In this episode, friend of the podcast, attorney and author Will Cooper offers his analysis of the recent presidential election. Then I reveal the real culprit behind the loss of the Harris campaign.
00:00:00 --> 00:00:06 Welcome. I'm Eric Fleming, host of A Moment with Eric Fleming, the podcast of our time.
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00:01:15 --> 00:01:19 the following program is hosted by the nbg podcast network.
00:01:20 --> 00:01:59 Music.
00:02:00 --> 00:02:04 Hello, and welcome to another moment with Eric Fleming. I am your host,
00:02:05 --> 00:02:06 Eric Fleming. And today.
00:02:08 --> 00:02:13 Excuse me, today is the first episode after the election.
00:02:14 --> 00:02:22 And I want to publicly apologize to all my previous guests that in our off conversations
00:02:22 --> 00:02:25 asked me how I thought this election was going to go.
00:02:25 --> 00:02:28 And I assured them and Vice President Harris was going to win.
00:02:29 --> 00:02:35 I was comforting people. I was, you know, giving positive reasons and just from
00:02:35 --> 00:02:40 my experience in politics why I thought it was going to be a different outcome.
00:02:41 --> 00:02:47 And then just like in 2016, those numbers started coming in and I was like, not again.
00:02:48 --> 00:02:55 So all my guests that, you know who you are, who had these off-air conversations
00:02:55 --> 00:02:58 with me about this, I am sorry. I got it wrong.
00:02:59 --> 00:03:06 I just knew that the American people were going to give the vice president a
00:03:06 --> 00:03:09 chance to leave. And they did not.
00:03:10 --> 00:03:16 Now, later on, I'll get into some reasons why I think that was.
00:03:17 --> 00:03:24 One of the things I wanted to do was to get somebody else on to kind of give their assessment.
00:03:24 --> 00:03:30 Somebody that I've through my podcasting journey has have trusted for like objective
00:03:30 --> 00:03:34 commentary. So my good friend, Will Cooper, is going to be on the first segment
00:03:34 --> 00:03:37 to kind of give his thoughts and all that.
00:03:37 --> 00:03:41 And then the last half of the show would be strictly me.
00:03:42 --> 00:03:49 But I just want to say to well, I'll save that. I'll save that for later.
00:03:50 --> 00:03:57 Just I want y'all to listen to to Will's commentary about it and then listen to what I have to say.
00:03:58 --> 00:04:02 Although you have a right to question my political judgment Because I thought
00:04:02 --> 00:04:08 Vice President Harris was going to win But yeah, let's do that Let's go ahead
00:04:08 --> 00:04:12 and kick this off And as always, we're going to kick it off with a moment of news For Grace G.
00:04:13 --> 00:04:19 Music.
00:04:19 --> 00:04:25 Thanks, Eric. Former President Donald Trump will become the 47th President of
00:04:25 --> 00:04:31 the United States after defeating Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
00:04:32 --> 00:04:37 Republicans gained control of the U.S. Senate while the final composition of
00:04:37 --> 00:04:40 the House remained uncertain due to many uncalled races.
00:04:41 --> 00:04:46 Voters largely supported abortion rights referendums across the United States,
00:04:46 --> 00:04:51 but notable defeats in Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota mark the first wins
00:04:51 --> 00:04:56 for anti-abortion advocates since the Supreme Court's 2022 decision.
00:04:56 --> 00:05:01 Two black women will serve simultaneously for the first time in the U.S.
00:05:01 --> 00:05:06 Senate, as Democrat Lisa Blunt Rochester, one in Delaware, and Democrat Angela
00:05:06 --> 00:05:08 Alsobrooks, one in Maryland.
00:05:09 --> 00:05:14 Voters in Delaware made history by electing Democrat Sarah McBride,
00:05:14 --> 00:05:17 who will become the first openly transgender member of Congress.
00:05:18 --> 00:05:23 A former Kentucky police officer is potentially facing Lycan prison after he
00:05:23 --> 00:05:26 was convicted of violating Breonna Taylor's civil rights.
00:05:26 --> 00:05:31 Two Ohio police officers were indicted for reckless homicide in the death of
00:05:31 --> 00:05:35 Frank Tyson, a black man who died after being restrained.
00:05:35 --> 00:05:41 A former Ohio police officer was found guilty of murder for the shooting of Andre Hill.
00:05:41 --> 00:05:46 An unarmed black man during a response to a non-emergency call in December 2020.
00:05:47 --> 00:05:54 And Quincy Jones, a legendary figure in American music, passed away at the age of 91.
00:05:55 --> 00:05:59 I am Grace Gee, and this has been a Moment of News.
00:06:00 --> 00:06:06 Music.
00:06:06 --> 00:06:09 All right, Grace, thank you for that moment of news.
00:06:09 --> 00:06:16 Of course, one of the headlines was the fact that the 45th president of the
00:06:16 --> 00:06:16 United States, Donald J.
00:06:17 --> 00:06:20 Trump, is now going to be the 47th president of the United States.
00:06:20 --> 00:06:26 It's the first time this has happened in 132 years that a president will serve
00:06:26 --> 00:06:28 non-consecutive terms.
00:06:28 --> 00:06:31 And again, I'll get into a little more of that. But right now,
00:06:31 --> 00:06:35 I want you to listen to my friend, Will Cooper.
00:06:35 --> 00:06:38 Will has written a book, How America Works and Why It Doesn't.
00:06:38 --> 00:06:45 And a lot of that was dealing with Donald Trump and the way that he campaigned
00:06:45 --> 00:06:52 and all that. And Will has been an astute observer of American politics for years.
00:06:53 --> 00:06:59 He has written in several publications and he's written a few books.
00:07:00 --> 00:07:06 And so and he's been a guest on this podcast a lot. So this is not the typical
00:07:06 --> 00:07:12 introduction, you know, but it's always good to have friends of the program.
00:07:12 --> 00:07:16 Right. And he is a big friend and supporter of the program.
00:07:18 --> 00:07:22 And of all the people, and there's a lot of good people I could have had,
00:07:23 --> 00:07:28 but I knew that Will has always responded to me at the drop of a hat,
00:07:28 --> 00:07:30 and this was one of those drop in the hat moments.
00:07:31 --> 00:07:34 So ladies and gentlemen, it is my distinct honor and privilege to have as a
00:07:34 --> 00:07:38 guest on this podcast, Will Cooper.
00:07:38 --> 00:07:48 We'll see you next time.
00:07:39 --> 00:07:49 Music.
00:07:49 --> 00:07:55 All right. Will Cooper, my friend. How you doing, man? You doing good?
00:07:56 --> 00:08:00 Well, I'm doing okay. It's been quite a week.
00:08:00 --> 00:08:06 All in all, I'm doing well, but as we'll get into on the political front, been better.
00:08:08 --> 00:08:12 Yeah. Yeah. I kind of, kind of the same way.
00:08:12 --> 00:08:16 So let me, let me do what I traditionally do, but I'm going to put a little twist to it.
00:08:17 --> 00:08:25 So the quote is, God spared my life for a reason, to save America at that point in time.
00:08:25 --> 00:08:30 And that was a quote from President-elect Trump during his victory speech.
00:08:31 --> 00:08:36 So if you want to react to the quote in itself, that's fine.
00:08:36 --> 00:08:40 But what point in time are we in, in America?
00:08:41 --> 00:08:44 Well, it's a great question as always. And Thank you for having me, Eric.
00:08:45 --> 00:08:48 I love coming on here. I mean, this, I think, like many people,
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 I'm still in processing mode.
00:08:52 --> 00:08:58 I'm still making sense of this and look forward to getting your help with that
00:08:58 --> 00:09:02 because there's a lot to make sense of.
00:09:03 --> 00:09:06 I think as far as that quote goes,
00:09:07 --> 00:09:17 it shows how the religious elements of our politics, which are very significant,
00:09:17 --> 00:09:18 many millions of people,
00:09:18 --> 00:09:20 how closely aligned they are with Trump.
00:09:20 --> 00:09:25 And that's quite a complicated area.
00:09:25 --> 00:09:33 I mean, on the one hand, Trump's behavior and personality in his own life and
00:09:33 --> 00:09:39 while he was president was antithetical to a lot of the ideals of religion.
00:09:40 --> 00:09:49 And at the same time, he was able to get three Supreme Court justices on the
00:09:49 --> 00:09:51 court and overturn Roe versus Wade,
00:09:51 --> 00:09:55 which to many folks in that space was an enormous accomplishment.
00:09:55 --> 00:09:58 So it's a it's a complicated one.
00:09:59 --> 00:10:04 But I think that quote really does show just what a powerful connection Trump
00:10:04 --> 00:10:05 has with that community.
00:10:06 --> 00:10:11 Yeah. And, you know, I don't really give him a lot of benefit of the doubt.
00:10:11 --> 00:10:14 And I don't know if there's a lot of people that do.
00:10:16 --> 00:10:19 You know, but, you know, on my side of the aisle.
00:10:19 --> 00:10:23 But I do think that's a sincere moment for him.
00:10:23 --> 00:10:29 I think he really believes that he's been called to do this.
00:10:31 --> 00:10:37 I don't, you know, there's a point where I always use this movie to distinguish
00:10:37 --> 00:10:39 gentlemen as a reference point.
