Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Rep. James Talarico and the Democratic Fight in Texas, Plus Stephen A. Vs. Michelle Obama

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

Van and Rachel welcome Texas Rep. James Talarico to shed light on the state’s Democrats fleeing to prevent a vote over efforts to add Republican seats. (0:00)  Intro (8:01)  Top 5 White Singing Ladies *since 2010 (9:27)  Stephen A. Smith vs. Michelle Obama (28:42)  Rep. James Talarico joins the show (34:57)  The fight against gerrymandering (41:18)  Toughening the Democrats (1:02:35)  Glaze of the Week (1:15:15)  Palantir update (1:16:15)  FEMA to deny grants over Israel boycotts Host: Van Lathan Jr. and Rachel Lindsay Guest: Rep. James Talarico Producer: Donnie Beacham Jr. and Ashleigh Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, yo, thought warriors. What is up? Our learning is on. It's Ivan Lacey Jr. And it's me, Rachel and Lindsay. Like, subscribe, share the podcast. Right. Do it.

Do it on YouTube. Do it wherever you. What's up with your energy today? What's going on? What are you sensing? Normally you come in and you're a little bit more over the moon. What's happening? What's going on?

Do you sense something? I can tell. Really? No, I'm okay. You're good? Okay. Nothing that I want to talk about on the podcast. See?

I knew. But I actually am impressed. I knew. That actually makes me, you know what? That makes me feel. like really good about our friendship. What do you mean? Well, just like you can tell,

you can sense things. I'm big on energy. So if you sense that, I'm like, we're close. There's a, there's a, there's a rage response to, hey, it's hey. And today it was kind of muted. Something happened.

No, I mean, I'm fine. I'm fine. But I am coming off a high though because, I mean, I'm a little tired. I came, I was in San Antonio this weekend for like 36 hours. Family reunion, small family reunion, my dad's side, but it was really cool. they took us back. So my dad is from South Texas. They took us back to where my great-grandfather

got land or has land. And then my grandfather built on that. So how the land is divided amongst the siblings and how it passes down. My dad wanted us to see that. So they took us back so we could see where it is and, you know, potentially build on it or whatever we want to do with it. So that was really cool. And we did a family road trip. We're all together. I can't tell you the last time we've done that. How many acres? So total there's 250. Wealthy landowners. But my, well, the way my great-grandfather got it,

it was because the guy who he worked for, white man who he worked for, was in a lot of debt. And instead of just like not paying my grandfather, he said, I'm going to give you land. And, like, easily could have been like, no, I'm just not going to pay you. Gave him land.

And that land is stayed in the first. family. And my grandfather bought more land and built on it. And there's a legacy there. You need to write that up and get that whole family legacy option for something. That white man deserve a statue. He deserves some kind of monument. Because that's what I told my dad, I was like, he could have easily just not paid him back in the, we're talking like early 1900s easily could have just not paid him and was like, I'm going to give you land. Yeah. Now, also a family legacy with my great-grandfather got divorced, Grandma Emma, lost some of it.

She took some. It was her land. It's still in the family, though. It's still in the family. Yeah, it was her land. She's like, give me mine. So we have the opposite story. We have a company, and you guys can look this company up called A.B. Whitney and

Sons. And Sons. Whenever it's the and Sons. And Sons tells you what's going on. A.B. Whitney and Sons. my great-grandfather worked the land for these people. And the whole time as a kid, these people fuck, whatever.

A.B. Whitney and Sons owns the land, a ton of land in Louisiana, a ton of land in Mississippi. And there's some discussion in our family about how our land loss happened and all of that stuff. It's true. But that's awesome that you guys have to. You should build something on it.

You should build a juke joint center style. Oh, shut. Shout out to Mary Louise, who I was supposed to start no drinking. Alcoholist August is what I was calling it. And my favorite cousin, 81 years old, we've been rocking. We got close probably 10 years ago. She does take me to juke joints. We actually have mutual friends.

That's how out in the street she is. Listen at you. One fucking weekend in Texas and listen at you. Did my? Yeah, I heard that too. Wait. What did I say? France.

We had mutual friends. Oh, wow. Okay. One weekend in Texas. One weekend in Texas. Yeah. And she used to have a bar. play the piano in it,

then play the piano in church on Sundays. So it's kind of in the family legacy, but she guilted me. She said, I might not be at the next reunion. So you got to drink with me. So each night, it was me and Mary, having a little Remy,

having a little bit of a seat in the room in her room. That's my girl. Shout out to Mary Louise, man. I have a thought about this. I have a thought about this before you get into the show. The family members

that talk the most about their demise are the ones that end up living the longest. I know people that have been using the same guilt trip to get you to do stuff. I'm not bullshitting you since I was in college. I get that. Well, you know, you don't come over here.

You have no idea. People that ask you to make their funeral arrangements and all of that stuff like that, you be around. Sometimes I'll tell them, I'll be like, Hey, remember you told me when I graduated that you was happy to have seen it? Yeah, that was 1998.

You're doing your thing. Keep it real. I'm just, I'm saying. So she's, she got me. She's probably going to be around for a while, though. I hope so. That's my girl. You know, it helps.

What did you do this weekend? Nothing. I wrote, oh, I got wax yesterday. I didn't know if you were kidding or not when you said you got a Brazilian. Yeah, it's true. I got wax yesterday. And I also, I'm coming up real quick before we get into the show.

I made a list. Why? Because I have nappy pubic hair. Why don't you just get a lasered? What's the difference? Well, it won't come back. Ever? It's not supposed to.

Because you're not, like sometimes with women, hormonal will come back, especially if they're having a baby. But you'll be fine. You should just get it. I'll give you nurse Jamie's info. So my pubic hair is napping. Okay. And when I get super active, when I'm boxing around, I'm doing all of this, it's like, it's getting caught. it's getting caught.

It's getting caught in there. So the more active I am, I need to get the wax. And let's be honest, it didn't used to be a concern because it used to be more room, right? It used to be more room. But, you know, there's nappy pubic hair plus nigga put on some weight. And now you got to get waxed so you're not boxing. I'm boxing. And I'm like grabbing that.

And people, what's wrong with you? I'm like, well, it's getting caught in the thing. Okay. All right. So I got waxed. Matt I asked. And two things happened at the waxing. One, and this has never happened before.

The lady knew me. You want that. That's not, you don't want it. No, you want the same person waxing you. No, no, no, no, no, no. She didn't know me. This was the first time she ever waxed me. She knew who I was from TV and stuff.

And she was super sweet. She shouldn't have told you she knew that she, who you were. She was super sweet and the best, but she was. She knew who I was from TV and stuff. That's unprofessional. That's not unprofessional. She shouldn't have told you she knew who you were. Well, we got into it after a while.

We got into it. How are you there? It's a quick process, fan. No, not this wasn't. Okay. Anytime I've done it, it's a quick process. Brazilian hot honey wax. Okay.

And then, you know, she was telling me that a lot of guys that come to get waxed, what are you laughing at? because I'm just I know the positions you have to be in so I'm just wondering with the conversation It's cute going It was a fun conversation

I'm just not there that long I don't get shy about stuff like that There it is, it's the dick, wax it No, it's just Go ahead But she also told me that a lot of Marines and other people they come to get waxed Because they got to do a lot of physical activity and stuff

She told me that she waxed her significant other and other people like that I'm waxing going on. So I don't feel I get waxed. No, no, no, you shouldn't feel a certain way about it. Did you know about one and three people with plaques psoriasis may also develop psoriotic arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling?

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Time to get into the show. Before we do, I have a top five list really quickly. Top five white singing ladies for me since 2010. Five, Demi Lovato, four, Chapparrowin, three, Lady Gaga, two, Adele, one, Sia. What, why? Where did this come from? I was in the waxing thing. And that Demi Lovato song, Cool for Summer, came on. I love that record. Then Sia came on.

