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I have a hard time believing that Freddie doesn't read Matt's Substack and only follows his Twitter feed, but this piece certainly reads like that. But for those who really don't read Slow Boring (Yglesias' Substack), the two have essentially nothing in common. Matt's Twitter feed is indeed snarky and condescending. It's clearly part blowing off steam, part meant to annoy and make fun of people Matt doesn't like, and a large part marketing for his Substack.

But the Substack, itself, is nothing like that. There he makes the real case for both what he believes and what he thinks is wise politically, and he takes the arguments of people he disagrees with or simply have different tastes seriously. Freddie writes about Matt's perspective on housing and local control "Maybe Yglesias could square this circle, but he never tries, instead simply doing the YIMBY thing of dismissing anyone who pokes and prods at the foundations of their thinking as a rich white landowner", and perhaps his Twitter feed gives that impression (I don't know), but what he actually believes (both in terms of the correct policy and the correct approach to advocacy) is clearly captured in pieces like these which are the opposite of Freddie's quote:

https://www.slowboring.com/p/the-case-for-parking-reform

https://www.slowboring.com/p/yimbys-keep-winning

https://www.slowboring.com/p/can-we-nimby-cars-instead-of-houses

A couple of additional points:

There is nothing the least bit hypocritical or paradoxical about writing the book One Billion Americans, fully believing everything in it, but understanding that it would be suicidal to run on that platform and advocating a more incrementalist approach.

As for Sunrise and the climate folks, it's not like Matt's understanding of the optimum policy is any different from there's. The right policy on climate is clear: a carbox tax that fully captures the externalities of burning fossil fuels and investing some or all of that money into public transportation and alternative energy sources that don't emit carbon (solar, nuclear, wind, hydro).

The problem, of course, is that the vast majority of Americans don't care enough about the climate to support such a gas tax. Given that situation, the right alternative is something like the Inflation Reduction Act, which at least invests huge amounts of money into these alternatives. What is so frustrating about Sunrise and the other loons of the idiot faction of the environmental left is that they not only have not celebrated Biden for this incredible win, not only do (some) oppose nuclear and the lifting of regulations necessary to get alternative energy sources actually built, but they actually do a bunch of activist things that do nothing but help Trump get reelected.

The sad truth is that the environment would actually be far better off in the long run if Sunrise and groups like it simply disbanded. That is why they are treated with such disdain by folks with a brain.

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