Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to wok F Daily with
Speaker 1: me your girl, Daniel Moody, recording from the Home Bunker, Folks,
Speaker 1: I can't help but continue to think about the ways
Speaker 1: that Republicans are using racism as a distraction. For the
Speaker 1: last couple of days, we've been going back and forth
Speaker 1: on social media about hard ends and ers, as I
Speaker 1: posted in a video on my YouTube channel, and I
Speaker 1: got to tell you that Toni Morrison, I continue to
Speaker 1: say was a prophet, was right when she said that
Speaker 1: racism is a distraction. Because if I'm too busy explaining
Speaker 1: my humanity to you, then I don't have the energy
Speaker 1: and the ability to actually do the work to move
Speaker 1: this country forward. And that is the goal of the
Speaker 1: Republican Party. It is to exhaust us. It is to
Speaker 1: distract us, to get us out of ourselves right and
Speaker 1: into the muck with them. And what I am deciding
Speaker 1: to do is not right. It should just say no.
Speaker 1: Because you know what happened while we were busy talking
Speaker 1: about Megan Kelly and Richard Lowry, which I am talking
Speaker 1: about myself, the Senate Republicans once again blocked legislation that
Speaker 1: would allow IVF to be protected in this country. So
Speaker 1: while they're lying to your face about, oh, we just
Speaker 1: moved abortion from a federal issue into a states rights issue,
Speaker 1: mind you, this is the same shit that they said
Speaker 1: about slavery. Oh, it's states rights and it's an economic issue.
Speaker 1: No the fuck it is not. You have created a
Speaker 1: patchwork of protections for women and people with uteruses in
Speaker 1: this country that are killing women, most recently two black
Speaker 1: women in the state of Georgia. There is a pro
Speaker 1: publica article out now on the ways in which those
Speaker 1: two women, those two mothers deaths could have been prevented
Speaker 1: if abortion was legal in the state of Georgia. Now,
Speaker 1: while they say, oh, you won't be persecuted and treated
Speaker 1: like a criminal for seeking an abortion, guess what they
Speaker 1: have done successfully, which is scare women into dying alone
Speaker 1: at home or in parking lots. So again, while I
Speaker 1: say that we are in arms right over the fact
Speaker 1: that an entire town in Springfield, Ohio has been basically
Speaker 1: under a terror watch because of Donald Trump and JD. Vance,
Speaker 1: the question that I ask is what is it that
Speaker 1: we're missing while they're throwing our attention over there, What
Speaker 1: is it that they are doing? Because there is always
Speaker 1: something underhanded going on. So while our focus is on Springfield, Ohio,
Speaker 1: and I'm not saying that it's shouldn't be, we should
Speaker 1: also be asking the question of what else are Republicans doing,
Speaker 1: because right now they are in session mandating how when
Speaker 1: and if a woman has a child and how when
Speaker 1: and if she is going to die because she takes
Speaker 1: on that awesome responsibility. Right now, we are living inside
Speaker 1: of the handmaid's tail. It is not something that is
Speaker 1: forthcoming after November, if in fact, enough people in swing
Speaker 1: states don't decide to vote for common fucking sense and
Speaker 1: not a common criminal like Donald Trump. But the reality
Speaker 1: is is that their dystopian wet dreams are manifesting every
Speaker 1: day and they are costing women their lives. We have
Speaker 1: got to keep our eyes on the prize, on the
Speaker 1: ball because these motherfuckers are shifty, they are shady, and
Speaker 1: as JD. Vance said, the quiet part out loud again,
Speaker 1: they are ruthless about their pursuit of power by any
Speaker 1: means necessary. Coming up next, my conversation with our friend,
Speaker 1: our in house doctor, doctor Jonathan Metzel. Folks. I am
Speaker 1: always very happy when our world traveler, doctor Jonathan Metzel
Speaker 1: returns to WOKF to discuss all of the happenings. Jonathan,
Speaker 1: you've been gone a spell. It's good to have you back.
