Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Jist.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm a homegirl that knows a little bit about everything
and everybody.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You don't know if you don't lie about that, right, Lauren, Hey, y'all,
what's up.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
It's Laura l Rosa and this is the latest with
Laura l Rosa. This is your Deli dig on all
things pop culture, entertainment, news, and all of the conversations
that shake the room. Now today we are going to
be diving into Kamala Harris's book one hundred and seven
Days Now. The book has not been released yet, but
(00:31):
there was a three thousand word epsert from the book
published in the Atlantic which has been making the round.
Kamala Harris comes out and talks about how she really
felt about Biden running for reelection back in twenty twenty four,
and she's questioning whether this was loyalty, a great decision,
(00:51):
or was it recklessness And she says that it was
reckless for her to allow him to move forward with
running for reelection.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
During that time.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Now, this is interesting because, as you guys know, we
have all been waiting to hear an honest truth about
how she really felt watching Joe Biden run for reelection
knowing that he shouldn't have knowing that even if because
even in this three thousand word epsird, Kamala Harri still
(01:20):
says that there was no big scheme to cover up
the fact that Joe Biden was incoherent. She says, many
people want to spend a narrative in some big conspiracy
at the White House to hide Joe Biden's infirmity. Here's
the truth as I lived it. Joe Biden was a
smart guy with a long experience and deep conviction, able
to discharge the duties of president.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
On his worst day.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
He was more deeply knowledgeable, more capable of exercising judgment,
and far more compassionate than Donald Trump on his best.
But at eighty one, Joe got tired. That's when his
age showed in his physical and verbal stumbles. I don't
think it's any surprise that the debate debacle happened right
after two back to back trips to Europe, in a
(02:03):
flight to the West Coast for a Hollywood fundraiser. I
don't believe it was incapacity. If I believe that, I
would have said so. As loyal as I am the
President Biden, I am more loyal to my country.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
So don't get Kamala Harris twisted.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Right. She is still saying, look, we weren't trying to
cover up the fact that there was anything wrong with
him health bossed despite the fact that the man is
eighty some years old and when he gets tired things
begin to slow down.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
And this was after a long work week.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
But I mean, no, I don't believe this part of it,
but I do appreciate her being honest to other parts.
So we're going to get into exactly what she says.
So the epsort in the Atlantic starts on the day
that Kamala Harris went to go speak in front of
a sorority caused Zeta Phi Beta. It is a part
of the Divine Nine, which are the black Greek organizations.
(02:56):
Sororities and fraternities make up the Divine Nine. Kamala Harris
is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Aka, which is
one of the first Greek letter organizations.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Now, I remember when.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
This happened, and it was the room was full of
about six thousand people when she went to go speak
to them. I remember when this happened because Kamala got
so much slack for deciding to go there and speak
to the women of Zeta Phi Beta instead of going
to another highly publicized event. And she says it in
(03:27):
the episode that I read as well, that you know,
if unless you really understand the connectivity the importance in
the power of the Divine Nine of Greek letter organizations,
Black Greek letter organizations, you don't understand why she chose
to be there. But at this point, she's very early
in everything, the race conversations, the you know everything, so
(03:50):
going to her core where it really mattered and made sense,
even if they.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Weren't directly saying, that's why she did.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Us black people, we knew what this was doing because
we knew and we still know to this day, the
importance of community amongst black people, especially Divine nine Greek organizations.
Not only do they run culture on HBCUs, but even
following graduation into the world, the Divine Nine gets busy.
So she talks about being there and she says, Kamala
(04:18):
Harris says, I was in a room full of people
with whom, because of our shared experience, certain words did
not need to be said.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Oh baby, I felt that.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
There's an emotion that comes from being in a place
where people see you, support you, and know you. The
kindness and the love in that room penetrated the armor
I usually wore armor I need to put back on
as soon as I left that room. Now, Kamala Harris
does talk about in this ebsurd a bit just feeling overlooked,
undervalued her position, not you know, being one of substance
(04:51):
or treated like it was one of substance behind the scenes,
and how her team had to fight for her often
we'll get into that.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
So once she speaks, she opens up.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
In that setting with Zeta phi beta and says, you know,
she's giving her speech, and she's like, and when I
become president, and she talks about how loud the crowd cheered,
and let's take a listen to that speech.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Actually, you know, when he was president, Donald Trump, former president,
hand picked three members of the United States Supreme Court
because he.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Intended for them to overturn Roe v.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Wade, the United States Supreme Court previously the Court of
Thurgood and RBG.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
And as he intended they did.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Well, let me tell you something. When I am President
of the United States, and when Congress passes along to
restore those freedoms, I will sign it into law.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Now reading this Ebsurd and understanding kind of where she
was and some of the things that she was dealing with.
