Dasha Burns Previews Her New C-SPAN Show — Promises Better Than ‘The Sugar High of Watching Conflicts’

Dasha Burns, Politico’s White House bureau chief, joined C-SPAN’s Washington Journal on Thursday to discuss her new venture with the public affairs network – hosting a new program titled CeaseFire.

Greta Brawner welcomed Burns to her program and introduced the new show, “Joining us at our table this morning is Dasha Burns. She is going to be the new host of C-SPAN CeaseFire and she’s currently Politico’s White House Bureau Chief. Congratulations. Thanks for being here. Thank you so much. I’m so happy to be here. Yeah, tell our viewers a little bit about your background.”

“So I started at Politico in January. I’m the White House bureau chief there and chief Playbook correspondent. So I’ve been spending a lot of time at the White House and running around Washington trying to get everyone to understand what exactly is happening in this administration and the why behind it,” Burns replied, adding:

And I host a show called The Conversation, which is Politico’s sort of alternative to the traditional Sunday show where I bring on leaders from across Washington and beyond to have kind of an unconventional chat, a little bit more personal and more conversational than you would get in your typical traditional Sunday show.

So I love creating spaces where Democrats, Republicans, independents, people from across the political spectrum feel like they’re going to get a fair shake, like they are going to be able to have a substantive, meaty conversation. And I’m excited to do that here.

“Is that what drew you to CeaseFire?” followed up Brawner.

“That’s it exactly. I mean, look, I think that we are living in a time where most of what we see is partisanship, polarization, conflict. What if we had a space where that wasn’t the case? What if we had a place where people actually could come and try to find some common ground and move the ball forward on real issues affecting Americans? And that’s what I really want to see with this program,” Burns replied.

“Give our viewers an idea of what it’s gonna look like. Who’s gonna be sitting across from you at the table?” Brawner pressed.

“Well, we’re gonna have folks that typically don’t sit at a table together, at least don’t sit together ready to try to agree. So we’re going to have people from across the aisle, and maybe people that are secretly friends, but don’t really typically promote that,” Burns replied, adding:

I mean, I think what’ll be fun is pushing people out of their comfort zones to try to agree, out of their partisan comfort zones. I think people are used to trying to be in conflict with each other. But I really do feel like, at this point, the sugar high of watching conflicts and the clickbait of that… what happens when you get a sugar high? You get a crash afterwards, right?

So I think people are a little bit tired of that and are ready for some meat and potatoes of real conversation and substance that will actually energize them and they’ll walk away not crashing and depressed, but walk away energized and hopeful about what we can do as a nation.

“You’re at the White House. You know how Washington works. Will viewers be surprised at how many people across the aisle get along and work on different issues together?” Brawner asked.

“But that happens so much more behind the scenes than people realize. I mean, look, polarization is a real thing, and people do get heated and people do get into it. But they also have, like, best friends sometimes across the aisle. And even this White House, look, there are times when they do reach out, and they do work with Republicans, and I think and hope it will be a pleasant surprise for viewers to realize that sometimes we can get together and get stuff done,” Burns responded.

“And as the host, how will you approach this? What’s your goal here?” Brawner added.

“Well, look, I like to make people feel comfortable. I like to get a little bit personal, maybe bring a little charm, a little levity, but also really push people. Let’s not, you’re not gonna be yelling at each other on this show, and if you do, I don’t know, maybe we have like a dollar jar or something for that. We’ll have to find a way to get people to do this because this is not something you see on television, and especially when cameras turn on, politicians tend to turn on that side of themselves and we’ll have to train that out of them a little bit here. So that’s gonna be a fun challenge to do something so different in this political moment,” Burns explained.

Watch the clip above via C-SPAN.