Ten Toes Down for Democracy

twenty twenty with Biden versus Trump. And I gotta tell you, I did a video on TikTok that I also posted on my Instagram saying that we need to be going ten toes down for democracy at this point, right, And what do I mean by that? I don't give a fuck about the if and or about who else should

be running about. Oh but Biden's age all of these things, because I got to tell you, and I've said this before, I've said it this week already, that I have never, in my entire adult life, in my professional career in politics and in policy, been more concerned, felt more of an existential threat two our democracy ever in my whole fucking life than I do right now. And that's adding

on the twenty twenty election cycle. Because what I realize and what I think all of us have realized over the last couple of years is that the Republican extremism has gotten way fucking worse. They have become emboldened since the insurrection, they have become emboldened since Donald Trump's exit

from the White House. They have gone and taken extremism to lengths that we never thought that we would see, not in a quote unquote democracy, Not when you are banning books, not when you are attacking private companies and corporations, not when you are literally pulling microphones away from elected officials and telling them and their constituents that they don't have a right to speak, even though they were duly elected to office, because you don't want the debate, whether

it be on guns, whether it be on gender affirming care. We've seen it in Tennessee and now we've just seen it recently in Montana. Right Republicans are being relentless. They are defunding libraries because they don't want the books that offer critical thinking, that offer perspective on history, on life, on society that isn't through the lens of white supremacy. And so when you start to see right that it isn't just a speckling. Right. It isn't just a sprinkling

of these things that are happening in deep, deep red states. No, It's happening everywhere. So we do not have the time. I cannot fucking stress this enough. If you ask me, oh, Danielle, wouldn't you like somebody younger and this and that and more progressive than blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Sure, if we didn't have a loaded fucking gun pointed to the head of our democracy, then yeah, maybe I would love to pontificate. I'd love to have a larger primary field.

I'd love to have a primary right where we all get together and pick the best person. But when we are being held hostage by white supremacist terrorists with a loaded gun at the face of our democracy, now is not the time to say maybe not the guy who got into the job and is doing a hell of a job better than any of us had ever anticipated

him doing. So. When folks want to tell me about why they don't want Joe Biden and why they don't want this, that and the other thing, I want to lift up a couple of things that are known to be true. Here's just a little bit of the wins that Joe Biden has had Since the beginning of his first term. There have been over twelve million new jobs

that have been added right since he's taken office. This is well above any other president, well above by at least five or six million above what other presidents have been able to do. The unemployment rate is near historic lows. He signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, capped the cost of insulin for seniors at thirty five dollars, created infrastructure investments, signed the Chips and Science Act into law,

bringing back manufacturing jobs. First, major gun safety, which is the only state point that I have because it doesn't go far enough and doesn't really have tea largest investment to come back. Climate change re entered the United States back into the Paris Climate Accord that Donald Trump pulled

us out of. Confirmation of Justice Kintaji Brown Jackson, support of Ukraine record enrollment in the Affordable Care Act, and enshrined marriage equality protections into law, as well as interracial marriage because we live at a time when that is on the chopping block as well. So folks, that is just a couple of the things that Joe Biden has been able to do without without a super majority in Congress. And so when folks want to talk to me about his age, yes he is fucking old. He's old as fuck.

But the reality is we got a run with what we have right now. And look, I would love to tell you, yeah, well, if we lose this one, we'll get them next time. There is no fucking next time. That's the thing that I want people to understand. This is the same thing that I've been saying since twenty twenty. There is no next time. What Republicans are signaling at the state and local level and those that are at the federal level, is that they do not give a

fuck about law and order. They don't give a fuck about the Constitution, they don't give a fuck about democracy. They don't want elected officials to be able to speak. They're not interested in debate, They're not interested in offering up policies to make America great. What they're interested in are the policies of cruelty, are the policies of harm. Are what Donald Trump said in Waco, Texas, that He's going to be their retribution against all people that have

done wrong against them. What queer people for just existing black people for just living inside of their skin, women for having wombs and deciding that they don't want to procreate. What is this wrongdoing that they are going after? So if you think that we get another bite at the apple, I'm telling you no. And if Donald Trump isn't in prison right by twenty twenty five and he loseth, Donald Trump gonna run again and again and again and again. The threat to our democracy is going to remain so

long as Republicans hold a gabble anywhere. And so it is going to be up to us to put aside our ego and our wants and operate in the reality of what is. And look, I know that for some it is a very difficult and hard pill to swallow, and I say drink some motherfucking water and get it down, because if we are not going ten toes fucking down for Joe Biden, then we might as well kiss our democracy,

our civil liberties goodbye. Like I said in my video, if you want this country, all fifty states to look like this state of Florida, keep playing games, keep going up on social media and talking about Joe Biden's agent, giving a list of people who you think should run in his place, keep it up. It is that fucking serious.

