#RolandMartinUnfiltered - House passes Trump budget, Federal layoffs, DOE Assault, Trump dismantles AFRICOM, Crockett Chronicles

Episode Date: February 27, 2025

2.26.2025 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: House passes Trump budget, Federal layoffs, DOE Assault, Trump dismantles AFRICOM, Crockett Chronicles #BlackStarNetwork partner: Fanbasehttps://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbase This Reg A+ offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.  This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment. You should read the Offering Circular (https://bit.ly/3VDPKjD) and Risks (https://bit.ly/3ZQzHl0) related to this offering before investing. Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox  http://www.blackstarnetwork.com The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting 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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Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Hey folks, today is Wednesday, February 26, 2025, coming up on Rollercoaster, streaming live on the Black Star Network. Well, guess what? In the building behind me, the U.S. Capitol, Republicans passed a resolution that will lead to more than $800 billion in cuts to Medicaid. It will lead to massive spending cuts,

but also giving billionaires and the super rich a whole lot more money. We're going to break that down on today's show. Also, these MAGA Trump folks are trying to dismantle the Department of Education. We'll talk about what those cuts are going to mean, how they're going to impact education with the president of the National Parents Union. Also on today's show, Trump had a cabinet meeting and Elon Musk, not even a cabinet, dominated the meeting

and they said some of the dumbest, stupidest stuff you've ever heard in your life and we're going to show you what they said. Also on today's show,

two episodes of the Crockett Chronicle where Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett is giving these folks hell on Capitol Hill. We'll show you what took place. It is time to bring the funk.

I'm Roland Barthelme Fulton on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's 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 Gro-Gro-Yah It's rolling Martin Rolling with Roland now. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's Roland Martin now.

Martin! Hey, folks, MAGA and Republicans are doing all they can to destroy education in this country. Now, on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue is the White House, where the twice impeached, criminally convicted felon in teeth, Donald Trump, is allowing his nutcase folks like Stephen Miller and Russell Vaught to destroy the federal budget. Behind me is the U.S. Capitol, where Republicans are doing all they can to assist him in that effort. One of the places they want to get rid of is the Department of Education. And so a lawsuit has been filed with regard to the Department of Education. Give me one second, folks. I'm actually headed to our studios.

So a lawsuit has been filed against the Department of Education to stop a lot of these Trump cuts. Kerry Rodriguez, of course, is president of the National Parents Union. She joins us right now. Kerry, glad to have you here. Yes, that's me. Let's talk about these cuts, Kerry. People do not understand how devastating this is going to be. And these folks in these red states like Tennessee, they get $1.6 billion from the federal government.

What the hell do they think is going to happen? I don't know. They're cutting their nose off to spite their face here. And I think it's going to hit them where it hurts really hard because I don't even know. I think they understand fully the pain that is coming their way. When you have a red state that relies 25 percent of your budget, 30 percent of your budget to fund your special education programs, like you're going to be in a whole world of pain when these cuts come down. And there are going to be a lot of angry mamas marching into those offices to raise holy hell, I'll tell you that much. You're absolutely right. And the thing

here, the thing here that I keep trying to explain to people is that they make this statement that, oh, we should just send the money right to the states. But the reality is we see what's happening with these voucher scams as well, where they actually are going to try to hold that money back. And then if you talk about sending to the states, well, if you send it to these red state governors, that money's not necessarily going to go to the school district where they're most needed. Well, we just spent five years practicing for this moment, right? We sent all of this ESSER money, this ARP money down to the states, and we didn't get to the academic outcomes that we were looking for. And now we're going to put this on steroids. And once again, try to trust these folks that just wasted about $180 billion in federal funding, that all of a sudden they're going to find Jesus

and do the right thing. I think you're crazy if you think that. So I would also caution people, do we remember what it was like 40 years ago, 46 years ago, before we had the U.S. Department of Education? There's a reason why we established this. Because back then, you know, we had schools that could choose not to educate our kids. Like, we have never seen relief in terms of education and equity and getting our kids education justice unless parents have gone to the courts and sued and gotten federal injunctions to open up doors so that we could get our kids into classrooms. Now, going back then, when we think about it, 46 years ago, if you were blind, if you were deaf, if you had Down syndrome, if you had autism, they could decide they just did

not want to educate your kid. It was too expensive. They didn't have the program. And they could just kind of shrug their shoulders and decide, well, your kid's not going to get access to a free and appropriate public education. If you don't fund these schools, the programs won't exist. And if you don't fund the mechanism by which we hold these systems accountable for their responsibility in educating our children, they're not going to do it. And we have a legacy of doing this to our children, especially Black and Latino children in this country. And we're just walking right back into it. Carol, they also are advancing a lie. They have created this narrative that the problem with

education in America is the Department of Education. But 90 percent of the education funds in America come from the state and local governments. The money's not coming from D.C. So this idea that the problem with education in America is the federal Department of Education is an absolute lie. Well, I'll tell you something, Roland. I've devoted my entire career to being a critical friend of education because, you know, we at the National Parents Union, I love public education, you know, not like a five-year-old loves their mommy, you know, where she's so right and she's the most beautiful and she can do no wrong. We have a lot

of work to do in public education to make it better, to make it more equitable, to get our kids to be. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them.

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What standards are going to be required to graduate from high school. They have never done this well on the state level, which is why we have had to fight to get protections on the federal level so that parents could sue them, so that we could go to the Office of Civil Rights and demand justice. And now they want to take all of that away, because all they want to do is push all this money right down to the states so that they can set up these voucher schemes where you're basically going to end up with choices that aren't worth choosing. And folks that can deny our kids access to education, take your money and then end up graduating kids that aren't even literate and aren't ready for the jobs in the economy of the future.

None of it makes sense. And frankly, the long term impacts that we see from this mess in 10 or 15 years, it's going to land us in a world of hurt. But also what's happening, and this is what I'm trying to get people to understand. These Republicans want to have massive cuts to Pell Grants as well. So I'm actually I'm sitting here in an Uber head to the office. And you just said one of your sons dropped out of college because because he couldn't afford it. So here's the whole. So this Uber driver says that whole deal. That's the case for a lot of African-American students, especially going to HBCUs. That people who go there first and second year, but they can't afford to stay.

If Republicans pass this massive bill to give tax breaks to super-rich, they are going to drastically slash Pell Grants, and you're going to see hundreds of thousands of young folks drop out of college because they're not going to be able to afford it. If they start making cuts to financial aid college because they're not going to be able to afford it. If they start making cuts to financial aid, then they're screwed. And so people need to understand this. What are your parents saying? Are parents really prepared for this fight that we're about to have on our hands? No, I don't think any of us are prepared. I think that we are overwhelmed.

We're struggling to understand why this administration has decided not just to attack our kids on the issue of education, but it's on all fronts. I mean, it's economically, when it comes to our safety in this nation, when it comes to education, when it comes to fundamental things. Like, I get calls from parents right now who are terrified that their Medicaid is going to be cut, that they're not going to have access to feeding tubes, that their children need to survive, that they're not going to have access to insulin, that their children need to survive. What is going to be able to have my child in head start so that I can go to work? Or am I going to lose my job because I don't have this program because these folks take care of my baby so that I can hold it down in my own home? Like what this feels like is just an absolute attack on American families at every single angle. And the shock and awe that they had planned for us, I don't think any of us could have

been prepared for this. Like, this is a catastrophic moment. But here's the deal here, Carrie, I'm going to go to my panel next with their questions. I saw this news report, and I think it may have been CBS or ABC, I can't remember. Well, they were in Kentucky, and that was this woman who was a teacher. And she said, yes, I voted for Trump, but I didn't vote for this. And I'm like, yes, you did. They literally said in Project 2025 what they were going to do. And I don't know what these people were thinking. We were warning people for three years. And when I keep hearing, well, I know they said it, but I didn't really think they were going to do it. Well, guess what? They're doing it. And people need to understand

it's happening. Massive layoffs on the federal level are happening. They want to drive through massive cuts on entitlements. They want to dismantle the Department of Education. They want to completely gut the federal government. So anybody out there who is saying, well, I didn't think they're going to go this far, they are going all the way unless the people rise up and say, hell no. Well, I got to tell you, we brought in a group of parents from the red states to go into the Senate Help Committee to have conversations with their red state senators right before the Linda McMahon hearing to have these tough conversations. These are folks that have Section 8 benefits, that have SNAP benefits, that have kids that are on Medicaid, that are kids who go to Title I schools, like kids that are on IEPs that are going to be impacted. This is a full-scale assault on American families right now and the most vulnerable. And frankly, it's these red states.

