#RolandMartinUnfiltered - DOJ Sues Over Voting Data, As Shutdown looms Jeffries & Clyburn speak out, Political violence Rise

Episode Date: September 26, 2025

9.25.2025 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: DOJ Sues Over Voting Data, As Shutdown looms Jeffries & Clyburn  speak out, Political violence RiseThe Justice Department is suing six states for refusing to hand over their statewide voter registration lists.Congress is less than a week away from shutting down the federal government.  Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries calls out the Republicans for failing to compromise.  And I spoke to South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn about the looming shutdown. Ashley Etienne, former communications director for Kamala Harris and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, will discuss the possible strategies Democrats are using to fight back and what a shutdown means for American families.Michigan's Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist received a bomb threat at his home, just one day after Charlie Kirk's murder. He's here to talk about the alarming rise of political violence and how Trump's policies are impacting his state.And a New York pastor breaks down how reciting Biblical principles does not make a person Christ-like.#BlackStarNetwork partner: Fanbasehttps://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbaseThis 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 (https://bit.ly/3VDPKjD) and Risks (https://bit.ly/3ZQzHl0) related to this offering before investing.Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV.The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform 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.

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Today is Thursday, September 25th, 2025. Coming up on Roland on footland streaming live on the Black Star Network, the administration of the twice-impeached, criminally convicted felon in chief Donald the Khan Trump, suing six states to turn over their voter data. Why? Because these folks are massive cheaters. We'll break down what's going on there. Also, Congress is a week away from turning down the federal government. Democrat leader, Hakeem Jeffrey, speaks on the issue. I'll be joined by a former Nancy Pelosi aide, Ashley Etienne, who, who,

who will give advice on how the Democrats could actually message this issue that, again, could lead to the shutdown of the federal government. We'll be joined right here in studio by Lieutenant Governor Garland Gilchrist of Michigan. He is running for governor. We'll talk about what's happening in that state as well as the issue of political violence happening as well. Plus, Pastor A.R. Bernard of New York, he breaks down what it means to be biblical, but also to follow Jesus.

Who is he talking to? the white Christian nationalists who love to proclaim themselves follows of Jesus Christ, but they don't actually follow the things that Jesus cares about. Lots to break down. It's time to bring the funk. I'm rolling marked unfiltered. 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 breaks, 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 Roll royale Yeah It's rolling martin Yeah Rolling with rolling now

He's funky's fresh He's real the best you know He's rolling martin now Well, the shameful despicable Super Rights Division of Donald Trump, they are suing six states because they won't turn over their voter registration data. The states being sued, California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania. They did not turn over voter information, including name, birthdays, drivers, license, numbers, and partial social security numbers contained in their registration.

rolls. The DOJ claims the states are not complying with federal law, specifically the Help America Vote Act. In a statement of the despicable Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dillon of the DOJ Civil Rights Division, said, quote, states are required to safeguard American elections by complying with our federal election laws. Clean voter rolls protect American citizens from voting, fraud, and abuse, and restore their confidence that their state's elections are conducted properly with integrity and in compliance with the law. According to the lawsuits, the Attorney General has a unique responsibility assigned by Congress to enforce the National Voter Registration Act

and Help America Vote Act. The laws are designed to ensure the states have effective voter registration lists and maintenance programs. The Attorney General is also relying of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 to demand the production, inspection, and analysis of the statewide voter registration list.

It's going to my panel, Dr. Greg Carr, Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University, Dr. Nola Haynes, Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service, Zabora G, D-E-I-A consultant and employment specialists. Greg, we know what's going on here. These white supremacists, they want to advance this notion that folks, the undocumented workers, are voting,

and so we know what's going on there. And we know also they are targeting black folks. They have been purging folks from the rolls. The Supreme Court allowed that to happen and that the shameful decision after that white man in Ohio sued them. And so I get what these states are doing. They don't trust this Trump,

Department of Justice because these people will do all they can to rig elections. That's absolutely right, Roland, as we know. I mean, at this point, it's a beautiful thing, really, to see them drop all pretences. Their Orange King, clearly mentally unwell, has dropped all pretences. He's replacing attorneys in the Department of Justice interfering directly with attempts to prosecute everybody from Adam Schiff to the litigation. James, and in this case, his absolutely feckless, thoroughly unqualified toady, Pam Blondie, is simply complying with the wishes not only of her Orange King, but of the rest of the white

nassas who have taken over the federal, the executive branch of the federal government. Unfortunately for them, however, election law would show us that many of the issues when it comes to elections are under the purview of the states. California's Secretary of State has raised privacy protection issues with the Department of Justice in response to these requests for voter information. We saw New Hampshire's Secretary of State telling the Justice Department in August that state law prevents him from disclosing the voter registration list. And finally, as has been the case in many of these gen-up attempts to exceed.

their authority, I suspect that all of these states will simply respond with, I'll see you in court. And we'll see what the courts say. It's not as simple as asking for something like this to be turned over. It's an age-old tactic, and I suspect it's going to fail. Zabora, again, they can't be trusted when it comes to any of this particular data. And we know what they're doing. They're on a fishing expedition. That's what they want to do. no definitely we know that they've been attacking our right to vote this whole time and it keeps getting worse they keep going after these states that are vulnerable and we are a lot of people are unaware they don't know what to do about this so it's not just about getting these lists it's about disenfranchising the vote even more making people making it harder for people to vote and making sure that we are not getting our voices heard. They are redistricting. They are doing all of the things to suppress the vote and keep people from really making a difference in their communities and ensuring that the people

that are not being held accountable for what we need them held accountable for. We can look at every aspect of the executive orders that are coming out. We can look at how the communities are being affected. And we know that if our vote wasn't important, they wouldn't wouldn't be working over time to ensure that this vote is continuously suppressed. We're looking at rights being violated. We're looking at new ways to implement Jim Crow level of voter suppression. And we just have to figure out how can we ensure that we are holding our elected officials accountable, how are we making sure that we are getting our communities engaged and

registered to vote and doing whatever we can do to make this person that is not doing anything the correct way or the way that it has been historically done accountable as much as we can anyway. And let's see here, Nola, California Blue, Michigan Blue, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, you got Pennsylvania. We see what's going on here. Yeah, I mean, it's written on the walls and, you know, they're doing stuff in broad daylight. We absolutely see what's going on here.

I think, you know, for me, as much as we talk about this stuff, I'm eager to get to the point of what's the plan, what's the strategy. We know there's a messaging issue. We know it's getting people to the polls issue, all other sorts of things. But I'm just really curious about what's happening on the ground to kind of like mitigate or to butcher some of the of these problems and to get people to the polls. How are we getting people to the polls? Well, again, getting people to polls is one thing, but what they want to do is they want to change these lists. We know what they're going to do. We see what they've done. You've had massive voter purges in Florida and Georgia and other places as well. And so that's what we'll

see happening. So I need people to understand. This is why one of the things that I've often said repeating of that, the way you counter this is, you know what, you register every single year. You know what? You register every single year. You don't even chance it. Well, hey, you know what? I'm moved, whatever. Again, I don't trust any of these people, but we have

to be completely proactive, Greg, when it comes to responding to this, because we know exactly what they're trying to do. Listen, they can't do poll taxes anymore. They can't make us guess how many marbles are in a jar, but they sure as he'll are doing the

exact same thing. Those folks did by making it difficult for people to vote. That's absolutely right, Roland. And it's interesting, isn't it? When we look at the history of white nationalism in this country after the Civil War, so much of it revolves around voting. We think about the Crucinct case, of course, where they tried to steal the election in Louisiana, where men of African descent surrounded the courthouse with rifles,

trying to stop them from stealing the ballot boxes where they conducted two separate elections. We think about, as you mentioned, the poll taxes, the white primaries, the idea that they could intimidate folk by asking the NWACP for its roles of membership, its membership roles. There's a strong whiff of that in this white nationalist foolishness. And since May, we know that this Department of Justice has sent demands to at least 35 states for copies of their statewide voter registration files, and 11 states have given them some information, but that information has been typically just the stuff that's publicly available, so no Social Security numbers, none of that.

Indiana turned over probably the most information as far as I can remember. Certainly the Brennan Center, among others, have been tracking this. And, of course, in an ominous gesture, the Department of Justice has confirmed that it's sharing what they get in terms of voter registration data with the department. And here's Heather with the weather. Well, it's beautiful out there, sunny and 75, almost a little chilly in the shade. Now, let's get a read on the inside of your car.

It is hot. You've only been parked a short time, and it's already 99 degrees in there. Let's not leave children in the back seat while running errands. It only takes a few minutes for their body temperatures to rise, and that could be fatal. Cars get hot, fast, and can be deadly.

Never leave a child in a car. A message from Nitsa and the Ad Council. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game.

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Homeland Security, they, of course, have bigger problems. Their bag man at the top probably needs to be checking his paper bags, his cover bags for that $50,000 they're looking for. But they are indeed, to kind of underscore what you're saying, trying to intimidate people. They're trying to convey this sense that somehow they can get your information. If you're in one of the states that they have asked for this information, please understand that the court will stop them primarily because your Social Security number, your information is sacrosanct, at least when it comes to this. They have no legal obligation to turn that over. Like you said, they've sued these states, and then these states have moved right back and said, no, the criminal division of the Department of Justice, which is really being weapon.

at this point, has sent emails to chief election officials in at least a dozen states since June requesting meetings to discuss an information-sharing agreement. A great deal of this is bluffing. These people are bluffing, and when you punch them in the face, as we saw this week with Jimmy Kimmel, as we've seen before when it comes to universities, or for that matter, broadcast networks except those who bend the knee like ABC Disney last year. When you fight them, they somehow get their chest caved in and back up. think that this is going to be any different, quite frankly.

All right, folks. Hold tight one second. I've got to go to the break. We'll be right back. Roll it, Martin Unfiltered, right here, the Black Star Network. This week on the other side of change. Hurricane Katrina, 20 years later, cannot believe that it's been more than 20 years since we saw black people and black communities across New Orleans and the South being failed by our government. But it's a heroin lesson.

We're going to unpack how race and class. intersect in ways and how we need to talk about this government doing more for our communities. Again, you're watching the other side of change only on the Five Star Network. In my book, The Power to Persist, I share eight simple yet powerful habits,

a blueprint for transforming obstacles into opportunities and pressure into purpose. Just as they fueled my rise from the south side of Chicago to a national stage. And on the power to persist podcast, I bring that blueprint to life. I'm Dr. Greg Carr, and coming up on the next black table, we're speaking with Dr.

Lucius T. Outlaw Jr., master teacher and philosopher. He takes us on his journey to discover and celebrate black philosophy. From my undergraduate years at FISC all the way through my Ph.D., I was never in a philosophy class where I had a professor who was a person of African descent, nor a sign a text written by a person of African descent, ever. How he pushed back at those who said there was no such thing and got us all thinking about what it means to be black. That's on the next black table, exclusively on the Black Star Network.

Hi, I'm Swing Cash. Basketball Hall of Famer, and you're watching Rolling Martin Unfiltered. Thank you. Okay, you know what I can't stand? Really stupid, idiotic conversations. Just can't stand them. So Bill Maher was on Stephen A. Smith's Serious X-M radio show.

