Angélica

Dreamer, lover of the ocean, sunglasses aficionado, playlist guru, movie quoter extraordinaire, sleep evangelist and good time haver, enthusiasm enthusiast.

[RTÉ News @rtenews]

A rousing performance of 'Fairytale of New York' was given by Glen Hansard and Lisa O'Neill at the funeral of Shane MacGowan in Nenagh, Co Tipperary. The performance was greeted by cheers inside and outside the church | https://t.co/a1x3oRVRMz

[Aaron Smith @aaronsmith]

Thank you, Dave. I appreciate you reaching out to ask what you got wrong.

The clip we’re discussing is less than 90 seconds long. What I’m about to do demonstrates Brandolini's Law: where the amount of energy required to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude greater than that required to produce it. Or, in this case, it takes around 600 words to correct 90 seconds of your economic fan fiction.

1⃣ Between 0 and 30 seconds

You begin by confusing government debt with the Future Fund and appear to suggest that the Future Fund can't exist along side Govt debt.

They’re different things. One can exist without the other, and in Australia they do.

Australia's Future Fund was established in 2006 with an initial govt investment of about $60B. Its first annual report, in 2008, showed assets of around $64 billion - not the $100B you suggested.

Then, at around 27 seconds, you talk about the Future Fund as though it ceased to exist (you used the word 'had' as in past tense).

It still very much exists Dave. In fact, it's grown every single year since it was created. Today it's worth around $270 billion, or over $330 billion once the other funds under management are included (eg Medical Research / Housing Australia / Drought).

So before we're even 30 seconds into the clip you've managed to confuse government debt, the Future Fund, its size, and whether it still exists.

That’s a lot of economic history to get wrong in under 30 seconds.

2⃣ Around 32 seconds

You then claim Kevin Rudd used the Future Fund to "flush money through the economy".

Again, that’s simply false. The Future Fund wasn't used to fund the stimulus. It wasn't used to build school halls. It wasn’t used for any of the things you’re describing. In your defence, you do briefly flirt with the possibility that you don’t actually know what you’re talking about. Sadly, it was a very short-lived relationship.

The GFC stimulus was funded through government borrowing.

For context, construction approvals were collapsing, more than a million Australians worked in construction, and the objective was to stop unemployment exploding during the worst global financial crisis in generations.

You're welcome to argue that was the wrong policy (but you didn't). You’re not entitled to rewrite where the money came from.

3⃣ At about 44 seconds

You say, "I might be wrong".

I concede you were correct during this part of the video.

4⃣ From 44 seconds onwards

You make a series of broad claims about the GFC response.

Yes, government debt increased. That's true.

What you omit is that Australia's stimulus largely went directly to households rather than primarily rescuing financial institutions, as happened in many other countries.

The aim was simple: keep people spending, businesses operating and Australians employed while global demand collapsed. It's known as counter-cyclical fiscal policy.

Whether you agree with it politically is your business.

The specific outcome for Australia isn't contested though - Australia was one of only two economies in the OECD to avoid recession during the Global Financial Crisis. There's no reality where that wasn’t a comparatively impressive outcome.

The money didn’t need to "trickle down". The entire point was that it started at the bottom.

5⃣ Government debt

Throughout the clip (and in life generally) you repeatedly return to the theme Labor is responsible for Australia’s debt (which btw is comparatively low).

Here are the actual numbers of net debt added by each Govt since 2007.

> Rudd/Gillard: about $190 billion over six years.
> Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison: about $366 billion over nine years, around two-thirds of which pre-dated COVID.
> Albanese: about $75 billion over four years.

Those figures don’t support the story you've been telling people. And that’s really the issue.

This isn't about getting one date wrong or misremembering one statistic. Nearly every claim in your 90-second clip turns out to be either wrong or misleading.

If you're going to publicly lecture Australians about economic history, the bare minimum expectation is that you’ve first acquainted yourself with it.

Because once the errors have been pointed out, as they have been to you multiple times, every repetition stops looking like an accident and starts looking like a strategy.

Given your very public coffee with Angus Taylor last week, perhaps people are entitled to ask what that strategy might be.

[Reid Wiseman @astro_reid]

“Dad, we can’t leave the rocket without a .5 together!!” I love these two ladies, and I’m boarding that rocket a very proud father.

[AnthroVet50 @spooked75]

Why is MAGA so hateful?

I get asked this a lot. The short answer is: because hate is the point. But let me break it down.

Grievance as identity

MAGA isn't a political movement built on policy. It's built on resentment. The core message has always been "you've been wronged" — by elites, by immigrants, by cities, by universities, by the media, by women, by minorities, by anyone who isn't you.

This isn't a coalition that comes together to BUILD something. It comes together to tear things down. Hate isn't a byproduct of the movement. It's the fuel.

