Good morning, peeps, and welcome to OOKF Daily with Meet your Girl Daniel Moody, recording from the Home Bunker, folks, As we get ready to close out this year, and again, like I've been saying, I truly believe that the new year, your new year, your personal new year, should begin in the spring when nature begins it's new blossoming, and that winter should be a time of reflection of you know, a looking back, a retrospective, you know, balancing out the
places where there is gratitude, the places for growth, and you know what good you want to continue carrying with you As the calendar year shifts, there's just so much pressure, I believe, in getting everything done and racing to the finish line, to only realize that nothing actually truly changes except for our perspective, which is pressured by society and Hallmark and sales and all of these things, and sending your last email. Also that you can take, what if
you're lucky, a week off. So I just really want us to be thoughtful about how we each are deciding to close out the year. And so as the shows come up over the holiday break, we have pre recorded a bunch of shows that I am excited for you to listen to and people to either close out the year with or get to know for the very first time. But coming up in conversation first is my friend and co host of my other show, Democracy Ish, which comes
up live on Thursdays our new episode drops. So if you have not been listening to Democracy Ish with my friend wajahat Ali, author and Daily Beasts columnist, you are certainly missing out on a fabulous thirty minutes each week where we bring on some of our favorite guests, or just get into conversations with the two of us and give our thoughts on the headlines as we volley back and forth. Waj has a fantastic book entitled Go Back to Your Country, and he just provides such sharp, keen, funny,
sarcastic commentary that I adore. So I hope that you enjoy this coming episode with my friend Waja hot Ali. Folks, I am so excited to welcome back to WOKF Daily, my co host of Democracy Ish and author of the book Go Back to Where You Came From and columnist at the Daily Beast, Waja hot Ali and just all the things chie maker you know, father soul searcher, all
of the things. You know, we are closing out the year a really I don't even what I here's the first question, what would you even call this past year?
Like?
How were you closing out twenty twenty three? Feeling about the state of our politics, the state of our world?
Exhausted but marginally optimistic because there's no other option for us as we enter perhaps one of the most pivotal years where I know it sounds like a cliche, folks, but you know, we try to fight for demococracy and we're up against an election in which the man who's going to be the leader of the Republican Party has openly said that he'll only be a dictator for the first day and he's admitted it, and we're just treating it as a normal And while that's happening overseas, we're
seeing a bloody war which is rippling out. We're seeing a crackdown on freedom of speech, We're seeing a crackdown on all DII initiatives, basically people who look like you and me, Daniel, And there's climate change and Republicans have gone batchett and trying to take away women's rights, and dark money is flooding the zone, and we're seeing a splintering and fracturing of movements, and people are depressed, and
there's third party candidates stepping up. But other than that, things are going really well on the holiday season.
You know, you started off by saying marginally happy. So I have to ask, after you just listed out all of the things that we know to be true and talk about on this show, what is making you marginally like hopeful?
The two things the opposite of hope is apathy, and I don't think we can afford to be apathetic with all the stakes that I tried my best to outline in the first minute. You know, the fact I have kids kids remind you that there's still innocence and decency and goodness. And to see the fact that my kids in particular and their friends like they get it. They
seem to be very empathetic and kind. And then you also have to realize that I think there has to be more than a few of us, Danielle, who see what's at stake, and maybe just maybe within a year. You know, a year is a long time. Americans have intention events, so we can organize, and I do feel that maybe, just maybe, if we're lucky and we organize and we do the work. Maybe it's enough. Maybe it's
enough to stave off what's happening. And I always tell people, apathy is what I fear most right, because apathy is what will depress the vote. It'll keep people at home, it will make people more cynical, it will make people more selfish, It'll make people say, you know what, if at all, I have to take care of myself and my wife and my kids, and that's it, and I'll
write it out twenty thirty forty years. And that's how those forces that have literally told you the plot, like they're these terrible but very helpful bond villains who tell you in the first ten minutes like the plot they're telling you, especially with the attacks that are happening on higher education right now, with what's happening with Claude Deine Gay, like all the worst people are telling you what they want to do. So if you, like, if you don't
step up and fight Danielle, it's over. So the fact that enough people care, that's what's giving me some marginal dose of optimism.
