Lovett or Leave It - The Sum of All Fearmongering

Episode Date: October 27, 2018

Trump uses the fear of innocent refugees to rally his base. Fox News explains the motivation behind the migrant caravan. We recommend some Halloween costumes that will scare liberals straight and get a lesson in the hard and long fought history for voting rights in the US which, thanks to Republicans, is still not over! Erin Ryan is joined by Nicole Byer, Emily Heller and Andrew Ti to break down the week in news.

Hello, and welcome to Love It or Leave It. I'm not John Lovett. I'm Erin Ryan. And for the next two weeks, I'll be filling in for John, who cannot go outside when the moon is out, lest he turn into a wolf and wreak unimaginable havoc on his friends and loved ones. We're Lovett. Wherever you are, we wish you well. I'm also picking up where Guy left off over the last couple weeks. He's done a great job of hosting, and I plan on spending the next two weeks shitting on his wonderful legacy. First, I'd like to welcome our guests.

She is a stand-up comedian and an Emmy-nominated writer whose new album, Pasta, comes out November 19th, but you can pre-order it right now. Emily Heller. Hi. Hello. Emily, how are you doing? I'm doing really good. I am really enjoying this new reality where I can make people introduce me as Emmy-nominated.

That's been a very recent development in my life, and I plan to do it till I die. It's like when 3-6 Mafia got nominated for an Academy, or they won an Academy Award and in the next lead up to their song they said Academy Award winners. So in your next rap Yeah, which it will be tomorrow. Great. My first rap. My first and only rap.

Our next guest writer and host of the Yo! Is this racist podcast Andrew T. What up! Andrew T. What up? Andrew, how are you? I'm good. I got stung by a thousand bees this morning, so I'm fine. You almost got my girl.

It turns out I'm not allergic to bees, so that's cool. Congratulations for that. It was about to be really romantic, and now it's just sort of painful and swollen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There, girl. And finally, she is the host of Netflix's Nailed It and the podcast Why Won't You Date Me, Nicole Byer. Yeah! It's me!

Nicole, how are you? I'm good. I'm not Emmy-nominated, and I've only been stung by one bee. Our subpar third panelist, Nicole Byrne. Well, guys, let's get into it. What a week. As you're listening to this, it's the last weekend before Halloween, which means a lot of you are probably carving pumpkins

and getting ready to go out dressed up in a half-assed costume that you'll have to spend the whole night explaining. So it makes a kind of twisted sense that during this, the spookiest of weeks in the calendar, President Donald Trump has really started leaning into using fear as a motivating factor to rally his base. Part of this may be the fact that the midterm elections are in two weeks, thank God, but it's also nothing new. President Trump ran for office on fear. And while it worked, like most horror shows, the president found what scared his fans the most

and then made a million sequels, none of which, unfortunately, star Jamie Lee Curtis. Here are some of the most glaring examples of Trump's fear-mongering. Right now, I want listeners at home to know that I'm shining a flashlight up into my face for maximum spookiness. It's too scary. So it's really, I'm sorry, guys. I should have warned you.

And to be extra spooky, you got some bats in the cave. First. It's a slow burn. It is. First, fear of immigrants. Trump has been escalating his comments on immigration, if you can believe it. Earlier this month, Honduran immigrants, women and children and young men looking to escape violence and poverty, began an arduous trek through Mexico to seek asylum in the United States. These caravans are not uncommon, but Trump has repeated this like a campfire story.

On October 21st, Trump tweeted, I can't do a Trump voice very well. So I'm just going to do a hysterical. You just do like Christopher Walken and then I'll get to live in a world where Christopher Walken's our president very briefly. Isn't that the plot of the Dead Zone? I guess I can't do any impressions of anybody at all. But the caravans. Say it like a Muppet. I feel like we're increasing difficulty for her Not making it easier Caravans are a disgrace to the Democrat Party

I guess that's a Muppet way That was pretty good I wiggled my head like a Muppet Do it like a chicken You know what, I raised chickens So you are fucking on, Nicole On October 21st, Trump tweeted The caravans are a disgrace to the Democrat Party.

Change the immigration laws now. The next day, he followed up tweeting, Sadly, it looks like... Like he's ever been sad. Sadly, it looks like Mexico's police and military are unable to stop the caravan heading to the southern border of the United States. Criminals and unknown Middle Easterers are mixed in i have alerted border patrol and military that this is a national emergy must change laws just a quick programming note emergy is not me

mispronouncing the word emergency it's how the president typed it e-m-e-r-g-y perhaps the scariest thing about this tweet is that a man who cannot spell emergency correctly has the nuclear codes. He followed up with directly saying, remember the midterms. Trump also appealed to his base's fear of women, civic protests, and new ideas. Last week at a rally in Montana, Trump said, This will be an election of Kavanaugh, the caravan, law and order, and common sense, which sounds like a combination of four tarot cards that when you draw them all in a row, it means you're a total fucking asshole.

