What A Day - Yes We Michigan with Rep. Rashida Tlaib

Episode Date: November 20, 2020

Michigan and Wayne County have repeatedly been targeted in Trump’s attempts to overturn the election results. In particular, he and his supporters have singled out Detroit, a heavily Democratic, majority-Black city. We talk to Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib about that effort. Plus, we get her take on what’s next for House Democrats and what she’d like to see from the Biden administration. And in headlines: what happens when the Pope likes posts, no more politics in Animal Crossing, and Rudy Giuliani melts. Plus, we’re joined by writer and comedian Demi Adejuyigbe.Show Links:Find Demi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/electrolemon 

It's Friday, November 20th. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick, and this is What A Day, where we are preparing to eat our favorite Thanksgiving dish, whole cans of delicious cranberry sauce. Yeah, not the ones with the actual cranberries in it. I want Jell-O-esque cranberry sauce that literally is a can. Yeah, if it doesn't bounce off the ground, then it doesn't count. Yeah, what is that? On today's show, a conversation with Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib about the election and what comes next, then some headlines. But first, a quick announcement. We're going to be taking a short

break all next week for Thanksgiving. So in the meantime, our friends at Pod Save America and Pod Save the World will be putting out episodes. So definitely head over there if you're in need of some political sanity. And we'll be right back in your feeds on Monday, November 30th. Yeah, before you know it, hope you can all take a break as well and be safe without making your family sad. It is a tough task. But back to today's show. In the aftermath of the election, President Trump has taken even more steps to overthrow the will of voters as his legal strategy has dramatically failed at every turn. Today, he is reportedly set to meet with top Republican state legislators from Michigan who he invited to the White House.

I guess Trump wanted to concede in person. Just kidding. He reportedly wants them to put in electors that will vote for him because, of course. Both lawmakers have said previously that the person with the most votes in their state will be certified the winner. That person is President-elect Joe Biden. And the certification deadline is next Monday. So we will have to see. And this comes after an episode in Wayne County that we talked about on yesterday's show where Republican members on the canvassing board initially voted against certifying results, then reversed their position, and then after that signed affidavits to rescind their votes to certify. Those affidavits, by the way, came after Trump himself had called one of them, which is utterly insane.

But Michigan's secretary of state has said they cannot legally do that. Wayne County is home to Detroit, the city where Black voters were at risk of being disenfranchised by these board members, which brings us to our guest today. That's right. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has represented the 13th district in Michigan since 2018, which includes parts of Detroit. We spoke with her about these undemocratic acts from the president, Biden's victory, Democratic losses in the House, her new progressive colleagues, and so much more. Here's that conversation. Representative Tlaib, thank you so, so much for joining us. No, thank you for having me. Oh, we're so pumped. All right. So I want to start by asking about what's going on in Michigan. There's been a lot of back and forth this week where Republicans in Wayne County, you know, didn't want to certify the results there.

And then they had that explicit, you know, racist singling out of Detroit. Then there was a report about a conversation between Trump and one of the Republicans involved. And he's invited some Michigan state lawmakers to the White House. And, you know, it seems like some sort of apparent attempt to overturn the election. Y'all should know this is a criminal scheme. It's a scheme. It is. It's a scheme where the president of the United States is trying to steal this election and disenfranchise, you know, an 80 percent black city from from their voice,

from their votes. It is very alarming. I think I have to tell you, hundreds, hundreds of residents in Wayne County testified during public committee public hearing during the Wayne County Board of Canvassers meeting. And one by one was just distraught. And you can and they count all the votes, that all of a sudden, you know, these political activists and this lawless, you know, forever impeached president would get involved and taking away, again, their voice and really attempt to dismantle our democracy. many people feeling so much pain of tears, people testifying tears. I can't believe this is happening during my generation where I've heard in the past being, you know, a black man in this country. My grandfather, my father had to deal with this, that I have to deal with this now. Absolutely. Yeah. And, you know, even while Biden won the election, pretty convincingly, Democrats lost seats in the House, of course. When you look at that, what went wrong there? And should leadership in any way kind of be held accountable or change in some way, shape or form?

