What Do You Mean By That?

185: Democrats used to be Republicans - WHAT?


Listen Later

The 2022 Republican Party would have never been able to back Abraham Lincoln as their presidential candidate - except for one tiny detail: Lincoln was a Republican, and espoused the original beliefs of the Republican Party (down to the anti-slavery, committed to equality part).

So how did we get from Lincoln's Republican Party to today's Trump political base?

Who were the Whigs?

What do we mean when we say Southern Democrats?

Why does this cycle of money and power keep reappearing on the political stage, over and over again?

If those are some of the questions you have - or even if those are questions you've never thought of asking yourself, but you realize that somewhere, someone made some changes to how we define political parties in this country, and it's important to understand just how far the 2022 Republican party is from those original Republican ideals - then this is the episode for you.

It's like US History all over again, except more engaging, more relevant, and it includes stuff you'll actually remember… hopefully long enough to go vote.

What to listen for:

  • What the two original American political parties were (hint: Republican wasn't one of them)
  • Why the Republican Party was formed, and the two ideals that held it together
  • How the Republican Party and Democrat Party switched ideologies over time, but how it was really Truman and Johnson, two Southern Democrat Presidents, who pushed that ideological change through their pro-civil rights stances (which weren't even that extreme at times)
  • What we can do with this information from a practical perspective: go vote, and get loud.
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

What Do You Mean By That?By Sara and Misasha

  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7

4.7

140 ratings


More shows like What Do You Mean By That?

View all
This American Life by This American Life

This American Life

90,952 Listeners

Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

Hidden Brain

43,673 Listeners

The Moth by The Moth

The Moth

27,165 Listeners

Snap Judgment by Snap Judgment and PRX

Snap Judgment

11,655 Listeners

Code Switch by NPR

Code Switch

14,627 Listeners

The Daily by The New York Times

The Daily

112,105 Listeners

Up First from NPR by NPR

Up First from NPR

56,649 Listeners

Ologies with Alie Ward by Alie Ward

Ologies with Alie Ward

24,468 Listeners

Consider This from NPR by NPR

Consider This from NPR

6,402 Listeners

Unexplainable by Vox

Unexplainable

2,313 Listeners