Married to a Red Sox fan, I understand the difficulties presented by mixed marriages. Baseball aside, what about married couples who find their politics mixed, opposed, even . . . fighting words? On that, our friend Dr. Jeanne Safer — psychologist, liberal, and beloved wife of NR Senior editor Rick Brookhiser — is the author of the new book, out today, and which comes highly recommended: I Love You, but I Hate Your Politics: How to Protect Your Intimate Relationships in a Poisonous Partisan World.
The folks at Publishers Weekly had nothing but praise for I Love You, but . . . From the review:
Cautionary tales of relationships gone awry are sprinkled throughout, including a story about female best friends who nearly ended their longtime friendship over a Trump-Hillary debate, and screaming fights between a liberal mother and her conservative teenage son. Safer encourages readers to examine their own motivations for discussions, and realize that most political fights in intimate relationships are not about politics but about a compulsion to change dissimilar views to align with one’s own. She also advises readers to use humor to defuse hostility and to work to understand the viewpoints of others. This insightful, well-reasoned book will help readers negotiate the political differences in their relationships with the people they love most.
Now go buy that book! But whatever you do, check out Jeanne’s website and listen to her book podcast discussion with Rick.
There’s more: If you’d like to watch a wonderful clip of Jeanne and Rick discussing the book and the issues underlying love in the Age of Obama and Trump, catch this preview clip of their joint interview with C-SPAN 2 / BookTV (the full interview premiers this Saturday, June 15, at 11 p.m. Eastern Time):