So let's start, you know, with what we believe as of this recording, and as of right now is the twenty twenty four matchup, which is a redux of twenty twenty with Biden and Donald Trump. Now, you and I, who talk about this each and every week on Democracy Ish, we say and lay out the stakes and lay out
the differences, and we say there is no difference. Right, You're either going to vote for this sustainability of our democracy or you're going to allow authoritarianism to seed ground, right to grow roots and blossom in the United States. This is the either or proposition. And I know that you and I often get chastised in social media about
saying this guy is falling, this guy is falling. It's not that bad being called hyperbolic, saying that we are overreacting, And so I just want you when people come to you and say those things, you're overreacting, it's not going to be that bad a Trump presidency. So what makes this time around any different?
Yeah, I say, look at the track record, and when people show you who they are, believe them. Right to pare for is maya Angelou. If Donald Trump told you he's not leaving and he didn't leave, and there was a maga cult that tried to take over a free and for election and thankfully failed, and the US capital
was burning. And there is a right wing movement which shares all the radicalized conspiracy theories that were once part of the fringe but are now mainstreamed, and it has resulted in violence against black people, against gay people, against Jews, against Muslims, against Latinos. And if teachers and doctors are telling law enforcement that we're under threat, and law enforcement itself is under threat, and the number one domestic terror
threat several years running is white supremacist terrorism. And these people are now dining with Donald Trump, who by the way, told the Proud Boys to stand back and stand by and ate dinner with Nick Fuentes, and is now openly telling you that he will be a dictator, but only for the first day, and is openly enlisting people like Stephen Miller and Cash Patel who are openly telling you on live television that they will attack Donald Trump's enemies
on day one, that they will purge the system, that they will go after media. And we have seen this happen. Danielle. Maybe, just maybe me and Danielle aren't crazy. Maybe just maybe listen to us, maybe just maybe forget us who are we We're nobody right, we're brown and black, Cassandra, forget us.
Maybe listen to the criminals who are literally giving you the plot, literally telling you the day and the time and the date that they plan on robbing the bank, and giving you the blueprint, and telling you who's driving the escape vehicle, and telling you what gus they're gonna use. Maybe just listen to them, Danielle. And if you think I'm crazy, take your head out of the sand and pay attention to what's happening in this country over the past three years. And what we've always said is that
January sixth was a test run. It was a rough draft, and they're going to try their best to perfect it. And then the last thing I'll say is, if you don't believe me, look at what Republicans are doing in every state where they have power, and how they're trying to attack women and people of color. You said, oh, they'll never get rid of abortion, until they did, and now they're telling you they're coming after marriage equality and contraceptives.
You said, oh, watch, they'll never do that. I thought I was told my whole life, Danielle, Republicans will never take out abortion and here we are in twenty.
Twenty three, right, and I think that we have been able to rest our laurels in precedent, thinking that, you know, which is the question that was asked at every Senate Judiciary hearing, right with Gorsic with a co COVID barn which is what I call her. With with Kavanaugh, it was will you uphold precedent right? Meaning Roe v. Wade. I would go so far as to say Brown versus the Board of Education. I'd go so far as back as to say plus E V. Birth, you know, like plus e V. Burke is in, and.
They established, it's established.
It's established, it's established. And so with their fingers crossed behind their backs and their bond villain smiles on, they nodded and smiled as they then, you know, three years later, would take away the rights of bodily autonomy for women
and people with uteruses in this country. And so when they say they're going to go after marriage equality next, when they say that, you know, maybe we don't really like this whole thing called integration, right, and they may go after that after that, Virginia, loving v Virginia, they said, oh, affirmative action, that was only to be about colleges, and now they're suing venture capital firms that give money to
marginalized black and brown businesses. So they're going after that because cruelty deprivation is the point, right.
Because the education, then you also education. They're trying to gut education.
So it's like every single way that we have watched black people, brown people, LGBTQ people, women make other advancements in our country, they are going after it because the only way for white fragility, toxicity, male cyst fascists to dominate is to subdue everybody else, which means undoing sixty plus years of progress in this country. I ask WAJ, you know we say this until we're blue in the face. They are doing it, as Steve Bennon said, village by village,
city by city. We're watching them do it. And yet I have people in my comments section that are saying, we need a new candidate. I'm not voting for Biden. They're comfortably saying this in twenty twenty three. Do you think they change their minds as the calendar year changes.
It's the same in my communities as well. And you know, you want to bash your head against the wall and then when folks like you and me, who I think have a good, I think, consistent track record of not being DNC shills. We criticize Biden and we criticized Democrats, and we try to be fair. If you don't believe me, just listen to our show Democracy Ish nice plug. But it's one of those situations where we say the perfect
is the enemy of democracy. Okay, no one I was thinking about this yesterday, Danielle, like I was thinking about twenty twenty. No one was excited about Biden. And I'll give you an example in Virginia. Right, People forget that it was first Buddhajic and Budhjet was running away with it, and then Warren and then it was a Cliburn in South Carolina who tipped the skills for Biden. Because people of color, especially black people, have always been very pragmatic voters.
They have always forfeited their own desires for the greater good of democracy. And what black voters and people of color in particular said, which white dude will other white people vote for, Which white dude will beat Trump? That was the calculus, right, So Cliburn goes for Biden. What happens Biden now gets a wind from the south. Right now, we're in Virginia where I'm at, and I could tell you, Danielle, like two days before the primaries, sixty five to seventy
percent of Virginia Democratic voters were undecided. You know where we're deciding which white guy. Will white people vote for Sanders or Biden? It seems like Biden has the wind behind his back. We're going to vote for Biden. That's how Biden became the candidate. That's why Biden won. The number one reason why people voted for Biden was because who will beat Trump? Okay, So now fast forward to twenty twenty four. Are any of us excited about Biden? No,
who cares. I'm excited about democracy. I'm terrified by fascism, and I know that if Donald Trump wins, or if any Republican wins, it's going to be fascism one oh one. So right now, Biden's the guy. Biden is alive, but he's running. Okay. All the Democrats are learning behind Biden. So for me, strategically, the horse that I'm betting on to beat Trump is Biden. I don't have to love him. I think he's failed in his Mid East policy. I think he's done a lot of good. I am worried
about his age. I'm worried about Donald Trump, who's more unhealthy by the way than Biden. But guess what, he is a person who at the very least is saying I support democracy, I'm against fascism, I'm against the Muslim band. You know what, Black people shouldn't be shot and killed. You know what, gay marriage should be allowed. You know what, women should have the right to choose what they do
with their body. You know what, if Democrats are in power and one of these old people in the Supreme Court dies, that means instead of having another conservative, right wing freakin fascist on the Supreme Court, there might be a chance for another judge Jackson right. And so if I could get five to four in the Supreme Court, maybe we can undo dark money. Maybe we can protect
the environment, Maybe we can protect Roe. And that can save a generational onslaught that the Republicans have done for the past forty years to try to take over the Super Court, which they did. We can perhaps not necessarily undo it, but maybe we could stave it right. We could stave it for enough time to give to give us momentum. That's what I want people to think about, Danielle, that's the big picture.
Let me ask you this, right, because again I agree the Biden administration and what they've been doing, particularly as it pertains to the Middle East and the aiding and a betting of Israel. Right now as they decimate, Gaza has a lot of people gen Z in particular, people of color, black and brown people, young people, queer people, angry, and we do not see them pivoting from this anytime soon.
The question that I keep asking is how much death is enough right to And I want to remind folks too when I say this, the United States waited until six million Jewish people were killed murdered before they intervened in World War Two? Right, there are two point two million Palestinians in Gaza, So how much death is enough for the United States to decide? Oh, maybe this isn't working right after sixty days and twenty thousand depths and
majority of them children. What how People tell me all the time foreign policy has no effect on how elections are decided in this country. Do you think that that will still hold for twenty twenty four.
