WEBVTT - Opportunities in Obstacles 0:00:11.720 --> 0:00:14.720 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to ook F Daily with 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:19.440 Me your Girl Danielle Moody pre recording from the home Bunker, Folks, 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:25.639 I am very, very excited for one of the last 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:31.319 conversations to happen on wok F Daily to be with 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:37.560 the producer extraordinaire Andrew Marcello, who has been with wok 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:40.800 F Daily since the very first episode. 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:42.319 I think if I am not. 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:49.720 Correct, and has just been an extraordinary partner for the 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:56.400 last seven years in making this show possible. And yeah, 0:00:56.480 --> 0:00:59.360 I just wanted Andrew for us to be able to 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:05.280 close it out together. So it's been a journey. It's 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:09.720 been this, It has been a journey. I started this 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:15.280 show in response to Donald Trump's first election, thinking that 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:19.720 it was going to be a blip on America's radar. 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:23.440 And we're ending the show and he's starting a second 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:28.080 term in a couple of weeks, which is just wild. 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:34.440 But tell me first, like, seven years it's a long time. 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:35.880 How do you feel. 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:38.759 I feel like a different person than I was seven 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:44.039 years ago in a lot of ways. I feel like 0:01:44.880 --> 0:01:48.600 the show itself has grown so much from where it started. 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:53.320 I'm very proud of where you and where we got 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:56.520 with this show. I wish I could say the same 0:01:56.520 --> 0:01:57.120 for the country. 0:01:58.600 --> 0:01:58.840 Sam. 0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:03.279 You know, the show started out, even in the space 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:06.760 that it was in, as a more left wing oriented 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:14.480 or more progressive oriented voice, and I'm fearful that I 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:18.799 feel a lot of things. I have a lot of 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:22.959 feelings about how progressive politics have been treated over the 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:26.560 last four years. I think they were starting to become normalized, 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:29.240 and even during the first Trump administration, I felt like, 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:33.080 at least as a form of resistance, they were still 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:39.600 somewhat prominent and being heard. And I think the last 0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:43.680 four years in particular have been really disheartening in terms 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:48.320 of the regression that has happened. In some ways, I 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:52.640 wasn't really actually surprised by Trump's reelection because I felt 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:57.880 the forces in society shifting more and more towards the right, 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:02.880 and I'm certain fearful for what's going to come next. 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:06.520 Yeah, I think that that is right. I wanted to 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:10.400 be surprised, I think by his reelection. I wanted to 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:15.560 really believe that the country had progressed and had learned 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:18.960 write some really hard lessons in his first term, but 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:23.000 also over the last seven years. And you know, I 0:03:23.040 --> 0:03:27.200 think that one of the villains, if I will say, 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:30.880 of the wok F daily story, have been the Democrats 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:36.160 and their messaging or lack thereof, and their desire to 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:43.640 really appeal to a center that doesn't exist anymore. I've 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:47.600 been referring to Democrats these days, those the Pelosis and 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:51.880 the Schumers, as they're basically moderate Republicans. They're what moderate 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:57.000 Republicans used to be before they all gave their soul 0:03:57.080 --> 0:04:00.720 to the devil and became a of a cult. 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:01.080 Right. 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:12.120 But I saw so much possibility right in progressivism, and 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:16.440 I thought that for certain, seeing Donald Trump's first term unfold, 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:21.720 that folks would gather and Democrats would gather people in 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:25.360 a way to say, like, no, you're deserving of all 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:29.240 of these things that other industrialized countries have, like universal 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:33.960 health care right, like childcare taken care of, like you know, 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:38.320 children outside of the womb, actually having their needs met. 