#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Trump's busted economic boom, tumbling stocks & trade wars, BLM Plaza demolition, DC $1B budget cut

Episode Date: March 12, 2025

3.11.2025 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Trump's busted economic boom, tumbling stocks & trade wars, BLM Plaza demolition, DC $1B budget cut Where is that bustling economy that the twice impeached criminally convicted felon-in-chief Donald "The Con" Trump promised? He seems to be leading us straight into a recession. Economist Morgan Harper will explain why the predicted economic boom has fizzled out. MAGA Republicans want to cut D.C.'s budget by a billion dollars! We'll speak with a city council member who will explain how these cuts will impact the city. Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist announces his gubernatorial campaign.  And the third suspect allegedly involved in the off-campus, fraternity hazing death of 20-year-old Southern University is apprehended.  ✨Get your "Don't Blame Me ... I Voted for the Black Woman" tee and #FAFO 2025 tee TODAY #RMU Merch 👉🏾 https://rolandmartin.creator-spring.com/ #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.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when have one aisle six. And aisle three. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen. One in four hot car

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Hey, where is that bustling economy that the twice-impeached, criminally convicted felon-in-chief Donald the Con Trump promised all of us? He is destroying the economy, leading us straight into recession stock market another massive drop off today we'll talk with the economist Morgan Harper to explain what the hell is going on and oh my goodness Donald Trump essentially filmed a commercial today at the White House for Tesla. Why? Because poor Elon's company has lost 50% of its stock value.

He lost $132 billion. And now he's crying because folks don't want to buy his little car. Wait until we show you what the grifter-in-chief did today with his grifting co-president Elon Musk. It is shameful and despicable. Speaking of shameful and despicable, MAGA Republicans want to cut the D.C. budget by a billion dollars. We'll talk with a city council member who explained how these cuts will impact the city. And Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garland Gilchrist announces he is running for governor of the state.

Will show you his video, plus the third suspect allegedly involved in the off campus Omega Psi Phi fraternity hazing death or 20 year old Southern University student has been apprehended. Folks, it's a lot we want to talk about. It's time to bring the funk.

I'm Roland Martin on Filtered on the Black Star Network. Let's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's Rolling Martin. Rolling with rolling now. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's rolling, Martel. Now.

Martel. Thank you. Thank you. Martin! What the hell happened to the economy for the second time this week? Stock market tumbles in a huge, huge way. Donald Trump is throwing out tears when it comes to steel, all sorts of stuff. Now folks are talking about a recession is on the way. Inflation is hitting hard. Prices are still up. He's laying off people contributing to unemployment claims. But I thought he was supposed to be so brilliant, so smart, and so amazing. He was doing so much better on the economy than Vice President Kamala Harris. Well, guess what?

Hashtag we tried to tell you. And these idiots with the Trump administration, they say all of the pain that we're enduring is part of this so-called detox period to reset the economy. Literally. Yesterday, Trump told reporters that a recession would be an unfortunate but necessary step to an all-out depression. Then you got House Speaker Mike Johnson standing by Trump insisting that this is really just a strategy. I believe that the policies that we're putting forth are going to improve the economy and bring down costs for people.

It takes a little while. We're in a transition period between Bidenomics and the disastrous economy that the previous administration left us, and it takes a while for these policies to be ingrained. We're going to codify this with the reconciliation process and the bills coming forward. Well, Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries says

we're absolutely headed for a Republican recession. I thank the distinguished general lady for her tremendous leadership and for yielding. I don't really understand the fatal attraction reference because if anyone is dealing with fatal attraction, it's between President Trump and House Republicans. As soon as he says jump, your only answer is how high. It doesn't matter whether you are hurting the American people. That's why House Republicans are marching the country on a track toward the largest Medicaid cut in American history. You'll hurt children, hurt families, hurt Americans with disabilities, hurt seniors, close nursing homes and close hospitals. When Donald Trump says jump, extreme MAGA Republicans say how high. That's the fatal attraction. That's hurting the people of the United States of America. And by the way, the core promise that you made last year was about lowering costs. All you talked about was how you were going to lower the high cost of living. Democrats believe that America is too expensive. Housing costs are too high.

Grocery costs are too high. Child care costs are too high. Utility costs are too high. And insurance costs are too high. America is too expensive. We believe that that, in fact, is the expensive. We believe that that in fact is the case. But Republicans have done nothing to lower the high cost of living. No bill, no executive order, no administrative action.

That's the broken promise. We were told by President Trump that costs were going to go down on day one. Grocery prices haven't gone down, they've gone up. Inflation is up. You know what's going down? The stock market. Because President Trump and House Republicans are crashing the economy in real time. And marching us to a possible Republican recession.

That's what's confronting the American people. Well, folks, critics say skyrocket skyrocketing prices, trade war tensions, job losses hitting the nation left and right is causing the problem. But this idiot Trump, he just keeps blaming Joe Biden for this economic catastrophe and promising to make America affordable again. Morgan Harper, director of policy and advocacy at the American Economic Liberties Project, joins us right now. Morgan, this is hilarious, but it's also shameful. So, correct me if I'm wrong, when the stock market was going up under Biden-Harris,

Trump took credit. Now it's going down. Now he's blaming Biden for that. No, it's his policies, his actions that are absolutely tanking the economy. Yeah, it's pretty undeniable at this point that a lot of the uncertainty that he's injected into the economy with changing trade policy overnight, changes that in typical times might take, you know, a couple months to work through, a few months. And not to say that longer is better, but some of this stuff is complicated and understanding all the impacts of it takes time. He's not really operating like that. He, I think just today, introduced and rolled back a new tariff on Canada in response to their

retaliatory tariff. So this is creating a perfect storm of uncertainty that is impacting the stock market directly, like you noted. We see companies that are now predicting that they are not going to have very strong growth or a lot of consumer demand over the next few months. Because what are consumers doing, too, in addition to businesses, kind of looking at all of this, and it's like, I don't know if I want to make any moves at all, because we have no idea how much our assets might be valued at if you are in that position, even if you're on Medicaid, for example, if you're going to continue to be covered by that. And let's be real, a lot of people who are working are also on Medicaid. And so there's just uncertainty abounds, and this is a really bad situation for the economy and the country overall in terms of the impacts of this.

And again, Morgan, what is unbelievable is that they repeatedly tried to blame Biden for it, and they act as if the tariffs don't matter. I'm sorry. The Federal Reserve was projecting that we were going to see a 3% increase in GDP. Because of Trump's actions, the massive cuts, what Doge is doing, the crazy actions of Elon Musk, these ridiculous tariffs, okay, and him trying to convince us. Like, it's unbelievable. We're going to play a clip for you of an Associated Press reporter asking White House Press Secretary, the idiot, Carolyn Leavitt, about tariffs. And he literally is trying to convince us, no, no, no, no, no. Tariffs, they're going to pay. We're going to make billions, trillions off of terrorists. I mean, it is the dumbest thing and these macro Republicans are falling in line knowing it's a lie.

Go ahead. Thanks, Caroline. You're welcome. If we could just step back for a second. When President Trump last addressed the BRT when he was on the campaign trail, his big push was on tax cuts. He's going there today as he's proposing tax hikes in the form of tariffs. And I'm curious for why he's prioritizing that over the tax cuts.

He's actually not implementing tax hikes. Tariffs are a tax hike on foreign countries that, again, have been ripping us off. Tariffs are a tax cut for the American people. And the President is a staunch advocate of tax cuts. As you know, he campaigned on no taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime, no taxes on Social Security benefits. He is committed to all three of those things, and he expects Congress to pass them later this year. The Press sorry, have you ever paid a tariff? Because I have. They don't get charged on foreign companies. They get charged on the importers. And ultimately, when we have fair and balanced trade, which the American people have not seen in decades, as I said at the beginning,

revenues will stay here, wages will go up, and our country will be made wealthy again. And I think it's insulting that you're trying to test my knowledge of economics and the decisions that this president has made. I now regret giving a question to the Associated Press. Mary, go. Morgan, that's crazy. Yeah, well, there's a lot to unpack here. I mean, like I've said a couple of times, Roland, tariffs are an important tool

to make sure that we have balanced trade. Tariffs, when part of an overall economic policy strategy that includes things like domestic investment in industrial policy, in building up incentives for domestic manufacturing to have companies want to build things in the U.S., can be a very successful strategy. What we are seeing here is not that. It's very scattershot. It's changing all the time, like we talked about. And it is, importantly, not paired

with any sort of industrial policy strategy. That is not even on the table. I mean, it appears it's not on the table because it conflicts politically with where this administration wants to be landed on an environment where they're really trying to advocate for more government spending. But regardless of what the motivation is, the reality is when not paired with any sort of industrial policy, it's a recipe for increasing prices. Now, that is not to say, though, that tariffs as a tool wholesale are bad. The other thing I would note is, you know, this idea that we're going to somehow make back all of the revenue that might be lost due to an extension of the tax cuts through tariffs is not something that I think a lot of folks agree with. I mean, continuing the tax cuts is going to lead to a big reduction in revenue. We have a lot of people, like we've talked about, that have unpredictable job situations right now. We have a lot of uncertainty in the economy. So somehow this idea that by putting these tariffs on companies, this is going to generate the revenue, even if, which is possible, that they

do absorb some of the increase of the tariff costs themselves directly without passing it on to the consumer. It's possible. It's just unlikely to be, you know, a complete wholesale equivalent there with the tax cuts that are to come. So, you know, this trade policy stuff can be kind of complicated. There's a lot to sort through. But the bottom line is chaotic trade policy is no recipe for bringing down costs for Americans or supporting American manufacturing and workers. There is a way to do that, but this is not it. Well, and again, as we sit here and examine all of these actions, you take what they're doing to the IRS. Republicans were opposed to the hiring of additional IRS agents to target wealthy individuals.

