WEBVTT - Part One: Why Trump Targeted Two Black Election Workers 0:00:01.160 --> 0:00:04.520 So after eighteen months, the probe into the insurrection on 0:00:04.640 --> 0:00:08.039 January six, finally came to a close on Monday, and 0:00:08.039 --> 0:00:11.480 their final recommendations are actually kind of huge. Let's get 0:00:11.480 --> 0:00:15.360 into it. The committee recommended that the Department of Justice 0:00:15.440 --> 0:00:19.119 investigate Trump for inciting an insurrection, conspiracy to defraud the 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:22.400 United States, conspiracy to make a false statement, and obstruction 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:26.880 of an official proceeding. The committee officials and investigators said 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:29.880 that they decided to make criminal referrals against Trump after 0:00:29.920 --> 0:00:33.960 seeing sufficient evidence of all of this behavior. So yeah, 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:36.360 basically the stuff that we already knew, the stuff that 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:39.640 we basically all saw with our own eyes unfolding on 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:44.120 and before January six, And now I am really curious 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:46.360 to find out what happens next. I have been a 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:49.320 little bit skeptical that we will ever actually see Trump 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:52.839 or any of his creonies face actual accountability for their actions. 0:00:53.400 --> 0:00:56.080 But notably, I have not seen a lot of the 0:00:56.160 --> 0:00:59.520 major Republican players on the right circling the wagons to 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:02.360 protect Trump like I thought they might have done, so 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:05.880 I guess we'll see. During the closing comments, the committee 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:07.880 played a montage of all the different people who were 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:11.319 hurt or killed during January six and that includes Ruby 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:15.240 Freeman and Shame Moss, and I am really holding space 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:18.440 for these women in the aftermath of the commission. Their 0:01:18.520 --> 0:01:20.840 story is a really good reminder why we should all 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:23.520 care about what happens on the Internet, because not only 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:25.759 does it hurt the people targeted, like Ruby and Shame, 0:01:26.080 --> 0:01:29.400 but when our online platforms amplify lies that traffic and 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:32.920 racism and sexism, it has real consequences for all of us. 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:35.560 It makes us all less safe and less secure in 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:38.360 the process. So I sat down with my good friend 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:41.400 Miles Gray from the podcast The Daily Zeitgeist to discuss 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:44.600 the story of Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss to private 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:47.640 citizens who were targeted by Trump and his allies and 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:51.240 how cruelly their own country betrayed them. And this is 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:54.120 just part one of a two part conversation about what 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:56.360 these women went through and how it hurts all of us. 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:02.160 Look be to another episode of Internet Hate Machine. I 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:04.440 am so thrilled to be joined a BYuT one of 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:08.000 my favorite humans, Miles Gray of The Daily Zy Guys. Miles, 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:11.760 thank you for being here? Are you for really for real? 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:16.960 Oh my god? Thank you? Bridget I mean honestly, you're 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:20.120 one of The feeling is very mutual. Um before can 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:22.639 I tell them off? Mike, I was in my feelings 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:23.960 because when I was in d C, I was like, 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:26.960 let's hang out, and you didn't see the message in time, 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:29.880 but it did break my heart only because of my 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:32.600 deep respect and admiration for you. So the feeling is 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:35.560 so mutual. As I said, next time you're in d C, 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:38.280 I'm taking you and yours out to a big dinner. 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:40.640 I mean it, okay, I mean I don't need a 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:43.200 big dinner as you know. Whatever, Just show me something cool, 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:45.280 you know, like is Marvin still open on Q Street? 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:48.560 It closed? It's still longer there? Yeah, it's gone. It was. 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:51.400 It's like a DC institution gone because of the pandemic. 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:56.560 Oh no, I really wow. Anyway, this isn't a DC 0:02:56.639 --> 0:02:59.840 restaurant show. But anyway, shout out to r I P 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:04.560 long live Marvin's had so many good nights there. But 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:07.880 I have to ask you, Miles, have you been following 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:15.600 that any of the January six hearings me a daily 0:03:15.680 --> 0:03:21.240 news podcast? Me? Oh, I would say, I mean, to 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:25.440 be honest, I follow enough to know like what happened 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:29.120 during every Night of Couchella, as I refer to as 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:32.160 the January six hearings, so like I'll keep up with 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:36.200 the big developments from there, but I definitely have like 0:03:36.320 --> 0:03:38.720 there's so I know, there's so much information to go 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:42.040 deep on. That part of me is like my cynicism, 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:44.880 where it's like, look, i'll be interested if there's actual