It was early October. A friend and colleague reached out to see if I'd be interested in doing a guest segment on an Irish radio show to discuss the upcoming election, as she was unable to. I said, "Sure, why not?" I'm no stranger to radio and guest segments. That sounded like fun.
I don't recall if the station (RTE Radio in Dublin) mentioned it ahead of time, but this was a panel segment, with myself and another guest both on at the same time. It wasn't someone I'd heard of, but I learned she was a Democratic National Committee Finance member, so figured we'd probably have differing perspectives.
We did. Which was fine. But frankly, I was caught a bit off guard by the furious spin and degree of disdain and outright scorn she expressed — not toward me, she was cordial enough toward me, but toward then-candidate Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance. I don't know why exactly. I'm used to seeing it online and even on the cable news shows. In any event, I came away from the initial interaction with a sense of "Wow, that was...interesting."
I looked her up on Twitter — sorry, X. Yep — full-on apparatchik. Lots of "Here I am with this high-profile Dem," and "I'm so stoked about our candidate!" and "I love this Dem so much!"
I told President Biden I’m a proud American and immigrant
— Lindy Li (@lindyli) July 10, 2024
And thanked him for making me feel like an American@POTUS said: “Thank YOU for choosing us”
That’s when I knew — This is the man who would restore the soul of our nation
Plz watch and share my @TimesRadio interview 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/QQjwIHrGpx
WOW WHAT A DREAM TEAM
— Lindy Li (@lindyli) September 20, 2024
Vice President @KamalaHarris is absolutely on fire
I got to hang out with the VP and @Tim_Walz backstage
And I’m telling you now: they are the REAL DEAL!
I am absolutely stoked and ready to work like hell with y’all to save our country
ARE YOU IN?! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/KN3oodkwPG
Can’t wait to share with you all my official photo with Madame Vice President in the next couple of weeks
— Lindy Li (@lindyli) September 30, 2024
37 more days — let’s knock them doors, make them calls, send those texts
Let’s get it done, ok, fam?! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/WRFnSZylNC
That became a recurring theme in our subsequent interactions. (Yes, we were brought back two more times before the election and once the morning after.) When she wasn't slamming Trump or Vance, she was emphasizing her closeness to the Bidens and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff and Tim and Gwen Walz — she was on a cozy first-name basis with them, it seemed. Well, fair enough for a DNC committee member and donor-wrangler. No doubt she did rub elbows with the crew on multiple occasions. It's just that the way she kept highlighting it seemed...a little cloying.
Look, I'm a partisan, too. And maybe just a little catty. What can I say?
Except our second segment together in mid-October really drove home the fact that Lindy Li loved her some Democrats and hated her some Republicans — I took another gander at her X timeline and found the below gems. I didn't think at the time to ensure the date was included in the screenshot, but since I snagged it in mid-October, it had to have been around that same time. Whatever the date, Li had some exceedingly unkind things to say about Trump. (And it ended up being fortuitous that I took that screenshot...because these tweets curiously appear to have been deleted.)
No gray area there. According to Li, he was dementia-ridden and fecally incontinent. Yikes!
And, okay, fine, politics ain't beanbag, nor is social media. But Li shared the dementia diagnosis with gusto in our second appearance on "Today With Claire Byrne." (Our segment starts at the 1:30:18 mark.) The topic was Kamala Harris' release of her medical records and why Trump wasn't releasing his:
Byrne: Well, Lindy Li, what’s your view on this? We can see that Donald Trump is well, he’s released his physicians’ notes on him, and they say he’s fit to be president and he’s in good health. What more do you need to know?
Li: Well, going back to Susie’s point, the visuals actually belie this belief that Trump is well. He goes on tangents for hours on end. I personally believe that his pre-frontal cortex is disintegrating because his inhibitions are completely just shot. He goes on tangents about batteries, sharks, Hannibal Lecter — nothing to do with what Americans care about, which is kitchen table issues and the economy. He just talks about himself for hours on end — it’s even worse now than it was in 2016 and 2020. He’s been on a downward slope…
Byrne: But, Lindy, that mightn’t signify that there’s anything wrong with the man. That might be just how he chooses to conduct his rallies, right?
Li: I’m not the only one. Even Governor Chris Christie came out, too — this is a Republican saying that Trump is experiencing cognitive decline. And if he were so confident about his medical records, why doesn’t he just release them? Clearly, he has something to hide — just like he did with his tax returns, just like he did with his property valuations. It’s a pattern here. It’s all about conceal, conceal, conceal, and running out the clock, and just not telling the American people the truth.
But it wasn't just that Trump was physically and mentally unfit, per Li — according to her, in addition to being "fragile," he was a terrorist insurrectionist traitor (emphasis mine):
Byrne: And just on that point — that, you know, this is really tight, Lindy, we have a New York Times poll showing Kamala Harris within one point of Donald Trump in North Carolina. So, if you take that as the standard bearer, this couldn’t be closer.
