Race to the Bottom

case this year. And I had a feeling in my heart, and I've been saying this that twenty twenty four was going to speedby, that we were gonna blink. It's gonna be April. We're gonna blink again. It's gonna be September, and then it's going to be the election and then Lord only knows. And so I just want to take pause because I have been feeling a bit scattered as of late, and you know, let's just do a check in how are we actually feeling as this month is

coming to an end. And by the time that you listen to this recording, the results from New Hampshire will be in. But prior to the results of New Hampshire being in, I'm sorry, who is going to be surprised that Donald Trump is a Republican nominee. I mean, Nikki Haley can decide to stay in this bullshit for as long as she wants and think that she has a

fighting chance. In hell, she doesn't. And the fact is that when I say to take a pause and check in, it's like I am unclear and uncertain with how things are going to shake out by the time that we get to November. And look, I know that for most people, for most Americans who were not woke as fuck, you know, they're not going to check in until sometime in September, which is terrifying, right, which is terrifying to think about.

But the fact is that we knew from the beginning that Donald Trump was going to be the nominee, once he announced, and once I saw the first debate and realized that these people were not going to take him on. So if you're not going to take on the front runner of your party, then you're not serious about becoming president, right, Like that's just the thing. Like, if you're not in it to win then what are you in it for?

But apparently all of those people that had were in the beginning of the Republican primary were clearly trying to run for vice president and I'm just like, that's not

how any of this works. And so now Nikki Haley finds herself, you know, in a place where she finally wants to start calling out Donald Trump, and I'm just like, it's too late, right, But I know that there are you know, billion billionaires that are backing her much in the same way that there are billionaires that are backing Donald Trump, and they're just trying to you know, hedge

their bets at the end of the day. But like, do we really think that a racist, misogynist party led by a racist and a misogynist is going to a like nominate an Indian American woman? Like, is Nicki Haley kidding herself? And the thing is is that her fucking

foolishness around America has never been a racist country. But she changed her name and on different versions of Nikki Haley throughout her career has talked about the fact that her family and she have experienced racism living in South Carolina, Right, Like, people don't just up and change their name from a very ethnic name sounding name to a white euro name because all things have been well, no, that's actually not

how it ever works. So Nimroda goes ahead and changes her name, and people are like pulling up their receipts of her talking about, you know, being a brown girl and a very black and white society and her father experiencing racism and this, that and the other thing, and then fast forward and she's just like, oh, no, no, no, don't worry. I you know, I won't talk about race. I won't talk about diversity, I won't talk about equity

and inclusion. I'm just like you. I just want to tell all of these Republicans that are black, that are brown, that are queer, these people are never going to accept you. You are never getting into the club. Right. They may entertain one or two of you in order to continue upholding the lie that they're not all white supremacists and racist and blah blah, but you'll never be one of them.

You will always be the person on the outside with your nose pressed up against the glass, hoping and praying for some closer proximity to their whiteness, power and privilege. You're a lawn ornament, do you know what I'm saying?

So it kills me when I see people of color do these types of mental gymnastics that Nikki Haley has been doing in vivek Ramaswami and you know, and Tim Scott and others have done to try and be liked by a party and then be shocked though, find themselves fucking shocked that these people are calling you everything outside of your name. But you want to spend your entire careers trying to convince the rest of us that this party isn't racist and they don't even fucking like you,

but you're still left out there carrying their water. It makes no sense, and you just look foolish, to be honest. And so for me, you know, as I'm taking my pause and kind of looking out at the last couple of weeks of January and looking out, you know, at the last couple of debates that we have seen at the end of last year and now this year, I'm just like, you know what it is too, folks. Republicans don't want any better for themselves, do you know what

