1
00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:14,520
Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to Okay f Daily with

2
00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:17,840
Speaker 1: Meet Your Girl Danielle Moody, recording live from our Podstream

3
00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:24,960
Speaker 1: studios in Times Square. A pandemic, a war mask mandates

4
00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:32,120
Speaker 1: suing of schools, out of control fires, hurricanes. That's just

5
00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:36,000
Speaker 1: the top headlines of where America is and it is

6
00:00:36,159 --> 00:00:41,040
Speaker 1: only what fucking Wednesday. Funny enough, I was watching the

7
00:00:41,159 --> 00:00:45,839
Speaker 1: news and an anchor said this. If you are watching

8
00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:49,319
Speaker 1: this right now and you feel riddled with anxiety, you

9
00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:54,959
Speaker 1: feel depressed or frustrated, You're not alone. I don't think

10
00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:58,200
Speaker 1: that I've ever seen or heard an anchor say that

11
00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:03,160
Speaker 1: before on the news, which is the recognition that every

12
00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:06,400
Speaker 1: single segment, every single story that they are covering as

13
00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:11,880
Speaker 1: their job to enlighten the American people provide information on

14
00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:15,040
Speaker 1: where we are and where we are headed. Is becoming

15
00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:22,559
Speaker 1: so desperately troubling because you don't know where things are going,

16
00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:25,360
Speaker 1: and you don't really know how to provide calm and

17
00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:30,399
Speaker 1: assurance to people, let alone yourself. The reality is is

18
00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:33,360
Speaker 1: that every day that you've been waking up in this

19
00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:36,800
Speaker 1: country for the past several years, we are beginning to

20
00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:41,199
Speaker 1: understand what it is like to live in an oppressive state.

21
00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:44,600
Speaker 1: What it is like to live in a country whose

22
00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:49,240
Speaker 1: leaders you can't trust, who don't have your best interests

23
00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:53,720
Speaker 1: at heart. And I remember, you know, traveling around before COVID,

24
00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:56,920
Speaker 1: when we were able to travel and feel good about traveling,

25
00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:01,680
Speaker 1: you know, going into these countries where their governments were

26
00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:04,120
Speaker 1: kind of in shambles, but the country was beautiful and

27
00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:06,680
Speaker 1: the people seem nice, but they don't really have any

28
00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:10,680
Speaker 1: opportunities and there wasn't a whole lot going on. I

29
00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:15,519
Speaker 1: now understand, or am understanding, how it feels to wake

30
00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:18,240
Speaker 1: up every day and wonder when the other shoe is

31
00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:21,640
Speaker 1: going to drop. Now, look, Donald Trump is no longer

32
00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:27,280
Speaker 1: the president of the United States, God bless elections. But

33
00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:31,600
Speaker 1: what do we know. We know that since then ten

34
00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:34,760
Speaker 1: months ago, when the decision was made by the American

35
00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:39,880
Speaker 1: people to boot out an authoritarian fascist wanna be who

36
00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:45,560
Speaker 1: delighted with the journalists about having intel about COVID nineteen

37
00:02:45,639 --> 00:02:47,959
Speaker 1: but not offering that to the American people. No, No,

38
00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:52,799
Speaker 1: instead offering up snake oil and lies and bullshit right

39
00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:56,880
Speaker 1: as a means to hold power. We're not in that

40
00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:01,239
Speaker 1: place anymore. But since then, over three hundred voter suppression

41
00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:04,600
Speaker 1: bills have been rolled out. There's no federal legislation that

42
00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:07,840
Speaker 1: has been agreed upon. The House voted and passed the

43
00:03:07,919 --> 00:03:11,079
Speaker 1: John Lewis Voting Rights Act along party lines. Not one

44
00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:15,600
Speaker 1: fucking Republican, not that Adam Kinzinger, not the Liz Cheney,

45
00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:18,519
Speaker 1: not one of them in the House of Representatives, who

46
00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:23,520
Speaker 1: we say, are you know, normal? Decided to vote on

47
00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:28,680
Speaker 1: the side of their former colleague that died right, that died,

48
00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:32,120
Speaker 1: that spent his entire life, John Lewis, spent his entire

49
00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:37,680
Speaker 1: life fighting for people's right to vote. Your colleague that

