The Daily Beast Podcast - MAGA’s Scared Senseless That Hunter Biden Will Be Acquitted

Episode Date: June 9, 2024

Right-wing pundits are already worried that Hunter Biden will beat a conviction in his gun trial, and they’re resorting to the same old tricks to rile up supporters. Plus! Danielle Moodie talks to Deepa Iyer, creator of the Social Change Map and author of the book, Social Change Now: A Guide for Reflection and Connection. 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 Kedinan, 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.

Hello and welcome to another Sunday bonus episode of the new abnormal. We thank you so much for being here. Today we have an extra special guest with Deepa Iyer, author of Social Change Now, a guide for reflection and connection, who's also the creator of the social change map. And she'll tell us all about how to remain involved in today's political and social climate. But first, let's have some fun. on. Are you guys ready to listen to some clips? Clips. Clips.

Clips. Jesse, are you going to start by telling us they're not that bad this week? Nope. Damn. Listen, we recorded before the Trump verdict came in. We got a lot of stupid to deal with here. But I will say, we're going to start off a little wacky. I now, unfortunately, have to introduce this segment to a new character, one Valentina Gomez,

who is running per secretary of state in Missouri. And as with all new MAGA's entering the hellscape, she has done her branding work. So she has a slogan, don't be weak and gay. And of course, she's also rapping. The Second Amendment is there to always protect my first. A better rapper than Lupe, and I don't even have to curse.

Let's keep the American keep alive and put an end to all lives. BLM, raise billions, and what did they do for black lives? Politicians promise you the whole world, then they backslide. What happened to Hunter's laptop? You know I'm always strapped. up gun rights are women's rights feminist feminist spin stole a lie you can mess around and find out play stupid games when a stupid rights

God bless the whole USA even the ones who hate me I'm still fighting for you today and no super pack paid me America first America first the people are hurt I hate you so much Jesse Because it's just like I love that hip hop is so welcoming but I would have liked the door to be fucking closed on this I want the mat to say turn around

and go home. I have good news. The song is on Spotify, if you guys want to listen to the whole thing. Oh, no, it's not. Oh, thank goodness. One of my favorite details of hers

when she first trotted out this don't be weak and gay thing is she tagged Andrew Tate and his brother in the tweet. I remember that. We're both presently in jail waiting sex trafficking charges because, of course.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Oh, my God. But I'm sure she'll say lots of things about pedophiles and keeping the children safe as she runs for this despite cozying up to two guys who are caught on tape admitting their disgusting, disgusting actions. I was going to say it's kind of harm to rhyme with pedophile, but actually Kendrick did it really well.

Right. Don't, don't, don't, don't. They not like us. Yep. Oh, my God. Well, unfortunately, my bet is. is we're going to have to look forward to her as Secretary of State of Missouri because this is what they're into around these parts now.

So Marjorie Taylor Green, I hate to say somebody's getting their beer held right now and walking over your way. I just find this offensive as a hip-hop scholar. That's all I have to say. Amazing. Oh, boy. Okay, now we have the dumbest man in cable news, Jesse Water, doing so much conspiracy theory and racism here.

I didn't think he could appall me anymore, but this is something. It's called jury nullification. It's when you pick a jury that will give you a not guilty verdict. They know you're guilty, but they just disagree with the law. The strategy plays on the racial makeup of the jury, which is mostly black, as well as the Biden's influence in Delaware. The hope is this jury won't convict for a drug-related crime. everybody in Delaware knows the Biden's.

That's why Jill and Ashley are sitting front row. But that's not all. The Biden family brought Mouse to court. Mouse is a Delaware legend. Joe Biden was the best man at his wedding. Mouse runs Delaware's NAACP and has been involved in the community for decades. They want every black juror to see Mouse sitting with the Bidens. If you can get the jury on your side, all of a sudden, this case is not a sloth.

slam dunk. Mm-hmm. The amount of time that they spend coming up with reasons ahead of time for things, it's absolutely unreal. We see this with everything. We saw it with the Trump trial. You know, oh, well, it's New York. He can't get a fair verdict in New York.

