The Young Turks - Part 2: Flip Georgia Get Out the Vote Special

Episode Date: December 29, 2020

Part 2: Georgia GOTV Special: Will Georgia continue to flip BLUE? Tune in to today's special TYT event featuring hosts Benjamin Dixon and John Iadarola, along with Cenk Uygur and Aida Rodiguez, as they count down to Georgia’s runoff election and encourage viewers to GET OUT THE VOTE. Guest segments with Dr. Rashad Richey, W Mondale Robinson, and Justin Horwitz.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to The Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. Hey, we know you probably hit play to escape your business banking, not think about it. But what if we told you there was a way to skip over the pressures of banking? By matching with the TD Small Business Account Manager, you can get the proactive business banking advice and support your business needs. Ready to press play? Get up to $2,700 when you'll open select small business banking products. Yep, that's $2,700 to turn up your business.

Visit TD.com slash small business match to learn more. Conditions apply. Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, non-genital forming individuals to the flip Georgia episode of the Young Turks. I am joined by always. Jane Gugar. Ida Rodriguez is joining us this hour. And Dr. Rashad Ritchie, despite the the Wall Street Journal saying that PhDs are not to be mentioned anymore. Dr. Rashai Ritchie is joining us. How's everyone doing this evening? Excellent.

Excellent. Excellent. You know, I think that's actually a decent place to start, right? Dr. Ritchie, you were down in Atlanta. And one of the reasons I wanted to bring you on this episode is because, like, I'm a transplant. You are authentic ATL, Georgia, down south Georgia boys. Like, you know, you know the history of the state. What do you feel is the number one thing that progressives and Democrats, for that matter, need to be doing to win in January?

They need to keep engaging each other. One of the great things about a democracy is the ability, obviously, to vote. The other part of that democracy is the ability to have personal conversations and engage each other when it comes to issues. We really have to get outside of this who we like the best, right? personalities aside, Republicans have given you the playbook. You no longer have to like the person you vote for. If they represent a policy that you agree with from your community, that's the person you need to vote for. And we're not going to get it perfect. Joe Biden, Senator Harris, they would never be a perfect model of progressive representation. That is not what the game is

about at this point. This is about moving the country in the right direction. And I believe that if you engage people on that level with the conversation, you're going to get a lot more traction. A lot of commercials are happening, a lot of text messages, a lot of robocalls. That's traditional stuff. You're going to need to engage voters who are typically not engaged in order for the Democrats to win this election in Georgia. What do you have in mind? Like to engage in a ways that happen. Like we have several requests coming tonight. One of them is engaging in a really transformative way, great results, blackmail voter project. Anything that you're you have on your radar that they can do specifically. How should we engage? You know, that's key

right there. Engaging groups that have been historically left out. If you look at the voting data, black women have voted in a higher per capita rate than white women, all right? Black women lead the demographic charge as it relates to active participating voters, right? Black men have not done so. So you need to have a specialty activation for black males to reengage. And why have black males been so disengaged? Well, because policies and conversations about policies, have typically kept them out of the conversation. And so you have to bring them into the conversation in a very intentional way. You also have to engage young urban voters like you never had before.

Something we have done in the state of Georgia, primarily in Metro Atlanta, we did something called Black Radio United for the Vote. We would normally be sworn enemies with anyone else in urban radio. But we decided to actually come together as competitors in the radio market and create a massive campaign for get out the vote. I am proud to announce that we have decided to continue that campaign even in the runoff elections in the state of Georgia. That is massive for urban radio to do something we're continuing to do. And also rolling out magazine, I'm the editor at large for rolling out. That is a significant

urban market. We are an influencer in that place, but we're utilizing our power, our connection to entertainers here, especially locally, to make sure we get out the message called the vote for me campaign. And that's an activation campaign, particularly for young voters in Georgia. Yeah. Ida and Jank, I want you all to get in there. And I don't know if you have any specific questions for Dr. Ritchie, but the broader conversation at large in terms of the black turnout, how significant it was for Joe Biden, and as well as how do we replicate that in January. Yeah, I'll jump in for a second. So I remember when I was running my campaign, Whenever I met a black woman in the mall, when I was canvassing, door knocking, you name it,

I knew I was talking to a voter. And every time, are you registered a vote? And they'd look at me like, are you trying to offend me? And so that is such a hardcore, wonderful demographic for the Democratic. party and they should be treated as such. And so you should treat them as such when you're trying to win the votes. And you should try to treat them as such after you win the votes. That's right. And so, and George is a perfect example of that. And so remember guys, whatever the Republicans are attacking, that means it's a big advantage for Democrats.

So what did, what was the number one thing that Trump and Giuliani attacked right after election. Atlanta, Philly, Milwaukee, and Detroit, right? Over and over again. Detroit and Philly and Atlanta, you can't trust him, you can't trust them, you can't trust them. Now, was there racism in there? Of course, right? But mainly it's because damn it, they delivered. If it wasn't for those four cities, right now Donald Trump is president of the United States and Joe Biden And so, Rashad, in the case of Georgia, it was actually the youth urban vote that delivered the best. It was actually 21% of the electorate was under 29 years, 29 years or younger, which was the highest percentage of the whole country. So what happened in Atlanta to drive out so many young voters?

And very importantly here, can we replicate it in voter turnout? for these special elections? Man, great question. You had a few things happening. Obviously, there was a strong anti-Trump sentiment, right? Where young people felt as if this individual did not represent their demographic, this individual did not represent their sense of decency. And so they were excited to vote.

But you need more than that. You also need convenience. We're talking about young people. So the methodology of voting was expanded to include absentee, to include, dropping off your absentee ballot at a box certified by the County Board of Elections. And you had a massive get out the vote campaign sponsored by many in the media just saying participate, vote, not telling you who to vote for, but make sure you are involved and engage billboards, text messages, door knocking, phone calls. All of that came together to create the perfect storm to upset a Republican who should. have won the state of Georgia under normal circumstances. But here's what's going to happen.