And Bill Maher actually said this, which I just think it's a dumb-ass idea. Listen to this here. Who's the candidate on the left that can somehow derail him? Because I don't see anybody with a national presence that can pull that off.

Where are you on that? I see somebody right here in my Zoom camera, and by the way, only for you, Zoom. I hate Zoom, but for you. But where's the Stephen A. Smith presidential bubble? No, no, no. I'd have to give up too much money, Bill. I'd have to give up too much money. I'm not giving up my money, man.

I'm not giving up my money. Yeah, money. They'll give you a free plane from Qatar. You're kidding. You don't worry about money. You don't need money when you're the president. You think the president carries money? No, not for eight years.

Probably either after that. Well, go ahead. Well, the Democrats, the reason why, you know, I'm taking you a little more seriously for this is because the Democrats definitely need an outsider. I mean, I'm going to give you a little preview of something I'm working on that will be on our show one of these weeks at the end as an editorial is. To me, the Democratic Party is a ghost brand. You know what a ghost brand is? It's like Sears or, you know, General Electric. You know, it's still a company, Abercrombie and Fitch.

But they've really fallen on hard times. Yeah. But they've been around for a long time. So there is value in, it's an asset, right? Because there are still people who know of the company. And if you could have somebody take it over who's not sentimental about that company and, you know, relaunch it, rebranded. But it would have to be somebody who is unapologetic about calling them out. People have lost faith in the Democratic Party for very good reasons.

And, you know, you're the only one I hear who, like, doesn't look like he cares what the other Democrats will say about it. I don't care. I really don't. Right. I don't give a damn what they say. I really don't. I know. And it's somebody, I don't need it there.

I'm right where you are. We're very close on all these things. And I think somebody with that kind of abandon is the only person who is going to win back former Democratic voters who have switched. So let's just deal here. here. This is why that's a stupid-ass conversation. I've said this. I've said to him, Stephen A. Smith ain't grossly qualified to not be

president, to run for president, to think about president, at all. Bill Maher, same. Okay? Being an entertainer ain't the same as being president. Now, let's be real clear. Some of y'all might be saying, well, you know, that

America did vote for Trump. Let's be real clear. Trump is a white man with a lot of money and what did he do? The Republican Party, he played to the issue of race. That's what he did. And see, this is where all these people are.

All this, all by God, we need an outsider. First of all, to find an outsider. Define an outsider. I'm going to go ahead and say it. Democratic voters are smarter than Republican voters. Republican voters fell for the okie-dote. They fail for the bullshit.

broke as white people with no health care no teeth no education got behind a rich dude who would not even let them walk through his hotel lobby are we clear

you can't be a loud uneducated person who's an outsider and you actually think Democrats are going to pay you any attention that ain't going to happen, all right? And so I love these people, people like Bill Maher, who sit here and go, oh, we need right now, we need an outsider who can actually run. Let's see here.

Who was a two-turn, who was elected twice? Senator Barack Obama. Who was the Democrat before him? Governor Bill Clinton, two-term president. Let's see. The Democrat before him. Who was that? Oh, that was Governor Jimmy Carter.

Who was a Democrat before him? Oh, that was U.S. Senator Lyndon Baines Johnson, who actually was vice president, who became president, and then was elected to his own four-year term. Who was before that? Oh, I'm sorry, that was Harry Truman, who followed FDR, after FDR was there for four terms. What was FDR?

Governor, New York. Do you all see where I'm going? Do you all see why these are stupid conversations? See, this is where America, see, this is what Trump has done. Trump has dumbed down America so much that we literally will have conversations about grossly unqualified people because they happen to entertain us. Oh, Schwarzenegger should run.

Oprah should run. Oh, George Clooney should run. That's what we've actually become. Okay? What we've done is we've stopped actually thinking smart and sexy. So Trump has so de-legitimized politics that what Democrats are saying is, hey, let's have a buffoon run who is loud, obnoxious, who yells at people, says crazy things. and yeah, that's actually going to do it. No, that's not going to do it.

What's actually going to work is if you have a Democrat who says, this is what I'm going to deliver and actually do it. You see, Democrats said, oh, no, we can't change the rules in the Senate because if we change the rules when it comes to the Biden-Harris nominees, then the Republicans, they're definitely going to do it. So what do Democrats do?

They play by the rules. And then what do Republicans do when Trump gets in? They change them. They're like, yeah, we're going to move these nominees. They go ahead and do it. Republicans lay out Project 2025, a damn near 1,000-page document and says, if you put us back in, we're going to do all of these things. They literally gave them the playbook.

Every time I think about this, I think about Barry Switzer. Barry Switzer says, if we run the wishbone, the way we're supposed to run the wishbone, you will never be able to stop us. That's what they did. The problem is, we had a bunch of dumb-ass people who are progressives or independents who said, okay, I know they did probably 2025, but I don't really think they're going to actually do what they wrote down. Really? Who spends three years putting together a massive plan as damnity a thousand pages, and then, didn't go, eh, we were just joking.

Now, they were very serious. And so this is a moment for serious people in serious times. Not a Stephen A. Smith, not a Bill Maher, not some other damn entertainer who talks big shit on television, but then when you actually have to deal with the thorny issues, it's a whole different conversation. And that's what we're talking about. And so, sure. And here's Heather with the weather. Well, it's beautiful out there, sunny and 75, almost a little chilly in the shade.

Now, let's get a read on the inside of your car. It is hot. You've only been parked a short time, and it's already 99 degrees in there. Let's not leave children in the back seat while running errands. It only takes a few minutes for their body temperatures to rise, and that could be fatal. Cars get hot, fast, and can be deadly. Never leave a child in a car. A message from Nitsa and the Ad Council.

Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin, and this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining.

And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL, visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Stephen A. can pontificate and blow hard, and he can go on Chris Cuomo, and then he can go on CNN, he can do all of that stuff.

That ain't governing. And so the stupidity of the Bill Myers of the world is to act like, oh my God, there are no Democrats who can run. Let's see. You have a governor re-elected in Illinois, J.B. Prisker. You got a governor in Maryland, Westmore. You got a governor in Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer.

You got a governor in Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro. You got a governor in California, Gavin Newsom. You got a governor in Kentucky, Andy Bershear. And we ain't even talking about the other folks who might be United States Senators or in Congress as well. That's what we're dealing with. So I think it's stupid to somehow suggest, oh, Democrats don't have anybody who could run.

Vice President Gamal Harris could run again. We know Pete Buttigieg plans on running again. And so you're going to have eight to 10 to 12 Democrats who actually run. But if they're going to win, what they have to do is that they actually put together, the Obama coalition was there, which means you're going to have to actually talk to people. You're going to have to invest in African Americans. You're going to stop listening to these white, dumb-ass Democratic strategists who won't spend money on blacks and Latinos

because they're still chasing that mythical, invisible white woman in the suburbs who ain't voting for the Democrats. So the way you win is you actually appeal to your base. And what you also do is you be a Democrat who has the guts and the courage

to go to some broke-ass, red, white, uneducated, unhealthy places and say, guess what? Why y'all asses keep voting against your own interests? See, to me, if I'm a Democrat, running you know what I do I go to West Virginia and I say hey West Virginia here are the stats you at the bottom in education the bottom in education the

bottom in health care of the bottom in wages all these categories so do y'all voted for this person oh did y'all see how he or she voted on education how they voted on health care how they voted on right to work and you go so can y'all explain to me what the hell y'all doing? Then when you leave West Virginia, hop on over to South Carolina, then go to Tennessee, then go to Arkansas, then Mississippi, then Louisiana, due Florida, going over to Texas, is having real conversations. But what I'm sick and tired of are these idiots who throw this silly shit out every damn time. I didn't earn your leisure. They threw out, oh man, Steph Curry. I was like, are you out of your fucking mind? And I love Steph.

Great basketball player. Okay, but I'm not tossing out. Steph Courage name be the goddamn president of the United States. That to me is what stupid. And we keep having these dumb-ass conversations by these media people. So I just have one thing to say. And again, me and Stephen A. Cool. We talk and we text.

You know what? Y'all could have these dumb-ass television conversations, but the rest of us are in real America, in real time. And what we don't need is a goddamn. entertainer trying to run to the president of the United States. Nola, you first. Nola, go. So yes to everything that you just said.

I am. I'm trying to. Go. Okay. Yes to everything you just said. Shit. Can you hear you hear. Yeah, you got that ragged ass internet.

Go. Okay, see, I told you she got that crooked internet. Zabor, go. Everything you said is absolutely right. They're giving everybody a mic to say the craziest of things. We don't need nobody else that's

incompetent, that don't know politics, that don't know economics, that don't know science, that don't understand research. We need somebody that's going to understand and look at the facts, look at all of the things how we could create so much damage in less than six months. We got to stop spreading rhetoric that is impacting our communities. It's impacting black, brown, disabled, all of these things, and you have the nerve to still

not take this serious. How do we even say things like that? If you're looking at how this is impacting all of the things, how we have the government more in our business than we've ever had them, and we're dealing with people that, that are saying one thing, they don't want big government. They don't want this. They don't want that. But then on the other side,

they're supporting all of these things that allow the government to be directly in our business. And you say things like you want a person that, yes, he's charismatic. Yes, he's a truth teller, allegedly, or fearless, or whatever you want to say. But that don't make sense when it comes to running this country. I want a person that understand a policy brief. I want a person that's not on TikTok or on Twitter saying all of the, weird things just because that's the first thing that came in their mind.

I want a skilled person, a person that has a skill team, a person that has a representation that looks like the rest of this country and not just a bunch of white people in a room doing what they want to do. We need real change, real people, and people that understand our issues. We need real organizing grassroots efforts. We need a real president, a real lead. that understand what the people need, not just I need some money and I'm worried about this.

That doesn't even make sense. We don't need unfiltered in their way. Greg? I agree. I agree. You know, it's very interesting. Maybe a third, the most charitable reading of it, is a third of those eligible to vote in the United States of America

voted for Donald Trump in the last presidential election. Just a little over 60% of the people who are eligible to vote in this country voted. That means that just somewhere south of 40% of the people in this country did not vote at all. And of the people who voted, only about a third of the people who voted for Donald Trump. He has no mandate. He has no veneer of inevitability. And he is a purebred idiot. this gives the conveys the sense that the United States is an idiocacy.

