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- [00:01]
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- [00:36]
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- [01:04]
Danielle Moody
Hello friends and welcome to another episode of as the World Churns with me your co host Danielle Moody, along with my fabulous co pilot in the apocalypse, Andy Levy. So today, oddly enough we have good news to start out with which we never get to start out anything with, which is by now you have heard about the Merrill primary win in New York City by Zorin Mamdani, the 33 year old child of of immigrants who was born in Uganda, who is part of the Democratic Socialist Party. And I was super excited Andy to vote for him in our ranked choice voting system here where I like I'm certain many New Yorkers decided not to rank Andrew Cuomo at fucking all because oh I don't really want to be a part of a party that says well they have sexual predators, can't we have them too? And wanted to put how much was how much did they put Behind Andrew Cuomo? $25 million for this race but as it turns out the people had more power. But right now we have four months until the general election and my God the 911 Islamophobia is on fucking 200 at this point and I know that it's going to get a lot lot worse. What say you Andy?
- [02:44]
Andy Levy
It is. Look, it is and I know I shouldn't be at this point but it's still is unbelievable to me that just the overt and blatant racism that has been just sort of emboldened in in the Republican Party. You know, we always say on this show, there's no more quiet part. They just. They just say everything out loud. And for a lot of years, for decades at least, there were people on the right. There were a lot of code words that were used to cover up for racism, things like law and order, you know, which was.
- [03:20]
Danielle Moody
Yeah, that's a good one.
- [03:22]
Andy Levy
Well, that was code for, you know, scary black people. And there were tons of those. They don't really exist anymore because they just come right out and say that Zoram Mamdani, who is Muslim, should be deported, is a jihadi terrorist. We have people talking about how, you know, this is 911 all over again. Donald Trump Jr. I believe, retweeted something that read, I'm old enough to remember when New Yorkers endured 9 11. Instead of voting for it. Just an unbelievable amount of just pure, unadulterated Islamophobia, which is, you know, let's be honest, is. Is basically racism. Particularly since, I mean, as, as you noted, Mandani was born in Uganda, lived I think briefly in South Africa maybe, and then came to New York as like a 7 year old. And they are equating him with 9 11, which is stupid enough, obviously, but the fact is, like, the people who did 911 lived in Saudi Arabia, the good friends of the Trumps, that.
- [04:35]
Danielle Moody
And Mamdani was. What did we say? If you're doing the math, he was 10.
- [04:41]
Andy Levy
10.
- [04:41]
Brandon Mencia
Yeah.
- [04:42]
Andy Levy
Yeah, but he's not even from that region of the world. But obviously none of this has anything to do with logic or reason. It's just, again, it's just straight out overt racism that they all know they don't suffer any consequences for. And they don't have to wrap it up in code words and code terms. They can just come out and say it. He's a Muslim, therefore he's a jihadi. And therefore he hates Jews. And therefore, et cetera, et cetera, down the line. And absolutely wild. And like I said at the top, Danielle, I know, I know I shouldn't be surprised by this anymore because we've been seeing it for years. But, man, this week I was reading this stuff and every one was worse than the last. And my jaw just kept dropping. The 911 imagery and the shit like that. And I was like, as cynical as I am even, I was like, man, this is really something, you know?
- [05:44]
Danielle Moody
But here's the thing for me too, is that while sure, I expect this type of shit from Republicans, what was more disgusting to me, Andy, is the fact that Andrew Cuomo's campaign put money into running anti Muslim ads where they darkened his complexion and thickened his beard, where there was, you know, literature going out in and around New York saying that Mamdani is anti Semitic. Meanwhile, he is endorsed, was endorsed by his fellow mayoral candidate, who is Jewish Comptroller Brad Lander. And so for me, what I was heartened by, and I'll say this, is the fact that New York City did not fall for the fucking rope a dope. And I don't think that New York City is going to fall for the rope a dope. I think that when you look at the breakdown and we'll learn more over the, the, over the week as, as of the votes are counted. But when you look at the demographic breakdown of who went for Mom D, which was pretty much everybody. But when you look at the age breakdown, the education breakdown, the wealth breakdown, like he captivated across, right. Many different groups in many different areas, including I think one of the, the, the graphs that I would, that I was seeing was just like even the folks on fucking Wall street voted for him, right? Like that live in and around the financial district, which if you're not from New York, you know, is like where the, the wealthy and conservative moneyed people live. And so the fact is that I think that people, I at least want to believe because this had been going on throughout the primary when he was an unknown, right. And New Yorkers still said, yeah, nah, we're good. So I think that what people are seeing and what these folks are not recognizing Republicans and establishment Democrats is that everyone is hip to their tricks, their racist tricks and their Islamophobia and the trying to stop stir people away from voting for a person that represents policies that could change their lives and make them better and aren't going to fall for it. That is my hope. But we will see.
- [08:16]
Andy Levy
Yeah. And look, obviously I share that hope and I was, I was pleasant. I mean, we, you know, we were texting election night and we were all just really, really happy that Mamdani won and that he, you know, at the same time, really, really happy that Cuomo didn't win. I was surprised. I actually, I thought Cuomo was going to win. I thought all the stuff that you mentioned was going to work more than it did. And I think part of that stems from having elderly Jewish relatives who absolutely bit on, on all of it. And you know who it became impossible for me to convince that Mamdani is not in fact, anti Semitic. So, yeah, I am heartened by the fact that it ultimate. It still worked more than I would have liked it to. But again, I'm just, you know, even now I'm reading the stuff. Vicki Palladino, who's a councilwoman here in New York City, Staten Island, I believe she described Mandani as a, quote, known jihadi terrorist. Like, you're a New York City councilwoman and granted, you suck and you always have. And she's Carl Paladino's wife. And if you live in New York, you probably know who Carl Paladino is. Also just a corrupt, hacky politician back in the day. But I still, I'm with you. I think, I think we'll be okay in November, but I'm still a little worried about it.
- [09:47]
Danielle Moody
I mean, look, you know, I was cynical in terms of his ability, not his ability, but I guess, like, how far the Cuomo name was going to carry and because it is such a legacy name in this city and in this state. But color me pleasantly fucking surprised with, like, a bit of hope and joy this week that, like, I never get to have here. So. Yay.
