December 1, 2025 • 30 mins
Washington DC Protest Recap / DC National Guard Shooting are the topics on today's podcast.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Broadcasting from the Civic Cipher Studios. Welcome to the QR Code,
where we share perspectives, seek understanding, and shape outcomes. The
man you are about to hear from is a man
whose friendship is the closest that I have to prove
that God exists. He is the q and the QR
code goes by the name of the q Ward.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
The man you just heard says things like that without
considering that I then have to say something too, and
like like, how do you follow that? You know what
I'm saying. He's the R on the QR code. His
name is Ramsy's job. I'll have to like partificate and
(00:39):
like pray and meditate to try to like you know,
to like come up with something as poetic and powerful
as what he just said about me with no heads up.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
So yeah, he's that and we need you to stick
around a little later on the show, for those that
are participating in the nationwide economic blackout, we're going to
be sharing some boycott safe Cyber Monday options and just
kind of talking about what the blackout means, at least
(01:10):
for us. Prior to that, we're going to have some
dialogue question. We've been kind of talking around for some time,
but we're going to ask each other the question, do
you find any validity and astrology? A lot of our
friends kind of, you know, play that up a bit,
so we're going to figure out what we think about it,
because the truth is we don't know. For two words, clapback,
he's talking about the Trump administration bombing boats in the
(01:31):
Caribbean and pardoning smugglers for better, do Better. We're going
to talk about how MAGA is still moving to the right.
We're going to share a video that helps illustrate that position.
We're going to share our opinions on the DC National
Guard shooting. It's a very sad story that we weren't
(01:52):
looking forward to covering, but it is necessary that we
have that conversation. And for those that have been paying attention,
you know, we had to take a week off. During
that week, I went to DC to participate in the
the protests that were being held at the Lincoln Memorial
(02:13):
and I would like to share a bit of a
recap of that trip now, So just so you know, Q,
when you're that far away from somebody who helps you
process like the traumas and whatever which is you, you're
that person in my life. We have these conversations every day,
(02:35):
whether or not we're doing our show. To be that
far away at a time that felt very vulnerable, you know,
at a very visible protest, being a very visible individual
without my my big brother there, because normally we travel together.
(02:55):
You know, for folks that don't know Q is his stature,
he's like A has a more imposing figure, and I mean,
I'm not soft, don't run up, but you know, it's
very easy to feel protected when Q is close and
he I mean it was close close enough to a
(03:17):
prayer before I left. You know, the Q shared with
me is like, hey, I need you to take care
of yourself. I need you to you know that whole bit.
So being out there on the ground, just on my own,
just going to participate in a protest, felt very vulnerable.
And hearing a lot of people's perspectives and what a
lot of people were up against. It just reminded me
(03:41):
of how loved I am here by you, my brother.
And so when I say that, you know, your friendship
is the closest that I have to prove that God exists,
it comes from that space. So I'm coming off of
a a lot of days of reflection and so I'm
grateful hopefully you that in this conversation. But so, yeah,
(04:04):
I got to d C, and for folks that haven't
been to d C, I love d C. It's just
a it's a fantastic place to be. You know. For
all of the things that we say about these United
States of America, it is home a and you know,
(04:25):
obviously we think that it can be better, and so
we're critical of the nation so that it will see
its flaws and then move to become better. But knowing
what this country is at present, you know, you really
get both barrels when you're on the ground in DC,
these large, imposing buildings, even the buildings that don't matter.
(04:47):
Q and I famously have a joke about the National
Archives of the United States of America and that being
etched into a huge imposing building. So being on the
ground there is just a it's a wonderful place to be.
And they have this eight train system slash sort of
subway system that you know, we tend to take when
we get there and get off the plane. First thing
(05:10):
I did when I got off the plane was I
clocked some National Guard folks. And it's not my way
to go up to like military people or police or
anything like that. But I do recognize that it comes
with the job that we're doing right now, and so
I took it upon myself when I was on the
ground first day, is to walk up to a few
(05:32):
of the National Guard people on the ground there. So
I want to shout out Sergeant Bromas Sergeant I think
I'm saying right, Isuan or Issen and specialists Stucky because
they were on patrol together at the where I got
off the train and I asked them, I'm like, hey,
so how do you guys feel about, you know, being
on the ground here in d C. You know, like
(05:54):
what's the reaction? And you know, they told me like,
and I'm drawing from memory, so forgive me if I
get it wrong, but you know, that wasn't an assignment
that they were super excited about. I didn't gather that
from their responses. They were doing what their following orders.
(06:14):
That's their job, and the people were very kind. The
people in DC were very kind to them because the
people recognized that these National Guard agents were not Ice agents,
and these people were doing they were moving based on
(06:38):
their fidelity and their commitment to the Constitution, and I
kind of gathered that from them. So where I was
looking at them to be very pro Trump, they were
really military. They were soldiers, right, and I gathered in
my conversation with these three that they were soldiers of
the United States of America, not soldiers of Donald Trum.
(07:00):
So that was kind of refreshing to have a conversation
with them get some first hand perspective. Again, they were
saying people are very kind to them. They don't they
mentioned they don't have powers to arrest people. So that's
not what they're there to do. They're there just to
be visible and walk around and if that's the job,
then you know, that's the job, you know, And so
(07:25):
that was sort of encouraging that their position hadn't become
overly politicized in their minds. Again, I only talked to
three people, but it was at least some aperture into,
you know, that part of life in DC right now.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Now.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
To be fair, these soldiers were all over the place,
but they were usually in like three person patrols, just
kind of walking around, you know, being soldiers, being visible.
