A Thoughtful Conversation Featuring Shalonda Spencer

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Welcome. I'm Eric Fleming, host of A Moment with Eric Fleming, the podcast of our time.

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I want to personally thank you for listening to the podcast.

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If you like what you're hearing, then I need you to do a few things.

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First, I need subscribers. I'm on Patreon at patreon.com slash A Moment with Eric Fleming.

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Your subscription allows an independent podcaster like me the freedom to speak

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truth to power and to expand and improve the show.

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Second, leave a five-star review for the podcast on the streaming service you

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listen to it. That will help the podcast tremendously.

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Third, go to the website, momenteric.com. There you can subscribe to the podcast,

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leave reviews and comments, listen to past episodes, and even learn a little bit about your host.

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Lastly, don't keep this a secret, like it's your own personal guilty pleasure.

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Tell someone else about the podcast. encourage others to listen to the podcast

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and share the podcast on your social media platforms because it is time to make

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this moment a movement thanks in advance for supporting the podcast of our time

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i hope you enjoy this episode as well,

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the following program is hosted by the nbg podcast network.

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Music.

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And welcome to Another Moment with Eric Fleming. I am your host, Eric Fleming.

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Today, I've got a good friend that is going to be a guest.

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I say good friend because this is somebody that.

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I admire from afar that is up and coming and just be on the lookout for this sister.

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And, you know, it may not be right away, but she she's going to be one of the

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stars of the future in politics for whatever she decides to continue to do.

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She's been on the program before and hopefully, you know, we'll we'll have her on many times.

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But I'm glad that she's going to be a guest today.

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And we're going to talk about, you know, what happened in 2024 and where we need to go from here.

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So, you know, and then, you know, a lot of stuff has happened this week.

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And I'm not going to talk about everything.

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But first things first, we need to keep the people in Los Angeles in our prayers,

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find some kind of resource to help them out, whether it's GoFundMe or the Red Cross or whatever.

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You know, just do what you can to help those folks out. It's still early because

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they're still going through it as we're recording this.

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And you always can go to FEMA.gov. I always try to direct people to that because

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FEMA.gov is going to screen out any of the scammers and get you to the right

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resources to help those folks in need.

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It's a real, real bad situation.

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And we just need folks to be prayerful and do what you can for them.

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I have family members out there. They've all checked in. Everything's okay.

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But they have friends who are going through it. So just be mindful of that.

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And speaking of that, since that's a news story, This will be a perfect time

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to go ahead and get it started.

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And as always, we start this off with a moment of news. Good Grace G.

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Music.

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Thanks, Eric. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson was narrowly re-elected,

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securing his position with 218 votes after negotiations with dissenting Republicans.

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The U.S. Congress, in a session presided over by Vice President Kamala Harris,

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officially certified Donald Trump's election victory.

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President-elect Donald Trump received a sentence of unconditional discharge

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for falsifying records related to hush money paid out to an adult film actor.

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he would resign in the coming

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months due to pressure from lawmakers while remaining in office until a new

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liberal leader is chosen.

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Wildfires in Los Angeles burned over 31,000 acres, forcing 180,000 evacuations,

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killing several people, and destroying thousands of homes. A U.S.

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Appeals court overturned an injunction blocking the release of a report on special

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counsel Jack Smith's investigations into Donald Trump. The U.S.

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Department of Justice urged the Supreme Court to deny Trump's request to delay

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a law that could ban TikTok.

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Minneapolis's city council unanimously approved reforms and outside oversight

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for its police department following a federal investigation that revealed civil rights abuses.

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PayPal is facing a lawsuit from an Asian-American businesswoman who claims the

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company discriminated against her by limiting an investment program to Black

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and Hispanic applicants.

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Rudy Giuliani was found in civil contempt of court for not providing requested

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information in a defamation case brought by two Georgia election workers.

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President Joe Biden blocked Nippon Steel's $14.9 billion acquisition of U.S.

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Steel due to national security concerns.

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And a Justice Department report found Oklahoma is unlawfully committing individuals

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with mental illness to psychiatric hospitals and relying on police for mental health crises.

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I am Grace Gee, and this has been...

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Music.

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All right. Thank you, Grace, for that moment of news. And now it is time for

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our first guest, well, my only guest, Shalonda Spencer.

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Shalonda Spencer is a remarkable individual who has demonstrated excellence

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in various fields such as policy, entrepreneurship, politics and advocacy.

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Throughout her professional journey, she has utilized her extensive expertise

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and background to make a significant impact by shaping crucial social and political decisions.

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Furnishing invaluable policy guidance to government leaders and unwaveringly

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advocating for social and racial equity.

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With over a decade of experience in government affairs, human rights and social

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justice, Shalanda is an accomplished leader and a sought after keynote speaker.

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Her expertise has led her to facilitate roundtable discussions for international

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audiences and organizations and to

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lead national security conversations on diversity, equity and inclusion.

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Through her activist approach, Shalonda has marched alongside fellow advocates

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to end racial disparities and provided mentorship to young women.

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Shalonda's contributions in foreign affairs and diplomacy have been remarkable.

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As a former executive director of WCAPS, she raised the voice and prominence

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of women in color in the field of international relations.

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In her previous role as a director of public policy and government affairs at

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Trying Together in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she advocated for high quality

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early learning education for children and families.

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Shalonda's expertise also extends to her role as a legislative assistant for

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the United States House of Representatives and as a foreign policy analyst for

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the Mennonite Central Committee.

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Shalonda has been recognized for her leadership abilities. She served as an

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adjunct professor at Millsaps College in Mississippi, teaching urban politics

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within the government and politics department.

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As the advocacy coordinator for the ACLU of Mississippi, she focused on criminal

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justice reform and voter rights.

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Shalonda's community organizing skills have been instrumental in various political

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campaigns throughout the southern borders of Mississippi, including federal

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presidential campaigns.

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Her dedication and expertise in public service have earned her numerous awards

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and accolades with recognition from the National Committee on American Foreign

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Policy as a 21st Century Leader Award recipient and the U.S.

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National Security and Foreign Affairs Leadership Award.

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She is the founder of Politics for the Culture podcast and is currently pursuing

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an executive master's degree in international relations, a focus on foreign

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policy at Syracuse University.

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She is a proud HBCU graduate of Jackson State University, where she earned her

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bachelor's of science and master's public policy degree in public policy and administration.

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Shalanda continues to dedicate herself to public service and make positive contributions to society.

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Ladies and gentlemen, it is my distinct honor and privilege to have as a guest

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on this podcast, Shalonda Spencer.

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Music.

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All right. Shalonda Spencer, Happy New Year. How are you doing?

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Happy New Year. I am awesome. How about yourself? I'm hanging in there.

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I'm bracing myself for the Martin Luther King holiday, which unfortunately will

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be inauguration day for a 47th president.

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So I'm kind of bracing myself for that. I am happy that they actually he's now

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officially a convicted felon as of as of us recording. He did get sentenced.

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So, you know, even though he's not going to spend any time in jail, just,

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you know, now he gets the experience with a lot of our brothers and sisters

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have had to deal with with, you know, being incarcerated and,

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you know, going through the judicial system because, you know,

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he needs to he needed to experience that.

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But I'm saying that that's not you saying it.

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So I don't just make that clear.

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But no, it was like the last time we had you on, it was before the election.

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A lot of things happened.

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So I just kind of want to get your viewpoint about, you know,

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how things turned out in your end and, you know, what you were doing during all that stuff.

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So let's start off the way that we normally do.

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And here's your quote.

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The quote is, start where you are.

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Whatever it is you're thinking of doing, just start.

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Perfection doesn't exist. What does that quote mean to you?

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Oh, man. So in my current role, I have a supervisor who always makes the statement,

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never let perfection get in the way of progress.

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Right. And so I'm oftentimes thinking of ways how I cannot have to perfect everything,

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but just start, just begin whatever new journey I'm on, whatever new task.

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This past few months, well,

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I would say probably in the last six months, I've been thinking of like new

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hobbies and things that I want to get into outside of the political space,

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because I've realized that there is more to me than just my political background

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and the social justice and the advocacy side of me,

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the researcher, the nerdy side of me.

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And so I've been tapping into more so of my, they call it the sophomore era

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and just doing it, you know, not thinking, not thinking twice about how to create

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a process, but just do things as I see,

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go on trips, enjoy life, and just learn to bask in the moment of my existence.

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Well, that's good because you got to have a balance.

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You know, when I was, I was a little older than you when I got elected and,

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you know, I was getting adjusted to being married.

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And during my first term, I became a dad.

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And so those were things I had never experienced. Right. It was like politics,

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24 seven, all that stuff.

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So, you know, I had to I had to make adjustments. I had to account for other

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people in my life because I inherited two boys.

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So, you know, it's it's important. But, you know, but I tried to have my fun

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when I was going through the process.

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So I never really always try to maintain my balance and I always try to have

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a level, a lot of friends that weren't in politics.

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So that kept me grounded. It kept me focused. But it also helped me politically,

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too, because, you know, things that they were dealing with every day.

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They were lucky to have a friend that was like, you know, could be in a position

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to address some of that stuff.

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So I get it. I don't think we called it a soft boy era, but it was it was, you know,

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I feel you on trying to, you know, just to be human because this the way it

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is now in politics, it can be consuming. So I get that.

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All right. So I'm going to try something. You're going to be my debut person.

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And this is something I'm going to try to do with people that are politically

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oriented, not necessarily just everybody.

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I may try it with other folks. I'll see how it goes. But this is something we're going to feature.

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I want to put in my interviews called 20 questions.

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So what I want you to do is think of a number between one and 20.

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OK. OK. You got to tell me I'm not a magician. You got to tell me.

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My number what was the number i'm sorry seven seven all right all right so your

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question is what do you consider the best way to stay informed about politics

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current events health etc.

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Well, you know, I started out in local government and I always say local politics

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is your bread and your butter.

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It's everything that keeps, it's the glue that keeps society stuck together.

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And so the first thing I'll tell anybody is to get acclimated,

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get acquainted with your local politics. You know, whether it's your city council,

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whether it's attending a city council meeting or watching it on video,

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everything is virtual now.

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You know, everything is also at your fingertips. So I feel like,

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you know, the best way to stay informed is because you have to want to be informed.

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You know, you have to want to understand what's going on with you.

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And to be honest, everything is political from your job, from go from your purchase of a home.

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Everything that involves your life is in a political state where someone is

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controlling how you're able to do and live every day.

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So that's the best way to start. Just start local, then work your way up.

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I always tell people, everybody has a role to play and everybody can't protest.

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Everybody can't stand on the front lines. Everybody can't make public statements.

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So figure out your lane, figure out what you like to do, what you enjoy doing and grab it by the horn.

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It's like go after it and just be and make sure just aware of your everyday

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surroundings, because it's very important that you are aware of really,

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truly what's going on with you in your everyday life. Yeah.

