November 8, 2025. DL Hughley Speaks – Do Ex MAGA Deserve Forgiveness?

Talk Host DL Hughley asks " Do Ex MAGA Deserve Forgiveness?". Hear more about this story on today's podcast.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Broadcasting from the Civic Cipher Studios. Welcome to the QR code,
where we share perspective, seek understanding, and shape outcomes. The
man you are about to hear from is a man
who knows Bill Bellamy and promised to introduce me to him.
He is the Q in the QR code, goes by
the name of.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Q War the voice that you just heard. He has
to hear Bill tell stories in real life. It's the
greatest experience you'll ever have. It's like Charlie Murphy's True
Hollywood Stories. Bill has a million of them and he's
an incredible storyteller. However, that's my brother on the other side.

(00:37):
He is the R and the QR code. He goes
by the name ramses Jah. And we need you to
stick around a little later on the show.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
We're talking about Drake again. How about this Drake? He's
named in a lawsuit over inflated stream numbers. A friend
of ours told us that this is the longest l
ever taken in history. L for folks that are uninitiated
means a lot, and it's an experience. Chat. Yeah, man,

(01:04):
it's appearing to look that way. Before we get there,
we're going to ask each other, a question that we've
never really asked before for dialogue, do soulmates exist? I'm
really interested to hear what Q has to say about that.
I have a couple thoughts of myself. Q's going to
be talking to us about how Prop fifty is fighting

(01:24):
fire with fire. Stick around for Qr's clapback. We are
going to be discussing the nationwide economic blackout, which starts
November twenty fifth. We've introduced this to the show, but
Q and I haven't had a chance to really expound
the way we'd like to sow. For those that know,
stick around for that, and for those that don't, we

(01:46):
got something in store for you, and we're going to
talk about something going on in the culture we think
is worthwhile, a worthwhile discussion at least dial Hughley discusses
whether or not Maga the X MAGA rather deserve forgiveness.
But right now it is time to feel good some
ebony excellence, if you will, and we're going to share

(02:09):
this story from Syracuse, New York and the website Syracuse
dot com. Sharon Owens, whose career in public service launched
more than forty years ago with a college internship at
a neighborhood community center, has now made Syracuse history. Voters
elected Owens the first black mayor of Syracuse on Tuesday.

(02:29):
She will be the fifty fifth mayor in the city's
one hundred and seventy seven year history. Owens is also
the second woman to win the job. Quote to the
elders of this community, you who for decades look to
the future of a time when there would be a
mayor that looks like you, that comes from your experience,
that understands the struggle, that gets the hopes and the

(02:51):
aspiration of generations of Syracusans. I'm going to work hard
to make you proud, unquote, Owens told more than three
hundred supporters at her campaigns election night party, Owens, a Democrat,
led with more than seventy three percent of the vote
with about one third of precincts reporting. Her lead became
insurmountable early on. She beat Republican Thomas Bablion, sorry Babylon, okay,

(03:16):
I got that right, and Independence Alfonso Davis and Tim Rudd.
According to unofficial results Tuesday night from on Aganda County
Board of Elections. One of the things that we have
celebrated and will continue to celebrate is black women and

(03:37):
this story definitely checks that box. It's interesting that we're
still counting firsts knowing that black women have been in
this country since before this was a country. But you know,
it's not nothing, and actually this is definitely something. So
shout out to Sharon Owens for making us all proud. Okay,

(04:02):
Dio Hugh Lee speaks, do x maga deserve forgiveness? So
Q's gonna weigh in, of course, but I'll jump in
front of this. This is a conversation that Q and
I have had before, not just with ourselves, but with
lots of people, and I think that there's regardless of

(04:28):
how you feel about it. I've heard people articulate cogent
explanations and theories and whatever about this issue going back
since twenty sixteen. And dial hugely is somebody that we

(04:50):
look to for a lot of content because he gets
a lot of contents into him early he shares it
online for those that don't know, he's very established in
this sort of activist, activist, do good or progressive community.
So I'll share a bit from TMZ and then we'll
get to the video the comedian. This is from TMZ.

(05:11):
The comedian joined TMZ Tuesday on TMZ Live, saying, the
only reason some folks turn anti Trump is because he
caused something bad to happen to them or someone else,
not because bad things have been happening to others all
along during his two times in office, which in his book,
makes these former Trumpers selfish. All right, so let's hear

(05:31):
what he has to say.

Speaker 3 (05:33):
I understand that your hardline, and you say, look, if
you supported them, I'm done with you. But if they
genuinely have a change of heart, right, and why wouldn't
you want to have someone have more people on your
side of the aisle.

