May 23, 2024 • 23 mins
In this episode, Karol is joined by Conservative commentator and speaker Elisha Krauss who discusses the importance of local politics, the need for conservatives to stay and fight in liberal areas, and the problem of comparison in our culture. Elisha emphasizes the value of community and personal connections, and encourages listeners to put down their phones and engage in face-to-face conversations. The Karol Markowicz Show is part of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast Network - new episodes debut every Monday & Thursday.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hi, and welcome back to the Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio.
Regular listeners of this program know that I ask all
of my guests what they think is our largest cultural problem.
In the last few weeks, I've talked about what I
think it is, and that's bystanderism, good people standing by
and letting bad things happen. And I've heard all the
(00:27):
arguments about why people do that, why people don't step in.
I get it, I've addressed it. I think it's a
mistake anyway. I think people should step in. I think
it makes our society better when we do. But I
think the root of why we don't is that we
have this disconnect from each other. And the root of that,
(00:47):
I think is the lack of gratitude for what we have.
We're heading into moral day weekend, maybe you're traveling, maybe
you're grilling, going to the beach. You know, any number
of things gets mentioned in our media. That Memorial Day
is a day of commemoration for the people who refuse
to be bystanders. It's for the people who stood up
(01:10):
for us, who died for us. And we've gotten so
pessimistic and so negative that if you even say that
I can hear the response in my head, Oh, those
people died in vain, that maybe those wars they fought
in weren't right, and who knows if that's true. Maybe
it is, but it's irrelevant. On this day, we respect
(01:33):
the people who didn't just stand by and whip out
their phones and film something bad happening to someone else
for someone else to deal with. On an episode with
Jesse Kelly a few months ago, we talked about raising
our kids to be the kind of people who will
jump into the ocean to save their friends, maybe at
the expense of their own lives. On Memorial Day, we
(01:55):
remember the people who do that, who jump in for
all of us, again and again. And I think that
if we pause and think about those people, put down
the hot dog and the beer, and remember why we
have a day off, it goes a really long way
toward that feeling of gratitude we all should be feeling
for our very safe and happy lives. We owe it
(02:17):
to those people not to be bystanders when the cost
is far lower than what they had. We really owe
it to each other. I wish you all listening a
safe and peaceful Memorial Day coming up next and interview
with Alisha Krause. Join us after the break.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Welcome back to the.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio. My guest today is conservative
commentator and speaker Alisha Krause. Hi, Alisha, Hi.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Good morning, So nice to have you on. Thanks.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
I have been a longtime fan of yours.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
I think you know that I love a lot of
things that you say and do. I think that our
main point of disagreement recently is I encourage people to
leave places like New York and California, encourage them to
stay and fight, which I listen, I fully appreciate, and
(03:17):
I felt like, you know, I stayed and bought in
New York as long as I could until I couldn't.
But tell me about that, like, do you feel like
there's a chance that these places can turn around? And
I'm rooting for them. I love California, I love New York.
I just I would love to.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Hear from you what you think the future might hold.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (03:36):
I think that COVID showed us how important, how important
local politics are, and how a lot of politics are
local because people were looking to the governor or the
president to like do something, or the CDC and the
EPA like, all these people.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Do something right.
Speaker 5 (03:52):
And we realized that school board decisions, city council decisions,
county chair seats, we're very commissioners, were sheriffs, even police departments.
How important the localization of the politics was. And when
I look at the voter data since twenty twenty in
(04:15):
California and a lot of local elections where Republicans are
not the majority registered voters anywhere throughout the state, you
see Republicans and moderate to right leaning Democrats winning in places,
and we're only losing.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
By a few hundred votes.
Speaker 5 (04:33):
And so I think that's why I really encourage people
to stay and fight, because I think that when we
localize those politics and not just have the talking points
of like what's happening nationally or what's a click baiting
on TikTok and Instagram, then we can really speak to
the hearts and minds of people and get to know
those people, we can make an impact and make a change.
I mean, I was at my church's mom group yesterday though,
(04:55):
and there are some people talking about, like.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
Do we just start a homestead and have arranged marriages
for all of.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Our Wow, that's a good idea, and some of us are.
Speaker 6 (05:03):
Like maybe, but then and I get that everybody's risk
calculation is going to be different, everybody's calling is going
to be different, everybody's trajectory for themselves and their marriage
and their family is going to be different.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
I just I think I didn't.
Speaker 5 (05:17):
Like specifically how people that were invested here in la
or in New York.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
It's like, in order to leave, they felt the need
to trash it.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
And I'm like, if you got to leave, leave, if
I asked why, say why. But it's not the whole
of the place that's horrible. And the people that have
stuck behind are the people that are still coming here
to pursue their future and their dreams. They're not horrible either.
