November 13, 2024 • 31 mins
In this episode, Karol interviews Kirsten Fleming, a features columnist for the New York Post. They discuss Kirsten's long career at the Post, her transition from news to opinion writing, and her Basque heritage. The conversation also touches on her connection to the Jersey Shore, advice she would give to her younger self, and her concerns about societal polarization. The Karol Markowicz Show is part of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast Network - new episodes debut every Wednesday & Friday.
Follow Clay & Buck on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/clayandbuck
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hi, and welcome back to this Carol Marcowitz Show on iHeartRadio,
and welcome to the new time slot. The Carol Markowitz
Show is moving to Wednesdays and Fridays, so you can
get my non political podcast this show, the Carol Marcowitz
Show on Wednesday and Friday, and then normally the political
podcast I co host with Mary Katherine Ham every Tuesday
(00:27):
and Thursday. So really Monday is the only day you're
living without me, haha. So for the last few weeks
on this show, I've been talking theoretically about not losing
friends and family over politics, and now, of course the
election has happened and the reality of that friction is
here for a lot of people. There's so many posts
(00:49):
on x on Instagram elsewhere about cutting off your family
members if they voted for Trump, and yes, these posts
always do go in one direction. Never someone seems to
be cut off for voting for Harris. One of the
posts advised cutting off your family who voted for Trump,
and people responded things like they were no longer going
(01:11):
to see their kids or grandkids because of how they voted.
One that I highlighted on my ex feed was this
person saying we became a strange from our daughter. Eventually
we went no contact two years ago. It's heartbreaking, but
it had to be done. I missed my grandsons, and
I still love all three of them fiercely, but we
will not give hate a safe harbor here in our home.
(01:34):
Mean just bananas. They think they're not being hateful. It's
absolutely wild to me. And then there was one lady
who said that her family actually voted for Harris, but
she was dreading seeing just one uncle who went for Trump.
Over Thanksgiving. The original poster who had started this whole
(01:54):
thing and actually has since deleted his account, I think
because it got a lot of pushback, commented that she
shouldn't be attending any event with a Nazi. So even
one family member voting what you think is wrong means
you skip Thanksgiving? How is that sane? I've given advice
in previous episodes about either avoiding politics or having respectful conversations,
(02:20):
but it's most important to choose a path that leaves
you with a loving family at the end of the day.
I feel like I don't have that many people listening
who are the ones cutting off their family, So it's tough.
You have to overcome their anger and their hatred that
gets kind of supported by their political side online. It's
(02:41):
also important to step back and remember that the Internet
is not really real life, and the people sitting around
the table with you at Thanksgiving are We'll switch to
some other topics in the monologues of the next few episodes,
and I'd love your questions and comments at Carol Markowitz
Show at gmail dot com. But I had to say
it again, nothing matters more than your family. Coming up
(03:05):
next an interview with Kirsten Fleming join us after the break.
But first, last week, Americans voted in one of the
most consequential elections in our history. With all that's happening,
we know that the support of Americans like you means
so much to the people of Israel, especially now. This
past year, not only have we seen the war rage
(03:27):
on in the Holy Land, but we've also seen an
alarming rise in anti Semitism. This is why I'm a
proud partner of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
They have been building bridges between Christians and Jews for
over forty years, and since that time have been on
the ground helping the vulnerable and providing security for Jews
(03:49):
in both Israel and Ukraine. Thank you for your support
during this critical time. Your gift helps the Fellowship provide food,
necessities and security to those most in need. Standing with
Israel and the Jewish people has never meant so much.
Go to support IFCJ dot org to learn more and
(04:09):
make a gift now. That's support IFCJ dot org or
call to give at eight eight eight four eight eight
if CJ that's eight eight eight four eight eight four
three two five.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Welcome back to.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
The Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio. My guest today is
New York Post Features columnist Kirsten Fleming.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Hi, Kirsten, how are you?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Hi?
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Carol? How's it going?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
You know, the first time we met, I mispronounced your name,
and I live in fear of doing that for the
rest of my life.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
Now, did you call me Kristen?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
No?
Speaker 3 (04:46):
No, no, come on, let's like get crazy.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
I mean Kristen.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
I called you Kirsten, which I thought was like, I
don't know, it's it seemed like that would be the
right way to go.
Speaker 5 (04:56):
But no, that was a yeah, it's forgivable though as existent.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
I mean, come on, I see where the eye is
it's just you know, yeah, I didn't know. So in
preparation for this, I was Kirsten.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Don't mess it up.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Even though we've known each other a long time now
and I know how to say your name absolutely still,
you know, first impressions and all of that.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Well, it did not scar me at all.
Speaker 5 (05:24):
I didn't even remember this, So I guess you're bringing
up repressed trauma right now.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
So exactly, I'm gonna I'm gonna.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
Have a meltdown after we get off this, but I'll
hold it together for this.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
I feel like you're so professional you're going to be
able to make it through this whole situation here. So
you've been at the post a while.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
How many years now.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
It's going to be twenty one years in January. I know,
it's crazy.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
I know I've done everything here except clean toilets, which,
hey there's still time, there's still time. Exactly, it's only Wednesday,
so I don't rule anything out. But yeah, no, I've
held many positions here, so it's been it's been a
while's ride.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
It's been great.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
So now you're features columnist and you're you're right your
opinion now, and I love it. I mean, I'm all
about it. I think I'm your biggest fan, and I
don't like saying, so.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
So what made the switch?
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Because you were on the news side, but now you're
on opinion, and like, how does that feel?
Speaker 4 (06:22):
It's it's definitely very different.
Speaker 5 (06:23):
I mean I was doing features, so I had done
everything I'd worked, you know, done like features for you
know them for a fashion lifestyle world, I coom of news,
I'd worked in police headquarters, and I had I've done
a lot of features, like more like news features, really
good reads, really good deep dives into kind of off
this off the field sports culture.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
When that crossed over.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
Yeah, and I really loved it, but I was getting
kind of stale and kind of bored, and our columnist left,
and so I had written an opinion piece here and there.
You know, I would raise my hand and I obviously
have a lot of opinions, but I never really thought
I wanted to do that. And a great editor here
who's always been a big supporter of mine, she kind
(07:05):
of threw my hat into the ring without telling me.
And yeah, no, I so they said you want to
try it, and yeah, of course, yeah, And I didn't
really even think about it.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
I didn't have time to think about it.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
But it is such a different, different presence now at
the paper.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
You know, I don't I don't have to make as
many phone calls to you know, like I don't. It
is vinion writing.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
I mean, I'm obviously in opinion columnist. I love it.
I don't know how the news side does it.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
I know, it's such a weird switch.
Speaker 5 (07:34):
And then also, you know, you start to see kind
of people who you had very good relationships with and
would check in with you all the time, and you
kind of see that slide off a little bit because
maybe I don't know, maybe they're not you're not necessarily
in their ether anymore, or maybe you've offended them.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
No, I'm sure you didn't you who could you offend?