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:41.200 And it seems as if they have gone in the 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:45.200 complete opposite direction. What do you make of what you've 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:49.640 seen of Democrats over the last over these last seventy years, 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:53.800 and like you know, where you saw possibility and where 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:56.480 you have seen disappointment. 0:04:56.920 --> 0:05:01.000 I'm going to point to two moments that that really 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:04.440 resonate with me years and years later, and I think 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:07.919 may resonate with some other people who feel similar to 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:12.640 me years and years later. In June of twenty nineteen, 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:17.880 Joe Biden was speaking to donors at an event at 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:23.400 the Carlisle Hotel in Manhattan, rich wealthy donors, and he 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:27.719 said four words that I will never forget nothing would 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:35.279 fundamentally change if he is elected. Nothing would fundamentally change. 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:39.839 And then I think about I think it was Nevada. 0:05:39.880 --> 0:05:45.440 There was some weekend in twenty twenty where Bernie Sanders 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:51.000 had won some Nevada or like multiple states, and I 0:05:51.160 --> 0:05:55.400 was so excited. I saw a picture of myself. To 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:57.039 go back a little bit more from I saw a 0:05:57.040 --> 0:05:59.640 picture of myself from a Bernie Sanders rally in twenty sixteen, 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:02.640 and the light in my eyes, the hope in my face, 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:05.719 I was like, who is that? So when there was 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:10.840 a what felt like a second chance that weekend, it 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:16.680 was really invigorating and exciting. And then there were a 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:21.760 bunch of backroom deals and I think it was Jim 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:27.039 Clyburn from South Carolina mm YEP said that he would 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:30.640 help Biden and a bunch of people in the primary 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:34.160 dropped out and put their force behind Biden, and all 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:35.359 of a sudden, it was Joe Biden. 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:37.240 Yeah. 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:42.040 And what I don't know is that a democratic process. 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:44.920 I no, it's it's it's not. 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:48.520 But it has been backroom dealings. I feel like have 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:53.320 been the way right for so so many decades. This 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:55.520 is this is how, this is how they have told 0:06:55.560 --> 0:06:59.159 us that politics works and how politics should have worked, 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:02.920 right was. I mean, we were covering this every single 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:05.640 day on Woke a Up. Joe Biden was not my 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:09.760 first through fifth choice right to be the nominee. 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:11.960 It wasn't winning a lot of states at the time. 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:16.760 It wasn't winning any states until Clyburn said, no, I'm 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:20.680 putting South Carolina in his column, which is what he did, 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:25.360 and then from then on Biden had a clear runway. 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:29.480 And I think that when the democratic establishment decides to 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:32.920 create these clear runways for the candidate of their choosing 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:37.040 rather than the candidate of our choosing, that's how people 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:38.400 lose faith in the process. 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:42.680 Right. I definitely feel like there was a lot of 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:46.560 disengagement over the last four years for a variety of factors. 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:50.840 I think the suppression that occurred in I mean, there 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:52.600 was a lot that happened in twenty twenty. What a year. 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:56.720 But I think the suppression that occurred in twenty twenty 0:07:56.920 --> 0:08:00.480 and the response to that by you have me about 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:02.480 how I feel about Democrats, and there was very much 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:06.120 a like, we're going to put more money into police, 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:08.840 and then Republicans had this narrative of like, Democrats are 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:11.760 defunding the police when the opposite was happening, and then Democrats' 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:14.720 response to their defunding the police was to just throw 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:17.160 more money at the police, and which leaves the progressive 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:18.560 position out in the rain. 