1 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:15,080 Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to okay f Daily with 2 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:20,440 Speaker 1: Meet your Girl Danielle Moody, recording live from the Brooklyn Silarium. 3 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: You know, I want to start off today with a 4 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 1: couple of questions that I received over the weekend and 5 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:33,839 Speaker 1: at the end of last week, UM, with regard to 6 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:38,520 Speaker 1: the Kyle Rittenhouse CASEUM, many people had asked me on 7 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:42,599 Speaker 1: Twitter and on Instagram if I would jump on and 8 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:48,520 Speaker 1: do a live I got messaged UM, and I gotta 9 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:52,680 Speaker 1: tell you this, There's a reason I didn't go live. 10 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:56,160 Speaker 1: There is a reason why I am doing my best 11 00:00:56,280 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 1: these days to protect my emotional, spiritual, and physical wellbeing. 12 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:04,760 Speaker 1: And it's because I've decided that white supremacy doesn't get 13 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:07,920 Speaker 1: to have the best of me. And it's the lesson 14 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 1: that not only am I trying to embody in my 15 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:13,840 Speaker 1: own life, but I'm trying to share and impart with 16 00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:17,080 Speaker 1: all of you as well. Rage is important, Trust me, 17 00:01:17,319 --> 00:01:23,000 Speaker 1: I am a big philosopher of the importance of getting 18 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:28,679 Speaker 1: that toxic anger heat out of ourselves and as a 19 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 1: way to then be able to cool ourselves down to 20 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:36,319 Speaker 1: have clearer heads. And I don't mean to expel that 21 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:40,000 Speaker 1: energy in violent ways. I mean that it's okay to 22 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:44,400 Speaker 1: commune with other people, with friends, with family, around rage, 23 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 1: around frustration, around anger at the state of our current 24 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:55,400 Speaker 1: society and politics. It's to say that it's a disappointment 25 00:01:55,520 --> 00:02:00,680 Speaker 1: where we are would be a euphemism. Beyond you famisms. 26 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:04,200 Speaker 1: It isn't just disappointing if you really sit down and 27 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:11,639 Speaker 1: unpack where we are as a country. It is unbelievable 28 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:15,480 Speaker 1: in so many ways. It is unbelievable. It would have 29 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:19,840 Speaker 1: been unbelievable to think, um five years ago that a 30 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:23,320 Speaker 1: member of Congress putting out a video depicting the murder 31 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: of one of his colleagues would ever happen. It is 32 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:32,079 Speaker 1: unbelievable to think that a member of Congress that had 33 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:37,160 Speaker 1: that is under FBI investigation and has been accused of 34 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:44,800 Speaker 1: sexual sex with a minor sex trafficking or is connected 35 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:49,200 Speaker 1: to sex traffickers would still be in Congress. It is 36 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:54,600 Speaker 1: would be a you know, impossible to think five years 37 00:02:54,639 --> 00:02:59,000 Speaker 1: ago that an insurrection would have occurred, That we would 38 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:03,200 Speaker 1: have seen a yilloteen in real life being built on 39 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:05,760 Speaker 1: the steps of our capitol building and watch our capital 40 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:11,200 Speaker 1: be ransacked by a violent white mob. All of these 41 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:15,680 Speaker 1: things have happened in the court in the shortest span 42 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:21,280 Speaker 1: of time. I bring it up constantly because I was 43 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:26,720 Speaker 1: brought back to a piece that was written by Larry 44 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:32,560 Speaker 1: Diamond in The Atlantic on October nineteenth. It was published 45 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:37,520 Speaker 1: October nineteenth, twenty sixteen, and the piece is entitled it 46 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:42,400 Speaker 1: could happen here. Democracy is facing setbacks around the world, 47 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:47,680 Speaker 1: but there hasn't been reason to doubt America's resilience until now. 48 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:53,480 Speaker 1: And I remember reading the piece in October, right, and 49 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:56,080 Speaker 1: this is again go with me in the time machine. 50 00:03:56,440 --> 00:04:01,040 Speaker 1: This is but a couple of weeks before the election 51 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:10,240 Speaker 1: that would alter our country's future, our democracy. And I'm 52 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:15,560 Speaker 1: rereading it today and I'm thinking to myself, Dear God, 53 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:20,440 Speaker 1: how do you stop a train that you know is 54 00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:24,800 Speaker 1: certainly colliding with a wall that is running off the 55 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:31,719 Speaker 1: rails and has no breaks, has no conductor, and you 56 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:36,080 Speaker 1: know that it's headed towards certain destruction, but you can't 57 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: stop it. That's what it feels for me right now 58 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:45,560 Speaker 1: to be in media, coming off of the last four 59 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:51,520 Speaker 1: years of Donald Trump and moving into year two of 60 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:56,880 Speaker 1: the Biden administration. Now, I got to tell you that 61 00:04:57,080 --> 00:05:01,000 Speaker 1: I want to highlight some parts of Larry Diamond's piece 62 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:05,000 Speaker 1: that I encourage everyone to reread if you or read 63 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:06,640 Speaker 1: for the first time if you did not read it 64 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:10,080 Speaker 1: back in twenty sixteen, because there are so many things 65 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:13,720 Speaker 1: that are so much more salient now given the things 66 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:17,000 Speaker 1: that I have just outlined. And in a minute, I 67 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:22,080 Speaker 1: will also go over my feelings about what we should 68 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:25,320 Speaker 1: be paying attention to with regard to the outcome in 69 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:30,039 Speaker 1: the Kyle Rittenhouse case. But here are some pieces of 70 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:36,800 Speaker 1: Larry Diamonds. It could happen here he wrote, among the 71 00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:46,520 Speaker 1: most dangerous, among the most dangerous things of democrats in 72 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:52,920 Speaker 1: this time is arrogance and apathy. I want to unpack 73 00:05:53,040 --> 00:06:00,120 Speaker 1: that for a moment, that arrogance and apathy are two 74 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:04,960 Speaker 1: of the things that democrats do really fucking well. Arrogance 75 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:07,960 Speaker 1: in the fact that we just believe that, you know, 76 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:12,360 Speaker 1: when people know better, that they'll do better. Right, that 77 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:16,320 Speaker 1: we believe fundamentally that if you provide people with information 78 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:20,039 Speaker 1: and facts, that they'll just do the right thing, right, 79 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:22,680 Speaker 1: that all people inherently want to do the right thing. 