If I thought that there was room for us to have other conversations other than the existential one that we are in, then I would be the first person to be using my microphone on my platform to do so. But I am coming out right the fuck now and

saying now is not the fucking time. That is how serious of a place that we find ourselves when our allies around the world are making plans about America's demise and what happens to them to the world democracy if that should fall so we don't have time for debate, Folks, That energy needs to be going into registering people to vote, pushing back against your state and local officials, putting money into campaigns across this country, and backing this president with

every fucking thing that you have, because our lives are on the line. Coming up next, my conversation with our good friend Kurt Bardella. Folks, you know that whenever I have the opportunity to speak with our friend Kurt Bardella. Democratic strategist, op ed writer, opinion columnists for USA Today, The LA Times, Everywhere and anywhere contributor but unpaid at MSNBC, is what I will make sure that people know Kurt Bardella. It has been a couple of weeks in politics and

in America. You have been all over the place, as you always are, but I want to start today. You know, I know that in your other life you spend a ton of time in Nashville, in Tennessee in the country music scene, and Nashville and Tennessee as a whole has become a focal point, a touchstone to illuminate past the shooting, the best shooting that took place at an elementary school

there a couple of weeks ago. But the removal, the attempted removal of the Tennessee Three, but the removal of two Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, two black young Democratic leaders, has placed a spotlight onto the conniving nature of this very anti democratic Republican party. And I wanted to give you an opportunity just from the many hats that you have worn, how what we're seeing these past couple of weeks has landed for you.

and civil rights. Uh, you know runs through Tennessee, and here we are, all these years removed, decades removed from some of those iconic moments, and the Republican Party just proverbally took the white sheet off and exposed themselves to everybody. You know, when you expel two black lawmakers but don't expel the white one.

especially about guns and shootings. We've had so many of them that it's a cycle that itself so often that it's so easy for people that aren't directly tied to an incident or community to kind of check out of it. But this took it to a new level. It extended the conversation beyond the life cycle of mass shootings that we usually have. And I think it, I think it's gonna go down in history. Honestly, is one of the

most important moments to happen. Shortly thereafter the headline today the front page of the Tennessee and is the Republican governor bility talking about wanting more gunderful that doesn't happen if the Tennessee three thing doesn't happen as well. And so even though we may never see anything come of it, the conversation is evolving beyond where it would have in

a place like Tennessee. Uh, you know, because of the Tennessee three, because of the Republican overage, because of the overt recial undertones involved, and and you know, and let's be clear what they did here. They told the black black guys, you've gone too far. We're gonna make an example out of you go back to go back to where you belong. That's what that all.

you know several days ago. Is that a part of me different from you, Kurk who you know, you travel around and you go to these you know, into these red states, I don't, right, So for me to see these young people flood into the streets, flood into the state capitol to be charged up, fired up, you know in a way that I was just like you would have thought this was Washington, d C. At March for

our lives a couple of years ago. The energy day after day after day that they've been bringing in so for me on the outside, this was a shock to see, a pleasant shock to see, right. And I forget what Republican it was. You can remind me who said, oh, this is what indoctrination looks like. Right, I forget who it was who said that. Was it shocking for you to see that level of energy coming in support of the two justines, but really of the fact that these

young people are tired of dying. Yeah, they're tired of being on the front lines of the Republicans war on America.

you have a lot of music business schools too. And you know, because and you may not think this at first, but country music is the heart and soul of the Nashville community. You know, it is the largest industry, and that attracts a ton of younger talent there who believe in expression, who believe you know, creatives and arts. You know that that tends to be a more liberal crap.

And you may think that the music itself appeals more to the Red States, but the people who work there, who work on music grow, who work for the music labels and the pr agencies and the entertainment side of that, they are all very progressive. And they all came up, you know, going to the schools in Tennessee, and you know, and I think the old guard got kind of, you know, a dose of that reality that you know, this isn't your grandpa's you know town anymore. Uh. You know, Nashville

itself is very blue Democrat mayor. Uh it was a Democrats led count City council that rejected the idea of even having the Reublication Committee, uh, you know, host the RNC convention. They are they were looking at doing that at one point, and the Democrats said, no, no, Dice, you know, so it is. And and again what was so amazing and you alluded to this a second igo, Daniel, We weren't watching a protest in New York or Orange, California,

especially Coach, the liberal elites and all that nonsense. Was this was this was Tennessee, a very you know, you know, when you went to get outside the metropolitan areas of of Nashville and of Memphis, very conservative area, and to have that type of presence, you know that, you know, I literally was just having this conversation with someone at the Democratic National Committee earlier today about we need to

send more Democrats there. I think one of the greatest things that happened in all of this, and I have to get props to the Vice President, Comb Harris, for immediately recognizing something was happening and that we needed at a national level to have these guys backs. She went there in lightning speed. People don't understand the logistics involved in setting the president or vice president anywhere is a

mountain of logistics. Things don't generally happen. There's a reason why trips are planned out weeks and months in advance. For her to be able to turn that around. Basically twenty four hours. This is remarkable and it showed a real political intuition in my opinion, the vice president's part of meeting that moment and helping drive national attention to it. It showed the value of the vice president in the way that I think we haven't seen in a while.

