#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Defining Financial Success,Trump Sentencing Postponed Indefinitely, Rep. Jasmine Crockett Chronicles

Episode Date: November 23, 2024

11.22.2024 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Defining Financial Success,Trump Sentencing Postponed Indefinitely, Rep. Jasmine Crockett Chronicles A new study examines how generations view financial success. I'll discuss the huge disparities between generations with economist Morgan Harper.  The orange convict's sentencing is postponed indefinitely, and he may request that his conviction be overturned.  Trump's Defense Secretary denies the allegations in the newly released police report.  Sean "Diddy" Combs is waiting for a judge to determine if he'll get bail.  We'll tell you have New York is honoring the first black woman elected to Congress, Shirley Chisholm.  My congresswoman, Jasmine Crockett, will be here to talk about this week's Capitol Hill shenanigans! #BlackStarNetwork partner: Fanbasehttps://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbase This Reg A+ offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.  This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment. You should read the Offering Circular (link) and Risks (link) related to this offering before investing. 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. to, yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it. I'm Max Chaston. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your 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 know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

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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. Today is Friday, November 22nd, 2024, coming up on Roller Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. A new study examines how generations view financial success. I'll discuss the huge disparities between generations with economists Morgan Harper and Gen Z.

Literally, I don't know what's wrong with them. Wait till I show y'all these numbers. Folks, the orange convict's sentencing is postponed indefinitely in New York, and he may request that his conviction be overturned, which is absolutely nuts. Trump's defense secretary picked and eyes the allegations in a newly released police report

that shows his involvement with a woman that says she was sexually assaulted. He says it was consensual. Sean Diddy Combs is waiting for a judge to determine if he will get bail. That was a hearing today in New York. We'll also tell you how New York is honoring the first black woman elected to Congress, Shirley Schuster. Folks, my congresswoman, Jasmine Crockett, will be here to talk about this week's shenanigans on Capitol Hill. And also, why is it that white political pundits,

reporters, journalists, commentators, keep whining and complaining that Democrats focus too much on identity politics when they completely ignore that whiteness is an identity. It's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got whatever the piss he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine.

And when it blips, he's right on time. And it's rolling, best belief 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, go, yo. Yeah, yeah. It's Roland Martin. Yeah, yeah. Rolling with Roland now.

Yeah, yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's Roland Martin. Yeah. Martin. I'm always amazed at how people look at money, how they look at finances, how they look at how much you should be earning, how much you should be making compared to the reality in America. So I saw this survey and I was completely baffled by what I saw. Pull the graphic up. So the question was asked, what does it take to be financially successful?

And they looked at various generations. Well, boomers say, this is a survey of 2,203 adults that was conducted. Boomers, people born between 1946 and 1964, said, you know what, $99,900. Gen X, people born between 1965 and 1980, they said, oh, you know what? Your salary should be, again, y'all, this is minimum, $212,300. Millennials, 1981, 1996, said $180,900. Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012, they literally said the minimum to be financially successful to earn is $587,800. $587,800.

What the hell? Morgan Harper is an economist with the American Economic Liberties Project. Morgan, glad to have you here. Morgan, what's wrong with these people? I mean, what world? And I'm not just talking about Gen Z. I'm talking about the only person with any rational view are boomers. But when you see these numbers, do these people actually understand salaries in America? Well, OK, so I'm going to push back a little bit here because I do think we have to recognize the different experiences that the generations are having.

So no boomers saying they're happy with making ninety nine thousand a year. Well, or to be considered financially successful. Well, are they also getting a pension? Are they feeling like they already own a home and they have some equity in that home? And as we move through the generations, that might be a whole different calculation. Gen Z, and this gets back to a lot of what we were hearing after the election, not feeling financially secure, feeling like their health care costs could be changing at any time. They're not anywhere near qualifying for Medicare. They're not close to being able to buy a home.

Landlords could be changing prices on them at any moment. I think there is this overall lack of a sense of financial security in younger generations. What's interesting to me is the dip and the change between Gen X and millennials. Millennials are kind of like more at ease with less money than Gen X. But yeah, that to me, I would say probably like the changes in the cost of living and what people are able to attain in terms of financial success at certain stages of life has changed quite a bit over the last 40 years. Here's where I'm going to push back. I believe you have a generation that has a social media view of the world where you can take multiple trips a year, multiple vacations, how you want to live. Because here's the reality. The numbers don't lie. The percentage of Americans who earn more than five hundred thousand dollars a year is less than one percent the other day i saw uh i saw a video where this where this guy was on and he goes oh a hundred thousand dollar salary means nothing and And I went, um,

bruh, I know, because his whole deal is about investing and making as much money as possible, but the problem I have is median, understanding median family income. I was having a conversation with my brother

and we were talking about where we grew up in Houston, and my parents combined never made more than $50,000 combined. So we were on this group chat, and my brother said something about the category we were in, and I said, no, actually, that's wrong. I said, if you look at the salaries that mom and dad made in the 70s, we were actually middle class. So you're thinking we were actually lower, no, no, no.

We were actually middle class. I don't think people understand, really, median family income in this country. Understand that, and so I think that's where I struggle. So people are walking around with this view of there are these numerous half a million dollar jobs out here. And I'm like, no, it's not. I think that's possible. I mean, yeah, I do think that there's a skewed set of expectations to an extent, but I don't think that we can

attribute it all to that. I mean, you can't deny that the average person is having to expend a lot more financial resources to attain what are considered the basic or the typical building blocks of the American dream with the house, child care, health care. But I do think we have to factor in some of what might be driving what you're identifying as a little bit of irrational estimations could be that sense of insecurity. And there is something emotional and not entirely scientific about how we estimate the value of that insecurity. Insecurity that

comes from, and this is something that I hear a lot from people, business owners, individuals who are working, healthcare premiums, for example. Even my current employee, it's like, okay, well, I know what I'm going to have to pay for my healthcare premium this year, but it's possible that doubles next year. And then you just have to adjust. So I do think that that lack of security is driving a lot of these skewed perceptions. But also, I think what also drives a lot of this is also how people live. I've had conversations with people and we've talked about what we spend our money on in terms of vehicles that we buy.

I know folk who literally brunch every Sunday. Every Sunday. And when you look at, first of all, let's not even talk about you go to Atlanta or some other places. So then you start saying, okay, so you brunch every Sunday. How much are you spending on brunch? And then, and I guess i have this flashback i remember

um i my six nieces we were uh it was one of those weekends where i wasn't traveling my wife was traveling i had the six nieces we're coming home from church and one of my nieces goes uncle ro ro uh where are we going to eat i said home and she's well, when we were on Jackie, we go here. I said, oh, I know. I said, so we're in the car. And I said, OK, let's walk through this. There are six of you. This is what it's going to cost for the six of you, for all of us, for the seven of us to go out and eat. I said, this is I I said, now, let's now multiply that times four every Sunday times 12. I said, now, how much are your tutors?

How much are the other things that I buy you? Because I wanted them to understand what a real cost is. I also think that we have, there are folks who believe that they can live a certain way, which other people are living, when you ain't got that money. And so there comes a moment where you have to be realistic. And as somebody who hires people, I, Morgan, it's crazy when I'm interviewing people, and I'm serious. I interview people who are recent college graduates who have limited skill set, and they actually believe that I should pay them $100,000. No, I'm serious.

See, the reason I started to study, and I was like, yeah, I understand this here, because I've been in interviews, it's like, oh, no, 85,000, I just can't do that. And I'm going, you don't know shit. Like, I'm not going to pay you 100 grand, and you literally don't have any skills. There is just this, there is a total disconnect for me between reality on what you can deliver and what you should be paid and actually what you're worth. That might be true, but when we're talking about trends across the entire country and this stark of a difference between generations, I do think there's something deeper going on. Yeah, psychosis. Perhaps, but even at the micro level, like you're identifying, it's like, OK, sure. Yeah. I mean,

some of that might come be stemming from a desire of wanting to live large. But I do think there's this general sense. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams,

and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 One,

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.

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 Corps vet. 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 ask 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.

Especially as you go younger and younger and younger in American society that I got to look out for myself. There aren't a lot of backstops here. I don't know what's coming and I'm going to try to get mine as quickly as I can. And yes, some of that could be due to things like social media and wanting to go out to brunch a lot. But I think we need to be honest about the fact that there's some systemic things behind that that do relate to the economy that are also leading to that level of wanting to get as much, you know, as quickly as possible. Gotcha. Well, I want people to have a dose of reality to understand what's actually happening out here in the real world.

You know, when I look at last point I make for you, when I look at, for instance, you know, these what's happening in media, you look at, you know, Comcast spinning off these networks. There are people who are at these places who are reporters and producers who are going, I can't take a pay cut. And one person who was an advisor, who was an agent, and the agent said, do you know what's actually happening out here in the real world?

Do understand what you're now making in a declining business, you're not going to go across the street and get. So jobs, so people who have been in a lot of these places who have been making $200,000 and $300,000, $400,000, they're about to see 20, 30, 40, 50% cuts because the business is declining. And they're going to actually have to make adjustments to their lifestyle because they think, oh, I can just go to this other network. And I realize that they're cutting too. And so that's where I just think people need to be very realistic about what's happening economically in the country, in the world, in certain industries, and how things are

shifting. And so where they were 10, five years ago is totally different today. Final comment. Final comment on that that I will respond to is, sure, but also there are some dynamics happening in the economy, like you're talking about changes in the media environment that we just don't have to passively take. For example, this week, we saw that Google is now their proposed remedies on the table to break up Google and force innovation into the AI space that won't just leave it that they're just a few people who maybe get lucky enough to be part of Google building AI, but we can have a whole range of companies that are out there building

products, needing to hire these people, can pay people over 100,000 a year and create much more opportunity than continuing to just enrich the same select few who rise to the very, very, very top of the U.S. economy. So that's my final point. All right. We're going to talk about. All right.