00:10:39 --> 00:10:45 Because Eddie Murphy played this con man who ran for Congress thinking he was
00:10:45 --> 00:10:46 going to get a big score out of it.
00:10:46 --> 00:10:51 And then when he got in the position, he realized how important it was.
00:10:52 --> 00:10:57 Now, in Donald Trump's case, I don't think he still understands the importance
00:10:57 --> 00:11:04 of the position, but I think he understands that he has a mission to fulfill. Right.
00:11:05 --> 00:11:09 And in that he feels that he's been ordained.
00:11:09 --> 00:11:14 To carry out that mission, whether it's at the behest of billionaires like Elon
00:11:14 --> 00:11:19 Musk or the evangelical Christian nationalist or whatever.
00:11:19 --> 00:11:23 He feels he's been charged at this time to do that.
00:11:24 --> 00:11:28 You know, you've written books about him. You've kind of studied him a little
00:11:28 --> 00:11:31 bit. Is that too much of a reach?
00:11:32 --> 00:11:35 I think Trump will say
00:11:35 --> 00:11:38 anything in any context to
00:11:38 --> 00:11:42 get help politically number one
00:11:42 --> 00:11:48 and he's not the only politician i would i would say that about he does it any
00:11:48 --> 00:11:53 more open shameless way than most politicians but i don't think there's anything
00:11:53 --> 00:12:00 any line he would draw or anything he wouldn't say if he felt like it was helpful politically.
00:12:02 --> 00:12:06 That's point one. Point two, I don't think he's a big thinker.
00:12:06 --> 00:12:12 I don't think he thinks in broad strokes about having a mission to accomplish
00:12:12 --> 00:12:16 long, coherent, big initiatives.
00:12:16 --> 00:12:21 I think he thinks in short term, transactional sense, I want to win this election.
00:12:21 --> 00:12:23 I want to increase this poll.
00:12:23 --> 00:12:33 I want to advance this political interest. That doesn't mean he's void of policy ideas and preferences.
00:12:33 --> 00:12:40 I just think the combination of shameless politician and short-term thinking
00:12:40 --> 00:12:43 really predominates within Trump.
00:12:43 --> 00:12:48 And my best guess is that's what was predominating behind that statement and
00:12:48 --> 00:12:52 his general approach to the election and governing.
00:12:53 --> 00:13:04 All right, so let's get into the election. What do you think Harris did wrong to come up short?
00:13:04 --> 00:13:08 Because not only did she not win the Electoral College, she's the first Democrat
00:13:08 --> 00:13:14 nominee not to win the popular vote since 2004. So it's been 20 years.
00:13:16 --> 00:13:22 What would you assess that she did wrong if you think she did anything wrong?
00:13:22 --> 00:13:28 And I've been thinking a lot about that because it's so easy to try to,
00:13:28 --> 00:13:33 you know, to have these lists of things that the loser did wrong and the winner did right.
00:13:33 --> 00:13:38 It's just hard to know how much weight to put into it. My best sense is I actually
00:13:38 --> 00:13:42 think Joe Biden was a bigger problem than Kamala Harris.
00:13:43 --> 00:13:51 I think staying in the race as long as he did had significant consequences.
00:13:51 --> 00:13:56 Number one, I think it really soured a lot of the American public on the Democratic
00:13:56 --> 00:14:01 Party because it was so obvious he should have been there and yet he was there anyway.
00:14:01 --> 00:14:09 And that's an extremely damaging thing to do to people who are not just loyalists for the party.
00:14:10 --> 00:14:15 Number two, there was no primary. And I don't think that was necessarily illegitimate
00:14:15 --> 00:14:17 the way Republicans say.
00:14:17 --> 00:14:20 I mean, you're allowed to change candidates later if there's a reason.
00:14:21 --> 00:14:25 I don't think it was some coup or anything like that. I thought that criticism was ridiculous.
00:14:25 --> 00:14:31 But what it robbed the party of was an opportunity to put forward different
00:14:31 --> 00:14:35 people to the electric and see which one the people liked the most.
00:14:36 --> 00:14:40 And if there was a full primary, we might have had a different candidate.
00:14:41 --> 00:14:47 Also, what we would have had if Kamala won, which she easily could have through
00:14:47 --> 00:14:49 a primary, is a much longer runway.
00:14:51 --> 00:14:56 For people who are very into politics, she was the candidate for long enough for us to know about her.
00:14:57 --> 00:15:00 But a lot of the electorate, a lot of the people that go to the polls don't
00:15:00 --> 00:15:02 follow politics very closely.
00:15:02 --> 00:15:07 And people, if she had had a longer runway and if she had had an opportunity
00:15:07 --> 00:15:12 for, you know, Trump was campaigning for basically four years.
00:15:12 --> 00:15:14 Kamala got three months.
00:15:15 --> 00:15:20 So I actually, as much as I respect a lot of what Biden did throughout his career,
00:15:20 --> 00:15:25 I think his last chapter was very damaging to the party, to the country,
00:15:25 --> 00:15:27 and to Kamala's candidacy.
00:15:27 --> 00:15:31 I don't think Kamala actually did a poor job.
00:15:31 --> 00:15:36 I think she played the hand she was given quite well. The last thing I'll say
00:15:36 --> 00:15:44 on this is the Democratic Party has to get on a different side of the immigration debate.
00:15:44 --> 00:15:49 I am a very inclusive person in my life and in my politics.
00:15:49 --> 00:15:53 That's reflected in my ideals about immigration.
00:15:53 --> 00:16:02 But the American public, the voting public, is not okay with the way the border
00:16:02 --> 00:16:07 is being handled, the way it's been handled, and the way Democrats talk about it.
00:16:07 --> 00:16:13 And if the art of politics is to win elections so you get more done than if
00:16:13 --> 00:16:18 you lose elections, the Democrats have to change their perspective on immigration.
00:16:18 --> 00:16:24 And that may have, the immigration topic may have negated everything else I just said.
00:16:25 --> 00:16:28 It might have just come down to that, in my view. So those are my thoughts.
00:16:31 --> 00:16:35 Well, see, I don't think she did anything wrong. I think, like you said,
00:16:35 --> 00:16:37 she played the hand she was dealt.
00:16:37 --> 00:16:44 I think for a campaign that was 107 days, she did more than a lot of candidates
00:16:44 --> 00:16:46 would have been able to do all the way through.
00:16:46 --> 00:16:51 As a matter of fact, she did more in those 107 days than she did when she ran
00:16:51 --> 00:16:54 in 2019 to get on the ballot in 2020.
00:16:55 --> 00:16:57 And she had been out there for a minute.
00:16:57 --> 00:17:01 I think that, you know,
00:17:01 --> 00:17:07 I don't I would not as somebody that has been out there and run and,
00:17:07 --> 00:17:13 you know, and had to navigate different feuding factions and all this kind of stuff.
00:17:13 --> 00:17:18 I think her and her campaign team did a tremendous job.
00:17:18 --> 00:17:23 What disturbs me is that.
00:17:24 --> 00:17:31 She got, as of right now, she got 69 million votes. That's more than what Hillary Clinton got in 2016.
00:17:31 --> 00:17:37 Donald Trump basically got the same amount of people that he got four years ago.
00:17:38 --> 00:17:41 So his number didn't really change. Matter of fact, he actually dropped.
00:17:41 --> 00:17:43 He lost about a million some folks.
00:17:43 --> 00:17:51 So the question becomes, what was it about turnout to me? Why?
00:17:51 --> 00:17:57 Why wasn't a mechanism in place or what was it that made people say,
00:17:57 --> 00:18:00 I'm not going to vote at all? Right.
00:18:00 --> 00:18:08 Because you had one media sphere saying the borders being overrun.
00:18:08 --> 00:18:11 We're paying too much for gas. We're paying too much for food.
00:18:11 --> 00:18:17 And then you had another media sphere saying democracy is about to end. Right.
00:18:19 --> 00:18:25 Other people that showed up to vote, they voted either based on saving the democracy
00:18:25 --> 00:18:29 or reducing prices or, as you said, dealt with immigration.
00:18:30 --> 00:18:36 I'm trying to figure out with all that sorrow around, what would get people
00:18:36 --> 00:18:38 not to even participate?
00:18:38 --> 00:18:43 81 million people voted for Joe Biden, 81 million, more than any other human
00:18:43 --> 00:18:45 being in the history of the United States.
00:18:46 --> 00:18:51 And just if everything played equal, you would figure the person who was the
00:18:51 --> 00:18:55 vice president on his ticket would get those voters.
00:18:56 --> 00:19:02 So why do you think that there was a significant drop off like that?
00:19:02 --> 00:19:08 Well, I think that, and I'll do a shameless plug for my book because I'm working
00:19:08 --> 00:19:12 on an updated edition of how America works and why it doesn't.
00:19:12 --> 00:19:14 And I'm talking about this exact thing.
00:19:15 --> 00:19:20 I think it goes back to, I think it's a variety of things, but I think the single
00:19:20 --> 00:19:27 biggest one, if you remember, it's hard to remember this, but three and a half
00:19:27 --> 00:19:30 months ago, Joe Biden was a candidate.
00:19:30 --> 00:19:32 I agree with everything you said about Kamala.
00:19:33 --> 00:19:37 I actually gained respect for her over this election.
00:19:38 --> 00:19:41 I thought she and her team did a really, really good job.