- [10:18]
Brandon Mencia
Yay.
- [10:19]
Andy Levy
Back to the bad news. Danielle.
- [10:21]
Chris Melody Fields Figueiredo
Great.
- [10:22]
Andy Levy
And don't think I didn't notice that you got to lead off with the good news. And you're like, andy can handle the bad news.
- [10:29]
Danielle Moody
Let him. You're tough.
- [10:31]
Andy Levy
Yeah, I know. But, you know, let him piss off the listeners with the bad news. I'm going to sit here and celebrate. It's how you do. I understand. So on Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled 6 to 3 that states can block Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid money. The reason this is a big deal is not just because of abortion, but because Planned Parenthood, despite the way the right tries to paint it, provides a lot of health services to women that don't include abortion. Things like cancer screenings, things like contraception. And so they were able to get Medicaid money for those health services. You can't. Legally, you cannot get Medicaid money for abortion services, which is a whole other topic. But they were at least able to receive Medicaid money for these, for non abortion services. And the state of South Carolina didn't want them to receive any of this Medicaid money at all and tried to block them. And they got sued over it. And it worked its way up to the Supreme Court. And the Supreme Court has now said no. If states don't want Planned Parenthood getting any money from Medicaid for any reason, they can do it. And we are continuing to see the erosion of healthcare in this country, particularly Healthcare for the less well off who, you know, would be more likely to use a place like Planned Parenthood to get contraceptive service, to get cancer screenings, to get all these things that again, have absolutely nothing to do with abortion. But here, again, here is the Supreme Court, the conservative majority, just continuing to strip away the rights and abilities of folks who aren't rich. It seemingly is never going to stop.
- [12:29]
Danielle Moody
Danielle, you know, I thought to myself, self, is this Supreme Court worse than, let's say, the Supreme Court that decided on Dred Scott or the Supreme Court that decided on Plessy v. Ferguson or the, you know, like, I kept going through some of these, like, enormous decisions that have been made. And I honestly think that this Supreme Court will go down, if we have books and this country doesn't just fully implode as probably the worst in history. And that's saying a fucking lot, given the two pieces of law that I just named. I think that this Supreme Court will be known for killing, you know, potentially millions of people having blood on their hands. It is a disgusting display, I mean, of lawlessness, right. Like just removing the ability of Planned Parenthood to take care of women, right. Who are poor, who need aid. And there are already limited amounts of Planned Parenthoods in, in these, in red states. Right. As, as it is you are. We see, we've talked about it on this show, the number of hospitals that have closed down in rural areas, right. Obstetrics units that can no longer take care of patients. So this blow by the Supreme Court, honestly is, is nothing new. It's very on trend with what they've been doing. But my God, I do think that the Roberts court will go down as the worst court in American history. And maybe that's what he's going for. So bravo.
- [14:17]
Andy Levy
Yeah, I mean, look, I would say that at this point, I believe that this current Supreme Court and this conservative majority would have ruled exactly how the Supreme Court ruled in Dred Scott, which was that black people were not entitled to US Citizenship and also would have ruled the same way in Plessy v. Ferguson, which was the infamous ruling that separate but equal was okay and basically said that, you know, the Jim Crow laws were fine and dandy. I don't see 5 votes the other way on either of those cases in this current court. So I'm with you. I mean, it's definitely, it's going to be, it's going to be probably top three and may end up number one, as you said, in terms of the worst courts. And look back to the Planned Parenthood thing, this is going to result in Planned Parenthood offices closing. And that's what they want. That's what the people who brought these suits want. I'm not even saying that they're against cancer screenings for women. They just don't give a shit enough about those when their goal is to shut down Planned Parenthood because Planned Parenthood provides abortion services. So they don't care about any of the collateral damage that would come along with shutting down these clinics, these offices, because they are so warped that literally all they can think of is, we want to make it as hard as possible, if not impossible, for a woman to choose to have an abortion. So if that means that women get cancer because they couldn't afford an early screening or couldn't, there was no place near them doing an early screening. To them, that really is, it's collateral damage. And they just look at it as part of the, it's part of the fog of war. It's exactly what it is in war. It's when you do things that you don't mean to do, and innocent people get hurt who aren't the targets, and you're supposed to try to minimize that as much as possible. They don't care about minimizing it. They, they just don't care about it at all. And it's just to see this court time and time again side with them and say, no, that's okay with us. And, you know, it's amazing. They'll say things like, well, this, you know, we're overruling the lower courts because we don't believe this is a proper decision for the courts. They've, I, I, we, we see this all the time. Right, Danielle?
- [16:50]
Danielle Moody
Yep.
- [16:50]
Andy Levy
And yet, and yet, when they want to step in to let Donald Trump do whatever the fuck he wants.
- [16:56]
Danielle Moody
Whatever the fuck he wants. Yep.
- [16:58]
Andy Levy
They have no problem stepping in, then. So it's more of this. It's this phony, originalist bullshit where they find, you know, they pretend to find things that back up their views in, you know, by looking back at the framers of the Constitution, et cetera. But they pick and choose. And it's a scam. And it's such an obvious scam at this point that, that they are just picking and choosing, and it's the same thing they're doing here. And it's just, it's grotesque.
- [17:25]
Danielle Moody
And I'm just like, you know what? Since they don't give a fuck about the rule of law, I don't think anybody else should either. I think that the Rulings from the Supreme Court should be taken now with a grain of salt, which is what we are seeing happening in some lower courts pushing back against the Supreme Court and saying, no, my ruling still stands. And that. That is with one of the rulings that just happened this week with regard to deportations. And so the Supreme Court in many ways, are making themselves wholly illegitimate. Right. And that's what happens in fascist regimes. Right. Like, you just keep going along, going along. So it's just like, you know what? We actually don't give a fuck. How about that? And my other thing, too, is that none of these people should allow to feel comfortable in their lives. I don't want Justice John Roberts, I don't want Kavanaugh, any of these people being able to peacefully enjoy a meal. They. People should be protesting them every single fucking way that they go. Should be. They should be protested everywhere that they go, because the decisions that they're making are fucking disgusting. They are odious, and they are grotesque.