And so Elon Musk and Doge, they are firing many of those auditors. Guess what? That's going to lead to less revenue. And again, these idiots keep saying they want to put money in the pockets of Americans. Well, when you want to obliterate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, guess what that means? Oh, you're taking money out of the pockets of regular ordinary people and just handing it over to corporations who are simply going to just do more stock buybacks. When Donald Trump and the Republicans pushed through this tax cut four years ago, he was like, oh, no, these companies are going to be using that money for wages.

The companies are like, no, we're not. They made it clear they were going to be using it for stock buybacks. It added $8 trillion to the deficit. So I don't know where any of these people went to school. This ain't even trigonometry. This ain't geometry. It ain't algebra. It's just basic ass math. Yeah. And, you know, I mean, I'm glad you mentioned the CFPB because that's a great example, again, of what, you know, even if you were trying to, you know, believe in, oh, we should be doing these things through Congress and not rulemaking. Let's take, for example, like the CFPB rule

to limit overdraft fees. You know, this is a fee that often gets slapped on consumers when they over, you know, they try to withdraw more money than their bank account has available. Banks, financial institutions have made a lot of money off of those fees over the years. And this past CFPB under the Biden administration did implement a rule to limit just how much those fees could be. There's a loophole in the law. And the congressional Republicans have now introduced what's called a CRA, Congressional Review Act, to roll back that law or roll back that rule, I should say. They're not introducing any sort of companion bill that would make that policy final and permanent if you believe in, oh, this should just be the authority of Congress. They're just taking away the rule that provided some protection to consumers. That's another thing that could raise prices. Another example out of the CFPB,

I mean, there's a lot of examples, unfortunately, preventing the CFPB from being able to prosecute payments companies, online payments companies. They might be engaging in fraudulent activity and losing consumers' money. Similarly, trying to roll that back in Congress. Every congressional Republican except for one, so far it's only been on the Senate side except for one, voted for that. And there's no plan for covering that market. So there's a lot of vulnerabilities that are being created through this policymaking. Again, if there was sincerity in trying to actually solve problems, then we would be seeing some bills introduced, but that has not been happening. And it's very concerning. And so where we go from here is pretty unpredictable,

but there are a lot of signs that are pointing to a bad economic situation or further weakening in the economy and a bad economic situation for a broader swath of Americans. Don't you also find it just utterly ridiculous, Morgan, where Trump now all of a sudden, how they're now saying, well, no,

you know, I think we have to, yeah, go through this pain. We must, we must, because we need to do this reset. There was just too much government spending. And so this reset is necessary. What the hell are they talking about? Well, look, yeah. I mean, again, they could, there's a way to go about making the government more efficient. And I've been a government employee. A lot of folks who have worked in government, I think that we could all put our heads together and think about some ways to make things more efficient. P.S., probably a lot of people who have worked at large corporations could say the same thing, but that's a whole other conversation. This isn't about doing the thing that's most efficient. It's been a lot of

scattershot and fast-moving decisions that are just stripping away the ability for the government to really do its job to protect a lot of Americans and enforce the law, like the IRS, for example, that you mentioned. Again, going back to CFPB, they've withdrawn cases that were going after companies that were breaking the law, taking consumers' money. And so this does seem more of an ideological exercise, but I will say, and a political exercise, but I will say, I mean, there are real problems to solve. There is a need to take a hard look at the American economy and think through what does it look like when so many people in our country are vulnerable to just missing one paycheck? What does it look like? We talk about the stock market as an indicator, that there's a lot of people that

don't even have the ability to dream of investing in the stock market because they have no extra money to be able to look at that. So these are real problems. They are problems that we need to solve. Having a long-term strategy for our country economically, including a trade policy that's going to make sure that companies don't just get to import cheaper goods and not pay higher wages to American workers. Those are real problems. But this doesn't look to be a coherent strategy to actually solve them and make sure that we're building for the long term here and a stable financial future for Americans. Yeah, because this strategy we're talking for the long term here and a stable financial future for Americans. Yeah, because this strategy we're talking about here is, oh, let's just invest billions of U.S. money into crypto. Let's just sit here and keep whacking away and let's just stop the lawsuits

against companies in the Department of Justice, at the SEC, at the CFPB. You had one Chinese national who just, oh, let me just go ahead and buy, you know, a bunch of, you know, millions or billions in the Trump coin. And guess what? His case magically goes away. What we are seeing is we are seeing major corporations. There was even one report that companies are paying $5 million for sit-down meetings with Trump and Mar-a-Lago. These people are grifters. They are literally trying to just steal from the government and screw everybody else. And you've got these workers, you've got veterans. It's going to be a big protest happening on Friday. And to your point, how it's just willy-nilly.

I mean, they fire people at the National Weather Service, and now they're trying to hire them back. They fire workers with the Centers for Disease Control, now they're trying to hire them back. And so it's just nonsensical. And so they are creating the chaos that we are now seeing in the markets. And you've got companies like, yo, what the hell? We can't do any sort of quarterly or yearly or planning for every two years with the kind of just nutcase economic policy we're seeing coming out of the White House. Yeah, absolutely. And there's no, how could you possibly predict how you're going to spend or build your company

if you don't even understand the legal framework that you're operating in, or whether laws will be enforced? And, you know, to our earlier point, I mean, that's the larger risk, not just for companies, but for all of us that are living in the U.S. right now and are in across the globe who are watching this. So, yeah, I mean, I think the important point, though, too, to make here, Roland, is, you know, we're going to spend a lot of time, I imagine, over the next few months critiquing what's happening right now in this administration, some of the corrupt action that's happening. in supporting things like strong manufacturing and supporting people being able to lead stable lives and access health care and be able to have families and support them, that we need to be presenting a plan for what that looks like and making the case for why government is important, because there's clearly a lot of people in our country that don't have a strong understanding

of that. And until we solve for that problem, then I do think we're going to continue to be at risk for these types of moves that are, again, not about actually helping anybody, but it seems to be enriching a lot of the folks that are attached to this administration. Indeed, indeed. Morgan Harper, we're so appreciative. Thanks a lot for joining us. Thanks for having me. Folks, got to go to a break. We come back. We'll chat with our panel about this. We'll also show you the big grip that took place at the White House where literally, literally, Trump was operating as a used car salesman, plugging Americans buying Tesla. So I guess screw GM, screw Ford,

screw the other American automakers. It's all about buying Teslas. Oh, by the way, isn't this the same guy who shuttered the EV power stations in government buildings, who also wanted to get rid of the EV credits from Biden and Harris as well.

What? Folks, we have an idiot in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in the overalls. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Sun Network. What's up, y'all? Look, Fanbase is more than a platform. It's a movement to empower creators,

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Discover how equity crowdfunding can serve as a powerful tool for funding Black businesses, allowing entrepreneurs to raise capital directly through their community, through the jobs ad. We begin tonight with the people who are really running the country right 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 Reed'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's 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. Hey, y'all.

Welcome to the other side of change only on the Black Star Network and hosted by myself, Rhea Baker, and my good sis, Jameera Burley. We are just two millennial women tackling everything at the intersection of politics, gender, and pop culture. And we don't just settle for commentary. This is about solution-driven dialogue to get us to the world as it could be and not just as it is. Watch us on the Black Star Network, so tune in to the other side of change. Hey, it's John Murray, the executive producer of the new Sherry Shepard Talk Show. You're watching Rolling Mark. Until then.

All right, folks. Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali is former senior advisor for environmental justice at the EPA. Joining us out of D.C., Randy Bryant, entrepreneur, DEI disruptor, author of Never Says, 25 Phrases You Should Never Ever Say to Keep Your Job and Friends. Out of D.C., Dr. Larry J. Walker, assistant professor, University of Central Florida, out of Orlando. Glad to have all three of you here. Okay, folks, if y'all want to see what a government-sponsored commercial

looks like, this is what happened today at the White House. Let me set this whole thing up. Because Elon Musk is an idiot and because people are sick and tired of his antics, the Tesla stock is down almost 50%. He's lost $132 billion from his net worth as a result. Now he's moaning and whining and crying. And before I get to that, this was Elon last night in an interview with Larry Cutlow on Fox Business.

This is wonderful for labs. Watch this. All right. Do we have that clip? Okay. All right. So, fine. Do we have the clip of Elon and the Teslas at the White House today? All right, roll that one.

Hello, President Trump. Are you looking to buy or lease today? Well, I'm going to buy. And I'm going to buy because, number one, it's a great product, as good as it gets. And number two, because this man has devoted his energy and his life to doing this. I think he's been treated very unfairly by a very small group of people. And I just want people to know that you can't be penalized

for being a patriot. And he's a great patriot. And he's also done an incredible job with Tesla. And I mean, nobody else has a car company started up in the last 30 years that's been successful I don't think so and not only successful but super successful and because he's able to find billions and billions and billions of dollars of fraud and waste and all of the things I mean our country is going to be very strong very soon because of a lot of the things that he's done and a lot of the things that I'm doing.

And there's no better team, but there's no better for what we're doing. There's nobody like this and he shouldn't be penalized. And when I watched the other day, I said, I can't believe it. It should be the opposite. People should be going wild and they love the product but because he's finding all sorts of terrible things that have taken place against our country they want to penalize him in a economic sense and i just think that's very unfair so i just wanted to make a statement i'm going to buy one now here's the bad news i'm not allowed to drive because i haven't driven a car in a long time and i love to drive

cars but i'm going to have it at the white, and I'm going to let my staff use it. I'm going to let people at the place use it. And they're all excited about that. I'm not allowed to use it. Can you believe it? One of my great things in life is that I can, you know, I like to drive cars, but I'm not allowed to. Y'all know damn well he ain't buying no Tesla. Oh my God, it's a great product.

We don't have to buy it. We don't want to. Okay. Y'all want to see the Elon Musk Tesla cheers? This is from Fox Business in an interview with Larry Cutlow, who previously was one of Trump's economic advisors the first time. This is a joke. Call to action. You're hearing a call to action? Yeah.

You're giving up your other stuff? I mean, how are you running your other businesses? With great difficulty. Yeah, I mean... But there's no turning back, you're saying? I'm just here trying to make government more efficient, eliminate waste and fraud. And so far, we're making good progress. I'm sorry.

