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- [00:03]
Cameron Caskey
I'm Cameron Caskey, and this is Fypod Bulwark's Gen Z est show. Today we're joined by my former roommate and one of my best friends, Snax the Hip Hopper. Snacks. Thanks so much for coming.
- [00:13]
Snax the Hip Hopper
How y' all doing, man? Snacks. Nice to meet y' all, man. Nice to finally be here on the podcast, man. I love it.
- [00:18]
Tim
I couldn't have been more excited to meet Snax the Hip Hopper. Can we talk about your, you know, kind of where you came up with that name? I assume that isn't your God given name. I assume that's not on your birth certificate, but who knows? You never know.
- [00:29]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Hey, you never know, man.
- [00:30]
Unknown
Right?
- [00:30]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Hey, look, I used to do landscape back in the day. I used to eat a lot of snacks while I did landscape. I also, you know, make music, you know, hip hop, obviously. So the two kind of combined. So everyone just called me Snacks. They couldn't pronounce my, you know, my given name because, you know, I'm Kenyan, man, so.
- [00:44]
Tim
All right, well, let's try it out. Let's hear it.
- [00:45]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Oh, Sully. Yeah.
- [00:47]
Tim
Okay, that's doable.
- [00:48]
Cameron Caskey
Let it be known that I did not know Snacks legal name until he was already living at my house. I was. I was having sort of like a Schrodinger's legal name situation where I. I was so much happier only knowing this person as Snax the Hip Hopper. And it's a beautiful name that he has, but I sort of wish I still only knew him as Snacks.
- [01:10]
Tim
You automatically want to like somebody named Snacks Snacks. Like, you're just drawn to them. It's a very, you know, it's very welcoming and appealing name. What year, like, how old were you, would you say? When you change. When you, you know, kind of started going by Snacks, I mean, it's really.
- [01:22]
Snax the Hip Hopper
When I started dropping music. So that was probably like five. Yeah, five, six years ago. 20. 20. Yep.
- [01:27]
Tim
Okay, so you and J.D. vance have something in common. Something to think about. J.D. vance also changed his name and his. And, you know, in his late teens, early 20s. So I don't know if you knew that.
- [01:36]
Snax the Hip Hopper
It's not jd.
- [01:37]
Tim
He's changed his name three times, actually, which. Which I always find is kind of a red flag. I don't find it as a red flag for you. So much snacks. I don't know why. Because your energy is so much better than J.D. vance. He was born James Donald Bowman, so it was gonna be Donald and Donald, and then. And then he changed it to James David Hamill. And then he changed it to JD Vance. He's changed his name three times, which is a pretty big red flag for me.
- [02:03]
Snax the Hip Hopper
I don't.
- [02:03]
Tim
I don't know. Maybe not for you, though. Snacks. I don't know. What do you think?
- [02:06]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Hey, look, look. I'll be snacks. That hip hop are doing through, man. There's no changing up.
- [02:10]
Tim
There's no snack, no third name. You're either going back to your Kenyan name or sticking with snacks, or else we're going to have concerns, one or the other. All right, so where you at? Where are you living now? What are you up to? Give us a quick, quick story.
- [02:21]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Yeah, man. So now I live in Los Angeles. That's obviously how I met Cam. And, you know, our wonderful producer here. I play football, and then I also sell insurance, man. So I do a lot of things out here, man.
- [02:30]
Tim
Okay, Jake from State Farm.
- [02:33]
Cameron Caskey
Are you not familiar with the dropping music on SoundCloud to selling Californians insurance, including during the wildfires pipeline? Is that not something you've seen before, Tim?
- [02:44]
Tim
That's new to me, but I like expanding my horizons.
- [02:47]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Well, I mean, I think it's also a thing. I don't know if it's just like our generation, too, but it's like, man, look, I'm 25, right? I got as much time as I was born until now, until I'm 50, right? So. And I'm competing with men who are 30, 35, 40, 45. You know what I'm saying?
- [03:04]
Tim
You're competing with us millennials out here who work, you know, who learned about a hard day's work, who can communicate, you know, who aren't riddled with anxiety. So that's tough.
- [03:13]
Unknown
There it is.
- [03:14]
Snax the Hip Hopper
There it is. So I just figured I'd do many things at the same time and see what sticks, right?
- [03:18]
Cameron Caskey
So do your coworkers project that kind of like, Gen Z sucks in the workforce shit onto you? Do you have to kind of fight for your life out there?
- [03:25]
Snax the Hip Hopper
It's definitely a 50, right? Because there's definitely a lot of people who are, like, super traditional, and they're like, man, you gotta pick something to stay with that the whole time. But then it's also like, I think we're at a pivotal point because, look, they didn't have social media. They didn't get to see what other people got to do. And then, you know, a lot of things that they thought were, you know, the truth. And, like, they thought was, like, you know, this is. This is what makes us us, especially here in America. Like, they're starting to find out, like, maybe that's not what it is. You know what I'm saying? Maybe I can't, especially for men. Maybe I can be emotionally in tune and things like that, right? So it's like you can hear that from that side of people who are like, nah, you gotta do something. But then there's also like a good mix of other, you know, millennials and, you know, other generations who are like, you know what? I wish I could have done that, or I wish I would have done that, or I should have, woulda, coulda. So it's like, I don't want to be that old head who ends up being like, man, shit. Like, I wish I coulda should have done this. You know, I'm saying back in the day, nah, man, I don't want to live with regret, man.
- [04:17]
Tim
So we love men with feelings and no regrets on this podcast. Those are two things we love. So that's good. What's the story? Like in la, you said you're kind of living near downtown. I hear that. I hear that things are pretty wild. I mean, like, there's zombies in the streets, people getting eaten. Have you been able to make it out the house? Military shaking you down? Like, what's. What's the view from the ground?
- [04:35]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Well, if anybody has been to LA in the last two, three years, just know that there's always zombies here. But they're usually peaceful, you know, I'm saying they might be doing the FET bat system riots and everything. It's funny, look, that first, I want to say that first Saturday, that Friday, that Saturday where everyone saw like, the burning car and the guy standing on top of it and people getting shot, that was really, I swear it was just that time. It was maybe like a two hour, you know, span. Obviously that night the Apple Store got looted or whatever. But those are not people who are actually for that. Cause, you know, like, to be honest, the rest of the protests have been really peaceful. I know they did the whole curfew thing. You see, like, military soldiers, like, outside, you know, at certain spots. And they cut. They, you know, made it so you can't take the major highway in this, you know, loop of downtown. But to be honest, like, it's really been peaceful after that. Like, it's not people. People think, you know, oh, this place is Gaza. No, not even close, man.
