HOT TOPICS | Trump’s Wealth Soars & Celebs Show Off At Met Gala As Americans Struggle

0:03 [music] [music]

0:16 Oh my goodness, where is Don?

0:18 Where is Don?

0:19 I got to go.

0:19 I see people in the thing saying my break is over.

0:21 I need it.

0:22 Good morning.

0:23 Hello everybody.

0:24 As you can see, I'm on the road.

0:26 Just so you know, I am I just flew in.

0:30 I'm in London.

0:31 I am in London.

0:33 And so sorry.

0:35 I apologize.

0:35 I think it's a good excuse so just got in.

0:38 Hello, hello, hello lemonation.

0:40 Make sure you hit the like and hit the thumbs up.

0:41 It does affect the algorithm.

0:42 More people become aware of our conversation and our channel.

0:45 I just want to I have a lot of talk about.

0:49 Of course we're going to talk about the war, right?

0:51 I'm going to talk about what's happening in America, all of those things.

0:53 I'm going to talk about the serious things.

0:55 But there's something that I find very serious and I know

0:57 I'm probably going to get a lot of hate for it.

1:00 Because people are going to think I'm hating on it or oh my gosh,

1:04 you weren't invited.

1:05 This has nothing to do with that.

1:07 Because the same thing that happened

1:08 to me at the White House Correspondents Dinner.

1:10 I was invited but I decided not to go.

1:12 So I don't know if you guys know where I'm going.

1:14 OMG, London.

1:15 I know.

1:15 Tell me, is anybody in London?

1:16 Is anybody in London?

1:17 Is anybody And it is true London fashion.

1:22 It is overcast.

1:23 Which makes for good lighting though.

1:25 Cuz it's not such such harsh.

1:27 So maybe should I have should I pull this back?

1:28 Maybe Maybe I could use a little more lighting.

1:31 So it's not so harsh because overcast,

1:34 if you are in photography, you know, it makes for good lighting.

1:39 So I just open it up a little bit.

1:41 Here's the thing.

1:43 Can we talk about the Met Gala?

1:45 Or gala, however you want to say it.

1:48 Did you guys see any of that stuff?

1:49 I know it gets like billions of impressions.

1:51 It comes across everyone's timeline and the whole thing.

1:54 I get it.

1:55 I get it.

1:56 People love it.

1:56 Love it.

1:57 Love it.

1:58 Uh and I'm not saying I don't hate it.

2:01 But I think there's a time and a place for everything,

2:03 especially with everything that's going on in the world right now.

2:06 So, that's sort of a synopsis of where I'm going to start.

2:09 Um yeah, so tell me where you are.

2:11 I told you where I am.

2:12 I shouldn't probably tell you, but yeah, not a fan.

2:17 Let me know and put it up.

2:18 Are you a fan of the the Met Gala?

2:20 Let me know, okay?

2:21 Let me know.

2:22 Yes, I'm in London.

2:23 Wow, I've never been.

2:24 Yes.

2:25 And here's the weird thing and before I get to it

2:28 I didn't realize cuz I haven't been to the UK ooh,

2:33 I think I came once after the Queen died, but I was here when the Queen died,

2:35 but it just started I think like in February where

2:38 in you had to do this thing um it's I think it's

2:41 called an ETA where you have to apply for a visa

2:45 before you get here and before you just go to London.

2:47 It's like I'm just going to speak at a conference.

2:48 It's not a big deal and then I'm coming back the next day.

2:51 Uh so, I had to like fill that out in the car.

2:53 I had no idea.

2:54 I was trying to I was trying to check into my flight and they're like,

2:57 "Can't check you in because you need this." And I was like,

2:59 "Oh[ __] I'm not going to be able to go." But anyways,

3:01 it worked really quickly and it's very smart.

3:04 And by the way, getting through customs

3:08 and um I didn't really have to do customs,

3:10 but uh through um um what do you call it?

3:15 Your travel thing.

3:16 Getting through that was really fast.

3:21 I got through I mean, it was easy.

3:23 My pass The passport thing here was so easy.

3:26 You just scan it, boom, through.

3:30 Why can't we vote like that?

3:33 Why can't you just cuz instead of asking everybody,

3:35 "Do you got any idea on a Why can't you just do the whole thing like not

3:38 even showing an ID?" I understand you got

3:40 to show an ID to get through um you know, to customs or whatever.

3:46 But to vote, I don't think you need that.

3:52 I think you can just scan your face cuz I

3:54 go through domestically and I don't have to show an ID.

3:57 If you If you do the process where you do the thing,

3:59 you don't have to show an ID.

4:00 Anyways, I think we should vote like that.

4:02 I You know, I can understand having to do the passport and all that.

4:05 But okay, so let me get to um where I want to go here because I

4:08 think it's really important and um and I am going to tick off a lot of people,

4:14 but this is my opinion and I think that, you know, it's good.

4:17 So good morning, everybody.

4:18 Welcome to Hot Topics.

4:20 Welcome to Hot Topics.

4:20 How you doing?

4:21 I had to write down some of my thoughts cuz I didn't want to go off.

4:24 So last night was the Met Gala or Gala, however you want to say it.

4:28 And before anybody comes for me, let me just say I love fashion.

4:31 You guys know that.

4:32 I think fashion is art.

4:33 I used to be more fashion conscious than I am now.

4:35 The older I get, I'm like, what does it matter?

4:38 A lot of it is just and I I'm not

4:40 like I don't have to have the latest uh luxury thing.

4:44 It's not my thing.

4:45 I don't have to do the latest luxury thing.

4:47 I can go to Zara.

4:48 Look, I can go to when we used to shop at Target.

4:51 I don't anymore.

4:51 I could go to Target and get something.

4:53 Uh when I used to go visit my mom,

4:54 I would go to years ago I'd go get pajamas and stuff at at Walmart.

4:58 So I Look, it doesn't It matters not to me.

5:01 I do have some great clothes cuz when I worked at CNN,

5:04 got a clothing allowance and all of that.

5:05 But I'm not against fashion, okay?

5:08 So, um I need fashion's biggest night of the year,

5:17 the biggest night to read the room.

5:21 Read the room.

5:22 Read the room.

5:27 The theme last night was was costume art, okay, or custom art.

5:31 And or costume art, excuse me, and the dress code was fashion is art.

5:39 [laughter] No[ __] fashion is art.

5:40 Like fashion is art.

5:42 Are you kidding me?

5:44 Of course fashion is art.

5:45 Couldn't they have come up with a better thing?

5:47 and I I have some ideas for them.

5:48 While your gas hit $4.45 on average a gallon and I

5:51 know a lot of you are paying more than that.

5:53 Spirit more than that.

5:54 Spirit Airlines died, you know,

5:56 and 17,000 workers lost their jobs and their health care on Saturday morning.

6:01 The war is in its 66th day.

6:04 72-year-old woman named Mary Hill, okay,

6:07 works in an Amazon warehouse battling cancer.

6:10 She works for $17 an hour.

6:14 And the man who owns Amazon, Jeff Bezos,

6:16 you think he makes $17,000 an hour an hour?

6:19 $17 an hour reportedly dropped $10 million to sponsor the whole thing.

6:25 And he was supposed to stand at the top

6:27 of the steps greeting guests with Anna Wintour.

6:30 He did not.

6:30 He didn't walk the red carpet.

6:34 He went in through the side entrance because the protests outside were

6:38 so intense that he apparently thought it was better to avoid the cameras.

6:44 And what were protesters doing outside?

6:48 And what were the protesters outside?

6:51 That's what we want to know.

6:54 So, let's take let's take a look at some of the protest.

6:56 About 300 bottles of fake urine placed inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art

7:02 to protest Amazon's policy that does not give its drivers bathroom breaks.

7:08 So, they pee in bottles on the job making $17

7:14 an hour while Bezos makes millions of dollars per hour.

7:19 While he spent $10 million on a party

7:22 and protesters projected the face of Mary Hill,

7:25 the woman I said is dealing with cancer,

7:27 onto Bezos' luxury condo in Madison Square Park.

7:31 It's a 72-year-old Amazon warehouse worker

7:34 battling cancer living paycheck to paycheck.

7:38 So, he could look out of his window and see her face during

7:41 the party if he was too embarrassed to walk into through the front door.

7:48 Now, that was art.

7:51 That was not just a protest.

7:52 That was poetry.

7:54 And I think that the Metropolitan of the Met

7:57 Gala needs to gain some of that energy.

8:01 That's the energy they they need.

8:03 Now, there were some people who made their feelings known.

8:06 Bella Hadid liked a video.

8:08 I mean, liking a video, come on, Bella Hadid.

8:11 Calling out the celebrities who chose uh to go.

8:14 Taraji P.

8:15 Henson, who I love, commented on the same video saying,

8:18 "I am so confused by some people that are going.

8:21 I'm just like, WTF are we doing?" And New York

8:26 City Mayor Eric Adams said that he would not attend,

8:30 which really said everything to me.

8:32 And the biggest actress, the most, I believe,

8:36 important actress of our time is Meryl Streep,

8:39 who was supposed to be the co-chair, they said, reportedly,

8:44 um of this thing back in 2020 before COVID canceled it.

8:48 Well, this year, everybody thought that she was going to finally

8:51 show up at the Met Gala because of The Devil Wears Prada, all the press there.

8:54 She was on the Vogue cover with Anna Wintour,

8:57 and the whole cast was there, and Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci.

9:01 Meryl Streep did not come.

9:03 Her rep says, "It wasn't has never quite been her scene." Now,

9:08 you can make that for what you will.

9:11 Here's where it really gets me, is that the theme is fashion is art.

9:17 And I believe that completely.

9:18 I mean, but I think it's so obvious.

9:19 Come on, you guys could have come up with a better theme.

9:22 But let me just tell you who actually built that idea from scratch,

9:25 because it was not Jeff Bezos.

9:27 It was not Anna Wintour.

9:29 It was not anyone really of their ilk.

