Episode Transcript
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Daijné (00:00):
Is this thing on?
Hello, hello, uh-oh, anotheryapper with a mic.
Ha ha ha ha.
Hello everyone, and welcomeback to the Napkin In Between
podcast.
I am your host, Daijné Jones,and before we start this episode
, I need you to do somethingwith me.
Okay, ready, Take a deep breath, because when's the last time
(00:33):
you took a deep breath?
Because, if you're anythinglike me, you have been holding
your breath Because, bitch,every fucking day we wake up and
it's something new.
Every fucking day Trump is doingsomething, he's saying
something, he's on some fuckingbullshit and I literally.
It's so bad.
But every single day I wake upand the first thing that I do is
check my phone, check the newswhat's he up to, what's going on
(00:56):
?
And while I feel like it'simportant to be informed and to
know what's going on, it'sequally, if not more, important
to take a second and to bepresent and to center yourself
and to do something that bringsyou joy or makes you smile or
something good.
And so I want to start this newthing at the beginning of every
episode, where we talk aboutthe peak of the week, and that
(01:18):
is just something that I didthis past week that made me
smile, that kept me present,that kept me grounded because
now more than ever we are goingto have to figure something out
to keep us grounded and presentand makes us smile because,
chile, this man has hit theground running and unfortunately
nothing is slowing him down.
(01:39):
So the peak of my week wasgoing to the movies with my
roommate.
We went and saw "One of ThemDays, which is a movie starring
Kiki Palmer.
It is SZA's acting debut.
It is produced by Issa Rae.
I just love when black women noexplanation needed.
If you know what I mean, youknow what I mean.
(01:59):
If you don't know what I mean,you have not spent enough time
with black women.
Fix that immediately.
It'll change your life, onlyfor the better.
I just love when black women" Iwas so funny, such a good
movie.
SZA is so talented.
It is ridiculous.
Her talent is like effortless.
You know what I mean?
Like she's just effortlesslytalented.
(02:20):
She effortlessly lies too.
We need to figure that one out.
Like that needs that needs tobe addressed, but she's just
effortlessly talented for thatto be her acting debut.
She killed it.
She was amazing and, um, thathad to be something that was
like kind of scary, I wouldassume.
For it to be your acting debutand for your acting debut to be
(02:40):
alongside KeKe Palmer girl, Iwould have been shitting bricks.
I would have been shittingbricks, but she was so good.
Her and KeKe had so muchchemistry.
It was just amazing.
And you know KeKe Palmer, sheis just amazing, one of the best
actresses she.
I've been with her since.
I feel like the first movie Iever saw her in was "Akeelah and
the Bee.
(03:01):
Like we grew up together forreal, like that's my girl.
I just feel like she has suchgood energy you know what I mean
like she's one of those peoplethat you could do anything and
nothing with and no matter whatyou're doing.
Like she would just make it agood time.
So shout out to Kiki Palmer,shout out to SZA, shout out to
Issa Rae.
The movie was amazing.
If you are looking for a movieto see, go see one of them days.
(03:21):
It was amazing.
And if you're looking for anactivity to do, I I recommend
going to the movies.
Going to the movies is one ofmy favorite activities to do,
both with people and solo.
I am a huge proponent in doingthings by yourself.
I think it really helps youfigure out who you are, your
likes, your dislikes, whatyou're confident in, what you
(03:43):
would like to be more confidentin.
I can understand, at least forme personally.
Sometimes doing things byyourself can be a little bit
daunting.
I know for me personally, oneof my biggest anxieties is being
perceived or like feeling likepeople are viewing me in public.
I always worry that, likepeople are staring at me or that
I'm doing something that makesme look stupid, and I know that
(04:04):
this is just my anxiety.
I know that logically, mostpeople are not worried about
other people, especially in acity like New York, but the
anxious brain isn't logical andit's not something that makes
sense.
You know what I mean.
So something that I've tried todo in order to not be so
anxious about being perceived isjust doing things by myself.
(04:26):
I feel like it really helpsbuild confidence and it just
helps you know who you are sothat you don't even really care
if people are looking at you ordoing whatever You're just doing
you and that's all that reallymatters.
But one of the first things thatI did by myself was go to the
movies, because it's the perfectactivity to do by yourself.