You know, now it's the Hunter Biden trial. Every possible thing you can think of, they've got a list of excuses preloaded and ready to go. That's the MO, though. You have to cede the environment. with doubt. You have to seed it with lies, water it the entire time throughout the trial and just wait for it all to grow. And it is something that Donald Trump has taught them very, very well. In 2020, he started talking about how the election was going to be stolen in the summer, how the election was not going to be legitimate in the summer. Started staying it a little bit here,

a little bit there. And then by the time we get to November, it was full throttle. This is what they do. And the fact is, is that there is no rebuttal to it yet. There's no way to diffuse the bullshit that they spew. So they keep doing it. Yeah. It's like Minority Report. They just, they come up with what they think are future crimes and they just act.

Like, it's just, it's unreal. Terrible but good movie. A great movie. Okay. I'm not the biggest fan of it, but. Oh. So unfortunately, I was really, really hoping I would not be playing another Tim Poole clip again this soon. But his podcast is a place

where thought has been beaten brutally to death many a time. To respond to the Trump hushmoney verdict, they hosted right-wing nut job and Trump confidant or Lumer. And things went a bit off the rails and Tim had to cut the stream after this. And we're going to see why. Should Democrats be in jail? No question. When Donald Trump gets elected, should he start locking them up? No question. Should there be lists of Democrats that need to go to jail 100%. The reason for that is they've committed crimes. We need to make sure that when Donald Trump wins, we've got an attorney general, a deputy attorney general, a head of the CIA and the FBI. Cash Patel would be fantastic.

We can have attorney general. There's some names floating around. And then they can start having their investigators and the feds issuing subpoenas, pulling up evidence. And with real evidence, bring them to judges for warrants. Then these people can spend three years of their lives fighting tooth and nests. nail for the crime against the government for crimes they committed and we can prove. And the reason why we put them on trial is that we can show the whole world. We will uncover what you've done.

We will make sure everyone knows and you will be held accountable for it. Not just jail. They should get the death penalty. You know, we actually used to have the punishment for treason in this country. Mm-hmm. So some backstory, he has to cut the stream because his co-host so often talk about throwing people out of helicopters and executing Democrats. that he's a danger of getting his channel demonetized and losing his grift money.

So I just want to get this straight. Donald Trump found guilty 34 felony counts is a criminal. Donald Trump has been found guilty of defamation, of fraud, of all of these things. That's a witch hunt. They've had how many hearings that the Republicans have done to try and pin shit that they can't find any information? on that they can't find any truth on, but they've had wasted so many tax dollars time and money on their witch hunts and have found nothing. But somehow, miraculously, you're going to put in Cash Patel and others.

And then there's going to be all these Democrats in jail on trumped up bullshit charges. Like, these people are sick. Like, they are so fucking cooked in the brain. It is wild to me that they make money. It's crazy. But, okay. Okay. Look, I am convinced that Tim Poole wears that beanie all the time to hide the scars from botched brain surgery where he was accidentally lobotomized.

He is an incredibly stupid human being. And the fact that Laura Lumer came on his podcast and said something so stupid that it was, even Tim Poole was like, oh, we have to stop this. I mean, that just tells you all you need to know. Yep. And it's just really amazing that what has them this mad is. is a crime that was so clear, this fucking loser committed. And yet they're like, oh, we'll just, literally trump up charges, which is going to have a whole new meaning to the term,

because we need to avenge this. Well, speaking of that verdict in those charges, here we have Stephen Miller, a man who loves the legal system when filing frivolous lawsuits on DEI, but once it convicts the only person deprived enough to ever employ him, Mr. Donald Trump, well, he's going to wet the bed. live on Jesse Watershow. Get in the game, Republicans.

I want every Secretary of State. Are you purging your voting rules of non-citizens right now? Is every Republican state AG opening investigations into voter fraud right now? Is every House committee controlled by Republicans using its subpoena power in every way it needs to? Right now is every Republican DA starting every investigation they need to right now? Is every donor off the sidelines and in the game the big dollar guys, the rich guys, the wealth, guys, every facet of Republican Party politics and power has to be used right now to go toe to toe with Marxism and beat these communists. That's the task.

