18 Burst results for "Heather Cox"
The Suburban Women Problem
"heather cox" Discussed on The Suburban Women Problem
"She <Speech_Female> <Speech_Music_Female> <Silence> <SpeakerChange> <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> was born in 1926. <Speech_Female> <Speech_Female> And my mom who has <Speech_Female> passed away, <Speech_Female> my two <Speech_Female> aunts, but <Speech_Music_Female> just <Silence> <Speech_Female> the strength <Speech_Music_Female> they gave <SpeakerChange> me, <Speech_Music_Male> you know, <Speech_Music_Male> both my grandmothers <Speech_Music_Male> born in Oklahoma <Speech_Male> <Speech_Female> during and <Speech_Female> raised during the <Speech_Female> depression and <Speech_Female> had <Speech_Female> such tremendous <Speech_Female> work ethic. <Speech_Female> They were <Speech_Female> the greatest generation, <Speech_Female> but they were, <Speech_Female> they taught me <Speech_Female> a work ethic. <Speech_Female> Not just a <Speech_Music_Male> work ethic, but <Speech_Music_Female> <Speech_Music_Female> a perseverance <Speech_Music_Female> that <Speech_Music_Female> I think <Speech_Female> very much lives <Speech_Male> in me. And I'm so <Speech_Male> grateful for it. <Speech_Male> So <Speech_Female> <Speech_Female> that there might <Speech_Female> just I guess is a little <Speech_Male> bit a <Speech_Male> little emotional. <Speech_Female> And my mom, who, <Speech_Female> by the way, Jasmine, <Speech_Female> my <Speech_Male> dad was a <Speech_Male> football coach a long time <Speech_Male> ago, but always <Speech_Male> still very involved. And <Speech_Female> actually, at the end of his <Speech_Female> life, he went back to <Speech_Female> teaching and coaching. <Speech_Female> But <Speech_Female> one <Speech_Male> of my brother's friends <Speech_Female> one time <Speech_Female> said, your <Speech_Female> mom knows more about <Speech_Female> football than my dad. <Speech_Female> So she <Speech_Female> told me what <Speech_Female> <Speech_Female> she probably mean. <Speech_Female> <Speech_Female> <SpeakerChange> She <Speech_Female> knew a lot about football. <Speech_Female> She and <Speech_Male> much more than me. <Silence> So <Speech_Female> in fact, when <Speech_Male> we, <SpeakerChange> <Speech_Male> like I <Speech_Female> said, I saw Katie and <Speech_Female> Amanda this weekend <Speech_Female> and we were in Columbus. <Speech_Female> Sorry, Cleveland, <Speech_Female> Cleveland <Speech_Female> SARS COV. <Speech_Female> And <Speech_Female> the players <Speech_Female> were the angels. <Speech_Female> They were <SpeakerChange> playing a baseball <Speech_Female> game and they were <Speech_Female> in the elevator with us <Speech_Male> and my daughter asked them <Speech_Female> if they were playing <Speech_Male> there to play a football <Speech_Female> game <Speech_Female> in May. <Speech_Female> <Speech_Female> My parents would <Speech_Female> be a little bit appalled. <Speech_Female> But anyway, <Speech_Female> that's okay. <Speech_Female> Everyone has <Speech_Female> their own lives. Okay. <Speech_Female> Everyone has <Speech_Female> a strength. <SpeakerChange> Yes. <Speech_Female> I think Heather might <Speech_Female> tell us a little. The history <Speech_Female> I think every generation <Speech_Female> is unsatisfied <Speech_Female> with how <Speech_Female> the current generation <Speech_Female> is parenting. <Speech_Female> We will at one point <Speech_Female> be unsatisfied <Speech_Female> <SpeakerChange> with the next <Speech_Female> generation. Yes, but <Speech_Male> <Speech_Female> that's absolutely true, but isn't <Speech_Female> this cool that we <Speech_Female> have both <Speech_Female> the past and the <Speech_Female> Rachel's <Speech_Female> past and the <Speech_Female> present <Speech_Female> with Jasmine's <Speech_Female> daughter and <Speech_Female> <Speech_Female> the incredible <Speech_Female> moment we're <Speech_Female> in with <Speech_Female> the idea of <Speech_Female> people accomplishing <Speech_Female> things <Speech_Female> and <Speech_Female> everybody across the <Speech_Female> country participating. <Speech_Female> So it's almost <Speech_Female> a kind of a perfect <Speech_Female> microcosm <Speech_Female> of the <Speech_Female> entire podcast.
