Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to Okay f Daily with
Speaker 1: Meet your Girl Danielle Moody, recording from the Brooklyn Bunker, Folks.
Speaker 1: As I stated earlier, I am going to be on
Speaker 1: vacation for the next couple of days, but never fret.
Speaker 1: I have lined up a series of very good interviews
Speaker 1: that are tackling the breaking news of this week, which
Speaker 1: is Donald Trump finally being his home being searched for
Speaker 1: what we believe at this time, for documents that he
Speaker 1: should not have been in possession of. Because guess what,
Speaker 1: there are documents that belong to the United States government,
Speaker 1: to the American people. But that is what is being
Speaker 1: stated right now. We do not know that for a fact,
Speaker 1: but this is what I will say. Coming up in
Speaker 1: today's interview is with the communications director for the Frontline,
Speaker 1: a coalition organization that brings together a diverse coalition of
Speaker 1: people who you know are part of a marginalized community,
Speaker 1: vulnerable communities to our ever crumbling democracy, Leslie Mapp and
Speaker 1: I will get into a conversation about what are the
Speaker 1: challenges that democrats are facing right now? And I say
Speaker 1: that because there are still many challenges that we are
Speaker 1: facing even though there have been a series of legislative
Speaker 1: wins that we have finally seen that we haven't seen
Speaker 1: in this country in decades. Right, and they did so
Speaker 1: with their fifty one to fifty margin in the Senate.
Speaker 1: We're talking about, you know, on incredible packages like the
Speaker 1: Inflation Reduction Act, like the Chips Package. We're looking at
Speaker 1: things that the American people actually need. And what we
Speaker 1: realize and what we have known here on woke a
Speaker 1: APP is that Republicans don't give a fuck about what
Speaker 1: it is that the American people need. They don't even
Speaker 1: want you all to vote, right, And it isn't just
Speaker 1: about making sure that black and brown people don't vote.
Speaker 1: It's also going to be making sure that Democrats across
Speaker 1: the gamut are unable to vote right, that you no
Speaker 1: longer have a voice, that this isn't a democracy. That
Speaker 1: we will weaponize institutions and agencies against our political opponents
Speaker 1: and foes, as evidence by Kevin McCarthy's tweet following news
Speaker 1: that Donald Trump's moralago home was in fact searched by
Speaker 1: the FBI with a lawful fucking warrant. Right. And So,
Speaker 1: but here's the thing that we have known the Republican
Speaker 1: Party has been showing its entire ass since their bullshit
Speaker 1: Benghazi hearings that they did that came up with, guess what,
Speaker 1: absolutely fucking nothing. So while they wanted to turn around
Speaker 1: and say that, oh, the impeachment inquiries and the Mulla report,
Speaker 1: we're all witch hunts, guess what those actually ended with
Speaker 1: motherfucker's being indicted. Donald Trump just happened to offer up
Speaker 1: pardons in his pardon parade that he did. But if
Speaker 1: not for Donald Trump being pardoned, fucking a general would
Speaker 1: be in federal fucking prison right now. I'm looking at you,
Speaker 1: Mike Flynn, who was part of the architect and the
Speaker 1: idea of overthrowing the government to secure Donald Trump in
Speaker 1: the presidency for twenty twenty. You're looking at people like
Speaker 1: Roger Stone that would be in federal prison if Donald
Speaker 1: Trump had not offered up a pardon. Right. So, the
Speaker 1: very idea that we continue to talk about going after
Speaker 1: criminals as a witch hunt right when in fact there
Speaker 1: is a pile a pile of legal evidence against them,
Speaker 1: is just absolute bullshit. But it is the ability for
Speaker 1: Republicans to coalesce around lies, to coalesce around their belief
Speaker 1: in earth to to covalesce around people like Marjorie Taylor
Speaker 1: Green who are advocating a fucking sitting congresswoman advocating for violence.
