WEBVTT - The Existential Threat of Ignorance 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.520 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to Okay f Daily with 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:18.640 Meet your Girl Danielle Moody recording from the Bunker. Folks. 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:24.079 You know, as I record this, the January sixth seventh 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:28.240 hearing is unfolding, and so we will not know the 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:31.680 outcome of that until later in the week, in which 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:34.560 I will share my thoughts. But as we go into 0:00:34.600 --> 0:00:38.120 this hearing, which is supposed to be defining the connection 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:43.840 between the Trump administration and two known white supremacist organizations 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:48.640 in this country, I can't help but wonder why the 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:53.040 Department of Justice, why the FBI, why the CIA has 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:58.080 yet to designate white supremacist organizations in this country as 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:04.080 terrorist organization. Now we know, by virtue of the law, 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:07.680 and I use that in air quotes, that the only 0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:13.360 designations for terrorism have been from foreign quote unquote invaders 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:17.360 right or from foreign entities like ISIS, like al Qaeda. 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:21.399 And since the beginning of the birth of this nation, 0:01:21.520 --> 0:01:24.039 there has always been white domestic terrorism. As a matter 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:26.720 of fact, it's what this country was founded on. When 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:30.720 you think about the nature of indigenous populations, the nature 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:36.880 of the enslaved African population, and the free Africans who 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:42.200 would become enslaved. Their idea of society has always been communal. 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:46.440 It has always been about community and uplifting community and connection. 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:50.320 And so when you know, the Pilgrims quote unquote found 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:53.840 themselves on the shores of this new land that they 0:01:53.880 --> 0:01:57.080 felt like they discovered because they didn't know anything about it, 0:01:57.160 --> 0:02:00.480 as opposed to how would one discover something where people 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:04.440 were already living. They were met with open arms, they 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:07.440 were met with curiosity. And I realized that that is 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:12.160 the defining thing, the defining difference between Republicans and Democrats. 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:14.480 And my friend Kurt Bardella will be joining the show 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:17.560 later to talk about what he feels like is just 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:22.640 a fundamentally different DNA makeup political DNA makeup, as he says, 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:26.360 between Republicans and Democrats. And I will go and provide 0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:28.639 what my thoughts are, and what I've been mulling around 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:32.680 for a while is that there is a fundamental disconnect, right, 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:36.440 There is a fundamental difference, and that is of a 0:02:36.800 --> 0:02:43.120 ideological thinking that assumes that all people have the right 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:47.480 to liberty and justice and equity and dignity and respect, 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:52.000 and that there is a driving sense of curiosity, not judgment, 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:56.800 but curiosity about how we expand in our thinking to 0:02:57.040 --> 0:03:00.680 embrace those that come outside of what has been spoon 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:04.800 fed to us as traditional or as quote unquote norms. 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:08.320 And I think that the problem with Republicans and their 0:03:08.360 --> 0:03:12.960 current iteration of their cultish behavior is the fact that 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:15.920 they don't have curiosity. What they have is judgment. What 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:18.920 they have is fear. What they have is anxiety. And 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:22.440 for them, that results in it of itself, into violence, 0:03:22.919 --> 0:03:26.840 into oppression. And I realize that as you look throughout 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:29.680 history as your guide, and you see that there are 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:33.359 these times of great inflection, it is because the people 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:37.520 that have been marginalized recognize that they have power, recognize 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:40.640 that they no longer want to conform to or follow 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:44.040 in the steps that do not serve them. That they 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:47.680 believe that they have power outside of what has been 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:51.360 granted or what has been withheld. And for people who 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:55.960 believe that their way is the only way, you exist 0:03:56.120 --> 0:04:01.040 as a threat to that ideal, a threat to they're understanding, 0:04:01.080 --> 0:04:03.760 a threat to what they believe to be normal. And 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:06.280 what do people do with threats, Well, they try and 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:08.760 put them down. And that is what we are seeing 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:10.800 right now, and what pisses me off. And in the 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:13.960 conversation that I have with Kurt, what pisses me off 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:19.120 is that democrats within the democratic establishment, and I'm talking 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:21.760 about those that cut their teeth in politics in the 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:27.839 twentieth century, do not fundamentally understand that this is an 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:32.560 existential threat to our society, to our way of life. 