What A Day - Runoff The Jewels

Episode Date: December 4, 2020

There’s about a month left to go until the two Senate runoffs in Georgia, with Republican Senators Loeffler and Perdue walking the line of campaigning as a check on Biden while also not admitting that he will be the President. Meanwhile, Democratic challengers Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff are focusing largely on the pandemic and the multi-million dollar stock trades both their Republican opponents made in its early weeks.We spoke to Nse Ufot, the CEO of the New Georgia Project, which registered almost half a million people in Georgia leading up to the November election. She told us about what matters to voters in Georgia, how she thinks Trump’s attacks on the integrity of the election is affecting the race, and more.And in headlines: Bangladesh moves Rohingya families to a settlement on a remote island, Facebook to remove false COVID-19 vaccine info, and mayors are behaving badly.Show Links:votesaveamerica.com/georgianewgeorgiaproject.org

It's Friday, December 4th. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick. And this is What The Day, where we are reminding you that there are no side cuts in the vaccine line. That's right. No back cuts either. Front cuts are allowed. But you absolutely cannot just like keep having your friends join you in line. You got to make a plan and be there on time. Yeah. And you can't do that thing that some rich people are doing where they pay other people to wait in line for you. That's not going to work. You got to pay a lot more money than you're offering me. Yeah. Jeff Bezos. Yes. On today's show, a conversation with Nse Ufot, the CEO of the New Georgia Project,

about the upcoming Senate runoffs, turning out new voters in the state, and Republican infighting as well. Then some headlines. With just about a month left to go until two Senate runoffs in Georgia, President Trump is heading to the state tomorrow. And that has some Republicans worried. On the one hand, Republican Senators Loeffler and Perdue are looking for him to rile up the base to help them win. But on the other hand, Trump'sators Loeffler and Perdue are looking for him to rile up the base to help them win. But on the other hand, Trump's continued conspiracy theories of a stolen election in Georgia has caused a growing rift in the party, pitting him and his allies against other Republicans like Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

Yeah, those senators can't argue that they could be a check on a Biden administration if their supporters don't think that Biden won, if I follow the logic correctly. And it even went so far that Gabriel Sterling, a Republican election official in the state, pleaded for Trump to stop because of the fear that someone could get killed. There was also a recent, quote, stop the steal rally where Trump supporter Lin Wood, a lawyer who had tried to stop the certification of the vote in November, told the crowd at this event not to vote in the upcoming runoff because the last one had been stolen. Wow. Sidney Powell, who actually ended up being too zany for the Trump legal team, was also in attendance. And so that whole thing is basically the nightmare scenario for Republicans in Georgia. It's a beautiful dream for me. Well,

meanwhile, the campaigns of the Democratic challengers John Ossoff and Raphael Warnock have focused largely on the pandemic, what a Democratic Senate could do to address it, and the multimillion-dollar stock trades of both Republican senators during the pandemic. According to the polls, which are totally reliable and no one has any complaints about at all, Warnock and Ossoff are currently leading slightly. We wanted to get a sense of how all of this is playing out among voters and organizers in the state. So we spoke with Nse Ufot, the CEO of the New Georgia Project, a grassroots organization that registered almost half a million people in Georgia leading up to the November election, with a particular focus on Black voters, voters of color, and young voters. She was joining us between panel discussions, and she's pretty much living on Zooms until Election Day. But here is our conversation. Nse, thank you so much for being on the show. Thank you for having me.

Super excited. We're so excited to have you. So there are obviously a lot of national implications to these runoffs and, you know, the control of the Senate. Is that driving voters in Georgia? And can you tell me a little bit about the big issues you're hearing about from people who live in the state? Yeah. I think that, yes, the opportunity to impact the balance of power in the Senate is absolutely driving Georgians to come back out

and vote, but not as much as the threat of death. We have spent, you know, the bulk of the year polling, testing messages, focus groups, the whole nine. There's a bold and aggressive research agenda at the core of all of the work that we do. And COVID, coronavirus is the number one issue on Georgians' minds. Now there is a gendered lens to it. People identify as women and femmes. It's a, how do I keep myself safe? How do I keep my family safe? It's a healthcare issue, safety issue. For people who identify as men, it is an economic issue. The loss of jobs, the loss of income, and housing tied up into what we have lost during the pandemic. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And while those important conversations are happening and those important considerations, you have all of these Trump attacks on the Republican governor and the secretary of state and the voting system and also Senators Loeffler and Perdue doing the same thing.