I'm going to start sending you my therapy bills. Like, honestly, like, they're going directly to your home. I demand a discount on those bills because at least I'm not showing you the video. You don't have to look at his really, really disturbing look while we do this. Now, hold on. I've said this before. But on his home planet, Stephen Miller is considered quite a lot. Listen, he played the alien of bars attacks very well.

Yes. Again, how many cases of voter fraud were there in 2020? I believe it was something in the range of four. I think they were mostly Republican officials. And I was just going to say, I believe that it was mostly Republicans. So, again, don't want to certify birth control because, there's already a law on that, but this bullshit, that's what they're willing to do. Okay.

Let's be clear, though, that, you know, when they say illegal immigrants, that that is code for brown and black people. Yes, I know. It's not Melania's family. I get it. Oh, I know you know. I mean, I'm just saying, more needs to be made of that because what they ultimately want to do is to prevent people of color from having access to the ballot box.

Byron Donald's would be fine with that. Everything was better at her Jim Crow. You know, he wouldn't have to worry his little pretty head about, you know, who to vote for because Massa would already tell him where to go. I said what the fuck I said. Yes, yes, yes, that's, that, so. Oh, sure, but if I see that. Oh, boy. Oh, boy.

Seamus, maybe cut Andy's remark. Oh, come on. Folks, I am so excited to welcome back to the new abnormal. Deepa Ayer, who is the author of Social Change Now, a guide for reflection and connection. She is also behind the social change map, which offers up, as many people always ask, at least ask me on social media, what can I do? How can I be involved? How do I show up? There are so many different ways to be. in this movement. And by movement, I mean the movement for equality, for justice, for equity. And Deepa, your map, this social change map that has different, what would you call it,

different positions, different opportunities for engagement that go from Weaver to experimenter, to visionary, to builder, to caregiver, healer, and so many others. Deepa, how are you seeing and being able to hold this moment? that is so rife with hate, with resentment, with regression in terms of our policies, but also our thinking and our commitment to bettering this country. How are you holding this moment as you are a leader in social change? That is a big question. Oh, Danielle, thank you, first of all, for having me back on.

I so appreciate how you hold space for these conversations and give people. people, real tools and language to make sense of what's happening out there. I think we're at this time over and over again, it seems right, where we feel this deep sense of polarization in our country. We're looking at policies like, you know, the recent asylum ban, which is reminiscent of the last administration. We're looking, obviously, at what is happening around the world, from Palestine to Sudan. And it is really hard to stay focused. and stay hopeful. And this particular framework that you refer to was something I developed when I was feeling none of those things back in 2017 and really needed a way to figure out how to organize myself.

And so really simply, right, I think there are four questions I would, you know, kind of encourage folks to think about. The first is, what do you care about? You know, what really puts the fire in your belly that you're either outraged about or that you deeply care about personally. That's, you know, a big question. There's so many things that we can actually care about. The second question is, what are my skills and strengths? What have folks told me I'm good at? You know, am I good at taking information and synthesizing it for a public audience? Am I strong in terms of coming up with a vision that inspires others? So what are my skills and strengths? The third question, and I think, this is the most important question is how can I best be of service to a particular movement

campaign cause issue. And finally, the last piece is, who are my people and how do I, you know, plug into an ecosystem where I can use these skills and strengths on an issue I care about that is in service to what the movement needs. So those are four kind of questions, threshold questions. And that'll help us identify the roles that we should be playing, the ones that you shared a little bit ago in the intro. You know, I think that it's so important. Those questions, each of them are so critical because I feel that we're at a moment of deep hopelessness and despair. Both are weapons. Both are weapons of oppression. And oppressors use them as a way to disconnect us from our power, disconnect us from our imagination and vision of what the world could be like and just succumb to what it is.

