The Darrell McClain show
Independent media that won't reinforce tribalism. We have one Planet; nobody's leaving so let’s reason together!! Darrell, McClain is a Military veteran with an abnormal interest in politics, economics, religion, philosophy, science, and literature. He was born and raised in Jacksonville FL, and went to Edward H white High School where he wrestled Under Coach Jermy Smith and The Late Brian Gilbert. He was a team wrestling captain, District champion, and an NHSCA All-American in freestyle Wrestling. He received a wrestling scholarship from Waldorf University in Forest City, Iowa. After a short period, he decided he no longer wanted to cut weight which effectively ended his college wrestling journey. Darrell Mcclain is an Ordained Pastor under The Universal Life Church and is still in good standing, he's a Believer in The Doctrines of Grace Also Known as Calvinism. He joined the United States Navy in 2008 and was A Master At Arms (military police officer) He was awarded several awards while on active duty including an expeditionary combat medal, a Global War on Terror medal, a National Defense Medal, a Korean defense medal, and multiple Navy achievement medals. While In the Navy he was also the assistant wrestling coach at Robert E Lee High School. He's a Brown Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under six six-degree black belt Gustavo Machado, Darrell Trains At Gustavo Machado Norfolk under the 3rd-degree black belt, and Former Marine Professor Mark Sausser. He went to school for psychology at American Military University and for criminal justice at ECPI University.
The Darrell McClain show
Political Earthquake: Unraveling the Trump Administration’s Bold Moves and Their Impact on America
What if the political landscape as you know it just got turned on its head? The Darrell McClain Show brings you an explosive analysis of key shifts under President Trump's administration, featuring bold political appointments and the unexpected nomination of figures like Matt Gaetz and Tulsi Gabbard. Unpack the repercussions of John Thune taking the reins from Mitch McConnell in the U.S. Senate and what it means for confirming Trump’s new picks. We untangle the web of support and skepticism surrounding these changes, while spotlighting the Republican Jubilee in the House, where Trump, Elon Musk, and Mike Johnson take center stage.
Next, we tackle the hot-button issue of border security with a focus on Governor Kristi Noem’s appointment to the Department of Homeland Security. Her aggressive immigration policies, including deploying the National Guard to the Texas-Mexico border, are under the microscope. Meanwhile, the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency, helmed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, alongside Gaetz’s contentious nomination as Attorney General, injects a fresh dose of political drama. We lay out the ripple effects these moves have sparked among both Republicans and Democrats as Trump's team takes shape.
Finally, we navigate the shifting sands of millennials' political ideologies and the strategies of the Republican Party. Explore why millennials are gravitating leftward and how historical events like the subprime mortgage crisis have shaped their perspectives. We dissect the GOP’s maneuvers to push tax breaks for the wealthy and privatization of services, while urging unity over division. As economic policies continue to be the linchpin of political discourse, we emphasize the disconnect between policymakers and the everyday economic realities of Americans. Join us as we pull back the curtain on these pivotal developments and their implications for our nation’s future.
Welcome to the Darrell McLean Show. I'm your host, darrell McLean. Independent media that won't reinforce tribalism. We have one planet. Nobody is leaving, so let us reason together. On today's show, we'll be discussing the makeup of what we know about the coming in of the president's cabinet so far, and we're going to get to a, last but not least, a little bit more of an autopsy of something, of a bit of a flashback of something that somebody said way back in 2003, and we're going to check and see how much it lines up for us in the year of 2024.
Speaker 2:Let's get into this episode for the first time in 18 years, a new republican will lead the us senate. He's johnune, a longtime senator from South Dakota, chosen today by his Republican colleagues by secret ballot to succeed Mitch McConnell and immediately indicating the Senate will stand its ground and insist on reviewing and confirming Trump's nominees.
