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- [00:05]
Joy Reid
Okay. Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Joy Reed Show. Big up to the chats. Also to Everybody watching on YouTube, Substack, Facebook, our adorable Twitchies on Twitch. Let me make sure my phone is not going off as well as all of those who are listening on audio podcast platforms like Apple, Spotify, all the places that you're listening. We just appreciate you having your face in the place. Please be sure to hit the like and subscribe buttons. We would so much appreciate it. The algorithm is very, very cruel. It's very, very greedy and it demands your attention. It wants you to hit like and subscribe. Also to engage with us. It loves engagement. So if you're engaging, it makes the algorithm very happy. And that actually helps us on this little business venture that we call the Joy Reid Show. Running a channel is, it's like a lot of things you have to learn. And one of the things we definitely learned is that the engagement is actually helpful. Sorry, my outfits all scrumpt. Want to make sure that it's in good shape. So. Yeah. So please hit like and subscribe. Hit share. Get some more people involved. We want to try to grow our team, TJRS Nation. I want to let everybody know, I, I, I think we're just about sold out on the live show that's coming up with Godfrey in New York City. You can put it up because there's like a handful of tickets left. I mean, it's really down. A couple of friends just told me that they bought, they might have bought the last ticket, but we'll see. You can go on and see if there are any tickets left. We appreciate everybody that's coming to the show. I want to warn you guys to say that and this has happened to a few people, make sure that if you are buying tickets or looking or searching for tickets to the live show, only do it through either using this QR code or by going to live.thejoyreadshow.com or just go to the City Winery New York website. Do not go to a third party website. There are people.
- [02:03]
Harry Dunn
Or click Search in Google.
- [02:04]
Joy Reid
Don't click in Google. Search and do it like that. Because if you do it like that, there are scammers who are pretending to sell tickets to events like this one, including this one, because a friend of a friend actually almost bought a like $400 ticket and it's not a real ticket. They're trying to get you to pay like $400 or $300. We would never charge you $300 just to see the show. We wouldn't do that.
- [02:28]
Harry Dunn
And so actually seen a comment in one of the shows that we, I think it was Mondays where a person said, I'm joy, I'm a teacher. I can't afford $497 for a ticket. It's just not that expensive. It's just people trying to get your money. So watch out there, guys. It's a new age.
- [02:42]
Joy Reid
A new age. And because the Trump regime are a bunch of scammers, they're letting the scammers get back in business. There used to be sort of a federal regime of trying to shut down these scams. I'll give Biden credit for that. Some of his good domestic policies were trying to shut down a lot of these scams. Trump is letting all the freak flags fly. His whole thing is let the scammers scam. So the scammers are back in business with Trump, the scammer in chief in the White House. So just be careful. Do not get scammed by these fake ticket sellers and resellers. There's no reselling. We're not. These are not being sold through Ticketmaster or resales. Just get the tickets directly from going to live.the joy re show.com or go directly to the Tick the City Winery New York website. That's the only place to get them. This is the easiest way to do it. And we also, we send it out in substack and everything like that. Click those links. Just be careful. We don't want y' all to get scammed. All right, so let's get right to the news. There's a lot going on. I want you all to take a look at this letter. This is a letter that was received by State Representative Justin J. Pearson of the great state of Tennessee announcing that he is being stripped of all of his committee assignments. And it is not just Representative Pierson. Every single Democrat in the Tennessee state house has been removed from their committee assignments. They've been stripped of their committee assignments by the Republican speaker in Tennessee, the MAGA speaker, for daring to protest the elimination of the opportunity for black voters in Tennessee to elect even one representative of their choice. Crazy, right? I mean, one day history is going to look back on the first week of May in this country. In 2026. They're going to look back on that first week in May as that moment when the Supreme Court of the United States ripped the guts out of the Voting Rights act and turned the 19th and 20th century Jim Crow into 21st century John Crow. With the Supreme Court declaring that Republicans and only Republicans have The right to deny black or brown citizens the right to choose their own representation in the old Confederate states. As long as they lie and call it politics. As long as they're not screaming the N word while they're writing the new gerrymander maps, they get to do it. According to the Roberts court. And the former Confederate states were very quick to rush out this new Dixiecrat Alito map of the old Confederacy, which looks hauntingly similar to the old Confederate map. Looks like the old Confederacy, right? That is their now preferred map. That is what the future is meant to look like in the south under maga fascist rule. This is the handmaid's tale. Now Louisiana's governor Jeff Landry, who does want to be president one day, you should know, he said, don't blame me, don't blame him. Don't blame me. Blame the Supreme Court, baby. As he literally canceled an ongoing election to get their Alito maps drawn up to silence nearly one third of the population that he ostensibly governs. He is now facing a recall effort to that is taking signatures on this week. But before we get to that, let's just remember Louisiana.
- [05:55]
Harry Dunn
I am at the Louisiana State Capitol and right now Congressman Troy Carter, Congressman Cleo Fields, former Congressman Bill Jefferson, former Congressman Cedric Richmond are in the Louisiana Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee testifying, trying to convince this legislature not to take away the seats of power that black people have rightfully earned in Congress.
- [06:18]
Joy Reid
A republic cannot survive if people lose faith that their voices don't matter. A republic cannot endure if representation is manipulated to silence communities. Let us be remembered as leaders who chose fairness over fear, justice over politics, democracy over division.
- [06:46]
Latasha Brown
I'm a native of Point Capee Parish
- [06:49]
Joy Reid
by way of St. Charles Parish and the Destrehan Plantation. I will not speak to the details of that journey, but because of the public schools of Louisiana, I got educated to a point and made it to Southern University and spent 37 years in United States army defending this nation abroad and at home. What this topic brings up stirs memories of the past. A past where I caught a bus at 6:10 in the morning to go to a school in New Roads and it was a school a mile from my house. The Supreme Court don't always get it right because at that time it says separate but equal was good enough. And I got on that bus and passed that school a mile from my
- [07:33]
Latasha Brown
house to go a way through cane fields and cotton fields and make my
- [07:39]
Joy Reid
way to New Road to go to school for four years because the Supreme Court said separate borico they don't always get it right. And they didn't get it right until the issue was redressed years later that you can't get down in a ditch with a man and hold him down unless you're in the ditch with him. If they acted in the best interest
- [07:57]
Senator Arthur Ellis
of Louisiana, we wouldn't be cutting health
- [08:00]
Joy Reid
care, we wouldn't be cutting snap.
- [08:03]
Senator Arthur Ellis
We wouldn't continue to tell people the
- [08:05]
Joy Reid
lie of we're going to do more
- [08:06]
Senator Arthur Ellis
with less or that's rain you feel on your leg because you can't cut education and continue to tell people that education is the best way out of poverty.
- [08:16]
Joy Reid
Louisiana has elected four African Americans to Congress and you're looking at all of them. Four, despite the fact Louisiana's minority population is over a third now. Now let's take a look at the progress of that recall effort from the governor. This is a three. Well, over in Louisiana, an effort is underway to collect enough signatures to recall Governor Jeff Landry. The petition started in Baton Rouge and now New Orleans and residents have joined the fight. The residents who started the petition say
- [08:56]
Walla Begay
that Landry has taken actions that undermine fair representation.
- [09:01]
Joy Reid
It comes after Landry recently suspended the House primary election. Residents also claim state priorities are not aligned with their needs and there's too
- [09:10]
Senator Arthur Ellis
much focus on punishment instead of solutions. We're about to celebrate our 250th birthday as a country and the last thing I want to see are moves that
- [09:23]
Joy Reid
bring us back anti Democratic moves. They thought we was powerless.
- [09:28]
Senator Arthur Ellis
This is showing that we have the power.
- [09:31]
Joy Reid
We have people's power.
- [09:32]
Harry Dunn
And if you've been out here, you
- [09:34]
Senator Arthur Ellis
know, it's been white, black, it's been all that's coming here.
- [09:40]
Joy Reid
The petition against Governor Landry will need 600,000 valid signatures from registered voters in order to move forward. The governor's office has not, has not responded to that effort. Meanwhile, Governor DeSantis in Florida, he released his new map, signed it and put sign sealed and delivered on his social media post and then went on Fox and did an exclusive. Alabama's governor said hold my geriatric beer, while the Alabama speaker of the House literally bragged that repeatedly, the entire 14th amendment is on his wish list. And not to be left out, Tennessee, where we started, a reminder of how that played out this week. These white Republicans is going in to remove black boys in the political process.
- [10:29]
Latasha Brown
We are not going backwards in history.
- [10:30]
Joy Reid
So I burned the Confederate flag because
- [10:31]
Latasha Brown
they want to bring us back to Confederacy.
- [10:33]
Joy Reid
We say, absolutely not. We will fight. We're going to fight together to build Multiracial democracy. So the hell is what happened today.
- [10:38]
Latasha Brown
We're going to rise up across the South.
- [10:39]
Joy Reid
They're trying to take the south backwards in 19 before 1965. We're not going back. They're trying to dismantle black representation. We're sick and tired of being sick and tired. As always. Good.
- [10:47]
Senator Arthur Ellis
The spirit of F L Hamer, the
- [10:49]
Joy Reid
dying NA Lewis said that we must get in good trouble and not have business as usual. Because what's happening in there is a disgrace to all the martyrs of the civil rights movement who are died and killed fighting for voting rights. Racist. Racist.
- [11:23]
Senator Arthur Ellis
Is wrong with you. Is wrong with you.
- [11:29]
Joy Reid
Stupid mother
- [11:34]
Latasha Brown
is fighting right now to
- [11:36]
Joy Reid
stop this racist redistribution.
- [11:38]
Latasha Brown
And the people are fighting with him
- [11:41]
Joy Reid
because this is the moment.
- [11:43]
Latasha Brown
This is the time when we fight for our democracy.
- [11:47]
Joy Reid
These maps are racist tools of white supremacy at the behest of the most powerful white supremacists in the United States
- [11:55]
Walla Begay
of America, Donald Trump.
- [11:57]
Joy Reid
We are the shame of the nation and the shame of this state. We are here to take away the voices of black voters and the people of Memphis. You should be ashamed. But guess what? I know that you're not. This is a white power rally and a white power grab. That is what this is. And you can deny it all you want, but the people in this state know better. They don't want gerrymandering by race. They don't want any of it. And that is why all roads lead to the south this Saturday, where organizers are planning a major rally in Montgomery, Alabama. Joining me now to discuss all of this is Latasha Brown, co founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund and the Black Voters Matter Capacity Capacity Building Institute. Tasha, good evening.
- [12:53]
Latasha Brown
Good evening. Thank you for having me. All roads lead to the South.
- [12:57]
Joy Reid
All roads lead to the South. And what's going to happen when folks get to Montgomery and where should they assemble?
- [13:03]
Latasha Brown
We want everybody to come to Montgomery, Alabama on this Saturday from 1 to 5. We will be in front of. We are going to the scene of the crime. We're going to the Alabama State Capitol. We. We will flood. We will actually be in the streets right by Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, which many people know that that was also the site of where the Montgomery bus boycott stay was as well. But. But when you look at, there was a Selma, the Montgomery march, that was the end point. And what we're seeing is, is like a relay race. They had the first leg, we got the last leg. And so it is from Montgomery and beyond. We want people to come and join us. One of the things that you can do. If you want to find out more, all roads lead to the south.com please go and sign up. We want to get. It is a grassroots movement that people who care about the voting power of black people in this country, that care about black folks, that care about themselves, that care about justice and equity, please show up and stand in solidarity with us in Montgomery, Alabama on this Saturday at 1pm from 1 to 5.
- [14:11]
Joy Reid
And you know, the targeting of black voters goes all the way back to the very beginning of the history of this country before black people could even vote. Black people have been the sort of grist for the mill of American capitalism. And of course, during the Jim Crow era, getting black people, keeping locking black people out of the polls was, you know, the prime directive of the Klan, of the Southern Dixiecrats. Can you explain to those who may not understand why these conservatives are so fixated on depriving black people specifically of the right to vote?
