Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - The Patriotism of the Paris Olympics, Paging Doctor Doom, and the Shadow Docket

Episode Date: July 30, 2024

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay talk about the 2024 Paris Olympics, what they are looking forward to, and the conservative reaction to the opening ceremony (18:20). Then they talk about new, scary Trumpisms (34:27) before getting into the announcement of Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom (1:03:13). Lastly, they discuss the Supreme Court’s use of the shadow docket and what it means for the rights of many (1:22:03). Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay Producer: Ashleigh Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, yo, thought warriors. What is up? He learning is on. Is I Van Latelythe Jr.? And it's me, Rachel and Lindsay. Rachel, what are you doing there? Where's your microphone cover? I haven't had a microphone cover in months.

I lost it, traveling, not sure where it went. But yeah, I haven't had one in months. Oh! What did you do this weekend? you out with your friends and you guys were going someplace and Nina Parker and all the rest of the people. What'd you do? Um, well, I was in New York. I came back from New York and that was good. That was fun. I'm telling you, the more I'm in New York, I'm like, you want to go there? It seems like a nice escape. Um, you like to, you like to go there and be around there and be with

people there? You know, there's just something about the energy. You just feel like everybody's on their crime. Everybody is on their shit. Everybody is about that life where things here just, I'm not saying it's not the same thing. You just don't feel it because we're all just in there. It's so congested. Something about the New York energy that I've always loved. Anyways, came back. Yes, mentioned Nina Parker. You know, Nina Parker has a really great way of making you get out and doing something when you don't plan on doing anything. She's really good at that.

Like makes you feel like, you know what? I should be at this event. I should be out and about. Sometimes you just got to have those friends that make you pop out when you just, you know, get stuck in your own world. Infinite social battery. Nina, great energy.

I have a very finite social battery. I'm the king of the Irish goodbye. I am the king of looking around at a place and going, yeah, it's open and just leaving. I'm the king of rolling up to a place, looking around at the place and going, not going to happen and going back home. But see, that makes no sense to me.

If you're going to take the effort, and maybe because with women it takes more, But to take the effort to get ready, get dressed, like find the look, get in the car, make the move, which is no small feet in L.A. because of traffic. And then to be like, no, I'm good. That'll make any sense to me. What a waste of time? There's only one way you can waste your time more.

And that is. Be in some place you really don't want to be. that is the biggest waste of time ever. Making do to me is the biggest waste of time ever. You go to a place, you decide you don't want to be there, leave. You're around just sometimes I get some place. Like unless I have, unless I've, you know, told someone that I was going to come. And then only that, that only goes so far.

You see, if I pull up some place to hang out with somebody to see somebody, it's their birthday, it's their event or whatever, and it takes me too long to get to them to say hello, I'll leave. And I'll just, and I'll just take a picture to let them know that I came. I was there. I saw all the activations you had and everything. I'll go. I'll leave. I like my social awkwardness means that the comfort that I feel at home with the

Wozell and Wabit is priceless. Me and Bozeman have a good time. I don't have to give that up for anyone and I refuse to. Listen, I could take a little bit of that, okay? I can say I am working on being still and not feeling like I have to do things to fill my time. That is what my entire August is dedicated to.

I can't remember if I said that or not on this podcast. But it is rare that I go somewhere and I have the feeling that I don't want to be there. I'm that person who's like, you know what, I'm going to be a little bit more chill. I'm not going to be extra. And then I walk in and I'm like, hey, y'all, I'm here. I'm there till the end.

The party ends at 10. I'm still there at 10.10. That's, that's a me. I thrive off of the energy of people and good times. I love meeting people. I met new people this weekend. I just, I don't know. It just gives me life.

We haven't really delved into the whole introvert, extrovert dynamic of this. What are you? I don't want to say that I'm an introvert because I have to go a lot of places and do a lot of things. And oftentimes, you know, bring a lot of energy when I'm there. But I'm very socially lazy. I like that. I'm very socially lazy. Like when I go to the gym, when I go to the gym,

Really, when I go to the gym, I'm in the gym. And for the most of the time, I'm in the gym. I put the big headphones on. So I just, I want to be to myself. Right? I want to do my thing and then leave. You know, I, I love to be around people, but my people. That makes sense.

Mm-hmm. Okay. You know. You are to a T. an introverted extrovert. What does that mean? Here are the signs of an introverted extrovert. You host, then ghost.

Okay. You like to be around people sometimes and be alone other times. You have meaningful conversations in person, but don't answer texts or emails in the same way. Man, this is you. You love to help others, but have difficulty,

accepting help for yourself. Come on. This is you. To a T. You're a leader who shies away from the limelight. That's you. Let me tell you something about accepting help from other people. Let me tell you what the problem with accepting help is.

You have to accept help and people help, right? But I do think that there is a help crutch that sometimes exists. Okay. Give you guys a quick story. when I was a kid my parents were good at the very many things not really mom talking about dad more so right here but they but my dad wasn't good at picking you up

from places I don't understand this I really of all the things that he was good at as like a dad coming to get you from somewhere like wasn't his thing like literally because he'd forget

I don't know if I had like a baseball practice, a football practice, a basketball practice or whatever, sometimes he just wouldn't come get you. And I know that sounds crazy to people, but he just wouldn't come pick you up. So there were a lot of times

that I had to end up getting rides with other people. I remember one time me and a Mitt Patel, we had started to walk to leave, baseball practice, it was night. We had started to walk to leave baseball practice because we were waiting for my father. And then we saw him pulling up. So we were trying to run back to the truck

so that he didn't come there and think that we weren't there and then leave us because there was no there was no cell phones so we couldn't call him. Right? We didn't have any cell phones or nothing. But we had, we was like, fuck, we're going to walk home. Wasn't good at picking you up from places. I learned very early on that if I wanted to get something or if I needed something, I had to be prepared to do it all by myself.

Like all by myself. Like my parents helped me a lot. Mom would give you anything. Mom would give you anything. I can call a mom right now and be like, Mom, I need a couple of dollars. And even if she didn't have it, she'd crowdfunding, right? Mom would give you anything.

But with that, it was different. He just wasn't, that wasn't the thing. What I learned was either you're going to get to baseball practice or you're not. But if you don't get to baseball practice and if you don't get home from baseball practice and you want to go, it's your fault. You're going to get there or you're not going to get there. If you don't get there, it's not going to be because somebody didn't come pick you up. Somebody, if you have the wherewithal to get somewhere and you don't get there,

if you have the wherewithal to get back from somewhere and you don't get there, it's your fault. if you want something in your life and you don't get it, if you really want it, I'm not saying the playing field doesn't need to be even for you. I'm not saying we don't need to do as much as we can to do to make it fair for you. But at the end of the day, you're going to have to go get what you want.

I was talking to a therapist about this. And he brought up one time he goes, like, man, you don't ask people to come pick you up from the airport. And I was like, because it doesn't matter because I got to get home. Yeah, I don't either. So, like, he was like, you, he's like, you should be able to be able to ask someone to come pick you up for the airport and feel like, and I'm like, no, I got to get home. So I'd rather just do it myself rather than take the chance to be disappointed by someone else. So my thing is this.

Okay. I feel like there's a lot of people out there that are trying to do different things. and their thing is I just can't get anybody to help me. Nobody helped me. Like, of course, I had different increments of help throughout the years, meaning I might have had a place to stay for this amount of time, but as far as me doing the shit that I tried to, that I want to do, nobody helped me.

I had to prove myself worthy and valuable to people and then leverage that worth and that value to move ahead and move forward. People have to see something in me. No one just said, hey, this kid is, let's give that kid a shot. People have to say,

oh, he's funny or I always have to be proof of concept to me. So it's hard when people tell me over and over and over again, sometimes I'll be honest with you. It's hard when they say, hey, nobody ever helped me do this or nobody else to do this. And I help people all the time.

All the time. TMZ help people all the time. TMZ help people all the time. Ringer help people all the time. Help people a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot. But I do get annoyed when I hear people complain about the fact that they don't have a lot of help. As you were talking, I was like, how did we get here? And then I smiled because you said something.

