Episode Transcript
Don't get mad at the clown for being the clown. The thing you need to ask yourself is why do you keep on going to the circus? Welcome to a new season of the collective perspective podcast. As we dive into the season, we're focusing on the pivotal upcoming election, widely considered as one of the most important of our lifetime.
Join us on this journey. As we navigate through diverse perspectives, dissect key issues and explore the profound impact on our shared future, get ready for insightful discussions and thought provoking insights. Welcome to the Collective Perspective Podcast Season 3.
Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Collective Perspective. This is Jeff and today I have special guests. First we're gonna start out with my buddy Travis. Hello. Hello. Hello. And Jawad. What's up? And Miss Brandy Mackey is in the house. Hey. Hey. Hey. And my friend, Jamie Brock. Hey, how you doing? Jamie's joining us remotely.
Today I wanted to bring you guys together to talk about a very important topic, and it's something that is really troubling in the United States, and it's been growing for probably decades. That's people not wanting to communicate and talk. There's a difference between disrespect and, uh, disagreement.
Disrespect is probably a lot of things a lot of people do on social media is they Put their opinion down and that's it and they close off and they walk away. That is disrespect. A disagreement is what we're doing probably here today. Sounds kind of negative, but a disagreement can talk things out in a civil way.
Without losing respect for each other. Right. We're not going to walk away having any less respect for each other than we walked in. I can guarantee that. The thing is, is that this is more of, if we want to see the world change, we have to be the example of that. And so, this is kind of a social experiment, in a way.
It can get really emotional. It's something that we all need, and we all want, and we just don't know what direction to go in. And many of us, from a young age, have been taught that these are taboo subjects to talk about. In groups, or with friends or family. My mom is a good example. She doesn't like to talk about it.
All growing up, she wouldn't tell me who she's voting for. But if I call her today, she'll give me an earful of what she thinks. That's baby boomer generation, my parents. There is that generational gap. Today we're here to discuss the candidates for the United States president's election this coming November.
Who's running and why people support them. The hosts feel one way and the guests feel another way towards certain candidates, and I was kind of voting for someone else that just dropped out, uh, or in the middle of dropping out on Friday. So I kind of feel, uh, that maybe I'm just kind of the mediator. I see both right and left sides, but that doesn't mean that none of the, any of these guests don't see the other side.
Because I'll tell you the most important thing about having a disagreement is, And you don't have a disagreement if you don't. If you don't know the three major reasons why that person feels that way, or you cannot sit there and listen to them and comprehend those three reasons, you yourself do not have an argument at all.
You're just looking for a confirmation bias. Anybody need to know what a confirmation bias is? For those that don't know, It's someone that's not going to, in a nutshell, it's someone that's not going to seek outside their own thought processes or their own agenda to take in new information and take it as true.
It's kind of hard today with today's society. The truth is under attack, you know, uh, we don't know what is, or we're starting to think like what is real and what isn't. I want to welcome everybody here, the two candidates that are running for the presidential election. I was going to go over all of the candidates that we have right now that we don't really hear about.
From the Libertarian Party, we have Chase Oliver. From the Green Party, we have, uh, so Chase Oliver. Is a 2022 Georgia U. S. Senate, he was a U. S. Senator in the U. S. Senate race, so he's pretty new in politics. Jill Stein is part of the Green Party. She was the 2016 Green Party presidential nominee and announced her candidacy for this one in November of 2023.
We have former President Donald Trump for the Republican Party, and Vice President, the current Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democrat Party. Those are the four candidates that we have right now. So I felt it was important to have an understanding of the candidates and their appeals to voters. I want to hear what you guys think.
Jamie? How is it important, the appeal, to someone? For me, I mean, is the personal appeal or the policy appeal? I mean, because I could like somebody. Do you like the person? Do, do, yeah, I mean Personal appeal. Personal appeal? I, I don't, I think anybody who wants to be in politics more than one or two terms is suspect, quite honestly.
I have a, a strong Mistrust of anyone in politics in general. Can somebody do good long term? Of course. But if you, if you keep seeking that out, I'm going to wonder more about you. I think then, uh, just give you a pass. I mean, you're putting yourself out in the public square continually to take the criticism or the accolades.
I have a strong mistrust for people in general who want to be in politics long term. If they're doing it for the good, out of the goodness of their heart. And it really is that type of a situation. I think it's, it comes from a genuine place versus financial gain and power. I tend to Jamie on that one because just as he very well put that when you're in politic, it's not easy.