Speaker 2:The Senate, as you know is a by the founder's design, a place where the minority has a voice. Some Senate Republicans were vague in their responses to some of Trump's choices, including for Attorney General. Well, it was a surprise to me. It's an interesting pick, but some of Congressman Matt Gaetz's colleagues applauded it. Matt Gaetz being picked by President Trump, I think is a strong statement that the weaponization of government, you know, and the Biden administration using government against their political enemies is coming to an end. Democrats are spoiling for the fight. Do you think this Republican Senate might be a blank check for all confirmations? Benefit of doubt, yes. Blank check no. I think there'll be limits and Trump is testing. Meanwhile, House Republicans today clinched victory in the US House, according to CBS News projections reaching the magic number of 218 seats, with some of the late tabulations coming in. Trump celebrated at a Capitol Hill meeting of House Republicans, lauding his own victory.
Speaker 4:We had like historic kind of numbers, especially for the president. But we won't get into that.
Speaker 2:But the House did very well, trump was joined today by his ally, elon musk. We got an ovation from house republicans and tonight house republicans have chosen mike johnson of louisiana again to be their nominee to be speaker of the house johnson has been a loyal ally of Trump's, including on and after January 6, 2021, Nora.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to go through these rather quickly and they are in no particular order. So the first person is going to be Trump's pick, tulsi Gabbard, for Director of National Intelligence. Intelligence Gabbard, former congresswoman who left the Democratic Party, would hold the top job in the administration overseeing 18 spy agencies. President Donald J Trump on Wednesday chose Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman who became one of his most enthusiastic backers, to serve as a Director of National Intelligence. Ms Gabbard was a Lieutenant Colonel or, technically, technically, is still a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserved, who served in Iraq. She's been a longtime critic of foreign policy establishment. Her nomination is another sign that Trump intends to give the top foreign policy jobs to supporters who are deeply skeptical of the effectiveness of the US military's intervention abroad. In a statement, trump said Ms Gabbard would bring a fearless spirit to the intelligence agencies and secure peace through strength. The statement announces that nomination said she was a former Democrat who joined the Republican Party because of President Trump's leadership and now has been able to transform the Republican Party, bringing it back to the party of the people and the party of peace. The news of Ms Gabbard's appointment was first revealed by Roger Stone on his ex-account Mr Stone, a longtime friend and advisor to Trump, who was pardoned by President in 2020, posted the statement about Ms Gabbard and said Trump had just sent it to him. Along with John Ratcliffe, trump's choice to lead the CIA, she would be a top intelligence advisor to the White House. She would oversee 18 spy agencies and would be responsible for preparing the president's daily briefing, a written intelligence summary assembled each morning. In his first administration, trump did not often read the written summary, but he held in person intelligence briefing, often twice a week, on more engaging his briefers on world affairs, at least on topics of that interested him personally. It is unclear whether Gabbard will have a difficult confirmation, but Democratic senators are expected to ask her about her decisions to meet with President Bashar al-Assad of Syria and her past embrace of Russian talking points. These are extraordinarily serious jobs, said Senator Mark Warner, the Democrat of Virginia and the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. That's why the senators and the Senate has an advice and consent process. I have a lot of questions.
Speaker 1:Ms Gabbard left the Democratic Party after a failed run for the presidential nomination in 2020, her subsequent enthusiasm for Trump made her a celebrity among his supporters. She was briefly considered by Trump as a possible running mate. Before he windowed down the field to other finalists, gabbard helped Trump prepare his attacks against Vice President Harris while they were practicing for his debate back in September Harris while they were practicing for his debate back in September. A spokeswoman for Trump said Gabbard was picked to help with the preparations, in part because of her 2019 attacks on Harris doing the Democratic primaries. In that debate July, ms Gabbard accused Harris of hypocrisy and now she had helped enforce marijuana laws, and in the debate that November, ms Gabbard called out Democrats for being beholden to the foreign policy establishment in Washington DC. She went on to say the Democrats were overly influenced by the military-industrial complex.
