In this episode, Grace and Katelyn discuss their personal reactions to the recent election results, highlighting feelings of fear and nervousness. They delve into the evolving identities and perceptions of the Democratic and Republican parties and reflect on issues such as political branding and the impact of major societal events. The conversation also covers the importance of local politics, the role of empathy and communication across political divides, and concerns about free speech, identity, and safety.

00:00 Introduction and Catching Up

00:12 Reflecting on the Election Results

01:25 Democratic Party Identity Crisis

05:14 The Role of Language and Wokeness

10:28 Immigration and Latino Voters

14:11 Personalizing Politics and Social Media

15:26 Local Politics and Community Focus

20:15 Addressing Fears and Finding Common Ground

22:39 Conclusion and Personal Reflections

Copyright 2024 Grace Cowan

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Hello, Katelyn.

Hey, Grace.

We're back to normal second helping.

We are back to second helping.

How are you doing?

It's been a long week.

Really? Why?

We elected somebody I didn't vote for. Nobody is surprised to hear that. And I think, we've just been trying to reflect on what that means. A lot of personal reflection, a lot of, feeling a little scared, feeling a little nervous, and just trying to process, what that all means.

Well, for sure, the left bashing has begun. Oof! Do you think they deserve it?

I do think that there are a lot of things that the Democrats need to pay attention to. I also think that, unfortunately, this party's time of transition in leadership is juxtaposed to, a Once in a generation, candidate

In Kamala or in Joe Biden?

No, in Trump. I think Trump is a once in a generation candidate for a party. I think he rallied the base and I would say maybe Obama was that for the Democrats in a way. And I have lots of thoughts.

Good. We have a lot of time. Yeah. So exciting. I mean, one thing that I, read was asking this question, what do the two parties represent? If you had to describe the Democrats, who are they? What is their foundational belief?

I would say that the Democrats are for. Equal rights of individuals, and that's all individuals, that they are actually for a government that takes care of people who can't take care of themselves. I would say that Democrats, value education and a high level of education. I would say Democrats are actually good for the working class, but don't brand themselves as good for the working class.

This is what I read most believe that Democrats stand for three things, wokeness, democracy, that's equated to some deep state system that's failing them and the imperative of a college degree. And that was only amplified by Biden's student loan forgiveness efforts. Those are three things that I think have become like the moniker for the Democratic Party. It is no longer seen as the party of the working man, the little guy.

That's what Trump is now. And it's not like the antiwar party. That's now Trump. It's not the party of big government spending. It's has this very different appeal. That's almost flip flopped with, the Republican party of yore. And it's been an interesting thing to watch.

Yeah, it is interesting because if you look at who supports, from a donation perspective, the Republican party versus the Democratic party, there's a lot more individual small donors to the Democratic party than there are the Republican party, which is funded by some of the top. Donors are billionaires. So it's, I think it comes down to a branding thing. I mean, there were a lot of articles like the wall street journal before the election said that the economy has performed better under every democratic president, in the last, 30 or 40 years then Republican presidents. And yet everyone associates a good economy with Republicans because Republicans benefit from all the work that Democrats did while they were in office.

They are really good at branding themselves and they're great. We had all of these massive things. George Floyd was murdered during, during COVID, there were issues with teachers unions and who had to go back and when, and the whole country was under this lockdown of not being able to leave their house and do things. And there were all of these beliefs that were bred at that time that really pushed people to the right. We just went down.

Wasn't a high voter turnout. I think a lot of people, were frustrated with the choices, understandably so. Democrats were furious that Biden even ran again. The Israeli Palestinian conflict was a huge issue that people did not want to talk about, but definitely played into people voting. So there were lots of things.

Everyone's trying to pinpoint it because you want to come up with this one thing that you can say it was Kamala's fault, or it was racism, or it was Joe Biden staying in too late. And that's never going to happen. But what I think has to come out of this is that We all have to figure out how to not let politics be this extension of our personalities, that every single thing about us has to be, which camp you're in and how you speak to each other.

And it's so hard when you talk to people, even friends that are Democrats, when I say to them, a lot of people on the right that Democrats often don't hear from are saying, I'm tired of people telling me how I should live. I'm tired of people telling me That my kids shouldn't be in school because there's XYZ or any of those things that, people feel like they're being preached to. And I feel like this was the election where that reached its pinnacle. And that's what we saw.

Yeah. It's so tough because I do agree that there, is a faction of the left that really polices language and I struggle with that faction. I've shared that before. If you want behavior change, telling someone what to do is not how you change their behavior. And yet at the same time, that desperation and people telling people You have to say it like this. You have to say it like that is because we have lived in subjugation for so long that we finally had a platform on which to say the things that we'd all been desperately trying to say. And the reality is we live our lives scared.

I feel like this heightened sense of politics as an extension of who we are, particularly this week, and for the weeks to follow, really has people who are very careful about their words and who often tell people what words to use, really has people on high alert. Because saying those words is a trigger. There's been a lot of, people sharing on social media that Mount Pleasant high school boys were telling girls that it was your body, my choice, your body, my choice.

Yeah.