And when I say where she was, I mean just
like mentally and spiritually. It seems like you're reading this Ebsurd.
Kamala had gotten almost to a place of autopilot a bit,
in my opinion, because she talks a lot about having
to prove her loyalty in the office over and over
(06:07):
and over again. She talks a lot about her team
having to fight for her for certain things. She says,
I was well aware of my delicate status. Laura has
it that every outgoing chief of staff always tells the
incoming president chief of staff rule number one, watch the VP,
because I going after him over Bussing in the twenty
(06:28):
nineteen primary debate. I came into the White House with
what we lawyers call a rebuttal presumption. I had to
prove my loyalty time and time again because she wasn't
the biggest Biden fan in the beginning of all of this,
which was no secret, but Biden at the same time,
and that's why, oh my god, like, as a black
woman reading this, what the feeling that I hated? And
(06:49):
it's crazy because I feel like as black women, as
black people, we have like a language that we speak
with sometimes without even saying words.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
It can be hand gesture, it can be the way
you move your hit.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
It can be you know, the laugh, the giggle, the
side eye, and a lot of Kamala Harris's responses, whether
she was in debates, or she was at speaking engagements
or you know anything public eye when we saw her,
there were so many times where that language was happening
between us and her, us and her, but a lot
(07:22):
of what she's talking about here in this episode, I
feel like we knew, especially black women.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
I feel like we knew that there was a lot that.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
She wanted to say in wouldn't or couldn't, that she
wanted to do and wouldn't or couldn't. And I also
think that as black people, we knew that pushing for
her to get on the ticket with Biden and making
that one of the you have to do this if
you want us to vote for you things, I feel like,
(07:52):
in my opinion, you know, as a person that voted
for the Biden.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Harris campaign, I wanted our.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Support and us rallying together and our pressure that we
put on Biden. I wanted it to be a message
to Kamala that they had to tread lightly with her.
They had to talk to her very nice because she
had all of us behind her. If they did not
when she got in the White House, I felt like
even if she felt like that, or at one point
(08:19):
felt like that, she.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Had to put it to the side. It was like
she had to play nights.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
She had to dress up small wave, you know, the
duality of black people, the code switching. She had to
do all the things which we know that's a part
of the walk and talk of a black person in America.
But we put her there because we wanted her to
feel comfortable enough.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
To say fuck all that. And that is not what happened.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
So she continues, and she says, when Fox News attacked
me on everything from my laugh to my tone of voice,
to whom I dated in my twenties.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
She's talking about former Mayor Willie Brown.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
When Fox News attacked me on everything from my lave
to my tone of voice, to whom I dated in
my twenties, poor claimed I was a DEI hire. The
White House rarely pushed back with my actual resume. Two
terms elected da top cop in the second largest Department
of Justice in the United States. Senator representing one in
(09:14):
eight Americans, Lorian vows, my chief of staff constantly had
to advocate for my role at events. She's just not
gonna stand here like a pouted plant. Give her two
minutes of remarks, have her introduced the president. They had
a huge comms team, but they had Kareem John Pierre
briefing in the press room every day. But getting anything
(09:38):
positive said about my work on any defense against untrue
attacks was almost impossible. Now that right there is tea
because I mean it's a white house, so of course
they have a huge comms team. But her pointing to
the fact that they had Kareem John Pierre briefing in
the press room every day, another black woman, getting anything
(10:00):
positive said in defense to my attacks was almost impossible,
And I don't know. And look, the way that normally
works is that when people remove themselves from politics, we
find out about the truth their truths about the politics
they dived in and the work that they did. Like
I think Kareem was also in a position as well too,
(10:21):
where it's like you gotta do the walk, do the dance, whatever.
But I'm not excusing it because I believe and I
feel like when you're in these positions where you are
one of few, one of only, you have like it's
so crazy to even think about. It's actually kind of
(10:43):
sad in twenty twenty five that have to sit here
and even think about how to say this the right
way when you're in these positions, especially as a black woman.
One of the biggest things I learned, especially when you're
in space, is that are very white, very misunderstanding of you,
your tone, your you're everything. She's in a position of
power right at this point, Kamala Harris. But you're not though,
(11:06):
Like you are, but you're not though. When you're in
that position, one of the things I've learned is it's
almost like playing chess, like you have to learn how
to knock everything off the board and get to what
you want done without people feeling like you're powerful or
you have power. You almost have to like, you know,
(11:26):
you take all the hits, you take all of the
you know, all of the stones, everything that is thrown
at you, you go through it, and then one day,
randomly the people in power standing right next to you,
who for some reason were able to not be empathetic
to anything they watch you experience in real time for
(11:47):
several reasons, because maybe you know a lot of times
it's you know, you're a woman and their man, or
you know, of course color, her being a black woman
has a lot to do with it, and them just
not seeing the necessity or the need or understanding culturally
how attacked a black woman is, especially when she's in
a position of power and having to utilize, show and
(12:09):
exercise that power the way that you have to learn
duality and learn to be weak to be strong. It's
very sad, and it's sad to hear her say that
she specifically pointed out, you know, Kareem John Pierre, because
she's the person speaking and briefing the press every day,
but also she's a black woman in a position to communicate.