I feel it's kind of like a Java grift. It's promising one person something to give to someone else for their vote or whatever it is in turn. I think early in the, in our country's history, politicians, they, they did not get paid. They did not make extra money. It was all for, they had their regular jobs that they had to go back to as well as campaign to win the next election.
So I think that we've, It's a far cry from that now. We have career politicians as opposed to a doctor or a businessman or somebody else that goes in, does a short term and then gets out and goes back to their other job. Personally, seeking out these positions of high importance, um, can be a challenge, but when you want to stay in it is when I, I agree that I have a problem with politicians that are in it for 20, 30, 40, 50 years.
It's just a popularity contest at this point. I think that all of the real issues are being overlooked. And I think that social media itself has taken on a life of its own. It's controlling what we know as politics today. There are real big issues that need to be focused on that's not being focused on.
I was in the gym today with a veteran and I told him about our previous podcast, and he's really concerned about selection for the well being of veterans. Just the attention that needs to be drawn towards veteran. He's not hearing that from anyone. And there are some real issues on the front line that are not being tended to.
And it's just a popularity contest. It's a big, big show. That's not really getting down to the issues. I think that it's important to have a Curb appeal, like who wants to buy something that don't look nice, that don't feel nice, that don't ride nice? I believe that you should like, who is gonna make some decisions for you, or you should have, you should have some kind of connection with them.
To me, as a business owner and as a, that runs a business if you're doing a good job. You keep your job. If you're doing a crappy job, you get fired and you get somebody else. And so I do believe that the presidency is, is a, it's more to me, it's not about money because I mean, the salary is kind of crappy.
I heard, right? Like somebody didn't even want to get paid for doing it. They just did it. So it's not about the money. It's about the power. For me, it's, or the money already, but if you are, I mean, or the money that you can potentially make from having the power. I feel like, yes, and especially in this election, it's important because they are to, this is a historical election.
I'm excited. I was, I'm very excited. I'm in the studio with my pearls, like incognito, because I'm excited about what's going on. So to me, the appeal is being a first. being a woman excited about something that hasn't happened in history. And some people been living for like a hundred years and never had a woman president or a female president.
I mean, like, when is, when did you say it? Like it's time. Would you say that that the appeal would be the number one reason why you vote? Are you asking me or just a decision? Well, for in this election, yes. That's the number one reason. Being a woman is the number one reason you're voting for her. Because, no, being a person of integrity, being someone that's kind, that doesn't, that's not mean or malicious.
For me, I have a very big spiritual connection. So I look at things like what they call the fruits of the spirit, which is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith. Meekness. Meekness. Okay. See, hallelujah. That was a song we used to sing back in the days. So to me, if, yes, long suffering, right?
See, if you don't possess those kinds of things, that's the appeal to me. Cause I want to eat sweet. I want to be able to, to reap off the harvest. And to me, those kinds of things is what Kamala Harris has. She has more sweet fruit than. 45. That's the appeal to me. I want to be able to enjoy something that's going to bring me some happiness and joy.
I got to write that down. I'll go back to Sunday school and get my fruits of the spirit. Jamie, what do you think? Should that be your number one reason? My perspective, I mean, I come at this as A kid who grew up in the middle of Wyoming. I grew up, I could go into the oil patch and go to work like a lot of friends of mine, or I could go into the military because I didn't have any money to go to college.
So I went to the military and that's the basis of a real foundation of me coming of age and what it takes to be in the military and the leadership traits and those kinds of things. And that's what brings me to where I'm at in a leader is somebody that you should be able to look up to and who is not going to divide.
As a means of separating those against and those for a leader has his people or her people who they need to get together for one common cause and actually be a leader for everyone, not just a particular group of people. So a lot of what I rely on for You know, of course, policy has to be there in line.
You know, I don't want somebody who's going to say we're cutting social security. We're going to cut VA benefits. We're going to sue these people for that. And policy has to be suitable and not too far out of line, but the, the leadership principles, and you mentioned integrity, Brandy, that's one of them, tact, decisiveness, initiative.
Enthusiasm, bearing, unselfishness, loyalty, endurance. The acronym that in the Marine Corps, where I was at was JJ did tie buckle and I didn't get all of them there, but justice, judgment, determination, integrity, initiative, decisiveness. It's all in the list of things that a leader needs to have. And quite honestly, for me.
If you can't qualify to be in the military, I don't think you're qualified to be the commander in chief. Let me ask you, are they really a leader or are they a servant? That's a good point. I think that a really good leader is a servant. So I guess it's who they're serving, though, really. In the way that they, in the way that they lead.