Number one it's dark, so no onecan see you.
(04:47):
You don't have to worry aboutbeing perceived.
Number two you're not supposedto have conversations at the
movies, right?
You're supposed to be quietbecause everyone's watching the
movie, so you don't have toworry about being social or, you
know, striking up conversationwith the people around you.
You're supposed to be quiet.
So if you are looking foractivities to do by yourself,
which I feel like everyoneshould be doing activities by
(05:07):
themselves it really does helpyou understand who you are.
Go to the movies great activityand go see "One Of Them Days,
perfect movie, amazing movie.
It'll make you smile.
It made me smile.
So I definitely recommendseeing one of the days.
I just, I just love when blackwomen period the end, that's it.
I love when black women.
But I think it's importantagain, now more than ever, to
(05:28):
just do things that'll groundyou and center you and make you
smile and bring you joy.
So I want you to tell mesomething what was the peak of
your week.
Please leave it in the commentsand let's just let's just get
some good vibes and good energybecause we need it.
Segueing into why we need it.
What are we gonna talk abouttoday?
Trump man.
He has been in office literallyless than a week at the point
(05:50):
that I'm filming this, and hisfirst week has just been thing
after thing after thing.
I'm not even gonna hold you.
I have tried to film this atleast 10 times, no less than 10
times, probably more than 10times at this point, and every
time I start to talk about whathe's done in his first week, I
start to dissociate and I startto lose my train of thought and
(06:12):
I forget what I'm saying and Ican't finish filming, and I
think that's a mix of a coupleof things.
Number one I genuinely can'tbelieve the things that are
coming out of my mouth.
I can't believe that what I'msaying is true and he's done
these things and it's only beena fucking week.
I saw somebody say if you lookat his presidential portrait, he
looks like he is just on arampage and is going to give us
(06:33):
hell and bitch.
He has dropped us off in theleft labia of satan's wife's
coochie.
We are in hell, girl.
We are below hell.
We are.
It is just like fuck and I likeI'm in disbelief number one of
what I'm even saying and howwhat I'm saying is true.
And number two, I feel like I'mI'm grieving the loss of the
(06:56):
presidential election and I feellike I haven't fully grieved
that loss yet.
And that sounds weird a littlebit even to say that I'm
grieving the loss of an election, but like that's, that's what
it is.
I'm grieving the loss of whatcould have been, what we could
have been doing, the things thatcould have been happening right
now, and I just keep thinkinglike what if?
(07:18):
Just thinking about what couldhave been, I think about what
could have been and I thinkabout what is, and it is just
like it makes me sad, itgenuinely makes me sad of just
thinking about where we are,because it feels like in 2025,
we're still doing the same shit.
It's just like the definitionof insanity Doing the same thing
(07:38):
over and over and expecting adifferent result and I feel like
I am one of the sane people ina world of insanity and it's
driving me crazy, like I'm onthe verge of a menty b,
especially with the way thingsare going like holy shit.
He is on a rampage and in thislast week I've been trying to
make sense of it and try tounderstand, like why?
(08:00):
Why is he doing some of thethings that he's doing?
Why would he revoke the equalemployment opportunities
executive order?
Why is he rolling back DEI?
Why is he targeting transpeople?
Why?
Why is he targeting immigrants?
And just like, why, what's?
What's the goal, what is thepoint?
And I genuinely believe thatmost of this is just like a
(08:22):
personal vendetta.
Donald Trump was 18 whensegregation ended.
Think about that.
Donald Trump was 18 whensegregation ended.
In his most formulative years,he watched people tirelessly
fight against integration.
People closest to him I believeit was his father, his
(08:43):
grandfather, probably bothhonestly were clansmen.
They went to clans rallies.
They were a part of the KKK.
I don't know why, I'm sayingwere as if the KKK isn't still
around.
They they are still a part ofthe KKK, if not wearing the
white hoods, they still have thesame thoughts and ideologies.
And so when you think aboutthat, when you realize that in
(09:04):
his most formulative years, hewatched people fight to not have
to integrate.
And then he was 19 when LyndonB Johnson signed the executive
order for the equal employmentopportunity.
So in the brink of his adulthood, these non-discriminatory
practices were being put intoplace and I genuinely believe
that at some point or another inTrump's life he was passed up
(09:25):
for an opportunity.