So that is what made covering the shooting that happened.
The shooting happened after I left, and it wasn't someone
(07:59):
that I had met that lost her life. But that
made it more heartbreaking because I could just as easily
see those people I were talking to have lost their
life just because somebody would have gone up and shot them. Anyway.
Next day I went to the UH the protest and
again it was on the Lincoln Memorial and some of
(08:21):
the great you know, activists of our time were there.
Al Green, Representative Al Green was was speaking and as
old as he is, he's a fiery speaker, and that
was very encouraging to hear him speak. That was when
I started to kind of wish that you were there. Q.
(08:42):
You know, he walks with a cane. He's like visibly
an aged man, but man, he's got that fire, and
it was really special. He was talking about how he
would be introducing articles of impeachment for the president based
on his remarks that concerned Mark Kelly, I believe, and
some other folks who were critical of Trump's I guess
(09:09):
orders to the military, and they were asking military members
to make sure they follow the constitution, not necessarily Trump.
So because of that he had a lot to talk
about Al Green, and he did and the crowd really
responded to him. I got a chance to because I
(09:30):
was able to get some press credentials and get kind
of backstage, if you will. I got a chance to
talk to some of the activists that we look up to,
some of the allies. We call them allies because these
are non black activists that you know, they while they're
critical of this administration, they're also critical of facets of
(09:51):
this country that are inequitable to black and brown and
marginalized communities, and so they very much exist in the
allyship space insofar as Q and I are concerned on
this show and our other show, Civic Cipher. And these
are people whose content we've used quite a bit on
the shows, but I never had a chance to actually
shake their hand. So Jolly Good Ginger is one of
(10:12):
the people that I was there. He was speaking, and
he and I got a chance to talk a little bit.
He knew about Q and I from a very bright,
significant media moment that happened not too long ago, where
you know, we intervened on behalf of black people, effectively
(10:36):
keeping Kanye West from selling some clothes that said white
Lives Matter. It was a whole trademark thing we're in
the media a lot for that, and so he recognized
us from that. So that made the conversation really really cool,
and we should be having on the show here pretty soon.
We were able to exchange information. Another person that I
was able to talk to, her name is Monty ash
(11:01):
and Monty is a person that kind of works with
at the intersection of like the MAGA movement and Christianity
and kind of the hypocrisies and you know, like religion,
a lot of the hypocrisies that take place there. And
she's again millions of followers across many platforms, and again
(11:25):
she was more than willing to come on the show,
really excited about it. You know, we're taking pictures and
you know, it was kind of a cool, cool place
to be. You know, they're complimenting my fashion sense in
that whole thing. So imagine these people that we're looking
to that are fighting a very different fight than we
can fight. They can take that fight into spaces that
we can't, and you know, the fellowship, and of course
(11:48):
they look to us like we They were very kind
and very flattering. I don't want to repeat it, I'll
let them say it when the time comes. But another
person I know of on social media. You can help
me with his name Cube, but on social media goes
by good Trouble dot t T. What's his name, Sam? Sam?
(12:09):
I think it's Sam. Yeah, So he was there as well,
and again just really really good people, good folks, a
lot of exchange, of a lot of good energy. We
got out, we started marching as we do. I had
a huge flag that said resist, so that was really
(12:33):
cool to walk around with that. Everybody had flags, but
you know, I got someone took a picture of me
waving it around, so if you see it on social media,
it's kind of a cool picture. Hopefully one of the
ones I'll put up at my funeral, because you know,
I was going hard. I made myself a little bit
of a target. But the truth is the DC police
were out there. They were really they could have been
(12:55):
a lot worse. I think they learned from January sixth
that nobody is really there friend and nobody is really
their enemy. It's all circumstantial. But they didn't treat us
like we were enemies at all. They they were. They
were much cooler than I expected because we were originally
(13:15):
going to march the capitol. They said, no, you guys
have to go to a different destination. We can't let
you go to the capitol. And they were really cool
about it, and we end up going to Union station.
Of course there were agitators. Someone asked me a question,
like with a camera in my face. Yeah, so what
is what is fascism to you? And it was one
(13:36):
of those gotcha moments. So I don't know if they'll
end up using it on social media, but you know,
I kind of fumbled over my answer. I wasn't too
proud of that. But but in all we came, we saw,
we conquered, we represented, and we made some really important connections.
