Native Lampard is a production of iHeartRadio and partnership with Reason Choice Media. Welcome home, y'all this episode one twenty seven, one two seven of Native Lampire where we give you our breakdown breakdown on all things politics with a little
bit of culture sprinkled in there. And I'm your host for today, along with my co host, of course, never to be forgotten, the Angela Rai, the Butkari sellers, and they deserve a thee before their name because you know, they want you to know they are the only one. And we're joined today. We are joined today by Joshua. I ascribed you the the man. Are you doing?
I'm doing all right, man, I'm happy to be here.
I'm glad y'all have you all.
We're exceptionally proud to welcome you, Joshua. We uh one. We had asked your question before we entered the show, and before I asked you that question, and before all of your new listening public. I want to inform our listeners that Joshua is a viral digital content creator and a poster digital digital and really came no, that was Miami baby, uh and really just all around a brilliant black man and before he got on, I was like, Joshua,
are you single? Because I was trying to make sure I can set y' all up on the listener side in case there was an opening. But it appears that Situations as always.
Answered that for himself.
I'm gonna let him off completely. Just take situations are complicated.
No, I mean, like, as I was saying before, you know, I'm in a committed relationship. I would I would have said, I'm in a committed relationship with my Lord and save for Jesus Christ, you know, he ordered my steps, trust him with all my all, my heart, you know, lean on my school and understanding. And so that's where I feel like the relationship we should all be.
Let me tell you the relationship I don't understand.
I ain't never see nobody be full of shit.
Quote after I have a flag on the play really quick. So the other thing that came up while we were prepping to start the podcast is Joshua is not only a poster digital content creator, but he's also a graduate of the University of South.
That's true, South Dakota.
I was like, what what are you doing there? And he has an answer for these things.
What are you doing that. So I'm from Chicago.
The Chicago to South Dakota pipeline is not strong, but I did.
I played basketball.
So you know, as anybody playing high school basketball, you know, if you get a Division one scholarship, you go where the scholarship is.
So I got school.
Page Universus South Dakota Division one.
Yeah.
They are the mighty, the mighty fighting Christie Noms.
And on that note, you want to reload you within seven days, within this coming we are going to be in the place like no other ye day speaking of to the reverse, So listen, we are carving out the time to be with y'all in Atlanta, and we really really want you to be with us in Atlanta at the City Honery. The Native lamp Pid will be their live and effect. We'll also have a little bit of, you know, opportunity to just hang with y'all if you're if you're available to come and join us for about
an hour or so. You can get your tickets for our show starting at seven thirty pm on April twenty first, that's Tuesday, Tuesday, April twenty first, seven thirty pm. You can get your tickets for the show through a link that we will provide in today's episode description, or you can also search for Native Lampid City Winery, Atlanta in any Googles search or whatever engine you may use. But really, in all honesty, y'all, we value you your family to us. I hope you feel the same way from from our
hearts to yours. But we want to see you in the place, in the building and the place to be in Atlanta, and you will also get the pleasure the benefit of hearing from some really important presenter speakers. Panelness will be joining us. Anything else does y'all got to say about Atlanta to bring them there? Uh? Would be short shirtless?
Oh no, I thought you guys were going to have a competition.
It's not a competent, it's not a competition. There's nothing that there's nothing FAM can do that in competition.
That's right, that's right, that's precisely right. Because we're not on the same wavelength.
You know.
That your arms are too short to fight with God.
They put a crown above our head and more house for us to grow into.
Yes, we're so proud. I think when I are, I think.
Of University of South Dakota, when I think of.
Fat there it is and on that we can agree all these got so many topics to cover in Face today for your situational awareness, and there are a lot of topics that we've got to get to and I don't want to bury the lead that we are going
to spend some time, uh with this topic. I'm sure you all have heard about the recent resignations from Congress, but very specifically that of Congressman former Congressman Eric Swawoll, who we just want to sort of get into some of the I think nuance of these kinds of situations and maybe ask some questions that aren't necessarily asked in polite society. Y'all want to hang with us for that conversation. But before we get there, y'all, lie, I got to toss over to my friend Bacari, who I think is
kicking us off with some good news. Yeah.
Man, when you when you're doom strolling sometimes on social media, every now and then something pops up that brightens your day. And I want to give a shout out to one hundred and four year old Charles Johnson, who is competing in the Vegas shoot for the fourth time. I think we have a clip of Charles here I wanted to play, just so we get started off with a Charles, do you mister mister Charles?
Yes, well, I'm My name is Charles Johnson and I'm one hundred and four years old. I'm from Phoenix, Arizona, originally from Plucksburg, West Virginia, but Phoenix now, and this is I think this is my fourth time here. I don't know if I'll make it five, but I'll try, you know what I mean. You know, this is one of the joys of my life being this. You know, it used to be golf.
This took the.
Place of golf. So that and I've met so many good friends here. I'd love to tell people that I'm.
An archery Oh.
To tell people I'm going to Vegas means a lot.
You know. That's my favorite fence. This morning, I'm in Vegas, the archery.
Oh yeah.
So it's very exciting for them and for me too. My best memory here, yeah, the first time. I wish you could hear when I was introduced to the whole crowd, three thousand people for me to stay hello to them, that was that was fantastic, you know what I mean.
I'll never forget that, you know, great.
He ready to run for the Democratic nominee.
Before he can go to Congress right now.
Four year old archery contestant. Yeah, that's all right, he said, my friends. No, I'm in Vegas and it's exciting for all of us. But Angela. He was very, very obviously carrying on his chest the Almighty Cross. I understand that there's some some conflict right now between.
The Cross, between the Antichrist and the pope. So let's talk about that. Poblo said, he ain't never scared of Donald Trump, and we're gonna go ahead and run that clip.
I have no fear from your administration or speaking out nullady about the message of the Gospel.
And that's what I believe. I am called to know what the church's called to do.
If we're not politicians, we're not looking to make foreign policies. He falls it with the safe perspective that he might understand it. But I do believe, with permission of the Gospel, the blessed of the peacemakers is the message that the war.
Needs to hear.
Kim, blessed are the peacemakers.
And speaking of those who do not make any piece whatsoever, it won't even apologize Donald Trump, let's throw that.
No, I don't, because Popolio said things that are wrong. He was very much against what I'm doing with with regard to Iran, and you cannot have a nuclear Iran. Popolio would not be happy with the end result. You have hundreds of millions of people dead. That is not going to happen, So I can't. I think he's very weak on crime.
And other things.
So I'm not he went public. I'm just responding to Pope Leo. And you know, his brother is a big maga person and he's a great guy, Lewis, And I said, I like Lewis better than I like the Pope.
So he is referring to this particular post from the Pope. He's basically saying he started it, so I had to finish it. So this is what the Pope had to say. God does not bless any conflict anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs. Military action will not create space for freedom or times of peace, which comes only from the patient promotion of coexistence and dialogue among peoples. So Pope
Leo was like, listen here, a friend. I don't know what type of time you want, but me and you ain't reading the same kind of scriptures. And Donald Trump was like, I ain't apologizing. You don't know what you're talking about.
And this is it.
He is weak on crime, as if that is what Pope Leo is supposed to be about. So I'd love to hear you all thoughts about the Pope from the South side of Chicago and Donald Trump.
Man, I'm taking I'm taking the Pope over missions over mister two Corinthians and the man that got the man that got five kids by three baby mamas. I'm just take. I'm just gonna take the Pope in this debate right here.
Who you got, who you got? Who you got? I don't know.
I mean, really, that's South Dakota.
Donald Trump represents a version of white Christianity that is
every bit as real and valid as Pop Leo's. Honestly for being real, like Pope Leo can sit on a on a plane and criticize Trump's barbaric approach to foreign policy as he threatens to kill ninety million people, but that plane was going to Africa, where he planned to spread the evangelical gospel to the black people who have been who have had, you know, a terrible history with white people traveling from their homes and telling them about divinity,
right like, there's a soft there's a violence, a soft violence, and how Christianity has spread throughout black people in the in the world. So I don't know, I see two white Christians going at it.