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:36.800 Is the ignorance right or the feeling that because you 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:40.480 have right and facts on your side that eventually owe 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:43.840 the people will come to their senses. And Kurt and 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:46.360 I will talk about the fact that he brought up, 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:50.680 you know, the issue that this administration was caught off 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:54.880 guard with how rabid the right wing had become. And 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:57.400 my pushback to that is how how could you be 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:00.400 caught off guard? Because Republicans have been shown knew who 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:02.400 the fuck they are for the last twelve years. At 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:05.440 the beginning of the Obama administration, when the birth of 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:08.839 the Tea Party was happening, we saw exactly what direction 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:10.960 that this party was going to. But it made us 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:13.440 feel good to say that that was the fringe. And 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:15.720 because we didn't pay attention to it, because we didn't 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:18.840 decide to stomp it out in its infancy, it has 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:21.479 grown into a monster that can no longer be controlled, 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:24.560 not by those who have been uplifted by it, like 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:27.840 the Republican establishment, and not by those that have choose 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:31.440 to ignore it, like the democratic establishment. And so here 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:34.159 the fuck we are. And the thing with me is 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:36.520 that if you continue to ignore this threat, if you 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:39.679 do not name this threat, then how do you devise 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:43.039 a plan to take it down? You don't, and you 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:45.760 simply continue to spin your wheels doing things the way 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:48.279 that you have always done and assume that something is 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:51.400 going to change. And friends, that is actually the definition 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:55.200 of insanity. And frankly, I do feel fucking crazy, as 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:57.600 I know many of you do, because you tell me 0:05:57.640 --> 0:06:01.040 on a regular basis, why is he doing more? Why 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:04.640 isn't Biden doing more? Why isn't this administration fighting? And 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:08.920 it's because they are so stuck in their twentieth century 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:12.520 ways and so stuck in the way that they think that, 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:17.560 you know, if we just assume this normal political stance, 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:20.920 then everything will fall back into place. Well it's fucking not. 0:06:21.520 --> 0:06:24.880 It's been eighteen months since the insurrection and we are 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:28.200 still holding hearings and trying to get our arms around 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:31.040 all the ways in which the Trump administration enabled by 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:34.560 the Republican Party, is seeking to overthrow our democracy and 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:38.560 using white domestic terrorist organizations to do so. Like, this 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:43.320 isn't something that is just cocktail party fodder inside the Beltway. 0:06:43.520 --> 0:06:46.599 This is a fucking real existential threat to our way 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:49.240 of existing. And they are showing you in places like 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:52.960 Florida and Texas and Alabama and Mississippi all the ways 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:56.440 in which they are going to exercise their will, their 0:06:56.520 --> 0:07:00.840 Christian fundamentalist, white supremist will on this. Once they are 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:03.200 able to put the gavels back in their hands, they 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:05.120 are not going to bang them on a desk. They 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:09.760 are going to pound into marginalized and outsized communities that 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:12.320 they feel like are a threat to their way of life. 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:15.440 And so if we have a democratic establishment that is 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:19.960 not has the inability or frankly lack of desire to 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:22.800 wrap their minds around that truth, how the fuck do 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:28.000 we plan on fighting? You know? So, Kurt and I 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:32.680 will have a series of conversations about, you know the 0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:35.640 fact that it is not too late right, It is 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:39.040 never too late right to turn the beat around to 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:43.080 fucking like get in line to wake up. That is 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:46.080 the beauty of being gifted with a new day is 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:48.360 that in each and every new day, you have an 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:52.120 opportunity to act different than the day before. But this 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:55.560 administration seems to think that everything is going just fucking 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:58.760 fine because you added some jobs and are able to 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:02.480 somehow stop the bleeding as it pertains to gas prices. 