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Yeah. Well, that's that's the sermon I try to preach to every any and everybody,

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even though I'm not, quote unquote, an elected official anymore. I'm still engaged.

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And, you know, I always use the example that if you don't think that we need

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government, we don't think you need politics, then just tell me where the nearest

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intersection is where you live. And I'm going to pull all the stop signs.

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And see how that works out for you. Right. I mean, just, you know,

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when I break it down like that, people are like, well,

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OK, but I said everything you do, if you if you want to build a church,

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you better know the county commissioner that is over zoning. Right.

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Because you might be buying some land and it might be deemed residential.

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And then you're like, well, what do you mean I can't build a church here?

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Everything, like you said, is related to politics and people.

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We don't want people to be political junkies like us, right? Not everybody.

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We want some good people to do that. But at the same time, people need to be engaged.

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You're preaching to the choir here, and I'm hoping that it's somebody.

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I'm glad somebody other than me is saying that out loud because people need

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to truly understand that.

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All right. So now we're going to go back in time.

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So the last time you were on, we closed out with a prediction.

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I asked you and a couple other guests that were on the episode what 2024 was going to look like.

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So we're going to try this. This is this is this is what you said.

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I feel like the Democrats can pull it off.

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I mean, they probably will because I don't think the Republicans right now surely

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have someone they really want to stand beside.

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I mean, I did see Mississippi sent out their list the other day about,

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hey, we're supporting Trump and all of this type of stuff.

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But from what I can see, that there are a lot of Republicans,

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because of the legalities of what's going on with Trump, they don't want to support him.

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And then I'm still kind of going through the Republican debates that I want,

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you know, to see how they truly identify the person they're going to stand behind.

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But I do see us definitely. I do see the Democrats definitely probably winning again.

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I just want to see. I'm looking forward to seeing where the foreign relations

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and where we're going to be in the foreign policy side in the upcoming years,

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based on what we're experiencing with Israel and people not thinking about Russia is still a thing.

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And so those are some of my things I'm looking forward to seeing how Biden is

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going to respond in the upcoming years.

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But it's going to be interesting because I have heard.

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I know I don't like to appreciate he said, she said, but to see what four years

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can look like for Biden or could this be an opportunity for Conor to step up? I don't know.

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That's going to be something that interesting to see.

00:19:40.601 --> 00:19:42.701
Would she still just like to be VP? So.

00:19:43.513 --> 00:19:46.153
It would be great to have a black woman president. All right.

00:19:46.513 --> 00:19:51.973
So for the listeners, that was in December of 2023 when she made that prediction.

00:19:52.293 --> 00:19:54.233
So a lot of stuff has happened.

00:19:56.433 --> 00:20:00.733
In between that. Why I predicted that one. Okay.

00:20:01.413 --> 00:20:07.753
That was before, because I felt like Biden had a really fighting chance.

00:20:07.953 --> 00:20:12.673
This was way before they put Vice President Kamala Harris in the race.

00:20:12.673 --> 00:20:19.653
My predictions was really solely on the idea of it being between Joe and Trump,

00:20:20.153 --> 00:20:25.733
you know, and I felt like Joe really had the numbers and he had the at that time the ability to win.

00:20:25.733 --> 00:20:34.673
However, I will say this Once, unfortunately, President Joe Biden was forced

00:20:34.673 --> 00:20:37.973
to step down From the reins of being, you know,

00:20:38.093 --> 00:20:42.693
the Democratic nominee And I saw that Vice President Kamala Harris was getting

00:20:42.693 --> 00:20:46.153
ready to be the nominee When they made that announcement Then my prediction

00:20:46.153 --> 00:20:47.553
did change Unfortunately,

00:20:47.713 --> 00:20:52.973
we didn't interview between that time But I knew then once that took place that

00:20:52.973 --> 00:20:56.673
it was going to be an uphill battle for the Democratic Party,

00:20:57.013 --> 00:20:57.653
you know, unfortunately.

00:20:58.633 --> 00:21:01.833
Yeah. And, you know, I shared your excitement.

00:21:02.073 --> 00:21:09.433
I kind of had the same thought process that Biden was at that time that Biden was going to run.

00:21:09.793 --> 00:21:14.993
He was going to win. And then somehow, some way during that first year,

00:21:15.153 --> 00:21:20.413
that second term, he was going to step down and let Kamala finish out the term.

00:21:21.553 --> 00:21:26.873
And, you know, that was something, you know, I didn't really put out there.

00:21:27.053 --> 00:21:31.273
But, you know, with some people that I was close to, I kind of felt that because

00:21:31.273 --> 00:21:36.633
you could see that he was he was the office was getting to him.

00:21:36.633 --> 00:21:43.333
I was looking at some footage from 2018 where he was speaking to the press club

00:21:43.333 --> 00:21:48.853
and then, you know, they showed like footage from last year.

00:21:49.733 --> 00:21:54.893
Right after he had dropped out of the race and he spoke to the same group and

00:21:54.893 --> 00:21:57.733
you could see how he had aged so much.

00:21:58.733 --> 00:22:01.853
And, you know, but that's that's the burden of the position.

00:22:01.853 --> 00:22:07.653
And so, you know, he was, you know, I just kind of figured if it was going to

00:22:07.653 --> 00:22:10.753
be between him and Trump that the people would make that decision.

00:22:10.753 --> 00:22:15.553
But after that debate and God bless Vice President Harris for trying to put

00:22:15.553 --> 00:22:17.413
the best spin on it as she could.

00:22:17.933 --> 00:22:23.973
But at that point, it was just kind of like when Nancy Pelosi say you too old, you too old.

00:22:24.233 --> 00:22:27.093
You know what I'm saying? So that was kind of.

00:22:28.434 --> 00:22:33.814
You know, what I saw, but it's always good to go back and think about because

00:22:33.814 --> 00:22:38.234
things in politics, it's just a reminder that things in politics change so much

00:22:38.234 --> 00:22:40.814
and it can change real quick.

00:22:41.954 --> 00:22:47.914
And yeah, so, you know, I, I was hoping, did you go to the convention?

00:22:48.394 --> 00:22:52.534
Did not. Yeah, I did. I got to go. And man,

00:22:53.234 --> 00:22:58.374
when it came, when we came out at that, you know, It was like people were,

00:22:58.514 --> 00:23:03.854
there were a lot of pragmatic people, but the excitement was real.

00:23:04.274 --> 00:23:11.414
There was some real momentum there. And then, you know, Labor Day happened and

00:23:11.414 --> 00:23:14.574
it seemed like, and, you know,

00:23:15.554 --> 00:23:19.694
after Labor Day, it just kind of seemed like everything was kind of running

00:23:19.694 --> 00:23:27.174
on fumes instead of, instead of being, maintaining the level of energy that was in Chicago.

00:23:27.294 --> 00:23:29.734
Bill, which kind of leads me to this question.

00:23:30.134 --> 00:23:35.614
You and I have been doing this kind of stuff, you know, for, for a while.

00:23:36.234 --> 00:23:40.514
One of the things I had heard, like not too long after the convention,

00:23:40.514 --> 00:23:44.254
and then, you know, now it's autopsies are being done.

00:23:44.914 --> 00:23:48.114
People are pointing out what should have been done, all this stuff.

00:23:48.474 --> 00:23:53.074
So there was a criticism that the campaign depended on the white consultant

00:23:53.074 --> 00:23:57.534
class too much and not enough on traditional black outreach.

00:23:59.114 --> 00:24:03.014
What, what, what is, what is your take on that?

00:24:03.214 --> 00:24:07.954
When, when you hear that kind of criticism that it's like, well,

00:24:08.354 --> 00:24:13.834
you know, you were listening to these Washington DC folks and you weren't out

00:24:13.834 --> 00:24:17.214
there in the street is basically what they were saying. And you didn't put the money out there.

00:24:17.614 --> 00:24:21.994
How do you respond to that as somebody that's been an activist and,

00:24:21.994 --> 00:24:25.574
and been involved in campaigns, that kind of thing.

00:24:26.409 --> 00:24:31.849
As a former person who's worked on campaigns, even some locally in Mississippi,

00:24:31.849 --> 00:24:34.909
which was my recent one when I did the governor's race.

00:24:35.109 --> 00:24:41.489
One thing I can say is I see it. I've experienced it in my own personal career

00:24:41.489 --> 00:24:46.809
where you are if you are a person of color or a black person.

00:24:47.029 --> 00:24:51.529
I like to consider myself a black woman, of course. and you're put in a position,

00:24:51.529 --> 00:24:56.969
whether if it's knocking on doors, whether if it's a policy analyst or whatever

00:24:56.969 --> 00:25:01.729
that role is, your expectation is for them to rely on your expertise.

00:25:02.229 --> 00:25:07.989
I don't just want to be your color quota person on this campaign or someone

00:25:07.989 --> 00:25:09.829
you just need to fill in a gap.

00:25:10.389 --> 00:25:13.789
Because if that's the case, then you could have left me where I would, right?

00:25:14.349 --> 00:25:18.629
And so I believe that that, I believe there is some validity to that because

00:25:18.629 --> 00:25:22.389
there is a history of when Black people,

00:25:22.569 --> 00:25:25.889
especially that has been in the Democratic Party for so long,

00:25:26.029 --> 00:25:29.609
or just in the political space, and they get put on these campaigns,

00:25:29.849 --> 00:25:35.629
they don't get the roles that most senior level people of the Caucasian descent

00:25:35.629 --> 00:25:37.709
gets. And that's just been valid.

00:25:37.809 --> 00:25:41.029
And it's still happening in the political space, whether if it's on the Hill,

00:25:41.229 --> 00:25:42.689
whether it's unless, you know,

00:25:42.769 --> 00:25:47.169
depending on what official you're working with, it's always the same.

00:25:47.169 --> 00:25:52.429
And so we have to get out of the ideology that black people are only fit for

00:25:52.429 --> 00:25:56.029
these certain lower level roles because of what it requires.

00:25:56.049 --> 00:25:57.829
It requires them to go into community.

00:25:57.929 --> 00:26:02.109
And where do most Democratic parties try to target when they're running for

00:26:02.109 --> 00:26:04.089
presidential elections in the black community?

00:26:04.089 --> 00:26:08.789
So they put the Black people, of course, in those areas, whereas it's not saying

00:26:08.789 --> 00:26:12.449
that we shouldn't be there, but there's also saying that there are other roles

00:26:12.449 --> 00:26:17.149
that we can fulfill that doesn't require us to be a seller point to our people.

00:26:17.249 --> 00:26:21.549
And I think that that needs to eventually change and it's going to take some

00:26:21.549 --> 00:26:27.469
time for us for it to change because I did see the TikTok picture of our communications team. Right.

00:26:27.989 --> 00:26:33.149
And what better way in building a communications team to communities and to

00:26:33.149 --> 00:26:34.469
areas where it's not diverse?

