Full Transcript for The Karol Markowicz Show: Motherhood and Personal Transformation with Lydia Leitermann

of meeting someone to love and cherish and marrying that person and staying married. Don't let your kids commodify relationships or see them as transactional. Make your kids understand that just because they can do something doesn't mean they should. As for Lily Phillips, she's already planning a one thousand man event. No lessons have been learned, no experience gained. Maybe we can't help her, but we can help those around us not become her. Thanks for listening. Coming up an interview with Lydia Lighterman. But first, this Christmas and Hanuka season is a time of hope and peace for many of us. For those of us in Israel facing the ongoing war, it is a time of fear and uncertainty. The hardships are felt by everyone, with many people struggling to afford food and basic necessities during this holiday season. Many living through the war in the Holy Land are grieving the loss of loved ones while also enduring isolation and hunger. We must not let them feel forgotten by the rest of the world. That's why I'm partnering with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Your special holiday gift to the Fellowship helps provide a hank of food bucks filled with basic necessities and essentials to bring nourishment, warmth, and comfort to someone in need. Give the gift of hope and answered prayers this holiday season. Go to support IFCJ dot org to donate now that's support IFCJ dot org or call to give at eight eight eight four eight eight IFCJ. That's eight eight eight for eight eight four. 00:05:00 Speaker 3: Three two five. Welcome back to the Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio. My guest today is Lydia Lighterman. Lydia is a former producer of Timcast and has the popular sour Patch Lid's account on x HI. Lydia. So nice to have you on. 00:05:19 Speaker 4: Hey, Carol, thank you so much for having me. 00:05:21 Speaker 3: So when I asked you to come on, I'm like, how do I introduce you? And you said, oh, you know, a former producer of timcast and stay at home mom. But I find you to be I mean, not that that's not enough, but I feel like you're very active in the political world. You're certainly doing a lot. But how has motherhood been? It's been how long is it now? 00:05:45 Speaker 4: So fourteen months today? It's been fantastic. It's been my favorite thing on Earth. I know most people knew me when I was a skinny, miserable, white collar worker on timcast Irl, which was a super fun job. Don't get me wrong, but I it's not a very happy person. I am so much happier now, and I feel like that's reflected in every part of me except my Twitter account. Where I'm still just as fiery and peppery as I ever was, because there's a lot of issues in the world and I like to try to address them. 00:06:16 Speaker 3: I mean, you're definitely fiery, but you have a sense of humor about it. Your I wouldn't say you're angry or like ranty. You you have a very light kind of way of mocking a lot of the things that are going on around us. 00:06:30 Speaker 4: I'm trying. I'm trying. I would say I'm angling for a position at the Babylon Bee. But they are doing way better than I ever could, so I just follow them with admiration. 00:06:41 Speaker 3: So what would you consider like your beat? Like what things do you enjoy covering? 00:06:45 Speaker 4: Ooh? So, I think culture is probably the most important part of the world because I think people look at the political and they think that's how we solve all these problems, when the fact is that it comes down to what we do in our everyday life. And I was actually talking to Michael Malice about this because recently I came out as an anarchist, and I said, I think that this is probably the best way to tackle all these problems is to assign the personal responsibility to everyone and say, actually, you do have our responsibility to try to fix this yourself. You have a responsibility to build your family so it's strong. You need to support fam, your community so that it's like impervious to this kind of left wing narrative. I remember when I was in the DMV area, which is a district of Columbia Mauryland, Virginia, and I was noticing that in West Virginia they were starting to get some real left wing school board members. I was like, Okay, so yes, this absolutely canon does happen even in the reddest possible state. Now we're in Tennessee, which is fantastic, we love it very much, and you're I think you're in Florida, right, yep, South Florida, yep. I think in these states it becomes very easy to be like, Okay, well everything's taken care of. We have Marsha Blackburn, you have Rona Santa. Is not enough, not enough. We need to on our own personal level try and make the differences that we want to see in the world, because that's the only way it gets better. 00:08:10 Speaker 3: So a few things about that. First of all, my heart stopped when you said I came out as and I was like, what did she come out as? What? 00:08:17 Speaker 4: Where is just going? 