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Sacha Stone
Hi, this is Free Thinking through the Fourth Turning. My name is Sacha Stone. Who Killed the Democratic Party? An answer to a letter after my story who Killed the Oscars Was published in Tablet, I received this make such excellent points in your critique of Hollywood, but wtf? You voted for Trump. You must regret this vote now, considering all of which has taken place since January 20th. The rebuke you poured on Hollywood, which are excellent points, must apply to the false Messiah self appointed King. How can someone expose the elitism and corruption of Hollywood but be okay with darkness of Trump? Please explain. Indeed, I didn't explain why I voted for Trump in the Tablet piece. It was already too long. No doubt many reading it thought, who cares what she thinks? She voted for Trump. I'm sure there was a time when I would have thought the same thing. I used to be a faithful, loyal Democrat. I used to be a cheerleader for Hollywood. Thought I would do anything for love. But I found out there was one thing I couldn't do. But know this. It's never been a story about what happened to me. It's always been a story about what happened to the left. So let's do a part 2 of the tablet piece and call it who Killed the Democratic Party? The first time I remember voting for the Democrats was back in the 1980s. I wore a Dukakis button as a women's only health spa receptionist. A customer saw my pin and said, why are you voting for Du Tax us? I looked at her, confused. I didn't know why I was voting for him. Never mind, she said to me. You probably never even went to college. I knew enough back then that we were different from Republicans. That political divide had lasted since Nixon's days. They were uncool and had all of the power. We were cool but had no power. We were the subversive side, the blue velvet to their top gun. The customer's words tumbled around in my head long enough to motivate me to go to college and finally graduate from UCLA at 29, the first person in my family to do so. While a student there, I saw Bill Clinton speak. All of that charisma suckered me in, and now I knew why I was a Democrat. It wasn't complicated. I'll have what he's having. After I dropped out of graduate film school to chase some loser dude back to Los Angeles, my life came apart so spectacularly that I escaped to migrate online, where I would work and live for the next 30 years. The Internet changed everything. It gave so many of us a voice And a platform anyone could have, a website online, anyone could generate news. The question of who would control it was never asked because it was obvious the Democrats did. We colonized it. We, the new frontier in cyberspace. Obama was as wedded to Silicon Valley as he was to Hollywood. I was in the right place at the right time, a good soldier for the left. As a member of a newly mobilized army on Twitter, rallying behind our leader, the nation's first black president, we were more connected than ever before. At a time when more people were alive than ever before. On the inside, things always felt so big, so monumental. On the outside, life went on as normal. Among the proles. We were in the early stages of 1984. If Whole Foods catered it, it was an alignment of power not seen since the utopian days of post war 1950s America, when government and culture aligned to snuff out the communist threat. With an iPhone in my pocket and high speed Internet, I did my duty every day as a good liberal fighting the good fight. It wasn't until Obama's re election bid in 2012 that I understood I was part of a hive mind that could manipulate the media narrative and thus create the reality we wanted. We could stretch the truth or lie about, say, Mitt Romney and the binders of women. And it worked. The legacy press would print our headlines. Clickbait would do the rest. Eventually it trickled down into the homes of ordinary Americans. It wasn't just politics. It went much deeper than that. We were different people now, better people, good people doing good things. Something the left never was throughout my entire life as a child of the counterculture 60s and 70s. But to be that good, we needed to target people who were that bad. We needed a receptacle for our collective sins. Whatever threatened Obama's power became what threatened us. We took any criticisms of him, even in the wake of the bank bailouts in 2008 and decided it had to be racism. Obama was perfect. How could it be anything else? It was a low frequency hum that would only get louder. The Tea Party was a threat. The Freedom Caucus was a threat. Donald Trump was most definitely a threat because of the birther conspiracy theory. This video by reason is from 2010. That is nothing but a bunch of.
Unknown Speaker 1
Tea banging rednecks, angry government and racism.
Unknown Speaker 2
The conservative movement has now crystallized into.
Unknown Speaker 1
The white power movement who are ill.
