December 26, 2024 • 47 mins
This week, Jemele's "The Filibuster" explains the fine line between sports diplomacy and sportswashing. Then, Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove joins Jemele to offer her firsthand perspective on using sports for positive political gain. Jemele and Rep. Kamlager-Dove discuss the Department of Government Efficiency, and Rep. Kamlager-Dove offers her opinion on how Trump's stance on immigration contrasts with her goals for sports diplomacy. Jemele and Rep. Kamlager-Dove also forecast the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Finally, Jemele answers an audience question about tax subsidies in sports ownership.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, what's up everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm Jamel Hill and welcome to politics and iHeart podcast
and Unbothered network production.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Time to get spolitical.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
The whole reason I wanted to dose politics is because
I wanted to explore and examine the relationship between sports
and politics. One thing we don't pay enough attention to
is how our political leaders use sports to influence diplomatic, social,
and political relationships. The term for this is called sports diplomacy,
but it's a little more complicated than that. Governments across
(00:38):
the world use sports to create better relationships between nations,
but they also use it to change their image. Sometimes
this diplomacy can morph into sports watching, where sports is
used to cover up an ethical and moral behavior. Now
here's a few examples of both the good and the
bad of sports diplomacy. One of the most famous examples
of sports diplomacy is how Pink Pong helped to change
(01:01):
the United states frosty relationship with China in the early
nineteen seventies.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
In nineteen seventy one, America feared the largely unknown communist giants.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Communist China seeks to spread its own brand of global revolution.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
But that's when a long haired American ping pong player
missed his team bus in Japan and befriended the world's
number one Chinese player.
Speaker 5 (01:25):
The American team, while traveling through Asia, was invited by
primaries Joe and Life to play against the Chinese team.
That team was the first group of people in twenty
one years that had set foot in China.
Speaker 6 (01:39):
Mao's offer conveyed the regards of the Chinese people to
the American people. The televised tour showed the new friendly
face of China to the world.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Time magazine called this historic event the ping pong heard
around the world. By the time the American table tennis
team finished their historic visit to China, United States President
Richard Nixon announced he was easing travel bands and trade
embargoes against China. A year later, in nineteen seventy two,
Nixon visited the People's Republic of China, the first time
(02:15):
in history an American president visited the Chinese mainland. On
the wrong side of history, there was the nineteen thirty
six Olympics in Berlin, which some historians referred to as
the Nazi Olympics because the Germans tried to use the
Olympics to soften their image.
Speaker 7 (02:33):
They were days of glory and gold.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
If I could use a single word to describe Berlin
during that period of time, the word would be cannibal.
Speaker 7 (02:44):
As US sprinter Marty Glickman remembers, the view was ground
for those two weeks in August of nineteen thirty six,
as Berlin hosted the world's greatest athletes for the eleven
Olympic Games. International visitors were warmly welcomed. Behind the pomp
and pageantry were ominous songs.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
The swastika was all of them. On virtually every other
banner we saw, there was a swastika.
Speaker 7 (03:10):
The benefit of hindsight and history helps us see these
were more than just games.
Speaker 8 (03:15):
These weren't the Berlin Olympics. These were the Nazi Olympics.
Speaker 7 (03:19):
They were also an opportunity for the regime to create
the illusion of a new Germany on the world stage,
but the reality was quite different. Jews were excluded from
all German sports teams and clubs, but the Nazis put
Jewish international track and fields dark Redelbergmann on the Olympic
roster to fend off international critics. Removed from the German
(03:40):
team at the last minute. Margaret Lambert as she is
now known, recalls her reaction.
Speaker 9 (03:45):
I would have been a loser either way, because had
I won, there would have been such an insult against
the German Psyche. How can the Jew be good enough
to win the Olympics that I would I've had to
be afraid from my life, I'm sure, and had I lost,
I would have been made as a joke.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
At the same time, the Nazis were trying to impress
the world with the Olympics, they had already begun persecuting Jews.
Speaker 7 (04:13):
By nineteen thirty six, Germany's Jews and other minorities had
been stripped of their civil rights, even their citizenship, and
the Nazi regime had already opened its first concentration caps.
Speaker 8 (04:26):
Everybody knew. Everybody knew early on exactly the kind of
regime Nazi Germany was, so much so that for the
first time in the history of the modern Olympic Games,
there was talk about boycotting these games.
Speaker 7 (04:38):
The debate raged, They're all trying to decide what to do.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Should they go? Did that mean that they.
Speaker 10 (04:45):
Would be somehow winning a stamp of approval on a
regime that many people felt was abhorrent, or was it
just a sporting contest.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
That was the Olympics that belonged to Jesse Owens, who
won the gold and the one hundred two hundred long
jump and four by one hundred meter relay, all while
Adolf Hitler was watching. Even though there were rumors for
years that Hitler shook Jesse Owen's hand, the Owens family
said that never happened. One of Hitler's confidants, Albert Spear,
wrote in his memoir that Hitler was quote highly annoyed
(05:18):
by the series of triumphs by the marvelous colored American
runner Jesse Owens. People whose antecedents came from the jungle
were primitive, Hitler said, with the shrug. Their physiques were
stronger than those of civilized whites, and hints should be
excluded from future games. So for all of y'all who
kept promoting this dumb ass idea that Hitler fucked with
black people, he absolutely did not, not as a staff,
(05:40):
a record label, or a crew. Even though the United
States government had a pretty substantial history of using sports
and athletes to foster in broaden relationships and change perceptions,
the American government didn't formally create the Sports Diplomacy Division
until two thousand and two. The division was created after
nine to eleven, with the gold being to try to
connect with young people in the Middle East through soccer.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
The division has four primary divisions.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
The Sports Envoy Program, which sends athletes, coaches, and other
sports educators abroad to lead sports clinics, speak at universities,
and speak to officials in other countries about the transformative
power of sports. There's the Sports Visitor Program, where athletes
and coaches from other countries come to the United States
to engage with their American counterparts. There's the International Sports
(06:24):
Programming Initiative, a grant based program that allows American nonprofits
to engage with underserved youth sports officials and coaches from
other countries. And the Global Sports Mentoring Program that pairs
international leaders with American sports executives to promote.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Inclusivity and gender equality.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Now, the current budget for the program is six million,
and its funds are appropriated by Congress by government standards,
that's not a lot. We've all seen the power that
sports can have when it comes to bridging communities and
promoting inclusivity and change. Many other countries have similar divisions,
but as unifying as sports can be it also can.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Come up a larger stench now.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Jesse Owens gave the world a historic moment, all while
Jim Crow and segregation were the standard in his home country.
Owens was thrown a ticker tape parade in New York
after his Olympic accomplishments, but when it came time for
him to attend a reception in his honor at the
Waldorf Astoria Hotel, he had to ride the freight elevator
to the reception because he was black. Owens said, although
(07:23):
I wasn't invited to shake hands with Hitler, I wasn't
invited to the White House to shake hands with the
president either. This sports washing has been an issue in
recent years too. Katar being awarded the twenty twenty two
World Cup despite this abysmal record on human rights issues
and inhumane treatment of workers who built the World Cup venues,
received a serious side eye. When the Olympics are on
(07:46):
US soil in twenty twenty eight, there will be plenty
of conversations about America's behavior as well, especially now that
the United States has elected a president who has promised
mass deportations. Was the architect of a Supreme Court that
disa mantle women's reproductive rights and is seeking to dismantle
trance rights. Now, certainly sports can bring people together, but
(08:08):
sports shouldn't become a blanket to cover up the ugliness.
I'm Jamel Hill and I approved this message. Up next,
on politics, I'm going to continue this conversation about sports
diplomacy with a congresswoman who is not only my district representative,
but she serves on the House's Foreign Affairs and Natural
Resources committees. Recently, she led a bipartisan letter that urged
(08:29):
the State Department to develop a strategy to advance American
diplomacy goals through sports, especially with the stream of major
international events that will be on American soil over the
next decade. Coming up next on his politics, Representative Sidney
Komlicker does.
Speaker 11 (08:52):
Well.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Representative, thank you so much for joining me. I know
you have a lot of very serious and busy things
to do, so I appreciate the time. I want to
start though this podcast the way I start every politics episode,
and that is by asking my wonderful guest name an
athlete or a sports moment that made them love sports.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
So what is that for you?
Speaker 11 (09:11):
Well, because I'm from Chicago, I'm tempted to say any
and all things Michael Jordan, but the more truthful answer
is going to the racetrack with my dad. I love horses,
so I was fascinated with the pedigree and just how
beautiful they were. But I learned that you have to
know what you're talking about if you're going to be
successful in this game. So the statistics, the pedigree of
(09:35):
the horse, the jockey, what kind of turf they did
better on, all of these things came became very important
to making the right bets. And then I have come
to understand and appreciate the work that people like you
do and other folks are who are looking at statistics
(09:56):
and who are understanding the journeys of athletes and many
of the sports games. So I'm going to go with that, okay.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Well, being that I'm from Detroit, I can't say that
there's any love loss with Michael Jordan's totally respect him
as being the greatest basketball player ever. But there's a
long history thereally Detroit Chicago as it relates to the
Bulls and the Pistons, So I don't care the same
affection as you do necessary the Lions, Lions and the
(10:29):
Bears that also a very developed rivalry.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Now, one thing that I noticed, and we're gonna in a.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Moment, we're going to talk about a very important sports initiative,
bipartisan effort that you're a part of. That I think
is going to be very fascinating for people, because I'm
not sure if they knew what this exist, that this existed,
and why it exists, even though I've actually had some
friends who have been sort of in the diplomacy program,
and so it's been interesting asking about their their work,
you know, kind of off air.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
If you will.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
But before I get to that, one thing that was
that is probably obvious in our politics is that sometimes
a lot of folks don't know exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
What politicians do or how they operate.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
You know, for those who are listening, Representative Kamu or
Dove is my actual representative, and this is the first
time I'm meeting her.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
So I had never met you before.