50
00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:42,960
Speaker 1: you worked alongside of some for decades upon decades, you

51
00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:46,560
Speaker 1: decided to vote against a piece of legislation that bears

52
00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:52,640
Speaker 1: his goddamn name. Again, I will say this, like I

53
00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:56,360
Speaker 1: say every couple of days, when people show you who

54
00:03:56,400 --> 00:04:01,000
Speaker 1: they are, believe them. Stop trying to return and Republicans

55
00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:06,320
Speaker 1: to this mystical pastime when they cared about the American people,

56
00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:08,840
Speaker 1: when they wanted what was best for the country, when

57
00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:15,000
Speaker 1: we put politics, you know, aside, and did what was right,

58
00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:20,799
Speaker 1: when we were agreed to collaborate. Right, No, we're not there,

59
00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:23,320
Speaker 1: and I don't think folks, that we will ever go

60
00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:27,400
Speaker 1: back there. Ever, Again, not when you have a party

61
00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:32,160
Speaker 1: that is so hell bent on ensuring that a health

62
00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:37,520
Speaker 1: pandemic that has killed over six hundred thousand Americans continues.

63
00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:46,360
Speaker 1: You know, there are so many court cases right now

64
00:04:47,279 --> 00:04:52,040
Speaker 1: that are proceeding around the country right school districts suing governors,

65
00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:57,839
Speaker 1: governors suing school districts, companies, nonprofits suing the Biden administration

66
00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:01,039
Speaker 1: so that they can discriminate a against whoever they want

67
00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:06,720
Speaker 1: to discriminate against. I mean, we are in hell right.

68
00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:10,479
Speaker 1: Some folks say that it's purgatory. I don't know. I

69
00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:14,640
Speaker 1: know that it ain't fucking good, is what I will say, right.

70
00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:17,279
Speaker 1: I know that it's not good when people are looking

71
00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:20,320
Speaker 1: for the ability to harm as many people as possible.

72
00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:24,080
Speaker 1: Adam Sewar wrote a book called Cruelty is the point, right,

73
00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:28,080
Speaker 1: and that is obvious right now. But my question is

74
00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:32,440
Speaker 1: why aren't Democrats being so clear to the American people

75
00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:36,080
Speaker 1: about what Republicans are doing. Don't talk to me about

76
00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:38,120
Speaker 1: the ways in which you're going to roll out this

77
00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:41,280
Speaker 1: vaccination program and that vaccination program, and you're going to

78
00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:45,400
Speaker 1: try and win over Americans. We're not there anymore. You're

79
00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:48,440
Speaker 1: not changing hearts and minds in the ways that we

80
00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:53,000
Speaker 1: thought that we could ten and fifteen years ago. We

81
00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:59,679
Speaker 1: are in tribal cult territory right now, right where people

82
00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:03,400
Speaker 1: are doubling down on their evil. They are doubling down

83
00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:06,120
Speaker 1: on the threats that they are making. You know, in

84
00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:08,920
Speaker 1: my conversation that you'll hear later with our friend doctor

85
00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:13,200
Speaker 1: Jonathan metzol And if Jonathan, what I even noticed in

86
00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:15,839
Speaker 1: this conversation had a different tone than he's had in

87
00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:18,960
Speaker 1: the past. We've tried to find ways to you know,

88
00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:23,400
Speaker 1: find levity right, you know, laugh so that you don't cry. Well,

89
00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:28,120
Speaker 1: Jonathan right now is faced with an impossible situation where

90
00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:31,360
Speaker 1: he is back on his college's campus that has no

91
00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:34,600
Speaker 1: mask mandate rule, back in a state in the South

92
00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:39,560
Speaker 1: that does not have any vaccination mandates or mask mandates

93
00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:42,719
Speaker 1: or anything. Half the population, he says, is terrified and

94
00:06:42,760 --> 00:06:46,480
Speaker 1: the other half is fine with being bullies and using

95
00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:50,039
Speaker 1: right their desire to not wear a mask as a

96
00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:54,520
Speaker 1: threat and intimidation. Where have we seen that before, folks,

97
00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:59,960
Speaker 1: Where you see these white aggressive folks wanting to double

98
00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:04,039
Speaker 1: down right on their terrorism as a way to show

99
00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:08,120
Speaker 1: their power. You see, what we now know is that

100
00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:11,360
Speaker 1: it's not enough to just you know, hold up Donald

101
00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:14,800
Speaker 1: Trump as you as your savior, right and your fucking God.