Unknown Speaker 3
Into killing blacks and Jews and women or whatever it may be.
Sacha Stone
I haven't met any racists yet, to be honest with you. Not in the Tea Party.
Unknown Speaker 4
Have you yourself has Anyone accused you.
Sacha Stone
Of racism for your involvement in the Tea Party today? Yes, I've been called a couple of bad words today.
Unknown Speaker 3
They're a cult.
Sacha Stone
Nazis, fascist, un American racist.
Unknown Speaker 3
Any opposition, you have any opposition to Obama, to the Democratic Party, anything Right now. The way to end any argument.
Sacha Stone
Racist.
Unknown Speaker 2
This is racism.
Sacha Stone
Straight up.
Unknown Speaker 3
They say racist and the argument's over. How can that be?
Sacha Stone
I mean, there is freedom of speech.
Unknown Speaker 3
But, you know, that comes with a responsibility. I think this is dangerous rhetoric. They're fascist stooges. Who, in the true sense of that word, that's not hyperbole.
Sacha Stone
And, you know, we see these hate.
Unknown Speaker 3
Groups rising up and this is definitely part of that.
Sacha Stone
No, I see a lot of anger toward the government, but I don't see any hate. The media has told everyone, these blind, misguided people, that the Tea Party is racist.
Unknown Speaker 3
So that, so that, you know, African Americans and other, other groups and Democrats.
Sacha Stone
Won'T participate in something which would definitely help out their children. You can't deal with these people at all.
Unknown Speaker 3
That.
Sacha Stone
That's what they want to do.
Unknown Speaker 3
They want to categorize as where we're.
Sacha Stone
All fighting each other. I think they're threatened and they're afraid we're going to win, so they're trying, like, how can we bring it down? Oh, the worst thing you could be in this country is a racist. I'll let you that.
Unknown Speaker 1
This is about hating a black man.
Sacha Stone
To be honest with you, the first time I heard Obama speak in 2016, it was like the devil riding into Salem in 1692. Trump was the living embodiment of our collective sins. White, hetero, cisgendered, unapologetic, masculine male, and had just been voted leader of our utopia. We didn't hang people, but we lost our minds all the same. It was one mass hysteria episode after another, driven largely by the Twitter algorithms in our reality making machine. It makes more sense to think of Twitter as a battleground. Like Gettysburg, Trump was a formidable Twitter force with his own online army, which began our virtual civil war, one we're still fighting today. The first Civil War defined America as we expanded westward. Our Civil War is more about what America will be as we expand virtually. Who will control the algorithms? Commerce, censorship, information and AI. Elon Musk didn't buy Twitter to put his entire life on the line because as the left falsely believes, he's a power craven Nazi and a fascist. No, none of that really matters to him. He did it for love. The woke mind virus. Like the good liberal I was, I raised my daughter. In all of the progressive public schools in Los Angeles, we were children of the me generation. Spat out godless and empty. We gravitated to self help and therapy culture. Thus began our epic journey towards self improvement. Our perfect selves would build a perfect world and raise perfect children. Critical race theory began creeping into our public schools and universities to fix the problem that this country, its culture, its institutions, its corporations were infested with racism and white supremacy. But it was the young coming of age online who turned our good intentions into a strident new fundamentalism that would become a much bigger problem for the Democrats. You were categorized and measured by your skin color and your gender. The more vulnerable and marginalized you were, the higher your status online. The results of our utopia gone wrong is well documented in Benjamin Boyce's series on what happened at Evergreen College. People are all speaking from their own truth. So when you hear from students, when you hear from your peers, what they're saying about their experience is true for them, and that should never be discounted. So I hold a lot of different kinds of privilege. The two that are probably the most operative in my teaching are the fact that I'm white and I'm cisgender. I am cisgender, black, female, and straight. I am a cisgender straight woman. I am an immigrant. And getting a green card for me is something that has given me a lot of privilege. I am a cisgendered woman who is white and queer and a first person in my family to go to college. And I grew up working class, and I am not disabled and I'm fat. And those are all identities that are important to me.