And I think about the last question in terms of who are my people. I think that that in this moment is a really difficult question. Right. I think that over the four years of the Trump administration, we saw people who we believe to be like-minded, people who we thought our neighbors, our friends, or family members, to have the same connected vision and moral compass as it pertains to justice, realize that we were not on the same team, that we were not on the same page. In terms of the question of who are my people, how do we really go about finding, and I mean making sure that we're not also creating an echo chamber for ourselves? Because I believe that

those that are on the right have created a very dangerous, uneducated, misinformed, hateful and violent echo chamber. And I want to make sure that for those of us that are on the right side of history, that we don't mimic what it is that they are doing and block out what is around us. So how do you make sense of how we move forward in that way? Yeah. No, you're absolutely right that, you know, as you said despair and hopelessness are tools to disassemble us and disconnect us. I think you said that so well. In terms of, you know, how do we figure out the ecosystem or the people that we should be connected to, I would share a couple of thoughts. The first is really thinking about shared values that is not the same as uniform values or the same values, but shared values. Because I think there's sometimes this sense of

purity that shows up in our movement spaces that makes it really difficult to include and engage people who might be on different places in their trajectory of understanding policy and analysis and the like. So what are the shared values that we have with others that we can get behind? A second piece, I think, is an ecosystem that is inclusive and open and welcoming of people of various backgrounds and differences. Because again, conformity. is not the key here. It's the openness to including lots of different people with different ideas and backgrounds. A third piece I would say is the ecosystem is one that should be experimental. And what I think in many ways, we've gotten caught up in doing things the same way that we've done them

for years and years and years using the same rhetoric, using the same narratives, the same tools. And there's a role of the experimenter also on this map that I've developed. And I will say that when I work with different folks in many different sectors, right, that is the one role that people choose the least. And so there about our spaces not being open for experimentation. So I think that is also important. How can we be nimble? How can we shift? How can we be flexible and bring in some level of experimentation and innovation in terms of how we do our work. So those are a few characteristics, I think, that might be helpful as we think about how we want to engage and with whom we want to engage. You know, that's really interesting that

people don't put themselves in the experimental category. Is that a symptom of our lack of rigorous critical thought in our schooling system, right? We see in K through 12 how that is being eroded, this idea of critical thought, we're seeing how in colleges and universities, which is a place of deep experimentation in terms of our values and how we look to shape and change the world, how that is shrinking. Do you think that that is formulated on purpose in a way, this lack of imagination around experimenting? I think it's all of the above. Yeah, I mean, I think that we're kind of taught in a way to do the rote thing, right? Not necessarily exposed to different forms of thought or ideas. And I think you're absolutely right that we're seeing this erosion in the school

system and beyond because of all of these book bans and restrictions on teaching histories and lived experiences. So that is very dangerous, right? Because we don't actually then have the capacity to imagine. Another piece, I think, is the diminishing of public spaces and civic spaces to engage with one another. So much of it is happening on social media. And while that is helpful in some ways, I mean, all of us know that it's not the same, right, as being in person, in community, in spaces, public spaces, where we can hear from each other and engage with each other. I think that is being diminished as well. And then finally, I think it goes back to what you said, that because of this sense of despair and hopelessness that is sort of permeating in the air, it is harder to

imagine and it is harder to innovate, right? I think about this quote that Arendh the Theroy had in an article she wrote during the pandemic when she said the pandemic is a portal and what do you, I'm not paraphrasing fully, but you know, what do you imagine will be on the other side of that portal, right? And so really that invitation to even in times of restriction and hopelessness and despair, how can we build our capacity to imagine and innovate and dream up the futures that we deserve? I wonder, too, in terms of just how you think about social change and how you encourage and kind of, and literally lay out maps for people to be able to find themselves, right? I believe that the social change map is very much a compass for movement builders to be able to see a path forward.

what role does your understanding and just our understanding as a nation history play in lighting the path forward? And by that I mean, this country has experienced really violent, dangerous times. And, you know, roughly, I would say almost every generation has faced in one way or another to some extreme or an election. lesser place and to a lesser degree, but every generation has experienced that. So what role do you think that history has and kind of being a guiding force in times of hopelessness to help us recognize we may not have been here, us, but others have been in this place before? I think it's, it plays such a critical role, which is why it's so dangerous that we're not learning about histories and experiences in our classrooms as much as we should.

