Yes, America is Ready for Kamala

The American tragedy of Donald J. Trump is about to come to an end with a popular front that elects the first Black and South Asian woman president of the United States. America is ready, and so is Gaslit Nation, with our historic number of phone banks to ensure we rub MAGA’s nose in their defeat.

The KKK, the Know Nothings, Nazis, MAGA—whatever you want to call them—will always be among us, as hate and ignorance are human nature. What’s important now is that we focus on building our political power, not only to elect Kamala Harris but to ensure that she has the Congress and state governments she needs to bring much-needed reforms to our broken system, especially to our courts. We must commit to holding her accountable as president as well as actively call out the racist and misogynistic attacks from the far-right and the media. Build with your community today, because we’re going to need each other in these critical and exciting years ahead. 

In this special episode, Terrell Starr of the Black Diplomats Podcast and Substack, who has interviewed Kamala Harris on a number of occasions, joins Gaslit Nation to discuss why she can win. This week’s bonus show, exclusive to our subscribers at the Truth-teller level and higher, includes questions from our listeners subscribed at the Democracy Defender level and higher, and examines what Kamala Harris’s foreign policy may look like, especially in regard to Ukraine.

Thank you to everyone who supports the show—we could not make Gaslit Nation without you!

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SHOW NOTES

Book Launch Reception for In the Shadow of Stalin: The Story of Mr. Jones – Sept 16

• Monday September 16th 7pm at the Ukrainian Institute of America join us for a wine reception and live taping of Gaslit Nation with Terrell Starr for the launch of the graphic novel adaptation of Andrea’s film Mr. Jones! Get in free by subscribing at the Truth-teller level or higher on Patreon!

Indivisible x Gaslit Nation Phonebank Party! — August 15 at 7pm ET

• Every third Thursday through election day and on election eve in November we’re calling voters in Republican-hostage states in the Midwest with Indivisible to ensure a Democratic Senate. Sign up here to join us!

Sister District x Gaslit Nation Phonebank Parties! – Every Wednesday in October! 

• Every Wednesday through October, we’re phone-banking with Sister District, calling voters in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Georgia. Sign up here to join us!

Opening Clip: “Don’t ever carry as a personal burden your capacity to do whatever you dream and aspire to do based on other people’s limited ability to see who can do what. Sometimes people will open the door for you, sometimes they won’t.. and then you need to kick that fucking door down” https://x.com/Acyn/status/1790047553511195053

Clip: “Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY) on his re-election and vetoing anti-trans bills: "All children are children of God … I was going to stand up for the most marginalized children who didn't deserve either a state legislature or an entire campaign picking on them." https://x.com/HeartlandSignal/status/1726806702421610566

Clip: Ashton Pittman: “Flashback 2012: The Obama campaign wasn't ready to endorse marriage equality. But when asked about it, Joe Biden broke with the campaign's messaging and endorsed it. An avalanche of Democrats, including President Obama, soon followed him.” https://x.com/ashtonpittman/status/1815132808790020228

Clip: In praise of Joe Biden: https://x.com/maddenifico/status/1815457006083600802

Stephen Miller Meltdown https://x.com/MollyJongFast/status/1815210257330659594

Drake VS Kendrick Explained to White People https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3uWj2MpydI&t=1s

Kendrick Lamar/Kamala Harris mash-up https://x.com/tolstoybb/status/1815102526561419439

America Is Ready for a Black Female President—but Not Kamala Harris by Keli Goff https://www.thedailybeast.com/america-is-ready-for-a-black-female-presidentbut-not-kamala-harris?utm_medium=socialflow&utm_source=twitter_owned_tdb&via=twitter_page&utm_campaign=owned_social

TRANSCRIPT

Kamala Harris (00:00:00):

It is. As Alicia said, my mother would say to me, don't you ever let anybody tell you who you are. You tell them who you are. Don't ever carry as a personal burden, your capacity to do whatever you dream and aspire to do based on other people's limited ability to see who can do what. This is part of what's involved is that we have to know that sometimes people will open the door for you and leave it open. Sometimes they won't. And then you need to kick that fucking door down.

Andrea Chalupa (00:00:47):

We are about to have the first black and south Asian woman president of the United States of America because America is ready. And I'm with my dear friend, Terrell Starr of the Black Diplomats podcast and Substack, Hey, hey,

Terrell Starr (00:01:10):

It's going all

Andrea Chalupa (00:01:12):

And we are here to break it all down for you. Blast some fools who need blasting obviously prepare us all for the battle of our lives that is up ahead and reassure you once again, as we've been saying on Gaslit Nation all year since the very start of this election, yes, we can win. Yes, the blue wave is real. Yes. What happened in 2018 was a historic sea change in political life in America. Progressive infrastructure was quickly launched and built in matter of months, and it's been expanding all across the union, including in states like Kansas. That is not a small thing. That is a revolution and that revolution, it was the grassroots, not the elite ivory tower, not Morning Joe, not the Atlantic, not Nancy Pelosi. It was that grassroots blue wave that started in 2018 and has never gone away. That has shown up every single election cycle, even off your elections that rallied as soon as President Joe Biden made the call and said it's Kamala, everybody showed up for her and everybody showed up for him.

(00:02:30):

I want to make perfectly clear, the coalition that stood by Biden that called for unity, that called for greater decorum instead of elderly abuse and far right media gaslighting, they're the ones that made what we saw happen. And before I kick it to Terrell, I just want to just summarize what we've just all witnessed. Believe your eyes, believe your ears. Joe Biden did what dictators never do. He stepped down and endorsed his successor within 24 hours. Kamala's campaign raised a quarter of a billion dollars, including over a hundred million in grassroots donations alone dwarfing the 50 million Trump received when he was convicted of 34 felonies. That was Republicans paying their KKK dues obviously when they donated Trump. What's more Trump? And the Republican party wasted their precious airtime at the RNC bashing Biden, including for being too old. Now Trump is the oldest party nominee in history. Trump is going to lose and Kamala Harris is going to win. We are going to make sure of it. And guess what? She will now be immune from prosecution thanks to Trump's MAGA judges on the Supreme Court. So as president Kamala can pass all the executive orders she wants, they can't stop her. We now know why God spared Trump's life so he can lose to a black woman. How are you feeling? Terrell?

