Debate Recap, Bad Bunny Steps Up (Thursday Trends) w/ Hector Oseguera

Dramos is joined by former congressional candidate Hector Oseguera to recap the Trump-Harris debate, US foreign policy in Latin America, Bad Bunny making a big political statement and more!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Love.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
There we go, he said, you live in life pasic
lingo where you question when you feel in every time
you mingle.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
They say you do this with not.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
Hello and welcome to another episode of Life as a Gringo.
I am dramos of course, and it is Thursday. Something's
time for our Thursday Trends episode.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Hopping on this show has been a minute my guy,
former congressional candidate and attorney as well as anti money laundering.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
Specialist our guy Hector or Sgana. How you feeling feeling good?

Speaker 4 (00:43):
Bro? Thank you for always getting that we're selling together.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Appreciate yes, of course, brother, of course man, and had
to have you on. You are one of our resident
political analysis I would say.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
And big night last night in terms of.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
The presidential debate, we finally got to see Kamala Harris
and Donald Trump in the same room talking about the issues.
So definitely want to do a bit of a deep
dive into that and all you saw from your perspective,
and we'll also touch on what's going on with Venezuela.
There was a sanctioned move by the US where they

(01:20):
actually sees the plan and we know there's been a
controversial to say.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
The least election that happened over there.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
And I think it also opens up a big dialogue
about immigration policy, but foreign policy and what more could
be done by the US.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
I mean, obviously the topic of immigration is so popular
right now.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
On both sides. I know you are very much opinionated
on this topic as well. So I think it just
leads to how do we create solutions instead of just
continuing to blame different people and accuse people of doing
all these different things. So I want to get your
take on those two things. So we'll do that for
our for the people in the back segment, say a lot.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
For the people in the back, say a lot for
the people in the Say a lot for the people
in the back.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
All right, man, So let's start with the debate. The
memes are already going crazy on the internet. They are starting early.
But you know, I don't I want to just hear
your honest reaction. I don't want to color it at all.
What's a ton of your gut reaction when you turned
it off last night?

Speaker 4 (02:37):
Yeah, my gut reaction right off the rip was that
Kamala Harris exceeded the expectations that were set for her
and Donald Trump had rules that were in his favor,
but he underperformed the expectations that were set for him.
You saw this in a couple of different moments, like
you said the memes. Yeah, in a generation where basically
people have this conception that is twenty five percent Democrats,

(02:58):
twenty five percent of Republicans and it's these people in
the middle that decide elections and twenty times that I
think that that's wrong, and that the way that it
actually works is that whoever is more riled up, whoever's
more energized, that tends to be the group of people
that turn out at very high rates and win elections.
That's how these things actually happen. And so if you

(03:20):
were to judge today by who's having memes, who has
the social media in their favor, where the court of
public opinion is suddenly that is really who is up
right now, and I would say, clearly it goes to
Kamala Harris.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
Yeah, No, I definitely have to agree.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
And I also think it's it's ironic because the narrative
that was a winning strategy for Trump, you know, when
Biden was still in the race, was the idea that Biden's.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
Old, he's s Nile. He basically his mind is leaving him.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
And without having that Biden next to him, Donald Trump
now very much so looks like the old senile person.
Can't stay on topic, can't really finish a thought cohesively,
is all over the place, and is like, you know,
fixated on these sort of one topic things and can't
get away from them, regardless of what the line of

(04:17):
questioning is. And even you know, I mean, there's so
many moments within that, right, I mean that we're obviously
ridiculous and just so for me with the thing that
comes to mind is I'm saddened. Saddened by the fact
that the other major party in this country delivered this

(04:40):
candidate to the American people. And on a sidebar to that,
I'm saddened by the fact that so many people are
enamored by him, even.

Speaker 3 (04:51):
After all that they've seen, all that they've.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
Heard, and a man who literally couldn't even identify policies
that he would put in place to help these people out.
And what's scary is that they don't seem to give
a damn. So I'm curious for you. You know, you
talk about the idea of being energized and that's necessarily

(05:14):
who wins these elections. Do you think that we might
see a de energized Trump base when it comes to
this election just because of how poorly he performed.

Speaker 4 (05:24):
Well. The reason that Trump, I think, has been so
successful is because what you're doing is analysis for what
would normally be true for most politicians. But with Donald
Trump is not like most politicians. It is more like
having a favorite wrestler or a favorite sports team. You're
gonna do up for them no matter what, no matter Look,
I'm a Knicks fan. I'm showing enough for them forever,

(05:45):
right So, I and so in a way, I understand
that concept. But what you have to deal with is
that these people are not going away. They've made their choice,
they know their favorite character is, and they're gonna stick
with it no matter what. What that really puts on
the other side to do is to have somebody responsible
or somebody who appeals to people. There was such a

(06:05):
big dynamic before when it was Trump and Biden. There's
of voters called the double haters. I hate both of them.
I'm not voting for anybody right Well, now that one
of those people is gone, necessarily those some of those
people are gonna be shaved off and they're not gonna
go to the other one because they didn't like that
person to begin with, Right, That's what I think we're

(06:27):
seeing that. That's what that initial bump and energy was
for Kamala Harris was these double haters now have a
different choice, and they're not making Trump because that was
already a choice. So they're flooding into Kamala Harris's campaign
and that's positive, but again it's about keeping the energy up.
Do I think the Trump people are gonna be deflated.

(06:49):
I don't think so. Like I said, they've chosen their
favorite character. They're never gonna be deflated. That is a barrier.
He's not gonna sing below that number. And Trump it's
a very high number compared to most politicians. It's a
very high number. So, like I said, what that really
puts on the Democrats is that they have to put
up somebody who was going to generate the sort of

(07:10):
things that we have seen from Kamala Harrison's campaign. And
you know, I think it has been a positive turn
up events. And you can see it from the fact
that Trump doesn't want to give up on Biden. He
still wants to be running against.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Biden, right right, Yeah, he kept bringing up Biden many
times throughout that that debate, to the point that Kamala
Harrison even had to say, you're not running against Joe Biden,
You're running against me. And I mean, there's a lot
of things I want to touch on, but you you
touched on something that I find to be interesting, like
the double hater concept, right, and a lot of that
I think is also centered around the Israel and Palestine

(07:45):
conflict that's going on right now, where you have a
lot of Democrats feeling angry that the Democratic Party is
aiding Israel as far as weaponry goes, you know, but
be not coming out and doing enough to help the
Palestinian people. Many of many people, you know, using the

(08:06):
word genocide, you know, as the innocent. You know, kids
are being killed that we're seeing, you know, all over
social media. So for for you, I mean, how do
you kind of process that that bit of yourself, of
that bit of information of you know, I guess what
would you say to people who are still conflicted with

(08:28):
that thought process of thinking, like, but if I vote
for the Democratic Party right now, is a vote in
me sort of aiding all that's going on over there.

Speaker 4 (08:35):
Right, And I understand that, and I've heard that argument
made many times, and honestly, you have to cop to
it that on the issue of Israel, the parties are
basically the same and a lot of ways what you're
going to get is on the margins, who's going to
be better and who's going to be worse? Now, who
would Donald Trump be more pro Palestinian than Kamala Harris?

(08:59):
I don't think so personally. If anything, Kamala Harris is
more likely to err on the side of where the
people are, which is to have some more respect to
the dignity of the Palestinian people. Like you said, people
have called the de genocide, and who's gonna speak more
to that side? Is Trump? But I personally would not

(09:20):
think so. So if it is on those issues where
the difference honestly is gonna be marginal. And I've heard
a lot of Muslim activists tell me as well. We
understand the government of the United States is gonna be
pro Israel regardless. Who's gonna who's gonna give you marginally
better results? In my opinion, it would be Kamala Harris.
In my opinion. Other people can look at it. And

(09:42):
you know, I think people could judge for themselves who's
going to be better on that? What is Trump going
to be better than on that? I personally wouldn't think so.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah, And I think, you know, I to your point,
I one dred percent understand the anger frustration, you know.

Speaker 3 (09:57):
And and I think it's it.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
It's not and it never will be a perfect or
ideal candidate or situation, right, You're always going to have
things that you wish one of them did.

Speaker 3 (10:09):
Better, right, and and and it's and I hate the
argument of voting for the lesser of two evils.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
And I particularly hate, you know, the Democratic Party because
the platform basically is it's like you have to vote
for us because the other guy is so bad type
of thing.

