Deric Gilliard - 4 Long Years Working Under The Trump Administration

up there on your screen. However, my finger works, which is great because I think it's it's relevant to what's kind of been happening, and I really wanted to get a first time account from somebody who served under the administration. Uh, your tenure was during his first term, and we are talking about Trump as everybody should know that. It's where we're going.

And it's also pretty much all over all over the back cover of your book and everything, uh, twenty five years and that you that you uh serve right, what was what? All this was interesting? I want to I want to touch on this too, Derek, if you're okay, was your time with HHS. I am going to want to get your opinion on Robert Kennedy. What do you think of that?

that's awesome. But let's let's let's start. Let's start with why you felt behooved to write this book, and and I think it is relevant because with everything's going on right now, it seems like in the Maga movement to speak, so to speak, that there's a riff now, like people are losing a little bit of trust for maybe thinking, hey, promise is made not kept, et cetera. And you may have a little insight from your perspective serving under the administration.

So if you can, why don't you expand on why you want to write the book? You already wrote it, but what was the motivator?

We couldn't figure it out. There's a little organization that covered me and didn't give insurance for my family and kids. I had to go get coming out of the cold and get a job that did and that's what led me to AHHS. But this administration, George was very different

than any of the others I began with Clinton. So I worked the last two years of Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden and this was a singular seminal experience and I could tell it was going to be very different immediately, and being a historian and a journalist, I said, I need to start writing this down. And it was tough for a lot of reasons. It was tough because it shook my belief and understanding and concept of who and

what America is. Because it was just a very different animal, and so I knew that it was going to meet with a lot of challenges, a lot of people were not going to be happy with it, And I think he has this. I would say an arm of his support is fairly fanatical. I knew that there were imminent dangers that I would be risking personally and also the people that I cared about, you know, because hey, he released six thousand of them from from prison a few months ago.

his support. You think because ike in examples, the way Obama had designed Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, it was supposed to be something that all eight states would used to expand Medicaid to provide health insurance for people in many instances who never had it, and but seven of our governor eight governors were against it. They were conservative, they were Republican. Even though they had fantastic health insurance,

they weren't concerned about getting their people health insurance. And in many of the instances, some of his base who were actually poor white people, and they're more poor white people on Medicaid than there are poor black people, quiet as it's kept and Latinos, you know, yeah, you know what I'm saying. So so they instead of voting, they voted against their own best interests to vote with the wealthy white guy that was in the governor's mansion, and

so they didn't expand Medicaid. And so those are some of the kind of issues that I dealt with. And so I felt compelled as a as a historian and a journalist to chronicle this time because I thought it was unprecedented in the modern era. So I just started keeping a bunch of notes all the things I had to write, all of the people I interacted with, and I knew I couldn't write it while I was.

And I write from the perspective of being a black man in America as being somebody who's a Christian, a person of faith, and thirdly, somebody who leans into justice and believes that you know, this, this, this country, this melting pot of a country we had, has been largely built by people who you know, have come from all over, whether they were brought here, brought here against their will, or they immigrants it here. And so I think that

that's the true America. And I thought that for those reasons, and so the history, I thought this was a book that would basically be in history departments, African American studies, social studies, all these public policy departments. But of course, because of the current president's assault on DEI and blackness and other things, you know, colleges can't touch it. So I'm in a in a strange place. But I did.

I did it because I thought it was an important thing to do, and I was well placed to do it.

you did you feel that the administration of the time was literally going out of the way to put a stop to access to those in need at that time?

And now, of course there's an assault on Medicare, just like there is Social Security and Medicaid. All of these things are up up in the air in terms of how much of there them are going to survive, and so I that that was a real big part of it.

this originally rolled out, Affordable Care Act, you you worked on the inside, So maybe you can enlighten me more and what exactly they didn't like. I mean, I have a great idea. I'm going to tell you from my perspective that I was an entrepreneur for many years and had to pay my own health insurance. So I have a different view on the whole Affordable Care Act. The way it affected someone like me was a lot different, But doesn't mean that I don't think everybody should have healthcare.

So I just want to throw that out there. Just we may have different takes on this based on our experiences, is what I'm going to get at. So as far as as far as what happened there with the administration, I'm gonna admit this Trump is a hammer. He's not he's not He's not good at he's not good at putting a plan together and saying this is how we're

going to get there. He's just like, no, we're doing this now, and this is happening, and then everybody just got to figure out how they're going to make it happen, and a lot of people do get left out. So you know, we have to we have to at least admit that, right. It's it's it's not a perfect way to run the country, admittedly, and it's not an easy thing to deal with, and you dealt with the firsthand.

So while I can see what he's doing in this term, he's done some good things, but now it's like he's turning back the other way, and people are kind of like, hey, what's going on. I thought you said this, but now you're doing the other thing. And so that's why, you know, when when you had this book, I'm like, okay, I really need to know your perspective, like what did you see, Like what did you witness firsthand? And what you stated in terms of why you wanted to write the book.

