#RolandMartinUnfiltered - VP Harris speaks to AKAs in Dallas, Biden's Black Battleground Support

Episode Date: July 11, 2024

7.10.2024 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Harris Speaks at Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.’s 71st Boulé, Biden's Black Battleground Support LIVE from Dallas, Texas, where Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.’s 71st Boulé.  We'll show you what the Vice President said to her sorority sisters and how they responded to what she had to say.   Also, on tonight's show, the executive director of BlackPAC will join us to discuss their latest poll showing that black voters in battleground states are increasing their support for President Joe Biden.  Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to say she supported Biden's decision not to drop out of the race.  We'll show you what she said and discuss how top Democrats are not helping Biden remain in the white house.  We'll tell you why New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez filed articles of impeachment on Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.  And we'll have my interview with Eddie Murphy about reprising his role in Netflix's "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F." #BlackStarNetwork partners:Fanbase 👉🏾 https://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbase Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox  http://www.blackstarnetwork.com The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. to, yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it. I'm Max Chastin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

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It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Martin! It's Wednesday, July 10th, 2024. Roland Martin is in Dallas, Texas with Vice President Kamala Harris, who is speaking at the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated 71st Annual Boulay. We'll show you what the vice president said to her sorority sisters and how they responded to what she had to say.

Also on tonight's show, the executive director of BlackPAC will join us to discuss their latest polling showing that black voters in battleground states are increasing their support for President Joe Biden, despite the media narrative around him lacking support to win reelection. Also, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to say that she supported Biden's decision to stay in the race. We'll show you what she had to say and discuss why top Democrats are not helping Joe Biden remain in the White House. Also, we'll tell you why Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other Democrats filed articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and also Clarence Thomas today and what this may mean going forward for the high court. Finally, we will have the interview that Roland did with Eddie Murphy about reprising his role on Netflix's Beverly Hills Cops' Axel F. It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine.

And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks, he's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's Uncle Roro, yo! Yeah, yeah! It's Rollin' Martin, yeah! Yeah, yeah!

Rollin' with Rollin' now! Yeah, yeah! He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best, you know he's Rollin' Martin now! Martin! Despite all the noise we're hearing in Washington, D.C., Vice President Kamala Harris has been campaigning across the country. Today, she is in Dallas, speaking at the Alpha Kappa Alpha 2071st Annual Boulay. Roland is there right now. Roland, what are you seeing there with Vice President Harris?

All right, Robert. Certainly appreciate it. My voice is not strong. Still trying to get it back after a smoke allergy hit me when I was in Ethiopia. But it was quite an exciting day here in Dallas at the 71st Annual Boulay of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. So understand, folks were in line at 4 o'clock this morning.

Okay. Email went out. Some people could get in line at 630. This is a video here that I shot before Vice President Kamala Harris even spoke. This was literally two hours before the start of the program. And it was, I mean, jam-packed. I'm talking about massive. Thousands and thousands of her sorority sisters were trying to get in. Now, their business meeting was taking place this morning.

And so the delegates were already there. But now you have the folks who were trying to come to hear her particular speech as well. And so this is the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center here in Dallas. You're going to see in a second here, as I begin this walk down, you're just going to see a sea of black women in pink and green waiting to hear, waiting for the vice president. And so you see all the folks there who were in line. They wanted to hear, obviously, what she had to say, Vice President Harris has been traveling to a number of conventions and other events all throughout this summer. She's going to be at the Zeta Phi Beta convention as well, talking about the issues that matter to all voters, but specifically to black women as well.

And so here is what the vice president had to say today in Dallas to her sorority sisters of Alpha Kappa Alpha. Donald Trump has openly vowed if reelected, he'll be a dictator on day one. That he will weaponize the Department of Justice against his political enemies. Round up peaceful protesters and throw them out of our country. And even, and I quote, terminate the United States Constitution. What's more, Trump advisors have created a 900-page blueprint of their agenda for the second term. They call it Project 2025. It includes a plan to cut Social Security,

to repeal our $35 cap on insulin, to eliminate the Department of Education and end programs like Head Start. So let us be clear. This represents an outright attack on our children, our families, and our future. I do believe this is the most existential, consequential, and important election of our lifetimes. So, Aurora's, this is a serious matter. And so in this moment, once again, our nation mobilize. To register folks to vote and to get them to the polls in November. Because we know when we organize, mountains change. And when we vote, we make history.

So I'll conclude with this. For 116 years, the members of our sorority have been on the front lines of the fight to realize the promise of America. This year, let us continue that work. Let us fight for freedom, opportunity, and equality. Let us, as always, fight with optimism, with faith and hope, and let us see it through. Because when we fight, we win. God bless you and God bless the United States of America. Now, at this particular point, the vice president, she shook the hand of all the different AKAs on the dais.

And then as she exited, when she'd actually gotten off of the stage, went behind the curtain, this chant broke out in the room. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! After the room cleared, I had a chance to catch up with several AKAs to get their thoughts on the vice president's speech. She was just absolutely amazing. I loved every time she said sorrows and addressed us in that loving way. And I'm going to definitely register plenty of people to vote.

Thank you. All right. Hello, hello, hello. This is the President of Virginia, Gamma Delta Omega Chapel. The best chapel in the best region. You're talking about the Vice President's speech. Oh, it was great. It was great.

Right on point. Right on point. And we must know that we have to vote and we have to also go out before the vote to bring vote in. That's what we have to do. I'm in that same chapter where I serve as president. I'm Gracie Bowers, and I'm a Delta Omega Portsmith. And we are here on an assignment. And our assignment was to make sure that we come in and get all the information that's needed so that as we move forward, we continue to soar. And we continue to soar during the voting process that's coming up.

We know it's very important to us. We are nonpartisan, but we are getting everyone educated so that we know when October and November comes around, we're ready to complete our mission. We got our charge. We need to bring four and 4 in 2024 to the polls. And that means, as Vice President Soror Kamala mentioned, we have to be careful. So we need to pay attention.

Project 2025 is real. And our people need to understand and they need to know what it means. So it's our job to make sure that they know what Project 2025 is. Go to the polls and vote. Hi, my name is Greta Brown. I'm from Suffolk, Virginia and I'm going to take four or more to the polls in 2024. We are soaring to the polls. This is the most important election of our lifetime. Women's rights is on the ballot, human rights is on the ballot, African American rights is on the ballot,

and it's up for us to go to the polls and vote. I'm Celia Berry, Roe, Theta, Omega, Philly, and we need to get to the polls. We need to forget worrying about how old Biden is and worry about what Project 2025 will do to us. Get to the polls, take everybody with you because our rights are on the line. That's our black job is to vote. I thought it was a dynamic speech that she gave, that she made all the key points,

letting us know that Biden has decreased the student loan debt for people that she gave, that she made out of the key points, letting us know that Biden has decreased the student loan debt for people that are struggling, eliminating that medical charges on your credit report if you've had the emergency and you weren't able to take care of it. I just felt like everything, she was energized and she has everybody pumped up, ready to get out there and vote so that way we can keep four more years. Keep control of the White House. Wonderful. We love our vice president.

We love our source, Kamala Harris. She did an amazing job. She spoke truth to power, told us what we needed to do, and we are going to get information and do four more years for her and for Joe Biden. Thank you. She's Vaping Cane. We're soaring to the polls. We need everybody to come out there, get your voice out, make it matter.

We need her four more years. So say it with me, four more years with Biden and Harris. I think it is so important that this country understands the power of a black woman's vote. Four more years. This is a vote for democracy. If we don't vote for this, we'll be sorry. Our lives depend on democracy. Our democracy is at stake. Four more years. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding.

But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms,

even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

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

Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir, we are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player,

Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette.

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

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Our democracy is at stake. Four more years. Four more years. Four more years. Four more years. Grace Reese, four more years. here in Dallas, where Vice President Kamala Harris again spoke here. She is going to be traveling to Indianapolis to speak to Zeta Vita in a couple of weeks. We also, of course, will be figuring out what the heck is going on in D.C. with all the efforts to also replace or try to replace President Joe Biden as a nominee. So lots of drama, lots of things to discuss. What we're going to do, folks, we're going to go to a break. We're going to come back. Robert's going to chat with our panel

about the vice president's speech. And then, of course, we'll also be chatting with the folks at Black Pack about their new poll regarding African-Americans. This is Roland Martin Unfiltered reporting live in Dallas on the Black Star Network. Back in a moment. Welcome soon to the Blackstar Network back in a moment. Coming soon to the Blackstar Network. I still have my NFL contract in my house. I'm having a case. It's four of them for my four-year contract.

I got a $600,000 signing bonus. My base salary for that first year was $150,000. Matter of fact... $150,000. $150,000. That's what I made, $150,000. Now, think about it. My signing bonus was a forgivable loan, supposedly.

When I got traded to the Colts, they made me pay back my signing bonus to them. I had to give them their $600,000 back. Wow. I was so pissed, because, man, I try to be a man of my word. I'm like, you. I'll give you your money back. Even though I know I earned that money, I try to be a man of my word. I'm like, f*** you. I'll give you your money back.

Even though I know I earned that money, I gave him that money back. I gave him that $600,000 back. But yet, I was this malcontent. I was a bad guy. I wasn't about the money. It wasn't about the money. It was about doing right.