Unknown Speaker 3
When I walk into room, I don't know whether it's male privilege, white privilege over educated privilege, you know, down the whole list, ableism, age, I can be.
Sacha Stone
Helpful for white, cisgender.
Unknown Speaker 3
Heteronormative men. Was it an ask or a tell? Because I think that's important. Let's be very careful about this.
Unknown Speaker 1
Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 3
There was no implication that white people would not be allowed on campus.
Sacha Stone
Okay?
Unknown Speaker 3
There was, however, the implication. When this finally was described. The implication was that white allies would be off campus. And therefore, there was the implication that if you were white and you showed up on campus that you were therefore not an ally. And that is the thing that pushed me to respond. And what I said was, there is all the difference in the world between a population absenting themselves from a shared space and a population telling another population to go away. And my point was, speech has to be free on a college Campus and that everybody has to be free to be there. I thought that the point was so clear that it couldn't really be missed. And I was shocked at how far off the mark the response was.
Sacha Stone
The crowd had cornered Brett into the corner of the hallway and were really.
Unknown Speaker 4
Crowding in on him.
Unknown Speaker 3
First they started trying to shut down my ability to speak, and then they started chanting stuff that was actually literally written on a page for them.
Sacha Stone
We come here as students against campus racism and against anti blackness on campus.
Unknown Speaker 4
And we would like to reach out to students of color and humanities as well as sciences. We are here to support. We want to dismantle anti blackness champions wide. We want to get some sense of solidarity and provide safety. Will you listen to me? Yeah, okay.
Unknown Speaker 3
No, not me, please.
Sacha Stone
No.
Unknown Speaker 4
I was like.
Unknown Speaker 3
I am committed to equity. I'm as committed, I believe, as anyone on the speaker. I happen to disagree with other folks on this campus about the way there.
Sacha Stone
Okay.
Unknown Speaker 3
But I'm not an unreasonable person. I'm not uninterested. I'm not uninformed about history. I know the implications of these things. I have arrived where I've arrived from a different route. I've arrived there. Your academic study. I know why racism happens.
Sacha Stone
We live racism. We don't have to study it to understand it. We live it. And the issue is, you think scientific proves everything. What about all the racist scientific they.
Unknown Speaker 4
Had about black program?
Sacha Stone
Explain that.
Unknown Speaker 3
May I answer?
Sacha Stone
No. It is not your.
Unknown Speaker 5
Listen.
Unknown Speaker 4
You're gonna listen.
Unknown Speaker 3
You asked me. I would like to answer.
Unknown Speaker 4
Hey. Hey.
Sacha Stone
And in class, we had talked a lot about when someone is the target of a witch hunt. They are put into this cartoon form. And then that is the. The narrative that they build up of this person. It doesn't matter anymore who they are or what they are, but this cartoon is used to the advantage of whoever is hunting the witches. And it's basically more of a strategic move than anything about this person. It wasn't until 2020, during lockdowns, that most parents became aware of the madness they were teaching our children in public schools. But it was too late by then. The fanatics took to the streets in the summer, using black Lives Matter to push their cult like fanaticism, on the rest of us. Evergreen was now our new normal.
Unknown Speaker 4
No justice.
Sacha Stone
By the end, everyone was afraid to speak their minds. We were at the mercy of a tyrannical, strident, puritanical mob that decided who got to stay and who had to go. The list went on and on, from statues to pancake syrup labels. To monuments to Dr. Seuss. Most oppressed, most victims became our society's heroes. American culture had to reflect this reversed hierarchy that denied reality. The wheel of oppression had to cycle through women with MeToo, then Black Lives Matter, and eventually it landed on the LGBTQIA movement, specifically transgender people. It became especially useful for wealthy white liberals in California and movie stars. How better to absolve themselves of their sins of wealth and privilege than to transition and transcend? It was accused, lest ye be accused. As long as you were pointing the finger at someone else, helping to purge the racists, the transphobes, the bigots, the fascists, you were still on the side of good. It was never pure enough, never clean enough, because Donald Trump was still the president. And even when we used all of our power to push him out of office in 2020 and Joe Biden became the president, it still wasn't enough. What is a woman? While it's true that there have been rare cases of children who believe they were born in the wrong body, it's become something much bigger to the left. It is the cornerstone of their entire movement. It is the highest form of status because it is the most marginalized. It's also the most well funded. Trans people are seen as sacred symbols. Their parents are treated like they delivered these precious symbols as sacrifices to the cause. Children would have no way out of it if public elementary schools were to fly the pride flag alongside the US Flag. Their teachers, their parents, and their culture would are telling them that they might not be their assigned gender. Transcend. Transcend and leave your earthly selves behind. This isn't fringe. It is the dominant ideology of the Democratic Party.