Speaker 3 (10:23):
Right. They've ran on that for so long.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
And I understand the disenfranchisement that many people feel having
to once again show up to the polls and do
that and and swallow that that bitter pill. But I
think you know, it's it's nuanced, right, and it's it's
what's the bigger picture at the end of the day,
you know. I think I think you can disagree with
some of the actions or lack of actions that the

(10:47):
Democratic Party or the current president has had in regards
to the Israel and Palaceline conflict. But you also have
to say, what's happening at my front door and what
is the potential future for what's happening at my front
door if I don't particip pay in this, right, I mean,
look at how Donald Trump was speaking of immigrants, specifically,
like Haitian immigrants, you know, going with these crazy conspiracy

(11:08):
theories of them taking people's pets and eating them, right,
Like that's he's spewing hate. And I'm sure we're going
to find cases like we have with other things he
said in the past, where all of a sudden, the
Haitia community is under attack by crazy radicals who believe
everything that this man says. Right, So, you know, I
think again it is not an ideal situation. But not participating,

(11:32):
sitting it out, you are literally not to be dramatic,
spitting in the face of all the people that gave
their life so that we each have the right to
vote and participate in this thing called democracy, which by
nature is going to be imperfect regardless of what's going
on in the world.

Speaker 4 (11:50):
Yeah, you know, I have the kind of perfect response
to the people who are like, well, I don't want
to participate at all. Right, the big constituency in America
is did not vote. That's the law group of people.
So if literally if those people voted, they would chi
the result because they're the biggest group in America. So
by definition, by choosing to participate, you can have an

(12:12):
effect on the outcome. By choosing not to participate, by definition,
you will not have this part of that decision making.
And you're basically saying that you're you're good no matter
who gets chosen to me. Not participate is the ultimate
way of saying both you know, both are going to
be the same because you're you're not gonna have a say.

(12:32):
You're saying whatever everybody else picks is what all?

Speaker 3 (12:37):
Yeah, yeah, one percent.

Speaker 2 (12:39):
And I think there's nuance, and I think I think
we have a problem with nuance in in this country
and this world social media. Right, And I think you
can speak to this as an attorney, that that's why
there's different degrees. And let's say like a murder case, right,
there's man slaughter, there's first or a secondary third degree.
Because it's not as simple as this person, this person

(13:00):
was responsible, throw them in jail for life.

Speaker 3 (13:02):
Right. There there are levels to intent.

Speaker 2 (13:05):
There are levels to you know, all that that happened
within that case that has to be considered when actually,
you know, taking into account how to properly sentence the
person that is guilty for it said murder, right.

Speaker 3 (13:16):
And it doesn't change the egregiousness.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
It doesn't change the sadness of the fact that somebody
is no longer with us, that their family is mourning them.
But it but you do have to go with the
actual process that is at hand and be able to
understand it and try and do your best to effectively
come to a conclusion that you know, is the best
case scenario possible given the results that you have, given

(13:43):
the situation that is at hand. Right, and I kind
of view the idea with politics and things of that
nature as well, just like that, you know, where Yeah,
it's not a perfect scenario. Yeah, there are going to
be things that you wish we were different, you know,
you know, there are going.

Speaker 3 (13:58):
To be be actions that I wish we were taking more.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
Of, right and and and I when me voting in
this election is not in support of all that they're
not doing. It's it's me expressing what I think is
going to give us the best opportunity for a better
future in general. Right and regardless, someone is going to
be fucking elected at the end of the day, right, regardless,
one of those two people is going to be in office.

(14:24):
If you sit out or you don't sit out, one
of them is going to be in office. And you
have to basically choose which one of them you'd rather
have at the end of the day. And and that's
a harsh reality for some, it's a bitter pill, but
it is the reality. And a lack of action is
really throwing your hands up and just saying, hey, do
with me what you please.

Speaker 4 (14:43):
Essentially, yeah, and and look, I agree with that, and
I would take it one step further because my frustration
with all of this is that this is this difficulty
with nuance is something that we have to do with
on our side. The other side, they don't care about
Asian people eating pets. That's not nuance. They know what

(15:04):
they're doing. We are the ones when you try to
motivate people to do some good. That's when you have
to get people on board. You know, you got to
get them to say that they want to participate in it.
Because but their side. They don't need the nuance. They're
going it, yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:20):
One hundred percent. And that's something we have to keep
in mind as well. They literally, if this man says something,
they will they don't care about fact checking whatsoever. They
will believe it and run with it. And that is
incredibly dangerous because that is literally what a cult does,
and cult people and cults will literally do whatever the
leader is telling them to do, no matter how crazy

(15:42):
or ridiculous it sounds. I mean, we saw January sixth
being the result of that, right right. And you know,
I don't I don't want to harp too much on
on just shitting on Donald Trump because that's the easy
thing here. Any anything that you saw from Kambala Harris
that you wish maybe she would have expounded a power

(16:02):
and you think that she could have done better.

Speaker 3 (16:05):
I do.

Speaker 4 (16:06):
I do. Look, I'll give her problems because the common
thing that people would say about Kamala Harris is that
she would not prepare for these moments. There have been
other things that she's been called flat footed, and people
have gotten the better of her, with the lesser whole
thing being a big one. You know, she's had a
lot of these moments. What I'll say is that she
clearly did a good job preparing for what she was

(16:26):
going to engage in. What I wish is that she
would have given some more direct answers. Whenever you get
a yes or no question, they always talk around it always.
You know, I would rather just say yes or no
right off the bat, and then you could talk the
way around it, you know, a little bit more specificity,
you know, Like that's for me because I'm an activist.
I'm in this stuff like I care about policy. I

(16:48):
care about where you're gonna end up on certain things.
That stuff matters to me. I understand we're in the
social media era where maybe that's that stuff is not
going to come across the way across to someone like
me who's deep in this stuff. So I understand why
it is, But I would have personally liked to hear
more on the politic side. Obviously. I understand that, look
who you're debating, like how much policy are you really

(17:09):
going to talk about? But for me personally, I look
for that stuff. That's what I want to know. What
are you going to try to Like she talked about it,
you know, in a lot of general ways. The opportunity,
economy and these sorts of things. But I care about
what those numbers are going to be. What are we
really talking about, what are we going to invest in?
Where are we try where are we really trying to
go as a society.

Speaker 3 (17:31):
Yeah, I agree.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
I think that was one of my bigger critiques as well.
Is to a degree, I think she did amazing, without
a doubt, But I think to a degree it's still
felt like politics as usual, with the sort of twisting
around ways to not answer a question directly to your point.
Even the one that stood out to me was the
topic of abortion, which to me should be an easy layup.

(17:54):
They asked her if she basically supported late term abortion,
you know, and she didn't give an answer. You know,
she sort of like, I mean, he was already like
shooting himself in the foot, so she kind of like
allowed him to Donald Trump, to hang himself and get
her off the hook almost in that moment. But she
didn't clearly just be like yes or no, right, which
those things do bother me. That the fact and and

(18:16):
and I will say, to be fair, I get it,
like there's so much on the line there. One misstep
could possibly derail your entire you know election. I mean,
you know, we saw it with the guy who I
think he was the bureau guy with the you know,
I can't what the hell his name was years ago
that from the Democratic part I think it was the Democrats.

(18:38):
I don't know what his name, Howard Dean, That's what
it was. Yeah, yeah, right, So that one moment derailed
his whole fucking campaign because it was just a live
moment where he got caught.

Speaker 3 (18:47):
Up in the energy of of everything.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
Right, So I get what's at stake, And it's even
worse now because that was pre social media.

Speaker 3 (18:53):
In a social media area, this will live forever, you know.

Speaker 2 (18:57):
So I I get that, but it does sort of
raise an eyebrow of like, Okay, but where do you
actually stand, right, because if you can't effectively stand ten
toes down on a particular policy, can I really trust
you at the end of the day, right when we
talk about moving forward and we talk about you know,
this is something different, a different generation. You're still participating

(19:20):
in a bit of the political game. As much as
I understand it, it still is a bit frustrating to
watch and see.

Speaker 4 (19:27):
Yeah, man, Like I said, like, whenever you get a
yes no question, just answer yes or no like that
would right, I think to the viewer that would be
very satisfying because at least now know where you stand. Yes,
it's start expounding upon it, and you know, honestly, that
shows that she was very prepared. Like you said, a
bad moment could live forever. And I think that they

(19:48):
had gone in trying to throw out bait to Trump
for him, and clearly that work. But in doing that
that time that you're throwing out that bait, not giving
people that have meat and potatoes of like what is
the policy actually gonna be? Which again, like like you said,
this is a social media world, like one moment is

(20:10):
what you're trying to get this whole campaign to be about.
So I understand why it happens. But but yeah, a
little a little more on that specificity I think would
go a long way with people who are looking for
that stuff or want to know what are we talking about?

