The Daily Beast Podcast - Charlie Kirk Wants Coca-Cola to Sponsor Televised Executions

Episode Date: February 25, 2024

The New Abnormal breaks down the latest controversial idea from the Turning Point CEO. Plus! Danielle Moodie talks to Barbara Collura, the president and CEO of Resolve: The National Infertility Association, about the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision to give embryos “personhood” and ban IVF in the state. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi, I'm Andy Levy, former Fox News and CNN-HLN guy and current cable news conscientious objector. I'm a former libertarian who now sits comfortably on the left. Hi, I'm Danielle Moody, former educator and recovering lobbyist. But today, I'm an unapologetic, woke commentator on America's threats to democracy. And I'm producer Jesse Kedden, and I'm here to make sure things don't go too far off the rails. We're here to have fun, smart conversations with some of the most knowledgeable and entertaining people in politics, media, and beyond. Our goal is to try and make sense of our current crazy world, our new abnormal, and hopefully even make you laugh through the tears. Welcome back to an all-new bonus episode of the new abnormal, and we thank you so much for being here.

Last week, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are to be considered protected children, which spiraled as many people realized this decision adversely affected couples dealing with infertility or other reasons who would need to use IVF, our in vitro fertilization. Today, Barbara Kluura, the president and CEO of Result, the National Infertility Association, joins us to give us a definition of infertility what IVF is and how this ruling could have reaching implications for many trying to start a family. But first, let's have some fun. Are you guys ready to listen to some clips? Clips. Clips. All right, I'm not going to lie. This one's rough.

All right, so Trump has to pick a VP, and we know a lot of people have been angling for it in some pathetic ways that we've covered here. So let's listen to who he says are on the short list. asked who they think would be a good choice and various names came up. One of them was, of course, Vivek Ramoswamy. He's made a big splash. Ron DeSantis, who's making an appearance today in South Carolina we just found out. Obviously, Tim Scott, Byron Donald's, and a big presence here for Tulsi Gabbard. Very interesting.

And Christy Nome as well, I should say. Are they all on your short list? and when can you... That's a hell of a list, boy. Some names missing that are going to be very heartbroken. I have a feeling that Elise Stefaniq was crying a river of tears all the way down to New York City that night. Oh, yeah, that must have been, God,

between her and Nancy Mace, I don't know who would be more upset about that. Probably at least. I got to say, there are a couple of folks on that list whose complexion do not line up with what Donald Trump says he's looking for in a VP. At least that's what he told Nikki Haley. So I'm confused by the list myself. But, you know, whatever. First of all, Rhonda Santis ain't on no short list.

I mean, he's on a short, you know, a kitten heel list, if you will. Well, yes. Yes, I guess any list he's on is a short list. If he's going to pick a mail and do the thing like where he's going to be like, you know, we're the manly ticket. Tim Scott is not that bad. I don't know. He's got a hot wife.

He wouldn't even put his own face on his, like, campaign flyers. Do you know what I'm saying? It was just a blank black draw down the image. Doesn't scream, I'm the man, masculinity. It screams like I am a faceless bot. All right. So I'm going to make a little bit of a connection here. So you guys got to follow me for the thread for these next few ones. Okay. So here we have Lara Trump, who you may remember married into this godforsaken grifting family by marrying the stupid son, Eric. Well, she's now the anointed choice for R&C head by former President Trump. She has some interesting thoughts on what the R&C should be doing.

Hanging for President Trump's legal bills is something that is of interest of Republican voters. Absolutely. That's why you're saying a GoFundMe. You get started. That's why people are furious right now when they see the attacks against him. They feel like it's an attack not just on Donald Trump, but on this country. They set up a GoFundMe?

They sure did. For a supposed multi-billionaire and their hocking sneaker. Nothing says, I got money like a go-fund me. Do you know what I'm saying? Oh, my God. They're so past the point of hiding anything that they're doing. I mean, they just come in, yeah, sure, we want to control the RNC so we can pay off Donnie's legal fees. There was a time when they sort of had to hide shit like that.