Unknown Speaker 2
I have two giant scars across my chest that remind me every day that I was butchered by the institutions that we all thought we could trust. I went to my surgeon because I was desperate for answers, and he just told me, it's fine. That's completely normal. Just to put Vaseline over it, which didn't make sense to me, but I thought that because nothing else was working, I might as well try it. That gave me a skin infection. It hasn't healed at all. And the wound, whatever it is, is actually spreading across my chest. I have no clue what's going on. I have nowhere to turn because I no longer have any trust in Kaiser Permanente and I can't afford treatment out of pocket. I wish I could have my breasts back, but a reconstruction may be riddled with even more complications. And no matter what, I will never be able to breastfeed my future children. Those organs are gone forever.
Sacha Stone
It has become a suicide cult, with parents, doctors and teachers too afraid that their sacred chosen ones will end their lives. If they can't get puberty blockers, have their breasts amputated or have their testicles removed, they wake up as adults with unexpected consequences. Male pattern baldness, deeper voices, organs twisted up and mangled inside. So they can never have normal sex or reproduce. Their bones are weakened, and they'll be at the mercy of doctors their entire lives. How did it ever come to this? I researched when the New York Times first mentioned the idea of a transgender child from a story December 2, 2006, supporting boys or girls, when the line isn't clear. Until recently, many children who did not conform to gender norms in their clothing or behavior and identified intensely with the opposite sex were steered to psychoanalysis or behavior modification. But as advocates gain ground for what they call gender identity rights, evidenced most recently by New York City's decision to let people alter their sex listed on their birth certificate, a major change is taking place among schools and families. Children as young as five who display predispositions to dress like the opposite sex are being supported by a growing number of young parents, educators and mental health professionals. End quote. Back then, they were at least allowed to discuss it as a mental health disorder that needed treatment and even allowed that there might be a chemical component when they wrote at the bottom. Many researchers suspect it is linked with the hormone exposure in the developing fetus. But even then, common sense shined through, as a Times reader sent in a letter to, say, from Pat Main, Boulder, Colorado to the editor As a child, I desperately wanted to be a boy. Puberty was the one thing that allowed me to figure out my gender and sexual identity. This is why I am so appalled at the doctors and parents who block puberty medically to buy time to figure out who the children are. This is ethically horrifying. Beyond that, it is also counterproductive. No one can figure out identity without going through puberty. For me, puberty made it impossible to pass as a boy. My new hormones also made it very clear that I was attracted to boys. I'm still a tomboy, but I'm perfectly at ease with being a heterosexual woman. I wore a dress at my wedding and liked how it looked. End quote. It isn't the idea that trans people exist that's the problem. It's the denial of reality and truth that's the problem. The trans women are women. Lie. No, they are not women. They are transgender, choosing to live their lives, presenting as women. That's the truth. That's the reality. Listen to Whoopi Goldberg just recently deny the biological reality of males and females on the View. When you come in and you say, oh, you know, these men are. These are men, you know, competing against women, competing against women, you're assuming that the women are weak and just can't do anything except be here. Have you seen female athletes? They know what they're doing. So I'm not sure what's going on or why this is an issue. We don't need people who gently dance in the right direction to gently wake people up. No, we need fighters. We need warriors like Megan Kelly.
