We're All K-Hive Now

President Biden's unexpected decision to step down from the 2024 presidential race has sent shockwaves through the political landscape. Join us as we navigate through the whirlwind of emotions that followed this monumental announcement, from initial disbelief to cautious optimism. We'll explore the strategic timing of Biden's move and its implications for party unity, assessing the rapid pledges of support for Kamala Harris from states like Tennessee and North Carolina. What does this mean for the Democratic Party's future, and how will it shape the upcoming election?

Choosing a running mate for Kamala Harris is no small feat. In this episode, we weigh the merits of potential vice presidential candidates like Josh Shapiro, Gretchen Whitmer, and Pete Buttigieg. The challenge lies not just in finding a strong contender but in selecting someone who can withstand the inevitable societal prejudices and political attacks. We also delve into the historical significance of a possible Jewish vice president and what it means for the Democratic ticket in a deeply polarized America.

As we turn our focus to the broader political landscape, we dissect the media's role in shaping public perception and the powerful influence of campaign funding. Concerns about super PACs tied to figures like Elon Musk and Donald Trump are at the forefront of our discussion, as we ponder the implications of Trump's potential return to power. This episode is a deep dive into the critical importance of political engagement and the ethical challenges faced by those on the front lines of democracy. Tune in for an episode packed with insights, reflections, and a call to action to safeguard our democratic values.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:19

One, two, three, four, having to get re-elected in November. At that point I might change my mind about that endorsement. Speaking of endorsements breaking news I'm sure you've heard of it at this point already President Biden has made his decision to drop out of the race for the 2024 presidential election. He immediately thereafter proposed an endorsement for Vice President Kamala Harris and, as things stand, it appears as though she is on pace to be the presidential nominee for the democratic party. Uh, probably by midweek. Um, I really don't even know where to start.

Speaker 3: 0:56

So exciting I was started. Yeah, it's hard because I started off like no and I've been through so many emotions today. Um it's been an emotional roller coaster we've been three of the staunchest defenders of biden's uh continued candidacy. Um, okay, now I know I'm no you're absolutely right.

Speaker 1: 1:18

No one sucked joe biden's dick more than we have together that is, that is true that is not a shame to me, I still have cotton mouth for me.

Speaker 3: 1:27

Yeah right, I don't forget your microphone, but I got on that christmas card list, so no.

Speaker 1: 1:34

So yeah, I guess we'll start with that. Our emotions immediately after the announcement were probably not great. Uh, probably pretty grim, and I'll be honest with you and we'll talk about this shortly. Uh, you know the prospects for what this means, now that he's no longer an incumbent president president running for office, and instead we have a vice president who is well qualified.

Speaker 2: 1:54

They're going to make me cry again. I'm tired of crying. I'm crying all day.

Speaker 1: 1:59

Hang on, but so upon. One of the reasons why, you know, I was staunch, staunchly against the idea of Biden dropping out is because we just, you know people drastically underestimate the power of incumbency, or at least the public does. I mean. You know, plenty of politicians understand what it means to be in an office while running for office, running for office. But one of the things, the major things I was concerned about in you know, especially in this scenario step one, getting the party unified behind a single presidential candidate Now that Biden is out of the race, because if we don't do that it definitely is going to be impossible to win in November. I'm not going to lie to you about that.

Speaker 1: 2:43

But it appears as though the manner in which President Biden decided to drop out of the race by not showing his cards and allowing the RNC convention to finish in the fashion that it did Trump's picked his VP, that's locked in. He's kind of out of options in that department. Biden also kind of you know, sneak dropping. You know his announcement without informing most of the other members of the party didn't give them the opportunity to put any kind of plan in place to like run a blitz campaign for anyone outside of Kamala Harris and then his strong and immediate endorsement of Kamala Harris. It appears as though it galvanized a number of members inside the party who would have probably been in a position to fight for some kind of open primary at the DNC convention.

Speaker 3: 3:42

Some some contested yeah, I heard lots of. I heard lots of rumblings of some sort of mini, mini primary like, yeah, I don't even want to know what that means it's not a real thing but that's not a thing, and this means that, like some of you get to vote. That's what what?

Speaker 1: 4:01

what it means is they were going to try and run some kind of campaign to convince the delegates to choose their candidate, but it appears as though Biden didn't give them enough time to implement any kind of plan to do so, and because of that, a number of states you know I'm I currently reside in Tennessee.

Speaker 2: 4:21

OK D, I'm going to flip that on you. It wasn't that Biden didn't give them enough time. I currently reside in Tennessee. Okay D, I'm going to flip that on you. What up, it wasn't that Biden didn't give them enough time. They didn't give Biden enough time. Well, that's fair. Because, this Blitz campaign has been recent, so that's what the real issue is. It wasn't him, it was them.