As we started off this conversation, Roland, you hit it on the head. Like, you're hurting yourselves. Folks that live in blue states, you know, they're going to be all right. If they get a six percent cut in their federal education funding, they'll figure it out. You know, these are rich and wealthy states where they're not going to hit be hit as hard. If you're in Texas, if you're in Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, you know, all of these places like you are going to be hit. So in such devastating ways. And I'm hearing the same thing from a lot of families as well, folks that said, you know, oh, I didn't understand that this was going to tear apart or put in danger my kid's IEP. I had no idea that this was going to hurt my kid's Head Start program or I was going to lose SNAP or my Section 8 was going away or like any of these other issues. So I think there's a lot of folks

out there with voter remorse. And unfortunately, they're going to end up learning the hard way through this one. Well, many of those parents, they voted. I've seen it. They voted for whiteness. They voted for culture. They voted for God, gays and guns. And now they about to F around. They F'd around and they about to find out. Rebecca Carruthers is vice president for the Fair Election Center, joining us out of D.C. Melinda Hales with the Black Voices Heard Project out of Los Angeles. Glad to have both of you here. Rebecca, what's your question for Kerry Rodriguez of the National Parents Union? Thank you so much for being here tonight. So just like Roland said, a lot of the issues are

going to go back to the state because that's where the funding formulas are determined for public education in our country. There is approximately 30,000 school board races that are up in 2025, and there's going to be even thousands more up in 2026. What is your organization doing, if anything, to help recruit people to run for those school board seats? So we are not doing direct recruitment, but we're working with a lot of mama organizations that are, including directly in Florida, in Georgia, in California, in Mississippi, in Missouri. I could kind of go through the list, but there are a lot of mamas right now who are on the case and actively recruiting because we think that that is going to be one of the critical points

of resistance. Because having to figure out and make these tough decisions for our kids based on those cuts and having to be the ones responsible for prioritizing, we know if we don't have the right people in place, our priorities are not going to be heard. And it's the folks that are in the arena, the folks that can step up and advocate for their kids to get their piece of the pie that are going to make out. If we move to a block grant as a way from formula funding, formula funding kind of guarantees that your kids are going to get their piece of the pie, at least to some degree. If we move to block grants, it's going to be, you know, it's going to get their piece of the pie, at least to some degree. If we move to block grants, it's going to be, you know, it's going to be one, it's going to be a feeding frenzy. Like, whoever has the most political power is going to walk away with their biggest slice of the pie.

So we got to make sure that we are building that political power, and we're doing that on the local level. And there are organizations right now that are doing everything they possibly can to get the right folks, frankly, parents and families that have the skin in the game that will be responsible for making those decisions. So we're going to be doing everything that we can in terms of sending our resources and, frankly, money down to those races so that those folks on the local level can make the right decisions, because those are the ones that need to be empowered to make sure that it's the right people representing their communities, not for me to sit, you know, from on high in the National Parents Union to make those decisions.

I want to make sure those resources get to them so they can do their own choices. Melinda, your question. Carrie, first of all, thank you for the work that you do. I am a mom. I'm a former educator. I come from a family of educators. So I think everything that you're doing is very important. You know, for me, I live in California, so I do live in a blue state and we, you know, operate differently than the red states, of course. But what can we in blue states do as actionable steps to support the red states and help hopefully stop this from happening,

from the dismantling the Department of Education? Well, I got to tell you, you live in California. I live in Massachusetts. And even though we're in blue states, like, we are not safe because there is so much more to come after the attempts to dissolve the U.S. Department of Education. Number one, like, that can't actually happen unless Congress approves it. So we've got to make sure we hold the line. Our elected officials that are in the blue states have to do their jobs of making sure that they are solid, that they're not going to vote for it. We're reaching out to red states members of Congress to make sure that they are not going to vote for dismantling. And frankly, I don't think they have the votes. But what they need to do is be holding this department or what's left of it, the ruins of it, accountable for staffing these departments so that they actually function. And so whatever's left of the department is actually sending money and resources down to the states and is actually being held accountable.

The thing that we really need to watch out for that's going to hit us in red states and blue states is the thing that's probably going to happen in the next couple of weeks. And that is going to be the disassembling of assessment and accountability. You're going to start to hear that this administration is going to tell states that they don't have to have assessments. They don't have to have data available. And kids don't have to do things like, you know, standardized testing, which, you know, obviously is not the most popular thing in the world. But as education justice advocates, we know that without data to hold a generationally institutional racist system accountable for how they underserve kids. And we do that by testing them and assessing them. We cannot hold this system accountable. And when we go to them and we say, listen, this system is unjust, the subgroups that are important to you and I, like obviously black children, Latino children, these are the kids, it's my kids and your kids that always get screwed in these situations.

We've got to be able to have the data and the evidence to say, hey, you are underserving our kids. We're not going to let you do it. What we're going to see this administration do is give waivers to the states, both in blue states and red states, saying you don't have to do this anymore. So us as education justice advocates, we got to stand up and say, no, you're not going to take this data from me because I need to hold you accountable for what you're doing or not doing for our kids. So that's going to be our next line of defense. And I'm frankly really upset and worried about that's going to be our next line of defense. And I'm frankly really upset and worried about what's going to happen next there. And Carrie, there are attacks on DEI, the attacks on anything dealing with race. That also is tied to the data, because if you don't have the data that shows you the disparities, then you don't know how to allocate the resources. They do not want

to have any of that information. They don't want to gather it. They don't want to actually have it available. They want to get rid of all of it. Yeah, you're exactly right. And that's why when you see them attacking these programs, when you see them attacking data, when you see them attacking the Institute of Educational Sciences, that is such a red flag because what they're trying to do is steal our ability to hold them accountable for underserving. And that's not just at the federal level. The federal level forces the states to also do their own assessments and hold them accountable to standards because left to their own devices, again, go back to what we did 46 years ago. We got to, we will let states choose that they didn't want to educate

black kids, that they didn't want to educate children who had special needs. Like, that's what we're going back to if we don't have data. And they will use that as an excuse. Well, you don't have any evidence to show that we're not doing that. That's why we've got to fight so hard as folks that are in the social justice work. Without data, we don't have anything. And that's a dangerous place for us to be. Carrie, I certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much for joining us on Roland Martin Unfiltered. I just want to leave you with one thing. We're in the courts. We've recruited so many parents across this country to sue the Trump administration. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time,

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

This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

So if you're hearing me right now and you are fired up and you are a parent who wants to take action and do something, we're happy to help you. Connect with us at the National Parents Union. We can get you connected with legal resources. And let's make sure if they're not going to hear us in the streets, they will hear us in the courts. All right, Carrie, we appreciate it. Thank you so very much. All right, folks, we're going to go to a break. We come back, going to talk about what Republicans did today. Very slim majority. They passed their budget resolution.

We'll talk about that. It's about the time we come back from break. I'll be back in the studio. As you see, I'm sitting here on Black Lives Matter Plaza. And so the White House is in the background there. So we'll be chatting about that. So we'll be right back. Rolling Mark Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. We begin tonight with the people who are really running the country right now. Now, Trump is often wrong and misleading about a lot of things, but especially about history.

Donald Trump falling in line with President Elon Musk. In the wake of the unsettling news that MSNBC has canceled Joy Ann Reeve's primetime show, The Readout, Roland Martin and the Black Star Network would like to extend an invitation to all of the fans of Joy and Reeve MSNBC show

to join us every night to watch Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming on the Black Star Network for news, discussion of the issues that matter to you and the latest updates on the twice-impeached, criminally convicted felon-in-chief Donald Trump and his unprecedented assault

on democracy as well as co-president Elon Musk takeover of the federal government. The Black Star Network stands with Joy Ann Reid and all folks who understand the power of black voices in media. We must come together and never forget that information is power. Be sure to watch Roland Martin Unfiltered weeknights, 6 p.m. Eastern at youtube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin or download the Black Star Network app. This week on the other side of change.

Abolition focus. Should we aim for reform. a suggestion that we already know to be true, which is that we have what it takes to take care of each other and to take care of ourselves. Watch us on the Black Star Network, so tune in to The Other Side of Change. What's up, y'all? Look, Fanbase is more than a platform. It's a movement to empower creators, offering a unique opportunity for everyday people to invest in Black-owned tech infrastructure and help shape the future

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That's on the next Black Table with me, Greg Carr, only on the Black Star Network. Coming soon to the Black Star Network. of what y'all have accomplished? Oh, most definitely. I think we were doing our show before our break. And remember, I was watching this kid. I could not take my eyes off him, because he was about nine or so. He was sitting in the front row with his parents. Over on the right-hand side, yes. Yes, yes, yes.