I'm like, oh, that's what it was, difficulty accepting help. I have difficulty accepting help. I would never ask somebody to come pick me up from the airport. That's just like never been in me. But I would appreciate if a lover picks me up from the airport because I think that it's like kind of romantic in a certain way, but you don't need to do it all the time. I grew up in a similar situation than you, but not. I feel like you learned a good lesson in a hard way, like giving the example of your dad

being like, you got to figure it out to get there. You're capable of it. But I grew up very independent. Like you need to, you know, it would be like, you're Lindsay. That's what you're supposed to do. Like, figure it out. And I think that that's helped me a lot in life. And I don't have a patience.

And maybe that's something I need to work on. And maybe that was an issue in my last relationship. I don't have a lot of patience for excuses. For babyone? Is that a new nickname? No, for, no, you don't have a lot of patience for people who use a lot of babyloom? How do we get there? You said in your last relationship, I feel like it was a baby old-filled relationship.

Is that a new thing? In Delta, you learned excuses or tools used by the incompetent to build monuments of nothingness. Throughout my life, I feel like that was a thing. So I'm like you. I just, I'm like, figure it out. I can't, I don't really feel sorry for you. I don't. I don't.

I mean, there are in every, there's always an. exception. Sure. I'm not saying that. I'm not saying I don't have empathy. I'm not saying I don't help people out. But that can't be the overarching thing. So this is... You got to figure it out. It's interesting that we're talking about this is because this is what... We are. We'll say on the first of a second. This is what drives my passion for justice. What what drives my passion for justice is the belief that every single person is valuable and capable and that there are things outside of them that they have no control over.

Sure. That determine outcomes. And how fucked up is that, right? How fucked up is it that you have somebody? I knew this guy one time that was like making fake checks and came up with a fake check scheme. Is it good? Making fake checks. It was a good fake check scheme.

Okay. Making fake checks and then sending the junkie into this place to cash the fake checks. And, you know, obviously the fake check scheme ended up blowing up, right? But the links that they were go through to make these fake checks, then have the junk going there and cash the fake checks and do the whole fucking nine. I'm like, bro, you are a fucking mastermind. You are great.

You have figured all of that stuff out. He's not being properly capitalized in terms of what society wants to utilize his talent for. That's a thing. But when I'm talking to somebody and we're going through something and I say to them, hey, in five years we can't be having this same conversation. In five years, we can't be having this same conversation. And then the five years passed and I'm like, what did I tell you five years ago? And I'm not scolding people.

I'm just saying for me, I come from a place that people didn't have a lot. And at the end of it, once we adjust for what individuals are able to, what people are, what people are deserved, what people are deserved, health care, a basic living wage, housing, all of those things. We have to fight so that people have those things. And until people have those things,

we have to help them get them. But when we get out here in these different spaces that we're in and someone keeps telling me why they can't do something because nobody is willing to give them a hand up, I start to get fucking annoyed with that. I start to be like, yo, especially when I'm here, I'm listening to you.

Okay, let's do this. this. Let's do that. Let's do this. What I really need is somebody to put you on. All right. You waiting for a lottery ticket. I don't know. It's different for me. And I'm not as far ahead in my career as a lot of people that I hang out. I'm the, I am the least famous and the least rich guy in every circle I am. I'm in. And I don't know. It's just it's it's the part of me that I have to work on the most. Because sometimes when I hear the younger kids complaining and, And talking about it, I'm like, man, nobody fucking made a way for me. Like, I had a great family.

I had all of that stuff. I'll be honest with you. I had a lot of advantages that other people might not have had. But when it came out here, I had to sleep on the couch. I had to get it out of the mud. I had to go work at Capricorn. $400 a week. There's a video game taper.

I had to work there. I caught the bus all around L.A. Everybody has this saying, I have to walk uphill, but I'm saying, I didn't get to TMZ until I was 31. I'm 44. My career really began six years ago. So it's just, you know what I mean? It's, it's, I don't know. It's tough.

That's been higher learning boomer talk. That's like talk. Top boomer us, but just millennials. Higher learning boomer talk. You might be Gen X. I could be. I think that I might be. Because I was born in 1980.

What's the cutoff, Ashley? I'm not sure. I think it's 82. Yeah, so I'll probably Gen X. I'll take that. I'd rather be that, honestly. I always looked up to them because I never really felt like a part of them

because like when I was watching Gen X, it was different. It was Chris Rock. It was all of those guys and blah, blah, blah. When I was looking at them, I always looked, I was never really a part of them. I'm really in nobody's generation, really. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms,

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Manager activity with our consumer protection tool. Restrictions apply. See terms at fandul.com. Let me predict slash bonus dash offer dash terms. All right. The Olympics are on. Rachel, have you been watching it? I've been really getting into America.

Have you? This is what happens to me every year. There's the buildup to the Olympics. It's coming. It's coming. We're excited. We're excited. And all of a sudden it's here.

And I'm like, wait, the Olympics already started. The time difference throws me off, everything. So have I watched anything full out? No. But I will. I looked up the schedule today. I looked at the schedule today. So I will.

I really get into it around track, around finals, because they're qualifying, right? Like gymnastics is a sport I like. You know, the men's finals, I think, is today. Basketball, I watch a little bit later on. Like, I'm a second weaker. I'm a second week. What the Olympics proved to me every year is that I'm a patriot.

Whoa. Yeah, I didn't know this. Like, yesterday. What, what, because you're proud. Talk to me about it. Was it the opening ceremony for you? What was it? No, not the opening ceremony.

That don't get to me. It's like. I want America to win. Oh, well, okay. So, like, I'm, yesterday swimming came on and there was the swimmer. His name is Fink. And Fink had won like six world championships or something. But he had never won an Olympic medal.

His wife is an Olympic medalist. She's a gold medalist. And so they showed this little vignette on Fink's life. And then he, he, uh, he was racing in the 100 meter swim. And, and nigga, I don't know. It is, they race down and back. Okay.

And, and think, boy, think got a silver. And I was, I was up in my hotel room. Like, come on, Fink. Come on, Fink. Like, they did the little thing about Fink. Fink wakes up at like 4.30 in the morning. He made himself a breakfast burrito. And then he went and trained calisthenics.

Then after that, after he trained calisthenics, Fink went to the pool. Fink trained in the pool. Then after that, Fink came home and Fink started doing like regular work because he's some kind of project manager or something like that. He went to Georgia. Then after that, Fink went back to the pool. And then Fink went to sleep.

He's eating so many calories all throughout the day. to keep up with this. I'm like, God damn, this nigga, Fink grinding. And so, like, we get to the pool and the first lap down, he's not in it. I'm like, oh, man, Fink is out of it. And then when they were coming back, that nigger Fink started to catch up. And then Fink was winning. And then this fucking dude from another country swooped in there and beat my nigger Fink. And I was dejected. I was like, I literally was like, I didn't want to watch no more Olympics

because Fink lost. Now, think got a silver, which was his first Olympic medal, which I guess is okay, but I think, I thought to myself, I thought about it literally, I guess it's okay. I thought about it to myself. After this, I was like, all in my head thinking about all, everything that Fink went through that I saw

Fink's life and he was training so hard. And like, by, of a tenth of a point. Literally, it was that close. He didn't get the goal. Listen, I think more than anything you love saying the name Fink. Ashley, do a count-up of how many times

he just said Fink in that whole story. I think more than anything. Nick Fink is his name. If his name wasn't Fink, stop, stop, stop. If his name wasn't Fink, I don't think that you would be as into it. But I will say something that you pointed out.

That's the beauty of the Olympics. It's the stories. It's the fact that these people spend four years training for this moment to represent their country. So I understand what you mean about the pride of it all. Patriotism. Okay, but pride. The pride of being able to represent your country to wear your colors, to raise the flag, to wear the uniform. I get it.

It brings out a lot of emotion. You don't like the opening ceremony. See, I think the opening ceremony does that. I love to see this time they did it on boats, countries altogether wearing their colors representing where they're from. I just the joy on their faces, I think that's where it's like, okay, we've started. And the unity of it all, you know, people are fans of other people.

