Aaron Parnas and Keith Edwards on Gavin Newsom's ALL CAPS social media game and April Ryan on Trump's whitewashing of American history.

Summary

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The Jim Acosta Show – Episode Summary

Date: August 20, 2025
Guests: Aaron Parnas (independent journalist), Keith Edwards (YouTuber, Democratic strategist), April Ryan (White House correspondent)
Main Theme:
A turbulent week in American democracy: Trump’s culture war tactics, Republican maneuvers in Texas, Gavin Newsom’s viral social media strategies, and the fight to protect historical truth amid attacks on the Smithsonian.

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Episode Overview

Jim Acosta and his guests dive into the escalating culture wars and threats to democracy under Donald Trump’s presidency. They discuss the performative deployment of the National Guard in D.C., Texas GOP’s aggressive redistricting, the political potency of Gavin Newsom’s online tactics, and Trump’s attempt to whitewash American history—especially at the Smithsonian’s African American History Museum. The episode is textured with urgency, dark humor, and a call for resistance.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. National Guard Deployment in D.C. & Crime Narratives

• Performative Security:
  • Trump-supporting GOP states sending National Guard troops to D.C. is framed as a move to “occupy” the capital (00:01).
  • Troops often seem more like photo ops for tourists than serious crime deterrents (01:36).
  • Aaron Parnas: “They're more busy taking pictures with tourists than they are fighting any crime… it's very counterintuitive to say that you have a high crime area and at the same time put the National Guard in non-high crime areas.” (01:36)
• Culture War Rhetoric:
  • Stephen Miller’s comments at Union Station—“We’re not going to let the Communists destroy D.C. and they’re going to ignore the stupid white hippies in Washington”—highlight escalating performative battles (03:00).

2. The “Whitewashing of History” & Attacks on the Smithsonian

• GOP Agenda:
  • Efforts to sanitize museum narratives, especially those addressing slavery, are part of a broader campaign to reshape collective memory (03:57, 39:34).
  • April Ryan delivers an impassioned defense of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, sharing both personal and historical perspective (39:34-49:51).
  • Notable quote – April Ryan: “Slavery is real for me. So you’re discounting a whole swath of people when you talk about their focus is too much. One of the reasons why that museum is one of the greatest around the world is because of its intense and exacting focus on what happened—to take the mystery, take the veil off.” (41:50)

3. Epstein Files & Media Distraction

• Political Implications:
  • GOP efforts to distract from the content of Epstein files via redistricting and D.C. troop deployments (04:21).
  • Aaron Parnas voices skepticism about public transparency: “The public is likely not going to see them anytime soon… You'll see a steady drip from both sides… but not the real story, which is about the victims and survivors.” (04:52)
  • Trump’s name appears in the files, but disclosure will likely be limited and politicized (05:43).

4. Texas Redistricting & Legislative Aggression

• Legal and Political Stakes:
  • Texas lawmakers accelerate plans to redraw the congressional map, likely gifting Trump five new seats.
  • Democrats’ amendment to release Epstein files is acknowledged as symbolic rather than substantive (07:22).
  • Concerns over police intimidation of Rep. Nicole Collier, threatening her with felony charges for defiance—a microcosm of broader democratic backsliding (07:30).
  • Aaron: “What they're doing with Representative Collier, they're having these law enforcement officials follow Texas Democrats to their home to the grocery store. That should be the story.” (07:30)

5. Democratic Strategies—Gavin Newsom’s Offensive

• Bold Leadership:
  • Newsom is framed as the most powerful active Democrat and a necessary counterweight to GOP aggression (11:28-12:33).
  • Aaron urges Democrats to stop infighting: “If you want Democrats to act, you need a leader to step up…just stop eating each other” (12:16).
• Redistricting in CA:
  • Newsom’s move to mirror Texas with his own mapping effort in California is controversial but vital; a public referendum ensures a democratic process (12:53).
  • Stakes are high for Newsom’s own political future: “If this fails…in one of the bluest states…then you're not actually necessarily the leader of this whole coalition…” (16:50)

6. Social Media—Memes as Political Weapons

• Newsom’s Trolling:
  • Newsom’s viral memes (e.g., Hulk Hogan, Tucker Carlson, Kid Rock blessing Trump) provide both comic relief and real political messaging, shifting the right’s focus (13:57-15:17).
  • Keith Edwards: “It reminds me of what we did at the Lincoln Project five years ago…people are just dying for someone to be relentless and attack in the way that they're being attacked…you have to be fearless.” (24:32)
• Impact:
  • Newsom’s social metrics have soared (500k to 2M on TikTok; 1M to 2.2M on Instagram), underscoring social media’s power to drive narrative (23:48).

7. The Democrats’ Identity Crisis

• Voters Fleeing the Party:
  • New York Times reports Dems have lost 4.5 million voters; disillusionment with establishment politics (30:00-33:08).
  • Keith: “It's not going to start at the top. The Democratic Party does not lead, it follows…there’s something boiling. I don’t know what it’s going to be. But it’s not going to come from the Democratic Party as it stands today.” (32:14)
• Need for Generational Change:
  • Calls for a “passing of the torch,” referencing JFK and the continued power of old guard leaders (33:19).
  • Keith: “There has to be a radical change not only in what the Democratic Party believes—in who it fights for. I think people want a Democratic Party that is inherently moral.” (32:20)

8. April Ryan’s Stand: The Reality of America’s History

• Guarding the Truth:
  • April Ryan, speaking live from the White House gates, gives a heartfelt testimony on the necessity of confronting America’s past (39:34–54:43).
  • Memorable story: her ancestor Dollar Brown was sold in Fayetteville, NC. “When you don’t know your history, you don’t know who you are, you don’t know where you’ve been and where you’re going.” (48:17)
  • On Trump's criticism: “He is normalizing hatred and he’s trying to make it okay…No. It’s not okay. It’ll never be okay.” (45:06)
  • Museum activism: “Shut that museum down. Watch what Black folks do. You think Target lost its CEO, huh? There's going to be a lot of stuff coming on.” (50:25)
• Empowerment:
  • April: “I’m free. Shackleless.” (53:10)
  • Jim: “The theme for our show today: shackleless, guys.” (53:13)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On performative deployment:
  “They're more busy taking pictures with tourists than they are fighting any crime.”
  — Aaron Parnas (01:36)

• On whitewashing history:
  “They're trying to whitewash history there because it talks about the horrors of slavery too much. It's all part of the plan, to kind of just change history.”
  — Aaron Parnas (03:57)

• On Newsom’s social media tactics:
  “Social media is not real life…Gavin Newsom is trolling Trump. The voters won't see it but the White House does. That's a win in and of itself.”
  — Aaron Parnas (13:39)

• On generational and party change:
  “The torch must be passed at some point. And there are some folks who are holding onto that damn torch. They don't want to let it go.”
  — Jim Acosta (33:19)

• On defending historical memory:
  “Slavery is real for me…you’re discounting a whole swath of people when you talk about their focus is too much. One of the reasons why that museum is one of the greatest…is because of its intense and exacting focus…”
  — April Ryan (41:50)

• On empowerment from history:
  “I am shackleless…Because when you don't know your history, you don't know who you are, you don't know where you've been and where you're going. And when you start erasing people's minds and everything, who are we?”
  — April Ryan (48:45)

• On the right’s hypocrisy and Fox News:
  “You lost, you lost, you lost, you lost. And you had people at the biggest cable network in television…talking about how incredible their ratings would be if Fox went all in on Stop the Steal. It's a bullshit factory, folks.”
  — Jim Acosta (57:51)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:01 – Trump’s anxiety over Epstein files, National Guard in D.C.
• 01:36 – Aaron on the reality and optics of D.C. “occupation.”
• 03:00-04:00 – Stephen Miller’s statements, performative politics, and efforts to “whitewash” the Smithsonian.
• 04:52 – Transparency doubts about Epstein files.
• 07:30 – Intimidation of Rep. Nicole Collier; Texas legislative tactics.
• 11:28-13:15 – Gavin Newsom’s leadership and Democratic responses to redistricting.
• 13:36-15:17 – Newsom’s meme game and its political resonance.
• 23:06-25:41 – Keith Edwards on the necessity of relentless, satirical digital attacks.
• 30:00-34:22 – The Democratic Party’s voter crisis and search for a new direction.
• 39:34-54:43 – April Ryan’s impassioned defense of teaching real American history and the fight to protect the Smithsonian and African American history.
• 57:51 – Jim’s critique of Fox News (“the bullshit factory”) and right-wing media complicity.

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Episode Takeaways

• Democracy under attack: The Trump-era Republican playbook centers on distraction, performative security, and history-erasing culture wars—all to distract, divide, and solidify power.
• Fighting back matters: Leaders like Newsom, and activists like April Ryan, show that pushing back—with truth, humor, and persistence—is essential.
• Protecting historical truth is urgent: Attempts to whitewash slavery’s legacy endanger not only Black history but America’s foundation; voices like April Ryan’s are vital in this battle.
• The power of new media: Memes, trolling, and digital mobilization are not frivolous; they are now a necessary battleground, shaping narratives and energizing resistance.
• The future demands new leadership: The Democratic Party faces a generational reckoning and must adapt—or risk irrelevance.

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Tone:
Raw, urgent, and always laced with biting, sometimes gallows humor—Jim Acosta and his guests blend candor, frustration, and hope. They refuse to back down in the face of what they describe as “anti-democratic” onslaughts, and invite listeners to become “shackleless”—unafraid and unmuzzled in the fight for truth.

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Final theme:
Hold on to truth and hope. Do not give in to lies or fear—history, humor, and resistance are the guardrails keeping democracy on track.

Transcript

[A]

Welcome, everybody, to the Jim Acosta Show. It's another day that ends in Y in Donald Trump's assault on American democracy. He's worried about what's in the Epstein files. So in Texas, Republican state lawmakers acting as Trump lackeys are poised to redraw the state's congressional districts to hand Trump five more seats in Congress, or at least they'll try to here in Washington because Trump is worried about what's in the Epstein files. A handful of Republican states are now in the process of sending their National Guard troops to act in a domestic law enforcement capacity, giving the nation's capital the feel of being under occupation. Three big guests joining me today, starting with independent journalist Aaron Parnas. A little later, I'll speak with YouTuber and Dem strategist Keith Edwards. And my friend, veteran White House correspondent April Ryan will join me. She's wonderful. To talk about Trump's whitewashing over at the Smithsonian. Aaron, great to see you. I mean, we were just talking before we got started. It's been an exhausting week, and it's only Wednesday.

[B]

It has, but, I mean, this is just the news cycle nowadays. It's been an exhausting seven months of this presidency. So we still have three years and five months to go.

[A]

We do, we do. And I don't know, I'm sure you saw this. Earlier today, J.D. vance, Stephen Miller, and Pete Hegseth walked into a train station. No, that's not a joke. That really happened. Over at Union Station. Vance was asked by one heckler whether he had plans to have interviews. Intercourse with a sofa. This was all while they were surveying the troops. They were looking at the National Guard troops at Union Station. Aaron, your thoughts on all of this? I know you've been posting on this. What do you think?

[B]

Yeah, and I'll actually be at Union Station tomorrow morning covering. So if everyone wants to come out, come out, say hi. I mean, I think here's the thing. Everyone who says there's no crime problem in D.C. is lying to you. Obviously, there's a crime problem, but there's a crime problem in major cities across the country. But the question remains, just because you have a crime problem, does that mean you need military boots on the ground? And the answer is no. I've been around the city the past week, two weeks, ever since he declared this emergency. I've seen some National Guard members, and they're more busy taking pictures with tourists than they are fighting any crime. Crime doesn't really exist on the National Mall or by the Union Station in Daylight hours things, places like that. So it's kind of counter, I said this yesterday, it's very counterintuitive to say that you have a high crime area and then at the same time put the National Guard in non high crime areas.

[C]

Right.

[B]

And that's what they're doing. So it doesn't really make much sense.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, Aaron, you've been in D.C. long enough. I mean, I grew up around here. I mean, if they want to know where to send the National Guard, I could tell them, you know, there are parts of Washington with high crime. I think the D.C. police Department, even though they've assailed their credibility in terms of their crime stats, they, they put out a map where you can see where the crimes are occurring. A lot of people use that map system to figure out where they want to live and why. I mean, this is not like, this is not some sort of secret, but it's performative. I mean, let's just face it. Stephen Miller, I mean, when you say Stephen Miller, it begins to become performative. And he was over at Union Station earlier today and he said they're going to add thousands more resources is how he described it to what's happening in Washington. And he said, quote, we're not going to let the Communists destroy D.C. and they're going to, quote, ignore the stupid white hippies in Washington. So I mean, this is culture war stuff that they're fighting.

[B]

It is. And I, and I think what Stephen Miller doesn't get is that DC is not this white city, it never has been. And the culture of dc, True, DC is not white. And that's a good thing. DC is a beautiful city. It has so many great cultures, so many, so many great people. And I see some comments there. Donald Trump and Stephen Miller wouldn't dare set foot in Anacostia. They wouldn't.

[A]

They would not.

[B]

They would not. Even though Anacostia, yes, it has crime issues, but it is a great part of town nonetheless with so much culture and so much history. So listen, at the end of the day, like this is all part of their, I mean, they're doing it with the Smithsonian too. Right. They're trying to whitewash history there because it talks about the bad, the horrors of slavery too much. It's all part of the plan. It's all part of the plan to kind of just change history. History. And that is a problem.

[A]

Yeah. And I think it's also changing the topic. It's Bannon esque. Flood the zone with shit and get us talking about the National Guard. Get us talking about Texas redistricting, get us talking about anything but the Epstein files. And apparently they're going to turn over these. Start turning over these files, allegedly on Friday, and the House Oversight Committee is going to get their hands on them. And I was talking with Joyce Vance about this the other day. It depends on what they hand over, what's redacted, who's been going through these files and so on.

[B]

Well, I mean, what I've heard, and this is what I've spoken to people on Capitol Hill who may soon see these files. And I mean, truth be told, from what I hear, the public is likely not going to see them anytime soon. And the reason why is because they're going to be handed over, if they are, to the House Oversight Committee. A lot of it is going to be private. A lot of it is never going to make it to the public record. So that's number one. We probably won't see much of it. And what we will see, unfortunately, is going to be a steady drip from both sides of, like, the bad pieces that incriminate Bill and Hillary Clinton or incriminate Donald Trump. Like, you're not going to actually see what the Epstein files really are about, which is the hundreds of victims and survivors of Epstein and Maxwell, which is what the public deserves to see and what the survivors deserve to have released. So, I don't know. I mean, I agree with Joyce and I agree with you. I think that a lot of these documents will be redacted if they ever make it to the public.

[A]

Right. And remember, Donald Trump was told by Pam Bondi and Cash Patel that his name appears multiple times in the Epstein files. So if there. There aren't any files produced to the Oversight Committee that contain his name, at least once the fix is in, something's up. I mean, I'm just saying.

[B]

No, I agree with you. I agree with you. And I mean, we know his names are in the files. Like, it's not a secret he was associated with Jeffrey Epstein. And I think that's, like, what he seems to forget in all of this is, like, just because your name appears in a file related to Jeffrey Epstein doesn't make you a criminal. Right. Like, they're doormen in the Epstein files who have nothing to do with what Epstein was doing. But at the end of the day, when you're so defensive about it, me as an attorney, I look at that, I'm like, why? Well, what are you trying to hide?