- [18:34]
Andy Levy
Yeah. And, you know, I guess the last thing I'll say is you noted that some of the lower courts are, like, taking note of this and saying no. It is kind of interesting that the lower courts have been fairly, fairly consistent in ruling against Trump and things like that. And we're not talking lower courts that are completely filled with liberal justices or justices that were appointed by Democratic presidents. We're talking about courts that have judges, rather, who were appointed sometimes by Obama or whatever, but often by Bush, sometimes even by Trump ruling against him. But it seems like as soon as it gets to the Supreme Court, they cannot wait to overturn these lower court decisions. And it's just showing that this isn't even really that much. Well, it's partially about ideology. It's not wholly about ideology because you have ideologically conservative judges on the court of appeals in the district courts who are consistently ruling against Trump, as I said. And yet, when it gets to the Thomases and the Roberts and the Kavanaughs and the Gorsuches and the Alitos, somehow they manage to find a way to help out Donald Trump, to help out conservatives in general. And so you're right, it's getting harder and harder every day to think of them as legitimate because they're not.
- [20:10]
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- [20:45]
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- [21:15]
Danielle Moody
Folks, I am very happy to welcome to as the World Churns. If you all have listened to me when I was doing Woke AF on a regular basis, then you are not new to Chris. Melody Fields Figueiredo, who is the executive director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy center, or bisque, had made multiple appearances on Woke AF to kind of talk to us about your organization. But I am happy to bring you to as the World Churns. So I just want to give you an opportunity to just tell people what Bisque is and what it is that you're focused on and do before we dig into the kind of environment we're in.
- [21:59]
Chris Melody Fields Figueiredo
Yeah, thank you so much for having me, Danyon. I love the name of the new podcast. As someone whose mother learned English by watching soap operas, we were Days of Our Lives households. But as the World Turns Us on sometimes I appreciate it and it made me cheerful. So just for folks who may not remember or need re grounding, the Ballot Initiative Strategy center is really an organization that helps amazing human beings in the States, at the national level really take their dreams about what they want to do for their communities and help them put that on the ballot. So that means we're helping people do research. Literally. This week our team is in Arkansas training folks in the mid south and part of the Midwest too. You know, we're helping, getting on the phone, talking to folks like, hey, I want to put a ballot initiative. I want to gather signatures. I need to build a coalition like where we are sort of your, your second teams here, right? Like you're, we're, we're going to help you get those issues on, on, on on the ballot. And we're also tracking everything. We're seeing what's happening in certain states, trying to understand that, trying to find these trends, to see what that might mean for the future and how we might respond in this moment. But always rooted and grounded and building long term people centered power. So that's a little bit about Bisk and what we do.
- [23:35]
Danielle Moody
I love it and I appreciate the work that you do. And I also think that when folks sometimes hear valid initiative, they think that it's solely negative. Right? They think about the ballot initiatives that are put up in order to restrict our rights or take away rights. But there are ballot initiatives that go out that we need passed. Right. That are about expanding healthcare in states that are about expanding rights for trans folks that, that are important. When you're going into various election seasons, I want to talk to you, I want to, I want to start off with just what we are seeing in, you know, with the courts. And just, you know, I joked earlier on this show, I think that the Roberts courts may be labeled as the worst court in history. And that goes. And I'm still thinking about. That's a lot. I mean, right.
- [24:30]
Chris Melody Fields Figueiredo
You know what I'm saying?
- [24:31]
Danielle Moody
Because I'm like. Because there are some really fucking bad ones. Like, you know, the court that did the Dred Scott decision, Plessy versus Ferguson, like there, there are some really bad decisions that have come out of the Supreme Court in the history of this country. But the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the allowing of Donald Trump to deport protected status people to foreign gulags to be tortured and die, the taking away Planned Parenthood's funding, the now, the initiatives that are floating up to try and roll back marriage equality, overturning of affirmative action, I mean, the list goes on and on and on. We know that democracy has always been run, run and won through the courts, through initiatives, right. That have been about trying to expand equity and justice. And so when you see every, every month, every few weeks, the courts in the headline chipping away at our civil liberties and rights, like, what are you making of where we are right now?
- [25:41]
Chris Melody Fields Figueiredo
So I see Octavia Butler in the back and you know, you know, she's an Afrofuturist, is always, you know, very grounded in the past, but also anticipating the future. And in her writing, what we try to do at Bisque is notice trends and see what's happening at the state level, especially through the state legislatures, see what is happening at court cases, right. And begin to anticipate and ready ourselves for what might happen so we can hit the ground running when something potentially really terrible happens. Right? The Example I will give is the 2022 decision in Dobbs, right, overturning Roe vs Wade. We were already seeing all these anti abortion bills introduced at the state level. We are already seeing bad court cases happening. And so we were already, like, when we started to see those trends, we started to work and anticipate with our partners in the reproductive rights and freedom movement to like, hey, this is going to come to the ballot at some point and we need to be ready. And so when Dobbs happened, I mean, if folks will remember, the Kansas abortion ban was weeks later. We had worked with that coalition, we had talked about message, we had messaging, we had done the organizing. So we were ready to meet that moment. And then that fall, we defeated every abortion ban and won every affirmative protection for abortion. Similarly, when we started to see all these anti lgbtq, all these anti trans bills move through the courts, move through the state legislatures, right? We reached out to our friends in the LGBTQ movement and said, this is going to come to the ballot. So let's start preparing now so that we are ready for the moment. And that's sort of like how we've been trying to sort of make sense of this, of like not waiting for a court decision to happen, but how are we readying and sort of tilling the soil and fertilizing the ground and building the muscle with our partners so then we can take action and the court may make a decision, but the people are in a very different place. And that is what we have seen with reproductive freedom. Right? We have won the majority of them. And the ones that we lost was because of authoritarian state governments. Right? You know, intervening and really putting major obstacles, Misinformation, disinformation. Right, to stop those bowel measures from being successful. But in some places, like Florida, the majority of the people still won, right? 57% in any other state would be a win, but because of the law in their state, they had to have a super majority. So that's sort of. It is so hard. And we feel it in our bones. Yeah, People especially as, as women of color, like, I'm an immigrant. The text I got the morning after the election from my mom is, do I have to start walking around who's a naturalized citizen now as am I? Do I have to start walking around with my passport to prove that I'm a U.S. citizen? So that fear is so real when you see all these things. But how do we address and feel the things that we need to feel? But also how are we rising to the occasion in the Moment in the moment. So when those things happen, we have a plan to show people there is a actually different way and answer and world that people want when our government and our courts fail us.