80 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:27,320 Speaker 1: And then there is the apathy in feeling like you 81 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:30,360 Speaker 1: don't actually need to do the work, that the work 82 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:33,600 Speaker 1: for a majority of us was in twenty twenty was 83 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:36,520 Speaker 1: in voting in the midst of a global health pandemic, 84 00:06:36,839 --> 00:06:40,000 Speaker 1: and then just sitting back and assuming that because Donald 85 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:44,120 Speaker 1: Trump was gone, that meant that our democracy was going 86 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:46,320 Speaker 1: to be back on track, that we could then go 87 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:50,240 Speaker 1: back to believe being political ostriges, putting our heads back 88 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:52,800 Speaker 1: in the sand, and only being concerned about our day 89 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:55,719 Speaker 1: to day that the good guys, right, the good men 90 00:06:55,760 --> 00:07:02,279 Speaker 1: and women and people would take it from there. That 91 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:08,880 Speaker 1: is the most dangerous thing. And when Larry Diamond wrote 92 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:13,800 Speaker 1: this piece back in twenty sixteen, he didn't know that 93 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:16,320 Speaker 1: Donald Trump was going to win in a couple of 94 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 1: weeks using McCarthyism tactics that we had since said from 95 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:28,920 Speaker 1: fifty years prior were some of the darkest times in 96 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:35,000 Speaker 1: America's history. That we were creating committees in the in 97 00:07:35,080 --> 00:07:39,960 Speaker 1: the House of Representatives, that we're going to investigate people's patriotism, 98 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:43,000 Speaker 1: That we were setting up ways in which to blacklist 99 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:48,120 Speaker 1: people in Hollywood because of their perceived connection to our 100 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:51,640 Speaker 1: relationship with communism. And it just so happened that the 101 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:54,600 Speaker 1: people that McCarthy, of course wanted to go after were 102 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: the intellectuals, were the artist were those people whose society 103 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:03,040 Speaker 1: looked towards right as we were advancing. But if you 104 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:06,240 Speaker 1: silence those people, and you instill a certain level of 105 00:08:06,280 --> 00:08:10,080 Speaker 1: fear in them, right, a fear of the other, right, 106 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:12,680 Speaker 1: a fear of their neighbor, then you can control them. 107 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:17,600 Speaker 1: And we knew that. That's why Joseph McCarthy's name is 108 00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:23,360 Speaker 1: associated with the Red Scare, is associated with everything that 109 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:26,600 Speaker 1: is wrong with the body politic. So you would think that, 110 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:29,520 Speaker 1: because we made such a case over the last five 111 00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:35,160 Speaker 1: decades about this part of our history, that the rising 112 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:38,080 Speaker 1: of Donald Trump would never happen, because we would see 113 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:43,840 Speaker 1: it miles and miles away. So when Larry Diamond is 114 00:08:43,840 --> 00:08:48,480 Speaker 1: writing this piece in twenty sixteen, he's saying, how is 115 00:08:48,520 --> 00:08:53,760 Speaker 1: it possible that this man is this close to the presidency? 116 00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:59,719 Speaker 1: How is it possible that America right, it could never 117 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:15,800 Speaker 1: possibly happened. Here chorus is now applauding and celebrating this horrible, horrible, racist, misogynistic, islamophobic, transphobic, homophobic. 118 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:19,560 Speaker 1: I mean, you name what is wrong, Donald Trump embodies it. Man. 119 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:24,120 Speaker 1: Larry Diamond didn't know that in writing this that Donald 120 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:29,480 Speaker 1: Trump was not only going to secure sixty five seventy 121 00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:32,480 Speaker 1: million votes in twenty sixteen, but that he was going 122 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:37,719 Speaker 1: to extend his reach in twenty twenty, and that it 123 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:42,920 Speaker 1: was the assumption once again from Democrats that oh, you know, 124 00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:47,400 Speaker 1: once the American people have more information than they will 125 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:53,040 Speaker 1: do what's right. Well, what the fuck? If there was 126 00:09:53,120 --> 00:09:56,240 Speaker 1: anything that anyone should have known and realized over the 127 00:09:56,280 --> 00:10:00,360 Speaker 1: last several years, even just before Donald Trump in the 128 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:04,720 Speaker 1: Tea Party, as our politics began to disintegrate into some 129 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:09,360 Speaker 1: version of reality TV, that it was the media right 130 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:12,200 Speaker 1: and their power to sway people one way or the 131 00:10:12,240 --> 00:10:18,120 Speaker 1: other that was one of the most dangerous apparatus and 132 00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:21,720 Speaker 1: threat to our democracy. That if you had a person 133 00:10:22,679 --> 00:10:29,800 Speaker 1: that both embodied the outlandishness right but like what America 134 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:34,360 Speaker 1: craves around celebrity, and then you couple that with the 135 00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:39,199 Speaker 1: foundation of America, which is racism and cruelty, that that 136 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:43,760 Speaker 1: would be a winning recipe for millions of so quote 137 00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:51,720 Speaker 1: unquote aggrieved white people. So when he says that among 138 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:57,679 Speaker 1: the most dangerous things that Democrats can do is this 139 00:10:57,800 --> 00:11:01,360 Speaker 1: coupling of arrogance and apathy, I am seeing it now 140 00:11:03,080 --> 00:11:06,960 Speaker 1: even after having lived through the last five fucking years, 141 00:11:08,280 --> 00:11:11,880 Speaker 1: because you see democrats right now doing what they do, 142 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:15,120 Speaker 1: which is partially let me be clear, we need them 143 00:11:15,160 --> 00:11:19,640 Speaker 1: to pass policy. We need infrastructure bills, we need human infrastructure, 144 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:22,840 Speaker 1: we need immigration reform, but most importantly, we fucking needed 145 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:26,439 Speaker 1: voting rights. But that's a time for another day. Evidently 146 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:32,240 Speaker 1: we need these things to happen, but not outside of 147 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:35,760 Speaker 1: understanding the danger and the threat that we have yet 148 00:11:36,360 --> 00:11:40,960 Speaker 1: to nullify. I would argue that we are in more 149 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:46,960 Speaker 1: trouble now then we were in twenty sixteen. You see, 150 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:50,000 Speaker 1: in twenty sixteen, we were just seeing what could happen. 151 00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:53,479 Speaker 1: And even in twenty seventeen, after Donald Trump is inaugurated, 152 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:57,559 Speaker 1: you have the fucking march of the tiki torches in Charlottesville, 153 00:11:58,040 --> 00:12:03,880 Speaker 1: again signals to the decline of our democracy. You had 154 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:07,840 Speaker 1: the President of the United States hail these people. This 155 00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:11,400 Speaker 1: was all the slow roles set up for where we 156 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:18,839 Speaker 1: are now, for the insurrection. And so another point that 157 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:27,600 Speaker 1: is made in this piece is this, democracies fail diamond 158 00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:35,840 Speaker 1: rights when people lose faith in them and elites abandon 159 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:41,120 Speaker 1: their norms for pure political advantage. Let me say that again, 160 00:12:42,679 --> 00:12:47,920 Speaker 1: democracies fail when people lose faith in them and elites 161 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:57,160 Speaker 1: abandon their norms for pure political advantage. Again, this is 162 00:12:57,200 --> 00:13:03,320 Speaker 1: written before Mitch McConnell force through over three hundred federal judges, 163 00:13:03,760 --> 00:13:08,000 Speaker 1: many of whom the American Bar Association said, we're not qualified. 164 00:13:09,320 --> 00:13:15,679 Speaker 1: This is before right we would have an attorney general 165 00:13:15,880 --> 00:13:19,840 Speaker 1: turned the Department of Justice into an extension of the 166 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:26,680 Speaker 1: presidency and weaponize it against Donald Trump's political foes. This 167 00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:33,040 Speaker 1: is before all of that. And so when we arrive 168 00:13:33,160 --> 00:13:35,840 Speaker 1: in this moment, it's not as if alarms have not 169 00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:41,080 Speaker 1: been going often, people haven't been warning, writing, speaking, screaming, 170 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:45,880 Speaker 1: marching to alert people to where we are. But I 171 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:51,440 Speaker 1: keep going back to our fundamental understanding of history and 172 00:13:51,559 --> 00:13:55,520 Speaker 1: the way that it is taught. We always use the 173 00:13:55,640 --> 00:13:59,000 Speaker 1: same setup. If you don't understand your history, you'll be 174 00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:02,680 Speaker 1: deemed to repeat it. But all America does is repeat 175 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:07,839 Speaker 1: its history over and over and over again. I would 176 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:11,400 Speaker 1: make the joke about slavery coming back and how that's 177 00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:13,680 Speaker 1: not out of the realm of possibility, except I don't 178 00:14:13,679 --> 00:14:16,360 Speaker 1: think that it's funny, because I actually don't think that 179 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:19,960 Speaker 1: it's out of the realm of possibility. The only reason 180 00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:24,280 Speaker 1: we don't have slavery in America right as a legal 181 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:29,520 Speaker 1: institution still is because of some laws that were passed. 182 00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:34,239 Speaker 1: It's the same reason we currently are holding onto abortion 183 00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:39,960 Speaker 1: in this country by our fingernails, because of laws that 184 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:44,080 Speaker 1: were passed. But what we are seeing, and what cannot 185 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:51,240 Speaker 1: be understated or overstated enough, frankly, is that those laws 186 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:55,080 Speaker 1: are only as enforceable and powerful as the people that 187 00:14:55,120 --> 00:15:01,600 Speaker 1: are willing to enforce those said laws. Right. We only 188 00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:09,080 Speaker 1: abolish slavery because of a mass insurgence of people, right 189 00:15:09,200 --> 00:15:15,520 Speaker 1: and a full on fucking war that ended it. But 190 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:19,720 Speaker 1: those things that we think are just our part of 191 00:15:19,720 --> 00:15:27,240 Speaker 1: our political norms came blood soaked. It wasn't without sacrifice. 192 00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:33,720 Speaker 1: It wasn't without centuries of lost lives and brutality and 193 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:39,080 Speaker 1: torture and terrorism. That we arrive at this moment. When 194 00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:43,560 Speaker 1: we are looking around it, we're like, fuck, even the 195 00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:47,040 Speaker 1: free ish place that we have arrived in right now 196 00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:51,200 Speaker 1: is up for fucking grabs. And if you don't, if 197 00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:54,200 Speaker 1: you think that again, I'm being hyperbolic. I mean, just 198 00:15:54,400 --> 00:16:01,640 Speaker 1: look around. Let's take the Kyle Rittenhouse case as an example. Now, 199 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:04,600 Speaker 1: everybody knows because you've been listening to the show, that 200 00:16:04,720 --> 00:16:07,320 Speaker 1: I have not been following this case day in and 201 00:16:07,440 --> 00:16:10,280 Speaker 1: day out. Why Because, like I stated at the top 202 00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:13,280 Speaker 1: of the show, I give a shit about my emotional 203 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:17,760 Speaker 1: and spiritual well being and I hope folks that you 204 00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:20,320 Speaker 1: care about yours as well. Because there was no need 205 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:26,320 Speaker 1: to follow this trial because from the outset with Judge 206 00:16:26,320 --> 00:16:32,160 Speaker 1: Schroeder and his clear and present fucking bias against the prosecution, 207 00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:37,480 Speaker 1: you knew where this was headed. Right when we are 208 00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:41,360 Speaker 1: not referring to people that were gunned down because they 209 00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:46,880 Speaker 1: were they were exercising their First Amendment right to be 210 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:52,320 Speaker 1: able to assemble right in protests against an unjust criminal system, 211 00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:56,520 Speaker 1: and who were gunned down by the likes of a 212 00:16:56,600 --> 00:16:59,600 Speaker 1: seventeen year old that cross state lines with a fucking 213 00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:02,600 Speaker 1: R fifteen and then was patted on the back by police. 214 00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:06,480 Speaker 1: Where the fuck did you think this was going? His 215 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:12,560 Speaker 1: bullshit performance on the stand of his crocodile tears, the 216 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:19,399 Speaker 1: embrace that he is receiving from Republicans who want to 217 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:25,280 Speaker 1: offer him positions of promotion like a congressional internship. Right, 218 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:30,919 Speaker 1: he has an entire fucking docuseries that's being hosted by 219 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:36,840 Speaker 1: Get This Tucker fucking Carlson. He will have a sit 220 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:41,400 Speaker 1: down interview this week in Prime Time with Tucker Carlson, 221 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:44,320 Speaker 1: who I'm certain will embrace him as a son and 222 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:49,240 Speaker 1: as a patriot. This is the same motherfucker who referred 223 00:17:49,280 --> 00:17:53,600 Speaker 1: to an unarmed teenager walking home from the fucking store 224 00:17:54,840 --> 00:18:02,600 Speaker 1: as a thug and a threat. When you take these 225 00:18:04,680 --> 00:18:13,760 Speaker 1: stories of America and you put them up against how 226 00:18:14,440 --> 00:18:20,959 Speaker 1: democracies have fallen before, every single sign is pointing to 227 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:24,280 Speaker 1: where this is headed and where we are headed as 228 00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:27,760 Speaker 1: a country. And the fact is is that we have 229 00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:31,080 Speaker 1: democrats that are too busy with their bullshit in fighting. 230 00:18:32,359 --> 00:18:36,160 Speaker 1: You have democrats that are too busy saying we need 231 00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:40,280 Speaker 1: political wins instead of recognizing the urgency of this moment 232 00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:45,440 Speaker 1: to repair our democracy. So we have a future to discuss. Right, 233 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:53,280 Speaker 1: you realize that hope isn't on the horizon that we 234 00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:55,720 Speaker 1: are going to be heading into. Not we are going 235 00:18:55,760 --> 00:18:59,000 Speaker 1: to be We are headed in to some of the 236 00:18:59,119 --> 00:19:04,560 Speaker 1: darkest time this country has seen since the nineteen sixties, 237 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:10,280 Speaker 1: since the Jim Crow era, since the consistent and unrelenting 238 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:17,639 Speaker 1: terrorism of the KKK. With a not guilty verdict in 239 00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:21,480 Speaker 1: the Written House case, where do you think the rest 240 00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:25,160 Speaker 1: of the written Houses are going? You know, I did 241 00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:31,359 Speaker 1: an interview earlier this week with The Daily Beast with 242 00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:37,600 Speaker 1: the New Abnormal and Molly jung Fast and Jesse Cannon, 243 00:19:38,359 --> 00:19:44,080 Speaker 1: and they were talking about the fact that some of 244 00:19:44,119 --> 00:19:51,639 Speaker 1: their friends are very concerned with attending another political protest 245 00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:57,040 Speaker 1: that they may not do so, And mind you, I 246 00:19:57,119 --> 00:20:01,040 Speaker 1: have gone to countless protests. I mean I lived in Washington, 247 00:20:01,119 --> 00:20:04,239 Speaker 1: DC for damn near twenty years. I felt like I 248 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:08,480 Speaker 1: was at a protest every other week, right, But the 249 00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:14,520 Speaker 1: thought of people being too scared to protest because of 250 00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:19,600 Speaker 1: the likes of Kyle Rittenhouses, because that now we know 251 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:24,320 Speaker 1: that they have more rights to carry a gun and 252 00:20:24,560 --> 00:20:29,119 Speaker 1: shoot and murder in called blood anyone that they want, 253 00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:35,000 Speaker 1: and know that now they have precedent, recent precedent to 254 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:41,000 Speaker 1: get off would make me worry too. But the reality 255 00:20:41,080 --> 00:20:44,520 Speaker 1: is is that America has always been fucking violent. It's 256 00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:50,680 Speaker 1: a violent, fucking nation founded on cruelty, founded on bloodshed. 257 00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:56,760 Speaker 1: So this is not a shock. My response to Jesse 258 00:20:57,119 --> 00:21:01,879 Speaker 1: and his friend was to say, look, motherfuckers are getting 259 00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:05,880 Speaker 1: murdered and trampled and shot at concerts, but they don't 260 00:21:05,920 --> 00:21:11,320 Speaker 1: seem to stop. People don't to stop attending them. So 261 00:21:11,359 --> 00:21:15,520 Speaker 1: when it comes to fighting for our rights, and voicing 262 00:21:15,600 --> 00:21:22,720 Speaker 1: our descent against a biased and unjust government. Should we 263 00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:27,880 Speaker 1: stop because of the potential of fatalities? And look, it's 264 00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:34,720 Speaker 1: fucking serious. You know, we've been and seen these situations 265 00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:38,200 Speaker 1: with these cops. I mean, we saw the elderly white 266 00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:42,320 Speaker 1: man fucking knocked over, bloodpoiling pouring out of his goddamn head. 267 00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:45,960 Speaker 1: They didn't give a shit. We saw police beat the 268 00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:55,720 Speaker 1: shit out of protesters right causing serious harm. Stories of 269 00:21:55,840 --> 00:22:01,480 Speaker 1: people that we interviewed running from Lafayette Square where famously, 270 00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:06,719 Speaker 1: right or infamously, Donald Trump cleared Lafayette Square with the 271 00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:09,439 Speaker 1: help of Bill Barr and the help of the fucking 272 00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:11,960 Speaker 1: Pentagon so that he could take a photo op with 273 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:13,720 Speaker 1: a book he don't read in front of a church 274 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:20,240 Speaker 1: he don't attend. Each and every one of these examples 275 00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:27,240 Speaker 1: that I'm laying out cannot be considered in isolation. They 276 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:35,200 Speaker 1: are what form the fundamental fall of our democracy, the 277 00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:39,440 Speaker 1: erosion of civil liberties, the erosion of our faith in 278 00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:46,440 