It's just a cool thing to see. So you watch the Olympics and you don't care if America wins? I said nothing even remotely close. to that. But what I'm saying is that's where, I'm saying, that's where the patriotism comes in. That's what I'm saying. Like, is that patriotism? Like, I want, I want, so something else I got to say. But do you, Patriotism, pride in your country, tomato, tomato, to motherfucking potto. So look, right now the medal count is South Korea's got five goals, Japan's got five goals, China, five goals, France, for, Australia, four. We're up there. and the total combo.

We got to get more goals, man. Speaking of America versus Jamaica, Shelly Ann Fraser Price said this is her last Olympics. This is going to be the last one for her. What? I don't care about it. But this is why, although we obviously want America to win,

the competition, the storyline of the back and forth is great. And she was a pivotal part of that. So to see that this is the end of this for her is a big deal. I don't have to be Jamaican to recognize that. As a lover of track and field, Shelly Ann Fraser Price is a big deal.

And so the fact that this is her last Olympics, there's no problem recognizing that. There's no problem caring about that. I got to be honest with you, man. This is the part of me I need to work on. I don't really care about Olympic athletes if they're not American. It's crazy.

I never cared about Boat like that. Like Boat was fun to watch. But I used to want to see... I wanted to see Boat. I wanted to see somebody from fucking Jacksonville Dust Boat.

That's what I wanted to see. I wanted to see a a nigger from Houston fucking beat the shit. I love Boat. I love Boat. I wanted to see something. somebody from South L.A.

Just dust the shit out of boat is what I wanted. And you're proving my point. Because of who he was and that competition and that rivalry, it made it exciting to watch. That's why I'm going to recognize Shely Ann. Recognize her. At the end, it wasn't, at the end to me, it wasn't exciting because that guy from Jack.

Because they didn't win. No, hell no. That guy from. Jacksonville, like literally for 10 years the Olympic podium in track and field looked like reggae fest.

It was like Jamaica 1, 2, 3, Jamaica had it all. They got it all. Boat was otherworldly. He wasn't a human being. A big tall asses. Then even like he was running fast just dusting everybody. With ease. Yeah.

But I'm like, you can't tell me It's not a nigger from New Orleans somewhere, like somebody got to be able to, but it's not, and they still haven't. He's still got the world record. So it doesn't matter. No allows will probably win this year.

But bold, born and run. Now, the Olympics have been mocked by the right. The Republicans can't have any fun with anything. Right. I have a problem for the Republicans. a question for.

And I'm being serious here. This is not, look, we do just the right in general. Is there no thought to the fact that being the perpetual hall monitors of American society might turn some people off?

The Republicans are saying that the Olympic opening ceremony mocked the last supper. It's like you can't do anything or push the envelope in any type of way without someone from the right saying, ha, ha, ha, shouldn't you be in class?

It, it, what must it feel like to be the eternal moral arbiters of an entire society? It's just weird to me. It's like, shut the fuck up. It feels stressful. You know what I mean? Like, when you always mad about something or looking for something to be mad about,

that sounds so, I'm exhausted. We have exhausted talking about it. Like I just can't imagine being that uptight. Why are you laughing at me? Why are you laughing? What is funny? Because I had a thought, but I'm not going to say it.

Okay. Well, I just can't imagine living like that. But it's not just the far right. I mean, it's sparked controversy around the world. Like a lot of religious people are upset because, like, and if you saw it, yeah. It is a setup like The Last Supper But when I looked at it

Have you ever seen Rent The movie or the Broadway play? Yeah You see the movie La Vibohem That's exactly it That's it That's what it gave me

When they're all gathered around the dinner table And they're singing La Vibo M That's what it remind me of It was create Like they took the last supper But it was like a creative freedom It was like representing unity and arts and creativity and freedom and beauty and truth and, yeah, unconventional lifestyles as they're all gathered in unity. I got it.

I don't understand why we have to make this big of a deal, why there had to be an apology, why people, why sponsors are pulling out. It's just not that serious. And it was for a quick second. Let me ask you a question. scheme of things. Who is the coolest conservative out there? Coolest conservative. Like when you say a conservative, you're like, you know what?

I disagree with them politically, but as a person, I kind of fuck with them. They kind of cool. Who's the coolest conservative? I can't think of one for myself, but I could see people saying like Joe Rogan. Joe Rogan. I could see people saying that. Yeah, I guess he's a conservative, right? he's a he's he he's he's pushes conservative values he probably doesn't identify himself in that way but

he's one of those weird libert libertarian types that like that's right that's because they're conservatives yeah i know but it there's a i think joe rogan definitely has he's definitely pushing the trump thing um and that's interesting but like if you started to talk to him about how he felt about, I don't listen to the show that much, but if you started to talk to him about how he felt about abortion or drug policy or social rights or gay marriage or any of that stuff, I doubt, and you guys, I promise to the audience,

I'm not carrying any water for Joe Rogan, I promise. I promise you guys. But if you started to get into a conversation with him about those things, I wonder if you would come out on the other end of that thinking that he was a conservative. It's actually an interesting question. I wonder if you would.

Yeah, that's my answer. You? I can't think of anybody. I guess Michael Steele is, I'm being for real. Like, I guess Michael Steele is a conservative. I think he's cool, but I mean, he's kind of a, this he's one of these conservatives that have been created by

Trumpism that just refuses to worship a demigach so a demigach so he's kind of but Michael still seems cool but I'm trying to think cool like who is cool like I fuck with them and they're really conservative. I think people would say that that's why he's Joe.

I think maybe but you don't think he's really conservative but you know. I don't think you would. I don't think I don't think. I mean, It's an interesting question. Like, if you are,

when I think of a conservative, I think of someone's whose life and whose views are, hmm, are they're in some way they're railing

against the sort of a social freedom and expression of America a little bit. They tell you pull your pants up, tell you your skirts too short, you know,

like all of those things, like decency, morality, all of those things, words that when people are going to say, oh my God, of course, man, the degenerate is against decency and morality, I'm not, I just think those words are subjective, and I think when you use them and define

them in very rocks, solid ways, you're normally doing it to tell people which parties and which places they can't come into. You're normally saying, hey, you're not good enough to be here because you're not moral enough and you're not decent enough. And I think that people use that a lot of times to create hierarchies and not really to setting the actual standards, right? That standards that lead to safety. Because to me, the only reason why you have different societal standards is to affect safe outcomes for people. I mean, I don't think that's why they do it. I think they use it to form clubs.

And those clubs don't have a lot of cool people in them. I don't know. Like, you look at them and a lot of L.L. Bean. But yeah, I'm trying to, like, I'm trying to think. I'm trying to think who's a cool. I'm thinking about this. I'll think about this guy. Because I know people, it's got to be some cool conservative.

out there. Who's some cool conservative? People you fuck with. You know what I'm saying? You fuck with them a little. They fuck with them. Hey, you cool.

Hey, man. You know, like, who's a cool conservative? Someone, you can, hey, I fuck with you. I know people that are conservatives that I've known for a long time. I wouldn't say they're necessarily cool. Who are? Who's a cool conservative? Hey.

I mean, it's subjective, but sure. Okay. You think about that. I will. I will. Once again, I have no problem having political differences with people. I don't. I just have a problem with people. People want to take all your rights away. That's hard for me to get off. Okay. This episode is brought to you by Spectrum Business. Fast,

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to keep up with whatever comes next. New Sweet Green wraps hit different. Order now at order. Dottsweetgreen.com. Trump versus Harris in the polls. Have you been seeing some of the polling right here? Yeah. I just looked at a poll right

before I hopped on, but it was more of a favorable versus unfavorable poll. Yeah. Harris is up by 8%. She's going up. There's a white dudes for Harris call tonight. is the enthusiasm for Harris right now

who's polling really, really well against Trump in the battleground states and overall, is it sustainable? Well, that's my biggest fear. I mean, you know, we've talked about it a little bit. The excitement behind it really shows how disenchanted people wore with their options.

Like, we knew it, but the reaction has been bigger than I ever could have imagined. I think part of it is because we feel like we're meeting Kamala Harris for the first time, if I'm being honest. And this is no shade on her 2020 presidential campaign. But I do because when she was VP, we were constantly, people were not we, but people were constantly like, what is she doing? Where is she? We never see her. What is she actually, you know, what policies is she pushing?

What is she, what is her role as vice president? But I think because we didn't know, people are curious about her and that's leading to the extent. It's almost like she's this clean slate to work with and she can benefit off of that and also carry some of the success from the Biden administration and talk about those high points and differentiate herself from some of the low points. So I think in such a short amount of time that the excitement can continue. I didn't see the call for white men, but I did see somebody's post who shamed the call for white women. Did you see this? I didn't see it. I'm going to pull this up.

I saw this on scrolling on social media. She said it was a problem and actually condemned. And I'm curious as your thoughts on this. And sorry to like deter for a second, but it just made me think of that. Monique Melton posted this. Mo motivate on social media. She said white feminism ain't it.

11 million was raised by white women for Kamala Harris. And she basically, what she's saying is, is that money should be used in other efforts. She's like, I wonder what it could look like if these same white women would commit to gathering at least one time a month to collect their resources to directly go into the pockets of black people. Could you imagine what $11 million per month could do for economic justice and repair in the black community? White women are more than capable to engage in wealth redistribution that doesn't center them, but instead direct. benefits black folks. What do you think about that? In reference to the black men,

I mean to the white men gathering as well. Because there seems to be this whole white feminism is a problem. White feminism, like that's not the first time I've seen something like that, but this was directed to these calls. I know you don't believe in allies, so I'm curious as to what your take is on that.

Are there two separate conversations? And maybe they should be one conversation, but they're two separate conversations. One conversation is whether or not white women or any other group will coalesce behind a candidate that they think serves their political interests if that candidate is not white and not male. So I think a lot of people are celebrating the coalition that Vice President Harris is able to build because she's not an older straight white man. And they're saying, hey, it's not just black people for Kamala Harris that are coming out

that are excited about her. It's white males. It's white females. It's all of this. The base of the Democratic Party being black people, people are saying it's not just them who are pushing her over the top. The entire coalition of the Democratic Party sees value in the candidate. That's one thing. I think a lot of people are celebrating it.

That's one situation right there. The other situation is whether or not white people writ large are interested in repairing the economic damage that black people have been subjected to because of slavery, Jim Crow, and systemic racism, the answer is clearly no. It's clearly no. And that's not white racists. That's your white friends. That's your white coworkers. That's your white people that you fucking play basketball with. That's the white girl you fucking, the white guy you fucking.

That's white people. The question is, are white people interested in repairing the economic damage, white Americans specifically? That slavery, Jim Crow, systemic racism,

and overall depression and oppression of black people that racism in America have. Of course, the answer, is clearly no. What she's saying is true. Absolutely. And my God, imagine a world like that. But at the same time, it's not the same conversation as a political coalition. Now, if we base our political coalescing, right, our political allegiances with white people around

whether or not they supported reparations or economic justice for black people, we wouldn't have any white allies. Everybody that posted a black square on Instagram in 2020, if you ask them right now to take some of their actual bread and redistribute it, the majority of them don't want to do that. We know that. We know that they don't want to do it. They don't eat, not only do they not want to do it. They don't want to have a conversation about it. So what she's saying is true, but it's a different conversation, but it's an important conversation. And the conversation doesn't have a lot to do with Kamala Harris or those white women because those white women already made their fucking decision.

I agree with you. It was interesting to see it. I felt like, listen, the goal here is to defeat Trump. And so if people are gathering together and it's causing an excitement and we're doing this and it's going to raise awareness and maybe even swing some voters her way, I'm for it. But I think to her point, it does show. oh, we are capable of gathering together when the interest serves us.

So why can't we do this and all come together to help less fortunate groups? So I get what she's saying. You know, maybe somebody would be able to. But here's the thing, though. I want to stress this. So there are two different types of people that you're seeing right now. And that's why it's very important to have discussions. I know everyone is excited about Kamala.

in terms of new blood on the ticket and a different choice other than Biden, who ran a good administration politically but wasn't able to energize people in a way that seemed like they were too on fire to vote and get out there and spread the word. Whatever reason, you know, talk about that, but President Biden and stuff aside. It is important to have very deliberate and direct policy conversations about Kamala Harris and her platform and what she plans to do. So it's not just all vibes and identity and new blood on the ticket.

And the reason why is because she's running to be the leader of the free world. So if somebody is running to be the leader of the free world, you're being fair to her and fair to yourself to talk about what they plan to do once they're there. And that's everywhere, right? That's in Galveston, that's in Gaza, that's in Boston, that's in Beirut.

you know what I mean that's in Jacksonville that's in Japan right decisions that she makes is going to define and affect all of those different places so it's very important to have policy policy conversations about Kamala Harris there's nothing wrong with people saying hey well what is Kamala Harris plan to do I know you guys are excited but what is she going to do there's nothing wrong with that however I do want to separate that though I want to separate a couple of things I want to separate that from people who are just being

contrary is about Kamala Harris. People who are just going, she ain't going to do shit. She ain't going to change. All right. Appreciate you. Free to say it, appreciate you.

I ain't going to do shit. She ain't going to do shit. Cool. The conversation then has to become, what would you like her to do? We have to get very specific about what we're asking for from political parties on both sides.

What would you like her to do? what would you Kamala Harris did this Kamala Harris did that what specifically what's your worldview how do you see the world and how does that inform the political decisions that you make you have to do that you have to have that conversation but but past that just because we're aligned

and we're all for beating Trump that doesn't mean that people shouldn't raise the same issues that they've been raising around the treatment of black people as in regards, we still have to talk about that stuff. So some people might look at that tweet as throwing cold water on the white women for Kamala Harris thing. I don't look at that tweet as that. I look at that tweet as saying, hey, while we celebrate this particular achievement or this particular mobilization,

let's also know that if we had a world where there were a different set of priorities, a lot of the issues that we're talking about might not exist. I don't think there's anything wrong with saying it. I just don't think it's the same conversation. I think it's a conversation that that's kind of different. But I think I fuck with tweets like that. Shake the table a little bit.

Just, you know, understand, I guess, the depth of things, which I'm sure that that black lady does. I'm sure she does. So, you know, there's a new attack line out against Trump and J.D. Vance. J.D. Vance, who's disaster. It's disaster. Like, everything that they come out with with J.D. Vance, like, when we talked about the Nazi thing, we talked about the childless thing. I saw him getting criticized on Fox News for the Childest League.

Has Fox News broken with Trump? Fox News is doing some interesting things. I don't think that they, I don't think so. Wasn't Trump on there last week? I don't think that they have. I don't think they have. I don't know. They haven't.

Let's just say they haven't. Yeah, it doesn't seem like, obviously they haven't. It seems as if, I don't know. I do feel, though, that some of these Republican-leaning outlets, the way that they're covering J.D. Vance, they're doing it in a way that makes me seem, that makes it seem like to me, should I say, that they want Trump to kick him off the ticket.

Well, I do think majority of Republicans, not majority of Republicans, but like, I think that there are a significant amount of Republicans that want to take this back. I don't think they were prepared. It seems like they didn't even vent J.D. Vance. I don't know if this was like a, unilateral decision from like Trump or what.

But the more he talks, the more people uncover, it's just a terrible, terrible decision. And he doubles down on it. He's, as you said last time about the book, the locker, the wedgy. And did you see the narrative about him having sex with the couch? And the fact that people believed it, which is not true, we should say. But that went everywhere. articles were written about it, spread viral on social media, because he looked like a person that somebody actually thought that would do that.

So we know for sure he didn't fuck the couch. How do we know that? Well, the original tweet referenced pages from Hillbilly Elegy. And if you go to those pages in the book, it discusses nothing about it. So, I mean, he could have. I'm asking a question. Has he denied that he? I have not seen him address it.