Terrell Starr (00:04:01):

It would be so funny for him to lose to a black woman that would be the hilarity of her whole four years and she runs again beyond that. I knew that people would rally around Kamala, but I had no idea that the excitement would be this intense. And I think part of why you see this galvinizing support, it was just the gall of this notion that people would just bypass her. And I think particularly the black political class looked at this and said, Uhuh, this ain't go go right? And so you saw immediately all these major governors and people who were potential candidates to challenge Kamala at the convention, they all got behind her and supported her. And so she is the nominee. Let's make one thing clear. She's not going to have any troubling pathway to the nomination. Everyone's going to come, eventually Newsom is going to come around, Obama, everybody's going to come around and support her. But I think that it wasn't that people could not accept Joe Biden stepping down. It was the fact that people ing in stepping over Kamala. That was the issue. Had this been the structure or had this been the process

Andrea Chalupa (00:05:20):

Exactly

Terrell Starr (00:05:21):

Right. Biden steps down. Kamala steps up. We wouldn't have all this drama. We wouldn't have all of this drama. And so I actually believe that she does have a greater chance with Biden because with certain demographic graphics with the Latinx community and younger voters, she does better. And so I don't accept this notion that a Black woman can't win or Asian American woman can't. I don't believe that at all. I think that these are just traditional hangups that people have about race and about women in general that I think that we have beyond. Now of course we'll see during the election, but everything about her says, she's going to kick Trump's butt. And I think that there is an optimism about her really being a lawyer, somebody who has been practicing law up until 2016. And so Biden is also a lawyer, but he pretty much was on the judiciary committee. He wasn't practicing in the way that Kamala was practicing. And so when you think about women's rights, that was one of the main, her number one domestic issue that she championed, right?

Andrea Chalupa (00:06:34):

As senator, she had a lawyer specialized in reproductive healthcare and abortion rights on her staff in the Senate. She was the only one to have that,

Terrell Starr (00:06:42):

Right? And so she is the perfect person to push back against Trump's talking points. And so it would be interesting to see who our VP would be. I'm thinking that it would be either somebody like Mark Kelly or Beshear.

Andrea Chalupa (00:06:56):

But let's keep in mind about Mark Kelly. I love Mark Kelly. I love Gabby Giffords. I love them dearly. But do we have to go through all this, what we just went through with Biden? So let's say in 2032, when is Mark Kelly's turn to run as vp? You know what I'm saying? How old is Mark Kelly going to be in 2032 to serve out eight full years?

Terrell Starr (00:07:16):

Well, you know what though? He doesn't have to run. That's another way to look at it, right? Not yet. And so there are plenty of people who are VPs who don't run. So I think people look at the VP as a coronation step to the presidency, a lot of that for hubris and political arrogance, but the man does not have to run. I actually like Beshear out of Kentucky.

Andrea Chalupa (00:07:35):

Love Beshear. He's a lawyer. He's somebody that in his state took on giant corporations. He went to the Supreme Court in his state and he defended trans rights in a deep red state. And he spoke out so beautifully. And I want to play a quick clip of that. Now,

Jen Psaki (00:07:51):

Your race was also interesting in a lot of ways, but one of the issues that came up was of course, trans rights. I mean, you did not hesitate to veto a sweeping anti-trans bill passed by the Kentucky State legislature.

Andy Beshear (00:08:03):

Well, all children are children of God. That's what my faith teaches me. And I was going to stand up especially for the most marginalized children that didn't deserve either a state legislature or an entire campaign and all these super pacs picking on 'em.

Andrea Chalupa (00:08:18):

And then I want to just point out, because I'm very amped up for this podcast, I barely slept last night. I was so excited. I just want to make clear, I have a million questions for you in all of this. I want to make clear already the press is being contrarian and they're trying to come after our joy. But the reality is that this was not a coronation of Kamala Harris. This was not a four D chess move by the Democratic Party. Believe your eyes, believe your ears that the Democratic Party establishment was calling for an open convention. They were not convinced of Kamala Harris. A OC warned us in the Instagram live. She rang the alarm and it was all of us, these past emotional rollercoaster weeks being glued to the news, being glued to social media to see what the team Biden folks are saying from LaTosha Brown and Black Voters Matter. Stacey Abrams, everyone was like, it's Biden, if not Biden, it's Kamala. Let's be very clear, the establishment wanted an open primary. And on top of that, this was not the success of the bullying of so many in the media in the podcast world, or even going after a OC saying, you've egg on your face a OC, shame on you. You are wrong for not calling for Biden a dropout. A OC did the correct thing. She's young, she's progressive, she's energizing. She has a big old Gen Z base that is, and

Terrell Starr (00:09:39):

She's practical.

Andrea Chalupa (00:09:40):

Yeah, her whole base of supporters are entering the voting force for the first time. A OC demonstrated party unity, A OC. By talking directly to us through social media was showing that government does work, that it does matter, that we need to get involved in the system in order to change the system to better the system. She was out there telling us she's giving generators and solar power to Puerto Rico through the Biden administration at a time of such deep cynicism and apathy in America. A OC is saying, roll up your sleeves and join me. Get involved. That's the only way out because that's true. That is absolutely what it comes down to. We are not going to be like the useless Russian opposition and stab ourselves in the chest with our apathy and destroy our country through our apathy. We're not going to let that happen.