- [14:42]
Latasha Brown
You know, I want people to understand that while black people are really the target around this, this really is about democracy and this about a broader power base, that ultimately there is no pathway to progressive policies, no pathway to progressive policies without black voters. We can go from the. We. We can go all the way from health care to public education to public accommodations, that black voters in particular, make the base of progressive voting in this country. And so there's no pathway that we will be able to have an agenda that includes anything that's progressive around wages or housing or. Or healthcare, that black voters are not a part of that process. So I think that's one piece to consider. The second piece, though, is that we are seeing a new generation. There's a new America rising, that we are seeing an America that is younger, that we're seeing, an America that is more multicultural in this space. And part of, I think, this attack on black people, where we've seen the other attacks that we are diametrically opposed to and the opposite of white supremacy. And so to create this kind of white supremacy frame, the direct challenge of that, who challenges that? Really, in a way. And we've challenged that ever since we've set foot on this country has been black people. And so we sit at that intersection, and particularly black women sit at the intersection of both sexism and racism. And so we challenge it in a particular way because our existence in this country has been shaped at fighting against white supremacy.
- [16:15]
Joy Reid
Yeah, indeed. And you make an excellent point. And just to show, Jason, if you could put up a seven. And this is a graphic that was Actually produced by y' all that are doing all roads lead to the South. You can see that the targets, you know, they're, they're being very literal. It's not like they're not being subtle. Like, the targets that have immediately begun flipping and getting rid of seats are all red states. It's Missouri. But in the top battlegrounds, talking about Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina is interesting because it is a state that is a mixed state. It's becoming some sort of on its way to purple. But Democrats need to have like a veto proof. They need to not let Republicans have a veto proof majority. So, you know, those are the states that are the target is there. I think a lot of people want to know what is the plan? You, you are in the business of getting black folks to vote in the blackest bus in America. What is the plan to still allow black folks to be able to effectively exercise the franchise in November?
- [17:09]
Latasha Brown
Well, I think there's a couple of things because I want to do. I want to know even as we're seeing, why are it, why are there specific attacks on black voters in this country? And you would possibly say, well, why are there attacks on black voters in these red states? Does that. Let me say this, there are a couple of things that are happening right now. I believe, I think that this is also a testing ground that anytime we've ever seen that there has been an attack by a small group of people to shift rights or resources. If they've always, they've always used race, they've always used race as the base and the foundation to be able to gain power, to amass power, to actually shift rights in their way and not, not in, in the benefit of all white people or the benefit of anybody, but for themselves, all they have to do is raise the race card. And that's what happens. And so I think that ultimately part of this attack is to actually be able to interject kind of this race piece, part of what we've seen. And it's a power dynamic as well. It's also about the stealing of this election that ultimately what we see to happen and what we know is going to happen is that this administration is in the dumps right now in terms of their likability around the nation, that their polling, polling results are in the toilet. And ultimately I think that this, this is an effort to be able to try to shave off one district here, two district here, two, three seats here. So because overwhelming, they know in a fair and free election, there's no way that they can win the election. So they've got to rig the game. So this is also a part of rigging the game. And unfortunately, oftentimes when you enter, when you inject race, what you will see is people will actually be a little more soft on that than they are than the blatants on that. The third thing that I think is really important for us to know in this moment is that I think that there's a testing of boundaries, of how much can these institutions get away with. The interesting thing about this particular ruling in Alabama is that the state of Alabama created this map. The state that is 25% headed towards 30% African American has only had one congressional seat, only one congressional seat of the seats that are in the state of Alabama. And interestingly, that because of that, after the last census, there was this push to make sure that there was a second seat because it would justify. You could justify additional representation. The current conservative, racist Supreme Court, Alabama was so egregious and so blatant with it that this current Supreme Court said, come on, y', all, like, you just got to do better. You got to do better. And they told the state of Alabama, you're going to have to draw another. Another district. The state of Alabama is so racist and so egregious that they refuse. The Republicans in the state refuse to do that. And so to be a special master to come in, to really methodically look at the state and create a map that really would give some fair and representation and meet the criteria for section two in our state. But here it is, the Supreme Court came back and even state that decision. But now we've got a Supreme Court that has clearly been corrupted joy and captured. That now they're actually going against. This is like kind of like the blatant evidence of how the Supreme Court has been bullied and pressured and also could have caved to this administration, and now they see themselves as a fundamental arm of this administration. That if it's one thing to go against laws that you may interpret differently other times, but what happened differently from two years ago. Right, right. What's the difference now? And so I think in this moment, we have to understand that a lot is at stake, not just in terms of the voting power within the state, because it won't stop there. 50% of the cases that come up against Section 2 are actually local cases. So this isn't just about congressional seats. This is literally about reshaping the entire political landscape. And we have to understand how that will impact all of us. It is also about rigging an election so that they hope to steal in the midterm because they know there's no chance in hell that they can win that election free and fair. This is also opportunity to try to marginalize the voices of those who have resisted and have always taken on white supremacy directly. And that's black voices and black voters.
- [21:33]
Joy Reid
Latasha Brown speaking truth to power and and also to the Corrupt Supreme Court. Allroadsleadtothesouth.com that's where you can sign up. There are buses that are going to Montgomery. Y' all are going to want to be there. We will be live streaming all of what happens in Montgomery. That entire thing. We're going to be streaming it, the entire protest right here on the Joviture Channel. Lots of other folks streaming at Roland Martin. Big ups to Roland Martin, who is going to be the source of all of our live streams. He is going to be the lead streamer. Lots of us are joining in, too. Latasha, I appreciate you. Thanks for all you do for our democracy.
- [22:04]
Latasha Brown
Thank you all. Rose lead to the South.com because the south has friends everywhere.
- [22:10]
Joy Reid
The south has friends everywhere. I love it. Absolutely. And so tell a Democrat because. Thank you, sis. Listen, the Democrats need to load before I let before we jump off of this real quick, I just want to send you that this is not just the Justins once again getting their their access taken away in the state of Tennessee. Desantil put up a 8. This is another state representative named Karen Camper. She also got a letter saying that she's also losing all of her committee assignments. Every single Democrat, all of them were stripped of their committee assignments because they protest, because they interlocked arms on the floor of the House because they said shame along with a crowd of people. And then this last thing, a 9. This is the new image that people are comparing. Qassem Rashid made this comparison that you can't help but see the Rosa Parks moment with a law enforcement officer and state representative Justin J. Pierce, who's a congressional candidate facing off against the sergeant at arms of the State House, refusing to let him enter the chamber while his white colleagues only by themselves drew out and destroyed the one district where black folks had an opportunity to elect some of their choice right now is a white gentleman named Steve Cohen. Anyway, let's move on to our next block here. If you've been anywhere on YouTube or on any social media, you've probably seen this guy.
- [23:45]
Walla Begay
In his final speech to the nation. I heard President Obama say if something needs fixing, then lace up your shoes
- [23:51]
Joy Reid
and do some organizing.
- [23:53]
Senator Arthur Ellis
Disappointed by your elected officials? Grab a clipboard, get some signatures and run for office yourself.
- [24:01]
Walla Begay
So I did just that.
- [24:03]
Joy Reid
In 2019, I was elected to the
- [24:04]
Walla Begay
Bowie City Council and selected by my peers to become the youngest mayor pro tem in Bowie's history. As we look to confront our state's challenges, we are in need of a
- [24:13]
Joy Reid
new generation of leadership in Annapolis.
- [24:16]
Walla Begay
What we have before us are some breathtaking opportunities to disguise as insolvable problems.
- [24:21]
Joy Reid
Okay, we'll leave it there. And that is Adrian Boaffo. That is, he is a delegate member, a House of Delegates member, former mayor pro temas, he said of the city of Bowie, Maryland, known as the most affluent black neighborhood in America, and also a former Oracle lobbyist who is one of the many like 400 candidates that are vying to replace one Steny Hoyer, the Democrat from Maryland who has been in the house since 1981. He's been around for a really long time, rose to House minority leader under Speaker Pelosi in 2006, and he is finally retiring at 86 years old. And Boavo is his chosen successor. And the and they have a few things in common. One of them is on your screen right now. He is a major Steny Hoyer, major AIPAC money recipient. And Boafo happens to have the endorsement of something called the Democratic Majority for Israel pac, which is called dmfi, which is basically the AIPAC clone that focuses on Democratic primaries and tries to find the most pro Israel Democrat and put them up so that, you know, when people go to the polls in the general election, they're choosing from two candidates, both of whom are going to be very supportive of Israel. So that's one of the things they have in common. And I thought people should know that because that is something that I only am recently apprised of. But there are a lot of other people who are running as well. That is who Stanley Hoyer would like to succeed him is Adrian Boaco. But there are other people who are running too, five of whom join me now. And they are Walla Blige, an attorney, county council member and proven advocate, as she describes herself, who spent her career fighting for people who too often get left behind. Harry Dunn, former U.S. capitol Police officer, who we all know from those dramatic hearings during the January 6 hearings, he faced down against January 6 insurrectionists and now is himself running for Congress for the second time. Jerry Lightfoot, a former federal employee, Department of the Interior drug programs manager, a current sergeant first class United States army and a combat veteran who served in Afghanistan. And Harry Jaron, a small business owner, volunteer firefighter and new dad in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. He works as a grant writer and consultant for fire and EMS departments, helping hundreds of first responders secure funding to strengthen their communities. He's also been a firefighter for over 12 years. And last but not least, Senator, I don't know if Arthur Ellis. Senator Arthur Ellis. I do believe there he is. Is there.
- [26:56]
Harry Jaron
Right here.
- [26:56]
Joy Reid
There he is. And he's a member of the Maryland senate from the 28th district since 2019, believe it or not. These are just some of the people who are running to succeed Steny Hoyer. And I will note that we did invite Adrian Boffo as well, but he was not able to join us on tonight. Good evening, everyone.
- [27:20]
Walla Begay
Good evening.
- [27:21]
Harry Dunn
Good evening.
- [27:21]
Senator Arthur Ellis
Good evening, Joy.
- [27:23]
Harry Dunn
Hey, everybody.
- [27:25]
Joy Reid
Thank y'. All. I'm gonna go in order of seniority because I want to go through and just ask each of you because, you know, the issue of AIPAC has become very pertinent to a lot of voters who really care about whether we are sending significant amounts of money that could be spent on healthcare here, on free preschool, on helping people afford their lives in America, but sending it to buy 2,000 pound bombs for Israel to drop on Palestinians. And there's a lot of concern about the genocide that is taking place there and now in Lebanon. I just want to go around the horn and ask each of you if you are accepting money from either AIPAC or from this organization, dmf, the Israel Majority Fund. I'll start with you, Senator Ellis.
- [28:10]
Senator Arthur Ellis
Yeah, thank you, Joyce. Good to see you and good to see my campaign colleagues. We forming a bond and I love all you all and I tell you Maryland will be well represented in Congress with any of these individuals on this panel. But I'd say that, you know, they wouldn't give me any money. They can't buy me, they can't owe me. They don't control my mouth. The only people control my mouth are the voters that put me in office. I've launched a nine week protest of the Senate president, Maryland for blocking redistricted. In Maryland. I had a public display, public protest on the Senate floor. I've been all over the news just this weekend, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post. I mean, it's been a good ride. And I want to say now that because of the activism of this lone senator, the only one who stood up to say, Senate President Bill Ferguson, you are a traitor. As a Democrat and killing redistricted in Maryland.
- [29:17]
Joy Reid
Well, thank you very much, Senator Elliott.
- [29:19]
Senator Arthur Ellis
We are getting ready to do it now in Maryland.
- [29:23]
Joy Reid
The extended answer. We appreciate it. And also I'm sure your colleagues there appreciate the big ups. Harry Jaron, same question to you. Are you accepting money from AIPAC or any AIPAC like organizations like dmfi?