9:32 Do you know who it was?

9:33 Can I give you a lesson about the people and Look,

9:36 this is all related to the people who are feeling it now.

9:40 The working class people, the poor people,

9:41 the black people, the Latino people, all of that.

9:45 The have-nots.

9:46 Do you guys know who Dapper Dan is in Harlem?

9:49 Daniel Day, born in Harlem 1944.

9:52 This is where this comes from and this is where they need to get back to.

9:56 Who He opened a boutique on 125th Street that never closed.

10:00 Who took Louis Vuitton and Gucci and put those logos on tracksuits and bomber

10:05 jackets and caps because his community wanted

10:07 luxury and luxury would not come to them.

10:13 The people who dressed LL Cool J and Mike Tyson and Salt-N-Pepa,

10:18 who luxury fashion sued for years for copy copyright

10:26 infringement and then they said, "Oh, wait a minute.

10:28 We can make some money from here

10:29 and that because the black folks and the rappers

10:32 and the people who were now coming into and athletes

10:36 [clears throat] were now buying luxury and they said,

10:38 "Oh, we have to stop suing these people.

10:40 We have to bring them in so that we

10:42 can make the money." And then decades later crawling back

10:47 to the to collaborate with them because they finally admitted

10:51 that he had been right all along, meaning Dapper Dan.

10:55 So, it was Ann Lowe,

10:58 a black woman from Alabama who designed Jackie Kennedy's wedding dress in 1953,

11:04 the most famous wedding dress of the 20th

11:06 century and almost nobody knows her name.

11:09 It was Zelda Wynn Valdes,

11:12 the first black designer to open her own shop on Broadway in 1948,

11:16 who dressed Ella Fitzgerald and Josephine Baker and Dorothy Dandridge and also

11:20 designed the original Playboy bunny costume from her shop on Broadway.

11:26 People you don't know about.

11:28 The Met Gala needs to read the[ __] room

11:32 because you have got you have lost the plot.

11:36 It was Carl Kani from East New York, Brooklyn,

11:40 who invented the baggy jean silhouette that defined a generation.

11:44 Tupac wore them.

11:45 Biggie wore them as well.

11:47 It was Da- Daymond John who started FUBU, remember that?

11:53 In his mother's house in Queens.

11:56 For us, by us.

11:57 Built it from his kitchen table into a global empire.

12:00 It was the ballroom scene started in Harlem and the Bronx in the 1960s

12:05 and 70s by black and Latino LGBTQ kids who had nowhere else to go,

12:09 who literally invented the runway walk.

12:13 All of those people you see strutting down the runway now, swishing whatever,

12:17 uh even Naomi Campbell, whatever,

12:18 that[ __] came from LGBTQ youth in Harlem who invented that walk.

12:25 And by the way, and also black models who invented that, models from Halston,

12:35 well, it wasn't from Halston.

12:36 First it was this Fashion Fair and they were the black models.

12:39 And then they needed models for this big show between Halston and it

12:43 was all kinds of designers and they were they had this thing at Versailles.

12:46 I don't know if you guys remember all of this.

12:48 Let me know if you if you know, you know.

12:50 And they saw all of these black women strutting down the runway,

12:54 not just walking like stick figures with no rhythm,

12:57 but they were they had rhythm, they had style.

13:01 And then now everybody is copying them.

13:05 Black culture is American culture.

13:08 Do not get it twisted.

13:10 And a lot of it invented by black women and black gays.

13:15 So all of this[ __] that you see now, all the fashion, everything, black people.

13:21 But just did not have the means to be able to market it and make it

13:24 and sell it and make the millions and billions

13:27 that people are making off of it now.

13:30 That's where all of that came from.

13:34 Kids who had nowhere else to go, the LGBTQ+ kids,

13:37 who literally invented the runway walk, who invented voguing.

13:41 The Madonna thing that Madonna became rich off of, voguing,

13:44 that was black kids, black LGBTQ kids.

13:48 Who literally invented the categories that fashion houses

13:52 now pay models thousands of dollars to perform.

13:56 Voguing.

13:58 They did it in community centers with no money

14:01 and no recognition and decades later luxury fashion called it avant-garde.

14:05 It was Virgil Abloh, son of Ghanaian immigrants,

14:10 who became the first black artistic director of Louis Vuitton menswear,

14:14 who died at 41, who changed luxury fashion forever.

14:22 I'm with it I mean and are you guys in for this history lesson?

14:29 Cuz today I did not come to play.

14:32 I came to slay.

14:33 Like the models.

14:35 Like all of the fashion models from back in the day.

14:38 I didn't come to play, I came to slay this morning.

14:44 It was Telfar Clemens from Queens who created the shopping bag for everyone.

14:53 You know the shopping bag that everybody has and then it became a designer

14:55 shopping bag that has everybody's name on it and then it became a designer bag.

14:59 The most democratic luxury item in fashion history.

15:02 Fashion is art.

15:03 Yes, it is.

15:05 Black people from neighborhoods that looked nothing like the Metropolitan

15:09 Museum of Art built that truth from scratch with nothing

15:15 but creativity and pride and community and built something

15:18 the entire luxury fashion industry now copies and profits from.

15:23 And last night, the man who reportedly paid $10 million

15:27 to be associated with that legacy sneaked through a side

15:30 entrance with a 72-year-old black woman's face when while

15:35 a 72-year-old black woman's face was being projected on his building.

15:40 And here's what I want to add all of this because it connects.

15:43 Trump's net worth, by the way,

15:46 was 2.3 billion when he was running for president in 2020 before,

15:50 at least reportedly, and it is now 6.5 billion according to Forbes,

15:55 nearly tripled in 1 year in office.

15:58 And most of it from cryptocurrency, his own crypto venture, his meme coin,

16:04 and while he is the president making policy that affects crypto markets,

16:09 he's doing all of that.

16:10 Economic analyst Steve Rattner called it

16:12 the most brazenly self-enriching administration in American history.

16:18 Roll it.

16:21 If you look at Trump's net worth of in the fullness of time and Forbes

16:25 as you know does a really great job

16:26 of dissecting the wealth of many wealthy people.

16:30 We're all the way back to 2001,

16:31 the family and Trump particularly was worth under 2

16:34 billion dollars and he gradually grew his net worth.

16:37 Then you had the financial crisis, he took a hit like almost everybody else.

16:41 He grew it back up, but in Trump 1.0,

16:45 his net worth actually went down pretty substantially.

16:47 A bit of that was COVID, but a lot was the fact that he put

16:50 guardrails around the kinds of things they would do.

16:53 They wouldn't do international deals and so on and so

16:55 forth and he actually was acting like a normal president.

16:59 Then he had his four years in the wilderness and not much happened.

17:02 Now, two years into term two, look what happens.

17:04 His net worth goes from 2.3 billion dollars to 6.5 billion dollars.

17:10 All of this is crypto in one form or another.

17:13 He has become the crypto king even though during Trump 1.0,

17:17 he was against crypto.

17:19 He thought crypto was kind of a scam, which it kind of is as we know.

17:23 So, where did the money come from?

17:24 He had four $4 billion, he and his family, of profits.

17:29 Three billion of it came from crypto,

17:31 and I will tell you there are so many transactions here,

17:34 so many structures, it made my head hurt even trying to understand it.

17:38 But, just to give you an example, he took Trump Media,

17:41 which is the company he started to create Truth Social,

17:46 and it raised a bunch of money from investors,

17:48 and he went out and bought a whole bunch of of crypto with that.

17:51 He sold meme coins.

17:53 I'm going to talk more about this in a minute,

17:55 but remember the dollar Trump dollar Melania coins, all that contributed profit.

17:59 So, crypto crypto crypto crypto all the way, made some money from finance.

18:03 This is Jared raising all of his money from the Middle East,

18:07 and the profits that are anticipated from it.

18:10 And then, there were also some benefits he got.

18:12 For example, he raised the the admission

18:15 fee at Mar-a-Lago from $100,000 to $1 million.

18:19 The money he took from the law firms

18:21 and the other companies as part of his lawsuit campaign,

18:24 the Qatari jet, but crypto is really what dominates

18:28 the $3 billion that he added to his net worth.

18:31 So, let's And how much did you make this year from your job?

18:41 How much did you make from your job?

18:44 And you don't work for the American people.

18:48 I was listening to The Daily yesterday on the New York Times podcast app.

18:55 And it talked about the This is the biggest sort of, you know,

18:59 people have the rich people are becoming richer

19:01 and especially in this administration in recent history,

19:04 more so than any other time in history.

19:06 And the 1% of 0.1% at the top, they're making tons of money.

19:11 Anybody below that is not making as much money or no or no money at all.

19:17 And guess where all of the wealth is coming from?

19:19 From the 90% of the people who are below that one uh point one 1%.

19:26 That's the 90 some percent.

19:27 That's where the the wealth is coming from.

19:29 They are living and becoming billionaires off of us.

19:33 Off of you.

19:37 That's what they're doing.

19:39 And so now you have the richest president in American

19:42 history getting richer every single day that he is in office.

19:45 You have Jeff Bezos who's spending $10 million on a party.

19:48 72-year-old woman fighting for cancer.

19:50 She makes $17 an hour.

19:56 And so I say what what is up Met Gala?

20:00 That's why I said read cuz you know I would I would not even talk to you

20:03 guys about the Met Gala cuz I'm like

20:04 my audience is not even interested in the Met Gala.

20:07 Who cares?

20:08 Except you're flipping through it and you're your Instagram

20:11 or your social media feed and you're looking

20:12 at the pictures and and when I saw fashion

20:14 is art I'm like what is wrong with these people?

20:17 Of course fashion is art.

20:18 That is the dumbest most wrote thing.

20:20 Who sat down in a room?

20:21 I don't even know who's on the I know

20:23 that that look there are some celebrities on the board.

20:24 Don't get mad at me.

20:25 I'm not hating.

20:26 I'm just being honest.