00:19:42 --> 00:19:49 But four months ago, the Democratic Party and the candidate was somebody who
00:19:49 --> 00:19:54 displayed repeatedly and then especially in that debate.
00:19:56 --> 00:20:02 A lack of coherence and competence that I think really upset a lot of people.
00:20:03 --> 00:20:09 I think it deeply offended. I mean, Kamala, to her testament to what she did,
00:20:09 --> 00:20:13 a lot of people forgot about that because she did run such a good campaign and
00:20:13 --> 00:20:16 she was such a legitimate, good candidate.
00:20:16 --> 00:20:21 But I think when four months ago you had millions of Americans throw up their
00:20:21 --> 00:20:26 hands and say, you're telling me Donald Trump is going to destroy our democracy,
00:20:26 --> 00:20:31 and yet this is your leader, no way.
00:20:31 --> 00:20:33 I am not buying into that.
00:20:33 --> 00:20:38 And I don't think, I think you can repair trust with some people,
00:20:38 --> 00:20:40 but I think a lot of people just said, I'm out.
00:20:41 --> 00:20:45 I'm not going to get on this bandwagon. I'm sorry. You cannot tell me our democracy
00:20:45 --> 00:20:52 is about to end and this be the candidate who, again, I respect Biden's career.
00:20:52 --> 00:20:58 He had 50 years of adding value and some big mistakes for a number of months.
00:20:59 --> 00:21:05 But if I had to point my finger at it, I think just recovering from that was too tall of a burden.
00:21:05 --> 00:21:10 And it just, what you weren't going to get those people to come out.
00:21:10 --> 00:21:16 What does this say about Americans who, I want to read this. This is from...
00:21:18 --> 00:21:24 The Wikipedia article that has been written. This is how they describe the Trump campaign.
00:21:24 --> 00:21:26 Says the Trump campaign was noted
00:21:26 --> 00:21:30 for making many false and misleading statements, including the big lie.
00:21:30 --> 00:21:35 The 2020 election was stolen from Trump, engaging in anti-immigrant,
00:21:35 --> 00:21:38 immigrant fear mongering and promoting conspiracy theories.
00:21:38 --> 00:21:43 Trump's style and behavior, including his embrace of far right extremism,
00:21:43 --> 00:21:48 was characterized by a variety of scholars as breaking with longstanding U.S.
00:21:48 --> 00:21:50 Political norms in an unprecedented way.
00:21:51 --> 00:21:57 His speeches were marked by authoritarian and dehumanizing rhetoric toward his political opponents.
00:21:57 --> 00:22:02 His campaign and populist political movement were characterized by several historians
00:22:02 --> 00:22:08 and former Trump administration officials as featuring parallels to fascism.
00:22:08 --> 00:22:13 And then it goes on to say in May 2024, Trump became the first U.S.
00:22:13 --> 00:22:18 President to be convicted of a crime after he's found guilty on multiple counts,
00:22:18 --> 00:22:22 felony counts for falsifying business records related to hush money payments
00:22:22 --> 00:22:25 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
00:22:25 --> 00:22:27 He was previously found liable for sexual abuse.
00:22:27 --> 00:22:35 He was twice. It goes on and on. Right. So if you're a human being reading this
00:22:35 --> 00:22:40 Wikipedia article 40 years from now, and you read that,
00:22:41 --> 00:22:45 and then you see that this guy won the election.
00:22:45 --> 00:22:48 What does that say about us?
00:22:49 --> 00:22:53 You've touched on the biggest part of the whole equation for me,
00:22:53 --> 00:23:00 and that's that this election was more about the American people than it was about Donald Trump.
00:23:00 --> 00:23:06 I think Trump will come and go, but there's something going on in our country,
00:23:06 --> 00:23:12 in our polity, that's going to outlast him that's very serious.
00:23:13 --> 00:23:24 We, as a nation, don't respect our constitutional principles and design the way I thought we did.
00:23:25 --> 00:23:32 We don't have an aversion or a revulsion to the structures of government and
00:23:32 --> 00:23:34 the types of leaders that the country
00:23:34 --> 00:23:39 was basically founded to oppose and reject the way I thought we did.
00:23:40 --> 00:23:43 You know, Trump called millions of human beings vermin.
00:23:44 --> 00:23:50 He tried to overturn the last election openly in plain sight to such an extent
00:23:50 --> 00:23:52 that he was prosecuted for that.
00:23:53 --> 00:23:57 And yet he swept the tables and won a decisive victory.
00:23:57 --> 00:24:02 And so it says more about the country, I think, than it says about anything else.
00:24:02 --> 00:24:06 Does that mean we're forever condemned to be a country that rejects our own principles?
00:24:06 --> 00:24:11 No. I think we can revert to the mean. And I think when Trump's off the scene,
00:24:11 --> 00:24:15 the likelihood of a reversion away from those things is actually quite high.
00:24:16 --> 00:24:22 But it says something very important and concerning about the American people.
00:24:23 --> 00:24:28 So last question, because I know you got to go and I and I got you at the last minute to do this.
00:24:28 --> 00:24:32 And I greatly appreciate you coming on.
00:24:32 --> 00:24:35 I couldn't think of anybody else that I've interviewed.
00:24:36 --> 00:24:43 And I've talked to about politics and stuff that would would respond with clarity
00:24:43 --> 00:24:44 and not too much emotion.
00:24:44 --> 00:24:49 Both of us kind of feel some kind of way about it. But, you know,
00:24:49 --> 00:24:52 we have to look at these things as analytical as possible.
00:24:52 --> 00:25:01 My last question is, women's rights were on the line in this election, even more so than 2016.
00:25:02 --> 00:25:03 2016, it was a theory.
00:25:05 --> 00:25:11 2024, the wheels are moving. In states where,
00:25:11 --> 00:25:17 in seven of the 10 states where abortion rights were on the ballot,
00:25:17 --> 00:25:21 those measures passed, including states like Montana,
00:25:21 --> 00:25:23 where Harris had no chance of winning.
00:25:23 --> 00:25:26 I mean, John Tester even lost his Senate seat.
00:25:27 --> 00:25:31 But, you know, the right to have an abortion won.
00:25:32 --> 00:25:39 And yet 53%, the same number that voted against a white woman running for president
00:25:39 --> 00:25:45 of the United States, Hillary Clinton, voted against a black Asian woman.
00:25:46 --> 00:25:51 The sitting vice president of the United States, the most powerful woman in
00:25:51 --> 00:25:55 American political history, they voted against her, too.
00:25:57 --> 00:26:01 So we're men. And, you know, you're white. I'm black.
00:26:01 --> 00:26:05 So you might have some insight into white women. I don't know.
00:26:06 --> 00:26:09 No, no, no. I don't. I don't. Not at all.
00:26:10 --> 00:26:19 But I but the key thing to me is everybody that voted most of the time votes
00:26:19 --> 00:26:22 when you look at whether it's the black vote, Latina vote, Asian vote,
00:26:22 --> 00:26:25 whatever people vote for their self-interest.
00:26:25 --> 00:26:29 Right. And and debates happen in the communities about their best interests.
00:26:29 --> 00:26:40 What is it about women's rights or a woman in charge that would be a turnoff to 53% of white women?
00:26:40 --> 00:26:46 Just an educated guess. Or maybe if you've done some research, I'm kind of confused.
00:26:46 --> 00:26:52 Yeah, it is confusing. I have not researched it in any sort of systematic way.
00:26:53 --> 00:27:00 I think a few things, my sense. I do think abortion is an extremely important issue.
00:27:01 --> 00:27:07 I think it will continue to be. And I think the number of passionate voters
00:27:07 --> 00:27:10 were that central to their vote is enormous.
00:27:11 --> 00:27:16 The problem is they were just outnumbered. They were outnumbered by,
00:27:17 --> 00:27:22 I think the two biggest factors are, again, I think immigration is.
00:27:23 --> 00:27:27 I think there are just enormous number of people who are very concerned about
00:27:27 --> 00:27:30 immigration in sort of a visceral way.
00:27:30 --> 00:27:34 And whether they're right or wrong, and they're often very wrong,
00:27:34 --> 00:27:38 in my opinion, empirically, their vote counts just as much as everybody else's.
00:27:38 --> 00:27:42 And I think the abortion vote was just outnumbered.
00:27:43 --> 00:27:46 It's still huge. It's still powerful. It's still important.
00:27:46 --> 00:27:52 It's still going to resonate into the future. They just got outnumbered, number one.
00:27:53 --> 00:28:01 And I think, number two, the other major, major factor that we haven't talked
00:28:01 --> 00:28:03 about today, Eric, is the economy.
00:28:04 --> 00:28:10 Everybody knows the economy is what it's all about with elections. It just is.
00:28:11 --> 00:28:17 And it's not really the economy as much, in a traditional sense,
00:28:17 --> 00:28:22 as much as just people's pocketbooks, right? You know, a growth in the economy
00:28:22 --> 00:28:24 has been better than every other country in the world.
00:28:25 --> 00:28:27 Our resilience has been incredible.
00:28:27 --> 00:28:32 We avoided some of the sustained inflation that people were concerned about.
00:28:32 --> 00:28:38 But for reasons that I think are a mix of external and internal to the Biden
00:28:38 --> 00:28:41 administration, there was really bad inflation.