Speaker 2 (20:24):
Yeah, and to be fair though, to play devil's advocate
on my own argument. To be fair, one of the
critiques that I think a lot of us have had
of Democrats in the past is Trump is playing a
very different game and Democrats were still trying to sort of,
you know, be this sort of stoic and and like,

(20:46):
you know, not not basically drop down to the floor
with Donald Trump essentially, right, And that was a lot
of the critique of like, listen, this guy is throwing
hay bakers at you, guys, and you're standing there trying
to debate somebody who literally is just putting on a show,
and you're not matching that energy. And he's giving off
the impression that he's winning because of that. Right, So
to be fair, she basically beat him at his own

(21:07):
game this time, right like that, and she's the first
one to really do so. As you said, she brilliantly
baited this man into hanging himself on multiple occasions. I mean,
the one that comes to mind is the crowd sized one.

Speaker 3 (21:20):
Right.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
We're talking like literally saying I encourage you to go
to a Donald Trump rather you'll see people leaving there early.
And that one little line, he couldn't not respond to it,
and that was like the turning point where he just
started losing his shit a little bit, you know, a
little bit more at a time. And you could watch
her almost like laughing but holding back laughter because she
realizes how easily. She's manipulating this man to really show

(21:43):
his true colors and just lose his shit right there
on national television. So to be fair in that regard,
Democrats are now playing the clickbait game that Donald Trump
was so good at, and they are beating him at it, right.

Speaker 4 (21:56):
And it's not an easy game to play because other
people have tried to look Hillary Clinton tried the pearl
clutching strategy and it didn't work. It would like you
sound phony, even if you remember back in his first
Republican primary, Marco Rubio did try to go at him
in a sort of Trump type of way, but it
didn't work for him either. So it's not like you

(22:16):
could just clown him back and forth and think that
that's gonna work for you. You know, there's that saying, uh,
you don't argue with fools because people from distance, right,
you don't want to take that game. So Kamala Harrison
learned how to do it but not look like him,
which is not easy to do, and she deserves a
lot of credit for that.

Speaker 2 (22:35):
Yeah, exactly, there's a poise that she was able to
maintain throughout that and it was like she said just
enough to not to not like make herself look like
she's engaging, but enough to like rile him up. That
would make him just be the aggressor, right, Whereas Joe Biden,
to like as a comparison, would get frustrated and and

(22:57):
you know, with himself then are arguing about his handicaping
golf right like that was like he all of a sudden,
he became this like the bumbling idiot arguing about nothing
at all. Donald Trump brought into that level right where
Kamala Harris was able to sort of and I'd imagine
that is the prosecutor in her that has that that
skill set to really read a person that she's going

(23:17):
up against and understand that there are eyes on her
watching the way that she's going to react to those situations,
and doing just enough to make that person really show
their true colors.

Speaker 3 (23:27):
And I thought that was that was incredibly brilliant.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
So I mean, let's kind of wrap up the conversation
around this. I mean, I know, when you and I
have talked in the past, you know you were never
a Biden guy, right, You were never somebody who was
overly enthusiastic about what you had seen from Democrats. I
think even post twenty twenty election, we were kind of
on the same page where it was. It was sort

(23:51):
of just kind of like, all right, well we won that,
but it's not necessarily overly exciting beyond the fact that
we don't have to deal with Donald Trump anymore. What
are your your thoughts now when you see ticket of
Kamala Harris and someone like Tim Walls being her VP candidate.

Speaker 4 (24:04):
Yeah, I think it's been a really good turn for
the Democrats. Like you said, I was never really a
Biden guy. I was actually a Bernie guy in twenty twenty,
and after that I would have been an Elizabeth more
and more person before I was in a you know,
and what you see now, especially with the pick of
Tim Walls, I think she's Kamala Harris is showing respect

(24:26):
for my side of the Democratic Party, the one that's
young and energetic, the people who are like, if you
throw me a bone, we'll vote for you. You know,
show us that you're willing to engage with us, and
we'll vote for you. Tim Walls comes from that side
of the party, the more progressive side that I think
is because you have a very interesting dynamic where in

(24:49):
a lot of ways Kamala Harris is the more conservative
one of the tickets. She's a former prosecutor. You know
she has that history. So this is a very interesting ticket.
I think it's the type a ticket that looks like
a winning ticket. It looks and feels like a winning ticket,
whereas the Trump ticket doesn't really look that way. If
you compare especially jd Vance as a pick. The common

(25:13):
parlance is that vps don't matter. It doesn't matter, it's
just to compliment your ticket. Right. It does matter is
if they damage your ticket more than normal, or if
they help your ticket more than normal. And you have
that I think exact dynamic where jd Vance is weighing
down the ticket and Tim Wolves is bringing up the ticket.
So you're in that odd scenario where the VP picks.

(25:34):
We're so I guess out of the left field for
what people usually pick, that they're complementing and hurting in
ways that are not normal. So I think that the
Kamala Harris ticket right now, the Harris Walls ticket is
looking like a winning ticket. We have a lot of time.
I'm waiting for the October surprise to happen, as you
see happens, But until then, their you know, it definitely

(25:57):
goes one to zero Harris over Trump.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
Yeah, yeah, I think that's a great, a great way
to kind of summarize it. And I wanted to actually
real quick, we're talking about you know, advocacy and being
somebody who is out there, you know, in the streets, and.

Speaker 3 (26:15):
The idea of protesting and all those different things.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
What what do you feel like is missing from modern activism?

Speaker 3 (26:26):
Right?

Speaker 2 (26:27):
And I asked that question because I think back to
things like Occupy Wall Street, right, where great energy around it,
people are like, hey, what's going on over here? And
that's kind of what you want to start that conversation,
but literally did nothing whatsoever in terms of changing anything, right,
And even you know, in regards to all the conversations

(26:48):
around what's happening to the people of Palestine and a
lot of protests happening, a lot of people speaking out
about it, but where are the actual plans? And this
is I get frustrated with about even with Puerto Rico
a lot. I went to a Puerto Rico rally and
a lot of great energy, a lot of people who care,
But where are the actual plans that are are going

(27:09):
to be put in place to actually make something happen
rather than us just you know, yelling.

Speaker 3 (27:13):
About it in the streets or on social media.

Speaker 2 (27:15):
So I guess for you, what do you think is
lacking in modern activism that we need to improve upon?

Speaker 3 (27:22):
I guess in this generation.

Speaker 4 (27:25):
Yeah, And I think that that gets to the core
of the question in a lot of ways. And my
answer is there the activist interaction with power and how
they interact with power is the is the missing court,
because we have not figured out a way to give
our demands to the people who have the power to
make those demands real and then make them behave the

(27:46):
way we want them to. The right does this very well.
They have schools, they have fellowships, they have systems where
they bring people up in corporate America and other institutions
in universities, things like the Skull and Bones from back
in the day. You know, these little social clubs where
we're all going to be successful together and we're gonna
be the people in charge, so we'll just tell each

(28:06):
other what to do. The left and modern activism hasn't
made that step from being people out in the streets
to having institutions that tell the people in power what
to do and have a leverage to make them do
what we want them to do. That is at its
core to me, the left's interaction with power is really

(28:29):
the missing piece of what we need to accomplish before
we transition from being these people with a lot of
energy and with a lot of you know, street power,
but no institutional power.

Speaker 2 (28:41):
Yeah, I think and I think back to like the
civil rights movement, right, what is is some of the
things that really push that over over the finish line,
you know, and a lot of that was Martin Luther
King Junior did have those relationship with politicians, right, with
presidential candidates. You know, that's that's partially why he was

(29:02):
actually critiqued, you know, to a degree by people like
Malcolm X who are a bit more militant in their
thought process and not necessarily wanting to play the political game, right,
not wanting to have to interact with these these you know,
white politicians essentially. But you know, that obviously is the
winning formula, the winning strategy for lasting change, right. I

(29:26):
think it's a brute force, especially in twenty twenty four,
is just not going to be the winning option that
changes anything. It literally it's going to be spun around
as you guys are just crazy people.

Speaker 3 (29:37):
Just like Occupy Wall Street.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
You know, was that oh, these are just a bunch
of hippies who have no jobs and blah blah blah complaining, right,
and and you know, or people who have you know,
there was the guy who in protests lit himself on
fire and protests for Palestine.

Speaker 3 (29:53):
That that that.

Speaker 2 (29:55):
You know, is is just something that the powers that
be will point to a you know, oh, this was
a crazy person. You know, look how radical these people are,
right And and to your point, it's it's I don't
know what it is about that if there's a lack
of patience in our generation, because we have to understand
that in order to enact those things, like in order

(30:15):
to build those relationships, it's a lot of rubbing elbows
and politicking to a degree, right, And maybe we're over that,
maybe we're so frustrated and disillusioned by everything. But unfortunately
it's like you have to play their game to a degree.
You have to find a way to get in the room.
And the only way to do it is to be
willing to do a little bit of that give and take,
as dirty as it might feel.