(00:10:26):

So a OC shows a lot of conviction, a lot of humility and a lot of pragmatism. And by demonstrating that unity to her crowd, she not only stood by Biden showing a lot of decency as a person, but also she warned us, they're coming after Kamala. They're going to sidestep Kamala. Don't let that happen. And we didn't. So again, all of that miracle, that magic that we've been feeling that we haven't felt in so long, hold onto that right now because you're going to knd it because from the grassroots, it's bottom up. And they're going to try over these coming months to chip away at her because there's a lot of unconscious bias, misogyny, racism, women, especially non-white women get morbidly scrutinized. Meanwhile, you've mediocre white men failing up, becoming billionaires. There are Silicon Valley king makers. So we have to understand that the same power that ensured that Kamala would be our nominee, that grassroots power, that is what's going to get her over the finish line. Hold onto that.

Terrell Starr (00:11:30):

She just has the energy to push all these points home. And I think that she will be able to function and not only continue Joe Biden's policy, she has her own, I covered VP Harris, even when she was running from the state attorney general's office and going into the Senate. And one of the things that I've noticed about her is that she is brilliant with conveying how the legal process works to general audiences. And so she first came of age or well in national prominence during the whole Russiagate situation and the Comey hearings where she was really digging into Russian collusion with the Trump administration. And I believe that she would be a lot more efficient and aggressive of going against large corporations, challenging kleptocracy in ways that Joe Biden not only hasn't, but actually doesn't have the skill to, I think that she's more skilled than him.

(00:12:41):

And it's unfortunate that she was not utilized during these three and a half years in a way that demonstrates that work clearly to the American public. But she has the next three months to do so. But she has the energy to really display that just based on the fact that we know she won't fall half asleep during a debate. My apologies to Biden. And so I definitely have no problem with Biden stepping down simply because Kamala stepped up, but people didn't want her to stepped up. They wanted to step over her. And so now you're going to see this really energized space just in a matter of 24 hours. You brought up a number of a quarter of a billion dollars. It's an astronomically high number. There were 45,000 black women on a Zoom call. There were so many callers that they had to call the CEO of Zoom to increase the number of people that could be on a call.

(00:13:37):

And so that type of energy would not have happened had we gone through this drama of an open convention. And so now I have real hope. I have more hope simply because of this enthusiasm now than I did. Even if Biden has stayed on, I think that the chances of people coming out are even greater. But again, it's because of her. And I think people misunderstood us when we were advocating for Joe Biden and even a OC, and I think you mentioned it in your tweet, it wasn't that a OC was just all a hundred percent defending Joe Biden. She was really talking about paving a way for Kamala Harris. But people didn't get that. But now you have a base where there's no limit, right? Kamala opens up more possibilities of people that will come to the polls in ways that Joe Biden couldn't. And I still felt like if he were on the ticket, he would've a fighting chance. But now we have a real real chance because the ceiling, it just got higher. Whereas with Trump, his is right here. His is like he's reached it. And now with more than, as you said, a quarter of a billion dollars never

Andrea Chalupa (00:14:51):

Been done before on this level.

Terrell Starr (00:14:52):

Plus the organization, Trump's campaign was configured to square off with Biden. And so they had their whole game plan set up for him. Now they're going to be set up with somebody who's pretty much going to prosecute him on stage. And I'm at the point where I even wonder if he's even going to have a debate with her.

Andrea Chalupa (00:15:15):

No, because she is a joyful woman who laughs easily and has a wonderful infectious laugh. And as you and I know from covering dictators for years now, dictators don't have a sense of humor. That's why they're dictators. They're just like the meanest, most miserable human beings that are just so materialistic and lack soul. And so that's why you've never seen Trump laugh. Trump lives on tv. We've seen him countless hours now on tv. When have you ever seen him laugh? Really genuinely laugh. Never. When have you seen Putin laugh? Never. That's classic for dictators.

Terrell Starr (00:15:58):

It is. And I think that everybody is worried. You always see the Russian propaganda.

Andrea Chalupa (00:16:05):

Their only shot of winning is Russia. Now that's their only shot at this is Russia hijacking the election like they did in 2016.

Terrell Starr (00:16:12):

Because another thing too, we talked about how Gaza would be biden's undoing. If you look back at VP Harris's speech in Selma about Gaza, and I think that she could be moved in ways that Biden could not, and listen, we could go back to our AIPAC history, the whole nine yards. We all know that. But I don't think that she is as devout to Israel as Biden is. And this is another important thing that people have not really thought about either. The post Ferguson culture has shaped her in a way that they can never shape Biden. I think that, and when she ran in 2020, even when she was running for senate in 2016, she was kind of dragged through the colds about the policing record, et cetera. And so I think that those moments sat with her. And so she is somebody who could be moved by the grassroots activist movement in ways that Biden could not.

(00:17:17):

So I think that it'll be interesting to see how she responds to this on the campaign trail because I know that she knows that the Arab American vote is vital in Michigan, is fighting in Arizona, is fighting in Georgia. She knows that I'm not expecting her just to go the polar opposite, but do I think that she's going to strike a chord in a way that Biden has not? Yes. And we know that last time we checked the reporting that I saw is that she's not going to be in attendance with Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to Congress. First of all, no one should be in attendance when Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to Congress. He needs to be in a room by himself or not invited at all or disinvited

Andrea Chalupa (00:18:01):

Unless they're coming from the Hague to arrest him for war crimes.

Terrell Starr (00:18:04):

Correct? Okay. And so I think that the fact that she has not committed to being there is a very important signal.

Andrea Chalupa (00:18:13):

I read that she also had a pre-planned campaign stop, but I'm sure that was also conveniently,

Terrell Starr (00:18:18):

Listen, if it was somebody else, it's perfectly convenient, but also think it could also be strategic. You could sell that in a wide range of ways. But the bottom line is that she won't be there, which is important. And so regardless of whether it was planned or not, she can always say, well, I wasn't there. And that gives off a political signal in itself. And so I think that she has the emotional intelligence because again, I think the thing we need to start doing is talking about how different they are. They are two different people. I think that she has more emotional intelligence than he does. I say this because I've interviewed her a number of times, and I've sat down with her, not just for 15 minutes. I sat down with her for an hour or more. And because some of the conversations I had with her were off record, I can't say, but she's more self-reflective about social justice. She's more reflective about these things in Gaza that many people don't want to acknowledge, but simply because they haven't seen and now that she's no longer being put to the backside, and then she can show who she really is, and she has the full support of all these grassroots organizations and all the Black Women Coalition. I have never seen them this excited. This excitement is much more intense than that of Obama.