Li: It couldn’t be closer. You’re absolutely right. But I want to say one thing — I don’t want to let Susie off the hook quite yet. Every single serious presidential candidate has released his medical records, released his tax returns, went on “60 Minutes,” did a second debate. These are all things that he’s copping out of because he’s simply incapable. He doesn’t want to debate again because he knows he’s going to be annihilated. He can’t stand up to the brunt that is Kamala Harris. He’s just completely incapable. And how do we expect somebody like him, in his fragile state, to stand up to Vladimir Putin? He’s not — he’s secretly sending COVID machines over there. He’s not capable of standing up to our adversaries, like Russia or China or Iran.
Byrne: Well, voters don’t seem to mind because it’s pretty much 50-50 in those all-important swing states.
Li: Well, Pennsylvania, where I am right now — I am seeing so much excitement. I live in Philadelphia. It’s a liberal stronghold. But we’re not just going to rest on our laurels here. We’re going into those rural areas, like Erie County and Scranton, Pennsylvania, and trying to just claw into Trump’s margin. And, you know, at the end of the day, Americans are going to realize that we’re running against someone who is, frankly, a terrorist insurrectionist, who invaded our Capitol because he didn’t want to relinquish power. People need to stop mincing words and call it like it is. This is a guy who’s a traitor, attacked the government because he didn’t want to let go of power. He undermined our hard-won republic for his own ego.
No punches pulled there. Trump was the enemy and was to be destroyed. And not just Trump — Vance as well. In our initial appearance (starts at 1:29:47) the morning after the vice presidential debate, Li accused Vance of "traffick(ing) in lies and conspiracies" and said, "He was expecting to be a fire hydrant of lies and deception without any pushback."
Which, again, fine — at least we knew where Lindy stood on things.
Or...so I thought.
I'll tell you when I started to feel confident that Trump and Vance were going to win: October 30. Li and I were back on with Claire Byrne (1:28:55 mark), and Li was asked about the now infamous Joe Biden "garbage" remark regarding Trump supporters. Rather than leaping to defend the remark, Li deftly noted that it was a "tricky situation" before going on to note some other recent Biden slip-ups. Her whole tone and demeanor in that third appearance were different. She was definitely still advocating for the Harris campaign, but it almost seemed as though she was trying to temper expectations. My sense was that whatever internal polls she was seeing (or being told about) weren't looking all that great for Harris-Walz.
Li and I were paired one more time on the show — the morning after the election. (Our segment starts at the 1:01:42 mark.) Li shared some seemingly introspective thoughts on why Trump won, pointing to immigration and inflation as key issues. This was, I thought, a fairly productive conversation. (Might have been easier for me to enjoy, given the electoral outcome.)
I wasn't terribly surprised to see Li begin showing up more regularly on conservative outlets. I chuckled about it a bit, simply having witnessed such a rapid and sharp departure from the Lindy I first encountered. But politics and media are a business, and a gal's gotta self-promote and hustle if she wants to succeed, right?
The race had been called but the bodies were still warm when Li began calling out the Harris campaign.
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By late December, she was calling the Democratic Party "cult-like" and announcing her "rightward shift." In early January, she was calling out Biden's "epic failures" on the border. She characterized Biden's claim that he and/or Harris could have beaten Trump a joke.
But it was her naming to Trump's inaugural fundraising committee that really raised my eyebrows. That's quite a transition! From "He poops himself at rallies" to "I'm so excited to raise money for his inauguration!" in just a few short months.
On one level, I admire the chutzpah. It's just...well, let's just say I have trust issues.
This past week, Li had tongues wagging with her appearance on the "Shawn Ryan Show," in which she not only dogged Kamala Harris for possibly placing ambition ahead of friendship (should she decide to run for governor of California) but ripped the Biden White House, asserting that Joe Biden was doped up for certain events and that after his disastrous debate performance in late June of 2024, First Son Hunter (he of the felony convictions and broad-sweeping paternal pardon) was essentially running the show.
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None of those assertions come as a terrible shock to those of us who followed the Biden presidency closely. But coming from someone who, up until the election, was all about her love for the Biden and Harris teams and the Democrats as a whole, well, they do make one wonder: Would she have been fine and dandy with it all had Harris won? (I know what my guess is on that, but I'll leave that for you to decide yourself.)
I frequently suggest that we give grace and be patient with those who have been "red-pilled." Changing up your worldview can be really unsettling — a shock to the system. I know because I've been through it. My conversion, however, didn't happen in the blink of an eye, nor with the outcome of one election. It was a slow, sometimes painful, process. And it wasn't a linear one. Nor was it a swing from one extreme to the other. (I'd characterize my former life as that of a moderate Democrat/classical liberal and my current views as center-right.)
I don't begrudge Lindy Li her hustle, or her ambition. I do, however, have significant reservations regarding her sincerity. And my advice to anyone regarding her would be to proceed with caution.
Of course, that advice is #Evergreen in the world of politics.
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