#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 2024 Election Recap: Harris Concedes, Trump Wins: Now What?, GOP Controls Senate

Episode Date: November 7, 2024

11.6.2024 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: 2024 Election Recap: Harris Concedes, Trump Wins: Now What?, GOP Controls Senate Vice President Kamala Harris conceded the 2024 presidential election. We'll show you her concession speech, which she gave at Howard University a while ago.  We did make history last night by electing a convicted felon as commander-in-chief.  We'll explore what will happen to Trump's legal cases.  We'll show you some election victories, including the two Black women elected to serve in the Senate at the same time, Maryland's Anglea Alsobrooks and Delaware's  Lisa Blunt Rochester. We have so much to unpack about this election.   Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox  http://www.blackstarnetwork.com The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man.

We met them at their homes. We met them at the recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to it. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptuskids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary

mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated,

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Dr Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast.

We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams,

NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne.

We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramush.

What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content,

subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. We'll be right now. Like, wow. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told.

Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Rollin'. Be Black, I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart.

Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Martin! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Martin! Folks, today is Wednesday, November 6, 2024, coming up on Rolling Mark Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. Vice President Kamala Harris concedes the presidential election in a speech at Howard University. We'll show you what she had to say. Also, lots of questions are being asked about this campaign.

What happened? How did 15 million fewer Democrats vote in this election? Also, will Democrats take control of the U.S. House? Or Republicans have a clean sweep? In Jackson, Mississippi, the mayor there, Chokey Lumumba, has been indicted by a federal grand jury. We'll tell you about that. Also, some other wins of African-American candidates across the country. We'll talk about lots to unpack.

It's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin on Filtered on the Blackstud Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's Roland.

Best believe he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's rolling Martin. Rolling with rolling now. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real

The best you know, he's rolling Martel Now Martel Unlike Donald Trump four years ago, Vice President Kamala Harris conceded graciously when it came to losing the 2024 presidential election. She did so by making a phone call to Trump earlier today,

and then she gave this speech a couple of hours ago at her alma mater, Howard University. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, good afternoon. Good. Good afternoon, everyone. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

So let me say, and I love you back. And I love you back. And I love you back. So let me say, my heart is full today. My heart is full today. Full of gratitude for the trust you have placed in me. Full of love for our country. And full of resolve. The outcome of this election is not what we wanted, not what we fought for, not what we voted for. But hear me when I say, hear me when I say, the light of America's promise will always burn bright.

As long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting. To my beloved Doug and our family, I love you so very much. To President Biden and Dr. Biden, thank you for your faith and support. To Governor Walz and the Walz family, I know your service to our nation will continue. And to my extraordinary team, to the volunteers who gave so much of themselves, to the poll workers and the local election officials. I thank you. I thank you all. Look, I am so proud of the race we ran and the way we ran it. And the way we ran it.

Over the 107 days of this campaign, we have been intentional about building community and building coalitions, bringing people together from every walk of life and background, united by love of country with enthusiasm and joy in our fight for America's future. And we did it with the knowledge that we all have so much more in common than what separates us. Now, I know folks are feeling and experiencing a range of emotions right now. I get it.

But we must accept the results of this election. Earlier today, I spoke with President-elect Trump and congratulated him on his victory. I also told him that we will help him and his team with their transition and that we will engage in a peaceful transfer of power. A fundamental principle of American democracy is that when we lose an election, we accept the results. That principle, as much as any other, distinguishes democracy from

monarchy or tyranny, and anyone who seeks the public trust must honor it. At the same time, in our nation, we owe loyalty not to a president or a party, but to the Constitution of the United States. And loyalty to our conscience and to our God. My allegiance to all three is why I am here to say while I concede this election I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign. The fight, the fight for freedom, for opportunity, for fairness, and the dignity of all people. A fight for the ideals at the heart of our nation, the ideals that reflect America at our best. That is a fight I will never give up.

I will never give up the fight for a future where Americans can pursue their dreams, ambitions and aspirations, where the women of America have the freedom to make decisions about their own body and not have their government telling them what to do. We will never give up the fight to protect our schools and our streets from gun violence. And America, we will never give up the fight for our democracy, for the rule of law, for equal justice, and for the sacred idea that every one of us, no matter who we are or where we start out, has certain fundamental rights and freedoms that must be respected and upheld. And we will continue to wage this fight in the voting booth, in the courts, and in the public square. And we will also wage it in quieter ways, in how we live our lives,

by treating one another with kindness and respect, by looking in the face of a stranger and seeing a neighbor, by always using our strength to lift people up, to fight for the dignity that all people deserve. The fight for our freedom will take hard work, but like I always say, we like hard work. Hard work is good work. Hard work can be joyful work. And the fight for our country is always worth is okay to feel sad and disappointed. But please know it's going to be okay.

On the campaign, I would often say, when we fight, we win. But here's the thing, here's the thing. Sometimes the fight takes a while. That doesn't mean we won't win. That doesn't mean we won't win. The important thing is don't ever give up. Don't ever give up. Don't ever give up. Don't ever stop trying to make the world a better place.

You have power. You have power. And don't you ever listen when anyone tells you something is impossible because it has never been done before. You have the capacity to do extraordinary good in the world. And so to everyone who is watching, do not despair. This is not a time to throw up our hands. This is a time to roll up our sleeves. This is a time to organize, to mobilize, and to stay engaged for the sake of freedom and justice and the future that we all know we can build together.

Look, many of you know I started out as a prosecutor, and throughout my career, I saw people at some of the worst times in their lives, people who had suffered great harm and great pain, and yet found within themselves the strength and the courage and the resolve to take the stand, to take a stand, to fight for justice, to fight for themselves, to fight for themselves, to fight for others. So let their courage be our inspiration.

Let their determination be our charge. And I'll close with this. There's an adage and historian once called a law of history, true of every society across the ages. The adage is, only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. I know many people feel like we are entering a dark time. But for the benefit of us all, I hope that is not the case. But here's the thing. America, if it is, let us fill the sky with the light of a brilliant, brilliant billion of stars, the light of optimism, of faith, of truth, and service. H-U. And may that work guide us, even in the face of setbacks, toward the extraordinary promise of the United States of America. I thank you all. May God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.

I thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. All right, folks, let's talk about this. Rebecca Carruthers, Vice President of the Fair Election Center, joins us in studio. We'll be joined in the minute by Recy Colbert, host of the Recy Colbert Show on Sirius XM Radio. L. Joy Williams, political strategist, host producer of Sunday Civics on Sirius XM Radio. Tyler McMillan, youth director, Democratic National Committee out of Philly.

All right, so let's get right into this. Rebecca, when we look at the breakdown here, we look at black voters. It seems black folks were the only ones who understood the assignment, who understood the danger of Donald Trump. And the rest of these folks, they basically decided that, hey, guess what?

We knew who he was. We knew what he did last time. We know what he said. We want more of it. You know, I think it's really interesting, especially as we're talking about black folks and their impact and their intersection with the Democratic Party.

But one thing that I'm gonna take a step back is, it is now time for the Democratic Party reckoning. It's time for that civil war within the Democratic Party. But one thing that I'm going to take a step back is, is now time for the Democratic Party reckoning. It's time for that civil war within the Democratic Party to happen. And, you know, as a black person, I'm going to sit, I'm going to eat popcorn as it's happening, but that reckoning must happen. Well, absolutely. Eljoy, look, you have, clearly you have Democratic strategists who were utterly clueless. All of this talk about black males, and they completely missed what the hell was happening with Latinos. And they chose to focus on democracy, reproductive rights. That's what the election ended up being all about. We were told in the last, you know, three, four days,

oh, independents and late deciders are breaking our way in huge numbers. That didn't manifest itself. So it was as if everything we were being told was utter nonsense. It was a... Similar to watching your feed is the same people repeating the same things to each other,

but those of us who were in the streets and in the field could tell the difference of what was happening. Because we were hearing it on the doors, we were hearing it on the phones, and engaging with people out in the street on this issue. And so, what? Were folks lying? I think they were getting a feedback or a response. It's just the biofeedback, if you will.

Because that is the conversation that was happening on cable news, on social media, and if you are only campaigning to win the media cycle, then that's what will happen. But, you know, I think we need additional data and information to see specifically how this played out in the battleground states and how this played out in the streets. We can, once we get all of that information, for me, at least as a strategist, I need to see the data. I need to see the crosstabs. I need to see all of that information in order to give a greater analysis. But I do think that there needs to be, as we look forward to future campaigning, how do we get out in the

field early? Not from polls and, you know, certainly polls and, you know, MSNBC polls and things of that nature. But how do we as Democrats get out in the field earlier or listen? I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.

Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated,

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way.

In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher.

Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real.

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers. But we also have to learn to take care of ourselves.

A wrap-away, you've got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else. But never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council.

More to the people who are there, who are engaging. Take that data and information and incorporate it into a campaign that works. You know, Recy, in the dinner that we had in November with the Vice President, black male dinner, I said then, and I said this on the air too, I said that January to July should have been the White House, the campaign's complete focus on education, enlightenment, and informing folks of what they've accomplished and what they've done.

The Vice President did some of that with the Economic Opportunity Tour, but it was only five stops. What I said was, I said it literally needed to be every week somewhere where they should have been engaging mayors, state representatives, state senators, city council members and others,

holding town hall conversations, targeting key demographics. I specifically said there should be these black discussions. I said, listen, our show should be on the road, six to eight cities a month doing the same thing. I said, you guys are going to be spending money on advertising. I said, so bottom line is if you advertise on black-owned media, we can afford to do those things. Those things didn't happen.

And so it was like January, then February, then March, then April, then May. And so Labor had a big meeting on June 17th where they got in the campaign's ass. The campaign announced that they were going to spend $60 million with black-owned media, then grassroots. Ten days later, there was a debate. Everything freezes. He dropped out July 21st.

And so, you get to August and you're still waiting for those things to happen. And what I said was, I said the further, the longer you wait, your runway grows shorter. And you don't have the time to actually explain to people what you accomplished. That's exactly what happened.

Yeah. So. I saw your video, which goes to how 14 to 15 million people don't, they literally choose the couch. Yeah, so the voter apathy is the biggest story of this election. And in the 106 days that Vice President Kamala Harris had to campaign, you can't solve voter apathy. No.

The bottom line is... That's built up over a period of time. It is. She had too big of a hole to climb out of because, to be clear, we were losing. Okay? With Biden. Losing and was broke. Yeah. We were losing. We didn't have

any of the things that at least Vice President Kamala Harris did bring to the table, which along with her being the nominee brought exponentially more sexism and exponentially more racism. But this was not a winnable race with President Biden either. He could argue that he's the only person that beat Donald Trump. Yes, but what is he now, 80-something years old? 82-year-old Biden wasn't beating Trump.

He wasn't bringing the people out like that. But the reality is, and we've talked about this so much on your show, Roland, is Dems are outgunned in the information infrastructure. Yeah. You cannot beat four years, and on top of the prior four years, of disinformation flooding our communities

with influencers on TikTok. I'm glad that they engaged them, but you can't outgun them with organic content. You also can't do it late. You can't do it late. And you can't run against J6, Donald Trump. Donald Trump fucked up so bad that he was kicked out of office

before we got to January 6th. The most people in history came out to vote against Donald Trump. They should have ran against that Donald Trump. How do you run against Donald Trump on democracy? Nobody gives a fuck. I said that. People were like, uh. I said,

it's not about democracy, it's about citizenship. You have to make this personal. People only care about what impacts them. And so the fact that we hardly heard COVID in this entire election, the fact that we did not talk about it. Which caused inflation, which caused the economic crisis. All of those things.

