whitmer is widely known, she does <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/09/michigan-poll-trump-biden-whitmer-00134672">much better than Biden against Trump</a>). Nevertheless, it remains the case that there is no stack of polling data showing any given Democrat trouncing Trump. And there has also been no challenger in the Democratic primary field capable of winning a non-negligible share of the vote.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GlaJNF">
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Things are different in Red America. Former South Carolina Gov. <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2023/2/14/23599194/nikki-haley-donald-trump-2024-presidential-campaign">Nikki Haley</a> never posed a serious threat to Trump’s renomination.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uQ45DC">
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If she had beaten him, however, polls suggest that Republicans could all but guarantee their coalition’s triumph in November. Instead, they’ve settled on a candidate that a majority of voters disdain.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wObnX1">
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In national polls of a hypothetical 2024 race, Haley leads Biden by <a href="https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/president/general/2024/haley-vs-biden">an average of 5 points</a>, while Trump edges the president <a href="https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/president/general/2024/trump-vs-biden">by just 2</a>. And the gap between the two Republicans’ respective showings is more pronounced in some of America’s most highly regarded surveys. The latest <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/02/us/politics/biden-trump-times-siena-poll.html">New York Times/Siena College poll</a>, for example, puts Trump’s lead over Biden at 5 points and Haley’s at 10. More remarkably, Haley’s double-digit advantage in the poll comes despite the fact that a quarter of Trump’s supporters wouldn’t commit to backing her. Were Haley to consolidate the support of voters who prefer Trump over Biden, her lead over the president would <a href="https://twitter.com/Nate_Cohn/status/1763937066180604411">swell to 24 points</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RMjuN0">
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Haley has also secured landslide margins in some battleground-state polls. Last month, a <a href="https://law.marquette.edu/poll/2024/02/07/marquette-law-school-poll-survey-of-wisconsin-finds-biden-and-trump-tied-among-registered-voters-trump-up-1-among-likely-voters/">Marquette Law School </a>survey showed Trump statistically tied with Biden in Wisconsin, even as Haley bested the president in the pivotal swing state by 15 points.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lAT18f">
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All this should make both parties uncomfortable.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xUNkXQ">
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By all appearances, Republicans have just forfeited the opportunity to secure a Reagan-esque national landslide. Beyond likely ensuring Biden’s defeat, a Haley nomination would have given the GOP an excellent chance of amassing large congressional majorities to boot. In today’s America, all politics is national. Voters tend to back the same party up and down the ballot. A Haley landslide would therefore have translated into massive Republican success in House, Senate, and state elections.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NVZuZf">
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This in turn would have made many of the conservative movement’s longtime goals more legislatively feasible. Republicans came one vote shy of partially repealing the <a href="https://www.vox.com/obamacare">Affordable Care Act</a> in 2017. At that time, they held only 51 Senate seats. With larger majorities, the GOP would likely be able to slash federal health care spending and top tax rates. More consequentially, a large Republican Senate majority would plausibly have the votes to abolish the legislative filibuster, and then enact nationwide restrictions on <a href="https://www.vox.com/abortion">abortion</a>, sharp cuts in legal immigration, and myriad other conservative aspirations.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="k0HiFN">
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A relatively narrow Trump victory, by contrast, could leave much of the right’s agenda unfulfilled. A close Republican win at the presidential level would even be compatible with Democrats winning a House majority, an outcome that would tightly constrain conservatives’ policy gains.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3rqwoQ">
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In other words, the conservative movement had a golden opportunity in 2024 to secure an electoral landslide with transformational policy implications. Republicans won’t get to run against an 81-year-old man with a <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/biden-approval-rating/">56 percent disapproval rating</a> every election cycle. Widespread discontent with post-Covid inflation and distrust of Biden’s mental fitness has created an opening for the GOP to win big without making significant ideological compromises (Haley is a <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/24042053/nikki-haley-moderate-conservative-democracy">very conservative Republican</a>, by any reasonable metric). Instead, Republicans decided to throw Biden a lifeline by mobilizing behind a serially indicted demagogue whom a majority of Americans dislike.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mi7w0B">
|
||
Thus, Democrats dodged a bullet. But that brush with electoral devastation should inspire more concern than relief. Trump won’t be around forever. A post-MAGA Republican Party is coming. And for the moment, the Democratic brand looks to be in dire shape.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EuG2qO">
|
||
Last fall, voters told <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/511979/neither-party-liked-gop-holds-advantage-issues.aspx">Gallup</a> that they believed Republicans would do a better job than Democrats on “keeping the country prosperous” by a margin of 53 to 39 percent. In the past three decades of Gallup’s polling, Republicans have never had a larger edge on economic management.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="e61N4j">
|
||
According to the same survey, the GOP also boasts a 22-point advantage on <a href="https://www.vox.com/defense-and-security">national security</a> and an 8-point one on “the problem you think is most important” (whatever that may be).
