Free Thinking Through the Fourth Turning with Sasha Stone

• All Things Not Considered

  Like everyone else on the Left, I grew up wanting to exist in the rarified air of NPR. It was, to me, like the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock in The Great Gatsby: the place you don’t belong but the only place you want to be.I was thrilled when NPR invited me to the studio in 2012 for an interview. I even took a picture of the parking lot—anything with NPR on it.I’d finally made it, ma—top of the world.I woke up with Morning Edition and spent the afternoon with All Things Considered. It required no effort at all. It was always on every time I got into my car and drove somewhere, and in Los Angeles, everyone drove everywhere.Long before controversial CEO Katherine Maher was hired at NPR, listeners were already dropping like flies. Any honest person knows that NPR changed dramatically. Even my sister, a die-hard Democrat, joked with me in 2020 that she had to stop listening because every episode seemed to be about a “transgender migrant crossing the border for an abortion in Texas.”Maher’s testimony at the “Anti-American Airwaves: Accountability for the Heads of NPR and PBS” will be seen by most on the Left as something along the lines of the House of Unamerican Activities in the 1950s and for similar reasons. Here, in the most viral exchange, Rep Gill even brings up Marxism.Like this moment, this hearing will be shape-shifted into a story that paints them as the victims and their side as the side standing up for free speech.The truth? They abandoned objectivity long ago, if they ever had it at all. I used to think they did. I was a faithful believer in people I thought had our best interests at heart. It took me years to understand why the Republicans have been complaining about them since their inception.Maher is a stunner, even at her age, with her platinum blonde bob and Hepburn cheekbones. She’s probably not used to being dragged before a tribunal and made to answer for how NPR has abused the public’s trust. But abuse it, they have.She might not also be aware that this is a revolution. No, heads didn’t roll, but the 2024 election was a triumph of the people, by the people, and for the people—a revolution made possible only by Donald Trump's alliance with Big Tech and Elon Musk especially.To the Left, in their delusional fever dreams, they are the oppressed side. They’re the #resistance like back when German tanks rolled into Paris. But they’re not. They never were. They were always the empire. How do I know? Because I was one of them. I was an enthusiastic participant in the movement that would overtake much of American society, grow its power with the rise of the internet, and spread its fundamentalism like a fungus, one that is now killing its host.A revolution because there was no other option.A revolution because the kids were at risk.A revolution because this isn’t a country that likes to be ruled over by an elite, out of touch aristocracy and never has. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sashastone.substack.com/subscribe

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• [Listen] The New York Times Profiles Me

  Many of you have asked me to post the New York Times profile because you don’t have access to it, but I think that might violate copyright laws. So, I thought I’d read it aloud instead, with some added commentary. If you’re interested, have a listen.Here is a link to bypass the paywall.The first part is just me talking free-form and unscripted, so don’t be alarmed that it doesn’t sound like the usual. If you like the free-form style, let me know, and I’ll do more of them. Song used at the end: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sashastone.substack.com/subscribe

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• [Watch] How the Left Became so Intolerant

  I posted this story already, but I thought you might like a video version. The audio will go out on the podcast feed. You can find the text here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sashastone.substack.com/subscribe

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  15:20
• Here Comes the Pitch for Socialism

  I have a soft spot for the Dirtbag Left now that I never used to have. Listening to them viciously destroy the Democratic Party scratches that itch. They were ahead of the curve, and the Democrats would have been better off not snuffing out the movement way back when.But snuff it out, we did. Back in 2016, I was in a Facebook group devoted to doing nothing but hating on the “Bernie bros.” I spent too much of my precious time trying to stop them as a movement because they threatened Hillary Clinton’s win. Like every Democrat now, I was afraid of democracy.The Democrats find themselves in that place where the three characters from Jaws end up. They’ve tried harpoons and three barrels on him, and nothing has worked. They finally decide to try Hooper’s shark cage, even though Brody knows there’s no chance it will work. “You got any better suggestions?” barks Hooper.That Quint entertains the idea of bringing in Hooper’s cage at all was the miracle. And the desperation.The Democrats are ready for the anti-shark cage, and so Bernie Sanders and AOC are on a western tour to “stop the oligarchy.” They finally have the exact right enemy in Elon Musk and Bernie’s “billionaires.” Musk represents the death of their dream, that no one can get there on their wits, hard work, and ambition alone. No, this is a country where no one can rise unless everyone can rise.Trump’s tariffs are a potential solution to America’s crippling problem of income inequality that has destroyed the middle class. That’s the MAGA populism at work. Bernie's populism fixes the problem with much bigger government. The rich pay more to redistribute the wealth.Is this finally the moment when we can Make America Socialist Again? A major step forward from FDR’s New Deal and Johnson’s Great Society? Do the Democratic Socialists have a real shot at winning the nomination away from the feckless, flaccid centrists?Is this finally the moment when the Dirtbag Left and the identity politics utopians merge to create one big movement, a Green New Deal? Will Trump’s radical change finally be the thing that pushes the majority in a direction they never would have gone?Recent polls show that younger generations are much more accepting and fond of socialism than older generations. It's not that hard to do the math and see what might be coming next.How it StartedAccording to Neil Howe and William Strauss's 1997 book, 2008 was the crisis that sparked our Fourth Turning. This pattern plays out every 80 years, with each generation being born and living a lifetime before everything radically changes to restart America in a new direction, like the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Great Depression, and World War II.We still don’t know how big or how bad our Fourth Turning will be. To Strauss and Howe, the $700 billion bank bailout was the moment the public woke up to the imminent disaster of income inequality and a bloated oligarchy. The bailout birthed two populist movements: Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party.Occupy Wall Street became the Bernie movement which, after Hillary’s loss in 2016, was dissolved into the Democrat machine. The Tea Party became Trump and MAGA. The question we have to ask is which side will prevail when the Fourth Turning comes to a close, when the policies are cemented and the country is united?According to Howe’s new book, The Fourth Turning is Here, he edges ever so slightly to the Left’s side of things because the dominant generation, the Millennials, are a “go along to get along” personality type.At the moment, at least to me, the MAGA side offers more for ambitious millennials, especially young men. MAGA is now the side of innovation and economic growth. If they succeed, there will be no need for a rescue mission.But if they fail? Ben Shapiro has been dropping the prediction for a few weeks now that if Trump’s economy begins to fail, the power that will rise is the equal and opposite reaction to Trump’s populism: a lurch to the hard left.Bernie and AOC are ready to bring the movement back.Is this finally the moment where both Bernie and AOC have the right kind of anger and the right enemy they need to tap into the collective outrage of all of those crazy people out there losing their minds? People like this: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sashastone.substack.com/subscribe

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  24:06
• The Democrats Should Embrace Their Inner Fascist.

  As SpaceX and NASA elegantly brought Crew-9 down from outer space to splash into the waters of the Gulf of America, with dolphins cresting the surface to greet them upon their arrival, the lunatics on the Left were burning up the last remnants of their political capital. They were destroying Teslas. Yes, that’s right. With a beautiful example of American exceptionalism playing out in front of the millions watching from home, the Left took the opportunity to march around in their poopie diapers and tell America that all they know how to do is destroy things. Anyone who might have regretted voting for Trump because they were moving too fast was suddenly reminded of why they voted for him in the first place. Because the other side is stark, raving bonkers.They have already humiliated themselves at Trump’s address to Congress. Their approval numbers have never been lower. It isn’t just that they are feckless, rudderless, and leaderless; they are also doing the one thing no political movement should ever do if it wants to rise to power: showing Americans that they are prepared to act out violently when they don’t get their way.Granted, they have the luxury of an entire legacy press corps that will run cover for them, praise them, and pretend it’s no big deal. But we know it’s a big deal because we’ve been living with their violent outbursts for ten years. Now that they’ve decided to interpret Elon Musk’s wave to the crowd as a Nazi salute, they feel more than justified to rally as a movement and wage war on a successful car company that produces electric cars. They want every wealthy liberal who ever bought a Tesla to regret it, sell it, or use one of those embarrassing stickers that signal to the mob to skip their car. They’re one of the good guys. They hide behind billionaires this and oligarchs that, but they had absolutely no hesitation in bringing down hundreds of businesses, those that had somehow managed to survive lockdowns were then destroyed by a violent mob in the Summer of 2020. Remember Sue’s 100-year-old mattress store in Kenosha? In their fever dream—and I promise I am not exaggerating, not even a little bit—they believe their acts of terror and vandalism against Teslas will bring down the company and force Musk into bankruptcy, so he will have to sell Twitter/X because they believe it was stolen from them. What you see on the modern Left is failure everywhere you look. A failed legacy media, a failing Hollywood, and an empire in collapse propped up a failed political party full of failed candidates. Here is failed Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz doing the Hitler salute while trashing a company he could never build, much less come close to making profitable. Walz is roaring back to prove that he didn’t fail - he’s still that Great White Hope they all said he was. All he has to do is signal to the mob that he can be as vicious as they need him to be. Here is a failed 80s heartthrob, John Cusack, who proves that old Johnny Boy never cracked open a history book. He’s not only ignorant, he displays it openly on social media:Here is failed resistance warrior Rick Wilson, who must somehow keep the dream alive after Trump wiped up the floor with him, and very nearly destroyed his credibility. Wilson’s infamous pre-election prediction that Trump would lose and lose badly looks a lot more like pissing in the wind, doesn’t it:They’re not in any condition to lead this country. They’re behaving like those late-night rap sessions with Charlie on Spahn Ranch as they plot about the revolution. The look in the eyes of all the “resistance democrats” looks a lot like the crazy eyes of those Manson girls bragging about stabbing Sharon Tate. But here’s the thing. They’re making it all way too hard on themselves. There is an easier way. It’s been right there the whole time. It is the answer to all that ails them. It will work like a charm if only they can embrace that they are the very thing they believe they’ve been fighting against.Embrace Your Inner Fascists, Democrats. It’s time.The Democrats lost their minds so thoroughly and completely over Trump’s win in 2016, that they decided this was now their country and everything in it belonged to them. They amassed an unprecedented alignment of power, uniting government with all cultural and corporate institutions. It was all for one and one for all. You know, like the very definition of fascism?All sticks bundled together as one! A fasci!Once they claimed most of American society for themselves, they were able to build a barrier, an “inside” that locked the bad people on the “outside.” Then, the purges began. Break our rules, and out you go. No one was safe, not the powerful, corporations, or the people. Conform or else, which is also the very definition of fascism.It would be Communism, except the Left needs to be seen as better, superior, smarter, more kind, more decent - not equal to everyone else. No, they don’t believe that. Fascism, that’s the answer. That’s why they plunge lawn signs in front of their houses, to tell everyone else how superior they are but also to signal to the mob that they’re on the right side. But to embrace your inner fascists, Democrats, you