2010. Seea came on. You put Chaparone in? Well, I just have to, I don't understand if people, when I started listening to Chaparone, I don't know why it speaks to me. I get, I like her too. I'm just, we're missing somebody.

It would have been Miley Cyrus wasn't, didn't make the list. I love Miley. But I think just because I covered her, I know too much, but she's, I'm happy for her. Miley Cyrus didn't make the list. But I, Sia to me over Adele,

I love Sia records. Love it. Oh, yeah, you didn't. put, how could you not put Adele? They just did, I know we're not big on the list here and stuff that they do, but Adele's records over the last, I mean, 19, 21,

25, 30? More of a Sierra guy. Wow. Wow. Shout to chance. My daughter looked just like Sierra. You can't see him. Stephen A. Smith, Donnie? Yeah, he's been going back and forth with the former first lady. Let's hear what I think started this off, at least

the back and forth that we're talking about. If I listen to ESPN for an hour, it's like watching the real housewives of Atlanta. I mean, you know, it's the same drama and they're yelling at each other and they don't get along. You know, I mean, Stephen A. Smith, he's just like every other talk show post. He'd be a great real housewife. He would be. Right. He would be amazing.

So that's why I'm like, what's the difference? It's just, you know, it's just sociological drama. That was it when Matt Rogers said he'd be a great. housewife. That's where he got offended. What did you think about that assertion from her? No, before we get into the response, what did you think about what she said?

She's totally right. It's 1,000% correct. Anytime I go on and watch what happens live with Andy, I always say, when I'm intro, they say she watches Housewives like it's a sport. I compare reality TV to sports all the time. I think that there are a lot of people who still have a negative connotation, even though I think the tide is changing on that.

A lot of a negative connotation, a about reality TV and don't want to be associated with it. So that's where his offense comes from, which we'll hear in a second. But she's absolutely right because she's speaking from an entertainment value. She's not talking about analyzing a game or the ins and outs of the sport.

She's talking about the way that reality TV intersects with politics and fashion and culture and all of that. And so does sports. That's what she's talking about. The interesting part about this is that Stephen A. is going to respond to it, which we're going to play. And I think it's fascinating. Because in his response, he is going to completely cooperate everything that she said.

Now, I'm going to be honest with you about something as far as it relates to first take. First take is a show about sports culture. Right. It's a debate show. Right. the entertainment value in first take is in the drama of the debate. Correct. You do not watch and cannot watch first take to get smarter at the respective sports that first take is talking about.

Well, I've worked on the show. Yeah. So I've seen the behind the scenes of what happens and the meetings that happen and then what goes into what you actually see. So as a fan of reality TV who does a reality TV podcast, make sure you guys listen to morally corrupt every Tuesday and Fridays here on The Ringer. I understand that it's all about storylines. It's all about the complexities of what you're talking about, reality TV sports, and how all the behaviors, all of that. You need all of that to create a show like First Take, just like you do with reality TV.

It is the drama. And what people love so much about Stephen A. Smith is he brings the dramatics anytime he talks. Now, he could have responded with an analytical breakdown. of why first take is completely different than anything that you would see on a reality show. But that's not what he did. No. He responded with a reality show,

and it was hysterical. When I was watching this, I was laughing the whole time because he essentially did a reality show confessional in his response, which was very funny. We're going to play the response, and then Donnie, when it's time,

to stop it. I sent you a good little chunk of it. When it's time to stop it and dig into some things, that's what we're going to do. Okay, Donnie, take it away. To remind you that while you are revered by me personally, and I truly, truly mean that, with the greatest

sincerity, I'm still a bit salty at you. Stop! The claws are coming out. We immediately have a beef here, which is a basis of a storyline on reality TV. Yeah. So right

away. A line is drawn in the sand. This did not go to, hey, you know what? You say that our show is like reality TV. Let me show you the reasons that our show is not like reality TV. Let me show you how we get into the ends and outs and the guts of the sports and give you all this. No.

Stephen A. Smith said, I was already mad at you. I already don't like what you did in this situation. He jinnied up and drummed up a deeper beef between him and Michelle Obama because he knows that the drama is good for his show and for first take. And let me just tell you, this is what Housewives do. The issue is never really the issue because what he's going to do is he's going to bring up old stuff.

That's what they do on the Housewives. And you're like, I didn't even know that this was an issue. Donnie, continue. When you were campaigning on behalf of the former Vice President of Kamala Harris, who I'll get into a minute, by the way, and you were giving a speech, I believe, believe it was in Detroit, if I remember correctly, but I'm not sure. It was in the middle of the day. It was carried live.

Pause, pause, pause. See, if this was reality TV, at this point, they would flashback. It would be a black and white clip and they would flashback. Or they would say it wasn't Detroit and they'd have an X over it and they would be like, it was Milwaukee. You know what I mean? Okay, keep going. For Trump

was a vote against you and a vote against y'all as women. I want to state for the record. I took major offense to that. Pause. Now, another, this is coming from TV people who have been on another very popular television tactic. This is a tangent narrative. This is a tangent narrative. This is a tangent narrative. This is something that is only tangential to what we're talking about, but it's such a juicy piece of it that you can build momentum off of it.

This has nothing to do with the issue at all. Right. Nothing to do with it. However, it is something that the audience of Stephen A. Smith's show can glom on to to deepen the discontent between Michelle Obama and Stephen A. Smith. Tangent narrative. Donnie Platt. Black men don't just love our black.

black women we reveal y'all you've practically raised most of us think about the most hard core individual you can find who is a black man from the streets of america if there is one person who can walk up to him and slap him silly and get away with it it's his mama or his grandma it's who we are and to say what you said back then And I think to this day is the only thing that I didn't like that you said. Okay, pause again. All right, so I'll say this real quick, just so that our audience knows so that we can give you guys something a little bit more nutritious.

You can't love black women that much if you voted for Donald Trump over Kamala Harris. Correct. So just for anybody doesn't know, since Donald Trump has come into office, 300,000 black women have left the workforce. I say left because there is a couple of different ways that they have gotten out of the workforce. Some are forced retirements, some are firings, some have been downsized.

The Trump administration's policy, in terms of its economic policy, has disproportionately hurt black women. Not only that, Trump hurts black women from the reproductive rights standpoint. Criminal justice, civil rights, economic security, education, and health care. If you care about the women in your community,

the black women in your community, even as public rhetoric, attacking black women like Maxine Waters, if you care about the black women in your community, casting the vote for Donald Trump is at cross-purposes to their safety, in my opinion. So I don't like to speak in absolutes, but what Stephen A is going to do is going to go on to say how some of the, I guess, inspiration for people voting is economic. It doesn't have anything to do with identity or whether or not they love black women or like black women or hate black women.

I think that what Michelle Obama was saying was that the policies that are going to be instituted by the right. are going to hurt us. And if you love us, you will not vote for them. Look, you guys can vote for whomever you want to for whatever reasons. But the votes and the people that you empower, there's consequence that's attached to that. Yeah. And there's going to be somebody who is going to get hurt. And in that situation, when you have a black woman like Michelle Obama who is saying,

look, these votes are going to fuck us over. You do it anyway because you want to. a $1,200 check, or because you think that Trump will be good for the economy, or because you don't want trans people playing sports, then know that you cast that vote despite the fact that it was going to disproportionately affect black women. I could go deeper here. I could go into issues all over the country where Republicans are trying to stop. We could talk about the suit against the Angel Fund ladies.

Oh, yes, yes, yes. Where a far-right legal activist sued black women who were trying to start an initiative or had started. Did start. Yeah. Had started an initiative to fund black women in tech. Right, right. Like, these are the people that you're voting for. Right, right.

I also think when I hear somebody make a comment, like, the comparison that Stephen A. Smith is making is falsy to me. Because just because you personally, you have a personal connection to your. mother or your grandfather because they raised you, you connect with them, you grew up with them, it's different. Doesn't mean that you then have that exact same respect and you revere black women in general the same way. I think it's faulty to do that because if that was the case, there would be a totally different relationship between black men and black women.