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:26.040 It never made sense to me that for seven plus 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:31.200 years that Democrats couldn't figure out how to message around 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:37.400 Donald Trump, couldn't figure out how to redirect the conversation 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:40.200 into a narrative that they want. And I think that 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:43.160 you know, I've had a lot of time to reflect 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:48.360 on Donald Trump's win, his second win, and you know, 0:08:49.720 --> 0:08:53.160 hate to say it, trust me hate to say it, 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:56.640 but Donald Trump and MAGA for better or for Worse 0:08:56.760 --> 0:09:01.920 created a sense of belonging for a whole group of 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:05.000 people who we may not have wanted in our tent, 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:08.520 but by virtue of them not feeling like they had 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:11.800 a place or a voice anymore. Donald Trump and Maga said, oh, 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:16.360 come over here, right, the water's great. And at that 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:21.560 same time, you were watching Democrats, right, Oh, we're four 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:24.560 trans writes, Ooh, people don't seem to like that, so 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:25.040 we're going. 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:27.640 To back away. Oh we're with black people. 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:30.160 Ooh, but white people don't seem to like that, so 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:32.440 we're going to fund the police more. Oh we're So 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:37.680 there was always this two steps forward twelve steps back 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:42.320 that was happening, where Maga has already has always been 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:43.360 full steam ahead. 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:44.920 How do you see it? 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:48.560 There's two issues actually in twenty twenty four and this 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:51.560 whole cycle that I have thought about that I felt 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:56.840 that way about, which is the uki spooky specter of crime, 0:09:57.440 --> 0:10:02.400 what a nebulous word? And immigration, And I think on crime, 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:07.760 it's so frustrating because crime is like a factual argument. 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:12.200 Like this idea that all of a sudden America's cities 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:15.760 have become criminal wastelands is just not true. And all 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:19.439 you have to do is say that's not true and 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:23.800 like have some sort of I don't know, because I'm 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:26.640 not a strategist, but like, you know what I mean, 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:31.319 it just felt like there was this capitulation to this 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:36.240 idea that criminals and criminality is ravaging American cities when 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:40.240 it's not. That's just not the truth. And unfortunately this 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:45.480 narrative was aided by people who were running certain American cities, 0:10:45.880 --> 0:10:48.440 like Eric Adams and others. I'll you know you're in 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:51.400 New York, so I'll say he's certainly a prominent one. 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:54.640 By the way, I wanted to talk about him, So 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:57.360 I really just want to inject this what a goofy 0:10:57.640 --> 0:11:02.920 little purp walk that camera obsessed man just did and 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:07.079 ended up making the man an orange who is innocent 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:10.840 until proven guilty. He did such a good job making 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:14.160 that man look like the people's hero because he, like 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:18.400 Eric Adams, is a villain. He's a bad person. He 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:22.120 wants a pardon from Donald Trump. He thinks that he's 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:26.440 gonna go out there and show this man who terrorized 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:29.559 my city. He didn't terrorize anyone but allegedly one. 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:32.800 Man, but one person. But they've and and that that 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:38.320 to me, right him sitting down Eric Adams, And also 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:42.120 what is he now the defender of the CEO, right 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:44.240 like he's he's the sheriff of the of the of 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:50.280 the CEOs because this city wasn't terrorized, right, this man 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:53.839 and I will say that I believe that New York 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:58.800 completely overcharged him when because me because New York has 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:05.640 that that the ability to wage a terrorist accusation against somebody, 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:09.320 This was not terrorism. Right. We can say acts that 0:12:09.440 --> 0:12:12.600 are terrorizing, but this was not one of them. This 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:16.840 was a targeted attack against one individual in the city. 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:20.959 This was not somebody opening up and a mass shooting 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:21.720 that took place. 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:22.800 It was not. 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:27.840 If you were scared now, because you are a CEO 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:31.960 of a company that has unethical business practices, all you 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:34.400 have to do is take off your suit and walk 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:37.880 out of the c suite. You are not a persecuted minority. 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:38.920 Are you sure? 0:12:39.240 --> 0:12:42.640 Because Eric Adams said that they were, and so did 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:47.880 and so did Kathy Hockel. Oh right, like, and so 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:51.920 they're both Democrats in your in your state of Pennsylvania. 