I mean, I really do believe in individual accountability. I think if you really, truly represent your district and you stay rooted in your district, you will always have the people with you. If they come after you, people are going to be like, nope, I know that person. They actually do want to end racism in our country. And they understand that mass incarceration is part of it. And they understand that, yeah, more Black folks in our country died of COVID than other folks because of some of the pre-existing conditions, because these broken systems were set up against our black neighbors. And so I think it's about

focusing on those various issues. And everybody is, everyone is going to have different ones. Like for me, it's a community that is, you know, huge poverty. But you know, what's tied into that and what people see also is tied into it, and you might not know it unless you're from the 13th district, is the high rates of auto insurance. We have the highest rates of auto insurance in Michigan in my district where they're paying $5,000. And University of Michigan did a study saying that's what is keeping people in the cycle of poverty. Well, that's what I'm doing up here. I had two hearings on auto insurance discrimination. I mean, y'all, they're using proxies like credit score, education level.

Yo, education level. Like as if a doctor somehow like drives better than somebody from high school. I mean, marital status. It's just all these kind of proxies that we know is a form of discrimination that they're using. But people know when I go door to door, they're like, Rashida, I know about the paid act that you're trying to do this. So I know, you know, folks think that it needs to be this bigger, like, no, it gets down to the basis of represent your district when you get here. Do not focus so much on, you know, the politics and the bubble of D.C. Go home. stay rooted, stay close to the pain and the

hurt. Because when you come here and you talk about those issues in committee and not talk about the national narrative, but talk about your district narrative, what is going on on the ground, people will respect and appreciate that in you and say, OK, that person has our back. She gets it. She's connected and understand. I mean, the majority of my colleagues are millionaires. And I bet you some of them represent areas like McConnell that are really struggling. And they're so disconnected, y'all. So disconnected. We got to find someone that, again, stays so close to the ground, understands, has that credibility with people so that no matter what they try to come after you with, and trust me, they have come after me left and right with all kinds of things. And people like, no, I've seen

the complete opposite because I outwork the hate. I outwork all the lies and the misleading by actual action on behalf of my residents. Oh, a word. I love it. All right. Well, you know, that's a really good segue to our next question. So, you. So you have been really outspoken about not shying away from the needs of your constituents. And some of your house colleagues have blamed the house losses on activist language, like defund the police. So what's your response to that kind of line of thinking? And when you tell your colleagues how you actually feel about it, does it register? Do you feel like they actually even understand the issue? I mean, I think, you know, this this form of blaming terminology, a movement that existed not because I'm here. It came about because they were killing black folks left and right. I mean,

it just wouldn't stop. I mean, a man literally died in front of our eyes calling for his mother and created this uprising. We don't call it that, but it is an uprising in our country. And these are folks from different backgrounds, Crete, are saying enough, enough in militarization and criminalizing the poor, enough with all of it. And, you know, one of the beautiful things about the uprising is I love that they're not only focused on who killed George Floyd and, you know, Sandra and everyone. They're also focusing on what killed George Floyd. The systems that are in place that created the possibility of someone to just have that much authority and power over this black man to sit there and, you know, just completely take his last breath right in front of our eyes. Because someone that was supposed to be protecting us

was literally part of a system that, you know, to me can't be reformed and all of those things. But to say to all of us, oh, it's this or that. No, I will not allow you to silence my district who truly believe to be equally heard and listened to as much as anybody else's district. And I don't try to silence any of other colleagues ever. You come in, tell me you want to talk about fracking and how that great. But I got to tell you what the toll public health toll is. And I don't come out and say it's, you know, I say to them, there's a better way. And let me show you that there's a better way of creating jobs. I don't come back in this combative, like trying to silence people. And I jokingly say, sometimes I feel like, wow, if maybe if I had an R next to my name,

they might be willing to hear and see me as an equal. And that is unfortunately the truth about what's happening in this institution that hasn't been really ready for someone like me or really continues to ignore people like our district that I feel like in many ways is the light that if we follow them, I truly believe it gets me emotional. I truly believe they could completely transform our country. If you just listen to the people that have been hurt the most of doing nothing on climate, doing nothing about racism, doing nothing on poverty. If you listen to them, really listen to them, you would see less death. You'd see less pain and hurt in our country. People would be happier, feel freer. And I and I just ask my colleagues to equally hear and see me and

stop telling me to stop advocating on behalf of my Black folks. Right. Right. I mean, one bit of hope is that the number of progressive members in the House has increased with wins from candidates like Jamal Bowman and Cori Bush, as you know, but the House majority for Democrats is going to be a little bit smaller. So how do you see progressives being able to exercise their power in that kind of environment? You know, they exercise their power by really, truly, again, focusing on their district and bringing that voice here. I'll tell you, if you do it, you'll always have the backing of your district. And I mean, everybody in your district. And so I just, you know, know that we'll be successful if we're staying connected and bringing that voice here.