20:28 This is a real Marie Antoinette moment.

20:31 Read the room.

20:34 Let them eat cake.

20:35 Is that exactly what you're saying?

20:39 Let them eat cake.

20:42 It's I mean it is it's [sighs]

20:50 I it it angered me when I heard and when I said and I and I

20:53 thought I was like I thought people are going to say Don you're no fun.

20:59 You're a party pooper.

21:00 People can have fun.

21:01 Of course I believe people can have fun.

21:04 Of course.

21:05 Go to a movie.

21:05 That's expensive.

21:07 Watch a movie.

21:08 Go play baseball.

21:11 Go have a cocktail.

21:13 Go I want people to have fun and I understand that we

21:16 can walk and chew gum at the same time, but you are right.

21:19 F gastone.

21:20 We are being robbed.

21:25 We are being robbed and we have to remember in this time the people

21:28 that they are trying to erase from the present and from history the blacks,

21:35 the gays, the trans.

21:36 Those are the people who shape culture.

21:39 Met Gala and if you like art and any of those things,

21:42 you should always keep that top of mind and don't keep it top

21:46 of mind and pretend that you're doing it with a wink and a nod.

21:50 I don't understand why these these people why are people showing up?

21:55 Icons.

21:56 This is not this is not icons anymore pretty much.

21:59 These are influencers.

22:02 Who is showing up and taking their pictures?

22:04 Why do I need the newest reality limited series TV whatever flash in the pan?

22:11 Like who who cares?

22:17 I'm going to tell you what I would have done.

22:20 Okay?

22:21 But So you have the person who is

22:24 the richest president in the world right now, right?

22:27 And then you have just Jeff Bezos and then you have a woman making $17 an hour.

22:30 Is there really a difference?

22:32 I'm going to ask you this especially if you're liberal and you're progressive.

22:36 Is there really a difference between the parties

22:41 when it comes to money and power?

22:45 Or is it just the green party?

22:46 And I don't mean like green energy.

22:49 I mean green as in greed is good.

22:53 I love the arts.

22:54 I love fashion.

22:56 I think creativity matters enormously.

22:59 But you have to be self-aware.

23:02 You have to read the room because the room

23:05 right now is not the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

23:09 The room is the gas station.

23:12 The room is the grocery store.

23:15 The room is the doctor's offices where people can't afford the health care.

23:20 The room is the airport where 17,000 people

23:23 from Spirit Airlines can no longer possibly pay their bills.

23:29 Found out Saturday morning that their jobs were just gone in a flash.

23:34 That is the room.

23:36 Read it.

23:37 Now, I'm going to tell you what they

23:39 should have done after a word from our sponsors.

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24:32 That's auraframes.com.

24:34 The code is Don Lemon.

24:36 Terms apply.

24:37 I want to say something that I believe deeply.

24:39 Freedom in America means the right to believe and the right not to believe.

24:43 Both matter.

24:44 And the only way that works is if government stays out of it entirely.

24:48 The founders built a secular constitution for a reason.

24:51 They just fought a king who claimed that his power came from God.

24:55 They knew exactly what they were doing.

24:57 But today, that line between church and state just keeps getting pushed.

25:00 And when it moves, it affects everyone, whether you're religious or not.

25:05 The Freedom From Religion Foundation is

25:07 on the front lines protecting the First Amendment.

25:09 As we approach America's 250th anniversary,

25:12 that fight is more important than ever.

25:14 We have to decide what kind of country we want to be.

25:17 Visit ffwrf.us/don or text don to 511511 to learn more or join, okay?

25:24 Text fees may apply.

25:26 Okay, text fees may apply.

25:28 Let me Let me say this.

25:30 And thank you.

25:31 Now, I'm going to tell you if you guys Do you

25:32 guys care to to hear what I would would have done?

25:35 This is what I would have done last night.

25:38 And I think that they should have done.

25:40 And you notice that I'm very calm this morning.

25:42 One, you know, I'm jet lagged, but two,

25:45 I decided that you don't have to be loud and hyperbolic all the time.

25:48 And and and I can be passionate this way as well.

25:51 But, number two, fashion is art.

25:53 Yes, it is.

25:54 Yes, fashion is art,

25:55 but black people taught the world that black people from neighborhoods

25:59 um that looked nothing like the Metropolitan Museum of Art,

26:03 that they could create fashion.

26:06 Who had nothing but creativity and pride and community,

26:09 and built something that the entire luxury

26:10 fashion industry now copies and profits from.

26:14 Do you guys understand that?

26:16 Especially people, minorities, Unders people part of the Underserved community.

26:20 I'm talking to my black brothers and sisters.

26:21 I'm talking to my Latino brothers and sisters.

26:23 I'm talking to my Indian-American brothers and sisters who

26:27 are aware enough to realize that they are not white.

26:31 Cuz same thing with my Latino brothers and sisters.

26:33 I'm just going to be honest with you.

26:36 You got to stop cosying up to that power, cuz it's not buying you anything.

26:41 You have to remember that the freedoms that you

26:42 get in this country came from black people.

26:44 I'm just telling you.

26:46 And if I were white, I'd be saying the same thing because it's true.

26:49 This is what they don't want you to know.

26:51 All of this fashion stuff, all of the runway stuff, all of it, black people.

26:58 Current fashion, black people.

27:00 Music, black people.

27:02 Country music, black people.

27:07 So, all of this came and I did not

27:08 see I saw some black people walking the runway.

27:12 I saw some black people who were on the boards,

27:14 but are they really aware or as they say woke,

27:18 the original meaning of the word woke?

27:22 Before it was co-opted by people,

27:25 uh entitled people, privileged people who said, "No,

27:27 this is what we want this word to mean." Cancellation, that's not what it means.

27:34 Fashion is art.

27:35 Black people taught the world that.

27:38 They had nothing but creativity and pride.

27:41 And and built something as I said that the world

27:44 and the fashion industry now profits off of.

27:47 Not just the fashion industry, the agents, the managers, the team owners.

28:00 We have to realize our power.

28:03 And realize the creativity that we have because we had to have that creativity.

28:08 We had to think of other ways to go around the system

28:11 because the system did not accept us and still doesn't in many ways.

28:14 So, and when people in this society when they say there's no systemic racism,

28:18 everything is equal, is that[ __] Last night while their heirs,

28:25 all of these rich people, were celebrating fashion as art at a $100,000

28:30 a plate dinner or ticket, $100,000 a ticket,

28:37 I should say, a 72-year-old black woman who

28:40 makes products that fund that that woman was what?

28:46 She makes products that funds one of the most powerful men in the world.

28:51 Keeps him rich.

28:52 She was having her face projected onto

28:53 the condo because she cannot make ends meet.

28:57 Now, I have an idea.

28:58 I told you what I would do.

29:00 And I wrote some notes.

29:02 This is what I would do on my idea.

29:04 What if the next year the Met Gala said,

29:07 "Come as you are." which is what they should have said.

29:10 "Come as you are." Which is what all of those creative people of color,

29:15 LGBTQ, and on and on, black women.

29:18 Come as you are, black men.

29:19 We call them dandy.

29:20 Remember everybody I don't know if you guys You guys need to research this.

29:23 Dandy in Harlem.

29:24 That's what they call it.

29:25 That's why they call him Dapper Dan.

29:31 Come as you are.

29:32 Wear what you already own.

29:34 Get creative with what's in your closet.

29:38 The way black people in Harlem and the Bronx and Brooklyn

29:40 and Queens always did and in underserved neighborhoods around the country,

29:43 Compton, everywhere.

29:45 The way that creativity that that creativity born from necessity that became

29:52 the foundation of everything that you are now celebrating in that building.

29:59 That's where the magic is.

30:03 That's where awareness is.

30:05 Imagine if you had made that statement instead of people dressing

30:08 up as statues and I don't know, all kinds of stuff.

30:14 I think people are sometimes too close to it.

30:16 They don't see it.

30:18 And a a lot of these people I know.

30:21 And I would tell them if I said and they they get mad at me.

30:25 Some of them don't want to talk to you after that.

30:27 Some of them just Oh, God, I can't talk to them.

30:29 Or they they lash out because they know that you're

30:33 right and they're wrong and they have no excuse.

30:38 I just think some people get so caught up [snorts] in the image of it all,

30:41 wanting to be cozy up to power, cozy up to celebrity.

30:47 That's one thing.

30:49 Now, we used to talk about this all the time, and you tell me what you think.

30:53 What do you think is more powerful?

30:55 Fame or wealth?

30:58 Now, I think ultimately wealth is more

31:00 powerful and more influential, but it depends.

31:04 Because if you're famous, like a Beyoncé, if you're famous,

31:07 I'm going to say even without the money.

31:09 If you have that kind of fame, that also has clout.

31:18 So, the one thing So, famous people,

31:22 because famous people can get into any place.

31:25 I remember when I was um I I wanted uh a black card, like American Express.

31:33 And I'm like, and then I realized like, what do I need that card for?

31:36 And someone sat me down and said, Don,

31:39 do you ever have trouble getting a a reservation?

31:40 I said, no.

31:42 Do you have ever have trouble um getting into anything?

31:45 I said, no.

31:46 And they said, why?

31:47 I said, because people recognize me.

31:48 I'm just being honest.

31:49 And they said, well, you don't need that.

31:51 That's what rich people don't have.

31:55 Almost every single wealthy person you know wants to be famous.

32:01 That is the one thing that they lack.

32:02 Now, some of them are famous now.

32:04 Jeff Bezos is famous.

32:05 But most rich people want to be famous if they don't have that.

32:08 And most famous people don't care because

32:11 their face is their face card is the clout.

32:16 Now, I'm not a Brad Pitt.

32:17 Imagine what it's like being Brad Pitt or Angelina

32:20 Jolie or or um Kiki even Kim Kardashian or Oprah, even without the money.

32:28 There is no You could walk into anything.

32:29 I remember we were going to a game uh at Giant Stadium.

