My Brother’s Keeper Featuring Guy Golan

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[00:02:02] Hello and welcome to a little moment with Erik Fleming. I am your host, Erik Fleming.

[00:02:09] We're going to have a good show today. I've got a real interesting guest that's going to come on

[00:02:16] to talk about his book and a few other things that may not be in the book but is related to

[00:02:25] the topic he's going to discuss. So I think you're going to have fun listening to this guest

[00:02:30] and then you might get a little hot mic action today because, you know, as I stated before,

[00:02:43] this podcast was set up for my therapy. It was created to give me the ability to vent

[00:02:58] and to discuss some things that are going on. So I think I'm going to give you a little bit of that today as well.

[00:03:09] But I do want to address something that is sad in that there has been a major hurricane that hit the United States.

[00:03:27] Hurricane Helene, I think is instead of Helen is Helene.

[00:03:34] And at least 200 people have died because of this hurricane. It hit Florida first and did incredible damage on the land,

[00:03:51] which is really, really unusual. The storm itself, the actual storm itself was 500 miles wide.

[00:04:04] That's a lot of territory. And so it hit Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas really hard before it weakened.

[00:04:18] And it seems like a lot of damage happened in North Carolina. So as always, whenever we have a situation where

[00:04:29] we're trying to get people to help out, I encourage people to go to FEMA.gov.

[00:04:38] And FEMA.gov has a list of organizations that you can donate to or to sign up to volunteer.

[00:04:51] And my experience dealing with Katrina as a civilian, not as a legislator was that I didn't go to the coast until a month

[00:05:10] after the storm hit. And at that point, it was pretty much organized. It was still a mess.

[00:05:20] I mean, if you have told this story many times, I don't know how many times I've told it on the podcast,

[00:05:26] but it was a mess. It was like you thought that they never had asphalt paved roads there. It was all dirt.

[00:05:41] And we had to go to a park and it looked like a military base.

[00:05:50] And it was like they were given, it didn't matter whether you were a volunteer or somebody in the community, they were giving you water and a can.

[00:06:02] And food and all that kind of stuff.

[00:06:06] And the group I was with was helping to provide assistance for people, like housing, trying to get them on a lot of things.

[00:06:19] Like taking them on a list or we were going to people's houses to take mold off of the walls and move furniture and all that kind of stuff.

[00:06:30] And we did that literally like a month after the storm had gone through.

[00:06:37] So if you are not a certified law enforcement professional, if you are not an EMT, if you are not a combat medic trained, excuse me, don't go down there.

[00:06:57] Don't go to those affected areas just yet.

[00:07:01] One, it really not ready to handle all the people coming in to let the professional people do the heavy lifting and make it so that it's safe for you to get down there and help out.

[00:07:19] If it's family or whatever, you do what you got to do for your family.

[00:07:25] But just an average ordinary person who wants to help, I would wait.

[00:07:34] I wouldn't try to get down there right away.

[00:07:38] And that was one of the issues where I know in the middle of a campaign and people try to play political games and all that stuff.

[00:07:47] But it wasn't a smart move for Donald Trump to go down there.

[00:07:56] Because not only from a safety standpoint, but from a logistics standpoint because he is a candidate and he is a former president.

[00:08:07] And so if you live in a major city and Donald Trump or Joe Biden or Kamala Harris or Barack Obama showed up in your town and you were on the interstate, that was not a good experience for you because precautions are made.

[00:08:27] Right. When I was in Chicago for the convention, there wasn't just high re patrol.

[00:08:34] State troopers on the road, they were military vehicles on them was expressways to make sure that it was safe because the vice president of the United States.

[00:08:44] It's a candidate for president and she was going to be there.

[00:08:49] So the resources that have to be done just for a visit complicates the efforts needed to deal with the first stage of cleanup and they're still looking for people.

[00:09:07] They're still rescuing folks.

[00:09:09] And then to pull people off to deal with a dignitary of that esteem to come in.

[00:09:18] That's not really fair to law enforcement.

[00:09:22] So, you know, the fact that Trump went down there, that's fine.

[00:09:29] Of course, the vice president and the president had to go down there at that point.

[00:09:34] But there's a reason why George Bush and Lyndon Johnson and any other president is dealt with a hurricane of that magnitude flew over the place first before they physically came back on the ground.

[00:09:50] Because they wanted to personally assess the damage, but at the same time they didn't want to interfere with the operations going on with search and rescue and just making travel possible.

[00:10:05] Right. Making sure that it's safe power lines, all that stuff.

[00:10:08] Right.

[00:10:10] So if you're one of those folks saying well why wasn't she down there?

[00:10:15] Just stop.

[00:10:17] Okay.

[00:10:18] If you've never been in the middle of that, if you have never experienced that in your state in your town.

[00:10:27] Just let the professionals handle that and understand when people tell you don't go there.

[00:10:36] Don't go there.

[00:10:37] Right.

[00:10:38] The other thing that's going on and I wanted to share this real quick before we get into the news.

[00:10:46] Is that there's something, a memo came out that basically said that FEMA didn't have any money to deal with this situation.

[00:11:04] And they were saying well it's just because they have to take care of all the immigrants.

[00:11:09] Now immigration and custom enforcement and FEMA both fall under the Department of Homeland Security.

[00:11:21] That is true.

[00:11:23] But these agencies have separate budgets and they don't dip and dab in order to, you know, it's not like us trying to make sure that we pay our bills and all that stuff.

[00:11:37] And we've got to take money out of this account to put it in to take cover some expenses.

[00:11:42] That's not how that works in the government.

[00:11:44] Everything is pretty much earmarked.

[00:11:49] So FEMA responded to that stuff and so they've got a whole page called Rumors.

[00:12:00] Dealing with the hurricane, right?

[00:12:02] And so one it says FEMA, rumor FEMA does not have enough money to provide disaster assistance for Aline.

[00:12:10] Fact FEMA has enough money right now for immediate response and recovery needs.

[00:12:15] If you are affected by Aline do not hesitate to apply for disaster assistance as there's a variety of help available for different needs.

[00:12:24] And then the other one, the rumor funding for FEMA disaster response was diverted to support international efforts like Ukraine, like Israel or border related issues.

[00:12:39] Immigration.

[00:12:40] Fact this is false.

[00:12:42] No money is being diverted from disaster response needs.

[00:12:45] FEMA's disaster response efforts and individual assistance is funded through the Disaster Relief Fund, which is a dedicated fund for disaster efforts.

[00:12:57] Disaster relief fund money has not been diverted to other non-disaster related efforts.

[00:13:05] So as somebody that has been in government at the state level, we don't raw Peter to pay Paul as far as state agencies go.

[00:13:15] And you know, it's like the money is divvied up in the appropriations process.

[00:13:21] And then, you know, if the state has a rainy day fund, they can try to get extra money from that, right?

[00:13:32] A reserve fund.