Speaker 4 (05:49):
I think the one thing that's consistent with people that
have changed their mind is it was an inherent selfish
as they responded to was something happened to them or
somebody that looked like them, or somebody they love, then
they responded, had happening to anybody else, they wouldn't have cared.
So if your motivation is that you know you have
seen it damage people that you love, that's selfishness. And
you voted in a very selfish way.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
So you're saying there's no room for in politics, There's
no room for forgiveness.

Speaker 4 (06:14):
What I've learned from Republicans is you draw your circles
tight and keep it that way. The entire administration now
is based on not proficiency, not professional, but loyalty. Loyalty.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
But to your point, that's that's Trump, right, and let's
say he can't run again. So now you're just talking
about whether someone is going to espouse the Republican platform
or the Democrat platform. Right.

Speaker 4 (06:41):
I don't think it's as simple as I was misled.
I think you wanted to believe the thing I thought.
I think that you didn't care who had hurt as
long as it wasn't you, and if it were brown
and black people, all the more better for it. You
know what's interesting. Two weeks ago, when I was on
three weeks I was on, they were when you, when
you and I and Charles were talking about how Bill
Maher was saying all the tariffs didn't hurt anybody, and
I ride down my street. Three days later, the jobs

(07:02):
report came out and it talked about the people it hurt.
When he goes to DC and he takes over the
city under the pretext that it is that is lawless,
who does he use He's attacking cities with black mayors.
You help do that. He's rounding that brown people. You
help do that. Why would I trust you?

Speaker 1 (07:19):
Again?

Speaker 4 (07:20):
If you can't see the obvious danger to yourself or
to the people look around you, then you ignorant. And
why would I need to be right? I'll have to
change your mind. Like Chuck d said something that I'll
never forget. He said, if I can't change the people
around me, I got to change the people around me.

Speaker 3 (07:32):
But let's say, let's go back twenty thirty years, right,
I mean there were time there was a time where
people changed their mind. Right, there was a time when
people were could say I thought this, but now I
see things differently, and they would go back and forth.

Speaker 4 (07:50):
These people had three bites of the apple. Three times
they saw him whin an alection, they saw what happen
in they saw him try to overthrow the government, and
they still did it the third time. Come on, now,
third times a chant. We're not talking about people. All
those people, a many, a great deal of those people
made this this mistake three times. Who the hell makes
a mistake three times when three times is on purpose?

Speaker 1 (08:13):
Okay? So deal. Hughley, obviously feeling very strongly about what
forgiveness should look like. And again, these are conversations that
Q and I have had, Q, you want to go first?
Or should I let me go ahead?

Speaker 2 (08:38):
So this is an interesting thing that happened to me.
And as Ramses knows, I was going to say, famously
knows because he hears these conversations all the time. Since
Trump started running for office, the first time, I've gotten
a bunch of surprise dms from people that I know
and care about in support of him. It's always been

(09:00):
very confusing and very gaslighting and very hurtful for very
very obvious reasons. If you're listening to us, or if
you know me, then you know why. And it's not
just because of me, but the empathy that I have
for people who don't look like me, whose lives I
knew would be more difficult because of this administration, because

(09:23):
of this president, and those dms very recently have in
some cases had a different tone to them. And in
one case that stands out to me, the person revealed
that they didn't really have a change of heart, they

(09:43):
just didn't like becoming the victim of the things they
voted for, Like dil Hughgley said, it had an adverse
and negative effect on their life directly, So then they're
all of a sudden not in support of Trump anymore.
But then because they're embarrassed by the decision that they made,
they then explained to you the reasons why they made it,

(10:04):
positions that they still hold, and those positions are still
very much aligned with the Mataga movement. You know, right
as this person was explaining that they were misled and
flatly that I'm now upset because I became a target,
this Hispanic person that became a target somebody in their

(10:26):
families because Hispanic people had always been a target. So
it had to hit that close to home that this
person had a change of heart. Went on to explain
to me that they still felt the same way about
the LGBTQ community, that they still felt the same way
about quote unquote open borders, that they still felt the
same way about everything. Like Do pointed out, the only

(10:47):
thing that changed ramses is that it had an adverse
negative effect on their life personally. As long as it
was just everybody else, they were fine. And as he
noted that it was very very hard person to welcome
back into the fold.