32:34 And Tracy Morgan walked into the arena without even showing one ticket.

32:38 He was just like, "Hey Tracy, hey oh." Walked right in.

32:42 Went up to um Roger Goodell's suite

32:45 and just kept it kicking because he's famous.

32:50 And that's what rich people want.

32:52 So, I don't understand the cozying up next to I find

32:54 the cozying up next to some reality star, I'd be like,

32:56 "What am I doing here?" Or some like some limited series new flash in the pan,

33:01 I'd be like, "What is this?

33:02 Why why am I standing here with these people?" Now,

33:06 all the time I go to events and people like come over and they want

33:07 to take pictures everywhere I everywhere I go

33:09 and not because I'm some like movie star,

33:12 but people love having selfies with people who are

33:14 in the news or have some notoriety and I get

33:17 people take pictures with me all the time and I

33:20 get people sending me um text messages and emails saying,

33:23 "Oh my god, you're friends with that person, gross." And I'm like,

33:26 "I don't know that person." They said turned around to me

33:29 at a party and said, "Hey Don or hey Mr.

33:31 Lemon, can I get a selfie?" And I said, "Okay,

33:34 sure." And I smiled and took a picture

33:36 and you think I'm buddies with them, but I'm not.

33:39 It happened at the White House Correspondents weekend.

33:41 People are like, "I can't believe you're hanging

33:42 out with this person." I'm like, "I'm not.

33:43 I just happened to be at the same event that they were." But anyway,

33:46 I say that to say that if you are famous,

33:50 that carries you a really long way until that fame leaves and fame is fleeting.

33:56 And then your face card starts to fade.

33:58 So, I believe that wealth is the most powerful.

34:00 So, all of those things that I'm saying is that you should take every

34:05 dollar that you were going to spend on all of that, all the custom gowns,

34:11 all the designer suit,

34:12 and you should give it to the arts education in public schools.

34:16 The Metropolitan Museum of Art doesn't need that their endowment.

34:19 They're going to They are pretty soon not going to need

34:22 anyone to add any money any more money to their endowment, reportedly.

34:26 That's what I hear.

34:28 You should do you should add arts education in public schools,

34:31 emerging designers from the communities that actually built this culture,

34:35 to the workers who make the clothes that end up on those steps.

34:40 That is fashion is art.

34:44 That is what it actually means.

34:49 That's what you should do.

34:52 Rather than having people spend I know people who spend hundreds

34:56 of thousands of dollars on an outfit for the Met Gala,

34:59 and I just look at them and go, "Are you[ __] out of your mind?

35:01 Like, really?" What like what is that What it What

35:06 is that going to do for you or for anyone?

35:09 What are you doing to give back to culture

35:11 and society and educate people besides your own ego?

35:17 It's great that you love to dress up.

35:19 I love to dress up.

35:20 I get it.

35:23 But in this moment that we're in right now, have some damn self-awareness.

35:33 That's all I'm saying.

35:34 The same self-awareness that I said last week or the week before,

35:38 whenever when the White House Correspondents Dinner.

35:40 Why are you going to sit in a room and celebrate

35:43 the freedom of the press with a regime and a president

35:48 and his staff or whatever and his appointees who are trying

35:52 to kill the freedom of the press at every single turn?

35:57 Why are you doing it?

36:01 To what end?

36:05 You guys answer me in the questions.

36:06 Hey, producers, can we take some phone calls or is it too late?

36:09 Did I Should I Should I have said something sooner?

36:11 Uh yeah, I got to open up the lines still.

36:13 If you guys I want to know what you guys think about it,

36:16 and you can tell me if you think I'm wrong.

36:17 I like that.

36:19 And as we do that, we're opening up the phone lines.

36:21 I'm going to take a couple of calls.

36:23 But when I say an administration that is trying to kill the press

36:26 and and who does not like the press and is snarky with the press.

36:31 I'm talking about Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth, all of them.

36:34 Now, remember we're in a war.

36:35 Your gas is $4.45.

36:37 They're still lying to you about there's a deal, there's a nothing.

36:40 We have command and power over there but the whole country and blah blah blah.

36:44 And guess what?

36:44 The Strait of Hormuz is still not open.

36:47 And the gas prices are going up.

36:49 So, who who really has control?

36:51 And just even this morning at a press conference,

36:54 Pete Hegseth was asked a very good question

36:57 by a reporter about Donald Trump doing what?

37:01 Folding.

37:04 And he did not like the question and so what did he do?

37:08 He insulted the reporter.

37:09 Watch.

37:10 Absolutely.

37:11 Mr.

37:11 Secretary, James.

37:12 Go ahead.

37:12 Mr.

37:13 Secretary, thank you.

37:14 General, thank you.

37:15 I want to first express my gratitude and admiration for the work you do

37:18 and for everyone involved in our armed forces

37:21 and also for the accomplishments of Operation Epic Fury,

37:25 which I think are too often dismissed too lightly.

37:29 Uh but those accomplishments don't obscure, I think,

37:33 a central default that has occurred here

37:36 and I would like you both to address it.

37:38 On the first day of this conflict,

37:40 President Trump addressed the Iranian people directly and said,

37:44 "When we're finished, take over your government.

37:47 It'll be yours to take." And then on the seventh day of the conflict,

37:51 in a Truth Social post, the president said,

37:54 quote, "There will be no deal with Iran except all caps,

37:58 exclamation mark, unconditional surrender." What happens

38:03 to that pledge to the Iranians?

38:05 And when did the president decide

38:07 to capitulate on his demand for unconditional surrender?

38:11 James, I wouldn't uh I wouldn't You started out nicely,

38:15 but you ended exactly where we knew you would end.

38:18 Uh the president hasn't capitulated on anything.

38:20 Uh he holds the cards.

38:21 We remain the we maintain the upper

38:23 hand and Project Freedom only strengthens that hand.

38:26 And so, he will ensure that whatever deal

38:28 is made or whatever end state is reached uh,

38:31 creates uh, ensuring that Iran never has a nuclear weapon,

38:34 which is A number one and he's been focused

38:36 on that and the deal and discussions are centered on that.

38:39 And what the Iranian people take advantage of after the fact is up to them.

38:42 And he's been very clear about that.

38:43 And maybe you do it now, maybe it happens later, but ultimately he he's also uh,

38:49 been clear we're not going to entangle this into some nation-building project.

38:52 Our objectives are clear.

38:54 They're they're uh, they've been pursued from day one.

38:58 Hopefully the Iranian people take advantage of that because

39:00 they're being taken advantage of by this regime.

39:02 As you know, 45,000 Iranians, innocent Iranians there we go.

39:08 So, anyway, he went on to with more propaganda about what's happening.

39:11 Yeah, is it is it, you know, does Iran need improvement?

39:14 Yes.

39:15 Some of what he's saying is true.

39:16 However, um, all he had to do was say, "Well, yeah, thank you for your question.

39:21 I Look, uh, I the president is not capitulating,

39:24 but blah blah blah blah blah." At least

39:25 I would have you started off where he goes,

39:26 "Uh, it's like, come on, guys." By the way, let's go back to uh, our gala.

39:31 This is what we put up a poll for viewers.

39:34 And the poll is asking, "What do you think about the Met Gala?" 12% say,

39:37 "I like it." Uh, 39% say, "I don't care at all." Only 12% say they like it.

39:43 And 49% say, "I think it is tone deaf." Met Gala.

39:49 Work it out, people.

39:50 This is our unscientific poll here,

39:52 but I think most people feel the exactly the way that we feel.

39:55 Now, remember, uh, if you want to call in on the show,

39:58 that is our new tier of membership where you will get access to the show and uh,

40:03 your calls will get on the air, okay?

40:07 The phones are for certain tier at and usually, um,

40:11 we only take phone calls from the folks who are at that tier, okay?

40:15 And it is uh, right above the it's called the lemon collars.

40:20 And you have access, okay?

40:21 So, let's start with Diana from Austin, Texas.

40:26 Good morning, Diana.

40:35 Is Diana on?

40:36 I can't hear her.

40:38 Yes, hello.

40:39 Can you hear me?

40:40 I can hear you now.

40:41 Hi, Diana.

40:41 How are you?

40:43 Hi.

40:43 Hi, I'm fine.

40:44 Thank you so much for taking my call.

40:47 What do you want to talk about?

40:50 Oh, I want to talk about the gala.

40:51 I'm sorry.

40:52 I was getting ready I thought I was going to go

40:53 on here about Jeff Bezos having his contract with ICE.

40:59 And also Lauren Sanchez being of Hispanic descent.

41:03 What a shame that she is involved with that as well.

41:09 Why do you say that?

41:10 What are your thoughts on Jeff Bezos and ICE and the gala?

41:15 Well, first of all, I think obviously it's obscene, hypocritical.

41:20 Uh Jeff Bezos making taxpayer money off the contracts that he has funded to ICE.

41:26 We're literally the backbone of ICE technology to track people.

41:32 Also working with Palantir that's going to be doing data services

41:38 on American people to track basically everything that we are doing.

41:43 And so, he is making more money even off taxpayer dollars.

41:48 And is sickening to me and I don't want to take

41:51 up too much time to give other people a chance.

41:55 And I want you to know that Austin,

41:56 Texas loves you and we love Lemon Nation as well.

42:00 So, thank you so much for taking my call

42:03 and I'm honestly I'm going to just say this, I'm pissed.

42:06 Just pissed off constantly.

42:08 And power to the people, we got to vote.

42:10 Thank you so much.

42:12 Diana, real quick, and what Oh, did Diana hang up?

42:15 Did she hang up?

42:16 Are you there?

42:17 She She hung up.

42:18 Okay, Diana hung up.

42:19 Thank you very much.

42:20 And Diana is right because um here's the news.

42:23 Um this is the Here's what the what that tech is being used for, too.

42:29 ICE to track and detain and deport uh immigrants.

