Sarah Longwell’s work starts with a proposition: Voters who disagree can still be persuaded.
A former Republican strategist, the lesbian publisher co-founded The Bulwark for conservatives opposed to Donald Trump. It has grown to more than 140,000 paid subscribers. On “The Focus Group,” she analyzes years of voter conversations.
Her new book, How to Eat an Elephant: One Voter at a Time, argues for building a pro-democracy coalition voter by voter. The strategy reflects her marriage equality work, which taught her that change requires credible messengers, strong arguments, and infrastructure built over time.
“I still believe the American people are mostly good and persuasion is still possible,” Longwell says.
She is less delicate about her immediate goal. “I am deeply afflicted with Trump Derangement Syndrome, and the only antidote is working every day to weaken Trump’s grip on America,” she says.
Longwell pairs that political urgency with dry humor. Dating in Republican politics in the 2000s was so awkward that she once told a woman she was a firefighter.
Then there is her dream project: “Below the Beltway,” which Longwell describes as The West Wing meets The L Word — the lesbian Washington drama television does not yet know it needs. @sarahlongwell25
