Democrat Death March

I wrote a piece this week for The Daily Beast, and I want to unpack it with you because as we are learning more about what is transpired in the one hundred and eighty seven minutes that the President of the United States went missing on January six, twenty twenty one, as we understand more about the entire strategic, thought out plan to overthrow our government from the foot soldiers to

the architects. The thing that is troubling me and continues to trouble me, is that Democrats aren't doing a fucking thing with the information that is being served up on a silver platter by the Republican Party, who is an obvious cult who is an obvious fascist, authoritarian regime that sees that our democracy is not something that they want

to be on board with anymore. They have given numerous examples, they have given numerous of their own talking points, and yet you hear Democrats say things like We're going to focus on kitchen table issues, and the thing that I want to say is what fucking difference do kitchen table. Issues make when you can't vote, when you don't have access to an abortion, when you're so concerned about sending your kids to school because they may be shot up

by an AAR fifteen. But everybody wants to talk about this bipartisan deal that is on the table, which, by the way, the fucking legislation hasn't been written. And do you know what doesn't include in this bipartisan, historic three decade legislation. Nothing that will absolutely end gun violence in this country. Nothing that will end mass shootings in this country because the assault rifles ban is off the table. Raising the age to twenty one in order to buy

a gun is off the table. So what you see is just a bunch of fucking money for mental services. And that's not the issue. The issue isn't that we don't have enough psychologists and psychiatrists in America. It's the fact that we have three hundred and ninety million guns

and only three hundred and thirty fucking million people. So while everyone wants to pat themselves on the bat that Democrats and Republicans are coming together, they're coming together to do nothing more than pageantry, because it's not going to stop people from being gunned down in their grocery store, their school, or their place of worship. So here we are, as democrats, are making what seems like a fucking death march to the mid term elections. And I keep saying

to myself, where is the goddamn messen? Because by the way, I get the top lines on a regular basis, and the top lines are bullshit. We are obviously heading towards a fucking recession. I can't get tampons, some people can't get baby formula. Gas is at five dollars a fucking gallon, and that's in places that are good, not places like California,

which have always had historically high gas prices. So when you have one of the two major political parties that have turned into a cult, that offer and have offered nothing to the American people, that are so inbed with white nationalists, you would think that Democrats would say, well, what is your alternative? Me or Hitler? But of course that is not where they are. So I wrote about it to give some thought, to provide some insight to Democrats that you know, maybe want to actually try to

win instead of what they usually do. So the piece at the Daily Beast right now is entitled Democrats need to tell Americans how dangerous the GOP really is. And this is what I write. The January sixth Committee hearings are laying there just how much coordination there was between racist, far right extremist groups and Trump's attempt to steal the election. Last month, a white supremist traveled hours to a black neighborhood in Buffalo for the express purpose of killing as

many black people as possible. Let me pause there, because what has happened over the past couple of days, over last weekend is that we've seen arrest of white nationalist groups that were getting ready to riot at a Pride parade. We have gotten reports of the Proud Boys. According to the Washington Post, they were gonna disrupt a story time. No they weren't. They were initiating a fucking attack language matters.

Five to seven Proud Boys rolled up to a California drag story time that people bring their children to because drag is about imagination and fabulousness and sparkles and good times, right, And they rolled up into the event screaming transphobic and homophobic slurs, essentially causing an absolute scene and chaos, scaring the shit I'm assuming out of parents and caregivers as well as the drag queen that was in the midst of performing their work. But everyone in media wants to say, oh,

it was a disruption. No it wasn't. It's intended an intentional fucking harm and violence. So in the introm se the Buffalo shooter, which you know was arrested alive, killing ten black people, we have the murder of nineteen children and two of their teachers. And in the midst of it all multiple mass shootings and multiple acts of violence at the hands of white supremacist groups. Who did I just say that they were in bed with Donald Trump,

trump Ism and the Republican Party. What connections have Democrats made to this point. None, because they want to say, oh, not all Republicans. If you have subscribed and voted with Donald Trump over ninety percent of the time, if you did not vote against his impeachment, if you did not stand up after the insurrection when your own life and ass was on the line, then you are aligned with

the far fucking right. They may want to do part and parcel within their own circles, but Democrats need to tell the fucking truth to the American people, which is what they refuse to do because they think somehow that that's taking the quote unquote high road. It's not. What it is is not helping the American people be able to see very distinctly who the Republican Party is. So

let me continue. Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security issued a stark warning that the US is in a heightened threat environment following several recent attacks that have highlighted the dynamic and complex nature of the threat environment. Seem like there's a there, there here. Why then, is it so hard for Democrats to connect the dots and communicate to the American people just what exactly is going on here? So let me take my hand at it.

