Good morning, peeps, and welcome to book f Daily with Meet Your Girl Danielle Moody recording from the Home Bunker, Folks. Late last week, Carolyn Bryant died at the age of eighty eight, and you may be asking yourself, Who's Carolyn Bryant. Carolyn Bryant was the white woman who lied and said that in nineteen fifty five, Emmett Till, fourteen year old boy, whistled at her and for that lie, he was savagely lynched.
His mother would later used his broken and bruised and battered body to show the world what white supremacy does, what racism does. Mammy Till was courageous because of Carolyn Bryant's lies, she had to bury her son, her baby. We love to use in mainstream media black and white photos in imagery in order to showcase how long ago something was. You see, Carolyn Bryan died at the age of eighty eight from cancer. I pray to God in
the universe. It was excruciating because she got to live out a full and complete life, probably married, had kids, grandkids, when on vacations, made friends, lost friends, worked, lived a full and complete life without any accountability or responsibility for a lie, a vicious, disgusting, deceitful lie that cost a young fourteen year old boy his life and would ignite be one of the many flames that would ignite the civil rights movement. Now, what America loves to pretend is
that our racist history is so far gone. Look how far we have come. Carolin Bryant was eighty eight years old. There are people who are alive walking around have yet to retire, that remember the Jim Crow South, that were a part of what is not taught in American history about the great migration of black families that would leave the South and move to a just as racist, but not as violent North, and spread across this country, which is why you have many stronghold pockets of black people
in the Midwest and in northern States. We like to believe that our history is longer than it is, and it's not. Recently. We also lost, but this was an actual lost. Whereas Carolyn Bryant's death is good riddance. I hope that you never rest well, and I hope that the fires of hell get you. And I mean that
sincerely from the bottom of my heart. Who we did lose was Harry Belafonte, activist, singer, actor, philanthropist who used his celebrity to give a platform and a voice to the civil rights movement, who used his own money to bail out numerous times. His friend Martin Luther King Junior, who sat next to his wife, Coreta Scott King at his friend's funeral. Please forget that these people that we talk about in history were real people, not just symbols.
Who risk their lives, who risk their celebrities, who risk their platforms to voice movements to usher in change. I say it all the time because it's important for us to really understand that this country is at yet another inflection point where you have schools in Texas that are about to display the Ten Commandments, that are bringing back
prayer in school, passing legislation. This is indoctrination. Everything that we thought that made America great, that created a separation between church and state in our public places, is now being pulled back while they are racing history, going to war on consciousness, undemocratically removing elected officials from being able to speak and debate the issues. They did it in Tennessee. They just did it in Montana with the first trans
woman elected to the state legislature. There, Zoe Zeppyr. Our history, if we actually were taught it, we would recognize is not that old, and we would be able to recognize and acknowledge the same patterns in the same tactics that were used to thwart the civil rights movement in the nineteen fifties and prior are being used now and they are winning at the state and local level, not yet at the federal. But that is what the twenty twenty four elections will be about. I bring up this history
to say, we have been here before. None of this is new. Who is being attacked may have changed, not just black people being shot and lynched in the streets, but attacks on trans people, attacks on queer people for daring to exist in their skin. We have got to understand and learn and unpack our history so that we can take the tools that were used and be able to institute them.
Now.
We have been in this dark, dangerous place before, which means that we have to bring the light if we are to get to the other side. That is what they want us to believe is not true, that their America is inevitable, and it is up to us to call bullshit on their white supremacist wet dreams. Coming up next, my conversation with our friend, our in house doctor, doctor Jonathan Metzel. Folks, you know that whenever I have an opportunity each week to speak with our in house doctor,
doctor Jonathan Metzel, I'm always thrilled. And I've never met a person that is committed to this show more than I am, which is Jonathan, who is literally in transit right now but able to join the show. Jonathan. The Tennessee Three, who were made famous by the Republican Legislature after trying to boot them from their duties as elected representatives, have made their way to the White House for a sit down with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
I wanted to get your reactions to this meeting and the President really talking about his commitment to democracy and applauding them for the movement that they've started.
Well, hey, everybody across America, I'm delighted to be here. I'm actually driving in a car across from Michigan right now. It's a beautiful day. I'm driving through farmland and just happy to be part of this conversation. And I will say, you know, I think that there are a couple things to think about with the Tennessee three and why that was important. First of all, of course, is that the issue it was a huge issue about Tennessee, but it
was also an issue about democracy. In other words, these were three democratically elected congress people who if not for one vote with regard to one of the politicians, just literally one vote, and then kind of a loophole that the counties could could basically just reappoint at the other two congress people they would have We would have three democratically elected people who were just kicked out for something that was no more egregious than anything else, that.