[A]

Yeah, exactly. Well, and the other thing that I think they're trying to hide is what the process is like down in Texas where they're trying to redraw these congressional districts. And, you know, it looks like this is gonna happen. NBC reporting Texas legislators are scheduled to vote on the GOP plan to redraw the congressional map. That is supposed to happen, I guess, any, any minute now. Democrats fled the state, of course, for two weeks to block this. They did introduce an amendment, Aaron, I'm sure you saw this. That would require the Epstein files to be, I guess, put out to the public or something along those lines down in Texas. So, I mean, Democrats are trying to throw something into the mix to I guess, throw sand into the gears one last time. But this is going to happen.

[B]

I mean, yeah, it's going to happen. I think that the amendment is just, I mean, I love Texas Democrats, but that's kind of just for sure that's not going anywhere.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

What I'm more concerned about is what. I mean, I don't know if you saw it, but DNC chairman Ken Martin just put out about 30 minutes ago that he was on a press conference with Cory Booker, Gavin Newsom and Nicole Collier, the representative who's literally been stuck in the Capitol. And apparently Representative Collier was ordered to leave the call and was threatened by Texas law enforcement with a felony charge if she didn't comply. So that to me is more concerning. Yes, these masks are going to pass. This is ultimately an issue for the courts, not for the legislature. And so we'll see what happens there. But what they're doing with Representative Collier, they're having these law enforcement officials follow Texas Democrats to their home to the grocery store. That should be the story right now, in my opinion.

[A]

Well, no, and there's this permission slip, hall pass structure that they've came rule system that they came up with. How ludicrous is this? In what world would a Republican state lawmaker or any Republican lawmaker abide by a hall pass or permission slip type system where they can, they can go somewhere if they promise they come back and so on? It's ridiculous.

[B]

They wouldn't. It's. It's a really weird mechanism. And even like coming from Florida, where I been involved, the Florida legislature and Florida Republicans wouldn't do this to Democrats and I. And if it doesn't happen in Florida, this is really crazy.

[A]

Yeah, there's no question. I mean, I mean, Texas is Texas.

[B]

I mean, that's true.

[A]

But. But you know, when, again, I think you and I talked about this a little bit the last time we got together and I think the thing that still shocks me from the last time we spoke, Aaron, is when you told me that basically the only recollection that you have of a President of the United States is Donald Trump. I tell that to people from time to time when I want to impress upon folks how bizarre this time is that we're in right now and how truly terrifying it is. I mean, young people should have a better recollection of the presidency than Donald Trump. But I mean, what we're seeing in real time is some real anti Democratic stuff. Yeah, I think what's happening in D.C. is, is just, it's just anti Democrat. There's no Republican red state that would deal with a Democratic president sitting in Democratic state. National Guards, they wouldn't deal with it and they wouldn't deal with this.

[B]

Well, it all goes down to preying on the weakest in society. That's been the, that, I mean, really, that's been the modicum for the first seven months of this administration. He is. And D.C. they're not the weakest in society, but they're the one part of America that, that isn't a state. Right. So he can prey on them because he has the ability to do it. He's literally taking low hanging fruit. He can't send the National Guard into Detroit, Michigan and expect that everything's gonna be fine. He can't. He sent the National Guard into Los Angeles and the protests got bigger. Like this wasn't like a winning issue for him. So he's praying on the weak and he's doing it throughout his first seven months. And it's very unfortunate, it's very sad to see. But I mean, I, I have some hope in the sense that people are rising up, people are fighting back in various ways and hopefully at the end of the day, the courts, I mean, these courts better hang on because if they don't, once the courts break, it's over.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, that is the last of the remaining guardrails. And we're just seeing this afternoon some judges come down and say that no, the Justice Department can't release the grand jury information from Epstein cases. And of course we know that those kinds of grand jury materials are not going to result in Donald Trump being outed in any sort of way. This was, this was just sort of a crazy red herring that he threw out, what, a few weeks ago when he was trying to throw everybody off the scent. And so we're gonna have to see how all that plays out. But you did touch upon something that I want to pursue further and that is this. This notion that. That Democrats really need to go on offense.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And you know, Gavin Newsom. I'm gonna talk about this with Keith Edwards in a few minutes here. He's a Democratic strategist and YouTuber. I mean, your take on it, Aaron, because a lot of people have hot takes on this. My sense of it is, have at it, go for it. Why? Why hold back?

[B]

That's my take, too. And I think a lot of the hot takes are focused on, well, we don't want Gavin Newsom to be the Democratic nominee for president in 2028. Well, here's the deal, folks. We're in 2025. We're not in 2028. The presidential primary does not start for another year. Plus, Newsom has not declared. We don't know who's running. We don't know who's not running. In this moment. Gavin Newsom is the most powerful Democrat in the entire country, whether you like it or not. Because he rules or he oversees California, which is the largest economy, the fifth largest economy in the world. Largest economy on a state level. If Gavin Newsom does not do this, then other states will not follow. They just won't. Kathy Hochul won't do it. Jamie Pritzker won't do it. If you want Democrats to act, you need a leader to step up. And Newsom is stepping up. Hey, in 2026, if we have Speaker Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Brian Schatz or Chuck Schumer, whoever is leading the Senate, then, then, yeah, I mean, we could have a different conversation of who's leading the Democratic Party. But right now, the most powerful Democrat is Gavin Newsom, and he's stepping up to the occasion. So that's kind of my take on it. Like, just stop eating each other. Like, stop eating our own.

[A]

Yeah. And I think, really, California has no other choice, and Newsom has no other choice in terms of the redrawing of the congressional maps. I know they're anti redistricting to a large degree in California, but I think even in California, they're saying, well, we can't just let Trump get away with this. When he says, I'm entitled to five new congressional seats in Texas. You gotta do something. You know, it's.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, it's not just that. I mean, when you. When you look at it the way Newsom's not saying, you know what? I'm ruling with an iron fist, we're just gonna pass these new maps and screw you California residents. No, there is a referendum. Prop 50 on the ballot on November 4th of California. Residents don't want this. They can go ahead and reject it. They can vote. They can make their voice heard. Can't say the same for Texas.

[A]

No, that's exactly right. And I mean, to me, the other thing that he's doing that I think a lot of Democrats could take a page from is what he's been doing on social media. The memes, the tweets. It's a bit juvenile, but I don't give a shit. It's hilarious. So why not social media?

[B]

Oh, my God. Social media is not real life.

[A]

It is not real life.

[B]

Gavin Newsom is trolling Trump on social media. The average voter is not going to ever see that, but the people who are going to see that are the people in the White House. And it's pissing the White House off. It's pissing Fox News off. And if they're not talking about what they want to talk about and instead having to respond to Newsom's antics on social media, that's a win in and of itself.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, when they put out the meme that has Hulk Hogan and Tucker Carlson and Kid Rock laying their hands on. On Donald Trump, I mean, I'm writing a substack about this. Right. I'm gonna put it out after the show is over. But it's funny, but it makes a point. And that is. It is absolutely crazy and goofy and just nuts that people on the far right deify Donald Trump. You know, this is somebody who has no. I mean, there's. There's. He has no business of being, you know, compared in any way to any sort of otherworldly, you know, you know, religious figure.

[B]

Yeah. I will say my funniest. The funniest one that I saw actually recently was from just two hours ago where the press office quote, tweeted a Republican, like, influencer who said, in a stunning embarrassment, the chairman of Bed, Bath and Beyond announces they will not open any retail stores in California. Well, the press office just, quote, tweeted, saying after the. Their bankruptcy and closure of every store, like most Americans, we thought Bed, Bath and Beyond no longer existed. We wish them well in their efforts to try to become relevant again. That, to me, was, like, the best thing. That's hilarious. That's objectively hilarious. Like, you don't have to like, news to like that.

[A]

Yeah, no, I mean, I just, you know, like, the Kid Rock stuff is funny. When he says, have you noticed that Kid Rock is not attractive anymore? After I went after him, whatever it was, I Mean, that's just funny. I mean, because of Trump and his obsession with Taylor Swift, like, there's a point to it.

[D]

And.

