Lemon LIVE at 5 | Bombshell Epstein Revelations & a Voting Rights Battle!

0:05 [music] [music] Hi everyone, welcome to the program.

0:17 Welcome to Lemon Live at 5.

0:18 We want to get right to it.

0:19 Make sure you hit the like and the thumbs up.

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0:24 Please do that.

0:24 And we will get started because we have some breaking news.

0:27 We have a few breaking news stories that are

0:29 just coming into the Don Lemon Show newsroom.

0:32 And one of them is on Jeffrey Epstein.

0:35 Uh and also someone that you know,

0:37 remember John Ky ran for president, also was uh in the Obama administration.

0:44 Uh and so and Roana is speaking out on it.

0:47 It comes from our friend Tara Palm Mary over at her subsack is

0:51 the red letter and she has been doing this investigation for a while.

0:54 Tara Palmer joins us now.

0:57 Tara, this is an interesting thing.

0:58 You said exclusive John K's uncomfortable Epstein connection.

1:02 What is the reporting on this?

1:03 What's going on?

1:05 Yeah, so I spent about 10 months looking into all of the files.

1:08 Obviously, we got more files when they released um the Epstein

1:11 the full well not the full but some of the Epstein files.

1:15 And what you can see is, you know,

1:17 a relationship between Jeffrey Epste and John Kerry.

1:21 I remember back in 2019 when I was working with Virginia

1:25 Ju Fry trying to find witnesses uh to cooperate her story.

1:29 We traveled all around the country.

1:30 She told me that she encountered John Kerry.

1:33 And I was frankly shocked because the years in which she

1:37 would have encountered him were

1:38 the height of Epstein's sex trafficking operation.

1:41 And just a few years before he ran for president in 2004,

1:44 if you all remember, he was the Democratic presidential nominee.

1:48 He went on to be the secretary of state, a climate envoy,

1:51 and as part of that job, he was a member of Biden's National Security Council.

1:55 So, he has had critical roles over the last three decades of administrations,

2:00 and he was a senator and uh senior leadership during the Clinton administration.

2:05 So, Jeffrey Abstein seems to put a bet on John Kerry a long time ago that he

2:11 would have risen to power and even kind

2:13 of had this fixation and obsession with him.

2:15 You can see in the emails dreaming up a scenario where all the way until

2:20 2016 Hillary Clinton gets indicted and then

2:23 John Kerry jumps in and runs for president.

2:25 But the thing that was really shocking to me was

2:28 how often he offered access to to John Ky to people.

2:31 He offered to connect Steve Bannon to John Kerry as late as 2018.

2:36 This is when John uh Steve Bannon was an adviser to Donald Trump.

2:40 Uh he offered to connect the disgraced Norwegian

2:43 diplomat ter um Rod Larson to John Kerry.

2:48 Uh this man is now being investigated by Norway's

2:52 economic crimes unit for his connections to Jeffrey Epstein.

2:55 He also um offered to connect Jeffrey Epstein.

2:58 He he was asked by the disgraced Emirati billionaire uh Ahmed,

3:03 Sultan Ahmed bin uh Sullean to meet

3:07 with John Kerry when he was Secretary of State.

3:09 And you know, I lay out all of the reporting, all of the emails,

3:14 um the staff members who in sworn

3:17 testimony remember seeing John Kerry around Epstein, including on his plane.

3:21 His chef said that he remembered him being there on the plane.

3:24 Uh pictures, all of it, it's all in the red letter.

3:27 I laid it out.

3:28 Uh, this story has never been reported,

3:31 which is shocking to me, Don, frankly, that, you know,

3:33 so many of the top officials that have been connected to Jeffrey

3:36 Epstein have received so much scrutiny and somehow John Ky has not.

3:42 Yeah.

3:42 And listen, uh, that's not to say John Ky did anything.

3:45 We don't know, but we would be able, I think,

3:47 to find out to determine whoever was involved uh,

3:50 in it if they actually released the the entire files.

3:53 And I believe unredacted.

3:55 So had did have you reached out to John Kerry?

3:58 Has there been a response?

3:59 Yeah, and it's actually really quite to me the response lacked any depth.

4:06 It was tonedeaf.

4:08 It was mocking frankly.

4:10 Um they seem to not understand the gravity of the Epstein

4:14 story and all the people that were impacted by it.

4:17 Um, like it's in it's in the story, Don,

4:20 but I mean they suggest that I was using a Ouija board

4:24 when I was referring to actual files and they wouldn't use their name.

4:28 The the spokes people would not use their names.

4:31 They did not want to be attributed to these statements.

4:33 I could understand why.

4:35 Um, but yeah, it's it's not it's they did not take it seriously at all, Don.

4:40 And I think that's kind of concerning, frankly.

4:43 And back in 2019, they said that he did not personally know Epste.

4:46 And now, as we've seen since the Epstein Files Transparency Act was passed,

4:51 and we've only seen a small percentage of the files,

4:54 but what we have seen show that that John Kerry did

4:59 in fact have uh closer relationship than they would like to admit

5:04 with Jeffrey Epstein and that he would actually be a very

5:07 useful person to call before

5:09 the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

5:11 Um, I spoke to Congressman Ro Kana, who is a Democrat from California,

5:15 and he said that he should be called in to testify,

5:18 like others have before, like the Clintons have and others.

5:23 Are they going to call him in?

5:25 Did you ask?

5:26 I did, and he said that he should, so I'm guessing that they will.

5:29 I mean, I'm I'm asking if he will,

5:30 but that I asked him if he will, and he said he should.

5:32 So, that I assumed as a confirmed yes.

5:35 Um, of course, I think he would probably

5:38 need some consensus among his, you know, committee members.

5:42 Uh, we're reaching out to them right now.

5:44 We're waiting to hear back from the chairman,

5:46 James Comr, who ultimately decides who's subpoenaed and who's not.

5:50 But, as we can see, that there's pressure, there is um, you know,

5:56 there there's there if there's political will and there's political pressure,

6:00 then I could see this happening.

6:01 I reached out to Car's team and let me check my email,

6:04 but so far they have not responded

6:06 to say whether he would speak to the committee.

6:09 So yeah.

6:10 Um, so listen, you said that it was he had denied knowing Epstein, right?

6:14 Is that correct?

6:15 Am I correct in in what Yeah, that's what he said in 2019,

6:18 but that was not what they said in the followup um,

6:22 you know, in this latest statement.

6:23 I don't think they could deny that quite anymore.

6:26 Let me just read a little bit because you mentioned this, but I want

6:29 to I just want to get it straight because there's a lot of people here,

6:31 high high-profile [snorts] people.

6:33 Newly reviewed Justice Department files reveal Epste's

6:35 apparent fixation with Kerry and his eagerness

6:37 to cultivate connections to the Secretary of State

6:40 and senior officials in his inner circle,

6:42 including his then deputy secretary of state, William J.

6:46 Burns.

6:47 The documents show Epstein offered introductions and dangled access to both men

6:52 uh to a rogues gallery of people including Donald Trump's adviser Steve Bannon,

6:56 former Israeli prime minister Ahood Barack,

6:59 tech entrepreneurs Peter Teal and Reed Hoffman,

7:01 disgraced uh Norwegian diplomat Tier Rod Larson,

7:05 and[ __] Emirati shipping executive Sultan Ahmed Ben Solan

7:12 that he was the man who wrote the the message to Epstein saying,

7:16 "I love the torture video." How is it that he has denied all of this and it

7:23 is and it is actually in the files that

7:26 Well, this is the thing.

7:27 This is a confirmed connection, right?

