11/21/25: SEDITION! Trump Threatens Dems, ICE Flees After Lies EXPOSED, GOP PANICS In TN Special Election

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 1 (00:25):
We need your help to build the future of independent
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dot com.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
Good morning everyone, Good morning.

Speaker 4 (00:33):
How goes it doing?

Speaker 5 (00:35):
Good?

Speaker 6 (00:35):
Emily? Are you doing air traffic control this morning? Are
you saving the planes?

Speaker 7 (00:40):
I am.

Speaker 8 (00:40):
There's so much exhaustion with the FAA that I'm here
to help now. I'm in the White House basement under
the press briefing room because I'm a new media pool
today for the Trump Zoron meeting, so I'll be there
for all of the highlights.

Speaker 9 (00:55):
You have to ask whether or not Trump approves of
my Donnie's plan to require New York City children to
learn Arabic numerals.

Speaker 6 (01:04):
You have?

Speaker 10 (01:05):
This is you have to ask. People need to know this,
they do.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
I mean, he's right, He's absolutely right. Ryan's such a
pro man.

Speaker 8 (01:14):
I'm going to ask if he supports the full burkover
the Statue of Liberty, why don't yea?

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Why eighty of young women prefer to real law to
the Republican Party?

Speaker 10 (01:28):
And what's wrong? What's wrong with Roman numerals?

Speaker 9 (01:30):
Like you know, the Judeo Christian civilization is sourced out
of out of Rome. According to Ben Shapiro's latest book,
why are we not teaching Roman numerals?

Speaker 11 (01:43):
Yeah, you guys have given me so much to work with.

Speaker 4 (01:46):
Yeah, take take notes, ou take notes. Don't forget these.

Speaker 9 (01:49):
Oh and tell tell him, tell him that, tell him
that we just got eighteen thousand more emails from Jeffrey
Epstein's Yahoo Inbox shout out to Distributed Denial of Secrets
d DOS is the same nonprofit whistleblower site that got
Ahood Barocks email.

Speaker 10 (02:09):
Oh wow, shared that with us.

Speaker 9 (02:11):
Now they got this is Yahoo inbox and they've given
us access to that as of yesterday.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yu, have you started searching through Have you had a
chance to work with it at all, Yes.

Speaker 9 (02:23):
A little bit, And we put a couple of pieces
from it in our story that just went up this
morning about Epstein and Bannon and Modying's relationship with India.
There's a lot in there. Interestingly, you see some emails
being forwarded in twenty twenty, so after he died, so
clearly somebody from his estate or somebody was like monky

(02:45):
with it. Now, you can't fabricate emails to like, you
can't go back in time and make up new emails.
But I would suspect that some of the best stuff
probably was deleted out of this thing before it got
to us. Bloomberg got a copy version of this a
while ago and did a couple of stories out of it,
but they never published the emails, and they never made

(03:06):
the whole cash public. So now now we've got it,
and we're going to do we can to make as
much of a public as possible.

Speaker 10 (03:15):
If you guys want to like.

Speaker 9 (03:16):
Search around in it, let me know and I'll figure
out way to get your access to it. We're going
to try to make the access public too. That's awesome
working on that. Yeah, see what Trump thinks of that?

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah, that one I would actually like to see his
reaction to us their eighteen thousand new Epstein emails just
dropped your reaction. What do you expect people are going
to find in there?

Speaker 11 (03:38):
Just get called a pig.

Speaker 6 (03:40):
I know I was going to say you were asking
for a piggy. We're begging for piggy on that one.
All right, Well, well we're gonna after making sure Emily
is getting kicked out of the conference later today. We've
got a big show right now on Friday. We have
two guests later in the show. We've got who do
we got Chrystal. We've got Justin.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Pearson Often in Baine. So they're both running in Tennessee.
Often is running in a special election that is actually happening,
like right now. Early voting has already started. It is
a Trump plus twenty district. It is a very Republican
red district. But Democrats at least were getting a little
bit excited about like a slim possibility maybe they could

(04:19):
pull off the unthinkable. Here aften is. You know, she's
like a DSA member. I mean, she's very against the genocide.
She's really foregrounded affordability in terms of her campaign. Interestingly, though,
Kamala Harris is coming to the district, which I'm not
really sure about that.

Speaker 4 (04:35):
Being the right to say. So we'll ask her all
those questions.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
And then Justin Pearson, you guys may remember him as
being part of the quote unquote Tennessee three kicked down.

Speaker 4 (04:43):
He is a state rep.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
Kicked down of the legislature because of this protest against
gun violence. He is now challenging Steve Cohen, who is
an incumbent, very pro Israel incumbent Democrat representing Memphis and
an older guy as well. So Justin is like this insurgent.
He's back by the Justice Democrats challenging him from the left.

(05:05):
I really, you know, admire what his you know, the
courage that he has had in the state of Tennessee,
the way he stood for his value. So I'm really
excited to speak with him as well. And I have
to think that's a primary where he's got a decent shot.
You know, it's one of those where there is a
real mismatch between Cohen and the district, and especially with
the rising salience of Israel as an issue and being

(05:27):
such a schism between the base and Democratic Party elite.
So I just talked to the Justice Democrats to two
of their their constructor and their campaign's director. They're feeling
very bullish about this race as well. They're quite careful
about where they put their resources in their fund so
this is one that they're in full force behind. So
excited to talk to him as well.

Speaker 10 (05:46):
Yeah, and color show.

Speaker 8 (05:47):
Well, I was just going to say, Ryan, you probably
covered Cohen a lot. He's one of the weirdest members
of Congress.

Speaker 10 (05:53):
He is in colorful in often a delightful way.

Speaker 4 (05:56):
Yes, yeah, true.

Speaker 9 (05:59):
I covered when he was first elected there was this
controversy because he tried to join the Black Caucus.

Speaker 11 (06:05):
Because I forgot about that.

Speaker 9 (06:06):
Yeah, he argued, uh, and I covered this meeting and everything.
He argued that he represents a black district, a majority
black district, and so what is it. Is it about
the members or is it about the constituents? Yeah, isn't
the Are we representing the people? Who cares what color
I am? I'm representing a majority black district. You should

(06:28):
not disenfranchise all of my constituents from this block inside
the House.

Speaker 10 (06:34):
I thought he had a fair argument. He did not.
He did not prevail on that.

Speaker 9 (06:38):
They then tried the the the kind of black establishment
in the district ran sort of a kind of underground
kind of black primary to say, like, if we have
more than one candidate challenging him, it's going to split
the vote and he's going to win easily. And so
the establishment there rallied behind one candidate and he crushed

(06:59):
her and they haven't tried since. So that was a
long time ago in a different era, and that was
pre genocide too, and so we'll, you know, we'll see.

Speaker 6 (07:11):
Well, he's calling this race his personal pearl harbor, So
we're excited to dive into all the and more.

Speaker 10 (07:16):
Maybe we should get him on he's.

Speaker 4 (07:18):
Like character dealings with him as well.

Speaker 6 (07:23):
Yeah, all right, well stay tuned for a future Friday show,
mister Cohen. You know, we got a lot of other
news stories, but let's start with a little bit of
death sedition. Donald Trup Donald Trump posted some truth. Yeah,
he did a truth. He posted a truth on truth
Social where he says, seditious behavior punishable by death. And

(07:45):
I saw this first and I had no idea what
it was referring to, but I realized after doing some research,
it's referring to our friend Alyssa Slotkin in a video
that she made if I'm.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
Correct right her and others, Senator Mark Kelly, the what's
his name out of Pennsylvania, interesting populist guy. Anyway, it's
a number of Democrats who either have military or intelligence
in the case of Melissa Slotkin backgrounds who made this
video saying effectively like, listen to our service members out there,

(08:20):
you are not obligated. In fact, you have responsibility not
to follow unlawful orders. You want to go ahead and
play that griff.

Speaker 10 (08:28):
Let's take a listen.

Speaker 1 (08:30):
I'm Senator Alissa Slackin, Senator Mark Kelly, Representative Chris Deluzio,
Representative Chrissy Hulahan, Congressman Jason Crow.

Speaker 12 (08:39):
I was a captain in the United States.

Speaker 4 (08:41):
Navy, former CIA officer, former Navy, former paratrooper and Army ranger.

Speaker 13 (08:45):
Former intelligence officer, former Air Force.

Speaker 12 (08:48):
We want to speak directly to members of the military.

Speaker 1 (08:50):
And the intelligence community to take risks each day to
keep Americans safe.

Speaker 3 (08:54):
We know you are under enormous stress and pressure right now.
Americans trust their military with us as at risk.

Speaker 12 (09:01):
This administration is pitting our uniform military.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
And intelligence community professionals against American citizens like us.

Speaker 12 (09:08):
You all swore an oath to protect any in this constitution.

Speaker 5 (09:12):
Right now, the threats to our constitution aren't just coming
from abroad, but from right here at home.

