Panic at the White House

This episode of "I've Had It" is brought to you by Booking.com. Since 2010, they've helped over 1.8 billion vacation rental guests find places to stay. That's billion with a B. Head over to Booking.com and start your listing today. Get seen, get booked on Booking.com. [music] Ready, 1, 2, 3. Patriots, gay triads, they triads, black triads, and brown triads. And the people who like to marginalize them can do what, pumps. F*** off! Alright, welcome to America's top DEI podcast. Pumps, what have you had it with? Okay, what I've had it with is myself. And here's why. I have a habit of putting things in a certain place. And when I put things there, I think, I'm going to put this there so I won't forget where it is. And then I can't remember where that place is. That just happened to me. I took my gloves and my hat to Maine. And then yesterday it was freezing. So I was going to get my glove in my hat. I searched my entire house. I cannot find them. And I remember specifically saying to myself, I'm going to put this here. So I'll know exactly where it is next time. And I have a habit of doing that and I'm sick of it. I'm so sick of myself for doing stupid shit like that. And not just putting stuff where I know where to find it. I do that all the time, constantly. I think, okay, I'm going to be so saly and put this here there. On the flip side of that, sometimes you find something that you're like, oh, I'm going to need this in a couple of days. And you find it in one of your little hiding spots. But I do that shit all the time. And I think it is a universal thing that we all think in that short term moment that our short term memory is going to prevail and it doesn't. No, it doesn't. And you know what else? I'm trying to decide if I have Alzheimer's or not or dementia. And this doesn't help my cause. I ask Kylie at least three times a week. Do you think that means I have Alzheimer's? Because I feel like I'm slipping. Yeah. All right. Let me take what I've had it with. I've had it with this component of air travel where you're waiting to get on the plane for quite some time. And the plane is at the gate, okay? And it's delayed. Like we're going to delay boarding by this amount of time. We're going to delay boarding a little bit longer. You see the pilots go on. You see the crew go on. And then you get on the plane and you think, well, they've had a lot of time to get this bird ready. This bird should be ready to fly. And then you get on and you notice like, well, they closed the door a while ago. We're just still sitting here. And then the door opens again. And then the pilot comes on and says, yeah, we were getting ready to push and we notice some lights weren't functioning properly. So we've got to do a maintenance thing and we're waiting on the paperwork and on maintenance. My point about this is, is why are we not checking the planes prior to boarding the passengers? Why do we have to go through the lies that you act like our plane is going to take off? That that bird is going to fly in the air only to get on that bird. And most recently, this happened to me. And then I got kicked off of the bird. I waited 12 hours to get on that thing because of Trump shut down. And then we get on it and the pilots were on it multiple hours before we were. I saw him. I was looking through and I could see the cockpit and I could see the pilots in there and they were him on and having a good time. And then we get on and they're like, yeah, we're about to start up and we noticed these lights were malfunctioning. So we've got maintenance in here working on them. Maintenance takes a while and the paperwork takes a while and then guess what happened? The pilots timed out and we got kicked off the bird. Yeah. And so my thing is this, I don't want to beat up on pilots or anybody that works at an airport or flight attendants or TSA or any of that because I know that that is a difficult place to work. I know that people are at their worst in those positions. My question is, is this a pilot thing or is this the airlines that wait to do checks until the bird is loaded? Because in my opinion, they need to do a policy shift to where these maintenance checks happen before we load the bird. Because it's happened to me multiple times. I've been kicked off of applying multiple times because of some sort of maintenance issue that should have been vetted prior to loading. Right. And I am going to blame the airlines for this and not the pilots. Here's why. With airlines, fuck everybody over as frequently as they can. And now they've colluded with Kanks to reverse a Biden era policy that would mandate a refund. Should the airline dick you over and cancel your flight or cause you to be late blah, blah. Biden said, you get a full refund. Peaboo to judge, full refund. Kanks comes in and immediately bends, you know, does what the corporations want. Yeah. People corporations that have always gotten bailouts every time they've mismanaged things. So I think this is a airline corporate policy that needs to be changed. And I've completely had it. The maintenance checks need to happen prior. I completely agree. I feel like a lot of staff with airlines, the efficiency is backwards. Like everything they do could be more efficient if they just switched the policy entirely. Like get the pilots on, get the flight attendants on. Let's go through the maintenance checks. Let's load the passengers from the back. So there's not a big backlog. You know another thing. When they tell you when you're sitting there, like you sat in the airport 12 hours on Sunday, why don't they just say, we're going to cancel your flight. We're just, we can't do it. We're not going to be able to do it. Like we're just canceling it. Instead, they just push it out 10 minutes, 15 minutes an hour. I'm confident they knew like six hours in this deal is not happening. So I just feel like there's a lot of inefficiency in an airline. I don't think they knew. I think this is a group of people that cannot come to a logical conclusion. If they can't figure out, we need to check the plane. It works prior to boarding the plane. I don't have an expectation that they can play the tape through. If they can't get through the most elementary checks before loading the bird full of passengers. And this was a full big jet with people from Los Angeles to New York. If they couldn't check the lights and make sure those lights were functioning. And I saw a lot of hemhon. I saw a lot of fun going on in the cockpit, which I don't besmirge. I'm happy that they had that bonding and that camaraderie, those pilots. They deserved it. But why are we checking right before pushback? Why didn't we have all of that done beforehand? Why didn't we have the maintenance check going through so that then the pilots wouldn't have timed out? And I just think that we sometimes have a lot of incompetent people running things. Primarily the federal government, but I'm going to go ahead and tack trickle this down to airlines that have the inability to play the tape through. Like what would be more efficient here? What makes more sense? And instead you've got a bunch of emails that could have been called policy books that make no sense. I remember there was a flight at one point that didn't have that I was on. I can't remember if you were on this with me. It didn't have the emergency landing manual on the plane. The flight attendant on iPad? Yeah. So remember they went down and printed it on. There were a thousand pages and that we had to sit on the plane while they printed 1000 pages. You were with me, right? Yeah. So my thing is on this, why didn't we check that before we put the passengers on the bird because you have a bunch of people that do not play the tape through that are just like we're just going to float through and if a problem comes up and it exacerbates and compounds and makes it miserable for everybody else, perfect. We're in the airline business. That's what we do. We compound misery. I've