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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Stefan

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Speaker 1: never told you your production of iHeartRadio, And welcome back

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Speaker 1: to Samantha.

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Speaker 2: You know, my voice is like I just realized as

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Speaker 2: I'm talking to you, my voice went down.

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Speaker 3: I got by sexy sick voice.

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Speaker 4: Here we go.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, oh jeez, I almost said welcome back to Samantha

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Speaker 1: and the intro.

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Speaker 4: So this is gonna be fun.

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Speaker 1: But it is a momentous occasion because not only is

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Speaker 1: Samantha back from COVID, we are joined by the splendid,

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Speaker 1: splendiferous Brigit Todd. Always a pleasure to have you.

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Speaker 5: Oh, I'm so happy to be back. I'm happy Samantha's back.

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Speaker 5: This is your inaugural recordings since being out from COVID.

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Speaker 6: How are you.

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Speaker 2: Feeling, you know, Like I said, I've got the voice,

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Speaker 2: but I'm telling much better. This is the first time

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Speaker 2: I've ever had COVID, So that was an experience.

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Speaker 3: Not cool with your best.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, public service, like, if you can, if you're in

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Speaker 1: the crowd, do it.

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Speaker 3: I would recommend it, recommend would recommend.

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Speaker 5: Yes.

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Speaker 2: But oh y'all, I didn't get to ask you because

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Speaker 2: I got to complain a lot.

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Speaker 1: Oh, that's the benefit of you know, you got to

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Speaker 1: wait the plus side of getting COVID.

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Speaker 4: Then the benefit is to complain.

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Speaker 3: I've been waiting to tell you all the als.

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Speaker 6: I almost died complaining and watching lots of TV.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that was my big when I got COVID. I remember,

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Speaker 1: like I went to shock at first, and I was like,

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Speaker 1: but the soup though.

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Speaker 2: I couldn't need anything hardly. No, Yeah, that's like legitimately

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Speaker 2: like this sucks.

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Speaker 1: Well that was the because I didn't have like I

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Speaker 1: sneezed a lot. That was my symptom for like two days.

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Speaker 3: Was that's so weird. Well, how are y'all? I hope

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Speaker 3: you were healthy?

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Speaker 4: Yes, I am good.

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Speaker 1: I'm getting actually the updated COVID vaccine to day vaccine

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Speaker 1: because Bridget who unfortunately has technical difficulties and we can't see.

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Speaker 1: We're going to Las Vegas this week.

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Speaker 5: That's right for the iHeart Music Festival. Look out, Las Vegas.

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Speaker 6: Look out.

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Speaker 4: Threatening I mean like not like okay.

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Speaker 5: We're gonna like do engaging podcasts in your city, Las Vegas,

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Speaker 5: and look out for that, not.

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Speaker 1: Like okay, okay, yeah, we're doing some podcasts there. It's

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Speaker 1: gonna be fun. Samantha is going on a birthday vacation time.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I am missing out, like the first time in

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Speaker 2: the years that they asked us to do something.

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Speaker 3: I'm like, yeah, no, I'm going to go to the

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Speaker 3: opposite but thanks for asking.

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Speaker 6: I'll be on the other coast.

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Speaker 1: I like that, but thanks for asking. But yes, I'm

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Speaker 1: excited to see Bridget in person. And yeah, I'm trying

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Speaker 1: to not get COVID there, so we'll see how that goes.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, because you have more, you have other Plians coming out.

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Speaker 4: I do.

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Speaker 1: I'm going to Orlando because I love a good haunted

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Speaker 1: house and I love the Last of Us and there's

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Speaker 1: a Last of Us Haunted house, so's.

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Speaker 6: It's like Last of Us themed.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, yes, my god, you're gonna that's that's up all

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Speaker 5: that's like made in a lab for you, and I know,

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Speaker 5: I know it is.

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Speaker 2: I've already seen like TikTok videos that I've had to

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Speaker 2: send her to like oh my god responses.

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Speaker 3: I can't wait.

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Speaker 4: I might die of excitement.

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Speaker 3: Oh my god, how are you, Bridget.

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Speaker 6: Yes, I'm doing well, looking forward to Vegas. Also hoping

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Speaker 6: I don't get sick.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, just I think I just need to like stay

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Speaker 5: in until my flight, just like, don't leave my house

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Speaker 5: just because now I'm now I'm like very nervous, but

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Speaker 5: hopefully it'll be all good. And yeah, I'm excited to

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Speaker 5: hear more about this last of us haunted house after

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Speaker 5: you go give us a full report. Oh oh, I

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Speaker 5: love scary well, I like that. I like titillated. There

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Speaker 5: there can be a line where it's like too scary,

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Speaker 5: so it has to be. It's a little bit of

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Speaker 5: a finding the right balance vibe for me. I enjoy

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Speaker 5: spooky things. I enjoy hobble mean, I enjoy haunted houses,

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Speaker 5: but if it's too scary, then I'm like no longer

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Speaker 5: enjoying it.

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Speaker 6: So it has to be just the right mits.

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Speaker 3: So you don't mind being chased.

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Speaker 5: I don't mind being chased. I went to a haunted

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Speaker 5: house last Halloween, and for some reason, you know, the

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Speaker 5: like performers who chase you. There was a guy with

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Speaker 5: a chainsaw who for some reason was like, I'm going

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Speaker 5: to chase her, and I.

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Speaker 3: Spent the whole one.

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Speaker 6: I spent the whole haunted house. I basically was like.

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Speaker 5: Like worked out. Essentially, this guy was chasing me the

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Speaker 5: whole time.

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Speaker 1: See I used to dude, there's like a key to

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Speaker 1: get them to pick you. There's a couple like if

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Speaker 1: you want them to pick you as the person. And

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Speaker 1: I used to like play that up because I liked

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Speaker 1: being scared so much.

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Speaker 6: What do you do if you want to be picked?

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Speaker 1: Uh? There are a couple of things. One of the

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Speaker 1: big ones is where color. They can see pretty well

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Speaker 1: in the dark. Another one is I don't usually do

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Speaker 1: this one, but if you're like really funny being scared,

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Speaker 1: if you're like really over the top being scared, they

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Speaker 1: will target.

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Speaker 2: This is why I don't go to them because I

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Speaker 2: know my my reaction will say everything and then they'll

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Speaker 2: pick on me.

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Speaker 3: And I'm gonna fight somebody.

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Speaker 4: You know, that's fair.

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Speaker 3: I'm a fight or fight girl and apparently I fight.

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Speaker 4: Hey, hey, at least you know it.

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Speaker 3: I'm not fast enough, it depends.

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Speaker 4: It depends.

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Speaker 3: I tip somebody.

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Speaker 4: I have faith in you.

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Speaker 3: I'm maneuver my way.

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Speaker 2: I said that, this is my thing is like if

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Speaker 2: I would have to do the like trips some I'm sorry,

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Speaker 2: I would be the villain and set someone up to

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Speaker 2: I can survive.

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Speaker 4: Intead.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, yeah, that's fine.

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Speaker 3: That's fine.

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Speaker 2: Old host Caroline and I get along really well because

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Speaker 2: we have our apocalypse plan is that she's just going

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Speaker 2: to give up.

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Speaker 3: So that's my decoy to survive, using her giving.

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Speaker 6: Up to be a final girl. No matter what, I'm

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Speaker 6: taking it to the end of this, of this situation.

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Speaker 3: I'm like, I will not be the minority that gets killed.

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Speaker 4: I like that. You've got a plan. We have to

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Speaker 4: make sure I'm with Carolina. I think that's the first plan.

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Speaker 3: Yes, Happylloween.

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Speaker 1: We do have a quite horrifying thing to discuss today.

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Speaker 3: Horrifying or is it like survivor exciting?

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Speaker 1: Well, yeah, but transition wise, this is a very scary

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Speaker 1: thing to talk about.

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Speaker 4: You gotta play along with my transition.

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Speaker 6: That I've lived for. Your masterful transitions are so good.

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Speaker 4: Thank you.

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Speaker 1: I will lay awake at night and be like, how

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Speaker 1: can I do this? Just so you know, there's a

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Speaker 1: lot of work going on behind the curtains here.

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Speaker 3: She's been staring at this waiting for it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, oh, all the time. But yes, can you tell

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Speaker 1: us what we are talking about today, Bridget Yes.

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Speaker 5: So, folks probably by now have seen in the news

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Speaker 5: that former President Trump and eighteen of his associates are

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Speaker 5: facing charges for violating Georgia's Racketeering, Influence and Corrupt Organizations

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Speaker 5: or REICHO act, basically when you are doing some like

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Speaker 5: organized crime like mob style activities. Georgia, as I'm sure

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Speaker 5: y'all know, take that very seriously. And these are related

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Speaker 5: to schemes to try to keep Trump in office after

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Speaker 5: he lost the election. So a big piece of these

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Speaker 5: charges stem from the way that Trump and his associate

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Speaker 5: Rudy Giuliani basically claimed that two black women poll workers,

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Speaker 5: a mother daughter duo, Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss had

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Speaker 5: tampered with votes. Now that has been time and time again,

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Speaker 5: like on the official record, these women have been cleared

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Speaker 5: of wrongdoing, and that did not stop Trump and Juliani

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Speaker 5: from baselessly, repeatedly and publicly putting them in danger by

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Speaker 5: lying about them. And so I really see this story

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Speaker 5: as like a culmination of so many of the things

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Speaker 5: that I talk about on my own pod. You know

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Speaker 5: what happens when racism and sexism just run unchecked online

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Speaker 5: and really creates the conditions for dangerous lies about black

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Speaker 5: women to find a welcome home where they can be

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Speaker 5: amplified and legitimized. In this case, those lies threatened democracy

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Speaker 5: for all of us. And so I think that there's

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Speaker 5: so much really meaty reporting going on about what's happening

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Speaker 5: with these charges related to Trump, But I think it's

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Speaker 5: important that the story of these women does not go

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Speaker 5: overlooked or does not go missed, because at its heart,

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Speaker 5: it is about how these people used their positions and

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Speaker 5: their power to baselessly smear like two people who hadn't

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Speaker 5: done anything wrong. And so I just think their story

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Speaker 5: and their testibility, it's just important to me to keep

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Speaker 5: making sure that we really center that and that it

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Speaker 5: doesn't get lost.

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Speaker 1: Right because, as we've talked about before, as I am

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Speaker 1: in Fulton County, that is where I vote a lot

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Speaker 1: of the times, it's mostly black women who are volunteering

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Speaker 1: at these voting places and making it run so smoothly

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Speaker 1: and doing all of these things. And to hear about

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Speaker 1: this about two people who were wanting to help their

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Speaker 1: community and did nothing wrong but being used as scapegoats

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Speaker 1: and that getting amplified in the online space and then

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Speaker 1: being kind of chased away from it, like, it's really

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Speaker 1: upsetting because that is such an important job. It's so

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Speaker 1: important to voting, and it's just just because these guys

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Speaker 1: are are jerks and liars. We're looking for someone people

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Speaker 1: that they could blame, that people would get behind them.

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Speaker 4: Blaming is really upsetting.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, and you put that exactly right.