Now I know what some of you arethinking Daijné, he's a
millionaire, he's a billionaire.
He could just buy whatever hewanted, or his dad bought him
anything that he wanted andeverything like that.
And I, I get that.
I, I genuinely do.
But money can only buy you somuch.
At one point or another youhave to rely on your own brain
power to get you theopportunities that you want, and
(09:47):
Trump has no brain power.
His last two brain cells arefighting for 10th place.
Okay, I am sure at one point oranother and I'm sure these were
few and far between, but thatdoesn't matter at one point or
another he was passed up for anopportunity and he blames
integration and he blamesnon-discriminatory practices.
And even if he let's just sayhe wasn't passed up for an
(10:09):
opportunity because he was ableto buy his way into every
opportunity, he faced severallawsuits, several legal issues.
From being discriminatory, hefaced a lawsuit with his housing
developments and not wanting torent to black people.
He took out a full page adcalling for the death of five
innocent children.
Like at one point or another Iknow that he blamed integration
(10:32):
for some sort of problem that hewas having, and so I genuinely
feel like integration andnon-discriminatory practices
were his villain origin story.
He is like a top, super scary,super villain and he is on a
rampage and needs to bevindicated and he is going to do
anything and everything that hecan in order to vindicate
(10:55):
himself, ie bring segregationback as much as he possibly can.
It just blows my mind how muchhate one person can have.
Like I'm a d D1 hater, but Ihate in peace, like if I don't
like somebody, I don't look forthem, I don't engage with them,
I don't worry about them.
Case and point I made a video acouple of weeks ago and
(11:15):
somebody commented and was likeoh, you should talk about JLo
and her failed movie Girl.
I didn't even know she had amovie coming out.
What movie?
.
I don't know what that lady hasgoing on.
If you notice any of my digs ather, they're mostly about her
singing or her running up anddown the block or things from
her past, because present day, Idon't know shit about that lady
, like I don't know what she hasgoing on because I don't like
(11:38):
her, I'm not checking for her, Idon't care.
You know what I mean.
And it's like that's the kind ofhate that I feel.
Like people like if you aregoing to hate something or
someone, just don't check forthem.
You know what I mean, leavethem alone, let them be whatever
.
The kind of hate that Trump has.
He's like I need to make yourlife as miserable as possible,
and misery loves fucking company.
(11:59):
I know that Trump is an old,miserable, bitter man and
because he's miserable, he needsother people to be miserable as
well, and that's what I feellike he is out to do.
As much as he can is just makepeople's lives as miserable and
as hard as possible.
Mind you, as the president,there's actual real world
problems that you could befocused on, but your focus is
(12:22):
making other people's livesharder.
I don't fucking get it.
It makes my brain hurt.
I like, want to like scream.
I need to go to like a rageroom or something.
That's actually a really goodidea I should go to a rage room.
I feel like I have a lot ofpenta of rage I need to let out,
and it's only been a week.
I'm gonna have like weeklyscheduled visits at a rage room.
Maybe Trump should go to a rageroom and let out all his pent
(12:44):
up aggression.
I don't, I don't know what thatman needs, but it's just like.
I just don't understand thepoint of like.
I understand why, in terms ofwhy he's doing it, I think that
it's just a personal vendettabut like, how are the things
that he's doing?
How do they help?
What is the positive that we'regoing to see?
Because, with the rollback ofDEI, genuinely I feel like they
(13:04):
think that anyone who is not astraight white male is a DEI
hire, which is such aclosed-minded thought to have.
If everyone in the room lookslike you and operates like you
and thinks like you, ew,literally like, ew, like.
That is such a crazy thing tothink about.
And how do we get anything donewith no difference in opinion
(13:26):
and no other thoughts?
You know what I mean?
I don't know like.
I feel like I can't put mywords into sentences right now
because it there's just.
This week has just been sodraining emotionally and I also
feel like that's kind of whatthey want.
They want us to feel drained sothat we aren't paying attention
.
I'm still paying attention, Ipromise.
I still am looking, I'm stillresearching, but I also think
(13:48):
it's important to just take abreak, because then you end up
with your brain feeling likemush Like that's how I feel
right now, anyway, and I'm justtrying to figure out like how is
that helping for the onlypeople in the room to be
straight white men yikes onbikes.