So the movement grows, it continues to grow, and we
(13:58):
have a lot more content to share. So stay tuned
because we're going to get through this together and I,
for one, intent to be on the ground as disqu
So that's that. Now. I want to circle back to
the shooting that took place again. This took place after
I left, and for me, it was like I remember
(14:20):
going to my notes and finding the names of the
National Guard people I spoke to, because two of them
were female and one was male. And I say female
because I don't know their age. I don't know if
they're teenagers or adults, so in any event, I was
(14:41):
like devastated. I was like, oh my god, those people
were like really kind and really cool. What a travesty
would be for one of the ones that I talked
to to have lost her life. And then I sat
with it for about two more seconds and I realized,
no matter what it to, it's a tragedy, what an
(15:01):
awful thing.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
You know.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Donald Trump ordered these people into that city where the
crime rate had already been dropping, so there was no
real reason for them to be there, and they were
there only as a political pawn for this administration, not
to make any impact. They don't have any powers to
arrest people. Crime was already dropping, so who's to say
(15:26):
that their presence on the ground contributed contributed to it
or not. I'm sure there's plenty of arguments that would
say that it does on the right, but with crime
already moving in that direction, I don't know. But it
just hit me that it doesn't matter who lost her life,
(15:47):
it's just an awful thing, and so it hit me
a little different. I'm going to share the story just
to get you caught up to know the latest. This
from NPR as law enforcement officials investigate the shooting of
National Guard members in Washington, d C. US immigration policy
as undergone rapid changes. The Trump administration has abruptly halted
the processing of any immigration requests from Afghan nationals, and
the President has vowed to further tighten his crackdown on immigration.
(16:10):
Federal authorities of the Metropolitan Police Department confirm Saturday that
every group of National Guards patrolling the city will be
accompanied by at least one DC police officer, though details
were scanned. Sarah Bestrom, twenty, of Somersville, West Virginia, joined
the service in twenty twenty three. Beckstrom's father, Gary called
her his baby girl and said she had passed to glory.
(16:33):
In a Facebook post on Thursday, West Virginia Governor Patrick
Morrissey also said that Wolfe remains in very critical condition.
Ramanula la Kanwall, a twenty nine year old Afghan national
who allegedly shot the National Guard members, is now facing
a first degree murder charge. La Kanwall, who was five
years old when the war in Afghanistan started, immigrated to
(16:55):
the US in twenty twenty one. When US troops withdrew
from Afghanistan and the Taliban toppled its government. Lakwano worked
with an elite counter terrorism unit, which was operated by
the CIA. According to Afghan Evak, a nonprofit run by
US veterans and others who served in Afghanistan. The organization
has said specialized units like this one were used to
(17:16):
carry out extremely violent clandestine missions. According to CIA director
John Ratcliffe, Laconwell was able to resettle in the US
with his family because of the work he did on
Behalf of American intelligence officials are looking for leads in
the US and abroad. As there is yet no definitive
motive for the shooting, the administration is dramatically tightening controversial
immigration policies. Trump posted on true Social that he will
(17:38):
quote permanently pause migration from all third world countries to
allow the US system to fully recover. US Citizenship and
Immigration Services Director John Edlow also posted on x that
the agency has quote halted all asylum decisions until we
can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to
the maximum degree possible quote the safety of it the
(18:00):
American people always comes first, unquote, ed Low wrote, and
before I let you go here Q to share your thoughts. Obviously,
the people are trying to figure out who to blame.
Republicans think it's democrats because this individual was allowed into
(18:24):
the US under the Biden administration for the reasons that
were explained to that paragraph. And then Democrats are blaming
Republicans or pushing back, I should say, because this person
was granted asylum under Donald Trump's presidency. And so those
are kind of two of the big talking points, and
(18:46):
that's where we are now. Anything to share he Q.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
There's an interesting thing that's happened where everything one side
says is right and everything the other side says is wrong.
And that would seem unfair on its face, no matter
which side you sit on, except there's these things called
(19:10):
facts and this stuff called data and information, and one
side is ready to ignore everything that they know to
be true so that their side can win, so that
their side can be right. There should be some things
(19:33):
that are not partisan, like US soldiers being killed should
just make everybody sad instead of making everybody want to
go blame the other side. The complicated thing that when
you have these types of conversations is that there are
certain decisions that are made that make you blaming the
(19:58):
other side actually wrong. Not just subjective, because like you said,
this person's granted asylum under Trump's administration. That should not
make this his fault. But if the other side is
going to argue that it's the other side's fault in
light of that information, then if you're going to assign
(20:21):
blame based on why you're trying to which is immigration policy,
then you got to point the finger out yourself. Now,
you and I. I don't want to say smart enough
to know, because that's not the way that I'm trying
to frame this. But we have conversations often enough that
require nuance and context and information and facts, and we
(20:42):
know that there's complexities and gray areas to every topic
that we talk about that it's never as simple as well,
this administration's immigration policy allowed this person to be here,
so that's why someone was killed. That's not how it works.
But the side that's trying to make every topic that
ignores the role they play every time when you break
(21:06):
it down to the logic and the reasoning that they're
trying to use, they jump off the porch immediately when
something happens and blames the other side, And then when
you research the thing that they're using to make it
the other side's fault. It always points back to them,
and of course they turn this tragic thing into political
(21:29):
theater so they can be right, so we can be wrong.
And so it's just it's a sad cycle that we're
trapped in now. It's us versus them all the way
down the line, no matter what. And I remember when
we were kids, rams there were some things that Americans
agreed on. So that's why people could have political disagreements
(21:52):
because it was minor things. Collectively, we all seem to
want the same things, even if we didn't agree on
how to get there. So it's just this, this this
time that we live in now. Man, it's just it's
an incredibly difficult time.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Yeah, you know. The the thing that's like so frustrating
to me is that at least what I'm seeing, I
I I'm only less critical of Democrats because it's almost
like we have to get through this Republican regime first
(22:30):
before we can get back to being critical of Democrats.
