WEBVTT - Defending Democracy 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.600 Good morning, peep sin. Welcome to bokay f Daily with 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:20.520 me your girl Danielle Moody back in my home bunker um, folks. 0:00:20.680 --> 0:00:23.119 Let's start off with something that I never get to 0:00:23.160 --> 0:00:26.400 start off with, which is some good news. As of 0:00:26.440 --> 0:00:31.720 the time of this recording, Secretary Blinkin has announced that 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:35.159 there is a substantial deal that was placed on the 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:42.240 table to Russia in order to get back Britney Griner. Now, 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:46.000 for those of you who obviously have been paying attention, 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:52.160 Britney Griner has been in custody with Russian officials since 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:59.000 February on some bullshit trumped up drug charges because of 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:04.959 vile of cannabis oil that were found in her luggage, 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:09.800 which she says that she has a prescription for from 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:13.720 a doctor, but the country of Russia has a zero 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:18.640 tolerance on drugs. She has been on trial. We have 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:25.319 seen glimpses of her looking at least physically well, being 0:01:25.360 --> 0:01:30.520 detained for this considerable amount of time. I am hopeful 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:34.440 because over the last couple of months we have seen 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:41.160 an uptick in attention and focus on her predicament. Right initially, 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:45.840 when this first happened back in February, it got very 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:49.000 little press. And part of that, at least from what 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:56.160 I heard, was because the State Department officials work through 0:01:56.200 --> 0:01:59.960 back channels, They work through avenues that are not dealt 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:03.000 with in the public eye. And it was said not 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:05.600 to bring, not to draw so much attention to her, 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:10.240 because then the Russians would want to do some other maneuvering. Well, 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:13.440 things have changed over the last several months. Her wife 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:16.239 has taken to calling the White House. She has been 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:19.760 on Good Morning America and other outlets pleading for the 0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:26.200 safe return of Brittany Griner. So right now Britney has 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:33.680 basically pled guilty because by virtue of the Russian courts, 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:38.800 you are not seen to be innocent, and she has 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:43.800 testified on her own behalf to plead guilty and to 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:49.919 convince the judge that she should be released. Word is 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:55.119 that any exchange with regard to an exchange of prisoners, 0:02:55.200 --> 0:02:58.640 which is what the State Department is working on, we 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:02.000 have no timeline for that. But folks are saying that 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:05.919 she needs to be convicted and then sentenced and then 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:08.360 we will see where we go from there. But folks, 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:12.520 one of the things that has troubled me, I think 0:03:12.520 --> 0:03:15.800 the most about this case other than the fact that 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:20.040 you know, the Russians do anything right. Everything is about 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:23.840 political gain. Everything is about a political strategy. It is 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:28.079 all bullshit maneuvering so that they can get out heinous, 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:33.000 horrible people from prison, so that they can get sanctions. 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:36.520 You dropped like everything is a fucking political game. But 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:41.480 what has really gotten me in particular about this case 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:43.600 is that Britney Griner should have never had to be 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:46.200 in Russia in the first place, and that is a 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:50.560 failing of the United States. Why do I say that, Well, 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:54.800 because the women who play basketball in the w NBA 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:59.120 do not even make half of what NBA players make 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:04.760 in this country, which requires them then to go ahead 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:09.920 and play abroad right in the American off season so 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:15.240 that they can continue to make money. Brittany Griner was 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:19.480 in Russia because she plays basketball for a living, and 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:23.120 we don't really particularly give a shit about women in 0:04:23.200 --> 0:04:27.000 sports and how much they get paid. Look at what 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:32.400 has happened the lawsuit that the women's soccer team had 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:37.359 to bring against the Soccer Association for the inbound the 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:41.960 inequity in the pay between men and women in soccer. Right, 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:44.599 these are the same cases that we have heard brought 