Speaker 1 (11:02):
Yeah, so well said Uh, and you know DL obviously
well said, I am going to adopt my famous position
that I always do, which is, I don't think it's

(11:25):
the opposite position, but it's a position that automatically has
maybe a little bit of grace built into it. So
I'll say this, I'm confident. I don't know anyone personally,
but I'm confident that there have been like bonafide white

(11:46):
supremacist people who have been reformed and they've spent a
lot of time in a certain mindset, you know, years, decades,
and when they realize their truth, they realize it. I've
made certain mistakes more than three times in my life,

(12:07):
and it's taken me a long time to realize stuff
that people would think comes naturally, and to me, it
just didn't occur to me. I'll be very honest. Once
upon a time I thought that if your friend and
his girlfriend broke up and she liked me, as long
as I tell my friend, hey, she likes me, is

(12:28):
there anything you want me to do or not do
with this situation, that if he said not go for it,
that meant you could go for it. I had to
do that a bunch of times to realize, oh no,
you can't don't even acknowledge that she likes you, because
your friend will get hurt and I'm thinking that of you.
So I've made that mistake many times. I could name others,
but that just was at the tip of my tongue

(12:50):
for people that are on this human journey. You know,
I'm one of those people on this human journey. I
learn things every day. Sometimes there are long lessons that
hurt a lot. Sometimes I learned them quickly. Sometimes they
come naturally to me and I don't need to learn them.
But I'm appreciative of all the grace that has been

(13:11):
extended to me throughout my life. I do recognize you
can't turn your cheek a bunch of times because you're
gonna run out of cheeks really quickly. But I think
that I'm gonna try to hold on to a little
bit of space for x MAGA people. I'm going to

(13:32):
wrestle with you a little bit from time to t
I'm q too, because I know that a lot of
people have hurt you and that was not fair to you,
and I will love you through additional hurt because I'm
sure that's coming to But as people find out that
they were wrong, I think they need a soft place

(13:53):
to land so that they don't fortify the opposition A
but B so that we can remind them that their
humanity is valid and it's it's okay to be wrong sometimes.
So my thoughts, I really don't want to move on.
I feel like we got a lot more there. But

(14:14):
time works the way time works. But if we're going
to move on, I kind of love what we're moving
on to. So nationwide economic boycott blackout starts November twenty fifth.
This is something that warms my heart. We joke on

(14:34):
this show about our forms of resistance that we prefer
I like to get out to a protest. I like
to I like to see an active protest. I like
it when it's a little disruptive, you know, it gets

(14:56):
a little bit more attention. I don't like seeing people heard,
of course, But I just I think that if you're
going to do something, do it and remind people that
they should be afraid of the population, right, remind the
elected officials that they should be afraid of the population.
And so a display of strength, to me is not
the worst thing in the world. Now, I want to

(15:18):
make that live a little bit more for you, because
you know, I'm from Los Angeles, That's where I was born,
So you know, in nineteen ninety two, anybody that's familiar
with what was going on in Los Angeles in nineteen
ninety two, you can you can appreciate sort of the
culture that I come from. Again, I want to make

(15:40):
sure that I stated plainly, I'm never going to be
a person that wants to see violence or anything like that.
You know, even property damages something that you know, I
don't know, But how about this. I think the thing

(16:01):
that I prefer to all other forms of resistance is
boycotting strategic spending because it only benefits you if it's
done correctly right. Never put your families or yourself, put

(16:22):
anyone's health in danger and jeopardy, you know, make sure
you have food, make sure you know have gas, you
can get to work, you're economically solvent. But remember always
that this is a consumer based economy that we live in,
and we have to be consumers in order to feed

(16:45):
the machine in a manner of speaking, But we don't
have to be consumers for any other reason outside of that.
And once we realize that we save a lot of money,
people quit smoking, people drop drug, drug habits. People give
up addictions here and there, and we're a society that's
widely addicted. But once that happens, everyone realizes there's so

(17:07):
much more money. Right, So this boycott, I think, is
a way to flex our muscles as a people. It
doesn't need to be all people, just enough to affect
those razor thin margins that all the huge corporations live
and die by for long enough to get them to
put pressure on the powers that be for us, right,

(17:28):
because this one actually does flow upstream, and I will
let you know what the concerted effort looks like, and
then Q, we'll get your thoughts here. This from the
BI in A nationwide boycott is set for November twenty
fifth through December second. Again, I want to read that
so you can mark your calendars. A nationwide boycott is
set for November twenty fifth through December second. I'm going

(17:52):
to go a lot longer. I'm going to be boycotting
for years. But anyway, I'll continue with organizers using Americans
to shut down the economy by avoiding work and spending.
The protest, organized by Blackout the System, seeks to highlight
economic inequality, government dysfunction, and corporate influence in politics during
the busy Thanksgiving shopping period, including Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

