Our nation’s capital can make and break careers. In a very short period, Cassidy Hutchinson went from being a complete political outsider to traveling on Air Force One with the President of the United States. She tells Us & Them host Trey Kay about life on either side of the political divide.
American politics is now a very ‘us and them’ world. Insiders know the privilege of power, but loyalties can shift and elections can make doors slam shut.
Cassidy Hutchinson, who worked in the Trump administration, knows both sides. She was a dedicated White House staffer who’s best known for her stunning testimony to the January 6 committee.
Us & Them host Trey Kay spoke with Hutchinson about her memoir Enough, which offers an intimate portrayal of life on the inside and a failed effort to stay in power. Hutchinson faced decisions some of her former superiors refused, including those who defied subpoenas to testify before a Congressional committee.
This episode provides a front row seat to the beginnings of a legal saga that may hold an influence over this year’s elections.
This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council and the CRC Foundation.
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Learn more about Cassidy Hutchinson’s book Enough.
As we close out 2023, we look ahead to a new year with a landscape partially defined by fear and mistrust. Many Americans say their confidence is shaken. They feel like every institution — from the government, to the banking system, to corporations, to religion, to the news media — are corrupt. What to do when so many of us can’t trust the institutions that hold our society together?
It’s the time of year to look back on where we’ve been and prepare for what’s ahead.
Us & Them host Trey Kay has been reflecting on 2023, and a theme that’s been consistent — trust, or more importantly, our lack of trust in each other and our institutions. In this episode, we’ll explore how that reality could shape the year to come and its social and political landscape.
Kay will also remember several people he met during the year who have passed away unexpectedly and reflect on the work they were so passionate about. We’ll hear from friends and colleagues about how their legacies will continue.
In 2024, there’s a lot at stake and the Us & Them team will keep learning about it all in our conversations across the divides.
This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council, the Daywood Foundation Daywood Foundation and the CRC Foundation.
Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond.
Listen to the episode that featured Chris Regan’s prediction that Sen. Joe Manchin would not seek reelection: Manchin In The Middle.
Sometimes friendships show up when we don’t expect them. That was true of Us & Them host Trey Kay’s friendship with Alice Moore — a conservative Christian county school board member, who sparked a turbulent textbook controversy in Kay’s home county back in the 1970s. Kay and Moore saw education, religion, homosexuality and Trump very differently, but were still dear friends.
Friendships that last through the years can be a remarkable gift.
In this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay remembers his dear friend Alice Moore who recently passed away. Kay talks about the gentle kindness that defined their relationship, which stretched across the divides of their social and political beliefs.
Moore made West Virginia — and national — headlines in the 1970s over a contentious and violent conflict focused on public school textbooks. As a county school board member, Moore opposed new language arts textbooks because they offended her religious and political views. Kay says his documentary on the Kanawha County Textbook War introduced him to Moore and opened the door to a friendship that has taught him about relationships, politics and people.
This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council, the Daywood Foundation and the CRC Foundation.
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Science and research can lead to important breakthroughs, but in a divided America, not everyone trusts the results. In this Us & Them, host Trey Kay speaks with three expert guests before an audience full of curious people at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia and asks: How shaken is our confidence in scientists and the scientific process?
Polls and surveys report our confidence is eroding and that we’ve lost trust in one another and in some of our most essential institutions.
As a followup to an Us & Them event in September at West Virginia University (WVU) on trust in the media, host Trey Kay has a new conversation focused on our trust in science. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to present examples of our differing confidence in science and medicine, but there are other flash points.
We continue the abortion debate with the central question of when life begins. A few decades ago, evolution was in the spotlight with divisions over the origins of the universe, and of our own species. Now, climate change clearly illustrates our varying understanding about how the world is changing. All of those topics place a spotlight on our confidence in science.
There was a time when scientific advances were heralded – they saved lives, they told us more about our world. But now, some see scientists as villains who are not always worthy of our trust.
Have we simply lost interest in scientists or in the scientific process?
Join us for a new Us & Them from a recent live event on the campus of Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.
This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council, the Daywood Foundation and the CRC Foundation.
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Photo gallery: Members of the audience took advantage of a Q&A session to ask the guests a number of thoughtful questions. Credit: Julie Blackwood
For the past four years, Trey Kay has gathered a group of West Virginians — four from the political right and four from the left — for the “Us & Them Dinner Party.” The discussion at this year’s gathering focused on former President Trump’s indictments, abortion laws, diminishing public trust and more.
In a new podcast episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay invites his dinner party guests to gather once again for some fresh conversation across the divide.
Kay’s friends, old and new, all share a favorite dish at the potluck meal while offering honest and sometimes raw accounts of how the social and political issues of the day affect them. Kay guides the conversation through a range of potential minefields – including the indictments of former President Trump, trust in elections, allegations of government corruption and our nation’s changing abortion laws.
The show highlights heartfelt disagreements while acknowledging moments of common ground.
This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council, the Daywood Foundation and the CRC Foundation.
Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond.
