Before Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday, CBS Mornings sought to answer a critically important question: “Why is it that the Democrats' music is just better?” Co-host Tony Dokoupil mused that it is because they travel more, while The Daily Show’s Ronny Chieng surmised it was because art best fits inside a left-wing worldview.
King asked Chieng, “Are you curious to see what Kamala Harris walks out to tonight? I am.”
As Chieng affirmed he was, King proceeded, “I know she's been playing Beyonce's ‘Freedom’ at all of her stops, but I wonder if it's going to be something different tonight.”
While considering Harris’s musical selection, Chieng came up with a question of his own as “Freedom” played in the background, “Yeah, she gonna mix it up. Yeah, I thought it would be Beyonce, the way she's played that a few times, maybe, yeah, I don't know what she would play, but it’s interesting who – why is it that the Democrats' music is just better, right? Why is that?”
Dokoupil had a theory, “John Legend answered this question, I mean, he says musicians and creatives tend to be Democrats because they travel… They meet more people. Yeah, they meet more people.”
Does Dokoupil really think Republicans don’t travel or take vacations? In 2021, Pew Research wrote, “When it comes to party affiliation, there are no significant differences in the share of Republicans and Democrats who have traveled internationally or in the number of countries they have visited.”
Chieng had his own idea, “Maybe it’s something about, you know, creating art that speaks to a common humanity that, you know, has more of a left-wing bend, but I don't know what I'm talking about; it's 6:00 a.m.”
Art is simply the creative expression of an idea. It has nothing inherently to do with “common humanity.” Both Chieng and Dokoupil’s theories are just elitist, pseudo-intellectual ways of saying liberals and Democrats are more sophisticated people than the simplistic rubes who vote Republican.
Here is a transcript for the August 22 show:
CBS Mornings
8/22/2024
9:33 AM ET
GAYLE KING Are you curious to see what Kamala Harris walks out to tonight? I am.
RONNY CHIENG: Yeah, I am.
KING: I know she's been playing Beyonce's "Freedom"—
CHIENG: Yeah.
KING: —at all of her stops, but I wonder if it's going to be something different tonight.
CHIENG: Yeah, she gonna mix it up. Yeah, I thought it would be Beyonce, the way she's played that a few times, [Beyonce’s “Freedom plays in background] maybe, yeah, I don't know what she would play, but it’s interesting who – why is it that the Democrats' music is just better, right? Why is that? [Song stops]
TONY DOKOUPIL: John Legend answered this question, I mean, he says musicians and creatives tend to be Democrats because they travel.
KING: Is that what he said?
DOKOUPIL: They meet more people. Yeah, they meet more people.
CHIENG: Maybe it’s something about, you know, creating art that speaks to a common humanity that, you know, has more of a left-wing bend, but I don't know what I'm talking about; it’s 6:00 a.m.
