Something’s Got to Give Pretty Soon
By 
We are in a bad place. Not just the world; not just America; we are in a bad place at the blog right now. The front pagers (not all of us, but some of us) are not meeting the expectations of the commenting community. It has become evident that a significant nucleus of the commenters do not want to hear about Joe Biden’s health problems, and do not want to read alarming discussions of the current state of polling. This has become manifest in the extraordinary hostility that posts on these subjects have earned from the commenters.
I love this place; I’ve put my heart and soul into it. When I meet my Maker and have to explain myself, I’ll cite my children first as justifications of my time on this earth and LGM second. I believe that this place, in 2024, exists because of the community of commenters. There is, to be sure, tremendous value in what the front pagers provide; I love reading Paul and Erik and Scott and Cheryl and Abigail and everyone else. But the reason people come back, to my view, is the robust community of commenters that provides a sense of place and comfort in difficult times. When Twitter became X I was happy that I had the LGM comment section to fall back upon, because I knew that I had a home here. You, as commenters, are VALUED. There are always conflicts associated with maintaining this community and establishing boundaries, but this place exists because you come here to read and to talk with the friends that you’ve made.
But…
LGM is not now and has never been comfort food. We are experts to greater or lesser degree in our fields of study who enjoy writing on those subjects and who are pleased that you enjoy reading about them. The front page writers of LGM are happy to throw the occasional open thread, but we do not view it as our job to reassure you that certain things that may be true are in fact untrue because they are unpleasant to contemplate.
I don’t know that I believe that Joe Biden has Parkinsons; I do know enough to know that I’m worried about it. I don’t know if Kamala Harris would be a stronger general election candidate than Biden, but I absolutely know that we should be talking about the question, at least before the delegates vote. I know, in fact, that these are the most important possible questions to be talking about at this very moment. There is absolutely nothing that would make me happier than having all of my doubts about this election resolved in the course of a triumphant victory speech by President Joe Biden in November. But I must confess that I find that eventuality quite doubtful at this very moment.
Y’all have accused us of not understanding the threat posed by Trump; y’all have accused us of pursuing clout over the accomplishment of progressive ends; y’all have spouted theories about polls and pundits and the MSM that would have made a Bush-era wingnut blush. Y’all have been consistently abusive of the front pagers, even on posts that have nothing whatsoever to do with the election. I am seeing conspiracy theories where I should absolutely not see conspiracy theories; I am seeing assertions of bad faith where there is no bad faith.
No one here wants Trump to win. As Paul has pointed out, there are literally zero votes at stake in the conversations that we have here. LGM is big enough to be part of the conversation but absolutely not big enough to steer that conversation in any direction. No one who can take a consequential action with respect to Joe Biden’s future takes talking points from this blog. Moreover, the front pagers are not trying to antagonize you by discussing on this page what the rest of the political world happens to be obsessing about at this very moment. There is no “line” that front pagers have been asked to adhere too; we are all the same people we were a month ago.
It can’t go on. We cannot indefinitely tolerate attacks on our individual and collective character because folks are displeased by the issues we are discussing. If it’s not possible for you to participate in this community under the assumption that others are participating in good faith, then it is with great sadness that I must ask you to leave this community behind. Something’s gotta give, and it’s gotta give pretty soon.