42:32 Amazon has lobbied intensely for multi-billion-dollar

42:34 government contracts allowing law enforcement

42:36 agencies to accumulate and exchange

42:38 unprecedented amounts of data on individuals.

42:41 So, that is what she is discussing uh in the phone call.

42:46 And she said, you know, "Shame on Lauren Sanchez,

42:48 who's of Hispanic descent." Look, I uh I I know the Bezos,

42:53 very kind to me, but I got to call I got to call it what it is.

42:58 It is tone-deaf, and perhaps they should have thought about that.

43:02 And I wonder, why wouldn't Jeff Bezos walk the red carpet?

43:05 You guys ever think about that?

43:10 Any You guys ever think about that?

43:14 Yeah.

43:16 Uh someone is calling from Houston, Texas, to talk about voting.

43:20 They did not leave their name.

43:22 Hmm, suspicious.

43:23 Should we take this call?

43:25 What's going on, nameless person?

43:28 Hi.

43:29 I did leave my name, but I don't think it went through.

43:32 I'm sorry.

43:33 My name is Sandra, and I'm calling from Houston.

43:36 Hi, Sandra.

43:36 How are you?

43:37 Sandra, real quick, before you get to your question about voting,

43:40 did What did you think of the Met Gala?

43:41 Do you think about it?

43:42 Do you not You don't care?

43:44 Nothing?

43:46 I honestly I mean, honestly, I don't care.

43:49 Uh it doesn't It doesn't phase me.

43:51 It doesn't affect me.

43:52 Um I I'm It does affect I mean, I Honestly, I I don't care.

43:58 I have other things to me that are more important uh to worry about.

44:02 Yeah, I mean, I get it.

44:03 They're I I just I don't care.

44:07 You know, to me I have there's so many other things to me

44:10 right now that are that are affecting my life, my children's life.

44:14 You know, I you know, so yeah, I I it doesn't bother I don't care.

44:19 I honestly I didn't even watch it, you know.

44:22 Yeah, thank you for responding.

44:24 Now, what do you want to talk about?

44:27 So, I have a question.

44:28 So, I have a question in regards to the Houston voting.

44:31 Okay, I don't know if this is going to be a little controversial I I don't know.

44:36 I'm just sick and tired of everyone saying, "Oh, you know,

44:40 we need to stop complaining and we need to do something." Okay?

44:43 The whole controversy with James Talarico and Colleen O'Hare.

44:48 There were so many people that were complaining about it, okay?

44:52 Without doing the research.

44:53 Whatever, I I don't care, okay?

44:56 I was going to vote for Jasmine,

44:58 but at the end I ended up voting for James, okay?

45:02 The reason why I voted for James, a lot of people can say whatever they want,

45:05 but I have MAGA in my family, okay?

45:08 I have a huge MAGA, you know, I have a MAGA husband, I have MAGA parents.

45:12 So, I went with the person that I know that they will vote for.

45:18 Okay?

45:19 I love Jasmine.

45:20 I'm I'm a huge fan of Jasmine, but knowing what I know in my family,

45:25 they're not going to vote for her, you know?

45:29 And so, that's why I chose James Talarico.

45:31 And I I met him, I went to some of his um town hall meetings.

45:36 I really like him.

45:37 Sandra Sandra, can you one more thing, Sandra?

45:41 I just want to tell me you said that you know will vote for him and not for her.

45:46 Tell me why.

45:48 Why won't they vote for her?

45:53 No, this is not my opinion, okay?

45:55 So, please don't take this as me this is me.

45:57 This is not me.

45:58 Sandra, let me tell you this.

45:59 You don't have to worry about what you say.

46:01 You just say what you want to say and that's what we're here to do.

46:06 No, this is not about judgment.

46:07 You tell the truth about how you feel.

46:09 That's what we want to hear.

46:10 Go ahead.

46:12 Well, because number one, because she is outspoken.

46:16 Okay?

46:17 Number two, Texas it is a racist state.

46:20 Okay?

46:21 My daughter went to She graduated from Baylor University.

46:25 Okay?

46:26 I'm half Puerto Rican, half Salvadoran and they're half Guatemalan.

46:29 So, they were not going to vote for an African-American outspoken strong woman.

46:35 Okay?

46:35 So, that is the reason why they were not going

46:38 to They're not going to vote for her because of that.

46:40 So, that's why in my opinion,

46:42 I wanted someone like James even though this does not sound right.

46:47 Okay?

46:47 I don't agree with it, but I think that if James is is a senator,

46:52 he will pave the way for someone like her to get in.

46:57 I mean, it doesn't sound right.

46:58 I don't I don't know if I'm making any sense because James supports her.

47:03 You know?

47:04 And and it it shouldn't be that way,

47:06 but we unfortunately live in a very very racist state.

47:11 You know, in Texas.

47:12 Uh my daughters got pulled I have an Infiniti.

47:15 My daughters got pulled over on their way to Waco

47:18 because they thought that they had stolen their car.

47:20 A white cop.

47:22 You know?

47:22 So, we have experienced racism as well.

47:25 So, that's the reason why And I mean,

47:27 I've had conversations not with my husband, but like with that they're not going

47:31 to vote for an African-American strong woman.

47:34 They're not They're just not going to.

47:36 You know?

47:37 So, [clears throat] that's that's that's why I'm saying that.

47:39 And other people in our church that are very negl- they're very naive.

47:43 They just they don't listen to uh independent media.

47:47 And you know, like you know, like your your So, they're stuck on Fox.

47:51 I call my dad and I hear Fox in the background.

47:55 You know?

47:55 So, their brains and their minds are contaminated with mega talking points.

48:01 And to get them out of that is very hard.

48:05 It's it's I mean I didn't talk to my I didn't talk to my I

48:09 want to understand why the people

48:10 in the chat are not understanding what you're saying.

48:15 And that I think that has nothing to do with uh how much you like or don't like

48:21 um um Jasmine Crockett or whatever that you made

48:25 a decision based on personal knowledge that you have.

48:28 I don't know if I I don't know why people would judge you for that.

48:31 Um and I do think that if you talk to political consultants,

48:35 some of them would probably tell you that that.

48:38 And the reason I asked you uh some of them would probably agree with you.

48:41 I'm not saying that I agree with you, but the reason the reason I I know, no.

48:44 I said I'm not telling you that I agree with you.

48:50 Okay.

48:49 However, it makes sense to you and your reality, that's what you know.

48:54 Now, I do know the reason I asked you a question is you

48:57 said that that you uh that they you would vote for Jasmine Crockett,

49:00 but you know that they wouldn't.

49:03 And I said, "Why wouldn't they?" And basically you

49:06 said it is because of the of the racism, because they're racist, right?

49:10 They have They have a block as as it relates to strong black women.

49:15 I think that that is honest, and I think that that's true.

49:20 People have a block when it comes to strong black women.

49:22 People have a block or an issue,

49:24 or let's put it that way, when it comes to black men.

49:28 Right?

49:28 People have an issue and a block when it comes to women in general.

49:33 And the same reason that people wouldn't vote for Hillary Clinton,

49:36 I believe it was misogyny.

49:37 Or Kamala Harris, misogyny, racism, all of it.

49:40 So, I think all of it is a factor.

49:42 I don't understand some of the folks who

49:44 are criticizing this lady in in the comments,

49:46 because I think she's speaking her truth, and we should allow for it.

49:51 Um I'm not saying that I agree with you, Sandra,

49:52 or disagree with you, but I understand where you're coming from.

49:55 You know what I'm saying?

49:58 And not only that, but I'm like

50:01 my circle is {quote} {unquote} Christian community, okay?

50:06 So, they don't have I have to break out of the Republican because obviously,

50:10 you know, growing up in a pastor's home,

50:13 you're taught Republican, Republican, Republican, okay?

50:16 Cuz that's the Christian party.

50:17 Not anymore.

50:20 You know, and so whenever they hear James Tallarico speaking,

50:25 it's not that he's he's a white man.

50:27 It's the fact that he also speaks a lot of Christian talking points, you know?

50:32 And and Jasmine Crockett, I'm not saying she doesn't.

50:36 I'm not, you know, I I I I met her.

50:39 I I went to her when she was here for the Gavin Newsom.

50:43 I met her.

50:43 She's an amazing person.

50:45 I've been following her for, you know, since she's been in politics.

50:48 So, I love Jasmine.

50:50 You know, but knowing what I know about my family,

50:53 my experience, like you said, that's my experience.

50:56 He is a better option right at this moment.

51:00 And what I don't like is that people are

51:02 over there complaining and playing I'm going to stop complaining.

51:05 Just just shut it, okay?

51:07 He is and I'm sorry to be rude,

51:09 but it's like just stop talking and he's our candidate

51:14 at the moment and this is who we need to support.

51:18 That's just my point is we we like we're not at a point

51:21 where we need to stop complaining because that poisons the mind,

51:25 especially of those that are in doubt.

51:27 And they're not going to go out and vote.

51:29 And I all of this I'm saying out

51:31 of experience because I'm going through that right now.

51:35 People in my church, people in my family.

51:38 You know, so that that's just my my experience.

51:41 That's why I'm speaking.

51:43 And if you can tell, I'm very frustrated, you know, cuz I go on TikTok,

51:47 I go on YouTube and all this time James Allred go bashing.

51:50 Okay, I get it.

51:52 You don't like him, but he's our candidate at the moment.

51:56 Just support him.

51:58 You know, okay, but what what's the other option?

52:01 Paxton and Cornyn?

52:03 Really?

52:04 That's who That's who is going to end up in office.

52:07 Those two corrupted [clears throat] people.

52:10 So, I I it's I don't know.

52:11 And I'm I'm sorry I went off, but it's just I'm just frustrated.

52:14 You know, with the people in Texas that they want to make a change,

52:18 but they're not doing and making an effort to make the change.

52:22 Mhm.

52:24 [clears throat]

52:24 So, do you um if someone says that, do you do you like as for your vote?

52:29 Sandra, since you've been so honest,

52:31 that you need a backbone and that you should have voted for Jasmine Crockett.