(00:19:43):

And here's the biggest irony. When she ran in 2020, this wasn't there. And as I told you before, and I'm happy that we can say this on Gaslit in my podcast because this type of thought isn't really valued. Black Americans who pretty much determined who's a candidate, who the candidate is going to be said, Hey, Kamala, you ain't ready yet, but in a few years, keep doing it. And so now she's in this VP spot. And so the way that people look at her is different now. And that comes by respecting the ways in which black Americans view your viability and your candidacy. And Obama didn't go through that again. He was a different person and he was a different type of candidate. It was a different time. And so the difference now is that she went through all of these steps and the main thing that broke the camel's back about the enthusiasm was the fact that you dare to step over her. So you were talking about this whole thing of mediocre white men compared to Kamala, all these other people would be mediocre precisely because she went through these steps that her base required of her, and that base was not going to support anybody else. And the most important takeaway from this is that it shows that the base is stronger than this oligarchy political culture,

Andrea Chalupa (00:21:04):

A trillion percent. So I want to just point out that already the media, and this includes many women. I just read an article by an old friend of mine, Kelly Goff in the Daily Beast, saying that Kamala is an electable and that we're all in a cult like we were with Ruth Bader Ginsburg, where people rallied around her from trying to prevent her from stepping down. That landed us with RBG being replaced by a MAGA loyalist on the Supreme Court and shame on us. And obviously, yeah, Ruth should have stepped down earlier under Obama when we had a chance to get a replacement there. The court would be very different if that had happened, but that's not what's happening with Kamala. We're not in a dam cult here. She's been vice president of the United States. She had four years of scrutiny in that job. She's come a long way.

(00:22:08):

She was on the front lines of standing up to Putin and our support for Ukraine. She spoke at a lot of major conferences on behalf of the US and leading the global alliance against Russia's fascism. And unfortunately, you have the women in the media saying that, well, she's not tested. America's not ready. She needs to step down. We need somebody that can win or else we're going to be stuck with Trump. So already there's the backlash against the joy. There's the contrarianism coming in, and I think it's important that we all stay grounded in what I've been saying for years on this show, which is grassroots power is the most reliable power we have left. Getting out the vote matters, talking to the people in your life, making sure they have a plan to vote matters, showing up at our phone banks to get out the vote matters, and that's how we're going to win.

(00:23:03):

And the same sort of coalition of folks that were pushing Biden out, really going after Biden without any sort of clear succession plan, because Biden wasn't going to step down without a plan. And then Kamala became the plan, and everything's a go now. So I just want to remind folks that to stay grounded in what matters. And what matters is that the blue wave is real. As I said in my emergency podcast on Sunday when Biden stepped down, I said, trust the blue wave. Whatever happens, the blue wave is real. That's where we are. So what are your thoughts on all that, Terrell?

Terrell Starr (00:23:36):

I read that article and in a sense, I can kind of understand where she's coming from it talking about, okay, to go off for the simple fact that it's the same way that people felt about Stacey Abrams, a wide range of other people, right? There is apathy that has just turned into cynicism. And so sometimes when you look at these pieces, you have to look at them as simply people just venting. And I don't mean to undermine the intellectual integrity of what Kelly says or anyone else who feels like her, says

Andrea Chalupa (00:24:13):

Kelly is a prominent black commentator, an artist, playwright, TV writer, filmmaker.

Terrell Starr (00:24:19):

And she could be all of those things along with everyone else who can also argue that they're prominent and that they have whatever position that they have. But ultimately, we're human beings. And some of us, in her case rightfully understand the history of this country and the trajectory of it and express very real fears and concerns about political vitality. And so it's not that the spirit of what she says isn't real, isn't genuine, or as she looks at it, even actionable based on how she gauges the climate of this country. The problem is that what the fuck does that serve us?

Andrea Chalupa (00:25:00):

Exactly. You what I'm saying? What are we going to do? Pump the brakes? Let's all start over again. Have that open convention. I love you, Cal. I love you. I know her. I've known Kelly for many years. I've gone on trips with her. She's a wonderful human being. And yeah, I love you, Kel, but you're wrong.

Terrell Starr (00:25:16):

That's all I'm saying. What the fuck? If you want to just kind of air out the feelings and everything, that's fine. And so as far as a cult goes, I don't think it's a cult based on its simple fact that most people did not look at Kamala as their first choice, which you ran in 2020, right? So I don't see it like that at all. I think that the frustration that she might have deals with this process that we've all accepted, right? If you believe in the altruistic approach of open elections and et cetera, then that's a different conversation to have. The question is, on a practical basis, is that going to get us the difference between a Kamala versus a Trump? And it's a lot more binary than the example of the Supreme Court example that she brought up is far more binary and the timing is far more consequential.

(00:26:10):

I just think she's wrong, but I just wanted to honor her feelings on that. And then finally, when you talk about how existential this is, I think from a practical level, people feel like their day-to-Day civil liberties in the way that when you think about JD Vance who feel like people's bodies, literally, they need to be regulated in their menstrual cycles. All this other crap about how women are supposed to reduce babies for the rest of the country, all this shit, this is existential. I think the vast majority of people feel like we don't have the time to go through this altruistic, contrarian mindset of for the purity of politics. Let's just go through this and see this all through. And everyone has, Hey, you get to talk and you get to talk. People have already made up their minds. And so my question is, this is not a cult. My question is have you read the fucking room?