The Suburban Women Problem
"heather cox" Discussed on The Suburban Women Problem
"Merch store. Very excited about that. So with that, Jasmine, what is your toast to joy this week? Yeah, I get to go first. All right. So my toast to joy this week, honestly, is to super spontaneous, but fun Mother's Day with my daughter. She just was like, hey mom, I don't have a whole bunch of money. Her dad gave her a little bit of money to spend on me for Mother's Day. And so she's like, you know, let's go downtown and just like walk around downtown. And I'm like, yeah, cool. So we go downtown and then we happen to see this big billboard that says free admission for mom to the college football Hall of Fame. Now I lived in Atlanta, literally my whole life, except for four years when I went off to college. So I have not done all the little touristy things downtown. So I was like, hey, let's just go in there. And it was so fun. I'm a football fan. Those who listen to pie, you know, I love sports. And so we went in and they had mimosas and massages, and then we went to the museum, I got to sing, fight song karaoke. Wait, wait, wait, they had mimosas and massages in the football museum? Yes. Yes, it was for Mother's Day. I know. Okay. I know. Isn't it crazy? I might think about sports a little more. So, you know, I think it was just like, you know, they were trying to bring people in, but it was a really good time. I really enjoyed spending the day with my daughter. I don't know. It was not necessarily what I thought I would be doing on Mother's Day when I woke up that morning, but I'm just so glad I did it. So that is my toast to joy this week. Oh, that's awesome. We did the opposite where all of the dads took all the kids away from us. And all the women got together for brunch with no kids. Oh, well, that actually sounds really amazing. Although I will say, my kid's a teenager now, so she's like old enough that we can like do things and talk, and she's got a little bit of money in her pocket. So Amanda, what's your toaster joy this week? So not to be too cheesy, but I was thinking about all of the hundred episodes that we've had. And I would love to do my toast to joy to all of the troublemakers that we have had on the podcast and just all the troublemakers in general. Because when I think about how are we going to make this inflection point really move us forward? How do we move forward? Yes, the politicians are important and the people out there with the platform are important, but the troublemakers are really the ones who are important. It is all of the people making all of little decisions to show up to talk with people, all of those little things matter so much. And they build up into a collective that can move this whole country. So my toes to joy today is to all of the troublemakers out there, and I know we have a lot of trouble makers here today. All right, Heather, are you ready for your toasted joy? I am. And I have all sorts of family things or public things I could say, but I'm actually going to say something personal for a change that is really important to me. That is, I'm not usually out there saying, I did something I did something I did something, but I did something and it has to do with you all in a sense that I was starting it a hundred episodes ago. And that is that this today at one o'clock, I finished everything to do with my new book. I am done. It has nothing left to do.
The Suburban Women Problem
"heather cox" Discussed on The Suburban Women Problem
"So after the 2016 election, you know, I was one of those moms who was like, I vote. I pay attention. I know what's going on. And then that election happened, and I was like, oh no, this is not the world that I want for my kids. This is not the world. I want them to be raised in. This is not the world. I want them to go out and get jobs and work. So that just made me very motivated to start doing more at the local level. So we started organizing, we live in a conservative county north of Cincinnati. So there hadn't been a lot of organizing on the, I guess, the more progressive side of the aisle. And so we were like, we really want to make a difference. We want to stand up for our values. So we started organizing here. And we haven't stopped. So we've had a lot of success. We're still a work in progress, but we've had a lot of success. That's awesome. So Sydney, what's it been like watching your mom get involved? Do the two of you talk politics a lot now? Yeah, it's been super cool to see just since 20 16, like how involved. She's gotten and literally building a career out of this, just driven off of pure passion for what she is interested in and what she wants to do. And we do talk politics a lot, whether or not the rest of our family wants to hear it. Which has been really nice because I know she's like super well versed in it, so there's someone I can always go to to learn new things from and to just rant too if I want to. Yeah, so text me from college. I'll send her stuff and she's up at school, so we keep in touch about this a lot. Nice. I'm impressed. Sydney, I heard you plan to Black Lives Matter march in your conservative suburb in 2020.
The Suburban Women Problem
"heather cox" Discussed on The Suburban Women Problem
"Of that argument is that it's central to recreate virtue to have people suffer and to have people sacrifice for the greater good. So they are imposing the idea that children should sacrifice for this baby ultimately it will be better for them, but I would love to point out here that they never want themselves to sacrifice. Other people who are supposed to be making that sacrifice. And you know, I'm happy to follow somebody's logic when they're the ones saying, I'm making the sacrifice and I'm setting an example. I'm willing to consider this. But I can not tell you, at 60 years old, how much I have lost patience with sacrifices of virtue. So why don't you go ahead and do it? Yeah, be my guest. I would like to say, you know, in the correlation versus causation, Jasmine, I actually think there might be something maybe a little bit to that because I am married to a policy nerd. And one of the things he always talks about with Ukraine is why now or a year ago, more than a year ago, why now? I mean, the answer was because Ukraine was becoming more west. And the more Ukraine had an opportunity to look to the west and see something different. It was like moving further away from Putin. So I think that after four years of Trump and Trump lost that they were really trying to cling on to the judiciary, which is where they had the opportunity to really make some of these laws to control women and to codify this. And especially, I mean, you know how it is in Georgia. You know how it is in states. It's not the will that people. We know this is not the will of the majority of the people. But I have to ask you, Heather, I mean, do you think we're still at an inflection point? Are you optimistic about where we are right now?
