Hello to everybody getting an extra episode because it's a crazy time in history and there's conversations that need to be had.It's Beautiful Anonymous, one hour, one phone call, no names, no holds barred. Hey everybody, Chris Gethard here.
I've got this extra bonus episode for you.It's a call with a Trump voter.I would suggest listening to the intro on this one, but if you're somebody who really doesn't like an intro, skip about five, six minutes ahead.
That'll put you right towards the beginning of the call.But you might want to just ease into this one with the intro, even if you're not usually an intro person anyway.Enjoy this one.
Hi everybody, it's Chris Gathard, and I know, an extra episode in your feed.And for the people on beautifulanonymous.com, you also get a follow-up call this week.
You're going to get another call with our friend who is an adult who likes to wear diapers.That's the cut follow.We get to hear the follow-up from that.If you're a subscriber who gets the follow-up calls, there you go.Touch, tone, tear.
Beautifulanonymous.com.That being said, why are we in your feed? multiple times this week.Here's why.A couple weeks ago, I, in the intro of the show, had noticed that there seemed to be some coordinated
efforts in our Apple podcast reviews saying that the show is woke and closed minded and only included political opinions similar to mine.I said that is not true.It's not what I want.
I ultimately can't control who calls but we don't get calls from conservatives.We don't get calls from Trump voters.If anybody's out there who wants to call up and wants to have a conversation, call up.Leave a voicemail and guess what?
We got a voicemail. got a voicemail from a Trump voter.In 2016, we had an episode called Make Fruit Baskets Great Again with a Trump voter.In that era, I have long said that I think if
Democratic strategists listened to that one They would not have been as shocked at the results in 2016 I'm gonna go ahead and tell you we were planning on putting this one out.Maybe Friday.Maybe Monday.
Maybe something like that Based on how the call went.We're putting it out ASAP and
Because I'm just going to say, if you are like me, and my personal opinion is that Donald Trump is a really dangerous entity and that the forces surrounding him have bad intent.That's my politics.Nobody's surprised to hear that.
If you're like me, we got to get to work.Listen to this call.If you haven't knocked on doors yet, phone banked, it's time. If you haven't donated money yet, even in these last few days, it's time.
And if you know a democratic strategist in your life, send them this episode. There are aspects of this that make me want to bang my head against the wall.There are aspects of this that I fundamentally do not understand.
There are going to be times where some of you are mad at me because I don't blow my top and push back harder on things.I want you to know that was intentional.
I opened it up and said, if you're someone who doesn't think like me politically, if you're someone who's voting for Trump, I'm not trying to censor you.Let's get you on.So I don't want to spend my time
fighting in a way that's out of character for what this show has been for eight years.I want to try to understand.I want to try to be compassionate.I want to try to hear.It's hard.
There are aspects of this that I fundamentally, with my whole heart, wanted to fight back against.It's not in the spirit of what I claimed when I asked for these voicemails to be sent.That being said,
You're allowed to hear them, and you're allowed to get upset.You're allowed to get motivated.That's the main thing, though.
If you wind up feeling exasperated or upset, as I did at times, please understand, I'm putting this out in an effort on my end to go, this is one of the things I can help with.
I can take what this show is and offer an empathetic look into how people are thinking.And if you hear how our Trump voting friend is thinking,
I would say don't turn it into anger, don't turn it into internet smack talk, don't turn it into Twitter comments.I don't want your Twitter comments about the caller.What I want you to do is get motivated.Find a way to help.
Find a way to put in effort where you know you did everything you can.
Probably a lot of people who might find this who think exactly how the caller does, who think I'm an idiot, or who think I'm overreacting, or that I'm histrionic, or that I didn't listen well enough to what she said.
This is where we're at as a country.There's not much we can do except put our heads down and try to do the work.That being said, if you're a Democrat, this one will scare you.
We wound up finding some laughs along the way, which I'm actually extraordinarily proud of The things we were laughing about probably some of the things that scared me the most and are gonna freak you out, too that being said Listen with open ears and a big heart and wherever you land We have a few days left to get to work
If you're on my side of the fence, this one's gonna be really concerning.If you're on the other side of the fence, this one might make you actually take your foot off the gas and feel like, maybe I don't need to work half as hard as I thought.
Whatever you gotta do, it's time to do it.Just be active, be engaged, be a part of it.Don't be on the sidelines.Not right now.Anyway, here's a call with a 2024 Trump voter.I think there's gonna be many ways in which it surprises you.Buckle up.
Thank you for calling beautiful anonymous.A beeping noise will indicate when you are on the show with the host.
I'm glad to hear that.I'm glad to hear that.Thanks so much for talking today.
Yeah.Um, I'm surprised I got on this fast.I, I don't know last week when you did the, podcast about how you said if you're voting for Trump to call in and leave the voicemail and so like I think I followed your exact script.
I was like hey I'm voting for Trump and I don't think you want to hear it and Andrea got back to me and so that's awesome.
Well, thank you for calling.I did go on something of an unhinged rant.
For anybody who hasn't listened to it, I noticed that there were a bunch of reviews on our Apple podcasts for the show that seemed to be sort of coordinated, saying that the show was woke and didn't include other opinions.
I said, I want the other opinions.Call up if you have the other opinions.And I thank you for calling.You're the other opinion. And you're giving me a chance to prove that I'm not trying to shut anybody out.I want to hear from everybody.
Well, I appreciate that.And I don't know if I'm the other opinion.I'm not really into like all of the exact policies and I don't get too political.The reason I'm voting for Trump is kind of just more personal. So I don't know.
I'm sure people will be kind of upset about, you know, me voting for Trump and not being so into politics or researching all of this stuff that I got to do what I got to do.
I hear you.And I'd love to that.I have to say that's a fascinating tease. as to your choices and I'm looking forward to hearing them and coming to understand you as a person.
And I can't promise I, I only can react as a human reacts, but I'm not trying to demonize you or yell.There might be times where I get upset, who knows?
But that's, I think, I think I'm already getting the sense that you and I can probably at least talk for an hour and hash it out.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure.And like, if we run out of stuff to talk about on that, too, we can talk about other stuff, too.Like, I'm a domestic violence advocate after being a survivor myself.And October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
And so we can touch on that, too.But we could jump into the Trump stuff if you want.It kind of ties into the domestic violence stuff, too.
and even more fascinating tease, even more fascinating.Why don't we get the Trump stuff out of the way?And then, first of all, I love you pointing out that it is an awareness month focused on domestic violence, hugely important thing.