I'm saying? Like they're happy with what it is that they have like they don't want And this is how you have to understand that racism has a chokehold over white America and will always have a choke hold over white America because they don't want any better. Right, And when I say white America, I'm talking specifically about quote

unquote conservatives, but i'm talking about maga supremas. I'm talking about white quote unquote conservative Republicans, right and conservative, meaning that they don't like people of color, they don't like women, they don't want diversity, equity and inclusion, they don't want critical thought, right, they don't They want to be the only ones that have jobs that are successful. They don't want social services, and if they do, they only want to make sure that those social services go to other

white people. Like that's who the fuck I'm talking about. And so it's like they don't want any better because Donald Trump is giving them everything that they've ever wanted, right, which is to enshrine whiteness, white supremacy, and Christo fascism into this country, no questions ask, right, Like, the only reason they believe is necessary to have people of color or women around is to be of service and indenture to them. Right when they say that they want to

bring back the good old days. That's what the fuck they're talking about, This step and fetched days, the you know woman in the apron in the home type of days right where you don't how Republicans love to romance, you know, the bygone era where like, you know, the divorce rate was low and all of these things. You know why the divorce rate was low. I just love to remind people of this fact, because women didn't have

any financial freedom. So if you weren't able to get a credit card until nineteen seventy four, and you weren't able to have any financial freedom outside of what allowance your daddy or your husband gave you, where the fuck were you going? Right? Like, divorce was for a lot of women a straight shot to like fucking poverty. Because you also weren't able to get employed in the jobs that would have you be able to function at a high economic level with children and be a successful single parent,

Like that wasn't an option. And so when they want to toe the low divorce rate, what they are actually talking about is the trap, the patriarchal trap that society had set up for women to track them into marriage, strap them with children, and then in a form of gratitude in a lot of circumstances and abusive homes with men that they needed to get permission from to spend any amount of money. So those are the good old

days that these fucking people are talking about. And so it's always a shock to me, not just that people of color and queer people could possibly be Republican, but it's a shock to me that women could be Republicans. But then you have to remind yourself that some people

want safety more than they want freedom. Let me say that again, because sometimes we have to remind ourselves that some people want safety more than they want freedom, because safety right is staying in close proximity and in favor with white men for your protection and for your security, rather than going out on your own right and creating and living a life that is one based on autonomy.

It's like munch House in Syndrome. Okay, So I'm looking at this, you know, and again, by the time that you all watch this, we will know that Donald Trump is the nominee. And even if Nikki Haley is still in the race, because apparently right now as I'm recording this, she still has planned events in South Carolina, she gonna lose her home state, right and if you can't like guarantee a win in your home state, like, all that does is signal to the rest of the country that

your own home state don't fuck with you. So why would we fuck with you? I you know, I have wondered this, folks. I will never know, right, and we'll never know, or maybe we do know, which is what would have happened, right Donald Trump announced super early? Why did Donald Trump announce early that he was gonna run again for the presidency, because then he could be able to use the line of every case that was coming up against him as a witch hunt, right as political prosecution.

The funny thing is is that I honestly believe that if Donald Trump hadn't have declared and said publicly that he was not going to be seeking to run for reelection, that he wouldn't have been prosecuted, even though he's guilty

of a whole host of crimes. Right. So it like a part of me is just like I sometimes wish that the Department of Justice or whomever that was able to like atch out a deal said if you don't run publicly state and sign this paper and say that you will not run or seek public office for the presidency or anywhere. Ever. Again, we won't bring lawsuits against you. You're a criminal, but we won't bring any lawsuits against you.

Would Donald Trump have taken that deal, Probably not, you know, but it would have been the best deal for the country, to be honest, because will the uber rich, powerful white man ever go to jail. No, because you see the tricks that he's pulling in Georgia with Fannie Willis, who will probably lose her job. The case will be thrown out on all of these bullshit technicalities of oh, she had an affair or she had this. What the fuck does that have to do with going after Donald Trump?

It doesn't. It's just another form of a distraction and the perfection necessary for women and for people of color in order to get right the ability and the power to bring accountability to the doorsteps of rich, white, powerful men. It's all fucking exhausting, right, which is why I find myself right now taking a bit of a pause, because it really is like your head will just stay on a fucking swivel if you try and keep up with

all of the bullshit that is coming out. And that's why I say, like, the time is gonna fly this year because this Republican Party Trump, They're gonna throw everything

at the American people. And by the time that we get to November, if you're not taking breaks, if you're not like staying mentally, physically, spiritually fit, you're gonna be careening, you know, towards a cliff by the time we get to the election and just want to be done with it, which will not vode well for Biden, who, by the way, just to remind folks, we are voting for democracy. We are voting for our rights, what is left of them.