- [29:36]
Harry Jaron
No, I'm not, Joy. First off, thanks for having me. And I'll just say this as I believe I'm the only Jewish candidate in this race out of 23 of us or 22 of us. Now that a few have dropped out. I think there's a fundamental misunderstanding of how these organizations pick who they're going to back. First off, DMFI is run by a guy named Brian Romick, who was Steny Hoyer's former chief of staff. So of course he's going to support his former colleague Adrian Buafo, who was Steny Hoyer's campaign manager a few years ago. In the end, groups like AIPAC are, these are fundamentally right wing organizations. Their job is to make sure anyone who would be remotely critical of the extremist Netanyahu government doesn't make it to Congress. And I just, I just want to be very careful because I think the conversation around AIPAC can devolve very quickly into anti Semitic conspiracy theories about Jewish control of our politics. And I don't want the conversation to go there. But I want to be very clear that criticism of the Israeli government is not anti Semitic. I'm sure you've been through the ringer on that conversation over the last two or three years. And that's not what's going on in this race. They see Adrian Boaffo as someone who's pliable, who they can filter talking points to on this issue. I probably understand this issue more personally and more deeply than anybody else in the race, but they wouldn't even take a look at me because I'm a non starter for them.
- [30:59]
Joy Reid
And I think it's important to make that distinction. But I don't think that we've implied at all that there is Jewish control over anything. It's just that not you, not on
- [31:08]
Harry Jaron
this show, but I think I've seen the conversation in many online spaces go in that direction.
- [31:13]
Joy Reid
Yeah. Yeah. Well, online spaces can be really, really horrible. I will just know that too. We will know that. Yeah. A lot of it is bad. Let's go to you, Jerry Lightfoot, same question. Are you taking money from APAC or any APAC like organizations?
- [31:27]
Jerry Lightfoot
Well, first of all, good Evening. Thank you, Joy, so much for having me here. I appreciate it. To my colleagues, it's wonderful time seeing you, as always. We always get together, do these round tables and these panels and forms, it seems like, but the, the quick answer, short answer is no. No, no and no and no and not ever. Not ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever. So this is my problem. As the only combat vet here, I know what war looks like. I know how sick war is, I know how nasty and disgusting it is. And we need to honestly, honestly say America's problem is we have to stop sticking our nose where it doesn't belong. We need to be able to call out wrong, not just when it looks good or when it benefits us. And we seem to could do that to every other country except when it comes to Israel. And like my colleague brother Jaron said, it's not anti Semitic. It's not anti Semitic to say you're doing wrong or you shouldn't be doing this. And I do not support.
- [32:16]
Joy Reid
I appreciate that. And we're going to talk a little bit about the war in Iran next. That's going to be sort of our next round of questions. I want to go to Walla Blickey, welcome. And same question to you regarding funding.
- [32:26]
Walla Begay
No, in fact, I've taken the people's pledge. And the people's pledge is that I will not be taking corporate APAC money, that type of money, because I want people to know how committed I to them. Now I just want to say something that I want people to understand. My family comes from has been victim of war. My family's from Liberia. We were. In fact, the Liberian civil war was one of my first advocacies where we walked the D.C. council advocating for Liberian refugees that were coming in from war. So when I saw a lot of the Gaza visuals, it hurt my soul because I know what that feels like because I had family that went through that. So I was the one on the council that held a ceasefire rally bringing the community together on Gaza because I felt strongly that we should not be involved in that type of war. And I am against this war. The $1 billion that we're spending on this war while we have federal workers that have not been put back to work. So I'm not taking that money because I want people to understand that I am committed to them. And I saw somebody mention about data centers in Prince George's County. Let me just say this, it was my legislation that paused it. So thank you so much.
- [33:38]
Joy Reid
We're getting to that too. Absolutely. Harry Dunn, same question to you.
- [33:42]
Harry Dunn
Hey, Joy, Good to see you, everybody. Good to see y' all again. Absolutely not. Not taking it. In fact, I've been through it before. I've had special interest groups spend against me or in favor of another candidate when I ran before. And I honestly think without that spending, I would probably be a member of Congress. Now, if I could say that just bluntly right now, I think we need to take it a step further, though. Not just corporate PAC money from AIPAC or anybody else. I think it's against any special interest group. Who is the most special interest group that we are representing? It's not any corporation. It's the people that put us in office. And I've seen. I was a Capitol police officer for years, for years. And I saw people come to the Capitol with the best intentions. And slowly, over time, they forgot the people are the people. It's who sent them to Congress. It's not corporations. It's not special interest groups. It's not the nra. It's not aipac. It's not Walmart or Coca Cola. It's not some housing conglomerate. It's about the people. In fact, I believe I have one of the lowest average contribution rates in the entire country, about $17 a person, and still being able to raise millions of dollars without taking a penny of any special interest corporate PAC money. And I believe, and that's one of the things that I want to do when I get to Congress, because I think so oftentimes these special interest groups, it's what's influencing who's in Congress. We have a great panel of people here. Majority of the people in this race. Maryland would be great to have, and it's sad that only one of us will get to win. When you look at other districts across the country and you got bozos representing them, when we have just even on this screen right here, just five great candidates that I'm happy to be running against and running with.
- [35:26]
Joy Reid
So, yeah, it's an embarrassment of riches, Maryland. I wish some of you would move to California and run for governor. Let me go in reverse. Harry Dunn, I wonder if you, as somebody who survived the onslaught of the insurrection, and then to face people calling you the N word and attacking you as a police officer and not respecting law enforcement, the fact that the person who filed the case that ended the Voting Rights act, because the Voting Rights act is basically dead. Mr. Calais, I wonder how that impacts you, that he was an insurrectionist. And what do you think that the end of the Voting Rights act means for the people of Maryland, for the district you want to represent.
- [36:07]
Harry Dunn
Well, it's a danger. Like, so everybody's like with your last guest with Brown, she's fantastic, by the way, talking about all roads lead to the south. It doesn't stop there. Donald Trump, right after that decision came down, encouraged every Republican governor to stop the elections and redraw maps in that favor. And we had a justice. It's so crazy that you got Chief Justice John Roberts that has the nerve to say he doesn't understand why people think that the court is political. John Roberts, I think it's almost a discreet and almost disqualifying that he does, is unaware of the damage that is being done. When the LBJ signed that 60 plus years ago, we were in a work hell. I think we're arguably, we're in a worse place now. And that's why when I'm elected, we need to continue to fight and pass the John Lewis Voting Rights act, because the legislation that's involved now is not going far enough. They're trying to step away voting rights for black people, minorities people, and just trying to give Republicans control. And what Donald Trump control which Republicans know they, they will never win free and fair elections. They won't win that. So they try to take these power grabs and what they're doing with this complicit Supreme Court and also Johnny O's from Maryland's second District Robe act giving term limits to Supreme Court justices.
- [37:33]
Joy Reid
Raise your hand. Raise your hand if you all believe, if you were in Congress, you had an opportunity to vote on term limits for Supreme Court justices who would support that? Let's give a show of hands, everybody. All right, let me go to you, Jerry Lightfoot. You know, the south sends a disproportionate share of people into the United States military. What does it mean that if you are a black person in Memphis, for instance, or you're in parts of Alabama, despite your military service, you really now have no opportunity to send a person of your choice to Congress.
- [38:07]
Jerry Lightfoot
Right. Thank you, Joy. Thank you for that question. And you're right, it's a travesty all over in itself when you have people who are signed up to serve this country and you got to remind yourself there's no draft. So everyone who goes goes on their own validation, own volition. So they're like, hey, I'm raising my hand. I'm going to do this, this. I'm a take this oath to the Constitution and I'm a fight for my country. It's sad when you do get back home or you come home and you realize that you no longer have the support of your country behind you. You get told all these lies like, hey, you can just everyone has the same opportunities, everyone has the same chances to do whatever. But you see time and time again, it doesn't apply to us. When we think we have it up, they move the goal post even further. And that's what it's look like for people in the military. Like, I've been in the military for over 22 years. It has not all been peaches and cream. I still have. I've experienced a lot of discrimination in the military and I'm not even someone coming from the civil rights era. But that's just the country we live in and we have to start talking about these things and get it out in order for that to count. And while we're on the topic of term limits, I would also support term limits for Congress, period. Senate and House of Representatives. You should not be in power long enough to be corrupted and be no good in your position.
- [39:21]
Joy Reid
Term limits. Senator Arthur Ellis, do you support term limits and should they be universal for all political offices, including Congress?
- [39:30]
Senator Arthur Ellis
Yes, I would definitely support term limits, Joy, for the Supreme Court. And let me remind, well, let me remind the voters that elections is the opportunity to enact term limits on these people who are doing nothing for you. The power is in the voter's hand. When I ran for the Maryland Senate in 2018 that this exact question came up and I told the audience the term limits are now in your hands. And the voters in Charles county kicked out a 24 year incumbent out of office and put me in there. Never ran for anything in my life before. Served associated with the military for 21 years in the private sector, all private sector and military experience in my entire life. I want the voters to be empowered. You don't have to wait for Congress to vote to put term limits in. In Maryland and throughout this country, you have a representative, black or white or whatever racial identity they have not working for you. Let your neighbors know, get them the hell out of there and put some people in there, okay? We need to empower our voters. We need to empower our people. Stop waiting on politicians to empower you, the voters. You got the power. You throw these suckers out.
- [40:56]
Joy Reid
Harry Jerry, I'm saying you're shaking your head no. You disagree with that answer? Harry?
- [41:01]
Harry Jaron
Absolutely. Absolutely not. Joy One of the first things I did when I announced my candidacy in this race was to sign the US Term limits pledge which would Be three terms in the House or two terms in the Senate. I believe I'm the only candidate on, on the show tonight that. Oh, and Jerry. And Jerry, let's not forget Jerry. We, we launched our primary challenges of Steny Hoyer, of course, a 45 year incumbent. And so I think much respect to Senator Ellis for what he did to take out a very well established incumbent in 2018, but he of all people should know how hard it is to, to do that. What he's saying doesn't take into account the structural factors that benefit someone who's already been in office for a very, very long time. I would also add that the whole reason we're in this situation as a country is because we have the exact same people in office that we had in the 1980s and they haven't kept up with the times here. And it's a huge problem for our political system. So I'm absolutely in favor of term limits. Given the structural advantages of our system, which I think you're seeing play out right now with Adrian Buffo's candidacy as a protege of Stenyware, I don't think we can just discount all those advantages. That's why we do need term limits.
- [42:12]
Joy Reid
Well, you're trying to get in there.
- [42:14]
Walla Begay
Yes, I really am. Term. I am 100% behind term limits. Let me just say this. There is a power of encompassing that every elected official knows. And honestly you're saying why we have so many people running because someone served 45 years and I respect Congressman Hoyer, I worked for Congressman Hoyer. But 45 years is a long time. And when things change, you might not change with the times. That's why he has a candidate that is endorsed by AIPAC and all of these things because they're not changing with the times. They're not seeing how that looked is how does that voters feel when they see this war and tie it to those payments. And while we're sitting here with people who can't pay, who can't even get benefits from SNAP and get payment for health care. And I would just add this. We just got to remember Congressman Clapburn had a great thing last week. He came to our district and he talked about the Reconstruction era and he said that how black people built themselves up on a Reconstruction era and it was the Supreme Court, the actions of the Supreme Court and Jim Crow that crushed us. We cannot allow the times to repeat themselves. And I just want to make sure we understand we've been here before and now we have people who've died and you all are talking about people going to the bridge, people who've died, people who've. So that we could be here. So I really honestly would say we need a new type of Congress that's going to be bold. And the boldness does not come unless you put term limits in place, because boldness are coming when people get comfortable. That's what we have a lot of comfortable congressional members. They're scared to make decisions. They're sitting up here just having shutdowns every minute instead of making bold moves. So I really feel at this time, we need term limits on the Supreme Court. We need term limits for every organization. I am in a position that has a term limit. And that's good because you need new leadership every time. You need people on their toes, knowing that they need to work and do they have a short time to make their mark and it has to happen.
- [44:27]
Joy Reid
So, no, I appreciate that. Let me just go to one other option. Of the ways that been proposed, Elie Mistahl, I will give him credit for this. One other way that the Supreme Court could be brought to heel if one believes that they're out of control is to expand the court. There are 13 different districts that they oversee. And a lot of people believe There should be 13 members, by a show of hands, who would be in favor and who would vote for if it came before you as a member of Congress, expanding the number of members on the court. Raise your hand if you're for that.
