I really appreciate the approach PP has taken since the election. If one of the main goals of PP is to get us to have better political conversations with people in our communities and social circles, then I think it’s really important that we are looking behind the caricatures of Trump voters, the Republican Party, and even Trump himself, that the Dems seem stuck on. I don’t think that that has to be mutually exclusive from paying attention to what’s going on and trying to effect change where it’s needed. I do get what some commenters have said about whiplash from how PP talked about Trump and MAGA before and after the election, but I think it was a move in the right direction. Frankly, the post-election episodes are ones I feel more comfortable sharing with friends and family who are moderate conservative, which isn’t something I would have sais about most of the episodes from the past couple years (which isn’t to say that all episodes need to be agreeable to non-liberals).
I just came here to say I am currently re-reading Pride and Prejudice for the who-knows-how-many times and I GASPED about the potential for a trip to England surround it!
"I don't want to feed the outrage machine because I don't think it works." Sarah
Me 100% right now. I had a person on Facebook tell me, "So we should just shut up? When has that ever worked?" And I didn't respond because I thought, why don't you give it a whirl and see what happens? (Which if I said that out loud I might fear lightning would strike me where I stand due to the level of words I produce daily.) But I am tired/exhausted/uninterested in "He's awful! Look! Is THIS what you voted for?!" I just can't right now. I too, am not saying, "give up" or "ignore it" "quit being dramatic." I just want to do something that WORKS. Now, we clearly don't know what that is yet, but good grief we do know what doesn't work. Now, if you are in the boat of, I know it doesn't work but it makes me feel better. MMk. I'm here for that. That's venting and taking care of yourself. But if you're doing it under the auspice of it fighting the Trump Train, I'm probably going to roll my eyes. Why would it work now? Do I understand why it doesn't work? No. No I don't. But I just know, it doesn't.
Well, I’m a discussion post newbie and posted this on the “note” about this episode. So here it is again - hopefully in the right place.
Thank you for this episode - particularly the beginning where you addressed how you (each of individually and the show) are addressing the second Trump term. I certainly have noticed the different tone when compared to other podcasts and have found myself alternating between complete panic and then trying to be realistic about what we can do and how we move forward as a nation. There is no single answer here, and I just appreciated you acknowledging that.
Also, if Beth’s Common Ground Pilgrimage isn’t going to be one of the Armand Gamache books with a trip to Quebec, I will riot in the streets. I completed the survey and answered nearly every question with “take my money right now and sign me up!” 💗💗
With regards to the Biden administration and Ukraine, they did enough to keep Ukraine alive, but too little to enable them to win. They just didn't want them to beat Russia, out of fear of some imagined escalation. And now North Korea and China are sending support and the western coalition is still acting like it's a local conflict.
I was listening to a security policy podcast and their MSC recording from Sunday afternoon. They're discussing the end of the liberal world order and the end of the transatlantic partnership.
Tell me how to not panic.
I can only hope that the Trump movement will start eating itself.
I love this. Exactly on point. I have been trying to express this to those sending me a non-stop barrage of “yellow man bad” reels and to my state senators who are sending me “yellow man bad” email and asking me for money without one single new idea or direction addressing any issues.
Please God let there be a Renaissance of art, music, philosophy, literature, poetry. Change hearts and minds through art and work locally and on the state level because the Federal Government is going to get small and there is nothing I can do about it. I just saw a post of a River Ranger whose job was safety, rescue and hauling tires and other trash out of the park. Glad we went right for that $5 in savings - that adds up, as will the garbage and the bodies without safety training and rescue staff. Great to hear sound thinking
I know you have a million comments on this episode already and I’m not even done listening. However, I just need to say that I really value your approach to news and coverage and processing this time around for the second Trump presidency. I am burnt out on outrage and cannot take it anymore. The thoughtful and measured way you’re approaching coverage is a calm in the storm to me and has made you one of the only news sources I’m willing to spend much time with. The first Trump presidency I gave ALLLLL my attention and angst and “the sky is falling” energy and this time I just refuse to give him my peace and attention. I will stay up to date on what’s happening but I’m really challenging myself to say “and what can I do about it” when I find myself worked up. And if the answer is nothing? Then I let it go and move on. It’s a work in progress but you both are helping me stay informed and not panicked and I just want to thank you for that!