And you heard it here first. The Georgia General Assembly will meet in just a few weeks. The first thing they're going to try to do is take away the ability to absentee vote without a verified reason. The second thing they're going to try to do is eliminate a county board of elections right to actually have drop box locations for people to drop off their absentee ballot. Like you say my brother, they only attack things that give Democrats leverage. Those are going to be two of the things they try to take away in the state of Georgia. So I'm telling all of my listeners, I'm telling all of my readers, take advantage of it while it is here and be ready to fight to maintain it when they threaten it.

Ida, we can't hear you, Ida. No problem. We get you in there. So I wanted to ask, there is a, so I'm not, I don't pledge my allegiance to any political party, I pledge my allegiance to the people. And so I, I, what I've been seeing is a lot of apathy with people who feel damned if you do, damned if you don't. That supporting the Democratic Party is just as useless and as, you know, as, as, as useless as voting for the Republicans with regards to people of color black people in this country. How do we motivate you those people to show up and vote who already feel and I mean, when Ben asked what do we need to do, what does Joe Biden need to do? I immediately thought somebody needs to turn his microphone

off. Sometimes he opens his mouth and he says some of the most offensive and egregious things to black people in this country. And we are at this point now where we're like told this is the lesser of two evils, how do we motivate these voters to show up because it is imperative that we do take, you know, take the wheel because, I mean, what people don't realize is that, yes, politically a lot of things are the same and a lot of things have not changed for people of color, black people in this country. But the, the, we're dealing with now the social issues. And it's beyond just not just policy and the things we've been seeing forever. There are white supremacist groups attacking black churches in D.C. And this is all a result of

all of the the hate and the division that Donald Trump has sprinkled across this country. How do we motivate these voters to go out and show up? That's a great question. Let me opine of that. I subscribe to the same philosophy. I pledge my allegiance to no political party. I say often on my show, I stop being a Democrat the day they stopped signing my check. I used to work for the party. All right, now I work for people. And when you understand it from a people point of view, you do realize that Joe Biden is already making missteps. He's already making mistakes where on radio, I got to put my foot up his behind before he even takes office, okay? But I'm willing to hold the powerful accountable,

regardless of what party affiliation they may belong to. We're going to have to continue to do that. never stops. But you cannot argue or debate the facts of the policies. Remember, the conversation of reparations, they're not even having that conversation on the other side of the political equator. They're only having that conversation within the Democratic Party. That is a policy conversation. And remember, the vice president elect is the co-sponsor of Senate Bill 1083, which is the mirror bill of House bill or House Resolution 40 to study and make recommendations as it relates to reparations in American. Remember, America is not against reparations.

We've given reparations to the Native American. We've given reparations to the Japanese and to other groups. Now we're talking about reparations for descendants of slaves. All of a sudden, America is somehow against it. So we need to keep that conversation primary, and we need to keep that conversation mainstream. So those are real policy items, the concept of free college or affordable higher education. That's not a conversation the other side is having. They're not even in the same room when those conversations are being in.

had. That is about the left. That's the other side of the political equation having that conversation. So these are policy items that actually do stick to people once you let them know, this isn't apples and apples. It's not even apples and oranges. These folks aren't even on the same page with you. They're not even willing to have the same conversation with you. That's important, right? The fact that they really literally don't care like about our condition beyond anything that's not beneficial to them. And so flipping the in these seats is just that much more important. It's literally like just the first step. We we have so much more to do after this. This is just phase one. So if you were bold enough

to do a prediction, I'm not. I personally, I don't like to do predictions, right? But I do know if everyone who showed up, obviously the turnout is going to be a little lesson, right? But if the people show up, this is a moment in American history where we could turn the tide. Or do you want to call it one way or the other, or do you want to just give advice on how we win? Okay, so let me put it this way, all right? You definitely will turn the tide. And if Azov and Warnat win, you literally make Kamala Harris the most powerful person on the planet. And here's why.

She becomes president of the U.S. Senate, right? Why she becomes vice president, she's president of the Senate. But if you get Aosop and Warnock in office, she becomes the tiebreaker in every piece of legislation that has to go before the U.S. Senate. That is a highly coveted and very powerful position. So if you hold her accountable to a progressive agenda, if you figure out a way to make sure Biden doesn't get in the way of that progressive agenda, then you may actually have something here.

I don't believe in gradualism. But, you know, it is what it is. You don't select the president. You elect the president. And that's what you have. This is a game of chess and not checkers. What the positions on the board are predetermined. That's what it is. It's as if we're playing a game of baseball and somebody wants to come to the baseball game without a baseball bat.

The political tools of engagement are already preordained. You have to use those tools that are germane to the game in order to win. And that's what we have here in front of us. So let me ask, or let me ask in the form of a question, because you mentioned Kamala Harris being the most important person as a tiebreaker in the Senate. And we were talking about black women and how the Democratic Party needs to understand how much they deliver in getting them these victories. If you remember, by the way, that's the only reason why we beat Roy Moore in Alabama. And John's won that seat was because of black women voters in Alabama that delivered. So arguably the second most important person would be someone who's not even in Congress,

shot, that's Stacey Abrams. Look, there's a lot of good folks including yourself and Ben and so many others on the ground and in other parts of the country too that are fighting for these seats. But probably and probably rightfully so, Stacey Abrams will get the most credit if the Democrats pick up both seats, which then gives you leverage for someone else who is not just a black woman, but even more progressive. Like she's not, she don't necessarily agree with everything I agree with, right? But she's more progressive than Kamala Harris. She's way more progressive than Joe Biden. And so then you'd have two strong people pushing in the right direction. Am I seeing that right? You're saying it correct. Remember, they are still