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:49.640 up with tennis players and the Tennis Association, namely with 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:52.240 the Williams sisters and what they have had to go 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:56.719 through in order to get again equal fucking pay. So 0:04:56.960 --> 0:05:01.239 this is, you know, so many layers of this Britney 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:06.920 Griner trial. An issue is layered with how we treat 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:11.040 and value women in this country, plain and simple. If 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:14.320 Britney Grinder was making as much money as you know, 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:19.440 whatever other top NBA player who is in her same positioning, 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:22.120 do you think that she would have been in Russia. No, 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:25.919 she would be enjoying her off season as NBA players 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:29.120 enjoy their off season right, being able to provide for 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:33.560 their families amply right, and not have to travel around 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:36.000 the world in order to do that. And so, you know, 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:38.080 I bring that up because I think that it is 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:41.560 really important that we recognize, I mean, and we know this, right. 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:44.680 We know this by virtue of the reversal of Roe v. Wade. 0:05:44.720 --> 0:05:46.760 We know this by virtue of the fact that in 0:05:46.800 --> 0:05:48.960 this country we have yet to be able to pass 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:53.279 an equal Pay Act. Right, we know that white women 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:57.400 make probably seventy two cents. I think it was the 0:05:57.480 --> 0:06:00.200 last time that I saw to the dollar of a 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:05.200 white man, and that the number is lessened as you 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:09.880 add on race, as you you know, for people black 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:16.360 women making less and being yet more qualified, right in 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:19.640 terms of the number of professional degrees, in terms of 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:23.760 certifications and all of these things. And so again, if 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:27.000 we were to actually take a strong look and give 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:30.520 a shit in this country about equity, then we would 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:33.360 have passed an Equal Pay Act a long long time ago, 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:38.960 because the days are gone of you know, heteronormativity and 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:41.760 the male going into the workforce in the job and 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:44.760 the boss saying, oh, your wife is pregnant, so here's 0:06:44.760 --> 0:06:47.680 a raise for the family. Type of bullshit. I mean, 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:50.320 I know that that's what the Republicans want to drag 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:54.440 us back to, where women are needing to be reliant 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:59.720 on their spouses because they're trapped into pregnancy and parent 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:02.400 that they don't want to be in right, and that 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:06.040 forces this vicious cycle of women and people with uterus 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:09.120 is being forced out of the workforce, clearing the way 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:12.720 for white men clearly to be able to not only 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:16.600 rule the workforce, but also rule their nest and women 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:19.840 not have any outlet whatsoever. That's the goal of the 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:24.640 Republican Party. It's to turn women back into a servile 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:29.560 positioning in our country, and you know how easy it 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:33.080 is being done right. So I think that it is 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:36.000 always important that when we look at these cases with 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:40.520 that are gaining national attention, that we look at the why, 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:44.000 that we ask ourselves the why about those things and 0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:49.200 don't just assume them to be by face value, just 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:52.680 one thing about foreign affairs and the United States and 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:57.800 their geopolitical war that they like to play. Folks. We 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:03.560 are now also six months into the war in Ukraine, 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:09.760 which is just fucking crazy to even think about the 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:15.080 devastation that Russian aggression and war crimes have caused in 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:21.120 the country of Ukraine. This week, if you pay attention 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:27.720 to the likes of Vogue magazine, both Zelinsky and his 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:30.840 and his wife First Lady are on the cover, the 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:34.800 digital cover of Vogue magazine, and they are talking about 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:40.720 the horrors of war, what what this has done to 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:46.880 their own families, to their country, and you know, to themselves. 