I decided to study abroad in China in 2008/09. I hadnt been exposed to people too different from myself up until that point. Like I went to a Catholic school where most people were raised and taught the same as me. I went to a Christian college, which was a little different but still not too much. But China. I went to school with people from all over the world who had chosen this program for all sorts of reasons. I remember being really challenged on the ideas of American exceptionalism by my European classmates.
But the people of China is where Iearned the most. And the long and short of it was I had been told that these people were communist and bad because of it. But it was really the same as everywhere else. Everyone is just trying for the best life they can for themselves and their family. I didn't grow up in the shadow of the cold war so it made sense hearing your perspective on how that shaped my parents view of China. I also resonated with the talking politics is not a thing. I'll never forget the day in my Classic and Modern China class where our teacher taught us about the Cultural Revolution and his personal experiences. He was visibly worried talking about it. The door was shut that day. I took copius notes. I still have that notebook.
I have so many stories about my time there - stories from the trips I took, the people I met, the kindnesses shown to us - sometimes just because we had the privilege of being foreign. But like I said. It all came back to that one central thing. We just want to have a good life.
I want to go back soon to see how much has changed. Is it the same feel as I had over a decade ago or is it more international now? I hope I have the opportunity someday soon.
I find it so hopeful that your experience of China is that there are people just like everyone else. Because that says to me, whatever happens here, we will be people just like we’ve always been.
I think the condescension that some feel from Sarah is not directed at this community but at democratic leaders and the media and her desire to go in a different direction one that actually works. But I think it is totally valid to point out how this community is responding to that tone. I appreciate Sarah's passion and her being her authentic self on the podcast but maybe in some of these moments we need Beth to step in and bring a little naunce to the enneagram 1 right and wrong energy that Sarah brings.
Just finished reading the heart of winter by Jonathan Evison and I highly recommend it. Sarah it’s exactly what you were talking about outside of politics a love story of abiding and enduring love through a lifelong marriage. The good and the bad and a couple who stuck it out. It was beautiful.
Dana, as someone who is just now inching out of the baby/toddler years (my youngest is 4.5), I can truly attest that you are in the hardest stages right now. It does get better though! Mine at 7.5 and 4.5 and I feel like I can finally enjoy this parenting thing. Before it was just survival.
So reassuring! Thank you, Sophi! I love my little tons and the exhaustion is unlinked anything else. So encouraging to hear and know there is some ease ahead.
I really enjoyed the conversation about romance! I don’t remember if it was Beth or Sarah who mentioned wanting more romances that weren’t the beginning of a relationship - well, I happen to love a romance between people who already have history and I just finished a great one. Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan is about a couple who were married, had a horrible thing happen to them, couldn’t handle it and ended up getting divorced, but they are still co-parenting their kids and running a business together. It’s definitely not a rom-com, it’s pretty dark, there’s a lot of trauma, everyone is in therapy, but it’s such a beautiful story about real, enduring love and how these people find their way back to each other after everything they’ve been through. I highly recommend it!
I’ve been listening to these episodes since the inauguration, reading the responses, and see a lot of similarities in how my husband and I have been responding differently to this Trump presidency. This go round, my husband is livid, beside himself, and can’t understand why I’m not on his level. It’s not that I’m not horrified and deeply concerned about what’s happening and what’s going to happen. I am. But I cannot, I refuse, to let my emotional, mental, and spiritual wellbeing be affected by this administration in the same way that I was affected by the first Trump presidency. I lived in the outrage machine and it tore me to shreds in so many ways. The only thing I have control of in this moment is how I choose to respond. Me being outraged doesn’t help anything. But me choosing to be engaged locally, connecting with people, and having conversations, does. Me choosing joy, finding beauty, and taking care of myself are all acts of resistance.