Speaker 1: our institutions. I didn't watch the Written House trial because 279 00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:49,600 Speaker 1: I knew where it was going. And I'm a person 280 00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:55,720 Speaker 1: that still is trying so desperately to believe that we 281 00:22:55,840 --> 00:23:01,960 Speaker 1: can reimagine America. But each and every day me, it's 282 00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:07,480 Speaker 1: becoming harder and harder to assert that truth, to even 283 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:13,080 Speaker 1: believe in it myself. And it's my job. And that's 284 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:19,000 Speaker 1: why I tell people like, look, you can be a 285 00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:23,880 Speaker 1: responsible citizen, pay attention and understand what is going on, 286 00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:28,520 Speaker 1: but then recognize that if you don't take care of 287 00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:32,320 Speaker 1: your emotional and spiritual well being, understand that nobody else will. 288 00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:35,720 Speaker 1: That nobody's going to walk into your apartment or your 289 00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:39,560 Speaker 1: house and tell you to turn off the news, Go 290 00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:44,800 Speaker 1: walk in nature, take some deep breath, go do an exercise, class, meditate, pray, 291 00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:47,959 Speaker 1: do an art project. Nobody's going to tell you to 292 00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:51,359 Speaker 1: do those things. You're just going to have a breakdown 293 00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:55,680 Speaker 1: and then shut it out completely. And that's why I'm 294 00:23:55,760 --> 00:24:00,359 Speaker 1: saying take it, much like you know our indulgence in food, 295 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:08,200 Speaker 1: Take it in little bites, because the desire here is 296 00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:12,600 Speaker 1: to wear you down. The desire is to accelebrate, accelerate 297 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:16,240 Speaker 1: our erosion of our trust in our faith in these 298 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:21,160 Speaker 1: institutions that we are watching fail us one major case 299 00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:23,840 Speaker 1: at a time. I had to turn off the news 300 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:29,600 Speaker 1: earlier because I refuse to listen to the closing arguments 301 00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:34,760 Speaker 1: in the McDaniels trial, right, because once again they were 302 00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:38,120 Speaker 1: referring to it as the Ahmad Arbory trial. It's not 303 00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:43,560 Speaker 1: Ahmad is dead, right, he was fucking gunned down in 304 00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:50,440 Speaker 1: cold fucking blood after going for a fucking jog. It's 305 00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:54,439 Speaker 1: not his trial because he's not alive to stand trial. 306 00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:59,440 Speaker 1: But once again, the media does what the media does. 307 00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:05,840 Speaker 1: But I can't watch every single instance of white vigilantes 308 00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:09,800 Speaker 1: being able to walk go back home and pretend that 309 00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:12,840 Speaker 1: nothing ever happened, but then be able to recant these 310 00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:16,640 Speaker 1: stories to their friends, to their colleagues about their bravery 311 00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:21,000 Speaker 1: and their fucking patriotism, because that's how it will be told. 312 00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:30,840 Speaker 1: What did Cricketer Holden say? History is not written by 313 00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:34,119 Speaker 1: the conquered, it's written by the conqueror. So what do 314 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:38,040 Speaker 1: you think the narrative is going to be for the 315 00:25:38,080 --> 00:25:41,640 Speaker 1: written houses of the world. Oh, white people already talk 316 00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:45,160 Speaker 1: about the fact he didn't do anything wrong. He's a hero, 317 00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:51,480 Speaker 1: a hero, he's a fucking murderer. But why should they 318 00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:55,840 Speaker 1: think otherwise when you're driving on highways, in attending schools 319 00:25:56,119 --> 00:26:00,199 Speaker 1: named after fucking Confederates and what nation do you do 320 00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:05,960 Speaker 1: that in? And we wonder how we arrive at this 321 00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:09,080 Speaker 1: place because we are so disconnected from the fucking truth 322 00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:14,320 Speaker 1: and so disconnected from facts and our real history that 323 00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:17,239 Speaker 1: we are always going to be destined to repeat it. 324 00:26:17,359 --> 00:26:20,840 Speaker 1: And I see no maneuvering into our future to make 325 00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:24,560 Speaker 1: me believe that things are going to get better. How 326 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:28,720 Speaker 1: I'm still trying to convince you the sky is blue? 327 00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:33,120 Speaker 1: How would I ever convince you that you're doing damage 328 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:35,399 Speaker 1: to the environment When I got to spend my fucking 329 00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:38,000 Speaker 1: time and energy telling you the sky is blue and 330 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:42,800 Speaker 1: water is wet, I have to move you from that 331 00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:49,440 Speaker 1: fucking obvious place to the effects of climate change. Give 332 00:26:49,480 --> 00:27:01,439 Speaker 1: me a break. What is scary right now too, is 333 00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:15,520 Speaker 1: that America for the first time by a organization IDEO no, 334 00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:22,119 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, idea organization that has been tracking they've been 335 00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:27,000 Speaker 1: tracking for the last decades democracies and the health of 336 00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:34,120 Speaker 1: democracies in the world, and they've come out recently as 337 00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:37,439 Speaker 1: if the news can't get any better that for the 338 00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:42,119 Speaker 1: first time since they've been tracking democracies around the world, 339 00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:50,160 Speaker 1: America is a backsliding democracy. One in four people, according 340 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:55,240 Speaker 1: to this organization, live in a backsliding democracy. But what 341 00:27:55,480 --> 00:28:00,320 Speaker 1: is and should be alarming to every fucking person. Is 342 00:28:00,359 --> 00:28:03,879 Speaker 1: that again the things that we thought could never happen 343 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:09,040 Speaker 1: here are not only happening, but happening at breakneck pace. 344 00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:16,479 Speaker 1: You can shrug off that organization and say, oh, you 345 