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Running Is Political - Opinion · Project 2028

0:07
Hello and welcome to Project 2028. In today's
0:11
episode, I'm going to take you on a roller coaster
0:13
through a couple different topics that all have
0:15
to deal with the overarching category of running
0:18
is political. Now, this episode is pretty opinion
0:23
-based. You are going to hear my personal bias
0:25
and understand my political beliefs a little
0:27
more. We as a whole have decided to kind of include
0:30
more personal opinion on matters at a more forefront
0:35
and present scale. So obviously we offer a fresh
0:40
perspective. We're teenagers that are into politics.
0:43
We are creating a voice for ourselves in the
0:45
space where we might not otherwise have one.
0:48
So sit down and buckle up. And without further
0:50
ado, let's dive right in. Running is inherently
1:01
political. Running is a privilege. So, you know,
1:05
on Social media the past couple months, there
1:09
has been an influx of people, specifically running
1:12
creators, being canceled for their political
1:15
views. Now, do I think anyone should be canceled
1:19
for their beliefs, their values, who they are
1:22
choosing to vote for? No, it is your right to
1:25
vote for whoever you deem to be the best candidate.
1:28
However, when you are someone who is a running
1:31
influencer, you do have to realize the political
1:33
side of running. So, obviously, you know, women
1:38
weren't allowed to run in marathons until, I
1:40
believe, the 70s. Before that, they had done
1:44
a lot of protesting. They had, obviously, entered
1:48
under aliases to try and run these marathons.
1:52
This woman named Catherine, I believe, actually
1:56
successfully got in and ran and then was, like,
1:59
arrested at the finish line because she didn't
2:02
cross the finish line. Whatever, the whole thing.
2:04
Okay, yeah, the first woman to run a marathon
2:07
was in 1967. Her name was Catherine. She signed
2:12
up for the Boston Marathon as a man and is the
2:15
first woman to have completed a marathon or registered.
2:20
But on an even like more surface level, like
2:23
even if you're not running marathons, which a
2:26
lot of these creators aren't doing, running is
2:29
political. Obviously, in order to be able to
2:34
run, there are certain things you need. And we're
2:37
not talking like you need shoes. Well, like you
2:40
need the newest running shoes. Obviously, you
2:43
kind of need shoes to run or at least run safely.
2:46
So that comes into access. So you have to have
2:49
access to the time to run, to train, to put in
2:52
the like physical act of running. That's not
2:56
accessible to all. Some people, you know, have
2:59
to work multiple jobs and then come home and
3:01
they sleep and they take care of their children
3:04
and then they go right back to work and they
3:05
literally do not have the privilege of time to
3:08
run. Another thing is access to funds. Races
3:13
cost money to enter. You know, shoes cost money.
3:18
The running clothes cost money. If you want to,
3:21
like, have a subscription to, like, a training
3:25
program, that's money. all of this is money also
3:28
health care running comes with a lot of injuries
3:31
it's a like physically intense sport it's a physically
3:35
intense activity muscle strains rolled ankles
3:39
stress fractures all that jazz is a part of running
3:44
and without having access to health care it doesn't
3:48
make the sport accessible And then, of course,
3:50
there's food. So food to enable to fuel your
3:54
body properly for your running workout and able
3:57
to, you know, have access to hot water that will
4:01
keep you hydrated while you run. That's also
4:04
a privilege. On top of that, you know, you're
4:07
breathing heavy, you're doing physical workout.
4:10
You need clean air. You need the temperature
4:14
to be at a space where it's safe for you to even
4:16
be outside and be doing this physical activity.
4:19
With climate change, we are seeing clean air
4:22
and temperatures where it's safe. It's deemed
4:27
safe to be outside doing physical activity, to
4:30
be getting less accessible, less available to
4:36
people. Also, safety plays into it. Not only
4:40
being physically safe, in a you know like your
4:45
body's healthy and being able to run but also
4:48
safe in you're not worried about what's going
4:51
on around you you're not worried about being
4:54
like robbed on the street or like running into
4:57
a situation you don't want to be in especially
4:59
as a woman like the possibility like you really
5:04
don't have much on you when you're running that
5:07
feeling of being safe that's a privilege being
5:10
safe in your mental state being mentally able
5:14
to want to do this activity of running like running
5:19
takes a lot mentally because it's not a very
5:22
act like it's a very active sport it's not a
5:25
very like mentally engaging you know you have
5:27
to kind of talk yourself through it there's not
5:29
other people around you it's a very individual
5:31
sport um so being in a mental state that allows
5:35
you to do that and having the access if you need
5:37
to mental care is really important Also, you're
5:41
running on public land or you're running on trails
5:45
and those sidewalks, those trails, they need
5:47
maintenance and the funding for those things
5:50
need to be present because it's a privilege.
