Today's episode was necessary to highlight the Trump effect on the population. We discuss the racist rhetoric spewed from the Madison Square Garden stage and how Trump is very much responsible for the political climate in which we live.
This is a masterclass in white privilege. Trump can't say enough to be racist. He can't commit enough crimes to be a criminal. He can't fail enough to be a failure, and he can't say enough stupid things to be stupid. He is so shielded and insulated by the idea and the concept of whiteness.
That he is un.
Touchable. The thought conjured around him matters more than any reality, any reality. He is a Christian that doesn't know the Bible, that foreign stars, that grabs women by the is the least christ like. But the sheer promise of the whiteness that exists inside Donald Trump is enough for everyone. White and black people, a lot of them who worship whiteness and aspire to the level of whiteness that Trump has. It's enough for them to say, hey, he still our guys, no matter what.
It's the whiteness he guarantees to protect.
That's what he's That's what he represents, right, It's.
There being that he guarantees to protect.
And that's true.
That's something that they won't say, but that they're voting for.
Former President Trump held a rally in New York City at Madison Square Garden. Some have compared it to drawn parallels to another very infamous rally that took place at the same venue by the then leader of the Nazi Party, one Adolf Hitler. Now some would hear that and immediately scream hyperbole, immediately accuse anyone making that comparison to be extreme or maybe over zealous. They just hate Donald Trump so bad that they're comparing him to whom many consider to be one of the worst people in the history of the world. Some might misremember the Nazi Party, However, they might think that they came to some type of covert stealing of their country's national lexicon attention, and that their rise to power or was somehow a secret coup. Forgetting that what they did happened in plain sight. People did not realize in real time that they should be taking something happening in front of them far more serious. And here we are. I go by the name q Ward, and I go by the name Rams's job. And some might wonder, as we sit here, microphones on and the very well put together pup weekly studios. By the way, why this election has me so stressed?
Yeah?
Why I'm taking it so serious? Because you know, no matter who wins, everything is going to be okay. People that I love, people that I care about, people who know me and my kids have said that to me. I understand, what's the big deal. No matter who wins, everything's going to be okay. So I think it's important to point out some things. Forgive the length of this information, but all of it is very very relevant.
If I may, well, let me let me offer you this before you go into it. So Q, my brother, my partner in crime, I need to ask your forgiveness upfront. Please, I have I mean, you know this better than anybody. But I have been in the studio getting these interviews for the show, editing these interviews, coordinating our on the ground efforts to communicate with audiences, and so forth and so on, and so when you talk about this rally at Madison Square of Goddron, I came across the headline, but I'm not intimately familiar with everything that happened in that story, just because I've been absolutely slammed. So forgive me if I'm a little less than prepared for today's conversation. I know you wanted to turn the mics on and go, and I like when you have that energy, You like when I have that energy, so we never stop each other. But I just want to make sure that you and our listeners know that I'm going to be learning a lot in this conversation, so you know, I wanted to make sure that that was stated.
First, former President Donald Trump held a disgraceful rally at the Mecca as far as venues go, New York City's Madison Square Garden, and to give you the reader's digest version, Trump supporters, of course, but Trump's celebrity circus came to town Mayor Rudy Giuliani, amongst them Hulk Hogan, Tucker Carlson, and I have to figure out this comedian's name because he's made the the biggest headlines. Ironically, so far as I was like the B Squad, well, all of his rallies feature the B Squad. And you know, before we're done out find out this comic's name. Maybe because it's not his name isn't important. His rhetoric and his message, however, are. He noticed a black Trump supporter in the crowd, acknowledged him, brought attention to him, noted that he reminded him of someone that he knew, and that he spend halloweens with carving watermelons. He then went on to, in a very anecdotal tone, educate the crowd about a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean. I did hear this part, you know, Puerto Rico.
I did hear that.
Some would say he's a comedian. And why are you guys making such a big deal of jokes? I'd ask you listening, if you made such jokes where you work, do you think that have any impact on your employment? I almost know at most companies, at least, that the answer is absolutely.