They know they're past that time. They know they don't have to anymore. So this is what we get. Personally, I see a lot of people on the left being like, this is crazy. This is sick. I'm like, this is awesome. This means down-ballot race is gone to hell. This means resources drained from this stupid party so that we have a chance of taking

all this back from them. Please put this idiot in place and let's fucking go. No, I said this. I forget which episode it was. I said something similar. I said if I were any Republican running for state, local or federal office, I wouldn't like this? No. None of them are going to speak up, so. That's, that's right. All right. Now, keep following my thread here. Here we have Charlie Kirk, who's had many reports this week about

how he's setting the Trump campaign's agenda and the war it's creating in the party where some people think his guidance is a little bad. Gotta say I'm kind of on their team. But here, him and co-host Jack Posobic are going to take a break from their usual racism and instead are going to fantasize about, well, I'll let them speak for themselves. Look this up, Charlie. I didn't realize this, Jack. The last time that in Belarus, they used capital punishment here,

was in 2019 and it was by firearm. Yeah, that's how you should... By the way, this is my other problem with death penalty. It takes too long, too many appeals. It should be public, it should be quick, it should be televised. It should be public. And by the way, you could sell...

Forced the government. You could have like brought to you by Coca-Rub. Coca Cola. And no, I'm not kidding. By the way, I would totally tune in to see some pedo get their head chopped off. Convicted by a jury. By the way, years. I'm talking about a real thing. I'm talking, I'm not talking about executions in Velrovalor by firearm. That's not a choice or anything. Andrew's saying don't make kids watch it. And I think, no, the absolute opposite of certain age is an initiation. If you can drive, you can watch it. No, but hold on. You see, if all of a sudden, you look at some of these savages, like in Indiana, there was this guy that went in and killed a pregnant. I mean, they're all just

freaks. I'm at a loss for work. on that. It's really funny how they've learned no lessons about brand safety still with all their social media things and all the controversies. Coca-Cola advertising on executions. Yeah, I mean, they're just, they're dumb on top of everything else. Look, there are companies that would advertise. This is the same companies that advertise with Charlie Kirk. You know, and Alex Jones. You know, there'd be a lot of guerrilla mindset stuff and Neutropics or whatever. They're bad people. They're freaks and they're stupid. Okay, so now for the synergy.

Previously on this podcast, we've covered Charlie Kirk saying he doesn't trust a black pilot to fly a plane. He disparages MLK and says we should disgrace his record. Well, here's Lara Trump, who soon may be the head of the RNC saying she wants to be one and the same with him. Respects you, but is fighting for you. And it's Donald J. Trump. And every single member of our family will stand alongside him and stand alongside you in this fight. Look, my goals, if I am chosen to be a part of the RNC, are that we are a seamless combination of the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign, one in the same, because that's what it's going to take for us to win this upcoming election. You really hate us today, huh?

Like, it's... You know, we've all behind the seeds discussed, do we platform this fucking idiot, but the problem is is Trump's platform this fucking idiot. And this is who they're mainstreaming. is this fucking racist piece of shit. You know, I miss quiet racism. I miss the days when racists were afraid, you know, and they used to get fired and, like, blacklisted. Now you get raises and the White House. Like, this is what happens.

You get to see how far will people go? There's no pushback. There's no nothing. When you see that you can be your worst, most vile, disgusting self and nothing happen, all we've done is just open Pandora's box. It's not even that nothing happens. They get rewarded for it. Well, unfortunately, the racism bottom hasn't hit the bottom on this podcast. And we have one last clip. Now unfortunately, we come to Fox's Tommy Lurenne interviewing Rayon-Royo on

Trump releasing his sneakers. And, well, this is going to go very bad. Sneaker thing. I was on social media last night. Very interesting. As you see, Black support eroding from Joe Biden. This is connecting with Black America because they love sneakers. They're into sneakers. They love the, you know, this is a big deal, certainly in the inner city. So when you have Trump roll out his sneaker line, they're like, wait a minute, this is cool. He's reaching them on a level that defies and is above politics.