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:53.959 You know what I'm saying. Like, but that's that's. 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:55.880 And Cheryl Parker wants to evict a bunch of people 0:12:55.880 --> 0:13:01.000 from Chinatown to build a basketball stadium, that's a democrat. 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:05.480 It's so like, who are there are there politicians of 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:08.199 the people that's what's scary, to go back to the 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:08.960 original thing. 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:11.840 And no, there aren't. And I was going to ask you. 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:18.360 Millions of people sat home on November fifth did not vote. 0:13:18.480 --> 0:13:23.080 And I know right that I talk about voting and 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:24.520 have talked about voting. 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:27.120 Throughout the years. It is your responsibility. 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:33.320 It is a right that was hard fought and one 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:39.200 over decades, and you not voting is in fact casting 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:43.360 a vote, right, So you might as well put some opinion, gusto, 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:48.000 and thought behind who you're pulling the levers for. However, 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:53.160 when folks looked at this, they said, they're all taken 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:57.800 pharma money, they're all taken oil money and coal money. 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:02.160 What do you think led to so many millions of people, 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:08.319 and particularly young people thirty and under, who didn't vote. 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:11.240 I'm not at risk for saying this because you said 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:13.199 oil money, you said all these other kinds of money. 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:16.560 I'm gonna be real for a lot of people that 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:20.320 I know. We're talking about apac money, baby, we're talking 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:24.520 about is real. We're talking about the atrocities being committed overseas. 0:14:24.560 --> 0:14:27.200 We're talking about the genocide being committed overseas. We are 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:30.600 talking about the full throated not only defense, but full 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:34.880 throated endorsement of a genocide by the United States government 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:38.280 and the Biden Harris administration. That Kamala Harris did not 0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:40.880 do nearly enough. I mean, did she do anything to 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:45.040 distance herself from she did when she went on to 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:47.120 if you talk about nothing would fundamentally change when she 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:48.920 went on the view or wherever and was like, I'll 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:51.840 be the same as Joe Biden. We didn't. He's not 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:53.480 in the race anymore for a reason. 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:54.680 Mm hm. 0:14:56.640 --> 0:15:00.840 They had an opportunity to forge a different path forward. 0:15:01.280 --> 0:15:04.600 And the people who pull the strings, the people who 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:07.680 run the campaigns, the campaign managers, the people who are 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:11.760 obsessed with polls and all this and perception rather than 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:17.120 talking to actual human beings. They ran a campaign that 0:15:17.240 --> 0:15:20.520 was just like Biden in a different body. Yes, and 0:15:20.560 --> 0:15:22.960 I don't get why they did that, and the result 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:24.280 was exactly what I expected. 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:25.400 I was just going to. 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:27.920 Say, I think a part of why they did it, 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:29.920 And this is not to make excuses at all, because 0:15:29.920 --> 0:15:34.520 it was the wrong move. There's always just to the 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:38.760 point that you said earlier, I think that Kamala Harris 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:42.600 by saying is said what you said. Joe Biden said 0:15:42.880 --> 0:15:46.760 at the Carlisle. Nothing will fundamentally change, right. I may 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:50.480 be this black and Asian woman m hm, who is 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:54.320 going to be a potentially the leader of the free world, 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:57.680 but don't worry, nothing is going to fundamentally change. 0:15:58.400 --> 0:15:59.400 And I think that. 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:05.040 That was her and are handlers trying to assure the 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:09.840 American public that, oh, this person from who sits at 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:14.680 the intersection of multiple identities isn't going to change anything. 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:17.520 She's really a part of the status quo. And they 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:21.280 thought that that was a selling point, where as many 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:24.040 of us saw it as a sellout point. 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:29.200 What are the two words you most associate with the 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:32.960 two thousand and eight Barack Obama campaign? What, Oh, I'm 0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:33.400 asking you? 