So I think it's faulty to do that because he's looking at something that's very specific, subjective, and personal and comparing it in an objective. way, and that's just not true. I'm saying very directly that the policies that the right and acts, champions, and stumps for

and a lot of times disproportionately affect black women. Yeah. But also just look at the way that... If you vote for that stuff, then you can't love them that much. And you're talking about the policies in general, but he specifically here is talking about

Trump, which you did point out, but Trump himself is continuously disrespectful to black women. And I can even separate that women, black people, black women. He has constantly the way he speaks about black women journalists, the way he talked about the squad, the way he talked about Kamala Harris. He has a distaste for black women, period, in how he deals with them. And that's in addition to the policies that directly impact black women. Continue it. I didn't appreciate it.

Because there's so many things that go into deciding where your vote is going to go. For some people, it's all about the economy. For others, it's all about national security. For some people, it is immigration. Pause. So if you are a black man, and I'll ask you guys this question, if you are a black man, should you prioritize national security? the economy or immigration over your community? Or is it a possibility that all of the issues that we are talking about are part of the economy?

They're a part of national security. They're a part of immigration insofar as the workforce due process. Think about the issues that have been raised with Trump's immigration policy. these issues are fundamental to American existence. They're not just whether or not it's mean to break up families and kick people out of the country. I think that if you ask most Americans, they would say that someone who is breaking the law in the country that's come over as an illegal immigrant or as, excuse me, as an undocumented person, that there should be a way that we should be able to remove bad actors from American society, right? I think people would say that. I think that people would say that there needs to be a streamlining of the asylum process

so that there are enough asylum judges to process asylum cases to make sure that people are getting the hearings that they need and we're able to judge effectively whether or not people have the right to claim asylum and be in the country. But I think most people would also say that targeting and attacking, law-abiding, working people who are paying into services a lot of times that they cannot benefit from that aren't doing anything that are contributing to the country is wrong. And then I would also say that also most people would say that violating the Constitution in order to do all of this is a fundamental issue that affects everyone that's here.

So it's honestly, this shallow and analysis of things that people are talking about when they're talking about first take when they're talking about first take and they're saying hey on first take you might get an argument over who wanted it more and if you remember when mark Cuban went on first take years ago vaguely okay I'm not going to belabor this I'm not trying not to do it's kind of my thing but if anybody can go back and watch that I want you to watch it so this is what happened. The

Miami Heat were playing I think it was the Oklahoma City Thunder in the finals. The year before they had lost to the Dallas Mavericks. Mark Cuban is watching first takes coverage of the finals.

And he gets on Twitter and starts going at Skip Bayless. He starts going at Skip Baylis because it dawns on Mark Cuban that Skip Baylis doesn't know what he's talking about. Now, they're talking about two different things. Obviously, Skip Baylis is an incredibly knowledgeable sports professional and reporter for a very long time.

So no one's going to say that Skip Bayliss doesn't know a lot about sports culture. He does, right? What Mark Cuban was talking about was the game. So he goes on first take where it's Skip Bayliss and Stephen A. Smith. And there was one particular exchange I remember. He asked Skip Bayless. I'm not going to remember it, point for point. He asked Kit Baylis, he goes, well, what was LeBron doing in these fourth quarters

against the Maver's? He wasn't doing anything. He was just standing out on the wing, not doing anything. And Mark Cuban goes, why was he doing that? And Skip Baylis goes, that's what he was doing. That's what he did. That's what he was going to do. He just couldn't meet the moment.

And Mark Cuban, they listed to Skip Bayliss, and he goes, so no matter what we did, he was going to do that. had nothing to do with us. LeBron James had just made the decision that he was not going to win the NBA finals. He wasn't going to try to score in the fourth quarter. And he was just going to cuck out no matter what. And Skip Baylowe's goes, that's what it looked like to me.

And then Mark Cuban goes, that's what it looked like to you. Because you are not seeing the game because talking about the actual X's and O's of what's going on in the game isn't what you do. Then Mark Cuban, who for some reason decided to become a basketball, Savant and being in a locker room with his team, proceeds to break down the defensive coverage and assignments that Dallas went through to neutralize LeBron James as a basketball player. And I remember watching this going, fuck. And the types of basketball and sports analysis and coverage that people are looking for right now,

it's the reason why some of the stuff that we do here is actually starting to really break through and change the way people talk about this. basketball minds want basketball talk. Football minds want basketball, football talk. And I think we're getting to a point to where political minds want political talk. They don't want this sort of soft cultural discussion of what's going on without any specifics or any role to understanding. Right. Any challenging any anything, which is kind of what's happening right now, right here.

in this response, I think he's, like, illustrating why. Like, people are, a lot of hardcore sports people, first take, is a ridiculously entertaining show, a very popular show. But a lot of people are kind of getting tired of that type of discourse. I don't know if, I say people are getting tired of it, but I think it goes to the whole point, which we were talking about at the beginning, about Michelle Obama, what she was saying is, the point of your show is not.

to have that type of discourse. The point of your show, the basis of first take, is to entertain. It's a sports reality show. That is what it is. Even with what he's doing on this YouTube show where he's responding, it is to entertain. The reason Stephen A. Smith has, is, I mean, he's a lot of things, but one of the things people do, they hate watch him, they love to have his response because he is entertaining in the way that he's going to do it. He does it in a way that is totally different from anybody else. That is why he will continue to have longevity in this industry because of the entertainment value that he brings to the table.

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So visit Spectrum.com slash business to learn more. Restrictions apply. Services not available in all areas. We're going to talk to James Tala Rico. He is a state representative in Texas. That's right. All the great ones do.

All the great ones do. He's probably a political name. There he is. Listen, look, there is. There we go. All right. Let me get into the whole thing. If you guys have not heard the news, the Texas Democrats have, the state Democrats have broke horn and they are now out of the state to try to disrupt this really, really desperate and insidious power grab from Texas Republicans to gerrymander the state in order to.

grab seats and protect seats ahead of the upcoming midterms. James joins us. By the way, James has been everywhere. You're a budding, rising star. I watch you on Rogan. I watched three hours of Rogan, which I haven't done in a long time because you were on there. Watch some of the species that you've given on the State House floor.

So I think people are really going to be leaning into your voice on this, and we appreciate you joining us on higher learning. before we get into the guts of what's happening, tell us why you feel like Texas Democrats made this decision to leave the state to disrupt what the Republican power is trying to do there. Yeah, it's a great question. I feel like these terms redistricting quorum are getting thrown around. And most people who aren't super into politics have no idea what we're talking about. So let me just, I'm going to, I was a former middle school teacher so I can try to break it down. So state legislators adjust district boundaries for state house, state Senate, Congress at the beginning of every decade to account for population changes after a new census. That's what typically happens. And Texas Republicans drew Texas maps in 2021 when they were supposed to at the beginning of a decade.

But now Donald Trump has asked those same Texas Republicans to redraw the Texas maps in the middle of the decade. This is 2025. We're not at the beginning or the end. We're right in the middle because he wants five more seats. That's what he said. It's kind of like if your listeners remember when he asked the Georgia Secretary of State to find him 11,000 votes after he lost the 2020 election. So he's asked Texas Republicans to get him five more seats because he's worried he's going to lose the midterms because he's wrecking our economy, starting wars, protecting pedophiles, kicking millions. millions of people off their health care to fund tax breaks for billionaires. So he's trying to shield himself from the voters. He's trying to shield himself from accountability for his actions. But to pass these new maps, there need to be a certain number of legislators on the floor of the State House to conduct business. That's called a quorum. And my Democratic colleagues and I, 57 of us in total, are denying them that quorum. Essentially, we are killing this corrupt map before it passes at the end of the special session.