I understand why people are having a hard time hearing these conversations. I really truly do. I also think it’s important that we don’t judge how others are responding to what’s happening. At the end of the day, we all need to find ways to survive this and do what we can, in the ways that we know how, to make the world a better place. That’s going to mean something different for everyone, and that’s okay.
I’ve been appreciating the balance of more headlines-based Tuesday episodes and broader-view Friday episodes. I need to have additional ways of getting news to cover everything, but what small team could cover every piece of the barrage?!
I leave a lot of these episodes with more questions than answers, and sure I’d love Sarah & Beth to be able to answer all of those for me, but I know that’s just not where we are.
There are ways in which I feel pulled back to the square one of 2016 and that doesn’t feel good, but then I remember that I didn’t have Pantsuit Politics then and feel so grateful that I do now.
I don’t always comment but wonder if I should more. I love nuance you bring and I do not want an outrage machine. Yes we are mad but what are we going to do about it and what (and who) are we doing it for. You probably get floods of feedback and I will do better at saying: KEEP AT IT AND THANK YOU
When I was going through a really tough year last year, I went through periods where I could do little more than spiral about all the things that could go wrong in my life. It completely froze me in place and left me miserable. My therapist suggested that when I felt myself spiraling to set a timer and let myself indulge in the doom spiral for 10 minutes and then move on. The moving on might involve doing something about the situation or doing something else entirely. It was soooo helpful to have that way to validate my feelings without becoming mired in them.
I mention this to say that I feel like the first Trump term was constant spiraling. Sometimes there was action, but a lot of the action was invisible. And it felt sometimes like spiraling was the primary action people were taking (even if it wasn't). So I've deliberately tried to avoid anything that feels like the spiral this time, and I feel like that's the approach y'all are taking, too. And I appreciate that.
I really appreciate the approach PP has taken since the election. If one of the main goals of PP is to get us to have better political conversations with people in our communities and social circles, then I think it’s really important that we are looking behind the caricatures of Trump voters, the Republican Party, and even Trump himself, that the Dems seem stuck on. I don’t think that that has to be mutually exclusive from paying attention to what’s going on and trying to effect change where it’s needed. I do get what some commenters have said about whiplash from how PP talked about Trump and MAGA before and after the election, but I think it was a move in the right direction. Frankly, the post-election episodes are ones I feel more comfortable sharing with friends and family who are moderate conservative, which isn’t something I would have sais about most of the episodes from the past couple years (which isn’t to say that all episodes need to be agreeable to non-liberals).
I just came here to say I am currently re-reading Pride and Prejudice for the who-knows-how-many times and I GASPED about the potential for a trip to England surround it!
"I don't want to feed the outrage machine because I don't think it works." Sarah
Me 100% right now. I had a person on Facebook tell me, "So we should just shut up? When has that ever worked?" And I didn't respond because I thought, why don't you give it a whirl and see what happens? (Which if I said that out loud I might fear lightning would strike me where I stand due to the level of words I produce daily.) But I am tired/exhausted/uninterested in "He's awful! Look! Is THIS what you voted for?!" I just can't right now. I too, am not saying, "give up" or "ignore it" "quit being dramatic." I just want to do something that WORKS. Now, we clearly don't know what that is yet, but good grief we do know what doesn't work. Now, if you are in the boat of, I know it doesn't work but it makes me feel better. MMk. I'm here for that. That's venting and taking care of yourself. But if you're doing it under the auspice of it fighting the Trump Train, I'm probably going to roll my eyes. Why would it work now? Do I understand why it doesn't work? No. No I don't. But I just know, it doesn't.
Well, I’m a discussion post newbie and posted this on the “note” about this episode. So here it is again - hopefully in the right place.
Thank you for this episode - particularly the beginning where you addressed how you (each of individually and the show) are addressing the second Trump term. I certainly have noticed the different tone when compared to other podcasts and have found myself alternating between complete panic and then trying to be realistic about what we can do and how we move forward as a nation. There is no single answer here, and I just appreciated you acknowledging that.
Also, if Beth’s Common Ground Pilgrimage isn’t going to be one of the Armand Gamache books with a trip to Quebec, I will riot in the streets. I completed the survey and answered nearly every question with “take my money right now and sign me up!” 💗💗
With regards to the Biden administration and Ukraine, they did enough to keep Ukraine alive, but too little to enable them to win. They just didn't want them to beat Russia, out of fear of some imagined escalation. And now North Korea and China are sending support and the western coalition is still acting like it's a local conflict.
I was listening to a security policy podcast and their MSC recording from Sunday afternoon. They're discussing the end of the liberal world order and the end of the transatlantic partnership.
Tell me how to not panic.
I can only hope that the Trump movement will start eating itself.
I love this. Exactly on point. I have been trying to express this to those sending me a non-stop barrage of “yellow man bad” reels and to my state senators who are sending me “yellow man bad” email and asking me for money without one single new idea or direction addressing any issues.
Please God let there be a Renaissance of art, music, philosophy, literature, poetry. Change hearts and minds through art and work locally and on the state level because the Federal Government is going to get small and there is nothing I can do about it. I just saw a post of a River Ranger whose job was safety, rescue and hauling tires and other trash out of the park. Glad we went right for that $5 in savings - that adds up, as will the garbage and the bodies without safety training and rescue staff. Great to hear sound thinking
I know you have a million comments on this episode already and I’m not even done listening. However, I just need to say that I really value your approach to news and coverage and processing this time around for the second Trump presidency. I am burnt out on outrage and cannot take it anymore. The thoughtful and measured way you’re approaching coverage is a calm in the storm to me and has made you one of the only news sources I’m willing to spend much time with. The first Trump presidency I gave ALLLLL my attention and angst and “the sky is falling” energy and this time I just refuse to give him my peace and attention. I will stay up to date on what’s happening but I’m really challenging myself to say “and what can I do about it” when I find myself worked up. And if the answer is nothing? Then I let it go and move on. It’s a work in progress but you both are helping me stay informed and not panicked and I just want to thank you for that!
I decided to study abroad in China in 2008/09. I hadnt been exposed to people too different from myself up until that point. Like I went to a Catholic school where most people were raised and taught the same as me. I went to a Christian college, which was a little different but still not too much. But China. I went to school with people from all over the world who had chosen this program for all sorts of reasons. I remember being really challenged on the ideas of American exceptionalism by my European classmates.
But the people of China is where Iearned the most. And the long and short of it was I had been told that these people were communist and bad because of it. But it was really the same as everywhere else. Everyone is just trying for the best life they can for themselves and their family. I didn't grow up in the shadow of the cold war so it made sense hearing your perspective on how that shaped my parents view of China. I also resonated with the talking politics is not a thing. I'll never forget the day in my Classic and Modern China class where our teacher taught us about the Cultural Revolution and his personal experiences. He was visibly worried talking about it. The door was shut that day. I took copius notes. I still have that notebook.
I have so many stories about my time there - stories from the trips I took, the people I met, the kindnesses shown to us - sometimes just because we had the privilege of being foreign. But like I said. It all came back to that one central thing. We just want to have a good life.
I want to go back soon to see how much has changed. Is it the same feel as I had over a decade ago or is it more international now? I hope I have the opportunity someday soon.
I find it so hopeful that your experience of China is that there are people just like everyone else. Because that says to me, whatever happens here, we will be people just like we’ve always been.
Exactly. I travel a lot and that is the thing that always rings true.
I think the condescension that some feel from Sarah is not directed at this community but at democratic leaders and the media and her desire to go in a different direction one that actually works. But I think it is totally valid to point out how this community is responding to that tone. I appreciate Sarah's passion and her being her authentic self on the podcast but maybe in some of these moments we need Beth to step in and bring a little naunce to the enneagram 1 right and wrong energy that Sarah brings.