How is that impacting what is going on? So much. I really thought that I would enjoy watching this infighting much more than I am. It's painful to watch a lot of secondhand embarrassment. It's true. It's coming from every side. Yeah, it is. And here's the thing in my culture. They also say that when two elephants fight, it's the grass that gets hurt. And in this moment, we are the grass. We are grassroots organizations.

72 hours ago, our Secretary of State took to the Capitol stairs, once again declared his fealty to Trump and the Republican Party, brandished his Republican bona fides and said, I'm a lifelong Republican. I voted for Trump as a way to defend himself against the attacks, and then proceeded to announce an investigation into the New Georgia Project and the voter registration work that we do. What essentially was a piece of Republican fan fiction. The idea that hordes of people are going to move to Georgia to register to vote in the runoffs.

There's no evidence that that's happening. It's absolutely not happening. And we are not doing it. But they have launched an investigation into the work of the New Georgia Project. I think that they are using us as a shield against the attacks that are coming from within their own party. Wow, that is bleak. Yeah. And you know, on that point, you've been working on voter registration for years, along with other amazing groups in Georgia. So how surprised were

you to see the state actually go blue in November? And what really stood out to you most in those results? You know, what stood out to me most was in the results were like, yay, young people, like out to Gen Z of all races. I'm very proud of them, very proud of the work that they're doing. And here's why. Bible says, train a child in the way that they should go. And so when we think about first-time voters, my first time voting was in the 2000 election. And having gone through that experience as an organizer and as an electoral organizer, I know how to have conversations with people who say my vote doesn't matter. My vote doesn't have a real impact because I have dealt with the disappointment of stolen elections. I think about 2000. I definitely think about 2018, but these young folks, the first time that they voted in a presidential election,

they legitimately flipped the state and they have an opportunity to like save people's lives. Right. Cause that's where we are right now. And a president that told us to drink bleach. We have a governor, let's be clear, who lives three miles away from the CDC headquarters and got on TV to tell the world that he didn't know that you could be asymptomatic and still, you know, be positive for coronavirus. Just lies. Just lies. These are our leaders in this moment. And so the idea that they are tapped in,

in a way that, you know, I think is going to impact our elections for our cycles to come. So that's the one thing that I'm super pumped about. I think the second thing is Donald Trump won 71% of the white vote in Georgia and still lost. And so when we talk about

this multiracial, multiethnic, multilingual, multigenerational, progressive majority that exists in the deep South, like I need people to know that it's real. And this is another proof point. This was another opportunity for us to prove

that it is real, that this sort of black, brown, gold and white progressive coalition that we are building is something that you can like wrap your arms around. And I think we'll have an impact for politics and our policy for a very long time. And also on the runoffs, like traditionally, there's lower voter turnout,

which I think is by design to help Republicans, right? Like, that's why they have the system and they have a lower turnout after an election and typically win those. Is that what you're expecting this time around? And if so, how are you confronting that? We absolutely are expecting it this time around. But I do expect the runoff turnout to exceed runoffs past, but it won't match what's in the general. I mean, voter fatigue, right? We're talking about Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas,

New Year's, Festivus for the rest of us, right? We're talking about Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year's, Festivus for the rest of us, right? We're talking about corporate brands having to make their nut by the end of the year, right? And just so much noise that we're going to have to compete with, right? But again, I think that, as I've said before, there's nothing that focuses the mind like the credible threat of death. And, you know, this shit is real. But here's the thing. Again, we are going to exceed turnout from runoffs past. That's for sure.

We are not likely to get to the turnout from the general election. But that's also because folks have been campaigning for three and a half years for the general election. And so we literally have, what, four and a half weeks? 33 days, to be exact, to determine, you know, the outcome of the balance of power in the Senate. I think that people understand that it's important. I do think that we are up against the sort of cultural behemoths in American culture.

But I also, we're using that to organize around. So like look out for our 12 days of voting, Carol, that's coming. I think that as organizers, it's our responsibility to sort of understand, to acknowledge the world as it is while we try to build the world as it should be. And so the world as it is has all of these things that we need to contend with. And so our plans incorporate them. I love that. I love that.