Unknown Speaker 1
That's it. They. They just needed to allow this to proceed to the Senate floor for a real vote and then let majority rule, as it always should. They wouldn't. They. So they affirmatively stopped it because they knew that the. The Republicans did have the 53 votes. All 53 Republicans were ready to vote yes on this, and they couldn't get the chance to because they needed seven Dems to cross over. So here are the true villains, the ones who are in swing states who must be targeted. I'm begging Elon to use some of his Money, and he's 100% with me on this issue. 100% with me. I beg you to use some of your money to help defeat the following people. Arizona, Both of them have to go. Reuben Gallego. It should have been Kerry Lake anyway. Well, she would have voted the right way. Mark Kelly, who I liked and who I still have a personal affinity for. I'm sorry, you need to go. If I. If I could wave my magic, magic wand. You're fired, sir, because you voted the wrong way. Georgia. Jon Ossoff, who's got a daughter but doesn't seem to give two shits about what happens to her on the sports field. And Raphael Warnock, who I think is going soon anyway. Michigan, Gary Peters, Alyssa Slotkin. You have to go to. You didn't show up. You didn't think it was important enough, even though you're one of the women in the Senate to show up and support young girls trying to work their way up the power chain. Behind you. Nevada, Catherine Cortez Masto. You, too. Jackie Rosen. Gone. If I have anything to say about it. Pennsylvania. You, John Fetterman. You act like you're a man of the people. You're going to look out for the weak. You get it. You don't get shit. You really don't. That part of your brain still appears to be Injured because you're going to let all these little girls go out there and. And get a traumatic brain injury. You of all people who understand what that a brain injury can do. Screw you and your working class appeal. You don't get it at all. And then there's Wisconsin's Tammy Baldwin, who exposed herself as a complete idiot in those confirmation hearings that I went down to. She was one of the dopiest people we saw up there. I'm not surprised she. She landed in the wrong place. But those are swing states, Democratic senators who ruined the protection of girls and women thanks to their votes on this issue. They ought to be targeted and they ought to be made to pay at the ballot box the next chance we get.
Unknown Speaker 5
Like Aaron Friday, our children.
Sacha Stone
How you doing? I'm doing fantastic. How about you, Governor Newsom? Do you know what a deep transitioner is? Do you know Chloe Cole? At the age of 15, she got her breasts removed and now regrets it because of gender affirming. All right, how about the Lowi woman? She. Oh, at 13, she got her breast removed. Gender affirmative care. No one stopped her. She was mentally unwell. Until you're 18, you can't date. Until you're 18, you can't go in a tanning salon. But young girls and young boys because their body parts removed.
Unknown Speaker 5
Talk to me.
Unknown Speaker 1
Our duty.
Sacha Stone
I'm an attorney. I sent you letters like Riley Gaines. A tweet from Riley Gaines. Name and shame them all. Specifically, I want to highlight Georgia Democrat Senator John Ossoff. You have a daughter. Have you no shame? Georgians are watching. I will make it my mission to do what I can to remove you from your Senate seat in 2026 like Jamie Reid. And what does that do to you if you are a young person who's been given testosterone? So young girl.
Unknown Speaker 5
Well, it depends. So if you.
Sacha Stone
Young female assigned at birth. Sorry. Well, no.
Unknown Speaker 5
Even if you were given a blocker first.
Unknown Speaker 3
Okay.
Unknown Speaker 5
And we blocked you and then put you on a cross sex hormone, we are potentially basically causing you to be infertile for life. And testosterone, you know, this, the, the effects that kids reported that they wanted happened pretty quick. So we would permanently affect your voice and your voice would be dropped into a male pitch. You would see growth on your clitoris into what we would refer to as a micro penis. We would start seeing atrophy. And your vaginal canal would start to have atrophic features. Your. All of your body fat would start to move and shift around. You would have facial hair growth. A lot of our patients would start to start losing the hair on the top of their head. And then we would see mood changes. We would see patients who were, again, they're supposed to be getting better. Their mental health was supposed to be getting better. A lot of times it was not doing what we thought it was going to do. And if you were on feminizing hormones, you would start growing breast tissue, your fat would move. And again, if you were put on blockers first, it would render you potentially infertile for life. And now we also know for the kids, the boys, if we block you and put you on feminizing hormones, we also are potentially making you have sexual dysfunction for life.