5:54
Running is a privilege. The sport of running
5:57
is a privilege, okay? I hope I made that point
6:00
very clear. So, one influencer has recently faced...
6:05
a significant amount of backlash. And when I
6:08
say recently, I mean she posted her video, I
6:10
think, two days ago, as of Saturday, May 3rd.
6:13
And her name is Kate Max, M -A -C -K -Z. And
6:18
her, like, kind of goal is on a mission to get
6:22
the world moving. That's what she says. So her,
6:25
like, thing, what she's known for, is she goes
6:28
up to influencers or other celebrities and asks
6:32
them, hey, how many miles are we running today?
6:35
That's kind of her intro, and then she proceeds
6:36
to go on a run with someone and interview them.
6:39
Or even if it's, like, a random stranger on the
6:43
street, she'll say, like, hey, how many miles
6:45
are you running today? I'll buy you new shoes,
6:47
and they'll run, like, four miles. Whatever.
6:49
She's trying to make it more accessible. She's
6:51
trying to bring, like, positive light into the
6:54
community. Great. No problem with this. She's
6:58
interviewed a lot of people, musical artists,
7:01
actors, influencers. Now she's dabbled in the
7:06
political figure space. So on October 23rd of
7:09
2024, she interviewed Tim Walz. This made sense.
7:14
Kamala is a runner. He's a runner. Tim's daughter,
7:18
Hope, is a runner. When he was running as vice
7:23
president, him and Kamala were running, not physically
7:28
running, they were like running the election
7:30
for the above issues, access, safety. climate
7:35
change you know all that mental uh programs all
7:41
that however so it made sense for her to interview
7:45
him people kind of figured they understood her
7:48
political standing she gained a lot of followers
7:51
from it it's a pinned video on her page um pinned
7:55
is basically like a feature like you know how
7:56
on text messages you can like pin someone creators
7:59
can do that with their videos so it's one of
8:01
the first videos you see on someone's page it's
8:04
like the top video even if it's not posted recently
8:07
so like if you go on her page now that's the
8:10
top video and since then her uh the tim's daughter
8:14
hope has asked her to unpin this video because
8:17
on may 1st she went to the white house and interviewed
8:21
caroline levin so She said, hey, how many miles
8:25
are we running? Caroline was like, we're not
8:27
going to run, but I'll give you a tour. So they
8:29
proceeded to walk around the outside of the White
8:32
House. They went inside like the press secretary
8:34
kind of area. So where Caroline's desk is and
8:40
also the like press room. And so Caroline Levitt
8:45
is the press secretary for the Trump administration.
8:49
And it's really interesting that. Kate would
8:51
choose to interview her because the Trump administration
8:54
is removing funding for all of the above issues
8:58
that I have stated two minutes ago, three minutes
9:00
ago. They are trying to remove this funding,
9:06
and I'm going to talk about this a little later,
9:08
but sticking on this interview with Caroline,
9:10
Caroline shows her office, and on it she has
9:12
a corkboard, or in it she has a corkboard, and
9:15
on this corkboard is a picture of her family.
9:19
And a class she talked to, which, super cute,
9:22
you know. You're showing your love for your family
9:25
and you're showing that you're interested in
9:28
helping and talking to young students. No problem
9:32
with that. There's also a picture of a meme.
9:34
She said it's her favorite meme. This is a picture
9:37
of a man pointing at a brain saying, quote, No
9:41
thanks, I won't be needing that. I believe everything
9:43
the legacy media shows. End quote. And she then
9:47
says, quote, look, we want critical thinking
9:50
around here. End quote. Legacy media is understood
9:56
as the pre -digital media landscape. So this
9:59
is print publications, broadcast networks, and
10:02
other offline forms of communication. New media,
10:04
on the other hand, encompasses digital platforms
10:06
like websites, social media, and online streaming
10:08
services. So, okay, yes, she is saying that she,
10:12
as a non -legacy media outlet, is doing the critical
10:16
thinking. so in turn you won't really have to
10:18
and that's a little bit of an inference oh sorry
10:21
a little bit of an inference from me however
10:24
if you go and look at this video that's pretty
10:27
much what she's saying um which is really interesting
10:31
that you know our press secretary the person
10:36
who's sharing this news is basically saying you
10:38
shouldn't believe or it's a meme so it's like
10:42
you know supposed to be a joke supposed to be
10:44
funny so you shouldn't believe physical media
10:47
the newspapers, the journal outlets, but you
10:49
should believe, you know, the podcasters, the
10:52
influencers, her on television. That's pretty
10:56
much what she's getting at. When she said that
10:58
we want critical thinking here, she's pretty
11:00
much saying she wants you to believe that she's
11:03
doing the critical thinking for you. We want
11:06
critical thinking here, referring to her and
11:09
everyone else who works in the administration.