We're all very valid reasons. I mean, from your perspective, everything that you went through, I get it. Now, can you explain more to me though the attack on Obamacare, Like what was it specifically they were trying to do? Because I I was part of the whole thing. When we're we're all going through it, right. We want to repeal, we want it, we want we write it, we want

to redo it. But do you know from your perspective from working, I mean you were at HHS at the time, I'm assuming, so what was it they didn't like?

I don't have to and so it was based on all these people in being part of the pot, and so if people could choose to pull out of the pot, they had to pay a penalty. And people felt like, well, nobody should be able to tell me I have to have health care. It's almost like with the vaccines. Okay, a lot of people said, well, look, you're telling me if I'm going to go here and be in this environment, I can't come there if I don't have a vaccine

card that says that I had a shot. So I understand how people would have an issue on both of those fronts. I do because part of being American, I think a lot of people say is that you can't tell me what to do and what not to do.

You were trying to keep people alive, whereas if you have preventative care, you can maybe catch cancer early.

of gig jobs. Maybe they park cars and they wait tables, or they do hair, you know, they do different things, but they don't make enough money to have a place to live, have transportation, you know, to have insure their car, and have health insurance. And so you're putting people in I'm not sure we're putting people, but people are in a position and in many instances, george' these are the people who who make our economy go. You know, they're the ones that do things that most of us don't want

to do. And it makes me think about the immigrant population. You know, we're rounding up all these people and most of them have no criminal record, have you know, nothing that they've done wrong. But they're doing work that most Americans are unwilling to do. They're laboring out in the hot sun, you know, harvesting our crops, and they're you know, cutting our yards and building and doing all these things.

And so, I you know, that's that's that's when you mentioned that, a lot of people said, well, I knew it's going to do this. I didn't expect him to do that. And I think that some of those are what's going on. But yeah, so those were the two big objections. Men didn't think that they some men didn't think it was fair for them to be charged to pay something that they couldn't they were never going to

benefit from personally. I mean, they could have a wife or a girlfriend or something they got pregnant, but they weren't going to have to do that. And secondly, they didn't like the tax that they had to pay if they chose not to get it right.

going with that. No matter where you go to try to get a quote, all of a sudden, your price is the same, no matter what market you go to. The only people that were able to benefit from Obamacare were those that met a certain threshold in where you were within a certain threshold of poverty level. If you're self employed, you're pretty much screwed. You didn't really get

any benefit. It kind of changed that recently. I noticed you do get a little something now, even for your self employed, but it's nowhere near what it used to be. I remember before the Obamacare thing kicked in, and this is before my business was like full time kicked off. You know, I still had other jobs, but I remember my insurance used to be pretty low. Then after Obamacare, it was like, there's no way I can afford it. It made no difference to me. Now that was not

everybody's situation. But I'm just giving the perspective from self employed, like entrepreneur and I understand why we needed it for those that didn't need it, Like if you're at a certain level of poverty, yeah, you know you need that. I get that, but it didn't really benefit everybody as a whole, and especially when it came down to the pricing. And again I'm not making this up. I mean, you can go to any marketplace right now, punch in your information.

Doesn't matter if it's under you know, like a California government website. It doesn't matter if it's Obamacare or whatever it is. The insurance industry right now, no matter what when it comes to healthcare, you're going to get the same price for the package regardless. And that trickled into other parts of insurance. But we're talking healthcare right now. That's my perspective. By the way, it's just what I experienced. So this isn't really like an argument against you. It's

just this is kind of what I went through. And I think a lot of people that were in my situation saw that. I think that's what they were opposed to. It didn't really seem like a free market anymore. It's what it was. I forgot what year it was when they were supposed to make it an open market, and

that never really happened either, especially in California. So when we're in California, I was allegedly supposed to be able to say, Okay, well, if the markets are open, I'm going to go see how much health insurance is in Washington. For example, they have an insurance company in Washington. Great, I can get a quote from them if they'll still

cover me where I live. Never happens. As soon as you put your information, the IP catches you, says, oh you're in California, kicks me right back to the other website. So where's the open market? So I think the frustrations were really more that stuff. I don't think anybody was really against you know, people in need getting actual care. I know I wasn't. I thought it was a great idea, Like I said, at first, I was like, yeah, this

just makes a lot of sense. And from my perspective, yeah, if I didn't want health insurance, why should I have to pay a tax? Yeah, you know, I think that's a bit minor in comparison. But I think where the sticking point was is when people realize, like, this is supposed to be cheaper and more affordable, but I'm not really seeing it. And again, that was when you got

past a certain threshold. So it wasn't applicable to everybody, but those that were in a certain spot where your employer regards so much we're getting paid, you weren't going to make you know, you weren't going to get affordable healthcare. School districts are a perfect example of that, right, a lot of school districts, they don't always get a good negotiation when it comes to healthcare. So it's like, okay, healthcare for you, great, this is how much it is.