As I wrote for The Daily Beast, violent extremism, racism, and bigotry are a growing threat, and their ideologies are entwined with mainstream conservatism. Right now, there, see how easy that was, Democrats. Doesn't seem confusing. I'm not talking about your kitchen table. I'm talking about the fact that you should feel safe in your home, you should feel safe in your community, you should feel safe wherever you go. But if you are a person of color, if you

are a person from a marginalized group. If you are not white, male, ciss straight, and Christian, and I use quotation marks, you win danger, girl, you win fucking danger. So for these people out here who want to say, oh, well, my gas prices are high because of Democrats, no they are not. They're high because we're at war. They're high because we have come up with no fucking way to access energy in any real way, because we keep tap dancing for the Prince in Saudi Arabia kissing the ring

of Putin in Russia. And so you would think that we would have learned something through our scarcity. In fact, during the height of COVID, when production was shut down, that how entwined America is with the world, and that by placing money in green energies, whether it be wind or solo or just innovation in general that is about sustainable technologies, maybe we wouldn't be in this place. But oh,

that's right. America and our politicians are in bed with the oil companies and the gas companies and all of these people. You have Joe Mansion, King Cole, right, do you think that he wants to invest in technologies that aren't going to add more money to his pocket. No he's not. But the reality here, folks, is that it's either these jellyfish, spineless people or white supremas. And I'm just saying, by virtue of who I look like and where I come from and who I love, they ain't

going to accept me as part of the pact. What about you? I go on to say this in the piece. It has been crystal clear for quite some time that this isn't Ronald Reagan's Republican Party anymore. The new Republican regime is more aligned with members like Representatives Elis Stefanik, who pushed white supremacs theories, and Marjorie Taylor Green and Paul Goser, who don't even pretend to hide their ideology when attending white supremacy conferences. Where are these Republican leaders

taking their direction from? Donald Trump, the man that, on January sixth, as a capital was under siege in in a plume of smoking chaos, told his rioting followers that what he loved them. It doesn't get much clearer than that. Trump said he loved the people that beat police officers, the people that built a gallows to kill his own vice president, of whom he later said that well, maybe they were right. Head over to the Daily Beast to read the entirety of my piece entitled Democrats need to

tell Americans how dangerous the GOP really is folks. Coming up next my conversation I'm really happy with our pride as a Riot rollout this month, and so coming up next my conversation with Anna Deshaun from The Cube, who will talk about the myriad of things that the LGBTQ community is up against and how they are using their media platforms in order to connect community and also uplift the state of urgency that we are in. That conversation

is coming up next. The Damage Report with John Idarola is one of the most popular shows on the TYT Network that serves as your daily breakdown of the genuine threats and challenges facing our country and world. These days, we're confronted with an overwhelming sea of shocking, confounding, and

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Person of the Week, and much more. Listen to The Damage Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Hey there, I want to tell you about another podcast I think you'll love. The Brown Girl's Guide to Politics, hosted by a Shanty Gohler, the president of Emerge BGG, is the one stop shop for women of color who want to

hear and talk about the world of politics. Join a Shanty this season as she talks to incredible women of color who are changing the face of politics and tackling some of the most important issues facing the United States, from reproductive justice to voting rights, to climate change and more. Tune in every Tuesday wherever you get your podcasts. Folks, I am very excited to welcome to oigate Affadaily Anna DeShawn,

who is CEO of E three Radio and of The Cube. Anna, First, you know it's so hard, right, we like literally before I said, how are you you say, how are you, how are you this pride? How are you feeling in this black queer body that we have about where we are in this country right now, in this good, good month of June, this busy queer month of June. Yeah, Well, first, thank you for having me on your show. I love your show and what you do. Thank Exhausted, angry, frustrated,

fired up. I made a post recently just because I was preparing for my podcast, Queer News, and I was just like, you know, as a black person, as a queer person, and as a woman right now, all three of my identities are under attack, and I'm exhausted. So I was, I was preparing to write my script for the Queer News podcast, and I just couldn't get through it. I mean it was I was two and a half hours in. I can't find the worst script to really

express my frustration and anger. Because on that particular day, um, the Buffalo mass shooting had just occurred, right Robe Wade, the leak had just happened, and then Brittany Griner's detainment had been extended, all at the same on the same day. Yeah, and I was just like, this is my life, Like this is my reality. This is what living at the intersections means. This is why you know this pride. I'm not all pumped up to go walking into parade, right