52:35 What do you say to that?

52:39 I should have No, I I it's fine.

52:41 I Yeah, I I it didn't bother me.

52:45 Who?

52:45 At the end of the day, I I voted for who I felt at that moment.

52:52 Cuz honestly, even while I was voting,

52:54 I was like, man, who am I going to choose?

52:58 You know, I I I was very very Cuz

53:00 from the beginning because she entered the race at the last minute.

53:04 You know, so I my vote was for him from the beginning.

53:09 And then when she entered the race, I was like,

53:11 oh my god, what am I going to do?

53:13 And you know, I talked to my children,

53:17 you know, just praying about it, meditating.

53:20 That's who I felt at that moment I wanted to vote for.

53:24 You know, again, it was a very very tough decision in my opinion.

53:28 I would have wanted him to run for governor.

53:31 Of course.

53:32 I I If he would have run for governor, that would have been a no-brainer.

53:36 You know, but unfortunately, that wasn't our option at the moment.

53:41 [snorts] Do you think the people Sandra Gina, you know, so we need to get her.

53:44 I'm sorry.

53:45 Do you think that the people who voted for Jasmine

53:48 Crockett are going to come out for James Talarico?

53:53 That's That's what I'm That's what I'm I'm upset

53:57 about because a lot of people are saying no, they're not going to vote for him.

54:02 And the thing is that people forget that whenever

54:05 that whole controversy happened with with with Dallas,

54:09 he spoke out when they closed the booth, he spoke out on her behalf.

54:15 He's always been on her side,

54:17 but people only hear what they want to hear, the negative part.

54:22 Like right now with the with the with the whole election,

54:25 you know, with with Scotus rules, he said something about it.

54:29 You know, people are not that You know, that's what that's what gets me upset.

54:33 They only hear small small things.

54:36 They don't see other things that he's done.

54:38 Now, if he wouldn't have said something, believe me,

54:40 I would have been I would have been really upset.

54:42 If he didn't if he would but he said something

54:46 for Jasmine when they closed down the booths in Dallas.

54:50 He said something.

54:52 Sandra, let me ask you.

54:53 There's a Refuse with Bay Renee has a comment says Don,

54:57 ask caller why didn't she vote for vote her truth against her family.

55:02 And this is she's full of it.

55:07 What do you say to that?

55:12 Yeah, I'm calling because I'm going to be exposed to compliments.

55:16 I mean, I don't care.

55:18 You know, I voted for who I felt you know, I wanted to vote for at the moment.

55:23 And I wanted for I guess it was going

55:25 to I was going to vote for him from the beginning.

55:29 You know, that's who my heart was set on voting for.

55:33 But you said one part of your decision was that you didn't think

55:37 that your family and many people like your family were going to vote for her.

55:42 And what?

55:42 Did you think you'd be throwing your vote away by voting for her?

55:47 No, I don't think so.

55:49 I don't think so.

55:50 I don't see it that way.

55:52 Because it was a decision that I made.

55:54 Like Like last year, I voted for Kamala.

55:57 I didn't I don't feel like I threw my vote away.

56:00 Mhm.

56:01 You know, when Hillary was running against Trump, I voted for Hillary.

56:05 You know, I voted Obama was the first person I ever voted for as a Democrat.

56:10 And you know, I'm Of course he won.

56:13 But Hillary didn't win.

56:14 I don't feel like I threw my vote away.

56:16 I voted for Beto.

56:17 I don't feel like I vote I threw my vote away.

56:20 So, it's not about that.

56:22 You know Sandra.

56:24 Sandra.

56:25 Mhm.

56:25 Are you Are you Do you support Donald Trump?

56:28 Are you MAGA?

56:31 Oh, yes, no.

56:33 That is a blasphemous word in my house.

56:35 We do not say that name.

56:38 I cannot stand the man.

56:40 I I I I I I don't want to say the the D-word, but I don't like him.

56:46 I don't like what he's done to our country.

56:48 I don't like what he's done with my family.

56:50 I don't like how he's poisoned the Christian community.

56:54 I hate everything that that man has done.

56:57 That's why whenever Jasmine Crockett spoke,

57:00 the first thing she said was about Biden.

57:04 You know, that people or you know,

57:05 our um our uh hitting on Biden because of Hunter.

57:09 All he was doing was protecting his child.

57:12 But yet this this fool is over here I I don't know.

57:15 I That's why I love Jasmine.

57:17 But no, I am I hate the man.

57:19 I'm sorry.

57:20 I know that as Christians we're not supposed to hate people,

57:22 but that man has caused so much division in our country.

57:26 I know I know racism has always existed,

57:29 but if anyone has seen the movie A Time to Kill,

57:32 that's what we're living in right now.

57:33 It took one person for racism to explode, to actually expose itself.

57:40 Yeah.

57:41 has done.

57:42 Sandra, I appreciate You said what?

57:46 She has what?

57:50 Trump has exposed It's always been around.

57:53 Racism, okay?

57:55 But Trump has given the red the green light.

57:59 Like if you I don't know if you've ever seen the movie A Time to Kill.

58:02 I don't know if you've ever seen it.

58:03 With Matthew McConaughey and I think some Yeah.

58:06 Uh Do you remember that one thing that with Is it Kiefer Sutherland?

58:10 I don't know if I'm saying it right.

58:12 He's like, "I thought the clan has died." And he's like,

58:14 "No." Kiefer Sutherland.

58:16 He's like he asked, "I thought the clan

58:18 has died." And that that leader said, "No.

58:20 We have been silent.

58:22 We have been hidden." But what did it take for everything to come out?

58:26 The death because that because Samuel Jackson killed a white man,

58:30 protecting his family.

58:32 And that's what Trump has done.

58:34 Trump has exposed He has brought out the racism in this country.

58:39 And I hate that.

58:41 You know, at least before it was covered.

58:44 But now it's it's all over.

58:47 You know, so I'm sorry.

58:48 I I hope people don't think that I'm being racist.

58:51 I'm not I love You know, I'm half Puerto Rican.

58:54 You know, so I'm I I know it doesn't matter.

58:57 I am Hispanic.

58:58 I've been You know, I mean people

59:05 find but the Hispanic community does experience racism.

59:09 I have My daughters have.

59:11 My daughter went to Baylor University.

59:13 She almost lost scholarships because she was Hispanic.

59:18 I had to fight for her them to keep her her scholarship.

59:21 So yes, I've experienced that.

59:24 You know, so please I'm sorry if I offended anyone.

59:26 I don't mean to.

59:27 I'm just speaking what I see.

59:28 No, Sandra, you don't have to apologize.

59:30 This is it's about stating the truth.

59:31 I think that in order to So, look, Sandra, I'm going to thank you,

59:35 but um and then because I got to get one

59:37 more break in and we're going to take another call.

59:40 Um but I think these are the conversations that we're going to have to have

59:43 moving forward to 2026 and 2028 because

59:46 there are many people who feel like Sandra,

59:48 who you can either embrace who are not MAGA

59:55 and you we have to figure out like what is it,

59:57 you know, for me the election is about whose side are you on?

1:00:01 That's what the next election is for me.

1:00:03 I'm not running, so I don't have a personal stake in it,

1:00:05 but for me it's whose side are you on?

1:00:08 And if you're on the side of democracy,

1:00:09 if you're not on the side of MAGA and this tyrannical regime, then okay, fine.

1:00:15 But I think we're going to have to deal

1:00:16 with these conversations and we're going to have

1:00:18 to really be honest about it and and open-minded

1:00:21 about these conversations moving forward if we, and I don't mean Democrats,

1:00:27 I mean people who don't like what's happening on the other side,

1:00:30 don't like the country that we're living in right now,

1:00:32 at least that that our democracy is being taken away,

1:00:35 the republic is being taken away,

1:00:37 we are really going to have to have these tough conversations

1:00:41 and some of us are going to have to swallow some things.

1:00:45 Some of us are going to have to accept people that we

1:00:47 don't accept normally or that we wouldn't accept normally in order to win,

1:00:53 in order for there to be a hungry type end to this uh

1:01:01 the that the win is so overwhelming that they can't deny it.

1:01:05 People are going to have to really evolve and really

1:01:08 think about it because you may not like Sandra's

1:01:10 choice and some of you may not like this, but she

1:01:14 made it based on the information that she had.

1:01:17 Maybe some of it's true.

1:01:18 You don't know.

1:01:18 Do you have MAGA people in your family?

1:01:20 Do you know them?

1:01:21 Do you think that a MAGA person would vote for a black man or a black woman

1:01:25 or a Latino man or a Latina woman

1:01:27 or a progressive person or someone who talks about racial issues?

1:01:31 Do you think that they would actually vote for that?

1:01:34 This is a This is not normal Republican versus

1:01:37 Democrat election or our our time that we live in.

1:01:42 This is about people who want to take away every right of every black woman,

1:01:48 black man, LGBTQ person, any person who's part of an underserved community.

1:01:53 This is about someone who wants to be a king and an authoritarian.

1:01:56 And so we cannot operate under that thing like, "Yo,

1:01:59 you're not The enemy of your enemy is your friend." A word from our sponsors.

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1:03:01 You don't have to do this alone.

1:03:04 So thank you to Sandra.

1:03:05 That was That was I love having those types of conversations

1:03:08 cuz people get uh people get in their feelings and it's good.

1:03:11 It's good to get in your feelings.

1:03:13 It's good to hash it out.

1:03:14 It's good to be to listen to or to hear

1:03:16 from um people you don't agree with and I don't mean insulting.

1:03:20 I don't think Sandra was insulting.

1:03:21 I don't think Sandra came to fight.

1:03:22 She wasn't calling anybody any names and I

1:03:25 I wanted to sit there and listen to her.

1:03:26 I did not agree with a lot of what she said,

1:03:29 but at least she's rational and reasonable.

1:03:32 Doesn't mean that it is that she makes sense to me all of it,

1:03:36 but I understood that she has people in her family that she knows.

