Speaker 1: Native Land Pod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership
Speaker 1: with Resent Choice Media.
Speaker 2: Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
Speaker 3: Muslims have sometimes, whether you have or not, and I
Speaker 3: think probably you have have sometimes it seemed to me
Speaker 3: been preaching hate to meet hate. I don't advocate any
Speaker 3: kind of hate.
Speaker 4: A lot of talk that sounds very much like it.
Speaker 3: No, I think that the guilt complex of the American
Speaker 3: white man is so profound until when you begin to
Speaker 3: analyze the real condition of the black man in America.
Speaker 3: Instead of the American white man eliminating the causes that
Speaker 3: create that condition, he tries to cover it up by
Speaker 3: accusing his accusers of teaching hate, but actually they're just
Speaker 3: exposing him for being responsible for what exists.
Speaker 1: Welcome home, y'all, Welcome home. This is episode seventy one
Speaker 1: of Native Land Pod. That was, of course the Good
Speaker 1: Brother Malcolm X. He was in a conversation in an
Speaker 1: interview with a graduate student, a sociology graduate student, Herman Blake,
Speaker 1: and Professor John Leggett. So we got a lot to
Speaker 1: get to today, and we want to get right into it.
Speaker 1: We don't want to keep you waiting On our pre
Speaker 1: production call, we were talking about what we want to
Speaker 1: talk about today, and Angela, I think you had a
Speaker 1: really good topic.
Speaker 5: Well, thank you, tiv. I think what is really important
Speaker 5: given where we are in this country right now, we're
Speaker 5: hearing people all over the country talking about wanting to
Speaker 5: see a fight from their elected officials, and they're like,
Speaker 5: what is holding y'all back? We have a secret for y'all.
Speaker 5: It's called special interest. We're going to talk a little
Speaker 5: bit about special interest the outside role they play in
Speaker 5: our political process. And Andrew might have a story or
Speaker 5: two to tell himself.
Speaker 4: Ad what you got, good friend? There are stories, There
Speaker 4: are many. I appreciate this question because I think this
Speaker 4: is the part of politics that is the subtext, the underspoken,
Speaker 4: never spoken, probably never seen part that is the heavyweight
Speaker 4: in the room, to be quite frankly, and I'll talk
Speaker 4: to you about what it looks like at the I.
Speaker 1: Love the idea of talking about special interests because there
Speaker 1: are also geopolitical special interests that we're seeing play out
Speaker 1: and have a direct impact on our domestic policy here
Speaker 1: in America. So I definitely want to get into that.
Speaker 1: So the whole show, we're talking about special interest and
Speaker 1: I just want to remind folks we too have our
Speaker 1: own special interests and we'll get into that in the
Speaker 1: conversation too. So let's get into it. Let's kick us out.
Speaker 1: So I think we have a question from a viewer
Speaker 1: that can speak, can help us get into this conversation.
Speaker 1: Let's hear from the viewer.
Speaker 6: High Native lampod Hi, Andrew, Hi, Tiffany, Hi, Angela. I
Speaker 6: love you guys, Thank you all so much. I just
Speaker 6: have one question. What is the goal of Project twenty
Speaker 6: twenty five. What are they wanting this country to look like?
Speaker 6: I've read the book nineteen eighty four by George Orwell
Speaker 6: and is the cistopian America? Was like, that's where they're going.
Speaker 6: But what are we suffering through? They want us to suffer.
Speaker 6: They want us to you know, ride this wave, but
Speaker 6: they're firing, you know, a million federal workers. They are
Speaker 6: pulling back regulations, they're defunding and canceling, you know, the education.
Speaker 6: And it's like, what is this country supposed to look
Speaker 6: like when you're all done? And said, you know, the
Speaker 6: rich get richer and the poor get poor, But like,
Speaker 6: what is this world? What are we supposed to look like,
Speaker 6: what are we supposed to do? But thank you all
Speaker 6: for all that you do. Love you bye.
Speaker 1: I love that. Make fiction again. That is the mantra. Honestly,
Speaker 1: that's so many of us. Yeah, yeah, it is. It's
Speaker 1: really it's it's scary to see what happened. And I
Speaker 1: love this question speaking of special interest because I think
Speaker 1: that is the special interest that had such a huge
Speaker 1: impact on the campaign is having a huge impact on
Speaker 1: the country. I got to say to me, the goal
Speaker 1: of Project twenty twenty five is Black folks. I think
Speaker 1: we are at the center of all of this policy,
Speaker 1: of all of this hatred.
Speaker 5: It is.
Speaker 1: A concentrated effort.
Speaker 5: I was like, wait a minute, what, it's.
Speaker 1: A concentrated effort to oppress and suppress. Yes, And it
Speaker 1: is making me revisit the entire conversation that can we
Speaker 1: even coexist here? I was recently having this conversation about
Speaker 1: you know, when President Abraham Lincoln said we like we
Speaker 1: should get rid of the black folks, like we cannot
Speaker 1: coexist with them. And I have to say, I think
Speaker 1: he may have had a point because he essentially said,
Speaker 1: they will never forgive us for enslaving them, and white
Speaker 1: people will never want the stain of slavery around them,
Speaker 1: So let's give them some money and ship them out
Speaker 1: of America. And you look at us hundreds of years later,
Speaker 1: and I do I think it is always it's been
Speaker 1: a bitter battle in this country because we are the
Speaker 1: keepers of America's memory, and so this anti black discrimination
Speaker 1: has a wide impact and cast a dark shadow across
Speaker 1: so many areas of our politics. And they were able
Speaker 1: to convince other people to hate black folks too. And
Speaker 1: there were certain people who are now considered white, but
Speaker 1: they didn't have white folk. The Italians weren't considered white
Speaker 1: for a while, and then they got white privilege. And
Speaker 1: the way you the fastest way to get that is
Speaker 1: to hop one hat and black folks. So I think
Speaker 1: we are at the center of all of this discord,
Speaker 1: to be honest with you.
Speaker 5: You know, when I heard this question, one, thank you
Speaker 5: for the brilliant question. We do love you too. We
Speaker 5: started the show with Malcolm X, you know, a prophet
Speaker 5: in his own time, talking about that they will change
Speaker 5: the what is happening to say that the people who
Speaker 5: are the recorders and documentaris of accurate history are not ahistorical,
Speaker 5: are not real vision is his history. Tellers will be
Speaker 5: made to seem like they are the actual haters. And
Speaker 5: I think that accountability is not hate, even though it's uncomfortable.
Speaker 5: And you know, when I think about the question, because
Speaker 5: we did a whole podcast on Project twenty twenty five,
Speaker 5: what is it? What is its origins? Thank you to
Speaker 5: all of you who've watched it. It's one of our
Speaker 5: biggest shows. Please visit it again, Please visit it especially
Speaker 5: for the underpinnings of Project twenty twenty five to the
Speaker 5: point of the question. But I think the fundamental question
Speaker 5: here is what do they want the country to look like?
Speaker 5: You know what does the country they imagine include us?
Speaker 5: Does it include brown people, does it include the actual
Speaker 5: founders of this space, people from Indian country? Or does
Speaker 5: it exclude everyone because they think white is right? You know,
Speaker 5: do they think that make America great again? I remember
Speaker 5: they did this poll around the twenty sixteen election about
Speaker 5: what was the era? Right then? You want to get
Speaker 5: back to that demonstrates when America was at its greatest,
Speaker 5: and these my mothers went into the fifties. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 5: they went to the pre civil rights era. And what
Speaker 5: I got to tell you guys, and I don't want
Speaker 5: to disrespect our predecessors at all, but I think that
Speaker 5: we almost in nineteen fifty. Right now, in twenty twenty five,
Speaker 5: it feels like they rolled back all of these rights.
Speaker 5: I'm not going to say his name, but I had
Speaker 5: a really interesting conversation with a thought leader among us
Speaker 5: right now who said, you know what I think we
Speaker 5: have to pay attention to is we spent all this
Speaker 5: time focusing on civil rights advancements, our voting rights, affordable housing,
Speaker 5: fair housing, access, equal opportunity, and employment and education. And
Speaker 5: they were able to roll that back in less than
Speaker 5: two months. So if we were to examine where we
Speaker 5: put our focus to the same point that Congressman wrangel
Speaker 5: raised upon his retirement from Congress and a CBC meeting,
Speaker 5: he said, have we spent too much time focusing on
Speaker 5: social policy and not none enough on economic policy? The
Speaker 5: reason they are able to advance in these ways at
Speaker 5: our expense is because they can afford it.
Speaker 1: Andrew I Angela raised a really good questions, your thoughts,
Speaker 1: have we spent too much time advancing social policy and
Speaker 1: not economic That was mister Rangles, That's.
Speaker 5: What he was. It was a conundrum you could see
Speaker 5: the pain on his face. Like and mister Rangel and
Speaker 5: I didn't agree on every single thing, but he's a
Speaker 5: CBC founder. He was a part of the group that
Speaker 5: sent the sixty one recommendations to Richard Nixon. Most of them,
Speaker 5: not all of them, but most of them focus on
Speaker 5: social policy. Even the way that we approached housing access
Speaker 5: was about what was fair and just and not about
Speaker 5: giving us the resources to afford to be where they
Speaker 5: are or even to be where we are.
Speaker 4: It's because it didn't matter how much, but it didn't
Speaker 4: matter how much.
Speaker 5: But that's the thing, and right now it doesn't matter
Speaker 5: how much because they are able to lock us out
Speaker 5: all of all of all of our progress. And it's
Speaker 5: a damn shame. You know. I'm not and that's gonna say.
Speaker 5: I'm not trying to disrespect our forebeers, but I do
Speaker 5: think we got to wrestle with this because as we
Speaker 5: prepare for a fight, and as we lean into what
Speaker 5: it means to persist, resist and oppose, what is the
Speaker 5: right lane. Do we go right back to protecting voting
Speaker 5: rights and civil rights and all this, or do we
Speaker 5: go into fighting for our own space, our own dollars,
Speaker 5: our own access, our own communities, so they can't take
Speaker 5: it away.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but I don't. I want to hear
Speaker 1: from you, Andrew. I just as I talked to you,
Speaker 1: I want to say we did that. So we when
Speaker 1: we carved out a little tiny space for ourselves in
Speaker 1: the Green District of Pulse, they weren't bothering anybody. These
Speaker 1: are people who were just living their life, and they
Speaker 1: found it and killed us. The US government they bombed
Speaker 1: the shit out of us. You know, they came in
Speaker 1: and murdered men, women, children. It was state sanctioned murders.