00:08:19 Speaker 3: And then anarchist is not what I was expecting you to know. 00:08:23 Speaker 4: I don't think anyone expected that. They're like, oh, you're so nice being nice, So I think it's the best. 00:08:29 Speaker 3: I mean, I love Malice, he's been on the show. We're friends for a long time. I thought I only had the one anarchist friend, but I guess I could have two more. 00:08:38 Speaker 2: With Lydia in a moment. But first, Americans are tired and frustrated by a stalling economy, inflation, endless wars, and the relentless assault on our values. Thankfully, there's companies like Patriot Mobile that still believe in America and our constitution. 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Mobile operates across all three major networks, plus they back their service with a coverage guarantee. Their one hundred percent US based customer service team will find the best plan for your needs. Keep your number, keep your phone, or upgrade. Go to Patriotmobile dot com slash Carrol kro L or call nine seven to two Patriot right now. Get a free month when you use the offer code Carol ka r o L. Don't get fooled by other providers pretending to share your values or have the same coverage. They don't and they can't. Switch to America's only Christian conservative mobile provider, Patriot Mobile. Go to Patriotmobile dot com slash Carol kar L or call nine seven to two Patriot. But your free month of service today. 00:10:12 Speaker 3: I fully agree with you on Red States kind of not relaxing because when I was on book tour and my book was about the indoctrination of children and the way it's like in every facet of society, not just schools. People think of it as just schools, but no, it's a nutrition's office, as a library, et cetera, et cetera. I found that Red State audiences were sort of the hardest to break through because they all think that they're safe from this. They think it's craziness that goes on elsewhere, and you know, we kept trying to bring the point home that like the teachers in your schools learned the Marxist textbooks at the teachers colleges exactly as the teachers in San Francisco did. So, so I agree with you on that. But what I want to know is what is the difference in this category or in this situation between anarchy and conservativism, Like if you're preserving something the way conservatives do or say they do, what's the difference. That's the goal, was the coming out. 00:11:13 Speaker 4: Yeah, so I was looking at the way the government at large is acting large being no accidental choice of word, because they're way too big. My parents were very conservative, like culturally conservative, but I said that they are closer to anarchism than some because they were constantly talking about how the government is good for nothing, literally nothing, and literally the smaller government the better. And my parents would talk at lengths about how important the family was and how this is the smallest unit of almost the almost a more important unit of individuality than the individual themselves, because if you can get into the family and start to drive wedges between parents and children, it's over like that is it? That's the cultural impetus that conservatives today face, and I think that anarchism addresses that by saying, actually it is everyone. Everyone needs to step up and say I will handle this. I will talk to my community. I will go to my church, my synagogue, wherever I go worship to join up with people of similar mind and I will make sure that everyone is on the same page. Like that's down to every single one of us. And it's not just for cultural stuff. This will help us preserve the stuff that conservatives are fighting for, like this, this is a big deal. And I think once we get into the mindset that it is our responsibility, I think that'll help preserve a lot of the stuff that conservatives want. I just wish they would take that mindset to heart and actually follow through on it. But we'll see, maybe they will. 00:12:47 Speaker 3: Maybe What do you what do you worry about? 00:12:50 Speaker 4: So right now I'm looking at the current events. I was looking at the Brian Johnson tragedy in New York City and thinking, I'm looking at everyone who's singing the praises of the person who did this, And I'm really happy that Trump won. I really feel like we are kind of turning a corner. In our culture for the positive, especially with a Daniel Penny verdict that just came down like an hour ago. But we are up against people who genuinely believe that it's okay to put people out on the street in broad daylight. They think that's the way to handle things. Forget about the justice system, forget about innocent until proven guilty. They didn't solve a problem by taking out a CEO. The problem is health is so much bigger than that, right. I'm sure you're aware of the deep issues that we have with the healthcare system in