TOPICS DISCUSSED

Trump Appointments
The Time to Be Bold
Outside of Politics: The Sexiest Man Alive

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TRANSCRIPT

Sarah [00:00:07] This is Sarah Stewart Holland.

Beth [00:00:09] This is Beth Silvers.

Sarah [00:00:10] You're listening to Pantsuit Politics.

Beth [00:00:12] Where we take a different approach to the news.

[00:00:14] Music Interlude.

[00:00:29] Thank you so much for joining us today. We probably sound a little different. Again, we are together in person, this time in a lovely farmhouse where we're having a team retreat. Alise, our managing director, Maggie, our director of community engagement, are here with us. The four of us are together thinking deep thoughts about who and how to be in 2025 and beyond. We have the foresight before the election to know that would be a before and after moment for us. And so we are thinking about the after now. And it's really great for us because I think we're all feeling like all of you, some burnout, some depletions and what do I want to do now? And so this is a chance for us to get our thoughts together. It does mean that our sound is a little echoey. Thank you to Studio D who does our sound production for trying to clean that up, and to all of you for your patience. And big thanks to listener Kim and John and Cindy who are allowing us to use this gorgeous space. Today, we are going to talk some more about the shape of the Trump administration and how we are personally responding to some of these picks and how we would like to see others respond to them. And then Outside of Politics, in what I think is a really deep conversation, surprisingly so, we're going to discuss the sexiest man alive and whether rankings like that are useful any more.

Sarah [00:01:46] Before we dive in, we wanted to remind you that our team put together a Pantsuit Politics Listener Gift Guide. This is a gift guide for people who love Pantsuit Politics. Okay, so if you're just a big fan and want to buy yourself some stuff that is also allowed, but if you're looking for gifts for the Pantsuit Politics fan in your life, premium gifts, subscriptions, merch, books, cameos, lots to choose from for yourself or another listener in your life. Send it to your loved ones so they know what to get you. And if you're going to do a Cameo, it must be ordered by Thursday, December 19th in order to get it to them by the end of the year.

Beth [00:02:17] Next up, let's just talk about Matt Gaetz, Tulsi Gabbard, Robert Kennedy Jr. It's going to be great. Well, Sarah, we have some more insight into how the Trump administration is coming together.

Sarah [00:02:37] In a hurry.

Beth [00:02:38] It's coming in a hurry. How are you taking this in? We talked about this a couple of times, but it's a flood of information and I feel myself evolving day to day in my approach. So what's your November 18th approach to taking in information about the incoming administration?

Sarah [00:02:55] I'm still kind of in a huh phase, even with Matt Gaetz. I was shocked. I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't shocked by that appointment. I was. And Tulsi Gabbard, not RFK. I mean, they communicated that very clearly, that that's what was going to happen. But I'm just trying to remind myself that these people haven't been confirmed yet. These are just nominations. I am balancing this sense of the vibe is they want to tear things down, but the strategy is what it's always been, which is barely put together. This is happening so fast; they're clearly not vetting these candidates after all this. It's a constant balance with him in his administration between taking them seriously and also recognizing where they don't take the process seriously, or at least maybe in trying to blow it up they think they should blow up the process, too. I don't know. But you know I'm saying? They're moving very quickly, but it's sloppy like it always is. It's just sloppy.

Beth [00:04:02] I keep trying to remind myself that Donald Trump is the president elect and that is the subject and the predicate in the whole sentence and probably the whole essay. And so why would it matter to him if Pete Hegseth had settled a sexual harassment allegation?

Sarah [00:04:20] The nominee for secretary of defense?

Beth [00:04:21] Yes. Fox News host who has served in the military and now is going to run one of the largest organizations on earth, one of the largest most complex organizations on earth.

Sarah [00:04:32] And no leadership experience, just military experience.

Beth [00:04:36] But that's the thing. They view that as a feature, not a bug. They've got the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, on the Sunday show saying this is what people voted for. They voted for this kind of disruption. How fantastic. And who is going to go to Donald Trump, who has been found liable for sexual assault and lying about it? Who's going to go to him and say, well, we really can't have this guy because he settled a claim like this in the past. Who's going to go to him and say, well, Matt Gates is really a bridge too far for X, Y and Z reason, all the reasons that are part of Donald Trump's personal biography. We elected him as the president. This is what we're going to get.

Sarah [00:05:18] I had a friend of mine who's a big T...