Let's not forget one of the things Trump wants his base to find scariest, his Democratic critics and the liberal media. This week, in response to pipe bombs sent to a number of prominent Democrats and the offices of CNN, Trump attempted to tone down his hateful language, but still managed to cast blame, saying, a very big part of the anger we... Anger is capitalized, by the way. Like, just the first letter or the whole thing? No, just the first letter.

Anger, like, it's a proper name. Like, this is my son, Anger Atticus, and he's he's vegan for trump anger is his boss so he's like trying to give anger the respect that he thinks it deserves because it is in charge of his life i mean anger got his mba from wharton you know the trump like inside out where it's just like four angry yeah it's so great. Oh, man. And they would all just look like exactly him. Yeah, it's kind of the same. Absolutely no modification.

It's a cheaper sequel for the animators. It's just like four character models. But honestly, it's too cute for Trump. Inside Out was so adorable. There's just rocks and shit in his head. It was Louis Black, which is just like, he couldn't even get it out

if he had to be Trump's anger. Anyway. I'm so mad that I'm going to be thinking about what that movie would look like for the rest of the day. A very big part of the capital A anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false

and inaccurate reporting of the capital M mainstream, capital M media, that I refer to as capital F fake capital N news. Obviously, Trump. Yeah, he's. Also, you have to, like, press the up arrow. So he's doing it on purpose. Yeah. For what? Why? He's. I hate him. He's so dumb.

Oh, he's so frustrating. I mean, obviously he's also scared if he's trying to get people afraid of things like Honduran women and children walking through Mexico. Everyone knows that the scariest part of the Titanic was the people in the lifeboats, for sure. The poor iceberg, you know? Yeah. Those people were approaching the iceberg. Okay, so obviously Trump is scared, but is it going to work on the rest of us?

Emily, do you think this works? Are people scared? And do you think Trump really is saying all of this with the intention of turning out more Republican voters? I mean, I think he's saying it to turn out voters, but I also think he's saying it to be divisive. And I think he's saying it to make people afraid. And I do think it's working. And it makes me sad that it's working. But it's also hard to know, like how to combat this, because the people who want to believe that this is true and want to be afraid of it, aren't going to listen to reason about it. Right. And the thing that's really striking to me is that in the pretty recent

history, people could appeal to ignorance to defend fear, like they could try to stoke up fear in people that have no way of knowing what the counterexample is. But we're living in an age where all the information of all of human history is at our fingertips. Like you can disprove Donald Trump saying immigrants are going to come here and cause crimes by pointing out actually factually they commit crimes at a lesser rate than people who were born in America. Yeah. I mean, it seems like the thing that we're missing now isn't like the existence of information. It's just like the shared cultural value of not believing the most convenient thing that you heard first and actually looking for the real answer and knowing how to figure out what's real and what's fake.

This is going to sound really Twilight Zone-y, but whatever. It's our Halloween episode, as determined by me earlier today. But do you think that it's people constructing their own realities rather than seeking the truth and having access to the truth? No, I think it's people are hearing pieces of information, whether they're true or not, that confirm their existing beliefs. And that feels really comforting. That feels really good. That gives you actual like dopamine. And I think that it's really a lot less comfortable to learn what's really going on. The more uncomfortable you are, there's a good chance

that you're getting closer to the truth. Simpler answers are wrong, but they feel better to think about. And so if Trump says enough times that this is going to be a threat to people and that confirms for them what they believe about the world, they're going to start to believe it because it feels good to believe something that confirms what you already thought. Now, that was like a political agent Scully answer. I mean, the secret lies in our brains, you guys. Andrew, what is the appropriate response from politicians and from the media and from newspapers and from cable news when the president is throwing around language like this? Oh, that's a good question um i don't understand why when like again the only allegedly good thing that we can all kind of maybe on some level agree that he maybe could have done is like cut through

some of the bullshit but he is in this weird spot of like he's cutting through the bullshit as he sees it but everyone else is still really invested in maintaining the facade of the bullshit which is like can't call him a liar can't call him racist can't call him this like we don't do that we're balanced and it's like just fucking say what he is he's saying what he thinks you are why can't we do the same so that would be i guess i would urge all of the people on the previous list just fucking tell the truth about this man who it's so easy to tell the truth about. Yeah, I think the illusion of balance is something that has kind of bent things in a bad direction where it used to be like, OK, we're having a panel on gravity. We have one person on one side saying, like, I think gravity is pretty intense.