Because I'm really good at that. I just can't do
it because it's like, yo, y'all have taken the the
lead by a long way on hypocrisy and whatever. But
you know, to your point. I think that if Republicans
jump off the porch like, yo, this guy came here
under Joe Biden's administration with his loose immigration policy blah
(22:53):
blah blah, they're looking to establish blame. So that's what
they want. They're making it a point to suggest that
there are shortcomings in the previous administration that led to this,
and they inadvertently are justifying why the current administration, the
(23:16):
Trump administration, is appropriate for this time in our nation's history, right,
And they use these talking points to kind of make
these to draw these conclusions.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Right.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
So, if indeed they were really trying to reach those conclusions,
it would stand to reason that once additional information that
comes out that says, well, Trump granted this person asylum,
that they could then say, oh, well, then we need
to look at the Trump administration and their asylum granting procedures.
(23:51):
They don't make that pivot at all. It's simply about
blaming other people, not about taking accountability in that hypocrisy
is so corrosive that it makes it challenging for me
to chase after Democrats because like, wait a minute, we
got to start here, y'all. So I think that's a
great segue, because you know, MAGA is kind of like
(24:13):
off the rails these days. We q sent a video
over to our group chat and we just thought we'd
include it in today's episode. But I will jump right
to it and then you know, we'll talk about it.
So this is a video from the Necessary Conversation podcast.
You can find them on TikTok at the Necessary Conversation.
(24:36):
It's a viral video and it's just two children talking
to their parents on a podcast.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
So here we go.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
In any other country, if he would go on the
TV and spout that off, he would be executed.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
That's not true.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
That's not true at all. He's a trader.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
Should members of military follow unlawful orders?
Speaker 3 (25:01):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Oh what?
Speaker 3 (25:05):
They should follow any order that the president gives.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
That's wrong, even if it breaks laws. It will endanger
other people if you don't follow orders. What if President
Trump orders a squad of army guys to walk down
the street killing anyone they see, they should do it?
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Yes, mom, Yes, what?
Speaker 4 (25:30):
I don't even understand? What, like, how can you come
to that conclusion?
Speaker 3 (25:34):
It seems to me like you lefties are now beginning
to fear the fact that the military is going to
get involved and your desert grass.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
No, it's because you're in a cult.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
What if Donald Trump says I want you to carpet
bomb Oklahoma City everyone? You think the air Force should
carry that out?
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Yes, there might be a reason, we don't know.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
This is insane.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
You cannot as stupid Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Oh my my, this podcast was going well until that
you just said.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
It's cool levels Oklahoma.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
You're like, yeah, fuck it, there must be a reason, Like,
you literally can't be that dumb.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
You know what the problem is, Mom? And I don't
believe he'll ever blow up Oklahoma because we're on his
side and sow's the whole state. No, it's because you're
in a cult. You guys are worried and afraid because
you live in a state where it might happen.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
Okay, let's theoretically say that does happen. Let's say Trump
sends in the Marines to Los Angeles, California, and let's
say I'm out going to see a movie on a weekend,
and he says, go into that shopping mall on your truck. Quiet, piggy.
He says, go into that shopping mall and c everyone
you see. And let's say I get gunned down by
the Marines for just being at a mall.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Okay, Number one's let's just take it.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
Wait a minute, month, Mom, Wait one second, Wait one second, Dad,
Just hang on, Mom. Dad, you just said you are
for Donald Trump murdering me for no reason, and you
would support that.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
If he walks into the mall to people with military
there's a reason, and I'm all for it. And the
people in Los Angeles, California are as deserving of execution
as the wholes in New York City.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
You're all communists, so two, yeah, let's let's get right
to it. I mean you, my brother always pumped the
brakes on calling them a cult. There's some box you say,
they don't check, and you're saying mag is going further
(27:48):
to the right. Is a very tame way to describe
what we just listened to. If Trump ordered the US
military to kill everybody in Los Angeles, including me, Mom
and dad, without flinching, without hesitating, his parents are like, yes,
(28:08):
that's not politics, that's not opinion, that's not conservatism, that's
definitely not Christianity. That, my friends, is a cult. The
moment you place a man, any man, above your morality,
your faith and your own children. You have crossed the line.
Now let's be clear here. The US military is required
(28:30):
by law to disobey illegal orders. That's kind of the
backbone of what we do here. Those are the guardrails
we've always had. So when Chad's parents say they would
support Trump ordering mass murder, illegal mass murder, they just
abandoned the Constitution altogether. Cultish devotion. That's what it looks like.
(28:55):
Obedience without limits, loyalty without accountability, a leader elevated above
all else. People claim to be Christians, rams just most
of them. But that's not what you hear, is it.
The Bible actually warns against what they're doing. It's called idolatry,
placing any man in the position of God, and that's
(29:18):
what they've done with Trump. They worship him. He's infallible,
like they He's created an enemy, so that's all they
see enemies, others dehumanization. I'm kind of stuck, like his
parents just revealed that this is where Magga has been
(29:39):
headed the whole time. So this is why I got
so frustrated when people would gaslight me, because I saw
this happening before it did. I knew that this is
where it was going. No empathy, faith into fanaticism, and
their obedience to him outweighs everything around. We've heard somebody
denounce their faith and their God and now their kids.