Are we supposed to feel sorry for him, Mustafa? And here's the other deal. Environmentalists loved the product because it's an electric vehicle. So you're Elon Musk, and you chose to align yourself with somebody who previously was on the record hating electric vehicles, who loves fossil fuel. So you're Elon, you piss on your customer base. That's a good bet. You're going to have a problem. Yeah, you know, I have to laugh because, you know, I know this stuff inside out.

And, you know, Musk turned his back on his base, on the folks who rode with him when his product was new and still needed to continue to develop and evolve, and then aligned himself with someone who is a climate denier, somebody who has been very intentional about trying to strip away the resources that are necessary to be able to build out a clean energy infrastructure. A part of that infrastructure is charging stations and also the dollars that have gone to development and research that are critical to make sure the batteries continue to have longer and longer ranges. Trump also has put climate deniers in his administration. He's stripped away science. He's done all these things that make no sense if

you now say that you want to be supportive of Elon Musk and his electric vehicles. The other part, too, is the unfairness, right? The other car companies that are out there that have been catching up and passing Tesla in relationship to their development, they don't have the same access or the same marketing that the president is doing for Elon. So there are ethical violations in relationship to what the president is doing. There is also just not understanding long term why he should be investing in cleaner energy infrastructure. And Elon brought this on himself. He had the opportunity to be, to not only be a visionary, but also to be someone who is focused on helping to uplift

people. And he's made the choices that he has. He's allowed to do that. But then also the consumers also have the right to take their dollars elsewhere. Yeah. I mean, I'm sitting here just cracking up laughing, and I'm seeing these, like this idiot Grant Cardone supporting Elon, buy a Tesla. I pick one up for my daughter and another for my wife. Well, guess what, Randy? It's a whole bunch of these gas-guling, fossil fuel loving red state folk who, guess

what, if them dumbasses go out and buy a Tesla, they ain't going to be able to plug it up anywhere. See, that's what is so laughable. What Elon has done is he has trashed the very cities and the states where his car was doing well. That is the basis of his net worth to align with Trump and MAGA and the red state people hate electric vehicles. This is literally one of the dumbest economic moves you have ever witnessed. This is a man who's walking around using his child as a prop. You know, he has 14 kids, so there has to be a babysitter somewhere. So I don't know why the kid is always

there, but that's besides the point. He doesn't think things through. Even the child is a marketing effort. The car, he doesn't care. Like Dr. Ali was just saying, he doesn't care about saving our environment. He cares about making money. And because he's a narcissist, an obvious narcissist, he thought that people would still buy his cars and adore him, although, like you said, he has gone against the very people who are for cleaning up this environment, who are about electric cars. His base, their base, the MAGA people are not about saving the environment. And just like you said, I could tell you, I was just deep down south. There are not electric ports everywhere for them to be charging these cars.

But they didn't think it through, just like they don't think anything through. But their narcissistic bravado just makes them think that they can make moves, and there are not going to be repercussions, and there certainly aren't going to be repercussions on them. But their bromance, I mean, I am so disgusted watching them just fawn all over each other and scratch each other's backs. They are not working for the government.

They're not working for the people. They are working for each other and their cronies to make as much money as they can in this time. Larry, how despicable is it to watch an occupant of the Oval Office literally film a commercial for Elon Musk? Because, oh, my God, he's losing sales and people are sorry. Hey, I thought these people loved choice. I thought they

loved cancel culture. Well, guess what? If people don't want to buy his sorry-ass car, they don't have to buy it. Hey, it's called, Republicans love the free market. Well, the free market is speaking, and they

say, Elon, kick rocks. So, this press conference today is everything they thought they would get with a black president, but they didn't. I think that's first. Second of all, watching this reminds me of being up

like one o'clock in the morning on a weekend and you get a really cheesy infomercial with some guy you never heard of. So basically that's the vibe you get. And it's a reflection of where we are as a country in terms of who occupies the Oval Office. And not

only in terms of what their economic policies is, and we talked about, obviously, with the recession likely to come here in the next couple of months. But like you said, Roland, if you believe in free market economy, then you shouldn't highlight this particular company when you have so many other companies, like you mentioned, Ford, GM, et cetera, who've been around for a much longer time. And obviously, those corporations have a better reputation of investing in American workers. We also highlight that Tesla has been sued multiple times, particularly when it comes

to discrimination for relating to Black workers. So once again, we talk about these ideas, opinions about what it means to be American and who we should be investing in. Tesla, a company with history of racial discrimination, gets the free infomercial on and free advertisement on television carried by major networks, whereas some of the other corporations, once again, who pay a higher wage and have a better reputation of hiring Black executives, they don't get a shot out on TV. But this is just another cheesy example of trying to sell these cars.

And look, the bottom line is he's a businessman. And as you said, he made a poor business decision. The people who really invest the best and buy these cars are not doing it anymore. And they're not likely to start buying them just because of this cheesy infomercial at the White House. Let me try to pull up that photo of Donald Trump's notes. I thought this was hilarious, Mustafa. Can y'all pull the photo up, please? So they handed Donald Trump some notes and it says Tesla pricing, full self-driving, Model X, $112,490 silver, CT, CT 114,000 gray, Model S 108,990 blue, Model Y 59,990. And then it says Tesla can be purchased as low as $299 a month or $35K.

All cars have self-driving, just needs to be turned on for a fee. Yeah, I'm sure MAGA is sitting here like, yeah, I'm going to buy a $114,000 car. I'm going to buy that ugly-ass cyber truck. This is a joke. And guess what, Mustafa? I

am elated every day to see the Tesla stock go down and to see his net worth go down. And my girl, Ebony Hilton, Dr. Ebony Hilton, had this great tweet. She said, if they offered this Tesla, buy one, get one free, I still wouldn't buy that raggedy ass car. There's a whole lot of folks, both in this country and outside this country, who agree with that statement right now. There are positives and negatives for our actions. And Elon has decided to hitch his wagon to Trump. And when you do that, it's a very volatile market, just like we saw the stock market. So you now have other countries that are speaking out against this product

and saying, you know, that the vast majority of our citizens are not going to purchase it and actually putting some blocks in place with that. But then when you come back home, I think Randy really hit it on the head. You know, I'm all over the place. And there's lack of infrastructure.

So why would I make the investment if your charging stations are not going to be in the locations that I need? Now, let's be honest. The Biden administration actually made significant investments to build out the charging networks across our country. But when Trump came in, he decided to rescind and to move away from that and to snatch resources that were so critical. So, you know, it just doesn't, people will have to make the best decision for themselves if they want to support companies and the individuals who own those companies who are doing oppressive actions, who are taking away jobs from hardworking Americans.

And therefore those hardworking Americans could never afford a $100,000 car because they're trying to put food on the table and keep the lights on and pay the rent. So as my grandmother says, when you know better, do better. Elon Musk really should start doing better if he wants to find some possible way of reclaiming his humanity and finding people who might be interested in any of his products because it's not just Tesla, but I know we're focusing on that. And the reason this is

laughable, Donald Trump's General Services Administration, they disconnected charging stations, they're looking to offload the government's new fleet of electrical vehicles, and he also is pausing the $3 billion that was marked for electric vehicles. Again, stupid is as stupid does.

All right, got to go to break. We come back. We got to talk about, of course, how Republicans are trying to gut the D.C. budget. They also want to gut Social Security. And also, folks, some absolutely sad news. He just made the cover of Forbes as America's new billionaire, former NBA star and restaurant owner Junior Bridgman has passed away. We will give you the details of what happened after he suffered a heart attack today at an event in Louisville. Folks, we'll have that for you later in the show.

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Welcome to The Other Side of Change, only on the Black Star Network and hosted by myself, Rhea Baker, and my good sis, Jameerah Burley. We are just two millennial women tackling everything at the intersection of politics, gender, and pop culture. And we don't just settle for commentary. This is about solution-driven dialogue to get us to the world as it could be and not just as it is. Watch us on the Black Star Network, so tune in to the other side of change. How you doing? My name is Mark Currie, and you're watching Roland Martin. Unfiltered, deep into it like pasteurized milk without the two percent we're getting deep you want to turn that shit off we're doing the interview motherfucker

hold on hold on. All right, folks, the work in Washington, D.C. continues on Black Lives Matter Plaza. It's day two of the demolition. Five years ago, of course, Black Lives Matter was painted on this. This is 16th Street. It is the street that actually leads up to Lafayette Park that dead ends into the White House. Well, Republicans demanded that this be demolished or they were going to cut transportation funds for the city of Washington, D.C. Well, guess what?

In their continuing resolution, they still want to cut $1 billion from the budget of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser decided to remove the mural created to protest police brutality and racial injustices. Of course, it was put up in the summer of 2020. This is what it looked like. This is literally just outside of our Black Star Network studios. Megan Bailiff is the CEO and president of Equus Striping, the pavement marking company that originally painted the letters. She called the dismantling of the plaza historically obscene. She joins us right now.

