Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to Okay EPP Daily with
Speaker 1: me your girl, Danielle Moody, recording from my quarantine bunker
Speaker 1: where I still have COVID. Folks. I'm going to start
Speaker 1: out today with saying that this is my first full
Speaker 1: fledged recording since contracting COVID, and so bear with me.
Speaker 1: We will get through this together. I want to start
Speaker 1: off today with telling you a little bit about, you know,
Speaker 1: my initial experience with contracting COVID. As I mentioned yesterday,
Speaker 1: you know, there is still this lingering feeling of being
Speaker 1: a failure that I have because you know, when you
Speaker 1: do a show where you're trying to inform people on
Speaker 1: how to stay safe, how to stay sane, how to
Speaker 1: stay involved and connected, I feel a responsibility to not
Speaker 1: only tell you about what my opinions on what to
Speaker 1: do in order to live a full, complete, you know, life,
Speaker 1: and also to be a full and complete participant in
Speaker 1: our democracy. And I feel a responsibility to model that behavior.
Speaker 1: And so I toiled really hard for a while with
Speaker 1: how I was going to bring the news to all
Speaker 1: of you, how I was going to break the news
Speaker 1: to all of you that I had contracted COVID after
Speaker 1: two years of telling, you know, sharing doctor Jonathan Metzel's insights,
Speaker 1: sharing you know, insights from other guests, bringing on doctor Fauci,
Speaker 1: bring on other doctors to talk about how to keep
Speaker 1: ourselves safe and sane during this time, and then to
Speaker 1: turn around and be like, oh, by the way, I
Speaker 1: got the thing that I was trying to protect all
Speaker 1: of you from getting, And look, I get it. I
Speaker 1: know that it is highly transmissible. I know that pretty
Speaker 1: much at the stage that we are in going into
Speaker 1: year three, headed into year three in a couple of
Speaker 1: months with this virus, that it's a feat that I
Speaker 1: haven't contracted it before now, and that you know, it
Speaker 1: isn't a moral failing. It is the reality that when
Speaker 1: we had the opportunity to end COVID, because of our politics,
Speaker 1: because of this divide in our country, we didn't write.
Speaker 1: You had some people that believed in science and doctors
Speaker 1: and vaccines, and then others that were calling in bomb
Speaker 1: threats to hospitals and threatening nurses and epidemiologists. We're living
Speaker 1: and twisted and distorted times. And so I say all
Speaker 1: that because I wanted to give some insight into how
Speaker 1: I've been feeling while I've been isolating for the last
Speaker 1: ten days. And you know, when you are alone, and
Speaker 1: like I said yesterday, I appreciate technology, thank God, because
Speaker 1: I don't know what I would have done without it.
Speaker 1: But when you are alone, you're alone with your thoughts,
Speaker 1: and you think about a lot of things and what
Speaker 1: you could have done differently and what you will do differently.
Speaker 1: And the fact of the matter is that COVID is
Speaker 1: not a moral failing. If you contract it, it is
Speaker 1: now essentially going to be like how we contract the
Speaker 1: flu and the chicken pox, and God forbid anything else
Speaker 1: outside of that that pops up in this world these days.
Speaker 1: But what I will continue to say is, you know,
Speaker 1: to be mindful. I didn't just throw up my hands
Speaker 1: and say, well, it's everywhere, so now I don't care.
Speaker 1: It was. You know, I was out an outdoor family event,
Speaker 1: and you know, me and another good friend of mine
Speaker 1: were the only two people who ended up walking away
Speaker 1: with like actual symptoms. That doesn't mean that other folks
Speaker 1: didn't contracted. It just means that maybe they don't know
Speaker 1: because they were asymptomatic. Thankfully, my symptoms have been mild,
Speaker 1: but I do get tired when I am talking a lot.
Speaker 1: I do find myself getting winded, and you know, I've
Speaker 1: had a cough and congestion like everybody else has had,
Speaker 1: but thankfully no fever, Thankfully no brain fog, and you know,
Speaker 1: thankful for science and doctors and vaccines. That's all I
Speaker 1: kept thinking about. You know, I was like on I
Speaker 1: think it was the second day that I was in isolation.
