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January 28, 2025 • 20 mins

On today's podcast, Hosts Ramses Ja and Q Ward discuss the political connection associated with Tesla owners . 

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sometimes we're just as shocked or moved or energized by
the news we cover as anyone would be, but by
the time we share it, our initial reaction has settled
a bit. But for these stories, we want you to
learn about the news at the same time we do.
Welcome to another installment of.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
And don't know not you know Jeward ramses job.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
I happen to know that you haven't read this article
so you're going to hear it for the first time
now from Business Insider about a woman complaining that people
are treating her badly because she drives a cyber truck. Oh,
and we are going to get your response reaction general

(00:54):
take on.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
It to me?

Speaker 3 (00:56):
Okay, all right again from Business Insider. And I just
so you know, I kind of edited it down a
little bit just because it was a little long. But
and I'm more familiar with this, I'll have less to say,
but I want to get your thoughts here, all right.
This is from her perspective, So she says, I'm a
psychologist who drives long distances to see patients in towns
throughout Arizona. When I arrive and stop, step out of

(01:19):
my Tesla cyber truck, I don't have the fatigue that
typically comes with driving for hours. On the days I travel,
I often have a full schedule of Social Security, disability
psychological assessments to conduct. It's mentally exhausting work that demands
focus and compassion. I credit my cyber truck, affectionately named

(01:41):
brick House, for helping me arrive for the day without
feeling drained, but the general public thinks my truck is
a political statement and not something that helps me. In
twenty twenty four, a few months after my Model three
lease ended, I knew I wanted to purchase my next car.
Since the vehicle is technically for my business, it needed
to be big enough for a specific tax code. The
cyber truck was the only one that fit the bill.

(02:02):
My long awaited cyber truck reservation eventually came through, but
then I hesitated to upgrade to a cyber truck because
of all the controversies surrounding Tesla, the cyber truck specifically
and Elon Musk. I'd already bought a different vehicle with
driver assists, but it didn't compare to Tesla's full self driving.
The exhaustion I felt after driving for hours in the

(02:22):
other vehicle seeing patients and riding reports was extreme. The
reactions I get when driving the cyber truck have been surprising.
It's fun to see kids wave and snap pictures of
my quirky looking stainless steel ride. Most aren't shy about it.
Some ask whether it's okay. Others will walk up, pose
and take pictures or videos. Their innocent responses are truly heartwarming.

(02:44):
What's heartbreaking, though, is the way many adults respond. I've
been flipped off, mean mugged, and given many thumbs down.
I've also experienced being shouted at in traffic and others
aggressively merging in front of me. A close friend even
refused to ride in my cyber truck, sharing his disdain
for testless CEO. With the added controversies since the twenty

(03:05):
twenty five presidential inauguration and Musk's actions, I'm concerned people
will become more aggressive with their actions towards my cyber
truck and become physical versus just mean mugging and flipping
me off. It's like driving a cyber truck makes me
a target for adults's opinions about Musk. To be clear,
I bought the truck before he became a polarizing political figure.
I cannot ignore Musk's behavior, and yet I cannot take

(03:27):
back the money I've already spent on buying the cyber truck.
My cyber truck isn't just a luxury or trying to
look cool driving. My cyber truck is about functionality and safety.
There is almost two lane highways with fatigued drivers, and
narrow roads can be dangerous. Tesla cyber truck technology keeps
me centered, monitors for hazards and reduces the mental toll
of long drives. I'm not financially able to sell or

(03:48):
trade in the truck to avoid all the troubles. It's
simply not feasible. When it's time for me to purchase
another vehicle, I'm sure other auto manufacturers will have a
version of full self driving, and I'll be able to
point my dollars toward a more affirming brand. Right now,
I'm just leaning into the positives of my cybertruck. What say, ye.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
Keboard, I have so much for this one. Let's break
it down.

Speaker 3 (04:11):
Come on.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
So, first of all, she'd already ordered the truck, she says,
before Elon became polarizing. But she said she tried a
different manufacturer for that reason, which makes her take on

(04:37):
herself seem kind of dishonesty, like why would you try
an alternative for the reason of Elon's controversy? If so, okay,
I'll move on because I don't want to harp on that.
But this is just me hearing this for the first
time and hearing those two different accounts from the same person.