[00:13:34] That's what Mississippi called a rainy day fund.

[00:13:36] But a reserve account, you would try to get the money from that.

[00:13:40] You wouldn't pull from one agency to finance another agency.

[00:13:44] That's just not how that works.

[00:13:46] And it definitely does not work in the federal government.

[00:13:49] And there's no need because of the amount of money that the federal government generates your taxes.

[00:13:58] Everything is pretty much divvied up.

[00:14:00] So and specifically earmarked.

[00:14:05] I don't even think the federal government has a quote unquote rainy day fund, but they do print the money.

[00:14:12] So, you know, I'm just saying.

[00:14:16] So, you know, I just wanted to get that out there and I was hoping maybe to get something else, but I don't see that.

[00:14:30] So I'm not going to address that.

[00:14:35] But I just wanted to get that clarification out of the way because that's not even why I wanted to hot mic about.

[00:14:44] So anyway, now that I've gotten that out of the way, if you want to get involved, go to FEMA.gov.

[00:14:50] Find an organization that you want to donate money to.

[00:14:54] The Red Cross is always a go-to for a lot of people.

[00:14:59] But FEMA will have a list of funds and they also have a list of organizations that are signing up volunteers to go later down to the affected areas.

[00:15:14] So please pray for those folks and do what you can to help.

[00:15:23] All right. Now that I've done all that, it's time for a moment of news with Grace G.

[00:15:35] Thanks, Eric.

[00:15:37] U.S. prosecutors claimed in a recent court filing that Donald Trump acted beyond his presidential duties by pressuring state officials and Mike Pence to overturn the 2020 election results.

[00:15:50] A federal jury in Tennessee convicted three former Memphis police officers of witness tampering in connection with the beating death of Tyree Nichols.

[00:16:00] In a civil debate ahead of the November 5 election, vice presidential candidates Tim Walz and JD Vance focused their criticism on their party leaders while keeping a cordial tone throughout.

[00:16:12] A Bloomberg poll shows that Vice President Kamala Harris holds a slim lead over Donald Trump in six swing states.

[00:16:20] Authorities in the southwestern U.S. are managing the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which has claimed at least 200 lives and caused estimated damages of 160 billion after making landfall in Florida as a category 4 hurricane.

[00:16:35] Israel conducted a significant airstrike in Beirut that killed Hezbollah leader Syed Hassan Nasrallah, a move seen as a strategic blow to Hezbollah and Iran.

[00:16:46] Iran retaliated with its largest military assault against Israel, which involved over 180 ballistic missiles.

[00:16:55] Members of the International Longshoremen's Association on the U.S. East Coast and Gulf of Mexico reached a tentative agreement to avoid a protracted strike.

[00:17:05] A Georgia judge has temporarily blocked a law banning most abortions after six weeks, allowing abortions to resume in the state.

[00:17:12] The Democratic National Committee has filed a lawsuit against the Georgia Election Board to prevent a hand count of ballots in the upcoming election.

[00:17:22] The U.S. Department of Justice has sued Alabama over a voter role program aimed at removing non-citizens.

[00:17:30] And the U.S. Department of Justice is reviewing the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, aiming to complete their findings by year end.

[00:17:38] I am Grace G. And this has been a Moment of News.

[00:17:50] All right. Thank you, Grace, for that moment of news.

[00:17:53] Now it is time for my guest Guy Golan.

[00:17:59] Guy Golan is the co-author of My Brother's Keeper, the complicated relationship between American Jews and Israel.

[00:18:08] And we'll be discussing this book along with some relevant topics in this interview.

[00:18:19] He is an associate professor at Texas Christian University and a host of the Public Diplomat Podcast.

[00:18:28] Ladies and gentlemen, it's my distinct honor and privilege to have as a guest on this program, Guy Golan.

[00:18:46] All right. Guy Golan, Professor, how are you doing, sir? Are you doing good?

[00:18:53] Hey, Eric. Thanks for having me.

[00:18:55] Well, I'm honored to have you on. You've written this interesting book, My Brother's Keeper, the complicated relationship between American Jews and Israel.

[00:19:08] And I think that's a relevant topic. I have had people on both sides of the issue.

[00:19:14] I was honored to have one of the general counselates from the State of Israel come on.

[00:19:21] So this is a subject that I've been dealing with, and it's something that's playing a major role in the elections.

[00:19:30] So when we made the connection, it made sense to have you on.

[00:19:37] So I'm honored that you did that.

[00:19:39] Now what I normally do with guests is that we start the interview off with a quote.

[00:19:47] So this is your quote.

[00:19:49] Israel remained the focus of Jewish hopes.

[00:19:53] Wherever Jews were, they built synagogues, each of which was a symbolic fragment of the Temple of Jerusalem.

[00:20:02] Wherever they were, they prayed about Jerusalem, facing Jerusalem.

[00:20:07] They remembered it and wept for it as the Psalm had said at every time of joy.

[00:20:13] They never relinquished their claim to the land and there were places, especially in the north, from which they never left.

[00:20:23] The Jewish people was the circumference of a circle at whose center was the Holy Land and Jerusalem, the Holy City.

[00:20:32] What does that quote mean to you?

[00:20:35] It means a lot. It means everything.

[00:20:38] A lot of people are wondering about the state of Israel.

[00:20:42] Everybody's talking about Israel, everybody has an opinion about Israel.

[00:20:46] There is a narrative out there that is very popular, especially amongst the progressive leftist days, that the Jewish people came to Israel from Europe.

[00:21:00] The British and the French just gave the Jews from Europe this country that had no business to be in, and they stole the lands of the natives away.

[00:21:11] What are the Jews doing in the state of Israel?

[00:21:16] The answer is that the Jewish people never left Israel.

[00:21:21] The Jewish people have lived in Israel for thousands of years and archaeology proves this, but more than anything else, the state of Israel could only have been established in the land of Israel because the people of Israel, that is their home.

[00:21:38] Yeah, and that is a narrative that's out there about who settled in, especially after World War II because that's when the state of Israel, as we know it today, came into existence.

[00:21:57] So that leads me to the first question, which is something your book seeks to answer.

[00:22:05] Is Judaism a religion or a nation? Or is it both?

[00:22:11] It's a great question, right?

[00:22:13] Well, the answer is it depends who you ask.

[00:22:16] And so if you ask people in Israel, the answer is it's both, right?

[00:22:22] The Jewish people are people. They are a nation.

[00:22:25] And with that comes mutual assurance, meaning that every Jew around the world is responsible for one another.

[00:22:34] That is a central assumption of Israel's version of Judaism.

[00:22:39] However, when you ask Jews in the diaspora, is Judaism a mere religion or are you a part of a people?

[00:22:48] Well, you're going to get different types of it.

[00:22:51] Yeah. Now, from what I understand, you were born in Israel and you've moved you move to the United States, but your children were born here.