- [29:14]
Danielle Moody
I also, I'm a child of immigrants, my family, but my mother is a naturalized citizen as well. And you know, I think about right now, as you were speaking about these massed terrorists that have been giving carte blanche to invade our communities and harass and brutalize and kidnap members of our community. And I was thinking, as you were speaking, I said, you know, one of the things that I would like to see, and you tell me if this is something that you have seen, is I would like to see local jurisdictions, city councils, state houses, state senate pass legislation that says that you cannot come into our community masked and without mask, without your badge being readily available. Right. With ghost plates on your cars. Are these things that actually can work themselves up to initiatives that people can begin to lobby their members on. Because at the very least, we need to know whether or not the person that is beating up an esthetician at a nail shop or a worker at a factory is a proud boy or their actual law enforcement. And right now we don't know.
- [30:45]
Chris Melody Fields Figueiredo
We don't know. No, I mean, it's such a fair question. And you know, I think there are local jurisdictions, mayors, city council people. I mean, I think about what we have seen in places like LA and New Jersey where, you know, elected officials have, you know, gone to ICE detention centers or, you know, had. Have been out. You know, I think of Senator Padilla and in California who are also making their way through what we are all experiencing right now. And I think in some ways we're anticipating things to be bad, right? But to the level, I think a lot of people didn't know, right. And so I think those little actions, like, you know, what we have seen by elected officials give me hope of really asking these hard questions. Because this is where authoritarianism wins, right? When people are mass, you can't see them, right? They're disappearing people. It is harder to fight an enemy that is unknown.
- [31:46]
Danielle Moody
Right, right.
- [31:46]
Chris Melody Fields Figueiredo
And so I do really, you know, thinking of friends who are state legislators who are, who are actually thinking about running for office, right? That is that call to action that they have, you know, that they really want to call people out on. Like, this is not right, this is wrong. This is not the way things should be. And I think also let's recognize our history also. This has happened before, right? If you think about the civil rights movement, if you Think about the segregated south and the lynching and the mobs. Right? Like, this has been part of our history. And again, to go to Octavia Butler there, there.
- [32:26]
Danielle Moody
Yeah, I love it.
- [32:27]
Chris Melody Fields Figueiredo
We have to understand our past, to know our future and how to respond in the present. So that gives me hope. And I think community leaders, especially are thinking of creative ways of how to respond, whether it's through the initiative process, whether it's looking through their talking to their, you know, local election officials or.
- [32:48]
Andy Levy
Or.
- [32:48]
Chris Melody Fields Figueiredo
Or their city council members or their school boards or what, you know, people are trying to figure out how to respond in this moment. I think, you know, that's what is kind of exciting about what happened this week in New York City of the election of Zohan in, like, somebody who was truly a really grassroots campaign, really listening, really going into community.
- [33:11]
Andy Levy
Same.
- [33:11]
Chris Melody Fields Figueiredo
These are some of the things that I want to do, but also I want to hear from you, like, those are the things that are exciting and inspiring and how we get out of.
- [33:21]
Danielle Moody
What'S going on, you know, because I think that, you know, Zorn Mamdani winning the mayoral pride, the Democratic primary for mayor, with having $25 million that was thrown into Andrew Cuomo's pot, the most money that was ever spent on a mayoral race, and the billionaire class being pissed. Right. And you're seeing the. It. How they are in cahoots with corporate media who are saying, isn't this strange? Isn't this weird? Oh, look at this Socialist and what have you. To me, this is encouraging. It is encouraging to believe that the people still, collectively, yes, can have more power than the billionaires who believe that they can buy politicians, that they can buy elections. And so how do you utilize these? Only these glimmers that we are getting these days, these glimmers of hope to really fortify you and your organization and how you all are moving forward at a time when we are fighting to see glimmers.
- [34:32]
Chris Melody Fields Figueiredo
It is those glimmers that are absolutely essential right now. It is what happened Tuesday, which feels like already so far away.
- [34:42]
Danielle Moody
Correct.
- [34:43]
Chris Melody Fields Figueiredo
In New York City, it is all the folks in Los Angeles who were standing up to ICE and saying, not in my community. Right. Those are the glimmers we have to hold on to. You know, I just wrote a thought piece. You know, is also thinking about the action that Harvard and other universities took recently to give free tuition to students whose families make less than $200,000. That is generational impact right there. And that gives me glimmers and hope. I think about my Neighborhood craft shop who, in response to federal workers getting laid off, offered free headshots to folks like, these are the ways that people are already coming together and in action. People in institutions, with the Harvard and university example, that is. Was absolutely necessary. Those are the things that need to be tested and experimented all over the place. And then we. We learn from that, we galvanize from that, and we do it in other places because their intent is to barrage us with so much that we feel hopeless, that we think we can't come together and we can't fight back, literally. Ballot measures are showing us that people want a different answer, that they actually want answers to the challenges they're facing the communities. And so they've organized, they've gotten signatures, they've come together to raise the minimum wage, to protect public education, to protect marriage equality, to secure reproductive rights. They have done that. The people have done that. Right.
- [36:21]
Andy Levy
Yeah.
- [36:21]
Chris Melody Fields Figueiredo
And so it is those actions, big or small, that create a reverberating effect. Think about those no Kings rallies. Most of the cities that had them, they had higher turnout than expected. Right. I think about my parents in Palm Harbor, Florida, where. There it is, Trumplandia. Right. But they had a no Kings action in their. And in that town. And my mom was like, whoa, what are all these people? And for her, it was really important for her to see white people out there in the streets.
