| | | | Most Democrats can't even deal with people who don't see Trump like they do | | Even before Donald Trump got elected president, people on different sides of the aisle were having trouble talking civilly to one another about politics. Now? Forget about it.
Almost 7 in 10 Democrats in a new Pew poll said it is "stressful and frustrating" to talk about politics with people who don't share their views on Trump. That number soars to 74% when you isolate white Democrats.
Republicans struggle less on this front but it's still no cakewalk to talk about politics with people who don't have their same opinion of Trump. A majority (52%) say it's "stressful and frustrating" to do so while 42% say they find those conversations "interesting and informative."
Two thirds (64%) of women say it's stressful to talk to someone who disagrees with their views on Trump; 54% of men say the same. Overall, 59% say it's frustrating and stressful to chat with someone who doesn't share their opinion of the 45th president while 35% say it's interesting and/or informative.
What the Pew poll doesn't get into is how often these conversations -- between people who don't agree on Trump -- actually happen. My strong bet is not terribly often -- based on a basic understanding of human nature. Do you find yourself often doing things that you find "stressful and frustrating"? Or spending a bunch of time with someone who regularly makes you stressed out or frustrated? Of course you don't!
Step back. What we really learn from the Pew poll then is that we are talking less and less to people who don't agree with our views on politics. And, because everything has become political in the age of Trump -- that's the true change he's ushered in -- we are just not talking to people with whom we disagree anymore.
Everything -- friends, co-workers, neighbors, cable TV, newspapers -- is one big feedback loop that just keeps telling us: "Your views are the right views. People who disagree are either dumb or malicious."
And that fosters an inability to disagree without being disagreeable, to accept that reasonable people can and will disagree sometimes. All of which is a very bad thing for a healthy democracy.
-- Chris | | President Donald Trump sat down for a nearly hourlong interview with The New York Times -- you know, the one he has repeatedly called "failing" -- on Wednesday. And he went off on, well, everything.
Chris went through the excerpted transcript and picked out the 35 most remarkable quotes.
First on the list: Trump talking about Attorney General Jeff Sessions. "Sessions should have never recused himself," Trump said. "And if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job, and I would have picked somebody else."
Best on the list: Trump's three(!) mentions that French President Emmanuel Macron likes shaking his hand.
 | | MEANWHILE SESSIONS IS LIKE... | | #Whatever (basically).
"We love this job. We love this department, and I plan to continue to do so as long as that is appropriate," Sessions told reporters Thursday.
Shouts to Sessions for the use of the royal "we" there. | | | Since it's Thursday, here's a #TBT to Arcade Fire's "Neon Bible (Elevator Version)." | | CNN got a look at the VP residence, where second lady Karen Pence has installed a beehive. She first became interested in beekeeping while serving as Indiana's first lady.
"Bees aren't a political issue," she told CNN. "Everybody loves honey, everybody eats. I think everybody's for helping the bees, so I think it's a great way that we all can kind of come together."
Winnie the Pooh very much agrees. | | There's so much good poll data these days. From CNN's Ryan Struyk:
Democrats really, really, really don't like Donald Trump. Over the last six decades, new presidents have averaged a 46% approval rating among members of the opposing party in Gallup polling during the first six months of their presidency. Trump? 8% approval among Democrats. 8! Even Barack Obama got 28% approval from Republicans in 2009 and George W. Bush got 30% approval from Democrats in 2001.
More in his article here. | | IT'S STILL MADE IN AMERICA WEEK | | | Well this is a fun one. Thanks to CBS' Mark Knoller for pointing the moment out on Twitter. According to Reuters, Trump was participating in a "strength vial test accompanied by Corning Pharmaceutical Glass Chairman and CEO Wendell Weeks." | | O.J. Simpson, who was sentenced to nine to 33-years for a 2007 robbery and kidnapping, won his parole on Thursday (CNN covered it live here).
For people like Chris (aka "olds") it felt like deja vu to the 1990s, when Simpson was the biggest story in the country for years. But, for the young -- people born in 1990-ish or, gasp, later -- there was confusion about the whole thing.
CNN's Grace Hauck offers a 20-something's perspective -- and explainer -- on Simpson:
If you're like me and you were born in 1995, you may have missed the boat on O.J. Simpson.
So, no, O.J.'s parole hearing Thursday didn't have anything to do with the 1994 murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman. It was actually about a 2007 night in Las Vegas when Simpson and five friends burst into a casino hotel room and took hundreds of items of sports memorabilia.
Rewind to 1995 and the so-called "trial of the century." Simpson was eventually acquitted of the murders of his wife and Goldman, although the debate raged -- and rages -- as to whether he did it.
What's with the whole "gloves" thing? Members of the Los Angeles Police Department found two bloodstained gloves at the scene of the crime. But, when Simpson dramatically struggled to try them on in front of the jury as millions watched at home, they didn't appear to fit. His hands were too large.
"If it doesn't fit, you must acquit," defense attorney Johnnie Cochran famously said.
| | | The Dodgers had a new manager for the day: Adorable 11-year-old Lazaro "Ziggy" Monarrez. ESPN ran a great feature Wednesday on Ziggy, a young baseball fan whose Make-A-Wish Foundation dream was to co-manage the LA baseball team. From the article: "L.A. was thankful -- under his co-tutelage, the team held on to that 4-0 lead and became the first NL team to reach 50 wins. 'This is our year,' Ziggy said throughout the night. 'Our year to win it all.'" | | | Today's GIF features Biden embracing Sen. John McCain, who recently had an aggressive tumor surgically removed. We love this bro hug! Make sure to check out Chris' piece on McCain's amazing life. And, as always thanks for reading. Remember to tell your friends, fans, family-- whoever! -- to subscribe. | | | Get the Nightcap, a comprehensive summary of the most important political news, delivered to your inbox daily. | | | | | |
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