That's why we decided to do this. And we had to leave the state because otherwise, Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton would arrest us and bring us back in handcuffs. So we have all scattered throughout the country. I'm here in Illinois, the land of Lincoln, which is appropriate because Abraham Lincoln broke quorum back in 1840 as a state senator

by jumping out of a window in the Illinois state capital. Thankfully, I didn't have to jump out of any windows yesterday, but we're breaking quorum, nonetheless. So Governor Abbott is responding and he's saying that he is going to threaten to remove Democrats from

their positions that you guys holding office. He's going to threaten that if you don't return back by 3 p.m. today. I think a lot of people are wondering, can he do that? What kind of power does he have and where do you guys? Because

this isn't the first time that the Texas Democrats have broke quorum and have left the state and scattered in a response to something that the Republicans were trying to pass. So what I guess, so the question I guess is, can he do that? What power does he have? And what's the plan if you don't return by three? Yeah, great questions. And we're not returning by three. I just want to clarify that. We will be watching the live stream with the House floor here from Illinois altogether in just a few hours. But we are not returning before the end of the special session in two weeks. We are not going to allow them to move forward with this corrupt process and execute this power grab. So you're right. Greg Abbott has said that he wants to remove

elected officials from office for protecting their constituents' voices in the democratic process. That's very consistent because with these maps, he is trying to rob people, particularly black and brown communities, from electing the representatives of their choice. And now he's threatening to literally remove the people's representatives from office. I mean, he's taking a page out of Donald Trump's authoritarian playbook. He does it with less charm and humor and charisma than Donald Trump, but it's still just as dangerous. Your question is, can he actually do this? The answer is no, because breaking quorum is in our Texas Constitution. It is a right that the minority party has to resist the majority, especially when we feel the majority is overstepping their

constitutional role. And that's what's happening here. By attempting to redistrict in the middle of the decade, the Republicans are cheating. It's like two football teams coming out of the locker room at halftime. And the team that's ahead says they want to change the rules in the second half to make sure they win. We would all recognize that as blatant cheating. And so if they're going to cheat, we're not going to play. That is where we draw the line. And we have to stand up for ourselves. More importantly, we have to stand up for our constituents whose voices are going to be silenced under this new map. Outside of what you guys are doing there in Texas, there are governors in Illinois, governors in California, that say if Governor Abbott is successful with his redistricting plans, then they, in turn, will redraw their lines to either add seats for the Democrats or eliminate seats for the Republicans. Are you in favor of that move?

I'm in favor of matching energy. I remember when I was a little kid and there was a bully at my school during recess, my mom taught me that you stand up to a bully. You look them in the eye. You don't blink. You call them out and expose them because bullies are a lot weaker than you think. And that's exactly what we have to do here. If one side is intent on cheating, the other side have got to respond.

And if one side cheats, all bets are off. And I don't want us to go down that road. I don't want us to get into a descending spiral of partisanship, a tip for tat. I don't want any state to be gerrymandered, whether it's red or blue. I want every single state in the union to have free and fair elections, fair maps, fair representation for everybody. I'm by coming to Illinois, by breaking quorum, I'm not just fighting for Democrats. I'm fighting for independence and Republicans too.

I want them to have a fair say in who represents them in their government. That's the only way this American experiment is supposed to work. And so, like I said, being here in the land of Lincoln, we are participating in a long American tradition of standing up to bullies, of speaking truth to power, of civil disobedience and good trouble. And we're proud to do that regardless of the consequences. Can you talk more about how this directly impacts people of color, and specifically how they're doing this kind of as a response,

because as the population is growing in Texas, it's the people of color, that's the population that's growing. That's exactly right. So we talked about this being a power grab, how they don't want to face the voters. But it's important to talk about how they're doing the power grab and how they're doing it is by intentionally diluting the voices and the voting power of communities of color.

That's black and brown communities in Texas, which, as you mentioned, are rapidly growing in our state. And that's a threat to the Republican majority. And so they take these majority minority districts and they break them apart. They do something called cracking and packing, meaning sometimes they will divide a community of color so they have less power or sometimes they'll pack communities of color all together. And so that way they only have one rep instead of multiple reps if they're spread out across multiple districts.

So cracking and packing is a tactic that's often. often used in these gerrymandered maps. It's particularly egregious here, not just because it's in the middle of a decade, but because it is so discriminatory. And they are going after some of these historically black districts, historically Hispanic districts, and they are taking a diverse state diluting the power of people of color and giving more power to white Texans or Anglo Texans, as we would say in our state. And that is just fundamentally unjust. It's something we shouldn't stand for, whether you're a progressive or a conservative, a Democrat or Republican, this kind of racist gerrymandering should be a thing of the past and it's unacceptable in 2025.

You guys seem to be taking desperate action against this. Why do you feel like in the past the Democrats have been so hesitant to do that? It seems as if the party never wants to go to the mattresses. They never want to use the power that they actually have to match the energy, as you say, of the right. Like, when did you guys find your balls? I would say Texas Democrats have always had DeHones, right?

Whether it's whether it's Betro O'Rourke, Wendy Davis, Jasmine Crockett, or it's the 57 Democrats who just broke quorum. We know how to fight because we've been in the minority for a long time in Texas. We've had to figure out how to use every tool in our toolbox

to fight for our constituents to fight for the people of Texas you know, if you know anything about Texas history, we don't surrender easily. We don't go down without a fight. You know, everybody knows the Alamo. That is, that is a part of our DNA as Texans. It's fighting for what we believe in, for standing up for what we believe is right, regardless of the consequences. And so that goes all the way back through our history, Ann Richards, Barbara Jordan, LVJ. I mean, these were some of the greatest leaders of the Democratic Party who knew how to fight for people. And we're just trying to live up to that legacy here in 2025.

Let me ask you a question real quick. If that's true, and I believe what you say, how has Texas been totally captured by the worst parts of MAGA? It's become the stronghold and the capital for all the worst ideas politically that exist right now in the United States. How did that happen and how do you fix that? Well, gerrymandering and redistricting are part of it. They have intentionally drawn these districts over decades, not in the middle of the decade, but at the beginning of the decade like they're supposed to, they've gerrymandered it so they can stay in power. But in statewide elections, because you can't gerrymandar the state itself, you can't redraw the lines of Texas. In those statewide elections,

we've seen the results get closer and closer. When I was growing up in Texas, Democrats lost to Republicans by 25, 30 points. It was a blowout. But consistently, over the last few cycles, Democrats are only losing by single digits. So the trend line is in the right direction. The state is becoming more diverse, becoming younger. And honestly, Texans of all backgrounds are fed up with the extremism, the most extreme abortion ban in the nation that's endangering the lives of women and girls across our state. A private school voucher scam that is defunding neighborhood schools across the state of Texas. The failure to expand Medicaid, which means Texas has the highest number of uninsured people in the whole country. And so those kind of extreme policies are

leading to more competitive elections. It's why Greg Abbott and Donald Trump are desperately trying to cling to power because they feel the voters are moving away from them. I agree with you about Texas Democrats. I'm from Texas. I used to work for Senator Royce West, actually. But there seems to be to build on what Van is saying. There seems to be this disconnect between the way Democrats on a national scale function

versus the way that the Texas Democrats. do. You guys seem to be more bold, more aggressive when it comes to attacking issues for the constituents. What could the Democrats on a national scale do better to be more effective for the party similar to the way the Texas Democrats attack issues? Well, it's so nice to be on a call with a fellow Texan. That feels so far away from home right now. And you always make our state so proud. So it's really an honor to be here. Yeah, I think that we can show national Democrats how to have a backbone, how to have a spine, how to stand up when, even when things are difficult to fight for people. And, you know, honestly, sometimes the national Democrats, when they're not in the majority,

they use that as an excuse to just go to sleep until the next election. And that's, you can't do that in Texas, right? If we did that, we would never get anything done. We've been in the minority for so long that we really learned how to use every single tool in our toolbox to fight for our people. And I think national Democrats could learn something from Texas Democrats and really all Red State Democrats. When you're on the coasts, you're kind of insulated from the consequences of Republican extremism, right? You're a little more comfortable in those blue states on the coast. But if you're in a red state, if you're in the South, you know how high the stakes are. And so you learn how to fight. You learn how to be scrappy very early on. And that's the

the attitude, I think the whole party needs national. Are those national Democrats willing to listen to you and listen to their voters to listen to the new generation of voices? We're saying something in New York right now where there seems to be a clear will from the people of New York to turn the page about the type of democratic leadership that they have there. They have come out in record numbers in the primary to elect a mom dany. And you are seeing national Democrats scoff. I saw Cory Booker dodged the question. King Jeffries has dodged the question. Chuck Schumer has dodged the question.

