WEBVTT - Biden's Report Card 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.560 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to WIKA F Daily with 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:19.840 Meet your Girl Danielle Moody. Recording from the Brooklyn Bunker, Folks, 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:25.040 I am recording this before the State of the Union. 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:28.960 And you know, at the time of this recording, there 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:32.839 are two Democrats who are going to offer rebuttals to 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:36.239 the President's State of the Union. What's funny about that 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:40.600 is that usually people from your own party don't offer rebuttals, 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:44.600 but we have a member of the Progressive Caucus, a 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:48.840 member of the Congressional Black Caucus offering their rebuttals to 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:52.480 what Biden is going to say. And here's the thing, Um, 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:59.000 I will give fuller and more detail if you're if 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:00.800 you follow me on Twitter and all of those things, 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:03.240 you will have seen that. But here's what I will 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:07.520 say about the State of the Union. I was racking 0:01:07.560 --> 0:01:10.800 my brain because always, you know, the day of the 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:16.039 State of the Union, everyone offers their hot takes, myself included. 0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:19.080 People tweet out them. They'll say the state of the 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:22.600 Union is and then allow their followers in the comments 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:26.120 to fill in the blank. And here's what I tweeted. 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:33.080 Instead not offering, you know, to hear necessarily from other 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:36.920 folks about their thoughts because I'm grappling with my own. 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:39.520 I mean, the point, you know, if we if we 0:01:39.560 --> 0:01:42.919 want to be real friends, the point of the State 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:46.600 of the Union is to offer a kind of report 0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:50.320 card for the American people from that president, to say, 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:52.480 these are the things that we have done, these are 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:55.040 the things that we are working on. And I got 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:59.360 to be honest with you, the State of the Union 0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:02.480 is not fuck be strong. And I really wish that 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:07.480 we had a president who had the courage to stand 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:10.120 up and tell the fucking truth. And I think that 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:13.400 what gets me really pissed off about politics in general 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:16.840 these days. And you know, let's just be real. Politicians 0:02:16.840 --> 0:02:19.280 are notorious for the lies that they tell, for the 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:22.320 hope that they spread, and then you know the concrete 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:25.079 policies that they do not offer, because once they get 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:26.839 into the job, then they tell you that the job 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:29.520 is just too hard for them to get things done 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:31.560 that they told you on the campaign trail that they 0:02:31.560 --> 0:02:34.400 were going to do. Not all politicians are like that, 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:36.840 but a lot of them are. And so here's what 0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:39.320 we know to be true. We know that the Biden 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:44.079 Harris administration took over and essentially are playing janitors right 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:48.480 to the absolute fucking cesspool mess that Donald Trump left behind. 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:50.800 But here's the other thing that we know to be true. 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:57.320 They decided really not to hold the past administration accountable 0:02:57.360 --> 0:03:01.440 for the fucking cesspool mess that they left. Joe Biden 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:07.000 had the opportunity right to choose a US Attorney general 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:11.000 right that had actual teeth, that had an actual spine, 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:13.760 that was going to do what needed to be done, 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:17.080 because that was the conviction, not only just to restore 0:03:17.600 --> 0:03:21.880 our thoughts in institutions right and in systems and our 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:24.760 faith in them, but to show the American people that 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:27.480 when you do wrong by us, regardless of if you 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:30.600 are a regular normal citizen walking on the street or 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:33.120 the president of the fucking United States, that you're going 0:03:33.160 --> 0:03:35.320 to be held accountable for that. So they failed in 0:03:35.360 --> 0:03:38.839 that regard. Right, then they come in and they tell us, yes, 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:41.480 we are going to get vaccines, and yes they did 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:43.280 roll that out, but they rolled it out and they 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:46.119 did a shit job doing it, which is difficult to do. 