Have a politically divided family? These tips help you talk across the dinner table

Jeanne Safer and Richard Brookhiser are no strangers to disagreement. The couple has been disagreeing with each other for almost half a century. Safer is a psychoanalyst and describes herself as liberal. Brookhiser says he’s a conservative Republican and works for the National Review. The two of them say they don’t agree on “pretty much anything” politically — and there have only been a handful of times they’ve voted for the same person.

Though friends occasionally criticize their marriage, Safer and Brookhiser say they’ve always stuck up for each other and found ways to talk about most topics. Although there are things they still don’t discuss — at all.

“Abortion,” Brookhiser says. “That was the issue that we both had strong opinions on that were opposite.”