Speaker 1: Native Land Pod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership
Speaker 1: with Reasoned Choice Media.
Speaker 2: Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
Speaker 1: Welcome, Welcome, Welcome home. Y'all, this is episode sixty six.
Speaker 3: I'm glad it's just six and six and not the
Speaker 3: other six because it's a crazy time of Native Lamppid
Speaker 3: where we give you I break down on all things
Speaker 3: politics and culture.
Speaker 1: We are your hosts.
Speaker 4: My sister is Tiffany Cross and Angela Rye, and of
Speaker 4: course I'm Andrew Gillam. What's up, ladies, How are you
Speaker 4: wherever you may be?
Speaker 5: I'm Snowstorm and we had all kinds of errors today
Speaker 5: and so I am at my workspace that I rent
Speaker 5: broadcast from here on my computer.
Speaker 1: You look good, girl.
Speaker 6: We thank you, thank you very much.
Speaker 7: I want to give Tip the real MVP Award today
Speaker 7: for trudging through the snow. She went to and fro
Speaker 7: and back again, and she is here and it's because
Speaker 7: she would not miss you all connecting with our Native
Speaker 7: lamppodfam as. We welcome you home and into all of
Speaker 7: the craziness that's going on right now.
Speaker 8: So Hedrew, what are we talking about?
Speaker 1: I want to know. I want to know.
Speaker 4: I want to know. Well, let me just first say
Speaker 4: we've got a very special guest joining us today. I
Speaker 4: know you all are excited. I'm excited partly because from
Speaker 4: my home state, the youngest member of the United States Congress,
Speaker 4: the first gen Zier in the body, Maxwell Froz, from
Speaker 4: the great state of Florida, the tenth Congressional District.
Speaker 1: We'll be hearing from here later. Stay stay, stay tuned.
Speaker 4: It's gonna be a great conversation, I bet, and you
Speaker 4: won't want to miss it.
Speaker 1: Angela, what you got.
Speaker 7: I want to talk about this bootleg Department of Government
Speaker 7: efficiency and why it has more authority than most of
Speaker 7: the agencies in the departments in the federal government, and
Speaker 7: why this South African is running wild. So I want
Speaker 7: to talk about this and why President Elon Musk is
Speaker 7: still on a rampage. There's a new executive order granting
Speaker 7: him even more authority. And with the skirting of court
Speaker 7: orders that this administration is into, how much more authority
Speaker 7: is he gonna gain?
Speaker 4: I tell you, it sounded a little bit like Elon
Speaker 4: Musk versus the rest of us. And I'm hopeful, Tiffany,
Speaker 4: that you feel good about these topics and unless you've
Speaker 4: got something that well.
Speaker 5: I want to because we have so many of you
Speaker 5: guys who send in your questions and comments, and so
Speaker 5: this week I want to yield my time so we
Speaker 5: can make sure that we're responding to your questions and
Speaker 5: listening to your comments. So I'm looking forward to that
Speaker 5: because I like it being an interactive conversation with our
Speaker 5: listeners and our viewers.
Speaker 3: I love it.
Speaker 1: I love it, I love it. Thank you, tiff you
Speaker 1: really are the all around MVPR this week.
Speaker 4: Your graciousness as well as your accommodations, y'all, It's about
Speaker 4: to be a great episode. Stay tuned, y'all. We have
Speaker 4: the man with the master plan. I told you at
Speaker 4: the top of the show that we were going to
Speaker 4: have a very very special guest.
Speaker 1: And indeed we do.
Speaker 4: Born in nineteen ninety seven, low At Tiffany Angela.
Speaker 9: I graduated from high school and all American at everything.
Speaker 1: A wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
Speaker 4: The good friend and member of the United States Congress,
Speaker 4: Maxwell Alejandro Frost.
Speaker 1: Some of you all who are in.
Speaker 4: The state of Florida will know a bit about Maxwell,
Speaker 4: but he does represent Florida's tenth congressional district in the
Speaker 4: United States Congress. Was elected in two thousand and twenty
Speaker 4: three a member of the Democratic Party, but being in
Speaker 4: Congress was not his first foray, if you will, into politics.
Speaker 4: Prior to that, he was the national organizing director for
Speaker 4: March for Our Lives.
Speaker 1: You all will recall that.
Speaker 4: Organization, the Guns Safety and Regulations Organization, basically the voice
Speaker 4: of young people saying our lives matter. He was elected
Speaker 4: at the the ripe old age of twenty five years old.
Speaker 4: Y'all count at twenty five again, first generation zer in
Speaker 4: the United States Congress. And I could not think and
Speaker 4: Angela gets credit for having thought of this initially, but
Speaker 4: we couldn't think of a better person to address you.
Speaker 4: Ask questions about organizing, how do we fight back? What
Speaker 4: should we be doing? Give us some instruction. By the way,
Speaker 4: what the hell is going on in Washington? And why
Speaker 4: isn't somebody checking President Trump and President Musk.
Speaker 1: Well, we've got some answers for you, everybody.
Speaker 4: Will you all please join me and welcoming the one
Speaker 4: and only Congressman Maxwell Fross.
Speaker 1: What's up?
Speaker 2: Brother? Hey, Hey, good to be here. Appreciate y'all having me.
Speaker 4: Are you kidding, man, it's our treat to have you.
Speaker 4: I am curious, Congressman, as a representative from our great
Speaker 4: state of Florida, how you holding up up there? I mean,
Speaker 4: we got a dose of what autocracy, or at least
Speaker 4: a thriving autocrat look like down here Florida exactly. So
Speaker 4: I know you weren't caught off total guard. But honestly, man,
Speaker 4: can you level with our listeners? What is it felt
Speaker 4: like these past what three weeks? Four weeks, three weeks?
Speaker 1: I mean, under this new administration as a member of Congress.
Speaker 2: No, I appreciate the question. And you know something I
Speaker 2: told people as I traveled the country last year during
Speaker 2: the election is I said, listen, I know we're all
Speaker 2: worried about Project twenty twenty five, but I want you
Speaker 2: to know that Project twenty twenty five is Florida twenty
Speaker 2: twenty four and the things they want to do to
Speaker 2: this country we've been fighting against for many, many years
Speaker 2: under an authoritarian governor with the legislature that most of
Speaker 2: the time acts like a lap dog and will do
Speaker 2: whatever he wants. And we've seen the political repression. We've
Speaker 2: seen our own duly elected officials taken out of office,
Speaker 2: people like Monique Worrel. She got her seat back, thank god.
Speaker 2: And so I bring this up to say that being
Speaker 2: from Florida, we're used to this and we get it,
Speaker 2: and we understand that. You know, I feel like a
Speaker 2: lot of people have taken a lot of things for granted,
Speaker 2: and now that everything is so chaotic, a lot of
Speaker 2: folks don't know what to do and they're scared. And
Speaker 2: I understand that because there's a lot of things to
Speaker 2: be scared about. For me, I've to me it's simply
Speaker 2: seen as the battle in Florida and in the South
Speaker 2: has now been drawn out to the whole country in
Speaker 2: terms of fighting neo fascism, fighting an authoritarian leader, and
Speaker 2: making sure that we both work on the inside and
Speaker 2: the outside at the same time. To not be and
Speaker 2: I've been saying this a lot. Decide to even though
Speaker 2: we have less seats in Congress, not be the minority
Speaker 2: and be the opposition. And I take that from foreign countries.
Speaker 2: You know, oftentimes in foreign countries and the legislature, the
Speaker 2: minority is not called the minority. They're called the opposition party.
Speaker 2: And I think we're at a point right now, especially
Speaker 2: with this president, where things aren't normal. This isn't President
Speaker 2: Mett Romney, you know, or John McCain, or this isn't
Speaker 2: a normal Republican president. And see, this is an authoritarian
Speaker 2: leader who has invited the billionaires and big corporations to
Speaker 2: work within the White House to do whatever they see
Speaker 2: fit to make things work for them. Even more, it's
Speaker 2: the great betrayal because he traveled this country and told
Speaker 2: people he was going to shake up the system for them.
Speaker 2: But we all knew it was a bunch of bs.
Speaker 2: So a lot of feelings, but look, I'm fortified in
Speaker 2: the stories of my district, in my home. I'm so
Speaker 2: excited to go home tomorrow to be with my people,
Speaker 2: to talk to people about the real life impacts of
Speaker 2: what's going on, to organize at home, and then come
Speaker 2: back and continue to fight.
Speaker 7: I have to ask you, you know, there's been a
Speaker 7: lot of conversation, and this is why I reached out
Speaker 7: to you about you all being outside of the Department
Speaker 7: of Education last week. You held up your camera and
Speaker 7: it said all access entrance, and you all were blocked
Speaker 7: by some random white man with a Floristan band aid
Speaker 7: on his neck.
Speaker 8: I still haven't seen his paper.
Speaker 7: I feel like you should have to show papers if
Speaker 7: you go on block members of Congress who want answers
Speaker 7: for their constituents, and you all are charged with oversight,
Speaker 7: whether it's in a congressional hearing room or it is
Speaker 7: going to an agency that is supposed to report back
Speaker 7: to Ranking Member Bobby Scott and everybody else.
Speaker 8: Who's on the Education Committee.
Speaker 7: And so I'm curious to know when you hear folks
Speaker 7: saying like, well, when I look at these members of
Speaker 7: Congress who can't even get in, they didn't push through,
Speaker 7: they look weak, right, And that's frustrating to hear for
Speaker 7: me to hear, because I'm like, these people are my family.
Speaker 7: They went down there because they're not getting answers on
Speaker 7: the hills, so they went to the agency to figure
Speaker 7: out what's going on.
Speaker 8: How did it feel to not get in?
Speaker 7: And did you what do you think about that when
Speaker 7: people say that looked weak? And what do you think
Speaker 7: your responsibility is when you can't get in to an
Speaker 7: all access interance that we all should be able to
Speaker 7: get in.
Speaker 2: One hundred percent? No, I appreciate you bringing this up
Speaker 2: because even a few days earlier, I had organized about
Speaker 2: two dozen members of Congress to go to the Department
Speaker 2: of Treasury when we heard that Elon had access to
Speaker 2: our social security numbers and all of our sensitive information.
Speaker 2: And so usually as a member of Congress, you know,
Speaker 2: we call people from the Department to come to us, right,
Speaker 2: come to a committee, come do a meeting. But it's
Speaker 2: been crickets right because of this Elon Doge takeover. And
Speaker 2: so like you mentioned, you know, Andrew, I come from organizing.