Speaker 1: 4:43

Yeah, so the Democratic Convention? It's in August. It's basically a month from today, right? So if they continue with this campaign and he dropped out a couple of weeks from now, they might have had the opportunity to string together some sort of plan. But since only a handful of members of Congress got involved in the effort to push out Biden Again, like we've got so much to talk about, I don't know how much of it we'll get to, but we'll try. Because they only recently jumped in, they apparently didn't have a plan and because Biden announced that he was dropping out in the out of the blue without telling them, the push to get Kamala Harris to be the candidate appears to have been successful. We've got a number of states in the South that already pledged their Biden delegates, delegates to Kamala Harris. You know I'm in Tennessee. We jumped in a thing North Carolina.

Speaker 3: 5:32

Nice.

Speaker 1: 5:33

What was it?

Speaker 3: 5:35

And it was like a pretty immediate feeling of relief, I mean the first, when I saw his announcement. It didn't say anything about it, so just thanked her for a job well done as his vice president, but like, oh my God, he didn't endorse her. Shit, shit, shit. And as soon as I saw his follow-up, it was such an immense relief and I went from being worried to being, I mean, relief was next, and then a little hopeful and a little.

Speaker 2: 5:57

Now I'm a little excited yeah, but I think that he um the announcement has and just from what I've seen on social media, thanking him and being very gracious though they weren't when they were asking for him to drop out but the fact that they didn't, in the same sentences, in the same breath breath, say he should drop out and hand the reins to pamela harris, that says a lot and that is an issue it does.

Speaker 1: 6:35

The whole pass the torch campaign. Uh, you know, sadly, as effective as it was. Like part of the problem, and the reason why you knew it was an op is because they didn't they weren't telling you who they wanted him to pass the torch to exactly now. Clearly, obviously a lot of people behind this did not want him to pass the torch to kamala here as well. So much for that. Y'all are fucked in that department. You're stuck with kamala. You. You got what you asked for biden's out. Now kamala is your nominee.

Speaker 1: 7:01

You got to get behind her, um, and, as I was saying, she's already got a number of delegates, you know, currently pledged to her from a handful of states and I'm sure more are to follow.

Speaker 1: 7:10

I'm sure there are probably, you know, state Democratic Party leaders on the phone on a phone conference as we speak, getting that process lined up and ready to go process lined up and ready to go, and I'm assuming tomorrow we'll see a number of other states follow suit and probably by Tuesday, wednesday, thursday, sometime during this week she'll have enough delegates pledged to her to make her officially the Democratic nominee, which means going into the Democratic convention. You know, all we'll have to worry about is who the vice presidential selection is. Now I say that like it's you know, something haphazard that you can just kind of throw together at the last minute. But you know, it appears as though, from what I understand of the process of the Republican party, trump literally, literally kind of picked JD fans out of a hat at the last second and they didn't have anything. None of that was organized or lined up. They didn't even have like hats and shirts and paraphernalia ready to go.

Speaker 2: 8:13

I know and they had those. Okay, so at the convention they already had Trump vans signs that were being waived during the convention.

Speaker 1: 8:27

Actually they had trump pence signs.

Speaker 3: 8:30

A lot of people did and they were just scratching pence out and putting this is kind of like well, I guess they had less time to plan because of this impulsiveness, and but it kind of reminds me of when disney put out the mandalorian and didn't think too much to make any merchandise for grogu. Everyone was like, and it was like a viral hit and everyone wanted one and they were just like oh, we, just we didn't make any.

Speaker 1: 8:58

We didn't even think that would like you didn't think this adorable baby yoda would be popular that's the perfect analogy, I mean because that's literally what happened, right like you know, mandalorian was a hit jd vance is no, he's no no fair enough, he's no. He's no baby yoda, uh, whatsoever. Um. So I don't know what the process will be for selecting a vice president, and jdD Vance, he's no baby Yoda.

Speaker 1: 9:27

Typically, just like in terms of what it means for a presidential campaign and for an election, a vice presidential pick doesn't typically matter, with some notable exceptions, or at least in recent history. You know I can give you Al Gore's campaign in 2000. His vice presidential pick was disastrous for the party. It might have been the difference between, you know, him winning Florida outright, instead of the contested mess that we found ourselves in with the Supreme Court stepped in and chose a Republican president. Also of note, obama's 2008 campaign. It was drastically important that he picked a stalwart in the Democratic Party, someone everyone was familiar with and comfortable with in order to run with, because, well, let's just face it, man, you're the first black dude with a real shot at winning a presidential election. You're not getting in the White House without having the safe white guy behind you to back you up.