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:49.560 I said something the other day to a friend of 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:54.000 mine with regard to President Zelinsky, and I said, man, 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:59.559 if you look at photos from six months ago of Zelinsky, 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:03.400 and you look at photos now, it is evident that 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:06.440 the man has must have aged at least ten years 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:11.000 in six months. You know, I've been thinking a lot, 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:16.199 as Republicans continue to wage war against democracy and against 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:23.200 decency in this country, about whether or not those of 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:26.040 us who do believe in democracy are actually willing to 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:28.720 fight for it in the way that people are fighting 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:32.040 for it in Ukraine. Now, I'm not going to make 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:36.200 any comparisons to being in a maternity ward and the 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:40.960 hospital being blown up, or being in sitting in my 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:45.959 apartment and the apartment building being blown up, or any 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:48.400 of the things the heinous acts that we have seen 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:52.000 at the hands of Russians. But the question that we 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:56.839 should all really truly be asking ourselves is, if America 0:09:56.920 --> 0:10:01.440 continues on this anti democrat slope that we are on, 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:04.760 what are each of us actually willing to do to 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:10.640 defend democracy? You know, I think about the people in Ukraine. 0:10:10.640 --> 0:10:13.640 I think about people all over the world who are 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:23.920 forced into extraordinary situations because of power, greed, right violence 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:30.400 that plagues their countries. We have largely as a nation 0:10:30.960 --> 0:10:35.920 been shielded from that right. Not since the Civil War 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:41.079 the Revolutionary War have we seen, outside of the bombing 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:46.840 of Pearl Harbor, fighting on our own soil. And what 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:50.839 has really gotten me in this realm of thinking, obviously 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:55.160 is because we pay attention every single day to the news. 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:59.120 But there was a recent article in the Washington Post 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:05.520 that there were interviews that were done of Republicans and 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:08.640 you know, looking at candidates at the local, state and 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:14.679 national level that are running for office. And in this article, folks, 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:18.640 these people are not holding back. They are saying that 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:21.400 they are prepared for a civil war. They are ready 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:26.199 for a civil war, and that a majority of Americans 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:30.560 outside of the Republican Party believe that this will come 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:34.600 in the next couple of years. Namely, there have eyes 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:40.240 on twenty twenty four. If Republicans take back the House 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:45.280 and the Senate in the fall, they are going to 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:48.920 do some really egregious, underhanded ship. We already know that 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:55.360 because they've told us. If a Republican, whether it be 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:59.440 Donald Trump, Ron de Santis or Mike Pence, become President 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:02.800 of the United States in twenty twenty four, you can 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:08.080 kiss every single right. You can kiss the Constitution goodbye altogether. 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:13.160 In these polls that have been done with Republicans, many 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:16.200 of them have said that, you know, forty percent of 0:12:16.200 --> 0:12:20.800 the population hell, I'll give up on democracy so long 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:24.120 as we have a strongman at the helm of this country. 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:31.040 Not only were we registered last year as a backsliding 0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:33.600 democracy for the first time in the history of the 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:39.680 United States, people are talking about a civil war. People 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:45.360 are talking about wanting a strongman instead of democracy. These 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:51.000 are regular conversations that are happening, right and not just 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:54.880 with the politically astute or those that pay attention. It's 0:12:54.920 --> 0:13:00.679 happening with everybody around everybody's kitchen table. So I think 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:03.320 about the images coming out of Ukraine, and I think 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:07.640 about the trauma that has been inflicted on these people 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:11.920 who have done nothing other than trying to live their 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:15.679 lives right as best they could in a country that 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:18.120 they were born in, in the country that they love, 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:22.000 only to have everything that they've ever known upended, to 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:25.360 lose loved ones, to lose their homes, to lose their 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:29.360 futures right, pick up with whatever it is that they have, 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:33.360 and literally cross borders into other nations with nothing but 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:38.800 what they have on their backs to start over. And 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:44.359 I think that, you know, while I was really aggravated 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:47.400 by the way that the Ukrainian people have been presented 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:50.640 in the news, as if like we should all have 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:53.400 empathy for these people. But we don't have empathy for 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:56.480 people in Afghanistan. We don't have empathy for people in Syria. 