[00:23:01] Now, help me explain.

[00:23:03] Well, help explain something to me.

[00:23:07] From what I understand is that.

[00:23:12] Children are determined by.

[00:23:16] The mother.

[00:23:18] Right as far as the religion of the children.

[00:23:21] Yeah, it's like it's something about it's something where the the the the Jewish lineage is determined by the mother as opposed to the father.

[00:23:33] Am I getting that right?

[00:23:35] You are correct. That is correct.

[00:23:37] Okay. So you stated that your children are American Jews, but you are an Israeli Jew by birth.

[00:23:49] Yes. So basically our book really looks at the differences between the two large tribes of Jews around the world.

[00:23:57] So if you look at where Jewish people live these days, about half of the population lives in the United States and half lives in Israel.

[00:24:07] And the two Jewish these two Jewish tribes who are in my view one people have very most people think it's the same thing right when you ask a typical American what's up soon in Israel Jew and American Jew they say it's the same thing right but these two groups could not be more different than one another.

[00:24:23] They have a completely different political psychology, different existence, different culture, different values.

[00:24:29] So this is really what our book is all about.

[00:24:31] Yeah.

[00:24:32] So and you you kind of discuss it in using the term ambivalence.

[00:24:38] So what why what is the main difference between an American Jew and an Israeli Jew?

[00:24:53] What is what is the key difference because I think that kind of addresses what you talked about initially about the perspective of if it's if Israel is a nation or just a religion.

[00:25:10] Well the main difference between Israeli Jews and American Jews is the fact that in Israel Jews are the majority Jewish people speak their language of Hebrew they celebrate their national holidays.

[00:25:25] Their museums celebrate the heritage of the Jewish people in the land of Israel.

[00:25:30] So when you live in Israel as a Jew you are the majority in your own nation and that is completely different than American Jews or Jews in any other nation who live as a tiny tiny minority in largely Christian nations and historically Jews have also always lived in the Middle East as minorities in Muslim nation.

[00:25:53] So the psychology of somebody who is a majority group and a minority group is very different and that leads to all the differences that translate into politics and society.

[00:26:03] Right.

[00:26:07] Because and and to address the issue about the dynamics of the people in Israel.

[00:26:18] So like you said a lot of those the majority of the people in Israel are either from what was considered the British colony of Palestine or they're from Arab Arab nations nearby like Egypt or what is now called Jordan or other places like that.

[00:26:45] But the Europeans that came in were from places where they couldn't assimilate because you use a brilliant example about Frederick Mendelssohn.

[00:26:58] I think I'm saying his name right the composer and how he assimilated in German culture his family.

[00:27:09] But there were those the pogroms which were basically race riots for lack of a better term toward Jewish people anti-Semitic actions toward Jewish people and they were primarily in places like Russia.

[00:27:29] And so the people that couldn't assimilate were the Europeans that moved into what we call the state of Israel now.

[00:27:40] Let's repackage everything you just said in more simple terms.

[00:27:44] Half the people who live in Israel came from Eastern Europe and Central Europe so Germany, Poland, Russia and the other half came from the Middle East so my wife's family is from Turkey and from Iraq.

[00:27:57] So Jews have always lived in the Middle East there were Jews in Saudi Arabia there were Jews in Iraq Yemen Iran for thousands of years.

[00:28:08] After World War II the state of Israel established in 1948 and everybody comes home from all those different places.

[00:28:17] The main argument in our book is about the deal that was provided to Jews in Europe during the Enlightenment period in late 1800s where Jews were offered the following deal

[00:28:32] and that is if you take off those funny hats if you stop acting different than the rest of us if you move out of your Jewish ghetto you can become an equal citizen of the nation.

[00:28:45] So you can become a German you can become a Frenchman you can become a fully equal Dutch.

[00:28:51] And what the Jews in Central Europe did is they moved away from their religious communities and put their children they attempted to basically replace their Jewish identity with national identity.

[00:29:05] Right? And this is where the Reform Judaism movement came about.

[00:29:10] They kind of had to change Judaism in order to fit in with the majority group Christian group that surround them.

[00:29:18] So this brought upon a new version of Judaism that's relatively new it's only 200 years old called Reform Judaism.

[00:29:27] And this America offered Jews the same deal so when Jews came to the United States mostly early 1900s they escaped from Russia.

[00:29:38] In the United States as long as you act like everybody else like an American right you drive on Saturday you eat regular food not just kosher food you put your kids in regular schools not Jewish schools you can become as American as

[00:29:52] Apple Pie and indeed Jews in America are as American as Apple Pie but in Europe the assimilation and the attempt to just become ordinary citizens it's worked for about 100 years until the Holocaust in World War II where it didn't work anymore.

[00:30:08] There's used backlash against the Jews in the United States it's still working and this is why most American Jews are reform Jews.

[00:30:16] Most American Jews put place their American identity way above their Jewish identity and this explains the main differences between two tribes in America the Jewish identity secondary in Israel it's primary.

[00:30:32] So how does that shape our politics.

[00:30:37] Great question.

[00:30:39] Yeah, yeah because it's like you make the assertion that American Jews tend to be more liberal but Israeli Jews tend to be more where Israelis tend to be more conservative kind of talk about that.

[00:30:57] Absolutely.

[00:30:58] So when you look at American Jews and their voting behavior you will find that there is no consistent consistency in the Democratic Party that is more loyal to the party than American Jews with the exception of African Americans.

[00:31:14] When you look at ever since the days of FDR American Jews have always voted majority for the Democrats.

[00:31:23] So take the last couple of decades from Bill Clinton and Al Gore who received about 78 to 80% of the American Jewish vote all the way now to President Biden who received about 68 to 70% of the American Jewish vote.

[00:31:42] You can predict that American Jews the overwhelming majority of them 70 to 80% of them are going to vote for the Democrats no matter what in every single election.

[00:31:52] So this is something that's very different than Israelis who are much more religious, much more conservative, much more right wing and yeah we have a chapter called why are American Jews liberal and then a chapter called why are Israelis conservative?

[00:32:11] So naturally it's seen because one of the one I'm not a big fan of Netanyahu and I'll get into that a little bit later.

[00:32:21] But one of the things I've noticed was that when when Netanyahu was campaigning he had pictures of him with Donald Trump

[00:32:36] and didn't have any pictures of him with Joe Biden.

[00:32:40] Yet when the October 7th happened Joe Biden did something no other American president ever done and he literally flew to Israel to show physical and moral support for the state of Israel and basically what Netanyahu was going to have to do.

[00:33:05] In response to that.

[00:33:09] And so that's kind of for those of us in the United States we see that and we're and we're seeing what's happening.

[00:33:19] You know, we're kind of like well we say that we're friends.

[00:33:25] But it doesn't look like Netanyahu is and his party is showing reciprocity in that relationship.