just had it. I've had it with all of that. And I just want to say to the pilots on that United flight from LAX to Newark, I'm giving you that I think that this is an airline policy, but I would like for a pilot to anonymously message us. I want to know. I need to know. Why are these checks not happening prior to loading passengers? Is that the airlines thing? Are you guys too busy knee slapping and chuckling around to do it? I want to know who's responsible. I just need to know. I'm not going to care and add or anything. I just want to know. I need to know why it's so inefficient for your personal serenity. Just I need to know and then I can accept it because I would think if I was a pilot, I would get on before I started having casual conversations with my co-pilot, with flight attendants, with passengers. I would go I had to do a thorough check. - Right. And once the thorough check was done, then I would say we're ready to board the passengers. But I've been through too many times, more than both of my fingers on my hands, these checks and then these maintenance repairs happen while you're sitting on the plane, which number one increases anxiety. I'm not a scared flyer at all, but when you hear that there's a mechanic on the flight with you working on something, and that's when I'm like, is this gonna be it? - Is this where I'm gonna die? Is this, you know, it's not something pleasant you wanna think about, that something's broken on the airplane and it's getting maintenance right before you take off. - Right. - Absolutely. - So why not just keep all of that from the customer? - Right, just be better at knowing that. - Right. I completely agree. And I always hate when they say, okay, we've had a mechanical deal. We're having a mechanic camp, and then the mechanic comes in and they say, we're waiting on the paperwork. - Yes. What the fuck? I mean, we're an e-society. Just sign it electronically. Like we have to have some Yahoo walk all the way down to the end of the airport, print his thousand pages like that flight we were on to New York, and come back so the pilot can sign it. Let's e-file. Let's e-sign. It shouldn't be that hard. All right, welcome to, I've had it. I'm Jennifer. I'm Angie. No HBIC. - Yeah. Is that tired HBIC? I kind of thought maybe it will never be for me. - Never be. Head, be, ver, and charge. Here we go. - All right, Kylie. - Kylie, the H-lik, head, lesbian, and charge. - Oh, that really does sound gay. H-lik. - Does that sound gay? - Yeah, I just don't know. That is about as gay as an acronym could be. - It's perfect. - Yeah. - Okay, I've got three reviews that we're gonna fly through. The first one is Five Stars, titled Inspiration. And it says, "I listened to I've had it, or I hit news to get my daily dose of inspiration, to call Moses Mike's DC and Louisiana offices and leave him an earful every single day." It's so very cathartic. Having moved from NYC to a red-leaning North New Jersey town 20 plus years ago, I'm so glad to have found your podcast. You give me hope every day. Keep up the amazing work. It's truly appreciated. - Wow. I love that. - I've never been a report of a more successful windup on this podcast than that it has manifested his listening to our incessant bitching. His lead to him calling little Moses Mike Grindr Johnson and reading him for Filth every single day. That is just #success. Yes, I mean, that is the best thing I've ever heard. That same bishops, it's organized, it's determined, it's hustle, everything I like in a person right there. Okay, now we've got a one-star, titled In Sufferable White Women and Senior Wonderful Rights, these women are haggard. They don't provide any insight to anything, except how insufferable they are. - That's a fair point. - It's a fair point. I feel haggard. - I do. And I mean, the insight is questionable. Insufferable spot on. - Yeah. - I really cannot, I'm not offended by that. I think I resemble that one-star remark. So, you know, can't win them all. - Yeah. - Okay. The last one is five stars. And Daisy writes, they tell it like it is, God forbid women are angry. These one-star reviews are hilarious. And I think these two women will change the trajectory of politics in the coming years. - That is so nice. Kylie, we've been getting a lot of one-star reviews. - We've been getting a ton of one-star reviews. - Really? - Really? - Maga, you know, has really locked in on us and it shows. - Yeah. So is this after the Fox News covered when they claimed that I wanted to kill conservatives? - Yes, it is. That's exactly when it started. That was the tipping point. - I just, I also think how hilarious it is that they can actually say that because the little filter over to my personal page that they think that I want to kill them and/or want them dead. And they're so triggered and so easily scared that they believe that to be true. - Yeah. Well, it also feeds their narrative that they're the victims and everybody else is out to get them and how violent the Democrat party is. I do have to say Emily sent me a TikTok, sent it to Jennifer too. And it was in September. - It's exactly as her daughter. - Oh, I'm sorry, Emily, my daughter. And it said the TikTok caption was, "She should be the voice of the Democratic Party." And I just want to say, I'm putting my vote for that, Jennifer. I think you should be the voice of the Democratic Party. And I kind of think you already are. - So keep it going, girl. - Thank you, Pompers. I think that's a stretch. I do think we need more voices like ours in the Democratic Party holding the cowardice, spyingless corporate beholden, pussies in the Democratic Party to count. And we need to make sure they are primary because this is such a dangerous time for so many marginalized people. And the Democrats that play this pick me politics, I'm a centrist, I've had it. - Shut the fuck up. - Yeah. - Okay, I've got some news stories for you today. - Okay. - This one hit home for me because I have been in wedding season. - Yeah. - Back to the minute season everything and it cost me an arm and a leg. So this one says, "A New York couple charged their wedding guests, $333 each in an effort to save money. Only 60 out of 350 guests came." - Here's what amazes me about this. In a time where marriage is pretty unpopular, it doesn't have a great success, right? The insanity surrounding the pageantry of weddings is the worst it's ever been. It's almost like, it is like, they're going to make sure these brides and these grooms that do this, they're gonna put the nail in the coffin and they're gonna make sure that weddings and marriage are so wholly unattractive and off-putting by the social media grandstanding of it. And then poor Kylie, you know, this is something that's going on for our listeners that are in their 20s, 30s. This is something that's going on that's a huge problem. So when you're in your late 20s, early 30s, in Oklahoma people get married in their early 20s, so I should say early 20s. You don't have as much money as you're going to later in life. And so these weddings are so narcissistic and so over the top that the bride and groom have a bachelor party that if you're invited to, you have to pay your way to. The wedding, which is destination, you have to pay your way to. All this shit, it showers. So Kylie, all of her extra money, she's spending now to watch these friends get married and you have to buy your own dress, right? If we're all this shit and I guarantee you, Kylie, the last two big weddings I went to in the last five years, both couples are already divorced, both well into six figure weddings or both already divorced. I guarantee you some of these weddings you're going to within five years, crickets divorced over and then guess what you have. A bad memory. Yep. Okay, Jennifer, I don't even know if you're aware of this. So I had this confirmed me by my daughter Emily and then Kylie actually showed me the proof. Did you know that brides, when they have these bachelor party destinations