The Battle for Our Democracy

But it's this. The Congressional Gold Medal was given to the officers who defended the capital on January six, who put their lives on the line, including officer Brian Sicknik, who was killed during the mob riot attack on our

democracy in our capitol building. And at the event was Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, among others, and as these heroes because that's what they are, right Like, yes, their job is to serve and protect, but I don't think that anybody thinks about the potential of a government overthrow when they become a Capitol police officer. And when those officers, including Brian Sicknick's family, were going up to

shake the hands of members. They skipped over Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy, and it was a very public snub. We knew that, you know, this was going to be a clip that was going to go and be played, you know, over and over again for a day or so. And I want to say bravo to those families, to those officers, because the audacity, first of all, that there were Republican members who didn't even vote, They didn't even want to have a ceremony, let alone give these heroic

officers the Congressional Gold Medal. No, if you remember Marjorie Taylor Green, as the Republicans come in to take power in January, third of the House by a very slim like five or six feet margin, wants an investigation into the treatment of the rioters so she could give a fuck about the treatment of the officers on that day. You see, the Republicans are always so you know, bold

when they want to chant blue lives matter. But when those blue lives were actually put on the line to defend our democracy and to defend their pathetic lives, they can't be bothered with so much as a thank you, with so much as a vote on something that should be a no brainer, because regardless on that day, on January six, twenty twenty one, could have been a lot worse.

And you know, sometimes I think about it, and not because I wish death or harm upon anyone, but I wonder if members of Congress had been murdered, if the Vice President of the United States had been hung on a gallows in front of the Capitol building, if they had found his location or the location of Nancy Pelosi, or the location of Alexandrio Cassio Cortez, and they were brutally murdered or beaten as Paul Pelosi was in his own home, what would the response be Would it be

just more of the same, because we have all been sitting around wondering and waiting to figure out where is the bottom here? For Republicans, where do they draw the line? Well, they don't. There is no line for them to be drawn. Donald Trump, And this is but a blip in the way that the mainstream media is also covering this story. Donald Trump a couple of days ago, gets on his broke gass Twitter knockoff truth social and says that one

once again is just continuing to spread the lie. This man is so stuck in three fucking years ago from now. Donald Trump is one of those old people who you would think his brain is deteriorating because nothing about the present or the future is actually in focus. For Donald Trump. Everything everything is in the past. Everything has to do with this last election, not the midterms, of course, but

the last presidential election in twenty twenty. Folks. We're entering into twenty twenty three in a couple of weeks, and Donald Trump is still talking about the twenty twenty election. But on top of that, on his broke ass Twitter truth social he decides to say that we need to abolish the Constitution altogether. This comes on the heels of him meeting with two anti semites and white supremacs, both fucking ya Kanye West and Nick Flente's both believe in

and spout the same series of bullshit. So there is you know, one and the same there. But Donald Trump says, we need to get rid of the Constitution, we need to get rid of the articles. We need to get you know, when there's been such an assault on paraphrasing his bullshit, But when there is such an assault like there was in twenty twenty, when I should have been anointed king of America. We need to just get rid

of everything. Well, there have been a few Republicans that have had tepid responses, as they do to the assertion that the former president of the United States says that we need to do away with our constitution. Now here's

the thing. Donald Trump has been telling us that he doesn't believe in the constitution or the values of this country ever since he came down his fucking escalator and decided to run for the presidency and then, against all odds, actually win with all due help from the mainstream media. So the same way that they're not connecting the dots right now to tell the American people like m this

is what authoritarianism and dictatorships look like. This is danger alert, alert alert, because you see, if a Democrat would ever utter such a absolutely batshit crazy statements such as we need to do away with the constitution, Republicans would have a field day. But these people don't give a fuck about the rule of law, they don't care about the Constitution,

they don't care about democracy. Right now, folks, the Supreme Court is deciding a slate, a slate of cases that have to do with the ability of businesses to continue to discriminate against the LGBTQ community on a hypothetical, fucking case.