102
00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:18,800
Speaker 1: It's not enough to just be maga. We're gonna make

103
00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:22,120
Speaker 1: America great again by making everybody else miserable. It's not

104
00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:25,960
Speaker 1: enough to just own the Libs. No, now we are

105
00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:29,040
Speaker 1: moving to a place where we want you dead and

106
00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:32,720
Speaker 1: we want you to know who did it right that

107
00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:36,560
Speaker 1: we are in a place I never in my wildest

108
00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:40,880
Speaker 1: fucking nightmares would I have thought that America, that Republicans

109
00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:45,640
Speaker 1: would have moved into a pro death stance, right, that

110
00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:50,920
Speaker 1: their desire to win at any cost would literally be

111
00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:56,920
Speaker 1: costing thousands of Americans their lives every single month. Right now,

112
00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:02,080
Speaker 1: Texas and Florida or the epicenter for COVID nineteen, we're

113
00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:05,960
Speaker 1: talking about seeing numbers, folks, that we have not seen

114
00:08:06,120 --> 00:08:09,200
Speaker 1: since twenty twenty. And we saw those numbers in twenty

115
00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:12,880
Speaker 1: twenty with COVID nineteen and positive infection rates. Why because

116
00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:16,480
Speaker 1: we didn't have a fucking vaccine. We have one now,

117
00:08:17,240 --> 00:08:21,320
Speaker 1: And so you would think that after living through so

118
00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:26,120
Speaker 1: much loss, so much grief, and so much trauma, that

119
00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:32,040
Speaker 1: Americans would be united around this vaccine as a way

120
00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:36,960
Speaker 1: to get back to life as quote unquote normal. But

121
00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:43,200
Speaker 1: you see the snake salesman, the snake oil salesman, the

122
00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:46,800
Speaker 1: used car salesman, all of these people, they got them.

123
00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:49,040
Speaker 1: They got a hold on them. They got a hold

124
00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:51,840
Speaker 1: on them in such a major way that they would

125
00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:57,000
Speaker 1: rather take a horse d Wurmer right then they would

126
00:08:57,080 --> 00:09:02,280
Speaker 1: take a vaccine, folks. Coming up next is my conversation

127
00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:06,000
Speaker 1: with our friend doctor Jonathan Metzel, which is one that

128
00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:08,640
Speaker 1: you want to listen to because what is happening and

129
00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:12,480
Speaker 1: what Jonathan is experiencing on the ground in Tennessee is

130
00:09:12,679 --> 00:09:20,520
Speaker 1: just an example of what is transpiring around the country. Folks.

131
00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:23,560
Speaker 1: You know that I'm always so grateful when our in

132
00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:27,160
Speaker 1: house doctor, doctor Jonathan Metzel, author of Dying of Whiteness,

133
00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:31,120
Speaker 1: which apparently we are going to die of, joins woke

134
00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:34,800
Speaker 1: f every single week. Jonathan, you are now joining us

135
00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:38,400
Speaker 1: from Tennessee because you are back to school, like millions

136
00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:41,920
Speaker 1: of other people will be following the Labor Day holiday.

137
00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:45,720
Speaker 1: Tell us how things are going in Tennessee. What are

138
00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:48,640
Speaker 1: you seeing, how are you feeling? Give us the rundown.

139
00:09:49,480 --> 00:09:52,000
Speaker 1: It's pretty tense here. I have to say. I'm from

140
00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:56,000
Speaker 1: my office at Vanderbilt. I'm about to go after we

141
00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:58,800
Speaker 1: speak into a lecture of one hundred and fifty students

142
00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:01,600
Speaker 1: in a lecture hall. I'm doing this on a day

143
00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:04,640
Speaker 1: where I've had multiple student emails this morning of students

144
00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:07,840
Speaker 1: testing positive. I've got some colleagues who are testing positive.