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hozeTP">
|
||
Gallup’s findings are consistent with those of other recent surveys. An <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/first-read/poll-republicans-advantages-immigration-crime-economy-rcna117054">NBC News poll</a> from late last year found voters trusting Republicans over Democrats on the <a href="https://www.vox.com/economy">economy</a> by a 21-point margin and on immigration by an 18-point one. Other recent polling <a href="https://www.wsj.com/podcasts/google-news-update/immigration-tops-the-economy-as-top-voter-concern-wsj-poll-finds/c7ca1615-9378-492b-b662-883718b02c03">indicates</a> that these are the most politically salient issues to Americans at the moment. Perhaps most alarmingly, however, NBC found Republicans nearly erasing the Democrats’ perennial lead on “looking out for the middle class.” Since the New Deal era, the perception that Democrats are uniquely concerned with the plight of ordinary Americans has been one of the party’s core strengths.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bse0yl">
|
||
Democratic leaders are not fully to blame for their party’s damaged reputation. Virtually every country suffered a spike in inflation when their economies reopened following the Covid crisis. And virtually every party that happened to be in power when prices surged has <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/24049643/2024-election-polls-biden-economy">seen its approval numbers collapse</a>. Biden’s polling is terrible by historical standards but not by international ones. While Biden’s approval rating sits at a measly 38 percent, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s <a href="https://angusreid.org/trudeau-tracker/">is at 32 percent</a>, and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s has <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/8-in-10-britons-think-rishi-sunaks-government-has-done-bad-job-managing-immigration">fallen to 21 percent</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JFvduK">
|
||
Nevertheless, the costs of presiding over widely resented economic conditions can be long-lasting. As the political scientists Larry Bartels and Christopher Achen <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691169446/democracy-for-realists">have shown</a>, parties that found themselves in power when the Great Depression struck tended to struggle electorally for a generation, regardless of their ideological orientation. America has scarcely suffered an economic cataclysm on Biden’s watch, but the Democrats’ association with a period of anomalously fast price growth threatens to reinforce damaging stereotypes about liberals’ fiscal irresponsibility.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EIl11W">
|
||
Democrats must therefore hope that Trump’s unique toxicity combined with the US economy’s objective strength allow Biden to overcome both the globe-spanning backlash to incumbents and his own personal liabilities. In the longer run, however, the party must somehow regain the American public’s trust on economic management before Republicans figure out how to nominate a normal presidential candidate.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>No one wants an Oscar as badly as Bradley Cooper</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/s149C-VrUerhMxKCBXWNmH8l6Y0=/533x0:4800x3200/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73185752/1851899492.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
This is Bradley Cooper’s face. | Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Maestro’s Oscar campaign has shown us the real Bradley Cooper: He’s a try-hard.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hMbZ4l">
|
||
Where were you when you realized that you knew too much about Bradley Cooper? Was it when he revealed he spent <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/16/entertainment/bradley-cooper-practiced-six-years-to-do-six-minutes-of-conducting-in-maestro/index.html">six years</a> studying conducting to perform as Leonard Bernstein in his auteurist <a href="https://www.vox.com/netflix">Netflix</a> original film <em>Maestro</em>? Or perhaps it was the time <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/stephaniesoteriou/bradley-cooper-called-out-cries-leonard-bernstein">he cried</a> in front of Bernstein’s surviving family. Maybe it was when he said <a href="https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1763370025602228519">his dad walked around naked</a> his whole childhood? Or when you learned that he reportedly <a href="https://ew.com/bradley-cooper-explains-why-doesnt-allow-chairs-on-set-8416364">“hates” chairs</a>, and banned them on his set because they suck the energy out of the people who sit in them?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HCKdA0">
|
||
