Is Kamala Harris Secretly Relieved? Lionel Shriver on the repudiation of wokeness, Trump presidency.

[@_TheLONEwolf]

How can you say "its killing your baby, but Im pro choice" in the same sentence ?

[@M1911jln]

Yes, the whole trans thing is insanity. Worse than that, it is terrible medical malpractice.

[@AmidalaEmma]

Asking your child to consider they are the wrong gender and need medicalization and surgery is like asking them if they think they are ugly and need medicalization/surgery. It’s the rejection of their natural body but to the 100th degree. Teach a child self acceptance.

[@joebehrdenver]

Who is doing this? Name one parent.

[@aidawedo1]

@@joebehrdenver It has nothing to do with nothing. People have been transitioning for years. Moral panic, like comic books and rock music

[@kenhammond3810]

​@@joebehrdenverGoogle "multiple transgender kids same family", and you will see many.

[@Peppino1556]

This is the second interview I’ve heard in 2 weeks, where Ms. Shriver disarms the interviewer by answering a question that the interviewer anticipated total “ solidarity” . I’ve recently discovered the fiction of Ms. Shriver - The Mandibles and Mania. But back to my point, I’m a product of an orphanage, I was born in a Charity Hospital. My birth mother was 12 years old. Had I been terminated , this little missive would not exist. As the English say, “ hats off Lionel Shriver. You are a breath of fresh air in a stale tempest.

[@pragmatist23-r8s]

I don't like ex pats!

[@wilyinfidel1091]

I love the way Lionel’s mind works and how she articulates her thoughts. Bravo!

[@janeb2357]

Thank you for saying out loud what I now believe most of us were thinking. So much of Lionel's viewpoint resonates with me. Such a great conversation.

[@annechappee8825]

Agree! Refreshing.

[@HowardSchoonover]

This was a really outstanding episode

[@mulchortoast]

One excellent conversation! Both of you shine! Lionel is a woman of wisdom and compassion!

[@KevinMDowney]

Yes - KH didn’t want the job at the end of the day. She knew she couldn’t handle it.

[@TenTenJ]

I KNOW in my gut that she didn’t want the job in the first place. She was either lying to her self, or put up to this.

[@davidburghardt8155]

I really wondered about that. Help me out here. What convinces you so strongly?

[@TenTenJ]

@ because for a few instances, she was able to be really strident and speak with conviction. so where was all that during her interviews and sometimes speeches? Her energy was lackluster and inconsistent, in general. She was just doing a job and getting through her day.

[@lesweizman388]

that's why she ran in 2020, cuz she didnt want the job?

[@TenTenJ]

@ how do you know that she wasn’t put up to it at that time? How do you know that she’s not an employee or an operative for an agenda? I don’t know, you might call me a conspiracy theorist, but I never stop myself from asking questions. Maybe her running back that was part of some long term strategizing.

[@alicemc8774]

@@davidburghardt8155 One thing that Lionel said that stayed with me is that she wanted the job because she thought it would be "fun" to be president. I also got that impression.

[@KevinMDowney]

Great guest!

[@lord69z]

So glad to have found this channel

[@shteebo]

I enjoyed listening to you two. I'm a bit to your right politically, but found your thinking reasonable and coherent. Thanks for posting.

[@aksunai-99]

Can I say how pleasant it is to listen to two intelligent women who have insightful thoughts and express them well? (There, I said it.)

[@TheUnspeakablePodcast]

Thank you! Glad you found the podcast.

[@scillyautomatic]

You KNOW she's got to be relieved! She might also feel disappointed but by far the stronger emotion would have to be relief! Just think how uncomfortable she was in every interview. Having to actually do something must have been terrifying.

[@TenTenJ]

I don’t believe she wanted a job in the first place. Do you think that they asked her to do it? or do you think that they asked her and she said no and then they cajoled her? Maybe she was set up. There’s a lot of people in the Democratic Party this year that wanted to vote for specific causes that Trump supports. I didn’t see the desire in her.

[@aidawedo1]

@@TenTenJ She was set up by Cheney, etc. NeoCons. They must be pissed for having their puppet lose.