Straight white men have had thepower for so long.
And look look at the world,girl, look at how y'all have
been doing.
(14:09):
I think it's it's time tochange it up.
This is literally thedefinition of insanity doing the
same thing over and over andexpecting a different result.
Like are y'all not tired?
And then the targeting of transpeople and the executive order
that you know the US onlyrecognizes two genders and they
only recognize the gender thatyou were assigned at birth.
Like why?
(14:30):
What is that helping?
And it's under the guise ofprotecting women.
I can promise you I don't gooutside and I'm not
hypervigilant because of transpeople.
I'm hypervigilant because of men, but the targeting of trans
people, and I saw thatapplications for passports for
people who had the um gendermarker x are being like stopped
(14:52):
and they're not going to be ableto get their passports because
of trump and his actions, andit's like so you, you don't want
trans people here becauseyou're stupid and just ignorant,
but you also don't want them totravel and get away from here
and won't give them theirpassports.
So, like, which is it which?
What do you want?
Do you want them here or do younot like?
Like none of it is making sense.
It just doesn't make sense, andthat's why I feel like I'm
(15:14):
struggling to even film thisepisode, because it's like I
need things to be logical andnone of this is logical because
Trump is a very illogical person.
He's just like a miserable oldhag.
And then he's agitating allthese other countries and he's
into it with the president ofColumbia and they're having like
a tariff war, and so I guessthere were two flights of
(15:36):
undocumented immigrants thatwere supposed to go to Columbia
and the president of Colombiarefused to let the planes land,
and so, because of that, Trumpimplemented a 25% tariff on
Colombian goods and, in responseto his 25% tariff.
The Colombian presidentimplemented a 50% tariff on
American goods and it's justlike who do y'all think is going
(15:57):
to feel the effects of thesetariffs?
It's going to be us.
Some of the things that we getfrom Colombia are flowers, like
roses.
So happy Valentine's Day.
If you thought that man wasgonna buy you flowers.
Number one, he's never boughtyou flowers before, so why would
he start now?
But now they're gonna be evenmore expensive, so now he's
definitely not buying youflowers.
Oh sorry, why did I justrandomly drag y'all like that?
(16:19):
That was crazy Flowers, coffee,gas.
So all these people who votedfor gas and grocery prices, um,
guess what, bookie?
Those prices are about toprobably double, if not more.
So I'm just tired y'all.
We're not even.
We're like a week, not even aweek in, and I I just need him
to be taken out of the of officefor legal reasons.
(16:42):
I meant taken out of office,which hopefully should be coming
soon.
No, because he broke the fuckinglaw.
He fired a bunch of inspectorgenerals and in order to fire
inspector generals, you have togive congress a 30 days notice
and provide rationale as to whyyou're firing them, and he
didn't do that and that isfederal law.
And wasn't it a part of hissentencing that if he broke any
(17:04):
more laws, that he wouldactually have to go to jail
which is the craziest fuckingsentencing in the world, by the
fucking way?
Like, you broke this law, butwe're not going to send you to
jail this time, but if you breakany more laws, we're going to
send you to jail.
Like, be so fucking for real.
Anyway, he was given thissentencing of don't break any
more laws or you're actuallygoing to go to jail, and not
(17:24):
even a week into the presidencyand he's broken a federal law.
So it's like who do we callOlivia benson or pope, I don't
know, but somebody get him onthe fucking phone because I need
this man to be taken out ofoffice.
But then again he has, likepresidential immunity.
So it's like will they evenreally do anything?
Oh, probably not.
And he's filled everything withyes men too, just people who
(17:47):
will nod in agreement toanything that he says.
That's who he has surrenderedhimself with, and so anything
that he wants to do, I I fear hecan do and there will be no
repercussions, which can youimagine if Barack Obama tried to
do any of the things that he.
They tore Barack Obama apartfor wearing a tan fucking suit.
Can you imagine if he did theshit that Trump is doing right
now?
They would have impeached himbefore he got in the Oval Office
(18:10):
good.
He would have been out, andthat's why, if we're gonna talk
about anyone being a DEI hire,Trump is the DEI hire.
It is just, it's just crazy.
But it's kind of made me think.