From yeah, yep, And it's a signal to national democrats. Don't abandon Tennessee. Do not surrender ground to the other side. So many Democrats I talked to Tennessee feel like they just kind of get taken for granted, there aren't many resources invested there. They're left to kind of effect for themselves. And what ends up happening is Republicans get super majorities in these places and due to crap that we just saw them. Do we need to have a more concerted

effort in having a presence in these places. We may not ever be the majority there, but we could have a very We could put up a fight exactly.

couldn't turn purple. Right. And it's the people on the ground, to your point, that are the ones that are doing the works, often with no support and no funding, you know, to get this done. I want to switch gears, you know, because again this is America. In twenty twenty three, so there was another mass shooting and you know that now

takes place in Kentucky at a bank. And what I want to talk about with you, Kurt, is what I've been seeing and what I posted on my own social was a side by side New York Post front page article, one that had the face of Trayvon Martin, the young man that was murdered by George Zimmerman for doing nothing other than being black with a hood on and walking home sixteen years old, was gunned down. George Zimmerman was acquitted.

The headline of the New York Post in twenty fourteen was Trayvon Martin had traces of marijuana in his system. Fast forward now to twenty twenty three to the white mass murderer in Kentucky, and the leading headline is about where this motherfucker went to school? Right, what sport they played?

And so I want you to talk about how it is still the white mainstream media's ability to humanize white mass murderers, leaving behind the story of the victims, right, the weapon of choice that is continually used in order to uplift Oh, he's had a hard life.

almost every facet of American media culture. Because someone is, you know, skin is white, they are given such a benefit of the doubt and are able to escape a certain type of scrutiny that anytime that someone of a darker shade of skin does the same exact thing or is in the similar position, that there is this rush to judgment and rush to stereotype robe And we see it, whether it's with you know, the situation that you tweeted about which I saw, you know, or even just look

at how Republicans right now are going after Manhattan. Da alf of Bragg, who happens to be black. You know, they don't do that if you know it's a Brack Kavanaugh, uh, you know, or or one of their own. The you know, the the the threats that get thrown out at people of color who they ye disagree with, I guess will politely say, uh, and people that also includes you and I who get those same type of time. You know,

that's that's all kind of by design. I always say, it's not a glitch, it's a feature, like that's the republic Party, that is their way. Uh. You know, being a person of color in this country means that you have to play air free ball. And if you and if you have one second where you aren't the best version of yourself, you're a jug dealer, you're uh you know your your you're a threat, you're a criminal, you're

under suspicion. Contrast that to how you know, the world kind of looks at white people and cellular circumstances, and they're sympathetic characters. They got a lot going on. They

they've been having to overcome things. It's like every excuse possible to make it some how okay, to justify mass murder, racts of terror, you know, look no further than how the Republican parity itself has recast the January sixth domestic errors as political prisoners who are being mistreated and who's who's who's By the way, who's jails happen to be a ship ton better than any people of color in jail, Like we'll give me a break. You know, they got

a choir singing songs for Donald Trump. Price say, when white people commit crimes, Republicans go visit them in jail and shot a spotlight on how unjust it is that they're being treated a certain way. But black people commit crimes or accused of committing a crime. You know, they had a comment they deserve.

thirty four felonies. So Alvin Bragg is suing him, and I wanted to just get your thoughts and reactions to that.

is turned into under Jim Jordan's watch. It's not about whether Alpha Brad will win the case in court at the end of the day, It's about having a statement on the record, making sure that everybody understands, particularly the media, that what the Republicans are doing in Congress, you know, is blatantly trying to interfere with an ongoing investigation, try to protect their leader, Donald Trump. It is one hundred

percent political. It is not the purview of the House representatives to be investigating independent district attorneys and their cases, especially once they are ongoing right now. And so I think Bragg has been much more forceful than people would have expected. But I think that's what's for in these times.

I know that most of the time attorneys are the first tell you say, as little as possible, don't make it a public fight, just back away and do your job and keep your massh But that doesn't work against this enemy. That doesn't work against the Jim Jordan's and James kongwords and Archer Taylor Green's and law and bow of Arts, the Matt Gates is they have shown that they're literally willing to throw out the entire democratic process to get their way, and they're willing to do so

with you know, violent intentions. So taking the high road isn't a luxury that we have right now against this brand of enemies. And so I think that Brag fighting back this way is you know, a queue for everybody that comes up each proble because that you know, we need to be more aggressive and more decisive and to not let these guys get away with just saying all the garbage they say without any kind of pushback.

took to court. And I think that until Democrats as a whole decide to use every single tool in their toolbox in order to fight back against this very corrupt Republican Party, then we're not going to get anywhere. So hopefully he is the blue print. My friend, Kurt Bardella, thank you so much for making the time to join wok F. We always appreciate you.