John Dickerson

John Dickerson is co-anchor of "CBS Evening News" and anchor of "CBS Evening News Plus." He is also a Contributing Writer to The Atlantic and is co-host of the Slate Political Gabfest.

  • 04/08/2023: Chat GPT and checking yourself

    When your words don’t land as you intend it can be because a) you were unclear b) the people listening misunderstood your point or c) some members of the audience are willfully misunderstanding what you say.

    I was recently asked about the Tennessee lawmakers kicked out of the body.

    So I asked Chat GPT to interpret my response:

    QUESTION:

    What conclusions should one draw from this: “JOHN DICKERSON: Well, politics needs some cartilage. It needs some give. It can’t be totally brittle. So when you have a situation in here where, okay, Republican lawmakers thought these Democrats broke decorum, stepped out of line, there are a series of steps to punish. But when you go to the maximalist, when you kick them out, that’s brittle. There’s no give. When there’s no give, the only way the other side gets to respond is by punching back. And so when you lose those interim steps, all you get is response and response and response. And that is not only — you know where that leads. Right? That leads to violence. And it takes us back to this previous conversation which is the reason this question of democracy is so important. And the reason faith in the judicial system is so important is we’re at a moment where – more on the conservative side (*)– but on both sides you have people who think the system isn’t working, we’ve got to effect change outside of the system through violence. And when you have a system like that, you have no system at all. If people take things into their own hands. So, if it’s always brittle, people think: “Well, I can’t get a result from inside the system, so I must go around it.” And that’s what essentially January 6th is.”
    ANSWER:

    The conclusion that one can draw from this statement is that in politics, there needs to be flexibility, or “cartilage,” in order for the system to function effectively. When political processes become overly rigid or “brittle,” where there is no room for compromise or intermediate steps, it can lead to escalation and a breakdown of the system. This can result in a cycle of retaliation and response, which may ultimately lead to violence or other extreme measures.

    Furthermore, the statement suggests that when people lose faith in the political system and believe that it is not working, they may resort to seeking change outside of the established system, including through violent means. This is dangerous for democracy and the functioning of a society, as it undermines the rule of law and can lead to chaos and instability.

    The statement highlights the importance of maintaining faith in the judicial system and the need for a functional and flexible political process that allows for differences to be addressed and resolved through peaceful and lawful means. It underscores the significance of upholding democratic principles and finding ways to address grievances and effect change within the established system to prevent resorting to violence or circumventing the democratic process.

    QUESTION:
    Would it be fair to say that the person who said this is calling for violence?
    ANSWER:

    No, based on the provided statement, it would not be fair to say that the person who said this is calling for violence. The statement is describing how a brittle political system, where there is no flexibility and a breakdown of established processes, can lead to a cycle of retaliation and response that may ultimately result in violence. The speaker is highlighting the risks and negative consequences of such a breakdown in the political system, and emphasizing the importance of maintaining faith in the judicial system and finding ways to address grievances through peaceful and lawful means.

    The statement is not advocating for or endorsing violence as a solution to political problems, but rather warning against the dangers of a system that lacks flexibility and leads to people seeking change outside of established democratic processes. The speaker is emphasizing the importance of upholding democratic principles and finding ways to address grievances and effect change within the established system to prevent resorting to violence or circumventing the democratic process.

    *This was sloppy. I didn’t mean “conservative,” I meant far-right. Per this CSIS study: https://www.csis.org/analysis/pushed-extremes-domestic-terrorism-amid-polarization-and-protest. Conservatism, too often is associated with the right and the ideology of parts of the right is not conservative in any particular way. I try awfully hard not to conflate the two, but I did it in this case.

     

    • More Notions

  • 03/01/2023: New words from Dictionary.com that I like

    rage farming noun. Informal. the tactic of intentionally provoking political opponents, typically by posting inflammatory content on social media, in order to elicit angry responses and thus high engagement or widespread exposure for the original poster. 📝 This term was coined in 2022 (in the form rage farmed) by investigative reporter John Scott-Railton. Read about some other terms for […]

  • 02/27/2023: How to solve the work week.

    From Business Insider: “I do ‘Bare Minimum Mondays’ at work.” The TikTok creator and startup founder Marisa Jo Mayes says it helps her beat the “Sunday scaries” and avoid burnout — and it has completely changed her life. Find out more. If enough TikTok influencers can work really hard to brand not working at all […]

  • 02/25/2023: We Still Smoke the Water Pipe

    I found a quote in one of my notebooks from the second year of the Iraq war (3/20/2005). “Life goes on,” Hayawi says. “We are in the middle of a war, and we still smoke the water pipe.” This feels like a universal message to me. After some work in the shop with the search […]

  • 02/25/2023: A Conversation with Tim Frye on what's changed since the invasion of Ukraine

    I talked to Timothy Frye, the Marshall D. Shulman professor of post-Soviet foreign policy at Columbia University, for “CBS News Prime Time” about how Russia’s war in Ukraine has changed global energy, the economy and politics.    

  • 01/08/2023: House GOP Learned How to Govern

  • 12/14/2022: Did someone have inside information?

    60 seconds before CPI number came out there was significant trading activity: Bloomberg thinks someone got the news!

  • 12/14/2022: Reality and columnists are two different things.

    “The world is much worse than it would have been had the virus not emerged, and that’s not the fault of columnists you disagree with.” Matt Yglesias.

  • 12/13/2022: Spies Just like us.

    The Ruskies next door. Our story on it on CBS News Prime Time can be found here.

  • 12/13/2022: Sam Bankman Fried not instilling confidence.

    “Like I, like, kind of vaguely knew, kind of, sort of maybe, um, on a qualitative level what was going on.” — Sam Bankman Fried on Unusual Whales podcast on movement of customer funds from FTX to Alameda without permission. via Dealbook

  • 01/01/1970: Meetings can be a black hole that sucks your soul from your body. Priya Parker describes how to make them more intentional.

    I have long been obsessed with intention in even the mundane tasks in life. Priya Parker has put intention into gatherings and meetings. I talked to her about her book and her ideas on Prime Time 3/16/23 as a part of our shifting workplace special. We wanted to talk to her because if the workplace […]