The fact that we didn't hear Donald Trump fucked up the economy, which he did. Unemployment was 16% for black people and whatever the fuck it was for white people. The fact that by the time Vice President Kamala Harris gets here and she decides to pivot a little bit, but the election still was still ran on the idea of democracy was a losing battle.

People don't give a shit about democracy because I said it in January. Democracy is not something that a lot of people feel works for them. And then Republicans are equally as animated on the issue of democracy as Democrats are. So there's a lot of things that we have to talk about in terms of strategy, because we have four more years of this motherfucker now, but I will still stand ten toes down on the idea that she left

it all on the field, and at the end of the day, if 15 million motherfuckers could sit up there and look at goddamn Donald Trump, and not just the four years that he was in office, that they said he got to go, but look at all of the and not just the four years that he was in office that they said he got to go, but look at all of the times he's been indicted, he's been convicted, he's been

convicted of civilly convicted of rape and the most racist, xenophobic campaign and go, eh, whatever happens, happens. That's an indictment on this country and that's an indictment on where we are that people just stop giving a damn. Tali, when I look at numbers,

when I look at numbers here, when I look at what the 1834 numbers, there were some assumptions that were being made. The assumptions were being made that, oh my goodness, once Gen Z and millennials, once they get engaged, oh my goodness,

this is going to change, it's going to be a boon for Democrats. They voted big numbers for Donald Trump. From your perspective, what happened? Yeah, first and foremost, I want to say that the vice president and Governor Walz ran a hell of a campaign. The team ran a hell of a campaign. The 106 days that we were on the ground. I firsthand saw the work that the team put into building coalitions, into being in spaces, into being on campus.

That's all about all of our youth organizers and campus leaders who were on the ground, on campus every single day. I think there is a battle of folks fighting for rights and those privileges. And I think last night's election showed what America was willing to embrace. They were willing to embrace racism. They were willing to embrace misogyny. They were willing to embrace hatred. And I think that's what it showed. I think clearly we saw how black folks showed up in this election. Even overwhelmingly, even as I was based here, helping running campus engagement across the state, the turnout amongst voters was massive compared to previous election cycles. But again, I think that before, not only were we fighting the fact of voter education

and the fact of the accomplishments of the administration and what the vice president has done in her role, but we also were in a battle of simply hatred and division and folks who just was not ready or thought that a woman, yet a qualified black woman was able to lead our country and to be respected amongst world leaders. But as I said before, it's a battle between hatred and joy. But also, I get that point. But also, listen, I think when you start breaking down this election, it starts coming down to different pieces and chunks.

And Rebecca, I think if Democrats make the point that it's solely racism and sexism, I think they are losing the argument. I think you have to factor those things into in terms of what happened here. 2024 mirrors 2016 and you had Trump facing a woman, Emily qualified in both cases, and America still has not elected a female president. But you also have to factor in the reality that when you look at exit polling data, when you look at what folks have been talking about,

they talked about the economy. You then have to, I mean, look, you've got Bernie Sanders out with this utterly ridiculous-ass statement by saying Democrats have abandoned the working class when you literally have the most pro-union administration in more than 50 years. Everything they claimed that they needed to pass

or implement to help working-class people, they actually did. So this idea that they haven't done it, so I don't know what the hell Bernie is talking about, or implement to help working class people, they actually did. So this idea that they haven't done it, so I don't know what the hell Bernie is talking about, like what more needs to be done. In his statement he mentions healthcare, prescription drugs, last I checked,

those things were done. Roll it. But hold on one second. But again, even when you look at the economy, you have to look at the fact that they literally did not talk extensively about what they did, and they weren't messaging to the American people for the last three and a half years,

and you sort of wanted them to figure it out during the campaign season. That's not how it happens. Well, with Bernie, first tell me, what is the original bill that Bernie has passed? All this time that he's been in Congress, show me something he's actually introduced and passed. You know, that's the first thing. He's doing all this talk about, well, we need to

talk about the working class. Then what have you done as a national leader? But we can move on and we can talk even connecting it back to the youth vote. The top issue for those who are 18 to 29 who cast their ballot this cycle was the economy. And that was 40%. That was their top issue by 40%. And a distant second was abortion.

And that was at like 12, 13%. And so every demographic across the board, whether it's black men, black women, young people, it was the economy. And so it was also interesting that 18 to 29 demographic, they really felt it during COVID. And so even to Reese's point, even to your point earlier, there was a story to tell on the economy. Right. That story was not told. It was an easy story to tell because all of us were locked up at home and we were, a lot of us were isolated. Even if we were locked up with other people, it was still a period of isolation.

We understand that. Even at a visceral level, we know that. Okay, let's look at 2017, 18, 19. Let's skip 20, 21, 22. And then, oh, 23, 24, y'all suck, let's go back. As if those two years didn't happen. Even the COVID babies, they will remember what it was like not to be around other kids, only maybe a handful of adults. So all of us have experienced that together.

And what's unfortunate is democracy in America is a group project. And I hate group projects for a reason. Joy, you wanted to jump in. Yeah, because, you know, one of the things that was mentioned is talking about the piece that the campaign focused on, whether it was joy, whether it was abortion, I agree with you,

it was something that should have came later as sort of galvanizing people at the end. And this is why I say that it is important to hear from people in the field who are on the doors, who are engaging people, 365, who can tell you what people are experiencing. And you have to run a campaign based upon what you have to work with right now,

not what you wish people would care about democracy. You have to work with what you have right now, not what you wish people would care about democracy. You have to work with what you have right now. And what Bernie is also demonstrating is the same thing that the folks who are voting for Trump experience, is that I don't care about what facts or whatever you tell me. I feel like the economy is worse. I feel like I'm being oppressed from LGBT and transgender. I feel this. And so you have to address

people's feelings on those things. And then you can bring all of the, you know, care about democracy and stuff later for the small population of people who feel that thing and get them off of the couch in order to motivate them. But you've got to get to how people feel, because the country has shown us over and over again

for since we've been on these shores that things move based upon white people's feelings. And if they feel they are impressed, if they feel like they're, you know, they can't buy as many eggs as they could before, if they feel like a can't buy as many eggs as they could before, if they feel like a party is not speaking to their issues or things like that, they vote based upon that way. And I want to bring in Tiffany Lofton, of course, National Labor

Education Organizer. Again, we talked about those feelings. I also believe, Tiffany, that feelings are also dictated by the narrative that's being established. And so, if I unpack this, early on in the Biden-Harris

administration, oh, the media was talking about how they were just smoking on fire, how we finally had some grown-ups who were in the White House, and how they were just enacting policy, doing the right things. And all of a sudden, Afghanistan happens. And then the right goes after him,

approval ratings go down, and then attacking on the economy, and they never recover. And so the narrative was constantly, I remember, gas prices high, news media sends a reporter out to a gas station doing live shots, showing lines and how high was gas. But then when gas dropped to a three-year low, the live shot said, hey, gas is low.

It's because we amplify certain things. Because of social media, people were saying, oh, my God, they're looting these stores. This is crazy. So what did California do? California said, oh, that pending crime misdemeanors, no, it's not gonna be a felony. It passed overwhelmingly. And so people were saying, no, crime is hot, crime is hot.

Even the FBI saying, no, crime is going down. No, crime is hot, crime is hot. Because I'm seeing these things because it's also being amplified in a conservative media ecosystem. That also drives what people are feeling and the reality is, Democrats, progressives, do not have

the right can yell all they want to, Washington Post, New York Times, MSNBC, CNN, all the networks. The reality is, progressive Democrats do not have a focused, concentrated media ecosystem the same way the right does with Fox News,

conservative talk radio, and digital operations. You know, you're right, and there's so many other examples of that. I'm thinking about just how this dance happened. First of all, hi Uncle Roland, it's good to see you. Thank you for having me here.

It's interesting to see this dance happen between what people are saying on social media and how they echo chamber what mass media says or what the Democratic Party says versus the inspection of that for social media to their own followers. I'm thinking about like this whole misinformation campaigndisinformation campaign That Obama had around black voters And black men I'm thinking about I still blame social media for the reason why Brett Kavanaugh is a Supreme Court Justice Nominee because we were talking about what happened to him In college and high school and not talking about

How he wasn't qualified for the actual campaign So there's multiple examples of that But let me also say this as a suggestion To the party who's listening I don't think campaign. So there's multiple examples of that. But let me also say this as a suggestion to the party who's listening. I don't think that it was the wisest decision to have influencers and podcast conversations with Vice President Harris along this campaign trail. I don't think that it mobilized or organized people in the way that they thought it was going to do. And then two, to your point around the messaging for the agenda, the only agenda that I heard consistently this entire campaign for the 170 days that she ran was how terrible the other

party was and the other candidate was. And, you know, I've been on your show a few times during this election cycle, and I talked about how that fear mongering wasn't going to work. In the deficit of creating fear, and Joy just got finished talking about like how this aspirational vision around freedom and things came later and maybe we should talk about that much much later into the campaign um after you get elected and that being the spirit of what you wanted to run on in that deficit voters don't have an opportunity to fight for something or to organize around something or to vote for something. They are operating under the, ooh, we can't get Donald Trump to be president,

and here we are, 4 million minus votes later, with Donald Trump as our presidency. And so the party didn't have, I think, a strong... One, they didn't learn from the lessons that we had in the last few election cycles about actually doing the work on the ground and moving people with agenda items and and building uh a coalition with labor and um and community groups and faith we had the support

but there was no agenda that was crafted in coalition with all of those folks so i don't think she had enough time to do that um but we need a stronger agenda and not the fear-mongering and not the echo chamber of the media to say to voters, y'all needed to turn out because we didn't want Donald Trump. People want it. What I've heard is that people wanted to turn out for something, not against something. Well, that may work with Democrats, but obviously that works very well with Republicans in terms of because Donald Trump was saying the country is trash, is garbage, is going to hell. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a

multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back.

In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for

themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote unquote drug man Benny the Butcher, Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote.

Marine Corps vet. MMA fighter Liz Caramouch. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives.

Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. I can save it, but here's why I have to disagree on the influencers in the podcast piece. Because the game has totally changed. When you look at peer numbers, you take a Joe Rogan interview 11 days ago. On YouTube alone, 46 million views, not even including what's on radio. The reality is that consumers now, unlike any time before, you can talk about buying a newspaper or reading it on site,

but when you get to watch television, you get to either be at home or at work, turn the television on, watch it. They now are downloading directly. So now, somebody literally posted this tweet a moment ago, and the person said, give me one second. The person said, he said, if your media consumption is a Fox morning show, Joe Rogan, Lex Friedman, Jordan Peterson, PragerU, Ben Shapiro, Stephen Crowder, right-wing memes on Reddit, Twitter,

and Instagram, and your nightly consumption is Fox, you have no way of knowing anything good Dems do. The thing is, when you look at how the consultants even placed the vice president, they limited her with media. We know what they did with Biden. They did not flood the zone

with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. One of the reasons he was picked because he was so good doing media, all of a sudden they abandoned that. But also what you don't have is you actually don't have a massive media ecosystem where you can communicate directly with your people. If you had to sit here and name you actually don't have a massive media ecosystem

where you can communicate directly with your people. If you had to sit here and name, I would say your top 25 to 30 progressive slash Democrat slash whatever you want to call it, digital media platforms, they will pale in comparison to the right. So the messaging piece is so critically important because you can bombard your followers with information that's either good

or bad. Everything for three and a half years, Recy, economy sucked. Horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible. We would have a positive jobs report, they would be like, shit, still horrible. And so it was this constant thing, and there were people who literally, even when stores started lowering their prices in the summer, folks were blaming the administration for that

and not the companies. And so the echo chamber of constantly, let's say it's awful, folks bought into it. Yeah. Well, Uncle Roland, can I jump in front of Reesey for a second? I just wanna add one thing. I am not disagreeing that the echo chamber

is significant in helping to move voters because as a person who has knocked on doors, registered voters, called people in phone banks, et cetera, we know how important repetitive messaging is and how important influence is. My point is, now that the election is over for Kamala Harris in terms of her running for president, what's different about what I've seen you do and what I'm saying about influences on social media and the train that I saw her do is that there's no way now to mobilize those people who were activated, who wanted to turn out to vote, to now take action after the election. There isn't a container. There isn't a mass way to communicate with them about what happens next. And there might be a

consistent audience for that particular social media person, but a lot of those influencers, Roland, didn't touch politics before we got to Kamala Harris. And so their audience... Right, right, right. So I'm not... And those followers said to me, I cannot continue to talk about politics because I lost my following

and people didn't want to listen to me talk about politics. Right, but that's why I'm not... That's why I'm not specifically talking about frankly what I call celebrity influencers. Because, so here's what I mean, because that ain't their thing. And so what I'm talking about is, when I'm talking about how you have to have an ecosystem

that drives a narrative. And just so people understand how basic this is. So we could take radio, we could take whatever. So you're sitting here right now, 7,300 are live. So let's see, Tylic, Joy, Tiffany. So it's six of us. Six of us are communicating. Well, that's just on YouTube.

It's not Facebook, Twitch, or the platform. How long would it take for six of us to knock on 7,300 doors? So you have to utilize these tools now to be communicating every single day, every single thing, Constantly and not just in a two to three month window tied around the election.

Right. Well, this is where I will agree with Tiffany because it's not about celebrity. What I've always said is about credibility. Yes. And so what the Democratic Party has always done is they've looked for the celebrities and the numbers and said, let's just

hop on that as opposed to investing in an infrastructure of people who have credibility on these matters. I know some celebrities who they had moderate discussions and I'm watching their pages and some took a week or two to post anything. Yeah. And I was like,

well, why in the hell y'all invited them? Ain't that the damn point? It's not the point. The point is you want them posting. Yeah. And I was like, well, why in the hell y'all invited them? They were just... Ain't that the damn point? It's not the point, right. The point is, you want them posting... Yeah. But they have... The Democratic Party

has a tendency to look at those of us who do this, who have credibility with our audiences, even if we don't have the millions

and tens of millions of followers of the celebrity. But we do this and we help move the needle with engaged people. They have a tendency to look at us as the choir and we don't have to preach to the choir. We don't have to go to their audiences because their audiences are already on board with us. That's a huge mistake that we need

to correct going forward. I mean, Tyler, I'll tell you, it was aggravating to me how long I had to wait to do an interview with the Vice President. Yeah. I remember. I was sitting here going... What are y'all doing? Okay, I'm seeing this and this and this. I'm like, what the hell? Yeah.

And again... I do have one more point to make, though. The other point, though, is I do not want to get lost in all of this. The dissuasion campaign that was waged on our voters because the number one ad

that Donald Trump ran was not on the economy. It was anti-trans. And so when you run ads on anti-trans positions, you run ads on whatever the hell else he was running ads on. They got, between the Kids Campaign and the PAC, they got $120 million.

$120 million. So what that was about was making her unelectable. They didn't say, oh, she's too black, she out there talking about defund the police. They didn't say nothing about defund the police, none of that shit. They said she wants boys to play in girls' sports. And so while they do have in their ecosystem,

he didn't even get, and we don't know what the final tally is, he did not get more votes in this election than he did in the prior election. He did not have to convert even one Biden voter to win, where he lost last time. But what they were very successful at was in dissuading people and getting people complacent. Look at what the Asians got. Oh, they sent all that money to Ukraine and they ain't got money for us.

Meanwhile, they're not giving your ass money either, Donald Trump. He's going to get rid of the Department of Education. He's going to get rid of your motherfucking Affordable Care Act. Your internet is going to go back up to $1,000. They didn't have to make any of those arguments. All they had to do was to hone in on the things that people can get distracted by to keep them at home. And it worked. So we can't just talk about what Republicans are ingesting without talking about the fact

that we don't have an answer. And I didn't see an answer from the Democrats on the deluge that has been happening for years on disinformationinformation because they don't invest in those of us who actually have these conversations. They just want to swoop in a celebrity, which is fine to do, but you have to do that in addition to investing in the information. So, Tyleek, here's where we stand. Trump wins.

Have inauguration. There's going to be always this autopsy, this sort of breakdown. Okay, where do we go right now? Yeah. Look, you're there with the DNC. We don't know if they're going to choose a new leader. Is it going to be Jamie Harrison or somebody else? From your perspective, what do you see?

What do you want to be done? What I want to be done, I think at heart, I think outside of this, when I first stepped into this work, I'm at heart an organizer and a worker coming from the civil rights space. And so I understand first and foremost that struggle is not new. Storms aren't new. But as the vice president said, we adjust and pull up our sleeves to get back to work. I think, as alluded to my fellow panelists, it starts with community building. It continues with coalition building. It continues to have conversations in community about what the issues that matter, really to have a discussion of how we move forward, how we organize, how we're going to organize during this presidency.

And again, for folks to step outside of fear and privilege. I think, as I said before, we were in a fight for folks protecting their own privileges rather than expanding the rights of all of us collectively. So we've got to get back to the drawing board of how we organize, how we bring more young people to the conversation, to the table, how we're having conversations within different sectors as we look at the tabs of where we lacked at. How do we step in and also invest in these communities and ensure that these conversations just don't happen every four years,

but how are we organizing, as you said before, of having town halls and having barbershop talks? How are we doing live streams and connecting with creators and folks that this be a regular conversation and just not every November conversation? And so it gets back to the ground roots of organizing, mobilizing, and getting back to the jarboard to really get to the nail of why we need to be involved in this moment, what's at stake, and really getting back to the basics. Tiffany, you gotta go

because you gotta catch a plane. So I want you to make your final comment before I go to Rebecca, then Joy. Go ahead. You know I'm about to leave the country and go on vacation, Uncle Roland. You're always on vacation. No, I'm not. I ain't been on I'm about to leave the country and go on vacation, Uncle Roland. You always on vacation. No, I'm not. I ain't been on vacation in about a year and a half.

Where have I been? You know you're going to be doing some yoga headstand. Watch me. Friday morning. Tiffany, take me with you. Thank you. Friday morning, check my IG, Uncle Roland, because you know I'm going to be upside down on the beach somewhere.

I'm not telling your followers where I'm going because I got stalkers, but I will tell you when I get back. And you'll see. And you know I was in the hospital for six days, so I deserve this break. So let me say this. I agree with my fellow panelists. And I want to add, there's so much to assess from this last campaign. I have a serious soft spot for the campaign that she just had to run because she didn't get the opportunity to run a full campaign from primaries until now.

She didn't have the whole year. She had only 170 days, a couple of months to run her campaign. She was running as the vice president. She didn't get to run as president until the beginning of fall. That is not enough time. That is unfair, I think, for her to run a campaign. Yes, they said they ran a good one, but I know for sure if they would have had more time, we would have had a different conversation about assessing or critiquing the strategy that the team had to put this new woman in the position when Biden said that he wasn't going to move and he was going to continue to run. That being said, the ground game and the communications game, I live here now in Atlanta, Georgia.

The messaging from grassroots organizations were incredible across the city. And I saw them all over the state of Georgia. Vote for Kamala, vote for Trump, vote for Kamala, vote for Trump, et cetera. I even saw this sign that was really interesting and a little offensive that said, Kamala is for they, them, Trump is for you. So it was all over every YouTube commercial I saw was a donation ad. Every text message I had came a couple of times a day. So my recommendation that I have now is that they didn't talk to some of the folks here on the panel, including myself, about advice for strategy to move their people. They didn't start early enough communicating to

voters. And I think there were some very poor choices about what type of voters they were going after and who their audience was when they were setting Vice President Harris up to speak to, to speak on her campaign. And I think all of this is not just a lesson about how we do better, because we always get those lessons after every campaign. But really, Roland, the question I have, which I don't have an answer for, the question I have is, in the future, do we need to have a strategy on how to move white women? Or do we focus on the people, the 15 million people who didn't show up this time and try to go after those folks? When I see these polls, and I know

it's going to be evolving over the next couple of days, I know your face. I know your face. I know your face. I see you. But I think we have, and I'm not saying it's our responsibility. My question again is, do we need to think about a strategy to move these white women because all of them just voted against their interests and voted to oppress all of my people in my communities and i'm not i don't understand these white women i don't i don't get them they're like this foreign species that i'm trying to understand because i'm like how in the hell did y'all show up in the way that y'all showed up again for his elected official and i hope your panel can talk about that, or somebody DM me and give me the answer later.

And I'm going out of the country, and I will see y'all in a week when I get back. Enjoy America. Enjoy your vacation, and we'll look forward to seeing your yoga headstand on Instagram. The point she makes there, Rebecca. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them.

From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at lava for good plus on apple podcasts i'm clayton english i'm greg glad and this is season two of the war on drugs by sir we are back in a big way in a very big way real people real perspectives this is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player,

Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne.

We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote.

Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real.

Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it.

I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. It's this. When you look at suburban white women, Trump increases support there. It's not hard what the issues were. They played to the crime issue. They played to the immigration issue they played to the immigration issue nothing scares a white woman to vote republican more than to say crime is on the

increase uh and then you talk about oh the encroachment of look at all these illegals coming in uh and how they how they are they are hurting your babies they play right into that and so they fall for the okie doke. Here's the thing. The way white women are socialized in this country, when they get uncomfortable, that's when they show up passive aggressive. So that's just a cheat code

of how you manage to deal with white women. They are uncomfortable, they get passive aggressive. They're passive aggressive because they're experiencing discomfort and they don't know what to do with it. But I have a completely different thought than Tiffany. I think black communities should focus on ourselves now. I think we ought to be selfish.

And even in our selfishness as black people, if black people do well in this country, everybody does well. So it's not a rising tide lifts all boats. Lift up black people in this country and this entire country would do well. So as black folks, because we understand that, and oftentimes we're on the short end of that stick, we need to focus on ourselves. I've been reflecting and thinking more about Dr. King, talking about is he getting the black community to run towards a burning building?

Did he really sell us a, did he really sell us a, did he really sell us a, I'm losing my words here. A dream? A dream. Did he sell us a dream? Yes, Recy. He had a dream.

