S5 Ep2: Getting Out of Our Corners (with Amanda Carpenter)

The Focus Group Podcast

The Bulwark

Politics, News, Society & Culture

4.8 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 25 January 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Anyone who opposes Donald Trump isn't feeling great this week. And where there was "resistance" when Trump took office in 2017, there was more resignation among the voters we talked to this week as he began his second term. Bulwark alum Amanda Carpenter of Protect Democracy joins Sarah to talk about what we should (and should not) be focused on over the next four years.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, everyone and welcome to the Focus Group podcast.
0:09.3	I'm Sarah Longwell, publisher of the bulwark.
0:12.7	And this week, we're going to recap Trump's second inaugural address because time is a flat circle.
0:19.4	And here we are again. And then we're going to have some tough talk
0:23.6	about the next four years because there's no sugar-coding it, right? American democracy's in a
0:27.9	tough place right now. And my guest and I both have a lot of thoughts about how we as Americans
0:33.5	and our institutions should comport ourselves during the second Trump administration. And to be
0:39.2	honest, I think we're still thinking through that. And so we'll just sort of share, I'm excited
0:43.1	about our guests as somebody to be able to bounce these ideas off of, because this is the kind of
0:47.7	conversation that is best had among friends, and I would even say family. So I'm welcoming one of our most distinguished bulwark
0:55.6	alums back to the show, Amanda Carpenter. She is most importantly, my friend, and a great person
1:02.0	who was with us at the bulwark from the jump. But she's also a writer and editor, Protect Democracy,
1:06.6	and author of Gaslighting America, why we love it when Trumpies to Us. Hey, bud. Hey, nice to see you.
1:13.3	Thank you for having me here. Tough times, but better to be with friends. So. Yeah. I guess we asked
1:19.4	some of the focus groups, how does it feel different this time than it did eight years ago?
1:25.4	Like, it's clear we all feel differently, but how does it feel
1:28.2	different to you? It feels different because this time, at least personally, I know what to expect.
1:34.8	Last time when he first came into office, it was a big upset. No one was expecting it to happen.
1:41.1	In many ways, he was getting his bearings, and there was much more of a clown show aspect
1:46.1	to it all whereas this time he's been very clear about how he intends to govern and he's executing on
1:54.0	that very quickly last time there was much more of a spectacle this time it's just far more serious. Yeah, I always liken it,
2:03.5	and I can't remember if I invented this or if I've subsumed it from one of the other bulwark
	...

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