We are not voting for Joe Biden. Okay, Joe Biden is not a great candidate, and if I had it my way, he wouldn't be running, right, But neither would Donald Trump. And if I had it my way, we wouldn't even be in this predicament because Americans would have chosen the woman. They would have chosen Hillary Clinton in twenty sixteen and not Donald Trump. And to be honest, I'm not convinced that America didn't choose her. I'm convinced that the election in twenty sixteen was the actual election

that was stolen, that we didn't investigate. I don't know, folks,

I don't know. I continue to be really worried, very concerned with all of the ways that this current administration seems to be out of touch with how angry people are, and taking for granted the fact that everyone thinks that, you know, Donald Trump is the devil reincarnate and so they have no choice, and the fact is that we always have choices, not always right like after this election donald Trump becomes president again, we actually have no choices,

particularly black people, brown people, people of color, queer people, you know, women, the disabled, like you know, the list goes on and on and on and on and on. It's easier to just say that if you're not a man, you're not sis, you're not Christian, and you're not white, you will be fucked. Right. It just may take a little longer to get to you, but you will be fucked.

I don't know. I know that we need to take breaks, and I know that we need to kind of take this year in many bite sizes, right, like you take a bite, you sit, you let it digest, and then like you go back for another bite. It is running a marathon, except I'm saying you run for maybe twenty thirty minutes. You take a break, it's ingest some water, right, you sit, if you stretch, and then you get back

in the race. Like, that's the way that we're going to get through this for the long haul is to do it bit by bit, bite by bite, moment by moment, with lots of rest and hydration in between. Because you know, it's January twenty fourth, just a handful of days until February, and I am already over it. And every day I say to myself, I'm really not sure how I'm getting

to November. But I'm pretty sure that I'm going to go to sleep and I'm going to wake up and it's going to be November, and I'm probably going to feel sick. So let me tell you a little trick that I'm doing. With a few minutes that I have left a couple of things that I'm doing, let's transition now from Wednesday to wellness Wednesday for a hot minute.

The stress is really getting to me, and so I have just decided to invest in a workout plan in regimen because what happens when I am stressed and I don't sleep well and I just revert back to bad habits and I start to put on a lot of weight, which is what has happened. So I have found a

new workout program I'm pretty psyched about. I can afford it, and so I'm doing it and I'm starting a little challenge that they're doing in February, and so I've decided to kind of put my energy towards that, not treating my body like a machine, because we're not, but like treating my body in a loving and caring way and knowing that I Am not going to have the strength and the energy to get through the next several months if I'm not taking care of myself. So that's number one.

Number two is that I'm coming up with little ways to reward myself for keeping up with my health, with my meditations, with my workout you know, fitness regimes, and like what does that look like? You know? What are those little things that I can plant throughout the year that will give me something to look forward to and give me some excitement about anticipating them coming. So those

are the things, you know. So I'm you know, thinking about what's a mini trip that I can take that could be you know, good, get me some you know, vitamin D and some sand and just you know, be by salt water, which is incredibly healing for me and

just most people. So when can I do that, you know, and still record the show or just take a little break, right, So I encourage all of you to think out your year, think out the next couple of months, and what are the little seeds of joy that you are on a regular basis that allows you to have some excitement and some anticipation around their blooming. You know, what are the things that you are investing in that bring you joy and ease, that help you to develop the strength to

keep going. Those are the things that I want us to really be thinking about, because again, this year is going to go really fast, and I think that we are all going to need to be able to slow ourselves down in order to catch our breath in order to focus on what matters and what is important. And we can only do that when we are working at a pace that makes sense for us. So that is some of the wellness that I am going to be

doing over the next couple of months. And I will check in with all of you and let you know how things are going. But do the same with me in the comment section. If you're on Patreon and watching this video, you know, and hit me up on threads or on ig if you're listening to the audio. Also coming in February, so in a few weeks, I'm going to have some new tiers within Patreon and exciting new incentives for you all that I hope that folks will be excited about. All right, dear friends, that is it

for me today on this Woke Wednesday. As always, power to the people and to all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke as fun