And it makes me think that there might be a concrete piece of the Democratic Party that doesn't believe in the younger generation, younger voices, and the fight that you guys have. Your thoughts? Well, and it's a huge mistake. And I think we have to look no further than the last election to see that if we don't bring in, young people to our party. If we don't listen to young people about how to lead us out of all this

mess, we're going to lose elections. So not only should we include young people because it's the right thing to do, but it's also the smart thing to do. You know, you talked about me going on Joe Rogan and social media. I think that's because I'm a younger elected official. I'm 36. I'm a millennial. The Gen Z members of my team are the ones who got me on TikTok a couple years ago. and I'm able to reach people in these places, right? Because most young people don't get their news from TV. They don't get their news from a newspaper. They get their news from social media, from podcasts like this one.

And so if you're not in these places, if you're not meeting people where they're at, you can't be surprised when you lose elections or when you lose young people. And so I hope the Democratic Party is waking up. I hope this quorum break is a wake-up call and is a reminder about what it means to fight for people. and I hope that as we move forward, we're going to make space for those young millennial and Gen Z candidates who are running for office and who deserve to be in positions of public trust. What are your thoughts on Zaron? I mean, I think Zoran's campaign was one of the most exciting that I've seen in a long time. And the way that he connected with people, the way he focused in on the pain people are feeling with the everyday cost of living and rising inflation and housing costs, that to me is a template for,

Democrats across the country. Now, we may be different. Zoron is a good fit for New York City, and there's going to be a different fit for West Virginia and Texas and Alabama. But there are things that we can learn from his campaign and his candidacy that we need to adopt if we want to win elections, connect with people, build political power, and transform these corrupt systems. I believe you've stated that you think Texas can go blue as soon as the 2026 midterms. In light of what's happening right now, do you still think that that can happen? And if so, how do you think that that can be attained? I absolutely think that's possible.

You know, as I said, we've seen elections get closer and closer in Texas. And if Ken Paxton is their nominee for the U.S. Senate, which it looks like he will be, I think that this is a unique threat that we Democrats have to rise and meet. If Ken Paxton, the most corrupt politician in Texas, maybe the most corrupt politician in America, if he is allowed in the U.S. Senate, it is a danger for all Texans and frankly, all Americans. And so if we Democrats in Texas can't beat Ken Paxton, if we can't meet the moment and organize people across our state and build a big coalition, then we don't deserve to win. But I do think that this will be a huge moment for us in our state. And because of the extremism

we've seen, including this power grab from Trump in Texas, I think voters across the political spectrum are ready to turn the page and they're ready for a new generation of servant leaders who are not interested in enriching themselves or in solving their own power, but are interested in actually making people's lives better because that should be the point of politics. If we're not here to make people's lives better, what are we doing? Why would we go through all of this? And I think people are ready to get back to that, that ultimate vision. When you see them putting up somebody like a Ken Paxton, which is wild, does that make you say, I want to run for Senate?

That's a great question. I have been looking at that U.S. Senate race. I do think we have a moral imperative to beat impacts in. And I do think I have certain things I can offer my party, but more important than the state of Texas. But that's also a huge decision, a huge life decision to run statewide in a place like Texas. I haven't made a decision yet. I set a deadline to make a decision this week for myself and then this quorum break happened. So I'm a little distracted now. But one, we get past this quorum break and hopefully defeat these corrupt maps, I'm going to sit down and talk to my family. I'm going to pray and reflect and think about it. This is the right thing for me and the right thing to the people of Texas. If you run, I will come back and campaign for you. Okay. Just like that. I'm going to hold you to it. Okay. James, you're running. We just want you to go ahead and announce it right now in higher. It's fine. Thank you. You made a decision so much It's what we do. Before we get you out of here, I do want to talk to you about a couple other things.

I watched you on Rogan and as impressed as I was with you from the political side of some of the things that you were saying, the cultural side I was impressed with as well. You're a devout Christian that actually voted against putting the Ten Commandments in schools in Texas. A broader question. I am from Louisiana, a state that is just slightly better than Texas. It's a close call. I love Louisiana. It's a close call.

We're cousins. Exactly. It's true. Like there were two different types of Christianity that I understood. One was a structural Christianity that was about your soul, what you believe in, your ability to reference your Bible, and take the lessons, the lessons from your pastor from your preachers and put them into your life. It was a very religious Christianity. Then the other was a cultural Christianity. And all that meant would be to act as Jesus taught you and be a good, decent, empathetic person. I believe that cultural Christianity is dead.

That the Christians now from sea to shining sea are the mean people. And if it's not, true in every case. It's certainly true in the case of people who have power, who move policy, who influence discussions culturally, that the Christians are the villains, are the mean people. If I see follow of Christ in somebody's Twitter, I know they're about to say something wild. Is that true? Is cultural Christianity? Christianity, defining somebody as a good person, is that dead? I don't believe it's dead. Although your assessment is spot on,

I oftentimes say that the people who have Christ follower in their Twitter bio are usually the least Christ-like people that I've met. And that's certainly true in politics, where my faith tradition, the religion that means more to me than anything in the world, is twisted to justify hate and bigotry and corruption. And we see it anytime we open in our social media timelines or turn on the news or open a newspaper. And it's why I feel the need to speak out as a person of faith. I honestly didn't ever think I would talk this much about religion when I ran for office, right? My religion is why

I ran for office. My granddad was a Baptist preacher in South Texas. And he told me that we Christians follow two commandments that Jesus gave us, love God and love neighbor. That's it. It's pretty simple. It's not easy, but it's simple. And that's why I became a public school teacher. It's why I ran for office to love thy neighbor, to serve my neighbors, to make my neighbor's lives just a little easier, right? Reduce prescription drug costs, expand access to child care, fund neighborhood schools, right? That is how I am loving my neighbor through public policy. But I didn't think I would talk explicitly about it.

And the reason I have is because Christian nationalism, which is, again, a perversion of Christianity used to justify people's wealth and power, that is something I feel I need to stand up and speak out against as a believer, as a Christian, because they are perverting my faith tradition and they are subverting our American democracy. So I do think that we are, this period is setting us out for a revival. I hear from so many young people, millennials, Gen Z on places like TikTok and Instagram, when I talk about my faith and what it means to me, they say stuff like, if I had heard this when I was younger, I would still be in the church.

I've had really personal messages that people send to me and they say, I want a relationship with God, but I don't feel like I belong in any of these churches. That is a crisis for our religion. but I think it's going to be those young people who lead us out of it, who reclaim these churches, reclaim these faith communities, and remake them in their own image. I am actually very optimistic about the future of Christianity. I see something brewing out there among young people in seminaries and churches

all over the state, all over the country. And I do think that that true Christianity, that following Jesus, being Christ-like, mimicking Jesus, that's going to make a comeback because it is needed now more than, ever. James, what do you say to people that say that what's actually happening is that the mask is off Christianity, that it's always been used to oppress people, slavery, that the clan was Christian, that so many things have been done in the name of God, particularly in this country, to slaughter indigenous people, to enslave black people, to hurt and harm people, to

deny women their reproductive rights, that now what we are actually seeing is that there's always been an insidiousness enveloped into the religion that's really exposing itself in these open forms. What would you say to people who say that? They're not wrong, but I would also remind them that that same faith tradition is what motivated Dr. King. It's what motivated Cesar Chavez. It's what motivated Dorothy Day in the labor movement. It's what motivated people like Mr. Rogers. So faith has not only justified some of the worst atrocities, but it has also given people the strength to stand up to those atrocities and transform our world into a more just, loving community. And so it is both a source of strength and inspiration and comfort for millions of people who are trying to build a better world. And it's also used by the people in power to consolidate their wealth and their standing.

And we have to recognize both of those things. And for me, my faith is what gives me the strength to do something like this, to leave my home state, leave my family, travel halfway across the country, risk arrest, risk expulsion, risk fines to stand up for what I believe in. I woke up this morning and spent the first 30 minutes in prayer to prepare for this day. And I do believe if I didn't have that, I couldn't do this work. I know that for me personally. I think that was true for Dr. King.

I think it was true for Cesar Chavez. It was true for Dorothy Day. And I think it's true for a lot of Americans across this country. It's just up to us to reclaim this religion and make it about what it's always supposed to be about, which is loving our neighbors. I went to First Baptist Academy my entire life. So I grew up in a church. I went to a Christian school. and I'm still amazed and in awe at the people that I went to school with

and the way that they still stand by MAGA or Donald Trump. And it all seems so deeply rooted that they're just, without any rhyme or reason, that they, very similar to the way that the TikTok, they went viral where you were talking to one of your peers about the Ten Commandments and placing that poster in schools. it seems so strong, and I know you say that something's brewing, but it feels very quiet more than it feels out loud. How do you win over, or do you think you can win over these Christian nationalists

in the 2026 midterms or the 28 election when they seem to be so deeply rooted in the religion in this way or Christianity in this way? And we're not going to win over all of them. I think it's okay to come to grips with that. There are some folks who profit off of this perversion of Christianity, whether it's financially or politically or socially. But I do think there are folks in the middle. There are folks who feel that the Democratic Party hasn't really talked about faith and maybe

is even hostile to people of faith because Democrats and progressives generally haven't talked about it as much over the last 20, 30 years, you know, which is very different from how progressives in the middle of 20th century in the civil rights movement, the farm workers movement, the labor movement, those social movements were oftentimes explicitly religious, explicitly Christian in some cases. And so this is something that's pushed people away. And I think it's incumbent upon us to call those people back into our coalition. And again, we're not going to win over everybody. The folks on the far right, maybe they're never going to join us. But I do think there are folks in the middle who are just looking to connect with us.

That's what politics is all about being the day. We overcomplicate it with polls and campaigns and slogans and all this stuff. Really, it's just connecting with people. It's building a relationship, just like you would do in your normal life and your personal life. And that requires listening. It requires being open and vulnerable and it requires sharing. And so I go out there and I share my my why, my fate, why I do this. And I feel very comfortable talking about it. And it creates an opening for a dialogue that maybe couldn't have happened before. And I've seen that happen. It's honestly how I was able to flip a Trump district in central Texas. It was a district that hadn't voted for a Democrat in 30 years. And I won that seat because I built a big tent

of Democrats, independents, and yes, some Republicans. I believe that you're going to be a very potent national political figure right now. So interesting for all of my criticisms of Rogan or whatever, that interview is kind of the interview that did it for me. James, I'm going to let you know something. Before you came in this podcast, I went through all of your donors. I literally went. I sent it around to this.

I went through all of your donors. went through everyone that you've donated to you, everyone that's went through everything. It's just something we have to do with politicians before. I cannot let you leave without asking you one question. It relates to Christianity, but it also relates to something else. Ted Cruz was on Tucker Carlson's show,

and he said this. I want to know your thoughts on specifically this statement in terms of how Christianity aligns with support of foreign government. Donnie run that. Growing up in Sunday school, I was taught from the Bible. Those who bless Israel will be blessed, and those who curse Israel will be cursed. And from my perspective, I want to be on the blessing side of thing.

Of those who bless the government of Israel? Those who bless Israel is what it says. It doesn't say the government of it says the nation of Israel. So that's in the Bible. As a Christian, I believe that. Where is that? I can find it to you. I don't have the scripture off the tip of mine.

You pull out the phone and use the Google. It's in Genesis. Do you believe that as a Christian you are commanded? to support any foreign government? No, and I think Ted Cruz is, again, twisting scripture to justify a political position. You know, something that I really appreciate about the Hebrew scriptures,

or what some people may call the Old Testament, is that it is a group of people who fled oppression, who left slavery, escaped that kind of coercion, and they attempted to do something very different. They decided that they were going to have God, be their leader. And that may make people uncomfortable if you're especially or not religious. But think about that. Instead of having a king or having an emperor or having a Pharaoh, they were going to have this power of love, lead them and guide them out of the wilderness.

That to me is a radical understanding of how we relate to one another politically and socially. And I do think it can guide us today. But to take that and use it to justify a certain foreign policy or as you said, a certain foreign government, I think is a real abuse of those beautiful scriptures and that beautiful tradition. It's been so great to have you on the podcast. We hope that you come back. I'm sure there are going to be other issues

that pop up in Texas, and we want to know what you guys are fighting on down there. How can people support you, find out everything that you're doing that you're working on? Yes, please. Well, you can find me on all the major social media platforms, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, threads, wherever you may be, YouTube, you can find us there.

You can also sign up for updates on our website, which is just my name, James Tallerico.com. I promise I do not spam, and I write the emails myself. So if you're going to get an email, it's going to be something I've written. And it's a good way to just stay up to date. And I always include ways that people can help. Even if you're not from Texas, we do appreciate the help of Louisianaans and Illinois and Illinois too. We need as many friends as we can find in this fight for American democracy. Right. James, we appreciate you coming on. It's great. I want to let you know something before you go.

Just be prepared. You're annoying the right. They're coming for you. Okay. Just just be pretty. You're starting to get on their nerves, James. If there's anything that we're going to learn about you that we're not going to like, you might as well get ahead of it right now. I want you to watch eight mile and watch what Eminem did at the end. I don't know if you're ever seen it. But I'm a millennial. I've seen A-Mai. All right, cool. Well, you might want to Jimmy Rabbit your situation, okay? Because you're starting to get on their nerves and they're coming

for you. We appreciate you joining us, man. I appreciate that. It's an honor. Thank you for having you. Peace. Bye-bye. Thank you for being here. This episode is brought to you by WeatherTech. Everyone knows winter is the MVP and making a mess. You don't need WeatherTech floor liners in the summer unless you hit the beach or go camping. Then you'd want

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This week's Glaze of the Week is a doozy. Donnie, give me my music. Glaze of the week, glaze of the week, you're on somebody's meat. It's the glaze of the week, Glaze of the week, Glaze of the week, you're sucking dick.

And let me tell you who is sucking dick today, one of the greatest football players of all time, one of my father's favorite athletes, fucking goddamn Lawrence Taylor. Jesus Christ. Look, I got to hand it to Trump. I have to hand it to Trump. I have to hand it to him.

Trump is the weak nigger whisperer. If you have... Is that hard to be? Yeah, it is. if you have one iota of daddy issue, if you need a hero, a pardon, a hug, a pat on the back,

Donald Trump will find you out. He can smell a weak nigger. And God damn it, did L.T. play right into his hands. Donnie, run what L.T. Lawrence Taylor, maybe the greatest

defensive player in the history of the NFL, said to Donald Trump. I'm just proud to be on this, on this team. I don't know why. I don't know what we're supposed to be doing, but I'm here to serve and I'm here to serve you. Okay, so I'm going to do the best I can for as long as I can. Thank you very much.