Because you look at your contract. Look at John Edwards. John Edwards was making a million dollars. I was making $150,000. I mean, I was doing everything. And I'm like, but yet I was, man, I got so many letters. You know, you, you, oh, so I just play for free

and all that kind of stuff. I mean, you don't forget that kind of stuff. Right. That stuff is hurtful. on a next a balanced life with me dr jackie people can't live with them can't live without them our relationships often have more ups and downs than a boardwalk roller coaster but it doesn't have to be that way. Trust your gut. Whenever your gut is like, this isn't healthy, this isn't right, I don't like the way that I'm being treated. This goes for males and females. Trust your gut. And

then whenever that gut feeling comes, have a conversation. Knowing how to grow or when to go, a step-by-step guide on the next A Balanced Life on Blackstar Network. What's up, everybody? It's your girl Latasha from the A. And you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. Attorney Robert Petillo sitting in for Roller. Roller is in Dallas. We'll be kicking it back over to him in just a second. But I want to bring in our panel today to discuss Vice President Harris' address to Alpha Kappa Alpha in Dallas, Texas.

Joining us is Rebecca Carruthers, Vice President, Fair Election Center, Washington, D.C. A. Scott Bolden, News Nation political contributor, chair of National Bar Association Political Action Committee, former D.C. Democratic Party chair of Washington, D.C. Joy Cheney, founder of Joy Strategies, Washington, D.C. Thank you all so much for being here. Rebecca, I want to start with you. We're already seeing conservatives ramping up the racist attacks against Kamala Harris. We saw Sebastian Gorka call her colored. Others, the New York Post posted DEI president. We're always seeing them working on this. How important is it for Black women to mobilize the selection cycle to combat much of what we're already seeing coming out of the right?

Well, this isn't anything new. The right has always done this. They've always attacked us. And I say us as a Black woman. They've always attacked us. They discredited us. They said that we got to the place where we got and it wasn't based on merit, when it was really them. So this isn't anything new. And also, I do want to point out that the 4 a.m. turnout was specifically for Kamala Harris. If Biden was there, I don't know that there would have been a 4 a.m. folks standing in line just to go see them. So it was very important for Vice President Kamala Harris to address Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. But it was also very important because she is a soror,

my soror of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, and she needs to appeal to her base. Because regardless of what's happening in Washington, D.C., with whether or not Biden's going to remain on the ticket, Kamala Harris has to understand who and what her base is. Enjoy bringing you in on this conversation. We are seeing right now that black women really have become the backbone of the Democratic Party. If you look at both 2016 and 2020, you know, over 50 percent of white women voted for President Trump. How much more work can Democrats depend on black women to do in this next election? It seems like they're already punching outside of their weight class when it comes to turnout

numbers, when it comes to percentage of voting. Are they asking too much of black women to try to carry them across? Well, first of all, let me just say that, like Rebecca, I am a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. Indeed, I'm a member of Alpha Chapter, where Kamala Harris also is a member of Alpha Chapter. We're alums of Alpha Chapter, Harvard University. So I'm no surprise that there were so many people who turned out for her. And I think it's a sign to anyone who believes that she will be passed over for future Democratic

leadership easily. That will not happen. Black women are the backbone of the Democratic Party. We are the base. They count on us all of the time. We come out. But we cannot be taken for granted. Our vote is not a given.

Our vote is not a given. Our vote is not a given. So, for anyone who's pinning op-eds, sending secret missives to folks on television, not this network, but others, who are suggesting that we would not have a President Kamala Harris at any point in the future, you know, they should know they might lose their best support. That is Black women. They would certainly lose mine. And I think that turnout was emblematic of that. Black women are excited about Kamala Harris. We embrace her. So any polls that tell you otherwise are mistaken. Go ask Black people. And not just what they think on any given topic, but what they're planning to do. As Terrence Woodbury says, how are you planning to vote? And we are very happy to support

President Biden, Vice President Harris for four more years. That's what I'm hearing, at least. Absolutely. And Scott, I want you to pick up on that point. We saw Senator Michael Bennett from Colorado last night calling for President Biden to step down. Presumably, he was a candidate in 2020. He would want to be on that shortlist of people considered for a blitz primary, as some people are suggesting. What do you think happens to the Democratic base if the Democratic Party has a smoke-filled room behind the curtain conversation and passes over Kamala Harris. And the off chance that President Biden does not continue. That's just—you know that's coming because that's white privilege.

That's what the power of white privilege is. They didn't earn it, but, you know, she's second in line. You know, white America and even the Democratic Party has never figured out what to do with Kamala Harris. She's Biden, Harris, and DNC's greatest weapon. She's bright. She's capable. She's an attractive candidate. She's strong on the issues.

She's a former prosecutor. And she intimidates the hell out of people that don't look like her because she's also very humble. She's not as great as a vice president vis-a-vis supporting Biden's agenda, but she's found her stride in the last couple of years. I think she'd make a much better candidate against Trump, prosecuting the case against Trump, given all those qualities that I just mentioned, she'd be much better than anybody else on the Democratic side, including Biden, quite frankly. Let's just be honest about it. That being said, Biden has a lot of goodwill.

He's helped a lot of people, a lot of loyalty. And he's been a statesman in this country for 50 years, a public servant. Hard to walk away from that. But as I was reading that editorial in The Post a few days ago, it certainly wouldn't be fair for him to be forced out or to step down. But it is what it's the right thing to do, but it wouldn't be fair. And the Democrats have to figure out what they're going to do about this problem, because right now they're losing to a convicted felon. Someone's been found liable for sexual abuse as well as financial fraud. We're losing this race for president, and we ought to be embarrassed by that. But Harris takes all of those issues away.

I don't care about her polling. She's super excited and super popular with the Democratic base—young people, women, anti-abortionists, gay voters, you name it, black men as well. She sows all of those issues that the Democrats have right now, but we're leaking that coalition. That coalition comes back and coalesces around her if she's the nominee. And she's got 240—she'd have $240 million to play with, and you wouldn't have the legal and practical delays associated with putting somebody new up like a Gretchen or a Newsom because they haven't been on the national stage.

She's been there. Those are all the reasons why she makes sense. But what do I know? I don't run the Democratic Party, and I don't run Biden-Harris. I think a big question that a lot of people have right now is exactly who does run the Democratic Party. The leader of the free world had people who could tell him to quit his job. I just think that's something that

maybe they should put in the civics class, that there's somebody else to tell the president what to do. It's all up to Biden. You know, the other Democrats, I don't care, Senate or House Dems or anybody else, there's no leverage to force him out. He can just say,

I'm not going. And he's going to be on the ballot. He's not going to release his delegates. His delegates could vote for someone else. They'd have a floor fight probably. And it just gets uglier. But as my mother used to say, Robert, and you'll appreciate this, there are no good decisions or bad decisions. They're just decisions that need to be made, and then you go make them right. And right now, the Dems are taking too long. Either they're going to fall in or fall out, but they're taking way too long

because we're losing this presidential race to Donald Trump. Oh, my goodness. What can I say? They took a... We're going to go to a quick break and then come back and keep this conversation going. We also want to throw back to Roland and Dallas. So we'll be back here watching Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network.

We'll be back after the break. We talk about blackness and what happens in black culture. We're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. There's a lot of stuff that we're not getting. You get it and you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us. We cannot tell our own story if we can't pay for it. This is about covering us. Invest in Black-owned media. Your dollars matter.

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Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams,

and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always

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

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher.

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

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

Apple Podcasts. white people are losing their damn lives there's an angry pro-trump mob storm to the u.s capital we're about to see the rise of what i call white minority resistance we have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting i think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys.

America, there's going to be more of this. Here's all the Proud Boys guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white people.

Bye-bye, Papa. Hi everybody, I'm Kim Coles. Hey, I'm Donnie Simpson. Yo, it's your man Deon Cole from Blackish and you're watching... Roland Martin, unfiltered. All right, folks, welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered. I am here in Dallas. I've been attending the AKA convention covering the vice president today. What's happening on Capitol Hill? All sorts of drama as to whether or not President Joe Biden should

stay in this race. Now, you've seen polling from different sources talking about how black voters feel about Biden in response to the debate. But they're not talking to just black people. Joining us right now is Adrian Shropshire, Executive Director of BlackPAC. They have a new poll out which shows exactly how African-Americans, what they think about President Biden after the debate performance. So glad to have Adrian here.

