John Brummett speaks about politics and how the nation could change at Butterfield Trail Village
By Strohmann Breeding
John Brummett made his annual trip to OLLI to speak about politics in Arkansas and the nation, in specific, addressing this year’s midterm elections. Brummett is a long-time political journalist who currently writes for the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in opinion columns and political news columns.
On October 18, 2018, a cold wet evening, Butterfield Trail Village hosted OLLI members and John Brummett for an evening of fun-filled discussion and a lively Q&A session afterwards.
Brummett dove in, and spent the first hour of his lecture speaking about the national climate and how “Trumpism” has taken over Washington and Capitol Hill. Brummett bounced around from discussing the 2016 election to past elections and tendencies in the midterms to discussing this year’s pivotal midterms that could swing congress against the president, resulting in a possible stalemate for power and legislation.
After the first hour, packed with possibilities and tendencies, Brummett shifted to a more seminar-type style, taking questions from audience members.
Brummett even said, “Let’s move on to the Q&A since we all know that’s why we are here.”
OLLI students and other audience members then had the unique opportunity to hear from an esteemed political journalist and take into account his particular read on things. Brummett had to actually cut the session short as the class ran out of time due to the high-intensity and number of questions.
Brummett left the audience with a sense of hopeful obligation, challenging them to listen to the other side and provide areas where dialogue could be had and progress could be made. He offered a vision into the future but stipulated that stranger things had happened than a journalist getting it wrong. Finally, Brummett finished with a call to action: to vote for your change and be a part of democracy.