I have a hard time thinking any politician's really serving the people. They're serving someone else. Someone with money. Yeah, there is, there's always that element, isn't there? What did you guys think? What is your curb appeal? The curb appeal. I'm at a loss on it right now. I think of the two big candidates that we have right now, they both have, well, one has a track record as a president and the other one as a vice president.
And I think for me, the appeal is going to be who, Or what policies or initiatives they were able to implement that had the biggest impact on me personally. That's the appeal. What, what policies impacted me the most during each of the terms that these two candidates had, uh, had served? Um, we're in a plane.
That's crashing and burning, and I need someone with the capabilities, I don't need to like you, I need someone that has the capabilities to navigate that plane to a safe place. And, and it's, it's some really extreme stuff going on right now. And that's my appeal for who I would like to see as the leader of our planet.
Of our country. Someone that has the capabilities and the skill set to figure this thing out. So I think we all agree they should be a leader and a servant. Serving what we want. But when it comes time to lead that they are actually able to do that. They're the actual person that is making those decisions with advice behind them, right?
Yeah, well, and can I just add a note to that? As far as, we all, cause we're all in the, we're in the military, right? So we have a different kind of perspective, right? We had sergeants and captains, so they're leaders, but they're also in a serving position. But to me, I want someone that's going to inspire me to get up and want to lead, Because this is a large country.
So you, we have to all be able to be leaders or kings and queens in our own kingdom, our own community to make changes. So when you have a place that you're not inspired by your leader. I mean, you, what are you doing? So to me, I want somebody that's, that's, that can show, that can lead and show us good examples, but then also inspires me like, man, I want to do something in my own community.
I want to do something to help somebody else. So I think that's, that's an important quality of being in the military. If you had a crappy, person in charge of you. Did you want to stay in longer? Did you want to do something? Did you want to get out? No, you probably didn't want to stay. If you had someone that encouraged you to get up and do something in the military to, to serve, it made your stay in the military nicer, easier, or longer.
I think you should have a leader that encourages people to serve where they're at. There are multiple different types of leaders, too. Not all of them are just going to be people, person, or extroverts. Some of them are introverts. And so, therefore, their people skills aren't quite there. Let's go over the candidates themselves.
Let's knock it down, unfortunately, to the two that are the most popular. Again, like I said, I will openly say I was going for Kennedy. I feel in this conversation, I'm kind of, uh, the odd man out. It wasn't going to be like that if the conversation was any earlier than, like, this week. Things change pretty quickly.
So starting with the Democratic candidate, Harris, what was the background and the political history would you say that she has in her road to the candidacy? How did she get there? Jamie, you want to start? Your perspective, how did, how did Kamala Harris become the candidate? As she's been elected as a DA in the state of California and then on into the Senate, Rising through the seniority system as anybody does who's elected to multiple terms.
You do get seniority And then she was tapped as the vice president. I think she's been mentored by some of the strongest politicians in current history In the Democrat party, whether I agree with policy or not is a whole nother story. But I think that just the way that she's gotten here and risen through the ranks and had those mentors from the state of California, as well as on a national level and certainly being the vice president and sitting in the room with somebody who has 50 years of nationally elected public office experience in Biden.
Has been to her benefit. I mean, anytime you can sit in a room with anybody who's been doing anything for that long of a period of time. You're going to learn something whether you want to or not. And I think that that's doesn't that bother you being the length of time? He's been to him. Absolutely. I think that I think he's way past his due date I think that he's if he was a carton of milk, he would have been gone a long time ago He's he's effective Yeah He's effective.
I mean if you look at historically what he's done whether you agree with him or not He's been he's worked on policies. He's worked on You Issues and he's made some accomplishments that you can't ignore. Kamala Harris being the VP, having mentors like him, having mentors, again, not a fan of, but she is an incredible politician.
Again, been there too long. I'm an advocate for term limits just so everybody knows. I don't think anybody should be holding a nationally elected office, a federally elected office for any more than 12 years. Two terms as a senator, six terms as a representative, that's it. Then you move on to the presidency or you get out of at a federal level 12 years as the tops in the senator the house That's my position, but she's risen She's had the mentors and I think that kamala brings to the table with her prosecutor and her legal background I think she brings some bona fides to the table brandy There's a lot of people in the news stating that she wasn't elected to be the candidate.
She was just appointed What is your opinion on that? Was she elected by the DNC? You know, I don't, I don't know. I just know she got the nod and she got the, according to the roll call, which they was, they, it was, it was amazing that she got elected to me. I, you know, I, like I list, I watch politics, but I really, you know, I don't really pay that much attention cause I need to be able to operate in a different capacity, I, what I, what I admired.