He had a dream. But we're living the nightmare. And so we actually need to be selfish. A lot of times we talk about the black and brown coalition, we talk about being BIPOC, I am black. And one thing that- First of all, I never even used BIPOC. I think BIPOC, Latinx, all them damn phrases,

they drive me crazy. First of all, hold on, Tyler. I'm gonna go to Joy. Joy, you've been waiting patiently. Go right ahead. Yeah, now I got notes. So, um... So, the first thing, to Tiffany's point, um, and to others' point on, um, a strategy for these white women, you know,

I agree that it's not selfishness, it's self-preservation. And I don't think that we need a strategy for that. They have to develop that on their own. And to Tiffany's point that I'll have to text her about later on her not understanding or knowing these white women, yes, you do. You do, because we've worked with them. We've worked alongside them. They've been our bosses. They've been our coworkers. They've been in different spaces where we've had to deal with their passive aggressiveness,

deal with them siding in different ways from that nature. And to your point, Roland, and others, is that when they are uncomfortable, they will run to what they know and feel comfort in, this thing that anybody does, that any human being does. And what that comfort is, is under the shelter of white supremacy. And that's where they run to from that standpoint. I believe we don't have a strategy for them to try to woo people back, just like I don't believe in having a strategy to woo Republicans or woo independents. Because the greatest population that we can persuade are those people who chose the couch. And how we persuade them, I know because I do it. How you persuade them is you give them something to vote for. You give them an agenda to vote for, which goes back to Tiffany's point, and that you're not just sowing fear and discomfort and vote against someone, but you give, we're voting on this agenda that will increase, you know, your financial well-being, that will increase your health care, that will increase your child's education.

Give them an agenda. And so for our organizations, the communication strategy that you're talking about in the narrative is that has to be from now, this post-election review, going into the midterms and then preparing for redistricting, preparing for census and redistricting, going into that we are preparing people on an agenda of this is what we can gain when we build our political power in that way. Okay, so you talk about the agenda. So, let me put this on the table because this is also what is perplexing me in a huge way. First of all,

let's bring in Dr. Wes Bellamy, Chair of Advocacy for the 100 Black Men of America. Wes, glad to have you here. So, I'm going to put this out and I want all of y'all to respond to this. So, explain this to me. How does Missouri codify abortion rights in their Constitution?

How do they pass a living wage, but then reelect Josh Hawley, who is against both of those things? How does Arizona do the same? I mean, when you look at some of these states, when you look at the choices that they made on the state level, but they re-elected individuals who are absolutely opposite those very things, and I saw there's one tweet,

the person asked, okay, so Democrats now have to ask themselves, how do we lose big in Missouri, but they pass two things that Democrats supposedly are big on?

Wes, your thoughts? Racism. For me, I don't think that there's any other way to describe it. When I look at my daughter and I look at the ways in which, like, people just voted, I'm very disheartened. But I also clearly understand that racism, in my personal opinion, is the biggest factor at play. There's no other way, in my personal opinion and personal estimation, to describe or to break down or to analyze what you've just described for all of us. The major ballot initiatives passed in states like Missouri and Arizona. But nonetheless, those same voters couldn't go and find themselves or couldn't find it

within themselves to vote for a Black woman arguably the most qualified individual that we've seen run for presidency a person who served on our three levels a person who by accounts was ready and prepared to lead this nation a person going against a 34 count convicted felon they couldn't find themselves to do it and to me i don't think that there's any other way or explanation other than pointing out blatant racism. And I think Democrats as a whole need to stop looking at developing and building out this, quote unquote, tent and focus on those who have consistently been there for them, i.e. black folk. And let's try to run up those numbers and speak to our needs, because that's the only way this party is going to be saved, quote-unquote, for lack of a better term.

Recy? I think that Republicans like to have their cake and eat it, too. They like to have their power look a certain way, and then they like to have everybody else do the heavy lifting. In this case, they couldn't leave it to us to do the heavy lifting. In this case, they couldn't leave it to us

to do the heavy lifting on things like abortion rights, even though it failed in Florida and legalizing marijuana. And the reality is that Republicans are reliable voters. And so I want to put to bed this notion of a voter realignment. I want to put to bed this notion of the demographics are shifting more Republican. He got the same Republican votes that he was always going to get. Right.

But when we fall off, then now those percentages are higher. Right. So it's not that there's a surge of Latinos, surge in terms of Republicans. They always voted. Those Latinos always voted for Republicans. The problem is the people who would be in our corner dropped off to the tune of 10 to 15. We don't know what the final number would be. So what we have to do...

First of all, figure out who the hell are those $15 million. That's step number one. That's first. Who the hell are they? Step number one. Are they black? Are they white? Are they young? Are they middle-aged? Are they old? Are they female? They're a little bit of everybody. We have to figure out who is reaching them

to the point that they stay their ass at home. We have to figure out who is reaching them to the point that they stay their ass at home. We have to figure out what issues animate them. But hold up. But this is, again, where I still struggle with this. Let's take Pennsylvania. Yeah. The Democrats are going to hold the Pennsylvania House. Yeah.

All right? When you look at North Carolina, North Carolina, they elected four or five Dems statewide. Yeah. And the Democrats won enough seats to stop the supermajority in the legislature.

Yep, yep. But it didn't translate to the top of the ticket. Yeah. What did we tell people was at stake? What did Democrats tell people were at stake? The number one issue was abortion. Right? Okay.

And so if you can, if you're in places like New York, like other, as you mentioned, in Missouri, right, where you have fear and concern about the economy, but you also care about abortion, now here's a way, oh, well, I can protect my abortion rights and still... I can protect it on the state level and still... Right.

And still vote for Trump. You see what I mean? Yeah, I got you. And so being able... It's in terms of that agenda of what we are telling people. So what we are telling people... So Democrats kept thinking,

they kept saying, oh, well, because abortion is going to be on the state ballot, hey, that's going to help us when actually it didn't because it passed on a state level. Not federally. Right, I'm saying.

Not federally. Right, it passed on a state level. It helped you there, but it didn't, because it passed on a state level. Not federally. Right, I'm saying. Not federally. Right, it passed you on a state level, it helped you there, but it didn't help you in the presidential race. Yep. So one thing that I noticed is that Democrats are oftentimes looking for a cheat code. So they thought by having abortion on the ballot,

that's a cheat code, because then people are going to just vote down the ballot. Right. We also understand when it came to going to barbershops, if a Democrat shows up to another barbershop or beauty salon, like, black people do more than get our hair done. I can't tell you. We do more than haircuts.

But that's the reason why when you ask the question where those 15 million are, right, we have to dig deeper into what our society is. And again, I'm not talking about other people because I don't know about other people's community. I know black people. And organizing and engaging in my community, I know that there is decline

in the institutions of our community, right? So those 15 million people, when we talk about opportunity youth who are disconnected from a job, from school, from a church, from a community institution, from an NAACP, for any of those things, right? Those 15 million people are disconnected from any of those institutions that are already engaged and mobilized and can move people and talk to them on a regular basis.

We don't talk. NAACP does not talk. And I'm talking wholesale, not talking about Brooklyn, because we a different thing. But they do not talk to those 15 million people. Our institutions do not. Right. And particularly after COVID, when we're talking about faith based institutions and others who are still struggling to get people back into the pews and into their institutions, they are disconnected. So your point about being selfish, again, I would use a different word in terms of self-preservation. We have to dig down deep into our communities and we have more opportunity to grow and develop with those people that are choosing couch and are not engaged, and not just engaging them, come a presidential election. Rebecca, then I'm going to go to Tyleek.

The other thing I want to point out with Missouri, I also think when it comes to abortion, this is also about abortion tourism. There is money in that. Because when you think about all the people who are traveling to Illinois to get an abortion, when you think about those who travel to Kansas, think about the states that surround Missouri. You have Oklahoma, you have Arkansas, you have Tennessee, you have a portion of Mississippi, kind of. You have a small little sliver, it's close, you know, even parts of Mississippi. So

when you think about those who have to travel, even going as far down to Texas, there is money in that. And the thing I know about Missouri, not Missouri, is they're the show me state. They care about money. They've legalized marijuana because this is about money. And so that's something we also have to think about is we are still in a capitalistic country. And we know it is undergirded by white supremacy. But these white people want to make money. Well, speaking on the money part, Tylee,

listen, when you look at 1834, great concern when it came to student loan debt, when it comes to housing, things along those lines. So, now the question that's on the table is, okay, for those of y'all

who voted for Trump, what are you going to do? Because he didn't have plans. He had concepts. Tyler, go ahead. Yeah, I think it goes back again of the fact that people are choosing privileges over their rights. I think clearly as we think about, and we talked, we had a conversation before about how the vice president could have stressed, you know, the issues that matter to folks. And I will argue that she did. She talked about the fact of home ownership and the fact of putting down a down payment to create equity for your family. She talked about creating small businesses and giving folks a head start to starting the

business. She talked about child tax credits to give folks a head start to starting the business. She talked about child tax credits to give folks more money as they're starting families. So I think she had those conversations with voters, but they—for somehow, folks did not resonate or pick up on the policy stances that she stood for, but rather folks cared about the privileges of—I'm talking about white supremacy and racism. We can't get around it. And I think those were the main interests.

And as even pointed out before, I think it's surprising to me that we see states like North Carolina that elect Democratic governors, but yet we are losing the overall vote when it comes to the presidency of the vice president, or even states like Pennsylvania, where governors like Shapiro are leading the state. And so I think it is rather confusing to me, but I think it only justifies the fact of how we must really get into community to get those folks off the couch for the folks, for the many folks who did not even show up at all, and how we really connect and resonate with those voters, first and foremost.

And even as Dr. West pointed out, staying true to the voters that have been consistent to this party, which has been black folks. Because as we said before, when black people win, America wins. And so we must stand hold to that first and foremost. But, Wes, here's the reality that I keep saying. 2016, 2020, 70% of the electorate was white. And so my greatest fear, my greatest concern was,

could Harris hold the white demo, the numbers that Biden got. That was the issue there. And so we could talk about Obama in terms of how he did and how that touched people. But as someone said last night, that's a unicorn. You have to look at this reality that when we talk about whiteness, we're talking about culture.

And so, Tyler just listed all of these things the vice president laid out. But it's abundantly clear the voters didn't give a shit about policy. They didn't give a damn about policy. Again, the black

folks that voted for Trump, where's the policy? In fact, all of these I mean, again, of the black folks that voted for Trump, where's the policy? And in fact, all of these ADOs, ADOS, FBA people, all these folks who are out here, all the loudmouths on YouTube, I need any of them to show me, show me Trump's black agenda. It don't exist.

So what you're dealing with here is, again, I remember people kept talking about vibes with Harris. I think they voted for Trump on vibes. Oh, you know what? I vote for Trump, and I'ma feel better, and stuff is just gonna magically happen. It's gonna get better. And what's all he's gonna end up doing

is literally taking credit for all of the hard work. Biden and Harris will end up being sharecroppers to Donald Trump because he will take credit for all of the work they put in to fix the economy the same way he did with Obama.

The foundational stuff. So this is my point. In some way, agree, some may not agree. I was having a conversation with some folks earlier. I really think that the Democratic Party needs to look at the bench and the individuals who are going to run moving forward. As

sexist as this world is, this country and this nation is, as racist as this country and this nation is, we've got to be very candid and honest with ourselves that people, as you alluded to, most individuals, in my personal opinion, they're not voting for policy. They are voting for vibes. So the party is going to have to present an individual who, while you said Obama was a unicorn, I like to think that there are a multitude of individuals

who can kind of feel and fall into that realm. Governor Westmore is one of which. I think that white culture and whiteness will respect him due to his military background. From a just quite honest sexism and a chauvinistic perspective, there are going to be men who, quote-unquote, say, yeah, I can vibe with that dude. There are going to be white women who often fetishize or fetishize about black men.