The reason many of us know a lot about Cooper at this moment is that he’s in the home stretch of an Oscar campaign for <em>Maestro, </em>which he directed, co-wrote, and starred in. The film is up for seven <a href="https://www.vox.com/oscars">Oscars</a>, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Cooper.<em><strong> </strong></em>And an Oscar campaign means a lot of talking about the movie in the hope that what you say will sway voters to give said film awards. Cooper currently has zero Oscars, despite 12 total nominations, and the interviews he’s been giving indicate that he would very much like to change that goose egg.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UUPyAT">
|
||
What’s perhaps strange to some is that Bradley Cooper is a man who became famous for being cool and hot, and for starring in <a href="https://www.vox.com/movies">movies</a> — <em>Wet Hot American Summer,</em> <em>Wedding Crashers</em>, <em>The Hangover</em>, <em>Guardians of the Galaxy</em> — that aren’t Oscar stuff.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ywWyZW">
|
||
When did the guy who voices a machine gun-toting space raccoon start caring about the interior life of Leonard Bernstein? When exactly did the bro in <em>Wedding Crashers</em> become a method actor? Why is a guy who is so good at being likable in some movies so unbelievably bad at being likable in real life?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="M4TyzQ">
|
||
The thing is: It’s the other way around. This extremely serious, try-hard man who hates chairs and loves Leonard Bernstein is who Bradley Cooper has always been — whether we like him or not.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="nc0Iqd">
|
||
What if Bradley Cooper has always been a try-hard?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tWrJ0S">
|
||
Cooper has been in the conversation for acting Oscars since 2012’s <em>Silver Linings Playbook. </em>Cooper wasn’t going to beat Daniel Day-Lewis’s turn as Abraham Lincoln at that year’s ceremony, but he was largely seen as a talented underdog who showed more versatility than his previous roles. Looking back, Cooper probably should have received more awards for his 2018 directorial debut, <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/10/8/17951780/star-is-born-lady-gaga-bradley-cooper-news-reviews"><em>A Star is Born</em></a>. He could have taken home the Best Actor award that year — Rami Malek’s win for <em>Bohemian Rhapsody </em>seems more clownish by the day — and even if the film was not Best Picture, it’s clear no film should have lost to <em>Green Book</em>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt="Lady Gaga kisses Bradley Cooper on the cheek at the U.K. film premiere of “A Star Is Born” in London." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/T9ISQi857RpdBzAtvEB45KlbFJI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25319501/1042197464.jpg"/> <cite>Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Honestly, Bradley Cooper probably shouldn’t have lost to <em>Green Book</em>. No one should have lost to <em>Green Book</em>.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="h1rEY4">
|
||
But it was during that latter Oscar run that something shifted.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nLi11O">
|
||
In September 2018, during the Oscar campaign for <em>A Star is Born</em>, the New York Times published a story on Cooper entitled “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/27/movies/bradley-cooper-a-star-is-born.html">Bradley Cooper Is Not Really Into This Profile</a>.” Journalist Taffy Brodesser-Akner detailed at length how reluctant Cooper was to give her personal details about the extremely powerful film he created, to the point where Cooper seemed disenchanted, even annoyed at her. He basically told her that she and anyone else who isn’t an artist like Cooper would never fully understand the way he creates art.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mOlctO">
|
||
The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg explained at the time that the New York Times<em> </em>profile <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/oscars-can-a-star-is-born-still-pull-a-best-picture-win-1185329/">soured Cooper’s image</a>, that he was no longer seen as the talented, lovable hunk but an actor-director who had suddenly become insufferably self-serious.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wfnmXc">
|
||
But the thing is, and what Brodesser-Akner highlights so well in that profile, is that Cooper was never a stud who accidentally became a serious actor. It’s the other way around. Cooper has always been a serious theater kid, one who got his MFA at the Actors Studio, who just happened to get famous for playing hot idiot bros.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NaKzUC">
|
||
