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The Daily Dish The Real Housewives of New York City

Carole Radziwill Actually Wishes She Had Talked About Politics More on RHONY

"I was probably that friend who was super annoying," the #RHONY author said of her political talk.

By Laura Rosenfeld
Carole Radziwill Dishes on Her Passion for Politics

They say you should never talk about politics or religion in polite conversation, but Carole Radziwill has definitely not subscribed to that philosophy when it comes to the former topic this season of The Real Housewives of New York City. In the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, Carole has been talking politics with seemingly every Housewife, from swapping news stories with Dorinda Medley to getting on Bethenny Frankel's nerves to arguing with Ramona Singer about who's more informed.

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Carole recently told The Daily Dish that she has found it challenging to determine who she can and can't talk politics with. "I don't think I navigate talking about politics very well, to be honest. I certainly didn't on the show with this particular group of friends because there are different levels of interest. I'm very interested in politics. I always have been. At ABC News, I covered lots of politics. I interviewed lots of politicians and spent a lot of time in Washington, D.C. So it's just something that I've always been interested in. I'm not a political expert. I'm not Rachel Maddow. It's a hobby and an interest and a passion," Carole explained. "And there are always different levels, and in this group there are definitely different levels. A lot of people aren't interested in politics at all, and if you're not interested at all, it's hard to have a conversation because I felt a lot of times I was being a little pedantic, although I didn't mean to be."


One of those people who was perhaps not as interested in talking about politics with Carole was Bethenny, who has told the RHONY author that thinking and talking about the election this much is not good for her. "There was a point right before the election where I was going really hard on social media, and I was part of the Get Out the Vote campaign. I was probably that friend who was super annoying who would show up at your house for lunch and dinner at your house and say, 'Oh my God, have you read this article? Have you seen what happened today? Did you hear what he said in Florida?'" Carole said. "I will cop to the fact that that could probably be annoying. And certainly, Bethenny got the brunt of that because we spent so much time together. I don't know. She says I was obsessed. I just say I was interested."

Still, Carole said that she was going to talk about politics whether the rest of the RHONY ladies liked it or not. "I was just being myself. I am who I am on the show and off the show, and off the show, that's what I was talking about. That's what the whole country was talking about," she said. "So I just couldn't show up and have lunch with my friends and not talk about it. I'm sure everyone would've rather talked about Luann [D'Agostino]'s wedding or my boyfriend or who Ramona was dating. Maybe everyone would've been happier. But I wasn't interested in that." 

In fact, she said that she wishes she had been more vocal about political issues at the time. "Honestly, looking back now, I probably didn't talk about it enough," Carole said. "I should've gone harder on social media. I should've been out there more talking about what was going on." 

Carole said that she was worried that the talk of the presidential election that she filmed months ago for this season of RHONY would no longer be relevant today. But she has found that that has not been the case. "We're still talking about the same issues, and serious, serious issues going on in Washington and need to be talked about," she said. "And so, here I am talking about it still." 

Relive one of this season's most heated debates so far, below.

Election Parties and Soft-Core Films
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