Speaker 4 (07:53):
Come on, I mean, just very mild opinions.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
So I just think there's not It's much harder to
pitch opinion columnists, and so you don't get as many pitches,
like a lot of the pitches I get. I'm like, oh,
that's for the news side. Let me just forward you
right over. Yeah, so you don't get that, which you
know is fine with me, but yeah, she probably just
don't they don't I say it this way, but they
(08:17):
probably just don't need you.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
As much anymore. They don't need me as much anymore.
But I'm sure they're a little bit, you know.
Speaker 5 (08:22):
But but it definitely has changed my role here, and
I think for the better. Though I have made other
amazing contacts. My feelings aren't hurt by the way. It's
just it's just you see, you know, I was always
kind of going to events and doing you know, different
things and going to games and but this, you know,
I still keep up, Like this morning, I went to
the Big East Media Day because I love college basketball,
(08:44):
and yeah, how can I still keep my foot in
the door in those places?
Speaker 4 (08:48):
But because I still do write about sports and write
about that stuff. So but yeah, no, it's it. It's
a total it's a total vibe shift. You know.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
I always saw you as like a sport it's you know,
like I thought you would be a sports writer. But
I think you're getting to do kind of best of
all worlds. Now, Yeah, am I just imagining it?
Speaker 5 (09:10):
No?
Speaker 4 (09:10):
You're not imagining it at all. No, it's great. I
I really do feel like I set the tone. I don't.
I have a lot of conversations with my editors.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
You know.
Speaker 5 (09:19):
Sometimes ideas are long simmering, sometimes they're immediate. Sometimes we
have discussions and I say I don't really care about that,
and I say, okay, move on, or you know, they'll
say we.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
Don't care about that. So it's it's.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
So it's still like a give and take in a
great relationship with your editors. But I don't I don't
find myself like you know, occasionally.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
Used to have to do stories. You like, I don't
want to do this, you know, and I don't. You
don't have that, noah.
Speaker 5 (09:49):
So there's a certain level of adjitda that's been removed
and replaced by other adjda.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
But you know, I mean, it's but it's it's good.
It's good. I enjoy it.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
You're also bad, right I am? Did I get that?
Speaker 4 (10:02):
Okay? Yes?
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Another another like, I hope I don't mix up. Where
she's from in.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Spain, yes, proudly Basque. Yes absolutely.
Speaker 5 (10:13):
My grandparents are were from a small town near Bilbao
called Mundhaka, and it's a small fishing village and it
is now like a world class surfing spot and I
love being back there and it's really special and I've
always grown up with that you're a.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
Basque, you know you not many people are like this.
This is this is a special thing.
Speaker 5 (10:35):
And I only speak I only have like a few
bass words.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
I don't speak Basque, you know. When I'm there, it's
like good morning, goodbye, hi.
Speaker 5 (10:43):
Thank you, like little bits and bobs. But it's it's
a it's a special culture, and I feel very lucky
that it's you know, I'm half half.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
What what what's that? Can you tell us about the culture?
What like makes it special? So?
Speaker 5 (10:58):
I mean it's it's kind of like this ethnic that
no one really understands where they came from, or that
they don't know.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
The roots of the language.
Speaker 5 (11:04):
The the cranial shape is different, like when they look
at the different yes, and there's the most what's the
universal blood type?
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Am I getting canceled after this episode?
Speaker 4 (11:17):
There there's like we're aliens.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
There's like videos that that Basque people are aliens. There's
some sort of like critic Okay, I'm more being casual here,
I'm a lizard person. No, but it has so so
a lot of this stuff is like a great mystery.
Mark Kurlansky wrote a great book about the Basques, and
it's called the Basque history of the world, and it's
(11:43):
you know, they have their their own unique language.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
There's Basque provinces. They they they always say they they're
like the oldest.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
Remaining ethnic group in Europe, and they're in Spain and.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
So southern France and northern Spain.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
There's the Pocket and the Pyrenees, and they always say
they heckled Charlemagne out of the Pyrenees. And the language
is extremely tough.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
I think the There was a really big.
Speaker 5 (12:06):
Article in National Geographic on the Basques when I was
in high school, and the first line was I used
to think I was a linguist until I tried to
learn Basque. And so like, for example, the word for
thank you in Spanish is obviously gratias, and then in
Basquets est gasco, so it's not quite the same. Welcome
(12:28):
is agiatory like it. It sounds so bizarre and and
it's unique because in certain towns they spoke it more.
Franco completely suppressed it when he was in power that
you know, there was no Basque flags flying from what
I understand, and you know that you weren't really naming
your kids Basque names. And so now it's it has
(12:49):
a very vibrant resurgence. They teach it in schools. You know,
there's basque flags everywhere. Mostly people will speak it at
home a lot. It depends on the village, like if
you're from a the town's kind of it really does
vary on how much you speak. And you know, I
think my mom said that. My mom says like, oh,
I don't speak any at all, but then she kind
(13:10):
of always like whips out a lot more than she
says she has. But but yeah, and we just you know,
I have like a very strong tether to that area.
And my grandfather was born in eighteen ninety seven. So
here's like a crazy thing really quickly. My grandfather was
born in eighteen ninety seven. He was like fifteen years
older than my grandmother. He lived to be ninety three.
(13:32):
He lived in a fifth floor walk up up until
he in on the Lower East Side until he was
like ninety. I mean, like the kind of this like
incredibly very robust kind of guy. But his father was
like this eccentric fisherman. Hemingway was best friends with the
priest from our hometown. And so there's all these stories
that my great grandfather was the inspiration for the Old
Man to see again. It's yeah, there's I mean, who knows,
(13:54):
there's there's like some of my mom's cousins are like, eh,
not really, but then but there is a lot of
there's a lot of evidence that you know, could suggest that.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
So interesting. So yeah, yeah wow, yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Well, switching to the other location with really specific dialects
and funny language that I associate with you the Jersey Shore. Yeah,
I think of the Jersey Shore and I think of you,
what's your connection there?
Speaker 5 (14:20):
And just a big old wido. I have tribal tattoos
that I'm covering up. Yeah, a fifth Pumper by birth.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
No, so I was. Yeah, so I grew up at
the Jersey Shore.
Speaker 5 (14:32):
And that show is hilarious because none of them are
really actually from the Jersey Shore. I think like two
of them are, and they're all interloper is what we
call Benny's That's like the main thing.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
That people from the Jersey Shore want you to know
that nobody from the show The Jersey Shore is from
the Jersey Shore.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
Only Sammy is actually from She's from Halt and then
Situation I think moved down in high school from Staten Islands. Yeah,
he's from an Alpin. So I went to high school there,
I believe. But yes, Snookie from Poughkeepsie, j.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Wow from Long Island, from the Bronx. I love it.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
I remember all their names, and I know I don't.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
That is space in your brain that maybe could be
used for other things. That's what I say about myself
when I remember information that I don't need.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
You know, I know I'm a fond of useful syledge.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
But I did do a lot of reporting when that
was huge because since I was the Jersey Shore correspondent.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
You know, it was just kind of fun. It was fun.