[@JJmikra]

Great conversation! Insightful and honest. It's powerful that two childless women reached to same conclusion about having children. I do agree. I was lucky enough to get one child before it's too late. Now she is teenager and I'm into a life with too long work hours. There are many female colleagues without children. They seem to enjoy their lives BUT oh god, I truely appreciate that I have my daughter!

[@LydiaMoorehead-nu5xm]

I found this episode very interesting. I very much appreciate hearing discussion that isn't along typical cnn/fox, right/left lines. Thank you for discussing these issues with honesty, nuance and openness.

[@jrmott]

Terrific conversation ladies. I think I could get hooked on nuance AF

[@MarkMullins-r5v]

As a 68 year old white male who has been told he is the number one problem in the life of women and the world this was an amazing, educational and refreshing experience…

[@Pigletpronto]

Excellent. Breath of fresh wry air Lionel.

[@stevebeschakis9775]

I like how Lionel Shriver actually says what everyone else only thinks. Courageous. I thought it was interesting that all the discussion of the parenthood decision amounted to a simple utilitarian argument, how having a child makes the parent better off--basically an argument from selfishness.

[@KevinMDowney]

We have many governors, congresspeople etc who are female or black. That means the public voted for them.

[@Midgiemoon]

I’m a huge fan of the podcast, Meghan always has the best conversations!

[@metgirl5429]

I’ve just discovered this channel Now binge watching Subscribed from Adelaide Australia Are we awake now🕊

[@jasper_of_puppets]

Have you checked out A Special Place in Hell? That is/was Meghan's other podcast with Sarah Haider, but they just did their last episode 😢 There are a couple of gems that are worth going back and watching though. Especially the episode with Saira Rao and Regina Jackson 😉

[@drkzilla]

Lionel is such a gem. 🎉❤

[@digitalBrandingScreensavers]

I am black AND YOU ARE SO SPOT ON You are right I am sick of Id Politics

[@LetsWalk-sn1bu]

Now that we see how poorly the 1.2billion that kammy raised was spent, we should be relieved she never had the chance to destroy the country with her bad management. So many handouts would have been given to her friends

[@pragmatist23-r8s]

It's frustrating that no one commented to this besides me!

[@kcowgirl7840]

I dont feel emotional or irrational (if you mean hysterical) as a 76 year old female who has voted Democrat my whole life prior this election. I don't love Trump, by any means, but the left has proven itself to be extremely dangerous - especially to children and families. I love the Make America Healthy Again movement. The border situation is indefensible. No one was more surprised than me that I ended up voting for Trump. I was increasingly encouraged by the group he has surrounded himself with this time. I think the brush with death got his attention, and he may see it is in his own best interest to have an ethical, intelligent, competent, even brilliant, cabinet. The media is entirely sold out to corporate interests. Their "soul searching" is bullshit to me.

[@PeterMaranci]

Shhh! Don't anyone tell Johann Sebastian Bach that he shouldn't have had children if he wanted to achieve great things! 🤣

[@JohnR22926]

IMO she's relieved. She was completely in over her head and she knew it.

[@mayacohen2774]

💯

[@magdalentyndale1032]

Such an interesting conversation. Thank you.

[@TheInfinitymath]

I am a man that thoroughly enjoyed listening to these two intelligent woman who enlightened my world.

[@fredkelly6953]

For all the power of all the branches of the establishment they still could not overcome the power of one person, one vote. That truly is democracy. It is all ordinary people have but it can topple governments.

[@notlimey]

Lionel Shriver at her most amusing best!

[@lesmotley6839]

I hope this moment is the pinnacle of the woke, diversity, inclusion era. This madness needs to end, unfortunately our children are being indoctrinated in university and it will be extraordinarily difficult to eradicate this doctrine. There's hope, even the Chinese were able to move past Maos red book era.

[@DiamondLil]

I'm older than both of these women, and to me "reproductive freedom" is all tied up in the availability of reliable birth control. My mother's generation had two options: celibacy or pregnancy. When "the pill" came along everything changed. But somehow, the next generation of women were convinced that birth control was not an option. They talk as if their only choices are celibacy or abortion. What happened to affordable, reliable birth control?

[@dukecity7688]

That's what i said!! I thought Kamala seemed relieved!!

[@mhermit]

Thanks for making me feel good about having raised a large family.

[@plugnut4713]

True KH would have just been a shallow figure head or a token prez.

[@GopalakrishhnanTRGopi]

supergood conversation

[@Peppino1556]

I see the headline. I’ve felt Harris really looked like a deer in the headlights. I believe only her desire to “ make history” overshadowed her fear of being elected. I’ll leave it at that. To me, her body language , her “ tells”, in poker lingo, screamed,” get me out of here!”

[@benandcullensoldchannel2087]

After watching Kamala completely fail on some very obvious questions (e.g. “what would you do differently?”) I also wondered if she was really trying to win.

[@M1911jln]

I think she was trying, but she was simply a terrible candidate. Staffers on her first presidential run said that they would create detailed briefing books for her prior to interviews and debates, but Kamala would refuse to read them. Then she would bomb the interview or debate, come back, and start screaming at her staff for failing to prepare her. I suspect that the same thing happened her. She didn’t prepare properly and so she froze when she received the completely predictable question, “what would you do differently?”

[@robertabrahamsen9076]

I have the same sense. Also, that Trump was startled and frightened when he won the first time.

[@talonr7818]

I noticed that!

[@nickdudesville5154]

I'm in my late forties and just recently found out that the chances of birth defects rise drastically for older women and men. I said: "Good Lord!!! Nobody ever talks about this!!!" Every news article just talks about how hard it is for older women and how stunning and brave they are for trying.

[@JJmikra]

I though exactly the same during her campaign. She didn't want to become president. She was just pressed to do that

[@stacykay4072]

You dont suppose she may have lost faith after all the race and gender/sex insults and slander hurled her way by Trump and his cronies/zombies, do you?

[@MsJoybird1]

I think Kamala was relieved! Kamala was never comfortable in her campaign!

[@TracyPicabia]

Shriver is a such a breath of fresh freshiness. That dog is probably annoying the hell out of the neighbours though. I'm not only an archer - we must not talk about Kevin - but also have two non sibling adopted kids.

[@TheUnspeakablePodcast]

It's the neighbor's dog.

[@xtrachrisb488]

That would make two of us

[@sherylwhite2201]

As a mother of three adult children i must say that despite the many positives, having kids did involve lots of sacrifice - but i dont think thats a bad thing. I think it was good for my personal development as a human being. I think im a much more rounded out person than i would otherwise have been. Also want to say that some of it was hell - getting teenagers safely through their risktaking years was sometimes extremely fraught and anxious-making. Love my kids though, and my grandkids.

[@WhizzingFish12]

Kids are the price paid to get grandkids. I've told my sons no grandkids, no inheritance. And it will be divvied up proportional to the number each provides. :-)

[@mayacohen2774]

You can be exceptional enough to have a kids in the same time ! Motherhood is a most difficult and deep experience and responsibility. Exceptional someone like a surgeon who is saving children ‘s life every day or other kinds of serving humanity on high level could explain child free position … but to tell like woman on the left , I am too exceptional to have a kids , motherhood is for simpler women operating on biological level it’s wrong ! Love woman on the right side a lot more 🙏🏻

[@alemswazzu]

Kamala was absolutely relieved to lose, and I also think Joe and Jill might have voted third party. They were thrilled she lost.

[@ElectricCamelAnalytics]

Meghan for POTUS ??? I would vote for you

[@NoobRideseMTB]

Great convo, btw 👍 Having read some of the disparaging comments (mostly from females) … It occurs to me that the fallacy of women being free of men had reached the inevitable impasse - bringing men down; lambasting their masculinity, accusations of the patriarchy etc… All signs, that for as much as we might protest that the female of the species can go it alone, ultimately women need men; for a sense of protection, for an admiration of their ability to be hands-on, for respecting that men also need to compete alongside other men (perhaps in the spirit of competition) etc… Women that have good men realise these qualities and don’t necessarily have the constant urge to equalise the differences, rather spotting them for the qualities that naturally they are. I assume. Never assume 😊

[@LetsWalk-sn1bu]

Lionel, what do you think happened on Jan 6th? Do you know how many feds were involved in the stage managing of that event? Would you be shocked to learn it was more than 100? That could easily be true

[@MorePlausible]

The truth about J6 has to come out. Especially since many protesters are serving long prison terms.

[@weltschmerski]

Thinking people don't like to jeopardize their thinking person status. ego is a hellluva drug

[@billgaits3717]

It's kind of amazing that even people who understand to a great degree what's going on still say insane things like "voting for Trump is irrational" and "thinking people don't believe the Democrats cheat." Smug gibberish.

[@kham6006]

Vance’s wife is a Yale graduate lawyer-

[@stacykay4072]

Who gave up her job to... Be Vance's emotional support guru? The guy seems to be a total mental case

[@WhizzingFish12]

​​@@stacykay4072Why? Because he's traditional? Really think that she couldn't come to such a decision as the EXTREMELY intelligent person she is? Women by the millions do it all over the place - are they all somehow gaslit and oppressed? As Biden would say, "Come on, man."

[@plugnut4713]

Please stop shaming and castigating young men of today for low birth rates. Women have unrealistic expectations of that cohort. She wants a tall highly educated high income earner to validate herself. If he’s in construction or any high skill trade career track the guy will be beneath her in her mind. Women and current social standards have feminized male today for what is an acceptable male. A guy who makes a living with his hands isn’t good enough today. Well unless he’s a surgeon or dentist. Women are all about status and it’s disgusting. BTW I have a son and a daughter so there is my confirmation. Otherwise a good interview.

[@mvjh2277]

1:06:38 Doug Emhoff is an entertainment lawyer. New, best client is his wife Kamala Harris.

[@pragmatist23-r8s]

This pos, Emhoff, impregnated the Nanny in his first marriage. How bad can you get to be so disrespectful to your wife and young children! Disgusting!

[@peterschwartz8363]

Shriver's "explanation" for why the Democrats lost runs up against several problems: 1) the popular vote, which now has the two candidates dead even and Trump without a majority; 2) the gains Democrats made (including flipping seats) in other races; 3) the Republicans slim-slim hold on the House 3) Trump's truly massive loss in 2020 in which the numbers were in the 80 millions, not the 70 millions. Her "explanation" is drum-skin deep, i.e., not deep at all or nuanced, and Daum can't ask a penetrating question to save her life. What we're on the verge of is the replacement of an unnuanced "wokeism"--why don't critics of wokeism and CRT ever bother to define their opponent or truly engage with the arguments for these POVs--with an even less nuanced anti-wokeism in which no one really knows what they're against or for.

[@pragmatist23-r8s]

TOO BAD FOR you!

[@gosnellktn]

Any thoughts on the novel The Mandibles actually playing out?

[@kristaslade]

This possibility terrifies me 😮

[@gosnellktn]

@ all it would take is EU throwing in with the BRICS . If Trump bucks NATO on Ukraine, then it may be game on. USA doesn’t have much to offer if it isn’t running the printing press to fund wars

[@gosnellktn]

All it would take is EU throwing in with the BRICS as a response to Trump exiting NATO. Or if Trump turns off the printing press for funding arms sales to fuel the wars. If the dollar doesn’t remain king we are a bankrupt country. Once the EU and Trump get into a feud over NATO funding the Mandibles scenario becomes much more possible.

[@keeferdance]

they knew for a long time she was not getting the swing states..so she was prepared.

[@stephenkenney5708]

Lol….”You can’t handle the truth”!

[@edwoodsr]

Were Trump & Harris the two most different personalities ever to run for president?

[@glibmedley2314]

There's a third reaction to the election: kvelling.

[@Menstral]

I have seen children ruined so many marriages that it's not even funny

[@WhizzingFish12]

Marriage has no point without them.

[@pragmatist23-r8s]

@@WhizzingFish12 bull crap. That's your opinion!

[@WhizzingFish12]

@@pragmatist23-r8s Give me the point then.

[@John-tr5hn]

Yeah, if you choose to live permanently outside the US for any other reason than political persecution, I don't really care what you think about our country. You decided to leave. You're still a citizen and can vote, but it seems kind of weird to pretend to care when you clearly don't.

[@pragmatist23-r8s]

I agree. Ex Pats are losers!

[@roaschmo]

From a male perspective, my impression is it seems tragic for women not to have children. There is no substitute at all. You two ladies are sympathetic, but I have to feel sorry that you don't have children.

[@jerseyanusa2420]

Good episode, but talk less and listen more, maybe? ♡

[@kham6006]

So what happened to the 15-20 million votes that Biden got but Harris didn’t ??? They all stayed home ??? Cmon

[@karamjitdedyal752]

You can give all the proof in the world where did those people suddenly go and not even just from last election. Obama, Clinton, Harris, etc all got between 65-70 million and yet I guess Biden was the anomaly.

[@kennethrobinson7647]

Given the Biden-Harris administration funding position on Gaza is it so hard to believe that ~20% of their voter base sat this one out? It is a possibility.

[@gosnellktn]

This time they had to request a ballot. Nothing to harvest this time

[@stacykay4072]

Well, i mean ut seems pretty obvious, with trump constantly promising the election would be stolen and then his golden tech pig musk maybe having something to do with it?

[@mvjh2277]

Geriatric pregnancy is a medical term. More ultrasounds and monitoring pregnancy.

[@RM-dc6zd]

if she had really wanted the job, she would have prepared for it. she wouldn’t have been caught off guard. she was. maybe because people had been elevating her regardless of her lack of qualifications all her life, she didn’t realize that it would actually require some work, passing some tests, campaigning outside of the liberal bubble. is it her fault? it’s debatable. but in the end, she wasn’t the right person. the person who has had doors opened for her all her life can’t be the one who campaigns on ‘kick the door down’. there will be a female president some day, don’t read too much into her failure here

[@gosnellktn]

A vice president is by job title supposed to be in training to assume the role of being president. Considering Biden condition from day one the party should have been preparing for a Harris run, or an open primary. I am starting to consider the possibility that this is collapse by design. Trump and the dream team is the perfect situation to manage a reboot of a bankrupt system. This story is almost too perfect. Right down to the cast of the avengers vs the real political dream team. This makes for one hell of a simulation.

[@Twentythousandlps]

She is lazy af and seemed quite afraid of taking questions from the press. There was a lot of cognitive dissonance to her whole career. Unlike Oprah and Obama, both genuinely talented, Harris was pure DEI.

[@pragmatist23-r8s]

Yeah! Your comment put this where it needs to be. I loathe Harris!

[@grand_arc3181]

We need to talk about (the wreck of) Lionel Shriver

[@cj3704]

I believe women need effective birth control to have full agency in life. But abortion, no.

[@alemswazzu]

Abortion is absolutely allowed for the health of the mother. That's absurd. Why can't democrats just be honest about that? Why do they have to lie? Just be confident in your positions. If you don't know that, then you need a new source of news.

[@ootenyafoo6935]

David Benatar's book, "Better Never to Have Been" gives a good argument against bringing children into this world.

[@WhizzingFish12]

And completely misses the point that a good life is one with meaning, not just pleasure vs pain.

[@jimijones0]

I am deeply puzzled by Shriver's pronunciation of the word "issue." That's an odd affectation.

[@hotmess_paisan]

a conversation between a female novelist and a female podcaster, declaring what THEY are doing is too important for motherhood but trying to guilt younger women into conceiving instead is very rich indeed. the hypocrisy is pretty fascinating. JD Vance was talking about you ladies too when decrying childless cat ladies, just like he's talking about the rest of us eschewing motherhood. you're no more special than the rest of us, so please leave the very serious, life-altering choice of parenthood to the people whose lives it will affect.

[@kham6006]

I thought this wasn’t a political show- yet the host is trashing the voters etc

[@Menstral]

Super whiny host, and completely delusional about Kamala

[@WhizzingFish12]

LOL She was HORRIBLE, and every word they said was spot on. If you get out of the bubble, you'll understand immediately.

[@pragmatist23-r8s]

Kamala Harris, sucks! She was an awful candidate. She rots!

[@akmowry]

Shriver sounds like she needs to update her knowledge about fertility. There have been several studies that indicate that fertility decline is less of a cliff and more of a continuum. It does get more challenging to conceive as we age, but there's a much stronger link to individual traits than many realize. I also take issue with her assertion that establishment Democrats own all media. Sure, they own many major legacy papers and networks. but their audiences have dwindled considerably. The median age of cable news viewers is 70! Ownership is not the same thing as reach or influence! This episode was a huge miss for me. Shriver is obviously a gifted individual, but she came across as an aggrieved relic here. (Maybe consider un-liberating the "r word".) I'll stick with Pivot when it comes to political analysis, thanks.

