WEBVTT - Everything is Up For Grabs 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.400 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to Okay f Daily with 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:18.320 Meet your Girl Danielle Moody recording Not So Live from 0:00:18.440 --> 0:00:21.680 my Brooklyn bunker. Folks, you know, I want to start 0:00:21.680 --> 0:00:28.560 off today's show with making a very declarative statement, which 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:36.320 is this, Republicans are working to destabilize America, full stop. 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:41.720 Joe Mansion and Kursen Cinema are working in concert with 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:52.440 them to destabilize America. I believe that both sets right, 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:57.760 these two quote unquote democratic senators and the bullshit Republican 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:03.400 insurrectionists have the same goal, recognize the same problem, and 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:07.320 instead of addressing it head on, they're just in it 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:10.640 to get there. So here's the problem. The problem is 0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:13.360 that America has a lot that is fucking wrong right. 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:20.000 Climate crisis is not impending. It is here, our voter 0:01:20.280 --> 0:01:23.800 suppression crisis, the crisis of our democracy is not something 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:27.440 that is future thought to be happening in the future. 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:33.640 It is happening now. The assault, the attack on uteruses 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:39.600 is happening now, which you will hear from our friend 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:45.800 doctor Jonathan Metzel. We are facing a aggressive Supreme Court 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:50.520 who is hell bent on turning America into the wild 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:55.720 wild West, while marauding as if they give a fuck 0:01:56.280 --> 0:02:00.880 about actual Second Amendment rights. It really just as part 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:07.320 of the grand scheme destabilize America because our problems are 0:02:07.360 --> 0:02:10.200 so big and so vast, and you know that Republicans 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:12.919 have no fucking plans, right. I bring this up all 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:16.160 the time that remember during the twenty twenty election, the 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:19.079 RNC did not offer up what their platform was. You 0:02:19.120 --> 0:02:21.919 cannot go to the rnc's page right now and pull 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:24.760 up their platform or agenda. They were like, oh, just 0:02:25.040 --> 0:02:28.040 rock with what we had in twenty sixteen, as if 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:31.560 nothing in the world has changed during that time. Oh 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:33.280 mind you in my list of things that I said 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:36.200 was wrong, global health pandemic, But that goes without saying. 0:02:36.240 --> 0:02:42.359 These days, what I recognize about these people who were 0:02:42.440 --> 0:02:48.320 elected to be representative voices for their constituents is that 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:53.760 they're looking at all of these fires, both literal and figuratively, 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:58.079 that are in the country right now, and they're saying 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:02.400 this take a lot of work. It would take a 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:06.840 lot of thought and strategy and policy thinking and writing. 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:09.560 And you know, at the end of the day, I 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:12.560 don't really want all Americans to succeed. At the end 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:15.560 of the day, I really want to make sure that 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:18.880 I don't go to Hell in a handbasket along with 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:22.280 the country. I want to make sure that I get mine. 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:30.880 Eleventh Films, who has been an extraordinary arm I think 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:34.679 very much underutilized by the Democrats of the DNC, the 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:40.320 d Triple C, the DSCC in terms of targeting their messaging. 