145
00:10:08,440 --> 00:10:12,120
Speaker 1: And we're in a micro environment where pretty much everybody

146
00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:16,320
Speaker 1: is back and people are for the most playing by

147
00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:19,200
Speaker 1: the rules. But it's just honestly very hard to contain

148
00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:24,640
Speaker 1: this thing, and especially given that the infrastructure has not

149
00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:28,040
Speaker 1: been updated. So it's not like there's new air ventilation,

150
00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:31,480
Speaker 1: there's new places to walk wide and sidewalks and all

151
00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:33,719
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff, And so Vanderbilt is a it's

152
00:10:33,760 --> 00:10:36,480
Speaker 1: the particular microcosm right now of the difficulties that we're

153
00:10:36,480 --> 00:10:39,559
Speaker 1: seeing at other schools. Duke has had an outbreak. Other

154
00:10:39,559 --> 00:10:43,320
Speaker 1: schools about outbreaks, and the question will be what you know,

155
00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:45,080
Speaker 1: what do you think? What do you do about it? Right?

156
00:10:45,080 --> 00:10:46,360
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm a little, to be honest, I'm a

157
00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:49,520
Speaker 1: little nervous about class today. I've got three and ninety

158
00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:51,720
Speaker 1: five's sitting here in front of me. I have to

159
00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:53,920
Speaker 1: decide which one or heck, maybe I'll wear them all

160
00:10:55,240 --> 00:10:57,920
Speaker 1: and so it's it's a tense moment. And the tense

161
00:10:57,960 --> 00:11:00,680
Speaker 1: moment isn't just because of Vanderbilt. It's all so because

162
00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:04,720
Speaker 1: we're in this bigger context here of just out of

163
00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:08,000
Speaker 1: controlness around. And so I mean again, as you know,

164
00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:10,199
Speaker 1: I've been in New York this entire time and now

165
00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:14,079
Speaker 1: coming back to Tennessee, it's not just that you feel

166
00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:16,040
Speaker 1: the COVID in the air. I mean, I'm sure that's

167
00:11:16,040 --> 00:11:18,160
Speaker 1: in my mind, but it's more just to be in

168
00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:20,960
Speaker 1: a place where, like, on the average, I mean, half

169
00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:23,400
Speaker 1: the people are scared out of their minds and the

170
00:11:23,400 --> 00:11:26,080
Speaker 1: other half of the people are like doing everything they

171
00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:29,040
Speaker 1: can to like and be intimidating. So I was on

172
00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:32,040
Speaker 1: a flight the other day and one of the people

173
00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:35,720
Speaker 1: next to me brought a huge bag of Doritos and

174
00:11:35,800 --> 00:11:40,000
Speaker 1: they would eat a dorito every like five minutes so

175
00:11:40,040 --> 00:11:41,880
Speaker 1: that they could keep their mask off. And every time

176
00:11:41,920 --> 00:11:44,080
Speaker 1: that flight a tenant would come by and say put

177
00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:45,720
Speaker 1: your mask on, the person was saying like, well, no,

178
00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:48,640
Speaker 1: I'm eating and here's my bag of Doritos and stuff

179
00:11:48,679 --> 00:11:51,120
Speaker 1: like that. And so in a way, people are just

180
00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:54,760
Speaker 1: doing everything they can, like being creative, putting thought energy

181
00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:57,760
Speaker 1: into how they can best spread the spread the coronavirus.

182
00:11:57,760 --> 00:12:00,520
Speaker 1: And so you know, again like and when it's your

183
00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:02,720
Speaker 1: day to day life, it's it's a little bit different.

184
00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:04,520
Speaker 1: I mean, half the people again are scared out of

185
00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:08,760
Speaker 1: their minds and the other half the people are It's funny,

186
00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:11,199
Speaker 1: like this is kind of a tandem. But it reminds

187
00:12:11,240 --> 00:12:13,319
Speaker 1: me of the gun issue that I've been studying for

188
00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:16,360
Speaker 1: so long, which is like when people walk around with

189
00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:19,920
Speaker 1: a gun, it's intimidating, it scares other people, and there

190
00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:21,920
Speaker 1: there's a kind of power in that. You know, oh,

191
00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:23,959
Speaker 1: I could do anything, you know, that kind of stuff,

192
00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:25,840
Speaker 1: And the mask feels the same kind of thing. The

193
00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:28,560
Speaker 1: power of it is is in the threat, it's in

194
00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:31,439
Speaker 1: the intimidation, and so you know, you're kind of you're