Like language does matter. I hear the wokeness. I hear why you're frustrated with it. And at the same time, the wokeness originated because people didn't have the language to use to treat others with dignity and respect. And it might've gone too far. But the backlash feels deeply personal.

Your body, my choice. I think that is young boys who have been propelled by some of this, macho stuff that's happening, the Joe Rogans and all that kind of stuff that everyone's talking about. They've attached on to this like barstool sports and that boys will be boys type of mentality. From the perspective of the LGBTQ community, I think I totally get it. I have so many friends around me that I am definitely afraid for, this time is so critical on talking to each other and having communication because I think that there is a place for all of us to learn the next stage of it, I don't exactly know where that place is, but I know that we need to find it because I know what just happened politically was a referendum on people. feeling like they've been talked down to. And the irony here is that the people who are asking to be identified in a certain way, they have always felt discriminated against.

And the other side has now come out and basically said, stop discriminating against me because I'm a straight white person. And they're both valid points. There has to be a way that we can all understand each other. We need to have that grace on the other side.

I'm not opposed to that grace and I'm not trying to police how people speak. I think where I stand firmly is that those who voted to not be told how to speak and police how to speak are now policing my marriage and my life and my safety. Being told what not to say is not the same thing as being told that you shouldn't exist and being told that your existence is uncomfortable for other people. So I think this is where the left says yes. And your disagreement with, Language is not a right for you to tell me that I can't live my life.

This is the thing. And this is the hardest thing to talk about. It's not just the transgender community, and it's not just the gay community. That's a big part of it. Religion has a lot to do with this and how that's being communicated. We've let this all get mixed up. And I do feel like in doing all of those interviews, every single conservative person that I had on said to me, I don't care about it. I just don't want to be told what to think about it or how to say it. This is not my opinion, but what I think it is so valuable for us to do is to find some way for both groups to say it's about freedom.

I agree with you. I think the other thing it's about is following the rules. And I say that because everyone was really shocked that Latino men in particular voted, at a much larger percentage for, Republicans, down ballot than everyone thought. And, you know, if you read sort of the postmortem of more Latino men coming out and saying why they voted, it is because they came here legally, And they're frustrated that there are people coming here illegally and making them look, like they're part of this illegal wave of immigration. And so they want a solution to this illegal immigration problem so that they can live their lives in a positive way in the United States. And I don't think Democrats are getting that.

And they worked hard to get here in the first place. you And if you see someone coming in, skipping past all of the things that you are so closely remembering that you've just done to get here, of course, you're going to be pissed. And so that's where this group that voted for Republicans looks at the Democrat party and they're like, what about me? I'm out here working my ass off doing this thing. And you're telling me that these other people should just come across no problem. I can see both sides to that.

Yeah, it's hard. And as someone who's worked overseas, I think I, I definitely, lean heavily in the empathy side, because I have seen what people come from. My cousin works in Bangladesh and she left me a voice note. That last week was hard for her because there will be no refugee resettlement. Trump and Stephen Miller have already talked about that and so not only does this affect her personally because her job is probably gone as of January 20th, but She is working against the clock, to get as many, eligible refugees resettled. I mean, this is not illegal immigration. But the population specifically that she works with, is on the ban list because they're Muslim. And it just is a really for people who do this work for Americans who do this work overseas who are deeply ingrained in what it means to be an American and spread democracy overseas. It's going to have a massive implication, on our international relations.

There was this thing that I kept thinking going into the election, which was, there are people on the left who felt like Trump getting elected was going to be the end of democracy. And yet there were people on the right who felt like. If Kamala got elected, it was going to be the end of democracy. And I kept thinking of my neighbor and I kept thinking like she thinks very differently than I do. And how is it that two people who live very similar lives, we have so many things that we do together, we hang out all the time.

And yet, how is it that we can see two different people running for the same office in such different lights? And I don't think that either one of us has a vision of the country. That's all that different. I think that we both understand the bigger view of our country in a pretty similar way. And yet we both. Looked at this election as the end of it. I just couldn't understand how we've become so far apart as a country, that two people that live on the same street in the same city with kids and live very similar lives can think so very differently.

In the last 20 years, we have really personalized every aspect of politics and social media has done nothing but exacerbate that. Our algorithms are so in tune with what we do every day and just reinforce so much of what we believe. And so as you rightly pointed out, in your interviews with the constituents, where you get your information is so important and I don't mean, don't look at mainstream media. Have a diverse group of places. You're going to get that information.

I am not going to pay attention to national news. I feel and this is a luxury, but I feel like paying attention to national news just makes you infuriated and there is nothing that I can do to change what is coming. Absolutely nothing. I can. Ensure that my friends know that I'm here.

I can ensure that everyone knows my house is a safe space for them. I can ensure that my kids friends know that they always have a place to go. I can continue doing the nonprofit stuff I do, like all of the things that I do to make our community and our state a better place. And I also can be hyper focused on state politics because state politics is where I can make a difference. And I feel like by focusing on local stuff and bringing it back home, that will make us all communicate more and be better at this next stage of what we're going through.

We have to focus locally. If the legislature now has a supermajority and even the governor has less power because they have veto power. Paying attention to local politics is not only important, it is imperative in the next two-year legislative session.

We are going to do a lot of talking this season, explaining what is happening in our state. And not just in, the state legislature, the state house, and the state senate, but even like our state Supreme court and our state judges there are a lot of things that will happen in our state in the coming next year that we should pay attention to. We have a really great community and I think we need to be hyper focused on finding the people that are good regardless of who they voted for so that we can understand why they're doing that.

I've said on here before, I had friends that I interviewed over, the last couple of weeks that if you just looked at their Facebook pages, you would say, that person scares me and I don't think I went to meet them. And Once you sit down and talk to them and you ask them, how did you get to this place? They explain it in normal terms.

Trump voters right now, are saying, not all Trump voters are racist. Not all Trump voters hate gay people. Not all Trump voters, whatever. Insert thing here. To the Trump voters who listen to us. If you see something that you are uncomfortable with, you're at a Trump rally and someone's flying a Nazi flag, you heard that there were racist text messages about cotton picking sent to young black students. You're a parent of one of the boys that said your body, my choice in it. That Mount Pleasant High School. My ask is that you stand against that because I believe that you don't want that to be the America we live in. And so I understand you voted the way you did and you have that right.

And yes, of course, I clearly disagree with you, but I think there is a way for us to find the center. Understand that some of us are scared and that there is a way for, You to demonstrate that not all Trump supporters believe in some of the more radical rhetoric coming from the right. Yeah. In the same way that I believe Democrats need to find a way to articulate, how people can be taken care of without constantly policing people.

Bringing up the fact that not all Trump. voters are racist. I think that's the thing that most Trump voters are saying. Those are outliers. No one wants to believe that they're racist, that means a self-evaluation of who you are. No white person is walking around going, I think I might be racist. And so I totally agree with you, but I can hear how someone who is a Trump supporter would hear that.

Stop telling me what to do when I'm at a Trump rally. You know what I mean? Like it's, I think that it, there's gonna have to be this reckoning of how. The Democrats talk to the Republicans and the Republicans talk to the Democrats, and it is going to be so hard for us in this space, who feel like we are in the right to, not tell people how we feel or not tell people what makes us uncomfortable I even just said it like I, I need to tell my friend, that post makes me uncomfortable. That's not going to work. They're going to be like, fuck you. My guy won. You're, I don't care what makes you uncomfortable. And that's because me even saying something is going to make them feel like I'm still preaching. I feel like we get caught up in how we feel and telling other people how we feel. And when they tell us how they feel, we don't listen.

I really do see validity in what you're saying. And I really want to get to a place, where that does not incite, total panic in my body.

Yeah.

I'm not there yet. I'm open to the process, I am certainly still grieving, and living a little bit in fear, as I mentioned. And so really what I'm doing when I'm asking. I'm begging for the opportunity not to feel scared.

What changed from one day to the next?

It feels like there is a stamp of approval on some of the more radical things that Trump says. And I know a lot of people say, it's just Trump. He's just a showman. We've talked about it on the podcast. He says things for shock value. His shock value got more and more intense. I think the same way that there is a very progressive left that wants to police everything there is a conservative right that I would consider fringe that is not afraid of violence and has spoken that way. No matter whether you are conservative or liberal, we're really scared about violence after the election.

I heard so many people say, it doesn't matter who wins, there's going to be violence. We've proven to ourselves that didn't happen. I will say it is interesting that all of the calls for election fraud went away once Trump won, but I think for me, it feels heightened because of that stamp of approval for the fringe. They're the ones that talk a lot about owning guns, and it's an open carry state, it's the first time I've ever thought about being a gun owner. Go get a gun, Katelyn. You can get it right now. And I can open carry without any training.

Well, I think this conversation is, super important for us to have, we both respect each other and also are deeply committed to understanding how to get through here. Deeply committed. I really want to make sure that we can be a voice both for people that are afraid on the left, people that are afraid on the right. Because of who is in our political office, there are groups of people that feel like they're in danger. The fear that I'm talking about that I've heard Republicans speak of. The fear of being a black person every day, the fear of being a Hispanic person. Everyone is living in some type of fear of something, right? The fear of being a Jew. The fear of being Jewish, I have friends who watch what just

happened in Amsterdam and are like, is that going to happen here?

And I think that this is where we should wind this down is to say that throughout this season, always come back to this topic because I think it is a really important one. We need to hear that because maybe that will give us some better insight into, how to get through it. That said, speaking of threats, what's your whole nother thing?

My whole other thing is, I went to Edisto this weekend just for an overnight. And I got to tell you, it was so nice. Just to have a moment to just walk on the beach, not in my house, not doing laundry, not thinking about media. And the people in Edisto were so wonderful, and so all of this fear that I was feeling, it's still there, right? It's still there, but Edisto gave me a sense of peace this weekend. And so I, my whole nother thing is just like, Gratitude and thank you for Edisto, for how beautiful it is and how peaceful it made my weekend. So that's it.

All right, my friend that's all the stew for today.