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:43.680 But Eleventh Films put out a two minute clip I 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:49.760 retweeted it yesterday with regard to Joe Mansion and how 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:54.800 much money Joe Mansion has made, how much money Joe 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:59.360 Mansion's children have made, how much money Joe Mansion's wife 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:05.080 has made, and then they put that in parallel in 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:11.600 comparison to how fucking poor West Virginia is. Did you 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:17.000 know that Joe Mansion has been representing West Virginia in 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:21.800 some form or fashion for forty years. Do you also 0:04:21.960 --> 0:04:28.960 know that West Virginia is that the bottom in most 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:35.599 things that you would equate to a successful industrialized country 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:42.120 and state that West Virginia is I think forty seven 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:47.800 or forty six in education, forty seven forty six in healthcare, 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:55.280 in income, they are at the bottom of every fucking 0:04:55.320 --> 0:05:00.040 societal wrong, and yet Joe Mansion, right, I think I 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:01.960 think that they were talking about in this film that 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:08.880 the average income right of people in West Virginia is 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:13.600 somewhere around like twenty eight or thirty thousand dollars a year. Meanwhile, 0:05:13.920 --> 0:05:19.320 Joe Mansion is worth about eight million. And here's the 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:24.120 thing is that his paycheck is not where Joe Mansion 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:26.400 has made his money. So this is what we all 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:29.799 have to understand here, is that Joe Mansion, as a senator, 0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:34.000 makes a salary which is open. If you go onto 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:38.200 Open Secrets, you can see every member's salary. It's the 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:41.440 point of transparency. But what they don't tell you when 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:43.679 they go to open secrets is that this is only 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:48.000 a portion of what your member is bringing in that 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:53.359 is covered under ethics. Joe Mansion makes one hundred and 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:58.120 eighty four five hundred dollars a year as senator. But 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:01.000 that's not where Joe Mansion gets a ball of his money. 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:05.480 A bulk of his money comes from his son's energy company, 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:08.919 the family energy company. I put that in air quotes, 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:12.360 and I say it with disdain because what is their 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:15.479 energy company about. It's not about clean energy, it's not 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:18.200 about wind energy or solar, it's not about anything that 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:22.479 has to do with the future of preventing climate change. No, 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:29.719 their energy comes from coal. Joe Mansion makes probably about 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:32.240 I think in the film, and you guys check me 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:35.760 in the comment section if I'm wrong, but close to 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:39.040 half a million dollars a year that he's bringing in 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:43.360 from his son's energy company. His wife is bringing in 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:49.240 a little over six hundred thousand. His daughter, who also 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:52.960 has some type of role in that company, was also 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:59.520 in pharmaceuticals where she upped the price of the EpiPen, 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:02.640 which you know people need for life or death, by 0:07:02.680 --> 0:07:06.520 six hundred percent. You know, she was one of those 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:09.760 people in the pharmaceutical world that were brought before Congress 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:17.600 because how did you decide to increase the life saving 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:22.920 drug by six hundred percent in one year? Put that 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:25.600 money in your pocket and your shareholders pockets, and think 0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:28.560 that nobody was going to notice or do anything about it. 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:35.360 This kind, this family is so fucking shady and has 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:39.800 their hands in so many of the wrong pockets, big 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:46.080 coal and big pharma. So is it anyone surprised then 0:07:46.520 --> 0:07:53.040 that Joe Mansion is systematically cherry picking out the measures 0:07:53.160 --> 0:08:00.840 in the infrastructure bill that would allude to anything that 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:07.360 deals with climate change head on, that he would systematically 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:16.400 work against giving companies strategic timelines for when they have 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:19.400 to change over their businesses and to clean our practices, 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:23.880 because not for anything other than the fact that it 0:08:23.920 --> 0:08:26.960 would hurt his bottom line, it would hurt his pocket. 