Ciaran O’Connor and John Wood, Jr. welcome Terence Szuplat to the podcast. Terry was Barack Obama’s senior foreign policy speech writer and a member of the administration’s speechwriting team for all eight years of the Obama presidency. Here Terry talks his work with the Obama administration, his experience coming to a Braver Angels workshop, and the challenge of unearthing common values across the partisan divide.
‘Braver Angels really helped me to see the humanity in people from the other side’: One high schooler’s journey to better political conversations
06/18/2026
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A native of Boulder, Colorado, Mia didn’t know many Trump supporters—and she was nervous to engage with them. “I was like, ‘Don’t they hate women? Don’t they hate black people?’” she said. “That was my initial belief because that’s what I had heard about people who voted for Trump.” But she quickly realized she was wrong. During the first Braver Lens session, Mia was able to connect with conservatives in the group and recognize their points of commonality. “When we met, they showed their pictures, and explained their life stories, and I was able to see where our values overlap,” she said.