So yes, I wanna echo that.Let's get this Trump stuff out of the way, because I'm fascinated.I'm already fascinated.
Okay, well, I'm glad I could fascinate you today. So I'm voting for Trump.Well, OK, so I'm an only child of an only child.My mom is also an only child.And we both are voting for Trump.In fact, we have little Trumpinator like grenade things.
And when you pull his pin, it like says all of his famous like sayings and stuff.And when we go to games, we take our Trumpinator and we play the Trumpinator while we're getting gas. Yeah, it's fun.
But anyways, I personally am voting for Trump because to me, coming from the background that I come from, it's like I've learned in life that you don't always know who you can trust, I guess.
So to me, Kamala is too reserved and too unsure of herself and doesn't have the experience.I don't want to say life experience because I don't know her life and I don't want to judge her with that.But like, I just feel like Trump is more confident.
He's more outspoken.Yes, sometimes he could be aggressive and say inappropriate things.And I don't endorse everything that he says.I don't agree with everything that he says or he does.
But at the same time, I would rather have a leader that isn't a career politician and that
says exactly what's on his mind when it's on his mind instead of having to always guess and feeling like I'm constantly being manipulated because she's so calm and well thought out and I just feel like she's not genuine and I can't trust that so I can't vote for that.
Would I answer the question, does that make sense?Affirmative.I would not say that makes sense to me personally, but I see the dots and how they're connecting and how you're getting there.For sure.I do see that.
Yeah.Yeah.I would just rather have somebody that just speaks their mind and is a strong force to be reckoned with.Like, I don't know, when I kind of view myself as that way, I'm pretty outspoken and
You know, I would rather just have it all be out there on the table, whatever it is, even if I screw up and say it, it's something that I shouldn't have in the heat of the moment.
I'd rather just say it, get it out there and apologize and fix it or clarify it or whatever.I don't want, I don't necessarily agree with being so chosen, careful, I guess, or sensitive to everyone. And I know that sounds probably terrible.
That probably sounds really terrible.I didn't mean it terrible.
Listen though, and I'll already say this too.
You're calling a show where you know that the host is an artist who spent 16 years living in New York City doing underground art, where the public perception, and I would imagine the truth is that a lot of people who listen to it,
lean in my direction politically.So I hear you getting like nervous and answering, but I also just want you to know, I can disagree with you on everything you say today.I can also recognize that it takes balls for you to call me.So don't be nervous.
Like I'm not out to get you.And anybody who wants to get mad at you on the internet about this, I have your back. not necessarily in that I agree with anything you're saying, but you're taking a chance calling.So let me just get that out of the way.
Cause I hear that happening in your voice.Like you're, you're opening up your life experience in your mind to hash this stuff out.It takes, it takes guts because you know, we don't agree.So I respect the hell out of you.I want you to know that.
Well, thank you so much.I appreciate that.And I was getting a little, nervous because before I called, I had all this whole script in my head, right?And then it never goes that way.And so I'm like, oh, shit, what was my script again?
I'm like, should I pull out my laptop?Yeah.
Well, that's one of the sad things is that I mean, I will say, too, that's where we're all at.And it's one of these things of.
You know, I'm going to look for areas where we might agree, because I think it you know, I'm not too overtly political on the show, I don't think, but I don't think it's a shock to hear.
I'm super concerned when I hear Trump and the people around him and some of the stuff they say, I just go, this is scary to me.So to hear you say, you know, I want to look for the areas where we can agree.
And hearing you say that of like, it feels like we need to stick to these like bullet points, these scripts and stay in lanes.And that's weird.And that's practice and the practice politician thing.I'm with you.I'm with you.I don't like that either.
It feels like a very weird, brain space that we're all asked to put ourselves in to constantly rationalize and justify any of this stuff.It's weird.And it goes on forever.And I don't like it.
Can I ask you, there's a couple aspects of your life that you've mentioned that I'd love to ask you about.Because the non-career politician thing, I get it.This idea that someone can maybe seem like slick and well-practiced.
And we've seen that from a thousand politicians before.I get it.This idea of like, maybe he's a bull in a China shop, but I know exactly where he stands.Sure.
But hearing that you, you know, one of the first thing, and I'm sure this is something you've thought about a lot.Hearing you come out immediately and say that
you are a domestic violence advocate, you're a survivor, you specifically wanted to say, like, before we get into the other stuff, can we recognize domestic violence awareness month?I'm like, yeah.
I do have to wonder, we are talking about a guy who, you know, there's accusations of rape.There's accusations of really serious stuff.And there's some people who like to debate
the truth of that versus the smear campaign, but there is also, I mean, there's an audio recording of him saying, I believe the quote was along the lines of like, if you're a star, you can do whatever you want.You can grab women by the pussy.
And I'm wondering how those things reconcile, because it's clear that domestic violence advocacy is very important to you.And those seem to me like major alarm bells from the behavior of him. And I imagine you have had to think about those things.
I have.I have thought about those things.And like I said before, I don't fully agree with everything that he says and he does.However, I think that because he is just so outspoken and like, blam, here I am, you know, I think that he doesn't
choose his words carefully, I guess.And that some things that has come out of his mouth are very insensitive and they are very degrading to women.
But as to that statement that you just quoted, I mean, we all, well, we have all heard the term, I'm sure, that, you know, well, grab life by the balls, right?So that would be the same, that would be the, to me, kind of the same thing.Like,
I mean, yes, you're talking about grabbing an actual woman and not life.And that is wrong.I could see that.I don't know.I think he's just so outspoken that he probably chose his words wrong.I'm not saying his victims that it didn't happen.
I don't want to invalidate them at all.That's not.Yeah, I don't want to.I don't want to make them feel unheard or unseen, because that's not my goal.
I just know that to me, coming from an advocate and a survivor, it's I would rather my clients be empowered to have a voice and be strong and say whatever is on their mind and to know that they don't have to fall within society's normal, I don't know, normal ways or
to always be so sensitive, because I think that a lot of survivors are taught that, unfortunately, in the relationships that they're in.They lose their voice, their opinion, and they're taught to silence down.
And I'm a person that I would rather hear whatever's on your mind, get it out there, than to not, because I think when we silence our voice in any scenario, it's never good. So like I said, I don't agree with everything he's done or said.But.
I don't know, would we rather him say stuff like that so that we all could make our own opinions and judgment calls and no. You know, kind of base it off of that.
Or would we rather him be in the closet and fake out in front of the public and that we don't know those things or those thoughts and feelings are happening behind closed doors, which can happen, cause more damage.
You know, it's like it's kind of there's two sides to every coin.
But doesn't isn't there another option where they're like, where you can go be that guy who says things like that, and maybe does things like that, and not be president of the United States?
Like, isn't there another option where it's like, it almost frames it as a positive of like, yeah, he's talking about grabbing women and their private parts, but at least he's saying it.
And it's like, okay, well, he's not high, it's not a skeleton in his closet, but there's other people who don't think that or do that or say that.
You're right.There is.There is.But are all of us completely correct in everything that we do and say all the time?Or are we allowed to make mistakes even as the president of the United States?
It's like we expect them to be perfect in everything that they say and they do or to be completely emotionally mature.I just don't think that that is realistic.I don't think
You know, it's only been within the last couple of years that we as a country have moved forward in being more sensitive and accepting and embracing all of the change that has been going on as far as women and transgender.
And, you know, we have come so far socially, I think.And that's a great thing.I mean, it's so great.
But I just don't think that it's realistic that because we have all become so aware of these things and are trying to be sensitive that we can expect everybody to change overnight, especially, excuse me, the older generation where, you know, they, they weren't brought up in a time like we are now.
And I think old habits die hard. in a lot of different senses in life.And maybe he's adjusting.Maybe he's learning.Maybe it's a process.Maybe it's not.Maybe he really is a misogynistic asshole.I don't know.
I just know that in my feelings, when I weigh the pros and cons of each candidate, it's I feel better voting for Trump than I do for Kamala. So, and let me be clear, I do not identify as a Republican or Democrat.
I am an independent, like I, I'm a feelings-based person.And so I kind of just go off of my feelings and what I think makes sense to me.And so I just want to make that clear.
I gotcha.I understand that part.I mean, I do think that, again, I think there's things you're saying that frustrate me.
I'm sure I could say things that frustrate you, but rather than do that, one thing I will say is I do think that one thing that's totally clear is that there are a lot of people who have such an inherent distrust of the entire world of American politics
Following a gut instinct feels like something you can trust more than a combination of words from politicians and their presentation in the media.And that's something, again, looking for common ground.
I sit here, I go... There's some... Hearing you say, I feel compelled to just follow my gut instincts on this one, to me demonstrates that there's a lack of trust in the systems.And I do get that.I do get that.
Although I'm very, you know, we could frustrate each other with our personal politics.I do get that part.Because I'll say this.There's a lot of stuff Donald Trump has said.
that drives me up a wall, that puts my jaw on the floor, makes me scared, makes me sad.
There are other things where I'll see a little clip on Twitter or Instagram, and when I actually click through and look at the full thing, I go, oh, that one was taken out of context, and I can't deny that.
And now I feel like I need to click through and make sure everything is not taken out of context.And that does suck, that feeling of being manipulated.It does suck. And I do think we all get that on all sides.
I agree with that completely.I think it happens to us in like all different situations, especially with social media, those algorithms and all the AI stuff.I don't even completely understand how all of that works.I am not.
tech-savvy, like I even had to ask Andrea, do I have to have the Zoom app or can I just call the phone numbers like a regular phone call?
So, yeah, but I do feel like there is a lot of censorship that goes on or, you know, people, whether it's from the political campaigns or outside influencers or, you know, the diehard Trump supporters,
that, you know, try and bash the other side and vice versa.And I don't think that that's right either.I don't agree with the way that elections are ran.
I think that on both sides, we've lost, we've lost the way, like our core values as a country, you know, like, I don't understand why we have to slander every, every candidate, why we have to be mean and ugly to each other or
even in the debate why, you know, questions just can't be answered.We have to slam the other party.
I would like to see more of, you know, I guess, more in-depth answers to those questions and kind of instead of slamming, tell me what you're going to do.Like, we don't have to insult each other or be, I don't know, hostile.I just, yeah.
And as for the abortion thing, that's another thing.So like I feel like so I'm a woman.I'm all for women's rights.It's a woman's choice.It's her body.I am all for that.Me personally, I honestly I've never been in a situation.Thank God.
But I don't think I could go through with an abortion.But that's just me and my you know, personal beliefs.I don't judge people that do.I've had clients that have, and it's a very personal choice and it belongs to the woman.
That being said, I don't feel like abortion should be used as a birth control because at the end of the day, those are human beings and I think that there has to be some regulation on abortion in some form.I don't know what that looks like.
I don't know what the middle ground is that can still give women that choice over their bodies, but also still protect the innocent lives.And that will also initiate some, I guess, responsibility.
because being pregnant and carrying a human life is a big, a big responsibility.And like I said, I don't think it should be used as birth control.And, you know, I've heard stories where women are having five and six abortions late term.
And to me, that's, that's excessive and that's child abuse.Like if I just, I don't agree with that part.Um, I'm sure a lot of people are gonna hate on me for that, but I just can't.
justify there's other means to ensure that you not ensure but prevent the chance of getting pregnant and the late term abortions really gets to be you know like we're talking early abortion that's fine I'm totally for that if the baby's not viable then you know that's fine but when the baby's viable I don't I don't I don't agree with that I just
I don't know.And to be fair, I don't think that Trump was the one that got it overturned.That was the Supreme Court.It's not like he issued a statement nationwide and said, oh, no more abortions.
Like, no, these were our Supreme Court, like more than his decision.So.I, I think that that has been taken out of context in a way for the Kamala to advance that political agenda as well.
So let me ask you this.So he did appoint members of the Supreme Court and one of those seats was open and the Republican Senate blocked Obama from appointing someone. So it is the Republican Party.
The Republican Party did engineer the makeup of the Supreme Court.Both through Donald Trump appointing multiple justices and the Republicans digging in and not letting Obama get one over the finish line.
So I wanted to ask you about that in the sense of. Well, you're saying he didn't do it.He didn't issue a decree or an executive order.The Supreme Court did.How much responsibility should he take as a person who appointed the Supreme Court?And then.