- [44:58]
Walla Begay
And remember, this was something in a New Deal. They actually discussed this in the 1940s.
- [45:03]
Joy Reid
Absolutely. Let's talk about this war. Because Maryland is suffering disproportionately because of things like Doge. Maryland is a relatively wealthy state, in large part because a lot of the people who live in the state are federal employees, or at least they were until Doge removed many of them. I see Harry is shaking his hands. I might go to him first. There are two Harry's on here. I mean, we'll go with Harry Jaron. So, number one, how could Congress make a difference in ending some of this funding for the military, $1.5 trillion for the Pentagon, and getting that money back here into Maryland to help people who are struggling?
- [45:48]
Harry Jaron
Yeah, absolutely. So you got to be really careful. In a field of 22 candidates, there are two Harrys and there's also a Harold. And technically, I'm also a Herald. Anyway, I would just say that the $1.5 trillion in defense spending, really, the increase of $500 billion, that's really ephemeral. That's money that we don't have. We're currently running a 1.7, $1.8 trillion deficit. So that's just money we're borrowing. It's not like we've decided to take a limited amount of taxpayer funds and redirect it towards the Defense Department. That is money that we are printing out of, out of thin air. But I think the larger point remains the same, that people want to want to see their tax dollars spent on things in their own communities. We don't want to see any more of our tax dollars going overseas to fight more pointless wars in the Middle East. I'm 36 years old. This is the third foreign military adventure with no clear goal and no clear winnable strategy that I've experienced in my living memory. It's completely insane and it's completely unsustainable. The deficit is going to have to get under control. Either we get it under control as Congress or the bond market is going to enforce some sort of control on us by making it impossible to borrow anymore.
- [47:01]
Joy Reid
Let's go to the other Harry. HARRY dunn, well, yeah, well, first of
- [47:04]
Harry Dunn
all, we got to acknowledge that Donald Trump, one, doesn't have a strategy. And two, even yesterday he said that he doesn't care about the Americans hurting here. He said that yesterday a reporter asked him, hey, Donald Trump, when you thinking about the war in Iran, what do you think about the Americans that are suffering here because of the high cost? And he says he doesn't think about it at all. But let's also think that what's enabling this war right now, it's a complicit Congress. There's a vote today, John Fetterman, a Democrat, that he's going to vote with Republicans to continue to have this illegal war going on, which Walla Begay said they're spending billions of dollars a day on it. And look at where that money's coming from. Like they're funding America spends more on their defense spending than the next eight or nine nations combined. Now, defense spending is very important. Absolutely. But what about the other programs where people are suffering from? Donald Trump told us last year when they dropped that big massive bomb on Iran, that their nuclear programs was obliterated. They weren't nothing to worry about. So why are we back over there? They are liars. And we have a Republican Congress and sometimes Democratic Congress that is empowering this Donald Trump because they had the War powers resolution that came to the floor. It didn't happen. So Congress, not only they have the responsibility of oversight, they're negating it. They're punting it and giving it to Donald Trump, and we can't have that anymore. That's why we need leaders in Congress, like Walla Begay said, that are willing to take bold stances. And who would think that actually authorizing your equal, equal power of the Constitution would be a bold stance. But apparently, in this day and age, it is.
- [48:44]
Joy Reid
Let's talk about the military leadership. Terry Life. But I want to go to you, because you obviously are a military veteran. Give a grade to the leadership in the Pentagon right now. Bdag Seth has effectively erased the history of African American, of indigenous, of lgbtq, of women service members. He has presided over a request for $1.5 trillion in a budget which he hasn't explained how much the. How much of that actually goes to the Iran war. They don't seem to have a strategy. Give him a grade. I'll let you start first, Jerry.
- [49:21]
Jerry Lightfoot
So I'll say this. Military history is American history, whether it's black, white, lgbtqia. You cannot have military history without sharing those stories of everyone who counts and matters and who've come before us. We can't just make it look vanilla because that's the flavor of the month or that's the flavor of the year or whatever we're trying to make America do again. We have to understand that once again. And to go back to the whole war thing, we're not at war, all right? We keep saying war. Only Congress has the power to enact war right now. We're still under the 180 days of the President's War Power act and his time. His window is closing. And it's up to us, if Congress has a backbone to say, no, we're not going to stand for another war. And we look at it like, like Walla Begay said and Harry Dunn. Billions of dollars every day. For what? For why? But people over here can't. California has $8 gas. Like, $8. Like, what is that? You know, gas is over $5 here in Maryland. People have to decide. You want everybody back in the office commuting, but how are we gonna get there? Because our salaries don't reflect the change in what's going on. But I could tell you what we could do to really fix it. And this is. We want to talk about things in radical and being great. Going back to what we were talking about with term limits. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. You break it down from the inside for one year or for six months. America would no longer send any money outside this country, unless it's for a natural disaster. Turn all that money inward to our own programs and infrastructures and watch how strong as a country we can be. We already have the answers to fix everything that needs to be done. Unfortunately, we have too many people that are ambitious and serving their own. Their own agendas representing us who no longer represent us. They millionaires and billionaires. What do you know? What do they know about struggle? We need to break the system down. Period. From the inside. Washington said it best. The greatest cruelty, the greatest travesty and evil under the Constitution is a two party system. Why do we even need it?
- [51:12]
Joy Reid
Well, you didn't give him a grade. Can you give EDEX at the grade failing F? Harry Jaron. Harry Jaron grade.
- [51:21]
Harry Jaron
I'll give him an F. What other grade could you possibly give him?
- [51:24]
Senator Arthur Ellis
He's a.
- [51:26]
Harry Jaron
It's ridiculous.
- [51:27]
Joy Reid
Senator.
- [51:29]
Senator Arthur Ellis
Yeah. Arthur Ellis give as a 21 year old, 21 year of military service. I give him an F minus. You didn't know there was such a thing, right? F minus. I mean it's a terrible job.
- [51:43]
Joy Reid
Very done.
- [51:45]
Harry Dunn
He should be impeached and get the hell out of. Out of Congress or whatever grade you want to give that. I mean out of the cabinet because he has done a horrible job. And also just leading our country and our service members into danger. Department of War. That's crazy. Like he's terrible. He's got to go.
- [52:01]
Joy Reid
Wallaby gang.
- [52:04]
Walla Begay
I want to. I would say I'm with Senator F minus. But I want to add this. I want people to see really what, what's going on on the ground. You have people on a national level watching this. We have over about around over 70,000 federal workers. A good 20,000 have been laid off. Let me just tell you while I'm sitting here. I have had to pay bills, utility bills or people who've been laid off and cannot get the job. Many people who've been laid off are not even able to get the job up to the salary that they were had before. They have to take piecemeal places to try to get back to where they are. And don't even. Some already are doing contracting work. So they don't even have health care. We're talking about contractors that have gotten broken. Remember that DBE contract, minority business owners. A lot of those are what built Charles and Calvert, Charles and Prince George's County. Those people were able to get the black wealth. These are the two African American wealthiest counties in the country. And we have been people now that are in their houses quietly Trying to figure out how they're going to pay their bills at this point. They have DBE contracts. Those are minority business. Those people are every day getting a notice from the Trump administration that their contract has ended. So I want people to understand this is. We are grounded. Zero people are in their houses crying right now trying to figure out when we put that utility assistance. We got so much contacts. We did one even for the federal government. They're trying to figure out how they're going to transition, open a new business, everything. So, guys, this is. We are. If we tell our stories, some people will be 30, 40 years and are trying to figure. Still figure it out.
- [53:55]
Joy Reid
Yeah. And the economic crisis that's facing the country, I think is very clear. I want to give each of you an opportunity to kind of boil it down because it's gonna be very difficult. I mean, obviously each of you are terrific candidates. It's gonna be hard, I think, for people to choose between you because you all have so many great attributes and you all are such forceful advocates. But I wanna give each of you an opportunity to. Well, actually, before I even do that, because you did bring up data centers and I forgot to come back to it. Walla. Raise your hand if you would ban data centers from the state of Maryland. No more data centers in the state of Maryland. Ban it outright. Okay. I just wanted to make sure that we get everybody on the record on that. And I'll start with you, Walla. Tell us, give us one reason. Give us your elevator pitch for voters who are trying to decide, like, why I really like all of these candidates. Why should you be the next Congress member from the wonderful district, fifth District, Fifth district in Maryland, I've been the
- [54:52]
Walla Begay
fighter on the ground. I know the issues here. I am releasing the Walla blueprint and what the Walla blueprint is going to show you. We're going to focus on health care, Medicare for all. Why? Because on the ground, I am releasing a report that shows that most Marylanders, even in Prince George's county, don't have access to health care. Why? Because we are many of them. Like I said, people been laid off. They're paying high reimbursement rates, high everything, high prescription drugs, all of those things. They're living on the edge. And we don't have access to maternal health. We're going to be focusing on maternal health, focusing on issues that impact our community. The affordability. Every issue that we. That people have talked about here. I've done the bill on. I focused on when federal workers were laid off we put the bill to assist our federal workers. When the data center was coming into my community, I introduced the a bill that would stop it. When there was development that didn't make sense in our community, not lack of infrastructure, I put forth the information on bills to pause it. I have been that fighter. I've represented nurses for a decade. I was a counselor for D.C. nurses Association. And they could tell you we fought. We fought for nurse in every school. We fought for nurse patient ratios. We fought those. I've been that fighter. And the reason why I can make the decisions that I've done and as a council member, because I'm on board, because I've taken. That's why I took that people's pledge when I started my campaign, because I wanted people to know I'm not a bought candidate. They can't buy me. And that's why they're scared of me. And that's why I want people to vote for someone who is committed to that. No corporate pact, so that I could fight the same fights at the council. I could fight them in Congress.
- [56:37]
Joy Reid
All right, Harry Dunn, thank you very much. Harry Dunn, give us your elevator pitch.
- [56:43]
Harry Dunn
No, it's great. And obviously I say it's great to be here with all of, as Jerry has called him, our colleague on the campaign trail. But, but look, you know, Joy, I don't know what it's like to be a elected official, but I know what it's like to be a public servant because as a police Officer, I served 13 years before January 6th started and almost three years afterwards. And I've spent every day since January 6th and January 7th getting in good trouble fighting for this country, going across the country, across the world, standing up where we need fighters and where we need people to show up. I've done so much just a citizen Harry Dunn, trying to hold this administration accountable. I have two lawsuits against the Department of Justice as citizen Harry Dunn, fighting to hold these people accountable because we are not in normal times right now and it's not time for career politicians standing up and trying to find decency. We are fighting an administration right now and a Congress was using the Constitution as a suggestion manual. I am unbought also so many of us on here, we all agree on a lot of the issues, but I believe I understand the gravity and the severity of where we are right now because I've stood up to Donald Trump before. I'm standing up to him now. And I will continue to do it because I believe in supporting people. The people are matter. The People are hurting. And that's just who I am. I stand up when people need a fighter, when people need a protector. And like I said, I love getting so much credit to everybody. And, you know, maybe as a politician, they're my opponents, but I don't see them as that. The opponents are the people that are voting against Civil Rights act, that are voting for gerrymanderman. Those are the opponents that are not giving out benefits, that are shutting down the government and not paying our workers, that are illegally firing just so many. Those are the enemies right now. These aren't to opposed opponents. And we need somebody that's willing to take the fight to them. I've done it before. I'm still doing it. I'll continue to do it.
- [58:39]
Joy Reid
Thank you. Harry Dunn, Jerry Lightfoot,
- [58:43]
Jerry Lightfoot
thank you once again, Joy, for having us. Once again, to my colleagues, it's an honor. Like, hey, we've been doing this. But I could say, honestly, I am that fighter. And you hear that word fighter, and it starts to kind of fall on deaf ears because everyone uses it, but at the same time, fighter, right? I'm the only one who stepped across those waters to do those things that needed to be done in the dark so you all could bask in the light so y' all can enjoy all these freedoms. And what I'm telling you, I'm not originally from Maryland, but this is home with my wife, my four kids and my wonderful golden Doodle. This is home. And I will forever do what needs to be done for here. It's not how long you've been someplace, but what you're willing to sacrifice when you get there. And I'm willing to give it all to this country. Willing to give it all to. To Maryland, also 5th District, because I've done that for 22 years in the military for another 11 years. Civil service. My whole life has been public service. I have a different perspective, a different lens that other people may not have. And I can see things from other angles and be able to have that bird's eye view and see the forest for the trees and not just the trees or the shrubs. We need people who are not just going to say they're fighting, not fight behind a desk, but actually get out there and do what needs be to. To be done and stand up and be held accountable and call people to account when the time comes. And I'm that person, I will be that person. And with your support, I know we can make Maryland proud together.
