#42- 18 High Levels Words about What's Happening with U.S. Politics

Hi there! Welcome to episode #42 of The Real Life English with Gabby Podcast!

Have you seen all the chaos happening in the USA? In this episode, you'll be learning 18 high level English words for American politics. It's a very unpredictable and crazy time for politics in the USA and it's a topic that Americans are talking about constantly. This episode will teach you all what's happening now AND also teach you how to talk about it in English. After listening to this episode, you’ll be able to speak about American politics and politics in general, with confidence. 

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Transcript

What in the world is happening in the USA? Since Trump has taken office on January 20th, there has been complete and total chaos in our government and country. In today's episode, I'm going to talk about what's been happening and how Americans are feeling — all while teaching you 18 high-level English words like turbulent, entitled to, cornerstone, due process, and more. Let's get to it.

Hey there, welcome to the Real Life English with Gabby podcast. I'm your host, Gabby, your fun and friendly English teacher from the one and only New York City. My goal is to teach you phrasal verbs, idioms, and slang that will help you speak English confidently and understand real American conversations.

Are you ready to improve your English skills? Let's jump right in. Let's go.

Hey, hey, [00:01:00] hey! Thanks so much for tuning in to today's special episode. Oftentimes, when I speak to students, they ask me about politics. And lately, my students have been messaging me a lot. The students that I'm teaching in person just say, "Gabby, what is happening in the United States?"

So today, I want to talk about it. Here in the USA, we have honestly been knee-deep in chaos. So much changes every single day. Literally, we wake up, and ten new laws or executive orders have been passed, and they're all things that are heavily impacting our country. Today, I'm going to give you a brief overview of all the chaos. [00:02:00]

Let me just start out by saying that this is obviously a very controversial topic. I actually love controversial topics, as I've mentioned in past episodes, and I love discussing controversial topics with my students in class — mainly because, if you ever talk to Americans, or if you have ever — or will ever — live in or visit the USA, you'll learn pretty quickly that Americans love talking about everything under the sun, including controversies.

If you want to have a high level of English, you need to be comfortable speaking about controversial topics. And you need to be able to do it with confidence, which is why when students come to my class, there is no topic that is off the table or not allowed. When students ask me questions, [00:03:00] I answer them and I tell them how to talk about these topics because I don't want there to be any gaps in your English.

With that being said, let me give you a little warning. If you are a Donald Trump lover, you will not like this episode. And I'm okay with that. I know that I might lose some students who disagree with me, but again, I'm okay with that. I never want to be accused of being on the wrong side of history. And I would never want to stay silent as human rights are being violated.

I do not hate Donald Trump supporters. In fact, many of my family members are Trump supporters. I have friends, neighbors, co-workers who are Trump supporters. And so, even though I despise Donald Trump, I don't have a problem with Trump supporters — meaning that [00:04:00] I still love them. Although, some of them I do think are crazy, but that's some of them, which we'll talk about soon.

Alright, now that I've gotten that out of the way, let's get to it.

Okay, so, firstly, I want to say, on behalf of all Americans, I'm sorry. I have honestly never been so ashamed of being American. The way that my country and my government have been violating human rights and making people suffer is insane.

Insane means very crazy.

I never thought that I would see the day when we would be imprisoning kids as well as imprisoning adults who have not gotten a fair trial. I [00:05:00] also never thought I'd see the day when politicians would do the Nazi salute on television and get applauded for it — meaning people would clap for them.

I also never thought I'd see the day when the American president consistently tries to override or overrule the Constitution because it blocks him from doing what he wants.

You know, I know that the United States has done many bad things in the past, and I'm never proud of those. But seeing it happen in front of my eyes is horrifying.

I believe I've mentioned this in previous episodes. I have a master's degree in teaching English as a second language — that's [00:06:00] what I went to graduate school for. When I was in undergrad — meaning my first four years of university — I studied biology and history. I wanted to be a doctor, but I loved history, so my major was also history while I was in a pre-med program.

My bachelor's degree is in history, but with a concentration in American history because of how much I loved American history.

My dad is an engineer who works for the military, but my dad is also a historian, and because of that, I grew up watching documentaries about World War I and II, the Civil War — lots of different wars — a lot about the military.

And I have to say that it is extremely scary to me to see history repeating itself. [00:07:00]

What's happening now is very reminiscent — this is one of our words that we'll be talking about — of the Nazi era during the World War I and World War II period. And so, it's very scary for people who have studied history to see what's going on.

It's been extremely troubling to have an unelected person like Elon Musk make major decisions that include violating the Constitution and having access to confidential information and data.

Now, some of my students have messaged me saying, "Gabby, how come Americans are not fighting against what's happening?"

I want to tell you two things.

Number one: we are so shell-shocked — meaning super shocked. It has been a little bit over a month and so much has changed in our country.

Let me explain the process of what exactly has been happening.

So first, we have Donald [00:08:00] Trump, who passes a law. This law happens to violate the Constitution, and for that reason, it goes before a judge — one of the many judges that we have in the government.

Then the judge says, "Sorry, you can't do this because it violates the Constitution."

Sometimes, also, Donald Trump passes a law, it violates the Constitution, and then some of the states sue Donald Trump, and then the process continues.

So, we're kind of waiting to see what actually happens because he wants to do a lot of things that are against the law and against the Constitution. So we're waiting to see which things actually happen because he'll say something, but then once it goes through the courts, he realizes he can't do it.

An example of this would be with birthright citizenship.

If you didn't know, [00:09:00] anyone who's born in the United States gets citizenship. This means that if you come here on vacation and you or your partner have a baby, that baby has a legal right to become an American citizen, despite the parents not being American citizens.

Trump wants to stop that, but he can't because it's in our Constitution. So he said it, he passed the law, but then I think 18 different states sued him. So he's been stopped.

So that's the first reason why maybe it seems like there aren't enough Americans protesting.

Secondly, there are Americans protesting. There's a protest every week, pretty much.

And so we are protesting, signing petitions, and calling our congressmen and governors. But a lot of us are just kind of waiting to see what actually happens with the courts.

I will say, he said that he wants to get rid [00:10:00] of the courts and the judges. If somebody tells him no, he wants them fired because they're blocking what he wants to do.

So he wants to increase the executive power in our government. Technically, he can't, but let's see what happens.

Okay, another thing that I've heard a lot is, "Gabby, how did half of Americans vote for Donald Trump?"

And I just want to clarify something — clear something up.

Our election was very, very close.

I got some numbers because I wanted to see for myself.

Donald Trump got 49.8% of the popular vote — that's 77 million votes.

Kamala Harris got 48.3% of the popular vote — which is 75 million.

Only a 2 million difference.

The thing is though, Trump got [00:11:00] more of the votes in every state also, and in the important states we call swing states—states that could either be conservative or liberal—and got him most of the vote. Kind of a complicated process here, you know, there are 330 million Americans, okay? But, there are 245 million Americans who can vote. However, only 75 percent voted. Listen to this number: 90 million people did not vote. That's crazy. So when you look at the numbers, 23 percent of all Americans out of the 330 voted for Trump. So it's less than a quarter.

Of course, with kids, sure, some of them follow their parents and want Trump, but for the most part, 23 percent of [00:12:00] all Americans alive at this moment voted for Donald Trump. That's pretty crazy. So no, gosh, no, goodness, no. Half of all of us did not want Trump in office. Most of us are miserable right now.

And you might be wondering, why did so many Americans not vote? I know in some countries, like Brazil, you kind of have to vote. And I wish that were the case here, but unfortunately, it's not. I personally know people that didn't vote because they don't like either option. A lot of people don't vote because they don't think anything will change. And honestly, a lot of people were upset with President Biden and Kamala Harris about the Palestine-Israel situation. We have many people in our country who believe that what's happening in Palestine is unfair, and so they didn't vote because they were upset or they voted for smaller third parties.

[00:13:00] Okay, this episode is a little bit different than previous episodes. Normally, I write a story that includes all of the words and then we review after. This week, I didn't write a story. I wrote a summary of the main things that are happening in the USA. Honestly, this is one of those topics that has an endless amount of content that we could discuss, but I had to pick the most important things. If you have questions and you want me to explain some things, you can comment on Spotify, you can write me an email, or send me a message on social media. I'll definitely cover it.

Some students have asked if I could cover current events and teach vocabulary based on current events. And I'm very open to that. If that's something you want, please let me know.

Okay, so let me tell you the 18 [00:14:00] words that you're gonna learn in this episode:

To be knee-deep in something, reminiscent, turbulent, implications, entitled to, ensure, due process, a cornerstone, limbo, from all walks of life, legality, violate, rap sheet, priors, spark, bring to the forefront, civil crimes, civil offenses, racial profiling, and valid.

Really quickly, before we get into the story, I just wanted to remind you that there is a free study guide waiting for you. In this study guide, you'll see all of the vocabulary [00:15:00] words and definitions, plus example sentences, and also practice activities so that you can remember everything that you learned in this episode. The transcript is also there in the study guide so that you can listen again and follow along.

To get the study guide, click the link in the episode description. Once you get one study guide, once you sign up for the study guides, they'll be waiting for you every episode in a folder and sent to you by email.

The U. S. is facing a turbulent time when it comes to politics, specifically around the issues of immigration. Constitutional rights and diversity. The policies [00:16:00] currently being debated have serious implications, not only for people's legal status, but for the fundamental rights that all people, citizens or non citizens, should be entitled to under the Constitution. First, let's talk about the American Constitution's role. in protecting rights. The U. S. Constitution is meant to protect everyone in the country, regardless of citizenship. So if you are on vacation, The Constitution protects you. The Constitution ensures due process, equal protection, and other rights for all people within the borders of the United States. These rights are a cornerstone of American democracy, and they shouldn't be overlooked in [00:17:00] these discussions about immigration and other political issues The treatment of immigrants has become a huge area of concern. When people come to the United States looking for a better life, many find themselves trapped in legal limbo, facing deportation or limited opportunities, even though they have contributed to the country's economy. This has raised questions about the legality of certain policies like the Lakin Riley Act, which many argue could violate constitutional protections. Now let's talk about this Lakin Riley Act. Laken Riley was a 22 year old student at a university and she was murdered while she was jogging on campus in [00:18:00] Georgia. Her murderer was an undocumented immigrant. who had a huge rap sheet and a lot of priors. this made a lot of Americans angry, because for many, it was an excuse as to why undocumented people shouldn't be here. Now, of course, what happened to Lake and Riley was terrible. It was really sad, but it's not an excuse to punish all undocumented people, especially ones that have never broken laws and who regularly contribute to society. So the law that was named after her allows The federal imprisonment and detention of illegal immigrants who are accused of theft, burglary, assaulting a police officer, or any crime that causes injury. Now, this is [00:19:00] Extremely controversial because it's people who are accused of, not people who are guilty of. If someone wants to lie that someone has committed a crime, guess what, they can go to jail. This act has sparked a lot of debate and it brings to the forefront issues of Civil versus criminal accusations and crimes. This act violates constitutional rights and it could lead to racial profiling or unconstitutional imprisonment of immigrants without due process. There's a lot of legal challenges to this law, so we'll see what happens with it in the future. There has also been an attack on diversity. We call it DEI, which stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our country has such a [00:20:00] huge history of racism that Since the civil rights movement in the 1960s, there were many laws in place that protected Blacks, Latinos, Asians from racism. And the current Republican party that is in power does not like these. And they have made up so many lies about DEI, , and so they are starting to get rid of them. many books. That's right, the USA has banned a lot of books that talk about the true Native American history, that talk about slavery. , you should look up, American books banned, and you'll see how many. beautiful books that show the real history of the United States, , have been banned from the school system. In short, , the current political situation is a complicated mix of legal, ethical, and humanitarian concerns. [00:21:00] While there are valid concerns, On both sides, it's important to remember that protecting the rights of all individuals, especially those who need it most, is at the heart of the United States Constitution. The U. S. is facing serious challenges in multiple areas, but it's important to note that the country has a long history of fighting and resisting. We have gone through a civil war, economic depressions, social unrest, and we have managed to recover, but we don't know what's going to happen this time around. Only time will tell.

One of the first expressions that I mentioned in the episode was to be knee-deep in something. Now this has a literal and metaphorical definition. Knee-deep in something means to be deeply involved or occupied with something, often in a very difficult way, an overwhelming way. This is the most common definition. This is how we use it here, in more of a symbolic way. However, the literal definition is also common, and this means to be in something that reaches up to your knees. For example, we would say, "The car is stuck in snow that's knee-deep." That means if you're standing up, the snow comes up to your knees. But we often use it metaphorically and say, for example, "I'm sorry I can't hang out tonight. I'm knee-deep in paperwork," or "I'm knee-deep in schoolwork." Earlier in the episode, the example that I used was I said that the USA is knee-deep in chaos. That means that we are just deep in chaos.

One of the words that I discussed early on, I said that current times are reminiscent of the times around World War I and II. The word reminiscent means that something reminds you of something or someone from the past.

So it's like saying these times now are a reminder of the past. For example, "The old song was reminiscent of their high school days."

Next up we have the word turbulent. Turbulent means something that is characterized by conflict, disorder, or confusion. You might recognize the word turbulence, which is the noun. This is when you're on an airplane, and the plane starts to shake, and the pilot says, "There's going to be turbulence for the next few minutes." Turbulent is the adjective, and we use it to describe situations that are chaotic or difficult. For example, "The country went through a turbulent period after the election."

Next up we have the word implications. Implications mean the possible effects or results of an action or decision. So someone might say, "The implications of your choice are going to be bad," or "We don't know the implications of this law." We don't know the effects or the results. For example, "The new law has serious implications for immigrants."

Next up we have entitled to. To be entitled to something means having the right to something. For example, "Everyone is entitled to a fair trial." Everyone has the right to a fair trial.

Ensure is the next word, and this means to make sure or make certain that something happens. "The teacher worked hard to ensure that every student understood the lesson."

Next up we have due process. This is a very, very important government political term to know. Due process means fair treatment in the justice system. So when we say that every person in the United States has the right to due process, it means that every single person in this country has the right to the fair justice system.

