Speaker 1: Ola, Latino USA listener, it's me Maria no Josa, but
Speaker 1: you might have also heard me on another Futuro Award
Speaker 1: winning show. It's called In the Think. I know a
Speaker 1: lot of you have you know, it's where we talk
Speaker 1: politics unfiltered. Well, In the Think was on pause for
Speaker 1: the past year, but I have great news. In the
Speaker 1: Think is back, just in time for the presidential elections,
Speaker 1: and let me tell you we are better than ever.
Speaker 1: We have an amazing lineup of rotating co hosts that
Speaker 1: join me on this season, political scientist doctor Christina Greer,
Speaker 1: journalist Paula Ramos, and actress and producer Judy Reyes, and
Speaker 1: together we're going to help you break down this unprecedented
Speaker 1: political moment, what it means for us, for our communities,
Speaker 1: for our futuros. So we think you're going to find
Speaker 1: our conversations really interesting, Dear Latino USA listeners. So today,
Speaker 1: on this episode, we're going to bring you the first
Speaker 1: episode of In the Thicks new pop up season. Now.
Speaker 1: In this episode, we unpacked the recent and likely only
Speaker 1: presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former president
Speaker 1: and convicted fellon Donald Trump. Enjoy in the thick and
Speaker 1: be sure to subscribe to our show wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts in the thick, don't forget and thank you
Speaker 1: so much for listening and for being a supporter of
Speaker 1: Futuro and Latino USA. We just get asked yes and
Speaker 1: as always yes, Hey, what's up everybody? It's Marie no
Speaker 1: Hoosa And if you are listening to this, that means
Speaker 1: you've heard the news. Yo Itt is back for a
Speaker 1: pop up season. You know, we're gonna be breaking down
Speaker 1: this unprecedented political moment and what it means for us,
Speaker 1: for our futures. So I have a masked an incredible
Speaker 1: group of all star co hosts this season that are
Speaker 1: going to help us unpack the news and go beyond
Speaker 1: the political noise. You know, we're going to be dropping
Speaker 1: some f Okay, maybe not all of us, but we're
Speaker 1: gonna start introducing our new co host with the amazing
Speaker 1: Chrissy Greer, who is my fellow Birder and Murder. She
Speaker 1: is a professor of political science at Fordham University. Chrisy
Speaker 1: Greer was, I was up.
Speaker 2: Ah, I'm so happy to be back together, reunited and
Speaker 2: it feels so good.
Speaker 1: And also joining us is the wonderful journalist Bao La
Speaker 1: Ramos frequently on the air at MSNBC and Antelemundo, and Paula,
Speaker 1: It's great to have you.
Speaker 3: Oh, I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker 1: And of course the wonderful actor producer Judy Reyes. You
Speaker 1: may have seen her in everything from Jane the Virgin
Speaker 1: Succession and Scrubs. Yeah, oh, I'm so happy to have
Speaker 1: you on the show. Judy, Welcome, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 4: We've been trying to get together for so long and
Speaker 4: I'm honored to be here.
Speaker 1: So this is politics Unfiltered. We're going to get into it.
Speaker 1: It's a challenging day, right because we're acording on September eleventh,
Speaker 1: and we're recording also on the heels of a pretty
Speaker 1: incredible historic debate between a far right wing so called billionaire,
Speaker 1: Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, the first woman of color
Speaker 1: to get the Democratic Party's nomination for president. So we're
Speaker 1: going to start by doing one of my favorite things
Speaker 1: with itt, which is a temperature check. We're going to
Speaker 1: start with you, Chrissy, how are you feeling on this day?
Speaker 2: Thanks Maria. I always love the temperature check. You know,
Speaker 2: we're in this historic moment. We're On the one hand,
Speaker 2: I'm very excited. Kamala Harris is only the fourth woman
Speaker 2: to ever get to this sort of level. We had
Speaker 2: Geraldine Farr in eighty four New Yorker, we had Sarah
Speaker 2: Palin in two thousand and eight, we had Hillary Clinton
Speaker 2: in twenty sixteen, and now we have Kamala Harris. So
Speaker 2: it's a historic moment, obviously, but it's also frustrating for
Speaker 2: me because she's neck and neck with someone who's wholly incompetent,
Speaker 2: and so many women, especially women of color, know that
Speaker 2: feeling of standing next to a man where it's like,
Speaker 2: I can't even believe in the same sentence together the
Speaker 2: ire that I have for some of the indignities that
Speaker 2: Kamala Harris had to stand through, while this man is
Speaker 2: just he's an automatic lying machine. And so our qualifications
Speaker 2: are better than any presidential candidate we've seen in modern history.