I have not seen him address it. But it's one of those things that's so ludicrous. I think if somebody said that about me, I would not acknowledge it. Hmm. Can you imagine? By the way, I did not have sex with a couch cushion. Ashley says he did it.

Ashley said he did it. I don't know. I'm trying to think because I've never fucked a couch before. Like, that's never happened. But I do think that one time I tried. try to like a pie. Take like a rubber

like a rubber glove and do something with it and maybe have sex with a rubber glove. Maybe I try to do that. But like I think I think maybe I've never had sex with a couch before because you sound curious about it.

No. I mean look if there are other adult upholstery lovers out there, I'm not going to begrudge them what they want to do. I will say that I think because he looks like somebody that will fuck a couch. That's what I'm staying.

You know what I mean? Right. I think that's kind of the thing. The only thing I would say about fucking the couch is it would seem to me that like, okay. So if we talk about actually

fucking the couch, right? And you do whatever you have to do? Because do you take your dick and put it between the couch cushions just like, raw, that's going to hurt? I don't think you would do that. How do you fuck the couch? I think he put on something. It was between two cushions,

but I feel like there was something else. I don't know. I tried to get too deep into it. I read it quickly. Okay. All right. So if you put something between, if you put something between the couch

and then you try to have sex with the couch, I feel like there's going to be a moment. And this is the moment where you become a freak motherfucker. This is the moment. because there's a moment that you're going to do that, that it's going to register with you that you're actually fucking the couch, right? Because putting it there and getting everything ready and, you know, maybe use a little warming gel or whatever.

You do all of that stuff, right? Putting it in there would be one thing. But then think about this. You got to get on the couch. Are you hitting the couch from behind? Are you in the couch a missionary? Okay. Like how are you?

I'm just saying. Like, because, because... If you, if you use the stuff, if you put the, whatever, depending on where you put it, it's gonna be a different. But like, once you're actually fucking the couch and you're, you're,

because you got to hold on and stuff, when you continue to fuck the couch, you're a freaky ass, Nick. I'm sorry, you're freaky. Like, like, that's... This is the original tweet. Set, this is from Rick Rood Scalves. July 15th, he said,

Can't say for sure, but he might be the first VP pick to have admitted in a New York Times bestseller to fucking an inside-out latex glove shoved between two couch cushions. And then he wrote, in parentheses, he wrote, Vance, Hillbilly, Elegie, pages 179 to 181. And then when people looked, he just was talking about his time during Ohio State or at Omaha State. Well, I don't remember I honestly, by the way, I'll say some, I read Hillbilly Elogy, I don't remember that. I will say this. Last thing about

fucking other couch. It also matters when you fuck the couch, which I think is the most important thing. If you fuck the couch at 12 or 13, I can almost look past it, right?

But if you fuck the couch in college. Ohio State. Or after that, you can't be the president. It's too much. Because even I haven't. If you fuck the couch,

when you're one thing, like American Pie, you fuck the pie, that's one thing. But if you're 19, 20, and you fucking couchies, you're too freaky. That's too,

that to me. Is somebody going to match my freak? Play that, Ashley. But I'll say this, though. Every single time we mention Jadie. if it's misinformation, it's misinformation, and misinformation is not good,

no matter how funny it is, guys. We don't want to you into misinformation. It's not true. The JD Vance fucked the couch, but I will say he hasn't denied it. Because it's so wild. Trump has promised that this will be the last election for Christians if he wins.

You see that? Yes. I saw that. And again, Christians get out and vote just this time. You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years. You know what? It'll be fixed.

It'll be fine. You won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. I love you, Christians. I'm my Christian. I love you. Get out. You got to get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again.

We'll have it fixed so good. You're not going to have to vote. Yeah. You are, you get one impression from that, Rachel. First off, you love Trump. Hold on for a second. See, you know what the funny thing is? Ask to play the clip again.

Ashley, play the clip again. Run the clip back. I want to run the clip back. Like, run it back. Ashley, hold on. Play it. Play it. And again, Christians get out and vote just this time.

You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years. You know what? It'll be fixed. It'll be fine. You won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. I love you, Christians. I'm my Christian.

I love you. Get out. You got to get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again. We'll have it fixed so good. You're not going to have to vote. Okay. So, you know, like, what I've noticed is that,

you see, if it was me that was consistently laughing at Trump, the audience, the fucking Rachel files of this podcast. would destroy me. They definitely would. But every time we put Donald Trump up, there was another one where he talked about Elvis. And every time we put Donald Trump up, you like him.

You like Trump. Funny, but not too funny for me to ignore how terrifying he is at the same time. Okay, I laugh. It's just like Christians. I love Christians. I love them. I'm a Christian.

Ashley, do we have Trump talking? about, hold on. Ashley, Ashley, do we have Trump talking about Elvis and the guitar? Like, if you can find that, if you can find that clip, if you can find that clip and then just spring it on Rachel, like Elvis and the guitar. Rachel, what do you think about what he said? He's the antipsis of being Christ-like. I mean, at any time he is challenged on his Christianity. He can't quote scripture. He can't say the names of the books of the Bible correctly. He holds the Bible upside down. I mean, everything about him, he just says these things, which is just why I laugh.

And he's the exact opposite. Oh, my God, no. We're okay, but, you know, I have 50,000 people. Elvis didn't have 50. And he had a guitar. I had no guitar. I didn't have the use, right? Elvis had a guitar.

He had a lot. We love Elvis, right? But he had a guitar. I don't have a guitar. So would have like. I knew that. I knew that one get Ashley running it. Ashley run it again.

I knew it was. would get you. I knew it would get you. They got a guitar. I actually put it running again. We're okay, but you know, I have 50,000 people. Elvis didn't have 50 and he had a guitar. I had no guitar. I didn't have the years. Elvis had a guitar. He had a lot. We love Elvis, right? But he had a guitar. I don't have a guitar. So would have like, see anything. The band is unhinged. And he seems to be spiled, like his campaign has to hear him make a statement like that to basically say, that this will be the last time you have to vote because he's going to get rid of the laws in place,

the rules in place, the systems in place that allow people to vote. I mean, they're already trying to get rid of the mail-in ballot. He's actually tried to do that. He's actually tried to call people in, there's a case right now about it, in order to sway the votes. If he's not just saying these things,

he will actually do these things. And so that's the thing with Trump. Trump says a lot of why. wild things. And the question is, is this one of those things, I'm laughing about Trump and the Christianity, but is this one of those things where you laugh at Trump? Like, oh, he's just talking, or do you take him at his word? Trump is a habitual liar. That is the one thing that is always true about him. He is going to lie all the time. So I think anything that he says, if he says, oh, I was just talking, oh, I was just playing, oh, I'm actually going to do it. You just don't know.

He is such a wild card. And his track record shows that some of the things that he has said he wanted to do, as Pete Buttigieg said on television this week, he will do those things. I will say that the Trump campaign did come out and make a statement and said, quote, this is coming from a spokesman from his campaign. President Trump was talking about uniting this country and bringing prosperity to every American, as opposed to the divisive political environment that has so much. division and even resulted in an assassination attempt. That statement doesn't even address what Trump was saying. Nothing about what he said had to do with unity, had to do at bringing this together. In fact, it was the complete opposite.

