This week's news has galvanized a new wave of conversations about what's at stake in the political landscape.

We talk about the week's news and nuance, civility and moderation, and share my conversation with Kostina Dolcher, the author of Vox.

This is Sarah from the Lent and Beth from the Right. You're listening to Pantsuit Politics. No shouting, no insults, plenty of nuance.

Hello everyone, welcome to our Friday episode of Pantsuit Politics. Usually we try to keep our Friday episodes a little shorter. Well, to our best, no promises about that. No promises.

I'm very excited to be talking with Kostina Dolcher, the author of Vox, which is kind of a modern take on the handmaids tale.

It's about a world in which an extreme religious right has taken over the United States government and forced women to speak only 100 words a day.

And you have like a bracelet that's like a bit bit that shocks you if you go over the number of words that you're allowed to say.

But it was a fascinating discussion with Kostina about what led her to write this book and what's happening politically.

So stick around for that. But first, we're going to talk about lots of things that have been in the news this week and a little bit of listener feedback.

The first thing we wanted to talk about was the latest news on the disappearance of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

And the reporting on this is so difficult to read and to take in. It is increasingly likely that he was murdered and I grew some way within the Saudi consulate in Turkey.

That's what the Turkey officials are reporting. And in the midst of the increasing gruesome violent things were learning about what allegedly happened to him.

Our administration seems to be going in the opposite direction and becoming more and more defensive of Saudi Arabia.

Our Secretary of State Mike Pompeo went and met with the Saudi royalty was seeing shaking hands and glad handing the president has become defensive on their behalf.

We did learn as we started recording that Steve Mnuchin is not attending the economic forum that the Crown Prince was hosting.

So that's a small positive movement. But I was listening to the president go on and on about how it's so important that we think about our interest and we have these relationships with Saudi Arabia.

And all that could be true and is true. And I just have to think at what point do we acknowledge that that's not the only important thing in America.

And I'm sure we had lots of economic interest at play with Germany before World War II. But at what point do we decide a nation has behaved in violation of our principles and values.

And our economic interests are not the only thing that we can consider in deciding whether or not to act on it.

It's a slippery ramp too because if we can communicate with respect to this incident that the economic cost to us of being punitive towards Saudi Arabia is too high.

What what ups the game from here you know what is Saudi Arabia do next what are we giving permission for people to do if they have enough of an economic interest to us we are literally putting a price on our values.

And I'm not ready to go to war over this I'm in fact quite fearful that this will lead to war I think often about Frans Ferdinand in the beginning of World War I I do not want military conflict about this.

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