The Suburban Women Problem
"heather cox" Discussed on The Suburban Women Problem
"That's not to say it's an irreversible trajectory in either case. But controlling reproductive rights is a key way to control women and women make up 50% of the population, right? And so what that means is that women's if women's bodies and women's lives become controlled by their reproduction, they are essentially chained to those conditions and chain chain to child rearing. And they no longer have control over their time or their futures. And again, I hate to pick on the late 19th century, but this is why we fought that battle in the late 19th century is because women were unable in many places to obtain abortions and they were performing Sal abortions and dying in really horrible numbers. And that matters when you get to the 20th century and in fact roe versus wade, people don't realize that the reason we got roe V wade to begin with in 1973 was that by the 1960s doctors male doctors were looking around at the number of women who were suffering illegal abortions in the 1960s where as many as 1.2 million a year. Wow. And they recognized it as a health as a public health issue. And the wording of that decision is really interesting because the wording of that decision doesn't say women should have this right. The wording of that decision says with the advice of their doctors, women should be able to make these decisions with the idea that it was going to stop this horrific public health concern that people had. Now, what's interesting about that is that that was in the 1960s and states begin to decriminalize abortion. And how states got the criminalization of abortion itself is interesting. But they started to decriminalize abortion. And the United States government under Richard Nixon said to the doctors, the veterans administer the medical doctors with army, army military doctors. That's the word I want, that they should perform abortions even in states that did not allow abortions at the time. So the government was moving in that direction. And in 1973, roe versus wade is actually written by a Republican appointed justice to the Supreme Court. There was this idea that among the Republicans that government should stay out of families, rights to plan their futures and out of women's roles in society. So that's 1973. And people think that there's a backlash to the decision after 73, but in fact, the backlash, if you will, began in 1970, I'm a 1970 before that decision was written when Richard Nixon was afraid he was going to lose the midterm elections that year. And he was very eager to pick up Catholic Democrats and his adviser pat. Buchanan said, well, the way to get them is with the abortion issue. So Nixon, who had given the order to the government military doctors to perform abortions, goes in front of the cameras and uses the language of those pro life Catholic Democrats. And starts to really hit the idea that the other side is embracing things that will destroy traditional America. So if you remember the 1972 election, they tried to hit George McGovern as being the candidate of acid Amnesty and abortion. But in those days, what the Republicans began to say was that abortion, they didn't talk about babies. They didn't talk about fetuses. They talked about women's livers that this was women's livers who hated the family and wanted abortions and day cares instead of staying home with the family. So it became part of an identity of traditionalism versus women who had jobs and who wanted or needed to work outside the home, which they actually had to because of some of the policies of that era. So reproductive rights has been characterized now with the idea
The Suburban Women Problem
"heather cox" Discussed on The Suburban Women Problem
"And I don't want to exclude anybody who did not give birth to one of those screaming little loaves of bread. But the idea of nurturing as opposed to dominating. Is a really important way to approach politics. And that's something that I think women tend to do much better. At least under certain circumstances and in certain cultural moments than men do. So that's sort of trying to be more realistic about the way what it actually means for mothers. You know, it's people who want to nurture as opposed to dominate, I think. But it's important to remember in terms of the way people think about history and not including women is that men wrote those histories. First of all. And one of my great examples from this is actually economics. So if you look at the ways in which women were written out of the industrial revolution, for example, at least in the United States, there were no women basically, the man I guess just ran around doing their own thing and no children either. But in fact, most economists will tell you they do not think it was possible for the industrial revolution to work in the United States the way it did without the labor of women that never made it onto the books. So for example, bartering food, trading clothing, providing beds, all the things that economists like to attach a price tag to, but in fact, always were the underground economy. And you hear that and you think, oh, whatever, she's talking about the 1880s. Think about baby clothes. Think about today, the underground movement, if you will, in baby clothes. You have a baby, it outgrows the clothes, you give them to somebody. You know, you don't even think that you're doing anything other than being neighborly. But in fact, that's a really big economic transfer.
The Suburban Women Problem
"heather cox" Discussed on The Suburban Women Problem
"I mean, that's the problem, is that all this is affecting our lives. And especially I live in Florida and now. So we, you know, if someone's uncomfortable talking about the fact that the governor doesn't want anyone to say period in schools and that shouldn't be discussed, that's only political because someone else made it political. Right. But you have to ask yourself, do I think that's okay? And it doesn't, I mean, at that point, it doesn't matter if this is political or not. You're not the one who made it political. So it's a conversation you have to have because it's going to affect you and your children, even if you have a son. That's something that very well could affect them. And his friends. So if we didn't impolite society, talk about all these things, then we are the ones that are choosing not to do it, because one side is talking about them. So we have to be more comfortable. And that's the thing, is when you hear these conversations, I hope,
The Suburban Women Problem
"heather cox" Discussed on The Suburban Women Problem
"So yes, I'm optimistic. Yes, we have the numbers. Those things will only matter if enough of us speak up. And yes, I would love to get us into a better place. So I could actually get to unbroken night's sleep. Exactly. We gotta address the suburban women problem because it's real. Welcome to the suburban women problem. A podcast from red, wine, and blue. Hi, everyone. Thanks for listening. I'm Amanda Weinstein. I'm Rachel vindman.