00:28:41 --> 00:28:45 People would go to the grocery store and pay a lot more, go to the gas station,
00:28:45 --> 00:28:49 pay a lot more. And they'd think about Biden. And then when it came time to
00:28:49 --> 00:28:51 the election, they would think about Paris.
00:28:51 --> 00:28:55 So that was a unfortunate for the Democrats.
00:28:56 --> 00:29:01 It was really unfortunate that there was this constant feeling of the incumbent
00:29:01 --> 00:29:03 cause these higher prices.
00:29:03 --> 00:29:08 So I think those factors make of the abortion change.
00:29:09 --> 00:29:14 Topic seem less important than it really is. I think it's still a huge deal.
00:29:14 --> 00:29:15 I think it will continue to be
00:29:15 --> 00:29:21 a huge deal. I love seeing the states make moves in the right direction.
00:29:22 --> 00:29:26 Very happy about that. One of the silver linings of this election.
00:29:27 --> 00:29:32 So I wouldn't count that out. If the economy had been an even playing, let me put it this way.
00:29:32 --> 00:29:39 The economy is an even playing field and the Democrats are able to get in a
00:29:39 --> 00:29:42 better place with immigration in terms of how perceptions operate,
00:29:43 --> 00:29:46 I think abortion could be the decisive factor and the champ, you know,
00:29:47 --> 00:29:51 whoever's the champion on that can, can win in the next election.
00:29:51 --> 00:29:54 So I, I won't throw that. I don't think we should throw the towel in.
00:29:54 --> 00:29:57 Not that you were suggesting that, but that's my, that's my,
00:29:57 --> 00:30:02 yeah. Oh no. By any means, we, we, we don't have the luxury of throwing the towel in now.
00:30:02 --> 00:30:07 Well, look, Will, I know you've got to go, but I greatly appreciate you taking the time out.
00:30:07 --> 00:30:13 You say you're updating your book. Tell people about the book again and where they can get it.
00:30:13 --> 00:30:17 Thanks, Eric. And thank you for having me. I love talking about these things.
00:30:18 --> 00:30:22 We've had a nice time talking about lots of different things.
00:30:22 --> 00:30:26 Our first episode some years ago now was so different than what we're talking about now.
00:30:26 --> 00:30:29 And I look forward to continuing that as
00:30:29 --> 00:30:33 the country experiences all these huge changes and that's
00:30:33 --> 00:30:36 going to continue hopefully for the better as far
00:30:36 --> 00:30:39 as the book goes it's how america works and
00:30:39 --> 00:30:46 why it doesn't we're updating it just to have chapter on the 2024 election my
00:30:46 --> 00:30:51 thesis about why the american people you know why polarization is so high i'm
00:30:51 --> 00:30:55 basically just taking that and applying it to the election and that new edition
00:30:55 --> 00:30:57 will be out, you know, in a few months.
00:30:58 --> 00:31:01 You can find it anywhere you buy your books, whether it's online,
00:31:01 --> 00:31:06 Amazon, local bookstores, and there's a nice tribute to you and your show and the acknowledgments.
00:31:07 --> 00:31:12 All right, Will. Well, thanks again, man. I appreciate you. And all right,
00:31:12 --> 00:31:13 guys, we're going to catch y'all on the other side.
00:31:14 --> 00:31:32 Music.
00:31:34 --> 00:31:41 All right. And we are back. So I want to thank Will for coming on on short notice
00:31:41 --> 00:31:50 to give his assessment about what happened on November the 5th, 2024.
00:31:51 --> 00:31:57 And before I go on. What I didn't do in the opening was acknowledge the fact
00:31:57 --> 00:32:00 that as this episode drops, it'll be Veterans Day.
00:32:01 --> 00:32:11 So I want to offer my thank yous to those who have fought and died for this country.
00:32:11 --> 00:32:16 Memorial Day is primarily a day reserved for those who made the ultimate sacrifice,
00:32:16 --> 00:32:22 but Veterans Day can incorporate everybody that have served in armed forces.
00:32:24 --> 00:32:30 And, you know, always the day before is the anniversary of the United States
00:32:30 --> 00:32:34 Marine Corps, which I had a privilege of serving for six months.
00:32:36 --> 00:32:39 If I haven't told the story, I'll tell it another time.
00:32:41 --> 00:32:45 So, you know, this is a special day for me.
00:32:47 --> 00:32:52 You know, I lost an uncle I never got to meet in one of the early battles of the Vietnam War.
00:32:54 --> 00:33:00 You know, it's just, you know, I have co-workers who are veterans and,
00:33:00 --> 00:33:05 you know, in most of the work that I've done,
00:33:05 --> 00:33:12 whether it's been an elected official or in my work in the private sector,
00:33:12 --> 00:33:15 I've worked with a lot of veterans.
00:33:15 --> 00:33:23 And so I can attest to folks who have given their service to the country and
00:33:23 --> 00:33:24 are continuing to serve.
00:33:25 --> 00:33:29 And in the roles that they're playing.
00:33:29 --> 00:33:32 So I just want to acknowledge that since this is Veterans Day.
00:33:33 --> 00:33:39 And it ties into what we're talking about, because when you take the oath to
00:33:39 --> 00:33:43 go into the military, you take an oath to defend the Constitution.
00:33:45 --> 00:33:49 And one of the provisions of the Constitution is that we elect a president.
00:33:49 --> 00:33:53 And on November 5th, 2024,
00:33:54 --> 00:33:59 the American people elected the 45th president to serve another term as the
00:33:59 --> 00:34:04 47th president of the United States, Donald J. Trump.
00:34:05 --> 00:34:08 It was something that I was not anticipating.
00:34:09 --> 00:34:14 And that's the main reason why I want this, the title of this podcast.
00:34:14 --> 00:34:19 I kept wondering, should it be what happened or WTF or whatever?
00:34:19 --> 00:34:25 But it's like it was based off a quote that Donald Trump said in his victory speech.
00:34:25 --> 00:34:30 So I want to the title of this episode is going to be this point in time.
00:34:31 --> 00:34:34 And there's a lot of things to unpack on that.
00:34:35 --> 00:34:40 Because, you know, when you follow social media, the only reason why I'm on
00:34:40 --> 00:34:45 social media really is Facebook to keep up with my high school and college classmates,
00:34:47 --> 00:34:50 LinkedIn to connect with people to get on this podcast.
00:34:52 --> 00:34:59 And really that's it. It's like, you know, the other reason is just to highlight,
00:34:59 --> 00:35:04 you know, pub up the show and get people to listen to the podcast and all that
00:35:04 --> 00:35:06 and just have a presence out there.
00:35:07 --> 00:35:10 But, you know, just like you're on a highway and there's a car wreck,
00:35:11 --> 00:35:14 you kind of turn your head around to see what the car wreck looks like.
00:35:15 --> 00:35:19 And so I read a lot of the stuff that's on social media.
00:35:20 --> 00:35:24 Sometimes I respond to it. It just all depends.
00:35:25 --> 00:35:31 But I usually just read it. So naturally, of course, after what happened,
00:35:32 --> 00:35:39 I started listening to people venting because my algorithm is not giving me Trump supporters.
00:35:39 --> 00:35:49 It's giving me Harris supporters primarily and the anger and the disappointment and the bitterness.
00:35:50 --> 00:35:57 Now, one thing about X is that I do get Trump supporters in my feed on X because
00:35:57 --> 00:36:02 I think the way it's set up is just politics in general and you get all sides. Right.
00:36:04 --> 00:36:09 But, you know, listening to people on TikTok, I'm listening to.
00:36:10 --> 00:36:17 Black women and in some cases, black men saying. Don't call me a person of color anymore.
00:36:19 --> 00:36:22 Don't ask us for our help anymore.
00:36:24 --> 00:36:28 White women can never be trusted anymore. You know, I'm hearing all that.
00:36:29 --> 00:36:32 The few Trump supporters I'm hearing is, you know,
00:36:33 --> 00:36:37 there's some arrogance, but they were the ones who were coy about their Trump
00:36:37 --> 00:36:43 support, but they were very much not against, not for Vice President Harris,
00:36:43 --> 00:36:49 you know, saying, well, y'all, you know, trying to make this woman black and she wasn't black.
00:36:49 --> 00:36:55 And, you know, what y'all going to do? And, you know, and all that stuff,
00:36:55 --> 00:37:01 not anything sounding like they're going to hold, especially those folks that
00:37:01 --> 00:37:02 are pushing reparations.
00:37:03 --> 00:37:05 I think they already know they're not going to get anywhere with Trump,
00:37:06 --> 00:37:09 but they weren't feeling Harris. Right.
00:37:10 --> 00:37:13 So, you know, some of them voted for Green Party candidates.
00:37:13 --> 00:37:16 And then I've heard some folks being upset about that and saying,
00:37:16 --> 00:37:22 oh, well, you know, you voted for Jill Stein. that cost us the election and all this stuff.
00:37:23 --> 00:37:27 So this is what I want to say to people. You do you.
00:37:28 --> 00:37:35 You do what you feel is best for you to carry forth and make this country better.
00:37:35 --> 00:37:42 If you think that isolating yourself from other causes that might be worthy
00:37:42 --> 00:37:48 based on this vote, I'm not here to tell you not to do it.
00:37:49 --> 00:37:50 You do what you want to do.
00:37:52 --> 00:37:58 I don't know if that's going to be productive, but I'm not going to admonish you for that.