- [05:26]
Tim
Like, why is the military still there? I guess is my qu. It feels like that gets lost in the conversation. We move on to the next news cycle and it's Like, I was. I mean, it was absurd to send to the military even in that very first Saturday that you're talking about. But, like, the fact that they're still there isn't, like, is insane. It's, it's. It's fascistic.
- [05:45]
Snax the Hip Hopper
There you go. There you go. Even outside of ucla, you see a whole bunch of, like, soldiers or whatever, like that post up in front of, like, the, you know, the building down there. I think it's a federal building. You know, all the federal courthouses down here. It's to send a message, right? Like, everything they're doing a protest sends a message, right? Stayed on a car sends a message. But also military sends a message. You know, America's biggest export, being in a major media city, I think definitely sends, you know, a message to a lot of people.
- [06:11]
Tim
So do you go out to any of the protests?
- [06:13]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Me personally, I did not.
- [06:14]
Tim
Let me ask you about that. I got in a little trouble on the grown up pod the other day because I went to the protest in New Orleans and I was like, you know, guys, it was uplifting. I appreciate everybody going. I'm not salting anybody's game, but, like, it was a lot of old whites with NPR tote bags there. Like, that was the crowd. We appreciate that crowd. But I was like, I don't know, man. Maybe we should also reflect on, like, what it is that we're not doing to attract other demographics. Younger folks, working class folks, black and brown folks. What do you, like, what do you make of that? Like, what do you think is the. I had Van Lathan on. I don't know if you know that guy from higher learning, and he was awesome. We did a whole video on this topic, and folks can go watch if they're interested. But I'm curious what your take is on it.
- [06:57]
Snax the Hip Hopper
I can only speak from a demographic I know for certain things, right? In terms of, like, why there might not have been as many brown people. Like, like you said, why you see more like, you know, white people at these things. I know for Latinos that I spoke to, especially here, so a lot of them are scared because, again, you know, you know why this is happening, right? Like, their families are getting affected and. And people that they see every day are getting affected, right? So obviously people who are born here or whatever have no issue. I saw them going out and support. But this girl I went to school with, I went to college here with her uncle, got called into his job on the day off. Yesterday, on a day off, because they said, we're Short staffed, right? As soon as he pulled up, ICE was waiting for him. So it's like, I think a lot of people are kind of hesitant. They're like, man, this might be a setup. You know, I'm saying, we know. We don't know what we're getting into now. As for the other people who did protest, you know, I'm saying they used. Just like we talked about five years ago with the Black Lives Matter protest. Allies use their privilege, you know what I'm saying, to protest something. But I think in these protests, like, maybe sometimes the message has gotten lost and, like, maybe a solution. If they had a better solution when the protest started, you know, I'm saying. Or if they had somebody to really be like, yo, like, this is like, our figurehead is gonna push for some change. Like, I think maybe it would have gone farther, and maybe we'll have more people of that demographic in there. I know for black people, like, to be honest, we're kind of tired of being like, the demographic where it's like, all right, hey, hey, it's time. It's your time. Like, we're the military.
- [08:25]
Tim
All right, so snacks. Maybe you can. I'm like, I got so much trouble. You won't believe this. The fact that you just said that word. You're kind of tired of doing it. I love. That's cool with me that you're saying that. But when I was making this complaint on Monday on the grown up pod, all of these old white folks. Old white ladies. We love old white ladies. A lot of old white lady listeners, we appreciate you, but they're in the comments being like, black people are tired, and so we got to do it. And I was like, wait a minute. That made me feel very uncomfortable. You know, I was like, what do you. What the hell do you know? You know, Victoria. And then I asked Van about that, and he said the same thing. And now you said the same thing. And now I'm kind of like, maybe the old white ladies were onto something.
- [09:07]
Cameron Caskey
I feel like black people have been expected to do so much work in all these movements. And I feel like, especially when people have been standing up against police violence and for Black Lives Matter and everything, all eyes have been on black people. So I think the word tired can make perfect sense. My other perspective on this, and this might be a little simplistic, is like, if I was throwing a protest like no kings, you know, right after watching Trump send the fucking military, after watching, you know, cops shoot reporters with rubber bullets live on screen, I would have Been like, I don't want to tell black people I know to show up somewhere where there's going to be angry cops.
- [09:52]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Exactly, exactly. And I mean, if you. Again, I talked about five years ago, take a look. To kind of, you know, incorporate that Malcolm X quote that he said, like, unless they give us real economic gain, they're gonna, you know, gonna give us all types of, you know, moral and emotional victories.
- [10:07]
Unknown
Right.
- [10:07]
Snax the Hip Hopper
So five years ago, they painted Black Lives Matter at the Capitol, you know, in, you know, D.C. and everything like that. And everyone was out there, the NBA, the NFL, they put it all on, you know, their jerseys and the patches, and everybody was black lives this, black lives that. And as soon as we got to be back outside and Covid was over, you know, that shit's over. You know, it's kind of like. It was kinda like the flavor.
- [10:26]
Tim
I'm sorry, I gotta correct you. It still says end racism on the field on some of the stations. Okay, so that's. That is still happening. All right.
- [10:35]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Hey, you know what? And I like it. But I also saw that. I think they voted to remove some of that. So it's just like. Like, yeah, like it just ended. And that's the thing. I think we're tired of having to be the people to take all, you know, all the flack, you know what I'm saying? Have to really be out there because we are resilient people, right? Like, everything that's happened, we are resilient people. I think we're tired of being used for that, just to turn around and have nothing really changed again. We ended up five years later, electing Trump again.
- [11:01]
Cameron Caskey
Well, that's something I kind of wanted to talk about because I was looking at some polls about Trump's Gen Z approval rating and stuff like that. And I know there's been a lot of conversation about how Gen Z, black and brown men have been a bit more conservative on Trump stuff and everything like that. I saw a poll from something called Insider Advantage, which I don't. I don't know how reputable that is from May.