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:35.760 Yes we can? You said three years old. 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:39.200 Oh, okay, no, see, but that's that's the say I 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:40.400 was going to say, hope and change. 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:41.240 Oh, hope and change. 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:44.720 Yes, but yes we can also a positive message, an 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:48.160 energizing message, something that distinguishes you from what came before. 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:52.479 I understand it's tricky when your predecessor is an incumbent Democrat, 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:55.400 but this, this idea that she was going to be 0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:58.560 the same as what came before, that is not to me. 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:03.800 That is not exciting to a lot of voters. 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:06.480 I don't think that it was exciting to young voters 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:07.040 at all. 0:17:07.680 --> 0:17:15.840 And I think that, you know, again, before right Thesella Beltway, 0:17:16.520 --> 0:17:21.880 you know, folks came in and interjected themselves into her campaign. 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:26.520 The messaging that was coming out was largely around hope 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:30.399 and joy and bringing that back to our politics. And 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:35.800 then by the end, we're arm in arm with Liz Cheney, 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:38.720 so you know what I'm saying. So at the beginning 0:17:39.480 --> 0:17:42.280 I felt like, this is a breath of fresh air. 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:45.800 This is exactly what the kind of energy and attitude 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:50.000 that we need. And by the end it was like, oh, 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:54.960 I'm doing a tour de force with one of the 0:17:55.000 --> 0:18:01.400 biggest legacy political families right who have done so much 0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:05.120 harm to this country. We only agree on one thing, 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:08.880 which is the Constitution. But this is where I'm gonna 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:09.840 put all my energy. 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:11.280 How big? 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:15.119 Like, what could that time Andrew in your mind have 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:16.840 been better spent doing? 0:18:19.240 --> 0:18:21.679 I don't know, is anything else an answer? It's just 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:24.479 like so many things like that, this idea, and some 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:28.000 of it felt like felt like scolding the base, felt 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:34.760 like browbeating the base, like we're gonna ally with moderate Republicans, 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:36.760 which I don't believe in. But like, we're gonna ally 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:39.320 with Republicans and you're gonna like it. We're gonna in 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:41.760 a week before the election, We're gonna send Bill Clinton 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:45.280 to Michigan to say, actually, you're wrong for being passionate 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:50.359 about the genocide and Gaza, Like I don't know if 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:54.520 they could have spent their time, I don't know. I 0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:57.800 feel like there's just there's flaws in the system that 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:01.920 I'm not in this in the democratic system of doing 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:05.399 elections that I'm not well versed enough to speak to. 0:19:05.760 --> 0:19:11.200 I've heard people criticize the whole inherent model of phone 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:16.000 banking and canvassing as something that's impersonal and outdated. Can 0:19:16.040 --> 0:19:18.320 I offer something that can be done in exchange, not 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:22.400 on a broad scale I said before, just like listening 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:23.400 to people. 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:24.360 I feel like. 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:29.920 Democrats have this obsession with data and data driven campaigning, 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:36.200 which data can be useful, but hearing what actual human 0:19:36.280 --> 0:19:40.040 beings have to say and our feeling and thinking is 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:43.480 a lot different than sending someone a poll and having 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:46.560 them fill out some bubbles or talk to some person 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:48.880 on the phone. 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:56.120 It's so utterly disappointing, right, Like I think the win 0:19:56.480 --> 0:20:01.159 that Donald Trump had was not a landslide. It was 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:04.399 not a mandate, regardless of what it is that he 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:08.359 is saying now on his broke down social media platform 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:11.360 or what the real president elect, Elon Musk is saying. 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:13.280 And I want to get to that and your opinions 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:19.000 on him right now and where JD vances on a 0:20:19.040 --> 0:20:23.040 mill cart in someplace. But it wasn't a landslide. So 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:27.800 that means that there were people that could have been persuaded, 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:31.800 right that could have been brought over. And I wonder 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:35.320 in your mind, do you see any which way that 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:38.359 Democrats are moving right now that would lead you to 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:41.040 believe that a change is going to come. 