7:28 You have you have documents showing

7:30 on the plane and those kinds of things, right?

7:32 There are sworn testimony.

7:34 There's sworn testimony of people witnessing.

7:36 There's a picture, you know, uh there's other people who have seen the picture.

7:40 There's various circumstantial things.

7:42 There is the fact that I have this from Virginia

7:44 and other sources that she told and um the other

7:48 thing is that these are documents in the Epstein files

7:51 where Epstein is offering access to Carrie and people are

7:54 asking Epstein for access to Carrie and and that is

7:58 like the crux of the reporting is the emails around

8:02 the access to Carrie and um this is happening like

8:06 like I said it's as happening as late as 2018.

8:10 Uh he's text messaging with Steve Bannon saying

8:13 Carrie's going to be in Washington next weekend.

8:15 I can try to connect you with him.

8:17 And Carrie is uh then he says, "Sorry, Carrie's not coming to town,

8:22 but I can introduce you to Bill Burns,

8:24 who is the former CIA director, by the way, to uh Biden.

8:27 And he was Car's deputy secretary of state.

8:30 And if you know anything about Secretary of State,

8:32 the the that State Department, it is kind of an arm of the CIA.

8:38 a lot of diplomats run intelligence from there.

8:41 Um, and so that would probably fall into his purview.

8:45 We do know that Bill Burns, who was his deputy, was invited on Epstein's island.

8:49 He said he couldn't go.

8:50 He was invited to go with his wife.

8:51 He said he couldn't go because he was called by Carrie

8:53 to go um deal with something in the Iran deal.

8:56 Um, but we do know that he met with Epstein twice and he was

9:00 introduced um he may have been introduced

9:03 to Peter Teal through email by Epstein,

9:07 but he did meet with him twice about opportunities

9:09 while he was in government in the private sector.

9:12 So Epstein like clearly had these connections to people in very senior levels.

9:18 Um and yeah, he was dangling this access to both

9:22 of these men who have had I mean Bill Burns has

9:25 been in public service for 32 years of his life

9:29 and for a long time it you know we did not know

9:33 about this and and you know of course his his uh

9:37 his statement and and oh this is the best uh

9:40 car's uh spokesperson said that Carrie was never in Washington 2018

9:45 like blanketed statement that he had never been to Washington 2018.

9:49 I think that's a pretty remarkable thing for someone to say.

9:53 You can say that definitively that you're never in Washington DC.

9:57 Um, so yeah, there was there was a lot of of of definitive statements like that.

10:02 Um, and Ambassador Burns, he admitted that he met with Epstein twice,

10:06 regretted it when he found out later.

10:09 But, you know, with all due respect,

10:11 you are a senior level cabinet official, um, deputy cabinet official.

10:19 You went on to be a CIA director.

10:20 You would think that he would be more informed when

10:23 he's going to someone like Jeffrey Epstein to ask for help.

10:26 By the way, this all happened after he was arrested by for being a pedophile.

10:30 And yeah, they they knew his history.

10:32 Yeah.

10:33 Tara, uh, great reporting.

10:35 Thank you very much.

10:35 It's in the red letter over at Tara Palmary's sub.

10:38 Go check it out and check out the Tara Pal Mary show.

10:40 Tara, thank you.

10:40 We appreciate you joining us with your exclusive reporting.

10:43 Thank you very much.

10:45 Now, this [cheering] [cheering] [applause][ __] You think[ __] is funny?

11:06 You think this[ __] is funny?

11:08 You think this[ __] is funny?

11:11 __] you,[ __] [cheering] __] you.

11:23 [screaming] So that was at the Tennessee State House today after they voted

11:29 to restrict the voting access to uh

11:32 African-Americans and Democrats in that state.

11:34 There is not a a black majority district in the state anymore.

11:37 And I don't believe there's a Democratic majority

11:39 state district in the state of Tennessee anymore.

11:41 I want to bring in now Justin Jones

11:43 who's an activist and a Tennessee state representative.

11:46 Also Gary Chambers, civil rights activist from Louisiana.

11:49 We know what's going on in Louisiana

11:50 because of what happened there with them redrawing

11:53 the map and get and then take suing and taking it to the Supreme Court.

11:57 Um the Voting Rights Act has been gutted.

12:00 Thank you gentlemen for joining us.

12:01 I appreciate it.

12:02 Uh Justin, to you first.

12:03 I think you can explain to us better than I can what's going on in your state.

12:08 And we heard the folks are saying shame, shame, shame.

12:11 That it's shameful.

12:12 Some of the representatives leaving.

12:14 By the way, I will say all white men.

12:16 One of them even saying vote Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump.

12:21 Yeah.

12:21 Don.

12:21 Well, you know, I walked into this capital today in 2026,

12:24 and when I left the building, it was pre-1965.

12:27 Um, today we have less black voter representation than we did um,

12:33 you know, prior to 1965.

12:35 For the first time in our state's history, um, we have we have diluted um,

12:40 all of the black electoral power um, since 1965 to appease the whims of one man,

12:46 Donald Trump, who called our governor,

12:48 who's calling southern governors and saying,

12:50 "Break up these black districts." and and and it's not about political

12:53 tit for tat because that's what they want to make it about partisansship,

12:55 but it's really about white power and white control.

12:57 So, what we saw today was a capital clan rally by our speaker of the house,

13:01 Cameron Sex and Governor Bill Lee and and and all

13:03 of my Republican colleagues who voted for this immoral,

13:06 reprehensible, unconstitutional attack on vote um on black voting

13:09 power um that we haven't seen in a generation.

13:13 I saw this view today um as I was, you know,

13:17 researching what what I was going to do today on the show and I

13:20 saw it on social media and I also saw it on some news sites.

13:23 You burning the Confederate flag today in the House.

13:28 Why did you do that, Representative?

13:30 I burned it because they are trying to take us backwards in history.

13:33 They're turning back the clock of history.

13:34 They're trying to lean into the southern strategy.

13:37 this, you know, we are back in the Confederacy

13:39 where black folks don't have political representation,

13:42 where we're not treated as equal citizens in our democracy,

13:45 um where the voices of black representatives will be diminished and eliminated.

13:48 We may lose the the largest number of black

13:50 elected officials in the south since the end of reconstruction.

13:54 And so um we are facing the sons

13:55 of the Confederacy here in states like Tennessee,

13:57 Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama.

13:59 We're facing um what I call the white sheets caucus.

14:02 you know, these Republicans who traffic

14:04 in the politics of racism and and white supremacy.

14:07 And so I burned the flag because I

14:08 wanted them to know that we we're fighting back,

14:10 that we beat them before and we're going to beat them again

14:12 and that we must rise up and represent

14:14 a new South that is multi-racial, multigenerational.

14:16 We must not bow down.

14:17 We must not be afraid.

14:18 Um, and that we must look them dead then

14:20 in their eyes and say that we know who you are.

14:22 You know, these are the same folks who

14:23 let who ran my grandparents out of Tennessee, you know, to Chicago.

14:26 They were from Tennessee.

14:27 They left during Jim Crow because of this terrorism and and and and and violence

14:30 and and and and Jim Crow system and we

14:33 and we were not going back without a fight.

14:34 And so I told the speaker of the house that he is

14:37 the grand wizard and chief and that we know what they represent.

14:39 They represent a old vision of the south that they think is going to rise again,

14:42 but we represent a vision of the south that's going to rise

14:44 a new a new south and that's what we stand for.

14:46 And so I burned it because um we need to to turn up the heat for justice.

14:50 There's two ways that change comes about.

14:52 You know, either they see the light or they feel the fire.

14:54 They haven't saw the light.

14:54 So now is the time for them to feel the fire.

14:57 One more thing before I get to uh Mr.

14:59 Chambers.

15:00 Uh Justin Pearson, who is your colleague,

15:02 had an altercation uh with law enforcement.

15:05 I don't know if you know about it.

15:06 I'm going to show it and then see, you know,

15:08 and then I want to hear from you and see what you have to say about it.

15:20 is wrong with you.

15:23 Is wrong with you?

15:26 You stupid mother.

15:31 Do you know what happened?

15:34 No, this is the first I'm seeing that I was on the House floor.

15:36 So, I think that was not on the House floor.

15:38 So, um I think at that time we were

15:39 filing amendments and so um I missed that that altercation,

15:43 but I know that there was there there were a lot

15:45 of um you know the state capital say looked like Selma 1965.

15:49 We had you know hundreds of troopers

15:51 surrounding the capital rotunda um the galleries.

15:54 You know, the speaker continually removed people from from the balcony,

15:58 including mothers and clergy and folks who will be disenfranchised.

16:01 And so, so many folks had been removed from the gallery today because they

16:05 wanted what they did to be done

16:06 in darkness without public accountability or transparency.

16:09 Yesterday, they ordered the room cleared in the committee room.

16:11 So, you know, again, all this happened in just less than three days, Dawn.

16:14 And so, all of it has happened with people being removed,

16:17 um, being taken out, drugged out by troopers.

16:19 Um that's kind of been the norm that we've seen

16:21 these past three days of special session of this Jim

16:24 Crow um special session where folks have been um

16:27 taken out simply for trying to have their voices heard.

16:29 And it's shameful.

16:30 Um and it represents, you know,

16:31 again that vision that they want to bring us back

16:33 to where we can't even speak up and have our voices

16:34 heard without being brutalized um or or or targeted

16:37 at the direction again of the speaker of the house, Cameron Ston.

16:41 Um who is somebody who has been one

16:43 of the most racist members of this legislature.

16:45 you'll remember just a couple years ago I

16:47 was expelled by him as the youngest black

16:49 lawmaker in our state and now he's trying

16:51 to um silence the voices of of black communities.

16:53 I represent the most diverse district and he's trying

16:55 to silence the voices of of black Tennessans and and I

16:58 think you know what people must continue to do is

17:00 is to disrupt our democracy requires disruption yet in good trouble.

17:03 Um be unbowed, be unafraid.

17:05 Um and we must continue to do things out

17:07 of the ordinary because this is what this moment requires of us.

17:09 And you've you've been leading on that with your courage in Minneapolis.

17:12 And I think we have to continue to show up

17:13 and let them know that we will not be intimidated.

17:15 We saw what they did to Senator um

17:16 Lucas yesterday in Virginia going after a black,

17:19 you know, the black woman who led the charge redistricting.

17:21 They're weaponizing the legal system and police system

17:23 against black folks and we must fight back.

17:27 Gary Ch, thank you for that.

17:28 Gary Chambers Jr.

17:29 um I I'm sure you stand.

17:32 We'll talk about what's happening in Louisiana,

17:34 but I'm sure you stand um with your colleagues

17:38 uh and counterparts and brothers and sisters uh in Tennessee.

17:42 My what I will say is on top of that [snorts] uh elections have consequences.

17:48 And this is why it's important for people

17:49 to become engaged in the political process.

17:52 You cannot sit it out.

17:54 You cannot have a purity test about a candidate.

17:57 You need to vote for the candidate that is closest

17:59 to you and has your beliefs and your core values at heart,

18:03 not the perfect person.

18:04 However, this is some[ __] This that's all I that's the best way I can put it.

18:11 You know, I think that what's happening in Tennessee,

18:14 what's happening uh in Alabama,

18:17 uh ring leader in charge, Jeff Landry,

18:20 the governor of Louisiana, um and our attorney general.

18:23 I think one of the things that we

18:24 continue to overlook is the power of attorney generals.

18:27 How they are weaponizing the office

18:29 of the AG's office to go after black politicians,

18:32 to go after black uh policy, to go after black seats of power.

18:36 Um, and we should have known when uh both representatives were expelled

18:41 in Tennessee that there was a need for urgent investment in the deep south,

18:45 that there was a need for us to get serious

18:47 about the deep south and to focus on states rights.

18:50 We've ignored states rights and the states issues of this country for so long,

18:54 specifically where black people live in the deep

18:56 south where 55% of black folks live.

18:58 You've spent hundreds of millions of dollars in states like

19:01 Wisconsin and Pennsylvania uh and and areas in the Midwest.

19:06 But then when you look at what is impacting the country,

19:09 what is impacting our ability to be competitive in 2028, it is the Deep South.

19:14 And the lack of investment that has come there turned into what we see today.

19:18 Uh and so now people are having to go

19:21 uh to the the extremes of protesting and demonstrating.

19:25 But the reality is the only way we are going

19:27 to call this back is Tennessee's got a governor's race this year.

19:31 And it needs to be a serious quest to ensure uh that Marshia Blackburn

19:36 does not become the governor of Tennessee

19:38 and that uh what's his name in Alabama?

19:40 Tubberville does not become the governor of Alabama.

19:43 Tommy Tubberville.

19:44 because there there is a veto power that the governors have.

19:48 There is a uh strong arming power that we see

19:51 these governors using and and Bill Lee and Jeff Landry

19:55 are certainly competing to be uh who who's considered

19:59 for 2028 for the presidential uh nomination in the Republican party.

20:06 Now, let's talk about Louisiana.

20:08 Because of what happened in Louisiana, Mr.

20:11 chambers.

20:12 Uh it has gone to the Supreme Court.

20:14 The Supreme Court's decision has basically gutted

20:17 the Voting Rights Act and limited uh severely

20:20 the political power of African-Americans in this country

20:23 for the foreseeable future unless it is overturned.

20:27 Um and you're in that state where it happened.

20:30 What is it?

20:31 What's the sentiment there?

20:32 Do people feel powerless?

20:34 Are they fighting back?

20:35 Do they I know that there's a gentleman,

20:36 what was his name today that we got that we um having on the show?

20:40 He's part of the lawsuit.

20:41 the older gentleman who's sick right now, Press Robinson.

20:44 Press Robert.

20:45 Thank you.

20:45 Thank you.

20:46 And I remember him growing up, but I couldn't recall the name.

20:49 Um, I know that he's involved in a lawsuit,

20:51 but what's going on in the state of Louisiana?

20:54 You know, I think that people are upset.

20:57 There's a recall effort that's been uh kicked off by two

21:01 black women from Baton Rouge who just decided, you know what,

21:03 we're sick of Jeff Landry[ __] Uh there's

21:06 it's a tall order uh to accomplish that recall,

21:09 but it shows that people are upset.

21:11 Uh people are beginning to activate.

21:13 Tomorrow at 9:00 a.m.

21:14 uh there is a Senate hearing in governmental Senate governmental affairs where

21:18 there's going to be a presentation of multiple maps to be considered.

21:22 One of those maps eliminates all black

21:24 representation in the congressional level in Louisiana.

21:27 Another one of those maps gives us one black member of Congress.

21:30 Again, the thing to put into context is uh since reconstruction,

21:35 there have only been four black people

21:37 from the state of Louisiana to serve in Congress.

21:40 William Jefferson, uh Cleo Fields, Cedric Richmond, and Troy Carter.

21:46 Outside of that, the only other person

21:48 uh to serve in Congress was in reconstruction.

21:51 Every year, every two years,

21:54 Louisiana elects four to five white members of Congress.

