WEBVTT - Weaponizing Ignorance 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:14.760 Good morning, Peepsen, and welcome to Okay Daily with Meet 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:19.680 your Girl Danielle Moody. Recording from the Long Island Bunker. Folks, 0:00:19.680 --> 0:00:23.040 I'm really excited to bring this episode to you today 0:00:23.160 --> 0:00:27.080 with John Idarola, who is the host of the Damage Report, 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:30.000 which is a part of the Young Turk's Network. Because 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:33.320 you know, John and I go through a host of 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:36.639 headlines that we've been inundated with, but one of them 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:41.239 I want to really lift up today, which is my 0:00:41.479 --> 0:00:46.479 absolute and total fucking aggravation with the way in which 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:50.720 the media continues to cover mass shootings, particularly those that 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:55.920 are directed and targeted at marginalized communities. So, whether it 0:00:56.040 --> 0:00:58.960 was the shooting that took place only six months ago 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:04.560 in Buffalo where several black shoppers lost their lives at 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:08.920 the grocery store there, whether it is you know what 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:14.280 just happened in Colorado at Club Q and LGBTQ Club 0:01:14.720 --> 0:01:18.800 where five people were murdered and several more injured by 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:23.640 a shooter that was subdued, thankfully by very brave patrons 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:27.959 of the club. You know, I'm just tired of listening 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:31.080 to the fucking media say, well, we don't have all 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:33.000 of the details yet, so we don't know if it 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:35.880 was a hate crime. If you are going into a 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:39.760 fucking gay establishment and shooting it up and passing by 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:42.240 a whole host of other bars in places that you 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:45.200 could go to, what else are we supposed to fucking infer? 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:49.560 And also if you don't leave behind a manifesto, as 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:52.920 was the case with the Buffalo shooter, but it is 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:55.760 all black people that are shot and killed, or all 0:01:56.400 --> 0:01:59.320 Asian people that are shot and killed as what happened 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:02.160 at a salon a couple of months ago, as well, like, 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:06.360 are we just supposed to pretend that white supremacy, white 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:10.640 nationalist rhetoric does not have real fucking world consequences? Like 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:14.799 are we just supposed to all act as if you know, words, 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:17.360 sticks and stones may break my bones, but words don't 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:20.280 actually hurt me? Are we dumb? Because that's what I 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:24.280 think the mainstream media wants us to believe, right, is that, oh, 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:28.400 there is no real link between Rhonda Santists passing don't 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:32.400 Say gay legislation, between Greg Abbott passing anti trans and 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:37.000 anti LGBTQ legislation and criminalizing parents that want to have 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:41.359 and create an environment of affirmation for their trans child 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:45.040 and the violence that we are seeing on the rise. 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:49.360 Do we think that there's no correlation between Donald Trump 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:53.040 referring to African nations as shit whole countries between that 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:57.400 Trump administration referring to COVID nineteen as kung flu and 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:02.680 then you seeing the escalation and anti black and anti Asian. Hey, Like, 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:05.399 I'm just sick of the bullshit, and I'm sick of 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:09.040 us allowing the media to continue to lie to us 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:13.560 and place it on us in the vein of neutrality, Like, 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:16.160 oh well, we need to get all of the fucking facts. 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:18.440 Here are the facts, and let me make them really 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:22.520 fucking clear. The facts are these. The facts are that 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:27.920 the Republican Party has become a white supremacist stronghold. That 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:30.959 is who their base is, that is who their people are. 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:34.320 That white evangelical Christians that they hold up as this 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:37.960 religious sort. Would rather vote for a man in Georgia 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:42.640 who has repeatedly gotten abortions and paid for abortions for 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:47.120 his girlfriends, couldn't pull together two sentences from the Bible 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:50.200 if his life depended on it, as opposed to voting 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:54.840 for an actual reverend who preaches at the same church 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:59.080 that Martin Luther King Junior did right. So it's this 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:03.520 idea we are supposed to allow all of the facts 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:06.320 to come in and the chips to fall before we 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:11.400 recognize that there are direct consequences between Marjorie Taylor Green 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:16.120 and the Republican Party referring to queer people as groomers 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:19.200 and pedophiles and then acts of violence that are taken 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:24.120 out against that same community. Are you dumb? Right? And 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:27.040 so that's kind of my feeling when I'm watching the 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:30.480 news and I was doing so, you know, with my mom, 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:33.920 and she was just like, I mean, does everyone need 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:37.520 to walk in shooting and saying like anti Semitic slurs 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:40.760 in order for us to recognize that there is anti 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:44.440 Jewish attacks that are on the rise. Do you need 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:47.599 to have the N word literally tattooed on somebody's body 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:52.320 to recognize again that they are rabid racist? Like, I'm 0:04:52.400 --> 0:05:01.200 just so fucking tired of not providing contacts, not connecting 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:06.200 the dots, and thinking that somehow you are unbiased. These 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:12.400 journalists have a responsibility to tell audiences the fucking truth, 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:16.920 to let them know that there is direct consequences between 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:20.960 the rise and political violent rhetoric that is coming from 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:24.000 only one goddamn party in this country. It is not 0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:28.000 a both sides issue because you do not see Democrats 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:32.640 ever or hear Democrats ever other than referring to the 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:36.280 actions that this party is taking as authoritarian and fascist, 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:40.080 because they are right. But I'm not going to pretend 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:43.279 that the ship that Donald Trump said while he was president, 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:45.479 that the ship that you hear in the legislation that 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:49.600 is being passed that is trying to erase black Indigenous 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:52.839 people of color, that is trying to erase LGBTQ people 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:57.479 from our classrooms, from our societies at large, is not 0:05:57.680 --> 0:06:01.600 directly correlated to the violence that is happening against these communities. 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:06.919 That's just bullshit, right. The danger that we have here, folks, 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:11.800 is people not holding these political leaders accountable and saying 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:14.480 that what they're offering in the way of their thoughts 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:17.680 and prayers are enough. If it was, folks, then there 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:20.600 wouldn't have been a series of fucking mass shootings that 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:23.640 have happened between May with the Buffalo shooting and what 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:27.160 just happened at Club Q right like, there just wouldn't 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:30.599 have been slew. And I'm tired of the lies because 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:34.400 they are actually costing people their fucking lives and somebody 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:38.320 on top of the gun manufacturers need to be held 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:42.080 accountable for that. So John Iderola and I will get 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:47.320 into a larger conversation about rhetoric about the mainstream media 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:50.479 and about the Republican Party and where in fact Kevin 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:55.440 McCarthy is going to fall in the elevation of members 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:59.600 of Congress like Marjorie Taylor Green and others. That conversation 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:06.800 is coming up next, folks. I am very excited to 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:11.200 welcome to Okay f for the very first time the 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:15.400 host of the Damage Report, John Idarola, who is part 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:19.760 of the Young Turk's network and is daily daily you 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:22.520 can find him breaking down all of the threats that 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:26.240 we are facing in our country and the world. John, welcome, 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:32.120 Thank you. So So where to begin? You know, it's 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:34.280 like what part of the sewer would you like to 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:38.840 dive into first that I refer to as our democracy. 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:43.520 I think where I want to start is with the 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:50.440 umpteenth mass shooting that we have now has all come 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:54.640 on our radar, that took place in Colorado. Colorado has 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:59.800 been the been ground zero for multiple mass shootings that 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:03.000 make headlub that have made headlines over the years. This 0:08:03.080 --> 0:08:09.360 one at Club Q and LGBTQ plus nightclub. Five people 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:13.960 are dead. I believe over fifteen or some odd had 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:18.679 been shot and injured. Thank god, the gunman was taken 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:22.200 down by patrons inside of the club that were able 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:27.200 to hold them until police arrived. Let me just ask you, 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:32.199 you know, another headline, another shooting. What do you make 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:36.719 of this? Yeah? Well so, yeah, I don't know how 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:39.720 many of these you've had to cover in your career, 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:43.120 but yeah, they're pretty much constant. And the thing that's 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:46.560 most amazing about these is how every one of these 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:51.720 terrible acts of violence has its own unique flavor, either 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:55.440 in geography or the particular type of establishment that was attacked, 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:59.520 or the particular group that was targeted. And yet there 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:02.640 are so many things that are almost always the same 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:06.640 between all of them. You start to feel kind of 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:09.720 sick that, you know, you know the phases that the 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:11.600 media is going to go through, you know the phases 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:13.520 that the politicians are going to go through. They're going 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:17.800 to send out the stock canned responses, and almost nothing 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:19.959 will change that will make it any less likely that 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:23.400 the same or similar sorts of attacks will happen in 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:25.160 the future. When we were talking about this on my 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:28.760 show this morning, my co host Dan Evans said that 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:34.920 he only briefly detoured due sadness before moving to rage, 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:38.200 and I said, I, you know what, honestly, I don't 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:42.040 even know that I was at sadness because I just 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:45.439 instantly felt in my gut, I know what all of 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:48.680 those who've been pushing hatred against the LGBTQ plus community 0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:51.800 are going to say. I know what those who are 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:54.280 in the pocket of like of you know, the big 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:56.640 gun manufacturers are going to do to stop any sort 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:59.560 of reforms. It just feel it makes you feel so 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:03.840 help you know. Yeah, it's just a consistent rinse and repeat, 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:06.840 and you know, and and to your co host point, 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:10.920 I don't even know. I was in bed right as 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:14.440 many people were. The alert came across, you know, my 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:17.400 phone from the New York Times, and I don't even 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:20.520 think I paused at sadness. I think that I went 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:25.200 directly into rage because what I realized is that it's 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:28.720 only been six months since the Buffalo shooting that took 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:33.520 place at the supermarket in Buffalo, where a white supremacist 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:38.120 went in and killed supermarket shoppers, black supermarket shoppers on 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:41.120 a Saturday morning for no other reason than they were 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:44.000 black and had the audacity to you know, be living. 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:49.360 Then fast forward and we had classroom of children killed. 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:53.800 Then we had people picked off at the parade. Right 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:57.040 They're out at a you know, at an Independence Day 0:10:57.160 --> 0:11:00.360 parade and they were shot from you know, from the 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:05.880 roofs I just like, I don't know how we're supposed 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:10.800 to continue to have these conversations in media without actually 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:15.360 drawing attention to the fact that what you say, the 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:20.480 rhetoric that these right wing politicians have have real world consequences, 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:25.080 and every time that someone like us says these things, 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:28.960 we're told now is not the time. Now is not 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:33.079 the time John for us to make logical connection of dots. 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:37.160 So what do you make of that pushback of now 0:11:37.280 --> 0:11:41.240 is not the time or you know, Lauren Bobert she 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:44.120 also sent out tweeted out her thoughts and prayers on 0:11:44.160 --> 0:11:46.960 the issue. This is the one who everyone knows who 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:51.200 had a restaurant where the servers carried nine millimeters on 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:55.480 their hips, and she's tweeting out her thoughts and prayers 0:11:55.600 --> 0:12:00.000 on top of hoping that you know, our national school 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:03.560 curriculum would turn into Florida, which is notorious now for 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:08.240 the don't say gay bill. Yeah, yeah, Lauren Bobert, who 0:12:08.679 --> 0:12:10.679 I defy anyone to find a photo of her with 0:12:10.760 --> 0:12:14.240 her family that doesn't involve at least two a R fifteens. Yeah, 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:18.679 she hates the community. She loves guns. That's it. That's 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:20.720 what she's going to do. She put out a statement 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:26.880 like ostensibly condemning the violence. Everyone should go look at 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:29.760 that tweet and you tell me who was attacked, because 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:32.680 you can't tell from the tweets she sent out. Who's 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:35.560 to say what community was being targeted in this? She's 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:38.280 certainly not going to say that, because then the line 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:42.240 between who was attacked and the sorts of hate speech 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:46.840 that she's been encouraging would be all too clear. Yeah, 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:49.920 she's been an active participant in this. They all thought 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:52.480 it was fun in games. The base lows it when 0:12:52.480 --> 0:12:55.280 you demonize people and you declare that your enemies are 0:12:55.679 --> 0:13:00.600 our groomers. This quannonization of Republican politics, where everyone disagree 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:03.920 with wants to murder and or sexually assault your child, 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:07.599 ye disgusting and it has clear consequences. I'm glad that 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:10.240 you pointed out in Buffalo, but there was also the 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:13.600 Walmart shooting in ye Passo. There were the women that 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:16.000 were the Asian women that were killed in the SPA. 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:23.600 Like how many incredibly clear targeting that immediately that follows 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:27.280 the hatred, whether it's over COVID nineteen or supposed caravans 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:30.240 and all that, it's just constant. And every time it happens, 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:32.640 they'll say, well, it doesn't by the way, it doesn't 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:34.760 even matter if the guy has like a manifesto, like 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:37.840 super clear record, as with the guy who tried to 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:41.120 bash in Paul Pelosi's skull. And by the way, we're 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:43.040 not supposed to make links to politics, but they can 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:47.480 start joking about this guy almost being killed. Immediately they 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:51.720 will say, well, he's just crazy. This is a crazy loaner. 0:13:51.880 --> 0:13:54.160 And I will say, and many people will say what 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:57.559 we always say, which is yes, America is a place 0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:01.120 that is filled with crazy loaners, and some of them 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:04.000 are looking to be told who to target, and that 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:07.480 Lauren Boberg is not going to take a totally sane 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:10.480 person and get that person to go shoot up a target. 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:13.880 But if they are crazy people and you fill them 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:17.640 full of conspiracy, theories about George Soros organizing Guatemalan caravans, 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:20.120 then maybe they'll pick up the gun for that. And 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:24.440 that's my fear that they are weaponizing our mental health 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:28.400 crisis for their own political ends. You know, I want 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:30.560 to stay on this for a minute because I have 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:33.720 to say too that you know, when you have the 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:36.440 likes of a Marjorie Taylor Green who stood up at 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:39.640 rally's saying that Democrats are trying to kill us, when 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:43.000 you use terms like you brought up groomer and pedophile, 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:45.880 and people are thinking to themselves, well, I have to 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:49.160 save the children, right, and I have to do whatever 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:51.640 it's going to take in order to save the children 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:53.960 if it harms a few people. I mean, this was 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:59.240 the logic behind blowing up abortion clinics, right, or shooting 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:02.040 up abortion. I have to save the children. And so 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:09.720 how do you think responsibly mainstream media makes these contextual 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:13.600 contextualizes what is happening, and makes these links in a 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:18.160 way where it's not um considered biased to tell the 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:21.920 truth that when you put cross hairs, which Sarah Palin 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:25.560 did you know years back, when you put crosshairs on 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:28.520 members of Congress, and then you turn around and be 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:31.680 surprised that they're that they're shot and all, and attempted 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:36.560 murder happened. Like I how do you make that case 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:42.080 in mainstream media these days? Yeah, I think it's difficult. 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:46.120 I think that the media is still really bad at 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:50.640 pointing out certain types of radical rhetoric and lies. They're 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:55.120 they're hesitant to declare that extremely powerful people are just 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:58.720 openly lying or openly soaking hate. They don't like to 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:01.880 do that. But at the very least they do seem 0:16:01.920 --> 0:16:05.200 to be They seem to be pretty free to declare 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:07.680 that like Marjor Green's a crazy person. They don't seem 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:10.680 to be too worried about declaring that she's insane, or 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:13.240 Paul Gosara is saying something dangerous, or Matt Gates is 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:16.880 a creep. They'll do that, So that's important. People need 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:20.640 to understand who these people are. Putting their current statements 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:22.640 in the context of things they've said and done in 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:25.160 the past can be useful. But I also think that 0:16:25.200 --> 0:16:27.520 at least this isn't gonna work in every area. But 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:30.520 one thing they can do to disarm these sorts of 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:34.640 attacks is to make it so that a fairly ignorant 0:16:34.720 --> 0:16:37.920 nation ignorant when it comes to certain communities, isn't ignorant. 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:41.680 It's easier to demonize the trans community if the only 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:43.880 thing people have heard about the trans community has come 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:48.480 from a transphobic YouTuber. And there's a reason that I 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:51.520 think that they're focusing on the trans community because other 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:56.520 areas of the LGBTQ plus community aren't as unknown, aren't 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:59.200 as hidden in the shadows as they were ten years 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:01.680 ago when the Republics would have just been demonizing them. 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:05.119 The trans community is still relatively new because there's not 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:08.439 a lot of representation in media or on the news. 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:12.160 Look at the conflation of the culture of drag queens 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:14.840 with the trans community. The media would make sure that 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:18.359 people understand that the being a drag queen is not 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:21.600 the same as being trans. It isn't necessarily a statement 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:24.240 about your sexuality at all. It is a culture, it's 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:28.200 not a sexual thing. And so if America knew more 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:30.720 about these communities, they might be a little bit more 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:39.399 resistant to weaponizing the ignorance against these communities. I think, John, 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:43.760 you're making too much sense, and clearly you're making you're 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:46.119 making too much sense on the ways in which you 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:50.199 know the media can actually educate audiences. But speaking of 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:56.719 folks who weaponize ignorance, let's talk about Kevin McCarthy and 0:17:56.960 --> 0:17:59.879 the fact that he is about to get the gavel back. 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:02.600 You know, if he can make it out of getting 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:06.080 two hundred and eighteen other rabid Republicans to vote for 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:08.959 him to be Speaker of the House again. You know, 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:14.280 he is taking his direction from Marjorie Taylor Green, he 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:18.560 is taking his direction from Jim Jordan and other members 0:18:18.560 --> 0:18:23.600 of the Freedom Caucus. So what do you perceive as 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:29.160 Kevin McCarthy's, you know, next reign as as House Speaker. 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:32.800 How do you think that that is going to unfold? Yeah, 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:35.640 I mean, look, I'm waiting to see how crazy we're 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:37.359 going to get as a nation. I mean, we know 0:18:37.400 --> 0:18:42.200 that like best case scenario, the baseline is pretty crazy, 0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:44.439 pretty much a waste of time of Congress for the 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:46.879 next two years, they we are going to hear way 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:50.200 more about Hunter Biden than any regular person has any 0:18:50.240 --> 0:18:52.520 interest in hearing. It's going to be a constant thing. 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:56.320 So that's going to be annoying. I'm sure that people 0:18:56.359 --> 0:19:00.080 like Anthony Fauci and Mark Garland are going to and 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:03.439 more time testifying before Jim Jordan and all that, than 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:05.919 they'd want to, and it's going to be mostly a 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:08.040 waste of time where people like Jim Jordan and others 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:10.600 are going to be just giving their little sound bites 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:13.399 so that they can spread on social media. That doesn't 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:16.600 bother me so much. I'm more bothered by the opportunity 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:21.040 cost because having one Chamber of Congress who is letting 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:23.200 you know ahead of time, but the next two years 0:19:23.200 --> 0:19:26.919 they're not going to accomplish literally anything might be fine 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:30.520 in a country that's not facing any actual crises, like 0:19:30.600 --> 0:19:32.480 if we didn't need to fix these things, if we 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:36.160 didn't need legislation, then that might be fine. But there's 0:19:36.200 --> 0:19:38.520 a lot of problems that are that are going to 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:42.400 go unfixed at least for two years. And that's unfortunate. 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:45.160 The fact that people like Marjorie Green and Paul Gossar, 0:19:45.280 --> 0:19:50.200 who thankfully were stripped of their committee positions after just 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:54.359 countless instances in social media where they spread conspiracy theories 0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:58.280 and disinformation and normalize political violence, they're going to be 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:01.040 back on their positions. So that's our country taking a 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:04.639 big step backwards. So I'm worried about all of that. 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:08.720 We'll see if we have weekly impeachments of Joe Biden, 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:13.000 or you know, God only knows what else, the raising 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:15.480 of the debt ceiling being weaponized to try to destroy 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:18.400 social security and medicare, I mean, those sorts of things. 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:20.840 When they go after these big social programs, that's where 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:23.679 I think they can do the most actual damage. And 0:20:23.720 --> 0:20:25.679 so we'll have to see how willing they are to 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:30.240 do that. They seem to think that doing as much 0:20:30.320 --> 0:20:33.800 damage as they can economically and making people's economic position 0:20:33.840 --> 0:20:36.560 as precarious as possible will benefit them going in to 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:39.399 twenty twenty four. But that's only true if they can 0:20:39.440 --> 0:20:43.119 evade some responsibility for and they will technically be in 0:20:43.240 --> 0:20:45.359 power in the House. So I think it's going to 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:47.280 be on the media and the Democrats to make sure 0:20:47.320 --> 0:20:51.160 that people understand that the Republicans are They've now they've 0:20:51.200 --> 0:20:53.800 gotten what they wanted. Okay, they caught up to the car, 0:20:54.400 --> 0:20:57.880 and now people need to understand the consequences of that. 0:20:58.000 --> 0:21:00.680 We'll see how successful they are. What do you think? 0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:04.720 You know? And my feeling is the same with regard 0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:08.960 to what the Democrats and the media needs to do, 0:21:09.040 --> 0:21:12.280 because I think that the appointments that Democrats make on 0:21:12.320 --> 0:21:14.800 these committees that are now going to be chaired by 0:21:14.920 --> 0:21:20.960 Republicans are and we're going to be constantly hammered with 0:21:21.040 --> 0:21:23.920 a circus day in and day out. Is that it's 0:21:23.920 --> 0:21:26.439 going to be up to Democrats to paint that picture, 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:29.679 to show that narrative, like, here are these people that 0:21:29.760 --> 0:21:31.560 said that they want power, and this is what they 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:34.359 are doing with it. What is the investigation of Hunter 0:21:34.400 --> 0:21:38.120 Biden's laptop doing for your day to day life? And 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:41.080 if they fact in fact come back with a comparison 0:21:41.280 --> 0:21:44.399 of well, what was January sixth, Well, you're talking about 0:21:44.440 --> 0:21:47.760 thousands of people that broke into our capitol building, defecated 0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:50.719 in the halls of democracy, and beat, you know, police 0:21:50.720 --> 0:21:53.480 officers to death. I think that that may be different 0:21:53.520 --> 0:21:57.920 than an alleged conspiracy that came out of Quranon's fantasy land. 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:03.320 But Democrats need to make that distinction, and if they don't, 0:22:03.560 --> 0:22:06.439 then we're just going to be inundated with bullshit, um 0:22:06.680 --> 0:22:10.959 for for as long as humanly possible. UM. You know. 0:22:11.160 --> 0:22:15.119 Kevin McCarthy though, on the tip in terms of getting 0:22:15.200 --> 0:22:17.760 rid of people who are crazy, which is what UH 0:22:18.200 --> 0:22:21.760 Speaker Pelosi did with Marjorie Taylor Green and Gosar. He's 0:22:21.760 --> 0:22:25.160 come out and said that he's going to strip Adam Schiff, 0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:29.879 Eric Swalwell and Ilhan Omar of their committee assignments. What 0:22:29.960 --> 0:22:34.480 do you think the pushback needs to be to that. Yeah, yeah, 0:22:34.480 --> 0:22:37.320 that'll be that'll be interesting. I mean, the Democrats in 0:22:37.359 --> 0:22:40.480 the House don't necessarily have a lot of power to 0:22:40.560 --> 0:22:44.320 do anything about that, unfortunately, I mean they can, they 0:22:44.320 --> 0:22:45.800 can try to make a big deal out of it 0:22:46.040 --> 0:22:49.720 in the media, certainly. Um. I think Elan Omar is 0:22:49.720 --> 0:22:52.440 already set and Representive Omar should say, is already saying 0:22:52.480 --> 0:22:56.120 that this is effectively under the guise of being concerned 0:22:56.160 --> 0:23:00.040 about anti Semitism. This is them attacking her for being 0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:03.520 a Muslim, for being Somali Americans. Right, It's important to 0:23:03.520 --> 0:23:06.320 make clear to those communities that these are identities that 0:23:06.320 --> 0:23:09.600 the Republicans feel one hundred percent free to attack without 0:23:09.640 --> 0:23:13.119 any fear of consequences, which is one hundred percent true. 0:23:14.160 --> 0:23:16.840 And also they would they would love to say that 0:23:16.880 --> 0:23:20.480 they're against like censorship, they want free speech. Well, I 0:23:20.520 --> 0:23:23.960 think the case of Representative Omar is a very interesting 0:23:23.960 --> 0:23:27.160 one because, look, I understand that she apologized for them 0:23:27.400 --> 0:23:29.200 the tweet that she sent out a couple of years 0:23:29.240 --> 0:23:32.680 ago about being all about the Benjamin's, but to be clear, 0:23:32.920 --> 0:23:38.679 she was talking specifically about a lobbying organization, and so like, 0:23:38.800 --> 0:23:43.000 I think, especially in the modern area, with all of 0:23:43.000 --> 0:23:48.119 the anti semitism, I think that is acceptable to tread 0:23:48.280 --> 0:23:53.199 extra carefully to avoid invoking any anti Semitic tropes in 0:23:53.200 --> 0:23:56.439 that area. I believe that that is fair. However, we 0:23:56.520 --> 0:23:58.520 also have to be free to be able to criticize 0:23:58.680 --> 0:24:01.520 a very well funded lob organization that is weighing in 0:24:01.600 --> 0:24:04.160 on many different elections and in many different issue areas, 0:24:04.560 --> 0:24:06.719 and I feel like she needs to be free to 0:24:06.760 --> 0:24:10.240 do that. This is literally years ago. As many people 0:24:10.359 --> 0:24:14.240 pointed out, Representative Amor, a Republican who's now the number 0:24:14.280 --> 0:24:18.600 three amongst Republicans in the House. He said more recently 0:24:19.000 --> 0:24:23.159 that Jewish billionaires are buying the Congress for the Democrats, 0:24:23.640 --> 0:24:25.800 and yet he's not being stripped of any of his positions. 0:24:25.800 --> 0:24:28.800 So at least you could have some consistency there. Anyway, 0:24:29.000 --> 0:24:31.480 with all of the anti semitism we see coming out 0:24:31.520 --> 0:24:34.280 of the right just over the past couple of weeks, 0:24:34.960 --> 0:24:36.879 I don't think this is going to be very successful 0:24:37.040 --> 0:24:42.200 in them convincing Jewish Americans that the Democrats are against them. 0:24:42.240 --> 0:24:44.919