Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to WIKA F Daily with
Speaker 1: me your girl Danielle Moody pre recording, well not really,
Speaker 1: but this week, folks, I'm going to tell you I
Speaker 1: have some amazing shows that are lined up for you.
Speaker 1: Today is going to be the last one that is
Speaker 1: not prerecorded, as one of my best friends is getting
Speaker 1: married and I am in her wedding and so I
Speaker 1: will be heading there to be there, as you know,
Speaker 1: have moments of celebrating joy and love and I'm very
Speaker 1: excited about the opportunity to do so. But don't you
Speaker 1: ever fear. As always, we have some incredible shows lined
Speaker 1: up for you for the rest of this week. But
Speaker 1: as always, our good good friend, doctor Jonathan Metzel is
Speaker 1: in conversation with me today discussing, you know, as always,
Speaker 1: democratic messaging as we are now less than two weeks
Speaker 1: to the midterm elections. Now, folks, here's what I want
Speaker 1: to say about this hall to midterms and the anxiety
Speaker 1: that I know that I am feeling. If you follow
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, then you know that earlier this week
Speaker 1: I sent out a tweet and I said, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not feeling great today. I'm feeling a lot of
Speaker 1: anxiety and I'm feeling a bit hopeless, and those things
Speaker 1: are true. And you know, like everyone else, I go
Speaker 1: through valleys and streams in terms of my emotions and
Speaker 1: reactions to what I'm hearing. And so what did I
Speaker 1: do after I sent out that tweet yesterday? I turned
Speaker 1: off the fucking news because frankly, the way in which
Speaker 1: the midterm elections are being covered is one as if
Speaker 1: it is a completely normal election, right, as if there
Speaker 1: are just the normal things that are at stake. Once again,
Speaker 1: this being the fault of mainstream media to actually do
Speaker 1: its job as the fourth estate, to hold this country
Speaker 1: accountable to itself, to hold our elected officials accountable, and
Speaker 1: also to navigate what is really rough and treacherous terrain
Speaker 1: that we've never had to navigate before in this country.
Speaker 1: And once again, much like they did with the emergence
Speaker 1: of Donald Trump, they are failing. Whether or not they
Speaker 1: are failing on purpose or out of ignorance, I have
Speaker 1: no idea, but either way it's not good. And so
Speaker 1: what I will say is that I know many of
Speaker 1: you who DM me, who tweet at me, are feeling
Speaker 1: the same way, are feeling this level of anxiety and
Speaker 1: stress and are having sleepless nights. And what I am
Speaker 1: going to say to you is that outside of listening
Speaker 1: to my show, which I want you to continue to do,
Speaker 1: I'm telling you to turn off the fucking news, right
Speaker 1: it is not helpful to watch this horse race that
Speaker 1: they are portraying where Steve Cornaki and others bring out
Speaker 1: their big board and let me bring you to this
Speaker 1: place and let me pick up this random white person
Speaker 1: on the street to talk about how aggrieved they are
Speaker 1: and how much they're going to vote for, you know,
Speaker 1: whoever Donald Trump tells them to vote for. It's not
Speaker 1: helpful because what it does is that it reinforces in
Speaker 1: us that know, regardless of how much work we put in,
Speaker 1: how much we donate, whether or not we show up,
Speaker 1: that at the end of the day, it doesn't matter
Speaker 1: that the numbers are tightening in and with those tightening numbers,
Speaker 1: our chests they're tightening. What matters, folks, is that you vote,
Speaker 1: plain and simple. What matters is that you get as
Speaker 1: many people to vote and vote for Democrats down the
Speaker 1: fucking ticket as much as possible. Anything else outside of
Speaker 1: those actions is nothing but noise and won't do anything
Speaker 1: to assuage your worries or your fears, or your anxiety.
Speaker 1: And so I say to you, outside of getting to
Speaker 1: the polls yourself and getting as many of your friends,
Speaker 1: your colleagues, your family members to the polls as possible,
Speaker 1: volunteering at the polls, offering rides, offering help. Outside of
Speaker 1: activating in that in real life way, turn off the
Speaker 1: news because it is going to do nothing other than
Speaker 1: drive you fucking crazy. And I would even offer that
Speaker 1: on election day, plan your election day again, if you
Speaker 1: have not, if you have early voted, then plan your
Speaker 1: election day doing something good and nourishing for yourself. If
Speaker 1: you work for a corporation or a nonprofit or an
Speaker 1: outlet that is giving you that day off, go to
Speaker 1: the polls and volunteer, right. And if you're not going
Speaker 1: to volunteer, then go out in nature, feel your day
Speaker 1: centered around joy. And do not turn on the television.
Speaker 1: Do not go into the twe because outside of the
Speaker 1: in real life things that I have just said, that Ken,
Speaker 1: you can do sitting down in front of the television
Speaker 1: and watching every conversation, bite sized, you know, punditry on
Speaker 1: what is going to happen, and all of this tea,
Speaker 1: leave reading and all of this nonsense is not going
Speaker 1: to serve you. And I will tell you that, you know,
Speaker 1: in the past, before Trump BT, which is how I
Speaker 1: think that we're going to be, you know, guiding our
Speaker 1: calendar around America moving forward, is that before Trump, I
Speaker 1: loved election Day. It was exciting, it was fun. I'm
Speaker 1: a person that grew up in politics, That's what my
Speaker 1: degree is in. I used to go to watch parties
Speaker 1: and you know, it was a time to drink and
Speaker 1: commiserate and you know, and have a good time and
Speaker 1: you know, feel like you were actively, you know, participating
Speaker 1: in your democracy. That's no longer the case. It actually
Speaker 1: feels like, you know, going into dental surgery without any anesthesia.
Speaker 1: So that sounds awful. And I think that for folks
Speaker 1: who are going to vote on election day, go in vote,
Speaker 1: share your eye voted sticker with your friends and your
Speaker 1: family and your colleagues on social media. Encourage them all
Speaker 1: to go and do the same. To drop what it
Speaker 1: is that they're doing, you know, drop a link that
Speaker 1: says like if you're living in this state, an area,
Speaker 1: or here's where you find out where your polling stations
Speaker 1: have been. Because as we have seen, as what was
Speaker 1: just aired out in Virginia that sixty thousand voters were
Speaker 1: sent to the wrong place. I don't think that that
Speaker 1: was an accident, and neither should you. So outside of
Speaker 1: doing these very real tactical things, watch a movie, Watch
Speaker 1: ten movies, right, It is most likely then, unless this
Speaker 1: is a blowout on either side, we will not know
Speaker 1: the results until later on in the week. So again,
Speaker 1: sitting on your couch, glued to the screen, glued to
Speaker 1: your phone, glued to your laptop is not going to
Speaker 1: serve you. It's not going to serve your nervous system
Speaker 1: in any way, shape or form. And why do I
Speaker 1: bring up your nervous system, because, folks, we have talked
Speaker 1: about wellness on this show, the ways in which I
Speaker 1: have developed rituals and practices that are keeping me sane
Speaker 1: and steady and grounded. And I encourage you all to
Speaker 1: lean in to those rituals and practices that you have
Speaker 1: developed over the last couple of years, to really dig
Speaker 1: into them, because what happens when our nervous system is
Speaker 1: overworked and overwhelmed is that we allow disease to come
Speaker 1: into our bodies, which causes our cortisol levels to rise,
Speaker 1: which in turn allows disease to enter into our bodies.
Speaker 1: So the more at ease that we can make ourselves
Speaker 1: by virtue of prayer if you're a religious person, meditation
Speaker 1: if you are a spiritual person, walks in nature, if
Speaker 1: washing yourself in nature and just sitting and taking deep
Speaker 1: breaths helps you. Workouts, yoga as a form of workout, walking, running, gardening,
Speaker 1: you know, being with your animals, petting them. All of
Speaker 1: those calming activities, wellness activities are what we need to
Speaker 1: double and triple down on as we prepare our selves
Speaker 1: for election day, but also as we prepare ourselves for
Speaker 1: the aftermath of election day. Folks, I'm not going to
Speaker 1: lie to you. I never lie to you on woke
Speaker 1: f and tell you that everything is going to be okay,
Speaker 1: all is going to be well. I think that we
Speaker 1: can learn on an individual way to keep ourselves well,
Speaker 1: but as a larger collective, as a nation, as a democracy.
Speaker 1: My magic eight ball says outlook unclear. So the way
Speaker 1: in which we can treat ourselves and teach ourselves to
Speaker 1: rest to center joy. And again, this is not me
Speaker 1: saying ignore. It is saying that we need to take
Speaker 1: in the news like doses of medicine. Right, you don't
Speaker 1: when the doctor hands you antibiotics, you don't take the
Speaker 1: whole bottle at one time. You take a pill over
Speaker 1: the course of how many days. Well, I'm telling you,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe you watch ten minutes and then you
Speaker 1: turn it off, right, Maybe you check in on Twitter
Speaker 1: four five minutes and then you're like, Okay, I'm good.
Speaker 1: We have got to have these balancing tactics to help
Speaker 1: us be able to deal and manage and manage well
Speaker 1: with what is coming our way and what we have
Speaker 1: been dealing with and consuming over the last three years seven. Really,
Speaker 1: when you think about, you know, the beginning of Trumpism,
Speaker 1: and it has only been for me really truly, during
Speaker 1: the beginning of COVID have I developed practices that I
Speaker 1: have been doubling and tripling down on that helped me maintain.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to offer something new to you all.
Speaker 1: I have been having trouble sleeping, and you know it's
Speaker 1: my days have gotten a lot busier in terms of
Speaker 1: the work that I do with these shows, both WOKA
Speaker 1: and Democracy Ish, with my writing that I do with
Speaker 1: The Daily Beast, with you know, other work that I
Speaker 1: do to help movement organizations hone their voice and increase
Speaker 1: their impact. So I had sent a note to a
Speaker 1: friend of mine who owns and is one of the
Speaker 1: co owners of an online apothecary called Old Strobe st
Speaker 1: r o B and the O has a line over
Speaker 1: it Strobe Apothecary. And I said, Hey, my schedule has
Speaker 1: ticked up. I'm gonna be traveling more, I am working more,
Speaker 1: and I'm really trying to stay in balance, and I
Speaker 1: feel myself slipping back into old patterns of behavior that
Speaker 1: serve no one. And she said, Okay, I got you.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna put together a box and I'm gonna send
Speaker 1: it your way. Inside of this box, my dear friends,
Speaker 1: and I will pull this up for people who watch
Speaker 1: the video on Patreon. This is Strobe Apothecary's how their teas,
Speaker 1: their loose teas come. And she sent me a wonderful
Speaker 1: Rubio's Vanilla Chi tea. She sent me another one that
Speaker 1: I can't get right now, a heartwarming shy tea that
Speaker 1: it was all about healing broken hearts and pain. And
Speaker 1: she sent me another one that is about easing our
Speaker 1: overworked minds. They put together these beautiful tea blends, and
Speaker 1: I am a coffee you know now, a coffee drinker.
Speaker 1: I used to be a real big tea drinker. And
Speaker 1: what I've started to do is what I've learned is
Speaker 1: that my French press can also work as a tea press.
Speaker 1: Who knew everybody knew, I'm making this joke. Everybody knew
Speaker 1: but me, And so now in my evenings, instead of
Speaker 1: going for my cocktail or going for you know, little
Speaker 1: a little smoke, not of cigarettes, but instead of reaching
Speaker 1: for these external things, which there I have no problem
Speaker 1: with any of them. I love a good cocktail and
Speaker 1: all of those things. But I'm trying to figure out
Speaker 1: how to get myself at ease on my own. So
Speaker 1: I'm closing out my day with tea and going through
Speaker 1: this ritual before bed of turning off the electronics, you know,
Speaker 1: either picking up a magazine or a book, but turning
Speaker 1: off the electronics earlier than I normally would because I'm
Speaker 1: working at such a high pace during the day that
Speaker 1: it takes me now longer to wind down. And again,
Speaker 1: these are about being in tune, in tune and aligned
Speaker 1: with our bodies and recognizing that we are not fucking
Speaker 1: machines that we are not meant to grind, we're not
Speaker 1: meant to ignore and quote unquote power through right. And
Speaker 1: so I am listening to my body as it is
Speaker 1: really stressed and recognizing that I need more time to
Speaker 1: wind down and more time to wind up. So I'm
Speaker 1: giving myself that time. I you know, read the directions,
Speaker 1: I put in the tea, I you know, put on
Speaker 1: my kettle, and then I sit right and I poured
Speaker 1: the tea I drink, you know, which is so soothing
Speaker 1: and nice and calming, and then I head in to
Speaker 1: do my normal routine of meditations, storytelling, and trying to
Speaker 1: ease myself into sleep. I'm also recognizing that when I
Speaker 1: am stressed, that I require a good amount of sleep,
Speaker 1: like eight to nine hours. Thankfully, friends, I don't have
Speaker 1: any fucking kids, so I don't have to deal with
Speaker 1: having to manage a bunch of other little people. But
Speaker 1: even if you do, I want us all to learn
Speaker 1: to be more in tuned with what we need and
Speaker 1: then figure out the ways in which we give ourselves
Speaker 1: what it is that we need, because we all to
Speaker 1: be operating in the fullness of ourselves in order to
Speaker 1: navigate the new world that we are living in and
Speaker 1: so that is very real. And I offer that because
Speaker 1: you know, on top of what was also in my
Speaker 1: basket of goodies was sage and Palosanto and you know,
Speaker 1: and crystals that are for clarity and for guidance that
Speaker 1: I can carry with me as I'm now moving around
Speaker 1: more to help level me out. And whether or not
Speaker 1: you believe in these things or figure out your own thing,
Speaker 1: I offer what I am using as what I call
Speaker 1: rituals to help me with my routines that are keeping
Speaker 1: me grounded and level in a way that I know
Speaker 1: many of us are swirling right now up in our heads.
Speaker 1: So that is it for what I am using and doing.
Speaker 1: And again, folks, if you have different routines and rituals,
Speaker 1: share them in the comments section, share them with one another,
Speaker 1: share them with me, because I think that the more
Speaker 1: that we can come together as a community that is
Speaker 1: not only about raging against the machine but is also
Speaker 1: about rest and wellness, the better off we will all
Speaker 1: be all right, dear friends. Coming up next, my conversation
Speaker 1: with our in house doctor and good good friend, doctor
Speaker 1: Jonathan Metzel. Hey, there, I want to tell you about
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Speaker 1: Damage Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts. If you like what you hear, be sure
Speaker 1: to subscribe so you never miss an episode, folks. As always,
Speaker 1: I am so happy to welcome our friend back this
Speaker 1: week with a one on one, and that with a
Speaker 1: classroom filled with two hundred students, our friend, doctor Jonathan Maxil. Jonathan,
Speaker 1: it was such a pleasure to join your class last week,
Speaker 1: and you know, we didn't have an opportunity to do
Speaker 1: a debrief and so I'm and I got such good
Speaker 1: feedback from the woke a f audience that they appreciated
Speaker 1: the conversation and the role reversal that we did. So
Speaker 1: I wanted to give you a chance to fill us
Speaker 1: in on what some of your students have said. Well,
Speaker 1: the Royal Reverse apart Man. Being the host is hard.
Speaker 1: It's hard work. You have to like think on your
Speaker 1: feet and stuff. So I'm glad to be back in
Speaker 1: this chair today. But but no, the students loved it.
Speaker 1: They of course really appreciated your clarity and directness. We're
Speaker 1: spending a whole semester looking at pandemic, which of course
Speaker 1: is changing and it's impact on politics. And so I
Speaker 1: got a million comments that were fantastic. Many were about
Speaker 1: the content, and many were about what does it mean
Speaker 1: to be in the career of the media right now?
Speaker 1: How is the pandemic changing the media? And so I
Speaker 1: just think we should do that again. It was really fun.
Speaker 1: It was I mean, it was it was awesome. It
Speaker 1: is very rare that I am interviewed on my own show,
Speaker 1: so so UM, I definitely appreciated it. And I thought
Speaker 1: that their questions, you know, a lot of their questions, um,
Speaker 1: you know, about how to move forward in this time,
Speaker 1: and we were really great UM. And the fact that
Speaker 1: you get to be in touch on a regular basis
Speaker 1: with young people who are living through a time that
Speaker 1: you know, frankly none of us could possibly imagine. I
Speaker 1: think is really important to always be in touch with
Speaker 1: how they are thinking and how they are navigating this
Speaker 1: um this time. So that being said, I want to
Speaker 1: I want to talk about the New York Times is
Speaker 1: um article that they have done this week, UM, which
Speaker 1: is entitled their America is Vanishing like Trump. They insist
Speaker 1: that essentially they Um, you know they were lied to, right, Um.
Speaker 1: And I gotta tell you, Jonathan, I have not gotten
Speaker 1: through the entirety of this of this article because it
Speaker 1: pissed me off, frankly, and I just brought it up
Speaker 1: in another interview, and you know, people were just like,
Speaker 1: I'm so frigging tired of the New York Times, I'm
Speaker 1: so tired of these deep dives into white grievance. Um.
Speaker 1: So I I what are your thoughts about this continued
Speaker 1: narrative and how helpful or unhelpful it is in the
Speaker 1: grand scheme of how one democrats assess this, you know environment,
Speaker 1: as we are two weeks away from the most consequential
Speaker 1: and probably our last free and fair election in this country,
Speaker 1: and also just this changing idea. So what do you
Speaker 1: make of this consistent narrative? Well, I mean, the thing is,
Speaker 1: like I understand, right, I understand the framework that liberal
Speaker 1: America puts around conservative America because like I wrote a book,
Speaker 1: they did the exact same thing. Right, Dying of Whiteness
Speaker 1: was about the fear of being the demographic minority, the
Speaker 1: fear of kind of status threat, losing privilege, all these
Speaker 1: kind of things we're driving, right, America to make irrational decisions.
Speaker 1: But I would say what that didn't look at was
Speaker 1: how it's not like, oh, this is such a brilliant
Speaker 1: liberal critique that the right never thought about. The right
Speaker 1: was actually using the same method to mobilize people, to
Speaker 1: scare the shit out of them, to get them to
Speaker 1: vote and become more extreme and radicalized and adopt more
Speaker 1: extreme positions. And so the point is, like, the right
Speaker 1: has found this never ending well of resentment that will
Speaker 1: get people to the polls. I mean, that's the main thing,
Speaker 1: and it'll get them to accept positions that we're fifteen
Speaker 1: years ago insane. And the left hasn't done that, right,
Speaker 1: The less hasn't done that. And so I certainly agree
Speaker 1: with the article. And there was another one that I
Speaker 1: helped with in the Washington Post a couple of days
Speaker 1: ago about white America dying from COVID, which is certainly true.
Speaker 1: White America is dying from COVID much more. But the
Speaker 1: point is it's a model of power, right, And so
Speaker 1: the counter to that, in addition to critiquing the right,
Speaker 1: is like, what's the left doing now to mobilize in
Speaker 1: the face of a really existential threat across the country.
Speaker 1: It's not just in right America anymore. You know, the
Speaker 1: New York governor's race is really close, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is
Speaker 1: really close. There's a potential of some really bad stuff.
Speaker 1: And so what's the left version of that that's going
Speaker 1: to get every single person in your under your umbrella
Speaker 1: to help to come to the barricades. And I will
Speaker 1: say that, as horrible as the overt racism and race
Speaker 1: baiting is, that's on the right. Um, they've mobilized the
Speaker 1: ORC army basically that's going to go out and vote,
Speaker 1: and not only that, like stand with guns by ballot
Speaker 1: boxes and everything else. And what's the left version of that?
Speaker 1: We can critique it till we're blue in the face,
Speaker 1: but what's what's our version that's going to reverse that trend?
Speaker 1: And I don't see it, but you know, to be fair, Jonathan,
Speaker 1: I don't know what could reverse that trend, right Like
Speaker 1: I think that if I think that if our idea
Speaker 1: of a pushback beyond critique and beyond pundentry, which obviously
Speaker 1: the both of us do um, but beyond that, the
Speaker 1: power that be in the Democratic Party, the powers that
Speaker 1: actually have the ability to shift to shift message and
Speaker 1: offer policy and offer broad strategy, like there is no
Speaker 1: turning the people who have adopted Trumpism as their flag,
Speaker 1: their mantra, and their cross to die on. We're not
Speaker 1: offering those people an alternative. They're gone. And so I
Speaker 1: think that it isn't about well, what is our version
Speaker 1: of X. It's how are we not telling people very
Speaker 1: directly and clearly and lifting up in their own words
Speaker 1: what these Republicans are saying and using that as are
Speaker 1: like we don't have to craft messaging. This week, Ronda
Speaker 1: Santis and Charlie Christ faced off in a debate where
Speaker 1: Ronda Santis was talking entirely about white comfort and not
Speaker 1: wanting to offer white people reality in the formation of
Speaker 1: this country because it will provide them with too much guilt.
Speaker 1: Why is the Why don't Democrats take that SoundBite and
Speaker 1: play it and say you should care about what your
Speaker 1: kids are learning and not learning, who is teaching them
Speaker 1: and not You know, you have them talking about, well,
Speaker 1: we want to get rid of entitlements, Medicare, social Security.
Speaker 1: You got the whole of Florida that is over the
Speaker 1: age of sixty five, So why aren't we messaging to
Speaker 1: them that says that what afforded you the ability to
Speaker 1: buy this retirement home or enter into this retirement village,
Speaker 1: Go and dry up come twenty twenty five if you
Speaker 1: allow for Republicans to take control, because guess what they're
Speaker 1: not going to protect what is allowing you to exist
Speaker 1: now that you are retired. I mean, when a perfect
Speaker 1: example of this as a crime right because crime, of
Speaker 1: course is real if there is a real crime right now.
Speaker 1: And also crime is being manipulated, exaggerated, blasted out to
Speaker 1: people in the suburbs who don't really care that somebody
Speaker 1: got pushed on the subway in New York except that
Speaker 1: it reinforces their stereotype of liberal black America coming for
Speaker 1: you and all that kind of stuff. And so the answer,
Speaker 1: the Democrat's answer very often was like, well, the crime
Speaker 1: is not as bad there, you know, over exact the station.
Speaker 1: But it's totally the wrong response, Like the right response
Speaker 1: would have been to co opt the issue of crime
Speaker 1: and then come out with a crime Reduction Act or
Speaker 1: something like that that use that language proactively to put
Speaker 1: the other guys on the defensive and make them respond
Speaker 1: to your position using the language of the stuff they
Speaker 1: care about. I just feel like we spend so much
Speaker 1: time refuting all their mumbo jumbo, and the thing is
Speaker 1: that it doesn't work that way. And so I think, like, like,
Speaker 1: we didn't realize until it feels like three days ago
Speaker 1: that crime was a big issue, even though it really
Speaker 1: is a big issue for a lot of people. And
Speaker 1: the answer isn't to critique their formulation of crime. It's
Speaker 1: to use the rhetoric of crime to change the conversation
Speaker 1: onto terms that are favorable for you. Now, it's easy
Speaker 1: for us to sit here and say they could just
Speaker 1: change the message. Of course, in the real world, people
Speaker 1: are being bombarded with a zillion different, you know, messages
Speaker 1: across multiple platforms. It's not just like putting it on
Speaker 1: NBC the way it used to be. But I will
Speaker 1: say that we never put them on the defensive using
Speaker 1: their language to change the narrative. We never do that,
Speaker 1: and I'm seeing it again. I mean, I'm the most
Speaker 1: worried about the governor race in New York right because,
Speaker 1: you know, Zoldians using the NRA playbook of scaring the
Speaker 1: crap out of white people about black crime in the city.
Speaker 1: And the answer isn't, well, the crime isn't as bad
Speaker 1: as it was twenty years ago, which is what the
Speaker 1: Democrats are saying. It's to take the mantra of crime
Speaker 1: be proactive, and then reformulate an aggress of message that
Speaker 1: forces them to respond, you know, why aren't you down
Speaker 1: with blah blah blah and so. So I don't know.
Speaker 1: I feel like, actually, Chris was pretty good at doing
Speaker 1: this kind of thing. I thought that he surprised the
Speaker 1: hell out of me. I'll tell you, yeah, I thought
Speaker 1: it was pretty good. The things like we're figuring this
Speaker 1: out like now with ten days to go, and I
Speaker 1: feel like we haven't been doing this enough, anywhere near enough,
Speaker 1: you know. But the reality is, you know, unlike us
Speaker 1: who live and breathe in politics and know every movement
Speaker 1: of every new policy that is being released or pushed
Speaker 1: back on by the Republican Party, is that most people
Speaker 1: don't tune in until around now, right, like most like
Speaker 1: average Americans. Thankfully, there have been over eight million ballots
Speaker 1: that have been cast, right, and that those that are
Speaker 1: saying that are following the election in the way of
Speaker 1: what's been cast and whose early voting starts right now
Speaker 1: is the fact that we are the numbers are good, right,
Speaker 1: We just don't know and won't know if it is
Speaker 1: the Republicans that have motivated their people to come out early,
Speaker 1: but the trend has been that it's the Democrats that
Speaker 1: come out early. It's us that go will always go
Speaker 1: to early voting and do the mail in ballots and
Speaker 1: do these things. And so I don't want to just
Speaker 1: follow the trends of what the polls are saying, because
Speaker 1: for Democrats, it's not a motivator to say that we
Speaker 1: are behind, right, we have to walk that fine line
Speaker 1: of saying that. To your point, these races are tightening
Speaker 1: in a way that they shouldn't be tight right, particularly
Speaker 1: in New York. But I'm also not gonna I'm not
Speaker 1: going to hang my hat on every goddamn pole that
Speaker 1: comes out because in the last couple of years they
Speaker 1: have been wrong. Right. So the question really is what
Speaker 1: are Democrats voting for? That's the narrative, and it can't
Speaker 1: be I'm voting for saving America from the Republicans. You
Speaker 1: actually have to vote for something, and I don't think that.
Speaker 1: I really don't think the Biden administration has crafted that.
Speaker 1: I mean, I understand like it's complicated right now, but
Speaker 1: I don't think voting against Republicans is a strong enough platform.
Speaker 1: And so what gets people to the polls is voting
Speaker 1: for something. A lot of times, I mean also SCAREDO
Speaker 1: Trump and stuff like that, but I think that you're
Speaker 1: voting for bodily autonomy, You're voting for your right to vote.
Speaker 1: You're voting for student loan debt relief that is being
Speaker 1: blocked by Republicans that Democrats, to your point, are not
Speaker 1: using the fact that it has been blocked by a
Speaker 1: group of Republican governors and holding that up to young
Speaker 1: people and saying we're out here trying to help you,
Speaker 1: you know, and look and here's this clip. They blocked it, right,
Speaker 1: so we need your help to have the numbers to
Speaker 1: override it. Like that's the kind of pivot that I
Speaker 1: think that the both of us want and need at
Speaker 1: this moment, Right, Um, Jonathan, you know, quick pivot from
Speaker 1: from mid terms which are breathing down our next because
Speaker 1: with a couple of minutes that we have left with you, Um,
Speaker 1: COVID is not done. I know more people now, Jonathan
Speaker 1: that have contracted COVID than I did last year and
Speaker 1: the year before. Give us an update as to where
Speaker 1: we are and what folks need to be doing as
Speaker 1: we had head first into winter and what I believe
Speaker 1: is going to be another COVID winter. Well, two main
Speaker 1: things the virus is meet eating like beyond anybody's world
Speaker 1: is imagination. It's evading a lot of the immunity that
Speaker 1: we built up through vaccines and through just her stuff.
Speaker 1: But it's it's kind of going out the window. So
Speaker 1: what's happening in a lot of places, Um, you know,
Speaker 1: it seems to be a rapid rise and then and
Speaker 1: then it's coming down a little bit. But people seem
Speaker 1: to be getting sick in places like Germany and Second Pore.
Speaker 1: So now is it's a good time to play play?
Speaker 1: It's safe if you can, you know, mass and handwashing
Speaker 1: for the next couple of months for sure. And I
Speaker 1: don't know, I feel like Republicans taking over is going
Speaker 1: to be a great thing for the virus from the
Speaker 1: virus perspective. Also, so you know, we're doing this while
Speaker 1: we have a quasi semi functional CDC. But just the
Speaker 1: infuriating thing for me is that there's a new there's
Speaker 1: a new version of what virus protection is going to
Speaker 1: look like. I think it's almost certainly going to be
Speaker 1: some kind of nasal spray kind of thing that blocks
Speaker 1: the virus, the virus from you know, from entering the
Speaker 1: respiratory track. China and Russia are way ahead of us
Speaker 1: and developing this because our Congress has blocked any funds
Speaker 1: for for stuff, and so I just think that the
Speaker 1: funding issue for American science is going to be a
Speaker 1: major issue also. And quick, last thing, there's a new
Speaker 1: booster that is out. Is this is this booster something
Speaker 1: that people who are still on the fence about getting.
Speaker 1: What is your response to that get some kind of
Speaker 1: booster for sure? I mean, just we have three almost
Speaker 1: three years of data now that shows that getting boosted
Speaker 1: is protective. New booster, old booster. They look like they're
Speaker 1: roughly the same, to be honest. But I think that again,
Speaker 1: we're in for a shit winter, and I think doing
Speaker 1: everything you possibly can right now is the best approach.
Speaker 1: Doctor Jonathan Matzel as always deeply appreciate your time and
Speaker 1: your insights. As you're traveling today. We appreciate you, and
Speaker 1: we will unpack more next week. All right, take everybody?
Speaker 1: That is it for me today, Dear friends on woke
Speaker 1: A f As always power to the people, and to
Speaker 1: all the people power get woke and stay woke as fuck.