21:59 uh every two years, every legislative session.

22:01 And so when you process that that you have black people who are a third

22:04 of the state of Louisiana uh that are paying into a tax system every

22:09 day that are now being told that we can't send somebody who looks like

22:13 us to DC and we only got this second congressional district in 2020 uh 2022

22:22 2024.

22:22 Matter of fact, Cleo feels this is this is his first reelection quest uh

22:27 for this congressional district that we just

22:29 got after suing after reortionment happened in 2020.

22:32 So when you process that, this is not a new tactic.

22:35 People say, "What has happened to America?" This has always been America.

22:38 There's never been a time where uh we've had a a quest to get a second

22:43 black congressional district where we were not being

22:45 sued all the way up to the Supreme Court.

22:47 They kicked our seat out in the 90s.

22:49 They're attempting to kick our seat out today.

22:51 The question I have for the rest of the country is if you

22:54 see what is happening here when it is it is going to impact you,

22:58 what are you going to do to help the south today?

23:02 What are you going to do to help the south

23:03 and what are you going to do to help the country?

23:05 I you know I can't get over this.

23:06 Um Representative uh Justin I I Jones I I

23:11 can't I can't get over this image and I think

23:13 this image is the image of the day and I

23:16 think this video is the video of the day.

23:22 [cheering] [cheering] [cheering]

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25:29 donlemon for $25 off of the Carver Matte Frame.

25:34 That's aura.com.

25:36 auraframes.com and the code is don.

25:42 So when you look at this photograph both of you um I said this is a photograph

25:47 in the video of the day I believe and and it's going to be an iconic one.

25:51 Is this where we're really going back to?

25:53 And if if so how do we get out of this Justin Jones?

25:58 I mean I you know we are Don and that's the thing

26:00 is like I think I told my colleagues here in on the Democratic

26:03 caucus that we will be more ashamed by what we don't

26:08 do than what we than what we do do in this moment.

26:10 We we must not lean into caution.

26:12 We must lean into boldness and to moral clarity.

26:15 Um what is happening is not about partisanship.

26:20 It's about racist control of black and brown bodies in the south.

26:25 It's about making sure that we maintain a white a white

26:28 power structure as as as we're seeing across this nation.

26:32 And and I we the people across America must pay attention to the South because

26:37 what's happening in the South is a preview

26:39 of what will spread across this nation.

26:42 That they're not going to stop here.

26:43 They're not going to be content with here.

26:44 And we know that this Confederate system that we're up

26:47 against is something that is all too familiar in America.

26:49 This is not the exception to the rule.

26:50 It is the rule.

26:51 You know, there to say that we may lose

26:53 black representation is not anything new in the south.

26:55 There's a time between the end of the 1800s

26:57 and the beginning of the 1960s where there were no black

26:59 representatives in Tennessee and most of the south because they

27:01 are run out by racial terror and and and voter suppression.

27:05 And so, we know this is not anything that is alarmist,

27:08 but it's something that we're all too familiar with here.

27:09 And so, you know, burning that flag was something ancestral for me.

27:12 Um, you know, I come as the youngest black lawmaker.

27:14 come here um you know as as the grandson

27:17 of Harriet whose family came from Tennessee and had

27:19 to move to Chicago because of that terror of Jim

27:21 Crow and and I and I thought about my ancestors.

27:23 I thought about how disrespectful these white

27:25 lawmakers were um you know spitting

27:27 on the graves of our martyrs when they denigrated the Voting Rights Act,

27:30 spitting on the graves of our martyrs when they turned back

27:33 the clock of history and said um with a straight face

27:36 that this is not about racism when we know what what

27:38 what it is and we know what the results going to be.

27:40 Um, and so I think, you know,

27:42 what we're seeing right now is something that should

27:44 make us rise up and defeat these neo-confederates,

27:46 these these neo Nazis and white supremacists who wear suits.

27:50 You know, they've taken off the white sheets here in the south

27:52 and they they wear suits and they sit in governor's

27:54 offices and speakers of the house offices and legislative offices

27:57 and they do it in in a way now that, you know,

28:00 is under the veneer of decorum and respectability.

28:03 But we that that decorum is is is is is a facade for the policy violence

28:07 that's going to be enacted against black people

28:09 across the South that we're seeing right now.

28:10 In my state, one in five black

28:12 people cannot vote because of felony disenfranchisement.

28:14 We know what Jim Crow looks like.

28:16 In my state, you know,

28:16 we're resegregating our schools with with these defunding of public education,

28:20 you know, because they've had a war against that ever since Brown v.

28:23 Board of Education.

28:23 These racists have been strategic and organized and and and now

28:27 they have an ally in the White House.

28:28 And I think it's more dangerous in the 1960s

28:30 because in the 60s you had the Supreme

28:31 Court at least to be a check on power to be a a forum for minority rights.

28:35 We don't even have that anymore.

28:36 The Supreme Court is corrupt.

28:38 It is it is it is a blank,

28:39 you know, stamp for the president and his racist agenda.

28:42 And so we have to be more creative

28:43 and we're going to it's going to take a grassroots

28:45 on the ground strategy of good trouble and disruption

28:48 and and and of escalation nonviolently to disrupt business as usual here.

28:52 And and and and I think we must be organized.

28:54 We must have solidarity.

28:54 So, Brother Gear, I'm so grateful is is is is a is

28:57 a freedom fighter and I'm I'm glad to be in this fight with you.

28:59 And we have to link up across the South because we need southern

29:02 solidarity right now to say that if they come for one of us,

29:04 they're coming for all of us and we need to link

29:05 up and have a southern defense strategy of how we're

29:07 going to fight back as black folks against these these these racial

29:10 terrorists um known as the GOP and MAGA extremist.

29:14 I want you to respond to that, Mr.

29:15 Chambers, but I also want to I'd like to provide uh

29:19 the viewers with some uh useful information because November is coming up.

29:23 Um, it is the midterms.

29:25 Uh, I am I want to be hopeful about what's going to happen,

29:29 but seeing what happened today, seeing what happened in Louisiana,

29:32 seeing what happened with their how they're moving all across the country,

29:34 and let's not forget um I have a lot going on here,

29:37 but I I think did we even touch on that the governor has paused the elections

29:42 there where people I think it was like 22,000 people or so had already voted?

29:49 40 40,000 people had already voted uh absentee.

29:52 uh and our governor suspended.

29:54 So the methodical manner in which they have done this.

29:57 Several years ago they changed a policy

29:59 to give the secretary of state the ability

30:02 to call an emergency uh in an election

30:05 which would allow her to suspend an election.

30:07 She activated that which gave the governor

30:10 the ability to sign an executive order

30:12 declaring an emergency and suspending our congressional

30:15 races immediately after the Supreme Court did this.

30:18 And then rather than the Supreme Court saying, "Wait a minute.

30:22 Normal standard is it's 35 days before you can uh put this into effect,

30:27 Alto gives a signature and says you can do this right

30:30 now." So Jeff and the legislature immediately suspend our congressional map.

30:35 They're putting us into a state of chaos.

30:38 But that is also, I believe,

30:40 because Jeff Landry has an election on the ballot right now.

30:43 While he suspended the congressional map,

30:45 the Senate race where his candidate uh Julia Lentllo,

30:48 who's a member of Congress,

30:50 backed by Trump, uh is not doing as well as he would like like her to.

30:54 So, if I create chaos in this election, it may help her.

30:57 Uh he has five constitutional amendments on the ballot right now.

31:01 All four of his constitutional amendments failed last year.

