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Can We Still Be Friends Across the Political Divide? Culture and Consequence · All About The Joy

0:00
Carmen Lezeth: Hi everyone, welcome to All About the Joy.
0:02
Carmen Lezeth: This is Culture in Consequence.
0:04
Carmen Lezeth: You just straightened up so much.
0:07
Carmen Lezeth: I'm Carmen Lisa, your host, and Andrea's in the house.
0:13
Carmen Lezeth: Hey, andrea, hello, hi everybody.
0:17
Carmen Lezeth: Yeah, why do you look so good?
0:18
Carmen Lezeth: What's happening?
0:19
Carmen Lezeth: It's been a minute.
0:19
Carmen Lezeth: Yeah, look girl.
0:20
Carmen Lezeth: What's happening Like it's been a minute.
0:23
Carmen Lezeth: Yeah, look girl, I cannot help my beauty, okay, hey, so this is our first episode.
0:30
Carmen Lezeth: We've been kind of talking about this for years to be doing a show.
0:37
Carmen Lezeth: We had tried to do one a while back, and now that I'm in the mode, and now that it becomes one of the shows that All About the Joy does, I'm just glad that we've decided to do it.
0:48
Carmen Lezeth: So, thank you.
0:50
Andrea: Yes, I'm happy to be here.
0:51
Andrea: I remember that we did this a few times way, way, way back.
0:56
Andrea: I think it was even during COVID times and it was fun.
1:01
Andrea: We had some good conversations but, like you said, it wasn't really in a routine, in the mode.
1:08
Andrea: So I'm excited.
1:10
Carmen Lezeth: So, for people who don't know, this show is going to touch on a lot of things that we don't talk about on all the other shows.
1:17
Carmen Lezeth: Maybe a little bit on Carmen Talk.
1:19
Carmen Lezeth: When I do my little, I need to vent about something, so I'll do my little kind of impromptu TED Talks.
1:26
Carmen Lezeth: So I'll talk about politics, but we're going to dive into politics and social issues.
1:32
Carmen Lezeth: So culture and consequences, because there are consequences to all of this, and if we can teach something along the way, that may not happen, though.
1:40
Carmen Lezeth: Folks, it's my intention to want to teach things along the way know, folks, it's my intention to want to teach things along the way.
1:47
Carmen Lezeth: And this came up because somebody was spewing lots of crap about redistricting, because they didn't understand what actually happens when we redistrict, and so I started to explain to them, and I was like you know what?
1:58
Carmen Lezeth: I need to do a show because I'm tired of people talking bullshittery.
2:02
Carmen Lezeth: So the purpose of the show wasn't for us to teach stuff, but it really is.
2:06
Carmen Lezeth: To yell at Andrea about how wrong she is, about her liberal ass is really what it is.
2:11
Carmen Lezeth: I'm just kidding.
2:13
Andrea: Why are you doing this?
2:14
Andrea: Why are?
2:15
Carmen Lezeth: you doing this, besides the fact that you love me and you know well, mostly because I love you, even though you're so mean to me.
2:28
Andrea: I mean to everyone I am, I am, I'm not special.
2:32
Carmen Lezeth: Equal opportunity mean person.
2:35
Andrea: No, I'm doing this because I, we just I think we have great conversations and I think before any of this, all along, we've sort of been like how do we just record ourselves talking, you know, because it's hilarious for us, right, and I think I'm just going to put it out there that maybe you've learned a few things from me and I have learned a few things from you.
2:57
Andrea: It's true.
3:02
Andrea: Yeah, I mean, maybe if there's some, some learning or even just some inspiration to perhaps go and learn on your own, that would be lovely yeah, it's true that we've learned from each other.
3:17
Carmen Lezeth: I think I admitted recently to you, in the past couple years, and I think now I regret admitting it to you, but I just I have always.
3:26
Carmen Lezeth: So let's just get into it.
3:28
Carmen Lezeth: Like, I've always loved this country.
3:30
Carmen Lezeth: I've always been.
3:32
Carmen Lezeth: I used to have a flag on my car, a little sticker, like it's no longer there, but I've always I know it's so weird, let me just turn this off, I forgot it was on.
3:43
Carmen Lezeth: I've always been very patriotic and loved my country and was very rah, rah, rah.