(12:35):
She's talking about to communicate. But at the same time,
I've had conversations with people about Kareean Jean Pierre and
her coming out, you know, as neither the Democrat or
Republican after leaving you know, her role and all the
things who say she was also in that same position,
which is very understandable. It is very understandable, but I
(12:56):
do think this screams to me that Kamala was looking
for an advocate on the inside and did not feel
like she had it, nor did she feel like she
had anywhere to turn. And the people who were advocating
for her the strengthened numbers, and she didn't have the numbers,
she says. An example of this is in twenty twenty one,
She says, I was dispatched to help reset the US's
(13:19):
tattered relationship with France after we signed the Australia UK
US Security Path. Australia had agreed to buy submarines from France,
but scrapped that contract when we in the UK agreed
to supply Australia with nuclear subs under a new agreement instead.
This had caused tremendous friction in our meeting. Emmanuel Macaron
(13:42):
and I warmed the chill by focusing on our many
areas of cooperation such as space or exploration, climate change,
Translantic security, cybersecurity.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
In the Indo Pacific.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
On that trip, I was invited to visit the renowned
Pastorier Institute, where my mother had worked on MRI research
related to breast cancer. I was speaking informally with the
scientists there about how I wish politicians were more closely
followed the scientistic method testing a hypothesis and adjusting according
to results, rather than coming in with the plan as
(14:15):
if they had already entered upfront. I said the plan
with an exaggerated emphasis in air quotes. Fox News, the
New York Posts, and New Max went while claiming I
faked a French accent.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
We campaigned with the plan uppercase t uppercase p D planned.
We're expected to defend d plan.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
That was totally nonsense, But the White House seemed glad
to let reporting about my gaff overwhelm the significant thaw
in foreign relations that I achieved. So basically, they let
the They let all of the the craziness fly when
it came to her, you know, the nonsense news, the
sensationalized headlines. You know, I remember one point people were
mad about her, Chuck Taylor's like things of that nature.
(14:57):
She says, they never made it a point to point
out the real work she was doing.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
She was the distraction. She was a test dummy.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
She was thrown into situations, or when situations what happened,
they would use her as a distractor.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
She would have to bite the bullet. Even worse she says.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Kamala Harris says, I often learned that the president's staff
was adding fuel to negative narratives that sprang up around me.
One narrative that took a stubborn hole was that I
had a chaotic office and unusually high staff turnover during
my first year. The plain fact is many people who
come to work with the new administration in the White
House haven't done it before. It's a job unlike any other,
(15:42):
and not every person, no matter how talented in their
former position, can step up into such a high stress,
around the clock role. Others find that they just don't
want the job that doesn't pay particularly well, that it
takes a massive toll on your family and rules out
anything resembling to a normal life. I'm not going to
keep people on who can't thrive at their jobs. It's
not fair to them and it's not good for the country.
(16:05):
So the first year in any White House see staff turnover.
Working for the first woman vice president, my staff had
the additional challenge of confronting gender stereotypes, a constant battle that.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Could prove exhausting.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
I was the first vice president to have a dedicated
press pool tracking my every public move before me, vice
presidents had what's called a supplemental pool, as the first
lady does, only covering important events. But because of the
constant attention, things that had never been especially newsworthy about
the vice president were suddenly reported in scrutinizedaid, we know
why first black woman vice president.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
So she goes on and on and on and on.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Like this episode is really really I'm actually really excited
to read her book.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
I didn't know how much her book would be, if
it would bes.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
If I'm just being honest with you, I felt, and
I feel like whenever I get a chance to interact
with people on the Democratic side, like when they come
to the breakfast club for interviews or anything like that,
I always feel that what they really feel, what they
really want to say, is never what you get to
see and never what you get to hear. And it's
really not disheartening because it's politics. I think everybody is
(17:12):
doing the dance and putting on a cape and putting
on a mask and putting on a personality persona talking
in the talking points on all the things Republicans I
think are just they're a little bit more ratchet with theirs.
But I didn't know if her book would be that
because at the same time, all of this scrutiny and
all these things she's talking about, they're gonna come again
because at the end of the day, she's still a
(17:33):
black woman who was in the White House now and
this was my whole thing too, and now she's gonna
be looked at as disloyal and this is my whole thing.