Speaker 2: So I was like, you know what, I think we're
Speaker 2: You're just gonna have to pull up and we're gonna
Speaker 2: have to pull up with the people. And that's what
Speaker 2: we did at the Department of Treasure. We pulled up. Yes,
Speaker 2: we were denied access by Secret Service that on that Monday,
Speaker 2: But then we went out to you know, move On
Speaker 2: Indivisible and Working Family Party, brought together about over a
Speaker 2: thousand people when we rallied in front of Treasury, and
Speaker 2: I think it showed that fight that we're looking for now.
Speaker 2: With Department of Education, there was a similar action where
Speaker 2: we were trying to get in. I will admit, you know,
Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of videos I posted, and
Speaker 2: this is something especially from Black Lives Matter uprising that
Speaker 2: you know, you're out there and I'm just constantly taking
Speaker 2: content and posting raw content so people can see what's
Speaker 2: going on. And I guess, you know, as a politician,
Speaker 2: I need to review it a little bit more to
Speaker 2: make sure it's telling the full story, because a lot
Speaker 2: of people are just not you know, they don't fully
Speaker 2: understand what happened there. If the doors were unlocked and
Speaker 2: it was just that skinny guy trying to keep us out,
Speaker 2: I promise you we would have gone in the building, okay.
Speaker 2: But the problem is all the doors were locked, and
Speaker 2: I don't even know why he stepped outside. He didn't
Speaker 2: need to step out. The doors were completely locked, and
Speaker 2: on the other side of those doors were like eight
Speaker 2: armed DHS officers. Okay, and so that's why we weren't,
Speaker 2: you know, why we couldn't get in the building. And
Speaker 2: I had staff walk around the whole building check on
Speaker 2: other entrances to see how we could get in. But
Speaker 2: you know, a big part of this is being strategic too.
Speaker 2: I saw some other people saying, why didn't you throw
Speaker 2: a brick in the building, Well, I didn't, you know,
Speaker 2: I didn't throw a brick in the building for many
Speaker 2: different reasons. But I do resent people you know, who
Speaker 2: were saying, well, you're too scared to get arrested. I've
Speaker 2: been arrested multiple times. I've been to jail, in the
Speaker 2: jail I now represent in Congress, I've been, you know,
Speaker 2: physically assaulted by police. And so these are this isn't
Speaker 2: stuff that we're it's it's not a question of whether
Speaker 2: or not you're afraid to do it. And I only
Speaker 2: speak for myself, I can't speak for everybody else. But
Speaker 2: it's a question of strategy too. We're in a position
Speaker 2: right now where Republicans only have a two seat majority
Speaker 2: in the House, and we're about to come up to
Speaker 2: this huge budget fight that can have real implications for Medicaid,
Speaker 2: for healthcare, for Social Security, for food stamps. They just
Speaker 2: released a budget plan where they want to cut twenty
Speaker 2: percent of all food stamps. They want to cut eight
Speaker 2: hundred million dollars at a Medicaid. I mean, this is
Speaker 2: serious stuff, and so I you know, we have to
Speaker 2: be strategic. You never know, we have to utilize every
Speaker 2: vote in the House of Representatives right now. We need
Speaker 2: to stay strong on our values, and I just don't
Speaker 2: want to be in a situation where you know, you
Speaker 2: throw a break or you do something and we end up,
Speaker 2: you know, in jail fighting something for months. I'm sure
Speaker 2: let's figure that house. Yeah, I'm sure the Speaker of
Speaker 2: the House would love nothing more than to have some
Speaker 2: young progressive members of Congress dealing with some legal stuff
Speaker 2: and not being able to vote, you know. And then
Speaker 2: a lot of those same people on line said, well,
Speaker 2: you'd only be in for fifteen minutes, you remember of Congress,
Speaker 2: And I'm like, wait, you're saying we're at the level
Speaker 2: where I need to throw a brick in a building
Speaker 2: that let to fight the authoritarianism. But then you think
Speaker 2: that when I get arrested, they're gonna let me out
Speaker 2: in fifteen minutes, right, So the math ain't mathin I
Speaker 2: you know, I think they're gonna use everything they can
Speaker 2: and every excuse they can to a sort to assert
Speaker 2: their authority on us, and we got to be careful
Speaker 2: and strategic. I'm not saying that there's not room for
Speaker 2: civil disobedience, So I'm not saying there's not room for
Speaker 2: these things. I'm just saying, let's be strategic here, and
Speaker 2: let's work together and figure out what the proper way
Speaker 2: forward is. And I think there's a lot of things
Speaker 2: we can do within Congress to push back, to delay,
Speaker 2: to obstruct. You know, I heard someone tell this joke.
Speaker 2: Think about what Mitch McConnell would do if he were
Speaker 2: the minority, and then do it, you know, right, because
Speaker 2: they did this to us. That's right for so many
Speaker 2: times and again it's about that state of mind. Are
Speaker 2: we the minority or are we the opposition?
Speaker 6: Arisman.
Speaker 5: I'm not grateful to you for joining us, and thank
Speaker 5: you for giving that context. I do just want to say,
Speaker 5: respectfully to you, as I completely hear your point, and
Speaker 5: I think that is really important to know that there
Speaker 5: were armed guards there and the real process. But respectfully,
Speaker 5: I do understand people saying that the Democratic Party looks weak.
Speaker 5: There are millions of people across this country who do
Speaker 5: not follow the minutia of government. They don't even know
Speaker 5: about the standoff at the Department. They don't even know
Speaker 5: that you all were outside, which is a challenge, right
Speaker 5: because the media is so complicit in this, with this
Speaker 5: authoritarian regime. But on the other side of that, it
Speaker 5: is incumbent. I think on elected representatives to energize from
Speaker 5: the bottom up, and you need you know, grassroots organizations
Speaker 5: to do that, you also need your elected representatives. We
Speaker 5: were having a conversation yesterday about what resistance looks like,
Speaker 5: and one of our friends was giving off the dome,
Speaker 5: was giving a list of things that should be happening,
Speaker 5: and you know, suggested holding field hearings and suggesting, you know, saying, hey,
Speaker 5: here is how these actions impact people. And there does
Speaker 5: seem to be a communications problem. Respectfully, we have a
Speaker 5: lot of Actigurians and Cephagarians and congress and as somebody
Speaker 5: who's a gen Zer, I just wonder what your perspective
Speaker 5: is when it comes to this constant promotion of respectability politics.
Speaker 5: We've always talked about racism is bipartisan. It is not
Speaker 5: specific to Republicans. So for the young people who don't
Speaker 5: follow the minutia of this, and they're looking to you
Speaker 5: as their peer, saying, hey, what do we do because
Speaker 5: right now, standing outside a building is not putting food
Speaker 5: on the table. We still haven't heard about the cost
Speaker 5: of eggs, which is what he's run on. And people's
Speaker 5: lives are being immediately indirectly impacted and they are looking
Speaker 5: to their representatives for more immediate relief.
Speaker 6: So what is your response to them?
Speaker 2: No, I appreciate it, and I want to be clear too.
Speaker 2: What I was just saying is really a reference to
Speaker 2: that specific video and that specific situation where people are
Speaker 2: saying about that. The reason I organized two dozen members
Speaker 2: of Congress to go to Treasury overnight that last one
Speaker 2: days because I saw what people were saying, Because I
Speaker 2: heard from my colleagues that people were saying, we're getting
Speaker 2: all these calls, what do we do? And I said, well,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna put on my organizer cap because we got
Speaker 2: to organize right now. So I'm fully on board. You know,
Speaker 2: I'm not here to tell people, oh, like, calm down,
Speaker 2: chill out. No, this isn't a time for chilling out.
Speaker 2: This is a time for organizing and doing everything we can.
Speaker 2: And I think as elected members of Congress, it's incumbent
Speaker 2: upon us, especially we don't have the White House, you know,
Speaker 2: there's not a ton of leadership going on the Senate.
Speaker 2: So we are the national party per se, and so
Speaker 2: we got to provide that national leadership. So there's a
Speaker 2: few things. Number One, believe it or not, I'm one
Speaker 2: of I think it's less than five members of Congress
Speaker 2: that do year round organizing. So what does that mean.
Speaker 2: I have an organizing director year round on my campaign.
Speaker 2: We paid three cohorts of organizers every year, and we're
Speaker 2: always knocking doors, always doing events, whether or not I
Speaker 2: have a serious race or not, or a primary or not.
Speaker 2: Because I don't think we should be holding on to
Speaker 2: all this money and not organizing in our communities, right,
Speaker 2: and so a big call to action I have out
Speaker 2: to colleagues, but just a lot of elected officials in general,
Speaker 2: is use this moment to organize people. I think, you know,
Speaker 2: when we go back home for the next week, we've
Speaker 2: been encouraging people, do your town halls, do your events,
Speaker 2: to answer questions, to talk to people about what's going on,
Speaker 2: what's at stake, what fights are ahead of us. And
Speaker 2: then when you come back, host those organizing events, those rallies.
Speaker 2: You know, you might have to use some of your
Speaker 2: campaign cash to hire an organizer. I know that's not
Speaker 2: normal for politicians to do that, you know this early on,
Speaker 2: but do it right to help get people energized about something.
Speaker 2: So I'm hosting a few town halls when I get home,
Speaker 2: but we're not stopping at the town halls. We're going
Speaker 2: to be putting together our organizing launch so people in
Speaker 2: Florida tenth Congressional District can come and learn about and
Speaker 2: get plugged in with a community on how they can organize.
Speaker 2: I think a big thing here is we can't allow
Speaker 2: the energy to just live online right now. I think
Speaker 2: we have to provide leadership in person in our districts
Speaker 2: to plug people into a political home. And we have
Speaker 2: to be willing to say it might be with me,
Speaker 2: it might be with Dream Defenders, it might be with
Speaker 2: March for Our Lives, it might be with a different organization,
Speaker 2: but however, you get involved to get involved. And I
Speaker 2: think we have to be a conduit for a lot
Speaker 2: of these folks who a lot of you know, they
Speaker 2: follow us. A lot of their advocacy is mainly stuck online.
Speaker 2: But now they're like, tell me what to do, right
Speaker 2: and whether that's calling legislators or calling into these two
Speaker 2: special elections we have in Florida right now, or whether
Speaker 2: it's a direct action in protest, or maybe it's more
Speaker 2: mutual aid right which we need a lot of that too,
Speaker 2: especially in a state like Florida. We need direct services.
Speaker 2: Plugging into all of that I think is really important,
Speaker 2: and I think, you know, a lot of times politicians
Speaker 2: have a very adverse reaction to the advocacy world, you know,
Speaker 2: because our feet are being held to the fire. And
Speaker 2: I get where people are coming from, but I think
Speaker 2: it's important we have to be the bridge builders. We
Speaker 2: can't be here to tear people apart. I'll give you
Speaker 2: an example as a little bit moment of vulnerability here
Speaker 2: for myself. When I posted that video of the parment education,
Speaker 2: there were some folks who were, you know, saying, well,
Speaker 2: why don't you punch the guy and get arrest in this?
Speaker 2: And that. I made a rather irate post on Blue
Speaker 2: Sky saying like, y'all don't know anything about my past,
Speaker 2: like I used to do this stuff, and YadA, YadA, YadA,
Speaker 2: like I understand there's a time and place. I ended
Speaker 2: up deleting it because here's my thing. We are fighting
Speaker 2: fascism right now and authoritarianism, and I don't think that
Speaker 2: we're in a position where I need to use, as
Speaker 2: an elected official a single percentage of rage or anger
Speaker 2: towards people I broadly agree with. I want to save
Speaker 2: every drop of that for the opposition and fighting on
Speaker 2: behalf of my people, even if I might have a
Speaker 2: disagreement with somebody online or something like that. And I
Speaker 2: think we really have to have that way of thinking
Speaker 2: that we need to. Part of what makes a Democratic
Speaker 2: Party powerful is the fact that it's a coalition. I've
Speaker 2: joked with people we should change our name from the
Speaker 2: Democratic Party to the Democratic Coalition because that's what we are,
Speaker 2: a coalition. So I think as leaders, we have to,
Speaker 2: you know, let's not be mad when people are calling
Speaker 2: our offices like they are, because a big reason why
Speaker 2: we're getting so many calls is because a lot of
Speaker 2: our organized and activists live in the blue districts, and
Speaker 2: so they're calling their member of Congress, which happens to
Speaker 2: be a Democrat. And so how do we take those
Speaker 2: calls and put them in the action? And I think
Speaker 2: we of have to be thinking about that, and that's
Speaker 2: really important. So I appreciate the question because I don't
Speaker 2: think this is a moment for complaining. It's a moment
Speaker 2: for organizing. And I think there's there's a playbook at home,
Speaker 2: which is really important and in our districts, and then
Speaker 2: there's obviously the playbook up here. Using every single parliamentary
Speaker 2: tactic that we can you know, trying to catch them
Speaker 2: off guard. We did a motion to subpoena Elon Musk.
Speaker 2: We caught these people off guard. We only lost that
Speaker 2: by one vote. We're very much out numbered on that committee.
Speaker 2: We should have lost it by like seven, which means
Speaker 2: we keep trying that we keep doing these things every
Speaker 2: chance that we get, and we don't stop, and we
Speaker 2: obstruct this horrible agenda at every corner.
Speaker 4: I know you'all are enjoying this conversation with Congressman Frost,
Speaker 4: but we gotta pay some bills catch us on the
Speaker 4: other side.
Speaker 1: You don't want to miss it.
Speaker 7: Really quick, Andrew, I want you to chime in, but
Speaker 7: I want to just go here really quick. Because you
Speaker 7: brought it up. You broadly agree with the folks that
Speaker 7: are even offering criticism. We need to save all of
Speaker 7: this energy for the opposition. And you also talked about well,
Speaker 7: I want a reference. There are a lot of folks
Speaker 7: who are frustrated. Apparently there's reporting this is that members
Speaker 7: are frustrated with Indivisible. You brought them up, and it
Speaker 7: is so like mind blowing to me that folks will
Speaker 7: be upset about people organizing to protect their rights, their
Speaker 7: taxpayer dollars. Can you say to your colleagues who are
Speaker 7: allegedly frustrated with the people that you're talking about coordinating
Speaker 7: to work alongside to protect what America is supposed to be,
Speaker 7: which is this democracy.
Speaker 8: I'll be it fragile. What do you say to that?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 2: I think the I think the important. I think what
Speaker 2: I would tell my colleagues and broadly kind of any
Speaker 2: elected who's feeling this pressure is see it as an
Speaker 2: opportunity to move angst anger. That's very much justified. I mean,
Speaker 2: we're watching this stuff happen. We're watching Project twenty twenty
Speaker 2: five happen in front of our eyes. And move that
Speaker 2: into action, move it into something and help, you know,
Speaker 2: direct it if need be, and work with people like
Speaker 2: for me, if I'm being protested by someone my first inklin,
Speaker 2: unless it's the Proud Boys or something like that, then
Speaker 2: I just then I'll just be like, all right, we'll
Speaker 2: screw you, you know. But if it's my own people
Speaker 2: that I broadly agree with, I think the solution there
Speaker 2: is meat with them. Figure out how you can work
Speaker 2: together to push people. I think what a lot of
Speaker 2: members are saying is they're saying Why am I getting
Speaker 2: all these calls when these Republicans in districts at Kamala
Speaker 2: Harris one that we need for the majority aren't getting calls,
Speaker 2: you know, And I think that that's like the main
Speaker 2: thing people are saying and so and I get I
Speaker 2: get that sentiment. But here's the thing complaining about isn't
Speaker 2: going to change anything. But reaching out to the organizations,
Speaker 2: working with the people locally will will will help. Indivisible
Speaker 2: happens to have big chapters in democratic districts. Why because
Speaker 2: Democrats live in democratic districts, right, and so that's a
Speaker 2: big reason why this is happening. And so how do
Speaker 2: we reach out to those organizations, set up the roundtables,
Speaker 2: do a power building thing on the campaign side. I'm
Speaker 2: in my offishal office, so you know, but you know,
Speaker 2: do something on the campaign side and talk about like hey,
Speaker 2: maybe I'll put together, maybe we do an organizing launch together.
Speaker 2: Maybe we we identify three Republicans that we can all
Speaker 2: call collectively. I don't know something like that, but you know, again,
Speaker 2: my my thing is like we are a team, and
Speaker 2: the opposition wants us to all be kind of bickering
Speaker 2: with each other, and they want the elected officials to
Speaker 2: be complaining about the activists and the organizers, and I
Speaker 2: just don't. I don't think that's our place. I think
Speaker 2: our place is to to show that leadership come together
Speaker 2: and figure out how we're going to pose this. People
Speaker 2: are rightfully scared, and they want the leadership, and they
Speaker 2: want to be pointed in the right direction, like, hey, YO,
Speaker 2: tell me where to go, tell me what to do.
Speaker 2: I want to help out For me as an organizer,
Speaker 2: I'm like, wait, this is like a pot of gold,
Speaker 2: because usually we're scratching for people to you know, Usually
Speaker 2: that's why we have to knock doors, right, We knock
Speaker 2: doors because we have to go to the people to
Speaker 2: kind of shake them and say, yo, get involved. But
Speaker 2: now that people are coming to us, so.
Speaker 4: They're it's they're in, They're in, They're they're angry, yes,
Speaker 4: and but they're mostly scared. Exactly that that all the
Speaker 4: foundational pieces, all of the supports we're looking up every
Speaker 4: single day. Our heads are on a swivel. Yep, And
Speaker 4: all I have to in the vulnerability of this all
Speaker 4: because I kept saying, I'm sorry, did anybody take Donald
Speaker 4: Trump seriously? Project twenty twenty five during the campaign, we
Speaker 4: went out and sold it to people like it was
Speaker 4: the you know, the threat of our lives. And then
Speaker 4: it seemed like everybody DC on down appeared to be
Speaker 4: in shock and nobody shook off the shock over the
Speaker 4: point of transition. We came into this man's government and
Speaker 4: you know, and everybody's shock and awe when if you.
Speaker 1: Just looked at the nine hundred pages, all of it
Speaker 1: is right there. All of it is right there.
Speaker 4: So Congressman, I just want to give you further encouragement
Speaker 4: to help to to embolden your colleagues that when I
Speaker 4: was first selected mayor, my first big public event, I
Speaker 4: had to cut this ribbon and thousands of people who
Speaker 4: are going to run through it, and do you know,
Speaker 4: law and behold dream Defenders sat down in front of
Speaker 4: the stage where I was speaking. They shut me down
Speaker 4: from speaking and and brought the whole event to a standstill.
Speaker 4: And this is only a few months after during the
Speaker 4: campaign of me running from mayor, that I helped get
Speaker 4: them out of jail, brought them food into the Capitol
Speaker 4: when they slept there for thirty days, and I, like you,
Speaker 4: took offense that was ego and then I realized that
Speaker 4: I'm the right person for them to shut down. I
Speaker 4: am Andrew, I'm their guy, but I'm also the mayor,
Speaker 4: which made me the head of the police department, which
Speaker 4: made me the techelar head of the city of the community.
Speaker 4: And so if they needed to bring their issues to bear, yeah,
Speaker 4: you know what, I'm in the position that I should
Speaker 4: be taking the incoming, just as you determined that you
Speaker 4: were the right person to be taking the incoming and
Speaker 4: getting ego out of the way. And so I would
Speaker 4: just encourage you with the members, screw the ego.
Speaker 1: We need organizing.
Speaker 4: Yep.
Speaker 1: And the rule book has.
Speaker 4: Been thrown out. It's been thrown out a long time ago.
Speaker 4: And I just think I was very clear about what
Speaker 4: Democrats were not going to do, which was chase Donald
Speaker 4: Trump around and try to answer to all of his anticues. Well,
Speaker 4: I'm more interested in what we are going to do
Speaker 4: by way of a pushback against him, and less about
Speaker 4: the red lines that we're not going to cross and
Speaker 4: try not to run behind everything that he throws here
Speaker 4: left or right. You know what, If he's going to
Speaker 4: consume the media space, y'all ought to be consuming that space,
Speaker 4: just like what I've.
Speaker 2: Been telling people is when someone's coming up and telling you,
Speaker 2: asking you what are we going to do? What can
Speaker 2: we do? Or expressing that anger, no one wants to
Speaker 2: hear what power we don't have? Right. I think a
Speaker 2: lot of people know a lot of them they generally
Speaker 2: understand what's going on, but I think they want to
Speaker 2: hear with what power we have? What are we going
Speaker 2: to do? And something I used to always tell people
Speaker 2: on during the Black Lives Matter uprising is when you
Speaker 2: don't have all the power you want, you best use
Speaker 2: all the power you got. Come on, and this is
Speaker 2: the moment where we have to use all the power
Speaker 2: we got again. It might not be all the levers
Speaker 2: we want, but we deal in reality, and I think,
Speaker 2: you know, we providing that leadership is going to give
Speaker 2: people the energy that they need because you know, and
Speaker 2: I know, I know we're at time. But I think
Speaker 2: a lot of members of Congress thinking two year increments, right,
Speaker 2: you know, their thinking about the midterm, how can we
Speaker 2: get the gavels? But the fact of the matter is
Speaker 2: we don't have two years to wait, right, I mean,
Speaker 2: this is going on now, and so I think it's
Speaker 2: both the best thing to do from an organizing perspective,
Speaker 2: in terms of pushing back, in terms of hopefully obstructing.
