TOPICS DISCUSSED

Trump Appointments and Expectations
Lessons from the Down Ballot
Outside of Politics: Is It Time for Christmas?

Episode Resources

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Pantsuit Politics Fan Gift Guide
Opinion | How to Talk About Fluoride, Vaccines and Raw Milk (The New York Times)
A Letter To Elon Musk - by Francis Fukuyama (Persuasion)
She Should Run
Wishful Thinking on Abortion Politics (The New York Times)
Counted Out
A Common Sense Democrat manifesto (Matt Yglesias - Slow Boring)
This Is Strategy: Make Better Plans by Seth Godin

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TRANSCRIPT

Beth [00:00:00] Hi, it's Beth. We're working on a weird schedule this week. Both life and the news are coming at us fast. So we recorded the episode you're about to hear early in the afternoon on Wednesday. Just hours later, we learned, among other things, that President elect Trump will appoint Matt Gaetz to serve as attorney general and Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence. And I just owe you an apology. I feel like this is almost my fault because I have been saying that my expectations are so low that the nominations have exceeded them. And then here comes Gates and Gabbard, and I feel like there's the Donald that I know. We also learned after we recorded that Senator John Thune was elected by his colleagues to serve as the Senate majority leader.

[00:00:45] And all of this and more, who knows what will have broken by the time you hear these words? It's just a lot to take in. We are taking it in a little bit behind you because of the way the week broke down for us. We always say we're processing the news here. So thank you for your patience as we process at a different rate than you are. We will have more to say about all of this on Substack and back here next week. In this episode, we're also talking about down-ballot races and what we're learning about issues like abortion and ranked choice voting. So I hope that you find real value in what we've made for you. And I appreciate you in so many ways continuing to just put one foot in front of the other with us. Here's the show.

[00:01:30] Music Interlude.

Sarah [00:01:32] This is Sarah Stewart Holland.

Beth [00:01:33] This is Beth Silvers.

Sarah [00:01:35] You're listening to Pantsuit Politics.

Beth [00:01:37] Where we take a different approach to the news.

[00:01:38] Music Interlude.

Sarah [00:01:54] Thanks for being with us today. We are still processing the election and we're going to talk at the opening of the show a little bit about the second round of Trump appointments. And we're going to then process what we're trying to learn or be open to learning from down-ballot races both electorally, referendums, policy-wise. We're going to talk about all that. And then as always, we talk about what's on our mind Outside Politics. And it's Christmas because we just need a little Christmas. And we're going to talk about that.

Beth [00:02:22] And it's going to be here in a hot second. So if you are busy looking for a gift for the Pantsuit Politics fan in your life or to treat yourself or to help someone in your life along with your gifts, we would love for you to check out the gift guide for Pantsuit Politics fans. Alise wanted to make this easy for you. So the gift guide is in the show notes. You can find merch, our trip to Switzerland, the Substack membership, all of the ways in which you can enjoy a little pantsuit politics with your holidays in that gift guide.

Sarah [00:02:53] Next up, we're going to talk about the latest round of Trump appointments.

[00:02:56] Music Interlude.

[00:03:08] Beth, we recorded an episode yesterday where we talked about the encouraging signs of moderation inside some of Trump's early appointments, including Senator Marco Rubio for secretary of state. And now less than 24 hours, I'm ready to say JK.

Beth [00:03:29] Well, we definitely, I think, are back in the era of needing to timestamp our episodes because life is coming at us fast. So we're recording this at 12:13 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, November 13th. I still have this posture of my expectations being set so very low that I'm not super surprised yet. I don't like it. And I have criticisms and I have lots of huh! The sort of I'm just going to not overreact, but react a little bit. But honestly my expectations have been so low that as long as Gary Busey isn't going to be at the FBI, it's a little better than I thought it could be.

Sarah ...