A Braver Way

It might have been the prayer, the land acknowledgment, the Pledge of Allegiance, or the moment everyone started sharing their pronouns. But opening rituals that disagree with you can leave you feeling shut out. So what do you do when the culture of a group you want to belong to goes somewhere you can’t follow? We talk with Braver Angels leader Steve Saltwick about the clashes that come up for conservatives in particular, and what it looks like to acknowledge someone else’s framework without abandoning your own.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do you talk across the political divide with someone who might exclude you, fear you, or even believe you shouldn’t exist? And what if it’s your beliefs that seem to paint someone else out of the picture? Award-winning writer, performer, and trans activist Kai Cheng Thom has wrestled with these questions in a more visceral way than most… and in a more universal way than you might expect. Kai shares the groundbreaking ways she manages the tension between advocating and understanding, then April joins Mónica to explore contrasting views on gender and sexuality from the left and the right, and together they face the quagmire at the heart of so many of our toughest clashes: How do you love people well while holding strong to your convictions? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Who is responsible for building the future we deserve? For making sure that no matter who wins the presidential election, our country won’t lose? With so many liberals and conservatives  believing that defeat on their side would spell disaster and despair,  Moni — with a little help from American Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Yuval Levin and Washington Post columnist Amanda Ripley — makes the case for a daring, more muscular kind of hope. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Getting mad can get results… or get way out of hand. So when everything’s an outrage, how do you navigate your political anger? After 9/11, our guest Wilk Wilkinson found himself incensed by the other side and sinking into a personal crisis. The host of the Derate the Hate podcast shares how he took charge of his anger before it took charge of him. Then, April and Mónica trade notes on the cycles of rage and contempt we see in our politics and in each other, and what to try when anger storms up in someone else.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“It didn’t turn into a fight!” When a family relationship takes a political hit, recovery can be rocky, and every little step counts. So how do you take the first one? We share five real stories from families who have taken risks and seen results — including one where recovery came just in time, and another ongoing struggle where the virtue in highest demand is patience.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we’re going to re-share the most personally vulnerable interview Mónica’s recorded for this podcast. As the election creeps closer and closer, we’re hearing daily from listeners who struggle to talk politics with family on the other side. In this special episode first aired in season 1, Mónica — a liberal — joins the two people she’s argued with most — her conservative parents — for a candid conversation about one family’s struggles with a political divide that cut right through their own home. Looking back on the biggest disagreements that tested their relationships, like Moni’s pro-choice stance on abortion and her parents’ votes for Donald Trump, they open up about the strategies that keep them talking.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you want to push for change in politics, it can feel like you have to choose either activism or dialogue. But what if that’s a false choice? Following up on last week’s conversation with Shira Hoffer, a Jewish rising senior building bridges at Harvard, we hear from Jadd Hashem, a student leading Arab-Israeli dialogue at the University of Texas at Austin who is also a proud Palestinian-American peace activist.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you’re strongly on one side of a high-stakes issue — like the conflict in Israel and Gaza — why should you listen to the other? And if you don’t know where you fall, or even what to think, how do you begin to learn without inviting attack? As a Harvard undergrad, our guest Shira Hoffer started an anonymous text hotline after October 7 that gives people of all perspectives a non-judgmental place to bring their questions. After hearing her story, Moni and April dig in, exploring how the strategies Shira’s learned map to the political Left and Right, and why the tension between staying informed, staying involved, and staying humble animates more of our politics than we realize. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“You could be wrong.” It’s a phrase that greets students in Bill Jordan’s high school classroom, and poses a challenge to everyone with a political opinion these days: Since no one is right about everything, how do you stay open to shifting your own beliefs? Bill opens up about his own journey, then we hear from listeners who tell us how they’ve changed their minds on some tough issues, like gay marriage, abortion, and more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Whether it was about foreign policy, the economy, or the best route to the grocery store, chances are you have changed your mind about something. What happens in your brain when you do, and what does that teach us about how we can change someone else’s mind on a political issue? Mónica talks with David McRaney, a leading voice on the science of persuasion, about how minds change — or don’t! — and why. Then Mónica and April open up about some times they’ve changed their minds — and challenge each other on how all this stuff does or doesn't apply when we encounter people with the darkest ideas. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Say hello to David Kaufman, a conservative from South Carolina who’s made a serious habit of talking politics with liberals — with both sides learning loads as a result. Then join us in celebrating some of the people in YOUR lives who make tough disagreements worth having.    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Free speech - Free people - Free food. That was a tagline for a cross-partisan discussion forum Sam Rechek started as a freshman at the University of South Florida. In this episode, Sam shares what he learned from those tough weekly conversations, like the importance of humor and humility, and making sure every student on campus can be heard, no matter their politics or their discussion persona. Then Monica and April unpack the lessons from Sam’s experience and talk about how the divisions on college campuses - both real and imagined - shape our own perceptions of politics.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Political violence and heightened rhetoric has turned up the intensity of an already tumultuous election season, adding to the fears and uncertainty on both the Left and the Right. Is there a way to stay grounded through this moment? We are joined by Dr. Bill Doherty, a “citizen therapist” who offers insight to help understand not just our own fear, but the fears held by the other side, and shares concrete strategies people on all sides can use to give voice to our deepest concerns without succumbing to the most dangerous tendencies of our divided nation.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is it the facts that get in the way in our politics, or our stories? Baratunde Thurston is a renowned comedian, activist, and PBS host who knows a lot about how the stories we tell about ourselves can either unlock our civic power... or make us forget we even have it. We’ll zoom in on two unforgettable times Baratunde crossed big divides and what those clashes can teach us, and we’ll hear his four pillars of “how to citizen” — as a verb, not a noun — to help us wield that power daily. Then Monica and April close us out with a clash of their own, unleashing their own stories about citizenship to see where their different politics lead them to think differently about the concept and the many issues that surround it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Braver Way was in Kenosha, Wisconsin, when hundreds of liberals and conservatives experienced the most polarizing event of the election season… together. Organizers prepared for the worst. What actually happened changed the game for everyone.  Submit a question: If you’ve found yourself mulling on a concern or reflection as you’ve listened, turn it into a question and share it with us in a quick email to abraverway@braverangels.org.  Subscribe: If you like what you’ve heard, hit subscribe, and leave us a 5 star review!  Follow us: Instagram | X/ twitter | TikTok | Youtube   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.