But if you want your spouse, it's literally double now. So it's a thousand for you, will cover eight hundred. But if you have your spouse, now it's sixteen hundred for her plus whatever you're paying. And people in that situation didn't really get the advantages. I don't believe. So again, just a counterpoint just.

so part of I think the problem too is it was imperfect. There's no question about it, I think, and I don't know if you realized this, but seven presidents before Obama had tried to pass some form of universal health care and for some reason it worked out with him. But then the goal should have been, Okay, let's all work together to make this better. Like you said, we're small businessmen and women are struggling here. What can we do to level upon a field so they benefit from

it too? And but there wasn't that kind of collegiality. Like Mitch McConnell of Kentucky at the end of the Senate leader at the time, he said his mission was to make Obama one term president. So I'm saying instead of them coming together to work on making it better, you know, then there was this fight to kill it,

to make it, you know, ineffective. And and that's and that's I'm not even saying that's a Republican or a Democratic name, but I'm saying that's something that that really because in the end, you want the people to benefit.

it kind of became something else. I think that's kind of what led to it. But you know, I do

see where the perspective is is that, yeah, he's attacking you know, Trump at the time was attacking it without any cause or just cause. Was just like, I just don't like Obama, so I'm just gonna repeal everything he did. And there was a lot of truth to that. By the way.

He's a kind of guy that's go. He's revenge as high on his priority list as we can see now with some of these people he's going after. So yeah, I think that was part of it. I really do.

that that that that was definitely I think a mis understood situation came to the Obamacare. My think, my thing with the whole deal is now everybody says, you know, they're gutting Medicaid, it's not really being gutted. It's they're putting. They're putting certain stipulations in there. Now you have to work so many hours if you want to keep it. For example, and it literally when it breaks down. I mean, I could work two hours a day and get Medicaid if I can. It was really forty hours a month.

It wasn't a lot to ask, but you know it can be for those who literally are completely immobile. So what about those people? Right? Some people literally can't leave the house, So it does hit those people. When the Affordable Care Act came out, a lot of people don't even realize or think about this because people do have short memories and it's all about likes, clicks and whatever the news cycle is. But Obama actually, let me ver effect.

I don't want to lie to you. Let me see. Yeah, seven hundred and fifty billion dollars was actually taken for Medicare when the Affordable Care Act was being rolled out, and then taxes were raised by a trillion pay for it. Now we understand why, right, you're trying to change things and morph it from you know, you're relying on this certain service, correct Medicaid, and they were trying to put

some of what was offered there into Obamacare. So I understand it, but we also have to understand that, Know, it wasn't just one present presently Trump who's targeting Medicaid. I mean there was many presents before that tried to do something with medicator even with Social Security. I mean they're even trying to get rid of it. And it wasn't just Trump who did it. I'm not a trump Trumper, by the way, I'm just pointing things out, So I just want to understand that that I hope you don't

feel that's what I'm doing here now. But I'm just trying to go over the facts, especially when it comes to the immigration side, which we can touch on later. But you know, I don't want to veer too far off from your book because I also want to get to a lot of the information you have in what you experienced. We can touch on the other topics later if you'd like, but getting back to what you wrote, so I see what you were saying about how you know when he came in, he was just he was

like a bull in a china shop. He's just like, no, we're doing this now, And you know, I get hit the intentions, but he was also leaving a lot of people to figure it out and go like, what's next? Right, all of a sudden, my healthcare it's in question, is it isn't it? Like a lot of people didn't know what's going on. The other things that he did that

you saw, like what else did you experience firsthand while working in the administration that was really like a red flag? Feel like, oh, this guy's this guy's nuts, right.

people who were out messaging and helping people. The real people who most needed to help George tended to be the elderly, the people who were less educated, who were less computer savvy. Those are the people because health insurance is pretty complex and so those people needed somebody to hold their hand and walk them through it. So those are the people who were going to suffer from not having,

you know, some help from people. And then there were insurance agents too that help, and of course they were doing it and making money, but the other people were doing it because they were just contracted to do it or they thought it needed to be done. So that was a real problem because For example, I spent a lot of time in the state of Mississippi. We had eight states in the southeast. I was responsible at the time for four of them. Mississippi was our poorest state.

It was a state that was the least educated, the most health disparities, It was the blackest state because and it had the deepest messiges of Jim Crow and slavery. So there were so many people there who had helped build over several generations the wealth in this country who had never had health insurance. And so for us to not be able to go in and support the mayors and the county commissioners and people like the Children's Defense Fund and the National Baptist Convention and the NAACP, those

people who were out there helping people. A lot of those were doing and weren't getting paid, but they thought it was important. And so for them to tell us we couldn't go out and help those people, I thought was I thought there was problem because it was still the law of the land. Now, if you had overturned it and you said no, and hey, no, makes sense. But to me, how could we defy the law because you didn't believe or didn't support the system, but you

couldn't overturn it. But you still told us we couldn't try it.