00:37:58 --> 00:38:03 If you're a black woman and you feel in some kind of way, I get it.
00:38:03 --> 00:38:11 You know, all of us in the black community came from a black woman. All of us.
00:38:12 --> 00:38:22 So my mom was an AK. So to see the nation reject somebody that was a sorer of my mother hurts.
00:38:24 --> 00:38:29 Somebody that went to an HBCU like my mother and I did hurts.
00:38:29 --> 00:38:39 And it, whether it was intentional or not, it sends a message about what you think our value is.
00:38:39 --> 00:38:45 And if you think that's unwarranted to feel that way, then it's apparent that
00:38:45 --> 00:38:50 you've never walked in our shoes, that you've never lived our experience.
00:38:51 --> 00:38:57 So, you know, if you're out of touch with that, I can't help you.
00:38:58 --> 00:39:05 But I do want you to understand that our feelings are valid and they should be respected.
00:39:06 --> 00:39:13 And if you don't respect them, then be ready for the response. Right.
00:39:14 --> 00:39:17 But let's get let's get into it a little more.
00:39:17 --> 00:39:25 So when you look at numbers, overall, the vice president got 53% of the female
00:39:25 --> 00:39:30 vote overall, and Donald Trump got 45%.
00:39:32 --> 00:39:39 That is an incredible number considering two things that Donald Trump did,
00:39:40 --> 00:39:42 one when he was president and one when he wasn't.
00:39:44 --> 00:39:49 Anybody that's been accused of a sexual assault would probably not even get
00:39:49 --> 00:39:53 the time of day to get a job, let alone to be president of the United States. But here we are.
00:39:54 --> 00:40:03 Somebody who took away the rights of a group would probably not get negative,
00:40:04 --> 00:40:06 would get negligible support.
00:40:06 --> 00:40:09 Right. Anywhere from 20 percent on down.
00:40:09 --> 00:40:15 But not in the case of Donald Trump. And I find it interesting that in states
00:40:15 --> 00:40:20 where Donald Trump won big and the Republican nominee won big,
00:40:21 --> 00:40:26 that when it came to abortion rights, that won big, too.
00:40:27 --> 00:40:32 Montana is the classic example. John Tester, who grew up in Montana,
00:40:32 --> 00:40:37 who basically lost three fingers on his hand farming in Montana.
00:40:39 --> 00:40:42 Had served to stay where it was the last Democrat standing in Montana.
00:40:43 --> 00:40:47 He didn't do like Manchin and not run. He put himself out there one more game.
00:40:48 --> 00:40:53 And he got beat by a guy who bought a ranch because he had that kind of money,
00:40:54 --> 00:40:58 and registered to vote in Montana. He beat him to serve in the U.S. Senate.
00:40:59 --> 00:41:04 And then Donald Trump won huge. But when you ask those women,
00:41:04 --> 00:41:13 Do you want to have the right to an abortion embedded in the Constitution in the state of Montana?
00:41:14 --> 00:41:16 The majority of the people said yes.
00:41:17 --> 00:41:23 And I'm not looking at any numbers. I'm sure it was an incredible amount of
00:41:23 --> 00:41:29 women that voted for that in Montana because Montana is primarily white.
00:41:30 --> 00:41:34 Very negligible black population compared to any other states in the union.
00:41:35 --> 00:41:37 So what was it about,
00:41:39 --> 00:41:45 Harris, that you didn't want a woman who championed that cause,
00:41:45 --> 00:41:47 who basically ran on that issue.
00:41:48 --> 00:41:52 Why would you not give her the opportunity to be the president to make sure
00:41:52 --> 00:41:56 that your state and other states had those rights protected?
00:41:57 --> 00:41:59 I'll put a pin in that and come back.
00:42:01 --> 00:42:05 So there was this thing about black men.
00:42:06 --> 00:42:11 There was this big concern that, oh, black men are not going to vote for Kamala Harris.
00:42:12 --> 00:42:15 There were people on social media like saying, yeah, that's over with.
00:42:15 --> 00:42:17 We're not doing that no more.
00:42:18 --> 00:42:19 Yada, yada, this, that, and the other.
00:42:20 --> 00:42:23 78% of black men voted for Kamala Harris.
00:42:24 --> 00:42:32 Now, I kind of knew because I've had great Republican guests on like Coach Killings
00:42:32 --> 00:42:38 and others who have been working to get black men to start thinking about the
00:42:38 --> 00:42:39 Republican Party, right?
00:42:39 --> 00:42:44 And, you know, I've had black friends who are Republicans.
00:42:45 --> 00:42:50 So there's always going to be, now they're a little different breed than the
00:42:50 --> 00:42:54 current group, but I know there's one guy, he's been, I mean,
00:42:54 --> 00:42:59 he voted for Edward Brooke in Massachusetts. So he was, he'd been a Republican all his life, right?
00:43:00 --> 00:43:05 But it was a different vibe kind of Republican and more in a black and tan tradition and all that.
00:43:05 --> 00:43:10 And I'm not going to get into all the history, but there's there's always going to be a pocket.
00:43:11 --> 00:43:15 But the way Donald Trump was talking and the way that his campaign staff was
00:43:15 --> 00:43:19 talking, the way that these folks on social media like Candace Owens and Charlie
00:43:19 --> 00:43:23 Kirk and all these other people was like, it's just going to be this wave of black men.
00:43:23 --> 00:43:27 It's just going to say no to the Democratic Party. It's a wrap.
00:43:28 --> 00:43:34 78% of the black men Voted for Kamala Harris Sounds about right,
00:43:35 --> 00:43:39 92% Of black women Voted for Kamala Harris,
00:43:40 --> 00:43:47 Not surprising at all Right So when you look at the overall numbers Right That
00:43:47 --> 00:43:53 means that Kamala Harris got 85% of the black vote That showed up 85,
00:43:54 --> 00:43:56 Donald Trump only got 13 you.
00:43:58 --> 00:44:01 So. Black vote was not the problem.
00:44:02 --> 00:44:06 So whatever myth you want to put out there and say, oh, well,
00:44:06 --> 00:44:09 black men abandoned her and blah, blah, and this, that and all.
00:44:09 --> 00:44:14 But, you know, outside of the people that are on social media and outside of
00:44:14 --> 00:44:18 those people like Byron Donalds and all those who are Republicans and elected
00:44:18 --> 00:44:21 officials, yeah, it wasn't much changed. there.
00:44:21 --> 00:44:24 It was the same role.
00:44:25 --> 00:44:27 85%, that's normal.
00:44:27 --> 00:44:35 Anywhere from 80% to 95% nationwide is normal, or even in states.
00:44:36 --> 00:44:40 That's kind of an understood figure. When you run for a statewide office or
00:44:40 --> 00:44:45 a national office, that's what you factor in, that you got to get at least eight
00:44:45 --> 00:44:48 out of 10 black voters to support you.
00:44:48 --> 00:44:54 That's just math. That's just how we do things in politics because it's all about numbers.
00:44:55 --> 00:45:00 So there was no disappointment there. There was no surprise.
00:45:01 --> 00:45:07 Well, there was one slight surprise. In white male votes, Donald Trump actually lost some.
00:45:08 --> 00:45:10 It was only 1%, but he lost some white men.
00:45:12 --> 00:45:19 He got 60%. So it was a slight drop off, right?
00:45:20 --> 00:45:29 Harris got 37. So we don't know if she picked up that 1% or that 1% didn't show up.
00:45:30 --> 00:45:34 But he had a slight drop. White women.
00:45:35 --> 00:45:44 As in 2020, as in 2016, the majority of white women voted for Donald Trump.
00:45:45 --> 00:45:48 2016 you can understand 2020
00:45:48 --> 00:45:55 there were some questions they actually got a little more white women vote but
00:45:55 --> 00:46:02 this election should have been very very clear right you were seeing the effects
00:46:02 --> 00:46:07 of the Dobbs decision you had a female the highest,
00:46:08 --> 00:46:13 elected female in the history of the United States the vice president of the
00:46:13 --> 00:46:15 United States was running for president.
00:46:15 --> 00:46:19 He was the Secretary of State, not a U.S.
00:46:19 --> 00:46:23 Senator, not a former governor, the Vice President of the United States who
00:46:23 --> 00:46:28 made history at one point because in the line of succession,
00:46:28 --> 00:46:32 you had Joe Biden, then you had Kamala Harris, and then you had Nancy Pelosi.
00:46:33 --> 00:46:39 So in that era, we saw that. And the majority of white women still voted.
00:46:41 --> 00:46:44 Donald Trump. Now, I said I was
00:46:44 --> 00:46:47 going to put a pin on it. Let me come back to it. Let me get into this.
00:46:48 --> 00:46:54 For those of y'all who don't think that, and I respect Will's opinion about
00:46:54 --> 00:47:01 immigration, and that probably played a part in it, and the economy played a part in it, but.
00:47:02 --> 00:47:05 Don't think that women can't be sexist.
00:47:06 --> 00:47:11 I remember, I've watched, I've watched a lot of documentaries. I watch a lot of shows.
00:47:12 --> 00:47:17 And I've seen women say, regardless of what ethnicity they are,
00:47:17 --> 00:47:20 it's like women's place is not in these leadership positions.
00:47:21 --> 00:47:26 They don't want women being the manager of a store.