31:04 But if we can get less people to pay attention to the election,

31:07 if we make people think that you can't still

31:09 vote because we took the congressional race off the ballot,

31:12 then fewer people will show up and we can then

31:14 change the way that teachers get their pay raises in Louisiana.

31:17 We can split up uh the St.

31:19 George and East Baton Rouge Parish School District.

31:21 One of the things that Jeff is attempting to do through the legislature

31:24 right now is take away uh break up the Baton Rouge school district,

31:28 which is a 80% black school district,

31:30 but it would still give the white majority St.

31:33 George residents the ability to send their kids to our magnet schools

31:37 in the school district that they say they don't want to be a part of.

31:39 So when you look at the things that these people are doing,

31:42 they are methodically creating chaos in order to effectuate

31:45 the change that they want at a local level.

31:47 And we are being bombarded because we're not

31:50 resourced and because it's not being taken serious.

31:53 And the South has been cast off as if it is

31:56 uh just a place that Republicans can uh do whatever they want.

32:00 There are 925,000 registered black voters in Louisiana.

32:04 Jeff Landry won with 500,000 votes.

32:06 His ass can be beat.

32:09 Yeah, that's it.

32:13 Wow.

32:12 Um Gary Chambers, can you explain to me?

32:15 I'm going to play this in a little bit.

32:17 Um where we were talking about the symbol

32:20 of Justin Jones and the Confederate flag.

32:24 Um you also have something that deals with the Confederate flag.

32:30 uh that you put out yourself.

32:32 Why is that important for you?

32:34 You know, when I ran for the Senate

32:35 four years ago here in Louisiana against John Kennedy,

32:40 uh I understood that this is the direction that our country was going in.

32:44 And we used our ads to tell stories.

32:46 So when I saw Representative Jones burn that flag,

32:49 I knew he was a Kendrick spirit because there is something

32:53 that is taking place within this country and it is very visible.

32:56 It is very clear and there are many people who want us to be more palatable.

33:00 They want us to be more uh docile about the approach but you need to be

33:04 as glaringly clear about what we are dealing

33:06 with so that people can rise to the moment.

33:11 Yeah.

33:12 Uh wow.

33:14 Okay.

33:14 Well, listen, I thank both of you for the fight that you're putting up.

33:18 I thank you so much.

33:19 We have the video that you sent me and we'll roll it a little bit later

33:22 because I think it's an important video for people

33:24 to see about the symbolism of that flag.

33:27 Um, but you guys are fighting the good fight.

33:29 Please, please continue on uh and and update us.

33:33 Okay, stand strong.

33:34 Thank you.

33:35 Thank you, brother.

33:35 Thank you, D.

33:37 Thank you very much.

33:40 Boy, oh boy.

33:40 I want to bring in now uh someone else who

33:42 can uh discuss this and and other things that's happening.

33:45 and she has a fascinating new book out.

33:46 An award-winning journalist, best-selling author,

33:48 constitutional commentator, attorney, professor,

33:52 founder and CEO of the Redefining Freedom Center of Virginia,

33:57 a friend, [laughter] former colleague, Sophia Nelson.

34:01 Hi, Sophia.

34:02 How you doing?

34:03 Hey, Don.

34:04 How are you?

34:06 I'm doing okay.

34:07 As you were Thank you for joining us.

34:08 As you're listening to these two gentlemen, and I know you've been,

34:11 you know, you've been there, you've been in the fight.

34:13 what what goes through your mind?

34:16 Well, listen, I think that uh Tennessee

34:19 and Louisiana have different challenges as they outlined,

34:22 but the question is after what has happened with the Supreme

34:25 Court's latest decision on voting rights where they gutted it,

34:28 you're already seeing the fallout.

34:30 And the question really becomes, you know, I live in Virginia,

34:33 so we're the upper south, as I like to say, and we are very blue here.

34:37 And as you saw yesterday,

34:39 the FBI raided Senator Louise Lucas's office in Virginia,

34:44 the Senate majority leader here.

34:46 And I imagine they're going to be some

34:47 trumped up charges on her, no pun intended.

34:50 And I think that what you're going to see is this movement

34:54 by the federal government in the South to try to deconstruct,

34:59 as I like to call it,

35:00 the efforts of postreonstruction into the civil rights era.

35:03 So, I think we have a crisis that's been brewing for about

35:07 a decade and I think it's coming to a head and project 2025, Don,

35:11 is is here and it's being implemented piece

35:14 by piece and I'm concerned that I don't see

35:17 the resistance that of our parents and grandparents generation

35:22 that I feel like we should be having right now.

35:24 Why is that?

35:25 And by the way, the book, let's just put this up.

35:27 The book is called uh redefining freedom frequently asked questions.

35:32 that that's that that you have and and on the frequently asked

35:35 questions I think that should be one of them uh for the book

35:38 is why aren't we seeing that sort of galvanization and and motivation

35:43 from people as we did um back during the civil rights movement

35:48 two points uh the inspiration for the book for me is

35:50 a quote by Kretta Scott King um and what she said

35:54 in essence is this freedom is never a static thing it

35:59 has to be won again and again in every gener generation.

36:02 And that is a very important thing to put a pin

36:04 in because if you go back to the Civil Rights Movement,

36:08 the Civil Rights Act of 64, the Voting Rights Act of 65,

36:13 and then you look at that 50ear span or 60ear span in there,

36:17 you can see a decline in that fight for freedom in our community.

36:22 What do I mean by that?

36:23 You saw Reverend Jackson and you know his running for the presidency.

36:26 You had Shirley Chisum before him, etc., etc.,

36:29 But we got more and more, what's the word I'm looking for?

36:32 We became corporate black folks.

36:34 We became integrated.

36:36 We became assimilated, right?

36:38 And we became part of this quote unquote colorblindness that really bothers me.

36:44 And we can talk about that in a bit because colorblindness just doesn't exist.

36:48 And it's as you know, one of the justices said in the Supreme Court,

36:52 I think it was the Baky versus Regent's case, you know,

36:55 color consciousness must come before you can be color blind.

36:58 In other words, you've got to be able

37:00 to see race and understand racial history and and how

37:04 it plays a big role in America and her present

37:07 state before you can get to color blindness.

37:09 So, I think that the reason you're not seeing this push back from the NACP

37:14 and other organizations that have traditionally been

37:16 on the front lines is because we've gotten comfortable,

37:19 which brings me to the second point,

37:21 which is Don, democracy does not sustain itself.

37:25 It requires participation, active participation.

37:29 50% of our country doesn't vote in every election.

37:33 50% doesn't participate.

37:35 And when you get down to state elections and local elections,

37:39 that number drops a lot.

37:41 Sometimes it's 30%.

37:43 Sometimes it's 40%.

37:45 So people are disengaged.

37:48 And what has happened is this has allowed the uh

37:50 what you would call populist movement of Trump, right?

37:54 and people like him to be able to get

37:56 elected with those very small numbers that are not,

38:01 you know, not the popular vote.

38:03 He did win it this last time,

38:05 but that isn't something Republicans have traditionally done

38:07 well with in the last number of elections.

38:10 And so they tend to win in these smaller southern regional areas where

38:15 the populations are overwhelmingly Caucasian and they

38:19 can kind of win with just that vote.

38:22 They don't need a diverse majority, if you will.

38:25 They can win with just a slimmer minority.

38:30 H um what is the book about?

38:34 Those are I just want because these are the the you

38:36 said these are the the frequently asked questions that you're asked.

38:39 What is the book about?

38:40 Why is it important at this time?

38:42 Why read this book?