Speaker 2: It was an incredibleship. I was in Copenhagen talking about
Speaker 2: American gun violence and they looked at me like, oh
Speaker 2: my god, what is wrong with you guys? Like it
Speaker 2: was really interesting. Everybody should have the experience of talking
Speaker 2: about America somewhere else and just seeing how we are
Speaker 2: just kicked in the McNuggets here in terms of like
Speaker 2: in terms of just our what we get used to
Speaker 2: every day. They looked at me like, oh my god,
Speaker 2: please go back, leave us alone.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I uh fair funny. I will be in London
Speaker 1: over the weekend through next Tuesday doing an event with
Speaker 1: Mehdi Hassan where we will talk about American democracy in London,
Speaker 1: and I'm just like, I'm excited about it because I
Speaker 1: really do international discussions. Oh cool, I like, outside of
Speaker 1: outside of Canada.
Speaker 2: Where's it going to be. Let's pump that up. Where's
Speaker 2: it going to be?
Speaker 1: I will find out. I will find out. Well, I
Speaker 1: will let people know.
Speaker 2: People are just going to be wandering around London looking for.
Speaker 1: Right, looking for me, but you know, so I want
Speaker 1: to talk about this with you today. Over the last
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, Donald Trump and Jade Vance have been
Speaker 1: ratcheting up their stochastic terrorism attacks on the Haitian immigrant
Speaker 1: population of Springfield, Ohio. Folks have been listening to this show.
Speaker 1: They know that I've talked about this. It's been all
Speaker 1: over the news. You've had two city commissioners, police chiefs
Speaker 1: come out to discredit the lies that have been told
Speaker 1: about the Haitian immigrant population and how it is damaging
Speaker 1: the community, how it's damaging businesses. Just recently, as of
Speaker 1: this recording, they have canceled a cultural arts event that
Speaker 1: was supposed to happen in Springfield this coming week or
Speaker 1: weekend because they fear violence. Because over the last week,
Speaker 1: schools were closed two days in a row because bomb threats.
Speaker 1: There have been municipality buildings were shut down because of
Speaker 1: bomb threats, all coming after Donald Trump was at the
Speaker 1: debate a week ago recounting the lies of Haitian immigrants.
Speaker 1: And I want to talk to you about this because
Speaker 1: what I realized, Jonathan, is one we use too many
Speaker 1: euphemisms when we talk about the rhetoric that Donald Trump,
Speaker 1: Jade vance and the Republican Party has been using over
Speaker 1: the last eight to ten years, right like, it has
Speaker 1: escalated in its violence, it is escalated in its cruelty,
Speaker 1: and it's been causing harm to people, from Judge Marshan
Speaker 1: and his court staff that have had to get security,
Speaker 1: to Shay Moss and Miss Ruby down in Georgia that
Speaker 1: sued both Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani for the lives
Speaker 1: that they spread, their lives who were ruined. So I
Speaker 1: want to get a sense from you, like talk to
Speaker 1: us about how these insinuations, these derogatory statements, they begin,
Speaker 1: but then they metastasize and they become a part of
Speaker 1: our lexicon, They become a part of what we believe
Speaker 1: to be the norm of political rhetoric, and how that
Speaker 1: is harming us.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean right now, obviously it's a very heightened
Speaker 2: moment where the stakes could not be higher, and we
Speaker 2: are seeing Willie Horton on steroids, basically playing to people's
Speaker 2: deepest replacement fears, anxieties, biases, racisms, stereotypes, and so this
Speaker 2: idea that basically other people are out for your stuff.
Speaker 2: I'm the only person who's going to protect you. We're
Speaker 2: going to be taken over. It's so deep, and it's
Speaker 2: just at this moment where basically you're trying to elicit
Speaker 2: an automatic response, which is fear vote, and I'm going
Speaker 2: to protect you and the other person's not going to
Speaker 2: protect you, and all these kind of things. In fact,
Speaker 2: the other person looks like those other people. And so
Speaker 2: in a way, it's just hard because it's such a
Speaker 2: tried and true method in American politics, which we've never
Speaker 2: seen it on this level before, I don't think. But
Speaker 2: the stakes are also higher than really the tricks are
Speaker 2: incredibly I and so I think part of the story
Speaker 2: is just it's hard because it's so obvious, right, and
Speaker 2: so how do you refute it? We're on a constant
Speaker 2: like treadmill of having to refute all this crazy stuff.