He wants to go against the complete ideals that have existed in this country from the very beginning of its existence. Trump is terrified, but he's also funny. I'm sorry, he's funny, man. He's funny. Yeah. So look, this is what I would say. Donald Trump is in clear decline

And as Donald Trump declines Joe Biden's decline And there was, in my opinion, clear cognitive decline From Joe Biden And his ability to articulate himself That would make Joe Biden Forget places, forget names Confused things

Which we've also seen from Donald Trump To be sure. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Donald Trump's cognitive decline is going to present itself in his inability to actually spin what's really on his mind. The combination of his cognitive decline and his desperation, him losing this election, would be so devastating. Yes. so devastating

that would be two elections lost for him in a row at the top of the ticket a clear rebuke of not just Donald Trump as the president but Donald Trump as a figure a terribly terrible, terribly, terribly critical blow

to magaism as an idea and as a political movement, right? he, if he sees Kamala Harris coming, he's going to be increasingly desperate. And the fact that his con man wears are disintegrating because he's not as with it as it used to be,

you're going to see more things like that. You're going to see him say more things to me that are like straight up, hey, just vote for me this one time. We're going to have it fixed up to where you're not going to have to have. to vote again. I personally don't think there was any mistake made there. He means that. He means that that if you guys give us power this one time, you're not going to have to worry about us ever being out of power again. You're not going to have to do it again. We're going to fix it where the

structures that we entrenched in American government are so permanent that they will exist for as long as you and I and we live. And if you care about the end of MAGA-ism or any of the rights that they've assaulted Iowa just passed, I think it was, a six-week abortion ban, right? Yeah. If you're looking, if you care about any of that stuff,

you have got to vote and you have got to keep Trump out of the White House. You have to. But you have to. Because what he's saying, it's truthful because he's got to have permanent drunk brain for the rest of his campaign. Well, and Project 2025

backs up those type of comments as well. He claims he has no idea what it is, but within those 900 pages, that's the kind of power that Trump wants to have and this project wants him to have. And I will say, as much as I laugh about Trump, or as much as Trump says things where it's like, ah, he's just talking,

that's never going to happen. You have to acknowledge some of the things he is saying that are extremely detrimental as well. This week on the campaign trail, he's been in Minnesota. He has once again already claiming that if he doesn't win the state of Minnesota, we cheated.

You know, it was, it didn't. So he's already out there planning those seats. If I don't win, it's because they cheated. We saw what happened the last time that he pushed that narrative out there. People acted on it. The other thing that he's pushing this week, once again, is giving qualified immunity.

And we talked about it at great length on this podcast before in the dangers of qualified immunity and pretty much absolute immunity at this point, the way the Supreme Court has narrowed it down based off the decisions. But if, not if, in the wake of Sonia Massey, the fact that the response that Trump has is to give police officers, like that man, and sorry I can't remember his name, that killed her in her home, immunity. Not addressing what a tragedy it was, how this continues to be a problem. He wants to give people like him even more power.

That is something that we have to acknowledge to. So ignore my laughter, because there are more serious things to talk about that Trump is demanding he will put in place, that aren't, we don't have to say, well, maybe he's serious, maybe he's not. No, these are things that he's actually serious about. I was at Comic-Con this weekend. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters.

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You don't need weather tech unless you plan on doing summer. Visit weathertech.com today. Did you dress up? No, I didn't. Did the rest of the midnight boys dress up? Nobody dressed up. Oh, disappointing. It's a bunch of people at Comic-Con and not everybody is dressed up.

the overwhelming vast majority of people at Comic Con are not dressed up. No, I've been. You're not. Oh, you've been to Comic Con, so you've seen. Mm-hmm. I enjoyed it. It's fascinating to me. I've never, I don't understand

a lot of what's happening, but that there's this whole world out there that I really know nothing about and people are so excited is interesting to me. I was curious when I was there. I had to do some interviews. Dungeons and Dragons. So, Comic

Khan is a brilliant, amazing time. It's fun. The whole city of San Diego that's taken over by pop culture. And there was a big, big announcement. Marvel's Hall-Age panel. Shout out to the Midnight Boys. We were there. Robert Donnie Jr. is coming back to the MCU. Anthony Mackey was there. Captain America, they showed footage from Captain America, Brave New World. they show footage from Thunderbolts. They showed some test footage, a fantastic four. And then after that, they announced the new Avengers movies, Avengers Dooms Day, and then Avengers Secret Wars.

And the big news, which you talked about over on the Midnight Boys already, is that Robert Downey Jr. is coming back as Dr. Doom. Wow. Dr. Doom, he's going to play in Avengers Doomsday. Rachel, what are your thoughts? What the fuck is going on? They're bringing Robert Downey Jr. Back to the MCU as Dr. Doom.

Rachel, what do you think? I have nothing. I don't think anything about that. I don't know anything about this, but this is what I will say. I learned about this in real time, as it was announced, because it was everywhere.

But what caught my attention is that Jonathan Majors was trending on Twitter. And I was like, why is Jonathan Majors trending? So I clicked and that's how I saw the announcement of Robert Downey Jr. And I thought, okay, so he's not, they're not doing a new Kang. They're bringing back. Kang is done, which I like, I'm glad they're not replayed.

There was some talk that's what they were going to do, right? I think we even talked about on this podcast. Who should replace them? Instead, they're doing this Dr. Doomsday. Is that his name? Go ahead. I got some of Dr. Dr. Doom?

You know who Dr. Doom is. No, I don't know who Dr. Doom is. Would you like to play this game? Would you like to me to guess who Dr. Doom is? I thought Robert Downey Jr. was Ironman. Is that the same? Are they the same thing? They're not.

It's a different character. However, there's a chance that he's, that this Dr. Doom could be a version of Tony Stark from a different, different dimension. Okay, but didn't Tony Stark implode? He died. in Avengers and Man. Do you see? I know this.

There you go. Somebody recently made me watch this scene. Right. And I was like, oh. So he died. He died. He died of the crystals.

I watched it. Watch the end. The crystals. Yeah. Right. So the Infinity Jones. Yeah. So he died in Avengers End game.

And then he's playing a different character, Dr. Doom, who is, I'm sure you've seen Dr. Doom, green cape. I have now. Armor. Yeah, Green Cape. metal armor, a hood.

He is probably the second smartest man in the universe. A second to Reed Richards. Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic for the Fantastic Force, the smartest man in the universe. The smartest man in the universe. That's his actual superpower. Reed can stretch as Mr. Fantastic,

but his actual superpower is that he is the smartest man in the universe. That's just too much. Why is it too much? I never feel more defeated than when we start talking about the MCU. Right. Because it really is a universe.

Well, these characters haven't been in the MCU yet. So this will be the fantastic force for sure. Okay. Do you see what I'm saying? It's just too much. It's too much. Okay. Controversial. Was it controversial that Robert Downey Jr.

is coming back to this? Yes. So let's run down these entire things. This is a big deal. It's controversial that Robert Donnie Jr. is playing Doom for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that he's already played Iron Man. Iron Man was the building block of the MCU. And when he died in endgame, it was such an emotional goodbye to not just Iron Man, but to Robert Downey Jr.

At playing Iron Man that people thought, oh, my God, that's the end for RDJ in Marvel. And what a way for him to leave. right now he's back and there are reasons why the MCU is not on a high anymore it's stalled a little bit Deadpool Wolverine is one of the biggest movies one of the biggest openings of all time but still people are saying the MCU is a little bit down they brought the brusso brothers who directed Captain America uh the winter soldier captain American Civil War and the the last two adventures movies they brought them back they brought Robert Donnie Jr. back. They're trying to go back in time to repair the MCU because some of the

stuff they've done in the last couple of years hasn't worked. It's another reason why. So it's Robert Downey Jr. coming back after we had said goodbye. It's the business of it, the fact that they're trying to play the hits again. And we don't know what the character is. The Doom part of it is that Dr. Doom is probably the greatest villain in Marvel Comics, right? He's got the most story. He goes from villain to anti-hero, there is a very rich history, and you would think that you limit the character a little bit by having Robert Donny Jr. play him being that he's already been Iron Man. However, there are several different comic book stories where a different version of Iron Man becomes Dr. Dune, which will probably be what happens in this. It was a ridiculous time that we had in Hall H at the Marvel panel,

where they give you all of this great footage from these three movies, from Anthony's movie, from Thunderbolt, and then the test footage that you got from Fantastic Four with all the cast there and everything, and then they bring out all of these dooms, and when they bring out all of these dooms,

one doom steps forward, and it's Robert Donny Jr., and everybody's like, what the fuck, but after that the backlash came in. And the backlash is, Marvel's lost it. They don't want to create anymore. They don't want to take chances. anymore, all of that.