Broadcasting from the Civic Cipher Studios. Welcome to the QR Code,
where we share perspectives, seek understanding, and shape outcomes. The
man you are about to hear from is a man
whose friendship is the closest that I have to prove
that God exists. He is the q and the QR
code goes by the name of the q Ward.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
The man you just heard says things like that without
considering that I then have to say something too, and
like like, how do you follow that? You know what
I'm saying. He's the R on the QR code. His
name is Ramsy's job. I'll have to like partificate and
(00:39):
like pray and meditate to try to like you know,
to like come up with something as poetic and powerful
as what he just said about me with no heads up.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
So yeah, he's that and we need you to stick
around a little later on the show, for those that
are participating in the nationwide economic blackout, we're going to
be sharing some boycott safe Cyber Monday options and just
kind of talking about what the blackout means, at least
(01:10):
for us. Prior to that, we're going to have some
dialogue question. We've been kind of talking around for some time,
but we're going to ask each other the question, do
you find any validity and astrology? A lot of our
friends kind of, you know, play that up a bit,
so we're going to figure out what we think about it,
because the truth is we don't know. For two words, clapback,
he's talking about the Trump administration bombing boats in the
(01:31):
Caribbean and pardoning smugglers for better, do Better. We're going
to talk about how MAGA is still moving to the right.
We're going to share a video that helps illustrate that position.
We're going to share our opinions on the DC National
Guard shooting. It's a very sad story that we weren't
(01:52):
looking forward to covering, but it is necessary that we
have that conversation. And for those that have been paying attention,
you know, we had to take a week off. During
that week, I went to DC to participate in the
the protests that were being held at the Lincoln Memorial
(02:13):
and I would like to share a bit of a
recap of that trip now, So just so you know, Q,
when you're that far away from somebody who helps you
process like the traumas and whatever which is you, you're
that person in my life. We have these conversations every day,
(02:35):
whether or not we're doing our show. To be that
far away at a time that felt very vulnerable, you know,
at a very visible protest, being a very visible individual
without my my big brother there, because normally we travel together.
(02:55):
You know, for folks that don't know Q is his stature,
he's like A has a more imposing figure, and I mean,
I'm not soft, don't run up, but you know, it's
very easy to feel protected when Q is close and
he I mean it was close close enough to a
(03:17):
prayer before I left. You know, the Q shared with
me is like, hey, I need you to take care
of yourself. I need you to you know that whole bit.
So being out there on the ground, just on my own,
just going to participate in a protest, felt very vulnerable.
And hearing a lot of people's perspectives and what a
lot of people were up against. It just reminded me
(03:41):
of how loved I am here by you, my brother.
And so when I say that, you know, your friendship
is the closest that I have to prove that God exists,
it comes from that space. So I'm coming off of
a a lot of days of reflection and so I'm
grateful hopefully you that in this conversation. But so, yeah,
(04:04):
I got to d C, and for folks that haven't
been to d C, I love d C. It's just
a it's a fantastic place to be. You know. For
all of the things that we say about these United
States of America, it is home a and you know,
(04:25):
obviously we think that it can be better, and so
we're critical of the nation so that it will see
its flaws and then move to become better. But knowing
what this country is at present, you know, you really
get both barrels when you're on the ground in DC,
these large, imposing buildings, even the buildings that don't matter.
(04:47):
Q and I famously have a joke about the National
Archives of the United States of America and that being
etched into a huge imposing building. So being on the
ground there is just a it's a wonderful place to be.
And they have this eight train system slash sort of
subway system that you know, we tend to take when
we get there and get off the plane. First thing
(05:10):
I did when I got off the plane was I
clocked some National Guard folks. And it's not my way
to go up to like military people or police or
anything like that. But I do recognize that it comes
with the job that we're doing right now, and so
I took it upon myself when I was on the
ground first day, is to walk up to a few
(05:32):
of the National Guard people on the ground there. So
I want to shout out Sergeant Bromas Sergeant I think
I'm saying right, Isuan or Issen and specialists Stucky because
they were on patrol together at the where I got
off the train and I asked them, I'm like, hey,
so how do you guys feel about, you know, being
on the ground here in d C. You know, like
(05:54):
what's the reaction? And you know, they told me like,
and I'm drawing from memory, so forgive me if I
get it wrong, but you know, that wasn't an assignment
that they were super excited about. I didn't gather that
from their responses. They were doing what their following orders.
(06:14):
That's their job, and the people were very kind. The
people in DC were very kind to them because the
people recognized that these National Guard agents were not Ice agents,
and these people were doing they were moving based on
(06:38):
their fidelity and their commitment to the Constitution, and I
kind of gathered that from them. So where I was
looking at them to be very pro Trump, they were
really military. They were soldiers, right, and I gathered in
my conversation with these three that they were soldiers of
the United States of America, not soldiers of Donald Trum.
(07:00):
So that was kind of refreshing to have a conversation
with them get some first hand perspective. Again, they were
saying people are very kind to them. They don't they
mentioned they don't have powers to arrest people. So that's
not what they're there to do. They're there just to
be visible and walk around and if that's the job,
then you know, that's the job, you know, And so
(07:25):
that was sort of encouraging that their position hadn't become
overly politicized in their minds. Again, I only talked to
three people, but it was at least some aperture into,
you know, that part of life in DC right now.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Now.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
To be fair, these soldiers were all over the place,
but they were usually in like three person patrols, just
kind of walking around, you know, being soldiers, being visible.