this country, because we do. I think that everyone can agree on that, both sides of the aisle. But what the left doesn't seem to understand is that the ACA is largely to blame for the fact that everyone is paying so much more here. Not that they'd ever admit it, but I wish that they would step back and think, hey, maybe the answer isn't just to dispatch of our enemies on the sidewalk, you know, like that's a serious danger, I think, But hopefully that starts to die down a little bit. But it's been, like you said, in the schools, coming from the teachers, people who don't have children have access to your children. So they're telling everyone of these things and everyone believes them. So we'll see. 00:14:22 Speaker 3: Like you said, we're recording this shortly after the Brian Thompson killing in New York City earlier today, they arrested a person of interest in that case, and he's a twenty six year old from Maryland. And I wonder, you know, if it does come because we have no idea, right for all, we know, this twenty six year old from Maryland could have been having an affair with his this guy's wife, like we just don't know like where the piece is fit quite yet. But if it does come out to be that this guy just wanted to harm an insurance company ceo, like, I wonder if the Left will have any accountability on the rhetoric around this and on what would have provoked this kind of killing in the first place. You know, I get you. I think that that's something to worry about. And I think that the way that the left has reacted the Taylor Lorenzs of the world has been really gross and shocking and yet somehow predictable. 00:15:20 Speaker 4: It is unfortunately both predictable and shocking at the same time. What troubles me about this particular young

man is that his timeline is full of retweets, sorry, reposts from Andrew Huberman, and he follows people that I like and respect, like really like and really respect people I've met in person who are good, solid conservatives. So I'm really curious how they're going to spin this one. But at the same time, they've kind of taken him under their wing. They kind of love him, and I'm not sure what they're going to do with the knowledge that he follows accounts like that are named things like end Wokeness, like people have the right wing conservative news beat, right, So this is going to be interesting. I will say, someone wished that we would live in interesting times as a punishing for something horrible we did. I don't know what we did, but these are the most interesting times. They trail a. 00:16:16 Speaker 3: Little too interesting, like I can definitely have some boring days. And of course, as you mentioned the day that we're recording this, the Daniel Penny verdict came down today, and that was also sort of, I mean, a huge relief. I was very worried about it. I'm from New York. I didn't know what twelve jurors in that city might do, and the fact that they were a hung jury on the bigger charge was definitely concerning to me. But you know, I do feel not just a sense of relief over that, but a sense of relief for what's going on in the country. I think, maybe we're moving in a better direction. What does anarchism say about this? Are we moving in a better direction? 00:16:55 Speaker 4: So the Daniel Penny case was so interesting because what people didn't seem to recognize on either side of the aisle was at Daniel Penny taking responsibility for what was happening in that subway car was the purest possible form of anarchism. He saw a problem and instead of freaking out and crying to authorities and waiting for thirty minutes for the cops to come, while this unhinged person who's clearly high on multiple different substances, very much, very similar to George Floyd in that regard, But I digress, because that's a whole different kettle of fish. But he took responsibility, and he saw an opportunity to act like a man in a position where almost nobody else is brave enough to do that anymore. So I'm like extremely culturally grateful that they gave him this not guilty verdict, right, and I'm optimistic that that will make New York City a better place. Although I'm not going to hold my bright breath because i can't believe that there was any kind of any kind of debate on the jury about this because those people ride the subway right, they know I'm sure they faced people like Jordan Neely and they still were not sure. But I was hearing too, as in the side that they were able to hear the protesters from where they were deliberating, which is unbelievable. That should never happen like this should not happen in New York City. Bully cows right, I'm really glad that Daniel Penny is free because he was acting like he was a true embodiment of everything a good anarchist would do. So that's kind of my take on that one. 00:18:29 Speaker 3: How did you get into this like political space, How did you become a producer for Tim Kass? What was the background there? 