And so, Adrian, again, it's driving me crazy seeing these polls and seeing them talk about black people from the New York Times poll or YouGov and others. There's a very small sample of black folks. Talk about the poll which I just released. So we had a poll in the field when the debate happened. And we were trying to do in that poll what we're always trying to do, you know, get the snapshot of where black voters are at any given moment throughout the cycle. And so the data that we released, and we actually have more data to release, we wanted to get this information out because it felt like it was important for the debate that was happening in the country. The data that we released shows, one, the kind of

steady progress that the president's campaign has been making with Black voters. And so one is that, you know, so the one piece of information is that from our last poll in February to the poll in June, the president was actually increasing his support numbers among Black folks. That's important because it means that the work that they've been doing to make sure that they're breaking through with Black voters was actually working. The second piece of data that we released essentially says that for black voters who watched the debate, their support numbers for the president increased, right? So they watched the debate. They saw it with their own eyes. They saw two things on the debate stage. One, they saw Joe

Biden give a very poor performance that I don't think anyone disagrees with. But they also saw a liar who stood on the stage and lied for 90 minutes. And they made a choice about which of those two candidates that they understood who they were before they watched the debate, but after the debate increased their support for Biden. For those people who didn't watch the debate, we saw the opposite effect, which means that their understanding—people who did not watch the debate—their understanding of the debate was influenced by the post-debate narrative. And they didn't have the same level of support, increase in support for Joe Biden. And so that's important, because it says that people are making decisions based on what they're seeing in their social media feeds or the sort of

narrative that is emerging around what has happened that isn't exactly, I think, what people who saw the debate saw, right, with their own eyes. So that feels important, right, in terms of how impactful the things that people say about what is happening or how people interpret what's happening in the race has real implications for the way that the base sees what's happening. So, Adrian, when looking at, again, your polling, so what we're seeing is that all the trepidation about Biden, his age that we've seen since last year. Closer you get to the election, folks go from, I don't know to, yo, now I'm going to lock in. One of the things

all I heard today was Project 2025. Yes. I wasn't at Essence, but I got reports from people as well. Yeah. And so what's interesting to me is that while these Democrats on Capitol Hill are trying to, frankly, dump Biden, you have the base that's saying this is a clear and present threat that could very well change this election if they don't change the top of their ticket. Yeah. So I feel like there is, I mean, I'm an organizer at heart. And so I'm always

really clear that the thing that I don't ever want to do is get out in front of the base. And I think that what you just said is very accurate. And we've seen this, too. And obviously, you've seen the searches for Project 2025 go up. I mean, Taraji P. Henson did everyone a solid when she stood on the stage and said Project 2025 is dangerous to us. Go look it up. Because I think that people are zoning in, right? People understand—and understood before. I don't—you know, I think that black folks and the voters that we've talked to, whether it's in our focus groups or on the doors, right, where we're knocking doors in battleground

states, are really clear about what the stakes are. I think that 2025, the Project 2025, and as people are, you know, looking it up and trying to understand what it is and the implications that it has, not just for the country, but for black people specifically, it only clarifies more how much danger, right, we are in as a nation. It makes the stark contrast, the stark relief about the existential threat that Donald Trump poses, and that the Republican Party, which is, you know, adopting 2025, whether they, you know, are trying to distance themselves from it or not, you can look at what the Republican Party just put out as their national platform in 2025 and see where the

overlap is, right? And so, you know, I think that as that becomes—as those data points become clear, as people see and hear Donald Trump, as they have been the entire time, and the kind of unhinged rhetoric that he has on his rallies, the things that he said at the debate, sort of doubling down on racism right there on the debate stage, talking about the types of jobs that black people deserve, talking about immigrants, people know what's at stake. And they're clear that we need to be on the side of democracy and saving this democracy, as we have always done. But people are also really clear that we need to get the House in order, in order to get about that business

of making sure that Donald Trump doesn't see the inside of the White House again. Adrian, I'm going to ask you another question before I got questions from Robert and the rest of the panel. And that is, we are now in uncharted territory. You talk about being an organizer. You see what's happening on Capitol Hill. This is being driven by the party elites, these top donors. I talked to some prominent Democrats before I came onto the show. Congressional Black Caucus has been locked,

strong and locked, saying you stick with Biden Harris. As an organizer, if these donors and we saw what Nancy Pelosi did today on a morning show, if they are successful in leaning on Biden to drop out. all the things that you talked about completely shut down, all the forward progress, because now for the next month until the convention, you don't know what the hell is going to happen. Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, I think Pelosi clarified her comments when she got back to her office and said that she thought that the New York Times in particular had misinterpreted what she said. But I do think that there is—you know, I do worry about, you know, there being not enough attention paid to what is actually happening on the ground.

And I know that folks are saying that they're looking at polls, et cetera. But I also know what we're hearing as we're knocking on doors. And it just doesn't—it just doesn't comport. And so I'm concerned about the base, because I think that in some ways this is not just a potential problem for this election. I think that it has the long—you know, the potential of having long-term damage within the Democratic Party if the base feels like it is being disrespected. And we have to remember that there was a primary process, and people voted, and they voted overwhelmingly for Joe Biden. And I think, you know, it is critical to not just simply dismiss the will of the people from the process that they understood

to be the process that was going to determine who the nominee was. And so I just think that there are some, you know, like, folks need to be careful about what they're doing right now, and particularly given the conversation from the last part of the discussion about, you know, the vice president and the sort of early, you know, sort of rhetoric that we were hearing when people first started calling for the president to step aside with the notion that someone would replace him other than the vice president. And obviously, that has toned down, and that you have folks now coming out and saying, of course I would support the vice president if she was the nominee. But I think that even the mere suggestion that the sitting Black vice president of the United States would be jumped over already has potential to create, potential to create, you know, disunity.

And I think that that disunity is, you know, not necessarily just in the short term, but can do long-term damage to the Democratic coalition. Robert, thanks for joining us this afternoon. I want to go straight to Scott Bolden for questions and the rest of the panel. Scott? Yeah, thank you for being on. So when you're in the field, when you're in the field,

so you're saying that the black voters in this country are still behind Biden, notwithstanding that performance, still anti-Trump, and that the Democratic Party needs to stay the course and stop talking about getting rid of Joe Biden. Biden, notwithstanding that performance, still anti-Trump, and that the Democratic Party needs to stay the course and stop talking about getting rid of Joe Biden. I think I'm right about that, right? Well, what we haven't seen is any noticeable change in our conversation before,

right? So we haven't seen, you know, when we're asking folks, you know, what their top issues are, when we're asking them what their vote choices are going to be. We haven't seen in the last two weeks any big change in that. Voters are still saying that they support, you know, the majority support Biden. We see very little support for Donald Trump. We do see some support for third-party candidates, which, again, is something that, you know, needs to be taken into consideration in terms of strategy. So I think we are seeing steady responses from the Black voters that we are talking to in battleground states. What I'm saying is that those who are in this conversation about how this nominating process is going to turn out really need to prioritize what voters are saying. And obviously, you know, Black voters are a part

of the Democratic coalition, but a significant part of the Democratic coalition and a significant part of the coalition that's going to, you know, elect any president to office. And so that attention needs to be paid to what folks are saying and where folks are. And I think that if we're not seeing significant, you know, abandonment, then, you know, the question of who should be the nominee, particularly that we've given the fact that there has been a process. And if you can't explain away to people how they voted for someone and then the nominee is going to change, like you have to you have to bring people along in whatever process you think you're leading. I got you. But a couple

things. One, did you poll on whether they wanted Kamala Harris to replace Biden? And two, two weeks in the field was pretty close to right after the debate. From your expertise, is that too soon to get in the field to get reliable results? Well, I mean, when I'm saying in the field, I'm talking about our literal door knocking. Right. So not necessarily not necessarily our polling. And we've been knocking on doors for months now. So what I'm comparing sort of post debate responses from voters about support for Biden, those responses post debate aren't any different than the than the responses the responses that we saw two months ago or three months ago. That's all I'm saying in terms of that. But I think that if voters are consistently saying that this is the candidate they're going to support, then that's what they mean.

We did not and have not asked whether or not voters would support the vice president as the nominee, partly because, again, in our poll, we were in the field with the poll when the debate happened. And there was not a conversation in that moment about who might come out on the other end. And also, as far as I'm concerned right now, Joe Biden is actually still the nominee. So for the moment, we're still asking questions about him until that changes. Otherwise, we're engaging. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up.

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

everybody's business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission.

This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

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

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

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

Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. In a hypothetical that has not emerged. And I don't want to be a part of confusing voters any more than they already are. Yeah. Thank you.

No question? Do I get to ask another one? Let's go to Rebecca. I've got plenty of questions, man. We know, Scott. We know. Rebecca, go ahead. It's my turn now, Scott. So, Adrienne, in 1984, the party elites understood that Ronald Reagan wasn't competent for a second term. However, Ronald Reagan was reelected, and we now know through history that Ronald Reagan largely did not run his second term.

Someone else was in charge. So should we be asking voters, and particularly Black voters, whether or not Black voters feel or think that Joe Biden is competent to serve a second term? Well, I mean, I think all those questions are completely legitimate to be asking voters. You know, I think that, you know, if there is a debate that's that is raging. Right. And I don't think that we want to leave voters out of that debate. If there are questions that are being asked, then we should be asking everybody who's going to be a part of the process to make this determination. So I think it's totally legitimate to be asking voters that right now. But I think that we have to accept their answers, right, either way that they go. If Black voters say, yes,

I think Joe Biden is old because y'all been telling us he's old for two years, and yeah, he's a little slow on the uptake, but I'm sticking with him, then that's what they're saying, right? If they say, yeah, no, I don't know, I was taken aback, and I'm not sure if he should be the one, then we should take that into consideration as well. But I don't think that folks should be making assumptions about where people are and arriving at conclusions because we want voters to be someplace that they are not. All right. Now, Joy, do you have a question? Yes. And the other question I mean, I have for you is I totally agree with you, Adrian. And I mean,

the other question is, you know, who are they going to vote for? Because people can think all kinds of things. But ultimately, they're like, hey, this is who I'm still planning to vote for, because the issues are beyond how I feel about him, how I feel about her, how I feel about, you know, multiple people. And then the other question is, beyond Kamala Harris, who else do people have emerged as someone who they would want? Is there some name that's been floating out there that people are excited about? Because I'm going to be honest, I haven't heard it. I've only heard Joe Biden and I've only heard Kamala Harris and I'm inclined to believe them. I, you know, I don't, we certainly haven't heard anyone raise any other, any other potentials. And

I also just think that, you know, when we think about, you know, if this is the work that you do, right, then you understand that there's a deep Democratic bench, right? And names have emerged and we've all seen them. I'm not sure that voters at large, and that includes Black voters, know much about any of these folks, right? And so when we talk about the time that we have to get to the convention, I'm not sure that there's time to actually inform. Right. Like bring people along, keep, you know, about a candidate that they have never heard of or don't know much about. I mean, I think that the reality is that, you know, to your first part of your question, is that people know what's at stake. They understand the danger that we face as a country, as a nation, and as a community, right?