Speaker 2: I mean, look, we've had some wins as the public.
Speaker 2: I mean, we push back that oh PM memo the tariffs.
Speaker 2: He completely folded on the tariffs. Why because everybody, even
Speaker 2: on Fox News, they were repeating that if he did
Speaker 2: these tariffs, your prices were gonna go up even more.
Speaker 2: So this is what happens when we all sing the
Speaker 2: same chorus, when we're all together and unified, and we
Speaker 2: I think we should be, especially as members of Congress,
Speaker 2: looking for that unity and pushing for that unity. And
Speaker 2: again what you said, Andrew stepping out of the ego.
Speaker 2: And so I always encourage people, if you're mad at
Speaker 2: an activist or something, just look at the go on
Speaker 2: Elon's Twitter and get mad at him, because these are
Speaker 2: the people we really need to be directing our anger to.
Speaker 2: And I'm honestly quite happy that there's all this energy
Speaker 2: because now we have an opportunity to build our movement.
Speaker 2: And guess what that will help us in the midterms too, Right,
Speaker 2: that work to do now helps you. Then you've got
Speaker 2: to show people the midterms only matter for y'all.
Speaker 4: If you earn it, and if people don't see you
Speaker 4: fighting like hell right now, they're not going to be
Speaker 4: motivated to show up, stand in line and cast a
Speaker 4: vote for anybody. And Congressman, I'm going to act like
Speaker 4: a staffer now and then you know, and it's time
Speaker 4: for you to.
Speaker 1: Go because you've got a busy job.
Speaker 2: I appreciate it. Last thing, last thing I will say,
Speaker 2: a lot of people are taking lessons from this election,
Speaker 2: lessons from Donald Trump on like, you know, kind of
Speaker 2: how he did this whole thing. And the one thing
Speaker 2: I think people are not talking about is just how
Speaker 2: much this guy loves showing love to his base. And
Speaker 2: I think that is really something as Democrats we can't
Speaker 2: let go of, right. I mean, look, I hate Donald Trump,
Speaker 2: but this guy held a rally before his inauguration for
Speaker 2: his people, like just for his people to raw raw,
Speaker 2: and I just I think we shouldn't. We can't lose
Speaker 2: sight of what makes a democratic party of the Democratic party.
Speaker 2: That's all I gotta say. Much love, y'all, I appreciate
Speaker 2: you'll be watching and following you.
Speaker 4: We want to encourage you to continue to stiffen your
Speaker 4: spine and stand strong man you'll never go wrong there,
Speaker 4: and we need fighters and champions like you.
Speaker 1: So good luck, got you, bless y'all got you, We
Speaker 1: got your back. That's for show.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Take care of congressman. He was, y'all, so you heard
Speaker 1: it directly.
Speaker 4: The Congressman had a lot to get off his chest, y'all.
Speaker 4: He wanted you to know what he's been hearing, feeling, thinking, experiencing.
Speaker 1: And I felt that. I hope y'all.
Speaker 4: I hope y'all felt informed and also engaged by Bia
Speaker 4: his comments.
Speaker 8: He was outstanding.
Speaker 7: I think my favorite thing about him is he is
Speaker 7: clearly an old person in a young person's body, born
Speaker 7: in nineteen ninety seven, because the wisdom that he has,
Speaker 7: like I mean, he literally sounds like he has studied
Speaker 7: movement building. He has been a part of movement building
Speaker 7: himself as an organizer, as he referenced, And I do
Speaker 7: know exactly what that's like when there's somebody, you know,
Speaker 7: some Twitter thug who's challenging you on your chops and
Speaker 7: why didn't you do this?
Speaker 8: Why didn't you do that?
Speaker 7: And having been there, actually really fell bad because I
Speaker 7: was like, oh, I don't like the optics of you know,
Speaker 7: what happened with them outside of the building. I knew
Speaker 7: there was more to the story because I talked to
Speaker 7: enough of the members and then did that live with
Speaker 7: Latifa last week, Latifa Simon, who is now in Barbara
Speaker 7: Lee's old seat, And it is remarkable to me that
Speaker 7: people think so little and assume the absolute worst of
Speaker 7: their intention and of.
Speaker 8: Their know how. He's like, I literally.
Speaker 7: Had a staffer checking every single entry we was gonna
Speaker 7: get in that building. And he's right, like, if they
Speaker 7: get arrested, we don't know when they will get out.
Speaker 7: We know the justice system we know is not the
Speaker 7: justice system we have anymore. They couldn't go to jail
Speaker 7: and not let them out. If they're gonna divide coret orders,
Speaker 7: why would they, you know, Like for a member of
Speaker 7: Congress going against them.
Speaker 5: I think that's a good point. But I do have
Speaker 5: to say though, like Angela, for you, that's your family.
Speaker 5: For other people, that's their elected representatives. They don't actually
Speaker 5: owe them any loyalty. They are frustrated and angry, and
Speaker 5: so I think for the lay person looking at that,
Speaker 5: their sympathies are not with Oh my gosh, the poor
Speaker 5: members were criticized it's with, Hey, my world is falling
Speaker 5: apart and I don't know wtf you guys are doing now.
Speaker 5: I say that for one half. On the other half,
Speaker 5: I have to say to the people who feel that
Speaker 5: way to this is why it's important to be informed
Speaker 5: and know what's happening. But I'm careful to criticize those
Speaker 5: folks right now because it is so bad. Everything is
Speaker 5: so bad. I understand you have a personal relationship, but
Speaker 5: I don't have a personal relationship with the congressional black cockets,
Speaker 5: you know, like to me, they are just members of Congress.
Speaker 5: I have a personal relationship with some people who are
Speaker 5: you know, my personal friends, but their members of Congress
Speaker 5: who I covered and for other people, they're the people
Speaker 5: whose salaries they paid to support them and to service
Speaker 5: them on the tax dollars they earn. So I just
Speaker 5: I just want to be careful with, you know, with
Speaker 5: with with criticizing people for criticizing them, and I think
Speaker 5: there is space to do that.
Speaker 6: Y'all know I'm trying you.
Speaker 5: I don't think, Okay, well, I know I'm talking about
Speaker 5: you saying that they're your members of family. You were
Speaker 5: frustrated hearing people saying I think that's exactly what you
Speaker 5: said that I.
Speaker 7: Was frustrating having been in a position where there's more
Speaker 7: to the story. And I knew there was more to
Speaker 7: the story because I just talked to Latifa and that
Speaker 7: was my Instagram live, right. So I'm not I'm not
Speaker 7: covering them because I believe in my family. In this instance,
Speaker 7: this is me saying, having been in that same situation
Speaker 7: where somebody's criticizing without seeing the full ramification what's going on,
Speaker 7: that's frustrating. So this wasn't me covering them for my family.
Speaker 5: No, no, no, no, I'm talking about what you's when the interview
Speaker 5: first started, I'm not what you just said five minutes ago,
Speaker 5: and then you said that he and people.
Speaker 6: Criticism on both sides, and.
Speaker 7: Then then that's the other thing I was about to
Speaker 7: say for family, just like we do here, and Andrew.
Speaker 8: I'm sorry, I just cut you go.
Speaker 7: Please, But on that, like to me, family has the
Speaker 7: biggest obligation to offer constructive criticism and feedback. Let me
Speaker 7: tell you what I'm hearing, let me tell you what
Speaker 7: you need to do. Let me tell you it's got
Speaker 7: a pivot. That's what I've been doing all week. So
Speaker 7: this isn't me saying like, oh, don't hit them. I'm saying,
Speaker 7: if you're gonna hit them, make sure your facts are straight.
Speaker 7: And then I can go in with the facts and
Speaker 7: be like, this is what we're not gonna do, or
Speaker 7: this is what we should be doing, or I got
Speaker 7: people that want to help you because we can't afford
Speaker 7: for you to lose, because that means we lose.
Speaker 8: That's where I'm as real.
Speaker 4: I think it's a lot less about people being Yes,
Speaker 4: we are all angry, but people are acting out of hurt, fear,
Speaker 4: fear the unknown, fear of the safety net being pulled
Speaker 4: from under them, fear of I've given this government thirty
Speaker 4: five years of my life.
Speaker 1: Is never been late, never done this, never done that.
Speaker 1: I've just done my job, and I swore an oath
Speaker 1: and I'm holding it.
Speaker 4: And to now be threatened with a ten percent across
Speaker 4: the boards, a cut of staff, another across the across
Speaker 4: all departments, I mean, it's terrifying, and so nobody has
Speaker 4: tolerance for a woe is me congressman, for woe is
Speaker 4: me President, or for woe is me secretary? Because I'm
Speaker 4: about to lose my life and my mind. You know
Speaker 4: in the process. I just think if we check EGO,
Speaker 4: get that out of the way, and accept the fact
Speaker 4: that while you gonna be good, four hundred and thirty
Speaker 4: five members.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure I'm gonna be good.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 4: And because I'm not sure, and you look like you
Speaker 4: suited up and suited up and going to meetings and
Speaker 4: making little memes and this kind of thing, I need
Speaker 4: you to be burning the house, to turn the table over,
Speaker 4: do whatever is that you have to do to stop
Speaker 4: the madness.
Speaker 7: Speaking of that, if we can want to talk, I
Speaker 7: want to bring in a clip from someone who said
Speaker 7: exactly that on the House floor. Let's listen to what
Speaker 7: Congressman Gwnmore had to say about the current state of
Speaker 7: America and its politics.
Speaker 1: This is not normal.
Speaker 10: We're not having a normal session, mister Speaker.
Speaker 1: The House is on fire.
Speaker 4: That's it.
Speaker 1: The House is on fire.
Speaker 10: There is nothing legal or constitutional that is going on.
Speaker 10: We have unelected billionaires running the country.
Speaker 1: And this is not a political graphic power.
Speaker 8: It's a crime.
Speaker 10: I marched into our Speaker of the House's office to
Speaker 10: try to meet with the Treasury Secretary to ask them
Speaker 10: why they were committing crimes, why there was unchecked.
Speaker 8: Authority over the Treasury Treasury.
Speaker 10: Data to stop doing it, why they needed to do this,
Speaker 10: why they needed to surveil, penalize, or control this financial access.
Speaker 8: And the speaker told me he had no idea what
Speaker 8: they were doing.
Speaker 10: The Speaker of the House does not know what they
Speaker 10: are doing. We need to stop acting like things are normal.
Speaker 1: That's real. It is not normal.
Speaker 7: It is and I think that we are in the
Speaker 7: like if there was ever a time where people should
Speaker 7: be held to account, we should be held to account
Speaker 7: on what we put on the podcast. Like you said, Andrew,
Speaker 7: like people are like, what do we do I every
Speaker 7: day I'm wrestling with that every day. I'm trying to
Speaker 7: make sure that I am serving the needs of the people,
Speaker 7: that I am providing factual information that we do that
Speaker 7: on this podcast. What Gwen Moore said struck a chord
Speaker 7: I think for so many of us, because all we're
Speaker 7: saying is like, why are we're seeing members of Congress
Speaker 7: talking about dropping bills. You don't even know if that
Speaker 7: bill gonna get passed. You don't even know if you're
Speaker 7: gonna actually be in session next week, and if the
Speaker 7: bill does pass, if this president is gonna sign it,
Speaker 7: it's a law.
Speaker 8: That's where we are. So that I mean, I think
Speaker 8: that we do.
Speaker 4: Tip.
Speaker 7: I was so grateful in the conversation with Maxwell and
Speaker 7: the things that you've been saying along the way, that
Speaker 7: it is an authoritarian regime, the things that we've been questioning,
Speaker 7: if it's a clue, if it's a constitutional crisis. The
Speaker 7: answers are resounding, Yes, it is not normal. So how
Speaker 7: do you respond in a normal way to something that
Speaker 7: is not only not normal, it's very dangerous.
Speaker 5: Well, I just I want to say, because you brought
Speaker 5: up constitutional crisis that you did a live this week.
Speaker 6: If you all haven't checked it.
Speaker 5: Out, it's available on our YouTube page and where your
Speaker 5: podcast of a solo pop on the constitutional crisis. But
Speaker 5: I do appreciate what you said, Andrew about ego, like
Speaker 5: get ego out the way, because it's not just like
Speaker 5: I've heard several members of Congress we were talking about
Speaker 5: this in our Chad Angela members of Congress complaining about
Speaker 5: how they're being perceived.
Speaker 6: And I do I think that's such a piece of
Speaker 6: advice Andrew.
Speaker 5: It's like, hey, it's not about your ego right now
Speaker 5: as dire times and people are the institution, right, you
Speaker 5: are the institution, and what are you doing? But I
Speaker 5: think what you're bringing up, Angela is this fight, Like
Speaker 5: so you're you know, in your head about like what
Speaker 5: can we do on the podcast that's doing something. I
Speaker 5: just I'm running out of advice of what to tell
Speaker 5: people who are you know, like what do we do?
Speaker 5: Because I will be honest with you guys, and it's
Speaker 5: probably not the most responsible thing to say on this podcast,
Speaker 5: but I do think there are some areas where I
Speaker 5: feel a bit defeated. I really don't know how to
Speaker 5: combat the world's richest people with access to all of
Speaker 5: our data, when the media is completely complicit, when the
Speaker 5: institution seems to be bending the knee, when everyone seems
Speaker 5: to be capitulating to this administration proactively, proactively, the private
Speaker 5: sector is bending the knee, and it's just the.
Speaker 6: Only thing that coming back.
Speaker 8: Moved.
Speaker 5: They edited it out of the replay, but he did
Speaker 5: get booed. But I guess my only solution has been
Speaker 5: can we build insular?
Speaker 6: You know?
Speaker 5: And I don't know how to do that, Like can
Speaker 5: we build an ecosystem amongst ourselves, like a real live
Speaker 5: ass wakanda in America where if you ain't rock with us,
Speaker 5: if you ain't vote like us, then you can't come
Speaker 5: in here. This is our area of safety and being
Speaker 5: self sufficient. And I don't know how to do that.
Speaker 5: I think there's a way to do it, because the
Speaker 5: Black Panther did it. I just I would like to
Speaker 5: explore that because I don't have faith in this in
Speaker 5: the institution.
Speaker 6: Angela.
Speaker 5: You no, you didn't say this on the pile, you
Speaker 5: said this in the chat. Midterms. I don't want to
Speaker 5: hear nothing about no mid terms. Nothing got right for you.
Speaker 7: But where we're right now, there's not about They just
Speaker 7: disbanded the election security team. There is not about to
Speaker 7: be an election if we don't fight right now. And
Speaker 7: that's the thing. I you know, we've been trained, and Andrew.
Speaker 7: I love what Andrew said to about Dream Defenders. I
Speaker 7: want to get back to that too. But we've been
Speaker 7: trained in leadership to have a long term vision, to
Speaker 7: have a long term plan. I think that we are
Speaker 7: we are ill equipped to deal with emergency and crisis
Speaker 7: for the most part. I don't think that's everybody, but
Speaker 7: I think the fact that there has to be crisis
Speaker 7: management demonstrates right that people are never really equipped for crisis.
Speaker 7: I don't understand how we could see how fragile democracy is,
Speaker 7: whether we're talking about Bush v. Gore or now, and
Speaker 7: not realize that this is all It's all dependent upon
Speaker 7: people acting with integrity, on believing and abiding by what
Speaker 7: the constitution says. We literally elect people and hope they
Speaker 7: will do right. There are no other checks and balances
Speaker 7: except for they will check themselves to be in alignment
Speaker 7: with the three co equal branches of government.
Speaker 8: That's it.
Speaker 7: So it's always hanging in the balance, you know, And
Speaker 7: that I think that is the part that is so
Speaker 7: scary to me. It's like this man has decided. Jd Vance,
Speaker 7: I'm at church. I said this on the on the
Speaker 7: on the solo body, Yes, I'm at church. Jd Vance
Speaker 7: posts a tweet that's like, who gonna check me boo?
Speaker 8: Basically I know what the judge said, but who gonna
Speaker 8: check me?
Speaker 3: Voo?
Speaker 8: Make me bish?
Speaker 7: And I'm like, oh my god, Like we know that's
Speaker 7: what they thought. But now he put it out here
Speaker 7: to digest it. And then he didn't just put out
Speaker 7: that one tweet. He put out very a few subsequent
Speaker 7: tweets making the argument by which Elon Musk, who I
Speaker 7: know we're gonna get to from Doze, which is not
Speaker 7: like a nothing entity that now has all power over
Speaker 7: the government, arguably more power than Donald Trump himself. That
Speaker 7: is the error we're in right now.
Speaker 5: Where people think the courts are gonna save us, like
Speaker 5: the courts are not with right now. That's the front
Speaker 5: line fence. But think about it, and Joe, by the
Speaker 5: time you get the Scotus, he Scots is bought.
Speaker 6: And so what did you.
Speaker 5: Say about Clarence Simon Yahucci? Like they loyal to this administration.
Speaker 5: And I also have to say for for jd Vance
Speaker 5: to be so embolden and and really he's the weakest link,
Speaker 5: you know. But sure your boy told you you ain't
Speaker 5: never You're not even in the line as a sashion,
Speaker 5: right he said. And to see this press conference with
Speaker 5: President Musk and Donald Trump in that Oval office, it
Speaker 5: looks I have a theory that if the media were
Speaker 5: to pursue this idea of Elon Lusk is really the president,
Speaker 5: then we would see this relationship fracture. Donald he did
Speaker 5: not want that. His ego is so fragile. He does
Speaker 5: not have a big ego. If you know, what I'm saying,
Speaker 5: and it's so obvious, and he couldn't handle that kind
Speaker 5: of line that he is is not really the person
Speaker 5: in charge. The same way it happened with the Santis,
Speaker 5: those who were like this, and then he didn't like
Speaker 5: it anymore. We've seen this happen over and over again.
Speaker 5: The same thing can happen with Elon Musk. And it
Speaker 5: looked like that Elon Musk was speaking over him. He
Speaker 5: had his son all in the oval office like they
Speaker 5: should have navigated you money. That's what it looked like
Speaker 5: with with his son playing all in the death Donald
Speaker 5: Trump did not look amused, and Elon Musk was literally
Speaker 5: standing over him. Donald and and and Elon Musk looked
Speaker 5: like Ramsey Bolten Citizen the King's landon book.
Speaker 1: But don't look.
Speaker 4: We have to put the palls on that and come
Speaker 4: back to it because you know of a Diard game
Speaker 4: of thron.
Speaker 8: Just smiling and not.
Speaker 5: Well, listen, Donald Trump is reek. I will say this, Andrew,
Speaker 5: because this is one of the best lines of the
Speaker 5: series when there is a scene where two people are
Speaker 5: talking and he says, you would rather see this place
Speaker 5: burn so you could rule the ashes and we would
Speaker 5: all fall in a pit of chaos, and a guy,
Speaker 5: little Finger, responds and says, chaos is not a pit,
Speaker 5: my friend. Chaos is a ladder. And it was the
Speaker 5: way it was the music and the way that scene
Speaker 5: played out. This is this administration.
Speaker 6: Chaos is not a pit. It is a ladder, and
Speaker 6: it is what they will use.
Speaker 5: To climb their way to the top and rule the ashes.
Speaker 5: Because some people want to lead, others want to rule.
Speaker 5: This administration they want to.
Speaker 1: Rule, They want to rule.
Speaker 4: And your point around, I mean, this is why, day
Speaker 4: after day they create crisis. This is why they want
Speaker 4: our heads on a swivel. This is why they are
Speaker 4: declaring states of emergency and various parts of the United
Speaker 4: States against various people on various issues. When lord, what
Speaker 4: the hell we got to be afraid of Canada for
Speaker 4: they ain't got nuclear weapons. I mean, they're our neighbor
Speaker 4: and our friend. But but why in the world has
Speaker 4: people have people been revved up around Donald Trump's words
Speaker 4: because he's just declared that there's a crisis here and
Speaker 4: we're overpaying in our military is being suffocated by China,
Speaker 4: and and and and and this is let me tell you,
Speaker 4: we have to yes, be discerning and and and and
Speaker 4: you know, I like Tiffany's phrase of of of covering
Speaker 4: Trump is like catching confetti. But we cannot see the ground.
Speaker 4: If I had a message to the Democrat, we cannot
Speaker 4: seed the ground. If this man is going twenty four
Speaker 4: to seven with his message, we would we we best
Speaker 4: be there answering or at least putting the people on
Speaker 4: a new message, on a different message, interpreting what it
Speaker 4: is that they heard because they didn't hear it quite properly,
Speaker 4: because the man is a liar in chief more than
Speaker 4: anything else, y'all. The constitutional crisis, because I think this
Speaker 4: term is put out there a lot, and for the
Speaker 4: everyday person, it's like this is necessary, Like what do
Speaker 4: I put my hands around with this whole crisis?