There is no better evidence of who Bradley Cooper is than footage from his time as a student at the Actors Studio, where successful thespians often dropped by — on camera! — to share their wisdom. Cooper <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiBuYdTmVGY">has said</a> that he learned firsthand from Ellen Burstyn, and he <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@the_cinema_group/video/7217218872393370926?lang=en">famously asked</a> Robert De Niro an extremely nerdy question about his mannerisms and the nuance behind his gestures. There’s also a clip of Cooper <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@the_cinema_group/video/7221276539885866283?lang=en&q=bradley%20cooper%20sean%20penn&t=1709512165090">geeking out</a> and asking Sean Penn about David Mamet’s <em>Hurlyburly</em> and what it was like to revisit a theater role for a movie adaptation.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tv6OhS">
|
||
When Cooper returned to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtbZydlh3vw&t=1423s">Actors Studio in 2011</a>, this time as a pro, he spoke about T<em>he Hangover</em> at length. In that film, Cooper’s character is attacked by a tiger during a Vegas bachelor party, so presumably the actor tried to bring nuance to getting lacerated by a big cat, saying that he was invigorated to “play the truth” of that moment and the movie’s other hijinks.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MTmiKt">
|
||
I am not an expert actor nor a victim of a big cat attack, but I can confidently say that Bradley Cooper is extremely serious about acting. Directing, starring in, and writing movies like <em>A Star is Born</em> and <em>Maestro</em> are actually what he’s always wanted, even though he’s so good at playing dudes who are the exact opposite. And what’s made it so strange is that people, including some of his biggest critics, prefer the latter.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="273mAc">
|
||
In retrospect, Cooper snobbily withholding personal details during <em>A Star is Born</em> couldn’t be more different from Cooper bombarding us with TMI about <em>Maestro</em>. Going from telling Brodesser-Akner nothing to telling anyone everything is a stark contrast. But as dissimilar as Cooper’s behavior has been across the two campaigns, they both indicate that this man seriously wants an Oscar.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EZpi8o">
|
||
Cooper’s desire just seems much more blazingly obvious with <em>Maestro, </em>a movie that checks so <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/maestro-movie-review-bradley-cooper-leonard-bernstein-oscar-bait-2023-12#:~:text='Maestro'%20is%20obvious%20Oscars%20bait,make%20it%20a%20good%20movie&text=Directed%20by%20Bradley%20Cooper%20and,is%20gunning%20for%20major%20awards.">many</a><a href="https://www.polygon.com/24003234/maestro-bradley-cooper-analysis-netflix"> Oscar-bait</a><a href="https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/movies/a46190604/maestro-ending-explained/"> boxes</a> — <a href="https://www.vox.com/23958988/bradley-cooper-maestro-jewish-nose-representation-hollywood-history">prosthetics</a>, a <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/24006274/oppenheimer-napoleon-maestro-ferrari-biopics">famous male subject</a>, Mid-Atlantic accents, closeted gayness, Hollywood and <a href="https://www.vox.com/theater">Broadway</a> as settings, and a lot of people calling each other “darling,” sometimes in very hostile ways — but <a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/maestro-2023/">has not been</a> the <a href="https://www.awardsdaily.com/2024/02/29/oscars-2024-frontrunners-and-challengers/">favorite</a> this season.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="pHdioN">
|
||
The <em>Maestro</em> press tour has been as endless as it has been winless
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Rw0uLU">
|
||
Campaigning for <em>Maestro</em> has given us the clearest glimpse into Bradley Cooper’s most serious form. Since its release in September, the movie has been accompanied — if not eclipsed — by Cooper talking about how hard the film was to make, how committed he was in making the biopic, and how the experience changed him on an empirical level.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VaHMEH">
|
||
For starters: his vendetta against chairs. Talking to fellow director Spike Lee for <a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/features/bradley-cooper-spike-lee-maestro-no-chairs-set-method-acting-1235821551/">Variety</a>, Cooper said that chairs are like vampires. Seats, you see, suck the power from people on them. It might seem like a rest for achy knees or a respite for your barking dogs, but to Cooper that’s all a trap. “I’ve always hated chairs on sets; your energy dips the minute you sit down in a chair,” he told Lee.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/LPNFZeIVR9EH19ZNZvP_VDKBYR0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25319514/1400301893.jpg"/> <cite>Gotham/GC Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Bradley Cooper on the set of <em>Maestro</em> with Steven Spielberg and not a chair to be seen!