History That Doesn't Suck
"heather cox" Discussed on History That Doesn't Suck
"Even so singer starts off in eighteen fifties and then they're already expanding i mean and this is the time the one of the things that marks it is this lack of us support for trade abroad. I mean that's which is interesting because you know. That's that's the old imperial system that's still strong and mighty with the british and the french at this time right. I mean very much foreign policy and the expansion of national corporations. You know it goes back to mercantilism right. So there's that tie. The united states is still inwardly focused. I mean where's the focus. Civil war takes over the focus and then yup we. You look what's happening to your age. The primary focus of expansion is the wessels. Sure i mean. Even by the time we get to world war one. We're still going to be trying in some ways to to be inward. Oh you don't feel that way no trying. I think i'd that's there's a reason i said trying right ebbs and flows. I mean this is the thing. Is that the progressive era. I mean you see in. You'll talk about this in upcoming episodes you to the point where you clearly see that in eighteen. Ninety eight is just well. This is it. We've done this. And and so you know there's going to be philippine war which is gonna last year's millions of live philippines is going to be united states territory until just after world war two you've got expansion facto control haiti from nine hundred fifty and i believe it is when we go in wilson orders the marines to go in after a coup and then takes other money puts it in a bank in new york and says You guys cabinets back when you act the way we want you to. You've got cuba. So so what i'm saying. Is we back off from that later on. But it's that back and forth. Yeah ages a time where. The united states is primarily focused on trying to figure out how to heal these wounds between the north and the south and the west is heather cox. Richardson argued very well. In west through mathematics the west becomes the place where suddenly were all americans again. And that's the focus there so singers doing all of this in the context of not really having any official government support. It's the model the model works. And so you see them doing this and just the numbers here. I guess numbers eighteen sixty three. They were selling twenty thousand machines. a year. eighteen ninety-five really at the end of this era right. They manufacturing so fourteen million sewing machine eighteen million sewing pain. And that's just in that year of course by by this year they're on the verge of creating russian subsidiary which very badly for them during war one but they're building these maps and this is why and interestingly enough this is something happens towards later into this period this why singer actually becomes very suspicious to a lot of government because they've got better maps in the governments of their own country..
Write About Now
"heather cox" Discussed on Write About Now
"Then when you feel like you're developing your own voice then go ahead and start a sub stack unless you have specialized knowledge say for example you are the person who understands how i dunno carburetors works. Everybody needs to go to read you. But if you're not like that figure out what works and what your voice is and then go to publication like sub stack. But then i do think. I have advice to give on the other side of a project that starts to take off and that is again. I'm an older woman and my observation has been not only in the writing world but also in any form of the artistic world that it's really easy when people start to like what you do to try and please them to stop writing for you and instead right for that next in audience what you know. A friend of mine is a song writer and got picked up by a major. A major artist said it ruined his career because he stopped writing for himself and started to say. You know this is going to pick me up again. And i think it's really really important to at least for me. It's been very important not to try and chase what that next popular post but rather to say this is what i care about right now and then at the end of the day if nobody likes it at least you please yourself yeah. It's such good advice and you do have an opportunity with something like sub stacked to right and right for yourself. I think that's one of the advantages writing today writing for facebook. Ready for yourself because back in the day when you wanted to write you sort of had to write for whoever the audience of g. q. Or whoever the audience of glamour magazine was and now you really can right. But i do like this idea of finding your your lean a bit. I mean you found your lane. It's not like you sat around. Be like what is my lane you just wrote. Were heather cox richardson writing..
Write About Now
"heather cox" Discussed on Write About Now
"Changing my professional named janis because all my friends call me johnny and it's only professionally known as john or jonathan. I'm starting to think like johnny small. That's like a better writers named right. Johnny small has a ring to it. Let me know. Let me know somewhere. Just just reach out to me and let me know. Wow we got a great show today. I am so excited to share this episode with you. Heather cox. Richardson is about to join us now. Who is heather cox. Richardson if you have not heard of her you in for a treat. She is a professor of nineteenth century. American history at boston college. And she's the author of several books including how the south one the civil war. Wait the south when the civil war. That's what heather. Thanks but heather is perhaps most well known for her social media presence yes a professor with a massive social media presence she has over one point five million followers on facebook where posts and her facebook lives can garner hundreds of thousands of views and she is also one of the star writers on sub stack. Which is how i. I discovered her and her news. Blast is called letters from an american and it goes out to over three hundred and fifty thousand people every day at according to the new york times and that was last year. The information is not public. But i would imagine it's a lot more than three hundred and fifty thousand people but anyway her letters from american is probably the most popular sub stack account which is saying a lot because there are some big names writing sub stack right now and what. I love so much about heather. Aside from her just being such a great writer is how she puts the news of the day into historical context. I read her letters from an american every night show. He sends them very late at night. And sometimes our posts are just like straight lessons from american history. But they're always tied somehow to the present-day situation in and her whole goal is to help us better understand why things are happening now and where they might be going and i find that endlessly fascinating like what can history teach us about the presen- and we had a great conversation. We talk about how a professor became such a rock star in the social media world. We talk about why. She created a substitute account and how she chooses. The subject matter each day for her sub stack and how much pressure is on her to do that. We talk about the process of letters from an american and we talk a little bit about the economics. I mean heather charges five dollars a month for who newsletter which i gladly pay pay more. Don't tell her that. But i would pay more if you want me to. I think it's really excellent. And if you do the math. I mean she's got hundreds of thousand subscribers that adds up it's a very interesting economic model for writer sub stack shore and after we talk about that stuff. We talk a lot about the current state of our union including our dangerous flirtations these days with autocracy and how this period in history compares with other similar moments. So there's so much here side note. I just added a new feature to my website right about now. Media dot com. And that is that you. Now have the ability to leave me a voicemail or a picture mail. I dunno or a movie male. I guess is really more appropriate..