Speaker 2: And you know, what I've been thinking about recently is
Speaker 2: actually the time when the CRT thing came out initially
Speaker 2: because it was just so idiotic, right, it was like
Speaker 2: twenty twenty twenty twenty one, they started saying, oh, we're
Speaker 2: going against critical race theory, and we were just constantly
Speaker 2: people like me and you and other people were constantly
Speaker 2: going on television having to refute, oh, critical race theory
Speaker 2: is arcane legal theory that's taught in law schools, and
Speaker 2: blah blah blah, Like we were all of a sudden
Speaker 2: on their turf all the time, and so this idea
Speaker 2: of kind of always being on the defensive, it's great
Speaker 2: for Trump to be in the middle of the new cycle.
Speaker 2: He's going to keep ratcheting this up. And I guess
Speaker 2: for me, the question which I would ask you in return,
Speaker 2: is are we going to be continually it's like nine
Speaker 2: hundred tennis balls are coming at us at one time
Speaker 2: and we have just one tennis racket, Or is there
Speaker 2: a way that we can actually change the channel right now?
Speaker 2: Because it is of course racism and xenophobia, but it's
Speaker 2: also in the stakes of the election, and so I
Speaker 2: wish we could change the channel on this in some way. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that them on the defensive not have to respond to
Speaker 2: their points all the time, because the awfulness is just
Speaker 2: going to get worse and worse. It's so clear. I mean,
Speaker 2: even Vance was on TV one day saying this whole
Speaker 2: thing was bs and the next day he's like, oh wait,
Speaker 2: I stand corrected. So it's obviously a strategy.
Speaker 1: And that's the thing is that it is a strategy,
Speaker 1: and I think that the American people are exhausted, and
Speaker 1: I think that that is one of the many reasons
Speaker 1: why the Harris Walls ticket is palling in the way
Speaker 1: that it is right now. And I mean like a
Speaker 1: series a series of polls have all come out and
Speaker 1: shown that they are up. And while I tell people
Speaker 1: not to give too much stock to the polls, you're
Speaker 1: also looking at the amount of people that are showing
Speaker 1: up for their rallies and their events, and I think
Speaker 1: it's largely because America is exhausted. Donald Trump has exhausted
Speaker 1: us to the point where it's just like, can we
Speaker 1: have normal time? And I just want to bring this
Speaker 1: up again that the Springfield, Ohio officials are canceling their
Speaker 1: annual celebration of Diversity, Arts and Culture due to safety concerns.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the fact that Jade Vance was on with
Speaker 1: the Dana Bash over the weekend and said, sometimes we
Speaker 1: have to quote create stories. And I think that there
Speaker 1: is something to the fact that this is a strategy.
Speaker 1: The strategy is that Donald Trump and Jade Vans are
Speaker 1: down in the polls, so we need to find a
Speaker 1: scapegoat for that, and that looks like pointing the finger
Speaker 1: at black people, this time Haitian immigrants and saying they're
Speaker 1: the reason why your lives are so bad. Right aside
Speaker 1: from all of the truth that we know about Springfield,
Speaker 1: Ohio that I've continued to say here, I continue to
Speaker 1: say on my YouTube channel about the fact that Springfield
Speaker 1: was in economic dire straits and up until four years
Speaker 1: ago when this population of immigrants came to that area
Speaker 1: as the renewed labor force that was needed. They came
Speaker 1: to set up new home and in turn, Springfield, Ohio
Speaker 1: is seeing economic booms that they have not seen in decades.
Speaker 1: But that's not the narrative that's being told. And I
Speaker 1: think though, Jonathan, that this time around, people are not
Speaker 1: falling for Donald Trump and JD. Vance's bullshit in the
Speaker 1: way that they were falling for Trump a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago. Because even the stories and I critique corporate
Speaker 1: mainstream media all the time, are reinstating that this is
Speaker 1: a lie that they have been caught up in and
Speaker 1: are being forced to admit.
Speaker 2: I agree with you. I mean, it's on one hand,
Speaker 2: it's laughable rate, but I mean that's the whole point.