- [36:54]
Danielle Moody
Yeah, really important for her to see that.
- [36:57]
Chris Melody Fields Figueiredo
So we have. Yes, it feels. The weight of everything feels so heavy. But we have to hold on to those glimmers. We have to find those little. Those little glimmers. You know, we have to take those little leaps and those big leaps in order for us to move beyond this and stop what is happening. Because we do have a very small window to stop authoritarianism at the federal level in the United States. So I hold on. I have to hold on to those. We all have to hold on to them.
- [37:32]
Danielle Moody
Last question for you. I am both a optimist. I have to be, because otherwise I wouldn't do this job. Or. And. But also like a realistic.
- [37:41]
Chris Melody Fields Figueiredo
That's right.
- [37:42]
Danielle Moody
How confident are you, and I'm asking you to shake a magic ball and look into it, that we have midterm elections.
- [37:50]
Chris Melody Fields Figueiredo
I mean, that's a big question. I think there is a huge question whether we will have free or free elections. And I think that's important for us to have on our minds right now. And if we are concerned, which I have concerns, then we do the inter. We have to start taking intervention points now. We don't wait to see if that might happen. And we can't move from a place of fear, but we have to start shifting to that. Like what I said, like tilling the soil and fertilizing the ground. We have to start to create the conditions and get people aware of that, even that possibility. So if it happens, people rise up and firmly push back. So I think there is reason to be concerned with what we're seeing with the federal government, with what we're seeing in court cases. You know, you have to look all that in, in this crystal ball. Right. But you don't wait to see that anticipated future. Right. You start to create the conditions to counter that now. And I think that's really important for people to understand is every I've been thinking a lot about seven generations were and the decisions we make today are going to affect seven generations from now. And all those little choices we're making right now, not one, not two. Right. Many of them are going to create the conditions for the future. And I think that's my advice to anybody right now is don't wait for things to get worse. They're already pretty bad. Yep.
- [39:15]
Danielle Moody
Yeah.
- [39:15]
Chris Melody Fields Figueiredo
And start taking those big or small actions to start to shift things.
- [39:20]
Danielle Moody
Chris, please tell people how they can find out more about Bisque and get involved with your incredible organization.
- [39:29]
Chris Melody Fields Figueiredo
Well, we make it pretty easy on all the socials at Ballot Strategy and then our website which has so much information if you want to nerd out.
- [39:38]
Danielle Moody
Valet.org Chris, I thank you so, so very much for making the time for as the World Churns and we will continue to check in with you throughout the year to see what initiatives we need to be paying attention to. We need to get people woke to. I really, really appreciate you.
- [39:55]
Chris Melody Fields Figueiredo
Thank you for having me. A pleasure as always.
- [40:00]
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- [41:06]
Andy Levy
The days of taking labor's vote for granted are over. It's time for labor to think about a bigger vision that lifts up and includes all working class people. This statement was issued Tuesday night after Zoran Mamdani won the Democratic mayoral primary here in New York City by UAW Region 9A leader Brandon Mencia. He joins me now to talk about why this region's UAW endorsed Mamdani and what a Mamdani victory in November might mean. Brandon, thanks so much for being here.
- [41:32]
Brandon Mencia
Absolutely. Thank you for having me.
- [41:34]
Andy Levy
So before we get into Tuesday's huge win, tell us a little bit about the UAW and what Region 9Ameans. A lot of people think your union only represents auto workers, probably because UAW stands for United Auto Workers. But that's not true, is it?
- [41:49]
Brandon Mencia
Yeah. Like most unions in the country, the UAW represents a whole array of sectors and industries and types of workers. The UAW at this point is a million members strong. 400,000 actively working members, 600,000 retirees. About 150,000 of those members do work for the big three auto companies in the United States, for General Motors, East Atlantis. But we represent a lot more workers. And in Region 9 a while we do have auto workers in the region. In New York City, we represent workers in higher education, in the cultural institutions and museums, at movie theaters, legal services, nonprofits and some auto dealerships and other small manufacturing and even places like the Strand Bookstore, if you know the historic New York City.
- [42:34]
Andy Levy
Oh wow.
- [42:35]
Brandon Mencia
Yeah, sure, the staff at the Strand are UAW members. They were on strike last December. Actually. I won a great contract, so yeah, I remember that.
- [42:43]
Andy Levy
I didn't realize that was y' all that helped them do that.
- [42:47]
Brandon Mencia
Yeah, that's UAW Region 9 right there.
- [42:48]
Andy Levy
Yep. That's great. And what's your background? Because much like Mondami, you're a pretty young dude and I mean that as a jealousy tinged compliment.
- [42:59]
Brandon Mencia
Yeah. So I was born in Jamaica, Queens. My parents are from Guatemala. They were undocumented immigrants and they got a citizenship in the 1980s and I was born in Jamaica, Queens. I went to college in Massachusetts and I went to grad school at Harvard. And when I got to Harvard, there was a UAW organizing drive happening starting in around 2015. And I joined our organizing drive. We won our union in 2018, I became the local president. In 2020, I became an organizer with the UAW. And then, you know, a lot like Zoran, I ran on a challenge insurgent slate alongside Shawn Fain to take over the uaw, reform the UAW for the better. And since then, we've been working hard to win record contracts, strike where necessary, to organize workers into the UAW and revitalize the labor movement.
- [43:51]
Andy Levy
That's fantastic. So back In February, Region 9A endorsed sort of a slate of mayoral candidates here in New York City. Mamdani, Brad Lander, and Jessica Ramos. And I believe you put Mamdani first for ranked choice voting. And I should also note that you rescinded your endorsement of Ramos earlier this month after she threw in her lot with Cuomo. But the point is, a whole bunch of labor unions endorsed Andrew Cuomo in this race, and only a handful backed Monda Mercury. What made y' all decide to do this? What did you see in Mamdaami and what did you not see in Cuomo?