Less egregious than other people have done it.
So it represented something much much larger about democracy. And so I'm really glad that. I'm glad the story got so much attention, honestly, but I'm also glad. I think what's important is we see this a lot. I've seen this with gun issues and things like that, which is something will get a lot of attention, and then we'll move on to the next story, because there's always something next.
And so I'm also really glad that the president and the Vice president are basically making a sign that they're going to keep this in the public eye, which is what they're doing by this thing to basically say, even when the news cycle, even when the news cycle changes, we're going to learn from this, because I do think that the bigger issue about about just you know, standing up for the sanctity of elected officials is something that is playing out across America and it's something that needs
to be sustained beyond just one news cycle.
Yeah, I think that that's right, because you know, one of the issues that I think that you know, all of our important issues have, whether it be climate change, that where we are talking about climate change and the effects when a superstorm or super tornado or of fire is burning in this country and destroys homes and property, then we want to have this conversation, and then it goes away. This similarly is true unfortunately as it pertains
to gun violence. You have the mass shootings in the headlines, and then it goes away. And I think that to your point that both the president and the Vice president, the vice president flew down to Tennessee, you know, when all of this was happening to signal just how committed the White House I think and the Biden administration is
to keeping this front of mind. I also wanted to get your thoughts Jonathan too, because as well as as as this meeting that took place, Joe Biden, President Biden announced, you know, via his video, his bid for reelection in twenty twenty four. In the video, right, which I'm certain that you've seen by now, you know, we see massive protests, we see you know, protest signs with a slash through guns.
We are talking about abortion, and you know, somebody had said, one of the analysts on cable news had you know, lifted up that this is the first time which is really hard to believe, but I don't doubt it. It is the first time that a re election campaign where Democrats are actually going out and talking these really critical
issues that are also controversial. So I wanted to get your thoughts on what you make of what you made of the video, but of the clear inclusion of both abortion being a key issue and guns.
Well, let me say two things first, because I think these two isstions we're talking about are connected. And so the first thing I want to say before jumping over to Biden is the reason that Tennessee three is important in relation to the twenty four election, is that the playbook that the Republicans were going to use or are using to basically get people out of elected office. It
wasn't just about the Tennessee State House. They were have been doing or are going to try to do this same thing with a bunch of different important positions across red state America. The person who actually started the ball rolling was DeSantis, who you know, state defense and prosecutors are democratically elected in Florida, and with minimal fanfare, he just pushed out a prosecutor, an elected prosecutor in Florida,
basically saying I'm going to replace you. And I think there were plans or our plans to do the same thing, not just for these high profile cases. I think they honestly screwed up by not realizing how high profile this was going to be, but for election positions and attorneys general and things like that I know across Tennessee, Kansas, Missouri,
other places. And so I think part of the reason that standing up for the Tennessee three in relation to the twenty twenty four election is important is because it has direct out direct It's not just about democracy as a policy it's about democracy in relation to how votes are going to be counted in twenty twenty four. So I just wanted to make that point first. I'm curious, you know, you and I will be talking about this lot.
I mean, I mean Biden's strategy. I mean, let's be honest, Biden is not the most charismatic person who's ever who's ever run for presidents. So so, but I do think that Biden as a comparison. I mean, basically, we're betting a lot on the Republicans, the Republicans being very extreme. I mean, if I was a Republican strategist right now, I would say, run back towards the middle, and so you know, say, oh, we're.
Oh, they're too Jonathan, They're too far off a cliff no, to even to even take that, to even take what would logically be a good campaign strategy to even do that, Like the there is no way for them to run back to the middle, because they are literally over. They have jumped the shark at this.
I know that's true.
I just feel like we're betting the house on them being crazy, and I'm sure they are going to be crazy, you know, and push each other other to the right, But I do think we're opening a place where if they I mean, again, I agree with you, they're not going to do it. But you know, elections are one and loss based on independent voters, middle middle of the road voters, and so we're betting a lot on them running the same playbook that they ran that they've been running,
which I'm sure is right. But if for any reason they don't do that, then worse then.
But I mean, I just even like, here's the thing is that I'm going to push back on you a bit in terms of the independent voters and middle of the road voters because by virtue of the Republican Party running so far to the right and and airing out their extremism and their white Christian fascist views on pretty much everything from books to LGBTQ people, to voting, to history to curriculum to abortion, Like, there is no there's no way to put the hood back on, there's no
way to put the genie back in the bottle here, because the you can point to the four hundred pieces of legislation that have been put out to ban you know, queer existence in this country in Red States. You can point to the book banning that is happening in every red state. You can point to all of these things.