Like if I were president, whatwould I do?
Because clearly you can dowhatever the fuck you want when
you're president.
You can sign any executiveorder into practice and and no
(18:31):
one will will do anything aboutit.
So, men starting their lives injail and proving themselves out
I would.
That would be the first thingthat I signed into law.
I would start a new department.
It'd be called girl G.
U.
R.
L.
, guys under restrictive lawsand, um, we would definitely be
restricting a whole bunch ofshit that men are doing, because
men are.
They clearly have too muchfreedom.
That's why we're in thepredicaments that we're in now.
(18:52):
Men have had the rule and thepower for forever and look at
the state of the fucking world.
So I feel like they need to berestricted more.
So how it would work is wewould have G.
U.
R.
L.
and we would round up all themen and they would go to jail.
Now, not the jail that we knowtoday, because again our prison
system needs abolished andrebuilt.
(19:12):
It would be the jail as I viewjail as you did something wrong,
or you are more likely to dosomething wrong, so we're going
to put you in jail, reform youand then, when you're put back
into the world, you're a goodcitizen or an upstanding citizen
, right?
So all men would go to jail,except for the men who could be
vouched for.
But they had to be vouched forby women, and I know what you're
(19:34):
thinking.
Well, Daijné, what about thepick me's who would just say
like, oh, he's a good guy, butit's actually not a good guy?
Like that could happen.
I've thought about this too.
I'm one step ahead of you.
If a woman vouches for a manand it is found that he's does
some fuck shit or he's not agood man or whatever, he's going
to jail, and she's going tojail too.
Bitch, because I hate men.
(19:56):
But even worse than men, I hatethese pick me ass fucking
bitches like these bitches whoenable these men's shitty
behavior.
I need them to be reformed aswell.
So they would go to jail too,and we would just work on
uninstalling the misogyny.
They would all go to therapy.
They would just learn respect.
They'd learn what the word nomeans.
They'd learn that no was a fullfucking sentence.
(20:18):
They'd learn there's other waysto respond to things other than
by punching holes in walls fromanger.
And once they're released backinto the wild, they should be
upstanding citizens and ifthey're not, they go back to
jail and we start all over.
We try again.
And even after they get releasedback into the wild, there would
still be some restrictive laws.
Number one they would havemaximum two hours worth of
(20:39):
talking a day too many mentalking at this point.
We need to regulate how muchthey can talk.
That would be number one.
Number two I would need to seethem building more.
I need to see more men at work.
One of my favorite signs to seewhen I'm walking down the
street is men at work like yes,they're working, they're not
talking, they're not botheringpeople, they're working.
That's what I need.
(21:00):
I need more men at workbuilding shit.
I don't even know what needsbuilt, but whatever needs built,
go build it.
Pick up a fucking hammer, gomake yourself useful.
You know what I mean and theywould have.
They would have restricted timeoutside or with one another.
I feel like that's when all thebad shit happens, when men start
getting together and they starttalking to one another.
It's like that's where we getlike the locker room talk, or
(21:21):
the boys will be boys.
We've had enough of boys beingboys.
We don't need them congregatingand and speaking to one another
.
So that would be limited time.
I'm envisioning something kindof like this sounds terrible,
this sounds terrible, but I'menvisioning like dog parks where
we could put them in a littleconfined area for a little bit,
(21:43):
they could play for a little andthen they go back in the house.
They need very limited timeamongst each other, so something
, not not dog parks, butsomething like dog parks where
they can just go and play for alittle bit and then go back in
the house.
What else should we regulatewhen it comes to men?
Their talking.
I think that's the biggestthing.
It's just them talking andbeing in society like oh, they
(22:04):
make things so much harder.
If I were president, the maingoal of my presidency would just
be making women's lives easier,because the world that we live
in now it's all focused on menand making their lives easier.
When, again, we see wherethat's gotten us, so let's,
let's try the other way.
Let's make women's lives easierand see where we go.
So, in order to make women'slives a little bit easier,
during your period, paid leave,the entire time you can stay in
(22:28):
bed, you can do whatever yougotta do to make yourself feel
better during your period.
That's you time.
All you have to do is write alittle.
Hey, it's that time of themonth and you're excused.
Do whatever you need rest,spend time in bed, re-watch your
favorite show, whatever youneed, girl, that's your time.
