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SMNTY Classics: What the Treatment of Shay and Ruby tell Us · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Anny and Samantha.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: A look of stuff. I never told you, aflicture if I
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: heard you, And welcome to another classic and today we
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: were bringing back a Bridgid episode. She always does such
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: great episodes about the treatment of Shay and Ruby, right.
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: I thought it was something that we should look at
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: because this was based in Georgia. And I don't know
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: if you're keeping up with everything about this happening when
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: it comes to elections as well as politics in Georgia,
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: but it's getting kind of heated. Our Fulton County District
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: Attorney has been going through it. Fanny willis with President
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: Trump at this point, and one of the things mentioned
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: was this case as well. So I felt like it
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: was a good time to revisit this episode as well
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: as talk about the importance of election workers as election
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: season this year and is pretty heated right now.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, it is, so please enjoy this classic episode. Hey,
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Stefan never
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: told you a production of iHeartRadio and welcome back to Samantha.
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: My voice is like I just realized as I'm talking
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: to you, my voice went down.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: By sexy sick voice here we go.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, oh jeez, I almost said welcome back to Samantha
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: and the intro. So this is gonna be fun. But
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: it is a momentous occasion because not only is Samantha
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: back from COVID, we are joined by the splendid, splendiferous
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Brigit Todd. Always a pleasure to have you.
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: Oh, I'm so happy to be back. I'm happy Samantha's back.
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: This is your inaugural recordings since being out from COVID.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: How are you feeling, you know, Like I said, I've
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: got this voice, but I'm feeling much better. This is
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: the first time I've ever had COVID, so that was
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: an experience.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Not cool with your best.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, public service.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Like if you can, if you're in the crowd, do it.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: I would recommend it, recommend would recommend.
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: Yes. But oh, y'all, I didn't get to ask you
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: because I got to complain a lot.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Oh that's the benefit of you know, if you got
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: to wait the plus side of getting COVID, then the
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: benefit is to complain.
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: I've been waiting to tell you all the als I almost.
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: Died complaining and watching lots of TV. Yeah, the best
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: part about being sick.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: That was my big when I got COVID. I remember,
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: like I went to shock at first, and I was like,
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: but the soup though.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: I couldn't eat anything hardly, Oh no, eat soup. Yeah,
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: that's like legitimately like the sucks.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: Well that was the because I didn't have like I
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: sneezed a lot. That was my symptom for like two days.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: That was that's so weird.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Well, how are y'all? I hope you were healthy.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: Yes, I am good. I'm getting actually the updated COVID
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: vaccine to day vaccine because Bridget who unfortunately has technical
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: difficulties and we can't see. We're going to Las Vegas
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: this week.
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: That's right for the iHeart Music Festival. Look Out, Las Vegas.
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: Look out.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Threatening.
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: I mean like not like okay, we're gonna like do
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: engaging podcasts in your city, Las Vegas.
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: Look out for that, not.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Like okay, okay, yeah, we're doing some podcast there. It's
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: gonna be fun. Samantha is going on a birthday vacation time.
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I am missing out. Like the first time in
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: the years that they asked us to do something. I'm like, yeah, no,
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: I'm going to go the opposite way. But thanks for asking.
• 4:12
  Speaker 5: I'll be on the other coast.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: I like that, but thanks for asking. But yes, I'm
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: excited to see Bridget in person. And yeah, I'm trying
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: to not get COVID there, so we'll see how that goes.
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, because you have more, you have other plans coming out.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: I do. I'm going to Orlando because I love a
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: good haunted house and I love the Last of Us
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: and there's a Last of Us Haunted house, so's.
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: It's like Last of Us themed. Yeah, yeah, my god,
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: you're gonna.
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: That's that's upper Alley, that's like made in a lab
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: for you, and I know, I know it is.
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: I've already seen like TikTok videos that I've had to
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: send her to like, oh my god.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Her responses. I can't wait.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: I might die of excitement. Oh my god, how are you?
• 5:00
  Speaker 5: Yes, I'm doing well, looking forward to Vegas. Also hoping
• 5:03
  Speaker 5: I don't get sick.
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah, just I think I just need to like stay
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: in until my flight, just like don't leave my house.
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: And so just so, because now I'm now I'm like
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: very nervous, but hopefully it'll be all good. And yeah,
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: I'm excited to hear more about this last of us
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: haunted house after you go give us a full report.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: Oh oh.
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: Oh, I love scary well. I like that. I like titillated.
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: There there can be a line where it's like too scary,
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: so it has to be. It's a little bit of
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: a finding the right balance vibe for me. I enjoy
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: spooky things. I enjoy hobble mean, I enjoy haunted houses.
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: But if it's too scary, then I'm like no longer
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: enjoying it. So it has to be just the right mits.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: So you don't mind being chased.
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: I don't mind being chased. I went to a haunted
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: house last Halloween, and for some reason, you know, the
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: like performers who chase you. There was a guy with
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: a chainsaw who for some reason was like, I'm to
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: chase her.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: I spent the whole one.
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: I spent the whole haunted house. I basically was like.
• 6:05
  Speaker 5: Like worked out. Essentially, this guy was chasing me the
• 6:09
  Speaker 5: whole time.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: See, I used to there's like a key to get
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: them to pick you. There's a couple like if you
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: want them to pick you as the person. And I
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: used to like play that up because I liked being
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: scared so much.
• 6:22
  Speaker 5: What do you do if you want to be picked?
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: Uh, there are a couple of things. One of the
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: big ones is where color. They can see pretty well
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: in the dark. Another one is I don't usually do
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: this one, but if you're like really funny being scared,
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: if you're like really over the top being scared, they
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: will target.
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: This is why I don't go to them because I
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: know my face, my reaction will say everything and then
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: they'll pick on me.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: And I'm gonna fight somebody.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: You know that's fair.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: I'm a fight or fight girl, and apparently I fight.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: Hey, hey, at least you know it.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: I'm not fast enough.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: It depends, it depends.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: I tip somebody.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: I have faith in you.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: I'm maneuver.
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: My way I'd said that this is my thing is
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: like if I would have to do the like trips,
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: I'm sorry, I would be the villain and set someone
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: up so I can survive.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: Oh instead, yeah, okay, yeah, that's fine.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: That's fine.
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: Old host Caroline and I get along really well because
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: we have our apocalypse plan is that she's just going
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: to give up.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: So that's my decoy to survive using her giving up.
• 7:29
  Speaker 5: I'm going to be a final girl.
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: No matter what I'm making it to the end of this,
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: of this situation.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: I'm like, I will not be the minority that gets killed.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: I like that You've got a plan.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Well, I have to make sure I'm with Carolina.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: I think that's the first plan. Yes, well, way, happy Halloween.
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: We do have a quite horrifying thing to discuss today.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: Horrifying or is it like vivor exciting?
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, but transition wise, this is a very scary
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: thing to talk about. You gotta play along with my transition.
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: No, cur I've lived for your masterful transitions are so good.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: Thank you. I will lay awake at night be like,
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: how can I do this? Just so you know, there's
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: a lot of work going on behind the curtains here.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: She's been staring at this waiting for it.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, oh, all the time. But yes, can you tell
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: us what we are talking about today, Bridget Yes.
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: So, folks probably by now have seen in the news
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: that former President Trump and eighteen of his associates are
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: facing charges for violating Georgia's Racketeering, Influence and Corrupt Organizations
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: or REICHO act.
• 8:48
  Speaker 5: Basically, when you are doing some.
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: Like organized crime like mob style activities, Georgia as I'm
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: sure y'all know, take that very seriously, and these are
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: related to schemes to try to keep Trump in office
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: after he lost the election. So a big piece of
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: these charges stem from the way that Trump and his
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: associate Rudy Giuliani basically claimed that two black women poll workers,
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: a mother daughter duo Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss, had
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: tampered with votes.
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: Now that has been time and time.