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:04.960 That so people are going to turn around and say, oh, 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:06.920 that's the party I want to be with. Do you 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:09.440 know how many people are waking up in this country 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:13.120 from a cold sweat just in fear, riddled with depression 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:16.880 and anxiety and tiredness and distractedness and all of those things. 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:20.760 And this administration is not offering a reprieve. They're not 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:23.880 offering an oasis. And so for those of us who 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:28.600 choose to bring attention to what can be done better, 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:30.480 all of a sudden, we're the ones that need to 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:34.240 be crucified. And I find that to be absolute bullshit. 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:36.880 You don't win by pretending that you have the best 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:40.320 strategy when clearly it's not fucking working. And that's the 0:08:40.400 --> 0:08:43.120 only thing that I want to message out to people. 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:46.040 I am never telling people not to vote. What I 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:50.120 am saying is that voting alone in this climate isn't 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:52.040 going to be the end all be all that we 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:54.240 thought that it was going to be. We thought that 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:57.439 when we voted in twenty twenty and we changed administrations, 0:08:57.559 --> 0:08:59.520 that we were going to be on an upswing. But 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:03.480 apparently we did not understand how far down the Trump 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:07.320 administration and Republicans had pulled us into the fucking muck. 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:10.000 So now that we are here, and I don't even 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:12.400 think that we have gotten to the bottom of the bottom. 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:15.640 So the upswing that we are all hoping and praying for, 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:19.360 I think is fucking decades into the future. I hate 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:22.800 to break it to you, right, we actually may never 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:27.160 see an upswing in our lifetime, given the mechanics of 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:29.880 the Supreme Court and the lack of will to do 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:34.640 any type of thinking even threatening the expansion thereof. So 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:37.520 when we wrap our minds around this, we have to 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:41.040 understand that it is going to be the young people, 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:43.640 those that are under the age of thirty five, those 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:46.040 that are under the age of thirty, those that are 0:09:46.120 --> 0:09:49.640 Generation Z, that are going to be the ones to 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:53.120 make a shift, right, But we need to listen to 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:56.199 them in order for that to happen, And right now, 0:09:56.240 --> 0:10:00.000 the Democratic establishment isn't listening to its stars. They aren't listen, 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:03.839 listening to and uplifting right those people that are more 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:07.880 in touch with and tapped into how people communicate and 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:12.560 how people get excited right about getting out there and 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:16.560 doing the right thing. And sometimes fear friends is a motivator. 0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:18.720 We know that because that's the only thing that the 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:22.520 right ever uses. So when are we going to start 0:10:22.640 --> 0:10:25.439 using all of the tools that we have in our toolbox, 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:29.559 expressly the stars that we have, in order to get 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:33.400 our message out? So coming up next, my conversation with 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:37.800 our good friend Kurt Bardella. Get a behind the scenes 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:40.960 look at Comedy Central's The Daily Show. Beyond the Scenes, 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:43.760 an original podcast from The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:46.240 Every week, host Roy Wood Junior goes deeper with the 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:49.680 notable guests and experts from the Emmy Award winning series. Together, 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:52.880 they use comedy to tackle current topics from gentrification to 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:54.960 gun laws and take a closer look at how and 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:57.720 why these topics matter. Listen to Beyond the Scenes from 0:10:57.760 --> 0:10:59.920 The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on the iHeart Rate 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:03.800 Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. New episodes 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:11.240 every Tuesday. It's no secret that the news is horsepill 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:15.120 hard to swallow. Thankfully, there's The Bituation Room podcast hosted 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:19.280 by comedian and commentator Francesca free Erntini for a lighter 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:22.320 take on the heavy stuff. Each week, the Bituation Room 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:25.760 brings you progressive comedians, experts, and activists to break down 0:11:25.760 --> 0:11:27.760 the issues in a way that won't just leave you 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:30.960 crying under a weighted blanket. Get the Bituation Room on 