I was amazed that this kid knew everything. And I was like tripping to see how many songs this kid actually knew. And he was, I was like tripping to see how many songs this kid actually knew. And he knew them all. And he knew them all. We had to go over there and bring him on stage and take a picture with him, you know, at the end of the show and stuff because it was just that amazing.

It was like, this is crazy. You know, the music travels everywhere, you know, like what Phillip was saying, seeing his young kid. Then you see, hear our songs on commercials, cold commercials. Then you have the younger ones that see and hear our music in animation. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, have you ever had that million-dollar idea and wondered how you could make it a reality? On the next Get Wealthy, you're going to meet Liska Askalise, the inventress, someone who made her own idea a reality and now is showing others how they can do it too.

Positive, focusing in on the thing that you want to do, writing it down and not speaking to naysayers or anybody about your product until you've taken some steps to at least execute. Lease gut, ask a lease. On the next Get Wealthy, right here, only on Blackstar Network. How you doing? My name is Mark Currie, and you're watching Roland Martin. Unfiltered, deep into it, like pasteurized milk. Without the 2%, we getting deep. You want to turn that shit off?

We're doing an interview, motherfucker. Folks, the twice-impeached, criminally convicted felon and chief, Donald the Con Trump, just got his big, beautiful bill and is about to cost America big time. After weeks of pressure, House Republicans pushed through Trump's new budget resolution,

which will contain some $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and billions more for immigration enforcement. The vote was razor thin, 217 to 215. They were whipping votes in the end. Trump was personally making phone calls to hardcore conservatives, fiscal conservatives, to flip their vote. Now, here's what's in the budget.

First, it extends Trump's 2017 tax cuts, which were set to expire this year. That alone will cost $4 trillion over the next decade, mostly benefiting super-rich people and big corporations. Trump also added another $500 billion in tax breaks, like eliminating taxes on tips. Second, it boosts spending on immigration enforcement with up to $110 billion for ICE, $90 billion for border security, and $100 million for the military to get involved. Third, they're going to, if the budget mandates, $2 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade to help offset those tax cuts and border spending. But here's the catch. Nowhere

does it say which programs will be slashed. Instead, House committees will decide where the axe falls. And even with those cuts, the budget still is going to add $2.8 trillion to the national deficit. Now, folks, let's keep it real. When tax cuts like these go through, they usually come at the cost to social programs, food programs, things like healthcare, housing, education, food benefits. All of those are gonna be on the chopping block, including Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.

But because Republicans are using the process called reconciliation, they don't need a filibuster majority in the Senate. They can pass this with a simple majority. Now, here's what we're facing right now, folks, and this is very simple. It's going to be a serious battle. Now, here's what's crazy to me, Rebecca, that's stunning. All of these Republicans, oh, they claim to be a serious battle. Now, his was crazy to me, Rebecca. That's stunning. All of these Republicans, oh, they

claim to be fiscal conservatives. So you complain about a $36 trillion deficit. But y'all are going to add nearly $3 trillion to the deficit. Oh, the last time Trump was there, those tax cuts added $8 trillion to the deficit. Oh, the last time Trump was there, those tax cuts added $8 trillion to the deficit. They are full of shit when it comes to being fiscal conservatives. Roland, I'm not an accountant, but just even listening to that as you described it,

it isn't, you know, for years we've heard conservatives say that America has a spending problem, but it sounds like America has a revenue problem. Anytime that you're adding trillions of dollars in tax cuts to our deficit, to our national debt, at that point, we're not bringing in enough money to actually pay our bills. Because the reality is, even if you zeroed out all of our safety net programs in this country, it still wouldn't be tantamount to a trillion dollars. But what is trillions of dollars are these tax cuts that are specifically going to the top 0.25 of the top 1 percent. The fact that we're paying Elon Musk $8 million a day, I'm going to say that again, every single day we're paying Elon Musk $8 million a day. I'm going to say that again. Every single day, we're paying

Elon Musk $8 million a day with his federal contracts. But at the same time, conservatives are trying to tell us the problem is that grandma is getting $1,800 a month in Social Security Crazy here, Melinda, as I listen to these people, they don't have any courage. The Freedom Caucus, when Obama was there, oh, fiscal cut, cut, cut. We're not going to extend the debt ceiling. Absolutely not. We need to be cutting, cutting, cutting. Chip Roy is out there. Thomas Massey is out there. All of these Republicans are out there. And guess what? There are such punks.

I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. They're such wimps. They sit here and have no courage and no guts. And so Trump says, do it. I'm going to penalize you. And they're like, OK, OK, Daddy, I'll do it. Well, you know, it's interesting because they seem to forget who employs them,

which is the American people. And cutting things like Medicaid is going to affect majority of their constituents. And it's very interesting to me that whenever the Democrats are in office or Democrats are leading, that's when Republicans seem to care. But I think that they're responsible for like 80 percent of our national debt, right? And it just, the point that you made, Roland, adding to the national debt $4 trillion, and you also made the point about Elon's contracts. Why are we not focusing on that type of stuff? And it's also impossible for them to not cut from Medicaid, even though they are telling that to our faces, that they are not going to be cutting any of the funds from Medicaid because it doesn't explicitly say that. But if you look at the

federal health and energy programs that they are cutting $880 billion from. There's no way for them to do that without cutting Medicaid. But again, because the wording's not there, they want us to believe that. Control room, get the clip of Donald Trump at the cabinet meeting today where he was like, oh, no, no, no, we're not going to do these cuts. We're not going to do it. We're not going to do it. We're not going to do it. Nope, nope, ain't going to happen.

Ain't going to happen. Y'all have it ready to do it. We're not going to do it. We're not going to do it. Nope, nope. Ain't going to happen. Ain't going to happen. Y'all have it ready? Play it. The spending bill that passed last night aims to cut $2 trillion. Can you guarantee that Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security will not be touched? Yeah, I mean, I have said it so many times, you shouldn't be asking me that question.

Okay? This will not be read my lips. It won't be read my lips anymore. We're not going to touch it. Now, we are going to look for fraud. I'm sure you're okay with that, like people that shouldn't be on, people that are illegal aliens and others, criminals in many cases. And that's with Social Security. We have a lot of people. You see that immediately when you see people that are 200 years old that are being sent checks for Social Security. We have a lot of people. You see that immediately when you see people that are 200 years old that are being sent checks for Social Security. Some of them are actually being sent checks.

So we're tracing that down, and I have a feeling that Pam is going to do a very good job with that. But you have a lot of fraud. He lying his ass off, Rebecca. Lying to our faces. I mean, Melinda, lying, lying, lying. And then I gotta show y'all this clip, okay? So here is, first of all, this dude,

he served as, he was in Trump's cabinet, okay? To force his ass out because he was corrupt, okay? You wanna listen to, listen to him try to convince us that is $800 billion in fraud. Listen. How much would you like to see cut from Medicaid? Well, there is zero, zero mention of cutting Medicaid. There is zero mention of cutting Social Security because you can't. But it is again, it's a balancing thing that you we have twenty six trillion dollars in debt and growing is what you have is the savings by removing the fraud, abuse. Right. And efficiency. And then you have what the expenditures know, the expenditures are the tax provisions.

And the tax provisions do cost money. But we don't want to go in debt doing this. I mean, you have to recognize that $26 trillion, the reason why we're here is spending, spending, spending, relax, you know, fall back on the spending and make sure we have a plan that we don't go in debt with the taxes, provisions, extending that again, that that costs money and also the savings. We've got to make sure they balance out. And that's what the argument is about. It's just a simple ledger sheet. But of course, you know that that this blueprint did call on the Energy Committee, which oversees Medicare and Medicaid, that they have to cut at least what, eight hundred and eighty billion dollars. And plenty of people

look at that and say, you can't get there without cutting Medicaid. So again, my direct question, which you didn't really address, is how much would you be willing to cut from Medicaid? It's a balance. Again, it's a ledger sheet. So if we're going to do tax provisions, then you have to make sure it's balanced. What we're going to do is not go in debt. Now, $850 billion is a goal. Again, it's over over 10 years cycle. Do you think there's fraud in there at that scale? Likely there's pretty close. But there's also things we can do, like work requirements, like efficiency. You know, government is the last resort. It's not the first. So when you when you look at Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Social Security is off because it's reconciliation. But it doesn't mean you can't make improvements on it. And get rid of the waste, fraud, and abuse. If you're going to tell your constituents, again, waste, fraud, and abuse, there's some. You're willing to look for some cuts in Medicaid, yes?

