From Surviving to Thriving

has been fucking exhausting. I have been going to sleep at like one third getting back to my hotel I should say, at roughly one point thirty one o'clock in the morning, which is actually two o'clock Eastern Standard time, which is where my body still is. But there's just so much excitement, so much energy. You don't really realize it until, of course you sit down or lay down, and then you're like, oh fuck, I'm exhausted and I

may not make it. The entire convention has been done so incredibly well, from the musical guests, from the musical roll call of the States, from the comedic skits. I thought that Keenan Thompson's Project twenty twenty five skit yesterday was extraordinary. For so long, folks, we have been talking about Project twenty twenty five in really catastrophic existential terms,

and all of those things are true. I don't take back any of the things that I've ever said with regard to the sea giousness and the threats that Project twenty twenty five poses. However, what I will say is that this campaign has been absolutely brilliant in their ability to turn this Republican Party and their ideas into a joke.

And I feel like you diffuse the power of a bully when you laugh in their faces instead of talking about these people as if they are master minds, as if they are you know, the titans of the universe that are moving this country with just their whims and their egos. Instead, you look at what they're offering and what they're saying, and you turn it into a fucking joke.

And so I think that it is really amazing the ways that they have been able to use the last couple of days to frame up not only the start contrast in vision, an idea, in energy and in vibe between the Democrats and the Republican Party, but how they have also been able to turn Donald Trump, JD. Vance and the Republicans into the jokers that they are, and to me, that has been something that has been missing. They're not worthy of our fear, They're worthy of our

ridicule and of our laughter. And so I think that the last couple of days have been really amazing, and I want to turn now to last night's speeches and the ones that really stood out to me. First off, what I love so much about convention is the way in which we're able to profile the depth of our talent and bench in the Democratic Party. When you compare that to the people that were on the stage at

the RNC, they look like fucking clowns. They look like toddlers that were caught with their hands in the cookie jar or playing in the mud, or like eating paste. Is essentially what the Republican National Convention look like. And I think that looking at our bench and the talent and the brilliance that we have again just restores my

faith in the Democratic Party. So some of the speeches that stood out to me, like, first off, Hakeem Jeffries, who God willing in seventy five days will be made Speaker Jeffries because Democrats will take back the House and take back the Senate as well as taking the White House.

But let me tell you something, Hakeem Jeff Freeze talking about Donald Trump as that boyfriend that you broke up with but won't fucking go away and keep spinning the block, which is a very Brooklyn, New York term, was just fantastic. I love Hakeem's delivery. He's so punchy and just funny and very New York and you know, I love it. Oprah Winfrey, I thought was really brilliant yesterday. And here's what I will say about Oprah. First off, did you

all know that she was a registered independent? Because I did not. So like, she's, you know, talking about herself as a registered independent and being there to talk to other independents, and I'm like, how did I miss this? But apparently a lot of people that I talked to did not know that she was an independent. You know. The first public candidate that she ever came out for, and we all know this was Barack Obama in two

thousand and eight. I don't remember, and that I don't know if it's because of the vortex that we've lived in for the past eight years. I don't remember if she came out and endorsed Hillary Clinton. But I do know that her first ever political endorsement was for Barack Obama.

But I think, you know, I was in conversation with a couple of friends of mine and they were saying, you know, it honestly makes sense, right, for the role that Oprah has played in media and in America kind of being like America's talk show host, it makes sense that she wouldn't want to pick one side or the other and kind of be you know, Switzerland in that way, but then really use her power and her platform both in two thousand and eight and now to you know,

stand with people whose values align with her own. What I also thought was really great is that Oprah Winfrey is the very person that Jadie Vance is telling us is unworthy of having a voice, is unworthy of having a vote, and it is just unworthy of existing. Right. Winfrey is a postmenopausal which you know became a term because of JD. Vance and that podcast that he was on, But uh, you know, she is a postmenopausal, childless woman, not a cat lady, because she famously has a bunch

of dogs and is famously unmarried. Right, And we see who the fuck Oprah is, right and who she has been for decades, and that is the very image of the person that JD. Vance tells us is unworthy, this brilliant, multi billionaire philanthropist and media giant. So I thought that her digs at him and at the Republican Party were great. I thought that her story with regard to integration and the journey of America was breathtaking, because if there is

nothing else, you know, she is extraordinary. So I think that there are just so many ways that Democrats have showcased how important this election is, how important this moment is, but more importantly, how incredible of an opportunity that we have, because again, I think that instead of framing this election through the lens of fear, which I myself have been doing, because I have been, you know, prior to the last month, very honest about my fear, very honest about my grief