So that is what made covering the shooting that happened.
The shooting happened after I left, and it wasn't someone
(07:59):
that I had met that lost her life. But that
made it more heartbreaking because I could just as easily
see those people I were talking to have lost their
life just because somebody would have gone up and shot them. Anyway.
Next day I went to the UH the protest and
again it was on the Lincoln Memorial and some of
(08:21):
the great you know, activists of our time were there.
Al Green, Representative Al Green was was speaking and as
old as he is, he's a fiery speaker, and that
was very encouraging to hear him speak. That was when
I started to kind of wish that you were there. Q.
(08:42):
You know, he walks with a cane. He's like visibly
an aged man, but man, he's got that fire, and
it was really special. He was talking about how he
would be introducing articles of impeachment for the president based
on his remarks that concerned Mark Kelly, I believe, and
some other folks who were critical of Trump's I guess
(09:09):
orders to the military, and they were asking military members
to make sure they follow the constitution, not necessarily Trump.
So because of that he had a lot to talk
about Al Green, and he did and the crowd really
responded to him. I got a chance to because I
(09:30):
was able to get some press credentials and get kind
of backstage, if you will. I got a chance to
talk to some of the activists that we look up to,
some of the allies. We call them allies because these
are non black activists that you know, they while they're
critical of this administration, they're also critical of facets of
(09:51):
this country that are inequitable to black and brown and
marginalized communities, and so they very much exist in the
allyship space insofar as Q and I are concerned on
this show and our other show, Civic Cipher. And these
are people whose content we've used quite a bit on
the shows, but I never had a chance to actually
shake their hand. So Jolly Good Ginger is one of
(10:12):
the people that I was there. He was speaking, and
he and I got a chance to talk a little bit.
He knew about Q and I from a very bright,
significant media moment that happened not too long ago, where
you know, we intervened on behalf of black people, effectively
(10:36):
keeping Kanye West from selling some clothes that said white
Lives Matter. It was a whole trademark thing we're in
the media a lot for that, and so he recognized
us from that. So that made the conversation really really cool,
and we should be having on the show here pretty soon.
We were able to exchange information. Another person that I
was able to talk to, her name is Monty ash
(11:01):
and Monty is a person that kind of works with
at the intersection of like the MAGA movement and Christianity
and kind of the hypocrisies and you know, like religion,
a lot of the hypocrisies that take place there. And
she's again millions of followers across many platforms, and again
(11:25):
she was more than willing to come on the show,
really excited about it. You know, we're taking pictures and
you know, it was kind of a cool, cool place
to be. You know, they're complimenting my fashion sense in
that whole thing. So imagine these people that we're looking
to that are fighting a very different fight than we
can fight. They can take that fight into spaces that
we can't, and you know, the fellowship, and of course
(11:48):
they look to us like we They were very kind
and very flattering. I don't want to repeat it, I'll
let them say it when the time comes. But another
person I know of on social media. You can help
me with his name Cube, but on social media goes
by good Trouble dot t T. What's his name, Sam? Sam?
(12:09):
I think it's Sam. Yeah, So he was there as well,
and again just really really good people, good folks, a
lot of exchange, of a lot of good energy. We
got out, we started marching as we do. I had
a huge flag that said resist, so that was really
(12:33):
cool to walk around with that. Everybody had flags, but
you know, I got someone took a picture of me
waving it around, so if you see it on social media,
it's kind of a cool picture. Hopefully one of the
ones I'll put up at my funeral, because you know,
I was going hard. I made myself a little bit
of a target. But the truth is the DC police
were out there. They were really they could have been
(12:55):
a lot worse. I think they learned from January sixth
that nobody is really there friend and nobody is really
their enemy. It's all circumstantial. But they didn't treat us
like we were enemies at all. They they were. They
were much cooler than I expected because we were originally
(13:15):
going to march the capitol. They said, no, you guys
have to go to a different destination. We can't let
you go to the capitol. And they were really cool
about it, and we end up going to Union station.
Of course there were agitators. Someone asked me a question,
like with a camera in my face. Yeah, so what
is what is fascism to you? And it was one
(13:36):
of those gotcha moments. So I don't know if they'll
end up using it on social media, but you know,
I kind of fumbled over my answer. I wasn't too
proud of that. But but in all we came, we saw,
we conquered, we represented, and we made some really important connections.