Megan, glad to have you here. Nice to be here. Somebody posted something on Twitter that I thought was stunning. And they said, it took more than 100 years, and we are continuing trying to bring down Confederate statues in this country. Yet five years after, less than five years after the death of George Floyd, This particular monument is already being destroyed in the nation's capital because Republicans have ordered it to be get to order D.C. to get rid of it. Yes, it's very sad. I know that pressure has been on Mayor Bowser from the very beginning when she did this. And I do want to clarify, because it doesn't seem to be clear in a lot of the reporting that this isn't the structure that they're destroying now is not what it was in the very beginning. She did that interesting guerrilla effort that spread around the world. But what they then

proceeded to do was put in a permanent, and I agree with you, monument that I thought was the newest monument in D.C. And one that my company was very proud of being involved in. I think if you could see behind me, that's the framed plans of our work that we did on that spectacular thing. And it is really sad to see it be taken away in just a blink of an eye. So what you're talking about is, so yeah, initially it was painted Black Lives Matter Plaza, but what ended up happening,

and then there were lots of events that were protests, all sorts of things, but the problem is businesses along the street were complaining because they were like, hey, how long is this street going to be blocked off? I mean, essentially the two blocks from 16th and K all the way to Lafayette Park were blocked. And so what they then did was, if y'all could freeze the video, you see right there those black pipes or whatever

whatever you want to call them so what they eventually put those in the street uh that allowed for traffic to then be able to go in both directions on 16th street uh and so then what happened was so if you see right there you see right there where the B and the L is. It was more involved than that. These actually are 11,000 square feet of cement letters that they put in. They built an entire structure in the street that included that central protected path area. And it was quite impressive. And my company spent the last three years refurbishing it and making it prepared. We thought we were excited about what it meant as a gathering place for what

will be happening in the city next year or may not be happening. If Trump gets his way, we may not be able to have the kinds of gatherings that we had there from its onset. And the point there, what I was saying on where the B and the L is, that's actually where three different years we hosted our show on the anniversary of the death of George Floyd. And when his family was in town with Attorney Ben Crump, they actually came down, you see right there, that was one of the years where we actually broadcast from that spot. Yes, and that kind of gathering place, the impact that it had on my crew, being able to have a hand in putting that in,

the thought that they had that this was going to be a generational opportunity for their family, for them to share with their friends and family about their impact in creating this space that reminded the country of the importance that Black Lives play in the whole development of our country. Well, it is quite unfortunate. And again, the only reason it is being destroyed is because Republicans demanded it and they told the mayor to rename it Black Lives Matter Plaza. They wanted it renamed Liberty Plaza. That is what they're saying. I actually spoke to the mayor's office this morning. They called me to clarify something that hasn't been clarified publicly by them, I don't think, prior to this, to say that she actually has not agreed for that name change, that even though that's in

the legislation, that isn't something that they are resisting that particular change to this. They are going to take down the... Well, I could tell you right now... Yeah, I could tell you right now, for me, I don't call DCA Reagan Airport. I call it by its letters, DCA. And ain't no way in hell I'm going to ever call that Liberty Plaza. No way. No way. I agree with you 100%. When I first was reading the headline, when I first walked down there to see our work disappearing,

and I read the headline that it was a reconstruction of the Black Lives Matter Plaza, and the headline that I read said, you know, turning it into Liberty Plaza, I thought, boy, all those words together. It was just in the press. and the headline that I read said, you know, turning it into Liberty Plaza. I thought, boy, all those words together. It was just in the press. I don't know the source of it. I do know that the legislation calls for that renaming, but it's all just heartbreaking. Indeed, indeed.

Well, please give your best to your employees. Megan, we thank you for your great work. And I am hopeful that if folk do the right thing in 2028 and we throw this bum and J.D. Vance and others out of the White House, that those letters will return to 16th Street and it will be forever known as Black Lives Matter Plaza. I agree. I did want to add that I ran into a couple of council members from Savannah, Georgia, when I was there. And the city planner that used to be the city planner in D.C. who oversaw the development of that plaza is now the city planner in Savannah. And they are, in fact, going to build a Black Lives Matter plaza in Savannah. And I hope that our company has something to do with that as well.

Well, that would be absolutely awesome. And if other cities do the exact same thing. Megan, thanks a lot. Thank you. Thank you so very much. Larry, this is what happens when residents in D.C. get screwed because they're not a state. We're Republicans. Whoever controls Congress controls the budget of Washington, D.C., and they get treated like a yo-yo depending on who's in the White House or who controls Congress. Yeah, and Mustafa and I both worked on the Hill. We've seen this numerous times in terms of, like you said, yo-yo back and forth, depending if it's a Democratic or Republican administration, obviously the D.C. appropriations, the government

oversight committee, et cetera, that has oversight over what happens in logistics and funding in D.C. But Rowan, this, you know, people describe these efforts as kind of anti-DEI's umbrella. My argument is these are really pro-Jim Crow efforts. And we should really, in terms of how we communicate it, describe it as that. Because they're actually trying to reverse every single accomplishment, recognition of the struggle, the successes of Black folks in America. And for those individuals who supported this administration and any of these individuals – I know we talked a lot about that White House event, Black History Month event a couple weeks ago. It is absolutely despicable, and I mean I believe our ancestors have to be turning over their graves because how could you support an administration that is clearly anti-Black and has, obviously throughout the diaspora, but folks throughout the world who are standing with people of African descent and saying the disproportionate rate at which black folks are killed is not acceptable. But how the tides have turned over the last couple of years. And once again, this is similar to what we've seen in the history of the United States the red summer of 1919 and other places

where you've seen white resentment as a result of what is appearance of black progress. But we have to continue to stand steadfast against this, Roland. This is unacceptable, and once again, this is another attempt of erasure in terms of black folks in America. Well, that's exactly what it is.

It is absolutely, positively anti-black randy i don't think that we could deny that there is an absolute attack on us and even things like you know this are this monument which we see it as they want to wipe it out and we need to we need to focus on that we need to take it seriously because we are at defense right now. We're not playing offense. We're playing defense. They want to act as if our contributions don't exist. They're wiping out any trace of any history that we've had to this country.

And they want anything that reminds us of where we are, that we have to remind people that our lives do matter. They want it taken away. So, I mean, the hate is palpable. It's not something that we can deny anymore. And I think it's good that we have this warning, though. I think that it is a call for us to unite, that we don't have time to play around. We don't have time to be against one another. We need to rely on media sources like yours because this is all we've got. I just think it's just very, very clear. As I've, you know, I'm in D.C. with you and I've seen the destruction of this happening. It to me symbolizes kind of, you know, if people weren't getting it

before, now they have a visual representation of what's happening. People are very clear about how they feel about us. And we need to act in kind and not act in the way they necessarily want us to, because I do believe that they want us to get out in these streets and protest and so he can enact martial law. I really do believe that that is what's going on. But I believe that we need to react by planning and becoming stronger and unifying as a people. Well, but here's the deal though, folk have to, we talk about stay woke, they gotta frankly wake the hell up, Mustafa.

This is what happens when you sit at home. This is what happens when you don't vote. This is what happens when you whine and complain, oh, Democrats aren't doing this, aren't doing that. Well, we know damn well what Democrats, in this case, were doing and Republicans want to have done. And so I hope all of these people who were just sitting here just running their mouths and trashing Vice President Kamala Harris

now realize there is a real difference between a Harris administration and a Trump-Musk administration. Yeah, all that is facts. And hopefully folks are waking up. You know, it's amazing how we wake up and then we are lulled back to sleep. You know, it's interesting because Black Lives Matter was about remembrance, right? And inside of that remembrance was actually about how when people come together and reclaim their power, how they can make change happen. That doesn't mean that everything gets answered, but it does show folks that it is possible to begin the journey toward the North Star that many of us have often talked about. And that scares those folks who have been

oppressors and are used to being able to do, say, and control folks. So the visual of Black Lives Matter caused them a lot of consternation. It caused them fear because they realized that when Black and brown folks and indigenous folks and other types of allies come together, that we can actually move things in this country. There's still a lot of work that needs to happen. When this happened earlier, I had to write a little bit. I'm just going to hit you with just a real quick 30 seconds of it. It said, Black Lives Matter Plaza. They came with hands heavy, with silence, dragging buckets of erasure.

And if paint could swallow a revolution, as if footsteps could forget where they were headed, as if tongues could be tied after tasting freedom. But we are louder than pavement. Our breath breaks barriers. Our fists carve echoes in the air. Our words rise higher than your hush. Black Lives Matter written in the sky, a love letter. Not just on the street, but in the soil. Not just in the paint, but in the pulse. Not just in a whisper, but a wall, a song, a storm. Not just surviving, but thriving, shining, reborn. Black lives still matter.

Well, they indeed do. But what you're dealing with here are Republicans who do not give a damn about black lives at all. And guess what? All of those black MAGA imps who were at the White House just dancing and shaking their asses at the Black History Month reception. It's amazing how quiet they are. They're real quiet. Quiet about this. Quiet about them ending the lawsuit in Cancer Alley impacting black people in Louisiana. Quiet about so many things.

Let's talk about when it comes to the District of Columbia budget. They've been operating under a congressionally approved budget for the past six months. However, Republicans say y'all now got to cut a billion dollars midway through the fiscal year. The temporary spending bill, known as a continuing resolution, is designed to prevent a government shutdown by requiring all federal agencies to operate under their 2024 budgets. While D.C. usually continues operating under its approved fiscal year 2025 budget, this particular proposed budget does not exempt the district. Mayor Miro Bowser addressed this issue during a news conference

highlighting the disastrous consequences of slashing the city's budget by this much. We are not a federal agency. We are a city, co and we provide direct ser of the District of Columb of Columbia businesses in Columbia diplomats and vi and everyone who works he budget was balanced and a go back to fiscal 2024 levels we would be forced to reduce spending by 1.1 billion dollars in only six months.

But here is why we're here today because Congress can fix this. They can fix this $1.1 billion problem that we have brought to spend our locally generated revenue according to our own approved budget and timeline. And I want to emphasize the local part of that statement. The District of Columbia raises and spends its own money just like every other state. So remember that the budget we're talking about, this budget, the approved FY25 budget, was introduced by me and approved by this council. It focuses on three main areas, public safety, public education, and economic growth. Disrupting those investments won't be good for D.C. or our country. Folks, joining us now is Robert White. Robert is the at-large council member in Washington, D.C. Robert, glad to have you here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. The Republicans moments ago passed this continuing resolution, which includes this massive cut. Now the only hope D.C. has is for the Senate to act.