Speaker 1:Ms Gabbard, a Samoan representative of Hawaii in Congress from 2013 to 2021, while in Congress, she rose to prominence for criticizing the obama administration for how it discussed terrorism in the middle east and islamic extremism. She also expressed skepticism about the obama's administration's intervention into syria, which included air strikes on islamic state fighters and deployment of military advisors. In 2017, ms gabbert met with uh asad. That visit drew criticism because of his human rights record. Her opposition to president barack obama's policy in syria dealt up into a broader critique of both the republicans and democratic foreign policies, which she said wrongly believed that the US military power could solve overseas crises. While she has a fiercely supported US troops, she has been critical of foreign policy that brought America into overseas conflicts in the first place. During her own presidential campaign, she criticized counterproductive regime change wars that make our country less safe, that make more lives and that cost taxpayers trillions of dollars and, I'm sorry, she said, take more lives. During her 2019 campaign, gabbard sparred with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Clinton had said Russia was backing Gabbard and that she was a Kremlin favorite who, supported by his propaganda appearance. Ms Gabbard shot back that Ms Clinton was the queen of the warmongers. When Ms Gabbard left Congress, she began taking more conservative positions and ultimately announced she was leaving the Democratic Party. After Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, ms Gabbard posted a video on social media repeating a false claim pushed by the Kremlin that the United States was funding biological weapons labs in Ukraine. The Post prompted Senator Mitt Romney, the Republican of Utah, to say that Ms Gabbard was parroting false Russian propaganda.
Speaker 1:Moving right along, trump has picked Pete Hestage, a veteran and a current Fox News host, for the Defense Secretary defense secretary. The choice of mr hesteg, a dedicated supporter of the president-elect in his first term, is outside the norm of a traditional choice for the post. President-elect on tuesday chose pete, the fox news host and a veteran of the wars in iraq and afghanistan, to be his next defense secretary, elevating a television ally to run for the Pentagon and lead the 1.3 million active duty troops. The choice was outside the norm of the traditional defense secretary, but he was a dedicated supporter of Trump during his first term, defending his interactions with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, embracing his America First agenda of trying to withdraw US troops from abroad. Embracing his America First agenda of trying to withdraw US troops from abroad and energetically taking up causes of combat veterans accused of war crimes. In a statement announcing his pick, trump praised Hestet's combat experience in support of the military and veterans. Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America. First, trump said. With Pete at the helm, america's enemies are on notice. Our military will be great again and America will never back down.
Speaker 1:Mr Hestek is a co-host of Fox Friends. He joined the network as a contributor in 2014, and he has been the host of a Fox News New Year's coverage for years. He served in the Army in Afghanistan, in Iraq and in Guatemala Bay, cuba. A Minnesota native, he graduated from Princeton University where he was the publisher of the Princeton Torrey, a conservative magazine, for which he wrote about seeing the statue of Saddam Hussein toppled in Baghdad in 2003. Conservative ideas have worked, do work and will continue to work, he wrote. The list is long. A strong military is absolutely essential to bring a long-term peace and stability to the world. He holds a master's in public policy from Harvard, from the Harvard Kennedy School.
Speaker 1:According to fox news, in 2019, he lobbied heavily on behalf of the chief petty officer, edward gallagher. Now, edward gallagher was a member of the navy seals who was acquitted of serious war crimes in iraq. Trump reversed a demotion order as a punishment, then fired the navy uh, the navy secretary, whom Mr Hestig had aggressively criticized. Mr Hestig defended Chief Gallagher on Fox News and spoke to Mr Trump several times about the case. From the beginning, this was overzealous prosecutors who were not giving the benefit of the doubt to the trigger puller, she said in the book his book, the new york best times bestseller, the war on warriors behind the betrayal of the men who keep us free, that was published in june.