So even if Donald Trumport to say, oh, I think abortion is a losing issue, well it's too late, right, because the red state legislatures, once Dobs was overturned last summer, went all the way to either heartbeat quote unquote so called heartbeat bills or no abortion at all whatsoever, even at six weeks or in the case of rapeen incests.
So for the messaging on the point on the side of Democrats, like all they have to do is run the clips, you know where you have Republican legislatures talking about rolling back child labor laws, rolling back and rolling back marriage laws and saying that they know people that have been married since twelve then that's it's okay because
it's not incest. So I just want to say that I think that by virtue of the Republican Party going so far extreme that whoever we believe to still be in the middle is no longer in the middle because every issue, every issue that you would have been middle of the road on because they didn't step in that puddle, yet they've been jumping in.
Yeah.
No, let me be clear, like I'm not saying that's what I think they're going to do. And I'll even one up you on what you said, which is, there's no way to take the hood off. The hood is on, like there's no doubt about that. So I have no doubt that the hood is on, like there's the record is there. What I said was, if I was a Republican strategist, that's what I would be saying, because I think I guess the issue I was saying is the
Democrats are playing their cards early by picking Biden. First of all, of course he's the incumbent, there's history there By picking Biden, you're not picking enough a bunch of other people. You're not going to have competitive debates. So you're basically picking Biden because he's beaten Trump and he's the anti Trump. And you're picking Biden because of course he's got a track record which people people care about. But you know, people vote in presidential elections for a
bunch of different reasons. And then you're then you're highlighting all the extreme stuff that the the Republicans have done. And so I don't I don't doubt that that's probably what's going to happen. I mean, I think there are a lot of very smart people who see in the inevitability of Trump getting the nomination, of Trump not being
able to control himself. But I but, but, but but but I think it really increases the Like I mean, let's think about it, and you and I've talked about this a lot, like why did why did Biden win in twenty He won because people were afraid of Trump? Because Trump completely, you know, fracked up COVID. He he had a whole debate where he had COVID on stage
and we were checking the audience and was sweating. He suppressed the mail in vote, right, he was going against the Post office, so Republicans didn't vote mail in, which was a huge deal for Democrats. And so I'm just saying, and of course we learn from that also, But I just if the Republicans make exactly the same mistakes, again, it's totally a cakewalk. I feel like there's going to be something like they'd be crazy to not say everybody do mail in ballots, or let's make it easier to
do something like that. So I just don't think they're going to make the same mistakes. And so I just think it's going to be a harder campaign for Biden, which is maybe why making the stakes very clear right now about you might not love Biden, but here's the alternative. Maybe that's the Maybe that's the winning argument. It's about democracy, it's about abortion, it's about guns.
But I just think, I just, I mean, I just don't think that this race is going to be I mean, I think that twenty twenty was damn near and possible, and I don't see any difference between this presidential race and maybe I'm being you know, I think that they're they're both equally as difficult. Right twenty twenty, we were at the in the height of a pandemic, and he
was able to pull out the election. And this was a man who until you know, mister Clyburn in South Carolina came out full force and said we're going with Biden, like he was just floating in the water right of the primary. And so when I look at now, with twelve million jobs, you know that he's added to the
economy more than any president ever. When I look at the Supreme Court nomination, when I look at the infrastructure bill, when I actually look at these things, and I say this as somebody who was not a pro Biden person, right, But I'm just like, he has surprised me at every single turn over the course of his first term, and I can't and as somebody who was on the fence, not even on the fence for him, I wasn't even in the room for him.
We have a record of that because I talked you into him on this show, and yeah, so I of course I know that. And I think he's done a very admirable job as president, there's no doubt about that.
I totally agree with you.
But but I think there are gonna be a lot of twists and turns that are they're just I mean, like what if what if he goes to prison trap or something, you know, like there's so many things that could happen. My only point is we're we're laying down the green the groundwork very early of the choice, right. It's like you, you know, for people who might be on the fence about Biden, even still here's the choice.
And I think it'll be interesting to see how how the Republicans respond to that, you know, and now without Tucker Carlson, without all this stuff, it'll just be I think this is going to be a lot. This is going to be a lot of work, which is no surprise to anybody, but but I think it'll be a
lot of work. But I of course I think it's great, and I think it's important that the Democrats lay down the stakes of this election early, lay down the terms of the debate early, and I would just bet it's going to be a lot of work and they're going to be twist and turns that are unexpected.
What do you think about guns, Jonathan, being one of the things that is the issue that Biden is going to lean into. Do you think that for the movement? And I'm talking expressly about the movement, not necessarily electability. Is this what the movement has needed, which is for Democrats not to just be reactive, but to be proactive in pushing because we finally have reached maybe our limit in terms of how many children's deaths were willing to take.
Well, I think it's important for two reasons. I'm going to give you both to the coin here. The caveat is that historically, even though you know, Democrats love to stats like eighty five percent of people support background checks, but that doesn't mean that eighty five percent of people will vote for Democrats because they support background checks. So guns have not historically been an issue that people vote on. It's been across half the country actually a political loser.
So even though eighty five percent of people will tell polsters that they support common sense gun reform, people don't go to the ballot and vote based on gun issues. That has not historically not been Republicans are much more likely to vote based on guns, and so it's been an issue that people don't vote on. But I think that things are different now. Things are really different now
because young voters really care about gun reform. And so people twenty five and under, the people in Nashville who just add a four mile human chain, the people who went out to support that, the Nashville three, you know who who who were protesting after the mass shooting. So I do think that appealing to gun reform is a real winner now because young because young voters are so engaged, and so I'm kind of betting that we're going to see a shift in guns as a as a as
a ballot as a ballot issue. I think that's what they're betting on because it really does mobilize young voters who really and truly care about this issue, and so I think it's smart right now, even though I wouldn't have said that even six months ago, right.
And that and that's I think that that's kind of that was the thing that stood out to me, you know, obviously alongside you know, there were three things in in the campaign video, which was abortion, guns, and democracy and actually referring to MAGA extremism. And I think that what this administration has seen and what you know is it
is really growth. Because when Joe Biden came into office in twenty twenty, I think that he thought that there were still reasonable Republicans for him to sit down, share a drink with and like hammer out deals, you know, to better America. I think over the course of his first term, he is realized that those days are gone, right, that the people that he thought that he was going to be able to rely on to be the adults in the room, drank the kool aid of MAGA and Trump.
And so I think that by virtue of him looking at the base and seeing how young people, how black people, how people of color ushered him into the presidency in twenty twenty and the issues that are important to them that he's going to double down on that, and I think that, particularly for me as a staunch progressive, I want to see that and I want to see more of it.
Yeah. No, I mean, of course, like four years ago, he never probably thought I'm going to run a campaign like this.
And again I think I agree with you.
I mean, you know there are I know because I just gave a talk to a bunch of conservatives in the middle of Michigan. I know there are like every day people who are in the middle who identify as a Republican who don't who are also I mean, there are plenty of Republicans who think that Miffy Pristown should be legal. There are plenty of Republicans who are gun
owners who think that we should have background checks. But I do think that the political Republicans, the people who are elected, there's just no room because the people who are elected are are so extreme. And so I think he's reading the room politically in a way that might it might appeal to some people, but I also think that rallying his own base is exactly the way to go. And again, I think setting the terms of the debate right now is super important in a way that also
I think You're exactly right, is mobile. In other words, I don't think he can win an election right now by saying look what I did with the Inflation Reduction Act or the money people got during the pandemic, because it's too easy for the other side to say, well, look that caused inflation, or I've done I've done plenty of interviews with people who feel like the government gave out way too much money to black people. Like that's kind of every every research, every focus group I do,
some white conservative will say something like that. But I do think, you know, the Democrats have never run a campaign which is like a Republican campaign, which is just to scare the shit out of people about what happens if the other side is elected. It's really a page out of the Republican playbook. You know, you might not love me, but holy crap, look at the other guys. And I think that's what they're doing. And again, I think how the Republicans respond. I mean, they've been trying
to respond in certain ways. They're probably just stuck with Trump inevitably. But you know, I'll give you one more caveat. I'm sorry for being like mister caveat today, but I never thought I would see the governor of Tennessee, Governor Lee ever ever, ever, say that he would support anything
to do with gun reform ever in his life. But when nine billion young people showed up and he thought that he could get elected booted out of office, all of a sudden, he's supporting He started supporting red flag laws, which I never thought I would I never thought I would see in my lifetime. So I guess the one issue is if they feel like they're going to get elected booted out of office based on their positions.
I don't think that. I think they love.
Power more than anything, and so if they feel like these issues are losers for them, and it's it's pretty clear, it'll be interesting to see how they respond. That's the one caveat I'm going to hang my hat on for today, even though I'll give up on the all the other ones.
Well, Jonathan, we have a lot of time ahead of us to be able to discuss this issue, as well as all of the twist and turns that we both know are coming. But we will leave it here today, Jonathan. As always, we appreciate you and your analysis.
Thank you, Thank you. Take everybody.
That is it for me today, dear friends on Woke app as always, Power to the people and to all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke as fuck.