I will look at getting rid of the waste, fraud and abuse. And again, Elon Musk has said there could be a trillion dollars, with a T, a trillion dollars in waste, fraud and abuse. But again, that's what he says. We have to confirm that's what it is. And if it is confirmed, then you can have the savings of it. So we're not going to cut benefits. What we're going to do is make it more efficiently.

And if there's fraud, waste, and abuse, I think America, I know America doesn't want fraud, waste, and abuse. We see the abuse in USAID. We see it in programs. We see it in the spending. Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, it's no different. If there's fraud, waste, and abuse, we have an obligation to go after it. You know, waste, waste, and abuse. We have an obligation to go after it. You know,

waste, fraud, and abuse. Waste, fraud, and abuse. Oh my God. We're going to find the waste, fraud, and abuse. He wouldn't answer the question, Rebecca. He sat there. Oh, and Elon said we can find $30 in cuts.

What he didn't say is that Elon and Doge had to actually, they deleted five so-called major spending cuts they found because it didn't exist. They asses are lying. These people are totally full of shit. He wouldn't answer the question. He would not commit to anything.

And all he did was just go alone his ways for an abuse the Americans want to get rid of waste fraud and abuse it's waste fraud and abuse it's not a hundred billion in waste fraud and abuse it's not the Pentagon is the largest federal agency in the United States. It has a budget of 864 billion dollars when Obama was there they identified 125 billion dollars in waste fraud and abuse and the Pentagon with the largest budget So tell me you're going to find six times more

waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicaid? I'm sorry, and I know and I just apologize in advance to all of the mothers and everybody else, and y'all are praying for me to stop cussing, but get the fuck out of here.

So, Roland, here's the thing. We have to stop cussing, but get the fuck out of here. So, Roland, here's the thing. We have to stop using the oppressor's language, and that's all I heard with him talking about waste, fraud, and abuse, because if that man really cared about it, he would be knocking on Rick Scott's door. We know what Rick Scott did when he was CEO, and we know about the Medicare fraud that his company, that he ran, which was later fined $1.7 billion by HHS, which I think was at least 13 or 14 felony convictions because they stole money. Let's just call it what it is. It's stealing. We know that there are inefficiencies in government,

but we also know that Doge and Elon Musk are lying about it when they talk about how they've gotten rid of all these contracts. But if you actually ask, OK, all these contracts that you canceled, it's still zero dollars in savings. You know, we want to know why, because many of those contracts have actually been paid out already. So at this point, it's just words. The other thing is we actually have to start using the language that people understand it. So we're going to talk about Medicaid. What a lot of people don't understand is that even with that Medicaid formula, you know, it depends on the year, depends on the state. But it could be over 50 percent of those state aid Medicaid costs are coming from the federal government. So if people think that this group, this regime in the White

House and this administration wouldn't cut Medicaid, then they are delusional or they're uninformed. But we actually have to start calling it out. If you live in Tennessee, it's called TennCare. They are going to cut your TennCare. That is for poor people and that is for kids. So when you see Marsha Blackburn, the next time you're in Tennessee, ask her, why does she want to take health care? This is not just balancing the ledger, but why do you want to take preventative health care from children? If you're in Florida, let's talk about the PACE program. That's one of the Florida Medicaid programs.

You know what that covers? That covers the elderly in Florida, the elderly who, as you age, you need to be at that doctor every other month, if not every month, just making sure and checking on you, because there's so much that happens as we age, which requires more medical intervention and more medical monitoring. So as we're talking about what these cuts are, let's use the words of which they're doing. They're stealing. They're trying to open up the lockbox in Social Security to steal your retirement, your hard-earned dollars. When we're talking about Medicaid, let's talk state-specific, what the program actually is. And maybe the American public will then understand why this bill that's moving through Congress right now is so devastating.

Belinda, I really am. I really am. And I run into people people and they're like, Roland, please stop cussing. They're like, Roland. And I'm like, y'all, I'm trying. I ain't like Reesey, okay? I ain't like MF. MF is every other word with me.

But it is hard not to cuss these people out. It's hard not to do it because they just straight ass lying. They are just making up stuff. In fact, y'all, get the clip ready. Get the clip ready. Elon was at the cabinet meeting today and admitted, yeah, yeah, we got some shit wrong. Yeah, man, y'all have it ready? Y'all, come on, get the clip. He was like, yeah, man, I know we done made some mistakes.

I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley

comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. But here's the problem. He got rid of Ebola prevention by accident. Right, that's what I'm saying. Come on, y'all. I can't believe y'all ain't got a clip. Let me just get in my damn self.

Seems like we might be facing an outbreak in Congo right now. This is... We might as well start calling him Ebola Elon. I mean, here he is in the cabinet meeting, y'all, in the cabinet meeting. That he shouldn't be in in the

first place. Right, because he ain't a cabinet person. They whined and complained about Jill being in the cabinet meeting. Okay, here we go. Alright, come on. iPad audio up. Listen to this. And I should say,

also, we will make mistakes. We won't be perfect, but when we make a mistake, we'll fix it very quickly. So, for example, with USAID, one of the things we accidentally cancelled, very briefly, was Ebola. Ebola prevention. I think we all want Ebola prevention.

So we restored the Ebola prevention immediately, and there was no interruption. But we do need to move quickly if we're to achieve a trillion-dollar deficit reduction in financial year 2026. It requires saving $4 billion per day, every day, from now through the end of September. But we can do it, and we will do it. America is a land of . All right, all y'all who don't want me to cuss, okay,

turn the TV down right now. I want y'all to turn the TV down right now, okay? All you gotta do is turn the TV down for five seconds, okay? So I'm gonna give y'all a countdown, cause right now I gotta cuss, okay? I just got, it ain't gonna, it's only two words I'ma use, okay? So turn, if y'all don't want me cussing,

and y'all got kids watching, turn the TV down right now. Five, four, three, two, one. Melinda, this motherfucker. He this motherfucker. Oh, yeah, we might, yeah, my bad. Yeah, we accidentally cut Ebola. That's the whole point.

Your dumb ass not even checking what you cutting. You just sitting there cutting. Oh, shit. There was Ebola breakout. We didn't see a team there because these dumb asses froze the money. He's supposed to have a high IQ, so smart, so brilliant. How your dumb ass cut Ebola? These people are fucking idiots. They are. They are.

And they're 19- to 25-year-olds that he has in charge of doing all of this stuff, so they're going to be continuously making mistakes. And it's a shame. They don't know what they're doing. But, of course, thank God DEI is gone so that we have the best people in charge, right? Okay, let me go. Okay. Okay, I got my guests ready.

All right, here's the next dumbass. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. I need y'all to hear what this dumbass said today in the cabinet meeting. Roll it. We are following the measles epidemic every day. I think there's 124 people who have contracted measles at this point in Case County, Texas. Mainly, we're told in the Mennonite community, there are two people who have died. But we're watching it, and there are about 20 people hospitalized, mainly for quarantine.

We're watching it. We put out a post on it yesterday, and we're going to continue to follow it. Incidentally, there have been four measles outbreaks this year. In this country last year, there were 16. So it's not unusual. We have measles outbreaks every year. Okay, all right, I got one more. I need y'all to turn y'all TV down.

Just give me five seconds. I got to do this one more time before I introduce my guest, because I got to say it. Five, four, three, two, one. This motherfucker! Do y'all understand? We have not had a measles death in America in 10 years.

A whole damn decade. We've had four measles outbreaks this year. Somebody died because dumb-ass anti-vaxxers like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after COVID were running around, don't get vaxxed. So now we got these old idiot ass bag of

people not vaccinating their kids. Now they're going to school, catching measles because they refuse to get some vaccines. These people are stupid. They are dumb. They're listening to idiots like Trump and Elon and Clay Travis and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and all these people, and they're causing mayhem. Dr. Peter Hotez joins us right now. I was, y'all, I came to the building. I looked up. I saw Doc on CNN. I was like, Carol, hit Doc, because I just got to get expertise.

He's co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children's Hospital in my native Houston. So, Doc, since I'm talking to you, let me go ahead and put my hat on since I'm a Houstonian, Texas Children's Hospital. This has to... Well, I said today, you know, no more interviews, but then, you know, when a Houstonian like my friend Roland Martin asked,

you know, you're someone I can't say no to, my friend. I appreciate it, Doc. This is what you do. This is what you're someone I can't say no to, my friend. I appreciate it, Doc. This, Doc, this is what you do. This is what you committed your life to do. This has got to drive you crazy. Oh, you know, Roland, I got my M.D. and Ph.D. in New York City 100 years ago. Well, 40 years ago, in 1980s at Rockefeller Institute in Cornell in New York and wanted to devote my life to making vaccines for the world's poorest people. We made a low-cost COVID vaccine for India and Indonesia, reached 100 million people. I wound up making the first halal COVID vaccine, which was kind of interesting because it was a vegan process.

