People think Obama is hiding a secret bigger than aliens 👀
At no point did I know where this story was going to go next
You’re here because you’re watching politics get body-slammed by digital culture and content creators. I’m here because I’m the only one who can guide you through it.
Obama launched his alien awareness into our media galaxy like an interstellar comet.
What song do we think he listened to on his way to progressive creator Brian Tyler Cohen’s studio? “ET” by Katy Perry? Surely not. The title song from “Men in Black”? It’s possible. Radiohead’s “Subterranean Homesick Alien”? I can only hope.
One thing’s for certain: Whatever it was put Barry O in his celestial bag. The duo touched on no shortage of contentious topics — I found the immigration section to be particularly interesting — but just one 30-second back-and-forth trumped them all.
Disclaimer: I famously do not care about aliens. It’s many people’s least favorite trait of mine. If you want to try to convince me of their presence and/or relevance, leave your best argument in the comments. I’ll be open-minded.
Extraterrestrial investigation aside, we’ve gotta probe two features of the immediate fallout.
The Follow-Up
I can only describe creators and their various comment sections as apoplectically up in arms over the fact that Brian Tyler Cohen did not ask a follow up question to two successive answers Obama gave about aliens, the second to an unrelated question.
Saagar and Krystal both made a point of it on their show, “Breaking Points”
The conservative crew that hosts the “Ruthless” podcast called out the classic interviewer’s faux pas of thinking so much about your next question that you don’t listen to the answer of the current one
Dave Jorgenson, who pioneered political skits on vertical video, offered his rendition of what the crew behind the camera looked like begging for the follow up
And the guy who I refer to as America’s median voter, Kevin “KFC” Clancy from Barstool called it “the worst follow-up question in the history of interviewing”
Here’s what this tells me: Whether they know it or not, the children yearn for real journalism. As someone who straddles the journalist-creator divide, I know this doesn’t mean creators suddenly have to become Walter mf Cronkite on the mic. Because I also know that influential political guests frequently put parameters on creator-led interviews in a way they couldn’t with a journalist. But picking up cues, staying engaged, and knowing the curiosities of the audience have a one-size-fits-all application in media.
The Follow-Up to the Follow-Up
BTC definitely felt the heat. He posted a second video and made an appearance on Piers Morgan to address the criticism. Both times he made the argument that he didn’t ask a follow-up because Obama’s answer “felt clear” to him and others in the room, but he still regrets it.
Here’s the part that caught me off-guard: Obama himself posted a statement clarifying his relationship to aliens because Brian Tyler Cohen asked him to. To that, BTC says: “His clarification is exactly what I thought he meant and why I didn’t continue with the line of questioning.” He hopes 44’s follow-up brings the “closure everyone was looking for.”
IN THEIR RIGHT MIND
We’re looking at some kind of inception here with creators on the right — getting to a deeper level of conspiracy through a gateway conspiracy. (And no, it’s not even about aliens).
The entry-level: Obama is bringing up aliens as a distraction.
“We just said on Friday that because Barack Obama is now implicated in the Epstein files, they’re gonna drop the alien opp on us. And here it is.” — Benny Johnson
Johnson’s video from Friday “Obama in the Epstein Files. Career Over…” tries to make a transitive property argument — because his lawyer sent over 11,000 emails to Jeffrey Epstein (woof), he has to be associated/read in/complicit. There is no evidence inside or outside the files that would suggest that’s true. But alas, in the world of Benny Johnson, this “bombshell” alien admission easily qualifies as a deliberate diversion.
The mid-level: Obama is bringing up aliens as a distraction from the fact that he’s gay.
“Obama has never, from all our research, [been] into kids. But it is in the files, like $50,000 worth of hot dogs delivered for his birthday. That’s code for gay prostitutes.” — Alex Jones
The Infowars chief exonerates both Obama and Bill Clinton as pedophiles — based on his exposure to the Epstein files — but claims he’s seen evidence that the former is being blackmailed “with the gay stuff.” Of course, the ideas don’t stop there: This is actually a sign of a larger incoming alien invasion psyop put on by the deep state.1
Still hung up on hot dogs is code for gay prostitutes, personally. I wonder if he had a hot dog at the NBA All-Star Game. Really would’ve made some heads spin!
LOOSE ENDS
📝 Word I learned today: oraculate
the verb version of oracle* — “You could give her two minutes of trance at the end of a Howard Beale Show — say, once a week, Friday — which is suggestively occult, and she could oraculate.” (via Diana Christensen, “Network”)
*Grace note: My first time watching “Network” and hoo wee! That is Bari Weiss, David Ellison, and CBS. I just hope that doesn’t make Anderson Cooper … Howard Beale. I clocked a dictionary worth of unusual words in this movie, and it turns out, I wasn’t the only one. Sibilant. Love it.
📰 Something you should read today: George W. Bush joined Substack! His first piece, in collaboration with In Pursuit, is a good read.
🥹 Something to make you smile today: I tried so hard to find a way to squeeze in Michelle Obama’s recent performance of Teresa Giudice’s one-line epic “PROSTITUTION WHORE” … but alas, it didn’t apply above. Bravoholics (hello, how are you, my name is) can sniff out a fake fan faster than Mary Cosby can say “you smell like hospital.” But we have more and more buffaloes coming down the stairs. Name ‘em: Michelle Obama, Seth Rogen, John Oliver, Jon Hamm, Jerry O’Connell, JLaw, Emma Stone, Sarah Paulson … and always, Rihanna.
This theory hit my radar for the first time when those mystery New Jersey drones took over in 2024