Oh my, oh my.
Scripture at the beginning of this show.
I'm culturally Christian, but I have deep critiques of how white supremacy, American Christianity and politics played like that.
But also I also think that I also think that that uh uh, Donald Trump uses Christianity as political currency. He's not a I don't I don't find him to be a Christian. I mean, I'm not pushing back on your analysis, but to equate them as the as kind of the same, I think has given Donald Trump too much credit.
Well, they're not. They're not the same. Yeah. I also think it's important to I mean, all of us are part of institutions, organizations, lives, communities, heritages, vestiges that were born out of really soiled beginnings that we have had to bend and break and in some cases rebuild to to to better fit a more humane condition that I think we if we were born with we're not how do you say vested with that? We had to fight back and sort of been to our wild over time.
So I understand the historical piece of this, but that I don't. I don't see the brilliance. I don't see the smarts in this. I don't see you know, the Pope said he wasn't throwing shade because I ain't gonna put shade on the pope. But he basically said Donald Trump is not going to understand this because I'm not speaking in ways that he would understand, which.
Is my way.
It's very clear, right you're talking. And then J D Vance, who is I mean it says he's a and he's still online for Catholicism or.
Did he just yet he became he became a Catholic in twenty nineteen if I'm not okay, So.
Did you say online like is a fraternity?
Well, I mean as transaction, so I have to have to meet him in come. But but but basically decided that he was going to chastise the Pope and inform him of how he should make sure that his comments are in line with church dictum and scripture. And I'm thinking you, okay, are going to school the Vicar of Christ, the Bishop of Rome, the leader worldwide of Catholicism, and
what it means to base his critique in scripture. The same people who are part of a party who won't even walk in the light of their faith, they transact scriptures like they were putting on underwear. Today. We're going to hold fast to an eye for an eye, but we would do nothing for God bless the peacemakers right that they want to dismiss or what we're doing to the poor, the least of these that they will dismiss, but they'll grab fastly to the scripture that best you know,
suits their current political situation. And all I just want to say is that our religious leaders, regardless of what faith you may have, are generally respected and are kind of left to their devices so long as they are spreading what might be known as goodwill. But this, I think this president has transgressed in a way that he's going to come to regret, especially we consider the Catholics are the ones that helped to keep him and put him in office, and now they're turning against him.
I agree with that.
I know we're not going to stay on this forever. I just I think you know, you said, the leader worldwide of Christianity or Catholicism, how did Christianity find itself worldwide at the tip of a spear?
Most times?
Right, like the adoption of That's true, adoption of Christianity has been incredibly violent. And we can have a soft voice Pope Leo who is from the South side of Chicago or the Chicago shoutout, who can kind of front for a soft introduction to Christianity to people across the world. But we know how Christianity got here in the first place. And Donald Trump looks like white American Christianity to me, but he.
Could also be facilitating a different tradition of the church, one that sees because he's Yes, he's the South side Chicago. Yes he may present as a white American, but he spokes from Louisiana. Understand that they also have black roots. And I don't want to deny him that, But I'm also I'm also not going to sign him a history that he may or may not have embraced for himself.
You know, what we might need to embrace this on the mini pod because we go along.
That is, but you know what faith chands to do that to us.
You are not going to rush you, ord I'm not going to rush this faith discussion.
Well, I'm just saying, twenty minutes into the show, we got.
Except one more thing we gotta do, Bekare, and that is I understand that preparations and plans are underway for potential change at the High Court.
Man. That's the scariest thing that we're going to talk about today. People. The United States Senate is doing something that nobody's really talking about right now, but they are prepared to confirm Justice Alito's replacement before the midterm elections. Doc. People need to realize what month is this April, So
that's me June, July, August, September, October. So in over the next six months, they plan on narrowing down, widowing down, making a choice, having the President nominate and then confirm a new justice. This is both good news and bad news. The bad news is it's going to transform the court
for another twenty years. Right. The good news, though, Andrews, as what we talked about yesterday when we when I put this in the chat, is that that means that the Senate Republicans are scared that they may actually lose the Senate, which for me has always been weird. And it also brings me to a whole other thing. Shout out to James Tero Leco and all those guys were raising a lot of money.
But let's focus on rat what's his name.
Tero Rico, that's not his name. How you pronounce it, Man, I'm gonna put him over there with Hesga, clearly.
Gonna do it. Jack up somebody last night.
Yeah, but don't.
You know what I'm talking about. Hey, if y'all don't start focusing on Ohio and North Carolina and focus on winning those and flipping those seats, then were chasing this fool's gold again. But back to the headline, y'all them courts, Some courts are important.
It's funny, do you say Republicans who said Obama could not get a justice confirmed in a whole year plus and left in a term, and now they're going to move six months and put somebody in there. Joshua, I know you got thoughts on this because you be watching the numbers.
Yeah, I mean Macari kind of touched on it. I think it's all kind of downhill from Trump's approval rating right now. I really believe if Trump's below forty percent on a generic ballot, then it won't take much for any Democratic candidate in North carol North Carolina, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania to achieve more than what their generic ballot would be, which would give us three seats. So I heard all of that and just thought, they think that we're going to win back the Senate.
There it is Angela. Yes, we always to talk about the nation's capital as being the center of the universe, but things happen outside of Washington, d C. And you don't have to go far from the center of Washington to find real change happening.
What do you got, absolutely, I just want to shout out our good brother and friend, the Mayor of Baltimore, who was also newly elected as the president of the African American Mayor's Association. He is chiming in with a video about the new record low homicide rate in Baltimore.
It is the lowest in fifty years.
There were one hundred and thirty three homicides in twenty twenty five, and the next lowest year is nineteen sixty five with one thirty one. So I want to roll this clip from Brandon from Mayor Scott.
Peace, Native Lamdpartist. Mayor Brandon Scott from the Great City of Baltimore, just wanted to update you all on where we're staying with our public safety progress in Baltimore, and the truth is that we're continuing the historic progress we've made over these past few years. Over the last five years, homicides and shootings and fell in Baltimore by sixty percent.
Homicides felt by plus thirty percent last year, setting a fifty years low one hundred and thirty three homicides, and right now today through this point in April, we are on pace to beat those numbers from last year, and when they do it in a comprehensive way with CBI Community Violence Intervention, having our police officers focus on guns, the gun traffickers, and the very few people that are committing violence in our city and making sure that we're
investing in our community because it's not just shootings and homicides. Robberies are down fourteen percent in Baltimore, carjackings are down forty.
Percent in Baltimore.
Burglaries are down, and the comprehensive way that we are attacking this disease of gun violence is something that we're going to continue to do.
Peace.
Thank you so much Brandon for sending that video in, and we do congratulate you on all of the luring of the crime rates. One thing that he texted to me that I think is important to mention is he says, in two thousand and five, under then Mayor O'Malley, the city had two hundred and sixty nine homicides and arrested more than ninety three thousand people. Under Brandon, in twenty twenty five, again one hundred and thirty three homicides with
seventeen thousand arrests, significantly fewer arrests and less homicides. So thank you all so much. To Darth Vader, who's breathing in the microphone, shout out to you. You have the floor back. I think that's Andrew.
No. I wish I'm floored. I'm floord at those numbers. I mean, reference O'Malley's arrest numbers one more time, and then Brandon's fleet, I mean Mayor Scott's.
Oh okay, let me go back to my screen again. So O'Malley two hundred and sixty nine homicides. This was in two thousand and five with ninety three thousand arrests. That's pretty substantial compared to the number of homicides and then one hundred and thirty three homicides under Brandon with seventeen thousand arrests.