[A]

And I. Before I let you go, Aaron, you had a chance to be on sort of a panel discussion with Governor Newsom. What was that conversation? Like? You're one of those young influencers. Everybody's like, hey, we got to talk to Aaron. Which, by the way, congratulations. I still say to this day, you're living your best life. And, you know, I am.

[B]

I mean, it's. It's an episode.

[A]

Whatever lucky rabbits would you're rubbing, please, you know, keep doing it.

[B]

I am very blessed, and I'm grateful for it, but that. That conversation with Governor Newsom was a lot of fun.

[D]

We.

[B]

It was a panel of me and a few others and him, and we spent 30 minutes just kind of talking, not just about redistricting efforts. And I asked him about, like, the legalities of it, but also just generally, like. Like, he. He made fun of me for being a Jets fan. Like, he's. He's a regular human. And I think that that needs to be kind of shown as well in all these things, that these politicians are humans. And so I would encourage anyone to go check it out. It was great.

[A]

Yeah. And you found that. I mean, he's kind of. No Fs to give at this point. In terms of the redistricting battle. He's all in. It seems he's all.

[B]

I mean. I mean, between you and me, if he fails in this and he loses in November, he can kiss the presidency goodbye. So this is. I mean, if he wins in November on this redistricting fight, in my opinion, he becomes the initial front runner. But if he loses, it's a big gamble because you don't know how California voters are gonna react. But this. This could make or break his future. So I think he's betting hard on it.

[A]

Interesting. So you're saying that because of. He's put all of his eggs in this basket, this thing's gotta pass, that they gotta pass this thing in California? I assume it will. In which case that. Yeah, that happened.

[B]

I think it will, too. But, I mean, I'm of the position that if this fails and you can't round up 50 plus one in one of the bluest states in the nation, then you're not actually necessarily the leader with this whole coalition behind you. Right, right. So that's like Nancy Pelosi failing to pass a bill in the House and not having votes. This is very similar. So we'll see what Happens.

[A]

Yeah. And folks are like, oh, he's from California. We tried that with Kamala Harris. I sort of think those concerns just sort of get tossed by the wayside right now. I mean, later on, yes, you can focus on that and you can battle it out in the primaries and debates and so on, but it's a sort of like a five alarm fire situation. You can't let Trump steal congressional seats.

[B]

Right. And Kamala Harris was never governor. She was a senator. It's very different. And Kamala Harris didn't lose because she was from California. She lost because she was associated with Joe Biden more than anything. So it's very different.

[A]

Yeah. And for the folks at home who are wondering, Aaron, how many videos have you already done today?

[B]

Oh, I think.

[A]

And on what in total?

[B]

Like 10 or 11. And I have like, I think six or seven more to go. We did everything from the fact that Target CEO had to step down because sales slumped to the stuff happening with Representative Collier, to the new White house account on TikTok being trolled incessantly to everything in between.

[A]

Oh, what do you think? What do you think of the TikTok thing? I guess just very quickly, I'll let you go.

[B]

I think it is objectively hilarious that they're getting trolled like this on TikTok because they're not getting the reaction they wanted. But it's also interesting, like, TikTok's not going away if they're going to open up an account on it.

[A]

Yeah. And Trump initially wanted to get rid of TikTok and then he brought it back because it was working to his benefit and now he's, you know. Yeah. I mean, it's on whatever's in the self interest. What's that?

[B]

It's not Taco Tuesday, but it could be.

[A]

It's not. It's TikTok Taco Tuesday. TikTok Taco Tuesday, but actually it's Wednesday, so. All right, well, Aaron, great to talk to you. I know you have. You said six or seven more videos to cut. That sounds like you're slacking off a little bit. It's not. It should be much higher than that.

[B]

I don't want to jinx us, Jim, but that means it's a slow news day.

[A]

Do not say that, because what happens is that I'll say, okay, thanks, everybody. Goodbye. And then some bombshell will happen, Literally. All right, Aaron, great to see you as always. Thanks a lot for having me. All right, we appreciate it. Thanks, Aaron. Aaron Farnas. Great. Aaron Farnas.

[D]

Thank you.

[A]

I'm going to go very quickly to Keith Edwards because Keith is somebody I've been meaning to have on for some time now, in part because his social media game is so great. And I have to get him on this Gavin Newsom situation. And he put out a really interesting and smart observation, I think, earlier today, which I definitely want to have a bit of a conversation about. So we're going to try to get Keith on here in just a second. Hopefully he'll, he'll chime in. I think if I'm not mistaken, this may be the first, if not one of Keith's first substacks. He can clarify things on that. I'm going to tell him that we are sending the invite now on your phone. Okay. So hopefully he'll chime in here in just a second. And I just got a message from my friend April Ryan. She is going to be live for us over at the White House in just a few minutes, a little short period from now. And we're going to talk about obviously what's been taking place over at the Smithsonian and Trump targeting the Smithsonian and targeting history museums in general in Washington, D.C. as part of this anti woke crusade. Trump was saying on his Truth social yesterday that the Smithsonian is out of control. Everything is discussed how horrible our country is, how bad slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been. I don't for the life of me understand what is going through Trump's mind when he says the Smithsonian is focusing on how bad slavery was. If you're going to have an exhibit on history, as somebody was just saying a few moments ago, history is history. If you're going to do an exhibit on history, obviously you have to portray it for what it is. All right, we're still waiting for Keith to chime in. Hopefully he is going to accept the invite. This might have a little bit to do with Keith not being on the substack machine before. I'm going to see if I can get to the bottom of this. Let me see if maybe I should divert over to my pal April Ryan real quick just to give Keith a few more. Oh, he says he's on. Oh, no, he says he's on. Keith says he's on. Hang on a second, Keith. Let's try this one more time, folks. As I, as I like to say, sometimes the substack, the wheels of the substack machine, they, they churn slowly, but they turn towards justice or something along those lines. We're still trying to, let's see, Keith says he's on. Let's see here. Keith. There he is. Is this it? Do I have it? There he is. Hey, what's up, man? How are you?

[C]

How's it going?

[A]

Things are good. Things are good. It's just one of those. It's live. I don't want to call it live television because we're not on television. We're talking to our phones. But it's live something. And occasionally the substack thing, the little hamster slows down and it doesn't happen.

[C]

I know the joy of being live online, so I get it. And when you're running it all too, it's just.

[A]

We'll clean it up in post. We'll clean it up in post. I was talking to Aaron. Aaron's been killing it. You've been killing it. And I do want to talk about what you've been doing on YouTube because I'm fascinated by it and I want to get to that. But Aaron and I were just having the conversation about Gavin Newsom. Everybody's talking about Gavin Newsom. I saw a really smart observation from you earlier today where you said this also. This thing that Gavin Newsom has been doing also sort of makes the point that whether we like Twitter, X, whatever you want to call it, or not, it's part of our national conversation. It just is what it is, whether Elon Musk is in charge of it or not.

[C]

For now. I mean, it feels. I mean, I don't. I feel I fully don't understand why when this all happened two, three years ago, why the Democratic establishment didn't say peace, goodbye. We're not going to give you our clout and go somewhere else. When Threads was available. We have blue sky now, but we are in this moment where X is still the way in which politics, the battlefield, is fought, still on X, which used to be Twitter. I hate that, as I said in my tweet, but that is what it is. And if not for X and what Gavin Newsom is doing, he would not. I think he gained, like, he was at 500,000 TikTok followers. Now he's at 2 million.

[A]

Wow.

[C]

He was at. He was at a million. Let's just below a million Instagram followers. Now he's at 2.2 million Instagram. It's all because of tweets, really, you.

[A]

Know, well, and people can shit on it and say, oh, well, he shouldn't do that. It's juvenile or whatever. But, you know, if anybody missed what happened in the 2024 campaign, part of what Trump did in Coming back was fueled by the podcast guys and people who are on streaming and in this world, in this digital world, they just are. And so if you're not playing on that turf, if you're not in that landscape, you are. You're fucked is what you are. And I think the Newsom people recognize that, and they seem to have a pretty damn talented social media team.

