Latest news with #MattKappler
Daily Mail
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Obama speechwriter says he was wrong to shun conservative brother-in-law over Joe Rogan and vaccine views
Former speechwriter for President Barack Obama, David Litt, is opening up about why he was wrong to shun his conservative brother-in-law during the pandemic over their drastically different views. Litt revealed in an opinion piece for the New York Times that he approached his relationship with his brother-in-law, Matt Kappler, with a 'frostiness' due to his love of Joe Rogan and refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19. 'Being unfriendly to people who turned down the vaccine felt like the right thing to do. How else could we motivate them to mend their ways?' Litt argued. The former Obama aide admitted that he never related to Kappler, joking that his brother-in-law was an electrician who lifted weights and listened to death metal, while he worked in the White House and jogged to Sondheim. The pandemic exacerbated their already-frayed relationship when Kappler decided not to get the vaccine. 'We were on opposite sides of a cultural civil war. The deepest divide was vaccination,' Litt wrote. 'Turning down a vaccine during a pandemic seemed like a rejection of science and self-preservation,' he continued. 'It felt like he was tearing up the social contract that, until that point, I'd imagined we shared.' The moment of reconciliation came when Litt moved to the Jersey Shore in 2022 and decided to take up surfing as a hobby. The only person he knew who also enjoyed surfing was his Rogan super fan brother-in-law, so Litt put his 'principled unfriendliness aside.' Litt said Kappler would share opinions about Mexican stem-cell injections or vigilantism that he found 'slightly unhinged' during their time at sea. '"Where is this coming from?" I wondered. The answer was nearly always 'Joe Rogan's podcast."' Even though Litt's decision to reconcile with his brother came out of necessity for a surfing buddy, the Obama aide argued that liberals should rethink 'banishing' family members due to different political views. Litt argued that ostracizing those with conservative views hurts the person inflicting the separation more than the one getting banished. His new book, It's Only Drowning, details his journey learning to surf and mending his fractured relationship with his brother-in-law. In an interview with The Guardian, Litt said he started writing the book to chronicle his journey learning how to surf in his 30s, but it soon became a 'will-they, won't-they tale,' about befriending Kappler.. 'It's whether an Obama speechwriter and a Joe Rogan super fan can become friends,' he explained. 'Like a lot of Democrats, my natural inclination is to be a little annoying and condescending. I certainly wasn't doing that when I was the one who desperately needed to learn from him.' He told the publication that his relationship with Keppler illustrated the divides in the Democratic party. During Obama's elections in 2008 and 2012, the former president carried working class voters, but since 2016, non college-educated Americans have shifted towards the Republicans. Litt argued that Democrats are confined to their bubbles of college-educated individuals and aren't connected to working-class voters like his brother-in-law. He urged liberals to keep the door open to friendships with those who differ from them politically. Litt's new book came out in June. He also wrote a book titled Democracy In One Book Or Less in 2020 and Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years in 2017. He also served as the head writer and producer on Funny Or Die and appears on broadcast television as a political commentator.
New York Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Is It Time to Stop Snubbing Your Right-Wing Family?
Not too long ago, I felt a civic duty to be rude to my wife's younger brother. I met Matt Kappler in 2012, and it was immediately clear we had nothing in common. He lifted weights to death metal; I jogged to Sondheim. I was one of President Barack Obama's speechwriters and had an Ivy League degree; he was a huge Joe Rogan fan and went on to get his electrician's license. My early memories of Matt are hazy — I was mostly trying to impress his parents. Still we got along, chatting amiably on holidays and at family events. Then the pandemic hit, and our preferences began to feel like more than differences in taste. We were on opposite sides of a cultural civil war. The deepest divide was vaccination. I wasn't shocked when Matt didn't get the Covid shot. But I was baffled. Turning down a vaccine during a pandemic seemed like a rejection of science and self-preservation. It felt like he was tearing up the social contract that, until that point, I'd imagined we shared. Had Matt been a friend rather than a family member, I probably would have cut off contact completely. As it was, on the rare and always outdoor occasions when we saw each other, I spoke in disapproving snippets. 'Work's been good?' 'Mhrmm.' My frostiness wasn't personal. It was strategic. Being unfriendly to people who turned down the vaccine felt like the right thing to do. How else could we motivate them to mend their ways? I wasn't the only one thinking this. A 2021 essay for USA Today declared, 'It's time to start shunning the 'vaccine hesitant.'' An L.A. Times piece went further, arguing that to create 'teachable moments,' it may be necessary to mock some anti-vaxxers' deaths. Shunning as a form of accountability goes back millenniums. In ancient Athens, a citizen deemed a threat to state stability could be 'ostracized' — cast out of society for a decade. For much of history, banishment was considered so severe that it substituted for capital punishment. The whole point of Hester Prynne's scarlet letter was to show she had violated norms — and to discourage others from doing so. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