consequences, 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:46.800 So wake me up when I start seeing people getting 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:49.720 perp walked. But to that, to that end, I have 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:51.360 been keeping up, but I would say, like I'm a 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:55.320 I don't even know how to gauge my engagement with 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:58.680 the news, like casual follower, although I probably know a 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:02.000 few things, but yeah, I've been It's so funny because 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:03.840 I was going to say the same thing. I consider 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:06.360 myself a casual follower. But that makes it sound like 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:09.560 you're talking about Grey's Anatomy or something, or like Housewives, Like, oh, 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:12.120 I dip in and dip out. I missed the last season. 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:13.480 It's like, I don't know if we should be talking 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:17.640 about like exactly You're like, I know that it went 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:20.239 from like I know, I remember when it became Sloan 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:24.560 Gray Slow Memorial Hospital, and that was a wave of 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:28.280 two um and then that one person who got hit 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:31.160 by the bicycle and then they were about to anyway. Um, 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:33.719 all that to say, yeah, who knows in this age 0:04:33.720 --> 0:04:36.159 of so much information, what is casual and what is 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:40.760 like obsessed? Well, on December nineteen is going to be 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:43.960 the final public hearing of the January six committee, and 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:45.920 the final report is actually gonna be released a few 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:48.280 days later on December twenty one. So it's kind of 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:51.120 all coming to an end. And I'm kind of like you, 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:54.599 I followed it, but I am not getting my hopes 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:57.800 up for actual consequences or accountability for any of the 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:01.360 major players that deserve consequences. So we will see, yeah, 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:03.520 because we only have history to tell us that there 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:06.240 won't be consequences. So I'm like, unless we have a 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:09.560 market shift, and how are like legal system works and 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:13.320 who we enforce the like actual laws with um, I'm 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:16.360 counting on Like it's like I feel like the little 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:19.760 pieces of a red meat that have people feeling like, 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:23.880 oh they're doing something or all the like ancillary tertiary 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:27.320 sort of characters to this, like the like oathkeeper adjacent 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:29.039 folks who they're like, oh and then you walked in 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:31.440 there and smashed a wall. See you in two years. 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:35.560 It's like, where's Jenny Thomas at hello? Are we talking 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:37.320 about her at all? God? I would love to see 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:41.279 her get up her block. Could you imagine she'd be like, 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:43.520 I need to speak with the manager like she was, 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:46.039 She would actually say that I feel like and then 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:48.880 they would be like, oh, well, why didn't you say that? Sooner? 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:52.200 Take the cuffs off? Can I speak to the manager 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:59.760 of jail please? Oh wait, it's my husband, Clarence. Do something, honey. 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:03.320 So there's been so much compelling testimony from these hearings, 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:05.120 but in my book, I don't think any was more 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:07.880 compelling than the testimony from Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss. 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:10.520 You might remember their testimony from a couple of months ago. 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:13.839 Basically when they gave their testimony, it kind of like 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:17.560 broke my heart to hear this personal story in their 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:21.480 own words of how Trump and Juliani and this whole 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:26.880 ecosystem of assholes basically ruined their lives and jeopardized their safety. 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:28.960 And I think that their story is one that is 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:34.039 really about racism and sexism, and like this general visceral 0:06:34.360 --> 0:06:36.800 distrust and disdain that a lot of folks have for 0:06:36.880 --> 0:06:41.400 black women like Ruby and Shay. So I really think 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:43.920 that this their story is kind of like the culmination 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:46.480 of so many things that we have already talked about 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:49.400 on this podcast. You know, when racism and sexism run 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:52.799 unchecked online and it creates the conditions for lies about 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:55.160 black women to have a welcome home online where they 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:58.320 will always be amplified and legitimized. And in this case, 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:02.080 it doesn't just impact these black women, it threatens democracy 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:04.520 or all of us. So that's really what I'm excited 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:08.760 to get into today. Please, I'm excited to talk about 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:11.560 anything that helps me feel better about our democracy, I mean, 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:13.120 or worse. But as long as we get to the 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:15.360 bottom of it, I feel like there's there's comfort in 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:17.840 knowledge too. There's a little comfort in it. Um. So 0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:20.560 if folks don't know, Ruby Moss and her daughter Shae 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:23.760 Freeman were both election workers in Fulton County, Georgia, a 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:30.720 state that Trump legitimately lost in Barren Square and where Yeah, 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:33.800 I'm gonna be saying that every twenty minutes like a 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:36.760 goddamn egg timer on this episode. So okay used to it. 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:39.480 So if you're listening, that is may or may not 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:43.520 be a drinking game. Yeah, drink a sip of your 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:46.000 beverage every time I bring that up. You might also 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:49.160 remember that Georgia is where Trump pressured the Secretary of 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:52.960 State to find votes for him in an attempt to 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:57.480 rewrite history. Mm hmm, because he lost that election. Farren Square, 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:02.080 So shame eight had really been like a long time 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:04.320 election worker in Georgia. This was something that she was 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:07.120 like known for in her community. Listening to her talk 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:10.160 about why she became an election worker, you know it. 0:08:10.280 --> 0:08:12.240 She describes it as something that she did out of 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:15.160 a way to like genuinely support her community. She talks 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:16.920 about how there are a lot of older folks in 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:19.560 your community, and working as a poll worker felt like 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:21.520 a way to give back to the elders in her 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:24.120 in her town. Um. You you can just tell when 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:27.119 she's describing this that it's something that she feels felt 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:30.760 a lot of pride about. During Fulton County was meant 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:32.920 to have a shortage of election workers because of COVID, 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:36.440 and so Sha recruited her sixty two year old mother, Ruby, 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:39.319 who was a retired nine one one operator, to also 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:41.800 serve as an election worker. And Yeah, it just was 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:44.600 clear that This was something that these women were really 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:46.920 excited to be sort of doing what they saw as 0:08:46.920 --> 0:08:49.640 their civic duty to support their their community, that they 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:52.960 talk about it with such reverence and pride. In an 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:57.720 attempt to cast doubt on the election, which Trump legitimately lost, 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:03.319 that's number two. Trump and his henchman Rudy Giuliani repeatedly 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:06.920 named Ruby and Shay, both black women, as election workers 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:09.920 who were rigging the election in favor of Biden. Now 0:09:10.000 --> 0:09:11.400 I don't think I need to tell you this was 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:16.280 just an outright baseless lie. But this lie basically destroyed 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:17.680 their lives. And I want to get into a little 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:20.440 bit of how it started and where it came from. 0:09:20.440 --> 0:09:24.000 On December three, lawyer working for the Trump campaign obtained 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:26.880 security video from election night from the State Farm Arena 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:30.840 and Georgia. It showed election workers and pole counters, including 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:34.440 Ruby and Shay, just doing their jobs like exactly what 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:37.319 you I know, how dare they well? I mean, yeah, 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:38.960 we all know what they were doing in there. They 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:44.400 were they were making votes up for Joe Byron. If you, 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:47.560 if you believe Rudy Giulietti, that is exactly what was 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:51.080 going on. This lawyer brought the video to a Georgia 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:54.440 State Senate committee, saying that it showed someone who quote 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:57.720 had the name Ruby across her shirt somewhere finding a 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:01.800 suitcase full of ballots underneath the ta able. Again, I 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:03.200 don't really think I need to tell you that this 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:07.240 is all complete bullshit. The video just showed election workers 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:09.080 who were told to pack up for the night, so 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:11.920 they're putting the ballots away, not in suitcases. There's no 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:15.040 suitcases in this video. It's just like the normal ballot boxes. 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:17.880 They put these ballot boxes away, and then later they're told, 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:20.040 actually go ahead and we start to vote count, don't 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:22.280 wait until the morning. And so that's what they did. 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:26.439 It's just a hum drum normal video of people doing 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:30.720 their fucking jobs. I just love to like all these 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:33.600 conspiracy theories that come with the like come from the right. 