Speaker 1:Our elites are like the feckless drug adult businessmen at the New County Plaza looking down on Bruce Willis, john McClane and Die Hard, mr Hesek wrote in the book but there will come a day when they realize they need John McClane that in fact, their ability to live in peace and prosperity has always depended on guys like him being honorable, powerful and deadly has always depended on guys like him being honorable, powerful and deadly. In his statement, trump praised Hestek's book, which he said reveals the left-wing's betrayal of our warriors and how we must return our military to. You know I just find this funny, but you know metocracy, lethality, accountability and excellence. But Hestek is likely to run into opposition from senior military officials and perhaps lawmakers who have served in the military and raised concerns about his ability to win Senate confirmation even with a Republican majority in the chamber. In a statement on Tuesday, fox News called Hesteg an acceptable host of Fox Friends and Fox Nation and the best-selling author of Fox for news books for nearly a decade. He insists, and his insights and his analysis, especially about the military, resonated deeply with our viewers and it made the program the major success that it is today. In a statement Now, trump has gone on to pick Kristi Noem for the position of Homeland Security Secretary.
Speaker 1:Ms Noem, the governor of South Dakota, will play a major role in carrying out the presidential elect's promises to crack down on border and deport millions of people. A president-elect selected Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota on Tuesday to run the Homeland Department of Security, the critical position in charge of the nation's immigration system. Trump has made an immigration crackdown a central element of his administration promises, with pledges not to only more aggressively police the border, but also to carry out wide scale deportation operations throughout the country. Ms Noem will play a crucial role in helping Trump deliver on the promises, as she will be in charge of agencies that enforce immigration laws, including US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and US Customs and Border Protection. In a statement on social media, trump called Ms Noem very strong on border security, noting that she sent the National Guard troops to Texas-Mexico border. As the governor, ms Noem, in her own social media statement, pledged to secure the border and restore safety to American communities, so families will again have the opportunity to pursue the American dream. Now, if she is confirmed by the Senate, ms Noem will lead an agency that oversees entities including the Coast Guard and the Secret Service, which has weathered criticism over two attempts of Trump's life. During the presidential campaign, history suggests it will be challenging to keep Trump satisfied.
Speaker 1:During his first term, trump cycled through six Homeland Security leaders. During her time as governor, ms Ngo made immigration a key talking point. She has been a fierce critic of the Biden administration's immigration policies. Biden's open border policies are facilitating an illegal border crossing, she said in a post on X earlier this year. This invasion must end. The federal government has to stop violating federal law and we need to go back to the President Trump's successful immigration policies immediately.
Speaker 1:Ms Noem has taken action on immigration enforcement as well. In line with other Republican state leaders, she sent the National Guard troops in 2023 to help Governor Greg Abbott of Texas police the border. The border crisis is growing worse under President Biden's willful inaction, she said in a statement in 2023. Across the country, crime rates, drug overdoses and human trafficking have all skyrocketed because our border remains a war zone. In 2021, as Biden administration struggled to deal with the influx of migrants at the border, ms Noem said repeatedly that she would refuse entry to anyone who was not authorized to be in the country. My message to illegal immigrants is call me when you're an American. My message to illegal immigrants is call me when you're an American. In the meantime, south Dakota will not be accepting any relocation of illegal immigrants from President Biden, she said on Facebook in April of 2021. Ms Noem became the subject of a controversy when she revealed in a memoir that she had shot and killed a family dog she was training because it was dangerous to anyone she came into contact with.
Speaker 1:Trump has tapped Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to slash the government. The two wealthy entrepreneurs will lead what the president-elect has called the Department of Government Efficiency, which he said would seek drastic changes, but the announcement left a lot to be unanswered. Would seek drastic changes, but the announcement left a lot to be unanswered. So, uh, look, this is going to be like a new agency and so it's going to come with all the scrutiny that is going to come with that. Uh, but it's already being some flack because of the two people selected to run a new agency when every other agency has one person. So, either way, without comment, that'll just be. Trump has tapped Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to be over the new department that I guess they'll be coming up. We call the Department of Government Efficiency. I think the most controversial of all the picks would be the next one, and that was president.