Now of course Republicans, they need Democrats to go along with this. And so what have y'all in D.C. City Council, what have y'all been saying to Senator Chuck Schumer and Democrats who may very well vote for this CR to ensure the whole government doesn't shut down? Look, Roland, we were, several of us were on Capitol Hill yesterday knocking on doors, trying to meet with members of the House, including the Speaker. Now we're reaching out to senators. And the message we're trying to let them know, because not everybody realizes that even though D.C.'s budget has to go through Congress, this isn't federal money. This is local tax money that we are already spending at fiscal year 25 levels. And so we're trying to make sure they understand the impacts. We are going to have to overnight cut over a billion dollars out of our budget. That means there are going to be layoffs

from first responders, including police officers, teachers, the folks who pick up our trash. This is going to have a devastating impact on D.C. And it's important that members of the Senate stand with us, because guess what? Even though our budget goes through the Senate, we don't have any senators there to fight for us. So D.C. is at a severe disadvantage, and we don't want to get mixed up in this federal fight. This isn't our fight. This is between federal officials, Congress and the White House, Democrats and Republicans on the national level. We're doing our thing in D.C. You know, we're running a city the same way that

other folks run a city. And you can't come in midway through the year and say you got to cut a billion dollars out of your budget. That doesn't work for us any more than it would work for anyone else in the nation. And again, I mean, this is what happens, unfortunately, when whoever is in control of Congress, they can control what happens to D.C. Typically, when Democrats are in power, that you guys are allowed to run the city as you wish as the duly elected representatives. But Republicans, they use the power of the purse to force D.C. to do whatever it is that they want at their own whim. That's exactly right. But what's important here for Republicans especially to understand is that in Republican administrations and Democratic administrations, in Republican congresses and Democratic congresses for the past two decades, D.C. has been held harmless in these

federal budget fights. They've included language to allow us to keep spending in our current fiscal year since it is D.C. local money. The other thing that's really important for the nation to understand, for the Senate to understand, is that because this is local D.C. money, this doesn't do anything to the federal budget. You can't reappropriate this for any federal program. So this does nothing for them on the federal side. All it does is hurt D.C. And the money is still going to come in because they're not cutting taxes, but it'll be locked in a bank account where we have to make cuts to vital city services

for no benefit to the nation, no benefit to the federal government, just chaos in D.C. for absolutely no reason. That doesn't make any sense. So when y'all made that point, what did Republicans say? Most of them, Roland, I'll tell you, didn't seem to know that that was the case, that this language had been omitted or that it would have this type of impact on D.C. And so the CR that the Republicans passed, the House treats D.C. like an agency, even though we are not an agency.

We operate like a state. And folks seem real surprised on the Republican side about how it would impact D.C. Obviously, we still couldn't get them to stand with us, but we are hoping that the Senate will stand with us. And this is the time where D.C. residents and folks who care about democracy and equality have to show up. We're going to be in the Senate tomorrow ahead of the vote talking to them, and we need D.C. residents there. We need folks around the nation calling senators, telling them you can't treat D.C. like this. Just include the same language that's been in the C.R.s for the past 20 years. Questions from my panel. Mustafa, you first.

Yeah, well, Councilman, it's good to see you. You know, we've got all of our brothers and sisters and allies who are here inside of the district who, of course, are going to make sure their voices are heard. What would you like to see folks across the country do to be in solidarity with the actions that you and others will be taking? Mustafa, I appreciate that question. We need allies. Like anybody else in a struggle, we need allies. So folks across the nation, call your senator. Tell them you heard about what's happening to the District of Columbia.

You don't want to see any of your fellow country members treated like this and getting tied up in this national fight. So urge them to vote no on the continuing resolution. Don't include D.C. in this federal nonsense. I was wondering, I just want to make things clear. When we do have dignitaries visit the great area of Washington, D.C., that comes out of our budget, right? Like they don't give us any sort of funding to host these guests that require a lot of manpower. That's right. When dignitaries visit the inauguration, D.C. residents are shouldering that financial burden. That is our police, our first responders, the same ones that are going to lose their jobs because of this,

who are bearing the danger, and our taxpayers who are bearing the cost. Now, we do get some reimbursement for those, but we don't get the full reimbursement. So we are carrying that cost, and we've got to respond in real time. Right, right. Larry? Yeah, Councilman, you know, I've lived in D.C. for a number of years, don't live there anymore, but I feel I have a lot of family and friends who live in D.C., so this really concerns me. But I want you, and I know you're going to be very careful to walk this fine line, is this feel like retribution in some respects? We talked about a few minutes ago the Black Lives Matter, the street being painted over or removed.

And, you know, the city, you know, historically known as Chocolate City, right? It does feel like it feels very personal from a policy standpoint. This is just not, you know, $1.1 billion is a substantial amount of money, which you've articulated in the mayor as yesterday. Does this feel like this goes beyond what's right for the city and more impersonal in terms of some of this grievance politics we've seen recently? Yeah, Larry, make no mistake. D.C. is being bullied. And there's just no other way to put it. And at some point, we need folks to stand up, folks in D.C. and outside of D.C. to stand up and say, look, wrong is wrong.

I'm a father of two little girls that are in our schools. I love their teachers. I love their schools. I don't want to see them go to school next week and some of their teachers aren't there. Anybody who has a loved one, if they're in the District of Columbia, you have a car accident or a national disaster like the plane crash that happened just weeks ago. We are there responding. These are the folks who won't be able to show up quickly enough. So D.C. is being bullied to our detriment, but also to the detriment of people who visit here. And because Congress has to approve our local laws, approve our local budget, we are always at the mercy of federal folks that we don't get to vote

for to step up and protect us. And now more than any time in decades, we need folks to step up. Well, I certainly hope folks do. Bottom line is D.C. is getting screwed by these Republicans, and it makes no sense whatsoever. Councilman White, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks for... Matter of fact, hold up, while you're here, also, just give us just your thoughts on, frankly, D.C. being forced by Republicans to dig up and destroy Black Lives Matter Plaza,

which was erected, of course, five years ago, the fifth anniversary of the death of George Floyd. It's going to be May 25th this year. And again, the only reason this is happening is because Republicans threatened to withhold transportation dollars from the district. Look, this is Black Lives Matter Plaza wasn't just a street in D.C. It was a national icon, a national monument. And to those of us who understand what those words mean, Black Lives Matter, why we have to say that affirmatively, we understand in a visceral way what that plaza meant and what it means to see it being torn up now. Now, what folks have to

remember is that this kind of bullying, when you don't stop it, when you don't stand up to it, it comes for you. So even if you're outside of D.C., you are not exempt. Today, it is Black Lives Matter Plaza, but they are coming to every state, every city, and we've got to make sure that we are standing firm, standing together, and strategizing, because if we're not strategizing and pulling together, we've already lost. But if we are doing that, then we have already won. We just got to get to work. Indeed, indeed. Councilman White, we appreciate you joining us. Thanks a lot.

Thanks, Roland. Folks, got to go to a break. We come back. Why in the hell are MAGA Republicans in Tennessee trying to change the name of the Nashville airport in support of Donald Trump? And Nashville, 70% of the city voted against Donald Trump. I keep telling y'all these MAGA people are sick and demented. Folks, support Roller Mark Unfiltered by joining our Bring the Funk fan club. Hey, when you contribute to this show, it allows us

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Don't wait until it's too late. Invest now. Invest for yourself and your future. Go to startengine.com slash fanbase and own the future of social media. We begin tonight with the people who are really running the country right 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's 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. On a next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, think about for a moment some of those icky behaviors that you display every now and then. Are you a petty Betty or

crabby Kathy? Where did those less than attractive traits come from? We all have them. And more importantly, how do we get rid of them to make certain that they don't infect other people? Pettiness is something that we all carry. It's just make sure that you carry it well and you don't use it to intentionally hurt. On the next A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie on Black Star Network. Farquhar, executive producer of Proud Family. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Folks, some of the craziest Trump MAGA people are in Tennessee. And a Tennessee state rep who doesn't even live in Nashville wants to rename the Nashville International Airport after the twice impeached, criminally convicted felon in chief Donald the Con Trump.

HB 217 authored by Todd Warner returned after being taken off notice. The naming and designating committee inside the Tennessee House gave it a four to six negative recommendation to the House Transportation Committee. Now the debate takes place back and forth and State Rep Justin Jones, who is the representative for Nashville, was absolutely against this and he made it perfectly clear that people in Nashville don't support it and they don't want to spend the $10 million to rename the Nashville airport, which includes rebranding efforts, changing airport logos around the property, and adjusting interstate signage. Metro's airport board will be responsible for the vast majority of that money, which

can be passed along to Nashville and Tennessee taxpayers. This is just idiotic. And normally when you recognize a occupant of the Oval Office, it happens after they left, not while they're actually there. Do y'all want to see some really stupid stuff? Watch this four minute and 17, 17, 17second video. Is this just for local officials or would it apply to Donald Trump, who was convicted of 37 felonies? Would he be not able to have anything named after him under this legislation? Vice Chair Fritz, you're welcome to respond to that if you like.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Representative Jones. If you'd read the bill, you'd realize it's just for local officials. Great. Is there a reason why we're just putting this law on local officials and not state officials who've been charged with felonies as we will be having a case coming up soon with many of your side of the aisle or federal officials? Is there a reason why it's just local officials and not if it's state officials or federal

officials? Vice Chair Fritz, you're recognized for a response. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you again, Representative Jones, for the question. I bring to you the bill that I was offered to carry for Representative Raper. Do you live in Davidson County? Representative Warner, you may respond. Absolutely not.

I live in the great county of Marshall. Any follow-up, Representative Ben? You're recognized. And is Donald Trump from Davidson County or lives in Nashville? Representative Warner, you can answer that if you have the information necessary to give an accurate response. No, ma'am, I don't think he does. Any follow up? We should name the LAX or Chicago or Atlanta. BNA is not big enough to have the name President Trump on it. I don't think I can support this because I think that the airport here is not big enough to have the Trump name on it.

So I just want to let you know that. Thank you. Representative Warner, you're recognized. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. And Representative Marshall, I couldn't disagree with you more. First of all, we don't have the authority to name those airports, but we do here in Tennessee have the authority to rename B&A. First of all, this bill is a waste of time and money. This airport is in my district. I represent the Nashville Airport in House District 52, where over 70% of my constituents voted against Donald Trump from being president.