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:48.680 So let me give you my two be sure difficult 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:52.839 to do when you had the former president politicize right 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:56.720 every aspect of a global health pandemic. So I'm not 0:03:56.800 --> 0:03:58.840 saying that it was an easy lift, but what I'm 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:01.560 saying is that you can't shoot yourself in the foot. 0:04:01.880 --> 0:04:07.160 You're already starting the race behind. And somehow Democrats always 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:10.000 manage to when they get the baton, to throw it 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:12.920 fucking behind them, right, Like that's what they are doing. 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:17.279 And so what I tweeted in my thoughts about the 0:04:17.320 --> 0:04:19.719 state of the Union, this is what I said. I said, 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:24.080 the state of the Union is over four hundred voter suppression, 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:28.480 voter suppression bills. I don't say gay bill in Florida, 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:34.159 anti transgender bills in Texas and nineteen other states, vigilante 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:39.479 anti abortion laws in Texas. Thousands still dying each day 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:44.839 of COVID and unrelenting racism and anti blackness. I mean, folks, 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:48.640 when you think about just the last couple of months 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:51.240 in terms of headlines, like we are in March, right, 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:56.039 So I'm saying, couple of months, Let go to fucking January. January, 0:04:56.440 --> 0:05:01.200 we recognized the one year anniversary of the direction, and 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:05.280 yet we still have active members of Congress who we 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:09.880 know participated in that insurrection, whether by giving floor plans, 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:14.360 giving money, giving access, and they're still there. This President 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:19.000 has said really nothing, really tough talk on oh insurrection 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:21.039 and what it means to be a patriot, but then 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:23.719 gets up at the prayer breakfast and refers to Mitch 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:28.040 McConnell as his good friend, right, who is an honorable man. 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:32.000 So every time that Joe Biden gets a little bit 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:34.880 gets a little bit of gully into him, he fucking 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:39.840 takes ten steps backwards. So I don't know how he's 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:42.400 going to stand up before the American people and tell 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:45.640 us that all is okay. The fucking dow Jones fell 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:50.039 off another motherfucking cliff, right, as we are headed into 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:55.320 day seven of Putin's war in the Ukraine, and to 0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:58.119 boot on top of all that, we are seeing all 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:01.920 of the terrible coverage of people losing their homes and fleeing. 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:05.240 What are we seeing on top of that anti fucking blackness? 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:08.760 So not only not only do you get to black 0:06:08.800 --> 0:06:12.160 person in the Ukraine, whether you are a black American 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:16.400 student right or from an African nation, but what we 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:20.120 are getting reports of, right are people being told all 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:22.839 blacks off the bus, all blacks to the back of 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:25.640 the line. So I ask you, what is this administration 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:29.360 saying to their fellow members of the EU that this 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:32.080 is something that we will not tolerate. That let's not 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:36.000 make matters fucking worse, right, that the people that are 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:40.039 fleeing are deserving of safety just as well as their 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:43.760 white counterparts that are fleeing along fucking side them. Like, 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:46.880 why is it that regardless of where black people in 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:50.120 this diaspora are, they're always told to get to the 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:52.680 back of the bus or better yet, get the fuck off. 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:58.160 You know, it is really difficult for me to go 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:01.200 along with the get along right now, which is the 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:05.479 constant refrain that we need to just unite as Democrats 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:10.200 behind our president. And here's the thing, folks, I'm united 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:16.200 behind people, right, not a person, but people who recognize 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:18.680 how fucked up this country is and is going to 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:21.160 actually call it out. And I don't know who that is, 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:25.120 but it's not Joe Biden, right. Joe Biden, if folks remember, 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:29.120 was not my first, second, third, or fourth choice for president. 