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Speaker 5: I think that I'm really drawn to the humanity of

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Speaker 5: Ruby and Shay, but it's really it's really not just

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Speaker 5: about them and their story, because these attacks on election workers,

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Speaker 5: poll workers who are like largely women, like that's you know,

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Speaker 5: a thing, So it's definitely gendered. These attacks on them

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Speaker 5: are also attacks on democracy because if people like, if

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Speaker 5: you saw the way that Ruby and Shay were treated

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Speaker 5: and how other election workers were treated, threatened, harassed, lied about, targeted,

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Speaker 5: why would you want to do that work?

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Speaker 6: That work is not well paid.

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Speaker 5: It's not work that is like put on a pedestal

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Speaker 5: or like well protected or given a lot of respect.

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Speaker 6: It used to be, and it should be, but I'm

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Speaker 6: for it's not.

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Speaker 5: And so if regular people who are interested in like

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Speaker 5: just helping our civic process.

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Speaker 6: Move forward and move smoothly.

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Speaker 5: If those people are like, I don't want to do

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Speaker 5: this work anymore? Would I want to do this? And

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Speaker 5: the only people who are invested and interested in doing

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Speaker 5: this work are extremists. It's not good for democracy, and

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Speaker 5: so it's all like, we'll talk about some of the

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Speaker 5: findings from how this has impacted elections writ large. But yeah,

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Speaker 5: if election centers have to close because no one wants

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Speaker 5: to work them, that means that less people are going

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Speaker 5: to be able to access those polling places. Polling places

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Speaker 5: end up shutting down. The wheels of democracy are not

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Speaker 5: able to move as smoothly as they should, and democracy

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Speaker 5: is like a pretty tenuous thing. I think I never

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Speaker 5: really thought about it before, how fragile it is. How

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Speaker 5: you definitely need things to be moving smoothly, and it

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Speaker 5: doesn't really take much.

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Speaker 6: To have the whole system come crashing down.

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Speaker 2: Right, to give some context about what Fulton County is,

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Speaker 2: because we talk about Fulton County and not many of

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Speaker 2: the people outside of Georgia know what that means. We

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Speaker 2: have the funny song that talks about that's not Atlanta.

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Speaker 2: Fulton County is Atlanta, which is heavily populated with a

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Speaker 2: lot of black votes and largely amount of black communities,

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Speaker 2: one of the bluest areas, one of the reasons why

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Speaker 2: we turn blue in the first place, and after all

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Speaker 2: of the voting rights stuff that happened with our governor

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Speaker 2: trying to take away so many things, including not allowing

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Speaker 2: to give out water, not allowing people to sit, all

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Speaker 2: of these things. It was pointedly for places like Fulton

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Speaker 2: County again, especially with all the jerrymandrig and such. And

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Speaker 2: it's quite funny that people who are making such big

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Speaker 2: threats and pointing at Fulton were not from Fulton. They

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Speaker 2: are literally from outskirts where other places have been proven

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Speaker 2: to have campaign election fraud, typically from again Republican side

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Speaker 2: from the twenty twenty election that we saw, and it

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Speaker 2: was very, very very targeted for that very reason. They needed,

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Speaker 2: as you said, to target black women because we know

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Speaker 2: that for the past decades of election it has been

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Speaker 2: black women who have turned the votes and really have

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Speaker 2: made a difference in places like Georgia, which no one

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Speaker 2: ever saw ever turning blue at.

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Speaker 3: Any point in time.

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Speaker 2: And so it in that context this is a fight.

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Speaker 2: It literally was a place to start a war when

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Speaker 2: it came to elections.

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Speaker 5: I've always thought it has got to be so exhausting

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Speaker 5: to live in Fulton County because it's just like it's

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Speaker 5: you're just trying to live your life and exists, and

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Speaker 5: all these different institutional forces and like powerful figures are

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Speaker 5: trying to stop you from doing that at every turn.

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Speaker 5: And I just can't imagine what it's like to be

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Speaker 5: to live someplace that it's just like constantly the subject

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Speaker 5: of conversation and scrutiny and trickery.

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Speaker 6: It's just like it's got to be exhausting.

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Speaker 2: You know, bridget one of the first conversations you and

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Speaker 2: I ever had when we met, what's it in twenty nineteen, No,

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Speaker 2: I guess it was way before then, in twenty seventeen.

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Speaker 6: I think that's right.

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Speaker 2: You literally I asked you if you would move to Atlanta,

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Speaker 2: and you said, we already had our own stuff at Washington.

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Speaker 2: I don't I don't know if I can do it

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Speaker 2: again in Atlanta. Yeah, you have to get involved in

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Speaker 2: you it real quickly, because when you were talking about

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Speaker 2: Abram's thing at that time, and you were like, I

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Speaker 2: don't know if I can do that again.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, that was my whole thing.

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Speaker 5: There was a time where I was like, I think

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Speaker 5: I might have to move to Atlanta, and just the

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Speaker 5: idea of like, and not that DC doesn't have its problem,

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Speaker 5: but it's just like I think I have the energy.

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Speaker 3: I would have to start again.

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Speaker 2: I don't know if I can, and rightly so, it

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Speaker 2: is exhausting. And again because the crux of the work

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Speaker 2: has been done by the black community, black women. The

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Speaker 2: organization Fair Fight was created by Stacy Abrams after her

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Speaker 2: first election, and we know so many things had happened

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Speaker 2: at that point, and I'm still very bitter about that

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Speaker 2: point and really caused so much that we did become

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Speaker 2: a focal point. Georgia, specifically Fulton County became a focal

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Speaker 2: point to this point that Shay and Ruby got targeted

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Speaker 2: because they needed to find two people that they can

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Speaker 2: make as suspicious as possible that is on the side

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Speaker 2: that has been making this huge turnaround.

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Speaker 6: So I'm so glad that you put it that way.

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Speaker 5: And this is something that I think has kind of

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Speaker 5: I would say, gotten missed, but I would say has

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Speaker 5: just sort of been implied, and I think that we

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Speaker 5: should just.

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Speaker 6: Like say it as is.

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Speaker 5: I believe that the reason why the attacks on Ruby

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Speaker 5: and Shay were so effective and like took hold is

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Speaker 5: because they are black women.

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Speaker 6: I think that you're exactly right.

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Speaker 5: They needed somebody to pin the Georgia loss on, and

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Speaker 5: I think that there's it's not a surprise that the

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Speaker 5: people they would after were these two black women. And

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Speaker 5: I think that the way that race and gender and

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Speaker 5: class intersected to make them these these like effective targets

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Speaker 5: for this kind of smear campaign. I don't think that

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Speaker 5: we have like fully unpacked what that means and why

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Speaker 5: it was effective. Even in reporting that I think is

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Speaker 5: really good, like reporting that I respect, I just think

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Speaker 5: it relies on us to confront some uncomfortable truths about

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Speaker 5: our society. And I don't think that we have fully

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Speaker 5: contended with what happened to Ruby and Shay, why it

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Speaker 5: was effective, and how it was allowed to be amplified

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Speaker 5: by people like social media platforms and media outlets and

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Speaker 5: all of that. So yeah, I just think like it's

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Speaker 5: something we really got to talk about and something that

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Speaker 5: I think that we really got to take a lot

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Speaker 5: of important lessons and truths from. So if folks don't

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Speaker 5: know Ruby and Shae were election workers in Fulton County, Georgia,

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Speaker 5: a state that Trump lost in twenty twenty, get ready

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Speaker 5: for me to say.

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Speaker 6: That over and over again, because it is a fact.

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Speaker 6: So you might recall.

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Speaker 5: I'm sure that y'all recall that in Georgia, he Trump

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Speaker 5: pressured the secretary say to like find votes for him

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Speaker 5: to rewrite history. Shay had actually been an election worker

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Speaker 5: in Georgia for a long time. Listening to her talk

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Speaker 5: about it, she describes it as something that she had

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Speaker 5: really done in an effort to support her community and

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Speaker 5: just like something that she felt like was her civic duty.

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Speaker 5: You know, she has talked about how like her community

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Speaker 5: has a lot of older black folks in it, like elders,

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Speaker 5: and that she saw doing this work as an election

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Speaker 5: worker as part of service to like the elders in

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Speaker 5: her community. So was really just like wanted to do

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Speaker 5: her civic good. During twenty twenty, Fulton County was meant

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Speaker 5: to have a shortage and election workers because of COVID,

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Speaker 5: so Shae recruited her then sixty two year old mom, Ruby,

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Speaker 5: a retired nine to one to one operator, to also

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Speaker 5: serve as an election worker. So this is something that

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Speaker 5: I think is very sad like. In their testimony, Shay

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Speaker 5: has talked about how she feels quite a bit of

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Speaker 5: guilt for recruiting her mother into this work. Of course,

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Speaker 5: not knowing how could she know that Trump and Juliani

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Speaker 5: would attack them in this way.

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Speaker 6: But she she has described feeling quite a bit of

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Speaker 6: guilt at.

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Speaker 5: Getting her mom involved in this, which just really really

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Speaker 5: breaks my heart.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, that's the.

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Speaker 1: When, and I know we're going to talk about this,

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Speaker 1: but when like the whole family gets drawn into this

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Speaker 1: thing that you think you're doing. They were doing this

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Speaker 1: like civic duty, feeling really like, this is what.

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Speaker 4: I want to do for my community, and that is

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Speaker 4: democracy at work.

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Speaker 1: That is like, oh, I want to make this happen

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Speaker 1: and it's really important to me and to have that

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Speaker 1: to feel guilty about that, because there are these other undemocratic,

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Speaker 1: like maascist forces who threaten and who make you feel

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Speaker 1: unsafe and make your loved ones feel unsafe. Like it

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Speaker 1: is heartbreaking, it is it's disgusting that this is what happens.

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Speaker 6: It really is.

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Speaker 5: And so basically, on December third, twenty twenty, a lawyer

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Speaker 5: working for the Trump campaign obtained security video of election

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Speaker 5: night from State Farm Arena in Georgia. So the video

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Speaker 5: just shows like election workers in general, including Ruby and Shay,

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Speaker 5: just like doing their jobs right, like nothing untoward is

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Speaker 5: going on. The lawyer brought the video to the Georgia

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Speaker 5: State Senate Committee, saying that he thought it showed someone

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Speaker 5: who had the name Ruby across her shirt somewhere finding

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Speaker 5: a suitcase of ballots from underneath the table. Now all

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Speaker 5: of this is just a complete lie. The video just

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Speaker 5: shows them working normally. The election workers were told to

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Speaker 5: like pack it up for the night, so they put

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Speaker 5: the ballots away.

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Speaker 6: They didn't put them in suitcases.

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Speaker 5: They put them in like the normal ballots where ballots

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Speaker 5: are always kept. And later in the night they were

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Speaker 5: told to go ahead and restart the count, don't wait

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Speaker 5: till the morning, and so that's what they did. The

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Speaker 5: video is just like normal election worker business. But I

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Speaker 5: think the presence of like just these two black women

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Speaker 5: was enough for this person to be like, something's going

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Speaker 5: on here.

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Speaker 6: I need to flag this.

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Speaker 5: So the video starts making its way online through this

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Speaker 5: cottage industry of like extremist blogs and media sites. Once

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Speaker 5: it's in that online pipeline, it's basically everywhere like it

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Speaker 5: doesn't matter. By the time that it starts making the rounds,

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Speaker 5: it has already been thoroughly debunked by Georgia Secretary of State.