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:39.440 Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and streaming on YouTube and Twitch, Folks, 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:41.760 So whenever I have the opportunity to be joined by 0:11:41.800 --> 0:11:46.960 our friend Kurt Bardella, who is a messenger spokesperson for 0:11:47.080 --> 0:11:50.239 the DNC the d Triple C. He is also a 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:53.319 writer for a myriad of outlets including The LA Times 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:56.320 in USA Today and if you're a country music fan, 0:11:56.640 --> 0:11:59.520 he is also prevalent in that world as well, a 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:05.120 man of many talents, Kurt Bardella, there are new poll 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:10.760 numbers that are out that put Biden's approval rating somewhere 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:14.839 between a toilet and a sewer. It is roughly at 0:12:14.880 --> 0:12:18.480 around thirty three percent, which, if I'm not mistaken, is 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:22.800 lower than Donald Trump's approval rating ever was, which is shocking. 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:27.480 But I first want to get your reaction to these 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:31.720 latest numbers, the fact that ninety four percent of young people, 0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:35.840 people under the age of thirty five, do not want 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:38.720 Joe Biden to run in twenty twenty four. He is 0:12:38.760 --> 0:12:43.400 not their candidate. That when we are looking at satisfaction 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:45.840 and whether or not this country is on the right track, 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:51.440 that number two is in the toilet. And we have 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:57.040 roughly one hundred and nineteen or eighteen days until midterm elections. 0:12:57.160 --> 0:13:00.240 So I want to first get your opinion. And I say, 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:03.600 oftentimes on woke a YEF, I am not beholden to polls, right, 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:06.120 I really am not. Because the Poles told me that 0:13:06.160 --> 0:13:08.400 I should have had a different president in twenty sixteen. 0:13:08.480 --> 0:13:10.559 The Poles told me that we should have a sixty 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:13.400 three court in our favor right now, and none of 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:16.520 that came to pass. And so I take things with 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:18.880 a grain of salt, but I do recognize that they 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:22.120 are warning signs. So how did that New New York 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:27.400 Times CNNA pole land with you? Well, you know, the 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:30.440 first thing, the number that I would be most interested in, 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:32.520 and I noticed it was a number that was not asked, 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:36.280 do you think Joe Biden should run if Donald Trump's 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:39.000 Republican nominee that would be an interesting question to know. 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:42.599 You know, as we have seen, Donald Trump lost to 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:45.400 Joe Biden. Joe Biden got the most votes in the 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:50.040 history of any presidential candidate ever, and I don't think 0:13:50.040 --> 0:13:54.160 we can discount that. I'll also point out that in 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:59.240 every hypothetical matchup with Donald Trump and Joe Biden, and 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:03.640 even Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, Donald Trumble loses. You know, 0:14:03.720 --> 0:14:06.680 So polls it's such an interesting thing. You have to 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:09.640 think about the person that gets this phone call from 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:12.960 a polster, you know, and you're asked a question that 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:16.120 up until that exact second, you probably were not thinking 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:19.480 about one way or the other. There's something almost unnatural 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:21.960 about how polling works, and I think that explains why 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:25.760 so often, frankly, they've been off the mark and if 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:29.600 misled him, misguided all of us at various pointed time. 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:34.000 It's very clear the president President Biden has challenges. It's 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:37.120 very clear he inherited the most challenging environment, I would 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:41.000 argue in the history of our country, a pandemic and 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:43.120 an economic crisis at the same time, not to mention 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:45.880 cleaning up the message that Donald truploff behind across the 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:50.200 entire form policy spectrum. It has not been an easy path, 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:52.120 and it seems like every time he gains a little 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:54.600 bit around, something else happens, and it's like one step forward, 0:14:54.720 --> 0:14:56.760 a few steps back, and that that's really frustrating. The 0:14:56.800 --> 0:15:00.000 American people are frustrated, you know. I think my takeaway 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:02.680 with Poles, as always, I don't care what the exact 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:05.280 number is. It's just an indication of a trend of 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:08.080 where they are emotionally at any point in time. American 0:15:08.080 --> 0:15:12.560 people are frustrated, They're tired, they're exhausted. So much of 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:15.400 that is because of the four years of Donald Trump. 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:19.120 I would make that case, you know, and it's likely 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:21.400 not getting any better as things have gotten even more 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:25.480 divisive in this country because the Republican Party has lurched 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:30.640 towards the extreme, embraced violent white nationalism, and is imposing 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:32.800 an extreme minority of view on the rest of us. 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:35.280 And I think those of us who voted for Joe Biden, 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:37.800 who voted for a different path, they're going, how the 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:41.960 hell us is happening right now? While we in theory 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:44.640 have the reins of power, yet somehow we're losing things. 0:15:44.640 --> 0:15:46.600 Things are being taken away from us left and right. 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:50.080 It's it's maddening, it's frustrating. But I think for all 0:15:50.080 --> 0:15:53.960 those people who are under thirty particularly, and there's an 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:57.160 irony that those same people who say Joe Biden may 0:15:57.160 --> 0:15:59.640 be too old urn for president, we're also the heart 0:15:59.680 --> 0:16:02.680 and sole of the Bernie Sanders movement. Who's not a 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:06.800 young spring chicken. I might point out just say that 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:09.520 there's a little bit of the it doesn't quite add 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:12.280 up to me sometimes. Uh, you know, I tell everybody 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:15.840 the most single, most important polls the one that's conducted 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:19.440 on election and for people under thirty, particularly who do 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:23.280 not show up in elections, who still underperform and elect. 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:25.200 If you want to change the way things are doing, 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:28.120 you want to change our politics, change politicians, you got 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:30.680 to show up and vote. That's barrier number one because 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:33.520 most politicians when they hear under thirty, they roll their 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:35.280 rise because they go off. They don't vote anyway. So 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:38.120 what do they do they what do they matter? You know, 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:40.960 I think you bring up several good points and and 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:43.560 you've been doing. Let me just commend you as I 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:46.880 do in private in public again, such a great job 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:51.200 on using utilizing all of your platforms, to you know, 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:54.960 to pound this this this message in. I want to 0:16:55.000 --> 0:17:00.840 say that this administration did inherit multiple compound did crises. 0:17:01.720 --> 0:17:05.240 My problem, however, is the fact that they don't continue 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:11.480 to talk about that fact that they inherited a series 0:17:11.520 --> 0:17:16.520 of compounded crises that have only gotten worse over the 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:20.360 last year and a half. The last eighteen months, right, 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:24.320 I date things from the day of the insurrection until now, 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:27.840 so we're looking at the last eighteen months of how 0:17:27.920 --> 0:17:31.439 quickly things have devolved. But my problem, Kurt, is the 0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:35.280 fact that this administration does not connect the dots to 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:38.320 the American people to remind like you shouldn't have to 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:42.080 be reminded. It should just continually be pounded into your 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:46.119 psyche that you are here in this space trying to 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:48.840 put gas in your car and food on your table 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:52.199 and medicine in your cabinets because of the decisions that 0:17:52.240 --> 0:17:54.919 were made in the Trump administration and because of the 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:58.359 Republican Party that continues to vote against your best interests. 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:01.160 So the question that I ask is, you know, as 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:05.800 a person who is a messenger, why do they move 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:10.120 away from a very clear message that is about defining 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:13.359 for the American people. Why you were in this situation. 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:17.520 You know, I think the trap that the Biden White 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:21.000 House kind of stepped into was the desire to want 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:24.600 to turn to page on COVID because people were so frustrated. 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:28.239 They were they were over isolation, they were over uh 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:31.640 you know, some of them remote working, they were overwearing 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:35.840 masks and vaccinations and all that, and some people, a large, 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:37.960 alarmingly large number of them didn't want to do anything 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:40.520 to protect anybody's health in America. I can't forget those 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:43.159 those great people. I think that they wanted to just 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:45.439 turn to page and you know, I equoted to that 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:48.480 George W. Bush Mission accomplished moment, you know, back in 0:18:48.520 --> 0:18:51.400 the two thousand and I think that going into it, 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:54.600 they thought the administration that this would be that that 0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:57.160 they would be able to get vaccines at shots and arms, 0:18:57.560 --> 0:18:58.879 and then we would be able to get back to 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:02.080 quote unquote normal uh and people would be happy and 