00:47:26 --> 00:47:32 They don't want women being the CEO of a corporation, even though we got all
00:47:32 --> 00:47:34 these white women that have businesses.
00:47:35 --> 00:47:40 So when it comes to being the leader of the nation, there are some women that
00:47:40 --> 00:47:41 just don't buy into that.
00:47:42 --> 00:47:46 Doesn't matter about race because they rejected Hillary Clinton.
00:47:47 --> 00:47:49 They don't want to see a woman in that position.
00:47:50 --> 00:47:52 I don't know if it's a socialization.
00:47:53 --> 00:47:59 What the deal is, but it's totally illogical to me, especially at this particular
00:47:59 --> 00:48:01 point in time in history. Right.
00:48:02 --> 00:48:08 Because we literally are seeing women dying. We saw women die during covid.
00:48:09 --> 00:48:15 Now we're seeing women die because of abortion bans. But that wasn't enough.
00:48:16 --> 00:48:22 So outside of, you know, it's very easy to say, well, it's racist,
00:48:22 --> 00:48:23 but they rejected Hillary Clinton.
00:48:25 --> 00:48:29 So misogyny obviously is gender neutral.
00:48:31 --> 00:48:38 And I don't know if we're ever going to be at a point in this country because
00:48:38 --> 00:48:41 these women have children, right?
00:48:41 --> 00:48:45 And these women, especially the ones that homeschool their children,
00:48:45 --> 00:48:49 are the ones that, you know, have a major influence in their child's life.
00:48:50 --> 00:48:54 So if this is the mindset they have, they're going to pass that down.
00:48:55 --> 00:49:00 See, the biggest educator, the most basic unit in a society is the family, right?
00:49:01 --> 00:49:05 Where you get most of your education from, that's where you learn your language that you speak.
00:49:05 --> 00:49:11 That's where you learn behavior. That's where you learn custom, culture.
00:49:11 --> 00:49:12 It's in that family unit.
00:49:14 --> 00:49:20 So if you're raised in a culture where women are not considered leaders,
00:49:20 --> 00:49:23 that's the way you're going to think.
00:49:23 --> 00:49:29 Unless you've been otherwise exposed or you yourself have been given opportunity
00:49:29 --> 00:49:35 to either lead if you're a woman or if you are a man and have women lead you,
00:49:35 --> 00:49:37 like if you serve in the military, for example,
00:49:38 --> 00:49:41 right? Or in law enforcement.
00:49:42 --> 00:49:47 But, you know, it's hard for a woman to get elected sheriff in this country.
00:49:47 --> 00:49:52 So it's not surprising, even though we've had women chief of police appointed,
00:49:53 --> 00:49:58 If you run for sheriff, it's very, very rare you can get a female sheriff elected.
00:49:59 --> 00:50:05 So maybe it was asking a bit much. But then we look at the country to ourself.
00:50:05 --> 00:50:10 And while Kamala Harris was being defeated, the president of Mexico,
00:50:11 --> 00:50:13 female, was getting sworn in.
00:50:14 --> 00:50:20 She was even looking forward to having a meeting, the new president,
00:50:20 --> 00:50:23 Kamala Harris. I'm very excited about the probability.
00:50:25 --> 00:50:30 Now she has to focus in on Donald Trump, which she already kind of had a dossier
00:50:30 --> 00:50:32 on, but that's a whole other conversation for another day.
00:50:32 --> 00:50:37 So I don't know what it will take. I don't know if there's anything that will happen.
00:50:38 --> 00:50:40 I don't know if it will be in my lifetime.
00:50:41 --> 00:50:46 But I cannot conceive a group of people. I don't understand a group of people
00:50:46 --> 00:50:48 that vote against their self-interest.
00:50:49 --> 00:50:56 And you can say, well, my self-interest is the groceries or my self-interest is the border.
00:50:57 --> 00:51:00 If you are dead, your interests do not matter.
00:51:01 --> 00:51:06 Let me say that again. If you are dead, your interest does not matter.
00:51:07 --> 00:51:11 Those nine months that you are bringing another life into the world is your
00:51:11 --> 00:51:13 most vulnerable moment.
00:51:15 --> 00:51:20 Millions of things. And maybe I'm exaggerating, but millions of things could go wrong.
00:51:21 --> 00:51:24 That's why it's called the miracle of life.
00:51:25 --> 00:51:31 Even though there are 8 billion people on this planet, those are 8 billion miracles.
00:51:31 --> 00:51:36 In the United States, what, 20, 30, 40 miracles happen today?
00:51:37 --> 00:51:41 I will never understand how people vote against their self-interest.
00:51:42 --> 00:51:47 There's not much political analysis I can give to. I just don't understand how
00:51:47 --> 00:51:48 people vote against their self-interest.
00:51:49 --> 00:51:52 In the Latino community, you make that same argument.
00:51:53 --> 00:51:59 Latino women voted for Vice President Harris, but not Latino men.
00:51:59 --> 00:52:06 Vice President Harris got 60% of Latino women and only 43% of Latino men.
00:52:07 --> 00:52:12 And there are some folks that are coming on the talk shows that are saying that
00:52:12 --> 00:52:14 it's a misogynistic culture.
00:52:16 --> 00:52:19 And people are stuck in their ways and all that stuff.
00:52:20 --> 00:52:24 Again, I don't understand how you vote against your self-interest.
00:52:25 --> 00:52:30 People in a Latin American country have voted for a woman to be president.
00:52:32 --> 00:52:40 So I think people in Mexico are more cultural because they're still living in
00:52:40 --> 00:52:45 their country as opposed to those who are trying to deal with an American culture
00:52:45 --> 00:52:48 and maintain their heritage,
00:52:48 --> 00:52:51 regardless of what Latin American country they come from.
00:52:51 --> 00:52:57 There are representatives of different Latin American groups in elected positions
00:52:57 --> 00:53:04 throughout the nation, whether it's local government or state government or in Congress.
00:53:06 --> 00:53:07 I mean, a Republican woman.
00:53:09 --> 00:53:16 Got elected, reelected to Congress in the same state that didn't want a woman to be president.
00:53:18 --> 00:53:22 Now, there was a woman running for U.S. Senate in Florida, and she didn't win.
00:53:22 --> 00:53:28 But I'm just saying, you know, party lines more so than misogyny.
00:53:29 --> 00:53:32 And there's a history behind that.
00:53:32 --> 00:53:37 And there's been a concerted effort more so than what the Democrats have done.
00:53:37 --> 00:53:41 The GOP has had a concerted effort ever since George, Jeb Bush's son,
00:53:42 --> 00:53:48 got involved in forcing the Republican Party to emphasize on the Latino vote.
00:53:48 --> 00:53:53 Anna Navarro, who was a big supporter of Harris, she was one of those people
00:53:53 --> 00:53:56 convincing Latinos to vote Republican at one point in her life, right?
00:53:57 --> 00:54:03 So that stuck. And so a lot of those Latino men have been voting Republican for a long time.
00:54:04 --> 00:54:11 It's very easy to say they're misogynistic, but the reality is there's a history behind that.
00:54:11 --> 00:54:18 And when you look at the overall numbers, Vice President Harris got 52% of Latino vote.
00:54:19 --> 00:54:24 Now, again, that was buoyed by women, but she got the majority up.
00:54:26 --> 00:54:31 So I'm sitting up here trying to break down stuff because I want to get to this conclusion.
00:54:32 --> 00:54:37 Oh, the one thing I do want to say, because I try to keep it in 30 minutes,
00:54:37 --> 00:54:37 but it's not going to happen.
00:54:38 --> 00:54:45 So let me break this down to all those folks who are mad because of Jill Stein voters.
00:54:45 --> 00:54:48 Right. It was one, I think, Dearborn.
00:54:49 --> 00:54:53 Where Jill Stein got more votes than Kamala Harris and all that.
00:54:54 --> 00:54:57 That was a very committed outlier.
00:54:58 --> 00:55:04 Right Because they were trying to say Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar In Minnesota
00:55:04 --> 00:55:12 outperformed Harris as far as Democratic votes And all that or Tim Walz even In Minnesota and Yeah,
00:55:13 --> 00:55:17 But Jill Stein Didn't even get a million votes,
00:55:18 --> 00:55:21 Nationwide You know you put her and Dr.
00:55:21 --> 00:55:26 West numbers together And then throwing Chase Oliver The Libertarian candidate
00:55:26 --> 00:55:34 We got about 1.8 million, but that wasn't the number. And I'll get to the number in a minute.
00:55:34 --> 00:55:39 That wasn't the number that concerned me. So that was a typical response,
00:55:40 --> 00:55:46 a typical election where the candidates that are not Democrat or Republican,
00:55:46 --> 00:55:48 it's the independent vote.
00:55:49 --> 00:55:57 So regardless of how you feel and all that kind of stuff, I really want the
00:55:57 --> 00:56:03 people who, on either side of the Palestinian-Israeli issue,
00:56:03 --> 00:56:07 the war on Gaza and all that.
00:56:09 --> 00:56:14 Which I want to do, but I'm just going to tell you as having had the privilege
00:56:14 --> 00:56:20 of having a platform and maybe nobody else will come on. But I must say this.
00:56:20 --> 00:56:26 I know that the Palestinian supporters I've had on and the Israeli supporters
00:56:26 --> 00:56:30 I had on, there's no compromising with either one of them.
