Brian Tyler Cohen: Independent Media Is Winning
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What prompted Brian Tyler Cohen to write The Day After and how does he define 'wielding power'?
You had a traditional media contract and you gave it up.
I'm not sure people even realize why. What we offered was a place for those legacy media expats to get their news. And for a long time, those spaces were just occupied by the right.
Republicans and conservative viewers, the personalities in that field, they have cult followings. I don't know if Democrats will ever have that because Democrats are
more diverse, right? The media space is the front lines of this battle for democracy. I don't think I'm objective, and I do think I'm biased, and I think that's what people like. I have a very clear perspective, and I want to see a world where we combat climate change. I want to see a world where we have Medicare for all. I want to see a world where we have full voting rights for people. I want to see an expanded Supreme Court so that these things are actually protected.
One of the largest political voices in this country, and he built it not in cable, although he was on cable, on podcasts. on YouTube, speaking directly to the people the establishment keeps losing. And he has a new book out, and it's called The Day After, How to Wield Power in a Post-Trump World. It's a fascinating new book. I'm not all the way through it. Brian Tyler Cohen joins us. Brian, this is where I am here. As you know, in what we do, there's a lot of work, so I'm reading it, and it's really good. I'm so happy that you're here. The Day After. You know, it kind of sounds to me when people say when it happens and when it happens, but that's not really what you mean. You know what I'm talking about, right?
Yeah, I think like, look, I think a big reason that I wrote this whole book is there is a huge asymmetry between how the left refuses to wield power and how the right abuses power when they've got it. And so we have to fill that gap. We don't have the luxury of being in a situation where if Democrats take control again, we can tinker around the edges or rely on incrementalism or do what we've done in the past, which is basically get into government so that we can prop up the institutions of government as opposed to focusing on delivering outcomes. And so we've got, look, in my opinion, We have a very rare second chance. Democrats lost culture, lost the House, the Senate, the White House, the popular vote.
If Donald Trump wasn't such a colossal fuck up, we would never be in a situation where we now have the opportunity to overperform in the 2026 election cycle. But because he is, because he refuses to deliver on his own promises, now we have this rare second bite at the apple. And so if we get into power again, then we have to use that time to actually wield the power that we have as opposed to doing what we always do, which is being the party of strongly worded letters.
Yeah, the party of strongly worded letters sounding like Susan Collins. And we can talk about what's happening in Maine, but that's a whole nother show. Look, most people, Brian, are still in survival mode. You and I are in it every single day. And there are folks who are involved in politics who are paying attention, they're fighting, they're fighting, they're fighting. But how do you think about wielding power when people are just trying to hold on, they're just trying to hold the line?
I think we have to be able to do both. Look, when people ask me, and they ask me all the time, what do I think is going to happen in 2028? Who's going to be the standard bearer of the Democratic Party? And my response is we don't have the luxury of being able to say, oh, well, I think it's going to be this person or this person. I wonder what's going to happen between AOC and Gavin Newsom and JB Pritzker. We have to get through an election cycle right now where Trump is already trying to wield every tool at his disposal to try and undermine the results of a free and fair election before a single vote has been cast. We know that he's trying to ban mail-in ballots. We know that they're trying to pass the Save America Act where they can consolidate a lot of control of state elections at the federal level.
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Chapters
3 chapters
1
What prompted Brian Tyler Cohen to write The Day After and how does he define 'wielding power'?
0:00–4:31
2
Why does Brian argue Democrats must stop relying on incrementalism and focus on delivering outcomes?
4:31–29:43
3
How is independent media changing the political landscape compared to legacy outlets?
29:43–37:39
Speakers
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