Andrea Chalupa (00:27:03):

Exactly right. And that goes to everybody out there spreading bullshit right now,

Terrell Starr (00:27:09):

Right? You haven't read the room. And so when I'm traveling across Europe and even as an American, if I'm in Germany, if I'm in Denmark or whatever, the fact that if my leg falls off, I don't have to worry about insurance at the risk so that I could actually go to a doctor and not have to pay an arm in the leg literally and not die from my injuries. Just these Europeans, it's not unusual for them to have these type of snap elections. And they're going through the ebbs and flows of process, right? Because for better or for worse, many Europeans have their basic needs taken care of. We don't have that type of infrastructure here in the United States. Do you understand the distinctions I'm making here? Basically here we are still trying to build an infrastructure where our basic needs and our basic humanity is going to be honored. And we don't have time to be pure and say, Hey guys, even if Kamala eventually wins, let her go through this process whereby I'll feel really better if we go through the process at the convention and everyone picks Kamala, then no. Why the fuck do we need it then if everybody's fucking choosing her? Now, did you listen to the 40,000 black women who raised a million dollars just on one hour on the phone,

Andrea Chalupa (00:28:32):

45,000 black women? And Kelly Goff's article puts the number at 34,000. So she's skipping over 10,000 black women that made time for that call and put in money to raise over well over a million dollars and a few short hours.

Terrell Starr (00:28:47):

I genuinely believe that a lot of these people are being contrarian and they're wrong. We don't have time for this. And if there wasn't, and here's the biggest irony of it, right? You're talking about process. The reason why Kamala is the top candidate is that people were standing up and complaining about process. So we went through a process. The thing, the cult mentality wasn't with these people who are overwhelmingly support Kamala, it was the people who decided they were just going to step over her. That was the oligarchic mindset. So when you're talking about a lack of process, that was it. Not what's happening right now. So this isn't a coordination, this is affirmation of what people want. We cannot point to a moment in American history where a particular political class has stood up this much. And if you don't think that those 45,000 or so black women that weren't on that phone don't represent their constituencies, you don't know shit about politics.

Andrea Chalupa (00:29:51):

This is unprecedented. What is happening? And there is no way that Trump can surmount this unless the Kremlin comes in and physically invades United States of America. The cyberwar for hacking will not cut it at this point. They're going to have to full on send their green little men starting at Brighton Beach.

Terrell Starr (00:30:10):

But you know what I'm also concerned about though on that note is that I'm telling you, mark my words on this, she's going to be far more aggressive against the Kremlin than Biden will ever be. It's not going to even compare. And it doesn't even have anything to do with military, even though I think she's going to maintain that. I'm thinking about sanctions, I'm thinking about, I'm thinking about prosecutions, war crimes, war crimes, all of those things. So I think that she's going to be far more aggressive and use the international legal systems in ways that Biden was unwilling to do. And so all this backstepping that Biden is doing, I don't think she's going to do it because she became a national name based on investigating the Kremlins collusion in the election. So I'm concerned about the attempts to undermine her, and it's going to be much more because I think the criminal would've been a lot, they would've been cool with Biden, not cool with them, but I think that Kamala terrifies them.

Andrea Chalupa (00:31:11):

Yeah, absolutely. I want to just get to a listener question. Amy writes, what is Terrell hearing from the black community?

Terrell Starr (00:31:20):

So that's a general question. So broadly, as far as VP Harris's candidacy, I think that overall people are genuinely excited because she gives activists a reason to rally around. Unfortunately, what you do here, you have some black male misogyny that's going on about her in regards to, Hey, she locks up black men, which is bullshit. I've been critical of her criminal justice record when I was covering her campaign in 2020, but not for the misogynistic reasons that some of these men who are very trumpet in their thinking are talking about, right? But overall, there's definitely an excitement about the first black woman who could potentially be the president. And so she has the sorority community around her. So every type of politically active organization that deals with electoral politics is energized in ways that what we saw with Obama. I think that it has a lot to do with the fact that people were just going to step over her. That fact has as much to do with black people's excitement for her as it does with her viability as a candidate.

Andrea Chalupa (00:32:35):

I want to point out that black men for Kamala had a zoom call.

Terrell Starr (00:32:39):

Thank you. Yeah, I was going to bring it, yeah.

Andrea Chalupa (00:32:40):

Well over 20,000 people that raised well over a million dollars in a few short hours. So black men are getting information too for Kamala.

Terrell Starr (00:32:49):

Yeah, I had on my notes I was going to bring it. Yeah. So Roland Martin led that with Bakari Sellers and other group of other black men. And so the vast majority of them are standing with her. But the reason why I brought up the black, the misogynistic black men was because there's a disinformation campaign that I think that the Kremlin will use to undermine her candidacy. So I brought it up as something to look out for, not as a representative view of how most black men see her, because the vast majority are going to be as supportive as those 45,000 black women that were on the call. In fact, I think that when we look at Roland Martin Unfiltered, the 20 plus thousand black men that came on, you're going to see more enthusiasm from black men for a political candidate than we've ever seen because they're challenging everyone in the community to step up.

(00:33:48):

It's kind of like we have all this experience of all the things that could undermine our candidacy and our vitality, and we have all of the alerts up. And so we're going to see in the next two to three months some of the robust organizing that we have ever seen. And this type of excitement never would have happened with Joe Biden on the ticket. We would've seen it, but not nearly this intense because we have new possibilities based on the simple fact that you're going to have a young, vibrant person that's going to be delivering these talking points in a much more efficient way than Biden could never do. So I'm actually excited that Biden stepped down, but they're operative words so that VP Harris can step up. We can't underestimate this. Had this conversation around Biden stepping down been followed with Kamala stepping up, we would've been saving ourselves two to three weeks of heartache. I know I keep bringing it up, but I think it's so important.

Andrea Chalupa (00:34:52):

Yes. And I want to emphasize that for everybody because there are some people gloating right now who have no right to gloat because they were not full throated for Kamala ever. Right? Okay. And so yes, Biden stepping down was ultimately the right thing to do. Terrell and I did not call for that because we take our leadership from the black women who are the backbone of making America more democratic over the centuries of this land's recent history. And so black women were like, it's Biden. We're sticking by Biden. And if it's not Biden, it's Kamala. And that is exactly what we repeated here on the show, because we trust the non-white women. Literally, I've been on the front lines of confronting authoritarianism throughout America's history since the founding. Absolutely. And that is because this is existential for them, and that was the right thing to do.

