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- [00:01]
A
Hey, sweetie. Your mother showed me this Carvana thing for selling the car. I'm gonna give it a try. Wish me luck. Me again. I put in the license plate. It gave me an offer. Unbelievable. Okay, I accepted the offer. They're picking it up Tuesday from the driveway. I haven't even left my chair. It's done. The car is gone. I'm holding a check anyway. Carvana, give it a whirl. Love ya.
- [00:24]
B
So good you'll want to leave a voicemail about it. Sell your car today on Carvana. Pick up. Fees may apply.
- [00:30]
C
They think the most milquetoast lib is like a radical communist.
- [00:34]
B
Like, it doesn't.
- [00:35]
C
They don't know what the word means. Keep your government hands off my Medicare, like,
- [00:45]
B
All right. Joining us today on IHIP News is Blakely. They are a non binary artist, songwriter, political commentator who has gone viral on social media for their takedowns on both sides, sides of the aisle. Blakely, welcome.
- [01:01]
C
Thank you so much for having me.
- [01:03]
B
Yeah, I just want to give my audience a little background about you and me. So we follow each other online, and I think it's probably safe to say you're further left than me. Even though I like to think of myself as fairly left, I want to build alliances and have healthy conversations because I think people on the left agree on a lot more than what they disagree online. So you identify as a leftist.
- [01:32]
C
Yeah.
- [01:33]
B
And what do you take about this civil war that's going on with the Democrats? With like, maybe the libs, the progressives and the leftists?
- [01:42]
C
So for me, I mostly blame the Democratic party, and I separate that a little bit from your rank and file library. Right. So sometimes the libs, just the rank and file lives, do make me insane. Like I'll be being driven crazy. But I think it is actually mostly the power apparatus. And I think one of the problems is. Which is why I'm so glad we're having this conversation, why you're one of the few people that I would say is, like, more liberal, that has even been willing to have it, is that the Democratic Party and the people that are in the media, the people who are influential, they have done everything they can to not talk about it. They don't want to confront it. This has been going on it.
- [02:22]
B
What are you talking about?
- [02:23]
C
The war, the fight between the left and the progressives. The. The Democratic establishment, they don't want to confront it. It's kind of like. It's kind of like what? You know, how our government and our politicians want to close their Eyes and cover their eyes. And they. They don't want to talk about Palestine. Right. Like in. In Israel, they don't want to talk about. It's the same thing with the Democratic Party and the liberals and the progressives. The entrenched power in the Democratic Party and the people that run the party, the people who have the influence and the power in the party do not want to confront what is happening at the grassroots level. And they don't want to confront how corrupt the party is and why people leave more and more and more. I'll see sometimes the liberals being like, yeah, but we still have, like, a little bit of this. And it's like, people, the party is bleeding. People are leaving the party, people are leaving. And more and more identifying as independents. The fact that they are constantly trying to hold onto the past and act like nothing is wrong is what is so dangerous. And I get criticized a lot, especially when I'm arguing with liberals. Like, you're criticizing Democrats and it's helping Republicans. No, you're enabling Republicans and you're enabling fascists. And you spend more time being angry at the left that constantly tries to sound the alarm than you are at the fascists that are literally driving this country into the ground. You are helping them. You are putting their seatbelt on for them. It's in. A perfect example of that is what's been happening with Hasan Piker. It's insanity.
- [03:54]
B
It's crazy.
- [03:55]
C
It's insanity that he is the one that their ire is directed at when they should be directing their ire. I always say, no, the problem is not that I'm not. I'm not. I'm criticizing Democrats too much and helping Republicans. The problem is you have way too much in common with them. The Democratic Party, the leaders of the party, they have way too much in common and enable the Republican Party. And I say, I oppose the Republicans at every turn. And everything these fascists stand for, they need to be destroyed. They don't need to be pandered to. They don't need to be, well, you know, both sides, and we're bipartisan and la, la, la, la. No, they need to be crushed. Their ideology needs to be crushed. So. So my question always is to the Democrats. I do oppose the Republicans. Why don't you. Why are you so intent? You look at the way that they fight the left and you see, oh, they've got fight in them. They fight the left. They viciously fight the left. We saw the way they treated Zohra Mamdani, but then they look at the right. And they're finding every way they always can to be like, if you ever notice the Republicans when they're talking, the Democrats when they're talking about the Republicans are always like, we're bipartisan. Like, they think that's the end all, be all. Instead of being like, we got this.