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1C6rM3">
|
||
In addition to running his movies with the same spirit as a Zara floor manager, Cooper also told Lee that he was so deep into the role of Leonard Bernstein that he would give out orders in Leonard Bernstein’s voice. “Yes, I was playing Lenny throughout his life,” he said. “It was hilarious, because on days when I was young Lenny, the energy of the set was faster and we got more done. And then when I was old Lenny, it had a slower gear. If you ask the crew or cast, Lenny directed the movie.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5wfE1x">
|
||
Yet, despite <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/16/entertainment/bradley-cooper-practiced-six-years-to-do-six-minutes-of-conducting-in-maestro/index.html">six years studying</a> how conductors’ arms move (up, down, side to side), not sitting, and developing an emotional attachment to Bernstein so powerful that his spirit moves the director <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/stephaniesoteriou/bradley-cooper-called-out-cries-leonard-bernstein">to cry</a>, Cooper has lost every major acting award that he’s been up for this past year. That wouldn’t be an issue if Cooper didn’t seem to care so much.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LrIfIN">
|
||
If Cooper is finding out in real time that Hollywood doesn’t care how hard you work, he is also learning, in real time, another cold truth: There are few things people love to dislike more than an actor who talks endlessly about how hard they work.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LuG7ec">
|
||
The awards show circuit has galvanized the chortling and “get a load of this guy” quips during the <em>Maestro</em> press tour into mildly malicious glee at watching Cooper lose prize after prize. Screencaps of Cooper’s reaction after losing to Cillian Murphy at the <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/oscarrace/comments/191e85g/i_feel_bad_for_bradley_cooper/">Golden Globes</a> and the <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@nadiathefrog_/video/7339605630694542625?lang=en&q=bradley%20cooper%20golden%20globes%20cillian%20murphy&t=1709250045500">SAG</a>s have gone viral. Of course, no one but Cooper knows what’s going on in Cooper’s brain after these losses. But given the rounds he’s done in <a href="https://www.vox.com/media">the media</a> and spontaneous crying, his haters have created their own popular narrative about how much this must hurt a man<a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2023/12/29/24018215/bradley-cooper-maestro-movie-leonard-bernstein"> who wants all the awards</a> so bad.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CMnZgL">
|
||
Adding possible insult to injury, Murphy, who will probably beat Cooper at the Oscars this week, said it took him only<a href="https://twitter.com/60Minutes/status/1759379276397228195"> six months</a> to prepare for <em>Oppenheimer</em>. Six months is nothing compared to six years. (Although, if it helps, Murphy might not have been <a href="https://www.cnet.com/culture/entertainment/christopher-nolan-addresses-on-set-chair-ban-thats-sitting-well-as-twitter-meme/">allowed to sit on set</a>.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="h929B2">
|
||
Bradley Cooper just can’t win — and that’s the part we hate most
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7HVvAk">
|
||
The backlash against Cooper isn’t unlike the kind of conversations that surround fellow thespians <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/jared-letos-most-absurd-method-acting-stories-from-morbius-peeing-to-sending-a-rat-on-suicide-squad">Jared Leto</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/09/opinion/culture/jeremy-strong-new-yorker-careerist-striver.html">Jeremy Strong</a>. People find their deep, serious commitment to the craft — which usually manifests in some sort of anecdote about method acting — <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/brian-cox-jeremy-strong-method-acting-annoying-succession/">annoying</a> if not insufferable. It just seems so difficult for certain actors, whose professions are all about being perceived in very specific ways, to not be annoying. If their job is about faking it, why can’t they just fake this one thing<em> </em>a little bit? And if you’re lucky enough to be in the middle of an Oscars campaign, isn’t that part of the job?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="knvrMv">
|
||
Perhaps it’s because they’ve never really had to worry about it too much.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7cUo4X">
|
||