(00:35:50):

And a lot of the bullshit that went down against Biden could have been done privately, could have been done strategically. And the big puzzle piece that was missing was it's Kamala. The plan is Kamala, you guys went after Biden without a clear plan. What do you expect you're going to get? Okay, that was your number one mistake. And I want to underline that because too many people are taking victory laps that should not be taking victory laps right now. So the other thing I want to point out is the culture is rising up in such a meaningful way. One of the most significant moments in hip hop happened this year, and that of course was the big battle between Kendrick Lamar, Oakland, California, Oakland is of course Kamala's hometown. And so Kendrick versus Drake and Kendrick just destroyed Drake. If you were not following this, there's so many videos that will explain it to you.

(00:36:52):

I was watching their responses to each other come out in real time. I was losing sleep trying to follow it all. But let me just sum it up for you this way. Pulitzer Prize winner, Kendrick Lamar called out Drake for being creepy with young girls. He went there, and that song was not only straight to the throat jugular just beheaded Drake in front of the eyes of the world, but it was also an amazing song that you can dance to clean your house, to get ready to go out to. And that was what made it so culturally significant and devastating. And so now the culture is taking that song and mashing it up with images of Oakland raised Kamala dancing to it, and Trump being the pedophile that's called out in that song. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, you just need to go to the show notes for this episode, and I will link to some examples of what the kids are making and putting out there because this is a really big deal.

(00:37:51):

So what I'm saying is that one of the biggest moments in hip hop is being used right now to promote the hell out of Kamala. So yes, gen Z is going to show up in record numbers on November 5th, 2024 to make sure she gets elected. They are being ignited unlike ever before. TikTok has exploded with all of these stan fandom videos of Kamala just laughing, coconut, praising the coconut tree, all that stuff. One young woman even made a video of the coconut being dressed as a coconut tree saying the coconut tree breaks their silence and finally talks to the media. And she did a whole coconut tree press conference. So this is an organic firestorm of pop culture promoting Kamala Harris to young people across this country who increasingly get their news from TikTok and Instagram. And Trump cannot compete with that because Trump looks increasingly unhinged, especially when you have fake wannabe carpet bagger, a hillbilly JD Vance, who is a laboratory invention of Silicon Valley techno fascists going on TV and demonizing women who do not have naturally born children. Do you know how self-sabotaging that is to do? There are women out there who simply cannot physically have children. Do you know how much that imagine a woman who wants to have a child who went through so many miscarriages, who went through IVF and it still didn't work and is heartbroken that she physically cannot have children of her own, and she's watching Fox News and JD Vance is blasting her for physically not being able to have children what he just did to Kamala.

Terrell Starr (00:39:40):

The thing about these type of people is that they're so vi that there's no reasoning with them. The only thing you have to do is just organize to get them out The way that my minds work, I try to make sense of things and you can't make sense of that. So the only thing that we need to do is to get rid of these people and to make sure that they're as far away from power as they can because the goal is to beat Trump so that Trump will not win. So Vance will be in the Senate and get him out of the Senate. Another thing that we have to think about is not 2024, but we need to set up the stage for 2026 because there needs to be a house and a Senate for Kamala to operate. The house is still controlled by these MAGA conservative Republicans.

(00:40:31):

And so we need to encourage our people to not only be mindful of the presidential race, but the US House and Senate races and local races, what the Republicans have done, because there are 2025 plan Project 2025 doesn't just focus at the national level, it focuses at the local focuses on the state. Even though 2025 is focused on, it's a department by department chapter plan, they are focusing on structure. And Kamala being in office for the next four years, she will have some say in judges that are appointed to the federal bench at various. And so we need to start thinking about structure as well. And there's no one that's more qualified to lead that way than VP Harris, or based on a simple fact that her style of prosecuting has been one where she's very methodical. If you look at her hearings and when she's her time to speak, it's less emotional, right?

(00:41:35):

I think that she is effective from a process standpoint as a OC is with her question. AOC is a great, she's great at hearing if you see her talk right? She doesn't do this whole thing where she lectures people. She gets straight to the point and she really gets to the heart of the issue because she's an attorney and she's a practicing attorney. She was a practicing attorney up until she was elected into the US Senate. She knows how to do that from a legal process. And so I just think that she is an infinitely, I've always focused on the way. She's an infinitely more talented politician than Joe Biden is. And this is no disrespect to Joe Biden. It just pays tribute to the talents and skills of VP Kamala Harris.

Andrea Chalupa (00:42:23):

And I don't want to just pay tribute to Joe Biden because a lot of people are saying, why don't he drop out sooner? And it's like he's been fighting so many wars on so many fronts. Obviously he's had a really intense administration and still managed to get so much done. And in tribute to Joe Biden, and I know he's not perfect, and I know in some ways he's going to remember, be remembered as a Churchill. Churchill inherited a mess, and Churchill had to rally the people and work really hard to get Britain ready to stand up to fascism and win. And on top of that, Churchill also allowed a famine of millions of people in Bengal to go on a manmade famine where the millions died. And that's also part of Churchill's legacy, and I think Biden will have that legacy as well. He rallied the world to stand up to fascism, but he also enabled the genocide of Gaza, where countless brown people have been slaughtered, including countless children and women have been slaughtered before the eyes of the world. So that will be his legacy. It's going to be complicated. Like Churchill, he did do a lot of extraordinary things for civil rights in the United States. I went to read Ashton Pittman of the Mississippi Free Press wrote on Twitter flashback 2012 when the Obama campaign wasn't ready to endorse marriage equality. When asked about it, Joe Biden broke with the campaign's messaging and endorsed it. An avalanche of Democrats, including President Obama, soon followed him. And now I'm going to play that clip.

David Gregory of Meet the Press (00:43:58):

I'm curious. The president has said that his views on gay marriage on same-sex marriage have evolved, but he's opposed to it. You are opposed to it. Have your views evolved?