Josh for you know the numbers, but that's like an eighty percent or circ increase. And the arrest I mean, that's incredible. I got to tell you, as a mayor who focused also on reducing crime when I was the mayor of the city, tallhasse that stuff is not hard. I mean it's not easy. It's painstaking work. It is you know, the time commitment and you scratching your head and turning over the plan and writing a new one and adjusting and trying to convince yourself to stay with it,
stay with it, give it time, let it breathe. While the papers right edatorials left and right about what you aren't or are not doing, or right or wrong. I just want to salute the mayor because that's real work. I know he doesn't do it by himself, but it certainly starts with leadership. So hats off to you and your community colleagues who work with you to make that happen.
Can I just say real quick too, not only is he not doing it by himself, he's doing it under a Trump administration, a federal government that's going to be taking away the things that help reduce that's filing crime, right, Like, the social and economic determinants of crime have im proven when you take away snap benefits and Medicare and medicaid like, crime rates usually go up. So his declining crime rate during this time period is twice as impressive.
That's very trop I mean, let's let's be clear, so people want to know. I mean it's not you don't just reduce crime by you know, blinking twice or saying you're gonna do it right or you know. It's it's the holistic approach that he's taking to reducing crime. It's making sure you have summer work programs. It's making sure that you have after school programs. It's making sure you have things like midnight basketball. It's making sure that you
have things like job opportunities for people. Because when people are broke, they commit crime, right, I mean, they gonna make them and meet. You just don't want them to meet in your house, right, And so it's all the things that he's doing that we have been talking about so long, and he's doing it in collaboration. I love how josh pointed out the fact that he's doing it
without the cooperation of Donald Trump. But he is doing it with the cooperation of somebody in Annapolis and Wes Moore who is putting in place, and they're working as a tandem. Because for a long period of time, you know, the folk on Fox News would always use Baltimore as this bastion of white hyper criminality. Right, you black folks can't get right. It's a blue city, blah blah blah,
blah blah. And then now we're seeing this and they acquiet as a church mouse pissing on cotton, and you can't hear them say nothing about the good work that Brandon is doing. So thank you for lifting them up, Madam Angela.
I try here here, I keep referencing Joshua in the numbers. I hope I said in his intro that he's also on the leadership team there at at Hitch Strategies, which many of us know as a leading polar polling firm surfacing all communities. But to say, with particular note polling blacks and getting pretty accurate, dead on target numbers around how we're feeling, what we're thinking, how we're voting, what excites us and what doesn't excite us. So, Brandon, I
know we've got a topic from you coming up. Will you be able to dig in and envelop some of that for our listeners. But before we get there, I understand, h Angela, I think it is nocar. I'm sorry that that the Department of Justice. Uh, since the ousting of Pam Mula Bandi still hasn't changed the stripes. It's still doing some real racist throwback stuff. Yeah.
I mean, but the racism they're doing is is kind of okay by me because they're not hiding it. I like my race. I like my racist to be out front over don't be no crent races. I want you to be loud with it. So Todd blanche and and the boys over there at the Justice Department, they've decided that they're going to vacate the seditious conspiracy convictions of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys in major January sixth cases.
I don't know if you all truly understand, Like, I have a theory about this that I'll just share with you quickly, like the top line of it. But America's always had a problem, and we ended up here because we never punished the Confederates right and after the Civil War we let traders roam free without any punishment. Then you know they do Jim Crow right. Then you know they are January sixth. Now they're in the White House. And I just say that we've never punished Confederates and
we still ain't doing it today. And the January sixth rioters are some of the most treasonous, traitorous people that we've ever seen walk the face of the earth.
That's rue.
I think we should roll this footage since Nick requires a throw.
It's for Wearing's advice.
There's probably about three hundred Proud Voice their marching eastbound in this corner.
For those of you listening, we're just reviewing the footage that was shown to the January sixth Special Committee. You're watching Proud Boys, oathkeepers and others march towards the capital before they take it over. And we've seen this, you know, a gazillion times before, so we don't have to rehash all of it. But we thought it was important to remind you of what they were accused of doing.
What we can see with our own eyes.
Exactly, so we know that this is ridiculous that they would even consider throwing out these charges.
Also, there's that I think you can go ahead and cut it in, you can take it that.
But you know, the one one quick thing is like, you can't tell me that there was no element of racism involved in January sixth when people were literally running through the Capitol with the Confederate flag. And the second thing is they were beaten cops asses like they were literally hauling off back the blue, That's exactly. And so I for me, it's just this is a fascinating kind
of upside down that we live in, right. I mean, it's just a weird whether or not we're talking about the GOP being God's only party and not doing anything god like, or the GOP backing the blue and then partning everybody that was out there beating their ass, Like, I don't know what world we're living now.
The subservice is always to white supremacy, to perpetuating the mantle white supremacy. That's why eighty eight percent of white Evangelic culture Christians voted against Reverend Rafael Warnock. Right, That's why eighty eight percent of white Evangelical Christians voted against the pastor of Martin Luther King's Church, because it wasn't about their politics. It wasn't even about Christianity. It was about who was going to perpetuate the mantle of white supremacy.
And we see the same here with how they are willing to let cop beaters and such off the hook.
And as we learned at what points what made y'all actually, y'all got a lot of bars in these past couple of topics. Y'all need some shirts and stuff?
Yeah, ok, what I got on? Lik at my shirt.
We don't negotiate with races there it is. I hope, I hope you getting the proceeds. But but as established through the January sixth Commission, we have to remember what the strategic role the Proud Boys had in the planning and the preparation and the execution of what occurred on
January sixth. They were the paramilitary force. They were the tip of the spear that was intended to go in create as much havoc violence level whatever opposition stood in their way to include the blue the law enforcement officials and the Capitol police, who were the only thing between them and them killing or capturing members of Congress of the United States, Senate, the Vice President of the United States.
They were there strategically for the purpose of playing the playing the role of the of the of of of of the force. They were the force, uh to to to make that mission be a successful as it was. And to see this administration again going to great lengths to be apologists for the white supremacy, supremacy that they've
ushered in. And I got to tell you, you got to check out this New Yorker article about Nick Quintez and his whole crew, because if we think this is age appropriated and not deeply ingrained in the body of these people, such that young people, kids, eighteen year olds, sixteen year olds, fourteen year olds are taking on these ideas in this romanticized view of what America once was, and they refer to themselves as the natives, the natives
of his land. I mean, it's incredible, but the urgency by which they are moving against us, and I say us us, but also us democracy America is mind boggling. Joshua, I'd love for you to carry us into what I hope isn't a transgressing of our brothers their direction. But share with us some illuminating points that you've learned around satisfaction with the Trump administration from potentially some black.
Yeah, not the best news, but Hit Strategies conducted a poll and found that seventeen percent of Black men under the age of fifty actually say that they feel like Donald Trump's policies have helped them personally. Now, one thing I want to acknowledge is we are talking about a smaller percentage of black folks. Right, We're not just talking about seventeen percent of Black people as a whole. We're talking about black I'm sorry, those black men under fifty.
So it is a small percentage of the electorate, but it's still an alarming percent that do not see Donald Trump as hurting them.
That's incredible. And what do we know about what they consider to be helpful to them personally?
Is this taxes?
Is this immigration policy?
Yeah?
You know, I think this goes back to what to Angela's point, where you know, we're talking about things like that are happening in these cities in Baltimore and Chicago investment into the community violence intervention programs interrupted programs that
are actually paying dividends. I think one of the things that hit we want to go into is do people actually see the delineation between things that are happening in their life that are coming from their uh, their mayor Brandon Johnson's of the world, or you know, are they attributing some of those things to President Trump? But I also think that this is probably just a also a
big few to the to the Democratic Party. I think the party has a branding issue and young black men are looking to go somewhere else, and we need to address it the parties.
That's the question I got.
Like, but.
Where they live, Like they go to South Dakota.
You know some of them, though, y'all are influenced by people who are paid operatives of the Republican Party in Maga. I think that what you're going to start to see a lot more of are the ways in which the people have been influenced by people who are paid to tell them something. So there was a video that dropped last week from one of Elon Musk's baby Mama's about how the Republican Party goes on and gets like lifestyle influencers and pays them. There's another guy cannot think of
his name. It's like Dom Luker or something.