Actresses have found it more difficult than their male counterparts when it comes to likability. After winning Oscars in 2013, <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/4/10/15179082/anne-hathaway-publicity-cycle-hathahaters-jennifer-lawrence-taylor-swift">Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Lawrence</a> were each dragged for trying so hard to be good at their jobs and acceptably charming in interviews. Every movie they’re in now seems to come with an implicit acknowledgment of how sexist and horrible we were to them back then.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt="Steven Spielberg interviews Bradley Cooper onstage. Cooper is holding a microphone and pointing. Both are seated in chairs. At the TCL Chinese Theatre on December 9, 2023, in Los Angeles, California." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/RxFipae5vYa0NJ_5x8gSeGNGTJk=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25319515/1836381600.jpg"/> <cite>AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
For someone so anti-chair, Bradley Cooper seems extremely comfortable sitting in one.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KqaoU5">
|
||
For men, being annoying is usually forgiven if the final product is worth it. The quality of their movies has always been more important than whether or not they seem like fun to be around. That measure of quality is perhaps why certain actors (Daniel Day-Lewis) get a pass with being pretentious, and why an actor’s placing on the insufferable index isn’t permanent (<a href="https://www.gq.com/story/christian-bale-november-cover-interview">Christian Bale</a> seems to float in and out of it).
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PEFChz">
|
||
For actors-turned-directors, the pipeline is even more forgiving, provided the work turns out. Kevin Costner and Mel Gibson were both mocked for their first projects — <em>Dances with Wolves</em> was derided as “<a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/1289758-kevin-costner-reveals-his-reason-for-directing-dances-with-wolves">Kevin’s Gate</a>,” a nod to the notoriously time-consuming Terrence Malick film “Heaven’s Gate,” and <em>Braveheart</em>’s notoriously <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/mel-gibson-versus-history-braveheart-got-william-wallace-wrong/">inaccurate history</a> was a point of fun — but those jokes seemingly disappeared when the films became award winners. Similarly, Clint Eastwood’s career highs as a director have made it exponentially easier to forget some of the egregious <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/12/11/21004892/richard-jewell-review-kathy-scruggs-clint-eastwood">stinkers he’s created</a> or his <a href="https://variety.com/2020/film/news/clint-eastwood-mike-bloomberg-2020-election-1203511657/">outspoken politics</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MmmcfG">
|
||
Perhaps the prime model for actor-directors who tend to be a little embarrassing is Ben Affleck. Affleck seems to always be on the <a href="https://ew.com/awards/grammys/ben-affleck-explains-jennifer-lopez-viral-grammys-moment-memes/">brink of anguish</a> or on the verge of a <a href="https://www.eonline.com/news/1341715/sit-back-and-enjoy-the-renaissance-of-ben-affleck">cultural renaissance</a>. His career is peppered with <a href="https://www.theringer.com/2016/12/29/16037370/toward-a-universal-theory-of-ben-affleck-da1522b6f68e">redemptive directorial highs</a> like <em>Gone Baby Gone</em>,<em> The Tow</em>n, and Best Picture winner <em>Argo</em>; but also sad Batman, sad <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-appearances/the-great-sadness-of-ben-affleck">phoenix tattoo Affleck</a>, and the saga of <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/22629442/bennifer-jennifer-lopez-ben-affleck-reunion-explained">Bennifer 2.0</a>. Instead of trying to fight the scrutiny, the mockery, and public perception, Affleck now <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/feature/ben-affleck-air-production-company-grammys-memes-justice-league-1235353301/">simply states</a>: I am who I am.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f91gXo">
|
||
For Cooper, he’s always had the privilege of being more concerned with people liking the stuff he creates than people personally liking him. That’s what the New York Times<em> </em>profile got at: a guy who was so obsessed with the movie he made that he couldn’t help but sound like an absolute jerk about it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="98s9Wj">
|
||
Directing and acting in a movie is Cooper in his most honest form.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kHa9Ux">
|
||