There's a lot of really good people here and we
need more of them.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Right Yeah. I mean, look, I feel like I definitely
said negative things about New York. I still feel negative
things about New York, but I also root for it
in I mean more than anything, Like I want New
York to turn itself around.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
I don't know enough about California.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I mean, obviously I loved, always loved visiting California.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I just but New York.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
I have obviously so much love for and I don't
want to see it fail. I don't want to see it,
but I think that I guess I felt like giving
it tough love and saying like, you know, these are
the things that are wrong. You have to face reality,
and if you don't, it's going to get worse.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
But I appreciate the people who stay and fight.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
I don't think that your homestead idea and arranged marriage
is very crazy. I think it's quite good. My latest
thing has been you know, I think I'm friends and
I know you.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Are as well.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Like with a lot of you know, conservatives, and we
have a lot of us have kids. The real thing
is like to have a retreat for conservative children of
conservative commentators, you know, where they could just be themselves
and meet o their children in the same situation. And yeah,
my mom gets recognized in the street and sometimes gets
yelled at, and you know that kind of thing.
Speaker 5 (07:03):
Thankfully, thankfully that hasn't happened in a while. I'm not
big enough. I think that that occurs very often. I'm
known as kind of like my kid's mom at church
and at school, and in both places we have a
community of like minded people, and I think that that's
been a pleasant surprise too, because I think the assumption
is everyone's just like an AOC liberal here, and that's
(07:26):
not the case. Like even if they are registered Democrat,
time will tell. And there's so many hot button issues
right now that even the Democrats are like, well, that's
that's not us, that's not what we represent anymore. And
I think if we can find those common things that
we have in common, then that's a good thing. I
love the idea of like a retreat though, and I
(07:47):
and I get that you don't always want your kids
to have to be like the missionaries or the fighters.
And so even though my husband and I do that
on a daily basis, like we're not tasking our children
with a role and responsibility. And I also have to say,
I mean we You and I met twenty years ago
when we lived in New York City and my husband
(08:08):
I left New York gosh, eleven years ago now, and
we were like, we still we want to still love
it when we leave it, not like.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
So many people get.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
It's a very transient city, like people get burnt out
and then they leave and I hate it and we
didn't want that to be us. And I actually haven't
been back in New York and years. I'm going back
later this year and I'm very excited about it, And
it's just an ever changing city.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
And I think it's actually harder to raise a family there.
Speaker 5 (08:30):
Like I loved being there for the single years of
my life, and I feel like LA is so much easier.
And we have like the little croushouse compound that we
can lock the gates and run around barefoot with our
kids that a lot of people, like you don't get
that in New York, right, So the battle is different,
and I do think that, as we've seen, the battle
is everywhere.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Yeah. I mean I grew up in Brooklyn, so to
me it was like the most obvious place to raise children.
But I hear what you're saying, it's you don't get
a compound.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
In New York.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
So did you always want to be in this field?
Was this always what you were going to do?
Speaker 4 (09:07):
No?
Speaker 5 (09:07):
I was always a political nerd. My mom paved the way.
She was a small business owner, chairwoman of the county
GOP ran for office two times.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
And I think I got the bug then maybe.
Speaker 5 (09:20):
But I mean when I was little, I think I
wanted to be a figure skater and then a gymnast,
and then I realized I was three hours from any
facilities that offer either of them, and my parents were
not down to dry. So I've switched to politics real quick.
But no, I don't think. I don't think I ever.
I was a producer in talk radio and I enjoyed
kind of like working behind the scenes and politics. I
(09:41):
never envisioned being the person on the stage or being
the person interviewed. It kind of just fell into my
lap in a weird circle of ways.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Right, do you feel like you've made it?
Speaker 5 (09:55):
You know, because you and I have so many of
the similar friends that are incredibly successful, I think if
I am comparing myself to them, no, But if you
look at the American dream, I think every generation hopes
that their kids and grandkids do better than they did.
So if you were to ask my mom and dad
have I made it, they would say absolutely. I think
(10:16):
in my personal life, I've definitely made it. I'm thirty
eight years old, I'm married, I have four kids, we
own a home. I mean, in a lot of ways,
that's incredible making it. When I look at my peers
and the luck that I had to fall into that
when a lot of women my age, aren't in the
(10:37):
same kind of business, aren't able to say the same right,
But yeah, it's an interesting question.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
I should talk to my therapist about that next week.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Well, So, I mean, people answer it differently, you know.
I've had like, people who are you you would think
are at the top of their game, like career wise,
say like.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
No, they don't feel like they've achieved everything yet.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
And then other people who are maybe are not, like
maybe even just starting out in their careers. I get
a range of answers, and I love hearing what people
think that question means and whether that applies to them
or not.