And the other person saying, like, I think it's less intense than the other person thinks it is. Now we're in a time when it's like, I think gravity is pretty intense and the other person saying like I think it's less intense than the other person thinks it is. Now we're in a time when it's like I think gravity is pretty intense and the other side is I think gravity is a liberal plot to destroy America. Like gravity thinks women should vote but I'm not so sure. And then there's someone

else on the panel who's just like I think it should have won the Oscar. Am I on the wrong panel? We're all here. You know what? I actually agree. I thought it was a great film. I don't. There was too much space.

Okay. Nicole, here's something that always struck me about the way the president talks about the media. Hasn't the media contributed to Donald Trump's rise? Donald Trump used to call the New York Post with tips about himself while pretending to be a guy named John Barron, his own assistant. And then he went on to name his son Barron after the fake guy that he used to be. He's really funny. He's the funniest person in America.

I hate that there are so many moves of his that I respect. He's so funny, but like bad. What is your question? I'm sorry, that's hilarious. Doesn't it feel a little bit- That he named his child after his alter ego. That's something I would do. What's your alter ego's name?

What? What's your alter ego's name? I don't have one yet, but I guess- It's like if Beyonce named her first child Sasha. Sasha Fierce, yeah. Does this mean Baron is for sure gonna invent time travel and go back and actually be that person? Maybe he's already time traveling. Where is he?

We haven't seen him in a very long time. He's mowing that lawn still. Guys, remember when Melania plagiarized Michelle Obama? Doesn't that feel like 100,000 years ago? She did. She did. She's done it more than once. And the first time it was hoisted onto a fake person,

or a real person, I think, named Meredith McIver. A Patsy. Yeah, it was a stool picture. Patsy McPatsy was the name of this person. We've never heard from Meredith McIver again. Who knows where she is? She could be anywhere. Maybe she's off being best.

I can't believe that went through so many channels and that's what they landed on. Be best. I just would love to be in any Republican pitch room. Just like, OK, OK, what are we talking about today? Going going back to the idea of him being really Donald Trump being really funny in Republican pitch rooms. Sometimes I think about the fact that Donald Trump is

profoundly like not funny. Like he is. He is funny like to laugh at but he's not good. He can't like construct a joke. You know he doesn't understand. There's this really incredible like Huffington Post oral history of the time they did a roast of him where people who wrote

on the roast were like, you know, you send the subject of the roast what the jokes are and they can kind of lie and item veto things. And he would lie and item veto

like the punchlines of the jokes. Like he didn't understand what jokes were. And sometimes when I watch him on stage it seems like I'm watching somebody do

an attempted really bad stand-up routine in front of people who are into it. Oh, yeah. I've seen that guy at open mics. This is like a dude we know. Absolutely. I'm sitting right here. This is an intervention. This is how I do comedy.

I just talk about how great I am and then trail off. I am and then trail off. I mean, do you think that part of his like drive to be this performer is like due to the fact that he doesn't understand like what's funny and what's good? Like, is that? Who was it? This is not this is a third hand story. But yeah, all the times he's been on SNL, I just hear people are like, he'll say his line and then immediately turn to the actor.

Like, was that good? Did I do well? Is that good? Is that funny? I've also heard he can't read. Oh, nice nice is that a rumor or not let's start it scoop scoop scoop scoop no i just spoke to someone who was like you had like he wouldn't just sit and read the scripts you had to like say them to him well here's something that i keep going back to like we can all acknowledge sitting here in our, like, liberal bubble.

We're all, I don't know, what do liberals do? Smoke pot and drink lattes. We're all doing that right now. We're hotboxing the bubble. We're hotboxing the liberal bubble for sure. But, you know, here are things that people who support him don't care about. They don't care if he's smart. They actually find it an attribute if he's not smart.

They also don't care if he's right. They kind of just like him sitting around telling these spooky stories about things that they're already afraid of. So is there any getting through? I guess, Andrew, I'll direct this at you because I'm looking at you right now. Sure, thank you. Is there any getting through? I understand how conversations work. I mean, you definitely weren't spacing out for the last two seconds.

out for the last two seconds. Is there any getting through to people who are so committed to Donald Trump in a way that's almost cult-like that will break through the bullshit and the garbage and the lies? Or are they so committed to him that it's just like impenetrable? I think it's probably impenetrable because it feels like, you know, the thing that Republicans like slash need slash want is a figure of dominance. And they like that he can warp reality they like that the lies can do whatever i will say this the my initial response was something that previous hosts of this show or current host in uh absentia uh john when he was on he's a werewolf when he was john's when john's human form uh was on yo is this racist he he uh you know and it's a werewolf. When he was John's when John's human form was on Yoz's racist, he he, you know, and it's a point that various properties on this network have been pushing, which is like, who cares? Get out the people like get out, you know, liberals to vote, get out people who otherwise wouldn't vote because these people are a lost cause.