And it isn't something that I feel like is that complex. I do know this, where the tension always comes in is around timeline. And I'll tell you, President-elect Biden came to Detroit and he's like, I'm going to need your help. And I'm thinking he's talking. I was like, no, I got you. You're going to look. We can't afford another. We cannot afford another four years of Trump. I got you. And he goes, no, afterwards. And I said, well, sir, I'm not going to be your favorite Congress member because I'm on a different timeline. I truly am. They can't wait another hour, another minute, another day. They're literally breathing in polluted air. They're sending their kids to schools that the fountains are shut down because of lead. They can't wait anymore because they aren't able to really thrive and do well.

And so I'm going to be on a different timeline because I truly believe President-elect Biden and I have the same goals. I know it's like sometimes it's like in the present world. I do. I believe he wants to elevate people out of poverty and cleaner air. But they might want to take it slower and maybe take a little increments of this kind of step towards it. But my folks know they want universal health care now. They want to be able to not worry about where to get their child's insulin now. And so it is that's where you're going to see a little bit of tension. But I hope that people understand I have to move with that sense of urgency. And I really do think more people are with us about these main issues.

And the commonality is they'll tell you if we take the corporate greed out of these schemes, out of these systems, take the corporate greed, the profit out of it, you will make sure that people are protected, that people are being served. Well, that's a very optimistic note to leave it on. So Representative Tlaib, thank you so much for being on our show.

We really appreciate your time today. No, thank you for having me. That was Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib. All right, so we're gonna take a break from TempCheck today because we, thank you for having me. That was Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib. All right. So we're going to take a break from TempCheck today because we've got a special Headlines guest. We'll be back with that after some ads. Let's wrap up with some Headlines. Headlines.

We've got a special guest with us today, writer and comedian, Demi Adejuibe. Demi, hello. How you doing? I'm great. How are you guys? Oh my gosh.

Good. Living the dream, the 2020 experience. Yeah, this is the best year of all of our lives. We're glad you could join us for it. Yeah, thank you for having me. Perfect. All right, well, Demi, you got the first headline.

Get us started. All right. The Vatican City has been rocked by the biggest mystery since the great Robert Langdon solved the Da Vinci Code. Why is the Pope acting so horny on the main? Last week, a like from the Pope's official Instagram account appeared on a post from bikini model Italia Gar garibato god's light shines through the darkness and sometimes it lands on a perfectly posed ass the like disappeared the next day but its origin remained unknown so far no new posts

from the pope flexing the gym to show that this is just the kind of bad boy that he is the vatican has launched an investigation with the spokesperson saying quote we can exclude that the like came from the holy sea and it has turned to instagram for explanations please explain that instagram and while you're at it explain why my account keeps commenting post feet on instagram pics of am pm tomb gifts in the dead of night honestly i'm just jealous that the pope doesn't like my instagrams what What's the point? The Pope's actually been sliding into my DMs a lot, and I didn't realize he wasn't doing that to everyone,

so now I'm like, oh, I'm special. Yeah, wow, oh my God. Congratulations, by the way. He says I'm blessed. He says hashtag blessed by the Pope. Well, bad news for those of us who use island farming simulations to keep up with the discourse. Nintendo announced new guidelines for businesses and organizations in Animal Crossing yesterday,

and they include a ban on, quote, bringing politics into the game. This would presumably affect President-elect Joe Biden, who may have to leave the aviator and ice cream-themed island he launched as a campaign stunt back in October. Trust me, this news will absolutely destroy the man. To the staffer who has to say, Mr. President, your virtual world for animals that go fishing can no longer exist. Prepare yourself to see a grown man reduced to tears. Other rules announced by Nintendo included a ban on brands directing players to anything outside of Animal Crossing, like contests or social media sites. For the true fans, there is no outside of animal crossing the smiling 3d akilah hughes with the

giant head and tiny body is the real akilah hughes and actually i am the simulation so how about that i am destroyed by this news my there's still politics in the game if you've had avery on your island it's this eagle and he's for sure a republican i feel so blessed that i didn't get into animal crossing only because I was too I was like, I'm too lazy to go and buy it and it's going to take up too much space on my Switch so I won't download it. It also seems like a lot of work. Yeah.

I don't want to play a game where it's just like there's no end, you're just living life. I'm like, I don't like life as it is. I don't want to fail at it digitally. Yeah, I can't have two lives. I gotta say, watching Time Pass on the game is the worst part of it. I'm like, oh shit, it's like nighttime. I've been here all day. Sometimes my friends will be

like, oh, I gotta log back into my island or the villagers are gonna be pissed. I'm like, you have responsibility. You have to log in. My island probably has ghosts by now. I haven't been back in a month. That's a, what a hellish game. Unless they're sponsoring the podcast, then it rules.