Speaker 1: And so there is something in the right that was
Speaker 1: not the anomaly, that was the norm, because years prior
Speaker 1: to that, the Red Summer of nineteen nineteen, it was
Speaker 1: rampant violence across this country aimed at black people, black communities. So, Andrew,
Speaker 1: I don't know that. I don't know that it can
Speaker 1: be one or the other, or should we be fighting
Speaker 1: for both, or does this even system of capitalism ever
Speaker 1: serve us?
Speaker 4: I mean, I so do respect to the Congressman. I
Speaker 4: actually don't believe that the fight has been social exclusive.
Speaker 4: I actually think the values that brought us to the
Speaker 4: fight may feel social racial and gender parody, so that
Speaker 4: we can compete, but compete for what, to compete for jobs,
Speaker 4: to compete for schools that would educate our children and
Speaker 4: make them qualify for the positions that paid higher wages.
Speaker 4: We fought for fair housing so that when folks went
Speaker 4: out and worked a full time plus days of work,
Speaker 4: that they could then invest in this economy by affording
Speaker 4: to live where it is that they work. When our
Speaker 4: four parents fought for much of the social safety net,
Speaker 4: I would argue, practically all of it is economic in nature.
Speaker 4: So I actually, I actually believe that while our fight
Speaker 4: has been informed by our consciousness around fairness and ending discrimination,
Speaker 4: it has all been toward the end goal of being
Speaker 4: able to earn a wage that you can live on,
Speaker 4: take care of yourself and your family, and have a
Speaker 4: vacation every once in a while. So that's just my
Speaker 4: slight exception, and folks may land on different sides of that.
Speaker 4: And then to the question around Project twenty twenty five,
Speaker 4: I'll say two things. One, I think part of its
Speaker 4: goal was to turn what we right now associate as
Speaker 4: a democracy with three branches of government helmed by an
Speaker 4: executive branch. They would like to create what they discussed
Speaker 4: as the administrative They want to get rid of what
Speaker 4: they call the administrative state, which is all these agencies
Speaker 4: running things, and they want to create the unitary executive,
Speaker 4: all powerful, all being exempt from criminal prosecutions, who can
Speaker 4: make decisions unilaterally, to shut departments, to decide whether to
Speaker 4: enforce laws, so on and so forth. So they argue
Speaker 4: a very different picture of what democracy looks like than
Speaker 4: I think how most of us conceive of it. But
Speaker 4: I would argue that their belief is probably closer to
Speaker 4: where the Framers were. Remember, the Framers didn't give everybody
Speaker 4: the right to vote, not even all white people. It
Speaker 4: gave all white property owning men the right to vote.
Speaker 4: They did not believe largely in direct democracy in the
Speaker 4: sense that you vote for the person, and whoever votes
Speaker 4: the most of that person wins. No, they thought that
Speaker 4: the emotions of the people, the emotions of the general public,
Speaker 4: needed to be muted, or at least the edge taken
Speaker 4: off by a more sophisticated, smarter, intelligent, a richer group
Speaker 4: of white men who could then calm the passions of
Speaker 4: the people. So they have today. This is wild, but
Speaker 4: that's because that's exactly what they believe in. It's been
Speaker 4: it's been the belief since the very beginning. And then
Speaker 4: the second part of the response on present between twenty
Speaker 4: five is to say they hold I think I think
Speaker 4: your point Tiffany was right that black people, but I
Speaker 4: would argue that it's been black people, uh and eliminating
Speaker 4: us as as a productive part of this society by
Speaker 4: virtue of what conditions exist that allow our uplift in
Speaker 4: the first place? What do I mean? I believe that
Speaker 4: they are intent on destroying the entirety of the social
Speaker 4: safety net, social security. They were not for it when
Speaker 4: it was proposed. It happened because there was a Democratic
Speaker 4: president and a super majority Democratic Senate. When we think
Speaker 4: about retirement benefits, they don't support that. When we think
Speaker 4: about medicaid, medicare they believe in this mythology of the
Speaker 4: survival of the fittest that whoever survives were the ones
Speaker 4: who were fit and meant to survive. Donald Trump told
Speaker 4: us that in the first administration, he said, the people
Speaker 4: who are affected mostly by COVID are folks who are
Speaker 4: already sick, are older, or are the black people. They
Speaker 4: said that he said it from a white House, right.
Speaker 4: So I think where they want to go is back
Speaker 4: to a time where if you had means and wealth,
Speaker 4: name and privilege, this country was for you. And anyone
Speaker 4: who didn't have that in their possession, you fail by
Speaker 4: the wayside. Oh you can't afford retirement, find you sleep
Speaker 4: on the streets. Oh you can't afford to get health care?
Speaker 4: Then and die. I don't mean, I mean, I don't
Speaker 4: mean to be dismissive in anyway or cute by one half.
Speaker 4: This is their vision of the country, and through Project
Speaker 4: twenty twenty five and then dismantling of all of this,
Speaker 4: they are well on their way to trying to achieve
Speaker 4: the kind of country that they that they that they
Speaker 4: believe should have existed in the first world.
Speaker 1: That gets to that this question of special interest though.
Speaker 1: You know, Angela, you were looking into special interests when
Speaker 1: it comes to members of Congress, and I to Andrew's point,
Speaker 1: that is something that is not talked about. I keep
Speaker 1: saying it every podcast. I'm not going to stop this podcast.
Speaker 1: It is such a gross failure of American media and
Speaker 1: journalism that we don't talk more about that and highlight
Speaker 1: who is funding some of these members. Because Project twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five was funded. You know, it came out of
Speaker 1: the Heritage Foundation, but there are people funding it. This
Speaker 1: presidency is funded by a sole immigrant, for the record,
Speaker 1: not an American citizen who bought the presidency for this man.
Speaker 1: He's funding, you know, a lot of pieces he's defunded
Speaker 1: the government while funding his own special projects through the government.
Speaker 1: And members of Congress are right and the government funding him,
Speaker 1: and members of Congress are standing by watching this happen
Speaker 1: amidst you know, some of these angry town halls. Why
Speaker 1: on earth would that be? And as you talk to
Speaker 1: US Angela, I think it's also important to explain the
Speaker 1: laws around it because this was a big part of
Speaker 1: Citizens United. There used to be caps on how much
Speaker 1: you could contribute to a member of Congress and individually
Speaker 1: what I think it's twenty five hundred? Do I have
Speaker 1: that wrong?
Speaker 5: Per yes? But but it's a five would you say no?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 5: No?
Speaker 4: The numbers may change, but you're right, there is a
Speaker 4: cat As.
Speaker 1: An individual, I can only give five thousand total to
Speaker 1: any candidate.
Speaker 5: There's a thing.
Speaker 7: Per ye, yes, per cycle for a primary and primary
Speaker 7: if you know what, let me look because I'm trying
Speaker 7: I was trying to look up something I don't I
Speaker 7: actually don't want to go down this road because I
Speaker 7: have like a lot on the special, but I want to.
Speaker 5: Let mean, since it was brought up, I'm going to
Speaker 5: get the facts right. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I want
Speaker 5: five thousand for a pack and it's different for individual.
Speaker 5: I've bring that up. Yeah, but what's the individual federal
Speaker 5: contract and contributed contriversial limit, federal.
Speaker 7: Contract primaria and in general?
Speaker 5: Yeah, okay, so producer visual and a pack can do
Speaker 5: five thousand in the primary and five thousand and in
Speaker 5: general for a total of ten. Course that's different. That's
Speaker 5: an independent expenditure which brings us back to Citizens United
Speaker 5: carry out.
Speaker 1: Yes, so super paid. I don't know if you all
Speaker 1: could hear our producer Lolo off camera was given us
Speaker 1: some good info. Thirty three hundred for an individual during
Speaker 1: a cycle, five thousand for a political action committee and
Speaker 1: when you know the Citizens United are ruling. I mean,
Speaker 1: it essentially changed campaign financing and that is a huge
Speaker 1: challenge in this country. That is a debate for another time.
Speaker 1: But I wanted to introduced that so we could understand
Speaker 1: why some of these people while you have private interests
Speaker 1: controlling how our government functions.
Speaker 4: Yeah, y'all will continue the conversation about special interests. Stay
Speaker 4: tuned to see who else is so specially interested. We'll
Speaker 4: be back after the breakdown.
Speaker 5: I just wanted to take a minute to look up
Speaker 5: some of this, and so I want to use this
Speaker 5: as a backdrop. This conversation for us came up today
Speaker 5: because we were talking about the continuing resolution last week.
Speaker 5: You all know I did a mini pod yesterday talking
Speaker 5: about Schumer gotta go and laying out the reasons why
Speaker 5: I think we get to a place in our body politics,
Speaker 5: tiff and Andrew, where you literally can no longer hear
Speaker 5: the voices of the people. It is drowned out by
Speaker 5: the size of the contributions of your biggest donors. They
Speaker 5: have direct access to you and your cell phone number.
Speaker 5: They have your personal email address and at ben Yo
Speaker 5: family's house for a barbecue. Your constituents have never had
Speaker 5: that access to you or that point of privilege. These
Speaker 5: are the kinds of things that make people completely jaded,
Speaker 5: eyes glaze over. Me would bring up politics, It's like
Speaker 5: this is never going to be a level playing field.
Speaker 5: Why should we even get involved? I actually get that.
Speaker 5: And I can say, as a former staffer who has
Speaker 5: set up fundraisers for my bosses, who had to ensure
Speaker 5: that we were talking to donors, there's a cooling off
Speaker 5: period between when somebody can write a check and when
Speaker 5: they can ask for something from a member of Congress.
Speaker 5: But nevertheless they can still ask, and of course constituents
Speaker 5: can too, but I can tell you from firsthand experience,
Speaker 5: it is a different experience with the donor. It just is. Now.
Speaker 5: I think what is potentially are particularly troubling to me
Speaker 5: from last week, as we know in the Senate there
Speaker 5: were ten Democrats who voted with Chuck or tintotal voting
Speaker 5: with the Republicans, including Chuck Schumer who's the centimonority leader,
Speaker 5: on this bill to keep the government open. And we
Speaker 5: talked to government employees. They did not want the government
Speaker 5: to stay open because we've all been arguing the government's
Speaker 5: been shut down. They are abusing their power and waste,
Speaker 5: broad abuses running rampant. Why are we even doing this
Speaker 5: well special interests. So this is what I was able
Speaker 5: to attain. I want to shout out our producer Lolo,
Speaker 5: who sent this over to me, but I just want
Speaker 5: to run through some of these really quick, and all
Speaker 5: of them aren't bad, but I think it's important. Here
Speaker 5: are the top donors from the folks who voted in
Speaker 5: favor of the continuing Resolution last week. Despite what the
Speaker 5: people said, which was overwhelming, we do vote against this thing,
Speaker 5: so Senator Jean Shaheen, who is not running again. The
Speaker 5: largest donor was Emily's list at one hundred and fifty
Speaker 5: nine thousand dollars. That's New Hampshire, Yes, New Hampshire. Brian
Speaker 5: Shatts of Hawaii Charter Communications. Senator Gary Peters of Michigan
Speaker 5: University of Michigan, which I find fascinating his four hundred
Speaker 5: five hundred thousand dollars, and I still think this might
Speaker 5: be LOLO over the course of five years. But nevertheless,
Speaker 5: it's important to understand. Senator Angus King, biggest donor American
Speaker 5: Israeli Public Affairs Committee. That's a PAC independent he is,
Speaker 5: but he caucuses with the dooms. Senator Maggie Hassen Emily's list.
Speaker 5: Senator Dick Durbin Power Rogers LLP, which I assume is
Speaker 5: a law firm in Illinois. Senator Catherine Cortez Vasto Emily's list,
Speaker 5: Senator Kirsten Jillibrand Apak Senator Chuck Schumer Blackstone Group. Now,
Speaker 5: I went to Chuck Schumer last week because I was like, no,
Speaker 5: why what the Blackstone Group care about a shutdown? I'm
Speaker 5: so glad you asked. Let me tell you why. So.
Speaker 5: Blackstone Group is an asset management company that is also
Speaker 5: an investment firm. I fill up this fortune piece. I'm
Speaker 5: being accountable to our resident journalist, Tiffany d. Cross. The
Speaker 5: title of this piece is Blackstone's seventeen billion dollar property
Speaker 5: lending arm isn't giving up on its office bets. What
Speaker 5: happened last Monday, y'all? Somebody tell me what happened last Monday.
Speaker 5: I'm so glad you asked. Beteral workers had to go
Speaker 5: back to work, which means they are in an actual
Speaker 5: office building. When we're talking about one of their biggest
Speaker 5: assets at Blackstone. We're talking about office buildings. Guess would
Speaker 5: have been mostly vacant since twenty twenty. Office buildings. So
Speaker 5: they're hedging their bets on people going back to work.
Speaker 5: The fact that DOGE is doging and trying to shut
Speaker 5: down all of these leases, trying to close down on property.
Speaker 5: They know that he's going to make mistakes. Why because
Speaker 5: he's made so many. But lo and behold, they're gonna
Speaker 5: need office space. So black Tone is hedging its bets
Speaker 5: on the federal government needing to rent office space. So anyway,
Speaker 5: that is all I want to share. You look like
Speaker 5: you got something to say, be it. I want to hear.
Speaker 1: We have some friends at Blackstone Group.
Speaker 5: I'm waited. I'm like call them out. You should. You
Speaker 5: should actually say that on here because it goes right
Speaker 5: to the heart of special interests and how people end
Speaker 5: up walking blindly in their hypocrisy. So it is it
Speaker 5: is we we would never be the type of show,
Speaker 5: are the type of people that receive the donation and
Speaker 5: therefore quiet the criticism. Y'all are on the wrong side
Speaker 5: of the people diverse in all like special interests don't care,
Speaker 5: you know what I mean? And I was also sick
Speaker 5: because I didn't mean to go on this rampage job,
Speaker 5: but I was sick looking at who a pack donated
Speaker 5: to after something called Standing Strong Pack, which I'm going
Speaker 5: to look up. They're top two recipients of a pack money,
Speaker 5: Wesley Bell and George Latimer. That is, Corey Bush and
Speaker 5: Jamal Bowman's.
Speaker 1: Opponents who won, who unseated them, they outspent them so
Speaker 1: significantly because Jamal and Corey don't take corporate pack money
Speaker 1: or special interest pack money in this way.
Speaker 5: So this is the point when when you know that
Speaker 5: you can, like you come from bottomless funds, and you
Speaker 5: know that you can spend your way to victory, that
Speaker 5: is an imbalance in democratic power that has to be
Speaker 5: shifted and is why people wanted to shut this down
Speaker 5: with the Citizens United case and why it was so
Speaker 5: dangerous to say we're going to treat corporations as individuals. Yeah,
Speaker 5: that's my ted talk and I didn't mean fred to
Speaker 5: be that long.
Speaker 4: Well, let me let me I appreciate that, Angela. I
Speaker 4: do think it's important for people to know follow the money,
Speaker 4: you bollow the money. The truth is is that the
Speaker 4: money oftentimes of many of these issues, it creates strange bedfellows.
Speaker 4: You just mentioned going back to work and who might
Speaker 4: be a benefic benefactor of that. Yes, the companies that
Speaker 4: own the buildings that leases the space to the government
Speaker 4: as an entity, so long as the government has a
Speaker 4: policy that their workers have to be in that actual
Speaker 4: edifice to still be employed by the government that is
Speaker 4: good for, that is good for. How do you say,
Speaker 4: I don't know the landlord, but guess who's also good for?
Speaker 4: It's good for Muriel Bowser, the mayor of Washington d C.
Speaker 4: Rial you may find them in joint community. I apologize
Speaker 4: Mayor Bowser and who else might be in common cause
Speaker 4: with Mayor Bowser and Blackstone on this? How about the
Speaker 4: retail Association in Washington, d C.
Speaker 5: And retail side Andrew because they were trying to cut
Speaker 5: her budget maurial billion dollars.
Speaker 4: Muryo Bowser was in support. I'm speaking specifically about the
Speaker 4: return to work policy, specifically about going back to work. No,
Speaker 4: but I just wanted I wanted to break it down
Speaker 4: in a for for listeners to understand that the issue
Speaker 4: can create very interesting bedfellows. Now, would would Mayor Bowser
Speaker 4: be in favor of passing this CR as they exempted
Speaker 4: left out funding for Washington d C. Absolutely not right.
Speaker 4: So she's not gonna be in common calls with them
Speaker 4: on that. But but but but but they may find
Speaker 4: common calls on an issue like this. The other thing
Speaker 4: is side note, which is Emily's list, which was mentioned
Speaker 4: a number of times by Angela as related to a
Speaker 4: number of the women, I think exclusively the women members
Speaker 4: of the Senate who were part of that ten. Well,
Speaker 4: Emily's List doesn't tell the full story because Emily's List
Speaker 4: basically takes money from anyone Andrew and so an individual
Speaker 4: donor who might be just interested in in in Senator Shaheen,
Speaker 4: but they don't want their names or their company's name
Speaker 4: to appear as a supporter of hers. They say, oh,
Speaker 4: I'll give the money to Emily's List, and what Emily's
Speaker 4: List will do is then rewrite that money through its
Speaker 4: own ways. I don't want to suggest an illegality here,
Speaker 4: but essentially the name Emilies, this does not tell the
Speaker 4: full story of where the money came from, whether or
Speaker 4: not the candidate or the elected official knows where that
Speaker 4: money came from. It's a more diluted picture. But this
Speaker 4: is the big I think this is a big piece
Speaker 4: that must be owned here, and that is that we
Speaker 4: have a lot of our elected officials, both Democrats and Republicans,
Speaker 4: to almost whole sale allow non disclosed money from corporations
Speaker 4: to completely infuse itself into politics and their positions. And
Speaker 4: I gotta say the nineteen nineties, the early nineteen nineties
Speaker 4: in the Democratic associations that were outside of the party,
Speaker 4: and then it became inside the party that existed. We're
Speaker 4: largely in outreach and extension to the corporate arm of America.
Speaker 4: It basically said, we'll bring you after so you can
Speaker 4: produce cheaper products and sell them at higher prices, increasing
Speaker 4: the profit margins of your companies. And what we'll do
Speaker 4: is we'll we'll pass policies that is sympathetic and favorable
Speaker 4: to you. And what happened in that collision, whereas their
Speaker 4: business community used to be wholesale for Republicans because Democrats
Speaker 4: didn't fight for them, so they said, became advocates for
Speaker 4: both sides. It didn't matter to them Democrats or Republicans,
Speaker 4: the business community by and large in the early nineteen
Speaker 4: nineties made the conversion. And so as a result of it,
Speaker 4: the people have been on one side of many of
Speaker 4: these issues, and Democrats and Republicans have largely been together
Speaker 4: on the opposite side of those issues. So free trade, yeah,
Speaker 4: they yelling and screaming about it today, But people lost lives,
Speaker 4: they lost businesses, they lost homes, communities lost populations, schools, children, children,
Speaker 4: and you had wholesale communities experiencing depopulation. Well in American
Speaker 4: jobs no longer around. So I'm just saying this problem.
Speaker 4: Whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, and you're probably
Speaker 4: if you're a Republican, you may not be listening to
Speaker 4: the sound of my voice was just fine. But I
Speaker 4: just want to exclamation mark what doctor King tried to see,
Speaker 4: tried for all of us to see, which is that
Speaker 4: black folks, brown folks, and yes, working class white people
Speaker 4: are in common cause with each other. But this is
Speaker 4: economic issues.
Speaker 1: Well, this is kind of a different question, but I
Speaker 1: everything you guys are saying it keeps leading me back
Speaker 1: to this question of can any system of capitalism serve us?
Speaker 1: And I asked the question because Verdon Perry, he is
Speaker 1: the global head of Blackstone, the Strategic Partners who you
Speaker 1: were talking about the Investment Fund. He happens to be
Speaker 1: a Morehouse College graduate. He is on the board of
Speaker 1: trustees at Morehouse. He has put so much money into
Speaker 1: Morehouse and has done great for the community. However, the
Speaker 1: mechanism that's allowing him to do that is crushing the
Speaker 1: community if they are funding you know, Leader Schumer, who
Speaker 1: is not working in service to the people. So I
Speaker 1: just wonder does this entire system ever service And that's
Speaker 1: not to call out Burden, I hope I'm saying his
Speaker 1: name for Burdoon Vernon, mister Perry. He's a very wealthy man,
Speaker 1: and we are proud of you as an individual, brother,
Speaker 1: so I'm not attacking you at all, but it does
Speaker 1: It keeps bringing me to this question, does any system
Speaker 1: of capitalism serve us as a people, particularly since so
Speaker 1: much about the system of capitalism started on the plantation,
Speaker 1: So I just wonder, is that even something that can
Speaker 1: survive here? People keep saying, you know, private equity is
Speaker 1: destroying America. I don't know enough about it to know.
Speaker 1: I'd be curious to our audience, like explain it to me,
Speaker 1: because I don't really know. But it also, you know,
Speaker 1: it cancels jobs. It also creates jobs. But Wall Street
Speaker 1: only exists because of our labor, and it's crushing all
Speaker 1: of us. So I just wonder if we have so
Speaker 1: much of that money.
Speaker 5: Our bodies right literally on top of our bodies.
Speaker 1: So if we have so much of those problems and
Speaker 1: they are funding members of Congress who are not living
Speaker 1: in service to our interests, I wonder does the entire
Speaker 1: system need to be disrupted or blown up?
Speaker 5: Well, but here's the thing, and I do think we
Speaker 5: should address this larger question about capitalism. And I hope
Speaker 5: it's on another show, because if we could just lean
Speaker 5: into the special interest part, I think the other part
Speaker 5: is especially given like where we are in this social
Speaker 5: media era. We live in this absolute black or white
Speaker 5: space and it's like either you're with me all the
Speaker 5: time or you're not. And I think that it feels
Speaker 5: especially true right now because of how terrifying it is
Speaker 5: to be living in this era in twenty twenty five
Speaker 5: and or this administration. But the truth of the matter is,
Speaker 5: even though right now I feel like Chuck Schumer should
Speaker 5: face a different level of account ability given the severity
Speaker 5: and the seriousness of seriousness of his vote, as well
Speaker 5: as the other ten members, just like the folks who
Speaker 5: voted against Algreen, Like, there's some there's some accountability conversations
Speaker 5: that we have to have and if you can't align
Speaker 5: with us, you need to be, you need to be,
Speaker 5: you need to stub down. But if somebody's voting with
Speaker 5: us eighty five percent of the time, I don't think
Speaker 5: that we risk it all and go find somebody that, like,
Speaker 5: we might get five more percent out of And I
Speaker 5: don't think all of that is special interests. But like
Speaker 5: when you're so out of lockstep with what the community
Speaker 5: is saying, I think that's the time to do a
Speaker 5: gut check around special interest I mean, I'm fine questions. Also,
Speaker 5: go ahead, Andrew.
Speaker 4: Answer to your point. Just so, I'm sorry to exclamation market.
Speaker 4: I don't think special interests in and of themselves are bad.
Speaker 4: Are bad things neighborhood associations of special interests at the
Speaker 4: local yeah, yeah, you have the the Black Chamber of
Speaker 4: Commerce is a special interest at the local level. So
Speaker 4: so special interests can be for good things sometimes and
Speaker 4: sometimes I don't agree with.
Speaker 5: We're talking about with your special interests, the voices of
Speaker 5: special interests impact is I know, but can trump the
Speaker 5: people's power. That's when we have to rest like, well,
Speaker 5: people are clear.
Speaker 4: Agreed, go ahead, I agreed. I'm just saying I don't so.
Speaker 4: First of all, there isn't a there's an issue where
Speaker 4: you will find people on opposite sides on most things.
Speaker 4: But I understand the point of outside. The reason why
Speaker 4: I made the point around what common cause is for
Speaker 4: a lot of people that you may have people who
Speaker 4: philosophically agree with you, as you said ninety percent of
Speaker 4: the time, who take exception on this issue or that issue.
Speaker 4: That isn't that That isn't what I take issue with.
Speaker 4: And I don't take issue with groups and special interests
Speaker 4: in and of themselves my real beef because I think
Speaker 4: special interests, Yes, they have power to an end, and
Speaker 4: what is that end? That end is the elected officials
Speaker 4: willingness to do it, to carry the water, to comply.
Speaker 4: And so maybe these are twin issues, but I think
Speaker 4: part of why we are where we are is absolutely yes,
Speaker 4: special interest but I also believe it is the cowardice
Speaker 4: of elected officials who make the choice to go against
Speaker 4: what they ran on, maybe with their constituents might feel
Speaker 4: and in their in their gut about how they should perform.
Speaker 5: Well, Andrew, can we do a quick I agree with you,
Speaker 5: but can we do a quick kind of not experiment,
Speaker 5: but maybe a reflection back to either your time as
Speaker 5: a Talia Talahassee commissioner or mayor, or as a candidate
Speaker 5: when you had to come face to face with special
Speaker 5: interests as well. I remember a story about Emily's list,
Speaker 5: which I thought is where you were going earlier. But
Speaker 5: it's all good. There are some others. No, I didn't
Speaker 5: want to there are some others, and I would love
Speaker 5: for you to quickly, you know, take people into the
Speaker 5: space in the world of that when they come to
Speaker 5: you and say, you know, Andrew, we want you to
Speaker 5: stand against charter schools, or Andrew, we need you to
Speaker 5: stand with us. What Israel all the way? Or Andrew,
Speaker 5: we need you to support this uh, and don't say
Speaker 5: anything about this development project whatever it is? What what
Speaker 5: were what were those conversations, like, you know, and what
Speaker 5: are they saying? They're saying, we would love to support you,
Speaker 5: gonna door knock for you, going to do this. We
Speaker 5: expect you to be with us on what like tell
Speaker 5: us about that and what? Yeah, I mean leaned into
Speaker 5: your convictions because you're different in this. Everybody doesn't land
Speaker 5: where you land. Some of them land where Chuck Schumer is.
Speaker 4: Well, most people, I will tell you, special interests or
Speaker 4: individual contributors, major contributors would never try to co locate
Speaker 4: in their conversation with you that they're giving you money
Speaker 4: for a certain thing.
Speaker 5: That's right.
Speaker 4: In fact, I never went to people and and ask
Speaker 4: their ask for their support for some special carve oute
Speaker 4: that they may be for or against. In fact, I
Speaker 4: mean the FBI deal that that came into my city
Speaker 4: and targeted us locally, very specifically wanted to say, hey,
Speaker 4: you know we we we like you, we think you're
Speaker 4: a good god, we think of a good governor, but
Speaker 4: we're mostly interested in your votes at the local level.
Speaker 4: And I'm like, let me be very clear about this.
Speaker 4: If you support me, you support me because I'm a
Speaker 4: responsive elected official, that you know that I'm going to
Speaker 4: vote my conscience and that I had to have a
Speaker 4: forward looking and progressive view about what the future of
Speaker 4: this state ought to look like. And if you want details,
Speaker 4: we can go through it issue by issue, But I don't.
Speaker 4: I don't want anybody's support contingent on the fact that
Speaker 4: you think you're going to predict how I'm going to vote.
Speaker 5: Like that maybe going to be a predator. Andrew, what
Speaker 5: do you think is the reason? And then Tim, I'm
Speaker 5: gonna shut up with my question. What do you think
Speaker 5: is the reason that some elected officials don't have that
Speaker 5: same conviction around not being by like they don't mind
Speaker 5: I've been in spaces like joint fundraisers we're members of
Speaker 5: Congress will be like I'm this, I'm their dad, like
Speaker 5: you know, literally, it feels like bot like I'm there.
Speaker 5: I've never seen any times on Maxine Waters or please
Speaker 5: do that ever, but I have been in space. Whatever
Speaker 5: they need, they got no question there.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, which is crazy, right, which is crazy. And
Speaker 4: first of all, I mean, there's something to be said
Speaker 4: for that. If you are a corrupt person and you
Speaker 4: believe that that's like a badge of honor to wear,
Speaker 4: there's a lot to be said there. But for most individuals,
Speaker 4: I have to believe, first of all, the overwarming majority
Speaker 4: of elected officials who I know, are not going to
Speaker 4: stand up in no damn middle of the room and
Speaker 4: talk about being anybody's proxy on this issue, that issue,
Speaker 4: that issue, because of unless they're saying, you sent me
Speaker 4: to DC voters, and because you sent me, you better
Speaker 4: know you always have an opportunity to walk through my door,
Speaker 4: sit down and have your grievance with me. And that's
Speaker 4: what I've always said to you. Anybody can book a
Speaker 4: meeting with me. My schedule is mayor and as commissioner
Speaker 4: was easy because we took them from everybody. You didn't
Speaker 4: need to be a contributed for that to happen. But
Speaker 4: for a lot of people, especially special interests, most of
Speaker 4: them by and large are when they are giving you
Speaker 4: a money, what they are, what they're asking for is
Speaker 4: access to you. They want to be able to reach
Speaker 4: you when they need to. That's their clever way of
Speaker 4: of of of of letting you be known and we
Speaker 4: can rock with that.
Speaker 5: Those wait, wait one more, one more, you just foot
Speaker 5: us in your answers. What was the balance for you
Speaker 5: of people of constituents who had your cell phone number
Speaker 5: versus donors or other supporters who had your cell phone
Speaker 5: over the person everybody.