(05:02):
Like what you like, but don't present it to us
like it's the only option because we know better and
maybe we don't. I'm speaking a little, you know, out
of turn for everyone, sure, But as an EV owner
myself and my EV having a lot of trouble has

(05:24):
meant I've gotten to drive a lot of different you
almost you and not kind of have a running joke
that I come to the steering car a different car
every time because mine is always in the shop. But
I've been able to drive so many different cars that
all have their own version of hands free driving. Nobody
has a fully self driving system. No vehicle does, but

(05:45):
a lot of automakers meet both criterias.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
Right.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
The car has to have a certain weight to qualify
for what she was talking about, for the certain tax
code for using it as a business a business vehicle. Ironically,
almost all evs qualify because they're all so heavy. Children
wave and take pictures when they see your car, because

(06:12):
when they draw cars in second grade, they use almost
the exact same shape of the very very interesting looking
cyber truck. I don't think it's a particularly attractive vehicle,
but it definitely is the type of vehicle that's going

(06:33):
to get attention, even if it has nothing to do
with the company's CEO. I wonder when this account was taken,
because that, you know, him showing himself to be exactly
who we've figured out he was, was very recent. A
few days ago he the sig Heil, which everyone including

(06:58):
the Anti Defamation League trying to convince us was just
some awkward moment for him, like he didn't do it
twice with his full chest. Everyone wants to continue to
support those people free of any criticism, and that's just

(07:22):
it's too much of an ask. For some reason, our
president and those of his elk Ilk I'm sorry, have
worked their way into people's lives in a way that

(07:46):
doesn't come across as dangerous. If one of the most
famous German people in history had a brand, no one
would support it. No one except Neo Nazis. I don't
even want to say his name because he's just disgusting

(08:09):
as a person. But most people who want you to
believe that they're decent. If he was the CEO of
a company, or if he learned that his son, who
shared his ideology was the CEO of a company, no
one would buy the products. Nobody with the new version

(08:34):
of him. People want to keep supporting that person and
have no one look at them differently.

Speaker 3 (08:42):
That's what I got from this article.

Speaker 2 (08:44):
It is a very strange thing. Hey, I need this
from my job. I can't do my job without this
one specific vehicle. And I know that that's not true.
And I know that she knows that too. Yeah, she
just doesn't want to be looked at different for continuing

(09:04):
to support this person because she likes it. I like it,
and I don't want to change, So you guys stop
judging me for it. The fear that someone will get
violent with her. I think what we've learned, and I
say things like this, I have to give some disclosures.
I say things like, we know innocent white people aren't

(09:24):
getting shot by the cops, because if they were, we
know it. Yeah, it would make the news in a
way in order to prove that what we say is
our imagination. Examples to be in our face all the time. Right,
we have a bunch of examples of Trump supporters being

(09:47):
violent to people who vote, think, or look different than them.
I don't have any cases of Obama or Harris, or
Biden or Clinton, or I can go on.

Speaker 3 (09:57):
Forever supporters support violence against anybody.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
I don't have any examples. That doesn't mean it never happens.

Speaker 3 (10:06):
There's way more prevalent on that side.

Speaker 2 (10:08):
But that's how they get down that's not how anyone
else gets down there. You know what I haven't seen
before or since the election cycle election season, if you will,
people wearing Biden, Harris or Obama clothes or hats or

(10:29):
flags or signs or T shirts or sweaters or Hogan
figures with that person's face on it. Never in my.

Speaker 3 (10:42):
Life outside of this political season. Yeah, that's sir.

Speaker 2 (10:46):
With this guy, I left the studio and went home
on MLK Day. The MLK Day parade, as you know,
happens like outside of my house, like almost literally just
outside the front door. I live right at the intersection
of the main I live on the corner house on
the intersection of the two main streets where the MLK

(11:09):
parade happens. Guess what I saw that didn't make any
sense at the MLK parade.

Speaker 3 (11:16):
I'm guessing MAGA apparel.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
Gangs of people with like twenty foot MAGA flags and
their MAGA hats and the like. And they were only there.

Speaker 3 (11:26):
As like counter protesters.

Speaker 2 (11:29):
Who counter protest an MLK parade on Mlkday. The least
aggressive figure in y'all's history, we know better, but the
way he's presented to the world is like the golden
standard of black man. Yeah, nonviolent, nonviolent, peaceful, even they

(11:54):
quote him to show how decent they are. They showed
up just to make people uncomfortable, just to flex, just
to be bullies. So like, everything about that story just
seems dishonest, all of it. I know there's other electric
cars that have self drive capabilities. I know you can

(12:16):
sell it, is what I'm saying. You can't sell it. Yeah,
it's worth more. There's a limited production run of that truck,
so she could definitely get at least what she paid,
if not more. She likes the truck and wants to
drive it, you could just say that don't like, don't
come up with all this other stuff. No one's going
to hurt you because you drive that car. A bunch

(12:39):
of black rappers and black athletes drive that car because
they think it's cool. And there's something about something being
strange and overtly attention seeking and expensive and hard to
get that appeals to people, And a bunch of decent
people drive Tesla's and the reasons are kind of obvious.

(13:06):
The ev thing is a thing people who just like
electric cars specifically, and when it comes to electric cars,
Tesla's the longest standing company doing that particularly, so they
do it particularly well. But Yeah, this lady feels the

(13:26):
guilt that comes with being a Tesla owner and doesn't
want to feel it, doesn't want to feel it anymore.

Speaker 3 (13:32):
Yeah, it's like peak. I want to be very sensitive.
How I describe this, it's peak. It's I can only
imagine one type of person feeling so bad about how

(13:54):
rough her life is in her six figure vehicle that,
for all intents and purposes, is a political statement. At
this point, her feelings need to be prioritized, and Business
Insider gave her a whole article on it. You know
what I mean, Like, oh, my gosh, poor lady. I

(14:15):
bet there's a ton of people that feel just like you,
and I think you have to leap over kind of
the obvious reality, which is that they're literally millions of
people that feel way worse and have a much more
dangerous life that they have to live now. So you're
comfort being expressed in this article or discomfort is the

(14:43):
epitome of arrogance and self absorption.

Speaker 2 (14:50):
It's right in line with I don't want my children
to learn that their great grandparents own slaves. Yeah, I
don't like how that makes my children.

Speaker 3 (14:58):
Feel, like how it makes.

Speaker 2 (15:00):
Me fee makes me feel.

Speaker 3 (15:03):
So uh, you know, you know, you're right. There are
some decent folks that have Tesla's, But you know, all
the decent folks I know they have Tesla's have told
me I got to get rid of Tesla.

Speaker 2 (15:17):
And there and they definitely won't go buy the new one.

Speaker 3 (15:19):
Right right because we all know that. It's It's like
if Q, if you had to spend your own money
and stay in any hotel in the world, would you
stay at a Trump hotel?

Speaker 2 (15:37):
Listen, it could be the only hotel. I'll just sleep
in the car.

Speaker 3 (15:44):
So so it is the reason for that, because staying
in a Trump hotel now kind of doubles as a
political statement.

Speaker 2 (15:53):
It's it's at best supporting a business owned by him,
and at worst, at worst, it is a blatant political statement.

Speaker 3 (16:05):
Thank you. Okay, So that's what I was going with.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
Those people are seeking out the Trump yet tower or
hotel so they can stand there, so they can keep
it's it's the red hat and a building that said,
I said, so this is the red hat on wheels.

Speaker 3 (16:21):
Thank you? That What else do I have to say? Man? Everything?
Because I said at the beginning, I actually had had
come across the article and got a chance to read
through it, and then I thought this would be great
to run by. You edited down all that stuff, so
I'm familiar with it. But everything that I was hoping
would come out in this conversation, and you just hit.

Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah, man, we have we have a colleague who said,
and he works in sports, not politics, but even he
said this that was partly right and partly wrong. And
I hope we bump into him somewhere so I can
just educate him. Because he's a brother of ours, but
he's white. And he said he was upset that he
went to this w NBA game, and this whole family
in front of him had on their MAGA stuff, because

(17:00):
that's flagrantly a political statement, especially in that space, the
black woman lesbian majority league. You came to make people
there uncomfortable. The type of people that go and support
the WNBA. Trump and his followers have shown that they're

(17:22):
anti everything that that league represents and stands for, which
is why when Caitlyn Clark started speaking nice about black people,
all those fans flipped on her, because they were never fans.
She was just an avatar for their hate, the straight
white Christian woman who was taking over the black gay

(17:42):
woman's sport. And he said he was so upset because
that would be like someone wearing a Biden or Harris
hat to I forget the thing, he said, and I
wish I could have been in person to tell him, no,
that's actually not the same. Just like black power and

(18:04):
white power is not the same, don't They don't mean
the same things to those of course they're obviously not
the same, but they don't mean the same thing to
the separate groups. Just like black lives Matter and white
lives matter don't mean the same things to those separate groups.
What the make America Great hat means. It's not the
same as, Hey, this is who I voted for. That's

(18:25):
what all the other hats mean. This is who I
voted for or who I'm going to vote for. That's
all they mean. That's all they mean. I don't love him.
I don't worship him, it's just who. I don't even
really talk about him outside of this until it's time
to vote, like I don't, but the MAGA hat. I
don't bang on my friends on his behalf. I don't
they suh out to people because they should love him too,

(18:47):
like I.

Speaker 3 (18:48):
Let me get this. The MAGA hat is not who
I'm voting for. The MAGA hat is who I am.

Speaker 2 (18:54):
Yes, I have nothing else. That's it.

Speaker 3 (18:58):
Okay, that's it. Well listen, if you have a Tesla,
cyber truck or a Tesla and you feel bad, your
feelings are hurt because people don't like your car anymore,
and you're sad and you want to talk about it
to some people, you can use the red microphone talkback
feature on the iHeartRadio app. You can hit me on

(19:22):
all social media at ramses job.

Speaker 2 (19:24):
I am q ward on all social media as well.

Speaker 3 (19:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:31):
Well, We'll talk later, all right, peace.

Speaker 3 (19:35):
This has been a production of the Black Information Network.
Today's show is produced by Chris Thompson. Have some thoughts
you'd like to share, use the red microphone talkback feature
on the iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be sure to
hit subscribe and download all of our episodes. I am
your host Ramsey's Jaw on all social media.

Speaker 2 (19:51):
I am q Ward on all social media as well.

Speaker 3 (19:54):
And join us tomorrow as we share our news with
our voice from our perspective right here on the Black
Information Network. The Daily Podcast
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