Joe Biden (00:44:09):

Look, I just think that the good news is that as more and more Americans come to understand what this is all about is a simple proposition. Who do you love? Who do you love? And will you be loyal to the person you love? And that's what people are finding out is what all marriages at their root are about, whether they're marriages of lesbians or gay men or heterosexuals. Is that what you believe? Now? That's what I believe. And you're comfortable with same sex marriage. Now look, I am vice president of the United States of America. The president sets the policy. I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying men are entitled to the same exact rights. All the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly, I don't see much of a distinction beyond that.

Andrea Chalupa (00:45:07):

And now here is a Biden supporter. This is a TikTok video that's gone viral, and a woman who compares Biden as having all of these qualities of recent presidents.

Eldery Woman (Viral TikTok Video) (00:45:18):

Well, I don't know if I can say this without crying. It's okay. It's take a minute. I left Joe Biden. I think he's the best president we ever had. He's got all the qualities necessary of all the presidents combined. He's got Franklin D. Roosevelt's ability to pass legislation to help all of us middle class, middle class, middle class, poor people, middle class. He's got Jimmy Carter's humility and his caring about people and his honesty. He's got JFK's capability of being able to smile and laugh things off and just fluff everybody off. And he's got Harry Truman's determination and his way to just say the truth and speak it whether you like it or not. He's a cross between all four of them. He's got all their qualities combined in one, and I think he's probably the best president ever. I don't know what we're going to do without him. I really love that man. And I think Americans really love him because he's has all these qualities. He's done so much in such a short time. If he had had one more term, but look what he's accomplished, look what he's accomplished, we'll never have another one like him.

(00:46:57):

I can't talk anymore.

Andrea Chalupa (00:47:00):

What are your thoughts on what Biden's legacy is going to be?

Terrell Starr (00:47:03):

I think that Joe Biden's legacy is not going to be appreciated now as much as it will be 10 years from now, 15 years from now, 20 years from now. Because the thing about being an operator in the way that Joe Biden has, in addition to how poorly he messaged all of his accomplishments, when people look at their healthcare, when they look at their tax returns years down the line and think about the ways in which wealthy, he started the process of going after wealthy businesses that don't pay their fair share on taxes, people are going to appreciate that, not now because we're in all this political mess right now, but they'll see it later. So I think that's the best way to kind of cap off Biden. And we also have to thank him for being the person even at his age, even when he was not as bright as he used to be, right? As the person who decided to step, I'll always respect him for going through this as he was dealing with the definite son as he was dealing with the up and down travails of Beau, the person who died, right? And then the challenging ways in which his other son was going through alcoholism. That's Hunter Biden, right?

Andrea Chalupa (00:48:21):

The addiction struggle that Hunter Biden had while being witch hunted, well

Terrell Starr (00:48:25):

Being witch hunted, right? Operative word,

Andrea Chalupa (00:48:27):

Rupert's far right, and empire and Trump and the Russians as well.

Terrell Starr (00:48:30):

Absolutely correct. Right? And so the grace with which he handled that is something that every politician should model. He also made fighting for democracy, playing for the American citizenry, and he put us in a prime position and VP Harris in a prime position to take that to the next level. I don't think that any of the candidates who were running in 2020 would've done remotely as good a job, even though we both talked about that he was not our first choice in many cases, our second choice. But that's okay. He actually performed beyond many of our expectations, and I think that's something we need. So I didn't think that his performance will be as good as it was.

Andrea Chalupa (00:49:16):

Exactly right. And I've heard that from so many labor experts, the most pro-labor president since FDR, and he was close with Bernie and Kamala Harris most progressive voting record in Congress. He chose her as his running mate. And I just think back to that emotional moment on the stage in the 2020 primary where Kamala looked at him and said, you are against busing. I'm a product of busing. That moment and the way he looks at her with such empathy in his eyes, and it's just incredible. He was a man that we need more of in Washington in the sense that, yeah, he was the status quo. He was the stubborn status quo when it came to Israel and maintaining US policy on Israel, like turning a blind eye to the genocide of Palestinians for so long. That is obviously on his record. But he also came a long way on helping further civil rights in this country, including helping the first black man become president and now helping the first black woman become president.

Terrell Starr (00:50:22):

He absolutely did. And I think that we always need to think that in, even though Joe Biden is not considered a progressive, his policies have been the most progressive, like he said, amongst most progressive ever, because he doesn't come off as a progressive. We know again on Gaza, he certainly wasn't. But domestically, his record, you measure against any other president, and it's better. So with the election of Harris, we'll begin to see the fruits of his labor. So anything that she does that she presses forward is going to be in large part because he paved the way, it made it easier for her. And so even with Obama, who I think Joe Biden was a bit more effective in many ways than he was, Obama made it easier for Biden, and then Biden is going to make it easier for VP Harris. And I think that VP Harris, I really think that she has the intellectual capacity and the political acumen and the social capital to even double what Biden has done, simply because she has the energy to do it.

(00:51:31):

And so I'm really happy neither of us was calling for Biden to step down, but we explained why that was. But we all can agree that we're both are happy that he stepped down because she is the better candidate. And so I'm just thinking about all these, and I think that because she was picked to be his vp, I think that alone also, it speaks to his respect for who he knew his base was. That's the main thing. And I'll close out with that, because he knew his base, he picked her. And so strategically, he thought about this country not only by stepping down, but by selecting her so that she could eventually step up.

Andrea Chalupa (00:52:12):

He did not take the bait on that open primary bullshit. He said, it's Kamala. And everyone said, yes it is. It was the grassroots that rose up. It was the coalition standing by Joe Biden that rose up. And yes, a lot of people were being very vocal, calling for him to step down. Also calling for Kamala. I recognize you, I see you. But it was the heart and soul of his base. It was the black women. It was the black voters matter juggernaut that's going to win this election with all of us linked arms doing it together that made this happen. It was not top down, it was bottom up. And I want to share something very odd that happened to me on Friday, all last week because of the intensity these last couple of weeks, I was trying really hard to get a girl's night out.