Speaker 1:Trump tried to tap republican matt gates uh, the congressman to be the attorney general uh, republicans, actually. When they heard this name, they thought it was a joke and some of them said things like basically, I'll just go through it. So Gatz is one of the most outspoken MAGA representatives and he has been described by his Republican colleagues in the past as childless, disgraceful and a vile person. He is currently under House ethics investigation for sexual misconduct, illicit drug use after allegations that he had sex with a minor. Whether Trump, a loyalist, liz Cheney, republican throughout Congress, was shocked at Trump's nominations Gates. Perhaps Republican Senator Thomas Tillis puts it best I'm sure it will make for a popcorn sitting confirmation. I'm sure it will make for a popcorn sitting confirmation. Political reporter Meredith Lee Hill says she saw a House Republican laughing so hard at the pic that she began crying. When asked if she believed Gates has the character and experience needed to be attorney general, gop representative Mike Simpson replied Are you shitting me that? You just asked that question? No, but hell, you'll print that and now I'm going to be investigated if he gets the job.
Speaker 1:Gates, one of the most outspoken MAGA representatives had been described by his Republican colleagues in the past as childless, disgraceful, vile person. Senator John Corbin reportedly always snorted upon hearing the news of Gates nomination. I don't know the man other than just his public persona. He later told the Washington Post correspondent Liz Goodwin. Senator Susan Collins said that she was shocked by the news of his pick and the senator Lisa McCarthy said this one was not on my bingo card. But even one of Trump's biggest supporters in the chambers were surprised. Holy cow, said Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville, adding that he too didn't see this one coming. Senator Susan Collins said she was shocked by the news of this pick and Senator Lisa Markowski this was not in my billing card. Even Trump's biggest supporter in the chambers, you know, were still shocked. Senator Joe Manchin said that no one could believe it when the news broke on the floor of the Senate.
Speaker 2:I can tell you somebody that is serious this one was not on my bank card.
Speaker 4:And I'll give you the truth why I'm not Speaker. It's because one person, a member of Congress, wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old. An ethics complaint that started before I ever became Speaker and that's illegal.
Speaker 1:So that was Lisa Murkowski first, and the other one was the former Republican Speaker of the House, kevin McCarthy, on Trump's choice for Attorney General, max Gates. And he said, and I quote I'll give you the truth why I'm not a speaker it's because one person, a member of Congress, ordered me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old, and that's his complaint. That started before I was in control of the speakership. Now, moving on to something that was a bit interesting, alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of course, the Democratic Socialist out of New York, asked her Instagram followers that voted for Trump, but also the poll show voted for Trump slash AOC and Trump slash Dem. What was their choice? And the responses were somewhat illuminating. So one person said it's real simple Trump and you care for working class people. Another person said but want it changed. So I went for Trump and blew for the rest of them on the ballot, voted for trump, but I like you and bernie, I don't trust either political politicians. Another person said action in congress, stagnation and excuses. Both of you push boundaries and force growth. Another person said I would have voted for you and trump, but I'm in california and I like both of your styles. One person said trump is going to get us the money and let the men have a voice. You are brilliant and an amazing person, so I would vote it for you as well. I feel like trump and you are both real. One person said voted for trump in arizona but voted for Dem Rubin instead of Kerry Lake. Boss Tech taught he's good at handling war. Somebody else said I feel both you and Trump are outsiders compared to the rest of DC and less establishment. Will you please share what you learned? I'm baffled by split voters. Somebody said Somebody said I know people that did this and it was because of Gaza. One person put I voted for Trump and you, not Genocide Harris. Dems need somebody like you or Bernie Sanders. One also said voted for Trump but also signified change. Trump signified change. I've said lately Trump sounds more like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Speaker 1:One person said she was more for the rights than the economy and when she talked about it she didn't have a plan. Somebody said you are more focused on real issues people care about, similar to Trump's populism in many ways. Somebody else went on to say I support you and I did this. It felt like I didn't have a choice after the Biden administrations. Somebody said he speaks of war as something that is bad. Democrats became the party that supports war other than you. Another person said the response you got makes me want to barf. Sometimes you got to dig in and see if it understands the adapt. It makes you want to barf. Dems do a better job at local level but are terrible at the macro level.