[00:33:36] Am I reading that wrong or most Americans reading that wrong? How do you take that?

[00:33:43] Because you're saying because Netanyahu is friends with Trump.

[00:33:47] Well basically Netanyahu's political orientation is on the right and Donald Trump is on the right so naturally they're friends.

[00:33:57] The question you raised is what most American Jews don't understand either.

[00:34:02] They're like hey we're Democrats and Joe Biden has been a the most pro-Israel president in recent years.

[00:34:10] I mean he is a self-claimed scientist right so President Biden has been a great friend to the state of Israel and why is Netanyahu buddy buddy with Donald Trump.

[00:34:22] But I want to give you Eric the opposite view from the Trump perspective because Trump has made a lot of very controversial remarks recently right.

[00:34:30] He said anybody any Jew American Jew who votes for the Democrats must be insane right.

[00:34:37] Do you remember when he said that?

[00:34:39] Oh yeah very much.

[00:34:39] American Jews were shocked by this statement.

[00:34:43] Donald Trump is looking from his perspective and he says look I was one of the most pro-Israeli US presidents in history.

[00:34:53] Look at what Donald Trump has done for Israel.

[00:34:54] He brought the Abram records which brought peace between the UAE Bahrain and the state of Israel.

[00:35:05] So he's normalizing relationships between the Arab countries and the state of Israel.

[00:35:10] He moved the embassy of the United States from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

[00:35:14] He recognized the Golan Heights and is giving Israel full political support on the international front.

[00:35:20] And yet most American Jews are not voting for Trump.

[00:35:24] They're voting for the Democrats and Trump just cannot understand why it is but the answer we have this in our book.

[00:35:32] The answer is American Jews do not vote based on Israel.

[00:35:36] American Jews vote based on their identity as Democrats and American Jews are some of the most progressive voters out there.

[00:35:45] On every single social justice issue you will find American Jews at the forefront of it.

[00:35:51] So because Israeli Jews and American Jews have such a different political psychology this is what brings attention politically here between the Jewish people and it reflects amongst the two large American political parties.

[00:36:06] Yeah so let me ask this question.

[00:36:13] Because I said I was going to deal with it because I guess it's been more of a philosophical deal.

[00:36:22] My biggest issue with Netanyahu is the issue about this two state solution.

[00:36:29] He is totally opposed to that and I'm of the political position that if you want to increase peace in that region.

[00:36:41] That's the least you can do is recognize the Palestinians in the West Bank and I guess was left for Gaza now.

[00:36:51] To be able to have their own state and their own government and be recognized as such.

[00:36:58] And develop some kind of trade relations or whatever since the countries would be basically interconnected.

[00:37:13] So that's one thing and then the other thing I'm a little concerned about is the escalation.

[00:37:21] Right so I think that Netanyahu is escalating the situation for two reasons.

[00:37:33] One I think as far as American politics goes he doesn't want to see a continuation of the Biden philosophy in Vice President Harris getting elected.

[00:37:49] And he's trying to protect himself from legal ramifications.

[00:37:56] Just like we assert that Donald Trump is trying to get elected so all his legal woes will go away.

[00:38:06] We feel that Netanyahu being a wartime president is trying to do the same thing.

[00:38:11] Do you agree with that assessment or what?

[00:38:16] Well you threw a lot at me right now Eric.

[00:38:19] Let's try to deconstruct each one of those things.

[00:38:23] It's really interesting the theories about the use of trying to avoid legal issues and what people do.

[00:38:36] It's very interesting because the claim against Donald Trump that everything is doing is trying to escape legal ramification.

[00:38:43] You hear the same comments on the right people are saying everything Joe Biden is doing is to protect Hunter and his legal issues.

[00:38:52] And the same for Netanyahu I'll tell you one thing.

[00:38:55] You were talking about the two state solution.

[00:38:58] 20 years ago Israel tried to make peace with the Palestinians.

[00:39:04] We had the Oslo Accords and many other versions of the Oslo Accords later on.

[00:39:10] In 2005 for example a Prime Minister Ariel Sharon withdrew every single Jewish settler from Gaza.

[00:39:19] So Israeli soldiers and Israeli military out there in Israel during that time came to homes of 100,000 Jews

[00:39:26] and kicked them out of their own home and basically removed them physically.

[00:39:33] The Israeli government removed Jews from their homes and moved them out of Gaza.

[00:39:38] And Israel hoped that the Palestinians will have their own clean land in Gaza and establish a Palestinian state.

[00:39:46] And the hopes from the optimist was this will be Singapore or the Middle East.

[00:39:53] Six months in the Bush administration George W. Bush supported this entirely.

[00:39:58] Six months later there was democratic elections in Gaza and guess what?

[00:40:03] The people elected Hamas and the Hamas military through the Palestinian authority soldiers off the roof and killed them.

[00:40:11] Ever since that time 2005 until now Gaza was nothing but a terror base.

[00:40:18] They took all the international money. They received hundreds of millions of dollars.

[00:40:23] And instead of building hospitals and roads and schools they developed weapons and underground tunnels.

[00:40:31] Even the most optimistic people who believed in this two state solution there are none left.

[00:40:38] After October 7th after the Palestinians went in from Gaza and killed over a thousand civilians

[00:40:47] mass raped hundreds of teenage girls and did some of the most atrocious things.

[00:40:53] They took hundreds of people, civilians, women and children as hostages and put them underground until today.

[00:41:01] There are still hostages underground.

[00:41:03] There is not a single serious political person in Israel who still believes in the two state solution.

[00:41:10] So there is nobody in the Palestinian side who still believes in the two state solution.

[00:41:15] After what Israel did to the Palestinians in Gaza there is not a single person who is serious on the Israeli side who still believes in two state solution.

[00:41:25] A two state solution is something that people in the West believe in because they don't understand how small Israel really is.

[00:41:33] You have to understand Eric, the distance between Arab towns and Israeli towns in the West Bank and in Gaza,

[00:41:40] we are literally talking about the distance between Washington DC and like across Arlington Virginia or between New York City and Jersey City.

[00:41:53] We are talking about one, two, three miles away.

[00:41:56] The two people don't want to live in peace.

[00:41:59] I mean Israel hoped to live in peace but there is a strong, I mean I'm sure there are Palestinians who want to live in peace but there is a strong culture of resistance

[00:42:12] and the language of resistance is taught in their schools.

[00:42:16] Every Palestinian child who grew up in the last 20 years in the West Bank or in Gaza heard about the martyrs who gave up their lives for the cause,

[00:42:27] the cause of resistance, the cause of kicking the Jews out of Israel.

[00:42:31] All of it, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, every part of Israel.

[00:42:35] I don't blame them.

[00:42:36] I'm not saying that they have no just reason to be angry at the Jewish people.

[00:42:42] This is a very complex conflict between the Jews and the Palestinians.

[00:42:48] On the other hand, I don't support their outcome which is viewing terrorism as a solution.

[00:42:56] This is complicated stuff and people in the West are like, oh let's just separate them and live in peace.

[00:43:02] It's much more complicated.

[00:43:03] We've been trying for 25 years ever since the Alhok Hordes.

[00:43:07] Nobody's ever succeeded.

[00:43:09] Yeah.

[00:43:12] I greatly appreciate your perspective on it because not only is that part of your personal story but you're an academic.

[00:43:22] You've studied and researched this.

[00:43:25] This is not just some theory.

[00:43:27] I'm not an authority on the Middle East.

[00:43:30] I am a citizen who is like watching the news and trying to get as many viewpoints as I can.

[00:43:42] But being somebody that's had to make decisions on public policy in my life, I have developed positions.

[00:43:52] So it's good to hear your viewpoint on it.

[00:43:55] But I want to ask you this question because one of the things that we do have a problem with as non-Jewish people is that if we see something that we don't like in Israel and we use a platform like my podcast or give a speech or whatever,

[00:44:18] the biggest fear is that if we say something, the ADL is going to come and say you're anti-Semitic.

[00:44:26] So my question is the concept of Zionism was for Israelis to have their own land, Jewish people to be in their homeland.

[00:44:39] And like you said in the book and history dictates that this started way before World War II.

[00:44:47] This started like you said in the 1800s.

[00:44:53] So when people say, when they look at the current government and they are not approving of actions that the current government is doing.

[00:45:09] And they say well that's Zionism.

[00:45:12] That's Israel's trying to protect their land at all costs and all this stuff.

[00:45:18] Is that considered anti-Semitic to be critical of what the Israeli government is doing?

[00:45:26] Because a lot of us feel like that's going to be the backlash if we say something.

[00:45:31] No, Eric.

[00:45:33] There is nobody more critical than the Israeli government and Netanyahu than American Jews.

[00:45:38] Nobody, you will not find anybody more critical of the Netanyahu government than American Jews.

[00:45:45] Again, American Jews are on the left, many of them are on the far left and Israelis are on the right.

[00:45:51] Look, it's okay to be critical of Israel.

[00:45:54] I'll tell you what's not okay.

[00:45:56] What's not okay and I'm not there by you, I'm talking about the general dialogue.

[00:46:01] If people are having an honest debate using facts, that's absolutely okay.

[00:46:09] My number one criticism of universities is that universities are no longer a place where a marketplace of ideas exists.

[00:46:20] So anybody who has any criticism of Israel, I am open to speak to them and we can have a conversation.

[00:46:26] What is anti-Semitism?

[00:46:29] It's when people are completely using lies.

[00:46:33] I'll give you an example, okay?

[00:46:35] Right now in college camps, you have students who are saying that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians and that Israel had no business.

[00:46:46] The Jews had no business being in Israel in the first place and the Zionism is racism and all that junk.

[00:46:53] I mean, there is a real difference between having an honest conversation and debate on the issues based on facts and the fact that people are making up lies.

[00:47:04] I want to ask you a question, Eric.

[00:47:07] Everybody who says Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians.

[00:47:12] In the last 50 years, the population of the Palestinian people has grown in a meaningful way.

[00:47:19] In the last 20 years, the population of Palestinians has grown in a meaningful way and in the last 10 years the same phenomenon happened.

[00:47:29] If a government is creating, is engaging in genocide, how could it be that a population is going up in a rapid space?

[00:47:36] On the other hand, I'll give you an example.

[00:47:38] In Syria, the Assad regime, right?

[00:47:42] The Shiites in Syria murdered half a million Sunnis.

[00:47:47] Have you seen any outcry on college campuses?

[00:47:51] Have you heard anything, anybody from the UN stand up and say this is wrong?

[00:47:55] Have you seen college professors who teach their students that Shiites are all racist because they're engaging in ethnic cleansing in Syria or in Yemen or in the Sudan?

[00:48:07] Because guess what?

[00:48:08] In Yemen, a quarter million people died in the last 10 years from war between Sunnis and Shiites and there were over a million people displaced.

[00:48:18] In Sudan, half a million people died in wars between Muslims and millions of people were displaced.

[00:48:27] In Syria, half a million people died and the Shiites kicked the Sunnis out of Syria.

[00:48:31] They ethnic cleansed their country.

[00:48:34] I didn't hear a single academic speak about that.

[00:48:38] Social justice activists protest on campuses.

[00:48:42] Did you?

[00:48:43] No.

[00:48:44] Here's a question and you ask, when is it anti-Saharan?

[00:48:49] The answer is, when you use one ruler of morality for everybody and a different ruler of morality based on often times on inaccurate information for the Jews.

[00:49:03] That's when you can point and say this is not fair.

[00:49:06] Yeah.

[00:49:08] And I feel you on that.

[00:49:11] My answer to that question would be that Islamophobia is even more prevalent than anti-Semitism because,

[00:49:24] Well, I'd say because the fact that we don't pay attention to what's going on in Muslim countries.

[00:49:30] We pay attention to what happens in Israel.

[00:49:33] We have a vested interest in Israel being as far as US policy is concerned.

[00:49:41] We have a vested interest.

[00:49:42] Eric, let me pause you for a second.

[00:49:45] You said Islamophobia is more prevalent in the United States than anti-Semitism.

[00:49:49] Is there a single Muslim student who couldn't walk on a US campus without being harassed, without the university protecting him or her in the last 10 years?

[00:50:03] Well, the Jewish students were not allowed to enter the campuses of Columbia University, of UCLA, of University of Pennsylvania because they were Jews.

[00:50:13] I mean, it's not even close.

[00:50:16] There is no institutional Islamophobia in the United States.

[00:50:20] If there is, prove it to me.

[00:50:22] Well, I'll just say this.

[00:50:25] I know that there have been people of Muslim faith.

[00:50:32] You know, when you have a president United States say, I don't want anybody from Muslim countries coming to the United States.

[00:50:39] That's the bully pulpit in the United States promoting Islamophobia.

[00:50:45] And I'm not trying to create a pissing contest between who's more racist and who's more victim because I'm a black man in a black suit.

[00:50:52] I'm a black American.

[00:50:52] So I've got an opinion about that.

[00:50:56] But what I am saying is that the news doesn't cover what happens in the Sudan.

[00:51:04] The news doesn't cover what happens in Syria, not unless there are US interests there.

[00:51:11] They do cover what happens in Israel because there's more of a favorable viewpoint as far as making sure that we cover what's going on in that part of the world as compared to other parts.

[00:51:30] And that'll lead to a whole nother long show, Doc, as far as where we're going to go next.

[00:51:37] But you're exactly making the point.

[00:51:40] The point is that when half a million civilians die in Syria, nobody cares.

[00:51:45] When half a million people die in Sudan, nobody cares.

[00:51:48] When there was an African civil war where 10 million people died in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Rwanda, right?