And they're gonna say, they think he's handsome. Like we have to be, Democrats are gonna have to put forth individuals who not only energize and invigorate within our persons, within our community, go out and say, I identify with this individual. They're cool. I wanna, I can see myself identify with them.

Like I wanna be like them. And-and that's what the... like, the common person, in my personal opinion, are voting for now. Because as you alluded to, Trump... Trump has no policies. Like, but people are caring less about policy, and they're caring more so about popularity. And I think that we have pers...

Democratic Party has persons who fit that mold. We just got to present them. I think what happens now, Recy, again, I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man.

We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown.

We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouch. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does.

It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more.

Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. We're talking about in terms of, the bottom line is going to be that the first thing is Lord Jesus prayed that Democrats win the House. Now, look, it's tough. You've got about 20 races still outstanding, but you pray they can get the 218 because that then stops a MAGA agenda from... I mean, he can do executive action, but... And the judges.

Right, right. He can do that. But I'm saying, but legislative, it has to go through the House, so you pray for that. But also, I think where Democrats are now is, first, who's going to lead the party? Mm-hmm. And now, who's going to lead the party? Mm-hmm. And now, what is going to be that strategy to focus on the 2026 midterms?

Yeah. Also, state races. You've got state races in Virginia next year. Mm-hmm. So, when Eljo was talking about redistricting, you've got to say, yo, how do you knock down some of these super majorities

so you have a say when redistricting comes around at the end of the decade? That's there. I think you have that. Also, you also have to figure out a communication strategy, meaning also communicators.

So what he just said, question now becomes, okay, who are going to be those folks? We saw Gavin Newsom a whole lot... Yeah. ...between January and July. When Vice President Kamala Harris gets the nomination, it was like he disappeared. He did.

All those Fox News appearances, what happened? I don't know if it was like, he disappeared. He did. All those Fox News appearances, what happened? I don't know if it was the campaign's call, or if that was his call. To Wes's point, I said even last year, that if Biden-Harris ran

this year, and they lost, that there was no doubt in my mind Wes Moore was the number one in 2028 yeah because i've seen him it's this it's this very weird thing in terms of just how how some people how can somebody communicate with regular ordinary folk with rich folk with and so some folk have it some folk don't't. Yeah. So now the question then becomes, the party's not going to position him. No.

But how does he position it? Because you're going to need those external voices targeting the administration and the policies and getting people focused and interested. Yeah. Well, first, let me say, I don't want to attach Governor Westmore to the notion that we can't elect a

woman, because he, in and of himself, is a sensational politician, exceptionally talented. He has all of the intangibles, and then he has the benefit of being a governor of a Democratic state where we just elected a black woman senator, who he was behind in the primaries. And so I don't

want to attach him to that. I think that he has his own merits on his own record and his credentials. I agree with you on the point of communicators. But I think the number one thing, to your point, is communication and information is, we have to develop a counter-strategy. In your chat right now, Roland, I noticed, even though they won, there are all of these chaos

agents, these Trump supporters, these fake FBA ADOS people who are relentlessly everything that comes out of our mouth, they're countering in this chat and they're amplifying Donald Trump. So even though they won, they're not lighting up on their communication strategy, because

they understand that this is a cumulative impact of making sure that their narrative is the winning narrative. And so Democrats have to attack all of the conversations we have with the same level of discipline and relentlessness that that Republicans are showing. That, to me, is the very first step is being as relentless and as devoted to countering what the Republicans do. Now, I thought they did a pretty decent job during the Trump era of of having their press conferences and pointing out all the bad stuff that Republicans were doing. But they didn't point out all the bad shit they were doing while Biden-Harris were in office. And so they have to not let up this election for the remainder of the Biden-Harris administration, and they have to

invest in the same things that the Republicans have invested in. If they do that, then we have a fighting chance with Wes or with whoever else will be the nominee in 2028. Rebecca? You know what's really interesting, Recy? I was also reading the comments. I see a lot of the FBA and ADOs. You know what? By any account, I am FBA and ADOs. My family has been in this country for centuries. We have

survived for centuries. And what's always interesting is whether it's Tariq or Yvette and they're doing their discussions and they're talking about tangibles or lineage, how are we gonna make decisions? And even with thinking about the concept of reparations, that still goes back to the economy, right? Because we're now talking about personal economy,

we're talking about things that are owed to those of us who are descendants of people who have built this country. But even still, what's also kind of weird for me, though, is even seeing the bots or the people with misinformation saying, oh, we should just burn the whole thing down. When has that ever... If you are ADOS or FBA, when has it ever been a black American ideology

of just burn all this down? My family built this. And you're telling me to burn down everything my family built? No, I'm going to take it over because it's mine anyway. Well, but here's what's interesting, though. Because, Joy, part of this whole deal is

the folk who... Guys, get Khalil mic'd up, please. The folks who voted for Trump, they want to burn this down. Oh, yeah. They want to burn this down. And that yeah. They want to burn this down. And that's the thing that I think we have to recognize. We're dealing with people who Trump appeals to them with this whole idea of,

oh, yeah, we're going to gut this whole system. I'm going to bring RFK Jr. and we're going to gut all of this sort of stuff. I'm going to bring, and Elon Musk is gonna just go through all of government and we're gonna just gut it and people like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then, of course, when that hurricane hits North Carolina and South Carolina

and Florida, they're like, oh my God, where's FEMA? Oh my God, where are you? No. What do you mean we're out of money? And so again, when shit hits the fan, Joy, now I'm going to be like, okay, where's government? But now let's gut everything. It's like, all right, let me know how that works.

Because what's at the root of this is that let's go back to this make America greater thing is going back to a time period when the functional government of this country was only focused on the needs and the desires of wealthy white men. That's it, right, because it's eventually like—so getting rid of these extra protections and you having equity and getting rid of the bloated government that

provides support for everybody else, this socialist government that provides support for people that should pull themselves up by their bootstraps in this, you know, sort of American lie of how people were able to build on their own without the help of anybody else or any other entity. That is, all of that is centered around going back to a time frame where an Elon Musk, where a Donald Trump, where all of these, quote-unquote, titans of industry, right, could rape and pillage a country, and it benefit them and only them, and not provide for anybody else. And the people who are not themselves wealthy, aspiring to be those people. Because again, we've created this narrative as Americans, this is the American narrative,

right? Just think about the people that we hold up as titans of industry, the corporations, the others in terms of building, and to our co-panelists' point in terms of capitalism, we've built that up as an America wholesale. And so even if you're not that, that is my dream and desire. My dream and desire is to conquer somebody else. My dream and desire is to go to that point. And so I want to strip away anything that anybody else can have. But if I'm in trouble because I'm either that white male that you that aspires to be like that, that or is like that. No, send FEMA for me, send resources for me and my community, but not for anybody else. And, you know, Roland, just to speak on that point, being out in the streets and talking

to, you know, black communities here in New York City, and that narrative that we all talk about, about people feeling like people that are coming to this country, asylum seekers or others, are getting something that... They're getting more than anybody else or things that are being taken from us and given to them. And I use for an example to a brother... Khalil, come on over here, Khalil.

Y'all, just bring a chair with you. Just come on. Y'all go ahead. Yeah, I used to a brother on the street, and I don't remember the stat right now, but I told him about the percentage of people, particularly black people in New York City, who qualify for the public assistance

that they believe that all of these asylum seekers and others are getting, but don't apply because they don't want it, they don't need it, or whatever. So I was like, the things that you're talking about that other people are getting, there are people who qualify right now that they need to go and fill it out and they can get, but they won't do it.

Right? So who is taking it from you? I'm gonna tell you right now, Taga, I'm telling you right now. Folk had better adopt my phrase we tried to tell you. Because, again, it ain't going to take us long to see the destructive path that Donald Trump and his administration plans to implement.

And I'm telling you right now, it's going to be a lot of orange tears from a lot of people when they go, shit, he did that? And we're going to say, fool, they told you they were going to do that. And I just think a lot of these people, and I want Tyler and Wes to respond to this, a lot of these people act like he never said this stuff.

You already got conservatives going, oh, yeah, we all going to do Project 2025. They were lying the whole time. And we all knew they were lying. And these fools actually believed the lie. Tyler, go ahead. We talked about how we feel safe in our communities. He has already come out and said he's giving police officers full immunity.

Like, what does that do for us? When we talk about the fact of even on the first day, we talked about the Latino vote. He says on day one, he's doing mass deportation. So it's like folks literally are voting against their interests. But it's going to be a huge wake-up call on day one of what's really at stake. Because I say all the time, we're in a fight of our lives right now. And I just really hope that folks don't become comfortable or complacent in their day-to-day lives. And I know we can get to these elections and the day after we want to fall back into our own personal lives and our day-to-day lives. And I know we can get to these elections and the day after we want to fall back into our own personal lives and our day-to-days. But I challenge folks to not become comfortable or complacent, because there's so much at

stake. And we stand on the shoulders of sheroes and heroes who have fought tooth and nail for us to be even on this platform right now, having this conversation and this dialogue, for us to just give up and allow him to take back all of our gains that we have made. So it's going to be a huge wake-up call. And not only is it going to be a told-yourself, but it's going to be

a, I hope it is an alarm clock for folks to say, we don't got room to be messing around right now. Wes? I think it's twofold. The whole time that I've been making it,

in some regard, I think it's going to take an individual to show Latino folk who believe that they're white adjacent, that they're not, through his actions and not just his words. They didn't believe it when he was shooting paper towels in Puerto Rico. They didn't believe it when it seemed as if, like,

he allowed this individual to call, there's a floating piece of trash in the ocean. But forward, he's going to show them with this mass deportation, with reminding them that they are black and brown, with the enabling of nationwide stop and frisk, qualified immunity, and other policies that he's already, again, said that he's going to do. When minority-serving institutions,

which you know are by large and part Hispanics, as well as HBCUs, lose their Pell Grant funding and the Department of Education is dismantled, and Latino schools or heavily Latino schools lose their Title I funding, as well as very white elementary and middle schools lose their Title I funding. It's not until something dire like that happens

for many of these white and, again, white-adjacent folks... Yeah.... are going to understand yeah and we just have to persevere yeah i i listen i said last night and i still believe it uh they gonna have they gonna have to experience some shit yeah and and what's gonna happen and i'm gonna go ahead and say this and i know some folks might think it's cruel, but that particular moment when folks start getting deported and they're going to be looking around for help, it's going to be wrong. And then when Trump sends even more weapons

to NetYahoo and they start carpet bombing to the people in Dearborn, Michigan, this could be my position. What wrong? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Let me explain why.

Because when Rebecca said it, and I talked about it Let me explain why. Because when Rebecca said it, and I talked about it last night, when Dr. King talked about walking my people into a burning house,

everybody else always wants us to play the fireman. We sounded the alarm in this election. We yelled, hollered, and screamed in this election. We tried to tell people. We tried to warn them. But folk decided, you know what?

Hey, y'all going to do what y'all gonna do. Sometimes you gotta let folk experience getting their ass whooped before you step in. Now, I know some may disagree with that, but there are some people who are gonna have to get taught a lesson that there are consequences to your vote. And I'll never forget, 1984, Reagan just destroyed Walter Mondale.

Mondale won one state, Minnesota, and all them white boys and white girls, college Republicans, boy, they were out there, ooh, Reagan ragging, four more years. Damn near three weeks later, his ass slashed Pell Grants and student loans.

Them same white boys and white girls were shedding tears. And I remember sitting there. Hell, I was in, what, ninth grade, watching news with my dad like, mm-hmm, bet y'all ass saying something different right now. People are, you have to let some folk see evil in action. Now, I'm going to go biblical.

Somebody hit me earlier today, and they said, man, how do you explain what happened? I said, 1 Samuel 8, God freed the folk from Egypt, from Pharaoh. Now, here they are. And they're like, Samuel, we need a king. He's like, y'all good with God? No, no. We need a king.

We want a king. God's like, all right, I'm going to give y'all a king. Samuel, go ahead. He told Saul. Saul was evil as hell. He's like, oh, my Lord. Saul's our king. God's like, y'all wanted a king. America said last night, we want a king.

We want a dictator. We don't care about the convictions. We don't care about the felonies. We don't care about the porn star. We don't care about him stealing the classified papers. We don't care about January 6th. We don't care about him stealing the classified papers. We don't care about January 6th. We don't care about him lying. We don't care about him fudging

his records. We don't care about him owing all these cities $10 million. We don't care if he's going to pardon January 6th. They said, we don't care about none of that stuff because Donald Trump's our guy and he's going to make America great again.

Okay, when he jack your ass up, this is how Black America should respond. How you feeling now? I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated.

I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and

episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way.

In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne.

We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter

Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does.

It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptuskids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council.

Well, let me say this. I will not be silent in the face of injustice, regardless of what people voted for. Excuse me. But I will not put my labor and my body on the line because this is what people chose. Right. You need some water? I do. Can I have that one? I'm about to drink this

damn water, y'all. That was your water? My bad, my bad, my bad. It was sitting there too damn long. It was sitting there like an hour. So I was like, well, maybe that ain't Rebecca's. I'm gonna drink it. Help us just out. I appreciate it. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Can y'all bring two waters, please? Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Go ahead. Hold on, hold on. Reese is gonna finish up. No, no. I was giving her some space. No, no. She ain't going to join. I was giving her some space. Go ahead. No, all I wanted to say is that, no, we cannot let up. This goes back to, again, we cannot be complacent. We have to be relentless, and we have to be disciplined

about calling out this shit so that next time, okay, now you motherfuckers learn. Remember, you thought it was a game. Now you learn. But the reality is that everybody went into this election clear-eyed. Right. When Trump won in 2016, he didn't win the popular vote. Right.

Oh, he gonna probably be more liberal than Hillary. Hillary is a hawk. She's a da-da-da-da. Right. And so maybe I can forgive you first time. Shame on you. But second time, shame on me. And they were open real clear.

They were very clear. And so what happens next, shame on you. But second time, shame on me. Oh, and they were open real clear. They were very clear. And so what happens next, it's we're clear. And we're going to make it clear that this is what you asked for. And we're going to make it clear that you didn't have to make this choice. Right. We're going to make it clear come 2026 and 2028, make a different fucking choice if y'all like what's happening. Right.

Go ahead, Joy. Go ahead. Well, I was just going to agree with reesey that i'm not going to remain silent because i'm not going to let them change who i am right and so who i am is someone who is going to call out the injustice and and push back against it um with all i can and i'm going to continue to that. So I'm not going to let that change in that instance. The thing that I do believe and I will be solely focused on is whether it's in the form of this political party or others is how do we build that infrastructure for black communities to build that black agenda,

that whoever is chosen in this party infrastructure, that we have a greater say-so and a greater hand in moving this and moving an agenda and setting up the infrastructure in order to insulate black communities. Khalil Thompson, Women with Black Men executive director. So I'm going to specifically say this to you, ask this to you, Tyler and Wes. That call we did, 55,000 black men. Women with Black Women organized in 20.

They've been doing Sunday calls every single week. What's next for women with black men? There was a one-point increase with black men. I've been saying since 2012 that there has to be a very specific strategy to speak to, to invest in, to communicate with black men. What does that look like post-election? First of all, I think, thank you for having me here, Roland. Always happy to be here tonight.

I think what's most important is that we need to focus on the numbers and the data and then have a conversation with black men after this. As you said, only a one-point difference in increase for the Republican vote that black men win. 77% of black men voted for Kamala Harris. There's not a big gap in this. There wasn't a monumental shift that changed. The only thing that's different is we were always a number two voter. This time, number three was black women, Jewish women, and black men.

Very true. But, I mean, again, we haven't seen a chasm that really popped up out of nowhere, and we've been holding this down at the top of the top two behind black women for decades and for years. I want to start having a conversation about where were Latino men, where were white women who were high school educated, why aren't they having more of a conversation around them?

Once we do that, I think a roadshow where we start talking to black men in barbershops as we continue to do, what are policies that you believe are gonna be better for you now with this? I don't want to go to the barbershop. But I'm sick. I don't. I want to go. The only barbershop that I I'm sick. I don't. I want to go. The only barbershop that I'll do is G's in

Milwaukee because it can hold 200 people. And because I think it's now turned into a trope, black men are communicating in other places. And so I say, look, let's do something in some community centers. Let's actually... I'm just...

It's just driving me crazy. So, if we take out the... Take away the moniker of Bob Schaaf. What we want to do is go to brothers and say, look, you have an opinion for why you either didn't support Kamala, you weren't hearing something in the Democratic Party right now, maybe something you didn't hear

or you wanted to hear in the Republican Party. Whatever that is, let's make that scorecard. Let's see what happens in the first 100 days. If you wanted this administration to deliver on you, great. Then let's see what they deliver on. And if they don't, okay, then what are you asking for? What is it that you really want from a policy agenda? And let's start

having that conversation now in December of 2024, in January and February and March of 2025. And so I think that's the first step. Then from there, we need to tell donors, we appreciate what you gave to Kamala Harris' campaign, but there are organizations out here, not only like Women Black Men, Women Black Women and others that are doing the work in our communities.

We know many of them on the ground in Michigan and Pennsylvania that need direct funding. I think a lot of our frustrations, we understand donors wanted to get on the board and show her and show Governor Walz that they were supporting their campaign. But that final hour took vital funding from grassroots organizations that needed it. I mean, we were on text chains where offices were asking us to donate

money to make sure volunteers could get pizza. Can we get five, ten grand? Which is why, which is why it was, I ain't got a problem, it was my idea when I said, no, we ain't giving all that money to the campaign. We gonna keep some of that money. And there was some people who got an attitude

and I was like, I don't give a shit about your attitude. And we were able to at least take almost $500,000 and give it directly to black male group on the ground. And it was 146 across the country that applied for the money. And so you saw the demand that was there.

I know Black Voters Matter had a $3 million deficit that they should have gotten. And so those PACs were not sending them money, but you want to turn people out. The reason I asked that question in terms of what's next, Wes, is because

what I don't want brothers to do, and every place I go, I say this, and it's all the time. What I say is the election is the end of one process and the beginning of another. So election's over, okay? The candidate we wanted didn't win. We're still constituents. So the question now, Wes, is, from a black male perspective,

what pressure are we now applying to who's in charge? How are we then holding them accountable and then calling them out? And I see some of the folk who are gloating, I see some of these black dudes who are gloating today. And I'm saying, all right, you gloating. Where your damn plan? Since you're talking all this shit about the vice president,

where's your plan? Again, this is that moment where we have to challenge Loudmouth to say, okay, you supposedly pro-black. You supposedly all that. Where's your plan since you were like, oh, well, they didn't do this and didn't do that? So how do you see this black male movement continuing post this election?

I think in twofold. One, we have to be intentional about how do we communicate. I'm not talking about the brothers who already have the six-figure jobs or the brothers who are already a part of it, and no disrespect intended, but who are part of some of our Divine Nine organizations

or the Boulay, or who may already have reached a certain status. I think there has to be some intentionality with us specifically going to the block. And not the barbershop, but I'm talking about the block. And having conversations with brothers, first of all, us not being afraid to have conversations with our brothers. Right. They may not present in a certain way, or we may not articulate themselves in a certain way, or we may show up in a certain way, we have to be intentional with having conversations with them

about how they become engaged in the political process. I love Khalil, and I agree with Khalil's point in terms of us allocating resources, but I only push back a little bit, and, you know, that's my man, I only push back a little bit in the sense of brothers told us what they wanted. Like, they were very candid, at least in the 27 stops that the 100 black men did across the country.

And I'm sure you heard this as well, Roland and Khalil, like as y'all were going across the country, brothers told us what their high those issues were created or, excuse me, presented within the Vice President Harris's blackmail agenda. On the state and local level, having those issues presented is still very far-fetched. And it's going to have to be for us to encourage them to show up at their city council meetings, at their school board meetings, at the statehouse, but that means that there has to be some intentionality with education and then consistency with the groups who already have trust on the ground. When I look at groups like the New Era Project in Detroit and Brother Zeke, who some folks didn't necessarily want to engage with because they thought, for whatever reason, his persona and the way he presents himself may be a little different, but he has the streets. Like, it's those groups that need to be funded in order for us to be

able to build up our brothers, get them engaged, and then I think we'll see the long term impact. But this is, as you alluded to, it's a marathon. And that consistency, I feel like is missing in many regards. And ain't nobody else gonna do it but us. So, Roland, you know, I'm looking forward to us

having our talk, me, you, Khalil, Quinn, Bakari, whoever else. And we get in our group chat, and we talk about how we gonna go and hit the block to engage with brothers who, again, are feeling like either I can sit this out, or they do identify with Trump, shoot, give him a chance,

because I'm tired of hearing what everybody else got to say. Tyler? Yeah, I would, you know, double down on that as well, but I will also say how we are keeping the dollars circulated within our community, how we're raising the dollars, how we're going back to these funders and saying

these, you know, inner city organizations and folks who aren't necessarily connected to the establishment can have access to this money? How are we funding organizations that continue to teach Black history to our kids? How are we providing funds to those organizations who are educating, as we talk about Trump trying to eliminate Head Start? How are we giving money to these organizations who are providing scholarships to students

who are attending historically biocollegiate universities when we know that Pell Grants are under attack? How are we providing funding to organizations that's helping women who are bleeding out in the streets when they need emergency medical care because of the fact of abortion bans in certain states. And so how are we circulating the dollar and raising, going back to our fundraisers and our folks who gave the big dollars to say, how can we circulate that money within community and provide, as Dr. Bellamy said, folks that are in the streets, these organizations who are not your regular, you know, go-to organizations, but folks who are actually plugged into communities

and giving them the dollars that it takes to help folks change folks' mindsets. Because I've saw throughout the trail and visiting different organizations, folks aren't just necessarily engaged in our everyday organization, but folks are connected to grassroots community organizations, whether that's through their local, you know, basketball gym

or their coaches or, you know, different avenues. So how are we providing funding to those folks who are really in community doing that grassroots community building and really giving them the resources? So, go ahead, Cleo. But it doesn't just stop there. I think there's also an accountability that has to happen. I'm not talking about individuals, but we saw a campaign that could have gone,

been monumental in this election cycle. We got away from what works in our communities. Not only are we persuasion, but then we need to be mobilized to go vote. We were seeing that our communities were not being spoken to. In Philadelphia alone, I heard that there were close to 240-some thousand voters in wards and precincts that just didn't come out and vote because people didn't have a chance to knock on their door.

That was a 10% drop-off in Philadelphia, and Detroit only hit 47% of turnout. And so if we're asking, we then need to go to the campaign. And Trump increased. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.

Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission.