The King part of it is this. Two things. Jonathan Majors as King was fantastic. He did a good job as King. He did a great job as King. He's an otherworldly talent in terms of on the screen John John Major's is. The King's stuff wasn't working,

and that's outside of what happened in Jonathan Majors' personal life. That's outside of. it wasn't working. Quantumania didn't really work. Some of the stuff that they were doing in other places, it wasn't landing.

That's even outside of all of that other stuff. It just wasn't working, right? And when you add that to the fact that Jonathan Majors is now one of the most controversial figures in entertainment, that's just the way that it goes, Disney had to pivot.

They pivoted from it to me because of story reasons and some choices. that they made with the character that had nothing to do with Jonathan Majors. And then some things that happened in Jonathan Major's personal life, I do think if Jonathan Majors and Grace Jabari hadn't had the situation that they had up there in New York, that he would still be probably playing King. But even if he was, but even if he was, I think King would have been organizing around King like they were going to. And Jonathan Major signed for like nine movies.

I don't think they would have done that. I don't think that they would have done that from a story standpoint. I think that the things that they were getting weren't strong enough. I think they would have moved on from King as the big bad, the big dude. Because this movie was called King Dynasty at first. That's what it was going to be called.

So I don't think they would have done that. I think they would have moved on from that no matter what. Well, I do have one question. Who has played Dr. Doom before? Okay, so. And the reason I ask is, was it all, because in my mind I'm like, oh, did he take over for somebody or have we just never seen Dr. Doom before? So we see Dr. Doom twice. One, he was played by Toby Keble, I think, in Josh's Fantastic Four movie.

Toby, you might know him from, well, he's been in a lot of. things. He was, he's been in, he was in rock and rolla. He was in the entire history of you. He's a British actor. I think he played him in the Fantastic Four movie, uh, that Josh Trank made with Michael B. Jordan and Miles Teller. That was in like 2014 or 2015. So he played him then. Then, do you remember that show, Nip Tuck? Masha? Yes. So do you remember Julian Dr. Julian the really good looking one with the dark hair

I forget this actor's name but when he was on a little run after Nip Tuck which was Ryan Murphy's first show when he was on a little run after Nip Tuck he played Dr. Doom in the original Julian McMahon is his name. Julian McMahon thank you Ashley he played Dr. Doom in the the 2000

I think it was five four or five a movie with Jessica Alba and Michael Chickles and you know Grunfield and Chris

Chris at the the first but nobody as big as Robert Downey not to knock the other people but just more recognized but okay that was just

something I was curious about but the controversy that I also saw was people were upset that they brought in Robert Downey Jr. who has a past of getting in trouble, you know? And what was it?

I don't, I'm not even going to say the years. But we know that he had a past where he was in trouble and he was in trouble with the law. And it wasn't just a one-time thing that were multiple incidents where this was happening. And so people were upset that, hey, Jonathan Majors had this situation. You know, he was found guilty for two out of the four.

It wasn't ruled that it was intentional that he was doing it. And so, or what happened with Grace Chbari wasn't ruled intentional. And he doesn't get a chance for Robert Downey Jr. Who has this past of, you know, run-ins with the law, he gets the opportunity to be Dr. Doom's Day. Dr. Doom, you know who is, what his name is. Okay, so that's lazy. Robert Downey Jr.

I saw a lot of that on Twitter. Yeah, that's lazy. That take, that's a lazy take. That's low-hanging fruit. And this is not me in any way saying that there's not a double standard. But Robert Donnie Jr.'s problems really came to a head late 90s, early 2000s. The question is, if they have been making a Fantastic Four movie in 2002, would they have cast at Robert Donnie Jr. as Dr. Doom.

And the answer is clearly now. Robert Donnie Jr. almost very nearly fucked his way out of the entire town. He got married. He went to rehab. He came back.

And he worked for about six years, maybe longer, to get back to the point to where he had a big shot at a big movie. And that was Iron Man. Iron Man is in 2008. Robert Donnie Jr. had done a movie called The Singing Detective and he had done another movie called Kiss Kiss,

Bang Bang when he was making his comeback. And it took him a long time to work his way back to where he could be in a movie like Iron Man, which, by the way, wasn't a sure thing when they made the movie. It wasn't a sure thing at all. There was no MCU. So there's a lot riding on him in this performance. It's just a lazy comparison to make from where Jonathan Majors is now to where Robert

Johnny Jr. was in terms of their paths because it's about the timing of when these roles are available. Now, I will say this. I don't think that Jonathan Majors has the same amount of things that he needs to, I don't know that Jonathan Majors needs to necessarily work himself back from anything. I think that there is a perception of Jonathan Majors that some people have and they'll continue to have that perception. Robert Donnie Jr. had been in very real legal trouble. He had been in jail. He had broken into people's homes. It was pretty cut and dry the way things were for him. For Jonathan Majors, it's a lot of this is about perception. And in that way, sometimes you could argue, in ways you could argue, it's murkier. Because whereas Robert Donnie Jr. had a clear

problem, his drug problem, that was the impetus for all of the problems that he had. It's unclear if there's anything even up with Jonathan Majors or if there is something up, if he's working to deal with it. It's fuzzy.

It seems like now the Jonathan Majors push-pull is a cultural one. It's either you support a black man who's being unfairly railroaded by Hollywood or you don't. And if you do, you say, okay, that Disney is wrong right now and Disney should do this.

And if you don't, then you're an Uncle Tom or someone who's in favor of things not being the same. Saying both guys have a pass is lazy because it depends on when the past happen. It depends on how and when. Right now, if you put him in these big movies

that are essentially movies for you know, it's for all audiences, but they're essentially movies that, you know, families are going to be able to go to the majority of them, is the perception of Jonathan Majors such that you could do that right now. And the answer is no. And maybe that's fair to Jonathan Majors, maybe it's not.

But to compare it to Robert Donnie Jr. who hadn't had those problems in 30 years, it just doesn't make very much sense. I can see how people are trying to do it. It just doesn't make very much sense. It's kind of a stupid thing to do, to be honest with you. It's very lazy. But we'll see.

Like, we'll see, like, it is. It is. It's lazy. I'm fucking with y'all when we're calling out the double standards. I'm fucking with y'all. That's a lazy one now. You can't, you can't fucking do it. It makes sense.

It makes sense. Yeah. His name is Dr. Doom. Yeah, that's what's said. Okay. So that's what his name is. That's what I said. Is, uh, no.

Yeah. His name is Dr. Doe. Okay. Just make sure that you know that. Well. All right. That's my MCU lesson for the mom. Are you excited about these new movies?

No, but I'm excited that I now, I was excited that I could contribute to the conversation in the sense that I did see that last scene of where they had to say goodbye to Tony Stark and they all went to his funeral. It actually was sad and I didn't even really know everything. Real quick about Jonathan Majors. Just real quick, real quick about Jonathan Majors.

what do you hope for him? That he gets his career back? I really do. I hope that, well, one, if there are, like, anger issues or if there's like some things from the past that he needs to work out, you know, to better himself, I hope that as well. I can't speak to that because I don't know. So I hope that he gets, you know, the attention he needs in that area.

But he is a talented actor. and people do things all the time that, you know, they make mistakes, they have regrets. And I don't think that somebody should be, unless it's like, you know, something that's unforgivable, I think that people should have the opportunity to try again, to be better. Like, isn't that what we want from people? You write people off after one thing. I mean, if it amounts to that, then that makes sense. I don't think that this is that situation.

I think you learn from it, you be a better person. This is what I would hope for him. He learns from it. He is a better person for it. And he is able to continue to do his craft. I do not think that he should be written off. I absolutely think that he should have the opportunity to work his way back into Hollywood.

I would love to see him on my screen. And I will support a movie that he is in. I will go and watch it. Well said. That doesn't mean that I agree. Doesn't mean that I agree with, with any type of violence. I want to be clear about that.

I'm just saying people should have the opportunity to be better if they want to be. Did you see this right? Wait, can I just say that? Wait, I know what you're going to say. I really just want to acknowledge this, you know, for our queer folks that listen to this, because this is the shadow docket is something that we don't talk enough about, right? Because we talk about the Supreme Court cases as they go into July, but not the shadow docket, which is where there are these emergency motions that are before the Supreme Court.