People understand that, and they are going to mobilize around that point. I mean, I think we can't say enough that the threat is existential. It is a choice between an America that maintains a democracy that gives us a fighting chance to have a more perfect union, right, that gives us a fighting chance to have a multiracial democracy that is grounded in justice, right, like that gives us a chance at that, or an America that literally crashes out and goes with dictatorship and authoritarianism. And I think that that is the choice. And people understand that. And so, when given that choice, I believe that not only us, right, not only our community will do what needs to be done and show up in the way we need to show up, but I also think that ultimately Americans will as well, right? Like, the clarity, you know, is before us.

And so I think that that's true. I worry about the conversation and the debate that's happening and the sort of chaos that it feels like is happening in the Democratic Party. I worry about it leading to a sense of defeatism, right, that it leads to, you know, a sense among the base and among voters in general, the Democratic base and voters in general, that all is lost, right? That things cannot be done. And you see the chaos and what does it even matter anymore? And so that's what I worry about, a prolonged in-fight, right, among the Democratic Party. And it's not just the Democratic Party,

to be clear, right? There are folks who ain't never been a Democrat, right, who are in on this conversation, right? They want to say. They don't have a vote, right, because they are not delegates, but they want something to say. And so my worry is that a prolonged internal fight actually begins to just depress the vote. I think that's right. I want to get back in there, too. And on that point, we keep hearing this idea that there's 20-something percent of Black men that are going to vote for Trump, nearly double the number of Black women, they're saying, in some polls, say they are going to support Trump. Are you seeing that reflected in your polls? And then after that, we they have to go back and roll it? No, not at all.

Not in any poll that we have ever done. Not in any focus group that we have ever conducted. And not on the doors as we are talking to voters. It just, you know, people may say different things in polls, right, when people call them. But when you sample, when you're having conversations, you're doing polling with a large sample size of Black voters, that doesn't emerge. We've seen the level of support for Trump be very consistent with the actual turnout support during elections, right, 16, 20, right, during the midterms for other Republicans. We see that level of support, you know, remain consistent. It's under 10 percent.

And so, you know, seven, eight, nine percent, maybe. Right. And so I think that we haven't seen it again, not in our polls, not in our focus groups and not as we're talking to voters at their doors and battleground states. Absolutely. We're going to throw it back to Roland. And yeah, and that's one of the reasons why I want to make sure that we had you on here, Adrian. You know, look, mainstream media, they're not talking to y'all. Again, y'all are polling, you know, a significant number of black people, way more than the rest of these polls. In fact, I was on Twitter earlier and Matthew Dowd was quoting black people. I only feel about buying the New York Times poll. And I said, Matthew, if you're going was quoting black people, how they feel about Biden, from the New York Times poll.

And I said, Matthew, if you're going to quote black folks, quote the Black Pack poll. Don't sit here and quote the small sample in the New York Times poll. But again, that's the problem that we continue to face. Adrienne, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Yeah, thank you so much. All right, folks, Robert's going to take it from here. I'm still trying to protect my voice here and get it back. So I'll be hopefully I will be with you all tomorrow in Washington, D.C.

Robert. Thank you so much. We're going to go to a break. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. Next on the Black Table with me, Greg Carr. Dr. Gerald Horne, a man regarded by many as the most important historian of our time. He provides us a history lesson I'm betting you've never heard before. Texas enslavers who plan to continue the conflict even after Appomattox, even after the formal surrender of Robert E. Lee. Dr. Horne talks about his new book, The Counter-Revolution of 1836, Texas, Slavery, and Jim Crow and the Roots of U.S. Fascism.

You do not want to miss this conversation. Only on The Black Table, right here on the Black Star Network. Fan Base is pioneering a new era of social media for the creator economy. Thank you. To learn how to invest, visit startengine.com slash fanbase or scan the QR code. Another way we're giving you the freedom to be you without limits. Hello, I'm Jameah Pugh. I am from Coatesville, Pennsylvania, just an hour right outside of Philadelphia. My name is Jasmine Pugh. I'm also from Coatesville, Pennsylvania. You are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Stay right here.

Welcome back. During an MSNBC interview, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi refused to fully commit to supporting President Biden remaining in the 2024 race. The California congresswoman says it's Biden's decision to run. Over the past 24 hours behind the scenes, there's been a lot of depression among Democrats, the phone lines burning up, concerned about his candidacy and whether or not he can win. And some even out loud are shaky at best about President Biden, whether or not he should step out of the race. The headlines, the polling, it all feels very dark. How do you think the president is doing in light of his poor debate performance? Can he do more?

And what do you say to Democrats in Congress and even members of the Senate who are beginning to waiver in their support? Good morning, Amika. That's one version of the story. What I do want to say is that yesterday I was honored to be present at the president's speech at NATO. He was absolutely spectacular. He was received over and over again with ovations for what he had to say and the force with which he said it. And then he gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Jen Stoltenberg, the Secretary General of NATO. I felt very honored by that because as one who has received it, Jen's getting

it brought luster to that honor. So it was a beautifully received, energetic presentation by the president. Politics is politics. People have their interest in terms of their own region and the rest. And so we are the Democratic Party, a party that is, shall we say, not lockstep. But this president has been a great president. And I can tell you firsthand, as a person who orchestrated many of the pieces of legislation that the president takes great pride in, and he should, because he was there at the table, chapter and verse, very conversant, with a vision, a purpose, with the knowledge of the issues, with values underlining it all, and again, always asking the question,

what does this mean to working families in our country? So any thought that he wasn't able to deliver on all of those is, I can just say, just didn't happen. So, Madam Speaker, you just went through the president's record. But let me ask you about the current moment. Does he have your support to be the head of the Democrats again? As long as the president had the president, it's up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We're all encouraging him to to make that decision because time is running short. The I think overwhelming support of the of the caucus. It's not for me to say I'm not the head of the caucus anymore, but he's beloved. He is respected and people want him to make that decision.

He has said he has made the decision. He has said firmly this week he is going to run. Do you want him to run? I want him to do whatever he decides to do. And that's the way it is. Whatever he decides, we go with. I think it's really important, and I would hope everyone would join in, to let him deal with this NATO conference. This is a very big deal. Over 30 heads of state are here. He is the host of it, and that means not just hosting. It means orchestrating the discussion and setting the agenda. And he's doing so magnificently.

And I've said to everyone, let's just... A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Business Week editor Brad Stone,

sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.

Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibbillion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th.

Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives.

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

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

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Hold off. Whatever you're thinking, either tell somebody privately, but you don't have to put that out on the table until we see how we go this week. But I'm very proud of the president.

Now, Joy, I have a couple questions here. One, why isn't that Hakeem Jeffries doing that sit-down interview? Your speaker emerita, or whatever it is that Nancy Pelosi decided to call herself, that means you're passing the baton to the next generation, not that you are still there in the front and in the limelight. It's very much almost an overseer role that I will allow this younger black man to take over the leadership of the House, but I'll still be there over his shoulder making sure that things go a certain way. Why do you think that for the first time we have a black man as the leader of House Democrats, but we still have someone else speaking on behalf of House Democrats. Well, I think she was very clear in saying that she's not speaking on behalf of House Democrats. And let me just tell you, Hakeem Jeffries is a strong leader. He can handle Nancy Pelosi. It is not me to comment on their interpersonal working relationships. She is incredibly popular within

the Democratic Party, including amongst African-Americans. And she's still a strong voice. So if, you know, we are double the blessing with both of them, that is not my problem. If he likes it, I love it. And it works for him. And perhaps he's a strong leader and he is not threatened by this strong woman out there who is echoing him and can maybe say some things that maybe he can't say because he is in the position, and so his voice would actually matter more. So not worried about it at all, not a thing.

OK. Rebecca, you know, I find it interesting that Donald Trump was on trial for sex with multiple porn stars and falsifying business records, and the speaker of the House showed up outside the courthouse in a Trump uniform, along with every other Republican elected official with the red tie on, the white shirt, the navy blue suit. Yet we can't get House Democrats to stand by President Biden for being old. Why do you think there's such a difference in the commitment that the base has to their candidate?

We're sorry, that's the question like so okay so i'll answer the question but i'm also going to answer the question that you posed the joy i don't think this is about democratic leadership with the reason why um former speaker uh nancy pelosi took that interview um here here's the thing in in this town there are only a couple people that Joe Biden is currently listening to as far as taking advice. There's also only a couple people in this town currently who could tell him, hey, it's time for you to take a step back. It's time for you to get off the ticket. And Nancy Pelosi is one of those two people who tell him that at this point, in which he would actually seriously think about

whether or not he remains on the ticket or not. I don't think this has anything to do with Hakeem Jeffries being a black man, the first—the first to be black speaker in the House representing the Democrats. I think it's more of a who is President Biden listening to politically and who has enough of that—I can't think of the word right now—and who is credible enough to actually pull his coattail if that's what's needed in this moment. But to your question of why did Republican leadership show up outside of the court hearing, outside of the three-ring circus that is Trump.