If we look at the polls and we look at the Poles consistently, especially in the past two nine months, as his war rage is on, it's affecting his popularity. Danielle. I mean, like you said, everyone wants to blame Muslims
and Arabs. It's not just muslim in Arabs. Young people see the war and they see a type of institutional corruption and failure that we witness when we were their age when it came to the war in Terror, that it doesn't matter if the majority is against it, it doesn't matter if we see full scale brutality, it doesn't matter. There's certain institutional powers that be that say, eh, we don't care. We don't care that the majority wants to cease fire, we don't care that we're seeing Palestinian kids
being killed. Doesn't matter. This is what we're going to do, and anyone who goes against it, we're going to try to crush you. Right. That's what's happening in academic spaces, that's what's happening in media spaces. And so we witnessed this in the Warrant tear twenty plus years ago, right where we march in the streets. But then the powers that be said, no, we're gonna just go along with this illegal, in my opinion, war, and we're gonna pedalize
and we're gonna do what we're gonna do. And you saw a type of radicalization but also a motivation of a young generation that really came out to it. Enough's enough. So I think you're going to see that mobilization. But my fear, Danielle, is a depressed vote because you're already seeing people say, what's the point. I know Trump is bad, but you're asking me to forfeit my moral integrity and vouch for what they say is a genocide and war crimes. And I'm not going to do that. And that's what
I'm trying to bang my head against the wall. It's very tough for me also within our communities to convince people who are sane, rational actors, Danielle right, because people think they're all irrational and selfish. They know Trump is terrible, but they're like, I can't support the system because the system refuses to change. So you know what I'm gonna do.
I'm tapping out. You all figure this out yourselves. And my fear, Danielle is a REDUCX of twenty sixteen, where just enough people stay at home, and you get these third party candidates RFK, Cornell West, Jill Stein, and you get disinformation. And it's gonna come down to six states anyway, and Biden wins the popular vote, but just like Clinton, he loses the three or four states by seventy thousand votes.
And then what do we get? Dictatorship fascism. So for people who are like, eh, forget these darkies, these Moslims, these Arabs, f them. You don't like it, leave it. That's pretty much what they're telling us. Right Well, I'm like, look at young people, look at progressive look at black people, just us. You got one year to win them over. You got one year.
Last question to you, With one year to win them over, what does the administration do as we're ticking down.
I think Biden needs to run like his back against the wall. I think there needs to be a full court press to build a multicultural coalition. It's not enough just to tout the economic numbers. As of this recording, the economic argument is not working. You need to go all in with culture. Like we said, fight for democracy. That's a kitchen table issue. We saw it in the midterms. Abortion rights kitchen table issue. Black people, people of color, Muslims,
queer folks, women. You have to fight the cultural fight, and you have to fight it with passion, and you have to warn people what's at stake. I would lead with women's rights. I would lead with abortion. I would lead with attack on social security. I would lead on attack on democracy. I would lead with book bands, and I would remember that your base is a multicultural coalition. Remind folks this is what's at stake, and then fight for people of color. Right. Uh, That's what I would do.
But then again, I'm crazy, and so maybe just maybe they'll go repeat their economic numbers and that that has not worked so far, Danielle, even though it's you know, win for them, it's a win for Biden, but it's not. It's just not registering with people. Fight fire with fire, show that type of conviction that you had during the midterms.
Call out Donald Trump as a dictator, use the word fascism, go against white nationalism, fight for people of color, fight for women, fight for black people, and then you have a chance.
Amen to my friend watch a hot Ali my co host son democracy ish folks, if you were not listening to that, Every Thursday, we drop new episodes. You must, must, must check it out. Appreciate you, and if you have not read WASH's book, go back to where you came from. It's a wonderful holiday gift, so give it. Give it as a gift. Thank you, my friend, Thank.
You, Happy holidays everyone.
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.