0:07:29.200 --> 0:07:32.960 He was my fifth. I swallowed that pill because I 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:36.880 figured that we needed a stabilizing figure. But when Joe 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:41.400 Biden came in, I honestly thought that the worst was 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:44.800 behind us. And that was me being naive, right, all 0:07:44.840 --> 0:07:47.240 of us being naive, thinking that the only work that 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:49.680 we had to do was to get rid of Donald 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:53.240 Trump and then we could begin the slow progression back 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:57.000 to normal, because the assumption that I made was that 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:03.440 our democracy was going to be reinforced by serious guardrails, 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:08.560 right like a new voting rights bill, right like fortifying 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:11.840 Roe v. Wade, which, by the way, on Monday, Joe 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:16.000 fucking Mansion voted against us even having debate on it, 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:20.720 and was the sole Democrat decide with Republicans. So people 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:23.640 keep saying like, oh, we need Joe Mansion. Tell me 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:28.480 what for, because I've never seen more of a Republican 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:32.880 than that man. You're voting against women having the ability 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:37.040 to get the reproductive healthcare services that they need, knowing 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:41.080 good goddamn well that Republicans set in the Supreme Court 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:44.440 by June will strip it away, and you don't even 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:47.880 want to have fucking debate on that. And instead of 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:51.440 this president opening the doors to the White House to 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:56.200 try and beg and plead with Cinema and with fucking Mansion, 0:08:56.679 --> 0:09:00.840 maybe you should have used your platform, your time, your 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:05.040 air time, to be calling these motherfuckers out. There are 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:10.080 times in our political lives where you have to call 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:13.480 people out and then decide who you are actually calling in. 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:16.200 Joe Mansion is not the one to call in. Joe 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:20.720 Mansion and Kirsten Cinema's records are bullshit, right when you 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:23.840 hold them against the rest of the Democratic Party. But 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:26.760 of course what we have is that instead of calling 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:30.760 out the white people who are obstructionists to our progress, 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:35.920 what this Democratic Party is doing already eight months ahead 0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:39.720 of midtime at midterms is calling out the progressives who 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:43.720 have been carrying the water for Biden's agenda. This is 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:49.160 why you have rashided to live giving a response tonight. Now, again, 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:51.920 this is being recorded before, so I don't know what 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:56.680 she's going to say, but my assumption, my assumption is 0:09:56.679 --> 0:10:00.200 that she's going to talk about how the progressive in 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:03.640 the House had been doing the most, passing the most bills, 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:05.840 only for them to go to the Senate and to die, 0:10:06.240 --> 0:10:09.800 only for the senators like Joe Mansion and Kursten Cinema 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:14.280 to be negotiating on our fucking backs. Right, So I 0:10:14.400 --> 0:10:17.720 hope that one of them tells the fucking truth tonight 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:21.760 in terms of what is happening in America, Like you know, 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:29.280 Here's here's a little anecdotal thing. Right. The reality, right, 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:36.160 it is this, we have an entire party that bet 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:42.080 everything on following the science right and saying that we're 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:45.160 going to follow the science with COVID, whatever the doctors say, 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:47.959 whatever the scientists say, We're going to do that. And 0:10:48.000 --> 0:10:53.000 then as the calendar year changed, right, so did everybody's 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:58.679 fucking tune. My mother right, who sat by right, watched 0:10:58.720 --> 0:11:01.920 every press conference, didn't take our eyes off at MSNBC 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:06.800 says I'm no longer listening to the CDC or the president, right, Like, 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:10.040 I'm gonna mind my own damn business and wear my 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:12.800 mask and wash my hands and do what I need 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:16.760 to do to keep myself safe. Later in the show, today, 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:21.160 I will speak with doctor Cameron Webb, who is returning 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:24.120 guests to woke f and is a senior White House 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:28.680 policy adviser for COVID equity, and I will ask him, so, 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:30.880 what do you say to the people that for the 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:35.160 past thirteen months of this administration, but the past two 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:38.320 plus years have been doing the quote unquote right thing, 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:42.360 and now the CDC is telling them take your masks off, right, 0:11:42.720 --> 0:11:46.280 Like we don't need to show vaccination cards, everything is down. 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:49.960 All is well, so you will listen to what doctor 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:55.840 Cameron Webb says. Coming up next, our friend, doctor Jonathan Metzel, 0:11:57.000 --> 0:12:01.960 is going to be testifying today in front of the 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:06.200 committee in the House to talk about the mental health 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:10.000 issues that we are not addressing as it pertains to 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:13.840 the collective trauma that we have experienced over the past 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:17.880 two years. How suicides are through the roof, not just 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:21.440 for teens, but for everyone across the board, and what 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:26.319 are we doing about that? Folks. You know, the state 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:29.679 of our union, as I said, is not strong. Our 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:36.520 union is actually hobbling on. You know, I don't even 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:38.240 know if it was a stool, it'd be a three 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:43.800 legged stool, right, It is hobbling. We are hollowed out, 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:48.680 and there is no signs of anyone recognizing how important, 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:52.520 how urgent this time is. If Joe Biden stands before 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:55.600 the American people and says all is well and wants 0:12:55.600 --> 0:13:00.120 to talk to me about the economy, I'm gonna fucking scream. 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:04.480 I'm gonna fucking scream instead of talking about the fascist 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:09.560 war that Republicans are waging in our classrooms right in 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:15.120 our courts, and talking about that don't give me rose 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:17.600 colored glasses when when I take them off, all I 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:21.440 see is a nightmare. The American people deserve the truth 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:25.439 after all that we've been through. We deserve the truth, 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:29.320 and we deserve a leader that has enough faith in 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:33.120 us to not bullshit us. And I'm just wondering who 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:37.400 that is going to be. Coming up next, dear friends, 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:41.960 my conversation with our friend and in house doctor, doctor 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:50.480 Jonathan Metzel and doctor Cameron Webb. Folks, I am very 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:54.920 happy to bring it to you today, our friend, doctor 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:59.040 Jonathan Metzel in house, a doctor who is standing outside 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:02.720 of an airport. That's how dedicated he is to woke 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:05.280 a f because he's on his way to Washington, DC 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:10.480 to testify before Congress. M Jonathan, thank you so much 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:13.040 for making the time before you get on air, before 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:15.800 you get in the air, tell us about the testimony 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:20.440 that you're going to give tomorrow and why it's so important. Well, 0:14:20.440 --> 0:14:22.560 thank you. It's of course I would never miss. This 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:25.960 is our weekly therapy, so I would never miss this conversation. 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:29.560 I've seen outside the Nashville airport. There's a gentleman next 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:32.440 to me smoking a really nice looking stogie. He's saying hi, 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:37.760 everybody there he is so so everything is everything is great. 0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:42.040 It's nice here, but but so so we're having a 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:45.960 big hearing tomorrow for the Houseways and Means Committee, which 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:49.800 will be today for when this broadcastings, and the theme 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:52.440 is they're doing a two part series on mental health 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:56.160 and mental illness in America during the pandemic, and the 0:14:56.160 --> 0:15:00.240 theme tomorrow is addiction, suicide, and depression and how those 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:03.080 have been going up really over the past three years, 0:15:03.200 --> 0:15:07.640 not surprisingly. And so my testimony really will be about 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:10.160 you know, I'm a psychiatrist, right, so they want to 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:11.680 know what to do about it. But I mean, the 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:14.120 message I'm going to say is that we should just 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:17.520 step back and think about wide mental illness is important 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:20.280 in this moment anyway, which is not just about oh, 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:23.400 here's a circumscribed group of people who have mental illness 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:25.800 and there's them and there's us, which is maybe what 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:29.240 we used to think. But that the pandemic and that 0:15:30.000 --> 0:15:33.080 you know, reckoning with racism we've had and so many 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:35.480 of the other moments of our people we've had I 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:37.800 have made us really realized that we're all vulnerable as 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:40.880 a species in a way that we're all, we're all 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:42.920 a little bit or a lot mentally old right now, 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:47.040 and so addressing the crisis of mental illness is really 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:49.200 a way of thinking about how we can repair our 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:53.720 country right now, and that in addition to individual treatments, 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:56.640 we really need to be thinking like what structural ways 0:15:56.680 --> 0:15:59.640 can we come together to heal during I mean, oh 0:15:59.680 --> 0:16:02.480 my god, a moment, it's even more stressful. I mean 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:04.520 every week they just turned up the volume on us. 