The culture always trumps politics. And Trump understands culture like no politician I've ever seen. Question for you on that point, though. Yeah. Will the people that are excited about the sneakers and excited about Donald Trump, will that translate into them going out and voting for Donald Trump? Anybody willing to put 400 bucks down for a pair of sneakers? Yeah, I think that's commitment and love.

I hope you're right. It's something. It's affection. Oh, my God. Keep the word culture out your fucking mouth. That's, you know, that's honestly, that's all I'm going to say. Keep the word culture. Keep the word you know and you have any idea of what black people.

shut the fuck up and keep the word culture out of your mouth. Hang on. Are you insinuating that Raymond Arroyo may not have his finger on the pulse of black culture? He has his finger on something, but it sure as fuck is not the pulse of anybody black. When I hear things like this, I just really, on the days I'm tired, I'm envious of how well they can just vote in anything and they're still allowed to keep coming back on the air. Yeah. I just, you know, Jesse, you owe Andy and I a bottle of our choice, sent to our home with nice stemware. Okay?

That's what I'm saying. In my defense, I'm just going to say, I pulled some punches this week. There was some brutal, brutal stuff. I was choosing for like 15 of them this week. It was a rough week, but drinks are on me. Folks, I am very happy to welcome to the new abnormal, I believe, for the very first time. Barbara Kalora, who is the president and CEO of Resolve, the National Infertility Association. Barbara is a nationally recognized expert on infertility and the family building journey

with a special emphasis on the personal experience of those struggling to build their family. Barbara, thank you so much for joining the new abnormal. I want to start with you being able to provide our listeners with exactly what infertility is. As this decision out of Alabama, the Alabama Supreme Court, has just decided that embryos have embryonic, quote, personhood. And therefore, citing nothing other than the Bible, have decided to now ban IVF in vitro fertilization in the state of Alabama, saying that embryos, again, have, quote, personhood. Before we jump into this case, please for our listeners, give them a kind of 101 understanding of infertility. Well, Danielle, thank you so much for having

me and for covering this breaking news here in the United States and covering this topic. Because one of the things that I've been thinking about all week as I've been dealing with this is that there are a lot of people who are going to hear this on the news, are going to hear a little sound bite and are going to say, it doesn't really affect me. I don't know anybody who has infertility, and I don't even know what IVF is. I don't think this is really that big of a deal.

So the fact that you are here talking about this is really, really helpful. So let's start with what is in vitro fertilization and who might need it and why. In vitro fertilization or IVF is, the handling of sperm and egg outside of the body for the purpose of a pregnancy and a live birth. So the end goal of IVF is a healthy baby. So how do we get from those eggs and sperm outside the body to that healthy baby? We start by retrieving eggs from the woman that's done in a surgical procedure, outpatient. But leading up to that, the female takes a lot of different medications to stimulate egg production. The goal here is to kind of trick the body into

producing more eggs than just the normal one per month. So they stimulate the female. They hope for a lot of egg production going on and they surgically go in and remove these teeny tiny microscopic eggs. They are then put in a petri dish with sperm. So a male or frozen sperm are used and you use a sperm sample of, quite honestly, millions of sperm, and you hope over the course of three or five days that those eggs and those sperm get together and create an embryo. And what the laboratory personnel are doing is they are taking care of that petri dish very carefully.

They're monitoring it. They're watching it. And they are looking to see how those fertilized eggs are doing and how they are progressing. And this is all done under a microscope. We can't see the embryo. Remember, Danielle, it's a microscopic group of cells. Yep. So the protocol today is after three days or five days, depending on the lab and the clinic, they are probably going to freeze all of those embryos, or they may take one embryo and decide to transfer it back into the woman's uterus. There is no implantation. We have not gotten to the point where doctors can implant an embryo. They simply put the

embryo where it should be in the woman's uterus and hope that that embryo finds the uterine wall and sticks. That is called a fresh embryo transfer. And remember, we tried to get a lot of eggs. We hoped for some embryos. And it's a numbers game. Not every egg is fertilized. And not every embryo even makes it to day three, let alone day five. So it's like, it's like one of those charts where you see like the law diminishing returns. Like it keeps getting smaller and smaller and smaller. And all of a sudden we've got like a couple little embryos, right? And so they go ahead and they might do a fresh transfer. And then you wait two weeks and you see if there's a positive pregnancy test. But the rest of those embryos are frozen. They are cryopreserved. I don't even know

the temperature. It's like minus 200 degrees or something and they're put into a tank and they are kept for future use. And embryos have been known to be frozen for 20 years and so result in a pregnancy. Wow. So these embryos are frozen. They can be shipped across the country. They can be moved, but they are frozen. If they are going to be used, they are thawed sometimes in that thawing process. An embryo may be damaged, but they thought, they look at the embryo, and then they make a decision where whether it's going to be transferred or not. And so when you're going through this, you know, quite honestly, you're probably paying for it out of pocket. It's not necessarily covered by insurance. You're hoping that you don't have to do this a bunch of times,

but you're hoping for lots of eggs, so you can get lots of embryos, and you have multiple attempts at pregnancy. So I'm just going to kind of stop there and see if I'm making sense and if this Sounds logical. Let me tell you, Barbara, that was brilliant. Thank you very much for the step by step. What I will say as a person that is in media is that language and words are important, which is why the decision that came out of Alabama and the words that were used to describe the process that you just described in scientific terms, but they decided to ascribe

biblical imagery in terms to, those things do not align. And I want a very knowledgeable and thoughtful listeners and people to understand that. That words matter. And when you were talking about a microscopic collection of cells that may or may not make it to the stage at which you can then re-implant with the expectation that all of these hopeful parents have, that they will then get a happy, healthy baby in nine months. And so I think that what you explained throughout this process, one is that I can say, as a queer woman, I have gone through process on my own.

I do not have children, as well as know from the experience of queer women. your friends who have children and have gone through this process. It is an expensive process. It is an emotional process to go through. It takes a toll both financially and emotionally. And so now speak to me about your response and your organization's response to Alabama's decision to now assign quote unquote personhood to this microscopic embryo. Well, Well, they're wrong. I mean, they're simply wrong. We are vehemently opposed to the opinion of the Alabama Supreme Court. A microscopic group of cells is not a child. It's not the same as a living human being. And does it have the potential for life? Absolutely. Do people who have created those embryos have an incredible emotional attachment to those embryos? Absolutely. As one of our advocates said, I was reminded of this today. by one of my staff, we fought a personhood bill in the state of Virginia 12 years ago.

We had a woman who advocated and she said, no one cares more about my embryos than I do. How dare you tell me what I can and can't do with my embryos? And that's the sentiment that people need to keep in mind. The opinion of the Alabama Supreme Court, they are not being friendly to people who have created embryos. They are not thinking about the people who need this medical treatment to have a family. I mean, let's be honest, Danielle, at the end of the day, we're talking about people who want to have a baby. Now they're saying you can't. We are saying now in our country that we're going to let judges or legislators choose who and who can't be a parent.

Let that just sink in. Is that the country that we're going to be living in? We have been fighting embryo personhood for many years. It never got far enough in the legislative process. The ballot initiatives that we've seen never passed. So we've been successful in fighting them until last week. This is a watershed moment, certainly for our community, for our country, where people are going to need to realize, wow, we're creating embryos. Are we okay with that?

We're freezing embryos. Are we okay with that? We're doing genetic testing on embryos. Are we okay with that? And how are we going to reconcile how we? how we feel about that embryo inside the body and outside the body. This is going to be a very scary, interesting, terrifying discussion that our country is going to have to have. I mean, what is wild to me, and I just want to read a part of what Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Parker said in his opinion,

where he cited biblical scripture. So right then and there, we are no longer. a country that has a separation between church and state. When you have a chief justice of a state Supreme Court citing biblical scripture in their legal decision. And what he said was the Alabama Constitution's recognition that human life is an endowment from God emphasizes a foundational principle of English common law, which has been expressly incorporated as part of the law of Alabama. And he quoted Christian texts where he stated,