Speaker 1: I was laying on my couch behind me, and I
Speaker 1: was just you know, I had been in my feelings
Speaker 1: and one of my best friends was just like, Danielle,
Speaker 1: I need you to concentrate and like, find some gratitude,
Speaker 1: find some things that you were grateful for. This is
Speaker 1: not like the end all be all, like you're acting
Speaker 1: as if, like, you know, the world is crashing in
Speaker 1: on you. I mean it is right when we're talking
Speaker 1: about like the world, but you know, my world. She
Speaker 1: was being specific to pull me out of my bullshit
Speaker 1: and my nonsense, and so I did. I was laying
Speaker 1: there and I started to think about what are the
Speaker 1: things that I'm grateful for. I'm grateful for fucking vaccines.
Speaker 1: You know, this virus that is now swimming inside of
Speaker 1: me and will I guess, you know, as doctor Jonathan
Speaker 1: Metel has said, We'll live inside of us for God
Speaker 1: knows how long isn't killing me. I'm not in a hospital,
Speaker 1: I'm not on a ventilator, and the only thing that
Speaker 1: separates me from you know what is it now the
Speaker 1: million plus people that have lost their lives to COVID
Speaker 1: is the shots that I got in my arm and
Speaker 1: the booster. Right, I was thinking back to my God,
Speaker 1: thank God that I got this in twenty twenty two
Speaker 1: and not in twenty twenty when we were all rolling
Speaker 1: the dice, when we were washing cardboard, right, because we
Speaker 1: didn't know how long this virus that we had never
Speaker 1: heard of existed on surfaces where you know, we were
Speaker 1: quarantine inside our homes that afraid that each sniffle or
Speaker 1: cough was going to mean the end of our lives.
Speaker 1: How far we have come into plus years of living
Speaker 1: with this pandemic, and the thank God for those that
Speaker 1: toiled away and had been working on mRNA, you know,
Speaker 1: vaccines before this virus struck, because they knew the potential
Speaker 1: of what would be coming. You know, That's the faith
Speaker 1: that I have in science and in doctors and analysts
Speaker 1: and researchers. Right, health practitioners that have been, you know,
Speaker 1: toiling away in what has become a thankless and in
Speaker 1: some cases dangerous, fucking profession to try and keep the
Speaker 1: rest of us safe. And I think, you know, my God,
Speaker 1: that I wasn't crossing my fingers and toes and praying
Speaker 1: that like that I wasn't going to die. You know,
Speaker 1: I explained to all of you back in twenty twenty
Speaker 1: that I did lose my step grandmother, who you know,
Speaker 1: was a vibrant, seventy something year old woman who contracted
Speaker 1: COVID and within three weeks she had left us within
Speaker 1: you know, a few days of having developed symptoms, had
Speaker 1: a fever that wouldn't quit, that was over a hundred degrees,
Speaker 1: and rushed to the hospital, tried valiantly to stay off
Speaker 1: of a ventilator because as a former health worker herself,
Speaker 1: she knew where that was going to lead. And then
Speaker 1: in a few weeks was gone. She didn't get the
Speaker 1: opportunity to get the shots in her arm. She didn't
Speaker 1: get the opportunity to you know, be a beneficiary of
Speaker 1: science and knowledge and research. And so, you know, as
Speaker 1: I laid on the couch and I was thinking about that,
Speaker 1: and thankfully that my friend had told me, you know,
Speaker 1: to stop feeling sorry for myself. That I started to,
Speaker 1: you know, gain perspective. And so I just say to
Speaker 1: all of you, sometimes we are just so in our
Speaker 1: own ships, so in our own stuff, that it is
Speaker 1: really difficult to kind of climb out of it. And
Speaker 1: that's why it is important to have community, family, friends,
Speaker 1: people who care about us, who can see us spiraling
Speaker 1: and struggling and say, hey, I need you to take
Speaker 1: a breath. I need you to take a minute. I
Speaker 1: need you to focus on the good things that are
Speaker 1: in front of you right now. I need you to
Speaker 1: realize that like, yes, you may physically be alone in
Speaker 1: your apartment, but you can be on FaceTime in a
Speaker 1: blink of an eye with any number of people who
Speaker 1: will be happy to sit on the phone with you,
Speaker 1: so that you are not feeling alone and feeling down.