D you see actually black? Oh shit, I don't know, but I I know, but I just saw that. No, no, no, I saw that to be his abby. I didn't know.
No, no. He's been on air at Fox now.
Could he have appeared on air on Fox's AI perhaps, But like he's literally getting dragged right now by people who are.
Talking about how much money he gets paid per post.
Like he gets paid like six thousand dollars for a retweet, fifteen thousand dollars for an original post, et cetera. So he's been getting amplified on Twitter. He shows how much money he's made on Twitter in a last year. That's almost three hundred thousand dollars just engaging in this way. Yeah,
we need to really pull that stuff. But my point in saying that is there are people who think they are being influenced by freethinkers when free thinkers are in fact paid actors, right and not disclosing that they are paid influencers. Because you can circumvent the rules if the campaign pays a strategy firm, and then the strategy firm pays these people as subcontractors, they don't have to disclose
it in a certain way. I hope the law changes around that, but for now we know that Twitter is you know, an abyss welling.
Your your hometown, Joshua. There were I think there were municipal races where they had discovered that these influencers, who many of which were coming from outside of the city of Chicago, posting not pro ads for a candidate they support it, but just doing teardowns, just doing negative advertisements against UH challengers for candidates for a particular office. And when these folks were followed up with by the mainstream press,
they started distancing themselves. I didn't know what this I didn't know what this was, D D D. I wasn't No, I don't know her personally, No, I haven't followed her politics, so on and so forth. So I thought, I just thought that transparency, that layer of local transparency to help, you know, fish some of these people out, was really helpful.
But we got to recognize that this tactic is not just one that's being implored sort of UH in a worldly way or geographically nationally but it's seeping into local races, these school board races where the writer is fighting hard to take over you know, education policy. They can ban more books and and ban educating of black history. But but that this thing is showing up on every single
part of the turf. As we transition to our main topic, I just wanted to throw one more in here, and that is that we've got one of the scions the leaders on the on the left, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who is making a really interesting argument uh to uh, to democrats, to progressives, of those who are trying to build an anti Trump coalition, And I'm interested to hear what y'all think on the other side of these comments.
I was reading an article today about your comments on a major Marjorie Telegreen and the fact that we should have empathy for people like her who've realized all this stuff. Right, why do you get to that point, Like, why not just like leave her where she is and let her do what she thinks she's doing.
Oh, I'm good to leave her where she is, let me do what she's doing. I guess why, Yeah, No, I mean my point is this, if you were let stray and you are adult enough, honest enough to say I was wrong into believing that this was the right direction for our country. And I want to join you all because I now understand that you had it right.
I'm like, welcome, right.
I'm glad you finally got here because we believe that we are on the right side of history. Now, am I gonna be key keying with her?
No?
So when you're when you're calling for Democrats to show grace to former Trump supporters, what is grace?
I am not. Okay, No, it's not the Trump supporters. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying if you had a change of heart in regards to power.
What if you're a Trump supporter who had a change of heart.
Policy Okay, not, you know. I mean if your list chainey and you're like, I'm not voting for Trump, but I will, I'll vote for Harris. But you still hold right the all of your policy views, the aligned with Trump. That means that means nothing to me.
I don't So what about.
Former Trump supporters like the Marjorie Tailor Green.
But if you were marginally tailed Green and you say, this man is taking us to wars that will destroy us and our resources in the future of our children. That is a policy position I have, Untie Woo, What.
Does grace look like without letting those people off the hook.
Grace looks like saying I agree when they make a policy point of view. Grace looks like not dismissing when somebody wants to join your coalition, not just as a voting block, but as an advocate for the policies that you believe will create a better world for all of us.
Can I just say I appreciate Iohans grace, But I'm a scorpio, so my memory is long. So I just want to refresh everyone's recollection on why Marjorie Taylor Green will always be a.
Beach blonde badfield. Butch body please roll the clip.
The form of the resolution is as follows recognized censuring Representative Ilhan Omar of Somali, I mean, Minnesota cut.
That's all we need to see. Raggedy broad Wow. Now I wanted to play that because she wasn't just offensive to Ilhan as she sought her censure for God only knows what reason. She wasn't just offensive when she said that she needed to be packing in the halls of Congress because she didn't trust terrorists quote unquote terrorists like Ilhan Omar and others of her colleagues who she was.
She was always on the squad's ass. She wasn't just problematic when she was in congressional hearing rooms, the Oversight Committee, in particular, where she said to Jasmine Crockett she can't hear her over her eyelashes, which is where beach blonde bad built. Sorry, butch body came from. She did not have a Freudian slip on the House floor when she said Ilhan Omar from Somalia, I mean Minnesota.
That was with intention, and so.
I appreciate the moral convenience that she now has of calling out Donald Trump. But you don't even have a vote in the House of Representatives anymore.
So what good is that? What good is that? What are you actually doing?
Did she meet herself?
You mute yourself?
Oh, I'm sorry, I was so mad. I didn't hit the mic. I was saying, I don't know, Look at okay, I would yield that if you really think that that's good.
But I just will just say I will just say that.
She's saying, well, if you agree on Ilhan says, if you agree with us on policy.
Now, then we got some road to go.
But the problem with the policy coalition that now sees the light, the policy coalition needs to still have a vote in Congress, and she has resigned, so that is of no use to us. You are of no, you're not even a transactional use to us. Again, as the Congressional Black Caucuss always says, no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, No, just permanent interests. We don't even have a permanent interest because there's nothing you can do but be on Twitter yapping all day, which is all she does.
That's so I do that. I mean, I just think it's permanent. And that's what I was going to say. Elections. Elections are about multiplication and addition.
She still don't want y'all to have Medicare, Medicare, any type of Obamacare. She still don't want people on snap benefits. She still wants people deported, even if they are legally in the United States.
Where where is the interest?
Is the interest just in Iran is just about.
Does she have to have interest in all of that? I hear, look, and I hear what you say, Like I think we all we all feel that same when I hang out with her.
But like, does she have to have.
To destabilize portions of the Republican base that will allow us to get back power at the midterms. I just think, like Blackfoot, we have we have too much to lose to not be strategic in moments like this. In my opinion, I don't have no empathy for Marjorie Taylor Green.
I have strategy.
I have strategy.
Because our kids depend on us to be strategic over emotional, you know what I mean. And so that's kind of where I.
Sit with it.
I think I just talked about permanent interest.
But I guess what I would love for you all to answer, since you all still see some earthly good in his broad Please tell me what the interest is that she's accomplishing. Andrew, I heard you say defeating Donald Trump. She's gonna defeat Donald Trump with hot Twitter fingers.
Where do you see her?
No? No, no, let me let me ask you this.
Let me ask you. Do y'all see her at a rally campaigning for John Austin.
Let me tell you I don't need her to do that. We don't need her to induce, don't we don't want we don't want that what we need her to do is to remind these people who's similar to her. And I have to tell you, I do doubt how bamboozoo she was. I'm not convinced that this was a bamboozooing, right. I think there were some inconvenient disagreements that may have put her on the outs that then were in furtherance
of her going on the outs. For instance, indicating to Trump and his advisors that she wanted to run for governor, Trump responding, no, you do not want to run for governor, and you will not run for governor of the state of Georgia, and her feeling some type of way about the man she's been so loyal to deciding to turn his back on her, and the timing being such that her retirement coincided with her being vested with congressional retirement
benefits because she just met the threshold the day before she decided to resign from Congress. So I think there's some convenience built in there. But this is where I think her additive value is. It is in that there are people who are similar to her, adjacent to her, who say they felt that Trump was going to carry the banner of not compassion for immigrants, but getting them out of this country. I didn't want to see brutality on my television station. I wanted to see them loaded
on planes and flown out of here. It is. I expected to see America first, and that's not what we got because he's an international list and it's taken US dollars and spending them elsewhere. So she can go out and carry a message that she's she's deeply steeped in that she has credibility on with people who we need credible messages to be in front of to do one thing. As far as I'm concerned, because I don't think they
can be counted on to vote for Democrats. But those who do have got, you know, go forth and do great things. I think they can be counted on to stay. Destabilize them, to sit it out.