We make vaccines for parasitic diseases, and that's what I was going to do. It never occurred to me that somebody would think that making vaccines is a bad thing. What happened was my wife and I, Ann and I, have four adult kids, including Rachel, who has autism and intellectual disabilities. And if you remember, our friend Robert F. Kennedy Jr. came out and said vaccines cause autism. I wound up writing a book called Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel's Autism to debunk all of the false assertions. And unfortunately, that's made me public enemy number one or two ever since. And the anti-vaccine lobby here in Texas is very, very strong.

And we've seen the steady rise in the number of parents exempting their kids out of getting vaccines for school. And we knew it would have consequences. Ten years ago, I wrote an article called Texas and its measles epidemics, kind of predicting all this. And unfortunately, it's come to pass and now a tragic death, according to the Texas Health Department, in a school-aged child who was unvaccinated. Can you imagine how awful the parents feel? You know, I say it a little differently. I said, you know, the parents themselves are victims of this organized, politically motivated, very predatory anti-vaccine lobby. And they're very aggressive and they're

very active down here in Texas. And it didn't have to happen. And now it's really accelerating. We're going to see more kids hospitalized. Pray to God that we don't see any more deaths. But this horrible epidemic, it's huge and it's still in its early stages. So those are my big points. I mean, this reminded me there was some dude in Texas who was all against COVID vaccine, ends up getting COVID, dying, got kids, wife is pregnant. Now he out there leading protests. Now his ass dead and he got left a wife with four or five orphans. Yeah, no, it happened. You know, Roland, in our state of Texas, my estimate, I wrote a book about it in 2023, another book called The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science. My estimate is

40,000 Texans, 40,000, Roland, needlessly died because they refused the COVID vaccine. They, too, were victims of this anti-vaccine lobby. So anti-vaccine activism or anti-science activism has become a lethal force in America, and it's really active down in Texas and other southern states. And I'm trying my best to to put a halt to it. And that's why when you asked me to come on just now, I said, hey, I'm not going to miss that opportunity. Anything it takes to reach people to explain why these diseases are so lethal and why vaccines are so lifesaving. I'll take you up on that. I know we got two minutes left. I appreciate this. This literally just came across social media.

Go to my iPad, Anthony. In a brief interview this evening, Dr. Paul Offit confirms that members of the Food and Drug Administration's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee received an email after 4 p.m. today informing them that the upcoming meeting to decide on how to update next season influenza vaccines was canceled. You'll recall that the meeting is a key step to allow influenza vaccine manufacturers enough time to prepare updated shots for the next season. So no reason given for the canceled meeting and nothing about it. I mean, these people, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, his co-president, J.D. Vance and MAGA, they literally are going to watch people die and the pro-lifers are just going along with it. Yeah, it just makes no sense. You know, you know, the making the influenza vaccine making available, you know, every September into

the fall is a carefully orchestrated dance because you've got to pick which viruses you're going to target because influenza virus, unlike a lot of other viruses, undergoes a lot of changes from year to year. So it's carefully orchestrated. You have to make your selection of the viruses you're going to use in the vaccine now in order to plan ahead, to give you the companies the six months to make it. And now, you know, so they're meeting tomorrow at the World Health Organization. We've pulled out of the World Health Organization, so we don't get a seat at that table. And now we don't get the chance to inform the manufacturers what we want on the U.S. side.

So the companies, which are international companies, will have to go ahead without input from the U.S. It just it just makes no sense. Insane. Dr. Peter Hotez, I thank you for all the work that you do. Thank you for keep informing us. And we absolutely need our doctors and our scientists who are experts at this stuff and not a bunch of whack wackadoos with worms in their brain who couldn't study in college. So they chose to go the heron route, actually speaking for the rest of us. Well, thank you, my friend. You know, this measles epidemic is not going away anytime soon. It's going to be around. So I'm sure we'll have more opportunities to talk. Unfortunately, as much as I like talking to you, I hate coming on bringing bad news. But there you are. Well, I appreciate you informing our people. Thank you so very much.

Be well, my friend. God bless. God bless. Folks, y'all, it's just, it's insane. It's insane, y'all. I mean, the stuff that was said at today's, what else dumbass stuff they said at that damn cabinet hearing today? Oh, Trump threw out there...

Y'all gonna love this one. Now he out here trying to sell his gold card for people who want to come to the country for $5 million. Just listen to what he... Just roll this clip.

If we sell 10 million, which is possible, 10 million highly productive people coming in or people that we're going to make productive, they'll be young but they're talented, like a talented athlete. That's $50 trillion. That means our debt is totally paid off, and we have $15 trillion above that. That boy's math ain't mathin'.

Run that back. Howard was using a different number, but that's $5 trillion. If we sell 10 million, which is possible, 10 million highly productive people coming in or people that we're gonna make productive They'll be young but they're talented like a talented athlete. That's $50,000,000,000 that means our debt is totally paid off and we have fifteen trillion trillion above that. Y'all, I want y'all to roll that clip just one more

time. I'm trying to follow his math. I want y'all to, I got to have y'all roll that clip one more time because when I respond, y'all are going to trip out. Run it back. Howard was using a different number, but that's $5 trillion.

If we sell $10 million, which is possible, $10 million highly productive people coming in or people that we're going to make productive, they'll be young but they're talented, like a talented athlete. That's $50 trillion. That means our debt is totally paid off and we have $15 trillion above that. This fool just said, gonna bring i know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time have you ever had to shoot your gun sometimes the answer is yes but there's a company dedicated to

a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. 50 more trillion dollars. Melinda, did you hear that? I heard all of it.

Rebecca, did you hear we're going to bring in $50 more trillion dollars? Well, here's my calculator. Right, $50 trillion, right? So you heard $50 trillion, right? Yeah, so he's going to find 10 million people. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

10 million people to invest $5 million. No, no, no, no, no. I'm about to really mess y'all up. So he thinks 10 million people are going to give $5 million and we're going to make $50 trillion. Yes, that's what he believes. Anthony, go to my iPad. To everybody who's watching,

I'm about to cuss right now. So I'm about to cuss right now. So I'm about to cuss right now. So turn your TV down for 10 seconds because I'm about to cuss because I try not to cuss but there's no other way for me to properly express what I'm about to say. So five, four, three, two, one. The entire U.S. fucking economy is $30 trillion. The entire United States economy is $30 trillion fucking dollars. So this dumbass goes, oh, we're going to sell 10 million, $5 million gold cards, and we're

going to damn near double the entire U.S. economy with some gold cards as if there are 10 million rich-ass people in the world with an extra $5 million who gonna move to the United States. Do y'all understand how this man... Look, the man files for bankruptcy six times. This man has got to be on crack?

Yes. Rebecca, go on. So, okay. So, I pulled out my calculator to do the math. But here's the thing. If you are someone of high net worth individual and you are coming to the United States on your private plane and you decide to overstay your visa, as an example. And let's just like, you know, maybe the viewers have been down in Miami recently. You seem like there's a bunch of Russians down there, a lot of oligarchs and rich people.

Guess what? When you are worth that much money, you get to just come into the United States. What Trump isn't telling you is that those people aren't paying. They're just coming here and they're staying here if they choose. They go in and out. So the idea that you're going to get a bunch of rich and wealthy elite people from around the world to say, hey, you know what? I, too, want to pay $5 million just to hang out in the U.S. Like, right now, the U.S. is kind of cattle. Like, people aren't trying to hang out here like that. But even the idea of taking people and making them work, what, is this indentured servitude? What do you mean you're going to go and grab an athlete and what, you're going to make

them work off their debt to the country? Instead, don't pass these stupid tax cuts. These $4 trillion in tax cuts if you actually want to reduce our national debt. Let me explain something to y'all, okay? When I was at Texas A&M, I took economics class twice. And the first time, I failed it. You know why I failed it? Because the shit was stupid. First day of class, Melinda,

economic professor says, the theories that we are teaching here are not being used in the real world. Shot my hand up. Why in the hell are we learning them? Why in the hell are we learning them? So all of a sudden, all of a sudden, all of a sudden, I said,

what are we doing here? Go to my iPad. Go to my iPad, Anthony. Go. Look at it right here. The 20 countries with the largest gross domestic product GDP in 2024.