3:51
Carmen Lezeth: Let's see the other side of it, to the extent that when I worked at a major company and was an executive, I would listen to KABC, which at the time I don't know what it is now, but it would be like Sean Hannity, larry Elder what's the other creepy guy?
4:10
Andrea: There are so many that she's Bill O'Reilly.
4:12
Carmen Lezeth: I used to listen to them in my office, even though I have always been more of a conservative Democrat, but I've always been a Democrat and I would listen to them because I'd want to listen to what they had to say.
4:23
Carmen Lezeth: And I remember some of our fights would be about me defending some oh, it's making me nauseous.
4:32
Carmen Lezeth: Back when America was great, by the way, I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding I had the ability to at least listen to the other side in a way, because at least I thought they weren't so much making sense, but I felt like if I could understand where they were coming from, it would make me a better person.
4:53
Carmen Lezeth: But that has completely changed now, 100%.
4:57
Carmen Lezeth: And I see what you were saying about this country, that I would not believe, oh God.
5:04
Carmen Lezeth: Well, now you better explain what we're talking about.
5:07
Carmen Lezeth: Like your thoughts on the United States of America, oh God, okay.
5:15
Andrea: I'm just going to preface this by saying that, you know, I was born in another country, it was on an army base, but like, I came to the United States, kind of aware of what it was like to be in other places, right, and that other places were great and lovely and had some wonderful things about them, right.
5:39
Andrea: I was very young, you know, and I don't know why I've told you this before, but you know I just sort of always had an interest in politics.
5:49
Andrea: I just always did.
5:50
Andrea: I don't know why.
5:52
Andrea: We moved back to the United States the day Nixon resigned, Just FYI.
5:58
Andrea: And my mom always joked, like you know, oh, it was safe to come back now, Right.
6:02
Andrea: Like you know, oh, it was safe to come back now, right.
6:06
Andrea: Yeah.
6:06
Andrea: So we thought and back.
6:09
Andrea: You know, when I was young I used to watch the State of the Union every year this is in the Reagan years.
6:22
Andrea: I watched every single State of the Union and always, always thought this lying motherfucker, um the trickle down theory didn't work for you, then I don't know, and I was young right
6:36
Andrea: and I just always was like no, no, no, no, no, no, like what I was seeing.
6:43
Andrea: I lived in I would say like a lower middle class neighborhood, very diverse and just you know came from.
6:53
Andrea: I wouldn't say my family was immigrants, but you know they were Mexican, and so just what I saw and what I felt did not match up with what I was hearing.
7:02
Andrea: And I was always a pretty observant kid, so all of that, to preface that and I was a big reader, I was very into history I just always felt like I had a more realistic view of the United States.
7:21
Andrea: I guess is the way that I always thought of it.
7:23
Andrea: I was like I don't have rose colored glasses on.
7:26
Andrea: I would never, ever say this is the greatest country in the world.
7:30
Andrea: I don't.
7:31
Andrea: I just I want to be clear.
7:33
Carmen Lezeth: She has never said that.
7:35
Carmen Lezeth: I just also want to say that people I'm sure just heard that you are Mexican People are going to be a little confused, and you should not be.
7:45
Carmen Lezeth: It means you know nothing about the diaspora of the Latino community.
7:51
Carmen Lezeth: But go ahead.
7:52
Carmen Lezeth: I just, I love that you threw that in there.
7:54
Andrea: I love that.
7:54
Andrea: Yeah, the actual makeup of a lot of people in this country, right In the United States, so yeah, I just, you know, never really got the feeling of American exceptionalism and, like I said, I read a lot, so you know I understood many of the things that we did in Latin America and you know, around the world and continue, you know, I mean, this was in the eighties, that I was, you know, like Iran Contra, like hello people.
8:29
Andrea: You know what I mean.
8:29
Andrea: You know Oliver North and all of that Right, who is now, I guess you know, back in the fold whatever.
8:37
Andrea: Um, you know what I mean.
8:39
Andrea: So I just had what I think is, I guess, maybe like a different level of awareness for a person my age and I don't know, I don't know how else to say it.
8:54
Carmen Lezeth: No, no, I think you said it perfectly well, and every time you're saying something I'm holding back so that you can, because I think the flip side of it for me was I didn't know anything about Reagan.