195
00:12:31,520 --> 00:12:33,679
Speaker 1: kind of surrounded by by all that stuff right now

196
00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:36,040
Speaker 1: here in the South. You know. I think that that's

197
00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:38,320
Speaker 1: a really important point that you bring up that I

198
00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:41,720
Speaker 1: haven't been thinking about, which is in the power and intimidation,

199
00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:46,439
Speaker 1: and that essentially when you go back, you know in history,

200
00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:49,800
Speaker 1: what was the point of the kkks, what was the

201
00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:51,920
Speaker 1: point of lynching? What was a point of all of

202
00:12:51,960 --> 00:12:55,720
Speaker 1: those things, which is to have the ability to terrorize

203
00:12:56,480 --> 00:13:00,120
Speaker 1: the black community, to terrorize a community of people. And

204
00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:04,480
Speaker 1: in this instance, we're talking about these anti matter which

205
00:13:04,520 --> 00:13:06,520
Speaker 1: I'm not even going to call them anti masks anymore.

206
00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:10,480
Speaker 1: These this pro death cult that is really interested and

207
00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:14,480
Speaker 1: has this deep desire to spread fear. Right, I have

208
00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:17,720
Speaker 1: the power to kill you and to kill those around you,

209
00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:22,840
Speaker 1: or to make you severely ill. And you know when

210
00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:25,040
Speaker 1: you say that half of the people that you see

211
00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:28,480
Speaker 1: are scared out of their minds, are those people in

212
00:13:28,520 --> 00:13:32,520
Speaker 1: your assumption they have been vaccinated, but they just feel

213
00:13:32,559 --> 00:13:35,000
Speaker 1: that the threat in the environment that they are living

214
00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:38,560
Speaker 1: in in Tennessee is just so great that they don't

215
00:13:38,559 --> 00:13:42,360
Speaker 1: feel like that is effective. I think about this in

216
00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:46,000
Speaker 1: terms of public health and the engagement with community public health.

217
00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:48,959
Speaker 1: Certainly in New York. It's not like everybody's everybody's played

218
00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:52,079
Speaker 1: by the rules. But for the most part, it's kind

219
00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:53,880
Speaker 1: of like driving, like you know people are going to

220
00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:56,320
Speaker 1: stop at the red light, you know people are going

221
00:13:56,400 --> 00:13:58,160
Speaker 1: to go on the green light. You know that they're

222
00:13:58,160 --> 00:13:59,800
Speaker 1: going to stay in their lane for the most part,

223
00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:04,520
Speaker 1: and that lets everybody drive safely down the road. And

224
00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:07,320
Speaker 1: here it's like it's just the biggest car goes down

225
00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:08,800
Speaker 1: the middle of the road and everybody else has to

226
00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:11,199
Speaker 1: get out of the right like it. So in a way,

227
00:14:11,240 --> 00:14:13,400
Speaker 1: you just you don't feel like your structure. And I

228
00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:15,640
Speaker 1: think about this a lot, right, because you know, on

229
00:14:15,640 --> 00:14:19,560
Speaker 1: one end people probably say, oh, that's freedom and liberty stuff.

230
00:14:20,280 --> 00:14:23,880
Speaker 1: It's more anxiety here. I mean, people turn on the news,

231
00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:26,760
Speaker 1: they see what's happening with COVID. All the hospitals are full,

232
00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:29,840
Speaker 1: all the icy user full, and so I'd rather be

233
00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:33,960
Speaker 1: part of a collaborative effort where people are banding together. Personally,

234
00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:36,680
Speaker 1: I'd rather be taking medications that at least have been

235
00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:39,920
Speaker 1: approved by the FDA or tested in some kind of

236
00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:43,920
Speaker 1: modicum way. But I mean it's not like people are crazy.

237
00:14:44,040 --> 00:14:46,800
Speaker 1: I would just say, as somebody who studies this, there's

238
00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:51,040
Speaker 1: a bigger ideology, right, which is that not playing by

239
00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:55,840
Speaker 1: the rules reinforces existing power structures, right, And so the

240
00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:58,600
Speaker 1: scary part here is there are so many people here

241
00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:03,360
Speaker 1: who see their power or as contingent on not cooperating.