38:44 So, [laughter] I want to know that America 250 is coming July 4th, 2026.

38:49 And I don't want to be another person who just says, "Let's celebrate.

38:53 Let's do kumbaya.

38:55 Let's pretend everything is good." Everything is not

38:58 good and everything is not all bad either.

39:01 And I think that's really important that we settle down

39:04 into that and understand that there are things that have worked well.

39:08 You and I are sitting here talking right now.

39:10 We are the remnants.

39:11 We're Gen Xers.

39:12 I'm assuming we're age cohorts, right?

39:14 So, we're Gen Xers.

39:15 and and and we are the heirs of that civil rights movement, right?

39:20 But what Sophia, let me let me just jump in.

39:23 I understand what you're saying.

39:25 Look, and I and I'm as optimistic as the next person,

39:28 but everything does feel pretty bad right now for me to

39:32 Okay, [laughter] I'll let you go.

39:34 You're the guest.

39:34 Go ahead.

39:35 I always want to be somebody that says there's a path forward, and there is.

39:40 Okay.

39:39 But what I'm saying in this book is you've got to understand how we got here.

39:44 And we got here, you got to go back 10 years, Don.

39:47 And you've got to go back to the post Obama era and the Tea Party.

39:53 And the Tea Party begets Trump and MAGA.

39:57 And then this is how you end up here.

39:59 This country apparently did not weather the fact very well

40:03 that we had an African-American president for eight years who was scandalf-free,

40:09 who didn't get into any messes financially or in his personal life or otherwise.

40:14 who did a pretty good job running the country,

40:16 pulling it out of a crisis when he came into office.

40:19 And somehow with diversity, equity, and inclusion,

40:24 and the advancements of women and people of color, somehow that dream that Dr.

40:30 King talked about in 1963 that came to fruition really angered

40:35 a lot of our fellow citizens who were not people of color.

40:39 and they began to feel victimized and they began to feel like there

40:43 was too much woke and too much CRT and all their little buzzwords.

40:47 And what Donald Trump did very effectively

40:50 was he tapped into that that discontent,

40:54 that anger, that that worry that the country's browning,

40:57 that there are too many illegal immigrants in the country

41:00 and that they're taking something of my America.

41:03 And so it's a it's a remnant as uh representative Jones said very right

41:09 that we've seen this movie before Don

41:11 this is Woodro Wilson redux meets Andrew Johnson

41:15 redux and we can go back and back and so we are just in another

41:19 cycle of this racial push back and I know that a lot of our

41:24 there's a difference now there's a difference now which is

41:27 the difference now is that the people who are in charge don't give

41:30 a damn about the constitution or the rules

41:33 or absolutely right the law or anything.

41:36 They don't they don't care that they are using laws that were um

41:41 uh put into effect uh that is supposed to protect minorities and people

41:46 in the underserved communities and they're using those same laws to discriminate

41:51 and to violate and to criminalize people

41:54 of color and and people in underserved communities.

41:56 John, that can only work that can only work when

42:00 the guard rails that have been put in our Constitution,

42:04 the Supreme Court and the Congress are a check on a rogue executive.

42:10 And the reason they have been able to do all

42:12 they've been able to do in the last what 15 months,

42:16 350,000 black women lost jobs in this country in the last year, DEI.

42:21 I don't know the numbers for black men and other people of color,

42:24 but I know black women took the hardest hit.

42:26 And you saw Rachel Matto go off the other night on MS Now,

42:30 and I thought it was awesome the way she broke down.

42:32 There is an assault on black people in this country.

42:35 And she did.

42:36 It's also a part of her podcast was first and then she

42:38 did it on the show and it's I mean it is fascinating.

42:40 Everyone should watch it.

42:41 Yeah.

42:41 And to to your point to answer your question though the guard rails have failed.

42:46 That's why this is working.

42:47 The Congress just doesn't work anymore.

42:49 Mike Johnson is speaker of the house is just a rubber

42:52 stamp and he just doesn't call the Congress into session.

42:56 So they don't check Trump on anything.

42:59 The Supreme Court has been wishywashy at best.

43:02 They got the right decision on tariffs.

43:05 They made a terrible decision on voting rights

43:07 and on row and they're going to do more damage.

43:10 I actually think they're going to go for uh Loving versus Virginia and see if

43:15 they cannot maybe spin that on its head

43:17 and reverse the gains for same-sex marriage etc.

43:21 So I think that you're really looking at a roll back piece

43:25 by piece and if you read project 2025 done it's all there.

43:29 So the answer to your question is the reason I wrote the book

43:32 and the reason people should read it is there is a path forward and that path

43:36 forward is us and I dedicated this book to the next generation because they've

43:41 got to get engaged and save this country and create the country that they want.

43:46 You and I got another 20 25 maybe plus years left to go, you know.

43:52 And you better speak for yourself.

43:53 I got another 50.

43:54 I don't know what you're talking about.

43:56 __] But the reality [laughter] is is that they've got to get engaged.

44:00 Listen, they can't afford new homes.

44:03 They can't pay off their student loans.

44:04 They will not have the same standard of living

44:06 that we've had and that our parents had.

44:09 And so the guard rails have failed.

44:11 The only reason Trump has been allowed to succeed the way he has is

44:15 because the Constitution is not working the way it was set up to work, Don.

44:19 And that's not really something you and I can do anything about.

44:23 And that's the problem.

44:26 Okay.

44:27 All right, we're going to talk about this because again,

44:31 I am usually glass half full, but I'm just telling you,

44:35 we're in a whole another world right now that you and I can talk about.

44:40 First, I'm going to roll the break and I'm

44:41 going to talk about how do we move forward?

44:43 Is it a real possibility?

44:44 Especially when you see what's happening today, when they steal the vote,

44:48 when they sold the judiciary, when they sold the executive branch,

44:50 when they sold the legislative branch branch,

44:52 and when we have a a dictator that does what he wants at will,

44:57 he can, you know, start a war.

44:58 He can uh give rich people tax cuts.

45:01 He can u you know, limit black people from voting.

45:05 He can take away people's due process rights and just start arresting them.

45:09 He can do unpatriotic and unconstitutional and unlawful things like that.

45:14 And we can and we need to talk about freedom of the press.

45:16 First, a word from our sponsors.

45:18 Support for the program comes from the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

45:20 Let me just say this plainly.

45:21 Freedom in this country includes the right

45:24 to believe and the right not to believe.

45:26 And that only works if government stays out of it.

45:30 I think a lot about how easily that line can start to blur,

45:33 especially when religion and politics get pulled together in public life.

45:37 And once that happens, somebody always gets left out.

45:41 That's why the Freedom from Religion Foundation matters.

45:43 They're focused on protecting the First Amendment

45:45 and pushing back when government starts favoring one

45:48 belief system over another because this country was

45:51 built on the idea that faith is personal,

45:54 but government has to be for everybody.

45:57 Okay?

45:58 And that principle doesn't protect just one group, it protects all of us.

46:03 So if you agree with that, you should check them out.

46:06 Go to ffrf.usdon us/don or text don to 511511 to learn more.

46:13 That's ffr.

46:15 usdon or text don to 511511.

46:19 Text fees may apply.

46:22 Okay, we're back now with Sophia Nelson,

46:24 award-winning journalist, bestselling author, constitutional commentator,

46:27 attorney, professor, and founder,

46:29 and CEO of the Redefining Freedom Center of Virginia.

46:33 Uh I miss our banter uh that we used to have back in the day because you're one

46:38 of those people I have to tell you that uh

46:39 I feel like after I've spoken to you I I'm smarter.