Speaker 12 (09:16):
Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders. You
can refuse illegal orders.

Speaker 10 (09:22):
You must refuse illegal orders.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
No one has to carry out orders that violate the
law or our constitution.

Speaker 12 (09:29):
We know this is hard and that it's a difficult
time to be a public servant.

Speaker 4 (09:32):
But whether you're serving in the CIA, the Army, or Navy,
the Air Force, your vigilance is critical.

Speaker 12 (09:38):
And know that we have your back because now more
than ever.

Speaker 13 (09:42):
The American people need you.

Speaker 12 (09:44):
We need you to stand up for our laws, our constitution,
and who we are as Americans.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
So this is interesting to me on a number of levels.
First of all, I mean Mark Kelly Alyssa's lockin. People
will probably be familiar with them, in particular as United
State senators like these are not you know, these are
not radicals.

Speaker 4 (10:03):
This is very centristy.

Speaker 2 (10:05):
You know, these are the National Security Dems, and so
you know, to put out this video I thought was
actually very savvy and sort of like almost something that
the Republicans would think to do, because I assume they
figured they would effectively bait Trump and the Republicans into
a sort of melt down response, over the top meltdown response,

(10:26):
and then they can point to the video and say
this is just literally the constitution, like this is just
pointing out that you are not obligated to follow unlawful orders,
and in fact, you are obligated to not follow those
unlawful orders. And of course the back drop of all
of this is the National Guard deployments, which in certain
instances have been deemed to be unlawful, and in particular

(10:47):
the bombing of these various boats, which is on I mean,
I don't even think it's fair to call it shaky
legal ground. It's just invented, non existent illegal ground. And
there was some reporting I don't know if you guys
saw soccer, and I think Sager and I covered it.
Where there's groups, there's outside groups that will give advice

(11:08):
legal counsel to service members, and they've seen a huge
uptick in outreach from current service members who are asking them, like,
am I in legal jeopardy here for participating in this.

Speaker 4 (11:21):
So this is a very real and live issue.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
I'm sure it's something that Slacken and Mark Kelly and
the others involved him in hearing from their constituents and
concerns from within the military. So, you know, for me,
it was interesting to see these centrists take a what
I think as an intentionally like both very solidly grounded
but also sort of intentionally provocative in terms of trying
to get a response from Trump, and then of course

(11:44):
Trump is insanely unhinged calling for them basically to be executed,
such that that's a question that his press secretary had
to actually feel like, do you want, basically, do you
want lawmakers from the opposition party to be murdered for treason?

Speaker 8 (11:58):
Do you want?

Speaker 6 (11:58):
I got that if you want me to pull it
up before react, Brian.

Speaker 13 (12:04):
Thank caarly.

Speaker 5 (12:04):
Two questions we were talking about four earlier in this
briefing about the president's orders.

Speaker 13 (12:09):
You were going back and forth about what's what the
bad sent what should say? My first question is that
add the advertisement with that set of Democrats were featured in.

Speaker 5 (12:16):
So the first question is, no matter what the order is,
it could be to any administration official, military otherwise, no
matter if the electorates might think it's illegal, does the
president expect those cabinet members officials to go ahead with
those orders?

Speaker 13 (12:32):
Regardless of any any outside thinking.

Speaker 14 (12:35):
Ran the President expects his cabinet officials in the administration
to follow the law and to demand accountability and hold
people accountable for their dangerous rhetoric. And I would just
add that if this were Republican members of Congress who
were encouraging members of the military and members of our
United States government to defy orders from the President and
from the chain of command, this entire room would be

(12:57):
up in arms. But instead it is the other way around.
And I think that's quite telling. I'm gonna let you
all go because the president.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
Excuse me so, Emily or Ryan, you guys need to
jump in your thoughts.

Speaker 8 (13:11):
I do think Slockin and Kelly and Centrist Democrats in general,
it's it's particularly I mean, this is what makes me
feel more cynical about what they're doing. As someone who's
like obviously very concerned about the not even bothered to
like the administration, not even bothering to justify basically on
like publicly at least their strikes, and like the the

(13:34):
war powers that they have to be doing this. I'm
very cynical about Slockin and Kelly and Centristems coming out
with this messaging, because I would love to know if
if they would say this about someone who's pushing the
button for the drone that's, you know, taking out people
in the Middle East. I would love to know, maybe
even a US citizen in the Middle East.

Speaker 10 (13:55):
It just Caribbean, yeah or yeah.

Speaker 11 (13:58):
Or yep exactly.

Speaker 2 (13:59):
So I feel like they are talking about the Caribbean,
aren't they.

Speaker 11 (14:04):
Probably, Yeah, that's what I'm assuming that they're talking about.

Speaker 4 (14:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 11 (14:08):
So it just it feels like a really cynical.

Speaker 8 (14:14):
Way to jump into all of this from people who
I don't think would have any interest. And I'm sure
they're like all for regime change in Venezuela as well.
I mean Slackin's literally Cia. So I just am cynical
about it.

Speaker 11 (14:27):
But I don't know.

Speaker 8 (14:28):
I mean, it's kind of funny to see slock and
stepping into her lane here.

Speaker 9 (14:35):
Well, that's where the National Security Democrats really are. You
feel their oaks, Like they feel so comfortable in that
space of defending the constitution and standing up for democracy
and norms, so like this is this is their this
is their spot, even if it's even if it's cynical,
and to Crystal's point, clever in the sense that they're
going to say something totally anadyne, hey, don't do anything illegal,

(15:00):
and Trump's gonna absolutely freak out right.

Speaker 11 (15:04):
He said the craziest.

Speaker 9 (15:06):
Stuff, do not commit crimes please, And Trump's like, how
dare you? And Caroline Lewitz like I find it very
telling that she would tell them not to commit crimes.

Speaker 10 (15:16):
No, Trump is like just saying, find that very telling?

Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yeah, I mean, but like I I do actually think
it's clever. And yeah, of course they're like, you know, hypocritical,
like Slot Cannon and Mark Kelly. They've had you know,
we both know what their position on the genocide has
been and how they were all on board with it
and there were no concern about unlawful orders or you know,
international law or any of that when that was concerned.
So the cynical nature of this is sort of like,

(15:41):
you know, to me, so obvious is to be beside
the point. I actually it's funny you say, therefore, Ryan
like upholding the norms, And I actually see this as
a little bit norm breaking for them because they're they're
you know, I mean, it.

Speaker 10 (15:55):
Is good point. Yeah, they don't.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
Come out and say, like you can follow the orders
to murder the random people in the Caribbean. That is
the implied subtext, but everybody knows that that is there,
and that is actually to like actively go and directly
speak to current service members and suggest that they may
be violating the law by following the orders from this president,

(16:19):
that the president's orders are unlawful, and that they're what
they're getting from their chain of command is unlawful and unvetted.
I mean, I think that in a different era they
would have found that to be out of balance. Right,
that's not our place. That's too far over the line.
And so I feel like there has been some learning,
even from the Center's Democrats, of like how to play

(16:40):
this game, how to bait Trump in a way that
he frequently bates the Democrats and get an unhinged response
from him that just looks, you know, completely bananas and bonkers.
And this comes shortly on the heels of him talking about, oh,
we got to turn down the temperature after Charlie Kirk
is assassinated, and now out here here he is retweeting
some guy who said they should be hanged, that that's

(17:00):
what George Washington would have done for literally putting on
a video like Ryan said, that's just like, hey, guys,
don't break the law. He signed the sentiment that they
should be hanged for that.

Speaker 9 (17:11):
That's a good point and it should be seen with
Rokanna's interview that he did, I think it was yesterday,
where he was even maybe more direct and talking about
the Epstein Files legislation that Trump signed into office. He
was basically speaking directly to people at the Department of
Justice and saying, you know, this is not an opinion
at this point, this is federal law.

Speaker 10 (17:33):
You have to follow federal law.

Speaker 9 (17:35):
If you're going through these files, you're deleting things, you're
obstructing you know, you're obstructing the investigation, you're destroying evidence.
There is a good chance that we will find out
and that we will prosecute you once Democrats are back
in power. So he said very clearly, think about that
now before you before you break the law. So, yeah,

(18:00):
that is a little bit more aggressive and norm breaking
for Democrats than so traditionally.

Speaker 8 (18:06):
I just put up on the on the screen here
this is reporting on a classified Justice Department memo that
says US troops will not be held liable in boat strikes.
So what's interesting about this? And actually really sad about
this is that war powers are just so broad that
what they're doing is trying to find the meat of

(18:28):
the article here, they're basically they're justifying it by saying,
if you have this memo from the Office of the
Legal Council, it covers anyone from future prosecution. And there's like,
as much as I don't like that, there's like already

(18:49):
precedent baked in that you're not going to get prosecuted
for it. That doesn't mean it's right, But that's how
the administration. This is not even public, by the way,
so there's saying it's about a fifty page opinion. It
says the US is in a quote non international armed
conflict waged under Article two authorities, and that armed conflict
argument is what they did give in a notice to Congress.