- [11:25]
Tim
That's a little maga. But even still, you can get a directional.
- [11:28]
Cameron Caskey
If that's the case, it makes a little bit more sense that it had Trump's Gen Z approval rating at 51%. But then something from the end of April, Steve Kornacki, the beloved nerd from NBC, showed us that with Gen Z, Trump had a 72% disapproval rating on tariffs. 71% of Gen Z says our country is headed in the wrong direction. There's obviously a notable gender divide when it comes to approval by generation. In Gen Z, men had them at 45%, women had them at 24%. And while men 18 to 29 voted in favor of Trump, black men overall voted 77% for Harris. So there's definitely a lot more.
- [12:07]
Tim
77. Still a big drop, though, I guess, would be the point. You know, like, I mean, I think Biden was getting like 90, Obama was getting like 92.
- [12:15]
Cameron Caskey
You know, snacks. When you were talking to people, just whether that's from home or in LA or everything, black people, obviously. What was the take on that? Like, do you think you're seeing more Trump support than you were back when it was Biden?
- [12:30]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Oh, definitely, definitely. People were definitely more out loud about it. I think, like, you know, 2016, 2020, we used to always say, like, oh, there's a lot of hidden Trump fans, you know what I'm saying? They're going to come out and vote for him on poll. They're not going to let you know they voted for him, but they will now. This time. It was definitely out loud and proud. You know, he knew what he was doing. He got a whole bunch of influencers, he got a whole bunch of rappers. He got a whole bunch of people that we look up to, right? To be at his campaigns and be at his rallies, right? And it was a lot of black people. I mean, again, I sell insurance. I talked to a lot of people, right? So different demographic of people, right? Black, brown. A lot of people were voting for Trump, right? And they're like, oh, I think he's going to do great for the economy. But I still can't believe people thought, you know, he was going to give us stimmies and all this type of money and everything. But those are the points they were making, right? They were there, they were drinking the Kool Aid and going along for his sales pitch.
- [13:17]
Tim
Correct. I got to ask him to follow up on the rappers at the rallies. I mean, the one I remember that I'm thinking of is Chef G and Sleepy Hallow. This isn't like the A list here. I don't know, are we that we're gonna be moved by Chef G? You know, it's not like he had Kendrick and Travis Scott out there or whatever.
- [13:33]
Snax the Hip Hopper
There you go. But see, he could, you know, he can't make a dent on those people. But a guy like Chef G, like streamings, like streamers, like that, that's a big influence on young minds, especially, like, our generation. A lot of people already checked out of the beef between, you know, Kendrick and Drake at that time. Now they just want to focus on streaming and other things too, you know, so he knew what he was doing, you know, but again, I. I think people got a taste of, like, real life and, you know, salesmen, you know, salesmen will sell you a dream. You know, he sold everybody a dream dinos for Trump. And look at what he's doing right now. You know what I mean?
- [14:07]
Tim
Like, what was the weakness of the Kamala sales pitch, would you say? I mean, again, she got 77%. Like, so you got to, like, you got to, you know, caveat all this, but, like, that's a big drop of 10%, you know, like, that fucking matters on close election.
- [14:20]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Exactly. Honestly, Kamala did something similar to what Kanye does sometimes. It's crazy. I'm comparing Kamala Harris and Kanye West.
- [14:27]
Tim
Right? But okay, did she do a Nazi song that I missed? I follow the news pretty closely.
- [14:33]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Did you.
- [14:34]
Cameron Caskey
Did you put out a song about doing incest with her cousin when she.
- [14:38]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Was like, seven years old, you know what I'm saying? And had her. Had her husband dressed naked in a. In a suit on the Runway.
- [14:45]
Tim
Don't you talk about Doug like that. All right?
- [14:48]
Cameron Caskey
I would love to watch Doug in a Bianca sensory suit on the Runway. But you were making a point about Harris.
- [14:54]
Snax the Hip Hopper
When you tell you black people and try to act like you have them in the pocket when you have them, oh, I got you. You know, I'm saying, kind of like Biden did. Oh, you're not black if you don't vote for me. But we already went for that. I'm a black vice president. You know, she. She. Her campaign stopped. She went around and had Beyonce in Texas, right? Or Meg thee stallion Beyonce. She done pulled out, like, all the. All the black people cards. You know, I'm saying I'm an AKA this and that, 2024. At that point, we're tired of being used in that demographic where it's like, okay, they're for sure gonna vote for her. Because, I mean, look, it's a no brainer, you know what I'm saying? I think the Democratic party in the last four years kind of fell into that. Like, yeah, why wouldn't you? You know, I'm saying we're the default. And black people really wanted to hear, like, what are you gonna do for me? You know what I'm saying? What are you going to do for our demographic? Like, we've been voting for the Democrats for years, and I feel them. Nothing's really changed, you know, in the perspective in the lens of black Americans.
- [15:46]
Unknown
Right.
- [15:47]
Snax the Hip Hopper
So I think some people just figured like, you know what, fuck it, let me just try the red way one time. You know, he's kind of talking sweet over there now. Would I, you know, gone for that? No, you have to make an educated guess and use discernment.
- [16:00]
Unknown
Right.
- [16:00]
Snax the Hip Hopper
You got to see what he was going to do. Like obviously this whole, you know, the, the whole Israel situation is happening and everything like that, but what is the guy trying to do, man? He's trying to shift his focus onto something else. He's trying to shift, you know, push the needle and do something else. That, that was not what he talked about when he was running, if that makes sense.
- [16:18]
Unknown
Right.
- [16:18]
Snax the Hip Hopper
So like we drank the Kool Aid again.
- [16:20]
Tim
Yeah. Essentially there's this article got this morning I want both of your guys take on, which was, which is titled the Myth of the Gen Z Red Wave. This woman looks good. Kind of goes through the deep data of the analysis in the election because a lot of times, you know, polls can have a lot of, you know, margin of error and particularly Gen Z polls have margin of error because like the older Gen Z's kind of vote like millennials and like the younger Gen Zs are different. Right. And so it's like if you have a mix of 18-29s that's more older or younger, it might mess with the poll. So she just like looked at the straight voting data and what you kind of see is that Gen Zs did vote for Trump more in 2024 than 2020, but they didn't really get more conservative over that time that it was like vibes, like they just voted for him. Like Gen Z is still more, if you look at the issue questions that they ask in the same things, like they're still more liberal, particularly on economic and really across the board foreign policy issues, social. Like they're, they're more liberal. I'm up some quotes here, but what, like, what do you make of that? Like it was more about kind of more about vibes than policies on why Gen Z kind of moved towards Trump.
- [17:29]
Snax the Hip Hopper
To be honest, that, that actually feels like a. That would make sense. That would actually make sense. You know, people talk about the time men lie, women lie. Numbers can also. People say numbers don't lie, but no numbers can be skewed.
- [17:40]
Unknown
Right.
- [17:40]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Like you just said, you can have a certain amount of people in a group and make it seem like, oh yeah, they voted for this and that. I definitely think it was Awful bias. Because again, the last presidency, we were promised so many things, right? Eliminate student debt. You know, that was a big one. What happened to that? You know, people really felt lied to about that.
- [17:58]
Tim
It worked for people, worked for the older people. This was why the Biden folks were so stupid. I had this wake up call at a gay bar in New Orleans where I was flirting with a young man who was maybe more in your demographic snacks. Just friendly flirting. Everybody get off my back. And we're at the gay bar and he recognized me or whatever, starts talking about politics and he's like, why don't I get my student loan amnesty, right? Everybody else did. And it was because the nature of how the program was set up, you had to have a certain number of years in the workforce. There was this whole of young people that. So they like, acted like student loan forgiveness was a policy for young people. But it mostly helped like 35 year olds who went to graduate school. Which is not like the key demo.
- [18:44]
Cameron Caskey
For you on my end. I've kind of said from the beginning that it was a vibes thing. I said that there were a couple things, one of which is more broad, which is In November of 2024, if you asked your average person, you know, the type of person who isn't as Twitter pilled as we are, what Trump was gonna do, they could explain it in like three to five bullet points. And if you ask someone what Kamala Harris was gonna do, they were gonna talk about what she wasn't gonna do and they were gonna talk about how bad she wouldn't be. But I, I even had to kind of word salad to explain what Harris's agenda to make the country better was. So I think it was a messaging thing on that. But when it comes to Gen Z, like, it's definitely vibes. I have friends who are liberal minded people who were speaking kind of positively about Trump just because of the entertainment factor, and people who I don't think voted for Trump, some people who I probably don't think voted at all. But they were sharing the memes of how funny Trump is, which is something that even, you know, the most staunchly liberal voter activist friends of mine do. You know, Trump has his funny clips. We all know it. It's. It's not something we have to pretend doesn't exist.
- [19:51]
Tim
I'm sorry. Trump never makes me laugh. Cameron.
- [19:53]
Cameron Caskey
Yeah, I'm sorry. Every time I send him a funny Trump clip, he sends me three of the angry face emoji.
- [20:00]
Tim
Disappointed in you, young man.
- [20:03]
Cameron Caskey
But you know, I Think that there is so much culture to it with young people, so much so that I feel like a vote for Trump for a lot of them was a vote for the gladiator arena of if this country's going down, it might as well go down in a way that's fun to watch. I think that the cruelty of Trump was something that people were really interested in because, you know, if the nerd like Joe Biden isn't going to be president, who necessarily immediately makes things better. That's not to say Biden didn't have so many great policy wins, but in a way that seems easy to, easy to understand, make things better. Maybe the bully will do it. You know, if the nerd can't do the job, maybe we need the bully who will be an asshole. But he'll tell you how much of an asshole he'll be. Which is even more ironic because Trump told us he was going to be the biggest asshole in the world and then managed to somehow even be a bigger asshole.
- [21:01]
Tim
So I had the old guy version of this conversation yesterday with Mark Cuban on the pod and I asked him about this and he was like, man, I tried to tell the Harris folks and he went and went rogue and did the Ovan show even though Harris and Tim Walls weren't going to. He just did it himself, like two out as a surrogate or whatever. And he's like, I went on that show and he's like, those guys like Trump because he's a gangster and gets pussy. He's like, it had nothing to do with any, you know, he's like, there was no like substantive policy. Like a couple of them were maha and like did light did have like some like anti pharmaceutical drug companies. But it's not like fucking RFK is actually going to do anything on that. Like there was some like health policy stuff. Like, besides that it was nothing. The only other policy was the war stuff. And how's that turning out? You know? And besides, it was like health care, anti war stuff. And like pussy was like, well, that's essentially the Cuban analysis for what.
- [21:57]
Cameron Caskey
That's a great segue into what I want. Another thing I wanted to talk about snacks. This really pertains to you because if there's a military draft, I'm probably safe since I'm on enough antipsychotics to kill an elephant. And I think that as somebody with PTSD related to gunfire, anybody in the military who met me would be like, yeah, it would be more dangerous to put him around soldiers than it would be to you know, leave him at home. You know, maybe they'll stick me behind a computer. But you have a gorgeous football player body and can probably run 12 miles in five minutes. So you might actually end up getting drafted.
- [22:30]
Tim
What's your 400 time snacks?
- [22:32]
Snax the Hip Hopper
The last time I run a 400, like competitively was in high school. I was shitty. 51. That's nice. That's not that good. Them Olympic dudes are going like sub 45. Like it's. Yeah, it's crazy. 40. Yeah.
- [22:46]
Tim
4, 4, 5, 4, 5, 4, 4 40. You're running a 4, 5 40.
- [22:50]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Yeah.
- [22:51]
Cameron Caskey
He's a wide receiver.
- [22:52]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Yeah. Best I've ever been clocked at. But hey, man, there's a lot can we do.
- [22:56]
Tim
Can we, can we get a wide shot? I want to see. I want to. I don't believe you. I want to see it. Well, you got to send me a video. I don't believe.
- [23:04]
Snax the Hip Hopper
I got to run it again. I got to run it again.
- [23:06]
Tim
All right, we'll see it. We'll figure that out. That'll be a bonus content.