Speaker 11 (11:18):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
This is very true. I never met you.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
So I truly evaluated you based off your policies and
your positions, and you did you want you earn my vote?
Speaker 11 (11:28):
You did?
Speaker 1 (11:28):
It is absolutely true. I saw him as.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Interviews, did all my research all that kind of stuff.
But a lot of people they don't have time. Some
people are not inspired to do this level of research.
So as a district representative, as a as a congress person,
can you sort of give us the boiler plate and
explain what your job is.
Speaker 11 (11:48):
Yeah. So I live in the district. I represent seven
hundred thousand people, including you and your family, and every
week I fly from my district to Washington, DC to
do the people's work. And what does that mean. I'm
going to committees and talking about issues that impact all
of us, like clean water and making sure that the
(12:08):
government can't sell land that it's not supposed to. I
go on the floor and I debate, and then I
vote on bills. We've had bills to protect laundry rooms
and dishwashers, but not necessarily students and women. I vote
on the budget, and the budget is what we use
when states have money, and counties have money, and cities
(12:29):
have money. Oftentimes they're getting it because we have appropriated
dollars for it. And then I give money to my
districts so that I can help nonprofit organizations and little
cities do the work that they need to do. And
then I make sure that if you, as a constituent
have a problem and you call me, I help you
solve it.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Seems pretty clearcut.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
But I think there, especially now given some of the
things that have already been proposed out of the president
elects cabinet or not cabinet but administration that he's putting together,
that there's this sort of burn it all down mentality
that people are latching on to, especially as it relates
to this new efficiency Department. Not sure what to call
(13:13):
it because it's not a government body with Elon Musk
and Vivid Ramaswami who are promising to slash two jillion
dollars from the budget, which sounds to a lot of
people like, yes, this is a great idea. Slash, lash, slash,
because people, I think are as aware of how government works.
So where do you stand when it comes to this
(13:35):
sort of idea that by reshaping government, we need to cut, cut,
cut and slash, lash slash, Like, what are your kind
of thoughts and opinions on that? Because it feels like
a message that resonates.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
A lot with the public.
Speaker 11 (13:47):
Well, I am not for the doge. I think it's
a rouge, and I have said these are fake people
in a fake position. I'm talking about things of which
they do not know. Tell me how Elon Musk has
ever produced or made anything that has made any money,
And in fact, he has been one of the biggest
(14:08):
beneficiaries of government subsidies. I certainly agree we always should
be finding ways to be more efficient, but I actually
think a way to make government work better is to
resource it is to hire more people. Because I don't
know about you, but I hate when I have a
question or a concern I need something solved and I
(14:31):
pick up the phone and I have to wait for
a long ass time, or I have to leave a
message or wait for somebody to get back to me
or get in that queue, or its press one, press one,
press one, and I'm like, well, cant I just answered
this fucking phone and help me. Well, if we had
more people, if we hired more people, then everything wouldn't
be so automated. And if you have more folks, then
(14:52):
you're able to be more efficient. I do a lot
of interviews, and the reporter is also the producer is
also the edit is also the sound tech. And I
don't think that is a sustainable formula. So why don't
we hire more folks to clean the parks and to
the phone to.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Help you with your tech.
Speaker 11 (15:10):
That's how you actually address waste and fraud and even abuse.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Speaking of which, there's an important initiative you're working on
in terms of encouraging the government and particularly this new administration,
to continue to put a lot of resources and effort
behind the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Now why this is important is because underneath that bureau
(15:35):
is something that goes under their umbrella of sports diplomacy.
As you pointed out in a recent letter that you
signed off on to sort of facilitate more funding and
emphasis on this is the fact that the United States
will be hosting a lot of sporting events over the
next ten plus years that are international. The twenty twenty
six World Cup, the Summer Olympics of course right here
(15:57):
in Los Angeles in twenty twenty eight, and the Paralympics
Winter Olympics. I mean, we have a ton of international events.
So Lord helped, Yes, I know, right, especially here.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
In Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
I'm like, I don't know how this Olympus is gonna go,
because I think Los Angeles would do great.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Like I'm not saying that, but ooh, that's going to
be a time.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
But nevertheless, sports has played an important role in government
and promoting American idea, promoting to diplomacy.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Why do you think sports is such a valuable tool
for the government.
Speaker 11 (16:26):
So, you know, much like food and arts, sports I
think has an enormous potential to uplift and inspire folks.
We see it all the time. I think athletes are
some of the best and most underutilized ambassadors. And when
we think about diplomacy, I think we often think about old, tired,
stuffy white men with briefcases that are you know, dudu
(16:47):
and talking about policies. But really diplomacy is about connecting,
building relationships, finding bonds. And you see that all the
time when you're watching athletes and when you're watching sports.
These folks who've come together, they are playing, they are competing,
they are following certain rules, they are making money, and
(17:10):
the sports, the game becomes this bonding agent between opponents.
And it also allows you to speak a universal language
that is nonpartisan. It's no color red or blue, it's
non religious. And that's how you're able to build community.
And so I want the State Department to invest as
(17:31):
much in sports diplomacy as they do in other spaces,
so that we can use this universal language to help
bring peace. I know it sounds kind of you know,
crazy or maybe even too idealistic, but if you can,
I think about people like Matumbo, you know, from the
(17:51):
Congo basketball player, and he used his fame to actually
help raise money to build a hospital in Kinshasha where
he was from, because people were dying and the average
family was earning like thirty seven dollars a month. And
he used his fame to help people learn about his
(18:12):
country and see what his people were having to face.
And so that is actually sports diplomacy, and that's what
I want to support.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
And one thing that you know, you pointed out in
this in this letter that you and several other lawmakers
that you all signed on and that was given to
Secretary of Lincoln, you know, in the spirit of again bipartisanship.
One thing you pointed out is the number of international
students who are student athletes here in the States, and
(18:44):
of course the number of American players who are playing
you know, overseas, and how that's like a natural kind
of bridge for both. Now, given the I guess the
best way I can put it, to be honest representative
is given the hostility that the president elect has shown
toward immigrants and shown towards you know, we just saw
(19:06):
as of the recording of this podcast, he had some
comments where he pretty much made it clear that he
wanted to end birthright citizenship.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
So, given that the president has.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Used our relationships with foreign countries in a very hostile way,
how does this marry with what you're attempting to use
sports to do?
Speaker 1 (19:27):
I hope this question makes sense. It's like, yeah, it
does it.
Speaker 11 (19:32):
You know, I am going to learn how to fix
my face when talking about the president elect right and
really work on you know, the policies rather than his
you know, this personality and temperament. And I have so
many things coming through my brain. Right A, he's married
to a woman who's an immigrant, be his bestie. Maybe
(19:54):
the shadow president, Elon Musk was an illegal, you know,
immigrant right from South Africa who hadn't gotten his papers
for a really long time. Look at the NBA, Look
at the NFL. They are recruiting constantly from other countries.
I think the NBA, what the twenty twenty four picks?
I think the first round five of them were from
(20:17):
a foreign country. The NBA is also actually what I
think in conversations with FIBA about increasing the number of
games that they're going to play overseas. The NFL they
do international games, so in my mind is like a
bunch of bullshit because there are games that we are watching.
(20:39):
I mean, look at the World Cup. Soccer is one
of the biggest sports internationally. And I don't know about you,
but it is crazy when you were driving down King
Boulevard to get downtown and there is a game happening
at the Birds Nest in South LA. When we played,
they had a game at Sofa and I think it
(21:01):
was Brazil and Columbia we're playing, and they didn't even
have enough seats and they had to move it from
one stadium to sofar. So the immigrant community is incredibly
important to the world of sports, and we can see
that the leagues are making adjustments because they're trying to
(21:21):
connect to these world markets. I also think people forget
that when you're talking about immigration, you're actually talking about growth,
because you're talking about there's so much demand that we're
actually wanting to bring more people into it to make
sure that the supply is meeting the demands. So I'm
(21:42):
hoping that he finds a way to do some better
math to see that diversity and immigration are actually good
for the economy and for sports.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Yeah, because I know, and especially if you fast forward
a little bit and we're thinking about the twenty twenty
eight Olympics here in Los Angeles. As we've seen in
many Olympics, that has also been a platform in which
some athletes have chosen to use that to speak out
about social injustice, about various issues that impact their communities,
our world. And I'm wondering, especially under an administration that
(22:17):
seems to not take criticism very well and has almost
made it seem as that any and has obviously clearly
had an authoritarian tone to how they to how they
want to deal with things. As to how that might
play out on the world stage here in Los Angeles,
(22:38):
I don't know how much you have thought about that
or just generally how this is going to change the
tone of our country as we are being showcased before
the world.