quote, the sanctity of life and all, quote, all human beings bearing God's image from the moment of conception. So Barbara, I mean, what scares me is that this is the consequence of Roe v. Wade being overturned. and women seemingly losing the ability to have bodily autonomy. Now it isn't about the termination of a pregnancy. Now it is about you not having the ability to get pregnant. If in fact you so choose and want to, and you're paying out of your own pocket to make that dream come true. For you as an expert in this field,

how do you think, and I know that you're not an attorney, but how do you think that the infertility movement goes and matches up against a legal system that is now intertwined itself with the Bible? How do you match science and facts with scripture? I'm wondering what you see as the next steps in terms of taking this on. I'm taking some deep breaths here as I listen to you because it is, I'm sure, listeners out there have a passion, things that they really care about. It might be, you know, family or it might be a cause or whatever. And when you've really dedicated a good part of your life and, you know, what you believe in to something and then to have this happen, it's just, it's really very emotional. So I have to tell you, this isn't new for us. We have been fighting embryo

personhood for a number of years. And in every case, it is never based on science. It's never based on fact, it's always based on faith and beliefs and one person's worldview who's in power. And that is how it's going to end. So for me, where do we go? Danielle, there is no opportunity to rationally discuss this with folks who feel that way. I have given up. The only way that this is going to end is by people who have used IBF. people who built their family from IVF and maybe never even told anyone, maybe never even told their kids.

I hope that they are listening and they are saying to themselves, shit, this is it. I got to speak up. I've got to do something and I'm going to go outside in my comfort zone because people need to see that this is me. I would have been impacted. My kids would have been impacted. My siblings wouldn't have nieces or nephews. you know, mom and dad wouldn't have grandkids. So we need a movement of people sharing their story. And here's what I know, Danielle, with through and through,

and I can give you example after example after example, the reason why we have been so successful in shutting down all those embryo personhood bills is because people in those states chose to speak up and share the story. I remember vividly advocating on Capitol Hill probably 20 years ago with a woman who was phenomenal talking to legislators. We were working on an insurance bill for IVF. And she said, my own parents don't even know I'm going through this and I'm using IVF. And I'm up here talking to complete strangers telling them my story.

We need people to share their story and to speak up because quite honestly, they're not going to hear it from me. They need to hear from their constituents and they need to see those babies. They need to see those pictures of those kids. and they need to be looked at eye to eye and say, you're telling me this beautiful person should not exist. You're telling me, I can't be apparent. I would love to be in the room with all of those encounters,

but it is going to be very difficult for these legislators to move forward if that is what they are confronted it. But Danielle, that's my fear, that they're not going to be enough people who are going to share their story. Barbara, one, I commend you from making this, your life's work, which is trying to honestly help people realize their dreams. There are friends that I have and I can get choked up that like all they ever imagined for themselves. They may not have known anything else, but they knew that they wanted to be a parent. And without the help of

IVF and like their own faith in science and the process, they wouldn't have been able to realize that dream. And so to me, to deny people that. ability is cruel. It is cruel on so many levels. And so I hope that folks listening to this episode, you know, and maybe there needs to be some type of social media push of people, you know, sharing their stories, both men and women, on how they were able to actualize their dream of having a family with IVF so that there can be some veil that is lifted if there remains. to be any type of shame or around it that helps people see community. So I just want to thank you, Barbara, so much for making the time to join the new

abnormal and for all of the work that you're doing. Danielle, I want to thank you for covering this. I would love to keep your listeners surprised of where things go. You know, a shameless plug here, a resolve. Our organization is collecting stories. If you are so inclined, go to resolve.org. To your point, Danielle, that's. that's exactly what our hope is, is that we do hear from enough people. And if I could just say

one last thing, an email I got yesterday was from a woman and it just so encapsulated what everybody is feeling. It was just like, this journey is so hard already. And now this. And that is just, I think, how our community is feeling. They're really beat up right now. We need to be supporting them. Thank you, Barbara. Thank you. Appreciate you. Hope you enjoy checking out this episode of The New Abnormal. We're back every Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday. If you enjoyed it, please share it with a friend and keep the conversation going.

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