(18:15):
Quote day one, no work, no shopping, We vanished from
their system unquote. A promotional video on Instagram declares it
goes on to say, we are the economy without us,
nothing moves. Organizers say the blackout is a peaceful, strategic
withdrawal of labor and consumer spending to demonstrate quote that
real power belongs to the people. Those unable to take

(18:36):
the full week off are encouraged to participate through working strikes,
such as working to rule, slowing down productivity, or abstaining
from discretionary purchases. And I think that the abstaining from
discretionary purposes, that's the one that I really love, especially
when it comes to companies that have dropped their diversity,

(18:57):
equity and inclusion initiatives to bout to this administration and
want to still perform in his economy where he gets
the credit for it. I absolutely will not participate in
that to the extent that is possible for me and
my family. All right, let me give back to the article.
The protest comes amid the ongoing federal government shut down,
which has already disrupted key programs like the Snap assistance program.

(19:19):
Black Out the System launch in twenty twenty to promote
unity across race, class, and culture, and has previously aligned
with the People's Union USA, another grassroots activist network that
has urged boycotts of major corporations, including Amazon, Walmart, and Disney. Quote,
we are shutting down the US economy strategically and peacefully
by removing our labor, our spending, our financial support. This
is about reclaiming power and restoring justice unquote. So I'm

(19:44):
really excited about that. And you and I haven't had
a chance to have this conversation. How are you feeling about.

Speaker 3 (19:49):
A que.

Speaker 2 (19:51):
You know, this is what I've noticed one that there
is power in our dollar. Learning that we have trillions
of dollars in spending power is a very very powerful
piece of data and information to be aware of. However,

(20:14):
me and Ramses ain't never going back to target. Never
what some people have though, I mean some people never stopped.
Now for some people, you and I had a conversation
early on when we start talking about boycotting. For some people,
boycotting is almost impossible. They're already very close to the
poverty line. They do not have access to different channels

(20:37):
and different ways of getting things, and they don't have
the time to live a less convenient life. They just can't.
There are some that just don't want to, though, and
I wish they just wouldn't but would be quiet. But
what they do is they feel guilty that they're still participating. Yeah,

(20:57):
you're right to then justify it. Have to discourage you
from boycotting, and that drives me crazy. They will tell
you that it's not effective. They will tell you that
it's useless. They will give you all these reasons why
what you're doing doesn't make sense, it won't affect any change,
because they want people to backslide with them when they
go to Target. They want you to go with them

(21:18):
when they support all these places that we don't want
to support anymore. They want you to continue to do
the same thing so that they don't have to feel
guilty about it. So do your research and understand that
that company lost billions of dollars because we just stopped going,
and all of us didn't even stop. Some people never stopped,

(21:39):
but enough of us were intentional enough with our time,
with our dollar, with our attention that it had real impact.
And if we stayed consistent, it had even grander impact.
Because if we only if we only abstained for that
week and then after that week we triple down, then
you're right, it won't have any impact. Right if you

(22:01):
if we do a national gas boycotton on Monday, we're
not getting no gas, but on Tuesday, everybody go get gas,
then yeah, it wasn't effective. But if we have some
some organized, sustained, collective, unified decisions like this, where we

(22:22):
all participate and we all stick to it, it does
give real change. Right they were they were. They were
videos of ice running up on farmers and their workers
a couple months ago. You stop seeing those videos because
these corporations that rely on those farm workers reached out

(22:44):
today people in Washington like, hey man, a fam you
know what I'm saying. That routing number is mine, that
check account number is mine, and you messing with it?
Fall back, and then their Lord and Savior got on
TV and proclaimed how important our farm workers were. He

(23:06):
didn't have no change of heart. They didn't get more
important to him. The people who he got at his
you know, luxurious ball while he's not feeding his citizens,
and they spend twenty million of our tax dollars on
a party. Those people at that party was losing some coin.

(23:26):
So our collective voice matters, Rams, and you were the
one that brought that to my attention. That helped educate
me on the power of black spending or the lack thereof.
But we got to all buy in. If you don't
feel like sitting this one out, then just don't sit
it out, but be quiet. Have your guilty conscience by yourself.
You same people that told us not to vote are

(23:47):
the same people telling us not the boycott, and you
see the results that that gave us. Just sit down
and be quiet.