And I have conservative family members. So I've been forever just like, fuck them. I'm never going to convince them. Who cares? Well, on the who cares note, Emily, I want to ask you this. One thing that I've I've heard just being a person who like talks into a microphone about being liberal is like people say to me like, well, you're not convincing anybody. But does it really matter if we as people that are on the left or who are against the president, does it really matter if we're convincing people or do we just need to provide catharsis? I am really exhausted from trying to explain why I deserve to be treated

like a person. That's like a really exhausting thing that conservatives keep making women and people of color and LGBT people do over and over again is just explain why i'm a person but i will say something you know that i've been thinking about recently especially in the minimal amount of canvassing that i've done in one of our local swing districts uh one of the things that they told us they were like this is a true swing district we're going to send you to houses that are marked democrat houses that are marked republican because this is a true swing district. We're going to send you to houses that are marked Democrat, houses that are marked Republican, because this is a place in the country where that truly doesn't actually mean that you are very firmly on either side of the line. This is a true swing district. And what we want you to do when you go to those places is talk about your story. Talk about why

these issues affect you. Talk about why that matters and and talk to people about what matters to them and why these candidates will best serve what they're worried about. And I kind of think that's the only way. I think when you put things in terms of the culture war or like how much you hate Trump or how much of a liar he is or all of the things that make them feel like it's us against them. All of the things that make them feel like it's us against them, that doesn't work with people who feel convinced. What works is saying, like, here's the medical condition that I have. Here's what will happen to me if this policy changes. I'm not going to have the medicine that I need and my butt is going to fall off. And I need that for sitting. And, you know, like you have to really put it in terms that are outside of this culture where that is so inflaming to people's anger and put it in terms of like, I'm a person. You're looking me in the face.

I'm telling you what I need from this world to be happy and how the thing that you're supporting is getting in the way of that. I think that's more affecting. And I know that that might not have a lasting effect but they have shown that like they went door-to-door and they asked people their stance on abortion and you're gonna say they went door-to-door can I do an abortion right now we're headed there you know go door-to-door to be like we will do abortions on you immediately I mean I feel like this might have been a This American Life episode or something where they went door-to-door they asked people their stance on abortion.

If they were against, the person would say, here's why I got my abortion. Here was my circumstance. And they would ask them again how they felt about it. And their stances changed after hearing people's individual stories because we think about these things differently when we're thinking about it in terms of like this, you know, group context versus like just individual people. And I think that's why I'm a little bit, I mean, I can see like the bad in social media, but I think I'm a little hopeful about the connectedness of our current society is that it's possible for people who have personal stories about immigrants, about abortion, about being trans, it's possible that for them to connect with people who have never

encountered those people before. And that feels encouraging to me. I don't know, Nicole, how do you feel about that? Do you think like the fear that Donald Trump is trying to stoke in his base is something that is going to be, I guess, less effective now that we know more? No, I don't think it's going to be less effective. Damn it, Nicole. No, I don't think it's going to be less effective. God damn it, Nicole. I truly, like Emily said, it's comforting to hear what you think.

So like if you think, you know, immigrants are taking my jobs, and then he goes, they are taking your jobs. You're like, that's what I thought. That feels good to be right. So I think if he continues what he's been doing, I think it's going to get worse before it gets better. I think it's going to be bad. I gets better. I think it's going to be bad. I mean, unless the economy goes terribly in the next,

how long has it been president? Two years? Good Lord. Wow! Has it been two years? That seems short. It's almost two years. Holy shit!

But yeah, I think it's just going to continue. And it's, as a black woman, people being racist has gone's just going to continue. And it's as a black woman, people being racist has gone from being covert to overt. Like I was just in South Carolina and had a lot of microaggressions happen. And I was bewildered. I was like, I've only been here for a day, actually minutes. And people have already started.

So I just, it's just, it's going to get worse. It's, it's bad. And it's going to get worse. Well, that's very spooky I'm still holding the flashlight it's so scary I guess that's something that I've I've thought about a lot um and that I think about a lot when I talk to people who are

engaged in politics is like you know I'm a white lady and I will probably be fine no matter what happens. But I think that there are a lot of people who are not people of color, who are Democrats, who want to use their power to help people who don't have power. And I think it's important for people to remember that if you have the energy and you have the power, what you need to be doing with it is helping people who don't have the energy and don't have the power. And I don't want to be too optimistic about it because I can see the bad side possibly happening. You're wearing such a bright shirt for such a negative outlet.