In the same way that you're saying, hearing stories of people using abortion as birth control or late-term abortions is concerning, I sit here and I go, well, on my end, I sit here and I go, once Roe versus Wade was struck down, there are states where there's no exceptions for incest or rape.
There's already states putting that into action. There's states that are criminalizing traveling to other states to try to pursue an abortion.
You know, this idea that you might come back to the state where you live if you could even afford to go somewhere else and that you might be arrested. for doing it, which to me starts to feel like really scary, you know, dystopian science fiction.
You know, there's stories of people who have life-threatening pregnancies and where doctors feel like they are now perhaps committing a crime in certain states and have not provided care to people and people have died.
I know that that famously happened in Georgia already. So I wonder how you think about, you know, what happened with Rovers Wade going away.
Hearing you say like, there's gotta be a middle ground where this is only applied in cases of extreme need or specificity.There's already places where that's not happening up to the, you know, it's already sinking below the bar.
It sounds like you would hope it would land at. And Donald Trump did, at the very least, appoint multiple members of the Supreme Court, giving them the power to do that.So I wonder how you rationalize that.
So let me just start with the Supreme Court appointment.So I know that he didn't appoint all of those members.I also know that each one of those members has a mind and belief system of their own.
And it's not like, you know, he held him at gunpoint and said, you have to overturn this.So I don't feel like putting, putting all of it on him just because he got to appoint several members is fair.
I do understand where you're coming from though, that he did get several appointments that are Republicans and Republicans typically lean against abortion.I do understand that side of it, but I, I have,
a problem with placing the blame on him when he wasn't in their minds and he didn't make the final ruling, you know, like.
So as for what you said about the abortion and women losing their life and being prosecuted and not having those options, I hear you.I mean, I agree with you 100 percent.I think those things do happen way too often and they shouldn't have to happen.
I don't know what the compromise is, what would be best that everybody can agree on and feel comfortable with so that women still felt like they had a choice in those matters.
But it's got to be, there has to be something better than what we're seeing now.There really does.I don't know whether that looks like it is only in the hands of the doctor
and the woman and a psychiatrist or a therapist or something just to, not to convince the woman not to, but to make sure that she's aware of the feelings that are going to come after the abortion as well.I've heard some women experience relief.
I've heard some women experience great despair.Like some of them are caught off guard by the feelings that they'll have after or even before.I imagine it's a very emotional decision.
And I think it might benefit to have somebody that's on your side and not biased, such as a therapist, maybe help go through some of that process with you to help process your own emotions and your own thoughts for before and after.
And then obviously a medical provider.Like, I don't think that politicians need to be in the medical decisions of the people. I firmly believe that.They're not medical doctors.They don't have medical experience.
And we can't have our doctors be practicing out of fear, because I feel like when doctors practice out of fear, we don't get the best care.And I mean, that can happen in any health situation, whether it's abortion or anything else.
Doctors cannot be in fear of doing the thing that they're trained And I believe that they're meant to do, which is to help people have the best lives, however that looks for that person.So that is a common ground that we can agree on.It's not right.
And I don't think that this is an issue that needs to be in the state.It needs to be a federal like across the board.
This is how it is to eliminate those fears of prosecution and, you know, having to leave your home state, because like you said, a lot of people can't afford that.
You know, a lot of people cannot cross state lines or go outside of their area to get treatment.So I, I'm with you on that.
This is, I have to say, really fascinating.And again, thank you for calling.Cause here's, here's one of my big questions.And can I ask, can I ask around, you know, how around your age range?
So I will be 30, Wait, I've lied for so many years.35 in December.
Well, this is anonymous.This is anonymous.So the lies can stop here.
I usually say $29.95 when people ask me.
Love that.Love that.So you're 35.So you're a woman in your 30s.You have reservations on the limits of it.But fundamentally, it sounds like you probably would be described as pro-choice. with some reservations, with some caveats.
It's a layered issue, but overall hearing like the government shouldn't be interfering with medical care.Women should not be dying because a scared doctor doesn't know what the law is.Like on some level you land on the pro-choice side of things.
On top of it, you work actively with people who are survivors of domestic abuse.
One thing people are saying right now, and this is scaring me, as somebody who wants Kamala to win, I'm scared talking to you, because I'm sitting here going, you are by definition the Democrat.
Everybody's saying, well, the one thing Kamala doesn't have to worry about is women, the gender gap.Women are gonna, it's gonna be a stomping.All the women are going for him, especially pro-choice women.
And I would have to imagine there's probably a lot of listeners going, You work with domestic abuse survivors, and this is a guy who has been recorded saying horrible things.
He's been accused of rape, of cheating on his wife, of, you know, with porn stars, some stuff that's really, you know, on some level, you wouldn't
You know, if you had a friend in your life behaving like that, you might go, I'm not going to even text with this person anymore.They're bringing all this chaos.
And yet you are going, it sounds like there's not much that's going to change your mind because you're, you're by definition and demographic and life experience, the exact voter that people go, Kamala barely needs to work to get these votes.
These are the ones that are in the back and represent the foundation of her having a chance.
Um, so let me just say, so in my organization that I work for, we have less than 40 employees.We're a nonprofit.Um, we do the crisis shelter, the crisis hotline.Um, and that's where I work.I'm in the crisis shelter and on the crisis hotline.
So I take care of the clients that are in shelter, their daily needs, um, the escalations, client support, help with protective orders, um, things like that.Um, and then. obviously on the crisis hotline.Most of our organization is women.
We do have, I think, maybe five or six men on staff in my department in the crisis shelter.It is all women except for two men, three men, I'm sorry.We are all voting for Trump, all of the women I work with and all of the men.And so I have
I mean, I can't speak for every, you know, demographic out there that is similar to mine, but I do know that I'm not the only one that has this opinion working in the line of work that I do.Yeah.So and there's more extreme Trump supporters at work.
I mean, the one lady has stickers on her car and a little Trump flag on her desk.And like, I'm not I'm not that extreme.I'm not one of the extremists. supporters.I'm not one of those, you know, crazy guys over there that are making you scared.
I'm not.Yeah, I'm definitely not extremist.And I actually value being able to talk to other people with different viewpoints, because I feel like we as a collective have to set the example, unfortunately,
for our leaders and for everybody else in society because I think that we're so far divided now and polarized that nobody is able to sit down and have a conversation like we are now.
That it's healthy and respectful and able to see everybody's viewpoint and be empathetic and show that human compassion and Unfortunately, we have to set the example.Do our politicians do that?Hell no, they don't.And they should, but they don't.
And I just think it's super important that these conversations take place because I love you as a person.I care about you as a person.I want the best for you as a person.
I want you to live whatever makes you happy and your family is safe and secure, whatever that looks like for you. but I have to take into consideration that everybody has a different path in life.Everybody has different things that make them happy.
Everybody has been traumatized by different things.And it's just, it all affects us in different ways.And I think that we have to be compassionate to how everything affects each individual person.
And we might not understand it, we might not agree with it, but that's where we are at, you know?
I have to thank you because you and I are recording this on October 29th, so we're one week out from election day.
And it's good because I can start preparing for what I now assume is going to be a really bad loss for Kamala because if 40 employees at a nonprofit domestic violence crisis center are all voting for Trump, then I have no hope of a victory.
Because if she can't get nonprofit domestic violence advocates on her side, we're fucked.And I have a full week to start preparing for the bad feelings I'm going to have.
If you can't get non-profit employees, let alone who work with survivors of domestic abuse, to vote against a guy who's been credibly accused of rape multiple times, we're done.I'm going to start just licking my wounds now and rationalizing this.
Okay.Um, normally I would be like, okay, but no, no, let me clarify.So my organization has about 40 employees, but we have three different departments.And so my department, which is shelters.
Um, so like, that's what an average of 12 employees as well.12, yeah.Okay.Three 36, sorry.Um, an average of about 12 employees, um, is voting for Trump. So it's not the full 40.So hopefully you can take a little bit of a breath.
And I definitely didn't mean to scare you, but also that being said, like I am in, I'll just tell you the state I'm in, I'm in Utah and we are famously known for being a Republican state with deep religious in the LDS states.
And, you know, um, so that could influence their, Republican voting, I don't know.For me, it's not tied in that I am not LDS.So I don't know.I am an independent and I do what I think is best.
I put faith in things that I am able to look myself in the mirror for and say, I'm comfortable with it.So I I don't know why they're voting Trump.We try not to talk politics at work.Um, yeah, that's smart.
Yeah.Yeah.Well, we're, we always try and be a little bit trauma informed, um, there because the clients, we don't want to push them one way or another.We're an empowerment organization.
And so our whole goal is just to empower the clients to live whatever life is. best for them, whatever works for them.Nobody knows their story better than they do.So I definitely don't ever want to influence my views on them.So, yeah.
Again, I would think, and I know Utah is a very religious state, I get it.But I would think even with a team of 12, Just the, I would think that even the people who know the phrase trauma-informed, you wouldn't go 12 for 12 for trauma.We're fucked.
And like you are in Utah where, again, I know everybody's religious, but also Mitt Romney has been one of the people who I look at as like a more rational Republican at the very least, who when I disagree with him, it's not over.It's not over.
You know, he has stood up to Trump famously.I think that might peel off like one or two members of your trauma-informed, focused domestic violence survivors, nonprofit organization.If we can't even get one, it's not even 11 out of 12.
It's not even 10 out of 12. It's 12 for 12.We're so cooked.Can I, can I ask you, and I like that we're still finding some laughs along the way on this.
Can I ask you another one, which again, you must have thought about, and it's going to be another one of these things that makes you let out a big sigh.
I've heard a bunch of times where you've called and had to like, mid-sentence, I hear you just go like, I'm going to say this part, even though I know everybody's going to hate it.And I hear you doing it.And again, takes balls.
And even though there's a part of me, I'll be honest, There's a part of me where this conversation where I'm biting my tongue because it's driving me nuts, and you can hear that, but that's not what today is about.I invited you to be here.
I said, who's going to step up and explain this to me?I'm going to ask you another one that's going to make you go, okay, I've had to think about it.You ready?
Hey, teach me something.Let's go do it.
Here's another thing I need to know how you how you can compartmentalize this one.So January 6, to me, one of the saddest, scariest things that's happened in our country's history in my lifetime.
The more I think about it, the more I go, that might be the scariest thing.As far as a political thing, like, you know, do you count September 11th, 2001 as a political thing?I don't know.
But to me, I go, January 6th is the closest that I live to something like... the Kennedy assassination or the civil unrest of the 60s where you look at it and you go, there's violence on our streets and it's Americans versus Americans.This is scary.
Now, I don't, I'm not going to ask you to justify all of it, how you rationalize it, but to me, I sit here, I go, when you see that guy dressed up as a minotaur with his shirt off,
standing in, you know, in Congress at one of the daises where our Congress people do their work.To me, I sit here and go, how could you ever want to be on that guy's team?
The guy who dresses up as a minotaur and breaks into Congress, the guys who are peeing in Nancy Pelosi's office.Like there's a part of me that just goes, how could anybody look at those people and go, I'm on that team?
And that's judgmental of me, but I really do think it.
So I don't agree at all with what happened on January 6th.I think it is disgusting and it is not the way that we should behave for any reason whatsoever.I am totally with you on that.
That was scary and it's sad to see that people take it to those extremes.I think maybe some of us have had you know, like, Oh, I hate that politician.I wish I could just, I don't know, pee in their office.I don't know.
But we have those thoughts out of frustration, but we don't actually do them.Right.Like, I don't know.I don't identify myself as I'm on that team with those extremists, because I think that those extremists are,
That's what you hear and see the most about because it is.It drives the negative narrative and the negative agenda, right?Like, I think it falls back into that censorship and what we're seeing everywhere.
I think that there's probably a lot more people that are quiet Trump supporters.
And they just have their thoughts and views on it, but they would never go and do something like January 6th or they would never have a violent protest or publicly shame whoever.I just I'm not that type of person and I might be wrong.
Maybe there are more people like that.But from what I've seen being in Utah, There's not Trump supporters like that here that I have seen or experienced.And I just think those are the extremists that take it too far and they should be punished.
I am all for that punishment.That's not right.And it doesn't move us forward at all.But I think the majority of people They don't want violence.They don't want to hate each other.They just want to find some type of common ground.
And I think most people are voting for what they think and feel is best.I honestly believe that maybe that's having too much faith in humans.I don't know.But those extremist groups, I feel like, are not who I identify with.They're not on my side.
Because I would never act like that.
Never.Now, I will give you a little business here, because I'll tell you, there's there's parts of.The liberal Democratic coalition that I look at and roll my eyes at real hard.
I was talking in the same rant that opened the doors for us to be on the phone together.I was talking about how I think that phrase, all cops are bastards.I think that that's mean.I think that that's blunt.I think that it is a catchphrase.
It's trying to make a buzzy catchphrase out of something that has so much more nuance.If we want to sit here and talk about how historically police police.
You can look at reams of research that show that policing has targeted certain groups in this country unfairly throughout history.We can talk about that.But to just say all cops are bastards.I sit here I go.I don't know.
I'm on a volunteer first aid squad.I know cops.I've watched them do good things over and over and over again.If an issue is nuanced, can we not kind of get off on boiling it down to a hashtag that
that has no nuance, no discussion, in my mind, no validity.I sit here, I go, I roll my eyes at that.I lived in a building in Queens where one of the New York City councilmen lived in it.
And the Democratic Socialists of America, shortly after I moved out of the building, they did not like that Councilman Daniel Drum, you can look this up, he did not vote to defund the police by enough by the standards of the DSA.
They broke into my building and were pounding on his door.This was before January 6th.And I remember when January 6th happened, I was filled with a lot of disgust and I also thought back and said, the DSA, like,
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's people, the DSA of Jackson Heights, Queens, broke into a building where I used to live and pounded on a politician's door.It's over the line.But I am voting Democrat and I am on their team.
And I know that, even though I roll my eyes at them, even though I find it exasperating and counterproductive, a lot of this behavior.
My point being, if you vote for the same people that those people are voting for and they are vocal and they are motivated enough that they're perpetrating violence and destruction that you say is disgusting, like you do have to own up to the fact that you're on their team now.
You're voting for the same guy, and you know they're voting for the same guy, so you are on their team.And if you're okay with that, I'm not gonna give you the business, but you can't just say you're not on their team.
In the same way that I can't say I'm not on the team of some people who I think might have good goals or intentions, but wind up doing as much harm as good at times.I can't claim I'm not on their team if we're voting for the same people.
See, when you say team, I'm thinking, okay, people that fully align with me, like people that collaborate, people that work together towards a common goal with same values, etc, etc.
And to me, the only similarity that I have with those people are that we're voting for Trump.I don't know their reasons for voting for Trump.I don't know what their belief systems, what drives them, what experiences they might have had.
I don't have enough commonality or information about those people to be able to say, I'm on their team.So I just know that I'm voting for Trump for my own reasons.And I don't really, I don't know.
I hate to identify as part of a team any which way, but I do understand what you're saying, that just because we're voting for Trump, that I guess in some people's minds would put us on the same team.
I don't agree with that, but I mean, I can have commonalities and similarities with other people in life, but does that mean that I am on the same team?I don't, I don't know.I don't know if I totally agree with that.
I just know.I'll just say on my end, if, if somebody told me, Hey, There's one big dinner table on this side of the room and there's another big dinner table on that side of the room.
And you got to sit down and eat dinner with the people who voted for the same candidate as you.I will just say, and this is sort of facetious, sort of not like, but I'm like, I am.
Very psyched to know that my table there's no chance that a man dressed as a bull With no shirt on and face paint is at my table.Like I'm just psyched.
I don't have to break bread with that guy based on any fantasy and I know The counterpoint is no one's forcing us to eat dinner with all these people, but I just like knowing in that theoretical I'm not with that guy.I like that
Yeah, but why why would you want to go to a dinner anyways where those are your only two options?As I said, why would you even attend that because then that plays into like the whole polarized situation?
It's a false.It's a false thing that I made up that to be fair Really only works towards the point.I'm trying to make and backs you into a corner.I get it I get it, but the point does stand.
I like knowing that that guy's never gonna try to give me a fist bump if I tell him who I voted for.I like it, I like it.But I also like knowing that you don't have any love lost for those guys.
I will say, and this one's flying by, we have less than 10 minutes left, and again, massive thank you, and if anything, I hope One of the main takeaways is you and I have laughed a bunch.We've talked a bunch.
We've both let out some frustration at points, but we've talked and that's important.And I am left sitting here wondering. You know, you've said that January 6 is disgusting.I wrote that down when you said it.
You said that you think the government should not be dictating what happens to doctors.Women should not be dying.If the circumstances of an abortion make sense, the government should stay out of it.You're an advocate for domestic abuse survivors.
You work in that field.I am left wondering, and it's... you know, it's a question that might not have an answer, and that's fine.But I bet there's other people listening, thinking like, what would it take to change your mind about this guy?
What would it take?Because you don't, you don't like January 6.
Somebody other than Kamala.
Who is there anybody else who was up who you would have voted for?Would you have voted for Biden if it was him?
No, he's too old.But let me just I'm going to give Biden some credit right now.
The one, the very one thing that I completely respect about the man and appreciate that he has done is that was, um, he was a pioneer behind that was, um, and I deeply respect him for that.
And I appreciate that, uh, that why help so many survivors each and every day.It is very, very important.And, um, I respect him for that.I do respect like his, stances on domestic violence and the funding.
So that being said, there's a positive for the Democrats.I'm a liberal.Sorry.That being said, I did vote for Obama.So, I mean, I'm not completely like all Republican.I I changed my vote based on who the candidates are and my own personal feelings.
So it's not like I can't have my mind changed.It's just out of the two choices that we have right now.I have to go with Trump.Right, wrong or indifferent.That's just how I feel.There's more pros to Trump than I can see with Kamala.And.Yes.
I mean, I'm always willing to hear both sides and I take it as it happens each and every election.Even when I vote locally, I have voted Democrat locally as well, even though we hardly rarely see that in Utah.But I have to make my voice heard.
But I just go with how is where do I morally stand on these issues?And a lot of it is emotionally based, you know, and maybe that's not the right way. Maybe people have an issue with that, but that's where I stand, but I know I cannot trust.
Kamala, there is something about her that I watch her and I instantly feel manipulated how she got into the running.I feel as manipulative.I feel like this was, I don't know.
I feel like she was put in as vice president and this might've been a plan all along to get her in there.I don't know. But I just I can't trust that.I can't trust all that manipulated stuff.So.
Let me throw some other names at you.
I'm going with Trump and I might.Go ahead.
Oh, you might what?Finish that thought, please.
Oh, I might be wrong in voting for Trump.We might, you know, experience disaster.It might get better before it gets worse.But the one thing I do know is that in four years, we'll have another president. So that gives me some amount of comfort.
It's like, OK, well, we have to make mistakes to learn to grow.So if both candidates are a mistake, which one is going to be less of a mistake?I don't think that we can justify completely which candidate is right or wrong.
I think that every area in life has greatness and we have to decide where that gray area is and what we're each comfortable living with.You have to take the good with the bad.
I mean, that was eloquent and bold.I disagree, but I respect you being able to lay it out like that. I wanna, we have about five minutes left.Can I throw some other names at you to hear?
Because I like hearing you go like, Kamala didn't run in a primary.I don't know much about her.This feels manipulated.Okay, what am I gonna say?Okay, Biden, too old, but you do respect him.You did vote for Obama.
What if it had been, what if Bernie Sanders was in this?Bernie versus Trump.Can I just go like, boom, boom, and then you tell me your gut instinct, Trump or Bernie?
Bernie because he's more he's more open to like.So I know that Bernie supports weed.That being said, I also support weed. Trump does not.So that would be just one right off the top of my head.That would make me consider Bernie.
I'm not saying that would make me vote for him.I'm saying that that would make me take a second look at him and go deeper into his beliefs and what he and what he would advocate for.Like, so I'm not against it.
I'm not saying I would automatically pick Trump just because Trump's in there either.
You know, but it does I will say it does validate you saying like, I like the people who are truth tellers, even if they're not slick, even if they're kind of.
Putting their foot in their mouth like Bernie had that quality to of like, man, Bernie, sometimes you say too much. But that's, it does validate the fact that you have listed that as a positive.At least I know where that guy stands.
What about some of the other Republicans you ran?What if Nikki Haley got through or Ron DeSantis?Do any of them have more appeal to you than Trump or would it still be, nah, I trust Trump more than them?
Honestly, I don't even know who they are.So, I mean, I don't know.Like I said in the beginning, I'm not like deep into all of politics.So I just, yeah, I don't even know who they are.Sorry.
No, it's all good.It's all good.And I'm with you.I like stretches of life. where I can take a step back from this and go, I need to focus on my family.I need to focus on my mortgage.I can't be worrying about national politics all day, every day.
So who are my options?And then I'll think about it then.I get it.I do get it.People are busy.
Yeah.And I feel like the people, you know, early on when they're all running and it's this big coordinated chaos shit show, it seems like, it's hard to keep track of all of that and all of those candidates.
And I really feel like, well, that doesn't really matter anyway, because in the end, they're going to get the whatever party's nomination.And then we're just going to be down to the two choices anyway.
So I'm not going to worry myself with that until they weed themselves out or we have our, you know, nominations or whoever's going to be on the ballot.Cause it does, it gets exhausting.
And it's too, it's too much to keep track of on top of everyday life.
I get it.Let me ask you this.Because again, one of the things that's so, just to me, where I, you know, I had you laughing about it before.I'm going, man, 12 employees at a domestic violence nonprofit and none of them, all of them voting Trump.
We're fucked.I sit here, I go, we're fucked.Outside of You know, I fundamentally don't know much about Kamala.I don't understand how she even got the nomination.This feels manipulated.
Hearing an audio, you know, it is sort of shocking to hear someone who works in the field you work in be able to go, yeah, I have heard the quote about him grabbing women by the pussy.I still trust him more.That is a little shocking.I do wonder,
Is there anything character based about him that could come out at this point that would make you go, I'm not voting for her, but I can't vote for him.Cause that's also something that's on the table.
Like sitting this one out of like, he's a guy who seems to have domestically abused women.And I work in a, at a survivor's nonprofit.
Is there anything character based about this guy that could, that could make you go, I can't, I can't vote for her, but I also can't vote for him.
So I don't want to say, I mean, I obviously don't want to invalidate any victims that have spoken out against Trump.
But I also don't want to label him as a domestic abuser because domestic abuse typically implies that it is between an intimate partner.And to the best of my knowledge, his wife and children haven't came out and said he has been abusive.
He's, you know, I could be wrong, but nothing from what I have heard has said.
That he would that I would consider him a domestic abuser, what I consider him maybe a little bit of a womanizer, maybe makes inappropriate comments, if you know you're at a wealthy trans party and whatever.Yeah, probably.And I don't agree with that.
But I don't know, that just hit home for me a little bit.That kind of just, I don't want to put that label out there.I don't have enough information to put a label out there for that.Yeah.
But what about, you know, and I hear you, but it does feel a little bit like cherry picking to say like there's a standard definition, like at the end of the day, he's been ordered to pay millions of dollars to a woman who says he shoved her into a changing room in a store and started sexually assaulting her.
And a judge has said, this is credible.You have to pay money.So it does feel a little bit like and ability to just rationalize and compartmentalize and stuff.Where again, I go, vote how you want.I'm not gonna hang on to it and be mad at you.
If I ever meet you, I'll buy you a drink.
But I do sit here and I go, man, if we can hear stories like that and they can go through the court system and the Democrats can't even get one of the 12 people in that shelter to vote for them, we might be really screwed.
Yeah.And I hear you and I, I don't want it to come across that I'm cherry picking.I'm not, um, like I said, I, I know that I don't agree with everything he says and does.And I know that he has probably fucked up and done terrible things in life.
And we all have, I mean, not to that extent, I would hope not to that level, but at the same token, Maybe Kamala has things that haven't come out yet.I don't know.I just know that based on trusting feelings, I don't trust her.I don't.
There's something about her that's off and I just can't.I can't.So and I think that Trump would be.I made some mistakes and he would really.Correct him, I don't know. I don't know.And like I said, maybe I'm wrong and people want to object.
That's fine.But at the end of the day, I know that when I go to vote for Trump, I'm doing what I think is best for me and my family.
And I can align more with his philosophies and his business sense and the assertive bluntness, you know, in the chauvinist.Oh, well, yep.