So.
Imagine electing someone to the most powerful position in the Western world and probably in the world, that shares and echoes those same sentiments, those same beliefs, in that same rhetoric, A black supporter and speaker came to the mic to the resounding sounds of Dixie like the Confederate theme song, something that we both know was most likely very intentional. Vice President Harris was referred to as a prostitute with pimp handlers. And it gets more and more disgusting as you go on. According to CNN, Donald Trump on Tuesday defended his controversial Madison Square Garden rally telling supporters that the event was and I quote an absolute love fest and that it was quote my honor to be involved, spitting in the face of the same people that he told he didn't have anything to do with the people who attended and didn't know what their messaging was going to be. Like in what world?
Can't have it both ways?
In what world? I don't think anyone has ever seen anything like what happened the other at Medicine Square Garden. Trump told a crowd of supporters at his Mar A Lago resort in Florida as he addressed criticism of his rally for the first time, the love in that room it was breathtaking and you could have filled it many many times with the people that were unable to get in end quote. Again, the crowd turned out at his rallies, which it turns out a large portion of the crowd was not from New York. Oh yeah, So again every accusation of confession because they accused the Harris Walls campaign of busting in people because it's something that they do, and then anything positive that the Harris Walls campaign does, they pretend that that's what they're about too. He's talking at the rally about being running sorry, an optimistic and hopeful campaign as he weaponizes hate and misinformation to make targets of almost everyone black and brown in this country.
I want to say something here, please, So I know that there's people out there who will say, well, you know, Donald Trump didn't say that. That was like the opener that said that. But I think that there's an opportunity here for a critical examination of the entire MAGA movement. We've said this, you know, since twenty twenty, and we've said this to each other going back even further back to you know, twenty sixteen. Donald Trump and his rhetoric and what he stands for and what we know or otherwise believe him to stand for espouse parrot behind closed doors has emboldened a facet of this country to be more authentically themselves. This undercurrent of hatred and the things that we feel we have imagined as black people and as marginalized people, the things we feel have been true in our lives, The things I've seen that I felt that I can't quite put my finger on it, I can't substantiate it with any valid, tangible evidence, but I felt it. Donald Trump has emboldened that undercurrent and caused it to rise up. And even if Donald Trump himself hasn't said that on the stage about Puerto Rico being a floating garbage island or something, how hurtful is that this is such a hurtful thing to say. You know, I was raised by a Puerto Rican woman, you know what I mean. Donald Trump is indirectly responsible for that and for people that come to Donald Trump's defense by saying and because I know they exist, Well, Donald Trump wasn't the one who said that. You know, this is just these are the people that are opening they're supposed to be comedians blah blah blah whatever, because I could see them dismissing that, just as like it's a part of the you know, the pomp and the circumstance or the show or whatever.
I just wish they would do the same if the tables were turned, and we'd know that they wouldn't.
Know that said, we don't even have to have that argument because we know that. But in this moment, I can make a direct connection to that comedian saying that thing on that stage because of two reasons. One, he feels like Donald Trump won't mind. Donald Trump has indeed set the stage for him literally in that instance, but you know, figuratively in terms of the scale of the country, that's one two the crowd. He thinks the crowd will receive it, meaning that he knows what we know or otherwise have imagined to be true this whole time, which is now, these people can be all the way outside with how they really feel about you know, Puerto Rico. For those that don't know, Puerto Rico is a part of the United States of America. It is not a foreign country. Those are United States citizens. It is a United States territory. It belongs to the US. And there was a man on stage that called it what you said it better than me. I just read the headline.
But there's an island floating in the middle of the ocean, an island of garbage floating in the middle of the ocean. It's called Puerto Rico. Yeah.
So this for people that say that Donald Trump is not responsible for that, or people that want to make that argument, I'm going to shut that down right now because from where I sit, Donald Trump is I could argue, either directly or indirectly responsible for that, and indeed the state of the country to where a person like that even has access to a stage that big and will get that off to a crowd that he believes will be receptive to it. I think all of that is Donald Trump's doing. Once upon a time, that would have been something that you could have got off in a bar in Alabama, maybe on a Tuesday with the good old boys. But that man said that on Madison Square Garden stage at a Trump rally. There's something there.
