Matt Bernstein

I mean, just from a quick gut check, I mean, I think what we're doing right now with this conversation, having it and subjecting, well, maybe not subjecting yourself to it, because I think this is something you need to do.

But I think having this conversation and reflecting in front of a lot of people, I think is helpful.

I think, you know...

Doing what you've done with the book, taking your name off of it is also really good.

But I also think it's very important that like, and this sounds silly, but as we've both acknowledged that there is the fear of like, oh, Ashley's just doing this to clear her name and then she's going to start a left wing grift.

I think it's very important that you don't like

make like a new YouTube channel and you're like this is my new world and this is my new like new me new me like I think it's very important that you don't like and you've and to give you a lot of credit you have done a very good job of this so far as you're not centering yourself you're not centering like your own struggle which you know is you you've been from speaking out you have been going through a lot and I think what is respectable is and this is just more broadly whenever people sort of go get under attack for whatever reason even outside of politics it's

People tend to take the route of getting very defensive and blaming a lot of other people and not like reflecting on someone's own actions that led them to this point.

And I think it's just important to continue that.

Not to center yourself is a very important thing in a way that like it seems like you're pivoting to something, you know.

Something I actually do want to needle in a little bit more is actually your politics.

I think it's very clear that you've...

genuinely shifted on trans issues.

And the reason I prompted you that original reply that you read off at the start of this episode, the reason, of course, I'm trans, but the reason I usually start with trans issues with these conversations is we've seen time and time again people

who are nominally liberal and then they become transphobic and then they become MAGA and then they get that syntax and then they appear on Fox News.

So it's like, for me, transphobia, it's transphobia and a couple other topics that are good tells

on someone's overall politics.

So I guess what I'm curious about is, obviously, I think you have shifted a lot on trans issues, but what other issues have you shifted on?

Would you say you're like a liberal?

You've said you're like always like a political homeless person before you sort of ended up in this world.