But at the end of the day, like, is he doing that to, you know, is that affecting how he's running the country, essentially?Like, and you said earlier about the prostitutes and cheating on his wife and stuff.OK, why do we care?
Like, that's what happens behind closed doors.If he's cheating on his wife, that's his business.That's his wife's business.That's not our business.And who's to say that he has those same values that we would have.
I certainly wouldn't cheat on my spouse and I'd be devastated if I was cheated on.But that doesn't mean that he and his wife have those same values.And we don't know if they do or not.Maybe it's an open relationship.
Maybe the public just sees it as whatever.And maybe they're spinning that.I don't want to judge people's personal choices in their personal lives, what happens behind closed doors, because we all live differently.
And I think at the same token, it's like, okay, so we have to
except everybody's voices on the broad spectrum, you know, all the different relationships that have came out or the choices of our gay and transgender people, we have to respect their choices in the way that they choose to live and identify.
But yet on the same token, we don't have to give that same cue our past president or maybe future president.I feel like that's a little bit unfair as well, too.
Like you can't have it one way, but then project not give the other person that same thing.If he wants prostitutes, so what?He can afford it.He can afford it.If his wife knows about it, it's OK.
You know, it's just he's not like going and I don't know, having prostitutes in the Oval Office, you know, like and even with Bill Clinton, like with the whole Monica Lewinsky thing, it's like, OK, so what? He was getting a blowjob.
Oh, well, did it affect the way he ran the country?No, it didn't.Did I lose a little respect for Hillary for how she handled it?Yes.
But we can't just judge those kinds of things based on our own morality, because we don't know what they have agreed to as well.
You do hear, though, that you're going, maybe Kamala has skeletons in her closet. Maybe Donald and Melania have some sort of arrangement.Those are maybes.But what I definitely know is that he has said that he's allowed to grab women by the pussy.
I've heard the recording.He definitely said there's good people on both sides in terms of Charlottesville.He
He definitely called a bunch of African countries shithole countries in a way that's just not, again, and if you want, if you and your wife have an open relationship and your wife says you can go out there and sleep with a bunch of prostitutes, I'm with you, but is that a president?
Is that not someone who can be very easily compromised by any political enemy who finds out about it?Isn't that someone, Yeah, go live a wild life if you want.Do we need that to be our president?
There's all these maybes about the other side.Why do we have to force our own views about those which would I consider traditional values onto our president?Why does his personal life choices have to affect his professional choices?
I don't, I think that there can be a line drawn there.Like, I don't think that his sexual preference of prostitutes can be, I don't know.I don't think that that affects his decision making in running the country.
I just, I mean, do you think when he's making, I don't know, nuclear war, that he's thinking, hmm, what would my prostitute say to this?No, I don't think so.I don't think that comes into play.
I think people can have separate lives and they can hold those boundaries.I think it is possible.I think people mix them.
Yes, it is possible that people with those lines blur, but I choose to err on the side of I'm going to have faith that those lines aren't going to blur.And I think that with every one of those comments that he made, there could be
there could be another way to take those comments like when you said he said the African countries are shithole countries um I don't know the context or whatever whatever he was saying that but you saying that that to me it's like when I think of those countries I would have to think we compare it to how we live here in America or some of the other
wealthy countries, it does look like a shale country because those people don't have the things that we don't.They're very disadvantaged.They are impoverished.They do need help.It is a shale, right?And they do deserve better.
And we should help them to, you know, work towards, I don't know, gain better or whatever works for them. But maybe that's a comparison to say, OK, we know we have it, and we know these countries don't.And so we have an end.I don't know.
I don't know what context he says that in.I'm saying I think that there's ways that things that could be taken, the way that you're taking them, and then other ways maybe, yeah, come out of the shit.
And maybe it wasn't as sensitive or politically correct as it needs to be. But I don't know.
That's one of the things I respect about him is just saying whatever is on his mind, whether it's right or wrong in the moment or whether people take it wrong, just say whatever it is.Like, don't be.
I would rather have all of it out there than not know any of it, like with Kamala.
Well, we're on different sides of the fence, and I'm full of nothing but fear right now as far as my team goes.But again, you heard me saying, if somebody wants to talk with me about it, I won't shut you out.And I'm really genuinely glad.
that you took me up on it and that we got to talk and that we got to sort it out and spend time actually at times frustrating each other or stressing each other out but also laughing along the way and at the very least remembering that we can have
actual conversations, actually put stuff out there.Our time is up, but I really do thank you for calling.It's been eye-opening, and I hope that someday if we meet in person, we can share laughs just like we did during this call.
Yes.Thank you for joining me now, and I know I probably you a little bit, but that's okay.And just know if your side wins, I will send you congratulations.And, you know, I will support the president because that's what you do.
You're an American, whether your side wins or not, you still support the president and the troops and our process.So I respect the process and whoever wins, wins.And just remember in four years, it'll be different anyway.So
Yeah, but it was great talking to you.Thank you.
Yes.And I do want to end by saying in a different world where it wasn't a political season and where you weren't calling in response to me specifically saying, if any, if any Trump voters want the air call up, I'll put you on.
I do also just want to say. You spend your life helping people.You mentioned that you're a survivor.You're now taking your experience and you're in the trenches helping people who need to get out of really bad situations.Can't be mad at you.
That's how you spend your days.That's the exact type of thing that I think makes the world a better place.And thank you for doing what you do.Even if I'm dismayed that you're voting for it, thank you for what you do. Caller, I said it.
In the course of the call, I'll say it again.Thank you for calling.There are aspects of this call that will never make total sense to me, but I promised that this was not going to be based in judgment.
It was going to be based in discussion, and that's since we nailed it.And again, for whatever frustrations I have, you work in a survivor crisis center.You mentioned just a handful of things you do.You're a good person.
I'm not going to ever say you're not.Thank you for what you do, and thanks for being brave and putting it out there.Talk with me.Sincerely.Thank you.And thank you to Andrea Quinn, our producer.Thank you to Shellshag for our theme music.
We've got a voicemail line, 973-306-4676.On Instagram, at Beautiful Anonymous Pod.Join the Facebook group at Beautiful Anonymous, the community.Please don't go too nuts in the reactions to this one, everybody.
Please, let's prove that we can be compassionate, kind people who disagree.Anyway, thanks so much.
This has been beautiful and honest.
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