And the reason that I think it's so vital to understand history and center it is one, because it does remind us that there are folks who play different roles to move themselves out of those really despairing conditions, right? So even when you think about other movements, like the civil rights movement, which is the one I think most people think about, when they think about social movements in this country, you could actually identify the different roles that were being played. It wasn't just one or two charismatic figures that led that movement. It was so many different folks who were playing the role of, say, the disruptor, right, to walk across the bridge in Selma, who were playing the role of visionaries, who were playing the role of builders like Ella Baker, you know, so who were building leaders. So there were so many different ways in which social movements included folks and institutions to move through and address times of despair. So I think in one way, that is important to understand about the trajectory of social movements. But another reason I think it's helpful is that we can really understand the ways in which, as you said earlier, the oppressors, right, use different tools and reinforce different narratives, but they're really

doing the same thing over and over again. And just one, you know, example of that is right now in this moment where there is a rise in anti-Muslim bigotry, for example. If you looked back just like 20 years to what was happening after 9-11, you will see some of the same policies of surveillance, of policing, of profiling, the targeted Muslim, Arab, South Asian, Sikh communities that are being applied again, right? And they were also applied during the movement for Black lives to surveil black activists. So history helps us understand how these tools have been often used by the state and reinforced to create this dehumanizing climate. And it helps us understand how movements rose up and play different roles in order to address that sort of retrenchment. Yeah, I 100% agree. Often, I think that there is a lot of criticism that comes internally, those of us on the left, about our inability to integrate our movements,

to have true intersectionality and that where the right continues to succeed is they're in lockstep with each other on the things that they hate, on the things that they want to oppress, on the vision that they have for America. I mean, we see it, Project 2025. I talk about it all the time on the new abnormal

is a 900-page manifesto of a return to 19th century America in terms of the treatment of women, the treatment of black people, people of color, LGBTQ people, and so on and so forth. It is their vision. Progressives, however, depending on what issue you have made your focus, have varied vision. How do you think that we, especially now, move more so in lockstep with one another, rather than competing for attention, resources, and a spotlight, and move more as a collective. Yeah, it's so true that there are things that the right does that is hard to mimic for those who

are on the progressive left. I do think our diversity is our strength, our diversity of experiences and ideas and the thoughts that we bring in, the positions that we take. I do think that is our strength. At the same time, I don't think that we have the infrastructure often to move some of those ideas forward. So I'm not sure that we have to be in lockstep as much as that we need to have more diverse and robust infrastructure to support our movements. So what I mean by that is we need robust think tanks. We need really strong social movement organizations, which are often under attack.

They're being attacked right now left and right in so much. many different ways, right? We need to build up generations of leaders and have a pipeline of leadership. We need to make sure that we're paying attention to both the intersectional ways in which different communities connect, but not flatten all of us and say we're all the same. So there's a lot of internal building that also has to happen, I think, within the left. We just assume, oh, we're all going to be on the same page. And then we're surprised when there's a fisher, right? So I often say that how we do the work is just as important as what the work is. And if we can lean in more into the how, which I know is hard to do in times of urgency, right? But I think that that is something,

especially when you have such diverse communities coming together, that we need to pay more attention to build more pathways, infrastructure, and points of entry for folks to engage, that we need to pay more attention there. So that's my humble opinion of what we might want to do in of thinking about the how we do things. Deepa, I can't thank you enough for your work and for your insight. And I think that more people need to tap in to the opportunities that the social change work that you do, the map that you have created lays out these opportunities for entry so that people are not left wondering, what can I do and how do I do it?

How do I begin? So please tell people how they can connect with you, how they can connect with this work and learn more. So I would say that the hub for the social change ecosystem framework is www. www.socialchangemap.com. And that will be an entry point to learning more about this framework and how to utilize it, how to reach out, how to access the workbook that you mentioned earlier as well. And then I'm also on X and on Instagram if you'd like to connect in that way. Appreciate you so very much and hope to have you on again soon.

Thank you, Danielle. Really, really appreciate your voice. 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. This podcast is a Daily Beast production with production by Jesse Cannon and Seamus Calder. Want more great listens? Check out our comedy podcast, The Last Laugh, and our star-studded The Daily Beast podcast at the Daily Beast.com slash podcasts.

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