Secondly, why would we name an airport after Trump at a time where he has made our airport and our flying more unsafe by firing hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration employees? At a time where air traffic controllers are understaffed. This bill is trolling, but it's also an attempt to erase the voices of the people of the Tennessee's 52nd House District. And thirdly, I can't even take this bill seriously because Trump has no connection to our community.

Trump has led this nation on the path of shame, on the path of lack of integrity, on the path of recklessness. And thirdly, we have fought so hard to remove Confederate monuments across the state. Why would we erect another one for a man who has been the grand wizard in chief in Washington, for a man who has attacked the people of my district, one of the most diverse districts in the state. And so I am vehemently against the renaming of this airport. We had some constituents who wanted to testify about this. The bill was taken off notice and now it was brought up again so they cannot be here. But again I think overwhelmingly the people of our district are against this. If the sponsor wants to name something after

Trump, I might suggest that the town, the city dump because that's where this vial and this litter and this trash belongs, not on our airport here in Nashville. And so again, I oppose this legislation and I hope that you would focus on your own district and focus on improving lives of people and not naming things after people who you idolize and this form of idolatry of political tyrants and just one of the most shameful people in this nation. Thank you. Perfect. When he puts America first, it puts Tennessee first. Okay? President Trump is looking to get Washington under control,

something that has been led astray the past four years, the wreck that we just got out of. Madam Clerk, please close the vote and announce the vote. Mr. Chairman, you have four ayes, six noes. The bill moves on to the Transportation Committee with a negative recommendation. How do you move a bill with a negative recommendation? Normally, when it's negative, the damn thing dies. You know, Randy, this is just the stupid stuff these people do. You know, and Trump tried to make America great again.

Man, America great again. Tennessee is great again. These people are just plain idiots. They are truly cult members. They are truly cult members. They are truly cult members. And you would feel sorry for them. You'd be embarrassed for them if they weren't so evil. But they don't know how lost they are.

I mean, they bow down to this man. The man is currently president, but they want to change the airport name now? I mean, it's so ridiculous. But I almost, it's hard for me to even speak on it because it is really just embarrassing because they don't have any respect for this country. It really is about people following one man. They see this man as their king, their God, and they want to put up

statues to honor him. And they have forgotten that they are supposed to be working on behalf of the American people because Donald Trump is about Donald Trump, but his followers are also about Donald Trump. And it's scary because it's like, who in charge is thinking about us, the Americans? And I wish, yeah, it's just a shame. You know, you got to laugh to keep from crying because these are the people who are running our country. What he's worried about is not serving the people in his district, but erecting a monument for his God in another district. Insane. Idolatry, Larry. That's all this is.

But when it comes to bowing down to their king and the golden calf, oh, what the hell? They'll make at least 100 of those. We living in some wild times. That's all I can say. You know, if you were to write – if you were writing a political comedy, you couldn't come up with stuff this bad. And listen, you saw the back and forth there from the members discussing this current president having a connection to the region, to the city, to the region, to the state? He has none.

And then at the very end, the state Republican talking about bringing the country back where the stock markets crash. Undoubtedly, the number of jobs, people hiring is going down. We're likely to face a recession. All international problems. It just goes on and on and on, and it'll get worse over the next couple of years. So just as another example of individuals putting, not the residents of that district or those who live in the state, because it's going to cost money to make the changes you highlighted earlier, but really, like you said, it's this idolatry, just focusing on this obsession, cult-like

obsession with one person. But I want to offer a caveat. We often say it's an obsession with one person. It's really not about that. It's really about ideology, about white supremacy. That is the altar that these individuals are praying to, so we need to be really clear about what's happening.

Mustafa, I love what Representative Jones says. We don't want that crap up. Call it what it is. Call it what it is. We don't want that crap up. He said, plus, how y'all sitting here? Normally there is respect for legislators and what happens in their district. These Republicans like, damn that. We're going to tell y'all what to do in Nashville and Memphis because we don't control those cities. Yeah, that's that whole privilege thing. I mean, Larry, you know, he laid it out for you.

But, you know, privilege makes you think you can do and say whatever and there are no repercussions. And it also blinds you, right? They don't really get it. You know, it's interesting that these are taxpayer dollars that are going to be utilized to do this if it moves forward. And I was waiting to see Larry's face because when they said, you know, that it was not in the positive, but in the negative, but it's moving forward. I was like, well, that's different. But, you know, maybe it's like that in Tennessee. But, you know, I'm not going to mess with folks from Tennessee. Here's the thing is that this is how short sighted these folks are.

Right. So you've got an individual that you want to honor. My dad, my granddad used to say, do the work. You know, that kind of stuff will come after if you actually did something of value. But, you know, whiskey is one of the main drivers for money there in Tennessee. The automotive industry is another one of the main drivers. And now you've got, you know, Trump creating these tariffs that are actually going to impact those industries. So that means you're going to be making less money. So that $10 million actually is even going to cost more than it would have before because you've got these types of actions that are currently going on from the current administration. Then you got NIH that's there and a couple of other federal agencies where you're going to have individuals who are losing their jobs. Some have already lost their jobs. So that

means there's going to be even a greater stressor on your economy, but yet you are talking about taking dollars and investing in something that brings no real value to the folks there in Nashville or to Tennessee. So it just doesn't make any type of sense to do these types of things beyond just because you need some type of, you know, a big sign that says he was here, even though he was never really there. So, you know, if he actually did something of value, history will make sure that it highlights that. But of course, we know how history is going to see him and his administration based on not just these first two months, but everything that they did when the Biden administration

was in and even when they were in power before. So you know, supremacy, privilege, all these types of things allow you to think that bad ideas are actually great ideas. Hold tight one second. We come back. The lieutenant governor of Michigan, Garland Gilchrist, says he wants to be the state's next governor. We'll discuss that next. And also, some sad news. Former NBA player and businessman Junior Bridgman, who just was put on the cover of Forbes magazine as America's newest billionaire, has died at the age of 71. We'll pay tribute to him in the show as well.

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I'm Russell L. Honore, Lieutenant General, United States Army, retired, and you're watching Roller Martin on Filth. Well, folks, Garland Gilchrist is Lieutenant Governor of Michigan. He has officially announced that he is running to become the state's next governor. He dropped this campaign ad pledging to solve problems and deliver results while accusing the twice impeached, criminally convicted felon in chief Donald Trump of breaking commitments and also attacking Michiganders every single day. I was born in Detroit, raised on a love of Pistons basketball, Pontiacs, and honestly, computers. After earning two engineering degrees at Michigan,

I became a software engineer at Microsoft. Then I came home to Detroit and used technology to make government work better. Because I know that improving the way systems work improves people's lives. That's why I became an engineer. It's why I went into public service. And that's why I'm running for governor of the state of Michigan. As your lieutenant governor, I've worked with Governor Whitmer to solve problems for Michiganders. I saw too many families who couldn't afford housing, so I pushed funding into a housing

trust fund, resulting in 50,000 new homes in the last two years. I saw a criminal justice system holding people back, so I started the Clean Slate program to help those who've paid their debts get back on their feet. I saw tech startups leaving, so I launched the Michigan Innovation Fund and turned our state into the number one startup ecosystem in the nation. We've made a lot of progress in these past six years, but there is so much more to do. As a dad with three kids in public schools, I'm committed to building an economy where every family has what they need to succeed so our children can follow their dreams right here in Michigan.

My goal for Michigan is that we leave the nation in innovation and creating jobs of the future for everyone. Donald Trump and Elon Musk are breaking commitments to our state and attacking Michiganders every day. As governor, I'll protect our rights and stand up for the families, workers, and businesses that keep our economy strong. Real leaders find solutions that improve the lives of the people they serve instead of just looking out for themselves. So let's make the dream of health and wealth a reality for every Michigander. Let's stand tall for Michigan.

Randy, it's going to be a very tough Democratic primary. Jocelyn Benson, who is the Secretary of State, has already announced she is going to be running as well. Initially, there was talk about Pete Buttigieg running. He, of course, has now moved to Michigan, but many believe he is now going to run for the U.S. Senate seat, being vacated in 2026 by Senator Gary Peters. If Gilchrist wins, he, of course, would be the nation's second black governor as we speak behind Governor Wes Moore of Maryland. And I'm happy to see that he is putting his hat in the ring. I believe that what people are seeing

happening in this country right now, they see it or hear it as a call to action. And we need real leadership. And so, while right now the Republican is the one who's the favored choice, I believe that, as days pass and people see what this Republican government-led is doing, that his chances will be bolstered. Also, Whitmer said that she's not going to endorse anybody, but I would think that just the fact that they worked so closely together and gave him a high profile will also serve him well.

So I'm happy to see it. And you also have Mustafa Raz Baraka, the mayor of Newark, who's running for governor in New Jersey as well. And one of the things that, and then you have now on the Republican side, you've got that nutcase MAGA woman, Winsome Sears, lieutenant governor of Virginia, who's running for governor of Virginia. But it's not like she has an agenda that, frankly, interests black folks. But you're going to have African-Americans running for the highest office in the land in several states in November.

Yeah. And, you know, helping people to actually understand the power of governors, right, to actually be able to transform what's happening inside of your state is so critically important. You know, we often focus on presidential races, sometimes Senate races, which of course are important, and House races. But it really comes down to your governors. And you need someone who has all the tools that's necessary not only to navigate the craziness that will be going on over the next three years, but to really be thinking about how do you best position your state with the new sets of economies that are out there? How do you often address the gaps that exist?