where they, you have to pay to travel, they send you an invitation with a color coded dress code. So they give you certain shades that you wear on certain days. Like morning one, we're going to wear green and light blue for lunch on morning day two. We're going to wear pink and white. Dinner on day three, we're going to wear sunset colors. Like I thought this was total bullshit. My daughter was telling me that I was like, that's fucking crazy. So I'm talking to Kylie about it. Like have you heard this? You're in all these weddings. She actually shows me an invitation that somebody printed out that had the color coding on the different days. That is happening. As I can confirm, each day had a sunset color theme, a sunrise color theme. And then also like the textures you could wear, the fabrics that go along with it. So like glitter. Were you invited to this, Kylie? Did you receive this? Yes, yeah, I went on this one. This was one of the ones that went on. Did you see that? Somebody you've not seen she that? I'm describing my invitation that I got. And it has a detailed itinerary. Is this person heterosexual or homosexual? What do you think? heterosexual woman? What do you think? I'm just going to tell you that this makes me, never ever went to have anything to do with a wedding again just for spite of these bad actors. Like I want a boycott the whole thing. Like I want to have a really kind couple come to me and say, hey, we're getting married in the courthouse and we're not going to spend much money and you can wear whatever you want and it doesn't matter if you're late or blah, blah, blah, we just love to see you. I want to say you've done nothing wrong, but on principle and for spite, I have boy-cotted weddings across the board because of some bad actors that people are not calling out in the buck stops with me. I'm not going to enable this. I'm not going to be codependent and even though you are not a grandstander, even though you are not a narcissist, even though you may actually have married your soulmate and you don't want a bunch of attention, you might not even do an Instagram post about it. I am so fucking pissed off by proxy that some dumb bitch sent Kylie a color-coded invitation. Yeah, and didn't feel shame or embarrassment or that person needs to be ridiculed. I just want to say, do not cut this out. Do not edit this out, Kylie. I hope that this dumb bitch listens to this podcast. You should be ashamed of yourself. The clock is ticking because there's no fucking way your marriage is going to happen because already it's far more performative than it is authentic. And I dislike you because I know that Kylie probably doesn't. So I'm going to dislike you for me, pubs, and you, and our listener because I know our listeners blood is boiling because that is the most narcissistic American bullshit. Is this person maga? Are they maga, Kylie? No, but they're family is. They're from Texas, you know, here's the thing. It's happening everywhere. Like if you look at a bachelor at party photo, because my daughter was showing me on Instagram, all of the photos of people she knows that are getting married and having bachelor parties, they're color coded in these photos. They are doing it for Instagram. It is 100% a production for social media. And I'm with you. Had it. Can I get back to the psychology of this person that Kylie knows? Okay, we're going to single that person now. Males mag. Yes, the family's maga. Yeah, I believe so. And this, this individual is not. No, are you sure about that? Yeah. Now, now down the road, now that they're married, you know, some women kind of transferred to the other side. You think it should be a lesbian? No, I mean, transfer to. I mean, transfer to the opposite. Because you know, it happens that way too. I've never seen this many midlife lesbians in my life. It's unbelievable. I should write an article about it yesterday on the plane when I finally got back on a plane. Well, I'll just tell you, I think this is a disgrace. I think that is so humiliating that you would not feel any shame embarrassment. And I think it is a tail-tell sign that this marriage is going to end in divorce, spectacularly because it's already so performative by nature. And I'm living proof that happens before Instagram. I'm living here with a share with the listener. How many bridesmaids you had? Well, now it seems paltry in comparison to the 21-22. How many did you have? In 1997, I had nine bridesmaids, two candlelighters, which I didn't even want a candlelighter. My mom behind my back and did that. And then I had two gaspick attendants for a grand total of like 16 people in the wedding, 500 guests banned the whole line walking down the aisle. Like I'm walking down the aisle with my dad. I'm looking at the full pews and I'm thinking this could go either way. That's going through my head. Like this is probably a mistake. As it's happening in real time. And we all know what happened. Spectacular disaster. Yeah. You gave it your all pumps. Sure did. You really did. You really did. I was there for the last 10 years of that. You tried maybe 15 years. You tried really, really hard to accept it, excepted a lot of things that were unacceptable. Unacceptable. Which you can read all about. And her juicy tell off life is a lazy saying which is available everywhere you buy a book and audio and the link is below in the show notes. All right, Kylie, do we have time for one more news story before we welcome our guest? Yes, we'll do one more. This one is over 60% of young drivers feel extreme fear and anxiety at the gas station. And it says more than 60% of young drivers report feeling extreme anxiety. According to a recent survey, rising fuel prices, unfamiliarity with pumps and fear of being judged or watched are all cited as top stressors. Huh. Well unfamiliarity with pumps. Pumps. I think maybe you could remember when we used to have gas station attendance full like full service. Yeah. Here's my problem with all of this. Number one, who thought to do this study? Right. The idea that you're even doing this study, being codependent and creating a culture where you're even creating the question to somebody, do you feel anxiety at the gas station? And then the person is persuasive to the power of suggestion. I think, well, you know what I am. I think, well, boy, that could blow up. No, it has a lot of germs on it. Blah, blah, blah. Okay. I think a lot of things are true. I think a lot of people are pissies. Yeah. And but I also think that these are just things that shouldn't be pulled. I agree. I think even sending it out into the universe that it's possible that you have some sort of phobia about the gas station. Like pumping gas is not pleasant. Now, we'll admit, right when it turns, right when it starts going through that initial of gasoline, I kind of do like that. I do like the smell of gasoline. Yeah. You know, it's not sustained, but that initial kind of thing. Yeah. I do. And then when you know you have a full tank, it's satisfying. You know, it's like a last very long, but I think that's a stupid poll. And I think a lot of people are pissies. I do too. And here's the deal for anybody out there that has concern about being judged at the gas station. I have driven my new car for about 20 months. And I still pull up to the wrong side to put my gas in it. And I have to go up and I have to reverse. I have to do all that every time I fill my car with gas. I feel zero. I feel zero judgment. I feel zero shame. I'm just like, oh, I've pulled up to the wrong side again. So just fucking get over it. Who cares? That's what I think. All right. Let's welcome our guest. He is a mayor, a big time mayor of a big time city. Of course, we're talking about war, torn Chicago. War, torn, war, torn Chicago. That's mayor, Brandon Johnson. He is a former public school social studies teacher. God, I always love my social studies always a union organizer in Chicago, which I think the propaganda campaign against unions by