Yes, that's yeah. I think to say, I'm in the base, we got a week in the base. I mean you gotta and I gotta remember we come up to seven that's seventy five million votes. I mean, if you can, if you can weaken them, get them disenchanted, stay home, those type of things, get that number back down to reasonable sixty nine you know, seventy you win, you win a presidency.
All of our minds will grown over Trump winning in sixteen because we did not expect the light turn out to be supercharged, and he's supercharged at basi of white voters who did not show up before, who all of a sudden showed up at the polls.
Non college educated white verse, which is what Marjorie Taylor Greens holds, influences white non college educated voters that didn't participate in politics, and now they do, and they may be feeling a little politically homeless. As you said, all we need to do is just to stabilize them.
I guess it's hard for me to.
Argue for like to encourage, to encourage people to stay home. I would rather people be informed and do the right thing. And I think what's frustrating to me in this particular moment is if you put like do a pros and cons list, and Marjorie Taylor Green's pros and consless was right here on the policy she supports.
She is ninety nine point eight percent aligned.
With the GOP that is still MAGA based, and so I just don't trust that she is is actually going to do the work of our interests that y'all are hoping she does.
She's not going to advance our interests.
I'm no exactly, but I don't think that she's even going to be that helpful. I think her points are strictly on Iran and Israel. I think that those are the only places where she is really hitting Trump, and then on her Christianity since she also hit him about what he said on Easter, which was still related to the war and what he's doing around Jesus.
So I guess she has credibility in that. But in every headline of from Fox.
News US, it.
Gets us in the ears of people who like her, believed in him, who are now being told by somebody that they trust that he is not what we thought we were getting. He is.
He's not on the ballot for midterms.
What is she getting us about it?
No, he's not. I probably I think I've been all y'all five dollars, I got.
Five And the reason we are by thirty points and congressional districts where we were blown out by Trump, it's not because his name was on the ballot. It's because the Republican is on the ballot.
Where she stands with them. I bet you she is not going to be out here throwing at the Republicans under I think.
I think we have to put this in its proper context. We are not looking for a new ally, We are not looking for her to be a friend. She is not somebody that we're going to break bread with, say prayers together with, because we're not going to pray for the same things as we fold our hands. If there is a God in her prayer, I don't know. So all I'm saying is is that those are not That's not where I'm placing my house. That is unsteady ground,
the ground that I want her to play on. It don't have to include me or any candidate I support. It just needs to be to her people, to their people, who need to be reminded that they've been bembooz.
Oh quote quote quote. I don't know.
I don't really know. But if they believe it enough that they say, there's no sense in going back out and putting these people back in office because they're not going to do what they promised us in the first place. And I hear your point, Angela about not wanting to have people sit home, But we're talking about elections here, they not only want us not to not sit home, we go out and vote, and then they still want to take our shit away. They want to steal our stuff.
But I don't want to stay like them.
No, we're not being like them. We're saying, you know what, if you can't go in there and do the right thing, then sit your ass at home. If you can't go in there and vote for the Democrat who will advance your interests, whether you know it or not, then don't go in there and muck it up for the rest of us.
I do agree with Angela in the sense of, like, even in having this conversation, there is a part of me. Maybe it's an older version of me that is uncomfortable like publicly talking about a strategy demobilize voters and so.
Like they're doing the demobile.
Agree with you. I just want to like make space for what Angela is saying, Like I hate that, I hate that I'm here.
I don't like being here, you know.
I think it is just out of my like my deep longing to undo some of the damage that Donald Trump's dunt our communities that I can say something like that on the Native Land podcast. So I hear you, Angela, on that.
I hear what you're saying too.
I think that's fair, And you know, I wish that we again, maybe this should have been a mini pod topic too, but I wish that we we're at a place where it's like every vote counts, you have the right to have your vote counted, and while where I'm arguing that for you, you're working actively, as Andrew just said, to keep us in a position where we can't even get an ID, we can't even prove that we're citizens, can't even prove that this is our last name, and
they have the save Acts on the Senate floor, you know, wavering like that's so that I understand exactly what you're saying. But to me, I never want to embody the type of power that has oppressed us in so many other people for so long. I want us to, you know, embody it different type of power, the one that's rooted in love.
The differences, Angela is they have agency and deciding whether they want to go to the polls or not. It is not a system operating to suppress their vote. It is that they have made the decision that this isn't working out for me. These candidates who I have traditionally supported, and I will not, over my dead body vote for a Democrat. I'm going to choose to sit this up. By the way, I will tell you, if we were dealing with a more sophisticated voter base, I would say
what I have done before. I have gone to the polls, I have gotten my ballot, I have signed my name, and then I pushed through that machine a ballot with no vote, no choice, and the race that I that I was allowed to vote in on that particular ballot. And that's because I didn't want to mess up my voting record of having perfect attendants and going in voting and being part of that process simply because I didn't like the choices that I had in the particular race.
It's almost the same equivalent you will have me on the polls is having gone and voted, but I will not have made a single choice in the race which I was able to choose. And by the way, that's legal in the process.
Andrew Gillen would have been a great choice for mayor of Tallahasse. You should have cast a ballot for Shut that.
Hell up, guys. We are moving this movingly before over to our topic that we wanted to spend just a little bit of time on, and and that is we've seen in the last uh several uh this last week, if you will, at least in one case, and that's Eric Swallwell, the Congressman from northern California who announced his resignation from the United States Congress.
Nobody knows.
In the other instance, Tony Gonzalez for months, the representative from from Southern Texas, who had admitted to having had an affair with his assistant who worked on his staff, an assistant who later went on to die by suicide. His case had been out there.
For at the next sentence, because I think that deserves some context. She died by suicide by setting herself on fire.
True statement, but mister Gonzales was not, however, up to this point, urged on by the Republican leadership to vacate his seat, despite the fact that the allegations levied against him were similar in some instances to to Aris Walwell.
There is, of course the instance of Corey Mills, Republican from Florida, who has domestic violence open incidences that are recorded against him down and down in Florida, and has been under pressure and is now under ethics investigation by the Ethics Commission Committee of the of the United States Congress, and tangential to this uh And I would say it's only tangential to to to these instances of of of sexual abuse allegations in the sense that Sheila uh Scherfhalis McCormick,
who is a Democrat from the state of Florida, my area, who actually took the seat vacated in the untimely passing of al Sie Hastings who held that seat prior to her, but as a member of Congress, and is accused of having stole five million dollars a few disaster funds and made hundreds I understand up to this point documented campaign
finance mistakes or fraud claims in her reports. The reason why I say she's tangential to this is because it appears that the only way you can get the Republican leadership in Congress to move one of these bad players out of the Congress is if you can take down a Democrat at the same time as they lose a Republican.
And this point has been made well by many members of Congress, but in the case of Eric Swalwell where these cases of now five at the time of our recording, claims of sexual abuse and rape allegations have been made against him. We've seen in some of the news coverage the comment being sort of very you know, sort of uh. I think you're responsibly thrown out that this has been a bad kept open secret uh in Washington for some time. His behavior and it really, I think, alarmed a number
of us and causes us to ask the question. And I think it's manifold sys the questions of of what what is the dynamic of a relationship between a boss and a subordinate right and dealing with folks or having an affair with people who are on your staff or ledged to what's the dynamic of of people in power in the rape culture that tends to and I think in some cases engulf them. And then I think there is the the the question around how we as a
society deal with these allegations. And before there is process, yes, there is conclusion and an action on the conclusions that we draw. And I have particular issue with this which I love to get into after I hear from my colleagues here. But y'all, I know I didn't completely lay all of it out. But I think enough is there for us to describe.
I think if we can just for context because some of what Andrew's reference are.
There's some video. So there's a guy that we saw online. I don't know his name.