ten regents in the country. Our region is based out of Atlanta, and we'd have a meeting usually every week, and they told us on this meeting they've been hinting at this, hinting at this, that we were not going to be able to support we were no longer to be able to travel and support the people who were doing it enrollment events and promotional events to help people

understand what had changed. Every year there was some changes in the law in terms of eligibility, in terms of who could help you know all of these factors, and so people who weren't eligible last year were eligible this year. And by the way, one thing everybody loved about it it was that you could keep kids on their health insurance up until a certain age. I can't remember now that so the people who are still in college could

still be on their parents' health insurance. And that was something that was loved by both sides of the aisle, remember, So that's what they did.

from PERSA, the Health ret Resources Services Agency. They fund and undergird the federally Qualified Health Centers at people don't know in America, forty percent of the primary health care provided in this country comes through the federally Qualified Health centers, and there's some in most communities, and people can go there even if they're unemployed or underemployed and get primary

health care services based on a sliding ski. If you fee scale, if you make a little money, you pay a little money.

go back and fix it on our end. So there was that kind of communication, and we'd have that every week, because every week there was a different three theme this week or let's say this month maybe Latin American money next to me might bee lgbt Q plus month next May maybe UH focus on veterans of me, you know, focus on small businesses, and focus on African American.

that will be on these calls. And she told me, I'm not sending anything out because I got two kids at home who like to eat. Now, I send it out anyway, because I said, if I'm going to get fired for obeying the law law the land, then I'm just gonna have to get fired.

that are happening now, but this is on steroids. In fact, one time they told our CMS counterparts in Atlanta that run the regional office that supply work with all of these eight Southeastern states, and that would be nursing homes, that would be assisted living facilities, all of the hospitals come under their care, all of those any any of those entities, And they told somebody called her office run the Trump administration and told them to throw everything out

that said had Obamacare on it. We were to destroy it, all of the materials that we passed out and used to help educate people and inform people. So what we had to do, George. We had to call everybody in the Metro Atlanta sister community and said if you meet us down here on the corner, because we'd rather give it to you and let you use it than to destroy it. And it was perfectly good, but they didn't want to have it. So those are the kind of things that in terms of that that we had to deal with.

I think that he terribly mismanaged COVID.

It's not that bad. You know, you can check bleach and you know, you can do all these kind of things. And so hundreds of thousands of people died that shouldn't have died because he wouldn't take COVID seriously. And of course, you know when he finally got COVID, you know, we know he had the very best of medicine and the very best of care as a president, and so, yeah, he's a president, and so I just thought he was

extremely irresponsible. So so much of my book focuses on these communities, particularly the ones the least, the most vulnerable communities. In many instances, they were like the margareant workers who already you know, most of them, many times they lived in a you might have six or eight of them in a one or two bedroom apartment. You know, they'd

ride to work together. So they had no protection, and they didn't A lot of them didn't have health care, They didn't have a place they could go, and so they were ravaged people that worked in these meat plants and these supermarkets. You know, they they just didn't but they had to be. They weren't like me because I got to where I could go home and work and sit in front of my computer like we're doing now. You know, they were the privileged people and they were

the most vulnerable. And also the people that trusted him, who said that, well, this isn't real, this isn't going to happen. So I chronicled dozens of stories, some of them are best deathbed confessions because they people have said, well, you know, I didn't think this was real. I didn't think this was going to have could actually happen to me, And so I just thought he was very irresponsible in that.

And and what we're going to have in the next couple of years, and I think it's going to start this year, George, because all of these people that have been fired at the CDC, all these people at the NIH who've been sent packing, and asif the organization that that of doctors, who who suggests what kind of vaccines

are viable and safe? All of those people, twelve or thirteen have been replaced. He fired all them, and most have been replaced. We're talking about Robert Kenned. He had been replaced by all these vaccine skeptics. And so what I'm saying is you've seen we've had a resurgence of measles that's worse than thirty years we thought we had

eradicated measles. That's just the beginning of it. Wait till the flu and covid comes back with a vengeance in the fall and you have nobody messaging against it and telling you to protect yourselves and the vaccines are safe. And that's an option, so it's gonna be interesting. And this is just year one.

to me. But the thing with the vaccine, and I know you know it's because you live through this and you're on the other side of it, but it was it was very unproven. It was rushed, and I'm gonna tell you right now, I know people who died from getting the vaccine. I know people in the military that took the Johnson and it was like it was like a hot shot. So yeah, there was problems with the vaccine. And now we have studies that are released to actually say well, now, if you get it, you are under

a risk of myocardar myochi dieters. I can't even talk right now, but basically the enlarge heart syndrome right, which a lot of young people are getting. I do not know why I can't pronounce that word, was so strange, But anyway, so these things are true. And then Fizer just had a settle not in the US, but with multiple countries overseas due to the adverse effects that they completely denied. So, yeah, there were issues with the vaccine.