the Republican Party and the Republicans that take part in that is one of the most disgraceful organizing groups, a propaganda I've ever seen. So good on him for being a union organizer. And he's a current mayor of Chicago. Mayor Johnson is a progressive, which I love that, who has recently made headlines and gone viral for his strong opposition to the Trump administration, particularly with ICE activity that has been going on in Chicago over the past two months. Let's give a warm welcome. I've had it welcome listener. We expect you to clap both of your hands for mayor Brandon Johnson. Listen, let's welcome to I've had it mayor Brandon Johnson mayor. How are you today? I'm doing wonderful. Thank you for asking and happy veterans day to all of our brave women and men who have served this country throughout its history. And you are the mayor of Chicago, or is the president likes to call it war, torn Chicago. And I have to say, Pops and I spent over a week in Chicago last summer at the DNC. And it is such a lovely American city. It is such a fabulous, fabulous city. You know, I totally agree. That's why I live here. Look, you know, the city of Chicago, I see it as the global capital of the world, frankly, it's a beautiful story, a black Haitian immigrant, and a pot of water, me, woman, established a trade post at the bank of the river and immigrants from around the globe, descendants of slaves have all come here to find refuge and comfort. We have this incredible diverse economy, 20% of the world's fresh water, great universities. I could go on and on just such a beautiful place. And, you know, I'm looking forward to this conversation. And you all have to come back and visit again. We do have some great breaking news from yesterday. We're going to host the New Year's Eve countdown for the Midwest Central Standard time. So book your hotels right now. You got to be in the city of Chicago to ring in the New Year. That's awesome. I do want to share with you a headline. I thought was hilarious. Kylie pop this up. Confused Trump 79. Demand's troop deployment over fictional shopping center. It says the aging president raged about the miracle mile and claimed it was, quote, once considered one of the of our nation's best. I think the only problem is there isn't a miracle mile shopping center in Chicago. So this poor man, he has dementia. Clearly nobody really talks about it. His so frail and appearance now and he often gets confused. But he's tried to put you in your city and your constituents at the epicenter of this. And one lie he continues to say all the time, is there's these black women all over Chicago wearing mega hats. And I've never seen that. And I'm just wondering as you go around in your city or to a cook out or two, do you see a swaths of black women wearing mega hats? No, perhaps they're on this miracle mile fantasy block. And then he, you know, was referencing. So maybe we have to do that. I'm going to have my, my administration fully investigate where this miracle mile is. And perhaps he can, you know, we'll find a bunch of black women just rolling around and mega gear. It sounds like a nightmare by the way. You know, look, you know, we have always been, you know, for the alt-right in this country, the punching bag, right? And, you know, it was Ronald Reagan that declared war on American cities as well at the time in which we had the first black mayor in the history of Chicago, mayor here at Washington. You know, this is right out of the playbook of those who are really attacking working people. Our values are very clear. You know, we're a strong working class city, you know, the labor movement birthright here in the city of Chicago. And when you think about even electing the first black president of the United States of America, if Reverend Jesse Jackson, a senior does not run on single payer and brilliantly a rainbow coalition, you do not get that historic moment in 2008. So, you know, look, we have an incredible diverse city, an economy that is growing and evolving every single day. And being a part of the labor movement as a public school teacher, raised in a household with nine siblings in one bathroom, it is truly the honor and joy of my life to be able to represent what I call the greatest city in the world. I was going to ask you, when this whole thing about sending troops to American cities, it was not lost on me that the cities chosen by the administration had black mayors and a black population center. Can you talk about that, how that felt as a leader for your community? And because Chicago is so diverse, do you believe that that that that you were chosen and your city was chosen for that reason? I think it's obvious, you know, I mean, when you think about it, whether it's, you know, Mayor Baz and Los Angeles or Mayor Brandon Scott and Baltimore, you know, Mayor Young and Memphis, you know, many of the cities that were, you know, targeted from day one have black leaders. And, you know, as a proud black leader and a progressive who comes out of the labor movement who understands the values of working people, you know, it wasn't lost on me that this administration, the president, the president of the United States of America has been intentional about dividing our politics in a way that is just so vicious, right? And I think, you know, you're alluding to this earlier. I mean, you know, Donald Trump is such a brittle man. And when people are insecure, you know, they hide behind these positions of power without any real true substance, the difference here in Chicago is that we hold to our values and we don't flinch, we don't bow, we don't cover, we don't break, we're not intimidated by what he is doing. In fact, I've put forth the budget that literally protects Chicago and from Donald Trump's cuts, right? So, yeah, I mean, it's clear that, you know, this president has done things like, you know, we, we secured $2 billion from the federal government to extend our public transportation line to go farther south where many black families reside. That fight has been going on for 50 years. So a year ago, we finally secured it. I'm 49 just to give you some context. And so we secured it and then President Trump withheld it because he didn't want it to go to a community that would have benefited from this investment. While at the same time, you know, writing a blank check, you know, to Argentina, at least $20 billion in county, you know, so we know that the intentional attacks that are coming from the Trump administration and the extreme right in this country has very much been what I call is, it's an attempt to relitigate the Civil War, right? They have not accepted the results that the North actually won, right? Because if you look at all of the attacks, it's not just black cities. He's going after education, housing, transportation, good paying jobs and health care. Those are literally the five demands of descendants of slaves, post Civil War. So it's evident that they are not, you know, committed to actually realizing the full dream of what this country can offer. And that's public good, public service to benefit everyone. And it seems like the attacks on blue cities have been, you mentioned, they go back to Reagan. There has been a long decades-long propaganda aimed at blue cities, which you can't really name a successful red city. It simply doesn't exist. And I'm just putting that out there. But I think it's because the enemy of white supremacy is multiculturalism. In order to live in a city, you have to be able to cooperate. And it takes cooperation. And the cooperation means you cooperate with people of a different religion, a different gender, a different sexuality, a different skin color. And these people are your neighbors and you have to communicate together non-verbally or verbally to walk across the street. And this really hurts their desire to preserve the structures that have benefited them so much, where they have received affirmative action. And instead, they flip the script