Speaker 5 (11:11):
Yeah, And I think that you often have a lot
of professional leaders, maybe even spiritual leaders, business leaders that
are of which a lot of my friends are, that
are very self driven but also very self critical. And
I think that it can be like the Spider Man,
your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness. Absolutely, And
(11:34):
so I just try to have like a really well
rounded perspective of like, you know what, I've made it.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
If my kids want to.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
Hang out with me today, like exactly amazing, because how
many other tween girls want to hang out with their
mom and do things with them and are thankful for
that time and energy and effort like that is like
a made it moment for me.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
And I think that you have to take those I.
Speaker 5 (11:56):
Used to work with a political consultant who's an amazing
guy up in the Bay Area, and he was like,
you got to take the small wins, and so sometimes
my and you got to celebrate them.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
And so sometimes my husband I look at each other.
Speaker 5 (12:05):
We're like, that's a small win, like or glass of
wine and celebrate that.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Yeah, that's exactly right. And you know, your greatest strength
being your greatest weakness.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
I fully agree with that.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Bethany Mendel, our mutual friend and my co author, was
on this show and we talked about how the year
that we published the book, it was the best and
worst year ever. The book was a success, but we
weren't like sleeping, and we were traveling all the.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Time and just all kinds of stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
So I think like some of your best times can
easily be your worst times as well. I think that's
that's pretty standard. So what kind of stuff do you
like talking about when you comment, Like, what kind of
what's your chosen direction basically in your career?
Speaker 5 (12:51):
I mean, I really love to if I were to
broadly put it, I love to speak on issues that
are really affecting young people, but specific young women, and
through Young America's Foundation, who tends to be the organization
that sponsors my campus speeches, the students request specific topics
and issues that are typically related to what's happening culturally
(13:12):
and politically on a national scale, but also on their campuses.
And it's always fascinating to me how I could be
talking about the DABS decision, or free speech or Hamas
and Israel and the Q and A always circles back
to like personal advice to show wanting that personal touch
(13:36):
of like how do you do what you do? How
should I what trajectory should I take? Like which things
should I prioritize? And I really enjoy I don't think
I'm an expert in it, but if I can share.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
My own personal story and my own personal.
Speaker 5 (13:50):
Struggles that somebody else can relate to and view it
as a like a comforting or educational experience, like, that's
really what I enjoy speaking to is making sure that
people but specifically conservative women and conservative young women.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
The majority of my audience.
Speaker 5 (14:09):
I would say, is between the ages of eighteen and
thirty understand that they are not alone, and that there
are others out there like them, and all of the
thoughts that they have in their head and all of
the frustrations that they experience personally, professionally, politically, there are
other women in their shoes too, and that, like having
a community around you and hopefully being able to create
(14:30):
a community of like minded women, is really what I
love to talk about and what I love to do.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
We're going to take a quick break and be right
back on the Carol Markoitz Show.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
What would you say is our largest cultural problem?
Speaker 5 (14:48):
I think comparison. There's a Christian speaker, Lisa Bavier. She
had a great post and I'm going to biffit, but
she talked about like, as a Christian, comparison is wrong,
Like it's a sin because either you are jealous of
what somebody else has, like you.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Know of what your neighbor has, which is a breaking.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Up believements one of the commandments, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:07):
Exactly, a big one, and or you are self righteous.
And so I think when you look at in both
our sin and so I think when you look at
culture right now, whether it's on campus, whether it's on wall, street,
whether it's on social media, whether it's even in some
you know, houses of faith.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
The risk, the danger of comparison is.
Speaker 5 (15:32):
That all around it's well, we don't like the Jews
because they control everything, comparison we don't like I mean,
if you go back to you know, racist Jim Crow laws,
we don't like black people because white people thought they
were better comparison. I think all throughout human history, comparison
has been really at the center point of what has
(15:54):
gone wrong with society, and I think that it's something
that we need to change.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Yeah, and it's the theme of joy, right, You're never
you never feel quite right when you're comparing yourself feel fulfilled. Yeah,
it's solvable. Like what do you tell young people? How
do you get them off of that comparison game.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
It's hard.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Put your phone down.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
That's good.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
Yeah, you're like as.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
An adult, like as a millennial mom, I still have to,
you know, work on it every single day. But I
think that unfortunately, the victim mentality that you see comes
from comparison of the haves and the have nots, and
that it's not fair. And when that is your mindset,
then your mind is completely in the wrong spot. You
have to get your mind in the right spot to
be like, what am I going to do today to
(16:38):
help myself and help others and make it more insular
and start there.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
I mean, I'm not a big about the.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
Your truth self help kind of I don't want to
sound like that at all. I'm talking about take a beat,
put down the phone, get outside, engage with somebody else
that agrees with you and support to you, but also
engage with somebody else that might peacefully disagree with you too,
to get out of your own little bubble. And I
(17:06):
think that that helps you not compare yourself. And I
think that you know, I'm from the Bible Belt.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
I'm from the.
Speaker 5 (17:13):
Middle of nowhere, and I remember moving to New York
City and being fascinated at all of the assumptions that
these upper east Side liberals had about the flyover states.
And then you can go to the rest Belt and
you can go to you know, Southern Baptist Convention or
you know, the middle of nowhere, Nebraska, and it's interesting
the assumptions that those people have about like the East
(17:34):
and the left coast, like land of fruits and nuts people.
And so I think it really is about getting outside
of your individual bubble and getting to know those people
in those other places and stop comparing yourself to them.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
I do think it's a winnable thing.
Speaker 5 (17:51):
I do, but I think that we have to have
messengers out there that are portraying.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
That, not just for you and I, but for young
people as well.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?
Not figure skating, I guess, but I may, I joke.
Speaker 5 (18:10):
I'd be a regular Baronel Stutsman. I would have political
reference there.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
I would have a flower shop.
Speaker 5 (18:15):
I think it's my hobby.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
I really love the La Flower Market.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
I feel like I'm not that creative of a person,
but it brings me joy to make things and arrangements
for other people. And I yeah, if I weren't doing
this and I had all the money in the world,
I would just have fresh flowers everywhere around the house
and bring them to my neighbors and friends all the time.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
I could completely see you owning a flower shop, Like,
have you considered doing that?
Speaker 5 (18:42):
Yes, there is a business nearby and it was like
floral but importing business for sale. And my husband was like,
maybe you should look into the numbers, right, that would
work for you?
Speaker 4 (18:51):
No, this is hard.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
I mean, I think you're very good at what you
do and it's hard to give up, you know, a passion.
But I could see you owning a flower shop.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
I could totally see that.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
Politics and poppies.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Yes, well then you then you wouldn't get any sales,
but yes, yes, otherwise we'll.
Speaker 5 (19:10):
Have a cup of coffee, we'll chit chat about you know,
pop culture and what's happening with the Fed.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Yeah right, yeah, Taylor Swift's Dew album. But you know,
could be anything. So did you when you were coming up,
did you see yourself like in this role, like was
this the ultimate goal?
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Or did you want to be a producer. That's when
I met you. You were a radio Did.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
You think that was going to be it? Or did
you did you think that you might branch off into
you know, being the talent?
Speaker 5 (19:40):
No, I never I never saw that trajectory coming. I
never saw getting the call to come audition for a
morning radio show. That kind of put me on the
path of being talent at multiple companies. I enjoyed working
behind the scenes. I my background for some produced the
Handy Radio show for seven years, and I just got
to a point where it wasn't challenging anymore, and since
(20:01):
it wasn't challenging anymore, it wasn't fun anymore, and my
husband and I decided to leave New York City and
go pursue other things. I've done a bucket list item
of running a congressional campaign that was like the best
and the worst year of my life, as you're talking
about with your book. Yeah, I never once was I like,
I'm gonna, you know, give speeches and be booked on
(20:23):
podcasts and TV that It never crossed my mind. And
Sean actually told me once, He's like, that's probably a
good thing because you fell into it.
Speaker 6 (20:31):
So there were not lower expectations.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
But it wasn't like this must achieve this in my head.
Speaker 5 (20:39):
And maybe that's why I was given the opportunity, because
I wasn't this eager little intern that was just trying
to get on TV right like some people are. I think,
just go with the flow, go with what you're good at,
And I think, I hope it makes me a better
commentator because I understand the effort of all the people
behind the scenes and the real people that are listening.
(21:01):
I think that was the beauty of talk radio and
now podcasting, right, is really being able to tap into
and communicate in a more conversational way to the listener
and what they're going through and what they're interested in hearing.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
What's it like leading a public life? Do you get
recognized a lot?
Speaker 5 (21:20):
You know, interestingly, more so my voice or my name,
So like Elicia Krause is an old dude's name, right,
and it's obvious. So if you were wait, like, why
do I recognize that name? Because I don't think it's
that common. But no, it doesn't happen too often. I mean,
(21:41):
it has happened a couple of times where I'll be
in a mom group or amongst a friend group and
they'll be like, yeah, so I've known you for three
months in person, but I realized I've followed you on
Instagram for two years.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
So funny. Yeah, and it's funny when that happens.
Speaker 5 (21:54):
My ten year old or my almost seven year old,
you know, they've.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
Come home from school and commented like, hey, what do you.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
Do because Sammy said that, his mommy said that. And
you know, all they know is that I, like, I
go places to give speeches and that they sometimes come
with me to Santa Barbara When I do it, and
they think that that's the best thing ever.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
So and here with your best tip for my listeners
on how they can improve their lives.
Speaker 5 (22:23):
Put down your phone, get outside, have face to face
uninterrupted conversation with somebody that you care about, who knows
who you also know deeply cares about you.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
It's a good one.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
I feel like that's it comes up a lot, and
yet I find that very difficult to do.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
But I'm going to.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Every time I hear it as the piece of advice,
I feel like, Okay, I'm going to do it today.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
I'm going today, I'm going to be on my phone less.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
And it does work sometimes. So thank you for that.