Speaker 1: 10:32

And it turns out he picked the perfect candidate in Joe Biden, as we're well aware, because he ended up running for president in 2020. And, you know, outed a sitting president, something we hadn't seen for 30 years here. You know, outed a sitting president, something we hadn't seen for 30 years here. And he also made the decision to pick Vice President Kamala Harris as his running mate and I think that was one of the decisions that propelled him to victory. I mean, it really did unify, like as much as the black vote is not a monolith, it's typically unified behind a Democratic candidate to the tune of like 90% of Black voters, and Kamala Harris, that selection unified the Black vote behind President Biden. And so, while we can say in general, maybe the vice presidential pick isn't necessarily super important, there are instances where it definitely has come into play and since we have basically it's only not important if you don't.

Speaker 3: 11:31

If you do it right, if you do it egregiously wrong, then it's obviously a problem. Like if she goes and chooses like a member of the squad people be like are you fucking kidding me. There are some. There are some complete deal breakers.

Speaker 1: 11:45

Typically yes, like you said, typically, the way that goes is you generally can't pick a candidate that can win you the election, but you can definitely pick one that can lose the election, and we have a perfect instance of that in recent history with John McCain, thanks to Steve Schmidt, his election of none other than one of the worst vice presidential candidates.

Speaker 2: 12:04

Are we going to talk about that motherfucker, sarah Palin?

Speaker 1: 12:07

We're going to try and get to it again. We ain't got a lot of time, but yeah. So, sarah Palin, you can say that there was no guarantee of you know, regardless of who John McCain picked as his running mate, that he wasn't going to lose that election. But the second that he chose, sarahah, sarah palin, he was absolutely doomed, so he didn't have a shot, and I'm assuming kamala harris won't make that mistake now.

Speaker 3: 12:32

I don't know what preparation in a stunning twist of fate, kamala harris has chosen uh sarah palin as her running mate. It's a real maverick move.

Speaker 1: 12:45

Hilarious. Now I don't know what preparation the party's done to even vet a vice presidential candidate, since we knew this would be the ticket since 2020, to be honest and the process is going to have to be expedited. I'm sure the campaign infrastructure is already there. They're already ginning up polls and focus groups to pick a vice presidential candidate that will complement Kamala Harris in demographics that they'll need to pick up in November. But what I imagine is the likely outcome here They'll pick a governor from a swing state. They need to win the election. It'll basically lock up that state.

Speaker 2: 13:28

Yeah, I've been hearing a lot of Josh Shapiro. Yeah, because it's an obvious option.

Speaker 1: 13:36

Right, and just don't think of it in terms of Shapiro's guarantee to get the VP pick. Just think of it in terms of where Shapiro is is a model for what the likely VP pick will be, regardless of whether or not it's Shapiro.

Speaker 3: 13:52

South Carolina North.

Speaker 1: 13:54

Carolina, michigan, pennsylvania. Those are some pretty obvious options. Now I don't know again. Like I don't have a horse in that race, there's no candidate out there I typically prefer. But just from a general perspective, what I would say is the same way Obama went after the well-known commodity, the safe, safe, safe pick of Joe Biden. I assume Kamala Harris would do something similar. I know a lot of people out there are rooting for Pete Buttigieg. But I mean, you got to think.

Speaker 2: 14:24

Personally, I would like to see Gretchen Whitmer. I would love to see a double female ticket. Yeah, I would too For POTUS, though everyone is saying maybe Mayor Pete or Josh Shapiro, but we know the anti-lgbtq yeah, they're gonna eat.

Speaker 1: 14:49

They're gonna eat peter life, um, and also. That's that's yet. That's the issue with whitmer right. So the um. You know racism and misogyny is going to run rampant in this election. It's a trump, it's a. It's a trump election. So it's already going to be bad. Now that you got a black woman at the top of the ticket is going to be extraordinarily bad, and you know and shapiro would be the first jew on any presidential ticket, and yeah, I didn't know he was jewish.

Speaker 3: 15:15

Well, no I assume, shapiro yeah, oh, no, okay, josh shapiro but but lieberman, they didn't win, just Sorry, a winning if they win.

Speaker 1: 15:27

Well, that's what I'm saying. And like this is no shot at Jewish people. Carol, you're Jewish, I love to point that out every time we have the opportunity. But you know, lieberman, being Jewish, did play a role in that 2000 election. And so, again, I'm not saying, I'm just saying this in terms of practicality that might be one reason you lean away from shapiro, uh, for a different choice. And I'm not suggesting that and I'm not saying I endorse that line of thinking it's going to be ugly either way, oh it's going to be ugly, but again it's going to be brutal, it is going to be ugly.

