A Friend Texted to Ask “Who I Favored” for 2024 and Hated My Answer

Here is the original chat thread. The last pair of texts is where everything started to go off the rails.

Photo by Alexander Schimmeck on Unsplash

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The chat thread that started things a few days ago (late August 2023)

Screenshot of chat thread of author and friend “Rachel” created by author. August 2023. Note: the last chat bubble from me (on the right) was cut off and should have said, “what do _you_ think the Top 3–5 big issues/problems/challenges are that “the country” needs to deal with?”

Why I asked Rachel what she thought the Top 3–5 big issues/challenges are that we need to deal with as a country

You may have already guessed this from the questions, but my friend, Rachel thinks of herself mostly as a centrist Democrat.

She wouldn’t have minded it if Bernie had won the Democratic primary in 2020, but she also was totally comfortable voting for Joe Biden…as long as it meant that Trump would not get reelected.

And you may also not be shocked to hear that her husband is an attorney. I suspect that he had some influence on this list…and I’m pretty sure that #4 on the list came from him.

These days, when I have conversations like this — whether it’s with someone on the right or left — the only way that makes sense to me is if we frame our talk in terms of:

1. what problems we are trying to solve;
2. what smart solutions could probably look like; and
3. which leaders or politicians look…