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:19,639 Speaker 1: know what, do they know? Well, they've been tracking this 346 00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:23,640 Speaker 1: for the last fifty years and for the first time ever, 347 00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:29,040 Speaker 1: and this coincides with it can happen here at the 348 00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:33,040 Speaker 1: peace in the Atlantic from twenty sixteen is that for 349 00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:37,680 Speaker 1: the first time in the world, we have less democracies 350 00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:42,960 Speaker 1: And so what does that mean? That this isn't just 351 00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:47,760 Speaker 1: about what is happening in America, although incredibly important, but 352 00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:54,880 Speaker 1: it is about what is happening around the world, and 353 00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:59,840 Speaker 1: people having looked at countries, having looked at America as 354 00:28:59,840 --> 00:29:03,320 Speaker 1: an example for as fucked up and imperfect as our 355 00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:10,840 Speaker 1: country is, looked at our country as a symbol of democracy, 356 00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:14,480 Speaker 1: no one believing that what is transpired in the last 357 00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:19,240 Speaker 1: five years, that you would have ever thought in twenty fourteen, 358 00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:24,800 Speaker 1: twenty fifteen that this could happen. And that was our 359 00:29:25,040 --> 00:29:30,040 Speaker 1: as he said, our arrogance and our apathy. And that's 360 00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:35,720 Speaker 1: not just democrats, it's everyone believing that, Oh, it's those 361 00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:40,840 Speaker 1: countries over there that are unstable, that have been war torn. Right, 362 00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:45,120 Speaker 1: it's those people over there that are violent, being able 363 00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:50,400 Speaker 1: to look and make assumptions and judgments about other parts 364 00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:54,840 Speaker 1: of the world without truly examining and unpacking what has 365 00:29:54,960 --> 00:30:01,640 Speaker 1: been happening here. Again, I think it's our desire to 366 00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:05,160 Speaker 1: shrug off. Right, Let's shrug off the Tea Party. Let's 367 00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:08,840 Speaker 1: shrug off the calls for Obama's birth certificate. Let's shrug 368 00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:12,280 Speaker 1: off Donald Trump calling Mexicans rapists and murders. Let's shrug 369 00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:16,240 Speaker 1: off the fact that, you know, members of the Republican 370 00:30:16,320 --> 00:30:20,400 Speaker 1: Party have been caught up in multiple scandals with sex traffickers, 371 00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:23,880 Speaker 1: drug traffickers, murderers, all of these things. Let's just shrug 372 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:27,800 Speaker 1: that off. Let's just say that, you know, Derek Chauvin 373 00:30:27,920 --> 00:30:30,800 Speaker 1: is just a bad apple, but not a part of 374 00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:35,440 Speaker 1: the poisonous orchard that America has been seeding since the beginning. 375 00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:42,239 Speaker 1: And it's because we refuse to interrogate our history in 376 00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:46,360 Speaker 1: any real way that we are here in this moment. 377 00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:49,480 Speaker 1: It's because of the fact that we would rather spend 378 00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:54,360 Speaker 1: our energy and our resources upholding democracies around the world 379 00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:57,800 Speaker 1: rather than safeguarding it here at home when we are 380 00:30:57,840 --> 00:31:02,400 Speaker 1: watching it falter, you know, I said the other day 381 00:31:02,480 --> 00:31:08,320 Speaker 1: when Biden was it overseas and he's speaking, you know, 382 00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:11,960 Speaker 1: in front of the UN talking about democracy blah blah, 383 00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:15,400 Speaker 1: and I'm like, if I were one of those nations 384 00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:19,440 Speaker 1: sitting in the audience and he got applause, and I'm like, 385 00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:22,120 Speaker 1: I would have been sitting there like, who are you 386 00:31:22,240 --> 00:31:26,240 Speaker 1: talking to fix your own house before you come out 387 00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:28,560 Speaker 1: and step to me talking about how we need to 388 00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:32,360 Speaker 1: clean up these international global streets. Your house is literally 389 00:31:32,520 --> 00:31:37,680 Speaker 1: on fire, sir? The fuck you doing here? But that 390 00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:43,760 Speaker 1: has always been America's bravado, right that we are somehow 391 00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:47,560 Speaker 1: these these fucking cowboys that are out and I say 392 00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:51,040 Speaker 1: cowboys and I mean that right, This idea of like 393 00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:54,240 Speaker 1: you know, the horseback ride and wheeled in the whip, 394 00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:56,320 Speaker 1: you know, like we saw with the fucking Haitians at 395 00:31:56,360 --> 00:32:00,680 Speaker 1: the border, that is the symbol of America. It has 396 00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:06,280 Speaker 1: always been us up high looking down on whoever else, 397 00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:15,120 Speaker 1: not paying attention to what is going on around us. 398 00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:25,680 Speaker 1: Larry Diamond writes, this democracy is facing setbacks around the world, 399 00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:33,800 Speaker 1: but there hasn't been reason to doubt America's resilience until now. 400 00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:41,440 Speaker 1: And I keep wondering, folks, Honestly, we've seen, we got 401 00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:45,680 Speaker 1: a preview in the Trump administration to what happens around 402 00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:49,880 Speaker 1: the world when America isn't stable. And that's not to 403 00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:56,520 Speaker 1: say that I believe in America's paternalistic view of the 404 00:32:56,560 --> 00:33:00,800 Speaker 1: rest of the world. No, not at all. But there 405 00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:05,720 Speaker 1: is a vacuum that is created, and in that vacuum 406 00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:11,160 Speaker 1: without intervention from the United States, you have those authoritarian 407 00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:17,240 Speaker 1: regimes that sees their opportunity. And so at a time 408 00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:21,480 Speaker 1: when we're being told that democracies are backsliding and are 409 00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:27,760 Speaker 1: at their lowest point globally, and we're struggling with even 410 00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:33,120 Speaker 1: attempting to pass voting rights legislation without doing anything to 411 00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:38,360 Speaker 1: protect the integrity of our own elections, what faith do 412 00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:40,920 Speaker 1: we have in the next couple of years. If all 413 00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:47,360 Speaker 1: of this has transpired in the last five, what does 414 00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:51,800 Speaker 1: the next three look like until the twenty twenty four election. 