(19:12):
But it's in this again classified fifty page memo that
says because cartels are selling drugs of finance a campaign
of violence and extortion, they are then justified.

Speaker 6 (19:24):
What does non international mean? Like, I didn't know that
the Caribbean was part of the American nation, Like, what
what does that mean?

Speaker 10 (19:32):
Non internation?

Speaker 11 (19:33):
You every day?

Speaker 12 (19:34):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (19:35):
I assume it means I'm not sure Griffin either. My
reading of that was it means like it's an attack
on American soil effectively because of the drugs that are
being brought into the US, and I believe it was
The New York Times Emily also did reporting on this,
you know, classified memo, and effectively, I mean, what they're
doing is rather than even relying on their own internal

(19:57):
research and analysis of drug and where the drugs originate
from and what the cartels are up to, they relied
on the word of the President and his characterization and
other administration officials characterization of what was going on here,
in other words, total and complete lives, and they use

(20:18):
that that as their justification for the legal rationale in
this memo. So, you know, I think this is where
you also have to consider the moment that we're in
in the Trump administration, where he is at maybe one
of his weakest points ever. You know, I think you'd
have to go back to just after January sixth, to
see after he's lost an election, his own election and failed,

(20:41):
you know, had his failed coup, and even Republicans are
at that particular moment. They've since gotten over it, but
at that particular moment condemning him from his forest actions.
I think you have to go back to that time
to see him as weakened as he is right now,
because you have he's an old man, he's fallen asleep.
He just got his ass handed to him, and elections
across country Republicans rebuked him on the Epstein files and

(21:03):
he had to cave and totally flip flop. His approval
rating is in the toilet, and everybody's looking at like, Okay,
this man is a lame duck. Now what is the
future gonna going to look like? And so the reason
that context is important is because you have a lot
of criminal and corrupt behavior that has just been completely
normalized in this administration. And just like Steve Bannon coming

(21:24):
out and being like, you know, some of these, some
of us, including myself, we're going to end up in
prison if Democrats get back in power. I don't actually
think that's true with Steve Bannon, with some of these
other folks. They got to start thinking in that direction.
You know, christ you know, I'm funneling freaking two hundred
plus million dollars into an aligned you know, her boyfriend,
alleged boyfriend Corey Lewandowski runs it's just it's just insane

(21:46):
the levels of corruption we're going to talk about what
Ice and Greg Bavino a CBP have been up to,
lying to judges, you know, repeatedly, even when there's bodycam
and other video evidence to directly contradict them. And so
in that same vein, you have service members who are
receiving these orders with like the flimsiest or not even

(22:07):
bothering to give them a justification, who are thinking to
themselves like, this too is not going to be in
power forever. Maybe my superiors will be protected, but will I,
you know, are are they going to like are they
going to protect me? Are they going to save their
own asses? So I think that's part of why this
video lands in a particular way right now. And interestingly

(22:28):
from that report I was mentioning earlier about the you know,
the nonprofits that do this kind of legal work and
legal advice to service members. They said us actually mostly
people who are higher up in the chain of command
who are reaching out to them because they have enough
insight to the system to know that the normal legal
checks that exist, to the extent that they ever do,

(22:49):
are not being followed, a bunch of JAG officers, a
bunch of internal military lawyers were fired. So they're the
ones who are like, hey, I'm not so sure about this.
The rank and file, you know, enlisted men and women,
are not questioning as much because they just still have
this sort of like naive faith that well, if I'm
being told to do this, it must have gone it

(23:10):
must be approved, it must have gone through the proper checks.
So in any case, I think the fact that people
are starting to imagine what the post Trump world is
going to look like it's another reason why they're starting
to take more seriously their legal responsibilities and potentially illegal
or criminal actions.

Speaker 8 (23:29):
I think the OLC memom that we were just talking
about is a sign. Well, I mean, they apparently drafted
it before those strikes started, no surprise there, But I
think the leaks about it suggest, you know, this administration
hasn't made a lot of this stuff public and has
basically just been saying screw you to questions about the
legal justification for all of their response. The Penton's response

(23:50):
is literally just the President's following the law, or we're
following the law. We're taking all steps to comply with
the law, but I think that is some of the
leaks suggest that their concerns internally about people's asses being
covered in the future if prosecutions came down the line. Now, honestly,
having read a lot of the coverage of it and
looked at the memo, I just think our war powers

(24:12):
are so broad that anybody involved will probably be fine.
And I think that's wrong, and our war power shouldn't
be that broad. And I think a lot of people
in the MAGA coal I shouldn't think our war powers shouldn't
be that broad, but will. But are just you know,
looking the other way on this one. But it's it's
a sign I think internally that there's discomfort.

Speaker 15 (24:31):
Are coming out against Ryan.

Speaker 9 (24:34):
It's just hard to see how a boat with even
if the boat has like a handgun or an assault rifle
on it, like how a boat off the coast of
Venezuela can lausibly be read as a as a military
threat to the United States. So, yeah, I agree with
you that, like, we don't have a system that ever

(24:56):
is going to prosecute anybody for anything like That's probably true,
But if a prosecutor did try, I feel like it
would be pretty straightforward that we have not declared, like
declared war on what like boats, boats would enough to
make yeah, so.

Speaker 8 (25:16):
Well yeah, But the argument that they make is that
because the boats are carrying drugs and the drugs are
intended to give profits back to that would be used
on military equipment.

Speaker 9 (25:25):
That's literally Accordingly, they have no idea that that's true.

Speaker 10 (25:29):
None.

Speaker 8 (25:29):
Well, they haven't prosecuted any of the survivors of these strikes,
haven't been.

Speaker 15 (25:32):
Prosecuted for charactory.

Speaker 10 (25:33):
They're completely making that up.

Speaker 9 (25:34):
It's also it's not true, like as a sag and
I reported Venezuela and they're diplomats have made clear to
the US, we don't fund our military but with drugs.
We fund it with oil and other minerals. Like we're
very open about the whole reason that you want to
like bomb us and do regime change is because of

(25:55):
the wealth that we have from the oil and the minerals.
That's where our money comes or is under the ground.
So if somebody, if somebody, let's say, you kill somebody
and your claim is, well, those drugs, the profits from
those drugs were going back to a military that we're
not even at war with, like set that aside, like

(26:16):
what what military are we even even at war with?
What terror group is connected to al Qaeda? Because you
have to have a connection to al Qaeda in order
for the AUMF to work. Setting that aside, how do
you know where those profits are going? You saw a
boat leave, It looked to you like it was a
drug boat and you bombed it. You don't know what
organization that boat was with, whether it was a one

(26:36):
off with it, Like you don't, you don't, you don't know,
like where that money is moving if you do go
rest those people, like I don't think in a court
if a person said, well I was worried that this
money was going to go to finance ex terror organization
like okay, which one. So you can't just walk down

(26:59):
the street and kill people and say that you thought
that the people's money might eventually be used for something
that you say is illegal, Like that's not a permissible
reason to execute people. So that's why I think you
could actually make the case. I agree with you that no,
in no universe does that ever happen in our country.

Speaker 6 (27:18):
Ryan, But we got to move to eyes with My
question for you is do these Senate Dems who are saying,
don't break the law. Have they spoken out about regime
change in Venezuela.

Speaker 9 (27:27):
Because a decent number of a decent no, because they're
being pressured by progressive, you know, anti war groups they've
been reluctant to, but an increasing number have h have reluctantly,
and you can see the reluctance in their statements and
in their comments come out and said, Okay, we shouldn't

(27:48):
do this.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
Yeah, okay, Well that's a win for progressive anti war groups.

Speaker 10 (27:53):
Share.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
I don't care what's in their heart, like in the
right things. I appreciate that. Yeah, let's talk about some
of what's going on in Chicago, because I followed this
story and I suspect a lot of other people did
very closely. There was a woman who was a local
activist Chicago activist against ice and Border Patrol, and there

(28:20):
was an incident that occurred. There was some sort of
a vehicle incident that occurred. She ended up shot five
times with seven bullet holes in her, which apparently the
guy who did it, the CBP agent who did it,
was very proud of and was bragging to his buddies
about what a great marksman he was. Look at all
the holes I put in her body. He texted to

(28:41):
some of his buddies, and immediately the story the government
is telling diverges from the emerging facts. Okay, So their
initial story is that she crashed into them and they
had to protect themselves, and that she had a semi
automatic weapon, and so that's why they were justified in

(29:04):
shooting this woman. Chicago resident five times, American citizen, Chicago resident,
known local activists five times. Okay, So then that's their
of initial story. When they actually filed charges against her,
already the story has changed.

