Kat Timpf on Her New Book "I Used to Like You Until...: (How Binary Thinking Divides Us)"

we are joined Now by cat temp who's got a brand new book out and uh producer Ally has already read it and said it was fantastic and I said this earlier in the show but my mother-in-law has been visiting us I had the book sent to me by her publisher sitting on a table here in our living room my mother-in-law picked it up she started reading it and she took it home with her yesterday cat because she is enjoying it so boom there you go you've got two satisfied customers in the audience that we know of already okay I love that I also glad to help you out with your mother-in-law well I need all the help I actually you've been married for a little while I'm curious what your in-laws think about you my mother-in-law used to hate me now I think she likes me more than she likes her actual daughter which has produced tension for my wife because I mean let's be honest when your own mother-in-law likes you more than she likes her daughter it's just a sign of how much I've risen oh that is that that would create some massive tension and for me I mean my mother-in-law actually knew who I was she'd been following me oh that's interesting so did she like you because you had a public profile okay that's good she did which is you know that could have gone one of two ways oh no doubt so I got definitely very very lucky but yeah that's like um I was gonna say my in-law my my mom was out at the dog park recently and um and was talking about what her son did and the guy was a listener but didn't know what I did and he said nice things things about us but he didn't know what I did yet and I was like Mom that was lucky for you because he could have been like man you know who I really hate in media is that Klay Travis guy so it's interesting because you you have all sorts of people who have opinions when you're in media they don't know you oneon-one and they could hate you and then they meet you and they're like oh I really like this person right that's kind of the world we live in now yeah and that's kind of what the book's about right it's about how people will take some single opinion of someone's or just even an assumption about somebody I get it for sure like oh you work at you work at Fox News therefore this must mean this is true this is true this is true this is true this is true and it's just not accurate and we have these wrong assumptions about each other all the time and it's we're really losing out on a lot I think I mean meaningful relationships but also kind of opportunities to collaborate with each other and you know the the people in power over us and the government and politicians works it works out great for them because the more divided we are the more easy it is for to gain power and control no doubt and by the way you live in New York City and you work for Fox News so you probably get that in congruous nature as our producer Ally does of being a woman who I presume doesn't think Trump is the worst human being who's ever lived and you're young and you're out and about but you probably find that you like a lot of the people in New York who might think that you're political opinions are Dastardly and vice versa right like you can still get along yes and what's interesting thing about me is for some people I mean it's be I work at Fox I don't think Trump is the worst human in the world I'm not also a trump person I me I'm an independent it's not I just I'm not a republican right um but that can be enough to just not think that he is the worst thing ever and would destroy Life as we know it we'd all be living in bunkers if he were to be elected not believing that will cause some people to write you off that's enough right there or or simply working at f regardless of what you actually are saying on the platform or what you're doing in the building um it's it's truly insane i' I people have asked me what do you do and I was like oh no thank you like I don't want to get into it you because I don't because then you've ruined my time at the party I can no longer have fun at the party I need to you know I'm being interrogated about where I work which is a place that I've worked for over 9ine years now and I've had a wonderful experience at Fox and it's a place that you've never even been and you you think there that you somehow know more about it than I do we're talking to cat temp I'm curious for you what is the difference between being on television daily and writing a book from a media perspective and which do you find that you enjoy more I honestly think I am a better writer than anything else I started out as a writer I got on TV because I was a writer I love writing and I I really I I I'm very proud of this book I think it's even better than the last book book and this is almost like the scary part when I get to talk about it because it's like am I doing it right you know what I mean I want people to read this book so the writing is is honestly my favorite part probably I'm with you because I came into radio and TV through writing and to me there is nothing better than sitting down in front of a blank screen and having complete control whereas everything else whether it's radio or TV there are a lot of other moving parts and there's aspects that you don't have any control over I love writing because I'm ultimately responsible for every single word and I want that responsibility is that makes sense I don't know if you feel the same way but if I had to give up everything else and I could one of the challenges is you typically don't make as much money as you can writing as you can from radio and TV but it's my favorite of the three yeah it absolutely is my favorite of the three although it's a little harder for me now because I'm pregnant and I can't have any nicotine gum but I still would say writing what does your baby do February so I'm you no boy girl yet I don't so I'm not going to find out my doctor knows but I want to be surprised okay so what has surprised you so you're gonna be due in February I've got three kids obviously I'm not a Democrat so I didn't claim to carry them um but uh what has surprised you the most about being pregnant so far so honestly I thought that I would be more anxious and I am I am terrified don't get me wrong I'm very nervous but also just in general I am too tired to be as anxious as I thought I would be also just I mean the the amount of things that change it's really hard I've always heard it was hard to be pregnant and I was always like oh that looks so hard but you know it's your body just my body doesn't belong to me anymore like there's certain medication I can't take that I you know would need my skin is a mess all this other stuff but I'm but I'm not even considering for a second you know oh maybe I could take this medic you know the baby is the most important thing in the world to me and I've not even met the baby yet so it's kind of crazy it's crazy it's crazy to get to go and see the baby as it's developing