Do You Feel Better?

We're changing seasons. Here's the question. Has the election of Joe Biden as president over the last eight months changed anything? You see, eight months ago, we were all hanging on to a hope and a prayer following the Insurrection, praying to God that Joe Biden would win an election against Donald Trump. We were all hoping that the masses would

show up and rid us forever of Donald Trump. And what we thought at the time was also Trumpism that miraculously, after the election and the inauguration of Joe Biden on January twentieth, twenty twenty one, that the Republicans that had been supporting Donald Trump, that had been lifting him up, and as we now know through the Bob Woodword book tour,

that is happening. The military personnel that essentially worked as his accomplices, you know, working behind the scenes, as General Milly has said, you know, to make sure that Donald Trump wouldn't start a nuclear reward just because he felt like it. I'm wondering now, as we look at our country in disarray, if it has actually made anything better. Now. A friend and colleague says, well, we have less anxiety, we have less stress in the country isn't being run

by a madman. Those things are true. The country isn't

being run by a madman. But I don't know if I have less stress and less anxiety right because every single headline every day is about some catastrophic event, some awful shooting, some rollback of rights, and it seems to be raining down in the same way that we were attached to Twitter and attached to the television over the four years of Trump, just waiting for when that lunatic was going to run this country head first into a nuclear World War three, just because you know, he didn't

like how somebody made him feel that day. But here we are, and I am not feeling great, and I know that many of you aren't either, because you share that with me on social media or in the DMS on Patreon. The reality is is that I still have the same amount of sleepless nights. I still need to meditate multiple times a day to alleviate my stress and my anxiety and frustration about the lack of control that I have over the direction that this country is taking now.

While I enjoy listening to Biden sometimes, as folks do, I enjoy the content of the things that he is saying and what we need to have done. We need to lower prescription drug prices. We need to make it, you know, childcare affordable. We need to make sure that people can afford this, that and the other thing and

have good paying jobs, and blah blah blah. It's the same fucking talking points that we've heard from Democrats since the beginning of time, and yet we're in worse shape now, folks, than I think that we have been in quite some time now. Just to be clear, I'm not blaming the Biden administration for the shit show that they inherited and actually chose to run for. I'm not blaming them, but I'm asking the question, do you feel better that Joe

Biden is president and not Donald Trump? What have been like the I don't know, changes that you can actually articulate where you're like, if Donald Trump were still president, I would feel X. But now that Joe Biden is president, I feel why. I thought that I was going to have a great sense of relief. I thought that I was going to have to come up with new content since I've been talking about the demise of our democracy and the rise of fascism. I thought that I was

going to have to change and pivot course. But you see, I feel like we're moving faster in that direction than we even were under Donald Trump. I feel like Democrats showed more grit and fortitude when they weren't in power than they are now when they are in power. Look, I know that the majorities are slim. I'm really aware of that. And in twenty twenty two, you have fourteen Democratic Senate seats that are up, and you have twenty GOP seats that are up, and guess what, there's a

big probability that we're gonna lose the fucking Senate. But the question that I will ask again is did we have it to begin with? With a fifty fifty margin? And you have Democrats marauding as fucking Republicans like Mansion in cinema and others. It's like, is this as good as it gets? Because if it is, I want my

fucking money back. You know, we talk about the same issues and the same things, and I recognize that after decades of being in politics, at this point, I realize all we ever applaud, all we ever get to celebrate, is incremental change that with the wrong president or the wrong congress in power, it's gone in the blink of an eye. Barack Obama needed to roll out multiple, multiple executive orders because he had a hostile Congress that he was working with that wasn't going to help him in

any way or help the country better. Yet and here we are again with the democratic president, and I feel like he is more impotent now than when he wasn't president, right, Like, I feel like Democrats show more grits and have more power and a bigger voice in commanding people into voting, into reclaiming their democracy than they do when they're actually empowered. So what does that say? How do you motivate people to continue to show up for you to give them nothing?

It's been eight months, and yes, we have a vaccine that we did not have eight months ago. I credit doctors and scientists with that, but we also had greater ambitions that at this stage that seventy percent of the country would be vaccinated. And yet here we are with Democrats once again caught off guard that the public is not acting in the way that they thought that they were. And so the question that I have really is do Democrats really know their constituents? Do they really know anything

about the public, because it seems that Republicans do. They know everything about the basket of deplorables that are their base. They know how to reach them, they know how to inspire, raging them, they know how to move them to donate more money to Donald Trump, right, And I wonder about Democrats, how are you surprised after four years under Donald Trump that you are only able to vaccinate fifty four percent