- [05:08]
B
Don't you think Republicans use scapegoating as a motivator to vote? They use like, okay, these trans people are doing this to you, and these immigrants are doing that to you, and these other people are taking your money, so you have to go vote for us. I feel like a little bit of the establishment messaging, not the Democratic members of the Democratic Party at large, but establishment messaging right now is scapegoating the left. And I'm really concerned about that. You cannot scapegoat the people on the far, far left. And I feel like the whole Hassan thing for, you know, that's been going around like, week four of this thing.
- [05:48]
C
Yeah.
- [05:48]
B
My concern about that is I don't agree with everything Hassan says. Hassan is my friend. We have far more in common than we do not. And this fixation on him versus Republicans and taking down Republicans and taking down fascism shows an inherent weakness in the people that are doing that. And I always say they're probably like fascists collaborating. But I'm very concerned about this because I see it as the establishment Democrat is scapegoating leftists, and we can. We will not win no elections. Now, I do think in the midterms, the Democrats are going to win.
- [06:27]
C
I do.
- [06:27]
B
Regardless of what they do. That's how bad Trump is.
- [06:29]
C
I agree.
- [06:30]
B
That's how bad Trump went. So let me ask you this. If, let's say, of the new flock of Congress people, let's say that 50% of them are establishment and 15 of them are in the Progressive Caucus. Do you. Are you a person of a political mind that believes that they're going to have to compromise those two factions to get stuff done? Or is it all or nothing?
- [06:57]
C
I don't think it's all or nothing. I think it depends on the issue. Because if you notice, the compromise always comes at the expense of the most marginalized.
- [07:05]
B
Yeah.
- [07:05]
C
It's never, oh, we're going to compromise to, you know, I don't know, get one certain policy. The compromises always only go one way. Scapegoating marginalized people and throwing them under the bus, whether that be black Americans, trans people, people who can get pregnant in a red state. That's always the compromise. But so it's not that I'm against. I'm not one of these people. That's. I never.
- [07:31]
B
What do you think about Zoran and Hochul? They've been working together.
- [07:34]
C
Exactly how it should be done. Yes, absolutely. I love it. The problem is when they always say, as you said, they're scapegoating the left constantly. They never want to work with the left. They always are demonizing them. And the problem with that is you are not. The right understands that they need to cater to their base and the Democrats demonize the people that are on the left. They alienate them. They say, go away, we don't want you. Instead of actually trying to work and actually understand and try to appeal to the left. That was something Zo Ron brilliantly did, was like, no, I'm actually going to try to appeal to you instead of kicking you in the teeth, which is what the Democratic Party always does to the left. And the insane thing is, is that too many people are just okay with accepting that. Like to me what I find not acceptable is things like we're not going to release the autopsy report.
- [08:22]
B
Oh, that pissed.
- [08:23]
C
That is so unacceptable.
- [08:24]
B
That really pissed me off last night.
- [08:26]
C
How is it acceptable that the leader, the so called leader, chuckles in the Senate and he's a fascist. He is a fascist and a fascist collaborator. That he's out here voting down the blocking, sending thousand pound bombs to the terrorist genocidal apartheid regime of Israel when 90% of the democratic voting base does not want them to.
- [08:51]
B
We cannot, we cannot as a party be an anti war party, which we must be in the face because all. It doesn't matter which republican it is, they all lead to neocons.
- [09:03]
C
Exactly.
- [09:03]
B
Every single time. They cannot help themselves. So we have to be the anti war party and we cannot fund any country, any military that commits war crimes every day and it seems to be a feature, not a bug of the IDF that they cannot help themselves and intentionally target in double and triple tap
- [09:26]
C
strikes kids, which we would all have an understanding easily if they weren't white. That is the reality. If this was any other country doing this, or even if I want to be, you know, fair and say, okay, if it was Russia, they would be doing this. The fact that they have done what they have done and continue to mass murder children and women and the most horrific atrocities that I've ever seen that have been burned and etched in my mind that I'm never going to recover from. And our so called leaders keep trying to convince us that this is normal and acceptable and we just need to give them nice murder tools. Absolute. Like this. That's where I do draw the line. Absolutely the fuck not.
- [10:10]
B
So it is a huge shift though. And I agree with you. I, I mean, I cannot stand Chuckles. I think he's worthless. I wish they would just deal with him now. I wish they would say, you're not the minority leader, but that's my wish. Whatever. But I will say that it is pretty impressive that a year ago it would have been unheard of that 40 people would have voted the way they did.
- [10:32]
C
So that's because of the left.
- [10:34]
B
Right? And there is progress, there's progress happening. But sometimes when I, because I would say, I'm like, you're here, here's the libs, I'm here. I guess I'm a progressive.
- [10:43]
C
Yes.
- [10:43]
B
Okay, so. And a lot of people, just FYI, listener, viewer, where I grew up in Oklahoma City, they make no distinction.
- [10:51]
C
Oh, one Republicans. Yeah.
- [10:53]
B
Like I had a conversation with a guy and he's like, yeah, you know that Obama was a liberal commie, just as left as they come. And that's the way all Republicans perceive it. But sometimes when I, when I'm on the algorithm and there's a lot of leftists, what I like about you is you're not scared to be an attack dog. You're not like, oh my God, we have to do it all PC and everything's great. You're like, we gotta win, we gotta dismit. And I like that fight. I see a lot of stuff about AOC, a lot of bedwetting about AOC. And Axios reported this. Let's pop this up. Axios AOC wrestles with the left wing Dems as 2028 decision looms in private. Ocasio Cortez has doomed about the criticism, believing it's unfair and counterproductive for the progressive movement. One liberal strategist told Axios, the AOC has lamented the left was not there for her and that they are never pleased. Okay, so my take on this is there's a little bit of truth in that I do see sometimes as a person who's, I'm a Democrat and I'm, you know, I'm definitely more than center left, but not quite all the way as left as you and my friend Hassan. I do see that there is this like demand for perfection and this very quick takedown of the people that we have that are fighters. Do you see that? Do you think that's productive? Give me your take on all that.
- [12:21]
C
I do see it because if anything, sometimes I Will call myself a progressive because sometimes people to my left will tell me I'm not left enough. So there is a little bit of that perfectionism because all be like, you know, as, you know, a leftist. And sometimes I'm a little hesitant to call myself that because I know that there's a communist in my comments. Coming to be like, leftist, you're a shitlib because you vote.
- [12:42]
B
You're a moderate, you're a interest. Right.
- [12:44]
C
Which. Okay, like, so I say I'm a progressive because I do vote and I
- [12:48]
B
believe in harm reduction voting.
- [12:50]
C
I do. But it al. I also believe in holding people accountable and not continuing to enable abusers. So there's harm reduction and then there's. You're actually not reducing harm. You are being the wife that's allowing the husband to still beat the. Out of their kids and telling them that you're trying to protect them. So there's. There's that with the AOC thing, which is kind of the analogy that I use when I watch the whole thing with you and Hassan that blew up when people had a meltdown about him saying he wouldn't vote for Gavin Newsom. I made like three videos about it because I.
- [13:24]
B
That they lost their mind.
- [13:26]
C
No, people lost their mind.
- [13:27]
B
He really like people just. He occupies so much real estate and he does.
- [13:32]
C
And part of that is honestly, like, legitious racism and Islamophobia because his name is Hasan and people think scary Muslim. And it's, you know, that's that and the fact that he's unapologetic, which I absolutely love, because, you know, so with aoc, I do think that, yes, there is perfection. I'm not an unreasonable man. I'm not like, no, the left is perfect. And this, like, I sympathize with the lib sometimes. And we'll be like, no, you know, we. We need to be a little bit more understanding in certain areas. I think my theory is, and you'll understand this is somebody who also grew up with a lot of evangelicals, is that I actually think that one of the reasons why the left can be so harsh sometimes is because they just haven't deconstructed their abusive evangelical Christianity that they grew up in. They just grew up and became atheists. But they never deconstructed that kind of religious abuse. So they're very harsh and they're very quick to punish. It's a very religious mentality.