You know, that's apples and oranges. That's not even a fair comparison here, because we are in a bizarro world right now. It's not just the fact that it is a former—it's a person who has been convicted of a felony that's seeking office, because I believe in second chances. I believe in reenfranchisement back into society. But it's specifically that someone who has committed and who has gone on record of committing over 30-something felonies that he's been convicted of in the last few years and now is seeking to become president again. I think that's the issue, is that he, you know, in real time is still apt to commit additional felonies in getting power back.

So I'm not going to compare the Democratic leadership to what we're seeing on the Republican side, because it doesn't even make sense in this case. Now, Scott, the question that I'm still trying to figure out is exactly how this Democratic strategy would work legally, because you have, I think, a half dozen states where you would have to change the state laws in order to change the name on the ballot. You have at least 20 Republicans, attorneys general, that will take a case to the Supreme Court to force Biden to be on that ballot if you did try to switch it. From a legal basis, how exactly would work this idea of Biden stepping aside? Well, before I answer that, why are you being messy with that question, Dr. Bill Pelosi

against Hakeem? You're just being messy. I've never seen a retired speaker— I agree with my colleagues. I have never seen a retired speaker show up to speak with one shoulder. What's talking that shit? That's what you're doing. Okay. But they handled that, so I don't have to weigh in on that.

Legal standpoint, here's what happens. If Joe Biden resigns or steps down, the ticket, Kamala moves up automatically, right, as part of that Biden-Aris team, right? Secondly, she doesn't get a chance, watch this, to pick a vice president. I think it's the Senate or the House, one of those, would have, if she could have named somebody, they couldn't be on the ballot because it's too long. If she wins, then it would go to the delegates, basically, or the superdelegates. That is, the delegates or the electors, rather. It would go to the electors. I take that back. It would go to the electors, and the electors who do the transfer of power, like on January 6th when Donald Trump tried to kill off, those electors would vote for her vice president.

Right? Doesn't happen very often. I think it's happened once in the 1800s. But the electors would vote her vice president. And quite frankly, who knows what would happen then? You could argue—you could have a vice president that was a Republican, if you will. Who knows, given how crazy these times are. But she could recommend somebody, but she wouldn't be—he or she wouldn't be automatically

selected. The electors would do that. The other thing is, it makes sense for her to move up because all the white privilege folks who want to bring these other people in, you'd have to have a floor fight. You'd have to have a mini primary. That's expensive. And we don't have time for that. It's so much simpler with her moving up. The electors would do a vice president. She's got240 million and she can prosecute the case against Donald Trump. I think better than Biden, quite frankly. So all of those are attributes that if Biden were to step down, right, if Biden were to step down, then she would automatically move up. She's super popular with debates. Republicans hate her. There's a reason Republicans hate her. Because they know that she's grown in this position, too, by the way. She's been on the national stage.

And she's got a lot of humility and a lot of credibility. And she's quite electable. When you've got white senators and white congressmen saying, well, the president ought to step down and come along to move up. That's pretty powerful. Those white folks, that don't even black and brown people saying that. So on the legal side, that's what would happen. Can I ask a question, Scott? So I think here also we're making a distinction between post-convention versus pre-convention. Because the party still, even right now, he's our nominee, but he's not our official nominee yet, right? So that will happen at the party convention.

So there is still time. Say it one more time. I'm talking about post-convention. You're right. Post-convention. You're right. Post-convention. Pre-convention, she moves up and she names whoever in the nomination and the convention votes on it. Exactly. Thank you for that clarification. Yes, and I think what we're hearing others say is wherever we find ourselves at convention, that's it.

Okay? We're not looking to do all of that. If the president is going to make a different choice, then the time to do it would be, I would say, shortly before the convention. Not not giving too many people too much leeway and then lead time. But that's my view. But I think but it has to be before then. We don't want to wait till afterwards. And there's a distinction there. And then that will be plenty of time to pivot. And frankly, could be exciting if that's what we ultimately decide to do. But we also, wherever we are at convention, we ought to be excited about that. Let me tell you, if you are George Clooney, Michael Douglas, James Carville, random people that most young folks don't even know who they are.

OK, are they dead yet? Who cares? So if like those people know what they actually offend people because we cannot believe that they feel privileged to speak on our behalf and to offer their opinion. And we have to offer our opinion. That's why I'm speaking full-throatedly about them with no fear could care less. The reason they're talking on through, through, you know, back channels, the reason they're talking through op-eds is that they are not in inner circles anymore making decisions. We made a choice to move those people out. Goodbye. We are making different decisions with different folks, and they are trying to assert themselves. I won't speak. I work in Washington, so I won't name any senators' names. But many of them are only getting headlines because they are speaking about this. Do not overlook that as a motivation to continue talking. If you think Joe Biden should be doing something different, use your emotional intelligence. Those are private conversations.

I want to associate myself with a gentle lady from California, Nancy Pelosi. Those are private conversations. You do not have them publicly. And any insider understands that. This is amateur hour by people who want to make headlines for themselves. Well, since Joy can't name names... Hold on. Let's go to Rebecca first. We're coming back to you, okay?

Go to Rebecca and we'll come back to you, Scott. Go ahead, Rebecca. I mean, look. Joy is not naming names. But I will say when I see a senator like a John Montana, who's already in a very competitive race and is trying to figure out how does he keep this as a Montana race and where he's not being thrown into, he has to defend the National Democratic Party, then, of course, he's going to pipe up and he's going to say something, because it is in his best political interest to draw daylight between himself and what's happening in Washington, D.C. That is the only way he survives this election and gets reelected coming out of Montana, because it's one of those Senate seats that the Democratic Party needs if they're trying to hold on to the Senate in the next Congress.

The other thing is, yeah, you know, Joy is right. A lot of people don't know who the heck James Carbo is. I wish he would go somewhere and quit talking. But, you know, I don't get all of my wishes. And then even with, like, George Clooney, you know, most young people, if they do know him, it's probably because of his tequila. I heard he has a good tequila. But that said, the Democratic Party actually has a memo that James Ogby circulated almost two weeks ago, actually about a week and a half ago, and they end up getting published in The New York

Times. So there is a formal plan if this thing was to happen between now and at the convention. Rebecca, I find it really interesting also the fact that you have these kind of kingmakers in the Democratic Party that can just decide who is and who isn't a president. But how exactly do you run on a campaign that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy, then you use an undemocratic process to force out the Democratic nominee that won the primary process? I think it's going to be a hard circle to make for the election. Scott, I know you wanted to chime back in, so I wanted to start with a question for you that you can answer at your leisure. But for the Democratic establishment, how is it easier to go through the entire process you just laid out for replacing the candidate versus just circling the wagon around Biden and figuring out a way to win?

Well, it's easier. Oh, were you talking to me? Yeah. Well, you know what, Scott? I'm going to pull a quick Scott. If there was actually kingmakers, then Hillary Clinton would have been president. True. Go ahead, Scott. then Hillary Clinton would have been president. True. Go ahead.

And wouldn't that have been better? Hey, I'm the oldest one on the panel. I forgot what I wanted to say. See, you ain't got to be 80 to forget what you got to say. I'm telling you all right now. I'll be in court and be running out and my sentences run on until I can figure out what's next in the damn argument. Let me just say this, though. You're right.

It would be easier. The problem with coalescing around Biden is he scares the hell out of you because he's old. He looks old. He sounds old. He walks like he's old. And he's not who he was for eight years ago. He's a great leader.

But is he the one to prosecute the case against Trump? We're losing to a convicted felon. It shouldn't even be close, right? And so on one hand, the Democrats say it's easy to just get behind Biden, right? But what happens to us coalescing around Biden when he does the press conference and can't get through it the right way, just basically. Or he does another debate with Trump, and Trump says again, I don't know what he said and I don't think he knows what he said. Ouch.

And that's why we're wringing our hands with what to do. We don't have good choices, and we don't have any leverage to force him out. Rebecca. We are stupid. Go ahead. Part of it is us. We are stupid. Donald Trump. We are stupid as Democrats.

Donald Trump literally during the debate said the Democrats attempt to abort babies after birth. He's a sociopathic liar. Why is he beating us then? Why is he beating us? That all sounds good and is right, but he's beating us.

Part of the reason is that we are not loyal and we don't know how to stay the course and we freak out instead of focusing. Don't freak out. Focus. Whatever decision. I love having this conversation. It's a lot of fun. Nobody's calling any of the four of us on this call. I wish they were. Maybe Scott, he makes a lot more money.

So, you know, perhaps for the rest of us, we don't need to worry so much about what's going to happen. We just need to be ready to pivot and to focus on the issues and to focus on making the case that Donald Trump is not the answer for the nation. Not only is not the answer, he is a detriment to the nation and the world. That is our focus. And what I love is Black people get that. They get that. They're like, I understand the assignment. It's not about Biden, Kamala, whatever.

In this case, it's about Democrat. D. It's about D. Because that is what is required to save the nation. And we're going to rise to the occasion. So wherever we find ourselves, and we need white America to be similarly focused. These conversations are having had predominantly by rich, wealthy, progressives, white people, okay, who have very few stakes.

The people who look like us have, even those who are well-heeled like all of us, especially Scott, have money. And we get it. And we get it. So a lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one.

The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, I'm Max Chavkin. inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time,

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

dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1 Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all

reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill.