[00:51:57] Nobody cared.

[00:51:58] No Jews, no news.

[00:52:00] Now it's not like the news coverage is favorable.

[00:52:02] The news coverage of Israel is completely anti-Israel.

[00:52:06] If you look at the BBC, if you look at CNN, you look at the New York Times, it is not pro-Israel in any way, shape or form.

[00:52:13] Again, when a Democratic country is trying to fight a terror organization who uses civilians as human shields, 40,000 people died in this terrible war in Gaza.

[00:52:24] Israel is getting the brunt of negative media coverage.

[00:52:27] And when half a million Sunnis are slaughtered by the Syrian regime, nobody cares, nobody covers.

[00:52:34] No Jews, no news.

[00:52:35] Right.

[00:52:36] Like I said, it was the same situation in Iraq when Saddam was in power.

[00:52:43] That was the big civil war.

[00:52:47] We ended up, I think, giving weapons to Saddam to do whatever he wanted to do.

[00:52:51] And then we came back and got him out.

[00:52:54] So, you know, when it comes to foreign policy with the United States is very, very convoluted.

[00:53:01] And I, and it's not really something that I really favor one way to, you know, I don't like genocide in any form, shape or fashion.

[00:53:15] I do have a strong opinion about the way that things have gone on.

[00:53:23] I think when I talk to the Counselor General, the answer she gave me was that they wanted to make sure that Hamas was no longer a threat.

[00:53:34] Right?

[00:53:35] I get that.

[00:53:36] And so, you know, what I see going on now in Lebanon is falls under that same category.

[00:53:44] They don't want Hezbollah to be a threat to the people that live in the northern part of Israel.

[00:53:49] I get that war is war and people strategizing war is not supposed to be pretty.

[00:53:58] However, again, like I said, that can that can be a long thing.

[00:54:01] I really wanted you on and I'm glad that you have these strong opinions because people need to hear folks that have strong educated opinions about this issue.

[00:54:17] And I would defer to you more than just rely on me because you are Israeli by birth.

[00:54:25] And so you and this is part of your study.

[00:54:28] You do a whole lot of stuff.

[00:54:30] You're a political science professor.

[00:54:31] You do a whole lot of stuff.

[00:54:32] I've seen you read articles about AI and all that stuff, but I really am glad that you came on to talk about that and also to talk about your book and to kind of give an understanding that there is a different mindset between Jewish people here.

[00:54:59] And I think that's very important.

[00:55:04] So let's do this because we don't have we don't have any more time.

[00:55:10] How can people get your book?

[00:55:12] How can people get reach out to you to further this conversation?

[00:55:18] Well, first of all, Eric, I appreciate the opportunity and I enjoy the conversation.

[00:55:22] Anybody who wants to reach out and check out Gatsby,

[00:55:25] GaiGoTV.com again, that's GaiGoTV.com.

[00:55:29] You can see all my social media links and get access to the book on Amazon.

[00:55:36] Well, Professor Gai Golden, it's an honor to meet you finally.

[00:55:44] And I would like you to come back on the show anytime you want to anytime you're a guest, you have an open invitation to come back.

[00:55:54] Because we as you can and the listeners can tell we really kind of scratch the surface a little bit about a lot of things that need to be out there.

[00:56:04] I think that the more people are informed, the better they can make decisions about, you know, how they can stand and they can better articulate to their elected officials what they think should be done.

[00:56:20] So I appreciate the fact that you're a teacher, first of all, and that you're out trying to educate young people.

[00:56:30] And then I really appreciate that you've written this book.

[00:56:34] And again, the name of the book is My Brother's Keeper, The Complicated Relationship Between American Jews and Israel.

[00:56:41] And finally, I greatly appreciate you coming on this podcast.

[00:56:44] Thank you so much.

[00:56:46] Thank you for having me.

[00:56:47] All right, guys, we're going to catch you all on the other side.

[00:57:11] And we are back.

[00:57:12] So I want to thank Guy Golan, Professor Golan for coming on to talk about his book My Brother's Keeper and to give a perspective about what's going on over there.

[00:57:30] And really explain that there is a difference between American Jews or the Jewish American community and Israelis.

[00:57:49] There's a difference.

[00:57:52] And hopefully that's helpful for people to understand the dynamics.

[00:58:00] It definitely open my eyes a little bit on some things.

[00:58:08] So, you know, but as you understood, I have certain opinions about that.

[00:58:17] And I don't want to really press the professor on this particular interview, but he's agreed to come back and we'll go further into it.

[00:58:27] But I thank him for coming on.

[00:58:35] And I, but that's not really what I want to vent about.

[00:58:45] So I watched the vice presidential debate and you've heard if you listen to the part, you've heard the takes and all that stuff by the time this comes out of be almost a week from the debate.

[00:59:00] And in one sense, it was kind of refreshing to see two grown adults having a civil discussion about their differences.

[00:59:19] I think Tim Walls was restrained.

[00:59:24] And I think JD Vance was putting on his best face.

[00:59:33] Right.

[00:59:35] In other words, neither one of them was in attack dog mode like they are on the stump.

[00:59:43] They were, they were very cordial to each other.

[00:59:49] Totally different vibe than when Vice President Harris and Donald Trump were in the state.

[00:59:57] Because, you know, JD Vance at least had enough common sense to understand a I got a negative favorability right now here.

[01:00:07] Let me try to get these American people to like me just a little bit more.

[01:00:11] Right.

[01:00:13] And Tim Walls was trying to sound like he was ready to rise to the occasion.

[01:00:23] And so they came across a little different than what people have been used to seeing them, but I enjoy a civil discourse and that's what we've tried to do on this podcast.

[01:00:34] Yeah.

[01:00:36] Unlike what you experienced on any other medium.

[01:00:45] But having said that, right?

[01:00:49] Because by Thursday everybody was, you know, two days after the debate, everybody was back in their respective corners doing what they do.

[01:01:00] But I've, you know, my commentary is not so much them as it is because I was actually a refreshing break from what I see on social media and, you know, other shows.

[01:01:26] It's just, it's just, you know, I get why people are turned off by all this.

[01:01:35] And, you know, early voting has started already in almost half of the country.

[01:01:44] And people were voting even before the vice president, vice presidential debate took place and probably in another couple weeks, every state that has early voting will probably be voting.

[01:02:05] But I don't know if it's me.

[01:02:15] I'm pretty sure it's not just me, but I just think that it's really the level of crazy has really, really ratcheted up.

[01:02:28] And I think people are just really out there and you know social media is great.

[01:02:36] I'm glad people have an outlet to utilize their First Amendment rights.

[01:02:41] But a sane people have a First Amendment right too.

[01:02:50] And speaking on behalf of this sane person, I just really am shocked at the level of craziness that is out there.

[01:03:05] It's like everybody is just, you know, if you, and the reason why I say crazy.

[01:03:17] And that may not be a politically correct word now.

[01:03:22] And everybody is entitled to their opinion to the level of education that they have.

[01:03:27] Right.

[01:03:28] And when I say education, I'm not just talking about formal.

[01:03:31] I'm talking about where you get your information from.

[01:03:40] But if you, if you look at some of these people because I'm into history.

[01:03:45] I mean, you look at some of the posts that these people posted before the election really kicked in.

[01:03:53] My God, you know, it's like the last thing you would think is that they had such a strong opinion about politics.

[01:04:04] But, you know, I'm just looking at some of these folks and how they, the fascinating thing is how they process information

[01:04:17] and then regurgitate it out.

[01:04:25] It's insane out there y'all.

[01:04:28] And so what I ask people to do, what I'm really, really encouraging people to do is to, if you really want to make an informed decision

[01:04:40] and you're not making a decision by emotion or you're not making a decision out of knee jerk reaction.

[01:04:48] Right.

[01:04:51] I need you to really, really pay attention to as many sources as you can if you if you really are an independent.

[01:05:01] I want you to watch Fox and MSNBC as well as, you know, CNN and listen to this podcast and listen to other podcasts and really do some research.

[01:05:17] Because, you know, if you go vote, if there's no long line, it's only going to take you about five, 10 minutes based on how many names and issues are on the ballot to actually go vote.

[01:05:32] Once you get to that machine, it's not going to take you long.

[01:05:35] If you know what's going on.

[01:05:42] I mean really, really pay attention and really understand certain basic things.

[01:05:47] You know, a college student is now viral because he basically reminded people the vice president can only do so much.

[01:05:55] But if you let other people tell it, the vice president is supposed to be running the show.

[01:06:04] You know, these are the people that are just, you know, and I know a lot of these people are just doing it just talking trash.

[01:06:14] Right. It's kind of like a sporting event where, you know, it's like you're going to say something crazy about the other team knowing good and well.

[01:06:23] That ain't true or whatever, but you just trying to get under the skin of the person that supporting the team that you are not supporting.

[01:06:33] And that's basically what it is.

[01:06:35] It's not anything factual.

[01:06:37] It's not anything logical.

[01:06:40] Just some just so you can pick on somebody.

[01:06:45] Right.

[01:06:47] But the scary thing is that people are taking that information and acting like it's the gospel and it's not even close.

[01:07:00] Now, you know, we can both sides that if you want to, that's fine.

[01:07:07] I'm saying there are some crazy people out here that have like thousands of followers.

[01:07:17] Let's just say somebody's got 70,000 followers and then they throw out something crazy and they get like 800,000 views.

[01:07:28] Now, I do want to hope and believe that the majority of those people don't agree with that person's position.

[01:07:39] But somebody told me, hey, bro, you got listen to this.

[01:07:42] This is crazy.

[01:07:43] And they click on it.

[01:07:46] Right.

[01:07:48] That's what I'm hoping.

[01:07:51] But there are actually people who are taking what these people say as gospel.

[01:08:02] What makes your opinion, Eric, more than anything else?

[01:08:05] I don't know.

[01:08:06] Maybe because I actually campaigned for an office that I actually served in an office that I actually understood that when I was taking an oath to uphold the Constitution United States and the state of Mississippi that I needed to have some familiarity with the documents.

[01:08:26] Right.

[01:08:26] I personally visited every state agency at the state of Mississippi.

[01:08:31] So I can make educated votes when it came to appropriations.

[01:08:40] And this is something that I have been doing for a long time before and after I've been elected.

[01:08:49] I've been a lobbyist.

[01:08:52] Right.

[01:08:53] So my perspective is a little different than somebody that say tries to determine whether they're going to have a significant other based on their astrology.

[01:09:07] Right.

[01:09:15] Or an R&B singer and now I want to fight for reparations.

[01:09:23] You know what I'm saying?

[01:09:23] I'm just saying, you know, it's really, really crazy.

[01:09:30] And I'm not saying that human beings can't engage in a process.

[01:09:36] That's what we want people to engage in the process, but I don't know.

[01:09:48] You know, I just think that people who it's one thing to be a fan of a sports team is another thing to be the coach or the player.

[01:10:01] Let me break it down like that because even if you played high school or college football, if you didn't play at the pro level, it's a little different.

[01:10:16] You know, but I would value somebody that at least played organized sports in their opinion, especially if they had at least got to the college level.

[01:10:28] Over mine because I didn't play sports at the college level.

[01:10:36] Um, you know, I would have to take the word for it as a fan of the team.

[01:10:47] I'm not happy when they lose and I'm ecstatic when they win, but that doesn't make me an expert.

[01:10:58] Right.

[01:10:59] And I think that's the same thing with politics.

[01:11:05] Whether you agree with the person or not, if you're not on that level and then and then when you talk to people at that level,

[01:11:18] you want people that take the job seriously.

[01:11:22] Right. Not these folks.

[01:11:24] That's my big criticism about a lot of these folks out here now that they don't understand the seriousness of what they do.

[01:11:33] They don't understand the repercussions of the words that they say or the decisions that they make.

[01:11:43] They're just following a script and trying to be popular.

[01:11:51] You know, and you know, from what I remember about being, you know, people wanting to be homecoming king or class president, whatever it there's a certain level of popular popularity that's.

[01:12:08] It ain't right.

[01:12:10] It's some natural.

[01:12:12] It's not something they created.

[01:12:14] Just they had that charisma to get those positions, but that's not what real politics is supposed to be about.

[01:12:27] Real politics is supposed to be about people coming to the masses and saying I want to serve in this position because I believe we can do better.

[01:12:40] Here's my vision of what doing better is.

[01:12:44] Right.

[01:12:47] Not fear mongering.

[01:12:50] Not saying that she crazy things really appealing to people's intelligence rather than your emotion.

[01:13:02] Right.

[01:13:03] Now, if you're a good orator, people are going to feel good when they talk.

[01:13:07] It's a natural reaction.

[01:13:10] If you're funny, people are going to laugh.

[01:13:13] Right.

[01:13:16] But they also want substance.

[01:13:17] They want to know that when you get to the job, I literally had somebody tell me when I made a mistake.

[01:13:24] I don't think you're serious for the job.

[01:13:27] And then I got reelected and next thing you know, they were asking me for help.

[01:13:33] Right.

[01:13:35] I guess they figured out I was serious.

[01:13:36] But, you know, I'm just, I'm just really, really, I'm just really, really amazed how crazy people are.

[01:13:54] And how gullible we are to listening to craziness rather than reason, especially in our community.

[01:14:09] I think we have legitimate right to be frustrated.

[01:14:13] I'm a black folks.

[01:14:14] I think we have legitimate right to be frustrated about the process.

[01:14:19] But we fought to be a part of this process.

[01:14:25] And so if your idea in your frustration is to not engage in the process anymore, good luck in how and seeing how that's going to work out.

[01:14:38] You you vent your frustration by picking people.

[01:14:43] That you believe.

[01:14:47] Because we have to go on what they say and what they offer to leave.

[01:15:00] Now, if you follow Dr. Malvaux's suggestion in the early 1990s, late 80s even,

[01:15:15] and put your money up to create your own political party, you have a lot of money right now to have a say so in this election.

[01:15:26] But since you didn't do that, you didn't feel the need.

[01:15:31] You weren't sophisticated enough to make that happen.

[01:15:40] Now you're saying, well, I don't have a voice.

[01:15:43] No, you got a voice.

[01:15:44] You can vote.

[01:15:47] Now I know who I'm voting for.

[01:15:50] And that's not a secret.

[01:15:52] And it's not a secret where my allegiance is.

[01:16:00] And I'm not trying to discourage people from voting for other folks.

[01:16:11] What I am saying is that make it an informed decision.

[01:16:14] Don't base it off somebody that just decided to get on TikTok and entertain you because this is not about entertainment.

[01:16:26] The people that get elected based on your vote are going to be making decisions about your life.

[01:16:36] Right?

[01:16:39] How much taxes you're going to pay or not going to pay, whether books will be banned at your child's school or not be banned,

[01:16:52] whether they're going to put windows in their bathrooms or not put windows in their bathrooms.

[01:16:57] Yes, that's actually happening.

[01:17:00] Whether people can walk in and shoot up a classroom or whether they won't have access to those kind of weapons.

[01:17:08] All that stuff is being decided.

[01:17:12] Right?

[01:17:14] Whether you're going to have total reproductive health care or not in your state, that's going to be decided.

[01:17:24] Who are going to be the judges presiding over cases in your community?

[01:17:32] You get to decide that.

[01:17:34] Who's going to be the district attorney prosecuting the cases?

[01:17:39] You decide that.

[01:17:41] You decide who sits on boards of education and at universities in some jurisdictions.

[01:17:52] You get to decide that.

[01:17:55] It's not just the president.

[01:17:59] Right?

[01:18:00] You determine who is going to be in Congress with that president, at least for the first two years.

[01:18:07] Who's going to be in the U.S. Senate in at least 36 states?

[01:18:12] Right?

[01:18:22] There's going to be some work involved in your research, but you need to do it.

[01:18:29] But it's not about entertainment.

[01:18:37] I think the media as a whole wants the election to be close for entertainment reasons, for Nielsen ratings or whatever rating systems they use now.

[01:18:54] It's not about whether that person is qualified or not, or whether that person is serious or not.

[01:19:04] It's about entertainment value.

[01:19:07] Well, if I interview this guy, people are going to watch my channel.

[01:19:15] It is what it is.

[01:19:17] But it's wrong.

[01:19:19] It's wrong to do politics that way.

[01:19:24] Politics, to be honest, is supposed to be somewhat boring.

[01:19:28] It's supposed to be a challenge to your intellect, not tickle your funny bone.

[01:19:35] Right?

[01:19:38] If this was a normal election, somebody that got on the national stage and said people are eating cats and dogs would be laughed off of a stage.

[01:19:49] Let's be honest.

[01:19:50] But that person has a 50-50 shot of being the actual president of the United States again.

[01:20:05] At some point, ladies and gentlemen, we got to take this serious, especially black folks.

[01:20:17] We got to take this serious when people are making a big deal about the vice president and whether she's black or not.

[01:20:29] You know, I've been on this planet long enough and I voted long enough to know that most of the options I've had to vote for have not been black, especially at that position.

[01:20:43] And we had to make a decision which white man we were going to vote for.

[01:20:50] Right?

[01:20:52] Who made sense?

[01:20:57] You talk to people with my parents' generation or even my grandparents' generation, when they talked about politics it was like, well, they talking about doing X, Y and Z.

[01:21:10] These folks are talking about keeping us down.

[01:21:14] I'm not voting for the people that's going to keep us down.

[01:21:17] If you were in the North, maybe it was the Republican Union or the South, it was the Democrats in their generation.

[01:21:30] To me, it's pretty clear that the roles are reversed, but there's some people playing games with it.

[01:21:38] Just be glad that our politics is not determined Harriet Tubman style.

[01:21:46] If you don't know about Harriet Tubman and how she dealt with slaves that at the last minute decided not to run away, you need to study that.

[01:21:55] And be thankful that that's not how we do with folks.

[01:21:59] Who don't work in our best interest.

[01:22:09] I'm not here to be entertained when it comes to politics.

[01:22:12] I'm not trying to entertain you when I have these guests on.

[01:22:16] I'm trying to get you to make a form decision.

[01:22:21] Even if I don't agree with the person that I'm interviewing, that's not my job per se.

[01:22:31] My job is to get that person in front of you so you can make an intelligent decision.

[01:22:38] If you end up agreeing with that person and disagreeing with me, so be it.

[01:22:46] My job is to get that person before you to make their case to answer tough questions or honest questions.

[01:22:55] More or less is to enlighten you that there are people out here that are not running for office that are doing the work.

[01:23:04] Doing the research so that in the sphere that they are in.

[01:23:10] They're making an impact.

[01:23:12] They're making a difference and hopefully that you will elect people that will help them continue to make a difference.

[01:23:26] So let's not let's not have craziness.

[01:23:36] And entertainment value determine who our leaders are.

[01:23:43] Black folks, we don't have that luxury.

[01:23:46] If an entertainer endorses somebody they have that right.

[01:23:51] This is not what I'm talking about because the funny thing is the people who actually entertain the singers, the comedians, the dancers, the actors.

[01:23:59] They're taking it more seriously than the people who call themselves trying to educate us and their clowns.

[01:24:12] I'm just saying, you know, I'm not talking about people who are passionate about what they do.

[01:24:24] I'm talking about clowns.

[01:24:27] People ain't got no clue what they're talking about and they don't care their reckless with it.

[01:24:34] And for those of us of the Christian faith, we understand about division and where the root cause of that is and what the ultimate objective is.

[01:24:51] We understand that for those of you who are not of Christian faith or not of any faith at all, understand that there's an element that is out there that wants people to be confused and people to be misinformed for whatever their motivation is.

[01:25:20] And it's not for the good of society.

[01:25:25] It's for their own selfish interest and that really, really has to change if we're really going to make a difference, especially in the black community.

[01:25:43] So anyway, I'm going to end it there.

[01:25:48] Again, as I stated earlier in the program, if you want to help people that are dealing with the after effects of Hurricane Helene, go to FEMA.gov.

[01:26:02] Find out what you can do and who you can give to safely.

[01:26:10] And look out for each other.

[01:26:20] Be mindful of the information you're getting.

[01:26:23] Do your research and please, please, please go out and vote.

[01:26:31] Until next time.