It's not negative. It's just realistic. But what I was saying is if you're a member of a group that is privileged and you have power and you have energy right now, because I think people who are disenfranchised, non-white, and you have energy right now. Because I think people who are disenfranchised, non-white, LGBT, any sort of marginalized group, especially by this president, if you have the energy and you have the power,

then you can use it. Like you have extra, you know? It's like, let's be like power socialists here. Let's give what we can to help people who maybe have run out of energy and run out of power a long time ago. I think that's something we can all try to do that. Okay, we have to take a break.

But when we come back, okay, stop. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. And we're back. Now I'd like to call your attention to a problem that's too often overlooked. Halloween costumes usually just aren't that scary. Sorry, mummies, but rulers are less frightening when they're dead. For example, Antonin Scalia is less likely than ever to hand down fucked up Supreme Court opinions about black people or women's rights.

Because he's dead. He's extremely dead. But don't worry, we're here to help you with some spooky DIY costume ideas that are more terrifying than the words President Donald Trump Jr. This year, why don't you dress up like a devil's advocate? Your family and friends will turn Barry Weiss with fear at this one. You're a New York Times op-ed that plays devil's advocate. The costume part's easy.

Regular clothes, top it with a pair of scary horns and a look of smug superiority. clothes, top it with a pair of scary horns and a look of smug superiority. Then the fun part. You spend all night unleashing an unholy flood of cursed opinions. Interrupt every conversation you hear with things like, you chai-huffing elites

don't understand why it should be okay for my kid to dress as a racial slur. Or, I'm a woman who says women don't deserve equality so the boys will like me. Then, sit back and watch the page views roll in.

So scary. Well, now it's time for a game we call OK Stop. We will roll a clip and the panel can say OK Stop at any point to comment. This week, our friends over at Fox News. Those are not our friends.

Let's be honest. They're not even frenemies. This week, the people at Fox News decided to give their takes on the migrant caravan. Let's listen. When you look at the number swelling, what does that tell us about the situation as these people move through not one, not two, but three countries to get to our border? It's interesting because it's if you've been on safari, you know that. OK, stop. Oh, no. Is that fucking Duff? Oh, no, no, no. That is that's Kennedy. She used to be a VJ. Wait, that's Kennedy?

Yeah. What happened? Well, she used to be a VJ on MTV of music videos, but now she's a VJ of bad opinions. Yeah. And she sort of just rolls in and is like, I'm cool. I'm young and hip.

I'm the only person under 40 that anybody who's watching Fox News has talked to for weeks. Who wasn't working in a service position. Now VJ stands for very jerk. That was good. Oh, hell yeah. That was good. Nailed it.

I was like, where's it going to go? You're a very jerk. Oh, man. I genuinely love you. Everyone buy my elephant. You all have to stick together as humans. So elephants think you're one thing. Because if you're one thing...

We didn't actually address the fact that she said, if you've ever been on safari. Like, that was a way to put it in terms that everyone would understand. Oh, yeah. I mean, as a person who's been able to spend $10,000 on a vacation, like, like a normal, you know, like everybody's been on safari. And then did she just say elephants remember you? Is that what she said? Is it? Because that's wild. they say they never forget yeah but that's just like a fun little saying yeah you can't use that better be made up argument i want to see where she's going with

this yeah let's keep it going going to attack you and i think that's what's happened here is the idea that there is strength in numbers and if a bunch of people try and get over the border that they'll have much better success than an individual. Okay, stop. Do they think the border is like a game of Red Rover, Red Rover? Yeah. Send Honduras right over.

And Honduras is like, all right, we're going to get everybody. But also, like, how would you overpower anybody? You're tired. You've been walking for a long time. You just want to take a nap. Yeah, the gross thing is, like, obviously it's sort of, like, old hat for them to compare humans to animals now,

but just, like, imagining people literally, like, walking, you know, for asylum or for refugee status or whatever are fucking elephants that are going to, like, overpower the border. It's gross, obviously. It's easy to, like, forget because they do it so often. But it's like, oh, right, yeah, we need to say, every single time they say that, that is so fucked up.

Yeah. They're people. They're not animals. Yeah. Guess what? I'm sorry. Immigrants, they kind of web together and make themselves into a big old elephant

and storm into our country. I don't know what books you've been reading. Yeah. Yeah. This is like if Voltron was in charge of our fucking like border patrol. What are you talking about, you idiot? And an infant or a family of people. So that is that's one part of it.

I think the other, honestly, is FOMO. You see, OK, stop. The U.S. isn't Coachella. If it was, I would leave. Yeah. People come over and try to cross the border all the time and they go through these horrible conditions to come here because they really want to fucking be here. You know, like the fact that people want to work that hard to be here, 99 percent of the time means that they deserve to be here. And I feel like it's insane that we try to pretend that it's like, no, they they can't like do American Ninja Warrior first. Then they don't deserve to be here. That's crazy to me. American Ninja Warrior first,

then they don't deserve to be here. That's crazy to me. Also, the term FOMO, that's supposed to be about being jealous of really frivolous things, not safety from cartel violence. Oh my God, your avocado toast looks so good. They have FOMO, but it's fear of missing out on natural resources

and safety and a future for their children. Right. Also, their FOMO, their FOMO in air quotes, comes from conditions in their country that we caused with our foreign policy. It's actual fear, fear, not just like jealousy. Watch this caravan swell and they don't want to miss out on it because obviously these people have a place they're going uh they they have a directed goal in mind and if they achieve that and their lives are better they don't want to miss out on that the person who can find out a way to compromise some sort of path to citizenship with a wall will solve it i don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. And that was okay stuff. It is time for another spooky costume suggestion.

Here's a costume idea for the agoraphobes in the room. Voter fraud. This one requires some help, but I promise it's worth it. First, tell a bunch of your friends that you're going to show up to the party wasted and mess everything up. Tell them you're going to steal some stuff, maybe some knickknacks, maybe an election, and get them all worked up. Then, don't go to the party.

Your friends were idiots for thinking you'd come in the first place. You hate parties. You never go to parties. They know this. Voter fraud. Bonus couples costume idea. Get ready, y'all.

Jeff Flake and Susan Collins. This costume is actually pretty simple. Just dress up as a skeleton, but take out the spine. Boom. Y'all get it. He's a spineless monster. And then for Jeff Flake's couple

significant other, I don't know. A spooktacular companion for a spineless senator. Maine's own heartless monster Susan Collins. Show up to the party alongside your spineless companion and make your friends listen to you talk about garbage for hours and hours

until they all wish they'd never been born. All right, when we come back, a new game. Don't go anywhere. This is Love It or Leave It, and there's more on the way. And we're back. As the more observant fans of this podcast may have noticed, there's an election coming up. And if you don't vote in it, my head is literally going to explode.

Literally. But you shouldn't just vote because we told you to or because my head's going to explode or because an army of bigots is threatening to turn everyone you care about into climate refugees. Vote because it's sacred. People fought and died for that right. And the fight isn't over. In Florida, an amendment on this November's ballot could restore voting rights to over a million people with felony convictions who completed all terms of their sentences.

To inspire and or guilt you, it's time for a game we're calling If Voting Changed Anything, They'd Make It Illegal. And they do. Constantly. So I'll read a question about the history of voting rights in the U.S. and you have to pick the best answer. Would anyone like to play the game? Oh, you know who's going to play? My mom.

Yay! So, mom. I'm going to read the questions and then everybody's going to give answers and you pick which one you think it is. My mom used to be a teacher so she knows how tests are. Okay, question one.

In 1841 in Rhode Island, an attorney named Thomas Wilson Dorr organized a convention to create a new state constitution. When the governor caught wind, Dorr was captured, convicted of treason, and sentenced to life in prison. A year later, under mounting pressure, Dorr was pardoned. A year after that, Rhode Island adopted a new constitution. How was it different from the old one? Was it A? Rhode Island's new constitution

didn't restrict voting rights to landowners. In 1856, after North Carolina finally followed suit and removed its property ownership requirement, all white men could vote in the U.S., unless, of course, they were immigrants, they didn't pay taxes't pay taxes etc is it b the new constitution was much funnier a major punch up from that boring ass version i had a great pun such as all students are now road scholars and inside jokes like all men are created equal except darren this version of the Constitution had the state in stitches. It got so much attention, Netflix gave it a full series order. Is it C? It was written by a contest winner.

The state held a contest, and Denise J. from Providence ended up writing the entire Constitution, which is why there are multiple amendments that mention two beautiful Yorkshire terriers, Nutmeg and Bosco. So, Mom, what's the answer? Well, I really liked the second and third choices, but it's got to be A,

because there's no way they would have let a woman have that much say. She's right! Boom. All right, let's move on to question two. In 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Frederick Douglass successfully lobbied for the Seneca Falls Convention on Women's Rights to adopt a resolution

calling for voting rights for women. This was the start of the women's suffrage movement. When women finally won the right to vote, how did people who attended the convention celebrate? Was it A, they all cheered in unison and threw their large feathered hats into the air, being careful to avoid the hats as they plummeted back toward the ground at alarming speed. They'd done it. The patriarchy was defeated forever. No sexism happened ever, ever again.

Was it B? 300 people attended the convention in 1848. By the time the 19th Amendment was ratified a full 72 years later, only one, Charlotte Woodward Pierce, was still alive. By then, Pierce was 91 years old and too frail to get out of bed,

but she did send the National Women's Party a trowel inscribed with the words, in recognition for progress made by women. Was it C? Makeover! Elizabeth Cady Stanton celebrated her newfound freedom

with a brand new haircut. She wanted to get bangs, but then Frederick Douglass was all like, you don't got the face shape for that, because that's what besties do. All right, what's the answer?

The answer is B. That is right. All right, question three. In 1964, the United States entered the war in Vietnam. The student-led movement to end the war began soon after. In 1974, students were killed after the National Guard opened fire on demonstrators at Kent State University. It would be another five years and countless casualties before the war was over. But in 1971, Congress gave young people a concession.

What was it? Was it A? In 1971, Congress passed the 26th Amendment, which granted all 18-year-olds the right to vote. Before that, state elections could require voters to be at least 21. The Senate report on the amendment made clear that it was a direct result of student protests. Was it B? Congress promised not to embarrass them in front of their friends. They won't bring up their earrings or ask them, what's that new hot thing everyone's talking about?

But they're still going to kiss them on the cheek in public because young people are just so cute. Was it C? They instituted sensible and meaningful gun reforms, meaning that the Kent State Massacre was the last school shooting in American history. Wow. Nope, not that one. It's A.

That's right. Wow. Very smart. All right not that one. It's A. That's right. Wow. Very smart. All right. Question four. Okay, Mom. In 1965, while leading a peaceful civil rights protest, John Lewis was attacked by police and suffered a fractured skull. Soon after, he was beaten by two white men for attempting to enter a whites-only waiting room. Soon after that, he was knocked unconscious with a wooden crate, and he narrowly avoided a KKK firebombing. In total, Lewis was arrested more than 40 times before his movement successfully ended the Jim Crow era with the passage of the 24th Amendment and the Voting Rights Act. How was John Lewis

honored for his contribution? Was it A? In 2018, President Obama awarded him with a brand new PlayStation 4 Pro, which is basically impossible to find in stores, and accompanied with two controllers, the brand new Spider-Man game, and a promo code to the PlayStation store that gave the congressman up to $35

on reward points. John Lewis said it was the greatest moment of his life. Was it B? He is allowed to eat first at every buffet-style wedding. If you invite Congressman John Lewis to your wedding, it is the law

that you must allow him to eat before anybody. That includes your family, the elderly, and even in the fun table that clearly is having the best time. Is it C? In 2011, President Obama awarded Lewis the Presidential Medal of Freedom,

the highest civilian honor in the U.S. Then in 2017, President-elect Trump tweeted about Lewis, all talk, talk, talk, no action or results, sad. Which one is it? It's C. That's right. Mom, you won the game. Yay.

All right, we have to take a break, but when we come back, the rant wheel. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. And we're back. Now, before we go into the rant wheel, we have one more spooky Halloween costume idea that Nicole has for us. Go, Nicole. Okay. Here's a fun couple's costume. This is Trump's two Teds. One person is Lion Ted,

the oily, grimacing Canada reject whose dad helped kill Kennedy. And the other is Beautiful Ted, the confident public speaker whose wife is not ugly. For these costumes, both should dress the same. But for beautiful Ted, make sure to add a bunch of chocolate around the mouth to mimic all the shit Cruz has been eating from Trump. Oh my goodness, that is so vile.

Who made you say that? I don't know, my costume went there. Alright, let's get to the rant wheel, guys. All right. On this week's rant wheel, we have several interesting topics. We have anti-affirmative action Asians, chicken Halloween, killing spiders with a blowtorch. This is a really irresponsible rant wheel.

Jump scares. We have facial recognition, Gmail smart replies, Trump's iPhone and Andrew Gillum. Let's spin the wheel. And it landed on facial recognition. Guys, I'm a Luddite. I don't believe in smart appliances.