Speaker 5 (15:30):
They brought a wacky energy there. But yeah, no, that's
not really the Jersey Shore is every single like you know,
you've been there.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
No Bullshit Cove, I mean like Cove, bullshit Cove.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
That was Yeah, I'll just say that was an area
near where my friends had a Jersey shorehouse that had
all these Trump flags and they said, no more bullshit
you know Trump. It was twenty twenty at the time. Yeah,
so they called it No Bullshit Cove.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
Yeah, and that was one of my favorite things.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
I'd always been like, what are your dispatches from No
Bullshit Cove?
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Because I never actually got to know boshit Cove. But
I enjoyed your dispatches.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
But yeah, no, the Jersey Shore, I mean along the water,
it's it is. It's like three square every town is
like three square miles. And the personalities changed.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
So you have the very Poshta. You have Seaside Heights,
which is now started to get a little bit more
cleaned up.
Speaker 5 (16:20):
But you know, that was where they lived in the
boardwalk where in the wintertime you had heroin addicts in
the hotels and then in the summertime you had guidos
on the boardwalk.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
You know. So Jim Tan laundry, Jim glt baby.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (16:32):
So yeah, no, And I went to high school right
across the bridge from Seaside Heights.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
Ah okay, I didn't realize you went to high school there.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Yeah. So I went to high school in Toms River.
Speaker 5 (16:43):
I went to Montignor Donovan, which is now called Donovan Catholic,
And uh yeah, that's that's a Catholic school girl. And
so like we had a surf team. I was on
on the surf team, but they so it was you know,
it was a very like kind of shorty place. But
it's right across the Bridge from Seaside Heights because that's
a barrier Island.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
More coming up with Kirsten Fleming in a moment. But first,
Americans are tired and frustrated by a stalling economy, inflation,
endless wars, and the relentless assault on our values. Thankfully,
there's companies like Patriot Mobile that still believe in America
and our constitution. I'm proud to partner with Patriot Mobile
(17:23):
because they're on the front lines fighting for the First
and Second Amendments, sanctity of life, and our military and
first responder heroes take a stand for conservative causes and
put America first. By switching to Patriot Mobile today, you'll
get the same nationwide coverage as the big providers because
Patriot Mobile operates across all three major networks, Plus they
(17:44):
back their service with a coverage guarantee. Their one hundred
percent US based customer service team will find the best
plan for your needs. Keep your number, keep your phone,
or upgrade. Go to Patriot Mobile slash Carrol that's case
Arol or call nine seven to two Patriot right now.
(18:04):
Get a free month when you use the offered code
Carol kro L. Don't get fooled by other providers pretending
to share your values or have the same coverage they don't,
and they can't switch to America's only Christian conservative mobile provider,
Patriot Mobile.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
So good seg to a question that I ask all
of my guests, what advice would you give to a
sixteen year old you?
Speaker 5 (18:32):
Okay, I'm going to ask you a question though. Were
you What were you like as a sixteen year old?
Speaker 3 (18:36):
I was a club kid who were really long lashes
and big platform heels and wigs.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
So I was.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Definitely very New Yorky.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Well were you like?
Speaker 4 (18:49):
Okay?
Speaker 5 (18:50):
I was very preppy, very athletic, and it was a
very very well adjusted kid.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
I had tons of friends. That's awesome, very well adjusted,
a good student.
Speaker 5 (19:01):
But I would say I think about this a lot
because I think I was very well adjusted. But I
wish I was a little bit more vulnerable and like
asked more questions and probed more, and kind of I
think I got along a lot, you know, instead of
maybe like getting along.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
I wish I'd dove into certain things a little bit more.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
And I think I wish I was more vulnerable and
admitted that I didn't know how to do something, and
I think it would have benefited me a lot more
to be a little bit more open to the things
I didn't necessarily know, and I think it would have
made me an even better student.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
It would have.
Speaker 5 (19:37):
I think it would have been better even to say, like,
because I always wanted to be a reporter, but I
never even I was a little like closed off in
that sense, like I didn't challenge myself because I was
so well adjusted.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
I was the We always joked that I grew up
in a teen movie. I totally did.
Speaker 5 (19:52):
I'm still best friends with everyone I went to like
kindergarten with. I mean, it's yeah, I'm surrounded by it's
the get along gang. So I think maybe have been
a little bit more vulnerable and pursued some interests that
were a little bit outside of the norm.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
It's funny because I totally see you as somebody who
pursues interests outside of the norm. I think that you
follow your own beat, and I I like iver, you know,
since I early meeting you, I just think of you
as like really somebody who does her own thing and
doesn't follow the crowd. And I never know what you're
going to believe or say, and I don't think you're predictable,
(20:29):
so I don't rave about all my guests this way,
you can.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
I know, I feel so honored.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
I mean, this is like Avenue p Love, right, And
I mean I did, like I definitely did, and I was,
as I said, I kind of was this person that
I got along with everybody and I was on like
the academic challenge team and the quiz team, and then
my friends did that. So I did things that my
friends didn't do. But I wish, but that was still
(20:56):
in the in the realm of my school, Like I
wish I kind of broke out and took more chances.
Like my dad always used to say, why don't you
try out for that soccer team. They're better, You're better,
you can you know, And I would say, no, I
want to be with my friends.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
Or I wish that I had said.
Speaker 5 (21:12):
I wish I had said, uh, I want to learn
more about newspapers and maybe went to the Asbury Park
Press and said, can I do an internship here? And again,
it was the nineties, I don't think people were really
doing as much of that, and there wasn't the internet
to have more.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
Help it along, yeah, help it along, but yeah, I
think I wish I'd just kind of was a bit.
Speaker 5 (21:30):
More bolder and a little bit more vulnerable and a
little bit more open. I guess in that sense, I
think it would have benefited me a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
What do you worry about?
Speaker 4 (21:41):
Do you know? I worry about a few things.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
The fentanyl stuff is like, actually I know that that.
There's probably a wide breath of answers you get. I
don't know if you heard Theovonne with JD. Vance, you know, yeah, yeah,
there was a clip that was going around and he's like, man,
you can didn't even do coke anymore in America, and
you know, and Vance is dying laughing because it's Theovonne
and he's such a gem and his delivery is amazing.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
But I do think about that. I have so many
children in my life, and I worry so much that
they just.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Can't even do coke anymore.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
They can't do coke anymore. Like I think about this.
Speaker 5 (22:18):
I go to family parties and I normally bring cocaine
for the kids, And like.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
I shouldn't have made a joke. You know, you were
talking about a serious topic. It just a lot together,
and I feel like that I just let us write
into that. Okay, But seriously, pentle is obviously a really
serious topic, and.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
I think that was sort of top of mind, and
I do worry about, you know, all these accidental deaths
from it. And then I think I just worry a
lot about polarization, and I think everybody burrowing into their
ideological holes. I don't know if he saw so the
whole Taylor Swift with Dave Portnoy note.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
I don't know if he saw that she had written
him a note.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Yes, I did see that. I mean, I'm up on
my Taylor Swift information. I left at the forten year
old girl. Also, you know, I got it all. But
also I like Dave port and a lot.