Is that someone that has held an office and been in, in politics that long to know when it was time to step back and to pass the baton to someone else. And that's what I seen. And then everything fell in line. I guess there's protocol that you have to have the delegates have to elect. Or say that they want you to be there.
Right. And that's what happened. Is that not what happened? I don't know. Is that what do you think when she left? She was elected by the delegates at the convention, but the people didn't have their voice heard because there was and from what I saw, there was no real challenge to President Biden's candidacy at the time.
So no one voted for her. The people didn't vote for her, but when they get to the delegates and did the roll call, she garnered enough of those candidates to take the nomination at that time. And I think also it was, I was surprised that she didn't get all of the delegates, especially from her home state of California.
I think they withheld giving their candidates at the time. I don't know if that's changed yet or not. I haven't heard since then. I mean, for me, It's why wait, like fussing over something that people are excited about. I mean, there was enough people, people agreeing with it. It's like, you know, you mad because we didn't have to spend money on paper and time and getting people to go out to vote.
The people want are there. So let's do it. And if you, if, if you have a problem with it, then run for office, get your money and go. I don't think anybody, I would say that the only people that were really mad would be the Democrats that didn't get the vote, their candidates. Into office. Well, you mean all the money all the money that went into all those campaigns and everything as well to be presidential candidate for the Democratic nomination there they all fell to the wayside, but I mean there was like what is in Cornel West running or something like that, too Cornel West ran for president.
Yeah, but I think he's on the ballot or something. Somebody was saying that, like, like he's on the ballot too. So, I mean, you still got write ins or something like that, right? Yeah, here's where I'm at with it. The primaries happened, right? The primary election happened. And There's a lot of us who are disenfranchised anyway, we've got no party affiliation.
I'm a disenfranchised voter in Florida because I'm not registered with the party. I can't participate in the primary election. I don't get a voice my opinion on who I think is the best candidate. In the primary, the choice was In florida because it's a closed primary if you're a democrat you choose between the democrats that are on the ballot And if that was cornell west and biden, well, then you you choose who's at the head of the party or whoever it is You choose to have now kamala wasn't there.
She's the vp So the dnc the the the party itself Makes the rules on how the delegates divvy up their votes based on each state, right? If say Biden had passed away instead of just step down, I think we'd be in the same boat, right? So it's not like we didn't get a voice to express our approval for Kamala.
We knew that she was going to be on the ticket with Biden. She's the VP by proxy. She was voted in. But not explicitly by name right so to me when people start making fusses about stuff like that There's a closed election state or right who is making fusses Well, like social media you said that they were saying something about I was just saying on behalf of loyalty to the Democratic Party I would for example, they pushed out Bernie Sanders, too There was a reason why they voted for Hillary versus Bernie.
So, I was just saying that there was no process. It was just a question. I didn't know. And the way I, the way I kind of acknowledge that is like, you know what? Sometimes you just have to fall in line. Like when you're in the military, you don't, you might not agree with stuff, but guess what? If it's a direct order, you're going to fall in line and you're going to do what you're supposed to do.
And so to me, the Republican party, they stick to their party. Like that's what they do. So for me, it was refreshing to see that we stick to the party. That's what it was. Get behind it and let's roll with it. So, that's how I felt about that. Like, good. Let's, let's go. I did want to talk over the top five policies that Kamala Harris has, and that's criminal justice reform, health care.
Has she mentioned anything on criminal justice reform? Um, you know what? This might be Chachapiti lying to me. It says that Kamala Harris, the former U. S. Senator, has supported and promoted various policies that align with progressive and democratic values. While much of her current work focuses on supporting Joe Biden's agenda, she has her own key policy positions and that have defined her political career.
I guess these are just examples of things that defined her political career, not Her policies, any of you to know what her key policies are, anybody we can look it up. I mean, I thought I haven't heard much again. I don't watch a lot of national news. I watched a lot of local news and I haven't heard personally, I haven't heard much, but then again, like you said, uh, uh, the confirmation bias or the echo chamber that we surround ourselves in.
Sometimes we're blind to, uh, other people's policies. So I'm, I'm definitely open to hear what, what some of them are. Google says abortion. Harris supports abortion rights and is reportedly making reproductive health care central to her 2024 presidential campaign. She has been called the Biden administration's voice of reproductive rights and the White House voice for unclenching support for reproductive health rights.
