John,

I’m still brand new to Congress — I’ve only been here 100 days — and maybe I’m not supposed to say this out loud, but it’s true and important and if you don’t know this, you need to.

It’s very clear from working here for just a few months that most of the really angry voices in Congress are faking it.

These people who have built their brands around being perpetually outraged — it’s an act.

I’ve seen a bunch of examples of this.

Here’s one:

I’ve been in committee meetings that are open to the press and meetings that are closed.

The same people who act like maniacs during the open meetings are suddenly calm and rational during the closed ones.

Why?

Because there aren’t any cameras in the closed meetings, so the incentives are different.

What I’ve seen is that members of Congress are surrounded by negative incentives. There are rewards for behaving poorly.

You know what the big one is?

Being able to reach you.

The big thing that modern media and modern politicians have learned is that if they can keep you angry, they’ll hold your attention. And they both want your attention.

So if you’re a politician and you show certain media outlets that you can help them keep their audience angry, they’ll give you their audience.

And because so many politicians are willing to play that game, now they’re in competition with each other to be as fake-angry as possible. This has led to what I call the Outrage Olympics — and it’s definitely not a coincidence that many of the politicians who keep landing on your radar are, in fact, the Outrage Olympians.

Of course, one of the byproducts of all this rage theater is that it’s harder for the rest of us to have a normal conversation about politics because so many of the voices that keep getting amplified are toxic.

I am certain that lots of you were already aware of this, but here’s the thing: A huge number of people aren’t.

They’re mistaking fake anger for righteous indignation and granting all kinds of credibility to people who don’t deserve it. That’s why it’s important for me, as the new guy, to report back to everyone and clearly state that the angriest voices here are very much faking and that there’s a whole reward structure that encourages them to.

So that’s bad, but here’s something good:

What I love about writing these updates — about communicating with you directly — is that the incentives can be different. They can be positive.

They can be about speaking to you with respect and real information and in a basically normal tone of voice.

Because if I can talk to you directly, I don’t have to yell. And if you don’t have to yell to be heard, the whole conversation changes.

So going forward, when you hear some enraged member of Congress say something absurd, your first question shouldn't be, "How could they possibly believe that?"

It should be, "Do we think they actually do?"

Because they probably don't.

And for those who would love for politics to look less like professional wrestling, I will keep you posted.

Best,
Jeff

P.S. — The opposite of fake anger is genuine joy, and a great example of that would be Owen at the White House Easter Egg Roll. Our first time going. Fun for the whole family — except Avery, who was a little scared of the Bunny.

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