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

Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. What do you mean? We keep... Why are you messing with my money? Okay.

Why are you messing with my money? I got a little bit. I got a little bit. I got a little bit. I'm trying to have a little bit of that money. Look, Rebecca, on this point, what I'm trying to figure out with the Biden to go people is, is this about health or is this about poll numbers? Because it seems like it started out saying, oh, Biden is so sick and so old he can't run. And then it turned into, look, he's losing.

We got to get rid of him. Is the health concerns just a raison d'etre to get rid of Biden? Or are they really simply saying we think he's going to lose? Maybe we can switch about and still save the House and Senate. You know what? That's a complicated question, but I'll answer it the best way that I can. To be clear, I think folks need to focus on whether or not someone can perform, because it's not just the issue of age, right? Making sure that we're not venturing into ageism, but it's also cognitive function, cognitive decline. Is this person able to step up and do what's required in this moment? I think what some of the initial hand-wringing was from is that that debate performance was bad. And it sobered a lot of people up because there are a lot of real-world things that are going on domestically and internationally. We need a president that is fully on, that is very hands-on

over the next four years. And so I do think there's some concern. Now, there were some folks up to this point who, you know, when Biden mentioned four years ago that he was only going to run for one term, you know, that actually got some people, you know, remember it was the coordinated day when everyone dropped out at the same time during the primary. So after South Carolina, you know, Biden really didn't have a true primary after that because there was a coordinated effort. And he also floated around the idea that he wasn't going to run for a second term. And so to all those folks who are saying, hey, well, we knew Biden was old four years ago. You knew if he got elected and then reelected, he was going to be even older, right? You know, so I get some of those arguments that people are making. But I think to the general public, I think there is an underlining. People are dissatisfied

with our two-party system because we're not, as Americans, we're not really getting what we need in order to move the country forward in a positive way, in a way that makes sense. We're actually getting policy done because largely, you know, Washington is broken the way it's currently working. I will say, for those of you who might read, you know, some of this nation's founders, I believe it's Federalist Paper No. 10, where it says, beware of factions, i.e., beware of political parties, because it's not good for democracy in America. And so even looking at this nomination process, the Constitution spells out how to go about selecting a president in this country. And what's unfortunate is that we have outsourced that

to political parties. And I think that is to the detriment of democracy in America. It should not be the Democrat nominating process. It should not be the Republican nominating process. But I think for this country to move forward in a positive way that's pro-democracy, we're going to have to figure out how to get out of this diametrically opposed two-party system, because I don't think ultimately that is in the benefit, the long-term benefit for America. And, Joy, on that point, you know, Rebecca earlier mentioned Reagan had early stages of Alzheimer's. Ron Reagan has confirmed it in his second term. James Baker attempted to invoke the 25th Amendment in 1987, I believe.

President Kennedy, he was riddled with back pain, was on so many prescription medications, often couldn't get out of bed, had Adelson's disease, had polio, et cetera. FDR, of course, famously had polio, died in office, was in a wheelchair the entire time. Woodrow Wilson, after the negotiations over the Treaty of Versailles with Clemenceau and Mount Baden, he had a stroke and was effectively bed-bound and in a coma the last two years of his presidency. And we seem to have been fine as a nation, despite those things taking place. Should Democrats just de-emphasize the particular president and say you're voting for an administration, you're voting for a administration, you're voting for a team, you're voting for a department of justice, you're voting for Supreme Court justices,

you're supporting voting the federal court. It doesn't matter who's at the top, you're voting for an entire legislative agenda. I keep trying to tell y'all this. It's really, it's about the party. It's the whole apparatus. And let's be clear. I mean, I understand what you're trying to say and doing the historical analysis. There's a very difference between having a cognitive decline, right, and having a physical decline. Physical, I'm not worried about that. I don't think any of us

should be worried about that. Matter of fact, I think we should embrace. Burner of Texas has a physical disability, is partially paralyzed, and he can do plenty of evil. So, you know, he's very, very, very, very able to do that. So we should not engage in any ableism. But, of course, having a cognitive decline is different.

I am not aware of any medical reports that Biden is undergoing a cognitive decline. You could say, well, I don't believe it. I could see my eyes, whatever. I mean, like, I'm not a doctor. I'm not a harm to a doctor. I don't play one on TV. And so, you know, for me, I'm happy to wait if he feels like there needs to be some medical evidence of that. I think that they have been forthcoming with reports from his doctor. Maybe we need to hear more. But I, you know, I just, we're making so many assumptions. And it's also very unfair because when he was at the State of the Union, everyone was singing his praises. He was fantastic last night at NATO. So I guess I just, I mean, he had a, definitely

had a bad debate performance and it is clearly one that he isn't self-admitted. He's just not good at it. Never has been in his getting worse. Who cares? I actually don't think he should debate Trump. It's not a good, you know, when you're in a position, the president of the United States, you have the big plane, you do what works for you. If it doesn't work for you, you don't do it. And we're in an era where the expectations have gone. We don't have to put on pretenses. Donald Trump puts on no pretenses. The man is a convicted felon. The rule book is thrown out. I would take Joe Biden and his cognitive state, whatever it is, over Donald

Trump seven days a week, twice on Sunday. All right, we're going to keep this conversation going after the break. You're watching Rolling Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Blackstar Network. We'll be right back. Coming soon to the Blackstar Network. I still have my NFL contract in my house.

Having a case. It's four of them. My four-year contract. I got a $600,000 signing bonus. My base salary for that first year was $150,000. Matter of fact... $150,000. $150,000.

That's what I made, $150,000. Now, think about it. My signing bonus was a forgivable loan, supposedly. When I got traded to the Colts, they made me pay back my signing bonus to them. I had to give them their $600,000 back. Wow. I was so pissed.

Cause, man, I try to be a man of my word. I'm like, you. I'll give you your money back. You know, even though I know I earned that money, I gave them that money back. I gave them that $ you your money back. Even though I know I earned that money, I gave him that money back. I gave him that $600,000 back. But yet I was this malcontent. I was a bad guy.

I'm not about the money. Wasn't about the money. It was about doing right. Because I was looking at, I looked at, cause you look at contracts. Look at John Edwards. John Edwards making a million dollars. 800,000, I was making 150.

I mean, I was doing everything. And I'm like, but yet I was, man, I got so many letters. You know, you. You, oh,. So I just played for free and all that kind of stuff. I mean, you don't forget that kind of stuff. Right. That stuff is hurtful. This is Reggie Rock-Bike with you watching...

Roland Martin, unfiltered, uncut, unplugged, and undamned believable. You hear me? on today's black and missing trishawn stewart has been missing from his baton rouge louisiana home since may 30th 2024 the 17 year old is 5'7 inches tall, weighs 201 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information regarding Treshawn Stewart should call the East Baton Rouge Paris Sheriff's Office at 225-389-5000. That's 225-389-5000. And we are hoping that he is reunited with his family. Going back to political news, today, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez filed articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and also Samuel Alito.

The New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other Democrats filed articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. The articles of impeachment accused two justices of committing high crimes and misdemeanors by failing to disclose gifts and recuse themselves from cases. The lawmakers filed three articles of impeachment against Thomas and two against Alito. AOC released a statement about the impeachment. It says, the unchecked corruption crisis on the Supreme Court has now spiraled into a

constitutional crisis threatening American democracy writ large. Justice Clarice Thomas and Samuel Alito patterned a refusal to recuse themselves from consequential matters before the court, in which they hold widely documented financial and personal entanglements, constitutes a grave threat to American rule of law, the integrity of democracy, and one of the clearest cases for which the tool of impeachment was designed. Of course, Justice Clarice Thomas and Alito repeatedly failed, repeated failures over decades to disclose that they have received millions of dollars in gifts from individuals with business before the court, and explicitly against the law.

And their refusal to recuse themselves from specific matters and cases before the court, and which they are benefactors or their spouses are implicated represents nothing less than a constitutional crisis. These failures alone would amount to deep transgressions worthy of standard removal from any lower court and would disqualify a nominee to the highest court from confirmation. The lawmaker says Thomas should be impeached because he failed to disclose numerous luxury vacations he received from real estate magnate Harlan Crowe and because the justice didn't recuse himself from cases in which his wife, a right-wing activist, had a financial or legal interest, including cases involving the 2020 election. They also say that Samuel Alito should be impeached because he didn't recuse himself

from cases in which he has a personal bias. They specifically point to Alito's participation in cases involving the 2020 election and January 6th riot, despite reports that he and his wife flew flags so she would stop the steal movement outside of their homes. Let's bring the panel in. Scott, do you think these articles of impeachment are anything other than publicity stunt, or do they have an actual chance of having a legal impact? Well, I don't think they're a publicity stunt. I understand the frustration. The problem is, when you impeach or you try to impeach, you've got to have evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors. And because the Supreme Court is the supreme, there are no laws that govern them. They're not even any ethical guidelines, really. It's all voluntary. It's going to be very difficult to bring certified

impeachment articles against them. And then obviously it's a political process. And the Senate—I'm sorry, the House GOP is the majority. However, strategically, if the Dems run the table and become and are in control of all three houses, then these articles are pending, then you may have a shot, you know. And if you got a shot at even doing a hearing, if you will, and moving it forward, you're making your point clear and you're making life difficult for both of them. But their conduct, quite frankly, there's no question, it's not just possible conflicts of interest, just really certain conflicts of interest and unethical behavior, even if it's only an appearance.