The problem is that this time around, <em>Maestro</em> isn’t stellar enough to warrant everything Bradley Cooper has been saying about the making of <em>Maestro</em>. This, of course, shouldn’t deter Cooper from directing, but if he focused on acting, just for a moment, it might make us believe that he doesn’t care quite as much as he clearly, painfully does.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>West Brook, Jersey King, African Gold, Emeraldo and Carat Love excelled</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Come September shines</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Spanish prosecutors accuse Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti of alleged tax fraud</strong> - They accused the Italian coach of having defrauded 1 million euros in 2014 and 2015.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Shabnim Ismail bowls fastest delivery in women’s cricket, breaches 130kph</strong> - Playing for Mumbai Indians in their Women’s Premier League match against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Ismail shattered the record by clocking 132.1km/h</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Champions League | Kane double sends Bayern past Lazio into quarterfinal; Mbappe brace sees PSG through</strong> - Bayern Munich have now made it to at least the final eight in 12 of the last 13 Champions League campaigns.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Social security law for State’s gig workers in final stage, says Sivankutty</strong> - Labour Minister announces Thozhilali Sreshta awards in nineteen categories</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Here are the big stories from Karnataka today</strong> - Welcome to the Karnataka Today newsletter, your guide from The Hindu on the major news stories to follow today. Curated and written by Nalme Nachiyar.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Bengaluru Rameshwaram Cafe blast | NIA announces ₹10 lakh reward for information on prime suspect</strong> - At least 10 people were injured in the blast at Rameshwaram Cafe in Brookfield in East Bengaluru on March 1</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Watch | Explained: What led to the violence in Sandeshkhali?</strong> - Women of this region in West Bengal have alleged sexual assault and land grab by local Trinamool Congress leaders, and at the centre of the storm is Sheikh Shahjahan</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>PM Modi will visit Arunachal Pradesh on March 9 to inaugurate strategic Sela Tunnel</strong> - PM Modi will also lay the foundation stone for around 20 development projects, before proceeding to neighbouring Assam</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Row over ‘woke’ map as Paris gears up for Olympics</strong> - Conservatives in France are taking aim at a missing cross and the absence of the French tricolour.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>German ambassador to UK not sorry for leaked call</strong> - Miguel Berger told the BBC one of the participants had likely dialled in over a mobile phone or hotel internet.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>ICC issues arrest warrants for Russian commanders</strong> - The International Criminal Court has issued the arrest warrants over alleged war crimes in Ukraine.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine says seven killed in attack on Russian ship</strong> - Kyiv says the Sergei Kotov patrol ship sunk in the Black Sea after a sea drone attack.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Suspected bird poisonings threaten much-loved Serbian owls</strong> - The death of hundreds of birds could harm the wider ecosystem, including a population of long-eared owls.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Max confirms 2024 password crackdown, explores adding transactional ads</strong> - WBD looking for ways to grow newfound streaming business profitability. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2008117">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SpaceX just showed us what every day could be like in spaceflight</strong> - SpaceX wants to make these kinds of days the norm, not the exception. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2008042">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>We drive Mini’s first electric crossover, the 2025 Countryman SE ALL4</strong> - The Countryman SE goes on sale later in 2024, starting at $45,200. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2008091">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>After collecting $22 million, AlphV ransomware group stages FBI takedown</strong> - Affiliate claims payment came from AlphV victim, and AlphV took the money and ran. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2008120">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Microsoft argues Supreme Court’s VCR ruling should doom NYT’s OpenAI lawsuit</strong> - Microsoft: Copyright law “no more an obstacle to the LLM than it was to the VCR.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2008085">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What’s the difference between a prostitute, a girlfriend and a wife?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