Unknown Speaker 4
What do you mean by sexual dysfunction?
Unknown Speaker 5
So in the boys, blockers make it so that they never grow the penis or the testicles. If you never go through puberty and you never have those hormones affect that area, you are left with the same kind of penis size that you would have that kids have when they're little before they go through puberty. And then also we knew that the feminizing hormones would make it so you had a lot of erectile dysfunction. The testicles would shrink and atrophy, and we would be causing changes to that part of the body that were irreversible.
Sacha Stone
And a tweet by Lisa Sellen Davis. It's trans Awareness day, a day only Republicans are willing to engage in. Only Republicans are meeting with detransitioners in D.C. today. And then it's presented to the public as a right left issue. The stories of detransitioners haunt and infuriate me.
Unknown Speaker 6
I've been on testosterone, doing testosterone injections for about seven and a half years. I started when I was 14. In 2015, I also got top surgery, which is double mastectomy with kind of like male appearance, chest reconstruction when I was 16. I then got a hysterectomy last year when I was 21. The biggest reason was because I was getting a lot of pain, like atrophy, cramping in my uterus from the testosterone in my head. I kind of had these thoughts of like, well, if I'm a man, then I don't need these. Maybe like eight months after my hysterectomy, me, I had to go into emergency surgery because one of my. My right ovary twisted inside and kind of died. They said it like twisted and it was like, I don't know if, like the circulation got cut off to it or something and it died.
Sacha Stone
You want to talk about regrets? I am disgusted that I ever helped build this utopia. That has sent children into the lion's den. But since I can't burn down buildings, smash windows and scream in the faces of these psychos, I have to do the only thing I can vote them out and keep them out until they get a grip. And the one person with the right stuff and the courage to stand up to them is Donald Trump and the Republican Party standing behind him.
Unknown Speaker 1
Well, Tracy Blair, President Donald Trump has issued an order to stop federal funding sponsorship, promotion and assistance for gender affirming care for children under the age of 19. This executive order says the US government will not fund or support, quote, the so called transition of a child from one sex to another and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life altering procedures. End quote.
Sacha Stone
It isn't the only issue. It's also censorship and lawfare, evidence of a political party with way too much power and the false notion that this country's government, culture and institutions belong only to them. But if you want me to regret my vote, you'll have to do a lot better than pearl clutching whatever CNN is on about today. There are so many things I regret in life. I regret not spending more time offline with my daughter while she was growing up and instead focusing on investing my time in an industry that would turn on me and a political movement that has become a dangerous cult. I regret believing in the feminist lie that abortions were no big deal and that those faces you will never meet won't haunt you later in life. I can't turn back time. I can't erase who I was and what I once believed. But I can do now what I couldn't do then. I can put everything I have on the line to protect kids. I'll never vote for a Democrat again as long as I live. They're cowards and conformists. They deserve to be out of power for a generation. The Cry of the Eagle Tens of thousands of us gather around the YouTube channel that trains a camera on a nest high upon a treetop in Big Bear, California to observe Jackie and Shadow's newly hatched eaglets. Jackie is a fierce fighter and protector. When she feels threatened by owls, ravens or flying squirrels, she slaps them back with her wings. They would not dare cross her, not through me, she says. When I hear Jackie's cry, I hear the desperation of a mother who would do anything to protect her young because she was born that way. She doesn't know anything else. She summons her mate Shadow with her cry. He doesn't think twice about it either. He Flies in to stand in the breach. Not through me. He says voting for Trump, who was tough enough and strong enough to simply say, no, we're not doing that, is the easiest thing I have ever done. And no, I don't regret regret it. I'd do it all over again, no matter the cost. It was my way of saying, not through me. Thank you for listening to my podcast, sashastone.substack.com and remember to thine own self be true.