and propagandize that somehow these people in blue cities are trying to milk off of them. When the reality is, it's the people that don't live in blue cities, that get the benefits of all the hard work that goes into the blue cities, that then ricochets to the places that don't pay as much in taxes. And that Democrats have done a really bad job messaging that. That is not something that has been messaged. Democrats govern, but don't message. And as a party leader right now, and I think we can look to you and Pritzker and the newly elected new to be sworn in, Zora and Mamdani for new progressive leadership in our party, how do you see the party moving forward as it pertains to governing while messaging at the same time? >> Look, you're absolutely right. I mean, about the, you know, your analysis and quite frankly, I believe a loving critique of the party. You know, you have people who come into these offices and these spaces and we believe that just because we're doing the work, that that's going to automatically translate into people failing or experiencing what that work has been designed to do. And that's why podcasts or in my case, we call them lakeside chats in Chicago. That's a playoff of, of course, the lake versus a fireside chat, where I take the message directly to the community. It's something that I learned early in my administration that we didn't do enough of that. We have to talk to people and engage with people around our why. It's not just about what we're doing. It's why we're doing it. So that's thing one, we have to stay engaged. I come out of the organizing apparatus as a labor organizer, as a community organizer. That's how you continue to build movement. But the second thing is we have to stay true to our values. Look, I fought Democrats in Chicago, Democrats who privatize, you know, our education system, shut down public schools, shut down public housing, shut down mental and behavior health care services. I'm the first mayor since mayor, hair Washington to actually invest in public mental health, right? And it's about making sure that we're challenging, even within our own party, which gets at the last part of your question, you know, what do we do and what do we say in this moment? And how do we build off the success that we had a couple of Tuesdays ago? We have to demand in this country the ultra rich to pay their fair share in taxes. We saw the largest upward transfer of wealth into the hands of a few people, these large corporations and billionaires. Then we've seen in any other time in the history of Chicago and the history of the country, right? And so now, you know, we're literally in the midst of working through with justice Brandeis, warned us of almost a century ago, more than a century ago, that you can either have a democracy or wealth concentrated into the hands of the few, but he said we cannot have both. And so in this moment, if our democracy is going to survive, if our humanity is going to be protected, as Democrats, those of us who are fighting, at least some of us are fighting others ostensibly fighting for working people, we have to demand that the public services, the public institutions have to be in the hands of the public. And we have to demand these millionaires. And now we're literally on the brink of having trillionaires. They have to pay their fair share. If we do not do that, our democracy, our economy will not be sustainable. If we, as Democrats, don't stand up and make sure that we're literally fighting for the interests of every day working people. Don't you feel like with what just happened with the government shut down? I know I felt this, that Mag is going to do what Mag is going to do. It's not the Mag and Mag movement isn't necessarily true. They're just less polite about it now. MAGA is the Republican Party the same as it was during Bush, both Bushes and Reagan. They're just a lot more in your face about it. They're a lot more over with their racism, as said a covert. And they're just complete dicks about most of it. So I expect all of that from them. But the Democratic Party, I have a higher standard for. And when I see these centrist Democrats, and I call them Pick Me Democrats, because they're too scared to make anybody mad. And so they just kind of say, oh, Pick Me, I'll be agreeable on this, agreeable on that. I feel like at this moment, when in your city, you had men in masks, kidnapping people, denying due process in a Supreme Court that says, yes, you can racially profile people. That this is serious. That this is as serious as it gets. And if somebody can't fight, and I'm talking about the eight that voted with Republicans to reopen the government, and Schumer, who behind the scenes, gave his blessing, that the most patriotic and best thing we can do is progressive Democrats is hold their feet to the fire. Because this centrist Democrat, Pick Me, we don't want to upset anybody, we're going to govern incrementally, has made us all less safe. And the Constitution is hanging in the balance. - Look, your spot on here. I mean, it reminds me of words that the writer, Gary Young wrote about 10, 15 years ago, where he essentially said that Jim Crow had a son. And instead of wearing their sheets out in public, they display the same value system of those who believed solely in white supremacy. In fact, it was President Biden, who at the commencement speech at Howard University, a couple of years ago, he said the greatest threat to our democracy is white supremacy. Now, we can have another conversation about the former President Biden, but I think to your point, let's not act like the Republican party that exists today, is one that was formed when President Trump was sworn in. And that's why I made the early reference to Ronald Reagan. There's been an extreme shift to the right in this country for a very long time. I can tell you, though I was young, my father lived and worked during the Reaganomics era. And I can tell you, I know what it's like to open up a refrigerator and there's no food in it. Or our water bill got behind, or we had an extension quarter from our home to our neighbor's home, just to make sure that there was some electricity. And my father worked hard every day and the ends didn't meet. That's the real struggle that families have had over the course of decades. Dr. Keane described it as one of the evils, between militarism to your reference earlier, about masked men with long guns sticking them into the faces of families to poverty. And it's incumbent upon us as Democrats, particularly those of us who understand the daily struggle of working people in this country. We cannot capitulate or somehow believe that if we play nice with these individuals, that somehow they're going to, you know, through the goodness of their hearts and through benevolence, that they're going to decide to take on racism and poverty. They have never demonstrated that they're willing to do that. In fact, what's so disheartening and I've had these conversations with Reverend Jackson before, you know, when he was a little bit stronger, when he took his message all over the country, whether it was in our urban centers or Appalachia, or rural America, the struggle, collective struggle for working people. That's the one that is really going to help strengthen and defend this democracy. And you have too many weak Democrats that believe if you play nice with individuals who are literally clearly breaking the rules that somehow that group is going to understand the struggle that I went through another family's like mine. It's nonsense, right? And so that's why I'm working hard every single day to continue to show up for working people, investing in education, investing in transportation. We have reopened mental health clinics in Chicago where hiring thousands of young people, not just for summer jobs, but year round. Because I know what it's like when I got my first summer check, guess who got it? My mother, because it had to go into the larger pot for