When everything was happening and people were like, Kamala should
just come out say what's really going on, even before
people were talking about whether Biden should run again or not,
there's this code with us, and I get it. As
(17:54):
black people, I think we have a very what happens
in the house stays and now that's how we're raised, right,
But I think in certain instances that really it destroys us.
It destroys our voice, and it destroys the reasons why
we're put in a room. When Kamala Harris was elected,
I thought she was gonna get in there and blow
all of that up.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
And I mean that in the best way.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
I mean she was not going to stand for things
happening that shouldn't happen. She was going to speak directly
to the people, to her people to, you know, all
the people that get overlooked, and she talks about that
in this episode. She says that she felt like her
role was to really account for and continue to play
spotlight on those communities that people didn't care about, underserved
(18:36):
black women, black people, and not just us, but you know,
underserved and uncared for communities across the board. But I
think her voice was diminished. And I don't know, and
you know, I haven't read this full three thousand words.
I'm going to continue to do that on my own,
and I'm really looking forward to reading the book. I
(18:57):
don't know if her voice got diminished because the lack
of support and the scrutiny she felt, because everybody likes
to act like they don't care, but you do, and
you know, people would like to act like Kamala could
have gotten there and went off and did all the things.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
And she could have. I believe she could have.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
But I think the biggest thing she probably was say
good about also is the disloyalty. And if she's being
dragged for something as simple as the way she laughs
and you know her hand jesters, imagine what they going
to do to a young black woman standing next to
this older white man in this White House, defending this
country that has historically not stood for her, but stood
(19:38):
for the counterpart and for the other. I think that
that was one of her things as well too. I
want to get into more directly what she like, where
her thoughts in her you know, her words were when
it came to Biden and him running again for president,
and one of the episodes, she says, I knew would
(20:00):
come off to him as incredibly self serving if I
advised him not to run, he would see it as
naked ambition, perhaps as dis loyalty, even if my only
message was don't let the other guy win. She also
goes on in an episot to talk about something that
they would say all the time, and you would hear
her say all the time when people would ask about
the president running again and whether she thought that he
(20:22):
was capable of becoming the president or being the president
doing the job because he was falling a partner in
front of our faces. She said, it's Joe and Jill's decision.
We all said that like a mantra, as if we'd
been hypnotized, And that right there, I think is a
bold statement as well. And she's coming out swinging. Kam
Lehrers is coming out swinging in his book. That's a
bold statement because even though in the prior epsert she
(20:44):
talks about there not being this whole scam or you know,
scheme or scandal to cover up Joe Biden being you know,
not capable medically, physically and just you know, his coherence
to run for president.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
But I think even this is what we were saying.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
What we were saying was that it's a lot of
it was okay, we're all watching this happen, but the
way that it was handled, Yeah, all of y'all were
giving a script and you guys all stuck to it,
and that, to be honest with you, I think that
had a lot to do with why Kamala didn't win.
It was that script, her not coming out and completely
(21:22):
distancing herself from everything that Joe Biden did and talking
about how things would be so different and like she's
still even in running for president for those hundred and
seven days, she still had to stick to this like
this this hopscotch, just this double dutch of like okay,
I'm here and on what we need but wait, wait,
waitit wait, like we can't we can't take away from
(21:43):
what happened over here, or I'm still gonna stick to
this because me running doesn't mean that I disagree that
he shouldn't have ran for president. It's like a part
of her was still living in the middle of all
of these things, and you could still kind of feel
that in this episode a bit, because she comes out
swinging and then she goes back and says, but I'm
not saying that he wasn't capable. He was better than
Donald Trump. Like, I don't know what it is about politics.
(22:06):
I know what it is to be a black woman.
Don't have to play it safe. But at this point,
the gloves is off. Kamala Harris ain't playing to save
So I'm excited to read the rest of the book.
You guys, let me know what you think. She ends
a very strong, strong statement after talking about this mantra
that is Joe and Joe's decision, and she says, was
(22:27):
it grace or was it recklessness? In retrospect? I think
it was recklessness. And this was her comment on her
decision and everybody around her is decision not to sit
Joe Biden down and tell him do not run for
re election.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Get in the comments. I want you to take it
out to the streets in a tweet call we Outside,
we Outside, we Outside Outside, every other page.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
On Twitter, Instagram, all the places I want to hear
from you, guys. Do you guys think that this is
a little too late. It's Kamala Harris a little bit
too late and telling us the truth about Biden running
for reelection, being reckless and honestly being the reason why.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Our country is doing shit right now. I'm Lorda L. Rosa.
This is the latest with Lorda L. Rosa.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
And at the end of the day, like I tell you, guys,
every single episode, y'all could be anywhere with anybody talking
about all of these things, but y'all choose to be
right here with me, my lowriders.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
I appreciate you, guys.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
I will see you in my next episode.