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America Feels Like A Powder Keg (w/ Jessica Tarlov) | The Focus Group

2026-04-25 News & Politics
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The Bulwark
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Description

Everyone agrees that America is too divided. But ALMOST everyone is also contributing to that division in one way or another. So, how do we rebuild a country where Americans can live with each other a little easier? Sarah and our guest both have some ideas. Professional disagreer Jessica Tarlov of the Raging Moderates podcast and Fox News’s The Five, joins Sarah to discuss America’s political divisions and how voters across the political spectrum are feeling about them. Pre-order Jessica’s upcoming book, I Disagree: Winning Arguments Without Losing Friends. (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/803493/i-disagree-by-jessica-tarlov/) Get tickets to The Bulwark's May live shows in San Diego and Los Angeles! (https://thebulwark.com/events) Pre-order Sarah’s book, How to Eat an Elephant, coming in September! (https://static.macmillan.com/static/smp/how-to-eat-an-elephant-9781250464170/) Become a Bulwark Youtube Plus Member here - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG4Hp1KbGw4e02N7FpPXDgQ/join

Top Comments (10)

@knittiotsavant 2026-04-25

He’s not making ME insane. He’s insane. His cult is insane. Me? I’m pissed off.

861 26 replies
@seandonovan3217 2026-04-25

They are a brainwashed cult. That is the 32 percent. Right wing media broke these people. Right wing grifters in churches broke these people.

556 33 replies
@PolyglotPfannkuchen 2026-04-25

We are far beyond political differences. We are deep into moral differences. You cannot have a sensible exchange with people who think concentration camps are okay.

550 48 replies
@deepspace1992 2026-04-25

I teach at an agricultural college, and I’m used to staying away from politics in my classes because I don’t want to be disappointed. Yesterday, my class organically started talking about Trump and corruption, and it wasn’t even tariffs that set it off: it was cuts to National Parks. One student even mentioned that you could take one day in Iran or one shady crypto deal and keep the park system funded. That stark contrast, between our parks languishing while he does…whatever it is he is doing, landed with my room of 20 farm kids. Heartening

519 33 replies
@commonsenseparty1396 2026-04-25

If he had 10% approval it would still be an insane amount of approval, the dude has done everything in his Power to destroy America.

378 3 replies
@oldsoulmovinslow 2026-04-25

As a trans person, I wish more than anything that people would just stop focusing on my identity. I might be trans, but it’s only a small fraction of who I am and how I live my life—which is none of anyone’s business. Nor are other people’s opinions about my life any of my business.

193 11 replies
@AL-mc9ht 2026-04-25

How do you find middle ground with people who don’t accept facts?

92 8 replies
@1dontknow4321 2026-04-26

It’s not a political divide. It’s a moral and reality/truth divide.

72 1 replies
@MinimumFlair 2026-04-25

My elderly mother (forever Republican and now newly Christian nationalist) told her daughter, newly diagnosed with cancer and terrified about her health and how to pay for insurance and her treatment, that she got cancer again because she doesn’t believe in god. There are some political arguments that cut so deep they’re fatal.

37 1 replies
@samdixon8418 2026-04-25

Jessica Tarlov is a genuine hero in the current climate. There are a handful of journos etc who deserved to be remembered for standing up in this darkness and she is one of them.

28

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