I want to ask one more really quick, because I know you have to run. But so the interesting thing about this, too, is that obviously, there's two Democrats, is your sense that most people are going to go in and say, like, okay, I'm voting Ossoff and Warnock as this team? And is that a benefit to both their chances? Are these candidates kind of like reaching different voters in the state at this point? Yeah. Yes, they're reaching different voters. I mean, you have Reverend Warnock, who is only the third person to lead Ebenezer since Martin Luther King was murdered. Right. And then you have John Ossoff, who is a millennial candidate, that got really excited when he ran in 2017.

The truth of the matter is that both parties are running as a ticket. I don't think that there is a scenario where one wins and the other one doesn't. The polling indicates that. But that's only because David Perdue is a well-known, like comes from a political family, is an incumbent, like a proper incumbent, not a, I wrote a big check to the governor. And so now I'm going to play senator for a year incumbent. So, yeah. Amen.

Well, Inse, we know that you are very busy. You're running between panels. You are doing the work. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us. Thank you. Thank you so much. That was Inse Uffat, the CEO of New Georgia Project. By the way, if you live in Georgia,

next Monday is the deadline to register to vote if you haven't registered already. To find out more about the candidates, donate to organizers, or just help get out the vote yourself, head over to votesaveamerica.com slash Georgia. And that's the latest. It's Friday, WOD Squad, and for today's Tim Check, we're talking about some major movie news. Warner Brothers announced yesterday that in response to movie theater closures, they'll be releasing their entire 2021 slate in theaters and on HBO Max at the same time. The slate includes 17 movies, like The Suicide Squad, The Matrix 4, Space Jam, A New Legacy, and Dune.

The news is not great for movie theater owners, and hopefully they're okay, but maybe it's more positive for us. So Giddy, what do you make of the new plan? I love it in the short term. I mean, this is like selfishly the greatest thing to ever happen, right? Like if we just had every single movie that was coming to theaters at our fingertips and our convenience and we can pause

and go to the bathroom as many times as we want, that's amazing. But the, you know, because everyone loves going to the bathroom through movies. But the thing that does suck is like the prospect of ever having a movie theater experience like we did pre-COVID ever again in like the short to long

term future. Yeah. I mean, I totally understand that. But, you know, there's like drive-ins and stuff that can always exist in the future. But you really want to sit in a big dark room with strangers coughing and sneezing and making body sounds. You gotta feel comfortable, man. Thousand percent. I will. No, I need the reactions to the movies. I need the someone's in the closet, someone yelling that like when there's a horror movie that's in a movie theater. I miss that. That's like a very sort of like human communal space, like a subway train, you know? Yeah. Same level of threat and same level of humanity bumping into each other. You know, I appreciate that. I do think that there's value

in having like a joint experience with strangers. And that's what honestly, we're all missing about the pandemic. I think it's true. It's bittersweet. And it's very true. But same question for you, Akilah, what are you thinking of this HBO Max agenda? I mean, I'm similarly hyped. You know, I've been paying for HBO Max. And honestly, I have been watching it for the Fresh Prince reunion alone. It's been worth the investment. But yeah, there's a lot of movies that I probably would not have paid to see. Like, obviously, I wasn't going to go to the theater because I'm a person who really is taking this so seriously. I absolutely am not a person who's going to go to the theater until it's safe. But I think that like, you know, Dune doesn't necessarily appeal to me. You know,

one syllable, one word, remakes of movies are just, it wasn't bringing anything up for me, even with Zendaya. And now I'm like, hey, maybe I will check it out. So I think that maybe this will open up my mind to more kinds of movies. I have been watching a lot of movies lately that were never on my radar that very few people have recommended, to be quite frank. And I think it's been good for me. It's definitely opened and broadened my horizons. Yeah, I feel the exact opposite about Dune, where I'm like, I want to see the insane sandworm thing

on a large screen. And I think that it's going to be like a minor to major catastrophe. So I would love to have the experience of that in a communal space. But I think that's great. We should all have our eyes open to Dune in some way, shape or form.

My fear is just that that worm thing is too sexy. And then I'm in a public place and it's like awkward for everybody. Like I like it too much. It's true. Right. I need to be at home with my laptop watching Dune for the big, scary worm. I've never seen it.

So if it's not sexy, don't tell me. We'll leave it at that. There's no comment until tomorrow morning. Well, just like that, we have checked our tips. They're pretty dry and warm, like I'm going to say the word for this Dune movie. But stay safe, and we'll be back with some headlines. Headlines.