the family. Those are the day-to-day experiences of working people that somehow some of these pick me Democrats, which by the way, I'm totally using that. I mean, Democrats who want to be picked, but they don't want to serve. They don't want to serve everyday working people. They're more interested in serving the interests of the ultra-rich in this country versus everyday working class people. That's a problem. And that's actually what we're going to have to do as Democrats is not capitulate, but to double down on our efforts to ensure that the rights, the human rights of every single person, housing, education, transportation, jobs, and health care, that that becomes a guarantee and not a chance. One thing I've been watching extremely closely, first of all, I love in your press conferences that you will call out a reporter if they call somebody illegal. I love that because they've just successfully dehumanized so many people. But the border agents, Bavino, I think, is the leader, and you have a judge that brought his ass in every day and exposed lie after lie, which coming from that agency under Trump and Kristi now who killed her kids dog, I completely believe it. But they lie about what's actually happening and you keep us in the know with your press conferences. What's the latest on the border agents in Chicago and Bavino in particular? I say, yes, they're taking pictures that like the bean, it's just unbelievable. - It really is. I mean, like the moment they stoop to a low, you just, you don't want to get too close just because how low they will go, there's just no end. I mean, and I said this yesterday that the press conference were two days ago. There are some gruesome images that we have studied and we have witnessed throughout America's history. As a former social studies teacher, I taught seventh grade, primarily in eighth graders, taught a year high school, and that photo just reminded me of photos that we've seen in the past and how grotesque, how insensitive, how inhumane those photos are. And I like to refer to him as barbaric Bavino. I mean, here's someone who just seems not to have an ounce of sense whatsoever or any level of dignity when he was brought in before the federal judge, instead of getting dropped off in front of the courthouse or even going in the back way, he wanted to make a big spectacle of it. So he was dropped off a block away, paraded down the streets in Chicago, began to get these just awful desolutes. I mean, it's, it's, the, to be in the midst of this right now, this terror that is coming from the Trump administration and all of his henchmen and women, it reminds me of how sensitive and delicate our democracy is. And why we have to have fortitude and strengthen this moment to not power or break or bend, you know? And so, you know, it's awful to see, let's just name it for what it is, it's racist. And, you know, it's why I've even called for the United Nations to come to the city of Chicago, the Human Rights Council, to see how, you know, the Trump administration is impacting Chicagoans and Americans. People are going hungry, they're going without homes. They're, they're, they're being terrorized in their own communities. And the fact that ICE, that their budget is only second or third to the United States military or China's military, right? This is Donald Trump's private ties police force that has run amuck. And Bavino has, has, has, you know, clearly worked and what I've seen, you know, outside of the parameters of, of the law. And the hope is that at least that our judicial system continues to show some level of accountability because going back to two questions ago, that accountability certainly is not coming from Congress right now. - No, it is not coming from Congress. And we all know that Moses Mike Johnson has completely eliminated this co-equal branch and has completely abdicated it to Trump. The Supreme Court is disappointing beyond yesterday or a few days ago, this will air in a couple of days. They agreed not to hear the gay marriage, which you know, sometimes assholes have moments of clarity, I guess. But these are really, really dangerous times. And what I see is the through line through all of these things that we're talking about is bigotry. And bigotry towards the poor, bigotry towards people of color, anti-immigrant bigotry. I've seen a huge rise in sexism, a huge call on the right to overturn the 19th amendment. And let me just tell you as two female podcasters, the internet is not a safe space for us to be in. The threats, death threats, threats of sexual violence are constant. And it's a really weird phenomenon because I think, well, this is a pretty serious message. I should probably, probably send that to the FBI. But when you think about who's running the FBI, we're in very, very precarious position, which brings me to my question to you, which has to do with where the Democratic Party is in our inability to message. And I recently moved to New York and was really excited for Zora and Mamdani. And towards the closing of his candidacy, of his race, the Islamophobic attacks on him were just so horrible, a lot of which coming from Democrats and/or Democrats didn't stand up and defend him. Now, Mamdani may be further left than Kathy Hocal, but she stood up for him and stood up against those attacks. And I see some people in the Democratic Party that are beholden to A-PAC that did not stand up for him in the face of bigotry. And we have to be the party that is the anti-bigotry party. And we have to acknowledge that all of this bigotry is linked. Racism is linked to sexism, is linked to anti-symmetism, is linked to Islamophobia, is linked to homophobia. And none of us are safe until all of us are safe. And I just think it's really interesting that there are members of our party in leadership positions that take donations from a lobby that paid the same amount of money that Elon musted to get Donald Trump elected. And I'm talking about A-PAC, $330, $350 million, they gave him to give him elected. How can they be morally clear about bigotry or about anti-symmetism or Islamophobia if they're taking money from the people who spiked the deal that Biden had for the ceasefire? And I just think we have a real problem brewing in the party right now. And I think it's going to take leaders like you, Pritzker, names that maybe aren't top of the fold every day to rise up this new Democratic progressivism that leaves no one behind and refuses to demonize the poor and starts messaging our values and how all of this bigotry is connected unless you're rich, white, man. Otherwise you're not safe. Look, I want to drop this mic on your behalf. I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I don't want to just like reduce it to a monologue because I think it's actually more of a manifesto in terms of offering up a real direction here. And as to hear both of you speak with so much moral clarity, it's encouraging quite frankly, breathtaking. And it's exactly what we need. And as a husband, as someone who is raising a daughter to know that there are women out there who are taking such a bold stance, even in the face of adversity and threat, it's not lost on me of your courage. And in fact, I share this with other people when we're talking about the most marginalized groups. It's amazing how people believe that their life position is going to be threatened because someone else is now protected under the Constitution. It's like civil rights would just ruin the rights of white people. That didn't happen, right? It's not like gay marriage ended minds, right? It's like immigrants are not taking your job. The corporate greed is taking jobs, right? And so there's always this idea that somehow if we work on behalf of the most marginalized people, that somehow other folks are going to lose and that's just not the case. And so I believe you're absolutely right and everything that you said that when it comes to defending our humanity, that is something that should draw