Speaker 11 (22:48):
So I think back to when the Dodgers won the
World Championships. Hey now and we have operation and the
President said this was great for the Dogs and for
la but he also said it was great for Mexico,
the Dominican Republic, for South Korea, and for Japan because
we have players on the Dodgers a roster from all
(23:11):
of those countries. I think about going to Japan with
the State Department to talk about peace and security and
women playing a role in peace and security discussions and
in those leadership roles, and we were able to get
additional meetings and support from the Japanese government. Why because
(23:32):
I brought Dodger gear with me and the Defense Minister
was so excited to get something from Shoeotani and from
the Dodgers that they said, Okay, let's continue to talk
about how we can work together to promote peace and
security with women. And then I think about the fact
(23:52):
that this new next president likes to win, win, win, win,
and you don't want to have a losing Olympic, which
is a national event, even if it is going to
be in Los Angeles and in parts of Oklahoma, because
the administration isn't supporting what we need to put our
best foot forward and host the largest piece gathering event
(24:18):
that the world has ever seen, or that it's able
to see. Every two and for you.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
A lot of people have mixed opinions about whether or
not sports and politics should mix. Obviously, clearly I think
they mix all the time. And it's why I wanted
you to come on and be a guest to sort
of explain the diplomatic relationship. Going a little bit deeper
into that, how do you see sports as a useful
tool politically?
Speaker 11 (24:44):
Well, I know there are people that say just shut
up and dribble or shut up and play, and I say, no,
play and talk and share your story.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
You know.
Speaker 11 (24:53):
I think about Roberto Clemente, one of the best, biggest
beastly you know, baseball players of all time, and he
was engaged in sports diplomacy because he was trying to
get supplies to his people, right, And he said, these
planes that are delivering supplies to help our folks post earthquake,
(25:17):
they were being stolen by a corrupt government. And the
only way that he knew that his people would get
the help they need was if he flew in the
plane and went over there with them. That was because
he was such an internationally known player that he knew
doors would open to allow him to do what he
wanted to do, which was to help save people. I
(25:39):
talked about Matumbo, We've talked you know, there's all kinds
of stories, right, you know, Jackie Robinson, and in pushing
forward not through talking about politics, but actually through playing
the game to allow folks to maybe put some of
their biases aside and connect with the humanity of this
(26:03):
particular person who also is an athlete. And that's really
what sports diplomacy is all about. Politics is in everything
we do. It is in where you sit at the
table during Thanksgiving. You know, are you going to sit
next to the mother in law or the sister. I
mean that's politics, right, what kind of gift you buy
for someone during the holidays. So we should disabuse ourselves
(26:26):
of thinking that we need to separate politics from sports,
and we need to actually lean into how powerful sports
can be. I have worked with the State Department on this,
and you know, look, Norm Nixon, Norm Nixon and Debbie
Allen would go to other countries with the State Department
and talk about sports and talk about the arts, and
(26:49):
they he would use Norm was telling me he used
the power of the ball to actually connect with folks
in other countries and then use that to talk about
issues that we're really important to both countries, like making
sure that you have food, making sure that there are
places for young people to go, making sure that maybe
young folks were able to play a game instead of
(27:11):
maybe being you know, pushed into being child soldiers. So
that's how sports diplomacy actually looks in the real world.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
You mentioned that politics is and everything. Something I tell
people as well, and especially sports fans. It's like, you know,
the moment you go to an arena or a stadium
that's hugely taxpayer funded, so like, your politics are in
your sports watching, not to mention the military displays all
those sorts of things. With that being said, we just
finished a national election where ninety million or so people
(27:41):
did not vote. When you think about voter engagement and
how that has been a struggle, particularly for the Democratic
Party in this election, even though it was by the
narrowest of margins, this is the first time in a
while that a Republican president has won the popular vote.
That being said, what is your analysis about what is
(28:03):
missing from getting people more engaged politically and inspiring them
to vote.
Speaker 11 (28:09):
Well, what's interesting to me is that Trump actually talked
a lot about democratic values, but he's co opted them
under his little maga thing, right, how can you make
government work for you? How can you help working people?
I mean, these are things that Democrats have been fighting
for and talking about, and in fact they're policies that
(28:31):
we've actually passed into law under a democratic administration. What's
missing is this authenticity. You know, you can have some
f bombs. You can say you were for something and
then because of circumstances or changes in behavior or time,
you're shifting to something else. You can say I'm not
(28:52):
going to focus on all of these purely social issues
and not talk about economics. But you know, you can
do all of those things and still be a Democrat.
So I hope that one of the things we've learned
is to a listen to people and to use the
language that they're using to connect with them, and to
(29:13):
not judge. You know, I try not to judge people,
because I surely don't want people judging me. But what
I want to do is connect and make sure that
people see that I'm relatable and that regardless of if
I agree or not, I'm still going to try and
work with them to find a solution.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
He's not going to.
Speaker 11 (29:31):
Solve any problems. He's going to make everything I think
a lot messier. But people believe him if you can
believe that, and so I think that's something we have
to take into account.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Do you buy the theory that Democrats have lost the
working class voter?
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Yes, okay, I think.
Speaker 11 (29:54):
I mean when I looked at the challenges that people
in the labor community we have, some people were voting
for Trump, endorsing Trump, and then some were not. That
gave me pause because I come from a family where
so many of my relatives were in labor unions and
it was all about folks who were doing the best
they could and figuring out how to survive and move
(30:16):
into the middle class. And thank God for the union.
I think we have to do a better job about
talking about what we're fighting for. How all of a
sudden Democrats have become sanctemonious and elite doesn't jibe with me,
because even me, even me third week of the month,
(30:37):
I'm counting pennies trying to figure out where I can
go where eggs are less than four dollars. And so
I have to share that story so that people say, yeah,
she is like me, we have the same troubles. I
think it's strange that you can earn over one hundred
thousand dollars in the city of Los Angeles and you're
still struggling, And we need to talk about that, and
(30:57):
we need to talk about how to fix it.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Even though with that being said, this is this is
the part of the analysis where I get a little confused,
is that in a lot of states, we saw people
vote for very popular democratic policies. We even saw them
vote for, you know, for politicians that were Democrats that
you know, state senators and representatives that were very defined Democrats.
(31:22):
And in these same states, we saw them vote Donald
Trump as president. And so I'm trying to figure out
where is the disconnect happening, Because clearly some Democrats are
relating to the working class people because they're still voting
for them some of them, and some of them are
not and overall as a power as a party, despite
having the more popular policies for the last fifty years.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
So what are we missing here?
Speaker 11 (31:45):
Well, as you're asking me this question, I am looking
at the two of us and I'm like, hmm, what
do we have in common with the Vice president? Yeah? Sisters,
you know, sisters. People are ill afraid of the black woman,
and that played a huge role in it. I mean,
she was given one hundred and seven days to run
(32:08):
essentially a special election and introduce herself to the American people.
She was, you know, in a partnership essentially a VP
and a president kind of married and so I don't
know about you, but I don't go out and talk
shade about my husband and air the dirty laundry in
my family, you know what I mean. So she didn't
want to do that with her her political partner, Biden.
(32:32):
And then you have all this shit jumping off all
over the world, and you have this guy that people
have decided they're going to allow him to operate with
you know, impunity and say whatever he wants to say
because he keeps it real. And she was a professional,
dignified woman, elected official, you know, trying to say that
(32:56):
this is a country for all of us, and it's it's, it's.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
It's, it's.
Speaker 11 (33:02):
I'm still emotional about it because I saw the sister
work her hardest, and I also saw Democrats just not
want to feel her, you know, and have something to
say about everything that was her, who she was married to,
what she looked like, how she laughed, and you know,
and then you think about athletes, and you know, it's like,
(33:26):
that's how they treat female athletes, but they don't really
do it for the male athletes. There's so much bandwidth
that we give men that we don't give women, and
we have to deal with it. So it was misogyny
and racism and confusion.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
All bottled up.
Speaker 11 (33:44):
It became combustible, and now Democrats are going to have
to work three times as hard because the American people
actually still want us to work to help make government run,
and we're saying, well, we're going to have to do
it with hands tied behind our back because we got
this Senate and the White House and just a tiny
bit of Congress being run by Republicans.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
One of the things that Trump has promised is to
end the Department of Education. Actually, before I get to
that question, let me just say this in response to
what you said, because I know that people are going
to hear what you say, because you said racism and misogyny,
that they're going to as they have been doing, minimizing
the impact of that. And the reason why I think
it's important that we discuss that in that manner is
(34:30):
because the reality is this is that I don't buy
that Democrats have lost a working class voter. I don't
buy that at all. And the reason why I don't
know is because of black people. Black people are working class,
black people are live in rural communities. Black people check
all these boxes that they say that the Democrats don't fit,
and yet when it comes to the voting block, they
(34:52):
are decidedly have supported Democrat. They have not done this
despite what people say out of some blind illusion about
who the Democratic Party is. No, they've done it because
they realize their pathway is better through that party, and
that is it. And if there was an alternative, if
the Republicans presented that, black people would support that right.
So if they maintain the same messages that Democrats are
(35:15):
sending our reaching black people, there's only one group of
people we're really talking about, because white people have not
voted for a Democratic presidential nominee.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
The majority of white people have not done this since
Linda B. Johnson. So have the Democrats been losing the
working class voter for.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Fifty sixty years? Because really, who you're talking about is
how have they lost all the white people? That's the
real conversation. And so people would rather sort of dance
around that as opposed to be like we got to
name it what it is. It's like it's one very
specific voter that has not shown up for the Democratic Party.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
And as white folks.
