Welcome to the Quilette Podcast. I'm your host Iona Italia, the managing editor at

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In this week's episode I spoke to John R. Wood Jr.

the National Ambassador for Braver Angels, an organization that brings together

Democrats and Republicans in an attempt to help them

understand each other better, with a view to strengthening the American

Civic State. John is also a columnist for USA Today and a former Republican nominee for Congress,

as well as former Vice President of the Republican Party of Los Angeles.

We talked about John's background in a family that had black and white, Democrat and Republican,

and lower middle and upper class members,

about the challenges involved in cooling the jets of angry people

while respecting their passionate convictions

and about what it means to build a stronger democratic consensus in America.

John is as eloquent and charming as always throughout this conversation,

even though he was in significant pain from a back injury while we spoke.

I hope you enjoy my interview with one of my favorite people John R. Wood Jr.

Welcome John.

Hi, Anna. It's good to be on.

Yeah, it's lovely to finally talk to you after a few scheduling issues which happens

...