- [44:23]
Brandon Mencia
Right. So our union does things a little differently than a lot of the labor movement in our region. We have political councils that are very local, union led, and led by the membership. Which means that back in October, even before the November general election, where Donald Trump, you know, retook the White House, we knew that the New York City mayoral election was going to be the real first test, whoever won that election, as to what the future of the Democratic Party would be, you know, how the city would relate to whoever was in office. And we knew that there was going to be a great opportunity there. And Zoran came to us really early on when he was thinking about running for mayor and told us what he thought his path to victory was. He was serious about running a winning campaign, not just having a protest campaign or, you know, a fun alternative campaign. He really wanted to win. He had a serious plan to win, focused on the cost of living. We also had a great relationship with the comptroller's office, with Brad Lander, and ever since he was in City Council. So both Zoron and Brad were UAW champions. And at the time, Jessica Rahm was also. We had a strong relationship with her in the state Senate. So in October, we had a lot of strategy meetings with our members in New York City. We then did in late November, forums with many candidates, including folks who we didn't ultimately endorse right away, like Zone or Mayuri and then in December, we announced our unranked slate at the time, and we ultimately endorsed Zoron number one. We ranked him number one. We're the only major union in the city to have ultimately ranked Zoran number one. We're the largest union to have done so in the city. DC 37. Ultimately, which represents the most city workers in New York, ranked him number two. We did the SOIT in May, but. But when we first had our slate, we were very clear that this was a strategy to defeat at the time, Eric Adams. So when DREAM came about, the DREAM movement, D R E A M Don't rank Eric Adams for mayor, we started that. We started that movement because we knew that we needed a mayoral candidate that took down Eric Adams. And then the rumor started about Andrew Cuomo jumping in the race. So it became don't rank Eric or Andrew for mayor. But that was our strategy. It was based on knowing that we were done with the politics of the past and the corrupt mayor of the present, and that Andrew Cuomo was simply going to run on a second term of Eric Adams, even though he was trying to rebrand himself as the non corrupt version of Eric Adams, even though that's hilarious given his own record. So we knew that's what we were up against with Andrew Cuomo specifically. This wasn't just because our members, you know, wanted some other politician or more progressive or anything like that. The reason why we rejected Andrew Cuomo is because we specifically, as uaw, have had a relationship with Andrew Cuomo that has not been very good since he was governor in 2019, up in Western New York and Central New York. So upstate, not in the city, that area has GM plants, General Motors auto plants. And those workers went out on strike in 2019. GM was struck by the UAW all over the country. Andrew Cuomo never showed up to the picket line. He did not receive calls from the UAW when we asked for his support. And more importantly, he did not sign a bill that would have given unemployment insurance benefits to striking workers. We wanted to reduce that to one week. And he refused to sign that, which meant that our UAW members in Otto, up in upstate New York would not have had the support of their own state, even though it's a pro labor state when they were on strike. So when he rejected that legislation or refused to come to even show up to our picket line for a photo op, that was the end of the relationship between UAW and Andrew Cuomo. So it was rooted in our experience. It was rooted in what kind of City. We wanted to build the kind of politics we want to build. And frankly, we were done with politicians that, you know, said one thing to you, championed themselves at AFL CIO meetings, and then the first chance they got, stabbed you in the back. So the reason we have someone like Donald Trump in office right now, someone who's anti union, like Donald Trump, is because of Democrats like Andrew Cuomo. And we wanted to do things differently.
- [48:29]
Andy Levy
So why do you think so many unions did back Cuomo?
- [48:32]
Brandon Mencia
You know, I think you're going to have to ask them. I think I am delighted to see that some labor leaders and unions that did not endorse Zoran have begun to, you know, speak out in support of Zorin after the fact, after a Tuesday. And that's great. And we think Zorin is the kind of candidate that, and will be the kind of mayor that wants to work with labor. Zorin did outreach to all the unions. He met with the Central Labor Councils and interviewed a lot of unions. You know, many unions, after we endorsed ended up ranking him, if not outright endorsing him, especially at the local union level. But it was disappointing at the time to see so many unions decide to either sit out or wait for Andrew Cuomo to jump into the race. But, yeah, the reasons why I think it's, you know, like I said, we want to do things a little differently. We want to be able to put forward an offensive pro worker, pro labor agenda. We want to lead. We want to set the terms of the debate, not wait for the Democrats to set those terms and we fit into it. And unfortunately, I think over the last few decades, especially as union density has gone down, instead of unions taking the lead in organizing, they've oftentimes tried to defend what they have. And I understand where that comes from. The employers have the law behind them. They have the money. They have the backing of the White House. They have the backing of their state legislatures to just go after labor and diminish our power. But the thing is, when you are so defensive, you actually end up losing because you can't hold down the fort for that long. Right. So the UAW over the last five to 10 years, and especially since I took office, we've organized the most units of any other union in New York City. So we have not been sitting back. We've been actively organizing. And when you organize workers who have not had a union into the union for the first time, you find that workers are. You're hearing their struggles. Right? It's not just union politics like any other day. You're dealing with workers who are facing issues at their workplace that they've never had a way to fight back before. And so they're telling you what their cost of living crisis is. They're telling you what it's like to live without certain rights that union workers have taken for granted after so many years with a contract. And so that makes you approach politics a little differently because you're making outreach to politicians to support you on the picket line, to support you when you're on strike, to support you when you have ambitious contract demands. And that means you're pulling politicians in a place in which they actually prove that they're pro union and pro worker instead of just fitting into whatever their legislative priorities are when they're governing. So we took that energy through our endorsement process and we said we believe that if Zoran Mandani gets in front of people, if the campaign takes off, and we are a part of that campaign, and talk to our neighbors, talk to our coworkers, talk to strangers, he will take off because his message is rooted in the economic realities that working people are facing. And we're all struggling to pay the rent right now. You know, we would all like to see universal childcare in this city. And he was the only candidate that was bringing up those, those issues in a viable way.
- [51:42]
Andy Levy
So we keep seeing stories now about how, you know, businesses are going to flee New York City if Mondami wins in November. First of all, do you believe this will happen?
- [51:52]
Brandon Mencia
No, businesses are not gonna flee New York City. And let's be real, like he's talking about, you know, 1%, 2% tax increase on the wealthiest New Yorkers. It's ridiculous to think that this kind of like, you know, radical socialist agenda that's going to take over industries and whatnot. So it's, it's an agenda, I think that would be popular in any city in any state in this country. And the fact that, you know, billionaires, you know, port so much money, you know, doordash Michael Bloomberg Ackman into Cuomo Superbac shows you that they feel threatened by this. And then when you, you know, when you peel all the propaganda off, they're threatened by something that's really simple, which is an honestly beneficial to everyone, which is, you know, working people, middle class people in this city should have, you know, effective free and fast transportation to get to work, to get around the city. They need universal childcare so that they can build a career, have a life, be able to take care of their kids, stay in the city instead of leaving with their tax dollars to other parts of the state or to Jersey or to Connecticut, where they could think they can get ahead more than in New York. And you just go on and on and on. Right. Freezing the rent. I mean, are we supposed to take another 300, 500, $1,000 increase to our rent and just take it? Like, come on, like, this is ridiculous. So I think the platform makes a lot of sense, clearly, to the vast majority of democratic voters, and I think it's going to make the most sense to New Yorkers, period, in the general.
- [53:18]
Andy Levy
Have you ever seen so many people terrified by the idea of free bus rides?
- [53:23]
Brandon Mencia
You know, I briefly lived in Boston when mayor wu was starting her pilot on buses. And I'm telling you right now, riots weren't started on the streets over three buses.
- [53:34]
Andy Levy
So you all survived. It wasn't like. It wasn't a 28 days later situation.
- [53:40]
Brandon Mencia
We were fine. It's a good movie, 28 days later, but that's how it's going to happen. Yeah, yeah.
- [53:47]
Andy Levy
You mentioned Bill ackman. On Wednesday, the New York post reported that he will endorse our current corrupt mayor, Eric Adams, who is running as an independent. What do you make of all this?
- [53:59]
Brandon Mencia
It's expected. I do not expect the billionaire class and a lot of the political establishment to rush behind zoron. One thing that I find more interesting than whatever billionaires are deciding to do right now is how many people are getting the wrong message behind what allowed zoron to actually win this primary. They're making a lot about his, you know, his personality, his charisma, which is undeniable. He is an incredible generational talent. But that is not the reason alone that he was able to win. You know, I know him firsthand because he's my assembly member in Astoria. And like I said, since I've been in office, we've worked very closely with him in Albany to try to get some of our priorities passed. And I knew he had a shot. Right, the man we talked about this because of. I know how principled and how, you know, how effective he is as a leader. But the reality is, he did two things. He had a platform that was rooted in the economic realities that, you know, working class people face in the city. And second, he inspired a mass volunteer base. You know, he reintroduced mass politics into the city after a long time, and that cannot be denied. To have 50,000 volunteers knocking on doors, making phone calls, sending texts, talking to their neighbors, you know, going to their families, going to church, going. Going everywhere to Try to make sure that, you know, your best friends, your family, your neighbors, strangers, voted. That is something that you cannot buy, you cannot replace with something else. And definitely you cannot have just simply by putting out cool videos. His comms team was incredible, right? But it was, what was the message behind that and what was the vision behind those, those videos? That's what was more important. You know, you can have a high production budget and Steven Spielberg and director videos, but if that doesn't mean anything, you know, you're not going to move people to vote. So, you know, and I saw that with our members the minute our SWAG dropped our UAW for Zoron shirts, you know, we had a rush of people of our own members coming to the office to pick those up. There wasn't a subway stop I couldn't go in the city that I didn't see my own members wearing the shirt. There wasn't a canvas shift that there weren't UAW for Zoran shirts that and I think that energy was contagious and it engaged people. And it's because people were able to see what democracy looked like in action, which is not just, you know, let me vote for this guy who may or may not do something for us. It was actually, you know, we can participate in something and change our city for the better.
- [56:24]
Andy Levy
All of that seems so terrifying to a lot of the Democratic establishment, doesn't it?
- [56:29]
Brandon Mencia
Of course. Because they rather us, you know, wait around until they come up with their priorities and then, you know, maybe they give us a couple crumbs, but, you know, crumbs right now when people are going hungry, can't pay the rent, can't afford to live in the city they want to live in. That's just not a. Yeah, no, for sure.
- [56:44]
Andy Levy
What do you see as Mammami's biggest obstacles over the next four and a half months? Obviously, we know Eric Adams is running on an independent line. Cuomo hasn't said for sure whether he's going to do that. And look, we saw all throughout this mayoral campaign, we saw this absolutely horrific sort of negative advertising, trying to paint Mamdani as anti Semitic, trying to paint him as a communist. How do you think he battles against this over the next four and a half months?
- [57:14]
Brandon Mencia
By doing what he's doing. I think people are wrong if they just assumed that this was a phenomenon of a Democratic primary. He absolutely mobilized the Democratic base, but he also engaged new voters, first time voters. For example, my brother is not someone who often votes in primaries and he voted, he made sure to go vote. That kind of voter is someone that he was able to energize. And I think that's going to happen at the general. I think he's not going to stop just because the primary is over. He's not going to assume he has a cakewalk into the mayor's office. This campaign is going to continue. We're already talking about what the next stages are going to look like, because we know that the billionaires, the political establishment, is going to throw everything they can to at least damage him if they can't stop him, try to damage him before he takes office. So I'm confident he can win. Obviously, throwing your lot behind Eric Adams, someone also with scandals, you know, over the last three years, is not, you know, again, this is the party put itself in this position when you decide to say that Eric Adams is going to be the national symbol of the Democratic Party going forward in 2021, and then this is what happens. And you set yourself up. If you're going to go behind Andrew Cuomo with all of his baggage and all his history and try to make him the guy, you know, you've also set yourself up for failure. So, you know, that doesn't mean that Zoron was this kind of like, you know, like people settled for him and people were excited by him. They. They saw him as an alternative. So I think that's going to continue.
- [58:42]
Andy Levy
Yeah, for sure. But also, it's nice to vote for someone who, you know, doesn't belong in prison.
- [58:48]
Brandon Mencia
Sure, I know that firsthand. I mean, our last two union, you know, two of our former UAW presidents were put in prison on corruption charges. Right. So I think that's what, you know, we relate to this campaign on that level, too. We know what it's like to try to reform an institution that has completely lost its principles and its direction. And, you know, that's why we're proud to have reigns. Zoron, number one.