Now & Then
"heather cox" Discussed on Now & Then
"Is sent during the revolution he sent in seventeen seventy six to try and get french aid for the revolution which was desperately needed so he sent with a commission and before when he had got to francis he'd been there before he had dressed as a french gentleman. He writes to friend actually a female friend and says they basically in six days in france or quote him here my taylor and peru ta had transforming into a frenchman. Only what a figure. I make in a little bag and with naked ears. They told me. I was become twenty years. Younger look very gallant. So he's made into a frenchman. But now seventeen seventy six heat goes back at. Something is very different. He's dresses himself deliberately very different to send a message as he says later in a letter actually to another woman friend which is i was gonna say slip in those in there. I just noticed for the first time. He dresses in very plain clothes. Which i suppose would have been typical of a quaker in the period. He just has his own hair down street. And he's wearing a very prominent for hat which i'll bet a lot of people listening have probably in one way or another seen that image because becomes so famous and franklin wrote think how this must appear among the powdered heads of paris. I wish every gentleman and lady in france would only be so obliging is to follow my fashion cone. Their own heads as i do mine. Dismiss their frontiers. There again. kind of hairdresser and pay me half the money. They paid to them so he comes there. As the sort of plane dressed person no frill to his hair and this big for cap on his head and the french obviously notice it. It's meant to be noticed. And they say things like you. The contrast the contrast between as one noble onlooker in france puts it the contrast between the luxury of our capital of the elegance of our fashions the magnificence of versailles and the still brilliant remains of the monarchic bride of louis the fourteenth and the almost rustic apparel the powdered hair. The plane but firm demeanor the free and direct language of the
Now & Then
"heather cox" Discussed on Now & Then
"And the vox media podcast network. This is now. And then. I'm joanne freeman. And i'm heather cox richardson so this week when we are trying to figure out what to talk about one of the things that jumped out at us was this. Fbi threat assessment about cunanan. And whether or not it was still a threat to america. And it's a great to page assessment of where that particular organization is because on the one hand. It says that a lot of people are probably falling away from the cunanan conspiracy simply because it has the person who appears to be the leader. Whoever calls themselves q. Hasn't posted in months and on the other hand. It says that in fact cunanan is probably getting more dangerous so he wanted to take a look at what the role might be of non in american politics and in america going forward now that put us in front of a concept that is not new to this moment as far as even recent politics is concerned basically in and out of various moments in the trump administration people have referred to some of his followers or even the republican party as a cult and hyun on obviously has put that smack in front of our faces. The question of what is a cult. What colts do. When can we call something cult. And how can we take that concept and evaluate. What's in front of us. So that's what we wanna do today. We wanna look at cults in american history and see what that can tell us about where we are at present particularly regarding cunanan. So let's start with what cunanan actually is or was or might be. Actually if you think about it. That way queuing on first appeared on internet. Message boards the first post by somebody claiming to be q. Was in october. Two thousand seventeen and gradually a conspiracy. Theories started to develop in really piecemeal ways. Almost like a game. You know so An internet game where you had to piece different things together. But the underlying theme of cunanan was that there was a corrupt kabbalah of global elites and actors in the deep state. These are all terms that they would have used who were running an international child sex trafficking ring that worshiped satan and that was engaged in trying to run a coup against former president of the united states..
Now & Then
"heather cox" Discussed on Now & Then
"And then. I'm heather cox. Richardson and i'm joanne. Freeman this week. Heather you and i came together and decided that in a word what we really wanted to talk about was commissions and i think there was a point at which you and i both came up with a similar question. Which was we both noticed that. In the last week to ten days suddenly political commentators and pundits and journalists and op ed writers and even political scientists and a petition in one way or another a whole bunch of people had stepped forward and said wow democracy is really endanger and you and i have been for a very long time saying that all over the place online to each other so is striking i think and i think you and i both have the same response. Why now why suddenly as everyone joined and basically jumped on this train and we both came up with a simple answer. And i guess. We're going to complicate that as we talk today but the the simple answer was perhaps this has something to do with the fact that on may twenty eighth senate. Republicans clocked the creation of an independent commission to investigate the january sixth attack on congress that maybe that decision to not have that investigation drove people to have a sense of urgency. That they didn't have before would certainly seemed to be the case that that was a turning point for a lot of people who had tried to look away before that and say oh you know really going to go ahead and figure out some way to make sure another attack on our democracy doesn't happen but when the senate republicans went ahead and filibuster for the first time. This year. that bipartisan bill..