politicians. I think sometimes we get away from the fact that sometimes we have to coerce politicians, we have to give them cover, and we also have to give them a kick in the rear end. And when you have leverage as a real progressive, as a true progressive in the country, when you have leverage, that equates to political power. Now, we want to like these people. And I know we would prefer to like all of our political champions. And we think and hope they would actually act as it relates to policy in the best way possible. But the truth of the matter this, that you can't take politics out of politicians. You just can't do it. And so by having progressives who continue to have this massive amount of people energy and people power behind them,

that means something. That wouldn't mean anything to a Republican leader, but that means something to a Democratic leader who depends on a segment of that voting population in order to get things done. Trump proved that you can be a base president. You can run a base campaign and be a base executive governing authority. Yes, sir. And still be viable in the United States of America. I'm just going to add one quick thing before Ben comes back in. As you were saying, Trump proved that you could run to your base and win. Me, Ida, and Ben were all going. Yeah, yeah. Like, I know, I don't know. I was. I want you to jump in there before we right out of time with Dr. Ritchie, because I think this

conversation is really, really beneficial, not only for the state of Georgia, but for the broader conversation about progressivism. Yeah, you know, we have this conversation, Ben and I, where people talk about progressivism as if it is something that was informed with the intention of moving the country forward for the black and brown people in this country, right? because the truth is, is that white people didn't need progress because they have privilege. And so even so, even so some of them are poor, they believe the lie that they're better because they're white. I am continuously in awe of black women, black American women in this country,

as an Afro-Latina, a Latin woman, myself, I saw that black woman get that vaccination today. And I said, here we go again, a black woman breastfeeding the white children of this country since slavery. And still, they have not, they are still latched on. And so every single turn coming through to save the country. And then Brianna Taylor. So I just want to continue to remind people, and I use my platform continuously to remind people that we have to remember the people after that you are in office. And so I really want people to understand that we plan to hold this administration accountable. The last administration was the dog and pony show Malcolm X used to talk about and there was no way to hold them accountable because it was just a clown fest.

But we do plan to hold them accountable. This is not an amorous romantic relationship that we're having with this administration. This is us surviving so that the country doesn't go backwards, more than it already has. And I think that we just got to continue to remind people. And I just wanted to know what you thought about that because people calling me a sellout because I voted for Joe Biden. And I was like out of their minds. Why is supposed to not vote? Like, it's amazing how Donald Trump has really divided this country. Yeah, Donald Trump has brought a level of tribalism to this country like we've never seen. But I'm actually glad he did it. And here's why. If Hillary Clinton would have won, 70% of black folks would have still been celebrating a Hillary

Clinton victory and not getting anything out of it. Trump and least preach for a verdict. And at the end of the day, this country had to make a decision about the soul and direction of the nation. And that country did. This country did make that decision. As it relates to voting for Joe Biden, here's the thing. A lot of the people that may criticize you for voting for Joe Biden or supporting Joe Biden in an election for president, a lot of those individuals were quiet, silent, decided not to vote, which became a vote for Trump. And here's the thing, we vote every day. When you spend money somewhere you vote. When you decide to download a particular item, you vote. When you ride down the street and use a pay toll, you vote. Whatever

you engage in is significantly connected to some level of policy created by an official somewhere down the road. You vote every day no matter what. We just so happen to have this great opportunity as the board of directors for this country to elect those who will lead us into the future. I'm going to add one small thing that before Ben takes us to break. Look, in this case, not just if you vote for the Republicans, but if you don't vote in Georgia, it is in reality, in effect, a vote for Mitch McConnell. Yes. Yes. It's just true. I wish it weren't the case, but it is the case. So either you're going to vote for. for Ossoff and Warnock, or you're gonna vote for McConnell, even if you stay at home.

That's just a fact. Absolutely. We're gonna go to a break. Dr. Rashide, Ritchie, thank you so much for joining us. You are one of the original voices in Atlanta, and there's no way we could have had this conversation without you. Thank you for joining us. Thank you. We're gonna take it to a break and we'll be right back. Welcome back, ladies, gentlemen, and non-gender conforming individuals to this special episode to flip the state of Georgia. I am Benjamin Dixon, host of the Benjamin Dixon show, sitting in with Jank Yuga, Jank, and Ida Rodriguez. How are y'all doing this on this second half of this? Good.

Every time I wake up, I'm like, hey, I'm alive and I'm brown and I made it one more day. I love it. I love it. I love it. Like apparently my wall brown here. Exactly. I was thinking that, I said this is pretty diverse for the talking democratic politics at this level. Like, when's the last time you had this cut much amount of color giving this kind of critique? Anyway, I digress. Let me bring, let me bring in our guest speaking of blackness and color. He is my brother from another mother, Mundell Robinson. He is head of the black male voter project. And he was the first person who told me months ago that the state of Georgia was going to go blue. And it was so early on Monday, I really wasn't, I did, I was like, man,

you're talking a lot of game here, bro. Like, how, how did you know months ago that Georgia was going to go blue? Some old black woman told me. No, I'm just, no, I'm just joking, brother. You know, man, I turn, I tune out national polls and, and rather just listen to voters and what they're telling us. And I think a black male voter project, being able to talk to so many black men across the state of Georgia gave us a privy that most people didn't have, especially since they don't prioritize black men in their political work. And so in that work, in what you did, like we saw, I mean, since 1992, right, it's been 30 years or more than 30 years, right?