We'll have this conversation again because I do think it requires a really deep discussion because I just think a lot of people are right now kind of crazy with some of this stuff. So we'll discuss that a little bit more, Morgan. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Yeah, good to see you. Take care.

All right, got to go to a break. We come back. I'm going to chat with my panel. I'm telling y'all, I... We'll be right back. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood Martin, and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders? Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Black Star Network for Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. We'll laugh together, cry together, pull ourselves together and cheer each other on. So join me for new shows each Tuesday on Blackstar Network, A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. what's up y'all look fan base is more than a platform it's a movement to empower creators

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Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. How you doing? My name is Mark Curry, and you're watching Roland Martin. Unfiltered, deep into it, like pasteurized milk. Without the 2%, we getting deep. You want to turn that shit off? We're doing an interview, motherfucker. All right, folks, my panel, Kelly Bethea, communications strategist out of D.C., Michael M. Hotep, host of the African History Network show, Our Detroit. And we'll be joined in a moment by Matt Manning, civil rights attorney at a Corpus Christi. OK. Yeah, I'm going to start with you, Kelly. All right.

I do it. Of course. So the thing for me here is not oh you're a Gen X and you just don't understand but I do think there are people who are delusional and the reason I'm coming I'm coming from this from the perspective

of not just an uncle to nieces and nephews, but also as a person who owns a company. And when I am out mentoring people, advising people, when I'm interviewing people, when I'm listening to these conversations, when people are talking about their expectations and what they expect to make and things along those lines. And then I see something like this here. And then I have conversations with people and I look at what they're spending money on and things along those lines. I think, and somebody in the chat

just said this, and I do agree with this, that I think you have some folks who believe that they should be, like, what their parents have earned or what their parents have done, that they think they should be getting right now, when they actually haven't actually done anything to get that. And when I saw this, I was just like, so you think that your average salary, this wasn't what your savings should be,

that your average salary should be $500,000 or more. I'm sorry, that's literally delusional. It's just delusional. It cannot hold up to the facts of what actually happens in this country when it comes to what folks get paid. I think there's layers to this, right? I understand your point of view on this, but I also saw the perspective of your last guest regarding this matter. I think that when it comes to Generation Z and even generations after Z, like Alpha, they're getting older, too, and they're seeing what it takes to live in this world. $500,000 a year salary, that's a little egregious by any standard, but you also have to understand- No, no, no, 587,000.

Oh, my bad, sorry. Wait a minute, almost 600,000. Wait a minute, almost 600,000. I get that. You know what I'm saying? Okay, almost $600, OK, over almost six hundred thousand dollars. Right. I look at how Social Security is going to decline, how Medicare and Medicaid is going to decline, how now that we have the Mango Mussolini in office, a lot of tax paying services are going to be whittled down, whittled away, and disappear altogether. Hopefully not, knock on wood. But I think that as delusional as it may sound, it might actually be realistic to that generation's mindset that they are the only ones who are going to look out for themselves,

and they think they need as much money as possible in order to do that. Now, do I think it's $587,000 a year? Not really. But I understand the perspective and the mindset around why they would think it needs to be that much money. Because I'll let you know right now, I live in D.C. I'm not quite at six figures just yet, but I make a solid salary, right? And I still, from time to time, struggle with my finances, not because I'm spending it furiously on brunch. I make my own brunch. I don't really go out like that. But it's something to be—first of all, D.C. is expensive as hell to live.

And I live in D.C. proper. I'm not even talking about DMV at large. I'm talking about in D.C. It is expensive as hell to live in D.C. So you have to consider what it costs to live in these major metropolitan cities. And I'm talking basic needs. You know, gas is high. groceries high, rent is too damn high. If you have a car, they charge you out the wazoo for insurance. My car note is cheaper than my insurance just because I and is like, I need more money and I already work full time. You know what I'm saying? I technically have two jobs, right? And I still need more money in order to live comfortably and not paycheck to paycheck. So while I think I don't think I need 500,000 a year, it would be nice.

I think I do enough from from my qualifications and my resume. I should eventually get to that point. I think I will. But I certainly understand why this generation thinks that they need that much right now, given our economic status, given the things that they have seen happen in the world. They've lived through a recession. They've lived through government shutdowns. They've lived through a lot of economic trauma to think that they need that much money. Is it a little delulu? Yes, but the delulu is a little valid. That's my point. So, Matt, the reason for me, I think this is. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways.

Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business,

taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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.

Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This kind of starts that 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. 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. Nonsensical and delusional. It's because I'm a firm believer in people understanding the reality of the world that we're living in. And I'm just going to give you this. The business that I am in is media.

And so growing up and coming out of college, let's just take the television business. Everyone in the business understood that from a television market size to get into the number one through ten, a top ten market, you know, you had to have some skills. Those were the largest markets, the largest salaries, things along those lines. And I would have these conversations with people who graduated from college and who would say, oh, well, I'm from San Francisco. I'm from Chicago. I'm from New York.

I'm from the DMV. I'm from Houston. And so I want to go back home and get me a job. Okay. You are a recent college graduate trying to get you a well-paying job in a top 10 market where you are competing against people with real experience who have gone to smaller markets who are trying to get to a top 10 market. You ain't got a shot. And so when I've had these discussions, they will go, why?

I don't understand. I go, because you literally don't have the skill set to compete. And I've had some people, they say, well, I don't want to have to go work somewhere else to get the experience. And I would then say, OK, good luck. Because the likelihood of you getting the experience and what that has led to people who said, why do I have to move different places to be able to flourish in my career? My response to them was you have to go where the jobs are. You you can just say, well, I'm from here. I want a job here. Okay. Do they exist? And there has to be a dose of reality about the world that we're living in where you have to decide, hey, what's going to be my major?

What are the jobs after I graduate? Do they exist? What are those salaries pay? Where are they? Like there are multiple things that you need to be factoring in as you're building your life as opposed to this utopian view of I'm going to major in this. I expect to be making this and the data simply doesn't support any of your fantastical ideas. Yeah, so I mean look, I got shipwrecked in Corpus Christi because the first job I got out of law school was here in Corpus Christi. That was 10 years ago. I now make three times what I was making then, thanks be to God. Yeah, you're right to some extent,

but I do think that your analysis misses some of the larger data points here first. As it relates to the Gen Z, I mean, a person who's 20 years old was born in 2004. So an 18-year-old is 2006, right? So a large swath of the people in that group, and presumably they weren't actually responding to the survey, but a large swath of the people in that group have not worked meaningfully and probably don't have a real idea of what earnings look like in the real marketplace. But one of the bigger phenomena that we have to talk about is the fact that the federal minimum wage hasn't changed in 15 years. It's still $7.25. And when we talk

about boomers, a lot of them are talking about making $100,000, but they're thinking back when a dollar stretched three times as far as it does now. I mean, the reality is in our society, we've commodified things that we should not have commodified, i.e. health care and education and other costs that make day-to-day and family life extremely expensive. Now, I'm very blessed with the job that I have. I don't go swing a hammer for eight hours a day. I just sit and think and get paid probably a lot more than you should do to do that. But I readily recognize that even for me, I have to be cost conscious because things are considerably more expensive now when I go to HEB than just a couple of years ago. And that's the reality for people. So I think when we talk about financial comfort and what people think of as financial comfort, it has to be looked in the larger lens that wages are not pegged to inflation. They're not moving the way inflation is. And the fact that we've had the same minimum

wage for 15 years, I think, shows you that. Now, there are personal accountability aspects to it, no question. You should not be frivolous with your money. You should try to be conscientious in how you spend it and how you budget. But we also have to talk about the fact that Kelly is very highly credentialed, well-educated, and lives in a city that is probably three times how you spend it and how you budget. But we also have to talk about the fact that Kelly is, you know, very highly credentialed, well-educated and lives in a city that is probably three times as expensive to live in as it is for me. I couldn't have a family of five in D.C. on my salary. What I make here, we can live very comfortably. If I lived in D.C., I'd be living hand to mouth. And part of that is just the phenomena of where you live. But also part of that is that we as a society are really we're not smart a lot of times about what

we accept in terms of what we allow to be commodified and what we don't allow to be commodified. If we found a way to make the cost of things that are necessities more accessible for more people and it didn't bankrupt you to send your kid to child care, then you wouldn't have these skewed perceptions of how much money you have to make to, quote, live comfortably. And I think part of the reality is a lot of the baby boomers are talking from the standpoint of a time where you could do that. You could have a single earner in the home and live relatively comfortably. You cannot do that in 2024. And until we address that meaningfully, we can't really have conversations about skewed data

points where people are thinking 50 years ago versus today. I mean, that's just a reality. And so that's why, Michael, when I start with that number, the salary, and then I sort of back, back, back into it from there, what I'm looking at is what's actually happening in real world, what's actually happening in industries, what's happening with this shift and how technology has changed things. I also look at, in terms of things that we spend money on today that they weren't spending money on 30, 40 years ago. So when I look at the folks who talk about, people who talk about, oh my God, I mean, the cost of all of these streaming services, I say, well, actually, relatively speaking,

that's what people were paying for cable television. And before cable television, that was a thing called broadcast television. That was free. That you didn't pay for. And so it was ABC, NBC, CBS, and then Fox Broadcasting came along later. And then, of course, you had these independent television stations. And that was a thing called the Star Spangled Banner and the American flag being played about 1 o'clock in the morning. It was like, yo, that's about it. TV shuts off.