We all saw bozo vomiting at the United Nations this week. And unfortunately, these news cycle, not even news cycle, these platform-driven politics have projected the idea that people in the United States are just that stupid. It's not the case. There are a lot of stupid people, millions of them, millions of them pull the lever for Donald Trump. Stephen Anthony Smith has no chance to. be president of the United States. However, he occupies an outsized space in these broadcasts and did streaming media platforms. So when he comes out, as he did this spring and saying that he may

have no choice but to run for president, when he comes out as he did earlier this year and talks about the idea, that's when asked, well, why would you start a political career by starting as president? And he responds, why not? This, of course, this isn't unhinged. This isn't a delusion. this is a talking head doing what talking heads do talking. When he said this week, when he asked the question, who cares what Kamala Harris has to

say in the wake of the release of her book and when he says that her political career is over, well, I put as much stock in that as I do anything Stephen Anthony Smith says, which really comes down and me think, oh yes, zero. I put nothing

in Stephen Anthony Smith. And finally, when he said, as he said, as has said this week that Josh Shapiro or Wes Moore might be the best candidates. This is where I think Stephen Anthony Smith comes into play, if at all. There are people who might consider something he

has to say as it relates to politics to be worthwhile. These people would be deeply ignorant and under-informed, but they might say that. Stephen Anthony Smith working the angles so that he can remain visible so that he can continue to make his money, as we heard him say,

talk to Bill Maher, who was a completely, almost indescribably useless public commentator. When he says that, well, then he would then might calculate that it might be better for me to push forward names that will keep my name in the mouths and my face in the eyes of the people who give me my bread and butter by making me relevant by allowing me to peer places. I think that's what we're going to see more and more for Stephen Anthony Smith. As politics heats up, the election cycles get closer, and people began to focus on real issues. Anthony Smith will never be President of the United States,

and he will never run. What he wants to do is take up time, like what he's doing right now. And again, real simple. Bottom line is, look, folks have had whatever conversation they want, I just want people to understand, don't waste your time with dumb, useless conversations. And if any of these people are talking about entertainers or sports talking heads or entertainment talking heads or other people,

y'all, it's a waste of time. I'm telling you right now, there are real people on the Democratic side who can run for president we don't have to resort to stupidity when I say we I mean the American people enough is enough we are seeing the damage

of what happens when you elect an idiot and put him in charge because we know Donald Trump is actually not in charge we know who's in charge Stephen Miller Steve Bannon the Fairless Society that's who's in charge folks a government shutdown is looming and lots of back and forth,

Donald Trump refuses to meet with Democrats, now blaming them, say they don't have any idea what the hell they're doing. And look, my position is real simple. Shut that shit down. And say, y'all own it. Y'all own it.

Let them take the heat. This is real simple. Republicans control the House. They control the Senate. They control the White House. So how can you control all the levels of government, but then you want to say it's Democrats' fault if the government shuts down?

Ashley Etienne, former aide to Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She's very familiar with these battles. She joins us right now. All right. So what's your advice to these hard-headed Democrats who frankly don't like to play hardball but who should be playing hardball? And again, Ashley, I'm like, all right,

y'all want to shut that shit down? Y'all going right ahead. I mean, here's my thing. Roland, it's rare that I disagree with you, but I'm going to disagree with you in this moment. Bad move. Go ahead, go ahead. I mean, here's the thing.

Democrats right now with this sort of illusion of bipartisanship is, in my opinion, playing footsie with the devil here. You're not going to be able to win this battle with Donald Trump. Why? Because he doesn't care. They're willing to sacrifice the hostage, which is his own people. So if you shut it down, of course, his people are going to be impacted greatly. But he's now put on the table more cuts in federal employees, which actually impacts black women disproportionately, 12% of the federal workforce is black women.

So we've already seen where black women, 300,000 of us are out of the workplace. And the reality is like, this could impact those women even, you know, that population even more greatly. But my larger point is that you don't pick a fight that you're not prepared to win. I mean, you don't go into a battle. You're not prepared to win. When you've got your opponent who's willing, again, to sacrifice the hostage, what's your situation, how can you win in that dynamic? Secondly, Donald Trump is a master communicator. I don't think we've given him enough credit.

If we shut down the government, the first thing he's going to do is blame Democrats for the entirety of the state of the economy, from high prices to the skyrocketing. But Ashley, okay, Ashley, if you don't shut the government down, he's going to do the exact same thing as well. So it doesn't matter whether you do it or you don't. He's going to blame you.

We saw Lutnik. He's not blaming Democrats now. I mean, he's not blaming Democrats now. Yes, he is. Right now he's blaming Democrats right now by literally go ahead okay my point is so you shut the government down then what the only way to open the government back up is if you give votes he's already told you he's not going to negotiate with you and you don't negotiate with terrorists so you so so where is the win for Democrats in that scenario my point is that we put too no no no no no no no here's what I've been my win they don't need the Democrats help to keep the government open No, then the Senate, you've got to have 60 votes. They need seven Democrats to vote, yes. Okay, and guess what?

If you want my vote, what do you give me for it? My thing is they've already failed at negotiation, the Democrat. Okay, so your advice is for them to go ahead, vote for it, and then what? No, you vote for it, but more importantly, and it's what the DCC is doing right now, you've got to make Donald Trump own it. you've got to put the ball squarely in their court. Okay, well, okay, hold on hold on, hold on, hold on, now I'm confused, not confused. Okay.

On one hand, you say that if the Democrats, both allowed to shut down, he's going to blame them. Now you're saying, but they should vote for it, keep the government open, but then make Donald Trump own it, but you say he's a master communicator, so how are they going to make them on it? So, digital ads, ads in these states go right into these districts and make the, and make your argument, which is. an economic argument. And what's the argument? The argument is that Republicans voted to your Republican, your representative, your senator, voted to cut Medicaid, voted to cut federal spending. The same argument they made about the big, beautiful bill, that's the, you keep leaning

into those arguments. So how does that help them when their polling numbers are still awful? Well, my point is I don't think they do it with a level of consistency and hard edge that actually has impact. Okay, what you say hard? Okay, what's hard age? No, no, I need, here's real. I need examples. I, okay, so again, I'm going to give you some examples. So I think, and here's Heather with the weather. Well, it's beautiful out there, sunny and 75, almost a little chilly in the shade. Now, let's get a read on the inside of your car. It is hot. You've only been parked a short time, and it's already 99 degrees in there. Let's not leave children in the back

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is NFL cover zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that. What was that? Oh my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining.

And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. What they're saying right now is there is a looming shutdown. Republicans are responsible for it. Change that narrative. here's what Republicans are voting for, higher prices, higher grocery prices.

They're voting to cut Medicare, Medicaid, et cetera, et cetera. But I think the one thing, can I just add this as a wrinkle? The one thing I think Democrats can do to drive this contrast right now, because you can run those ads now, make them own it, make them pay for it. But what we need to do is to launch a proactive agenda so we can start to draw the contrast. Right now, we're not talking about what we stand for, how we would be managing these economy differently than this current president. That's also a big gaping hole right now for Democrats. They talk about Trump, but they're not yet, you know, talking about what they would

actually do. What's the proactive agenda? When I went back to Pelosi's office, we had already launched to some degree our proactive agenda by this point. So what we were able to do is to say, this is what they're doing, but this is what we would do. And so you draw that contrast. Right now, you're just, you know, it's a soft, it's a soft punch, which is, you know, that there's a looming shutdown and they're responsible for it. No, no, no, no. You tell you. people exactly they're hurting right now. It is the fault of the Republicans. We would do things differently. And I think you, and I think that is a winning combination, but you can't pick a fight this particular fight with Donald Trump because you're not going to win it. So you shut down

the government and then what? They don't care. They don't care about jobs. They don't care about their own people. They don't care about the country hurting. So you don't have any leverage in that negotiation with them. When they're willing to burn the whole thing down every day, which is what they're currently doing, you think you're going to go in a negotiation and have the upper hand with them? Absolutely not. They could care less. And they know for a fact, every time they shut down the government at the end of the day, both parties got

blamed for it. It was pox on both houses. Shut down is never a clean win for anybody. But my point is, we've already demonstrated and I mean, I guess my position is from a standpoint of I have a lack of confidence in our leadership right now. So I'm not confident that you can take me into this battle and get me

out of it unscathed and clean and that Donald Trump's going to own it. I don't believe that that's going to happen. So my point is, you got to make them pay for it right now, go into these districts aggressively from the DSEC to the D-Triple-C, aggressively run ads, pointing the finger at them, and then contrast it at some point really soon with what we would do as Democrats. That's what also helps shore up confidence. That's what also helps drive some of those polls. But if you're not introducing a proactive agenda, it's empty. It's toothless to some degree. Well, I just think I think that, again, when I sit here and look at what you talked about, an aggressive

tact, an aggressive tone, I, I'm sorry, I don't see it, and I'm just trying to... Oh, that's my point. Is there not being aggressive? And then I do see it. I see it from folks like Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. Totally. I see it folks like from Congressman Alexandra, Ocasio-Cortez. I see that, but I, and again, I'm trying to figure out, literally,

where's the DNC in all of this? I agree. Let me make a good point to you. To drive the point that they're not being aggressive enough, I just mentioned one, a couple facts. One, 300,000 black women have now dropped out of the economy. Black unemployment is at record 7.5%.

I called the DNC. And I said First of all, what you just said right there, that's just too much black. They try to mention all that black. Go ahead. Well, but they should be because we vote for them 92% in 80, 85 plus. I know. I know. I mean, the whole, they don't, There is no Democratic Party without us.

So, yeah, I'm going to start with us. I'm censoring us as they should. And so my question was, what have y'all said about this? What have y'all said about this? I went to the CBC. I went to the leadership offices and went to the DNC, asking this question. This is your base vote. Without black women in particular, you don't have a party.

Without black people, you don't have a party. So I want to know what you said about it. The DNC sent me a statement from some spokesperson. Why is spokesperson? Why isn't Ken, who's the head of the party, leaning into this, to start to bridge that bill with a white United States Senator? Hold on. Hold on. Let me finish. Then I went to the CBC. I've not seen a statement from them either about it. That's a

problem. Then I went to the leadership office who happens to look like us. I didn't see a statement about it. I mean, I could be missing it, but I asked and I didn't see a statement about it. So my point is I don't have confidence that you can get in the middle of a fight like a shutdown, because I've been in the middle of a shutdown. I remember attorneys to Nancy Pelosi when we are at 30 days and said to her, Madam, you've got to you've got to give Trump what he wants.

We can't go. This can't go on any longer. And she said to me, look me, dad in my face, you've got to have a stomach for this job. You've got now is when he gets weak. My thing is we don't have that type of leadership anymore. I mean, you can't even issue a statement acknowledging the crises that your base vote, your most consistent loyal base vote holding up the whole party is dealing with right now. So why would I have the confidence that you can get into the middle of the fire and be able to handle yourself? So I don't disagree with you.

I think the reality is there is no aggressive messaging. My point is that there needs to be, has to be. The moment demands it, and we need to couple it with a proactive agenda so that we can start to draw this contrast so people can start to understand who is to blame for this. Well, for me, you had a white United States Senator from Missouri who literally gave a white nationalist speech saying our ancestors took this country for us and it was for them, and it was for us, and only us. And to your point, I hit Chairman Ken Martin directly.