- [23:09]
Cameron Caskey
I'm wondering what's going to happen with this Gen Z approval rating as we get more polling with Trump escalating with Iran. Trump said that he's going to give them, you know, he's going to wait two weeks to make a decision. A bunch of compilations came out of all the different times Trump has given a two week timeline. It seems like that's just his go to when he doesn't know what he's going to do is just like, yeah, everybody, two weeks. Don't worry, we're going to have the plan in two weeks. But I really think that the war is the biggest issue that Gen Z is going to split from Trump on so far. I think Tim made a great point on maybe MSNBC the other day where he was like, in MAGA world at least, no matter how bad the civil war is going to be, Trump is going to emerge the winner. But with Gen Z, I think it's a little bit of a different story. And I think that the thought of us going into war, especially since a lot of the MAGA Gen Zers who I've spoken to have said that like they liked that Trump was going to end the war and you know, they've kind of tried to talk their way out of how he has not done anything to make the Ukraine situation better. He's only made it worse. But I want to play a clip real quick of me on News Nation, America's favorite news channel, yesterday talking to a MAGA gen zer about the war with Iran. Let's have a look.
- [24:26]
Unknown
I don't think it's just getting in line behind one person and doing exactly as he says. I think this is a mandate that he really received in November to do what he believes is best. And clearly a large majority of the country entrusted him to do that, and I believe he'll continue to do so.
- [24:42]
Tim
Before I get to Cameron, I just want to say I'm blown away by this man, and this is an alpha male. I don't know if I've ever seen an alpha male like this in my life, and I'm feeling blind to it.
- [24:53]
Cameron Caskey
Tight haircut, strong brow, manly jaw, wearing a suit. Look at me, I'm wearing an aloe zip up.
- [25:01]
Tim
Kind of an unusually high voice, but in a way that's intimidating. I'm surprised you were able to stand up to him, Cameron. I'm interested to see if you fold in this moment next to somebody this alpha.
- [25:11]
Unknown
I don't know how much support he loses politically. Cameron, say if he does decide to strike against Iran with young people that he did, as I said a moment ago, a little bit better, but especially young men who he did a little bit better with. Whether that's an issue broadly, might be for you, Cameron, but I'm not sure if it's an issue for, for everybody in your, in your cohort. What would you say?
- [25:30]
Cameron Caskey
Well, people, young people, you know, around my age, we grew up with endless disaster wars in the Middle east. And I feel as though there's a degree to which we've been conditioned to believe that we have to be stuck in endless disaster wars in the Middle east as though there's no path to peace through diplomacy or negotiation. And with Netanyahu doing everything he can to provoke more violence everywhere he possibly can, we're going to continue seeing it. And again, we just don't know what a better option is because it's been war, war, war, war from the time.
- [26:03]
Unknown
You'Re a little kid.
- [26:04]
Tim
Right?
- [26:04]
Unknown
Well, let's make that the last point, Jackson, because that's true for you too, right? Since you're a little kid. Afghanistan. That's all. That's all you've known, right?
- [26:11]
Yeah, exactly. But I would argue that it's because of Democrats, right? We had another term of Trump before and, and there was not these big problems.
- [26:20]
Cameron Caskey
Democratic President George W. Bush, I mean, heard that stuff about WMD's.
- [26:24]
Unknown
Okay, that is a little bit of a rough one, Jackson.
- [26:27]
Well, I mean, I think that Democrats.
- [26:29]
Cameron Caskey
Jackson, Kind of laughing things that they.
- [26:31]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Don'T.
- [26:33]
Unknown
Put out the fires. I think that largely that look at.
- [26:36]
Cameron Caskey
The hose, by the way.
- [26:38]
Unknown
Yeah, the whole. Yeah, I have to say that.
- [26:40]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Yeah.
- [26:41]
Unknown
The George W. Bush thing's a tough one, though. But I get your, your larger points, both of you. Thank you for coming on Cameron. Thank you for coming on Jackson now.
- [26:48]
Tim
Wow, congrats, Cameron. I can see how you.
- [26:50]
Cameron Caskey
I don't, I don't see this as a victory. I see this as his loss. Like, I just said some stuff and then he did that to himself. I didn't, I didn't corner him.
- [26:59]
Tim
He.
- [27:00]
Cameron Caskey
He begged for that. But the craziest thing was like, if you do this news nation shit, the, the moderator, the host is always so, like, almost radically centrist and almost radically.
- [27:13]
Tim
He just totally broke character.
- [27:15]
Cameron Caskey
He was befuddled, I guess. I guess they couldn't book more savvy MAGA debater because I am not good at debating. So if I win, it's not because I won, it's because you lost. But, you know, I just, I'm wondering what's going to happen with Gen Z support once this war escalates. Snacks. What do you think about that?
- [27:36]
Snax the Hip Hopper
I think you made a great point. We are born in like, you know, late 90s, early 2000s or whatever like that. So, yeah, we all have this known, you know, Iraq and Afghanistan and this and that.
- [27:45]
Unknown
Right.
- [27:45]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Again, I think it's also important for people to understand, you know, our military is our. That's why we spend all the money on it, is our biggest export. You know, I'm saying, like I said, it generates those things, so might be a reason why, you know, we're still in wars. The draft is something that's definitely pressing people. I know a lot of people who went to, you know, the military just to, you know, do their one tour, their five years, get the GI Bill and come right out.
- [28:06]
Unknown
Right.
- [28:07]
Snax the Hip Hopper
They didn't expect to actually go into active combat. And now they're looking like, yo, like, we actually might go into active combat. You know what I'm saying? I actually have to deliver on the things that I was trained for. People having to get drafted and people having to have an actual military presence, I think that's way more scary to soldiers now, you know, especially, like, the way that we fight these wars and like, the intelligence that everyone knows and how quickly, like, we can find people now. Like, I think that's what scares people. Like the death threat, you know, of having to fight a war has only escalated for, like, actual you know, troops.
- [28:38]
Tim
Are you guys seeing any evidence that. And because there are some polls showing the Gen Z. Trump's numbers of Gen Z are going down. I'm always just a little skeptical of these polls. Cross tabs we were talking about earlier with numbers. But it seems that this is a logical reason why it would be in addition to the fact that costs aren't going down and so their economic conditions aren't getting any better. Those seem like the two likely reasons. But do you see any actual evidence of it in the real world?
- [29:06]
Snax the Hip Hopper
I have friends who lived in Florida and they've left the state of Florida because they're like, man, like, yeah, I voted for Trump, you know, in the fall and everything like that. And now they're seeing the reality of like, what they voted for and they're like, man, I gotta get up out of here. And I only mentioned Florida because, you know, obviously that will forever be a red state, which is okay.