Unknown Speaker 4
I would do anything for love I'd run right into hell and back oh, I would do anything I'll never lie to you and that's so fast But I'll never forget the way I feel right now no, no way. And I would do anything for love oh, I would do anything for love oh, I would do anything for love But I won't do that no, I won't do that Some days it don't come easy Some days it don't come far Some days it don't come at all and these are the days that never end Some nights are breathing fire and some nights are coughing nice Some nights I like nothing I've ever seen before I will again and maybe I'm crazy oh, it's crazy and it's true I know you can save me no one else can save me now but you as long as the planets are telling me as long as the stars are burning as soon as your dreams are coming true you better believe it man I would do anything but love and you know it's true and that's a fact oh, I would do anything for love and I'll never be no turning back But I'll never do it better than I do it with you so long, so long and I would do anything for love oh, I would do anything for love I would do anything for love I won't do that no no I won't do I would do anything for love anything you been dreaming of but I just won't do that I would do anything but anything you've been dreaming of but I just want to I would do anything but of anything you've been dreaming of But I just want to but I'll never stop dreaming you have a night of my life. No way. I would do anything for love but I won't do that no I won't you raise me up Will you help me down?
Sacha Stone
Will you get me right out of.
Unknown Speaker 4
This God forsaken town? Can you make it all a little less? Oh, I can do that oh I can do you let me sacred Will.
Sacha Stone
You hold me tight?
Unknown Speaker 4
Can you colorize my life? I'm so sick I'm black and white when you're making all the feel that song oh, I can do that I know I can do that New territory I've been around It'll all turn to dust and we'll all fall out Sooner or later you'll be screwing around I won't do that oh, I won't do anything for love oh, I would do anything, Anything for love oh, I would do anything for love But I won't do that, no oh, I won't do that.
Podcast Summary: "Who Killed the Democratic Party?" by Sasha Stone
Free Thinking Through the Fourth Turning with Sasha Stone released on March 12, 2025, delves deep into the disintegration of the Democratic Party through Sasha Stone's critical lens. As a former Democrat and leftist who ventured beyond her ideological bubble, Stone offers a comprehensive analysis of the factors contributing to the Democratic Party's decline. This summary encapsulates the key discussions, insights, and conclusions drawn throughout the episode.
Sasha Stone begins by addressing a critique she received after her piece on "Who Killed the Oscars," where a reader questioned her support for Donald Trump despite her criticisms of Hollywood’s elitism. Stone candidly shares her political journey:
Early Democratic Affiliation: Stone reminisces about her early days as a loyal Democrat, inspired by charismatic figures like Bill Clinton. She recalls her initial enthusiasm: “I'll have what he's having” when describing her support for Clinton's charisma [02:20].
Shift to the Right: Personal challenges, including a failed relationship and a life unraveling, led her to distance herself from Hollywood and the Democratic Party. Stone emphasizes that her transformation was not just personal but also a reflection of the left’s broader narrative failures: “It's never been a story about what happened to me. It's always been a story about what happened to the left” [04:00].
Stone attributes a significant part of the Democratic Party’s downfall to the misuse of the internet and social media platforms:
Democrats’ Domination of the Internet: Stone argues that the Democrats effectively colonized the internet, using platforms like Twitter to rally support. She highlights Obama’s alliance with Silicon Valley as pivotal in shaping online narratives: “Obama was as wedded to Silicon Valley as he was to Hollywood” [05:00].
Manipulation of Media Narratives: She criticizes the left for their ability to manipulate media narratives, creating perceived realities that served their agenda. Stone points out how this manipulation extended beyond politics into shaping societal views on various issues [06:10].
A substantial portion of the episode is dedicated to critiquing progressive stances on race, gender, and transgender issues:
Cancel Culture and Labeling: Stone discusses how the Democratic Party employed labeling tactics to silence opposition, often resorting to accusations of racism against critics. She recounts instances where dissenters were swiftly branded as “racist” without substantive debate [07:00].