Speaker 11 (35:48):
So I think we do have a true, true, true,
and we have a challenge because black folks are now feeling,
you know, some kind of way. Black folks, I think
are in our feelings because we're like, we have gone
ten toes down for you multiple times, and then you
kind of shit over us and take us to branding
(36:09):
and we're tired. And then young black people are like, well, hey,
you know, maybe I need to look at my options
and you and then we have to say, well, hey,
now it's all sounding good until you get to the
race part, and then they just won't let go of
Jim Crow, you know. But you have to remind young
(36:30):
people of that so that I don't think we've we've
lost the working class, but I do think we have
taken huge pockets of that base, for granted, and we
have some making up today.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
Okay, And that's why you're the politician, and listen.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
I don't want to I don't want people to get
the wrong idea, like I definitely think that the messaging no, no,
could be a lot better. But what I am saying
is that, like, you know, we cannot avoid this discussion
without discussing the impact of racism and misogyny because.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
It was deeply there and maybe yeah, it was simply there.
Speaker 11 (37:07):
You see it in the sports too. Yeah, you see
it in how the NCAA, which I continue to call
a plantation operation, how they treat men's versus women's sports.
You know, how they doubled down and helping, you know,
not helping black athletes enough. I mean, you see it
play out in so many different industries and it's real.
(37:30):
And so if folks want to say, oh, we have
to be color blind, that's when you have to go
back to the one on ones with them because they
just don't want to talk about things that are real.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
So getting back to where I was going was Trump
has promised to end the Department of Education. Title nine
is under the Department of Education, which obviously has been
for female athletes, the single most important piece of legislation
probably ever created. It wasn't initially thought that this would
be the access point for women in athletics, but that's
what it became because of the brilliance of Title nine.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
Is this possible shutting down the Department of Education.
Speaker 11 (38:07):
No, because that is an Act of Congress. An active
Congress is the only thing that can make that happen. However,
you can cripple the Department of Education, and that's something
that he can do. So you can have like the
lady who's with the wwe be named the secretary for
the Department of Education. You can limit resources that you're
(38:29):
giving to the Department of Education. You can say, hey,
we're not going to do these We're not going to
keep these programs under the Department of Education. We're going
to move them to state or labor or commerce or whatever.
And then it looks like you are shrinking the department.
That's part of the DOGE rules. And then you can
get rid of all accountability and enforcement. So if you
(38:52):
have athletes that want to file a claim, or if
you have athletes that are being sexually abused, they won't
find any help in the Department of Education because those
programs won't be available anymore. Or maybe instead of having
like five or six people in them, they might only
have one person in part time. So you can do damage,
but you can't get rid of it.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
Yeah, and I think a lot of times to what
I noticed in that was that a lot of people
were unclear about the difference between the Department of Education
and the State Board of Education.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
So a lot of people's issues are actually with.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
The Stakeboard and they don't realize that's not under the
purview of the Department of Education. Before I get you
out of here and again, thank you again for your time.
I usually end the podcast by asking my guests a
messy question.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
So I have a let's get to some controversy. Representative,
I got a messy question for you because.
Speaker 11 (39:49):
I know you Okay, I am Yeah, I'm messy.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
All right, here's the messy question.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
Should Vice President Kamala Harris run for governor of California?
Speaker 1 (40:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 11 (40:03):
Why not?
Speaker 2 (40:07):
Now, just so people know, Governor knew some his time
as governor will be up right at the end of
this particular term. So I'm not suggesting he gets pushed
out of his job right at this you know moment.
But she can run, and for people who can run,
she can run. And there has never been a black woman,
(40:27):
There's never been a black woman governor in.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
The history of this country. So you think that she
should do it. I think she should.
Speaker 11 (40:34):
She's got a lot of capital still, California loves her.
She obviously can raise money. She has a ton of
support in all parts of the state. Now I will think,
I do want to say, I think we'll turn into
a shit show because there are people who have already been,
you know, running already, and so some of those folks
will probably bow out.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
But if she wants to do it, she should do.
How about that already?
Speaker 2 (40:59):
Well, thank you so much for joining me and for
more importantly shedding light on how important sports diplomacy will
be over this next decade. And something I failed to
mention that I should definitely mention is that I believe
when Trump, when his administration was previously in office, he
tried to cut these state departments a Bureau of Educational
(41:20):
and Cultural Affairs significantly. I don't know what those cuts
wound up being, but I know initially he tried to
cut it by like seventy five percent.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
Is that correct? Yes?
Speaker 11 (41:28):
Yes, I mean this is something that we are very
concerned about. So I will say LA twenty eight is
going to be in Los Angeles, but they are also
going to be games in Oklahoma. And so I'm working
with Republican colleagues from Oklahoma to help them see the
benefits of bipartisanship because we all need to be working
together to make sure that these games are really successful.
(41:53):
I will also say that I've been in Congress just
one term and we've been able to get a couple
of pieces of legislation passed, and they have all been
by partisan. So I am hopeful that he and Marco
Rubio or whatever happens with the State Department, understand that
we can have a unifying message when it comes to sports.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
All right, let's hope that they received that message.
Speaker 2 (42:19):
Well, keep repreencing, Yes, small ways, that's what it's got
to be about in this time. Well, keep repping our
hood representative. I really appreciate you and all the work
that you are doing. And by the way, you should
know give your staff some kudos because I believe recently
it was a big budgetary, something big, big and budgetary
came up for our area, and your staff called me
(42:40):
twice in one week. They didn't not mean just as
a regular constituents to make sure that I knew about
this vote.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
They were just like, do you know what's going on?
Blah blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
And it was some meeting that I think you were
having or something that was coming up soon. But they called.
They were persistent, very nice to talk to. So thank
you for continuing to connect with their constituents.
Speaker 11 (43:00):
Oh, thank you. Well, see that is a great example
of government working and why something like doge makes absolutely
no sense. And to your point, two trillion dollars, we
don't even have two trillion indiscretionary money to cut. So
if they did cut two trillion, they would be cutting
social Security and Medicare and Medicaid, and then Granny is
(43:20):
going to die.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
So we don't want that to have, yes, and they've
already made that clear.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
So for people who think that you're just being alarmist,
Elon Musk has already said that, Okay, they're going to
come for veterans' money, they're going to come for social Security,
all of the social safety net programs.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
So yes, he has said it. So this is all
a fact.
Speaker 2 (43:38):
Anyway, Thank you, Representative, I appreciate you, and good luck
going forward.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
One more segment to go, and you guys know what
that means.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
I got questions to answer up next. Your viewer slash
listener questions, and I have plenty of answers coming up
next on the final segment of Politics.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
As always, before.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
I close out this episode of Politics, time for an
audience question, which comes from Spartan Lawrence via Blue Sky.
Spartan Lawrence asked, what are your thoughts on cities continuing
to provide major tax breaks to professional sports teams? If
tax subsidies were banned, how do you think that would
impact outcomes of these teams? I hate billionaire welfare. Buying
a sports team is a luxury item. It is not
(44:28):
a need, It is a want. If you can't afford
that luxury item and all that comes with it, then
perhaps you shouldn't own a team.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
But here's what happens.
Speaker 2 (44:37):
Every time a pro sports owner wants a new stadium,
they threaten to leave play on the public's emotional attachment
to their team, and politicians usually cave because they don't
want to be the person responsible for the team leading. Now,
what the billionaires tell the city and thus the fans,
is that a new stadium or an arena will bring
in new businesses, spur development, provide employment opportunity, and make
(45:00):
that city an attractive option for tourists and major events,
but in most cases the promises don't match the reality.
Between nineteen seventy and twenty twenty, state and local governments
devoted approximately thirty three billion and public funds to construct
major sports venues in the United States and Canada. Now,
while the amount of public funding for stadiums has decreased
(45:22):
from nearly one hundred percent in the early nineteen seventies
to an average of about sixty percent, a twenty twenty
two review of the impact of professional sports venues on
local economies revealed that quote often the only economic benefit
occur near the stadium and fall far short of expectations.
State and city governments are subsidizing development within a single
(45:42):
neighborhood with no tangible benefits for the rest of the
city or state. That survey also concluded that, and this
is another direct quote, the empirical evidence shows repeatedly that
stadium subsidies failed to generate new tax revenue and new jobs,
or attract new businesses. Now, despite all of this, I
don't expect much to change. People are emotional about sports.
(46:03):
Owners also have shown in recent years they are more
than willing to move if they don't get what they
want see the Oakland A's relocating the Las Vegas the
Chargers coming from San Diego to Los Angeles. They are
often rewarded for this extortion because there's always another city
so desperate to have a sports team. Consider having professional
sports in Las Vegas was once unthinkable, but now it's
(46:27):
become the epicenter of professional sports. And even though Nevada
as a state ranks forty six in the country in education,
the city chose to pony up seven hundred and fifty
million in public subsidies to build Allegian Stadium where the
Raiders play. And unfortunately, the exploding cost of these venues,
which leads to ticket prices and sports experiences that the
majority of sports fans cannot afford. None of that is
(46:49):
a deter Thank you Spartan Lawrence for your question. Now,
if any of you listening would like to ask me
a question, I'm at Jamel Hill Across all social media
platforms Instagram, Blue Sky, and threads, please use the hashtags politics.
You also have the option of emailing me at Spolitics
twenty twenty four at gmail dot com. You can also
(47:10):
send me a video of your question, but please make
sure it's thirty seconds or less. Don't forget to follow
and subscribe to Spolitics on iHeart and followspolitics pod on
Instagram and Tiktokspolitics is spelled s PO l I ti CS.
A new episode of Spolitics drops every Thursday on iHeart
podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. This is politics
(47:32):
where sports and politics don't just mix, they matter. Spolitics
is the production of iHeart Podcasts and The Unbothered Network.