You saw literally white noise. That was it. We'll see y'all at 6 o'clock in the morning. And so you had to go figure out something to do between 1 a.m. and 6 p.m. So just go read a damn book because your ass couldn't watch television. And so you look at how things begin to change. You look at how, again, when I bought 2008, when I bought my Lincoln Navigator, paid for it in cash, it was forty nine thousand dollars. The new Lincoln Navigator in 2024 starts at around ninety thousand dollars. $90,000. Okay. And so that, that, that is a huge shift. What I, what I'm saying, what I try to say

to as many young people as possible is I need you to have a realistic understanding of the world that you're living in. So when you step out, you're not sounding delusional. It's also a state of mind where, I mean, I've witnessed this owning this company. I witnessed this when I was at TV One. There were folks who quit jobs like it wasn't no big deal. And I was like, okay. I was talking to a young lady who actually I passed on to my producer, Carol.

And she said, yeah, I left this job because I just wasn't feeling it. And I was like, okay. And she says, you know, what you have to understand, my generation will do that. If we're not comfortable, we'll leave a job and i went okay i said i got you i said but you're freelancing and you're complaining that you don't have enough freelance work and i went so i said you do know that we all have worked on jobs that, shit, we didn't like our bosses. Right. We weren't feeling it, but it was an actual job.

And so that also, it's just, it is a state of mind that is absolutely different. I just want people to understand what reality is and what we're about to walk into. And I'm sorry, I just think anybody who believes that, hey, for me to be financially successful as an individual, I'm going to have to make my salary is going to be almost $600,000 when less than 1% of Americans make more than $500,000 as an annual salary? Absolutely. Well, you know, a few quick things on this, Roland. And I also read the article from CNBC.com that went more in-depth into this, because it talked about how the median household income in America is $80,000 a year. Only 10% of U.S. households make $234,000 a year

in income. So thinking that you're going to have an income, Gen Z thinking they're going to have an income of $587,000 a year is totally unrealistic and ludicrous. I don't know where they came up with something like that. Now, dealing with careers, OK, I used to work on a no worker left behind program that Governor Jennifer Granholm introduced here some years ago. And I was a consultant to a local community college. And when we would talk to students and their parents about what type of careers to go into, right? The high-end demand careers. We help them look at the growth potential and what the demand was for the next 10 to 15 years. One, two, look at what the incomes would be like as well. Salary.com was one tool. There were some other tools to help them gauge because, okay, if you're saying you want to make this amount of money, well, this career coming out

of college is not going to give you the type of money that you think that you want. So we tried to help them gain some realistic understanding of what the market would bear and what these type of degrees would, how the degrees will relate to the type of incomes that they wanted. So there's a disconnect here between reality and income. And I think for a lot of Gen Z, they're coming out of college, they may have $80,000, $100,000 in student loan debt, for instance, right? And they think that the amount of money that they paid for their college degree is supposed to be equivalent to how much they make coming out of college. It doesn't work like that. If you paid $100,000 to get your degree, you may not get a job paying $100,000 a year. That's not reality. So, and then lastly, with the baby boomers, you're looking at people who live through recessions,

but also have acquired more. They may have pensions, Social Security. They have one or two homes. They've accumulated some wealth. So they understand that average income, $99,000 a year, they could live comfortably on that because they've been through so much and have acquired so much, whereas I understand Gen Z, they're trying to acquire wealth, buy a home, buy a car, move out of their parents' house, things of this nature. But $587,000, that's not happening, generally speaking. So I'm about to go somewhere that's going to be a problem for some people. And guess what?

You're just going to have to deal with it. You also have to factor in the reality, and Matt, you touched on it, when you have a family and there are two incomes in a family. And what I mean by that is, my sister, when she and her husband, they were going to buy a home.

And the guy goes, wow, you know, with both of your salaries, y'all could get this house. And my sister went, we're going to buy this house based on one income. So just in case anything happens with a job, we can keep paying the note. I juxtapose that to when I was at the Houston Defender and had a brother who was a graphic designer. And nice brother, very good skill set, all those good things. And so he owned a Ford Explorer, relatively new, clean. He had put this big-time sound system in there.

So he got a raise. Matt, he went out and he upgraded to an expedition. That was just him and his girlfriend. And about four months later, man, he was

complaining. Cut the note on that expedition. And I remember saying to him, I said, I'm just curious. It's just you and your girl. Why did you, and listen, it wasn't like, I mean, Sonny paid us well at the Houston Defender, but it wasn't other type of salaries, okay?

This was a black weekly newspaper. I said, why did you go out and upgrade to an expedition when you had a perfectly clean, fine, explored, and it's just the two of y'all? Maine looked at me. He just couldn't even answer the question. When Michael was talking about majors, I've had this conversation, Matt, with people. And I would go, OK, you want to major in that. OK, what's the job you're trying to get? Then they would explain to me. Then I would go, OK, so you're going to accrue this amount of money.

I'm sorry, this amount of debt because your parents can't. You're not getting a free ride. You're going to accrue this amount of debt getting student loans. So does the job that awaits you, are you going to be able to service that debt? And he looked at me like it was deer in headlights. Just the other day, I had a conversation with a couple of students who work for us who asked me, what are your thoughts about going to grad school? I said,

why? Response was to make more money. I said, you're not going to make more money in this business going to grad school. Because this is a skill-based business. You're going to accrue more debt going to get you a master's. I said, having a master's means nothing in journalism. What can you do? And I've had this discussion with people over the years.

I think part of the thing that we're facing, Matt, in this society is that we're facing people who aren't having realistic conversations about the present and the future, about economic decisions that you make today will have an impact for you further down the road. And that plays a part in this in terms of what then happens 10, 15, 20 years later because you made a decision that you thought was a great decision coming out of high school, going to college,

or coming out of college when it made no economic sense at all, and you never sought any data and information to make you make a better life choice. Just your thoughts. I think that's a really astute point. You know, there's a lawyer that I practice around down here in South Texas, and none of his kids have gone to college. All three of them have started small businesses, including one started like a taxidermist when he was, I think, 17. And his thought, he's told his children, don't go to school and rack up a whole bunch of debt,

start a little business, you know, work for yourself. I don't think that necessarily works for everyone, but I think you're hitting on a very important point that's an integral part of this. You know, people in my generation, so I guess Gen Z, we were just preached and beaten into our heads, go to college, get a degree, you'll make more money with that. But there are really a lot of nuances in that conversation about what degree you have. You know, you go to school and you get a degree in engineering, you don't need graduate school necessarily, right? But if you go to school and you get a degree in political science and you don't go to law school, your earning capacity is just not as great as someone who has a degree in a hard science. And I think those economic conversations are extremely important because college is a calculated risk, right?

You're taking a bet on what you're going to be able to earn based upon the fundamental knowledge you get to build that skill set to go forward. So I think if people aren't having that conversation, they are doing themselves a disservice. However, the problem is the data, as far as I know, bears out that if you have a college degree, you're on track to earn considerably more. And the problem is the entry, the barrier of entry to get a college degree continues to balloon. You know, when I was at Howard in 2004 through 2008, I think it was something like 20 grand a semester. And maybe I'm wrong on that. It's considerably more expensive now, even at state schools. So, you know, part of the problem is we also have a culture of elitism in this country where we don't talk enough about the trades and having a good, solid trade.

You know, at the end of the day, I'm not a carpenter. Clearly, one of my son's drawers behind me needs to be fixed. I'm going to call someone to fix that if I can't fix it, right? There is no shame in having those jobs. And I think we need to have that broader conversation. But I also think that skews the conversation. Because when you're talking about people earning in the 60s and the 70s, you can have a union job that did not require education beyond a certain point. You can live a comfortable life. I don't know that that's economically sustainable anymore. And unless

we're having that conversation, then we can't really discuss the nuances of how difficult it is to be financially stable and successful. Now, you can make individual choices. You should always be prudent. But the larger macroeconomic forces, I think, aren't playing a way. We don't always factor them in in these countries. So let me go back to when I talk about those decisions that you make. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action.

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the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. Then Kelly to now. I've had numerous people, why didn't you go to HBCU? I said, because I didn't. I said, what's the problem? So then I begin to walk them through this. I begin to explain to them that my brother was in college a year ahead of me. Then I went to college and then my sister was right behind me.

So my parents, when my brother became a junior in college, I was a sophomore. My sister was a junior in college. I was a sophomore. My sister was a freshman. My parents had three kids in college at the same time. Now, I don't recall in the four years I was there, my parents sending me $1,000 combined over those four years. I don't. Because there were still two sisters who were at home. So here I am, coming out of Jack Yates High School,

Magnet School of Communications, the top student there. I, oh, I could have gone to Missouri, to Northwestern, Syracuse, in Texas. It was University of Texas, North Texas. I wasn't going to University of Texas. My brother's at Texas A&M. So I could have gone to the top schools.