[@WhizzingFish12]

The fact remains that statistically, women who reach the age of 30 without a child only have a 50% chance of ever having one, even if they want them. The upper class "elite" women have options that most women do not. And re media, the alternative media has arisen precisely BECAUSE the establishment media has long been an extension of the D party. Hasn't made any pretense of objectivity for many years. Their slow and steady collapse has all been on them.

[@alemswazzu]

They still do control almost every cultural institution. They are losing their grip because they have lost so many people with their intolerance.

[@marlow769]

Well, not the courts. There were judges that slowed or halted prosecutions of Trump. Those courts literally kept him out of prison (Danbury Minimum Security Country Club that is)

[@markq1977]

OMG you need to do something about your dog. It's really distracting. Also makes you seem like a childless dog lady.

[@jenx3338]

Meghan, you need to check your bias. You may as well be on CNN. Don’t think I can listen any more

[@WhizzingFish12]

Megan is clearly on the left, but she is rational and willing to let conservatives talk. Refreshing to me, as that's what we should all aspire to - thoughtful dialogue across difference.

[@joebehrdenver]

All you ladies, have fun with Trump's second term. It's nice, I guess that none of you apparently have daughters or granddaughters or nieces in places like, say Idaho and Texas. Own your self-righteous privilege, at least.

[@alemswazzu]

So much tolerance, it's amazing your party didn't do better.

[@kardra9714]

First of all: I discovered Meghan and Sarah's "Special Place in Hell" podcast late, only a few months ago (my first episode was "Is There a Doctor in the [White] House?". I quickly became a fan, and am now disappointed to see it go. I've followed Meghan Daum here for what I hope is the "next best thing." With that said: Ms. Shriver can speak safely and comfortably from her home in Portugal, mocking Democrats for allegedly using "hyperbole" since 2016. Meanwhile, the incoming second Trump administration brings some frightening prospects: say goodbye to responsible oversight regarding food safety (recalls, pesticide usage). We'll see the razing of forests, pollution control protocols eliminated, Social Security and Medicare potentially gone or severely limited, along with prescription price gouging. All that stuff and more is frightening, and Ms. Shriver is shielded from all of it in her adopted home country, an EU Member State where she does enjoy many or all of the advantages that will now likely be stripped away from Americans. It's easy for her to talk from her position. You want hyperbole? In January 2025, America will crown its new emperor, Donald I. He will have unlimited powers, given to him by SCOTUS. Anything he does while acting as President/Emperor will be legal. Any such niceties as waiting for Congress to authorize a new government agency will be a thing of the past. Americans have spoken and they are fine with this.

[@razorbladelemonade]

You’re brainwashed

[@kardra9714]

See how you feel five months from now

[@kardra9714]

Have we all been "brainwashed" by the first Trump administration, which (fact) dismantled nearly 100 policies focused on clean air, water, wildlife and toxic chemicals? The 2017-2021 Trump administration replaced the Clean Power Plan, redefined critical terms under the Endangered Species Act, lifted oil and natural gas extraction bans, weakened the Coal Ash Rule, which regulates the disposal of toxic coal waste, and revised Mercury and Air Toxic Standards-just to name a few. This is not exactly pulled out of thin air, and it will be worse this time around

[@kham6006]

You sound like msm -

[@WhizzingFish12]

I disagree with much of what you say here, but will focus on one particular point: Executive immunity. The SC did not give Trump blanket immunity. They ruled (rightfully) that a president - ANY president - must have immunity for official acts that are inferred from the office. They do NOT have immunity for unlawful private acts. There's a continuum there which have to be parsed out; the SC remanded the case back to the lower court to make a determination on where that line fell in this case. Thats all it did. I'll give an easy example: Obama drone-struck an American citizen abroad and killed him as an alleged terrorist (which he probably was) without trial. Thats illegal under US law - the government cannot just kill its citizens without trial. Should he have been tried for murder?