46:42 You you bring up the the intelligence in the room

46:45 much like when I talk about Fared Zakaria.

46:47 I loved having conversations with with folks like that.

46:50 So you understand what I'm saying about all everything seems

46:53 to be um being taken away and I've always said

46:58 that as you mentioned comfort is poison and uh we have

47:02 to we have to get into a place where we're not

47:05 comfortable where we ha everybody everyone has to be willing

47:10 to sacrifice something I can't tell you what that is

47:13 but for me it is the freedom of speech the freedom

47:17 of the press the first amendment That is my race on detra.

47:22 That is where I can make the biggest difference because I have

47:25 a platform to be able to make a difference in that venue.

47:29 And so how do we do this?

47:30 And because you said we do it with us, but what is that sacrifice?

47:34 What is that?

47:35 What is the blueprint?

47:38 So a few specifics.

47:39 Um first, you have been someone and I

47:42 don't need to say this, everybody knows it.

47:44 you have been a target of this administration

47:47 and you I think said something very important

47:51 a couple weeks ago before the White House correspondence

47:53 dinner when you said why are we supporting this?

47:56 Why would we have a White House correspondence dinner and you boycotted it?

48:00 It ended up not being one because of the shooter there.

48:03 But we need to start with that pillar, the Bill of Rights.

48:07 The first amendment is what?

48:08 Freedom of the press is in the first amendment to the constitution for a reason

48:13 because because without it working without that constitutional

48:18 um tension of the press saying wait Mr.

48:21 Executive you're not allowed to do that.

48:22 Wait Mr.

48:23 Executive that violates the imalments clause.

48:25 Wait Mr.

48:26 Executive that you can't put your face on the side of the justice building.

48:30 We don't do that in the United States.

48:32 Don I've never seen anything like this and I'm in my 50s.

48:36 I remember working on the Hill when I was

48:38 in my 20s and I can't imagine a president

48:41 of the United States being brazen enough to put

48:43 his picture on the side of the Justice Department,

48:46 put his face on passports, destroy the East Wing, and do all these things.

48:50 So, the reason again we got here is because

48:53 this man has been given a pass by the press.

48:56 Let's call it what it is.

48:58 They do not cover him the same way they covered past presidents.

49:01 I don't have a reason for why that is.

49:03 I don't know if it's fear.

49:05 I don't know if he's got something on people or people

49:08 just don't care or something more nefarious which is do

49:13 you think President Obama could have done any of this and it

49:17 would have not blown up and been major every day?

49:20 I don't think so.

49:21 So I think race is a factor.

49:23 I think he's given a pass because he's this celebrity uh

49:27 rich mogul uh dude that was a great developer supposedly etc.

49:33 and and he's an entertainer.

49:34 So they let him get away with saying unbelievable things.

49:38 And I'm telling you right now, one of the reasons we are in trouble,

49:41 as you say, and you're right, the press has failed in its job.

49:45 It has not covered this man the way it should.

49:48 The second thing, so the first thing is

49:50 the press has got to start doing its job.

49:52 That's the first thing.

49:53 Secondly, the civic engagement and formation

49:56 in this country has fallen off dramatically.

49:59 We don't teach civics anymore.

50:01 Most people, Don, don't even understand how the Constitution works,

50:05 what the guard rails are, what are the functions of the executive

50:08 versus the judiciary and the legislative.

50:11 Most people don't know and they don't care.

50:14 Those three words that open up the Constitution,

50:16 we the people are there for a reason.

50:20 The no kings protests, I think, have been effective,

50:22 but I think we need more of them.

50:24 And I think they need to be a lot bigger.

50:26 And I think we need to be engaged in calling every

50:29 member of Congress in those numbers that are in the millions.

50:32 And we need to flood them because they respond to people

50:36 calling because if they don't think they're going to get reelected,

50:39 you will find them very engaged all

50:41 of a sudden because that's what they care about.

50:44 And so I think the third thing is is that this next

50:48 generation has to get engaged in a way that says,

50:52 "Wait a minute, this is our country.

50:54 we're going to inherit this.

50:56 The debt ceiling done is unbelievable.

50:59 I don't know that we can ever get that squared away in the next 25 years or so.

51:04 Maybe it's going to take 50 years.

51:06 But again, if this apathy continues

51:09 and people are more worried about their vacations

51:12 or their nice homes or their cars or whatever

51:14 they're worried about and they continue to say,

51:17 "This doesn't affect me." this man will continue to do what he does

51:22 and it will get a hell of a lot worse before it gets better.

51:25 So, it's the press, it's the people,

51:28 and it is the elected representatives who will save this country.

51:32 Otherwise, it doesn't get saved.

51:38 You're missing, man.

51:39 Well, I'm just saying there's a look, we're going to see a lot more of these.

51:43 A lot more Tennessee's, a lot more with Florida, a lot more Louisiana.

51:47 That's gonna happen all the way up until November because the Supreme Court

51:53 gave them the green light to do it.

51:54 It wasn't just they're not just proceeding on yellow.

51:56 They're they're taking a green light and they're

51:58 doing it and they're being successful with it.

52:00 You know, Don, um it'll be interesting to see what they do on voting right.

52:03 I mean, um sorry, birthright citizenship.

52:05 I'm actually now worried.

52:06 I was convinced before that they would based

52:09 on their questions not touch the 14th amendment, but now I'm suspect.

52:13 I'm not sure they don't do something with that.

52:17 and say, "Well, the 14th Amendment only applied

52:19 to the uh enslaved persons of the time and their descendants,

52:23 which means you and I might be maybe covered,

52:26 but everybody else could be in trouble." So,

52:29 I'm not sure how they're going to try to skim

52:31 that, but if you look at how the conservatives talk about it,

52:35 they say, "Well, that doesn't apply to anybody

52:37 else but enslaved people and their descendants,

52:40 that's going to be how they might narrowly define

52:43 that, and that's going to create a real problem." Well,

52:47 my thing is is that I don't want to um

52:49 I don't want to be polyianish about it, right?

52:51 But because I had friends who said, you know what,

52:54 uh after the after the election in 2024,

52:57 they said, you know what, I got to figure out I got to get out of here.

52:59 I got to do that.

53:00 I don't want to do that, but I kind of just shook it off like,

53:04 oh my god, they're being, you know, a little bit dramatic.

53:07 And as it turns out, they are not they're not wrong.

53:12 [laughter] They're not wrong.

53:14 you know, so I don't want to be wrong and be overly,

53:17 you know, optimistic about what can happen in November.

53:20 This has got to be this has got to be bigger than Hungary

53:24 in order to convince the MAGA and Trump

53:27 faithful that the election wasn't somehow stolen.

53:31 Yeah, I don't really care about MAGA and Trump faithful.

53:33 If you look at the numbers, they account for about 30%.

53:37 The dangerous people in this country, and I'm going to call a thing a thing.

53:42 My white sisters got to get it together.

53:44 53% the first election, 51% the second election.

53:49 By first I mean 2016 and then the last election um with Kla Harris.

53:54 And you know I opened the book Don

53:55 with uh Howard University the night of the election.

53:58 I was there covering for Atlanta Journal Constitution and Forbes and um

54:03 I'll never forget that night and you remember how it started out and then how

54:07 it ended when Cedric came up and talked and was like oh everybody go home.

54:11 We already knew it was over by then.

54:14 But I remember thinking, and this has stuck with me,

54:17 how could the country choose?

54:19 Whether you liked Kamla's laugh or whatever it was,

54:22 or Hillary was this or that, they were competent.

54:26 Donald Trump was literally talking about Hannibal Lecter and Sharks.