Zero-sum thinking

They genuinely believe that if someone else gains, they lose. Rights for gay people? That's an attack on Christians. Immigrants succeeding? They must be stealing from "real Americans." A Black president? He must be illegitimate.

There's no concept of shared prosperity or expanding opportunity. Just winners and losers. And they're terrified of losing.

The dominance hierarchy

A lot of MAGA is rooted in evangelical and authoritarian psychology. There's supposed to be a natural order: white at the top, Christian at the top, male at the top, straight at the top.

When you've been at the top of a hierarchy your whole life, equality feels like oppression. Giving others a seat at the table feels like theft.

The media ecosystem

Fox News → OANN → Newsmax → podcasts → Twitter/X. It's a 24/7 rage machine. Every algorithm rewards outrage. Every host competes to be more extreme than the last.

These people are literally addicted to anger. Neurologically. They get dopamine hits from feeling righteous fury. They wake up and immediately check their phones to find out what they should be mad about today.

Turn it off for a week and they go through withdrawal.

Economic anxiety — weaponized

Here's the thing: a lot of the underlying pain is real. Deindustrialization gutted their towns. Opioids killed their families. Wages stagnated while costs exploded. The American Dream stopped working for them.

But instead of blaming the corporations that shipped jobs overseas, or the billionaires that rigged the economy, or the politicians that deregulated everything — they're taught to blame immigrants. To blame welfare recipients. To blame Black people in cities. To blame trans kids.

Classic fascist playbook: take legitimate economic anger and redirect it at the vulnerable.

The permission structure

Trump didn't create the hate. He just gave it permission.

For decades, these people were told to keep the quiet part quiet. Be polite. Use dog whistles. Then Trump came along and said the loud part loud — and nothing happened. No consequences.

He showed them they could be openly racist, openly cruel, openly contemptuous of democracy — and not only survive, but win.

"He fights" doesn't mean he fights for them. It means he's mean to people they don't like. The cruelty is the point.

Community built on enemies

This is the part people miss: MAGA is a community. For a lot of these people — especially older, rural, isolated Americans — it's their entire social world. Their friends are MAGA. Their family is MAGA. Their church is MAGA.

The hate is the membership card. The shared enemies are what bind them together. Leaving the movement doesn't just mean changing your politics. It means losing everyone you know.

So they double down. And double down again. Because the alternative is being alone.

The bottom line

Why is MAGA so hateful?

Because scared people + relentless propaganda + permission to be cruel + community built on shared enemies = hate as a lifestyle.

They're not going to be reasoned out of it. They weren't reasoned into it.

The only thing that works is making it socially and politically costly to be part of it. Outvoting them. Out-organizing them. And building something better that gives people a different place to belong.

[BBC Sport @BBCSport]

One of the great shocks in Women's World Cup history! 😲

#FIFAWWC #GER #COL

[QandA @QandA]

“I am down but I will get back up. And you can come at me again and I will meet you with the love of my people.” Stan Grant delivers a powerful message on Q+A before taking a break from the media. #StanGrant #QandA #WeStandWithStan

[Barrie Cassidy @barriecassidy]

I suspect the ABC has misread its audience. If you want wall to wall royalty you can get it elsewhere in spades. The ABC is better when it offers an alternative to populism.

[The Chaser @chaser]

We are extremely sorry

[Michael Rowland @mjrowland68]

Just hand Tony the Logie already, ok! 🤣🤣👏👏

[Elizabeth Hackett @LizHackett]

I don't know who needs to hear this, but whenever life felt unsolvable, my mom would say, "Is there anything you can do about it tonight? No? Then go to bed. You'll figure it out tomorrow."

[Mike Galsworthy @mikegalsworthy]

Putin is going to find it difficult to arrest all these people with his jails overflowing.

Well done, brave Russian people of St Petersburg. 🇷🇺✊

[Michael Rowland @mjrowland68]

Our champion!! 🎉🏆 #AusOpen

[Elizabeth Hackett @LizHackett]

Feed and water your friendships. You put down roots at 23 that suddenly become trees and you find yourself in an accidental forest that saves you.

[Roy Wood Jr- Ex Jedi @roywoodjr]

People over 35 can hear this picture

[Zeus Tipado @tipado]

That time Carl Sagan called out Star Wars for being too white and the audience didn’t know what to do 💀

[Neil deGrasse Tyson @neiltyson]

How egocentric of us to think that Space Aliens, who have mastered interstellar travel across the Galaxy, would give a shit about humans on Earth.

[Simon Blackwell @simonblackwell]

How do people have so many opinions? I’m 55 and have about seven opinions, and three of those are probably wrong.

[menulog @Menulog]

Glued to the highlights of our latest TV ad Gladys? #OriginSnackdown