Speaker 4 (30:35):
Right, And you said the you know, the MLK versus
Malcolm X strategies. You got to look forty fifty years
later which one was more successful. Some of MK's cut contemporaries,
like John Lewis became people in power who were able
to pass laws and were able to make some change,
not all the change that we wanted. Right Sure, it

(30:55):
wouldn't have been better if the people who went on
the Malcolm X side also are people who in our
contemporary world were people in power and were people making
these decisions. We maybe live in a generation where everybody
wants instant gratification. People want people want to be able
to tell the government where how they spend their tax dollars.
You're not gonna be able to do that, but you

(31:16):
can elect the person who's gonna pick where your tax
dollars go. And so you might not have it's not
a direct link, but you can have an effect on
these things. Like we were talking before, it's about participating,
it's about getting involved, you know, And that's also what
I wish. I wish more people would get involved. You know.
I always need more you know, more homies in the streets.
I always need people voting every election. I always need

(31:38):
more people to speak their minds and to say what
sort of society they want. But you know, in a way,
it involves interacting with the people who make the decisions
for what happens in our society if you're not willing it.
And at the other the other thing I want people
to understand is that at the end of the day,
every single person is a human being. They're going to
react like a being if they know you, if they

(32:00):
have a relationship with you, if they are willing to
have a conversation with you, They're going to behave very
differently from somebody who they think is going to mistreat
them or attack them, or or say something bad about them.
That's the nature of humans and that's how we are.
So don't think that, well, if I throw a break
through this person's window, then they're going to do what

(32:21):
I say, because would you do what somebody says?

Speaker 3 (32:23):
Right? Right?

Speaker 2 (32:25):
Yeah, No, I'm one hundred percent on board that I
think we do need to do a better job of
getting on board. And and if you're not the person on
the front lines, I mean, you know, what are the
organizations locally that maybe you can contribute to, right and
in some sort of way, even if it's giving a
couple of bucks, you know, to because I mean, this
shit costs money.

Speaker 3 (32:42):
And at the end of the day, you know, you
have your own life.

Speaker 2 (32:46):
You have a family, right that you have to be
concerned with, right, you have a job, and you know,
as much as you're passionate about the activist stuff, it's
not worth you also being homeless on the street with
your family, right, So it's a balancing act. So the
ability to spend more time I'm on working on the
issues of that people are concerned about is going to
require a certain level of funding and a certain level

(33:07):
of organization.

Speaker 3 (33:07):
Right. So it's like there are different.

Speaker 2 (33:09):
Levels that we all could get involved in this, and
myself included, and I think a lot of people think
just because they're not the type to want to go
give speeches or whatever it might be, we all have
a part that we could play if you truly do
care about this, and even like to your point, at
the bare minimum, just showing up and fucking voting at
the end of the day, right, just doing a little
bit of research and voting not only for the president

(33:30):
but in all your local elections as well, though that
are arguably more important to your everyday life, as I said,
is in this country.

Speaker 3 (33:38):
Now.

Speaker 2 (33:38):
I wanted to talk about Venezuela for a second because
I think it leads into the bigger conversation of immigration,
which obviously was Trump's one of Trump's big obsessions yesterday,
to keep going back to. So we'll talk about that,
but I'm gonna take a quick break here and then
we'll be right back.

Speaker 4 (33:59):
All right.

Speaker 2 (33:59):
So I had talked about this on the podcast, you know,
as it was happening. But obviously there's a lot of
controversy over the election of Venezuela.

Speaker 3 (34:07):
A lot of people, you know, feel and there's.

Speaker 2 (34:11):
A lot of evidence that shows it was probably stolen
from from the people. You had record voter turnout in
that election. And still, you know, Nicholas Maludo ends up
being allegedly re elected, right in.

Speaker 3 (34:26):
Allegedly, you know, according to him, he won, right.

Speaker 2 (34:29):
So, and a lot of the topic at hand in
this this country about immigration is the idea of villainizing
these people, right and acting as if they're coming out
here hands open, looking for a free and easy ride
and to take everything.

Speaker 3 (34:45):
That you've ever you and your family have ever worked for. Right.
That's the narrative is people like Donald Trump were pushing
and a lot of.

Speaker 2 (34:55):
There's a lot I think there's a lot more nuanced
again to this conversation, and people probably want to understand
or want to realize and to me, if you are
against sort of having an open border, then you should
be pro us having a better foreign policy that can
aid these countries to then allow their governments to not

(35:17):
be taking advantage of the people to the point these
people are fleeing because they think their life is at risk, essentially, right,
And we did see the US pull what people are saying,
kind of a bold move in as far as the
sanction move goes, where they actually seize the Venezuelan president's
plane while he was in Dominican Republic or while it
was in Dominican Republic, and they did this because he

(35:37):
violated the sanctions that the US government has placed against Venezuela. Right,
So obviously this isn't something that necessarily moves the needle,
but it is sort of a showing of a bit
of like, hey, we're we want it. We're gonna be
on your ass a little bit. But I guess, you know,
let's zoom out about foreign policy and from that, Lens

(35:58):
of somebody who feels like we are letting too many
people in the country.

Speaker 3 (36:02):
What are you kind of proposing, then, is what the
solution would be.

Speaker 4 (36:07):
My ultimate solution would be for the United States to
stop getting involved in other people's governments and overthrowing people
for the purpose of installing a government that's more friendly
to American business interests, because that's really what you have
going on in Latin America, and that's why you have
certain governments, like the Venezuelan government and like the Cuban
government that are shut out of the world economy and

(36:32):
made to suffer or attempted to be made to suffer
for the fact that they don't want to participate in
the American system. So in Venezuela you have a dictator,
Nicola Madodo, and he's going to stay in power as
long as he can hold onto that government. Why because
America keeps trying to go into that government and destabilize it.
And when you do that, you empower certain people who say, look,

(36:56):
these evil Americans are trying to overthrow us. Let's all
together and essentially steal from this country. The reason I
hate stories like that with the jet being taken is
because that's not what happens with sanctions. For the most part,
does it happen absolutely, But the people who truly suffer,

(37:16):
who are made to suffer when the government and enact
economic war on a country, are the regular people of
that country. That's what actually happens, is that the regular
people who just want to feed their families and have
a safe life, just like every single American, they're unable
to buy groceries, unable to go to a doctor, unable
to do all of the things that we in America

(37:36):
could do whenever we want, however we want, as long
as you can afford it. Those people run from that
country because it's under horrible circumstances. They run, They take
their families, They go to a place that they're told
is more safe, more free, has more opportunities for you.
What is that place, It's America. So to me, my

(37:57):
ultimate solution is, maybe we should stop trying to or
throw these governments. Maybe we should stop trying to force
American business interests onto these governments so that maybe they
will start to elect people who, whether we like it
or not, are gonna do what those people want. Maybe
then those people will stop running from those countries. And
stop coming to America and doing all the scary stuff

(38:19):
that you're so afraid of. Right, but until America makes
the conscious choice to stop going into Latin America and
the other places across the globe, Ukraine, at Yemen, all
I could just name all continents, all these wars that
are going on because America wants American business interests to

(38:40):
have uphold in these countries, and we will not accept
it if these countries say no, and so we enact
sanctions and do all of this stuff. That jet plane
is one example out of probably you know those things,
and me who works very close to sanctions programs and
understands how these things work, that's what happens because these
guys have all these different sorts of ways of evading sanctions.

(39:03):
These guys, you know, these countries are cut off from
us economically. People, people who are viewing this and don't
hear too much about this stuff should google Bricks b Urics,
which is a group of countries that are coming together
and say, well, if America doesn't want to mess with
us economically, we'll just do our own thing and then
we won't have to mess with the dollar. Because the
reason that all this stuff works is because the globe

(39:25):
takes American dollars. You go to any country in Latin
America with an American dollar, and you know how they
treat you versus They want American dollars, not local currency.
And that gives us a very unique place in the world.
Other countries are starting to say, well, maybe if America
doesn't treat us right, we can do our own thing.
We don't need the dollar, and that is going to
be the thing that truly brings America to its needs

(39:47):
because the reason we're able to have these very affordable,
these very comfortable lifestyles in America for those who can
afford it, is because America does these things overseas. So
you know, it's it's it's really a vicious cycle. It's
a vicious cycle. We do these things to these countries
to have nice things over here, and we want to
give us give up these nice things over here. So

(40:10):
are we gonna stop doing those horrible things over there?
Nestle chocolate? Look at what they do. Look all these
corporations that the water that we drink, everything that everything
that we do, you cannot buy from these people. These
are the people that truly have us say in what
our governments are doing. So to me, until we stop
trying to go into other countries across the world and

(40:31):
tell them you have to accept our business interests, those
people are not gonna stop running away, and you're gonna
be scared for until the end of time because because
that's that's just what happens. If you destabilize the government,
the people will leave and they're gonna go somewhere that
they think is better.