Stay Tuned with Preet
"heather cox" Discussed on Stay Tuned with Preet
"Is the president of the united states. Ammos joe biden the right person. Does he have the qualities to seize these opportunities that you're talking about now i can. I can answer part of that question. Which is given that. I was at that table with him. In a number of other historic. I was going to ask you. What did you say. What did you say to joe when you had his ear. Well what was interesting about that meeting. I guess a few things that are interesting about that meeting is he was collecting information. So this wasn't an agenda driven meeting. He didn't expect us to say anything. We weren't given questions in advance. He wanted to understand. Past moments of crisis in american history and what past presidents had done. He was information gathering in a in a really open way. He spent much of that meeting and it was several hours long. Mostly taking notes and asking occasional questions. He really wanted to understand patterns of the past and how they might help the present which obviously to a historians ears was a very happy to hear but for that very reason because i believe he and his administration are very open to trying to figure out the right pathway for right now and they're awareness. I think of what they're up against Does that make him be single. One best person for this job right now i. I can't say that. What i can say is his mentality and his outlook. I find really encouraging that he's thinking big he's thinking big open-minded he's taking ideas and he's aware of the crisis that's looming. Did anyone speak too much at this meeting. And was jon meacham. No no no is a bit unfair. We love jon meacham. He's been on the show but wonderful Take your shots. You have to take your when he's not here no No it really was We all were supposed to come in with an idea that we wanted to talk about. And we talked about them and then it was just a general discussion. But it's an heather. I wonder what you think about this. It's not an uncommon practice at least from the little. I've read about american presidents in my lifetime and before to have audiences with historians whether we're at a crisis moment or not to understand their role to understand where the country is going in what changes can be affected by making smart kinds of decisions. I don't think this happened. During the trump administration. Do you think that there have been moments over time where these kinds of conversations had a real impact on a prison thinking. Yes i do. And that's what i would say about biden in this moment. Is he's working very very hard to restore to the presidency. The traditions of it and the old Borders on it the old boundaries of it so for example he's trying to put the focus on congress which is of course the lawmaking body while he did come into office and pass am sorry and sign a number of executive orders. He's made it clear he would prefer to work through. Congress in a bipartisan fashion. He's also returned the idea of a president who stays out of your face all the time you know. He's you don't have to wonder what he's tweeting next. He's your guy sometimes every every monday. There's a there's somebody on twitter who says and once again. I have no idea what biden did this weekend. And it's expletive amazing so i think that that's important. I also think that the reason that you are are noticing that he is talking to historians in the same way for example. That eisenhower jeter. Jfk did is because one of the things that was really. I think important about the reagan administration. And the especially the george w bush administration was the attempt to get away from the idea that they were bound by the past. And you saw this really dramatically in two thousand four. when a member of the george w bush administration Actually gave a quotation to ron. Suskind was writing at the time for the wall street journal and set and ron was trying to chase him down about some factor other and he said you know and i paraphrase here. You know you're making a mistake you you people like you. Historians like suskind belong to the reality based community and the person went on to say. But we don't live in the reality based community any longer we create our own reality and you people are going to have to react to the reality that we create. And you'll do it and you'll do a good job and then we will create a different reality because we are an empire now so there was that sense that they had cut loose from history altogether. And i think you i mean. Interestingly enough biden. I think is The fact that he's an older man has made him more able to reach back to that older history and to see it has value in the way that actually played out in a way that perhaps a younger person who really was not aware of those older traditions and the older role of the president may not have been able to do as i've heard some people joke. Joe biden was at the founding right. I didn't go there. I said other people have said you can ask a question about bipartisanship. And i've noticed an interesting tactic and because i'm not historian i don't know if this is you know rhyming with something that happened before and the way i've always thought about bipartisanship when politicians talk about it particular when they're talking about moving a bill through congress you want to have democrats and you wanna have republicans people from both parties. Vote on the bill and they'll get something advance and passed into law only on the votes of one party. Now that's not happening so much because there's so much polarization in congress but as people have been suggesting the democratic side there's a little bit more consensus on some of these issues like guns like infrastructure like healthcare. Maybe even on a january six commission and so that the idea of passing something with only democratic votes but with bipartisan public support people who identify both republicans and democrats and independents being supportive of something. That's what we mean by bipartisanship and so you can't complain anymore Because what's really happening. Is you guys. The democrats will say republicans are out of touch with the american people and the bipartisan spirit. Of the american people a is effective be. Does that have any parallel in the past. Well it seems to me that what year. Identifying there is a holdover from as i say this increasing radicalization of the republican party and make no mistake. They have become extreme radicals and this this current faction that holds the republican party. And i feel like that's a really important distinction because of course party has this long history and it's in this moment that really has never lived in before but as they became As they radicalized they adopted an ideology that said that the that they wanted to cut the federal government what was known as the liberal consensus that was put in place after world war. Two i by fdr and then of course by truman then by dwight eisenhower in his middle way so a democratic president lays down the roots of the liberal consensus and a republican politician. A republican president goes ahead and completes that cycle so we get this idea between both the democrats and the republicans that the government had a role to play in regulating business and providing basic social safety net and promoting infrastructure..
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"heather cox" Discussed on Stay Tuned with Preet
"Put that out there. Because maybe some people weren't persuaded to subscribe and listen. Based on the the brilliant musings of two noted stories they also might want to hear a tune. I do that all the time. I do something that i believe. Is that just pops out of me and then about ten seconds later i think. Why did i do that. But i interrupted. You were saying. Not a cassandra figure. Oh yeah no. Just because i think if you want people to listen and to hear you have to be in the moment and not looking ahead to some doom-laden future and so i think it's important for people coming forward at this particular moment in time to say we're in a moment of crisis to make it clear rather than predicting we're saying well we don't know what's going to happen next and there's possible there might be some do our future but if we act now perhaps there won't be act now act now. Here's the other way you folks put it in the live show last week that you know a lot of folks think that history the enterprise of history is to excavate what happened. That's how a lot of people think about it. That's how i'm sure. I thought about it in high school and in grade school. Each of you has a different way of describing. What the proper is. It's not what happened. It's who cares or so one remind me which of you says which and why that's the proper inquiry and enterprise. Heather you start first with. Who cares who cares and my graduate students. Refer to it as the dreaded. Richardson question Because what historians really do this different than journalists is journalists uncovered the story but historians understand different ways of looking at patterns and how societies change which is really what we study and we take the events of a really anything we study and we try and figure out what created change in that moment so he has a great man is at social movements is at politics religion et what creates change. And so when you look at for example You know a a law. That's in front. Congress or the insurrection on the capital on january sixth. The real question for journalists is what happened. Who was where. How did things unfold. The question for historians is who cares like why is this particular moment of interest to human beings as they're trying to figure out their world. Joanna joanne on the other hand has a distinctly inferior phrase. call her Called so what but at the same. I was wondering if you're gonna disagree on anything and you go no so what is better but it a little bit with both of these phrases. Tell me if i'm wrong. There's almost an implied expletive. I i don't know if. I imagine that i think there's a little bit of a prod. You know there's a little bit of an elbow that's okay so but yeah so what i mean so you students do all kinds of great research and they write great papers and they come up with really interesting information and that's all really good but the big question in the end is so what what does give us that we didn't have before. In addition to that information what does it tell us so you know when students are whether undergrads for research papers or graduate students learning how to write professional articles the so what and i use it as a noun the so what is really important and has to be really clear particularly in an article at the beginning at at the end because if there isn't a clear so what it's unclear whether people are actually gonna read it. We're so what is what's the takeaway and i would say. There's an expletive. But it is enormously deflating to have spent months and months and months working on a topping and having someone go. This is all very interesting. Is richardson but who cares. Like ask me how. I know but but it does manage to turn. It does manage determine those people. Don't have a podcast. No but they were pretty famous but it does manage to turn The the events of every day helps you to figure out which one of which ones of them are important and why and what they tell us about our present. I believe last week the two of you were discussing something about this moment. And i think the phrase uniquely fraught was used and before we started taping. We were discussing. How the word fraught is used a lot. Maybe is more appropriate now than ever before but when we're talking about historians who collectively have expertise over the long sweep of american history one of you more about the founding and the other more about the around the civil war when people like you say. This is uniquely fraught. Shouldn't we be horribly terrified. Well i think Do i say this. I don't want to say yes do do. I'm trying to get you to do the. Doom voice dune that's the doom voice. I do think on the one hand. I think the combination of things that we're facing right now you could say it's a uniquely fraught moment on the other hand is a historian. Nique is really dangerous word because As heather started out by saying we're we're looking at a lot of things with very deep roots and so the question isn't has this ever happened before. There are no to crises in american history. That are exactly the same with the precise same bundle of problems adding up to that crisis but the the patterns the problems that we're looking at right now have a deep past when you add them together you begin to get. I will use the f. Word a a fraught moment and this moment in some ways is uniquely front because the bundle of problems includes a unusual sort of president that just came and went and i would actually say we are in entirely a fraught moment. I'm stronger. I think on this one or feel more strongly about this. I think joanne does. Because this is the only time in our history with the possible exception of eighteen. Seventy nine in which we've had a significant number of our own federal law makers and state lawmakers no longer believe in democracy and this has never happened you know. In the civil war in eighteen sixty the confederates took their marbles and went home in the thirty three. Who didn't work spelled by congress so the people who were still legislating did believe in the democratic process and since the nineteen eighties in america. We've had a number of moves from the republican party. Which you know. I'm an expert on the and the republican party. And i would argue that. What is happening now is not really indicative of the history of that party but since the nineteen eighties..
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"heather cox" Discussed on Stay Tuned with Preet
"My guests today are historians. Heather cox richardson and joanne freeman. They've just launched a new podcast called now and then which looks back at key moments in american history to help make sense of our current challenges today heather in joanne. Join me to discuss. The state of american democracy the forces that led to the rise of donald trump in the modern. Gop and how history will judge the early biden presidency. Professors heather cox richardson and joanne freeman. Welcome to the show. It's a pleasure to be here pranks for having us. So we're recording this on a historic day and i use the stork intentionally given the industry. The the two of you were in but it's a historic day for us cafe in the vox media. Podcast work because you have launched a joint podcast with us called now and then congratulations to great episode. Thank you isn't core. We finally made it. We've got find the gathered over the finish line. It's kind of amazing. Because i i can't remember how long ago it was because space and time don't have the same meaning during the pandemic but i was reminding heather before we started taping today that she was a guest on stay tuned almost exactly a year ago. If you told me it was three months ago or two years ago. I believed he one of those things and then i reached out not that long ago again. If you told me three months or a year ago i would believe you and got heather on the phone and talk about doing podcast and here we are. I know there's no question they're going for comment was worth. It must have been in the winter. Because i remember sitting in the back room where i work in the middle of a snowstorm. Freezing on the phone with you. Yes i i was. I was warm in my basement. And then and then in that in that first conversation as we were just discussing a moment ago before we hit record you said there's really someone who's perfect for me to do the podcast with yet. Whatever happened to that person they were. It was actually because you We're talking about different ideas. And i said you know there's so many of these things out there in those things out there but you don't be really cool and i know who i could do it with and that was joanne because we had done so many things together since the pandemic started and it was really clear that we had a very good report and we worked together very well in the sort of media so So i was glad you decided to give it a try. And one thing led to another and we We pull it together. I think i'm really happy to be the beneficiary of that. What i do remember in that first conversation with heather was when you talk about doing podcast as an extension of some of the things you and joanne also you were doing and educating the public and informing them and i know how you also do that through your letters from an american. But you used the phrase that i want to ask both of you about you. Know we have a new president things depending on your perspective or more on track than they were before. But you said this is the phrase they're still allowed to do to right the ship of state and both of you care deeply about democracy and had been discussing how that seems to be. The word of the day discuss well. I think we need to start early. American history don't you johann tricky heather. Well okay so i'll i'll historian every once in a while you have to do then then always loses in that. Somehow it's like let's let's be chronological. I will say that. Heather and i in many ways are engaged in the same kind of enterprise which is as historians and his political historians We think all the time about patterns and politics about the strengths and weaknesses of our particular kind of politics and the united states and I also know that you know for heather for the last few years and for me for the last year or two we've been using various media to get out into the world and make clear that there's a crisis in democracy going on and that the only way to push things in the right direction is to get the public aware and engaged. And so that's part of what i think heather and you and everyone else plan to do with with now. And then is it's part of a continuing enterprise to to make the public aware of what's going on now and what the longer routes of it are And about the fact that people need to be aware and take action. And i would add to that that one of the things that was really really jumped out to me about. The trump administration is a lot of people looked at the administration and thought of. It really is a wakeup call that this was a moment where they could really see. That democracy was under siege but as a historian the things that came to fruition the trump administration had their roots way back. I mean they had their the. Let's say at least in world war. Two but a lot of the mechanics of democracy came under seige in the nineteen eighties and one of the problems that i have found as as i consume so many different levels of media is often very hard to get the back story. So you don't really understand why maybe it's important that a certain bill gets filibustered because you're only looking at that particular bill but as a historian if you step back and look at the broader sweep of american history you can recognize antidemocratic movements as they are building and as they're picking up steam and eventually as they come either fruition or not that they get stopped so the i think what joe and i have both done over. The last. several years is to say. Hey you know this. Individual is part of a longer a pattern that threatens democracy and you really need to understand that larger pattern in order to see just why for. Example texas's senate bill number. Seven was so important. You don't get it if somebody's just like oh there's a bill in texas while it's not just a bill in texas. It's a bill trying to keep certain members of the population from voting. And here's why that matters in america and here's how it is played out in a number of different ways throughout american history so and and the thing.
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"Facing an election laws. Donald trump turns to raw political power to try to bend. The outcome by brian bennett. This article is part of the debrief times politics newsletter during his failed campaign to win another four years in office president. Donald trump repeatedly used the power of his office to boost his chances in employing. The white house has a campaign backdrop. Having his secretary of state give a campaign speech during an official diplomatic trip and spreading baseless claims about voting fraud. From behind the presidential seal. Now he's using his office to try to reverse his loss. Trump invited a delegation of michigan republican lawmakers to meet with him at the white house on friday as that state is on the verge of formerly certifying. That president-elect joe biden won more votes judges have tossed out. Trump's claims of widespread voter fraud in michigan and other states so now trump appears to be trying to use raw political power and influence in a hail mary attempt to convince sitting state lawmakers to disenfranchise millions of michigan voters. The white house meeting follows tuesday night. Phone call trump reportedly made to a republican member of the board of canvassers in michigan's wayne county which includes detroit after. The board voted to certify. The vote tally hanging over. Friday's meetings is more than the power of the office. Trump is also building a new fundraising juggernaut. As he fights the election results trump's massive campaign fundraising list is sending appeals to donors nominally to help his legal defense but a large portion of the funds is going to a new political action committee called save america that trump can use to steer donations to the campaigns of politicians. He favors after repeated failures to show widespread election fraud in court. Trump's legal team has acknowledged that its current strategy is to delay certification of votes in key states in order to open the door for gop held state legislatures to intervene and send a raft of pro-trump delegates to the electoral college on december fourteen rather than delegates who represent how people voted. That strategy is exceptionally unlikely to work and would mean reversing. The intention of millions of voters people close to trump believe. He's putting up a robust fight as a way to energize his supporters. So they'll come with him as television viewers after he leaves office and bolster his political sway as a kingmaker in the republican party. But he's already doing a lot of damage to the democratic process. Along the way and seeding unfounded distrust in the election results among core parts of his base that could persist for years. Trump added to that damage on tuesday when he fired his top cybersecurity official responsible for securing the election. Chris crabs who had said his team of federal government. Experts had not seen any signs of electronic votes being changed when president. Teddy roosevelt called the presidency. A bully pulpit. He meant it was a powerful perch to advocate for policy agenda but trump has taken the muscular use of office in a different direction using it to literally bully fellow republicans into backing his personal political ambitions and go along with his false claims that the election was stolen from him. A broad and unproven conspiracy. That has been widely debunked and repeatedly rejected in court. He simply trying to steal it through. The levers of power says heather cox. Richardson a historian at boston college. This is unprecedented and not since eighteen. Seventy six has a candidate so flagrantly used political power to try to change the outcome of a vote after election day that was during reconstruction when republicans grabbed the presidency for ohio governor. Rutherford hayes with brute political force by pressing congress to steer the result in hayes his favor. But there's still one key difference between now and then in eighteen seventy six the vote margins were legitimately unclear whereas in twenty twenty biden has clear winning margins in the states. Trump is disputing since then states have voted in reforms to the electoral college system designed to prevent a politician from exerting personal influence over the democratic process as the country watch is trump is testing those reforms to ensure the will of the voters is honored.