Speaker 2: The absurdity is kind of the point. And so you know,
Speaker 2: I just keep thinking, like, what's the best answer, because
Speaker 2: the minute we're talking about eating dogs, you know, we're
Speaker 2: not talking about all this other stuff. And so how
Speaker 2: do you know when you say people are not responding
Speaker 2: to it? I mean, these poles are seem to me
Speaker 2: incredibly close, right.
Speaker 1: They're always But here's the thing, Jonathan, They're always going
Speaker 1: to be close. We're never going to see blowouts. But
Speaker 1: when we're talking about three to five point difference, three
Speaker 1: to five points of Harris being up, which was the
Speaker 1: latest Morning poll, the latest CNN poll, the latest National poll,
Speaker 1: those numbers are within the margin of error, and she's
Speaker 1: still up. You're never going to see ten points up.
Speaker 1: But when we're seeing three and five, that's considerable.
Speaker 2: No, And so I guess for me, it's just from
Speaker 2: devoice on down. There is such a predictable way of
Speaker 2: generating outrage in this country, which is to poke the
Speaker 2: color line or poke different groups of people come to
Speaker 2: this country in different ways a different times. I mean,
Speaker 2: you know, my dad's an immigrant and he came because
Speaker 2: they needed educated people, and that's true for many people.
Speaker 2: So you can kind of poke this division line and
Speaker 2: the question is I think our strategy before was this
Speaker 2: is so preposterous. But again, I do think that that
Speaker 2: CRT moment was a textbook example of what not to do,
Speaker 2: which is we were on their playing field all the
Speaker 2: time and not making fun of them, not arguing with them,
Speaker 2: not doing anything else. But it was like we didn't
Speaker 2: talk about anything else except I mean, I don't know,
Speaker 2: you probably the same thing. I did twenty interviews defending CRT,
Speaker 2: which now nobody's really thinking about, and so in a way,
Speaker 2: it's just got their points on the news thing. So
Speaker 2: the question is how do you regenerate your being the
Speaker 2: front of the news cycle. And I think that you know,
Speaker 2: obviously everybody knows this right now. It's it's so predictable.
Speaker 2: But I just think that's going to be the point.
Speaker 2: I don't know about you. I'm I'm nervous about this election.
Speaker 2: It really feels like it'd go an anyway, and so
Speaker 2: the fact that this is happening in a swing state
Speaker 2: and things like that are important. But I hope you're right.
Speaker 2: I hope people are not falling for it. I hope
Speaker 2: that's right.
Speaker 1: I say this like it is happening in a swing state,
Speaker 1: and people are seeing, particularly in this state of Ohio,
Speaker 1: how their town, their city is being used as a
Speaker 1: political football. So for people for the first time being like, oh,
Speaker 1: I didn't have a problem with Donald Trump, but now
Speaker 1: those chickens have actually come home to roost in your
Speaker 1: front yard and you're just like, wait a minute, there
Speaker 1: was nothing wrong with Springfield, Like we were fine. They're like,
Speaker 1: I have no idea what this man is talking about,
Speaker 1: and now they're seeing front and center the way in
Speaker 1: which you can easily be used. And what I keep
Speaker 1: saying to people is anywhere can be Springfield, Ohio. Anywhere
Speaker 1: can become a target and a subject of Donald Trump
Speaker 1: and the Maga Republicans if in fact they so choose.
Speaker 1: And that's what makes their rhetoric so dangerous and needs
Speaker 1: to be referred to as terrorism, because that's what they're doing.
Speaker 1: It's to terrorize this area and to make these people
Speaker 1: fearful of their neighbors. And even the businesses are saying,
Speaker 1: what are you doing. Our businesses are flourishing because we
Speaker 1: have a labor force. Yeah, and now this labor force
Speaker 1: is going to pack up and go because now they
Speaker 1: don't feel safe. So then what and I think that
Speaker 1: the question that Dana Bash pointed out jd Vance was like,
Speaker 1: you're acting as if you're somebody's political bystander. You're the
Speaker 1: senator from the state. You can actually do something if
Speaker 1: in fact you cared, but you're not doing anything other
Speaker 1: than spreading lies.