We have not seen our coming up on 30 years. We have not seen the state of Georgia go blue since Bill Clinton did the stunt in front of Stone Mountain, right? So let's talk about it, right? The last time we turned the state of Florida, state of Georgia blue, it was on the back of white supremacy. Let's just be real about it. We turn the state of Georgia blue. Your efforts, Stacey Abrams effort, new Georgia projects turn the state of Georgia blue talking to black folks. Tell us about your. Yeah, man. So we actually threw traditional

campaigning out the window because we know it serves two purpose. One, to maintain the status quo and also to reelect incumbents. Talking to black people, people of color two months before an election with the proverbial church fan or fried chicken is not a way to increase the the electorate. So what we do is we start, you know, a year out, having conversations about what's important to black men, not us talking to them, but just listening. So the first part of our program is called Brothers Be Voting, where we just sit down and listen to black men with no cameras, no white people, and no women. And we have real conversations with brothers who don't normally participate in electoral politics. And what we found out was there were no

apolitical black men, not just in Georgia, but in this country. There are no apathetic black man. There are tons of black men that hover a level of antipathy for electoral politics. And part of it is not politics in general. It's for the way that is presented to them. The idea that every election is the most important or every candidate is your savior does not work. However, when you engage the same population of people on their issues that are important to them, they turn out just like everybody else. Meaning, if you invest in black men like you do conservative-leaning white women, And we're having a higher elected and turning Georgia blue wouldn't be something to happen once every 30 years. It'll happen every election cycle.

And Mandel, I'm gonna pass this to to Jank and to Ida so that they can answer some questions. But you do know, bro, tomorrow on the morning show, I'm gonna be roasting you for putting on your very best code switch voice. Like you sound so professional right now, right? It's like, I'm proud of you. That would be a first on the young Turks, so we got a professional on the show. Oh, bad. I love it. But like when we really on our show, when we talk, man, it's with an authenticity that you brought to the Blackmail voter project. Right. Indeed. And that's why I'm picking with you, right? We joke about code switching. But you talk to the people in a language that they understand. And it's not just the vernacular. It is you talk in the language of policy. Black folks care about policy. Indeed. And I know we're going to switch to someone else asking a question, but I do want to respond to that idea. that, you know, it's important that the program is the rhythm and not just to beat to music, it's the rhythm of black men lived experience. Meaning, we don't talk about politics that

sound like Harvard or Yale, not saying that there are no black men to go there, but that's not the majority of black men, especially if you consider that nearly half of the black men in Georgia and in this country that are already registered to vote, have not voted in five consecutive of federal elections. So what we were able to do is reach brothers who don't vote, brothers who are what people call gang members or street tribes or what we call them, brothers who are drug dealers or participate in underground economy, and tell them what's in it for them in this election cycle. And talking about those issues, i.e. adding trades back to school, including coding, or ending cash bail, or fighting for qualified immunity, not language that brothers

use, but they definitely are articulation. Absolutely. So talking about those issues, we're able to, in the primary create 144,000 black men who did not vote for Barack Obama in the primary in 2008, did not vote for him in 2012, or no other federal election in between this year and those years. And these brothers were already on the ballot. So we turned these brothers out, and then 104,000 of them came back out in the general election. So we know that talking about these issues and not talking about candidates or centering parties and party loyalty will get you more voters. We definitely know that. We saw it. So, Mondale, that's actually amazing.

And so I want to know everything about that. Number one, how do we know specifically that it was a 104,000 number? Because if that's, I mean, I want to replicate that everywhere. Indeed. And number two, what were the issues that drove them most? Yeah. Yeah. So I think it was the three issues that I just named.

Those are the only issues we talked about with black men. And these weren't our issues. We didn't say this is not the top three issues for Mundell. People always think, oh, those are your issues. I never say what's most important to me, right? Most important to me is everybody having a passport, being able to see the world. But that is not the issue that moved black men. The way we know that is because we had more than 4,000 conversations in focus group status with no cameras, like I said, no white people, no women, just black men.

And we oversimple for brothers who didn't participate in electoral politics. And the reason we know this is what moved them is because these are people who hadn't been targeted and we're not being targeted by any other group in this way. We literally had over 11 touches with each one of these brothers, meaning we talked to them in multimodal fashions at their doors on their phones, texting and calling and through their social media platform. So and then we also have a different idea on advertising. We don't run ads. You'll never send an ad on TV from Blackmail Voter Project. We go to the nightclub. We have club ambassadors. So wherever black men are, we're. We're having conversations. We figure out how to figure the DJ and the manager into our program in a way that seems real and natural and not like it's forced. And we have a candidate in the space forcing their ideas on these brothers. That went to Magic City. Well, we didn't go to we didn't go to Magic City. We brought Magic City to politics because if you look at the get your booty to the ad poll, that those talking points came from black male voter project.

We wrote those talking points and that ad was one of the most viewed political ads of this cycle. And it was most effective, I think over 12 million views. Now, now just for the sake of everything, now the ad was produced, get your booty to the poll is the one that was kind of controversial. But it was with strippers, but it was produced by a black woman in the area. Absolutely. And she consulted with Blackmail voter project for the language. And the language in that commercial was some of the best language, in my opinion, in terms of conveying the importance, the convenience, and the methodology of voting. Absolutely.

Absolutely. And it's important that we say that those are dancers at Magic City. So that's why I brought it. Yeah, so I'd upset you're, yeah, they didn't go, but they brought it to them. And don't scoff at those dances because they make a lot more money than some of y'all who have degrees. So I come from Miami. I grew up in Miami. Uncle Luke is one of my mentors who I, in the community that I grew up in. He was the DJ at my school. He taught me financial literacy at a very young age and always taught me things about the law. and I hold him with high regard and respect, and he never tried to direct me to a stripper pole. But I think that it's important to what you said. I talked about that today. When it comes to us, and when I say us, I'm talking about black and brown people, melanated people, those that come from the continent and the east, is the language that it is so important that we maintain a language.