New Republic, amongst other sources say that this comic had to workshop his material with Trump's team before he was allowed to take the stage.
I think my point is well made.
And even worse is that he had worse things to say that they made him not say, which means they were okay with everything that he did say. He had some some more blatantly disrespectful things to say about our current vice president, which they made him remove. I will not even utter the words he planned to say. So this idea that, hey, that wasn't me, That's just the guy that.
Opened for me.
Because former President Trump kind of approaches this whole thing like it's a stand up comedy act. He's a very very unserious person. The problem is those that worship him take him very seriously. Well, he stirred up the worst things in the worst amongst us.
I think that. So when we first sat down to have this conversation, you wanted to play a clip of audio, which is what we heard opening the show, and I had not heard that before, but I think the point was well made from the audio that was Van Lathan talking about how Donald Trump represents or he's the most extreme form of I forgot how he said it on white privilege, white privile, Okay, so something like effectually, that was what he was communicating. It's white privilege on full display to the n degree. And so I think that this is a full circle moment going all the way back to that clip that we played at the top of the show, because yeah, you're absolutely right, Donald Trump is always in the clear. He's never has to take responsibility or take accountability for anything.
His sick of fans come out in Saint Washington. Man's plain everything he said, because that's not what he meant to say, and that's not what he was trying to say. As if he doesn't have access to the same words we heard, the words that he actually said. Why are you explaining to me that he meant to say something else every time he didn't mean it, every time, he meant to say something more benign and less racist and less misogynistic every time. And if he never means what he says, why are you all so ready to stand for this man who was either incapable of telling us the truth or fully capable and just decides we're not worth it. Trump, on Tuesday, again Seeing in Politics, mocked Democrats for drawing parallels between his rally and the Nazi rally held at Madison Square Garden in nineteen thirty nine. Vice President Kamala Harris made Minnesota Governor Tim Wall said before the rally that Trump's campaign knows exactly what they're doing there. End quote, ramses, I'd like to be more comfortable today, less than a week from this election, as Donald Trump stirs up preemptively every version of this thing being stolen from him, as we see ballot boxes being burned all over the country, how can we expect that this gets better before it gets worse, no matter the outcome. You know, what are you and I supposed to say to our listeners, to our friends and family who've come to us for our insight, for our voices that they have to look forward to as we encourage them to participate in this election, and it because of rhetoric like this becomes a more and more dangerous proposition.
I'm kind of right there with you. I My hope is that obviously, this chapter is in this nation's history, in our lives, is coming to its conclusion, and that you know, in a very short amount of time, we will be able to focus on holding the right people accountable for delivering on the promises that they've made to this country. But at present, that overwhelming feeling that I know that you feel, and you know that I feel, not just from the amount of work that we have to do, but just from the stakes. You know, it's kind of tough being sort of skittish every day. And you know, we hear from our listeners quite a bit, and I know that that's something that they feel as well. It's it's it's tough to navigate. But the one thing that I will say, and I know that at least some of our listeners feel the same way, is that we have done as much as we know how to do, and we've contributed as much as we know how to contribute to this moment and as long as we are able to look back and say we lived this moment, Well, whatever comes next is what comes.