They are. Not anymore. Not after this end. Trump's odds of a successful challenge to the election continued to melt away yesterday, literally in the form of a brown goo dripping from Rudy Giuliani's head. Giuliani and a self-described elite strike force of lawyers held a press conference to contest Biden's win, which was most notable for a moment when hair dye started to roll down Giuliani's face. In Rudy's defense, we all got mad at Trump for spending our tax dollars on stylists. Rudy is saving money by coloring his hair at home using crayons and water from an NYC hot dog stand.

The content of the press conference was equally unhinged. Rudy's team claimed the election had been swayed by communists in Venezuela, Cuba, and China, and that some of the voting machines were designed by Hugo Chavez and could easily be hacked by, quote, kids with cell phones. Rudy, any cell phone kid who's good at hacking is a Bitcoin millionaire. They don't care who's the president as long as they don't outlaw Bitcoin. This is all playing out as Trump's legal team continues to lose cases that allege voter fraud without any evidence i don't want to give them any ideas but there's an advanced legal strategy called tinkerbelling that involves clapping very hard to make the voter fraud become real and i think

they should try it yeah just like clap guys i mean don't don't right don't do it it won't work because you gotta believe and no that's a good point that's the other part of tinkerbell yeah that that die falling down to face shows a lack of belief in in my eyes it really does that's defeat right there in the form of believe in himself he doesn't even believe in his hair you know his brain slowly melting out of his head yeah i mean how can you even clap if you don't have a central nervous system because it's shutting down? I'm just asking questions. Even if it's trying to leave, that's how bad it is.

His brain's jumping ship. No fraud detected there. Okay, one company may have just won the prize for most shockingly evil response to coronavirus. This is actually a terrible story. Managers of a Tyson pork backing plant in Waterloo, Iowa were suspended yesterday after allegations that they placed bets on how many of their employees would get COVID-19. They all read Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and thought, this is good. How could we make it worse? The claims are from a lawsuit filed by family members of an employee who died after getting COVID from the plant in April. According to the suit,

the plant manager literally organized a winner-takes-all pool for supervisors and managers to bet on how many of their workers would test positive. Interestingly enough, we've organized such a pool to bet on how many of them we'd like to see in The Hague, and folks, it's all of them. The suit also alleges

that the facility covered up an outbreak, put lower-level supervisors in charge when managers wanted to avoid getting the virus, and rolled out a bonus program to incentivize workers to keep coming in, even if they were sick. There have been 11,000 COVID cases among employees of Tyson Foods, the owner of which saw his net worth increase by $600 million since the start of the pandemic. So yeah, just some surplus rage to get you through this break. Well, that does it. I'm making my dinosaur nuggets at home from now on.

Exactly. I don't need them. I don't need them. This is insane. Yeah. It feels like a thing you make up in a dystopian novel and we're all like, okay, alright, sure. Yeah, like that's a little on the nose. Yeah. They're betting on death. Who would be so craven? Come on, Hunger Games.

And I'm like, it's actually a lot of them. Well, you know, in lighter news, thank you so much, Demi for being here. Thank you for having me.

And like, where can all of our listeners find you? You know, got anything to plug? First of all, you can't find me and you never will. I'm on Twitter and Instagram at Electra Lemon. Plug wise, please watch the Amber Ruffin show every Friday on Peacock,

which I've been writing for. It's such a delight. Hell yeah. Yes. It is the absolute best. Well, Demi is the best. Follow him, people.

And those are the headlines. One last thing before we go. Definitely check out this week's Unholier Than Thou episode. Phil talks to Caitlin Curtis, who's a citizen of the Potawatomi Nation and a Christian.

Yeah, she and Phil talk about balancing conflicting identities, decolonizing her faith, and relearning our history. It's a great episode, and we'll give you something to talk about during your Thanksgiving Zoom dinner. Check out Unholier Than Thou wherever you get your podcasts, and make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, leave ToomGus alone, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just guidelines from Nintendo that say, can't we just put politics aside and have fun like me?

Well, today's also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick. And have a safe Thanksgiving. I hope your pie is super warm and delicious. Get that crust right. Get that bacon right.

Don't light anything on fire. Don't drop a turkey in oil. That's bad. Yeah, that's dumb. Just good vibes, all right? 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.