Thank you so much, Alicia. It was great having you on.
Love talking to you. Leaking else look up pro work.
She's really terrific.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Thanks so much for joining us on the Carol Markowitz Show.
Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Hi, and welcome back to the Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio.
Regular listeners of this program know that I ask all
of my guests what they think is our largest cultural problem.
In the last few weeks, I've talked about what I
think it is, and that's bystanderism, good people standing by
and letting bad things happen. And I've heard all the
(00:27):
arguments about why people do that, why people don't step in.
I get it, I've addressed it. I think it's a
mistake anyway. I think people should step in. I think
it makes our society better when we do. But I
think the root of why we don't is that we
have this disconnect from each other. And the root of that,
(00:47):
I think is the lack of gratitude for what we have.
We're heading into moral day weekend, maybe you're traveling, maybe
you're grilling, going to the beach. You know, any number
of things gets mentioned in our media. That Memorial Day
is a day of commemoration for the people who refuse
to be bystanders. It's for the people who stood up
(01:10):
for us, who died for us. And we've gotten so
pessimistic and so negative that if you even say that
I can hear the response in my head, Oh, those
people died in vain, that maybe those wars they fought
in weren't right, and who knows if that's true. Maybe
it is, but it's irrelevant. On this day, we respect
(01:33):
the people who didn't just stand by and whip out
their phones and film something bad happening to someone else
for someone else to deal with. On an episode with
Jesse Kelly a few months ago, we talked about raising
our kids to be the kind of people who will
jump into the ocean to save their friends, maybe at
the expense of their own lives. On Memorial Day, we
(01:55):
remember the people who do that, who jump in for
all of us, again and again. And I think that
if we pause and think about those people, put down
the hot dog and the beer, and remember why we
have a day off, it goes a really long way
toward that feeling of gratitude we all should be feeling
for our very safe and happy lives. We owe it
(02:17):
to those people not to be bystanders when the cost
is far lower than what they had. We really owe
it to each other. I wish you all listening a
safe and peaceful Memorial Day coming up next and interview
with Alisha Krause. Join us after the break.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Welcome back to the.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio. My guest today is conservative
commentator and speaker Alisha Krause. Hi, Alisha, Hi.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Good morning, So nice to have you on. Thanks.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
I have been a longtime fan of yours.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
I think you know that I love a lot of
things that you say and do. I think that our
main point of disagreement recently is I encourage people to
leave places like New York and California, encourage them to
stay and fight, which I listen, I fully appreciate, and
(03:17):
I felt like, you know, I stayed and bought in
New York as long as I could until I couldn't.
But tell me about that, like, do you feel like
there's a chance that these places can turn around? And
I'm rooting for them. I love California, I love New York.
I just I would love to.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Hear from you what you think the future might hold.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (03:36):
I think that COVID showed us how important, how important
local politics are, and how a lot of politics are
local because people were looking to the governor or the
president to like do something, or the CDC and the
EPA like, all these people.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Do something right.
Speaker 5 (03:52):
And we realized that school board decisions, city council decisions,
county chair seats, we're very commissioners, were sheriffs, even police departments.
How important the localization of the politics was. And when
I look at the voter data since twenty twenty in
(04:15):
California and a lot of local elections where Republicans are
not the majority registered voters anywhere throughout the state, you
see Republicans and moderate to right leaning Democrats winning in places,
and we're only losing.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
By a few hundred votes.
Speaker 5 (04:33):
And so I think that's why I really encourage people
to stay and fight, because I think that when we
localize those politics and not just have the talking points
of like what's happening nationally or what's a click baiting
on TikTok and Instagram, then we can really speak to
the hearts and minds of people and get to know
those people, we can make an impact and make a change.
I mean, I was at my church's mom group yesterday though,
(04:55):
and there are some people talking about, like.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
Do we just start a homestead and have arranged marriages
for all of.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Our Wow, that's a good idea, and some of us are.
Speaker 6 (05:03):
Like maybe, but then and I get that everybody's risk
calculation is going to be different, everybody's calling is going
to be different, everybody's trajectory for themselves and their marriage
and their family is going to be different.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
I just I think I didn't.
Speaker 5 (05:17):
Like specifically how people that were invested here in la
or in New York.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
It's like, in order to leave, they felt the need
to trash it.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
And I'm like, if you got to leave, leave, if
I asked why, say why. But it's not the whole
of the place that's horrible. And the people that have
stuck behind are the people that are still coming here
to pursue their future and their dreams. They're not horrible either.