us near to one another. That's how I was raised. So I look honestly, so my father was a pastor, my grandfather's a pastor. My grandfather didn't even allow politicians in his pulpit. May he rest in peace, but I'm sure he heard it over that his grandson has called for the legalization of marijuana. And I think that sex workers should be utilized. So, you know, someone who comes out of the fundamentalist black church, but I think the larger point is that there are people groups that have been harmed over the course of decades and centuries. And it's incumbent upon this generation. And if we see ourselves as the party that champions working people or as my father preached when you do onto the least of these, you do it onto him. And so that's what I live by, you know, as a proud, progressive, Christian, you know, believes that, you know, our religion should not be used as a weapon to marginalize and to harm people. Our nation and our nation's position and prowess should not be used as a way to circumvent universal humanitarian rights, right? And so I'm even in the midst of all of this to get back to your original statement within your presentation was what happened in New York, what happened in Virginia and, you know, what happened in New Jersey and, you know, we picked up some seats in Mississippi. My family, you know, came up from Salis, Mississippi during the second migration to know that there are people who are organizing in red states and turning counties and smaller cities blue or more progressive. That gives me hope. And I think that the party would do itself a favor if it would relinquish its reluctance or their tendency to cling to like the stereotypical face of power, which is a white, Protestant man. And that, by the way, I've seen more horrific examples of that manifestation of leadership than someone who is Muslim, right? Or, you know, or someone who is gay, right? And so I do find strengthen encouragement in this season, knowing that what Mamdani ran on and what he, what he will govern on around affordability. We're doing that in Chicago where we're building more affordable homes up to 10,000 by the end of my first term. And we're doing it in pockets of the city that have been historically, historically, dist invested in. And as a result of our investments, you know, we have seen a decline in homicides, 30% reduction. Shootings are down, 35%. Shooting victims are down, 35%. And in particular, car jacking's down almost 50%. A lot more work to be done, but I improve positive that a progressive working class person can lead a major city. And all hell doesn't break loose. In fact, we've seen the opposite in our beloved city that life is improving for so many people. And that's the hope that I'm going to cling to. And that's the hope that we saw a couple of Tuesdays ago. Because you're not a pig man. That's why you're fighting for the people. I'm certainly not a pig man in fact. When I announced my candidacy, you know, October of 2022, I was pulling a 2.2%. I mean, my senior advisor looked at me is like, look, man, we've done this before. I'm like, look like we have about 56 more percentage points to gain between how an election day. Did you know what? And in fact, the same thing. Oh, absolutely. But people are starving for this. It's absolutely right. And I'm humbled by all of this because the elevators that are held for me right now as mayor were the very elevators that I took an arrest in front of. You know, some of the politicians who are looking to score political points who have political aspiration, you know, I was on a hunger strike to keep schools open in the city of Chicago. Right. And so it's that type of drive, the experience that I had growing up in a working class family, the experience that I had teaching in our public schools, the experience that I had organizing in communities across the city, that's the reference and the framework that I bring to this position. And that's what people are, are desperate. A need for is someone who is someone's, you know, who are willing to connect with the day-to-day experience of pretty much all of us and then lead with those convictions. Listener, the hot book of the summer, take two, listener, the hot book of the summer is now the cool book of the fall. It is in Trump's America. I can tell you with absolute certainty, the best book that has ever been written and believe me, a lot of people are talking about it. Everybody's talking about it. It took us one day to write it. Because we're on day one, because we took a cognitive test and it was book right done. All right, anyway, please buy our book. It's a great way to support us. It is a really fun read for the fall curl up with your pumpkin spice lattes and just enjoy living the American dream in dipshit Trump's America. All right, now we're going to play our game with you. We're going to play our game with you. I hate it. every day sometimes twice a day. - Had it or hit it, catch up on hot dogs. - Had it, yeah, that one, that's bad. I have this really bad joke. I think it's good though. So now that the Pope is from Chicago to put catch up on a hot dog, it's now a Cardinal sent. (laughing) - It's pretty good. - All right, all right. - Got it. - All right. - Had it or hit it, Chicago winters. - Oh man, yeah, we have to hit it. Yeah, look, you can't be in Chicago and be afraid of the winter. - I agree. I mean, I think if you're gonna live there, you gotta man up. - I'm just saying, here's something. I'll give you some advice. Get a coat. (laughing) - Okay, had it or hit it, legacy and/or corporate media. - Oh my gosh. Oh man, that's easy. - Had it. - Had it. - Nailed it. - Yeah. They suck. It's, you know, the capitulation across the board, Mayor, from law firms to universities, to oligarchs, to the media. Perhaps, and I talk about all the time, I'm like, you know, there's never been a bigger advertisement against being a billionaire than the humiliation exercise that you've never, you haven't flown commercial in decades. And you have to make some bullshit trophy and march it into the Oval Office which looks like Marie Antoinette threw up in and give it to this frail, demented man and humiliate yourself. That's not freedom. That is not freedom. It is a walking, talking advertisement against billionaires, which brings me to my next one, had it or hit it billionaires. (sighs) - Had it. Had it. - I agree. They're proving to be like that. I had a guest on a couple of weeks ago, named Emma Vigilin with the Minority Report. Majority, Minority Report. Anyway, she said she feels like once people become billionaires, they get a kind of psychosis. And when she said that, I thought, God, that makes sense because they all seem so crazy. - Afraid. Like, somehow, like, their billions is just going to disappear. You know, even though, like, right now, you know, people are literally being disappeared in this country. And, you know, there was a debate whether or not billionaires should even exist. And now we're about to have trillionaires. So, had it. - And let's talk about what late-stage capitalism that is. You do a sig-hyle. You make the ugliest truck ever made on the planet and your board of directors gives you a trillion dollars. I'm sorry. But, like, that is some late-stage F-dub capitalism if I've ever seen it. That's nuts. - It is. And it's one of those things, like, as a parent. So, like, I've accepted things from my children. And it's like a good duty as a dad if there's something that they think is cute. And I'm sure every parent has had it. And, you know, you have that child that makes something for you. They want to cook something for you. And they bring it in. And it's just like, you feel like you have to like it. That's what I feel like that's happening right now with the, you know, corporate media and billionaires and trillionaires. Is this, like, there's almost like they feel like they're acting like if they're forced to actually accept something, even though we were trash. And I just want my