54:30 Literally, I'm not making this up.

54:32 You can Google it.

54:33 And people eating dogs and cats.

54:34 He had no plan, no housing, no uh food prices, no affordability.

54:40 He had nothing and he he he just

54:43 kind of rambled around and he didn't sound coherent.

54:46 He said Kamla was going to start a war with Iran.

54:48 Hello, surprise.

54:50 And so my point is you've got to dig deeper,

54:53 Don, into there's an infection in America.

54:56 It's a race infection.

54:57 It's a gender infection.

54:59 And it is still with us at 250 years.

55:02 That's what I mean by not just celebrating, commemorating, reflecting, renewing,

55:09 and redefining how we share in this country and how freedom is for everybody,

55:15 not just for some people because it's still just for some people.

55:20 Huh, that sounds like a book right there.

55:22 Redefining freedom.

55:24 [laughter] That's a book by Sophia Nelson.

55:29 Redefining freedom.

55:30 Um, thank you Sophia.

55:33 It's been way too long.

55:33 You got to come back.

55:34 We want We'd like to have you more.

55:36 Thank you for what you do and thank you for being a hero.

55:38 You are.

55:39 You may not think it, but you are.

55:40 You're one of the people that they're going to talk about 50 years from now.

55:44 Are they gonna say good stuff or bad?

55:46 Who knows?

55:46 It doesn't matter.

55:47 Real good stuff.

55:47 [laughter] And you ain't gonna be here in 50 years, by the way.

55:50 Neither am I.

55:52 You don't know.

55:53 I've talked to some people and they said they got they got peels out there.

55:56 They got peels.

55:56 Whoever Who would have thought that one day?

55:59 Now, listen.

55:59 Listen to me.

56:00 Okay.

56:02 Okay.

56:01 That one day you'd be able to swallow a pill and it

56:04 could and you could lose 50 pounds from taking that pill.

56:08 When did you ever think that?

56:09 Same as dodging death.

56:10 We all got a debt to pay on that one.

56:14 I don't know.

56:14 I mean, I'm not saying I I don't think anyone should be immortal.

56:17 I mean, but we've got driverless cars.

56:19 We're soon having flying cars.

56:21 We have people look when I would I when I

56:23 see people now who are 60 70 80 years old they

56:26 don't look like the 60 70 80 years old people

56:28 when when when we were younger you know what I mean

56:30 I agree I agree I do no listen though seriously thank you for what I haven't had

56:35 a chance of course I was supportive as everybody

56:37 was when they arrested you and did what they did violated every right you had um

56:42 you're standing up though and that's a profile and courage and we we need more

56:46 of that from our mainstream press and it just doesn't exist.

56:49 It just doesn't.

56:50 They're worried about their jobs and their money and their book deals.

56:53 Well, and I can understand that people worried about getting arrested,

56:56 but who would who would have thought unless look,

56:58 they can't they can try to arrest all of us,

57:00 but sooner or later somebody's going to go, "Okay, enough already."

57:04 Um, but I do believe I you are I think you are absolutely correct

57:09 that the media needs to have more of a backbone and uh a lot

57:13 less false equivalent and um and more

57:16 challenging of the gatekeepers who are calls

57:19 a woman piggy or he says something I don't say the men in the room

57:23 should absolutely say sir that's inappropriate

57:25 and the women they should all walk out remember this is a person

57:28 that feeds off of attention negative positive whatever

57:31 and if you give him none and you shut it down it stops because

57:36 then nobody's reporting his antics don't they're

57:38 not doing this right they're doing this wrong

57:41 yeah thank you Savil Nelson we'll see you have a good one okay be well you too

57:45 all right everyone so look just a couple

57:47 breaking news things I want to tell you about.

57:49 Uh, apparently they're supposed to be we got a deal.

57:51 We got a deal is in the works.

57:53 It's great.

57:53 It's great.

57:54 You know, everything is great.

57:55 Uh, we got the talks are going great and uh,

57:57 in the meantime they are firing back and forth in the Straight of Hormuz.

58:01 Iran war updates, US and Iran exchange fire amid a declared truce.

58:07 No, I could have told y'all every look,

58:09 every time I hear this man sitting when he was

58:12 sitting in the Oval Office yesterday saying, "We have it.

58:16 We're close to a deal and uh they want to talk,

58:19 they want a deal." That man has been saying

58:21 the same thing since the very beginning of this.

58:24 He's always going to say that.

58:25 And and Sophia's right.

58:27 And I think the media and even the folks who want to make money,

58:31 all of the corporate profiteers, all of them, they want it to be positive.

58:36 They they want him to be telling the truth and so the market

58:39 goes up and they make more money and but the man can't help himself.

58:43 He is a liar and he's a bullshitter.

58:48 And I I I'm not saying that I'm a bullshitter,

58:51 but I knew how to get away with stuff because I was the only boy in the family.

58:54 So I'd be like I was mama's boy.

58:56 Mama, you so you know, you know,

58:58 you learn how to man manipulate people a little bit, right, to get your way.

59:01 I was just like, I just wanted to be cute.

59:03 Mom, I love you.

59:04 I do.

59:04 I do love my mom.

59:05 You guys know that, right?

59:06 I mean, come on.

59:07 But I'm just saying, man, and that's what Donald Trump does.

59:10 He blows smoke up these people's behinds and they believe it and they

59:15 just allow him to keep going on and on and on and on.

59:18 There ain't no deal in Iran.

59:20 Those people are never going to give up the Straight of Hormuz.

59:22 It just ain't gonna happen.

59:24 And guess what?

59:26 They will be testing,

59:27 at least according to the expert that we spoke to yesterday,

59:29 they will be testing a nuclear weapon.

59:32 Some experts believe within a year.

59:35 Donald Trump has elevated Iran to the level of uh a country,

59:42 European allies, um democratic countries that they should never be elevated to.

59:50 They have stood up to the most powerful nation in the world

59:53 with the biggest military and all we can do meaning

59:57 our leaders sadly is say we are firing over everything we

1:00:03 have decimated this we have done that and every question after

1:00:07 that should be did you open up the straight of Harmuz

1:00:11 we have done this and we've obliterated that did you open

1:00:14 up the straight of Harmuz we have done uh bombed here

1:00:18 and we've done that are my gas prices going down or not.

1:00:24 Instead, they allow this man to[ __] them every day and to we have a deal.

1:00:31 We're going to do this.

1:00:32 We're going to that.

1:00:34 I'm going to tell you like my mama tell you when before I leave you.

1:00:37 You can't[ __] the booab bear.

1:00:40 So, stop falling for the[ __] okeyoke, everybody.

1:00:44 Donald Trump is bullshitting you.

1:00:47 uh what's his name?

1:00:48 Todd Blanch is bullshitting you just like Pam Bondi was bullshitting you.

1:00:52 They all are.

1:00:53 They don't know what they're doing.

1:00:55 They didn't even consider had they considered

1:00:57 what would happen with the straight of Armus.

1:00:58 Do you think they would have gotten

1:00:59 into this conflict and even if they considered it,

1:01:04 they underestimated the Iranians ability to be

1:01:07 able to withstand this for so long.

1:01:09 Much like Vladimir Putin underestimated Vladimir Zalinski

1:01:14 and Ukraine's ability to be able to not

1:01:18 only to withstand and sustain but to actually maybe come out a winner in this.

1:01:28 I'm just saying it's the same thing.

1:01:30 The parallels here are very similar.

1:01:32 Ukraine, Russia, United States, Iran.

1:01:39 [snorts] Now you've been informed.

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1:03:20 Junth.

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