Who's been vulnerable and who's been left behind? And that's why when I see someone like Gilchrist, who I followed a little bit to see, you know, if he was the real deal, you know, the brother knows his stuff. So that's important because we often see some individuals who become governors, so you're like, how in the world did this person ever get the job? But this brother, beyond being an engineer, he's really thinking forward about what's the next set of jobs. And we know jobs is one of those critical elements in this last election that people said they care about. He also understands how to balance a budget and to make sure that resources are getting to the spaces

and places that are critical. He also understands higher education. And we know in Michigan, there are a number of outstanding universities and colleges that are there that are going to need someone who can think critically, especially with the administration that we currently have in Washington,

that is going to look for opportunities to pull dollars away from research and development, to pull dollars away from colleges and universities that don't align with what their vision is for the country. So this is someone that folks should give a real strong look to, because we've got to make sure that the folks who are going to be our governors over the next decade not only have our best interests at heart, and I hear Randy talk about that, and it's incredibly important, but also who is thinking about how do we build the infrastructure that's necessary to be successful in the 21st century. Larry, you're also going to have Mike Dugan, who is the mayor of Detroit, running for governor as

an independent. And so that could very well split a lot of votes that could pave the way for Republican to win in Michigan. So it's a whole lot that's going to be riding at stake for Michigan come November. Well, just every time you think, obviously, we talk about Michigan right now. You talk about doing it as an independent. You think you might have a shot in a state that obviously cares really deeply about economic issues. He certainly went to university twice, alum of the University of Michigan from Detroit, and is well-respected not only in the state of Michigan but throughout the country. You wouldn't want to see someone recognize, as you said, as an independent, and then the Republican take that Senate seat. But with the Democrats the last couple of months, that's what exactly would happen.

But let's hope it doesn't. But I think Hillcrest is a really strong candidate. It's going to be interesting because particularly in the Midwest, Michigan, other states there, the politics has shifted a bit in the last couple of months. And so let's hope that people see the person who focuses on the economy. Mustafa talked about higher education, et cetera, and he's not forced to pay a black tax. It's become clear that black folks have to pay now, whether they're politicians or in corporate America or education, et cetera. But he's an excellent candidate. I think he would make an excellent—if he wins, it would be great for the state. But like I said, it'll be very interesting to see how the politics play out. I think what's going to happen with the economy over, you know, between now and the election

is going to really impact how people view this candidacy. Also want to give a shout out to the people who cut that ad to include the current governor to make sure they were side by side. That's really important to see because people love Big Gretchen in Michigan. So it was really good to see that, that they cut that ad that way. Indeed. Indeed. All right, folks, time for black and missing. Jemarius Kelly disappeared from his Baton Rouge, Louisiana home on January 18th.

The 17-year-old has black hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about Jemarius Kelly should call the Baton Rouge, Louisiana Police Department at 225-389-2000. 225-389-2000. Folks, let's stay in Baton Rouge where all three suspects involved in the hazing death of Caleb Wilson, a 20-year-old Southern University student, have been taken into custody. Isaiah Smith turned himself in late Tuesday. He is a member of a mega sci-fi fraternity and attends Southern University. Reports indicate that his father owns the warehouse where the alleged fatal hazing took place.

U.S. Marshals arrested 25-year-old Kyle Thurman on Monday. He is expected to be transferred to East Baton Rouge Parish Prison and charged with felony hazing. Caleb McRae was released on bail on Friday night after being charged with hazing and manslaughter. Caleb Wilson died two weeks ago after sustaining a blow to the chest while fraternity members were punching pledges with boxing gloves.

And no further information is available, but also Southern University announced that they are ending any and all pledge processes taking place on their campus at least for this summer and it could actually last longer. Our panel is comprised of two alphas and an aka and certainly want to get your thoughts on the sheer madness that's happening there at Southern University. Larry, I'll start with you. You know, I saw this one interview where someone said that, well, you know, if these pledge processes, if they can't be regulated, they must be banned from college campuses. Rachel Lindsay made that comment. She's a member of Delta Sigma Theta.

And look, I mean, fraternities and sororities have done all they could in the risk management, what requiring people to go through various things. So the question is, if you have a process, how do you do it? You know, what do you mandate? Do you you know, do you mandate, you know, adults be there? Adults who have been cleared by the fraternity? That's also can be very time consuming. So just what are your thoughts on this? Yeah, Roland, and, you know, obviously this hits very close to home for all of us. And, you know, like you, you know, it was me, undergraduate.

So it's a really complicated issue. And one of our frat brothers, Brother Dr. Parks, writes a lot about this issue relating to hazing at the undergraduate level. And so, you know, in order to be involved in an intake process to clean up a attorney, obviously, you have to be trained and certified. But this is a problem that's been going on for decades. And we have the unfortunate death of this young man. And my heart is as someone, as a son who is a similar age, it breaks my heart. And we have to do a better job in terms of how we create, you know, an intake process. And obviously,

you know, people involved in illegal hazing causes a problem because this is not the only death we've seen here. It happens far too often. We should also note it also happens in white sororities, I mean, fraternities also. So this is an issue in higher education that we have to really address. But specific to, like I said, the divine non-organizations, you know, organizations have taken steps. But the problem, the concern I have, Roman, is that eventually, as it relates to the insurance that each of our organizations has to pay, that eventually one of our organizations is going to go under because of a lawsuit. And considering the long, distinct history of our organizations, all of them at least 100 years old, we would want to see that.

So we have to continue to make sure we're following this process and also making very clear to undergraduate and graduate individuals, brothers or sisters, that you have to follow this very specific intake process and that we can't have events like this happen when we use a young, bright mind and then the impact it has on this family for the rest of their lives, losing someone like this in this tragic way. And then the lives of the young men who were involved in the hazy incident, who undoubtedly are going to serve a number of years in prison. But we have to continue to refine this process so we don't see these kind of tragedies. Randy, you're an AK. You went to Tuskegee. And, you know, I've been very clear. You got to be,

it's really a shame that a mother and father, their son lives through, you know, the difficult streets of New Orleans, goes to an HBCU, is being returned home in a body bag. It is absolutely heartbreaking. As a mother of, you know, two sons who, you know, one just graduated and one still in college, you know, my heart definitely breaks for that mother and father, his friends and family. You know, we cannot allow 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 year olds to be in charge of a process by themselves. And I know that all the divine nine have gone through a lot of work to ensure that we do better. We must own that. But at the same time, clearly, some things are falling through the cracks. And we can't allow this to happen. We have to change it. And I have heard a lot of people say, oh, yes, these deaths

do occur also in white fraternities, particularly with alcohol overconsumption. But that doesn't make it right to me. I mean, we have to worry about what's happening in our own house and in white fraternities, particularly with alcohol overconsumption. But, you know, that doesn't make it right to me. I mean, we have to worry about what's happening in our own house and protecting our own children. I remember, you know, my son's father is a Kappa and was very active, a POMAR, Dean of Pledges. But when his kids were in school, he really went back and forth if he wanted them to participate in the process because of things like this. And there's a fear and there should not be a fear with something so honorable. So I believe that we all agree that something needs to change and that these students and the people who are leading this process need to be monitored very carefully. You know, it's interesting, you know, we put curfew on students sometimes when things go wrong, but maybe there has to be a curfew. I don't know the answer,

but we've got to get together, find some answers so another tragedy does not occur, another life is not lost. Mustafa. Mustafa? I mean, there's so much to unpack there. You know, there's all the legal stuff, the impacts that can happen if you're, you know, allowing this to happen in your house or on your property or another place that you might own. You know, you have responsibility in that space. But that's not what I want to focus on because I think I do know one of the things that's missing, and that's love in the Black community. You know, we call ourselves brothers or sisters for individuals who are coming into our organization. Brothers and sisters don't beat each other, right?

You don't brutalize each other. We have still got to break those chains of slavery that has found its way inside of processes, right? Because the brutalization of Black folks has been going on for a long time inside of our country. And then when we begin to embrace that, or when some folks embrace that as a way of having a rite of passage, that says something about the lack of evolution inside of our community and the lack of love that exists. Because if you love me, you're not going to put your hands on me. There are ways for you to learn information without that type of behavior being a part of any process, right? Whether it is in the Divine Nine or it's in these military schools or a number

of other places that have these processes of breaking folks down and building them up. Breaking folks down should never even be a part of the process. It is about enhancing the things that will be necessary for you to navigate life inside of this country and for you to be able to give back to your community in a positive way. So, for me, it is about finding ways, when kids are young, of helping them to honor themselves and their bodies,

and to make sure that we also understand that we've gotta find ways of infusing more love into our community and refusing to allow anyone to extract that from us. So there are a number of other things, of course, that the organizations can do, but we got to get back to the basics, right? These fundamental things that help us to understand our self wealth and never allow anyone to

take that from you. Folks, a member of the National Labor Relations Board who Donald Trump fired has returned to the office to cheers. This took place on Monday after a judge ordered the reinstatement of Gwen Wilcox. Employees were lined up on the sidewalk as she showed up for her first day at work since January 27th, when she was illegally removed from office and eliminated the board's quorum. This is what she had to say. I feel wonderful. This is where I belong. I belong here at the NLRB. I am not going to have this job, I knew that the first thing that

happened was like, what's going to happen to my staff? How are they going to function? You know, we had such a sense of community among our staff and among the board and so it's so important that we are you know able to be back together because that's you know we're so dedicated to the work that we do that impacts everybody in this country everyone has a working know someone who's working or they're actually workers the really was never about me it was about the about you all and also about the agency as a whole.

Because if we can't function and we went down to two board members, there are people who are waiting every day for our decision. So for every day that a decision is not issued, we are really, you know, not doing our job. I don't know who advised you to come out with this. Folks, and this news also in, the Trump folks have started handing out pink slips to half of the 4,100 employees at the Department of Education. This is how they are going to destabilize education in this country. By 6 p.m., they will be getting rid of half of all the employees. This is the kind of stuff that you're seeing happen. This is going to have a serious impact on special needs students, on low-income students. And, again, they want to shut it down. And remember, the president, Elon Musk, one person doesn't have the power to shut down a federal agency.