- [29:22]
Unknown
Right?
- [29:23]
Snax the Hip Hopper
But in times like this, you know, you get, you get to see, you get to see what your actions. Cause that makes sense.
- [29:29]
Unknown
Right?
- [29:29]
Snax the Hip Hopper
So you still got Florida, man, in your ear every day at the bar talking about, I love Trump. And it's like, really? Like you said, man, our economy is not doing great. Costs of everything have gone up. And hey, this is before July 1st. So, you know, the terrorists are coming. They're coming, right? We're on the precipice of another war.
- [29:46]
Unknown
Right.
- [29:47]
Snax the Hip Hopper
If you look at our media, we look like we're divided between all different types of demographics. So it's like it didn't really solve any issues yet that anybody, you know, claimed would be solved or alleviated by now.
- [29:58]
Unknown
Right.
- [29:58]
Snax the Hip Hopper
It's only escalated.
- [30:00]
Tim
So I guess I do have to correct you on that once again. Snacks. We've changed the name of a couple of. A couple of bodies of water and a couple of boats. So we've had a, we've had some very successful boat naming, some homophobic boat naming.
- [30:12]
Cameron Caskey
I. The other thing, I mean, snacks, you're an insurance guy. Like, insurance rates in Florida have been skyrocketing and I think a lot of real estate developers are getting a little trepidatious about getting involved with a state where the hurricanes are coming more often and being worse. So that's always interesting to see. I'm a little confused by migration into and out of states. You know, I sort of get, messaging wise why people were going to Florida in 2020 and shit. We were talking a couple weeks ago on the podcast, we were hyping up jolly jb. JB Pritzker, about how we think he would be pretty cool. But Tim made the point that people are leaving Illinois really, really quick. And for me, I was like, yeah, because it's a fucking freezing, ice cold, like, terrifyingly cold Siberia state. But there's probably also some economic reasons to that, too. How do you think people, you know, in Michigan are feeling about this? Because Michigan was a really important state in this election and didn't go very well.
- [31:18]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Yeah. I mean, obviously, you guys. You guys know this very in depth because it's always covered every four years.
- [31:23]
Unknown
Right.
- [31:23]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Michigan's a pivotal swing state, and for the last, what, four or five elections, they voted correctly on the next President of the United States. Correct. That being said, that being said, I want people to realize, like, especially in, like, you know, my home state, which I'm proud to be. I'm a proud Michigander.
- [31:37]
Unknown
Right.
- [31:37]
Snax the Hip Hopper
You can tell. I just, you know, put up the thumb.
- [31:39]
Unknown
Right.
- [31:40]
Snax the Hip Hopper
But the places that are more liberal, Right. Or more progressive, Detroit, you know, Lansing, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor. You know, big cities. The big cities of Michigan.
- [31:49]
Unknown
Correct.
- [31:50]
Snax the Hip Hopper
The rest of the state that you drive through.
- [31:52]
Unknown
Right.
- [31:52]
Snax the Hip Hopper
It's all. It's all red now. There's less people who live there, but it's all red. As is most of the United States. Correct. If you're outside of the cities, it's usually predominantly more red.
- [32:00]
Unknown
Right.
- [32:00]
Snax the Hip Hopper
You get inside more cities, it might change.
- [32:03]
Unknown
Right.
- [32:03]
Snax the Hip Hopper
I can talk to anybody. I got friends who live in the country.
- [32:06]
Unknown
Right.
- [32:07]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Who voted for Trump.
- [32:09]
Unknown
Right.
- [32:09]
Snax the Hip Hopper
And sometimes still believe or drink that Kool Aid and think that, oh, yeah, man. Like, nah, just give it time. Everything's gonna pan out. He's gonna turn it around, you know, whoopty whoop. But to be honest, most of my friends who do live in the state of Michigan, like, they either have regret or they're like, I told you this wasn't gonna happen.
- [32:22]
Unknown
Right.
- [32:23]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Michigan also right now has a great governor in Big Rich.
- [32:26]
Unknown
Right.
- [32:26]
Tim
I don't know. She did hug Donald. I didn't like that. No touching. I'm sorry, I can' I'm all for moderate. You know, I'm the resident moderate squish here. But touching Trump is a step too far. I don't want to physically have his juices on my hands.
- [32:43]
Snax the Hip Hopper
But you know what? I think she felt some type of way because it was a very real thing in a place. She said his juices in 2020.
- [32:48]
Unknown
Right.
- [32:50]
Snax the Hip Hopper
A place that's literally 5, 10, 15 miles away from the capital where she works. A place called St. John's Michigan, was a group of people who actually made an active, you know, plan to kidnap her. Like they really thought they could kidnap the governor of Michigan, right? Also, it didn't help that at the time that President Trump was like, you know, talking shit about the governor from the state of Michigan. So I think she, you know, at this point, kind of saw it as a, hey, man, like, you know, let me align myself with something. But people actually do like Big Gretch, right? She's done great things for the state. She's brought some jobs back. She's made Detroit. She's kind of built Detroit back up. There's a whole Flint water crisis. But she addressed that. Our last governor, Rick Snyder from Flint, was a pivotal part in deteriorating that water system because he knew about it, didn't do nothing. So while many people in Michigan may have voted, you know, for Donald and may think that, you know, that's in time, everything's gonna work, you know, and we gotta just go back to the way America was and make it, you know, I mean, I think people are seeing that, man. We've. We're the state that's been promised. Oh, yeah, these automotive jobs are coming back, right? We have the big three car automakers right there, right? Gm, Ford, Chrysler. That shit ain't coming back anytime soon, right? Like, that's. That's over. It's a fallacy, man. We've been promised so many things in the past, and I think now people are really kind of awakening in that state in my state and realizing, like.
- [34:04]
Tim
Man, we never closed the loop on that Flint water crisis. Is that done? Can we drink water in Flint now? I feel like there's a lot of talking about that. I never. Nobody ever wrapped a bow on that story for me.
- [34:14]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Okay? So the city of Flint itself, the city of Flint, they had to switch to its own water system off of the Detroit water system. I am not 100% sure. The last I checked, I knew as of a year ago, you still couldn't, you know, that water wasn't 100% safe to drink inside the actual city. Now, all the suburbs around, it was safe enough, right? But the actual city of Flint, that contains, you know, a lot of people who might not be the most economically advantaged.
- [34:39]
Tim
Detroit has gotten better, though. We did a live Bulwark show in Detroit last year. And I think I love Detroit. It's too bad it's cold as balls there. It might be one of my favorite cities besides, you know, New Orleans, New York, Louisiana.
- [34:51]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Hey, honestly, honestly, New Orleans is my favorite city to visit because your guys's food and the culture, like, by, by far. I'm like, man, that is crazy. But Detroit is making this comeback, man. It's been a pinnacle, you know, United States city. It had the automotive and everything like that. I think it's, you know, sports teams are turning around and everything. And that adds to the culture, right?
- [35:10]
Tim
That's a breaking news. August 2024. Water testing shows a significant drop in lead in drinking water. So we making progress. Ten years on, the lead number's going.
- [35:21]
Cameron Caskey
My favorite thing about lead is when there's a significant drop in lead. That's my favorite kind of drop in lead other than complete drop in lead. With the time we have left, I really want to introduce a new segment we've never had before on the show. I'm really excited about it. We have our Boomer mailbag. Tim, what's the email for that again? We need to keep getting them in Bulwark.
- [35:44]
Tim
We should probably get an easier email to remember, but bulwarkpodcasthebullerk.com we use that email box because I used to do a mailbag on the main pod, but unfortunately, the news is so fucking crazy, I don't really have time to do mail anymore. So we've just transferred it over to the FY Pod Bulwark podcast of the Bulwark dot com. If you're a boomer, email us your questions. Life advice, you know, questions about the mores of the youth.
- [36:09]
Cameron Caskey
We've gotten feedback, by the way, that life advice from me and another zoomer. I forget which one ended up working out great for one of our boomers. One of our boomers asked us what to do at the concert, if it would be cringe if she danced. And we said, go, go throw ass, girl. And she said she had a great time. But today we're gonna do something special. Zoomer mailbag. I got a direct message from a young woman named Sage. Says she's a fan of the show and.
- [36:34]
Tim
Hey, Sage.
- [36:36]
Cameron Caskey
Hey, Sage. I hope you're watching this. We're gonna ask your question now. This is probably going to get toxic. And for that, Sage, I'm sorry, I don't want this to get too toxic because we only have so much time left on the show today.
- [36:50]
Tim
I always got time for toxicity Cameron, so we can expand.
- [36:53]
Cameron Caskey
What are you, the fucking water and fl? So Sage asks, what are some things you recommend Gen Zers do to have their voices heard slash help fight trump grassroots activism, run for their own leadership roles. Or work with the DNC establishment. Snacks. What do you think?
- [37:14]
Tim
Great.
- [37:16]
Snax the Hip Hopper
To stand up to Trump? Well, I don't, man. Well, first of all, first of all, I know, you know, the next election is going to be 2028, and technically you can't run, but who knows? You know what I'm saying? Who knows? But I think the first thing Gen Z people need to do to stand up to Trump, like, let's have actual candid conversations about what's going on and see what actually benefited you, what actually, you know, works, how things actually move and don't just listen to, you know, headlines. And I know we're the social media generation, but like, I think social media does a great thing of putting the awareness in our mind, but it's not necessarily all facts, right? Things get skewed. So I think people need to, you know, do their own research and look at facts, you know, after they see the social media headlines. Unfortunately, when none of us are at the age like, I can't vote for Caskey for President in 2028, I'm doing till, you know, 2040 something, so.
- [38:10]
Tim
So, you know, we can't have nice things. You know, if it's going to be one of these school shooting survivors running for president, it's going to be hog, not Caskey. You know that, right?
- [38:18]
Cameron Caskey
For now, you never know.
- [38:21]
Snax the Hip Hopper
There you go.
- [38:22]
Cameron Caskey
So if I called it, I'm actually going to be chair of the dnc. I'm going to be the next Ken Martin.
- [38:28]
Tim
Ken is struggling. I'm sorry. We're going to get back to the question of what was her name? Sage. Sage. We're gonna get back to your question. Did you see the video of the DNC's fake news program?
- [38:38]
Cameron Caskey
No, but I know the DNC is doing like a show every day or something that nobody watches.
- [38:43]
Tim
We will, just for the viewers, we'll put it in a post and I'll text it to you, Cameron. But I'll just describe it. Right now they're doing like a. It would be like if you combine the North Korea program like that you see of the, of the North Korean woman talking about how great Kim Jong Un is. But then you give it the aesthetic of like a local news program, but not a real local news program, but like a local news program on the Lifetime network. Like if there was a Lifetime movie and they wanted to show a fake local news clip, it would be like that. And so it's just like Mr. Ken Martin is crushing it. Latest news at 9 from the DNC. And it has like 400 views. It's really not great. I don't think it's kind of the, the vibe that's going to like land with the youth that they're hoping for.
- [39:33]
Unknown
It's Monday, June 16, 2025 and welcome to the Daily Blueprint. I'm Hannibal Davin, deputy communications director for the Democrats and your host today. Every morning the Daily Blueprint will cut through the noise and give you the real story. What you need to know today, what Democrats are doing about it and how you can fight back and help Democrats win. Whether you're in the trenches of Democratic politics or just want the truth, this is your go to spot. So let's get to work.
- [39:59]
Cameron Caskey
To answer your question, Sage, I think that like Snack said, it's very important to have those kind of dinner table conversations. I always encourage young Gen Zs to, you know, embrace the emotions that you feel about these issues and not diminish them and respect your own feelings. But also remember that the more emotional you get in conversations with adults about politics and you know, trying to encourage them to have more Democratic progressive values, the more emotional you get, the more, the quicker they're going to be to characterize you as just some like freaking out little young Bernie Broomaniac and everything. The more composed you're able to be and the more able you are to understand why they feel the way they do. When you're talking to your parents about why they should vote for somebody else, if you can just come to the table, very, very chill and lax. I think that puts them in a situation where they have to, they have to look at their views for what they are instead of immediately just waving you off as somebody who's being emotional and reactive. I think that it's important for young people to have those conversations at the dinner table in their community with the people around them. And I also think in some instances trying to get involved with local politics is very important. So much happens at a local level that we don't even know about. You know, what's happening with your school board, what's happening with your community boards and everything. Like go to a participatory budget meeting in your community. Like actually learn about how local government positions that you by all means can run for and win. And our friend Amanda Lippman runs an organization called Run for something that you can check out to see if you can get any infrastructure for that. Get involved. Nobody's stopping you. You know, people are going to try to stop you, but you can do it. People will get excited.
