We're Told These Conversations Can't Happen - Guess What? They Can!
We don’t agree on everything, but we’re able to talk through differences with respect and even a little humor, something that feels far too rare in politics today.
I recently sat down with Maya Rupert for a conversation that moves beyond labels and talking points.
Maya and I have appeared together on MSNOW, and I’ve always appreciated our exchanges. We don’t agree on everything, but we’re able to talk through differences with respect and even a little humor, something that feels far too rare in politics today.
Maya is an attorney, former presidential campaign manager, and national political strategist. She earned her B.A. from UC Santa Barbara, her law degree from UC Berkeley, clerked on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, and now serves on the board of the National Women’s Law Center. She also writes the Substack newsletter Power Breakers and hosts the podcast When We Win.
In our conversation, we dig into what the Democratic agenda should look like, how to speak to voters who feel left behind, and whether urgency can be matched with unity. Even when we disagreed, the focus stayed on strengthening the country.
That kind of civil exchange used to be normal. Today, it feels necessary.
This is a great discussion to which I will offer two observations and a question after listening to it from my snowbound living room with Chopin played to a fake fire burning on my TV screen:
1) Please do not talk about the next President yet... It's normally too early before the midterms, but at the moment it is meaningless and counterproductive... I appreciate that you've been pretty clear that you'd like to run but are pondering whether America is ready to elect *anyone* who is boring...
2) The most problematic aspect of "the two sides" today are neither "left and right" nor "liberal and conservative" but are "radical versus moderate"... or more exactly, "dogmatic versus dialectical", and the biggest problem with the GOP when compared to the Democratic Party is that there seems to be zero space in the former for what I will call "radical moderates" these days (h/t to Norm Ornstein for that categorization...).
3) Do you have a post or podcast where you explain your personal contribution to the morass in which we find ourselves as a nation? To be clear, I give you credit for returning to Ohio and for some of your attempts to work with the Obama administration while its governor. I am not expecting a full throated mea culpa (see Stuart Stevens), and I certainly do not question your right to argue for the traditional conservative position about any given question whether I agree with it in part or not at all.
Thank you.
Dear John,
I am going to follow up here rather than after your post that anticipates the SOTU tonight. Others have replied there with astonishment with which I concur but accompanied at times by invectives that I do not necessarily endorse.
Donald Trump had this opportunity since his first inaugural in 2017 and has chosen exactly the opposite course, time after time. The necessary acknowledgment, reversal, and apology for his unconscionable and unconstitutional actions since taking office the second time - not to mention since Jan 6 - goes beyond anything imaginable, and calling for unity in the abstract is not enough…
… or perhaps you envision the equivalent of Jefferson Davis calling for “unity” just after the attack on Fort Sumter, or perhaps just before Gettysburg, as long as the Emancipation Proclamation was reversed and the antebellum status quo was reestablished.
I am presuming that you do not intend to respond to my question in this thread. An answer is either non-existent at this time or not among your intentions in the future. Perhaps you are just writing me off as someone who would never vote for you and, as such, not worthy of a response.
That would disappoint me if you had a serious intention to represent yourself to the entire country as a bridge builder and unifier because it is just as important that your opponents view you as legitimate with good intentions and attentiveness for them as it is for your supporters to do so.
Perhaps it is more important.