0:13:56.559 --> 0:13:59.520 We don't have empathy for people in Iran, right, we 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:03.160 don't have empathy for people in the Congo. We don't 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:06.480 have empathy for people who are not black, who are 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:10.000 not white with blue eyes and blonde hair, And that 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:14.640 is by virtue of white supremacy. And who runs the news, 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:20.080 who runs everything right? White people in power. Hey, I'm 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:25.440 David Plots of slates Political Gabfest. As another election season accelerates, 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:28.040 it can be tricky to sort through all the noise 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:31.200 and the news. Each week, on the Gapfest, John Dickerson, 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:34.480 Emily Bathlon and I decipher the headlines, break down the races, 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:37.960 and tell you what issues really matter. We do not 0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:41.440 always agree, We definitely do not always agree, but we 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:44.680 always deliver thoughtful debate and we always have a good time. 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:49.520 So subscribe to Slate's Political Gapfest, new episodes every Thursday. 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:52.880 Hey there, I want to tell you about another podcast 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:55.600 I think you'll love. 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But 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:28.720 there is something to think about when we are on 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:33.720 the verge of so much right Like, when we are 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:40.040 on the verge of so much that is happening on 0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:46.520 the brink of just it feels like remember playing on 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:50.320 the seesaw as a kid on the playground. I don't 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:53.120 even know if they have seesaws anymore, but playing on 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:56.840 a seesaw and you know, the other person would get 0:15:56.920 --> 0:16:00.680 up and you would be slapped down to to the ground. 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:04.760 That's how I feel about this country right now, Like 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:07.800 we're trying to both stay even and in the air 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:11.720 with our emotional well being, with our understanding of democracy. 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:14.160 We're just up and we're down. We're up and we're down, 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:18.320 and I'm just waiting for the moment where the Republican 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:20.920 Party completely gets off of the seesaw and they're just like, 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:24.560 fuck it, We're drawing our guns and we're done. Because 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:28.600 I feel like this is imminent, right, when you have 0:16:29.400 --> 0:16:32.760 Republicans that are running for office and they're doing so 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:36.800 holding their ar fifteens, when they are talking about the 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:40.520 use of violence against political opponents, when they are and 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:44.920 rising in the polls doing it, right, when they are 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:48.960 continuing to spread lies. When you could say that, oh, yes, 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:51.560 I was at the insurrection and run for governor like 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:54.880 Doug Mastriana was doing in Pennsylvania, and that be okay, 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:58.400 you not be in jail, right because you would think, oh, no, 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:00.760 this man is going to be charged with a federal 0:17:00.800 --> 0:17:03.120 crime and he would never be able to run for office. 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:08.800 But not in these United States, right, not nowadays. But 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:12.360 you think about the fact that these people are literally 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:15.600 getting everything that they have ever wanted. Their wish list 0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:19.800 right for America is literally being checked off one box 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:22.679 at a time. And yet when you listen to Donald Trump, 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:24.280 which by the way, I did not listen to the 0:17:24.320 --> 0:17:26.879 whole speech is bullshit speech. I was only listening to 0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:31.440 pieces of it because I can't stomach that bullshit. Donald 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:34.199 Trump talking about America has got to be one of 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:39.000 the most scary things that I've ever heard. Donald Trump 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:46.040 sees nothing good in this country even when Republicans are winning. 