Speaker 1: And I say that, you know, because we talk a
Speaker 1: lot on woke f about mental health and emotional health
Speaker 1: and wellness. And you know, as the statistics which I
Speaker 1: mentioned yesterday too are coming out that are talking about,
Speaker 1: you know, the well being of our children in this
Speaker 1: country not being so fucking great. Right that we've talked about,
Speaker 1: you know, the ambient stress that is just running consistently
Speaker 1: in our heads. We've talked about languishing, that feeling that
Speaker 1: isn't quite depression but isn't real happiness and is somewhere
Speaker 1: in between. We've talked about the fact that people are
Speaker 1: being heavily medicated for their their feelings of despair. You know,
Speaker 1: yesterday was scrolling through Instagram and I came across this
Speaker 1: story of this, you know, young rapper, young black man
Speaker 1: and his girlfriend who at I think she maybe thirty two,
Speaker 1: just recently committed suicide. She was an influencer on social media,
Speaker 1: and he shared with the world on his Instagram page
Speaker 1: her message, her last message to him. And I got
Speaker 1: to tell you that when I got to the end
Speaker 1: of it, I was in tears because the pain that
Speaker 1: this young woman was feeling, the loneliness, the grief, the
Speaker 1: feeling that she just did not belong in this world
Speaker 1: and no longer wanted to pretend. She said, so many
Speaker 1: people are suffering alone, and I just want us all
Speaker 1: to be mindful that having gratitude or quote unquote being
Speaker 1: happy isn't something that just happens right. It isn't happiness
Speaker 1: doesn't fall in our laps. It's something that nowadays, in particular,
Speaker 1: we just really need to be intentional about our happiness,
Speaker 1: be mindful of our mental and emotional well being, and
Speaker 1: if we're finding ourselves in moments of spiraling and despair,
Speaker 1: to reach out and if you have no one around
Speaker 1: you to reach out to, to reach out to. Hotlines.
Speaker 1: Organizations are set up out there so that we don't
Speaker 1: feel alone, that there is a voice on the other
Speaker 1: end of our phone. And so it was just something
Speaker 1: that I have been thinking about and wanting to share
Speaker 1: that I understand when people were talking about the real
Speaker 1: loneliness that quarantine and COVID were kind of producing during
Speaker 1: this time where when I was in you know, in
Speaker 1: the shutdown, I wasn't alone. I was with my family.
Speaker 1: And I tell you that if I had been alone
Speaker 1: in this apartment, I probably would have gone mad. Because
Speaker 1: it's only been ten days that I have been in here,
Speaker 1: and you know, and I'm still able to put on
Speaker 1: a mask and go for a walk, and you know,
Speaker 1: and have this time where I am physically still around
Speaker 1: people while remaining safe and distanced from them. So I
Speaker 1: just say to folks, the times are really hard, they
Speaker 1: show no signs of getting any better, and so please,
Speaker 1: you know, reach out to people and if you have
Speaker 1: no you know, community, go to hotlines, go to organizations,
Speaker 1: and recognize that there are people that are there and
Speaker 1: trained to to help you. So that's my offering and
Speaker 1: my reflection on COVID. Hey, I'm David. Plots of Slights.
Speaker 1: Political Gabfest. As another election season accelerates, it can be
Speaker 1: tricky to sort through all the noise and the news.
Speaker 1: Each week on The Gapfest, John Dickerson, Emily Bathlon and
Speaker 1: I decipher the headlines, break down the races, and tell
Speaker 1: you what issues really matter. We do not always agree.
