This week we’re joined by one of our favorite guest hosts, political strategist Jess McIntosh. You know what they say… come to discuss the electoral process, stay to discuss the latest shocking thing to hit our newsfeeds. Jess, Amanda and Jasmine discuss the events of the weekend, the recent increase in political violence and violent rhetoric, and emphasize that we need to settle our policy differences at the ballot box. But “lowering the temperature in our politics” doesn’t mean that we sudd...

We’re all still recovering from last week’s debate and what it means for the election, but like we said in our last episode, the stakes have not changed. There’s Project 2025, the right-wing plan to overturn democracy in America. There’s the constant attacks on reproductive rights. There’s even Mark Robinson, the MAGA candidate for governor in North Carolina, saying that “some folks need killing”! Democrats might be in the midst of a family debate over our nominee in November, but the most im...

The past week has been tough. The presidential debate did not exactly go as we hoped. The Supreme Court ruled that Trump has absolute immunity for “official acts” as President. But all of that only makes the election in November more crucial. The choice is literally between a dictatorship and a democracy, and it’s essential that we encourage everyone we know to vote. Which brings us to our interview of the week: Daria Dawson, the Executive Director of America Votes. Daria explains why our vot...

This is our last episode of June, so before Pride Month is over, we wanted to talk to some more Troublemakers who are doing great work supporting the LGBTQ community. Amanda got the chance to sit down with Lisa and Dani with Pride & Less Prejudice, an organization that provides inclusive books to classrooms to help students and teachers to “Read out loud, read out proud.” If you're a schoolteacher and want free inclusive books, please reach out to them here!And before that, the hosts catc...

This week’s episode is coming out on Juneteenth, a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. But before we can get to our discussion about it (including how JD Vance recently introduced a “Dismantle DEI” bill to roll back Biden’s diversity programs), it seems there’s always more reproductive healthcare news to talk about. Last week, Senate Republicans blocked a bill to protect the right to IVF, and the Southern Baptist Church just voted to oppose IVF as well. And ...

It’s June, which means it’s Pride Month! Whether we’re standing up for birth control, libraries, diversity and inclusion, or trans rights, it’s all the same fight against extremism. Right-wing leaders like Ron DeSantis might try banning rainbow lights on bridges this month by calling it “Freedom Summer,” but what’s more free than a beautiful rainbow?Last week, all but 2 Republican Senators blocked a bill that would protect access to birth control, despite Republicans continuing to insist that...

Whether we’re talking about the devastating consequences of abortion bans or the legitimacy of Trump’s criminal trial, there are too many people in this country who can’t seem to handle the truth. Stories like that of Ryan and Jess Hamilton, who couldn’t get medical care in Texas after a miscarriage, might be difficult to read but that doesn’t make them false. We can only solve problems by facing them head-on, so here on The Suburban Women Problem we want to loudly proclaim that yes, we CAN h...

When we hear news like Nikki Haley changing her tune and endorsing Trump, there’s no denying that politics can feel icky. But we have the power to make our voices heard - not just at the ballot box, but by reaching out to our representatives between elections too. This week, Amanda and Rachel sat down with NPR reporter Sarah McCammon to learn more about her new book The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church. It may be hard to understand how the evangelical ch...

Mother’s Day may have been last week, but we’re celebrating moms all throughout May in what we call our “month of moms.” And unlike NFL kicker Harrison Butker said at his recent commencement speech, we know women deserve options: to work, to not work, to have kids, to not have kids, and most of all to make those choices for ourselves. No politician – and certainly no football player – should tell American women when, how, or if we want to become moms.But there’s no denying that moms have a sp...

This week, our hosts share stories about how they celebrated Mother's Day. But Republican Katie Britt had another idea about how we can celebrate Mother's Day - with a "mommy database" for the government to track who is pregnant. We'd rather have affordable childcare, universal pre-K, healthcare, or really anything other than giving extremists our reproductive data.Then we're joined by Benjamin Herold, the author of Disillusioned: Five Families and the Unraveling of America's Suburbs. Benjami...

This week we're excited to be joined by the one and only Jen Psaki! Jen isn’t just a former White House Press Secretary, she’s also the host of Inside With Jen Psaki and the author of a new book called Say More: Lessons from Work, the White House, and the World. Jen sat down with Rachel and Jasmine last month to talk about what it was like to work in the White House under Presidents Obama and Biden, how suburban women will affect this year's election, and how there simply aren't two sides to ...

Amanda’s back this week and we’re so happy to have the gang all back together again. We’re less happy about the news… from Republican governor Kristi Noem killing her family’s puppy to the Supreme Court debating whether hospitals are obligated to save pregnant women’s lives, it’s been a rough week. But it’s not all doom and gloom, because after that, Jasmine shares an inspirational conversation with Jotaka Eaddy. Jotaka is the founder of the movement Win With Black Women, an intergenerational...

This week, we’re talking about repro. Again. Because somehow politicians and pundits still don’t understand that it’s not just about abortion – although abortion rights are critical. It’s also about birth control, IVF, and all of the other potentially life-saving procedures that are on the chopping block this year. Some of us may have been surprised when Roe v Wade was overturned but we refuse to be surprised again. We can’t stop talking to everyone we know about it in this pivotal election y...

*Content warning: pregnancy loss* The Suburban Women Problem is back! We've missed catching up about the news and sharing our conversations with amazing guests, so we're so excited to be back with you for Season 5. This week, Red Wine & Blue Founder Katie Paris is filling in for Amanda Weinstein. Katie, Jasmine and Rachel chat about all the news from the past 6 weeks, including some truly disheartening abortion bans in Arizona and Florida, and what Red Wine & Blue is doing to help....

Last month, Heather Cox Richardson appeared live at the City Club of Cleveland to speak about her new book, Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America. With her was Katie Paris, the founder of Red Wine & Blue.  As Heather reminds us, the past doesn't repeat itself; it rhymes. To understand today's political landscape, we must understand how we got here. This fascinating live chat between Heather and Katie explores the state of our democracy, how we got here, and what we do...

As Season 2 of The Cost of Extremism draws to a close, we're excited to bring you a final bonus episode. Today, we're joined by @JoJoFromJerz for an in-depth conversation about three stories that are particularly relevant today. First, we have author Seyward Darby from episode 5, The Crunchy Mom to Alt-Right Pipeline. During our interview about white women’s role in the alt-right supremacy movement, Seyward discussed the historical portrayal of white women as martyrs. From literature to...

Crunchy moms and trad wife online content may seem innocent, but when you take a closer look, you start to see evidence of white-power ideology and conservative radicalization. So what happens when you go so far left that you end up alt-right? In this episode of The Cost of Extremism, we’ll take a deep dive into the crunchy mom to alt-right pipeline, its ties to extremism, and the role social media plays in the radicalization of women. For a transcript of this episode, please email...

On college campuses across the country, Turning Point USA is radicalizing a new generation of conservative extremists in an attempt to mobilize young Republican voters and build an alt-right movement backed by billionaire donors and political insiders. These alt-right extremists are wrapped in a neat package, presented as polished frat boys wearing chinos and boat shoes, making them digestible for a wider audience and more dangerous than ever. In this episode of The Cost of Extremism, we’ll...

Across the country, conservatives are looking to overhaul K-12 public education with right-wing curriculums that contain misleading and inaccurate claims about slavery, racism, immigration, and LGBTQ+ history.  In this episode of The Cost of Extremism, we’ll take a deep dive into the impact these curriculums have on public education, the harm they inflict on our children, and where they could be heading next.  For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected]. You can...

In recent years, book banning has become an organized movement backed by right-wing organizations, politicians, and conservative donors. Under the guise of ‘parental rights,’ books centering on LGBTQ+ characters and people of color are being disproportionately targeted, putting both our democracy and free speech at risk. In this episode of ‘The Cost of Extremism,' we’ll take a deep dive into the leading forces behind these book bans, the impact they have on our kids, and what we can do to...

Crisis pregnancy centers present themselves as genuine healthcare facilities; however, their main goal is to discourage individuals from accessing certain healthcare options like abortion and contraceptives. These centers, a well-supported arm of the global anti-abortion movement, are rapidly expanding by using deceptive tactics, medical disinformation, and public funding. Currently, crisis pregnancy centers outnumber abortion clinics by an average of 3-to-1. In this episode of 'The Cost of...

Today we were honored to be joined by Karine Jean-Pierre! She’s the current White House Press Secretary, and she’s the first Black and the first openly LGBTQ person to hold that position. She chatted with us about reproductive rights, what it’s been like to break so many glass ceilings, and the wins (so many wins!) from the Biden-Harris administration that we can share with our friends. We also dreamed up a collab between Beyonce, Taylor Swift, and Tracy Chapman - just manifesting that into...

We know from both statistics and personal stories that representation matters. Whether it’s people of color, LGBTQ folks, or young women running for office, it’s crucial to our democracy that everyone’s voice is heard. And fighting for our values doesn’t mean we don’t "go high when they go low," it means we fight disinformation and fear with facts and love. One place you can fight disinformation is around the myth that people often regret transitioning; this week we referenced the largest...

Lately there’s been a surge of attacks on diversity - affirmative action was overturned by the Supreme Court, Harvard president Claudine Gay was forced out of her seat with people calling her “a diversity hire,” and anti-DEI bills are popping up all over the country. So this week, as we start Black History Month, we’re talking about attacks on diversity programs. We got the chance to chat with Sophia Danner-Okotie, a small business owner in Atlanta, to talk about how difficult it is to get...

We’re only a month into 2024 but we already know that this November, our democracy depends on everyone coming together- all ages, all races, all genders. And just like other recent elections, we know we especially need young people to join in the fight. So this week, we’re talking to a young woman who uprooted her life in 2022 and started traveling around Texas in a van, registering voters. Tayhlor Coleman shares how the events of January 6th inspired her to add voter registration to her...