of the country. Now, at any other time, I would say, hell, anything over fifty percent is great, Not when you're dealing with a communicable virus. Right, you need more than half of the people to recognize that science is a thing. But given the fact that we have seen, we have watched in real time as this country has become more and more divided, that we have seen how like just misinformation can just turn this country on its head, right, Like, we see these things, we knew what was happening, and

yet we're still surprised. There should have been better things that were rolled out. Right, then, oh, have a beer and get a shot in the arm. You need to understand how people work, the best of people and the worst of people. And what I recognize about Democrats is that they kind of function like fucking Mary Poppins wanted to see the best in everything, swoop in and do some dances, do some songs, and swoop out, and you're

supposed to be left feeling all warm and fuzzy. But now that you're left to lead your own life without the support of bananny, Like, are you really prepared? I don't think so. Democrats are not prepared for pretty much anything except for reaction, and in this moment in time, we actually just need action. I don't like Republicans at all. I think that they're morals, morally bankrupt, and absolute fucking trash. But you see, they know how to get to people.

They know how to move them. Unfortunately they move them in the wrong direction, they're moving them off of a cliff. But they know how to get them going, can we say the same thing about Democrats? Coming up next, friends, is my conversation with our good, good friend Glenn Kershner to walk us through the latest legal nonsense and criminal web that Donald Trump and his sycophants are continuing to

weave without accountability and responsibility. Friends, you know that I'm always so happy when we have our friend MSNBC legal analysts and host of Justice Matters Glenn Kershner joining woke F two usher us through the legal lease and legal webs that this country is in right now on so

many fronts. Glenn, this past week we watched crushing, just devastating testimony from several US decorated A gymnasts about how the FBI failed them during their time when Larry Naser, the former coach who is now going to serve over a century in jail, was abusing them. Many tips went out to the FBI, and it is as if they put that in a I guess a wastebin and just

let it go. What is happening with our FBI? Because this is not the first, second, or third time that we have heard about people reaching out with tips, whether it be about Brett Kavanaugh and his line of alleged sexual assault, alleged sexual harassment, or Larry Nayser, what is happening here? You know. Let me start Danielle by saying, I take no pleasure in beating up the FBI. I worked rico cases in the courts of Watchington, DC with the FBI for years, and I worked with a lot

of great agents. The hat that's over my shoulder here, I have that up on my wall because a member of an FBI undercover task force was murdered as part of an FBI drug operation and I handle that case. So I don't say this casually or cavalierly, but it is time for new leadership at the top of the FBI.

And frankly, I don't even know how much good that's going to do, but the time has come because I think Director Ray has disqualified himself a couple of times over and I think the two most compelling examples of that are the Larry Nasser case and the Brett Kavanaugh background investigation. First of all, the Nasser case, those gymnasts, those victims of sexual assault testified. It was heart wrenching, and the fact that their cases were not just mismanaged,

We're not just neglected by the FBI. FBI agents involved engaged in misconduct and covered up the information of their abuse. And now the two agents who were primarily responsible for that aren't, as far as we know, being criminally investigated for it, aren't being prosecuted. One was let go by the FBI two weeks ago. You think that was for show in advance of yesterday's hearing, and the other was allowed to retire and continue to get our tax dollars

as his retirement compensation. That shows that the FBI leadership does not take seriously what happened to those gymnasts or the fact that the FBI badly botched that investigation to the extreme detriment of those young sex victims. That's one the Brett Kavanaugh debacle. Danielle I wrote a piece about this for MSNBC Daily, and it boggles my mind. Because the FBI opened the tipline for citizens to provide derogatory information about Brett Kavanaugh. Forty five hundred citizens took the

FBI up on that. What did the FBI do with those tips? They didn't investigate them. They took them and they delivered them to the very person who had every incentive to bury them. Donald Trump and his White House Council beyond bury them. And of course we never heard anything about all that derogatory information about a person who would be in a position to decide whether women in Texas have constitutional rights or not. We didn't get any

of that information. But you know what, I think Donald Trump used it to try to hold sway over Brett Kavanaugh, potentially to try to blackmail him. Remember a few months ago when there was reporting about Donald Trump saying Brett Kavanaugh he was his career was dead, a law firm wouldn't have him back. He was in disgrace until I revived him. What did Donald Trump base that on? I'm betting putting two and two the together and concluding it

equals four. It was forty five hundred pieces of derogatory information that was hand delivered privately by the FBI to Donald Trump and his White House counsel. The two things that need to happen. Let me go back to the FBI and as I think, two things that need to

happen now, they were delivered a White House counsel. They are either still sitting at White House Counsel's office, but now it's Joe Biden's White House counsel such that they can be exposed and he can share with the American people that information about a Supreme Court justice and we can decide what to do about it. Or if they no longer exist because Trump and his White House counsel

destroyed them, the FBI still has them right. So, first of all, the White House Counsel, Biden's White House counsel should now disclose them to us and or Congress should subpoena them, because we need to get to the bottom of what the FBI and the White House knew about Brett Kavanaugh four they crammed his nomination down America's throat, And is there anything in those forty five hundred tips that contradicts and I'm betting there is Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation testimony,

because if so, he can be charged with a false statement eighteen USC. One thousand and one, He can be convicted, he can be impeached, and he can be removed from the Supreme Court. This is not hyperbole. This is just good government and good law enforcement. Going back to the FBI, we need new leadership. Go ahead, let me ask this question, because this is what frustrates me. Glenn, because you just connected these dots so perfectly. Here's the thing. We know

this information. We know about the forty five hundred calls and tips to the FBI. We know we knew that Brett Kavanaugh lied during his confirmation hearing, right, we knew

what information that he kept. The question that I have is is there any will from this Department of Justice which we have seen to be and I know some of your friends are still there, it is very lackluster in terms of where I thought that we would be nine months right after the Biden administration was some more eight months excuse me, after the Biden administration was sworn in, we are nowhere near where I thought we would be with indictments, with subpoenas around what we have seen was

blatant criminality. What I've seen was blatant lies. And we've just continued to brush it under the rug. And so is there a desire from this dj from this White House, from Congress to issue these kinds of subpoenas because let me ask this also, have we ever impeached a Supreme Court justice? Because it also seems to me that if there is no precedent, there is a lot of fear around what then the reaction from Republicans will be and who they will go after. So it is there a

will inside the Department of Justice. Here's the only way I can answer that. We haven't seen any indication of it yet. But the other thing that I always cite, Danielle is the only thing that's loosely comparable to this in its White Watergate. Right Watergate, it took twenty one months to finally get our arms around and return indictments against all of the bad actors, not the guys who broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate.

We caught five of the seven of them that night, and it still took us five months to indict them. It took twenty one months to get our arms around the rest of the characters, and then it took twenty six months from the time of the break in for Richard Nixon to resign. What I am hoping is that there is a will and there is an investigation up and running inside the Department of Justice that will culminate in holding Trump and company accountable. We haven't seen any

indication of it yet. And what I keep talking about is that public safety is at risk. We are now on the eve of insurrection two point zero. I think this one will fizzle. I hope this one will fizzle. And if it does fizzle, that will be further evidence that Donald Trump orchestrated the January sixth one, because that was a Donald Trump production. Expressly, come to DC on January sixth will be wild. Go down there and stop the steal fight, or you won't have a country left anymore.

That was a Donald Trump production. He incited it, He's criminally responsible for it. If Tomorrow fizzles, that will be further evidence that Donald Trump incited January sixth, because this is not a Donald Trump production, even though he put out that pathetic little press release, Yes to night, tomorrow is not a Donald Trump production. So if it fizzles, that goes further improving that he is the one who

incited January sixth. You know, you make such a good point because I did read the statement, right, which was pretty much a cya statement on Donald Trump's part. Right, Oh, they're going to ruin my brand. I'm not quite sure what brand he's talking about at this point, twice impeached president. But you know, the reality for me, and this is another question is how are these people able to get

another permit? How is it that I am seeing headlines on cable news stations talking about armed protesters right coming to Washington, DC. Again, we are seeing now seven eight foot fences around our capitol building, as if these people, these insurrectionist Glenn are holding our government, our democracy hostage. This is what this looks like, not just to me, but to the world. And so I understand the constitutionality of the right to assemble, But do we not draw

a line? Do draw a line? And but let me tell you, it's very hard to gauge in prior restraint of speech. So hate, hateful groups, hateful speech actually enjoys First Amendment protection. What doesn't enjoy First Amendment protection is violence or an imminent threat of violence. So there are lines that have to be drawn. But prior restraint of

speech is a very difficult thing. And I would argue it should be a difficult thing because everybody should have their First Amendment right to speak their mind, as long as they're not engaging in or imminently inciting violence. But it's a tough line to draw. I have often said,

we're going to freedom ourselves to death. We're going to First Amendment ourselves to death, and we have to make more sensible choices about what speech and what behavior we are willing to say should enjoy First Amendment protections and what speech shouldn't. But that's a very tricky gray area. That is it for me today. Folks on the Woke a f daily podcast to hear more conversations like the one I have with our friend Glenn Kirshner. Check me out on patreon dot com slash woke AF Power to

the people and to all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke as fuck.