Speaker 1: So when I say to you all this week that
Speaker 1: I am concerned, right, I am not in necessarily a
Speaker 1: celebratory mood. I think that the Department of Justice and
Speaker 1: the FBI are moving in the right direction. But I
Speaker 1: think that what also needs to be seen is that
Speaker 1: violence is imminent because these people want it, because they
Speaker 1: are stacking up their own personal arsenals right of ar
Speaker 1: fifteens and whatever else they can get their fucking hands on,
Speaker 1: and they're just looking for the direction of Donald Trump
Speaker 1: to tell them where to go and how to storm
Speaker 1: the motherfucking castle now, right now, Donald Trump does not
Speaker 1: have a place in time like he did on January
Speaker 1: six to offer up to the people that says, go
Speaker 1: gather here and go take these people down. But believe
Speaker 1: you me, he they know to stand back and stand by,
Speaker 1: They know to be on the ready for any head
Speaker 1: nod or wink in their direction. And that should leave
Speaker 1: us all feeling extremely fucking alarmed, right that a former
Speaker 1: president of the United States has organized his own fucking militia,
Speaker 1: but we aren't talking about it like that. And why
Speaker 1: is that? Because they are a bunch of fucking white
Speaker 1: men that want to cosplay the fucking civil war, That's why, right.
Speaker 1: But if they were any other group, do you think
Speaker 1: that these people that have been sending out tweets since
Speaker 1: the search was announced, that they wouldn't have been picked
Speaker 1: up by the FBI on suspicion of being terrorists? Oh?
Speaker 1: I know, we don't have domestic terrorists laws in this country,
Speaker 1: but believe you me, if the people that were offering
Speaker 1: up those tweets were people of color, trust and believe
Speaker 1: they wouldn't give a fuck if we didn't have a
Speaker 1: law on the books or not, they would be picked
Speaker 1: up and considered a threat, a national security threat. But
Speaker 1: these white folks are just allowed to be out in
Speaker 1: these streets fucking wild, right. And that is the concern
Speaker 1: that I have, is that are we once again not
Speaker 1: going to see the writing on the wall, not going
Speaker 1: to pay attention to the alarms going off, and just
Speaker 1: ignore this until we see another January sixth, but this
Speaker 1: time more death, more bloodshed. Right. So coming up next,
Speaker 1: my conversation with Communications Director Leslie Mack to talk about
Speaker 1: what kind of messaging Democrats need to be using right now,
Speaker 1: whether or not the Republicans have jumped the shark, and
Speaker 1: what it is that the people of these United States
Speaker 1: need to keep in mind as we make the slow
Speaker 1: march to midterms. Hey, I'm David Plots of Slaves Political Gabfest.
Speaker 1: As another election season accelerates, it can be tricky to
Speaker 1: sort through all the noise and the news. Each week
Speaker 1: on The gap Fest, John Dickerson, Emily Bathalona and I
Speaker 1: decipher the headlines, break down the races, and tell you
Speaker 1: what issues really matter. We do not always agree, We
Speaker 1: definitely do not always agree, but we always deliver thoughtful
Speaker 1: debate and we always have a good time. So subscribe
Speaker 1: to Slates Political Gapfest new episodes every Thursday. The Damage
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Speaker 1: shows on the TYT Network that serves as your daily
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Speaker 1: I am very happy to be joined by Leslie Mack,
Speaker 1: who is a digital strategist and communications director for the
Speaker 1: front Line, to talk about you know, the latest and
Speaker 1: greatest that Democrats are doing or not doing, but also
Speaker 1: with the latest development to the backdrop of big Democratic wins.
Speaker 1: And I say big Democratic wins because not a single
Speaker 1: Republican has decided that the American people are worth fighting for,
Speaker 1: that our issues are worth fighting for. And so Leslie
Speaker 1: want to start out with this breaking news all over
Speaker 1: the place that will continue to be breaking news because
Speaker 1: it's unprecedented. The FBI had issued was issued a warrant
Speaker 1: to go into the home of a former president Donald Trump.
Speaker 1: We really at this point are not one hundred percent
Speaker 1: clear as to the contents of what that warrant was
Speaker 1: at the time of this recording. It's being speculated that
Speaker 1: it is about archival documents that Donald Trump illegally took
Speaker 1: from the White House to Mara Lago, and that they
Speaker 1: went after his safe. Of course, there has been a
Speaker 1: outcry of Republicans that this is a witch hunt, this
Speaker 1: is unprecedented, This opens up all of these things because
Speaker 1: they live on Earth two and believe that the only
Speaker 1: people that should ever be investigated are Democrats and Hillary
Speaker 1: Clinton's emails or Hunter Biden's laptop. I want to get
Speaker 1: your initial reaction to this unprecedented news and the extraordinary
Speaker 1: times that we find ourselves living in right now. Well,
Speaker 1: I think one, I just want to state for the record,
Speaker 1: I really wish I want to be back in incedented times.
Speaker 1: Like generally speaking, I've kind of had enough of being
Speaker 1: present from time, correct, But also let's acknowledge that, yeah,
Speaker 1: unprecedented things are happening across the board, so we shouldn't
Speaker 1: expect anything different when it comes to whatever the Department
Speaker 1: of Justice is going to be doing with regard to
Speaker 1: Donald Trump, because we frankly he was an unprecedented president
Speaker 1: and his actions were unprecedented as well. So yeah, we
Speaker 1: should expect things to be unusual because this is a
Speaker 1: response to unusual situation. But what has struck me the
Speaker 1: most has been the media's kind of framing. I think
Speaker 1: Cheryl and Eiffel shared this earlier on Twitter. She was saying, like,
Speaker 1: why are all of these headlines Donald Trump says, FBI rated?
Speaker 1: Why are we framing it again around his narrative, his
Speaker 1: point of view, Even this detail about his safe is
Speaker 1: directly from him. One. There are facts you can report, Yes,
Speaker 1: the FBI rated Marlago, they went in there, you can
Speaker 1: say those things, you can say, they better have comment
Speaker 1: on it. But even seeing the framing of how the
Speaker 1: media is framing it is already, you know, concerning to me.
Speaker 1: And as you mentioned, what little we do know is
Speaker 1: that apparently this is related to the National Archives request
Speaker 1: for documents that were taken out of the White House
Speaker 1: by Donald Trump, presumably and allegedly, and that they've been
Speaker 1: requesting these things back for some time and included confidential
Speaker 1: and classified information. So interesting to note though, whatever they
Speaker 1: find on this search they can utilize in any other
Speaker 1: investigations that are ongoing. So it makes anything they find
Speaker 1: their fair game as long as the warrant, you know,
Speaker 1: holds up and you know he wasn't there. So I
Speaker 1: think that's the third thing I think is really important
Speaker 1: because I feel like this positioning of like, oh, they
Speaker 1: rated a president at home at it's just so histrionic
Speaker 1: for no reason. He literally was twenty states away in
Speaker 1: New York at Trump Tower. I The other thing I
Speaker 1: thought interesting the White House is claiming they also were blindsided.
Speaker 1: They found out the same time the rest of us
Speaker 1: found out when the news broke, which I think is
Speaker 1: smart on the Department of Justice is part to really
Speaker 1: kind of keep this siloed in separate, because they shouldn't
Speaker 1: be colluding with each other around these sort of things.
Speaker 1: I think certainly, you know, the President is welcome to
Speaker 1: have opinions about what the Department of Justice could or
Speaker 1: should do. But ultimately, even getting a warrant of this
Speaker 1: nature for you know, the home of a former president
Speaker 1: means that a judge signed off that there was significant evidence.
Speaker 1: I would have had to being presented in order for that.
Speaker 1: So I'm no legal expert, but those are the things
Speaker 1: that stuck out for me about the what's happening that
Speaker 1: media point, and then just noting that you know, getting
Speaker 1: this warrant was would not have been a short order,
Speaker 1: would have been a very tall bar to reach us
Speaker 1: far as you know, validity and evidence presented in order
Speaker 1: to get it even you know approved. You know, it's
Speaker 1: funny because both of us have communications backgrounds and expertise.