I'm here to serve you. I'm here to serve you. This is on the hills of other people like Byron Donald. calling Trump daddy. You have Lawrence Taylor saying, I'm here to serve you. Serve him. Like a cafeteria serves a girl in the 11th grade.

Or how L.T. serves a girl in the 11th grade. But look, both of those things can work. I wonder about this. I wonder what it takes to look at a white man and go, I'm here to serve you. not work with you, not collaborate with you, not even work for you, serve you. What do you serve? You serve a master.

Like you serve something that is so much greater than you that you have no choice but to bend the need to it. Lawrence Taylor said Trump is his master. Trump is his fucking master. none of this was necessary. If LT doesn't know why he is there, I'll tell him why he was there. He was there to be a part of the president's counsel on fitness. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. He was there for kids to jumping jacks, burpees to run. This is not a serving situation. This is not a situation that, you know, denotes fealty to Donald Trump. This was an unprovoked dick ride. It was out of nowhere. Just jumped all on it for no reason.

The president brought him up there. He looked directly around and said, I'm here to serve you. It reminds me of something when I got my mind blown. Rachel, it was years ago. It was like 2002. All the crew is sitting around and we're talking to this, to this girl.

She's talking to us. She says something I'll never forget. She says, a lot of people, a lot of women, don't like to suck dick. Me, I look for reasons to suck dick. Even now, I get chills. It blew my mind.

It blew all of our minds. We didn't know what to say. She was advanced on some other shit. That wasn't a 2002 talking point. Twitter hasn't come around yet. We haven't had everybody talking about That wasn't something that in the 2002 era that somebody would just say and not leave a room full of 22-year-old men like, God damn, what model is this? It was a servant model.

And that's what LT is. LT is not somebody that's against it. LT is looking for reasons to suck it. Now, I know her very well. She's a great mom, so we're not going to talk about names and all of that stuff. But when I saw him say that, I thought about her because. I thought about the fact that nobody was talking about that. Right.

Nobody was at, no one asked you to suck dick in that instance, L.T. Harrison Buckner didn't get up there and suck any dick. The rest of the white guys that were up there looking, by the way, as confused as to why they were there, Triple H, I can't believe you. But the rest of them, like, they didn't, but they didn't get up there and be like, yo, I'm here to serve you. And that's something else that I noticed about a lot of the black. men that are that supportive of Donald Trump, that they go over the limit. Well, it just might be any kind of crazy. It might, it's Donald Trump or it's any type of praise or recognition or affiliation or

alignment with whiteness. Like that's, and this is where what I saw, first off, could care less that Lawrence Taylor was acknowledged by Trump, was appointed to this council. I mean, I think there are two reasons that he reacted in this way. One, to react like that, there is some kind of deep-rooted, I don't know if I want to say hatred, but there is something in you that needs and longs for that approval of whiteness. That's one thing. And the other thing is, Lawrence Taylor has been charged for a felony.

He's a registered sex offender. He's been accused of domestic violence. Like, nobody is praising Lawrence Taylor right now. So I think this is also the fact that he is getting recognized in such a big way when nobody else is because this is a bad man. So first of all, I wish that were true that nobody was like looking up to LT right now. Well, they shouldn't be. I wish that were true. I was at a party a couple of years ago.

I never forget this. a very prominent producer friend of a big-time athlete slash whatever was there. And we're talking about a situation. We're all standing around. We're talking. And he goes, who is the most famous athlete in the history of New York sports?

And we're about the answer. He goes, I'll tell you who it is. It's Lawrence Taylor. And I said, no, it's not. I watched everybody else agree with this person because they wanted to work with them. This was an industry party. And I went, no, that's not true.

And he's like, no, it's Lauren Taylor. I'm telling you right now, if you're walking down the street, it's going to be Lawrence Taylor. I'm like, no, it's probably like Derek Jeter. Like, Derek Jeter is more famous than Lawrence Taylor. Without a doubt, he's more famous. For sure. He's more famous.

I'm telling you, though, L.T. is a bigger deal than Derek Jeter. And I'm like, no. And this is my great flaw. is my great flaw is that I can't let that go. And I'm with somebody that's elbowing me. It's like, man, just let them get the shit off. I'm like, no, that's ridiculous.

I feel like, I feel like I would be a dick rider if I just shook my hand and went along with it, right? It's like, Van, just let it go. I couldn't let it go. That's not what Lawrence Taylor did here. Just like our home girl from back in the day, who we love, by the way, who we love. Lawrence Taylor is eager to serve.

He's looking for a reason to suck. Pick me behavior on both of their ends. Well, not on her end. Yes, it is. No, it wasn't. Okay. She was being who she actually is. Okay.

I'm not saying she's not, but I'm just saying, just like he could very much so be who he is, but by doing this. I'm not saying that he's not. Doesn't make it not make it pick me behavior. She's not a pick me. Do you see how close-minded you are to other women? Don't.

We're told, okay, Stephen A. Smith. She, we're totally changing the, You said she was a pygmy. She loves to suck dick. What's wrong with it? Okay, this is pick me behavior. To sit in a room full of men. And you're the only girl.

And your words, you're not talking about anything in relation to this. And out of nowhere, she's like, girls don't like sucking dick, but I look for reasons to. Not out of, it wasn't. That's pick me behavior. We weren't talking about it, but she was correlating. it to something else. I'm going off of what you said.

That is, if nobody is talking about something, you say something that you think sounds impressive or cool. That's pick me behavior. No one hates women like other women. Or to, I'm not hating. I'm not hating. You just insulted her. But to differentiate yourself to say,

I'm not like them. Hey, other women do that. But this is how I am, which makes you sound a certain way in front of a group of men. That's pick me behavior. This isn't me. You told the story. I did.

I'll tell it again. This isn't me feeling any kind of way about it. It disgusted you because she's sexually liberated. It didn't discuss me. She comes from a family of non-police. Or maybe one of us just talks about our sexual behavior in a way. Look how you're studying. No, I was trying to figure out the word.

You're studying. One of us talks about our sexual behavior in one way and other person does it another way. It doesn't mean I'm not liberated in any kind of way. Rachel, it makes you so uncomfortable. It does not make me uncomfortable at all. First Baptist is coming out. First, it. Throw off them shackles, Rachel.

Rachel, throw off them shackles of sexual repression. Get shackles off my feet so I could dance. You went back to God. Get away from the purity, Rachel. She was a liberated woman, and I guess L.T. is liberated. Even y'all were shocked by it, but go ahead. Oh, no, we were shocked because you know why we were shocked?

We weren't ready for someone to keep it that real. She likes to do it, and she was like, it's not a thing. She never was with any of us, and that was never going to happen. She was our friend. but she was just keeping it real. And honestly, I was surprised, and I shouldn't be. I was surprised at that, I think it's this. We can move off of this.

I think that it's just a weird thing to watch somebody who we looked at probably uncritically because we shouldn't have been. We just take sports too seriously, guys. We just do. We just take all of this stuff too seriously because these guys seem like mythical people when they're on the football field.

They seem like superheroes. They seem like superheroes. And then they just make themselves so small for somebody like Donald Trump. And it just completely changes it. I want to see people be as strong and virile and formidable in front of Donald Trump as they are. in the recording booth

as they are on the football field as they are anywhere. I want to see that same shit. That same shit when you're in front of whiteness. I want to see that same shit. See all that shit you be talking? All that shit you'll be talking about how nobody can't fuck with you. How nobody can't fuck over you.

We're going to get on your ass like a bunch of wild dogs. I want to see that same shit when you're in front of whiteness. And if I don't see it, you're glazing. All right. Like, we got to go. I can't believe you jumped in with your purity. Can't believe you called her a pick me.

I'm going to get on the phone. I said I called Lawrence Taylor. I'm saying that kind of act is a pick-me act. She might not be a pygmy, but what she did there, that was pick-me behavior. Real quick, a couple of quick things. Palantir got $10 billion.