1:03:40 She probably knows Maga better than I do cuz

1:03:42 I don't have any Maga people in my family.

1:03:45 And they're not telling me who they will and will not vote for.

1:03:49 I'm just saying.

1:03:50 So, let's continue on with this conversation.

1:03:52 Courtney, are you still on the line?

1:03:54 I know that went long with Sandra from New Orleans.

1:03:55 Courtney, are you there?

1:03:58 Yeah, I am back.

1:04:00 Good morning.

1:04:01 Good morning.

1:04:02 How are you?

1:04:05 I'm good.

1:04:06 What did you think of Sandra's call and the conversation?

1:04:11 Um well, me personally even if I I I

1:04:18 I have a daughter that voted for um the president,

1:04:22 so she's a generation bigger than different,

1:04:27 but if I would think that if Sandra doesn't

1:04:34 tell who she's voting for, she could have just voted

1:04:37 for the person she wants to vote for behind

1:04:42 the booth because who's going to know who she's voting for?

1:04:47 Um I think she's just trying to use the excuse of everybody around her is Maga,

1:04:55 but I don't think we really rely

1:04:59 on the Hispanic population to vote for black women anyway.

1:05:04 That's just my personal opinion.

1:05:07 And what did you want to discuss beyond?

1:05:09 Did you want to talk about cuz I'm sure

1:05:10 you want to talk about something before Sandra called.

1:05:15 Yeah, I think it was a little cross with with our conversation.

1:05:20 I was calling mainly, you know, here in Louisiana Marine.

1:05:25 Um we are being told not to vote for the congressional leader.

1:05:32 Um in a voting poll, of course.

1:05:35 Um I voted for my candidate of choice, but I wanted to ask you,

1:05:42 Don, did you ever invite um Congressman Cleo Fields or Troy Carter on the show?

1:05:51 Because right now they are doing a lot of talking.

1:05:55 Now they are.

1:05:57 I don't think they were as vocal prior to the decision that SCOTUS um rendered.

1:06:03 But now they're talking.

1:06:05 I just wanted to know if they're going to come on the show or not.

1:06:08 just so you know, I will have I will I will have,

1:06:11 not to cut you off, but it's a delay.

1:06:12 Sorry about that.

1:06:14 Uh Congressman Cleo Fields and I By the way,

1:06:16 Cleo Fields went to school with my sister.

1:06:18 I know Cleo Fields family and whatever cuz you know I'm from Baton Rouge, right?

1:06:22 So I know.

1:06:23 Um and I invited Cleo Fields on this summer this past summer,

1:06:28 last summer, uh our last like late summer, early fall when I was in uh DC doing

1:06:34 interviewing um lawmakers and one of the lawmakers I interviewed

1:06:38 was um Jonathan Jackson and I said I want

1:06:42 to interview you because we want to talk about voting rights.

1:06:45 And Jonathan Jackson and I talked about it and I

1:06:47 tried to get Cleo Fields and um Jonathan Jackson on.

1:06:50 It didn't work out together.

1:06:52 And so somehow I just lost like Cleo Fields and I just because of logistics.

1:06:56 But um but Jonathan Jackson came on and he

1:06:59 said the biggest thing is going to be voting rights,

1:07:01 voting rights, voting rights and he's right.

1:07:03 And so I will have Cleo Fields

1:07:04 on to talk about voting rights as we move forward,

1:07:06 but it's not for lack of trying on both of our parts,

1:07:09 Cleo Fields' part and my part, to come on.

1:07:11 So, yes, and I thank you um for that.

1:07:14 But, Louisiana is Y'all are acting up down there with the whole voting thing,

1:07:18 um with the the abortion pill, with your governor who's just out of control.

1:07:24 I don't know how y'all deal with it.

1:07:26 Oh, he is He is He is a racist piece of[ __] He really is.

1:07:32 Him and Liz Morial.

1:07:34 They are going to be one term only.

1:07:37 If I have to march on to Baton Rouge, hey, I went to Southern University.

1:07:43 We are all about protesting.

1:07:46 And I went to Southern in the '90s, so You were on the yard in the '90s.

1:07:50 I remember civil Yes.

1:07:53 That's uh yes.

1:07:56 I lived I lived just a mile or two from Southern University.

1:07:59 I remember Look, I don't know.

1:08:01 Where did Where are you from?

1:08:02 You're from Baton Rouge?

1:08:03 Or New Orleans?

1:08:04 No, I'm from New Orleans.

1:08:06 I'm from New Orleans,

1:08:07 but I I had to go to Baton Rouge every summer to go by my auntie,

1:08:12 um who was a teacher at um St.

1:08:15 Xavier Francis.

1:08:18 [laughter] Wait, where?

1:08:18 St.

1:08:18 Francis Xavier?

1:08:20 to Yes.

1:08:21 That's I went to school there.

1:08:22 That was [laughter] my elementary school.

1:08:24 I went to elementary and junior high school at St.

1:08:26 Francis Xavier.

1:08:28 Miss Holland is my aunt.

1:08:30 Was my aunt.

1:08:32 I don't know if Miss Holland was there when I was there.

1:08:35 Um no, but then I grew for 43 years.

1:08:39 Miss Holland?

1:08:40 for 43 years.

1:08:42 Well, you know what?

1:08:44 She actually married a Lemon.

1:08:46 She was a Lemon as well.

1:08:47 Oh my god, we're having This is We We need to continue this offline.

1:08:50 I don't remember Miss Holland cuz I was there from '71 to like '80 first grade.

1:08:56 That was Miss Miss Aymond.

1:08:58 Miss Aymond taught me first grade.

1:09:01 That was Miss Aymond.

1:09:02 Miss Aymond there.

1:09:04 maybe my turn afterwards.

1:09:06 Yeah, and then Miss Henyard.

1:09:08 remember helping out some of our classrooms in the '80s.

1:09:11 She was a good person.

1:09:13 Bringing back memories.

1:09:14 By the way, I still live in Park Vista, right near Southern University.

1:09:17 I don't know if you know that.

1:09:19 That's where I lived there.

1:09:20 My my One of my girlfriends lived in Park Vista right now.

1:09:24 Yep, I lived on the same street with Dr.

1:09:25 [laughter] Bragg, who was the Southern band director,

1:09:27 and next door to Miss Jacobs, who was a math teacher, and who else?

1:09:32 I mean, all kinds of professors there.

1:09:34 That was back in the day.

1:09:35 All right, girl.

1:09:36 I got to go.

1:09:37 Bye.

1:09:40 [laughter] Bye, Don.

1:09:41 Thanks for calling.

1:09:42 Thanks, Courtney.

1:09:43 Courtney taking me back.

1:09:44 Okay, let's talk about Let's get Andrea Pinkney on.

1:09:47 Andrea wants to talk about Sandra's phone call.

1:09:51 Hi, Andrea.

1:09:53 Hi, Don.

1:09:54 This is Andrea.

1:09:56 Hey, Andrea.

1:09:56 What's up?

1:09:57 I hope you're doing okay.

1:09:59 Well, you know, I was calling I was listening to Sandra,

1:10:03 and I said she started talking out of both sides

1:10:06 of her mouth as soon as she got on the telephone.

1:10:09 You know, she wasn't brave enough to say,

1:10:12 "I I want to vote for Jasmine Crockett." What brings me to the subject

1:10:17 that has been bothering me a lot is why don't people say what they really mean?

1:10:23 Why don't they say from the you know, if a friend of yours upset you,

1:10:27 why don't you tell your friend what upset you?

1:10:29 Instead of talking out of both sides of your mouth,

1:10:32 or or talking behind their back.

1:10:34 That that's bothering me, and it's been bothering me for a minute.

1:10:37 That's what I wanted to talk about, Don.

1:10:39 I don't like Sandra.

1:10:42 Okay, so let me say Let me say this.

1:10:44 Thank you, Andrea.

1:10:46 Um I think people are afraid of being The free people are afraid of criticism.

1:10:50 They're afraid of being called racist.

1:10:53 Um and I will tell I got to be honest with you.

1:10:56 I understand.

1:10:57 Now, I look, I um supported Jasmine Crockett.

1:11:02 I also like um Talarico.

1:11:04 I thought they were very good choices.

1:11:05 Nothing that I haven't said before on the show.

1:11:07 Jasmine was on the show a lot.

1:11:09 I defended Jasmine when the comedians um remember when the comedians,

1:11:12 the SNL guy and the other comedian, when,

1:11:15 you know, they talked about her um with Stephen A.

1:11:18 Smith, I defended her um with others.

1:11:21 There was some other things some uh that when people

1:11:23 were criticizing her and where I I came to her defense.

1:11:26 Um and so I understand that, but the moment that you step out

1:11:30 of the what somebody wants to hear people feel now that they get attacked.

1:11:37 And I understand Sandra not wanting to be attacked.

1:11:40 And I also understand Sandra's not a political consultant.

1:11:42 She's not a She's not a um a talking head on television.

1:11:46 She's just a normal person who is coming on this program to say how she felt.

1:11:50 I understand her reasoning.

1:11:52 I'm not saying that I agree with it, but those were her That was her rationale.

1:11:56 I supported because I think she said,

1:11:58 "I didn't want my vote not to count and I thought

1:12:01 the best way to do that was with this other candidate." I Look,

1:12:05 would it have been better if she had voted for Jasmine Crockett?

1:12:07 Perhaps.

1:12:08 That's not for me to decide.

1:12:10 Did I think that she was, you know,

1:12:12 sort of wishy-washy on, you know, what she said and that she backtracked?

1:12:17 Yeah.

1:12:18 But I understood not so I understand why people

1:12:21 are afraid to talk to people and tell their true

1:12:24 opinions because they're afraid of being attacked and they're

1:12:26 and they No one wants to be called a racist.

1:12:29 That's That's it.

1:12:31 But But they don't even tell the truth about just racism.

1:12:36 Uh it's a lot of subjects.

