I thought this was a great interview, I like how he mentioned he's learned that he (and others there to do the work) actually do need to go out and seek more attention... and I also hate it! I hate that politicians are thinking more about how they can get a little viral soundbite than actually governing. But... As many issues as I have with AOC, maybe she's an example of someone who does that balance well?
A thing that really caught my attention during this episode is how Sarah has said a few times that Democrats should name the problem with people being online and lonely and don't we hate this, but I noticed the emphasis on "families" and "for your kids" during this conversation. And I just kept thinking about how young, single men turned out to vote R in this election, how people aren't in relationships as much as they used to be, we're having fewer kids than we used to... I'm not sure that's the right thing to focus on with the current and incoming electorate. That message won't have as much impact among young people who don't have families and don't see a problem with their internet consumption. (I could be wrong here, just... a thought I couldn't get out of my head until I wrote it down.)
One other thing I thought was interesting was the point about how Beth's neighborhood has changed and a thing people hate is that they don't have stability - but I recently read that Atlantic article by Yoni Applebaum about how Americans used to move around so much more, so maybe it's not exactly the lack of stability that's the point, but the lack of opportunity? Beth's neighborhood might be an example of a really healthy community - This will make more sense if you've read that article, it was really interesting. Maybe the problem is it's a mix of the two, people want to feel stable enough TO be able to move and seek better opportunities, but they can't because housing crisis/income inequality/etc., so they feel stuck.
I put this comment somewhere else before I went & searched for one of the white board episodes … I would LOVE to hear Sarah & Beth have a white board conversation with Rep Sarah McBride from Delaware!! I just heard her interviewed & the whole time I kept thinking —- I want to hear Sarah & Beth talk with her!!!
So happy to hear MY rep in the house with my favorite podcasters!
Loved that you Addressed the fatigue many democrats have after that election… many of my friends and I have talked about the great efforts we put in in 2024 and left feeling disappointed with results overall (literally all except Landsman and Rachel baker!). Felt heard ❤️
I found this conversation interesting. He was saying all of the right things in terms of listening to people who don't look like you, etc., but then in the next breath, the Congressman scoffed when Beth shared she attended the "No Labels" conference. As much as I think he said the "right" talking points and I appreciate being part of the "Problem Solvers Caucaus" his knee jerk responses at times to that made me wonder if he was really listening. As Sarah and Beth expressed their frustration in subsequent bonus episodes of the podcast with Democratic leaders/the Democratic party, I kept coming back to this conversation and thinking about how I don't think this Congressman stepped up to their proverbial White Board as much as they wanted him to.
Excellent interview, Beth and Sarah! I agree with some of the comments below that I wanted Rep. Landsman to push beyond his talking points (although I found him to be personable), but I really appreciated your interviewing skills in this episode! The attempts to push back on the Congressman's party lines and to open the conversation up a bit were thoughtful and well-executed. I hope that these interviews are as enlightening for the people you interview as they are for those of us listening. :)
I had a hard time with this interview. Beth and Sarah I thought you did a great job of questioning him. But I felt like he didn't really have or offer any solutions. I felt like there were really no actionable items that he gave here. This is obviously problematic and I believe is par for the course with the Democratic Party AKA my party.
I want to start by saying that I really appreciate these conversations, the visioning that is happening in these whiteboard sessions that y'all are facilitating on these Friday episodes. And I don't want to be that person that just comes on here to comment when I disagree with something, so I just hope y'all know that I just feel utterly powerless right now because of what the Trump administration is doing and I feel like maybe the only way we can address this is by looking into ourselves and really, into the Democratic party, taking a deep hard look at how Democrats are going to move forward under this siege. And in light of that, I want to push back on Rep. Landsman claiming that one of the problems is appeasing self-proclaimed socialists. First of all, with what other party are they supposed to caucus with if they want to have any access to power in our two party system? Also, the people who lean towards socialism are not the problem within the Democratic party. The problem with the Democratic party is leadership that thinks that this is just business as usual and that they can use the same playbook that they've used for as long as we can all remember. They can't. This is not business as usual, this is a complete dismantling of the federal government through illegal actions. The Republicans have been obstructionists since President Obama came into office. And somehow, they were even able to continue to be obstructionist when they weren't the party in power! I found it astounding that Mitch McConnell was still able to dictate priorities in the Senate when he was the minority leader and Democrats just let him! We lost two seats on the Supreme Court because Republicans refused to do business as usual. And How have Democrats responded? "Oh, well that sucks." I have been a Democrat for my entire life and I have always been able to find ways to see some of the strengths with how Democrats have done things, but that time is way past. I have never been so disappointed in the Democratic party as I am right now. And it's not because of appeasing to the so-called socialists within the party.
So, I'm on the part where you all are talking about the Democrats making people feel like victims and how Trump doesn't do that. I want to push back on that a bit. He totally does this with white men! As do most on the far right. All of his policies, foreign and domestic, are playing to the victimhood white men have created for themselves in a world where more people who are not white men are getting increased (but not nearly enough) access to resources that used to be mainly for white men.
This is an interesting point. Trump is both victim (always blaming someone else) and savior....I'm envisioning all the AI pictures that show him as strong. Maybe it speaks to the messengers and what types of messages they can carry.
I’m honestly surprised at the positive reactions here. I was sooo frustrated by Rep Landsman and if he is what most of congress is like, I think we are well and truly forked. Sarah and Beth were desperately trying to get him to show some vision or emotion or plan, and all we got was “trump owns it now” “we have to be the adults in the room” “get rid of corporate donations” “work on bipartisan bills” UGH!!!!! (As spicy Sarah said). Also… he talked about “two bags of eggs”. Twice. Bags of eggs? How would that even work? Definitely gave off the vibes of Dr Oz charcuterie board vibes.
The 16 out of 20 marriages divorced really stuck out to me, too, in a completely shocked and stunned way. That’s a ton. I feel like I know a lot of couples who have divorced but when I really look at numbers for my friends, family, and acquaintances it is no where near that.
Wondering if anyone else was turned off by Rep Landsman’s reaction to Beth saying she both read Project 2025 and attended a No Labels event? I was yelling at him (because I know he can hear me from in my car…) “Beth does her homework!!! Do yours!” It was so irritating to me and wasn’t helpful as I try to shake off my cynicism surrounding most Federally elected officials.
Those moments stuck out to me too, but I also took them as evidence of the Congressman being genuine. Willing to have a real reaction rather than a platitude or talking point. It definitely wasn't the most gracious reaction.
"60% of men under 30 are single and only 30% of women under 30 are single."
Y'all seemed unexpectedly confused by this. Isn't the explanation for this that the younger women are with older men? If it's a 28 year old woman with a 32 year old man, it would show up in this statistic. I can think of lots of explanations for why men aren't finding themselves in relationships until they're a bit older that would have been good fodder for conversation, and I even think you've talked about this stuff in the past.
"We need to be the adults in the room. That's the approach we should take. Or at least that's the approach I feel comfortable taking." Ding ding ding! This is the problem right here!
Democrats are only comfortable operating in one specific way, and they've all convinced themselves that it is therefore the right way. Most of them are not making any room for the possibility that they are ill-suited to combat the Republican threat and a new style of politics is necessary.
I've been unable to listen to politician interviews for a long time, since 2020, probably. Even someone like Elizabeth Warren, who I really liked, I couldn't stand to listen to any more. "Like pulling teeth" is how you put it on the Spicy show. Until we get a big crop of politicians who can actually hold our attention because they are blunt and real and surprising and combative, we will struggle.
Maggie here. I keep thinking that it's that the skill set of building a movement and the skillset of governing are so different. On a hyper-local level, a dear friend of mine was a really effective school board member. She was the think of representative that I really like, she had her head down and really dug into what was making working in our district terrible and systematically fixing those things.
But that meant that she didn't spend a bunch of time (and didn't have the budget to hire someone to do it for her) trumpeting her accomplishments and explaining to people "hey, I fixed this thing or I made this long term investment in our schools that cost money now but will save us in the long run." So, when the Moms for Liberty came in they ran a campaign of lies (actual lies) because they couldn't criticize her real record so they made a bunch of straw man arguments and got her voted out (in the ugliest way possible).
Honestly, I've been really disheartened since then about local politics. Because I just don't see how the kind of person I think would be good at the actual job is good at campaigning for the job (and has the wherewithal to tolerate being lied about and having your reputation smeared in such a callous way) -m
I would prefer politicians who got less done but were also excellent at the job of making the public hate their opponents. What good are accomplishments if you just turn power over to the worst people in the world immediately after?
I loved the part of the conversation about building community. If the Republicans are all about creating stability by returning things to one rigid idea of family, why can't Democrats be about the return of community in the broader sense? I'm thinking things like investing in neighborhoods and public spaces, small businesses, and schools, the things that really create that sense of belonging that Rep. Landsman was talking about on his street.
I thought he was interesting when he said we need show up more on their feeds but currently isn’t the “feeds” gerrymandered as well with Musk, Zuckerberg etc controlling the dials of who sees what and when with rules or ethics??
I thought this was a great interview, I like how he mentioned he's learned that he (and others there to do the work) actually do need to go out and seek more attention... and I also hate it! I hate that politicians are thinking more about how they can get a little viral soundbite than actually governing. But... As many issues as I have with AOC, maybe she's an example of someone who does that balance well?
A thing that really caught my attention during this episode is how Sarah has said a few times that Democrats should name the problem with people being online and lonely and don't we hate this, but I noticed the emphasis on "families" and "for your kids" during this conversation. And I just kept thinking about how young, single men turned out to vote R in this election, how people aren't in relationships as much as they used to be, we're having fewer kids than we used to... I'm not sure that's the right thing to focus on with the current and incoming electorate. That message won't have as much impact among young people who don't have families and don't see a problem with their internet consumption. (I could be wrong here, just... a thought I couldn't get out of my head until I wrote it down.)
One other thing I thought was interesting was the point about how Beth's neighborhood has changed and a thing people hate is that they don't have stability - but I recently read that Atlantic article by Yoni Applebaum about how Americans used to move around so much more, so maybe it's not exactly the lack of stability that's the point, but the lack of opportunity? Beth's neighborhood might be an example of a really healthy community - This will make more sense if you've read that article, it was really interesting. Maybe the problem is it's a mix of the two, people want to feel stable enough TO be able to move and seek better opportunities, but they can't because housing crisis/income inequality/etc., so they feel stuck.
I put this comment somewhere else before I went & searched for one of the white board episodes … I would LOVE to hear Sarah & Beth have a white board conversation with Rep Sarah McBride from Delaware!! I just heard her interviewed & the whole time I kept thinking —- I want to hear Sarah & Beth talk with her!!!
So happy to hear MY rep in the house with my favorite podcasters!
Loved that you Addressed the fatigue many democrats have after that election… many of my friends and I have talked about the great efforts we put in in 2024 and left feeling disappointed with results overall (literally all except Landsman and Rachel baker!). Felt heard ❤️
I found this conversation interesting. He was saying all of the right things in terms of listening to people who don't look like you, etc., but then in the next breath, the Congressman scoffed when Beth shared she attended the "No Labels" conference. As much as I think he said the "right" talking points and I appreciate being part of the "Problem Solvers Caucaus" his knee jerk responses at times to that made me wonder if he was really listening. As Sarah and Beth expressed their frustration in subsequent bonus episodes of the podcast with Democratic leaders/the Democratic party, I kept coming back to this conversation and thinking about how I don't think this Congressman stepped up to their proverbial White Board as much as they wanted him to.
Excellent interview, Beth and Sarah! I agree with some of the comments below that I wanted Rep. Landsman to push beyond his talking points (although I found him to be personable), but I really appreciated your interviewing skills in this episode! The attempts to push back on the Congressman's party lines and to open the conversation up a bit were thoughtful and well-executed. I hope that these interviews are as enlightening for the people you interview as they are for those of us listening. :)
I had a hard time with this interview. Beth and Sarah I thought you did a great job of questioning him. But I felt like he didn't really have or offer any solutions. I felt like there were really no actionable items that he gave here. This is obviously problematic and I believe is par for the course with the Democratic Party AKA my party.
I want to start by saying that I really appreciate these conversations, the visioning that is happening in these whiteboard sessions that y'all are facilitating on these Friday episodes. And I don't want to be that person that just comes on here to comment when I disagree with something, so I just hope y'all know that I just feel utterly powerless right now because of what the Trump administration is doing and I feel like maybe the only way we can address this is by looking into ourselves and really, into the Democratic party, taking a deep hard look at how Democrats are going to move forward under this siege. And in light of that, I want to push back on Rep. Landsman claiming that one of the problems is appeasing self-proclaimed socialists. First of all, with what other party are they supposed to caucus with if they want to have any access to power in our two party system? Also, the people who lean towards socialism are not the problem within the Democratic party. The problem with the Democratic party is leadership that thinks that this is just business as usual and that they can use the same playbook that they've used for as long as we can all remember. They can't. This is not business as usual, this is a complete dismantling of the federal government through illegal actions. The Republicans have been obstructionists since President Obama came into office. And somehow, they were even able to continue to be obstructionist when they weren't the party in power! I found it astounding that Mitch McConnell was still able to dictate priorities in the Senate when he was the minority leader and Democrats just let him! We lost two seats on the Supreme Court because Republicans refused to do business as usual. And How have Democrats responded? "Oh, well that sucks." I have been a Democrat for my entire life and I have always been able to find ways to see some of the strengths with how Democrats have done things, but that time is way past. I have never been so disappointed in the Democratic party as I am right now. And it's not because of appeasing to the so-called socialists within the party.
So, I'm on the part where you all are talking about the Democrats making people feel like victims and how Trump doesn't do that. I want to push back on that a bit. He totally does this with white men! As do most on the far right. All of his policies, foreign and domestic, are playing to the victimhood white men have created for themselves in a world where more people who are not white men are getting increased (but not nearly enough) access to resources that used to be mainly for white men.
This is an interesting point. Trump is both victim (always blaming someone else) and savior....I'm envisioning all the AI pictures that show him as strong. Maybe it speaks to the messengers and what types of messages they can carry.
I’m honestly surprised at the positive reactions here. I was sooo frustrated by Rep Landsman and if he is what most of congress is like, I think we are well and truly forked. Sarah and Beth were desperately trying to get him to show some vision or emotion or plan, and all we got was “trump owns it now” “we have to be the adults in the room” “get rid of corporate donations” “work on bipartisan bills” UGH!!!!! (As spicy Sarah said). Also… he talked about “two bags of eggs”. Twice. Bags of eggs? How would that even work? Definitely gave off the vibes of Dr Oz charcuterie board vibes.
Where are our leaders?
The 16 out of 20 marriages divorced really stuck out to me, too, in a completely shocked and stunned way. That’s a ton. I feel like I know a lot of couples who have divorced but when I really look at numbers for my friends, family, and acquaintances it is no where near that.
Graeter's is amazing but I would not be trying that flavor 🤮
Wondering if anyone else was turned off by Rep Landsman’s reaction to Beth saying she both read Project 2025 and attended a No Labels event? I was yelling at him (because I know he can hear me from in my car…) “Beth does her homework!!! Do yours!” It was so irritating to me and wasn’t helpful as I try to shake off my cynicism surrounding most Federally elected officials.
Those moments stuck out to me too, but I also took them as evidence of the Congressman being genuine. Willing to have a real reaction rather than a platitude or talking point. It definitely wasn't the most gracious reaction.
Agreed!!! Those moments stood out to me as well.
"60% of men under 30 are single and only 30% of women under 30 are single."
Y'all seemed unexpectedly confused by this. Isn't the explanation for this that the younger women are with older men? If it's a 28 year old woman with a 32 year old man, it would show up in this statistic. I can think of lots of explanations for why men aren't finding themselves in relationships until they're a bit older that would have been good fodder for conversation, and I even think you've talked about this stuff in the past.
I wasn't confused by that either. Even 20something women I know have no intention of dating a man under 30. Too juvenile.
"We need to be the adults in the room. That's the approach we should take. Or at least that's the approach I feel comfortable taking." Ding ding ding! This is the problem right here!
Democrats are only comfortable operating in one specific way, and they've all convinced themselves that it is therefore the right way. Most of them are not making any room for the possibility that they are ill-suited to combat the Republican threat and a new style of politics is necessary.
I've been unable to listen to politician interviews for a long time, since 2020, probably. Even someone like Elizabeth Warren, who I really liked, I couldn't stand to listen to any more. "Like pulling teeth" is how you put it on the Spicy show. Until we get a big crop of politicians who can actually hold our attention because they are blunt and real and surprising and combative, we will struggle.
Maggie here. I keep thinking that it's that the skill set of building a movement and the skillset of governing are so different. On a hyper-local level, a dear friend of mine was a really effective school board member. She was the think of representative that I really like, she had her head down and really dug into what was making working in our district terrible and systematically fixing those things.
But that meant that she didn't spend a bunch of time (and didn't have the budget to hire someone to do it for her) trumpeting her accomplishments and explaining to people "hey, I fixed this thing or I made this long term investment in our schools that cost money now but will save us in the long run." So, when the Moms for Liberty came in they ran a campaign of lies (actual lies) because they couldn't criticize her real record so they made a bunch of straw man arguments and got her voted out (in the ugliest way possible).
Honestly, I've been really disheartened since then about local politics. Because I just don't see how the kind of person I think would be good at the actual job is good at campaigning for the job (and has the wherewithal to tolerate being lied about and having your reputation smeared in such a callous way) -m
I would prefer politicians who got less done but were also excellent at the job of making the public hate their opponents. What good are accomplishments if you just turn power over to the worst people in the world immediately after?
I loved the part of the conversation about building community. If the Republicans are all about creating stability by returning things to one rigid idea of family, why can't Democrats be about the return of community in the broader sense? I'm thinking things like investing in neighborhoods and public spaces, small businesses, and schools, the things that really create that sense of belonging that Rep. Landsman was talking about on his street.
I thought he was interesting when he said we need show up more on their feeds but currently isn’t the “feeds” gerrymandered as well with Musk, Zuckerberg etc controlling the dials of who sees what and when with rules or ethics??