Speaker 1:Somebody said a loved one says you're both straightforward and challenging corruption of the broken government system. Straightforward and challenging corruption of the broken government system. Somebody went on to say the people compare you in him as equal thinkers is shocking, but truly shocked by a lot of the prize. One of the people said people that voted for you are blue and t. Why didn't the felon or the rape etc. Matter? And they said uh, she wasn't the choice of the people. No primary couldn't interview, no clear policies, unlike you and Donald Trump.
Speaker 1:One person said I voted Trump and Dems because he reached out to Muslims. One person said I feel like you couldn't be further from Trump. So the responses are baffling, but we do still love you. One person said Mom does this. She says votes them local for services and rep Republicans for national budget. One person said because it's different than what it has been for years. Something had to go, we chose. Somebody said I voted all Democrats, but damn, when you guys make it so hard, I think I identify more with you and Bernie. And somebody said, because of Gaza. And then someone said I live in VA and voted for Trump. Rest D Kamala just had no policy. It was scary. Most of my family did the same thing as well.
Speaker 1:So this is bringing me to just the way we're going to end the show today, which is kind of um somewhat what I wanted to talk about. You know um to you know I. I know that all my Republican friends call anybody to the left of Attila the Hun, uh, socialist, marxist, communist, um, whatever, um. But there are actually a few people in Washington DC that carry the label of socialist, and that is one Bernie Sanders and one Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Speaker 1:I've often said that, contrary to popular belief, I don't think Americans are really that wrapped into public policy. There are some of them that are into public policy, but a lot of them not that much. And when you see people that have a crossover with the avid socialist, uh, alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, they bring up another socialist like, uh, bernard Sanders, and then the protectionist capitalist, uh, populist reactionary Donald Trump. You have to recognize that that is them calling for something that I don't think people are wanting to identify with. I told the sister show, josh's Scott, over opinionated hosts, that I'm going to be paying attention to one number, one number only, during this election cycle, I'm sorry, during the next four years. I should say, and that is the number that I often quote 62% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Now.
Speaker 1:I'm proud to announce that, in looking at the new number, it has now gone down to 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. And I said, my real test to whether the economy is moving is not so much about the stock market, which is how we normally weigh whether the economy is good or whether it's bad, and I do think, obviously, as a metric, that they're not going to stop using that. But I want to see how many of the those people in that 60 percent, how much is that number shoots down to 50% to 40%, to 30% to 20%, and if we can get at least from 60% to 30%, I think we would be pushing this country and this people in the right direction. So that's the number that I'll be paying attention to Now. On the blast from the past, I'm going to go to 2003, and we're going to hear from this gentleman and see if he predicted some things right that we are going through in 2024, and I'll see you on the next episode.
Speaker 3:This clip of Bernie Sanders that went viral a day or two after Kamala Harris lost the election to Donald Trump, and this is a video from all the way back in 2003. Bernie's at some event where he's talking to it's either high school or college kids. They're discussing politics and everybody needs to remember what was going on at the time Bernie was giving this speech. Right, this was kind of the beginning of the Bush era. The Iraq war was already underway, the war in Afghanistan was already underway, but this was like the beginning of the Bush era, which you got to understand, man. I cannot overstate just how much growing up in this generation, in this era of politics, radicalized myself and many other millennials. In fact, when you look at the political ideology chart and the direction that different generations are moving as they age every single age group, silent generation, baby boomer, gen X and even Gen Z now, who are younger than millennials they've all gotten more conservative over time. Everyone.
Speaker 3:The only one that's gotten further left is the millennials, and I really think a lot of that has to do with what we lived through. Right, if you were born around the same time I was born, I'm 36 years old, but there's a window there where, if you were born within the millennial generation, think of the things you had to witness, right, you had to witness 9-11. You had to witness the war in Afghanistan those wars are based on lies. You had to witness torture and the Patriot Act and Columbine and countless mass shootings and the subprime mortgage crisis and the Great Recession and the rise of Trump, and I mean the list goes on and on right. It's just one COVID, one cataclysmic disaster after another.