1:12:37 I don't like the color red.

1:12:39 I really like blue.

1:12:41 Why don't you [clears throat] say I like red instead of blue?

1:12:43 They people I don't know why they can't confront truth.

1:12:47 You know, I love Don Lemon and And a true statement

1:12:51 and I don't care who I'm talking to, I'll say that.

1:12:54 Do I agree with everything you say?

1:12:56 No, you're not going to agree with everything I say,

1:12:59 but I just find that people have a lot of superficial conversations.

1:13:04 That they're really not true truthful conver- I don't really

1:13:07 You're talking beyond Sandra, right, Andrea?

1:13:10 You're talking about Bianca.

1:13:12 Sandra and other Yeah, I'm talking about beyond Sandra.

1:13:16 You know, the people really don't have honest and true conversations.

1:13:20 And I learned coming up that that that you're you

1:13:24 would I would rather deal with the truth than the lie.

1:13:28 I'd rather you just go and say, "Andrea,

1:13:30 I don't like your hair today." I didn't like

1:13:32 my hair the other day on the show, either, Don.

1:13:34 So, you know, but I'll say that out loud myself.

1:13:37 So, if somebody else say, "Andrea,

1:13:38 I don't like how your hair was today." I would say, "Yeah,

1:13:41 I comb it when it look good, and I comb it when it look bad." That's my hair.

1:13:47 [laughter] Uh I think the audio has been messed Andy, I think this is better.

1:13:51 too.

1:13:51 Yeah, look, here let me let me say this.

1:13:53 Um I See, because I think we we're going

1:13:55 to have to have these conversations moving forward into the election.

1:13:59 I don't think that Sandra was being um that she

1:14:03 wasn't I think she that she wasn't being honest.

1:14:05 I thought she was being honest, but she was afraid to be honest because

1:14:08 she didn't want to get attacked and criticized.

1:14:10 That's how she feels.

1:14:11 I didn't necessarily agree with her, but I understood why what she did.

1:14:15 She made some choices,

1:14:17 calculated choices about who to support during the election,

1:14:21 and that's her business.

1:14:22 However, again, I don't have to agree with it,

1:14:25 but I understood what from her, what she said initially,

1:14:29 I understood why she did it.

1:14:30 And I think moving forward, we're going to have to, whether we like to it not

1:14:34 and we want to we want to give leeway to people,

1:14:36 we're going to have to in order to get out of this MAGA quagmire.

1:14:41 Someone like Sandra, I don't believe Sandra is a racist.

1:14:44 Do I think she has some unconscious bias.

1:14:47 Yes, we all do.

1:14:49 Um Just from that phone call, she might be I don't know her that well,

1:14:52 but just from that phone call, I don't think so.

1:14:55 Um but I think we're going to have to be

1:14:57 willing to um It's not stomach is the right word.

1:15:04 We're going to have to be willing to tolerate is the right word.

1:15:07 Um things, comments,

1:15:09 people that we didn't normally do in order to get the MAGA out of it.

1:15:17 To wash that MAGA right out of our hair.

1:15:19 We're going to have to do that because the more people you pull on your side,

1:15:24 the better it's going to be for all of us.

1:15:26 And then, once you have people in power who you are more aligned

1:15:31 with and you can deal with, then you can hash out those issues about well,

1:15:35 they didn't support this person because of that.

1:15:37 You didn't do this because of that.

1:15:39 This weighs in on that.

1:15:40 You can't even discuss racism or systemic racism with the Trump folks.

1:15:46 You can discuss systemic racism with James Carville Rico.

1:15:49 You can discuss systemic racism with Jasmine Crockett.

1:15:53 You can discuss systemic racism with probably Gavin Newsom.

1:15:57 I'm just calling out names in no particular order.

1:16:00 But not with a MAGA person because they don't believe it exists.

1:16:03 And so, that's what I mean.

1:16:05 You're going to have to We're going to have

1:16:06 to say You're going to have to calm down,

1:16:09 I believe, a little bit and say, "Okay, welcome to the fold.

1:16:13 And as long as you're voting for the right

1:16:14 person and you're on the right side of democracy,

1:16:17 then let's deal with this." And then,

1:16:19 once you get the people in like them like what Trump did,

1:16:23 you can get your project 2026 or 2028 in action the same way

1:16:30 or similarly to what the MAGA folks

1:16:32 did because they weren't even considering Democrats.

1:16:36 They were like all about the Republicans.

1:16:40 thing That's what I The one thing I like about Donald Trump and I

1:16:44 thought I'd never say that out loud is that he tells you his hate.

1:16:49 He he he doesn't hide behind what he hates.

1:16:52 And I'm trying to say I would like for people

1:16:56 just to be open and and have honest conversations.

1:17:00 I lived in the Houston area and a lot of the Hispanics

1:17:03 are very they don't they don't like blacks that much.

1:17:07 I don't I don't know why they don't like

1:17:09 blacks that much because they're brown skin as well.

1:17:12 But they to you about that.

1:17:13 I told you.

1:17:15 I told you.

1:17:16 Mhm.

1:17:16 They don't.

1:17:17 They don't you.

1:17:18 If you were listening to me, you're a legend, you know,

1:17:21 is that they are enamored with coziness to power and white people.

1:17:27 And they think that if they become friends or somehow vote for the white

1:17:32 person that they are going to be that and it's never going to happen.

1:17:36 Look at what happened.

1:17:37 I think that many of them Yes.

1:17:40 And and and they want to come in and then

1:17:42 close the door behind them over the border.

1:17:44 That happens to a lot of people.

1:17:46 That happens to people minority people who who gain wealth.

1:17:50 I don't want those people in my neighborhood now.

1:17:52 You know what I'm saying?

1:17:53 But it does happen a lot with our Latino brothers

1:17:56 and sisters and with our Indian American brothers and sisters as well.

1:17:59 They are not white.

1:18:00 Latino folks, you are not white.

1:18:02 I'm sorry.

1:18:03 And I don't care how much you kowtow to Trump and all

1:18:07 of that is never ever they're never going to look at you the same way.

1:18:11 I'm sorry.

1:18:11 That is just the truth.

1:18:12 So you're right about that.

1:18:14 And look, they[ __] around and they found out.

1:18:16 Look at where we are right now.

1:18:17 Rudy Rudy Giuliani is leaving this world disgraced.

1:18:24 He lost everything he had worked for just to just to fit in.

1:18:31 Well, I thought you were going to say something like Rudy Giuliani

1:18:33 was a brown man cuz he had all this stuff that drooled out.

1:18:36 But anyways, I'm not going to say it.

1:18:37 No, no, he wanted to fit [laughter] in with the with with Donald Trump.

1:18:40 Yeah, well, you know, but he wanted to fit in.

1:18:43 All of these people want to fit in and when

1:18:45 people can start being honest with themselves and honest with others,

1:18:49 I think that's when we're going to have some progress.

1:18:52 Thank you, Andrea.

1:18:53 I agree.

1:18:54 Rudy Giuliani is still alive.

1:18:55 He has pneumonia, but he's still around.

1:18:58 Thank you, Andrea.

1:18:59 Thank you, everybody.

1:19:00 I appreciate it.

1:19:01 We'll see Andrea, we'll see you on the Legend Show, okay?

1:19:04 All right.

1:19:06 So, everyone, thank you so much.

1:19:07 Now you're informed.

1:19:08 That was great.

1:19:09 We're going to have more conversations like that whether you like it or not,

1:19:11 we're going to have to do it.

1:19:13 We got to do it.

1:19:14 We got to get rid of this crazy thing that's happening now.

1:19:16 We're going to have to be more open-minded, more accepting, more tolerant,

1:19:21 and then we're going to have to will and not even

1:19:23 that, we're going to have to realize that the whole thing,

1:19:26 the whole goal of politics is to win, not to fight amongst each other,

1:19:31 not to want to you didn't do this, you didn't do that, you didn't do that.

1:19:34 If you keep fighting with each other,

1:19:35 they're going to keep dividing and conquering,

1:19:38 dividing and conquering, dividing and conquering.

1:19:40 I don't want to fight with people anymore.

1:19:42 I'm not fighting with people anymore.

1:19:43 I'm not fighting with Democrats anymore.

1:19:46 I'm not fighting with with liberals or progressives anymore.

1:19:50 I'm not fighting with anybody I'm not fighting

1:19:52 with ex-MAGA people who have now seen the light.

1:19:56 I'm not fighting with you.

1:19:57 You're over here on this side on the good side.

1:20:00 Everybody else I might fight with.

1:20:02 I'm not going to fight with Latino people who have realized it.

1:20:05 I'm not going to fight with black people who may have been MAGA and realized it.

1:20:08 Black people who are whatever.

1:20:10 I'm not I'm not.

1:20:11 I I think that that's a good lesson for all of us.

1:20:14 Stop it.

1:20:15 Now, the folks on the other side, you can fight with them and call them out.

1:20:18 But guess what?

1:20:19 If they come over to here this side, I'm going to be like, "Okay.

1:20:23 I'm good." And then afterwards, when all the votes are cast,

1:20:28 then we're going to have a talk.

1:20:30 Then we're going to work it out.

1:20:32 There's going to be some splaining to do.

1:20:34 But right now, come on over, come on in, let's talk about it.

1:20:40 Make sure your voter registration is right.

1:20:43 Do you want to become a Democrat?

1:20:44 Would you like to become a liberal?

1:20:45 Would you want to be an independent?

1:20:46 Do you want to get out of that mega Republican thing?

1:20:49 We can talk about that.

1:20:50 But right now, come have some chicken.

1:20:54 Come have some fish at the fish fry.

1:20:56 Let's talk about this.

1:20:59 If you want to know anything about the Don Lemon Show, here we go.

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1:21:27 We went long today.

1:21:29 I started a little late, but we did go long cuz the calls were so good.

1:21:32 Maybe it's just because I'm jet lagged.

1:21:34 Turn the TV off.

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