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:04.720 excited about that. And of course that that's not really 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:10.280 how it played out, uh, not even remotely. And and 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:15.520 I think that they underestimated the real venom of the 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:19.879 right uh and how they weaponized things like vaccines, how 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:24.360 they weaponized uh, you know this ridiculous notion that it's 0:19:24.359 --> 0:19:30.600 somehow government intrusiveness to promote a vaccine that will save lives. Uh. 0:19:30.840 --> 0:19:33.879 You know we heard at the time, you know, my choice, 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:37.160 my body. The irony there of course, as things would 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:39.800 play out later on, but they turned it into this 0:19:39.960 --> 0:19:44.840 whole uh you know, attack on schools and teachers. You know, 0:19:44.920 --> 0:19:47.920 that is where the myth of critical race theory was born. 0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:51.439 Was born from that period of time. Uh. And I 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:55.400 think that the the administration wasn't prepared for that type 0:19:55.560 --> 0:19:59.680 of just dishonesty. UM. I think a lot of people 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:03.680 thought going into it that, especially after January sixth. Remember 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:06.520 this was a point in time where even Republicans were saying, oh, 0:20:06.560 --> 0:20:08.320 that went too far, this is terrible, we need to 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:10.440 move like that was not good. In the immediate aftermath 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:12.879 of January six Kevin McCarthy was out there saying this 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:16.560 was ridiculous. I think that they thought, well, Donald Trump 0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:20.520 has now been disposed of, he's lost. We just went 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:23.879 through this January sixth episode. Republicans are wanting to go 0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:25.920 back to normal. I think they really, in their heart 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:29.919 believe that on some level, and that's why they were 0:20:29.920 --> 0:20:34.600 so I think blindsided when it turned out the Republican 0:20:34.720 --> 0:20:38.000 Party they didn't need Donald Trump anywhere because they had 0:20:38.200 --> 0:20:41.520 fully embraced and embodied the very worst elements of what 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:44.480 he brought to the political conversation, and there was no 0:20:44.560 --> 0:20:46.000 going back for them, and they weren't going to try 0:20:46.040 --> 0:20:48.320 to go back to quote unquote normal. This was their 0:20:48.359 --> 0:20:50.800 identity going forward and had really nothing to do with 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:54.359 Donald Trump anymore. But let me push you on this part, 0:20:54.480 --> 0:20:58.320 because you know, we say that the administration was caught 0:20:58.320 --> 0:21:03.040 off guard, and my pushback is, how because Joe Biden 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:07.000 spent eight years in the Obama administration as Vice President 0:21:07.000 --> 0:21:09.800 of the United States, when that very same party was 0:21:09.840 --> 0:21:15.360 at the beginning stages of their of their cultish behavior, 0:21:15.760 --> 0:21:19.080 when they said that that president was not a citizen 0:21:19.080 --> 0:21:21.680 of these United States, when they lied about him being 0:21:21.720 --> 0:21:24.040 a Muslim, when you had Mitch McConnell come to the 0:21:24.080 --> 0:21:26.040 forefront and say we're going to make him a single 0:21:26.160 --> 0:21:31.560 term president. You also had Mitch McConnell stealing the Supreme 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:34.120 Court seat, which has us in the position that we're in. 0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:37.479 So how is it that Joe Biden sat literally shoulder 0:21:37.520 --> 0:21:41.600 to shoulder with Barack Obama as this Republican Party began 0:21:41.800 --> 0:21:47.520 its initial morphing into the radical right, white domestic terrorist 0:21:47.600 --> 0:21:50.960 cult that it has become, and say to himself, Oh, 0:21:51.000 --> 0:21:54.000 but I can do better, And I asked this. I 0:21:54.119 --> 0:21:57.000 say this because to say that folks are caught off guard, 0:21:57.200 --> 0:21:59.199 it's the same way to say, oh, my god, they 0:21:59.240 --> 0:22:01.720 were caught off guard that Rob Wade was turned back. 0:22:01.800 --> 0:22:05.080 Really because Republicans have been organizing in playing site for 0:22:05.119 --> 0:22:08.760 fifty years saying that this was their holy grail. So 0:22:08.960 --> 0:22:12.040 to say that they are caught off guard is for 0:22:12.080 --> 0:22:13.880 me to alert me to the fact that you haven't 0:22:13.920 --> 0:22:16.080 been paying attention. And I mean you, as in the 0:22:16.119 --> 0:22:20.359 administration haven't been paying attention, even if ignore the last 0:22:20.400 --> 0:22:24.560 fifty years and say, Alito and the League draft opinion 0:22:24.680 --> 0:22:28.240 gave you a two month head start to create a strategy, 0:22:28.280 --> 0:22:31.080 to figure out whether or not you could issue a 0:22:31.200 --> 0:22:35.479 public emergency health emergency based around abortion, and to do 0:22:35.520 --> 0:22:39.359 all of these things. So what is it that you think, honestly, 0:22:40.119 --> 0:22:44.160 had this administration caught off guard? Because as far as 0:22:44.160 --> 0:22:47.200 I can see, they were all conscious during the last 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:51.520 eight to twelve years. Now, I think to myself, I 0:22:51.960 --> 0:22:55.399 go back to the Obama administration, years when I was 0:22:55.480 --> 0:22:58.879 on the other side of this Republican and I would 0:22:59.000 --> 0:23:00.800 make the case that often than that we got the 0:23:00.840 --> 0:23:04.040 better of the Obama administration in our battles and fights. 0:23:04.920 --> 0:23:06.600 And I remember thinking to myself back then, It's like, 0:23:06.960 --> 0:23:10.080 how are we winning? I would I would be in 0:23:10.160 --> 0:23:12.920 meetings with my fellow Republican colleagues and I'm like, how 0:23:13.000 --> 0:23:14.920 is it that work? We shouldn't be winning these fights 0:23:15.040 --> 0:23:19.119 right now. And now that I'm on the Democrat side 0:23:19.720 --> 0:23:22.399 and I get to interface a lot with Democrat advisors 0:23:22.400 --> 0:23:25.919 and staff and members, I swear to God, Danielle, there 0:23:26.080 --> 0:23:31.040 is just a DNA difference I think from a political 0:23:31.080 --> 0:23:35.880