Talking with Mona Charen is one of my great pleasures in life. She is a dear friend and I admire her greatly. For years, we were podcast partners. A few days ago, we recorded a Q&A.
A brief reminder of Mona and her professional doings. She is a syndicated columnist. She is a writer and editor at The Bulwark. She is the host of The Mona Charen Show. She is the author of several books, including Sex Matters: How Modern Feminism Lost Touch with Science, Love, and Common Sense.
At the beginning of our Q&A, I ask her about transgenderism. It has exploded in recent years. It is an amazing, and often painful, phenomenon.
Mona and I then get onto—well, many issues. Ukraine. The GOP. The Democrats’ Abdul El-Sayed. The Republicans’ Vivek Ramaswamy. Washington, D.C.
What do I mean by that last one? I am a lifelong lover of Washington, and a recent visit left a sour taste in my mouth. I wrote about this here. Mona has lived in the D.C. area for most of her adult life. How does she feel?
I have some further personal questions, including, “Do you still refer to yourself as a conservative, or have the Trumpite Republicans irretrievably mangled the word?”
Mona Charen is a combination of good, independent thinking; a “moral sense” (to use an old-fashioned term, which James Q. Wilson chose as the title of one of his books); and a lyrical pen.
I think I may have even voted for her for president once (not that she approved) …