I recently bought a smart fan, and I'm so angry at it. I refuse to connect to the app. What does a smart fan do? It is intelligent about blowing air at you. But here's the thing. So the reason that I'm ranting about facial recognition is that ICE is trying to access a facial recognition database in enforcing immigration law, which I find extremely a violation of civil rights and terrible. At the same time, I would like to point out that people have been willingly giving up their face to tech companies for years.

Every time you take a picture with like Snapchat or any app at all, you are sending a picture of your face to that app. If you're getting an app for free and you're sending your face to it and it like sends it back as like a sexy puppy, like you're the product. They're using your face for something. They're not just giving you this sexy puppy filter for fun for them. Like they're using your face like facial recognition. I think it's just a fucking cancer on America.

I don't think anybody should buy the iPhone 10 and I won't buy the iPhone 10 because it's like uses your face to log in. I think that like facial recognition is a huge civil rights violation. And I think it's egregious that ICE is trying to use it. But it's also not unexpected. Like any time you participate in giving your face to a tech company, they're going to use it for something. And this is what they're using it for. So put a piece of tape over the camera on your computer. And, you know, this seems like an argument against face pics and in favor of dick pics.

I was going to say, when Apple put that fucking measurement thing on the camera, like, so now you can point it at anything and measure it, they just got the picture of every person's dick. It was like, this is so genius, now we own everyone's dick. I guess when they know the size of everybody's dick, it's sort of like they know the size of nobody's dick. It's kind of compromised. That's the hope.

I hope there's ladies out there measuring their pussies. All right, spin it again. And while it spins, we'll just think about how that would work.

Oh, yeah, I guess you can't. Okay. Oh, it landed on anti-affirmative action Asians. Nicole,

is this yours? No. landed on anti-affirmative action asians nicole's is yours uh no uh this is mine i submitted this and i forgot that the right wheel supposed to be more fun than this um but uh we're in like the fucking i don't know ninth iteration of the world's stupidest Asian people suing on behalf of white supremacists who hate affirmative action. I think this time it's at Harvard. I think it's like a thing where Asian people, and this is not, so I'm only talking to Asian people now,

so everyone else in the room. I'm not listening. Just like, yeah, just tune the fuck out. But we're always so willing to be used as fucking cudgels for white supremacy, so fuck those people, and you're not gonna, We're always so willing to be used as fucking cudgels for white supremacy. So fuck those people. And you're not going to... Don't go to Harvard, you assholes.

I mean, who can argue with that? Let's spin it again. Me! It's landed on killing spiders with a blowtorch. Something only Nicole Byer could talk about. Me! It's landed on killing spiders with a blowtorch, something only Nicole Byer could talk about. Me! Me! Why is everyone so stupid?

Why would you want to kill a spider with fire? Just, like, scoop it up and put it back outside. Or, like, smoosh it with your shoe. Also, people are playing with fire too much. There was a gender reveal where a man shot a firework into the woods and then burnt down the woods. Like, we all have to stop burning things. It's not good.

I mean, no wonder the earth is so mad at us and is trying to kill us every single day. Kind of no better metaphor for just men than burning down a fucking firework. I assume that's where that went. Let's spin it again. Okay, it's landed on chicken Halloween. I have no idea what that means. Let me tell you children about chicken Halloween.

No, this is a... God, that's that was what i was gonna say oh boy uh but still uh apparently uh i forget who put this out someone was like you guys do not dress your chickens up for halloween because there's some sort of like salmonella outbreak going on and they're like the more you touch the chicken, the more likely it is you'll get whatever diseases the chicken is carrying. And so if you have to touch a chicken for long enough to put a Halloween costume on, like, farmers are being warned

not to dress their chickens up for Halloween, and I think that that is a travesty. I think there's a price we pay for Halloween fun and sometimes that's contagious diseases. I mean, who could argue with that? I truly didn't know which way you were going to go until the end.

Neither did I. I knew in my heart that you wanted those chickens dressed up. I wanted those chickens dressed up. It was beautiful. A little Batman chicken. Here's what I like about the idea of a Batman chicken. Batman is already a man dressing as a bat.

So a Batman chicken is a chicken dressing as a man dressing as a bat. And of those three, only the bat can really fly. This is so complicated. Oh, that's great. That was the weirdest rant wheel I've ever seen. But that was the rant wheel. Yeah! Emily wins.

Yeah, chicken Halloween. It's chicken Halloween. Everybody's ready for a chicken Halloween. And that's our show. We did it! Thank you. And that's the new theme song for your show.

Thank you so much to Emily Heller, Andrew T., and Nicole Byer. I'm Erin Ryan. This was Love It or Leave It. Woo! Straight Shooters Loving, living, it's loving, living Respecting all those eyes Loving, living, it's loving, living Straight Shooters