But I couldn't afford to come home. So here I am going, okay, I have to make an economic decision. It wasn't that, oh, I'm going to the school of my dreams. No, I have to make an economic decision because I don't want to create an economic hardship for my parents knowing full well I have a sister behind me and two other sisters who are still at home. So I go to Texas A&M. My brother's already there. He had an academic scholarship. This course tuition was totally

different then. I get one $10,000. This was 2,500 bucks a year, but it was an offset. We actually lived together. Guess what? Shared resources. My whole deal was, I know I'm going to get a job. When I've had this discussion with people, I've said to them, I didn't go to a private HBCU, look at the cost. But I also didn't go to a private PWI. And so I tell people, I made an economic decision at the age of 18 because it wasn't just about me. And so I've talked to people who are children and they're like, my dream school is this. And I'm like, but does your parent, do your parents have that dream money to fulfill your dream school. And so now, if you decide to go there and incur a massive amount of debt,

there's going to be a reckoning that you actually have to deal with. And when we hosted a discussion, Joe Madison was on the panel at the Howard Theater, a brother stood up and he was like, I'm voting against Obama. I was like, okay, why? He went, well, because, you know,

I want to be a professor and I went to Xavier University in Louisiana and I got my undergrad and I had $150,000 in debt and then I went, I got my, then I got my master's and I'm working on my PhD at Tulane and I'm going to have $300,000

in debt and I'm never going to be able to pay it back. And I told the panel, I got this one. I said, who told you to go to two private schools? I said, I know what your mind was saying, but did your pocketbook match it? This is what I'm talking about, Kelly, how we have to have real conversations with people about decisions that they make where your mind may be saying,

oh I wanna be a Morehouse man, I wanna be a Spelman woman. Okay, but can your family afford that? Now, I wanna go to Bali, I wanna go to here, I wanna go here. Can you afford a 12 to $15,000 vacation twice a year? We have to really begin to have, I think, real conversations about decision making and how that has a direct impact on your pocketbook and your ability to be able to accrue wealth,

to be able to accrue wealth, to be able to do things. And I just think that is what is troubling me because so many conversations I've had, and I just sit there, Kelly, and I go, man, they about to have some problems in about 10 years. It's going to be ugly in 15 years. I see your point. I do. And I'm not going to say that you're wrong per se, but I think it's a very limited way of thinking how people make these to say that you're wrong per se, but I think it's a very limited way of thinking how people make these economic decisions that you're talking about. I went to two public schools. Bowie State is a public institution. University of Baltimore is a public institution. I still have a quarter million dollars in debt from both of those institutions.

And that was with scholarship money. That was with grants, that was with everything. So, you know, and I actually made those decisions based off of economic decisions that you're talking about. So it's not just about, oh, I want to be a Morehouse person, I want to be a Spelman woman, et cetera, et cetera. There are HBCUs that are public that are still expensive to lay people. There are PWIs that are expensive that are public to lay people. And we were indoctrinated with the notion that we must go to university, that we must go to college in order to get some form of salary to not just pay these loans back, but to succeed at all, to make money at all. So we are just now shifting the narrative that you don't have to go to college

in order to be successful. But we have generations prior, being mine, that that notion's too late. That notion is too late for us. We've already been indoctrinated. So when I, again, when I see Gen Z with these lofty goals of making half a million plus a year, I'm sorry, $587,000 a year. Yes. they saw the prior generations being indoctrinated. And they're like, I don't want to have to choose between a vacation and something that's not going to benefit me. I don't want to have to choose between a water bill and a cell phone bill and a car note. I don't want to have to choose. And if we are going to die tomorrow, let me go to Bali today. That it really is a mentality of, I'm not going to be here long. Let me make as much as I can now in order to say that I did something with my life today before I go.

That is the mentality that I'm seeing out of this newer generation, right? Because they have seen their parents, their grandparents, even their brothers and sisters who are older than them by, you know, a generation gap, right? Literally sacrificing and doing the right thing and coming up empty as a result. So I understand where they're coming from with these lofty goals. You know, are they always realistic? Again, like I said previously, no, it's not realistic for you to think that everybody and your mom is going to get half a million dollars a year. It's just not going to happen.

But in that same breath, understand that $99,000 don't go nearly as far as it used to. So you need to find the median. Right. But here's what I would say. A $99,000 job is more than a forty five thousand dollar job. Sure. Right. And what I'm saying is. So the reason I was walking through that, I was walking through decision making. I was walking through how we make decisions, how we decide what we do, what we spend. How do we do? How do we accrue debt, how do we get rid of debt, how we do those things, and how do we make life choices. When I look at, again, when I look at the numbers,

the numbers don't lie, Michael. When you have two income households, it's a different story than when you have a one incomeincome household. Because the things that you have to then do as a single individual changes when you have a second person who can help out. What I'm trying to get at is how we make decisions and how we process these decisions and the impact later down the road. Remember when I was working at WVON Radio and I was at CNN and a crew came in and they were installing some light stuff in my office and they were going to call a cab and get to the airport.

I said, man, I'll just drop you all off at the airport. So we come out of the radio station. It was two white guys. And one of them goes, man, I thought you would have had a bmw or mercedes and i said this corolla gonna get y'all to the airport the same way as that bmw and the mercedes right and it was it was funny because and he like every time we would talk he would say this and i finally i was like well why do like, why do you keep thinking that? And he was just like, he just didn't understand

why I didn't have this really nice, expensive car. I said, let me explain something to you. I said, this sucker get 35 miles to the gallon. I said, it's four door, it's clean, it serves my purpose. I said, if I had to attend a black tie function at a

five-star hotel, I would drive up to that five-star hotel in my Toyota Corolla, hand they ass the keys, and walk my ass into that five-star hotel to the Black Tie Gala, because I don't give a damn what nobody else thinks. And I said, I'm not going to buy a car to impress some folk I don't know.

I'm perfectly fine with the car that I have. And so that was a state of mind that's also an economic state of mind because what I did not want to do was make economic decisions that as the Lou Rawls song where he like cop for it now then you cry later where it was called charge card blues where you make these decisions now and you crying later as opposed to saying, yo, I'm good. My self-worth isn't defined by that car or by that Birkin handbag or by these shoes or by these suits. Now, if I can afford those things, knock yourself out. What I am seeking are for us to have decision-making conversations

that correlate with how we're going to be living and then go, hey, wait a minute, this is what I'm making, this is what I can do. Hey, it's great to say I wanna be able to do those things. I got frat brothers who own, who got private planes, I've ridden with them on private planes, but Roland ain't got no problem getting my ass on Southwest Airlines. I'm good because it's here.

This is what I think, but we have to be having more conversations about how we view the world, how we make economic decisions, how we spend, how we save, how we invest and how we define self-worth. And I just want us to be more realistic when we're trying to have these discussions, especially when we talk about salary and living below means and above means and things along those lines. Absolutely. You know, so I'm going to lean on my experience in teaching entrepreneurship for seven years. A lot of people know my degrees in business administration. But one of the books we used to use and I used to teach one of my former college professors from Wayne State's business school. One of the books we used was The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley. And even though some of the statistics are dated, the book came out in the 90s. One of the things he talked about in there was that at the time, the average income

of the average millionaire was somewhere between $75,000 to $100,000 a year, number one. Number two, the majority of millionaires didn't drive Mercedes and BMWs, things like this. They were focusing on acquiring assets that generated income or generated wealth, accumulated in value, as opposed to buying something that had—that depreciated in their value, OK, like cars. And then you have to have the maintenance on the cars and pay the insurance and pay the car note, things of this nature. So a lot of times, especially for African-Americans, a lot of us have been taught to associate the accoutrements or the entrapments of success, the material things, with actual success. And there's not really a correlation between the two of them when you actually understand

millionaires. Another book comes to mind is Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker, which is an excellent book as well that takes you into that mindset of millionaires. And lastly, What Makes the Great Great by Dennis Kimbrough. We have to throw in the great Dennis Kimbrough as well. And I've met him a few times as well when he when he's come to Detroit. So so we're dealing with this and people having these unrealistic expectations. I think for Gen Z, a lot of them buy into this Instagram lifestyle and seeing these fake lifestyles on Instagram where people are on vacation and they're in Dubai and they're in France and things of this nature. And a lot of those people make their money off of creating this fake lifestyle, OK, because they're monetizing their page. So that's something else that goes along with this.

But going back to your statement about the brother with $300,000 in debt and voting against Obama, what does Obama have to do with him being $300,000 in debt? I don't understand the question. But again, though, because I think what he was saying, and I get it, and Kelly has actually alluded to this, in terms of what was

sold to us, this American dream, if you go get a college degree, these things are going to happen, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But he wanted to be a professor. Professors are going to earn this. And so, blah, but he wanted to be a professor. Professor's gonna earn this. And so he was mad that he has to spend all of this money to become a college professor when it's like, okay, but that's what you chose to do.

And so you're mad at somebody else for this. When you just made the point about entrepreneurship, I say to people all the time, you need to get this, yes, you need to get this delusional view of entrepreneurship out of your mind because when you're the entrepreneur and you're the owner and you're trying to build something, what happens when you have an economic downturn but you can't afford to get rid of your employees? You may have to cut your salary. You may have to forego a salary yourself.