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Speaker 6: None of that matters.

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Speaker 5: It's already like in this pipeline and it's going to

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Speaker 5: be amplified despite the fact that it's already been proven alive.

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Speaker 6: So this is where we.

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Speaker 5: Meet a big vector of lies and like dissemination of

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Speaker 5: these lives about Ruby and Shay the Gateway Pundit, which

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Speaker 5: is an extremist right wing media site. Research from the

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Speaker 5: University of Washington Center for an Informed Public found that

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Speaker 5: The Gateway Pundit was the second most prolific purveyor of

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Speaker 5: election misinformation on Twitter during twenty twenty. So they are

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Speaker 5: like a big source of incorrect, inaccurate information about our elections.

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Speaker 5: And once they get that video, they publish an article

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Speaker 5: under the headline huge all caps video footage from Georgia

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Speaker 5: show suitcases filled with ballots pulled from under table after

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Speaker 5: all caps supervisor told GOP poll workers to leave tabulation center.

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Speaker 5: So again that's just like a completely misleading claim. But

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Speaker 5: the way that they framed it is like we found

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Speaker 5: this bombshell video evidence of the smoking gun of votes

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Speaker 5: being hampered with and the election being stolen from Donald Trump.

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Speaker 2: Which is so hilarious because Fulton County was never Donald Trump,

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Speaker 2: like it's never been read like everybody else who lives

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Speaker 2: in Georgia are like what no, wait, and it reminds

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Speaker 2: me honestly, I watched it for like a few seasons,

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Speaker 2: but a setup of a Scandal episode actually the grainy

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Speaker 2: security video where they just like redline something and you're like,

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Speaker 2: oh my god, there it is and they're like no wait,

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Speaker 2: they're just boxes.

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Speaker 3: What's happening.

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Speaker 6: The proof And it's so funny.

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Speaker 5: There's a thing that happens online where anything can look

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Speaker 5: nefarious if it's.

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Speaker 6: Like grainy video and you write in all.

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Speaker 5: Caps on it, like any it's just like a video

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Speaker 5: of people like moving around in an empty office building,

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Speaker 5: and it's like they're like all caps like busted.

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Speaker 6: Like anything looks nefarious when you when you frame it.

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Speaker 3: That way, and then you're like wait for it. You're

439
00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:35,399
Speaker 3: like wait, wait for what? Wait for what?

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Speaker 6: We look at it?

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Speaker 1: See. My My like association with this is ghost videos,

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Speaker 1: which I don't believe in ghosts, but I watch ghost

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Speaker 1: videos and they'll be like there it is, and I'm

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Speaker 1: like where and they'll circle something and I'm.

445
00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:50,360
Speaker 2: Like I'm blaming on my eyeside. I'm like it must

446
00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:52,040
Speaker 2: be there, like they circle something.

447
00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:55,880
Speaker 4: I really don't see anything there, but.

448
00:22:55,920 --> 00:23:00,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's really interesting because obviously all they needed they knew.

449
00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:02,200
Speaker 3: This is why I say it. So the scale video.

450
00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:05,800
Speaker 2: They're like, if we can just pull this video of

451
00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:09,680
Speaker 2: these grainy subjects with boxes and then circle the boxes,

452
00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:13,240
Speaker 2: people will believe this, and they it worked.

453
00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:16,399
Speaker 3: It literally began the like I'm like, wow, this is

454
00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:20,199
Speaker 3: a bad like Shonda Rhime's episode. What is happening?

455
00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:24,240
Speaker 5: It truly is, And so the Gateway Pundit continued taking

456
00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:26,040
Speaker 5: their nose from a bad episode of scandal.

457
00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:28,720
Speaker 6: They called Ruby out by name.

458
00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:32,399
Speaker 5: Ruby is somebody who really likes to wear like she

459
00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:35,000
Speaker 5: talks about how she was very proud of her name

460
00:23:35,119 --> 00:23:36,960
Speaker 5: before all this happened, and so she likes to wear

461
00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:39,840
Speaker 5: personalized shirts and hats and things that have her name

462
00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:42,400
Speaker 5: on it. So the Gateway Pundit called her out by name,

463
00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:45,840
Speaker 5: writing on the site her name is Ruby Freeman and

464
00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:48,600
Speaker 5: she made the mistake of advertising her purse on her

465
00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:51,119
Speaker 5: desk the same night she was involved in voter fraud

466
00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:54,880
Speaker 5: on a massive scale all caps. Her t shirt says

467
00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:57,760
Speaker 5: Lady Ruby and her purse Sesslave Ruby, which is her company.

468
00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:00,720
Speaker 5: This is not a smart move. Her company is called

469
00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:04,160
Speaker 5: l Ruby's Unique treasures. It's on her LinkedIn page. Maybe

470
00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:06,760
Speaker 5: the Georgia Police or Bill Barr's DOJ may want to

471
00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:10,840
Speaker 5: pay Ruby Freeman a visit. The article concludes with images

472
00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:14,480
Speaker 5: of Ruby over the banner that says crook gets caught.

473
00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:18,840
Speaker 5: They play this video on a n N, which is

474
00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:21,760
Speaker 5: a kind of I guess you could call it like

475
00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:26,320
Speaker 5: a far right news network. And that is really when

476
00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:31,399
Speaker 5: it like really blows up. So once the video gets

477
00:24:31,440 --> 00:24:35,119
Speaker 5: on to own, that is when Trump starts amplifying it

478
00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:37,480
Speaker 5: on his own Twitter, that is when Fox News starts

479
00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:40,520
Speaker 5: talking about it, and that is when the campaign of

480
00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:45,879
Speaker 5: harassment really gets scary for these women. Just three days later,

481
00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:49,239
Speaker 5: after Trump starts amplifying it on Twitter, Ruby calls nine

482
00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:53,399
Speaker 5: to one one to report people showing up at her home,

483
00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:56,560
Speaker 5: which is terrifying. And I think it's really important to

484
00:24:56,560 --> 00:25:00,199
Speaker 5: point out the ways that racism and misogyny work to

485
00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:03,560
Speaker 5: fuel these lives. I just do not believe that had

486
00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:06,760
Speaker 5: Ruby and her daughter not been black women, and that

487
00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:09,040
Speaker 5: if we did not have a digital media climate that

488
00:25:09,119 --> 00:25:12,760
Speaker 5: is like ready and poised and willing to validate and

489
00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:16,800
Speaker 5: amplify the worst racist lies about black women who we

490
00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:20,840
Speaker 5: know are disproportionately harmed by conspiracy theories and disinformation and harassment.

491
00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:28,600
Speaker 5: I don't think it would have taken off like it did.

492
00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:36,919
Speaker 1: This kind of reminded me of when we did our

493
00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:42,840
Speaker 1: episode on Megan Markle. There was all of this outrage

494
00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:46,359
Speaker 1: about like, look, she's making all this money from podcasting,

495
00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:49,479
Speaker 1: which is just complete nonsense. But I feel like that

496
00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:53,200
Speaker 1: going back to that quote of like, oh she's advertising

497
00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:57,800
Speaker 1: her company, Look how crass, Like it just I felt

498
00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:00,960
Speaker 1: like there was a through line of you know, for

499
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:07,960
Speaker 1: black women so ready to be like that's disgusting, like

500
00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:08,240
Speaker 1: like for.

501
00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:11,360
Speaker 5: Things that are totally commonplace, but it's like when it's

502
00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:14,719
Speaker 5: a black woman doing it and it's said in this

503
00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:18,400
Speaker 5: like manner that is clearly meant to convey like judgment,

504
00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:21,280
Speaker 5: it just I mean, people are just willing, like the

505
00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:24,200
Speaker 5: Megan and Markle stuff, Like I remember reading like, oh,

506
00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:27,720
Speaker 5: she ate avocado toast, Like it doesn't matter what it is.

507
00:26:27,760 --> 00:26:29,880
Speaker 5: It's not really about the substance of what she's done,

508
00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:33,360
Speaker 5: or her behavior or what she said or anything of substance.

509
00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:37,600
Speaker 5: It's just like it's just like pulling from this societal

510
00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:41,200
Speaker 5: distrust of her identity. And that's what I think really

511
00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:44,879
Speaker 5: helped these attacks on Shay and Ruby take hold.

512
00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:46,480
Speaker 6: I do not think that had.

513
00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:50,320
Speaker 5: They been white women or men that they that these

514
00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:54,360
Speaker 5: attacks would have been as amplified and have taken off

515
00:26:54,520 --> 00:26:55,119
Speaker 5: the way that they did.

516
00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:55,920
Speaker 6: I just I just don't.

517
00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:58,240
Speaker 5: And and part of the evidence is the way that

518
00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:01,440
Speaker 5: the people who were her asking them and attacking them,

519
00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:04,720
Speaker 5: we're doing it in a way that is so clearly racialized.

520
00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:08,359
Speaker 5: Like Rudi Giuliani in a phone call, he looked at

521
00:27:08,359 --> 00:27:11,360
Speaker 5: the tape and he said, these women are quite obviously

522
00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:14,919
Speaker 5: surreptitiously passing around USB ports as if they're vials of

523
00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:18,280
Speaker 5: heroin or cocaine. I mean, it's obvious to anyone who's

524
00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:21,080
Speaker 5: a criminal investigator or a prosecutor that they're engaged in

525
00:27:21,119 --> 00:27:26,200
Speaker 5: surreptitious illegal activity. Again, that day, they're walking around Georgia lying.

526
00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:29,359
Speaker 5: They should have been questioned already, They're places of work,

527
00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:31,800
Speaker 5: their homes should have been searched for evidence of ballots,

528
00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:35,440
Speaker 5: evidence of USB ports, evidence of voter fraud. So he's

529
00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:39,760
Speaker 5: accusing these women of passing USB ports back and forth

530
00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:42,399
Speaker 5: as if they're vials of cocaine or heroin, which, like,

531
00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:44,119
Speaker 5: tell me, that is not meant to be a racist

532
00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:48,000
Speaker 5: dog whistle, but in reality, these women were just giving

533
00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:49,760
Speaker 5: each other a piece of candy. They were like, Oh,

534
00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:51,520
Speaker 5: I had a piece of candy in my hand and

535
00:27:51,600 --> 00:27:52,760
Speaker 5: I was passing it to my mom.

536
00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:55,479
Speaker 6: And that's what that like.

537
00:27:55,720 --> 00:28:00,000
Speaker 5: From that totally innocuous movement, Giuliani said that they were

538
00:28:00,119 --> 00:28:02,399
Speaker 5: passing USB ports, is that they were vials of heroin

539
00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:07,480
Speaker 5: or cocaine, like like, truly, truly beyond the pale of

540
00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:10,880
Speaker 5: just delusional lies.

541
00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:13,840
Speaker 3: I love that the melting man is the one accused,

542
00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:16,320
Speaker 3: and there's so many things that this is. This is

543
00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:19,080
Speaker 3: for real. I don't know what's happening, you know.

544
00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:22,199
Speaker 2: I have to say in this whole thing that when

545
00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:24,040
Speaker 2: I remember what was happening at this point, I don't

546
00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:27,240
Speaker 2: think I remembered their names. I just remember people being accused,

547
00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:32,040
Speaker 2: and it was specifically two black women that though eventually

548
00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:35,280
Speaker 2: the Secretary of State, who got a lot of praise

549
00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:39,200
Speaker 2: and he shouldn't have as well as our governor, eventually

550
00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:42,120
Speaker 2: started defending them, but not until after they were docked.