Yes, that means women can make their own decisions. So, hallelujah to that. Being the only woman in the room, I support that. So, I mean, it looked like for me, let's go blow for blow. Like we talking about her policy. What's, no, no, I'm just saying, but like the, yeah. What's his on that you die. If you, you're have a baby by somebody that raped you.
I don't think that is his policy per se. I, what I think for him is it's not a federal issue. It's a state issue. He's trying to get some of the bureaucracy out of it. By putting it back to the states. Yeah, but when you the supreme court is in the states, that's federal, right? It is federal So the they made all the decisions on that the the supreme court people, right?
What did they say? They well i'd rather have the states have as do I the federal government, right? So but but he's so why not have the states have the right when they threw out roe v wade it changed the national protections And then what isn't enumerated by the federal government does fall to the states in the constitution.
So it does go back to the states, but you know, and I, and that's me as a cop out saying that that's what the former guy believes in because the guy to me, in my opinion, I believe, I think the guy is a hundred percent transactional. And there's, there's nothing in that for him. He's using the leverage of that to get something else to stay in power or it's completely transactional because in the nineties, he was all pro choice.
He was pro choice and there's statements that he's made. It's on, you can look at the videos. He's pro choice. It's completely transactional. Everything, all of his policy positions. Are a hundred percent transaction. Yeah, I mean that's the project 2025, right? That's like transactional means it's like transparent So you talk about not one in consecutive terms.
He's like he's the president and the king and that's it Basically, i'd say project 2025 is a little conspiracy theorist kind of going down the rabbit hole a bit But if you'd like to we can I mean That's the policy that was not his agenda. So His agenda his policies like what's? Well, where did you get that information?
I mean, it's all over. If you look, if you talk about chat box, if you talk about, you watch the DNC, you watch just, just general conversation. I mean, like for me, that's, that's what they're talking about is the Project 2025. Culturally, the best way to hide something from you is to put it in a book. So if you're not reading up on it and you're not talking about it and you're not having no conversations, you're gonna miss out on it.
Good for anybody that's listening to this, like, Google it. I know enough about the key points. If you talk about 5, when he takes over, that's it. There's no more election. That's part of, part of the Project 2025. When I hear the word transparency, it's like, yeah, he's telling you what he's going to do. So if he's telling you what he's going to do, and that's where he's been about, then you better believe what he's saying.
So that's why you need to Who wrote the Project 2025? I don't know who did all of that. I can tell you if you like, I've got that background, the heritage foundation. The Heritage Foundation are the authors of Project 2025, and the Heritage Foundation has provided policy, talking points, and judicial nomination information to the GAOP going back to Reagan.
So, the Heritage Foundation is a think tank in Washington that's made up of conservatives and GOP folks, and that's their whole background. There's 34 Noted authors of project 2025, who were a part of the Trump administration. So for him to say that he doesn't know anything about it. That's another one of those little lies that he tells.
He calls it hyperbole, but you and I, we know it was lies. There's over 130 people associated with the Trump administration or folks from his administration who also contributed to Project 2025. The fingerprints are there. The one thing that sticks with me is a coach of a team puts together a playbook Because they want to use it.
They don't put together the playbook for no reason. It's there for a reason. They want to use that playbook. I was just going to ask real quick. It's probably not going to be real quick, but what is agenda 47? Is that for the Democrat or the Republican? I don't know. That's specifically from Trump. And his people in his direct orbit, they always, it's basically his platform, whether or not he had a platform previously, I don't know, but he did take policy.
He took policy initiatives from the Heritage Foundation. If you look at their website, they highlight the, their greatest accomplishments were some of the, the direct Policy initiatives to the Trump administration in their last term. So I mean, it's it's there I see what you're saying and I understand it, but I I don't think that his his actual Platform his policies were guided by project 2025 I had done some digging about a month or two ago on both of them to see what was what And his agenda 47 came out well before project 2025 2025 Yes, I understand that when you're in politics and in D.
C., everybody runs into everybody and everybody works for everybody else, but his, what he wants and what he has expressed is, is written in his agenda 47, not project 2025, and I think, and that has been rebutted by some of the actual bigger news news. Corporations or agencies already that that the project 2025 being tied to Trump is disinformation.
I'd like to see some of that because I don't, I, I haven't seen it and I try to keep up on I want to remind people what The word disinformation kind of just throws up a red flag for me every time too, because I think people get confused or they don't know the difference between misinformation and disinformation.