9:07
Carmen Lezeth: I grew up the way I grew up, which was without parents, basically, and at the age of 12.
9:13
Carmen Lezeth: And so I was in survival mode on a day to day.
9:17
Carmen Lezeth: And I would also say, in my neighborhood, I don't remember politics being the thing we discussed, like I don't ever remember politics being something that was important or I didn't know anything about it.
9:30
Carmen Lezeth: And I'll say this even as a kid, I don't think I would have known who the president of the United States was, whereas I know my godchildren knew when they were five or whatever.
9:40
Carmen Lezeth: You know what I mean?
9:40
Carmen Lezeth: Yeah, I just it wasn't part of my everyday makeup, so, and the other part of it was, I think for me there's the overarching umbrella of hope and possibility, which is why people come to this country and have nothing and have a decent life right, that whole kind of I mean now I can look back and be like, okay, all that was what it was, more story, especially if you were a woman or a person of color or LGBTQ or whatever we want to, you know, go down that kind of discussion.
10:24
Carmen Lezeth: But I think for me the United States was always something about the possibility of hope and I don't think that's still not true.
10:33
Carmen Lezeth: I mean, I think it's disparaging and horrible the situation we're in now, but the idea of possibility still exists of who we can be.
10:46
Carmen Lezeth: But I think I didn't know enough about the history of our country, especially as a Black Latina woman, but definitely as a Black woman did not understand how much this country lied about our history and continues to lie about it, which I don't understand, why we don't embrace our actual history and actually become a great country because of it or in spite of it, you know.
11:12
Andrea: But yeah, I mean, look, there is a lot of opportunity here.
11:16
Andrea: There's no doubt about it, right, like you know, in my own family living proof of, like, you can come to this country and you can make a great life for yourself.
11:26
Andrea: Right, and there are millions of people who have done that over, you know, the last couple of hundred years.
11:32
Andrea: Right, but there are issues.
11:36
Andrea: Right, there are problems, there are things that we have not dealt with, that we deny, that we cover up, and I completely agree with you to actually look at those things honestly and be able to say, yeah, hey, we did this.
11:51
Andrea: It's terrible that we did this, here's what we learned and now we're going to move forward.
11:57
Andrea: That's something that we have really not done in any large scale way.
12:04
Andrea: That would be so, so beneficial.
12:07
Andrea: I mean, that's how people grow.
12:08
Andrea: Everybody knows that's how people grow, right, you own up to your mistakes, you take responsibility and you do better.
12:18
Carmen Lezeth: We all know that.
12:19
Carmen Lezeth: I don't know why it's so hard.
12:21
Carmen Lezeth: I mean, I do know why, right?
12:23
Carmen Lezeth: Racism, sexism, homophobia, I mean we can go down the list.
12:28
Andrea: When I think about us talking about politics over the last 20, whatever years, I'm always like because they're racist, because it's racist, because racism.
12:39
Carmen Lezeth: Andrea has always been that person and I'm always like, but but what?
12:44
Carmen Lezeth: I think it's also been hard to want to believe that.
12:49
Carmen Lezeth: Like as a person of color, it's hard to keep thinking that we're still here.
12:55
Carmen Lezeth: We're still I mean, I'm sure, as a white person as well it's like why are we still having the same conversation that Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X X?
13:05
Carmen Lezeth: And we can go back like, just why are we still having the same conversation?
13:10
Carmen Lezeth: And now it's even worse.
13:13
Andrea: I mean, yeah, reverting, right, we're going backwards at a fast, fast clip.
13:18
Andrea: Yeah, it's so mind-boggling, right.
13:25
Andrea: Like what are you so afraid of?
13:28
Carmen Lezeth: So this is what we're going to discuss and fix about our country in our podcast.
13:34
Carmen Lezeth: That's what we're here to do.
13:37
Carmen Lezeth: We're going to figure out what's wrong with this mofo country and fix it now, all right, well, let's talk about someone who's trying to do something a little bit different your favorite person and governor, because this is where we have had arguments about Governor Gavin Newsom.
13:58
Andrea: I just want to say that I have been mentally prepping for this conversation for like three weeks.
14:05
Andrea: I've got my arguments all laid out.
14:08
Andrea: Okay, I've got my evidence over here.
14:11
Carmen Lezeth: I'm just saying there was a moment where you relented as well, and this is where we learn from each other.
14:17
Carmen Lezeth: But you can give us your feelings on Governor Gavin Newsom and then I will rebut it and put you back on track.
14:28
Andrea: As you know, yes, I have never trusted him fully, right Like I don't know.
14:34
Andrea: Yes, I have never trusted him fully, right, right, like, uh, I don't know, I'm waiting for the other shoe, I'm waiting.
14:40
Andrea: And then I was like, okay, okay, he's fine.
14:45
Andrea: And then it finally dropped and I was like I fucking knew it, you piece of shit.
14:51
Carmen Lezeth: Right and it dropped, Meaning he was like I fucking knew it, you piece of shit.
14:53
Carmen Lezeth: Right and it dropped meaning he did that podcast with Charlie Kirk and them.
14:56
Carmen Lezeth: Is that it, or are we talking about beforehand?
14:58
Andrea: But honestly, before that, if you remember I can't remember exactly when it was I should have looked at this because I was truly like I got to have receipts.
15:08
Carmen Lezeth: It's okay, I think it was last year, it's okay.
15:10
Andrea: I think it was California Last year he came down here and I believe it was in Northridge and was all having a temper tantrum and cleaned up a homeless encampment and just throwing everybody's stuff away and I was like what in the hell does this man think he is doing?
15:29
Andrea: It looked like a temper tantrum.
15:32
Andrea: That's what it looked like to me.
15:33
Andrea: And then, of course, when he finally has the chance to say what Gavin wants to say and talk to who Gavin wants to talk to.
15:45
Andrea: Who is it?
15:47
Andrea: Who is it?
15:49
Andrea: Who does he platform?
15:50
Andrea: Who does he want to be in conversation with?
15:53
Carmen Lezeth: Yeah, he spoke with Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon.
15:57
Andrea: Yeah, and has gone on other right wing podcasts and you know, is, you know, has gone.
16:03
Andrea: Maybe you know too far with the rights of some other human beings, apparently like with the rights.
16:10
Andrea: What are you talking about?
16:11
Andrea: I'm talking about trans rights.
16:12
Andrea: Um, yeah, apparently like with the rights.
16:20
Andrea: What are you talking about?
16:21
Andrea: I'm talking about trans rights.
16:22
Andrea: Um, yeah, it's just now.
16:23
Andrea: I will say the man knows how to fight.
16:23
Andrea: He's a little asshole and you know he's our asshole.
16:25
Andrea: He's our asshole.
16:25
Andrea: You know what I mean, unless you're, you know, homeless or trans, but you know what I mean.
16:28
Andrea: He knows how to fight and, uh, no, I like that.
16:33
Andrea: He's doing that.
16:34
Andrea: Um, I, my great hope for what he's doing is that other democratic leaders, uh, see that and see the attention that he's getting and, uh, you know, start to do their own version of that which, frankly, is what everyone should have been doing all along, from the moment that dude came down the elevator.
16:57
Andrea: That's what everybody should Republicans and Democrats should have been doing this all along.
17:01
Andrea: So, you know, my hope is that someone who may be with a little less, I don't know, whatever.
17:12
Carmen Lezeth: I love Gavin Newsom.
17:13
Carmen Lezeth: I hate it.
17:14
Carmen Lezeth: So I have the opposite thing.
17:16
Carmen Lezeth: I've always respected him, always loved him.
17:18
Carmen Lezeth: I do think part of why you hate him we've had this conversation is he is so soap opera good looking.
17:28
Carmen Lezeth: He just has that slick.
17:29
Carmen Lezeth: You've called him slick so many times.
17:31
Andrea: I call him slick and he's got that smile with a little like like the little sparkle yeah.
17:39
Carmen Lezeth: And I've never really looked at that so much.
17:42
Carmen Lezeth: I mean, I do think he's good looking, but I've always kind of thought that works for him, it's not his fault, he's good looking, or whatever.
17:49
Carmen Lezeth: I actually and I and I think this is when you relented a little bit because I think there's a part of him that does come across as I don't know why I'm going to say this because it's so old fashioned but too big for his britches or whatever.