If it's an appearance and you've got an explanation, if you've got to explain why you did something ethically or unethically, you probably should never have done it. And if you're going to be on the Supreme Court, you're at the highest levels of the judiciary, and you ought to lead by example, despite having no guard rails up or no rules to follow. I mean, up to recently, they really had to disclose a whole lot of things, and they had a lot of ways out of disclosing. So we've got to figure out what to do about the Supreme Court.

Adding justices isn't the answer. Roberts has to do something to compel not only disclosure, but ethical behavior that even avoids the appearance of impropriety. To date, that's not happening. And Rebecca— They won't even appear on the Hill. They've been invited to hearings. They won't even appear on the Hill. Well, that's the exact point I was going to make to Rebecca, because, Rebecca, what we've seen is that it seems that our political institutions are effectively impotent when it comes to regulating the Supreme Court.

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

Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Business Week editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

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

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things.

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

I did not think that was a question you were going to ask me. This is a Democrat and a Republican party. This is a problem for this country, because I think this is the same court that just said that those who do official acts in public office, they can then receive tips from people. So, I almost want to make a Magic City reference for you, Robert, because it doesn't make sense that judges are saying that they now can get tips. This should be a voting issue. This is something that people should run on. They should run on what it means to have good governance in this country. What does it mean to remove the appearance and actual corruption from those who hold public office or hold judgeships in this country. Unfortunately, for this to actually change, for there to actually

be some type of reform, I agree with Scott. Packing the courts isn't going to solve it here, but there is going to have to be some type of constitutional amendment which amends in which how, especially federal justices, what is it, Article III judges, how they're able to conduct themselves and what are the rules and parameters in which they should be conducting themselves. That's right. And Joy, on that point, you know, we in Atlanta, right, in Douglasville, a probate court judge to be removed for doing not a quarter of the stuff that Clarence Thomas is doing on the bench.

I'm talking about luxury SUVs, buying his mama's house, putting his nephew through school. I think he's on a golf vacation right now where he's on a private helicopter. What does it say to the American people that the one branch of government that we used to think to be kind of fair and unbiased now had been shown to be one of the most corrupt branches that there is. Yeah. Yes. Clarence Thomas and Sal Alito have damaged the court irreparably. And I think that, you know, what Representative Ocasio-Cortez is doing is she is fighting. Now, we can talk about whether it's, you know, going to happen. Obviously, it's not, right, which it were, whether it has legal

standing, whether it has legal basis, whatever. We can talk about that. But really, what she's doing is saying, I'm willing to fight. I'm not just going to talk about the things that we see are happening right before our eyes, right? That we have, we have Democrats who want to talk more about Joe Biden and don't want to talk about the fact that we have a Supreme Court justice who's bought and paid for, right? Not even, as one of my friends says, not even for that much money, right? The amounts of money. I mean, think about it. You're selling the country down the river and you're damaging your own reputation and frankly, for not that much money. And it was good money well spent. We need to see someone doing something about it. The Senate Judiciary Committee has been relatively impotent to address this.

She is saying, you know, the Democrats in the House don't have as much recourse, but she has recourse as a member to file articles of impeachment. And that's what she's doing. She's using every means at her disposal to raise awareness about what is going on and to remind people that I'm willing to fight for you. We need more Democrats like that. I think we have historically thought of that as kabuki theater, but guys, this is politics. Part of it is kabuki theater. This is about the fight, rallying your base, letting them know that you see what they see, that you're concerned about what they're concerned about, that you care, and that you are not so wedded to your image that you won't bother. You're too polite to say the obvious. She's saying,

I'm not too polite to say the obvious. I'm going to say the obvious. These people are crooks, or they at very least appear to be. And when it comes to the court, which we want to have trust in so that we can really have it be the final decision of the nation and the final arbiter between the other two branches. We have to have trust. Otherwise, we will have chaos. We believe in our government. And that's what she's saying. I'm willing to fight for that. Absolutely. And I think that there's nothing wrong with the Biden campaign and Democrats at large running a campaign saying, look, Clarence Thomas has a sugar daddy. And we have to understand that you can't have a sugar

daddy on the Supreme Court. If any other field of play, somebody can't have a sugar daddy paying their bills while they're on the court making these decisions. Move it on. How do you define sugar daddy? Is there like an urban dictionary or your own version?

Scott, I'll tell you when you get older. When you get a little bit older, I was going to say that. But look, moving on, we've got to talk about the Trump-Empathy connection. It baffles me that so many people are urging President Biden to step down

from office because he had a bad debate night. Biden isn't a convicted felon. Biden isn't facing numerous felony charges, And Biden also hasn't been proven to have committed sexual assault against E. Jean Carroll and have 27 credible sexual assault allegations against him. But somehow, Trump has avoided any accountability for this. But right now, California Congressman Ted Lieu says folks need to pay closer attention to Trump's connections to the sex trafficking of Jeffrey Epstein.

Let's hear Ted Lieu. We hear a lot from our constituents on different issues. But something I've heard that doesn't seem to be being covered are the Epstein files. These files were released. And, like, Donald Trump's sort of all over this, right? There are pictures of him with Jeffrey Epstein. He's taken multiple plane flights with Epstein with young girls on board. He is in call logs with Epstein.

One of the highest trending hashtags on Twitter right now is about Trump and Epstein. I'm not going to repeat the hashtag because we're in a dignified setting. But, yeah, you all might want to look at that because that's highly disturbing. And, again, it shows that Donald Trump is unfit for office. And by the way, he was convicted in a civilian court for sexual assault, convicted in a separate court of 34 felonies. Donald Trump should drop out of the race. And Rebecca, you know, we hear Congressman Liu. Why are we hearing more Democrats and Congress coming out against Joe Biden than we're hearing coming out against Donald Trump being on the literal Epstein list. AMNA NAWAZ AMERICA, You in trouble, girl.

We're in trouble right now. And we need the real adults to stand up if we actually want to move our democracy forward. The games that we're playing now, I don't—like I was mentioning earlier, I just don't think it's in the best interests of the country. And, Joy, on that same point, it seems that almost the Democratic Party has listened too much to Michelle Obama, when she says when they go low, you go high, because Donald Trump is willing to use anything against Joe Biden. Hunter Biden's crack addiction, illegitimate children with a stripper. You name it, the Republicans will run on it. But Democrats don't seem to want to dig into some of these tawdry details around Trump. Do you think they have to do that to win in 2024? Yes. Yes. Because it's true. We need to fight. We have to care

enough about our country to use whatever is at our disposal. He is an existential threat. It is hair on fire time. Stop fighting with each other and fight against him. We have to stop being stupid. Too much is on the line. But let me associate myself with the words of Representative Lew. Donald Trump should absolutely drop out of the race. Hopefully he will do so tonight. And Scott, on that point, I feel like if there was a video of Joe Biden at a party full of young girls dancing with Jeffrey Epstein, that that will probably be the only thing the Republicans ran 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the entire campaign. But there's literally a video of Donald Trump with Jeffrey Epstein dancing in a room full

of, you know, women in the 80s. And for some reason, folks just aren't using that. Why do you think Democrats are afraid to use the tools they have to actually try to win this race? I don't think they're afraid to use the tools. I mean, he's got four criminal felony trials going on at one time, or at least three now, and he's been convicted of 34 felonies. The rules simply don't apply to him. And when I say they don't apply, they don't stick to him. You know, we know that there's verified evidence based on the congressional investigations that Donald Trump was engaged with prostitutes in Russia.

And let's just say we're on the Internet, but clearly that they were—what word am I looking for? I don't know how to clean it up. They were urinating on him in a sexual circumstance. That was verified. That wasn't some rumor in the congressional hearings on the Russian interference with 2016 elections. But we get amnesia. America gets amnesia.

The media doesn't have amnesia. They've run all these stories and stuff. The power of Donald Trump isn't that nothing sticks to him. His supporters, that 45 percent of America, they know all of this, right? And they still love him. They still vote for him. And because he's got that 45 million, then the House, the Senate, GOP, they all genuflect around him. Why? Because they don't want to be primary. And it's just as odd, as crazy, and ironic as ever.

They seek his support, seek his money, seek his endorsement, because the House and the Senate GOP members, they represent a lot of his MAGA supporters. This is the craziest situation we've ever been in. The GOP isn't a political party anymore. It's a you know, it's a not a love fest, it's a

cult. It's a cult. And we've learned to live with it so long that none of this is surprising. He admits all of this, other than sleeping with Stormy Daniels. And we know he did that. But his base does not care. That's the phenomena.

His base does not care. That's why he can run for president again. That's why he's going to get 45 million votes. And that's why he's beating us now. Think about it. The convicted felon and all the other things that go wrong, the obnoxious corruption of Donald Trump is beating a good, decent, older man who's got a legislative record like no other president, who at times doesn't finish his sentences or doesn't connect the dots.

What does that say about America? What does that say about us as voters? I mean, just think about what we're seeing right now and what's going to happen in November. Democracy is going to fall January 2025. Can you imagine living in a world, did any of us on this show believe that democracy, as imperfect as America is, lurking in search of a more perfect union? Did anyone believe that our democracy could not survive, that it would bend but not break? And if Donald Trump wins, right, he will have a mandate, right, to implement anarchy and dictatorship. And unfortunately, we can fight, but our democracy may fall because of that 45 million people who are behind it. That ought to scare the hell out

of all of us and make all of us go vote and bring 50 people with us. And yet, we're not talking about the campaign. We're not talking about Biden's record. You know what we're talking about? That he's too old and he can't prosecute the claim against him and he's losing at the election. I think that's right. It's just a crazy time, man. This is crazy shit.