I'm your host Jamel Hill. Executive producer is Taylor Shakoigne.
Lucas Hymen is head of Audio and executive producer. Megan
Armstrong is associate producer. Original music for Spolitics provided by
(47:53):
Kyle Visz from wiz FX
Hey, what's up everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm Jamel Hill and welcome to politics and iHeart podcast
and Unbothered network production.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Time to get spolitical.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
The whole reason I wanted to dose politics is because
I wanted to explore and examine the relationship between sports
and politics. One thing we don't pay enough attention to
is how our political leaders use sports to influence diplomatic, social,
and political relationships. The term for this is called sports diplomacy,
but it's a little more complicated than that. Governments across
(00:38):
the world use sports to create better relationships between nations,
but they also use it to change their image. Sometimes
this diplomacy can morph into sports watching, where sports is
used to cover up an ethical and moral behavior. Now
here's a few examples of both the good and the
bad of sports diplomacy. One of the most famous examples
of sports diplomacy is how Pink Pong helped to change
(01:01):
the United states frosty relationship with China in the early
nineteen seventies.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
In nineteen seventy one, America feared the largely unknown communist giants.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Communist China seeks to spread its own brand of global revolution.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
But that's when a long haired American ping pong player
missed his team bus in Japan and befriended the world's
number one Chinese player.
Speaker 5 (01:25):
The American team, while traveling through Asia, was invited by
primaries Joe and Life to play against the Chinese team.
That team was the first group of people in twenty
one years that had set foot in China.
Speaker 6 (01:39):
Mao's offer conveyed the regards of the Chinese people to
the American people. The televised tour showed the new friendly
face of China to the world.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Time magazine called this historic event the ping pong heard
around the world. By the time the American table tennis
team finished their historic visit to China, United States President
Richard Nixon announced he was easing travel bands and trade
embargoes against China. A year later, in nineteen seventy two,
Nixon visited the People's Republic of China, the first time
(02:15):
in history an American president visited the Chinese mainland. On
the wrong side of history, there was the nineteen thirty
six Olympics in Berlin, which some historians referred to as
the Nazi Olympics because the Germans tried to use the
Olympics to soften their image.
Speaker 7 (02:33):
They were days of glory and gold.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
If I could use a single word to describe Berlin
during that period of time, the word would be cannibal.
Speaker 7 (02:44):
As US sprinter Marty Glickman remembers, the view was ground
for those two weeks in August of nineteen thirty six,
as Berlin hosted the world's greatest athletes for the eleven
Olympic Games. International visitors were warmly welcomed. Behind the pomp
and pageantry were ominous songs.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
The swastika was all of them. On virtually every other
banner we saw, there was a swastika.
Speaker 7 (03:10):
The benefit of hindsight and history helps us see these
were more than just games.
Speaker 8 (03:15):
These weren't the Berlin Olympics. These were the Nazi Olympics.
Speaker 7 (03:19):
They were also an opportunity for the regime to create
the illusion of a new Germany on the world stage,
but the reality was quite different. Jews were excluded from
all German sports teams and clubs, but the Nazis put
Jewish international track and fields dark Redelbergmann on the Olympic
roster to fend off international critics. Removed from the German
(03:40):
team at the last minute. Margaret Lambert as she is
now known, recalls her reaction.
Speaker 9 (03:45):
I would have been a loser either way, because had
I won, there would have been such an insult against
the German Psyche. How can the Jew be good enough
to win the Olympics that I would I've had to
be afraid from my life, I'm sure, and had I lost,
I would have been made as a joke.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
At the same time, the Nazis were trying to impress
the world with the Olympics, they had already begun persecuting Jews.
Speaker 7 (04:13):
By nineteen thirty six, Germany's Jews and other minorities had
been stripped of their civil rights, even their citizenship, and
the Nazi regime had already opened its first concentration caps.
Speaker 8 (04:26):
Everybody knew. Everybody knew early on exactly the kind of
regime Nazi Germany was, so much so that for the
first time in the history of the modern Olympic Games,
there was talk about boycotting these games.
Speaker 7 (04:38):
The debate raged, They're all trying to decide what to do.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Should they go? Did that mean that they.
Speaker 10 (04:45):
Would be somehow winning a stamp of approval on a
regime that many people felt was abhorrent, or was it
just a sporting contest.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
That was the Olympics that belonged to Jesse Owens, who
won the gold and the one hundred two hundred long
jump and four by one hundred meter relay, all while
Adolf Hitler was watching. Even though there were rumors for
years that Hitler shook Jesse Owen's hand, the Owens family
said that never happened. One of Hitler's confidants, Albert Spear,
wrote in his memoir that Hitler was quote highly annoyed
(05:18):
by the series of triumphs by the marvelous colored American
runner Jesse Owens. People whose antecedents came from the jungle
were primitive, Hitler said, with the shrug. Their physiques were
stronger than those of civilized whites, and hints should be
excluded from future games. So for all of y'all who
kept promoting this dumb ass idea that Hitler fucked with
black people, he absolutely did not, not as a staff,
(05:40):
a record label, or a crew. Even though the United
States government had a pretty substantial history of using sports
and athletes to foster in broaden relationships and change perceptions,
the American government didn't formally create the Sports Diplomacy Division
until two thousand and two. The division was created after
nine to eleven, with the gold being to try to
connect with young people in the Middle East through soccer.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
The division has four primary divisions.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
The Sports Envoy Program, which sends athletes, coaches, and other
sports educators abroad to lead sports clinics, speak at universities,
and speak to officials in other countries about the transformative
power of sports. There's the Sports Visitor Program, where athletes
and coaches from other countries come to the United States
to engage with their American counterparts. There's the International Sports
(06:24):
Programming Initiative, a grant based program that allows American nonprofits
to engage with underserved youth sports officials and coaches from
other countries. And the Global Sports Mentoring Program that pairs
international leaders with American sports executives to promote.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Inclusivity and gender equality.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Now, the current budget for the program is six million,
and its funds are appropriated by Congress by government standards,
that's not a lot. We've all seen the power that
sports can have when it comes to bridging communities and
promoting inclusivity and change. Many other countries have similar divisions,
but as unifying as sports can be it also can.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Come up a larger stench now.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Jesse Owens gave the world a historic moment, all while
Jim Crow and segregation were the standard in his home country.
Owens was thrown a ticker tape parade in New York
after his Olympic accomplishments, but when it came time for
him to attend a reception in his honor at the
Waldorf Astoria Hotel, he had to ride the freight elevator
to the reception because he was black. Owens said, although
(07:23):
I wasn't invited to shake hands with Hitler, I wasn't
invited to the White House to shake hands with the
president either. This sports washing has been an issue in
recent years too. Katar being awarded the twenty twenty two
World Cup despite this abysmal record on human rights issues
and inhumane treatment of workers who built the World Cup venues,
received a serious side eye. When the Olympics are on
(07:46):
US soil in twenty twenty eight, there will be plenty
of conversations about America's behavior as well, especially now that
the United States has elected a president who has promised
mass deportations. Was the architect of a Supreme Court that
disa mantle women's reproductive rights and is seeking to dismantle
trance rights. Now, certainly sports can bring people together, but
(08:08):
sports shouldn't become a blanket to cover up the ugliness.
I'm Jamel Hill and I approved this message. Up next,
on politics, I'm going to continue this conversation about sports
diplomacy with a congresswoman who is not only my district representative,
but she serves on the House's Foreign Affairs and Natural
Resources committees. Recently, she led a bipartisan letter that urged
(08:29):
the State Department to develop a strategy to advance American
diplomacy goals through sports, especially with the stream of major
international events that will be on American soil over the
next decade. Coming up next on his politics, Representative Sidney
Komlicker does.
Speaker 11 (08:52):
Well.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Representative, thank you so much for joining me. I know
you have a lot of very serious and busy things
to do, so I appreciate the time. I want to
start though this podcast the way I start every politics episode,
and that is by asking my wonderful guest name an
athlete or a sports moment that made them love sports.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
So what is that for you?
Speaker 11 (09:11):
Well, because I'm from Chicago, I'm tempted to say any
and all things Michael Jordan, but the more truthful answer
is going to the racetrack with my dad. I love horses,
so I was fascinated with the pedigree and just how
beautiful they were. But I learned that you have to
know what you're talking about if you're going to be
successful in this game. So the statistics, the pedigree of
(09:35):
the horse, the jockey, what kind of turf they did
better on, all of these things came became very important
to making the right bets. And then I have come
to understand and appreciate the work that people like you
do and other folks are who are looking at statistics
(09:56):
and who are understanding the journeys of athletes and many
of the sports games. So I'm going to go with that, okay.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Well, being that I'm from Detroit, I can't say that
there's any love loss with Michael Jordan's totally respect him
as being the greatest basketball player ever. But there's a
long history thereally Detroit Chicago as it relates to the
Bulls and the Pistons, So I don't care the same
affection as you do necessary the Lions, Lions and the
(10:29):
Bears that also a very developed rivalry.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Now, one thing that I noticed, and we're gonna in a.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Moment, we're going to talk about a very important sports initiative,
bipartisan effort that you're a part of. That I think
is going to be very fascinating for people, because I'm
not sure if they knew what this exist, that this existed,
and why it exists, even though I've actually had some
friends who have been sort of in the diplomacy program,
and so it's been interesting asking about their their work,
you know, kind of off air.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
If you will.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
But before I get to that, one thing that was
that is probably obvious in our politics is that sometimes
a lot of folks don't know exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
What politicians do or how they operate.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
You know, for those who are listening, Representative Kamu or
Dove is my actual representative, and this is the first
time I'm meeting her.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
So I had never met you before.