551
00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:45,160
Speaker 2: It was an interesting setup of like they allowed this

552
00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:51,200
Speaker 2: to happen. To see again, at the very least they

553
00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:53,440
Speaker 2: stood up, but enough to be like yes, our votes

554
00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:57,560
Speaker 2: are fine. There's nothing incredulous about this. There's nothing incriminating

555
00:28:57,560 --> 00:29:02,200
Speaker 2: in here after the fact. But during this time, they

556
00:29:02,240 --> 00:29:06,440
Speaker 2: didn't do They're like, I remember, like they're just saying

557
00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:10,280
Speaker 2: they're investigating. That was that was They kept everything kind

558
00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:13,520
Speaker 2: of to the side, not agree, not saying anything, and

559
00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:17,080
Speaker 2: until they started getting harassed, their life was being threatened,

560
00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:18,920
Speaker 2: and they're like, okay, okay, okay, well now we need.

561
00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:19,520
Speaker 3: To put us up to this.

562
00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:23,880
Speaker 2: But they allowed this to escalate to that point again

563
00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:26,720
Speaker 2: because they did not care about protecting them either, like

564
00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:29,480
Speaker 2: for what they did later shore, But I feel like

565
00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:31,160
Speaker 2: there should have been charges for their negligence.

566
00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:34,720
Speaker 5: But hey, yeah, I mean by then, they had thoroughly

567
00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:42,600
Speaker 5: internally debunked this video and they quietly released like statements eventually,

568
00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:46,760
Speaker 5: but they knew, we know that they knew the entire

569
00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:49,320
Speaker 5: time that Shaye and Ruby had done nothing wrong and

570
00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:50,360
Speaker 5: they had been investigated.

571
00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:53,160
Speaker 6: And so I'm with you in my book, was just

572
00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:53,720
Speaker 6: my opinion.

573
00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:57,160
Speaker 5: You don't get a ton of credit for quietly eventually

574
00:29:57,160 --> 00:29:59,600
Speaker 5: being like, actually, they didn't do anything wrong and we've

575
00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:02,600
Speaker 5: already to like debunk this video when they were being

576
00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:08,840
Speaker 5: like physically threatened by armed psychopaths.

577
00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:12,560
Speaker 2: Right, And I think it's obvious that they could see

578
00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:15,959
Speaker 2: the evidence. But how racist this was, how sexist and racist,

579
00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:19,280
Speaker 2: like how this all came from misogynoire. But they just

580
00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:21,760
Speaker 2: couldn't say that because then they would have to say

581
00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:25,640
Speaker 2: that their party is exactly what we see them as.

582
00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:29,000
Speaker 2: And so therefore they were just quietly defending them, not

583
00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:34,000
Speaker 2: truly helping. It's it's obvious also that they allowed those perpetrators,

584
00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:35,760
Speaker 2: and I'm going to call them perpetrators at this point,

585
00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:39,320
Speaker 2: Giuliani and Trump to continue this tirade even after the

586
00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:43,200
Speaker 2: fact that they did not do anything to stop them

587
00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:43,920
Speaker 2: from harassing.

588
00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:44,720
Speaker 6: Yeah.

589
00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:48,680
Speaker 5: In that the infamous call that Trump made to Georgia's

590
00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:53,080
Speaker 5: Secretary of State rad Raethensberger asking him to find votes,

591
00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:56,240
Speaker 5: Donald Trump calls Ruby out by name. In that call,

592
00:30:56,280 --> 00:30:59,160
Speaker 5: he says, we had at least eighteen thousand that's on

593
00:30:59,240 --> 00:31:03,600
Speaker 5: tape them counted very painstakingly, eighteen thousand voters having to

594
00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:06,360
Speaker 5: do with Ruby Freeman. She's a vote scammer, a professional

595
00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:07,960
Speaker 5: vote scammer, and hustler.

596
00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:11,160
Speaker 6: Yeah. So, like he was the head.

597
00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:15,720
Speaker 5: Of that party, was calling Ruby by her first and

598
00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:19,480
Speaker 5: last name and lying about her and blaming her for

599
00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:20,760
Speaker 5: his election laws.

600
00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:21,520
Speaker 6: It's terrifying.

601
00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:26,040
Speaker 5: And again I also think, like to your point, Samantha,

602
00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:27,560
Speaker 5: it's complicated to talk about.

603
00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:30,600
Speaker 6: But I think that one of the reasons.

604
00:31:30,120 --> 00:31:33,239
Speaker 5: Why this lie took off the way it did is

605
00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:36,360
Speaker 5: because of the visual of Ruby and Shay. Right Like,

606
00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:40,000
Speaker 5: sites like Gateway Pundit are really good at knowing what

607
00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:42,120
Speaker 5: is going to resonate with their audience, what is going

608
00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:45,000
Speaker 5: to stoke something inside them that is going to motivate

609
00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:48,680
Speaker 5: them to click and share and have an emotional response.

610
00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:51,480
Speaker 5: And if you go back and look at what the

611
00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:55,040
Speaker 5: Gateway Pundit was publishing about Ruby and Shay, it is

612
00:31:55,240 --> 00:32:00,160
Speaker 5: highly visual. They posted so many images of these women online.

613
00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:03,720
Speaker 5: On election night, Ruby and Shay were wearing like blonde

614
00:32:03,760 --> 00:32:07,760
Speaker 5: extensions that contrast with their darker complexions. Literally, it's like

615
00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:10,080
Speaker 5: how my hair is styled. Right now, I'm wearing I'm

616
00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:13,840
Speaker 5: wearing blonde extensions. And they Ruby owned a fashion shop

617
00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:17,360
Speaker 5: and so her personal style is like a big part

618
00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:19,239
Speaker 5: of how she shows up to the world. She likes

619
00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:21,760
Speaker 5: bedazzled shirts, she likes to have her name on her

620
00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:23,880
Speaker 5: shirt or her hat. These are people who have a

621
00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:27,400
Speaker 5: very distinctive look and I believe the reason why the

622
00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:30,920
Speaker 5: Gateway Pundit posted so many images of the women were

623
00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:34,040
Speaker 5: basically to be like, look how black these women are look?

624
00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:37,440
Speaker 5: How like, look how they look? Because they knew that

625
00:32:37,560 --> 00:32:40,920
Speaker 5: these images, these visuals of these black women, they could

626
00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:44,480
Speaker 5: say anything they wanted because because they were weaponizing this

627
00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:49,240
Speaker 5: already pre existing disdain for black women.

628
00:32:49,560 --> 00:32:51,280
Speaker 6: And so I think that like they knew what they

629
00:32:51,320 --> 00:32:51,760
Speaker 6: were doing.

630
00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:54,040
Speaker 5: That is why you see these images used over and

631
00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:57,120
Speaker 5: over and over again of them like with like crooked

632
00:32:57,160 --> 00:32:59,600
Speaker 5: stamped across their head. I think they I think they

633
00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:01,640
Speaker 5: knew that that was going to be what like moved

634
00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:04,640
Speaker 5: their audience, and I think they weaponized that to make

635
00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:05,960
Speaker 5: this lie stickier.

636
00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:08,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, it follows along with what Trump has been saying

637
00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:11,200
Speaker 2: about Lanta, especially when he was going after John Lewis

638
00:33:11,280 --> 00:33:12,240
Speaker 2: before his death.

639
00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:15,760
Speaker 5: He always does this like, oh, if I were in Atlanta,

640
00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:18,160
Speaker 5: I would be worried about the crime, like just.

641
00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:20,880
Speaker 2: Like yeah, he would go after it and trying to

642
00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:24,960
Speaker 2: set it up as if it was just this horrible,

643
00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:29,640
Speaker 2: stricken place because it was made up of a large

644
00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:32,960
Speaker 2: largely black communities, which is like no, that's why it's

645
00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:36,360
Speaker 2: so productive and wealthy right now, like, I'm not really

646
00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:39,160
Speaker 2: sure what you're trying to point out, because Atlanta is

647
00:33:39,200 --> 00:33:41,680
Speaker 2: one of the more successful areas of Georgia.

648
00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:43,760
Speaker 3: Huh m.

649
00:33:45,360 --> 00:33:48,000
Speaker 2: And he had been setting that up and that played

650
00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:52,120
Speaker 2: right into this whole scandal, because again, here's a woman

651
00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:55,240
Speaker 2: who has her own business and she's doing fine, and

652
00:33:55,280 --> 00:33:57,640
Speaker 2: it's so well enough that she helps volunteer.

653
00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:01,800
Speaker 5: Yeah, and I think like him and his cronies knew

654
00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:06,920
Speaker 5: that like just evoking the idea that that black women

655
00:34:07,120 --> 00:34:09,560
Speaker 5: were involved in the vote counting process in.

656
00:34:09,480 --> 00:34:11,760
Speaker 6: Georgia would be enough proof.

657
00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:14,719
Speaker 5: I'm putting that in quotes, not like actual proof, but

658
00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:18,880
Speaker 5: like their proof that something nefarious was going on. They

659
00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:22,360
Speaker 5: basically told their supporters, like, black women were involved in

660
00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:25,120
Speaker 5: this voting process, so that should be evidence enough that

661
00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:28,600
Speaker 5: that Atlanta or Georgia is like rigged against me.

662
00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:31,439
Speaker 6: I think that was really the argument that they were

663
00:34:31,480 --> 00:34:32,759
Speaker 6: trying to imply.

664
00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:37,600
Speaker 2: Right, and again it just aims it towards his already base,

665
00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:41,000
Speaker 2: who is very loud exactly.

666
00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:44,920
Speaker 5: So, yeah, I think that these attacks really weaponize and

667
00:34:44,960 --> 00:34:48,919
Speaker 5: rely on tropes about black women being inherently untrustworthy, which

668
00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:51,200
Speaker 5: we see time and time again with things like online

669
00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:52,400
Speaker 5: harassment and disinformation.

670
00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:53,879
Speaker 6: So this a'll led to.

671
00:34:53,880 --> 00:34:58,640
Speaker 5: Like a flood of really scary racist death threats and

672
00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:02,160
Speaker 5: harassment against Ruby and Shay online and folks watched the

673
00:35:02,239 --> 00:35:07,040
Speaker 5: January sixth commission their testimony really just like, I think

674
00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:08,719
Speaker 5: every American should watch it because.

675
00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:09,600
Speaker 6: It really is.

676
00:35:11,080 --> 00:35:14,839
Speaker 5: Horrifying and also heartbreaking to hear them describe what they

677
00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:17,360
Speaker 5: went through. But this is Shae talking about what it

678
00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:19,760
Speaker 5: felt like to know that her mom was now involved

679
00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:23,160
Speaker 5: in this. Shae at her during the January sixth testimony, said,

680
00:35:23,560 --> 00:35:25,720
Speaker 5: I felt horrible. I felt like it was all my fault.

681
00:35:26,040 --> 00:35:27,719
Speaker 5: Like if I never would have decided to be an

682
00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:30,520
Speaker 5: election worker, I could have done anything else, but that's

683
00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:32,560
Speaker 5: what I decided to do. And now people are lying

684
00:35:32,600 --> 00:35:35,560
Speaker 5: and spreading rumors and lies and attacking my mom. I'm

685
00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:38,400
Speaker 5: her only child going to my grandmother's house. I'm her

686
00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:41,400
Speaker 5: only grandchild, and my kid is just I just feel

687
00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:43,279
Speaker 5: so bad. I felt bad for my mom, and I

688
00:35:43,360 --> 00:35:45,840
Speaker 5: felt horrible for picking this job and for being the

689
00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:48,520
Speaker 5: one that always wants to help, always there, never missing

690
00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:50,640
Speaker 5: that one election. I just felt like it was my

691
00:35:50,719 --> 00:35:53,799
Speaker 5: fault for putting my family in this situation. It is

692
00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:57,960
Speaker 5: really heartbreaking. Ruby talks about how she had been so

693
00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:01,440
Speaker 5: proud of her nickname and her name, Lady Ruby, that's

694
00:36:01,480 --> 00:36:03,560
Speaker 5: the name of her business, that she is definitely a

695
00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:08,080
Speaker 5: staple in Georgia. Everybody knew Ruby as Lady Ruby, and

696
00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:10,080
Speaker 5: she always wore that shirt with her name on it.

697
00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:13,719
Speaker 5: And because of all of this campaign of lives and harassment,

698
00:36:14,080 --> 00:36:18,200
Speaker 5: Ruby talks about how she once was this like pillar

699
00:36:18,280 --> 00:36:20,879
Speaker 5: of the community and now is afraid to use her

700
00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:23,480
Speaker 5: own name, her name that she used to wear as

701
00:36:23,520 --> 00:36:27,760
Speaker 5: a badge of honor. Like, I get emotional just thinking

702
00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:28,799
Speaker 5: about what that would have.

703
00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:30,920
Speaker 6: Been like for these women.

704
00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:36,040
Speaker 5: And how threatening it sounds like that was to their

705
00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:38,920
Speaker 5: own sense of identity, their own sense of safety, their

706
00:36:38,960 --> 00:36:40,839
Speaker 5: own sense of being able to show up in their

707
00:36:40,880 --> 00:36:44,600
Speaker 5: communities that was like really important to them, that was

708
00:36:44,680 --> 00:36:48,319
Speaker 5: just taken away because of these people lied. Like it

709
00:36:48,480 --> 00:36:51,840
Speaker 5: just really upsets me. H.

710
00:36:52,239 --> 00:36:55,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think one of the things to keep

711
00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:59,440
Speaker 1: in mind too, is that these were two women who

712
00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:01,680
Speaker 1: were just trying to help their community. They were not

713
00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:05,919
Speaker 1: looking for this, obviously, but weren't looking for like fame

714
00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:08,200
Speaker 1: or attention or they were just trying to help their community.

715
00:37:08,640 --> 00:37:11,480
Speaker 1: And then it got blown up and it became this

716
00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:15,080
Speaker 1: whole thing where now, yeah, you can't use the name

717
00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:17,640
Speaker 1: you were so proud of, or you feel guilty about

718
00:37:18,200 --> 00:37:20,320
Speaker 1: doing something good for your community.

719
00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:22,560
Speaker 4: But there was like a whole.

720
00:37:23,719 --> 00:37:30,000
Speaker 1: Organized effort that ended up getting targeted towards them exactly.

721
00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:32,960
Speaker 5: And so let's talk a bit about who were some

722
00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:36,080
Speaker 5: of the players in that effort. So in addition to

723
00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:38,800
Speaker 5: the like mixed bag of Trump cronies that you've heard about,

724
00:37:38,840 --> 00:37:41,680
Speaker 5: you know, Rudy Giuliani, folks like that, Ruby and Shay

725
00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:44,200
Speaker 5: were also being harassed and threatened by a woman named

726
00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:48,200
Speaker 5: Trevion Kuti. Trevion was formally a publicist for the R

727
00:37:48,239 --> 00:37:51,080
Speaker 5: and B singer slash convicted sex criminal r Kelly, So

728
00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:53,640
Speaker 5: she definitely like knows how to pick the men to

729
00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:59,160
Speaker 5: associate with. She had some kind of association with Kanye

730
00:37:59,239 --> 00:38:01,480
Speaker 5: West at some point point, who you may recall, ran

731
00:38:01,520 --> 00:38:04,880
Speaker 5: for president himself alongside Trump in twenty twenty before becoming

732
00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:10,360
Speaker 5: a vocal Trump supporter. NBC News it's not totally clear

733
00:38:10,560 --> 00:38:14,400
Speaker 5: what her association with Donald Trump is. NBC News reported

734
00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:17,279
Speaker 5: that in a biography of her on a website for

735
00:38:17,440 --> 00:38:21,560
Speaker 5: the Women's Global Initiative, a business networking group, she identified

736
00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:24,840
Speaker 5: herself as a member of the Young Black Leadership Council

737
00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:26,160
Speaker 5: under President Donald Trump.

738
00:38:26,760 --> 00:38:28,680
Speaker 6: She says that she was secured.

739
00:38:28,239 --> 00:38:31,720
Speaker 5: As Kanye West's publicist in twenty eighteen and now serves

740
00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:35,640
Speaker 5: as his director of Operations. But importantly, Kanye West camp

741
00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:38,640
Speaker 5: says that she was not associated with Kanye West. But

742
00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:42,000
Speaker 5: Kanye's camp is like, we don't know her there, like

743
00:38:42,080 --> 00:38:44,640
Speaker 5: we she is not associated with us, so like don't

744
00:38:44,640 --> 00:38:47,719
Speaker 5: know what to tell you. So, in any event, regardless

745
00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:51,040
Speaker 5: of whether or not she is truly associated with Kanye

746
00:38:51,040 --> 00:38:54,560
Speaker 5: West or Donald Trump, what went down is this Trivion

747
00:38:54,840 --> 00:38:57,200
Speaker 5: showed up at Shayan and Ruby's door, and the women,

748
00:38:57,360 --> 00:39:01,480
Speaker 5: after being harassed and targeted, understandable just like called the police.

749
00:39:01,800 --> 00:39:04,279
Speaker 5: The police show up, and they all end up going

750
00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:07,560
Speaker 5: to a police station together to talk. Trivion told them

751
00:39:07,600 --> 00:39:10,040
Speaker 5: that she was visiting them at the direction of a

752
00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:13,759
Speaker 5: high profile individual who warned that if Ruby and Shay

753
00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:16,720
Speaker 5: did not confess to voter fraud, they would be arrested

754
00:39:16,719 --> 00:39:19,840
Speaker 5: in forty eight hours. According to Rolling Stone, the body

755
00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:23,440
Speaker 5: cam footage of the conversation shows Trivion telling the women,

756
00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:26,680
Speaker 5: I cannot say what specifically will take place. I just

757
00:39:26,719 --> 00:39:28,880
Speaker 5: know that it will disrupt your freedom and the freedom

758
00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:31,120
Speaker 5: of one or more of your family members. You are

759
00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:33,480
Speaker 5: a loose end for a party that needs to tidy up,

760
00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:36,520
Speaker 5: which is like a real weird thing to tell somebody

761
00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:38,399
Speaker 5: to be honest with you, that's like a very weird

762
00:39:38,440 --> 00:39:44,120
Speaker 5: thinges say, yeah, so I will say Travion has said, like, oh,

763
00:39:44,160 --> 00:39:45,080
Speaker 5: they're getting it wrong.

764
00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:48,080
Speaker 6: I was trying to help these women. That's not a threat.

765
00:39:48,600 --> 00:39:50,920
Speaker 5: So like that's her defense, is that, like she was

766
00:39:51,080 --> 00:39:55,560
Speaker 5: genuinely trying to offer support to these women. That's what

767
00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:58,439
Speaker 5: she says. You tell me what you what you think.

768
00:39:58,480 --> 00:40:01,160
Speaker 5: But like that's her defense. Then she calls a man

769
00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:04,000
Speaker 5: by the name of Harrison Floyd of Black Voices for Trump,

770
00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:07,520
Speaker 5: puts him on speakerphone, and Floyd says that he can

771
00:40:07,560 --> 00:40:10,960
Speaker 5: offer the women protection. But according to that body cam audio,

772
00:40:11,360 --> 00:40:14,040
Speaker 5: he said that Ruby and Shay would have to confess

773
00:40:14,040 --> 00:40:16,480
Speaker 5: to voter fraud. If she did, he would offer her

774
00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:20,040
Speaker 5: legal protection, but if she declined, then her and her family.

775
00:40:19,719 --> 00:40:20,600
Speaker 6: Would be arrested.

776
00:40:20,920 --> 00:40:23,440
Speaker 5: So Floyd worked for the Trump campaign formally as the

777
00:40:23,440 --> 00:40:26,120
Speaker 5: executive director of the of Black Voices for Trump, but

778
00:40:26,200 --> 00:40:29,480
Speaker 5: he told Rachel Maddow that he sent Trevion to the

779
00:40:29,520 --> 00:40:32,840
Speaker 5: Women's House as a private citizen, not as an employee

780
00:40:32,880 --> 00:40:35,879
Speaker 5: of the Trump campaign. He also in those calls said

781
00:40:35,920 --> 00:40:40,120
Speaker 5: that like he has people that can keep her safe

782
00:40:40,120 --> 00:40:42,719
Speaker 5: if she confessed all of that. I should say, like,

783
00:40:42,880 --> 00:40:46,480
Speaker 5: I'm including what these people are saying as their defense

784
00:40:46,560 --> 00:40:49,279
Speaker 5: or like how they explain their behavior. I don't really

785
00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:51,279
Speaker 5: believe any of these people, but like this is what

786
00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:53,280
Speaker 5: they said about like why they.

787
00:40:53,120 --> 00:40:54,000
Speaker 6: Did the things that they did.

788
00:40:54,040 --> 00:40:56,640
Speaker 5: So I just think people should know their side of

789
00:40:56,680 --> 00:40:59,640
Speaker 5: the story, even though I don't believe any of this.

790
00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:04,759
Speaker 2: Again, I just this is such a bad setup of

791
00:41:05,400 --> 00:41:08,720
Speaker 2: so many like gang movies.

792
00:41:08,480 --> 00:41:10,879
Speaker 3: That you were like, what is happening? Like this reminds me.

793
00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:13,800
Speaker 2: Of what would have happened in Chicago in the early

794
00:41:13,960 --> 00:41:16,520
Speaker 2: mob days. Like they create a problem and a threat,

795
00:41:16,560 --> 00:41:20,080
Speaker 2: but will protect you if you confess these things. And

796
00:41:20,120 --> 00:41:23,960
Speaker 2: you're thinking, at what point does Floyd and Couty not

797
00:41:24,040 --> 00:41:26,640
Speaker 2: realize they're bound to be thrown under the bus like

798
00:41:27,239 --> 00:41:28,759
Speaker 2: they are the scapegoats now?

799
00:41:29,880 --> 00:41:30,840
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean.

800
00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:36,400
Speaker 5: So yes and Floyd, especially because folks might remember that

801
00:41:36,440 --> 00:41:40,200
Speaker 5: when all the other defendants in the Trump Raiko case

802
00:41:40,239 --> 00:41:42,960
Speaker 5: got arrested in Georgia, most of them just like bombed

803
00:41:43,040 --> 00:41:47,040
Speaker 5: out right away Floyd because when they initially the FBI

804
00:41:47,120 --> 00:41:51,319
Speaker 5: initially had like served him at his apartment, they like

805
00:41:51,600 --> 00:41:54,840
Speaker 5: he got into some kind of like physical scuffle with

806
00:41:54,920 --> 00:41:59,080
Speaker 5: the FBI, and so that led to like a warrant

807
00:41:59,120 --> 00:42:01,640
Speaker 5: for his arrest. And so when he turned himself in

808
00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:05,520
Speaker 5: for these trump Rycho charges, he actually was not able

809
00:42:05,560 --> 00:42:07,919
Speaker 5: to bond out like everybody else was like in and out.

810
00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:09,320
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was bad.

811
00:42:09,520 --> 00:42:11,920
Speaker 2: I didn't realize it was for that, and BT dubs

812
00:42:12,160 --> 00:42:15,680
Speaker 2: the Rico charges here in Georgia is partially rachel.

813
00:42:16,440 --> 00:42:18,759
Speaker 3: So it's quite funny to me that they got that.

814
00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:23,920
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, honestly, it's complicated.

815
00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:25,880
Speaker 6: But like, I just can't believe I thought this was

816
00:42:25,920 --> 00:42:26,400
Speaker 6: a good idea.

817
00:42:26,520 --> 00:42:28,359
Speaker 5: I can't believe that they were like, yes, I will

818
00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:30,920
Speaker 5: get myself arrested for this man. I will get like

819
00:42:31,040 --> 00:42:33,920
Speaker 5: pretty serious charges for this man. I will break the

820
00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:36,319
Speaker 5: law for this man, and that will be fine for me.

821
00:42:36,360 --> 00:42:38,520
Speaker 5: That will go well for me. I will be in

822
00:42:38,560 --> 00:42:40,399
Speaker 5: their club, I will be taken care of, I will

823
00:42:40,400 --> 00:42:44,719
Speaker 5: be protected. I cannot believe that somebody would think that. So, yeah,

824
00:42:44,920 --> 00:42:47,680
Speaker 5: just really says a lot about the judgment there I

825
00:42:47,680 --> 00:42:48,760
Speaker 5: guess right.

826
00:42:48,680 --> 00:42:51,760
Speaker 2: Again, I'm like, there's nothing about this group of people

827
00:42:51,760 --> 00:42:53,399
Speaker 2: who would help you as.

828
00:42:53,360 --> 00:42:55,840
Speaker 1: We Yeah, yeah, they have a long history of throwing

829
00:42:55,880 --> 00:42:59,120
Speaker 1: people under the bus, going completely broke, right.

830
00:42:59,120 --> 00:43:01,280
Speaker 6: If they're not gonna throw are you under the bus? Yes,

831
00:43:01,600 --> 00:43:04,640
Speaker 6: you're not special, I will say.

832
00:43:04,680 --> 00:43:08,960
Speaker 5: One side note is that Trivion KOUTI I think that

833
00:43:10,320 --> 00:43:14,440
Speaker 5: people should She's very active on Instagram. I think that

834
00:43:14,880 --> 00:43:17,920
Speaker 5: if folks listening are curious for more information about her,

835
00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:19,960
Speaker 5: I really implore them to look at her Instagram.

836
00:43:20,040 --> 00:43:21,439
Speaker 6: Her Instagram, I think is.

837
00:43:22,920 --> 00:43:26,719
Speaker 5: Very telling about what kind of person she is, right, So, yeah,

838
00:43:26,760 --> 00:43:29,120
Speaker 5: folks are interested in like cause like when I first

839
00:43:29,120 --> 00:43:30,600
Speaker 5: was reading about this, I was like, what kind of perth?

840
00:43:30,680 --> 00:43:33,520
Speaker 5: Like she SuDS like a interesting person. Let me look

841
00:43:33,560 --> 00:43:37,160
Speaker 5: her up. And her Instagram really confirmed that she's someone

842
00:43:37,239 --> 00:43:42,680
Speaker 5: who is like hashtag overload, Like every post is like

843
00:43:42,840 --> 00:43:45,719
Speaker 5: so like, honestly, I can't really even describe it. I mean,

844
00:43:45,719 --> 00:43:47,680
Speaker 5: if folks are curious, they should look her up on Instagram.

845
00:43:47,719 --> 00:43:50,440
Speaker 5: And I don't think you will be disappointed at what

846
00:43:50,440 --> 00:43:51,600
Speaker 5: you see. I'll put it that way.

847
00:43:52,719 --> 00:43:56,640
Speaker 2: Well, her association with r Kelly, Because if I know

848
00:43:56,719 --> 00:44:00,719
Speaker 2: one thing in Atlanta, black women do not side with

849
00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:02,879
Speaker 2: r Kelly, Like that's so rare.

850
00:44:03,760 --> 00:44:07,719
Speaker 5: An event in Atlanta when they played remixed Magnition and

851
00:44:08,120 --> 00:44:10,960
Speaker 5: black women were like, boom, turn this off.

852
00:44:11,600 --> 00:44:13,560
Speaker 6: Yeah until the DJ turns it off.

853
00:44:13,560 --> 00:44:18,880
Speaker 2: Like yeah, every debate that I've ever seen, uh, and

854
00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:21,920
Speaker 2: like it would be on our neighbor pages all of that,

855
00:44:22,280 --> 00:44:26,759
Speaker 2: it was always men or white people who were and

856
00:44:26,800 --> 00:44:28,799
Speaker 2: white people were smart enough to stay out of it for.

857
00:44:28,760 --> 00:44:30,120
Speaker 6: The most part.

858
00:44:30,719 --> 00:44:32,359
Speaker 3: Yeah, they were like, Okay, we're not we're not part

859
00:44:32,360 --> 00:44:32,520
Speaker 3: of this.

860
00:44:32,680 --> 00:44:37,640
Speaker 2: But every black woman that you saw was going after anyone.

861
00:44:38,160 --> 00:44:40,799
Speaker 2: So for her to be a supporter at any point,

862
00:44:40,800 --> 00:44:45,040
Speaker 2: you're like, hmmm, really, yeah, that's that's not.

863
00:44:46,560 --> 00:44:47,600
Speaker 3: That's the sign right there.

864
00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:04,880
Speaker 5: So this whole conversation between Trevion and Harrison Floyd and

865
00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:08,799
Speaker 5: rubinha went down on January fourth, twenty twenty one, just

866
00:45:08,880 --> 00:45:12,880
Speaker 5: two days before January six It honestly sounds like Trump's

867
00:45:13,080 --> 00:45:16,840
Speaker 5: associates just wanted to get a forced confession out of

868
00:45:16,880 --> 00:45:20,200
Speaker 5: these women as a means to stop the transition of power.

869
00:45:20,560 --> 00:45:23,880
Speaker 6: So on January sixth, when pro.

870
00:45:23,920 --> 00:45:27,560
Speaker 5: Trump extremists and goons were storming the Capitol, they were

871
00:45:27,600 --> 00:45:31,360
Speaker 5: also surrounding the Women's home with bullhorns, but luckily they

872
00:45:31,400 --> 00:45:34,799
Speaker 5: had already fled for their safety. But this is where

873
00:45:34,800 --> 00:45:37,840
Speaker 5: it gets even scarier. Trump supporters actually tried to force

874
00:45:37,920 --> 00:45:41,160
Speaker 5: their way into Shay's elderly grandmother's home to make a

875
00:45:41,200 --> 00:45:45,840
Speaker 5: citizen's arrest. I honestly cannot even fathom how terrifying it

876
00:45:45,840 --> 00:45:50,360
Speaker 5: would be to have a mob of angry, potentially armed

877
00:45:50,560 --> 00:45:54,279
Speaker 5: people show up at your elderly grandmother's home and with

878
00:45:54,360 --> 00:45:58,680
Speaker 5: the intent to force their way in and citizens arrest her. Like,

879
00:45:59,840 --> 00:46:01,160
Speaker 5: I don't even I mean, I can't, I don't even

880
00:46:01,160 --> 00:46:02,600
Speaker 5: have words, like, I don't even know.

881
00:46:03,320 --> 00:46:06,279
Speaker 6: I can't think of anything more horrifying than that.

882
00:46:06,760 --> 00:46:09,200
Speaker 2: Right, Once again, she had nothing to do with any

883
00:46:09,239 --> 00:46:12,200
Speaker 2: of the elections, So this is just the hostage at

884
00:46:12,200 --> 00:46:13,000
Speaker 2: this point.

885
00:46:13,000 --> 00:46:16,719
Speaker 5: Essentially, Yes, and like and I think it goes back

886
00:46:16,760 --> 00:46:18,080
Speaker 5: to a lot of the things that we that we

887
00:46:18,120 --> 00:46:20,479
Speaker 5: talk about on the show. When we deal with things

888
00:46:20,520 --> 00:46:24,799
Speaker 5: like harassment campaigns, it is rarely just the woman. So

889
00:46:24,840 --> 00:46:27,000
Speaker 5: it's usually a woman at the center of a harassment

890
00:46:27,080 --> 00:46:27,680
Speaker 5: campaign like this.

891
00:46:28,200 --> 00:46:30,680
Speaker 6: It is rarely just that one woman.

892
00:46:30,840 --> 00:46:33,400
Speaker 5: Is It is her and her family, her and her parents,

893
00:46:33,400 --> 00:46:35,960
Speaker 5: her and her kids, her and her partner and it's

894
00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:41,440
Speaker 5: an effort to I think, terrify women and other marginalized

895
00:46:41,480 --> 00:46:43,759
Speaker 5: people from participating in civic.

896
00:46:43,440 --> 00:46:44,360
Speaker 6: And public life.

897
00:46:44,760 --> 00:46:47,760
Speaker 5: If like, I'm one person, if I'm going to face

898
00:46:47,960 --> 00:46:50,279
Speaker 5: these kinds of attacks, I wouldn't love it.

899
00:46:50,320 --> 00:46:52,400
Speaker 6: But like, okay, that's me. Fine.

900
00:46:52,760 --> 00:46:56,360
Speaker 5: If it's me and my elderly parents, me and my child,

901
00:46:56,480 --> 00:47:00,279
Speaker 5: me and my partner, me and my community, you might

902
00:47:00,280 --> 00:47:03,200
Speaker 5: think twice about your behavior if you felt like you

903
00:47:03,200 --> 00:47:05,200
Speaker 5: were putting the people that you loved at risk. And

904
00:47:05,239 --> 00:47:09,760
Speaker 5: so this is a specific tactic in order to frighten

905
00:47:09,840 --> 00:47:13,800
Speaker 5: women out of civic and public life, and.

906
00:47:13,719 --> 00:47:14,560
Speaker 6: I think it's effective.

907
00:47:14,600 --> 00:47:17,239
Speaker 5: It really it's upsetting that it works, but I can

908
00:47:17,320 --> 00:47:20,239
Speaker 5: understand why women don't want to put their families at

909
00:47:20,320 --> 00:47:21,080
Speaker 5: risk in this way.

910
00:47:22,960 --> 00:47:27,480
Speaker 2: After that election, I volunteered at a few polls, and

911
00:47:27,560 --> 00:47:30,400
Speaker 2: I even thought about trying to work at the elections.

912
00:47:30,800 --> 00:47:34,120
Speaker 3: And they were in desperately. They were begging people to come.

913
00:47:34,200 --> 00:47:37,920
Speaker 2: And this was after several of the voter sites had

914
00:47:37,920 --> 00:47:41,319
Speaker 2: been shut down by our governor, so they'd already been

915
00:47:41,360 --> 00:47:44,840
Speaker 2: transitioned into like maybe four stations out of those six,

916
00:47:45,440 --> 00:47:48,440
Speaker 2: and they were trying desperately to find people because they

917
00:47:48,480 --> 00:47:49,440
Speaker 2: were having such a struggle.

918
00:47:49,640 --> 00:47:52,200
Speaker 5: Yeah, so that's not surprising to me. It's actually become

919
00:47:52,360 --> 00:47:55,319
Speaker 5: a common problem. According to research from the Brendan Center,

920
00:47:55,400 --> 00:47:58,160
Speaker 5: nearly one in three local election officials no at least

921
00:47:58,160 --> 00:48:00,440
Speaker 5: one election worker who has left the job, partly due

922
00:48:00,440 --> 00:48:03,960
Speaker 5: to safety concerns, increased threats, and intimidation. Ruby herself said

923
00:48:03,960 --> 00:48:06,320
Speaker 5: that she could never see herself working another election again

924
00:48:06,360 --> 00:48:08,839
Speaker 5: for the rest of her life, which again I don't

925
00:48:08,840 --> 00:48:11,520
Speaker 5: blame her. In this most recent election, we had a

926
00:48:11,560 --> 00:48:14,800
Speaker 5: shortage of poll workers, which of course leads to anti

927
00:48:14,840 --> 00:48:18,880
Speaker 5: democratic outcomes like short staffing polling precincts like you just described,

928
00:48:18,920 --> 00:48:22,080
Speaker 5: Sam that force people to wait in longer lines to vote.

929
00:48:22,239 --> 00:48:26,000
Speaker 5: These shortages of poll workers can also cause some locations

930
00:48:26,000 --> 00:48:29,320
Speaker 5: to either close or be consolidated with other polling centers,

931
00:48:29,520 --> 00:48:33,320
Speaker 5: making it more challenging for voters to access new polling places.

932
00:48:33,680 --> 00:48:37,160
Speaker 5: All of this can lead to disenfranchisement and reduce trust

933
00:48:37,200 --> 00:48:41,000
Speaker 5: and elections, especially among communities of color and other marginalized

934
00:48:41,000 --> 00:48:44,120
Speaker 5: communities who already face barriers to voting. And so it

935
00:48:44,680 --> 00:48:48,600
Speaker 5: is a widespread issue when you go to vote, if

936
00:48:48,640 --> 00:48:52,960
Speaker 5: people have been intimidated out of being part of that process,

937
00:48:53,360 --> 00:48:56,240
Speaker 5: that is an attack on our democracy, and it harms

938
00:48:56,280 --> 00:48:58,440
Speaker 5: all of us, not just the women who are attacked

939
00:48:58,440 --> 00:49:00,960
Speaker 5: and find themselves the targets.

940
00:49:00,440 --> 00:49:02,440
Speaker 4: Right, and that's terrifying.

941
00:49:02,480 --> 00:49:05,480
Speaker 1: I remember voting kind of soon after this for a

942
00:49:05,520 --> 00:49:09,439
Speaker 1: local election, and you could almost feel it. You could

943
00:49:09,440 --> 00:49:13,600
Speaker 1: feel that everyone was more unsure about about the process

944
00:49:13,640 --> 00:49:15,960
Speaker 1: and everyone was more on edge, and at one point,

945
00:49:16,000 --> 00:49:18,760
Speaker 1: like the power flickered and you could just see people

946
00:49:18,800 --> 00:49:22,120
Speaker 1: looking around like, oh, like I can't trust this anymore.

947
00:49:22,560 --> 00:49:28,000
Speaker 1: And the damage that has been done to these specific

948
00:49:28,080 --> 00:49:32,600
Speaker 1: women does speak to so much more. It speaks to

949
00:49:32,920 --> 00:49:38,120
Speaker 1: this doubt and people not feeling safe to work at poles.

950
00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:41,160
Speaker 1: And I think who works at poles, Like, if I

951
00:49:41,280 --> 00:49:43,640
Speaker 1: go in and it's like a bunch of kind of

952
00:49:43,719 --> 00:49:46,319
Speaker 1: burly white dudes that I might think are Trump supporters,

953
00:49:46,360 --> 00:49:48,319
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna feel as good about voting, Like I'm

954
00:49:48,320 --> 00:49:51,120
Speaker 1: not gonna feel as safe as about voting. And it's

955
00:49:51,160 --> 00:49:54,520
Speaker 1: just like a trickles, it's everywhere. It's got a ripple effect.

956
00:49:55,239 --> 00:49:58,200
Speaker 1: We're talking about kind of a specific thing, but it's

957
00:49:58,239 --> 00:49:59,440
Speaker 1: such a larger.

958
00:49:59,200 --> 00:50:03,280
Speaker 6: Issue, absolutely, and it's absolutely gendered.

959
00:50:03,440 --> 00:50:05,880
Speaker 5: Eighty percent of election officials are women, so these are

960
00:50:05,880 --> 00:50:09,000
Speaker 5: women being attacked and it's harming all of us.

961
00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:09,960
Speaker 6: And it shouldn't be like that.

962
00:50:10,000 --> 00:50:12,200
Speaker 5: When you go to vote, when the lights flicker, you

963
00:50:12,200 --> 00:50:14,720
Speaker 5: shouldn't have to worry like, oh no, what's about to happen?

964
00:50:14,840 --> 00:50:17,799
Speaker 5: Like this is the foundation in the cornerstone of our

965
00:50:17,880 --> 00:50:20,759
Speaker 5: democracy and it shouldn't it shouldn't be like that. Right, So,

966
00:50:21,239 --> 00:50:23,680
Speaker 5: we deserve better than a system that is able to

967
00:50:23,719 --> 00:50:28,040
Speaker 5: weaponize racism and sexism and lies to disenfranchise us. We

968
00:50:28,120 --> 00:50:31,279
Speaker 5: deserve so much better. And you know that kind of

969
00:50:31,320 --> 00:50:35,440
Speaker 5: brings us to today. So Ruby and Shay sued the

970
00:50:35,520 --> 00:50:37,719
Speaker 5: right wing website The Gateway Pundit and its owners for

971
00:50:37,760 --> 00:50:42,520
Speaker 5: defamation he publishing stories that instigated a deluge of intimidation, harassment.

972
00:50:42,160 --> 00:50:44,200
Speaker 6: And threats. And they also settled a suit.

973
00:50:44,080 --> 00:50:47,319
Speaker 5: With one American news network. And honestly, I hope they

974
00:50:47,360 --> 00:50:51,160
Speaker 5: get every penny. Hope they get so much money and

975
00:50:51,239 --> 00:50:53,800
Speaker 5: then thumb. Earlier this month, a federal judge ruled that

976
00:50:53,920 --> 00:50:56,600
Speaker 5: Rudy Giuliani is liable for defaming these women.

977
00:50:56,760 --> 00:50:58,000
Speaker 6: He'll have to pay their legal fees.

978
00:50:58,040 --> 00:51:00,600
Speaker 5: He's already paid about ninety thousand dollars and there's going

979
00:51:00,680 --> 00:51:02,680
Speaker 5: to be another trial to determine how much you will

980
00:51:02,680 --> 00:51:04,200
Speaker 5: have to pay in additional damages.

981
00:51:04,440 --> 00:51:05,920
Speaker 6: It could be in the millions.

982
00:51:05,960 --> 00:51:10,160
Speaker 5: And so I'm pleased that these women are getting some

983
00:51:10,680 --> 00:51:14,120
Speaker 5: semblance of justice. Like, I think that's great, but I

984
00:51:14,239 --> 00:51:17,319
Speaker 5: do also think that no amount of money can make

985
00:51:17,440 --> 00:51:20,640
Speaker 5: right what they went through. They only wanted to serve

986
00:51:20,680 --> 00:51:24,480
Speaker 5: their communities and do civic good during a pandemic, and

987
00:51:24,560 --> 00:51:27,839
Speaker 5: the president and his associates put their lives at risk

988
00:51:28,000 --> 00:51:30,839
Speaker 5: because of that. You know, they testified and spoke off

989
00:51:30,880 --> 00:51:34,080
Speaker 5: about what they experienced and putting themselves even more at risk.

990
00:51:34,120 --> 00:51:37,400
Speaker 5: And so what they did was heroic. They are absolutely

991
00:51:37,440 --> 00:51:41,239
Speaker 5: American heroes. But black women should not have to be

992
00:51:41,360 --> 00:51:44,040
Speaker 5: put in such a great danger for a country that

993
00:51:44,120 --> 00:51:47,040
Speaker 5: is going to weaponize their own identities against them, right,

994
00:51:47,080 --> 00:51:49,200
Speaker 5: And so yeah, I think that what they did is

995
00:51:49,200 --> 00:51:52,920
Speaker 5: really heroic, But I wish they never had to do

996
00:51:53,080 --> 00:51:54,120
Speaker 5: that in the first place.

997
00:51:54,120 --> 00:51:56,280
Speaker 6: I wish that they were able to just do their.

998
00:51:56,200 --> 00:51:59,719
Speaker 5: Jobs and live their lives and try to support democracy

999
00:52:00,160 --> 00:52:03,560
Speaker 5: they were doing without facing these kind of attacks, because

1000
00:52:04,040 --> 00:52:06,359
Speaker 5: not only does it hurt them, it hurts us all.

1001
00:52:06,560 --> 00:52:09,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, I hope they get all the money as they deserve.

1002
00:52:09,520 --> 00:52:13,040
Speaker 2: I'm I'm glad that Guliani actually admitted that he was wrong.

1003
00:52:13,719 --> 00:52:15,280
Speaker 3: We shouldn't even have a get to that point.

1004
00:52:15,560 --> 00:52:19,319
Speaker 5: Technically, what he admitted was I am so broke that

1005
00:52:19,360 --> 00:52:22,560
Speaker 5: I can no longer afford to contest these allegations. So

1006
00:52:22,600 --> 00:52:25,440
Speaker 5: he didn't admit wrongdoing, but he did. He was like,

1007
00:52:25,520 --> 00:52:27,200
Speaker 5: I don't have the money to continue.

1008
00:52:26,800 --> 00:52:27,520
Speaker 6: To contest fees.

1009
00:52:27,560 --> 00:52:31,640
Speaker 3: So okay, sure I read that wrong, but then well

1010
00:52:31,640 --> 00:52:33,160
Speaker 3: believe it. Of that, I'm glad he's.

1011
00:52:33,080 --> 00:52:36,160
Speaker 2: Getting all his money taken away. That's delightful. And we

1012
00:52:36,200 --> 00:52:38,680
Speaker 2: know he's never getting any money that he was supposed

1013
00:52:38,680 --> 00:52:40,480
Speaker 2: to get from Trump, so that's even matter.

