S15 EP144: Hour 2 - The Pessimists

Erick Erickson wades into the fight between Ben Shapiro and The Federalist's John Daniel Davidson over whether the American dream still works, and answers with a date: ten years ago his wife would be dead, because the lung cancer treatment that saved her did not exist yet. Using C.S. Lewis and the fifteenth Screwtape letter, he takes apart the professional pessimism spreading across the online right and makes the case for contentment. Then CNN's Harry Enten says he is running scared for Republicans as Democratic primary turnout blows past 25 million, and Erick argues over whether culture or the economy decides November, from Mike Rogers and Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan to Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota and Ken Paxton in Texas.

• Ben Shapiro versus John Daniel Davidson on whether hard work and virtue still pay off, and Erick's precise rebuttal: his wife's lung cancer drug, next-day delivery, the end of Roe v. Wade, and the Supreme Court on trans care for minors
• C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, and the fifteenth letter: why idealizing the past or fearing the future makes idols, why misery is increasingly a choice, and why contentment is the answer
• Harry Enten's CNN data: over 25 million Democratic primary votes so far, ahead of 2018, against a Michigan Senate poll that is the weakest Democratic showing of the century
• Culture versus the economy in November: Mike Rogers versus Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, Peggy Flanagan's ICE answer in Minnesota, Ken Paxton's character problem in Texas, and why Erick thinks the GOP is making a bad gamble
• Callers on populism versus conservatism, a Star Trek fan page turning on Noa Tishby while a barbecue board showed nothing but love, and a gearhead's case against letting Washington design Detroit's cars