I have to say this before we let you go, because I have friends, I'll say friends. Now, I don't know that that will remain true. And definitely that are messaging me saying not to vote, which yeah, right, saying that all of us are overreacting to Trump rhetoric. And you know he's prone to hyperbole and doesn't really mean it. And like I said, everything is going to be okay no matter who wins. This is a very very important thing to say out loud because of this moment in history, because people will pretend they didn't know. People will act surprised. As he said out loud, he wants to be a dictator, as they echoed at his rally, that America is only for Americans, as he's said that, he wants to use the National Guard and the military against those who disagree with him or oppose him, his political enemies, the enemy within, he calls us on the left, he said in that quote, and I'm going to leave you out with this. They started to say, well in nineteen thirty nine that the Nazis used Madison Square Garden. How terrible to say, right, because you know they've used Madison Square Garden many times. Many people have used it. But nobody's ever had a crowd like that. And I tell you what, right now, nobody's ever had love like that. That was love in the room, and it was love for our country. End quote. This is from Donald Trump. Important things to leave you with the Nazi Parti's rise to power in the nineteen thirties was unique due to a combination of factors, including exploiting the deep seated frustrations of post WARLD War One Germany through powerful propaganda, utilizing a charismatic leader, leveraging economic instability, and a failure of the international commut unity to effectively oppose their growing influence. That part especially important, rams is because this isn't some small community of people in the margins of our country. About sixty or seventy million people I believe voted for Donald Trump. That's not a small amount of people. Key elements to their rise masterful propaganda, their leader's charisma. There are some people that buy into the fake bully, weak man child personality of former President Trump. Economic distress, pointing to the pandemic when people are having a hard time and making people believe that he was their savior. I think you spoke about that on social media. Rec stantle people who are going to the polls because Donald Trump gave them a stimulus check.
He didn't give you a stimulus.
Check twelve hundred dollars. I believe you told me, yeah, four years ago. Yeah, which it waste to about seventy five cents a day.
Yeah. But that was Congress that gave you that money. Donald Trump stood in the way of you getting that money because he wanted his name to go on a check, because he wanted to take credit for what Congress did. And it was a Democratic Congress, and that's who gave you that money. Donald Trump didn't give you that money. It didn't come from his pockets.
Racist, xenophobic scapegoating and anti semitism a strategy that they used paint an enemy other every community and make your community those that support you superior, so they feel like they are part of it with you, even though you could care less about those people. Intimidation and inciting violence. This is the one Ramses early underestimation, the greatest trick the devil ever pulled off is convincing the world he didn't exist. He's playing in our faces. He's not even pretending that he's not going to do all the things he plans to do. They have a nine hundred page document project twenty twenty five, and every time he steps to a microphone, he says in detail what he plans to do. To quote the enemy from within, that means you people, because when he says Haitian and Puerto Rican, he does not just mean Haitian's in Puerto Ricans. If Ramses and I when we introduced ourselves to people told them that we were Haitian and Puerto Rican, none of them would hesitate to believe it. Misinformation which the GOP has become quite masterful and gradual escalation. You pointed out to me, Rams, is that the Make America Great hat used to have much smaller text on it. It is gradually getting bigger. Their rhetoric is gradually getting more and more racist and more misogynists and more direct. It used to be kind of vague, not enymore. It's blatant now. So I just want people to be aware. We cannot pretend that we didn't see this coming, because they've outlined everything that they plan to do, and some of the things they've done already. Right, our former president wants to give full immunity to law enforcement, bring back stop and frisk, already appoint at Supreme Court justices that have given him presidential immunity to do whatever he feels is in his right as his duty in office. You think he's going to pick one other group to get rid of when he wants to do a math deportation of tens of millions of people. Has warned that it will be bloody. I hate to go on and on, but we cannot not take this as serious as we should. Ramses and I have already voted. We don't get to tell you who to vote for. I mean, I can tell you, we can tell you who we voted for. But most importantly, I do not want you to sit on your hands and sit this one out. This is not the time. And I don't want to harp on this. I don't want to fear monger. I don't want to try to create undue distress. But this is very, very real, and it happened before, and it happened right in front of people. That man in Germany was elected, duly elected and at a time was very very popular. So we look back now and we think of him as this despicable and disgusting and evil person. But once upon a time he walked across the stage at Madison Square Garden. And if you could read a transcript of both rallies, the rhetoric, the rhetoric is startling in its similarities.
Well, we all have our marching papers. We know it comes next, and obviously here we're going to continue to do what we do and you can continue to support us on all social media. You can find me at Rams's Jah.
I am q Ward on all socials as well.
And until next time, y'all peace,