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The time I met Joe Biden

2020-10-27 · letter vlog · John · 3:23 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society · mode: Advocacy & fundraising · tags: timely hook, civic or action cta

A week before the 2020 US election, John tells how meeting Joe Biden at a book event, where Biden asked about Esther and gave a stagehand the same attention he gave John, moved him; he then argues Biden's COVID and climate plans beat Trump's, rejects Trump's us-versus-them populism, and says Biden would govern with empathy and decency.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Asked to host a book event with Joe Biden; liking his memoir; 'this is a political video'

  • ★★ A while back John was asked to host a book event with Joe Biden. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ John generally dislikes political memoirs but was moved by Biden's book, about grief and what serving the public means: sad, human and openly conflicted. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Calling this a political video, John answers those asking when Vlogbrothers got so political: they have talked politics since mid-January 2007, though he understands the concern. — 00:00:00 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ John says he had no particularly strong opinion about Joe Biden then; he just liked the book. — 00:00:00

00:00:29 — Meeting Biden backstage: fame as a filter, the Gilligan anecdote, Biden asks about Esther, the stagehand Tim

  • ★★ John flew to somewhere like St. Louis for the Q&A and was editing a Crash Course script backstage when someone asked if he'd like to meet Vice President Biden. (hedged) — 00:00:29 · Crash Course
  • ★★ John says he had become used to people saying kind things they didn't mean, because even modest fame works as a filter distorting how people look at you. — 00:00:29 · celebrity
  • ★ Meeting the actor who played Gilligan in the early 2000s, John blurted that he loved Gilligan's Island, never having seen it, and was asked his favorite episode. (playful) — 00:00:58
  • ★★★ Biden told John his family loved The Fault in Our Stars and it helped them process his son's cancer diagnosis; he asked about Esther, with tears in his eyes as John talked. — 00:00:58 · The Fault in Our Stars, Esther Earl
  • ★★ John was struck that Biden wanted to talk about Esther more than about the success of the book or the movie. — 00:01:27 · Esther Earl, The Fault in Our Stars (film)
  • ★★ On the way to the stage a stagehand, Tim, asked Biden for an autograph and they fell into intense conversation; Biden asked Tim to wait and resumed talking with him after the hour-long Q&A. — 00:01:27

00:01:56 — Biden's rare attention; COVID and climate plans; no Republican platform; rejecting us-versus-them populism; what kind of president Biden would be

  • ★★★ John says Biden gave him exactly the same attention he gave Tim, which, among the many famous and powerful people John has met, is very rare. — 00:01:56
  • ★★★ John finds Biden's plans for tackling the COVID pandemic far more convincing than Trump's. — 00:01:56 · Donald Trump, COVID-19 pandemic
  • ★★★ John calls Biden's climate change proposals serious and Trump's literally non-existent. — 00:01:56 · Donald Trump, climate change
  • ★★ John says that for the first time in over 120 years the Republican Party released no new platform this election cycle, no plan on issues from taxation to COVID. — 00:02:26 · Republican Party, COVID-19 pandemic
  • ★★★ John says the Trump administration has no comprehensive responses because its idea of governance is populism, not policy: a clear us and them, with only a Trump vote stopping them. — 00:02:26 · Donald Trump, othering
  • ★★★ John rejects that idea of governance: we will not us-versus-them our way out of COVID, climate change or anything else. — 00:02:55 · othering, COVID-19 pandemic, climate change
  • ★★★ John thinks Biden would be a fundamentally different president: listening with empathy, building teams of experts instead of concentrating power, leading with decency and humanity. — 00:02:55 · empathy

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description asks viewers to make a plan to vote at vote.org and make sure their friends have a plan too. — video description
  • ★★ The description says this video, like all John's recent ones, contains a clue leading to a secret livestream, easier solved together via r/nerdfighters or Tuataria. — video description · Reddit
  • ★★ The description corrects the video: on reflection the Biden event was not in St. Louis. — video description

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Donald Trump · Joe Biden

Also: People: Esther Earl · Tim (stagehand)

Projects: Crash Course

Works: Gilligan's Island · The Fault in Our Stars · The Fault in Our Stars (film)

Organizations: Republican Party

Concepts: celebrity · climate change · empathy · expert · grief · memoir · othering · populism

Places: St. Louis

Events: COVID-19 pandemic · United States presidential election

Only in the description or credits: Reddit · Tuataria · Vote.org

Also centred on Joe Biden: VEEPSTAKES! · Definitely Not A Pecan Orchard: A Pizzamas Question Tuesday

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