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:30.880 So you see, when you start to follow the money, 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:33.280 as I've been saying on this show, as I've been 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:36.600 saying on any show that will have me on and 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:39.679 on Twitter, when you start to follow the money, you 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:47.599 become very aware of who Joe Mansion is actually representing 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:52.360 in the Senate, who Kursten Cinema is representing in the Senate. Now, 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:57.080 you see, we already know what Republicans are doing, right, 0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:01.880 Like their mission is power and power for absolute power's sake, 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:06.120 because once they get power, which they will most likely 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:08.520 get back in the House and most likely get back 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:10.560 in the Senate, they're going to blow up the rules. 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:13.080 They're going to do whatever they can to make the 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:18.000 final years of Joe Biden's administration hell on Earth. And 0:09:18.040 --> 0:09:21.760 then when they put in their Manchurian candidate, who will 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:26.720 either be Trump or Trump Light, they're going to finish 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:29.760 the job. Right. You remember Mortal Kombat where they were, like, 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:33.960 finish them. That's what the Republicans are doing to our democracy. 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:38.480 Joe Mansion and Kursen Cinema know that to be true. 0:09:38.720 --> 0:09:44.280 And instead of using their power to progress the nation 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:51.240 and safeguard us against fascism, against authoritarianism, against an uneven 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:56.760 and imbalanced capitalistic structure, instead of using their power and 0:09:56.840 --> 0:10:04.320 their leverage to add more elements into legislation to caretake 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:11.800 for this country's well being for future generations, They're decided, Nah, 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:17.640 I'm gonna get mine now. The eleventh film lays out 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:21.760 bare that Joe Mansion is not representing the people of 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:24.640 West Virginia, and the people of West Virginia are too 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:33.880 fucking underwater in debt, in under education, in joblessness, in 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:38.559 health disparities that you think that they have the time 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:41.520 and the wherewithal to be able to look and see 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:45.920 that this motherfucker who has forty years of name recognition 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:53.000 hasn't done dick for their state four decades, for fucking decades, 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:56.440 And what does West Virginia have to show for Joe 0:10:56.520 --> 0:11:03.840 Mansion's quote unquote leadership. So we look at these people 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:06.000 and we say, oh, they have a d by their name. 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:09.200 So that means that somehow they're Democrats, and at the 0:11:09.320 --> 0:11:11.559 end of the day, no the fuck they are not. 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:15.280 They are shucking and jiving and pimping and holling themselves 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:20.040 out to the highest fucking bidder. Things went wrong in 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:23.640 politics when we allowed an exorbitant amount of money to 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:26.719 flow through. When you have things like open secret that 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:30.160 will tell us about the salary that these members of 0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:33.640 Congress are taking from their constituents, from us the taxpayers, 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:37.560 but we don't also follow the money to see who 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:41.240 else they're taking money from. And when you see that 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:47.480 their interests, their own personal interests outweigh that of their 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:50.160 constituents because they're like, Oh, you don't pay me to care. 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:56.319 What Joe Mansion is doing right now. Isn't about fucking 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:59.040 West Virginia. He could give a fuck. He's on a 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:04.720 seven hundred thousan dollar yacht. Okay, literally, he don't care. 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:08.400 Kirsten Cinema, you think she gives a fuck about the 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:11.720 people of Arizona When that bitch is fundraising in Europe. 