Well, Scott, that's my point where I say that they need to be circling the wagons and aiming the firings outwardly, not inwardly. wagons and aiming the firing squad outwardly, not inwardly. What we saw in the UK elections last week, you saw the center of the electorate, the Labour Party, unite with the Greens and the Lib Dems. They threw the stories out. We saw in France last week, Macron and the Centrist Party united with the far left party. He held on.

He got the pond out. So what we're seeing in America, however, is an Ouroboros of this thing eating itself. The dragon is eating its own tail, and Donald Trump is benefiting from it, and it doesn't make any sense. All right, we've got to hit a break. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. We'll be back after the break. Fan base is pioneering a new era of social media for the creator economy. This next generation social media app with over 600,000 users is raising $17 million, and now is your chance to invest. For details on how to invest, visit startengine.com slash fanbase or scan the QR code.

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Netflix's Beverly Hill Cops, Axel F., debuted July 3rd. Roland was in Los Angeles a few weeks ago at the premiere and sat down with the cast to get their thoughts on the franchise that began 40 years ago. Here's Roland's conversation with Axel Foley himself, Eddie Murphy.

40 years of this, bruh. 40 years of Beverly Hills Cops. 41 years, actually. Right. Yeah. I mean, just to sit here and think back all these years, how do you take, you know what the character was when you first started, and here you are now going, okay, how do I make this different?

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

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I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good

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All we have to do is make it age appropriate. And that's what happened. We did eight other scripts over the years that weren't right because it was rehashed stuff. And then once we got to, OK, Axl's in his 60s, and he's been married, and he's got divorced, and he's got a relationship with his daughter.

He's estranged from his daughter. Once we put that element in it, then everything came together. Why is Axel Foley back in bed? Oh, his daughter's in trouble. And the first two Beverly Hills cops, his friend got killed. And the second one, his boss got killed. And the third one, it was like uncle Dave was in trouble it was some shit that was it was like kind of it wasn't no real thing going on it was like so once you made Axel's

daughter's in trouble and okay it kind of justified and that's kind of like the glue that sticks the whole movie together me working out my relationship with my daughter while this crime is getting solved that whole stuff that me and Taylor are doing, that's the glue of the movie. You also have a situation where, and I'm sitting there watching, so Taggart's the chief. Your boy back in Detroit's the deputy chief. Yeah, I'm sorry. I have a ring.

This is a ring. Third anniversary. Almost wore it. I'm an alpha, so I got it as my anniversary gift. Yeah, I have a ring that's made up the same way. I'm sorry. It's all good. It's all good taggers chief your boy back Detroit deputy chief and

You were still doing the street. So what your deals like no, no, I don't I don't want to this job I want to just stay that that type of that carriage that cop Yeah, but that's what's cool about it's like's like Axl ain't just Axl. Axl is a dude that's, all of his contemporaries are retiring, are shutting it down, and you're still out here in these streets still doing this shit. And it's like, well, why is he out there doing

this? Because he doesn't have anything else because he broke up with his wife and he doesn't have a good relationship with his kid. So this is kind of all he has. So that's why he's out there. Did you ever have your dating lover, I'm too old for this shit moment, where you like... Every day.

Like, you and me do what? Every day, every day, every day. Every day they would want me to do some shit. And I was like, I'm not doing no shit. Yeah, I would say, run down those steps faster. I was like, that's a stunt. Run down them steps. When you're 63, you ever run down them cement steps fast?

That's a potential stunt. I'm not getting jacked up out here working in a movie. Every now and then I see some older actor doing stunts. They own stunts. I'm like, this motherfucker's crazy. I'm not trying to do none of that. I'm not trying to get hurt on the movie set. Could you look at the first two or first three?

You need a whole lot of running. You were like Tom Cruise, constantly running. Running in the first movie is a scene where I shoot out the back of the truck on the chain. I'm like, whoa, I would never do no shit like that now. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever. That's when you were like, stuntman? The stuntman come in, you do all the flipping,

then you cut to me afterwards going like this. Yeah, movie magic. So for this movie, what also I thought was interesting, because you look at the first, it's comedy, comedy, comedy. This had so many dramatic elements because of that, the storyline you talked about with the daughter. So it wasn't just constant comedy. Was that what you also wanted to achieve? That's what I said. That's what made this script work. The other eight scripts didn't have that.

When Jerry added this element of this relationship with his daughter, that made the movie, like I said, they're solving this crime. that's what it looks like on the surface, but the movie is really about his relationship with his, it's like Rocky, on the surface, Rocky's about boxing, but behind this, there's really this love story about him and Adrian getting about, that's what the movie needed, and that's what it was missing, and we got that,

and Taylor's wonderful in the movie. You've done, look, you've done a ton of movies, a ton of stuff. What makes it still fun, interesting? What still causes you to say, yeah, I want to do that? Yeah, but not for fun, because the actual process of making a movie is not fun. What's fun is when a movie is done and you sit and it worked and you know the movie's gonna work. But the actual getting to it, that's really a labor and it's a collective, you know, it's a bunch of people that have to do it. So each time you make a movie, it's like, it's, okay, I gotta get and collaborate with all these different artists. We gotta try to make it,

get the needle through that thing, all of us together, and it's work. So, but what made this, what was the beginning of your question? No, in terms of that, just that, what still, what makes it tick for you, what still makes you say, I wanna do it? Some people say, you know what, I'm good.

I got a great career. That's how it was, that's how it was after the third one. It was like, hey, you know, and they kept offering, and it was just never right. And then the script came together that was like, hey, I could play this. And then we did it. It has to make sense. The stuff that I'm doing has to make sense.

It has to be like, this is something that can really happen, and this is also entertaining. And first and foremost, it has to be funny at the center of it. And when you have all those elements together, then I'm game. You also like the fact that because of the success of the first movie, what it also did for so many other black comedians creating a space and opportunity. Not just black comedians, Beverly Hills Cop, the very first Beverly Hills Cop is the first action comedy.

It started a whole genre. Before Beverly Hills Cop, the cops was like Dirty Harry and Sirius and Go Ahead and Make My Day, it was Charles Bronson. Beverly Hills Cop was the first movie that took, okay, we're going to have cops and robbers and bad guys and we're going to have cops and robbers and bad guys, and we're going to take this funny stuff and add it to where it's breaking up and, you know, some serious thing is happening.

These bad guys are real, but funny stuff happens too. That's the beginning of Die Hard. That's where you get Lethal Weapon. That's where you get Rush Hour and Bad Boys. The root of the action comedy genre is Beverly Hills Cop. And that's Jerry Bruckheim and Don Simpson. They created it. Well, it's Bruckheimer, Simpson and you. Well, I'm

in the movie, but they're the ones that figured out what to put in the pot. And they said, we gonna put you in the pot too? Yeah, throw me in that motherfucker. Eddie, appreciate it. Thank you, man. Thanks a bunch. Good to talk to you. All right, great interview there with Roland.

You can, of course, find that online. So for the panel, a lot of folks under, let's say, 30, a lot of people under 30 don't know Eddie Murphy from anything besides the donkey and Shrek. What's your favorite Eddie Murphy moment that you think some of the younger folks should check out to really understand him? For me, I love the snl skit that he did back in the day where he was playing the reggae artist singing kill the white people look it up on youtube you'll laugh you can't put that on tv anymore but rebecca what's your favorite eddie murphy moment you think

people should check out um so there's two one is from the golden child especially that part when someone how he wants the knife. That's one of my favorite Eddie Murphy moments. And then, of course, Coming to America. You got to have that one. Joy, what about you? Coming to America. But then about two years ago, he did a really funny SNL sketch where he was doing a family at the dinner table at the Christmas table. It might have been Thanksgiving. And it is so funny because he does this, you know, guess who's coming to dinner skit from a black perspective with the white son-in-law that's coming in in it is so funny it is laugh out loud funny and it just allows you know our

perspective to be in the mainstream and for people to understand how we think and he was so funny he did it was it was so subtle uh when the guy called him dad the look he gave him was one of the funniest looks I have ever had. And it really, it was just hilarious. So if you have not seen that, it's in his later years. You know, it's recent, but it's really funny. Absolutely. And for some of the younger viewers, if you're not ready for 80s comedy, you know, you're going to have to ease your way into Raw. You're going to have to ease your way into some of those things because your modern sensibilities may not comport with much of the language that you would have experienced.

You're not watching Kevin Hart. It's a whole different kind of comedy they have back there. But the fact that any artist can have comedy that endures from the 1970s to the 2020s this shows how timeless some of those things are all right great show today gotta thank our panel rebecca joyce scott had to get out of here guys thank roland for letting me keep a seat warm while he is down there in dallas text with the vice president hopefully his voice is back tomorrow he'll be back with you uh you can follow me on all social media at robert patilla that's at r-o-b-e-r-t-p-a-t-i-l-l-o and as i say to end every show the word g of Gil Scott Heron,

no matter the consequences or fears, the grip of your senses, you got to hold on to your dreams. Hold on to your dreams, America. Holla! Black Star Network is here. Oh, no punch! I'm real revolutionary right now.

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

You dig? Four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. Small but important ways. From tech billionaires to the bond market to, yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it. I'm Max Chastin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,ated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. 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 star-studded 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 iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast.