it's not true that republicans and democrats are the same. it is true that republicans and a dozen senate democrats are the same and the stupidity of america's electoral structures means that those two views don't have a lot of daylight between them in practice.

imo a decent part of horseshoe theory is driven by moderators, who mainly yearn for hall monitor privileges and will switch allegiances as needed. they'll lurk in lefty circles if there's higher status in it, but they'll naturally gravitate toward right-wing rhetoric that polices minorities.

being a true "moderate" doesn't really translate well to gaining a public platform bc you need a more clearly defined identity and thus can't afford to have such incoherent beliefs. so any political commentors/agents who form a reputation as a "Moderate" cannot actually be one. they are moderators.

If there's anything that truly offends the editors at the NYT, it's describing right-wing views accurately.

Obviously this situation isn't entirely Dems' fault - the fact that Rs can stomach the idea of literally starving people in order to exert leverage is a degree of depravity that deserves its own condemnation - but don't act like you can take a punch later when you can barely take a tickle now.

Elon Musk is boring because he has no desires except filling the void where his soul should be with attention and validation. Making money and running companies are just proxies for attention. Twitter is a direct injection site which is why he's obsessed - but it also exposes his emptiness.