Jonathan and I will talk about that next. You have Harper More v. Harper which is coming up, which it would essentially up end all of our elections and the Court would have no ability to intervene whatsoever, and basically giving all power to the states to run away with what it was that Donald Trump wanted to happen in twenty twenty, which is that these state electors get to decide elections as opposed to the people that actually go

out and vote. So when we think that like, oh, we're winning, we have to understand that the battle for our democracy and the sanity and the values of this nation actually rest in the hands of people who were not elected by you. They were chosen by a corrupt criminal twice impeach President and Mitch McConnell. Three justices sit primed and ready to continue the erosion of our democracy. And majority of America is none the wiser. As I speak right now, the polls have yet to close in Georgia.

We won't know the outcome of that race. And I pray to God that Reverend Warnock doesn't just win. I hope that he wins overwhelmingly, that the people of Georgia overwhelmingly reject a fucking idiot puppet as their potential US Senator. Let me tell you something, who you vote to rep resent you says a lot about who you are. And if the people of Georgia overwhelmingly decide to vote for a herschel Walker, well then we know everything we need

to know about the people of Georgia, don't we. When I think about the slate of Supreme Court cases, when I think about Donald Trump wanting to do away with the Constitution, when I think about the Republican Party that has turned into a white supremist cult, I mean, as we look to go into this new year, I don't really know if the people of this nation have the wherewithal to be as activated as they need to be. Now. Look, the midterms went a lot differently than many had anticipated.

But like I always say, do not pay attention to the fucking polls. Pay attention to the polls that matter, which is the one that people go inside and actually vote in, because otherwise people are just throwing shit up against the wall and guessing right they're guessing about what

is going to happen. But when I look at twenty twenty three, which will be roughly the start, right of the longest election cycle ever for the presidency, righted, everything will be about who's going to run, who's announcing, when they're going to announce, what's happening with Donald Trump, Will we see indictments? You know, it's all very exhausting just

to even think about it. But there's another thing that I'm thinking about on the heels of this awards ceremony of these Capital Police, is that January six, twenty twenty three, will mark the second anniversary of January sixth, of the insurrection,

of the attempt to overthrow our government. And aside from last week's seditious conspiracy verdict against Stuart Rhodes, one of the founders of the Oath Keepers, the subsequent trials that are happening with the rest of the oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, the Architects right, the Donald Trump, the Rudy Giuliani, the Johnny Smith's right, the Virginia Thomas, the you know, the people, the Steve Bannons, the people who were in the war room in the Willard Hotel, are

still walking around free two years later, and our democracy, friends, is still hanging on by a thread. So I just wonder, first, we're not going to have a big marking and recognition of that day because the Republicans will control the House. So unless the Senate actually decides to do something, you know, again, they have the ability to erase history by not acknowledging it, by gaslighting the rest of us that like, oh, January

sixth is just another day. It's not. It's the day that the world watch as Trumpers and Maga storm the Capitol Building, broke in, killed police officers while the President of the United States was in the White House throwing catchup at the walls because he was so angry that he couldn't be there, and he still no indictments, was

able to announce his second attempt at the presidency. Third, I guess I don't know what this new year has in store politically, but I can tell you that personally, we all need to recommit to fighting for this country, to fighting for our democracy, because unless the Republican Party is put down in a very clear and distinctive way, they're going to keep pushing, pushing for fascism. Pushing for a dictatorship, pushing for authoritarianism until they have their way.