Speaker 4 (29:19):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (29:20):
We find out that the place where they said that
she was after the accident was not was not correct.
We find out no longer they mentioning the gun. Previously,
they'd said there were all these cars that had blocked
them in and they couldn't escape, and that was part
of why, you know, they had to defend themselves in
this way and they had to fire on her. Now

(29:41):
we just have her and one other guy, whose mom,
by the way, is out there saying like he's not
even an activist. He just was literally driving his car
in wrong place, wrong time.

Speaker 4 (29:49):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (29:50):
So the story the government is telling and the story
that they are now telling in the indictment totally diverge.
Then you have the lawyer for this woman, the one
who got shot five times, saying, this is not what
happened at all. In fact, we have viewed body camera
video that shows they crashed into her, and then they

(30:12):
said they said something provoked. I can't remember what they said,
like right before the CBP officer fired on her, like
take that bitch or something was something like that, right,
showing a you know, real intent that there was no
indication that she had threatened them whatsoever, and other various
parts of the story.

Speaker 4 (30:31):
Fell apart, fell apart.

Speaker 2 (30:32):
Then these text messages where he's texting with his buddies
and bragging about what he had done here, then those
come out. Then the vehicle that was involved in this,
they're the CBP vehicle they like took from Chicago and
took it away from the scene like it seeming to
conceal the evidence. Okay, but they're still persisting in these

(30:53):
charges against her that she was a violent threat, et cetera. Well,
now they have just completely and totally dropped the charges.
They have dropped the charges against this woman, and the
lawyer is indicating that there was additional body camera and
footage that was going to come out, and additional text

(31:14):
messages coming from this guy who shot at her. So
now they're saying she didn't I mean, they're not pressing
charge against her at all. And again they have body
camera footage, so if she did something wrong, the government
would really be able to prove it, and the government
has a lot of advantages in these situations anyway. So
it increasingly looks like they just straight up tried to

(31:36):
kill this lady, and you know, allegedly, that's really what
it looks like at this point. If she did nothing
wrong that they can charge, and they have this video evidence,
and they're just letting her go, Like what other conclusion
are we supposed to come to here? She was a
known local activist, you know, they had it out for her.
And there are other instances that we now know where

(31:58):
they sort of incited these sorts of accident and sort
of been caught on video that they've been called out
in other trials. So this is a completely completely insane
situation here, and I think shows you the level of chaos, lawlessness,
and outright violence that communities have been subjected to by
these you know, by these thugs that have been unleashed

(32:19):
with our taxpayer dollars on American streets.

Speaker 6 (32:25):
There was another story I saw that there was a
child predator sting and one of the members was an
ICE employee, and when they arrested him, he was like, Hey,
don't worry, guys, I'm Ice, Like, as if that was
going to like let them lose.

Speaker 4 (32:40):
Don't care you're arrested anyway, which kudos to them.

Speaker 6 (32:44):
Yeah, but how many times did they not arrest someone
when they said no worm Ice? You know, that's the
other question.

Speaker 9 (32:49):
Yeah, this is I mean, it's hard to find a
more egregious case than this because they very nearly and
tried to kill the woman. Like you shoot somebody five
times and brag about hitting them, putting seven holes in them,
and you're that much of a sociopath that you brag
about it. This is another human this is a human being,
this is a fellow American. It's hard to get more

(33:11):
egregious than that. Yet, we are seeing across the country
judges just starting to lose it. On the Department of
Homeland Security and on the prosecutors. You're seeing more and
more filings coming out for rulings coming out from judges

(33:31):
where they are indicating that they have been just flat out,
straight up lied to. Now, the idea that some police
lie is you know, judges are familiar with that. So
imagine what it takes for these judges to be as
outraged as they are because they're used to like the
little white lives you know, from a lot of police

(33:53):
officers in the courtroom.

Speaker 10 (33:55):
This stuff is just completely backwards.

Speaker 9 (33:58):
Stuff like their car rammed into us, and so that's
why we either shot at them or beat them or
arrested them. You see the video footage. It was dhs
that actually rammed into them. So many examples of that.
A case that came out yesterday that they were basically,
you know, tapping their brakes so that there would be

(34:20):
a car accident so that they could then start on.

Speaker 2 (34:23):
Them driving erratically and doing brake checks to try to
cause an accident in order to justify use of force.

Speaker 9 (34:32):
Yeah, saying that they saying that they were hit by
a two by four with nails in it turned out
it was carboard with nothing in it. Saying that somebody
ripped somebody's beard off, didn't happen, Saying that she was.

Speaker 8 (34:43):
Also a license to conceal carry, So she was perfectly
the gun was in her ant bag, was perfectly legal.

Speaker 2 (34:50):
Yeah, and never and she never did any she'd never
even reached for it. I mean yeah, and they just
invented initially. Remember it was like this, you know, send
me automatic weapon that she was threatening them with. And
you know, I mean, just like Griffin. Can you pull
up this thread from Aaron Riceland Melnick that has a
bunch of the examples here. This is from Judge Ellis,

(35:13):
who he describes as the first federal judge to review
extensive bodycam footage of DHS's actions in Chicago, and she's
the one who required them all, including Bovino, to wear
bodycam footage. And a lot of the lies are not
not that it's excusable from like the rank and file either,
but quite a number of them come directly from Bovino

(35:33):
because he's not only running the operation, he is also
on the ground, like doing some of the actions and assaulting,
especially some of the protesters. So he's got a number
of the examples here. First, he says, she finds DHS
repeatedly misled the public. I'll go through some of the
most egregious ones here. He says that she finds Chief

(35:54):
Bovino gave not credible testimony, stating he appeared evasive over
the three days of his depth of vision deposition, either
providing cute responses or outright line. On October twenty eighth,
DHS claimed day's earlier rioters had shot at agents with
commercial artillery shell fireworks, forcing agents to deploy teargas and
riot munitions. Oh, it turns out the explosions where DHS's

(36:16):
own flashbangs. DHS claimed agents were forced to use riot
munitions to disperse an unruly mob.

Speaker 4 (36:23):
In fact, the scene was.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
Quiet and then almost immediately and without warning, agents love
flash ban grenades, tear gas, pepperballs, stating fuck yeah as
they do so. On September twenty sixth, a DHS officer
claimed they were forced to deploy riot munitions because protesters
were becoming increasingly hostile. In fact, the BWC video shows
protesters were simply standing there when agents first deployed any force.

(36:47):
DHS claimed an incident on October third showed agents were
in danger of being rammed. This is the one Ryan
was referring to. In fact, body cam suggests the agent
drove erradically and break checked other motorists in an attempt
to force accidents that agents could then use as justification
for deploying force. She says all these errors add up
at some point it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to

(37:09):
believe almost anything DHS represents. For example, a top officer
testified protesters had shields with nails in them, except there
were no nails and mostly it was cardboard. In another incident,
DHS officers wrote that protesters had thrown a bike at
federal agents. I remember the DHSS twitter account really publicized
this one as like, oh my god, look at this

(37:31):
violence were subjected to. In fact, it was the agents
themselves that actually took a protester's bike and threw it
to the side. In another example that was not backed
up by evidence, the head of ICE's eerro's Chicago field
office testified a protester had ripped a beard off an
agent's face and broken part of ICE's building. There was
zero evidence to back that up. And there are more here,

(37:55):
including the use of chat GPTU to help fill out
a report and create a credible narrative. So just you know, typically,
even though yes, we all know that cops lie, that
it's not anything new, but the level of consistent lies
and deception all the way to the top here is
so extraordinary that this judge is just like beside herself,

(38:16):
how can you trust a word that any of these
people say. I mean, we got gas lit on that
thing that I was tweeting about the video where they
literally popper sprayed into a car that had a one
year old that just had to happen to be driving
in the other direction American citizens, and they had the
goll to be like, we would never popper spray a child.
It's like, we can all watch the video. It's in

(38:38):
the tweet that your quote tweet, like it's right there
for all of us to see. I don't even know
what to say about this. But now they're in Charlotte
there had it to New Orleans as well with this,
you know, ragn of terror campaign, bunch of untrained buffoons
who don't know what they're doing, and her are just
out looking for violence apparently.

Speaker 8 (38:57):
Well, one of the ways that I look at this,
somebody who like I do, I do disagree with you
guys on the amount of deportations that have to happen.
But when I look at this and and I think
should be able to happen without people obstructing unduly and
all of that, And I think that was going to
be a challenge no matter what. But this is causing
like I'm genuinely surprised that there hasn't been even more

(39:22):
actually that there haven't been people who have who have
been killed in like pretty high numbers, because this is
causing really this like theater is I think causing a
lot of difficulties that are actually going to make it
harder for them at some point to like get genuine criminals,
that's what they say.

Speaker 11 (39:40):
They want to start with the worst or the worst.