Malcolm X talked about, speaking to the people so that a man on the street can understand what you're saying. And I think that that was very important, this election that we started using the vernacular of the average person, because the average person in our communities are not the doctors and the lawyers. Those are the exceptions. And so how, when you approach this, you seem so, you know, you're so, I don't know what the word is, you fancy. You You real fancy right now talking about what you're doing. Oh, you fancy, huh? Yeah, you know, he's fancy with it.

But I just think that I want you to express how important it is for us to speak to the people that we tend to overlook and look down on who are the people that we realize during this pandemic are the ones who keep us together and are alive and show up for us. And we don't, we, the custodians and the, and the maids and the people who are, who are the, the bulk of the people in our communities who actually saved their money at own homes. And continuously, we overlook them and we keep talking to this very minor group of people who are the ones who got out and made through, made it through. How do we, how do we continue to have this language and to keep using this so that we could keep motivating our people to show up? Yeah, a few things. First of all, thanks for that question. The first thing is, we got to make our side of the aisle, the Democratic Party, stop spending $1.3 billion on white men consultants. Those guys fail epically, and they always fail up. It's unbelievable to me the fact that, you know, you win elections, 60%. Joe Biden became the candidate because 6% of black people in the South made it so, right? And 60% of that money did not go to black people. 20% of that money didn't. Less than 5% went to people of color of 1.3 billion spent this election cycle. And we know while the party will reap all the rewards of black and brown voters turning out, they don't reward black voters, especially for political thought and strategy. So what we did was we separate ourselves from the party. And the way we speak this language is we're not, we're not owned by the party, we're not the auxiliary of the party. We're an outside group and we proud ourselves in that.

We are of the community. And I think that being of the community gives me bonifetes that some folk can get if they grew up in the party and they depend on the party structure to eat. That's their nipple. So I don't, I don't feel that way. I am not that way. And I think speaking the language is so new to folk outside of our communities that it still sounds strange to them and they're afraid of it. But for us, it's home. It's natural for me to speak this way. When I see a black man, it's yo, what's good. And it carries over in our program as well. Another thing I would say is we are obligated to acknowledge the lessons learned from Maslow hierarchy needs that tells us folk that don't have their basic needs, man, can't think about

things like physiological relationships, meaning having healthy relationships, or think about things that are self actualization. And the way we present voting to people that are living on the margins, it too, it seems like self actualization. So we reimagined what it looks like using some behavior psychology tactics to increase brothers' participation and peak their interests in politics and letting them know that no election will be the end all be all, but all elections are tools to our liberation. Let me let me throw this at you real quick, Mandel, because Because I think a lot of people misunderstand, what you do is not simply speaking into black men by code switching. It's far more nuanced than that.

And I'm not trying to give a shameless plug to what we do every single morning. But what we do every single morning is a level of communication about the issues with the demand of truth. Right. Every time you and I and Marcus speak, there's a demand of absolute truth because, you know, between the three of us, we're not going to tolerate any BS. That's also a part of what you're doing. You're telling these black men truth and they're responding and they're showing up to the polls. Yeah, I mean, it goes back to that level of antipathy. Like, black men hate politics the way it's presented in this country, mainly because because after white men, black men were the first demographic to get the right to vote

according to the 15th Amendment. But anybody that believe the 15th Amendment gave black men the right to vote are living in a world that's fanciful, right? And I'm trying to be polite on y'all's show because I wouldn't say something else. But let's be honest, let's be honest. I mean, all that did, the 15th Amendment was make black man the first guinea pig for voter suppression and it never stopped. So black men living, if you think about it, if politics are the cure for things that are ill in communities, it seemed like black men who make up the lowest wrong of most markers in society would be the most voting demographic.

But we also know something that's true that people never say. There's no such thing as a low information voter or a sporadic voter. There's a such thing as low investment voter. And because the Democratic Party is so gladly take credit for super voters, meaning people who vote every election, but will never take credit for low investment voters. We call these people sporadic and we blame them for not turning out when in actuality. It's the party's fault because they invest in their conservative leaning white cousins trying to convince them a demographic that they've never won over their base, which are black men for the most part. Yeah, Mondale, let me jump in on that because, so I'm writing a book now about this phenomenon overall, and it comes from the assumption of Democrats that it's a center-right country. Scholars interviewed Democrats at every level, local, state and federal, and found out that the people that work in legislative offices were both more conservative than the overall

population, not just Democratic voters, but the overall population. But they assumed that the population was far more conservative than it actually was. And it's because they're coming out of it from their perspective. And so they keep thinking, well, white folks in the rich, white folks in the suburbs rule this country, right? So they're going to decide the election. When in reality, they're like the hardest votes to get. And they leave, easier votes behind because they got the wrong mindset. So that leads to the question of. So you've done amazing work and you've shown the success of it.

I mean, let me put aside my thoughts on whether they should use it. But what has been the reception when you've gone to different folks in the Democratic Party and said, look at what we're doing here? Let's, can you guys back this effort in some way, especially through your policies more than anybody else. So we can replicate this. What has been the reaction you've got? Yeah, I mean, the party, the party cringes at me. I mean, I talk too much stuff about them. So and truth, right, truth. And I think we, until we are willing to admit that, like you said, the party is ran by rich white people. And we need to acknowledge that. And those people are

they are disconnected from the world, not just black voters or people who live on the margins, they really don't understand. And if you don't believe me, why in the world are we still elected? Why is Bernie Sanders using the same consultants that Hillary Clinton use? Oops. So, I mean, let's just be honest about that. So if you are, how are you progressive or how is this party, all of their elections that are determined by black people turn it out in ungodly amounts of numbers and voting over one. for them and yet in still they don't they don't target this demographic. That is to say that they don't understand it, they don't know it.

