What happened to the party of ideas?

S.E. traces her own arc back to her conservative awakening in college (what young mind doesn’t find fiscal responsibility exciting?) and explains how Reagan’s “party of ideas” appealed to her. Pre-Trump, she hoped to inject some new ideas into the GOP platform, but instead, the Republican Party went the opposite way from ideas when it molded itself in Trump’s image. How do we get back to an America where you can count on free elections, free press, free speech, freedom of assembly, no matter what you look like or what you believe in, and a government that won't attack those institutions for its own personal gain or self-survival? Journalist John Avlon also joins to weigh in, including reflecting on his own arc – he came to a political consciousness from the other side than S.E., but now considers himself a proud “fighting centrist.” Finally, a listener asks S.E. a relevant question about the fallout she has experienced critiquing her own side since 2016.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.