11:15
press area. I don't know if that like makes sense,
11:17
but I think you should understand what I'm talking
11:20
about. At least I hope. Okay. So she then proceeded
11:25
to show the press room and where, you know, she
11:29
gives her briefings and she says it's very small
11:32
and intimate and they were planning on expanding
11:34
it. I find this super ironic. You're probably
11:38
like, oh, why is this ironic? It's good that
11:40
they're trying to expand and bring in more media.
11:42
And I would agree. Except, Caroline Leavitt is
11:46
implementing a new policy that restricts wire
11:48
service access to certain presidential events.
11:51
This policy is framed as a shift in how the White
11:54
House manages press pools, giving them more control
11:57
over who attends specific events. The White House
12:01
is also emphasizing its relationship with new
12:03
media. This is including, like I mentioned earlier,
12:06
social media and podcasts. And they're saying
12:08
it's a way to reach a wider audience. Basically,
12:12
what they're really doing is controlling who's
12:14
sharing the news. In February, Caroline first
12:18
shared that the Trump administration would determine
12:21
which outlets have access to the president as
12:24
part of the pool allowed into the Oval Office,
12:27
aboard Air Force One, and in other meetings and
12:30
events that cannot accommodate the full press
12:32
corps. The White House press pool is a system
12:35
where a limited number of reporters from various
12:37
media outlets are assigned to cover the president's
12:40
activities. It's a tool used to ensure fair and
12:43
representative coverage. It allows outlets to
12:47
share information about the president's activities
12:49
with the wider media. The White House Correspondents
12:53
Association, WHCA, traditionally has coordinated
12:57
the pool ensuring a range of outlets participate.
13:00
So she's kind of... taking the or not her but
13:03
like the Trump administration is choosing to
13:06
take power away from the WHCA or at least restricting
13:11
what it's able to do and control who is able
13:14
to hear firsthand from Caroline and from the
13:17
White House itself the news and this may not
13:21
seem like a big deal however who is in that room
13:24
is super important if every person in that room
13:28
is a MAGA supporter or they Republican, you will
13:33
see a much, much, much heavier bias and there
13:37
will be no other side. Obviously, all news is
13:40
bias. I have told you at the very beginning of
13:42
this episode that you will understand my opinion,
13:45
my political beliefs, and obviously I have a
13:47
personal bias. You can't get rid of a personal
13:49
bias. But when you have two opposing political
13:55
parties reporting the same news there has to
13:58
be some truth within there you have to kind of
14:00
read both sides and find the middle or there
14:03
are some sources that claim to be more um in
14:08
the middle and not lean one way obviously the
14:10
writer their belief will depend on which way
14:13
it's leaning however it's a lot less obvious
14:16
um so you know that's a little scary and obviously
14:20
if you're going to expand the press room she
14:22
said it was to include these new sources um like
14:27
the podcasters however I don't know I feel like
14:34
they've already opened up one seat so they have
14:36
one seat a month I think that gets swapped around
14:39
between people in the social media and podcasting
14:42
space um don't I know they have a seat I don't
14:46
know if it switches every month don't quote me
14:48
on that please um But, you know, if they're going
14:51
to expand it, how much are you expanding it?
14:53
And how much are you going to include liberal
14:55
and or more in the middle media sources? Because
15:00
pretty much who's allowed in right now, yes,
15:04
there's still a bit of a variety. However, it's
15:07
not the variety you would hope to see and not
15:09
the variety that we would be seeing if the White
15:11
House press pool was what it's supposed to be.