You guys read up on Palantir. We're going to talk about Palantir in a future episode. Think Skynet, mixed with Project Insight, Mitch was every single dystopian fantasy of tech bro societal domination

and that is what Palantir is we're going to talk about why Palantir is a specific danger. Some would say companies like Palantir pose an existential danger to society as we know it.

Well, guess we'll talk about it. I will not. Also, Donald Trump just came out and said something. Rachel, tell the people what Trump just announced. Oh, I got to pull it up. Basically, he said he will not distribute aid to any state or city that opposes support for Israel. Is that what I get that right?

Donald Trump said that states or cities that in any way have boycott, divestment or sanctioned operation, that are viable as it relates to Israel will not get federal disaster aid. Hold on. Y'all didn't hear. Y'all didn't hear. Y'all still thinking about the dick sucking and all of the stuff from First Baptist. I'll get back to it. Donald Trump said that American cities,

places in America, all right, cities and states, just listen to what I'm saying, that have anything that is anti-Israel in terms of boycotts, divestment, any type of things that do not go along with a foreign government could not receive federal disaster aid.

So if a tornado destroys your town and your town does not like Israel, you're fucked. Just one last time. Let's say that you live in a place where you think that starving children is wrong. And you think that children being starved and blown apart by a thousand pound bombs is wrong. So you guys go, hey, that's wrong

and we want to help the children being blown apart by bombs. Then a hurricane comes to that city. All those Americans who are paying tax dollars, who the government has a responsibility to support and protect, those people are fucked because they don't like children being blown apart by bombs and starve. That was said publicly and out loud. Here it is. Here it is.

Here it is. U.S. states and cities that boycott Israeli companies will be denied federal aid for natural disasters, prepared, preparedness. The Trump administration is now tying routine. federal funding to its political stance. So FEMA said, this is on Friday, that you must follow its terms and conditions. Those conditions require that they certify, or I guess these grants, will not sever commercial relations specifically with Israeli companies to qualify for funding.

So once again, you don't want to support the war machine or the economy. or the economy of a foreign nation, any foreign nation, but this foreign nation is Israel. The government of the United States of America is saying that if you want our help in the event of a natural disaster, that you can't do that. You have to support Israel. FEMA will require major cities to agree to the Israel policy

to receive a cut of 500, 53.5 million set aside to prevent terrorism. You guys, you guys, your friend Van, his sister, Rachel, we're telling you that you're living under the thumb of fascism. You don't get to have your own opinion about this.

You don't get to make your own decisions about this. And if you do make your own decisions about this, that means that if a flood comes through, if a tornado comes through, if a tsunami comes through, if aliens attack, if aliens attack, you'll be less apt to respond to it because you're not enriching Israeli companies and by proxy the government of Israel.

Now, a lot of people out here, I just got to be real. a lot of people that told me that this was a vote for freedom of speech, that this was a vote for easing restrictions on personal liberty, and everything was going to be freer, better, and that Coca-Cola will flow through the rivers when Donald Trump was elected. A lot of y'all said that. A lot of y'all sat behind microphones, and y'all told everyone that was actually what was happening,

was that the left and the Democrats were shrinking American thought to a point that if you weren't pro trans, pro-D-I, pro-C-R-T, pro-R-T, pro-everything that you essentially had no place in society. And if you wanted a free society where you could make all your own decisions to say the R word and say the N-word and fucking be mean to trans people and fuck over everyone. If you didn't vote for Donald Trump,

then you were under the oppression of the woke left. Now, if you don't support Israel, you are more likely to die by natural disaster. You guys got fucked. You were dumb. You swallowed it. Hook line and sinker. from the beginning, and now Trump's donors

and the infrastructure of people around him that are directly connected to business interests over there to make policy here, they're shoving their dick down your throat. And that, and by the way, ain't no way around it. It's fact. They said it.

They don't even care what you think. They don't give a fuck what you think. They don't even care. They don't even care. Just you were wrong. You were being lied to the entire time. And now everybody else, else that doesn't think in the same way.

Forget about thinking about whether or not the 1619 project was about whether or not slavery impacted America. It was about, literally, it was about how slavery impacted America in the historic and contemporary life. It was like legitimately some of the best scholarship arranged around something that any

with two fucking brain cells would admit it was true. We've gone from that's so bad because it's poisoning the minds of young white people who don't want to be forced to confront the realities and the historic context of why things are today.

So we shouldn't be able to talk about that. We shouldn't be able to teach that. We shouldn't be able to debate that to if you do not support this government, we will let you die in a natural disaster. The podcast is over. You guys got fucked.

So is the country. That bothers me. That bothers me. Well, it should bother you. It should bother you. Well, once again, see, I was like, what is that? It once again just feeds into the theme of

they don't care about you. They don't care about this country. Which, maybe this is a good opportunity to intro, maybe a little bit of hope. Maybe there is a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel with the interview that we have. coming up on the podcast. James Hale Rico?

James Hale Rico from Texas. James Hale Rico. We have James Hale Rico from Texas coming in. The Democrats broke quorum. I just glitched out. It's okay. In several different ways. That was we were littered that just happened in real time.

The news coming out. So it's okay. It's okay, hit the glitch. All right. Take thing caps off, but do not stop learning. I'm Van Lathen Jr. I mean everything that I said. Rachel, I'm not taking anything back.

I don't go fuck with nobody. said. Like, Rachel, I don't give a fuck. That's ridiculous. That's like, I'm sorry. And there's going to be people that are going to be like, like, why is that the thing that has seemingly pushed Van over the limit where he's lost every shred of civility and thought about the future of his career

possible? Because it's so obvious and so transparent. And so they're not even clouding it anymore. It wouldn't matter what that was about. The fact that it's about what's happening right now to Palestinians in Gaza is it's probably working me up more. But it wouldn't matter what it was about. It wouldn't matter what it was about. Well, they're linking it to combating anti-Semitism.

That's not. Are you asking me? No. It's, that's horseshit. No, it's not true, but that is what they're saying. There is not, there is no any anti-Semitism for the basis of this, but that is what they're saying. Well, this is what I would say to that. And the American Jewish Committee supports the Trump's administration's policy regarding this matter.

Okay. To combat that. Okay. I'm going to be calm now. And so we can leave. We can get out of the podcast. We'll be calm now because I want to make sure I make this point. Anti-Semitism is a scourge.

Historical scourge on the earth. Now, I'll say something else. Here at Higher Learning, if you guys don't remember, we were talking about the scourge and the problem of anti-Semitism with Rabbi Ari Lamb on this podcast prior to the events of October 7th. For sure. There has never been a time

when anti-Semitism has happened and we hear on higher learning, Rachel Lindsay, Van Lathen, where we haven't discussed it. We've discussed anti-Semitism on the podcast when it was when the anti-Semitism was being committed by my black people.

Yes. And how we can be better and holding people accountable who were saying things that were anti-Semitic. And yes, we, we, yes. No, and by the way, I'm not saying that for a pat on the back. I'm saying the isms that exist in the world, we try to discuss them on higher learning, sometimes not very intelligently, at least on my part, always on Rachel's part,

she does a good job. But we've tried to discuss them, right? We've done them. We've done it. I'm talking about something that's very distinct and specifically political, geopolitical here. And I'm telling you that you are being asked by your government, led by your president and your people to make a decision. And that decision in this instance right now is either you support what we tell you to support

or you will be less protected by us. All right. Cool. All right. That's fine. Whatever. Rachel doesn't care. That's not true.

Just not on your level. Okay. Rachel didn't kick you. Tell him who you are. Yeah, that was new. Rachel didn't kick the foot one time. That was new. Donnie, you know what?

Go, go, go, go. Take the key caps off. We do not stop learning. Fairly, Jr. I'm Rachel and Lindsay. Bye, guys.