I'm not pumped up for that. I want to know where's the march, Where where's the fury, where's the protests happening? Because at this point right we've been under attack from right wing legislation, legislators across the country, trans rights transfer ye, people are actually having to think about picking up and moving their families to different states. This is every day

life right now. And we're supposedly in America and in this very free country, and it's not feeling free to this very queer and black and woman field body right now. And so for me prior right now is exhausting and it's furiating. And my hope is that I use my platform to express that and to keep people engaged because it's very easy also to tune out because you can't take it, you know, you don't want to take it

all in. So my hope is that I'm keeping people engaged with our platform and what we are talking about, because people do need to be in tune. We can't tune out right now like this ain't the time to be hiding under a rock. This is the time to like tap into that James Baldwin, and tap into that

rage and do something about it. You Know, it's so interesting because so many people that I've been talking to are finding themselves rereading Baldwin, rereading Octavia Butler, rereading Tony Morrison, rereading Nikki Giovanni, and really trying to tap into in

their time. We're talking about the nineteen sixties, and we're talking about literal I know that Republicans love to play right now like cities are burning, that black people are burning, ship down everywhere, and that we know that that is

not the case. But in the nineteen sixties it very well was right because as we have as has been said, rioting is the sound of those that are unheard, right, And so when you just listed out all of those things, all of the layers of as I heard a doctor say on MSNBC the other day, compacted trauma, that's what all of that was. Right. She's talking about Brittany Griner.

We're talking about her being used as a political pawn and no one making a stink about it, And people are saying, oh, it's because you know, we got to work behind the scenes, And a part of me is like or because she's a black gay woman, right, Because the reality is is that if that were Tom Brady, you don't think that this would be a regular segment on anybody's sports center. It would be a regular segment on anybody's news, right, whether or not it was said

to we're working behind the scenes. And so I guess my next question for you is, given all of the weight and the fact that you were so directly connected to the LGBTQ community by virtue of your work and your platform, what are you hearing? Right? Like, our folks disengage, not because they don't care, but because it's self care. Are they disengaged or are they outraged but don't know where to channel that? And so by virtue, it's just

social media outrage as opposed to we're in the streets outrage. Absolutely, they don't know what to do with it, They don't know what, they don't know where to go. So part of my work is I try to give people call to actions in all of the stories, because there has to be a way that we can channel this. If it's not in the street, then there's another way. Because I think that everyone's work doesn't have to be in the street, right. I think that's the beautiful part about life. Right.

Everyone's not called to be that activist. Some people are called to be advocate. Some people are called to do the work at their own homes and their own families. So I do try to provide people calls to action because I do think that people are engaged when I post, and I think I find the most engagement on TikTok TikTok. Right. People are aware of what's happening, but they just don't know what to do. So right for example, where Britney Griner and covering her story. I think she's one hundred

and fourteen days now wrongfully detained in Russia. The call to action right now for me is to tell people go sign the petition and then go call your legislature legislators and let them know that her wife is trying to get in front of President Biden right now, that her wife needs is trying to get in front of him to urge him to bring her home. Right that coach Don Staley has said that she will give up her visit right the game call visit to the White House.

So that Cherrell can have that visit with President Biting because that's how important it is to her. There's calls to action on everything, and I think for us, it's about using our platforms to tell people how they can do it, because I think a lot of people just feel exhausted. I think people do feel exhausted. COVID has tired us all out if nothing else is happening in

the world, and people don't know what to do. So I just try my best to give to give people ways in which they can show their support because a lot of people don't have money. And I'm somebody from the church, right, So, time, talent, treasure, Okay, you got one of the three that you could be giving to an organization to people that you want to see when so, for example, good news, right, Justine Lindsay just became the first trans woman cheerleader in the NFL. She's a black

trans woman. Right, that's amazing, But also right now she's getting a lot of hate. When I told that story on the podcast, I said, go follow her on Instagram and write something really nice in the comments, like take a moment and support her and offset some of the hate that's happening. That that will go a long way, because the trolls are real, and so if you can get through that with some positivity, that's the way you can support this system right now, because what she's doing

is amazing. You know, it's so true, because you know, we all know, and particularly in the work that we do, don't read the comments section, right I never read the comment section after I write a piece. I never read the comment section because I've said my piece. So if you want to go and use the comment section for, you know, to to have a monologue, a soliloquy, you know, go off, But I'm not going to engage in that way. But the reality is is that it takes a toll.