kids who are watching this one day, all of the gifts that you gave to me were not trash. I love those. And I have them restored somewhere in the attic. - Okay, Mayor. Last one. How did you hit it, the United States of America? - Oh, listen. Hey, listen, it's still, I believe, the best place on the planet. So, let's hit it. But it's got to be a place that works for everyone and not just the ultra-rich. - I completely agree. And I think we probably have a mutual friend, Thompson Eyre from Oklahoma City in Mayor David Holt, is a very good friend of ours. And I'm sure you've probably worked with that tall man before. - Yeah. - And he is lovely. And I think that he illustrates as do you, that mayors do some of the most important work in this country. - Absolutely. The U.S. Conference of Mayors across this country has done, I believe a real fine job at getting that message out. Look, it's the American cities that make up continents. And whether it's here in North America or Central or South America or around the globe, it's the cities where the rubber meets the road. It's where people expect government to work. And that's why I'm truly honored to really serve, you know, what I believe is the global capital of the world, the greatest freak in sitting in the world, the city of Chicago. - I love it, Mayor. Thank you so much. - I did too. - It was a great episode. So I can't thank you enough. And the next time we're in Chicago, we'll hit you up, so we can talk about what we've had it with. - Okay, for sure, I'll definitely look forward to it. And just as a quick one, maybe we should talk about these oversized NBA players who can dribble and shoot from the perimeter. Like that, I'm not necessarily a fan of. I remember the days where tall men had to like stay down low. What we're seeing now with people like Wimbee, these oversized centers who can take jump shots from 35 feet out. I'm a little concerned about that. So maybe we can have that in part of our conversation, these metahuman beings. - The metahuman should. - We should. And we'll also talk about fender versus bulls, go fender baby. - Oh, come on. - I love you all. Keep up the great work, really proud of you all. And just grateful to the attention that you're bringing to so many people, and especially the people who have been stuffed in the margins for generations. People are coming out in a way that I believe is going to help transform our democracy as we know it. It's not going to return to what it was. We're going to make it better than what it was. And because of you two, I'm certainly inspired and encouraged. - Thank you. - Likewise. Thank you, Mayor. Have a great day. - All right, bye-bye. - Bye. - I just really love how I do it. - I love how I do it. - I like it so much. - I just feel like we need to just platform these politicians that have moral clarity that there wasn't any word salad. He stood up for everybody. He had clarity about how rigged the system is. He had clarity about bigotry. He had clarity about how the system is rigged for white people. He had a lot of people who were in the same position as the people who were in the same position as the people who were in the same position. He had a lot of people who were in the same position. They have that feeling, the mom donnies, this guy, others, you know, Jasmine Cargett, they make you feel like, okay, they're fighting for something. Yeah, they're authentic. They get it. They get it. Two things that really stuck with me when he said people are not, they haven't accepted the result of the civil war. I'm like, he's 100% right. 100% right. I mean, we're still fighting about that. And then I loved that he used his faith, which you see far and away more in black churches to fight for the marginalized and to stand up for people versus the white evangelical churches that other eyes people and judge people. And black evangelical churches of social justice is really in that. But I think what he was saying towards the end of that is he's even evolved beyond the confines of his religion to accept trans people to try to unionize sex workers to legalize marijuana. So I think the key lesson to that is whenever you hear somebody a politician, a religion, a billionaire, talk about things in very rigid terms and we're not open to the evolution and the flow and the progress of things. That's a problem. So what a great story his is from being a very rigid black fundamentalist church, Christian style upbringing and he has evolved through his own faiths, it become more open minded and more open minded. And that really is the key and that's the the enemy of of all of the things that these fascists want to conserve and preserve. So I like that he has evolved his faith and talks about because there is a lot of homophobia and marginalization even within the black churches. And so you see these progressives coming out and taking the social justice teachings of MLK and evolving even more to link, like I said, all of those human rights because I truly believe they're all linked. And I think a lot of people in the Democratic Party are dangerously prioritizing anti-Semitism over all of the others instead of linking them because prioritizing one is only going to make those people less safe. And so you have to be against bigotry across the board. I completely agree. And then I really put your camera, look at what she's just put on you guys. What did I put on? Oh, I think I can't. Cancels make talk out it's also I have an update on your had it, Jen. I reached out to my brother who's commercial pilot and he said it's the pilots fault. They're supposed to check it 15 to 20. 20 minutes before passengers load. - Do you mean to tell me, when I said at LAX for 10 hours, and the pilots were on that plane for at least six, hooting and hollering that they could have checked that plane and I could, that bird could have gotten there. I'm furious. I tried to give them an out. - You did. - It's a really tried. - Yeah. - You know what I might start doing, I, you know what I might pumps do it, 'cause she's more, she's a better care in than I am, because I ride her care in coattails. Pumps the next time we're flying together, I'm gonna have you get on the plane and just go ahead and poke your head in the cockpit. Have you guys already done all the checks? We're not gonna have a plane. - You did all the checks. We don't need maintenance. Everything's working. We checked out before the passengers came out. - Right. - We've already done a check. - Okay, I'm just checking. Have you done a check? And if they say, "No, you can go with the fuck." You have a salon here for them. - Why are we on if you haven't done a check? Why wasn't this done before the passengers got on? Wouldn't that make more sense? Wouldn't that be more sufficient? - There she is. I will ride that care in coattails. Here's what I do, listener. She'll do something like that and then the person likes back at me and I'm like, (laughs) I'm sorry. But on the inside, I'm like, "God, she's just getting them." - Yeah. Okay, I fixed a microphone problem during the episode all by myself. So, hello. - Good job. - I'm gonna cook a room. - Excellent. All right. - All right. - We will see you next Tuesday and Thursday. - All right, bye everyone. (upbeat music) - I'll tell you what I'm having with. - Cheers. - Okay, I'll have it with that. - Listen up, Patriots, Gatriots and Patriots. We have a new podcast that has dropped. It's called "IHIP News." It's Monday through Friday, every day, 15 to 20 minute hot takes on the political landscape of the United States of America always served with a side of petty grievances. We are on all the available platforms, Apple, Spotify, Google, whatever. If you get your podcasts and YouTube, please go rate, subscribe, and review so that we will chart upwards with America's greatest legal mind, pumps, pumps, what does an eagle say? Kaka. A little bit more enthusiasm. Kaka. That's it. That's Kaka. That's the patriotism that this country needs right there.