242
00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:06,000
Speaker 1: And that's really when it's the most scary, which is

243
00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:08,040
Speaker 1: not always. I mean, you know, when I'm at work,

244
00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:10,400
Speaker 1: I'm okay and stuff like that, But in general, when

245
00:15:10,440 --> 00:15:14,480
Speaker 1: people feel like they're not, you know, I'm going to

246
00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:16,320
Speaker 1: do what I want. Well, that's great if you're in

247
00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:21,080
Speaker 1: a vacuum, but if you're you know, in a communal

248
00:15:21,080 --> 00:15:25,240
Speaker 1: situation like a community infection and stuff like that with COVID,

249
00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:29,120
Speaker 1: then really, you know, it's just it's it's just it's

250
00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:31,280
Speaker 1: it's it's an intimidating moment. I would say that, and

251
00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:34,800
Speaker 1: I think that's the point I was reading recently in

252
00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:37,440
Speaker 1: the article in the New York Times this week by

253
00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:43,880
Speaker 1: Jamal Bowie, who basically the article is do Republicans want

254
00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:47,680
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen to end? Right? Is this something that they

255
00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:51,320
Speaker 1: want to end? And the premise of the article is no, right,

256
00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:54,880
Speaker 1: And he takes us back to the beginning of Obama's

257
00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:59,680
Speaker 1: presidency where Obama was signaling that he wanted to end

258
00:15:59,800 --> 00:16:02,440
Speaker 1: the great political divide, to bring people together to be

259
00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:05,840
Speaker 1: the great uniter, and he needed Republican support in order

260
00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:09,760
Speaker 1: to do so. Republicans refused, right because and then we

261
00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:13,640
Speaker 1: saw what happened during the midterm elections is that their refusal,

262
00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:17,600
Speaker 1: their obstructionism, worked in their favor because he lost the Senate,

263
00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:21,480
Speaker 1: lost the House. Right, and this same setup is happening

264
00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:25,800
Speaker 1: right now with Biden, except that it is not just about, Oh,

265
00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:28,600
Speaker 1: I want to own Obama. I don't want Democrats to

266
00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:33,040
Speaker 1: move forward their agenda. The agenda here is about keeping

267
00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:36,840
Speaker 1: Americans safe. The agenda is making sure that Americans don't

268
00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:41,720
Speaker 1: die in mass and Republicans instead are doubling down. And

269
00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:45,080
Speaker 1: you know when I look at the numbers right now,

270
00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:49,120
Speaker 1: and you see that Florida is averaging twenty thousand new

271
00:16:49,280 --> 00:16:53,800
Speaker 1: infections a day, two hundred and sixty two deaths a day,

272
00:16:54,480 --> 00:16:58,880
Speaker 1: more than sixteen thousand people are hospitalized with COVID. In Texas,

273
00:16:58,920 --> 00:17:03,200
Speaker 1: twenty three thousand new cases of COVID a day, fourteen

274
00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:06,399
Speaker 1: thousand or hospitalized, two hundred and forty five deaths. And

275
00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:11,520
Speaker 1: my thing, Jonathan, is that we have no change. Democrats

276
00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:16,560
Speaker 1: are making no change, a radical shift in their messaging,

277
00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:20,240
Speaker 1: which is that instead of us just being pro vaccine,

278
00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:24,160
Speaker 1: pro vaccine, we actually need to be stating very clearly

279
00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:27,679
Speaker 1: to the American people what Republicans are doing right like,

280
00:17:27,920 --> 00:17:30,280
Speaker 1: what they are doing like it is not enough. I

281
00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:32,639
Speaker 1: don't think for Democrats to go around and say, we

282
00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:35,320
Speaker 1: just need to get more Americans vaccinated and we need

283
00:17:35,359 --> 00:17:38,560
Speaker 1: to end this stalemate. We need to talk about their

284
00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:42,440
Speaker 1: pro death agenda is to sacrifice as many Americans as

285
00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:46,800
Speaker 1: possible so they win back power. How do you think

286
00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:51,240
Speaker 1: that we shift this messaging because you understand the psychology

287
00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:54,960
Speaker 1: and the ideology and the right wing extremism that we're

288
00:17:54,960 --> 00:17:58,000
Speaker 1: working against right now. But I'm talking about I'm not

289
00:17:58,119 --> 00:18:00,560
Speaker 1: ever in the camp of trying to win these people over.