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:50.159 It's not even about them touting the reversal of Roe v. 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:53.720 Wade or touting all of the gun legislation that is 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:56.480 across this country now, where you can just get a 0:17:56.520 --> 0:17:59.560 gun as easy as you can, you pick up a 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:04.480 thing at ictas, where you can, you know, deny curriculum 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:08.600 and burn books and don't say gay, and all of 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:12.040 these things that they have won. You would think that 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:15.600 Donald Trump would then stand before his legions of sycophants 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:19.800 and tick down all of those wins. But no, Donald 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:24.399 Trump stands before the American public and says that the 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:28.600 streets are filled with bodies and guns and you know, 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:31.560 and oh not guns because he would love that with drugs, 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:35.200 and that we should execute drug dealers, and that there's 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:41.119 just mayhem and carnage and terror everywhere. And I'm like, 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:45.680 America is pretty much a shit show. It's a shit 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:49.159 show because of all of the things that Republicans and 0:18:49.200 --> 0:18:51.960 the likes of Joe Mansion and Krsten Cinema have continued 0:18:52.000 --> 0:18:54.720 to allow to happen in this country right to make 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:58.240 this country unsafe. But the idea that we're all walking 0:18:58.240 --> 0:19:01.560 out of our front doors into type to Donald Trump's 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:07.320 healthscape is like is laughable. Right, And so I'm like, 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:12.879 even when they are winning, they still run on fear, 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:20.000 which means to me that they're never going to be satisfied. Right, 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:24.600 They're never going to be satisfied until every right is gone, 0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:28.959 until every person is living in fear, until the hope 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:33.919 and the will of America is taken from everyone's eyes 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:37.600 and souls, until it's just drained from all of us. 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:41.960 Because they don't even celebrate their victories. They just continue 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:46.080 to cry foul and play victim, right, Like Donald Trump 0:19:46.200 --> 0:19:48.560 is talking about all of the carnage and the mayhem 0:19:48.560 --> 0:19:51.080 in the street and then saying, and they don't want 0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:54.040 me to lead you bitch, where did you lead us? 0:19:55.280 --> 0:19:58.800 You almost led us into multiple Twitter fucking like real 0:19:58.840 --> 0:20:03.239 world wars with I ran and with North Korea. You 0:20:03.280 --> 0:20:08.160 know you're being The government is being sued by several 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:13.200 families who were separated at the border under your bullshit policies, right, 0:20:13.240 --> 0:20:17.119 and they will most likely win because what the Trump 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:21.320 administration did to undocumented people and their children was so 0:20:21.480 --> 0:20:28.360 fucking heinous and disgusting. But I'm like, how do you 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:35.040 counter this horrible vision and dream of America that Donald 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:39.440 Trump and Republicans have. You have to give something to 0:20:39.480 --> 0:20:42.760 the people to have hope in And this is a 0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:46.359 thing that I understand, you know now more than ever 0:20:46.560 --> 0:20:51.159 about Democrats in the Democratic Party. While I say that 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:53.760 a healthy dose of fhere is good, Do you want 0:20:53.840 --> 0:20:57.199 Trump's America or do you want the Biden version of 0:20:57.240 --> 0:21:00.080 America that we're all fighting for? Right? Like that, to 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:03.320 me is a very simple ad. You know, run down, 0:21:04.119 --> 0:21:08.200 play over Donald Trump just recently talking about the mayhem 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:11.680 and the lack of law and order, and just run 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:15.960 the visuals from the insurrection as Donald Trump is speaking today, 0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:19.280 five hundred and some odd days after he incited an 0:21:19.440 --> 0:21:23.240 entire crowd to attack his vice president and the capital 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:26.080 of the United States, and say, do you want this 0:21:26.240 --> 0:21:29.440 version of America or do you want the one over 0:21:29.520 --> 0:21:32.879 here that we are all fighting for for better schools, 0:21:33.080 --> 0:21:36.080 right that don't burn books but actually seek to educate 0:21:36.080 --> 0:21:38.959 and uplift our nation's children so that we can be 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:42.800 globally competitive. Do you want Donald Trump's version of America 0:21:42.880 --> 0:21:45.760 where you are not safe anywhere? Or do you want 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:47.919 a version of America that we're fighting for where you 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:50.560 can go to the grocery store, your synagogue, your mosque, 0:21:50.560 --> 0:21:53.400 and your church and a movie theater right with your 0:21:53.400 --> 0:21:56.200 family and to a parade and not be worried about 0:21:56.240 --> 0:21:59.480 being mowed down because we can do something about assault 0:21:59.520 --> 0:22:02.800 weapons weapons of mass destruction that are on our streets. 