Speaker 1: 16:03

They are going to sling the nastiest of everything ty, speaking of slinging the nasty, hold your mic up, um in your face, put it in your mouth. No, I'm kidding, no, you, but you're right, it's going to be nasty and that's the whole point of this conversation. Right, you have to choose the vice presidential candidate because this is a unique set of circumstances. You, we've we conversation. Right, you have to choose the vice presidential candidate because this is a unique set of circumstances we've never experienced before. You've got to choose a vice presidential candidate that will mitigate as much of that harm as possible. Uh, invulnerable, uh, in terms of, you know, attacks from the right, because kamala harris is going to get plenty. You don't need to give them any more ammunition. And that's just me speaking from a practical matter.

Speaker 1: 16:52

Now, I'm sure a lot of people out there were rooting for their favorite candidate to take biden's spot. Sorry guys. Uh, that's not an option. Kamala harris is the only one, because she's the closest thing to an incumbent we have. She is also currently the most experienced presidential candidate that you could possibly nominate. It's not President Biden, and he just stepped down and people were making the joke that you know, considering all the things you would like in a VP for a candidate like Vice President Kamala Harris, the perfect nominee for vice president would be Joe Biden. He's right there.

Speaker 3: 17:26

If he were 20 years younger?

Speaker 1: 17:31

Yeah. So, moving on from the potential vice presidential selection, there's also the legal issues of just having someone else on the ticket. You know, apart from Kamala Harris, it would be tough. So, first of all, all of the money, all of the campaign infrastructure Biden's built over the course of his administration and throughout this campaign, you know, another candidate outside of Kamala Harris wouldn't be eligible to take over the control of those assets, be eligible to take over the control of those assets, and that would send the democratic party into a huge disadvantage in november.

Speaker 1: 18:10

Like, while trump's campaign is practically broke and you know he doesn't have that much infrastructure on the ground, he does have, like an apparatus ready to go, and you know, billionaires, public money into super PACs to help him out. Um, you know, and that's that would be where we could compete slightly with a different candidate. Like, all of that money could go to a super PAC, but again, the campaign wouldn't have control over that. When it comes to shit like running ads, like the campaign gets discount the super PACs, don't. So for every dollar you pump into a super PAC, you, you know you only get half of the return on investment there and that's why it's super important, like when people donate to the actual presidential campaign, you know, like tv ads, the whole gamut, it's, it's, it's all.

Speaker 3: 18:55

A lot more expensive for packs to try and influence an election than for the campaign and we don't have time to get into how elon donating 45 million dollars a month is a scam and he's and it's to his own super PAC and he's going to probably keep a lot of the money united is like the way these packs operate now a super sketch.

Speaker 1: 19:29

Like you have no real insight into what. Once the money goes in, it goes into a black hole and they can basically spend the money however they want and report it however they want, with no consequences which is what elon is going to do with that money.

Speaker 3: 19:39

And he doesn't have the 45 million dollars. As I suspected. This isn't really wild speculation.

Speaker 1: 19:45

I think he just doesn't have it and it says that's the scam he's gonna raise it, what I'm assuming, to raise the money he's pledging to raise that into his super pack and then donate it from the super pack what I'm assuming elon is planning on doing is, I think he finally convinced enough members of the board of tesla, uh, to give him a you him a multibillion dollar payout. He'll take a significant portion of that money and pump it into the super PAC if he has the opportunity. Like you know, I'm not necessarily sure if that deal will fall through or not, but you know if it does, that'll be how he funds, you know, the PAC efforts to help reelect Trump. That'll be how he funds. You know the PAC efforts to help reelect Trump. But, as you said, like once the money goes into the PAC, there is no guarantee that money will actually be spent on Trump. I mean, it could be funneled out in multiple different venues.

Speaker 1: 20:37

I know one of the thing, so one of the things we never really we've never talked about this on this podcast because we got started late in the game. This on this podcast because we got started late in the game. But, um, so trump's inaugural committee raised like a hundred something million dollars, like far more money than any inaugural committee ever raised, and that money disappeared. And if you look at the inauguration that trump threw, the shit wasn't worth. It wasn't worth 50 million dollars.

Speaker 1: 20:58

Um, and one of the tactics you know Trump employs is you know he'll have friends and family members and political allies. They'll create these, these LLCs, and the LLCs will bill, like in this case, the inaugural fund, for work that's never done and the inaugural fund will just pay that money out and then it's poof gone, disappeared. Money out and then it's poof gone, disappeared, vamos. Now I'd imagine there's a similar situation with trump. Super pac, uh, since he lost the election, not since, like he started running for office for 2024, but no, since he lost the 2020 election, like november 2020, I think. You know his packs could combine raise something close to like a billion dollars, if not more. Uh, and they're. Those packs are currently broke. Who knows where that money went to, but I would imagine it's a scenario something like that where he's got all of his cronies and his family members just bilking the fucking packs um for their own personal finances that is absolutely true and um the money that those packs raised.