Just finished reading the heart of winter by Jonathan Evison and I highly recommend it. Sarah it’s exactly what you were talking about outside of politics a love story of abiding and enduring love through a lifelong marriage. The good and the bad and a couple who stuck it out. It was beautiful.
This is SUCH a good book! I work at a bookstore and I couple of us have read it now and absolutely loved it. Highly recommend!
The shoutout to toddler and baby parents during the romance convo is very appreciated 💛
Dana, as someone who is just now inching out of the baby/toddler years (my youngest is 4.5), I can truly attest that you are in the hardest stages right now. It does get better though! Mine at 7.5 and 4.5 and I feel like I can finally enjoy this parenting thing. Before it was just survival.
So reassuring! Thank you, Sophi! I love my little tons and the exhaustion is unlinked anything else. So encouraging to hear and know there is some ease ahead.
I really enjoyed the conversation about romance! I don’t remember if it was Beth or Sarah who mentioned wanting more romances that weren’t the beginning of a relationship - well, I happen to love a romance between people who already have history and I just finished a great one. Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan is about a couple who were married, had a horrible thing happen to them, couldn’t handle it and ended up getting divorced, but they are still co-parenting their kids and running a business together. It’s definitely not a rom-com, it’s pretty dark, there’s a lot of trauma, everyone is in therapy, but it’s such a beautiful story about real, enduring love and how these people find their way back to each other after everything they’ve been through. I highly recommend it!
I’ve been listening to these episodes since the inauguration, reading the responses, and see a lot of similarities in how my husband and I have been responding differently to this Trump presidency. This go round, my husband is livid, beside himself, and can’t understand why I’m not on his level. It’s not that I’m not horrified and deeply concerned about what’s happening and what’s going to happen. I am. But I cannot, I refuse, to let my emotional, mental, and spiritual wellbeing be affected by this administration in the same way that I was affected by the first Trump presidency. I lived in the outrage machine and it tore me to shreds in so many ways. The only thing I have control of in this moment is how I choose to respond. Me being outraged doesn’t help anything. But me choosing to be engaged locally, connecting with people, and having conversations, does. Me choosing joy, finding beauty, and taking care of myself are all acts of resistance.
I understand why people are having a hard time hearing these conversations. I really truly do. I also think it’s important that we don’t judge how others are responding to what’s happening. At the end of the day, we all need to find ways to survive this and do what we can, in the ways that we know how, to make the world a better place. That’s going to mean something different for everyone, and that’s okay.
I’ve been appreciating the balance of more headlines-based Tuesday episodes and broader-view Friday episodes. I need to have additional ways of getting news to cover everything, but what small team could cover every piece of the barrage?!
I leave a lot of these episodes with more questions than answers, and sure I’d love Sarah & Beth to be able to answer all of those for me, but I know that’s just not where we are.
There are ways in which I feel pulled back to the square one of 2016 and that doesn’t feel good, but then I remember that I didn’t have Pantsuit Politics then and feel so grateful that I do now.
I don’t always comment but wonder if I should more. I love nuance you bring and I do not want an outrage machine. Yes we are mad but what are we going to do about it and what (and who) are we doing it for. You probably get floods of feedback and I will do better at saying: KEEP AT IT AND THANK YOU
When I was going through a really tough year last year, I went through periods where I could do little more than spiral about all the things that could go wrong in my life. It completely froze me in place and left me miserable. My therapist suggested that when I felt myself spiraling to set a timer and let myself indulge in the doom spiral for 10 minutes and then move on. The moving on might involve doing something about the situation or doing something else entirely. It was soooo helpful to have that way to validate my feelings without becoming mired in them.
I mention this to say that I feel like the first Trump term was constant spiraling. Sometimes there was action, but a lot of the action was invisible. And it felt sometimes like spiraling was the primary action people were taking (even if it wasn't). So I've deliberately tried to avoid anything that feels like the spiral this time, and I feel like that's the approach y'all are taking, too. And I appreciate that.