We are the ones that we are waiting for. We are the patriots that we are looking for to defend this country. It is up to us and only us. Coming up next, dear friends, my conversation with our in house doctor, doctor Jonathan Metzo. Folks, you know that whenever we have the opportunity to speak with our in house doctor or our good good friend, doctor Jonathan Metzel, I

am always super pleased. Jonathan. You know, the last time we spoke last week, we talked about the seriousness of the fact that we are becoming numb to the issues of gun violence, to the issue issues of mass shootings. And during that time mayors across the country have actually come together and written a letter to the Senate to I believe also the President in saying that we need to take action, we need support. There's only so much that we can do in our own cities, in our

own states in order to keep people safe. And don't don't people don't our citizens have the right to be able to leave their homes, go to the grocery store, go to church, go to a synagogue, go to a mosque, go to school and be safe. So I wanted to get your thoughts, Jonathan on this. This is not the first time, this is not the first time that a collection of mayors have come together to call on the Senate,

to call on the president to do something. So I just want to get your thoughts on their letter, on this collection of leaders, and whether or not there will be anything other than thank you so much for writing to us. Well, I think it's important right moral authority of groups who are standing up against the kind of

insanity that we see. It's super important. I mean, it reminds me also of doctors who have mobilized in a campaign called this is My Lane, and victims families, the people I study from mass shootings, they have mobilized also, And so you know, the more the more people are out there forming elitions that can not just write letters but also form effective voting blocks and mobilized during elections and things like that. Of course, that's all very important

and brave, and people are fighting upstream. I will say that, you know, I think the lesson of my research is that the power for gun policy ultimately rests in judges, and so liberal America has just been far too slow to recognize that while we were out there doing marches in the streets after mass shootings and all these important great things, the other side was not making a ton

of noise. They were just putting in judges who were bought and paid for by the NRA, And ultimately judges are the ones who are going to be setting a lot of gun policy. I mean, we see this with the Supreme Court, but it's true throughout entire our entire system, and it just took liberals way too long to figure

this out. That's why this Georgia election is so important, right because what does the Senate do, Among other things, they appoint judges, And I think that gun reform, if that there's power from mayors, from communities, from survivors, from doctors, from everybody else, it gives the Senate the authority to then seat judges who will uphold even the most basic, reasonable,

common sense gun policies. But without that, we've just let Mitch McConnell have a kind of federalist society checklist of judges who, I mean, some of these judges had never heard a case. They're only criteria for being a judge is that they get an a rating from the NRA, and so we need to reverse that trend at the judiciary. And so it's all cumulative, it's all summative. But I would say that without that, without that judiciary piece, it

becomes a protest move as opposed to a power move. Yeah, And that was my feeling in question was whether or not this was just a collective action that was going to be taken. But was anything going to come out of it? Was there going to be any real response? Right? Because I mean, I, Jonathan, you've been doing this work longer than most and I don't know the question that the mayors pose, what was what is it going to take?

How many more lives need to be lost, how many more you know, funerals need to be attended to, how many more people you know have to look across their table and you know, and and lose family members. And I don't empathy. We always seek, Jonathan. I think that in most of these battles to appeal to people's humanness, to appeal to their heart to we talk about changing hearts and minds, And what you've just you know, iterated, is that this isn't a hearts and minds issue anymore, Right, like,

this is this is a legal issue. This is about who is going to be sitting on that bench that is going to make decisions that are about the betterment of this country, the safety of this country, and not and not about who has a one hundred percent rating with the n r A. Do you think then again, that the messaging needs to shift in terms of what we're asking for, because we keep saying, how will history remember these people? How will the well what who cares?

They've rewrite history all the time. So I'm like, what is what is the appeal and the push here? I mean I do kind of laugh sometimes about how will history remember these people? Because that implies people in the future are going to be any more reasonable than people today, Right, But I mean, look at now compared to the past, Like you know, it's I think we have a pretty good proof right now that history doesn't matter all that much. It's kind of like who has the power to write

the history? And so I mean there's another case not linked to guns right now, the imaginative gay people use your business case that was in front of the Supreme Court yesterday, which just shows the power of having a radicalized judiciary. No, I'm not suggesting liberals radicalized the judiciary, but I am, But I mean, I mean what radicalized means just reeling it back from the madness that's happened

right now, which is just incredible. And so I would just say, I would just say that, you know, we have a lot of repair to do again. Again, that's why having fifty one senators is going to be so incredibly important because Mitch McConnell, well, you know, while everybody else's blah blah blah, you know, he's, as we know, been running the table on all these judiciary appointments for so long, and Trump appointed many, you know, three important