Speaker 1: We definitely do not always agree, but we always deliver
Speaker 1: thoughtful debate and we always have a good time. So
Speaker 1: subscribe to Slate's Political Gapfest, new episodes every Thursday. Get
Speaker 1: up behind the scenes look at Comedy Central's The Daily
Speaker 1: Show on Beyond the Scenes, an original podcast from the
Speaker 1: Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Every week, host Roy Wood
Speaker 1: Junior goes deeper with the notable guests and experts from
Speaker 1: the Emmy Award winning series. Together, they use comedy to
Speaker 1: tackle current topics from gent location to gun laws. And
Speaker 1: take a closer look at how and why these topics matter.
Speaker 1: Listen to Beyond the Scenes from the Daily Show with
Speaker 1: Trevor Noah on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcast, new episodes every Tuesday, switching gears.
Speaker 1: With all this time that I've had on my hands,
Speaker 1: I have finally gotten back into writing, and I wrote
Speaker 1: a piece recently that I want to share with all
Speaker 1: of you because we are god damn sixty some odd
Speaker 1: days away from midterm elections, and I got to tell
Speaker 1: you that the news that has been coming out with
Speaker 1: regard to the changes that have been happening at CNN,
Speaker 1: news reports coming out about the owner of Politico who
Speaker 1: was calling colleagues over to pray for Donald Trump on
Speaker 1: election night, CNN has decided to throw out their seasoned
Speaker 1: journalists and bring on a bunch of Trumpers because they
Speaker 1: want to be fucking quote unquote neutral. And what that
Speaker 1: signals to me, as I'm certain to all of you,
Speaker 1: is that the media hasn't learned a fucking thing. They
Speaker 1: haven't learned Dick from twenty sixteen. They haven't learned a
Speaker 1: fucking thing from twenty twenty, and they are going to
Speaker 1: all but fucking solidify the end of our democracy with
Speaker 1: their degreed, their fucking greed, the desire for ratings and
Speaker 1: more money and ads right at the expense of telling
Speaker 1: the American people the truth. So I wrote a piece
Speaker 1: that is up at Medium right now. I've shared it
Speaker 1: on both my Instagram and on Twitter, and it is
Speaker 1: entitled the Fourth Estate is Crumbling. If not for the
Speaker 1: Press Center, Joe McCarthy's desire to purge UnAmericans would have succeeded.
Speaker 1: Nixon's treachery wouldn't have been revealed. So I want to
Speaker 1: share this piece with all of you today and in
Speaker 1: hopes that you will head over to medium dot com,
Speaker 1: find it, and share it with at least one other person,
Speaker 1: because it is important for us that the more woke
Speaker 1: and conscious that we become, that we bring other people
Speaker 1: along with us and make sure that they are aware
Speaker 1: that there are forces at play that are trying to
Speaker 1: make certain that you don't wake up, that you get
Speaker 1: as much misinformation as possible, and without a strong, free,
Speaker 1: independent press, our democracy is fucked. So here I go.
Speaker 1: Over the last six years, American politics has undergo gone
Speaker 1: a transformation unlike anything we have seen in the modern era.
Speaker 1: To put this into context, consider that for over two
Speaker 1: hundred and forty years, America has been able to sustain
Speaker 1: its political designation as the world's foremost democracy. Through a
Speaker 1: civil war, two World Wars, the Cold War, and too
Speaker 1: many lesser wars in between, this nation has been able
Speaker 1: to maintain the illusion of democracy, a beacon, a dream
Speaker 1: of freedom worth risking life and limb to attain. At
Speaker 1: the age of five years old, Americans begin to pledge
Speaker 1: allegiance to the flag, to salute the red, white, and blue,
Speaker 1: and recite our obedience and with it our solemn vow
Speaker 1: to uphold principles of being one nation under God, indivisible
Speaker 1: with liberty and justice for all. That is, of course,
Speaker 1: until January sixth, twenty twenty one, when we saw that
Speaker 1: very same flag, the one that we had seen planted
Speaker 1: on the moon and on fields of battle, used as
Speaker 1: a weapon to break into the Capitol building as an
Speaker 1: attempt to overthrow the very government and country citizens swore
Speaker 1: to protect. As the capital was engulfed in a plume
Speaker 1: of smoke, being defaced by a group of white domestic
Speaker 1: terrorists that were weaponized by their commander in chief. The
Speaker 1: eyes of countless journalists dispatched to cover one of America's
Speaker 1: darkest days since the Civil War revealed the absolute horror
Speaker 1: millions of Americans felt that day. We knew, as we
Speaker 1: were watching this siege unfold, that history was indeed in
Speaker 1: the making. It would be the responsibility of the Fourth
Speaker 1: Estate to place into words the utter mayhem and disgrace
Speaker 1: that besieged our capital. Since the beginning of this nation,
Speaker 1: a free and unencumbered press has been essential to holding
Speaker 1: elected officials accountable for their actions and keeping the citizenury informed.
Speaker 1: A free press is the essential marker and distinction that
Speaker 1: separates the world's democracies from dictatorships and authoritarian regimes. And yet,
Speaker 1: over the course of the last six years, not only
Speaker 1: have we watched our nation grapple with a global health
Speaker 1: pandemic whose catastrophic grip could have been avoided, and a
Speaker 1: racial uprising, but we have also witnessed one of the
Speaker 1: country's major political parties profess their allegiance not to the
Speaker 1: flag or the nation, but instead a man. If America
Speaker 1: were any other country, the free press would be unrelenting
Speaker 1: in its coverage of a nation on the brink, particularly
Speaker 1: when for the first time in its history. The International
Speaker 1: Ideas Global State of Democracy Report labeled the United States,
Speaker 1: and this was back in twenty twenty one, a backsliding democracy.
Speaker 1: Many knew the direction that this country would head towards
Speaker 1: when the Republican Party anointed Donald J. Trump as its leader,
Speaker 1: a man known all too well for his greed, his racism,
Speaker 1: and his lies. However, what makes good TV turns out
Speaker 1: doesn't translate to making good government or a secure democracy. Quote.
Speaker 1: While journalism plays various roles in society, perhaps its most
Speaker 1: important is how it serves as a bridge of information
Speaker 1: from the government to the common citizen, wrote Nathan to
Speaker 1: Sando in the ut Daily Beacon. This bridge, however, is
Speaker 1: now under assault. Donald J. Trump became president in large
Speaker 1: part because of the willful ignorance of the free press
Speaker 1: to the danger he presented to the republic. While media
Speaker 1: outlets clamored for clicks the advent of showcasing quote, both
Speaker 1: sides became their hallmark for providing a microphone and ink
Speaker 1: to one of the most egregious political figures this country
Speaker 1: has ever seen. While the forefathers of this nation had
Speaker 1: keen insight into the hearts of men, they didn't care
Speaker 1: too much for the thoughts of women. Nothing could have
Speaker 1: prepared them for this, except the assumption that a free
Speaker 1: press would bring to the people what it had since
Speaker 1: the beginning of time, the truth. Sadly, there is nothing
Speaker 1: truly free about a press that has fallen to privatization
Speaker 1: and capitalism. Why let the truth get in the way
Speaker 1: of a good clique. We bore witness as the revolving
Speaker 1: door at the Trump White House as it dumped its
Speaker 1: many pervators on the doorsteps of once reputable outlets, all
Speaker 1: in their faue quest for the appearance of neutrality while
Speaker 1: giving voice and credence to the rhetoric that is held
Speaker 1: bent on destroying everything the forefathers imagined, including and most importantly,
Speaker 1: a free and informative press. If not for the press,
Speaker 1: Senator Joe McCarthy's desire to purge on Americans would have succeeded,
Speaker 1: Nixon's treachery wouldn't have been revealed, and so on. Yet,
Speaker 1: now we find ourselves at a crossroads, as media outlets
Speaker 1: are being purchased like pieces on a monopoly board by
Speaker 1: white ring extremists who are using the veil of neutrality
Speaker 1: to place bad actors in positions of power, providing them
Speaker 1: with the platform to lie to tens of millions. The
Speaker 1: ability to suss out the truth is becoming almost impossible
Speaker 1: for the average citizen. The time for neutrality has long
Speaker 1: since passed. It should have ended the day that Donald J.
Speaker 1: Trump bragged about sexual assault and referred to Mexicans as rapist.
Speaker 1: Now Here we are with a former twice impeached ex
Speaker 1: president with classified nuclear documents scattered on his Morilogal office floor,
Speaker 1: eyeing a potential run for the presidency in twenty twenty four,
Speaker 1: with the press ready to launch America into authoritarianism. If
Speaker 1: the Fourth Estate doesn't wake up soon his inauguration in
Speaker 1: January twenty twenty five, maybe the last story they write. Quote.
Speaker 1: Journalism can never be silent. That is its greatest virtue
Speaker 1: and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately
Speaker 1: while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph, and
Speaker 1: the signs of horror are still in the air. Henry Grunwald,
Speaker 1: former editor in chief of Time magazine folks I felt
Speaker 1: compelled to write about the Fourth Estate because I am
Speaker 1: a part of it. No, I am not a quote
Speaker 1: unquote trained journalist. I did not go to school for journalism.
Speaker 1: I went to school for politics and for education. But
Speaker 1: as a host of two podcasts, a writer, a television commentator,
Speaker 1: I find it not only my responsibility, but my duty
Speaker 1: to tell the American people the truth. Anytime that I
Speaker 1: am asked to go on TV, I don't think about
Speaker 1: who will follow me, what clicks will I get, or worse,
Speaker 1: what hate mail and potential death threats could I get.
Speaker 1: I think about the person that is standing in their
Speaker 1: kitchen multitasking, probably with a laptop on the kitchen table,
Speaker 1: while they're making dinner, tending to pets and children or plants,
Speaker 1: going about their day to day, trying to keep their
Speaker 1: head above water, And I think about what I can
Speaker 1: say that will stop them dead in their tracks and
Speaker 1: have them imagine the freedoms that they have enjoyed up
Speaker 1: until this moment disappear. I want to stop them dead
Speaker 1: in their tracks and recite the many reasons why rage
Speaker 1: should be flowing through their veins just as easy as
Speaker 1: blood is. Because their country, the one that we were
Speaker 1: taught to swear allegiance to, is under attack. No, there
Speaker 1: aren't a currently tanks rolling down our streets or bombs
Speaker 1: bursting in the air. Yet, but there are people working
Speaker 1: behind the scenes, tirelessly, unrelenting to destroy everything that we
Speaker 1: have come to understand and want to perfect about this union.
Speaker 1: And if the papers, the blogs, the websites, the social
Speaker 1: media platforms are all commingling to keep the wool over
Speaker 1: our eyes, then it is the responsibility of those of
Speaker 1: us that are living with our eyes wide open to
Speaker 1: tell people the truth over and over and over again
Speaker 1: until they wake the fuck up. Our story does not
Speaker 1: have to end here, much like in relationships that go
Speaker 1: through rough times or marriages that have rough patches, With
Speaker 1: the right help, right with the commitment, it can be thick.
Speaker 1: And so the question that I have for our media
Speaker 1: is do they have a commitment to the destruction of
Speaker 1: our democracy? And if they don't, then recognize that neutrality
Speaker 1: is dead. That neutrality is nothing more than making the
Speaker 1: conscious decision to look the other way so that you
Speaker 1: do not offend those that seek to destroy others. We
Speaker 1: have control, dear friends, because without our eyeballs, without our dollars,
Speaker 1: they cease to exist. So if we want our voices
Speaker 1: to be heard, raise them loud and often. That is
Speaker 1: it for me today, Dear friends on Woke f as
Speaker 1: always Power to the people and to all the people. Power,
Speaker 1: get woke and stay woke as fun. Get a behind
Speaker 1: the scenes look at Comedy Central's The Daily Show on
Speaker 1: Beyond the Scenes, an original podcast from The Daily Show
Speaker 1: with Trevor Noah. Every week, host Roy Wood Junior goes
Speaker 1: deeper with the notable guests and experts from the Emmy
Speaker 1: Award winning series. Together, they use comedy to tackle current
Speaker 1: topics from gentrification to gun laws and take a closer
Speaker 1: look at how and why these topics matter. Listen to
Speaker 1: Beyond the Scenes from the Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcast. New episodes every Tuesday.