So the movement grows, it continues to grow, and we
(13:58):
have a lot more content to share. So stay tuned
because we're going to get through this together and I,
for one, intent to be on the ground as disqu
So that's that. Now. I want to circle back to
the shooting that took place again. This took place after
I left, and for me, it was like I remember
(14:20):
going to my notes and finding the names of the
National Guard people I spoke to, because two of them
were female and one was male. And I say female
because I don't know their age. I don't know if
they're teenagers or adults, so in any event, I was
(14:41):
like devastated. I was like, oh my god, those people
were like really kind and really cool. What a travesty
would be for one of the ones that I talked
to to have lost her life. And then I sat
with it for about two more seconds and I realized,
no matter what it to, it's a tragedy, what an
(15:01):
awful thing.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
You know.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Donald Trump ordered these people into that city where the
crime rate had already been dropping, so there was no
real reason for them to be there, and they were
there only as a political pawn for this administration, not
to make any impact. They don't have any powers to
arrest people. Crime was already dropping, so who's to say
(15:26):
that their presence on the ground contributed contributed to it
or not. I'm sure there's plenty of arguments that would
say that it does on the right, but with crime
already moving in that direction, I don't know. But it
just hit me that it doesn't matter who lost her life,
(15:47):
it's just an awful thing, and so it hit me
a little different. I'm going to share the story just
to get you caught up to know the latest. This
from NPR as law enforcement officials investigate the shooting of
National Guard members in Washington, d C. US immigration policy
as undergone rapid changes. The Trump administration has abruptly halted
the processing of any immigration requests from Afghan nationals, and
the President has vowed to further tighten his crackdown on immigration.
(16:10):
Federal authorities of the Metropolitan Police Department confirm Saturday that
every group of National Guards patrolling the city will be
accompanied by at least one DC police officer, though details
were scanned. Sarah Bestrom, twenty, of Somersville, West Virginia, joined
the service in twenty twenty three. Beckstrom's father, Gary called
her his baby girl and said she had passed to glory.
(16:33):
In a Facebook post on Thursday, West Virginia Governor Patrick
Morrissey also said that Wolfe remains in very critical condition.
Ramanula la Kanwall, a twenty nine year old Afghan national
who allegedly shot the National Guard members, is now facing
a first degree murder charge. La Kanwall, who was five
years old when the war in Afghanistan started, immigrated to
(16:55):
the US in twenty twenty one. When US troops withdrew
from Afghanistan and the Taliban toppled its government. Lakwano worked
with an elite counter terrorism unit, which was operated by
the CIA. According to Afghan Evak, a nonprofit run by
US veterans and others who served in Afghanistan. The organization
has said specialized units like this one were used to
(17:16):
carry out extremely violent clandestine missions. According to CIA director
John Ratcliffe, Laconwell was able to resettle in the US
with his family because of the work he did on
Behalf of American intelligence officials are looking for leads in
the US and abroad. As there is yet no definitive
motive for the shooting, the administration is dramatically tightening controversial
immigration policies. Trump posted on true Social that he will
(17:38):
quote permanently pause migration from all third world countries to
allow the US system to fully recover. US Citizenship and
Immigration Services Director John Edlow also posted on x that
the agency has quote halted all asylum decisions until we
can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to
the maximum degree possible quote the safety of it the
(18:00):
American people always comes first, unquote, ed Low wrote, and
before I let you go here Q to share your thoughts. Obviously,
the people are trying to figure out who to blame.
Republicans think it's democrats because this individual was allowed into
(18:24):
the US under the Biden administration for the reasons that
were explained to that paragraph. And then Democrats are blaming
Republicans or pushing back, I should say, because this person
was granted asylum under Donald Trump's presidency. And so those
are kind of two of the big talking points, and
(18:46):
that's where we are now. Anything to share he Q.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
There's an interesting thing that's happened where everything one side
says is right and everything the other side says is wrong.
And that would seem unfair on its face, no matter
which side you sit on, except there's these things called
(19:10):
facts and this stuff called data and information, and one
side is ready to ignore everything that they know to
be true so that their side can win, so that
their side can be right. There should be some things
(19:33):
that are not partisan, like US soldiers being killed should
just make everybody sad instead of making everybody want to
go blame the other side. The complicated thing that when
you have these types of conversations is that there are
certain decisions that are made that make you blaming the
(19:58):
other side actually wrong. Not just subjective, because like you said,
this person's granted asylum under Trump's administration. That should not
make this his fault. But if the other side is
going to argue that it's the other side's fault in
light of that information, then if you're going to assign
(20:21):
blame based on why you're trying to which is immigration policy,
then you got to point the finger out yourself. Now,
you and I. I don't want to say smart enough
to know, because that's not the way that I'm trying
to frame this. But we have conversations often enough that
require nuance and context and information and facts, and we
(20:42):
know that there's complexities and gray areas to every topic
that we talk about that it's never as simple as well,
this administration's immigration policy allowed this person to be here,
so that's why someone was killed. That's not how it works.
But the side that's trying to make every topic that
ignores the role they play every time when you break
(21:06):
it down to the logic and the reasoning that they're
trying to use, they jump off the porch immediately when
something happens and blames the other side, And then when
you research the thing that they're using to make it
the other side's fault. It always points back to them,
and of course they turn this tragic thing into political
(21:29):
theater so they can be right, so we can be wrong.
And so it's just it's a sad cycle that we're
trapped in now. It's us versus them all the way
down the line, no matter what. And I remember when
we were kids, rams there were some things that Americans
agreed on. So that's why people could have political disagreements
(21:52):
because it was minor things. Collectively, we all seem to
want the same things, even if we didn't agree on
how to get there. So it's just this, this this
time that we live in now. Man, it's just it's
an incredibly difficult time.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Yeah, you know. The the thing that's like so frustrating
to me is that at least what I'm seeing, I
I I'm only less critical of Democrats because it's almost
like we have to get through this Republican regime first
(22:30):
before we can get back to being critical of Democrats.