Speaker 4 (23:04):
He's great.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
I follow what he's up to.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
But I love Dave. Yeah yeah, great, tell us a story.
So I mean, I love Dave. Great guy, you know,
unique guy.
Speaker 5 (23:14):
But so the fact that he had the Taylor Swift.
So Taylor Swift wrote him a note, she invited into
her concert, and she had her brother deliver a handwritten note.
Her mother came gave him a giant hug, and New
York Magazine had a piece the day after and it said,
which Trump supporter is Taylor Swift gonna support next, And I.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Thought, and that thing is like, oh, how big of her?
How big of her?
Speaker 5 (23:42):
She's she you know, the sarcastic thing, and I just
think you like Taylor Swift man, right, It's like not enough.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
She endorsed Kamala Harris. It's like she's not on the fence.
She's like, I endorsed you, I, you know, say bad
things about Donald Trump.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
She got Donald Trump to sweet.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
I hate Taylor Swift. I know she's doing it, but
that's never enough. Never enough.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
You have to cut off everybody who disagrees with you.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
You have to have large problems with people who you
know support you in every other way. And I've talked
about I actually think the Dave port Andy Taylor Swift
thing is so awesome because here are he's obsessed with her.
He thinks she's like the greatest thing ever. He defends
her to the death. And when he heard that she's
voting for Kamala Harris, he said, well, I'm voting.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
For the other guy who cares.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Yeah, And that's what you're supposed to do, That's how
it's supposed to go. And yet they can never make
that happen.
Speaker 5 (24:34):
I know, And it's such a deeply embedded feeling in
our culture now.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
I mean I lost.
Speaker 5 (24:40):
Friends in twenty sixteen, even though I didn't even vote
for Trump.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
I just was not it doesn't.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
Matter, you're not You're not anti enough.
Speaker 5 (24:48):
I wasn't part of the resistance, you know, I didn't
serve in the resistance army.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
So I was urge in the cultural evolution. But I
mean that just makes me sad.
Speaker 5 (24:58):
How boring is your life if you're only in bird
in your echo chamber. So I worry about that. I worry, like,
what happens after this election? How do we come back together?
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Do we?
Speaker 4 (25:09):
Not?
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Do we?
Speaker 4 (25:11):
You know?
Speaker 5 (25:11):
I mean I know you talk about You've talked about
national divorces a lot.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
I don't believe in it.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
No, I don't either.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
I mean, I just think that it's illogical and could
never work.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Like let's say, let's say we.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Do all self sort and the conservatives moved to the
red states and the liberals moved to the Blue states.
Even putting aside that there's moderates and people whatever, and.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
People who change their minds.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
I mean, yes, there are so many liberals who are
now voting for Trump and there's conservatives who are voting
for Harris, and this happens all the time. So what
do you do just like move every four years. Also
the fact that obviously you have children, and where do
those children have to then self sort into other states?
It's it's not reasonable. And yeah, so I look, I
(25:55):
love the self selection that has happened in the last
five years in this country.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
And I've say I'm part of.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
That where a lot of people felt like they couldn't
be in these blue states anymore and they moved to
red states which better represent their politics. And obviously that
has been amazing for me and I talk about that
all the time. Yeah, the idea of a national divorce
where you literally have not have to do that, but
that's that's part of the process. It just it makes
(26:21):
no sense.
Speaker 5 (26:22):
It makes no sense, and it makes absolutely no sense
for any like sort of growth.
Speaker 4 (26:26):
How do how do we get back to culture? I mean, I.
Speaker 5 (26:29):
Just I just think it's such a cynical idea that like, oh,
you don't align with me on every.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
Single because you might self sort.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
And then you find that you inherently disagree with something
that's not political.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
We're going to take a quick break and be right
back on the Carol Marcowitch Show. We have to get
to a point where liberals are saying to New York Magazine,
this is not appropriate content, you know, And I think
I haven't seen it, but I'm sure Taylor Swift fans
are pushing back on it because they don't you know,
they don't take criticism of the taste.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
Very very well.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
I mean Dave Portnoy right at the top of that list,
by the way. But we need the left, the more
reasonable left, and to push back on their left flank
and say no more of this, and they haven't been
brave enough to do that yet, so I don't know
that they will. Yeah, but it's kind of what would
(27:28):
help this problem along.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
There was a story actually in New York Magazine.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Kids of liberals are much more rigid and who they
become friends with much much less.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Likely to go to the home of someone who disagrees
with them.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
I mean, all the things that you don't want for
your kids, and yet they're not stopping it because their
culture says that you have to you have to align
or be left out, be forced out. So it's not
healthy for the country. But it's really not healthy for them.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
Well, also they're in that whole idea, is the pervasive
feeling that you're so evil? Yeah, because so it's not
just like we disagree, it's like you are the devil incarnate,
that's it. Yeah, and so and that's what I think
is so dangerous too. And I'm not saying that there's
not some of that on the right, because there's a
lot of chooches on the right to who like, you know,
(28:22):
think that you know, it's their whole identity and the
you know, libtards and all that stuff. And yeah, you know,
we can joke around about it, but there are some
there is an element of that. But again, we don't
have all this institutional capture.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
So this is also not the you could never come
like you are shunned, you know, as Telsea Gabbard or
Robert F.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Kennedy.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
It's not like you don't align with us on everything,
therefore you're out.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
In fact, it's very like, come on in. It's fun.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Yes, you know, and I don't know that that necessarily happens.
I mean, look, they have Dick Cheney, you know, campaigning
for Kamala Harris. But you know, but still they do
get obviously John Stewart came out against that.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
So it's it's not like it's let's just get along.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
It's there's still some dividing lines.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
Yeah, yeah, I agree, I agree.
Speaker 5 (29:13):
I just I hope it we're able to kind of
pull ourselves out of it. But I don't know.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Yeah, I worry, you know, not the world's most optimistic person. No, well,
I have loved this conversation. You are awesome and I
think everyone should read. You leave us here with your
best tip for my listeners on how they can improve
(29:38):
their lives.
Speaker 4 (29:39):
Get friends who make fun of you.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
I love it.
Speaker 5 (29:42):
Yeah, you need thick skin, you need it humbles you.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
What is life without like?
Speaker 5 (29:51):
Roasting is my love language, and I think it is
so good for personal development and for intimacy like to
it really fosters I think intimacy with your friends and
you know, they really have to know you to roast you.
So I think that to me has always been my
lifelong prescription. I've just always been around people who just
(30:13):
rip me to shreds and I rip them to shreds,
and it's a wonderful exercise.
Speaker 4 (30:16):
And at the end of the day, if the first
one's there to give me a hug or ask me
how I'm doing. So yeah, I love it.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
And you know, this is the season where we're not
even going to talk about the Giants or the Cowboys.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
We're going to just leave this here and hope.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
Is there anything to talk about.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
I'm just saying, neither one of us can make fun here.