So now all of a sudden, oh, oh hell, things change. I've been there. I had to actually do that. And so I just think that what we're facing right now, what we're facing right now, Matt, Kelly, and Michael, in this society, we are facing folks who are looking at the world and looking at terms of where we're going. And we're not having just what I just simply believe the honest realistic conversations somebody here goes Roland just sitting here is one of crap on young people no I don't but I'm actually having real discussions I have nine nieces four nephews you don't think I have these conversations you don't think I'm

being honest about this you don't think that as I'm sitting here looking at, in terms of how we operate and how we move and decisions that we make, hey, I would love to take a world tour and hit four or five countries, but there's an economic reality associated with that. I hear Kelly's point. And yes, I disagree with this notion that, oh, let me push these things off until I retire.

And then I'm 65 and hell, I can't enjoy it. I can't walk or whatever the hell. I totally understand that. But what I also say is you can take trips today and it don't mean it's going to have to cost you 15 grand. I got a friend of mine whose daughter hit him up to ask her parents to pay off her credit or 25 plus thousand Amex credit card debt because she did not want to dip into her personal savings. And he was like, so you want me and your mama, who's older, to pay up your credit card debt because your ass has been traveling. Now, mind you, the person got a damn good job making six figures. He's like, we ain't paying off your debt because your ass ran it up.

No, he's like, No, that's not happening. And I just want us to begin to have real discussions about the real world because I just, when I see somebody, Gen Z thinking that the salary for me to be financially successful is almost $600,000 and less than 1% of Americans make more than $500,000. I'm saying y'all might want to bring that down a little bit. Let me go to a break. We'll come back more right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered, the Black Star Network. Be sure to support the work that we do, folks.

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Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders? Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Blackstar Network for Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. We'll laugh together, cry together, pull ourselves together, and cheer each other on. So join me for new shows each Tuesday on Blackstar Network, A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie.

Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. On that soil, you will not reflect on. White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial.

This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at everyory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the rise of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. Hey, what's up? It's Tammy Roman.

Hey, it's John Murray, the executive producer of the new Sherri Shepherd Talk Show. It's me, Sherri Shepherd, and you know what you're watching, Roland Martin Unfiltered. Thank you. Thank you. The New York judge presiding over Donald Trump's hush money case has indefinitely postponed his sentencing. Judge Juan Marchand's one-page order directed Trump to file a formal motion to dismiss the case by December 2nd and to have Manhattan a formal motion to dismiss the case by December 2nd and to have Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg respond by December 9th. Trump has indicated he plans to ask for the case to be tossed to facilitate the transfer of presidential power after his election victory. Trump's lawyers want the case dismissed outright and immediately, they say, doing otherwise

will interfere with his presidential transition and duties. Prosecutors are open to putting the case on hold but don't want to scrap altogether. All right, I need to get into this because, and Matt, I got to start with you here. This is what I don't understand. Donald Trump was convicted in New York State. This notion that a president cannot be prosecuted is based off of a memo written during the Nixon administration.

Now, we know the Nixon administration was. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain.

I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time. on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 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. 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. Trying to keep him from getting convicted. A state does not have to abide by a DOJ memo just because, and here's my whole deal, let a court adjudicate it, but I don't understand why New York State and why Georgia, why they are postponing

just because the election is over and then he gets inaugurated. And also, this notion of notion of oh just drop the whole case because i won no you were convicted this is bullshit yeah it is it it's it's complete garbage there's no justification for it whatsoever and, even if we were talking about a prospective prosecution, that's a different thing than 12 people sat in the box, looked at the evidence, and convicted you of 34 felony counts.

So all we're talking about at this point is sentencing. The real conversation we should be having is, is Donald Trump going to be on probation? Is he going to be paying a fine? Or is he just going to be getting a conviction and having no meaningful punishment after that? But the idea that there's going to be a motion to dismiss after a jury waded through all the evidence, found beyond a reasonable doubt the highest level in the justice system, criminal or civil, and now we're talking about undoing that because of some nebulous idea that he'd be constitutionally hampered is complete garbage. Now, we've got to be truthful.

If he's the sitting president of the United States, you know, he's not going to be checking in at Manhattan court with his probation officer like most probationers. I mean, there's just some practical realities that are not going to apply to him. But the idea that we need to undo the entire case that's already been adjudicated is, I think, political kowtowing. I think it's people who are afraid of either being attacked by the MAGA mob or losing some kind of political gravitas, I guess. But to me, it makes no sense. And in fact, I think it undermines Merchant. I think it undermines any judge. I think it undermines any judge that's presiding over this, because what do judges and all these people say in this system all the time? Rule of law. You need to have prescriptive outcomes. You know, the whole reason

we follow stare decisis and precedent is so that if one person goes into a courtroom, he or she doesn't have a wildly different outcome than other circumstances that come before that judge. But in real time, what we're seeing is people saying this man is bigger than the law. And notwithstanding the practical realities of imposing a sentence on him, it's absurd to me that you've got a lame duck presidency now. He has not been inaugurated yet. You've got the better part of a month and a half where he could easily be sentenced.

And this is a judge sentencing. Judges set sentencings all the time. There's nothing preventing them from sentencing him to whatever he wants to sentence him to. And frankly, he could even do a short jail sentence in time before he retakes the presidency. I think this is just a matter of, because the Supreme Court came out with this asinine ruling that we're concerned about how that ruling is really going to be implicated far-reaching.

And yes, he can't pardon himself in these states, but this to me undermines the idea that judges are calling it fair. They're calling the balls and strikes because anyone else on the planet who's already been convicted would not be getting out of being sentenced, but for an appellate court overturning their conviction. I mean, this is, this is just saying, okay, hey, guess here's what's insane to me. This is what's insane to me, Kelly. Um, that, let me tell you, and Ron Reynolds, don't get mad, but Texas State Representative Ron Reynolds, who was sitting in office, went to jail. Let me pull it up right here. Here's a story right here. Let me show you up right here. Here's a story right here. Let me show you all right here.

This is why this is stupid to me. This is dumb. If we want to talk about the law, we want to talk about equal justice under law. State Rep. Ron Reynolds. Hold up. Give me one second. My pulling up on our screen here. I'm just going to read it and then it's going to come up in a second. So just give me a second.

Texas State Representative Ron Reynolds turns himself in to serve a year-long jail sentence. Now, he didn't serve a year in jail. The Missouri City Democrat was convicted of multiple misdemeanors for illegally soliciting clients for his personal injury law practice. He was convicted in 2015 on misdemeanor charges for illegally soliciting clients for his personal injury practice. Sentenced to a year in jail, he was out on an appellate bond for years while his case wound through the appeals process. Kelly, he's a sitting Texas state representative. He was convicted and was sentenced and went to jail, got out, and was still a state representative.

Where in the hell is this? Oh, no. You can create massive crimes because, though, you win the presidency, winning the presidency is not a get-out-of-jail-free card. Can I talk? I thought you were going to say something else my bad so this is interesting to me on a couple fronts one the main one being if i recall correctly the

memo that was meant to keep nixon out of jail by the doj was a memo for a sitting president right so even the memo that they're following doesn't make any sense because at the time of Trump's convictions, he was not a sitting president. He's a former president, which means that he's a private citizen upon being convicted,

which means that the law should apply to him because like me, like you, like everybody on this panel and everybody else in this country, he's a private citizen now. And the crime was committed before he became president. Before he became president? The crime was committed before he became

president. The conviction came when he wasn't president. What the... Listen, I'm here with you. I am right there with you. You done took all my talking points on the matter. But I will say that this is, in my opinion, the only reason he ran for any type of action while he's still the

president of the United States, right? I feel like America is truly on welfare wearing a Gucci belt. And by that, I mean the image of opulence and excellence and I'm better than you is very thinly veiled. Everybody else in the world can see right through it. And Donald Trump took advantage of the veil, right? He knew this was going to happen. That's why he ran for president. And here we are. We tried to tell you that this was going to happen.

I am not surprised by this in the least bit. But it is sad that we have, what was it, 70 million plus people in this country who are OK with a convicted felon. Because here's the other thing. Just because he's not sentenced and they are dismissing the sentencing, he's still and will always be a convicted felon. Right. This is this is this is the memo. And actually, it was reaffirmed. This is what it says right here. Go to my iPad. A sitting president's amenability to indictment and criminal prosecution. Y'all look, it says the indictment or criminal prosecution of a sitting president would unconstitutionally undermine the capacity of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned functions. It's based upon this 1973 memo from the Office of Legal Counsel.

Y'all, this is not a provision of the U.S. Constitution. This is not a law, Michael. This is literally a, this is not even

an opinion that has been affirmed it's a legal opinion now here's what's also crazy to me and a lot of people if y'all don't know american history let me remind y'all, there was a time when we had a Vice President of the United States who resigned. Spiro T. Agnew. Go to my iPad. Spiro Agnew was the Vice President for Richard Nixon.

He pleaded no contest to a charge of federal income tax evasion in exchange for the dropping of charges of political corruption. Y'all, for y'all who don't understand, this is from history.com. Agnew, a Republican, was elected chief executive of Baltimore County in 1961. In 1967, he became governor of Maryland. He ran a tough law and order campaign, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. He resigned on October 10, 1973, after the U.S. Justice Department uncovered widespread evidence of his political corruption,

including allegations and his practice of accepting bribes, had continued. Y'all listen to what I just said. Had continued into his tenure as U vice president. Now explain this to me. How can the number two be targeted and then cop a plea and resigns, but they say, oh no, the president, you can't go after him because this is going to interfere with his duties. So what they have said is

the president of the United States can commit untold crimes. He can commit, he or she can commit untold crimes.

Y'all can't prosecute him because that's going to interfere with his job. This right here completely flies in the face of what's etched in stone above the U.S. Supreme Court, Michael, where it says equal justice under law. Yeah, it does. A couple of quick things here. So the ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court back around July, I think it was, that basically gives the president immunity from criminal prosecution if it's deemed that he or she are acting within their capacity as president.

That even goes beyond this memo from the Department of Justice, OK, because that's a memo from the Department of Justice, whereas the prosecution that took place under State's Attorney General Alvin Bragg, that's at the state level. Now, when you—part of the crime that Trump committed and was convicted on took place while he was in office, and that dealt with the repayment of the payments to Michael Cohen and covering it up in the way it was recorded in the business records. OK? So the 34 felony counts was based upon falsifying business records, and that was while he was

sitting president, okay, just so people understand. And I'm pretty familiar with that case, because I was the one that broke that story on 9, 10 a.m. WFDF when I had the African History Network show on that station. And when the story first broke about Stormy Daniels, I was the one that broke that story. Lastly, when we look at the piece from Reuters, they're—Trump's attorneys are making the argument not that he's immune from criminal prosecution or anything like that, but they're saying that if he is sentenced, then it will become an unconstitutional impediment, OK, to him governing. Well, he could the sentence could just cover the time from now until January 20th.

And that won't interfere with him being president at all. Yeah. So they're just they're just making excuses and just trying to run the clock out on this, which is what Donald Trump has a history of doing. Just delay, delay, delay, delay, delay. So they should just go ahead and sentence him. You know, the court is going to reconvene December 2nd. That's the deadline. It's just— Friday, December 2nd. But they should just go ahead and sentence him.

It's just, for me, it's just completely irrational, nonsensical. It flies in the face of the law. And what they've said is, we're going to just give this massive exception to him. It's grossly pathetic, but this is how they roll. And hell,

Joe Biden, just go on out and commit a bunch of crimes. Hell, just start taking bribes and doing all kinds of... To me, it's just stupid. It's beyond stupid. Alright, folks's just stupid. It's just beyond stupid. All right, folks, got to go to break. We come back. We'll be joined by Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett.

Ooh, things got a little funky on Capitol Hill this week. And so we'll be chatting with her about that and a number of other issues as well. Folks, you're watching Rolling Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Support the work that we do. Join our Bring the Funk fan club. The target of our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing on average 50 bucks each a year.

That's $4.19 a month, 13 cents a day. If you want to give via Cash App, you can do so via Stripe. This is the QR code that you can actually use. Also, what you can do is you can send your check and money over to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. PayPal, R. Martin Unfiltered, Venmo's RM Unfiltered, Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com, Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Download the Black Star Network app, Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Also, of course, be sure to get a copy of my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds, available at bookstores nationwide in the audio vision on Audible. And

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Yes. Yes. I can see you. I can see Michael. I can see Matt got up and left the chair. So, yes, I am fully... I see... Kelly, I see everything chair. So, yes, I am fully, I see, Kelly, I see everything here.

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Unfiltered and Black Star Network merchandise. Coming up next, Con's woman, Jasmine Crockett, back in a moment. What's up, y'all? Look, Fanbase is more than a platform. It's a movement to empower creators offering a unique opportunity for everyday people to invest in Black-owned tech, infrastructure, and help shape the future of social media.

Investing in technology is essential for creating long-term wealth and influence in the digital age. The Black community must not only consume tech, we must own it. Discover how equity crowdfunding can serve as a powerful tool for funding Black businesses, allowing entrepreneurs to raise capital directly through their community through the Jobs Act. is a powerful tool for funding Black businesses, allowing entrepreneurs to raise capital directly through their community, through the Jobs Act. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I have a question for you.

Ever feel as if your life is teetering and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders? Let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Blackstar Network for a balanced life with Dr. Jackie. We'll laugh together, cry together, pull ourselves together, and cheer each other on. So join me for new shows each Tuesday on Blackstar Network, a balanced life with Dr. Jackie. Pull up a chair, take your seat, the black table. With me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network.

Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. I'm Russell L. Honore, Lieutenant General, United States Army, retired. And you're watching Roland Martin on Filth. We'll be right back. talking about bringing the funk on Capitol Hill. So you, Congresswoman Summer Lee, Congresswoman Yolanda Pressley, you got these Republicans who are acting a fool, talking about, oh, how oppressed, how oppressed they are as white men, and the things have just been so rough, Congresswoman.

They've just, they're having a difficult time in this world because the oppression that they're facing. And then you got these commentators out there saying, see, see, right there, Congresswoman Crockett, she's the problem. That's the problem with these Democrats. They keep using this woke language, and this is why they're going to keep losing. Yeah, so interestingly enough, I was watching commentary from the New Zealand Parliament, and there was a line that really caught me as they're having kind of this struggle as it relates to indigenous people. When you are accustomed to privilege, to then have to deal with equality makes you feel as if you are oppressed. And that line hit me so deep because that's exactly what it is.

These are people that have enjoyed privilege their entire lives, whether they want to recognize it or not. And for literally everyone, because I kept saying, where's Byron? Where is Byron? Is Byron about to jump in this? Because I want to see what Byron has to say, because Byron served on the committee as well. But for some reason, Byron wasn't around to debate this particular bill being marked up. And the author of it, Representative Cloud out of Texas, was complaining that right now they are being oppressed. And then there was an issue with Higgins out of Louisiana, where he was arguing that he had been oppressed because Ayanna Pressley asked him to stop misusing the legacy of Martin Luther King and basically honor the wishes of Martin Luther

King's family. And he said, see, y'all are trying to oppress me. You're trying to take away my First Amendment right. And it was just frustrating because they consistently use this language and they really don't understand what oppression is or they want to pretend like they don't understand. And that's why I needed to make sure I reminded them of what Google has defined oppression as. And I'm sure any other reasonable dictionary defines oppression in a similar way. And they are not being oppressed. They are whining little men. You mentioned New Zealand. And, of course, Parliament was temporarily shut down. This is what, after Maori lawmakers performed a haka, a traditional dance,

demonstrating the community's anger over the, you're talking about the treatment of indigenous people in that particular bill. Pull the audio up, y'all, real quick. come on i wish i'll break out in the haka on the floor of the house i don't necessarily see that happening but um there is this movement of the far right that we're experiencing right now where it's all about whitewashing. It's all about deleting. In fact, again, in that same scenario in New Zealand, they talked about the colonization. And one of the things that I wanted to make clear is that oppression looks like what my ancestors have endured, and they have nothing to reflect upon as it relates to their ancestors being oppressed in any way.

If anything, they were the ones that were inflicting the oppression, at least their ancestors were. And that was why I wanted to remind them of that. But that's also why it's so dangerous that they want to delete Black history from our history books, because if you don't know your history, then you're doomed to repeat it. And when you see the likes of, say, a Byron Donalds out there who wants to glorify things such as Jim Crow, it is important that they recognize that there are those Black folk like me, like Rep. Ayanna Pressley, like Rep.

Summer Lee, that will not allow them to delete us and delete our pain out of history and then decide to move forward and inflict more pain? This was a study done from researchers at Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences and Harvard Business School, where we're at a point now where whites believe that they are the victims of racism more often than blacks. I talked about this in my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks

Lose Their Minds. I said in this book that we are living, I've been giving these speeches since 2009, and I was saying then, so the last 15 years I've been saying we are living in this age of white minority resistance. We're living in this age where white Americans feel as if they are being discriminated against,

they're being targeted, they're losing opportunities. So you've got this DEI thing, you've got all this sort of stuff like that. And they have created this hysteria that, oh my god, that their world is crumbling down, and then of course, then you got these Democrats who, oh, we're spending too much time on identity politics. We're leaving these things behind.

So you got Bernie Sanders, you got Chris Murphy, all these people, and what kills me is they act as if whiteness is not an identity they they act as if that's not real and i sit here and it's and and so they're like well you know we need to get away from these things and it's like okay and run to what because the reality is, Donald Trump absolutely pressed the buttons of white identity. You look at the targeting of

white men and males, maleness is identity politics, and these white male Democrats, I'm like, I don't know what world they're living in where they can't see this, because for them, anything other than white is identity politics. But anything with them. Oh, no, no, no. That's just politics.

Exactly. No, that's exactly right. And it is important that we continue to make the record clear on who it is that's bringing this up. They continue to try to say it's the Democrats. We're not bringing this stuff up. Like, this was not a Democratic bill. This was a Republican bill that was being marked up. And I have every right to make sure that I challenge any bill that comes into my committee or any bill that comes on the floor. This wasn't us and something we initiated,

but it is something that I felt very strongly about responding to and finishing, because it's just a bunch of games. And for those that are cowering and deciding that they are okay with towing the Republican line to where they are going to whitewash us. I have news for you. If you are a Democrat, it has been people of color that have held you down in your seat. That is for sure. Every single Democratic seat that you look at, nine times out of 10, there is a person of color, a demographic that is holding that district down and making sure that it's democratic. So, you know, when you're out there and you're saying that you're going to represent your constituency, it's not just the people that look like you.

It's your entire constituency. And I try to do that every day that I'm in the House. But the reality is that just seeking equity should not be a problem in the land of the free, in the land of opportunity. Acknowledging that there were wrongs that were done to people like me, to the extent that, yes, I am sitting in Congress. And so, yes, I have made it further than I can say the average Black woman, specifically when it comes to politics, knowing that I'm only the 55th Black woman to ever swear into Congress. But that doesn't mean that there aren't obstacles that exist because of the kind of built-in systemic

issues that we have. And you can't start to fix systems if you decide that you're going to ignore that there's a problem. If there's no problem, there's nothing to be fixed. So the fact that they are trying to roll back the hands of time and they say that this was all because they wanted to make sure that the most qualified people are working in our federal government. my coworkers, especially Melanie Stansbury, who made a very good point of pointing out that Donald Trump is definitely not concerned about qualifications. When we look at the people that are being put into position, and I even made the point yesterday, and I said, I can't say that I agree with Senator Scott on anything. I can't say that I agree with Byron Donalds on anything. I can't say that I agree with Byron Donalds on anything,

but I can tell you this. Those two Black men are more qualified to serve in some capacity in the Trump administration than the random people that Trump has decided to empower. But one thing is different about them, and it's that they're black and that is what diversity equity and inclusion seeks to get rid of is this idea that if it's white then it's always right but to absolutely say we will at least give a look to somebody who is different and what they fail to really talk about in that hearing is that diversity is defined the way in that particular bill in such a way that veterans are diverse, in such a way that it's including your sexual orientation, it's including your sex, it's including all these things, but it's not just race. It goes down to your religious background. It's talking about diversity as a whole and they didn't

want to talk about that so there actually potentially will be a negative impact specifically on our veterans because a lot of our agencies look at your service as a veteran and they look at that and that helps you out when it comes time to earn a position in the federal government. And now they don't even want to do that. And these are people that risk their lives to make sure that we can maintain freedom in this country. Does it frustrate you when these DEI debates and discussions are being held and white women are silent? Because the numbers don't lie. They benefit them. White women are the largest, the greatest benefit.

A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up. so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith.

Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Business Week editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 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 man. 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....of affirmative action, of DEI, of diversity than anybody in America. White women. When you look at contracts, they say MWBE. If you are a black woman, you go in the black category.

If you are Latina, you go in the Latino category. That W should be W-W, white women. They are silent, and these Republican white women, these Democratic white women, these independent white women, and they sitting here the ones making all the money from DEI, the corporate jobs, the CEOs, they ain't saying nothing. And I keep saying that, yo, they got to be called out.

You got to be saying, hey, Representative so-and-so, you going to get in this? Hey, Representative so-and-so, you know white women who have city, county, state, federal contracts. That's DEI. Why y'all silent? Yeah. No, you're absolutely right. I didn't have enough time, but that was one of the points that I was going to make is that white women are the greatest

beneficiaries of DEI. And so when you're talking about DEI hires, they always try to use it as a slur against black folk, to be perfectly honest. But the reality is that DEI is a lot deeper than that. That's why I went into all the categories that are classified as diverse. But white women, again, were not engaged in this debate. This debate, everything that I can remember, and I haven't played it back, it was nothing but the white men on the Republican side that were arguing for this. Now, they all voted for it, for sure, but they did not get engaged in the debate whatsoever on their side of the aisle. Every one of all backgrounds was engaged in this fight as it relates to the Democrats. You know, I really wish we would focus on the things that could actually bring us together in this country and the things that would actually solve some of the issues that we really need.

Unfortunately, I don't know if the American people just weren't aware or just didn't care to the extent that we now ended up with a Trump trifecta, where we will end up with more of this in attempt to delete and misuse and water down the legacy of Martin Luther King and use his words as reasoning and rationale for absolutely eviscerating his legacy. That's what we're dealing with right now, is a bunch of folk that were supported by white supremacists, that have a white supremacist agenda, whether we're talking about the actions that they will bring forth in Project 2025 that we constantly try to warn people about that people say, well, he's saying he ain't got nothing to do with that. As of now, I think at least two of his nominees were authors of Project 2025. So, you know, I don't know why people ignored us or didn't want to believe us or what the case was.

But it's time to buckle up. So I would love to get your perspective on this here, because this has sort of been getting on my damn nerves. Ever since the election, you've got your fellow Democrats, everybody's weighing in on why Vice President Kamala Harris lost and so things like that. So this is journalist Matt Iglesias. He goes, once, because he was asked, somebody said, once, just once, I would love people who say these things to be specific about what exactly would mean to abandon identity politics. He goes, one salient

example of identity politics that hurt Democrats recently was the decision in 2020 to make Kamala Harris the VP nominee, despite her poor electoral track record and unimpressive performance on the campaign trail because Biden needed to pick a black woman.

Now, I'm going to show you this second tweet. This is Chris Murphy of Connecticut. He goes, of the 20 highest median income states, Democrats won 18 of them. Of the 20 lowest median income states, Democrats won three. Yes, race and gender play a big role in politics, but the hard truth is Democrats clearly aren't listening to the people we say we fight for. So I want to go back to the first one.

That is what Matt Iglesias had to say. Here's what I find to be very interesting, Congresswoman, since Matt desires a salient example of identity politics. In 2008, there was a guy who ran for president. His name was Senator Barack Obama. In 2008, there was a guy who ran for president. His name was Senator Joe Biden. This is the same Senator Joe Biden who ran twice previously for president and failed miserably.

He had, quote, go back to the tweet, he had a poor electoral track record. He was unimpressed. He had an unimpressive performance on the campaign trail. But in 2008, Obama secured the nomination. And do you know what all the talk was in D.C.? Obama's going to need to pick a white man

who can talk to those Rust Belt white people. And so he needs to pick somebody who has serious foreign policy experience. So who does he pick? He picked old Joe, a white man. What's interesting is that Matt Iglesias asked if Joe Biden was not unimpressive in running for president. Senator, Vice President Kamala Harris, but she was elected as a senator from California. But people actually said Obama needed to pick a white man. He picked a white man. But Matt, it's amazing how Matt and other Democrats act as if his white male identity politics, oh, that didn't exist, that it was identity politics. Oh, that didn't exist, that it was identity politics. And then Chris Murphy

talks about these states, these low states, they're red states. Democrats, please show, Democrats passed the Affordable Care Act. Who is that helped more? Broke people in red states. Who has benefited more? White men in red states because of health care. When you look at the economic policies, that's helped those people in the red states. So I'm trying to understand. Maybe you can help me, whether it's Murphy or Bernie Sanders and others. Explain to me how we have to do better to working class people. Show me where the policies aren't helping them. They're not voting because of the policies.

They're voting because of culture. Yeah, you're absolutely right. I mean, when you ask people, tell me exactly which economic policy Trump proposed that most impresses you. They can't answer that question. And you know, like I know that I traveled the entire country. And so this wasn't about this. And I kept telling people, I remember the last church that I visited in Atlanta, Georgia, and I said, this is going to be a vibes election. Because if you want policy, she's got it. If you want policy from him, he's got concepts of policies, or he's got Project 2025, but he doesn't have the policies.

And the interesting point that you just made is that in those states where they are thriving economically, they are democratically run. So, like, yes, Louisiana is constantly having a problem. Mississippi, Alabama and Republicans run everything. And they are the ones that are broke. They are the ones that are lacking in health care. And honestly, these blue states that people complain about are the ones that are carrying them on their back. So, you know, listen, for everybody that wants to talk about states' rights, you know, I thought that it was an interesting move that the governor in California decided to make where he said, I'm going to call a special session.

We going to keep our coins here. Because guess what? California got a lot of money. California contributes to take care of these other states that ain't got no people and consistently put people in based upon, oh, you know what? Well, we are the party of religion.

No, y'all not. Have you seen the top of your ticket? Have you seen his nominees? I mean, he's got at least three people that he nominated that have sexual assault allegations in some way around them, including his own sexual misconduct situation. So no, don't preach to me about religion. And as I try to tell people all the time, if you religion, go to church, but don't try to find it in your politician, because that's not our job. And this is coming from somebody that is the child of a preacher. I will tell you that if I had

to assess anything, it is our communication. People don't know what we're doing, number one. So, you know, it's kind of like the fact that people felt as if Trump cared about them when it came down to the stimulus checks. They thought that that was Trump. That was a failure of communication on our part. The fact that people don't truly understand who has the power of the person, how these things work, that is a problem that we have on education. So we've got to do better. And we can't just come out at election time and try to educate people. We've got to consistently educate them. We've got to consistently call them out immediately when things happen. And we also have to say when it is a culture war, let me redirect you because they decided that they were going to distract you and make sure that you're pointing that out. But listen, here's the deal i consistently heard on the trail well he's a businessman and he's um

and he's strong those are the two things people would say they would tell us democrats are weak and they felt like he was strong and that he was going to fix whatever pain they were feeling economically because he's rich he's a businessman well this is a brand that he's been building way before he ever ran for the presidency and so it is hard to overcome that because he had a solid brand that people bought into and they also believe that he's authentic all the gaffes and nonsense that he was making, they were like, oh, at least we know what we're getting with him. He's real. They felt as if they did not know the vice president, because even though she had been in elected and had a great track record, she only

had 107 days to brand herself outside of being Joe's vice president. And so people don't understand how difficult it is to kind of overcome some of that. I did hope that with everything that he was doing, that people would say, and with him being very clear about where he was with Roe and that kind of stuff, that people would say, you know what, I got to get out and I got to vote against him. But a lot of people decided to stay at home. And it's unfortunate because we all learn about the effects of that. Absolutely. You ran for the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, lost to Congresswoman Debbie Dingell. That to me is a part of this. Communication is critically important. You're absolutely right. I said for three years on this, for all four years,

that the administration was doing a horrible communicating policy. They were passing things, not talking about it. Not only that, amazing work happening when it comes to criminal justice reform in the Department of Justice. I said to Karine Jean-Pierre directly, to the chief of staff of Biden,

I said, how do y'all never even bring this stuff up on the White House podium? And so it was just crazy. And I really do hope that the House Democratic Caucus listens to you. And again, I got great respect for Congresswoman Debbie Dingell. But here's the reality. I've never been contacted by her office.

Never. My whole deal is, if you're trying to communicate, stop only talking to MSNBC. You've got to be everywhere. You've got to be on cable news. You've got to be on digital shows. You've got to be on podcasts. You have to be in a constant

messaging mode. And I said to the campaign, I said, January to July should be education stage, enlightenment stage, informative stage, because folk don't know what you did. You can't wait to the last minute and think a 30-second commercial actually going to do it. Real quick, questions from a panel. I need short questions from each panelist. Kelly, you go first.

Sure. So we can talk about policy all day, right? And I've seen you on panels. I saw you at CBC. I saw you at Urban League and the like. And I absolutely adore you. Like, I watch all your clips and all those things. So this is my favorite. Question, Kelly.

I got to get to that question, Kelly. I know, I know. Real quick. As far as, even with Roland's shirt, it said, you know, I already did my job, get somebody else to do it. That kind of vein of thinking. As a Black woman in this political space, how are you encouraging yourself to keep going? And what do you recommend for Black women such as myself, who, frankly, retired? I feel like we did our job. What else you got for us? You know, get somebody else to do it. How do you encourage that line of thinking as well? Yeah. So, you know, Roland started this off by talking about the fact that I did run for DPCC chair. And this was really to stretch my caucus because the times are different. A lot of my colleagues said, you know, they had committed to Debbie two months ago.

Two months ago, as I explained in my speech, because I took all the time to really talk about what I was doing, I was actually traversing the country and trying to do everything that I could to make sure I could save democracy. I had raised over $4 million for this caucus. The raised goal as freshman leadership representative was $500,000. So I raised eight times as much money as required. I made sure I gave out close to $400,000 or more to frontliners or red to bluers, either directly for myself or I raised for them. And I gave the caucus approximately $200,000 myself. So I was not sleeping.

I was working. I was not seeking a position. And I think that we do get into this rut sometimes, specifically within kind of the party structure, where it's like, well, let's just kind of keep doing what we've been doing versus kind of challenging ourselves to kind of think a little differently. Um, I also did not know going more so to your point, how much I really was willing to do. Um, I needed to take some time after the election and reflect. And the vice president called me, um, about two or three days after the election and she did what she always does um as difficult as it was for me to get out of bed she was the one that reminded me of why i do this work i don't do this work for me i do it for the people that i serve. And so while I think that it is important that Black women

take our rest, we rejuvenate and we decide how we want to move forward. I think that at the end of the day, we have been so loyal because we know that the stakes are just too high. We know that we want better for our families. And this is what it looks like. It looks like us doing the heavy lifting. But I definitely believe that we've got to take our rest. But when I look for inspiration, I think about the college girls that were texting me, DMing me, saying how much they look up to me, the itty bitty girls that for whatever reason know my name and show up in the Capitol. And I think it's never been about me. It's been about the future

generations and really wanting more for them. But it's important that we get our rest and we decide how we want to move going forward. And I think it is going to be important that we harness our power collectively and make demands and say, if you want us to work for you, these are the things that we're going to need in return, because we will have to have some assurances before we go out and break our backs again. Matt? Yeah. So, Congresswoman, you're incredible. It's amazing to see the work you've done my question for you is what is the most pressing uh legislative issue for you uh at the start of the new congress what are you you know hitting the ground running on legislatively um if i'm being real with you i don't anticipate we're gonna have too many legislative wins coming out of a trump trifecta

i mean we know that this has been the most unproductive Congress in the history of the Congress, and they only have one lever of control. It looks like the majority that the Republicans will have in the upcoming Congress is going to be even slimmer. So we're really going to be on defense.

The things that we really need to get done are things such as the farm bill, because we're now two years behind. But I don't anticipate anything good for us. So at least I know SNAP benefits are safe, so long as a farm bill has not gone through. But we definitely need to make sure that we're supporting our farmers so that they can hold on to their farms so that we are not importing all of our food. That is a really big issue for me, considering that we have so many in this country that are already food insecure. You know, other than that, we're

going to have, you know, a few of our yearly must pass things. I am concerned about whether or not the government will shut down because we know the last time that the government shut down, it was when Trump had the presidency. That will be devastating for us if he does shut us down. So for the most part, it's just a matter of playing defense. Obviously, if we were looking at Democrats being in control, repro would be at the top of the list. Voting rights would be at the top of the list. Criminal justice reform would be at the top of the list. Criminal justice reform would be at the top of the list. I am hoping that in the lame duck, there is a letter that we're about to send to the president requesting that anyone who is currently incarcerated under the 18 to 1 disparity as it relates to crack cocaine, hoping that the president will commutate or commute

those sentences so that those that are still sitting there under those disparities, that they can be recalculated to the one-to-one. That is something that this AG, as it relates to his prosecutions, it was always one-for- one. So we're hoping that we can do that and get some folk out of prison that have been sitting way too long and reduce the sentences of others. We know the numbers. We worked with the sentencing commission to get the numbers. We know how many people would actually come home. So we are about to get out and we hope to get the support of the president. I did have an opportunity to sit down with the attorney general sometime before the election to talk about this being something that I really wanted to push for

in the lame duck. So that's really kind of like my one big Hail Mary that I'm trying to make sure we can throw. But that's obviously before January. Come January, it's just going to be defense, defense, defense. Michael. Representative Jasmine Crockett, could you please explain briefly what the dismantle DEI bill of 2024 is? Because according to USA Today, if it became law, it would effectively close all federal DEI offices and eliminate

federal DEI programs. We know that's part of Project 2025. Also, how are these white men on the committee defining the term woke? I hear them use the term woke, but they never define it. Thank you. And great job on the committee educating them. Thank you. They definitely don't have a definition of woke.

As far as I'm concerned, if it's the opposite of what they want, then they consider it woke. As it relates to the bill, you're absolutely right. So when we start to talk about programs within various schools, whether it's, you know, I was looking at a portion of the bill that talked about kind of how they're encouraging in the healthcare space there to be more diversity. And we obviously already are in a great shortage as it relates to healthcare because of COVID-19. It would remove all funding that would help those that are historically disadvantaged from being able to get funds that would help them to potentially, excuse me, be able to pursue their education.

Excuse me. There was an amendment that specifically was put in by Rep. Presley that was specifically put in to make sure that HBCUs would not be defunded under this. Oddly enough, it did pass unanimously. So that was thrown in there because theoretically that could happen. Also, there's a provision that... A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action.

And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing.

So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 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 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. 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 iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, 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. Prevents someone who's been in any of these offices from transferring to another office. So if you ever worked in a diversity, equity, and inclusion office, then you would be prevented

from transferring to another governmental kind of agency. Usually if something gets shut down, then you have protections that allow you to go and transfer somewhere else. But basically any funding that in any way is attempting to increase diversity in the federal government, it would be gone, as well as any positions, as well as the data showing us, you know, this is how many, I want to say it was the FBI, how they now have to report the encounters, or at least the impact of the encounters and things like that. It will get rid of all of it. Okay, thank you. All right, then.

Well, Congresswoman Crockett, listen, Thanksgiving is coming up. Get some rest. Enjoy the fam. And then, of course, got Christmas happened December. There's work that still can be done. And you're right, come January 20th, you know, we are going to be in a state of war, battling folks who want to dismantle everything. And what I keep telling people, look, focus on that, build locally, and then also focus on 2026, because you can stop that nonsense in 2026 by voting the right way. So get rest,

but also we got to stay focused and get to work. Absolutely. Good to see you. Appreciate it. Thanks a lot. All right, Kelly, Michael, Matt, I appreciate y'all joining us on the panel as well. Thank you so very much, folks.

That is it. I want y'all to have a fantastic weekend. It is going to be a weekend of absolute rest. So do me a favor, though. Please support our Bringna Funk fan club. You can join us by contributing via Cash App. You can utilize the app's stripe. This is the QR code right here.

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And again, we've got t-shirts, hoodies, wall art, mugs and more. If you go to that website, the Cura code is right there as well. All right, folks, we always end every show on Friday showing the list of donors. More than 35,000, more than 35,000 donors have supported us since we launched this show on September 4th, 2018. We certainly appreciate all of you. And let me shout out Fort Valley State University. Y'all know I rock the HBCU merchandise.

It's a little chilly here in D.C., so shout out to Fort Valley State. Folks, I will see you guys on Monday. Y'all take care. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. More time Thank you. Thank you. A lot of times, big economic forces show up in our lives in small ways.

Four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. Small but important ways. From tech billionaires to the bond market to, yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business,

our new podcast is on it. I'm Max Chastain. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your 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 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. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We met them at their homes. We met them at their 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 Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast.