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The Joy Reid Show
California Hits Back at the Great Texas Betrayal | The Joy Reid Show LIVE! Aug 22, 2025
01:00:44
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- [00:00]
Nicole Collier
Foreign.
- [00:14]
Joy Reid
Good evening and welcome to the Joy Reach show. Happy Friday. Bigging up everybody. By the way, who's watching on YouTube, substack and also those listening in on Spotify. We so appreciate y'. All. All right, before we start, let's get to some headlines. Let's start with with Florida. The Trump regime suffered a legal setback as a federal judge on Thursday ruled that no more immigrants detainees can be sent to the concentration camp in the Florida Everglades that America's Most blatantly cosplaying 1950s Governor Ron DeSantis and his party have labeled Alligator Alcatraz. While ordering that much of the facility must be dismantled. Judge Kathleen Williams of the federal District Court in Miami gave federal and state authorities 60 days to move the existing detainees, who I will remind you, have largely had no actual hearings and been convicted of no crimes, and ordering that they begin to remove fencing, lighting, power generators and other materials from the facility. The order also prohibits any new construction. Now, the ruling is based on the feds and DeSantis regime not bothering to get an environmental review before building the Gulag. And it cites the risk of imminent harm to the environment and to tribal lands of the Miccosukee tribe who live in the area. And by the way, this is not going to be the first and only fight that we're going to see between the Trump regime and Native Americans. More on that next week. Meanwhile, John Bolton, who served as UN Ambassador despite previously stating that the UN could lose several floors and no one would notice, and national security adviser during Trump's first term, but who has become a Sharp Creek critic of his former boss, especially when it comes to Russia and Ukraine, got his house and his f at his office raided by the FBI today. And you will never believe the reason why. The agents are reportedly looking for classified documents. I kid you not. They are investigating Bolton for potentially possessing and sharing classified documents in the book that he wrote in 2020. And yes, I am staring in Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump because if you think that this isn't some perverse revenge fantasy by the president who temporarily got indicted for carting home boxes and boxes of classified documents, which he referred to as his precious boxes, and then hiding them in his ballroom and in his bathroom, and who really hates anyone who might actually know why he's Vladimir Putin's house pet, I don't know what to tell you. But the other explanation for why this raid may have happened comes from Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthy of Illinois. Here it is.
- [02:54]
Raja Krishnamoorthy
It looks political to me. I Mean, it's, It's. It looks political. It looks like it's also an attempt to distract from the other big news of the day, which is the first production of the Epstein files that's required by subpoena from the Oversight Committee on which I sit. And they want to change the conversation repeatedly. This is going to happen every day because they don't want people talking about the Epstein files or about their mismanagement of the economy.
- [03:22]
Interviewer/Host
All right, let me, Let me follow up on that. You think you were questioning the timing.
- [03:27]
Malcolm Kenyatta
Of this and raising a possible connection.
- [03:30]
Interviewer/Host
To the turning over of some documents of Epstein files to your committee today?
- [03:37]
Raja Krishnamoorthy
Yeah, I think that. Look, I think today is the first day that the DOJ has been.
- [03:45]
Nicole Collier
Required.
- [03:45]
Raja Krishnamoorthy
To comply with the subpoena. They said that they would start producing documents today. I'm concerned that they're going to slow walk that as well. But there's tremendous clamor for these documents and transparency as to these files. And as you know, both Donald Trump as well as Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, are trying to prevent that from happening. And they want to change the conversation.
- [04:11]
Joy Reid
Exactly. And I love the way the media is like, wait a minute, are you saying that this is corruption? Yeah, He's. Like I said, what I said. Oh, Lord. And Trump's distraction techniques have not stopped there. There is, of course, the ongoing occupation of Washington, D.C. which Trump personally inspected today, announcing that more cities will be on the menu for his giant military distraction from the Epstein files, the economy he ruined with his taco tariffs and his humiliation at the hands of Putin, and, of course, his desperate attempts to ensure that his financial grift and presidential crime spree never ends by killing any chance of future free and fair elections also continues. Not only did Trump announce this week that Republicans must end all absentee voting, his friends in Texas dropped a nuclear device on the voting rights of black and brown Texans by voting to steal five congressional seats held by black members of Congress, including Representatives Al Green and Jasmine Crockett, and one held by a Latino member, leaving white voters in the state. And I've told you this before on this podcast, but I will tell you again, leaving white voters in this state with overrepresentation to the tune of one white Texas voter now counting for three Latinos and five African Americans, AKA apartheid. As the Texas Democrats who fled the state tried to warn their colleagues there was nothing short of st staying outside of Texas and denying quorum that would have prevented this result. It became inevitable the moment enough Texas Democrats returned. But the Outrages against those Democrats did not end with their return. There was the demand that they sign a permission slip to leave the chamber accompanied by armed police guards who got to follow them home and anywhere else they went. One member, Representative Sheryl Crow, who signed the slip, was even threatened with arrest when she out jogged her minder. True story. But one member, Representative Nicole Collier, refused to sign. And for that she was literally locked in the chamber and detained for more than 48 hours. Literally sleeping in the chamber until Wednesday when the doors were unlocked so that Democrats could return, give their speeches and witness the dissolution of black and brown power in the state of Texas. Here's how the two week drama ended up with passionate speeches and a failure to save those seats.
- [06:31]
Texas State Representative (unnamed, possibly Sheryl Crow or another Democrat)
This is about racism and if you can't hear it from them, then hear it from me. As a white woman and a daughter of a man of privilege and power, he knew that his strength was to bring people that didn't look like him to the table of government. And so 50 years later, after Barbara Jordan, aided by white people to have a voice, the first woman of color elected to the South, a woman who sat in the impeachment of Nixon, a woman who said that finally after amendment debate and vote, I am finally part of we the people to stand here as a 50 year old woman and know that we now go back in time. So let's talk about cowardice and cheats because if you knew you could win this next election, you wouldn't be taking this effort.
- [07:28]
Joy Reid
And Texas State Representative Nicole Collier joins me now. Thank you so much for being here.
- [07:33]
Nicole Collier
Well, thank you for having me.
- [07:35]
Joy Reid
Let me actually play the moment. And this is a 11 for for, for Jason. When the bill actually passed the House. Here's.
- [07:47]
Raja Krishnamoorthy
88 honest House bill for pass members.
- [07:51]
Joy Reid
It is the intent of the chair to adjourn briefing to begin any legislation. Just tell me what your reaction was just in that moment when the bill passed.
- [08:01]
Nicole Collier
Very somber, very disappointing because they didn't listen to any person that testified. There were so many Texans that testified saying that they don't want this. They want them to listen to their voters and not to Trump. And we've got to the point where the Republicans in power here in Texas just don't care. They have made it very clear that they are only interested in advancing their own self interest. They're not interested in hearing from the people and those. And that's why we need to make sure that we come out and vote and elect the candidate of our choice.
- [08:39]
Joy Reid
You've got a lot of Support. You know, we've seen lots of images of support for you. People paying stand with Nicole. When you were locked in that. In that chamber, when you came back, what did you expect to happen? Were you surprised that you were detained in the chamber?
- [08:57]
Nicole Collier
I mean, at this point, I'm not surprised about anything that they do because they're out of control. I was not part of the initial Quorum restoration group. I came in after Quorum was restored because I feel like once Quorum is restored, we got to be there to fight, and that fight can look differently. But when the Quorum was restored, that's when they immediately went to trying to change the rules. Now, that was one of the reasons why I did come back, because we needed to have enough Democrat on the floor to block any type of rule change that would be used to punish us. Now, we knew there was a call in the House, so they used the call of the House, and the speaker kept it going. And I guess they thought this was going to be cute by saying, oh, let's just do this piece of paper that you've got to sign agreeing to give up your freedom and your rights and release you into the custody of dps. Now, I'm a stickler for words. I am, you know, know, trained to read documents. That's what my law background does. But when I saw released into the custody, that didn't sound civil to me. That sounded criminal. And I have not committed any criminal act. What I did by denying the forum is allowed by the Constitution, and the House rules say that you have to have a forum that was like the last form of resistance that we could perform as a unit together. And so that's what I did. I participated in that. But to say that anyone who refused to sign the document, the paper that they came up with, would be subjected to staying on the House floor is unprecedented. That call of the House does not say that you can be released into the custody of dps. It just says that they have to bring you back to the Capitol. This is unheard of and unacceptable, Un American. And we should never have gone along with it.
- [10:52]
Joy Reid
And I agree with that. And no one should have signed it. I mean, you know, I told the story in the open about one of your fellow, one of your colleagues who was threatened with arrest because she went jogging and her DPS minder. And please explain what DPS is. That's the Department of Protective Services.
- [11:06]
Nicole Collier
It's the Department of Public Safety. It's our state law enforcement.
- [11:09]
Joy Reid
State law enforcement, yeah. So her DPS minder Couldn't keep up with her jogging and. And threatened to arrest her because he was accusing her of attempting to evade him. I mean, we're hearing stories of people, particularly African Americans. This, to me, it's particularly jarring because we're supposed to be in the post slavery era, but being followed to deliver medicine to their parents, being followed to their children's schools by this minder, which makes it look like you're under arrest. You wound up filing a writ of habeas corpus, am I correct?
- [11:40]
Nicole Collier
Yes. And it was going to take a while to get a hearing. I was ultimately released, but Cheryl Cole was actually walking. She takes brisk walks on a regular basis. And because the DPS officer was directed to make sure that he maintains custody of her, he panicked, basically, and threatened her because he lost. He lost. You know, he didn't have her in his sight. But that was the effort that was instilled in them. So they just passed it on to her. Now, let me tell you, if it had been one of the other black male legislators, that could have went down differently. And we know what happens with this implicit bias that some law enforcement officers have, especially when it comes to our black men. So this is very dangerous. And that's why we got to make sure that we push back and don't allow things like that to happen. Use as much resistance as possible to prevent this government overreach.
- [12:36]
Joy Reid
Do you believe that your colleagues should have never signed it? I mean, why did so many members sign?
- [12:42]
Nicole Collier
Well, I think that. So here's the thing. I stay on 100. I'll just be honest with you. I'm always vigilant, making sure I'm reading things, watching. I'm observant. I try to be observant about what's going on. And I think people were tired. We had just that morning, we had got up at 5:15 to catch the flights back. So a lot of people, we have been gone and had a rigorous schedule that week. And so I think some people were just tired, ready to go home. Some of them had family, like you said, that they needed to care for, had children to get to school. So people were tired. And so I think they made the decision that was right for them. But some of them realized they were like, wait a minute, you're right. We should not have agreed to waive our freedom of just our freedoms and liberties by agreeing to be under the custody of the Department of Public Safety.
- [13:31]
Joy Reid
As an attorney, can you tell me whether they've, you know, essentially ceded their rights, conceded their rights by signing do. Can they take legal action and challenge the legality of that piece of paper now that they've signed it?
- [13:45]
Nicole Collier
I would say yes, because they were signed under duress. The, the, the, the pitch was, you can leave if you sign this document. So it, a lot of them just went quickly to sign it because they realized that that was the condition. What was the alternative or the consequences of not signing it? I'm not sure if people thought about that, but they just quickly, I mean, literally, I saw everybody dash to the area where they needed to sign it, and I'm like, wait a minute, why are we doing this? I even talked to some of them and they were like, well, they said that's what we need. They just need the paper. And it's like, well, you think that means nothing, but it means a lot. Because then next time, you know, they can put a rule together, a real rule, or the governor can request a law that says that we actually could be held captive on the house floor at any time.
- [14:33]
Joy Reid
What would have happened if you had walked out of that chamber?
- [14:37]
Malcolm Kenyatta
So, I mean, it was locked at.
- [14:38]
Joy Reid
A certain point, but before it was locked, if you had just walked out, what would happen?
- [14:42]
Nicole Collier
Well, so it was a lot of chaos going on. So they had told the sergeants that. That were manning the door, basically. So during a call at the house, the doors are locked. So they were locked and they would be open if you had your piece of paper to leave. So there was a lot of chaos going on there. So I remember the chair of the House administration who was responsible for making sure people got the permission slips, he told me that, because I said, I'm not signing it. Whatever you got to do, we're going to do it. And I think it kind of caught them off. The, Caught them by surprise. They didn't think, they thought all of us were going to comply, and so they really didn't know how to react to it. And at one point he said, well, I won't say anything if you just walk out that back door and leave. But by that time, media had already caught on and saw that I had not signed. And he said, don't tell anybody. And if I tell someone. So I said, well, what happens if I tell someone I didn't sign? And I was told that I would be arrested. So you all I could think about. I mean, in my heart, I started thinking about my ancestors, our ancestors who were slaves who probably tried to run and then got shot in the back. And that's what I thought about. I really thought that, you're not going to set me up for. For failure. And all this thing was unfair anyway. But I thought about that. I told that visual image into my mind to think about that. And I was like this. Today is no different. Today is no different than those hundreds of years ago of them trying to hold us captive and make us do exactly what they want us to do.
- [16:23]
Joy Reid
And I guess where I would ask you now is, do you feel that it was a mistake for members to allow quorum to happen? Because once quorum was, it was inevitable. I mean, the other side has more votes. They were going to get it through. And I just want to put up these inequality figures again. I mean, we are talking about Texas. Black Texans having one member for every 2 million Texans, 2 million Black Texans, Hispanic members having one for every 1.4 million, and white Texans having one for every 445,000. This is clear apartheid level inequality. And the only way that the Democrats could have prevented it was to not come back. Do you think it was a mistake for people to insist on coming back?
- [17:18]
Nicole Collier
Well, I've got to try to. Let's see here. So in terms of the restoration of the quorum, they were two Democrats short from getting decorum. It was about to happen. Whether the group came back together or not, somebody was going to walk through there. There was a lot of us who were opposed to it. But again, we try to stay united. And if the vote came out to return, then you've got to let the chips fall. That's the demography.
- [17:45]
Joy Reid
Wait, you said they were too short. If they were too short, if the Democrats, white, black and Latino had held together, they would have remained short. Is it true that on December 8, the clock would have run out on being able to file to run for office and it would have killed the bill?
- [18:03]
Nicole Collier
No, because the governor can just postpone the election. So we've seen that happen before. And that was why it was endless. Like, even if you postpone it this month and next month, the governor is just going to push the election until he can get what he wants. So the thought was, let's take this fight to the courts. And what we have found is that the courts are unlikely to intervene if the filing period to run for office has started, because that means the lines have been drawn. So the goal is to get this before the court before that process opens up. And so you got to file it, you got to get people served. It takes a little while for that. And then you got to get your injunction. So hopefully the legal system can start to play out once Governor Abbott signs the bill, because it's inevitable. We just don't have the numbers to kill the bill. We just don't. And so the next step is to get it into the courts and then also garner support from those Democratic held states and ask them to be ready, stand by, be ready to do the same thing. And so that's why what California did, it's so courageous. We're looking to New York, New Jersey, Maryland. We're going to start trying to gather some more support from other states. And I know New York is willing.
- [19:23]
Joy Reid
Yeah. And I guess my sort of exit on this would be now that these seats are in place, if those seats survive a court challenge, let's say we go all the way to the Supreme Court and John Roberts says they're fine with this kind of gerrymandering because, you know, Democrats did make the error. I would, I would say non black Democrats made the error at first of say of admitting it was political gerrymandering rather than saying it was racial gerrymandering. There were only, only black Democrats were saying, wait a minute, this is black, this is racial. Right. And once, you know, and obviously with some Latino Democrats as well, including Representative Perez, who put out that data, if this, if these seats survive redrawn the way they are, do you believe that the national Democratic Party is willing to step forward and try to hold those seats? And do you believe that Texas Democrats are capable of holding any of those seats?
- [20:15]
Nicole Collier
I think we're going to try. I mean, we're going to do our very best to get on the ground and start, you know, raising awareness to let people know. And, you know, I even think that this could backfire because some Republicans, they don't like having their rights infringed on either. And so this could backfire on them because they see what Trump is doing. He's slowly every day chipping away at our freedom. We see the demise of democracy and Trump is burning down America. Everything he does, he's ignoring the advice of people that have been in these positions for a long time that are familiar with the issues. He's ignoring them and just doing whatever he wants. At what point will they just say no more? And I've already been there and I need more people to join me. I'm ready to get on the ground and start getting more support at the ballot box.
- [21:09]
Joy Reid
And how can people continue to support you? I assume you are also running for reelection, as have everyone that we've had on. If people want to continue to support you, how can they do that, they.
- [21:17]
Nicole Collier
Can go to my website, votenicoleclecollier.com follow me on social media. Nicolecallier95 and thank you for that.
- [21:25]
Joy Reid
And when does your case go to trial as far as your, your habeas claim?
- [21:28]
Nicole Collier
Oh, I have to talk to my lawyer. I haven't talked to him yet. Let me find out.
- [21:31]
Joy Reid
All right, well, let us know you have an open door to come back. Representative, we appreciate you. We appreciate your fight. And hopefully those chairs were not too uncomfortable that you had to sleep on in the chamber.
- [21:41]
Nicole Collier
It was worth it.
- [21:43]
Joy Reid
Thank you so much. Keep the fight going. Thank you so much, Representative Nicole Collier, everyone. Thank you very, very much. All right, so look, this fight is real and it's not really just in Texas. And if you are feeling like on top of all the madness that's coming out of Washington and Texas, you're also feeling bombarded by the Handmaid's tail everywhere you turn, you are not alone, particularly at school. As schools prepare to start again. Right. We are just on the verge of school restarting. So it's not just women who are losing our rights. It's not just African Americans who are losing our history or indigenous people who are having their land challenged. Our children are losing their rights as well. And that is why I am proud that this episode of the Joy Reid show is being brought to you by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Because let's face it, it has never been more clear that what's happening in public schools is not about religion. It is about power. Christian nationalists are pushing ten commandments in classrooms, replacing counselors with school chaplains, and using taxpayer funded vouchers to literally bankroll religious indoctrination in our schools. This is not protecting faith, it is weaponizing it. That's why the Freedom from Religion foundation is stepping up. FFRF defends the wall between church and state, in courtrooms, in classrooms, and in Congress. So go to FFRF US school or just text my name joy to 511511 to stand up for real freedom. It's that simple. Just text Joy, that's my name to 511-511. Because once you let religion make the rules in schools, it is only a matter of time before it's making them everywhere else. So go to FFRF US School or text JOY to 511-511- Message and data rates may apply. And we'll put that information at the bottom of this as well. Thank y' all so much. Okay, so the fight against the Texas racist gerrymander has now exploded Outside of that state, Governor Gavin Newsom has led the charge to tell Texas, not so fast, not so fast. I love this. Come and take it.
- [23:54]
Malcolm Kenyatta
It's a bear.
- [23:55]
Joy Reid
I just absolutely love that. And he's not the only governor that is fighting to defend democracy. But let's listen to what Gavin Newsom had to say about that.
- [24:10]
Gavin Newsom
Open your eyes to what is going on in the United States of America in 2025. That's what this is about. We're responding what occurred in Texas, we're neutralizing what occurred, and we're giving the American people a fair chance. Because when all things are equal, we're all playing by the same set of rules. There's no question that the Republican Party will be the minority party in the House of Representatives next year.
- [24:41]
Joy Reid
And Gavin Newsom is not alone. This week, the Joy Reed show sat down with Maryland Governor Wes Moore. And here is how he responded to what was then the imminent Texas vote to steal black and brown seats. I mentioned Greg Abbott. I've spent a good deal of today watching the hearings wherein the Texas Republican Party is attempting to pass some really blatantly racist gerrymandered maps in order to reduce the power, quite frankly, and the ability of black Texans, who are the largest cohort of African Americans in the country, to choose their own representation. California has responded to that by saying that if you take away two of the four black held congressional seats and one Latino seat, five seats that Donald Trump has demanded, California will respond by removing five Republicans through gerrymandering mid census. Will Maryland do the same?
- [25:31]
Interviewer/Host
Yes, because Maryland, Maryland has to, you know, that we have to remember that enfranchisement of our voters is something that's deeply important, that when we came on board that we were able to make sure that we could do things like extending early voting, making sure that more Marylanders had a chance to have their voices heard. And I do believe deeply that you need to have fair maps so that you don't have elected officials choosing to their people, but people having the chance to choose their elected officials. But I also know this. If the president of the United States is now in cahoots with certain states to be able to move and gerrymander maps, that is essentially saying that the only way that I can win is if I cheat, then there is no way that Maryland or any other state should then just have to sit on the sideline on principles. So everything is going to be on the table for the state of Maryland because you cannot watch these other states continue to change the rules and think that other states, states like the state of Maryland are just going to say absolutely not because we set this up. You know, we set things in the way they're going to be. Everything is on the table for the state of Maryland.
- [26:41]
Joy Reid
So is this the Democrats new tone? Is this the new strategy? Do they have one? And joining me now is a member of the Democratic National Committee who also happens to be the state representative for Pennsylvania's great 181st district, Malcolm Kenyatta. Malcolm, so great to see you. It's been too long.
- [26:57]
Malcolm Kenyatta
It's so good to see you. But really I haven't been missing you because I watched everything you put on your, on your social watch the show. So I haven't really missed you at all, honestly.
- [27:05]
Joy Reid
Well, thank you. I'm gonna take full advantage of having you here because I want to go through with you some of the things that are happening before. I know you want to talk about a local issue that's happening in the state of Pennsylvania, which is really, really important and I think speaks to some of the bigger issues. But I do want to start, I cannot not get your comments on this push by the Trump administration to start to mess with the slavery narrative in the museums, including all the Smithsonian museums, including the national, the Black History Museum, what we call the blacksonian claiming that there's too much slavery. They talk about slavery, they're too negative about slavery. And he wants that to change. There is that headline. But I want to play for you before I get your response. I have to play for you. TheGrio got this. TheGrio.com brought this forward. Here's what Donald Trump said in 2017 when he was president the first time after visiting the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
- [28:04]
Donald Trump (archival clip)
I'm deeply proud that we now have a museum that honors the millions of African American men and women who built our national heritage, especially when it comes to faith, culture and the unbreakable American spirit. Pretty comprehensive tour, but not comprehensive enough. Solani, I'll be back. I told you that because I could stay here for a lot longer. Believe me, it's really incredible. This tour was a meaningful reminder of why we have to fight bigotry, intolerance and hatred in all of its very ugly forms. The anti Semitic threats targeting our Jewish community and community centers are horrible and are painful and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil.
- [29:08]
Joy Reid
Your thoughts on that, turnabout?
- [29:10]
Malcolm Kenyatta
Well, let me just comment on what he said in 2017 to say that if we want to root out hate, bigotry and evil, all it would take is Donald Trump resigning the presidency and going off to wherever the hell he wants to go that's not Pennsylvania Avenue and living his life. But here's the truth. 2017. Donald Trump was really the outlier. From everything we know about Donald Trump, Donald Trump's history of racism and bigotry is well documented. I mean, literally, this is a guy who got his start watching his dad refuse to rent to black tenants in New York City. A guy who took out, as you are well aware, huge ads calling for the Central Park. They exonerated five Central park five at the time to be killed for a crime they didn't commit. This is a guy who right now has called on Republican states to send in National Guards into primarily black and brown neighborhoods in our nation's capital to terrorize. Not to make our communities safer, but to try to terrorize and intimidate folks. So we have Donald Trump's number. We've always had it. And I've always been so frustrated with the people who said back in 2016, give them a chance. You remember that? Oh, give them a chance. It's going to be something about he's gonna sit at the Oval Office and the weight of the desk or something is gonna make him not be who he is. Donald Trump is a racist. A certified racist. He's a certified bigot. And we see it every single day with how he has handled this iteration of the presidency. And we see it with him calling for those racist maps out of Texas to try to find him congressional seats, like he tried to find votes when he lost in 2020. So everything we saw about Donald Trump in his first administration was a Donald Trump that felt caged by advisors who said to him, hey, you probably don't want to be an unrepentant bigot in the White House. You have to consider reelection. Donald Trump knows he never has to face the voters again. And if we look at his behavior, he believes the Republican Party should effectively never have to face voters again.
- [31:29]
Joy Reid
I think that's all true. I cannot argue with the thing you said. And the proof. Proof of it is actually in the policies, right? I mean, the announcement by Marco Rubio, who is to me what Clarence Thomas is to black people. Marco Rubio is to Latinos and to Cuban Americans. Specifically announcing that they were gonna review not some, but all. All of the visas issued to all of the people who are in the country, not illegally, but legally with green cards. 55 million people must now be reviewed for their visas, I guess, to make sure that they aren't anti Trump or that they don't have anti Trump stuff on their Instagram or just to see if they're brown or if they're too pro Palestine. And then the other thing I want to show is the actual cruelty. This is a clip that's really hard to watch. This is a guy who's. His wife just had a baby and he was accosted by a group of masked men who we, I guess presume are feds, but they could be proud boys, Oath keepers, who we don't know what they are at this point. And he's begging them to at least let him be with his. His wife who is just gave birth. Here he is.
- [32:44]
Eric Montes
She got a brother saying, please, brother, please, Please, brother, please. She got it. Please, brother, Please, brother. She got it, brother. Wait, wait, wait. Please, please, please, please. My wife. She can walk. Okay. She can roll. Pull it. She can walk. My wife can walk.
- [33:23]
Joy Reid
What's your name? What's your name?
- [33:24]
Eric Montes
Eric. Eric.
- [33:25]
Joy Reid
What's your last name?
- [33:26]
Eric Montes
Eric Montes. I'm sorry, brother. My wife can walk. Okay?
- [33:32]
Joy Reid
Somebody needs to find Eric Montes and get him an attorney. I mean, we're, you know, Trump was saying all that spiel about, you know, our, our Jewish brothers and sisters facing anti Semitism, but he has a Gestapo and he's unleashing this Gestapo, who again, I guess we have to say they're feds, but they're necessary. They could be proud boys, they could be oath keepers, they could be vigilantes, are kidnapping brown people and black.
- [33:57]
Malcolm Kenyatta
So. Joy, I haven't seen that video and you did say it'd be difficult to watch, and it was. I don't know how any person with a shred of humanity could hear somebody crying out to be with their newborn child and with their wife who had just given birth and not feel what I'm feeling right now. Not just a sense of, you know, sort of indignation, but just a human sense, the stomach curdling human sense of cruelty and unfairness that it's playing out in front of all of our, in front of all of our faces. And what you say is so, is so true. You know, there are folks who listen to Donald Trump, including folks who have, you know, come to this country who universally agree, and I don't think there's any argument that if somebody is out committing a bunch of crime and murdering people in our communities, we want that person held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. And if they are not a citizen of this country after they serve their time under our judicial system, then of course they have to go home. Of course, there's no argument on that. But if we look at the statistics of this, that is not what is happening in this administration. They are looking for people to literally make illegal. You look at what happened to Haitian immigrants or to Venezuelan folks who were here on temporary protected status. And so you have this administration ripping away people's protected status and then saying, look, they're illegal. You made them illegal by virtue of what you did. And these are the same people who are fleeing the communism that they cry about every single day. These are the same people who. Marco. Little golly, Marco Rubio just gets me so frustrated because we had to all watch him go throughout the presidential primary process pretending like he was so upset about Donald Trump and now trying to chastise folks like me, repeating what Marco Rubio said when he was running against this guy, talking about Donald Trump's immorality, talking about his cruelty, talking about Donald Trump's fundamental weakness as a man and as a human being. And now Marco Rubio, who has 19 fricking jobs in this administration and is, you know, bending over backwards for a guy with swollen ankles who has no clue what the hell is going on. And so to watch these people just lay out before somebody who is so clearly sick in the head and who is so clearly does not have the full grasp of his faculties. You know, listen, I'm waiting for, you know, for the reporters who are going to write the tell all book about what is happening in this administration. A president who on a daily basis makes it clear he doesn't know where he is or what he's doing or what's going on in many critical aspects. And what he has done is give over basically a lot of this administration to folks like Stephen Miller who are effectively calling the shots and who are executing the most un American abuse of executive power that we've ever seen. And I get sick to my stomach watching stuff like this happen. Enjoy. Let me just say one final thing, because I sort of got away from it. You know, my frustration with the. With the mass. Folks who you mentioned is we are seeing report after report after report of people who are criminals who are just putting on a vest and saying that they are police that they got from an Army Navy store and are going out and sexually assaulting, going out and kidnapping, going out and brutalizing people. You know, and we have seen this happen again and again and again. Verifiable reports of people who are impersonating law enforcement. So, you know, not only should we not have people who are law enforcement walking around with, you know, without any identifying marks. That shouldn't be happening. But the worst outcome of this is that you have people who are not law enforcement who now can pretend to be law enforcement because we no longer can tell the difference.
- [38:08]
Joy Reid
Indeed. Indeed. I have two more quick questions for you. First, I want to let you talk about this local issue because part of racism is environmental. Part of it plays out in things like transportation, in things like the bus routes go east, west, not north, south, when the black folks live north, south, that kind of thing. Talk about what's happening in your state with something called septa.
- [38:29]
Malcolm Kenyatta
So this is, you know, SEPTA has gotten the lion's share of the attention because, you know, 40% of the population in Pennsylvania is in the Southeast. And SEPTA stands for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Agency. But what we're seeing right. Right now are Republicans at the local and state level really mimicking and showing people, I think, in rass tacks what Republicans have been doing at the federal level. You know, the cynical nature of the big bullshit bill that I've been around the country talking about. Joy, you won't believe it, but I'm actually in North Dakota as I'm talking to you. I probably should have led with that.
- [39:03]
Joy Reid
We're.
- [39:03]
Malcolm Kenyatta
But I'm in North Dakota because that big bullshit bill didn't just hurt black and brown folks, and it does impact black and brown folks in pronounced ways, but it's having devastating impacts across a lot of communities, rural, urban, exurban. But the cynical nature of what they did is Republicans didn't say it with their full chest. They want to do these cuts, but they want to put them until after the midterm elections. And so I think Pennsylvania is going to become, on Sunday when these cuts go into effect, ground zero of Republicans agenda and ideology around cutting all of the social services and government operations that people depend on. And I don't think the average American is really ready for what it is going to mean for one of the largest metro areas in the country to almost overnight lose up to 50% of its public transportation, put up to 275,000 more cars on the road every single day, and put many people in our community in a position where they have literally no way to go to school or go to work. And Republicans so cynically are doing this the day before school starts in Pennsylvania. They're doing this. And so you had Texas Democrats who left their state to try to draw attention to what was happening in their state, to try to stand up for their constituents and try to protect their right to choose their elected officials. But in Pennsylv, we have the Republican controlled Senate who left Harrisburg, fleed Harrisburg since June, refused to come to work. Democrats passed in the House, Democrats in the House. We only have the House majority by one vote. We passed five bipartisan bills to not only fund mass transit across Pennsylvania, but to fix roads and bridges. And we did it without raising a single dollars of new taxes. We have five different versions of a bill they should pass. They left, they went on vacation, and then joy, they came back for five hours to pass a bill that actually defunded mass transit.
- [41:10]
Nicole Collier
Wow.
- [41:11]
Joy Reid
And it to me is so Republican. That's so Republican. It should be a saying. And the question then to you is that are the Democrats you are. Gavin Newsom is, I believe Wes Moore is. I think there are some Democrats who know the assignment. They understand it. The Jasmine Crockets, the Jalanda Jones. There are people who get it. But does the party writ large understand how to respond to all of this, in your view?
- [41:38]
Malcolm Kenyatta
You know, I think, I think the there. So there's good news and then there's. And then there's difficult news. The good news is that, you know, I ran to be vice chair of this party not because I thought everything was going okay. It's because I thought we had big challenges that we needed to solve. And I have been saying over and over again, I think I was on your show right after I got elected, that the debate within our party between folks who said we should roll over and play dead for four years and the folks like me who believe we ought to fight like hell, and when people think about the Democratic Party leadership, they should understand that there is not a person in Democratic Party leadership who was there even seven months ago. We are all new and we're all bringing, I think, a perspective to this that should give people a sense that we do understand what's happening. I mean, Ken Martin was literally the guy who led the Bernie Sanders Hillary Clinton Reconciliation Committee to reduce the impact of superdelegates, to reform the party. This is something our chairman has been doing for a decade. I know he's not a household name for a lot of people, but he's not new to being a progressive fighter. He's true to this and working with Keith Ellison and many others for years on these type of internal reforms. I'm somebody who never thought about being in party leadership, but I'm looking at what's happening across our party and recognizing that we can do one of two things. We can hold the Democratic Party in stasis and say they're never gonna get it, they're never gonna change. I'm just gonna leave. Or we can recognize that the Democratic Party, a strong Democratic Party that is able to meet this moment, a strong Democratic Party that is unequivocal about calling out racism, that's unequivocal about calling out transphobia, that's unequivocal about standing up for all of our community members, that calls out Islamophobia, yes, that calls out anti Semitism, but that also says with a unified voice that we cannot be okay with people starving in Gaza right now. That we can say something about that. That we have to say something about that. A party that embraces our nominees, whether it's Zoran Mamdani in New York or whether it's Mikey Sherrill in New Jersey. A party that actually listens to the voters and then gives them the tools to succeed. And that's what the Democratic Party, our main job is to build the infrastructure for our candidates to succeed. And I'm gon continue to go any and everywhere to talk about that new Democratic Party that fights for people. Because if we don't fight now, we're not going to get another chance later. I'll tell you that this is why.
- [44:06]
Joy Reid
Malcolm Kenyatta is the future of the Democratic Party. If the party is to survive, it is going to be because of people like you, my friend, Malcolm Kenyatta, thank you so much for being here.
- [44:15]
Malcolm Kenyatta
Thank you for your voice in this moment. Thank you for your voice.
- [44:18]
Joy Reid
Thank you. So let me play. Malcolm Kenyatta is great, by the way. He is fan freaking tastic. Okay, now let me play you a piece of a clip that you have probably heard a lot because it went super duper, duper viral here. It is.
- [44:34]
Jennifer Welch
Sure think you should be able to enjoy anything but Cracker Barrel. Get your fat asses over to Cracker Barrel. Quit watching NBA basketball. Quit watching sports that are dominated by African Americans. Quit going to Mexican restaurants. You want white culture, you go for live in it, but do not participate in.
- [44:57]
Joy Reid
Listen when I tell you I'm so obsessed with that. I have watched it 473 times. That of course, was the great Jennifer Welch, who is the co host of the I've had it podcast, which I am obsessed with blasting away at what she called the Triple Trumpers. And of course the right got big, big mad about it. But they are Even madder now. But now they're mad at Cracker Barrel, which has undergone a logo change that the company said is quote rooted even more closely in the iconic barrel shape and word mark that started it all referring to Cracker Barrel's original text only logo in which the what the restaurant had when it launched in 1969. Now they made that announcement on Monday but that explanation did not satisfy the anti woke right which screamed biscuit murder with Donald Trump's eldest fail son bemoaning the new logo as sterile and soulless, much like his soul. And as you can see. Joining me now to comment on the Cracker world controversy of it all and all the things is the great Jennifer Welch herself. Jennifer, thank you so much for being here.
- [45:57]
Jennifer Welch
Joy, I am so happy to be here. I'm happy to be with your viewers. This Cracker Barrel stuff is hilarious. I love it when the f your feelings crowd gets their feelings hurt. It's like tap my veins, inject the.
- [46:13]
Joy Reid
Meltdown right into is so ironic to me that the same people who are saying too much slavery in the museums, take it out. You know, they can't, they have, they're so sensitive that they can't handle that kind of change are also saying but the Cracker Barrel logo ain't racist enough. Make it look more racist.
- [46:37]
Jennifer Welch
Now I just, you know, to me they have a president that I think there is a mass cover up of his health. It's very clear that all of the blood is in his ankles and is not going to his brain because in the Oval Office today he said on tape that he was a great athlete, that he looked great in shorts and that he was going to play soccer at the World Cup. Can you imagine? And all this time, Joy, he has a hat on that says Trump was right about everything. Now this is batshit crazy. This is a man who got a day pass from the memory wing care center of a nursing home. Legacy media is complicit with it. All of the people surrounding him are complicit with this conference will just graze right on by and it's utterly insane. But they love to throw out the stuff about Cracker Barrel because the base needs to stay focused on racism. That's their it's like their line of cocaine one after another. If they keep getting racist hits, then they can keep going.
- [47:39]
Joy Reid
And you're I want to go back to what you said about the media because I absolutely believe this. I mean I'm old enough to remember the absolute obsession with Joe Biden's mental Health, whether his brain was working good. You know, Jake Tapper wrote a whole book about whether or not somebody who's no longer president was, was getting old. I mean, like, no shit, he was super duper old. Like, we could see that. We were watching Joe Biden on tv. So this was not like a stunning conclusion or some sort of breaking news, but it became like a thing. They wanted to make it to a scandal. But I'm with you. I watched Trump forget where he is, think Alaska is Russia, not seem to know when the, I think it was the Norwegian president or someone was literally in front of him and didn't know he was there. He doesn't seem to, he's non corpus mentis half the time and says just crazy things that if your grandfather said it, you'd put him in a home. Why do you think the media is so reluctant to confront the reality of Trump's mental decline?
- [48:33]
Jennifer Welch
I just wanna remind you, you left out one key thing that happened during the campaign. He attempted to give a microphone a blowjob.
- [48:40]
Joy Reid
He did.
- [48:41]
Jennifer Welch
He got, I mean, you know, like, could you imagine if Barack Obama pulled up to a microphone and simulated a blowjob or if Joe Biden had done that? Corporate media, you know, I've thought a lot about this and the corporate media, number one, Trump is a ratings machine and we're completely addicted to capitalism. But it's so, the COVID up with this is so incredible. And it makes me think that on the boards of directors of all of these corporations, you've got MAGA people up there, you've got country club MAGA folk that triple trumped. And they say, and I live around a lot of these people in Oklahoma, oil and gas guys that say I'm fiscal, basically conservative. And that provides them cover because deep down they believe everything that Trump says. And here's how I know this to be true. I'm an interior designer when I'm not a podcaster, did high, high end interior decorating for a long time. And a very wealthy client of mine said, and you know, she's like, well, we're, we're progressive Republicans, we're fiscal conservatives. But when Trump was running, she said, you know, I don't like him as a little brash, but I'll tell you what, he says, what everybody's thinking. And joy, that to me was the biggest tell of what country club Republicans, all these white people on these boards of directors they use. I'm a fiscal conservative, which doesn't exist, which is a total myth. Trickle down economics is total Bullshit. But they use that as cover to vote for racist stuff, to vote for homophobic stuff, because they believe it. And I know this because I live in Oklahoma City. I grew up in a white suburb. I went to a white school. I have, you know, surrounded by white people my whole life. And I know how they think and I know what they say. And it doesn't matter what your socioeconomic background is. The default setting behind this MAGA movement is racism.
- [50:33]
Joy Reid
And I don't disagree with that at all. But what do you think? Because your commentary was so biting, but it was so. I think it hit people in their soul, and it did hit me in my soul and made me obsessed with you. But I think. Because what it did is it exposed this duality of people like that. The ones you're talking about, the same people who will vote for Trump and claim it's because they are gonna get a tax cut or whatever, but who also believe in the racism, are the first people in line at the Mexican restaurant, at the Indian restaurant. They wanna enjoy the benefits of a multicultural society. They just don't wanna see any multicultural people. I mean, I used to live in Fort Greene in Brooklyn, New York, back when Fort Greene was almost entirely black. Fort Greene has now been gentrified to being almost entirely white. But there's still a big mural of Biggie Smalls. That's huge. It's giant. It's a. You know, it's like almost a story high. And when you. When I now walk through a place like Fort Greene, people are looking at me like, what are you doing here? I was born in Brooklyn. Right, but you're not welcome anymore, necessarily, in a very white. And this is a sort of liberally white kind of place. Right, but people are looking at you like, well, that's odd. There's a black person, but they. But people, I think, whether they're conservative, liberal, however they vote, they want the flavor of blackness, always. But no, they don't necessarily want black people or brown people or Asian people or gay people, but they love the flavor.
- [51:52]
Jennifer Welch
Yes, because I'll just give you an anecdotal example of this. So I have two sons, and my youngest son played AAU basketball. And so a lot of black inner city black kids on his team. And I became very good friends with all of his teammates. Mothers, fathers. We traveled. It was one of those travel teams. The parents are psycho. My husband was the lead psycho. Fighting with the refs, all that shit. So when we played AAU basketball and I'm sitting with all the black Moms Joy. It's fun, it's lit. We are trolling the refs. I'm like, come on, Raph. And I'm chiming in with them and they're just completely liberated. Full expression. It's a total blast. Everybody's hooting and hollering. And then when I went for my son's high school school team, you're sitting with all the white people. Very cracker barrel ish. And it's like, oh, good job. Way to go, way to do a layup. It's just not as much fun. But something has always bothered me, living in this red state is I'll have a girlfriend and she'll. We'll have a gay hairdresser and she will then go and triple trump. And this is an acquaintance, pretty much. I don't have these people in my life. But that duplicity, that moral duplicity of saying, oh, I love Michael, he's so great, he's such a sweet guy. And then you go and vote against him. And here's what really chaps me. In Oklahoma City, we have our team, Oklahoma City Thunder, won the NBA championship. It was the best thing that happened to Oklahoma City when they, when this team was purchased and brought here. And my husband said at the time, and I think it was probably around 15, 16 years ago that we got the team because all the white ladies were, you know, rush into the games. And my husband said, well, nothing's been better for racism than these hot, good looking black men moving to Oklahoma because all the ladies are going crazy about how attractive these men are. And so it was like a really, it was kind of like, okay, we have more culture in Oklahoma City right now because Oklahoma City is very white. So then I go, we go to the games and you see these guys stand up for the national anthem. And it is like, you know, support the troops. And they are practically crying. And you see all these athletes, you know, and if you know, and I know this from my son's experience in AAU basketball, how much more difficult it was for not all of the athletes, but a lot of them to get to where they did because of the structures that are set up and the neighborhoods that they're raised in. And they cheer and they're so happy and they have so much joy. Everybody coming together, cheering for a basketball team that's dominated by African Americans, dominated by talented black athletes that are entertainers and incredible athletes. And then to think that it never connects in their brain. God, you know, I really enjoy this. This is a lot more fun Than, you know, being at the, at the church for bingo night with all of the white folk. And then the same thing with the Mexican restaurant. I was with my parents. My mom and dad went back the following week. My mother told me, and she's very progressive, and I'm very fortunate. I was raised by very progressive people in a. In the Bible Belt. But she called me and she's from Texas originally. She has. Jennifer darling. The most alarming thing, we went back to the Mexican restaurant, and there was a man in there with an alligator Alcatraz shirt on. And Joy, I just think that kind of in your face shit that Trump has brought. If. If you're a white person and you're not using your privilege to help every American, that makes this country so good, the best thing about this country is multiculturalism, then what are you doing? You know, what do you. What are you doing here? Because you're exactly right. They want the flavor. They want the sports. They want the, the humor, the music. Could you imagine what this country would be like if we only had white musicians? And there's some good white musicians, but we all know at our core what multiculturalism brings. And the left loved it. And they could feel it, you know, really, really feel what I said. And then the right, the fuck your feelings crowd got their feelings hurt because they got called out. And here's the thing. I don't give a shit. I'm out of fucks to give. I'm 51 years old. I don't care. I am not beholden. We're an independent media right now. I don't give a what they say about me. They say, you got too much Botox. Guilty as charged. I'm not the nut with the cankles in the Oval Office spewing racism with my Christian cross. They're gross. This is a travesty. It's painful for all of us each day to watch this. Yeah. But I believe with everything in me, Joy, that all of us need to have conversations, and particularly white women that look like me and sound like me need to call, call out other white people to help them acknowledge and. And discover their privilege and how they can use it in ways to save this country. Because some. Some white people have no idea that they even have it, because they've always had it. It's their normal. And so I think it's important to point these things out. And I hope that video made women and men that look like me and sound like me think for a second and think about their lives as an American and How much better their lives are because of multiculturalism.
- [57:21]
Joy Reid
Jennifer Welch, you are outstanding. You're amazing. I have, like I said when I saw that, I literally posted on Instagram, like, who is this amazing woman? I need to know who she is. I need to be her friend. I need her number right now. And we ended up connecting. You're so wonderful. And now I'm obsessed with your. I've gone back into your archives. I'm watching your incredible podcast, which is so, so, so, so good. So I just want to thank you for being a good guy. You know, you have to. There's good guys and bad guys in this. In this cartoon and in this whatever we're living in, this hell we're living in. And you are truly one of the good. The good gals, one of the good guys. And I appreciate you for speaking up for all of us. And if this democracy is saved, it's going to be because of people like you. Thank you.
- [58:01]
Jennifer Welch
Thank you so much, Joy. And I've always been a fan of yours, and I think you're an icon. And I am so glad that we're all in independent media now and that we continue to build alliances and wake people up, because I believe with everything in me, Joy, there are more of us than there is the 30% of the cult. And I think we're just getting speed, and I hope we make it to the midterms.
- [58:25]
Joy Reid
We're just getting speed, and our side's more fun. That's why they're mad.
- [58:30]
Jennifer Welch
That's right. It's a million times more fun because they can go melt down about Cracker Barrel.
- [58:36]
Joy Reid
There you go. Jennifer Wells. Thank you so much.
- [58:38]
Jennifer Welch
Thank you, Joy.
- [58:40]
Joy Reid
All right, y', all, that was it. That was her. I literally am obsessed with her. I think she's so brilliant. She's so much fun. If you guys have not watched her podcast, you absolutely need to watch it. It is so, so much fun. I've had it, and we've all had it. So thank you very much, Jennifer, for being here. We so appreciate you. And thanks to all of you for watching special big ups to our Team TJRS members. Our wonderful support sponsors, the Freedom From Religion Foundation. By the way, we're cooking up another members only chat very soon for the Team TJRS folks. So stay tuned for that and be sure to hit that like and subscribe button to make sure that you never miss an episode and so you can support this independent media venture. We are out here willing to say all the things and tell you the unvarlished truth free from corporate interference. And that has never mattered more during our dying empire. Wishing you all a fantastic weekend. And I will see you.
- [60:00]
Malcolm Kenyatta
Vivas parate BB Mos parent contradugaran la.
- [60:05]
Joy Reid
Playa Conalberca, Cascada, Tina. Una regather and crave Expedia b Vimos parabiajar.