- [14:24]
B
Totally get on board.
- [14:25]
C
Yeah, I think that's what it is. Because a lot of the left will be like, a lot of people I know in the left will be like, yeah, we're anti imperialists and fuck the police, and we're anti carceral. And then, like, you'll mess up and they'll be like, fudge you, you piece of shit. You deserve to die. And yeah, I'll be like, I think it's a very. My experience is I'll ask them about their religious upbringing, and a lot of them grew up Christian. I'm like, that's what it is.
- [14:46]
B
Okay. I've seen online that you are very disappointed in Senator Elizabeth Warren.
- [14:54]
C
Yes, I hate her now.
- [14:55]
B
Really? I love her.
- [14:56]
C
I hate her now. I used to like her.
- [14:58]
B
I love her.
- [14:58]
C
She's never beating the snake allegations.
- [15:01]
B
What? Why do you hate her? What? In a couple of sentences, without.
- [15:07]
C
For the same reason. Why? I think people really get disappointed with aoc. I agree with you that aoc, sometimes people can be harsh with her. And I also know that. I agree that, you know, as a woman, she deals with a lot of very deranged misogyny. But people get upset with AOC because of her promise and what she came in promising to do. And that's why I think some people are harsh with her. The same goes for Elizabeth Warren. Elizabeth Warren ran on being an aggressive progressive, created the cfpb, has voted positively in many ways, but she also can be a duplicitous snake. Why the fuck are you standing up cheering for Donald Trump as he warmongers about Iran?
- [15:45]
B
But do you think that in the overall scheme of things, her standing up and cheering, this is the part of politics that sometimes bothers me. We have to really look at her votes. She's always.
- [15:58]
C
I agree. I always do.
- [15:59]
B
She's always voted really well. And I'll tell you one thing about Elizabeth Warren that I appreciate in this space. I have senators and Congress people on her staff contacts, or I contact her staff. She will come on anytime, zero script. She will talk about anything and everything. And that's not the case for all Democrats. A lot of them want to say, these are the talking points, and we're not going outside of that.
- [16:22]
C
Yeah.
- [16:22]
B
And Elizabeth Warren is. Is very. My thing about. You get to beat up on Elizabeth Warren if you want to. I don't want to take them because sometimes I get it. I understand that hating on you need to hate on her. But here's my thing. Is it worth it to beat up on Elizabeth Warren? Because at the end of the day, if we do have a progressive sweep, she's going to be the most Malleable and she's going to swing in to full blown progressive and she does a lot of the shit that's boring to me. All of this financial oversight, bean counter shit. Like she's really in on all that. And like, I'm like more about political gossip. You, you know, I'm not going to sit around policy wonk out.
- [17:01]
C
She's brilliant. Yeah, definitely brilliant. And I love that the cfpb. And again, I think that's why I've been so hard on her because she disappointed, because she's disappointed me so many times. And I also believe in the same way of like, okay, you got to do harm reduction. You got to make sure that you're, you're taking into consideration their votes, all of those things. But what I also feel like a lot happens, which is also why I'm so aggressive, is there is a lot of, of the voters excuse making, a lot of excuse making. And I think that as voters, we enable the Democrats to continue to a lot of times disappoint us and not do the right thing because they know, oh well, we can just have a rotating villain and our voters will get over it. They're not there.
- [17:49]
B
Needs to be changing.
- [17:50]
C
It is, but that's because people like us are talking about it changing.
- [17:54]
B
That's why I wanted to have this conversation with you because I see online, I don't actively tweet because I have a private account just. And I have a list that I follow because I just get death threats and all sorts of stuff because Fox will feature me. But I see you fighting with establishment Democrat people.
- [18:12]
C
I know, I mean it's like my addiction.
- [18:13]
B
I get a kick out of it and I see this kind of going and I don't, I don't think it's so bad. I think it's kind of good because when I see the infighting, it's always about something stupid and nothing very serious. And they seem to want these corporate Democrats, but they just don't outright say it. Like, I would respect these influencers if they said, I like a corporate Democrat, I like a Democrat that services both the public and the corporations arbitrarily as to how much they get in donations, I would respect that more. But we have, in this city that you and I are both in right now, Zoran Mamdani, which I think is incredible what he did, he took on the Democratic establishment, he took on the billionaires. Andrew Cuomo is a very Trumpian style Democrat that refused to pack his toys up after he lost. Yes. And then he had to run again as an independent because he doesn't understand the word no. And Zoron is winning and governing and reminding these Democrats this is what government is supposed to do for us. We don't have to hate it. Let's play this video for Blakely.
- [19:23]
D
Do you think it's possible a democratic socialist platform can translate into something that's electorally viable in a statewide election or a national election, given that, according to Gallup, many older and rural voters still have issues with the term, with the label socialist? You know, what I find is that New Yorkers ask me less about how I describe my politics and more about whether my politics includes them. And I think what we can see is that a democratic socialist politics is one that should be judged on its delivery, like any ideology. And what we're showing in this city is we can. We can pursue the big things, like universal childcare and do the pothole politics at the same time that we're showing. And not just filling in the potholes, changing the catch basins, but also repaving over a thousand miles of roadway. But, Mr. Mayor, presidential and statewide elections are often decided in battleground regions that do not look like New York City.
- [20:12]
C
Yeah.
- [20:13]
D
I'll be honest with you. Before I was the mayor, I was an assembly member of Astoria in Long Island City. At that time, I was told that you could only be a democratic socialist in Northwest Queensland. Then I became the mayor. Now the next question is the state. Then it'll be. The next question will be the country. I think that this is a politics that can flourish anywhere because, frankly, there is only one majority in this country. That's the working class. And it's time we have a politics that puts them at the heart of what it is that we're pursuing and not as part of the appendix.
- [20:40]
B
He's so fucking good at this.
- [20:41]
C
Yeah. He really is. I don't want to be a Stan or whatever. I could try to, you know, like, my thing is, like, if Zo. And people have gotten mad at me for. If Zoran does something that I think is wrong, like when he endorsed Hakeem Jeffries, I will criticize him, but it's hard at moments like. Like this not to love him. And I. And I. And I am such a big supporter of Zoran. So I'm like, I'm. He's so talented.
- [21:04]
B
He's incredibly talented. And it's sincere.
- [21:06]
C
Yes, it is.
- [21:07]
B
It is. We. I've had him on the pod in person. It is sincere. The reason why it's so easy for him to stay on script and that he can answer any question is because he genuinely believes it 100% it's genuine and he stays on that. So let me ask you this. Only 28% of Americans have a positive view of the Democratic Party right now. Only 28%. And so you're from Missouri originally?
- [21:35]
C
Colorado.
- [21:35]
B
Colorado. Okay. So I'm from Oklahoma originally. I am not so sure that if a politician took that brand of politics reminding people who the scapegoating the property villain, which is the billionaires and not them personally, even though they're great villains to, you know, just browbeat on. It's the system.
- [21:56]
C
Yes.
- [21:57]
B
And took that. It might not be the first election cycle, but over the course of two to three election cycles I think this type of politics could pop off 100 in. In flyover America.
- [22:09]
C
100. Because first of all, if they're like oh well, they might call you a socialist as you rightly pointed out. They see no distinction.
- [22:15]
B
Yeah.
- [22:15]
C
They think the most milquetoast lib is like a radical communist. Like it doesn't. They don't know what the word means. Keep your government hands off my Medicare. Like it's like they don't know the difference. So like yes though this is the gaslighting of the Democratic Party. That message absolutely could and would win. The reason why it doesn't make more progress is because the Democratic Party, whether it be their influencers that they pay to not admit that they like centrists or the party themselves. The real reason why we are not getting that and we're looking at zone wrong going oh my gosh, like this should happen all around the country. Why isn't it is because fundamentally, and this is not going to get better until we confront it, the Democratic Party wants to be the party of the people without actually serving the people. They want to be the party of the people while still taking APAC money. They want to be the party of the people while still taking all the same donor money that the Republicans take. They want to take all the corporate money that Republicans take. They want to be the aesthetic of the working class without actually giving up the thing that makes them impossible. Because if you are going to be a politician and you're going to serve the people, you by definition have to reject the people that are corporatists and the billionaire class and all of the other corrupting influences of the money in politics and the fascists that fund the Republicans. They want to do that to. To appeal to people and not let go of that money and not let go of that influence and it is never going to happen. And that is the fight they constantly have. Republicans don't have that fight because their voters love the corruption. Their voters love being schooled also, Blakely,
- [24:01]
B
because they're in a cult. And so this is my biggest thing people say to me, and they might. They probably say to you, why are you criticizing Democrats? And my response is, because we're not in a cult. As we get closer to an essential primary and to an essential presidential election, that big thing that I had with Hasan where he says, do you think the Democratic base takes your vote for granted? He's true about that. It's right. But at the end of the day, for me personally, having grown up in Oklahoma City and have a ton of LGBTQ plus friends and know people that are trying to raise a trans child there, at the end of the day, I will do a harm reduction vote because I know how traumatizing it is to live in a Republican supermajority state. But before we get to that, I think it's absolutely paramount that we criticize the Democratic Party, most importantly, because why the hell did they stop a 50 state strategy? Because when you stop that in Oklahoma, you've got a gubernatorial race right now, Blakeley, and they are out crazing each other because it's just a Republican primary, basically laser focused on woke trans ideology in the schools. We're talking about Oklahoma here. You know, I mean, it's just utterly insane. But okay, last thoughts and tell my listeners how they can follow you. Please follow them because they are always fighting with the moderate Democrats and it's wildly entertaining. So tell them how to find you.
- [25:34]
C
Thank you. I'm on every social media app for the most part. My handle is I am Blakely everywhere. So just like I am Blakely, YouTube, Twitter, upscroll, shout out to upscroll, Palestinian owned Instagram alternative, TikTok alternative. So it's I am Blakely on all of them. So yes, definitely. Please follow me, engage, stay politically active. I agree that going to what you said about the thing about harm reduction, but I'm also at the point where I believe that there needs to be accountability and that we need to. For me, I am not going to allow them to use marginalizations to basically continue to aid and abet fascism. And that is what they do. They throw trans people under the bus. They throw marginalized groups under the bus. And then come election time, instead of actually doing anything to protect these groups, protect the poor, protect the working class, they basically hold us all hostage and go vote for SRLs. And as we've seen, it's not just that it's immoral and they we shouldn't be rewarding them for that. That holding us hostage. It's also, it's not just because I want to teach them a lesson, which by the way, I'm at the point where it's like, no, bitch, you need to earn my vote. You need to earn my vote. I am no longer just going to vote blue, no matter who, because you hold my rights hostage.
- [26:53]
B
I think that's it. I think us having a healthy electorate that says earn our vote. And Zoron took that very seriously. He went out, started at 1% and he earned.
- [27:03]
C
And what does it tell you about our country that the voters have to be terrified that they might lose their rights if they don't allow the party that refuses to represent us to hold us hostage. So that's where I'm at. And I'm also at the point where there needs to just be a lot less putting up with that. I think a lot of Democrats and liberals who are good and well meaning people have operated at a few fear and a lot of it. And I get it. I'm scared too, and I've been scared. But the other reason why I think it's imperative that we actually start getting more aggressive and holding them accountable. And by that I mean Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries need to go and the Democrats that are protecting them in the House and the Senate need to be held accountable and called out. And the other reason why I say that's so important that we do that and not just oh, vote blue no matter who is because we have seen time and time again, it's not working. Yeah, it's not working. We. This country is moving. Exactly. It's moving further and further and further to the right. It that, that just simply. Okay, we're just going to vote Bloom no matter who. Look at where we are now. It is worse.
- [28:11]
B
I agree. All right, follow my friend Blakely. You will enjoy their posting and I will see you all soon.
- [28:21]
A
It.