Fireside Breakdowns

This is episode 3 in our series An Unholy Convergence, where we’re trying to untangle how White Nationalism, Evangelical Christianity, and Trumpism became so enmeshed. The goal of this episode is to paint a picture of what the Trump voter base looked like, and to talk through the constellation of concerns that led them to believe that he was their best advocate. We hope to get to the end of this episode with a clear understanding of why the evangelical voting bloc turned out so hard for Donald Trump in 2016 and in 2020, and set the stage for next week’s conversation about how he won and held their vote.

What’s in this episode:

Research-based breakdown of Evangelical and Trump voter base demographics (2016)

Discussion of what “representative data” is and does

Talk about the specific concerns that Trump voters seemed to be facing in 2016

Connection of the concepts of Christian nationalism and the factors that motivated Trump voters.

Good News: TikTok’s celebration of Asian + Pacific Islander Heritage Month

If you’d like to get in touch…

You can leave us a review at: https://ratethispodcast.com/fireside

Or you can drop us a note from our Contact page!

You can find all of our sources in our Show Notes.

And, if you’d like to help us reach our goal of hiring a professional editor, you can check out our Patreon Page! Patrons get priority topic requests, behind the scenes content, and more!

This is another Fireside Unscripted episode, where Jon, Robin, and Savannah wax poetic on a topic with no research, script, or even show notes. This week we’re discussing student loans - forgiveness, cancellation, and all of our feelings. Listen in as we discuss, and then share your experiences with us!

If you’d like to get in touch…

You can leave us a review at: https://ratethispodcast.com/fireside

Or you can drop us a note from our Contact page!

You can (usually) find all of our sources in our Show Notes.

And, if you’d like to help us reach our goal of hiring a professional editor, you can check out our Patreon Page! Patrons get priority topic requests, behind the scenes content, and more!

This week, we’re going to start doing the hard work of untangling the messy intersection between White Nationalism, Evangelical Christianity, and Trumpism. Last week, we shared the listener question that inspired this series and some basic definitions that we’re going to use as we move through the series. From there, we think the most logical place to start building this picture is to begin looking at how Christianity (and eventually Evangelicalism) and nationalism became so intertwined. It feels like a story as old as America itself, so we’re going to tell it using primary sources that illustrate the mindsets that contributed to this process. 

What’s in this episode:

Discussion of what makes a nation

Comparison/contrast of nationalism and patriotism

Examination of how the earliest definitions of “American” came to include both Christian and White

Brief history of the issue that catalyzed Evangelical involvement in politics (spoiler: it was Civil Rights)

Good News: A new treatment that uses progenitor cells to restore hearing

If you’d like to get in touch…

You can leave us a review at: https://ratethispodcast.com/fireside

Or you can drop us a note from our Contact page!

You can find all of our sources in our Show Notes.

And, if you’d like to help us reach our goal of hiring a professional editor, you can check out our Patreon Page! Patrons get priority topic requests, behind the scenes content, and more!

This week’s topic was brought up by a friend and listener, who said:

"I would love to hear you do an episode on Trumpism/White Nationalism in the church. I feel like the church who I used to love has gone to hell. And that makes me very sad and angry. It just seems like the church’s views and stances on topics have really changed since Trump was elected… Like they are brainwashed. And so deep into these right wing conspiracies and Trump worship that they can't even see right from wrong anymore…

This really struck a chord with each of us, so we decided to investigate. Why have these three perspectives converged in such an impactful way? Clearly, there’s a lot to figure out here. More than we could accomplish in a single episode. So, we’re going to turn this into a series. And, to get things started, we want to make sure everyone is on the same page with the terminology and concepts we’ll be using a lot in the next few episodes.

What’s in this episode:

Discussion of why this topic is meaningful to each of us

Which part of “the church” are we talking about (spoiler: Evangelicals)

A basic definition of White Nationalism

A basic definition of Christian Nationalism

A super brief explanation of Trumpism

Where this series is headed

Good News: A bi-national park between the U.S. and Mexico

If you’d like to get in touch…

You can leave us a review at: https://ratethispodcast.com/fireside

Or you can drop us a note from our Contact page!

You can find all of our sources in our Show Notes.

And, if you’d like to help us reach our goal of hiring a professional editor, you can check out our Patreon Page! Patrons get priority topic requests, behind the scenes content, and more!

Link to H.R.1931 - Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2019 and the more recent H.R.350 - Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2021

Content Warning - Discussion of explicit content of children with regard to sentencing and criminal justice: 31:00 - 56:10.

If you’re anything like us, the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson - and the follow up conversations - were of keen interest as we look ahead to the 2022 midterm elections. Both the theatrics staged by the senators on the committee, and the legitimate questions that managed to sneak out in between, raised some points that we wanted to learn more about. And of course, we had plenty of opinions about what we saw.

What’s in this episode?

Hot Takes - Was this a foreshadow of the midterms? Should senators be allowed to give speeches? Should the hearings even be televised?

How does Judge Jackson’s sentencing record line up with common practice? Why might the federal guidelines need adjusting?

What is a judicial philosophy, and what is Judge Jackson’s?

Good News: Gov. Spencer Cox stands up for trans kids in Utah.

If you’d like to get in touch…

You can leave us a review at: https://ratethispodcast.com/fireside

Or you can drop us a note from our Contact page!

You can find all of our sources in our Show Notes.

And, if you’d like to help us reach our goal of hiring a professional editor, you can check out our Patreon Page! Patrons get priority topic requests, behind the scenes content, and more!

We’re back with another Fireside Unscripted episode, where Jon, Robin, and Savannah wax poetic on a topic with no research, script, or even show notes. This week we’re discussing toxic masculinity: What it means, how it’s experienced in different cultures or regions, and most importantly how it impacts both men and women. Listen in as we discuss, and then share your experiences with us!

If you’d like to get in touch…

You can leave us a review at: https://ratethispodcast.com/fireside

Or you can drop us a note from our Contact page!

You can find all of our sources in our Show Notes.

And, if you’d like to help us reach our goal of hiring a professional editor, you can check out our Patreon Page! Patrons get priority topic requests, behind the scenes content, and more!

Biden says it’s Putin’s fault; Fox News says it’s Biden’s fault; but the one thing most Americans know is that shit has gotten real expensive. Inflation is high, gas prices are high, and confidence in the health of the US economy is really, really low.  So, we want to take some time to talk about what the hell is going on. 

No, you’re not experiencing deja vu right now. We’ve covered these topics before - recently, actually,  but a lot has changed since we talked about inflation around Christmastime. And even more since we looked at gas prices in September. This episode will include a significant amount of recap information from previous episodes, so if you listened to those you might hear some content that sounds familiar. If you didn’t, don’t worry; we’ll give you enough background to make sure you can follow along.  

Then, there’s plenty of new information to cover including whether the conflict in Ukraine is contributing to rising inflation, whether or not we can blame Joe Biden for how much it cost to fill our gas tanks this week, and yeah, we’re going to talk about that Ben Shapiro video (even though it hurts).

If you’d like to get in touch with us…

You can leave us a review at: https://ratethispodcast.com/fireside

Or you can drop us a note from our Contact page!

You can find all of our sources in our Show Notes.

And, if you’d like to help us reach our goal of hiring a professional editor, you can check out our Patreon Page! Patrons get priority topic requests, behind the scenes content, and more!

On the day this episode airs, March 14, 2022, it has been 18 days since Vladimir Putin directed the Russian army to invade Ukraine. This invasion has had devastating consequences for the people of Ukraine, which you can read about or watch or listen to on pretty much any media channel that exists right now. It’s necessary for the world to see, but it can also be really overwhelming for those of us who don’t need another picture of just how ugly humanity can be.  Which is why we’re trying to contribute to the coverage by adding context to the headlines. 

This invasion has also all but collapsed the Russian economy and sent shockwaves through other economies world wide, in no small part because of sanctions that have been levied against Russia by many other countries and organizations across the globe. In many cases, imposing sanctions seems to be the first response when one world government makes decisions that are not supported by other world governments. Because they’ve been such a key response during this conflict, we wanted to make sure that we - and by extension you - have a foundational understanding of what they really are, how they impact the countries that are sanctioned AND the countries that impose them, and whether or not they produce the desired results. 

If you’d like to get in touch with us…

You can leave us a review at: https://ratethispodcast.com/fireside

Or you can drop us a note from our Contact page!

You can find all of our sources in our Show Notes.

And, if you’d like to help us reach our goal of hiring a professional editor, you can check out our Patreon Page! Patrons get priority topic requests, behind the scenes content, and more!

Heads up: Because we're talking about the current (2022) Russia/Ukraine Conflict, this episode is highly likely to fall into the category of “pretty heavy stuff” we mention in the intro. 

Honestly, we had something completely different planned for this week but it feels really important to be a part of the conversation that’s happening right now. We also wanted to make sure that we came to the conversation authentically, in a way that represents what we do on this podcast:  creating a foundational understanding of complicated topics so that the proverbial we can come together to work through them. 

We won’t be talking about the ins and outs of the immediate situation, sharing a play by play of movements, or even diving too deeply into the human interest side of things - not this week, or in any other episodes we do during this crisis.  Instead, we’re going to do our best to add context to the conversation by explaining important background information or diving into how a policy works.  We want to help you understand what’s going on on a deeper level. 

Today, we’re going to try to fill in a gap we’ve noticed in the coverage of this situation: Why is everyone talking, but also NOT talking, about NATO?

You'll also notice that the outro song is different than our usual. It's the Ukrainian National Anthem, performed by Mykhailo Khoma and the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine under the direction of conductor Oksana Lyniv.

1. International Committee of the Red Cross: https://www.icrc.org/en/where-we-work/europe-central-asia/ukraine

If you’d like to get in touch with us…

You can leave us a review at: https://ratethispodcast.com/fireside

Or you can drop us a note from our Contact page!

You can find all of our sources in our Show Notes.

And, if you’d like to help us reach our goal of hiring a professional editor, you can check out our Patreon Page! Patrons get priority topic requests, behind the scenes content, and more!

We’re coming to you with a new format this week: welcome to Fireside Unscripted. On the last Monday of every month, we’ll be sitting down as a team - sometimes with a good drink on hand - to talk through some of the more practical or timely topics we get asked about. This week we’re discussing how to disagree respectfully. Listen in and hear how we approach these hard conversations, and then let us know what works for you!

If you’d like to get in touch…

You can leave us a review at: https://ratethispodcast.com/fireside

Or you can drop us a note from our Contact page!

You can find all of our sources in our Show Notes.

And, if you’d like to help us reach our goal of hiring a professional editor, you can check out our Patreon Page! Patrons get priority topic requests, behind the scenes content, and more!