Donald Trump Interview | Lex Fridman Podcast #442

[LordFall]

Do you guys think Lex is pandering and is basically a sellout? He could go much harder on his conservative guests but then that would lead to him not getting as many big guests and being less irrelevant. Is it that simple or is there some other benefit he is giving society by platforming Trump?

I found his interview with Ivanka much more interesting as you could at least get some insight on Trump from an unusually close source but this one it seemed Trump was just lying and making stuff up with Lex trying to push him a little bit then just giving up. 

[PurpleTree]

12 minutes ago, LordFall said:

Do you guys think Lex is pandering and is basically a sellout?

Not really 

I’m listening to the cenk (leftwinger) episode right now and lex also doesn’t go hard on him.

 

i think he just has a very non confrontational personality 

[PurpleTree]

14 minutes ago, LordFall said:

 Trump was just lying and making stuff up with Lex trying to push him a little bit then just giving up. 

Trump is making himself look bad by not answering the questions basically 

[aurum]

4 minutes ago, LordFall said:

Do you guys think Lex is pandering and is basically a sellout? He could go much harder on his conservative guests but then that would lead to him not getting as many big guests and being less irrelevant. Is it that simple or is there some other benefit he is giving society by platforming Trump?

I found his interview with Ivanka much more interesting as you could at least get some insight on Trump from an unusually close source but this one it seemed Trump was just lying and making stuff up with Lex trying to push him a little bit then just giving up. 

Lex is an interesting guy. I don't think it's as simple as him being a sellout.

Like Kyle said in the video I linked, Lex does care about having good faith conversations. Which we do generally need.

But in this case, I think his open-mindedness is being somewhat exploited. As well, the benefit of interviewing Trump for his show / status probably made him not think too hard about the downsides.

I made a thread while ago about political messaging where we got into good faith / bad political dialogues:

What Lex is doing here is NOT what I was supporting in that thread. Letting Trump spew his BS to millions of people is NOT anything close to good sense-making or respecting the epistemic commons. It fact, it's the opposite.

[Leo Gura]

Lex isn't pandering, he's just trying to be Larry King.

Larry King's whole shtick was to interview everyone under the sun and not challenge them, not judge them.

Larry King could interview Hitler and ask him friendly softball questions.

And there is value in that.

Everyone wants Lex to be a radical, but Lex is an extreme centrist. It is not Lex's role to be a radical. That is his chosen style for his shown. Lex is the new Larry King.

Edited September 5 by Leo Gura

[Moutushi]

7 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Lex isn't pandering, he's just trying to be Larry King.

Larry King's whole shtick was the interview everyone under the sun and not challenge then, not judge them.

Larry King could interview Hitler and ask him friendly softball questions.

And there is value in that.

Everyone wants Lex to be a radical, but Lex is an extreme centrist. It is not Lex's role to be a radical. That is his chosen style for his shown. Lex is the new Larry King.

Said like a Boss 

[Moutushi]

55 minutes ago, PurpleTree said:

Trump is making himself look bad by not answering the questions basically 

Correction: Trump has made and continues to make himself look bad by doing much much more than just that

[PurpleTree]

also who knows if lex has some “bigger”plans for the future or something 

he’s a chess player and all

but that’s just a thought and the future doesn’t exist anyway really 

[PurpleTree]

at some point i think lex told trump that he thinks all politicians should have to take mushrooms 🍄 

 

but then trump just talked about legal/medical marihuana i think

[lostingenosmaze]

7 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

I don't have a prob with Lex's character.

You should. He's no different from people like Jordan Peterson; Lex is muddying the discourse with his centrism encouraging the mainstream to give malicious people the benefit of the doubt instead of simply seeing them for what they are:

 

[PurpleTree]

6 minutes ago, lostingenosmaze said:

You should. He's no different from people like Jordan Peterson; Lex is muddying the discourse with his centrism encouraging the mainstream to give malicious people the benefit of the doubt instead of simply seeing them for what they are:

 

do you have strong opinions?

 

 

who are you without your opinions?

[Leo Gura]

33 minutes ago, lostingenosmaze said:

You should.

No I shouldn't.

Criticizing a centrist moderate for not being radical like you want is peak cringe.

[Lyubov]

33 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

No I shouldn't.

Criticizing a centrist moderate for not being radical like you want is peak cringe.

Not confronting obvious lies to me is not radical. The mass hysteria and lack of integrity in our society is what’s radical. Trump is a such a massive liar. His base even knows it. They did a survey and his whole base is aware he lies about every, just straight up lies, not even opinions on policy or how to do things, straight up lies. Our society doesn’t care cause he panders to their fears and culture war beliefs. So many people are ok with lies and a lack of integrity if it fits in with their us vs them narrative. This is the core problem. Extreme centrism is basically allowing so many lies into the conversation that the truth is muddied. Perhaps another way to look at it is to present everything and let the audience decide what’s true. Is it lex’s responsibility? Who knows. To me to be an extreme centrist is to not be aligned with truth but that’s just what I believe. 

Edited September 5 by Lyubov

[lostingenosmaze]

23 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

No I shouldn't.

Criticizing a centrist moderate for not being radical like you want is peak cringe.

You have been so provocative yourself when it comes to criticizing conservatives every time Trump leaves your mouth. You've pretty much implicated anyone who even so much as gives Trump the devil's advocate as idiots or "low cognitively developed". So why are you turning the other cheek when Lex Fridman does it?

[Lyubov]

Lex does not value truth. It’s not possible to occupy his position if one values truth and integrity, just my belief, I’m open to being wrong and other’s take on this. 

[Extreme Z7]

You can still criticize Lex Friedman for being too centrist, though.

He's known to have been downplaying the January 6 riots and said that condeming them is "worsening the divide".

[Lyubov]

1 minute ago, Extreme Z7 said:

You can still criticize Lex Friedman for being too centrist, though.

He's known to have been downplaying the January 6 riots and said that condeming them is "worsening the divide".

He is a jellyfish that lacks integrity. These types will yap away and huddle low thinking that sweeping this stuff under the rug resolves it. People have no idea how bad it’s going to get if this continues and is not confronted. Law lacks truth in our society. We much return truth to law. 

[Inliytened1]

1 hour ago, Lyubov said:

Not confronting obvious lies to me is not radical. The mass hysteria and lack of integrity in our society is what’s radical. Trump is a such a massive liar. His base even knows it. They did a survey and his whole base is aware he lies about every, just straight up lies, not even opinions on policy or how to do things, straight up lies. Our society doesn’t care cause he panders to their fears and culture war beliefs. So many people are ok with lies and a lack of integrity if it fits in with their us vs them narrative. This is the core problem. Extreme centrism is basically allowing so many lies into the conversation that the truth is muddied. Perhaps another way to look at it is to present everything and let the audience decide what’s true. Is it lex’s responsibility? Who knows. To me to be an extreme centrist is to not be aligned with truth but that’s just what I believe. 

Did all of you guys miss that Harris and Biden lie too?  They all lie.  So Trump lies more, lets stone him!  That's like saying Jim steals constantly..   But Jane steals only some of the time.   So hey let's throw jim in jail and let Jane walk free! 

Edited September 5 by Inliytened1

[UnbornTao]

@Inliytened1 Trump is the epitome of pathological liar.

[Inliytened1]

7 minutes ago, UnbornTao said:

@Inliytened1 Trump is the epitome of pathological liar.

But they still ALL lie.   I guess it's OK to be less of a liar..we will give them a pass because we're democrats lol.

Edited September 5 by Inliytened1