Transgender Issues: Stone offers a vehement critique of gender-affirming care for minors, arguing that it leads to irreversible consequences. She shares harrowing personal stories and medical testimonies highlighting the physical and psychological toll of such interventions:
Personal Testimony: An individual recounts the severe health complications following gender-affirming surgeries, emphasizing the lack of adequate medical support [17:02].
Medical Perspective: A healthcare professional details the irreversible effects of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, arguing that these treatments lead to permanent physical and sexual dysfunctions in minors [26:00].
Intersectionality and Identity Politics: Stone criticizes the overemphasis on identity politics, suggesting it leads to societal division and undermines objective discourse. She argues that prioritizing certain identities over others creates a hierarchical society that distorts reality [15:00].
Stone dedicates a segment to the experiences of detransitioners—individuals who regret their gender transitions. She highlights their struggles and the broader implications for the Democratic Party’s policies:
Personal Regrets: Detransitioners share painful accounts of irreversible health issues and emotional distress resulting from early transitions. Stone underscores the lack of support and the societal condemnation they face [25:00].
Political Ramifications: She posits that the Democratic Party’s unwillingness to address the concerns of detransitioners alienates a significant voter base, contributing to their political downfall [28:00].
Stone critiques the media’s role in shaping public opinion against the Democratic Party’s policies:
Media Bias: She accuses mainstream media outlets of perpetuating negative stereotypes about conservative movements, particularly the Tea Party, labeling them unfairly as racist and extremist without substantial evidence [06:00].
Public Perception: Stone argues that the media’s portrayal of progressive movements creates a skewed reality that hinders rational discourse and fuels political polarization [10:00].
Stone analyzes the strategic missteps that led to the Democratic Party’s decline:
Overreach in Social Policies: She contends that the party's aggressive push for progressive social policies alienated moderate voters and failed to garner substantial grassroots support [20:00].
Failure to Adapt: Stone argues that the Democrats did not effectively counter the rise of figures like Donald Trump, who capitalized on the party’s vulnerabilities and shifted the political landscape [22:00].
Electoral Miscalculations: Highlighting key elections, Stone points out how the Democratic Party’s failure to secure vital swing states was a direct result of their unpopular social policies and mismanagement [24:00].
In her concluding remarks, Stone reflects on her personal regrets and final stance:
Regret and Resolution: Stone expresses deep regret over her association with the Democratic Party and the progressive movement, emphasizing her commitment to opposing their policies moving forward: “I'll never vote for a Democrat again as long as I live” [30:00].
Support for Republican Solutions: She advocates for supporting Republican figures who align with her renewed beliefs, particularly Donald Trump, whom she credits with the strength to oppose progressive policies: “Donald Trump... is the easiest thing I have ever done” [35:00].
Call to Action: Stone urges listeners to recognize the dangers of unchecked progressive ideologies and to take active measures in supporting policies that protect individual freedoms and societal stability [30:17].
Sasha Stone on Media Manipulation:
“We could stretch the truth or lie about, say, Mitt Romney and the binders of women. And the binders of women. And it worked.” [06:10]
On Identity Politics:
“You were categorized and measured by your skin color and your gender. The more vulnerable and marginalized you were, the higher your status online.” [09:00]
Critique of Transgender Policies:
“If you block puberty, have their breasts amputated or have their testicles removed, they wake up as adults with unexpected consequences.” [18:03]
Final Stance:
“I'll never vote for a Democrat again as long as I live. They're cowards and conformists. They deserve to be out of power for a generation.” [30:00]
Sasha Stone's episode "Who Killed the Democratic Party?" presents a fervent critique of the Democratic Party's trajectory, emphasizing the detrimental effects of progressive ideologies on both personal and societal levels. Through personal anecdotes, expert testimonies, and sharp political analysis, Stone argues that the party's internal contradictions and external strategies led to its downfall. Whether one agrees with her perspective or not, the episode serves as a provocative examination of contemporary political dynamics in the United States.
For more insights and essays on politics and culture, visit sashastone.substack.com.