290
00:18:00,680 --> 00:18:03,320
Speaker 1: I think that if you're taking horse d warmer, you

291
00:18:03,359 --> 00:18:07,600
Speaker 1: are not operating in the same planet that the rest

292
00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:09,520
Speaker 1: of us are on. So I'm not about those people,

293
00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:13,600
Speaker 1: but I am about the people who are terrified, who

294
00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:16,159
Speaker 1: are trying to keep themselves in their families safe, and

295
00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:20,639
Speaker 1: riling those people up. It's a terrifying moment. It's a

296
00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:23,159
Speaker 1: dangerous moment. I mean, let's just be honest. Biden is

297
00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:28,239
Speaker 1: considerably weakend right now because of Afghanistan. Because what he

298
00:18:28,359 --> 00:18:32,639
Speaker 1: was banking his presidency on, which was vaccines, revving up

299
00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:35,439
Speaker 1: the economy and everybody going back, didn't turn out to

300
00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:37,480
Speaker 1: be because of the Delta variant, which is it's just

301
00:18:37,760 --> 00:18:40,399
Speaker 1: a game changer. As we've said on the show a million,

302
00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:45,520
Speaker 1: it's an entirely different pathogen. It's a different virus, in

303
00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:49,040
Speaker 1: a particular way, and so and so it puts the

304
00:18:49,080 --> 00:18:54,439
Speaker 1: Democrats in a particularly vulnerable position. And I mean, I'm

305
00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:56,919
Speaker 1: no strategist, but I would say two things, having worked

306
00:18:57,480 --> 00:19:01,480
Speaker 1: on the last election. One is honestly a bit of frustration,

307
00:19:01,520 --> 00:19:05,720
Speaker 1: a little bit honestly, because the Democrats learned how to

308
00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:07,880
Speaker 1: win the election. The Democrats won the election, and they

309
00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:11,520
Speaker 1: did so in a pretty strategic way, right. They created

310
00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:14,520
Speaker 1: a big base, they were great about messaging. They had

311
00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:18,000
Speaker 1: like it or not ally that learned how to like

312
00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:21,040
Speaker 1: stick it to the other side. But it wasn't so

313
00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:24,639
Speaker 1: much the exact issue. It was about getting out in

314
00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:27,639
Speaker 1: front of the issue and making the other side respond

315
00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:31,119
Speaker 1: to the message that it's your message. And the minute

316
00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:34,040
Speaker 1: the Democrats won the election, they stopped doing all that stuff.

317
00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:36,000
Speaker 1: It's kind of like, oh, we won the election. Now

318
00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:37,960
Speaker 1: people are going to come back to our senses. And so,

319
00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:40,600
Speaker 1: whether or not you agree with the Lincoln Project, I

320
00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:43,639
Speaker 1: realize a lot of people didn't. The methods that groups

321
00:19:43,680 --> 00:19:46,400
Speaker 1: like that were using was basically, here's how you crapp

322
00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:48,639
Speaker 1: the narrative and make the other side respond to you.

323
00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:51,760
Speaker 1: And the Democrats forgot how to do that. Right, all

324
00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:54,080
Speaker 1: of a sudden, they're on their heels. Everything is a response.

325
00:19:54,160 --> 00:19:56,680
Speaker 1: Everything is playing defense all the time, which is what's

326
00:19:56,720 --> 00:20:00,600
Speaker 1: gotten Democrats in trouble all the time. And so again

327
00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:05,560
Speaker 1: message aside like rehire the Lincoln Project and people who

328
00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:09,040
Speaker 1: do and do that and make it coherent and go

329
00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:12,080
Speaker 1: on the offensive because every single thing that ever I

330
00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:21,320
Speaker 1: was playing defense against everything. That is it for Today's

331
00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:24,560
Speaker 1: Woke a f daily podcast. To hear more from today's show,

332
00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:28,399
Speaker 1: including my full interview with doctor Jonathan Mexel. Support me

333
00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:32,320
Speaker 1: on Patreon at patreon dot com. Slash woke AF Power

334
00:20:32,359 --> 00:20:34,880
Speaker 1: to the people and to all the people power, get

335
00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:36,600
Speaker 1: woke and stay woke as fuck.