I know we have to just kind of yep, go
our separate.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
Ways, so there's no spike in the ball here. We're
both right and walking away.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
I go.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
She is Kirsten Fleming. Check her out the New York Post.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
She is their futures columnist and she is fantastic.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
Thanks so much, curious, Thank you, Carol. This is awesome,
so appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Thanks so much for joining us on the Carol Marco
would show subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Hi, and welcome back to this Carol Marcowitz Show on iHeartRadio,
and welcome to the new time slot. The Carol Markowitz
Show is moving to Wednesdays and Fridays, so you can
get my non political podcast this show, the Carol Marcowitz
Show on Wednesday and Friday, and then normally the political
podcast I co host with Mary Katherine Ham every Tuesday
(00:27):
and Thursday. So really Monday is the only day you're
living without me, haha. So for the last few weeks
on this show, I've been talking theoretically about not losing
friends and family over politics, and now, of course the
election has happened and the reality of that friction is
here for a lot of people. There's so many posts
(00:49):
on x on Instagram elsewhere about cutting off your family
members if they voted for Trump, and yes, these posts
always do go in one direction. Never someone seems to
be cut off for voting for Harris. One of the
posts advised cutting off your family who voted for Trump,
and people responded things like they were no longer going
(01:11):
to see their kids or grandkids because of how they voted.
One that I highlighted on my ex feed was this
person saying we became a strange from our daughter. Eventually
we went no contact two years ago. It's heartbreaking, but
it had to be done. I missed my grandsons, and
I still love all three of them fiercely, but we
will not give hate a safe harbor here in our home.
(01:34):
Mean just bananas. They think they're not being hateful. It's
absolutely wild to me. And then there was one lady
who said that her family actually voted for Harris, but
she was dreading seeing just one uncle who went for Trump.
Over Thanksgiving. The original poster who had started this whole
(01:54):
thing and actually has since deleted his account, I think
because it got a lot of pushback, commented that she
shouldn't be attending any event with a Nazi. So even
one family member voting what you think is wrong means
you skip Thanksgiving? How is that sane? I've given advice
in previous episodes about either avoiding politics or having respectful conversations,
(02:20):
but it's most important to choose a path that leaves
you with a loving family at the end of the day.
I feel like I don't have that many people listening
who are the ones cutting off their family, So it's tough.
You have to overcome their anger and their hatred that
gets kind of supported by their political side online. It's
(02:41):
also important to step back and remember that the Internet
is not really real life, and the people sitting around
the table with you at Thanksgiving are We'll switch to
some other topics in the monologues of the next few episodes,
and I'd love your questions and comments at Carol Markowitz
Show at gmail dot com. But I had to say
it again, nothing matters more than your family. Coming up
(03:05):
next an interview with Kirsten Fleming join us after the break.
But first, last week, Americans voted in one of the
most consequential elections in our history. With all that's happening,
we know that the support of Americans like you means
so much to the people of Israel, especially now. This
past year, not only have we seen the war rage
(03:27):
on in the Holy Land, but we've also seen an
alarming rise in anti Semitism. This is why I'm a
proud partner of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
They have been building bridges between Christians and Jews for
over forty years, and since that time have been on
the ground helping the vulnerable and providing security for Jews
(03:49):
in both Israel and Ukraine. Thank you for your support
during this critical time. Your gift helps the Fellowship provide food,
necessities and security to those most in need. Standing with
Israel and the Jewish people has never meant so much.
Go to support IFCJ dot org to learn more and
(04:09):
make a gift now. That's support IFCJ dot org or
call to give at eight eight eight four eight eight
if CJ that's eight eight eight four eight eight four
three two five.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Welcome back to.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
The Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio. My guest today is
New York Post Features columnist Kirsten Fleming.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Hi, Kirsten, how are you?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Hi?
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Carol? How's it going?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
You know, the first time we met, I mispronounced your name,
and I live in fear of doing that for the
rest of my life.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
Now, did you call me Kristen?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
No?
Speaker 3 (04:46):
No, no, come on, let's like get crazy.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
I mean Kristen.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
I called you Kirsten, which I thought was like, I
don't know, it's it seemed like that would be the
right way to go.
Speaker 5 (04:56):
But no, that was a yeah, it's forgivable though as existent.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
I mean, come on, I see where the eye is
it's just you know, yeah, I didn't know. So in
preparation for this, I was Kirsten.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Don't mess it up.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Even though we've known each other a long time now
and I know how to say your name absolutely still,
you know, first impressions and all of that.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Well, it did not scar me at all.
Speaker 5 (05:24):
I didn't even remember this, So I guess you're bringing
up repressed trauma right now.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
So exactly, I'm gonna I'm gonna.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
Have a meltdown after we get off this, but I'll
hold it together for this.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
I feel like you're so professional you're going to be
able to make it through this whole situation here. So
you've been at the post a while.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
How many years now.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
It's going to be twenty one years in January. I know,
it's crazy.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
I know I've done everything here except clean toilets, which,
hey there's still time, there's still time. Exactly, it's only Wednesday,
so I don't rule anything out. But yeah, no, I've
held many positions here, so it's been it's been a
while's ride.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
It's been great.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
So now you're features columnist and you're you're right your
opinion now, and I love it. I mean, I'm all
about it. I think I'm your biggest fan, and I
don't like saying, so.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
So what made the switch?
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Because you were on the news side, but now you're
on opinion, and like, how does that feel?
Speaker 4 (06:22):
It's it's definitely very different.
Speaker 5 (06:23):
I mean I was doing features, so I had done
everything I'd worked, you know, done like features for you
know them for a fashion lifestyle world, I coom of news,
I'd worked in police headquarters, and I had I've done
a lot of features, like more like news features, really
good reads, really good deep dives into kind of off
this off the field sports culture.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
When that crossed over.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
Yeah, and I really loved it, but I was getting
kind of stale and kind of bored, and our columnist left,
and so I had written an opinion piece here and there.
You know, I would raise my hand and I obviously
have a lot of opinions, but I never really thought
I wanted to do that. And a great editor here
who's always been a big supporter of mine, she kind
(07:05):
of threw my hat into the ring without telling me.
And yeah, no, I so they said you want to
try it, and yeah, of course, yeah, And I didn't
really even think about it.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
I didn't have time to think about it.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
But it is such a different, different presence now at
the paper.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
You know, I don't I don't have to make as
many phone calls to you know, like I don't. It
is vinion writing.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
I mean, I'm obviously in opinion columnist. I love it.
I don't know how the news side does it.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
I know, it's such a weird switch.
Speaker 5 (07:34):
And then also, you know, you start to see kind
of people who you had very good relationships with and
would check in with you all the time, and you
kind of see that slide off a little bit because
maybe I don't know, maybe they're not you're not necessarily
in their ether anymore, or maybe you've offended them.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
No, I'm sure you didn't you who could you offend?
Speaker 4 (07:53):
Come on, I mean, just very mild opinions.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
So I just think there's not It's much harder to
pitch opinion columnists, and so you don't get as many pitches,
like a lot of the pitches I get. I'm like, oh,
that's for the news side. Let me just forward you
right over. Yeah, so you don't get that, which you
know is fine with me, but yeah, she probably just
don't they don't I say it this way, but they
(08:17):
probably just don't need you.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
As much anymore. They don't need me as much anymore.