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:18.400 Those aren't your constituents right in the middle of deals 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:21.920 that would either better or destroy our country. That bitch 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:24.640 got on a fucking flight to go to some fancy 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:27.360 dinners and put more money in her pocket. And ain't 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:31.640 nobody calling her out on it, you know, the saying 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:36.840 that it's sometimes it's your own people. Yeah, don't give 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:39.880 me the bullshit line about Democrats having a big tent. 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:43.880 And you know how Joe Biden entertained progressives at the 0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:46.640 White House the other day, as if progressives are the 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:51.400 fucking problem. You can't even get Kirsten Cinema to fucking 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:53.559 show up at the White House. You're sending staff to 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:59.839 her fucking office. What about the optics on that? I 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:04.120 tell you Today, Jonathan and I are going to get 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:08.200 into a very deep conversation where we actually don't agree. 0:13:08.720 --> 0:13:13.840 But what we do agree on is that this next 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:18.040 slate of cases before the Supreme Court is putting the 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:21.880 final nail in the coffin of America. That is not hyperbole. 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:28.600 It is not me being very passionate for you know, 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:33.360 for shitsakes, no, no, it is the fucking truth. When 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:38.960 you take away women's rights, when you take away the 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:43.280 people's voice, when you then turn around and with the 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:51.480 same disgruntled, angry, disengaged citizens then decide that you're going 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:54.360 to arm every single one of them, because you're going 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:58.480 to erode one hundred year old laws that are on 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:03.120 the book that would protect places like New York, LA, Boston, 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:09.280 Miami from reckless, reckless, fucking gun laws. When you decide that, 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:12.640 through the Trump administration, you appointed not one, not two, 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:18.320 but three A rated NRA justices, When you have decided 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:21.840 to put not one, not two hundred, but three hundred 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:25.960 federal judges on the bench that also have A ratings 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:30.440 with the NRA, A ratings with evangelical Christian groups, what 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:35.400 the fuck do you think is going to happen? America 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:40.120 is preparing for war. White America is fucking armed to 0:14:40.160 --> 0:14:45.240 the gills. They literally have all of the power and 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:48.680 they are about to wield it in some of the 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:54.240 ways that we had only seen in history books. Jonathan 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:58.880 says something that is still ringing around in my head 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:04.520 in our interview. He said that when hundred year old 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:12.680 laws are up for grabs, then everything is up for grabs. 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:19.000 That means Plusy versus Ferguson, Brown versus the Board of Education, 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:23.120 That means every single right, That means marriage equality, that 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:26.160 means every single thing that you thought was decided because 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:28.520 the Supreme Court decided it, and so it is quote 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:32.600 unquote the law of the land. Well, they are showing 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:36.440 you right now that that shit is kind of temporary 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:40.280 until you get the right justices and the right nefarious 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:44.040 fucking Republicans to do your bidding. That it doesn't matter 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:47.040 if it took them thirty years to get back here. 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:50.280 They are back and with a fucking vengeance. And the 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:52.480 question that I have is what the fuck are we 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:56.080 going to do about it? Because I'm telling you they're 0:15:56.080 --> 0:15:58.520 not going down without a fight, and neither should we. 