So, let's just put it this way. Misinformation is not harmful. It's not intended to be harmful. It's information that you're passing along that you really don't know all the information, but you're just passing along because that's what everybody else is doing. That's misinformation. The information you're passing on is not true.
By the way, or it's slightly jaded to fit a certain agenda, left or right, or whatever agenda it is. Disinformation is information that is put out there that is false and meant to cause harm immediately. It's It's whole intent is to be harmful. That's why I use disinformation instead of misinformation. It was designed to harm I know you know what it meant, but I was saying for the listeners and anybody else.
So, Project 2025 is what? Disinformation or misinformation? Tying it to Trump. I believe is disinformation. It's meant. The intent is to harm his candidacy. Let's put it this way. Well, if you know, let's put it this way. There is somebody he has. Sorry. Okay, let's put this way. There are there is a force out there.
We'll call it the devil. The devil is out there trying to get us to be separated. So these type of things like project 2025, and if you want to go into project 2030, I don't know if it's a hundred percent real myself, but I know about it. I would say that 2025 and project 2030 are conspiracy theories.
None of it's proven, but that doesn't. That's just my perspective too. So I wanted to go into the Republican candidate and their background and political history. And the Republican candidate would be former president, Donald Trump. Everyone knew him as a real estate mogul, TV mogul, and he's done every, a lot of things in throughout his career.
He's received many awards. Up until probably, what, 2012, 2014, somewhere in that time frame. And he did win the presidency, and did not win re election. That's where he's at right now, is running for president again. So how does that make you feel? How does that make me feel? Well, I'm, I'm, I am right of center.
I feel that a lot of his policies, and what he had done, And his previous administration really helped me and my family with how the taxes were structured for us. I'm not a one percenter. That's for darn sure. I felt that we had more breathing room at that time. I wasn't paying 80, 90 bucks. Uh, well, actually I was in California for a tank of gas, but that was out there.
When I had come to Florida, Things were a lot different in that respect. I've seen it over the last three to four years every time I go to Costco and with inflation, I can't tie inflation to one term president or the other because it is cumulative over time, but it has gotten. It feels like it's gotten exponentially worse over the last four plus four.
I'd say four plus years. I feel like it's gotten exponentially worse. That's a tax on the people that no one votes on. I paid 2 and 91. It cost. That's good. Ain't it? Are you serious? Dang. Yeah. It's like, yeah. Better put that gas app on your phone. You do know that the monetary policy is controlled by the fed.
And the Fed is an independent organization outside of the elected process. And the Fed chairman who's current now was nominated by Donald Trump. Joe Biden didn't change the Fed chairman. It's still the same guy doing the same monetary policy. So it's no difference in policy. And I think a lot of what we're need to look at when you start talking about our daily costs with money.
Is where does the money end up going if you're talking about gas fuel gas? Currently, the united states is the largest producer of gasoline On the planet at over 13 billion barrels a day. We're producing And that's more than any country. Let me ask you what happened to the alaskan pipeline. The alaskan pipeline is still operating Did it go alaskan pipeline still working?
Yeah, i'm just asking. I don't know the gas policy is still there We're producing more oil than we've ever produced before energy independent And if you look at the big oil companies out there their profits are through the roof They were having record setting profits over the last three years since covid.
They all took a hit in 2020 But in the three years following up till now, they've all had profits that are in the pens of billions per month. That's over a hundred million dollars a day in profits, which is, it's crazy. I mean, and so if you're trying to tie that to a president, it doesn't really stick. I mean, I, I understand it, you know, he's the president.
But he's really not that guy. If you look at all the, the big 10 conglomerates that handle food like Unilever and P& G and all these other big companies were 99 percent of all of our food runs through these companies. They are all experiencing record profits as well. It's not because of the president.
It's because of these companies, these conglomerates that have received huge tax breaks. And they're enriching themselves and their shareholders. I mean, it's, it's, it's, yeah, these people, that's the thing too. We were talking to one guest and we're actually, people say that we're in a democracy, but we're not in a democracy.
We're in a corporate talk. Don't worry. I won't let you. So a corporatocracy is the corporations control the democracy. Like I said, it's these politicians and going back to the beginning of the conversation a little bit, but we're talking about all these politicians that are taking money. From corporate America doing what they want and not us, I can go down a whole list of things like drugs, say the drug, the FDA is out of control and it should be limiting what these drug companies are selling people.
The other day I wanted, I like mayonnaise, I won't lie, but mayonnaise ain't even mayonnaise anymore. It's soybean oil. And to get any type of mayonnaise that's even close to mayonnaise, you either got to make it yourself or pay 13 for avocado oil mayonnaise. I'm infuriated. I was almost as infuriated when Miller's Ale House took Thousand Island dressing off the menu.