And so when you you know, and you talk about exhaustion, I talk about exhaustion on willk app all the time because I say that, you know, if we do not seek rest, if we do not seek refuge, if we do not find ways to cent her joy in our lives, we are going to burn out, which is part and

parcel of all that is being thrown at us. And so, in using your platform to kind of be as an act of service, how do you tell folks and also for yourself, what do you do to take this heavy weight off of you, even if only for a few hours? What is that? What does your self care look like? Right now? For me? Every morning, it is me and my prayer corner, with my journal and my meditations and my music and my candles and my pictures from my family of me growing up, and it looks like me

taking time. And sometimes I lose track of time and I'm there for like an hour, but it is truly that quiet time. And the more that I just refuse to give up for absolutely anything or anyone or anything happened around me, because my grounding for me is through my spiritual practices. And so for me, it's that time when we bought our new house, but right before the pandemic, I was like, thank you. I told my wife, you can have this whole room, but this little corner, this

corner is my corner. Okay. And anybody know my wife, though she is a diva, Okay, there's close, there are close on close, okay, But I told her like, this is my corner and you cannot do anything in this corner. So that corner is my corner. That's that's really how I ground myself. And I also love to exercise, right those indoor friends. Yeah, my movement, my creativity going, if it's a walk with my puppy, if it's something on the trail mill, if it's core work, like moving really

helps my spirit a lot. Yeah, you know, I just recently broke my So walking used to be used to be my walking meditation frankly of being able. I meditate at least twice a day, but walking used to also just be my you know, connection to the water, to nature,

to getting outside. And I say all of that is important because, you know, for the past couple of months, and I don't know about you, because my work is about sitting behind me, staring at this TV and screaming as I am watching our democracy crumble, and then having to write about said democracy crumbling. And I think to myself, I don't know if we have the fire right now

to fight back. And I say that because we are all so exhausted that even the good practices that I developed during you know, quarantine have fallen away as the world has started to come back together. But the world has come back together in this topsy turvy upside down space. And so it's how do you envision creating the fire that has people get back in a state of rage, but not stay there, you know, for their own health

and well being. Because we know that our community too has high risk for everything alcoholism, drugs, anxiety, depression, suicide rates, all of these things. You compound that with these anti trans bills, with these anti LGBT bills, it just ReBs everything back up. And so how do you go about creating the fire for the connectivity but literally not having people burn. It's the magic key, isn't it the magic key?

I think Unfortunately, people only get fired up when they see something egregious about to occur, right, So I felt like people were really fired up when the leak of the Roe v. Wade potential decision that's I supposed to come down month. We're sitting here, but it's next week, yes, right, the inevitable. I felt people fired up around that, right. I felt like the world kind of woke up a little bit in regards to wanting to disrupt everyday life

around this decision. I wish it didn't have to be like that, right, I wish I wish people cared and were fired up on everything, right. I wish people could engage in that way around all of these moments, especially around all of this anti trans and anti LGBTQ legislation that's been going on really for the last like fifteen sixteen months, Right, I wish that was the case, but unfortunately people only care when it affects them, and so when we talk about trans folks, you know, and the

percentage in which they represent not enough. I don't feel like America on a whole feels connected to that issue right in the same ways. Right. So I'm sitting over here fired up because it's part of my identity, but other folks aren't fired up who don't identify right, and we've got transphobic people within our own community. Yeah, that's just a whole other thing, right. So I feel like people only get turned up when a decision like a roe V wave comes out, and oftentimes that's too late,

That's what I mean. It's too late, right, Yeah, it's too late. So I don't know how we change that tide because people can only take so much. Right to your point, it's my job. It's my work that I've chosen. I feel like I've been called to do, is to tell everybody what's going on, and to use my voice

as a voice of passion. When I speak to get people fired up and to call them to into some type of action for the collective whole, I feel like it has to, unfortunately be something so monumental or life change or something they thought was unthinkable to get people back in the streets and on one accord on one issue, which I think is crazy because all of our pressures are connected and there is no hierarchy of this, right,