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:02.800 Coming up, dear friends, is my woke Wednesday conversation with 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:10.440 our friend doctor Jonathan Metzel. Folks. As always on Wednesdays, 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:12.320 I am so happy to be joined by our in 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:15.760 house doctor, doctor Jonathan Metzel, author of Dying of Whiteness, 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:20.360 to talk about. Usually over the past couple of months, 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:23.880 it has been a mix of COVID, more COVID than guns. 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:28.040 But there is a case that Jonathan has been referencing 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:31.760 coming up to be heard at the Supreme Court on 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:36.320 November third, and in his latest piece for the Boston Review, 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:40.840 the Supreme Court is poised to put politics ahead of 0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:45.200 gun violence. New York State rifle and Pistol versus Bruin 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:48.840 may give the right and it's politics of racial resentment 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:51.920 a major win, but at the cost of gun control 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:57.280 laws known to prevent shootings. Jonathan, let's just dive in. 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:03.960 Why is it's so important right now to bring attention 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:08.080 to this case that is coming up in the you know, 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:11.000 in the next few weeks. Why is it important that 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:16.280 all eyes should be on this Bruin case. Well, New 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:20.399 York's had a licensing law in place for since nineteen thirteen, 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:24.520 over one hundred years. And part of why that's important, 0:17:24.520 --> 0:17:29.800 excuse me, is that it's been largely effective. Right in 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:33.439 other words, like in the city of New York particularly, 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:37.239 not everyone who wants to get a gun can go 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:39.960 get a gun. You have to show a special a 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:42.520 special reason for getting a gun, like you have a 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:45.480 risky job, or you're being stalked by an ex partner 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:47.480 or something like that. So you go to the process 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:50.920 and you get a license. But the NRA and pro 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:53.840 gun politicians have for quite a long time been eyeing 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:55.399 New York. In other words, if they could open up 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:59.240 the gun market in New York, everybody would be buy guns. 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:01.360 It would destable lies in New York all these factors, 0:18:01.400 --> 0:18:05.080 and so they've had an eye on this policy for 0:18:05.200 --> 0:18:09.160 quite some time, but they never had the Supreme Court 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:12.080 to be able to overturn it because it's just total horseshit, 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:13.600 to be honest, like, of course you want to be 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:16.080 able to regulate guns in New York because even if 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:20.800 people can carry guns, you know, for protection in reasons 0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:23.439 that they can prove, you don't want people carrying guns 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:28.200 in the subway or drunk tourists carrying guns Time Square, 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:31.199 New Year's Eve and stuff like that. And so finally 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:34.400 they have a Supreme Court that's going to side with them, 0:18:34.840 --> 0:18:39.080 I think, and say. Basically, their argument is the Second 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:42.200 Amendment should be as protected as the First Amendment. Just 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:44.320 like you can have free speech anywhere, even though you 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:47.120 really can't, you s's to be able to carry guns anywhere. 