Supreme Court judges. And so what we're seeing right now is this really radical intertion of the Supreme Court and moved to up end long had long held civil liberties and rights. And so I just think that I just think that getting this back to some kind of normal middle ground, it's not it's about elections, but elections leading to judges, I think it is going to be where this is. And I'll tell you one thing about the

Supreme Court case yesterday that I've been thinking about. This is the case of the Colorado woman who didn't even have a web wedding business. But if she did, maybe some gay people would have maybe wanted her to use their services. Like it was totally a speculative case. There was no there's no litigant, there's no grieved party here.

The case that she imagined never happened. She actually didn't even have the business yet, and so she's just saying, I could be doing this with my business and gay people could come to me, and I imagine, and so she was, it's all speculation. And it's funny because I see this with guns a lot too, that a lot of gun policies. They'll they'll ask all these like Angela

Stroud as a sociologist. She wrote this great book, Good Guys with Guns, and basically she went around Texas and asked the guys, why do you why do you have an air fifteen round your back and three pistols on your waist, these white good guys with guns. And they would say, well, a gang banger could come, or a carjack or could come, or I could pull up to the bodegas, somebody said, and mister baggy pants saggy pants rapper could come and whatever, like all these really racist

racial stereotypes. And then she said, Man, I guess see how you want a gun? Has that ever actually happened? And in every case they were like, well no, but it might. So it was all about this projection, this kind of speculation that minoritized or aggrieved or you know, disadvantaged group might do something to me and take my privilege or wealth. And that's what kind of spread this fear of guns, you know. And we saw it even in New York, like a black guy could push you

on the subway tracks and stuff like that. Well maybe that happened one or two times, um, but it was it's all this speculation that plays into implicit bias and stereotype. And it's just funny because, like I saw the same method being used in the Supreme Court case that this woman really was not aggrieved in any way. There was no case, no gay people that ever come to her business, which she didn't even have yet, So she was just speculating like, oh, maybe some gay people could come to

me and therefore whatever. It reminded me so much of these gun cases, and it's just another example. I mean, in a in a balanced judiciary, this stuff would not be seeing the light of day. It's completely undemocrat right, because there's no there's no place, there's no plate, like, there's no case, like, there's no case like giraffes are protected by the Endangered Specie to Act. But if a giraffe wants to come take my college class, why don't I start a lawsuit now, just in case a giraffe

comes to take my class. Like this is never going to happen, and so it and like it's not like this woman was going to have a lot of gay clients. I don't think if she ever did open her business. And so we're just in we're in the we're in the kind of right, we're in speculative law where people are just sitting around in their free time. I mean, I had a tweet yesterday that I said, in psychiatry, when you imagine gay people are going to do things

to you, we call that projection. Right, it has actually something to do with you, not with actually the world. And so we're in the world of kind of speculative judiciary activism right now, which is a pretty dangerous place to be. And so again I just think it's all the more important for guns for everything else. Guns are part of this same agenda that we that we turn this turn the ship around as quickly as we possibly can,

and that means rebalancing the judiciary and particularly serve in court. Jonathan. If somebody is sitting around imagining nonsense right whe there, it is the guys with six guns around their belt, or this woman who's imagining all these gay people whose money apparently she does not want because that makes sense, and she doesn't even have that, she didn't even have. She doesn't she doesn't even have the business. And gay people are going to make better websites than her anyway. Intersect,