Oh Lord. Like who does that? So you can scale the business and stay open. Yeah. scale the business down by taking so I don't order a salad there anymore. So you think this corporate talk is, see, is become stronger because of the citizens united decision from the Supreme court that said that corporations are now individuals and corporations can donate to, um, to political parties.
You say that now, but that's been 20 years since we're now really seeing the results of that. We're really seeing, I mean, the records that you see, all of these major companies that supply all our food, and the prices you see at the grocery store, the prices you have to pay to fill your restaurant because now you've got to downsize, you want to understand why you have to downsize, it's because these people are taking all the money.
It's not any other thing. The food doesn't cost more. If it costs us get the money out of elections, you're singing to the choir here, have it publicly funded for the president. Here's 5 million. You get that for the whole election cycle. That's what you get. And you'll, you can also take public donations from whoever it is.
Whoever that it is, I will vote for them. Wouldn't you vote for them if they said, Hey, we'll take all of money out of the government and put term limits on these fools. So that's eight years and out. So we can get fresh new ideas instead of having, unfortunately, you know, even Biden's a 50 year potato that sat there.
Jamie even said himself that he doesn't trust anybody that's been in office for too long. Eight years is a term, right? You only can work four and four. For president. I'm just saying, I'm just saying, and he's not the only one. I mean, Biden's not the only one. Uh, Pelosi's another one. Mitch McConnell. There are, there are, you can, you can name it on all sides of the political spectrum.
It's any of the Bush family or the Reagan any of the Bush family they've been in I'm not laughing that wrong. He was TV laughing that I would say such a stupid thing It's not uncommon, but you know I think I think this melting pot is getting a little bit more mixed up like that the important thing we need to Be able to compromise so in this conversation You Let's flip it to how do we fix this?
What would be the best resolution? Do we think, I mean, there's going to be a division in the room, whether they think Pamela, Kamal, I don't know why I keep on saying her name wrong. Kamala. I don't understand the whole, uh, Well, I'll tell you that later, but you know what they, to have a person's name is important, right?
Like to be able to recognize your name and to say it correctly, that it's important. And it's just, I'm just saying, I'm not saying talking to you directly. I'm just saying that is just another form of division. If I know you or you're an important part or just anybody, right? And every time I see you, I say your name wrong.
Okay. Bye. Just a form of disrespect. So, to me, that's where those little C's and those little nudges are meant. Girl, if you spelled my name with a G E O F, we'd be fighting. We'd be fighting. G O F. Right? G O F F R E. I get, I get my name spelled wrong all the time. Right. It is a, it drives me crazy. Yeah. So, to hold the, to me, to be able to, like, let's start with just, like, little forms of respect by learning how to say a person's name right.
Right. That is just like, I was practicing it the whole time I came. I said, Lord Jesus, please. I'll say her name wrong. And, and I couldn't say her name right. The first time when she was running with, with president Biden, it's just the little things, whether you like a person or not, you still should respect a person's name and, and I'm going to say this because of culturally being black.
When you came over here, you couldn't even have your name. You had to change your name to somebody, to somebody else's name. So those are the kinds of little things that I feel like. Unknowingly people do, but it is important to be able to say a person's name that is running for a position of power. It goes to the core of your identity.
Thank you. I'm right there with you. What do you got to say, Jawad? Jawad? What was the question again? Say my name, say my name. How are you going to fix the problem? Oh,
prayer. Prayer. We all need to collectively come together. It's a popularity contest. We're talking about all of the narratives here that someone's name, you've got Israel, like killing people at an alarming rate right now, man. It's, we support that country and lives are being lost actively as we speak.
It's no game. This, this is a selection is super duper vital. Our lives are on the line. All of our lives are on the line. Everyone, we're talking about these narratives that are completely brushing over the real issues. It's just, we need, we need to pray. We need to come together and pray. There's all these topics.
I think you're right. There's a lot of these topics that, you know, for example, is, uh, they're working on something and it's going well, and then they have to return their focus to something else because there's just too many things going on. And maybe that thing takes precedence over what you're already working on, and then the momentum kind of stops, and let's face it, Four years to try to get something going.
Uh, my podcast is three years in. How long you been in business, Brandy? How long did it take to get it going? I'm, I've been at the restaurant, the location five years, but I've been doing this for really about 15. Right. And Juwad, how long have you been in business? Independent 15 years, this particular building since 2016, having my actual own brick and mortar been since 2016.