And they can't, if we're telling the truth, the party is ran by people who came to Washington with the Clintons. And that strategy that war in Georgia, you know, 90 and 92 will never work again because back then the largest voting block were baby boomers and they were majority white. That can never be the case anymore. The largest voting block now are the millennials and those behind them. And they're 42% something other than white. So until people come to the realization that your way is failed, and there are consequences

for failing, we will never understand it from our party why they don't support efforts like mine, efforts like New Georgia project efforts like Rep Georgia, efforts like the Working Family Party and other organizations that are doing great work. So here's what I say, I'm done trying to get at their table. People always talk about sitting at their table. That is not my ideal. I am very country and I can build a table myself out of any piece of wood. And I would much rather eat my soul food than their unsalted gravy.

Not the raisins, the raisins and the potato salad. Right. Recied week. I'd get it there with at least one more question of this fancy man. You fancy, huh? No, I, you know, I totally agree with that. And I just think, you know, how do we resonate with people right now? That's what I'm focusing on.

I'm intentional and for me I don't ever look at any political party in history and ever thought they've been good to our people, right? Never. So for me to say that would be a lie. And nobody here that's even here with Asher, not any of us can say that any of these political parties have truly been good to us. Cenk is Muslim, she's a woman, I'm a Latin woman that's black and so on and so forth. So how do we get, how do we maintain the attention of our people to stay politically engaged. And as the gentleman who was on before said that we vote every day because we fund our own oppression, we continuously invest our dollars into corporations who are, who mean us no good.

So how do we resonate with people knowing that, because there's a sense of hopelessness and helplessness with the people right now. And this election, this Donald Trump-Biden theme made it worse because people were like, was difference, right? And we know there's a difference, but when it comes to us, that difference isn't the difference that it is for everybody else. It means if the world gets worse, it gets even worse for us, because we are always at the back of the line. Yeah, so here's what I would say. The way we keep the intention of our people is we teach them that voting is not the end all, be all in democracy. It is the brushing of the teeth, right? So you don't have social bad breath,

you have to vote, right? That's what we need to teach our people. If you want to bathe the entire democracy, you have to, you have to stay engaged civically and you have to hold people accountable. So electing someone is not revolutionary, unelecting them when they don't do what they say is the revolution. So I tell people all the time, don't center candidates center the issues of your people, and I promise you they will stay engaged because they're always talking about what's important and the personality can't let them down when that person is not the head of what's driving them. Issues of driving people will keep people engaged. It is the fire that never burns out, the internal flame. So, Mondale, I want to go back to those, I guess last question, sorry, I'm just so fascinated by it. Those three issues that you mentioned. If you could mention them again for the ones that resonate most with black male voters, and then pick one, if you can, for like, if you

were running Osloff in Warnock's campaigns, what would you say for picking among those three issues that you think would make the difference in this election? Yeah, so, you know, I normally charge people for this during. But your family's so I'll let you slide. So especially in talking about giving, you know, pointers to these Democratic parties who already spent $187 million on ads. They got that money already. It's ridiculous.

But so as the way we're having any conversations in the runoff is a little different that we did in the general. In the general, we talked about the need to put trades back in school to give black men economic freedom from this racist hiring process and workforce as America. Also, we talked about ending cash bail because. that amount of days black men sit in jail in a country that tells us you are innocent to proven guilty. And then also qualified immunity. The way we're having a conversation

now around the runoff is we're talking about if you care about consent decrees around these racist police departments, the Senate controls who runs the Department of Justice. This is a reason to vote. If you care about the over policing of black men by federal agents like the FBI, then you need to vote because the Senate confirms that person as well. And if you care about the over sentence of black men in federal courts, then you need the the vote as well because guess what? The Senate also confirms federal judges. That's the conversation we have asking me to pink brother, pick brother would be selfish because that is not, that is not, these are not my issues and I am not enough votes to win Georgia. These

are the issues of black men in Georgia. And I think we need to stay all three and not silo issues because it gives Republicans ways to single us out and pick us apart. So that that party is speaking on conservative talking points as they are. I'm talking about also and whatnot. I'm well aware that they have enough money to talk about all three of those issues and flush them out so that black men can be excited even more. So I wonder, Mondale, though, if that talk right after the election about we shouldn't have gone towards defund the police will wound up actually hurting in Georgia. Absolutely not. Here's the thing, people forget that Georgia didn't win because

conservative folks decided to vote for Democrats. They won because progressive people, progressive minded folk, black folk, and other folk turned out in record numbers, right? Like I said, we saw 104,000 black man that didn't vote for the black president twice come to elections. And these brothers were only valid. Mondale, I'm actually saying the opposite. I phrase it very, very poorly.

But the attack that Abigail Spanberger and Joe Biden himself had against the phrase defund the police. Yeah. After the election, do you think that might hurt them in Georgia? Because they're just basically saying, it feels like they're saying, we're not going to do anything about criminal justice reform. Yeah, I think you, I think your question was phrased properly the first time. That what I'm trying to say is, these people that turned out, they didn't turn out because of the candidates.

They turned out in spite of the candidates. Joe Biden isn't the reason he's the president. It's the idea that we can build more on a on a on ground that is, you know, barren, but not desert land. Donald Trump was desert land. People didn't vote for Joe Biden. They vote for what's possible and who we can hold electable and where we should plant our seeds of progress. So Joe Biden is not the, he's not the recipient. I mean, he's the recipient of this grace, but not the fact that him nor Barack Obama, nor James Clyburn or any other status quo

politician is responsible for this blue wave that happened. And anybody thinking defund the police was the reason people lost, then look at the candidates that was really running on defunded police, right? Jamal Bowman is a congressman now. Corey Bush is a congresswoman now. And these are defunded police candidates. So I don't know what they're talking about. The candidates is that laws were those milk toast candidates that was running on Pelosi and Clyburn's platform. And I feel bad for them that they can't see the truth. And it's presented so plainly to them. I love it.