There's a lot of really good people here and we
need more of them.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Right Yeah. I mean, look, I feel like I definitely
said negative things about New York. I still feel negative
things about New York, but I also root for it
in I mean more than anything, Like I want New
York to turn itself around.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
I don't know enough about California.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I mean, obviously I loved, always loved visiting California.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I just but New York.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
I have obviously so much love for and I don't
want to see it fail. I don't want to see it,
but I think that I guess I felt like giving
it tough love and saying like, you know, these are
the things that are wrong. You have to face reality,
and if you don't, it's going to get worse.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
But I appreciate the people who stay and fight.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
I don't think that your homestead idea and arranged marriage
is very crazy. I think it's quite good. My latest
thing has been you know, I think I'm friends and
I know you.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Are as well.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Like with a lot of you know, conservatives, and we
have a lot of us have kids. The real thing
is like to have a retreat for conservative children of
conservative commentators, you know, where they could just be themselves
and meet o their children in the same situation. And yeah,
my mom gets recognized in the street and sometimes gets
yelled at, and you know that kind of thing.
Speaker 5 (07:03):
Thankfully, thankfully that hasn't happened in a while. I'm not
big enough. I think that that occurs very often. I'm
known as kind of like my kid's mom at church
and at school, and in both places we have a
community of like minded people, and I think that that's
been a pleasant surprise too, because I think the assumption
is everyone's just like an AOC liberal here, and that's
(07:26):
not the case. Like even if they are registered Democrat,
time will tell. And there's so many hot button issues
right now that even the Democrats are like, well, that's
that's not us, that's not what we represent anymore. And
I think if we can find those common things that
we have in common, then that's a good thing. I
love the idea of like a retreat though, and I
(07:47):
and I get that you don't always want your kids
to have to be like the missionaries or the fighters.
And so even though my husband and I do that
on a daily basis, like we're not tasking our children
with a role and responsibility. And I also have to say,
I mean we You and I met twenty years ago
when we lived in New York City and my husband
(08:08):
I left New York gosh, eleven years ago now, and
we were like, we still we want to still love
it when we leave it, not like.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
So many people get.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
It's a very transient city, like people get burnt out
and then they leave and I hate it and we
didn't want that to be us. And I actually haven't
been back in New York and years. I'm going back
later this year and I'm very excited about it, And
it's just an ever changing city.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
And I think it's actually harder to raise a family there.
Speaker 5 (08:30):
Like I loved being there for the single years of
my life, and I feel like LA is so much easier.
And we have like the little croushouse compound that we
can lock the gates and run around barefoot with our
kids that a lot of people, like you don't get
that in New York, right, So the battle is different,
and I do think that, as we've seen, the battle
is everywhere.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Yeah. I mean I grew up in Brooklyn, so to
me it was like the most obvious place to raise children.
But I hear what you're saying, it's you don't get
a compound.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
In New York.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
So did you always want to be in this field?
Was this always what you were going to do?
Speaker 4 (09:07):
No?
Speaker 5 (09:07):
I was always a political nerd. My mom paved the way.
She was a small business owner, chairwoman of the county
GOP ran for office two times.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
And I think I got the bug then maybe.
Speaker 5 (09:20):
But I mean when I was little, I think I
wanted to be a figure skater and then a gymnast,
and then I realized I was three hours from any
facilities that offer either of them, and my parents were
not down to dry. So I've switched to politics real quick.
But no, I don't think. I don't think I ever.
I was a producer in talk radio and I enjoyed
kind of like working behind the scenes and politics. I
(09:41):
never envisioned being the person on the stage or being
the person interviewed. It kind of just fell into my
lap in a weird circle of ways.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Right, do you feel like you've made it?
Speaker 5 (09:55):
You know, because you and I have so many of
the similar friends that are incredibly successful, I think if
I am comparing myself to them, no, But if you
look at the American dream, I think every generation hopes
that their kids and grandkids do better than they did.
So if you were to ask my mom and dad
have I made it, they would say absolutely. I think
(10:16):
in my personal life, I've definitely made it. I'm thirty
eight years old, I'm married, I have four kids, we
own a home. I mean, in a lot of ways,
that's incredible making it. When I look at my peers
and the luck that I had to fall into that
when a lot of women my age, aren't in the
(10:37):
same kind of business, aren't able to say the same right,
But yeah, it's an interesting question.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
I should talk to my therapist about that next week.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Well, So, I mean, people answer it differently, you know.
I've had like, people who are you you would think
are at the top of their game, like career wise,
say like.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
No, they don't feel like they've achieved everything yet.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
And then other people who are maybe are not, like
maybe even just starting out in their careers. I get
a range of answers, and I love hearing what people
think that question means and whether that applies to them
or not.
Speaker 5 (11:11):
Yeah, And I think that you often have a lot
of professional leaders, maybe even spiritual leaders, business leaders that
are of which a lot of my friends are, that
are very self driven but also very self critical. And
I think that it can be like the Spider Man,
your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness. Absolutely, And
(11:34):
so I just try to have like a really well
rounded perspective of like, you know what, I've made it.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
If my kids want to.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
Hang out with me today, like exactly amazing, because how
many other tween girls want to hang out with their
mom and do things with them and are thankful for
that time and energy and effort like that is like
a made it moment for me.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
And I think that you have to take those I.
Speaker 5 (11:56):
Used to work with a political consultant who's an amazing
guy up in the Bay Area, and he was like,
you got to take the small wins, and so sometimes
my and you got to celebrate them.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
And so sometimes my husband I look at each other.
Speaker 5 (12:05):
We're like, that's a small win, like or glass of
wine and celebrate that.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Yeah, that's exactly right. And you know, your greatest strength
being your greatest weakness.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
I fully agree with that.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Bethany Mendel, our mutual friend and my co author, was
on this show and we talked about how the year
that we published the book, it was the best and
worst year ever. The book was a success, but we
weren't like sleeping, and we were traveling all the.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Time and just all kinds of stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
So I think like some of your best times can
easily be your worst times as well. I think that's
that's pretty standard. So what kind of stuff do you
like talking about when you comment, Like, what kind of
what's your chosen direction basically in your career?
Speaker 5 (12:51):
I mean, I really love to if I were to
broadly put it, I love to speak on issues that
are really affecting young people, but specific young women, and
through Young America's Foundation, who tends to be the organization
that sponsors my campus speeches, the students request specific topics
and issues that are typically related to what's happening culturally
(13:12):
and politically on a national scale, but also on their campuses.
And it's always fascinating to me how I could be
talking about the DABS decision, or free speech or Hamas
and Israel and the Q and A always circles back
to like personal advice to show wanting that personal touch
(13:36):
of like how do you do what you do? How
should I what trajectory should I take? Like which things
should I prioritize? And I really enjoy I don't think
I'm an expert in it, but if I can share.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
My own personal story and my own personal.
Speaker 5 (13:50):
Struggles that somebody else can relate to and view it
as a like a comforting or educational experience, like, that's
really what I enjoy speaking to is making sure that
people but specifically conservative women and conservative young women.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
The majority of my audience.
Speaker 5 (14:09):
I would say, is between the ages of eighteen and
thirty understand that they are not alone, and that there
are others out there like them, and all of the
thoughts that they have in their head and all of
the frustrations that they experience personally, professionally, politically, there are
other women in their shoes too, and that, like having
a community around you and hopefully being able to create
(14:30):
a community of like minded women, is really what I
love to talk about and what I love to do.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
We're going to take a quick break and be right
back on the Carol Markoitz Show.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
What would you say is our largest cultural problem?
Speaker 5 (14:48):
I think comparison. There's a Christian speaker, Lisa Bavier. She
had a great post and I'm going to biffit, but
she talked about like, as a Christian, comparison is wrong,
Like it's a sin because either you are jealous of
what somebody else has, like you.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Know of what your neighbor has, which is a breaking.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Up believements one of the commandments, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:07):
Exactly, a big one, and or you are self righteous.
And so I think when you look at in both
our sin and so I think when you look at
culture right now, whether it's on campus, whether it's on wall, street,
whether it's on social media, whether it's even in some
you know, houses of faith.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
The risk, the danger of comparison is.
Speaker 5 (15:32):
That all around it's well, we don't like the Jews
because they control everything, comparison we don't like I mean,
if you go back to you know, racist Jim Crow laws,
we don't like black people because white people thought they
were better comparison. I think all throughout human history, comparison
has been really at the center point of what has
(15:54):
gone wrong with society, and I think that it's something
that we need to change.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Yeah, and it's the theme of joy, right, You're never
you never feel quite right when you're comparing yourself feel fulfilled. Yeah,
it's solvable. Like what do you tell young people? How
do you get them off of that comparison game.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
It's hard.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Put your phone down.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
That's good.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
Yeah, you're like as.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
An adult, like as a millennial mom, I still have to,
you know, work on it every single day. But I
think that unfortunately, the victim mentality that you see comes
from comparison of the haves and the have nots, and
that it's not fair. And when that is your mindset,
then your mind is completely in the wrong spot. You
have to get your mind in the right spot to
be like, what am I going to do today to
(16:38):
help myself and help others and make it more insular
and start there.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
I mean, I'm not a big about the.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
Your truth self help kind of I don't want to
sound like that at all. I'm talking about take a beat,
put down the phone, get outside, engage with somebody else
that agrees with you and support to you, but also
engage with somebody else that might peacefully disagree with you too,
to get out of your own little bubble. And I
(17:06):
think that that helps you not compare yourself. And I
think that you know, I'm from the Bible Belt.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
I'm from the.
Speaker 5 (17:13):
Middle of nowhere, and I remember moving to New York
City and being fascinated at all of the assumptions that
these upper east Side liberals had about the flyover states.
And then you can go to the rest Belt and
you can go to you know, Southern Baptist Convention or
you know, the middle of nowhere, Nebraska, and it's interesting
the assumptions that those people have about like the East
(17:34):
and the left coast, like land of fruits and nuts people.
And so I think it really is about getting outside
of your individual bubble and getting to know those people
in those other places and stop comparing yourself to them.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
I do think it's a winnable thing.
Speaker 5 (17:51):
I do, but I think that we have to have
messengers out there that are portraying.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
That, not just for you and I, but for young
people as well.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?
Not figure skating, I guess, but I may, I joke.
Speaker 5 (18:10):
I'd be a regular Baronel Stutsman. I would have political
reference there.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
I would have a flower shop.
Speaker 5 (18:15):
I think it's my hobby.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
I really love the La Flower Market.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
I feel like I'm not that creative of a person,
but it brings me joy to make things and arrangements
for other people. And I yeah, if I weren't doing
this and I had all the money in the world,
I would just have fresh flowers everywhere around the house
and bring them to my neighbors and friends all the time.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
I could completely see you owning a flower shop, Like,
have you considered doing that?
Speaker 5 (18:42):
Yes, there is a business nearby and it was like
floral but importing business for sale. And my husband was like,
maybe you should look into the numbers, right, that would
work for you?
Speaker 4 (18:51):
No, this is hard.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
I mean, I think you're very good at what you
do and it's hard to give up, you know, a passion.
But I could see you owning a flower shop.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
I could totally see that.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
Politics and poppies.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Yes, well then you then you wouldn't get any sales,
but yes, yes, otherwise we'll.
Speaker 5 (19:10):
Have a cup of coffee, we'll chit chat about you know,
pop culture and what's happening with the Fed.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Yeah right, yeah, Taylor Swift's Dew album. But you know,
could be anything. So did you when you were coming up,
did you see yourself like in this role, like was
this the ultimate goal?
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Or did you want to be a producer. That's when
I met you. You were a radio Did.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
You think that was going to be it? Or did
you did you think that you might branch off into
you know, being the talent?
Speaker 5 (19:40):
No, I never I never saw that trajectory coming. I
never saw getting the call to come audition for a
morning radio show. That kind of put me on the
path of being talent at multiple companies. I enjoyed working
behind the scenes. I my background for some produced the
Handy Radio show for seven years, and I just got
to a point where it wasn't challenging anymore, and since
(20:01):
it wasn't challenging anymore, it wasn't fun anymore, and my
husband and I decided to leave New York City and
go pursue other things. I've done a bucket list item
of running a congressional campaign that was like the best
and the worst year of my life, as you're talking
about with your book. Yeah, I never once was I like,
I'm gonna, you know, give speeches and be booked on
(20:23):
podcasts and TV that It never crossed my mind. And
Sean actually told me once, He's like, that's probably a
good thing because you fell into it.
Speaker 6 (20:31):
So there were not lower expectations.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
But it wasn't like this must achieve this in my head.
Speaker 5 (20:39):
And maybe that's why I was given the opportunity, because
I wasn't this eager little intern that was just trying
to get on TV right like some people are. I think,
just go with the flow, go with what you're good at,
And I think, I hope it makes me a better
commentator because I understand the effort of all the people
behind the scenes and the real people that are listening.
(21:01):
I think that was the beauty of talk radio and
now podcasting, right, is really being able to tap into
and communicate in a more conversational way to the listener
and what they're going through and what they're interested in hearing.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
What's it like leading a public life? Do you get
recognized a lot?
Speaker 5 (21:20):
You know, interestingly, more so my voice or my name,
So like Elicia Krause is an old dude's name, right,
and it's obvious. So if you were wait, like, why
do I recognize that name? Because I don't think it's
that common. But no, it doesn't happen too often. I mean,
(21:41):
it has happened a couple of times where I'll be
in a mom group or amongst a friend group and
they'll be like, yeah, so I've known you for three
months in person, but I realized I've followed you on
Instagram for two years.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
So funny. Yeah, and it's funny when that happens.
Speaker 5 (21:54):
My ten year old or my almost seven year old,
you know, they've.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
Come home from school and commented like, hey, what do you.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
Do because Sammy said that, his mommy said that. And
you know, all they know is that I, like, I
go places to give speeches and that they sometimes come
with me to Santa Barbara When I do it, and
they think that that's the best thing ever.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
So and here with your best tip for my listeners
on how they can improve their lives.
Speaker 5 (22:23):
Put down your phone, get outside, have face to face
uninterrupted conversation with somebody that you care about, who knows
who you also know deeply cares about you.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
It's a good one.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
I feel like that's it comes up a lot, and
yet I find that very difficult to do.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
But I'm going to.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Every time I hear it as the piece of advice,
I feel like, Okay, I'm going to do it today.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
I'm going today, I'm going to be on my phone less.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
And it does work sometimes. So thank you for that.
Thank you so much, Alicia. It was great having you on.
Love talking to you. Leaking else look up pro work.
She's really terrific.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Thanks so much for joining us on the Carol Markowitz Show.
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