415 00:33:55,680 --> 00:34:02,240 Speaker 1: You know, I I am so rubbled, as I know 416 00:34:02,360 --> 00:34:06,760 Speaker 1: so many of you are, and it takes everything in 417 00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:10,160 Speaker 1: me right And this is why I will offer this 418 00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:18,360 Speaker 1: that we need to find mechanisms not to distract or 419 00:34:18,640 --> 00:34:22,399 Speaker 1: distort the information that is coming in, but we need 420 00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:26,560 Speaker 1: to create mechanisms so that we can hear it right, 421 00:34:26,920 --> 00:34:32,600 Speaker 1: but not embody it, that we can understand the urgency 422 00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:35,960 Speaker 1: of this moment and not be caught off guard, right, 423 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:39,680 Speaker 1: but at the same time create the parameters and the 424 00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:43,279 Speaker 1: boundaries in our own life that allow for our health 425 00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:49,240 Speaker 1: and well being to matter more than anything else, because 426 00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:56,239 Speaker 1: you see, we cannot fight exhausted and downtrodden, right, We can't. 427 00:34:56,880 --> 00:35:04,399 Speaker 1: We can't fight if we are filled with anxiety and stress. 428 00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:08,719 Speaker 1: Each of us have got to figure out the mechanisms, 429 00:35:08,719 --> 00:35:13,000 Speaker 1: the support systems, the tribes that we need to surround 430 00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:17,279 Speaker 1: ourselves with in order for us to be able to succeed. 431 00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:23,600 Speaker 1: And I'm talking about emotional, spiritual, and physical success and 432 00:35:23,719 --> 00:35:27,840 Speaker 1: well being because we can no longer look outside of 433 00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:31,680 Speaker 1: ourselves and think that there is somebody, right, whether it 434 00:35:31,719 --> 00:35:34,439 Speaker 1: be the President of the United States, your governor state 435 00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:38,680 Speaker 1: assembly person, your teacher, whomever, that is going to help 436 00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:44,280 Speaker 1: balance us, because that couldn't be further from the fucking truth. 437 00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:51,200 Speaker 1: I mean, when I used to think about elected leaders, 438 00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:56,760 Speaker 1: I almost want to go back to my younger self 439 00:35:56,880 --> 00:35:59,560 Speaker 1: and shake the shit out of her and be like 440 00:35:59,719 --> 00:36:03,839 Speaker 1: These are human beings, right. They are no better and 441 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:08,320 Speaker 1: no worse than you are. Right, They're only as good 442 00:36:08,360 --> 00:36:12,799 Speaker 1: as the accountability that we hold them to and the 443 00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:16,719 Speaker 1: responsibilities that we hold them too. But given the ability 444 00:36:16,800 --> 00:36:20,160 Speaker 1: to run am up and grab power for power's sake, 445 00:36:20,360 --> 00:36:23,600 Speaker 1: that's exactly what the fuck they will do. But when 446 00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:30,880 Speaker 1: I thought about elected officials, members of Congress, the administration's presidents, secretaries, 447 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:36,239 Speaker 1: and you know, I looked at them with such pride, 448 00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:42,680 Speaker 1: me with such pride, believing that no one would enter 449 00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:49,520 Speaker 1: into this work if they didn't believe in our founding principles, 450 00:36:50,080 --> 00:36:54,760 Speaker 1: even as ridiculous as they are, created by a bunch 451 00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:59,080 Speaker 1: of six gender, powerful, wealthy white men who own slaves. 452 00:37:01,120 --> 00:37:04,840 Speaker 1: Right like talking about liberty and justice. But I'm saying 453 00:37:04,880 --> 00:37:09,560 Speaker 1: that you cannot look to these people and think that 454 00:37:09,680 --> 00:37:13,520 Speaker 1: they alone are going to help you, because what we 455 00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:16,600 Speaker 1: are seeing is that they're only in it, a lot 456 00:37:16,640 --> 00:37:21,480 Speaker 1: of them to help their to help themselves, and to 457 00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:26,920 Speaker 1: sell you out as quick as they've possibly fucking can, 458 00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:31,000 Speaker 1: in order to fill their pockets, in order to fill 459 00:37:31,040 --> 00:37:43,960 Speaker 1: their egos, in order to own the Libs. Switching gears, 460 00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:50,920 Speaker 1: But staying on our declining democracy in the news. I 461 00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:54,160 Speaker 1: find this really, you know interesting. Anytime that there is 462 00:37:54,239 --> 00:37:59,160 Speaker 1: news around Fox, the Fox Network, I'm always like, oh, 463 00:37:59,200 --> 00:38:03,040 Speaker 1: who woke up today? Who came to the realization that 464 00:38:03,080 --> 00:38:07,719 Speaker 1: they're working for a fucking media cult that is spreading 465 00:38:07,760 --> 00:38:16,920 Speaker 1: misinformation and conspiracy and really really able to capitalize on 466 00:38:17,040 --> 00:38:20,640 Speaker 1: white rage and anger no one other than Fox News, Right. 467 00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:27,600 Speaker 1: So anyway, two contributors this week have put in their resignations, 468 00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:33,480 Speaker 1: Steve Hayes and Jonah Goldberg, and they quit, as they 469 00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:37,839 Speaker 1: said in their resignation letter, because of Tucker Carlson and 470 00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:42,319 Speaker 1: that piece of shit's new docu series. And I use 471 00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:48,080 Speaker 1: that with real deep sarcasm and quotes because it is 472 00:38:48,200 --> 00:38:55,240 Speaker 1: anything but anybody's docu anything, Right, called the Patriot Purge 473 00:38:55,600 --> 00:39:00,560 Speaker 1: to three part three parter that was streaming on Fox's 474 00:39:00,640 --> 00:39:04,440 Speaker 1: streaming site, but they were promoting it vigorously on the network. 475 00:39:05,960 --> 00:39:09,240 Speaker 1: This is what those two contributors said, as they've come 476 00:39:09,280 --> 00:39:15,960 Speaker 1: to their own personal reckoning. Over the past five years, 477 00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:21,200 Speaker 1: some of Fox's top opinion hosts amplified the false claims 478 00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:30,200 Speaker 1: and bizarre narrative Trump offered or their own under this 479 00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:35,719 Speaker 1: guy's the release of the Patriot Purge wasn't an isolated incident. 480 00:39:36,440 --> 00:39:43,040 Speaker 1: It was merely the most egregious example of a longstanding trend. 481 00:39:44,520 --> 00:39:48,200 Speaker 1: So they have come to the realization that you know, 482 00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:50,960 Speaker 1: the rest of us had came to about Fox News 483 00:39:52,040 --> 00:39:58,640 Speaker 1: decades ago at this point, that they're in it. They're 484 00:39:58,680 --> 00:40:03,480 Speaker 1: not changing. Course. Thought that following Donald Trump's loss, that 485 00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:06,120 Speaker 1: everybody much in the same way that we all hoped 486 00:40:06,680 --> 00:40:10,040 Speaker 1: that Republicans would come back to their senses, that the 487 00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:14,719 Speaker 1: networks would, you know, stop running him, that you know, 488 00:40:14,800 --> 00:40:19,040 Speaker 1: we could find this semblance of normal and get back 489 00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:23,520 Speaker 1: to rigorous debate about policy, blah blah. But what folks 490 00:40:23,840 --> 00:40:29,719 Speaker 1: failed to remember is that the deterioration of like the 491 00:40:29,800 --> 00:40:34,040 Speaker 1: Republican Party and Fox News didn't start with the election 492 00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:40,719 Speaker 1: of Donald Trump. It started well before that, with Obama 493 00:40:40,800 --> 00:40:45,600 Speaker 1: running for president, right, Like, that's when Fox News really 494 00:40:45,719 --> 00:40:52,080 Speaker 1: ramped up their fucking anti blackness, their anti LGBT stances, 495 00:40:52,160 --> 00:40:57,279 Speaker 1: their anti woman like, their anti democratic ways. They went 496 00:40:57,400 --> 00:41:02,360 Speaker 1: full force, right and then any other network who wanted 497 00:41:02,400 --> 00:41:06,719 Speaker 1: to appear neutral then was putting up some of their 498 00:41:06,800 --> 00:41:11,600 Speaker 1: fucking people right in these bullshit oh both sides debates. 499 00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:18,239 Speaker 1: But anyway, these two people have since quit because Foxes 500 00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:23,239 Speaker 1: double downing, Right, they're doubling down on Tucker Carlson. Right, 501 00:41:23,360 --> 00:41:27,600 Speaker 1: they are doubling down on their next meal ticket. Who 502 00:41:28,080 --> 00:41:30,880 Speaker 1: is going to do a sit down with Kyle Rittenhouse 503 00:41:31,239 --> 00:41:35,320 Speaker 1: who did his show over the summer for an entire 504 00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:40,600 Speaker 1: week from the anti democratic country of Hungary, sat down 505 00:41:40,640 --> 00:41:44,359 Speaker 1: with the prime minister talking about, Oh, this is how 506 00:41:44,400 --> 00:41:47,879 Speaker 1: America should be, Like, this is who the fuck they are, 507 00:41:48,880 --> 00:41:52,759 Speaker 1: and these two people, these two Fox News contributors, are 508 00:41:52,800 --> 00:41:56,080 Speaker 1: waking up to the fact that they're never going back 509 00:41:56,080 --> 00:41:59,399 Speaker 1: to normal, that this is who they have become, and 510 00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:02,759 Speaker 1: that them, in their own consciousness, can't continue to work 511 00:42:02,800 --> 00:42:06,360 Speaker 1: for a network that is going to support and promote 512 00:42:06,360 --> 00:42:10,840 Speaker 1: Tucker Carlson as if he's like a serious host and 513 00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:16,040 Speaker 1: not an entertainer. That is actually dangerous because remember, Tucker 514 00:42:16,120 --> 00:42:18,480 Speaker 1: Carlson has been sued just like Fox News has been 515 00:42:18,520 --> 00:42:22,200 Speaker 1: sued multiple times over and what did they say in court, Well, 516 00:42:22,239 --> 00:42:25,960 Speaker 1: nobody would take him seriously. He's an entertainer. But you 517 00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:31,040 Speaker 1: don't see the FCC making it so that Fox News 518 00:42:31,080 --> 00:42:34,200 Speaker 1: has to air right the fact that they are for 519 00:42:34,320 --> 00:42:38,360 Speaker 1: entertainment purposes only and not real news. You didn't see 520 00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:42,160 Speaker 1: write any push in that direction to alert audiences to 521 00:42:42,200 --> 00:42:44,720 Speaker 1: the fact that if you are looking for real news 522 00:42:44,719 --> 00:42:48,719 Speaker 1: and not entertainment, this ain't it. There's no push here. 523 00:42:50,400 --> 00:42:56,400 Speaker 1: So we're just watching the careening of our fucking body politic, 524 00:42:57,040 --> 00:43:01,440 Speaker 1: and it's like no one, no one is driving the 525 00:43:01,480 --> 00:43:05,600 Speaker 1: fucking train except for the Tucker Carlsons and the Murdocks. 526 00:43:08,280 --> 00:43:11,760 Speaker 1: And so, you know, I sit here, folks, and I'm like, yeah, 527 00:43:11,880 --> 00:43:16,160 Speaker 1: I guess you can applaud these two people for quitting 528 00:43:16,160 --> 00:43:19,000 Speaker 1: their jobs, I guess, But where the fuck were they 529 00:43:19,040 --> 00:43:23,080 Speaker 1: over the whole five years from the time Donald Trump 530 00:43:23,120 --> 00:43:27,719 Speaker 1: came down the escalator calling Mexicans rapists and murderers. Where 531 00:43:27,719 --> 00:43:31,560 Speaker 1: were you the entire time that the network was celebrating 532 00:43:31,560 --> 00:43:35,520 Speaker 1: this as well as celebrating violence. You know, I keep 533 00:43:35,600 --> 00:43:38,120 Speaker 1: saying that I don't think that things will change until 534 00:43:38,440 --> 00:43:43,160 Speaker 1: somebody is killed, right, and I mean, like a prominent 535 00:43:43,320 --> 00:43:46,360 Speaker 1: member of Congress or whatever. And then I realized the 536 00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:50,799 Speaker 1: other day that's not gonna fucking matter. And that's what's 537 00:43:50,840 --> 00:43:54,040 Speaker 1: really sad and scary. And that's what I want to 538 00:43:54,120 --> 00:43:57,640 Speaker 1: ring the alarm about with regard to the Rittenhouse case, 539 00:43:58,280 --> 00:44:02,960 Speaker 1: is that this is just the beginning. So when I'm 540 00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:08,640 Speaker 1: telling you to figure out the mechanisms for your wellness 541 00:44:09,600 --> 00:44:14,560 Speaker 1: right and safeguarding yourself and creating boundaries, I am serious 542 00:44:15,239 --> 00:44:19,680 Speaker 1: because this is just the beginning. Things are going to 543 00:44:19,719 --> 00:44:24,360 Speaker 1: get worse, and they seem to be getting worse quicker 544 00:44:24,400 --> 00:44:29,400 Speaker 1: and quicker and quicker. We will know by the end 545 00:44:29,400 --> 00:44:34,200 Speaker 1: of this week the verdict in the McDaniels case. We 546 00:44:34,320 --> 00:44:40,799 Speaker 1: will determine once again if white vigilanteism isn't just the 547 00:44:40,880 --> 00:44:44,680 Speaker 1: way of the past and the way of the future, right, 548 00:44:46,120 --> 00:44:48,960 Speaker 1: And what does that mean for the rest of us 549 00:44:49,200 --> 00:44:51,680 Speaker 1: who are not white, who are not straight, who are 550 00:44:51,719 --> 00:44:56,440 Speaker 1: not sis maile like? What does that mean for the 551 00:44:56,480 --> 00:45:01,560 Speaker 1: rest of us? Are we to live under threat right, 552 00:45:01,680 --> 00:45:05,040 Speaker 1: threat of domestic terrorism, threat of fear of leaving our 553 00:45:05,080 --> 00:45:10,440 Speaker 1: homes because that's what they want, and I fucking refuse. 554 00:45:11,520 --> 00:45:16,919 Speaker 1: I am choosing radical joy, I am choosing revolutionary self care. 555 00:45:17,040 --> 00:45:21,560 Speaker 1: I am choosing to activate all other parts of my 556 00:45:21,680 --> 00:45:26,960 Speaker 1: senses and emotions outside of rage, because they will not 557 00:45:27,040 --> 00:45:31,160 Speaker 1: own me right, And the more that we invest in 558 00:45:31,200 --> 00:45:39,040 Speaker 1: that singular emotion, the more they win. So again I 559 00:45:39,160 --> 00:45:43,919 Speaker 1: say to you, be thoughtful daily about your self care, 560 00:45:44,160 --> 00:45:47,480 Speaker 1: Be thoughtful daily about the way that you engage with 561 00:45:47,560 --> 00:45:50,320 Speaker 1: the news, about the way that you engage in community, 562 00:45:50,560 --> 00:45:54,160 Speaker 1: and how you choose to create community. Because all we 563 00:45:54,320 --> 00:45:58,760 Speaker 1: have at this moment is us and that is the truth. 564 00:46:04,160 --> 00:46:06,759 Speaker 1: That is it for me to day. Dear friends on 565 00:46:07,239 --> 00:46:11,120 Speaker 1: woke f as always power to the people and to 566 00:46:11,360 --> 00:46:15,240 Speaker 1: all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke as fuck.