I apologize, but I want to run this clip because he actually was criticizing Democrats for throwing out their nominees too soon. Interesting take, but let's let's hear it, not the eye roll Joshua ty Barnett, Okay, can we roll the clip?
Nick?
Thank you so much.
This is why Democrats get looked at the way they do. You want Eric Swalwell to drop out over allegations, nothing proven, just allegations. It's insane to me that y'all are trying to hold people to a certain standard while we have a literal rapist as the head of the country, a literal rapist who got the job back after being convicted of right He got.
Convicted and then was sworn in later.
He got convicted of thirty four felonies and was sworn in later. We had Brett Kavanaugh, who had allegations during his confirmation hearing and got the job of Supreme Court justice lifelong deportment who actually helped the convicted rapists get back in power. We have Jim Jordan who helped cover for pedos and is still sitting in a position of power and almost has Speaker of the House.
Am I saying don't believe any of the women, not at all.
But what I'm saying is, can we have a trial, Can we get the thing to be proven? Can we have the evidence to be out there before we make this decision? Or only one side has to still pretend to be virtuous. This ain't the nineties, This ain't Bill Clinton lying about a bj were dealing with a full on fascist who is a pedo, who is a convicted grapist, would surrounded by other people who have been convicted of crimes. Y'all want Eric Swalwell though, to drop out over allegations.
This is why people look at Democrats the way to do. This is why they call y'all week. This is why they call y'all spineless. And what virtue are you signaling? Joe Biden had none of these scandals, none of them. You wanted him going after one debate. Kamalin Harris had none of these scandals, yet you still didn't want her in power. So what is it you're looking for? Let me tell you something real quick, talk about this type
of ship I was. I was traveling last week. There was a lady working at the ticket counter airport and I said to her, I said, yeah, I'm just having a hard time believing that we have a pedo at the head off.
She said, well, how does that affect your life?
I said, how does it affect my life that the head of the country is a pedo and protecting other pedos?
She said, yeah, how does that affect your everyday life?
That conversations it's still with me today and the fact that y'all are asking Eric Swalwell to drop out over allegations when we have average citizens that are telling me I shouldn't give that the head of the country is a suspected pedo protecting other pedles.
Make it make sense.
I understood that point. I think you should under say what people make allowance for.
Okay, So just really quickly here, I want to make sure that I'm fair to this brother and saying he put this video out before the allegations. The latest allegations against Eric Swalwell in the Beverly Hills Hotel room came out, not that it would change his position. I'm happy to respond to that this, but I'm also happy to yield. And if y'all want to roll the other clip of the allegations, we can or we can wait.
It's up to y'all.
Please no, please.
I think this is some of the dumbest shit I've ever heard in my life, and the reason for that is I don't ever want us to be holding ourselves to this same standard as Donald Trump.
I don't.
When I was growing up, people asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up, and one of the things that some kids would say is the President of the United States. He has made a mockery of the highest office of the land.
Number One.
I don't want to encourage kids. You would tell kids all the time, cheaters never win, and we're watching this man win over and over again electorally beating the criminal justice system, when we have brothers incarcerated, sisters incarcerated, who are sitting behind bars for stuff they didn't even do.
You know, we talked about Sheila.
I don't think she should be serving in Congress, but this woman is facing fifty three years in prison for something Donald Trump did.
Over and over and over again.
So I don't want us to say, like this is the gold star standard. Let us turn our eyes to people who have clear moral corruptibility and turn our eyes away from that and just you know, hold our nose and do the thing that's that's that's in our interests. And I can't say that somebody with all these allegations who's done all these things is in my best interest, or even the fact when he was like what the woman said, what does that have to do with you?
I don't want someone who turns a blind eye to crime, who's violating the emolument's clause, who calls people human beings, rapists and drug dealers to whom he does not know, who is sending people all over the world, whether they are legal, have legal status here or not.
I don't want us to aspire to that. That's my issue, and so for me.
Should there be more due process, yes, but also it should be fairly applied across the board, without regard regard to partisanship or whether or not somebody A or B is your favorite member or not. We've talked a lot about what was going on with Eric Swalwell. The worst kept secret is that he was a hoe. It was not that the worst kept secret was that he was
sexually as people. I still don't know that to be fat I don't believe this woman is making this stuff up or these other young women made this stuff up. But I think that there is nuance and layers to that, and I think that there should be consequence based on the severity of the issue. But I don't agree that we should be modeling ourselves and our political practices off of the Republican Party. I just don't. To me, they are like the worst examples of grown ups right now.
I think that the position has to be nuanced in this discussion, and I think that you added a very robust nuance to take. And I think that the reason this show is good is because we can have these layered discussions, whereas sometimes on Twitter or Instagram people give you these hot takes that don't necessarily encapsulate the gravity
of the matter. Like my overarching theme is you cannot let them make you them right, And I think that's what you were saying to a certain degree, Angela, like we cannot become them in terms of our moral and ethical fiber. On the flip side. I can also say that I was wrong about al Franken. I think I was a part of that growing chorus that said that al Franken should president resign. That was punny that he should, that he should resign because of a picture that was taken.
I mean al Franken should probably this day, I mean hopefully he would have retired because of his age, but we know that's not the case, still be in the United States Senate. And so you can have those nuanced takes. And I think that when you're looking at Eric Swallwell, and I said this yesterday and this may be kind of my legal brain working in buckets, you have to look at what Angela talked about him being a hope
in one bucket. You have to look at sexual assault in another bucket, and you have to look at impropriety with staffers in another bucket. And I think that you have one is him being a hoe. You have one that is extremely criminal and you belong under the jail, and the other is unethical and you have your own series of ethical issues with that, and so I think you have to be willing to analyze these things with that, and you talk about evidence, the most clear cut evidence
actually is against Sheila McCormick. She got found guilty by a House, a bipartisan House Ethics committee of twenty five of the twenty seven counts that they said it was more than clear and convincing evidence. It wasn't a witch on on one side or another. You talk about Corey Mills,
his allegations are just are ridiculously dangerous. And you look at Turning Gonzalez and some of the things he was doing and the result of his actions, right, I mean, his case is almost more so about the result in just the horrific nature in which he put this woman through so much trauma that she felt like that was her only way out. And then Eric Swalwell is apparently
somebody that none of us really knew. If those allegations are born to be true, now politically, nobody's going to go out here and practice a unilateral disarmament, Like ain't nobody just going it's too close in the in the halls of power. If you think, for people listening, if you think this isn't about power, at the end of the day, that is what that It's about power, And even more simply it's about math. Like Mike Johnson and the Kim Jeffries are in a room together looking at
each other counting votes. It is about math, and so do you got to we got to we not unilaterally disarming kick them out so we.
Know who is sick this week.
Yeah. So, I mean, I just think that we have to be really nuanced. And I think that Angela's point I would like to combine her point in mind as kind of top top themes, which is like, don't let them, don't let them make you them, but also we deserve more of our elected officials, which I got a lot out of what Angela said, Josh, what you get.
Yeah, I mean, I won't say too much. I think you know, the point that you made, Angela, don't let them, don't let them make us them was was the was the point that I was agreeing with a little bit earlier as well, when we were talking about, you know, putting out a message that would purposefully demobilize people to vote, Like I'm sensitive to that. I don't want to be that guy. I do think that the only the weakest part of his video, the weakest part of his argument
was when he was making the Republican comparisons. I want to just like clearly state that I think that any any position that says, look, they did it, so we should either do it or halt on, you know, criticizing some money when they do it, I'm never going to agree with that. There's one small part of what he said that I am I'm not saying I agree with, but I'm I am sensitive too, and I want to think more about, which is at what point do allegations become.
The Gospel's truth? Right?
And the reason why, you know, this is a tough thing to say coming out of the Me too era where you know, the headline is believe women, Believe women, and we I want to do that.
We all want to.
Stressy that I wasn't the headline.
He speak, well, Well, where I'm going with this is the one thing that brings me as a black man back to is like the.
Suite of abhorn.