So I want everybody to understand, leave it on there. When you hear gross domestic product, they're talking about the entire economy. That's gross domestic product. In 2024,

the United States economy, we are the largest economy in the world. The GDP of the United States, according to this graphic right here, is $29 trillion. Okay. So you see the blue line and the black line. Okay. Let me expand this right here, okay? You got the blue line and you got the black line, okay? So the blue is 2023, the black is 2024, okay? So when you look at this here, the United States is number one at 29 trillion.. It was $27 trillion in 2023. China is $18 trillion. The

Chinese economy is $11 trillion less than the United States economy. Okay. All right. Germany is next. Germany is 4.7 trillion. Y'all didn't hit me. Y'all didn't hear me. Okay. Germany is 4.7 trillion dollars. The United States and China are the only two economies that are in double digits. Japan is $4 trillion. India is $3.8 trillion. The United Kingdom is $3.5 trillion. France is $3.1 trillion. Italy is $2.3 trillion. Canada is $2.2 trillion.

Brazil is $2.1 trillion. Russia, $2.1 trillion. South Korea, $1.1 trillion. South Korea, 1.8 trillion. Okay? Mexico, 1.8. Australia, 1.8. Spain, 1.7.

Indonesia, 1.4. Turkey, 1.3 trillion. The Netherlands is 1.2 trillion. Saudi Arabia is 1.1 trillion. Switzerland is 942 trillion. The Netherlands is 1.2 trillion. Saudi Arabia is 1.1 trillion. Switzerland is 942 trillion. The reality, Melinda, is when you look at the economies,

you are not going to somehow discover $50 trillion. That ain't happening. I think that he thinks that there are 10 million versions of Elon Musk in other countries for some reason. I truly believe that that's what he thinks. And I think that he thinks he's going to save the U.S. economy, even though we are leading right now, and that that's what's going to happen. And he only wants to bring in the wealthiest,

most incredible people because that's how he views Elon Musk. That's what I fully believe. I fully believe he's going to find 10 million Elon Musks. I mean, just, Rebecca, you're not going to find, oh, just 10 million people. Say, I'm going to give $5 million for this bullshit-ass gold card. And the problem is his dumb-ass followers actually believe it. Of course they do. Rebecca, go ahead. Roland, if he's able to find 10 million people around the world to give the United States

the U.S. Treasury, not make it out to Trump, but make it out to the U.S. Treasury to get $5 million each, then you know what? Then, okay, let's talk about giving that man a third term. If he's able to go find $50 trillion next year for the United States of America. Like, you go. That's fantastic. This is bizarre. We know he's not fully there. As much as this man and these people who support him talk about sleepy Joe Biden and

Joe Biden not being in his right mind, it's very clear what we're seeing. We're seeing someone who's delusional, who's not rooted in reality. And instead, we have a South Afrikaner, apartheid-plied Elon Musk. We see him as the one who's really running the White House. And that should be a problem for every American. Absolutely right. Before I go to break, to everybody who, I see y'all in the chat right here, some of y'all are saying, well, what's the

GDP of Africa? First of all, I just gave you the gross domestic product of countries. Africa is a continent. There are 54 countries on the continent of Africa. But, to answer your question, the actual total GDP of the entire continent of Africa is about $3 trillion. Go to my iPad. It's right here. It's

about $3 trillion. So that's part of the issue you have when we talk about Africa being a poor continent. So y'all, stop asking what the GDP of Africa is. Fifty four separate countries. But the continent of Africa, if the continent of Africa was put on the chart I just showed you, the continent of Africa represents the continent would represent the one, two, three, four, five, six, seven will be the eighth largest economy in the world just ahead of Italy. But those are countries. We're talking about continents. All right, y'all. Before we go to break, look, we told you our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing on average 50 bucks each a year.

That's $4.19 a month, $0.13 a day. We got some great stuff happening. We, of course, of course, you see what we do with this show. We got Dr. Greg Carr's The Black Table, new episodes coming back. We're going to have the Jackie Hood Martin show, Balanced Living. We got, of course, Jameel Burley and Bria

Baker's new show as well. We got that going on. Of course, we're going to be covering stuff all across the country. We're going going on. Of course, we're going to be covering stuff all across the country. We're going to be, of course, traveling this nation, reporting on stories. You see us going live and doing all sorts of different things. Those things are happening as well. And let me just give you a programming note. On Tuesday, March 4th, y'all know we're going to be bringing the funk. We're going to be having a special edition of Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network.

You know, of course, Donald Trump is going to be addressing a joint session of Congress. It's not the State of the Union because it's the first speech. But bottom line is what's going to be happening on Tuesday, we're going to be on. We're going to have six hours of coverage for the State of our union taking place on Tuesday, March 4th. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

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

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Now, we did this, of course. We've done this several times. We did it seven years ago. So here's the deal. We ain't showing that asshole's speech.

So I'm just letting y'all know. And I'll keep it on the graphic. We ain't showing his speech. So what's going to happen is we're going to be breaking down the state of our union our way. So we're going to have labor leaders. We're going to have a grassroots panel. We're going to have a millennial panel. We're going to have CBC members.

We're going to have a business panel. We're going to have a civil rights panel. We're going to have a voting rights panel and our political panel. our State of the Union speech from New Haven, Connecticut, where he is teaching, where he is leading a religious institute at Yale University. And so, of course, we'll have a clip after that fool is speaking, but y'all don't have to waste y'all time watching his speech. We are going to have, and ain't nobody else

in black-owned media will be doing this on Tuesday. We will be having the State of Our Union taking place on Tuesday, March 4th, right here, beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern on the Black Star Network. This is why your support is critical to joining our Bring the Funk fan club, because listen, we ain't got millionaires and billionaires supporting our show. We don't have folk, a major advertiser sending us checks, but our fan base,

they're the ones who are out there doing the work for us. And so right here, y'all, I want you to post office today. You can Zoom in, Anthony. I'm about to do my protein shake here because I ain't have time to even eat today. I want you to post office. I ain't been to the post office, y'all, in three weeks. All of this was in the mail.

So y'all have been sending checks and money orders because y'all don't believe in cash, yeah, PayPal, Ben Moiseu. So I'm going to have to go through all these envelopes, but it's all good because it all cashes. And so y'all need to understand, these are people who don't believe in that, but they believe in this show. When we launched this show six years ago,

I told folk, I'm not sending you swag. I ain't sending you hats, t-shirts, buttons, mugs, things along those lines, because all that swag costs money. And so there are people who support this show who believe in the mission of this show. We appreciate their support. If you want to join our Bring the Funk fan club, if you don't want to see

and check in money orders, you can use Cash App. Here's a QR code. Use the Stripe QR code right there. You see it on the screen for you to be able to support our show. Click the Cash App button, then continue to contribute. You can send check your money order to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 2003-7-0196. PayPal's R. Martin Unfiltered Venmo, R.M. Unfiltered Zelle,

Roland at RolandSMartin.com, Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. We come back at Crockett Chronicles. We begin tonight with the people who are really running the country right now. Now, Trump is often wrong and misleading about a lot of things, but especially about history. Donald Trump falling in line with President Elon Musk. In the wake of the unsettling news that MSNBC has canceled Joy Ann Reeve's primetime

show, The Readout, Roland Martin and the Black Star Network would like to extend an invitation to all of the fans of Joy Ann Reeve's MSNBC show to join us every night to watch Roland Martin unfiltered, streaming on the Black Star Network for news discussion of the issues that matter to you and the latest updates on the twice

impeached criminally convicted felon-in-chief Donald Trump and his unprecedented assault on democracy as well as co-president Elon Musk takeover of the federal government. The Black Star Network stands with Joy Ann Reed and all folks who understand the power of Black voices in media. We must come together and never forget that information is power. Be sure to watch Roland Martin Unfiltered weeknights, 6 p.m. Eastern at youtube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin or download the Blackstar Network app. This week on the other side of change. Abolition focus. Should we aim for reform or abolishing the entire system?

Kamone Felix lets us know how much possibility lies in abolition. That is such a radical image because it offers the suggestion, a suggestion that we already know to be true, which is that we have what it takes to take care of each other and to take care of ourselves. Watch us on the Black Star Network, so tune in to The Other Side of Change. Coming up on the next Black Tape, a conversation with Professor Howard W. French on his new book, Born in Blackness, covering 600 years of global African history and helping us understand how the world we know today is a gift from Black people. There could have been no West without Africa and Africa. That's on the next Black Table with me, Greg Carr, only on the Black Star Network. What's good, y'all? This is Doug

E. Freshener watching my brother Roland Martin, underpiloted as we go a little something like this. Hit it. It's real. All right, y'all, one of the best messengers in the Democratic Party today is Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, my Congresswoman. Yes, my homestead is still there. Allergies are kicking my behind, y'all.

