10/14/2026
Josh Cohen described a scene a lot of us will recognize. Two buddies, pizza, b**r, a video game. One of them brings up something he feels strongly about. The other one disagrees. They go back and forth for a while, and it ends with something like, "Are you crazy, man? Anyway. New game. You want a b**r?"
That used to be normal.
For a good chunk of my early adult life, I couldn't have told you the difference between a Republican and a Democrat, and I didn't care to know. I hung out with people from every walk of life. Josh figures that back then, if politics ever did come up, it probably landed like finding out a friend was left-handed or had blue eyes. One more thing about them. Not the whole person.
Josh wrote a book about William F. Buckley Jr., a conservative icon whose close friends included the head of the ACLU and a liberal Harvard economist. We talked about how Buckley pulled that off, and what the rest of us can borrow from him before we sit down at the Thanksgiving table.
Who's the friend you've disagreed with for years and wouldn't trade for anything?
Derate the Hate Episode 337 with Josh Cohen: https://deratethehate.com/episodes/friendship-across-the-political-divide-lessons-from-william-f-buckley-jr-dth-episode-337-with-josh-cohen