00:56:30 --> 00:56:33 These are people who are passionate about what they believe.
00:56:36 --> 00:56:44 And when you interject that in American politics, there's a no-win solution for that.
00:56:44 --> 00:56:50 There's no way you're going to tell me that Vice President Harris is more genocidal than Donald Trump.
00:56:51 --> 00:56:54 Can't make that argument. You can't make that argument that Donald Trump is
00:56:54 --> 00:56:59 more genocidal than Vice President Harris. You can't make that argument because the U.S.
00:56:59 --> 00:57:01 Position has always been to support Israel.
00:57:01 --> 00:57:05 Whether you agree with that or not, that's the public policy position that the
00:57:05 --> 00:57:08 United States has taken ever since 1948.
00:57:08 --> 00:57:15 The only thing we can do as a country is to encourage Israelis or encourage
00:57:15 --> 00:57:18 the Palestinians even to tone it down.
00:57:18 --> 00:57:22 And we'll sit there at the negotiating table and help you negotiate whatever
00:57:22 --> 00:57:24 conflict you got going on.
00:57:24 --> 00:57:29 But if you don't agree to sit on the table, then we can do your best interest
00:57:29 --> 00:57:35 would be to vote for the person that you think can achieve a piece.
00:57:35 --> 00:57:40 If you vote against that or you vote, you don't vote at all.
00:57:40 --> 00:57:42 That doesn't help your argument.
00:57:43 --> 00:57:48 And for those folks who didn't vote for Harris because they didn't like how
00:57:48 --> 00:57:50 Joe Biden handled the situation.
00:57:50 --> 00:57:54 OK, but just understand that didn't help.
00:57:55 --> 00:58:00 But the other choice that was available to you is not going to help,
00:58:00 --> 00:58:04 because even if you voted for a Jill Stein or a Cornel West or somebody else.
00:58:06 --> 00:58:12 See, the key in that strategy is this, and I hope that they will take it to heed.
00:58:13 --> 00:58:19 If you are going to mount a presidential campaign of significance,
00:58:19 --> 00:58:27 if you are serious about a third alternative, then I need you to run people outside of president.
00:58:28 --> 00:58:32 I need you to run somebody for governor. I need you to run somebody for secretary of state.
00:58:32 --> 00:58:37 I need you to run for somebody, lieutenant governor. I need you to run for the state houses.
00:58:37 --> 00:58:41 I need you to run for the state senates. I need you to run for county commissioner.
00:58:41 --> 00:58:44 I need you to run for the city council and mayor of these cities.
00:58:46 --> 00:58:52 The only way you're going to build up a consensus to alter a third alternative
00:58:52 --> 00:58:55 in this nation is that you've got to compete at every level.
00:58:55 --> 00:59:02 It's always been an argument of mine that the Democratic Party should compete in all 50 states. Right.
00:59:02 --> 00:59:08 That's always been the internal argument with me. But with the Green Party or
00:59:08 --> 00:59:11 with Cornel West Party or whoever else,
00:59:12 --> 00:59:17 you got to run a campaign, not only in every 50 state, but every village,
00:59:17 --> 00:59:20 every hamlet, every city, every county.
00:59:21 --> 00:59:26 You got to run somebody because you've got to build up a pool of people.
00:59:26 --> 00:59:32 So when you actually have a convention or you actually have a primary and then
00:59:32 --> 00:59:36 you can choose a candidate that can get enough support to get up on the stage
00:59:36 --> 00:59:38 and offer an alternative.
00:59:38 --> 00:59:42 If you choose not to do that, I don't care if your issue is about black folks.
00:59:42 --> 00:59:45 I don't care if your issue is about Palestine. I don't care if your issue is
00:59:45 --> 00:59:48 about clean air and climate change.
00:59:48 --> 00:59:53 If you want to have a viable third option, one where people can say,
00:59:54 --> 00:59:58 oh, OK, we don't have to choose between the elephant or the donkey.
00:59:59 --> 01:00:02 Then you got to do the work. You can't just show up every four years.
01:00:03 --> 01:00:07 You can't offer yourself as a protest vote. Right.
01:00:08 --> 01:00:13 Because I don't want to be scapegoated as one candidate loses because I showed up.
01:00:14 --> 01:00:19 I want to be the candidate that beats both of them and gets to serve in the position.
01:00:19 --> 01:00:22 And I have some people in Congress with me to get some stuff done.
01:00:23 --> 01:00:26 That's what serious people should do.
01:00:28 --> 01:00:34 So for those of y'all who are getting on black spaces on social media and trying
01:00:34 --> 01:00:37 to blame Vice President Harris.
01:00:39 --> 01:00:44 For her own demise by not supporting your cause. And you've been warned.
01:00:44 --> 01:00:47 People are just going to tell you where you can go and how to get there.
01:00:48 --> 01:00:51 I think if you've accomplished your goal,
01:00:51 --> 01:00:58 which it seems like you did, then now I need you to have rallies and have protests
01:00:58 --> 01:01:02 and have meetings to figure out how you're going to get the Trump administration
01:01:02 --> 01:01:06 to do what you want them to do, because they're in. Right?
01:01:07 --> 01:01:10 So the other number I want to talk about real quick, and I don't know if I can
01:01:10 --> 01:01:14 do it real quick, but the most important number.
01:01:16 --> 01:01:20 Sixty nine million. That's the most important.
01:01:20 --> 01:01:24 Sixty nine million. That's how many people voted for Vice President Harris to
01:01:24 --> 01:01:27 be president of the United States. Sixty nine million.
01:01:28 --> 01:01:34 Donald Trump, as of this recording, has basically seventy three and a half.
01:01:35 --> 01:01:40 Which is less than what he had four years ago. In a losing effort.
01:01:41 --> 01:01:44 He had 70. He actually had seventy four million people.
01:01:45 --> 01:01:49 So basically, what it looks like is that all his folks came back.
01:01:50 --> 01:01:55 All his folks showed up. Which if you listen to experts and all that stuff,
01:01:55 --> 01:02:01 when people say it's a tight election, turnout is the key. All his folks show back up.
01:02:02 --> 01:02:05 We're looking at a drop off of only a half million people. All his folks showed
01:02:05 --> 01:02:08 up from four years ago. All of them.
01:02:09 --> 01:02:12 He didn't really get anything new. He didn't get really anything.
01:02:13 --> 01:02:16 I mean, you can say, well, he grew here and he grew there, blah,
01:02:16 --> 01:02:20 blah. Basically, the same people that voted for him last time voted for him again.
01:02:20 --> 01:02:25 The difference was Vice President Harris got 69 million.
01:02:25 --> 01:02:32 The guy who picked her to be vice president when he ran four years ago, he got 81.
01:02:33 --> 01:02:42 He got 81. won. So that means that 12 million people who voted for Joe Biden
01:02:42 --> 01:02:46 didn't come back and vote for Vice President Harris.
01:02:47 --> 01:02:49 12 million.
01:02:50 --> 01:02:53 12 million people tuned out.
01:02:54 --> 01:02:58 Now, whatever your reason was, it was not a good one.
01:02:59 --> 01:03:05 Not just because the candidate I supported lost. is because you've been exposed.
01:03:06 --> 01:03:08 12 million people.
01:03:10 --> 01:03:16 Any sense. This election was projected to be the biggest election of all time
01:03:16 --> 01:03:22 because they figured if 150 million people voted four years ago,
01:03:23 --> 01:03:26 that more people would be engaged this go-around.
01:03:26 --> 01:03:28 It actually was less.
01:03:29 --> 01:03:32 We didn't lose 12 million people to COVID.
01:03:33 --> 01:03:39 Jill Stein, Chase Oliver, Cornel West did not generate 12 million votes.
01:03:40 --> 01:03:45 Y'all didn't show up. And I don't care if you don't agree with it.
01:03:45 --> 01:03:49 I don't care if you don't feel what I'm saying. That's some bullshit.
01:03:50 --> 01:03:57 This is Veterans Day we're talking about. These people fought in wars to make
01:03:57 --> 01:04:01 sure not only our country had the right, but other nations around the world
01:04:01 --> 01:04:04 had the right to choose their leaders.
01:04:05 --> 01:04:10 You'll get up here and take the day off for Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday,
01:04:10 --> 01:04:15 which now, ironically, Donald Trump is going to be sworn in on holiday.
01:04:16 --> 01:04:23 And you didn't show up to vote. People literally died, whether it was overseas
01:04:23 --> 01:04:25 or in Birmingham, Alabama.
01:04:26 --> 01:04:30 People literally died for you to vote.
01:04:31 --> 01:04:36 And if 12 million people don't vote for president, then y'all aren't going to show up for the mayor.
01:04:37 --> 01:04:39 Y'all aren't going to show up for the city council. Y'all aren't going to show
01:04:39 --> 01:04:44 up for governor in your respective states. Y'all aren't going to do that. And that's terrible.
01:04:45 --> 01:04:51 Derek's no excuse for that. It's my right to not exercise my right to vote.
01:04:51 --> 01:04:52 Yeah, but it's still stupid.
01:04:54 --> 01:04:59 Because everything that happens in your life is connected to politics.
01:04:59 --> 01:05:02 The city of Jackson is about to be in another crisis.
01:05:03 --> 01:05:07 They're going to have to sit there and figure out if they're going to have special elections or not.