But did the vaccine work in some cases? Sure, I just don't think it was thoroughly tested and that was what the apprehension was for most people. The problem, though, which is what I agree with you with, is that this did. This did stir up the whole anti vax movement in general, and now we're dismissing things that do work. Like you said, the measles vaccine. Well, I'm sorry, but that does work. You know, the flu vaccine works. There's things that do work but we can't get rid of.

I mean, what do we want to do reintroduce polio because we don't want to take a vaccine. That's stupid,

makes no sense. But I think the apprehension was like, hey, here's COVID. Never had it pandemic? I mean, happens every what every so many hundred a year. Last one was a Spanish flu, and then here we are, we don't have a solution. Then all of a sudden, it's like

send it out. Okay, we could put some of that in the Trump administration for not vetting it, But at the same time, it was like the whole world needed something, and we can't deny that a lot of everything that was going on was also under the advisement of Fauci. I'm not gonna even not talk about that because that was a truth. But as the president, he could have put his foot down. So I don't really have an answer for that. You know, It's like there's it's a

double edited sword here. It's like, on one hand you have some truth. On the other hand, like both things could be true at the same time, right, but both of them don't necessarily mean they were the right solution. It was not a good time for any way to live through. So you did have the people who caught it that they got the bad version of COVID, and yeah,

people did die. I have a story on COVID because I'm I'm my business. I'm in the entertainmentdustry. I do I do a vent production okay, and we all got it before. We got it in twenty nineteen. Okay, we got it in about October, because I remember this. Everyone

was getting sick. Everyone was like, hey, it's this weird flu going around, and everybody's flying in over so we're like doing like these conventions for like just throwing like Sam Sung, Sony whatever, and so they're flying people in from overseas, and then all of a sudden, these large conventions that are like they're scheduled out a year in advance, all of a sudden they're just dropping off. And was like, what's going on, And everybody's saying, well, there's this flu

going around. Well I got it, and I got it, and I didn't know I had it. I thought it was a regular flu, and I worked through it on every damn medication you think you would take for cold from October through December. I had it for that long. I just couldn't shake it. And then all of a sudden, the announcement comes from January, well really around February, right, and they're like, oh, by the way, this is what's going on. It's a pandemic. We're like, what you know,

we're already going through this and nobody knew it. But we're working so hard and busting, you know, working through it that we didn't we didn't even like register what it was or what was happening. Uh So once it hit, Yeah, I you know the way Trump handled his shirt, like, could he have put his foot down? Could he have been more apprehensive instead of just trying to say, hey, this is nothing. Everybody did think it was a flu

back then, but at the same time, it was evident that it was more than a flu because the whole world was getting infected by this virus. So yeah, he could have definitely taken it a lot more serious at that particular time. And the speed of getting the vaccine out. We can argue whether that was necessary or not. I mean, but the reality is it wasn't vetted, it wasn't tested, and that's why people were apprehensive. That's why a lot of us were. But from my perspective, I'm not anti vacs.

I'm not going to be that idiot. Right, there's vaccines that are proven that you just take. They work. When it came to Robert Kennedy, I get what he was coming from in terms of health because there are a lot of adverse health conditions or things that can happen from certain vaccines. I mean, the biggest part we have. I don't think it is really our vaccines are food, quite honest. But because of that, combined with what Robert Kennedy was saying in the beginning, is what led to

this anti vaxx movement. It's a stupid thing, it really is. And things are happening. Like you said, all of a sudden, we have measles. You know what's next, Olio, Like these are things we shouldn't have. We have proven vaccines that

can take care of it. So I'm in agreeance with you, But I also needed to, from my perspective, clarify a little bit of what happened during that period. And I mean we're not even to talk about health. We can even get into people who lost their businesses, lost their jobs, their livelihood. You know, the way the government acted even after Trump under Biden. So that whole time period was excuse the wording, but was a shit show for everybody

on all aspects. It really was. But I think you're correct, and Trump could have been a lot more cautious about things in the beginning and taking a little bit more serious. I mean, I understand he didn't want to create panic, because that's when you're in the government, that's what you want to do, I think, right, but you don't want

to create panic. If he was to say, hey, this is very serious, we all can possibly diet, et cetera, it would have been it would have been just instant, like forget about it, like we were just been upended.

I just don't think that was there because and and you know, I understand people and their businesses, and so at some point we have to decide what's the most important. Is it saving lives or is it is it keeping businesses open? Or is there a balance that we have to seek that can preserve both, and there was a there were funding too, and and there's questions and you know, we can tell.

people for that. Do you think he cares about people?

He's not we're not really in one, but we are, but we're not, like that's that's a whole different deal.

You know, he would have had to, you know, because he shot himself in the foot, like in Georgia when he called up and said, I just need eleven thousand and how many votes? Yeah, so you know these these

and the thing about Kennedy to me is he's not taking a medical course, has no medical degrees. And he told the Republican Senator Kennedy out of Louisiana that he would not dismantle this task force, and one of the first he just did it. A couple of weeks ago. He dismantled that task force. So he straight up lied about what he was going to do. And I don't know, we've never had that's somebody that had no medical pack background.

I'm not saying that he doesn't know anything, and I don't I'm not saying that some of his beliefs don't have some truth to them. I think that, you know, everything doesn't have to be one hundred percent straight scientific and medical.

and you need to get it together. You need to go through it, extrapolate it, and go all right, based on everything's going on. Even using scientific method as you will, you can go based on the patterns and everything we're getting out of all these tests, this is the direction we need to go. It's but you can't wing it.

or doesn't doesn't support it. I don't know if there was an actual connection between what Trump's went in twenty twenty five, though they've never really made that connection.

in terms of how you thought or how while a lot of people did that the Trump Trump himself maybe I don't know if it was the entire administration, they were actually believed to be racist or a lot of things they said were racist or came across that way.

people tell you? More important, because I'm sure you got feedback from people that you worked with and what they heard and how things were happening and what they what they heard in the communities.

range of Americans out into the streets. Well, for us, we had the only all black career staff, the four of us that worked for the appointee, and I've worked with three different appointees under the Trump administration, and he made that the Justice Marches be about patriotism in the flag. And it was not about patriotism in the flag. It

was about the overpolicing of honor on black men. And so when like Kaepernick took a knee and that became a thing in the NFL, what did he say, Fire those sons of bitches?

not help but take some of that. Personally, I think he's the most divisive president that we've had in the modern era. Latinos were rapists in THEEVESE and the China virus and the this thing against the squad and the black the black led black black bron cities.

at the border. And I can see both sides of the immigration issue, I really can. I do think there needs to be a process and a procedure, but I also think that we can treat people as human beings. And I think that people who want to come here ninety plus percent of them, probably ninety five percent of them, only want to work hard, live a free life, and make some money they can send home to their families.

That's most people. And so we're rounding up them up in the they're running in the fields away from police now, and they're just they're at parks and they're you know, at landromats, working in car washes and they're getting rounded up. And most of these people and they don't get a lot of the benefits, but they still have to pay taxes. So for me, when I saw the treatment of some of these people, it reminded me too much of slavery.

And I'll tell you this, George. I think a lot of white America and not a lot of it, not most of it by any means, maybe a third of it is really concerned because this is becoming a minority majority country and supposedly right around twenty forty two ish

it's going to be that. And I think that for some people who live in these monogamous, these homogeneouses, they live in a society that's all white or all black or all you don't ever have an interaction with other people, and it's easy to demonize him and make them out to be the boogeyman and the bad guy. And I think that there is this element of white America that is afraid that they will be treated like other people have been treated in the last you know, one hundred

and fifty two hundred, four hundred years. And so there's that fear and nobody wants to share power or share you know, control. But that's the country where we're moving towards rapidly.

But you know, what you said earlier is very correct. If you're if you're living in a community that is all white, all brown, you're not doing yourself a service because you're not you're not really connecting with other cultures and other communities whatsoever.

it didn't make me hate anybody. You know, my friends we're all Indian, they're all they're all people from Mexico. I have black friends, Like, it doesn't really matter to me your skin color. But I also think that's a lot that has to do with a lot of the gen X, the way they grew up, the way I grew up. Our generation didn't care. We we we were

all thrown together because at that time we interacted with everybody. We didn't we we didn't we didn't grow up to think that we should treat anyone else differently because of how you looked. But somehow we got back to that now and I don't understand why or how that happened.

destroyed from without, it's from within. And I can see you can see us headed that way.

The thing that's crazy to me about racism, this is what I hate is you see it all the time. You can get two babies, you can film them different skin colors. They're babies. They will play and interact, they don't even care.

like trying to fix that. I don't even know how, but it's it's just as a There's a topic that I discussed with another person a few months back, and we went down this whole road and we were just scratching our heads as like why can't why can't we get rid of this way of thought? Like why it just it would be so much better if we just

looked at people as people, period. And I'm really just tired of you know, when I just when I think things are settled, I open up, you know, acts for the news is like headline you know, another racial like come on, or are we still doing this? It's it's so stupid. Are we not past that? It doesn't make any sense to me?

able to do whatever they wanted to do. And make money, and then the mortgage companies were redlining them, so you couldn't even buy a house, you know, or you couldn't get in a certain district or in a certain area, you know. So I think the frustrations are are shifting. Now it's not as bad for white people. But I think what happened, and what you're saying is that I

think the newer generations, they weren't brought up under that. Okay, they're just being exposed to what they're told is going on or what happened, and I think there's an older generation that will not let it go and all of these these these these feelings and everything just getting drug

and they don't know how to deal with it. And so it's I think that possibly not speaking for everybody, possibly some of the some of the younger white men, as you're saying, maybe they do feel frustrated because they're trying to do the right thing, but every time they do, they're being reprimanded for not doing the right thing the right way, and and there's no place for them, they feel,

you know. But then that's also the sentiment for anybody of any color economically right now, you know, you can't afford to buy a home no matter who you are. But when when it comes to the racial argument of what we're talking about in terms of race, I think I think what it is, they just they just feel that there's nothing they can do that'll be right. Okay, if if if you want to confront a person of color about something, if they have a let's let's just

be on. I don't care what color. If you're doing something stupid, why can't you be corrected? Why can't you just say hey, you know what? And and I don't think a white, young white kid can do that. They if they see a black or a brown person or whoever, did you see a mexicanos like, well, ma, way guy, I don't know if I could actually comfortably go over there and you know, say something, because all of a sudden it's like, oh, you're being a racist? What are

you doing? And that's what's been going on. So I can see.

to ask them to can you have some respect? But you know, I might get shot or cut, you know, and so I where As thirty years ago they say it is there my bad too and so, but today I may get cussed out or jumped on or anything. So yeah, I mean, you're right, that's the society that we have devolved to.

and this this goes way. I mean, this goes back a long time. And I'm sure you know this. You probably already know this. You're just letting me talk. But the reality is, I think that's what's going on when you when you're talking about like, why is it always the white person these young white kids. I think they're just medicated. They're so medicaid and their brains are just so rewired from being all these medications. I don't recall

personally from the black friends I have. They traditionally aren't really about medicating with pills. From my record, like, I don't know if I'm right on that, but I never saw a bunch of bottles like if it was diabetes or maybe a heart pill. But it wasn't like, hey, you need to take this for your attention deficit or you need to take that. I didn't really see that,

And I'm not sure if I'm correct. I mean, maybe you can tell me, but I think it was more on the white side that they were just like, oh, yeah, I give me that pill, I need this. Oh my son is crazy. He just he won't sit still, he won't read the book. He doesn't want to do math. Well, who wants to do math? Like come on, you know? But I think that was part of it. I think that's a big part of it. And then you combine that with what we were talking about earlier to where

they're feeling like where's my place. I can't be a white man anymore. I'm feminized, right, I can't. I can't be a man. I have to act this way. I have to be a feminized person. I'm not talking about transfer, just saying like how you act, and it's I think all of that just comes to a head. It really does. And I think that's why you see more like the white kids going crazy. It's it's a combination of the pharmaceuticals.

They're over medicated, they don't don't know their place, They got to be super careful on how they interact with everybody. They don't have anywhere to turn, and then boom, you know, fu was ignites and then they just blow up. So it's not always just specific to white kids. But we got admit, I mean the majority, yeah, I mean that's what's been happening. But we just we just had, you know, a group of Middal Easterns to go ahead and shoot up a Christians Christian church. We just had a guy

from Iran try to burn Jewish people in Colorado. You know, there's crazy everywhere. But what you're talking about with the schools, yeah, you're right. I mean, you can't deny that it's always a white kid with a gun. Why. I think a lot of it has to do with what I said, I really do you know, the white child, the white kid going back. I think it's all the pill stuff I started later in my generation. I think it just came down to just being in this cycle of we

need to medicate them. We can't deal with this kid. No, nobody really did long term studies of the side effects, and now that they know them, they don't really want to back off because now the pharmaceutical industry is making too much money on it that I could stop it. I I had, I had another guy on here that was a DEA agent, and we actually had a discussion

about this, and he echoed everything I said and more. Uh, everything started with a big pharma and and we actually had some of the same discussion, you know, in terms of what you just asked me, and he believed the same thing. He's like, it's it's medication, you know, it really is. He said, if you look at the if you look at the statistics of when certain diagnoses of conditions came out, it all started way back when the pharmaceutical industry took hold. You know, it's all started during

during the opioid epidemic and ever since then. Sorry, white kids are crazy.

one one pill literally it chemically rewires your brain. It does it either is meant to suppress something or it's meant to add and make your brain produce more period you know, is it made to affect your nervous system or suppress your nervous system. Like everything you do to your body, when it comes to this, there's going to be a reaction that may not be positive over time, and now you have to take another pill to counteract

that one. There's just too much junk in our bodies, you know, all the way from our food to to to Like I said, OPI ways, and I don't want to get stuck on this, but I'm I'm thinking that that is a very valid reason as to why you're seeing people act the way they do. I really do.

some of that may come down to parenting.

and then all of a sudden Millennials. It's like the gen xers when they had kids, didn't raise them the same way, same way like let's say we were raised and then it was like, well now you're now you're caddling and panpering your child. Now you're not supposed to punish them. You can't hit them. Look, because there's between hitting and beating, all right, a little smack that's a lot different than taking the belt.

least in California they can do. I don't know if it's that way in all fifty states, but it's insanity. I mean, what's the point of being a parent if you can't be a parent, you know? And then now you have the school system that is the parent. The state wants to be the parent, you know. And all

the things that we're talking about are not Republican or Democrat. And the one things, Derek, that I am very tired of, is politicizing everything. Can we just talk about people and Americans? Like, I don't care what side drew on, It's not a team sport what you guys want to get another point? Democrats? Okay, Republicans, Look what I did, slammed. Who gives a damn doesn't benefit the American people. We all have to live in the same damn country. Tree does the policy work? Yeah,

And that's the way I look at it. You know,

I'm not Democrat anymore. I was a long time ago. But I think when the party started going too far off the deep end, I was like, it's never really not for me. And then you know, I became more conservative, But then again, I'm not. I'm not far right mag either, you know. I'm like, you know, you got to have check some bounds. You got to be able to hold people accountable. Did I like some of the Trump things Trump did? Yeah? Most people do like some things he does. Do we like everything he does?

to sue him for that? So what did he do? Bad stuff? Sure? But we did we ever have a perfect president? No? Absolutely not. You know that nobody's infallible. We're all human. We're all going to be human, We're all going to be subject to influence, right, we're all going to cave in. Hopefully not. But I mean, let's be honest, if someone waves one hundred million dollars in your face, most people are just saying, I'm I can say, no,

we don't have a perfect person. I mean, the presidency is a popularity contest. Seriously, a lot of people that are that are getting elected don't have the credential they need to lead an actual nation. Like literally, so what you're a mayor for a little bit doesn't mean you could lead an entire nation. And all of a sudden you're talking to putin no, no hold on. You know, it's ridiculous how we elect our presidents.

the world. We can we can hopefully like grow up and and and treat everything like actual adults instead of you know, figuring like kids in the playard.

going to see unless there are some real changes in the big beautiful Bill, is that we're going to see a lot of rural hospitals close, because we've already been seeing that, and now that's what every state is saying

in some states are a lot more rule than others. California, I know you have your areas of rural areas, but I know you can like you can drive like from city to city to city and just like almost yeah in some places, but you think about where you know, and and I'm not criticizing this, I'm wishing this wasn't the case. But much of President trump space is in these rural, mostly rural states like Mississippi and Alabama out west.

And these people already have so few hospitals and if some of those clothes, what are they going to have to do? Drive two hundred miles And women have to cross state lines because of the laws against you know, to prevent women from getting healthcare. And so these are some of the things that are I think are gonna unfortunately get worse before they get better.

for people. You can't get on the bus to go downtown to the Level five trauma hospital. That's the safety in that hospital with your you know, eighty miles from your nearest hospital.

plug some of those gaps. And that's what where my concern is is is that even on the radar, because you know, it's gonna be a lot of cuts to Medicaid, a lot of cuts. I mean they're talking about if you if you cut social Security, you know, people work your whole lives on the premise that this is what you're going to get at the end. So we'll see that's that's you know, there's an insistence.

much thinking nobody would notice. And let's just be honest, over your lifetime, I mean, I'm not gonna do the math in front of because I'm horrible at it on the spot, but you know, let's just say, over your lifetime, you paid you know, over a million or two million dollars right over over your lifetime. You didn't, you didn't

earn any interest on it. Yeah, and then the government tells you what you're allowed to take on, how much, at what age, and if you take it at a certain age too early, they penalize you and take more away from you.

don't do that, but yeah.

at that. But what they also didn't do, even though they had on me in my time and I'm sure in your time, is they never taught finances though. So you know the option, as you said, to be able to invest in an account outside that you could put into and let it grow and mature over time. You know, there's many ways you can do it. And I'm not gonna advise anybody. I'm just saying there's ways you can do it. Look into it yourself. But they don't teach that.

They don't even teach you how to balance your checking, you know, your bank account. We have a society of kids coming out that don't have a real concept of how to handle and manage money, and so how are we gonna how are we going to be able to assume that they would be able to make the right decisions for themselves. I'm not saying the government should do it for them, but there's no reason at all that

this should not be part of their education. They should understand that there's a thing called taxes, and this is how this works. You know, this is what happens when you're earn a wage this think about budgeting, like they

don't teach that anymore. And I know it sounds very elementary, but you know, our kids are a future, right, as I said, If they're not coming out together end with this knowledge, If your parents aren't teaching them because they're too busy working and trying to keep up with the bills they have just to make sure the kids can eat, then they're just going to come out of the household and they're gonna be stuck in the same cycle that most of us were. Because most of us didn't know anybody.

We're just like, oh, yeah, this is what happens. You take it out automatically. Great, it's going to be their formulator. Cool, I got so many hours and we earned this much. Okay, you go to retire. Then wait a minute, what happened? Why I'm only getting a quarter? What you told me doesn't make any sense. So I think I think a lot of what you said is correct, But we need to start teaching it at schools. They got to be exposed to the idea of it.

probably about twenty years of my life.

really good country when we can move more towards the middle where there's uh, you know, I mean there's always room for debate. But yeah, extremism on either side is not good for us.

Uh yeah, those would those would be the real good places. But go to my website. Google, just google me. It'll take you to my website and you'll learn about what motivates me and why I thought this was an important story to tell. And we'll watch it and see how it unfolds, and it's it's gonna be interesting.