Speaker 2: Donald Trump had zero qualifications, zero elected office before he
Speaker 2: stumbled up per USU. And so I'm hoping that as
Speaker 2: America evolves, Sho'll show herself to be who we hope
Speaker 2: that she can be. She's never been that way before.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of promise obviously in this country. There's
Speaker 2: a lot of beauty in this country. As Marie and
Speaker 2: I know, we're.
Speaker 5: Going to convert Paula and Judy into our burden cult.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of.
Speaker 2: You know, and there's so many amazing people in this country,
Speaker 2: and so I'm hoping that November fifth goes the way
Speaker 2: that it should and it could.
Speaker 5: For our sakes. And I guess that's where I am
Speaker 5: right now. Excited.
Speaker 2: I'm always optimistic because I teach the youth of America,
Speaker 2: but I'm definitely frustrated as a woman of color having
Speaker 2: to sit through some of this.
Speaker 1: Judy, what's your temperature? How you doing?
Speaker 4: I just can't believe that we aren't like int No,
Speaker 4: you see these numbers, you see these polls.
Speaker 5: But I am hopeful.
Speaker 4: I think particularly the youth, are really not having it anymore.
Speaker 1: Okay, So Chrissy has labeled Donald Trump the lying machine.
Speaker 1: I actually went earlier this morning on social media and
Speaker 1: I said, you know, you can't really win a debate
Speaker 1: with a pathological liar, and no one really wants to
Speaker 1: call a former president a pathological liar. Betro I see
Speaker 1: is Baola Comuta? What's your temperature?
Speaker 6: Check?
Speaker 3: I woke up to a text from a former friend
Speaker 3: from the Hillary campaign, and I think it reflects how
Speaker 3: I feel. She said at nine am in the morning
Speaker 3: post debate, she said, this is how I wanted to
Speaker 3: feel after a debate nine years ago. So I'm thinking
Speaker 3: of everyone that was working in the Hillary Clinton campaign
Speaker 3: right over ten years ago that was almost waiting for
Speaker 3: that moment on stage between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump,
Speaker 3: and we never got to see that. And I think
Speaker 3: what people have been here learning since was this assertion
Speaker 3: of power. Now, was someone that was able to not
Speaker 3: just convince in a very complicated country that she is
Speaker 3: in fact president show and that she can in fact lead,
Speaker 3: which she one percent did that, but I think do
Speaker 3: something that's even harder at this point after five plus
Speaker 3: years of lies and the lying machine and the insults,
Speaker 3: which is literally guide America back to reality. Like that
Speaker 3: is the hardest job and the hardest challenge that the
Speaker 3: vice president was up against ground people back to reality
Speaker 3: through the conspiracies, through the noise, and through the lies
Speaker 3: and the insults. And I think she was able to
Speaker 3: achieve that. And so I think in a way it
Speaker 3: feels and I'm cautious when I say this because it
Speaker 3: feels similar to twenty sixteen or there's this optimism and
Speaker 3: there's momentum, and many folks also feel like Hillary Clinton
Speaker 3: won those debates. And so I'm cautious when I say this,
Speaker 3: but it does almost feel like the beginning of the
Speaker 3: end of trump Ism, right. I think everyone saw that,
Speaker 3: and now it's kind of up to the trial is
Speaker 3: now back on to Christy's point, it's not back on
Speaker 3: America to figure out like, is this really who we are?
Speaker 3: And that'll at the end of the day, that's that's
Speaker 3: on us.
Speaker 1: Agree with everything that you all have said, and as
Speaker 1: an immigrant and we have what we have. Baola, you
Speaker 1: know you were born in the United States, first gen
Speaker 1: Yepoula's first gen Judy, you were also born in the
Speaker 1: United States, right, Yes, I was Chrissy YouTube.
Speaker 5: I'm like twentieth gen over here.
Speaker 1: So okay, so I'm la. We have to talk about
Speaker 1: this insanity that we saw in the debate. Trump started
Speaker 1: talking about this completely untrue story that Haitian immigrants who
Speaker 1: are in Ohio are eating pets. It's a horrible thing.
Speaker 3: It's insane.
Speaker 1: I know, this is what he said.
Speaker 7: And look at what's happening to the towns all over
Speaker 7: the United States. In Springfield, they're eating the dogs, the
Speaker 7: people that came in, They're eating the cats, they're eating
Speaker 7: they're eating the pets of the people that live there.
Speaker 1: The conversation suddenly went from January sixth to let's not
Speaker 1: talk about the people who took over the capitol. Let's
Speaker 1: talk about the people who are coming in on the
Speaker 1: southern border. What the fuck I have to say that.
Speaker 1: The problem for me is that Kamala did not one
Speaker 1: hundred percent lay down the law and say that is
Speaker 1: not true. In fact, she laid out a pretty conservative
Speaker 1: vision on the issue of immigration. And here's what she
Speaker 1: had to say.