For the past four years, Trey Kay has hosted an Us & Them Dinner Party. The first few gatherings were virtual due to COVID, but for the past two years, the group has met face-to-face to discuss some of the tough issues of our time. This year’s party included Terri Triplett DeLauder (on the upper right gesturing with her hands), Marsha Albert, Jay Gould, Elliot G. Hicks, Kay, David Pendrake, Joe Solomon, Karen Cross and Frank Annie.
Credit: Kyle VassThe Us & Them Dinner Party group this year included two city council members, Joe Solomon (green baseball cap) and Frank Annie (in the plaid shirt on the right), who represent different political parties but campaigned together saying they would work together to “get things done.”
Credit: Kyle VassUs & Them host Trey Kay pointed out some of the dessert options on the table for the guests at his dinner party.
We used to trust the news, but now some polls and surveys show that our confidence has eroded. Recently, the Us & Them team partnered with West Virginia University’s Reed College of Media for a conversation on diminished trust in journalism. Host Trey Kay spoke with Raney Aronson-Rath, editor-in-chief and executive producer of PBS Frontline, and June Cross, director of the documentary journalism program at the Columbia Journalism School.
Trust is in short supply in America as social and political divides continue to erode our faith in our democratic republic. National surveys and polls show that people distrust each other as well as our government and institutions.
Us & Them Host Trey Kay recently partnered with West Virginia University’s Reed College of Media for a conversation focusing on diminished trust in journalism and the news media. He spoke with special guests Raney Aronson-Rath, editor-in-chief and executive producer of PBS Frontline, and June Cross, director of the documentary journalism program at the Columbia Journalism School.
The panelists agreed that the rise of social media and the hollowing out of local news have been part of the problem. The event included thought-provoking audience questions and comments about who and what they trust. This episode of Us & Them draws from that live event as we figure out where to turn for reliable information.
This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council, and the CRC Foundation.
Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond.
Professor June Cross (left) of the Columbia Journalism School and Raney Aronson-Rath (center) editor-in-chief and executive producer of PBS Frontline, speak with Us & Them Host Trey Kay at West Virginia University.
Credit: Julie BlackwoodRaney Aronson-Rath is editor-in-chief and executive producer of Frontline, PBS’s flagship investigative journalism series. She is a leading voice on the future of journalism. Under her leadership, Frontline has won every major award in broadcast journalism.
Courtesy PhotoJune Cross is Columbia University’s Fred W. Friendly, professor of media and society, and director of the Documentary Journalism Program. Her work has been awarded with the highest honors in broadcast journalism, and her career has highlighted stories of the dispossessed and the intersection of race, politics, and public health. She joined the Columbia Journalism School in 2001, and she is now a tenured faculty member.
Courtesy Photo“We’ve heard from many people who say that the erosion in public trust in America is an existential threat to our democratic republic. We believe this is the issue of our times.” — Trey Kay, Us & Them host
Credit: Julie BlackwoodAn audience of students, faculty and community members from throughout West Virginia came to West Virginia University’s Reynolds Hall to listen to a discussion about diminished trust in the news media and journalism.
Credit: Julie BlackwoodI’m 18 and journalism has been so skewed for my whole life. My political consciousness kind of was there during the Trump presidency, and we know that since then the media has been so biased… Have you noticed any trends of apathy or ignorance among teenagers in my generation towards politics and current events? Because we just don’t care what the media has to say, because it’s been so bad.” — West Virginia University student
Credit: Julie Blackwood“I want to talk to you about the role and impact of technology and journalism. Should journalists be rushing towards new technologies? And what about also the impact of AI [Artificial Intelligence]? Raney, you said that you know journalists are trained to be able to distinguish reality from fake. What if we are soon or if not already in that time where we genuinely cannot tell what is true and what is not?” — Prof. Robert Quick, director of Marshall University’s W. Page Pitt School of Journalism & Mass Communications
Credit: Julie Blackwood“My trust in West Virginia media was diminished after the West Virginia Broadcasters Association and West Virginia media, including Public Broadcasting, changed the debate rules to exclude third party candidates. How do we restore our faith that we can return to a structure where outside voices and not just the two corporate parties have a seat at the table?” — Joel Brown, West Virginia University staff
Credit: Julie Blackwood“There is something to be said that we’ve splintered and that we’re getting news from TikTok instead of just the CBS Nightly News. That it’s not just Walter Cronkite, it’s a variety of voices that are doing this online. But at the same time, you both also mentioned that, that part of this splintering and this distrust resulted as a [democratizing of] the media ecosystem since more and more people have entered. And so I’m wondering, is part of restoring faith in the media, actually restoring some sense of gatekeepers?” — Amy Eddings, reporter from Ideastream Public Media in Cleveland, OH
Credit: Julie Blackwood“When do the individuals that are beholden to media, have a love for media and actually care about the reputation of media, begin to step in and say, ‘For the integrity of my profession, I need to show some authenticity and fix how we as a profession are seen, not the problems of the world per se, but how we conduct ourselves in this profession?’” — Meshea Poore, vice president for West Virginia University’s Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion