RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. – “Come on in…” says Susie Book Lee as she invites a group of friends into her Rancho Palos Verdes home.
It is a Tuesday afternoon, the sun is out.
“You can feel fall in the air though right,” says Lee as she pours her friends some wine.
They are here to catch up. Lee, like all of her friends, is a mother, a resident of the South Bay and a Republican. At times, that last title has made them feel targeted.
“I have been underground, that’s the thing Susie, I feel like I cannot be true to myself here in California in particular” says Dana Chelf a lifelong Republican, who was born and raised in Pasadena.
Together they use this women’s circle to discuss what they feel and what can’t be discuss out in the open.
“One of the headlines is the impeachment” says Lee. “I was saying this earlier, I’ve been reading that word for so long since day seven of his presidency. Impeachment a year before the next election is very transparent. Can’t we just all get behind the person elected?”
Her friend Megan Westcott, ex-president of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Women’s Federated Club responds “I think it’s going to backfire for the Democratic Party.”
Lee and her friends think the impeachment inquiry is a distraction.
“Just focus on reality what affects people’s lives, they’re just stopping everything and concentrating on this witch-hunt which nobody cares about anymore,” says Silva Thomas, an immigrant from Armenia, who works in Institutional Investment.
Lee has voted in every election since Ronald Reagan and is considering her options for 2020.
“While I voted for Trump and I think he’s done stellar in certain areas, his demeanor and his vernacular are not sitting well with me. I’m looking for a unicorn, I want the strength but I want the grace,” says Lee.
What they all agree on is that Warren and Sander’s policies are too far left.
“It’s extreme, it’s socialism” says Thomas.
“Democrats say Elizabeth Warren is too progressive to be elected so I’m not concerned about her” said Lee.
Westcott jumps in “but remember, they said that about Trump.”
None of them are very happy with politics at the state or local level, so they are getting involved through the ballot box, or maybe even elected office.
“This is crazy I’m going to run for an office, because this is too much,” says Thomas.
Chelf responds “you have our vote.”