[C]

You know what it reminds me of? I'm just going to say this because I know politics moves so fast, but it reminds me of what we did at the Lincoln Project five years ago, I think. It's obviously very different, but it feels the same way where people are just dying for. For someone to be relentless and attacked in the way that they're being attacked. And so I'm. I have nothing but props to the social team. I think a couple of them are becoming known, which is so important because this is definitely Gavin Newsom steering the ship, but he has an amazing team behind him, and you have to be. Not only you have to be fast, sharp, funny. There's so many different skills and talents you have to have in order for this to work, and you have to be fearless. And props to Gavin Newsom, because there's been a couple of times where they were like, the left has picked something up, and, like, you know, they're trying to do the thing where he's gone too far, and they're just. They're just. They're not apologizing, they're just going forward. And that's what you need to do if you want to get attention, actually draw blood in this media environment, which there. I think he's like the first person to draw blood to since Donald Trump has gotten back into office.

[A]

And they've totally freaked out Fox, which, I mean, I have to say, you know, as somebody who gets, you know, shit thrown at them by Fox from time to time, I'm like, hey, that's great. Fantastic. And he's going after Greg Gutfeld and Dana Perino and sort of making fun of them, you know, on their fainting couches, complaining about, you know, Gavin Newsom putting out a meme of Hulk Hogan. I mean, just sort of reveals how ridiculous the people are at Fox. I mean, they are sort of the people who've been the bullies at the playground for the last, what, 20 fucking years. So why not?

[C]

Yeah, I mean, it's what I love about it because it's a. It's a parody, right? He's parody. It's a parody. It's satire. It's obviously he would not be doing this if Donald Trump wasn't doing it. But what it's making Republicans do and Fox do is have to stare at what Trump is doing in a different way. I think we've all become kind of used to it. I've become used to it. I've become numb to the caps lock and to the, to the attention to this matter and all this shit. And Gavin Newsom has made us have to look at it again. And I think that's kind of the brilliance of it is we did all become very used to it where the, we are the frogs in boiling water and the water is spilling over. It's so hot.

[A]

Right.

[C]

And we're used to it.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

But because of this, we all have had to say, wait a second. This is kind of like it's now. It's, it's, it's, it's made it, it's made it new again. And the fact that Fox has to. The fact that Fox is critiquing him on the very things he's not doing anything different than what Trump has done, like being blessed by Hulk Hogan and Kid Rock. That's something Trump has posted. The Kid Rock meme of like, I you to vote for. I want you to support Gad. Like, that's something that Trump did with Taylor Swift. We've all become so used to it. But it is insane. It is insane that the President United States behaves this way online. Which to me is like, if you put what he said on like the traditional letterhead of the White House or the President's Seal, the things that Trump says, we, it would, but we become used to it. But it's not normal. It's not normal. I'm glad, I'm glad he's shining a light on it and making Fox F2 engage with some hypocrisy.

[A]

Yeah. And at the risk of overstating things, I mean, there's some Scorsese or Spielberg, like magic to what they're doing. Right. Didn't they put out a video that was sort of mocking Hegseth and RFK Jr. At the gym? I mean, that is like, that's, that's brilliant. I mean, I just, I love that kind of stuff. And the other thing too is the other thing that I, I find to be just really bizarre and vomit inducing about how the right, you know, sort of goes and puts Trump on a pedestal. They will portray Trump as having, like, rock hard abs or like giant guns with machine guns and all this. And so the Newsom, the Newsom people or the Newsom fans out there are coming up with their own images of, like, the same exact thing. And it's hilarious. And that kind of mockery is desperately needed right now.

[C]

Yeah, people are very hungry for it. I think that's the thing that everyone. I think it's allowing us to kind of have a sigh. I think there has been all of this anxiety around what Trump is doing. And one thing authoritarians do not like, aside from democracy and voting, is comedy, because it really puts a puncture into the facade that they build up for themselves. And so when you can laugh at it, it takes the power away from it. And so that's what Gavin Newsom was really giving us the opportunity to do, is to take the power away from the authoritarian regime. And when you do that, it's kind of like the president has no clothes. And so we're kind of like, wait a second. Like, these are fucking idiots. These are idiots. And it's like an insane thing that we're being put through. And I think it kind of gives the movement that we have a lot more energy, because with laughter comes joy, and with joy gives you the ability to kind of move forward in a more intentional way, I think.

[A]

Yeah, the emperor has no clothes and he has no abs either, in Donald Trump's face. Very quickly, I do want to ask you about. I don't know if you saw this, but I'm just going to. I'll just tell you what it says and generally pose a question. The New York Times had a piece out today on the Democrats losing voters nationwide, that they're hemorrhaging voters to the tune of 4.5 million voters, according to this New York Times deep dive. Keith, what is your sense of what is taking place inside the party right now? And you're absolutely right. What you guys did over at the Lincoln Project, the way you kind of moved the ball forward in the social media space, it did really change a lot. What lessons should the Democrats be drawing right now? Should they be looking to what Gavin Newsom is doing? Is it the Zoran Mandani messaging on affordability? Is it a combination of all those things? What do you have a sense of, like, why they're hemorrhaging so many voters and not just, not just independent swing state type areas, but, you know, very bright blue areas as well?

[C]

I'm going to talk off the top of my head because I haven't really. I haven't heard about this, so I'm going to talk.

[A]

I'll send it to you. Sorry, I should have sent it to you?

[C]

No, it's totally fine. But I have a sense of. I kind of have a sense of the way forward. I do not think the establishment party as it is is going to get us out of this. I don't think that traditional politics is going to get. Get us out of this. So it makes sense to me. They're hemorrhaging voters because voters are looking for something completely different right now. I don't think we've found that yet. But I do believe, and I'm, I think this is kind of how I feel right now, is that it's not going to start at the top. Whatever is going to happen next has to start at the bottom. The Democratic Party does not lead, it follows. And the thing that it's going to follow is the voters. And so the folks watching this right now are probably the most in tune. Voters in America are probably fucking fed up with the Democratic Party as they should be. And so I think that, I do think there's some sort of movement boiling. I don't know what it's going to be. I don't know it's going to, where it's going to go to.

[A]

But is it John Stewart or something like that? I mean, you see people. Yeah, Maddie Hassan has talked about this. Yeah.

[C]

It has to be. There has to be a radical change. There has to be a radical change not only in what the Democratic Party believes in who it fights for. I think we can't be a corporatist party, can't be a party of the billionaires. I think people want a Democratic Party that is inherently moral. And I think we've, we have a party right now that has a lot of immorality associated with it. It makes it hard for us to be the moral party if there's a party that also kind of has a lot of immoral actors in it. You know, just off the top of my head, Nancy Pelosi and the stock trading. I think Nancy Pelosi is an amazing figure. She's done a lot. But it really doesn't help us being able to talk about the corruption happening in the White House.

[A]

You can just say, look at this.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. Because I've said that to Republican voters like, well, Nancy Pelosi does it. It's like, you're right, she doesn't do as much, but it's kind of this. It's the same thing on a smaller degree.

[A]

And I don't like to diss. I don't like to diss older folks. I mean, you know, I. I love. I mean, my dad is, you know, enjoying his golden years and so on. You get a lot of wisdom from our parents and grandparents and so on. But I do think there's just a passing of the torch. John Kennedy said it after Dwight Eisenhower. The torch must be passed at some point. And there are some folks who are holding on to that damn torch. They don't want to let it go.

[C]

You are. I'm getting fired up. I'm getting fired up on this live stream. I'm like, let's go. But you're right. You're absolutely right. That's another problem, too. But, yeah, the solution is not going to come from the Democratic Party. It's going to come from the people watching this live stream. It's going to. It's going to come from the voters who are going to demand a different type of candidate. And I don't know if that candidate has revealed itself yet. I think it will in the primaries, certainly in these House races and then in the Senate, and we're going to see where it shapes up. But I just don't think the Democratic Party as it stands today is going to get us out of it, nor is it set up to.