Speaker 1: And wasn't mean?
Speaker 4: And how do I survive in it and through it?
Speaker 4: I would love, Angela if you could just hit on
Speaker 4: like what constitutes this crisis? And then is there something
Speaker 4: about this crisis that is empowering to the people or
Speaker 4: is it just a tool for the.
Speaker 1: Person in power? Angela? Before you answer that, let's pay
Speaker 1: some bills on the other side you want to hear.
Speaker 7: Stay tuned for Angela's answer, the very simple answer for
Speaker 7: this is a constitutional crisis exists when one branch of
Speaker 7: government ignores another coequal branch of government full stop. And
Speaker 7: that's why I went into that, you know that ramble
Speaker 7: earlier about we were there and we were already just
Speaker 7: the stone throwaway, as you would say, from that, and
Speaker 7: I think with Donald Trump signing another executive order granting
Speaker 7: more authority to DOGE is exactly the problem. So you know,
Speaker 7: folks are saying that like, oh, well, this isn't. This
Speaker 7: isn't that sign, This isn't they're focusing on the wrong
Speaker 7: things because they're looking at all of the things that
Speaker 7: provide benefits to us our safety net, but they're not
Speaker 7: looking at the Pentagon. They are about to look at
Speaker 7: the Pentagon. And in particular, this executive order that was
Speaker 7: signed is called an Executive Order implementing the President's Department
Speaker 7: of Government Efficiency DOGE Workforce Optimization Initiative, and it is
Speaker 7: they say that it's to make the workforce more efficient.
Speaker 7: Elon Musk was on TV yesterday or I'm sorry by
Speaker 7: the time this podcast airs a couple of days ago
Speaker 7: talking about how old the people are in Social Security,
Speaker 7: like just being so disrespectful, and I mean, we know,
Speaker 7: I know we have a clip from him too, But
Speaker 7: the reason for the pressor was to announce this executive
Speaker 7: order that grants them more authority taking reducing the size
Speaker 7: of government, reducing the size of the federal workforce.
Speaker 8: Do you understand that he about to throw us not into.
Speaker 7: A recession, a full on depression the number of people
Speaker 7: that are that aren't going to be able to afford
Speaker 7: groceries or gas. Before I keep going down, it's like,
Speaker 7: can we please run this Elon Messk clip because I
Speaker 7: think he got it all figured out, but he really
Speaker 7: ain't gotten it figured out.
Speaker 11: The people voted for major covet reform, there should be
Speaker 11: no doubt about that. And that's what people are going
Speaker 11: to get. They're going to get what they're voted for.
Speaker 12: What are the checks and balances that are in place
Speaker 12: to ensure that there's accountability and transparency.
Speaker 11: Well, we actually are trying to be as transparent as possible.
Speaker 11: In fact, our actions repost, our actions to the DOGE
Speaker 11: handle on x and to the DOGE website, you know,
Speaker 11: and the kind of things we're doing are I think
Speaker 11: very very simple and basic. They're not you know what
Speaker 11: I mentioned brings for example about treasure, just making sure
Speaker 11: that payments that go out tax para, money that goes
Speaker 11: out is categorized correctly, that the payment is explained, that
Speaker 11: organizations on that do not play list which are takes
Speaker 11: a lot to get there, that actually are not paid.
Speaker 11: These are not individual judgment decisions. These are about simply
Speaker 11: having sensible checks and balances in the system itself to
Speaker 11: ensure that tax payer money is spent well. So it
Speaker 11: has got length to do with like say a contract
Speaker 11: for some company of mine at all.
Speaker 12: But if there is a conflict of interest when it
Speaker 12: comes to you yourself, for instance, you've received billions of
Speaker 12: dollars in federal contracts when it comes to the Pentagon
Speaker 12: for instance, which the President I know has directed you
Speaker 12: to look into, are you policing yourself in that Is
Speaker 12: there any sort of accountability check and balance in place
Speaker 12: that would provide any transparency for the different people.
Speaker 11: Well, all of our actions are fully public. So if
Speaker 11: you see anything you say like wait a second, hey,
Speaker 11: you know that, doesn't that seems like maybe that's you
Speaker 11: know that there's a conflict there, I s it like
Speaker 11: people are going to be shy about saying they'l say
Speaker 11: it immediately knowing yourself.
Speaker 1: Yes, that ain't no damn accountability.
Speaker 7: He also is saying like that, you know the number
Speaker 7: of people who are working, they're all of these things
Speaker 7: where they're wasting money. Some of the stuff that he's
Speaker 7: throwing out there to justify these cuts are not even
Speaker 7: fact based.
Speaker 8: They're just wrong.
Speaker 7: I think at the end of the day, the part
Speaker 7: that I want to emphasize is that, for example, so
Speaker 7: now they're taking on the Department of Education before they
Speaker 7: even take on DoD, which of course has the largest
Speaker 7: amount of discretionary spending at over eight hundred billion dollars.
Speaker 7: But they went into the Department of Ed and have
Speaker 7: cut eighty nine contracts. He's bragging about this. By the way,
Speaker 7: y'all can follow all this on DOGE on Twitter, and
Speaker 7: they have a website. Department of Education cut eighty nine
Speaker 7: contracts worth eight hundred and eighty one million dollars. They
Speaker 7: cut DEI training grants. That's diversity, equity and inclusion. We
Speaker 7: should make them spell it out, twenty nine grants for
Speaker 7: one hundred and one million dollars. But again they still
Speaker 7: haven't gone into DoD. I'm going to tell you there
Speaker 7: is a place where there are folks on both sides
Speaker 7: of the aisle that talk about waste, fraud, and abuse
Speaker 7: right especially add there would have been I think bipartisan
Speaker 7: support for this if it wasn't so egregious and violating
Speaker 7: what the law said. They have overhauled federal agencies that
Speaker 7: have been legislated, signed, passed by the legislature, both chambers,
Speaker 7: signed into law, and Donald Trump's just been like the
Speaker 7: hel with.
Speaker 8: C FPB they held with the whole Department Education, they
Speaker 8: held with this.
Speaker 7: But I'm gonna put Doge in charge of all of you,
Speaker 7: and I'm going to give them unfettered access and power
Speaker 7: to do whatever. That is what dictatorship looks like. That
Speaker 7: is what a constitutional crisis looks like.
Speaker 4: And guess what, there would not be a constitutional crisis
Speaker 4: if the legislative branch, the folks who were carved out
Speaker 4: in Section two of the Constitution and told that they
Speaker 4: have the obligation, the right of appropriation, if they would
Speaker 4: simply stand up and say, oh no, sir, you're treading online.
Speaker 4: You're treading on the wrong water. Right now, this part
Speaker 4: the bill that went through Congress that created this institution
Speaker 4: or created that agency or created that department under which
Speaker 4: we then approved a budget that was eventually signed into
Speaker 4: law by the President of.
Speaker 1: The United States. We've already told you where the money going.
Speaker 1: All you need to do is cut the check.
Speaker 4: And unfortunately they're so efeckless, they're so weak, they're so
Speaker 4: a million miles if you will, to take a turn
Speaker 4: from my grandmama about what they're doing. They're allowing this
Speaker 4: man to ride rush shot over them. So if the
Speaker 4: third a lot of people, and I know this feels basic,
Speaker 4: and I apologize if you're on the listening end of
Speaker 4: this and are like, duh, But a lot of folks
Speaker 4: think that the presidency is a position set above, and
Speaker 4: in some ways, the presidency is a position set above,
Speaker 4: largely because he's also.
Speaker 1: The commander in chief of our armed services.
Speaker 4: It allows a very powerful quiver within his responsibilities as
Speaker 4: or her responsibilities in the office in the carrying out
Speaker 4: of the office of the presidency.
Speaker 1: But the presidency, the executive branch, headed by hold.
Speaker 4: By the president, is one branch of government that has
Speaker 4: to then negotiate with two other branches of government, holding
Speaker 4: each other mutually accountable, which means the president can't book
Speaker 4: foot bigfoot the Congress.
Speaker 1: The Congress can't bigfoot the president on its own. The
Speaker 1: courts can't.
Speaker 4: Bigfoot everybody without some ability of checks and balances between
Speaker 4: the three. The checks and balances don't exist between the
Speaker 4: Senate and the House. Checks and balances refers to the
Speaker 4: check on power between the three different branches of government judicial, legislative,
Speaker 4: and executive. And guess what the first branch of government is,
Speaker 4: the legislative branch. It was the first branch that the
Speaker 4: founders thought of. It was the first branch constituted, but
Speaker 4: for there was ever even a president selected.
Speaker 1: I say this to say it.
Speaker 4: I know it is in the weeds, y'all, But the
Speaker 4: reason why we ought to have umbrage for the way
Speaker 4: in which Donald Trump is going about his business is
Speaker 4: because he's not just doing it on his own. He's
Speaker 4: being allowed to do it by the legislative branch deciding
Speaker 4: to sit back seat and let him drive their let
Speaker 4: him drive their bus. And I just we wouldn't be
Speaker 4: in this place if we weren't, if we didn't have
Speaker 4: members of Congress who were so weak when it comes
Speaker 4: to their job. It used to be that it was
Speaker 4: a non partisan issue. If you came after our branch,
Speaker 4: the branch unites against the branch that is attacking them.
Speaker 6: In this case, we.
Speaker 7: Should be challenging him to do like I know we're
Speaker 7: I think on our social media we're going to put
Speaker 7: up the members. There are twenty nine vulnerable Republican members
Speaker 7: in mostly democratic districts. We're gonna put those up, encourage
Speaker 7: people to call. We're gonna take a page out of
Speaker 7: Maxwell Frosts, organize and book and make sure we encourage
Speaker 7: people to do that. I know one thing that TIF
Speaker 7: really wanted to do before we get today was get
Speaker 7: to some of these questions.
Speaker 8: So I want pivot to that.
Speaker 1: Let's do it. The first one, no tip, what are
Speaker 1: you gonna say?
Speaker 6: Oh, I just wanted to comment on the whole thing
Speaker 6: that you all were just talking about.
Speaker 4: This.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's not situtional crisis.
Speaker 5: And I think the second part of that question to
Speaker 5: NFL is are we at a constitutional convention. We've seen
Speaker 5: this happen in the country numerous times. There was a
Speaker 5: great piece in the Times this week about the three
Speaker 5: previous times or our constitution has been thrown into question
Speaker 5: and helped shape the government. The first time, of course,
Speaker 5: was surrounding. The second time was reconstruction, and the third
Speaker 5: time was the New Deal. And so the writer argues
Speaker 5: that this is the fourth time that this country will
Speaker 5: be faced with a reshaping. Will we stand in place
Speaker 5: and protect this constitution or what we bend the need
Speaker 5: and let them reshape American government as we know it?
Speaker 6: And it looks like so far that we're biding me.
Speaker 6: I just wanted to get that point in. I love
Speaker 6: that you know the way, and you.
Speaker 7: Said that's the article, and then let's make sure Nick,
Speaker 7: we just put that in the link for the audience
Speaker 7: to see as well.
Speaker 8: That sounds good.
Speaker 6: I want to yeah, it was really good.
Speaker 5: But yes, I take your point. I do want to
Speaker 5: hear from the audience. I want to hear some of
Speaker 5: these questions. So let's get to the first one, I
Speaker 5: think if I can. There was a question that came
Speaker 5: into Andrew, which I've been really eager. Yes, I have
Speaker 5: been so eager because when when I first saw this question,
Speaker 5: was like, you know, I actually have that question as well.
Speaker 6: And so we purposely did not want Andrew because because
Speaker 6: we want your genuine.
Speaker 1: You always get answer.
Speaker 5: Okay, I didn't want U think or saying I don't
Speaker 5: want to talk about.
Speaker 6: It or whatever.
Speaker 8: Yeah, we got you.
Speaker 2: Well come well, come, well, come, well come, welcome, welcome.
Speaker 6: Let's roll that question so we can hear Andrew's answer.
Speaker 13: Hey, Native Lamb Fan Oscar David, Florida's calling from New
Speaker 13: York City, Day one Fan. Two quick questions. One's more
Speaker 13: like a kind of fun question, which is that Angela
Speaker 13: Right's name came up in an episode of Southside Just
Speaker 13: rewatching the show. It's my new favorite show, and they
Speaker 13: referred to her as a woman from CNN. So I
Speaker 13: guess I wonder what each of you would like to
Speaker 13: be remembered by if someone were to reference you now.
Speaker 13: And the easy answer is from Native Lamb podcast, But
Speaker 13: I guess I wonder what that other kind of cultural
Speaker 13: reference you'd like is. Second is for Andrew, my parents
Speaker 13: live in Florida. I am Latino. They are obviously Latinos,
Speaker 13: and I had to do a lot of education during
Speaker 13: your campaign to try to get them to vote, and
Speaker 13: they voted for you. So my question is when are
Speaker 13: you going to run to take this Marco Rubio seat
Speaker 13: and what is your plan for that, you know, community
Speaker 13: to really see what you're doing and to try to
Speaker 13: improve the numbers because I think that especially in Florida
Speaker 13: Oceola County specifically where they are, I'm not sure that
Speaker 13: the education was there. So just interested in like your
Speaker 13: post mortem on that, and so really, when you're gonna
Speaker 13: run and take that seat.
Speaker 1: Oh man, listen at it.
Speaker 4: So of course I know why you all kept that.
Speaker 4: First of all, thank you, Oscar, and to also give
Speaker 4: your parents.
Speaker 1: A shout out for me. I appreciate the support.
Speaker 4: Ostiola County was one of the counties we carried in
Speaker 4: the race for governor, and while I have no designs
Speaker 4: on the seat that was vacated by Marco Rubio, I
Speaker 4: do have a deep, deep, deep love for the state that.
Speaker 1: I owe it all to.
Speaker 4: I mean, I'm I'm born and raised Florida right from
Speaker 4: the bottom to the top. Literally my day County at
Speaker 4: the very bottom of the state and where I am
Speaker 4: right now, twenty minutes from the Georgia border. It breaks
Speaker 4: my heart to see what the state has turned into
Speaker 4: under this current regime. But it's you know, DeSantis just
Speaker 4: happens to be the titular head right now. It has
Speaker 4: been many decades in the making. What I do know
Speaker 4: as certainly what I believe, even if I don't know
Speaker 4: it on the numbers, is I believe that progressives, thoughtful,
Speaker 4: futuristic people who care about the future of their children
Speaker 4: and their families, their neighborhoods, all of that stuff, that
Speaker 4: they are the majority. And this you know kleptocracy that
Speaker 4: you know DeSantis and Trump, you know little Baby Trump
Speaker 4: or Acolyte Trump, Many Me, Marco, all these guys, they're
Speaker 4: simply as to still you know Tiffany's phrase, bending a
Speaker 4: knee to their massive They don't bel leave with their
Speaker 4: heart and their soul and their might and what it
Speaker 4: is that they're doing this is a transaction. And what
Speaker 4: I know is is that we're better than a transaction.
Speaker 4: I said a long time ago, I say right now.
Speaker 4: I don't have designs on public office at this time,
Speaker 4: but I am open to the ways in which God
Speaker 4: wants to use me.
Speaker 1: To make life better for all of us. That is,
Speaker 1: in some ways through this pod it can be, you know,
Speaker 1: in other ways, I just don't know. But I do
Speaker 1: know this much.
Speaker 4: My children are worth it. Your children are worth it,
Speaker 4: Your parents are worth it. And the people right now
Speaker 4: who are not just in Florida but all over the
Speaker 4: country who are devastated by what they're experiencing, mostly because
Speaker 4: the floor doesn't feel like the floor anymore. You know,
Speaker 4: You're like, Okay, I'm gonna fall. I'm gonna take this
Speaker 4: fall because I know that there is a landing. We
Speaker 4: don't know where the landing is right now, and all
Speaker 4: of us are terrified. There is not one amongst us,
Speaker 4: and I count myself included. I am terrified for this
Speaker 4: moment in the future and what it will behold because
Speaker 4: I think it still depends on what we the people
Speaker 4: decide and if the majority of us want to stay sleep.
Speaker 1: Got to help us all.
Speaker 8: I was about to press him to girls, Yeah, press.
Speaker 6: So two parts.
Speaker 5: One, can we get a clear answer on your political aspirations?
Speaker 5: That includes, you're not going to run for senator the
Speaker 5: current secretary of State?
Speaker 6: Okay.
Speaker 5: The other part of his question, which I think is
Speaker 5: very relevant. Even I've heard that you're not running, you
Speaker 5: reserve the right to change your mind to run.
Speaker 1: For any I reserve the right to be so moved.
Speaker 6: Okay, moved.
Speaker 5: But the second part of his question, which I think
Speaker 5: is very relevant to not only people across the country,
Speaker 5: but specifically to Florida, which holds a significuly large, larger
Speaker 5: than normal comparatively speaking to the rest of the country
Speaker 5: Latino population. Surely you have thoughts on what types of
Speaker 5: policies need to be introduced, even if you're not planning
Speaker 5: on being the person to introduce them. But what would
Speaker 5: you say to the Latino community about what's happening in Florida,
Speaker 5: but also as that can extend across the country when
Speaker 5: it comes to issues facing that community specifically.
Speaker 4: I appreciate the re emphasis of that, and I'll just
Speaker 4: say I'd love to get into some policy prescripts, but
Speaker 4: I want to say more generally, the Latino community in
Speaker 4: the state of Florida is not a monolith. And I
Speaker 4: know we use that statement about black voters are not
Speaker 4: a monolith, and this group is not a monolith. But
Speaker 4: I mean very seriously, in the state of Florida, you
Speaker 4: cannot assume a community's politics like the Latino community because
Speaker 4: you heard it from a Cuban American, or because you
Speaker 4: heard it from a Venezuelan or a Puerto Rican hunder
Speaker 4: and a South American. From all the various countries that
Speaker 4: you know exists within this hemisphere, every one of them
Speaker 4: brings the shaping of where they came from their lived experience,
Speaker 4: and it colors how.
Speaker 1: They experienced the world.
Speaker 4: And I use just a really quick example, there were
Speaker 4: a lot of Latinos who fell behind Donald Trump. Men
Speaker 4: and women, but by and large Latino men in this
Speaker 4: state because while they hate a Maduro right an authoritarian
Speaker 4: strong man, many of the countries have been led. They
Speaker 4: have known nothing but strong man ty Haiti, you know,
Speaker 4: Papa dot, baby dot, you know, you name it. These
Speaker 4: were these were These were political images, but they were
Speaker 4: also revolutionary. Think about Fidel Castro and the and and
Speaker 4: his brother and the and the people who are loyal
Speaker 4: to him on that island are definitely loyal because he
Speaker 4: changed their whole world circumstance as far as they were concerned.
Speaker 4: These were people who were treated as cockroaches because their
Speaker 4: skin was darker, or because they worked the land. And
Speaker 4: what he did is he turned the aristocrats and the
Speaker 4: proletariat upside down. I say all that to say that
Speaker 4: while I believe folks want better for themselves and for
Speaker 4: their family, they want democracy on paper, but in real life,
Speaker 4: there are huge swaths of this community that are still
Speaker 4: choosing this sort of strong man autocratic leadership, and don't
Speaker 4: think that democracy, quite frankly, is all that it has
Speaker 4: been sold out to being.
Speaker 1: So I would just say, please, please, please, please please,
Speaker 1: do not believe the hype.
Speaker 4: While Republicans may talk a talk, they may talk bad
Speaker 4: about all these authoritarians, just take a step back and
Speaker 4: then watch out they're governing. Take a step back and
Speaker 4: see if these folks are really rejecting autocracies or if
Speaker 4: they're modeling that autocracy, and that, frankly, that understanding would
Speaker 4: open up a whole gateway of opportunity for us in
Speaker 4: the state of Florida to have all kinds of conversations
Speaker 4: with the diaspora of Latinos in this state that we
Speaker 4: can't even get to right now because all they see
Speaker 4: is socialists versus quote democracy or free market. And if
Speaker 4: you're a Democrat, you're a socialist. And if you believe
Speaker 4: an opportunity and job development and economic growth and opportunity
Speaker 4: and the fact that you ought to be able to
Speaker 4: do better than your parents did before you, then you
Speaker 4: must be a Republican. That is simply false. They've run
Speaker 4: a great ad campaign, but that's not how they govern.
Speaker 7: Okay, Andrew I appreciate your answer, and you sound really
Speaker 7: ready to run for the Senate given that filibuster. But
Speaker 7: I want to say this, We're in a time where
Speaker 7: we're telling everybody it's all hands on deck, that courage matters,
Speaker 7: like I've never seen you back away from a fight
Speaker 7: on I have a new favorite story from you today
Speaker 7: on what happened with the Dream Defenders at that ribbon cutting.
Speaker 7: But my favorite story during your gubernatorial race was you
Speaker 7: going to sit in with the people and not caring
Speaker 7: about what that meant for your race, because you had
Speaker 7: a bigger obligation to humanity, to your community, to the
Speaker 7: culture always. And I think that in a lot of ways,
Speaker 7: not everyone, but in a lot of ways, most people
Speaker 7: don't feel that connection to their elected officials anymore.
Speaker 8: And so do you believe that I'm a prophet?
Speaker 1: You may be, so God told me to.
Speaker 8: Tell you need to read.
Speaker 1: Oh you prolyzing?
Speaker 7: Okay, Okay, I'm just saying, like Andrew, that is I'm
Speaker 7: gonna get in trouble with Jay probably.
Speaker 8: I'm sorry.
Speaker 3: Jah.
Speaker 7: I love you and the kids, but I really do
Speaker 7: believe you are uniquely called. You are uniquely gifted. Tiff
Speaker 7: is telling you she feels checked out and afraid. I'm
Speaker 7: telling you, I'm feeling firecracker and ready for a civil war.
Speaker 8: And somewhere in the middle you.
Speaker 7: Exist to bring the sides together, to bring calm, to
Speaker 7: bring logic, to bring strategy. I'm not saying we're not
Speaker 7: good strategies to deff but I think that there's a
Speaker 7: way that you do it through the purview of an
Speaker 7: elected official and through diplomacy in ways where TIFFs sometimes
Speaker 7: will be like this person not in the ministry. You
Speaker 7: really got a ministry with folks to negotiate in ways
Speaker 7: that we deeply need right now because we do have
Speaker 7: to tamper down what's happening on the other side so
Speaker 7: they understand what's at risk. You believe in this country
Speaker 7: clearly because of the ways in which you've served it,
Speaker 7: and so I just am asking you to really pray
Speaker 7: about what that looks like. Obviously, you can't run for
Speaker 7: an office right in this moment, but there is an
Speaker 7: opportunity coming and hopefully as long as the democracy can
Speaker 7: be saved, and I think that you have put a
Speaker 7: lot on the line, I'm not asking you to self
Speaker 7: sacrifice in ways that don't feel authentic to your mission
Speaker 7: and your call. But I also would challenge you not
Speaker 7: to run from your mission and your call. I receive
Speaker 7: that because the people are still with you.
Speaker 4: I receive.
Speaker 1: So like I'm hijacking part of our episode because it.
Speaker 8: Is about us.
Speaker 7: This, this whole, everything that's happening right now is a lot, yes,
Speaker 7: And I'm saying that in order for us to win,
Speaker 7: we all have to play our parts. Absolutely, we all
Speaker 7: have to play our position. We cannot be afraid of
Speaker 7: their faces.
Speaker 8: We have to go for what we know.
Speaker 7: We have to go for like you are called and
Speaker 7: anointed for such a term as this, and I just
Speaker 7: want you to hold on to that fact, to that truth.
Speaker 7: I know what you don't want to do, but I'm
Speaker 7: telling you, if you search beyond that surface level what
Speaker 7: you don't want to do, it might still be in there.
Speaker 4: Well, I want you to know, and I want everybody
Speaker 4: listening to know. One there ain't a thing out here
Speaker 4: that I'm in the in this world, in this earthly world,
Speaker 4: that I am you know, truly afraid of. I'm not
Speaker 4: afraid of public office. I'm not afraid of a hard
Speaker 4: fought race. I've done that longer than I care to
Speaker 4: count right now, And I do think that we all
Speaker 4: have roles to play, and guess what, over the arca time,
Speaker 4: those roles shifts shift from one to another, from one
Speaker 4: to another. In this moment, I think all of us
Speaker 4: are being called to step up. If it's not painful
Speaker 4: right now, then we're not doing it right. If we
Speaker 4: are not anguished in some way right now, then we're
Speaker 4: not doing it right. If we are sleeping like sleeping
Speaker 4: beauty without a care in the damn world right now,
Speaker 4: we're not doing life right now. I wish I could.
Speaker 4: I wish I could have that right, the peace of mind.
Speaker 4: But in truth, if you have a steady peace of
Speaker 4: mind right now, given the climate in which we exist,
Speaker 4: I'm not certain that we're doing it right right And
Speaker 4: so I have angst about all those things, and I
Speaker 4: have ideas around how we get around it. But I
Speaker 4: feel good right now being in support of the people
Speaker 4: who are there.
Speaker 1: And who are on the.
Speaker 4: Electoral front line. And there's another front line. There's an
Speaker 4: information front line that I hope that we're standing in
Speaker 4: the gap for. There's an organizing front line, there's a
Speaker 4: protest front line, there's an economic boycott front line right
Speaker 4: that folks all get to participating in so we all
Speaker 4: have our ways. That's not to say that God will
Speaker 4: not move me in ways that I cannot right now fathom,
Speaker 4: but I I am open and available to that. I
Speaker 4: just asked that that you know that that he handles
Speaker 4: me as continually with care, because being handled with care
Speaker 4: in this line of work is a requirement.
Speaker 1: Otherwise you lose.
Speaker 4: You lose a lot, and at the end of it
Speaker 4: is your soul. And so you know, care is care
Speaker 4: is mandatory, It's not an option.
Speaker 7: This is where the me and Tim different tips like okay,
Speaker 7: Angela and full convincing.
Speaker 8: I'm not done either. You know it's gonna continue, I.
Speaker 1: Know, but not on the show, I said off air.
Speaker 5: So I think another thing that the viewer asked what
Speaker 5: I thought was hilarious south Side It's one of my
Speaker 5: favorite shows. Who It is hilarious, and I remember watching
Speaker 5: that episode where the guy is like, oh was at
Speaker 5: a party last night with Angela writes from CNN.
Speaker 6: It was so funny.
Speaker 5: That show is high hilarious. Shout out to the creator.
Speaker 5: Oh it's so it's off air now. Unfortunately HBO canceled it.
Speaker 5: But shout out to the creator. It's just it's a
Speaker 5: family who do the show.
Speaker 6: But it is us. It is all day Chicago.
Speaker 5: So if you are from Chicago familiar with Chicago. One
Speaker 5: of the lines of women was like, oh, I grew
Speaker 5: up around here. I grew up on seventy six and Damons.
Speaker 5: So all my friends from Chicago always say, oh, like,
Speaker 5: I know seventy six and Daemon.
Speaker 6: That's all I know. So shout out to the shy Town.
Speaker 5: If somebody were to reference me the cultural reference, I
Speaker 5: was thinking about that. Don't think I have a good answer.
Speaker 5: I may need to think about it, but I would
Speaker 5: want them to say that I was somebody who always
Speaker 5: prioritized informing the people and writing for the people.
Speaker 6: I hope, I hope that's what they would.
Speaker 8: Yeah, they would, they should.
Speaker 5: And I'm gonna find I'm gonna try to find that
Speaker 5: clipp and send it to you because it is hilarious.
Speaker 6: When he said that, Sorry, Andrew.
Speaker 7: I definitely said, I don't want to be known for CNN.
Speaker 7: I think, yeah, that's my biggest frustration, because people got
Speaker 7: familiar with me. Is just like somebody who clapped back,
Speaker 7: and I think that that is it's just reductionists like
Speaker 7: you know, you spend your whole life learning to be
Speaker 7: just study to show yourself approved, and it just be
Speaker 7: known for a clad bag, like factual clad bag is good.
Speaker 7: But I want to be known for much more. And
Speaker 7: I think the thing that I want to be known for,
Speaker 7: especially if you know this authoritarian regime continues and we
Speaker 7: all go down, I want to be known for courage.
Speaker 7: I want to be known for fighting for my people,
Speaker 7: no matter the cost. And I hope that we don't
Speaker 7: have to murtyr anymore. You know, I don't want to
Speaker 7: be a martyr, but if I have to be, so
Speaker 7: be it. I'll do it for Harriet, who y'all know
Speaker 7: I got on my chain. Let me show you my
Speaker 7: Harriet chain case y'all forgot.
Speaker 8: But I want her to be proud. I want Harriet
Speaker 8: to be proud.
Speaker 1: That's real.
Speaker 4: I think I like to be known as a person
Speaker 4: who did it true. I also want to be known
Speaker 4: as a person when I'm not on the stage, as
Speaker 4: someone who, yeah, may be missed, but you feel in
Speaker 4: many ways reassured because you know that we've trained others behind,
Speaker 4: not for a singular leader, but for movement, right for movement,
Speaker 4: and like the phoenix out of ashes, you know, rising
Speaker 4: far past what people think is possible, And not for
Speaker 4: my sake, but as an example for others who think that.
Speaker 1: Your worst day.
Speaker 4: Is the only day in your life by which you'll
Speaker 4: have any real memory, that you will never Hopefully your
Speaker 4: experience won't be that you're forever judged by your worst day,
Speaker 4: or your worst decision, or your worst evening or your
Speaker 4: worst incident, but rather as a complete, imperfect human being
Speaker 4: who who.
Speaker 1: Care and who loves. I love y'all, And with that, y'all,
Speaker 1: you got enough of us today. Never that I listen.
Speaker 4: We wanted to get to more listener questions, but I
Speaker 4: think we all got carried into into like, Okay, we're
Speaker 4: about to sign. We're going to the spreadsheet and we're
Speaker 4: gonna sign what roles and responsibilities each of us have
Speaker 4: in this moment.
Speaker 1: But know that we're all always going to.
Speaker 4: Be thinking about the ways in which we can play
Speaker 4: a more impactful role, not for our sake, but for
Speaker 4: our collective's sake. As always, we want to remind everyone
Speaker 4: to please leave us a review and subscribe to Native
Speaker 4: Lamp Pod.
Speaker 1: We're available on all platforms and on YouTube and.
Speaker 4: New episodes drop every Thursday, with a special mini pod
Speaker 4: every Monday.
Speaker 1: Actually, that's gonna be changing up, y'all.
Speaker 4: Stay tuned, don't forget to follow us also on social
Speaker 4: media and subscribe to our text or email list on
Speaker 4: our website, natively pod dot com. We are She is
Speaker 4: Angel rih she over, there is Tiviany Cross and right
Speaker 4: here I'm Andrew Gillim.
Speaker 1: Welcome home of y'all.
Speaker 4: And even though my cohes don't want to hear it,
Speaker 4: there are six hundred and twenty eight days into the
Speaker 4: midterm elections counted down.
Speaker 14: Thank you for joining the Natives. Attention to what the
Speaker 14: info and all of the latest Roy Gulam and Cross
Speaker 14: connected to the statements that you leave on our socials.
Speaker 14: Thank you sincerely for the faces reason for your choices
Speaker 14: clear so grateful to execute roles.
Speaker 2: For serve, defend and.
Speaker 14: Protect the truth in case, we welcome home to all
Speaker 14: of the Natives.
Speaker 2: We thank you.
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