and anxiety that all of us have been experiencing over the last year, but particularly over the course of this presidential cycle. And so the ability to now in such a short period of time, because folks, again it has only been a month, it has only been a month, to frame this now in not us voting from fear, but voting from a place of possibility and opportunity that the country has. That we have is the greatest pivot

that I have ever seen a party make. And again we have to give credit where credit is due, which is to Joe Biden. Which is why we continue to hear throughout this week the chance of thank you Joe, because without that man doing what is just unthinkable, giving up power, putting aside ego, showing what it means to truly be a patriot and put country over party or self interest and desire, we wouldn't be in this place right.

We would still be hanging on for dear life, where now we have a fighting chance, like a real chance to win. And so I will say that it feels really fucking good, and you know, shout out to all of the people too who are getting at me on social media and saying that it's wonderful to see me in a place of joy and just happiness, because y'all have been listening, following, you know, for a long time, and you know, like I'm real, I'm a real person.

I don't perform all I do that's different from my day to day life and the time that I spend interviewing and recording shows is turn on a microphone. But how I am on this mic is how I am in life, with my friends and with my family, and so I don't pretend. So the joy that you were sensing for me is fucking real. And it's not to say that again, I don't know what is at stake

and at risk. You all know that I do. But by this joyful warrior spirit being modeled for all of us through this campaign, it's just given us another way to fight, another way to look at the playing field that we are on. And you know, there is no better person to be honest than coach Walls, who last night, I honestly don't know how you could listen to that man, watch those videos, see his family and not love that man and not want that man to be our vice

president of the United States. Listen to his former you know, students and the kids on his team who are now obviously grown men, but wow, you know, and the ending of his speech in you know, giving everything football metaphors and coaching us through like I feel his energy and it's like I want to run through a wall for this ticket because I believe that if we are able to make it possible for them to govern, that the future of America is going to be so bright that,

of course there will be disagreements. Of course there will be mistakes that are made, as our Forever Flowtus beautifully stated. But the fact is is that I think that Kamala Harris and Tim Walls are exactly the shot of hopefulness, energy, good spiritedness that this country has desperately been starved of.

And I say that not because the Biden Harris ticket haven't tried to do their best, but I mean, folks, when you're coming into office with over five hundred thousand Americans dead and thousands three thousand, If you guys, remember when Joe Biden was sworn in after the insurrection, after in an attempt to overthrow our government and our democracy in our election, that three thousand plus Americans were dying a day a day from COVID, and you had one

party that was telling us that's no big deal, who cares, didn't matter that we were living in cities and towns where there were medical ships that were pulled up to port in New York because we didn't have enough hospital beds that our dead loved ones were being stored in refrigerator trucks in our neighborhoods, where lines for food banks were miles long. Folks like, there was hope on the way in terms of the distribution of millions of shots

in arms to stop the death. But as you know, barely see now because mainstream corporate media doesn't want you to see, people are still being hospitalized because of COVID and people are living with the effects of long COVID. There was just I just saw right before I came on air. You know, the next round of vaccines are available for those sixty five and older and those with

high risk. All of that was made possible by the Biden Harris administration, and so there wasn't a time for jubulation when we were just trying to hold on the last four years. So that's why this moment feels so needed, so necessary, because we want to be able to move from a place of surviving to thriving. And the only way that we do that is if we do every fucking thing that we can to get Kamala Harris and

Tim Walls through that finish line. Because it is going to take action every single day of registering people to vote, donating, holding house parties, persuading people, getting people to the polls. Early voting will start in just a couple of weeks in some places. So as Tim Walls has been saying, we will sleep when we're dead, but we have to run through the tape on this one. Then numbers have

to be so overwhelming that they cannot be disputed. And if each of us commits to that work, we will get this done, and we will be victorious, and we will begin to put this country back on a path of progression and thriving. So I'm excited about listening to the Vice President. I am excited about the close out of the DNC, and you will hear my thoughts on

that on Monday's show. And you know, I just I wish for all of us the continued energy and determination persistence to get this job done, because it is not somebody else's job. It is all of our jobs to get this done. That is it for me today from Chicago. It has been an extraordinary time and an experience and a privilege to be a part a small part of the history that is being made. And I am so optimistic, so hopeful about what could possibly come next, and I

hope you all are as well. That is it for me today, dear friends on wokef As always, power to the people and to all the people power, get woke and stay woke as fuck.