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:07.680 And so, I mean last week was nothing compared to 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:11.600 even today. And so I think the hearing will be 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:15.040 what can we do to heal? And what is mental 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:17.320 health at a time like this? You know, one of 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:19.360 the things that we've been talking about, and I've been 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:21.520 so grateful for you, and I don't I think that 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:25.040 it has been missing from the mainstream media discourse is 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:28.480 about mental health, that those people who were already had 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:32.240 mental health issues, that how they had been exacerbated during 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:35.080 this time, how depression and anxiety and all of these 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:38.200 things had been exacerbated. But then for those people, and 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:42.120 I'm myself included, who have you know, not have not 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:44.680 been medicated, but have been in therapy for five years. 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:48.080 My own therapist has told me that you know that 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:51.760 her numbers in terms of her clients that she's seeing 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:54.960 has risen over this time. What do you think is 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:57.960 the thing that we are missing as a collective. And 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:00.960 I like the fact that you said that us versus them, like, oh, 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:03.480 it's these people over there that have a problem as 0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:08.080 opposed to something that is rising nationwide. Well, that's a 0:17:08.080 --> 0:17:09.879 great question. That's really at the heart of all of this, 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:12.320 I think. I mean, first of all, we should recognize 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:16.200 that the pandemic and everything that's happened over the past 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:20.280 couple of years have been a stress accelerator on par 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:26.439 with nothing we've really ever seen. I mean, social isolation, despair, anxiety, 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:32.439 fear of death, addiction, all these things, you know, they 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:34.959 all I mean, if you look at psychiatric textbooks from 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:38.040 before the pandemic, people will say, you know, don't spend 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:41.040 time by yourself, and fear of you know, fear of 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:44.800 immortality is a link to anxiety and PTSD like and 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:46.679 in a way every you can just go through the 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:50.560 checklist of every stressor for every psychiatric illness and they're 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:53.000 just floating in the air. And so I think part 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:54.879 of the issue is for me, we haven't had a 0:17:55.000 --> 0:17:57.400 national reckoning, which is what it meant to what it's 0:17:57.440 --> 0:17:59.600 meant to go through a pandemic as a country. I mean, 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:03.200 we all gone through something really really deep and really stressful, 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:06.280 and instead of having some kind of conversation about trying 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:09.080 to understand other people's experience, everybody feels like they've gone 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:13.400 through it alone or with their tribe. And so part 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:16.080 of what I'm advocating for is actually having a national 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:20.160 referendum on what mental health means at a time like this, 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:22.840 because we really haven't had that. And if you think 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:27.280 about it, I mean, we haven't had any kind of 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:30.520 we haven't had any kind of town hall at least, 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:32.960 you know, not even with the you know, with the present, 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:35.680 but we haven't had a town hall, let's say, with 0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:38.880 you know, a bunch of doctors like yourself, to talk 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:42.159 about the complexities of this moment, to talk about how 0:18:42.400 --> 0:18:45.960 even you know, the anxiety that many of us feel 0:18:46.240 --> 0:18:49.600 with the new regulations that are just being rolled out, 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:52.760 particularly in New York, right where you and I have been, 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:56.399 and they are saying, oh, well, we don't need vaccination cards, 0:18:56.480 --> 0:18:58.560 we don't need masks, we don't need this, and we 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:00.920 don't need that and I don't think that we're talking 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:04.639 about the effects of what it was a to adapt 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:07.200 to the measures that were put in place to supposedly, 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:10.720 you know, uplift the safety of the public, but then 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:14.439 now being removed or how we flip flop back and forth. 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:17.280 And the stress is that that's how that has occurred 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:21.000 there and so much of that is internalized. Also, I 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:25.199 think that's part of the point that everybody feels this uncertainty, anger, 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:27.960 um and and we kind of internalize it and then 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:30.679 we lash out or something. Just the intensity of our 0:19:30.720 --> 0:19:35.000 emotions are so are so isolating, and there's there's so 0:19:35.200 --> 0:19:38.520 um you know, there's it's so psychological, but there's no 0:19:38.720 --> 0:19:41.000 there's no way of talking about it. It's not just 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:45.760 feeling anger, feeling despair and then and then either internalizing 0:19:46.000 --> 0:19:50.520 through addiction or despair or externalizing um by by anger 0:19:50.600 --> 0:19:53.440 or lashing out. I'm because the nice man on, the 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:57.240 nice man on one of the one of the things 0:19:57.320 --> 0:19:59.960 Jonathan two that has been coming up. And I don't 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.400 if this is again something that you've talked about, um, 0:20:03.840 --> 0:20:07.480 you know, with your students in different spaces and places 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:10.200 that they're going to be in. But work is changing 0:20:10.359 --> 0:20:15.480 right the way that your bosses and deal with mental health. 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:17.639 There are a lot more people and I don't know 0:20:17.680 --> 0:20:21.920 if that's by virtue of you know, gen Z and millennials, 0:20:21.960 --> 0:20:27.400 but really transforming how work views mental health. People need 0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:30.760 are asking for mental health days and not being met 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:34.119 with you know, what is that or what you know? 0:20:34.160 --> 0:20:36.160 Why do you need it? Or what have you like 0:20:36.240 --> 0:20:39.520 it's being given? So can you talk a little bit 0:20:39.560 --> 0:20:43.760 about how those shifts are happening that you may also 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:48.720 have noticed as it pertains to work and mental health. Well, 0:20:48.800 --> 0:20:51.640 you know me, I'm a structuralist, right, So the main 0:20:51.720 --> 0:20:53.640 point I'm going to make when I speak at Congress 0:20:53.680 --> 0:20:57.359 tomorrow is that we have to create structures that accommodate 0:20:58.600 --> 0:21:00.879 the kinds of anxiety that we're experience right now, and 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:03.800 also build bridges between people so that people feel like 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:06.720 they're in this together. And so, um, you know what 0:21:07.119 --> 0:21:09.679 I was saying is, in addition to individual treatment, we 0:21:09.720 --> 0:21:11.679 need to make therapy more accessible, we need to make 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:14.800 addiction treatment more accessible, and we need more money for 0:21:14.960 --> 0:21:17.360 crisis hotlines and see US hot hotlines. All those things 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:19.679 are true, but at the same time, we also have 0:21:19.720 --> 0:21:22.560 to think about what kind of structures. Can we build 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:26.479 work structures, health structures that can make people feel like 0:21:26.520 --> 0:21:28.280 they're part of a team and not going out and 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:30.359 a loan which I think has been such an important 0:21:30.760 --> 0:21:33.959 and really devastating aspect here, which is not just the 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:36.160 mental health crisis, but how it's tied to a crisis 0:21:36.160 --> 0:21:41.480 of isolation and so um, you know the Also I 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:44.040 can tweet out because it'll the public record tomorrow my 0:21:44.080 --> 0:21:47.760 written testimony, but I but I basically show I basically 0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:53.479 show how um we've you know, we have the I mean, 0:21:53.720 --> 0:21:56.080 like I'll give you one example, the Affordable Care Act. 0:21:56.640 --> 0:21:59.560 When people got health insurance in their neighborhoods, it didn't 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:03.080 just affect their own access to healthcare, they also felt 0:22:03.160 --> 0:22:06.639 much more connected to civic engagement to their neighbors. That 0:22:06.720 --> 0:22:09.720 had all of these effects of people feeling like they 0:22:09.720 --> 0:22:11.919 were they were had a safety net that connected them 0:22:11.960 --> 0:22:14.760 to other people and healthcare. Health in terrances is one 0:22:14.800 --> 0:22:18.080 example of the kinds of the different kinds of social 0:22:18.119 --> 0:22:22.000 infrastructure we can build that again not only accommodate mental 0:22:22.000 --> 0:22:27.440 home illness symptoms, but also think about, you know, think 0:22:27.480 --> 0:22:30.720 about how how people are, how people are connected and 0:22:30.800 --> 0:22:34.600 can feel supported Yeah, I think that that's right, and 0:22:34.640 --> 0:22:37.080 I think that it's important. I mean, I'm grateful for 0:22:37.119 --> 0:22:40.040 the fact that this hearing is even happening, right, that 0:22:40.280 --> 0:22:43.639 these numbers are not being overlooked. We've we've talked about 0:22:43.640 --> 0:22:46.679 them on here, you know, with teens and the and 0:22:46.800 --> 0:22:50.159 the anxiety and the stresses and attempted suicides being at 0:22:50.200 --> 0:22:52.760 an all time high. You know, we've talked about and 0:22:52.800 --> 0:22:55.680 have seen, you know, on headlines and in the news 0:22:55.720 --> 0:22:58.640 that like a lot has changed, right, And I think 0:22:58.680 --> 0:23:01.480 that there is this to go back to normal, but 0:23:01.560 --> 0:23:04.920 not but recognizing that, you know, wouldn't you say, Jonathan, 0:23:04.960 --> 0:23:08.080 that we are all living through collective trauma and so 0:23:08.119 --> 0:23:11.560 how do you go back to quote unquote normal when 0:23:12.000 --> 0:23:15.840 this traumas has been a part of our lives for 0:23:15.920 --> 0:23:20.760 the last three years. Yeah, I mean, and it's and 0:23:20.840 --> 0:23:23.040 the trauma is leading. I mean, just think about I 0:23:23.600 --> 0:23:26.359 you know, I think about how different you are, I 0:23:26.400 --> 0:23:29.680 am than we were three years ago. Just the thought 0:23:29.720 --> 0:23:32.880 that we could catch an airborne pathogen and get really sick, 0:23:32.960 --> 0:23:34.800 or that somebody close to us could do it. I mean, 0:23:34.840 --> 0:23:37.439 you're living and I just keep thinking, like like the 0:23:37.520 --> 0:23:40.639 early studies of post traumatic stress disorder. For example, they 0:23:40.680 --> 0:23:45.520 would study airline fighter pilots in Vietnam and the idea 0:23:45.640 --> 0:23:47.840 was basically, if you if you thought you were going 0:23:47.880 --> 0:23:50.239 to die by flying sorties for ten hours, you had 0:23:50.240 --> 0:23:52.840 a ten percent chance of gating PTSC, and if you 0:23:52.960 --> 0:23:55.159 flew forty hours, you had a forty percent chance of 0:23:55.160 --> 0:23:58.600 getting PTSC. And so basically the assumption was if you 0:23:58.680 --> 0:24:01.439 ever thought your mortality is at risk, that that was 0:24:01.480 --> 0:24:04.760 a hyper stress event that would lead to a sense 0:24:04.840 --> 0:24:07.440