00:26:34.749 --> 00:26:38.009
And I'm not saying have all black people on a staff or have all white people

00:26:38.009 --> 00:26:43.169
like bring a diverse perspective and bring a diverse group because it's more

00:26:43.169 --> 00:26:46.329
than black people that vote is more than Caucasian people that vote.

00:26:46.469 --> 00:26:50.749
You have your Latino, you have your Asians, you have America is America.

00:26:50.749 --> 00:26:54.729
You have African people from, you know, all across the world.

00:26:54.909 --> 00:26:59.509
Like we're not America does not look the way it used to look years ago.

00:26:59.509 --> 00:27:04.949
And we have to change these political norms and step outside of the box in order

00:27:04.949 --> 00:27:09.109
to carry the torch. Because if not, we're going to continue to put black people

00:27:09.109 --> 00:27:11.969
in these silo roles and then there is no progression.

00:27:13.089 --> 00:27:18.629
Yeah, I've personally experienced that when I was a staffer for.

00:27:20.324 --> 00:27:25.884
Well, I say people's names because they know what they did when I was with Mike Parker.

00:27:26.024 --> 00:27:29.944
Right. When Mike Parker first got elected to Congress, I was his scheduler.

00:27:30.304 --> 00:27:34.624
I was I was the one making sure he got to where he needed to be.

00:27:35.044 --> 00:27:40.704
And then once he got the nomination, then all of a sudden I was just the black guy. Right.

00:27:41.564 --> 00:27:45.424
And, you know, they tried that for about a couple of weeks.

00:27:46.164 --> 00:27:49.624
And then they realized, no, no, Eric needs to be the scheduler.

00:27:49.624 --> 00:27:51.424
He needs to be back in that position.

00:27:52.164 --> 00:27:54.444
And, you know, and he won.

00:27:55.244 --> 00:27:59.444
But I mean, I was a quota candidate. I don't know if I ever told you this story.

00:27:59.544 --> 00:28:02.324
And I don't know if you were probably too young to pick up on that.

00:28:02.464 --> 00:28:10.064
But when I ran for the U.S. Senate in 2008, my job was to be the black candidate

00:28:10.064 --> 00:28:11.984
to get the black vote for Musgrove.

00:28:12.144 --> 00:28:16.544
That's what the national folks told me my role was, because in their mind,

00:28:16.644 --> 00:28:18.124
Hillary Clinton was going to be the nominee.

00:28:18.124 --> 00:28:21.544
So it was like we need

00:28:21.544 --> 00:28:24.624
you to run against ad cochran of

00:28:24.624 --> 00:28:27.624
all people to make sure black folks

00:28:27.624 --> 00:28:30.644
in mississippi come out and vote well thank god

00:28:30.644 --> 00:28:34.004
barack obama won because then my candidacy went

00:28:34.004 --> 00:28:37.004
from just being the the the

00:28:37.004 --> 00:28:39.984
black candidate to get black people to like oh snap

00:28:39.984 --> 00:28:43.264
he might actually have a shot at winning right along with

00:28:43.264 --> 00:28:46.284
muscrow so all of

00:28:46.284 --> 00:28:49.484
us that have been in this game have been through through

00:28:49.484 --> 00:28:52.844
that and and you know

00:28:52.844 --> 00:28:59.404
it was like i think i i think that to me if if if vice president harris it was

00:28:59.404 --> 00:29:06.864
understood from day one that she was going to be the nominee and you know biden

00:29:06.864 --> 00:29:11.784
wasn't running at all and she could have picked her team.

00:29:12.444 --> 00:29:16.544
I think the fact that she was basically the, the, the, the sub,

00:29:17.124 --> 00:29:21.164
she had to inherit the team that Biden had put together and.

00:29:21.844 --> 00:29:25.104
You know, whatever deals had been cut, had been cut.

00:29:25.604 --> 00:29:30.484
And I still think she did a phenomenal job considering because I mean,

00:29:30.584 --> 00:29:34.964
I don't know any other human being that could get 226 electoral votes in a hundred days. Yeah.

00:29:35.439 --> 00:29:39.679
Now, I will say she put up a good fight. I got to give her that.

00:29:39.919 --> 00:29:42.819
And the Democratic Party, they would.

00:29:43.079 --> 00:29:48.779
And it's not just the Democratic Party. Is this the way they pitch where I've

00:29:48.779 --> 00:29:52.719
seen how corporate world does it? You know, we get black women or we get black

00:29:52.719 --> 00:29:56.439
people into certain roles and we don't have the tools. We don't have the resources.

00:29:56.799 --> 00:30:00.999
And it's like it's like cherry picking. We get what we can get and you get tired

00:30:00.999 --> 00:30:02.499
of just getting what you can get.

00:30:02.699 --> 00:30:05.979
And I did see that like she just like what you just said, you know,

00:30:06.119 --> 00:30:10.659
just to echo like she got what was left or she got what was already created.

00:30:11.059 --> 00:30:16.279
And not being able to get to choose and get to have that voice in a in a matter

00:30:16.279 --> 00:30:19.359
of like, hey, this is what I want. This is what I desire.

00:30:19.539 --> 00:30:21.879
These are the people that I wanted, because I'm going to be honest with you.

00:30:21.959 --> 00:30:24.899
The first campaign they ran, I always say this.

00:30:25.479 --> 00:30:28.979
Simone, I can't think of her last name. Sanders. Sanders.

00:30:29.419 --> 00:30:34.699
She carried that election on her back. People can say what they want to say.

00:30:35.139 --> 00:30:39.359
And kudos to her for really going off and doing great things.

00:30:39.539 --> 00:30:44.759
But from the time that election happened in 2020, I saw where she carried the

00:30:44.759 --> 00:30:47.739
election on her back, whether if it was defending Kamala, whether if it's defending

00:30:47.739 --> 00:30:51.159
Biden, like, I'm not saying that other people did not do their work,

00:30:51.159 --> 00:30:53.259
but when it came to publicly displaying,

00:30:53.759 --> 00:30:55.159
she literally carried that torch.

00:30:55.339 --> 00:31:00.359
And so, and I feel like this election cycle missed somebody who's going to carry

00:31:00.359 --> 00:31:02.439
that. It always have to be somebody.

00:31:02.799 --> 00:31:07.059
Unfortunately, nobody was able, nobody was willing to carry that election on

00:31:07.059 --> 00:31:09.919
their back and on their shoulders in the way they would have got her to the

00:31:09.919 --> 00:31:12.559
finish lunch line. And that's what she had missed.

00:31:13.159 --> 00:31:18.779
Yeah. Yeah. You got to have you got to have an effective surrogate to lay the

00:31:18.779 --> 00:31:20.139
case. And I agree with you.

00:31:21.079 --> 00:31:25.939
And, you know, like you said, she landed on her feet, but I think she could

00:31:25.939 --> 00:31:28.639
have gotten a better role than what she got.

00:31:29.099 --> 00:31:38.559
But she landed on her feet. And and like you said, she did a lot of the work publicly to to sell,

00:31:39.139 --> 00:31:43.599
people, not just Black folks, but people in general, that Biden was the answer.

00:31:44.419 --> 00:31:45.759
Let me tell you one more thing. Yeah, go ahead.

00:31:46.818 --> 00:31:50.498
They put her in a box. The Democratic Party did.

00:31:50.738 --> 00:31:53.958
When you go back and look at all her rallies, when you go back and identify

00:31:53.958 --> 00:31:58.318
some of her speeches and some of the things that she said, I don't think her

00:31:58.318 --> 00:32:00.978
wording, I don't know who a speechwriter was or whomever.

00:32:01.358 --> 00:32:05.618
They placed her in a box. They only allow her to only go so far.

00:32:05.758 --> 00:32:10.998
And I think that's where the Democratic Party always tend to want to be so politically

00:32:10.998 --> 00:32:15.418
correct, where we sometimes it's OK to say, hey, we got this one wrong.

00:32:15.878 --> 00:32:20.538
And that's just across the board. And I think until we learn as people to take

00:32:20.538 --> 00:32:23.038
acknowledgement, you don't have to play the blame game.

00:32:23.318 --> 00:32:26.358
We can say, hey, look, we didn't come at this in a strategy form.

00:32:27.158 --> 00:32:32.138
We did a lot of things last minute. Now let's go back and reassess.

00:32:32.338 --> 00:32:34.438
Let's take this loss. Let's take this ill.

00:32:34.898 --> 00:32:38.258
Let the Trump administration do whatever it is they need to do. We

00:32:38.258 --> 00:32:41.198
need to go back to the drawing board and revamp to figure out how do we come

00:32:41.198 --> 00:32:45.578
out stronger and better and creating policies that truly affect the American

00:32:45.578 --> 00:32:49.818
people and not be so social driven when there's a whole economy that's happening

00:32:49.818 --> 00:32:54.878
where people are losing jobs and cost of living is constantly increasing.

00:32:55.038 --> 00:32:56.838
Like you got to talk the American language.

00:32:57.098 --> 00:33:02.478
I always say that the Democratic Party has branded the civil rights movement

00:33:02.478 --> 00:33:05.918
and we try to align everything with civil rights era.

00:33:06.118 --> 00:33:12.038
And it's time to, I'm not saying don't address the civil issues that are happening in our society,

00:33:12.218 --> 00:33:19.998
but it's truly time for us to build a solid economic platform and groundbreaking

00:33:19.998 --> 00:33:21.278
for the American people.

00:33:21.378 --> 00:33:24.018
And I think that's the part that the Democratic Party has lost from.

00:33:24.258 --> 00:33:27.618
Did you know a guy in Mississippi named James Covington?

00:33:28.238 --> 00:33:34.058
I did. So James wrote a book called From Civil to Silver Rights.

00:33:34.798 --> 00:33:40.538
And, you know, that was the whole premise of this book that we have to get past

00:33:40.538 --> 00:33:45.258
asking for because his argument was that's where Dr. King was going.

00:33:45.598 --> 00:33:50.938
It was like, you know, when they took Dr. King out, he was organizing a poor people's campaign.

00:33:51.138 --> 00:33:56.618
He had gotten past voting rights and public accommodations. It was now time

00:33:56.618 --> 00:33:57.938
to deal with the economics.

00:33:58.778 --> 00:34:07.758
And to me, if we had more of a say-so, meaning Black folks, I think I think

00:34:07.758 --> 00:34:13.598
the campaign would have been more attuned to that as opposed to.

00:34:14.851 --> 00:34:22.231
You know, her and her discipline, as she referred to it, just trying to push these right buttons.

00:34:22.791 --> 00:34:25.671
That was all of a sudden. I mean, all the issues were there.

00:34:26.051 --> 00:34:29.611
We knew about women's rights. We knew about immigration.

00:34:30.231 --> 00:34:36.071
But people wanted to know, are you going to fix this inflation?