18:05
Carmen Lezeth: He just comes across as smarmy and I get it.
18:09
Carmen Lezeth: I get why people can see that.
18:10
Carmen Lezeth: But I have always thought of him when he was mayor and the whole gay rights thing, and he was one of the first people and at the end of the day, I don't care what he looks like or what he comes across, as he did the right thing without hesitation.
18:29
Carmen Lezeth: There was no, like you know, equivocation or thinking about it, and I love Barack Obama, but he was like he equivocated.
18:37
Carmen Lezeth: So I think that's part of it.
18:40
Carmen Lezeth: I think the other part of it too is because I know and I think I told you this especially when I found out about it that he's dyslexic, which I think is something that he doesn't like.
18:54
Carmen Lezeth: He doesn't use that as a thing to make himself be relatable, and I think somebody should have told him to do that a long time ago, but he didn't.
19:04
Carmen Lezeth: And he also grew up with foster care kids because his mom, when they were divorced, when his mom and dad got divorced in order for his mom to make more money, she had foster kids come into the house and he still calls one of them his brothers and he's Black, and so I feel like he has this well-rounded kind of upbringing.
19:26
Carmen Lezeth: And, yes, there's the part where, on his father's side, he grew up with the Getty family, right.
19:32
Carmen Lezeth: So he has this duality of growing up extremely kind of I don't want to say extremely poor, but they were hardworking and they had a terrible divorce thing.
19:41
Carmen Lezeth: And then he has the Getty family who were kind of like his mentors and whatever Benefactors Benefactors.
19:48
Carmen Lezeth: But you know what I wish some of the rich people I knew in my life would be benefactors like I.
19:53
Carmen Lezeth: That's how I so that's how I relate to him a little bit more is like like I'm going to be mad at him because people helped him so, but so so I look at I think somebody said this the other day, so I can't even take um credit for this.
20:10
Carmen Lezeth: I think, as Democrats whether it's your kind of Democrat which is like left-leaning to the other extreme, I'm not.
20:17
Carmen Lezeth: I'm still more to the middle and I'm not a Democrat anymore.
20:20
Carmen Lezeth: I became an independent after the Joe Biden debacle, which we'll talk about some other time, but I still will always be on the Democratic bandwagon.
20:29
Carmen Lezeth: There's not a question about that.
20:31
Carmen Lezeth: But we keep wanting the perfect candidate.
20:36
Carmen Lezeth: I think this is what I get annoyed at with the Democrat.
20:39
Carmen Lezeth: We have so many boxes that need to be checked and the candidate needs to be absolutely perfect.
20:46
Carmen Lezeth: Do I think Gavin Newsom sucks at the homeless issue?
20:49
Carmen Lezeth: Yes, I do, I do.
20:52
Carmen Lezeth: I think he's horrible.
20:53
Carmen Lezeth: Do I think he's tried?
20:55
Carmen Lezeth: Okay, I don't know as much as any other politician has, and he's been horrible at it, but do we throw him completely out?
21:03
Carmen Lezeth: And which candidate is perfect?
21:06
Carmen Lezeth: Which one?
21:07
Carmen Lezeth: And I think that's what bothers me about the Gavin Newsom-isms, you know.
21:11
Carmen Lezeth: And yeah, he's fighting now and we need somebody to fight, but even before that, I was a champion of Gavin Newsom, the Charlie Kirk thing and the fucking Steve Bannon.
21:21
Carmen Lezeth: I was.
21:22
Carmen Lezeth: You know, I was pissed.
21:23
Carmen Lezeth: I text you.
21:24
Carmen Lezeth: I'm like I'm done.
21:25
Carmen Lezeth: I'm now done.
21:25
Carmen Lezeth: I hear you.
21:26
Carmen Lezeth: You were right.
21:27
Carmen Lezeth: I was pissed, and now he's actually using that.
21:50
Andrea: And now he's actually using that and this is that strategy, like now he's using that as a way to get.
21:52
Andrea: I know, I know it's it's politics, and now he's using that to swarm his way into that avenue of.
21:54
Andrea: Christianity.
21:54
Andrea: Okay, that's my argument.
21:55
Andrea: Okay, I hear you and you know who I am.