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: Again, like on the official record, these women have been
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: cleared of wrongdoing, and that did not stop Trump and
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: Giuliani from baselessly, repeatedly and publicly putting them in danger
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: by lying about them. And so I really see this
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: story as like a culmination of so many of the
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: things that I talk about on my own pod. You
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: know what happens when racism and sexism just run unchecked
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: online and really creates the conditions for dangerous lies about
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: black women to find a welcome home where they can
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: be amplified and legitimized. In this case, those lies threatened
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: democracy for all of us. And so I think that
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: there's so much meati reporting going on about what's happening
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: with these charges related to Trump, but I think it's
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: important that the story of these women does not go
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: overlooked or does not go missed, because at its heart,
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: it is about how these people used their positions and
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: their power to baselessly smear like two people who hadn't
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: done anything wrong. And so I just think their story
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: and their testibility, it's just important to me to keep
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: making sure that we really center that and that it
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: doesn't get lost.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: Right because, as we've talked about before, as I am
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: in Fulton County, that is where I vote a lot
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: of the times, it's mostly black women who are volunteering
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: at these voting places and making it run so smoothly
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: and doing all of these things. And to hear about
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: this about two people who were wanting to help their
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: community and did nothing wrong but being used as scapegoats
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: and that getting amplified in online space and then being
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: kind of chased away from it, like, it's really upsetting
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: because that is such an important job. It's so important
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: to voting, and it's just just because these guys are
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: jerks and liars, we're looking for someone people that they
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: could blame, that people would get behind them blaming is
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: really upsetting.
• 11:28
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and you put that exactly right.
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: I think that I'm really drawn to the humanity of
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: Ruby and Shay, but really it's really not just about
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: them and their story because these attacks on election workers,
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: poll workers who are like largely women, like that's you know,
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: a thing, So it's definitely gendered. These attacks on them
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: are also attacks on democracy because if people like, if
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: you saw the way that Ruby and Shay were treated
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: and how other election workers were treated, threatened, harassed, lied about, targeted,
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: why would you want to do that work? That work
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: is not well paid. It's not work that is like
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: put on a pedestal or like well protected or given
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: a lot of respect. It used to be, and it
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: should be, but unfortunately it's not. And so if regular
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: people who are interested in like disc helping our civic
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: process move forward and move smoothly, if those people are like,
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: I don't want to do this work anymore, why would
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: I want to do this? And the only people who
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: are invested and interested in doing this work are extremists,
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: it's not good for democracy. And so it's all like,
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: we'll talk about some of the findings from how this
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: has impacted elections writ large, but yeah, if election centers
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: have to close because no one wants to work them.
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: That means that less people are going to be able
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: to access those polling places. Polling places end up shutting down.
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: The wheels of democracy are not able to move as
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: smoothly as they should. And democracy is like a pretty
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: tenuous thing. I think I never really thought about it before,
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: how fragile it is. How you definitely need things to
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: be moving smoothly, and it doesn't really take much.
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: To have the whole system come crashing down.
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: Right, to give some context about what Fulton County is,
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: because we talk about Fulton County and not many of
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: the people outside of Georgia know what that means.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: We have the funny song that talks about that's not Atlanta.
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: Fulton County is Atlanta, which is heavily populated with a
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: lot of black votes and largely amount of black communities,
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: one of the bluest areas, one of the reasons why
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: we turn blue in the first place. And after all
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: of the voting rights stuff that happened with our governor
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: trying to take away so many things, including not allowing
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: to give out water, not allowing people to sit, all
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: of these things, it was pointedly for places like Fulton
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: County again, especially with all the Jerryman drag and such.
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: And it's quite funny that the people who were making
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: such big threats and pointing at Fulton were not from Fulton.
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: They are literally from outskirts where other places have been
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: proven to have a campaign election fraud, typically from again
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: Republican side from the twenty twenty election that we saw,
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: and it was very, very very targeted for that very reason.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: They needed, as you said, to target black women because
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: we know that for the past decades of election it's
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: been black women who have turned the votes and really
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: have made a difference in places like Georgia, which no
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: one ever saw ever turning blue at any point in time.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: And so it in that context this is a fight.
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: It literally was a place to start a war when
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: it came to elections.
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: I've always thought it has got to be so exhausting
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: to live in Fulton County because it's just like it's
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: you're just trying to live your life and exists and
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: all these different institutional horses and like power powerful figures
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: are trying to stop you from doing that at every turn,
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: And I just can't imagine what it's like to be
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: to live someplace but it's just like constantly the subject
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: of conversation and scrutiny and trickery.
• 15:17
  Speaker 5: It's just like it's got to be exhausting.
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: You know, bridget one of the first conversations you and
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: I ever had when we met, what's in twenty nineteen, No,
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: I guess it was way before then, in twenty seventeen.
• 15:26
  Speaker 5: I think that's right.
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: You Literally I asked you if you would move to Atlanta,
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: and you said, we already had our own stuff at Washington.
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: I don't I don't know if I can do it
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: again in Atlanta. Yeah, you have to get involved in
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: it real quickly, because when you were talking about Abrams
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: something about at the time, and you're like, I don't
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: know if I can do that again.
• 15:47
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that was my whole thing.
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: There was a time where I was like, I think
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: I might have to move to Atlanta, and just the
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: idea of like and not that DC doesn't have its problem.
• 15:55
  Speaker 5: It's just like I have the energy.
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: I would have to start again if I can, And
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: rightly so, it is exhausting. And again because the crux
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: of the work has been done by the black community,
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: black women. The organization Fair Fight was created by Stacy
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: Abrams after her first election, and we know so many
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: things had happened at that point, and I'm still very
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: bitter about that point and really caused so much that
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: we did become a focal point. Georgia specifically Fulton County
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: became a focal point to this point that Shay and
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: Ruby got targeted because they needed to find two people
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: that they can make as suspicious as possible that is
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: on the side that has been making this huge turnaround.
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: So I'm so glad that you put it that way.
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: And this is something that I think has kind of
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: I would say gotten missed, but I would say has
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: just sort of been implied, and I think that we
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: should just like say it as is. I believe that
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: the reason why the attacks on Ruby and Shay were
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: so effective and like took hold is because they are
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: black women.
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: I think that you're exactly right.
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: They needed somebody to pin the Georgia loss on, and
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: I think that there there's it's not a surprise that
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: the people they went after were these two black women.
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: And I think that the way that race and gender
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: and class intersected to make them these these like effective
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: targets for this kind of smear campaign.
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: I don't think that.
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: We have like fully unpacked what that means and why
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: it was effective. Even in reporting that I think is
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: really good, like reporting that I respect, I just think
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: it relies on us to confront some uncomfortable truths about
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: our society. And I don't think that we have fully
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: contended with what happened to Ruby and Shay, why it
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: was effective, and how it was allowed to be amplified
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: by people like social media platforms and media outlets and
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: all of that. So yeah, I just think like it's
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: something we really got to talk about and something that
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: I think that we really got to take a lot
• 17:58
  Speaker 4: of important lessons and truths from. So if folks don't know,
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: Ruby and Shaye were election workers in Fulton County, Georgia,
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: a state that Trump lost in twenty twenty, get ready
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: for me to say that over and over again, because
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: it is a fact, so.
• 18:11
  Speaker 5: You might recall.
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: I'm sure that y'all recall that in Georgia, he Trump
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: pressured the Secretary Sake to like find votes for him
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: to rewrite history. Shay had actually been an election worker
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: in Georgia for a long time. Listening to her talk
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: about it, she describes it as something that she had
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: really done in an effort to support her community and
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: just like something that she felt like was her civic duty.
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: You know.
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: She has talked about how like her community has a
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: lot of older black folks in it, like elders, and
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: that she saw doing this work as an election worker
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: as part of service to like the elders in her community.
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: So was really just like wanted to do her civic good.
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: During twenty twenty, Fulton County was meant to have a
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: shortage and election workers because of COVID, so Shae recruited
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: her then sixty two year old mom, Ruby, a retired
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: nine to one one operator, to also serve as an
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: election worker. So this is something that I think is
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: very sad like. In their testimony, Shay has talked about
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: how she feels quite a bit of guilt for recruiting
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: her mother into this work, of course not knowing how
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: could she know that Trump and Juliani would attack them
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: in this way, but she she has described feeling quite
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: a bit of guilt at getting her mom involved in this,
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: which just really really breaks my heart.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the when and I know we're going to
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: talk about this, but when like the whole family gets
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: drawn into this thing that you think you're doing. They
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: were doing this like civic duty, feeling really like, this
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: is what I want to do for my community, and
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: that is democracy at work. That is like, oh, I
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: want to make this happen and it's really important to
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: me and to have that to feel guilty about that,
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: because they're these other undemocratic like pascist forces who threaten
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: and who make you feel unsafe and make your loved
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: ones feel unsafe, like it is heartbreaking, it is it's
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: disgusting that this is what happens.
• 20:17
  Speaker 5: It really is.
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: And so basically, on December third, twenty twenty, a lawyer
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: working for the Trump campaign obtained security video of election
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: night from.
• 20:27
  Speaker 5: State Farm Arena in Georgia.
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: So the video just shows like election workers in general,
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: including Ruby and Shay, just like doing their jobs right,
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: like nothing untoward is going on. The lawyer brought the
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: video to the Georgia State Senate Committee, saying that he
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: thought it showed someone who had the name Ruby across
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: her shirt somewhere finding a suitcase of ballots from underneath
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: the table. Now all of this is just a complete lie.
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: The video just shows them working normally, the election workers
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: were told to like pack it up for the night,
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: so they put the ballots away.
• 20:58
  Speaker 5: They didn't put them in suitcases.
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: They put them in like the normal ballots where ballots
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: are always kept. And later in the night they were
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: told to go ahead and restart the count, don't wait
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: till the morning, and so that's what they did. The
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: video is just like normal election worker business. But I
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: think the presence of like just these two black women
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: was enough for this person to be like, something's going
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: on here.
• 21:20
  Speaker 5: I need to flag this.
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: So the video starts making its way online through this
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: cottage industry of like extremist blogs and media sites. Once
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: it's in that online pipeline, it's basically everywhere, Like it
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: doesn't matter. By the time that it starts making the rounds,
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: it has already been thoroughly debunked by Georgia Secretary of State.
• 21:40
  Speaker 5: None of that matters.
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: It's already like in this pipeline, and it's going to
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: be amplified despite the fact that it's already been proven alive.
• 21:47
  Speaker 5: So this is where we.
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: Meet a big vector of lies and like dissemination of
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: these lives about Ruby and Shay. The gateway Puntit, which
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: is an extremist right wing media site. Research from the
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: Universe Steve Washington Center for an inform Public found that
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: the Gateway Pundit was the second most prolific purveyor of
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: election misinformation on Twitter during twenty twenty.
• 22:08
  Speaker 5: So they are like.
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: A big source of incorrect, inaccurate information about our elections.
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: And once they get that video, they publish an article
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: under the headline huge all caps video footage from Georgia
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: show suitcases filled with ballots pulled from under table after
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: all caps supervisor told GOP poll workers to leave tabulation center.
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: So again that's just like a completely misleading claim. But
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: the way that they framed it is like, we found
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: this bombshell video evidence of the smoking gun of votes
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: being tampered with and the election being stolen from Donald Trump.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: Which is so hilarious because Fulton County was never Donald
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: Like it's never.
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: Been readbody else who lives in Georgia are like, what, no, wait,
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: and it reminds me honestly, I watched it for like
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: a few seasons, but a setup of a scandal episode
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: actlutely the graany security video where they just like redline
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: somethings and you're like, oh my god, there it is, and.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: They're like, no, wait, they're just boxes. What's happening the proof?
• 23:24
  Speaker 5: And it's so funny.
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: There's a thing that happens online where anything can look
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: nefarious if.
• 23:29
  Speaker 5: It's like grainy video and you write in all caps
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: on it.
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: Like and it's just like a video of people like
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: moving around in an empty office building, and it's like
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: they're like all caps like busted. Like anything looks nefarious
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: when you when you frame it that.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: Way, and then you're like, wait for it. You're like wait,
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: wait for what, wait for what? We look at it.
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: See.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: My My like association with this is ghost videos, which
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: I don't believe in ghosts, but I watch ghost videos
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: and they'll be.
• 23:54
  Speaker 5: Like there it is.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: I'm like where and they'll circle something and I'm.
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: Like, I'm blaming on my eyesight. I'm like it must
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: be there, like they circled something.
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: I really don't see anything there.
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: But yeah, it's really interesting because obviously all they needed
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: they knew that.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: This is why I say this to the scale of video.
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: They're like, if we can just pull this video of
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: these grainy subjects with boxes and then circle the boxes.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: People will believe this, and they it worked. It literally
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: began the.
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: Like I'm like, wow, this is a bad like Shonda
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: Rhime's episode what is happening?
• 24:32
  Speaker 4: It truly is, And so the Gateway Pundit continued taking
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: their nose from a bad episode of scandal.
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: They called Ruby out by name.
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: Ruby is somebody who really likes to wear like she
• 24:44
  Speaker 4: talks about how she was very proud of her name
• 24:46
  Speaker 4: before all this happened, and so she likes to wear
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: personalized shirts and hats and things that have her name
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: on it. So the Gameway Pundit called her out by name,
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: writing on the site her name is Ruby Freeman.
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: And she made the.
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: Mistake of advertising her purse on her desk the same
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: night she was involved in voter fraud on a massive
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: scale all caps. Her t shirt says Lady Ruby and
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: her purse says La Ruby, which is her company. This
• 25:10
  Speaker 4: is not a smart move. Her company is called Larruby's
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: Unique Treasures. It's on her LinkedIn page. Maybe the Georgia
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: Police or Bill Barr's DOJ may want to pay Ruby
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: Freeman a visit. The article concludes with images of Ruby
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: over the banner that says crook gets caught.
• 25:26
  Speaker 5: They play this video on a n N, which is
• 25:30
  Speaker 5: a kind of I.
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: Guess you could call it like a far right news network,
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: and that is really when it like really blows up.
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: So once the video gets on to own, that is
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: when Trump starts amplifying it on his own Twitter, that
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: is when Fox News starts talking about it, and that
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: is when the campaign of harassment really gets scary for
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: these women. Just three days later, after Trump starts amplifying
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: it on Twitter, Ruby calls nine to one one to
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: report people showing up at her home, which is terrifying,
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: and I think it's really important to point out the
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: ways that racism and misogyny worked to fuel these lives.
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: I just do not believe that had Ruby and her
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: daughter not been black women, and that if we did
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: not have a digital media climate that is like ready
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: and poised and willing to validate and amplify the worst
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: racist lies about black women who we know are disproportionately
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: harmed by conspiracy theories and disinformation and harassments, I don't
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: think it would have taken off like it did.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: This kind of reminded me of when we did our
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: episode on Megan Markle, there was all of this outrage
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: about like, look, she's making all this money from podcasting,
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: which is just complete nonsense. But I feel like that
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: going back to that quote of like, oh she's advertising
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: her company, Look how crass, Like it just I felt
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: like there was a through line of you know, for
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: black women so ready to be like that's disgusting, like how.
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: Like for things that are totally commonplace, But it's like
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: when it's a black woman doing it and it's said
• 27:26
  Speaker 4: in this like manner that is clearly meant to convey
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: like judgment, it just I mean, people are just willing,
• 27:32
  Speaker 4: like the Megan and Markle stuff, Like I remember reading like,
• 27:35
  Speaker 4: oh she ate avocado toast.
• 27:38
  Speaker 5: It doesn't matter what it is.
• 27:39
  Speaker 4: It's not really about the substance of what she's done
• 27:41
  Speaker 4: or her behavior or what she said or anything of substance.
• 27:44
  Speaker 4: It's just like it's just like pulling from this societal
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: distrust of her identity. And that's what I think really
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: helped these attacks on Shay and Ruby take hold. I
• 27:56
  Speaker 4: do not think that had they been white women or
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: men they that these attacks would have been as amplified
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: and have taken off the way that they did.
• 28:06
  Speaker 5: I just don't. And part of the evidence is the way.
• 28:09
  Speaker 4: That the people who were harassing them and attacking them
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: were doing it in a way.
• 28:14
  Speaker 5: That is so clearly racialized.
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: Like Rudi Giuliani in a phone call, he looked at
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: the tape and he said, these women are quite obviously
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: surreptitiously passing around USB ports as if they're vials of
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: heroin or cocaine. I mean, it's obvious to anyone who's
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: a criminal investigator or a prosecutor that they're engaged in
• 28:32
  Speaker 4: surreptitious illegal activity. Again that day, they're walking around Georgia lying.
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: They should have been questioned already, their places of work,
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: their homes should have been searched for evidence of ballots,
• 28:43
  Speaker 4: evidence of USB ports, evidence of voter fraud. So he's
• 28:47
  Speaker 4: accusing these women of passing USB ports back and forth
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: as if they're vials of cocaine or heroin, which, like,
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: tell me, that is not meant to be a racist
• 28:55
  Speaker 4: dog whistle. But in reality, these women were just giving
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: each other a piece of candy. They were like, Oh,
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: I had a piece of candy in my hand that
• 29:03
  Speaker 4: I was passing it to my mom, And that's what
• 29:06
  Speaker 4: that like from that totally innocuous movement. Giuliani said that
• 29:11
  Speaker 4: they were passing USB ports, is that they were vials
• 29:13
  Speaker 4: of heroin or cocaine, like like, truly, truly beyond the
• 29:18
  Speaker 4: pale of just delusional lies.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: I love that the melting man is the one accused,
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: and there's so many things that this is, this is
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: for real. I don't know what's happening, you know.
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: I have to say in this whole thing that when
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: I remember what was happening at this point, I don't
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: think I remembered their names. I just remember people being accused,
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: and it was specifically two black women that though eventually
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: the Secretary of State, who got a lot of praise
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: and he shouldn't have as well as our governor, eventually
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: started defending them, but not until after they were docked.
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: It was an interesting setup of like they allowed this
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: to happen to see again and at the very least
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: they stood up, but enough to be like, yes, our
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: votes are fine, there's nothing incredulous about this.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: There's nothing incriminating in here.
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: After the fact, But during this time, they didn't do shit.
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: They're like I remember, like they're just saying they're investigating
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: that was that was they kept everything kind of to
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: the side, not agreeing, not saying anything, and until they
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: started getting harassed, their life was being threatened, and then
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: they're like, okay, okay, okay, well now we need to
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: put a stop to this. But they allowed this to
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: escalate to that point again because they did not care
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: about protecting them either, like for what they did later shore.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: But I feel like there should have been charges for
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: their negligence.
• 30:42
  Speaker 4: But hey, yeah, I mean by then they had thoroughly
• 30:46
  Speaker 4: internally debunked this video and they quietly.
• 30:51
  Speaker 5: Released like statements eventually, but they knew. We know that
• 30:56
  Speaker 5: they knew.
• 30:57
  Speaker 4: The entire time that Shaye and Ruby had done that
• 31:00
  Speaker 4: thing wrong and it had been investigated. And so I'm
• 31:02
  Speaker 4: with you in my book, was just my opinion. You
• 31:05
  Speaker 4: don't get a ton of credit for quietly eventually being like, actually,
• 31:09
  Speaker 4: they didn't do anything wrong, and we've already like debunked
• 31:12
  Speaker 4: this video when they were being like physically threatened by
• 31:17
  Speaker 4: armed psychopaths.
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: Right, And I think it's obvious that they could see
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: the evidence about how racist this was, how sexist and racist,
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: like how this all came from misogynoire, but they just
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: couldn't say that, because then they would have to say
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: that their party is exactly what we see them as,
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: and so therefore they were just quietly defending them, not
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: truly helping. It's it's obvious also that they allowed those perpetrators,
• 31:45
  Speaker 3: and I'm going to call them perpetrators at this point,
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: Giuliani and Trump to continue this tirade even after the
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: fact that they did not do anything to stop them
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: from harassing.
• 31:55
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 31:56
  Speaker 4: In that the infamous call that Trump made to join
• 32:00
  Speaker 4: just Secretary of State Brad Raethensberger asking him to find votes,
• 32:05
  Speaker 4: Donald Trump calls Ruby out by name. In that call,
• 32:07
  Speaker 4: he says, we had at least eighteen thousand that's on tape.
• 32:11
  Speaker 4: We had them counted, very painstakingly, eighteen thousand voters having
• 32:15
  Speaker 4: to do with Ruby Freeman. She's a vote scammer, a
• 32:17
  Speaker 4: professional vote scammer and hustler. Yeah, so, like he was
• 32:21
  Speaker 4: the head of that party, was calling Ruby by her
• 32:26
  Speaker 4: first and last name and lying about her and blaming
• 32:30
  Speaker 4: her for his election laws.
• 32:32
  Speaker 5: It's terrifying.
• 32:33
  Speaker 4: And again I also think, like to your point, Samantha,
• 32:37
  Speaker 4: it's complicated to talk about, but I think that one
• 32:40
  Speaker 4: of the reasons why this lie took off the way
• 32:43
  Speaker 4: it did is because of the visual of Ruby and Shay.
• 32:47
  Speaker 4: Right Like, sites like Gateway Pundit are really good at
• 32:51
  Speaker 4: knowing what is going to resonate with their audience, what
• 32:53
  Speaker 4: is going to stoke something inside them that is going
• 32:56
  Speaker 4: to motivate them to click and share and have an
• 32:59
  Speaker 4: emotional respect. And if you go back and look at
• 33:02
  Speaker 4: what the Gateway Pundit was publishing about Ruby and Shay,
• 33:06
  Speaker 4: it is highly visual. They posted so many images of
• 33:10
  Speaker 4: these women online on election night. Ruby and Shay were
• 33:14
  Speaker 4: wearing like blonde extensions that contrast with their darker complexions. Literally,
• 33:19
  Speaker 4: it's like how my hair is styled. Right now, I'm
• 33:21
  Speaker 4: wearing blonde extensions and they Ruby owned a fashion shop
• 33:25
  Speaker 4: and so her personal style is like a big part
• 33:29
  Speaker 4: of how she shows up to the world. She likes
• 33:30
  Speaker 4: bedazzled shirts, she likes to have her name on her
• 33:33
  Speaker 4: shirt or her hat. These are people who have a
• 33:35
  Speaker 4: very distinctive look. And I believe the reason why the
• 33:39
  Speaker 4: Gateway Pundit posted so many images of the women were
• 33:42
  Speaker 4: basically to be like, look how black these women are look?
• 33:45
  Speaker 4: How like look how they look because they knew that
• 33:49
  Speaker 4: these images these visuals of these black women. They could
• 33:52
  Speaker 4: say anything they wanted because because they were weaponizing this
• 33:56
  Speaker 4: already pre existing disdain black women. And so I think
• 34:01
  Speaker 4: that like they knew what they were doing. That is
• 34:03
  Speaker 4: why you see these images used over and over and
• 34:06
  Speaker 4: over again of them like with like crooked stamped across
• 34:09
  Speaker 4: their head. I think they I think they knew that
• 34:11
  Speaker 4: that was going to be what like moved their audience,
• 34:13
  Speaker 4: and I think they weaponized that to make this lie stickier.
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it follows along with what Trump has been saying
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: about Lanta, especially when he was going after John Lewis
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: before his death.
• 34:23
  Speaker 4: He always does this like, oh, if I were in Atlanta,
• 34:27
  Speaker 4: I would be more worried about the crime, like just like.
• 34:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he would go after it and trying to set
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: it up as if it was just this horrible, stricken
• 34:37
  Speaker 3: place because it was made up of a large largely
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: black communities, which is like, no, that's why it's so
• 34:45
  Speaker 3: productive and wealthy right now, Like, I'm not really sure
• 34:48
  Speaker 3: what you're trying to point out, because Atlanta is one
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: of the more successful areas of Georgia.
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: Huh mm.
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: And then he had been setting that up and that
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: played right in to this whole scandal, because again, here's
• 35:03
  Speaker 3: a woman who has her own business and she's doing fine,
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: and it's so well enough that she helps volunteer.
• 35:09
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think like him and his cronies knew
• 35:13
  Speaker 4: that like just evoking the idea that that black women
• 35:18
  Speaker 4: were involved in the vote counting process in Georgia would
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: be enough proof. I'm putting that in quotes, not like
• 35:25
  Speaker 4: actual proof, but like their proof that something nefarious was
• 35:29
  Speaker 4: going on. They basically told their supporters like, black women
• 35:33
  Speaker 4: were involved in this voting process, so that should be
• 35:35
  Speaker 4: evidence enough that that Atlanta or Georgia is like rigged
• 35:39
  Speaker 4: against me. I think that was really the argument that
• 35:42
  Speaker 4: they were trying to imply.
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: Right, and again it just aims it towards his already base,
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: who is very loud exactly.
• 35:53
  Speaker 4: So yeah, I think that these attacks really weaponize and
• 35:56
  Speaker 4: rely on tropes about black women being inherently untrustworthy, which
• 36:00
  Speaker 4: we see time and time again with things like online
• 36:02
  Speaker 4: harassment and disinformation.
• 36:04
  Speaker 5: So this I'll led to like.
• 36:05
  Speaker 4: A flood of really scary racist death threats and harassment
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: against Ruby and Shay online. If folks watched the January
• 36:14
  Speaker 4: sixth Commission their testimony really just like, I think every
• 36:18
  Speaker 4: American should watch it because it really is horrifying and
• 36:23
  Speaker 4: also heartbreaking to hear them describe what they went through.
• 36:27
  Speaker 4: But this is Shay talking about what it felt like
• 36:29
  Speaker 4: to know that her mom was now involved in this.
• 36:31
  Speaker 4: Shae at her during the January sixth testimony, said, I
• 36:35
  Speaker 4: felt horrible. I felt like it was all my fault.
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: Like if I never would have decided to be an
• 36:39
  Speaker 4: election worker, I could have done anything else, but that's
• 36:42
  Speaker 4: what I decided to do. And now people are lying
• 36:44
  Speaker 4: and spreading rumors and lies and attacking my mom. I'm
• 36:47
  Speaker 4: her only child going to my grandmother's house. I'm her
• 36:50
  Speaker 4: only grandchild, and my kid is just I just feel
• 36:53
  Speaker 4: so bad. I felt bad for my mom, and I
• 36:54
  Speaker 4: felt horrible for picking this job and for being the
• 36:57
  Speaker 4: one that always wants to help, always there, never miss
• 37:00
  Speaker 4: that one election. I just felt like it was my
• 37:02
  Speaker 4: fault for putting my family in this situation. It is
• 37:05
  Speaker 4: really heartbreaking. Ruby talks about how she had been so
• 37:09
  Speaker 4: proud of her nickname and her name, Lady Ruby, that's
• 37:13
  Speaker 4: the name of her business, that she is definitely a
• 37:15
  Speaker 4: staple in Georgia. Everybody knew Ruby as Lady Ruby, and
• 37:19
  Speaker 4: she always wore that shirt with her name on it,
• 37:21
  Speaker 4: and because of all of this campaign of lives and harassment.
• 37:25
  Speaker 4: Ruby talks about how she once was this pillar of
• 37:29
  Speaker 4: the community and now is afraid to use her own name,
• 37:33
  Speaker 4: her name that she used to wear as a badge
• 37:35
  Speaker 4: of honor. Like I get emotional just thinking about what
• 37:39
  Speaker 4: that would have been like for these women and how
• 37:44
  Speaker 4: threatening it sounds like that was to their own sense
• 37:48
  Speaker 4: of identity, their own sense of safety, their own sense
• 37:51
  Speaker 4: of being able to show up in their communities that
• 37:53
  Speaker 4: was like really important to them, that was just taken
• 37:56
  Speaker 4: away because of these people lied.
• 37:58
  Speaker 5: Like just really upsets me. H.
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think one of the things to keep
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: in mind too, is that these were two women who
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: were just trying to help their community. They were not
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: looking for this, obviously, but weren't looking for like fame
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: or attention or they were just trying to help their community.
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: And then it got blown up and it became this
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: whole thing where now, yeah, you can't use the name
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: you were so proud of, or you feel guilty about
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: doing something good for your community. But there was like
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: a whole organized effort that ended up getting targeted towards them.
• 38:41
  Speaker 4: Exactly, and so let's talk a bit about who were
• 38:44
  Speaker 4: some of the players in that effort. So, in addition
• 38:47
  Speaker 4: to the like mixed bag of Trump croonies that you've
• 38:49
  Speaker 4: heard about, you know, Rudi Giuliani, folks like that, Ruby
• 38:53
  Speaker 4: and Jay were also being harassed and threatened by a
• 38:55
  Speaker 4: woman named Trevion Kuti. Trebon was formally a publicist for
• 38:59
  Speaker 4: the R and B singer slash convicted sex criminal r Kelly.
• 39:02
  Speaker 4: So she definitely like knows how to pick the men
• 39:05
  Speaker 4: to associate with. She had some kind of association with
• 39:10
  Speaker 4: Kanye West at some point, who you may recall, ran
• 39:13
  Speaker 4: for president himself alongside Trump in twenty twenty before becoming
• 39:16
  Speaker 4: a vocal Trump supporter.
• 39:19
  Speaker 5: NBC News.
• 39:20
  Speaker 4: It's not totally clear what her association with Donald Trump is.
• 39:24
  Speaker 4: NBC News reported that in a biography of her on
• 39:27
  Speaker 4: a website for the the Women's Global Initiative, a business
• 39:31
  Speaker 4: networking group, she identified herself as a member of the
• 39:34
  Speaker 4: Young Black Leadership Council under President Donald Trump. She says
• 39:38
  Speaker 4: that she was secured as Kanye West's publicist in twenty
• 39:41
  Speaker 4: eighteen and now serves as his director of Operations, but importantly,
• 39:46
  Speaker 4: Kanye West camp says that she was not associated with
• 39:49
  Speaker 4: Kanye West. But Kanye's camp is like, we don't know her.
• 39:52
  Speaker 5: They're like, we she.
• 39:54
  Speaker 4: Is not associated with us, so like don't know what
• 39:56
  Speaker 4: to tell you. So, in any event, regardless of whether
• 40:00
  Speaker 4: or not she is truly associated with Kanye West or
• 40:02
  Speaker 4: Donald Trump, what went down is this, Travion showed up
• 40:06
  Speaker 4: at Shay and Ruby's door, and the women, after being
• 40:09
  Speaker 4: harassed and targeted, understandably just like called the police. The
• 40:13
  Speaker 4: police show up, and they all end up going to
• 40:16
  Speaker 4: a police station together to talk. Trivion told them that
• 40:19
  Speaker 4: she was visiting them at the direction of a high
• 40:22
  Speaker 4: profile individual who warned that if Ruby and Shay did
• 40:25
  Speaker 4: not confess to voter fraud, they would be arrested in
• 40:28
  Speaker 4: forty eight hours. According to Rolling Stone, the body cam
• 40:31
  Speaker 4: footage of the conversation shows Trivion telling the women, I
• 40:35
  Speaker 4: cannot say what specifically will take place. I just know
• 40:38
  Speaker 4: that it will disrupt your freedom and the freedom of
• 40:40
  Speaker 4: one or more of your family members. You are a
• 40:42
  Speaker 4: loose end for a party that needs to tidy up,
• 40:45
  Speaker 4: which is like a real weird thing to tell somebody.
• 40:48
  Speaker 4: To be honest, with you. That's like a very weird thing.
• 40:50
  Speaker 4: You say. Yeah, so I will say Travion has said, like, oh,
• 40:55
  Speaker 4: they're getting it wrong.
• 40:56
  Speaker 5: I was trying to help these women. That's not a threat.
• 41:00
  Speaker 4: So like that's her defense, is that, like she was
• 41:02
  Speaker 4: genuinely trying to offer support to these women.
• 41:06
  Speaker 5: That's what she says. Uh, you tell me what you
• 41:09
  Speaker 5: what you think, But like that's her defense.
• 41:11
  Speaker 4: Then she calls a man by the name of Harrison
• 41:13
  Speaker 4: Floyd of Black Voices for Trump, puts him on speakerphone,
• 41:17
  Speaker 4: and Floyd says that he can offer the women protection.
• 41:20
  Speaker 4: But according to that body cam audio, he said that
• 41:23
  Speaker 4: Ruby and Shay would have to confess to voter fraud.
• 41:26
  Speaker 4: If she did, he would offer her legal protection, but
• 41:28
  Speaker 4: if she declined, then her and her family would be arrested.
• 41:32
  Speaker 4: So Floyd worked for the Trump campaign formally as the
• 41:35
  Speaker 4: executive director of the of Black Voices for Trump, but
• 41:37
  Speaker 4: he told Rachel Maddow that he sent Trevion to the
• 41:41
  Speaker 4: women's house as a private citizen, not as an employee
• 41:44
  Speaker 4: of the Trump campaign. He also in those calls said
• 41:47
  Speaker 4: that like he has people that can keep her safe.
• 41:51
  Speaker 5: If she confessed all.
• 41:53
  Speaker 4: Of that, I should say, like I'm including what these
• 41:56
  Speaker 4: people are saying as their defense or like how they
• 41:58
  Speaker 4: explain their behavior. I don't really believe any of these people,
• 42:02
  Speaker 4: but like this is what they said about like why they.
• 42:04
  Speaker 5: Did the things that they did.
• 42:05
  Speaker 4: So I just think people should know their side of
• 42:08
  Speaker 4: the story, even though I don't believe any of this.
• 42:11
  Speaker 3: This is like again, I just this is such a
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: bad setup of so many like gang movies.
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: That you were like, what is happening?
• 42:21
  Speaker 3: Like this reminds me of what would have happened in
• 42:23
  Speaker 3: Chicago in the early mob days. Like they create a
• 42:27
  Speaker 3: problem and a threat, but will protect you if you
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: can truss these things. And you're thinking, so, at what
• 42:33
  Speaker 3: point does Floyd and COUDI not realize they're bound to
• 42:36
  Speaker 3: be thrown under the bus like they are the scapegoats now.
• 42:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean so yes and Floyd especially because folks
• 42:47
  Speaker 4: might remember that when all the other defendants in the
• 42:50
  Speaker 4: Trump Raiko case got arrested in Georgia, most of them
• 42:53
  Speaker 4: just like bonded out right away, right Lloyd because when
• 42:57
  Speaker 4: they initially the FBI initially had like served him at
• 43:00
  Speaker 4: his apartment.
• 43:02
  Speaker 5: They like he got into some kind of like.
• 43:04
  Speaker 4: Physical scuffle with the FBI, and so that led to
• 43:09
  Speaker 4: like a warrant for his arrest. And so when he
• 43:12
  Speaker 4: turned himself in for these Trump Raicho charges, he actually
• 43:16
  Speaker 4: was not able to bond out like everybody else was
• 43:18
  Speaker 4: like in and out.
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was bad.
• 43:21
  Speaker 3: I didn't realize it was for that and BT dubs
• 43:23
  Speaker 3: the RICO charges here in Georgia is partially racial. So
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: it's quite funny to me that they got that.
• 43:31
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, honestly, it's complicated, but like, I just
• 43:36
  Speaker 4: can't believe I thought this was a good idea. I
• 43:38
  Speaker 4: can't believe that they were like, yes, I will get
• 43:40
  Speaker 4: myself arrested for this man. I will get like pretty
• 43:43
  Speaker 4: serious charges for this man. I will break the law
• 43:45
  Speaker 4: for this man, and that will be fine for me.
• 43:47
  Speaker 4: That will go well for me. I will be in
• 43:50
  Speaker 4: their club, I will be taken care of, I will
• 43:51
  Speaker 4: be protected. I cannot believe that somebody would think that. So, yeah,
• 43:56
  Speaker 4: just really says a lot about the judgment there, I
• 43:59
  Speaker 4: guess right.
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: I can't.
• 44:00
  Speaker 3: I'm like, there's nothing about this group of people who
• 44:03
  Speaker 3: would help you as we.
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, they have a long history of throwing people
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: under the bus, going completely broke.
• 44:10
  Speaker 5: Right, even they're not gonna throw you under the bus.
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: Yes, you're not special.
• 44:15
  Speaker 5: I will say.
• 44:16
  Speaker 4: One side note is that Trivion KOUTI I think that
• 44:21
  Speaker 4: people should She's very active on Instagram. I think that
• 44:26
  Speaker 4: if folks listening are curious for more information about her,
• 44:29
  Speaker 4: I really implore them to look at her Instagram. Her Instagram,
• 44:32
  Speaker 4: I think is very telling about what kind of person
• 44:36
  Speaker 4: she is. Right, so, yeah, folks are interested in like
• 44:39
  Speaker 4: cause like when I first was reading about this, I
• 44:41
  Speaker 4: was like, what kind of per Like, she's suways like
• 44:42
  Speaker 4: a interesting person.
• 44:44
  Speaker 5: Let me look her up.
• 44:45
  Speaker 4: And her Instagram really confirmed that she's someone who is
• 44:50
  Speaker 4: like hashtag overload, Like every post is like so like, honestly,
• 44:56
  Speaker 4: I can't really even describe it. I mean, if folks
• 44:57
  Speaker 4: are curious, they should look her up on Instagram, and
• 44:59
  Speaker 4: I I I don't think you will be disappointed at
• 45:01
  Speaker 4: what you see.
• 45:02
  Speaker 5: I'll put it that right.
• 45:04
  Speaker 3: Well, her association with R Kelly, because if I know
• 45:08
  Speaker 3: one thing, in Atlanta, black women they do not side
• 45:12
  Speaker 3: with R.
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: Kelly. Like that's so.
• 45:14
  Speaker 4: Rare event in Atlanta when they played Remixed Magnition and
• 45:19
  Speaker 4: black women were like boom.
• 45:21
  Speaker 5: Turn this off. Yeah, until the DJ turned it.
• 45:24
  Speaker 3: Off, like, yeah, every debate that I've ever seen, uh,
• 45:30
  Speaker 3: and like it would be on our.
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: Neighbor pages all of that, it was always men.
• 45:37
  Speaker 3: Or white people who were and white people were smart
• 45:39
  Speaker 3: enough to stay out of it for the most part.
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they were like, Okay, we're not we're not part
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: of this.
• 45:44
  Speaker 3: But every black woman that you saw was going after anyone.
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: So for her to be a supporter at any point,
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: you're like, hmm, really, yeah, that's that's not that's a
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: sign right there.
• 46:10
  Speaker 4: So this whole conversation between Trevion and Harrison Floyd and
• 46:16
  Speaker 4: Rubinha went down on January fourth, twenty twenty one, just
• 46:20
  Speaker 4: two days before January six It honestly sounds like Trump's
• 46:24
  Speaker 4: associates just wanted to get a forced confession out of
• 46:28
  Speaker 4: these women as a means to stop the transition of power.
• 46:32
  Speaker 4: So on January sixth, when pro Trump extremists and goons
• 46:37
  Speaker 4: were storming the Capitol, they were also surrounding the women's
• 46:40
  Speaker 4: home with bullhorns, but luckily they had already fled for
• 46:44
  Speaker 4: their safety. But this is where it gets even scarier.
• 46:47
  Speaker 4: Trump supporters actually tried to force their way into Shay's
• 46:50
  Speaker 4: elderly grandmother's home to make a citizen's arrest. I honestly
• 46:54
  Speaker 4: cannot even fathom how terrifying it would be to have
• 46:59
  Speaker 4: a mob of angry, potentially armed people show up at
• 47:03
  Speaker 4: your elderly grandmother's home and with the intent to force
• 47:07
  Speaker 4: their way in and citizens arrest her. Like, I don't
• 47:11
  Speaker 4: even I mean, I can't, I don't even have words, like,
• 47:13
  Speaker 4: I don't even know.
• 47:14
  Speaker 5: I can't think of anything more horrifying than that.
• 47:18
  Speaker 3: Right, Once again, she had nothing to do with any
• 47:20
  Speaker 3: of the elections, So this is just the hostage at
• 47:23
  Speaker 3: this point.
• 47:24
  Speaker 4: Essentially, Yes, and like and I think it goes back
• 47:28
  Speaker 4: to a lot of the things that we that we
• 47:29
  Speaker 4: talk about on the show. When we deal with things
• 47:32
  Speaker 4: like harassment campaigns, it is rarely just the woman. So
• 47:36
  Speaker 4: it's usually a woman at the center of a harassment
• 47:38
  Speaker 4: campaign like this.