I love it. You know what I love. If I have any superpower, Mandel, it is the fact that I feel like I could just open my mouth and something brilliant comes out. And I have to say you have that suit. I'm so confident when you open up your mouth that you're going to speak truth to power every single time. And thank you so much for coming on here and showing us what's really happening in the state of Georgia.

Appreciate you, brother. Y'all stay blank and brown. Now you hear me? We'll be back right after. In taxes, that's about it. We'll be back after this week. Welcome everyone to the final segment of this two-hour special, TYT, flipped the state of Georgia. And first, I do want to take a second to thank Jank and TYT for actually putting this on for the people of the state of Georgia.

state of Georgia because we know what time it is and we really appreciate you giving us a platform to speak specifically about it. Of course, we got to win the seats. And if we do, just like Mandelao was saying, it does mean our mission is accomplished, but we're on more fertile ground. Yeah, then we can at least go to work, do us of farming. Yeah, yeah. And speaking of good ground, I want to bring on Justin Horwitz. He is the president and founder of really American full transparency. I am a senior advisor for really American. And Justin, you are doing some amazing work there in the state of Georgia. First of foremost, thank you for joining us. Thanks for having me on guys. Great special tonight.

Thank you for doing it. Listen, one of the reasons I think I'm a senior advisor for you is because like I followed your work for years and I know that I could trust that title where like, you know, we want to, it takes a lot for me to give that title. But it's because I've seen the progressive work that you've done over the years. Talk about that in context. of your transition from what you've been doing for the past, I don't know, five years that I've known you all the way to what you're doing in the state of Georgia. Sure. Well, everything we have been doing up until this point had been largely digital media focus. And we were just looking at the landscape in the progressive world. And really

outside of the young Turks packs, there really aren't any political action committees out there that are progressive on a national level. You've got places like the Lincoln Project who are a group of neocons, you know, now pretending to be Democrats and other organizations. So we just felt there was a need to invest in the digital space. And as, you know, have a space for progress in this political climate. And like I said, the only thing that it really existed were groups like Wolfpack, Valley Impact and the other great organizations that Jank and TYT have put together.

And so kind of building on that, we just decided to jump in. And your work in Georgia has been very specific, very targeted, and there's been a tremendous response. So you really, American, really got busy during the general election, and now you're shifting your focus to Georgia, and you've been doing a whole lot of work. I want to work in reverse. If we could pull up on the screen, you're responsible for the following billboards that are everywhere. And I'm basically a hermit in Georgia right now, but I've been out, and whenever I go out, I see them. This is one of the first ones from really American saying Purdue, Leffler, didn't deliver for Trump, don't deliver for them. And what's amazing about this ad is that you were ahead of the curve, right?

This is a division that is real in the state of Georgia, and we're seeing it play out on national news, every single day, the divide that's in the Republican Party. Tell us about that and the rhetorical, political kind of jujitsu that you're doing there. Well, honestly, and I've said this to you before, I really believe we're on a truth-telling mission here. McConnell, Laughler, and Purdue want to take out Trump. And so we find ourselves in a situation where we can simply just tell the truth that these Washington insiders, and we've only put these areas of Georgia that went percent plus for Trump. But, you know, our goal is simple, just to reinforce the truth here is that these insiders didn't deliver for Trump and that Trump supporters shouldn't deliver

for them. It's really simple. So can I, I got to jump in here. So, Justin, first of all, brilliant, right after my own heart, right? So in fact, I was thinking of doing something similar Then I saw we were going to do a news story and they said, oh, there's some right wing organization that is doing this called Really American. I was like, no, that's Justin. So that's, I love it. Okay. First of all, where can people go to help? And then second of all, I want to get like to ask you about media reaction. Have they figured out what's going on here or no? So yes, but it would take, the type of it would take to get out into these rural communities and let everybody know what they, that this was, you know, by us would be extraordinary. The Georgia Republican parties issued a few statements attacking us pretty aggressively.

outside of that, though, I mean, we've got 50 plus up scattered throughout very rural Georgia. So the messaging operation media-wise that it would take to really inform everybody of what's going on would be substantial. And the Republican Party finds itself in a pretty difficult position right now when they're painting Lynn Wood as a Democrat. Republicans know what to believe. Yeah, they're telling their supporters, oh, Lynn Wood's a Democrat. the populist right, the Breitbart type readers, they don't believe these claims now of painting everybody who's saying to set out the election as Democrats. And we're not actually saying set out the election. We'd actually prefer they vote for Warnock and Ossoff.

They need to teach Purdue in law for a lesson because they failed to deliver for Trump. I love it. I love it. And what that does for the people at home is it flips money in politics on its head. The reason why Republicans have won so many elections and corporate Democrats too is because they're drenched in money. And so people think that politics is a debate and like as if everybody's listening. They are all in one room, they hear out both ideas, and then they choose.

No, that doesn't happen at all. guy grabs a megaphone and completely monopolizes what people are hearing. So when really American runs these billboards, yeah, nobody's ever going to find out. If they do, it's like 5% or 10% who's actually running the billboards. Well, you don't like that, great, get money out of politics. Okay, that's the main reason why the Koch brothers win so many elections. It's not the Republican Party, it's a party that's split between Koch brothers and Donald Trump. So, and that's why I, that was a point of Wolfpack in the first place, which is use

what's wrong in the system to attack its Achilles heel, use the money in politics to attack money in politics. And that's what they've done brilliantly here in Georgia. And speaking of, I want to pull up these, the second billboard that you have there, and let's discuss that briefly because it is driving Georgia Republicans ridiculously sick. Purdue and Leffler, get rich, Georgians get sick. I apologize, my eyes went out on to me for a minute, but we get it like, I mean, that's the, that's the truth. Leffler made money off of COVID-19 while her constituents died. How is that one resonating in Georgia? Are you getting any feedback? I mean, we're getting a ton of feedback on all these billboards, and we don't have the