But I'm sure they're a little bit, you know.
Speaker 5 (08:22):
But but it definitely has changed my role here, and
I think for the better. Though I have made other
amazing contacts. My feelings aren't hurt by the way. It's
just it's just you see, you know, I was always
kind of going to events and doing you know, different
things and going to games and but this, you know,
I still keep up, Like this morning, I went to
the Big East Media Day because I love college basketball,
(08:44):
and yeah, how can I still keep my foot in
the door in those places?
Speaker 4 (08:48):
But because I still do write about sports and write
about that stuff. So but yeah, no, it's it. It's
a total it's a total vibe shift. You know.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
I always saw you as like a sport it's you know,
like I thought you would be a sports writer. But
I think you're getting to do kind of best of
all worlds. Now, Yeah, am I just imagining it?
Speaker 5 (09:10):
No?
Speaker 4 (09:10):
You're not imagining it at all. No, it's great. I
I really do feel like I set the tone. I don't.
I have a lot of conversations with my editors.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
You know.
Speaker 5 (09:19):
Sometimes ideas are long simmering, sometimes they're immediate. Sometimes we
have discussions and I say I don't really care about that,
and I say, okay, move on, or you know, they'll
say we.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
Don't care about that. So it's it's.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
So it's still like a give and take in a
great relationship with your editors. But I don't I don't
find myself like you know, occasionally.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
Used to have to do stories. You like, I don't
want to do this, you know, and I don't. You
don't have that, noah.
Speaker 5 (09:49):
So there's a certain level of adjitda that's been removed
and replaced by other adjda.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
But you know, I mean, it's but it's it's good.
It's good. I enjoy it.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
You're also bad, right I am? Did I get that?
Speaker 4 (10:02):
Okay? Yes?
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Another another like, I hope I don't mix up. Where
she's from in.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Spain, yes, proudly Basque. Yes absolutely.
Speaker 5 (10:13):
My grandparents are were from a small town near Bilbao
called Mundhaka, and it's a small fishing village and it
is now like a world class surfing spot and I
love being back there and it's really special and I've
always grown up with that you're a.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
Basque, you know you not many people are like this.
This is this is a special thing.
Speaker 5 (10:35):
And I only speak I only have like a few
bass words.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
I don't speak Basque, you know. When I'm there, it's
like good morning, goodbye, hi.
Speaker 5 (10:43):
Thank you, like little bits and bobs. But it's it's
a it's a special culture, and I feel very lucky
that it's you know, I'm half half.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
What what what's that? Can you tell us about the culture?
What like makes it special? So?
Speaker 5 (10:58):
I mean it's it's kind of like this ethnic that
no one really understands where they came from, or that
they don't know.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
The roots of the language.
Speaker 5 (11:04):
The the cranial shape is different, like when they look
at the different yes, and there's the most what's the
universal blood type?
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Am I getting canceled after this episode?
Speaker 4 (11:17):
There there's like we're aliens.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
There's like videos that that Basque people are aliens. There's
some sort of like critic Okay, I'm more being casual here,
I'm a lizard person. No, but it has so so
a lot of this stuff is like a great mystery.
Mark Kurlansky wrote a great book about the Basques, and
it's called the Basque history of the world, and it's
(11:43):
you know, they have their their own unique language.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
There's Basque provinces. They they they always say they they're
like the oldest.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
Remaining ethnic group in Europe, and they're in Spain and.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
So southern France and northern Spain.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
There's the Pocket and the Pyrenees, and they always say
they heckled Charlemagne out of the Pyrenees. And the language
is extremely tough.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
I think the There was a really big.
Speaker 5 (12:06):
Article in National Geographic on the Basques when I was
in high school, and the first line was I used
to think I was a linguist until I tried to
learn Basque. And so like, for example, the word for
thank you in Spanish is obviously gratias, and then in
Basquets est gasco, so it's not quite the same. Welcome
(12:28):
is agiatory like it. It sounds so bizarre and and
it's unique because in certain towns they spoke it more.
Franco completely suppressed it when he was in power that
you know, there was no Basque flags flying from what
I understand, and you know that you weren't really naming
your kids Basque names. And so now it's it has
(12:49):
a very vibrant resurgence. They teach it in schools. You know,
there's basque flags everywhere. Mostly people will speak it at
home a lot. It depends on the village, like if
you're from a the town's kind of it really does
vary on how much you speak. And you know, I
think my mom said that. My mom says like, oh,
I don't speak any at all, but then she kind
(13:10):
of always like whips out a lot more than she
says she has. But but yeah, and we just you know,
I have like a very strong tether to that area.
And my grandfather was born in eighteen ninety seven. So
here's like a crazy thing really quickly. My grandfather was
born in eighteen ninety seven. He was like fifteen years
older than my grandmother. He lived to be ninety three.
(13:32):
He lived in a fifth floor walk up up until
he in on the Lower East Side until he was
like ninety. I mean, like the kind of this like
incredibly very robust kind of guy. But his father was
like this eccentric fisherman. Hemingway was best friends with the
priest from our hometown. And so there's all these stories
that my great grandfather was the inspiration for the Old
Man to see again. It's yeah, there's I mean, who knows,
(13:54):
there's there's like some of my mom's cousins are like, eh,
not really, but then but there is a lot of
there's a lot of evidence that you know, could suggest that.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
So interesting. So yeah, yeah wow, yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Well, switching to the other location with really specific dialects
and funny language that I associate with you the Jersey Shore. Yeah,
I think of the Jersey Shore and I think of you,
what's your connection there?
Speaker 5 (14:20):
And just a big old wido. I have tribal tattoos
that I'm covering up. Yeah, a fifth Pumper by birth.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
No, so I was. Yeah, so I grew up at
the Jersey Shore.
Speaker 5 (14:32):
And that show is hilarious because none of them are
really actually from the Jersey Shore. I think like two
of them are, and they're all interloper is what we
call Benny's That's like the main thing.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
That people from the Jersey Shore want you to know
that nobody from the show The Jersey Shore is from
the Jersey Shore.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
Only Sammy is actually from She's from Halt and then
Situation I think moved down in high school from Staten Islands. Yeah,
he's from an Alpin. So I went to high school there,
I believe. But yes, Snookie from Poughkeepsie, j.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Wow from Long Island, from the Bronx. I love it.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
I remember all their names, and I know I don't.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
That is space in your brain that maybe could be
used for other things. That's what I say about myself
when I remember information that I don't need.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
You know, I know I'm a fond of useful syledge.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
But I did do a lot of reporting when that
was huge because since I was the Jersey Shore correspondent.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
You know, it was just kind of fun. It was fun.
Speaker 5 (15:30):
They brought a wacky energy there. But yeah, no, that's
not really the Jersey Shore is every single like you know,
you've been there.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
No Bullshit Cove, I mean like Cove, bullshit Cove.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
That was Yeah, I'll just say that was an area
near where my friends had a Jersey shorehouse that had
all these Trump flags and they said, no more bullshit
you know Trump. It was twenty twenty at the time. Yeah,
so they called it No Bullshit Cove.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
Yeah, and that was one of my favorite things.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
I'd always been like, what are your dispatches from No
Bullshit Cove?