• 47:39
  Speaker 5: It is rarely just that one woman.
• 47:42
  Speaker 4: Is It is her and her family, her and her parents,
• 47:45
  Speaker 4: her and her kids, her and her partner. And it's
• 47:47
  Speaker 4: an effort to, I think, terrify women and other marginalized
• 47:53
  Speaker 4: people from participating in civic and public life. If like,
• 47:57
  Speaker 4: I'm one person, if I'm going to face these kinds
• 47:59
  Speaker 4: of attacks. I wouldn't love it, but like, okay, that's me.
• 48:03
  Speaker 5: Fine.
• 48:04
  Speaker 4: If it's me and my elderly parents, me and my child,
• 48:08
  Speaker 4: me and my partner, me and my community, you might
• 48:11
  Speaker 4: think twice about your behavior if you felt like you
• 48:14
  Speaker 4: were putting the people that you loved at risk. And
• 48:16
  Speaker 4: so this is a specific tactic in order to frighten
• 48:21
  Speaker 4: women out of civic and.
• 48:23
  Speaker 5: Public life, and I think it's effective.
• 48:26
  Speaker 4: It really it's upsetting that it works, but I can
• 48:28
  Speaker 4: understand why women don't want to put their families at
• 48:31
  Speaker 4: risk in this way.
• 48:34
  Speaker 3: After that election, I volunteered at a few polls and
• 48:39
  Speaker 3: I even thought about trying to work at the elections,
• 48:42
  Speaker 3: and they were in desperately.
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: They were begging people to come.
• 48:45
  Speaker 3: And this was after several of the voter sites had
• 48:49
  Speaker 3: been shut down by our governor, so they'd already been
• 48:52
  Speaker 3: transitioned into like maybe four stations out of those six,
• 48:57
  Speaker 3: and they were trying desperately to find people because they
• 49:00
  Speaker 3: having such a struggle.
• 49:01
  Speaker 5: Yeah, so that's not surprising to me.
• 49:02
  Speaker 4: It's actually become a common problem. According to research from
• 49:06
  Speaker 4: the Brendan Center, nearly one to three local election officials
• 49:09
  Speaker 4: no at least one election worker who has left the
• 49:11
  Speaker 4: job partly due to safety concerns, increased threats, and intimidation.
• 49:14
  Speaker 4: Ruby herself said that she could never see herself working
• 49:16
  Speaker 4: another election again for the rest of her life, which
• 49:19
  Speaker 4: again I don't blame her. In this most recent election,
• 49:22
  Speaker 4: we had a shortage of poll workers, which of course
• 49:25
  Speaker 4: leads to anti democratic outcomes like short staffing, polling precingcs
• 49:29
  Speaker 4: like you just described, Sam that force people to wait
• 49:32
  Speaker 4: in longer lines to vote. These shortages of poll workers
• 49:35
  Speaker 4: can also cause some locations to either close or be
• 49:39
  Speaker 4: consolidated with other polling centers, making it more challenging for
• 49:42
  Speaker 4: voters to access new polling places. All of this can
• 49:45
  Speaker 4: lead to disenfranchisement and reduce trust and elections, especially among
• 49:50
  Speaker 4: communities of color and other marginalized communities who already face
• 49:54
  Speaker 4: barriers to voting, and so it is a widespread issue
• 49:58
  Speaker 4: when you go to vote. If people have been intimidated
• 50:01
  Speaker 4: out of being part of that process, that is an
• 50:05
  Speaker 4: attack on our democracy and it harms all of us,
• 50:08
  Speaker 4: not just the women who are attacked and find themselves
• 50:10
  Speaker 4: the targets.
• 50:12
  Speaker 2: Right, and that's terrifying. I remember voting kind of soon
• 50:16
  Speaker 2: after this for a local election, and you could almost
• 50:20
  Speaker 2: feel it. You could feel that everyone was more unsure
• 50:23
  Speaker 2: about the process and everyone was more on edge, and
• 50:26
  Speaker 2: at one point, like the power flickered and you could
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: just see people looking around like, oh, like, I can't
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: trust this anymore. And the damage that has been done
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: to these specific women does speak to so much more.
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: It speaks to this doubt and people not feeling safe
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: to work at polls. And I think who works at poles, Like,
• 50:52
  Speaker 2: if I go in and it's like a bunch of
• 50:54
  Speaker 2: kind of burly white dudes that I might think are
• 50:56
  Speaker 2: Trump supporters, I'm not gonna feel as good about voting,
• 50:59
  Speaker 2: Like I'm not I feel the safe about voting. And
• 51:02
  Speaker 2: it's just like a trickle, it's everywhere. It's got a
• 51:05
  Speaker 2: ripple effects. We're talking about kind of a specific thing
• 51:09
  Speaker 2: that it's such a larger issue.
• 51:11
  Speaker 4: Absolutely, and it's absolutely gendered. Eighty percent of election officials
• 51:16
  Speaker 4: are women, So these are women being attacked and it's
• 51:19
  Speaker 4: harming all of us. And it shouldn't be like that
• 51:21
  Speaker 4: when you go to vote, when the lights flicker, you
• 51:23
  Speaker 4: shouldn't have to worry like, oh no, what's about to happen?
• 51:26
  Speaker 4: Like this is the foundation in the cornerstone of our democracy,
• 51:30
  Speaker 4: and it shouldn't it shouldn't be like that, right, So
• 51:32
  Speaker 4: we deserve better than a system that is able to
• 51:35
  Speaker 4: weaponize racism and sexism and lies to disenfranchise us. We
• 51:39
  Speaker 4: deserve so much better. And you know that kind of
• 51:42
  Speaker 4: brings us to today. So Ruby and Shay sued the
• 51:47
  Speaker 4: right wing website The Gateway Pundit and its owners for
• 51:49
  Speaker 4: defamation her publishing stories that instigated a deluge of intimidation, harassment,
• 51:53
  Speaker 4: and threats.
• 51:54
  Speaker 5: And they also settled a suit with one American news network.
• 51:57
  Speaker 4: And honestly, I hope they get penny. Hope they get
• 52:01
  Speaker 4: so much money and then thumb. Earlier this month, a
• 52:04
  Speaker 4: federal judge ruled that Rudy Giuliani is liable for defaming
• 52:07
  Speaker 4: these women.
• 52:08
  Speaker 5: He'll have to pay their legal fees.
• 52:09
  Speaker 4: He's already paid about ninety thousand dollars and there's going
• 52:12
  Speaker 4: to be another trial to determine how much you will
• 52:14
  Speaker 4: have to pay in additional damages.
• 52:16
  Speaker 5: It could be in the millions.
• 52:17
  Speaker 4: And so I'm pleased that these women are getting some
• 52:22
  Speaker 4: semblance of justice, Like, I think that's great, But I
• 52:25
  Speaker 4: do also think that no amount of money can make
• 52:29
  Speaker 4: right what they went through. They only wanted to serve
• 52:32
  Speaker 4: their communities and do civic good during a pandemic, and
• 52:36
  Speaker 4: the President and his associates put their lives at risk
• 52:39
  Speaker 4: because of that. You know, they testified and spoke off
• 52:42
  Speaker 4: about what they experienced and putting themselves even more at risk.
• 52:45
  Speaker 4: And so what they did was heroic. They are absolutely
• 52:49
  Speaker 4: American heroes. But black women should not have to be
• 52:52
  Speaker 4: put in such a great danger for a country that
• 52:55
  Speaker 4: is going to weaponize their own identities against them, right,
• 52:58
  Speaker 4: and so, yeah, I think that what they did is
• 53:00
  Speaker 4: really heroic. But I wish they never had to do
• 53:04
  Speaker 4: that in the first place. I wish that they were
• 53:06
  Speaker 4: able to just do their jobs and live their lives
• 53:09
  Speaker 4: and try to support democracy as they were doing, without
• 53:13
  Speaker 4: facing these kind of attacks, because not only does it
• 53:16
  Speaker 4: hurt them, it hurts us all.
• 53:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I hope they get all the money as they deserve.
• 53:21
  Speaker 3: I'm glad that Juliani actually admitted that he was wrong.
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: We shouldn't even have a good to that point.
• 53:27
  Speaker 4: Technically, what he admitted was I am so broke that
• 53:30
  Speaker 4: I can no longer afford to contest these allegations.
• 53:34
  Speaker 5: So he didn't admit wrongdoing, but he did. He was like,
• 53:37
  Speaker 5: I don't have the money to continue to contest fees.
• 53:39
  Speaker 3: So okay, sure I read that wrong, but I'm glad
• 53:44
  Speaker 3: he's getting all his money taken away. That's delightful. And
• 53:47
  Speaker 3: we know he's never getting any money that he was
• 53:49
  Speaker 3: supposed to get from Trump, so that's even better.
• 53:52
  Speaker 4: It's like begging Trump to pay his legal his legal fees. Also,
• 53:55
  Speaker 4: even if Trump was like, I'll pay your legal fees,
• 53:57
  Speaker 4: he doesn't pay anyway, So like, what does that even
• 53:59
  Speaker 4: look like?
• 54:00
  Speaker 5: He doesn't pay his bill.
• 54:01
  Speaker 3: I think he actually owes Julianni for the years of
• 54:04
  Speaker 3: representing him. That like he just doesn't pay, which everybody's like,
• 54:08
  Speaker 3: you know, that's not a thing. Which I still love
• 54:11
  Speaker 3: to think about the fact people love him as a businessman,
• 54:13
  Speaker 3: Trump and roll them. I'm like, all his businesses go bankrupt.
• 54:16
  Speaker 3: I don't understand what you're talking about. Literally in Atlanta
• 54:19
  Speaker 3: and he tried to build a whole apartment and it
• 54:23
  Speaker 3: went bankrupt.
• 54:25
  Speaker 4: It's easy to be a savvy businessman where you just
• 54:27
  Speaker 4: don't pay anybody that you owe money to, Like if
• 54:29
  Speaker 4: I didn't pay any of my bills, i'd probably be rich.
• 54:32
  Speaker 3: I love the whole file bankruptcy thing, which he's done
• 54:34
  Speaker 3: so many times and he can because he doesn't need credit,
• 54:36
  Speaker 3: so he's like, I just keep borrowing money. Yeah, And
• 54:39
  Speaker 3: I hate that this is their legacy. Like that's the
• 54:42
  Speaker 3: thing that I know they did what they had to
• 54:46
  Speaker 3: do because they're going to protect themselves and protect their
• 54:49
  Speaker 3: loved ones.
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: But the fact that they had to be put.
• 54:51
  Speaker 3: To this point going through so much stress and then
• 54:55
  Speaker 3: just hiding because I remember when they did high they
• 54:58
  Speaker 3: later left Atlanta and went to South Georgia and even
• 55:01
  Speaker 3: there they're just like, what if they find us?
• 55:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it breaks my heart. My heart goes out to
• 55:06
  Speaker 4: these women. I think about them often. Yeah, I think
• 55:09
  Speaker 4: about them a lot. I wish them nothing but peace
• 55:12
  Speaker 4: and prosperity and abundance for the rest of their lives,
• 55:15
  Speaker 4: because Lord knows they deserve it.
• 55:17
  Speaker 3: They deserve it, and they've done so much, especially for
• 55:20
  Speaker 3: the state of Georgia with what we're seeing, and we
• 55:23
  Speaker 3: love to see the fact that, thanks in part to
• 55:26
  Speaker 3: them to coming out and speaking out, we get to
• 55:30
  Speaker 3: see mugshots.
• 55:34
  Speaker 4: Oh if you if you haven't seen Trevion's mugshot, I
• 55:37
  Speaker 4: definitely suggest taking a look at that too.
• 55:39
  Speaker 5: That's what I'll end there. Just a lot going on.
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: I love it.
• 55:45
  Speaker 3: And we should also note that it is DA Fanny Willis,
• 55:50
  Speaker 3: who is a black woman who really.
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: Decided like, yeah, we're not gonna let this sit.
• 55:55
  Speaker 3: No.
• 55:55
  Speaker 4: I don't think I knew like much about her until this,
• 56:00
  Speaker 4: until this started, so like, yeah, I know it.
• 56:03
  Speaker 5: Chaps.
• 56:03
  Speaker 4: Trump's asked that so many of the people who are
• 56:05
  Speaker 4: like trying to hold him accountable or black women, I
• 56:08
  Speaker 4: know that's got a chat.
• 56:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and he really hoped that Georgia would pull a
• 56:13
  Speaker 3: Florida where Kemp would kick the DA off, but Camp
• 56:20
  Speaker 3: was like, nah, I'm.
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: Not messing with her. You got if I messed with Atlanta,
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: it might be over for me.
• 56:26
  Speaker 4: And he realizes that don't mess with Atlanta because the
• 56:29
  Speaker 4: South's got something to say.
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: Look, they know that he barely made it. Buy some Uh.
• 56:35
  Speaker 3: I'm going to say Gray areas past Abrams, but like
• 56:41
  Speaker 3: Fulton County will be the one that takes him out
• 56:43
  Speaker 3: if he's not careful. And you're here, de Willis, She's
• 56:47
  Speaker 3: she doesn't play.
• 56:51
  Speaker 2: We always love having you so much, Fridgid. I feel
• 56:53
  Speaker 2: like we could just go on and on and on
• 56:54
  Speaker 2: and talk about all these different things.
• 56:56
  Speaker 5: This is such a pleasure.
• 56:57
  Speaker 4: You always let you always let me, Like when I've
• 56:59
  Speaker 4: got to be in my by about something, you all
• 57:01
  Speaker 4: always give me a platform.
• 57:03
  Speaker 5: So I appreciate it.
• 57:04
  Speaker 2: We love bees and bonnets. Virgets bees and bonnets.
• 57:09
  Speaker 5: Oh that's a good business. Look at that. I had
• 57:14
  Speaker 5: to save that one.
• 57:15
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, well, thank you, thank you uh for always
• 57:21
  Speaker 2: being into light and doing this research and making sure
• 57:23
  Speaker 2: people know these important things. We know you're very busy,
• 57:26
  Speaker 2: so we really appreciate it. Yes, where can the good
• 57:30
  Speaker 2: listeners find you?
• 57:31
  Speaker 4: Well, you can check out my podcast. There are no
• 57:33
  Speaker 4: girls on the internet. You can find me on Instagram
• 57:35
  Speaker 4: at bridget Marie and DC or on Twitter at Bridget Marie.
• 57:38
  Speaker 5: And you can see me and Annie in Las Vegas
• 57:41
  Speaker 5: if you're there, check come check us out.
• 57:43
  Speaker 2: Yes, I will wear not pajamas for.
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: Are you gonna low key cosplay Scully? Hello?
• 57:56
  Speaker 2: I actually have a friend who cosplays a Scully and
• 57:58
  Speaker 2: she has the bench. Maybe she'll let me. Okay, that's
• 58:01
  Speaker 2: a good idea. That's a good idea. Okay, well that's
• 58:05
  Speaker 2: a spoiler for what we might be talking about. But yes,
• 58:10
  Speaker 2: thank you, thank you, thank you, Bridget. If you would
• 58:13
  Speaker 2: like to find us, you can. You can email u
• 58:15
  Speaker 2: a Stuffidia mom Stuff at iHeartMedia dot com. You can
• 58:18
  Speaker 2: find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast, or on
• 58:20
  Speaker 2: Instagram and TikTok at Stuff I've Never Told You. We
• 58:22
  Speaker 2: have a tea public store. We also have a book.
• 58:24
  Speaker 2: You can get it at stuff you should read books
• 58:26
  Speaker 2: dot com or wherever you get your books. Thanks, it's
• 58:28
  Speaker 2: always to our super producer Christina, our executive ducer Maya,
• 58:31
  Speaker 2: and our contributor Joey.
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: Thank you and I'm sorry, oh no, Thanks to you.
• 58:36
  Speaker 2: For listening Stuff I've Never Told Whose prediction of i
• 58:39
  Speaker 2: R Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, you
• 58:40
  Speaker 2: can check out the art radio app Apple Podcast wherever
• 58:42
  Speaker 2: you listen to your favorite shows,