21:56
Andrea: Like my vote we discussed this many, many times right, like, I vote with my heart in the primary and my head in the general.
22:04
Andrea: So you know we will, and we are three years away and that is like 17 lifetimes.
22:09
Andrea: So who even knows?
22:10
Andrea: You know.
22:11
Andrea: I'm not worried about that you know what I mean, but I just feel like why on earth would you move to the right?
22:23
Andrea: Those people are not going to vote for you.
22:26
Andrea: They are, yeah I don't think it's still.
22:31
Andrea: you've got a whole chunk of people who are never going to vote for a Democrat and then you've got some people who are maybe like they are not going to vote for Gavin Newsom.
22:40
Andrea: I am not going to.
22:42
Andrea: That's not why he did it.
22:44
Andrea: If you're supposed to be a Kamala Harris San Francisco liberal, why would you go to the right and turn your back on the people who have supported you for your entire political career?
22:57
Carmen Lezeth: Okay, the fact that you're making me defend him is pissing me off, but I'm going to defend him.
23:01
Carmen Lezeth: He was just on Pivot the podcast with Karen Switzer, because the other guy is out or whatever.
23:06
Carmen Lezeth: So he was just on there and I was just listening to him and I don't think he I mean I was pissed when he did it and I was.
23:13
Carmen Lezeth: I'm still angry about it, but what I am going to say is that now he's using it as a talking point and so, strategy wise, this is why you and I could never be politicians, because we're too authentically like no, we must be good and do what we have to do and be be conscious about it.
23:30
Carmen Lezeth: But he's now on that, on that podcast and in other interviews, he's like we have to talk to the other side.
23:41
Carmen Lezeth: That's why I spoke to the other side, because we have to be able to communicate, and I'm like whoa, like that's why he did it, so that he could say he is trying to talk to the other side.
23:48
Carmen Lezeth: He doesn't expect them to vote for him.
23:51
Andrea: He's not, he's being Okay, so meanwhile, he's lost votes on the left, so this is not a winner.
23:59
Carmen Lezeth: He's got it back.
24:00
Carmen Lezeth: Are you kidding me?
24:01
Carmen Lezeth: Yes, bo, first of all, you just said we have like three years before we have to start, or whatever.
24:07
Carmen Lezeth: Two years before we have to start.
24:09
Carmen Lezeth: I do think he's thinking about the presidency.
24:13
Carmen Lezeth: I'm not crazy about that, that we're on the same page.
24:16
Andrea: You've been thinking about the presidency for 10 years.
24:19
Carmen Lezeth: And yet he would have always.
24:21
Carmen Lezeth: And he see, this is where you and I have fights, this is where you and I fight.
24:25
Carmen Lezeth: And yet, when asked when Joe Biden got out of the race and people were clamoring for him to run, he did the right thing and said I'm not running, I am voting for Kamala Harris, and that's where I will give him integrity.
24:41
Carmen Lezeth: I'm sorry, he's a party man.
24:43
Carmen Lezeth: He is a party man, but he's also a good man, which I know you and I have.
24:48
Carmen Lezeth: I can see your face.
24:51
Andrea: Beg to differ.
24:54
Carmen Lezeth: Okay, who would be a good politician to you?
24:56
Carmen Lezeth: Who's a good man, a good woman.
24:59
Andrea: Okay.
24:59
Andrea: Well, let me start by saying I don't know if I believe that there are any good politicians.
25:05
Carmen Lezeth: Okay, yeah, all right.
25:06
Carmen Lezeth: Well, I can't help.
25:08
Carmen Lezeth: And you asked me to run for office.
25:10
Carmen Lezeth: Remember, we had this real.
25:11
Carmen Lezeth: You see what I'm saying?
25:13
Carmen Lezeth: Like that's not fair, I think.
25:14
Carmen Lezeth: I think there are good people who want to do the right thing.
25:18
Andrea: No, there are.
25:18
Andrea: I mean, yes, I was being facetious, but you know, I think it's really hard to be a good person and a politician.
25:28
Carmen Lezeth: At the same time, I do believe that I think that's a very difficult line to walk.
25:39
Carmen Lezeth: I don't believe that's true.
25:44
Andrea: I don't believe that's true.
25:45
Andrea: You're pessimistic.