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:36.720 They all have this like Looney Tunes depiction of how 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:39.880 like reality works, like and it's in a leather suitcase 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:42.959 with ballots shooting out this side. This thing was tacked 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:46.760 to the gills, like really a suitcase, Like what does 0:10:46.800 --> 0:10:50.280 that even mean? It's so how someone who was writing 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:54.400 a bad movie would script like like election rigging, like 0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:57.600 being passed a suitcase under a table, like even like 0:10:57.600 --> 0:11:01.280 a briefcase is such a like weird thing to say 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:04.720 that that was in use um for election rigging. Later, 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:08.640 Juliani talks about how it was involved like USB drives 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:13.000 and like, you know, staging a phony pipe pipe breaking 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:15.199 in the in the vote count center. You know, it's 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:17.840 like it's so over the top and cartoony. But I 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:21.120 do think that that is what these people think actually 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:23.480 happens in real life, That real life works like a 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:26.920 goddamn episode of dark Wing Duck. I mean, it would 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:29.200 explain some of the logic that they used to try 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:32.440 and like overturn elections or most people like what the 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:35.520 funk was that? Just like I don't know, I think, 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:38.200 maybe call a bunch of goons to the capitol and 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:41.480 then it will work out. Let's just try it, you know, 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:44.520 you never know, you never know. So the video of 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:47.160 these election workers, including Ruby and Shay, starts making its 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:51.600 way online through this really gross cottage industry of like 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:55.920 right wing extremists blogs and media sites, and once it's 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:59.160 in that online pipeline, it's everywhere. It doesn't matter that 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:03.439 this video was like immediately debunked by Georgia's Secretary of State, 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:07.120 like immediately, once it's out there, it's out there. And 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:09.560 this is where we really get like a big vector 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:12.400 of lies about the women, which is a website called 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:16.440 the Gateway Pundit. Have you ever heard of this? Oh yeah, real, 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:23.040 real place where you poison your brain with nonsense. Absolutely so. 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:25.960 The Gateway Pundit is an extremist right wing media site. 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:28.920 Research from the University of Washington Center for and Informed 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:31.360 Public found that the Gateway Pundit was the second most 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:35.560 prolific purveyor of election misinformation on Twitter in the late months. 0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:40.520 So just a real place where if you want complete 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:44.319 fictions to be amplified to millions of people, that's your site. 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:48.600 M hmmmm, I mean yeah, it's it's they're soothing bedtime 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:51.280 stories for panicked white people who are not ready for 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:54.720 the status quo to be upended. Sounds exactly the same 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:57.480 day that that lawyer for Trump sends that video saying 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:00.280 that he thinks that it includes election tampering. The Way 0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:03.880 Public publish as an article the first article that disseminates 0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:06.080 the video, and a story that was promoted under the 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:10.360 headline huge in all caps. Video footage from Georgia show 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:13.439 suitcase is filled with ballots pulled up from under a 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:18.199 table after supervisor told GOP poll workers to leave tabulation 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:20.920 center right, and so that's the first time that this 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:25.400 video kind of hits the online space in a big way. 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:29.040 The Gateway Pundit then calls Ruby out by first and 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:32.480 last name writing on the site. Her name is Ruby Freeman, 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:35.320 and she made the mistake of advertising her purse on 0:13:35.400 --> 0:13:37.640 her desk the same night that she was involved in 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:42.120 voter fraud on a all caps massive scale. Her t 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:45.400 search says Lady Ruby, and her purse says La Ruby, 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:48.160 which is her company. This was not a very smart move. 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:51.120 Her company is called La Ruby's Unique Treasures. It's on 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:54.360 her LinkedIn page. Maybe the Georgia Police or Bill Bars 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:56.760 d o J may want to pay Ruby Freeman a 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:00.360 visit um. The article concludes with an image of her 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:04.360 with a banner that says all caps read lettering crook 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:10.480 gets caught. Oh boy, yeah, that's uh, that's you already 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:13.400 know that's bad news. I mean knowing to like this 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:17.640 online trash, to like Fox News or news Max pipeline. 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:20.480 It's like it always you can always write like link 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:24.000 every Tucker or handy thing, and it's always going to 0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:28.200 start off with some weird non kernel of lie uh 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:32.080 that's posted online exactly, and so that's I think that 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:34.720 this exactly what you just said. I feel like the 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:38.000 way that this video moved through the online right wing 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:41.720 blog a sphere digital ecosystem really gives us an idea 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:44.120 of exactly what you're talking about, right, how this sort 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:47.760 of digital ecosystem works. Like it started with Gateway Pundit, 0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:52.080 then it goes to O A N, then Trump starts 0:14:52.200 --> 0:14:54.840 amplifying it on his Twitter, right, and so like it 0:14:54.920 --> 0:14:57.360 starts in this like really kind of what should be 0:14:57.400 --> 0:14:59.600 like a fringe site, even though Gateway Pundit did get 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:01.760 White House credentials when Trump was an office. But then 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:04.760 it ends up with Trump amplifying the video that he 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:08.400 got from Gateway Pundit and then Box News talking about it, right, 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:11.120 and so it really doesn't move through this like shitty 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:22.520 pipeline of extremist right wing garbage. So just three days 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:26.840 after Gateway Punditt publishes this, Ruby starts getting harassed and 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:29.040 people are showing up outside of her door and she's 0:15:29.080 --> 0:15:30.880 really scared. I'm gonna play a little clip of a 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:33.640 nine one one call that she made grabbing ham and 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:38.160 terrorist great herbans hairs, an harassing phone called and emails 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:41.680 and they came out and made a police report. Um 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:45.360 yesterday and nast night about time. Minutes after night, somebody 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:47.960 was a bamon on the door. And now somebody's bammon 0:15:48.040 --> 0:15:53.560 on the door. Can't call any screaming he's there, bammin 0:15:53.600 --> 0:16:03.880 on the door, right, crying to a bamon on the door. No, 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:12.720 they are an the wayman, Oh god. So I mean, 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:20.920 she sounds terrified. It's heartbreaking. And this is like a 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:24.840 sixtysomething year old woman, you know, who's making this call 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:27.240 because people are banging on the doors of her house 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:28.840 in the middle of the night and she doesn't know 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:32.840 what to do. It is terrifying mm hmm. And I 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:35.000 think what's also really important to point out here is 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:39.600 the ways that Trump and his cronies specifically used racism 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:42.720 and misogyny to fuel this lie. Like, I don't think 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:45.520 that this lie would have worked the same way had 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:47.800 Ruby and her daughter not been black women. And I 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:50.280 think if we didn't have a digital media climate kind 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:53.600 of ready and willing to validate and amplify the worst 0:16:53.840 --> 0:16:56.360 racist lies about black women who we already know are 0:16:56.400 --> 0:17:00.320 disproportionately harmed by things like disinformation and harassment and conspiracy series. 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:02.200 I don't think it would have worked the same way, 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:04.439 and I think that you saw that in a lot 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:08.680 of the way that Trump and his allies talked about 0:17:08.720 --> 0:17:10.560 these women. I'm gonna play another clip for you from 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:13.760 Rudy Giuliani. I apologize for making you listen to his voice. 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:18.040 Take earlier in the day of Ruby Freeman and Shae Freeman, 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:23.199 Mars and one other gentleman quite obviously surreptitiously passing around 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:27.520 USB ports as if they are vials of heroin or cocaine. 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:31.520 I mean, it's our it's it's obvious to anyone who's 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:35.520 a criminal investigator or prosecutor. They're engaged in surreptitious and 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:39.200 illegal activity again that day and after a week ago, 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:44.280 and they're still walking around Georgia. Why should have been 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:48.680 they should have been uh should been questioned already? There 0:17:48.680 --> 0:17:51.400 are places of work, their homes should have been searched 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:56.040 for evidence of balance, for ellis, evidence of USB ports, 0:17:56.040 --> 0:18:00.159 for evidence of voter fraud. Oh so, so they the 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:05.480 USB port, what you put the USB drive into Yes, 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:08.480 isn't it interesting how earlier you were like, wow, pretty 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:12.240 weird that their claims of voter fraud involved like briefcases. 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:15.120 That's pretty cartoony. And now he's saying that they're passing 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:18.840 USB drives back and forth to each other like vials 0:18:18.840 --> 0:18:20.760 of heroin. And then he says that their house should 0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:25.199 be searched for USB ports, like like, which is it? 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:29.040 Is it like a super high tech USB enabled voter 0:18:29.200 --> 0:18:32.320 theft or is it briefcases full of ballots? I'm just saying, 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:35.639 like I'm I'm more getting angry as like a nerd 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:41.000 who likes technology. The port is the opening in which 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:45.760 you would insert some kind of USB cable or thumb drive. 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:50.120 That's like being like and they had outlets that they 0:18:50.160 --> 0:18:52.679 were passing around. It's like, well, is it the plug 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:54.680 or what are you talking about the thing that goes 0:18:54.720 --> 0:18:56.560 into what you're I think what you mean is a 0:18:56.680 --> 0:18:59.520 USB drive. So, aside from getting hung up on that, 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:04.480 the like you're saying, this is just so common with 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:07.679 with these like right wing people, because we already get it, 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:11.520 like we know you're anti black racists. That's that's that's 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:14.119 completely clear. And all of the legislation and the like 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:17.200 the rhetoric that's being used. But to even like evoke 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:20.560 like the drug war, to put these women in the 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:23.640 context of the drug war, because that was absolutely he's 0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:26.800 referring to a hand to hand crack deal or some ship, 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:30.480 you know what I mean. And he's basically saying, Okay, 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:35.159 black people, you know they're shady because of drugs. Therefore, 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:38.200 what the funk were they doing with those USB ports? 0:19:38.240 --> 0:19:40.720 You see, it rights itself and it's this like really 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:44.720 cheap way that allows this racism to just casually continue 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:46.600 because it's like, all right, tick that box, tick that box, 0:19:46.640 --> 0:19:50.720 Yet black people yep, yep, that's enough for me. Exactly 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:54.240 like the way that he so casually evokes the like 0:19:54.359 --> 0:19:56.960 the drug the drug war, I think it's meant to 0:19:56.960 --> 0:19:59.640 be like, y'all know how black people are. There's never 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:03.960 there's why would you You're already basically accusing these women 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:07.760 of vote tampering. Why are you then also evoking drugs? 0:20:07.840 --> 0:20:09.879 These women are not like that. That's it just it 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:13.240 just goes to show how when it comes to racism, 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:17.400 exactly like you said, it's these seemingly disparate things gloamed 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:20.119 together just to be like, just by virtue of this 0:20:20.160 --> 0:20:22.680 being a black person, something shady is going on, my 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:25.639 virtue of their presence, like he could have said. And 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:28.280 then you see in the video handing each other usb 0:20:28.480 --> 0:20:31.800 ports like it was the wire or something. You know 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:33.959 what I mean, that's basically what he's saying, you know, 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:37.520 and that's just hasn't seen the wire. He's not. He's not, 0:20:38.040 --> 0:20:40.359 but I'm saying, yeah, of course not. But I'm saying 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:44.600 that's the shorthand that it's evoking, which is essentially to say, look, 0:20:44.760 --> 0:20:48.120 we're so racist, we can't even imagine black people committing 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:51.040 this kind of crime of voter fraud. So let me 0:20:51.119 --> 0:20:54.240 dumb it down to something that are like our culture 0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:57.400 has rammed down your throats as to what black people are, 0:20:57.480 --> 0:21:00.840 which are drug dealers or gang members. So let me 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:04.960 re contextualize this voter fraud in this very neat trope 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:08.560 that you're already used to having, like no thought cliches 0:21:08.560 --> 0:21:12.920 that you just immediately say yes to. And that's how yeah, 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:15.639 and it's and it's it's sad how quickly that momentum 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:18.080 moves because people really they just need a reason to 0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:22.159 act out, like act on their racist beliefs exactly. And 0:21:22.200 --> 0:21:25.840 so obviously these women were not passing a USB drive 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:28.280 back and forth, but they were actually passing each other 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:31.760 was a piece of ginger candy. So what Giuliani was saying, 0:21:31.800 --> 0:21:35.240 which is complete bs. Yeah. You might also remember that 0:21:35.320 --> 0:21:38.520 infamous phone call where Trump called Georgia's Secretary of State 0:21:38.560 --> 0:21:42.480 Brad Raethvensburger, asking him to find votes. In that call, 0:21:42.840 --> 0:21:45.800 he evoked Ruby Freeman by name. Here's what he said. 0:21:47.040 --> 0:21:53.119 We had at least eighteen thousand that's so unpaid. We 0:21:53.160 --> 0:21:59.440 had him counted very eight thousand voters having to do 0:21:59.520 --> 0:22:03.159 with the roomy Freeman. That's she's a vote scammer, a 0:22:03.200 --> 0:22:09.760 professional vote scammer, and hustlers. So he calls her a 0:22:09.760 --> 0:22:14.200 professional vote scammer, which and hustler. And I think even 0:22:14.400 --> 0:22:16.600 kind of like what Miles was saying, the language that 0:22:16.640 --> 0:22:20.800 he uses to talk about her a hustler, a professional scammer, 0:22:20.880 --> 0:22:23.520 like it really hearkens back to this, I guess, a 0:22:23.640 --> 0:22:28.439 really specific and well worn trope about black women that 0:22:28.520 --> 0:22:31.440 I think he's really, in a kind of a savvy way, 0:22:31.480 --> 0:22:33.639 trying to hearken back to, like, oh, you know how 0:22:33.680 --> 0:22:39.520