01:05:07 --> 01:05:11 They've already just had one special election for a council person going to jail.
01:05:12 --> 01:05:15 Now there's a mayor involved. There's a DA involved. There's another council
01:05:15 --> 01:05:17 person involved. That's a real talk.
01:05:19 --> 01:05:22 And Jackson are like, well, I ain't going to vote, see what they do, blah, blah. No.
01:05:22 --> 01:05:29 If you vote, maybe people that will not get in trouble with the law,
01:05:29 --> 01:05:32 and I'm not saying any of these people did because I know a lot of these people.
01:05:32 --> 01:05:33 I know all of them actually.
01:05:34 --> 01:05:37 They're innocent until proven guilty. I got it.
01:05:38 --> 01:05:44 I'm not trying to condemn anybody, but I am saying that if you participate in the process.
01:05:45 --> 01:05:47 I'm a classic example. Let me break it down to you.
01:05:48 --> 01:05:52 More people voted for me in the
01:05:52 --> 01:05:58 election I lost for a state representative than voted for me to get in.
01:05:59 --> 01:06:05 Let me say that again. More people voted for me in the election I lost after
01:06:05 --> 01:06:12 serving nine years in the state legislature, then voted for me to get the job in the first place.
01:06:13 --> 01:06:22 That's what folks can do. If you decide that you want to change things, you have to vote.
01:06:22 --> 01:06:26 I thought I was doing a good job. The majority of people in my district said,
01:06:26 --> 01:06:30 no, we want to go in a different direction. You've had it for nine years. Okay.
01:06:31 --> 01:06:38 And you move on. I got more votes than any other black man in the history of
01:06:38 --> 01:06:40 the state of Mississippi in 2008.
01:06:42 --> 01:06:45 I got nearly 500 votes statewide.
01:06:46 --> 01:06:50 My opponent got more votes than he ever got in his life.
01:06:50 --> 01:06:57 He got 700 votes. Never had gotten it. He had been in Congress since 1979.
01:06:58 --> 01:07:06 People show up. Things change. or they stay the same, but it makes an incredible difference.
01:07:06 --> 01:07:10 If the normal turnout for him had come out, I would have been a US senator.
01:07:11 --> 01:07:15 But people showed up to vote because they felt they wanted to keep them in that position.
01:07:17 --> 01:07:22 And nearly a million Mississippians said, you know what? We want something different.
01:07:24 --> 01:07:28 Black people. And there were vote left on the table.
01:07:28 --> 01:07:32 Then there were people that didn't vote. Gary Chambers in Louisiana.
01:07:33 --> 01:07:40 If all the black, well, let's not say all. Let's just say if he had a 70% turnout,
01:07:40 --> 01:07:45 that election might have been too close to call when he ran for U.S. Senate in Louisiana.
01:07:45 --> 01:07:48 Same way with Dr. Jones in Arkansas when he ran for governor.
01:07:48 --> 01:07:53 Sarah Huckabee Sanders There's wouldn't be the Arkansas is almost 20 percent black.
01:07:53 --> 01:07:58 It would have been a lot closer. And I'm just focusing on black folks because
01:07:58 --> 01:08:00 there's a lot of white folks that took a walk.
01:08:01 --> 01:08:04 This election. Whatever is.
01:08:05 --> 01:08:10 The easiest thing you can do. There were people in line in Arizona for hours.
01:08:11 --> 01:08:16 Why? Because they had to vote on five pages worth of stuff.
01:08:16 --> 01:08:18 Not only elected officials, but the referendums. referendums,
01:08:18 --> 01:08:20 and they stood in that line.
01:08:20 --> 01:08:26 And you couldn't? If you lived in the state of Georgia, you could have been out in five minutes.
01:08:27 --> 01:08:31 Five. And they had three items as referendums.
01:08:32 --> 01:08:40 Five. This is a political show. So if you don't vote, I'm not going to reward you.
01:08:40 --> 01:08:44 I'm going to chastise you. I'm going to tell you where you can go and how to get there.
01:08:45 --> 01:08:49 Because politics plays a major role in your life. And if you don't believe it,
01:08:49 --> 01:08:52 just watch what happens over these next four years.
01:08:53 --> 01:08:57 If you didn't like what happened during the Biden administration, oh, my God.
01:08:58 --> 01:09:01 Now, the people of either side are going to have their opinions one way or the
01:09:01 --> 01:09:06 other, but you have no side because you didn't vote. And that was the killer.
01:09:07 --> 01:09:14 Now, if you didn't vote because, you know, like the man that was running and
01:09:14 --> 01:09:18 you sure weren't going to vote for a woman, That's an issue you have to deal
01:09:18 --> 01:09:22 with If you didn't vote because I don't like U.S.
01:09:22 --> 01:09:26 Policy in Israel Or Ukraine or whatever You not voting didn't help that,
01:09:27 --> 01:09:30 You didn't have a say so in the president You didn't have a say so in the vice
01:09:30 --> 01:09:34 president You didn't have a say so in the members of Congress None of that In
01:09:34 --> 01:09:38 some states you didn't even have a say so in your governor Because you didn't vote,
01:09:39 --> 01:09:45 And all I ask you to do I don't want you To necessarily vote for the person
01:09:45 --> 01:09:47 I'm going to vote for But I need you to vote.
01:09:48 --> 01:09:53 It doesn't make any sense for more people to vote for who the next American
01:09:53 --> 01:09:58 idol is than to vote for who the president of the United States is going to be. Never.
01:10:00 --> 01:10:04 On the phone in the middle of the Super Bowl and vote for who the MVP is,
01:10:04 --> 01:10:09 you can get off your butt and go to a polling place and vote for who your president's
01:10:09 --> 01:10:11 going to be. Period. End of discussion.
01:10:12 --> 01:10:16 That is who I'm really, really mad at. Kamala Harris did the best she could
01:10:16 --> 01:10:20 do. Donald Trump did exactly what he was going to do.
01:10:20 --> 01:10:25 He did exactly what he was going to do. He got his folks to come back.
01:10:26 --> 01:10:28 He stayed on his formula.
01:10:30 --> 01:10:33 Wikipedia can call it fascism, authoritarianism, and all that.
01:10:33 --> 01:10:37 I'm not here to disagree with them at all, but it's brand for him.
01:10:38 --> 01:10:41 He kept saying, make America great again. And the same amount of people that
01:10:41 --> 01:10:44 voted for him four years ago showed back up.
01:10:44 --> 01:10:48 The people that voted for Joe Biden did not. So that's on you.
01:10:49 --> 01:10:53 If you happen to be a white man or a black man or a Latino man or a Latino woman
01:10:53 --> 01:10:57 or an Asian man or an Asian woman or a Latino,
01:10:57 --> 01:11:04 I mean, a black woman or a white woman didn't vote. It didn't matter.
01:11:05 --> 01:11:12 Elections have consequences. And those who don't participate in elections face
01:11:12 --> 01:11:17 those consequences just as equally as those who do.
01:11:18 --> 01:11:26 So my advice to you going forward is to take advantage of that right you have
01:11:26 --> 01:11:33 and vote because you could get a situation where if you don't use it,
01:11:34 --> 01:11:36 you could lose it. That's not hyperbole.
01:11:37 --> 01:11:40 That's the state of where we are right now.
01:11:41 --> 01:11:47 So I would strongly encourage you all from this point forward to vote.
01:11:47 --> 01:11:51 That's all I got time for right now.
01:11:54 --> 01:11:57 But that's the most frustrating thing to me. I think, you know,
01:11:57 --> 01:12:00 we're going to go through this period.
01:12:00 --> 01:12:06 People are trying to assess good friends that are political scientists that
01:12:06 --> 01:12:08 are going to try to parse and figure out.
01:12:09 --> 01:12:14 Was it the economy? Was it immigration? Was it sexism? Was it racism?
01:12:16 --> 01:12:20 And to be honest, there will be probably valid points on all those.
01:12:21 --> 01:12:25 But to me, the most unforgivable thing in a democracy,
01:12:26 --> 01:12:33 especially when that very privilege is on the line, that very right is on the
01:12:33 --> 01:12:36 line, is when people don't use it.
01:12:37 --> 01:12:44 Because there are some folks that were praying that you didn't vote and you
01:12:44 --> 01:12:45 fulfilled their prayers.
01:12:46 --> 01:12:53 So, you know, I don't know if this will reach any of those people.
01:12:53 --> 01:12:59 Probably not, because most of the people who listen to this program vote one way or the other.
01:12:59 --> 01:13:06 But I do want people to understand that that was the reason why the Vice President
01:13:06 --> 01:13:08 of the United States didn't get promoted.
01:13:09 --> 01:13:12 It wasn't pro-Palestinian folks.
01:13:13 --> 01:13:18 It wasn't black men. It wasn't Latino men. It wasn't even white women.
01:13:19 --> 01:13:24 It was those human beings who didn't vote, plain and simple.
01:13:26 --> 01:13:31 But we'll do our part in this podcast to try to convince y'all that you need to do that.
01:13:32 --> 01:13:37 And we'll make a concerted effort to get you engaged one way to the other,
01:13:37 --> 01:13:42 along with my other fellow podcasters that deal in news and politics.
01:13:43 --> 01:13:44 And we'll see if we can do better.
01:13:45 --> 01:13:48 Thank you all for listening. Until next time.
01:13:49 --> 01:14:36 Music.
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