- [60:02]
Joy Reid
Jerry Life. But playing the golden doodle card, it is always That's. That's. That's. That's some underhanded pool. Jared. Life. But let's go to Harry J. There are two Harry's in the race, and Harry J. Is the one we're going to next. Go ahead, Harry Jaron.
- [60:17]
Harry Jaron
I had a labradoodle for a really long time. I'm a big doodle person also.
- [60:22]
Joy Reid
That's an excellent pivot. You got it. You got to hit them with your own golden doodle. That's it.
- [60:26]
Harry Dunn
There you go.
- [60:27]
Harry Jaron
Look, I got into this race because I watched the Democratic Party firsthand, stop sounding like normal people. And I saw Congress disintegrate very slowly. I've seen the Democratic Party from the inside out. My husband was a finance director at the DNC for many years. He was an appointee in the Biden administration. We were going to all these events in Washington, D.C. and listening to the conversations inside the Democratic party. I'd drive 45 minutes back to my firehouse in Maryland, and I hear the conversations with the cops and firefighters sitting around the kitchen table in the firehouse. And it's not a surprise to me why the Democratic Party has been losing voters. This race is basically a microcosm of the Democratic Party right now. I mean, do we want to be the party of consultants and lobbyists and PACs and big money and wealthy donors and APAC, or do we want to rebuild trust with ordinary working people? I have a very strong policy background. Yeah, I worked in international trade. I got my Wharton degree. But at the end of the day, my passion is being a firefighter and working with fire departments all over the country. And I see firsthand people who rely on 911 and the emergency room for their primary care, people who fall through the cracks. I think we've lost something in Washington, D.C. that we. We've. There's this disconnect between the policies and the decisions that are made in Washington, D.C. and the actual lives that are affected by them in the rest of the country. And ultimately, that's why I'm running. You don't. If your house is on fire, you don't send in the same people who let it spread in the first place. You send in a firefighter. So there's my elevator pitch for you.
- [62:01]
Joy Reid
There you have it.
- [62:02]
Walla Begay
Harry.
- [62:02]
Joy Reid
Harry Jaron, who went to Wharton without his father having to get him in, like a certain orange person who's running the country. Let's close it out. Make our closer. Senator Arthur Ellis, you are our closer. Why should you be the next member of Congress from The Great Congressional District 5, Maryland.
- [62:23]
Senator Arthur Ellis
Yeah. Thank you so much, Joy for the opportunity to be here. I really enjoy this discussion and I must say that I didn't give up a safe Senate seat to guess that I'm the most qualified. I know I'm the most qualified because I've been in the boot camp of politics called the Senate of Maryland, fighting my party for the opportunity for my constituents to get resources. Black people have been screwed in America for 400 plus years from the founding of Maryland in St. Mary's county up until now. I opened the first boys and girls Club in Charles county last year and have funds for second Boys and Girls Club. I've got the Southern Maryland Rapid Transit funded at the state level. I put the first bill in, I put bills in for maternal health to fund doulas so women, black women particularly can get doulas paid for through Medicaid and insurance companies. That's happening now. I put in the bill in 2019, my first year, using my military experience to protect federal workers when they get furloughed during a government shutdown. And that bill is a bedrock for Maryland response for the last few years with government shutdowns where individuals who live in Maryland who are federal workers get furloughed, don't have to pay their rent, their mortgage, utility bill because of the bill I put in in 2019, my very first year in the state of Maryland and it passed and is now law. Marylanders, Prince Georgians, Charles county unions and around the county unions, St. Mary individuals are benefited from these bills that I bring to the table as a experienced individual throughout the spectrum, from my University of Maryland days, my military days, working in New York City, Manhattan, Wall street, to being a family man raising two very successful kids, to really being married for 30 plus years. These are all tough things to do, you all know, and I'm in the fight. It's not just fighting politicians, it's not just fighting Republicans, it's fighting Democrats. It's fighting the school systems, which are terrible. I mean, so many schools, high schools in Maryland have zero kids who are proficient in math. It's unacceptable. And I've been a loud voice. And my colleagues, oh, they love me, but they can't stand me. They're happy I'm leaving the Senate and I hope to go to Congress to torture those suckers there. Also to speak up, to say, stop playing politics. I also know how to read a budget. I'm a cpa. Some of my colleagues don't know how to read a budget. It's Shameful. And they cannot act on it and bring money back. I'm going to bring money back to the district, and I'm going to get rid of a lot of these things that are so deficient. And individuals always wondering why does nothing change? But I will bring the change. I'm the guy who bring the change.
- [65:25]
Joy Reid
Thank you, sir. All right. Well, that is. This has been a jaunty panel. I will let you all know. Believe it or not, we invited eight of the, I think, like, 19 candidates to come in, 22 candidates, and one might have dropped out. But, yeah, we invited eight different candidates. We were going to break this up into two separate panels if all eight had shown up. But these are the stalwart five who decided to make time to allow all of you to hear it. I think it was important. Even if you're not in Maryland, this is the way politics works. You have good people who all have great credentials, who are sincere and want to be in office, and then you have some that are necessarily not, but you need to hear from them so that you're not just throwing darts at the wall when you decide to vote. So I hope this has been instructive. Wall of Legay. Harry Dunn, Jerry Lightfoot, Harry Jaron. Senator Arthur Ellis. We will put all of their links in the description of this program so that you can go and you can learn more about them on their very own websites. Thank you all for making the time. Really appreciate it.
- [66:29]
Harry Dunn
Thank you. Thank you.
- [66:30]
Senator Arthur Ellis
Thank you,
- [66:32]
Joy Reid
thank you, thank you, thank you. And if you guys enjoyed this format, this idea of us bringing on candidates for Congress or for Senate, whatever, we're happy to do it. We would love to do it with the California governor's race as well. Although what in the Beyonce is going on in California. If maybe two of those people, Jason, could just move to California so that they could have more choices, but because it's like there's like nobody wanting to run that anyway that could win anyway. So I think that was good. Y' all let us know in the chat if you guys enjoyed that. Let's show very quickly some of the polling, which it doesn't necessarily matter, but we can just take a look at it. B5 is kind of where the polls stand right now. And you can see that a lot of these polls right now are name recognition. The New York Times attempted to go ahead and do a poll rusher, and Baker, who was one of the people we did and Biden didn't make, and he's got the most name recognition because he's a current representative that's local that people kind of know. Harry Dunn coming in second, Wallaby Gay third. But this is, you know, it's all kind of theoretical at this point. You can show B6, which shows it just a little bit closer up. It's all name ID right now. Then you can see that the winner of the polling right now is. Don't know. The winner of the polling right now is. I don't know because people haven't gotten a chance to properly hear from all of these folks. So we did invite eight people. Those are the five who showed up. All right, so that's where we have it. Let me let you all know as we welcome you to our Duh of the Joy Reid show. By the way. By the way, before we get to that, the primary election is June 23rd. June 23rd. And the voter registration deadline, if you're in Maryland, is June 2nd. It's coming up. June 2nd is the deadline if you want to register to vote in the state of Maryland. Early voting begins June 11. June 11 through 18 is when early voting happens. And the deadline if you want to get a mail in ballot is June 19th. So write those numbers down. June 2nd is the voter registration deadline. If you're not registered to vote in Maryland, you got to register by June 2, whether you do it online or in person of the DMV. The actual election is June 23rd, but early voting is June 11th through 18. And the last data request a mail in about June 19th. That's Juneteenth, by the way, until all went through June 19th. All right, now I can welcome you to of the Joy Reed show. We do love to let you guys get in on some political sort of, you know, to do things, do it a little bit more in detail. That's kind of what we're doing on today. And hopefully you guys enjoyed that. I want to let you guys know that the Joy Read show is brought to you by our friends at Mosh. Well, well, well. You know the old avid, the old adage, you are what you eat. Well, if that's the case, then a whole bunch of people on this TJRS team are probably Mosh protein bars because they keep eating them. That's how I know they must be Mosh. They eat the mosh bars. You all know what mosh bars are. They're the company that was founded by Maria Shriver and her son Patrick Schwarzenegger with a mission of sparking a conversation about brain health through food, education and research. After Maria's father was Diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Mash Protein bars are. They're quite delicious, but they're also made with good stuff made with ingredients that actually support your brain. Things like ashwagandha, Lion's Mane, Omega 3s. Mash is also the first and only food brand that is boosted with cognizant. Cognizant is a premium form of something called citrocholine. 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So if you want to find your favorites, build your boxes, keep things fresh with a variety pack, Mosh bars are the best way to go to also give back while you're supporting Your Brain health head to moshlife.com read and subscribe today to get 25% off your first variety pack and 20% off your monthly subscription. And all you have to do to get that is use the code Reed R e I D. That is 25% off your first pack. 20% off your subscription of Brain boosting bars delivered straight to Odo. Start building Brain Health into your everyday with Mosh bars. Thanks to Mosh for supporting this episode. And again we are on our two we're well into hour two of the Joy Read show. We want to make sure that you hit like and subscribe and become a team. Consider becoming a Team TJRS member. We're going to have another one of our monthly insider chats with just our team TJRS members coming up next week Friday. But this show couldn't be done without our wonderful sponsors. And while we are on the subject of health, we are also sponsored on tonight by our friends at 120Life. Now we know that May is High Blood Pressure Awareness Month. But awareness without action changes absolutely nothing. Half of all adults have high blood pressure. Many don't even know it. Many are doing nothing about it, which is really dangerous. The people who actually benefit from this month are the people who actually check their numbers and then do something about them. One thing you can do is try 120Life. 120Life is a once a day functional drink made with ingredients that help support healthy blood pressure. Tastes great, it's refreshing. It's made from a blend of superfruit juices and it fits into your real normal life. This version right here, the powdered version is low sugar. It's made with just one gram of sugar, so it's a smart option for people who are watching them. Sugars. You can try it for 14 days and you measure your blood pressure before and after. And if your numbers don't improve, you just get a full refund. Over a thousand health professionals have supported or endorsed its use. It increasingly is becoming a go to natural tool in clinical settings, not just those creepy wellness circles. So go to 120life.com and that's 120life.com and use my code joy or the code reid to get 20% off. You can try it risk free for two weeks. If your blood pressure does not come down, you get a full refund. Go to 120life.com use the code joy or read to save 20%. Don't wait till next month. There's nothing to lose except your higher blood pressure numbers. One more time. 120life.com use the code joy or reed for 20% off today. These statements have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. This product, it's not intended to diagnose, treat or cure or prevent any disease. So your orange, your orange dictator president, he arrived in China to meet with an actual president for life, Xi Jinping. And the visit actually started with a snub. I think we have a little bit of video. Turn the sound down. So Trump, he arrives to a lot of pomp and circumstance.
- [74:37]
Harry Dunn
Watch how slow he comes down stairs.
- [74:40]
Joy Reid
But his, it's his cankles. It's the cankles. You see the cankles. The cankles don't make him, he can't walk fast because he also is apparently afraid of stairs. I don't know if you've ever heard that, but he allegedly is afraid of stairs. You see, he's getting the pump and the circumstance.
- [74:51]
Harry Dunn
And you see they panned the camera away from him.
