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Judging politicians objectively at Le Pain Quotidien

Judging politicians objectively

November 1, 2026 · 3 PM – 5 PM

Le Pain Quotidien, 339 Seventh Ave, New York ·

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The group discusses standards for evaluating politicians and applies them to President Trump and New York midterm candidates, followed by a general discussion of the Republican and Democratic Parties. Interested guests are invited to continue the conversation at a nearby restaurant afterward.

AI summary · From the event listing

One of the primary causes of emotionalism in political discussions today is the lack of an objective standard in judging politicians. Today we’ll discuss five possible standards for judging a politician, their relative validity, and their relationship to each other. * Tribe: to which tribe does the politician belong to? The good one (the one you belong to), or the bad one (the one you don’t belong to)? * Likability * Character: What is the ​moral character of the politician? Is he an essentially good man or an essentially evil man? By what standard? * Ideas: What is his level of philosophic and economic literacy? What philosophic and economic ideas does he hold, and are these ideas consistent with America’s founding political philosophy or not? * Policies / Legislation / Appointments: What is the ideological orientation of his administration? What concrete policies does the politician want to enact or has enacted in the past? What demonstrable effects have they had or are likely to have? Once we have discussed the criteria, we will use it to evaluate President Trump and the New York candidates running in the midterm elections, followed by a general discussion of the present and projected future states of the Republican and Democratic Parties. After the event, any interested guests will be invited to continue the conversation at a nearby restaurant.

Chelsea

Hosted by New York Intellectual Discussion Meetup