There was previously discussion about Russell Brand denying allegations that were to be shown in a TV documentary, and now things are developing.
Matt Taibbi is on a related journey. He stopped turning up to his own podcast a couple of years ago, and you can now catch him on random NewsMax segments.
After seeing Naomi Wolf make the full heel turn to Steve Bannon acolyte, in the aftermath of her book and reputation being utterly destroyed in a single BBC interview, it seems like it’s not necessarily Me-too driving the flipping phenomenon.
The MAGA right provides the last bastion for people with huge egos and well-paying careers in the public eye who refuse to go away.
Checked in on Taibbi after you mentioned this. There’s something weird in that dudes past where he went off to Leningrad at the end of his college years and then was just kinda over there for a decade +. My guess there is some flavor of komprimat having to do with his past heroin usage and probably sex tourism. He’s really towed the line for the pro Russia narrative since he started being a “both sides” guy, and went out of his way to say the Ukraine invasion would never happen. Interesting that more recently he got a home visit from the IRS after pushing the whole Twitter files thing with Musk and then cut ties with Musk almost immediately.
I wonder if there’s a place where all these shit bags hang out together? A Club Shitbag, if you will.
He didn’t tow Musk’s line on the Twitter files, hence the fallout. He also spoke truth to power to Congress, which directly preceded the IRS house call.
That said, everything else you said, sounds pretty spot on, or at least, reasonable assumptions, based on his work as of late.
He’s pretty unbearable at this point. Which is unfortunate, as he’s done some great work in the past.
https://www.vocabulary.com/articles/pardon-the-expression/toe-the-line-vs-tow-the-line/
“toe the line” vs. “tow the line”
On your mark, get set, go! When you stand ready for a race with your toes on the starting line, you literally toe the line.
In fact, people used to say, “Toe your mark, get set, go!” These days, the expression toe the line is more commonly used to refer to doing what’s expected of you, or conforming. If you constantly misbehave in class, your teacher might tell you that you need to start toeing the line.
This phrase can also mean being right up against the line between two different things. If your short story toes the line between fantasy and science fiction, then it probably includes elements of both those genres but doesn’t neatly align with either one. Any way you use it, the idiom toe the line always uses toe as in the one at the end of your foot.
I was pretty sad about hearing about Naomi Wolfe, so I had to Google it and realized I was thinking of Naomi Klein.
Matt Taibbi was a bit of a disappointment.
The grift is lucrative. I guess I should be surprised the number of people you can squeeze money out of it before they get wise but it just doesn’t seem to run out.
You’re not the first person to have that moment. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/aug/26/naomi-klein-naomi-wolf-conspiracy-theories
I went through the exact same experience with the Klein/Wolfe mixup.
And, Klein has what sounds like a fantastic book coming out right now that was triggered by the confusion.
Check out some of her recent interviews on Qanon Anonymous, Conspirituality, and On the Media podcasts. She is a really shrewd person.
The wolf/Klien confusion is the subject of klien’s latest book, doppelgänger.
If it’s Klien it’s fine.
lol I’ll use that mnemonic from now on. I didn’t know it was such a common error!
The book is out, I’m definitely going to read it. Thanks!