Allegations against black men coming from white women throughout history that like we're not even uh, there was no room to question them and have had enormous ramifications in our community and our psyche and our relationship with this country.
And so I understand that his video was made before some video evidence came out, and the only part of his video that I felt a little bit of, uh that I want to think more about, is, Yeah, at what point do we say the allegations absolutely mean that you must step down, or absolutely mean that you are not the person that could represent me. I think that that is worth some discourse as well.
I just can I just say this one thing on top of what you just said about some of the allegations. Historically, this is why I and God in trouble for it and still do to this day. Never say believe all women. I don't believe all women. It is what it is. I have a friend from preschool incarcerated right now for an accusation of rape that he did not do, but
because people believed all women. You can go back, since we've talked about the Bible today, you can go back to the Book of Genesis where Joseph ran out of his cloak from Potiphar's wife child, Okay, because she accused.
Him of some stuff.
So I don't believe all women either, But I do think we should be figuring out if we're giving people passes, not around sexual assault, but if going back to this video, if we're giving people passes, what is permissible for a Democratic Party to give their potential candidates passes for what are the things you turn a blind eye to? Do you turn a blind eye towards anything? Do you get someone passed? Do you get someone grace? We got grace
for Marjorie Taylor Green? So do we have grace for these people who have been carrying the right banner for a policy that actually served and meets the needs of our people. I don't know, it's to your point, Josh, I'm gonna start saying that, Like, I got to think about this some more, but this is where I'm at in this moment. I think that it's worthy of a conversation to say, what is the spectrum of grace that we give for, particularly for people running for office or in elected office?
And then where do we say, no, we draw the line here? What is the line that we.
Draw part this? If I could just weigh it on the topic broadly, which is to say to your question, Angela, And I think that he hit on this in this video as he compared how Republicans tend to deal with their crises, forgetting the enumerting of what those crises may be, but how they generally perform or deal with it. And how Democrats perform a deal with our crises. And I
gotta say that resonated with me. First off, if your fight is being is taking place in the arena of politics, please don't ever count on your political party to be your clutch, got your back ride wich you like four flat tires, Absolutely not on the Democratic side, hook line sinker, period After that, they're not going to and the body politic, frankly, for the players in the arena are really not about that.
They are about harm reduction to themselves. When I say harm reductions as well as electability re electability, and not to put in any way, shape or form compromise their access or their welding of power. Period Enough said. But I will say the party as a whole does not have an appetite for a full throated and full throttled defense.
And again I'm stepping outside of this the context of the sexual abuse allegations and just dealing just more broadly with their appetite for the disdainful whatever that might look like. The Other thing I'll say about this is that my belief about believe all women is believe all women enough
to investigate the allegations. Is what we are to say is the dot dot because nowhere And I'll say this from my own experience, it is a heel to climb plus some to deal with someone levying an allegation against you before you've ever had an opportunity to speak for yourself or to defend yourself, to say what your experience has been. And I believe people are entitled to that. But I will make an exception. I think that serving
in public office is a privilege in a responsibility. I don't know that defending that perch is a defense that should be mounted from a political office. You may make the decision in the interest of the people for whom you've been elected to service. I will be too much of a distraction to what I've been elected and sent here to do than to fight this fight while I also stand as your elected best representative voice for our district.
So the normal rules may not apply, and in fact, I think in a lot of cases don't apply for elected a officials. That the kind of grace that we want extended to us will follow us through our aspirations into the next office, as well as the maintaining of the office that we hold. And then finally, I'll just say on this, and I'll give it to you, Bikari.
It is.
It is that the belief that we can become judge, jury executioner off of the claims of one because as we all say, there's one to three sides, your's, theirs, and the truth. All of us have an experience and a lens by which we view and experience these things, and it may not always, in the retelling be the total. You know, some of all that may have taken place,
and which is why investigations are important. But juries are the only ones who carry the responsibility of withholding judgment until you have heard what the judge says you are allowed to consider and making a determination on this case. The rest of us are not required to to spend with judgment until we've heard all the evidence. It's nice to do, but by and large, nobody has that admonishment except jurors.
I always tell people this, and I'm actually tossing it back to you, Andrew, because I have a question. I always tell people that pastors and elected officials are the only profession where people expect more from you than they expect from themselves, of course, and I just think that that is kind of an awesome cross to bear perverbally, and that is like your great responsibility of refrain. But Andrew,
I think you hit on it. But I really just wanted to drive this home because I was actually thinking about this in conversation with you, and I woke up at two forty five this morning to come back home from TV. But like, talk about the value of due process, because you know, people in this world of hot takes, in this world of you know, kind of cascading things, momentum happens. I mean, two weeks ago, Eric Swalwell was on his way to the governor's mansion.
That's true, that's true.
Two days ago, this man, I guess you call it, but he ran for president and we didn't know none of this, right that you all remember he was on the stage against Joe Biden, like he literally ran for president and two weeks ago was on his way to the governor's mansion. And then it kind of of cascaded down. And sometimes is it the job that you have that you don't get the benefit of due process? Where does
due process stop and start? Should we? I mean, we talk about these words as if they're not so tangible ideals. But I hold due process as like a fundamental tenet of our being like that, that is so like my quest because you've been through the process. Me and Andrew joke all the time. Andrew was like, what did you ask me, Andrew.
If you thought I was going to be found guilty?
And you said, yeah, I mean I love Andrew with all my heart.
No, he knew the percentages.
Yeah, the percentage was when you go.
Against the federal government, nine percent of those cases if not settled. I mean it was a resulting guilt.
So use terminology. It wasn't necessarily an indictment of the man that I know. It was more of the process that we're in. Right, So you've been through that process where many people didn't. They you were pre judged and you still are. You still are. People still judge you for behavior they accused you of that you were found not guilty of. So like, explain to me due process as somebody who's set in that seat.
Well, I will tell you. Due process is confined to the legal arena, and barely that alone. But in the court of the public opinion, there is no due process. There is claim, there's allegation, there's whatever your response may be,
should you be able to give a response. By the way, usually in legal instances, the defendant is encouraged not to go out and to talk publicly because every single thing you you say can become another indictable offense, another offense by which they can come right back around and say, oh, we have a superseding indictment. We're not going to add this, this, this,
and this against you. And so the system is not built at all for in the direction of a legally balanced system, wherein the defendant has equal opportunity right and standing before the court of public opinion to make a fair and balanced case. The fact that they can have a superseding indictment is one instance where you can see it is not to the advantage or to the to to to there to the benefit of the defendant to
speak at all outside of the legal arena. But beyond that, Bakari, it is the truth is is that I know this in saying it right now, and I know it will be the case after we say it and after this conversation, and it didn't change for me until I was in the bullseye. To be very be honest with you, is I also prejudged when I heard a claim when I heard a an accusation, my my being was to be sensitive to what the person was being accused of, because
why would somebody make that up? Why would someone put themselves?
Why would?
Why would? Why would? Why wouldn't they? Why shouldn't they want to take your ass off? Why wouldn't they want to move in us a barrier that they believe got too close? Why wouldn't they?
Right?
But most of us are not going to go.
On a bipartisan level, for sure, Okay.
Most of us are not going to go to the questions of why.
I will tell you that Shela messed up, But those claims didn't come out of thin air. And one day when we off off off air, I'll tell you.
The Democrats Democrats to witness people, and they were going to be in the same district, And so there were Democrats who wanted to go ahead and take her out.
By the way, does not let her off of whatever you need.
Three years.
She's a whole damn count artist.