This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way.

In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves.

Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush.

What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content,

subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care.

Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. His turnout in Detroit by 53%, so he went from 6,700 votes in Detroit to about 19,000 in Detroit. And I love media. I will always be here at the Black Star Network. I think we've got to find unique ways to reach people, but that can't be done at the sacrifice for having a conversation at somebody's door, picking up the phone and calling them early on in the campaign. So I challenge everybody.

I'm just like you. This afternoon, I'm like, great. I love that you got the presidency. Awesome. I love that you got the Senate, and I hope you get the House, in my opinion. I want you to have no roadblocks to get your agenda in because then there is no question at the end of the day.

I know. Bear with me. Because there's no question at the end of the day i know bear with me because there's no question at the end of the day when we go back to our brothers and ask if you have if you have all of these systems in place and you couldn't enact or you couldn't get the financial assistance that you wanted or the policies that you wanted well then tell me what you really wanted at the end of the day do i really believe that mass deportations are actually going to happen i don't think it will i know my daughter and I are saying it. I know he scared us. I know he scared us.

Maybe I'm a little crazy. There's money in it. So, yes, all this stuff is going to happen. But I feel like once we start doing it, average Americans who don't want to take those jobs that are in the Sun Belt to go pick that food and it's going to be on your grocery store, those prices are going to go sky high.

I think things are going to come back to the opposite. No, so then you'll keep... So this scheme is you keep incentivizing people to cross the border, work here, being paid under the table. Then you mass deport them because someone's going to make money off of it. Then corporations are going to go back to Mexico City with their billboards, recruiting people

to show up at the Billings, Montana, to do this work. It is a cycle because there's money attached to it. So let me... So you said something about accountability. And when Wes talked about traveling and, you know, folks, brothers were saying what they wanted. Okay, now to those brothers.

What you gonna do now? Maybe that was my point. Forgive me. See, to those brothers, because see, when I traveled, and when I specifically asked brothers, they couldn't tell me.

There you go. They were talking about, well, I want to be heard. I was like, okay. I'm listening. What? We're here. Yeah. What do you? I was like, I know the campaign's watching. What do? They're here. What do you... I was like, I know the campaign's watching. What do... They couldn't.

And so, now, again, and I threw it out there, I can't wait. I really can't now wait. All the ADOS and the FBA folks who talk shit about Democrats and the Vice President and Biden, okay,

now what y'all gonna do? Please, all y'all folks who said, well, if they stand up for reparations, I'm voting. Okay. Show me where Trump and the Republican Senate and the

possible Republican House, where they stand on that. Now what you gonna going to do. See, this is where it's put up a shut-up time. So it's a lot of people who have been running their mouths, saying all sorts of stuff, what they're going to do, what they want. You need to have this, you need to have that. Okay, now what you what you gonna do? That's why when I said,

I'm gonna sit back and look at some folks because we're always the ones who are organizing, moving. All right, let's go stand with you. No, this is right now, Joy. I'm gonna need some other people to get off their ass and lead the march. I'm gonna need some other people to get off their ass and lead the march. I'm going to need some other people to sit here and say,

we're about to oppose this thing because we've been carrying a whole bunch of other people. And they showed their ass on election day. And it's like, okay, now what y'all going to do? I mean, I've had more folk... I've been seeing a bunch of people say,

look, don't y'all start blaming Latinos. What happened? Shit, our numbers didn't look like theirs. Right. This man insulted... 77 for one. This man insulted Puerto Ricans, left it, and they still voted for him?

But not every Latino identifies with the plight of Puerto Rico No, I understand that what we're done. I'm saying that what I'm saying is he is so the Puerto Ricans He made it clear. He's gonna do mass deportation He called folks rapists and criminals. He said they crazy The worst they are poisoning our blood. So he said a whole lot. And all these people kind of like... That ain't me. To their perspective, they're not talking about them. Because, you know,

whether it's people who have identified that they've been here for, you know, two generations, they're talking about them. My hairdresser, who is Afro-Latino, would be talking to me, but the last time I went to her, which has been some time

now, but the last time I went to her she was like, oh, they're all coming over here. And I'm like, girl, are you really sitting here and talking about other people coming over here and taking... Like, are you doing this right now? Okay, I can't see you no more. So, like, that, again, people believing that it's not them.

They're not talking about them. The other thing, I think, is that people don't have a real grasp in terms of the diversity of who Latinos are in this country as well. And what white supremacy and others has done to people in Latin America and also here in the United States that people don't identify in that way and how they are socialized, how from race, from gender, from everything is different based upon where you come from. And I think people do that wholesale Latino thing. And but Latinos don't themselves. There was a battleground state, I can't remember which one, where a group of Republican

voters were pro-Trump, and they were advocating for deportations and rounding people up. And then there was a gentleman who worked at a store, who they all went to and shopped with, and then he got arrested and was deported. And they couldn't imagine, well, he was one of ours. He was one of our immigrants that we loved.

And then they didn't realize what the policy would. So to your point, Roland, I'm just going to sit back. Y'all wanted this. This is what you voted for. I'm going to advocate for our communities. We're going to hold them accountable for what we want. But this is your administration. This is what y'all wanted.

Enjoy it. I say it. We are waiting to see for a lot of these House races to be decided. So that's one of the things that we're looking at. Of course, Republicans had 220 seats in the last Congress. Democrats had 212. And so some in one way, some in the other way. We also talked about some of the critical elections. You look at some of the state elections.

There were some Supreme Court pickups that also took place. Democrats now control the Supreme Court in Michigan. We saw what the Republicans did with redistricting commission in Ohio, how they purposely screwed that language up. That's one reason why it went down. Hopefully the people there will try to get it back on the ballot. I think what people need to understand,

and this will be our final point here, and Joel, I'll start with you. What they need to understand is last night happened because the populace went this way. Yep. That's exactly right. Facts are facts. When the populace goes this way, Republicans win.

When it contracts, when it expands, then Democrats likely win. I'm saying Republicans and Democrats because I'm also looking at agenda policies that speak to our interest. And so you've got state elections coming up. You've got midterms coming up in 2016. Jamie Harrison, according to Reuters, has made it clear he's not running for DNC chair. So the question now comes in, who then will be DNC chair?

Joy, I'll throw it out to you. Is there a name or what type of person do you think the DNC needs to lead them over the next couple of years? Or really over the next four years? Right. You need someone who is focused on building infrastructure, number one. And that is building infrastructure in the states and really digging down deep into the numbers and the state entities that we have and what they need. Some need additional funding. Some are not only fighting back against their own selves within a party structure, but then also we're fighting against Republicans. So everybody is going to need something different. And you need to focus

on building that infrastructure that you talked about, not only from a national standpoint, the communication structure, the organizers, the communicators, all of the stuff that you've talked before, but also how are you building infrastructure in key states? And also someone who has the foresight to build an infrastructure that is inclusive of the base and the people that you want to grow into. And lastly, I would say someone who has the spine enough to push back against the funders and the donors who always want to go with what they know and what they are comfortable in funding. Because that is another piece of, particularly in the Democratic Party, right, is that people are going to follow what is getting funded. And if they can grow a spine and put forth a plan and agenda to build the infrastructure that's necessary

and then tell donors and others, this is our path forward. This is what we need, and this is what we need to fund in order to grow this party, in order to win back, not only going into the midterms, but going, like I said, looking forward to redistricting. Right? Like, this is

all hands on deck and being forward thinking and not just being on the defensive for the next four years. Rishi. I was hoping you would come to me next. You know, I think to Eljoy's point, infrastructure, but I would say emphasizing information infrastructure as well. I've said it a million times. I'm a broken record.

But we cannot organically win a war on information that is invested into the tune of a billion dollars. We cannot win a war with people just saying things out of conviction. We have to cultivate our side. And so we could talk about a Roland, but Roland does not have the resources as much as he has the reach and as much as he has the credibility. We done made a whole lot with little. Exactly. So we always on a shoestring budget and we always clawing out and finding our way to something.

And everybody else is swimming in cash. And so we have to invest in information infrastructure. I think we have to get creative. Or as she said, we have to be a little bit less squeamish about people who don't necessarily look like the people who people should be listening to, to Dr. West's point that he made earlier. Not everybody is going to be straight-laced and whatever, you know, but you got to open up the you gotta, you gotta open up the door to people who don't always communicate in the way that people are, that the Democratic Party always

feels comfortable with. And then there is one other point I had. It's slipping off, but it's going to come back to me. So come back around to me. But there was one other thing I really, really wanted to say, but I have to think about it. Khaleel. An organizer. Someone who can get with all the coalitions

in this big tent party, bring them together. I think Howard Dean's 50-State Strategy was critical and important. We need to find organizers in the Democratic Party that can go, as LaJoy said, at a state, local, and municipal precinct level and dig deep. We don't need you necessarily to be on the ground,

but we need you to work with the groups that are on the ground already doing the work and amplify their work on a national level. Then we need to talk about resources. I love that we invest in media, but I am sure we paid for certain people's third... White media. White media. Certain people's third and fourth Nantucket

homes of the billions of dollars that were raised on this campaign. I am frustrated that more black-owned, and by black-owned, because I saw this article, I don't mean an equity partner that's of a white-owned firm. I am frustrated that more black-owned, and by black-owned because I saw this article, I don't mean a equity partner that's of a white-owned firm. I mean a black-owned business that pays for the EIN and the taxes at the end of the year that does the 990 themselves, and it is black-owned. They're receiving that funding and those resources to build and build capacity. And so having somebody that is chair, that is an organizer,

that has budgetary autonomy and authority, and then can do true leadership in our community, I think that's where Jamie Harrison was hamstrung over his tenure. Rebecca. I said this earlier. I think the Democratic Party needs to have a civil war. There is no new leader. There is no path forward

until you actually fight for the heart and soul of the Democratic Party. The person who should lead the Democratic Party should be someone who has skin in the game. They actually have a personal, they actually have a personal stake connected to the outcome of what happens. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who raise money,

make money off the Democratic Party, they're gonna be fine. But I also wanna pivot slightly for black folks. I'm more concerned about what black folks should be doing, less with the Democratic Party, because the Democratic Party was created by white people for white people. We happen to be using, the black people as a collective

happen to be using the Democratic Party now, because compared to where the Republican Party is now Democratic Party seems like the party that it is easier to have those negotiations with versus this current Republican Party even though 50 years ago look different black folks were able to negotiate with the Republicans so saying all that I think for those who are going to organize within black communities for black folks, stop going on the Democratic Party banner and using the Democratic Party as shorthand. Just like I said, Democrats are lazy when they want to go to the beauty shops.

They want to go to the barbershops, even though a lot of the beauty and barbershops are different now. You go in suites now. It's no longer this big community shop the way it used to be. But saying that... Mine come here, it'll come out here. Well, see... No, I'm just saying.

No, what I'm saying is that, I mean... Yeah, it's different. You got barbers now who have mobile units. It's just we're living in a different environment. Yes, so people have to keep up. So I think with organizing black communities, if you're organizing within our communities and you're black, you have to lead on issues, talk about topics,

then connect the dots with how things work, how civics work for people to understand it. You have to show impact. You have to lead with issues and impact to daily life. Instead of saying, oh, well, it's the Democrats, vote vote Democrats vote blue no matter who no I will not I will skip that line you know the other thing is I was talking to an organizer who's much younger than me and he was actually asking me about the role of AI I thought that was interesting the role of AI and organizing because right now with a lot

of political work you see AI being used in fundraising. So what does it look like to add AI? I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company

dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts binge episodes one two and three on may 21st and episodes four five and six on june 4th ad free at lava for good plus on apple podcasts i'm clayton english i'm greg glad and this is season two of the war on drugs podcast sir we

are back in a big way in a very big way real people real And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher.

Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really them. It makes it real.

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

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i to organizing because earlier we talked about the old school way of organizing looks different we're still doing that civil rights model so what what does it look like, especially as Gen Z is starting to age? They're 12 to 27 years old. So now the 18 to 27 year olds can now vote. So what does it look like for us to use technology and use a sense of Afrofuturism in how we organize? I did remember my last name. Tyler. Tyler. I think he's gone. Oh, he's there.

Tyler. Yeah, definitely. I would echo the same sentiments that was said before. I would say on the progressive ideas that the party has, we have to stand the line on where we put our values at and not being afraid to be progressive thought leaders and sticking to the point. As we clearly see, the other side sticks to their point.

We must do the same. As I said, holding the funders accountable, not being afraid to teether the line, but being unapologetic about our progressive values and our voter bloc. We understand that young voters, Gen Z, millennial voters are the new voter bloc, and the mindsets of how we feel about different issues

and progressive issues is much different than other generations. And so we can't be afraid to say what we stand for to make folks feel comfortable. I remember my last point. Go ahead. So the last thing I wanted to really say is that, and I'm not saying that this applies to Jamie Harrison,

but when we're talking about going forward, we need somebody who can rid the party of this elitist attitude, this dismissiveness of large swaths of the voters, and dismissiveness about what is moving the needle with people that we need to bring out to the ballot box. I mean, there were a lot of things that went unanswered this election cycle. There are a lot of disinformation talking points, dissatisfaction with funding for Ukraine, for instance, dissatisfaction with immigration, dissatisfaction with trans. And I don't think we should throw trans people under the bus. But my point is that we need people who have their finger on the pulse and who will answer to the things that are bubbling up instead of being like, well, we're just going to have message discipline and we're going to focus on these things and that stuff ain't going to matter at the end of the day. No, it all matters.

And so that is one of the biggest parts. And when we're talking about black people specifically, Rebecca, I want somebody who understands that just going to the Divine Nine and HBCUs and black churches does not cover all of the black people that we need to reach. I mean, I had an event and I'm not trying to brag, but 650 sold out black people and somebody made a remark and they shouted out the Divine Nine and people had. That was 10 percent of the group. Okay, what about the other 600 people there? And so you know, you have to reach

every person. And there's, you know, we're going to be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, y'all, what's up? We're going to big up you, but at the end of the day, there is, black people are no more monolithic than Latinos are. There are black Latinos. And so we need people who understand that you have

to do more to reach more of us and you have to pay attention to the things that people might think are stupid that somebody's listening to. That's dumb if they believe that, but they are. So what are we going to do about it? And we have four years that we need to start today and not yet.

Not even yet. We have four to 2028 but two to the midterms and next year for virginia where we need to start moving the needle on the things that the republicans have had a six-year head start i'll move the needle with our voters and getting them dissuaded and and getting them to choose the couch so um i'll say this here. I think the next leader of the Democratic National Committee has to come in with

a big-ass trash can. I think the next leader of the Democratic National Committee has to make it clear that there are consultants and folks under contract who should be given their walking papers. Because the advice in the council that was given

was shameful. Because the advice and the counsel that was given was shameful. The DNC, even though the DNC chair cannot control PACs, Future Forward needs to get called out. How are you the designated PAC for the campaign? And I travel this country country and I was in battleground states and I was watching television and listening to radio and y'all supposedly

were running the stuff. It was amazing how I didn't see it. But I saw lots of Make America Great Again, PAC and Trump campaign commercials. So I think that's one. Two, you've got to have a leader who can communicate

in the streets and the suites. You've got to have somebody who is aggressive enough to go on media outlets, and not just MSNBC, but showing your ass up to this show, to Sirius XM radio shows,

going to other digital shows and podcasts, and actually having a media strategy. It means hiring a team to put back together the black political infrastructure that was obliterated when Obama

was president. That has to happen as well. And you also have got to have a DNC. And that's the DNC. Republicans are going to control the Senate.

Democrats, Chuck Schumer cannot be the minority leader. Oh, yeah. I don't give a damn how much money Chuck Schumer can raise. Chuck Schumer no longer

can be the Democrat minority leader in the United States Senate. His time is done. On the House side, I don't want to see Nancy Pelosi's ass again on television doing interviews. It's time for you to go. Hakeem Jeffries is not, if Democrats regain the House, he becomes the majority, he becomes Speaker of the House.

If Republicans control it, he becomes the majority, he becomes Speaker of the House. If Republicans control it, he's the minority leader. Now, it's time for you to go home to your husband. No, no, no, no, no. No, I'm saying that for a reason. Because you have to understand, you cannot

continue to have 75, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82-year-old people laying out your strategy when you're trying to reach demos and when Nancy goes and she only goes... She don't do black media. No, she don't. Because she damn sure didn't do black media when I asked for speaker.

But she'll hop on MSNBC show and thank goodness we ain't gonna see on Andrea Mitchell. Because Andrea Mitchell tired ass done with her show. I'm saying this because you cannot put new wine

in old wineskins. You cannot put new wine in old wineskins. You cannot have these folks who are still trying to use a playbook that's 20, 25 years old when literally what is facing us is totally different. That's true. It simply cannot happen. And

this is also the moment where the Congressional Black Caucus has to truly wield its power and put some of your fellow Democrats asses in line. You are the largest caucus in the Democratic Party.

You should be setting the agenda. You should be leading the fight. And then we start talking about all of these different groups, CBC PAC and all these other PACs and groups. What the hell are y'all going to be funding? Politico dropped the story. Somebody leaked it that the CBC offered up a $10 million proposal to the Harris campaign to do a bus tour and to help out, invest in two groups

to help these various house races. It wasn't the Harris' campaign job to help you win house races. That's what you were supposed to do. And the campaign turned it down. But let me be as real clear as possible. A CBC bus tour ain't it, y'all. What the CBC should have been saying is,

send that $10 million to Black Voters Matter. To New Georgia, to Georgia Stand Up. Send to the actual groups that are on the ground. Because the data don't lie. Y'all, numbers ran. Michigan, as of right now, and again, what did I say? Detroit, 47% turnout. She lost Michigan by 81,750 votes.

Pennsylvania, I told y'all, 10% drop off in Philadelphia. Some say that comes out to be about a quarter of a million votes. She lost Pennsylvania by 130,487 votes. Wisconsin, what did I tell y'all in, what did I tell y'all what happened in 2022? 50,000 fewer people voted in Milwaukee than they did in 2020. If those 50,000 people in Milwaukee vote in 2022? 50,000 fewer people voted in Milwaukee than they did in 2020. If those 50,000 people in Milwaukee vote in 2022,

Mandela Barnes is a United States senator because Mandela Barnes lost Wisconsin by 26,000 votes. Right now, Kamala Harris is losing Wisconsin by 29,634 votes. That's UW. Nevada, down 63,114. So,

if you look at Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, folks, we're talking three states, 250,000 votes.

There's 250,000 votes. That's the difference between being president and going back to California. 15 million people sat out. The next chair of the DNC needs to put the map on the wall and needs to say, city by city, what the turnout was. And then they should go, first of all, state by state, then go county by county, city by city, and then specifically for us, go, I need to see the precincts in Milwaukee. I need to see the precincts in Philadelphia.

I need to see the precincts in Charlotte, oh, but speaking of North Carolina, damn it, can y'all please stop going to Western North Carolina? Do y'all understand that since 2020, the VP made about 18 trips to North Carolina. Yeah. One to to North Carolina. Yeah. One to eastern North Carolina. That was a county. I think it's Anson County, North Carolina.

That's 40% black. Trump won that county. How? Y'all, this is math. So if I'm going through the data, if I'm going through the data, I'm in search of votes. And now I'm saying the data's showing who did not show up. And now I'm creating conversations

and coffees and dialogues and whatever kind of sessions in those places because I'm preparing for 2026. I can tell you what Speaker Don Scott in Virginia is already doing. I can guarantee

you, Don ain't waiting until the fall for the elections in Virginia. I guarantee you, I guarantee you, Don ain't waiting till the fall for the elections in Virginia. I guarantee you, I guarantee you there are going to be conversations happening in January, in February, in March, in April in the critical House districts about what they've accomplished in Virginia since Democrats took control of the House.

They're not going to wait till the end of the year. Lastly, for, and I love somebody sitting and talking about, we're only trying to figure it out. I ain't trying to figure it out. Hell, I've been trying to tell y'all this shit for the last year. This ain't nothing new. I'm just telling you what the next leader has to do. And the next, the last point of the next Democratic leader, you're going to have to be willing to actually challenge some of your own people with their white paternalism and maternalism. The next leader of the Democratic Party is going to have to challenge white Democratic donors who would rather hand the money to white operatives instead of black people.

Yeah, that's real. And so, we know what's gonna happen with Trump. Oh, by the way, there were two or three people reached out. They wanted Brother Speaker M.O.K. Day. That was inauguration. Obviously, I will not be in this son of a bitch on January 20th.

Right. So, or January 6th. What black people need to be doing So what black people need to be doing, what black people need to be doing is go through the grieving period, take your time, be pissed off, but come Monday, and I give until Monday, come Monday, it's time to go to work.

Because that evil son of a bitch will be doing evil stuff. Yeah. And we better be prepared to swing back and take their ass out in 2026. I'm gonna be pulling the data to see which Senate races are happening. Because they probably gonna have about a... So Slotnick won in Michigan.

Oh, good. I saw one piece... She pulled it off? Yeah, she pulled it off. Rosen may lose in Nevada, depending upon these... Because they're still accounting ballots. Casey's lost in Pennsylvania.

Sherrod Brown's lost in Ohio. And so... What about Tester? He lost. Tester lost. So they may have a 55-45 margin in the United States Senate. Okay. 26 is tough, too. That's a tough map, too.

So 26... Georgia? Yeah. Oh, I'm glad you mentioned Georgia. So let me just go ahead and say this. I spent five weeks on the ground helping Warnock and Ossoff get elected. Ossoff has not come on this show one time. And I have personally said to him three different times

that they're not coming on. And I said, also, you got my number right. He does. Now, I told his staff in 21 and 22 and 23 and 24, yeah, it's going to be running for re-election in 26. And let me remind Ossoff's staff, Warnock ain't on the ballot this time. You're going to have to wait.

You barely won last time. So let me just be real clear to these white Democratic senators and House members. Y'all going to need black votes. Ossoff, you're going to need black votes. I would advise you and your staff to come talk to black people and don't come holler in 2026.

Because we've been trying and you know it. Because not only has my producer been emailing your staff, I personally spoke to you three separate times. I ain't got a problem putting out there publicly. Just saying. Folks, and let me say this here, and for the person who's named Tone Blue, he's thirsty for guests.

Your mama disagrees. All right, y'all. That's it for us on today's show. Support the work that we do. Join our Bring the Funk fan club. Send your check and money order to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. PayPal is rmartinunfiltered.

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Folks, Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches! I'm real revolutionary right now. Like, wow! Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. Stay Black. I love y'all.

All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? I know a lot of cops.

They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes.

We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey.

We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. This is an iHeart Podcast.