I hit Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries. I hit Congresswoman Yvette Clark directly. And I'm like, I hit a person in Senator Chuck Schumer's office. I think the only thing I saw was a tweet from the CBC. And I'm like, that's it? And I think, and I'm just being honest. I think Democrats are so damn scared to say black, to say Latino because of this anti-D-EI stuff,

and you've got white Democratic strategists saying, shh, don't think. So then we need to reassess this. No, no, no, I'm telling you. I mean, because this is here. I quit his ass. You know what I've got to reassess this relationship. You got white democratic strategists who are saying,

don't say black don't say Latino don't say people of color let's just keep it vanilla that's what we got to do that's what's going on here so my question to you though is I mean you've got a major

massive platform I tell you all the time there's nowhere I can't go in the country where someone doesn't say I saw you on rolling so my thing is what are we going to do about it we have the power in the dynamic what we do first of all I mean you've got the CBC happening right now there's leaders from all

all over the country right now in Washington, D.C. Listen, I moderated only one panel, and that was Congress from Hank Johnson. I'm not doing anything else. I'm not on anybody else's stage. I sit in that panel what we're going to do. We're going to actually restream that panel discussion. We laid out very clear

specifics what needs to happen. But what I've made perfectly clear is that we have leadership, political leadership, civil rights leadership, preachers. Everybody running skis. Let me just be as frank as possible.

What Donald Trump has done, and I don't think Democrats don't want to admit this, others don't want to admit it. They're scared to death. They're like, he's vindictive, he's going to seek retribution, he's snatching funds, and everybody is scared, and I'm like, well, guess we're the first loser. And I'm like, well, guess what, guess what, if somebody is going to sit here and come at you, guns blazing, well you damn sure better be prepared to fire back. If somebody's

going to be trying to come take you out politically, you better be ready to fire back. And what I'm saying is, I am not seeing the focus on mobilization and organization. So what I am saying to black people, what I'm saying to black people, I'm not waiting on Schumer, I'm not waiting on Jeffries, I ain't waiting on Ken Martin, I'm telling my audience, send your money to Black Voters Matter. We have

black organizations, you've got Georgia Stand Up, you've got entities in North Carolina. I am not wasting my time on the party, because our interests ain't democratic interests, they're black interests, to the point that Greg always makes, that we're going

to use them as the vehicle to be able to get what we got. The Democratic Party is the delivery system for what we want. Well, I mean, you know, Roland, you and I talk about this offline all the time. It's not just a delivery system.

It is one of the most profitable businesses in the country. They raised $2 billion in 100 days. There's no other entity in this country that's raised $2 billion in 100 days. More importantly, there's only a two-party system. So we need this party, that party, to work for us. Right. But what I'm saying is... My point is the whole anti-black, the whole anti-black, I'm scared, I'm running scared, I'm running scared.

We shoulder the burden of that. first. You can see it right now in the numbers. I mean, more severely. And you're talking about black women who hold up the entire community. But what I'm saying is, what I'm saying is what we are advocating are for black interests. The Democratic Party is the delivery system.

And so understanding that... But it's a big money No, no, no, no, no. I know it's a big money maker. But the point I am making is if I have finite resources, I'm not going to send it to a candidate. I'm not sending it to a party. I'm not send to a pact. My whole deal

is there. Send our money to a black entity that we know is on the ground. That employs black people. That we know that works with black pollsters. We understand that because that's the issue.

Listen, a very prominent person came to me pissed off when went with black men raised that $1.5 million. And came to me and said, you know, y'all were the only group. that raised money and didn't send in all the commonwealth's campaign. I said, you got damn right we did.

I said, because it was my idea. And the person said, well, the Kamala Harris Finance Committee, they're upset. I said, I don't give a shit if y'all upset. I said, I was not going to raise money for a campaign and send the money to a campaign and then go beg the same white folks to send some of that money back. So we raised $1.5 million, $1.1 million went to the campaign. and we kept $450,000, and we distributed that money to black organizations. And I ain't apologizing for it.

And what I am arguing is that what we as black people have to do, we have got to have the courage to fund our own institutions, drive our people to get out of the vote, and still making demands of that system. But what I'm not going to do is wait on them to fund and organize us. That ain't happening. We are in agreement, Roland. We started off disagreeing now we're in agreement.

No, no, I know you started up disagreeing. I was good. No, no, I mean, you know, the shutdown is not the fight. You don't have the right leadership to make that happen. My point, I 100% agree with you. And I think, you know, we need to be challenging in this moment our leadership. And we need to, to your point, also be more inward facing. I mean, we are suffering from a silent crisis right now.

Not just those two facts. I just named you. Black men aren't going to college. I can go on and on and on. We've got our own house that we need. to shore up again. So I don't disagree with you, and I think to some degree, you know, this might be the time better than any other time for us to actually do that.

To re-scentre ourselves, stop seeing ourselves as the victim of power, but the actual source of power, which we are in all of these dynamics, and figuring out how best to leverage that power for our own benefit. And it's got to be a, to your point, decentralized way of doing that. It's not going to come out of Washington. You look at, to your point, well, to my point, yes, earlier, these brothers, these mayors are doing phenomenal work. I mean, there's a lot of black leadership outside of Washington that is impressively defending our interests, that we need to also shore up and continue to hold up as a model and pressure this institution.

But we can't walk away from this party dynamic. They've got too much money, too much weight. We've got too much skin in the game. And clearly what we've been experiencing over the nine months is that we've got the most to live. lose out of it. Yeah, I know. I'm not walking away from him. What I'm damn sure going to do is to put their ass in check. Well, listen, invite me to the party.

Oh, listen, listen. Hey, listen, I already know. I've already heard from many people. He's too loud. He's too brash. He's too arrogant. He's too cocky. Hey, this is real simple. The best way to shut me up

is to pay black people, hire black firms. Distribute that money to the folk out there. But I've made it perfectly clear. I'm going to sit here and ride their ass as hard as possible because he's the thing that actually drives them crazy. And to the simple Simon Negroes out there, y'all fools who keep saying, oh, yeah, he's not going to be on the air if the Democrats ain't funding them.

Hell, they ain't funding us now. And we hear. We hear. And for all y'all fools who keep talking, oh, yeah, you got $350,000 from Kamala Harris's campaign. we got way more from the donors of this show the 36,000 people who've donated since we launched this show. So don't know party control what we do

and I'm a hold their ass accountable because we're not playing any of these games and I said it before and I say it again. If there are some Democrats who ain't doing their job, primary they ask and bounce them from office and put some folks in who are ready to swing. Can I just challenge you on that too? what again because you know i i arrived in this town with only one goal in mine and that was to represent

my people so we we've got to ensure that um nobody is beyond reproach when it comes to our interest and that is that's my point that no hold on because i think we skip over this part that's also leadership that looks like us that's been at the table for a very long oh hold on hold on i'm sorry none of these issues you know i'm sorry did you miss what i just said i was clear no no no no i wanted to No, no. Wait one point. No, did you clearly miss what I said? I was very clear when I said if there are people who are not doing the job

and who are not representing us primary their asses and bounce them from office. I didn't say white, I didn't say black, I didn't say female. That goes for anybody. I'm real clear. I just wanted you to say that part, Roland. But I already said it. punctuate that point though I already punctuated it

But is it the first time I said it on the show Ain't I don't watch it I've said it I'm just saying in the context I've said it numerous times Ain't nobody guaranteed their political seat Nobody nobody on a federal level The state level The county level the city level

The school board level No judge no DA You got to earn it every time Got it? Got it? Listen. Was that punctuated or not? I just wanted you to say it.

It ain't the first time. Because the reality is, is, you know, and you and I know this, and I've been in these rooms for a very long time. Most of the people doing the damage to us look like us. Oh, I got it. Hold on, and let me say, I know you're a believer, like I'm a believer, and this word has been circling me, which is Moses is dead. It's time for the Joshua generation, and it's not an issue of age.

It's an issue of mentality. No, no, but hold on, well, we're going to go biblical, then we've got to really go biblical, because it was, no, because it was Moses. Where are you going to start? No, because it was Moses who sent Joshua and Caleb and the other men into the survey the land. And what happened was the weak dudes came back. Smokey the Barre. Then you know why Smokey tells you when he sees you passing through.

Remember, please be careful. It's the least that you can do. Play with matches. Don't play with fire. After 80 years of learning his wildfire prevention tips, Smokey Bear lives within us all. Learn more at smokybear.com. And remember,

Only you can prevent wildfires. Brought to you by the USDA Forest Service, your state forester and the ad council. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL cover zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different.

Did you see the Colts pretzel That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL.

Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. And said, ooh, they're too big. They're too strong. and it was Caleb and Joshua who told him the truth and then he then said, I am going to give you your inheritance and then he picked Joshua

to be the leader and then Caleb also had to follow Joshua so what has to happen is Moses was an authentic leader who then chose that so what has to happen is now so what has to happen is we got to have some Caleb's and Joshua's

who understand to be understudies but then we also got to have the Moseses who know when they are moving on, leadership then rises up. The problem is Moses recognized he was never going to ever to live forever. The problem politically is we got folk who don't believe they've ever going to die in office

and they never actually pick a Caleb and a Joshua. Absolutely. That's the problem. And also, though, not realizing, and this is not realizing that their time is up. That's my point. But Moses recognized it.

Too many of our folk, they don't. Ashley, I appreciate it. That's my point. Yes, you're right. We're together. Yeah, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Yeah, you finally came around.

All right. I'm going to go to the panel here. Do we finally have no one? Does she finally get her cricket Wi-Fi working? Wow. Apologies to the wonderful people. that I am staying with in your beautiful home.

Please excuse Roland Martin. I'm going to mess with you regardless. I don't care. It don't matter who you staying where you at. Whether you're at your house, whether you're in New Orleans, it don't matter. To my friends. Yeah, okay, whatever.

Listen, I just, the point here, whether we talk about the shutdown or whatever, I heard it today at CBCF, and I hear whatever I go around the country. Nola, what people are looking for, they're looking for people to lead. I mean, everybody is scared.

Seriously, people are like, yo, who is going to lead in this moment? See, now she frozen. See, that's what I'm talking about. Greg, I'm going to go to you on that one. So, Greg, that's the thing here.

people are looking they are craving they are desperate for leadership they are more than any single other thing people are afraid of pain a shutdown is going to cause real pain

it's going to cause real damage that nasty piece of work Russell vote that a nasty piece of work at the Office of Management and Budget wants to shut down so they can continue the project that they laid out in Project

2025, which is basically eviscerating the federal government, firing people permanently. John Boy Roberts and his white nationalist majority of the Supreme Court have clearly shown with their abuse of the rocket docket that they are on board

with destroying the federal government, at least in the short term. They're saying, well, we'll come back and rule on the merits, but the interim is what you have to worry about because a lot of people, somebody loses their job. They've got to go find another way to pay their rent, to pay their mortgage, to eat. And so, you know, who's to say they're going to come back to the workforce? So people are more, I think, concerned about the pain they

will suffer. Something, as Sister Etienne said, I thought it was very interesting, about 15 minutes ago, 10 or 15 minutes ago, when she said she went to Nancy Pelosi's office three weeks into the shutdown and said, hey, we got madame, a speaker, we went, and she said, you know, you got to have his stomach for this. I think that was the determinative moment. This country, I don't think, is not, it can't be saved in its current form. It's going to have to go through a very difficult period. And who knows what comes out on the other side. There aren't, clearly, Hakeem Jeffries isn't up to the job.