Speaker 8 (39:42):
Getting you know, people with genuine criminal backgrounds out of
the country is going to be a lot harder when
your mode of operation is primarily this like really really
theatrical approach where it's like intentionally genming up clashes and
the putting those out on social media for example. The

(40:03):
temperature is just being raised to crazy high levels. So
it's yeah, it's I actually think it's amazing that more
people have not been seriously hurt.

Speaker 2 (40:14):
Yeah, I also don't think it's an accident that they,
you know, left Chicago in this moment, because there were
more there was more and more legal scrutiny of their
actions and this judge alas had been this there were
a number of judges that were rebuking them and limiting
the scope of what they were able to do. There's

(40:34):
also a consent decree in place already in the Chicago
area that you know, provided a few more tools to
you know, for the justice system to work there. So
I think that may be part of why they moved
on to other cities, because their use of tear guests
had already been rained in this judge had already ordered
Bavino and every other agent to have body cameras on

(40:57):
so that you could come out with some this so
of litany of the distance between what they're saying and
the fact that the reality was oftentimes the polar opposite
of what they were doing, and that it was happening
in a really systematic way. So, you know, to me,
that is probably one of the reasons why they decided

(41:17):
to move on. And it's important because it shows that,
you know, the legal pushback.

Speaker 4 (41:22):
It took time.

Speaker 2 (41:23):
There was a lot of pain and violence that occurred
in the meantime, and kids getting you know, worried about
tear gases, they're getting ready for Halloween and all of that.
But in the end it did create, you know, enough
pressure that they felt like, Okay, we can't do this
here the way we want to, in the totally lawless, unaccountable,
violent way that we want to. So I guess we're
gonna have to move somewhere else where. We don't have

(41:45):
those restrictions in place yet.

Speaker 6 (41:49):
All right, Well, on that note, we're going to move on.
We've got here in the lobby, Welcome to the show.
We've got Tennessee State Rep. Justin Pearson. How you doing.

Speaker 15 (42:00):
I'm doing fantastic. How are you welcome?

Speaker 6 (42:03):
Welcome to the show.

Speaker 10 (42:04):
What's going on?

Speaker 15 (42:06):
A little bit of everything running for Congress, which is
a lot of fun and meeting people in the district.
We also have got a lot going on here in Memphis,
from Trump's occupation with over fifteen hundred federal agents, the
National Guard, deployment by our governor at Trump's behest, which
has had hundreds of people here that's just been proven unconstitutional,

(42:27):
and now they're saying it's going to cost eight million
dollars to take them out. So we've got a lot
going on in Memphis. But the spirit of people remain
strong as we continue to fight things like ICE, which
is really devastating our Latino community as well.

Speaker 8 (42:42):
So Representative Pierson Krystal was basically asking if you could
speak a bit to the experience in Memphis of having
this massive operation, the massive deportation operation from the federal
government and from the administration, if you could.

Speaker 11 (42:58):
Go just tell us a little bit about what was
like in Memphis.

Speaker 10 (43:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 15 (43:01):
So, being under federal occupation literally for the deportation of
people in our own communities has been a devastating experience.
Quite frankly, we are starting to see people being kidnapped
after dropping their kids off at school. Most recently we
heard of an incident where ICE actually threw allegedly flash
bombs flash grenades into individuals' homes and separated some twins

(43:26):
from their mom and their dad. And so the trauma
of what we are experiencing is severe and we can't
downplay that in any way, shape or form. It's very
frustrating to see ICE in partnership with our own local police,
in partnership with people who are supposed to be doing
the work of serving and protecting our communities that are
part of the terrorizing of our communities, particularly for Latino

(43:50):
folks in Memphis and Shelby County. We've had over three
hundred people be kidnapped, deported, displaced. It's causing a labor issue,
It's causing an issue of parents not wanting to send
their kids to school. And these are these problems that
they said they were going to solve, such as violent
crime and things like that they don't care about. It

(44:12):
was never about that. And so we in a lot
of cities that are experiencing this are all having to
be eyes wide open to what this is, which is
an attack on immigrants, and it is also a weaponization
of military against democratically elected officials, particularly in democratic led
cities and black led cities, by this administration. And the

(44:32):
harm is going to be lasting. And our governor has said,
and even this administration has said, you know, this could
go on in perpetuity. Over half a billion dollars has
been spent on this already, billions will likely be spent
by the time this is over. In our communities are
still going to be left broken, unsafe, harmed, and children traumatized.

Speaker 9 (44:53):
So Representative Cohen has been a pretty correct me If
I'm wrong, He's been a pretty well liked congress in
the district over the years, So like, how are you
differentiating yourself? How are you making the case that now
is the time that actually he's his time is up.

Speaker 15 (45:11):
Yeah, look, Steve, correct me if I'm wrong.

Speaker 10 (45:13):
Like he's people like him right personally.

Speaker 15 (45:16):
Sure, you know, you got to talk to him for
more than ten seconds. And there's new videos out that
tell you who he really is. But look, he served
for twenty years in Congress, twenty three, twenty four years
before that in the state Senate. He has done all
that he possibly can do, and he's done the best
that he can do, and we can be grateful for

(45:37):
his decades and decades and decades and decades of service
while recognizing that we're in a different moment right now,
and this moment requires us to participate, to engage, to
fight back in a way that he really just does
not have the ability to do. Right now, we need
to have a new vision, we need to have new energy,
we need to have a new direction. And I'm out
every single day talking to constituents, talking to voters, and

(45:59):
there's saying the same thing, even if they voted for
him in the past, they're just saying, you know what,
it's time. There is a complacency that you can have
after you've been in office for so long that you're
not able and you don't have the energy to bring
the new ideas to fight the way that we need
for you to fight in this moment in time. And
he likes so many other people with who claim lots

(46:20):
of seniority and lots of seniority, like, look at where
we are. That seniority, then stop snap benefits from being cut.
That seniority isn't saving access to healthcare. That seniority isn't
changing the things that are important to people in this district,
such as the affordability crisis, the need for forty four
thousand affordable housing units, the fact that thirty eight percent
of our kids are underneath the poverty line. Those are

(46:42):
the issues that I think are becoming much more salient
to people. And having someone who's done, you know, a
pretty much average job isn't going to be what voters
want and what constituents are telling me that they want
to have as we look ahead.

Speaker 9 (46:57):
You know, it's funny when you talk about age and
seniority more than more than twenty years.

Speaker 10 (47:03):
Ago, how old are you? Thirty thirty?

Speaker 9 (47:05):
Okay, so you were, you were like nine years old.

Speaker 10 (47:09):
I was. I was a.

Speaker 9 (47:10):
Medical marijuana lobbyist and Tennessee was one of the states
where I worked in and I just cold called all
the members of the legislature trying to find somebody to
carry our bill. And Steve Cohen did it. He agreed,
He agreed to do it. He ended up like using
that as one of the things he ran on when
he eventually ran for Congress.

Speaker 10 (47:29):
But yeah, you were. You would have been in like
third or fourth grade at that time.

Speaker 9 (47:33):
So, you know, I think the age the gerontocracy is certainly,
I think an issue that's resonating with Democrats across the country.
What about on the policy side, I know that you've
been kind of a pretty aggressive critic of Israel's genocide.

(47:54):
How do you compare your position there to Congressman Cohen.

Speaker 15 (47:58):
Yeah, my predecessor was ninety three years old, and I
voted for her in the primary, and then she unfortunately
pass away, and I voted for her even though she
had died, because she was better.

Speaker 10 (48:10):
She was still in the ballot.

Speaker 15 (48:11):
She was still in the ballot, and she was better
then than even the first was running against her, And
so I mean, yes, I know folks make a whole
lot about the age issue, but it's just like some
people still have the energy, still can do the work,
still show up, still can fight, still can serve as
a conduit of power, and never feel like they deserve
to have a position. They fight for it every single time.

(48:34):
They never look down on you. That ever condescending than
never trying to, you know, make you small to make
themselves big. There are people who are older who have
run for office, who have done that, and that's not
what we're seeing in our district, in this race, and
with so many other people who I think are just
clinging on to power, not to be of service, but
because they believe one reason or another that it is

(48:55):
theirs and it doesn't belong to the people. But these
seats that we serve in privileged to serve in. It
is not something that anyone owns that you can pass
down or to pass to the next person. It is
something that we have to fight for every two years
when you're in the House for the state or in Congress. Look,
I will tell you this, I will never support the

(49:16):
sending of money across and overseas for the bombing and
the killing of people. It's just not something that I'm
going to do. I am always frustrated that when I
talk about the need for billions of dollars to tackle poverty,
to tackle housing affordability, to provide resources to our veterans,
because we have the most veterans in our district who
are missing hundreds of millions of dollars over the last

(49:39):
twenty years that my opponent's been in office. People look
at me like I have three heads. But if you
say we need to get some money to a country
to bomb and to kill somebody overnight, Democrats and Republicans
alike run back to the capital to be able to
sign off on that. And I won't because we have
deeply entrenched social issues right here in our country. I've

(50:00):
got people in my district whose houses are sinking into
the ground, people and kids. One out of five of
our kids in this state are going to bit hungry,
thirty eight percent of our kids underneath the poverty line.
And you want me to send billions outside of this country, No,
I won't do it. And so I don't support what
we have been doing with the continual, continual support for

(50:25):
the military industrial Congressional complex. And it's not something that
I'm going to participate in to make billionaires who are
profiting off of these wars and more money. The money
is not going to troops, is going to these private contractors,
and these private contractors are then funding the campaigns of
elected officials and folks in Congress.

Speaker 4 (50:43):
I'm not supporting it, Representative Pearson. Can you hear me now?

Speaker 15 (50:47):
I came out?

Speaker 2 (50:49):
Okay, yay, last question for you, and we'd love to
have you back and you know, keep track of your
campaign as you progress. But we've got also, after being writing,
to speak with her as well, so it's a big ten. Yeah,
that's great, that's great exactly. Yeah, we're excited to speak
with her as well. But I wanted to ask you
and Memphis has been the center of some reporting from
More Perfect Union and other outlets about the impact of

(51:11):
data centers on the community there, and I wondered if
you could speak to that and what your position would
be with regard to AI in general and specifically data
center construction and impact on local communities and electric bills.

Speaker 15 (51:24):
Yeah, we have to be able to be intentional about
the way AI data centers are being built constructed and
the consequences that they have by putting people first. Right now,
data centers are popping up in communities without any community input,
and so we're finding that utility rates are skyrocketing. We're
finding that people are dealing with noise pollution, just like
they are in South Haven where XAI is operating, the

(51:48):
consequences of people's water and the water tables and the
aquifers being completely depleted. For this technology to exist, for
billionaires to make more billions of dollars, right it isn't
about your life or my life improving. It's about them
making more profits. We aren't seeing substantial benefits to these
projects outside of maybe a little bit of the tax money.

(52:09):
But our lives ultimately are not improving. And the question
we have to ask ourselves is to what extent what
is the end goal here? And a lot of this
artificial intelligence and automation is intended to deplete the workforce,
and in our district, a lot of people work in warehouses,
a lot of people work in jobs that you may
not need a four year education for, and if you
have AI, if you have robotics taking those jobs. We

(52:31):
as elected leaders have not come up with a plan
for what happens after. So there's an environmental consequence to
our air, to our water, to our soil in some cases,
and then there's the reality of what is this technology
ultimately going to do to our communities. And if we
don't have universal basic income, if we don't have the
resources to take care of people after they lose their jobs,
we are going to be in a very very very

(52:53):
difficult situation as a country and in communities. And so
this is one of the Environmental justice and climate justice
is one of the issues that is a priority for
our campaign and something I'll focus on in Congress as well.

Speaker 4 (53:04):
Where can people support you if they're so inclined, Yes.

Speaker 15 (53:07):
Please support us. Go to voodsinj dot com. You can
sign up to volunteer, to donate, and on social media
at justin J. Pearson. I'm so grateful to go.

Speaker 4 (53:16):
Oh great to give to speak with you. Thank you
so much for taking the time.

Speaker 15 (53:19):
Thank you so much. Let's keep going. I appreciate y'all.

Speaker 4 (53:22):
Sounds good, All right, to keep.

Speaker 6 (53:26):
The Tennessee flowing. Here, We've got another guest on the line.
Let's bring her in.

Speaker 3 (53:34):
Hello, Hello, Hi, thanks for having me Hello, We've.

Speaker 6 (53:38):
Got State Rep. Afton Baine here on the show. What's
going on? Afton? How are you doing today?

Speaker 3 (53:45):
Happy to be here. It's a first time caller, longtime listener.

Speaker 4 (53:49):
We love to hear that. A good start.

Speaker 2 (53:53):
Representative Bane, Why don't you just start by telling us
a little bit about the district that you're running for,
and you know who your opponent is is, and you
know it's a very Republican district. I understand Trump want
it by what twenty plus points? Why do you think
you may have a shot to pull up a pull
off a big upset here?

Speaker 4 (54:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (54:10):
So I'm stay representative of Afton Bay and to represent
downtown Nashville, and I've been in the Tennessee legislature for
two years. This congressional special election came about because Representative
Mark Green cashed in on his corporate checks, took a
job in Guyana after voting for the Big Ugly Bill
and skip Town and thus catalyzing a special election. It
is the last flippable red to blue congressional special election

(54:32):
in the entire country, if you all remember, in after
redistricting in twenty twenty, Nashville, which was a consolidated Democratic
district was cut into three, So this is one of
those congressional districts, and it includes the highest voter turnout
precincts in Nashville. It includes our Purple Bell Weather County
of Montgomery, which is by the Kentucky border, includes Fort Campbell,
and goes all the way down to the Alabama border

(54:54):
Mark Green. When the redistrict in the aftermath of the
redistricting said do not do this, it will backfire, and
the backfiring is here. It is an art plus twenty district.
But our polling in October showed us six points down
and we are shrinking those margins every day, which is
why they've dropped two million dollars in the race to

(55:15):
try to prevent this upset from happening in the South.
And this race is competitive for a few reasons. One
is just the dissatisfaction from the federal administration that this
administration has not delivered on the economic agenda it promised.

Speaker 3 (55:28):
And two is the momentum is on our side.

Speaker 7 (55:30):
I'm a candidate who has never taken corporate pack money,
nor will ever, and don't answer to the special interest
as opposed to my opponent, who is a puppet to
the puppet Masters of the universe and has rubber stamped
and only does things when the puppets Masters tell him
to do it, and the voters are recognizing that.

Speaker 3 (55:47):
So that's why this district has become suddenly really competitive.

Speaker 9 (55:51):
Aften, I've always thought that state legislators have a pretty
unique miss city councilors to some degree to but the
two lowdown state letters have a pretty like unique window into,
you know how how regular people are feeling about everything
in general, but also politics in particular, in a way
that even federal lawmakers after they've been in Washington for

(56:15):
a little bit too long don't and that people running
for Congress for the first or second time also have
kind of an advantage when it comes to, you know what,
what they're perceiving on the ground, just a little bit
more alive and awake to it. So what are you, like,
what is the national media missing about, like how people

(56:37):
are feeling about the country, the direction of the country
right now, and what are we what are we missing? Like,
as somebody who's been watching this show for.

Speaker 3 (56:45):
For a while, I was just pulling my Ryan Grim
book out of my.

Speaker 11 (56:50):
Sorry, I didn't know.

Speaker 3 (56:51):
Wow, I'm just fangirling right now, big fans.

Speaker 6 (56:54):
Which one aften? Is it the drug one? Or is
it the Is it the squad one?

Speaker 2 (56:59):
Oh?

Speaker 11 (56:59):
No way, Oh it's really right there.

Speaker 4 (57:02):
Let's go. Now this is going to its hotness.

Speaker 3 (57:06):
Oh man, I'm so honored.

Speaker 7 (57:09):
So I've been I got my start as a community
organizer in Tennessee organizing to expand medicaid, and then during
the twenty seventeen Affordable Care Act and Medicaid cuts, that fight,
that fight, And I have been someone who's been trying
to make health care more affordable in this state for
a long time.

Speaker 3 (57:26):
And I think the paradigm is shifting. And there's a
few reasons for that.

Speaker 7 (57:30):
One is that we've had a Republican trifecta in the
state for fifteen years and it is not delivered for
the Tennessee people. We are the most dangerous place for
workers in the country. We have the highest maternal mortality
rate in the country. We have the highest inflationary cost
of groceries in the country. And they look around and
there's no one else to blame, right, I mean, obviously
they blame immigrants, but immigrants are not the reason our

(57:50):
grocery prices are high. And I do think that the
paradigm is shifting because the Republican trifecta has gotten lethargic will.
While they've been scapegoating and terrorizing, we have been building
and caring for each other. We've been building the organizing
muscle we need to actually win this election. And I
think the affordability crisis is hitting everyone. I mean, it's

(58:11):
it transcends geographies, it transcends partisanship. I'm someone in the
legislature who's fought to end Tennessee's regressive grocery tax by
closing corporate tax loopholes.

Speaker 3 (58:21):
It's something I've been organizing around for the past three years.

Speaker 7 (58:23):
And I've built a base of people on either side
that know that I stand against corporate rule and for
the people. So there is a shift and it is
going to happen in Tennessee.

Speaker 3 (58:31):
And as w. E. B. Du bois One said, as
goes the soul, so goes the nation.

Speaker 6 (58:37):
Often I'm in charge of drama clips, and there's a
recent clip going around that we wanted to give you
a platform to respond to this.

Speaker 10 (58:46):
You know, in our business we call this.

Speaker 15 (58:47):
Like chimp clipping.

Speaker 6 (58:48):
When it's clips out of context, it's felt like an
out of context clip. But I'll read a little bit
of the quote here. Apparently you said, I hate the city.
I hate the Tennessee Bachelorettes, I hate pedal taverns, I
hate country. I hate all the things that make Nashville.

Speaker 10 (59:02):
I hate it.

Speaker 15 (59:03):
Now in the audio part is a little.

Speaker 4 (59:06):
Bit fair, isn't it.

Speaker 11 (59:06):
It's so fair?

Speaker 4 (59:08):
Sure, Sure, weigh in on that, Apten.

Speaker 6 (59:10):
But what would you like to say about this clip
that's floating around?

Speaker 3 (59:14):
So I'm gonna say something I haven't said.

Speaker 8 (59:16):
Uh?

Speaker 7 (59:16):
And I think it's funny how my parents don't kill me.
But uh, I did not hate country music. I was
conceived after a George Strait concert.

Speaker 3 (59:24):
I personally attacked, but it just shows. The New York
Times reported that there's a forty eight page dossier of me,
which includes you know clips.

Speaker 7 (59:33):
I had a podcast back in the day called Grits
Girls Raised in the South, and I was lamenting about,
you know, the things that are wrong with our city.
Obviously taken out of context, obviously hyperbolic, and I don't
feel that way at all. I have spent the past
decade of my life pouring blood, sweat and tears into
my city.

Speaker 3 (59:52):
And my state to make it better for working people.
And I think, uh, I think it's backfiring. I mean,
they really just they're digging. They're digging, they're digging, and.

Speaker 7 (01:00:00):
Clearly they've dug Yeah, I don't know, they haven't dug
far enough.

Speaker 11 (01:00:04):
I guys, about a year ago.

Speaker 8 (01:00:06):
Oh sorry, I was just saying about a year ago,
almost exactly, we had zoramm Danni on the show, and
nobody knew who he was at the time. I forget
whether Griffin or Ryan gets the credit for that booking,
but I remember we were asking him, it was right
after the twenty twenty four election, about his pitch if
he was talking to any of those people who swung
for Trump in the twenty twenty four election around New

(01:00:28):
York City and some of the boroughs. And he said,
in fact, just over the weekend he had been out
talking to people and trying to pitch himself actually to
Trump voters, which is something that Democrats were very reluctant
to do during the first Trump administration and in the
interim time period. So how are you are you finding
that when you talk to people who are Republicans Trump voters,

(01:00:51):
you're able to connect with them on your policy agenda.

Speaker 3 (01:00:54):
So as a state legislator, I've worked really hard.

Speaker 7 (01:00:58):
Obviously Trump handled one Tennessee, and I've worked really hard
to create entry points for people waking up to the
fact that they've been scammed by this economic agenda. And
it's important right now, especially in the South under authoritarian capture.
We have to create entry points to broaden our coalition
of people who believe that democracy needs to be restored.

(01:01:18):
And so I think that I do have cross partisan appeal.
I will say that my worst enemies do say that
I'm likable and authentic, and I'll take it. And you know,
for the culture, I've really tried to Obviously I've I've
got my own politics, but I don't equivocate. And my
Republican colleagues in the legislature, you know, they said, even
if I don't agree with you, I know where you
stand on the issues, and that's where my constituents know

(01:01:40):
I stand. And finally, just the special interest, we're seeing
a wave of Democrats in the South that aren't beholden
to these corporate entities and it's extremely popular and I've
been endorsed by End Citizens United. I will fight to
end dark money in politics, and that's something that absolutely
resonates across party lines about me.

Speaker 4 (01:01:59):
Sorry, let me let me ask you a tactical question here.

Speaker 2 (01:02:02):
So some of the thinking, you know, from people who
like me who aren't in the district, was like, maybe
if people there don't really notice there's an election going on,
maybe she could sneak through, because you know, it's a
very difficult district, even as I think people can see
what a what a compelling and extraordinary candidate that you are.
And so some of us got a little nervous when

(01:02:23):
we saw that Kamala Harris was coming to the district.
She's obviously very polarizing figure and would certainly draw a
lot of attention to the race. So I'm curious your
view on her coming in the you know, the reason
the decision was made to, you know, to have her
come in and how what impact do you think that
has on the race?

Speaker 7 (01:02:43):
Yeah, I mean she I'm grateful for any support from
anyone across the country. The South has been historically disinvest
disinvested in UH and I know that uniquely and innately
as a Southern organizer.

Speaker 3 (01:02:55):
So any support is welcomed.

Speaker 7 (01:02:57):
The district does include UH North Ashville, which is historically
black communities, and so to see the faces of those
HBCU students that have never seen a political figure like
that in our city, it was really rewarding to see
the smiles on their faces. But I'm also someone who
has I've never been the political insider. I've never been

(01:03:17):
the chosen party candidate, and so I think in my
political career, my trajectory. Most people that I've worked with
know that, and so if it, you know, if my
party is not doing the right thing, then I will
and you know, I'm not.

Speaker 3 (01:03:31):
Behold into them in any way.

Speaker 7 (01:03:32):
And they're multiple times in the legislature that I voted
with my constituents over my own beliefs and biases. So
I'm definitely someone that is welcome to community feedback and
will represent the interest of our districts over that of
the party.

Speaker 10 (01:03:45):
What are what are the ads like in the home stretch?

Speaker 9 (01:03:47):
Are they hammering the like I hate the Bachelorette and
I hate Memphis?

Speaker 16 (01:03:52):
Is that?

Speaker 2 (01:03:53):
Like?

Speaker 9 (01:03:53):
What are you seeing black in the airwaves? And what's
your what's your ad?

Speaker 14 (01:03:57):
Like?

Speaker 9 (01:03:57):
How much how many resources? Like do you have the
resources you need to like compete down the stretch and yes,
so what's the final competition look like?

Speaker 4 (01:04:06):
Yeah, so.

Speaker 3 (01:04:08):
The ad they're running. Just some background.

Speaker 7 (01:04:11):
In May, we had a massive, unprecedented ice operation with
our Tennessee Highway Patrol. They worked clandestinely to pull over
three hundred and sixty nine community members, of which were
my constituents. And prior to that, I'm a social worker,
and so I had been conducting a community needs assessment
in the most Hispanic part of my district. And they said,
we don't feel like our elected officials are doing enough,

(01:04:31):
and we think racial profiling is the number one issue
of our concern. So I took that as a mandate,
and when I showed up, I decided to monitor their
activities in my district. I recorded a video that then
Representative Andy Ogles retweeted and called for my arrest. The
Department of Homeland Security then retweeted it and called for
my arrest. There was an incident the legislature where someone

(01:04:53):
tried to follow me into the building in a ski
mask and gloves. I basically had to go underground for
three weeks. And so I say that because that's the video,
they're they're promulgating that I'm against law enforcement, which is
not true, and they you know, it's it's the federal
overreach right now that we're seeing. And I find it
satirical that people who have lauded small government for so

(01:05:16):
long are suddenly okay with masked federal agents pulling people
out of cars in front of their kids for them
never to be seen again.

Speaker 3 (01:05:23):
So that's the video they're using.

Speaker 7 (01:05:25):
It's although they have chosen some cute photos of me,
so I will say, I'll.

Speaker 3 (01:05:29):
Hand that to them. Mus not all bad, yeah, not
all that, not all bad.

Speaker 7 (01:05:33):
But what's interesting about this race and then our videos
are the first one was on a mechanical bowl in
Nashville and it's there's a billionaire on the mechanical bowl
and it's like, you know, they get a free ride
in Washington, and then all tennesseees are being thrown off
as statistics are being read, and we've got another one
dropping in on Monday. The spending has been We've obviously
been out numbered three to one, but I hope the

(01:05:54):
cavalry is coming because this race is super super tight,
the pulling on both sides of sing and that's why
they're coming hard for me. But it is a race
that's winnable, and I'm just really honored to be the
Democratic nominee.

Speaker 2 (01:06:07):
Often a few things before we let you go that'll
be important to our audience, and I'll just give them
all to you and you can. I have a feeling
you're not gonna have any trouble fielding these. No APAC
or other Israel lobby money oppose the genocide would block
future weapons sales to Israel.

Speaker 7 (01:06:24):
Yeah, I've been outspoken against you know, I voted in
the Tennessee legislature to ensure no foreign interference in our
elections and I think that it obviously extends to Israel.
And I've spoken out numerous times on the HOUSEFOLO or
against this, So I do have a track record.

Speaker 10 (01:06:41):
What's a what would reelection look like? Is this a
one and done situation?

Speaker 8 (01:06:46):
Like?

Speaker 10 (01:06:46):
How do you how do you stay in office? If
you get in there?

Speaker 12 (01:06:50):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (01:06:50):
The mechanics are tough, right because the aftermath of unless
we can build a coalition of people who will reverse
the Medicaid cuts, whoever's inn office next year is going
to be blamed for or the aftermath of this bill
that passed in July.

Speaker 3 (01:07:02):
And I'm not.

Speaker 7 (01:07:02):
Naive to that I think what it would take is
a cavalry of a cadre of social workers, right, because
people are gonna be disenrolled from Medicare, Medicaid SSDI, right,
and you're gonna have to be be re enrolling people
in these public benefits. Additionally, I think it's gonna take
a lot of effort to combat the miss and disinformation, right,

(01:07:25):
and it's gonna have to be localized organizing.

Speaker 3 (01:07:28):
So we're gonna have to have really embedded field staff
within these counties.

Speaker 7 (01:07:33):
And I'm gonna have to go into the Lions and
in these rural county Republican parties and hopefully make my case,
Like you know, I know you're going to probably spend
one hundreds of millions of dollars to oust me next year,
but please give me a chance, because I promise, like
even if I even if I'm not agreeing with you,
like I'm happy to have a conversation and I welcome
the relationship.

Speaker 5 (01:07:52):
Right.

Speaker 6 (01:07:53):
Well, Oh, okay, I'm sorry, go Ryan, last question, Ryan.

Speaker 9 (01:07:57):
Yeah, just to Emily's point, like, what is the thing
that works the best with these Trump Trump supporters who are.

Speaker 7 (01:08:03):
Open, It's I have I've knocked thousands of doors in
Tennessee about and have spoken to really about really contentious issues,
and it's creating, it's sowing seeds of cognitive dissonance.

Speaker 3 (01:08:20):
That you don't force down their throats, right. And so
I think if we can just continue.

Speaker 7 (01:08:26):
To highlight how this agenda isn't working and build the
entry points, they can come off. But I've said this
with my whole chest from day one, is that immigrants
are not the reason your grocery prices are high. And
when they come back with, well, you know, all these questions,
it's like, that's that's not the reason you're struggling. Like
you know, anytime the culture or reaction, it's like, well,
is that going to fix I twenty four, which is

(01:08:48):
our highway?

Speaker 3 (01:08:49):
Is that going to build another hospital? Right?

Speaker 7 (01:08:51):
And I've been dogged about that, and I hope it's
I really hope it's resonating with the district. And as
one of my conservative talk show radio host friends, which
go on conservative talk radio, said, you know, you're a
lot like Trump. I was like, please, you've got great hair,
great hair. He and he goes, you're authentic. And people

(01:09:12):
know that I'm the same person I was in fifth
grade that I am as a legislator that I will
be at your congresswoman, and you're note where I'm going
to stand on that. And just briefly, hearing President Trump
mentioned my name was probably the highlight of this campaign.

Speaker 3 (01:09:24):
And uh he.

Speaker 7 (01:09:25):
I thought he was going to be like aunk avunk
is way cut that afton Baine blah blah blah, She's
she's not a real blonde. But no, he said, went
the historical conventional route, which was I'm a left wing lunatic.

Speaker 16 (01:09:36):
So that's yeah, big standard issue fair from there, final questions,
I would have to say, if anybody wants to be
part of that cavalry coming in here, help you get
across the finish line?

Speaker 2 (01:09:53):
Where can they where can they support you? And I
guess I was curious, you know how I think early
voting has started? What indications are you getting there?

Speaker 4 (01:09:59):
Real quick?

Speaker 7 (01:10:02):
It's so close, And trust me, I'm I'm a jaded
electoral organizer as I've been one. Must imagine Sisyphus happy
right as he's rolling the boulder up the hill in
the state like Tennessee. We are so close and it's
gonna come down to turn out in Nashville, and it's
going to come out down to sporadic voters who who
historically don't vote but need to be excited. So if

(01:10:23):
you're in Nashville, please please please check your voter registration
see if you're registered to vote in the seventh Congressional district.
Often for Congress dot Com, we've got phone banking. It is.
I want to say, twelve days until election day, and
I just I don't know, I've I've I've been really jaded,
and this is the first time that I've been excited.
And we are I think we're inspiring a country and
I'm just really honored to be the nominee at this

(01:10:44):
moment in time in American and Southern political history.

Speaker 4 (01:10:48):
Amazing.

Speaker 10 (01:10:48):
Well.

Speaker 15 (01:10:49):
On the podcast is Grits.

Speaker 10 (01:10:51):
That's the podcast. The podcast, the podcast is Breaking Points.

Speaker 6 (01:10:59):
Thank you often and if people can, we'll put the
link in the description the video if people want to
learn more about you, and thank you and good luck.

Speaker 3 (01:11:06):
All right, see you on the other end.

Speaker 10 (01:11:08):
You've got it. Always great to have a Breaking Points
viewer on.

Speaker 11 (01:11:14):
I love it when people are as starstruck by Ryan.

Speaker 8 (01:11:20):
Here on the DNC with Ryan was an experience that's funny.

Speaker 9 (01:11:25):
Well, in other words, she has no chance, nobody who
is a fan of this show.

Speaker 4 (01:11:30):
And things are changing, things are changing, times are changing.

Speaker 2 (01:11:35):
She's got I mean it's a tough district, very tough district.

Speaker 4 (01:11:38):
But you can see why people are excited about.

Speaker 2 (01:11:40):
I mean, she's very impressive, like she knows what she
is all about, not afraid to say it.

Speaker 4 (01:11:45):
Like very excellent candidate.

Speaker 2 (01:11:47):
So be interesting to see she's If she's able to
pull it off, it would be, oh my god, it'd
be insane, you know.

Speaker 9 (01:11:54):
I mean, also, there are parts of Nashville that are
just like overrun by tour as garbage.

Speaker 10 (01:12:00):
I assume that's what it means.

Speaker 11 (01:12:02):
It's absolutely true.

Speaker 10 (01:12:03):
Yes, oh Yeahshville would disagree with that.

Speaker 4 (01:12:07):
True Nashville.

Speaker 2 (01:12:07):
I mean that would be like New Yorkers being offended
by like saying that Times Square sucks, you know, like no,
the true New Yorkers like, yeah, we avoid it, like
the fucking play obviously, you.

Speaker 6 (01:12:19):
Know, watch Out, I love I loveday eminem Store. There's
a there's a raising Canes there that is apocalyptic.

Speaker 11 (01:12:31):
That the Virgils and Times Square is fun.

Speaker 15 (01:12:33):
Yeah, so I don't know, speak yourself.

Speaker 2 (01:12:36):
I've been there with my kids a number of times,
and it was it was hellish every every single.

Speaker 11 (01:12:42):
I've been on bachelor pedal pubs. Wow, I've done.

Speaker 8 (01:12:47):
You are a problem problem not by choice, not by choice,
not by choice.

Speaker 2 (01:12:53):
I didn't even know what a pedal pub was. But
now that you say it, I understand what it is.

Speaker 10 (01:12:57):
You like bike and drink, right, Yeah, you don't really bike.

Speaker 8 (01:13:00):
I mean they have pedals, but you're not really puddling evening.

Speaker 16 (01:13:03):
Wow.

Speaker 8 (01:13:04):
Yeah, but the ostinization of Nashville is not just complete,
but even on another level. Yeah, and it's become this
like sort of corporate. It's it's very like Atlanta coated now,
like a very heavy you know, there's like a lot
of people who are from New York and Los Angeles
now in Nashville.

Speaker 2 (01:13:23):
I mean I when I lived in Kentucky, I's spent
a decent amount of time in Tennessee, not just in Nashville,
actually around the state, and it truly is actually one
of my favorite states.

Speaker 4 (01:13:32):
It's natural.

Speaker 2 (01:13:33):
Beauty wise, it's extraordinary, and Nashville is like I mean,
it's fun and kitchy or whatever. But yeah, I could
see being annoyed if you were actually from there. By
the bachelorettes and some of that stuff.

Speaker 6 (01:13:44):
So fair enough, and again I got I gotta say
I think she was being sarcastic. You know, this is
another podcaster and coming up in power, so you know,
we can't always we can't talk about old clips and
people transform they're new.

Speaker 4 (01:13:59):
Podcast though. I bet it was good. Yeah, I bet
it was good.

Speaker 2 (01:14:03):
She's she's got it, man, I bet it was she
and that I've had at leaders they need to hang out.

Speaker 11 (01:14:08):
I was gonna say that would go hard.

Speaker 4 (01:14:11):
It go so hard.

Speaker 2 (01:14:12):
I'm definitely gonna I'm gonna hit Jennifer up after this
and be like, I've got someone you need to have on.

Speaker 10 (01:14:19):
All right.

Speaker 6 (01:14:20):
On that note, we are going to head over to
the second half of the show, where we've got a
bunch more news and amy questions to talk about. Of course,
that's Breakingpoints dot com if you want to sign up
and get the full show, anything else before.

Speaker 12 (01:14:33):
We head out?

Speaker 6 (01:14:35):
Nope, all right, see you guys on the other side.

Speaker 10 (01:14:38):
Bye.

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