As I have said before, when I married the GG, I thought our politics were similar. We are both from Republican families but we were also teenagers and young adults in the 1960/70s and we were NOT for the Vietnam War, etc. I went along with some of what my parents believed for a while, after all, the GOP party of that day was NOTHING like the Trump party. I dunno what my dad would have thought about Trump. Probably not much but not necessarily because of politics. The Commander loved Obama and her ashes have been churning since 2016.

Fast forward, I don’t think I will EVER vote for a Republican again. They are not Republicans any more, they are Trumpians. But what I am really trying to write about (probably incoherently) is that I live in a divided house. But. Apparently there are a LOT of married couples who are in the same boat.

This morning’s NPR “This American Life” show explored this. Lo and behold, the first segment featured a couple familiar to me from an episode of the podcast “Left Right and Center”. They were struggling to discuss politics AT ALL and she was feeling “lonely”. I am in the same boat albeit I don’t really feel lonely. I am approaching this whole thing with black humor at this point although I may not feel that way if Trump wins, which my gut tells me he will. Sigh. Another four fr*ckin’ years of idiocracy.

The couple on This American Life did some research and found Isaac Saul’s Tangle newsletter. I have written about this newsletter before and have signed up to receive it. And have been enjoying it. Each day focuses on a topic. Isaac researches what the “right” and “left” are saying about it and also heavily fact checks everything. At the end, he provides his own opinion, identifying his own personal biases. We all have our own biases.

This newsletter provides transparent, nuanced information about the difficult issues we face today. It isn’t just some stupid facebook meme saying “Kamala is gonna take away your health care and give it to the ‘immigrants'” without citing sources and providing context. Health care what? Insurance? Clear language, context, and fact checking. PLEASE! Don’t just hit “share”.

If I get it right, he tries to reach readers “where they are at” (you’ve heard that phrase before, no?). He doesn’t try to make them feel stupid by leading with something like “that’s a lie” (subtext, “you are stupid to believe that”). He does call out lies but not after carefully stating why. Since Trump first took office in 2016, I have been DIRECTLY called stupid by a few relatives that disagreed with me. It hurt. I may not be the brightest light on earth but, for one thing, there are people who seem to still be willing to pay me pretty well to do a complex tech job. Stupid? Naw. Except when I am… 🤪 because we are ALL stupid sometimes. But I’m not stupid about my hatred for another Trumpian Idiocracy.

Iff’n y’all are doubtin’ me, subscribe to the newsletter (there are free versions if you don’t have $59 or whatever it is, you just don’t get all the content) and check it out for yourself. And journalists (Isaac is one) need to be paid. Otherwise we don’t have reliable news. Because they may have to take jobs as McDonald’s french fry fryers or garbage truck drivers. I know those things are just part of the Trump schtick but jeebus.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 2nd, 2024 at 7:32 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.