Note on Katie Porter

I was trapped in a no-laugh zone for days, until being saved by the California pol

I want to apologize to Racket readers. I’ve been sick and in a funk for days. How bad? I watched an episode of Mike Tyson Mysteries and didn’t laugh once. Then I saw the Laurie Watts CBS interview with California gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter and finally laughed, which in turn led to reading court filings with quotes like “she then took the ceramic bowl of steaming hot potatoes and dumped it on my head” and “Are you so fucking stupid that you can’t make jello?” and “This is pornography. Only a terrible person would watch this!” (about season 4 of Californication). I then stayed up last night reading the 2023 memoir, I Swear: Politics is Messier Than My Minivan.

The book is less funny, but still fascinating as a field guide to a newly prevalent personality type. This is the person who simmers with nuclear rage while scrupulously cataloguing all the mistakes the vast flawed universe of Other People make in delaying his or her obviously deserved success. As I’m about to record America This Week with Walter Kirn the review isn’t finished, but it is forthcoming.

One of the reasons I’m proud to be an American is that ours is a country where entertainingly crazy people get to thrive. Porter’s best strategic move is to embrace the viral craze created by the Watts exchange and go full DNC-Mothra from here, but… well, I have to prep for the show. Anyway, never doubt the humor Gods, they always come through. Also, is deepfake software (I think Kling is responsible for this one?) beginning to fulfill its potential? More on the book to come.