00:34:36.251 --> 00:34:40.931
And if you can't fix this inflation, how are you going to what strategy you're

00:34:40.931 --> 00:34:44.271
going to have to try to make it so I can live my life?

00:34:44.271 --> 00:34:48.771
Because if I'm worried about bills, if I'm worried about my job,

00:34:48.851 --> 00:34:54.251
if I'm worried about, you know, being able to have affordable health care,

00:34:54.491 --> 00:34:57.891
I'm not really concerned about what they're doing over there in Israel.

00:34:58.231 --> 00:35:00.411
Right. I could care less what they're doing in Ukraine.

00:35:00.931 --> 00:35:07.791
And so I I believe that black populism beats white populism all the time.

00:35:08.051 --> 00:35:13.971
I just do, because if anybody's going to catch it in the United States, it's us as black folks.

00:35:14.271 --> 00:35:19.391
And I think if you can address the issues that we have economically,

00:35:20.191 --> 00:35:23.931
you know, what's the old saying that a rising tide lifts all bolts?

00:35:24.391 --> 00:35:29.531
You know, I think that would have been, you know, but, you know,

00:35:29.691 --> 00:35:33.931
a lot of times when we have these kind of discussions, it's just like me looking

00:35:33.931 --> 00:35:37.111
at the Chicago Bears and like, oh, my God, if they had done this and done that

00:35:37.111 --> 00:35:38.491
in a football game, you know what I'm saying?

00:35:39.391 --> 00:35:43.811
I'm not out there. I'm just watching. I can't do anything about it.

00:35:43.811 --> 00:35:48.171
But, you know, we have ideas. And so, you know, I just.

00:35:49.471 --> 00:35:51.631
So what do you think she's going to do next?

00:35:53.211 --> 00:35:58.391
Read where she's supposed to. Well, I've read about her possibly running office

00:35:58.391 --> 00:36:00.511
back in California, running for office in California.

00:36:00.931 --> 00:36:06.211
I kind of don't know. I mean, I don't think that, you know, if you look at her

00:36:06.211 --> 00:36:10.011
career, if people have ever paid attention, she's always said how she was the

00:36:10.011 --> 00:36:13.251
first to do this and she was the first to do that and the first to break a lot of grounds.

00:36:13.251 --> 00:36:18.011
And so I think for her, it's going to be about where does she see herself?

00:36:18.171 --> 00:36:21.111
Where does she want to be? What does she want to take back from what she's done

00:36:21.111 --> 00:36:24.931
at the White House and being an attorney for all these years?

00:36:25.451 --> 00:36:28.331
What is it that she's trying to take back to California? What changes she's

00:36:28.331 --> 00:36:30.371
willing to make or what changes she even want to make?

00:36:30.451 --> 00:36:35.351
So I think it's going to be up to what she sees would be her final stamp of approval.

00:36:35.551 --> 00:36:38.731
I'm going to be honest with you. If I became the vice president, I'm clocking out.

00:36:39.791 --> 00:36:43.031
There's nothing else that I can give to America. I've

00:36:43.031 --> 00:36:45.751
given you all four years and you know even

00:36:45.751 --> 00:36:48.931
when she was a senate and sometimes and I

00:36:48.931 --> 00:36:53.471
really hope that she she goes and sometimes take a break you know we as women

00:36:53.471 --> 00:36:58.091
always feel like we supposed to be doing we suppose we have to do I don't know

00:36:58.091 --> 00:37:01.671
if it's because we want the credibility we want the stamp of approval from society

00:37:01.671 --> 00:37:06.791
but I really hope she I really hope she take a break you know that's what I,

00:37:07.830 --> 00:37:11.510
Well, I know she's going to write a book because they just gave her $20 million to write a book.

00:37:14.890 --> 00:37:19.510
So, and I'm sure she's going to use that $20 million to look at some down the road.

00:37:19.690 --> 00:37:23.230
I hope that she runs for governor of California.

00:37:23.530 --> 00:37:28.410
I would love for her to still be in the national discussion.

00:37:28.930 --> 00:37:31.310
I wouldn't run for president again if I was her.

00:37:32.090 --> 00:37:37.050
You know, you give it a shot and this was really her second shot at it.

00:37:37.050 --> 00:37:39.790
And she actually was the nominee.

00:37:40.230 --> 00:37:47.270
So, you know, I think if she could get that position in California, it'd be the governor.

00:37:47.610 --> 00:37:53.850
I think that'll give her the platform that she needs to address issues.

00:37:54.330 --> 00:37:56.930
It's the fifth largest economy in the world.

00:37:57.490 --> 00:38:02.390
And, you know, they're going through a little struggle right now with the wildfires and stuff.

00:38:02.390 --> 00:38:09.150
But I think I think if she if if she's the governor and Karen Bass is still

00:38:09.150 --> 00:38:14.770
the mayor of Los Angeles, I think that'll be an incredible story to tell.

00:38:15.550 --> 00:38:18.950
And do you do you go back, though?

00:38:19.010 --> 00:38:27.230
You go back and run for a federal seat, you know, a state seat when you became the governor.

00:38:27.450 --> 00:38:31.490
I mean, when you was the vice president. Well, I mean, I mean,

00:38:31.610 --> 00:38:34.210
the governor is like, you know, there's only 50 of them.

00:38:34.670 --> 00:38:41.130
And and, you know, it's like I don't necessarily I get what you're saying.

00:38:41.130 --> 00:38:47.330
But it's like if she was if she came from Mississippi or Louisiana or something

00:38:47.330 --> 00:38:49.570
like that. OK, no, probably not.

00:38:49.890 --> 00:38:58.230
But California, I mean, California, states like California, Texas, you know.

00:38:58.670 --> 00:39:02.350
That literally were countries at one point in the history of the world.

00:39:03.790 --> 00:39:07.710
Yeah. I mean, those are, that's, that's a big position. Just like if,

00:39:07.870 --> 00:39:14.050
you know, if, if they asked me one time, if you could be mayor of Jackson,

00:39:14.050 --> 00:39:16.890
would you take, I said, no, but I'd, I'd be the mayor of Chicago.

00:39:17.690 --> 00:39:20.150
Yeah, that makes sense. I see what you're saying. I see where you're going with

00:39:20.150 --> 00:39:23.730
that because that gives me a national platform. You know what I'm saying?

00:39:23.870 --> 00:39:27.870
I think I would do good as the mayor of Jackson. Although the minute that I

00:39:27.870 --> 00:39:31.610
get sworn in, half the folks will hate my guts just because I'm the mayor.

00:39:31.770 --> 00:39:34.470
But it's the same way everywhere else.

00:39:34.710 --> 00:39:39.410
It's just a matter of having a national platform because there's a young brother

00:39:39.410 --> 00:39:40.450
in Stockton, California.

00:39:40.670 --> 00:39:45.770
People don't talk about. I can't remember his name, but I know he's done some innovative things.

00:39:46.170 --> 00:39:51.290
But if he was the mayor of Los Angeles, people would know him because the stuff

00:39:51.290 --> 00:39:56.530
he's doing in Stockton is incredible. I mean, poor people get a check in Stockton, California.

00:39:56.550 --> 00:39:59.310
He's, he's dealing with the homeless situation there.

00:40:00.210 --> 00:40:03.490
And, you know, but if he had a bigger venue, you know,

00:40:03.986 --> 00:40:08.566
You know, I mean, it was his dream because he was he grew up in Stockton.

00:40:08.766 --> 00:40:13.466
So I'm not knocking that, but I'm just saying if he wanted to have more of a

00:40:13.466 --> 00:40:19.106
national platform, Los Angeles would have given him that as opposed to where he where he is.

00:40:19.386 --> 00:40:24.146
And so I think if she was the governor of California, she would still have a

00:40:24.146 --> 00:40:32.386
national platform and probably in lesser distress because even being vice president, you're in that D.C.

00:40:32.386 --> 00:40:35.386
Soup soup bowl and and you

00:40:35.386 --> 00:40:38.146
are privy to information that a lot of normal human

00:40:38.146 --> 00:40:40.906
beings do not get in california you're

00:40:40.906 --> 00:40:44.826
not going to get that pressure but you'll still have that prestige so

00:40:44.826 --> 00:40:50.066
but that's just you know like i said if she probably will take your advice and

00:40:50.066 --> 00:40:55.786
just like you know what it's been great i'm gonna sit out so you were kind of

00:40:55.786 --> 00:41:03.386
alluding to it in in one of your answers How do the Democrats rebound from this?

00:41:03.526 --> 00:41:10.346
How do they take that L and fix it for the midterm elections and fix it for

00:41:10.346 --> 00:41:12.806
whoever's going to run in 2028?

00:41:14.069 --> 00:41:19.669
We got to go back to the basic. We have to go back to, I'm so sorry. Hold on.

00:41:20.729 --> 00:41:23.249
Did you hear my background on it? A little bit, but it's okay.

00:41:24.529 --> 00:41:27.629
Okay. So we have to go back to the basics.

00:41:28.089 --> 00:41:32.109
We have to go back to figuring out, for one, get out of this socialism,

00:41:32.469 --> 00:41:34.889
classism type stuff with the Democratic Party.

00:41:35.689 --> 00:41:38.509
I noticed that was something that people pointed out a

00:41:38.509 --> 00:41:41.889
lot where even even

00:41:41.889 --> 00:41:44.769
being in politics I saw it you know it's it's depending on

00:41:44.769 --> 00:41:47.669
what school you went to where you graduated from before you get this certain

00:41:47.669 --> 00:41:53.069
job a specific job who do you know and all of those things and it's kind of

00:41:53.069 --> 00:41:57.269
to the point where we have to get out of that social the the socialism of politics

00:41:57.269 --> 00:42:02.009
and get back to people and until we get back to that part into whether it's

00:42:02.009 --> 00:42:03.749
a democratic party or the republic Well,

00:42:03.929 --> 00:42:06.589
I always feel like the Republican Party, they're going to talk to everybody.

00:42:06.929 --> 00:42:10.829
They don't care who you are, what it is, like your background.

00:42:11.349 --> 00:42:14.569
They create speeches. They create language for everyone.

00:42:15.069 --> 00:42:18.929
And I think that we got to figure out how do we create language and stop trying

00:42:18.929 --> 00:42:19.969
to create language barriers?

00:42:20.129 --> 00:42:23.469
How do we talk politics without trying to figure out how do we talk over people's head?

00:42:23.709 --> 00:42:28.269
How do we make how do we make foreign affairs and foreign relations relatable?

00:42:28.849 --> 00:42:34.309
How do we integrate public policies and make it to where it sticks with people?

00:42:34.849 --> 00:42:39.589
And until that happens, there's going to always be a battleground because right

00:42:39.589 --> 00:42:44.329
now we have generations who, unfortunately, they say TikTok is going to be banned this month.