how do you not intersect? How do you inject reality? Or do you not? No, that's the thing is like there there are crackpot of pains all the time. It's just more like are they validated? And the minute you have judges who are validating these crackpot things, I mean, that's the issue is we've had, you know, we got three hundred years or crackpots in this country. But if the question is are these minority positions or are these

mainstream positions? And having them validated by the Supreme Court makes this kind of projected, implicit, biased nonsense into into an acceptable mode of lawmaking and so again that's the issue is I don't know, I just you know, you it's funny because you and I've been talking about this for like years now that the Democrats were not did not do what the Republicans did, which is the minute somebody won an election, come in with a slate of

like judges that are going to uphold your position. And so I feel like it's it's kind of being figured out now, but it's certainly taken a pretty extreme turn of events to have that happen. You know, do you think, Jonathan, that if the Supreme Court continues to rule in the way that it's been ruling right with the Dabb's decision overturned, we have mor v. Harper coming, we have you know,

voting rights case, that's the voting rights case. We have you know, affirmative action, we have all of these cases are coming down the slate for the Supreme Court, which is why the voting rights one is going to be the biggest is the biggest one. Do you think that Americans have it in them to do what the women and the youth in Iran are doing, Like if everything is taken away, which is the goal of the Republican Party, is to delegitimize every bit of equity that has been

earned and fought for over the past six decades. If those things are all overturned, ripped away, precedent no longer matters. The Supreme Court's completely weaponized. From your evaluation as a doctor, do you think that we have the capacity to do

what the people in Iran are doing? I will say, I mean our country is divided, right, but I mean, look what happened, like Dobbs was the worst trauma people could have imagined, and there were protests for quite a long time, and really energize protests that we're on par with any protests anywhere. But what's where the protests right now? Right?

And so the lesson of how the Conservatives got here is that they had a fifty year campaign of starting at local school boards and then local judge ships and whatever. It was a fifty year campaign and they literally never went home. And I would say that the anger, the passion, the dedication are all very real. And look what's happening with voting now in Georgia, like it's incredible. So I

hope we do, and I think we do. But I would also say that the lesson of the conservative movement is that it took them fifty years and in national strategy and starting at the grassroots level and building up slowly. And so I think the frustration for me with the kind of the liberal position is it's kind of like,

I'm thinking about this thing right now. I wanted to change right now, we need to expand the Supreme Court right now, but not seeing the kind of long game, and not that we have to rep kate the long game, but the other side certainly got in their position with

with a long game. And so I think that's that's really the message is beyond any immediate protests, I just don't know if America is the kind of place where those kind of protests can be sustained over time in a way that they are in Iran, in a way that I mean, the issue in Iran is like the entire system was going to collapse. They had to make some changes. We'll see what happened. But I don't know. Our country is so divided right now, I don't know what what the what what the effect of these kind

of protests would be. But I would also say that again it's it's not an immediate thing, unfortunately, which is frustrating for a lot of people. Yeah, I mean, I just think that if your rights are being taken away one by one by one, at some point you have to recognize that voting alone isn't going to be the answer. Right, Like we're we just came through this hotly contested midterm election. The red wave that was rejected to come never happened. It was more of a drip if anything. And we're

still divided the Congresses. The houses within five seats, right, the Senate is going to be within hopefully in two within two seats. I just don't know about the sustained power of the people. Yeah, And again it's it's just that the problems we're facing are not going to get changed by just protests, right. You need you need a long strategy for judiciary power and other kinds of power.

So it's not just protests that we're facing. Yeah. Well, as always, doctor Jonathan Metzo, we will come back to you to pick this conversation up and see, you know where the power of the people is going to lie. What is going to be the spark, What is going to be the sustainer in order to continue the fight for justice. I mean a lot a lot, a lot on the line in the Senate election. So that's one very good start, you know, hopefully that it goes the

right way. So yeah, here's hoping. Appreciate you, Jonathan as always. That is it for me today, Dear friends on Woke a F as always, Power to the people and to all the people power, get woke and stay woke as fuck.