Politics

Let’s Be Blunt: Legal Weed is Driving Right-Wingers Mad

FEVER DREAMS

This week Fever Dreams hosts Kelly Weill and Will Sommer examine a classic style of right-wing outrage—which never seems to back itself up with evidence.

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Photo Illustration by Thomas Lev/Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty

Right-wingers are losing their minds over the fact that marijuana is legal in large parts of the country—for proof, look no further than the opinion pages of the Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post.

On this week’s Fever Dreams, hosts Kelly Weill and Will Sommer entertain themselves by reading off a list of some of the absurd headlines published by the conservative outlet—including their personal favorite: “Let’s be blunt, legal weed is turning New York workers into zombies.”

“This is absolutely a classic of the genre, and that genre is ‘customer service workers have been insufficiently subservient to me, and I need to make it part of a broader societal issue,’” Weill said. “In this case, he's saying that all of the workers who have failed him are on drugs—and he doesn’t present any evidence for this, by the way. Just pure speculation.”

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Then, the hosts recap Sommer’s investigation into the illicit activities of Trump ally and MAGA personality Ali Alexander, who was accused this week of soliciting nude pictures from underage boys.

In exchange, he reportedly offered internships and other benefits—which Sommer says lends a strange influence-peddling aspect to the entire saga.

“It’s literal grooming,” Weill says. “It’s worse than hypocritical… all these masterminds of the ‘groomers’ slur, please, look in the mirror.”

Plus! A conversation with Aaron Kleinman of the States Project about all the wacky, extreme characters currently inhabiting—and being put in charge of—America’s state governments.

Listen, and subscribe, to Fever Dreams on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.

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