Speaker 3:So there's this sort of like I don't know built-in thing to the millennial psyche of like shit is fucked and we gotta do better. And so we're a generation that has really held firm to our values and our ideals that there's got to be something better than this and we've got to fucking work for it. We can't do this insane Reagan-era bullshit forever. We can't be hyper individualistic, every man for themselves. We really got to have a different narrative, have a different ideology, have a different philosophy, have something that gets us on the right track. So here's Bernie talking to these students, and what's amazing about this clip, as you're about to see, is that he's basically sort of perfectly predicting the rise of Trumpism before it even happens.
Speaker 5:Watch this. How does the Republican Party do something? And now I'm going to tell you something that very few people in Congress will tell you. If you are the Republican leadership and this is what your goals are your goals are to give huge tax breaks to the very richest people in this country. Your goals are ultimately to privatize Social Security so that Wall Street can make money from that. Privatize Medicare so the insurance companies can make more money. Privatize education. Do away with public schools. If those were your goals and you said that to the American people, you think you'd get a lot of.
Speaker 5:There are many members of the Congress today, republicans, who not only will not raise the minimum wage, which is $5.15 an hour. You know what they will tell you honestly they believe in abolishing the minimum wage. Did you know that? Check it out. Telling you the truth. So three bucks an hour or two bucks an hour, not a problem. Now if you had an agenda like that and you went before the American people tax breaks for the rich, destruction of Medicare, destruction of Social Security as we know it, lowering the minimum wage or abolishing it how many votes do you think you'd get? Not a whole lot. Maybe the richest 1% would vote for you. That's not a lot of votes.
Speaker 5:So what do I do? I've got a problem. You package it. How do you package it? And here I want you to pay attention to me. This is bad stuff. I don't mind debating people and say I was on the Hannity show, sean Hannity yesterday and Hannity, screenwriter. He thinks we should be loves these tax breaks for the rich and so forth. So we had a little bit of a discussion about that. Actually there's a loud discussion about that, but I don't mind people who are upfront about that. Give the rich more tax rates. We can argue that, but that doesn't win you elections. So this is what you do.
Speaker 5:What you do is divide people up. When you ask me your question, how do I get elected? I say I try to bring people together. We fight for women's rights, we support the rights of minorities, we support the rights of workers. We bring the majority of people together. No-transcript. Increase funding for education. Okay, you're on the side of the vast majority of americans, okay, so on those issues, we bring people together.
Speaker 5:Now, what do the republicans try to do? And they use it in what we call uh you know kind of language that they don't not a bunch of. What do we do? We divide people up by races. Affirmative action becomes one issue. All them black people get the jobs that we white people used to have. Split people, working class, white against black, instead of working together to create decent jobs for all those uppity women. Now they want the right to choose. We'll split people on the abortion issue. We'll split people up on the gun issue. We'll split people up on the gun issue. We'll split people up on religious issues. You follow what I'm saying.
Speaker 5:So you split people up and then they end up, if you're a middle-class person, voting against your own interests and the rich go laughing all the way to the bank, okay. And they very often play white workers off against everybody else and we try to bring people together to say look, we're all in this boat together, whether you're black or white, whether you're Hispanic, whether you're Muslim, whatever you may be, everybody needs health care. How do we create a health care system that works for all people, not divide people up. Everybody knows that the kids, young people, do not make it into the middle class unless they have a decent college education. So how do we make college education accessible to all people? Not an expensive proposition. A tiny, tiny fraction of the president's tax breaks for the rich, if we put into financial aid, would make sure that every young person in this country could go to college without going deeply into debt. You know what the vast majority of the people support us, but in order to do that, we got to bring everybody together.
