What a thrill to get to speak yesterday with democracy activist extraordinaire Jess Craven! Thanks to the 500+ folks who joined our podcast live!
Jess, of course, writes the extremely valuable and wildly popular newsletter “Chop Wood, Carry Water” that promotes eminently doable action items five days a week for Americans who wants to get more involved in the fight for our democracy. (Subscribe now, if you haven’t already!)
Jess has over 181,000 subscribers on Substack, while I have… ahem… considerably fewer. So when Jess recently became a paid subscriber to The Debrief, I was stunned and honored that she’d been following my work and found it valuable enough to support.
Being the opportunist that I am, I immediately contacted Jess and invited her to be a guest on The Debrief. I’m so delighted she said “yes”!
Here are some topics you’ll find in this podcast:
The current state of the national redistricting battle initiated by Donald Trump and the GOP and why it’s a big deal that Dems fought back… more of this, please!
The importance of eliminating partisan gerrymandering going forward, as championed by Dems in CA, VA, and elsewhere; on this point, AOC’s retort to GOP whining about the Virginia referendum is pitch-perfect
The dark money, misleading NO campaign in the Virginia referendum and Jess’ prescription for ensuring that such efforts don’t breed cynicism and indifference
California’s gubernatorial race, the angry MAGA candidates who could win, and my concern that misogyny could be impacting Democrat Katie Porter’s candidacy
The Iran war, Trump’s stupidity and hubris, Netanyahu’s Situation Room persuasion, how this is playing with American voters, and whether/how we can get voters to consider foreign policy when they go to the polls
Parenting through Trumpism: I loved hearing about Jess’s experience and thoughtful maternal insights! Interested folks can read this piece I wrote about parenting through this time
Friends, if you — like Jess Craven! — appreciate the insights The Debrief brings you, I hope you’ll pitch in to help me continue this work. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber now. You can also leave a one-time donation in any amount. If a paid subscription isn’t for you right now, subscribe for free. Most content on The Debrief isn’t paywalled. Thank you!
Note for fellow nerds about the Strait of Hormuz and the Peloponnesian War: Since Jess stumped me with her question, I’m coming back to her and you with answers. The Peloponnesian War featured one of the earliest naval blockades in recorded history, in which Sparta and its allies defeated Athens (a much stronger naval power) by blockading a strait and thus depriving Athens of vital grain supplies its people needed to survive. The strait in question was not the Strait of Hormuz. It was the Hellespont — or what we today call the Dardanelles — which connect the Aegean and Black Seas. Control over the strategic Dardanelles also played an important role in World Wars I and II.
It’s been a minute since I’d thought about Athenian and Spartan naval battles, so thanks to Jess for compelling me to grab my well-thumbed but neglected copy of Thucydides’s History of the Peloponnesian War. I didn’t know that Jess was a history nerd, but I’m here for it! Speaking of Thucydides, if you want to read a thoughtful piece about how members of the Trump administration learned all the wrong lessons from Thucydides (yes, I too am skeptical they’ve ever heard of him), check out Dr. Stewart Patrick’s op-ed.
I hope you all enjoy Jess and my conversation. As always, I’d be happy to hear your thoughts.
Podcast schedule for next week coming soon!
As a teaser, I’m excited to share that Dr. Omer Bartov will be returning to The Debrief! As fans who have been with me from the very beginning may recall, Omer was my first podcast guest last July. He had just published his headline-making NYT op-ed explaining why he (a leading Holocaust and genocide scholar) had concluded that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.
This time, we’ll talk about his newly published book, Israel: What Went Wrong?, which is also making waves. You can check out reviews in NYT and The Guardian.
Stay tuned!
I wish you all a good weekend.
Shabbat shalom,
Debra