Speaker 1: And I got to tell you that as I was
Speaker 1: watching the news break, I was screaming at my TV
Speaker 1: behind me, as one does in these unprecedented times, because
Speaker 1: I listen to every pundit come on and reiterate Donald
Speaker 1: Trump's talking points, and I'm like, have we not, like,
Speaker 1: my fucking god, have we not learned anything from twenty sixteen,
Speaker 1: from twenty twenty that this man, if he is, if
Speaker 1: he is unremarkable in so many other areas, that the
Speaker 1: place that he shines is in controlling the media, is
Speaker 1: in setting the tone in the narrative and the idea
Speaker 1: that it is just being followed up that even the
Speaker 1: chirns are saying, you know, Trump says his place was raided,
Speaker 1: and it's just like, dude, they didn't go in with
Speaker 1: their FBI windbreakers and guns blazing and throwing people on
Speaker 1: the ground as they have been known to do. Right
Speaker 1: they you know, this was a legal search to your point,
Speaker 1: I'm not a lawyer either, but I'm just like, why
Speaker 1: why do you believe? I guess I'll ask this, why
Speaker 1: do you think is it just laziness that the media
Speaker 1: continues to follow this narrative or do you think that
Speaker 1: it's something else. I think it's where they get the
Speaker 1: clicks from. And so we we are in a stage
Speaker 1: where media, you know, is beholden to grabbing folks attention,
Speaker 1: grabbing people in a really specific way, and so it
Speaker 1: it you know, leads better or certainly would be more
Speaker 1: offensive inflammatory to frame it the way they're framing because
Speaker 1: they know people like us are gonna push back on this,
Speaker 1: and people that are I'm supportive of forty five are
Speaker 1: going to be you know, buoyed by you know, this
Speaker 1: mouthpiece that they're giving Tom to him. And so, you know,
Speaker 1: that's where I think that the murkiness starts to come
Speaker 1: in with the media, because the expectation is that they're
Speaker 1: unbiased and that they're reporting correctly, when in reality, you know,
Speaker 1: the bias comes in through capitalism, and the bias comes
Speaker 1: in through the metrics that are utilized to you know,
Speaker 1: justify or not justify investment in media and media personalities.
Speaker 1: So that's the thing I think that that I noted.
Speaker 1: And then you know, also, yes, certainly they should have
Speaker 1: learned this in twenty sixteen, should have learned in twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: But I always go back to two thousand and five
Speaker 1: one Stephen Colbert coined truthiness and it was the word
Speaker 1: of the year that year, as like this this tipping
Speaker 1: point in media around truth around actually like naming a
Speaker 1: thing as fact and also reporting statements from biased individuals
Speaker 1: as facts, which is what we we're seeing here because
Speaker 1: honestly we don't. Trump says that everything that comes after
Speaker 1: that is here say, everything that comes after that is
Speaker 1: coming from a not trust worthy source of information, but
Speaker 1: it's not presented as such. So you know, we talk
Speaker 1: about this when we talk about the media using police,
Speaker 1: you know, statements and other institutional statements. As you know,
Speaker 1: well they've they've got this is the official word, but
Speaker 1: it's how official is it? So it's not And you know,
Speaker 1: and and the reality is is that any time that
Speaker 1: there is a warrant that is put out, that is issued.
Speaker 1: That warrant is then left with the person who's home
Speaker 1: or office or place was searched. And so Donald Trump
Speaker 1: has access to that warrant. So if they're in fact,
Speaker 1: was any type of nefarious or foul play, release the
Speaker 1: warrant right and then the public will be able to
Speaker 1: make a decision. No, you can do that if you
Speaker 1: want to, right. So you know, I want to switch
Speaker 1: gear years and talk about Democrats and where we are
Speaker 1: right now as we make the slow march to midterm elections.
Speaker 1: I have, like you, have been called out on Twitter
Speaker 1: for daring, daring to air the fact that you know,
Speaker 1: Democrats up until recently hadn't been doing much right, hadn't
Speaker 1: been offering the American people anything other than the fact
Speaker 1: of reiterating that this Republican Party is a viable political
Speaker 1: party and not a white supremaist cult. Right, have been
Speaker 1: offering up things like rational, they were rational Republicans left,
Speaker 1: And I'm like, where you know where I'm looking and
Speaker 1: you know, and I have been told like you were
Speaker 1: that by virtue of just lifting up the obvious that
Speaker 1: we are going to be the reasons why Democrats lose
Speaker 1: in midterms. It has nothing to do. Wouldn't have had
Speaker 1: anything to do with them not offering policy or offering
Speaker 1: or painting the picture of who the enemy of democracy
Speaker 1: actually is. It will be the tweets about it. So
Speaker 1: I just wanted, you know, before we dig in, like,
Speaker 1: how does that make sense? I mean, it's it's it's
Speaker 1: wild to me for a number of reasons. One because
Speaker 1: the folks like you and me are the ones that
Speaker 1: got this dude in the White House in the first place,
Speaker 1: worked very hard to do so to turn out the
Speaker 1: vote in twenty twenty, both for the general election and
Speaker 1: for the Georgia runoff, and it was across mostly progressive
Speaker 1: movement spaces where we saw, you know, the uptick in
Speaker 1: Black voters, the uptick and Indigenous voters, the optic and
Speaker 1: Latin X voters, which made the difference in all of
Speaker 1: the swing states that Biden was able to win, and
Speaker 1: certainly in Georgia, where I cannot you know the amount
Speaker 1: of hands and attention and money and resources that poured
Speaker 1: into Georgia after the election, which was really difficult for
Speaker 1: folks because it was a quick turnaround to kind of
Speaker 1: switch gears and redo a lot of the work that
Speaker 1: was already done for the general election. So to hear,
Speaker 1: you know, folks like us be vilified for one saying
Speaker 1: the obvious and two you know, I've always been clear
Speaker 1: that my vote is not some sort of you know,
Speaker 1: blank check that you don't get to cash in when
Speaker 1: I go into the ballot box. No, no, no, you,
Speaker 1: It's actually an I owe you. You owe me a
Speaker 1: response to the things that me are meaningful to me,
Speaker 1: and as an organizer, especially one that works a lot
Speaker 1: with grassroots organizers, when I'm voting, I always know i'm
Speaker 1: voting for who is going to be my opponent around
Speaker 1: the most progressive and most you know people focus policies
Speaker 1: that I want to support. So yeah, the entire framing
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty was, yeah, we'll vote for you and
Speaker 1: also expect us. So here we are. There are many
Speaker 1: things that will keep people from the polls, but my
Speaker 1: tweets are definitely not one of them. You sure. Also,
Speaker 1: I've never told anybody not to vote, So that's that's
Speaker 1: the real crux of the thing, is like you'll never
Speaker 1: You can search all of my tweets from twenty two
Speaker 1: thousand and eight, when I joined the platform. So now
Speaker 1: you will never ever have seen me say don't vote.
Speaker 1: I've certainly said I understand why people why people don't vote.
Speaker 1: I have empathy. I completely understand the rationale. I get it,
Speaker 1: and I think it's really important that we acknowledge those things.
Speaker 1: It's impassable to do organizing work without acknowledging the realities
Speaker 1: that people are coming into UM spaces with and the
Speaker 1: very valid perspectives and conclusions that they should be able
Speaker 1: to draw UM. And that's the real crux of things.
Speaker 1: I want, I want more. I'm always gonna want more.
Speaker 1: I should want more. So should you, So should everybody listening.
Speaker 1: We should all be demanding more, because that's our role
Speaker 1: in this entire process as the people, is to continue
Speaker 1: to push, to continue to demand more for our lives
Speaker 1: so that we're not just surviving, we're thriving. And more importantly,
Speaker 1: we are in a significant downswing across the board we have.
Speaker 1: No matter how much they want to tout these unemployment numbers,
Speaker 1: inflation is driving costs up. Salaries are not moving at
Speaker 1: the rate that they should be. In haven't for a
Speaker 1: really long time. Our minimum wage situation is a joke.
Speaker 1: Mass incarceration continues to run rampantly through our communities. You know,
Speaker 1: all of these things are still issues on top of
Speaker 1: a crashing housing market and a housing crisis the likes
Speaker 1: of which we haven't seen yet. My husband was talking
Speaker 1: to me this morning about like, oh, do I think
Speaker 1: this looming crash is going to be worse than two
Speaker 1: thousand and eight? And I really said to him, I said,
Speaker 1: you know, we did. We weren't coming off of a
Speaker 1: pandemic in two thousand and eight. We weren't dealing with
Speaker 1: the scope of housing crisis that we're dealing with, because
Speaker 1: that was not when we had corporate interest buying in
Speaker 1: a in the residential housing market, which is what we're
Speaker 1: seeing now, which is really a big problem. We also
Speaker 1: were not coming off of four years of like like
Speaker 1: blatant fascism um in the White House and throughout all
Speaker 1: of our institutions, and we weren't dealing with things like
Speaker 1: food shortages and um, you know, so many fundamental things.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I don't. I don't know why everybody isn't
Speaker 1: being loud. That's really where I'm at with it, Like,
Speaker 1: if not now when I don't, I don't get it.
Speaker 1: What are we gonna what else do we need to see?