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:50.120 And so this is a huge risk to New York, 0:18:50.160 --> 0:18:52.399 but not just New York, to other Blue cities like 0:18:52.480 --> 0:18:58.119 Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco that have historically regulated guns 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:01.560 in public as a matter of public safety. So just 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:02.960 along and the short of it, and I hope people 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:05.240 get to read my piece. People really need to pay 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:07.560 attention because this is one of those cases that can 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:11.520 dramatically change the way we live and die, particularly in 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:21.000 Blue America. You know, I am so scared and I 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:26.959 am wondering why everyone else isn't. And you know, what 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:33.480 is it, Jonathan? I mean, you wrote this long form, explosive, historical, 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:37.959 thoughtful piece, folks, and again I will tell you the 0:19:37.960 --> 0:19:40.200 title of it, and it's at the Boston Review. Is 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:43.679 the Supreme Court is poised to put politics ahead of 0:19:43.720 --> 0:19:49.760 gun violence prevention. The implications of this are so far reaching. 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:53.800 Like just listening to you say, well, essentially, if a 0:19:54.359 --> 0:19:58.520 over one hundred year old law is up for grabs, 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:02.760 then you need to understand that everything is up for grabs. 0:20:03.520 --> 0:20:06.919 Should that be the narrative that is coming out of 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:10.560 this White House? Why do you feel like they are 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:14.640 I feel like their heads are in the sand, Like 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:20.840 I just don't understand why there is no alarms going 0:20:20.920 --> 0:20:25.199 off right now. I think there is alarm. I just 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:28.000 don't think they can be quite public about it. I 0:20:28.000 --> 0:20:30.840 mean the issue in part I mean, I do ask 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:33.200 myself very up in what would Donald Trump have done 0:20:33.800 --> 0:20:35.840 he was handled this card? I mean, he would have 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:39.000 overturned the filibuster in five seconds honestly and just done 0:20:40.400 --> 0:20:43.200 his thing. But I can say that there we see 0:20:43.240 --> 0:20:47.240 like like in the case of guns, for example, Trump 0:20:48.320 --> 0:20:51.720 Biden tried to put in as the head of the 0:20:51.840 --> 0:20:56.520 ATF somebody who was a strong proponent of gun violence prevention, 0:20:56.800 --> 0:20:59.159 and he couldn't get the support within his own party. 0:20:59.440 --> 0:21:02.560 We're seeing now with the budget negotiations. So I think 0:21:02.640 --> 0:21:07.719 in a way, if you're just going the traditional route, 0:21:08.320 --> 0:21:10.840 Biden's hands are tied in a way because he doesn't 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:12.760 have the votes to do any of the things he wants. 0:21:13.280 --> 0:21:16.399 The problem is we're playing by the rules and the 0:21:16.440 --> 0:21:19.399 other side isn't. And so you know, if the Republicans 0:21:19.400 --> 0:21:21.639 were in our hands on our position, they would have 0:21:21.680 --> 0:21:24.399 gone nuclear by now, no doubt about it. And so 0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:27.160 part of the issue is we're trying to fix things 0:21:27.160 --> 0:21:30.200 within the system, and within the system, the Biden administration 0:21:30.280 --> 0:21:32.879 unfortunately doesn't have the votes, and it's it's about to 0:21:32.920 --> 0:21:36.439 get a bit more extreme with the twenty twenty two election. 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:41.399 And so again the issue is you know who, I 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:44.359 don't know, I don't know. Everybody read my piece and 0:21:44.400 --> 0:21:47.800 tell me what the answer is. I mean, the answer 0:21:48.160 --> 0:21:52.960 to me is unless this administration, which we know that 0:21:53.000 --> 0:21:59.280 they won't makes a concerted pivot and says, you know, 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:02.120 sometimes times, as you know, to quote the late great 0:22:02.200 --> 0:22:05.840 John Lewis, you need to make good trouble and sometimes 0:22:06.119 --> 0:22:09.760 the laws that are in place are the wrong fucking laws, 0:22:10.119 --> 0:22:13.760 and you need to be able to understand that sometimes 0:22:13.800 --> 0:22:18.439 you need to operate outside of that and and know 0:22:18.920 --> 0:22:22.840 that justice is on your side, right, and that at 0:22:22.880 --> 0:22:26.000 the end of the day, when and if history books 0:22:26.000 --> 0:22:30.200 are ever written, right that this is what they will say, 0:22:30.400 --> 0:22:33.040 is that like sometimes you have to go to war, 0:22:33.680 --> 0:22:36.600 right like this is this is this is that moment. 0:22:37.080 --> 0:22:39.680 It's like you're you're you hit the nail on the head. 0:22:40.000 --> 0:22:43.520 Democrats are operating and entire operating inside of a system 0:22:43.560 --> 0:22:47.400 that no longer exists. Republicans blew it up five years ago. 0:22:48.160 --> 0:22:52.640 So if they are literally showing you their hand, women's 0:22:52.680 --> 0:22:55.480 rights are on the table, gun laws are on the table, 0:22:55.640 --> 0:22:58.359 climate change is on the table, voting rights is on 0:22:58.400 --> 0:23:02.760 the table, school desaggregation is on the table. If they're 0:23:02.800 --> 0:23:06.080 showing you their hand and you're still operating in quote 0:23:06.160 --> 0:23:10.840 unquote good faith, then who is the dummy here? I mean, 0:23:11.240 --> 0:23:12.920 of course I agree with you, and that's part of 0:23:12.920 --> 0:23:16.359 why I wrote this piece. But the issue is even 0:23:16.400 --> 0:23:18.680 the argument. The way my mind works is like there's 0:23:18.800 --> 0:23:20.960 one side on the other