Speaker 2: I hope you're right. I hope it's like remember that
Speaker 2: movie Dave, where like in the end of the movie
Speaker 2: everybody came out and supported the gay music teacher, stuff
Speaker 2: like that. I hope this is a moment where we say,
Speaker 2: I hope it's a moment of joy. I really do.
Speaker 2: I'm Jada because I wrote a book called Dying of Whiteness,
Speaker 2: where people were turning away their free healthcare based on
Speaker 2: exactly the same logic, which is somebody's coming to take
Speaker 2: away your stuff. So I hope this is not dying
Speaker 2: of whiteness. I hope this is the future of American
Speaker 2: multi racial democracy and all of its potential. I really
Speaker 2: hope that. And we got a lot of work to
Speaker 2: do in a lot of places to make sure that happens.
Speaker 1: So let me switch gears with a couple of minutes
Speaker 1: that we have left, which is I want to bring
Speaker 1: a story to your attention. You haven't watched the video,
Speaker 1: and you don't really need to watch the video. I
Speaker 1: will tell you. Rich Lowry, who is the editor in
Speaker 1: chief of the National Review, goes on a show with
Speaker 1: Megan Kelly, and we know that Megan Kelly, from her
Speaker 1: firing of NBC News, is nothing more than a racist
Speaker 1: and a race vader. And the things that she has said,
Speaker 1: from saying that Santa Claus, a fictional character, is white,
Speaker 1: to saying that they're nothing wrong with blackface, which is
Speaker 1: what got her fired from NBC in the first place,
Speaker 1: to all of the lies and things that she has
Speaker 1: said on Fox and on her own podcast and what
Speaker 1: have you. She's interviewing Riche Lowry about the lies that
Speaker 1: are being told in Springfield that they are echoing, and
Speaker 1: when talking about Haitian immigrants, he uses the N word
Speaker 1: and then gets on social media, as does Begg and Kelly,
Speaker 1: who by the way, did not flinch. It was not
Speaker 1: like a oh, you know, like you know anything. It
Speaker 1: was just like a nod and smile and just like
Speaker 1: keep it going. Then gets on social media says that
Speaker 1: it was just a slip. I meant to say immigrant
Speaker 1: or migrant. I think that we all know the difference
Speaker 1: between M and a hard N and the er and
Speaker 1: all of these things like don't gaslight me into your bullshita.
Speaker 2: Wait he said, like I said, like minor or something.
Speaker 1: Yeah, just trying to tell us that, like we don't
Speaker 1: know what we heard, and that it was a slip up. No,
Speaker 1: it was a slip up. You said the quiet part
Speaker 1: out loud, like it was a slip up, absolutely, but
Speaker 1: it was not misplaced words and letters. And so now
Speaker 1: you know, there's this uproar on social media with like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, this guy uses the N word like
Speaker 1: blah blah blah blah, and I'm just like, we think
Speaker 1: that this is like like the N word is somehow
Speaker 1: become has become like the punctuation, right, Like, if you
Speaker 1: use this word, then that's what makes you a racist.
Speaker 1: Not the policies that you put out, not the articles
Speaker 1: that you allow to run in your paper that target
Speaker 1: particular communities, none of that. It's just this one word.
Speaker 1: So so long as you avoid that one word in public,
Speaker 1: then you're not a racist. And I just want to
Speaker 1: get your thoughts on like the outrage around it and
Speaker 1: how we've turned or I should say that white supremacists
Speaker 1: or racist have turned this one word into like their
Speaker 1: lynch pin. So long as they don't say it, nothing
Speaker 1: else that they do can be judged as racist.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, you know, I think as a societ
Speaker 2: we've deemed that word and some other words none really
Speaker 2: with this charge to be unacceptable. So I don't think
Speaker 2: it's just white supremacists that have done this. But it's
Speaker 2: interesting like Megan Kelly, right, I mean, she've got fired.