[A]

Well, and Keith, remind us again, you're on YouTube. You're lighting it up on YouTube. Every once in a while, I check your YouTube count, and it's like the Powerball jackpot. It's growing in ways that are just hard to fathom.

[C]

It's freaking me out. It's freaking me out. I wrote to my close friends on Instagram. I'll just say it to these close friends that we're speaking to today where it's like, I'm just hoping, because once you hit a million subscribers, I just feel like it's a whole different thing. So I'm just trying to first go as slowly as possible and enjoying the moment because, I don't know, it's. It's just. It's just bigger than I ever could have imagined. I'm very grateful. And as. As I'm sure you know, like, it's such a gift to have an audience that really respects you and trusts you. And so it's just something that I. I really don't take for granted. And I also am just so grateful for it. But I feel the same. It's happening very fast. It's happening very fast.

[A]

No, and I'm so happy for you. And I think part of it is just people want fresh faces. They just want fresh faces, whether it's running for office, delivering the news, delivering information. And you're doing it, man. You're doing it. So great job.

[C]

Well, thank you. Thanks. It's been great.

[A]

All right, well, good to see you, Keith. Let's do it again sometime real soon, man. But as soon as I saw that tweet earlier, and for me, you shouldn't react to a tweet. As soon as I saw it, I was like, I need to have Keith on. We need to talk about this. I'm glad it all worked out. Great to see you.

[C]

Thank you. Appreciate it. And I'll talk to you soon.

[A]

All right. All right. Congrats to you. All right, talk to you soon. Thanks. All right, I'm going to try to bring in my sister from another mister. As I like to call her, April Ryan. April and I have just worked in the trenches together for years, and I love her to death. Let me just see if I can get her on. And it just takes a few moments to see if we can get the substack machine work. I think April was trying to say, jim, here I am. Let's go. And I'm hoping she has not given up entirely on me here. April is the best. When you talk about legendary White House correspondence, April Ryan will always be included in that category. There's April right there. April, we got to get the phone the other way.

[D]

Oh, dag.

[A]

April, you texted me and you said, I've got this beautiful White House backdrop. And you do it beautiful. Look at that.

[D]

Remember? Look, Let me tell you something. Guess what I'm using as my. To hold the phone up.

[A]

A person. No, no.

[D]

You're using that black wrought iron gate.

[A]

Oh, you are.

[D]

Good for you, child. Let me tell you something. You gotta learn how to use what you got.

[A]

You gotta use what you got. No question about. I remember that black wrought iron gate. It was there when I was there, not that long ago.

[D]

It was there before we both were here.

[A]

That's a good point.

[D]

And it'll be here till we, you know, whatever. But, yeah, it's the end of the day, people are leaving and.

[A]

Well, that's that. I have to ask you, do people feel, like, a little weird leaving the White House these days? Because I remember during the first term, you were afraid. Well, that's true.

[D]

No, I'm not being funny. It's a whole. The whole. It's a different cast of characters, even reporters, and it's a whole. It's not. You know, we've always had a friendly, adversarial relationship around here, but it's just. I come Here, do what I gotta do and I.

[A]

And then get the hell out. Yeah, okay, so since you mentioned that, I have to ask because we used to have the weird folks there when you and I were there. When I was there with you.

[D]

Oh, it's weird.

[A]

It seems like it's on steroids now where you have these right wing podcasters and stuff. And maybe we can't talk too loud because they might hear you.

[D]

Audrey Taylor Greene boyfriend is hovering around here and all.

[A]

What's Brian Glenn like? Is he a nice guy?

[D]

We don't even talk. We just look at each other. Rachel, Rachel, Scott is coming. I don't even deal. You know, I'm serious. I can't get involved. Hi, Rachel. Hi, April. I'm on a substantive. Okay.

[A]

Bye, Rachel.

[B]

Love me.

[D]

I'll see you later. Jim Acosta said hi. Oh, hey, Jim.

[A]

Hi.

[D]

Now, you know I can talk to Rachel.

[A]

Rachel's wonderful. Yeah.

[D]

Yeah. But it's a whole different. They said you and I were hands. You got people going in there talking about, oh, if I'm walking with Marjorie Taylor mtg in Washington, you know, it's safe. Oh, Mr. Zelensky, why aren't you wearing a suit? Oh, I'm glad to see you wearing a suit. What?

[A]

Yeah, but Zelensky blew him up the other day. That was so funny when Zelenskyy was like, oh, I see you're wearing the same suit, or something like that. That was good.

[D]

The Ukrainian shade was very good.

[A]

That was strong. Ukrainian shade.

[D]

That was strong. Insane.

[A]

Well, April, I do have to talk to you about, because you and I have talked about this before. This attack on history. This attack, I mean, the front lines of Donald Trump's attack on history in this country is at the Smithsonian. It's at our beautiful grand museums that we have here in Washington D.C. and he seems to have a bone to pick with the African American History Museum, which is just a beautiful place. And he says it's too focused on how bad slavery was.

[D]

I have to respond, right? The Smithsonian is focused on how bad slavery was. But let's talk about the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian is a Washington Zoo, right? The pandas. The pandas. I don't see anything talking about slavery there. The pandas, those beautiful pandas that we didn't exchange with. That's the first. Do you realize in second grade, I'm from Baltimore and my mother was a chaperone and they did this thing, this trip to the zoo, that was my first experience at Smithsonian. Then, you know, the Natural History Museum I gone to. So Many of the museums. There's one called the African Art Museum with all the masks and everything.

[A]

Right.

[D]

But the one in particular that deals with slavery. And I love siptea. Yes. Because, you know, that's what I do.

[A]

That's what you do. Now you have the tea. You have the tea.

[D]

Every Thursday at 5pm I have a show called the Tea. I want you guys to tune in because we're talking about this tomorrow. But here's the deal. From this beautiful setting of the historic White House, the only museum that I see dealing with slavery, down the bowels of the museum, it was strategically built that way. So you go from the bottom, from the hurt, the middle passage, to joy, Black Joy. The only museum that I see that totally focuses. Not totally focuses, but has a focus, has an expansive, researched and studied focus by PhDs. It's not just the whim, oh, I'm gonna do this. I watched Roots, and I'm gonna throw this here and throw this. No, it's studied. Studied. Exhibit on slavery is the National Museum of African American History and Culture, affectionately known as the Black Sonic. And the first day I went, first time I went, I cried. They had. It was the day that it opened, and George W. Bush was there. Barack Obama was president. John Lewis was there. We were reporters covering it, and they let us go down. They said they had. They had people to help you deal with your grief.

[A]

Right.

[D]

Nobody was there for me, and I'm the descendant of a slave. So you don't like to focus on it. But my great, great grandfather, his name is Dollar Brown. It was sold on the auction block in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He couldn't write his name, and he couldn't read or write. But the census taker. And I found all of this census tech. I got it, and it's the census Bureau. I've got the Census Bureau reports that he couldn't read or write, but they put an X by his name. Slavery is real for me. So you're discounting a whole swath of people when you talk about their focus is too much. One of the reasons why that museum is one of the greatest museums around the world is because of its intense and exacting focus on. On what happened to take the mystery, take the veil off. Because I'm gonna tell you something. I don't know if you did this, but when I went to Catholic school in Baltimore, it was like a graph or two. And, you know, it fills my heart. This nation is filled with so many different groups of people. The Holocaust Museum, I love, you know, I live in a Jewish community. I want to learn more about other cultures. But it takes a narrow minded person, you know, somebody who's fearful to shut down your education to learn. I mean, they've banned our books, they're banning everything about us. But let me say this, let's talk about this. A couple of months ago, remember, remember I did the story on it because the word was getting out. I'm not gonna tell you who I talked to, but even Lonnie Bunch was in March talking in North Carolina to people saying how serious this was. And they were trying to quell all the stories so they wouldn't get the focus, the focus being on them. We forgot we were so focused on the museum at that time. Poor Carla Hayden over at the National Archives got fired. Right. Black woman. Another black woman. So the bottom line is the museum is under fire. It's been under fire. Okay. And Donald Trump toured this museum during his first. When Omarosa was the black minder here, she took him over there. He could only stay a little bit light and dark. Can't stay in the same place, if you understand what I'm saying. He had to flee the museum. So when I say light, brightness and the darkness.