Bangladesh began moving Rohingya families from refugee camps to a new settlement on a remote island yesterday. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims sought refuge in Bangladesh after escaping genocide in Myanmar during recent years. And now the Bangladeshi government is trying to relocate them onto Basan Char, an uninhabited island made of silt that only began existing just 20 years ago. Contractors insist that the new housing and facilities are way better than the shelters they currently live in, but many are more concerned about the island's extreme weather conditions. The UN and other humanitarian groups are calling for a halt in the relocation until there can be a third-party inspection of the settlement before more people are sent there.

And many are also arguing that no one should be moved without their full and informed consent. Yeah, cosign. Well, it was another busy day for the always innovating company that brought us reels on Instagram. Facebook announced they'll begin removing false claims about COVID-19 vaccines on all their platforms. This is the most the company has ever done to fight the spread of anti-vax ideas. Before, they would mark misinformation with a warning label,

but now they're willing to hit the delete button since they think misinformation about COVID and vaccinations could, quote, lead to imminent physical harm. Facebook was also hit with a lawsuit from the Justice Department yesterday, which claims that the company discriminated against Americans by hiring foreign workers with so-called H-1B visas over workers from the U.S. This allegedly violated a federal law that requires employers to demonstrate there are no qualified U.S. workers for a given permanent position before offering that position to temporary workers from outside the country. Trump's anti-immigration views have led him to fight throughout his presidency to restrict H-1B visas for skilled foreign-born employees, but tech companies have consistently

pushed back. That is right. American mayors continue to set an example for their citizens, demonstrating how to follow COVID guidelines by coming just as close as you possibly can to breaking them. Good behavior modelers include Austin Mayor Steve Adler, who apologized yesterday for recording a video in early November where he said, quote, we need you to stay home if you can. This is not the time to relax. At a time when he was relaxing at his family's timeshare in Cabo San Lucas. In his apology, Adler made clear he didn't technically violate any COVID orders from Austin or the state of Texas, though he did break an unofficial rule which says, don't make everyone in your city want to roll your head in the scrambled eggs at your resort's all-inclusive buffet.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed also came under fire for going to an eight-person dinner at the Napa Valley restaurant The French Laundry, where meals cost as much as $1,200, wee-wee, three days before her city banned indoor dining. Similarly, not illegal, but it could get you thrown in optics jail for the rest of your life. California Governor Gavin Newsom ate at The French Laundry with lobbyists just a day before Breit did. Both officials have since apologized. But actions speak louder than words. You guys can prove your commitment to fighting COVID by eating only microwavable Trader Joe's meals on isolated mountaintops for the remainder of 2020. That's right.

I hope you have a fork to poke the little plastic top. Well, Florida has made clear its position on sex work. If you're an immigrant who sells it, you have to pay $31,000. But if you're a billionaire who buys it, you can get away with just being embarrassed on TV. Three employees of a Palm Beach massage parlor took plea deals last month in connection with the prostitution sting that also implicated

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Charges against Kraft and 24 other customers were dropped after surveillance video of them allegedly soliciting prostitution was barred from being used as evidence. However, three women who allegedly sold sexual favors will pay up to $31,000 plus serve at least one year of probation. Maybe this had to do with a famous loophole to the law, which is if you own an NFL team, it actually doesn't apply to you. The charges were part of a highly publicized human trafficking bust by Florida police officers that targeted Chinese massage parlors. It ultimately found no trafficking, just licensed masseuses charging a fee for consensual sex acts. The cops could have

saved the state a lot of time and money by just putting signs in the parlors that said, if you don't want to do anything funny here, maybe just don't ask for it. Cops, again, could have saved a lot of time and money in a lot of places, you know? You're not wrong. And those are the headlines. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe leave a review spring us out

of optics jail and tell your friends to listen and if you're into reading and not just a synopsis for space jam a new legacy like me what a day is also a nightly newsletter check it out and subscribe at crooked.com subscribe i'm keela hughes i'm gideon resnick and we'll see you on instagram reels no way i'm a t. Sorry. Yeah, not familiar with it. And frankly, I'm deleting it from my memory right now. We don't know her. It's gone. Never heard of it.

What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tan is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milstein. And our executive producers are Katie Long, Akilah Hughes, and me. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kshaka.