1014
00:52:40,520 --> 00:52:43,800
Speaker 5: It's like begging Trump to pay his legal his legal fees. Also,

1015
00:52:44,040 --> 00:52:45,759
Speaker 5: even if Trump was like, I'll pay your legal fees,

1016
00:52:45,840 --> 00:52:47,759
Speaker 5: he doesn't pay anyway, So like, what does that even

1017
00:52:47,800 --> 00:52:48,319
Speaker 5: look like?

1018
00:52:48,320 --> 00:52:49,400
Speaker 6: Like he doesn't pay his bill.

1019
00:52:49,719 --> 00:52:52,319
Speaker 2: I think he actually owes Julianni for the years of

1020
00:52:52,480 --> 00:52:56,359
Speaker 2: representing him. Uh that like he just doesn't pay, which

1021
00:52:56,400 --> 00:52:58,960
Speaker 2: everybody's like, you know, that's not a thing, which I

1022
00:52:59,000 --> 00:53:01,080
Speaker 2: still love to think about the fact people love him

1023
00:53:01,080 --> 00:53:03,440
Speaker 2: as a businessman Trump and roll them. I'm like, all

1024
00:53:03,440 --> 00:53:06,840
Speaker 2: his businesses go bankrupt. I don't understand what you're talking about.

1025
00:53:07,160 --> 00:53:11,480
Speaker 2: Literally in Atlanta, he tried to build a whole apartment

1026
00:53:11,560 --> 00:53:12,960
Speaker 2: and it went bankrupt.

1027
00:53:13,680 --> 00:53:15,680
Speaker 6: It's easy to be a savvy businessman where you just

1028
00:53:15,680 --> 00:53:16,200
Speaker 6: don't pay.

1029
00:53:16,080 --> 00:53:18,319
Speaker 5: Anybody that you owe money to. Like, if I didn't

1030
00:53:18,320 --> 00:53:19,959
Speaker 5: pay any of my bills, I'd probably be rich.

1031
00:53:20,480 --> 00:53:22,640
Speaker 2: I love the whole file bankruptcy thing, which he's done

1032
00:53:22,680 --> 00:53:25,160
Speaker 2: so many times. And he can because he doesn't need credit,

1033
00:53:25,239 --> 00:53:28,319
Speaker 2: so he's like, I'll just keep borrowing money. Yeah, And

1034
00:53:28,360 --> 00:53:30,920
Speaker 2: I hate that this is their legacy, Like that's the

1035
00:53:31,360 --> 00:53:34,759
Speaker 2: thing that I know they did what they had to

1036
00:53:34,800 --> 00:53:37,520
Speaker 2: do because they're going to protect themselves and protect their

1037
00:53:37,560 --> 00:53:38,160
Speaker 2: loved ones.

1038
00:53:38,560 --> 00:53:40,400
Speaker 3: But the fact that they had to be put.

1039
00:53:40,239 --> 00:53:43,919
Speaker 2: To this point going through so much stress and then

1040
00:53:44,000 --> 00:53:46,560
Speaker 2: just hiding because I remember when they did high. They

1041
00:53:46,680 --> 00:53:49,359
Speaker 2: later left Atlanta and went to South Georgia, and even

1042
00:53:49,400 --> 00:53:51,759
Speaker 2: there they're just like what if they find us?

1043
00:53:52,280 --> 00:53:54,560
Speaker 5: Yeah, it breaks my heart. My heart goes out to

1044
00:53:54,600 --> 00:53:58,040
Speaker 5: these women. I think about them often. Yeah, I think

1045
00:53:58,040 --> 00:54:01,200
Speaker 5: about them a lot. I wish them nothing but peace

1046
00:54:01,400 --> 00:54:04,080
Speaker 5: and prosperity and abundance for the rest of their lives,

1047
00:54:04,160 --> 00:54:05,759
Speaker 5: because Lord knows they deserve it.

1048
00:54:05,800 --> 00:54:08,480
Speaker 2: They deserve it, and they've done so much, especially for

1049
00:54:08,560 --> 00:54:11,440
Speaker 2: the state of Georgia with what we're seeing, and we

1050
00:54:11,560 --> 00:54:14,400
Speaker 2: love to see the fact that thinks in part to

1051
00:54:14,440 --> 00:54:16,560
Speaker 2: them to coming out and speaking out.

1052
00:54:18,000 --> 00:54:20,280
Speaker 3: We get to see mug shots.

1053
00:54:23,040 --> 00:54:25,960
Speaker 5: Oh if you if you haven't seen Trevion's mugshot, I

1054
00:54:26,040 --> 00:54:28,000
Speaker 5: definitely suggest taking a look at that too.

1055
00:54:28,200 --> 00:54:30,960
Speaker 6: That's what I'll end there. Just a lot going on.

1056
00:54:32,520 --> 00:54:33,080
Speaker 4: I love it.

1057
00:54:34,000 --> 00:54:38,520
Speaker 2: And we should also note that it is DA Fanny Willis,

1058
00:54:38,600 --> 00:54:42,120
Speaker 2: who is a black woman who really decided like, yeah,

1059
00:54:42,160 --> 00:54:43,040
Speaker 2: we're not gonna let this sit.

1060
00:54:43,560 --> 00:54:47,000
Speaker 5: No, I don't think I knew like much about her

1061
00:54:47,320 --> 00:54:51,319
Speaker 5: until this, until this started, so like, yeah, I know it.

1062
00:54:51,440 --> 00:54:51,800
Speaker 6: Chaps.

1063
00:54:51,840 --> 00:54:54,000
Speaker 5: Trump's asked that so many of the people who are

1064
00:54:54,040 --> 00:54:56,800
Speaker 5: like trying to hold him accountable or black women, I know,

1065
00:54:57,280 --> 00:54:57,719
Speaker 5: chat ye.

1066
00:54:58,760 --> 00:55:02,240
Speaker 2: And he really hoped that Georgia would pull a Florida

1067
00:55:02,800 --> 00:55:09,000
Speaker 2: where Kemp would kick the DA off. But Camp was like, nah,

1068
00:55:09,160 --> 00:55:13,000
Speaker 2: I'm not messing with her. You got If I mess

1069
00:55:13,080 --> 00:55:14,719
Speaker 2: with Atlanta, it might be over for me. And he

1070
00:55:14,760 --> 00:55:15,480
Speaker 2: realizes that.

1071
00:55:16,080 --> 00:55:18,640
Speaker 6: Don't mess with Atlanta because the South's got something to say.

1072
00:55:18,800 --> 00:55:24,080
Speaker 2: Look, they know that he barely made it buy some Uh,

1073
00:55:24,200 --> 00:55:28,920
Speaker 2: I'm going to say Gray areas past aprams, but like

1074
00:55:29,880 --> 00:55:31,879
Speaker 2: Fulton County, will be the one that takes him out

1075
00:55:31,880 --> 00:55:32,480
Speaker 2: if he's not.

1076
00:55:32,480 --> 00:55:37,040
Speaker 3: Careful and you're here a Willis's, she doesn't please.

1077
00:55:39,719 --> 00:55:41,919
Speaker 1: We always love having you so much, Fridget. I feel

1078
00:55:41,960 --> 00:55:43,279
Speaker 1: like we could just go on and on and on

1079
00:55:43,320 --> 00:55:44,600
Speaker 1: and talk about all these different things.

1080
00:55:44,640 --> 00:55:46,920
Speaker 5: This is such a pleasure you always let you always

1081
00:55:46,960 --> 00:55:48,239
Speaker 5: let me, Like when I've got a b in my

1082
00:55:48,280 --> 00:55:51,279
Speaker 5: bonnet about something, you all always give me a platform.

1083
00:55:51,440 --> 00:55:52,520
Speaker 6: So I appreciate it.

1084
00:55:52,680 --> 00:55:57,280
Speaker 1: We love bees and bonnets. Virgets bees and bonnets.

1085
00:55:58,400 --> 00:56:03,520
Speaker 6: Oh that's look at that. I had to save that one.

1086
00:56:03,640 --> 00:56:09,719
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, well, thank you, thank you for always being

1087
00:56:09,719 --> 00:56:12,120
Speaker 1: in delight and doing this research and making sure people

1088
00:56:12,160 --> 00:56:13,360
Speaker 1: know these important things.

1089
00:56:14,040 --> 00:56:16,799
Speaker 4: We know you're very busy, so we really appreciate it.

1090
00:56:16,880 --> 00:56:17,080
Speaker 3: Yes.

1091
00:56:17,360 --> 00:56:19,440
Speaker 4: Where can the good listeners find you?

1092
00:56:19,760 --> 00:56:21,759
Speaker 5: Well, you can check out my podcast. There are no

1093
00:56:21,800 --> 00:56:23,880
Speaker 5: girls on the internet. You can find me on Instagram

1094
00:56:23,920 --> 00:56:26,320
Speaker 5: at Bridget Marie and DC or on Twitter at Bridget

1095
00:56:26,360 --> 00:56:29,040
Speaker 5: Marie and you can see me and Annie in Las

1096
00:56:29,160 --> 00:56:31,279
Speaker 5: Vegas if you're there, check come check us out.

1097
00:56:31,600 --> 00:56:35,879
Speaker 4: Yes, I will wear not pajamas for.

1098
00:56:38,120 --> 00:56:44,120
Speaker 3: Are you gonna low key cosplay? Scully? Hello?

1099
00:56:45,200 --> 00:56:47,120
Speaker 1: I actually have a friend who cosplays a Scully and

1100
00:56:47,160 --> 00:56:50,279
Speaker 1: she has the bench. Maybe she'll let me. Okay, that's

1101
00:56:50,280 --> 00:56:53,439
Speaker 1: a good idea. That's a good idea. Okay, well that's

1102
00:56:53,480 --> 00:56:58,560
Speaker 1: a spoiler for what we might be talking about. But yes,

1103
00:56:59,200 --> 00:57:01,520
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you, thank you, bridget. If you would

1104
00:57:01,560 --> 00:57:04,400
Speaker 1: like to find us, you can. You can emailus a

1105
00:57:04,400 --> 00:57:06,880
Speaker 1: stuff Adia mom Stuff at iHeartMedia dot com. You can

1106
00:57:06,920 --> 00:57:09,120
Speaker 1: find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast, or on

1107
00:57:09,120 --> 00:57:11,040
Speaker 1: Instagram and TikTok at Stuff I've Never Told you. We

1108
00:57:11,080 --> 00:57:12,680
Speaker 1: have a tea public store. We also have a book.

1109
00:57:12,800 --> 00:57:14,560
Speaker 1: You can get it at stuff you should read Books

1110
00:57:14,560 --> 00:57:16,800
Speaker 1: dot com or wherever you get your books. Thanks, it's

1111
00:57:16,800 --> 00:57:19,640
Speaker 1: always to our super producer Christina, our executive ducer Maya,

1112
00:57:19,680 --> 00:57:20,880
Speaker 1: and our contributor Joey.

1113
00:57:21,040 --> 00:57:24,840
Speaker 3: Thank you and I'm sorry, oh no, thanks.

1114
00:57:24,560 --> 00:57:27,200
Speaker 1: To you for listening Stuff I've Never Told whose production

1115
00:57:27,240 --> 00:57:29,080
Speaker 1: of IRT Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,

1116
00:57:29,120 --> 00:57:30,920
Speaker 1: you can check out the art radio app Apple Podcasts,

1117
00:57:30,960 --> 00:57:32,640
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.