So that's been what eight years to take it to a national level. If you want to look at the presidency as an example, as well, when George Bush was elected in 2000, he wanted his platform to be about education and immigration reform. And. 9 11 happened, that wasn't what he was running on, that isn't what he wanted to, that is not what his goals were in what he was trying to accomplish.
That's what world events dictated he needs to focus on.
Let me ask Brandy and Jamie this question, you guys are welcome to answer too, but. This has kind of just been my thought, but maybe somebody else shares this thought. The last true president that wasn't a puppet was John F. Kennedy. Most people would say that that's a lot of big reason why he was assassinated, because he came from a family of money, and he wasn't going to do what the corporations wanted him to do.
Or the CIA, or whoever it is at the time. So, they assassinated him. I think that's been a well known theory, or somebody's thought that. I'm not the original thinker of that. Now this is where it kinda may ruffle your feathers a little bit. Donald Trump comes in and starts, he's not a politician. You know, Ronald Reagan came in as an actor.
I would say as a governor, as a governor, an actor, governor, he was multi term governor, the largest state in the country. He didn't run a business. If somebody came in and interrupted everything, and then they try to everything, they can't, this is just a lot of perspective, just from, you know, Someone that's sitting in the middle.
I can see someone just getting a free pass to come in. And yes, you could do that. And after this conversation, I understand, you know, okay. I could see the similarity where it was Biden's candidate that was running with him. So I understand that that's, that's not really important to me. If I was part of that group, which I'm not, I'm, I really don't.
I run independent. It would bother me that I didn't get a choice. I think there are other candidates like Tulsi Gabbard that would have been a better candidate as a female woman of color. Did you hear she just threw her support in behind Trump today? Yes, but that doesn't change that. That's not why I had the opinion of her.
I have a very strong opinion about her being a veteran and just being an awesome individual. As did I, to the court, uh, without a doubt, her past and present. If somebody's trying to stir things up and then some other, it's kind of unprecedented what's happened to Trump, I think. I think they've tried everything to throw the book at him and try to take him down.
I wanted to know what you guys thought about that. Do you think they, uh, are purposely trying to take him down? And if they were, wouldn't it make you wonder why they're trying to take this guy down? Why don't they want him to be president so bad? I think the people want to know. I think they don't, they, career politicians, I think in general, wouldn't want him in, in that position because he isn't beholden to any special interest in that way, uh, in the way that they are.
You've got the war machine that's in, uh, you know, your war Hawks or some of the conservative sides and you've got these different sex sects. Influence a lot of politicians, but when you have the money that he has, he doesn't care about his own personal gain at that point because he's already at the top.
He was at the top before he became the president. I think also with Trump, he is a business oriented person, business minded. I mean, he literally wrote the book on making deals. And I think that he can look at a problem and know where to trim the fat, if you will, when it comes to excess government spending, I think that's a big problem, and we've bloated government spending with multiple with a multitude of different Organizations and agencies to look at things.
We've got five. I'm just throwing a number out like five different intelligence agencies right now. Which one do we need? Do we need any of them? I mean, we have military intelligence. We have the National Security Agency. We have CIA, FBI, Homeland Security. I mean, those just a couple of them that I can think of off the top of my head.
Why isn't there only one of them protects the homeland? CIA can't operate in the United States. Why do we have them? They're not technically supposed to, but do they? I don't know. I can't answer that. I think that because he's not beholden to those special interests, he can go in and This is why they don't like him because he will say, let's get rid of that, that, that whole department.
Gone. Let's do that. I think that would probably be a good idea for us to, to trim that, to trim the government. What do you call it in your business? Bureaucracy, if you will. Scaling. Scaling down the product. Scaling it, well, okay. Brother Trump is an anomaly. It was interesting. He's been a celebrity real estate mogul for a very long time.
He's, he's just jet setting that embodied the rich life. He was, you know, everything about him was opulence. Lifestyles of the rich and famous. It was, it was opulence with Donald J. Trump. He embraced it. He loved it. He loved everything about it, leading up to why they wanted to take him out. But, um, when he did The Apprentice, I think that it was something that morphed into, Okay, they're taking me serious.
Okay, then I'm going to take this vehicle that's been created and I'm going to ride this one until the wheels come off. I think that when he got in the office, he did, he understood the job at hand, but didn't understand the job at hand. I, I think that they're taking him out because he doesn't respect the sacred cows on Capitol Hill.
He doesn't respect protocol. He doesn't understand the native language of politics.