- [59:11]
Andy Levy
Yeah, absolutely. Brandon, thank you so much. And if it's not obvious, I am hardly impartial here. I rank Zorin number one, and I'm thrilled he won. And I hope this is the last we ever hear of Andrew Cuomo. And so thank you and your members for helping to fight this fight, because I think it's really, really important, not just for New York City, but, as you said, for this country and for the Democratic Party nationally going forward. So thank you so much, Brandon.
- [59:41]
Brandon Mencia
Absolutely. Thanks for your time.
- [59:45]
Danielle Moody
So, Andy, another banner week in America. We had a little bit of good news, but still Just a fire hose of bad. Who is your fuck that guy to close out this week?
- [59:57]
Andy Levy
My fuck that guy is going to be someone who I feel like was in the news a lot and was kind of like had become like a national figure for a while, and then he sort of faded away. Representative Dan Crenshaw, you may remember him as the guy with the eye patch. And Saturday Night Live made fun of him and people got upset and then they had to invite him on, but he had kind of been quiet, like I said, and now he's very upset because the Senate parliamentarian has ruled that several provisions of the big, beautiful bullshit bill do not meet the Senate rules because they're trying to do a thing called fast tracking the bill. And in order to do that, the bill has to meet a bunch of provisions. And the Senate parliamentarian has basically said, no, you can't fast track this bill if you're going to leave these provisions in. Some of these provisions involve how the state can tax Medicaid providers, and there's a whole bunch of others. But there's one in particular. There's a provision in the bill that would have banned Medicaid funding from being used to cover any gender affirming care for people of any age. Crenshaw was the one that wanted this desperately in the bill, and the parliamentarian said, you can't have it in the bill if you want to fast track it. So again, the parliamentarian, it's got nothing to do with whether the guy likes these provisions or lot or not. He's basically just there to rule on whether a bill can proceed in a certain way based on what's in it, how much money it's going to cost, stuff like that. So all he's saying is, you can't have that provision in the bill if you want to fast track it. So instead of saying, all right, well, I guess we need to put that in another bill or we need to not fast track this bill. Dan Crenshaw is doing what Republicans these days are doing. He is calling for Senate Majority Leader John Thune to fire the Senate parliamentarian. Like, the absolute, the childishness, like when they don't get their way. And everyone kind of saw this coming. People were like, there's a bunch of provisions in this bill that are never going to pass the parliamentarian for the bill to be fast tracked. And so sure enough, she rules this way. And they act like, again, because they're always the victims, so they act like the aggrieved party and that they're being treated Very unfairly, as Trump likes to say. And so they sit here, and much as earlier we talked about how they want Mamdani deported or, you know, whatever, they just cannot deal with the fact that the world doesn't always line up with what they want. And so here we have Dan Crenshaw calling for the parliamentarian to be fired. Obviously, she should not be fired, but who the hell knows in this day and age? But for that reason, he gets my fuck that guy seal of disapproval for this week.
- [62:58]
Danielle Moody
I wish that they would just grow a pair. Do you know what I'm saying? For, like. And when I say a pair, I mean like a pair of ovaries. Like, something that's tough. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, actually get your shit together and stop fucking complaining like, whiny, whiny little fucking boys. And just, like, manage your shit. And also to his constituents, stop sending people to Congress that actually don't know how the fuck Congress works. Yeah, fuck that guy.
- [63:26]
Andy Levy
All right, Danielle, close out our week. Who you got?
- [63:29]
Danielle Moody
So Representative Al Green brought orders of impeachment against Donald Trump for the illegal bombing of Iran, and 130 Democrats did what Democrats love to do, which is vote against their own people and show absolutely no allegiance and complete and total hypocrisy when it comes to foreign affairs. What I realize is that there is very little daylight between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Like, you know, you couldn't get a resolution probably on, you know, stopping genocide and, oh, we're all wondering now what happened to the 400,000 Palestinians that Netanyahu wiped off the planet. Or, you know, deciding that maybe bombing Iran isn't the best idea without going through, you know, Congress, who gets to declare war. But, you know, there are actually just as many war hawks on the fucking left, and I use that in quotation marks, as there are on the right with 130 Democrats saying no to impeachment. And then you have Alexandria, Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez also offering articles of impeachment on, you know, the barrage of criminality outside of the illegal bombing of Iran, but all of the domestic criminality that Donald Trump is doing, and that didn't go through either. So when Democrats are looking around and they think to themselves, why is our polling at 29%, which is 9 percentage points less than Donald Trump? This is the fucking reason, you goddamn spineless, weak sloth like deer in headlight, ridiculous. Just complicit. This is why people don't want to vote for you, right? This is why millions of people sat home in 2024 because you are mealy mouth, middle of the road. Just. There aren't enough words for me to use to seal this point. So I'll end it with this. Fuck all y' all. Fuck you guys.
- [65:51]
Andy Levy
What they want here is they don't want to do their job because it's Congress's job, as according to the War Powers Resolution, to authorize declaring war on another nation. The idea is that Donald Trump violated this, as every president since going back, at least to Reagan, I think probably before that, maybe even going back to Truman has done this. But the point is, like, it's supposed to be their job. They in Congress, it's supposed to be their job to authorize this stuff. And they are sitting here saying, oh, we don't want to, we don't want that responsibility. It's just, it's so gross. And you're right. I mean, we saw a lot of this from the Democrats and they were, you know, some of them, the AOCs and Al Greens aside, who were very clear. Some of them are like, well, he really, he should have asked us first and basically, you know, said that they would have given him the go ahead. So it's not. They don't have a problem with what he did. They only have a problem with the fact that he didn't ask him yet. And clearly they don't even have a big problem with that because if they did, they'd impeach him for it or at least try to advance some sort of articles of impeachment. And instead they do what they're best at, which is absolutely fucking nothing. So, yeah, fuck all these guys. And I just, you know, primary. Everyone, everyone, everyone.
- [67:20]
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- [67:57]
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