Speaker 1 (23:53):
Sit down. I want to add something here because I
realized that us saying boycott especially for this handful of days,
was it November. I'm going to say the dates again,
November twenty fifth through December second. I don't want people

(24:13):
to think that that's all that we're saying. I think
that this is something that can be a bit of
a learning experience for people who have never participated in
actively shaping their material reality before, beyond their home and
their community, but indeed their country, shaping their country, and

(24:35):
being an active participant beyond simply voting or holding up
a sign at a protest. So let me share a
couple of things with you. One thing you may not
know again is big businesses. In order to have all
of those stores and all of that inventory and have
all of those workers on their payroll, they have to

(24:58):
get a lot of money from investors and banks. Right.
This isn't just like we'll just pick a store like
a Target or a Walmart or something like that. Imagine
how much money is wrapped up in every single Walmart.
They have to pay for the parking lot, that electricity, everything, insurance, everything, Right,
How much that costs. Imagine how much that costs. Right.

(25:19):
That's not coming from one person's pocket. Even if a
person had that much money, because there are billionaires. Even
if there was a person with that much money, they
would not risk their entire fortune just to bankroll and
operation like that. They have investors, which means they have
debt that they have to service right on top of
their payroll, on top of procuring additional inventory and so forth.

(25:41):
And so this comes from a person that has a
master's degree in business. Most of the business all of them, really,
all of the ones that are national, have so much
debt that they live and die on the razor thin
profit margins that they make from their inventory and quarter
to core or they if they're able to pay dividends

(26:01):
or buy back shares. This is their strategy, right, So
it only takes a handful of a handful of people
to affect this entire economy. Again, this is a consumer
based economy. Right, next time you go to a big store.
If you go, I won't go. Next time you go,
look at everything in that store and tell yourself, do

(26:25):
I really need anything in this store for the next
three years? Because I don't want him to get credit
for that? Donald Trump, I don't want him to get credit.
Do I need towels? Do I really need towels? Right?
And when you start asking yourself that, then you start realizing, Oh,
they got me. I'm one of the consumers. I'm the
cog in the machine. No, I refuse. You're gonna save

(26:46):
so much money at the end of this, You're gonna
have mad dough. I'm looking forward to that. Consider alternatives.
I know a lot of people are addicted to Amazon.
If you need to get something from Amazon, do what
I do. Go to eBay? Why not, you know, go
to TMU. Don't give your money to Amazon, right, And
I think if you just kind of keep these strategies

(27:08):
central to your activism, then not only will we be
able to affect the government, but will also end up
with more money. And before we move on, I do
want to say that I want to shout out the
Saver app. Okay, this is for folks that want to

(27:30):
become better allies and people that want to make money.
So we're going to kind of have a little bit
of an intersection here. We're not getting paid to do this.
This is something I'm just a big fan of, So
I'm going to share this out of Houston, Texas. This
is from CBS this article. Today, Saber officially launched on
iOS and Android, introducing the first savings app that makes

(27:52):
savings goals social while keeping balances private. Unlike traditional finance
apps that make savings feel isolating, Saber lets users invite
trusted friends and family into their private circle to celebrate milestones,
provide encouragement, and stay motivated, all without revealing goal amounts. Okay,
this is a quote. Money is personal, but it doesn't
have to be lonely, said Jamila Jeffoon. I hope I'm

(28:15):
saying that right. Co founder of saverr. She goes on
to say, we built saber because saving alone is tough.
When you invite people you trust, your best friend, your sister,
your cousin, subtly, hitting your goals feels possible. Your circle
never sees dollar amounts, whether it's ten dollars or ten
thousand dollars, so you get the motivation without judgment. On
a quote, I want to share it too that this

(28:37):
is black owned, so again sab dot com. Savr r
just makes her I say it. I don't say it again.
At the end, I wanted to share a little bit more.
Saverr is powered by what the founders call the circle effect,
based on the proven psychological principle that people are more
likely to achieve goals when they have social motivation from
trusted supporters. With gen z increasingly comfortable setting financial boundaries
and being transparent about money with their friends, save it

(28:58):
provides the perfect platform for this generation to harness peer
support while maintaining privacy. Younger generations are saving less than ever,
not because they don't want to, but because traditional savings
tools feel isolating and overwhelming. Saver removes the shame and
loneliness from saving by making it a shared experience. Quote
we watch too many friends that goals in January and
abandon them by March unquote, said Shola Ola, a co

(29:20):
founder of Saver. This person goes on to say the
missing piece wasn't willpower, it was pure motivation. Sabre creates
a space where your people can cheer you on whether
you're saving fifty dollars for concert tickets or five thousand
dollars for a down payment. And when your circle sees
your progress, they're inspired to start saving too, unquote. So
I want to go back again. That's savr r dot

(29:44):
com or dot app if you want to download the app.
And I also want to remind you the blackout, the
economic blackout starts November twenty fifth and runs through December second.
But if you can keep it up, I certainly will.
And yeah, we'll see at the top