Speaker 2: 22:07

They're being investigated because it was like 250 million dollars, quarter of a billion dollars and I do know that so it was once.

Speaker 1: 22:19

it was reported last year I think it might have been early in the summer that Jack Smith and the special counsel's office was actually investigating, you know, trump's super PAC. Now we I think we got a report sometime in the spring of this year that while the special counsel's office had sent subpoenas to Trump's super PAC, they had eventually dropped those subpoenas. Now I don't know if that means the investigation into the money is closed, but it's entirely possible that they got the information they needed elsewhere making the subpoenas relevant. So they just gave up in that regard. I don't know.

Speaker 3: 23:12

Look again part of this thing with the last month of chaos in terms of, like, the media coverage and, you know, this pressure campaign to get Biden to drop out is I'm still pissed about it, even if I'm happy about Kamala. I did my man wrong. They did him. They did him dirty.

Speaker 1: 23:21

Yes, adam, in the back Bunch of Judas's fucking guys. They did him, they did him dirty. Yeah, stand him in the back bunch of judas's fuck them guys. I mean, even the associated press dropped this article praising president biden's administration and all the work he's done and how the effects of the legislation he'll pass uh will, will affect the lives of you know americans for years to come, whether they know that it's because of him, like where was this shit while he was fucking running for office, guys?

Speaker 3: 23:45

yeah, fucking giving.

Speaker 1: 23:46

Someone talks about someone who's dead yeah, well, given the eulogy for the guy you stabbed in the fucking back, my, my god man, it's fucking frustrating. Like, where was this a month ago? Um, but one of the things like with this past you know, month or two of chaos is the media stopped covering all of the legal developments and the criminal investigations into Trump and such Like. For instance, like because I think we missed a week of recording here where the guy who set up the SPAC deal for Trump's social media company that guy got indicted for fraud. We didn't even talk about that and the media didn't either, and like that's the type of shit that you know slips through the cracks in terms of you know what the public is informed and neither did they, when they have been calling for years.

Speaker 2: 24:40

Drop the epstein filespped that and they had mentioned nothing about what was dropped from the Epstein files.

Speaker 1: 24:53

Put the mic in front of your face.

Speaker 2: 24:55

Unsealed the documents in the grand jury case against Jeffrey Epstein and the call logs, etc. Radio silence. Where's your ice cream cone?

Speaker 1: 25:10

Yeah, you forgot your ice cream cone. You got to put it in your mouth, remember?

Speaker 2: 25:15

Oh well, I would get an ice cream cone your microphone?

Speaker 1: 25:18

No your microphone girl. Remember, you got to hold your mic up and lactose intolerance no, yeah you're right.

Speaker 1: 25:28

So when, though, you know, the santas went through all that effort to get those epstein files from epstein's court case unsealed, but because the media was focused on pushing biden to drop out, they didn't cover that shit at all. And again, it's just another casualty of the just a terrible fucking media coverage. If you're listening to this podcast, obviously you're going out of your way to get more information than what mainstream media provides, and I suggest that, over the course of the next three or four months, you can continue to do so, because it's going to be a shit show. You've already realized at this point do so, because it's going to be a shit show. Look we, you've already realized at this point.

Speaker 1: 26:07

Like, even after trump was convicted of 34 felonies, the news coverage of that lasted maybe a couple of weeks, maybe, and then they were right back to the same old shit. Biden had a single, you know, subpar debate performance in a debate where trump was far worse, and, and they decided that they were going to do everything they could to make sure he dropped out of this race. So, and and this is obviously you know, at least in my opinion, and like cnn's actually reported on this trump is good for clicks. You know, during the trump administration the media was more profitable than it had been in decades. And then, the way you know, the subscription model uh, for cable television is working out. Like you know, corporate media's profits are down, down, down, the only way they can get you, the only way they can get money at this point to survive.

Speaker 2: 26:52

I hope they have their program outfits picked out, because that's where they're going to be.

Speaker 1: 26:59

We'll talk about that in just a second. But yeah, the money is in the clicks, in the streams, in the views, at least as far as ad revenue is concerned, and Trump is good for that. And they've clearly decided that they're all in for a second Trump administration. And that is part of the reason why they spend so much time ginning up, you know, because, like the idea of a Biden-Trump rematch, everybody knows the stakes, everybody knows the candidates Super boring, no one's going to watch the news. So they ginned this up out of nowhere, in coordination with a handful of billionaire donors to the Democratic Party, to pressure Biden to get out of the race. Well, they got their wish. They're going to get their clicks and CNN has reported this since this, you know, dropout Joe thing conspired, you know, miraculously, around the same time, the you know the the Gaza support thing disappeared. This was successful, or that wasn't. They're all on board Now. They got their new candidate. They got, you know, chaos and such in the democratic party, or at least, you know, on the surface appearances. Um, you know, it's been good for them.

Speaker 1: 28:09

But the problem with that is, you know, the next time there's a, the first time there's a poll that suggests kamala harris might not be trump. They're going to try the same fucking thing again, and that's the issue. So you can't reward their bad behavior just because it was successful by giving them clicks and streams. What you really got to do is you have to dig out there for independent media. Who covers this shit? You know just as well, if not more so, the mainstream media. You know, obviously I've got some favorites. You know my, my guys at Midas Touch. I'm a fan of theirs. Also, you know Moleshe Road. That's my sister. You know, sister from a different, that doesn't rhyme, but you know what.

Speaker 3: 28:56

I'm saying you know, just do what you gotta, mister sister, from another mister Podcast podcast.

Speaker 1: 29:04

Yeah, but what I was close enough sister podcast. Uh, stay away from the motherfuckers who engage in this pressure campaign to get biden to step down. That includes the pie save bros, like I know. You know they're former obama guys. Fuck them guys. They no, they're partly responsible for this, like think. Think about where we would be right now if the party and the media had unified behind President Biden the way a number of us are unifying behind Kamala Harris right now. Biden would be cruising to victory, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 29:40

And I think about that too. Yeah, and I, and I think about that too. I think about the energy that they were putting into bullying. Put is to step down. If they had just put that same energy into being behind him and shitting all over trump different fucking story yeah you, you in.

Speaker 1: 30:04

Not once when trump was found liable for rape, for fraud, when he was convicted on 34 criminal counts. Never once did you hear anyone in the media suggest trump step down. Not once, not even the pod said bros, um.

Speaker 1: 30:19

and that just goes to show you, like, where we could be if everyone had been aiming their energy in the right direction. And that's what we're going to do on this podcast, and that's what my cohorts at MT and Moleshoe Road, media and all and such, are planning on doing from here on out. Now, as for the media getting their reward of clicks and streams, what they fail to realize is that if Trump wins, right after he x-nays his competitors in his own party, he's coming after them next so do you think they really haven't?

Speaker 3: 30:51

don't know that they can't like journalist, enough information, enough to see the history of you know how how history would repeat itself there. Or I'm I have a trouble. I have a hard time believing they're really that uh stupid. Maybe they just plan on leaving. They think they'll be able to get out white entitlement carol.

Speaker 1: 31:13

They think, because they're white and wealthy, that nothing bad can ever happen to them white's gonna white always, and you know, look, we do this thing. I have terrible anxiety. I think something bad will happen to me every day, yeah, but you got that jewish anxiety, carol, you like and we got that, uh, black anxiety right, no we're seriously the three of us I cannot really understand what their motivation is and how they think that this is going to end.

Speaker 2: 31:52

I don't it is so incredulous to me to try and I don't know unpack or you know whatever Like. How do they think? Where do they think that this is going to end for them and for us? Well, not that they give a fuck about us.

Speaker 1: 32:16

Dollars.

Speaker 1: 32:17

But for themselves, they think they'll make enough money, that they'll be okay. And that would be to like ignoring the history of every autocratic state, you know, over the course of the past hundred years. The first thing autocrats do once they get in power, like I said, they clean house in their own party and then the very next objective on the list is the media and from there they go to, you know, the, the public institutions, the education system, the financial institutions, and then they come for the wealthy. You either get behind them and you know, you know you got to pay for protection or you get, um, yeah, the protection yeah I mean, it's a racket, right, you know, just like putin with the oligarchs.

Speaker 1: 33:05

Before Putin took power, the oligarchs literally were running Russia and then, when Putin took power, through various means of blackmail and intimidation and such, you know he's basically become the most wealthy man on planet Earth, because everything that the wealthy elites in Russia own, half of that basically belongs to Putin. It's not necessarily in his name, but they're all he's. You know they're on his payroll. Now, theoretically, if they wanted to, if the situation gets dire enough, say with this Russia Ukraine war, they could theoretically band together and get him up out of there. But you know that literally means Putin dying. The same way, a number of prominent Russian officials and business leaders and military officials have met their end over the course of Putin's reign. Putin would have to suffer the same fate. We don't want to end up in a situation where we have to you know, ixnay a president to escape from a democracy because it just it's beyond touch and go at that moment. Alright, guys, you got any hot takes. You want to get off the chest either of you?

Speaker 1: 34:23

you don't have to pull your shirt down for that no, I've been.

Speaker 3: 34:26

I've been giving what I can. I uh had a few drinks after I got the news I needed to process, go through my process, but I'm understandable, tell us how you feel how do you feel, carol?

Speaker 3: 34:42

how it was rough upon the immediate announcement, but now that you've seen the entirety of, like the democratic side of the internet line up in support of kamala harris, yeah, she and she just pulled in like as much as what she made just about one of one elon scam donation a month, about 45 million um has she already got that in like two hours? Yes, that was the highest fundraising day. I'm I'm encouraged. I'm still disappointed and I'm definitely unhappy about how things went down, but, um, I'm encouraged. So I hope this will get young people out and get young people enthusiastic about voting, even though they kind of be like, oh well, they disenfranchised my vote. But I'm going to be enthusiastic now and go forward. We don't we don't have that much time to stop and panic. We just got to go. So I'm glad we're on the same page about Kamala and I look forward to supporting her campaign.

Speaker 1: 35:44

Yeah, so how are you feeling again?

Speaker 2: 35:47

I completely agree with you, carol, on that aspect. Like I am energized, I am hopeful. I mean I spent the entire day crying because I do, at the same time, wish that POTUS didn't drop out. But I understand what he was up against and how the bombardment of those, the donor class and those in his own party. In the media it was a lot. You know it was a fucking, it was a fucking lot. Can I stop you real quick?

Speaker 1: 36:33

I'll let you finish your thoughts, give me one second.

Speaker 1: 36:35

So the thing about the donors teaming up with members of the party to oust Biden now, obviously it was Biden's decision to drop out and he would have spent the next month fighting it and he would have won. When he got to the DNC and he accepted the nomination, all that would have been over and the donors would have came back. They would have had to because they wouldn't have had anywhere else to go. There's only two games in town and it's impossible to buy Trump at this point. He's going to do whatever he wants to, regardless of how much money you get him, so those donors would have came back around. The problem is there's only so much time right, and the amount of time and energy that would it would have taken to fight the donors and the half the democratic party at that point probably would destroy any chances he would have had of winning in November, and so making this decision because the opportunity cost would have been so great is likely why he came to the decision to step aside for Kamala Harris.

Speaker 2: 37:37

So, yeah, I'll let you continue. I am just so Disgusting At the way that they completely disrespected Biden. I felt like even if you know the people that had reservations or questions there was a better way that they could have gone about this. You know, I'm from the South and I got Black family. You know you don't talk about shit. You don't put it on front street Like you. You do it behind closed doors, you. But that wasn't the way that they did things. But that wasn't the way that they did things and it was so gross to me because they disrespected this man who all of you who were coming out publicly like he fought for you.

Speaker 2: 38:44

He fought for all of us I mean like buying is largely responsible for their jobs and their lives, like yeah, like he, he came, all of them and the way that they treated him is something that I cannot get over, that I will not understand. Like I said, it could have been behind closed doors, hashing it out, airing their grievances, etc. And giving him the respect and dignity that he deserved. And if Biden wanted to, you know, eventually drop out, which he did, um, it would have been on his terms and not with feeling and experiencing just the utter disrespect that was heaped on him.

Speaker 1: 39:45

He deserved so much better.

Speaker 2: 39:51

So much better.

Speaker 1: 39:52

The dude did a historic job. He did an historic job as president.

Speaker 1: 39:56

It's okay, ty, I'm going to let you just gather yourself. He did a historic job running the office of the presidency against all odds with the slimmest possible majority in Congress. He's got more done than most presidents do in eight years. Unseating a sitting president the way he did Trump in 2020, historic. Hardly ever happens for a reason. Again, that's part of what I was saying about how incumbency is one of the most powerful weapons a presidential candidate can possibly have, and also the historical overperformance in 2020 midterms, like typically, the incumbent party gets shellacked. You know Democrats really only lost the House because they fucked up redistricting in New York, in Florida, and, you know, didn't run a couple of candidates that they probably should have, and that was the difference between, you know, maintaining we could have maintained the house for the first time in you know 50 years in the midterm election. Uh, you know, you gotta owe that over performance to biden's record, his accomplishments and the job he was doing, and the fact that members of the party decided to betray one of the best presidents in our lifetime. Yeah, rub your pussy, ty, that'll make you feel better, because, like they were scared that the wealthy donors would pull out. Dude, fuck the donors. Fuck the wealthy donors. Small dollar donors were ready to go for Joe Biden, and well, you know, you got what you asked for. Here we are. It's Kamala Harris time. We're ready to do the work. We're behind Kamala Harris the same way we were behind Joe Biden, and I hope you were too. And finally, it's one of the issues and, look, I know a lot of people, especially the podcasters, who were cheering for Joe to drop out.