Speaker 4: I need to get rid of it? Well, overwhelmingly the
Speaker 4: you know, overwhelmingly people right, people had it overwhelmingly because
Speaker 4: I would get requests that my aid would just beg
Speaker 4: me to please put an automatic message up that says
Speaker 4: contact by aid for this is that. And the third
Speaker 4: because because I lose some of it, she gets some
Speaker 4: of it, and and ultimately she's gonna be the one
Speaker 4: responsible because she controls account under but but but largely
Speaker 4: business interests and special interests where the money lies right,
Speaker 4: where the money raiser. Those are the people who who
Speaker 4: I have to tell you are going to have the
Speaker 4: most access to elected officials. Why because they're the ones
Speaker 4: who show up at the fundraisers. They're the ones who
Speaker 4: throw the fundraisers. They're the ones who have the pre
Speaker 4: meeting setting up to the fundraiser, and they want you
Speaker 4: to know that you're that your friendship with them has value,
Speaker 4: a real value. But I got to tell you this, y'all,
Speaker 4: on every issue that I stood for, fought against for
Speaker 4: as as a mayor, as an elected official, the most
Speaker 4: powerful constituency that ever showed up in the staff and
Speaker 4: anybody on the opposite side of them always knew it
Speaker 4: was going to be a fight if this happened. Is
Speaker 4: when your chamber gets filled with people who say this
Speaker 4: is the wrong thing to do. It doesn't matter how powerful,
Speaker 4: or how friendly, or how much money you raise me
Speaker 4: or any of that stuff from most selected officials. When
Speaker 4: the people show up in the room, the people usually
Speaker 4: win the day. The problem is, most selectors can count
Speaker 4: on maybe one or two hands how often they've dealt
Speaker 4: with an issue where the chamber was filled up with
Speaker 4: people on one side, and business can name every other
Speaker 4: nine of the ten issues where they have been in
Speaker 4: the room on a particular issue. That's the balance.
Speaker 1: I just I want to take a minute to say
Speaker 1: two things. One, I think elected officials like Andrew are
Speaker 1: rare unfortunately, that's right, yeah, it I feel so much
Speaker 1: rage in this country right now. I cannot even tell you.
Speaker 1: And hearing you talk about Andrew like the kind of
Speaker 1: mayor that you were, it makes me so upset because
Speaker 1: I feel like our people are losing, and I think
Speaker 1: we have to have a conversation about how do we
Speaker 1: become our special interest how do we elevate our voice
Speaker 1: this to be as powerful as these special interests groups.
Speaker 1: Andree for you to say that so many people had
Speaker 1: your mobile number, you know, I mean that's y'all know
Speaker 1: how I am about my cell phone, Like I rarely
Speaker 1: give it because I don't want to be responsible for
Speaker 1: having to respond to a text. I want to be
Speaker 1: horrible at it. For you to have this open door
Speaker 1: policy with your constituents, right the open phone and open
Speaker 1: door it is you just don't see that. And I
Speaker 1: feel like when those people emerge, there is an effort
Speaker 1: to silence, to take them out. So I'll say, Andrew
Speaker 1: and I had a conversation. I'm gonna sound like a hypocrite.
Speaker 1: I own it, but I sent Andrew some text and
Speaker 1: he didn't respond, and to excuse me, I understand I'm
Speaker 1: a hypocrite. Hypocrite here, Well, I just want the viewers
Speaker 1: to know because at any point I can ask Andrew
Speaker 1: any question.
Speaker 5: Two me so nuts, I can't. I can't have it.
Speaker 1: I can't have it. I'm one of those zero balanced people.
Speaker 1: But I don't open things until I'm ready to respond
Speaker 1: to them. I had a conversation with Andrew because last
Speaker 1: week on the pod we talked about do our taxes
Speaker 1: fund the government? And I referenced like no, but I
Speaker 1: remember reading like taxes don't fund the government. And so
Speaker 1: after the show, I went and looked at it and I,
Speaker 1: you know, tried to read a few things and I
Speaker 1: didn't understand it, and so I sent it to Andrew.
Speaker 1: I'm like, and can you read this and maybe you'll
Speaker 1: you'll understand it better. I can ask Andrew questions like Andrew,
Speaker 1: what was the negotiating table after World War Two? Like
Speaker 1: how did NATO even come to be? And like how
Speaker 1: did that benefit us? And off the dome, Andrew, you
Speaker 1: have an answer for me if I asked, well, what
Speaker 1: was the time limit between World War One and World
Speaker 1: War Two? What were the lessons that we took away
Speaker 1: from that? Off the dome, Andrew will have an answer to.
Speaker 5: Find out he's Andrew Chaid GP. Yeah, honestly.
Speaker 1: But this is my point on just want me to
Speaker 1: shut the hell up, because y'all are both like extra humble.
Speaker 1: But my point to to Andrew is in domestic policy
Speaker 1: foreign policy, like you are so gifted and so talented,
Speaker 1: and I wish because if you've lived in Florida, then
Speaker 1: you know, Andrew, Andrew still beloved in the state of Florida,
Speaker 1: but outside people don't know the wealth of knowledge this
Speaker 1: man has and the level of intellect that you bring
Speaker 1: in terms of strategy and just in conversation. So I
Speaker 1: just really appreciate that about you. And to hear how
Speaker 1: open you were with your constituents it makes me so enraged.
Speaker 1: And so then the other part of that is there
Speaker 1: has to be a leveling of this playing field. And
Speaker 1: my fantasy is we just erase this the government and
Speaker 1: we start from scratch, We start from a blank wall,
Speaker 1: and I want to empower people listening. What would democracy
Speaker 1: look like if we were its architects, not just the
Speaker 1: because we built the country, but if we were the
Speaker 1: actual architects of what government looks like, and to tap
Speaker 1: into our imagination in that way, and Andrew, you tapped
Speaker 1: into your imagination and led with conviction and just thought,
Speaker 1: this shouldn't be, so what if it wasn't or this
Speaker 1: should be so what if it is? I don't think
Speaker 1: right now we have leaders on Capitol Hill who are
Speaker 1: prepared to lead with that level, who are supported enough
Speaker 1: to lead at that level. But I do believe we
Speaker 1: have millions of people across this country who at some point,
Speaker 1: when this comes to knock on their front door, they're
Speaker 1: going to be ready to pay attention. Special interests can
Speaker 1: also be geopolitical. We have a lot of global interests.
Speaker 1: Donald Trump has yielded to a lot of global.
Speaker 4: Interest right now, enlightening conversation, ladies, let's keep it going
Speaker 4: right after the break, Yeah.
Speaker 1: If I can take a few minutes, I want to
Speaker 1: talk about some of the geopolitics because right now this
Speaker 1: administration is in open defiance of the judiciary. Angela, you
Speaker 1: have talked about constitution constitutional crisis. I think at this
Speaker 1: point that this administration is an open defiance to the judiciary.
Speaker 1: Then we have to acknowledge that there are no rules,
Speaker 1: there is no functioning government, there are no three co
Speaker 1: equal branches of government. This is an erosion the failure
Speaker 1: of the media to treat this like oh, Trump's having
Speaker 1: a disagreement with the judge. No, no, no, no no.
Speaker 1: This is the erosion of what the framers intended. It's
Speaker 1: an erosion of society as we know it. We talked
Speaker 1: about my mood a little before. I think this punctuates
Speaker 1: where we are as a country, and if you all
Speaker 1: will permit me, I'd like to read this letter that
Speaker 1: my mood Khalil he was a Palestinian activist at Columbia
Speaker 1: University in New York. We talked about him being arrested.
Speaker 1: The video is widely available online. For those of you
Speaker 1: who are watching, you can see those images on the
Speaker 1: screen now if you're listening. He was arrested by playing
Speaker 1: closed ice agents while his wife looked on, and he
Speaker 1: was quickly moved to various detention centers, so it was
Speaker 1: hard for lawyers to keep up with him. And this
Speaker 1: is what he says. The contents of the letter have
Speaker 1: not been edited. It was dictated to an attorney, and
Speaker 1: he says, my name is my Mood Khalil, and I
Speaker 1: am a political prisoner. I'm writing to you from a
Speaker 1: detention facility in Louisiana, where I wake the cold mornings
Speaker 1: and spend long days bearing witness to the quiet injustices
Speaker 1: underway against a great many people precluded from the protections
Speaker 1: of the law. Who has the right to have rights?
Speaker 1: It is certainly not the humans crowded into the cells here.
Speaker 1: It isn't the Senegalese man I met, who has been
Speaker 1: deprived of his liberty for a year, his legal situation
Speaker 1: in Limbo and his family in ocean away. It isn't
Speaker 1: the twenty one year old detainee I met, who stepped
Speaker 1: foot in this country at age nine, only to be
Speaker 1: deported without so much as a hearing. Justice escapes the
Speaker 1: contours of this nation's immigration facilities. On March eighth, I
Speaker 1: was taken by DHS agents who refused to provide a
Speaker 1: warrant and accost it my wife and me as we
Speaker 1: returned from dinner. By now, the footage of that night
Speaker 1: has been made public. Before I knew what was happening,
Speaker 1: agents handcuffed and forced me into an unmarked car. At
Speaker 1: that moment, my only concern was for Nord's safety. I
Speaker 1: had no idea if she would be taken too, since
Speaker 1: the agents had threatened to arrest her for not leaving
Speaker 1: my side. DHS would not tell me anything for hours.
Speaker 1: I did not know the cause of my arrest or
Speaker 1: if I was facing immediate deportation. At twenty six Federal Plaza,
Speaker 1: I slept on the cold floor in the early morning hours.
Speaker 1: Agents transported me to another facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey. There,
Speaker 1: I slept on the ground and was refused a blanket
Speaker 1: despite my request. My arrest was a direct consequence of
Speaker 1: exercising my right to free speech as I advocated for
Speaker 1: a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza,
Speaker 1: which resumed in full force Monday night was January ceasefire.
Speaker 1: Now broken, parents and Gaza are once again cradling two
Speaker 1: small shrouds, and families are forced to waste starvation and
Speaker 1: displacement against bombs. It is our moral imperative to persist
Speaker 1: in the struggle for their complete freedom. I was born
Speaker 1: in a Palestine, in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria,
Speaker 1: to a family which had been displaced from their land
Speaker 1: since the nineteen forty eight Nakpa. I spent my youth
Speaker 1: in proximity to, yet distant from my homeland, but being
Speaker 1: Palestinian is an experience that transcends borders. I see in
Speaker 1: my circumstances similarities to Israel's use of administrative detention imprisonment
Speaker 1: without trial or charge to strip Palestinians of their rights.
Speaker 1: I think of our friend Omar Katib, who is incarcerated
Speaker 1: without charge or trial by Israel as he returned home
Speaker 1: from travel. I think of Gaza Hospital director and pediatrician
Speaker 1: doctor Hussam Abu Saphia, who was taken captive by the
Speaker 1: Israeli military on December twenty seventh and remains in an
Speaker 1: Israeli torture camp.
Speaker 5: Today.
Speaker 1: For Palestinians, imprisonment without due process is commonplace. I have
Speaker 1: always believed that my duty is not only to liberate
Speaker 1: myself from the oppressor, but also to liberate my oppressors
Speaker 1: from their hatred and fear. My unjust attention is indicative
Speaker 1: of the anti Palestinian racism that both the Biden and
Speaker 1: Trump administrations have demonstrated over the past sixteen months. As
Speaker 1: the US has continued to supply Israel with weapons to
Speaker 1: kill Palestinians and prevented international intervention for decades. Anti Palestinian
Speaker 1: racism has driven efforts to expand US laws and practices
Speaker 1: that are used violently to repress Palestinians, Arab Americans, and
Speaker 1: other communities. That is precisely why I'm being targeted. While
Speaker 1: I await legal decisions that hold the futures of my
Speaker 1: wife and child in the balance, those who are enabled
Speaker 1: those who enabled my targeting remained comfortably at Columbia University,
Speaker 1: President Shaffik Armstrong and Dean Yari Milo laid the groundwork
Speaker 1: for the US government to target me by arbitrarily disciplining
Speaker 1: pro Palestinian students and allowing viral dosing based on racism
Speaker 1: and disinformation to go uncheck. Colombia targeted me from my activism,
Speaker 1: creating a new author authoritarian disciplinary office, the bypass due
Speaker 1: process and silence students criticizing Israel. Columbia surrendered to federal
Speaker 1: pressure by disclosing student records to Congress and yielding to
Speaker 1: the Trump Administration's latest threats. My arrests the expulsion or
Speaker 1: suspension of at least twenty two Columbia students some strip
Speaker 1: of their BA degrees just weeks before graduation, and the
Speaker 1: expulsion of the SWC President, Grant Minor, on the eve
Speaker 1: of contract negotiations are clear examples. If anything, my detention
Speaker 1: is a testament to the strength of student movement in
Speaker 1: shifting public opinion toward Palestinian liberation. Students have long been
Speaker 1: at the forefront of change, leading the charge against the
Speaker 1: Vietnam War, standing on the front lines of the civil
Speaker 1: rights movement, and driving the struggle against apartheid in South
Speaker 1: Africa Today too, even if the public has yet to
Speaker 1: fully grasp it, it is students who steer us towards
Speaker 1: truths and justice. The Trump administration is targeting me as
Speaker 1: a broader strategy to suppress dissent. Visa holders, green card carriers,
Speaker 1: and citizens alike will all be targeted for their political
Speaker 1: beliefs in the weeks ahead. Students, advocates, and elected officials
Speaker 1: must unite to defend the right to protest for Palestine.
Speaker 1: At stake are not just our voices, but the fundamental
Speaker 1: civil liberties for all. Knowing fully that this moment transcends
Speaker 1: my individual circumstances, I hope nonetheless to be free to
Speaker 1: witness the birth of my firstborn.
Speaker 4: Childful, powerful, powerful, powful, I mean on on his merits,
Speaker 4: Tiffany and Angela. Ah, what's happening is is wrong as
Speaker 4: it relates to protest on campuses and and the impact
Speaker 4: on this family. Uh, you know, my prayers, My prayers
Speaker 4: go up and out for them. But the warning that
Speaker 4: he so generously offers there at the end for the
Speaker 4: rest of us is one that cannot go unnoticed. When
Speaker 4: Ron DeSantis in Florida decides to criminalize protests because a
Speaker 4: group of students disagree with a state position, When Donald
Speaker 4: Trump says that he is going to go after students
Speaker 4: who protests on the issue of of of of of
Speaker 4: Israel and Palestine, and this in this unjust war, when
Speaker 4: when administrations, government and private sector entities decide that they
Speaker 4: are no longer going to defend the people who are
Speaker 4: in their care who they have responsibility for, and willingly
Speaker 4: give over contact information, names, addresses, don't track down on
Speaker 4: them being docked on the internet, so people can go
Speaker 4: to their homes and do even worse things. Y'all. It's
Speaker 4: been said before. It may not be us today, but
Speaker 4: we see the outlines of what this thing looks like.
Speaker 4: Just insert community. That's the only thing that needs to change. Yes,
Speaker 4: immigrants who may be here in the country without proper
Speaker 4: documentation might be a tinge more vulnerable, but I wouldn't
Speaker 4: say much more vulnerable, because they have rights. Even if
Speaker 4: you are here without proper documentation, they have us rights
Speaker 4: to the system for due process regardless. Well, you're full
Speaker 4: a citizen, you got due process rights too. Yes, that's true.
Speaker 4: But what happens when the institution's private and public who
Speaker 4: are supposed to keep your information private, decide to hand
Speaker 4: it right on over to an authoritarian leader. What happens
Speaker 4: when the government that it's going to stop being your
Speaker 4: protector and you're champion, and turn against you and incarcrate
Speaker 4: your ass and then force you to make the proof
Speaker 4: to get out. It can happen to any one of us.
Speaker 4: And it's outrageous for any of us to think otherwise.
Speaker 4: That we cannot because we're American citizens, we cannot find
Speaker 4: ourselves in this exact predicament on the right issue, On
Speaker 4: the right issue, we just on the right issue of
Speaker 4: which we take exception or disagree with this administration. We
Speaker 4: then find ourselves on the other side of the law.
Speaker 4: They are creating the foundation for that to happen right now.
Speaker 1: Right now we are in We're not on the precipice
Speaker 1: of anything anymore here. So how long before they come
Speaker 1: knocking at your door?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Because you protested? How long before they come knocking at
Speaker 1: your door? Angela? Because you organize things? How long before
Speaker 1: they come knocking at your door?
Speaker 5: Again?
Speaker 1: Andrew to target you? I can't every second of every fuck.
Speaker 1: I'm on the verge of a breakdown, and it's frustrating
Speaker 1: because I don't think people really know what's going on.
Speaker 4: And you know it, Tiffany, to the extent that we
Speaker 4: do know, how many of us, in our everyday lives
Speaker 4: try to avert our eyes from the crisis that we're
Speaker 4: dealing within our own personal lives because we just want
Speaker 4: to survive. So if we think we ignore it, or
Speaker 4: if we turn away and we don't pay attention, we
Speaker 4: don't open that piece of mail, we don't open that email,
Speaker 4: we don't open that we don't take that phone call,
Speaker 4: that that thing is going to go away. I get
Speaker 4: how easy it is for all of us to avert
Speaker 4: our eyes because we just can't.
Speaker 1: Did ignorance is bliss.
Speaker 4: It is.
Speaker 1: It is easier if right, and so you don't have
Speaker 1: the Ignorance is bliss. Ignorance is also privileged.
Speaker 5: It is a luxury that nobody can afford.
Speaker 4: And I think, what do they say in Wicked the
Speaker 4: song versus It's life is fraud, basically saying the more
Speaker 4: informed you are, the more you care, the more problems
Speaker 4: that you have, And so it's life is frautless to
Speaker 4: be thoughtless. Yes, life is without its issues to subtract.
Speaker 4: So when you subtract from the knowing, but that that
Speaker 4: that only makes it true in your own imagination. It
Speaker 4: ain't you in real being.
Speaker 5: But I don't remember where I was going because I
Speaker 5: was like a wicked because I was thinking about Kiki.
Speaker 4: I'm sorry my kids.
Speaker 1: Well, when you put head to pillow tonight, I would
Speaker 1: ask you to think of my mood, Khalil and all
Speaker 1: the others in need, right, don't look away. Think of
Speaker 1: all the others who are sleeping on concrete floors with
Speaker 1: no mattress, pillow blanket, and crowded cells. Think of all
Speaker 1: the others who were shipped off on a plane. Think
Speaker 1: of your children. Imagine if somebody came and got your
Speaker 1: twenty year old child who all they know is America
Speaker 1: and ship them off to a country where they may
Speaker 1: not even speak the language and they were being treated
Speaker 1: as a criminal. That is what is happening to thousands
Speaker 1: of people, and that is what can happen to any
Speaker 1: of us at any second. We're living in a society
Speaker 1: that is questioning birthright citizenship.
Speaker 5: Literally that the president is acting. They said he's gearing
Speaker 5: up for the fight with the Supreme Court. So I
Speaker 5: just I think that it isn't coming upon us to
Speaker 5: not look away.
Speaker 3: It is.
Speaker 5: To really ask ourselves the most basic and fundamental question.
Speaker 5: If your people are getting slaughtered and you consciously object,
Speaker 5: should you really be facing imprisonment? Should you be facing deportation?
Speaker 5: Should you be shipped to Guantanamo Bay? You know, like
Speaker 5: are we serious Salvador or wherever? Yeah, you know, put
Speaker 5: up in hotel rooms with no no, no, none of
Speaker 5: the luxuries, just housed and held and detained.
Speaker 4: You know, I just I think, and worse off not
Speaker 4: knowing where you're gonna get caught in this win is
Speaker 4: system going to catch me from this unperilous you know,
Speaker 4: this perilous call when.
Speaker 5: You know my centers and I was not going into
Speaker 5: I thought that we're not in.
Speaker 4: The same place. Okay, we start, we're not in the
Speaker 4: same place. I want to apologize, Angela, I didn't know
Speaker 4: you were still going and I apologize.
Speaker 5: It's okay, finish your point and then I'll come around
Speaker 5: to my point.
Speaker 4: I know I'm gonna stop. I'm gonna stop. I can't
Speaker 4: keep going because I now I know that I interrupted
Speaker 4: you and he ain't.
Speaker 5: Said, but I am. I think that when we contextualize
Speaker 5: most of what our conversation was today in terms of
Speaker 5: special interests, we have to we have to resist the
Speaker 5: urge to not just be mad at the fact that
Speaker 5: it's big money with outsize influence. I think that we
Speaker 5: have to go a level deeper and determine what that
Speaker 5: outsized influence costs the people. There's a difference. What we're
Speaker 5: talking about here is we talked about APEX. We know
Speaker 5: that their outside influence is costing the lives of Palestinian people.
Speaker 5: It's costing the elections of people who vote with their conscience. Frankly,
Speaker 5: it is muting the conscience of people who we know
Speaker 5: and love. And I think that that is a really
Speaker 5: good point for us to say, there has to be
Speaker 5: a fundamental shift because we can't be so quiet by
Speaker 5: the special interest dollars, their outsize role, that we will
Speaker 5: turn a blind eye to fascism, that will turn a
Speaker 5: blind eye to the democracy that we say that we
Speaker 5: hope for, that will look at everything we said leading
Speaker 5: up to the twenty twenty four election and pretend like
Speaker 5: that isn't in fact the case while we're watching this
Speaker 5: mandesimate agencies that support our people that have not balanced
Speaker 5: the scales, but like kind of made it a little
Speaker 5: more fair. And I'm not suggesting to your point earlier
Speaker 5: tip of like as capitalism service. I don't really know,
Speaker 5: but I know what we have, and I know the
Speaker 5: game we're supposed to play. The rules that we're planned
Speaker 5: by now don't even we don't even qualify for them.
Speaker 5: They're not even available to us. They are literally developed
Speaker 5: developing a system where we are locked out completely. And
Speaker 5: I think whether we work in those companies and we've
Speaker 5: been promoted in those companies and where the figurehead of
Speaker 5: those companies, or we have the power in those companies,
Speaker 5: if being in that role means that you have to
Speaker 5: support interests that antagonize your community, you're in the wrong place.
Speaker 5: Even if you gave the biggest philanthropic donation, if it
Speaker 5: is going to support some folks that are literally suffocating
Speaker 5: us in our rights, Nah, that's just a bridge too far,
Speaker 5: not in this era. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, I you know, we talked about feeling despair last week,
Speaker 1: and I have to be honest, I still feel despair.
Speaker 1: I mean that letter. When I read that letter this week,
Speaker 1: it just leveled me. It's crushed me, and my spirit
Speaker 1: feels crushed, and so I don't really know how to
Speaker 1: crawl out of this. But I think every day this
Speaker 1: despair is turning to righteous anger, and it is making
Speaker 1: parts of my heart turn the stone, you know, where
Speaker 1: I have no empathy for people who did this. I
Speaker 1: have no sympathy for people who did this.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 1: I look at them in absolute, utter disgust, and I
Speaker 1: think be crushed under the bullshit you voted for. Oh
Speaker 1: that's how I feel more and more. Yeah, yeah, And
Speaker 1: I think before there was a version of me that
Speaker 1: had compassion, that didn't want to see anybody suffer, you know,
Speaker 1: But when I see what they enacted and unleashed, now
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie. I just kind of feel like,
Speaker 1: fuck you, but you know you and live in it and.
Speaker 5: Sit in it and die in it. Wow. So, Tif
Speaker 5: and Andrew, if you're just now seeing like we imagined
Speaker 5: it would go this farce, think a little bit, but
Speaker 5: we're just now seeing it for real. There's a group,
Speaker 5: a focused group of voters who they've talked to at
Speaker 5: a Michigan who voted for Trump, a lot of them
Speaker 5: with deep regrets that that was onolder shrug on air.
Speaker 5: So but I guess this is my question if they
Speaker 5: really didn't know and now they're like, how did they
Speaker 5: not know? I don't know. I really don't know the
Speaker 5: answer this. I don't understand why they don't know. But
Speaker 5: I think it's the same way that people in communities
Speaker 5: everywhere don't know there's an election, or don't know who's running,
Speaker 5: or don't know who's different.
Speaker 1: So that to me is different. Yes, I can understand
Speaker 1: if a system has never served you. I can understand
Speaker 1: that you are not that aware of it. But you
Speaker 1: didn't know about January sixth. No, you didn't see this, man,
Speaker 1: I can't believe that. Oh, I really you think there
Speaker 1: are people who don't know January sixth happened?
Speaker 5: Absolutely let's go for absolutely. There are some people where
Speaker 5: January sixth, at the what happened on the Capitol on
Speaker 5: January sixth, twenty twenty one, Absolutely and they have.
Speaker 1: Now it might be people who agree with it, but
Speaker 1: you're saying there are people who literally have no idea
Speaker 1: that January sixth, I haven't heard of it. You all
Speaker 1: get mad when I see people are dumb. Those people
Speaker 1: are dumb.
Speaker 5: They I may not be done, they're not exposed the communities,
Speaker 5: but there.
Speaker 1: Has to be a level of willful ignorance to not
Speaker 1: know that there was a coup happening in this country
Speaker 1: that you didn't see thousands of people storm the capital
Speaker 1: to try to overthrow the government. I think that transcended
Speaker 1: every media outlet, every everything that can penetrate your willful ignorance.
Speaker 5: That was one of them.
Speaker 1: You didn't know that Donald Trump was president before, you
Speaker 1: didn't know the disaster that that was.
Speaker 5: I think there are people in communities that I'm getting
Speaker 5: exposed war and more to every day that do not
Speaker 5: know Donald Trump's first administration, did not know the second one,
Speaker 5: and they didn't vote, never have voted.
Speaker 1: Those people like you specifically about people who are like
Speaker 1: what what do you mean January sixth? I don't know
Speaker 1: what that is.
Speaker 5: They some of these people don't know about January sixth.
Speaker 1: I've never come across as a person, but I got
Speaker 1: a beef with us.
Speaker 5: Don't have beef. Let's go educate them so that they
Speaker 5: know even where to find out about it. Don't know,
Speaker 5: don't know what. I don't know what is? Don't those people?
Speaker 1: Of course I think I talked. I probably have some
Speaker 1: sort of I touch those people probably on a daily basis.
Speaker 1: So those people like those.
Speaker 5: Are the people I think of and why I can't
Speaker 5: say forget it if y'all crushed under this system, Because
Speaker 5: if those people who willfully did it are crushed under
Speaker 5: the system, these people that I'm talking about will be absolutely,
Speaker 5: absolutely obliterated under the system.
Speaker 1: The only people right now that I have space for
Speaker 1: in my heart are.
Speaker 5: My people.
Speaker 1: Regardless of what my people, I want to build safety
Speaker 1: work towards harm reduction for my people. Beyond that, proactive
Speaker 1: allies who are actively trying to do something to help
Speaker 1: and not necessarily with us, I mean, actively do something
Speaker 1: to help in your group chats, in your families, in
Speaker 1: your communities, correcting these half witted idiots who did this
Speaker 1: to us because we voted for your rights too. I
Speaker 1: have space for them and empathy for them. For the
Speaker 1: people who are out here cheering on January sixth, performing
Speaker 1: at the Kennedy Center. For the people who are out
Speaker 1: here wearing these dumb ass maga hats, For the people
Speaker 1: who are out here shouting for Derek Fielding to be pardoning.
Speaker 1: For the people who are out here watching Fox News
Speaker 1: every day like a bunch of armchair idiots. I could
Speaker 1: give a shit about them. I understand that I'm not
Speaker 1: trying to have a bounce of empathy for them. I
Speaker 1: feel bad for them because I don't know how they
Speaker 1: got there. But I'm not talking about them.
Speaker 5: I'm talking about people who literally are so detached from
Speaker 5: government and from systems at every level. Andrew, I don't
Speaker 5: want to overtuch.
Speaker 4: I appreciate the invitation. I got to tell you that
Speaker 4: I can't see Yall's face and facial clearly, I couldn't
Speaker 4: tell no, no, no, no, no, you may I'm where
Speaker 4: I am the backgrounds of y'all.
Speaker 1: Uh Angela and I have the privilege of being in
Speaker 1: the same space today. We are proudly broadcasting from Roland
Speaker 1: Martin studio shout out to Row Row after Roland Martin,
Speaker 1: and you all know, I love when I get to
Speaker 1: be in the same space as my co host, But
Speaker 1: poor Andrew is.
Speaker 5: The reason.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 1: It is different when we're all in the same space.
Speaker 1: So if you all keep listening, we'll get to be
Speaker 1: in the same space every year. Expression I think we
Speaker 1: were facing each other, so he just couldn't see it
Speaker 1: on the screen. But anyway, Andrew, please just that.
Speaker 4: I apologize for the interruption.
Speaker 1: We'll make your point because we're but I want to know.
Speaker 1: Go ahead, go ahead, Andrew.
Speaker 4: That's no, I don't have a point. You yielded to me,
Speaker 4: but I don't have a point. I'm really absorbing what
Speaker 4: you're saying, and I'm trying to understand the limits of
Speaker 4: my compassion as well. And I think the frustration that
Speaker 4: I have are likely for folks who have the ability
Speaker 4: to vote, haven't been hindered really in any real way
Speaker 4: with that, and still don't make the effort to know
Speaker 4: enough about what government is doing to assess how you
Speaker 4: are impacted by it. So, for instance, a lot of
Speaker 4: people are going to lose access to healthcare as a
Speaker 4: result of this Republican budget, a lot of people with
Speaker 4: kids who are special needs, under the shift that this
Speaker 4: administration plans to take with the Department of Education unchecked
Speaker 4: by anybody and any other branch of government, are going
Speaker 4: to move onto their monthly budget lines new expenses for
Speaker 4: the care of their children that they have never before
Speaker 4: had to bear. The brunt of for families who are
Speaker 4: experiencing what it means to transition your parents into retirement
Speaker 4: and into elderly systems that are there to help support
Speaker 4: them in retirement. Good luck when we look up and
Speaker 4: we see that the retirement that is supposed to be
Speaker 4: promised to our seniors who report into this system are
Speaker 4: now at a point where don't cover much of anything,
Speaker 4: and don't even get me started on the healthcare access
Speaker 4: that they have. And as the price of things continue
Speaker 4: to go up, and the government then caps the amount
Speaker 4: of the contribution that each one of these recipients receive,
Speaker 4: what is it sixty percent of seniors are on Medicaid,
Speaker 4: Medicare they're getting with no other subsidized health insurance. So
Speaker 4: when those caps kick in, it is it big frustration.
Speaker 4: I dealt with this as an elect official, where people
Speaker 4: come knocking on your door once the crisis hits them.
Speaker 4: But every one of the three hundred and sixty five
Speaker 4: days that on the local news this thing was mentioned,
Speaker 4: and the meetings were held and the rallies were held,
Speaker 4: nobody looked up to check the symptoms. Nobody looked up
Speaker 4: to see how they were going to be impacted. And
Speaker 4: so I don't know that I have hard limits right now,
Speaker 4: because I just I like to give chances. But my
Speaker 4: frustration really does sit there that it isn't until it ain't,
Speaker 4: not that it crawled up your doorstep, not that it
Speaker 4: knocked on your door, but until it is sitting with
Speaker 4: you in the living room that you decide that I'm
Speaker 4: going to wake up and pay attention to how we
Speaker 4: got here, and by that point, good luck in being saved.
Speaker 1: On that note, we are over time. I'm so happy
Speaker 1: you made that point, Andrew. I think those were profound
Speaker 1: words because that's kind of how I feel. But we
Speaker 1: have some calls to action. Gonna go last, because I
Speaker 1: will give you a heads up. My call to action
Speaker 1: is not political good.
Speaker 5: I'll go first. I think.
Speaker 4: One.
Speaker 5: I have taken so much comfort in the last several
Speaker 5: weeks and being linked arm to arm with my people.
Speaker 5: We did a State of the People marathon a few
Speaker 5: weeks back, and just the relationship building process since then,
Speaker 5: really connected with people on text who I admire and
Speaker 5: now get to text with and share ideas with. Kimberly
Speaker 5: Crenshaw sending me, you know, incredible like deep dives on
Speaker 5: her thoughts. Just it's just really really dope. And I
Speaker 5: am so grateful that our folks are not just like
Speaker 5: the hell it ain't know what we can do, Like
Speaker 5: we don't even have it in us. It's like we
Speaker 5: are going to fight. If we lose this fight, we
Speaker 5: over here doing this fight. So I think that my
Speaker 5: call to action to y'all is simply this, it's don't
Speaker 5: give up. It is even if you don't find the
Speaker 5: strength to fight today, just yoke up with somebody else
Speaker 5: who's fighting. I guarantee you if you don't have the
Speaker 5: strength to fight, you still will have the idea. If
Speaker 5: you don't have the idea today, you probably don't have
Speaker 5: it tomorrow. So I would just say, please, don't give up,
Speaker 5: and if you have ways that we should be fighting,
Speaker 5: DM them to us. I got an incredible DM from
Speaker 5: a sister who I hope will send in a video.
Speaker 5: Who's we even talking about getting videos in from the
Speaker 5: podcast or to the podcast. She had a really dope
Speaker 5: idea that I would love to talk about on this show.
Speaker 5: So Hopeully, we'll get this idea anyway. Don't give up
Speaker 5: the fight and keep these ideas comfortle nice ten is nice.
Speaker 4: I think my takeaway would be, you know, how we
Speaker 4: all grew up with certain sayings, some of us grew
Speaker 4: up with certain traditions, even certain expectations around in this case,
Speaker 4: how you're supposed to be treated by government and by institutions.
Speaker 4: You walk into a place and you know you're not
Speaker 4: going to have a positive experience because as a child,
Speaker 4: you remember walking into that same office in the same place,
Speaker 4: and you're not having a positive experience. I would just
Speaker 4: ask us to not create our default position to then
Speaker 4: be the exact thing that we experienced or somebody else
Speaker 4: we know experienced generations ago, that that shouldn't be our
Speaker 4: automatic setting, That our automatic setting really needs to adjust
Speaker 4: to our level of expectation that they will perform, because
Speaker 4: I think a lot of us are we don't expect
Speaker 4: much from a from an institution when you haven't felt
Speaker 4: like you've gotten much from it. But simply because you
Speaker 4: haven't gotten much from it doesn't mean that the status
Speaker 4: quo position ought to be that I'm not gonna get
Speaker 4: much from this. Maybe your expectations have to raise. And
Speaker 4: then when you walk into that space or in that
Speaker 4: place and you make that call, and you're making it
Speaker 4: from a position of glass half full of full versus
Speaker 4: one empty to lower empty, I promise you the receiving
Speaker 4: end of that gets a different message from you. When
Speaker 4: I go into my children's school and they know we
Speaker 4: come in, and they see us coming up in there,
Speaker 4: the expectations that we have, they know are going to
Speaker 4: be at a level that your rudimentary this thing won't
Speaker 4: work that okay, uh huh, sure go later. Now we
Speaker 4: have a greater expectation than that. And I just I
Speaker 4: would ask us to interrogate the things that we assume
Speaker 4: are going to work out a certain way, because that's
Speaker 4: how they always work out. To interrogate that further, to
Speaker 4: see if we couldn't put on a different hat, a
Speaker 4: different disposition, a different set of expectations to make that
Speaker 4: thing work out our way. Because I fear in politics
Speaker 4: that a lot of it is is our default is
Speaker 4: we have no expectation. And when you ain't got no expectation, Yes,
Speaker 4: the worst is is gonna be the worst, and the
Speaker 4: worst is what it is. But when you go in
Speaker 4: there with it and you act like it a different
Speaker 4: you're gonna they're gonna meet a different version of you.
Speaker 4: And I getarantee, I think you'll meet a different version
Speaker 4: of the thing you want on the other side of that.
Speaker 1: Walk in it all right, I'll be really quick way
Speaker 1: over time. I just want to say, the only thing
Speaker 1: these days that seem to give me a piece of
Speaker 1: joy is when I get to touch a dog. When
Speaker 1: I get to make out with a dog, it gives
Speaker 1: me a piece make out with a dog, I do
Speaker 1: mean make out with these dogs.
Speaker 5: I just want to make sure there are people. I
Speaker 5: just want to take a quick production time out. Bitch.
Speaker 5: It's the same ship as Andrew last week. There's such
Speaker 5: thing called dog best reality is a time. This is Angela.
Speaker 1: People who love dogs know what I mean. Angela talk
Speaker 1: about the best reality with the dog when on Fox, remember.
Speaker 4: Tiffany coming and you got a pet, pick it up
Speaker 4: and run.
Speaker 5: First.
Speaker 1: But the podcast go ahead, fine, y'all can leave all
Speaker 1: of that in because people know when I make out like,
Speaker 1: I don't mean can I pet your dog? I mean
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get on the floor and cradle your dog,
Speaker 1: and your dog, will you kiss me? You know I
Speaker 1: don't kiss dogs in the mouth, but I guess sometimes.
Speaker 1: We went to Angela and I went to our friend
Speaker 1: Joy's house, and she has a pit bull and an
Speaker 1: other little mix, and I just I was in heaven.
Speaker 1: I was in heaven with these dogs. So I say
Speaker 1: all that to say, she's trys. I say all that
Speaker 1: to say, if you are somebody who is keeping your
Speaker 1: pet tied up outside, or your neighbors are keeping their
Speaker 1: pets tied up outside, shame on you. Dogs are not
Speaker 1: lawn furniture. If you are cold outside, they are cold outside.
Speaker 1: If you don't like getting wet in the rain, they
Speaker 1: don't like getting wet in the rain. Please don't be
Speaker 1: a shitty human being and treat animals poorly. Treat animals
Speaker 1: like you would want to be treated, and they deserve.
Speaker 1: If you can't take in a pet and treat that
Speaker 1: pet well in your home, then you don't deserve to
Speaker 1: have one.
Speaker 5: And that is all I meant. Animal dogs, not humans.
Speaker 1: Like I don't want to make out with no human
Speaker 1: that act like a dog. I've done that too many times.
Speaker 5: I was trying to offer a warning and didn't mean
Speaker 5: for her to take the bait. You heard it here first, y'all.
Speaker 5: If this ends up on Fox, those kind of dogs,
Speaker 5: stay ahead of life. Welcome.
Speaker 1: As always, we want to remind everyone to please leave
Speaker 1: us a review and subscribe to Native Land. Please you guys,
Speaker 1: subscribe because then I get to see my co host
Speaker 1: in person every week and I would love, love, love that,
Speaker 1: And I know you all complained about the cross talk
Speaker 1: and if we were in person, there would be a
Speaker 1: lot less of that. Thank you very much. We're available
Speaker 1: on all platforms that is, and also YouTube, and new
Speaker 1: episodes dropped every Thursday and Friday, and please be sure
Speaker 1: you're listening to these solo pods on Monday and Tuesday.
Speaker 1: And if you need even more, be sure to check
Speaker 1: out our girl, Jamel Hill Politics that she hosts and
Speaker 1: Off the Cup the other shows on Reason Choice Media Network.
Speaker 1: And also please don't forget to follow us on social
Speaker 1: media and describe to our text or email list, and
Speaker 1: you can do that by visiting our website native Land
Speaker 1: dot native landpod dot com. We are Tiffany Cross, Angela
Speaker 1: ri and Andrew Gillum. Welcome home, y'all. There are five
Speaker 1: hundred and ninety three days until a midterm election if
Speaker 1: we in fact have them.
Speaker 5: Oh, all right, that's the way to do it.
Speaker 4: Morning see.
Speaker 2: Thank you for joining the natives attention to what the
Speaker 2: info and all of the latest rock gulum and cross
Speaker 2: connected to the statements.
Speaker 4: That you leave on our socials.
Speaker 2: Thank you sincerely for the patients reason for your choices clear,
Speaker 2: so grateful it took to execute, road for serve, defend
Speaker 2: and protect the truth. Even in pace.
Speaker 4: We'll walkme home to all of the natives wait. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Native land Pod is the production of iHeartRadio in partnership
Speaker 1: with Recent Choice Media. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.