Speaker 11 (11:18):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
This is very true. I never met you.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
So I truly evaluated you based off your policies and
your positions, and you did you want you earn my vote?
Speaker 11 (11:28):
You did?
Speaker 1 (11:28):
It is absolutely true. I saw him as.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Interviews, did all my research all that kind of stuff.
But a lot of people they don't have time. Some
people are not inspired to do this level of research.
So as a district representative, as a as a congress person,
can you sort of give us the boiler plate and
explain what your job is.
Speaker 11 (11:48):
Yeah. So I live in the district. I represent seven
hundred thousand people, including you and your family, and every
week I fly from my district to Washington, DC to
do the people's work. And what does that mean. I'm
going to committees and talking about issues that impact all
of us, like clean water and making sure that the
(12:08):
government can't sell land that it's not supposed to. I
go on the floor and I debate, and then I
vote on bills. We've had bills to protect laundry rooms
and dishwashers, but not necessarily students and women. I vote
on the budget, and the budget is what we use
when states have money, and counties have money, and cities
(12:29):
have money. Oftentimes they're getting it because we have appropriated
dollars for it. And then I give money to my
districts so that I can help nonprofit organizations and little
cities do the work that they need to do. And
then I make sure that if you, as a constituent
have a problem and you call me, I help you
solve it.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Seems pretty clearcut.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
But I think there, especially now given some of the
things that have already been proposed out of the president
elects cabinet or not cabinet but administration that he's putting together,
that there's this sort of burn it all down mentality
that people are latching on to, especially as it relates
to this new efficiency Department. Not sure what to call
(13:13):
it because it's not a government body with Elon Musk
and Vivid Ramaswami who are promising to slash two jillion
dollars from the budget, which sounds to a lot of
people like, yes, this is a great idea. Slash, lash, slash,
because people, I think are as aware of how government works.
So where do you stand when it comes to this
(13:35):
sort of idea that by reshaping government, we need to cut, cut,
cut and slash, lash slash, Like, what are your kind
of thoughts and opinions on that? Because it feels like
a message that resonates.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
A lot with the public.
Speaker 11 (13:47):
Well, I am not for the doge. I think it's
a rouge, and I have said these are fake people
in a fake position. I'm talking about things of which
they do not know. Tell me how Elon Musk has
ever produced or made anything that has made any money,
And in fact, he has been one of the biggest
(14:08):
beneficiaries of government subsidies. I certainly agree we always should
be finding ways to be more efficient, but I actually
think a way to make government work better is to
resource it is to hire more people. Because I don't
know about you, but I hate when I have a
question or a concern I need something solved and I
(14:31):
pick up the phone and I have to wait for
a long ass time, or I have to leave a
message or wait for somebody to get back to me
or get in that queue, or its press one, press one,
press one, and I'm like, well, cant I just answered
this fucking phone and help me. Well, if we had
more people, if we hired more people, then everything wouldn't
be so automated. And if you have more folks, then
(14:52):
you're able to be more efficient. I do a lot
of interviews, and the reporter is also the producer is
also the edit is also the sound tech. And I
don't think that is a sustainable formula. So why don't
we hire more folks to clean the parks and to
the phone to.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Help you with your tech.
Speaker 11 (15:10):
That's how you actually address waste and fraud and even abuse.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Speaking of which, there's an important initiative you're working on
in terms of encouraging the government and particularly this new administration,
to continue to put a lot of resources and effort
behind the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Now why this is important is because underneath that bureau
(15:35):
is something that goes under their umbrella of sports diplomacy.
As you pointed out in a recent letter that you
signed off on to sort of facilitate more funding and
emphasis on this is the fact that the United States
will be hosting a lot of sporting events over the
next ten plus years that are international. The twenty twenty
six World Cup, the Summer Olympics of course right here
(15:57):
in Los Angeles in twenty twenty eight, and the Paralympics
Winter Olympics. I mean, we have a ton of international events.
So Lord helped, Yes, I know, right, especially here.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
In Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
I'm like, I don't know how this Olympus is gonna go,
because I think Los Angeles would do great.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Like I'm not saying that, but ooh, that's going to
be a time.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
But nevertheless, sports has played an important role in government
and promoting American idea, promoting to diplomacy.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Why do you think sports is such a valuable tool
for the government.
Speaker 11 (16:26):
So, you know, much like food and arts, sports I
think has an enormous potential to uplift and inspire folks.
We see it all the time. I think athletes are
some of the best and most underutilized ambassadors. And when
we think about diplomacy, I think we often think about old, tired,
stuffy white men with briefcases that are you know, dudu
(16:47):
and talking about policies. But really diplomacy is about connecting,
building relationships, finding bonds. And you see that all the
time when you're watching athletes and when you're watching sports.
These folks who've come together, they are playing, they are competing,
they are following certain rules, they are making money, and
(17:10):
the sports, the game becomes this bonding agent between opponents.
And it also allows you to speak a universal language
that is nonpartisan. It's no color red or blue, it's
non religious. And that's how you're able to build community.
And so I want the State Department to invest as
(17:31):
much in sports diplomacy as they do in other spaces,
so that we can use this universal language to help
bring peace. I know it sounds kind of you know,
crazy or maybe even too idealistic, but if you can,
I think about people like Matumbo, you know, from the
(17:51):
Congo basketball player, and he used his fame to actually
help raise money to build a hospital in Kinshasha where
he was from, because people were dying and the average
family was earning like thirty seven dollars a month. And
he used his fame to help people learn about his
(18:12):
country and see what his people were having to face.
And so that is actually sports diplomacy, and that's what
I want to support.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
And one thing that you know, you pointed out in
this in this letter that you and several other lawmakers
that you all signed on and that was given to
Secretary of Lincoln, you know, in the spirit of again bipartisanship.
One thing you pointed out is the number of international
students who are student athletes here in the States, and
(18:44):
of course the number of American players who are playing
you know, overseas, and how that's like a natural kind
of bridge for both. Now, given the I guess the
best way I can put it, to be honest representative
is given the hostility that the president elect has shown
toward immigrants and shown towards you know, we just saw
(19:06):
as of the recording of this podcast, he had some
comments where he pretty much made it clear that he
wanted to end birthright citizenship.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
So, given that the president has.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Used our relationships with foreign countries in a very hostile way,
how does this marry with what you're attempting to use
sports to do?
Speaker 1 (19:27):
I hope this question makes sense. It's like, yeah, it
does it.
Speaker 11 (19:32):
You know, I am going to learn how to fix
my face when talking about the president elect right and
really work on you know, the policies rather than his
you know, this personality and temperament. And I have so
many things coming through my brain. Right A, he's married
to a woman who's an immigrant, be his bestie. Maybe
(19:54):
the shadow president, Elon Musk was an illegal, you know,
immigrant right from South Africa who hadn't gotten his papers
for a really long time. Look at the NBA, Look
at the NFL. They are recruiting constantly from other countries.
I think the NBA, what the twenty twenty four picks?
I think the first round five of them were from
(20:17):
a foreign country. The NBA is also actually what I
think in conversations with FIBA about increasing the number of
games that they're going to play overseas. The NFL they
do international games, so in my mind is like a
bunch of bullshit because there are games that we are watching.
(20:39):
I mean, look at the World Cup. Soccer is one
of the biggest sports internationally. And I don't know about you,
but it is crazy when you were driving down King
Boulevard to get downtown and there is a game happening
at the Birds Nest in South LA. When we played,
they had a game at Sofa and I think it
(21:01):
was Brazil and Columbia we're playing, and they didn't even
have enough seats and they had to move it from
one stadium to sofar. So the immigrant community is incredibly
important to the world of sports, and we can see
that the leagues are making adjustments because they're trying to
(21:21):
connect to these world markets. I also think people forget
that when you're talking about immigration, you're actually talking about growth,
because you're talking about there's so much demand that we're
actually wanting to bring more people into it to make
sure that the supply is meeting the demands. So I'm
(21:42):
hoping that he finds a way to do some better
math to see that diversity and immigration are actually good
for the economy and for sports.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Yeah, because I know, and especially if you fast forward
a little bit and we're thinking about the twenty twenty
eight Olympics here in Los Angeles. As we've seen in
many Olympics, that has also been a platform in which
some athletes have chosen to use that to speak out
about social injustice, about various issues that impact their communities,
our world. And I'm wondering, especially under an administration that
(22:17):
seems to not take criticism very well and has almost
made it seem as that any and has obviously clearly
had an authoritarian tone to how they to how they
want to deal with things. As to how that might
play out on the world stage here in Los Angeles,
(22:38):
I don't know how much you have thought about that
or just generally how this is going to change the
tone of our country as we are being showcased before
the world.