A prostitute says “Faster, faster!” A girlfriend says “More, more!” A wife says “Beige… I think I’ll paint the ceiling beige.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/kickypie"> /u/kickypie </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b7v6d7/whats_the_difference_between_a_prostitute_a/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b7v6d7/whats_the_difference_between_a_prostitute_a/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Interviewer: So where do you see yourself in five years?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Me: I’d say my biggest weakness is listening
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/hearsdemons"> /u/hearsdemons </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b7mjsx/interviewer_so_where_do_you_see_yourself_in_five/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b7mjsx/interviewer_so_where_do_you_see_yourself_in_five/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Banned!</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
I was at the gym last night and I found a hole in one of my trainers, big enough to put my finger in…
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Anyway, she’s now made a complaint, and I’m banned for life.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/TheBoggzDollockz"> /u/TheBoggzDollockz </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b7uudk/banned/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b7uudk/banned/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>One day Jimmy John went to into a brothel on the west coast of Canada.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
He was greeted by a stunning hostess that politely asked how they can be of service.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Jimmy, with his Newfoundland accent says: “ I would like to see Peggy Sue.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The hostess replies: “ok, she is just finishing up and will be with you momentarily.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Peggy Sue comes out and leads Jim John into the back where she immediately gets right to business. Peg says “$100 for a bj and $200 for the full meal deal.” Jimmy hands her 200 and she rocks his world.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The next day, Jim comes back, at the same time and asks the same hostess to see Peggy Sue. This time, Peg was on standby and ready. Peggy, remembering Jimmy, asked him if he wanted to do the same as the day before. Jim nods, hands peg 2 c-notes and away they go.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The third day, Jim is back. The hostess says: “let me guess, you’re here to see Peggy Sue.” Jimmy replied “yes bye!” The hostess directed him down the hall to the back room where she was.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Peggy, now warming up to Jimmy starts to get into a little small talk with him. She asks Jimmy John: “where are you from? Jim proudly says: “St. John’s, Newfoundland!” Peggy’s expression shows even more curiosity as she says: “so am I! What neighborhood do you live in? !” Jim replies: “East Meadows.” Startled, Peggy Sue says “my parents live in East Meadows!” Jimmy John says: “I know. They’re next door to me and asked me to bring you $600.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/SmashNLaughs"> /u/SmashNLaughs </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b7ti52/one_day_jimmy_john_went_to_into_a_brothel_on_the/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b7ti52/one_day_jimmy_john_went_to_into_a_brothel_on_the/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A farmer’s young son ran into the house and said: “Mommy! Mommy! The bull is fucking one of the cows!”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The son’s Mother replied, “You shouldn’t use language like that. You must be polite. You have to say the bull is ‘surprising the cow’”.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Twenty minutes later, the boy ran in again. Mommy! Mommy! The bull is surprising all of the cows!”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“He can’t be surprising all the cows,” replies his mom.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The son replies, “But he is! The bull is fucking the horse!”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Sno_Wolf"> /u/Sno_Wolf </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b7r0a4/a_farmers_young_son_ran_into_the_house_and_said/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b7r0a4/a_farmers_young_son_ran_into_the_house_and_said/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
|
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