and I got to do it three times by the way the book I should say this is I used to like you until how binary thinking divides us um so also in addition to being pregnant you are on television daily yes what's it like to be a public figure who is pregnant on television and how do people respond in general to you as you go through that it has been very weird I had to I started showing actually a little bit early and I I I really had to do the show sucking in and I was kind of hiding it and wearing certain things but some people could tell some people were kind of tweeting and saying is cat pregnant or is she just getting fat stuff like that like like okay cool kind of both but okay um so I eventually said something and you know I'm somebody who had gotten Guff from people for a while for not having kids like it's selfish you of kids whatever blah blah blah blah and then I now I'm pregnant and then there's some people will be like why don't you just shut up about being pregnant and it's like you're never going to please everybody it's weird to do anything in the public eye this is weird to do in the public eye but for me it's one of those things where it's like life is so monotonous and it can be sad and it could be boring be I am exper you know I know that I'm not the first person ever to be pregnant but I am this is the first time I've ever been pregnant and I'm having this experience of wonderment and joy and A Renewed lease on life so it's like can you let me have that guys I mean you went you went to Hillsdale um College which is a big Advertiser on this program um I'm curious what's your fan and I saw you when you made the announcement I think you were into Detroit Tigers uh shirt which is probably I think I tweeted the biggest win that somebody in a Detroit Tigers shirt has had for a long time what was Hillsdale like for you and what's the family reaction like in Michigan to the idea of you being a mom yeah Hillsdale was a great experience for me I mean I I had a full tuition scholarship there which is a major reason why I went but I had I think I'm a better writer because of Hillsdale because I had the actual attention from professors who saw me as a human being and not just a number I had to sit down work with them and you know even having to take a constitution class like I'm shocked how little people know about the Constitution the average person um but and my family's thrilled so this is my dad's this is our the first grandkid so everybody's very very excited and I'm I am very excited so you are willing to change your mind as data is presented to you I think we have that in common um I had Nate silver on earlier and Nate silver is a data and analytics guy what do you think the world would look like if more people were willing to change their opinions Based on data how much better would it be would it be what like what do you think the world look like cuz Nate said he thinks about 5% of the population maybe 10% is actually willing to reexamine their prior opinions based on new data um how many people do you think are and what would the world look like if more were willing to do it I think most people don't even want to expose themselves to data that might make them rethink things I think the world would be a lot better but there would also need to be something else that was required which would be for you to be allowed to change your mind because I think these days people kind of put you in a box and you kind of stay there or if you make a single mistake then that mistake defines you you're not allowed to kind of grow and change I mean you got people getting in trouble for things they said when they were teenagers and they're getting in trouble for it like 10 15 years later I mean I don't know about you when I was a teenager I was an idiot I think we all were right so I think that that would be something that would be required as well because if you I think a lot of people aren't motivated to want to change their minds because if they do it doesn't even matter anyway the book is I used to like you uh until how binary thinking divides us cat temp you're on Gutfeld pretty much every night a ton what do you think people would be surprised about to know about the Gutfeld show which now is the most watched late night television show more than Kimmel more than uh I can't even keep up with all of them more than Jimmy Fallon more than whoever the late night guys are on a stepen colar what do you think people would be surprised about the show what has surprised you about doing daily television on a successful show like that I mean I just I would say probably just how kind of relaxed and comfortable it is and how much we all really do get along I think I don't know if that would surprise people or not but I really feel so comfortable on the show to express whatever it is I want to say and even if it's obviously different sometimes from what Greg thinks I think I'm really really lucky to have that I think there's a lot of people in media who do work places or have you know in environments where they feel like they can't say what they really think or they're even outright told hey I know you might think this but you can't say it I I I I've never been told that once I know some people think that I have a script or writers which I also don't have so it's it's really but I think that's important too uh because I do Fox News and I've done gutell with you uh and done Fox News over time nobody obviously I think people understand tells me anything I can or can't say on radio they never have but I've never experienced anybody at Fox News telling me hey you can't say this and I think that's super important I think it comes through on your show but you said you've been at Fox News for nine years I imagine that freedom has been there for you throughout too it has I've never I've never wanted to say something but then told that I can't say it from Fox so I think that that is very something I'm very very very very I don't take that for granted at all cat you're a bestselling author congratulations on the upcoming baby in February thanks for making the time with us today encourage people to go check out the brand new book I used to like you until have fun on the tour thank you she's cat temp bestselling author Gutfeld you'll see her probably later tonight certainly in the days and weeks ahead uh and producer Ally says it's a fabulous book and you should go read it and uh she says it's going to be really well received by many of you so there you go perfect endorsement and cat is having a baby um and uh many of you may be out there about to have kids or grandkids and maybe that means you're going to need a little bit more energy because let me tell I had three boys um and there's a lot of chasing them around involved I'm going to be at a football game later tonight um and I'm G to be at a soccer match and we're traveling this weekend and it's just a zoo every day if you have young kids and if you're 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