Speaker 11 (22:48):
So I think back to when the Dodgers won the
World Championships. Hey now and we have operation and the
President said this was great for the Dogs and for
la but he also said it was great for Mexico,
the Dominican Republic, for South Korea, and for Japan because
we have players on the Dodgers a roster from all
(23:11):
of those countries. I think about going to Japan with
the State Department to talk about peace and security and
women playing a role in peace and security discussions and
in those leadership roles, and we were able to get
additional meetings and support from the Japanese government. Why because
(23:32):
I brought Dodger gear with me and the Defense Minister
was so excited to get something from Shoeotani and from
the Dodgers that they said, Okay, let's continue to talk
about how we can work together to promote peace and
security with women. And then I think about the fact
(23:52):
that this new next president likes to win, win, win, win,
and you don't want to have a losing Olympic, which
is a national event, even if it is going to
be in Los Angeles and in parts of Oklahoma, because
the administration isn't supporting what we need to put our
best foot forward and host the largest piece gathering event
(24:18):
that the world has ever seen, or that it's able
to see. Every two and for you.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
A lot of people have mixed opinions about whether or
not sports and politics should mix. Obviously, clearly I think
they mix all the time. And it's why I wanted
you to come on and be a guest to sort
of explain the diplomatic relationship. Going a little bit deeper
into that, how do you see sports as a useful
tool politically?
Speaker 11 (24:44):
Well, I know there are people that say just shut
up and dribble or shut up and play, and I say, no,
play and talk and share your story.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
You know.
Speaker 11 (24:53):
I think about Roberto Clemente, one of the best, biggest
beastly you know, baseball players of all time, and he
was engaged in sports diplomacy because he was trying to
get supplies to his people, right, And he said, these
planes that are delivering supplies to help our folks post earthquake,
(25:17):
they were being stolen by a corrupt government. And the
only way that he knew that his people would get
the help they need was if he flew in the
plane and went over there with them. That was because
he was such an internationally known player that he knew
doors would open to allow him to do what he
wanted to do, which was to help save people. I
(25:39):
talked about Matumbo, We've talked you know, there's all kinds
of stories, right, you know, Jackie Robinson, and in pushing
forward not through talking about politics, but actually through playing
the game to allow folks to maybe put some of
their biases aside and connect with the humanity of this
(26:03):
particular person who also is an athlete. And that's really
what sports diplomacy is all about. Politics is in everything
we do. It is in where you sit at the
table during Thanksgiving. You know, are you going to sit
next to the mother in law or the sister. I
mean that's politics, right, what kind of gift you buy
for someone during the holidays. So we should disabuse ourselves
(26:26):
of thinking that we need to separate politics from sports,
and we need to actually lean into how powerful sports
can be. I have worked with the State Department on this,
and you know, look, Norm Nixon, Norm Nixon and Debbie
Allen would go to other countries with the State Department
and talk about sports and talk about the arts, and
(26:49):
they he would use Norm was telling me he used
the power of the ball to actually connect with folks
in other countries and then use that to talk about
issues that we're really important to both countries, like making
sure that you have food, making sure that there are
places for young people to go, making sure that maybe
young folks were able to play a game instead of
(27:11):
maybe being you know, pushed into being child soldiers. So
that's how sports diplomacy actually looks in the real world.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
You mentioned that politics is and everything. Something I tell
people as well, and especially sports fans. It's like, you know,
the moment you go to an arena or a stadium
that's hugely taxpayer funded, so like, your politics are in
your sports watching, not to mention the military displays all
those sorts of things. With that being said, we just
finished a national election where ninety million or so people
(27:41):
did not vote. When you think about voter engagement and
how that has been a struggle, particularly for the Democratic
Party in this election, even though it was by the
narrowest of margins, this is the first time in a
while that a Republican president has won the popular vote.
That being said, what is your analysis about what is
(28:03):
missing from getting people more engaged politically and inspiring them
to vote.
Speaker 11 (28:09):
Well, what's interesting to me is that Trump actually talked
a lot about democratic values, but he's co opted them
under his little maga thing, right, how can you make
government work for you? How can you help working people?
I mean, these are things that Democrats have been fighting
for and talking about, and in fact they're policies that
(28:31):
we've actually passed into law under a democratic administration. What's
missing is this authenticity. You know, you can have some
f bombs. You can say you were for something and
then because of circumstances or changes in behavior or time,
you're shifting to something else. You can say I'm not
(28:52):
going to focus on all of these purely social issues
and not talk about economics. But you know, you can
do all of those things and still be a Democrat.
So I hope that one of the things we've learned
is to a listen to people and to use the
language that they're using to connect with them, and to
(29:13):
not judge. You know, I try not to judge people,
because I surely don't want people judging me. But what
I want to do is connect and make sure that
people see that I'm relatable and that regardless of if
I agree or not, I'm still going to try and
work with them to find a solution.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
He's not going to.
Speaker 11 (29:31):
Solve any problems. He's going to make everything I think
a lot messier. But people believe him if you can
believe that, and so I think that's something we have
to take into account.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Do you buy the theory that Democrats have lost the
working class voter?
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Yes, okay, I think.
Speaker 11 (29:54):
I mean when I looked at the challenges that people
in the labor community we have, some people were voting
for Trump, endorsing Trump, and then some were not. That
gave me pause because I come from a family where
so many of my relatives were in labor unions and
it was all about folks who were doing the best
they could and figuring out how to survive and move
(30:16):
into the middle class. And thank God for the union.
I think we have to do a better job about
talking about what we're fighting for. How all of a
sudden Democrats have become sanctemonious and elite doesn't jibe with me,
because even me, even me third week of the month,
(30:37):
I'm counting pennies trying to figure out where I can
go where eggs are less than four dollars. And so
I have to share that story so that people say, yeah,
she is like me, we have the same troubles. I
think it's strange that you can earn over one hundred
thousand dollars in the city of Los Angeles and you're
still struggling, And we need to talk about that, and
(30:57):
we need to talk about how to fix it.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Even though with that being said, this is this is
the part of the analysis where I get a little confused,
is that in a lot of states, we saw people
vote for very popular democratic policies. We even saw them
vote for, you know, for politicians that were Democrats that
you know, state senators and representatives that were very defined Democrats.
(31:22):
And in these same states, we saw them vote Donald
Trump as president. And so I'm trying to figure out
where is the disconnect happening, Because clearly some Democrats are
relating to the working class people because they're still voting
for them some of them, and some of them are
not and overall as a power as a party, despite
having the more popular policies for the last fifty years.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
So what are we missing here?
Speaker 11 (31:45):
Well, as you're asking me this question, I am looking
at the two of us and I'm like, hmm, what
do we have in common with the Vice president? Yeah? Sisters,
you know, sisters. People are ill afraid of the black woman,
and that played a huge role in it. I mean,
she was given one hundred and seven days to run
(32:08):
essentially a special election and introduce herself to the American people.
She was, you know, in a partnership essentially a VP
and a president kind of married and so I don't
know about you, but I don't go out and talk
shade about my husband and air the dirty laundry in
my family, you know what I mean. So she didn't
want to do that with her her political partner, Biden.
(32:32):
And then you have all this shit jumping off all
over the world, and you have this guy that people
have decided they're going to allow him to operate with
you know, impunity and say whatever he wants to say
because he keeps it real. And she was a professional,
dignified woman, elected official, you know, trying to say that
(32:56):
this is a country for all of us, and it's it's, it's.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
It's, it's.
Speaker 11 (33:02):
I'm still emotional about it because I saw the sister
work her hardest, and I also saw Democrats just not
want to feel her, you know, and have something to
say about everything that was her, who she was married to,
what she looked like, how she laughed, and you know,
and then you think about athletes, and you know, it's like,
(33:26):
that's how they treat female athletes, but they don't really
do it for the male athletes. There's so much bandwidth
that we give men that we don't give women, and
we have to deal with it. So it was misogyny
and racism and confusion.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
All bottled up.
Speaker 11 (33:44):
It became combustible, and now Democrats are going to have
to work three times as hard because the American people
actually still want us to work to help make government run,
and we're saying, well, we're going to have to do
it with hands tied behind our back because we got
this Senate and the White House and just a tiny
bit of Congress being run by Republicans.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
One of the things that Trump has promised is to
end the Department of Education. Actually, before I get to
that question, let me just say this in response to
what you said, because I know that people are going
to hear what you say, because you said racism and misogyny,
that they're going to as they have been doing, minimizing
the impact of that. And the reason why I think
it's important that we discuss that in that manner is
(34:30):
because the reality is this is that I don't buy
that Democrats have lost a working class voter. I don't
buy that at all. And the reason why I don't
know is because of black people. Black people are working class,
black people are live in rural communities. Black people check
all these boxes that they say that the Democrats don't fit,
and yet when it comes to the voting block, they
(34:52):
are decidedly have supported Democrat. They have not done this
despite what people say out of some blind illusion about
who the Democratic Party is. No, they've done it because
they realize their pathway is better through that party, and
that is it. And if there was an alternative, if
the Republicans presented that, black people would support that right.
So if they maintain the same messages that Democrats are
(35:15):
sending our reaching black people, there's only one group of
people we're really talking about, because white people have not
voted for a Democratic presidential nominee.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
The majority of white people have not done this since
Linda B. Johnson. So have the Democrats been losing the
working class voter for.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Fifty sixty years? Because really, who you're talking about is
how have they lost all the white people? That's the
real conversation. And so people would rather sort of dance
around that as opposed to be like we got to
name it what it is. It's like it's one very
specific voter that has not shown up for the Democratic Party.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
And as white folks.
Speaker 11 (35:48):
So I think we do have a true, true, true,
and we have a challenge because black folks are now feeling,
you know, some kind of way. Black folks, I think
are in our feelings because we're like, we have gone
ten toes down for you multiple times, and then you
kind of shit over us and take us to branding
(36:09):
and we're tired. And then young black people are like, well, hey,
you know, maybe I need to look at my options
and you and then we have to say, well, hey,
now it's all sounding good until you get to the
race part, and then they just won't let go of
Jim Crow, you know. But you have to remind young
(36:30):
people of that so that I don't think we've we've
lost the working class, but I do think we have
taken huge pockets of that base, for granted, and we
have some making up today.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
Okay, And that's why you're the politician, and listen.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
I don't want to I don't want people to get
the wrong idea, like I definitely think that the messaging no, no,
could be a lot better. But what I am saying
is that, like, you know, we cannot avoid this discussion
without discussing the impact of racism and misogyny because.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
It was deeply there and maybe yeah, it was simply there.
