Podcast Summary

Conversations With Coleman
Host: Coleman Hughes
Guest: Jane Coaston
Episode: Politics for the Exhausted American Voter
Date: September 22, 2025

Main Theme and Purpose

This episode features journalist and podcast host Jane Coaston in a wide-ranging conversation about American politics, conservatism, the evolution of both major parties, conspiracy theories, shifting voting patterns among Black Americans, and the cultural forces shaping contemporary political debate. The tone is candid, intellectually curious, and reflective, with both host and guest seeking to go beyond hot takes and get at root causes and dynamics beneath headline news.

Major Discussion Points and Insights

1. Jane Coaston's Political Evolution and Background

• Early Life: Raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, in a predominantly conservative milieu, with liberal parents who emphasized critical thinking and social justice ([03:04]-[07:30]).
  • "My parents were basically the only Democrats I knew. I grew up in a pretty working class neighborhood... Everyone I knew their parents were Republicans and conservatives. That was just... Everybody was a conservative except for my house." — Jane Coaston [04:40]
• Religious and Moral Influences: Coaston’s mother’s Catholic faith was infused with social justice teachings, which influenced Coaston's outlook on acting for the common good ([07:31]-[09:30]).
• Discovering Libertarianism: Initially drawn to "small l" libertarianism, especially for its suspicion of state power, but later became disillusioned with the broader libertarian movement due to ideological contradictions and growing extremism ([10:20]-[12:41]; [12:49]-[17:15]).
  • "I always was interested in exploring how other people thought the way they did or got to where they are now, politically, culturally, socially." — Jane Coaston [09:20]

2. Libertarianism’s Strains and Coaston's Nuanced Stance

• Civil Libertarianism: Attracted to fewer laws and greater personal freedom but recognizes the real-world challenges this poses ([12:49]-[17:15]).
  • "The challenge of civil libertarianism is... the ideal to me is to have fewer laws. However, I’m also a person in the world... and I want the world to operate in a peaceable manner, which requires laws." — Jane Coaston [13:50]
• Economic and Foreign Policy Libertarianism: Fiscal libertarianism makes sense to her, but isolationist foreign policy is more complicated in practice ([15:45]-[17:15]).

3. Media Narratives and the Conservative Movement

• What Media Got Wrong about Conservatives:
  • Media focused on "determinists"—the thought leaders of conservatism—rather than the evolving base of actual voters ([22:32]-[30:01]).
  • Voters had different priorities than the intellectual elite; the Trump era exposed this disconnect.
  • "Conservatism, much like in some ways liberalism, is now less about a specific list of, you know, do you think this? Do you think that? But it’s more about a... kind of a vibe." — Jane Coaston [29:00]
• Christianity and the Republican Base:
  • Trump's success exposed a shift to "secular evangelicalism," where Christianity is used for its cultural cachet, not out of strong personal faith ([31:14]-[36:24]).
  • "There’s a type of kind of secular evangelicalism... people who embrace the aesthetics of Christianity but don’t do it or live it." — Jane Coaston [31:31]

4. The Trump Effect and Future of the GOP

• Charisma versus Policy Shift:
  • Trump’s connection with his base is personal and charismatic, not simply a matter of policy alignment ([39:22]-[43:09]).
  • Successors trying to imitate his style have floundered.
  • "There are a lot of Republicans... who think that... all you have to do is just be an asshole. That’s it. You don’t have to change anything about your actual politics." — Jane Coaston [41:15]

5. Challenges and Prospects for the Democratic Party

• Political Exhaustion and Strategy: Recommends a “cool dad theory of liberalism”—keep things practical, patriotic, and not all-consuming ([46:50]-[52:36]).
  • "Most people don’t want to do politics all the time. I think that politics as a hobby is terrible for everybody." — Jane Coaston [47:49]
• Complexity of the Electorate: Warns against projecting one’s own priorities on all voters; most hold nuanced, moderate views ([48:52]-[51:00]).

6. The Rising Republican Share of the Black Vote

• Trends: Marked increase in Black male support for Republicans, especially among younger men ([54:57]-[58:58]).
  • Gender split remains massive; Black women remain overwhelmingly Democratic.
• Reasons: Class, gender, and exposure to more diverse viewpoints via social media are factors. As the Black community diversifies in its experiences, politics become less uniform ([56:44]-[60:54]).
  • "African Americans in general tend to be more socially conservative. They just do. So it actually makes a lot of sense why, you know, a socially conservative African American man would vote for Donald Trump." — Jane Coaston [58:14]
• Gender Effects and Party Vibes: The Democratic Party’s perceived hostility toward traditional masculinity may be shifting Black men, along with others, to the GOP ([61:52]-[65:22]).
• Cultural Policing Weakening: The collective expectation for racial bloc voting is not strong enough to override other identity factors ([62:24]-[65:22]).

7. The Quiet End of Affirmative Action and DEI Battles

• Muted Response: Coaston is not surprised by the relative lack of protest, as public fatigue and declining faith in mass movement politics take their toll ([66:47]-[71:40]).
  • "It actually does not surprise me that people... were not out in the streets protesting... people are in general aware... that most people were opposed to affirmative action, particularly what they viewed affirmative action to be." — Jane Coaston [68:37]
• Cultural Recasting of DEI and Affirmative Action: The debate quickly became about broad social resentment, not just policy ([68:00]-[69:31]).

8. Conspiracy Theories, Pedophilia, and the Right’s “Moral Cudgel”

• The Epstein Case: Coaston and Hughes agree Epstein likely killed himself, despite rampant conspiracy theories ([71:40]-[77:08]).
  • "Many people die by suicide in jail because they do not want to deal with the future. And what that means." — Jane Coaston [72:05]
• Why Right-Wing Conspiracies Focus on Sexual Deviance: It is a universally recognized evil that can easily be deployed to delegitimize enemies ([77:40]-[82:04]).
  • "Sexual deviance is something that we all recognize as being wrong. And so I think it is also the easiest cudgel to use, which is repulsive to me." — Jane Coaston [77:50]
  • She laments the use of child abuse as a political weapon, emphasizing that it only worsens social protections for children.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Conservatives and Mainstream Media:
  • "I think the people who vote, to me, are more reflective of what the American right is than the people at the top." — Jane Coaston [24:15]
• On Trump and Evangelical Christianity:
  • "It’s a Christianity of vibes. You have a Christianity of people who are like, we love the Ten Commandments, but we don’t want to really abide by them." — Jane Coaston [34:01]
• On Political Exhaustion:
  • "Most people don’t want to do politics all the time. I think that politics as a hobby is terrible for everybody..." — Jane Coaston [47:49]
• On Gender, Race, and Voting Patterns:
  • "Why didn’t that socially conservative Black dude vote Republican 10, 15 years ago?... The availability of social media means that you feel as if there are more options for you." — Jane Coaston [58:58]
  • "The gender piece is really important... it very much is the kind of, like, hashtag, male tears just reversed." — Jane Coaston [63:34]
• On Conspiracies About Sexual Deviance:
  • "There’s always a sense of, like, sexual deviancy is indicative of, you know, it is something that’s not your deviancy... It’s them being deviant, them being bad, them the other." — Jane Coaston [79:08]
  • "If there was one thing I could strike from our political culture, that would be it. 100%." — Jane Coaston [81:40]

Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• Jane's Early Background and Political Formation: [02:48]–[12:07]
• Libertarianism Examined: [12:07]–[17:15]
• Covering Conservatives and Republican Base: [22:18]–[36:24]
• Trump’s Appeal and GOP Aftermath: [39:22]–[45:47]
• Advice to Democrats / 'Cool Dad' Theory: [46:50]–[52:36]
• Black Voters & Shifting Political Identity: [54:57]–[65:22]
• End of Affirmative Action, Cultural Fatigue: [65:22]–[71:40]
• Conspiracy Culture & Abuse as Political Weapon: [71:40]–[82:04]

Conclusion

This substantive and dynamic conversation traverses the personal, cultural, and political landscapes of modern America, with Coaston offering critical insights into the transformation of old ideological divisions, the shifting bases of political support, growing cross-cutting cleavages of race, class, and gender, and the unfortunate rise of sexual deviance as an all-purpose political cudgel. It’s a candid, sometimes humorous, often sobering exploration of what it means to be "politics-exhausted" while still caring deeply about where the country is going and why.

Follow Jane Coaston:

• Twitter and Bluesky: @janecoaston
• Podcast: What a Day (Crooked Media)

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