Another thing four times a month, a woman, at her discretion,
can punch a man in the face.
It could be a man that you know.
(22:49):
It could be a random manwalking down the street.
Fully legal, you could punchhim in the face.
Matter of fact, not only is itlegal, but after you punch him
in the face, the man has to saythank you, and we could all walk
around with little punch cards.
Get it, oh, oh, my God, wait,that's such a good idea.
We have little punch cards and,you know, you get a little like
a little punch, a whole punchin your card so that people
(23:10):
aren't abusing the four punchlimit.
Did I say four punches a weekor four punches a month?
Cause I meant I meant month.
I may have said week earlier, Imeant month, but we
semanticsantics we'll figure outthe details later.
It doesn't really matter, youget four punches, that's all
that really matters.
Another thing that I would dofor a woman to make our lives
easier is JLo is going to jailimmediately.
JLo is like a domesticterrorist.
(23:31):
She's just terrorizing so manypeople's lives with her singing
and I've also heard that she isnot a nice person in terms of
like service workers.
She doesn't tip well, she'srude to them.
She literally views them as thehelp.
She's just making everyone'slife harder, at least my life
and I'm the president.
So she's absolutely going tojail for domestic terrorism.
(23:52):
And I'm also making it so.
Like for her songs she onlygets paid for the amount of
vocals that were used in hersong.
So for example, say she has asong, 95 of the vocals are
stolen.
Allegedly five percent of thevocals are hers.
However much money is made fromthat song, five percent goes to
her, 95 goes to the people thatshe stole vocals from.
I feel like that's fair you'rebeing paid for the work that you
(24:13):
did makes sense to me.
I think my entire presidencywould literally just be making.
It would just be centeringwomen, and that that would be my
campaign slogan centering women, period, the end, that's it.
That's what we would do forfour years, and I feel like we
would be in a better place afterfour years.
I feel like the economy wouldbe booming.
I feel like women would behappier, which is all that I
(24:34):
care about, and I feel like menwould be unhappy, which would
make me happy, so that is all Icare about.
Oh, I feel like I'm going crazyy'all.
Please make sure you're takingcare of yourself and doing
things that relax your mind.
We need to stay informed, nowmore than ever, but just make
(24:55):
sure you're taking breaks too.
I need to practice what Ipreach.
I have not really taken a break, and it's kind of showing in
the filming of this episode.
I literally have beenstruggling all day to film this
episode.
I can't keep my thoughtstogether.
I'm a little all over the place, and it's because I I haven't
really been present.
I've just been worried aboutwhat's going on in the world,
(25:15):
which, again, is important, butit's also important to ground
yourself and be a littleunserious, which is what I just
was, for a little bit like.
Obviously, if I was president, Iwouldn't enact any of those
orders.
That was I.
Was that was a joke, or was itwas it a joke?
Maybe you should elect me aspresident, and then we'll see.
I'd be a terrible presidentbecause the second somebody goes
(25:35):
low.
I'm going to hell.
I'd be like, let's do thisthing.
And they'd be like, um, no,we're not doing that.
And I'd be like, oh, is thisyou?
And I'd pull up their mugshotjust because they disagreed with
me.
Yeah, it wouldn't go over.
Well, oh, another thing that Iwould do if I was president
reparations for black people,monetary and land reparations
for black people.
We should have been got that.
I hate it here, bro.
Anyway, I feel like I'm justrambling now, so I'm done
(25:57):
talking.
Thank you for tuning into thisepisode.
Please remember again, takecare of yourself and take time
for yourself.
Relax your mind and dosomething that will bring you
joy.
We need joy more than everright now, because shit is crazy
.
But thank you, guys for tuningin.
Um, I'm wearing my merch rightnow.
If you bought my merch, youwould be happy.
That's something that couldbring you joy, so you can buy my
(26:20):
merch that is available rightnow at shopdaijnebrielle.
com.
I hope everyone is having agood day, except for that orange
drink, lady, and I will see youguys in the next episode.
Peace and love.
Talk to you later.
The Napkin In Between, hostedby Daijné Jones, produced by
Daijné Jones, post-production byDaijné Jones, music by Sam
Champagne and graphics by IsmaVidal.
(26:40):
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