00:42:44.449 --> 00:42:47.769
But there's so much information is being spewed out right now.

00:42:47.869 --> 00:42:49.489
That's beyond the classroom.

00:42:49.789 --> 00:42:54.749
That's beyond your everyday news stations and conversations where people are

00:42:54.749 --> 00:42:57.409
doing their own research, creating their own analysis.

00:42:58.289 --> 00:43:01.989
And you gotta, and honestly, you know, you said something about Nancy Pelosi,

00:43:02.089 --> 00:43:04.209
said something about big people being too old.

00:43:04.369 --> 00:43:10.589
We also have to, as a Democratic party or every party has to realize that some

00:43:10.589 --> 00:43:12.009
people, it's time for you to go home.

00:43:12.529 --> 00:43:17.469
It is okay to pack up and go home. You ran your race, you've been in Congress,

00:43:17.589 --> 00:43:21.189
you've been a Senate, you know, you've played in these roles for so long.

00:43:21.369 --> 00:43:23.489
How much more power do you think you need?

00:43:23.849 --> 00:43:27.129
And how much more power is, at this point, it's not power.

00:43:27.129 --> 00:43:29.949
It's about greed and until we get out of the greed

00:43:29.949 --> 00:43:32.809
mentality that's when we're going

00:43:32.809 --> 00:43:38.849
to continue to stay where we are and unfortunately i hope this election open

00:43:38.849 --> 00:43:42.689
up the eyes of the democratic party because if this didn't open up their eyes

00:43:42.689 --> 00:43:46.849
i don't know what will well i'm a little concerned about the eye opening because

00:43:46.849 --> 00:43:52.729
so like what's the lady's name it's a lady in minnesota and.

00:43:53.931 --> 00:43:56.331
She got elected. She they they

00:43:56.331 --> 00:44:01.751
she beat out some older members to be the ranking member on agriculture.

00:44:02.171 --> 00:44:08.371
But then when Jasmine Crockett and AOC tried to do the same thing,

00:44:08.651 --> 00:44:10.731
they got kicked to the curb on it.

00:44:10.931 --> 00:44:14.751
So I don't think they are learning the lesson. I think there are some people

00:44:14.751 --> 00:44:24.091
that are dynamic enough or don't pose a threat to some people that they've been

00:44:24.091 --> 00:44:27.591
fortunate to get up there. Akeem Jeffries is one of those people.

00:44:28.451 --> 00:44:34.331
I think, you know, he's, you know, Nancy conceded to him because she felt he

00:44:34.331 --> 00:44:36.891
was going to carry forth the agenda or what have you.

00:44:37.091 --> 00:44:44.051
But, you know, and there was pressure exerted internally that way. But I don't know.

00:44:44.371 --> 00:44:49.251
I'm one of those people that believe that leadership should evolve,

00:44:49.251 --> 00:44:54.911
but that's an altruistic view, because most of the time leadership changes through

00:44:54.911 --> 00:44:57.011
revolution instead of evolution.

00:44:57.931 --> 00:45:02.411
And, you know, I believe in mentoring people because people ask me a lot.

00:45:02.531 --> 00:45:04.851
They say, Eric, why don't you run for something?

00:45:04.971 --> 00:45:10.231
I mean, you're still young, maybe compared to Donald Trump and Joe Biden. them young, yeah.

00:45:10.811 --> 00:45:15.291
But, you know, when I was elected, that's literally been, God,

00:45:15.591 --> 00:45:17.131
that's been over 20 years ago.

00:45:17.271 --> 00:45:20.291
I mean, we're fast approaching, let's say, 99.

00:45:20.991 --> 00:45:23.911
That's a long time ago. That's almost 25 years.

00:45:24.751 --> 00:45:32.791
So, or it is 25 years. So, you know, I think it's time for people to,

00:45:33.531 --> 00:45:36.051
you know, you've got some young folks out there.

00:45:36.091 --> 00:45:41.191
You've been fortunate to get some, And maybe my generation, Generation X, you know,

00:45:41.911 --> 00:45:48.971
maybe there's one person that might get a shot at it because everybody else,

00:45:49.111 --> 00:45:51.331
the older folks have held on to it so long.

00:45:51.711 --> 00:45:56.231
You know, Kamala was literally like the first person because Obama is older than her.

00:45:56.651 --> 00:46:01.691
So, I mean, she was really like the first Gen Xer that really had a shot at winning.

00:46:02.291 --> 00:46:07.371
And, you know, so and the Republicans, like you said, they're they're they're

00:46:07.371 --> 00:46:11.771
not only messaging out, but they're pulling people from all different generations

00:46:11.771 --> 00:46:14.071
to build their leadership core.

00:46:14.551 --> 00:46:21.691
And I think the Democrats have a bench, but the folks that are in leadership

00:46:21.691 --> 00:46:23.431
don't want to give up their positions.

00:46:23.511 --> 00:46:26.831
And if they do give them up, they give them up reluctantly, which means that

00:46:26.831 --> 00:46:31.951
they still meddling in everything instead of letting folks be in charge and

00:46:31.951 --> 00:46:36.051
move the party in the direction it needs to go. Yeah.

00:46:37.340 --> 00:46:42.780
All right. So let's let's close it out with this. What is your what is your

00:46:42.780 --> 00:46:48.140
biggest concern as we head into a second Trump administration,

00:46:48.560 --> 00:46:55.600
not from a party standpoint, but just as as a black woman in the United States of America?

00:46:55.600 --> 00:47:00.180
What what is your biggest concern about a second Trump term?

00:47:02.120 --> 00:47:08.460
You know, this may sound I don't know how this is going to sound or how it's going to come off.

00:47:08.640 --> 00:47:15.440
But I really like when Trump got elected the first time I was I was shocked,

00:47:15.680 --> 00:47:19.400
but I wasn't, you know, because, you know, Hillary won the popular vote.

00:47:19.580 --> 00:47:22.500
But I was like, OK, let's see what's going to happen with this.

00:47:22.620 --> 00:47:23.960
What is this going to truly look like?

00:47:24.840 --> 00:47:29.480
And fortunately, as a black person, when we get or when we receive,

00:47:29.480 --> 00:47:32.300
we always end up with the short end of the stick.

00:47:32.700 --> 00:47:37.500
Now, I will say a lot of great opportunities came out of me attending the White

00:47:37.500 --> 00:47:40.300
House, going to a few political events during the Biden administration.

00:47:40.300 --> 00:47:43.420
And I'm forever thankful and grateful for those opportunities.

00:47:43.900 --> 00:47:48.540
And so one of my things is how the engagement, what is the engagement going

00:47:48.540 --> 00:47:51.780
to look like with the White House when it comes to bringing that back in?

00:47:51.780 --> 00:47:56.700
People who have experts, who are experts in certain fields, who've been doing

00:47:56.700 --> 00:48:02.240
the work for so long, whether it will there be any type of bipartisan support

00:48:02.240 --> 00:48:06.160
on a few issues such as health care, such as the economy,

00:48:06.460 --> 00:48:09.020
you know, like those are some of the things that I'm more concerned about.

00:48:09.520 --> 00:48:15.260
Just more so of the collaboration, the partnership, truly taking America forward

00:48:15.260 --> 00:48:18.760
in a way where we, you know, because we have suffered a lot.

00:48:19.200 --> 00:48:23.040
But also, I do know that I'm a Black person in America who,

00:48:23.972 --> 00:48:30.052
has become custom to the adversaries that we've experienced.

00:48:31.492 --> 00:48:36.052
So I just, I don't know what to expect. I don't know what to look forward to.

00:48:36.632 --> 00:48:40.012
Again, it's just going to be another four years of us being,

00:48:40.552 --> 00:48:44.372
hopefully we're going to continue to be pawns on a string as Black people.

00:48:44.392 --> 00:48:49.432
But I just hope that there's a way that the Trump administration can do better.

00:48:49.652 --> 00:48:53.592
And not just the Trump administration? How do we do better than the previous administration?

00:48:53.792 --> 00:48:57.632
How do they come in, do something greater and better with the Biden administration

00:48:57.632 --> 00:49:01.332
need, or not just do it better, what do we contribute?

00:49:01.592 --> 00:49:06.172
How do we add on instead of always trying to tear something down or apart?

00:49:06.352 --> 00:49:11.892
I remember, you know, when the Obama administration passed the healthcare bill,

00:49:12.452 --> 00:49:14.772
then the Republicans were like, hey, we want to tear this down.

00:49:14.992 --> 00:49:19.072
It doesn't work. But then you kept it because you realized there was no other plan.

00:49:19.372 --> 00:49:23.472
So let's stop trying to, and this is go for all parties, all administrations,

00:49:23.652 --> 00:49:24.932
like let's stop trying to tear

00:49:24.932 --> 00:49:28.012
everything down that was built and figure out a way, how do we build up?

00:49:28.252 --> 00:49:32.312
One thing that I did see, you know, that's been passed around is like Trump,

00:49:32.652 --> 00:49:37.172
I mean, Trump and President Obama having a conversation at President Carter's funeral, right?

00:49:37.632 --> 00:49:42.132
And what I took from that is that we got to stop trying to stand,

00:49:42.352 --> 00:49:46.352
we can stand on two sides of the aisle, but at some point we got to bridge those aisles together.

00:49:46.832 --> 00:49:51.132
And I think that's what my hope is, it's for America as a whole.

00:49:51.312 --> 00:49:55.852
How do we build this country together instead of continuing to divide it apart?

00:49:56.532 --> 00:49:58.912
Yeah, I'm all for that.

00:49:59.852 --> 00:50:04.772
You know, that's part of the reason I do what I do with this podcast is that.

00:50:05.995 --> 00:50:12.155
It's no secret what side of the aisle I'm on, but I try to give people on the

00:50:12.155 --> 00:50:16.175
other side or somebody down the hall, even what,

00:50:16.415 --> 00:50:22.175
you know, give them a viewpoint and expose people to those different viewpoints

00:50:22.175 --> 00:50:25.895
and let them make an intelligent decision which way they want to go.

00:50:26.855 --> 00:50:32.455
But the only way and just learning that from having a privilege of being in

00:50:32.455 --> 00:50:36.895
a legislative body and understanding that you've got to talk to people,

00:50:37.295 --> 00:50:41.915
because, you know, what I remind people all the time is that everybody in that

00:50:41.915 --> 00:50:46.115
in that Capitol building didn't vote for you. Right.

00:50:46.295 --> 00:50:48.575
It was like you represent your district.

00:50:48.775 --> 00:50:50.855
Right. And they're all representing their district.

00:50:51.095 --> 00:50:56.135
So you've got to go in there and convince them that this is a good idea.

00:50:58.635 --> 00:51:03.835
And, you know, it's like if you just think that just because they're Democrat,

00:51:04.055 --> 00:51:06.735
just because they're black, they're going to fall in line with you.

00:51:06.875 --> 00:51:08.455
That's that's the delusional thought.

00:51:09.575 --> 00:51:14.735
Everybody has an agenda and you've got to you've got to be able to find out

00:51:14.735 --> 00:51:20.255
where they're coming from and to have discussions, have dialogue and come up with solutions.

00:51:20.255 --> 00:51:29.155
And I would I would if if Donald Trump and Barack Obama decide to have a cordial

00:51:29.155 --> 00:51:33.015
relationship, that's going to help the nation to me,

00:51:33.035 --> 00:51:38.335
as opposed to what we've been experiencing over the last decade. Right.

00:51:38.555 --> 00:51:43.135
If if if Donald Trump will pick up the phone and just like previous presidents

00:51:43.135 --> 00:51:49.095
before and say, look, I'm in this situation, you know, what's your thoughts?

00:51:49.275 --> 00:51:51.515
Who should I need to call? Yeah, whatever.

00:51:52.095 --> 00:51:55.475
Because, you know, or I'm thinking about doing this.

00:51:55.655 --> 00:52:01.275
What would you do if if if if if we had that dialogue, what we used to have,

00:52:01.535 --> 00:52:04.575
we'll we'll make it through whoever the president's going to be.

00:52:04.575 --> 00:52:10.615
But if if if it's still going to be this combative Civil War type mentality,

00:52:10.615 --> 00:52:14.395
you know, then then then we have to buckle up.

00:52:14.515 --> 00:52:20.455
And I just and I just want my biggest criticism from what I've seen so far is

00:52:20.455 --> 00:52:24.675
that don't pick people that are your fans to be in your cabinet.

00:52:25.015 --> 00:52:27.695
Pick people like you did the first time.

00:52:28.075 --> 00:52:30.055
Pick people that'll say no to you.

00:52:30.895 --> 00:52:35.835
Right. Because none of these people that he's picking now, the biggest if I

00:52:35.835 --> 00:52:40.055
was a member of the Senate and I was doing my advice and consent duty,

00:52:40.315 --> 00:52:45.455
my main question is, like, can you look to President United States and tell held him no?

00:52:46.442 --> 00:52:50.582
If you can't do that, then you don't need to be in that position.

00:52:50.762 --> 00:52:53.602
I don't care what it is. I don't care if it's national intelligence director.

00:52:53.982 --> 00:52:57.162
I don't care if it's OMB. I don't care if it's secretary of defense.

00:52:57.242 --> 00:52:59.962
I don't care if you can't. Huh?

00:53:00.422 --> 00:53:04.242
I do agree with you on that. I do agree that we have to continue to still pick

00:53:04.242 --> 00:53:07.422
credentialed people, people who are credible, people who've been doing the work

00:53:07.422 --> 00:53:09.202
and have some background in it.

00:53:09.202 --> 00:53:14.322
You know, that is definitely something that I think the Biden administration

00:53:14.322 --> 00:53:19.062
kind of did well with picking a lot of great people who were qualified for positions

00:53:19.062 --> 00:53:20.482
and not just picking the friends.

00:53:20.482 --> 00:53:24.802
Of course, there was still some some, you know, little spot,

00:53:24.942 --> 00:53:26.742
you know, that was sprouted out here and there.

00:53:26.882 --> 00:53:30.062
But other than that, I think that there's definitely something that the Trump

00:53:30.062 --> 00:53:32.642
administration should do better in and how they pick their appointees.

00:53:32.642 --> 00:53:39.762
Yeah, I mean, just just, you know, the whole concept is this is America's house.

00:53:40.002 --> 00:53:41.722
You represent the nation.

00:53:42.102 --> 00:53:46.282
Just pick the best and the brightest people to to fill those positions.

00:53:46.982 --> 00:53:50.102
And they're not going to agree with you all the time.

00:53:50.102 --> 00:53:56.562
And you need to hear that viewpoint. And if all you want is just fans,

00:53:56.902 --> 00:54:03.382
then, you know, you'd be better off just being a celebrity and do what the ratings

00:54:03.382 --> 00:54:07.082
on the TV show than to sit in the most powerful position in the world.

00:54:07.202 --> 00:54:11.282
But that's I can go off another tangent on that. Look, Shalonda,

00:54:11.842 --> 00:54:14.682
I want to thank you for coming on.

00:54:15.302 --> 00:54:18.442
I know you've been, you know, we kind of talked about, you know,

00:54:18.642 --> 00:54:21.262
you kind of were taking a break and stuff.

00:54:21.382 --> 00:54:24.862
And you're not the first guest that told me that over the last few months.

00:54:26.502 --> 00:54:30.942
But I still I'm making a personal appeal. I need you to still be engaged.

00:54:31.882 --> 00:54:36.222
And because you're too talented, you have an incredible voice.

00:54:36.402 --> 00:54:37.542
You have an incredible mind.

00:54:38.962 --> 00:54:41.902
And this, you know, I'm going to be like the Uncle Sam poster.

00:54:42.062 --> 00:54:45.722
We need you. We need you. so I,

00:54:46.650 --> 00:54:52.230
How can people reach out to you? And I'm going to do something a little different with you.

00:54:52.670 --> 00:54:57.570
I know you have a lot of different causes that you're involved with.

00:54:57.990 --> 00:55:03.770
Name a particular cause you want the listeners to be engaged with.

00:55:03.950 --> 00:55:06.870
And then if people want to get in touch with you, how can they do that?

00:55:07.810 --> 00:55:12.210
Well, as you probably know, I've kind of pivoted my career a little bit in the

00:55:12.210 --> 00:55:16.350
cyber and national security space, which cybersecurity is considered a national

00:55:16.350 --> 00:55:18.230
security threat to our democracy.

00:55:18.350 --> 00:55:24.450
And I've been focusing more so on thinking through how cybersecurity affects

00:55:24.450 --> 00:55:28.970
our world, how it affects our country, but also mostly how it affects us personally.

00:55:29.310 --> 00:55:33.710
And I've been having a very great run with the cyber world and cyberspace,

00:55:33.710 --> 00:55:38.330
but just thinking about national security as a whole and what does that look like?

00:55:38.330 --> 00:55:42.130
And so if you there are any like national security issues along those lines

00:55:42.130 --> 00:55:46.910
of cyber or women's issues and stuff like that, I'm always a person that can

00:55:46.910 --> 00:55:48.310
talk on them and speak on them.

00:55:48.670 --> 00:55:51.830
My background is very broad, so I try not to put myself in a box,

00:55:51.850 --> 00:55:55.170
which is why I kind of stick to the national security space more so because

00:55:55.170 --> 00:55:57.550
it doesn't put you in this box.

00:55:57.570 --> 00:56:00.610
But I always say I'm not an expert in everything. I just have a lot of experiences

00:56:00.610 --> 00:56:06.490
in a few buckets and cyber and foreign policy and public affairs is something

00:56:06.490 --> 00:56:09.250
I've had my share of buckets in.

00:56:09.350 --> 00:56:14.430
And if you want to reach me, unfortunately, I don't have I'm not on social media

00:56:14.430 --> 00:56:16.810
because my Instagram got hacked because of cyber.

00:56:17.010 --> 00:56:20.690
Right. And I'm on LinkedIn. So if you want to find me, you can always message

00:56:20.690 --> 00:56:24.970
me on LinkedIn. Then it's Shalonda Spencer and you'll see a beautiful smile

00:56:24.970 --> 00:56:26.410
with a picture of me there.

00:56:27.130 --> 00:56:32.530
Well, Shalonda, Spencer, I greatly appreciate you coming on and I'm honored

00:56:32.530 --> 00:56:36.230
that you accept my invitations to come on to the podcast.

00:56:37.150 --> 00:56:43.990
Don't be a stranger. And we'll definitely try to keep tabs of what's going on with you.

00:56:45.130 --> 00:56:50.270
So thank you. Thank you for coming on the podcast. I really appreciate it. Thank you for having me.

00:56:50.530 --> 00:56:53.810
Thank you, listeners, for listening in. I'm always here. If you ever need me,

00:56:54.050 --> 00:56:56.790
Eric, you know I'm only one call and one message away.

00:56:57.360 --> 00:57:17.360
Music.

00:57:19.743 --> 00:57:27.223
All right, and we are back. So I want to thank Jolanda Spencer for coming on.

00:57:28.463 --> 00:57:37.503
She is going to be a major factor in public policy in this country.

00:57:38.103 --> 00:57:44.683
And I don't know where or when that will happen, but it will.

00:57:45.723 --> 00:57:53.503
As you can tell, if you remember the first interview we did and this just one

00:57:53.503 --> 00:57:56.183
you just heard, she's special.

00:57:56.843 --> 00:58:02.263
And, of course, I'm biased because, you know, she's from Mississippi and she

00:58:02.263 --> 00:58:03.663
went to Jackson State and all that.

00:58:03.803 --> 00:58:09.403
But in all reality, she is she is a dynamic person.

00:58:11.223 --> 00:58:21.843
And to watch her develop and grow and continue to be or evolve to be a force is fun to watch.

00:58:22.043 --> 00:58:29.603
And I'm honored that she feels comfortable coming on the podcast to talk to me and to all of you all.

00:58:29.983 --> 00:58:36.783
And hopefully as long as I have this podcast, she'll continue to have that comfort

00:58:36.783 --> 00:58:44.703
because it's a blessing for us to know her and to, what's the word I want to use?

00:58:45.963 --> 00:58:49.703
To be in her presence. Let's put it that way.

00:58:50.163 --> 00:58:54.243
And if you think I'm laying it on thick, maybe. But, you know,

00:58:54.323 --> 00:58:58.283
when I greatly respect people, you know, that's the way I feel.

00:58:58.623 --> 00:59:03.263
And there's a lot of people like that, especially in Mississippi. Yeah.

00:59:04.114 --> 00:59:10.254
But on a national level, not so much. And so I want to close out with this.

00:59:10.974 --> 00:59:15.794
I had mentioned early in the podcast, we were talking about what was going on in Los Angeles.

00:59:16.494 --> 00:59:21.354
And that's just part of what's happening. But the negative part of this whole

00:59:21.354 --> 00:59:24.854
thing in Los Angeles is kind of a microcosm of what we're going to be dealing

00:59:24.854 --> 00:59:31.114
with unless something incredible happens, right?

00:59:31.894 --> 00:59:36.794
While the folks in Los Angeles are battling these wildfires,

00:59:37.494 --> 00:59:46.794
people have taken the time to try to turn that into something to cater their political agenda.

00:59:47.494 --> 00:59:51.034
Now, you know, I'm only so old,

00:59:51.054 --> 00:59:56.894
so I don't know if people were doing that during the Dust Bowl, right?

00:59:57.434 --> 01:00:03.254
Or people were doing that at the San Francisco earthquake. or even the Chicago Fire.

01:00:03.854 --> 01:00:10.234
But since I'm living in this time and I'm watching people do this kind of,

01:00:10.234 --> 01:00:16.954
of course, we didn't have social media either, but I'm just really, really disgusted.

01:00:17.694 --> 01:00:24.694
There's this guy that's on CNN. Now, his bona fides is that he worked for Mitch

01:00:24.694 --> 01:00:27.174
McConnell at some point in his political career.

01:00:27.634 --> 01:00:29.434
His name is Scott Jennings.

01:00:30.654 --> 01:00:34.334
And I don't know if it's an act that he feels that he has to do.

01:00:34.514 --> 01:00:39.454
I don't know if the producers at CNN feel that he's got to play this role or

01:00:39.454 --> 01:00:43.614
he's just genuinely gone off the rails.

01:00:43.614 --> 01:00:54.154
But he had the nerve to equate the hiring and firing of firefighters in Los Angeles,

01:00:54.514 --> 01:01:00.694
the city of Los Angeles, to what's going on with the wildfires.

01:01:02.053 --> 01:01:08.233
And I'm like, what in God's name does the makeup of personnel,

01:01:08.553 --> 01:01:14.033
more specifically, the makeup of the racial makeup of the personnel,

01:01:14.033 --> 01:01:20.333
have to do with the Santa Ana winds blowing 100 miles an hour and starting four

01:01:20.333 --> 01:01:23.753
wildfires that have evacuated hundreds,

01:01:24.493 --> 01:01:27.313
thousands of people?

01:01:27.313 --> 01:01:32.813
That has destroyed thousands of homes, that has actually taken some human lives.

01:01:32.813 --> 01:01:35.493
What does that have to do with anything?

01:01:37.113 --> 01:01:42.013
How are you even shaping your brain to make that a connection?

01:01:43.413 --> 01:01:46.733
And he said some other crazy stuff. It was like Jimmy Carter was being laid

01:01:46.733 --> 01:01:49.673
to rest, and he decided it was his viewpoint,

01:01:50.833 --> 01:01:57.073
his obligation to criticize everything that Jimmy Carter did wrong when he was

01:01:57.073 --> 01:02:02.853
president, okay, without acknowledging anything that he did right.

01:02:03.453 --> 01:02:07.173
So neither to say he wasn't at the funeral, nor was he going to give the eulogy.

01:02:07.653 --> 01:02:16.033
But, you know, it's just absolutely amazing to me how these people get a platform

01:02:16.033 --> 01:02:18.733
to talk about any and everything.

01:02:19.673 --> 01:02:25.873
You know, there's a whole network he could have his own show on if he wants to do that.

01:02:26.213 --> 01:02:32.593
And I guess CNN has given him kind of a co-hosting role with Abby Phillips on her show.

01:02:33.894 --> 01:02:38.014
Be this conservative viewpoint or whatever. But it's like, you know,

01:02:38.114 --> 01:02:43.054
when I used to watch shows like the firing line and the McLaughlin report and all that, and,

01:02:43.214 --> 01:02:49.114
you know, they were kind of blustery and every now and then they kind of went off the rails.

01:02:49.354 --> 01:02:53.514
But, you know, when one person in the panel went off the rails,

01:02:53.714 --> 01:02:56.134
the rest of the panel kind of got them back in line.

01:02:56.294 --> 01:02:58.974
It didn't matter what side of the argument they were on. They were like,

01:02:59.054 --> 01:03:02.814
yeah, that's crazy. Let's focus on what we know, right?

01:03:03.454 --> 01:03:10.394
There wasn't room for, you know, just trying to get soundbites and clicks.

01:03:10.634 --> 01:03:14.474
And of course, that wasn't around then, but still, you know,

01:03:14.554 --> 01:03:17.654
they still had nightly news, still had national news.

01:03:18.294 --> 01:03:21.074
And there wasn't any room for that. There wasn't any time for that.

01:03:21.294 --> 01:03:26.274
It was like, let's give some intelligent viewpoints. Let's give a liberal and

01:03:26.274 --> 01:03:31.754
conservative and even a moderate viewpoint sometimes on the issues of the day.

01:03:32.314 --> 01:03:38.154
And you pretty much could tell who was on what side, you know, but it was high level.

01:03:39.034 --> 01:03:46.214
Right. So, you know, one of the things that I learned early on was that most

01:03:46.214 --> 01:03:51.054
newspapers in America, for example, try to write at a fourth grade level,

01:03:51.294 --> 01:03:53.434
a fourth grade reading level.

01:03:54.034 --> 01:03:57.414
The New York Times and the Washington Post, whenever you would,

01:03:57.614 --> 01:04:03.314
like, when Microsoft Word came up with that word count, and then it would tell

01:04:03.314 --> 01:04:06.494
you, it used to tell you, and I think Apple used to do it too, tell you what word.

01:04:07.959 --> 01:04:13.259
Grade level that article was. You could paste it and it would read it for you.

01:04:13.799 --> 01:04:18.259
And most of the time, the New York Times or the Washington Post was at a ninth grade level.

01:04:18.899 --> 01:04:27.179
So it makes sense that people that weren't as sophisticated or exposed education-wise

01:04:27.179 --> 01:04:29.959
didn't like the New York Times or Washington Post.

01:04:30.099 --> 01:04:35.539
They would gravitate to their local paper or the USA Today once they emerged.

01:04:35.539 --> 01:04:41.599
And it was like, okay, this is simpler to read. I can handle this and digest it.

01:04:41.959 --> 01:04:48.499
And now we're in this age where we basically can mold our television watching

01:04:48.499 --> 01:04:55.999
so we can watch channels that strictly talk to us in our echo chamber as opposed to divergent views.

01:04:56.779 --> 01:05:02.359
And now we got social media with the algorithms. Sometimes it's like if you

01:05:02.359 --> 01:05:09.019
click on a certain person, then everything in your fee is going to reflect on

01:05:09.019 --> 01:05:10.339
what you clicked on, right?

01:05:11.339 --> 01:05:16.919
So, you know, Scott Jennings has an audience and all this other stuff.

01:05:17.099 --> 01:05:21.399
But at some point, we got to stop the lunacy.

01:05:21.699 --> 01:05:26.259
And we just got to be straight up and honest with people with facts.

01:05:26.819 --> 01:05:31.819
I had a co-worker tell me, you can have your truth.

01:05:32.279 --> 01:05:37.039
I can have my truth. But there's always going to be the facts, right?

01:05:37.839 --> 01:05:47.259
And so I think we have an obligation to deal with facts if you are in journalism, right?

01:05:47.799 --> 01:05:50.799
Really, if you're in public policy, you're supposed to give facts.

01:05:52.579 --> 01:05:57.339
But, you know, I mean, my podcast is an opinion podcast.

01:05:58.499 --> 01:06:03.999
Now, I'll try to give you facts when they're available, but I'm not obligated

01:06:03.999 --> 01:06:06.399
to do that because it's my podcast.

01:06:07.099 --> 01:06:08.699
And I'm being straight up with

01:06:08.699 --> 01:06:12.519
you on that because I have a certain viewpoint. I have certain truths.

01:06:14.135 --> 01:06:20.975
But I think just common sense dictates certain things, too.

01:06:21.815 --> 01:06:26.175
The racial makeup of the Los Angeles Fire Department has nothing to do with

01:06:26.175 --> 01:06:29.275
the wildfires in L.A. Nothing.

01:06:30.875 --> 01:06:36.255
So by process of elimination, people making that argument don't need to be in the discussion.

01:06:37.055 --> 01:06:40.615
People that need to be in discussion are people that understand forestry management,

01:06:41.035 --> 01:06:47.675
people that understand firefighting concepts, people that understand water rights

01:06:47.675 --> 01:06:50.535
and the science of water,

01:06:51.135 --> 01:06:52.755
you know, engineers,

01:06:53.455 --> 01:07:00.495
so that more water pressure can get to places to handle something like this

01:07:00.495 --> 01:07:02.895
if it ever happens again, right?

01:07:04.295 --> 01:07:09.695
Meteorologists. People that are in the science dealing with the climate.

01:07:10.695 --> 01:07:15.115
These are the people that need to have these discussions. And they need to be

01:07:15.115 --> 01:07:18.395
advising the people that are going to make policy.

01:07:19.295 --> 01:07:25.055
Not wild hair, I just got to get some political points this week kind of people.

01:07:26.355 --> 01:07:32.415
You know, on the eve of Donald Trump becoming the next president,

01:07:32.415 --> 01:07:34.935
he has a press conference.

01:07:35.595 --> 01:07:41.635
And he's not talking about the issues that got him elected, which is how the

01:07:41.635 --> 01:07:44.995
economy is going to be better for the average citizen.

01:07:45.235 --> 01:07:49.575
Because the economy is good if you own a business and if you own stocks.

01:07:49.915 --> 01:07:51.895
The economy is incredible.

01:07:52.275 --> 01:08:00.175
If you manage a pension plan for public employees, your job is safe because

01:08:00.175 --> 01:08:02.335
there's going to be money for those retirees.

01:08:02.335 --> 01:08:07.315
But for average everyday people who are trying to pay bills,

01:08:07.895 --> 01:08:10.535
trying to make it paycheck to paycheck.

01:08:12.127 --> 01:08:16.507
People voted for Donald Trump because they felt that he would do a better job

01:08:16.507 --> 01:08:20.147
than Vice President Harris in addressing those concerns.

01:08:21.047 --> 01:08:30.947
That's the good nature answer. Now, my thinking is that, and it is racial, but it may not be racist.

01:08:31.467 --> 01:08:39.947
My thinking is that people didn't trust a woman or a person of color to do that

01:08:39.947 --> 01:08:42.547
as opposed to a white man.

01:08:43.287 --> 01:08:47.747
That's just me. And there may be other people that feel that way,

01:08:47.827 --> 01:08:49.367
but that's the way I look at it.

01:08:49.607 --> 01:08:53.547
Because I've been that black candidate running for a major office.

01:08:53.547 --> 01:09:01.087
And that's the assessment I had, that people couldn't envision me making the

01:09:01.087 --> 01:09:03.907
kind of decisions that a white dude could.

01:09:04.447 --> 01:09:12.007
Now, whether that's racial or ignorance or lack of trust, it's on that individual, right?

01:09:12.547 --> 01:09:16.747
But instead of having a press conference to address those issues,

01:09:17.287 --> 01:09:21.527
he got up there and started talking about, we need Greenland.

01:09:22.507 --> 01:09:27.247
We need control of the Panama Canal. You decided to talk about the Panama Canal

01:09:27.247 --> 01:09:30.987
because Jimmy Carter had died, and you remembered when you were younger that

01:09:30.987 --> 01:09:34.927
Jimmy Carter was the president that gave the Panama Canal to the country of Panama.

01:09:36.147 --> 01:09:39.787
So now the Panama Canal, we've got to have control of that back because Jimmy

01:09:39.787 --> 01:09:43.187
Carter is no longer with us, even though he hasn't been president since 1980.