25:45
Andrea: I'm optimistic on this, yeah, and I also.
25:46
Andrea: As you know, I don't idolize or like hero, and I'm not saying you do, but I know some people do you know hero?
25:55
Andrea: Worship any of these people at all?
25:57
Andrea: I love gavin newsom you know what I mean.
26:01
Andrea: Like people wait, I mean, well, that's what's happening with trump.
26:04
Andrea: Yeah, I know, right, people make it their whole personality and it's like you know what I mean.
26:08
Andrea: Like I don't feel that way about anybody.
26:11
Andrea: Even obama, right, like was like this is just a man.
26:14
Andrea: He's not going to be able to do all of the things you think you want him to do.
26:17
Andrea: You know, let's all calm down.
26:19
Andrea: So, you know, is there someone right now I can point to and be like that's someone I would want to run?
26:27
Andrea: Honestly, no.
26:30
Carmen Lezeth: Well, not about running, but I mean you said there are not.
26:33
Carmen Lezeth: You can't be good, good person and a politician I think a Jasmine Crockett, you know.
26:38
Carmen Lezeth: I think these are good people trying to do the right thing.
26:41
Carmen Lezeth: Will they get swept up in the bullshittery eventually?
26:45
Carmen Lezeth: Probably because it's the nature of politics.
26:47
Carmen Lezeth: That's not excusing it.
26:49
Andrea: Yeah, no, I know I don't.
26:51
Andrea: Like I said, I was being a little bit facetious, like I don't think they're not good people.
26:54
Andrea: I do think it's difficult, though, right, you need money.
26:57
Andrea: That's the way that it is.
26:59
Carmen Lezeth: We want to thank the Supreme Court for making that even a more important situation.
27:04
Andrea: And so that's, I believe, what makes it so hard to be true to your values and all of those things is like, at some point you you're either gonna get a bunch of money you have to be like, you know, this super charismatic, like aoc type of person who can get donations from literally all over the world and build a war chest or you've got to go out and seek it from donors, in which case you're beholden to them, and you know what I mean.
27:33
Carmen Lezeth: It's just very challenging, right but isn't that why we need to make sure that we vote?
27:38
Carmen Lezeth: Because what made it worse was the Supreme Court basically saying that corporations are people and have the same right, and so I mean, look, I agree with you on that.
27:48
Carmen Lezeth: But that's not about Gavin Newsom or AOC or Barack Obama.
27:52
Carmen Lezeth: That's about how we've allowed our institutions to be okay, with money being the way in which we determine who our candidates and governors and whatever are.
28:07
Andrea: Yeah, and I think it goes back to this idea of the perfect candidate, right, like you know.
28:12
Andrea: Yes, I believe you're right.
28:14
Andrea: Like democrats are often looking for checks every single one of my boxes, and if this you know box 73a isn't checked, then you're out, right, like that's a little ridiculous.
28:24
Carmen Lezeth: And if you're a woman completely out you're not even talking about that anymore.
28:32
Andrea: Sorry, um, you know what I mean, but like that's, I think, a more difficult thing to do.
28:40
Andrea: Because of the money, right, because of the need for the money, right, and if you don't have the money, you can't get in front of people, you don't have the machine that it takes to, you know, become a name and become known and get your message out there and all of those kinds of things.
28:57
Andrea: It's just, yeah, it's a hot mess.
28:59
Carmen Lezeth: We are on the same page on that, I think.
29:01
Carmen Lezeth: For me I will.
29:03
Carmen Lezeth: I always believe in the best, in people.
29:05
Carmen Lezeth: I know this drives you up a wall, like I still have faith in the American people, and even the ones I know, I know.
29:18
Andrea: What did you just say?
29:19
Andrea: I said are you kidding me?
29:21
Carmen Lezeth: I do, I have to.
29:23
Carmen Lezeth: Well, what's the point then?
29:24
Carmen Lezeth: Why not just move to another country right now?
29:26
Carmen Lezeth: Why not just go?
29:29
Andrea: I mean, yeah, I would, if I could.
29:31
Andrea: You know what's so funny.
29:34
Carmen Lezeth: I know you would, that just killed me.
29:36
Carmen Lezeth: I just look.
29:40
Andrea: I will say, like I generally believe that most people are good, I do, I really do, Unless they're Republican.
29:51
Andrea: Unless they're Republican.
29:55
Andrea: Most people aren't Republican.
29:57
Carmen Lezeth: I know Most people think they're Republican, but they're not the more you know, right the more you know, and then we'll get into all that.
30:03
Carmen Lezeth: Right.
30:08
Andrea: Yeah, there's possibly multiple generations of you know what?
30:16
Andrea: Is it deprogramming that needs to be done in this country in order for us to, in order for me to believe that you know the American people want what's best?
30:29
Andrea: I don't know.
30:30
Carmen Lezeth: I didn't say that, right, I just wanted to say that I know I said I have faith in the American people.
30:36
Carmen Lezeth: I because I don't know how else to function, especially as a black, latina woman, except to think hope that there are more people who understand and believe what we believe fundamentally than not Do.
30:53
Carmen Lezeth: I think we lack a lot of education in this country, for sure, for sure, especially when it comes to politics, and I think if there's anything that has been revealed during this time of Trumpism, it's that Is that so many people do not know what they're talking about, are getting misinformation from people who are pretending to know what they're talking about because they're making money off of them, and maybe this is where we live.
31:21
Andrea: I don't know, maybe this is the vast right-wing conspiracy to throw us back.
31:27
Andrea: This is the multi-decade.
31:31
Andrea: You know, I harangue about this all the time and my kids are like oh my god, shut up.
31:35
Andrea: This is the multi-decade Republican project to gut public education.
31:43
Andrea: We are reaping the rewards, if you will, of that project, which has been extraordinarily successful.
31:52
Andrea: Extraordinarily successful, honestly likeordinarily successful.
31:55
Carmen Lezeth: You know honestly like you said credit to the Heritage Foundation.
31:58
Carmen Lezeth: Right, let's give a shout out to the Heritage Foundation who did Project 25 or whatever it is.
32:04
Andrea: Yes, and have been working on gutting Newt Gingrich and Mitch McConnell.
32:09
Andrea: Yes, you know, like you did it.
32:12
Carmen Lezeth: Destroying our country.
32:13
Andrea: Thank you, we appreciate you.
32:14
Carmen Lezeth: Thank you, we appreciate you.
32:15
Carmen Lezeth: Thank you, and Clarence Thomas Shout out to you boo Scalia, scalia, woo, yeah, see at the end of the day we really do believe kind of the same thing, like it's so funny, like we have this kind of inter I don't know arguments back and forth, but when it comes right down to it we actually do.
32:40
Carmen Lezeth: And this is the thing that I know is going to kill you a little bit.
32:42
Carmen Lezeth: I actually believe most people in the United States are more to the middle than not.
32:44
Carmen Lezeth: It's kind of that idea that most people think they're Republican and they're not.
32:48
Andrea: I believe that too.
32:49
Andrea: I 100% believe that, like I said, the vast majority of people in this country are not Republican, they're not and they don't believe what the statedment of the Republican party Like you know what I mean.
33:15
Carmen Lezeth: Like just stay out but somehow.
33:17
Andrea: But we'll have to get back to that because that's right, I'm from the government and I'm here to help.
33:21
Andrea: Those are the scariest words in the English language You're so funny.
33:28
Carmen Lezeth: This is going to be fun.
33:29
Carmen Lezeth: This is going to be fun.
33:30
Carmen Lezeth: Thank you for doing it All right.
33:32
Carmen Lezeth: Well, I appreciate you being here, and that was not what I thought we were going to talk about, but it was kind of sorta this is what we do.
33:41
Andrea: This is like a phone call that we have.
33:43
Carmen Lezeth: I know I thought it would be harder, but I think it's going to work.
33:48
Carmen Lezeth: So, yeah, hey everyone.
33:50
Carmen Lezeth: We'll be back next week on All About the Joy Culture and Consequences with Carmen and Andrea, and until then, remember it really is all about the joy.
34:00
Carmen Lezeth: Bye, everyone, bye.
34:01
Carmen Lezeth: Thanks for stopping by.
34:06
Carmen Lezeth: All About the Joy.
34:07
Carmen Lezeth: Be better and stay beautiful folks.
34:10
Carmen Lezeth: Have a sweet day.