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Because I never actually got to know boshit Cove. But
I enjoyed your dispatches.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
But yeah, no, the Jersey Shore, I mean along the water,
it's it is. It's like three square every town is
like three square miles. And the personalities changed.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
So you have the very Poshta. You have Seaside Heights,
which is now started to get a little bit more
cleaned up.
Speaker 5 (16:20):
But you know, that was where they lived in the
boardwalk where in the wintertime you had heroin addicts in
the hotels and then in the summertime you had guidos
on the boardwalk.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
You know. So Jim Tan laundry, Jim glt baby.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (16:32):
So yeah, no, And I went to high school right
across the bridge from Seaside Heights.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
Ah okay, I didn't realize you went to high school there.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Yeah. So I went to high school in Toms River.
Speaker 5 (16:43):
I went to Montignor Donovan, which is now called Donovan Catholic,
And uh yeah, that's that's a Catholic school girl. And
so like we had a surf team. I was on
on the surf team, but they so it was you know,
it was a very like kind of shorty place. But
it's right across the Bridge from Seaside Heights because that's
a barrier Island.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
More coming up with Kirsten Fleming in a moment. But first,
Americans are tired and frustrated by a stalling economy, inflation,
endless wars, and the relentless assault on our values. Thankfully,
there's companies like Patriot Mobile that still believe in America
and our constitution. I'm proud to partner with Patriot Mobile
(17:23):
because they're on the front lines fighting for the First
and Second Amendments, sanctity of life, and our military and
first responder heroes take a stand for conservative causes and
put America first. By switching to Patriot Mobile today, you'll
get the same nationwide coverage as the big providers because
Patriot Mobile operates across all three major networks, Plus they
(17:44):
back their service with a coverage guarantee. Their one hundred
percent US based customer service team will find the best
plan for your needs. Keep your number, keep your phone,
or upgrade. Go to Patriot Mobile slash Carrol that's case
Arol or call nine seven to two Patriot right now.
(18:04):
Get a free month when you use the offered code
Carol kro L. Don't get fooled by other providers pretending
to share your values or have the same coverage they don't,
and they can't switch to America's only Christian conservative mobile provider,
Patriot Mobile.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
So good seg to a question that I ask all
of my guests, what advice would you give to a
sixteen year old you?
Speaker 5 (18:32):
Okay, I'm going to ask you a question though. Were
you What were you like as a sixteen year old?
Speaker 3 (18:36):
I was a club kid who were really long lashes
and big platform heels and wigs.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
So I was.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Definitely very New Yorky.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Well were you like?
Speaker 4 (18:49):
Okay?
Speaker 5 (18:50):
I was very preppy, very athletic, and it was a
very very well adjusted kid.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
I had tons of friends. That's awesome, very well adjusted,
a good student.
Speaker 5 (19:01):
But I would say I think about this a lot
because I think I was very well adjusted. But I
wish I was a little bit more vulnerable and like
asked more questions and probed more, and kind of I
think I got along a lot, you know, instead of
maybe like getting along.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
I wish I'd dove into certain things a little bit more.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
And I think I wish I was more vulnerable and
admitted that I didn't know how to do something, and
I think it would have benefited me a lot more
to be a little bit more open to the things
I didn't necessarily know, and I think it would have
made me an even better student.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
It would have.
Speaker 5 (19:37):
I think it would have been better even to say, like,
because I always wanted to be a reporter, but I
never even I was a little like closed off in
that sense, like I didn't challenge myself because I was
so well adjusted.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
I was the We always joked that I grew up
in a teen movie. I totally did.
Speaker 5 (19:52):
I'm still best friends with everyone I went to like
kindergarten with. I mean, it's yeah, I'm surrounded by it's
the get along gang. So I think maybe have been
a little bit more vulnerable and pursued some interests that
were a little bit outside of the norm.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
It's funny because I totally see you as somebody who
pursues interests outside of the norm. I think that you
follow your own beat, and I I like iver, you know,
since I early meeting you, I just think of you
as like really somebody who does her own thing and
doesn't follow the crowd. And I never know what you're
going to believe or say, and I don't think you're predictable,
(20:29):
so I don't rave about all my guests this way,
you can.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
I know, I feel so honored.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
I mean, this is like Avenue p Love, right, And
I mean I did, like I definitely did, and I was,
as I said, I kind of was this person that
I got along with everybody and I was on like
the academic challenge team and the quiz team, and then
my friends did that. So I did things that my
friends didn't do. But I wish, but that was still
(20:56):
in the in the realm of my school, Like I
wish I kind of broke out and took more chances.
Like my dad always used to say, why don't you
try out for that soccer team. They're better, You're better,
you can you know, And I would say, no, I
want to be with my friends.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
Or I wish that I had said.
Speaker 5 (21:12):
I wish I had said, uh, I want to learn
more about newspapers and maybe went to the Asbury Park
Press and said, can I do an internship here? And again,
it was the nineties, I don't think people were really
doing as much of that, and there wasn't the internet
to have more.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
Help it along, yeah, help it along, but yeah, I
think I wish I'd just kind of was a bit.
Speaker 5 (21:30):
More bolder and a little bit more vulnerable and a
little bit more open. I guess in that sense, I
think it would have benefited me a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
What do you worry about?
Speaker 4 (21:41):
Do you know? I worry about a few things.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
The fentanyl stuff is like, actually I know that that.
There's probably a wide breath of answers you get. I
don't know if you heard Theovonne with JD. Vance, you know, yeah, yeah,
there was a clip that was going around and he's like, man,
you can didn't even do coke anymore in America, and
you know, and Vance is dying laughing because it's Theovonne
and he's such a gem and his delivery is amazing.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
But I do think about that. I have so many
children in my life, and I worry so much that
they just.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Can't even do coke anymore.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
They can't do coke anymore. Like I think about this.
Speaker 5 (22:18):
I go to family parties and I normally bring cocaine
for the kids, And like.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
I shouldn't have made a joke. You know, you were
talking about a serious topic. It just a lot together,
and I feel like that I just let us write
into that. Okay, But seriously, pentle is obviously a really
serious topic, and.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
I think that was sort of top of mind, and
I do worry about, you know, all these accidental deaths
from it. And then I think I just worry a
lot about polarization, and I think everybody burrowing into their
ideological holes. I don't know if he saw so the
whole Taylor Swift with Dave Portnoy note.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
I don't know if he saw that she had written
him a note.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Yes, I did see that. I mean, I'm up on
my Taylor Swift information. I left at the forten year
old girl. Also, you know, I got it all. But
also I like Dave port and a lot.
Speaker 4 (23:04):
He's great.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
I follow what he's up to.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
But I love Dave. Yeah yeah, great, tell us a story.
So I mean, I love Dave. Great guy, you know,
unique guy.
Speaker 5 (23:14):
But so the fact that he had the Taylor Swift.