side. It's probably a vestige 0:23:20.960 --> 0:23:24.200 of like some evolutionary screw up or something like that. 0:23:24.240 --> 0:23:26.000 But I think the way it look I mean, guns 0:23:26.040 --> 0:23:29.560 is such an interesting case, right because it wasn't just like, oh, 0:23:29.600 --> 0:23:32.760 we're gonna make you have guns, and there's pro gun 0:23:32.800 --> 0:23:34.320 side and anti gun side. What they did is they 0:23:34.880 --> 0:23:39.720 totally overturned the gun control side through a pretty intense 0:23:39.840 --> 0:23:42.879 process of getting liberals to own guns. Like over the 0:23:42.960 --> 0:23:48.679 last year, liberal gun owners have gone up, blackgown owners 0:23:48.680 --> 0:23:50.760 have gone up, you know, fifty percent or something like that. 0:23:50.800 --> 0:23:52.800 I have all the data and the piece, and so 0:23:52.840 --> 0:23:56.480 what they've done is not just you know, the kind 0:23:56.480 --> 0:23:58.879 of top down narrative, but they've also figured out a 0:23:58.920 --> 0:24:02.440 way to like muddy up the waters in a certain 0:24:02.480 --> 0:24:04.399 kind of way so nobody knows quite what side they're on. 0:24:04.440 --> 0:24:06.280 And guns is a perfect example of this. Now there 0:24:06.280 --> 0:24:09.920 are tons of black Americans because of this very targeted 0:24:10.000 --> 0:24:12.760 follow the links in my piece you'll see very targeted, 0:24:12.880 --> 0:24:15.639 very conscious effort to tell people, oh, you see what 0:24:15.640 --> 0:24:17.679 happened to George Floyd. Well, that means you have to 0:24:17.680 --> 0:24:19.439 be armed because the police aren't going to protect you. 0:24:19.520 --> 0:24:25.240 Like they're very good at, like you know, undermining even think. 0:24:25.240 --> 0:24:27.000 So then when Biden comes in and he's like, oh, 0:24:27.040 --> 0:24:29.439 we need gun control, the people are like, no, I 0:24:29.480 --> 0:24:31.399 need a gun to protect myself from the police. So 0:24:31.440 --> 0:24:34.440 in a way, they're very good at marketing to our side. Also, 0:24:34.520 --> 0:24:36.680 it's not just marketing to their own people. And I've 0:24:36.680 --> 0:24:40.200 been saying since the election that that's in a less 0:24:40.320 --> 0:24:42.679 nefarious way, that's what we need to be doing. Like 0:24:42.760 --> 0:24:45.680 when we were protecting the Affordable Care Act, we should 0:24:45.720 --> 0:24:48.760 have been putting Republicans on the defensive, like having their 0:24:48.800 --> 0:24:51.840 own targeting their own base and saying, hey, why isn't 0:24:51.840 --> 0:24:53.800 your person giving you healthcare something like that, But we 0:24:53.840 --> 0:24:55.879 never do that. It's all about virtue signal for our 0:24:55.920 --> 0:24:59.160 own side. And the reality is is that while yes, 0:24:59.280 --> 0:25:01.240 I agree with you in terms of the marketing that 0:25:01.400 --> 0:25:04.639 is done and that they are incredibly savvy, reality is 0:25:04.680 --> 0:25:07.760 also a good marketer too. The fact is is that 0:25:07.840 --> 0:25:10.760 I was one of those people and I am one 0:25:10.760 --> 0:25:12.920 of those black people that are just like you know what, 0:25:13.480 --> 0:25:16.560 they're going to try and kill us right, like they 0:25:16.560 --> 0:25:20.080 are doing it every day and it is only through 0:25:20.119 --> 0:25:23.400 the grace of God that we don't see more headlines 0:25:23.520 --> 0:25:27.360 every day of another unarmed black person that was hunted, 0:25:27.560 --> 0:25:29.840 that was killed in a street like a fucking animal. 0:25:30.080 --> 0:25:34.120 And frankly in saying, we know that the cops don't 0:25:34.160 --> 0:25:37.280 protect us, they never have, right, It was one of 0:25:37.320 --> 0:25:40.840 the reasons why the Black Panthers, along with creating food 0:25:40.880 --> 0:25:44.240 programs and literacy programs, were like, you need to exercise 0:25:44.280 --> 0:25:47.159 your Second Amendment rights. This is not new because the 0:25:47.200 --> 0:25:49.200 fact is is that when we're talking about there being 0:25:49.240 --> 0:25:53.320 over close to four hundred million guns in the United States, 0:25:53.480 --> 0:25:56.600 a majority of them are not owned by people of color, right, 0:25:56.880 --> 0:25:59.160 And so when you start to look at the numbers 0:26:00.160 --> 0:26:04.280 realize that you're already being hunted, then it is then 0:26:04.440 --> 0:26:06.440 who are what are you going to You're gonna sit 0:26:06.480 --> 0:26:09.160 around and say, oh, no, we're going to march this out. 0:26:09.520 --> 0:26:12.720 No you're not, because at some point in time that's 0:26:12.760 --> 0:26:15.600 not what is going to work, right. But I mean, 0:26:15.720 --> 0:26:17.879 it's funny, because this is the book I'm writing right now, 0:26:18.440 --> 0:26:21.480 is that on one hand, it's like, well, they have guns, 0:26:21.480 --> 0:26:24.159 and guns have been so constructed as a vestige of 0:26:24.200 --> 0:26:28.160 white authority that it's like, well, if you have a gun, 0:26:28.200 --> 0:26:29.920 I want a gun, and so that makes sense, right, 0:26:29.960 --> 0:26:33.520 that makes emotional sense, and I understand that position. But 0:26:33.560 --> 0:26:35.879 I also think it's a very dangerous slippery slope for 0:26:35.920 --> 0:26:40.760 a couple of reasons. One is, trust me, American society 0:26:40.840 --> 0:26:43.720 is never going to let it's never going to be 0:26:43.760 --> 0:26:46.720 a fair fight. I'll say that white America is always 0:26:46.760 --> 0:26:49.480 going to be better armed in every way possible. The 0:26:49.520 --> 0:26:53.679 system is built that way, and so a bunch of 0:26:54.680 --> 0:26:58.120 any group of people running out and getting arms, it's 0:26:58.160 --> 0:27:00.600 not going to overturn the system. It's going to solve 0:27:00.720 --> 0:27:03.119