So it's just it's frustrating. But I feel like that's the that's the only thing I could see actually that to me, that's the thing is that, you know, I oftentimes reflect on with my listeners about Martin Diamoller's poem, right, first they came for. First, they came for the socialist and I wasn't a socialist, so I didn't do anything. Then they came for and then they came for and the list goes on and on. And I say that

for America, the trans community is that first community. Why because of all of the things that you said, Because it is still a community that even within the entirety of LGBTQ, there is I have been a part of LGBTQ movement for a long time and I can tell you about the things that have been said by people who identify as queer, and so you go for the low hanging fruit and the radical right. They know that, right,

they know to go for the low hanging fruit. And so it's and when we look at all of these bills, all of these bills are anti trans bills, right, And so I guess, how do you find how do you think that we activate our sense of empathy when things are not directly about us, but they are about the capital us. So I think it's about storytelling, right. So

I think it's about the stories. And that goes back to the platform, goes back to why I think the que is important in regards to creating a space for BIPOC and qt POC podcasters to be seen and discovered, because stories allow us to see the humanity in people and see people. A lot of people don't know a trans person, right, and so the issue just seems like it doesn't affect them, doesn't touch them, It doesn't it

hasn't impacted them. And like this emotional that has evoked an emotional response to want to stand up or say something or feel like this is wrong. But when you hear someone's story and it sounds like something you've lived before, it sounds like somewhere you've been before. And you can see the humanity in someone, When you can see them as a human being and not an issue, I think

that's when change can begin to happen. But I know that real change only happens in community and in relationship, Like you got to get down deep into these conversations with people. But I think it can begin with stories and storytelling and listening to people's humanity and seeing people as people and not as these polarized, exaggerated political pawns that the right wing is making them out to me and to your point, they are going after the most

vulnerable and the most misunderstood. Yea, because it's easy to shape the narrative of that right. Yes, So I think it's about stories. I think it's about humanity. I think it's about people wanting to listen and and here, and not just waiting to chime in on their own response, but really actively listening to these stories. I believe that storytelling is the end and the be all right, it's the end all be all for me, and it's one of the things that Republicans are attacking right around their

whole critical race theory. It is around gaslighting, continuing to gaslight the public about white American exceptionalism, devoid of any BIPOC people, devoid of any other alternative voices outside of white, sis, hetero Christian and I use quotations men. Last question for you, Anna is you know, if people want to do something in this moment, I want to go back to the beginning. People want to do something, what advice would you give them? If people want to do something, I would say to them,

what is it that you care about the most? Right now? What is it that really moves you and whatever that is, tap into that community and support with your time, talent, and your treasure. For me, I care about black and brown and people of color LGBTQ folks, and so I tap into my communities in every chance that I get, and I tell and I use my platform to tell

their story. Right. If you care about trans folks, then you need to be dropping money on translate organizations, right, you need to be dropping money on organizations that are helping to fight this legislation that's happening across the country. You know all of the qualities of the world, right, that are fighting in the court systems. You need to support them. You need to support translate organizations that are actually helping people, right, those who are homeless and have

housing instability. All Right, Some people like to affect change on a massive level. Like some people's work is to talk to millions, some people's work is to talk one on one and affect people one by one by one. Right, So you find something that really you just can't stop thinking about, and you tap yourself in, because if we all do that with all of our issues, then we

can begin to make some change. And you your life, I mean, goodness, gracious, you give what you receive, you received, give like you put into it right, and you're gonna get it back tenfold. And I think we have abilities to bless people in ways that I don't think we really tap into. So tap into what you're passionate about and use your time, talent and treasure and affect some change in some folks lives because it matters, all of

it matters, all of it. Well, Anna, I can't thank you enough for your work, um, for elevating our stories, for centering our community with the cube and the platform that you have, and I you know this pride. I know that it is a struggle, but I wish you a happy and healthy one and I hope that you will come back to work very soon and uh and

join us to talk to us again. I would love to come back happy pride to YouTube in the midst of it all and to everyone listening, because we deserve to celebrate yes, the right to fight yeah all the same time. I appreciate you. Indisputable with Doctor Rashid Ricci is one of the latest shows on the TYT network

and also the fastest growing news show in America. On his show, Doctor Ricci plays no games regarding policy, delivering a heavy dose of fact based truth and penetrating analysis on all the top news stories, focusing on racism, criminal and social justice, politics, police brutality, Karens, and much more. Listeners can also expect interviews with fascinating guests, political leaders, commentators, and even fiery debates with conservatives on a wide range

of policy topics in the Bullpen. It is an indisputable fact that you will love this show. Listen to Indisputable with Doctor Rashad Ricci on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss a new episode. That is it for me today, hear friends on Woke f As always power to the people and to all the people power, Get woke and stay woke as fuck.