Because I'm really good at that. I just can't do
it because it's like, yo, y'all have taken the the
lead by a long way on hypocrisy and whatever. But
you know, to your point. I think that if Republicans
jump off the porch like, yo, this guy came here
under Joe Biden's administration with his loose immigration policy blah
(22:53):
blah blah, they're looking to establish blame. So that's what
they want. They're making it a point to suggest that
there are shortcomings in the previous administration that led to this,
and they inadvertently are justifying why the current administration, the
(23:16):
Trump administration, is appropriate for this time in our nation's history, right,
And they use these talking points to kind of make
these to draw these conclusions.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Right.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
So, if indeed they were really trying to reach those conclusions,
it would stand to reason that once additional information that
comes out that says, well, Trump granted this person asylum,
that they could then say, oh, well, then we need
to look at the Trump administration and their asylum granting procedures.
(23:51):
They don't make that pivot at all. It's simply about
blaming other people, not about taking accountability in that hypocrisy
is so corrosive that it makes it challenging for me
to chase after Democrats because like, wait a minute, we
got to start here, y'all. So I think that's a
great segue, because you know, MAGA is kind of like
(24:13):
off the rails these days. We q sent a video
over to our group chat and we just thought we'd
include it in today's episode. But I will jump right
to it and then you know, we'll talk about it.
So this is a video from the Necessary Conversation podcast.
You can find them on TikTok at the Necessary Conversation.
(24:36):
It's a viral video and it's just two children talking
to their parents on a podcast.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
So here we go.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
In any other country, if he would go on the
TV and spout that off, he would be executed.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
That's not true.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
That's not true at all. He's a trader.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
Should members of military follow unlawful orders?
Speaker 3 (25:01):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Oh what?
Speaker 3 (25:05):
They should follow any order that the president gives.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
That's wrong, even if it breaks laws. It will endanger
other people if you don't follow orders. What if President
Trump orders a squad of army guys to walk down
the street killing anyone they see, they should do it?
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Yes, mom, Yes, what?
Speaker 4 (25:30):
I don't even understand? What, like, how can you come
to that conclusion?
Speaker 3 (25:34):
It seems to me like you lefties are now beginning
to fear the fact that the military is going to
get involved and your desert grass.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
No, it's because you're in a cult.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
What if Donald Trump says I want you to carpet
bomb Oklahoma City everyone? You think the air Force should
carry that out?
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Yes, there might be a reason, we don't know.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
This is insane.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
You cannot as stupid Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Oh my my, this podcast was going well until that
you just said.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
It's cool levels Oklahoma.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
You're like, yeah, fuck it, there must be a reason, Like,
you literally can't be that dumb.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
You know what the problem is, Mom? And I don't
believe he'll ever blow up Oklahoma because we're on his
side and sow's the whole state. No, it's because you're
in a cult. You guys are worried and afraid because
you live in a state where it might happen.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
Okay, let's theoretically say that does happen. Let's say Trump
sends in the Marines to Los Angeles, California, and let's
say I'm out going to see a movie on a weekend,
and he says, go into that shopping mall on your truck. Quiet, piggy.
He says, go into that shopping mall and c everyone
you see. And let's say I get gunned down by
the Marines for just being at a mall.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Okay, Number one's let's just take it.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
Wait a minute, month, Mom, Wait one second, Wait one second, Dad,
Just hang on, Mom. Dad, you just said you are
for Donald Trump murdering me for no reason, and you
would support that.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
If he walks into the mall to people with military
there's a reason, and I'm all for it. And the
people in Los Angeles, California are as deserving of execution
as the wholes in New York City.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
You're all communists, so two, yeah, let's let's get right
to it. I mean you, my brother always pumped the
brakes on calling them a cult. There's some box you say,
they don't check, and you're saying mag is going further
(27:48):
to the right. Is a very tame way to describe
what we just listened to. If Trump ordered the US
military to kill everybody in Los Angeles, including me, Mom
and dad, without flinching, without hesitating, his parents are like, yes,
(28:08):
that's not politics, that's not opinion, that's not conservatism, that's
definitely not Christianity. That, my friends, is a cult. The
moment you place a man, any man, above your morality,
your faith and your own children. You have crossed the line.
Now let's be clear here. The US military is required
(28:30):
by law to disobey illegal orders. That's kind of the
backbone of what we do here. Those are the guardrails
we've always had. So when Chad's parents say they would
support Trump ordering mass murder, illegal mass murder, they just
abandoned the Constitution altogether. Cultish devotion. That's what it looks like.
(28:55):
Obedience without limits, loyalty without accountability, a leader elevated above
all else. People claim to be Christians, rams just most
of them. But that's not what you hear, is it.
The Bible actually warns against what they're doing. It's called idolatry,
placing any man in the position of God, and that's
(29:18):
what they've done with Trump. They worship him. He's infallible,
like they He's created an enemy, so that's all they
see enemies, others dehumanization. I'm kind of stuck, like his
parents just revealed that this is where Magga has been
(29:39):
headed the whole time. So this is why I got
so frustrated when people would gaslight me, because I saw
this happening before it did. I knew that this is
where it was going. No empathy, faith into fanaticism, and
their obedience to him outweighs everything around. We've heard somebody
denounce their faith and their God and now their kids.
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