So Taylor Swift wrote him a note, she invited into
her concert, and she had her brother deliver a handwritten note.
Her mother came gave him a giant hug, and New
York Magazine had a piece the day after and it said,
which Trump supporter is Taylor Swift gonna support next, And I.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Thought, and that thing is like, oh, how big of her?
How big of her?
Speaker 5 (23:42):
She's she you know, the sarcastic thing, and I just
think you like Taylor Swift man, right, It's like not enough.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
She endorsed Kamala Harris. It's like she's not on the fence.
She's like, I endorsed you, I, you know, say bad
things about Donald Trump.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
She got Donald Trump to sweet.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
I hate Taylor Swift. I know she's doing it, but
that's never enough. Never enough.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
You have to cut off everybody who disagrees with you.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
You have to have large problems with people who you
know support you in every other way. And I've talked
about I actually think the Dave port Andy Taylor Swift
thing is so awesome because here are he's obsessed with her.
He thinks she's like the greatest thing ever. He defends
her to the death. And when he heard that she's
voting for Kamala Harris, he said, well, I'm voting.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
For the other guy who cares.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Yeah, And that's what you're supposed to do, That's how
it's supposed to go. And yet they can never make
that happen.
Speaker 5 (24:34):
I know, And it's such a deeply embedded feeling in
our culture now.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
I mean I lost.
Speaker 5 (24:40):
Friends in twenty sixteen, even though I didn't even vote
for Trump.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
I just was not it doesn't.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
Matter, you're not You're not anti enough.
Speaker 5 (24:48):
I wasn't part of the resistance, you know, I didn't
serve in the resistance army.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
So I was urge in the cultural evolution. But I
mean that just makes me sad.
Speaker 5 (24:58):
How boring is your life if you're only in bird
in your echo chamber. So I worry about that. I worry, like,
what happens after this election? How do we come back together?
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Do we?
Speaker 4 (25:09):
Not?
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Do we?
Speaker 4 (25:11):
You know?
Speaker 5 (25:11):
I mean I know you talk about You've talked about
national divorces a lot.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
I don't believe in it.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
No, I don't either.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
I mean, I just think that it's illogical and could
never work.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Like let's say, let's say we.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Do all self sort and the conservatives moved to the
red states and the liberals moved to the Blue states.
Even putting aside that there's moderates and people whatever, and.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
People who change their minds.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
I mean, yes, there are so many liberals who are
now voting for Trump and there's conservatives who are voting
for Harris, and this happens all the time. So what
do you do just like move every four years. Also
the fact that obviously you have children, and where do
those children have to then self sort into other states?
It's it's not reasonable. And yeah, so I look, I
(25:55):
love the self selection that has happened in the last
five years in this country.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
And I've say I'm part of.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
That where a lot of people felt like they couldn't
be in these blue states anymore and they moved to
red states which better represent their politics. And obviously that
has been amazing for me and I talk about that
all the time. Yeah, the idea of a national divorce
where you literally have not have to do that, but
that's that's part of the process. It just it makes
(26:21):
no sense.
Speaker 5 (26:22):
It makes no sense, and it makes absolutely no sense
for any like sort of growth.
Speaker 4 (26:26):
How do how do we get back to culture? I mean, I.
Speaker 5 (26:29):
Just I just think it's such a cynical idea that like, oh,
you don't align with me on every.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
Single because you might self sort.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
And then you find that you inherently disagree with something
that's not political.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
We're going to take a quick break and be right
back on the Carol Marcowitch Show. We have to get
to a point where liberals are saying to New York Magazine,
this is not appropriate content, you know, And I think
I haven't seen it, but I'm sure Taylor Swift fans
are pushing back on it because they don't you know,
they don't take criticism of the taste.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
Very very well.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
I mean Dave Portnoy right at the top of that list,
by the way. But we need the left, the more
reasonable left, and to push back on their left flank
and say no more of this, and they haven't been
brave enough to do that yet, so I don't know
that they will. Yeah, but it's kind of what would
(27:28):
help this problem along.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
There was a story actually in New York Magazine.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Kids of liberals are much more rigid and who they
become friends with much much less.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Likely to go to the home of someone who disagrees
with them.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
I mean, all the things that you don't want for
your kids, and yet they're not stopping it because their
culture says that you have to you have to align
or be left out, be forced out. So it's not
healthy for the country. But it's really not healthy for them.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
Well, also they're in that whole idea, is the pervasive
feeling that you're so evil? Yeah, because so it's not
just like we disagree, it's like you are the devil incarnate,
that's it. Yeah, and so and that's what I think
is so dangerous too. And I'm not saying that there's
not some of that on the right, because there's a
lot of chooches on the right to who like, you know,
(28:22):
think that you know, it's their whole identity and the
you know, libtards and all that stuff. And yeah, you know,
we can joke around about it, but there are some
there is an element of that. But again, we don't
have all this institutional capture.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
So this is also not the you could never come
like you are shunned, you know, as Telsea Gabbard or
Robert F.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Kennedy.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
It's not like you don't align with us on everything,
therefore you're out.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
In fact, it's very like, come on in. It's fun.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Yes, you know, and I don't know that that necessarily happens.
I mean, look, they have Dick Cheney, you know, campaigning
for Kamala Harris. But you know, but still they do
get obviously John Stewart came out against that.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
So it's it's not like it's let's just get along.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
It's there's still some dividing lines.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
Yeah, yeah, I agree, I agree.
Speaker 5 (29:13):
I just I hope it we're able to kind of
pull ourselves out of it. But I don't know.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Yeah, I worry, you know, not the world's most optimistic person. No, well,
I have loved this conversation. You are awesome and I
think everyone should read. You leave us here with your
best tip for my listeners on how they can improve
(29:38):
their lives.
Speaker 4 (29:39):
Get friends who make fun of you.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
I love it.
Speaker 5 (29:42):
Yeah, you need thick skin, you need it humbles you.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
What is life without like?
Speaker 5 (29:51):
Roasting is my love language, and I think it is
so good for personal development and for intimacy like to
it really fosters I think intimacy with your friends and
you know, they really have to know you to roast you.
So I think that to me has always been my
lifelong prescription. I've just always been around people who just
(30:13):
rip me to shreds and I rip them to shreds,
and it's a wonderful exercise.
Speaker 4 (30:16):
And at the end of the day, if the first
one's there to give me a hug or ask me
how I'm doing. So yeah, I love it.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
And you know, this is the season where we're not
even going to talk about the Giants or the Cowboys.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
We're going to just leave this here and hope.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
Is there anything to talk about.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
I'm just saying, neither one of us can make fun here.
I know we have to just kind of yep, go
our separate.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
Ways, so there's no spike in the ball here. We're
both right and walking away.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
I go.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
She is Kirsten Fleming. Check her out the New York Post.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
She is their futures columnist and she is fantastic.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
Thanks so much, curious, Thank you, Carol. This is awesome,
so appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Thanks so much for joining us on the Carol Marco
would show subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show News
Hosts And Creators
Clay Travis
Buck Sexton
Show Links
WebsiteNewsletterPopular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!