Chuck Schumer was never up to the job. Clearly, as you said, there are people in federal representatives like Ocasio-Cortez and like Jasmine Crackett who are more than up to the job. And I think finally what we are going to see is that this quote-unquote revolution, if there's going to be one, and I hate to use the Hunger Games, the obvious Hunger Games reference, but here it is, it's going to come from the hinterlands. It's going to come from the West Moors, and it's going to come from the Gavin Newsoms, and it's going to come from at the state level in terms of governors, the Pritzker's in Illinois and others. It's going to

come from the cities, as we see with Brandon Johnson in Chicago or the mayor of Boston, or even soon, Donnie, it's going to come from those local officials you're talking about. And so I think, you know, even as we're just receiving news, I think, Roland, I don't know you have to check because your sources are much better than mine that they have forced with this purebred political hack in Virginia. The grand jury is indicted James Comey. What we are seeing is that that white nationalist side that Trump and his white nationals handlers, they are throwing all caution to the wind. When you are in a fight like that, there is no such thing as a reasonable economy. or a reasonable compromise. You must now go to war.

And I think there are going to be some losses on the Democratic side before this is all over. But that pain, if there's any chance for this country to emerge on the other side of that pain with something even resembling what it was before Trump won the election, I think it's going to just require some pain

and people are just going to have to, we just have to get our minds around that. Noah, we got you. Okay, wonderful. Well, just start talking for you, go out. Just go. Oh, Jesus. Yes, so people are looking for a leader

and all the people that were mentioned. But one of the things that really stands out is everything that we've said is what the base is wanting. I always say this thing that it's challenging to kind of explain the policies behind a decision. People just want to show you,

they want to see you showing up. They want to see you showing up with gloves on, ready to fight, ready to be that aggressive person. That's what the people are wanting. And there's always this huge disconnect between what a politician needs to do as a politician versus what the base is wanting that politician to do.

And right now, the base is screaming for a heavy hitter. And unfortunately, we're just not seeing it with the leadership that exists right now. And to Ashley's point about, is the shut down the hill that the Democrats want to die on? Because if they don't have

the Jews to bring Trump to the initial negotiating table, are they going to have the Jews to turn the lights back on? So I think that's a very interesting and important argument, but besides that specific problem, people want to see leadership punching back, and they still aren't, and people are still very upset about that Kirk vote in the October 14th Memorial Day, and the Dems lost a lot, a lot in the community with that specific vote. So they are caught between a rock and a hard place right now with this shutdown, with people

wanting to see them show up strong versus knowing they don't have the Jews to turn the lights back on if they don't vote with the Republicans, you know, to avoid the shutdown. So they need that fighter. We don't have a fighter in there right now, and that's what people are wanting to see

straight up. The board. We can't be scared. And it's not just them, it's us. It's the people in our neighborhoods. They're suppressing the vote. They're starving social programs. they're impacting the marginalized communities with disabilities,

but those grassroots organizers, those faith leaders, those disabled advocates, all these everyday folks are holding this country together. Even when people are getting fired, even when they're feeling like their rights are being trampled over, we have to look within us. It's not just them. We got to hold them accountable.

We have to organize. We have to take accountability. if not you, then who, if not now, then when. It's our time. This is our country. And as we saw with Target and our boycott, as we saw with Jimmy Kimmel last week, if we stick together and really do something, all it takes is one group of people to say,

hey, we don't like this. We're not going to deal with this. We looked at those students at TSU last week. And we see them running those MAGA supporters out of there. when we organize, when we work together, we change things. And when we start at our lower levels of

government city council and we're getting these people out of office that don't belong, that are overstand they're welcome. And we're really educating our people, educating each other from friends to the family, supporting each other, supporting our businesses, and getting back to those

grassroots efforts that made us the communities that we are. That's how we get to the next level. That's how we hold them accountable. Folks, hold on one second. We come back. I chat with Congress and Jim Clyburn and today at CBCF. We'll have that for you next right here.

Roland Martin unfiltered on the Black Star Network. You want to support the work that we do. John, I bring the funk fan club. Your dollars make it possible to do the work that we do. The goals get 20,000 of our fans contributing on average 50 bucks each a year. As $4.10 cents a month, 13 cents a day. We've got some new shows coming down the pipeline,

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Benmos, R.M. Unfiltred. Zelle, Roland at Rolinsmartin.com. Rolling at rolling martinthilter.com. We'll be right back. Said the quiet part out loud. Black votes are a threat. So they erased them. After the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013,

Republican legislatures moved fast. New voter ID laws. polling place shutdowns, purges of black voters from the rolls. Trump's Justice Department didn't stop it, they joined in. In 2018, his DOJ backed Ohio's voter purge system, a scheme that disproportionately erased black voters, their goal, erase black votes and political power. Yeah, that happened.

These are the kinds of stories that we cover every day on Roland Martin unfiltered. Subscribe on YouTube and download the Black Star Network app. Support fact-based independent journalism that centers African-Americans and the issues that matter to our community. Next on the Black Table with me, Greg Carr. An hour of living history with Dr. Richard Mariba Kelsey, thinker, builder, author, and one of the most important and impactful elders in the African-American community.

He reflects on his full and rich life and shares his incomparable wisdom about our past, present, and future. African genius is saying that my uncle was a genius, my brother was a genius, my neighbor was a genius. I think we ought to drill that in ourselves and move ahead rather than believing that I got it. That's next on the Black Table, here on the Black Star Network. Michael McMillan, President and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Folks, I talk with Congressman Jim Clyburn of South Carolina today at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, ALC. We've talked about a series of topics, so let's roll that conversation.

All right, Congressman Clyburn, we're here at CBCFALC, and this is the thing that I, people keep saying everywhere I go. They're like, okay, folks are gathering here, but people want to know what's the plan, who we follow them, what are we doing? What do you say to those people? Because there's a lot of disenchanted African-Americans out there. Well, I would say that we are going through a period of our here. history that many of us thought was behind us. And in the time you're being challenged, the way we are currently being challenged with this administration, and it just didn't start with this second Trump administration, it started

even before the first Trump administration. And I think that what we are suffering from is the fact that when you have 13 members of the Congressional Black Caucus, that's one thing. When you get 60 members of the Congressional Black Caucus, that's another thing, which means a little more effort must go in to try and define common ground on issues. And when you've got a congressional black caucus like ours, when those 13 members first came,

they all had one thing in common. there were majority and minority districts by and large, very progressive when they didn't have those numbers. Today, our country is less progressive and we've got more members in our caucus who do not come from minority

majority districts, and I'm one of them. And on that point, because what happens is, yeah, people like, okay, well, why are they representing black folks representing black interests? and I'm always saying, well, you have to look at your numbers. Yes. And so you take a Sanford Bishop in Georgia, the makeup of his congressional district, is different than the makeup of Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett.

Absolutely, totally different. Sanford would not be here if he did not have a way to deal with peanut farmers. I mean, when you look at this district, see how many people here, how many people there, The balance of power, the difference in it is winning and losing are farmers. I don't know what she and Jasmine Cross' district. I don't think she got many farmers in the district. No, because I'm actually one of her constituents. Yeah.

And that district, it means it's an urban district. It's a bunch of bedroom communities there in South Dallas County. That's exactly right. And so we need to allow people the benefit of that. When I first came here, my congressional district was around 58% black. Today, it's my 47% of the black. But I have built a good enough rapport with enough people in the district

that I still get 60, sometimes 58% of the vote. So that's one thing. But the other thing that we have to be really careful about It's the fact that we have got to look to people like you. I did an interview this morning, and I said the salvation for us in this business, African Americans, right now, rest with the black media, black press, if you will, and the black church. because when you see a big newspaper like the Washington Post

when all of the opinion writers and all of the news reporters having their work overturned by the ownership when you have the owner saying we're not going to fact check this president we don't care how many lies he tell we're not going to report the lies.

And you're saying to your opinion, you may think that Kamala Harris is the best person for us to endorse. I'm not... And here's Heather with the weather. Well, it's beautiful out there, sunny and 75, almost a little chilly in the shade. Now, let's get a read on the inside of your car. It is hot.

You've only been parked a short time, and it's already 99 degrees in there. Let's not leave children in the back seat while running errands. It only takes a few minutes for their body temperatures to rise. And that could be fatal. Cars get hot, fast, and can be deadly. Never leave a child in a car. A message from NHTSA and the Ad Council.

Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that. What was that? Oh, my.

We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. I'm going to let you endorse her.

That's not the Democrats. Who will the Democrats rely on to bring pressure? on those newspapers. That's not happening just with the Washington Post. It's happening all over. Ask Jimmy Kimmel. And it's happening. And so what we have to do is respond to that

in the way that we know how. Don't get upset with me if I can't make this man run my editorials. If I write an op-ed piece, it's up to that board whether or not to print it. Right. That's why it's you.

Right. By having our own, we ain't got to ask anybody else's opinion. Absolutely. And that's why I'm here with you today. And that's why I'm with you every time you call, I'm going to respond. I just wish you to respond more often when I call. Listen, I'm on five days a week. All you got to say is I want to come on.

See, y'all don't do what Congresswoman Maxine Waters does. She called me at 540. She said, hey, Roe. I want to come on and talk about this here. I said, well, when you want to come on? She said, tonight, I was like, you want to come on in 20 minutes? She's only in 20 minutes. Oh, yeah.

So she don't play. Well, you know, Maxine is a little better at this than I am. See, she's been doing it much longer than I have. She ain't going to admit to that. She'll call me and it's like, hey, not a problem when you want to come on. But I know we're joking. But look, I'm serious about that. I'm really serious.

I do believe that if we're going to survive, politically. And you know how steep I am in history. I just believe that history ought to be instructive. I know what's going on today. I just finished my third book. And it's about, you know, I started writing this book. I was really just writing about those eight African-Americans that served in Congress from South Carolina before me. And about why they were, they or nine or five years between number eight and yours truly number nine. And then all of a sudden, while in the middle of doing this book, January 6th, 2021 popped up. And I said to myself, hey, I know what this is.

And that was a specific attack. Donald Trump was attacking four cities. Absolutely. He was attacking Atlanta, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Milwaukee. Absolutely. He was attacking black voters. That's exactly right. And that's what January 6 was about.

And I'm glad that you mentioned the city because everybody keeps saying the state, no. He was very specific. In fact, they did a partial recount of Milwaukee. The bill recounted Wisconsin was only Milwaukee. That's exactly right, because he knows what happened. The last time election got thrown into the House of Representatives, and they were trying to get this election in the 20-20 election. thrown in to the House of Representatives

so they could do what happened the last time. Once election getting in the House of Representatives, it's out there by their hand. Well, and that's the point I've been making. The reason they are gerrymandering, because I keep telling people, it's not about control in 26. If they keep the House in 26,

they'll control the House in 28. And if anything happens with the election in 28, the House decides. The House decides. And that's what they want to do. This number of congressional delegations will determine how the makeup of the Electoral College is all about. Right.

That's what it's all about, because the electoral college is determined by how many House members you got and how many senators you got, and then you divide that up in 50 percent plus one of that is how you win. So if you get these congressional districts, you'll have in the House. Now, remember, I don't want people to believe that it's 500 and 35 votes. No. Each state gets one vote. And it says those states meet.

They vote among themselves. And then the majority in that state will cast one vote for the president. So there won't be no bunch of votes, 535. No. Right. So no matter how many House members come out of California. Right. They will have the same standing as the House members that come out of South Carolina.

Or Idaho, or Wyoming, or South Dakota. One of the things that came out in the 24 election, and I'm always talking about it, and are we going to sit, and is the Black Caucus putting maximum pressure on the control that these white democratic strategists have on the money. When I looked at the vice, when I looked at the Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign, I looked at all these firms that were controlled advertising money, not what, one black and a small amount of money. And so firms that were created a year before, all of a sudden, were $600 million

running through. And what I've said is, if there's any moment where the CBC has put his foot, down and says to the Democratic parts, the DNC, the D-NC, the D-Triple-C, the D-SCC, the Democratic governors, all these groups, and the PACs, y'all, we are not allowing this to happen in 20-6-28 again. Well, I should hope so. I've been, as you know, I'm pressing on that. I have said, I said during the election, I've said since, but I thought that we were losing

Because we were turning over too much of the decision makers to consultants. Rather than sitting down with practitioners, people who aren't necessarily trying to get to the back. We were trying to prepare a future for their children and their grandchildren. The only reason I'm in this business, because I want to make sure that my children and grandchildren don't live the life that my parents and grandparents live. because there is a real coordinated, well-financed attempt to turn the clock back. We just saw a new announcement from this administration. They're no longer going to enforce fair housing laws. If that didn't tell you what's going on, yeah, no fair housing laws.

Well, what I've been saying is that they want to completely defund black America. Absolutely. You're targeting every single institution in black America. And when I see a guy that will tell me they want me to vote, to preserve, to honor his legacy, when he stands in front of a TV. Yeah. Right. If I get on an airplane and I see a black pilot, I'm wondering whether or not that person is qualified.

Right. Nobody asked whether or not the Tuskegee Airmen were qualified. But also, they never questioned a white pilot that's qualified. this qualified. No. But that's the game that they play. That's the game they play. And so my point here is if those black pilots were good enough to win World War II. And you can come out and make all these movies about the Red Tails and honor them. But you don't give them the GI bill to go to college or to get a home or to buy home in the black community. That is what we're going back to.

So the fair housing laws came about as a result of that. Now they're saying, no, we are going to force it anymore so you can go back to that. That's what's going on now. Last question before you, this was a huge issue in 24 and we're still seeing and that is it. And I

hear around the country the need for a very specific, targeted focus effort on black men in speaking to the issues that they care about, and energizing them as well. Is that happening?

Do you see it happening? And if not, what should be happening? Well, it should be, and I think it is. I think a lot of people started all of this being cute. I have three daughters, don't have any sons. Got a couple of grandsons. But my three daughters started warning me about this wedge that they felt developing

saying everything the black woman this and the black woman this and they were very conscious of the fact that that could very well drive a wedge between black women and black men and all of a sudden we saw that the polling indicated that black men

were drifting away from the Democratic Party and I think it has a lot to do with some black men wondering, where do I get my attention? There are some issues that are unique to being black in this country, and there are issues that are unique to being a black man in this country. And we know it, and we ought not allow these kinds of discussions to determine how we react to each other or how we react when voting is taking place.

So we're working on that. And one of the things that I've said to the other returners as well, I said to Prince Hall-Mason, I said we've got to be using this infrastructure that we have. To me, it's not being properly utilized. Absolutely. You believe dropping on my conversations. You know, you're an alpha and I'm an omega, and we both have very good cap of friends and Sigma friends. and we all love

Prince Hall, Mason all these groups I'm like, what are you doing? Yeah, this 30 degree ring I read all the time. I believe that we have enough organization in the blind community.

The question is, how are we utilizing them? And we have got to utilize the divine nine. We've got to utilize the Masonic orders, both the of the Masons and the Eastern Star.

We've got to utilize the boule and all these other community-based organizations that exist. And what I say to them is they have got to stop being insular and only concerning about internal business and the community needs to see us present and accounted for at city council meetings,

school board meeting, county commission meetings, state capital, U.S. Capitol, and properly mobilizing the vote door to door, precinct by precinct. Absolutely. I've done it. You know, I have this project you know about, called the four peas. Now, you know what we used to say with the four peas back in there.

I decided to turn that into a positive, but you used to say, blank, poor, prior planning. Four peas to me. Pastor Paris Precinct project, where I've been meeting with pastors, I've been meeting the leadership of the faith community and trying to organize precincts so that we can energize people when the election time comes around. So I think you're right on the money.

We are to gather on this, and you and I are going to have to stop talking to each other and start talking to everybody out there. Let's do it. All right. Appreciate it. Appreciate you. Yes, sir.

Thank you. All right, folks. I'm going to go to break. We'll come back some breaking news regarding former FBI director James Comey. We'll have that next. We'll also talk with the lieutenant governor of Michigan, Garland Goldcrest. All of that right here, Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackshar Network. In my book, The Power to Persist, I share eight simple yet powerful habits,

a blueprint for transforming obstacles into opportunities and pressure into purpose. Just as they fueled my rise from the south side of Chicago to a national stage, And on the Power to Persist podcast, I bring that blueprint to life. This is Reggie Rock Eifelit. You're watching. Rolling Martin, unfiltered, uncut, unplugged, and undam-believable. You hear me? Well, after being pressured by Donald Trump, the Department of Justice

has indicted former FBI director James Comey, claiming that he lied. This is the New York Times front page right here. Former FBI director, Comey, indicted after pressure from Trump. Candelanian, who is the national security correspondent for NBC News, is tweeting he's hearing from DOJ folks saying this is one of the worst indictments ever. It is clearly all about Trump's pressure. He pressured Attorney General Pam Bondi to do this. Not only that, who's next.

Now, Donald, they also report that Donald Trump, he's now wanting an investigation of the Department of Justice into the George Soros Foundation. So that's what you're going on. Now, I've heard that they have been targeting individuals that have received funding from the Soros Foundation because they want to declare them a criminal organization. What you have here, you've got Republicans, Greg, who've been saying that, oh, this is, you know, the Biden and Harris, they targeted Trump and his people unnecessarily. They were prosecuting their enemies. No, they actually were prosecuting the people who broke the law. And again, Ken Delaney has been reporting on this saying that, first of all, the U.S. attorney in Virginia, they were not moving forward. Trump fires the U.S. attorney, puts it in an airhead former pageant winner to be the U.S. attorney who's never prosecuted a case in her life to say, no, get this done.

So this is Donald Trump absolutely saying, prosecute my opposition. That's absolutely right. Roland, none of us are happy about pain. None of us are happy about anyone's suffering. But the enthusiasm that I've had since the re-election of Donald Trump today... And here's Heather with the weather. Well, it's beautiful out there, sunny and 75, almost a little chilly in the shade. Now, let's get a read on the inside of your car.

It is hot. You've only been parked a short time, and it's already 99 degrees in there. Let's not leave children in the back seat while running errands. It only takes a few minutes for their body temperatures to rise, and that could be fatal. get hot, fast, and can be deadly. Never leave a child in a car. A message from Nitsay and the ad council. Hey, this is Matt Jones.

I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining.

And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. This day is really undiminished. In fact, I'm more enthusiastic now than ever. This is a serious business. In a country of 330 plus million people, the question that should be at the front of our minds today is really how strong are the institutions that hold this country together. I have a lot of confidence in state and local institutional structure. I'm talking now strictly about government. At the federal level,

what we are seeing is an unbridled and wholesale attack on the question of the institutional structure of the federal government. Pembody is incompetent. Cash Patel is incompetent, and we can go down the list, all of them, incompetent. Their adled signing pen, thanks NBC, for creating this problem, by propping him up as if he were a businessman instead of playing a businessman and letting him do that on TV for over a decade. He is mentally unwell, he's unstable, and of course he is bedeviled by the idea

that his enemies are after him. We are at a moment now, however, when I think we are getting close to finding out collectively just how strong the institutions are. And I think this Comey indictment is the next step in that era. in that direction for this reason.

They were able to secure an indictment. They're not going to convict James Comey of anything. They're certainly not going to convict his James or something. If they can manage to hoodwink a grand jury into indicting her, they won't be able to get George Soros either if they do that. What they are, however, doing is obscuring the inevitable march of the thing that Donald Trump. I'm not talking about any of the rest of them, Russell, Vote. I'm not talking about any of the other people, Steve Bannon and Steve Miller.

what they are not going to be able to do is prevent him from the thing that he is concerned about. We saw, of course, as you reported, out of Arizona the day before yesterday, Adelita Grijava, getting that seat. Well, they now have enough people to trigger that Massey Rocahanna asked to get those Epstein files released.

The only way they would be able to block it is if there's a shutdown, oh, and she can't get sworn in. The single thing he is obsessed with are these damn Epstein files. And I'm saying that we are at a moment when what can be revealed now is indeed the strength or the weakness of these institutions. And I'm saying that, Roland, listen to you talking with Jim Clyburn there, who, with all due respect, is writing about a lot of things, but probably maybe should pass this on to the next generation to carry this fight on. I'm not saying that he's finished at all, but I'm saying that what's coming ahead now

is going to require a resolve that the people in this country have. Jimmy Kimmel will be on tonight because the people said, we don't care. The white nationals are being exposed. Sinclair, they're saying, well, we won't run. Fine. Go to hell. More people watch YouTube anyway.

Your audience is bigger than the people who are on cable and everybody running over here now anyway. My point is that as people get pissed off, the politicians are going to have to follow the masses of people who are moving toward the we don't care part. Because when they captured this car, the white nastas have thrown acid on the apparatus of the federal government.

And what is being revealed now is what will be left after the acid burns everything else away. I'm saying that's probably a positive development. But what we're looking at here, NOAA, is very simple. That is, Donald Trump, I say at the outset of this year, they want to defund black America. What they want to do is they want to completely cripple the progressive infrastructure. That is nonprofits. The money, they're trying to declare soul roles, a terrorist organization.

People need to understand what they are doing. The efforts to defund Black America, they're targeting academia, they're targeting HBCUs, they're targeting jobs, they're targeting black businesses, nonprofits. They're targeting everything. This is their plan and they're executing it. Absolutely. And my day job, you know, and the real work that I do, there are so many meetings that are being convened. I can't tell you how many trainings I've been in in terms of cybersecurity,

in terms of protecting my own digital footprint and what to do once, you know, if attacked. And one of the reasons is because one of the orgs that OSF is affiliated with, Laura Lumer attacked, this particular organization, which is, you know, one of the foundational organizations within the large scheme of national security and foreign policy. So attack the organizations, attacked the nonprofits, attacked our funding sources. We're already having a challenging time because progressive anything, you know, is not being funded right now. And for the organization I'm affiliated with women of color advancing peace and security, we have women of color in our name. So what's the best way to continue this attack on, you know, black people definitely, black women, definitely on

progressive agendas, attack the funding source. And while OSF, they're still writing checks and they're still depositing checks where other organizations are still trying to figure it out, this would be a huge blow in the progressive agenda. And that is intentional. You know, But going back to our earlier conversation and tying in the conversation you were having with Representative Clyburn, a lot of people are having a hard time dealing with where many of us on this show we already are at. We understand what it's going to take for someone to stand up to this administration. And a lot of people are really just trying to do the math and a calculus if that's what

they want to be doing right now. People were promised an American dream that does not exist and people are rightfully pissed off about it, but they're also trying to negotiate, okay, what am I willing to give up? What am I willing to do? Because right now I am telling you from a political scientist perspective, and I was sharing this of one of my mentors yesterday, right now the next step to this is violence. And I think people are rightfully so trying to figure out where they want to be in that spectrum. The person who steps up and lead, they're going to have to sacrifice a lot.

They are going to be targeted. They are going to be attacked. So people have some very serious decisions to make. And I get it because Trump is out there right now talking about how strong the right is, stronger than the left. In many ways, he's absolutely right. These militia-type folks have been wanting to go out there

and do crazy stuff to people for a long time where you just have people who just want to live their lives and be with their families and travel and do all the things. There's nothing wrong with that. So I just want to, my last comment, I've got the right from you, so let me shut up. Where we are right now, people have to figure out what are they willing to do. So, Bore, again, what you see here by Trump forcing the DOJ to indict coming. Look, they're not going to do anything.

I mean, they know this is an awful, awful indictment. But it is to have a chilling effect. What Brendan Cardi with the FCC, what they want to do is they want to freak everybody out, scared them the death, and cause people to fear saying or doing anything, and that to me is not the answer. Definitely. I think that we understand that this is just a tactic, one more tactic that is Trump going after his enemies and making sure that you are scared to come for him. You are scared to say anything against this agenda.

We saw last week in the last couple weeks with Charlie Kirk and how every time you say something, you are attacked for telling the truth. You are attacked with no evidence of doing something wrong. And people are being punished for these things. And this situation is no different. This is just showing how we as a people have to be aware of what they're doing and really move very strategic in our response to all of these attacks. And yes, they may not be able to convict them,

but just the sheer allowance of bringing an indictment that way says that, hey, it's okay to go after election workers or after the person that disagree and that are advocates. So they're trying to scare people out of fighting them with the tactics that are known to work. And that's just, it's really disheartening to see that this is how we're, we're having to fight with our hands tied behind our backs, really. Yep, that is the goal. All right, quick break. We'll come back. We'll talk with Michigan, Lieutenant Governor Garland Goldcrest. Right here, Roller Martin unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Said the quiet part out loud. Black votes are a threat. So they erased them. After the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013, Republican legislatures moved fast.

New voter ID laws, polling place shutdowns, purges of black voters from the rolls. Trump's Justice Department didn't stop it. They joined in. In 2018, his DOJ backed Ohio's voter purge system, a scheme that disproportionately erased black voters, their goal, erase black votes, and political power. Yeah, that happened. These are the kinds of stories that we cover every day on Roland Martin unfiltered.

Subscribe on YouTube and download the Black Star Network app. Support fact-based independent journalism that centers African Americans and the issues that matter to our community. Hey, I'm Tasha Cobbs, and you are watching. Roland Martin unfiltered. But I need a little filter. I need a something. Blow me out.

Make me a little 35. All right, folks. He is the tenant governor of Michigan, garlic goldcress. Also, it's going to be running for governor next year. He joins us right now. I'm glad to have you here. First and foremost, let's talk about what is happening.

States are being greatly impacted by the madness two blocks from us. You look at the federal, look at the doge cuts. You look at what's happening to farmers as well. How is Michigan being impacted by the absolutely chaos coming out of this nonsensical administration? It's hitting our people hard and fast. Roland, when you talk about the doge cuts, you know, when they severed those union contracts or public sector unions, that hit 3,000 people in Michigan that no longer have that labor protection. And these are the people who are nurses at the VA.

These are the people who work for the national lakeshores in Michigan in our parks and streams. These are people who work hard. Like my dad, who's a federal retiree from the Department of Defense, they're coming for people. And I think it's really chaotic because it's disrupting people's livelihoods. But then when it comes to what they're doing for health care, we've already had a hospital, rural hospital in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, say they're going to close their maternity war. We're already seeing the hospital being able to pull back services

and that means that more babies are going to get born on the freeway instead of the hospital. That means that more seniors when they have a cardiac event, they're going to die in the car before they get to the hospital. This MAGA agenda for Michigan

is dangerous, it's deadly. And look, Bob Lawn is he won Michigan. And I've said this here that the only way these things change if his voters feel paying. I mean, because a lot of them thought it was going to be

those other people. They thought, oh, it's going to be the black folks. It's going to be undocumented workers. It's going to be those people. And you got a whole bunch of crying farmers. You got a whole bunch of people who are like, oh, my God, I'm losing my family farm. Well, you voted for, oh, you didn't realize you were voting for

that stuff, too. You thought you're just voting for that stuff. But it's important. No, we have to tell the story, though, about really where this pain is coming from. That's one of the reasons why I spend so much time on the road in Michigan reminding people that, yes, Donald Trump, John James, who voted for this stuff in Congress, who wants to be the governor of Michigan, like that man voted to take away your health care. That man has stood by and let these tariffs come in, which hit

Michigan harder than any other state for our manufacturing and our farmers. They can't sell no soy products to China now, but these markets are collapsing because Republicans broke them. But that's why it's so important that Democrats step up that we tell the story aggressively and force leader. We show up for people that said, you know what, I know you can't afford your groceries. I know you can't afford your health care. I know you can't afford diapers. I know you broke the bank to get school supplies for your kids to start school. Now we got Republicans even on the state level who have been imitating these cuts, and we have to push back against that. To that point about messaging, that point about how do you

tell that story? How do you convey that? That to me is also the weakness because what I believe is that Democrats are fearful to go into red areas and have a conversation. And my deal is, they have to. They got to go in there and say, oh, I know your county voted 70% for Trump or whatever the number is, but let me be real clear.

Here are the stats on how your county is now being impacted by that. And I think the folks vote has to be thrown back at them to say, hey, you can't sit here and blame it on Biden and Harris. Your county voted for this So now what are you going to do?

Oh, so now you want to come running to us to save you after Trump and MAGA screwing you over? Well, look, you cannot get votes from people who you will not go see. So look, as Lieutenant Governor of Michigan, I've been to all 83 counties in Michigan at least three times. I will go and see anybody in Michigan

anywhere at any time. And talk about, yeah, what's important that was urgent for you right now, what you're worried about, how expensive things are, how it's not working. Yeah, that's what's what. this president did to you. So now we need to talk about what you need to do

to them. You need to make sure that those who support them get out of there and out of the way that we elects strong leadership in Michigan that's going to push back against that and make something happen to protect people but then actually position them to be able to pursue their dreams, position them to be able to afford to be in Michigan and succeed. The people who

are worried they're never going to be able to afford to buy a house. Well, like perfect example. It's a whole bunch of teams who's in Michigan. And they wouldn't endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, the Teamsters president, Sean O'Brien spoke at the Republican invention. He's made it clear he's going to be funding Republican candidates. And so even though Biden and Harris saved the pictures of 600,000, and so this is where, to me, again, this is where if you're Democrats, you say, hey, Teamsters, we try to tell you. Now you can, so again,

folk want to, like I've seen this every way, they want to come run to Democrats. Can you help us? Can you save us? You cut your own throat because you supported him. Well, look, I'll take that people know that Democrats can actually solve a problem. I'll accept that. But we also, maybe we need to separate the leadership from these organizations. Maybe the people who are actually to rank and file union members who are feeling that pain, not the wealthy people who run in it.

Maybe we can show them that this is what the opportunity is to vote for something different, to make something different to happen, that you have the power. This stuff just doesn't have to happen to you can make something different a real reality in Michigan. Questions for the panel? The board, you first. Go? I'm sorry. It was freezing up.

So my question to you is, you said you go into all of the different communities in Michigan. For these individuals that are not, maybe their team is not telling them to go into these communities or they don't know exactly where to go, what is your advice to get them to be more, engaged with those communities.

I mean, you can't get the supportive people you're scared of. So I have no advice for leaders who are too scared to go meet their people. I'm not built like that. I come from a community that believes that the only way you can connect is through having the conversation. So they have to really boss up and say, if we want to serve, if we want to leave, we got to go see people and maybe have an uncomfortable conversation. But I've talked to people who are frustrated about not to be able to afford their housing.

I've talked to people who are frustrated because they've been working the same job for five years and finally got a raise and their rent went up the same amount as their mortgage. But why did that rent go up? Because their landlord is their landlord allowed to squeeze them. Smokey the barry. Then you know why Smokey tells you when he sees you passing through. Remember, please be careful.

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Brought to you by the USDA Forest Service, your state forester, and the ad council. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL cover zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel?

That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative, and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL.

Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Because too many of these big corporations that own these properties, they've been allowed to just do whatever they want. People want leadership that will hold people accountable so those prices. can come down and they can be able to afford to be in Michigan and succeed. And that's something that I think leaders need to be able to go and tell that story about what they would do about the problem that people articulating to them right now. I'm going to do that. So maybe they can, you know, take my lead and they can see that as a model for how they need

to move forward. Nola. In addition to that, thank you so much for your remarks. In addition to the model that you're suggesting, you know, I'm very pro-southern strategy. very pro outside of the Beltway strategy, any sort of strategy. And I know that a lot of politicians are about where's the win going to be. Is there a use case to where going into non-democratic-friendly areas, is there a test case or to where it worked, where the strategy to go in these more red-leaning areas and you eke out a win? Perhaps can you add that to your model as you go in and

you talk to some of these electives when you talk about strategy, is there something that they can see on paper? Like, no, this actually works. Yeah, the model includes going everywhere. I'll give you the example of McComb County, Michigan. I've been on the ballot twice with Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2018 and 2022. Now, in 2020, Democrats lost McComb County. In 2024, Democrats lost McComb County. But we want it. Why? Because I spend time there. I talk to those UAW members. I talked to those hospital workers. I talk to those janitorial services, folks, and I understand what's important to them so that when it's time to vote, they believe me. They know I'm going to be the ones who are going to be there for them. I haven't talked to

that Trump voter who had signed a mortgage for her first home, rolling. She signed a mortgage, and then 10 days later, Trump announced that first round of those tariffs, and Stalantis laid off 900 people at her plan. That happened immediately. I had to go see her and say, So what's you going to do? Because it's not a temporary layoff. What do you need to do? She said, yeah, I need to think about this a different way. This wasn't what I voted for.

But now I need to make something different happen. So we've got to get people that option. And you can only give people that option. You can only show that you're an alternative if you're willing to be there and sit with them and work with them. So I know what it takes to win in a place like McComb County. And the reason that national reporters, when they come to Michigan during presidential elections, they go to McComb County because that's a place that can swing either way, depending on how much they trust the candidates who they put in front.

front of them. And the way you build trust is by showing up. Greg. Thank you, Roland. And thank you, but Chris, let's ask you a quick question. What do the numbers look like with regard to what's the number

you think you need to bring voters who typically and I guess from not running as well for a dokey Hold on, Greg, Greg, Greg, your cellul is breaking up. So, uh, restate your question. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was, it was like, uh, it was like, uh, jittery there. Restate your question.

Oh, okay, look, very quickly and think, uh, yeah, it's still doing the same thing. Hold on for a second. Yeah, let's, yeah, let's do this here. Let's take off the, I would do this here. Take off the earbud and then. Am I okay? There we go. Oh, yeah, we go.

Okay, thank you, brother. It was his ear, it was his ear. It was his ear. buds, Nola. It was your cricket Wi-Fi. Nola, stop. Don't ain't tripped. You fixed his problem in 10 seconds, Nola.

You froze five times. You froze five times, Nola. You get assistance. Whatever, Greg, ask your question. Now we can hear you, Greg. Go ahead. I'm embarrassed to say. Hey, amen, thank you, Rowland. Thank you, Brother Gilchrist. I want to ask you a quick question.

What's your sense of the number or the relative percentage you need to hit in terms of voter turnout for the people who are already registered and engaged. And I want to speak to the elephant in the room, although he's not running as an elephant or a donkey, but as an independent, the Mike Duggan factor. How could Duggan plan this race and maybe even serve as a spoiler and maybe elevate a circus clown like John James? Let me answer that question first.

The story in Michigan about this general election is a very simple story. If we get the right Democratic nominee that the entirety of our coalition can trust from the most progressive people who are the most on fire, to the most centrist and moderate people of our coalition, if everyone trusts that nominee and you can hold the coalition together, we will hold onto this nomination and we will win, a Democrat will win in Michigan. I am the candidate who can hold that whole coalition, who the voters of the city of Be Short, where I am from and who I am of. The voters will support me as someone who represents them and their future, not somebody who they can no longer entrust and who represents the past. They will see me as the

person who they can support and they can believe in, and they won't vote for a Republican. They will show up and will get record voter turnout in the state of Michigan because the last time we had record voter turnout with the time we had a young black candidate where everybody was excited about. So that is the opportunity that my candidacy provides here in the state of Michigan. So what we need to do, we need to mobilize those black voters, anchor, organize them, persuade them to be in this game. And I'm the person who can bring those young men back into our coalition. The person who can inspire young people to get engaged. That's why we have a college program and a non-college youth program. The person who can mobilize those voters who are on

fire because Trump is setting our economy on fire in the state of Michigan, we're the state that is hardest hit by tariffs, hard than any other state. And also then by organizing those labor union members, it's bigger than the leaders, it's the members. You know, I'm the candidate that can hold that whole coalition together. That's what it's going to take to win, someone who can build that. And there's a path for that, not only to win a Democratic nomination, but to win the governorship. That's what we're going to do. I want to get you to weigh in on this here. Pastor A.R.

Bernard gave a sermon the other day, and I just thought it was so unpoint. And I think it also speaks to how I believe political leaders should be speaking to folks who love to proclaim Jesus

but then you don't necessarily see that reflected in their policies. Roll this. Satan was biblical. He was quoting text, but he's sure enough. He was tempting Jesus to use his power, authority, and influence recklessly. And we can't have people in power and authority and using it recklessly. It is not Christ-like. I don't care how much you call yourself a Christian.

Because I'm judging you by the standard. The one that said, I'm the way. I'm the truth. I'm the life. Every other way, every other truth, every other life must be judged. by my standard. So don't tell me how Christian you are, how much of a follower of Jesus you are.

And you're engaged in an activity that marginalize, disenfranchised, strip and lead people in poverty. No, no, no, no. Don't you tell me, that is not the Jesus, of the text. The Apostle Paul said this. He said when those who don't know the law do those things that are written in the law.

Come on. which you can means you can be Christ-like and not even biblical but when they do those things that are written in the law they prove that there is a universal law a higher standard

written on every human heart So we've got people in scripture at us justifying their activities because they find and support it with the text but there's only one judge that I have Are you rooted in the character of Jesus? It's not either or.

It's not one or the other. It's both and. Because you could be Christ's life without the text, which means you have no guardrails. And your Christ-likeness can become sentimentality that is in violation of the character and nature of God. So you need the text. But the text is to support Christ-likeness.

They work together. So you can wear your cross. You can play your music. You can have all of the symbols. I'm not going to judge you by your music. I'm not going to judge you by your symbols. I'm going to judge you by the standard. You can't politicize my Jesus.

You can't nationalize my Jesus. You can't nationalize my Jesus. my Jesus. You can't culturalize my Jesus because at the end of the book in Revelation John says, I saw a multitude of people

from every nation, from every language, from every culture. And that was the picture of the kingdom of God. So I wanted to play that because what I have long

maintained, I've long maintained, that Democrats, who are people of faith, have been weak. They have allowed these white Christian nationalists, the conservatives, to own the cross, own Jesus. And what I've said to the politicians is, my deal is, we had a huge debate a couple of years ago where I went after a pro-life.

I said, no, y'all ain't pro-life, you anti-abortion. I said, you ain't pro-life if you, cut Medicare and Medicaid, if you cut food benefits. And to me, that's how I would be going directly at the right here by saying if you want to talk about what

Jesus spoke about, hear the things he talked about and challenged them on that. I just think too many Democrat candidates run from that fight versus run to it. Well, first of all, Democrats need to be comfortable talking about their faith period. I was raised by

a Baptist minister. I talk about my faith more than any Democrat in the state of Michigan. Because it's important and it connects with people. But we also know that faith without works is dead. And what we have to show is that disconnect. That's what the pastor just said. The Bible is more than the verses. It's the actions that it inspired. The actions that it described, that is what we need to emulate, not just the words that people said. Jesus did things. He helped people. He served people. He listened to people. He connected with people. He wept for people. He showed up. He was the great intercessor.

Like, in order for us to serve, we have to do the same, which is why, again, I go back to, you cannot serve people you are scared to go see. So this is a full contact sport. This is football, not tennis. We need to go and be with people and sit with them and let them know that they can trust us. Don't let biased algorithms or degree screens or exclusive professional networks or stereotypes. Don't let anything keep you from discovering the half of the workforce who are stars.

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different? Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. When people don't trust you and they don't see results, that's when they leave. But if they trust you and they know you can deliver for them, people in Michigan who tell me about how their daycare bills are more expensive than their mortgage. They trust me as a problem solver that can guarantee daycare because I've already delivered 1,400 new child care facilities in 13 months in the state of Michigan. Now we can guarantee that for every parent and every family.

But you've got to go see somebody to tell them that eyeball to eyeball. You have to see somebody and let them know that they feel you and you feel them and what they're going through and they can do it. And that is an act of faith. That's an act of faith, not only in God, but that's an active faith in human connection. And we have to have that. We can't be scared to run away from that, Roland. Also, I think it's, listen, you know, the Bible talking about Jesus turning over tables. I mean, my deal also is you've got to be willing to take a fight to folk.

That's right. And I just think that, I just believe that we're in this moment. the public is demanding show me somebody who is fighting for me who's fighting for right who's fighting for the proper values and who is going to articulate

that. A fighter has to believe something you know any boxing you talk to they got to believe that they are the best, that they can win and they can overcome. And if people don't see what you believe then they won't believe that you're going to fight for them but if they see you believe in them

that's the beginning of knowing that you're going to fight for them Yeah, and when you waffle. Yeah, they can smell that. That's not real. But no, that's why, look, when they see me, when I show up, there's somebody who's been here before. There's somebody who's going to be there again. It's somebody who's going to work with me and fight for me.

If I'm in the room, they're in the room. That's what we need to know. That's what we need out of our fighters. Absolutely. And I was looking at this here. So you've been lieutenant governor, two terms under Gretchen Whitman. Yes, sir. You've already announced.

Is she endorsing you? She has not endorsed me She said she will not endorse me Okay, well I'm gonna say this here No, put the camera on me I'm gonna say this here point blank I don't see how you, Gretchen Whitmer, can pick somebody to be your lieutenant governor

Which says that if anything happens to me That person is Emily qualified to be the governor of the state And for you not to endorse this brother to me Makes no sense whatsoever Because you clearly wanted the votes that he brought to you in those two elections, and this is where you return the favor. And so let me real clear, he ain't asked me to do this.

That's why I asked the question, but to me, I don't understand how you can, you're not running again, and I know you may want to run for president, but let's be real clear. Gretchen Whitmer, you should be endorsing Garland Gilchrist to be the next governor of Michigan. I don't care what other Democrats are running, but if I pick somebody to be by number two, that means that I believe that they could be the number, one. If anything happened to me, well, then

that's what you should be doing. So that makes no sense to me whatsoever. And the folks in Michigan should let her know that as well. So that's just me talking. Let's be real clear. Lieutenant Governor, I appreciate you being here, man. Thanks a lot. Thanks for having me, bro. All right. Thanks a bunch. Let me thank

Zabor. Greg And Nola, if you've been on today's panel, thank you so very much. Nola, go get you some Wi-Fi. Please. You want me to send you a group on? You know me to send you a Groupon or something? That was so lovely.

You're about to kill your friend over there. You send you a Groupon? Ha ha! You can see you a care package. Send me all the things. Send me all the things. Yes, Roland, I would appreciate it. If my control room told me one more time,

Nola froze, I'm like, man, I'm going to cut somebody. That's right. I send her text message. I'm like, get your stuff together. So is that a care package or no? Just to kind of clarify. Take care yourself and get your Wi-Fi straight. All right.

All right. Yeah. Yeah. Bye. All right, Greg Zabor, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Folks tomorrow, Ellie Mistel and I talked about how the Trump folks are trying to tear down the federal housing. Fair Housing Act of 1960.

We would have that for you as well tomorrow. Now, coming up, now we're not going to break. We're not going to port with the control. Y'all have the pounded earlier? Y'all have it queued up? No. I don't want it that way. Okay?

Okay, I wanted to flow directly from here to there. Y'all, earlier, okay, I need y'all to pull it up. Earlier, y'all, y'all didn't follow my directions. I told you this earlier. Earlier today, folks, Congress from Hank Johnson had a panel talking about the judiciary and what's going on. Y'all, it was Elie Mistil, it was Maya Wiley, Christopher Haley, was Christian Clark, a really important panel. I need you to understand the importance of the Supreme Court, these federal judges,

the state Supreme Court, all of this here, in Michigan. Of course, the sister who won as well, when Democrats took control of the Supreme Court in Michigan, that allowed for the changing of public policy. So, folks, y'all got to understand these state Supreme Courts really important. Real quick, just tell folk how it critically it was how the state Supreme Court, when it changed,

how they impacted public policy. The Supreme Court is the backstop for the policy. Everything ultimately will get challenged there. And by having people who respect the law and share our values. We've been able to move policy that we had not been able to move for 30 years in the state of Michigan.

Worker protections, environmental protections, consumer protections. The court helps us make sure we take care of people and that it sticks. And that's why our folks to understand why voting in the state supremacraces

are critically important. So, you do not want to miss this panel conversation and we got coming up next. I'm telling you all, it is really, really important. Don't forget support the work that we do here at Black Star Network.

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