Speaker 3 (40:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (40:47):
So, so for clarification, your approach would be that you
think they should be working with like like, So, regardless
of it's a dictatorship, regardless if we don't value that's
not our American value, we should still maintain a healthier
relationship with them than trying to get them to convert
to what we believe in.

Speaker 4 (41:07):
Essentially, well, we do it when it benefits us, because
we do it with Arabia, right, So do they have
our values? Do they do what we in China? In China?
I mean I could go on and on and on
right right, right, that we choose to say, Okay, even
if you don't do what we like, we'll, you know,
we'll have a good enough relationship. But then they're the
ones who say we don't want that, and then we say, okay,

(41:29):
well we'll overthrow you until you do want that. To me,
my approach would be stop overthrowing them, stop trying to
interject with sanctions. You know, the best time we had
with Cuba is when we started opening it up with Obama.
Who knows if we would have continued down that road,
if maybe the communists would have fallen by now and
they would have a totally different government. We don't know,

(41:51):
because we didn't go down that route. Right, Right, maybe
if for once we go down that route instead of
the we'll keep sending bombs and trying to overthrow you
or or wage economic warfare, maybe then you'll get a
different result.

Speaker 3 (42:04):
Right.

Speaker 4 (42:04):
Albert Einstein said, the definition of insanity is doing the
same thing over and over in a different result. You
either either we're insane or we like the result that
we're getting.

Speaker 3 (42:15):
Right.

Speaker 2 (42:15):
Well, I mean, well, I mean this is this is
actually fascinating to me because I feel like it's not
I've never really actually heard anybody put it in that
way before.

Speaker 3 (42:23):
Because it is ironic.

Speaker 2 (42:24):
Right, you have a place like China that we literally
do tremendous amounts of business with I mean, I can
go around this room right now, and the majority of
the things in it probably were made in China. Right,
So we have no problem working with them because it's
financially it's beneficial to us, and our American businesses want

(42:44):
to keep that connection open because it benefits them in
their profit margins. Right, So we can look past the
dictatorship that they have, we can look past the fact
that the people there aren't getting real information, right, I mean,
and that's it's fascinating to put it in that way.
But for some reason in Latin America, Oh no, we
can't have that. We need you to completely adapt to

(43:06):
everything that we are saying, right, and if not, we're
not going to work with you, and we're also not
going to do any real trade with you, and therefore
your economy is going to struggle as a result.

Speaker 3 (43:16):
Right, And I think that's it's it's it's interesting.

Speaker 2 (43:21):
I mean, what but like, what do you think is
is the real motivator there?

Speaker 3 (43:26):
Right?

Speaker 2 (43:26):
Because because to your point, let's say, the powers that
be are these corporate companies that are kind of pulling
the strings, right, that are benefiting the most, let's say
from somewhere like China being being such a trade partner.

Speaker 3 (43:37):
For us, Right, why wouldn't they want to go into a.

Speaker 2 (43:41):
Place like Venezuela and be able to do the same
exact thing they're doing in China?

Speaker 3 (43:44):
Right?

Speaker 2 (43:45):
And and you know, take advantage of manufacturing or you know,
play like coffee and all these different things that are
that are native to to these areas that we could
be getting far easier.

Speaker 3 (43:56):
Why why do you think they're not pushing harder for
for that sort of practice.

Speaker 4 (44:01):
The thing is they are, but the people there are
saying no, right, we overthrow them, like they that's what
that's what they want. The American business centrists want them
to say, let us in, and they're no, we're gonna
charge you to come in. And they're like, you see that.
That's That's the ultimate thing about it is that yes,
they want that, they want the access, but they're not

(44:22):
being given the access on terms that they want. That's
why you know, people say we overthrew Iraq for the
oil because American and other global oil companies want access
to their oil and they say no. And and honestly,
if you didn't know where any of your viewers don't know,
look up where Venezuela is on oil production or on

(44:42):
oil capacity is very high up there. So you know,
in some ways you can draw the very same lines
that that's why they want in. But the people they
are saying no or yes, but on terms that are
beneficial to us, and the and the American business centrists
are like, no, we just want to give it to us.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
Right, right, right, It's a it's a fuck entangled web
of all types of shit, right, And you know, and
and unfortunately, as what always sort of happens is the
ones that are going to be villainized are going to
be the everyday people, right, whether it's you and I
or whether it's the people escaping persecution in those countries,

(45:22):
They're going to be the ones being blamed for whatever
is happening over here, right, rather than being able to
zoom out and say, well, what's actually the bigger and again,
like new, I'm obsessed with nuance because it's like we
just have to dig a little bit deeper in everything, right.

Speaker 3 (45:36):
I think we've been trained psychologically.

Speaker 2 (45:38):
I don't know if it's the way a school system
into side of norms and things like that. It's like,
let's accept the first superficial answer and just run with
that rather than like saying, you know what, if this
is a complex issue, the truth probably isn't on the
far left or the far right. The truth probably lies
somewhere in the middle, and we're just not trained to
dig that deep in to it. And that's I think

(46:00):
the sad part about all this.

Speaker 4 (46:02):
Yeah, man, And and it's so horrible because the only
ones that suffer are the poor of both countries, the
poor and villainize the poor from Venezuela and otherwise. And
then you know, it goes back and forth. Meanwhile, the
elites of both countries live comfortably the whole. We are
the ones who have to wage these wars of hatred

(46:24):
and of discrimination and all this stuff. We're the only
ones that have to suffer with this stuff. The elites
in both nations sit very pretty and love the way
things are going. And at the end of the day,
they're happy that things are the way they are, honestly,
and and and yeah, it is very horrible, you know.
I I that's why I preach, and the people I
talk to are the people on the ground, and that's

(46:45):
why I interprect those people, because if change comes, it's
gonna be through the people who are most directly influencing
and affecting things.

Speaker 3 (46:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:54):
Yeah, and and again to your point, the ones that
are affected are the poorest. And that's why to a degree,
read you know something that changed my perspective. You know,
I moved out to the suburbs here, and I have
a business in a predominant like blue collar.

Speaker 3 (47:09):
White town, traditionally white town. A lot of these people
are struggling.

Speaker 2 (47:13):
So I and the Trump supporters, but I genuine I
understand you're pissed off because it's like, Yo, I'm working
forty hours a week, I'm doing what I was supposed
to do. I got a trade, I have a job
I'm doing and I'm still just barely getting by. I'm
pissed off, So I understand the frustration. Do I think
their anger is obviously misguided? Yes, But the poor are suffering,

(47:35):
regardless of you are, white, black, brown, whatever it might be,
your poor as poor. Being poor sucks, struggling living paycheck
to paycheck, not being able to provide for your family,
not being able to take a sick day when you
need it, or not being able to fucking get you know,
health coverage or pay for health care.

Speaker 3 (47:50):
Whatever it might be.

Speaker 2 (47:51):
That sucks regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum.
And unfortunately, because of the political game and the divisiveness
that which has only gotten worse because of somebody like
Donald Trump, We're we're going to continue to suffer because
they fooled us into.

Speaker 3 (48:09):
Seeing red or blue rather than than.

Speaker 2 (48:12):
Actually seeing like, who the fuck cares the most or
has a real plan of action regardless of what your
political party they align themselves.

Speaker 4 (48:19):
With right, and and even better is who is ultimately
responsible for these conditions because in that way, if you
look at it through that lens, Donald Trump is the
perfect uh like manifestation of taking all this anxiety caused
by the Donald Trump class and then selling it to

(48:39):
the underclass as actually, why don't you just hate these
other people hating me? Who has actually created these circumstances?

Speaker 2 (48:47):
Yeah, no, And it's it's it's a sad I mean,
it's a sad state of of you know, modern modern society.
And yeah, I mean, I don't know. I those are
things that keep you up at night because it's just
it's it's just if people if they really just dug
a bit deeper, just a little bit more critical thinking,
I think we beat a far better place. But that's
a that's a like utopian pipe dream of mine.

Speaker 4 (49:10):
Every time we want to deeper, just hit me up, bro,
because yeah, bro.

Speaker 3 (49:14):
I appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (49:15):
Bro.

Speaker 2 (49:16):
Anything you want to push people to that they can
go check out.

Speaker 4 (49:20):
You know, the New Jersey twenty twenty five elections are
coming up. I would just tell people to stay tuned
and you know, look out for your local elections. Definitely
stay in touch, registered to vote, and you know, watch
social media. You know. I hope to have something to
share in the mary in the main feed, not to
the future.

Speaker 3 (49:37):
Love it, my bro, will listen.

Speaker 2 (49:38):
You always have a place here a home to uh
to share what you got going on at what is
it also get at two to one is the Instagram?

Speaker 3 (49:45):
Yep? All right man, Well listen brother.

Speaker 2 (49:46):
I appreciate your your time and your insight as always,
and of course we'll have.

Speaker 3 (49:50):
You back on soon.

Speaker 4 (49:51):
Thanks bro, always, good talk to you, man.

Speaker 2 (49:53):
Big shot to my guy Hector or Sagana for hopping
on the show. Always loved getting his perspect and I
actually wanted to touch on some positivity as well. I
wanted to bring Hector in for you know, the debate
analysis and some of that foreign policy stuff. But y'all know,
if you were listening to the podcast, I've been hyper
critical of particular artists from our community about not doing

(50:18):
as much as they could be doing.

Speaker 3 (50:21):
And I have to say I've been not not humbled, but.

Speaker 2 (50:27):
You know, the message has been heard to some degree
in the form of Bad Bunny recently this last week.
So I want to talk about that in Army Hint.
That segment got to celebrate the good as always. But
first we'll take a quick break and then we'll be
right back. All right, So Puerto Rico has its elections

(50:57):
coming up on November fifth.

Speaker 3 (50:58):
If I'm not mistaken, and this.

Speaker 2 (51:01):
Broke while I was actually over there, Bad Bunny did
a podcast with a YouTuber named ELTONI. And just for context,
if you've been listening to this podcast consistently, you probably
are aware of the fact that I have been hypercritical,
or we find me on social media. I've been hypercritical
of a lot of artists not utilizing their platform to

(51:24):
really do all that they can be doing. Specifically, I've
called out people like you know, Bad Bunny Orciente and
calling them to do a lot more.

Speaker 3 (51:32):
I think I've I've probably been the hardest on somebody
like Bad Bunny.

Speaker 2 (51:36):
And while I don't I all right, I don't want
to like over celebrate this because to me, this is
still kind of the bare minimum.

Speaker 3 (51:46):
But I do appreciate.

Speaker 2 (51:49):
The fact that the fact that he's taken a stance
and actually put himself out there in some sort of way, right,
because I think that's difficult.

Speaker 3 (51:57):
In today's social media era.

Speaker 2 (52:00):
It is difficult for the average person, let alone somebody
who has you know, millions upon millions of followers and
has all types of things on the line as far
as you know, partnerships and and and whatnot that they
have to be considered of when they, you know, make
a statement publicly or they do something right. So Bad
Buddy was on that podcast I mentioned or didn't interview

(52:21):
with the YouTuber OULTONI, and you know, they touched on
a lot of different things, but what he began to
go viral for from this interview was him talking about
his love for Puerto Rico, him talking about wanting to
raise his kids in Puerto Rico and not feeling like
he could confidently do that given the current state of things,

(52:41):
and him talking about, you know, the the political party
in Puerto Rico that has really been a detriment to
the island. And this is a party that is in
favor of statehood and they're the ones who have been,
you know, in all in power for years. At this point,

(53:01):
people just keep voting in the same political party and
nothing really changes, right thinks honestly have gotten worse. So
Bad Buddy has been calling for something different.

Speaker 4 (53:13):
He is.

Speaker 2 (53:15):
Encouraging young people to go out and get registered to vote,
to protest with their vote, all amazing things and not
to toot mount horror. But if you can recall I
mentioned this a couple of weeks ago, like why not
hold some sort of a concert and like everybody you
know who goes.

Speaker 3 (53:34):
It's free if you have a voter registration card, if
you register to vote, and you.

Speaker 2 (53:39):
Know I don't, I'm not gonna. I don't have a
direct connection to somebody like bad Buddy. But it seems
like the message was heard, you know, whether it was
me echoing something else or whatever it was, you know,
the message was heard or the.

Speaker 3 (53:53):
Same conclusion was drawn.

Speaker 2 (53:56):
And as a result of him going on this show
and talking about that, there actually has been an influx
of young people registering to vote in in Puerto Rico.
And you know, it's it's interesting. I'm readied the article
we on me too. It literally just dropped today. They're
saying bad buddies. Comments seem to have motivated young voters

(54:18):
in Puerto Rico. As it stands, seventy five percent of
voting age people under twenty one are not registered to vote.
After Beneatho's call to action, there have been mass voter
registration drives to get people registered before the September twenty
first deadline. Tame seventy five percent of people under seventy

(54:41):
five percent of voting age people under twenty.

Speaker 3 (54:44):
One are not registered vote in Perto Rico.

Speaker 2 (54:46):
That pisses me off to no end, but I'm not
I'm gonna hart with this is me head that we're
gonna hart on the good. But what's also cool is
I actually did see then an event happening at Vivo
Beach Club. They're throwing like a little mini festival over there,
Puerto Rico, and it's free to attend as long as
you have your voter registration card or they actually will
have on site voter registration happening at the event.

Speaker 3 (55:09):
And it's like, man, this is so fucking simple. Why
did it take so long?

Speaker 2 (55:14):
As I'm trying to say positive, this is a beautiful moment.
Somebody is taking action, who has a great platform like
bad Bunny. Obviously there's an issue where voting people, you know,
people under the age of twenty one not being readied
to vote in Puerto Rico, and literally it's their future
on the line, so it's incredibly important. Now, do I
wish he would organize a large scale event to really

(55:37):
drive this home?

Speaker 3 (55:38):
Yeah? I do.

Speaker 2 (55:38):
I wish he would do something on the island to
really drive this home and make people show up and
show out. But you know, this is a great start.
Another idea would honestly be that hold the concert in
Puerto Rico after November fifth, like November sixth, and anybody

(56:00):
who has, like, you know, proof that they voted.

Speaker 3 (56:03):
I'm not sure what it would be.

Speaker 2 (56:05):
They get into the concert for free, right, So all
these little things that could be done, But to his credit,
he did get out there and decided to do this
interview and decided to have this conversation, and it's having
an effect. And this is the type of shit that

(56:25):
I'm talking about, right, This is the bare minimum. And
I don't even mean that in a denigrating way when
I'm having this conversation, but literally, look at the effect
that this person has, the influence that he has. He
just sat down on a interview with the YouTuber mentioned
that the young people need to get out and register

(56:46):
to vote and have their voice heard. And literally you're
seeing young people in droves go out and do so.

Speaker 4 (56:56):
So.

Speaker 2 (56:56):
While I understand it's not in their job title to
do things like this, look at the fucking power and
influence that you have and the agent for change that
you could be just by doing little things like this.
Imagine if you decided to take it a step further
and do some of the things that I've been talking about.

Speaker 3 (57:12):
So, I don't know, just a beautiful moment.

Speaker 2 (57:15):
Again, I think it proves to my point that I've
always been trying to make like, you know, there's a
responsibility that comes along with or there should be a
responsibility comes along with having a platform like that because
of how influential you are, and why not want to
be a person of influence for good, changing the the
things and the lives of the people you claim to
love so much. So listen salutes a bad bunny. I

(57:37):
hope we take it a step further. But this is
an amazing start. I wish it would happened, you know
a little bit sooner. But hey, anybody that listens to
this and put the Hurrican have some listeners out there.
Make sure you are are registered to vote. You know,
you are making sure that your voice is heard. I
know that at times it feels like you're being ignored.
But you know, as we talked about with Hector earlier

(57:58):
in the show, it's like you you don't have a
right to complain. Essentially, if you're not going to bother
to show up and make your voice heard, then you
can't complain when things are going awry, you know, because
you decided to sit out and and not participate in
trying to make things better. So and that goes for
anybody here in the States as well who still isn't
registered to vote.

Speaker 3 (58:17):
But yeah, beautiful stuff.

Speaker 2 (58:18):
Now, I want to touch on the debate real quick
in our ask A Getting Goo segment get some of
y'all's take on it.

Speaker 3 (58:24):
But first we'll take a quick break and then we'll
be right back ask question.

Speaker 2 (58:36):
All right, So I simply asked people for for this,
just like what was your your reaction to the debate right,
and you know, be honest, it could you could do it.
You know, we could do it, you know, anonymously, whatever
whatever made sense for you.

Speaker 3 (58:57):
And I got a few responses.

Speaker 2 (58:58):
But I also noticed was I had people like who
were afraid to I guess, have their point known to
a degree, you know, which I get.

Speaker 3 (59:08):
I get it, and it's scary in today's social media era.

Speaker 2 (59:11):
Also going to broadcast on podcast, so I get it,
but I don't know, just interesting, interesting stuff. So you know,
first one that I got him going to read a
couple at Marty Abe eighty four says Harris killed it, period,
she flamed him. I think that's an accurate, accurate description
of it. I think that's what most people are saying.

(59:31):
Even when you watch clips from Fox News, they're talking
about that it wasn't Donald Trump's best performance, that he
kind of dropped the ball there. So I definitely would
agree that she had the better showing, and honestly, she
also had the most to lose out of this, so
she really had to.

Speaker 3 (59:48):
Rise to the occasion, which in my opinion, she did.

Speaker 2 (59:52):
At Cross Underscore Soul says I thought both sides did
not look good. We need to hold both of them accountable.
And I wish you would have elaborated a little bit
more on that. I kind of be interested to hear
what you thought Kamala didn't do well on.

Speaker 3 (01:00:09):
I mean, I mentioned this earlier in the show.

Speaker 2 (01:00:10):
I think my critique of like, you know, it still
felt like we were playing a little bit of the
old political game, a little bit of ducking very direct questions.
And you know, again, as I mentioned, I kind of
get it.

Speaker 3 (01:00:25):
I get it. I don't love it, but I get
that there's a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:00:29):
On the line, and you know, people are very conscious
of one misstep sort of derailing everything. You know, especially
everything gets clipped in today's culture.

Speaker 3 (01:00:41):
There's a lot riding on it in general.

Speaker 2 (01:00:43):
But when you have a culture that will turn everything
into something, you have to be very careful, you know,
about what you do and don't say. And I get
how that feels very inauthentic at times, but it is
a reality that I think we have to sort of
be aware and a little bit empathetic too, I think
to a degree, as much as it's like, listen, just

(01:01:04):
tell me what you fucking believe in, right, don't don't
perform for me, just tell me what you believe in.
And I get the frustration and that that.

Speaker 3 (01:01:11):
Would be my only critique.

Speaker 2 (01:01:12):
But I think you know, with that aside, if we're
talking about sort of who looked good and didn't look good,
Kamala Harris was poised in control in an environment that
many people before her who or are seasoned politicians, sort
of began to act out of sorts that Donald Trump

(01:01:33):
got under their skin and as he's very good at, created.

Speaker 3 (01:01:37):
A show and made them look bad.

Speaker 2 (01:01:39):
And Kamala Harris was actually able to beat him at
his own game and manipulate the conversation to her liking,
which was impressive. And to be fair, you know, I
she came out the gate literally boom, this is my policy.
These are the big things that I want to do
when I step into office day one. And truthfully, Donald

(01:01:59):
Trump really, aside from the conversation around tariffs and things
like that, that was the only sort of matter of
fact plan that he had for anything, right, even when
it came to healthcare, he sort of he literally said,
I have a semblance of a plan, like what, bro,
you had time to prepare for this debate. You've been
out of office for almost four years where you're planning

(01:02:22):
this big comeback, and you know you haven't taken the
time to think about something as important as healthcare, which
is probably one of the top things that many people
in this country are struggling with, is getting affordable healthcare. Again,
I think that tells us all we need to know
about that person. You know, and Donald Trump was more

(01:02:43):
interested in talking about himself and you know, refuting claims
about himself than talking about the American people, and he
didn't come across as presidential. I've said this at the
beginning of the podcast. To me, it was very sad
that this is the other candidate on the major party
of the United States. I think it's it makes us
the laughing stock. I think Kamala Harris was impressive and

(01:03:06):
did look presidential personally, but yeah, I definitely love to
know more about what you know, you thought looked bad
as far as Kamala Harris was, I mean, I think,
I think, uh, I wonder, I wonder how much of
the critiques against Kamala Harris are internal bias that maybe

(01:03:30):
some of us aren't aware of to a degree. I'm
not like pointing fingers or calling anybody out in some
sort of way. But I did have an interesting conversation
with with a friend of mine and I'll reference that
as well.

Speaker 3 (01:03:42):
So aside from those spots.

Speaker 2 (01:03:43):
On Instagram, I did have a friend of mine called
me yesterday and she is you know, conservative leaning, you know,
and and we have really open, conver healthy conversations.

Speaker 3 (01:03:56):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:03:56):
I don't agree with her on everything, and certain things
we do agree on, but she leans conservatively, and you know,
for her watching that debate as much as I don't
know what else you sort of need to hear at
this point from Donald Trump, she was hoping to hear
a bit more of his plan or you know, what
he was going to do in contrast to Kamala Harris,

(01:04:19):
you know, and she was disappointed by that, and she
had a very self aware and honest moment that I appreciated,
and she talked about how.

Speaker 3 (01:04:31):
You know, visually.

Speaker 2 (01:04:37):
Seeing Kamala Harris up there and some of the faces
she made, and sometimes the way she talks, she can't
help but have sort of a negative reaction to the
woman Kamala Harris, And in a very like honest moment
that I appreciate, she was saying, like, I don't know
if it's maybe I have some sort of internal bias

(01:04:59):
against the you know, idea of of a woman being
president or for for whatever reason, I can't wrap my
brain around that. And and I appreciate sort of calling
yourself out on on something like that. We all have
various internal biases, right, things that subconsciously we automatically think
of or color our lens in this world, right, And

(01:05:21):
I think it's not meant we shouldn't be shaming each
other or ourselves for some of those things. It's obviously
now if you decide to take action in a negative
way that is harmful or spew rhetoric that is harmful, yeah,
that that you should be judged by. But I think
there are you know, certain things. It's it's like we
were all raised if you're of a particular generation that like,

(01:05:44):
you know, president of the United States was a man's job, right,
it's mister president, right, And and even like you know.

Speaker 3 (01:05:52):
The the idea of like what do we call.

Speaker 2 (01:05:55):
The you know, the uh, the first man now, right,
so you said it's the first lady, and now it's
madame madame vice president.

Speaker 3 (01:06:04):
That sounds weird, right, madam president. So like those are
all little things right that like.

Speaker 2 (01:06:10):
Don't particularly roll off the tongue naturally or uh, don't
come to mind naturally because of our own preconceived biases,
because of how we were raised and sort of what
was standard in the world. And I understand that, and
I think, you know, some of us need to have
an honest conversation with ourselves about like what what really
bothers us, you know, And and I'll I'll sort of

(01:06:33):
kind of put a period on it, you know, with
h I even you know, some family members and you know,
like like you know whatever, like through marriage or whatever.
I've talked about this that I have some Trump supporters,
and one of the commentary that came from from one
of them was like, Kamala Harris is disgusting.

Speaker 3 (01:06:55):
And it's like, man, I was jarred by that comment.

Speaker 2 (01:06:59):
But it's a lot to unpack there, because it's like,
what is disgusting about this woman. She's a person who's
achieved incredible amounts of things in her career, defied all
the odds, and gone on to at this point be

(01:07:20):
the vice president of the United States and is potentially,
you know, somebody who could be our next president, the
first female president first, you.

Speaker 3 (01:07:31):
Know, a woman of color, like all these different things.

Speaker 2 (01:07:34):
Right, she's intellectual, she's an attorney, she is all these
different things, you know, and you know, for the sake
of the conversations. And she's not physically you know, like
you know, appalling to look at her something like that.

Speaker 3 (01:07:51):
So what is disgusting about her? Right And and that
is a reaction you're having is something that is deep.

Speaker 2 (01:08:00):
Rooted in your subconscious And I don't know what it is.
I'm not gonna you know. Is it because she's a
woman of color. Is it because she's a powerful woman.
Is it because she's an outspoken woman? You know? Is
it because she's a woman who is unafraid to go
on the attack. And again, I'm not trying to you know,
villainize anybody, but these are real conversations that we have

(01:08:23):
to have with ourselves, you know. And a lot of
things like that were said about Hillary, you know. And
what is the subconscious bias that many of us have?

Speaker 3 (01:08:34):
Right?

Speaker 2 (01:08:34):
I mean, and shit, this is beyond politics, and things
like this exists in all aspects of our world.

Speaker 3 (01:08:39):
Like there was the idea for.

Speaker 2 (01:08:41):
A long time that black men in playing football couldn't
be a quarterback in the NFL. Right, that was like
the standard was like, you know, your your white, homegrown,
Middle America type of guy was the quarterback because they
would be a great leader and black men would not
be able to lead a team or or they were

(01:09:01):
not intelligent enough to play the quarterback position.

Speaker 3 (01:09:04):
And now, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:09:06):
Through years of progress, that has shifted where you have
a very diverse class of people playing quarterback in the NFL,
in college and things of that nature. But that was
a common narrative, right, A lot of we were raised
with that. We were raised with the idea of like, oh,
it's interesting that there's a black guy playing quarterback, right,
he's the abnormality. Almost so, I think we all of us,

(01:09:28):
myself included. I'm not and I'm not I'm not saying
this to like make anybody feel bad about themselves. We
all have these biases, right, and I think the only
thing that I think, you know, we we can do,
what we should do is have a real conversation with
ourselves about like why do I have this reaction to
this person? You know, especially again, somebody like Kamala Harris,

(01:09:50):
who is intelligent, has a great track record, well educated,
didn't come from you know, having a rich background or
anything like that, like so many things that are You know,
if that was my daughter, I would be so fucking
proud of her, right, like beyond proud. So why is
it that we have an issue with with many people

(01:10:12):
can't seem to wrap their brain around it or be
okay with her on that that stage. You know, I
think against it's an internal conversation and dialogue. But I
would challenge anybody who's sort of having an issue with
her beyond policy stuff and you're just having like a
personal reaction, explore that a bit more, because there's probably
something deep underlying there that that you know you are.

