Ask A Genius 1519: Tariffs, TV Craft, and ‘Alien: Earth’—Flies Eat Wires
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/09/23
Can sharp dialogue outpace bad economics and smarter monsters?
Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner juggle craft and crisis. Rosner laments stalled co-writing with Carole, a brutal publishing landscape, and an idle agent, while praising their dialogue instincts. On politics, Donald Trump’s tariffs win a 213–211 House nod; Rosner cites Herbert Hoover and Smoot-Hawley as a warning, and notes security funding hikes, a near-complete Epstein-files petition, and data showing right-wing violence eclipses left. In culture, Alien: Earth’s “The Fly” teases smarter creatures; flies reportedly feed on electronics as Wendy bonds with a juvenile xenomorph. Finally, Gavin Newsom’s sharper messaging contrasts GOP spin, and “xeno xenophobia” lands the joke.
Rick Rosner: Carole and I have seen a ton of television, I’ve written for television, and we’ve both read stacks of books.
Carole and I are pretty quick to judge stories. There’s plenty of good material out there. Still, we’ve also gotten very good at predicting what comes next—the following line, the next plot twist. I honestly think our dialogue skills are as good as what you’d see on most TV shows.
We have several ideas for things we should write, but I’m unable to persuade Carole to co-write with me, and I’m too lazy to carry most of it alone. I’ve got one book in progress—lots of pages already—but I need to stitch it together into half a book and then draft the rest. Carole and I could absolutely write something strong if we both committed.
She’s hesitant, though. Our kid already has a literary agent, so maybe eventually we’ll go the “obnoxious” route and send them Carole’s full novel—about my parents’ courtship, marriage, and aftermath—alongside my half-finished one. Publishing is brutal now. You know this: traditional publishing is collapsing. It’s a disrupted industry. If you can even get an agent, that’s a gold mine. I had one year ago, but I haven’t spoken to him in more than a decade.
Carole is genuinely good—she takes writing classes, and she finishes her assignments. That’s a lot of discipline. But when it comes to pitching, she gets discouraged easily. She has to push through that. She’s already had workshop experiences where she shared her work with an agent. Still, the reality is you have to pitch dozens of people before something lands. Time’s ticking—we’re in our sixties.
Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives today, Trump’s tariff issue came up. Constitutionally, the power to impose tariffs lies with Congress, not the president. Along party lines, the House voted 213 to 211 to endorse Trump’s tariffs. I’m not sure whether the Senate has to weigh in as well, but since Republicans control it, they’ll likely back him.
That isn’t good for the U.S. economy. Historically, tariffs were a massive factor in worsening the Great Depression. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930—signed by Herbert Hoover—slapped high tariffs on imports and triggered retaliatory tariffs from other nations. Instead of helping, it deepened what had started as a recession into the worst depression in modern history. We’re doing the same thing now. It’s bad news for the economy, although it might be good news for Democrats in 2026, because tariffs that hinder growth could prompt voters to flip the House.
There was a chance the Supreme Court would save Trump from himself—and the U.S. from his tariffs—by ruling that he didn’t have the authority to impose them. But now that the House has endorsed them, I’m not sure the Court can strike them down. Economically, we’re screwed. He remains the worst president in history, and somehow keeps digging deeper.
It’s hard to beat 2020 as the worst year since World War II, but he’s making a serious run at it. Meanwhile, right-wing pundits and Republican politicians are already spinning Charlie Kirk’s murder, blaming “the left” and claiming all political violence comes from the left. That’s bullshit. The data show the opposite: roughly three-quarters of domestic terrorism in the U.S. is right-wing in origin. Another slice, maybe 10 percent, comes from Islamist extremists, and the rest from scattered left-wing violence. Not regular Muslims—just extremists.
So Republicans lie about it, liberals call them out, and then liberals get accused of being “disrespectful” to the dead. The right is eager to paint Charlie Kirk as a martyr rather than what he was: a murdered huckster.
Charlie Kirk, 31, had already amassed an estimated $12 million fortune from building Turning Point USA, selling right-wing politics on college campuses—often through racist, homophobic, and Islamophobic messaging. Since his assassination, his widow has received over $7 million in donations from supporters and pledged to expand TPUSA. Tragic, yes, but also an enormous financial windfall in less than a week.
There’s a discharge petition in the House to force release of the Epstein files. They need 218 signatures. At last count, they had 217: all Democrats plus a few Republicans. But one Democratic seat remains unfilled after a memorable election win. Republicans are dragging their feet on swearing in the winner—something they never do when it’s one of their own—because that one seat would push the petition over the line. They can’t stall forever, though. Once that Democrat is seated, the House will hit 218, and the Epstein files should be released.
Also, Republicans just voted to allocate $88 million more for member security in the House and Senate, citing the risk of violence in these overheated times.
Jacobsen: So Alien: Earth episode 6—you haven’t seen it yet?
Rosner: I’ve only seen one-sixth of it so far. I saw the spoilers. So I don’t know if this is hinted at earlier in the episode. Still, you’ll be surprised when we find out something else about one of the other bugs—particularly the flies, as per the episode title. I’ll only say one thing, but I won’t spoil anything else: these bugs feed on electronics.
Jacobsen: These creatures are way more intelligent than we’re letting on. I forgot the name of the episode.
Rosner: The Fly. You know the reference—that classic scene where a guy is stuck against the wall with the fly? I like this episode better than episode 5. This one has a little baby xenomorph, and it’s friends with Wendy. They can actually speak to each other in the alien language.
Jacobsen: I have a joke. What do you call hatred of xenomorphs?
Rosner: Xeno xenophobia, I guess.
Jacobsen: Just a bit—you got the joke. I just had a tighter version of it.
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