And they have to decide these things in a short amount of time. And there are some big cases that are affecting our queer community. And I just want to acknowledge it as it's in front as literally it can redefine things. So what happened was, and I'll be very brief about this, the Biden administration extended Title IX in April of 2024. And they didn't understand under the, I don't know if it's called Bossstock or Bowstock. This was a court case that was decided by this conservative Supreme Court in 2020. And they basically said the definition of sex discrimination includes not just sexual orientation, but also gender identity. And that was the decision that came from this conservative Supreme Court. So the Biden administration took that understanding of what

sex discrimination is and applied it to Title IX. And so it's applied to these schools that receive federal funding. Well, you have two cases that are in front of the Supreme Court, one from Van State of Louisiana, the U.S. Department of Education v. Louisiana and Cardona versus Tennessee. Both the Fifth Circuit and the Sixth Circuit are saying that Biden's administration, what they did in extending sex discrimination to include gender identity was illicit. illegal. And so those cases are before the Supreme Court. And depending on how they decide, that can leave a lot of students in the public school system unprotected. I know one of the cases is about bathroom use. I don't know if the other one is. But it could leave a lot of people

based on how they identify unprotected in the school system. So the Biden administration did something great for the queer community. And once again, you have, the right, these red states, trying to take it away, and now it is in front of this conservative Supreme Court. And so the question is, will they follow the previous ruling where they extended what sex discrimination means, or will they roll it back? So I just want to put that on everybody's radar.

When you say shadow docket, these are things that are, because I've never heard the term shadow docket before. So shadow docket is, like, why is it called that? So it was a term that was coined, I'm reading this, by the University of Chicago, a law professor, and it refers to a range of orders and summary decisions that defy the court's normal procedural regularity. So it's the end of June, July, like they're off. And that's why, you know, we're always like what, when the Dobbs case came out, it was like,

when is this, you know, we had had the rumor earlier in the year, but it wasn't until the very end that they announced it. So it happens outside of that time period. So you're trying to slip it in, you're saying right there. Well, yes, because most people don't pay attention to it, but it's often the cases are released without a majority opinion explaining the court's reasoning. So it says that they have less impact on legal doctrine than most ordinary decisions. They're still bound by the court's majority opinions. Sorry, they're still bound by the majority opinions, but a lower court, judge can't follow an opinion that doesn't exist.

They don't follow it. Okay. President Biden said that he's going to address the Supreme Court. I think it's pretty sort of. Did they have tomorrow? Oh, really? I didn't see that. He's going to address the American people. And the subject of that address is going to be some sweeping reforms

as we relates to the Supreme Court. A piece that I encourage everyone, everyone to read about the Supreme Court and about the challenges that they are opposing for American freedom right now. It's really, really a bad situation. I guess the question is the reforms that President Biden has in mind will probably have to do with term limits, some ethics reform, things of that nature. But short of that, is the idea of fact in the court, which seems to be a non-starter with him. Number one, there'll be probably two court seats up in the next four years.

So if you win, you'll probably get two of them back, but the conservatives would still have a majority in the court. Maybe having two more seats would influence them to be a little less draconian. And I think that's right. I'm not sure about that. Somebody check me on that. They're going to be two court seats that might be coming up. But I guess the question is this.

I mean, at least one. I guess the question is this. Don't you have to pack the court at this point? This assault on American rights? I mean, you want to hear more tough talk, of course, but with the court being this activist, this motivated, don't you have to use the political nuclear option on the court? Don't you have to at some point?

We have to have a conversation about that. There are two conversations I want to have on Thursday. I want to bring somebody on to talk about the Supreme Court yet again in the idea of packing the court. We've already had this conversation. And I want to talk about this new company that I've been made aware of. Colin Kaepernick has an AI creator's company that is fantastic. I spoke to Cap about it. It's very amazing, right?

I want to do a... You should come on and talk about it. It would be great. I would love to have Cap on to talk about the company. I talked to him a little bit. I talked to him a little bit last week and talk about that a little bit on Thursday. but I am actually not up on what it takes to actually pack the court. I know a lot of people say that we should pack the court and we should add seats to the court.

I don't know what goes into that. I don't know the political ramifications of doing it. I don't know. I know it's been done in the past. Maybe we should do an entire show Thursday on what packing the court, look like, or at least spend like 30 or 40 minutes on it. What are the actual mechanisms to packing the court to changing the makeup of the Supreme Court?

Why people are so hesitant to do it, when it's been done in the past, all of that stuff. Because there are a lot of people out there that see the danger of the court and they don't understand why they'll just change it, you know? Well, yes, I understand that, but there's got to be a limit, right? how many people get on the board? Like if you pack the court, are you going to say, it's, so now it's 12.

Initially, you go to 12. You go to 12 and you to point three. But then like another administration comes in and they're like, I don't really like what's going on. Am I raised it to 15? Like, I just, I'm not against.

Or they take three seats away. I mean, it, I mean, it's been done in the past is what, is what people would say. It's, it's been done in the past.

I tell you one thing. The thing is, if you, if you did pack the court, it would be such a politically bold move that you could argue that the electoral gains that you would get from it, but you might energize the other side as well.

You just don't know. I think a lot of people want that, but I don't know how many conversations I've heard on the legitimacy of the idea or the practicality of the idea. In these modern day times, I know they threaten FDR, FDR, say, fuck and I put 60 motherfuckers on this deal.

But it's an interesting thing, especially when you see the fact that the court, they're protected and indemnified to the point to where they don't give a fuck. They're not going to stop. So, interesting. Real quick, is this fucked up? Little league coach, Louis football coach, brought the kids out. And this was the music that was being played by the kids were walking out. And the coach is the prompting them

and they're doing the choreographed dance. It's the music. Yeah, yeah, yeah. $50,000 cash on me. Okay. What is, who is that? Is that boss man Delo? I think so.

Yeah. I don't know that record. It's hard. But, I mean, these are kids. It's a TikTok trend. It's a TikTok thing. Yeah. That's how I do.

Clearly these are kids that are 10, 11, maybe. Maybe they're that own. you can't do it like that Rachel you can't do it It didn't bother me The way I was looking at these comments And I was like okay

What if that was my child In there I would not want their coach Cursing Seeing them songs and cursing like that That's the only thing I have an issue with But like I guess I just

I'm not saying it's always right But just to listen to songs That might not have the best message doesn't mean that the children are not our future and they're going to be corrupt and they're going to do all these terrible things. I don't think that it amounts to that. What I saw was because the initial tweet was like

talking about something about the street culture and it's like, this isn't street. Like, yes, it's inappropriate for them to be cursing like that and the coach to be doing it with them encouraging it. But it is a TikTok trend. They were doing some of the dance with it. I saw kids all together playing a sport and having fun with something that's trend.

Mindy, minus the cursing. It wasn't that big of a deal to me. It wasn't that big of a deal. Sorry. My thing is this. My thing is it's so easy just to do the radio edit. It's so easy. It's so easy just to do the radio edit.

Some of the ideas in there, I just know there is, I'm not saying I wasn't listening to all types of crazy shit at that age, but I wasn't being encouraged by my, my parents to listen to it. Because when you have an authority figure that's encouraging you to listen to it and encouraging

you to do that, they're codifying the ideas that are in the song. They just are. When you have an adult that's getting you hyped up and doing that, they're codifying those ideas. It's a difference between finding your

father's porn and then having him show you. Press play. Yeah. You know what I mean? Wait. So if the coach wasn't in front of them singing it along, would you have had a problem if you just saw a group of football team? I'd have been like these are some little badass kids.

That's what it would have been. Like these are some little badass kids, but with the coach doing that, he's signing off on the things that are going on in the song and basically saying that it's okay. And that, that to me, is a bridge to come. So bridge. All right.

We got to get out of here. Take your things toaps off. Do not stop wearing. I'm Van Lathin Jr. I am Rachel and Lindsay. The Trump lover. Hi, guys. Ha, guys.