Speaker 11 (37:07):
You see it in the sports too. Yeah, you see
it in how the NCAA, which I continue to call
a plantation operation, how they treat men's versus women's sports.
You know, how they doubled down and helping, you know,
not helping black athletes enough. I mean, you see it
play out in so many different industries and it's real.
(37:30):
And so if folks want to say, oh, we have
to be color blind, that's when you have to go
back to the one on ones with them because they
just don't want to talk about things that are real.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
So getting back to where I was going was Trump
has promised to end the Department of Education. Title nine
is under the Department of Education, which obviously has been
for female athletes, the single most important piece of legislation
probably ever created. It wasn't initially thought that this would
be the access point for women in athletics, but that's
what it became because of the brilliance of Title nine.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
Is this possible shutting down the Department of Education.
Speaker 11 (38:07):
No, because that is an Act of Congress. An active
Congress is the only thing that can make that happen. However,
you can cripple the Department of Education, and that's something
that he can do. So you can have like the
lady who's with the wwe be named the secretary for
the Department of Education. You can limit resources that you're
(38:29):
giving to the Department of Education. You can say, hey,
we're not going to do these We're not going to
keep these programs under the Department of Education. We're going
to move them to state or labor or commerce or whatever.
And then it looks like you are shrinking the department.
That's part of the DOGE rules. And then you can
get rid of all accountability and enforcement. So if you
(38:52):
have athletes that want to file a claim, or if
you have athletes that are being sexually abused, they won't
find any help in the Department of Education because those
programs won't be available anymore. Or maybe instead of having
like five or six people in them, they might only
have one person in part time. So you can do damage,
but you can't get rid of it.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
Yeah, and I think a lot of times to what
I noticed in that was that a lot of people
were unclear about the difference between the Department of Education
and the State Board of Education.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
So a lot of people's issues are actually with.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
The Stakeboard and they don't realize that's not under the
purview of the Department of Education. Before I get you
out of here and again, thank you again for your time.
I usually end the podcast by asking my guests a
messy question.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
So I have a let's get to some controversy. Representative,
I got a messy question for you because.
Speaker 11 (39:49):
I know you Okay, I am Yeah, I'm messy.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
All right, here's the messy question.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
Should Vice President Kamala Harris run for governor of California?
Speaker 1 (40:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 11 (40:03):
Why not?
Speaker 2 (40:07):
Now, just so people know, Governor knew some his time
as governor will be up right at the end of
this particular term. So I'm not suggesting he gets pushed
out of his job right at this you know moment.
But she can run, and for people who can run,
she can run. And there has never been a black woman,
(40:27):
There's never been a black woman governor in.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
The history of this country. So you think that she
should do it. I think she should.
Speaker 11 (40:34):
She's got a lot of capital still, California loves her.
She obviously can raise money. She has a ton of
support in all parts of the state. Now I will think,
I do want to say, I think we'll turn into
a shit show because there are people who have already been,
you know, running already, and so some of those folks
will probably bow out.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
But if she wants to do it, she should do.
How about that already?
Speaker 2 (40:59):
Well, thank you so much for joining me and for
more importantly shedding light on how important sports diplomacy will
be over this next decade. And something I failed to
mention that I should definitely mention is that I believe
when Trump, when his administration was previously in office, he
tried to cut these state departments a Bureau of Educational
(41:20):
and Cultural Affairs significantly. I don't know what those cuts
wound up being, but I know initially he tried to
cut it by like seventy five percent.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
Is that correct? Yes?
Speaker 11 (41:28):
Yes, I mean this is something that we are very
concerned about. So I will say LA twenty eight is
going to be in Los Angeles, but they are also
going to be games in Oklahoma. And so I'm working
with Republican colleagues from Oklahoma to help them see the
benefits of bipartisanship because we all need to be working
together to make sure that these games are really successful.
(41:53):
I will also say that I've been in Congress just
one term and we've been able to get a couple
of pieces of legislation passed, and they have all been
by partisan. So I am hopeful that he and Marco
Rubio or whatever happens with the State Department, understand that
we can have a unifying message when it comes to sports.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
All right, let's hope that they received that message.
Speaker 2 (42:19):
Well, keep repreencing, Yes, small ways, that's what it's got
to be about in this time. Well, keep repping our
hood representative. I really appreciate you and all the work
that you are doing. And by the way, you should
know give your staff some kudos because I believe recently
it was a big budgetary, something big, big and budgetary
came up for our area, and your staff called me
(42:40):
twice in one week. They didn't not mean just as
a regular constituents to make sure that I knew about
this vote.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
They were just like, do you know what's going on?
Blah blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
And it was some meeting that I think you were
having or something that was coming up soon. But they called.
They were persistent, very nice to talk to. So thank
you for continuing to connect with their constituents.
Speaker 11 (43:00):
Oh, thank you. Well, see that is a great example
of government working and why something like doge makes absolutely
no sense. And to your point, two trillion dollars, we
don't even have two trillion indiscretionary money to cut. So
if they did cut two trillion, they would be cutting
social Security and Medicare and Medicaid, and then Granny is
(43:20):
going to die.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
So we don't want that to have, yes, and they've
already made that clear.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
So for people who think that you're just being alarmist,
Elon Musk has already said that, Okay, they're going to
come for veterans' money, they're going to come for social Security,
all of the social safety net programs.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
So yes, he has said it. So this is all
a fact.
Speaker 2 (43:38):
Anyway, Thank you, Representative, I appreciate you, and good luck
going forward.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
One more segment to go, and you guys know what
that means.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
I got questions to answer up next. Your viewer slash
listener questions, and I have plenty of answers coming up
next on the final segment of Politics.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
As always, before.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
I close out this episode of Politics, time for an
audience question, which comes from Spartan Lawrence via Blue Sky.
Spartan Lawrence asked, what are your thoughts on cities continuing
to provide major tax breaks to professional sports teams? If
tax subsidies were banned, how do you think that would
impact outcomes of these teams? I hate billionaire welfare. Buying
a sports team is a luxury item. It is not
(44:28):
a need, It is a want. If you can't afford
that luxury item and all that comes with it, then
perhaps you shouldn't own a team.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
But here's what happens.
Speaker 2 (44:37):
Every time a pro sports owner wants a new stadium,
they threaten to leave play on the public's emotional attachment
to their team, and politicians usually cave because they don't
want to be the person responsible for the team leading. Now,
what the billionaires tell the city and thus the fans,
is that a new stadium or an arena will bring
in new businesses, spur development, provide employment opportunity, and make
(45:00):
that city an attractive option for tourists and major events,
but in most cases the promises don't match the reality.
Between nineteen seventy and twenty twenty, state and local governments
devoted approximately thirty three billion and public funds to construct
major sports venues in the United States and Canada. Now,
while the amount of public funding for stadiums has decreased
(45:22):
from nearly one hundred percent in the early nineteen seventies
to an average of about sixty percent, a twenty twenty
two review of the impact of professional sports venues on
local economies revealed that quote often the only economic benefit
occur near the stadium and fall far short of expectations.
State and city governments are subsidizing development within a single
(45:42):
neighborhood with no tangible benefits for the rest of the
city or state. That survey also concluded that, and this
is another direct quote, the empirical evidence shows repeatedly that
stadium subsidies failed to generate new tax revenue and new jobs,
or attract new businesses. Now, despite all of this, I
don't expect much to change. People are emotional about sports.
(46:03):
Owners also have shown in recent years they are more
than willing to move if they don't get what they
want see the Oakland A's relocating the Las Vegas the
Chargers coming from San Diego to Los Angeles. They are
often rewarded for this extortion because there's always another city
so desperate to have a sports team. Consider having professional
sports in Las Vegas was once unthinkable, but now it's
(46:27):
become the epicenter of professional sports. And even though Nevada
as a state ranks forty six in the country in education,
the city chose to pony up seven hundred and fifty
million in public subsidies to build Allegian Stadium where the
Raiders play. And unfortunately, the exploding cost of these venues,
which leads to ticket prices and sports experiences that the
majority of sports fans cannot afford. None of that is
(46:49):
a deter Thank you Spartan Lawrence for your question. Now,
if any of you listening would like to ask me
a question, I'm at Jamel Hill Across all social media
platforms Instagram, Blue Sky, and threads, please use the hashtags politics.
You also have the option of emailing me at Spolitics
twenty twenty four at gmail dot com. You can also
(47:10):
send me a video of your question, but please make
sure it's thirty seconds or less. Don't forget to follow
and subscribe to Spolitics on iHeart and followspolitics pod on
Instagram and Tiktokspolitics is spelled s PO l I ti CS.
A new episode of Spolitics drops every Thursday on iHeart
podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. This is politics
(47:32):
where sports and politics don't just mix, they matter. Spolitics
is the production of iHeart Podcasts and The Unbothered Network.
I'm your host Jamel Hill. Executive producer is Taylor Shakoigne.
Lucas Hymen is head of Audio and executive producer. Megan
Armstrong is associate producer. Original music for Spolitics provided by
(47:53):
Kyle Visz from wiz FX
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!