0:22:04.240 --> 0:22:07.720 The contrast, to me is so very clear to paint, 0:22:07.720 --> 0:22:12.639 even without any real major policy wins from this administration. 0:22:14.440 --> 0:22:18.000 And yet here we sit but a handful of months 0:22:18.000 --> 0:22:21.119 before midterms, crossing our fingers and toes and hoping to 0:22:21.240 --> 0:22:26.399 God that the Republican White Supremacist Party doesn't take hold 0:22:26.800 --> 0:22:30.840 over this entire nation, even though, by the way, they 0:22:30.880 --> 0:22:35.560 pretty much have a really fucking tight grip. So I 0:22:35.640 --> 0:22:39.320 sit here and I wonder most days as I look 0:22:39.359 --> 0:22:43.520 at the destruction that the rubble that most of Ukraine 0:22:43.560 --> 0:22:48.959 has turned into now, and I wonder how many of 0:22:49.040 --> 0:22:51.840 us would be willing to fight for this nation as 0:22:51.840 --> 0:22:55.359 opposed to dusting off our passports and saying, fuck it, 0:22:55.520 --> 0:22:58.560 I'm starting over someplace else, which, by the way, I 0:22:58.600 --> 0:23:02.040 have those fantasies on a regular goddamn basis. My sister 0:23:02.119 --> 0:23:06.520 just came back from living abroad for the last twelve years. Right. 0:23:06.600 --> 0:23:08.199 I know that it can be done. I know that 0:23:08.240 --> 0:23:10.000 you can make a good living and you can travel 0:23:10.040 --> 0:23:13.280 the world. But what does it mean to no longer 0:23:13.400 --> 0:23:16.960 have a home base? Right? What does it mean to 0:23:17.000 --> 0:23:20.520 be a stranger in every land that you traverse because 0:23:20.520 --> 0:23:24.560 the one that you were born in is no longer recognizable. 0:23:24.720 --> 0:23:26.679 These are the things that kind of keep me up 0:23:26.720 --> 0:23:31.119 at night on a regular basis, wondering and worrying about 0:23:31.119 --> 0:23:33.320 what the future is going to look like here. And 0:23:33.359 --> 0:23:35.560 I don't want the future of America to look like 0:23:35.680 --> 0:23:40.119 Ukraine with millions of us, you know, either heading south 0:23:40.160 --> 0:23:44.240 for Mexico or north for Canada, right and figuring out 0:23:44.280 --> 0:23:48.160 how to start over. But that's the America that Republicans want. 0:23:48.640 --> 0:23:53.199 They want to drive everybody that looks like me, praise 0:23:53.320 --> 0:23:56.600 different looks, different loves, different out of this country. You know, 0:23:56.680 --> 0:24:00.960 just the other day, what was making the news, Doug 0:24:01.000 --> 0:24:08.080 Mastriano's like campaign lead talking about the fact that America 0:24:08.280 --> 0:24:12.720 is a Christian nation, a white Christian nation. Marjorie Taylor 0:24:12.800 --> 0:24:16.120 Green found herself saying that she's a nationalist and she's 0:24:16.160 --> 0:24:18.960 a Christian and she's a Christian nationalist and there's nothing 0:24:19.000 --> 0:24:22.200 wrong with that. Rachel Maddow, because of her comments, did 0:24:22.320 --> 0:24:28.359 a major, a major deep dive into Christian nationalism and 0:24:28.480 --> 0:24:31.840 what that looked like in the United States. This push 0:24:32.000 --> 0:24:37.640 for it, it is Nazism, It is the KKK, it 0:24:37.720 --> 0:24:44.040 is burning crosses. This man was on national television talking about, Oh, 0:24:44.080 --> 0:24:48.320 we won't expel the Jews, but they'll need to, you know, 0:24:48.440 --> 0:24:51.080 they'll have the benefits of living in a Christian nation. 0:24:52.359 --> 0:24:58.600 The fuck. I don't know what constitution they're all reading, 0:24:58.920 --> 0:25:03.000 but I'm pretty sure or that America was founded right 0:25:03.560 --> 0:25:10.119 air quotes on religious freedom right. They were fleeing persecution. 0:25:10.480 --> 0:25:14.679 So the very idea that then the descendants of those 0:25:15.200 --> 0:25:18.040 who came here would turn around and say that no 0:25:18.080 --> 0:25:21.119 one else has the ability to practice their own faith, 0:25:21.480 --> 0:25:24.960 because their belief is that America should have one faith 0:25:25.320 --> 0:25:28.000 that we all abide by and one rule of law, 0:25:28.000 --> 0:25:31.119 which is that white supremacy runs all things and is 0:25:31.160 --> 0:25:34.440 all things. You have the Lauren Boberts and the Marjorie 0:25:34.480 --> 0:25:36.960 Tailor Greens that are sitting in Congress talking about there 0:25:36.960 --> 0:25:39.639 should be no separation between church and state, you have 0:25:39.680 --> 0:25:43.600 a Supreme Court that is just eroded further this separation 0:25:43.640 --> 0:25:46.000 between church and state. And so again, when I say 0:25:46.040 --> 0:25:50.600 to you, what are you willing to fight for if 0:25:50.640 --> 0:25:54.959 in fact it comes to pass, which again the polls 0:25:54.960 --> 0:25:58.240 are saying it is more likely than not to come 0:25:58.240 --> 0:26:01.399 to pass. What are you willing to stand up and 0:26:01.440 --> 0:26:03.720 fight for? These are the questions that we need to 0:26:03.760 --> 0:26:08.520 be asking each other around our kitchen table, because it 0:26:08.560 --> 0:26:11.639 isn't just going to be enough to tweet about it. 0:26:11.640 --> 0:26:15.639 It isn't going to just be enough to vote. I 0:26:15.760 --> 0:26:18.560 think that this is going to come down to actual 0:26:18.680 --> 0:26:22.480 fucking hand to hand combat. I think that it is 0:26:22.560 --> 0:26:24.720 going to come down to a whole lot of things 0:26:24.760 --> 0:26:28.600 because I don't believe that this version of the white 0:26:28.720 --> 0:26:34.600 nationalist of Republican Party is going away. Right, we had 0:26:34.600 --> 0:26:39.040 an opportunity to cut off the head of the snake 0:26:39.520 --> 0:26:44.040 Donald Trump twice with two impeachment trials, and Republicans said, nah, 0:26:44.119 --> 0:26:49.760 this is our guy. Right, you have Matt Gates, that 0:26:49.960 --> 0:26:54.680 fucking pedophile piece of shit, disparaging women, but making it 0:26:54.720 --> 0:26:57.480 clear that no Republican is going to vote for Mike 0:26:57.520 --> 0:27:00.840 Pence because Donald Trump is their guy. I'm sure he 0:27:00.920 --> 0:27:02.959 wants Donald Trump back in office so that he can 0:27:03.000 --> 0:27:09.600 get pardoned for his sex trafficking charges. I just want 0:27:09.680 --> 0:27:14.480 Democrats right now to do a better job of laying 0:27:14.480 --> 0:27:18.320 out to the American people that the version of America 0:27:18.400 --> 0:27:22.960 that Republicans have isn't just one that is about white supremacy. 0:27:23.000 --> 0:27:27.160 It is also one that is about vigilante violence, right 0:27:27.280 --> 0:27:31.840 political violence, where it is going to be the norm 0:27:32.080 --> 0:27:36.560