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Fox host reminds us that criticizing Harris is not the same as criticizing Trump

The comedian and best-selling author says: “Binary thinking is the enemy of critical thinking. Once you choose your side, you don't have to think anymore because the thinking has already been done for you.”

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Most days I get at least one email telling me I should work at Fox News.

It is usually not said nicely.

It's a knee-jerk reaction I get when I write critical columns about President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris or other Democrats, which happens often. The assumption seems to be that if I don't have glowing things to say about the people running the White House, must be an angry MAGA fanatic – even though I didn't say anything about former President Donald Trump. You're either on one team or the other is the common theme of this criticism.

And if not?

Comedian and New York Times bestselling author Kat Timpf has thought a lot about this phenomenon. (And Timpf actually works at Fox News, as co-host of the successful late-night show “Gutfeld!”)

Timpf is a lowercase libertarian and an independent voter, so she's used to getting a lot of pushback from viewers who expect a more traditionally conservative perspective from a Fox personality. But Timpf's consistency in her views has earned her respect and loyal followers.

I recently spoke with Timpf about her new book, “I Used To Like You Until… (How Binary Thinking Divides Us),” which comes out Tuesday. I have known Timpf for a long time and was her journalism instructor many moons ago at Hillsdale College, my alma mater, and have followed her success with great joy.

Our interview has been edited for length and clarity.

It's been less than a year since I spoke to you about your first book, You Can't Joke About That. Now you've released another book. Are you a workaholic?

Yes, I am definitely a workaholic. This book was largely inspired by the tour I did last year. I met all these different people, went to all these different places, and saw how much more we seem to have in common than the dominant narrative would have us believe.

I was inspired to look into this topic and found that my suspicions were correct. I was asked, “Why are you releasing this book at the most controversial time of this election?”

And the reason for this is not despite it, but actually because of it. We really cannot allow politics to stop us from seeing the human side of others.

In your book, you talk a lot about binary thinking and how it has led to our current polarization. For example, you mention that people assume that anyone who criticizes Trump is a crazy liberal. And anyone who criticizes Biden or Harris is a MAGA fan. How can we start to break these binary stereotypes?

We would be better off with more independent thinking, but as you and I note in your book, we're at a point now where not only are people not thinking independently, they can't even perceive independent thinking. If you make fun of Biden or Kamala, you must be MAGA. If you make fun of Trump, you're a communist, not just maybe someone who has this opinion about this policy or about this person's statement. And having this opinion doesn't mean you have this whole list of other views.

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Binary thinking is the enemy of critical thinking. Once you've chosen your side, you don't have to think anymore because the thinking has already been done for you, and that's attractive in a way. If the thinking has already been done for you, you just agree with what your side says and that's it.

And you have the whole team behind you all the time, and that's convenient, but if you don't think, stupid things happen.

You mention that the government is often blamed for turning us against each other through politics and manipulative narratives. What does that achieve?

When you think about it, it's easy to see what the government gets out of it. Politics is pretty dry. It's pretty boring unless you turn it into a battle between good and evil, which is basically what people have done now on both sides.

When you vote in an election not only for your beliefs and policies, but also against evil, it not only motivates people to vote, but it also gives them the feeling: “I am a fighter for good.”

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But then when people actually have power, it can also motivate them or be a good way to gain more power. When people are emotional and afraid of the other side and the other side is evil, they are more willing to give up their rights.

I've learned a lot about your life over the past few years reading this book. You talk openly about very personal things, from the death of your mother to your past relationships to your battle with depression. If people are so quick to be hateful and mean, why are you so willing to show yourself vulnerable?

I believe that vulnerability in the face of hate is a way out of this mess. In this book, I talk about things that are hard to talk about, like the abusive relationship and the mental health issues, which I haven't spoken about publicly until now because I'm not the only one who's been through it and everyone has their problems.

Everyone you talk to has had bad times in their life. They've done things they've been ashamed of or embarrassed about, or they've needed help. And I think the more vulnerable you are, the more you can disarm people.

If you want people to see you as a human, and I want people to see me as a human, I have to be willing to show people that I'm human. You never really know what a human being is going through.

Both the title of your book and the final chapter contain a quote from John Updike about how hate is actually a safe space. Can you talk about how this concept relates to your book?

Research has shown that when people are fueling their outrage over a problem, they actually feel better when they take that outrage out on someone else. The problem with that, of course, is that you haven't done anything to solve the problem. But I understand that it makes people feel better, right?

Let's just say you're a Democrat and Republicans are bad. And people on both sides do that, so I'm not just saying that's something Democrats do. But if you're a Democrat and Republicans are bad, then you're good just because you're not a Republican. Just by the fact that you're a Democrat, you're automatically good.

It can be really hard to give that up. It can make you feel like, “I'm good because I'm on this team.” The problem is that simply voting for one side instead of the other doesn't automatically make you a good person.

Not only are we missing out on many relationships that could be fulfilling, but we are also missing out on the opportunity to work together on problems and issues and to seek solutions to problems that affect us all.

In your book, you talk about some of the concerns you had about having a child. You've now publicly announced that you're pregnant. How do you feel about the whole experience now that it's actually happening?

I'm so excited to be pregnant. I'm still really scared, but it's also just interesting what the body does, because I was too tired to be as scared as I thought I would be. I love my husband. And my life is going to change so much that I can't predict how it will feel.

That's why I didn't think too much about predicting it.

Ingrid Jacques is a columnist for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] or on X, formerly Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques.

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