[A]

Yeah, you understand exactly the darkness inside. Yeah.

[D]

That's my brother from another mother. He understands.

[A]

That's it.

[D]

He walked with Ben Carson, the then HUD secretary, and saw the exhibit on Ben Carson and then he left. He wasn't there long. So how does he know? You know? But he probably knows because people have told him. But what he's saying goes along with this anti woke and anti DEI effort. Right. And it goes along with the fact that they don't want to call on me here. They don't let me in the Oval Office because I guess I'm too black. I'm too woke. I woke up this morning.

[A]

You asked too many good questions. That's what it is.

[D]

But that's why I'm here on Substack, so we can expose all this stuff.

[A]

That's exactly right. But I think part of it is a couple of things. One is, I think Donald Trump is trying to normalize hatred.

[D]

Trying to. No, no, no. Let's take the ing out. Let's take the try out. He is normalized. He is doing it. It's happening.

[A]

You're right. That's right. He is normalizing hatred and he's trying to make it okay. He's trying to make it okay for.

[D]

People in this historic place. He's doing that. Yeah. It's not okay. It'll never be okay.

[A]

That's right. And that, to me, is why it's worth fighting for. It's worth fighting for places like the National African American history.

[D]

If they do this to us, what other communities will they do this to?

[A]

That's right.

[D]

So it's just like what was happening to our Latina brothers and sisters with immigration. It went from Latina Brazilians to Haitians to Iranians. It's anybody. And then now the cities. Every city happens to be black. Black mayors, you know, diverse cities, D.C. let me tell you something. In any city, you know where to go and where not to go. And if you don't, you better call the police department and find out where you can and cannot go at what time of night. And this is all because, one, he doesn't like Mayor Bowser. Okay. They fought with that Black Lives Matter situation.

[A]

That's right. Yep.

[D]

And in Oakland now we talking about Oakland now. A mayor who is a black woman who worked alongside with the then vilified Black Panther Party that gave us things like Sickle Cell, putting the focus on Sickle Cell. Free breakfast. The government does. Well, not anymore. Because they've taken. Well, maybe not in some places because they've taken federal funding away for these free meals for the children.

[A]

Also.

[D]

What about free clinics? We were having free clinics. Okay.

[A]

He just doesn't like. Well, I mean, I'm sorry, but their days of saying you can't associate with this person or you're in trouble because you associated with that person, those days are over. He associated with Jeffrey Epstein for how many years?

[D]

And that's the thing. We just starting to hear about Jeffrey Epstein again. So. But let me say this to you. Let me say this. And I'm not saying this to be funny. I am a great reporter who happens to be black. How many generations removed from a slave, here on this place, in this space, the longest serving black woman or black person in history. That's not by happenstance. But I'm gonna say this to you. I'd be damned if I'm not gonna teach my children my history, okay? Because when you don't know your history, you don't know who you are. You don't know where you've been and where you're going. And when you start erasing people's minds and everything, who are we? I'm not somebody. Here's my thing. I was taught as a young age, I was born. Matter of fact, my birthday, I'm expecting a gift. My birthday, September 5th. I was born a couple of days A couple of months before Dr. King was assassinated. Right. My parents were in that civil rights era. So they always told me, they regaled me, and they let me know I was the first generation, one of the first generations to be born shackleless. Shackleless. And when we go to that museum, we see the shackles, the shackles of the babies that hurts, the shackles of the adults. We see one of the slave ships, the timbers from the slave ship. We see the products that the slave worked, sugar and cotton that a lot of these Ivy League universities are built upon, and we can't even get in.

[A]

So you just want to say. And I want to say, as a Latino, I feel shackleless, too. And I'm proud to have been born and raised in a generation, because who wants to be shackled to institutional racism, whether you're white, black, Latino? And what Donald Trump is trying to do is he's trying to tell people that it's okay to listen to that little voice inside of them that says it's okay to hate other people. That's what he's trying to do, and that's what's so wrong about it.

[D]

Jill Scott has a song, and I'm gonna call this up, because it's called Hate On Me. Hate Up. It's way back in the day. It says Hate on me because my mind is free Fill my destiny, so shall it be. There is a fear, Donald Trump has said. In 1989, being interviewed by Bryant Gumbel, he said, highly educated black men and women do better fare better than highly educated white people. I don't know where he gets that from, because that's not the case in my community, in my household. My mother always told me I had to be better just to be considered average, you know? But I want to say this, too, about the museum, and I'm sorry, guys, that I'm just going on and on. I see the.

[A]

No, I love it. I love it.

[D]

Everybody loves. But it bothers me because I love this place. I love this place. I love the museum. And this place is where. Who would have thought a black woman from Baltimore going to the HBCU would make history? You know? Yes, for all intents and purposes, my name should be in there. And it may never be under this administration.

[A]

It should be. It should be, and it will.

[D]

And that's not even why. But let me tell you something. When a couple of months ago, when they started taking things out, saying it was on loan, I want you to hear me, when things were being taken out, saying, oh, they're giving the loans back. They have warehouses of artifacts everywhere. They didn't need to put things back. They have warehouses of artifacts. But guess what? They gave them back. And I'm starting to see they may have given it back so they wouldn't be thrown away, discarded or lost.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

Or trashed.

[A]

And if they had their way, they'd shut the whole museum down. And that's just not going to happen.

[D]

You think there was a protest? You think they've been protests over other things? Shut that museum down. You watch black folk. Look, they've been trying to protest. Find the right protest. And you think, shut it down. Watch what black folks do. You think Target. You think Target lost his CEO, huh? There's going to be. There's going to be a lot of stuff coming on. I think I hit it. A fly just went right or something just hit me right in the head. I think it wanted to let me know I hit the nail squarely.

[A]

They said you nailed it. That's it. That's what it is. Well, April, I mean, to me, the reason why I wanted to reach out to you is when I saw this, I just thought, again, this is a teachable moment. Barack Obama used to talk about teachable moments. And you know what? The president of the United States is not capable of giving this country teachable moments. But you are. People like you are, April. We need people like you.

[D]

He attended Wharton. He can read and he can write. Whoa, whoa. I don't.

[A]

But he. But that education did not take care of what's in here.

[D]

But let me say this to you. The hatred. We have normalized the community. This white community up in Arkansas, we have normalized people walking with masks, walking with ski masks in the heat of summer, walking down the street. We have normalized that. But when I walk down the street with a bunch of people, it's a problem, you know, I am shackleless, and a lot of people feel this way. And I think it's just a matter of that. I'm going to tell you, HBCUs and that place, that museum, those are things that you don't touch in the black community.

[A]

That's correct. So that's correct.

[D]

We shout talking about it.

[A]

No, no, but I. But I knew exactly the right person to go to on this, April, and that's you. Because you've been. You've been there in the trenches. As I was saying, as I was introducing you, you've been there in the trenches.

[D]

Were you here when we went in there that day? The first day they opened I remember when even the Martin Luther King Jr. Statue when Barack Obama spoke. I was in pool that day. We had to run around. I thought I was going to lose a lump because, you know, with pool, you got to meet the rest of the. I was like. But, you know, I've been there for these significant moments and seeing not just this nation, but the world rally and support. Yes. You know, but I think the problem is, and I might be simplifying it, I think that everyone needs to be. Needs to feel like they matter. And you have a certain segment of society that's making this kind of push because they feel like they don't matter. Everybody matters. But what I'm not going to do, I'm not going to sit up there and let you hold me down and impress me.

[A]

That's right.