- [41:55]
Tim
I was really excited, that's all.
- [41:56]
Cameron Caskey
Well, I was going to ask you, you know, we were asked if we should work with the dnc. How do you feel about Gen Z's working with the dnc?
- [42:04]
Tim
I think that the DNC should probably just dissolve itself because it never makes any good news. And it should just, like, we should go back to our first federalized routes in this country. And the money and resources should go to state and local parties, which are probably also crazy in their own right, but at least they're closer to the people because the DNC seems to be a total disaster. And, you know, the DNC vice chair, the former DNC vice chair is a young person that's trying to help. That's one path. I would probably agree with Cameron that a better path is getting involved in your local community, not putting the burden on yourself to feel like you have to stop Trump. You do not. It's not your fucking job. Everybody let you down already. I would get involved in your community. I'd get involved in something that you find very fulfilling. I would do something that feels like. Get involved with an organization that feels good for you. I'd hassle people. As somebody who, like, people want to get involved in the shit we do at the Bulwark, sometimes I'll just tell you, like, hassle people. This is, like, goes against the nature of young people because, like, you're worried that you're bothering people, but, like, my fucking inbox is a disaster. It's just like a fucking dumpster fire. And so, like, if I don't respond to you in, like, two minutes, you're never gonna get responded to. And so, like, email me every week. Like, it's fine. Like, if you start annoying the person, they'll be like, please stop emailing me. It's not gonna happen. Or they'll just like, whatever. Like, it's not. Who cares? Or they. Or they get mad at you, but you aren't gonna get the job anyway, so who cares? Hassle people. Like, find organizations you care about either locally or nationally, and get involved. And I think that would be my advice for you. I want to say one more thing to Sage. I don't know what else was in the dm. I will say we did three Bulwark Live shows over the past two weeks, and I had two women and two men ask me for Cam's number. And I'm just letting people know that I'm not doing that. Like, that's just not, you know, you guys, you got to shoot your shot yourself. Okay?
- [44:06]
Cameron Caskey
My DMs are open if you want.
- [44:08]
Snax the Hip Hopper
To go for it.
- [44:09]
Cameron Caskey
Doesn't mean I'm going to answer it or even read it, but, like, that's the best way.
- [44:12]
Tim
Your shot get.
- [44:13]
Snax the Hip Hopper
My boy's a wonderful stand up dude, man. I advertise. I'm his man. I'm his wingman man.
- [44:19]
Tim
So shot with snacks, whatever. I don't know his status, but, you.
- [44:23]
Cameron Caskey
Know, whatever, Dante, you throw up this Rob Smith clip.
- [44:26]
Rob Smith
Stop wearing your bonnets in the airports. Please stop wearing bonnets in the airports. You look crazy. It is ratchet. It is ghetto. It is unattractive. It makes you look crazy. I just saw a woman, she was literally wearing a bonnet, like some booty shorts and some flip flops, like, headed onto a flight. At what point? And yes, she was black. Obviously she was black. At what point did black people decide that we just don't care how we anymore? At what point did. Did we just say that it was just okay to look crazy and ratchet in a hot mess in ghetto when we are around people? And I say this because the vast majority of the people that I see looking absolutely crazy while I'm traveling.
- [45:13]
Tim
You look crazy.
- [45:14]
Rob Smith
You're in the middle of Auntie Monique, try to tell black girls about these bonnets. And then you try to come for Auntie Monique when she said, well, I'm gonna say, you can come for me. The bonnets are ratchet. They're ugly. They make you look low class, trashy, and ghetto.
- [45:31]
Tim
I'm talking about, bro, I don't know.
- [45:36]
Snax the Hip Hopper
What the he's talking about, man.
- [45:40]
Tim
You know.
- [45:41]
Cameron Caskey
You know Rob Smith, right?
- [45:42]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Oh, yeah, I know Rob Smith. What the is he talking about? Who cares what Rob Smith thinks, man? That guy's. Come on, man. Fuck that guy, man.
- [45:48]
Tim
He looks corny as what's. He's giving people advice on how to look in his fucking, like, polo shirt. Like, he's like, he's, you know, in the fucking A 1980s, wearing sunglasses. What the fuck? He looks like trash. He is so fucking annoying. Like, the last time I yelled at this fucking guy, he was talking about how gay people are dressing too gay and looking too gay. I'm just like, this is like this. You are a fucking massive bottom, and you haven't dealt with your own issues related to your sexuality and apparently also your racial identity. And so you're gonna lash out at other people. Let people wear whatever the fuck they want, all right? Let people wear it out the fuck they want. It's none of your damn business, you corny motherfucker. Ugh, I hate him so much.
- [46:35]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Nah, literally, man. Literally. Like, come on. He probably got told that he's an Oreo or he's too. He's too white. He's not black enough. You know what I'm saying? He might be a closeted gay man who just needs to come out, cuz it's 2025. Like, come on, bro.
- [46:47]
Tim
Like, no, he's out. He's out. He just doesn't like to deal with it. He's out gay man. Oh, yeah. He's an out gay man.
- [46:53]
Cameron Caskey
Yeah, that makes sense. He's in such good shape. I should have.
- [46:56]
Tim
Yeah, but he's like. He's like, I'm one of the good gays. He does that. He's like, I don't do, you know, I don't do this, you know, slutty stuff, this pride stuff, you know, he's just like, I just. I dress respectable. I'm a respectable gay. Eat a dick. Not in a good way, no, but that. You for making me watch that.
- [47:13]
Cameron Caskey
Eat something you don't want to eat.
- [47:15]
Tim
Eat a vag, Rob. Eat a vag, please.
- [47:19]
Cameron Caskey
Snacks. Thank you so much for joining us. This has been great. I will talk to you soon. Everybody go to the FYPOD channel for the full version of this. We love you.
- [47:28]
Tim
Thank you all. Thank you. Snacks.
- [47:29]
Snax the Hip Hopper
Thank you. Thank you, guys. You guys have a wonderful day. Enjoy.