- [74:53]
Joy Reid
Yeah, they very kindly panned the camera away. He got a very lovely reception from some performers, but he was not greeted by Xi Jinping himself. Now, this is actually a big deal. New York Post reported on it, some other people reported on it. He arrives in Beijing for this meeting, but his, his greeter was the vice chairman. Not, not actually Xi Jinping himself, but it's actually kind of an upgrade from the first time that he went in 2017. For an expert from a protocol perspective, Xi Jinping not personally greeting Trump at the airport is a bit of a snob. He didn't do so in 2017 either. But this time at least they sent the vice president, not the vice chair, but the vice president whose name is Han Zheng, along with both ambassadors and senior foreign affairs officials. So they actually upgraded last time because the last time when he was president, the first time, which was also the most recent visit to China by an American president, a lower level official greeted Trump even lower than the vice president. So in diplomatic protocol that's, you know, rank is important. It's never accidental. So he actually kind of got a slight upgrade this time. He got it. And he got the little music that he likes or whatever. But, you know, it was interesting who was with him on that trip. So on Air Force One for the trip was Elon Musk, of course, rich man America, Jensen Huang, whose AI chip making business is the world's largest company by market cap. And then also the guy that you see on your screen, Brett Ratner. Brett Ratner, the guy who posed for a creepy Picture with Jeffrey Epstein back in the day and two unnamed women or girls. We don't know their ages or their identities. That guy was on the plane. We're going to have to start calling Air Force One, Lolita Express two, because, you know, between Howard Lutnick being on the plane from time to time, the guy who partied with Epstein with his own wife and kids and this character going on there. So why was, you know, last year, I think last year he. So let me go into why he's there. So Brett Ratner, who, as you all will recall, made the documentary about Melania, which was just basically a big bribe from Jeff Bezos to just give Melania $40 million just to give it to her, because nobody saw that documentary and he was a director of it. And Donald Trump has tried to rehabilitate this guy, Brett Ratner, who went away because of MeToo claims, very credible claims that he's a sex. Sex pest, which he denies, I should note. But there were many, many, many credible claims from women in Hollywood. He's a sex pest. But Donald Trump brought him along because apparently Donald Trump is a huge fan of the film Rush Hour. Who do you think you are, Chelsea Carter? Who you think you are, Chelsea Carter, which of course revolves around detectives James Carter and Yan Nang Lee, played by Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan, respectively, as they navigate their cultural differences and investigate crimes in Hong Kong, Paris and Los Angeles. So according to Trump's spokesperson, he brought Brett Ratner along so that Brett Ratner could scout for filming locations to make a Rush Hour four. I promise you, he brought him along because Brett Ratner allegedly apparently plans to shoot a lot of Rush Hour 4 in China last November. According to the Guardian, Trump encouraged Larry Ellison, his billionaire friend that also now owns TikTok, and it's trying to buy CNN. And that ruined CBS News by buying Paramount Skydance. I mean, by buying by Paramount Skydance, buying cbs. He encouraged Larry Ellison to bring the franchise back. Trump did, once Paramount went through with its controversial purchase of Warner Brothers. So he wants Larry Ellison, once he and his son David purchase Warner Brothers, and that goes through. He wants them to then get Rush Hour for Bates. Now, the problem with that is that the deal is yet to come to fruition because so far they haven't been able to get Jackie Chan or Chris Tucker to agree to be in the film with the alleged sex pest director. But Trump is trying to make it happen anyway. And one of the ways he's doing that is at our expense putting that guy on Air Force One. Which we gotta call Lolita Express to and, and taking him to China for his official state visit with Xi Jinping. So apparently what, Brett Ratner, is he gonna be at the state dinner? If there's a state dinner. That's weird, right? I mean, this all tracks though, for a president who, you know, sold his idiot base a Trump phone. Have you heard about this Trump phone that they put down $100 and then they never got a phone and now they're all on TikTok complaining because it turns out the hundred dollars is just a deposit in lieu of potentially getting a phone. And there's no guarantee they'll ever actually get a phone. He scammed them. So he's a scammer, right? This is the guy who maybe kind of sort of commissioned a 15 foot gold statue of himself in Palm Beach, Florida, that looks curiously like the photos of Saddam, the statues of Kim Il Sung of North Korea and Saddam Hussein. I mean, it just looks weirdly like it. And his statue looks very similar, except that it's, it's all gold. And by the way, he had a black pastor named Pastor Burns pray over the statue in an ecumenical service. Just all weird stuff. And who's also slapping his ugly face on like, everything from like giant enormous posters hanging over half of the buildings in D.C. to money on the passports. He's making a commemorative passport with his face in it. He is, is literally minting a gold coin for the 250th anniversary of himself. And of course, there is the Trump $100 bill. If we could just leave the $100 bill up in a moment, for a moment, you will notice that this hundred dollar bill that Trump is demanding, which only Congress can commission, and no president has ever, or no person has ever gotten their face on the money who's still alive. It's never happened. There's never been a person, let alone a president, who's gotten their face on the money, who's still living. But Trump wants his face on our money now. Only people like Kim Jong Un in North Korea do that. Kim Jong Un's face is on their money because he's a dictator for life. Trump wants his face on the money like he's Stalin or something, or like he's the King of the United States. He wants that done while he's alive. He wants it done this year. And I promise you treasury will probably print these hundred dollar bills. They wouldn't do the Harriet Tubmans, which Congress passed a bill saying they should, that, that was approved by Congress, but they've not. They've nixed the Tubmans. Harriet Tubman, who deserved to get her face on the money. But Trump wants his face on the money. And if you zoom in, if you squint real tight on that, that hundred dollar bill, it says in Trump We Trust on it or God bless Trump. It's literally an homage to Donald Trump. It has his signature on it. I'm surprised it doesn't say the United States or Trump, but at the bottom it says God bless Donald Trump. It says God Bless on one side of the Capitol. Look at the lower bit there. It says God bless Donald Trump under the words the United States of America. God bless Donald Trump. On the hundred dollar bill. It's on the back of the bill. It's on the back of the bill. If you look at the bottom bill there, which is the back of the bill, you see the Capitol, which isn't like broken. You know, they've just. It's the Capitol, right? It's not. They didn't have any January 6ers running around that I'm surprised they didn't. But it says God Bless and then there's the capital sort of in the middle. And then it says Donald Trump. God bless Donald Trump. And then on the front, it's got his ugly portrait, which he loves. This is his favorite portrait. He had his portrait redone because he didn't like the one that was done, the first one. So he wanted the scowly one. And now he wants that scowly face thing everywhere. He's put the scowly face in giant portraits all over D.C. if you drive down downtown D.C. it's on every building. He. It looks like you're in North Korea or like you're in China, which is a communist dictatorship. And Donald Trump is, I guess he's a Maoist now. And now he wants his face on the money, on our money. At this point, there is literally no reason to keep any Republicans in Congress because they're all laying down for this shit. They're letting Donald Trump get away with these criminal activities and some Democrats, too. We did mention John Fetterman, who was the deciding vote nixing another war powers resolution. I wonder why he's doing that. Why is John Fetterman so pro Trump? Trump? I wonder. I wonder. I'm going to noodle on. Can't be that he's betting on companies that he regulates. It can't be that he sits on committees that regulate companies and then he knows when their stock is potentially going to go up and he's investing in those companies and making a shit ton of money and he's corrupt like everyone else. It can't be that, can it? Could it be that at this point, anyone doing that or anyone who is allowing Donald Trump to do these many, many scams and not checking him, even the Trump phone, I don't feel sorry for these MAGA who bought the Trump phone, but that should be illegal for the President of the United States to run a scam where you're supposed to get a phone, you never get it and you don't get your hundred dollars back. But you do have people that are allowing it, and they're not just Republicans. There are some Democrats who are also allowing the shenanigans. Let's talk about Bill Ferguson in the state of Maryland. He is the Democratic state Senate president. Democrats have majorities in both the state House and the State Senate. Bill Ferguson is the person standing in the way of Maryland redistricting itself. The way that Texas is doing and Alabama is doing and Virginia was going to do until 3 million people's votes were overridden by four people on the Supreme Court. And I wonder if any of them got checked. I just have to wonder. I want to see all their investments and I want to see his. At this point, if you're allowing Republicans or Trump to get away with stuff, I want to see your FEC reports, I want to see what you're investing in. I want to see everything about your finances at this point. Bill Ferguson, no idea why he's not doing it. Maybe it's his principles, whatever. But I just want to let you know, he is a state senator in District 46, which, as you can see on your screen, it's 65.5% democratic, meaning it's D plus a lot. So whoever wins the primary wins the general. This is not like a purple district. It's a blue district. That's the demographics. It is 47.2% white. It is 27.2% black. Basically the same percentage black as Alabama, which now only has one black member of Congress. Maybe it's 0.8% Native American. It's 4% Asian, 0% Hawaiian, Pacific Islander. You can see there. Okay, meaning that with enough voter turnout, he may not win his primary. He doesn't have to win the primary. It's not written in stone that he wins that primary. And there is actually a quite good alternative who's not like Apex, down to the ground. Because this guy who is running is somebody that people might know. If you're heavily Online, he's a TikTok guy on Instagram. His name is Bobby Lapin. He's an influencer who calls himself Captain Bobby. He does like, fishing videos and stuff. He lives in Baltimore City and his platform is shutting down corporate money in politics. Let's look at the clip from him.
- [86:38]
Harry Jaron
Want to know what scares a career politician? When they're a working class challenger with no machine, no pack, and no corporate donors, raises more than $35,000 in a single weekend from small individual donations. I'm that challenger and you're that individual. I'm Bobby Le Pen, an Army veteran, former teacher and small business owner running for state Senate against Bill Ferguson, the Maryland Democrat helping Trump keep his grip on Congress. And this is a people powered fight. I'm not taking a single dime from developers or corporate PACs. But my opponent, he's sitting on almost $2 million in corporate cash from healthcare companies, energy packs, the same special interests, making life hard for working families. My average donation, 26 bucks. His 1200. And that's the entire story. People versus power, community versus corporate donors. But here's the truth. We can win this, but only if we stick together. We need your help to hit our $50,000 fundraising goal by this Friday. Not because it's easy, but because standing up for working families, standing up for Baltimore is a fight worth fighting. And if everyone that watches this video chips in a buck, the machine can't ignore us. And that's how we win. One dollar at a time, one neighbor at a time. This is our moment and we can win.
- [88:06]
Joy Reid
So I went in a wormhole of trying to find everything I could about Bobby Le Pen, just, first of all, making sure that, you know, he's not like, you know, pro insurrection or anything like that. And what I found was one really, really great interview where the local interviewer was like, peppering him on his policies. And he's like, I've been running a week. He was very honest and saying, I don't have policies yet. I've been running for a week. His policies are no corporate money and he's an ordinary guy. He's a regular person that's running and he seems quite delightful. We'd love to have him on the show. Bobby Lapin. We're going to put his information in the chat as well. Not in the chat, in the description. He's bobby for baltimore.com. so if you're in Baltimore, there's an alternative. You do not have to sit still for this guy Ferguson, who is refusing to allow Maryland to get in the fight to stop this Gerrymandering nonsense, this John Crow nonsense. Okay, let's go to another one. Let's now go to Virginia. Go to the great state of Virginia. I don't know if you guys saw this clip online. This is a Republican congresswoman named Jen Kiggins on Virginia radio.
- [89:09]
Harry Dunn
Jeffries wants to be involved in Virginia politics.
- [89:12]
Joy Reid
Then I suggest he does what all
- [89:13]
Harry Dunn
a bunch of New Yorkers are doing. Leave New York, move down here to
- [89:16]
Joy Reid
Virginia, run for office down here. You can represent us.
- [89:19]
Harry Dunn
If not, get your cotton picking hands off of Virginia.
- [89:24]
Joy Reid
That's right. Ditto. Yes, yes to that. Ditto. Yes. Yes to that. Oh, Lord. Cotton picking. And we know cotton picking is a Southern. You know, the thing that people say in the South. But I don't know, saying cotton picking about the black Senate minority leader, House minority leader, I don't know. That don't seem. That don't seem so smart. So, of course, there was outrage online. She responded to that outrage, insisting that all she agreed to was that Leader Jeffrey should stay out of Virginia politics. But here's the problem. We actually heard her. And at the end of him saying the cotton picking line, she said, yes, yes, that I agree. Right. And she also said in her pushback that the radio host shouldn't have used that language. Wait, what language, ma'? Am? What language? Jen? Say more.
- [90:12]
Senator Arthur Ellis
Say more.
- [90:13]
Joy Reid
If you're saying the radio host shouldn't use that language, what language? Aren't you admitting that what you heard was racist? And at the end of the racist thing, you said. Yeah, right, that's right. I agree. Because you admitted in your. I'm just noting that you said in your thing, you said you shouldn't have used that language. What language? Is what I'm asking you is what I'm saying. Now, if you are interested in a replacement for that lady, note that her district is Republican. But I want to show you this. I did a TikTok about this and also posted it as a short on YouTube. But I want to just go through it again. Look at this. This is something that is called the VPAP index. And what it is is how Republican or how Democratic a district is. They call it a D plus or an R plus score. So if you're R plus 40, if you're 40 plus R, R plus 40, it means you're way Republican. It's untouchable. That seat is Marjorie Taylor Greene's district was in like the like R plus 20 range, like way, way, way, way, way, way Republican. Or maybe it was even R +40. But when the Democrat ran against her and she and and only lost by like 15 points. It's like, wow, that's an improvement. Right? That's how we know what an improvement it looks like, right? CD2, which is congressional district two, which is where Ms. Keggins is a congressman for, it's right there in the middle. CD2, you can see if you squint, you can see CD2 and CD7 are right one on top of each other. CD7 is a Democratic district. CD2 is a Republican district. So it's just right there. So it's not like a heavy R plus, meaning Democrats in the DCCC would typically look at this as an opportunity district because it's in a single digit on the R scale. So it's a very suburban district. I took a look at it. It's a very affluent district. It's got a lot of Virginia Beach. Apparently it has relatively low black turnout in general. But that could change because there are a lot of people who are really pissed off about losing the Voting Rights Act. You just don't know right now. There are some candidates running in that district. One of them, Elaine Luria, who comes the closest to fundraising to the incumbent, she's like way apac. So if you don't want somebody who's way apac and then you wind up with it's the APAC person or the Republican, you get that lesser or two evils thing in November and a lot of people complain it's lesser two evils. I either got to vote for the APAC lady or I got to vote for the Republican who's the cotton picking lady. Then you don't have a choice that makes people stay home. So if you live in that district, this is your chance to exercise some authority. You got to do it in the primary. The primary is where your power is. That is why we did this whole debate earlier with a bunch of people running for one seat in Maryland. Because I want you guys to kind of learn this muscle and get this muscle exercise that the primary is where your power is. You don't want to be stuck. If you don't vote in the primary and then you don't like your options in November because you didn't pick the person you, you know, at least be a part of picking. And then you can just feel good about. Even if you don't, your person doesn't win in the primary. At least you did your best to get the best person in. So let me show you one of the people. One of the people that I think is A good choice. This is a woman named Neela Devana. She's a doctor. She's a doctor and a lawyer, which is weird. Like, this lady's super educated. She's a doctor and lawyer. She hasn't raised a ton of money. So you can see that Jen Kagans has raised about $4.7 million. Elaine Luria, with a lot of money from sort of APAC and APAC affiliated people. She's raised about 2.9 million, so she's considered the favorite. Neela Devanath has only raised about $230,000 so far. But that can always change. You just never know if people get interested in her and they decide to give her a chance. You know, she seems my brief research in her, she seems like a good candidate. And her website is neeladevanath.com so if you want to learn more about her, do your research and do some research and figure it out. This is called strategery. And the reason that we decided to spend some time doing this today is this is how you have to move in this election. Because Republicans would like you to believe that it's a wash now. And because they got rid of the Voting Rights act, they're going to win the House. That is not necessarily true. Donald Trump is still and at historic lows in popularity. He's underwater on the economy. He's underwater on gas prices, which are through the roof. I just recently filled up my tank. It was $4.65 a gallon, or was it 465 or 560?
- [94:41]
Senator Arthur Ellis
Five?
- [94:42]
Joy Reid
Five, five, 65, sorry, 565 a gallon. He's deeply underwater on that. He's deeply underwater on the war. People are very unhappy. His own base is turning on him over Israel, over the war. The MAGA base is mad. There's nothing in the actual data. And also typically the incumbent tends to lose between 20 and 30 seats in the midterm after they're elected. So history is against him. All the data is against him. And even if they manage to shave off, let's say, five more seats or even 12 or 10 more seats, that doesn't mean that they're going to hold on to all the seats they have and that they're closely held seats, the seats that are R plus 2 or R plus 3, start reading those R pluses because some of those Republicans, in order to bleach, when you bleach a district, what you do is you take all the black people and you scoop them up and you drop them into a rural white district. But you know what happens to that rural white district? It becomes a little less Republican. It's no longer an R +40 if 20% of it is black. If you live in one of those three districts that they cut up the House seat that Justin J. Pearson is running for, they cut that Memphis district in three. Each of those three districts is gonna be 20 to 30% black plus a lot of white, rural people. Well, that district used to be. Would have been R +40 without the blacks. Put those black people in there, and all of a sudden that little R +40 is, like, maybe in single digits. Because if all of the eligible black voters tend to vote and all of a sudden they start to come out, Even if only 30% of white voters vote with them, it's game over for the Republican. Republicans made their own districts less strongly Republican in order to take districts from black people. I'm gonna say it again. You're stacking and packing, right? You're bleep. You're. You pack and bleach. Basically, you crack and bleach. I should say it's cracking and bleaching. You crack that black vote. Go ahead and say it again.
- [96:54]
Harry Dunn
Make people understand.
- [96:55]
Joy Reid
I'll do it again. With Franklin, I told you. With the Franklin table. I always like to say, think about Franklin sitting at the table with the peanuts. Franklin has a piece of pie. Everybody else has a piece of pie, except poor Snoopy, because they said Snoopy don't get no pie. Snoopy is that missing black vote that black people should have in Mississippi and Tennessee and all the places where there's so many black, that Snoopy should have been that second vote. But they don't give him nothing. They say, you a dog. You don't get nothing. Snoopy is the missing second black vote. Second black seat, I should say. So Everybody has pie except Snoopy, okay? Lucy, Linus, Charlie Brown, even. Even Pigpen has. Has pie. Everybody has pie, and so does Franklin. The way that you gerrymander is you take Franklin's pie and you divide Franklin's pie up among everybody else at the table. What happens? All the people at the table now the thing on their plate has changed because now their pie has a little bit of chocolate slice on it. It makes it less Republican. When you give Franklin's pie out to all those other districts, those districts become more like Franklin. They become more like Franklin. They come Franklin's direction, they become less white, because suddenly there's some color on the plate. Now the color's on the plate. And so what? Justin Pierson is doing right now is he's looking at those three cracked districts that now have maybe 20 to 30% black people in them. And he's like, which of those can I win? Because he still could win one of them. Republicans are assuming that those five districts they created that they think are going to be magical Republican districts in Texas. They're only thinking that because they're going. By the way, Latinos voted for Trump in 2024. But what if they don't vote that way? What if they either don't turn out or they switch? Now you done made yourself some more Democratic district. So it's. The math is still with the Democrats. Let's just be very clear. You see that district? That's Franklin's Pie. Franklin's Pie is now divided in three pieces. And then they also did the same thing to Nashville and cut up those Nashville districts. But what they did, in order to take those three districts, you have to add those three districts to a more white district and combine them. Somebody said, I'm still confused. You still confused, Kevin. You still confused. You take the black district, you slice a piece of it off and you put it inside a white district. You take that second slice, you put that inside a very white district, you take that third slice, you put that inside a white district. What happens if you take a piece of ice and put it in water? The water gets colder, but the ice dissolves into the water. It changes the nature right of it. Or if you take an eyedropper full of food coloring and drop it in a glass of water, you change the water. You took that black district and you dropped it in water. That district is not going to be as clear or as white as it was before. You put that black vote in there, you put the black vote in there, it dilutes the white vote, too. So I'm just leaving it there. Let me do a quick ad break because we have a guest we're going to get to. I want to let y' all know that we are also sponsored on today by Irestore. Now, this is really important because those of us who wear makeup all the time, and I do this for a living now, skin care is really super important, obviously. Hair, very important, to do the best that you can to make sure that your skin and hair are your best. And for me as Tom boy, I didn't used to wear makeup. So my skin was like, ah, makeup when I first started wearing it and didn't react well to it. 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Give your hair and skin the upgrade they deserve so you feel confident and refreshed. All right, we're going to get into some legal stuff. And so joining me now to talk about some of the legal news that is going on right now is our friend Dina Dahl, attorney and legal analyst. She's host of the legal and political podcast Mistrial on the Midas Touch Network. Oh, Deena, so many legal things to talk about right now, but I want to start with the inconsistencies of the Supreme Court. So right now the Supreme Court is going further in considering whether or not people can individually sue over cases that have to do with the Voting Rights Act. So let me just read this to you. The Supreme Court has scheduled three cases raising the question of whether the Voting Rights act can be enforced by individual voters as opposed to just the Department of Justice. And the conference is tomorrow. Should we just assume that they're going to rule that no one can bring voting rights cases? Like, what are the dangers here?
- [104:03]
Dina Dahl
Oh, so dangerous. It's so dangerous because if individuals and nonprofits cannot sue to enforce the Voting Rights act, you're left with a Department of Justice. And here, of course, the Department of Justice would never bring a lawsuit to protect, you know, Democratic voters or voters, minority voters. So it's very important, the Supreme Court at their conference, they could decide as soon as we might find out by Monday whether or not they decide to take these, this case or they could kick it to another conference. Interestingly, they have discussed at seven different conferences whether or not to take up Trump's appeal of the E. Jean Carroll case. So we. Yeah, I know.
- [104:42]
Joy Reid
Still considering that hasn't E. Jean Carroll won at every level possible.
- [104:47]
Dina Dahl
Every level possible. But he asked them to throw out because he said the Access Hollywood tape shouldn't have come in. And rather than just take up the conference and say no, this kind of evidence is routinely brought in. They have punted it. Punted it seven times. So we might get an answer as to whether or not the Supreme Court takes us or they might punt this. But it is so crucial to give you an idea. 182 the past 40 years, out of 182 cases that were brought against the Voting Rights act, only 15 were brought against the attorney general. So it's a huge way of just limiting the enforcement of the act on top of the Calais decision. Interestingly, the 8th Circuit ruling years ago said that there is no private right of enforcement. And back In July of 2025, the Supreme Court stayed that decision, so didn't let it go into effect. Gorsuch, Alito and Thomas wanted it to go into effect. So we're at this period of time where the Supreme Court has been silent. They haven't come. Are they going to take it and resolve the issue one way or another, or continue to punt it? But it's very important because it's one thing to have a law, but if nobody's willing to enforce it, you don't really have the law.
- [106:05]
Joy Reid
This is insane. Okay, so it's clear to me that they want that. John Roberts clearly wants the husk of the Voting Rights act to still be on the books so that no one can say that he got rid of it. But it's dead. But it's dead on the inside once they do this, as you said, if basically no one can bring lawsuits except the one group that won't do it under the Trump administration and they can keep a Trump dial administration in office forever, which is what they seem to want to do, and keep Republicans in charge of Congress forever, which is what they seem to want to do, it's game over for the Voting Rights Act.
- [106:42]
Dina Dahl
Absolutely. It's another way of attacking the Voting Rights act, but getting the same outcome. As you said, you know, the Clay decision made it so almost impossible to get enforcement. You have to show intentional discrimination. I don't know if you just followed this Alabama shadow docket ruling, but they just had. But they allowed. It's insane. They, they just decided in 2023 that the Alabama map. Right. Was a violation of the Voting Rights Act. Alabama didn't listen. They wanted to keep their map. And so they're asking again. And the Supreme Court said, well, sure, in light of our decision, you can now have the map we had just decided was a racially. And, and, and Justice Sotomayor in her dissent points out they showed intentional discrimination and that was supposedly the one way you can enforce Section two. So we've just got two weeks and they're already kind of backtracking on even what evidence needs to be shown. Yeah, it's done backtracking on themselves.
- [107:40]
Joy Reid
Backtracking.
- [107:41]
Dina Dahl
Exactly, exactly.
- [107:42]
Joy Reid
Let's talk about inconsistency because. So Virginia did a very clear political gerrymander. I mean, Virginia was very open about it because they went to the voters. Only California and Virginia have actually let the people decide if they should gerrymander. California did it and it went through. Virginia did it and 3 million people put that through as well. It won. Then the Virginia Supreme Court said, nope, wasn't filed. Right. Throwing it out. Right. Four people on the Virginia Supreme Court. So now the state of Virginia, the Democrats in Virginia are taking that to the supreme, to this, to the Supreme Court. Can you preview for us the completely disingenuous argument that we should expect from Sam Alito or from John Roberts onto how that's somehow still not. It's still not okay, even though it's clearly political gerrymandering.
- [108:30]
Dina Dahl
I mean, they're probably going to punt it and say this was based on a Virginia constitution. They don't have subject matter jurisdiction. This isn't our purview. But the really interesting issue there is that the Virginia is saying when they're appealing it to the Supreme Court, that the court got wrong the definition of election day because they said, oh, this had to have happened according to the timetable of the election under federal law. And so they're trying to get the Supreme Court to take it, saying it's not a misinterpretation of the state constitution, but of the federal law of election day. Now, the Supreme Court has also looked at what constitutes election day in that Watson vs RNC mail in ballot case they just heard this year. Because in that case, the RNC is trying to argue that mail in ballots counted after election day aren't considered election day. And so will the Supreme Court be inconsistent in that, you know, and say.
- [109:32]
Joy Reid
Themselves on Alabama, they're like, oh, you know, we were wrong. Remember how we said you could have two districts?
- [109:36]
Harry Dunn
No, you can't.
- [109:37]
Joy Reid
We need those Republicans to stay in charge because the Epstein files, we may be in them. Let's talk about the Before I get the Epstein files. Let me get to that in a minute. But I definitely have to ask you if in the case of Alabama, the state of Alabama simply ignored the Supreme Court, because I think that's what I heard you say and said, we don't care what you said. We're going to do what map we want to do. And then they had to be ordered by a special master to do the legal maps. Why shouldn't Virginia just say, okay, we will also, we too ignore, and now we're going to do what Texas did. We're not going to vote again. We're not taking this to the people. We, the legislature, are going to draw the map we want. Just like Texas did, like Alabama did, like Louisiana did. Why shouldn't they just do the same thing like Tennessee did?
- [110:24]
Dina Dahl
I mean, and I think that's a political argument. Why not? I mean, they could argue maybe, you know, the Purcell Doctrine, which is really out the window, that the, you know, court shouldn't interfere so close to an election. Why not? Yeah, Totally gone completely. But why not use that? Right. They could argue the voters voted on it. We're too close to elections. We need to get the ballots out to oversee people. You know, they could have decided this before the voters voted. At this point. Maybe we'll take that for the next, next election map. That would be the political argument.
- [111:01]
Joy Reid
It would be what I would do. If any Virginia Democrats care what I have to say, I think you should just do it. Because the reality is the Louisiana legislature and governor, they did it in the middle of an election. 40,000 people had already voted, and the governor said, oh, so too bad for them, those votes are now invalidated. If they can do it, Virginia should just go ahead and do it. This is my opinion. I don't want to tie that to you, but I think they just.
- [111:27]
Dina Dahl
And they, I think they have the people behind them because the people voted for that. So.
- [111:31]
Joy Reid
Yeah, right.
- [111:32]
Dina Dahl
I agree.
- [111:33]
Joy Reid
So let's, let's talk about. Let's talk about Jeffrey Epstein. So this note came out and I had meant to talk with you about this last week, we had so much breaking news on and we didn't get a chance to do it. So I'm so glad that you were able to come back and talk about this. This Epstein suicide note struck me. Landed suicide note struck me as quite suspicious. Is it unusual that all of these years later, after we've been talking about Jeffrey Epstein since he died in very strange circumstances In August of 2019, suddenly, out of nowhere, in the year of our Lord 2026, the roommate that allegedly tried to strangle him in the past suddenly says, oh, yeah, by the way, I had this note in like, a book that was secretly somewhere. Like, what is happening? This is weird.
- [112:17]
Dina Dahl
It is so weird. It's so weird because it was evidently in the government's possession, in the court possession, but nobody knew about it. They didn't seek it. I mean, just even the investigation into his death should have uncovered this note.
- [112:35]
Joy Reid
They didn't investigate his death. You know, they don't want to do that.
- [112:38]
Dina Dahl
Supposedly. Supposedly they investigate it. No, it's shocking. And here's the thing is we know that his, supposedly his first suicide attempt afterwards, he said that it was his cellmate that hurt him. And then it's the cellmate who found this note, allegedly that said that he was trying to hurt himself. So that's why he supposedly held on to it and gave it to his lawyer. But talk about, you know, a whole bunch of reasons I could think somebody would want to come up with a note like that if they were trying to defend themselves against the claim that they were actually hurting their assembly. And of course, the fact that he was even in a cell with somebody who had been convicted four times of murder. I mean, you and I have covered a ton of high profile cases. They aren't usually just thrown in a cell with somebody, you know, with that kind of violent criminal conviction, especially, especially since he was there for pedophile charges. His pedophile charges are known to be a target in prison. And then he has his fame. So the fact that he wasn't in solitary confinement or in a much more protected situation in and of itself is unusual.
- [113:47]
Joy Reid
It's so weird. But by the way, the Murdoch case, I wonder who his roommates work. Apparently he gets a new trial and I guess killing your wife and your and family. All right, now, were you surprised by that, by the way, that reversal?
- [113:59]
Dina Dahl
You know, when I first heard about what the clerk evidently did, I wasn't surprised that they reversed it because the fact if she did do that, and it sounds like she did, she told the jurors, and do not be fooled by him. And to look at his body language, the prosecutor used those same exact words to the jury. They said, do not be fooled by him. And a juror afterwards speaking out said, I didn't believe his emotion. You know, at the end of the day, people really don't like what happened because, you know, it seems like another rich white guy is getting off the hook. But our defense system has to work for everybody and nobody should be trying to interfere with the jury system. She evidently wrote a book about it. So, yeah, that should not happen. And if it happens to benefit him, that's maybe too bad. But I do think in terms of our overall justice system, it was the right decision.
- [114:53]
Joy Reid
Yeah. Let's talk very quickly before I let you go, because there seem to be emoluments cause problems in this administration. There's the Trump phone, there's Trump putting his name on the. On the money, apparently, and Faith on the money, putting his image on our passports, putting his name on the Kennedy center, putting his name on the Institute of Peace. None of this with Congress authorizing it and selling products. Right. The Biden's clause is supposed to prevent a President from profiting while he's president. Donald Trump has a phone, he's selling. He's got watches, gold watches. He's selling all sorts of product. And now it appears that his regime members are getting in on the game. This is Cash Patel's apparently custom bourbon. The FBI director is giving out custom bourbon. Between that and the transportation secretary having a reality show paid for by people, regulated companies regulated by him. What is happening?
- [115:52]
Dina Dahl
You know, the Cash Patel and Duffy's of the world should take be a little bit careful because Trump is all about the grift himself, but the American people don't like somebody else's grift. He gets rid of them, AKA Christine Ohm, because I truly believe he authorized that entire grift. So, you know, they do it at their apparel. He's willing to steal from us. He's okay with them doing it as long as he doesn't get backlash for it. It's stunning. Do you remember you and I were out in front of the people's State of the Union and we saw that huge banner and that was my first time seeing it too. And it's one thing being reported. It's another when you really look, look up at this and you know, we do idolize presidents, but it is once they are no longer living that that happens because we are not supposed to be a monarchy. We're not supposed to have that kind of reverence to a living President Trump so badly. Just once, you know, he's, he reminds me of somebody who he cannot earn loyalty and love. So inside, instead, he, he manufactures it. And to your point, as of June 2026, his signature is going to be on the $100 bill along with Scott Besson, which is just stunning. He's trying to the amount. He's trying to act as if this country is his instead of. He is just we, you know, unfortunately, too many of us allowed him to borrow the power. And yeah, we're seeing what happens when you have somebody completely unchecked because Republicans in Congress are not checking him. If, if they were doing their job, he could be reined in, but they're more than happy to let him do it.
- [117:33]
Joy Reid
Yeah, he's destroyed the White House. He's turned the former beautiful Jackie Kennedy garden into what looks like a patio at a. Not the best Marriott is. He's painted the, he's painted the reflecting pool blue so that it looks like a cheap swimming pool at like a cheesy resort. That's the beautiful reflecting pool is now just looking like a cheesy it's horrifying the way he's destroyed Washington D.C. with such a beautiful city.
- [118:03]
Dina Dahl
Horrible. And that reflecting pool, I mean, they did a no bid contract. You know, not only is he destroying the lawsuit, there's a lawsuit trying to stop it. Said it was meant to be gray because it was supposed to be deep and reflective. And of course, I just feel like it's almost like a perfect example of Trump to make it superficial and blue.
- [118:25]
Joy Reid
Think that's a lap pool. He's an idiot. It's like dude has dementia. It's not a lap pool, dude. No one jumps in and swims in it. It's not supposed to be swimming pool blue.
- [118:35]
Dina Dahl
Exactly. And then here we are, supposed to be a million dollars and now it's up to 3 million. And the contractor, somebody who worked at, at the Trump Golf Properties. So, you know, in everything there's he. Oh, he steals from us in every aspect.
- [118:51]
Joy Reid
Yeah, it's really horrible. Dina, doll, we appreciate you. You are a doll that we love having you come back anytime, my friend. Thank you very much.
- [119:00]
Dina Dahl
It's such. It is a joy speaking with you.
- [119:03]
Joy Reid
You see, look, you see what we did there? You see what we did it. Thank you, my friend. Take care. Bye.
- [119:08]
Dina Dahl
Thank you.
- [119:10]
Joy Reid
All right, well, there you have it, everyone. The grift that keeps on grifting. I want to let you all know that if you are a Substack premium member, we're going to talk about all of this tomorrow and what the hell we do about it with our friend Steve Schmidt, one of the smartest voices in the game. If you are a premium substacker, we're going to break down what can be done to push back against this monstrosity before November, including how we deal with these Voting Rights Acts act, the Voting Rights act destruction. Steve Schmidt went on a whole journey through the United States and he wound up at Medgar Evers home and wrote a beautiful piece about it and how that impacted him emotionally and how he felt about it. And we're gonna talk about all of those things tomorrow and next Friday. Just note that we're gonna do our members Only chat. So you have a whole week to decide what you want to ask about that. Now let's get to our moment of joy. It is a hilarious parody. This brought me joy today, so I'm going to share it with you. And it is a great parody by Nasser Alata and Taniva Sapru, also known as 10 to 19. Take a look the supermarket. I saw Tahina Saints on the carpet. I go and check refrigerator and the hummus disappear. I see my wife under the table. She was tied up with a cable. I asked what happened to my hummus. She can't speak but she wasn't able to. Habiti, are you okay? Habiti, are you okay? Are you okay? Habiti. We've been hit by. We've been stuck by hummus. Criminal Market Criminal. It is a send up to Michael Jackson, the Hummus Criminal. It is a perfect parody. Very well done. You can follow Nasser at Nasser Alata which is N a S S e R a L a Z Z e H and you can follow 10219 at Tant Oo 19. Thank you all for tuning in to the joy reach out. I hope you guys enjoyed this strategia. Yes, the clap. Michael would love it. He would absolutely love it because he did love the cultural connections and he was very good at making cultural connections, the late, great Michael Jackson. So thank you for the laughs. We appreciate you guys and we are going to do more unpacking these midterm primaries so you guys can be ready to take back our country in November. Appreciate you guys hit like subscribe. Love y'. All. See you on the next Enjoy, read show. Bye Bye. Getting back to the basics grassroot level Let me dig a little deeper with the shovel Plenty can't tell the force from the trees that I'm hard to detect Like a black hole in a dog Injustice anywhere it's a threat to justice everywhere Let me make this clear I got a bone to pick and I'll never fear the threat of population poverty they don't want to talk about it they wrap the party so I'm
- [122:00]
Senator Arthur Ellis
a real talk about it for show.