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:46.440 You were just talking the other day about a leadership 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:50.600 election and or you know, I don't know if election 0:20:50.680 --> 0:20:54.360 is the right word, but like democratic leadership and Alexandria 0:20:54.400 --> 0:20:59.919 Ocasio Cortes being passed over, and I think in a bubble, 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:01.840 like whether or not that's the right or wrong choice 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:04.520 in a bubble, to me, that's emblematic of just how 0:21:05.280 --> 0:21:10.199 the last eight years of democratic leadership has been. Like 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:16.680 they don't even give crumbs when Corey Bush gets elected. 0:21:16.800 --> 0:21:19.440 Their reaction isn't to embrace Corey Bush. It's to spend 0:21:19.480 --> 0:21:22.199 ten million dollars or whatever obscene amount of money was 0:21:22.240 --> 0:21:26.840 put into that election to unseat her. And that was 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:32.040 this year. So my unfortunately no, because they are not 0:21:32.080 --> 0:21:35.040 even willing to have what used to be called the 0:21:35.080 --> 0:21:40.000 squad as like they're token four or five representatives anymore. 0:21:40.400 --> 0:21:43.520 They they really don't care about us. They don't care 0:21:43.560 --> 0:21:47.160 about the left. They've decided that people on the left 0:21:47.160 --> 0:21:52.240 in America, progressives, leftists, whatever you call yourself, socialist, communist, anarchist, 0:21:52.280 --> 0:21:55.840 whatever you call yourself, they don't care about you. They 0:21:55.880 --> 0:21:59.399 don't care about us. They care about themselves. They care 0:21:59.440 --> 0:22:01.439 about the wealth, they care about the powerful, they care 0:22:01.440 --> 0:22:03.919 about the CEOs. They care more about shaking hands with 0:22:04.000 --> 0:22:12.080 Republicans than helping you. M M so no, like so no. 0:22:12.480 --> 0:22:14.360 I used to be bright eyed and optimistic. I think 0:22:14.359 --> 0:22:17.240 when we met seven years ago, I was more bright 0:22:17.280 --> 0:22:19.160 eyed and optimistic than I am on this day. 0:22:20.000 --> 0:22:22.360 I mean, hell, I was more bright eyed and optimistic 0:22:23.640 --> 0:22:26.640 as well. I mean, you know, I was coming off 0:22:26.680 --> 0:22:30.960 of the Obama years right, thinking that that was the 0:22:31.040 --> 0:22:35.160 trajectory was only going to go up, that it hadn't 0:22:35.160 --> 0:22:38.200 occurred to me, and that was my naivete that there 0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:41.760 was going to be a backslide, a white lash, as 0:22:41.760 --> 0:22:45.200 there always has been any time that there's been any 0:22:45.560 --> 0:22:51.600 notable progress in this country. And you know, and I 0:22:51.720 --> 0:22:58.680 wasn't prepared. And I wonder this time around, Andrew, as 0:22:58.760 --> 0:23:02.480 we wind down and we see who's really running the show, 0:23:02.640 --> 0:23:05.280 which seems to be Elon Musk, the head of the 0:23:05.280 --> 0:23:11.520 brolagarc I guess like, where are you looking for opportunities 0:23:11.800 --> 0:23:15.440 in these obstacles ahead? Where do you see possibility, if any, 0:23:16.200 --> 0:23:20.680 right in how we're going to be moving forward. 0:23:21.359 --> 0:23:23.120 I am going to lead by saying I don't think 0:23:23.119 --> 0:23:25.639 this is healthy for a left wing movement, but I 0:23:26.480 --> 0:23:29.080 feel that there's others my age and who have my 0:23:29.160 --> 0:23:35.560 inclinations who are taking the same persuasion of divesting. Honestly, 0:23:35.760 --> 0:23:38.320 I voted, I will say that, especially living in Pennsylvania. 0:23:38.320 --> 0:23:45.760 Oh yeah, I voted. But I think I used to 0:23:45.760 --> 0:23:48.760 be a lot more politically active in a lot of 0:23:48.840 --> 0:23:53.280 different ways. I used to care about the political maneuverings 0:23:53.320 --> 0:23:57.040 within Washington, within state government. I used to literally be 0:23:57.280 --> 0:24:02.320 in the streets. I feel like I'm going to be 0:24:02.440 --> 0:24:06.760 divesting from capital pee politics and focusing on the people 0:24:06.760 --> 0:24:09.800 around me, the people who are in my community, keeping 0:24:10.840 --> 0:24:16.000 my community and my loved ones and myself safe because 0:24:16.040 --> 0:24:18.440 like I just like, if they don't care about us, 0:24:18.960 --> 0:24:23.560 you can't make someone who doesn't care about you care. Yeah, 0:24:23.600 --> 0:24:27.120 if we've spent the last eight years, whoever this wei is, 0:24:27.200 --> 0:24:30.520 if we spent the last eight years mouths a gape, 0:24:31.119 --> 0:24:35.720 throats raw, screaming at them, pay attention to us, care 0:24:35.840 --> 0:24:39.720 about us, protect us, fight for us, and their responses 0:24:39.760 --> 0:24:42.280 to stick their fingers in their ears, and you're nean 0:24:42.359 --> 0:24:46.240 er nein or neiner Okay, heard, got it? 0:24:47.280 --> 0:24:47.720 All right? 0:24:48.359 --> 0:24:53.960 What's next? Yeah, I'm going to take care of those 0:24:54.000 --> 0:24:57.639 in my immediate vicinity because that's really all that's in 0:24:57.960 --> 0:25:00.359 my power to do. And the people who who have 0:25:00.600 --> 0:25:04.159 more power than me aren't interested in representing me and 0:25:04.200 --> 0:25:06.200 the people I love and care about, and that makes 0:25:06.200 --> 0:25:06.840 me very sad. 0:25:07.080 --> 0:25:10.960 But yeah, but some you know, sometimes we need to 0:25:11.000 --> 0:25:14.840 go back to the fundamentals, which is what we can control, 0:25:15.359 --> 0:25:19.680 which is strengthening and supporting our own communities and what 0:25:19.720 --> 0:25:23.680 that looks like for us, and you know, and let 0:25:23.840 --> 0:25:25.679 these people are going to do what they're going to do. 0:25:26.640 --> 0:25:26.840 Right. 0:25:26.920 --> 0:25:30.520 And I there was a time I remember on WOKF 0:25:30.600 --> 0:25:32.879 where I would say, and this is back in Donald 0:25:32.920 --> 0:25:35.120 Trump's first term, that things are going to get bloodier 0:25:35.160 --> 0:25:37.040 before they get better, and I would say it all 0:25:37.080 --> 0:25:40.080 the time. And the fact is is that there is 0:25:40.119 --> 0:25:42.640 a lot of pain that is about to happen. There 0:25:42.680 --> 0:25:45.159 is a lot of cruelty that we are going to 0:25:45.200 --> 0:25:46.199