will have to start telling the truth about who you are. Why hide it by now?So let’s rewrite this lawn sign, shall we? In this home, we believe:Dictatorship over democracy because democracy means the “wrong” people might win. They don’t belong in OUR HOME. As fascists, you don’t even need elections at all, and you kinda didn’t, did you? Vote blue no matter who, elbow out any competition, force Biden on everyone, and then install Kamala Harris. See how close you already are?Solution: why not build gulags and have them all spirited away? So much easier. Stalin did it. Hitler did it. Mao did it. What’s the problem, Democrats? Now, if Gwen Stefani accidentally posts a video with Tucker Carlson in it, or someone lets it slip they are friends with a Trump supporter or, gasp, voted for Trump themselves, you can simply lock them away instead of wasting all of your time and energy destroying their lives. Lies over truth: You lie all of the time, to yourselves and to other people—the legacy media lies. Hollywood lies. Women are men, and men are women, but gender is not binary. Solution: As fascists, there is no argument. You take complete control of the press (oh, wait, you already did) and force everyone to accept your version of the truth (oh wait, you already did!) and then mandate it so all must obey (yeah, you tried that, didn’t work out so well). Division over unity: Admit it. You would prefer to be living in a segregated society with Trump supporters banned from your restaurants, your movie theaters, your schools, and your social media. You don’t even hide it anymore. Solution: As fascists, you can simply beat them up, spit on them, knock the hats off their heads, kick them out of restaurants, and harass them on airplanes. Oh wait, you already did!Fear over hope: The side where people are afraid to say what they really think is the fascist side. Why are people afraid? Because they know what will happen to them if they ever tell the truth. Solution: Make lists. Stalin did it. Oh, I know he’s technically not a fascist, but close enough. Fiction over Science: Like biological men aren’t any different from biological women. There is no advantage in sports? Trans kids have always existed. It’s healthcare. It’s not a cult. There is no castrating young men. They’re not men. They’re women because trans women are women! Removing breasts and destroying the reproductive organs of young girls is perfectly fine because they’re not girls. Solution: As fascists, you don’t even need science. You can simply perform your medical experiments at will. If anyone objects, off to the gulag they must go.You see, Democrats, the answer has always been right there. All you have to do is embrace the fascists you really are. You don’t even need a leader. It doesn’t have to be about race. It can simply be about what you really want: conform or else and all power to the state.Spirited AwayI could never have known what it felt like to be unpersoned by the side I used to call home, to have their attack machines trained on me, on my business, on my personal safety until I walked in the shoes of Trump supporters. I know that I have to be quiet in my town. I can’t let them know who I am because I know what that will mean. They won’t say hello to me anymore. They will walk the other way when they see me coming. Who knows what else they might do?The most terrifying thing about it isn’t so much losing everything. I grew up poor, I struggled to pay the rent for most of my life. That’s nothing new. No, it was seeing people I thought I knew participate in the unpersoning of someone they once called a friend. Watching them remove me from their lists and not invite me to screenings or parties because I was no longer worthy of being one of them chilled me to my bones. It’s something I’ll never forget. I always thought we were the good guys, that we knew the difference between right and wrong, that we wouldn’t dehumanize whole groups of people because we didn’t agree on everything, and tell them they were no longer welcome in their own country.We have elections so the people decide how they want to be represented. But the Democrats don’t believe that at all, do they? They decided our elections didn’t matter because the people voting in them didn’t matter. Instead of respecting the results, they keep fighting their imaginary war, with their violence escalating to dangerous levels. Power is not something people give up willingly, especially not those who are used to being in control of everything.Your value inside utopia depends on your going along with all of it and doing so with a smile on your face and rationalization in your heart. I’m not really like that, they tell themselves. Except that they are. That is exactly who they are. Do you think Rick Wilson or Jimmy Kimmel or John Cusack or any of those crazy-eyed Democrats on TikTok would hesitate to throw Elon Musk, Trump, and all of their supporters into a detainment center? They would not. You’ve scared the crap out of America, Democrats. They’re not likely to vote for you any time soon. So why not put another line on that lawn sign to read: Fascism, it’s not so bad after all. // This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sashastone.substack.com/subscribe

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