So they had a doge hearing today. And y'all know, Congresswoman Crockett, she gonna light that ass up every chance she can get. And she never disappoints. Roll it. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to see if we can level set, because I don't know if people truly understand

the point of USAID. First of all, can I just ask you really quickly, each of you, yes or no, do you believe that soft power matters? Yes or no, Mr. Unger? Yes. Yes. Yes. Absolutely.

Okay. So for the American people, because I don't know that there's been a conversation about soft power, but soft power is basically our way of building diplomacy around the world. And so how we build that diplomacy probably looks different in every different administration. But the issue that I have right now is that some would argue that we've taken a butcher knife where we need a scalpel, or others would just say that we are throwing out the baby with the bathwater. But either way, we are not accomplishing our goal, because as it's been laid out, we have people that have gone hungry, we have people that have died.

So let me try to make sure that people understand what it is that soft power is, which is building diplomacy. The next part of that that I want you to understand, those of you that are watching, is that as members of Congress, we do have congressional oversight to the extent that we actually travel the world. We go, we sit down with world leaders, we talk to them about the programs that we have, we talk to them about trade. We also have an opportunity to go and visit and talk and see exactly how our dollars are being spent. And if you are a good member of Congress, you do that. And I do want to tell you about an experience in Africa, but I got to get through

these other remarks. So if I have a chance, I'm going to tell you why I believe in this with my whole heart. We all know that my Republican colleagues have a weird fetish with dictators or want to be dictators. So it should not come as a surprise that they're here attacking global democracy programs for six decades. USAID has been vital in reducing global poverty and hunger, helping to resolve health threats like the Ebola outbreak, which reached Dallas, where I represent, in 2014, encountering regional threats from Russia and China. Not only is pro-Putin President Trump threatening economic warfare against our closest allies and partners,

he's blaming Ukraine for Russia's invasion, threatening military force against Greenland, and starting tariff wars with Canada and Mexico. He's also defying a court order to release billions of dollars in U.S. foreign aid. This committee should be providing oversight of the executive branch's illegal impoundment of federal funds. But we're here today so the chairwoman can peddle new conspiracy theories about U.S. foreign aid. The dismantling of USAID is just another part of the Republicans' chaotic foreign policy and pro-dictator agenda. Republicans are turning their backs on American farmers who provide nearly half of USAID's global food assistance. I'm going to stop here really quickly.

Because I think what happens is that when the American people hear that we're sending out money, they believe that we're just dropping bags of money places. And that's not what we do. But let me tell you, China does. China does. Because I've sat down and I've talked to people. And one of the reasons that we are behind China is because they have argued that there is no red tape. And China is like gangsters.

Like, think about the biggest, baddest guy offering you money when you want it, like a loan shark, right? And then when they come back to get their money, they want your firstborn, your secondborn, and everybody else. That is who China is. But a lot of people that are desperate for money, they go for that because in America, we're going to say, no, no, no, we're going to take care of our farmers. We're going to make sure that our farmers are the ones that are giving you the food. We're going to make sure that if you want arms, those arms are going to come from us. So I want people to understand we don't just go with black bags and drop off bags of money like that. It's not that simple. But I want to get to a couple of questions

because I know I'm running out of time. Mr. Unger, the chairwoman stated that, quote, the federal government has been sending billions after billions of dollars to push left-wing ideology, fund radical extremist groups, and usurp the will of the people abroad and here at home. Is saving 20 million lives through the president's emergency plan for AIDS relief or PEPFAR part of some left-wing ideology?

Yes or no? No, in fact, PEPFAR was created by Republicans. It was created by Republicans. Thank you for that fact. In fact, it was a Bush, a Texan. What about eradicating polio in nearly every country and cutting malaria deaths in half? No.

Okay. So here's the other thing. And I don't know if anybody knows the answer to this question. We have been talking about USAID and trying to pretend like it's the devil. But when we look at the numbers, is it 50% of our budget that goes to USAID, Mr. Unger? Yes or no? The money that goes to AID is less than one cent if all of the federal budget is $1. Thank you.

It is less than 1% of our budget. So we are focusing on less than 1% instead of the other 99%. I need the American people to wake up and recognize and start asking questions about these other areas such as... The gentlelady's time has expired. See, Rebecca, this is what happens when you have somebody who knows how to talk like regular people. And I wish more of these Democrat members of Congress would bring that attitude, that fire, that feistiness, and that knowledge to bear.

When you talk too political, folk can't feel you. But when you're speaking the way she does, you connect with the regular, ordinary person. You have to be relatable. But in order to be relatable, you have to be out talking to everyday people. You can't just be inside

of your fancy dinners or just talking to your small group of folks. You can't be insulated. If you're going to be elected official in this country, if you're going to be a public servant in this country, and now I'm speaking directly to Democrats, if you want this country to understand what your plan is, if you want this country to understand why they should oppose some of the things that this administration is doing and is promising to do, then you have to bring it to where they are.

They have to understand it. You can't call it in Washington speak, but you have to talk about it in your locality with how people talk about issues. When they want to say, oh, well, this is just a budget line. This is all about just cutting waste out of the government. Like, no, this is now saying that an elder in our community can no longer pay for hearing aids because now it's going to be that much more expensive. Or it's someone, our cousin who might have diabetes is now going to have to pay even more to get their diabetes medication. Or my sister who has allergies and trying to get an EpiPen, now she can't get her EpiPen because now it costs hundreds of dollars to renew and get a new EpiPen.

Or it's going to cost my five-year-old little cousin who needs a new inhaler. You have to talk about it in ordinary language with ordinary experiences that people are facing so people can actually put their personal experience as they're hearing these things. What's unfortunate is that there aren't a lot of news sources right now that's delivering straight information. So it's even more important now that people like Jasmine Crockett is talking in plain language. And so, Melinda, what we're seeing here, this is how you have to press these folk every single day. Absolutely. And I love the way that she words things in a very relatable way. One thing I do want to say, though, is this is why Republicans are so effective with their messaging because they repeat things like waste, fraud and abuse. They're very simple words to

understand for their constituents, but they're not asking any other questions because they're all aligned. They're all saying the exact same things. And when you repeat. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. This is the end of the world. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th.

Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. If you need something and that's what you constantly hear, then that's all that you need to believe that that's what's happening. They're not breaking it down in a way that is saying, like Rebecca said, this is for inhalers, this is for your specific coverage that is in your state. And what I do love about Jasmine Crockett is that she is breaking it down for people to understand. But this is also one of the reasons why

people are leaning towards shows like yours, Roland, more independent media, because you are getting to the heart of the matter, because you are breaking it down in simple ways for people to understand, and you're speaking, you know, Jasmine's language. So, that people just need to start listening to more people like her and you. Absolutely that, and, okay, okay, this is This gonna be the last time I'm a cuss on the show

So if y'all don't want me to cuss This gonna be done it's gonna be the last time I'm a customer today the last one cuss today Okay, and when you talked about why people to why people today just today just today So y'all can turn turn the TV down right, turn the app down, turn the phone down, only for about 10 seconds. And you said, why folks tuning in? All I can think about is the late, great Nikki Giovanni. When she was at Tavis' State of the Black America panel

at USC in 2000, the Democratic National Convention was there and I hit Tavis, Tav, you ain't hit me back. I done emailed your ass. I done DM'd you. And so can your ass hit a brother back? I'm trying to see who actually, do they have a video of that clip? And y'all, at this session, and when I interviewed

Nikki, when y'all go to YouTube, y'all see my interview with Nikki Giovanni. We talked about this here. And at that event, my man, the late, great Charles Ogletree, he said, Nikki, why do you love Tupac so much? And to your point, Melinda, in terms of why folks are tuning in, so everybody turn it down now because I'm about to cuss, Nikki Giovanni said, I love Tupac

because somebody got to call a motherfucker a motherfucker. I said, damn it. That's one of the all time. That's one of my top three all time quotes ever. And that's just my week. The bottom line is somebody got to say the stuff other folk are scared to say. Somebody got to call the people out who are scared. I got people been hitting me all day like, damn, dog, you called out