Speaker 3 (01:10:35):
Carrying that really.

Speaker 2 (01:10:36):
Isn't serving you or serving the greater good of the
world at the end of the day. Just some food
for thought. With that said, let's tie everything we talked
about today in a neat little boat in a segment
we call conclusion STU time for comp.

Speaker 3 (01:10:55):
All right.

Speaker 2 (01:10:55):
So, I mean we talked about a debate like to
fucking exhaustion. It was there, it was obvious the memes
are coming out. Yeah, I don't know, man, I think,
I think. I think for me, my greatest takeaway from
it all is a bit of sadness that like this
is where we are.

Speaker 3 (01:11:17):
I saw.

Speaker 2 (01:11:17):
I don't know if it was TikTok or Instagram, people
like had created a compilation of like previous debates from
like Nixon all the way to.

Speaker 3 (01:11:28):
Outgore.

Speaker 2 (01:11:29):
And what was really a stark contrast was the amount
of respect that those people on that stage, those men
on that stage displayed for each other. Even if they

(01:11:52):
were running against one another, they were they were opponents,
and even though they had a different ideology, there were
so many times where they would be quoted in that
video of saying like I'm not going to get into
personal attacks.

Speaker 3 (01:12:06):
I'm not going to.

Speaker 2 (01:12:10):
You know, ah, I'm trying to think of like that.
The thing was stuck out to me, even beout the
personal tax thing. But the second part of that was
like they were saying, I'm like replaying in my head.
I was half a sleep and I watched it this morning.
But they they were also talking about, like both of

(01:12:30):
us have the same goal a better America. We just
have different plans to get there. And the American people
are are not voting upon who they like better, but whose.

Speaker 3 (01:12:39):
Plan they like better.

Speaker 2 (01:12:41):
To summarize kind of, and I believe that was the
exchange between like Nixon and Kennedy, and that really made
me sad, you know, kind of like reflecting on this
current cycle and.

Speaker 3 (01:12:53):
Both sides are obviously going at one another now.

Speaker 2 (01:13:03):
You know, this is where I think a bit of
the hypocrisy lies when it comes to.

Speaker 3 (01:13:10):
The right.

Speaker 2 (01:13:11):
I think you would have to say a lot of
this started with the right, you know, I think this
a lot of this. I mean, listen, and this has

(01:13:32):
been bubbling and I don't know the Democrats aren't like
clean on this, but I think it's been bubbling for
a long time. And then somebody like Donald Trump just
fucking lit the match, basically, right, like the gasoline has
been being poured on for a long time. And then
Donald Trump just fucking took the match and blew everything
up and created the climate we're in now.

Speaker 3 (01:13:51):
And unfortunately Democrats.

Speaker 2 (01:13:57):
Have had no choice but to now get down in
the dirt, right, And like I mentioned to heck There
earlier in the show, it was like, you know, as
much as I wish it was just about policy and
things like that, one of my critiques in the twenty
twenty election was like Donald Trump is like hitting below
the belt and Democrats are trying to play it, you know, like.

Speaker 3 (01:14:16):
Old school politics, and you have to hit them. You know.

Speaker 2 (01:14:19):
Unfortunately that people want these memes, people are responding to that,
so you have to sort of adapt to the current
political climate as much as I don't think it's a
healthy one. And I think you know that that is
what makes me a bit sad, is like the fact
that this politics has to be played in this manner
rather than like, hey, here's my plan, here's what I'm doing,

(01:14:40):
blah blah blah. I have respect for somebody even if
they have a different ideology than me, right, I don't
or just because they say they're liberal, I don't automatically
write them off as somebody I hate. Just because this
person's conservative, I don't write them off automatically as somebody
I hate.

Speaker 3 (01:14:53):
Like that's where we used to be, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:14:56):
There was a mutual respect and a trust that everybody
was in it for the right reason for the most part. Again,
they just had a different way of getting there, and
I think we've lost that.

Speaker 3 (01:15:09):
And you know, I feel like.

Speaker 2 (01:15:17):
Donald Trump going away would hopefully help get us back
to a healthier place, right Like I think a law
a second Donald Trump loss.

Speaker 3 (01:15:32):
Would prove that this sort of.

Speaker 2 (01:15:37):
Ideology and this strategy of division and hate are not
a winning strategy and we need to reverse courses what
I would hope for as far as the Republican Party goes.
And that's why you know, to me, it's so important
for him not to get out, because if he wins,
it's like, oh, this is the winning strategy.

Speaker 3 (01:15:57):
Keep dividing the country.

Speaker 2 (01:15:59):
You know, you don't need everybody to love you, just
need the right amount of people to love you and
fuck everybody else type of thing.

Speaker 3 (01:16:04):
And that's just not American, right like that.

Speaker 2 (01:16:06):
There's just because you have a difference of opinion, and
just because you don't support the current power that be
doesn't mean that you should be neglected or forgotten about
or written off. I think, and to be and to
be fair, last thing I'm saying that Devil's Advocate, I
think Democrats probably did a bad job of that over
the decades of ignoring a certain class of this country,

(01:16:30):
like poor white people, and as a result, you have
a very angry group of people who are going to
be very susceptible to the messaging of somebody like Donald Trump. Now,
you know, with this idea of like foreign policy in
Venezuela and all these things. I think Hector brought up
a really interesting dialogue, really interesting conversation. Right, the US

(01:16:54):
imposes all these sanctions on places like Venezuela, and in
doing so basically destroys much of their ability to legally
create wealth for their economy. And you know, we say

(01:17:15):
we do this because their communist regimes and all and
the dictators, but we also have no problem turning a
blind eye to a place like China and doing a
ridiculous amount of business with them.

Speaker 3 (01:17:27):
So there is a hypocrisy there.

Speaker 2 (01:17:29):
And I think, you know, to what we were talking about,
it's like, if you if you feel like immigration is
an issue and there are too many people coming here,
then what can we do to work with these countries
so that their economy isn't struggling, so that you know,

(01:17:50):
people aren't you know, living entire circumstances that they're trying
to escape from, you know. And I think the point
he brought up is one that I haven't really heard,
and I think it's definitely one to be explored a
bit deeper. And then lastly with bad Bunny and you know,
encouraging people to vote in doing this interview, I have

(01:18:12):
I salute him for it. You know, I think I
think obviously more could be done. I think here's the thing.
I think somebody like bad Bunny cares, but maybe doesn't
feel he has the like complete grasp on all that

(01:18:37):
has happened and should happen, to give him the comfort
to really like go out and be talking about this
and in in like you know, environments that aren't controlled, right,
feel sure this this interview was like very much controlled
by his team.

Speaker 3 (01:18:55):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:18:55):
Again, I get it, it's a lot on the line, But
you know, I think beyond that, like I said, you
don't have to be this like political expert that can
go toe to toe with the best pundits in the world.

Speaker 3 (01:19:08):
I think you can do what you do.

Speaker 2 (01:19:10):
You have that platform and it's amazing and you you
are definitely responsible for getting a lot of young people
to vote to register. But like I said, like, how
do we make it even bigger beyond just words, beyond
just spending a you know whatever Thursday afternoon for an
hour getting or interview recorded, How can we take it
a step further to really mobilize people even further. Because again,

(01:19:32):
if you if he's having that much of a fucking
impact just by saying, you know, a few words during
an hour long conversation about this. Imagine if you were
on the street, you know, hosting events, putting on events
doing that, Like, how much bigger would the impact be?
You know, how much more energized would the youth be

(01:19:53):
of Puerto Rico? And again, for all I know, I'm
gonna put this out and on fucking Tuesday, he's gonn
announce a show or whatever and to do doing the
same thing.

Speaker 3 (01:20:01):
I really hope he does.

Speaker 2 (01:20:03):
But yeah, I guys, salute him for doing this obviously
that the impact is there. And this is why I
push for this so much, because these people have so
much power and influence to do good and I would
hate for it to be wasted.

Speaker 3 (01:20:18):
Is always my point. But I said, thank y'all so
much for tuning in.

Speaker 2 (01:20:22):
We will be back on Tuesday with a brand new episode.

Speaker 3 (01:20:25):
Until then, stay safe and I will talk to you soon.

Speaker 2 (01:20:32):
Life as a Good Engo is a production of the
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