Speaker 2: And then I'll admit I read the New York Posts
Speaker 2: every once in a while because they have a great
Speaker 2: sports page, and every time something would happen, there'd be
Speaker 2: a front page article Megan Kelly throws shade on Beyonce
Speaker 2: or something like that. So every single thing, and I'm like,
Speaker 2: who cares of Megan Kelly throwing shade whatever? But it's like,
Speaker 2: the way you get back into the public eye. The
Speaker 2: whole economy we've created is by controversy outrage. If Megan
Speaker 2: Kelly said, gosh, I like some of Beyonce's songs, it
Speaker 2: wouldn't be newsworthy in a way. And so it's kind
Speaker 2: of like these outrage moments that are almost always tied
Speaker 2: to race of racism, are kind of how you kind
Speaker 2: of get on the map and then everybody's talking about you,
Speaker 2: and then you generate clicks in a way, it's like
Speaker 2: this whole economy of relevance. It's kind of an economy
Speaker 2: economy where there's no market for centrism or getting along
Speaker 2: or fixing any of the problems that we're talking about.
Speaker 2: And it's so so clear, and these examples, I mean,
Speaker 2: it does sound like he said the quiet part out loud.
Speaker 2: It was a slip. And we're in a moment right
Speaker 2: now where like these issues I don't know, I'm having
Speaker 2: like dying of whiteness PTSD honestly, because like your answers,
Speaker 2: what you're saying now is so rational, and I just
Speaker 2: this white anxiety is so irrational. Honestly. If they said
Speaker 2: people are coming to take your pants and don't wear
Speaker 2: pants like that would have it. It's just it's it's
Speaker 2: like that level.
Speaker 1: But it's the movie don't look up like that. It
Speaker 1: was a spoof, but it was a documentary like this
Speaker 1: on this, Yeah, I need to watch it again too.
Speaker 1: On like the pure stupidity of things, like yeah, what
Speaker 1: I'm saying is rational, what you wrote is rational, and
Speaker 1: yet like, I don't call it white anxiety. I call
Speaker 1: it white fear and ignorance or what have you. Is like,
Speaker 1: it isn't rational because it's based in stereotypes, fear mongering, lies,
Speaker 1: and hatred and distrust of the other that you refuse
Speaker 1: to actually accept as like a neighbor or human or
Speaker 1: any of these things. And it puts the burden on
Speaker 1: the victims of your racism and your prejudice to now
Speaker 1: defend our humanity and get you to see it, which
Speaker 1: is why Tony Morrison said about racism that it's nothing
Speaker 1: more than a distraction.
Speaker 2: That's such a beautiful way to put it. I mean,
Speaker 2: I could not agree more. But the other part is
Speaker 2: it's also a reflection of our zero sum political system.
Speaker 2: In other words, it's not surprising that this is happening
Speaker 2: now because we are in a winner take all political
Speaker 2: system where you either win or you lose. And that's
Speaker 2: how kind of this kind of tribalization works. Is I'm
Speaker 2: in my tribe against other tribe, which plays out along
Speaker 2: the fault lines of the history of inequality in our
Speaker 2: country and all these things. It's not surprising that this
Speaker 2: is happening now because they're just very big stakes about
Speaker 2: winning or losing for the future of this Yeah.
Speaker 1: One hundred percent. Well, we will leave it there today
Speaker 1: my friend doctor Jonathan Maxil, who literally wrote the book
Speaker 1: on dying of white myth, and we'll pick this back
Speaker 1: up next week. My friends, appreciate you as always friends.
Speaker 1: As I have been saying, I have started a YouTube channel,
Speaker 1: Daniel Moody Underscore. You can go over to YouTube and
Speaker 1: type right into the search button Diniel Moody channel, and
Speaker 1: while there I will appear. I am creating fresh content
Speaker 1: every single day that I think all of you will enjoy.
Speaker 1: We are getting to the place where I have now
Speaker 1: a little over three thousand subscribers after about three weeks
Speaker 1: of being on YouTube. I'm trying to grow this space.
Speaker 1: It's going to be a space where we can gather,
Speaker 1: where I can build community and memberships and all of
Speaker 1: these things. And I'm super excited. So if you have
Speaker 1: yet to subscribe, if you're like I'm not really into YouTube,
Speaker 1: trust me, you are not going to want to miss
Speaker 1: my content there as always, dear friends, Power to the
Speaker 1: people and to all the people. Power get woke and
Speaker 1: stay woke as fuck.