There would take away for instance, if I were jumping forward to my ct A, it really would be that we owe it to ourselves into the people out there who are accused and are leveled for things and we don't have the picture in front of us, and certainly in instances where the picture is supposed to become, you know, supposed to come forward, you know over the course of a process that we not just have grace, but put yourself in the position that if these things were being
levied against me, and to my heart of hearts, I believe that I did not do the thing that they are saying that I did. That that you would wait until this process plays itself out so you can learn a little bit more, know a little bit more before you jump on that train. When that train hasn't even been interrogated. We haven't had a chance to put to the to the accusation a question. We have only been able to absorb what the accusation has been. And I'm
not saying these folks are out there lying. I'm simply saying there ought to be a process that is observed that will allow us to know more fully and completely the story. The reason people give up and say, you know what I'm gonna plead is because they know the mountain that they are going to have to climb. If they're asking you, me and everybody else to withhold judgment until you learn more of what the situation has to offer.
I was waiting on that answer, Thank you, a Jed. I wasn't trying to get too personal, but I was like, this is somebody who can answer this question.
Is you? It's real? And the truth is that sometimes you won't. Unless you're in the crosshairs. It may never occur to you that judgment shouldn't be yours right now. Maybe what ought to be yours is curiosity and inquisition
about what has come forward. And if that puts you on the wrong side of women's liberation, it shouldn't because we should say yes, they ought to be believed enough that their claims are investigated and solve through their logical conclusion, not that they are dismissed with, which has been the normal habit of the system, which is to say, manah, yeah, but you put yourself in the situation, and yeah, what did you do? And what were you wearing? And why
would you show to somebody's place. All that stuff used to be the stuff that disarmed and quite frankly embarrassed and whipped women and claimants into submission because they knew that the system as built was not going to make way for their truth. We should make way for their truth.
I want to put an exclamation mark on something you said too as you were talking ag like you you you know, for a black for a black man to ask the court of public opinion to at least wait until we get to the due process into the system that can discover truth. And that system doesn't even have a good record in discovering truth. That is us asking most times for the absolute bare minimum, absolutely right, like that system has a terrible track record and even discovering
our truths right. And actually in most cases, those systems have been shields of plausible deniability that just allow some of the worst actors in America to to divvy out, you know, consequences towards us while no one can be single handedly responsible because it was it was a judicial say hey, hey, hey, they went through the courts, right, and so I really, I really like the way that you put that believe all women enough to to be curious to investigate the claims.
I like that a lot.
Yeah, well, y'all, I got one question for y'all, which is is there redemption in your mind after something like this? I think it's too early in the Swalloworld case because we've not there's not been a full vetting. But do you ever see an environment where someone can go through that crucible and afterwards be allowed in polite society, acceptable in polite society? Is that? What is that?
I'm wondering if we can bigger question, if we could do.
That on the mini pod ag because I would love to throw that in with the like the grace passes, Like what are the things that we can't extend grace for and allow somebody back into public service and vote them back in even because I do think it's something we should wrestle with and even if everybody else is uncomfortable with it. I think there needs to be a safe place called home where we can talk about these things,
like what is the thing that's beyond the pill? What could we say, you know, if you went through some type of rehab or whatever, there's space. What are the things that will never let you back in for? I think it's important to wrestle with those things.
At the challenge and don't relent the mic because you're on for CTA.
Who cares about truth for the last more than saying.
It okay, well thank you for that. So I my CTA is about taking care of yourself. You are we are living in a day and age where we are under constant stress. Our age group is going through taking care of children, taking care of our parents, taking care of our neighbors. And then we have to we have to like look at our president talking shit to the pope, you know, so like we have to wrestle with a lot internal and external factors of stress. Last week, Daddy,
I'm about to tell your business. My dad was a hospitalized Wednesday and he you know, he has chronically high blood pressure. But we also found out he has congenital heart failure. He has to get a stint put in on Monday next week.
He's been doing.
Such great work supporting my mom and her care. And shout out to mommy because her cancer.
She just got some.
Blood work back and it's looking really, really good, so we're thanking God for that. But I'm saying this to you all because I was in a season for a long time of I don't have time to even work out for an hour. I'll eat right, I'll take my vitamins. I'm gonna be honest with y'all. I'm doing about three times a week. I need to do every day. But like even still right now in my challenge, I need to do more days a week. But I'm saying I would convince myself I don't even have the hour to give me.
There are twenty four hours in a day.
You cannot give the best of yourself to your spouses, your partners, your kids, your parents if you don't find that one hour. When we were in the emergency room, just as a quick little testimony with my dad his blood pressure, that the what's the top number is systolic? Whatever the top number isstic start yes, So his systolic number was two thirty one. I put on a meditation app for nine minutes and that top number dropped from two thirty one to one ninety two. And one ninety
two is still too high. But in the emergency room you're about to get your blood pressure medicine, it's a little bit better. What I'm saying is just nine minutes if you're dealing with high blood pressure, just twenty minutes of walking thirty minutes something. I got my little peddler thing onneath. I don't know if y'all saw me, I was doing like that. I was peddling under the desk and now I'm like, I'm in the ninety day challenge. Let's go, y'all can join me at day eighty or
whatever day I'm on seventy five. I just want you to do something and take care of yourselves and being committed to it. I do better with collaborative projects. So I got my friends all on me, like, Okay, we about to hit this treadmill. Okay, We're about to do these crunches. Okay, like, just do it. And also I needed to lose twenty pounds, so please do that for me, y'all.
I loved that. I appreciate that, yes, which got Joshua.
I'll go.
I'll do I'll say, do things that do things that scare you, do things that make you nervous, do things that intimidate you. I'm gonna shamelessly plug myself here. I just gave the keynote at the Harvard Kennedy School the Black Policy Conference, and you know, most of my speech was about black political power, the research that we had done and hit strategies to disaggregate and psychographically segment the black voters.
And I was nervous, man, you know, I was.
I was real like I was a little timminated, and I think it went well and I've gotten some good reviews. And I've been saying that to myself since he like, do do the things that's scary, you don't run away from it.
I love that. Yeah, I love that.
Uh, I'm getting nervous no more.
You know, you can show up and show out on young jeezy and show out. I got a video that I wanted to play from my oldest baby girl right here, Nick, if you can put it up for us.
She looks like her mother.
Yo. Yeah, that's just like her mom. So the video that we're watching is Kai Carter crossing. Yeah, so already incorporated and she is Alpha Chapter. And that's how I love the family. So shout out the Kai Carter and shout out the family. That's my ct any day.
That's beautiful.
Yeah, that's that HPCU right now. Yeah, yeah it is this what this is what South Dakota look like?
That is well, yeah, you're curious, look at that found this is incredible.
Congratulations.
I love that. I love that. I love that my cousin is Outpha Chapter Delta and shout.
Out it is hard, it's hard.
Congratulations, Bakari. I know that's that's a high moment right there, and mine. I just reiterated what I said earlier, the the the demonstrating enough will and it does take will power to foreclose judgment until you know more, and in
the case of trials, will learn more. But even in the case of when we're online and we get our you know, get all up in our and were about to go on and do our live and shout out, you know, well, really call out somebody left and right, we oftentimes do those things and I see them, you know, every now and again. I'm like, my goodness, Lord, you got a lot of heat for such and such and such.
When I was going through my own trials, I realized that all the folks who had the most heat, you know, who were coming for me with you know, you know, machete in hand. I recognized very early on that you you don't know me, and you can't have that much heat for me. So I pray for you because clearly there's something up in your life that you and may be able to channel that anger through me, but that you got to deal with on your own. That that's your cross the baar or you got to work that out.
I may be a passageway right now. But but I've never gone online and talked about something in somebody uh uh in such a way without being in full hopefully command of the fact that I ain't got that's not really about me, that's that's they thing, and then being in also awareness that you know what, I took all that heat out and I am like screaming out loud for help in my own life on this thing, because there ain't no way I can feel that way about
this person and don't know them, couldn't tell you their middle name mcary, But yet I got het for him, and therapy helped me recognize that no, that heat was really for me. I just needed an avenue that I could channel it through that didn't make me feel so bad about myself, and so I used other people to scapegoat it. But our curiosity and our patients with the
truth will come in handy. I want to thank our listeners as always, we know that the time is a non renewable resource and you have choice about how you spend it, and we value and appreciate and love you for choosing to spend it with us, and we want to once again reiterate we will be in.
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