00:18:36 Speaker 4: So I have always loved following the news. I've never been into sports, so following this kind of competitive nature of like the back and forth between the right and the left has always been real interesting to me. I've always been, always been very, very conservative, and I knew from the time it was like eleven that I was never going to be able to do well in journalism because no one would appreciate my views like I would get a fair shake like. So from a very very early age, I knew that whether I liked writing or not, no one was going to take me seriously because I wasn't a flaming liberal. So I was like, all right, I got to figure out a different way to do it. So I worked in healthcare for a while and just kind of forgot about that dream. But then I had an opportunity to work with you know, Tim cast I was like, this is like the chance of lifetime. I have to do it. And it was such a really fun, great experience, so cool to meet people like you like, to meet all of the really like contradictory people in the right wing space. It was so much fun and really fantastic, and that's been one of the highlights of my life besides motherhood. 00:19:41 Speaker 3: So my overarching memory of being on the show was freezing to death in that studio, like my fingers didn't move after It was like a really long show, and it's so cold in Tim's studio. It's just I mean in Branklin, we'd. 00:19:59 Speaker 4: Say it was rick in there. 00:20:01 Speaker 3: Yeah, but my fingers literally I had to like, you know, kind of move them around after to. 00:20:07 Speaker 4: Get there again. I used to say that studio that it was not friendly to women because the guys really liked how cold it was. And I was just constantly so mad about how cold it would get, and I was like, this is really frustrating. I don't want to be working in this. So I would like wear a jacket off into or I would do some of my post stuff from like a different room or whatever. But yeah, I was frustrating. 00:20:30 Speaker 3: I know who was your favorite guest of the whole time that you were there? 00:20:34 Speaker 4: Oh, you know, I have considered this. So I really enjoyed Dennis Prager and he wrote love Dennis, Yes, And I really hope he's doing better. I know that his back was injured and he ended up getting secondary complications. Hopefully he's mending. I love Dennis Prager. He was fantastic and I loved uh the guy from Ed's manifesto. I never remember his last name, his first name Day So he was recovered alcoholic and he had so much really cool firsthand experience as a cop in Mexico. He really wasn't very political, but I really appreciated him. He was so empathetic and compassionate. And there was the father of a wrestler from Cuba and he came and talked about like anti

communism and he fought in that kind of space, So that was cool as well. So meeting the people who've really done interesting stuff in other places I think was kind of the peak. Guest really cool more. 00:21:35 Speaker 2: With Lydia in just a moment. But first, protecting our families and homes is essential, but are we truly prepared? Break Ins happened every twenty five seconds. Even with a security system, can it really keep intruders out? Layer your defenses to buy yourself time. Start with Saber drive whalers to know when someone's approaching, paired with bloodlights to deter them. Saber's door security bars reinforce your front and back doors, stopping up to six hundred and fifty pounds of force to secure entry points even when you're not home, and if you are home, many invasions happen at night. Saber's Home Defense Launcher is the ultimate choice to protect yourself and family. 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Really, what advice would. 00:23:15 Speaker 4: You give a sixteen year old You say that probably the biggest lesson I've gathered from the last ten fifteen years husband to just trust God because there were times when I just had no idea how things were going to work out. And I you know, I love my husband I love my child. It's the best possible like life, and I would never have known how to take the steps to get here on my own, but God made it happen. So it's really important to relax, not worry about everything all the time, and trust that God has a plan for you. 00:23:51 Speaker 3: What advice would you give to people who are looking for God, Like if if it doesn't come naturally to you, if you're not raised with it, where do you go to see? 00:24:00 Speaker 2: Came out. 00:24:01 Speaker 4: So one of the things that happened to me, I considered myself an agnostic for like my teens, you know, teens are edgy whatever. I was raised in the church. Yeah you know, I'm sure you do know. But I was raising the church, so I had that background. But I was like, you know, I'm not really sure. I don't want to be. I'm not arrogant enough to say I know whether God's really there. But I started doing anatomy and physiology and biology and that kind of stuff. As I was getting into the healthcare