NABJ because somebody had to say it. I don't, I'm tired of folk hiding behind stuff, not wanting to say stuff, trying to sit here dancing around it. No. My philosophy has always been the same. If you do good, I'm going to talk about you. If you do bad, I'm going to talk about you. At the end of the day, I'm going to talk about you. If you do bad, I'm going to talk about you. At the end of the day,

I'm going to talk about you. That's just how I roll. Our last story before we got to go, y'all, and I know it's a shortened show because I was attending an event on Capitol Hill, so that's why we started 30 minutes late than we normally do. But these dumbass in the Trump administration,

they want to shake up the U.S. military presence in Africa. They want to get rid of AFRIC want to shake up the U.S. military presence in Africa. They want to get rid of AFRICOM. That's the U.S. Africa Command, or called AFRICOM, and place it under the European Command. And that was created by President George W. Bush. It will significantly reduce America's influence of military operations across the continent. Again, created in 2007 to strengthen the military relationships with African nations to help counter extremist threats and provide security support. But under this idiot's changes, that role could be diminished as part of a broader effort to cut Pentagon spending, reduce bureaucracy, and pull U.S. troops out of key areas, especially

in conflict zones like Somalia. Supporters of the move said it would streamline operations and make it easier for the U.S. to withdraw from specific regions. But critics warned that downsizing AFRICOM could weaken U.S. influence in Africa, where Russia and China want to expand their presence. There are also serious concerns that pulling back could embolden terrorist groups in the sub-Saharan areas, also in East Africa, forcing African nations, where African forces rely on U.S. military partnerships.

And let me be perfectly clear. I do not believe that the United States should be telling other countries what to do, especially in Africa. I do not believe it should be an unfair partnership, an unfair relationship. But when you do talk about terrorism, when you do talk about what's happening with ISIS and other countries, they are feeding off of, earlier we talked about the gross domestic product of Africa, of the continent. They're feeding off of the instability of some of these African nations. And so we can have a

positive presence if that's how we operate. General Kip Ward, who was a four-star general, he was the first leader of AFRICOM. I'm going to reach out to him to get his thoughts on this. But Rebecca, this is a perfect example. We talk about how stupid these people are. They don't understand how critically important it is for the United States to have a presence to provide stabilization to countries, especially emerging democracies. And so this is one of those dumb moves by these idiots. America First is another name for imperialism. It's another name for manifest destiny. It's another name for all those things in which we were indoctrinated and socialized in this country to believe about America.

And really all it is is white supremacy. They are too racist to understand why it is so important to keep Africa as a framework within the continent. And you know what? FAFO, they're going to find out. Indeed, indeed. Melinda, your thoughts? I mean, she took the words out of my mouth. I understand wanting to downsize, you know, as part of the Pentagon, downsizing efforts, but to go straight for Africa. And you said Russia, and my ears perked up, so there's something to that as well. But again, it's

an FAFL situation. Of course, because Putin definitely has a Russian asset in the Oval Office. It's not more than one. Let's just be real. Melinda, Rebecca, I appreciate y'all being on today's show. Thank you so very much. Thank you. Well, I got one more thing.

The other day, you were going in on millennials. Now, technically, I am a millennial, but I'm an elder millennial. I just want to say I was actually down at Gina 6. When Michael Bay stood, was this like 2007, was calling for thousands of people to show up to make sure that those six young black boys weren't being charged with that attempted murder charge, I actually showed up, and I took some other millennials with me. Good. I just want these millennials to understand

they can't act like ain't nothing happened between the civil rights movement and present day. Yes, and there's so many of us who are very active, and there's so many of us that are putting in the work, and there's so many of us who are very active. There's so many of us that are putting in the work. And there's so many of us, including myself, who are now leading organizations in order to do this work. And so we're not a monolith. We're also in our 30s and we're in our 40s as well, like myself. That's why I'm an elder millennial. I'm 44 now. But the thing is, all of us got to lock in in this moment because all we got is us and for us to persevere as a community in this country, we all got to look back and look at the history of this country in order to have the blueprint for how to move forward.

I just want to say that in defense of my boy. See, the problem is, see, you on that edge. I mean, you on that edge. You know, you talking about you 44. Your ass damn... I'm up. No, you damn near Gen X. So that, I mean... you on that edge. You know, you talking about you 44. Your ass damn near. No, you damn near Gen X. So that, I mean.

Born in 1981. But the reality is, but the reality is your ass identify more with Gen X than you do millennials. So let's. But the millennial gap is like 18 years, isn't it? Well, that's every generation. So that's just like, listen, I't it? Well, that's every generation. So that's just like, listen, I was born. Here's the hallmark. Here's the hallmark of millennial.

One of the things about us is how we were confronted and faced a lot of school shootings. I was still in high school when Columbine happened. I was in middle school when Paducah and Jonesboro all happened. And so that's one of the things that really shapes the millennial experience, because we literally saw the country see gunmen go into schools, including other students go into schools, and nothing happened. And that really shook our world. And then even we dealt with Y2K.

We dealt with a lot of economic collapse when it was the dot-com bus when we started to go to college. When we graduated from college, the economy tanked. So we've dealt with a lot of major economic crises. So I'm going to help everybody out right now. If y'all want to distinguish between millennials and Gen X, this is all you have to do. Ask a millennial if they know a series of white rock hair bands and songs from Journey,

Sister Christian, Steve Perry. See, come on, Anthony, come on, switch. Come on, show her face. Come on. Here's why Rebecca don't know what the hell I'm talking about. I know what you're talking about. What's that'm talking about. I know what you're talking about. What's that, Melinda? I know what you're talking about. What am I talking about? Hair bands, like Kiss, you mean? Or a song from Journey?

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. See? See? Melinda, how old are you? I'm 38. Okay, see, here's the deal. You and Rebecca, y'all came around when black people... No, go to the three shot. Come on.

Y'all came around when black people were a lot... Can we please switch to the three shot? My God, thank you. Leave it like it was before. Keep it on the wide and go to the three shot. Stop complicating this thing. Go to the previous shot you had before. Thank you.

Now switch it. All right. So here's the deal. Here's the deal. Y'all came around when black people were on MTV. Correct. We were there when there wasn't no black people on MTV. So the reason you got Journeys Don't Stop Believin'

played at black parties because our asses had to watch a number of white folks on MTV until Michael Jackson and Prince got on. So if y'all want to separate the millennials on Rebecca's end with the

Gen X, just throw out Sister Christian and some of them other bands Pour Some Sugar On Me. They don't know nothing about them songs because we have... Pour Some Sugar On Me? Baby, I'm trying to tell you.

Right. First of all, you got probably some Gen X parents, so that's probably why you know. That's probably why you know. I, that's probably why you know. But I'm just saying, y'all got to see black people on MTV every day. We didn't.

All right, that's it. I got to go. Y'all, I'm cutting the show short. I got to go speak to a group here in D.C., so I got to go. It's been fun. Do me a favor, y'all. Seriously, take a shot at this. These are the folks who've actually sent us checks and money orders. I went to the post office.

This is literally the last three weeks. I was like, damn, they had a yellow card in my box saying overflow. But this is why I appreciate this show. This is why I appreciate our fan base. Because since we launched this show, we've had 34,000 individual donors on this show. And y'all have made this show possible. And so there's so much more work that we have to do. And I want y'all to keep supporting the work that we do because it's regular and ordinary people.

Ain't no millionaires, billionaires, entertainers sending us checks. Now, you know what they tell me? Oh, bro, man, you're doing a great job. We love what you're doing. But they ain't cutting no check. They ain't even giving us $1, $ers sending us checks. Now, you know what they're telling me? Oh, bro, man, you're in a great job. We love what you're doing. But they ain't cutting no check. They ain't even giving us a dollar five, ten dollars. But y'all regular ordinary folk have made this show possible. We have some unbelievable stuff coming up

Tuesday. We're going to have our State of the Black Union. We call it the State of Our Union. So we ain't got to say black because we black 365 seven days a week, okay? Has somebody called me? What's y'all Black History Month plan? I'm like, what the hell are you talking about? Our shit is 12 months out of the year.

We don't do no Black Music Month. We do Black Music Year. And so we're going to have a State of Our Union right here on the Black Star Network Tuesday, beginning at 7 p.m. Y'all do not want to miss it. It will be the blackest show in America. So we want to see y'all here for that special presentation. I will not be live at 6 o'clock. We'll be the blackest show in America. So we want to see y'all here for that special presentation. I will not

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I'll see y'all tomorrow right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. Ho! Blackstar Network is here. Oh, no punch! I'm real revolutionary right now. Thank you for being the voice of Black America. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going.

The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? This is an iHeart Podcast.