01:09:43.747 --> 01:09:47.527
And you had four years prior to that to deal with it.

01:09:47.787 --> 01:09:53.987
And then you want to insult Canada. You want to refer to the prime minister as governor.

01:09:55.327 --> 01:09:58.807
And yeah, there may be some political stuff going on in Canada,

01:09:59.007 --> 01:10:02.547
but Trudeau was like, yeah, y'all deal with him.

01:10:03.187 --> 01:10:07.687
I've been doing this for nine years. I've dealt with four of those years I had to deal with him.

01:10:08.347 --> 01:10:11.467
Good luck on that. I mean, I survived COVID.

01:10:12.927 --> 01:10:17.047
Somebody else can have it. You know, you got the president of Mexico.

01:10:17.687 --> 01:10:22.727
She's saying, well, if you want to rename Canada, we'll rename the United States.

01:10:23.107 --> 01:10:26.707
I mean, you know, and then the other thing, the Gulf of Mexico.

01:10:26.707 --> 01:10:30.507
Now we want to make it the Gulf of America. For what?

01:10:31.767 --> 01:10:35.727
The Daily Show was classic. Oh, yeah, that's the headline we want.

01:10:35.867 --> 01:10:38.407
Yeah, there was another oil spill in the Gulf of America.

01:10:39.027 --> 01:10:40.847
Really? That's what you want.

01:10:41.687 --> 01:10:47.147
What has that got to do with eggs and butter and milk and bacon?

01:10:47.947 --> 01:10:50.747
What does any of that have to do with that?

01:10:51.267 --> 01:10:54.047
And then you're sitting there trying to justify and say, well,

01:10:54.187 --> 01:11:00.007
if we get Greenland, you know, our national security is in place.

01:11:01.967 --> 01:11:06.267
So Denmark is not our friend. Denmark's not a member of NATO.

01:11:07.761 --> 01:11:10.801
You think if something went down, they're not going to help us?

01:11:11.601 --> 01:11:15.741
I mean, you know, of course, you don't want us to be a part of NATO,

01:11:15.761 --> 01:11:18.281
but that's a more intelligent discussion.

01:11:19.121 --> 01:11:23.301
I'm just trying to figure out why are we even dealing with that, right?

01:11:23.461 --> 01:11:27.861
Did you think that was going to distract us from the fact that a judge in New

01:11:27.861 --> 01:11:33.681
York finally finished the job and sentenced you on those 34 convictions you got?

01:11:34.241 --> 01:11:38.341
Did you think we were going to forget about that? because we were going to be

01:11:38.341 --> 01:11:41.261
so enamored about a Louisiana purchase in our lifetime,

01:11:42.081 --> 01:11:47.341
that we'd be more focused on the purchase of Louisiana, I mean,

01:11:47.361 --> 01:11:52.701
Canada and Greenland and the Panama Canal than purchasing what we're going to

01:11:52.701 --> 01:11:55.701
eat for the next couple of weeks at our house.

01:11:56.401 --> 01:12:02.981
You know, when you get elected and you're trying to say it was a mandate and you get elected,

01:12:03.281 --> 01:12:09.281
then anytime you talk from this point forward till you get sworn in and get

01:12:09.281 --> 01:12:13.941
to actually implement stuff should be about what the mandate was about.

01:12:14.301 --> 01:12:16.421
Now, it wasn't a mandate, but

01:12:16.421 --> 01:12:20.001
that's what they're saying. So if you're saying that, then act like it.

01:12:20.641 --> 01:12:24.741
Every time you get up there, just like you had that press conference and you

01:12:24.741 --> 01:12:29.341
didn't recognize a box of Cheerios when you saw it, maybe you need to go to

01:12:29.341 --> 01:12:30.581
a group. That's what you need to do.

01:12:30.621 --> 01:12:34.541
Instead of going to a McDonald's or going on a garbage truck, go to a grocery store.

01:12:35.241 --> 01:12:39.001
Dr. Oz did it when he ran for the Senate. Go to a grocery store.

01:12:40.422 --> 01:12:44.842
A farm and start talking about how we're going to do this. Go to Tyson.

01:12:45.182 --> 01:12:49.302
I mean, Sarah Huckabee Sanders will get you in. Go down to Arkansas and go to

01:12:49.302 --> 01:12:51.762
Tyson Foods. Talk about ticket.

01:12:52.442 --> 01:12:56.982
Talk about the stuff that people are concerned about.

01:12:57.322 --> 01:13:03.022
People, and I've said it on this podcast before, people are hurting. They need help.

01:13:03.682 --> 01:13:07.242
We've had an increase in homelessness in a year.

01:13:08.002 --> 01:13:11.742
People need help. They don't need games. They don't need gimmicks.

01:13:11.842 --> 01:13:14.202
They don't need a Trump guitar. They need help.

01:13:15.082 --> 01:13:19.962
They don't care if Elon Musk makes another $100 billion off cryptocurrency or

01:13:19.962 --> 01:13:21.622
SpaceX. They don't care about it.

01:13:22.062 --> 01:13:27.962
They want to know how you are going to help them.

01:13:28.742 --> 01:13:33.522
And Marjorie Taylor Greene will run after that press conference and introduce

01:13:33.522 --> 01:13:37.182
a bill to say, let's change the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America,

01:13:37.242 --> 01:13:40.662
but she hasn't introduced a bill to make sure that the folks in Rome,

01:13:40.782 --> 01:13:45.102
Georgia can afford their light bill, their gas bill,

01:13:45.742 --> 01:13:48.262
their car note, their house.

01:13:48.802 --> 01:13:54.522
Can we even buy a house in Rome, Georgia? Can we afford the groceries that they

01:13:54.522 --> 01:13:58.642
sell at the Publix in Rome, Georgia? Right.

01:13:59.602 --> 01:14:05.322
But you want to introduce a bill to rename a body of water that we don't even border.

01:14:05.762 --> 01:14:08.502
Georgia doesn't even border the government. We're not a Gulf state.

01:14:08.922 --> 01:14:11.722
We're an Atlantic state, not a Gulf state.

01:14:13.352 --> 01:14:16.352
That one of the Republicans from Mississippi introduced the bill.

01:14:16.552 --> 01:14:19.012
Okay, at least it's a Gulf state.

01:14:19.472 --> 01:14:21.832
Alabama, Florida, but not Georgia.

01:14:22.432 --> 01:14:24.652
Why are you even concerned about that?

01:14:26.712 --> 01:14:33.132
Because it's all about theatrics. It's not about substance.

01:14:33.492 --> 01:14:35.372
It's not about facts.

01:14:35.992 --> 01:14:44.932
All they want to do is, instead of just being mad about affording things,

01:14:45.212 --> 01:14:47.772
just being mad about your struggles.

01:14:48.232 --> 01:14:51.692
Now I'm going to give you something else to be mad about. I want you to be mad

01:14:51.692 --> 01:14:57.672
about 1% of the population because they've made a decision about their gender.

01:14:58.152 --> 01:15:06.192
I want you to be mad about black folks getting corporate jobs because of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

01:15:06.712 --> 01:15:11.452
I want you to be mad about stuff we shouldn't even be mad about,

01:15:11.932 --> 01:15:17.332
like sovereign nations that we want to take over. Why are we doing that?

01:15:18.152 --> 01:15:21.752
Because if you stay mad, you don't stay focused.

01:15:22.012 --> 01:15:29.612
And I pledge to you that the mission of this podcast in 2025 is to keep us focused.

01:15:30.512 --> 01:15:37.492
We need to have legislators at the state level and at the federal level doing

01:15:37.492 --> 01:15:44.592
what they can to make sure that our lives are better, period, end of discussion.

01:15:44.992 --> 01:15:50.852
If the mandate from the people, regardless of who they voted for for president,

01:15:51.012 --> 01:15:56.352
who they voted for in Congress, is I want my life to be better.

01:15:58.067 --> 01:16:05.387
Focus on that. If, you know, you're upset because an executive from a health

01:16:05.387 --> 01:16:12.547
insurance company got murdered in broad daylight and there are people cheering the guy who did that,

01:16:13.007 --> 01:16:17.047
then maybe we might need to find out why that is.

01:16:17.787 --> 01:16:22.207
Maybe we need to look at health insurance again.

01:16:22.827 --> 01:16:26.467
It was one thing to make sure that people had health insurance.

01:16:26.887 --> 01:16:33.787
Now the question is affordability. Now the question is, are they being good

01:16:33.787 --> 01:16:39.207
stewards of the money that they're being given and processing the claims that need to be processed?

01:16:40.187 --> 01:16:45.727
I would love to be in a world where business people can make as much money as

01:16:45.727 --> 01:16:51.827
they want, and they treated people nice, They pay their workers good wages.

01:16:53.087 --> 01:16:57.867
And everybody benefited. But we don't live in that world. We live in a world

01:16:57.867 --> 01:17:00.047
where people are run by greed.

01:17:00.567 --> 01:17:06.067
And there's only one entity that can stop greed, and that's the U.S.

01:17:06.187 --> 01:17:11.407
Government, if they're not being greedy themselves, or at least the people that

01:17:11.407 --> 01:17:14.927
are given the responsibility to be stewards of that government.

01:17:16.607 --> 01:17:22.227
We have to focus on helping people.

01:17:23.187 --> 01:17:29.347
Let's put the fire out before we start trying to figure out who started it.

01:17:29.847 --> 01:17:32.807
Because if we all burn up, it's irrelevant.

01:17:33.467 --> 01:17:39.247
Let's put the fire out first. Then we can go back and see how do we get here

01:17:39.247 --> 01:17:41.467
and how do we not get there again?

01:17:42.187 --> 01:17:48.007
And be real about it. Don't, not harebrained theories, facts.

01:17:48.727 --> 01:17:56.007
If changing the name of a body of water will make sure that I have affordable health care, I'm for it.

01:17:56.527 --> 01:18:05.587
If purchasing a sovereign nation will make sure that I have affordable housing, go for it.

01:18:05.587 --> 01:18:12.807
If making another country a state or a territory in the United States will make

01:18:12.807 --> 01:18:18.387
sure that hunger in the United States would not be a problem, do that.

01:18:18.647 --> 01:18:22.207
But until then, stop talking about that.

01:18:23.247 --> 01:18:33.087
Focus on what needs to be done to make sure that Americans are not hurting anymore. Period.

01:18:34.547 --> 01:18:39.147
That's where we got to be, because as a black man, I can tell you,

01:18:39.387 --> 01:18:43.547
if Americans are hurting, we feel in most of the pain.

01:18:45.047 --> 01:18:54.787
So let's deal with that. Even if it takes you all four years, focus, focus, focus.

01:18:56.047 --> 01:18:57.007
All right, y'all.

01:18:57.520 --> 01:19:48.247
Music.