Speaker 8: Let me say that the United States Congress, including some
Speaker 8: of the most conservative members of the United States Senate,
Speaker 8: came up with a border security bill, which I supported.
Speaker 8: And that bill would have put fifteen hundred more border
Speaker 8: agents on the border to help those folks who are
Speaker 8: working there right now over time trying to do their job.
Speaker 8: It would have allowed us to stem the flow of
Speaker 8: fentanyl coming into the United States. That bill would have
Speaker 8: put more resources to allow us to prosecute transnational criminal
Speaker 8: organizations for trafficking and guns drugs and human beings.
Speaker 1: So I guess in my worst moments, I'll just be like,
Speaker 1: my entire career was worth nothing if in the year
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, in a presidential election, what we are
Speaker 1: only talking about is how immigrants are destroying the country.
Speaker 1: It's okay, what is happening. I hate this, it's a nightmare.
Speaker 1: But then it's no, it's true. So I want you, first, Boula,
Speaker 1: if you could break down how you saw the conversation
Speaker 1: around immigration in the debate and what were your takeaways.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean two things. One Trump, I honestly thought
Speaker 3: I couldn't be more shocked at anything that he had
Speaker 3: to say. Like at this point, I think, unfortunately I've
Speaker 3: become so numb to the attacks. But the moment and
Speaker 3: I laugh because it's so sad now, but the moment
Speaker 3: that he said something along the lines of, you know,
Speaker 3: they referring to the vice president, they want transgender operations
Speaker 3: on illego aliens.
Speaker 5: At that point, have you seen the memes, Pala.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, the memes are incredible.
Speaker 5: From the moment it ended too Twitter never failed.
Speaker 3: But I think that's the point. You see Twitter and
Speaker 3: TikTok and you see the countries pushing back, and at
Speaker 3: what I was missing in that moment was a Democratic
Speaker 3: candidate that is able to take that conversation and do
Speaker 3: what she did so beautifully and so well with the
Speaker 3: issue of abortion, which was humanize this issue, which is
Speaker 3: bring back humanity and dignity to millions and millions of
Speaker 3: women and vulnerable people. And I wanted that when it
Speaker 3: came to immigration. Right here you have an incredible presidential
Speaker 3: candidate with an incredible immigrant story, with an incredible example
Speaker 3: of what it is to achieve the American dream, with
Speaker 3: an incredibly unique opportunity to take this narrative and bring
Speaker 3: it back to what it always should be, which is
Speaker 3: define what it means to be an immigrant in this country,
Speaker 3: bring back that dignity, and talk about not just the border,
Speaker 3: but talk about the over eleven million and documented people
Speaker 3: that have been in this country waiting for decades and
Speaker 3: decades to have a moment when they finally too are
Speaker 3: what they have always been, which are Americans. And so
Speaker 3: I think there's the slice of the population. I'm talking
Speaker 3: about the mixed status families. I'm talking about the youth
Speaker 3: vote in Nevada and Arizona and Georgia in Florida. I
Speaker 3: think there's a slice of people that were looking at
Speaker 3: her yesterday, yes, with optimism and inspiration, but they're still
Speaker 3: missing that. No, they they need something else to hold
Speaker 3: on to.
Speaker 1: I mean, all of your judy that what we would
Speaker 1: want Kamala Harris to do, what I was expecting her
Speaker 1: to do in that moment on the issue of immigration,
Speaker 1: is to turn to him and say, like in his face,
Speaker 1: you're a disgrace on the conversation of immigration and immigrants.
Speaker 1: It needs to stop and make that so clear and
Speaker 1: instead not Basl which was hard.
Speaker 4: She had to do so little to be honest, right,
Speaker 4: all she had to do is expose him and watch
Speaker 4: him fall apart. She had the space to stay conservative
Speaker 4: for the sake of the voters that this debate was
Speaker 4: actually really for. And we also know that she is
Speaker 4: conservative on immigration, and we can't kid ourselves because that's
Speaker 4: not a surprise. It's disappointing because she was very cautious
Speaker 4: on all those things that are really important to the
Speaker 4: left leaning and liberal democratic side of the voters. But
Speaker 4: she's pretty much got us in our pocket for just
Speaker 4: realistic reasons. So that's not who she's really trying to reach.
Speaker 3: Out to.
Speaker 1: I found it interesting that the day after the debate
Speaker 1: even the New York Times basically said Kamala won the debate.
Speaker 1: And I'm not so sure one hundred percent that you
Speaker 1: can say it was a slam dunk. I think for
Speaker 1: the people who believe in Donald Trump, his kind of
Speaker 1: three word sentences that he repeats and barks at you,
Speaker 1: that authoritarian presence, it works for people. But Chrissy, can
Speaker 1: you talk a little bit about Kamalist strategy. How do
Speaker 1: you think that she did in the sense of trying
Speaker 1: to get under Donald Trump's skin, trying to remain completely composed.
Speaker 1: What did you think about this ability that she was
Speaker 1: trying to bait Donald Trump?
Speaker 5: So, yeah, I'm with you, Maria.
Speaker 2: On the one hand, I wish that she would have
Speaker 2: had some knockouts in the sense that you know, and
Speaker 2: granted I'm looking for different things, right, I want her
Speaker 2: to look at him and say, so, you hate immigrants
Speaker 2: so much, then what do you say to your children
Speaker 2: where four of your five children have immigrant mothers?
Speaker 5: Like, what is that?
Speaker 2: He's only what second gen I believe, so turn it
Speaker 2: on him and help him see it.
Speaker 5: He won't see it.
Speaker 2: Honestly, I wanted her to be a little stronger on abortion.
Speaker 2: Her scripted talking points solid right, Yes there are stories,
Speaker 2: Yes there are families. From the DNC, I wanted her
Speaker 2: to just break from the script and just be like,
Speaker 2: think about women, think about your sons, right, since some
Speaker 2: white women can't seem to get on board. So it's like,
Speaker 2: don't just think about a woman right to choose. It's
Speaker 2: like you're saying grown women can't make decisions for themselves. Hey,
Speaker 2: for those of you who are still on the fence,
Speaker 2: think about your sons. If the Republican Party is saying
Speaker 2: that birth.
Speaker 5: Begins at six weeks, guess who's on the hook, You
Speaker 5: and your family. Think about it that way. If you
Speaker 5: want to talk about economics, just.
Speaker 2: Get a little less John Carrey and a little more
Speaker 2: let me talk to you in your three word salad.
Speaker 2: Then if we need to just get brass tacks, because
Speaker 2: if money is the issue, then let's do it. I
Speaker 2: do worry about the center right movement of the entire
Speaker 2: Democratic Party.
Speaker 5: So I wrote a piece in The.
Speaker 2: Times in twenty twenty one that said, essentially Kamala as
Speaker 2: a track right. When Joe Biden was like, I want
Speaker 2: you to be in charge of voting and COVID and
Speaker 2: the border and immigration.
Speaker 3: And the lasting all the easy things, and was.
Speaker 2: Like, and the only thing that's not on there is
Speaker 2: Midley's piece. And then it was like, hey, be in
Speaker 2: charge to me, Liz. Fast forward. She had a portfolio
Speaker 2: that we haven't been able to figure out in fifty
Speaker 2: sixty years. Because if money is the reason why everybody
Speaker 2: goes to the polls, which it is, Latinos don't necessarily
Speaker 2: go to the polls for immigration, they go to the
Speaker 2: polls for economic issues. Black people don't go to the
Speaker 2: polls because of social justice to go to the poles
Speaker 2: for economic issues. Everybody goes to the polls for economic issues.
Speaker 2: All these issues we know can be economic issues if
Speaker 2: framed properly. But I wish that she would have just
Speaker 2: spoken a little more plainly. But I understand the complexity
Speaker 2: and that tightrope that all of us, all four of us,
Speaker 2: have walked, where we can't be as basic as Donald Trump.
Speaker 2: She has to show that she's got an elevated, nuanced
Speaker 2: understanding of these incredibly complex ideas. Is it fair that
Speaker 2: she's supposed to solve the immigration debacle that Democrats and
Speaker 2: Republicans have created. She's supposed to solve it in the
Speaker 2: next three months. You know, you have so many Democrats
Speaker 2: who it's like, well, she doesn't solve it, then I'm
Speaker 2: not voting. And it's like, really, because we've seen what
Speaker 2: Donald Trump is interested in doing, and he said at
Speaker 2: his rallies, I'm not talking about it he said in
Speaker 2: twenty sixteen, or what he said in twenty twenty, what
Speaker 2: he said in twenty twenty.
Speaker 5: Four, He's like, I want everybody out.
Speaker 2: And because his idea of America is whiteness, I kind
Speaker 2: of wish I know that that would have been the headline.
Speaker 2: Lharis hates America. She said it's whiteness. But his idea
Speaker 2: of America is whiteness. And so this idea, when she's
Speaker 2: so divisive, he is the divisive one. He is the
Speaker 2: one who doesn't understand economics. He's the one who doesn't
Speaker 2: understand terrorists. He's like all the things he says.
Speaker 5: About Joe Biden's lazy.
Speaker 2: It's like, sir, you golf what sixty percent of your presidency?
Speaker 2: Thank goodness, because God forbid you were actually at the office,
Speaker 2: you would have caused more damage. So I'm glad that
Speaker 2: you're lazy. I'm glad that you watched TV. He's already
Speaker 2: said he doesn't read. The anti intellectualism of this man
Speaker 2: is what frustrates me, and the expectation that Kamala Harris
Speaker 2: is inheriting, which she did beautifully lay out, like you
Speaker 2: left this mess, we are now the cleanup woman. So
Speaker 2: the only thing that sort of encourages me is that
Speaker 2: black women and women of color, we tend to get
Speaker 2: elected when people need a cleanup woman. I wrote a
Speaker 2: paper years ago about the first black mayor of every
Speaker 2: major city is when the city was falling off a cliff.
Speaker 2: So that's how you get your first black mayor. And
Speaker 2: then we get Barack Obama. The country's about to fall
Speaker 2: off an economic cliff and drag the rest of the
Speaker 2: world down with it. I'm hoping, I'm hopeful that we
Speaker 2: are sadly in a clean up stage. But people are like, Okay,
Speaker 2: we need a cleanup woman. But the real issue it
Speaker 2: ain't us guys. Like the data has shown white women
Speaker 2: do not.
Speaker 5: Vote for the Democratic Party.
Speaker 2: Candidate Paula knows better than all of us here, Hillary Clinton,
Speaker 2: she didn't get white women. They've only voted for the
Speaker 2: Democratic Party candidate two times since nineteen fifty two when
Speaker 2: we started collecting the data. That was in sixty four
Speaker 2: with LBJ my favorite president, and that was in nineteen
Speaker 2: ninety six second term Bill Clinton. Other than that, white
Speaker 2: women vote with white men overwhelmingly Republican.
Speaker 5: It's them.
Speaker 3: You don't think this will change that though, Chris, you
Speaker 3: after a Rovia way.
Speaker 2: This is why I keep saying put abortion at the
Speaker 2: top of the agenda, because abortion is an economic issue.
Speaker 2: You making me add people to my family is an
Speaker 2: economic issue.
Speaker 5: When jade Van says, oh, women don't.
Speaker 2: Care about that. Women care about who they're feeding. Women
Speaker 2: are the ones primarily who go to the grocery store.
Speaker 2: They're the ones who they're not credited with doing the
Speaker 2: budgets of the families, but they're the ones who have
Speaker 2: to figure out how many mouths we have to feed.
Speaker 2: So I really hope the Democrats and hammer home the
Speaker 2: economic repercussions of these draconian policies of Republicans. And last night,
Speaker 2: I think Kamala Harrison, she's still an introductory phase even
Speaker 2: though she's been vice president. We all know a lot
Speaker 2: of people are like, I don't know who this woman is,
Speaker 2: and so I think this is why the short runway
Speaker 2: could be good, because it doesn't give some people enough time.
Speaker 5: To sit with their racism. It's ooh, she did say
Speaker 5: something that's.
Speaker 2: Interesting, and we don't have time to dig through her
Speaker 2: fathers and Marxist Really, that's what I was hoping. Kamala
Speaker 2: Harris was like, I know, we don't want to start
Speaker 2: talk about daddy's out here. We don't want to start
Speaker 2: talking about daddy's because we got pictures of your daddy.
Speaker 5: We got pictures like your daddy had a clan rally.
Speaker 5: I know we are not talking about daddy's up in here.
Speaker 5: He doesn't even seem worried about that either, because his
Speaker 5: supporters Judy his supporters. That's what he was giving them.
Speaker 2: Remember in twenty sixteen, he said, I'm the silent majority.
Speaker 2: Y'all feel this. Y'all think you all look around, you
Speaker 2: think it's a little too brown. You look around, too
Speaker 2: many people speaking Spanish at your grocery store. You look around,
Speaker 2: it's like too many black people being uppitty with these
Speaker 2: fancy degrees.
Speaker 5: Look at Obama and his friends, right, So he was giving.
Speaker 3: Them that you're so right. He was feeding them that
Speaker 3: the entire night.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing that can also happen, which is
Speaker 1: that progressive folks will also get angry with Kamala for
Speaker 1: not stepping up to the plate and saying, oh, well,
Speaker 1: here's what we have to say about Gaza. It needs
Speaker 1: to stop right now. We need to change the conversation
Speaker 1: on immigration. Oftentimes people are like, oh my god, we're
Speaker 1: so worried if she's going to alienate the white vote.
Speaker 1: But is there the possibility that she actually also alienates
Speaker 1: more progressive voters.
Speaker 3: I think you're seeing her play that very delicate political balance.
Speaker 3: It's actually at times painful to watch. Yeah, because I
Speaker 3: think in her core, I do believe that she wants
Speaker 3: something different from President Biden. I do truly believe that
Speaker 3: she fundamentally believes in the humanity and dignity of everyone
Speaker 3: that's in Kaza.
Speaker 1: So we happen to have our producer, Ariel Goodman, who
Speaker 1: is based in Philadelphia, which is where the debate took place,
Speaker 1: and outside of the convention center there were hundreds of
Speaker 1: protesters who were sharing their voices, and so Arielle was
Speaker 1: able to talk to one New Jersey resident who was
Speaker 1: at the protest name Safe, and this is what Safe
Speaker 1: had to say.
Speaker 6: We keep being told that we have to vote blue
Speaker 6: no matter who, and that democracy is on the line.
Speaker 6: But it's not a democracy if we can't stop our
Speaker 6: government from backing a genocide. My message to the candidates is,
Speaker 6: neither of you have ever actually earned any of our votes.
Speaker 6: I'm Palestinian, I've lost I don't even know how many
Speaker 6: family members, and there I risk every single day wherever
Speaker 6: they are.
Speaker 3: I hope that in the next couple of weeks you'll
Speaker 3: see her kind of pushing the limit. But I think unfortunately,
Speaker 3: or fortunately, I think they're counting on the very same
Speaker 3: formula that they counted on in twenty twenty, which is
Speaker 3: at the end of the day, the moment that people
Speaker 3: are able to vote early vote on November, it'll come
Speaker 3: down to this. Now, it'll come down to hopefully people's
Speaker 3: ability to perceive the existential threat of democracy just being
Speaker 3: on the verge of a crisis. And I think it'll
Speaker 3: come down to that. It's an interesting question of what
Speaker 3: will that work again. I think as a party it's
Speaker 3: important for voters to push their candidates like I think
Speaker 3: it's good for the undecided vote. And the uncommitted vote
Speaker 3: to push and push, because that is essentially how democracies
Speaker 3: work better. That's how you push the party to be
Speaker 3: a better party, and that's how you mobilize people by
Speaker 3: giving them a reason to believe in something. And so
Speaker 3: I hope that she'll deliver on that, but I think
Speaker 3: at the end of the day, they're counting on the
Speaker 3: same formula now in the face of Donald Trump, and
Speaker 3: people will rise to that threat.
Speaker 1: You all know that one of my deep critiques of
Speaker 1: the moment is the inability of our friends and colleagues
Speaker 1: in the mainstream media to really understand what it is
Speaker 1: to be dealing with an authoritarian, with someone who uses
Speaker 1: propaganda and lies. And so of course we were watching
Speaker 1: really closely with what was happening with the anchors at ABC,
Speaker 1: Lindsey Davis and David Muir. I also didn't know that
Speaker 1: David muirr was the most watched evening news anchor.
Speaker 3: But okay, okay, and he's over fifty and I'm I'm
Speaker 3: obviously the ggest person in this whole chat, but he's
Speaker 3: also in my group chat. Everyone was just who is
Speaker 3: this man?
Speaker 5: Pala? Just to help you feel better? In my group chat.
Speaker 2: Everyone's just like, I have a crush on Paleramos. You
Speaker 2: can have muor in your group chat. Paleramos is at
Speaker 2: the top of my group chet. Everybody's got a crash
Speaker 2: on Bala.
Speaker 5: Just to let you know.
Speaker 3: I love that, all right, all right, I'm blushing.
Speaker 1: So the question is that, yes, they did do a
Speaker 1: slightly better job of fact checking certain moments with Donald Trump,
Speaker 1: but we also witnessed that too many times Donald Trump
Speaker 1: would start speaking when his microphone was off, when he
Speaker 1: wasn't supposed to be speaking, and then they would open
Speaker 1: the mic and let him talk, which I was like,
Speaker 1: why are you doing this? Why are you doing this now?
Speaker 1: According to MSNBC, Kamales Harris spoke a total of twenty
Speaker 1: three times and Donald Trump spoke a total of thirty
Speaker 1: nine times, almost twice as much. Trump immediately came out
Speaker 1: and saying, oh my god, it was three against one
Speaker 1: and he was being bulldozed and all that. But I
Speaker 1: want to ask, and we're going to start with you, Judy,
Speaker 1: like how do you moderate and actually, as a Dominican
Speaker 1: woman who understands because having had an authoritarian dictator in
Speaker 1: the DR through Hillo, which everybody always talks about if
Speaker 1: you're a Dominican, what do you think is the role
Speaker 1: of journalism the mainstream media in this particular moment in
Speaker 1: managing someone like Donald Trump.
Speaker 4: Honestly, I think they did more than I expected in
Speaker 4: terms of when they fact checked him on the abortions
Speaker 4: after the babies were born and stuff.
Speaker 5: I was impressed.
Speaker 4: I was like, oh, okay, okay, but he is impossible
Speaker 4: to keep up with. But no matter how much they
Speaker 4: try to stay on top of him, he's just going
Speaker 4: to go in there. I noticed that, and I resented
Speaker 4: that they kept opening his mind. Yeah, I don't think
Speaker 4: that it hurt her. I think that at the end
Speaker 4: she figured it out. I heard somebody's quote not too
Speaker 4: long ago who said, no one knows their oppressor better
Speaker 4: than the oppressed. So she just figured him out real quick,
Speaker 4: and Okay, he was getting more of the opportunities to talk,
Speaker 4: and she just let him bury himself with everything he
Speaker 4: was saying. And it put her in that position to
Speaker 4: not need to do a lot more in terms of
Speaker 4: being more aggressive or original. So there is that room,
Speaker 4: I agree with you, Paula, where she still has to
Speaker 4: prove herself. Is she going to do it in the press.
Speaker 4: I don't think he's going to debate her again. Oh no,
Speaker 4: do you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: You think it's over, You think that's it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he is going to spend his time talking about
Speaker 4: how it was three against one.
Speaker 5: He's not going to talk to her anymore.
Speaker 2: While the debate was going on, my students are in
Speaker 2: a WhatsApp chat, so they were essentially live chatting the debate,
Speaker 2: and I just watched the comments and they're just to
Speaker 2: Judy's point, they're seeing Donald Trump unravel and they're like,
Speaker 2: this guy looks he's just old and now he's rambling.
Speaker 2: And so I'm watching the debate from my political science
Speaker 2: lens of a black woman at a certain age. And
Speaker 2: then I'm also watching the debate with this running commentary
Speaker 2: of eighteen to twenty year olds who were watching it,
Speaker 2: and they were more impressed with what Kamala Harris is saying,
Speaker 2: because the hyperbole of Donald Trump gets really exhausting.
Speaker 1: Talking about media and journalism, Baula, Yeah, I mean, there's
Speaker 1: no way that we can put our heads in the
Speaker 1: sand and not talk about the fact that your dad,
Speaker 1: Horre Ramos is leaving Unibisi and having just been in
Speaker 1: southern Florida doing a piece about mis and disinformation aimed
Speaker 1: at Spanish speakers, the fact that your dad Ramos is
Speaker 1: leaving Univision is a real punch, a gut punch in
Speaker 1: terms of providing information. But I guess for you this
Speaker 1: is emotional, right, it's your dad, but it's also like
Speaker 1: a major story in every mainstream media. So your thoughts
Speaker 1: about what we do with the loss of a really
Speaker 1: important voice and how obviously you're feeling part of the void.
Speaker 1: But it's film garpeim Garpe.
Speaker 3: Sees what I mean. You know, my dad has been
Speaker 3: in Univision for over forty years, I mean my entire life,
Speaker 3: No since since I was born and grew up watching
Speaker 3: him in that studio, and for thirty eight years he
Speaker 3: co anchored in the dcio Nivision, And so I think
Speaker 3: it was so incredible to watch the stories and the
Speaker 3: news and the love he received, and more than anything,
Speaker 3: because it kind of affirmed the legacy that he leaves behind,
Speaker 3: which is the trust that he was able to instill
Speaker 3: in a community of Ladinos and a grand stuff for decades,
Speaker 3: had few voices, now yours included Maria and his and
Speaker 3: few others that when were there were nowhere else to watch,
Speaker 3: they went to NABC and then they trusted him. And
Speaker 3: so you're right, it is concerning because it leaves a
Speaker 3: void within a Spanish language media ecosystem that is trying
Speaker 3: to figure out if a shift to the right is
Speaker 3: the direction that they'll take. Clearly, there is an attempt,
Speaker 3: and I think that attempt started very clearly with endriquesseere
Speaker 3: Do's interview with Donald Trump, where there was no fact checking,
Speaker 3: there was no pushback, and like I said before, and
Speaker 3: maybe that is the beginning of a new chapter for
Speaker 3: when you be soon. The beautiful thing about my dad
Speaker 3: and every single person in this podcast is that people
Speaker 3: follow you. No, if they trust you, they will follow
Speaker 3: you anywhere.
Speaker 1: Christy, something that is bringing you joy, happy, smiling laughter?
Speaker 1: Is it a bird? I don't know what's making you happy?
Speaker 5: Okay?
Speaker 2: So I went to girl Scout camp and we would
Speaker 2: sing this song make new friends, but keep the old
Speaker 2: one is silver and the other's gold. And I'm super
Speaker 2: excited about this new podcast venture with you all. I've
Speaker 2: known Maria for years. I mean, I get to hang
Speaker 2: out with the Puellers Prize winner. I mean, come on,
Speaker 2: but I'm so excited to spend more time with you, Judy,
Speaker 2: more time with you, Paula.
Speaker 5: I have so much respect for you ladies.
Speaker 2: Even though the world is crazy, it's still just so
Speaker 2: much beauty out there. Physical beauty is Maria and I
Speaker 2: know and are tree hugging selves, but just there's so
Speaker 2: many great people who are working for good, and both
Speaker 2: of you, Judy and Paula, I know in your work
Speaker 2: you all do that. Maria is like my partner in crime.
Speaker 2: There's always room for new friends, new conversations, and to
Speaker 2: just cherish the old friendships that you have. So thank you,
Speaker 2: Maria for putting a new gang together. I feel like
Speaker 2: we're a new band and I'm excited.
Speaker 1: Okay, Paula, what's bringing you something? Joy? Happy, smiling?
Speaker 3: Two things? One, to wake up to a Taylor Swift endorsement,
Speaker 3: regardless if you're a Democrat or a Republican, Like, how
Speaker 3: incredible it is to think about these like young gen
Speaker 3: zers that have suddenly this person that they absolutely adore
Speaker 3: and idolize. And so I was just thinking about how
Speaker 3: much that must sting if you're like in the Trump
Speaker 3: camp right now. That brings me somewhat joy. And then
Speaker 3: to Chrissy's point, I'm often used to speaking in these
Speaker 3: sort of limited spaces. Now on the TV is so fast,
Speaker 3: and being on the road is so fast, and even
Speaker 3: when you write, it's so isolating. And so to be
Speaker 3: able to ma, yeah, you told me this would happened,
Speaker 3: not to be able to just be myself and talk
Speaker 3: and learn from these incredible three women, and wow, first time.
Speaker 3: So thank you, oh in the thick ist bringing you joy.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I'm so happy.
Speaker 3: And I just started.
Speaker 5: Look at that Judy, I have to concur and agree.
Speaker 4: I feel honored and I feel a great opportunity here
Speaker 4: to learn. My kid watched the debate yesterday and they
Speaker 4: were on a thread with their friends. My kid is friends,
Speaker 4: and to see how invested they were and how entertained
Speaker 4: and how amused and how impacted, how relieved, and how
Speaker 4: everything went and unfolded. They were running around giggling, texting
Speaker 4: with their friends, showing me means and all that shit
Speaker 4: that makes a difference to me, and it reminds me
Speaker 4: what an impact this person in the world has on
Speaker 4: every single person, just like everything that Trump has brought
Speaker 4: and how it's just manifested it self into everything, not
Speaker 4: only in this country and people all over the world.
Speaker 4: Is really depressing. And I feel like everything that continues
Speaker 4: to happen with this democratic endorsement and with Kamala almost
Speaker 4: won't let us give up. And it's created space and
Speaker 4: opportunity and inspiration. And I think, particularly for Latinos, no
Speaker 4: matter how conservative or liberty is or becomes, I woke
Speaker 4: up excited to be excited. Does that make sense? Yeah,
Speaker 4: I think we're good. We're good because you start making
Speaker 4: connections with people. That creates the conversation that motivates people
Speaker 4: to make phone calls and volunteer and vote and you know,
Speaker 4: just drop it. Don't forget to vote just before you
Speaker 4: leave a store or something like that, and that that matters.
Speaker 1: I just want to end by saying, when In the
Speaker 1: Thicks started in twenty sixteen, we always were very clear
Speaker 1: about wanting to talk about joy within the context of politics,
Speaker 1: joy within the work that we do. The truth is
Speaker 1: that because of the Kamala Harris campaign, joy has actually
Speaker 1: become part of a campaign. And we're like, okay, I
Speaker 1: just want y'all to know In the Thicks started it first, though.
Speaker 1: There you go that's it. In the Thics pop up
Speaker 1: season is supported in part by the Hispanic Federation and
Speaker 1: Futuro Media's Friends of Democracy fund Yo. You can also
Speaker 1: join us send some money to that fun Fun. Sustainers
Speaker 1: include Dipadonde, April Gasler, and garmin Rita Wong. Special Things
Speaker 1: too to Rebecca Beltran and Christy Blackman. Dear listener, remember
Speaker 1: go to Apple Podcasts to rate and review us. We
Speaker 1: need those reviews, We need those ratings. Come on, come on,
Speaker 1: come on. Also, remember you can listen to In the
Speaker 1: Thick on all major podcast platforms. Check us out on
Speaker 1: the web at intheth dot org, follow us on X
Speaker 1: Yeah X, and Instagram at in the Thick Show, Like
Speaker 1: us on Facebook, Tell your friends and you know, as
Speaker 1: soon as we're on TikTok, you know we're gonna let
Speaker 1: you know about that too. In the Thick is produced
Speaker 1: by Ariel Goodman, Ines Renique and Francis Poon. Our executive
Speaker 1: producers are myself and Benny Leiramidez Our audio engineers Andy Bosnak,
Speaker 1: Our marketing managers Lis Luna. Special things to Gustavo Garcia
Speaker 1: of Colibriti Workshop for recording support on this episode. Yo, people,
Speaker 1: we are back and I'm so happy. Bye.
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Speaker 6: podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the
Speaker 6: views of Futuromedia or its employees.