stuff, I was doing like pre rex for surgical tech, and the more I looked at the human body, the more I was like, there's no way that this is coming about, you know, by any kind of chance. There's just no way. And I wrote, and I'm sure other people have said this recently, that if you are looking for God and you're not seeing him, that you should look through a telescope or you should look through a microscope, because those are the clearest indicators to me that humans are incredibly loved and incredibly small and part of a big your picture. Like, it's so funny to me. The atheists think it's a gotcha that we live on this tiny, little blue rock in the middle of bazillions of miles of nothingness and we still believe that God thinks highly of us, Like how arrogant are we? And we're like, no, that's the coolest thing about believing in God and believing in you know, his love for us is that we are kind of nothing, but God views us highly and created us and has plans for us. That's so neat. 00:25:28 Speaker 3: I love that microscope telescope blind. I've never heard that before. 00:25:31 Speaker 4: It's maybe it is original, good, Yeah. 00:25:33 Speaker 3: Maybe you came up with that. So it's funny because you know, they you know, the argument always is that God is like at odds with science, but in so many ways they fit very very well together. And I heard I think it was Ricky Gervais one time on a late night show and he said, you know, if you burn all the science books, like there will still be science, but like if you burn the Bibles, like they won't be God anymore, or something along those lines. And I was like, well, if you burn the history books, they'll still be history. Like, just because you won't know about it doesn't mean that it didn't exist. It's it's sort of a similar thing to that if you look at the Bible in a historical way. Even just because you're burning the Bible doesn't mean. 00:26:19 Speaker 4: That what happened and it didn't happen. 00:26:21 Speaker 3: It's like, so I always think that that is like a weak argument the scientists who want to tear us away from God. 00:26:33 Speaker 4: Yeah, well, it's it's a little bit like C. S. Lewis talks about how you can put a maniac on his in a cell and he will know. I forget how he said it. I'm going to butcher it. But a lunatic can no more put out the sun by scribbling darkness on the walls of his cell then a man can. 00:26:50 Speaker 3: You know? 00:26:51 Speaker 4: A man can nullify God's existence by saying that he doesn't exist, like it doesn't matter what you say, it doesn't matter what you do, and that should make you feel both more at peace and I feel a little bit insignificant because you can say whatever you want. God's going still going to exist, and whether you want to admit it or not, it doesn't really matter. So yeah, I think Ricky Gervais might have been making a point, but not the one he thought he was. 00:27:13 Speaker 3: For sure, Yeah, exactly. So I've loved this conversation. This has gone places I didn't expect. Leave us here with your best tip for my listeners on how they can live a better life. 00:27:27 Speaker 4: So I used to be really, really shy, and I was thinking about this question before the show because this is actually pretty significant. I used to be really shy, and I feel like that my life really began when I figured out that other people are thinking about themselves as much as I'm thinking about myself. So all the time I spend worrying about what other people thinking about me, they're spending worrying about what I think about them or what other people think about them. So just do your thing, like and this has been really freeing when it comes to parenting, too, because I literally postponed having children because I looked at the way mothers treated other mothers and I was like, no, not interested in that. But it doesn't matter what they say. It really doesn't. You're going to do what's right for your family and you're going to ignore them because you have your kid's best interest at heart and you're going to You're just going to do your best. There's nothing else you can do. You need to ignore what other people say you really do. And I know it's super hard because a lot of us are shy or retiring, or we really do kind of care what people think of us. But the most important thing you can do for yourself is stop worrying so much about what other people think. So that's my two cents. That really helped me with my shyness. 00:28:42 Speaker 3: That's really good. I was also very shy as a kid, and I just had to force myself to get over it. And yeah, it's hard, super outgoing. I don't know how that happened. Thank you so much for coming on. She's Lydia Lighterman. You can find her on exit sour Patch Lids. It's Lyds and thank you again, Lydia. 00:29:00 Speaker 1: This is great Thank you, Carol, Thanks so much for joining us on The Carol Markowitz Show. 00:29:05 Speaker 2: Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.