[D]

Because I'm free. Shackleless.

[A]

I love it. That's going to be the theme for our show today, April. Shackle this, guys.

[D]

Everybody do this.

[A]

Do this, do this, do it right now. It feels good, actually.

[D]

Yeah. Imagine for all of our allies here who were never enslaved, think about what it would be like on a ship for at least six months. The strongest survive because shark patterns changed from West Africa, because they threw a lot of the incalcitrants, the crazy, the people they thought crazy overboard. The shark pattern changed. Now think about when they ripped you from your tribes. They put you in these small rooms. The strongest, the ones who survived got on the ship. And the strongest who survived the ship went on the dock. They stripped you down, stripped you down so people could see who you were. And for women, the way you were found out, if you were able to be fertile, they checked your breasts to see if the breast was sagging. If the breasts sagged, that showed that you had children. How dare you. And if you didn't have children, they sent you on the journey so you could bear the next round of free labor. That's bull.

[A]

That's right.

[D]

That's why I say I'm free. And that's why, child.

[A]

Oh, that's okay. But I'm glad. Say what you gotta say honestly. And I love that you're saying it from the heart because people need to hear it. People need to hear it. And I hope this breaks through. It deserves to break through.

[D]

Here at this White House. Here at this White House. Because you know they're gonna find this with April up there with Jim. They might, you know, they're gonna try. They're gonna try to do something. But I don't.

[A]

Well, that's okay. That's all right. They can't shut us all down. And as far as I understand, they haven't. They haven't been able to figure out how to shut this down. So I'm gonna keep doing it and I'm gonna keep having you on and we'll keep spilling the tea and you're gonna do it tomorrow. So.

[D]

Yes, I'm spilling the tea tomorrow at 5pm Please, guys, subscribe. Come onto my show. We're talking about this gym. We've got Jamal Bryant. He's gonna talk about this. He's gonna talk Target Pastor Jamal Bryant, civil rights religious leader that you either love to love or love to hate. But he's. Whether you hate him or love him, he's still doing some things. And Target CEO is stepping down. They've lost a lot of money, okay? Because they're anti DUI fans. It's one piece at a time. And look at what happened. We don't have time, but I want you guys to Google the Montgomery Bus boycott. This is the modern day Montgomery Bus Boycott. They shut down transportation in the city. Black folks did. Because. Just read about it. I'm not going to just. Just read about it. It's very interesting. It's a very interesting read. And then we have. Guess who else we have? Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Well, yeah, Mary Clarence Bottoms, who's coming on. She's running for governor. So we got a power pack show tomorrow at 5. Guys, join. We got. We gonna send you. We're gonna send you to the moon and back.

[A]

I love it. I love it. And Trump can peddle hate. We're going to stop hate. We're going to stop it.

[D]

No, we just tell the truth day.

[A]

By day by day.

[D]

We tell the truth with facts.

[A]

That's it. We tell the truth with facts and history. The last time I heard was full of facts and full of truth, and you can't erase it.

[D]

A lot of books to include my books. Thank you, guys. I see a lot of people following. Thank you. I want you to tune in tomorrow because we got a lot more to talk about. And actually, after I leave here, I'm getting ready to drive by where we just talked about. We're gonna drive by the Smithsonian. I just did a little stand up here, but I'm drive by and get some B roll and stuff.

[A]

Well, love you, April.

[D]

This is serious. Love you more.

[A]

No, this is serious. And we're not gonna let up on it. And every chance I have to talk about it, I'm gonna talk about it. And every chance I can bring you on and force you to come on, beg you to come on. I'm gonna do it.

[D]

So, yeah, I'm gonna run off to campus and anymore I got my bags over right next to me. I'm gonna run off to campus before they try to kick me off.

[A]

Get while the getting's good.

[D]

Get while the getting is good. All right, my friend. Love you and everybody, thank you. Join me tomorrow at 5.

[A]

Join April. She's the best. Bye, April. Great to see you. Get home safe. Okay, Take care.

[D]

Yes. Bye. Bye.

[A]

All right, we'll talk soon. Great. April Ryan, the wonderful, the amazing. I've run out of superlatives. I could just go on all day. But the thing about April that makes April so special and the thing that people sometimes miss in her reporting is where it comes from. It comes from what she was just talking about just now. The history that she brings to the table as a journalist, the history that she brings to the table as a correspondent. And she, I mean, to remind folks at home, April has been there and done that. She's covered Republican and Democratic presidents and she has had the respect of Republican and Democratic presidents up until the current one that we have right now in the White House, which says more about who's in the White House right now than April Ryan. Also, they won't let April Ryan ask a question. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? I thought these were tough guys over at the White House. I thought Donald, getting back to the Gavin Newsom memes of Newsom, six pack abs and all this, they portray Trump as this alpha male with the six pack abs and the machine guns and the big biceps and all this stuff. They say he's a tough guy, but he won't take a question from Abel Ryan. A tough guy would always take a question from Abel Ryan. And so Donald Trump, if you are indeed the alpha male with the six pack abs and the bulging biceps that you are made out to be on social media, which is all, of course, a farce and a fraud, you would be man enough to take a question from Abel Ryan. And I dare him to do that. Last thing I want to get to. Before we go. The bullshit factory strikes again. You guys are well aware of the fact that I coined the term the bullshit factory about the folks over at Fox, Rupert Murdoch's propaganda TV network for Donald Trump. This is in the New York Times today. Jeanine Pirro, Jesse Waters, Maria Bartiromo. They seem to have different motivations, but the same goal to help President Trump. Several of Fox News's most prominent on air news personalities made clear their desire to help Trump shortly before and after the 2020 presidential election, according to a tranche of court documents released on Tuesday. And a 2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox filed by Smartmatic, a voting technology company. You guys remember the Smartmatic case? In one text message, Mr. Waters, who now hosts Jesse Waters primetime on Fox, I'm reading from the New York Times, said to his colleague Greg Gutfeld, quote, think about how incredible our ratings would be if Fox went all in on Stop the Steal, a reference to the movement trying to overturn the results of the election. Ms. Pirro, a former Fox News host who is now the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C. yes, Judge Weinbach says she's called on SNL, told Ronna McDaniel, then the Republican National Committee chair, in a text in the months before the election, quote, I work so hard for the president and party. Ms. Pirro had been pushing for a pardon from Mr. Trump for her ex husband. Smartmatic argues the bullshit factory strikes again. I mean, more evidence that it's a propaganda network, folks. And I know most of the folks who are watching this right now understand that. But more evidence. And as April was saying a few months ago, we deal with facts, we deal with truth. Here's more truth leading us to what I described Fox as whatever it was four years ago. Was it four years ago? Has it been that long? The bullshit factory. It was bullshit back in 2020. Donald Trump still calls it a rigged election and a hoax and everything else. And he claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him to this day. He did it the other day in the Oval Office with Zelensky and everybody. He was crying again about all this stuff. You lost, you lost, you lost, you lost. And you had people at the biggest cable network in television in the United States talking about how incredible their ratings would be if Fox went all in on Stop the Steal. It's a bullshit factory, folks. Utter bullshit. I want to thank Aaron Parnas for joining me today. Want to thank Keith Edwards. I want to thank the wonderful April Ryan. I hope you know I wanted to talk about Fox at the end of the show, but I hope that the theme of the shackles being ripped away that April was talking about, I hope that's what you think about later tonight. I'm not going to sit here and go on some long diatribe to tell you that slavery was bad. It is by definition horrendous. It is by definition evil. And Donald Trump should know that. But as I was saying with April, this, this tells you more about Donald Trump than the Smithsonian or whatever exhibits they have on display. Mr. President, you are not going to get away with normalizing hatred in this country. As April Ryan was saying. He, he is doing that. He is doing that. There's no question about it. He's not going to get away with it. It's not going to be lasting because there are too many of us who want to do this still. Reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. Have a good evening. Thanks a lot for watching. Good night.

[D]

It.