Everyone in the United States should have a fair trial, should be considered innocent until it's proven that they are guilty of whatever crime they're being charged with. So if you do not have a fair experience in the justice system, technically it is unconstitutional. For example, "They demanded due process before being put into prison."

Next up we have a cornerstone. A cornerstone is an important or essential part of something. For example, "Freedom of speech is the cornerstone of democracy." This is something that is essential, necessary, important in any democratic civilization.

So without this cornerstone, without this thing, the other cannot exist. So you cannot have a democracy without freedom of speech, essentially is what this is saying.

Next up we have the word limbo. Now limbo can be like a fun party game where people have to bend under a stick. It's really, really fun. I'm sure you can look it up on Google or even social media. But the word limbo actually means a state of uncertainty, confusion, or indecision. For example, "After losing his job, he felt like he was in limbo." We often say in limbo, meaning that it was a state of confusion. So right now, a lot of people are saying that our government is in limbo because it's a big, big time of uncertainty, confusion, we don't know what's happening, we don't know what the future looks like, etc.

Next up, we have the expression from all walks of life. This means that something came from a wide variety of backgrounds or social statuses. When we say that people came from all walks of life, we mean that they come from a wide variety of backgrounds, social statuses, life experiences. For example, "People from all walks of life joined the protest."

Next up we have the expression legality. Legality comes from the word legal, which is an adjective. This is the quality or state of being legal or following the law. For example, "The lawyer questioned the legality of the new policy."

Next we have the verb to violate. This means to break or fail to comply with a rule or law. "The company was fined for violating environmental regulations." We use this verb all the time. To violate laws, to violate rules, you may hear this used in discipline when you're getting in trouble for something at work or at school. You can say, "You violated this rule." But this is a word that we use all the time. "He's in jail because he violated this." "He was fired because he violated this law." "The governor resigned, he left office because he violated the law." So it's a very common word, I'm sure you've heard it before, but it's a very important word to know in English.

Next up we have a rap sheet or priors. This is a good one. We may have talked about this way back in episode number two or three where we talk about crime, but a rap sheet or what we call priors, this is a record of someone's previous criminal offenses. So if we say "She has a rap sheet," or "She has priors," it means that this person has committed previous crimes. For example, "The suspect had a long rap sheet with multiple priors."

Next up we have the word spark. To spark, the verb, means to cause something to start or happen suddenly. For example, "The incident sparked a debate about immigration." A spark can also be like when you're starting a fire and that first little sign of fire comes. That's actually where to spark comes from. Because it's like you're igniting something to happen.

Next up, we have the expression to bring something to the forefront. This means to make something a main point of focus or attention. It's like we're bringing it to the front of the conversation. For example, "The scandal brought issues of corruption to the forefront."

Next up, we have civil crimes or civil offenses. Now, an offense is violating the law or doing something against the law. Civil offenses are offenses that violate civil law, not criminal law. So typically, when you have criminal law, you go to jail. Civil law does not send you to jail. For example, "Failing to pay rent is a civil crime, not a criminal one."

Next up we have racial profiling. Racial profiling, this is not the first time that this has come up in an episode, but as a reminder, racial profiling is when you target someone for suspicion of a crime based on their race or ethnicity. For example, "He accused the police of racial profiling during the traffic stop." It's like in the United States, how often police stop Black Americans more than anyone else because they think they look suspicious. Nowadays, basically any kind of brown person, Latinos and Arabs especially, are being racially profiled and stopped in the street and asked to show proof of citizenship.

Next up we have the word valid. Valid is based on truth, logic, or the law. So if something is valid, this means that it's true, because it's based on truth, it's based on logic, it's based on the law. For example, "Her passport was still valid, so she could travel freely." This means, according to the law, her passport was still allowed. So she was allowed to travel.

And lastly, we have the word crucial. Crucial means important. Extremely important. "It's crucial that you file your paperwork on time."

Well, there you have it. You've got now some high-level words that you can use to talk about U.S. politics. This episode was definitely at a higher level than other episodes, so if you found it challenging, it's okay, that's very normal. Hopefully, once you look at the study guide, you look at all the words again, you review things, you listen to it again, it'll be a lot easier for you to understand.

In conclusion to everything that you heard in this episode, I just wanted to say, if you know any Americans, if you have American family members, just you know, text them, hug them. "Are you okay? How are you doing?" It is very, very likely that you will see an influx, meaning a sharp increase, of Americans in your country in the next year.

Most Americans I know are making backup plans. They're getting all their documents together in case they have to leave the country. So get ready to welcome some Americans.

Well, that's a wrap for today's episode of the Real Life English with Gabby podcast. Be sure to download today's study guide so that you can practice what you learned.