Speaker 5:And many of these no and I'm not here to disparage all the public some very decent people happen to be conservative. I respect them, but some people who I don't respect will play off women against men, black against white, all the gay issue very, very big issue. Okay, straight against gay, right, we're supposed to hate gay people. So we split that group up. And then the argument some of us are not patriotic. We have concerns about the war in iraq. I voted against giving the president authority to the war in iraq. Well, that makes us unpatriotic. We hate america. Divide those things up, and that's how they succeed. And they succeed with the help of the media, because the media will not talk about how, in a sense, the common problems that americans face, and how we bring people together. And that's what I believe. I believe that, on issues like everybody in this room thinks, I think that, instead of giving tax breaks to the rich, we should increase federal aid to education anyone disagree?
Speaker 5:with that. But you know what most americans agree with that. All of you think that every american should be entitled to health care. I suspect most of you think we should not have a trade policy which allows corporations to throw American workers out on the street and run to China. Most Americans agree with that and our job is to bring people together on common interest. And some of these extreme right-wing people you watch the issues that they talk about Affirmative action. They use to divide the issue of abortion. They use to divide the issue of guns. They use to divide. And our job is to say let's focus on basic economic issues. How do we expand the middle class? This is a great country. Why is it the average American is working longer hours below wages than 30 years ago? Let's talk about that, okay.
Speaker 3:Damn. I mean, that's literally exactly what we're dealing with now.
Speaker 1:So I'm not going to play the rest of that specific conversation. The voice of the announcer is Cal Kalinske. Of course, I watch Cal Kalinske a lot. They call Cal Kalinske sometimes the right-wing whisperer because he would get people on what they call the Trump to socialist pipeline or the Trump to Bernie pipeline. So he did a lot to convert right-wing populists to left-wing populists, and so listen to him, listen to his wife, listen to them together on Crystal Cow and Friends, and of course, I'm a supporter financial supporter of the show Breaking Points, and with Crystal Cow's wife and Sigourney and Janetti, who is a younger, more handsome version of myself, we share the same birthday.
Speaker 1:I'm right on more issues than he is, though, in my opinion. So in that clip, I do think this is the, the crux of it. It is always the economy, it's always the economy, and, in order to distract us from that, these are economic situations that we are in. That economics is a is a matter of not just a personal pocketbook issue of what you spend and what you take in. There are also policies that go into place that make your life more difficult or less difficult, and, as I said in the last episode, something that was tried and true is it will always come down to the fact that it is the economy, down to the fact that it is the economy.
Speaker 1:I've been watching Senator Bernie Sanders on TV for the last few weeks. It seems like every time the Democrats lose, they try to find their bearings and they'll say, well, they went too woke. And they say, okay, they went too woke, or they went too with women, or they went too with blacks. And they only understand that that leaves them one choice that they have to go back to, which they are comfortable, uncomfortable going back to, and that is the economy. And they're uncomfortable going back to the economic policies that get them to greatness. The fdr type policies are even the controversial lbj policies because, when it boils down to it, uh, the democratic party's donors don't necessarily like those policies because they're part of the one percent, most of the people who are in the media. When you go look up their salaries, they're part of the one percent. To be a part of the one percent, you don't have to make as much money as people think. When you actually look up the numbers, all right, but when you got people in the media and they make $5 million, $7 billion, $20 million, $31 million, the highest that I saw, $31 billion a while ago and that was Rachel Maddow that was making that.
Speaker 1:You would understand why they don't. They're not very interested in fundamental change in the way that the large bottom part of America may be interested in. You're trying to get them to sustain programs that they won't need. I mean, you're talking about the lack of health care to people who have millions and millions of dollars. There's no surgery they can't afford, so that that's a whole different ball game than you. You talk about social security that they that they more than likely will not need, you know. So it's a. It's a. It's a difficult for them to even see why the program should exist and why they should be paying for a program they're not going to use.
Speaker 1:You're talking to them about public schools when all their kids are in private schools. You're talking to them about public libraries when they can have a whole library inside of their basement if they wanted to. And they will always in some sense fundamentally see the world differently because of the economic situation they're in and the economic situation. Half of the countries, and I should say over half 62% of Americans, live paycheck to paycheck, according to the study. Well, 60% now. So I'm going to continue to pay attention to these autopsies and don't don't look over here. I look over there things and I'll see you on the next episode.