15:15
A way to ensure that... all the media outlets,
15:19
or at least the major ones, and at least multiple,
15:23
like four from every single viewpoint gets to
15:27
be shared and gets to hear this straight from
15:30
the press secretariat and in turn kind of the
15:33
president himself. The press briefings that Caroline
15:37
is giving are so important. Now, a lot of them
15:42
have been kind of iffy. She's very good at manipulating
15:45
situations and you know kind of picking up certain
15:50
bits and information kind of forming a bit of
15:52
lies here and there however she has really good
15:56
control over the press and over the people in
16:00
that room and without reporters that are asking
16:02
questions that the american people and over half
16:07
of the american people now after trump's new
16:08
approval rates are asking themselves at home
16:12
those reporters are being forced out of this
16:15
room one at a time, kind of silently, and there's
16:19
not a lot of attention or not enough attention
16:22
being drawn to how scary it is to be limiting
16:25
media. I'm not going to go as far in saying that
16:29
they are getting rid of freedom of press, which
16:31
is a First Amendment right. However, from what
16:35
we're seeing so far, we could be going in that
16:37
direction. And I know, Elle, you're crazy. You're
16:40
making a really wide, really big cast net kind
16:45
of assumption. But that's kind of the point.
16:48
The point is to draw enough attention to this
16:51
that they either stop doing it or that it kind
16:53
of becomes more clear that this administration
16:57
is a little bit scary. A little bit scary. They
17:00
have a lot of control over a lot of things and
17:03
a lot of things that other presidents haven't
17:05
thought to touch because it's ruining his trust
17:09
with the American people. And so Trump's new
17:12
approval rates, which came out after his 100th
17:15
day in office, 42 % approve and 53 % disapprove.
17:20
Only 23 % of all people who answered the poll
17:24
gave Trump an A, basically saying they thought
17:28
everything he did was good, he is doing a really
17:30
great job. Only 23%. Obviously, he won the election
17:35
and he won the popular vote. So that means over
17:37
half of them, or you know, over half of America
17:40
voted for him. And now Over half of those people
17:44
who voted for him aren't even giving him his
17:47
A plus or his A. It's scary. People did not expect
17:54
him to be doing what he's doing. And the slow
17:58
progression we've seen, and it's not even a slow
18:01
progression, it's run pretty fast. However, you
18:04
know, people are now finally starting to realize
18:07
maybe some of his policies. aren't great maybe
18:10
what he said he was gonna do isn't really what
18:13
he's doing instead he's doing things like getting
18:17
rid of trans rights and forcing like the uh you're
18:22
at birth gender or sex it's not even gender it's
18:25
sex to be physically displayed on your passport
18:29
so someone who's transitioned for 25 years let's
18:33
say male to female now their passport will say
18:36
male They can be 100 % fully transitioned into
18:40
female and their passport will say male. And
18:43
it's going to cause issues for that person when
18:45
they're traveling. It's also causing issues for
18:48
married women because of lots of issues with
18:52
changing your last name. It's causing so many
18:56
issues that they're not even thinking about because
18:58
the administration is so scared of the small
19:01
percentage of people. Okay, let's get back on
19:04
track because I kind of did a little mini ramble
19:06
there, especially as this is one of the first
19:09
episodes where I'm kind of throwing my opinion
19:12
out here. I got a little off track. But let's
19:15
talk about Trump's request for budget cuts. So
19:19
on May 2nd, or yesterday, my time, Trump asked
19:23
Congress to make massive and unpredictable cuts
19:26
to the 2026 budget. of major federal science
19:30
agencies. He's cutting spending by about 37 %
19:34
at the National Institute of Health, NIH. So
19:38
this allows the NIH to retain $27 billion for
19:43
research purposes, according to the document
19:45
they published, which basically claims that the
19:47
organization has grown too big and unfocused.
19:52
It also says that the NIH has broken the trust
19:55
of the American people with wasteful spending
19:57
and misleading information, risky research, and
20:00
the promotion of dangerous ideologies that undermine
20:02
public health. So this is basically citing the
20:06
COVID -19 lab leak theory and DEI diversity,
20:11
equity, and inclusion related grants as reasons
20:14
for the massive cuts. So some of these grants
20:17
that they're removing are really, really... Stupid
20:20
things like, you know, if you are asking for
20:24
a grant for research about plant diversity and
20:28
biodiversity in order to maintain ecosystems,
20:32
those have gotten turned down. Research about
20:35
women's cancer has been turned down because of
20:38
the use of female or women. You know, some of
20:42
these things that you would think shouldn't be
20:45
being denied a grant are being denied a grant.
20:48
or they got approved for a grant and now that
20:50
grant is being restricted or rescinded and these
20:55
are really kind of sad things to be seeing so
20:58
with the proposed budget it would leave about
21:02
3 .5 billion dollars unaccounted for when subtracting
21:05
17 .9 billion from the 2025 nih nih budget of
21:11
48 .5 billion they are also saying that they
21:15
want to cut more than 50 percent of the National
21:18
Science Foundation. $4 .7 billion is what they're
21:24
wanting to cut, which is more than half of the
21:26
agency's $9 billion budget. So the NSF supports
21:32
fundamental research and education in all non
21:35
-medical fields of science and engineering, though
21:39
it has is also seeking to eliminate most federal
21:41
spending on climate and economical research and
21:44
would cut NASA's science budget by more than
21:46
half. Killing major planetary missions. Will
21:50
this budget get approved? That's a big question.
21:52
So I don't really know. Usually major budget
21:56
cuts like this aren't going to get approved and
21:58
they will either be completely like stricken
22:01
and Congress won't even consider like really
22:05
changing them or like feeling the need to change
22:08
them at all because the things that they're trying
22:11
to cut funding for are important and they shouldn't
22:13
cut funding. But, you know, anything can happen.
22:17
That's the scary part. The scary part is that
22:20
it's being suggested. The idea that things are
22:24
being cut, such as most federal spending on climate
22:27
change and climate research, that's scary. That's
22:33
terrifying. And this tying back into running
22:35
being political, climate change is something
22:38
that's prohibiting or restricting people from
22:41
doing something as simple as running. And they're
22:44
trying to remove research, and they're trying
22:46
to remove funding for this research, and they're
22:48
drilling, they're drill baby drilling. And it's
22:52
screwing us. It's screwing our planet, it's screwing
22:56
our country, and it's screwing the American people.
22:58
It's screwing people like me, young people, people
23:01
who are the future of America, who are the next
23:04
wave of voters. And it's sad because, you know
23:10
what, I didn't really have... a voice in this
23:13
election. I put my trust into those around me
23:18
and, you know, they're seeing the full force
23:25
and the full capability of this person they have
23:28
chosen to elect and they aren't liking it. So
23:31
think about the people who didn't get to vote,
23:33
who didn't have a choice, who didn't choose either
23:36
candidate. Okay, you've thought about it. Now
23:41
think about how you feel about what he's done.
23:44
Okay, now think about how I feel. I've spent
23:49
nearly a year coming on here and talking to you
23:52
guys about the news and a little bit about my
23:56
beliefs. you know, about important topics such
24:00
as Project 2025 that Trump claims he has no attachment
24:03
to and no affiliation with, yet here we are where
24:07
a lot of things proposed in Project 2025 are
24:10
being taken into account and pushed by the administration
24:15
to happen. Some of them have had a little bit
24:18
of minor tweaks, which, okay, great, you're not
24:22
totally going back to the 1950s, but also...
24:26
You're going back enough where people are feeling
24:30
disappointed, where people who voted for this
24:33
man are unhappy and unsatisfied with what he's
24:37
done so far in his first 100 days. In comparison,
24:41
in Biden's first 100 days, Biden had signed 42
24:45
executive orders, provided 100 million doses
24:49
of the COVID -19 vaccine, 100 days, revoked the
24:58
permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, rejoined
25:01
the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health
25:03
Organization. He ended travel restrictions from
25:06
Muslim countries associated with terrorism, also
25:10
known as the Muslim ban, and he used the Defense
25:12
Production Act to provide personal protective
25:14
equipment. He also ended U .S. involvement in
25:18
the war in Afghanistan. Biden's approval rate
25:21
after his first 100 days was he had a 57 % approval
25:25
rate and a 40 % disapproval rate. This compared
25:29
to Trump's is crazy. He was much more liked than
25:36
Trump after 100 days. He had, at least in my
25:39
opinion, done more productive things than what
25:44
Trump has done. And not only did he do more productive
25:47
things, he did more successful things that he
25:50
didn't have to go and undo later. And I'm going
25:54
to bring us back now to how running is a privilege
25:57
and running is political. And if you don't agree
26:02
with me by the end of this episode, which is
26:04
now, then I don't know what else I could have
26:07
said to you. So next time you go on a run or
26:10
even a walk or step outside on the sidewalk,
26:14
Breathe your fresh air, feel safe in where you
26:17
are, and be grateful that you have the privilege
26:22
to be doing it. Because who knows? Maybe you
26:26
won't be able to in four years. Thank you for
26:32
listening to this episode of Project 2028. If
26:35
you have enjoyed this episode, please feel free
26:38
to give us a review that you see fit and also
26:41
check out one of our other episodes. Our Instagram
26:44
is at project2028 .podcast. There we have exclusive
26:49
interviews as well as we post whenever we upload
26:52
an episode. If you want to email us with any
26:55
topics, questions, or concerns, our email is
26:58
the same as our Instagram, project2028 .podcast
27:02
at gmail .com. I hope you all have a wonderful
27:06
rest of your day.