Speaker 1: 41:52

Now that they've gotten what they wanted, they're probably not going to be honest with you about what it's going to take to win in November. I'm going to be straightforward with you here. It is going to be extraordinarily difficult, be a lot harder than it would have been if this past month, if, instead of what we perceived, democrats well, no, rather the media, a handful of Democrats and donors had just united behind Biden. It's going to be a lot harder than it would have been otherwise. We could still make it happen. But we're going to have a huge obstacle, a number of obstacles, in the way, and even if we get to November and somehow Kamala Harris does manage to win the election in terms of votes, I got to tell you that's not going to be the end of it.

Speaker 1: 42:35

Republicans have a number of plans in the works to make sure that swing states don't certify the election, and it's not going to take as much. It's take a handful of districts in a handful of states, uh, to refuse to certify their election, which would throw the electoral college count out of whack. Even if that's not the case, uh, they'll be doing all they can, uh to bring challenges to kamala harris being on the ticket. Um, legally now, there's not going to be a lot of basis for that in terms of courts making their decisions in siding with keeping Harris off the ticket. But again, as you've seen with the Supreme Court, it is basically an arm of the Trump campaign at this point and they're willing to do whatever they can in order to help Trump win.

Speaker 1: 43:25

So it's entirely possible we're going to get a situation where Republicans in states all across the country bring these ballot challenges. They're going to fall flat, but they'll appeal them all the way up to the Supreme Court and who knows what the Supreme Court will do. And then, no matter how the election pans out in November, harris could win 50 states. Republicans will challenge that as well, and that can end up before the Supreme Court. And then the candidate who placed those justices on the Supreme Court, who also happen to be bought by the funders of the right wing Republican Party, will be making the decision on whether or not the election is valid. And so we've got a battle on our hands, but you know that part of it it's outside of our control. All we can do is what we can do, and all you can do is support your new presidential nominee.

Speaker 2: 44:17

I am not even hold your mic up or I am.

Speaker 1: 44:24

Hold your mic up. Hold your mic up.

Speaker 2: 44:29

There you go.

Speaker 1: 44:30

If you're wondering why there's a roll of tissue paper around Todd's mic, that's her mic stand.

Speaker 3: 44:37

Don't make much of it, but it is toilet paper.

Speaker 1: 44:38

Don't take the toilet paper off your mic either.

Speaker 2: 44:41

Okay, but I am fucking scared, I am terrified. I can't even lie, like I am holding on to hope like nobody's business, but I am scared of what the future holds for us and not for me. I don't even care about myself, what I think about my son. I think about my daughter. I think about what will be happening if they have no protections in the workplace, if my daughter is able to be harassed, that my son is able to be called a nigger, able to be cut down, but I it. And then you know, because of like the work that I do and the calls I get, they break me the fuck down. And this is with these supposed protections in place now. And so I think what the hell is it going to be like when they aren't? Is this what my daughter is going to be subjected to? Is this what my son is going to have to endure when he just wants to go to work every day, do his best, do a good job, you know, raise a family, live his life. It's to be.

Speaker 2: 46:34

And it fucking scares me in ways that I can't even explain. You know, when I fucking tax my supervisor and it was like can I take a break? Because I need a break from this call I just had and just just like, take the time you need. That is how fucking real, how impactful it is, the impact that it makes on me when I want to cry, when someone says something that just breaks me the fuck down and I can't express any emotion of it or whatever, because of you know what my job is. It gets harder and harder every fucking day and these people are reaching out to me to give them some relief, to give them help, to make a difference and to make a change in what they are experiencing.

Speaker 1: 47:49

Yeah, in case you weren't aware, ty works for like a complaint hotline for, you know, corporate entities.

Speaker 2: 47:57

Like I, I, I can't, like, I said, I can't really, you know, explain.

Speaker 1: 48:07

No, we got it.

Speaker 2: 48:09

I work in ethics and compliance. I'm an outright witness for people experiencing everything from sexual harassment, racial harassment, abuse and reporting their you know, reporting and I had some really hard calls this week and literally just like jacked out my headphones and just to walk around for a couple of minutes and just tears because and this is where we are and it's going to get worse yeah, that's the thing.

Speaker 1: 49:06

People have not considered just what a drastic change to everyone's existence it will be under a second Trump administration, unconstrained by the legal system, unconstrained by any rules, regulations. It's going to be totally out of control and millions of his supporters will be emboldened to act in ways that we haven't seen. You know, groups of people in this country act in 100 years, or 150 years, since the Jim Crow era, and that's what we're up against. And you know, at this point, all we can do is do what we can again to support Kamala Harris, make sure we win this election in November. And you know, as ridiculous as it sounds, we're all K-5 now. And that concludes this episode of Pardon the Insurrection.