(00:52:57):

I called five different girlfriends. You were in dc I was going to call you first obviously, but you were away. And so I finally got two friends to confirm a night out on Friday, last minute, they canceled on me. So I resorted to a date night with my wonderful husband, and we ended up going to some random restaurant. And at the table next to me, it's New York, so the tables are close together. This woman next to me in the table was telling her date all about off the record, on background, juicy terms. And so I'm listening, I'm like, Ooh, on the record, off background, off the record. What are you guys talking about? And it was very clear from the conversation. And again, this is New York City, and again, I'm a journalist and journalists do this. I was just kind of casually listening. And she was talking about this guy Reed organizing a call and how she kept telling Teddy, Teddy, it's Reed's call, not Kamala's call.

(00:53:52):

And in two seconds, I googled what she was talking about, and I found a New York Times story that had just come up by this guy named Theodore that was, I forget his last sch or whatever in the New York Times running a story about how the Silicon Valley investor named Reed, I forget his last name, some mega donor, organized a call of donors. And Kamala just made a quick appearance. And so I was able to confirm, I was able to find the story this person was talking about that obviously she had been a source for. And it was very clear from that, from the conversation she was explaining to her date that Biden was still in the race. Nothing had changed. Nothing had changed. So I really do believe that nothing was going to change until this weekend when Biden's at home with Covid. And I believe the reporting that Nancy Pelosi said to him, we can do this the hard way or we can do this the easy way.

(00:54:48):

And I think he finally thought, Kamala can do this. Kamala can do this. And he chose Kamala. And that's not to give Nancy Pelosi credit for this moment because Nancy Pelosi wasn't endorsing Kamala throughout this. Nancy Pelosi could have organized the caucus around Kamala earlier. She could have set up a plan, but she didn't. And instead, I want to remind everyone it was the administration. It was Team Biden and his coalition of people standing by him that made this possible, and they deserve credit for that. And unity is how we're going to win. Solidarity is how we're going to win. And on that note, here's a clip of Nazi Stephen Miller losing his shit over a black woman about to become president of the United States.

Stephen Miller (00:55:41):

They held a primary, they had ballots. They filled out circles, they went to the voting booth. They spent money on advertisements. And as President Trump said, the Republican Party spent tens of millions of dollars running against Joe Biden. Now they just woke up one morning and said, nevermind. We're canceling the entire primary. We're getting rid of our candidate, and we're pretending the election has never even happened, and we're going to let donors handpick a new nominee.

Andrea Chalupa (00:56:12):

America is ready for the first black woman president as some longtime Gaslit Nation listeners may remember, I endorsed Kamala Harris for president in January, 2019. Here's a Kamala Harris has even more experience right now than Obama had when he ran for office. So I think she's inspiring and tough, and I would love to see her as president of the United States. Kamala Harris will win The big blue wave we started together in 2018 is building. Bye bye. Merrick Garland. President Kamala Harris needs a Congress she can work with that won't hold up her cabinet appointments and judges every Thursday through election day. And on Election Eve in November, we're calling voters in Republican hostage states in the Midwest with Indivisible to ensure a Democratic senate. So sign up in the show notes for this episode to join us. And every Wednesday through October, we're phone banking with Sister District calling voters in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Georgia.

(00:57:16):

Sign up with the link in the show notes for this episode. See you there. Do everything you can now to elect science driven, empathetic people up and down the ballot. Make sure 10 of your friends and family all have a plan to vote by going to vote.gov. That's vote.gov to confirm today that you're all registered. Don't wait. Do it today in case you or someone you know isn't celebrate our sacred right to vote a right which Ukrainians are currently giving their lives for in their resistance against Putin's dictatorship. Who do you plan to take with you to cast your ballot for the first woman president? I'm taking my whole family to Trump and Putin proof our democracy. We must hack away at corruption at the root by building our power at the all important state level where crucial quality of life issues from voting rights to environmental protections to lgbtq plus rights and more are decided.

(00:58:17):

Carl Rove ran this same strategy for the GOP during the Obama years laying the groundwork for Trump to come to power in 2016 with the Kremlin's help. Now we're reversing this dangerous trend, securing key victories in swing states to protect our elections and advance progressive laws in states like Michigan. Another world is possible when we unite and build together. Here's how. Join me at State Fair, a giving circle that collects small donations among friends and family to build big power in key state races. If 1000 Gast Nation listeners set up a $5 reoccurring monthly donation, that's $5,000 we're sending to turn. So-called Red States Purple, and so-called Purple states blue. This is how we do the work. We chip away, chip away, be like water. My friend erode their fascism. Some of the races we've supported won by only a few votes. Your $5 monthly donation will make a huge difference.

(00:59:14):

Join me and my friends at State Fair today. Are there any young people in your life, gen or younger, give them the gift of the excellent book Run for something, a real talk guide to fixing the system yourself. It helps people of all ages run for office. So if you're thinking of running for office, be sure to read this inspiring and practical guide both the book and the organization. Run for Something. Encourage, recruit, and train young people to run for office and flex their power. Inspire a young person and anyone you love and trust to run for office today. Help the helpers. State Bridges is a Sister District Action Network program in which volunteers from across the country fundraise for organizations doing year round power building in key battleground states like Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. State Bridges supports organizations engaging communities underrepresented at the polls like mothers of color rule workers, and Latinx voters write letters to voters and swing districts would vote forward.

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Check out any of their easy letter writing campaigns and write letters. As you listen to Gaslit Nation. We'll be keeping you company. Most importantly, don't forget this is so important. You and 10 people you love all of you together, check your voter registration up vote.gov. I will repeat that once again because we need to carry each other across the finish line. This election day, November 5th, 2024, we are going to win. And if you want the details of everything I just read off, go to gaslit nation pod.com, gaslit nation pod.com, and you will find our 2024 survival guide right on the homepage. It's not just a survival guide, it's a we're thriving together in the face of fascism. We're pushing it back with the blue wave.