Speaker 1: Given all spinning too fast at this point. At some
Speaker 1: point we got a girl. I mean I was like, what,
Speaker 1: n I just had this because when that news came out,
Speaker 1: I think I just screamed like like just like wait
Speaker 1: what like oh? And by the way, you know that
Speaker 1: time warp that you feel like you're living in and
Speaker 1: and nothing really makes sense and time is a construct. Oh,
Speaker 1: by the way, the Earth is spinning faster. But you know,
Speaker 1: don't be alarmed. I guess that's about It's cool. Don't
Speaker 1: worry about it. Totally fine. Ask the dinosaurs. You know.
Speaker 1: The question that I have for you is all of
Speaker 1: the things that you listed out just now, in terms
Speaker 1: of answering your husband's question, would things are would this
Speaker 1: crisis be worse? Obviously the answer is yes, right, because
Speaker 1: we have so many other compacted crises that obviously, um,
Speaker 1: things would be worse. The thing that I'm asking, though,
Speaker 1: is that with the Inflation Reduction Act that is going
Speaker 1: to be signed with the Chips Act that was just
Speaker 1: that was just signed into law, with these wins right
Speaker 1: that Democrats are are making and have been making in
Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks, it's been the best uh,
Speaker 1: probably week of Biden's presidency ever, right and right, and
Speaker 1: he had COVID and uh and his numbers right, his
Speaker 1: polling numbers are in the toilet um And so do
Speaker 1: you think that these wins then, even though because I'll
Speaker 1: get to Cinema and Mansion my two least favorite people,
Speaker 1: do you think that these wins, though, match up against
Speaker 1: all of the things that are still coming our way?
Speaker 1: Do you think that the American people will see this
Speaker 1: as Democrats are working for us and so I'm showing
Speaker 1: up in midterms in the way that Kansas just showed
Speaker 1: up and said no to the overturning of abortion access
Speaker 1: in their state. Oh my gosh. One. I think that
Speaker 1: the Democrats have a messaging problem off the bat, because
Speaker 1: they're actually not framing their wins as wins enough, and
Speaker 1: they're not pushing, you know, and talking about them and
Speaker 1: framing them in the right way. And in addition to that,
Speaker 1: I think there are some fundamental things that were left out.
Speaker 1: We can talk about immigration, which is something that this
Speaker 1: president ran on, you know. We can talk about voting
Speaker 1: rights around this country, which is kind of important to
Speaker 1: all this other stuff. You know, So it's it's a yes,
Speaker 1: and for me, which is yes. I think that they
Speaker 1: should be there should be stronger messaging around these wins,
Speaker 1: around what it took to get there. I mean the
Speaker 1: fact that they're not leading with the fact that Kamala
Speaker 1: Harris just joined a very small club. It's been one
Speaker 1: hundred and ninety years since the vice president has cast
Speaker 1: as many tie breaking votes in the Senators. She has this.
Speaker 1: That's huge. That's something that you should be like putting
Speaker 1: your hat on, saying like, look, you sent us with fifty.
Speaker 1: We've got this tie breaking vote because you got us
Speaker 1: in the White House, and we're utilizing that. We're actually
Speaker 1: using that tool more often than almost anybody in history,
Speaker 1: especially with two more years left in this in this
Speaker 1: presidency at least right now. You know, obviously we'll see
Speaker 1: what happens in twenty twenty four, but in this first
Speaker 1: term for Buyan Harris White House, and so I think
Speaker 1: that they need to like think about how they talk
Speaker 1: to people about these wins and also what they mean
Speaker 1: for their broader fights ahead, and and those other things
Speaker 1: I mentioned need to be addressed because these are issues
Speaker 1: that people are living with day to day that need
Speaker 1: to be fixed. Need to be addressing again, like I said,
Speaker 1: that President ran on so those those things still need
Speaker 1: to be tackled. Yeah, and I don't and I don't
Speaker 1: see that happening, right I, particularly again following the news
Speaker 1: of around Donald Trump, Republicans have already signaled that they
Speaker 1: ain't come into the table, right like that they you know, this,
Speaker 1: this to them was a declaration of war. And so
Speaker 1: that being said, and given what we have seen, which
Speaker 1: is that there are two people inside of the Democratic
Speaker 1: Party that have more power than the president and the
Speaker 1: vice president, and that is Joe Mansion and Kursten Cinema,
Speaker 1: Kurson Cinema, we know is in the pocket of you know,
Speaker 1: hedge funds and corporate interests. Because above all that needed
Speaker 1: to come out of the IRA Bill was the fact
Speaker 1: that we were going to tax hedge and special interests
Speaker 1: to a tune that was going to result in fourteen
Speaker 1: billion dollars of revenue, right, And she said, oh no, no,
Speaker 1: we can't do that because those poor hedge fund managers,
Speaker 1: you know, they couldn't come off that money. Then you
Speaker 1: then you have Mansion, right, who makes all of you know,
Speaker 1: they wanted to congratulate him on the concessions that he made,
Speaker 1: when at the same time all of the things that
Speaker 1: he got in that bill for the coal miners in
Speaker 1: in West Virginia. So I ask like, are we just
Speaker 1: supposed to sit back and continue to applaud these people
Speaker 1: for being able to hold progress in this country hostage
Speaker 1: to their whim or do we air out right how
Speaker 1: unbalanced our democracy actually Isn't It isn't just because we
Speaker 1: have one rapid political party that has turned into a
Speaker 1: white supremacist cult. Yeah, it's definitely multiple things. One is,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned earlier, the Democrats refusing to admit that
Speaker 1: the other side is not acting in good faith around
Speaker 1: any of these issues or even any of these conversations.
Speaker 1: I mean, we can look at them the vote around
Speaker 1: the insulin um capu. These are senators, Republican senators who
Speaker 1: previously ran on lowering insulin um costs, who have speeches
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty voted for this, but because they want
Speaker 1: to not give the Democrats a talking point, they're voting
Speaker 1: against it as a block. So it's not even as
Speaker 1: you know, this is directly you can see how they're operating,
Speaker 1: which is not in the best interests of their constituents
Speaker 1: at all. You know, Mansion ultimately operates West Virginia as
Speaker 1: if it's his own plantation. I mean, this is this
Speaker 1: is how he runs it, and his interests in the
Speaker 1: coal industry should should actually bar him from even being
Speaker 1: in office at all period. That the levels of conflicts
Speaker 1: of interest against his constituent is really astounding in that case,
Speaker 1: especially as long as he's been in in politics in
Speaker 1: West Virginia. And then Cinema oooh, I just keep waiting
Speaker 1: for her girl boss energy to fly her a little
Speaker 1: too close to the sun because it's really outrageous her behavior,
Speaker 1: but also you know, a very good reminder of the
Speaker 1: ways that white feminism operates within these institutions so often
Speaker 1: against the interests of themselves and the interests of other
Speaker 1: marginalized people. So yeah, it's definitely I wish that they
Speaker 1: would air those things out. But we also have a
Speaker 1: president that will go on a you know, tonight show
Speaker 1: and say what a great person Mitch McConnell is for
Speaker 1: everybody to hear. So you know, that's the other part
Speaker 1: of it, is that we have a very you know,
Speaker 1: concentrated amount of power amongst people that are very close
Speaker 1: to each other personally and consistently UM utilize personal connection
Speaker 1: in place of their moral obligations, and it's really disappointing
Speaker 1: to see so so often, UM leslie. Last question for you,
Speaker 1: where do you see us going right in mid in
Speaker 1: in you know, for mid terms. I know, I'm asking
Speaker 1: you to read tea leaves, but you are on the ground, right,
Speaker 1: You are working with um you know, with organizations, with
Speaker 1: communities and constituencies that frankly are always ignored until it's
Speaker 1: time to cast a ballot. And so, you know, given
Speaker 1: every everything right, we got multiple viruses running amok in
Speaker 1: this country. We got voter suppression, we got abortion being overturned,
Speaker 1: we got you know, continued gun violence against against black
Speaker 1: people in this country, uh put on by the state.
Speaker 1: We have, so white supremacy, which they didn't even touch on,
Speaker 1: is just running them up to the point where you
Speaker 1: had pundon saying, well, now that Donald Trump has been
Speaker 1: you know, has been searched by the FBI, he's going
Speaker 1: to weaponize white supremacy once again right against the government.
Speaker 1: So we have all of these things, it's like the
Speaker 1: anti is just up and up and up. Where do
Speaker 1: you see us going as we make this March to
Speaker 1: midterms and beyond. Well, I'll say this, one of the
Speaker 1: things that's been giving me hope is so much of
Speaker 1: the really groundbreaking work that's happening in the labor sector
Speaker 1: and with unions. To me, a strong labor movement is
Speaker 1: really our last hope of having an economic lover to
Speaker 1: hold as leverage over these institutions that are consistently failing us.
Speaker 1: So that's been giving me some hope. I think that
Speaker 1: we have some opportunities in that area to really galvanize
Speaker 1: people around the people power that exists there. And I'm
Speaker 1: also really bullied by people generally speaking, who really have
Speaker 1: much more nuanced and deep analysis of this moment than
Speaker 1: I ever would have had at their age, and are
Speaker 1: really aware of what's happening in a way that's really
Speaker 1: dynamic and allowing them to have some impacts not just
Speaker 1: in their circle of influence, but also as they start
Speaker 1: to age into voting age. I think it's going to
Speaker 1: be critical, but we can't forget about the voting voter
Speaker 1: suppression that's happening, and they're going to be at play
Speaker 1: in this midterm. We're talking about highly gerrymanderd maps that
Speaker 1: just came off of a really dirty data pull from
Speaker 1: the most recent census that the Trump administration was able
Speaker 1: to run. So we have the joy still in charge
Speaker 1: of the USPS, which is critical around mail in ballots
Speaker 1: and getting people to vote safely. And then, as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: we have another you know, disease that is starting to
Speaker 1: get to I guess an emergency was officially declared now
Speaker 1: at this point, and you know, kids going back in
Speaker 1: school in the fall. I have been of the opinion
Speaker 1: that we just are going to see COVID outbreaks every fall,
Speaker 1: and so I'm expecting to see that again, which of
Speaker 1: course will affect turnout and how people are able to vote.
Speaker 1: So I don't have much prognostication to do. I do
Speaker 1: think that this is going to be a crucial moment
Speaker 1: for this democracy. I'm not even well before twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: I think the results from this election are going to
Speaker 1: be far reaching and really deep scope. We can look
Speaker 1: places like Pennsylvania, where we have a governor on the
Speaker 1: GOP side that would completely have overturned the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: election and taken away the votes from the people of
Speaker 1: Pennsylvania without any qualms whatsoever. We've seen in a number
Speaker 1: of states where Democrats have put their support and money
Speaker 1: behind these candidates with the assumption that they'll be easier
Speaker 1: to beat. I don't even understand the strategy. It didn't
Speaker 1: work in twenty sixteen. I don't know why you all
Speaker 1: think it will work this time around. But you know,
Speaker 1: they're rolling the dice with you know, black and brown
Speaker 1: people's lives, which they like to do so often. So
Speaker 1: I think those are those are the issues, and I
Speaker 1: think those are the big things that are going to
Speaker 1: be at play. I think that grasscreets folks are going
Speaker 1: to do their work and turn folks out. I think
Speaker 1: especially reproductive justice organizers and organizations are going to do
Speaker 1: a lot of heavy lifting, as they always do in
Speaker 1: these moments, and so I look to them for what
Speaker 1: to do, what not to do, and how to turn
Speaker 1: folks out. And I think it's going to be an
Speaker 1: interesting to see if the American people remember all of
Speaker 1: these things that are happening now in a couple of months, because,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned earlier, this news cycle is a whirlwind
Speaker 1: and things go by so quickly. I mean, I'd be
Speaker 1: shocked if there's headlines next week about the Trump raid
Speaker 1: at Mara lago like, and I mean that sincerely. I
Speaker 1: don't even think that it'll be in the new cycle
Speaker 1: anymore in seven days, which is we call it unprecedented.
Speaker 1: But that's the real unprecedented part is how whiplash fast
Speaker 1: this new cycle is right now? Oh my god. Yes,
Speaker 1: and maybe that is the reason why the earth is
Speaker 1: spinning faster than we figured it. Leslie Mac, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for making the time to join Woke f
Speaker 1: I hope that you will come back and join us
Speaker 1: again as we get closer to midterms. Anytime, anytime, It
Speaker 1: all no problem. I appreciate you. That is it for
Speaker 1: me today. Folks on Woke f as always power to
Speaker 1: the people and to all the people. Power, Get woke
Speaker 1: and stay woke as fuck.