response that, I mean, the Republican Party has literally gone insane over the Purdue and Loeffler billboards. David Schaefer, the guy filing a lawsuit with Trump, the GOP chairman is now attacking me personally, which I find a little bit out of bounds. But that, these are two of the most corrupt senators in the United States. I think, I don't think the general public even realized how corrupt these people were until the Georgia runoff started. And the fact is, yeah, these are massive insider traders. David Purdue, everybody thought Kelly Leffler was so bad. David Purdue's made a third of all the stock trades in the entire Senate. I mean, this is just unprecedented. So they got their COVID briefings. And instead of telling Georgians, they called their stockbrokers. And it's

frankly shameful. They belong in prison, not the United States Senate. Justin, when people, I'm from the South. I'm from Florida. And so you know that there's this misconception that people who are from the South are of a lesser grade that don't have, they're not as educated that they are country or hillbillies or whatever it is that they call us. How effective do you think that information is resonating with the people in the state of Georgia, such a big working population there. You guys have a lot of Latinos there who have migrated there in the recent years. How much do you think this stuff is actually resonating with with the average man in Georgia and the average working man. Because when we talk about what Loeffler did, a lot of people don't understand that. They don't really understand what that means because they're too busy surviving. They don't understand the stock market and trading and selling and all of that. So how do you how do you think it's resonating with the average person in the average working person in the state of Georgia?

Well, I think the actual story of what they did, right, they found out how dangerous this was going to be for your family, how much it was going to hurt Georgia families across the state financially. And instead of, oh, again, they called their dock brokers and then they concealed it. I think the average person can identify with pretty easily, right? And so on a billboard, the best, you know, we have a few of them in that same vein, but the best. is that, you know, they got very rich while we got sick. And then we have another one up that says they knew but didn't tell us and sold stuff. So we're trying to drive that message home on a number of different mediums. We're running a ton of digital ads. I know Facebook is down, but we're on streaming services. We are going to do a little bit of TV, which is terrible and nobody ever likes to do it. But I think it's a message that resonates because the average Georgia family really got screwed here just so offler and Purdue could make a quick buck. And Justin, I want to circle back to like the other work that you're doing in Georgia,

because when you came to me, the one of the very first things I told you was like, whatever you do, put money into the hands of the local organizers, put money into the hands like, so you're not just running campaigns, right? You're not just running commercials. We have a commercial of yours that we want to play. But speak about the campaign to get rides to the polls and the money that you're don't that you're you're allocating to help that venture sure so we've given $50,000 to plus one vote already which is partnered up with the new Georgia project to provide geo-fenced rides free rides to the polls in Georgia we're going to give an additional 50,000 so we're going to give a hundred thousand dollars strictly for rides to the polls

an organization that I also started, meant for choice, was actually this week with the Blackmail Voter Project partnered up to send over 35,000 texts this last week into Georgia. So we are spending close to 40% of all the money we've raised, just giving it directly to organizers on the ground in Georgia, because ultimately those are the people, people like Mandel, who know how to win Georgia. And we understand that. I love it when a plan comes together. Speaking of, let's play this commercial.

Now, this is, I don't know exactly which commercial it is, but I know everyone that you guys have dropped so far has been absolute fire. Do you want to just give like a really quick introduction? Because we're running short on time. Give like a five second introduction. I don't even know which one's playing either. Okay, so then let's play. Let's play the commercial.

Here we go. I love it. As America's richest member of Congress with more than $500 million, Crooked Kelly Leffler is using her money. to shield herself from the law. On January 24th, the same day Leffler got a secret coronavirus briefing exclusively for senators,

her first concern was for her stock portfolio, not the safety of Georgians. Amid a flurry of outrage over her pandemic profiteering, Leffler's husband, Jeffrey Sprecker, made a $1 million donation to Trump's America First Action Super PAC. Just a few weeks later,

Trump's Department of Justice suddenly dropped its investigation into Leffler's suspicious stock sales. Even her fellow Republicans on Fox News were sickened by Leffler's craving corruption. Crooked Kelly Leffler thinks the law shouldn't apply to rich people like her. Vote her out on January 50. So you have no problem with the flare for dramatics. I think it's an amazing ad.

And one thing that you couple with it is the ability to make that hashtag. Every time you guys drop a video, your trend. number one in the country. We have about 90 seconds left. Tell me about that. No, that's been a big part of what we're trying to do is control the narrative on Twitter through the use of hashtags. So it's been something that we started tooling around with with Trump and now in the Georgia special. Yeah, we've had, I think, three out of our seven video. Very proxie Kelly was a number two, fortunately. But it gets people. engaged and looking into, you know, what exactly it is that has people calling her crooked

Kelly. And with Kelly Lawford, there's a variety of things, you know, her New York Stock Exchange buying off the president of the United States to drop an investigation is just one of our many crimes. But yeah, we've really tried to change the narrative and kind of beat the right wing at their own game. And I know Jank and the Young Turks understand this all too well, the power of digital and the power that the untapped potential there is because of an established consulting class that is simply there to get rich and take their 15% on TV ads. It creates real opportunity when you've got people that want to jump in and do real work. Absolutely. Justin, can I ask super quick here? So what's probably going to decide this election is

Republican voter turnout. So any sense of whether you've been able to bring that down? I don't know if, you know, it's anybody's guess, if we've been able to bring that down. But some of the polling I've seen, and I think, you know, thanks to the work of people like Lynn Wood, who are insane, embrace what they do, or at least right now, are bringing Republican turnout down. Yeah. Justin, really American PAC, thank you so much for the work that you're doing. And a special thanks to everyone here at TYT for doing this special coverage, and that's all we have this evening. Take care, everyone. Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work, listen ad-free, access members-only bonus content, and more by subscribing to Apple Podcasts at apple.com slash t-y-t.

I'm your host, Jank Huger, and I'll see you soon.