That takes an act of Congress. But their way of shutting down the Department of Education is by getting rid of half of the employees. And guess what, Mustafa? It's going to be a lot of these folks in these MAGA states, these red states, that are dependent upon federal funds. And watch, they start whining and complaining about, oh, how they are being decimated because of what is going on. So the orange tears will be commencing. Yeah, they definitely will. But these folks need to get together. I mean, you look at places like we talked about Tennessee and Kentucky and West Virginia, Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama. I mean, you can go around the country where they need to make sure that the Department of Education is in place to make sure that their students have the resources that they need. Now, even though,

of course, we know the states play a big role in what the curriculum looks like, you know, the Department of Education is critical, and especially for those who have been vulnerable, for those who have been unheard and unseen and left behind, the Department of Education plays a very critical role. So these folks need to realize that they're actually damaging. They're damaging their communities. They're damaging the future of the children who live inside of their respective states. And they're making us less prepared for this global economy, right? So all these other countries across the planet are, you know, they're not playing, right?

They are trying to make sure that they have the best sets of folks who are educated to be able to deal with the 21st century economy. You can continue to mess around, but what you're really doing is you're weakening this country. I wish folks would ask the people who are in control in Washington, D.C., what is your plan? What is your plan for making sure that we have the best education system?

What is your plan to make sure that no one gets left behind? And anytime someone poses even a basic question to them, they look like a deer in the headlights because they have no idea what to do. Trust me, these people who keep playing games, well, they, after all, they about to find out, Larry. They sure are. And, you know, it's interesting.

I want to kind of flip this a little bit because, you know, we talked about a lot of federal workers being laid off. And, you know, we talk about concerns about relating to dismantling Social Security and Medicare. And as Mustafa highlighted, a very important point, it's going to impact those states that depend the most on the federal government. But my hypothesis on this, Roland, is that these folks, obviously, you know they voted for it. But also what I think is that the Republicans and these people that voted, they want the pain, right? Because we already know that white folks don't vote in their best interest for generations. And so it's like they want this pain to be inflicted, not only obviously on everyone, but particularly in their own communities,

their underserved communities, which in many respects will create more white resentment. So we'll just have a cycle of, it's like an abusive relationship. These people essentially are asking them to be mistreated, and then they're angry at the wrong people. We talked about this anti-DEI, which is more pro-Jim Crow policies.

Their anger should be focused on oligarchs, but it's really focused on regular everyday black folks and brown folks who are just trying to live their lives, take care of their families. So I think it reminds me of an abusive relationship that the abuser's never held responsible and that somehow this anger is displaced and then focused on communities that are most at risk. Randy? I couldn't agree more. I believe that they're running on hate. That is the center of this whole administration. So I don't even think they're paying attention to who they hurt. And the people that are suffering don't know where to point the arrow. They're so enamored with Trump and his administration and so lost and not even looking at things objectively that they just, as they suffer, they blame the wrong people. What's going to be interesting to me is that when people think about the Department of Education and we talk about the children in need, there are also a large

portion of people who have manipulated the system. I found it very interesting when I was working in the system and working in these very high tax bracket zones that people will use it to get their kids qualified as having special needs. So they have extra time on tests. They're qualified as, you know, having a slight disability so they can make them more competitive when they get, when they're in schools and as they apply to colleges. So they have longer times on the SATs and ACTs and in regular schools. And so I don't even think those people are realizing that this is going to impact them too. And lastly, I'll just say that for a, you know, a dictatorship to work, you need to keep your people unintelligent and uninformed.

And, you know, just as they're attacking the press, they also want to attack our education system and make us weak because we only are as strong as we are able to think and that we're getting information. Last story, folks. Some sadness out of Louisville. Junior Bridgman has passed away. ¶¶ His actual name is Ulysses Bridgman, but he was called Junior Bridgman. Played 12 years in the NBA, most notably for the Milwaukee Bucks. Never made more than $300,000 a year as a player, but once he retired, went into business. And he, of course, became a franchisee for Wendy's and some other businesses. And then he became a Coca-Cola bottler, owner of an aluminum company.

Last year, purchased a 10% equity stake in the Milwaukee Bucks, where they, of course, retired his jersey. He, of course, also played basketball at the University of Louisville. Today, Junior Bridgman was speaking on a panel in Louisville when all of a sudden he clutched his chest and said, I believe I'm having a heart attack. Folks jumped on the stage to assist him. He was taken to the hospital where he later passed away. He was 71 years old. I had the opportunity in Houston at the NBA All-Star Game to moderate a panel with so many different, with former players talking about what was needed to, of course, help athletes save and invest their money

and go into business. This was a man who many, many athletes looked up to. Charles Barkley said the greatest success story in NBA history. Recently, I mean, like literally a month ago, if y'all have it, please show it. He was on the cover of Forbes magazine listed as America's newest billionaire. But Junior Bridgman is now dead at the age of 71, survived by his wife Doris, their children, Eaton, Justin, Ryan as well.

Adam Silver, the commissioner of the NBA, released this statement, I am devastated to learn of the sudden passing of Junior Bridgman. Junior was the ultimate entrepreneur who built on his impactful 12-year NBA playing career by becoming a highly respected and successful business leader. He served as a mentor to generations of NBA players

and athletes across sports who were eager to learn from him about what it takes to thrive in the business world. Junior was a dedicated member of the NBA family for 50 years, most recently as a minority owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, an investor in NBA Africa, and as a player who set the standard Again, somebody who was, you know, unbelievable player. friends and admirers in the basketball community. Again, somebody who was, you know, unbelievable player who, of course, led Louisville as an All-American at Louisville, led them to the Final Four in 1975, was the eighth pick for the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1975 draft, was traded to Milwaukee as part of the blockbuster trade that sent Kareem Abdul-Jabbar from Milwaukee to Los Angeles.

He averaged 13.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.4 assists in 25 minutes per game over his career, where he established himself as one of the best six men in the NBA. He also served as president of the best six men in the NBA. He also served as president of the National Basketball Players Association from 1985 to 1988. And again, what's amazing, Mustafa, I'll start with you.

He made a combined $2.95 million in his playing career, never more than $300,000, and later became a billionaire. Certainly a tragic, tragic news out of Louisville with the passing today of Junior Bridgman. Yeah, well, rest in power to Brother Bridgman. You know, when I think about him, I think about a green print. A lot of people talk about the blueprint, what do you need to follow? I talk about a green print because he was an individual who was a solid basketball player, yes, but he had a plan.

And, you know, you can take a look at how he moved and emulate some of that. So whether you are a young athlete, you know, about, you know, whether you're making money on the college level now that you can or becoming a pro, you need these types of individuals to be able to help you understand what a North Star actually looks like. And not only, you know, was he a great businessman, but he was also a great philanthropist as well. So, you know, it's great to make a lot of money, but the question then becomes, what do you do with it? And how do you make sure that you're giving back? So, you know, and all that I've learned about him, you know, he was able to do

all of the things that are necessary to be able to say that I lived a life well done. Larry, he was like myself, you and Mustafa, a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Returns Incorporated, at one point owning 450 restaurants, later, of course, bought Ebony Magazine out of bankruptcies, and I say invested in NBA Africa, and he was worth an estimated $1.4 billion at his death. So, you know, Junior Bridgman, I remember playing, obviously playing for the Bucs. I'm a big Philadelphia 76ers fan, so I remember him

and Sidney Moncrief, Paul Presley, and those guys going against my Sixers often in the playoffs. That's what I initially remember him as a child. And then growing up, continue to read his stories in various periodicals, newspapers, about him being a successful

businessman. And I think it's particularly important to see a Black man of his stature provide athletes with an example, a template, in terms of what you can do with your wealth, not only in terms, like you said, in terms of philanthropic work, but also his hiring, having these numerous businesses and hiring black people and giving back to the community. But seeing him on the cover of the magazine, you don't see that very often. And particularly, like I said, athletes, back in the day, they didn't make as much money as you highlighted. Investing that money and being, in many respects, self-made. So obviously as an alpha man, as he enters Omega Chapter, I wish all the best to his family during this very difficult time. It is a loss for the nation, certainly a loss for, you know, people in Louisville, Milwaukee community, and also a loss for Alpha Phi Alpha.

Randy, you know, he was a 6'5 ball player but was a general giant. You met him. He wasn't brash. He wasn't loud, wasn't outgoing, was rather quiet. Easy-going smile. I last saw him at InvestFest in Atlanta a couple of years ago where we had an opportunity to sit down and chat and later text message back and forth.

But he was really, really focused on trying to help NBA players and other athletes to really deal with their money. I remember a conversation we had in Houston at the All-Star game there. I was on the campus of the University of Houston where there was a Rolls Royce dealership and an athlete came in and bought a second one. And the owner called Junior and he's like, hey, I'll sell it to him, but why is the dude need a second one? And Junior literally called the brother up and's like, hey, I'll sell it to him, but why is the dude need a second one?

And Junior literally called the brother up. He's like, what are you doing? Why are you spending all of this money on cars? And the guy was like, well, because I can. He said, yeah, but what happens when the money runs out? He really was trying to really help a lot of these young brothers build generational wealth and not just blow through the millions they earn in the NBA. I think that's so important because we always hear these tragic stories about how people blow through their money.

And yes, you know, he was a businessman and also he did it step by step, you know, started out with, I don't remember how many restaurants, but, you know, slowly built it. And I believe that's important too, because social media allows us just to see the results and they don't allow us to see people, the hard work people put in prior to getting there on the cover of Forbes magazine. And you know what I especially loved about him is that he never lost his touch on the community. You know, he was a brother who wanted to give back and wanted us to learn the lessons so we can do better and build up the community and build wealth. And so that's what I appreciate most about him is that he just never lost touch and always tried to give back and to teach us. So, you know, absolute honor. I never got to meet him, but it was an honor to even just be introduced

to his great works and blessings to everyone who did know him personally. Indeed, indeed. Again, Junior Bridgman is now an ancestor to the age of 71. Mustafa, Randy, Larry, certainly appreciate y'all being on today's show on the panel. Thank you so very much for joining us.

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Oh, no punch! A 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.

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I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios.

Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast.