Black Voters and the 2026 Battle for Michigan with Donna and Sam

WEBVTT
00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:06.480
Up next, Authentically Detroit discusses black voters in Michigan and their possible shift to the right in the 2026 election cycle.
00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:14.560
Along with what we're reading this week in the Michigan Chronicle, the Congressional Black Caucus PAC endorsed Abdul El Sayyed.
00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:22.079
As some Detroit voters are still hesitating, keep it locked, Authentically Detroit starts right after these messages.
00:00:22.719 --> 00:00:38.560
Interested in renting space for corporate events, meetings, conferences, social events, or resource fairs, the Stodermeier Wellness Hub and Mac Market are available for rental by members, residents, businesses, and organizations.
00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:49.280
We offer rentals for activities such as corporate events, social events, meetings, conferences, art classes, fitness classes, and more.
00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:58.320
To learn more about our rentals and reserve space, visit ecnetroit.org slash space rental.
00:01:24.959 --> 00:01:26.079
What's up, Detroit?
00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:28.640
Welcome to another episode of Authentically Detroit.
00:01:28.719 --> 00:01:33.280
We're broadcasting live from the Stademeyer Inside, the East Side Community Network.
00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:34.560
My name is Sam Robinson.
00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:36.079
And I'm Donna Givens Davidson.
00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:43.040
We want to thank you all so much for listening in and supporting our efforts to build a platform of authentic voices for real people here in the city of Detroit.
00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:47.439
We want you to like, rate, and subscribe to our podcast on all platforms.
00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:54.159
It's just Donna and I today inside the studio after we took last week off to celebrate Labor Day.
00:01:54.400 --> 00:02:03.920
Today we are going to be talking about something that's been popping up more and more in conversation since the results of Michigan's 2026 primary election.
00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:25.520
Really important midterms coming up that are going to determine the control of Congress and Michigan and Detroit voters, specifically black voters in Detroit, are becoming the central character that are being fought for by not just traditionally the Democratic campaigns, but Republicans are coming to Detroit.
00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:28.879
Mike Rogers, John James.
00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:33.520
More than we've seen Republicans show up in the latest efforts.
00:02:33.599 --> 00:02:35.520
So we're going to talk about that today.
00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:38.159
But we want to welcome you back to Authentically Detroit.
00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:39.680
Donna, how are you doing today?
00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:40.400
I'm doing well.
00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:40.960
How are you?
00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:41.840
I'm doing good.
00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:47.680
I need to take my Zertex still, so if I sound a little bit nasally, that is why seasonal allergies are here.
00:02:47.759 --> 00:02:48.560
It is September.
00:02:48.639 --> 00:02:49.520
The kids are back in school.
00:02:49.599 --> 00:02:56.400
And I can remember going to school every single year and just being like sick and not healthy all the way.
00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:59.360
Uh happened to me every single school year without fail.
00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:13.039
And then when I was like 20, I was just badly affected by like uh, you know, like eczema in my eyes and face, and I had like this terrible rash going into the football season.
00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:25.599
I remember doing two-a-days when I was working for Western Michigan football, and like I was waking up and it was so bad because it affects you know people that have allergies, they know that uh in the morning and at night is when it hits the worst.
00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:28.000
And so you can imagine I was waking up at like 6 a.m.
00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:33.439
and like my eyes like wouldn't open like to go film football practices.
00:03:33.680 --> 00:03:40.159
So uh I am holding one high for everyone battling the seasonal allergies right now.
00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:51.360
Uh, we're gonna look first at uh this headline uh from earlier in the week, um, last week, uh, on the CBC pack endorsing Abdul.
00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:55.520
They, of course, um endorsed Haley Stevens in the primary election.
00:03:55.759 --> 00:03:57.680
That was not a surprise.
00:03:57.919 --> 00:04:08.159
Of course, most of Detroit and black uh sort of establishment, more moderate voters across the state and across the country uh were pretty skeptical of Abdul.
00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:20.720
He's not DSA, however, the um Metro Detroit DSA as well as the national DSA group uh they really supported Abdul, didn't endorse him formally, however.
00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:25.360
Um, a lot of their members phone banked for Abdul, canvas for Abdul.
00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:32.959
I saw a lot of uh DSA people from New York and Texas and California the day before the primary in Detroit.
00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:37.040
And so a lot of people feel like there's just this generational disconnect.
00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:38.399
I think it's more than generational.
00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:42.800
I think it really is sort of ideological as I talk to older black folks.
00:04:42.959 --> 00:04:46.560
Uh Donna, I don't know if you put yourself into that category.
00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:50.079
But um, you know, I I I I don't have a choice, right?
00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:51.519
I was born in 1963.
00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:53.040
So whatever that's still young.
00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:54.879
Yeah, you know, that's young.
00:04:54.959 --> 00:04:55.360
That's pretty good.
00:04:55.600 --> 00:04:56.720
It's definitely young.
00:04:56.959 --> 00:05:03.279
Um but I think that you know, politics is changing, and we've got to acknowledge that.
00:05:03.439 --> 00:05:09.519
And this idea that there is this monolith of black voters is not true.
00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:12.879
There has there's actually historical precedent for that.
00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:17.680
You know, um, at one point, most black people voted Republican.
00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:25.839
After FDR, many, many moved to the Democratic side, but there are many others who stayed with the Republican Party.
00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:32.240
Um, you've never had 100% agreement among black people who vote on any candidate.
00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:39.519
Uh, but we're in a time where issues are hitting differently, depending on whether your generation I guess it's always true.
00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:42.879
Um, the younger generation cares more about climate change, for example.
00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:47.680
The younger generation cares about college debt, much more so than my generation.
00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:54.399
Um, access to housing, when I graduated from college, people who were my age were purchasing housing.
00:05:54.480 --> 00:06:01.920
Now people feel like they're locked out of um affordable home purchases because housing prices have escalated.
00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:10.800
And then you have um attitudes about um geopolitical issues like Israel and like um Gaza.
00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:25.920
Um, I was raised at a time where black people just automatically supported Israel, believing that that was, you know, um a matter of justice, very much like the Emancipation Proclamation was a matter of justice.
00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:29.600
We're getting these people a land where they can be safe.
00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:38.639
And we were not necessarily made aware of everything that was happening to people who were Palestinian and what that looked like to be displaced.
00:06:38.959 --> 00:06:52.319
Um, the way that the needs and angst and feelings of people who were Arab in the region were depicted was they were the terrorists who were threatening Jewish people who went to Israel to be safe.
00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:56.959
And that is a mainstream belief system, more or less.
00:06:57.279 --> 00:07:08.720
And the other thing that we were always told is it's way too complicated for normal people to understand unless you do a deep dive into 3,000 years of history, you can't understand it.
00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:19.439
Now we have a generation of young people, your generation and the one just above you, um, Sam, who are saying it's not too difficult to understand that you should not be killing babies.
00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:24.879
It's not too difficult to understand that you should not be displacing people.
00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:30.879
Um there's just terms like settler colonialism that are new to me, but not necessarily new to young people.
00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:32.720
And so you have divides.
00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:54.240
And the divides are around people who become um sensitized to the needs and issues of Palestinians and believing that this genocide has gone on for too long, and people who may disagree to some extent with what the Israeli government is doing, but believe they have the right to self-defense and we shouldn't meddle with it.
00:07:54.879 --> 00:08:06.800
Yeah, so the CBC PAC uh also, you know, they endorsed more moderate candidates than other races like David Crowley in Wisconsin, Wesley Bell in Missouri, he defeated Corey Bush.
00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:24.399
Uh, there are still Democrats who have yet to commit to supporting uh El Sayed, and so there is some thinking that perhaps uh this accolade for Abdul's campaign can shore up some skepticism among some within our own community.
00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:32.559
Of course, uh on the West Side, you got Hillary Sculton, but here at home we have Detroit City Council member at large, Mary Waters.
00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:44.720
Mary Waters uh last week spoke against some of her critics who have been uh you know calling her out for a meeting with Mike Rogers last month.
00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:50.080
She just uh a couple days ago met with John James.
00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:56.240
Um that was a lesser publicized um it's out there.
00:08:56.480 --> 00:09:05.039
And what I'm gonna say is I'm not gonna talk on this topic right now um for reasons that um make sense to me.
00:09:05.279 --> 00:09:11.360
Um she's a sitting city council member, she has the right to her opinions, but I will say this.
00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:16.159
I'm not going to even comment on whether or not those opinions are correct, but I will say this.
00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:19.039
I don't think that they will sway the majority.
00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:29.279
I think that the reality is that most people who I know who supported um Haley Stevens are not supporting Mike Rogers.
00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:38.000
And I know that you know, you have disaffected Democrats like um like um former Democrats like Karen Woodset.
00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:47.519
And I believe I've heard that Mary Waters is disaffected, who are moving, but I don't think they represent a true movement of voters.
00:09:47.679 --> 00:09:50.799
We'll know in November whether it is.
00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:55.600
I think it's one of those things that is being stated and perhaps overstated.
00:09:55.840 --> 00:10:05.679
I also think that the former Democratic coalitions that existed for most of my voting lifetime are no longer as strong as they were.
00:10:05.840 --> 00:10:15.039
You have more people who will go independent, you have more people who will vote Republican because there are a lot of people who don't feel as though politicians have delivered for them.
00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:19.840
And so there's not the instinctive loyalty to the Democratic Party that once existed.
00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:21.519
I I think that that's true.
00:10:21.679 --> 00:10:22.000
Yeah.
00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:38.080
Whether or not that translates into therefore we're supporting Mike Rogers, who is, you know, aligned so closely with Donald Trump, who is really, you know, not well supported in most Detroit households, I'll say.
00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:42.080
I don't think I think Mike Rogers has an uphill battle.
00:10:42.639 --> 00:10:48.799
Yeah, I think it is gonna be an uphill battle for all Republicans as we see gas prices where they are.
00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:51.600
They just shot back up uh this past week.
00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:57.120
Uh they're hovering around what 440, 460 in the neighborhoods, maybe around like 420s.
00:10:57.600 --> 00:11:12.799
And so, you know, the gas prices alone are gonna turn off a lot of uh would-be Republican voters who might turn to the economy um in some years to say, well, this is why I'm gonna go with uh the Republican candidate.
00:11:13.039 --> 00:11:21.360
There are Haley Stevens supporters who we heard from outside of uh one of the Mike Rogers events in Detroit over the weekend.
00:11:21.440 --> 00:11:30.879
I think it was on Sunday, he uh held an event in an empty field outside of a school uh near Grashet.
00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:35.679
And so that was his third or fourth campaign event he's done in Detroit.
00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:38.879
We're gonna see more of these Republican events in Detroit.
00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:43.519
They feel like the um environment is ripe.
00:11:43.679 --> 00:12:14.559
And we heard uh last week as well, this was on a C-SPAN clip at a round table um that was between Abdul al-Sayed and a number of more moderate black leaders, such as uh the Highland Park mayor, Glendon McDonald, former House Speaker Joe Tate, uh State Representative Tyrone Carter, somebody who was in on that meeting was Kimberly Fisher.
00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:22.960
Kimberly Fisher told Abdul that I'm fearful because I'm seeing more John James signs, more Mark Mike Rogers signs in the hood.
00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:31.919
Um Kimberly is representing the 11th State House District, which is northeast Detroit, South Warren, uh Crane's Woods.
00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:33.840
I'll just say point me to that hood.
00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:43.919
I've driven I I I've I've driven past I I know exactly where she's talking about because I I did a uh canvas with Haley Stevens, um, and that was actually something that we noticed.
00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:45.039
Um where was that?
00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:48.320
That was near the Hellman Rec Center, right over there.
00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:48.720
Yeah.
00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:52.320
Um because I I mean I I'm I'm in neighborhoods.
00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:58.639
I was driving all through Detroit yesterday, and I don't really see many campaign signs, period, but certainly I haven't seen it.
00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:01.360
There was a string of houses that had some Republican.
00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:06.000
I think I recognize the exact houses and signs that she was referencing.
00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:15.679
A couple of them uh next to each other and maybe across the street diagonally across the block, had uh John James and Mike Rogers signs in the yard.
00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:22.000
Uh she points to the relationship between uh black and Arab communities.
00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:26.639
She said that uh, you know, the poor race relations is evident every day.
00:13:26.720 --> 00:13:32.720
We're hearing about horrible conversations and altercations, uh, racism coming from Arab small business owners.
00:13:32.879 --> 00:13:41.600
Uh she said in the comments to Abdul Al-Sayed that she wants to work directly with him uh to alleviate this issue.
00:13:41.759 --> 00:14:03.919
She said that she's reached out to the Arab American Chamber of Commerce, and it is an issue that is being thrusted into a national conversation talking about the relationships between black communities and the small business owners traditionally ran by Arabs, uh a lot of called in Christians, but also some small businesses ran by Muslims.
00:14:04.159 --> 00:14:07.360
Um, not all of these relationships are like really bad.
00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:20.879
It's kind of funny, and I tried to say this on Roop the other day, like it's not like you know, every single example of a uh Bengali family living next to a uh black family on Seven Mile are like at odds.
00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:23.200
They're not all hating each other and looking at each other.
00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:27.759
There are like examples of very positive um relationships.
00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:38.320
Um, and I'm just thinking of like the Instagram reels that I'll see with like Detroiters that have relationships with the gas station clerks or owners that are positive.
00:14:38.559 --> 00:14:44.799
Well, I I think the challenge is that the media loves intra-ethnic fighting.
00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:51.039
So whether it is um when Barack Obama was running for president, will Mexican people vote for him?
00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:52.320
Will Latino vote for him?
00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:55.440
There's a long-standing mistrust between these communities.
00:14:55.679 --> 00:15:04.000
Um, a few years ago, there was a black man, I believe, who was killing Chinese people, and this is evidence of the hatred between black and Chinese people.
00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:14.639
We act as though the primary, you know, people who are causing pain and discomfort in our communities come from other non-white ethnicities.
00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:23.679
But the people most likely to oppress black people are actually white people, regardless of that.
00:15:23.919 --> 00:15:28.480
And so I think, you know, are there Arab people who've done things that we don't like?
00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:29.039
Absolutely.
00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:31.600
Are there Arab people who are absolutely racist?
00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:32.320
Yes.
00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:36.000
Does that mean Arab people mistreat black people?
00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:36.399
No.
00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:39.840
It means that there are Arab people who are racist and to who do so.
00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:45.679
Um and when people stereotype us, we get mad.
00:15:46.480 --> 00:15:53.279
We get really angry when somebody says, listen, a kid with a hoodie is automatically dangerous because a kid with a hoodie robbed a gas station.
00:15:53.440 --> 00:15:56.960
We say, wait a minute, you can't judge him based on what he has on.
00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:06.080
Um we get mad when people talk about people from Detroit being ghetto or whatever it is they say because they've met one person who did one thing.
00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:30.320
Why is it then okay to stereotype not just an ethnicity, not just Chaldeans, not just, you know, um Muslims from Iraq, but anybody who is Muslim, anybody who has this kind of name or this kind of face becomes complicit in this army of oppression that people like to speak about.
00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:32.720
And that's you know, that's how racism works.
00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:37.360
And by the way, they believe horrible things about us as well.
00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:40.320
And so that's what people love.
00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:53.200
Right now, what you have is a Democrat who won the primary, who is running for a seat that somebody else was endorsed for, but that person is no longer in the running.
00:16:53.360 --> 00:17:04.319
The idea that the Congressional Black Caucus endorsing Abdul El-Sayed is anything but expected really speaks to this, you know, I think this creation of this narrative.
00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:11.839
John James is getting support from the same people that Mike Rogers is.
00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:15.200
And I, by the way, Jocelyn Benson is not Arab.
00:17:15.279 --> 00:17:16.240
She's a white woman.
00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:22.640
So the reality is that there is a subset of black folks in the city of Detroit who've become Republican.
00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:29.279
And it shows up at city council meetings where they begin the council meeting saying that the vote was stolen in 2020.
00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:31.519
It shows up in many different places.
00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:42.079
And again, this is not new, but Trump supporters, I think there is a new generation of Trump supporters who've bought into a lot of the MAGA messaging and they're more, you know, vocal with it.
00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:42.880
And that's okay.
00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:44.079
They have that right.
00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:45.359
I don't agree with them.
00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:47.279
I don't necessarily like what they say.
00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:50.720
People have been mad at the Democratic Party forever.
00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:54.240
But that does not mean they're going to vote for Mike Rogers.
00:17:54.319 --> 00:18:01.920
And so I think we can overstate the support for Republicans based on some people being disaffected.
00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:11.440
And when somebody says, listen, I was a Haley Stevens voter and now I'm going for Mike Rogers, there's a whole lot of people who said I was an Obama voter and now I'm voting for Donald Trump.
00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:14.480
And I'm not saying nobody did go from Obama to Trump.
00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:21.279
But I am saying that just because I say I was an Obama voter and I voted for Trump does not mean I actually voted for Obama.
00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:22.960
Nobody knows who I voted for.
00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:28.240
You know, you can say I was a supporter of this person and not be a supporter of that person.
00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:29.440
That's what I'm saying.
00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:35.200
Um, and so I think I'm less concerned with that.
00:18:36.160 --> 00:18:42.160
Because I know there's gonna be people who vote for Rogers, and I know there's gonna be black people who vote for John James.
00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:54.000
I think John James will probably get more black people than Mike Rogers because John James is a black man, and a lot of people want to see a black man in that position of leadership, and we'll give him a pass because of his support for Kwame Kilpatrick.
00:18:54.160 --> 00:18:55.279
I mean, his support for Donald.
00:18:56.079 --> 00:18:59.599
Because they'll give him a pass for his supporting Donald Trump.
00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:06.400
Kwame Kilpatrick was the example I was using, where a lot of people are not mad at him for supporting Trump, even though he's a black man.
00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:08.480
So I think it's gonna be interesting.
00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:19.759
Um, and I don't think that people vote with their race, I think people vote with their ideals in mind, and most of the people in my world will not be voting for Mike Rogers.
00:19:20.799 --> 00:19:32.319
And I am living in a very I almost a bubble because you know, on Facebook, all of my friends kind of are thinking along the same lines now that the primary is over.
00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:44.880
Um, but I don't have uh sometimes I think I get rid of friends who whose values and beliefs don't necessarily align with mine, and that's the way the social media echo chambers work.
00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:49.680
And so you're out there in the community, Sam, and you talk to people on the street.
00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:50.480
I do, yeah.
00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:54.480
I mean, there are a lot of people that are not gonna vote for Abdul Al-Sayed because he's Muslim.
00:19:54.799 --> 00:19:57.359
Um, and that's just that's the that's the only reason.
00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:05.759
There are a lot of other people that aren't gonna vote for Abdul Al-Sayed because uh they feel like he's a DSA leftist talking about Palestine and Gaza.
00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:23.599
Um there are other people that are not going to vote for Abdul al-Sayed uh because they have some sort of personal gripe or vendetta against him, um, because of maybe they've worked alongside him or have known people that have worked with him and didn't like his style of leadership.
00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:25.920
And so I hear it all.
00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:28.960
But do you ever hear anybody what they say about Mike Rogers?
00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:31.359
Because I feel like, yes, that's why they don't like Ebston.
00:20:31.599 --> 00:20:37.680
I mean, very similarly to what people said about Joe Biden or Kamala Harris in 24.
00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:44.559
Um, when I would talk to Arab Muslim voters in Dearborn who are voting for Trump, you know, it was like, well, what about Trump?
00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:48.160
And it was like, well, it's not for this time, it's not about Trump.
00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:49.119
Same sentiment.
00:20:49.279 --> 00:20:55.279
They say, well, that's not it's not about whether or not a Republican wins, it's about sending a message to the Democratic Party.
00:20:55.440 --> 00:21:18.240
And the same exact framing was um coming out of the mouths of uh a lot of the Muslim Arab voters that are going to vote for Abdul because um he sh he shares their perspective on issues, which I think is getting a little bit less attention than I first thought.
00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:20.960
I at Chandler Park, you were there at the event.
00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:29.599
I actually talked to a Trump voter who said that he's voting for Abdul, and it was an Arab guy from Dearborn Muslim guy.
00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:45.920
And I think there's a lot of those type of guys out there, um, a lot of attention being spent on the the black community, but you know, at the end of the day, it's it's still gonna be at least eighty five percent, might be maybe like eighty three, eighty four.
00:21:46.160 --> 00:21:47.200
At worst, right?
00:21:47.279 --> 00:21:55.279
At best, it's gonna be over ninety percent uh members of our community that are gonna vote for the Democratic candidate in the US Senate.
00:21:55.599 --> 00:21:58.160
I mean, ninety percent of our community will not vote.
00:21:58.640 --> 00:22:00.640
So we'll start I mean The voters, yes.
00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:01.519
No, no, no.
00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:02.000
That's a good point.
00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:02.799
That is a good point.
00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:10.480
I mean, it's it's it's you know, if we make up what percentage of people in Michigan, we make up a smaller percentage of actual people who vote.
00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:17.039
And that's something that I try to tell my barber when he's like, I don't know about Abdul Man, every single person whose hair I cut hates him.
00:22:17.119 --> 00:22:41.440
I say, buddy, do you not recognize how small of a segment of the population that your clients that so happen to be, you know, economically in a different place than I am, certainly politically are uh, you know, in a place where just like how you said you're in an echo chamber, they're in an echo chamber.
00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:46.640
And so, you know, it's such a small black people in Michigan are 13%.
00:22:46.960 --> 00:22:57.359
And so when you start talking about ideological factions within that group, right, especially the as you very well point out, the voting population, right?
00:22:57.599 --> 00:23:02.880
Only 20% of our residents are voting.
00:23:03.359 --> 00:23:17.119
Um, you know, it might get up to 45-50% in a in a presidential election, but in the municipal elections, 80% of the public that didn't vote are really the people deciding the election.
00:23:17.279 --> 00:23:29.680
And so, yeah, outside of the echo chamber, it is a little bit surprising how common and frequent um the criticism of Abdul is.
00:23:29.759 --> 00:23:39.599
I just talked to somebody today at the church that John James went went to in Pontiac, and I asked him, you know, how he felt about Abdul, and he said, well, he certainly thought that Haley Stevens would win.
00:23:39.680 --> 00:23:44.960
He said, I thought Haley would win in a landslide because that's I didn't I didn't hear from any Abdul supporters.
00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:48.799
And you gotta imagine this guy at a church, he's probably in his 50s in Pontiac, right?
00:23:48.960 --> 00:23:51.839
Like, think about how far and disconnected we are from one another.
00:23:52.079 --> 00:23:56.240
He hadn't even heard from Abdul Al Sayel support Al-Sayad supporters.
00:23:56.400 --> 00:24:02.640
Meanwhile, over here in Detroit, we're, you know, I'm sure there were days go by and be like, is anybody supporting Haley Stevens?
00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:03.759
Does she even have any supporters?
00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:06.319
I mean, she's I mean, that's how how different it is.
00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:12.880
I I think, you know, on my in within my world, I knew a lot of Haley Stevens supporters, right?
00:24:13.039 --> 00:24:21.200
I knew a lot of people who believed that um Haley Stevens was the more electable person, and that was a big consideration.
00:24:21.359 --> 00:24:28.079
Even people who agreed with El Sayed did not agree with, did not believe he was as electable as Haley Stevens.
00:24:28.240 --> 00:24:38.079
I know people who um didn't like democratic socialists, I know people, all of that, and then I know some people, fewer people who didn't like him because he was Arab.
00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:57.039
And I hate to perpetuate the stereotype that black people are voting anti-Arab as a, you know, as a norm, because I think there are plenty of black people who would not make that decision, and it would imply that we're all, you know, sort of, you know, I think the same could be said about white voters, right?
00:24:57.200 --> 00:25:10.319
I mean, there's a segment of white voters that are are not going to vote for Abdul, who are Republican voters every cycle, who are firstly going to cite his Arab Muslim identity as the reason that he's a threat.
00:25:10.720 --> 00:25:11.039
There are.
00:25:11.119 --> 00:25:14.720
And there are just as many people who will vote for him.
00:25:14.799 --> 00:25:29.039
Or I shouldn't say just as many, there are many people who will vote for him because he's mentioning the Trump voters in Dearborn who ideologically couldn't be further opposed to Abdul, who says he is for gender-affirming care, who says he is for Medicare for all.
00:25:29.119 --> 00:25:37.920
I mean, a lot of these issues that they like just disagree with, they are willing to put aside because he is on their side of the one issue of Gaza.
00:25:38.319 --> 00:25:47.839
When my friend Keith Ellison ran for Congress the first time in 2006, he was the first Muslim to ever be elected to the U.S.
00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:48.640
Congress.
00:25:48.799 --> 00:26:00.160
He was running in um in Minnesota, and they were, you know, tying him to every type of radical cause, and there were so many attacks on him, and he won.
00:26:00.400 --> 00:26:09.839
I remember I was talking to a black person I knew in the state who was part of the ACLU, and he said, Who gives him the right to represent black people in our state?
00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:12.480
So there were black people who felt like, wait a minute, you jumped the line.
00:26:12.559 --> 00:26:16.640
You didn't come through our democratic processes as a black community.
00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:21.200
And there was resentment, and now all of those people have embraced him, you know.
00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:34.640
Um, but I think with Abdul, people who are opposed to him sometimes are more vocal around those issues and people who just don't care that he's Arab, or people who support him despite that, or people who would never support Mike Rogers.
00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:51.680
And so I think what we can do is sometimes overemphasize one thing and it it re-re reproduces itself because now every Arab American person who's hearing that a black person won't vote for Abdul because he's Arab, um, will they not vote for a black person because they're black?
00:26:51.839 --> 00:27:01.039
Will they not vote for Donovan McKinney, whose district I think partly touches those, that district, that um the district that um Abdul is in?
00:27:01.200 --> 00:27:04.640
Will we have them also making the And it's so funny?
00:27:04.720 --> 00:27:06.000
I mean, you mentioned Donovan McKinney.
00:27:06.079 --> 00:27:11.519
I'm already hearing uh the the you know ideological opposition to Donovan.
00:27:11.680 --> 00:27:14.880
I'm already hearing people saying, well, you know, who's gonna run against Donovan?
00:27:15.119 --> 00:27:21.200
You know, Donovan's gonna uh face the wrath of you know the corporate class.
00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:36.319
Um it did not come up among the voters that I talked to, people just outside of their houses canvassing, uh, people talking about the fact that we need black representation, did not seem to care at all when asked, well, he's a democratic socialist.
00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:39.759
What do you you know but but but I mean most of them most of them did not care.
00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:45.200
But is anybody asking Arabs, will you vote for Donovan McKinney even though he is black?
00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:50.880
Is anybody asking Hispanic people, will you vote for Donovan McKinney even though he's black?
00:27:50.960 --> 00:27:53.839
Or is that something that is asked of black voters?
00:27:54.079 --> 00:27:55.119
And it's it's unique.
00:27:55.200 --> 00:27:59.599
So I'm gonna say this I support this because we make up 78% of the city of Detroit.
00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:01.279
But it's but but that's the question.
00:28:01.440 --> 00:28:02.559
Why is that the question?
00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:08.079
Why is the question, will you support this man because of his Arab identity?
00:28:08.240 --> 00:28:13.200
When I was at his um watch party, um, Camille, my daughter Camille and I went to his watch party.
00:28:13.359 --> 00:28:29.440
Camille worked on his campaign for governor, and we're standing in line, and I mean, all of these news media folks are out there, and they've got cameras and their microphones, and they kept walking by myself and my daughter to talk to Arab people in line or to talk to white people in line.
00:28:29.599 --> 00:28:41.920
And so the narratives get reinforced because there's two black people in line, there's a few black people in line, but nobody is interested in what we have to say because we don't fit the image of what a person who supports Abdul El-Sayed fits.
00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:52.000
And so I think um we've we've definitely the majority of Detroiters, and I don't know if the majority of black Detroiters are opposed to Abdul because he's Arab.
00:28:54.000 --> 00:29:02.000
I think, you know, so I just think we I think too they're opposed to Abdul because they're being bombarded with ads.
00:29:02.079 --> 00:29:04.000
I mean, I think the ads were incredibly effective.
00:29:04.079 --> 00:29:11.680
The gentleman that I referenced earlier today actually brought up some of the ads, specifically the Hassan Piker 9-11 comments.
00:29:11.759 --> 00:29:15.920
I mean, he he thought that Abdul had said that America deserved 9-11.
00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:23.039
I mean, people are watching these ads and they're not even able to like every time he's on broadcast media, what they ask him, what about Hassan Piker?
00:29:23.119 --> 00:29:23.920
What about Hassan Piker?
00:29:24.160 --> 00:29:27.119
He asked Piker about women, right?
00:29:27.200 --> 00:29:40.079
He's been uh, you know, the this idea that he's been disrespectful or misogynistic, uh, referencing Obama, Michelle Obama's food program, or Gretchen Whitmer um, in his words, being bought and sold.
00:29:40.160 --> 00:29:47.119
He said that during the 2018 governatorial campaign that he ran against Governor Whitmer.
00:29:47.359 --> 00:29:52.319
Um and he's not allowed to say things like that because he's Arab.
00:29:52.559 --> 00:29:56.160
And that turns him into because listen, we already have these mindsets.
00:29:56.559 --> 00:29:58.960
We know the stereotypes are misogynistic.
00:29:59.039 --> 00:30:03.119
And so if he says anything opposing something, we can take it out of context.
00:30:03.359 --> 00:30:07.839
What I don't see is a lot of context fixing in media.
00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:11.359
I see a lot of leading with those conversations.
00:30:11.440 --> 00:30:18.000
And so if you look, most of what I see in journalism is going to be black people don't like him because he's Arab.
00:30:18.160 --> 00:30:21.519
And here's an example of a black person who doesn't like him because he's Arab.
00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:31.359
And I think the risk of that, and I'm gonna say this and we can move on, the risk of that is that Arab people read the paper too, Arab people watch television too.
00:30:31.519 --> 00:30:43.200
And if I'm an Arab person, I'm constantly hearing that black people are not gonna vote for an Arab person because he's Arab, does that worsen the divide between black and Arab people or does it mend it?
00:30:43.680 --> 00:30:54.720
And the the Islamophobia is going to be carried more heavily by black people than by white people, although we know that Islamophobia is, you know, it exists in other communities.
00:30:54.880 --> 00:30:59.279
So I'm concerned at the way it's being um conducted.
00:30:59.440 --> 00:31:27.920
I'm concerned with the number of people who are asking about Hassan Piker, and I'm old enough to remember when Jesse Jackson was being questioned about his relationship with Lewis Farrakhan, when Barack Obama was being questioned about his relationship with Lewis Farrakhan and then his pastor, and a black person always having to, you know, distance himself from people of color who say controversial things.
00:31:28.240 --> 00:31:32.640
Meanwhile, have we asked Mike Rogers how he feels about Laura Loomer?
00:31:32.720 --> 00:31:41.519
I know he hasn't campaigned with her, but I know that she is in Trump's inner circle, and there are many people in Trump's inner circle who have made very racist statements.
00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:49.599
And somehow Trump is not required to apologize for them in the same way a black person or person of color is.
00:31:49.920 --> 00:31:58.480
Just today, uh Sid Rosenberg is the host of um a New York, uh conservative New York City talk show.
00:31:58.880 --> 00:32:01.200
He had the president, uh Mr.
00:32:01.359 --> 00:32:08.240
Trump, on today and asked him about the threat of what he calls radical Islam.
00:32:08.559 --> 00:32:22.960
Uh he asked the president, this is a conservative news host, asked the president why uh when we watched the Republican convention in Dallas, you know, we talk about communism, we talk about socialism, why are we not talking more about radical Islam?
00:32:23.279 --> 00:32:28.640
Sid Rosenberg actually brings up some of these people, brings up Laura Loomer, says, Isn't she great?
00:32:28.799 --> 00:32:33.680
And of course, President Trump does not um condemn Laura Loomer.
00:32:34.160 --> 00:32:41.359
Uh but however when he is asked, you know, sort of put on a T, isn't the real threat Radical Islam?
00:32:42.480 --> 00:32:44.079
Trump can't even do it.
00:32:44.319 --> 00:32:46.079
He mentioned Dearborn today.
00:32:46.240 --> 00:32:53.200
He said, Well, when you look at what's really incredible is when you look at Michigan Dearborn, you know, I won and it wasn't even all that close.
00:32:53.279 --> 00:33:19.920
And so it is an interesting just sort of uh acknowledging the fact that the president knows the real delicate balance of playing to the conservative sort of Islamophobic tropes that rile up his uh white base while also knowing not to go too far into complete racism because he knows that he can siphon off some votes still.
00:33:20.880 --> 00:33:29.119
He's declared war on Iran, he bombed a school in Iran, he has talked about illuminating all Palestinian people from Gaza.
00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:30.559
He doesn't have to feed into a trope.
00:33:30.640 --> 00:33:32.960
He is using his public policy to do that.
00:33:33.119 --> 00:33:36.799
And so I don't think he has a delicate anything, no delicate balance.
00:33:36.880 --> 00:33:39.759
I think he is a person who speaks out of both sides of his mouth.
00:33:39.920 --> 00:33:40.240
Sure.
00:33:40.400 --> 00:33:49.359
He says one thing, but if you're bombing a school in Iran and the way he's talking about Iranian people, the way he talks about any other people of color anywhere around the world is disgusting.
00:33:49.599 --> 00:34:01.200
When I was on Fox 2 a month ago, the person who was speaking about the uh war in Iran was an Iranian woman who supported President Trump.
00:34:01.440 --> 00:34:22.320
And so I just think like that, you know, there are people who are gonna completely support anything he does, and they're going to convince themselves because he supports their one leading ideological issue, say it be LGBTQ stuff or say it be, you know, you know, whatever, uh taxes and the economy and and free market stuff.
00:34:22.559 --> 00:34:29.599
You know, there are a lot of people that are just willing to completely put to side everything for one thing.
00:34:29.920 --> 00:34:35.760
There's 36% or 37% of voters who are willing to do that.
00:34:35.920 --> 00:34:38.079
And the others are disgusted.
00:34:38.239 --> 00:34:42.159
A lot of people believed he was going to do things he did not end up doing.
00:34:42.320 --> 00:34:48.000
They thought he was going to bring down inflation, they thought he was going to not go to war, he was going to focus on domestic policy.
00:34:48.159 --> 00:34:53.519
They thought a number of things, and what they're seeing is something very different than what they thought was going to happen.
00:34:53.760 --> 00:35:00.719
And so I don't assume everybody who voted for Trump is still with him because the polls are showing something very different.
00:35:00.960 --> 00:35:06.800
Are there people in every part of the world who are aligned and thinking with Donald Trump?
00:35:06.880 --> 00:35:07.119
Yes.
00:35:07.280 --> 00:35:10.079
Based on race, ethnicity, yes, across race and ethnicity.
00:35:10.239 --> 00:35:13.840
So I don't think we can use those as a marker.
00:35:14.239 --> 00:35:17.199
Do the majority of Iranian people support Trump?
00:35:17.360 --> 00:35:18.239
I think not.
00:35:18.400 --> 00:35:19.760
But are there some who do?
00:35:19.920 --> 00:35:20.880
I think so.
00:35:21.039 --> 00:35:23.920
Um, and that's always going to be the way it is.
00:35:24.239 --> 00:35:30.880
Um, but I think my question about Trump is why it's not even a question, because this is what white supremacy does.
00:35:31.039 --> 00:35:33.519
White supremacy gives people freedom of speech.
00:35:33.760 --> 00:35:38.559
White supremacy says you can say something, you can apologize for it, and you can move on.
00:35:38.719 --> 00:35:42.639
White supremacy says, we'll give you the benefit of the doubt when you say something.
00:35:42.800 --> 00:35:52.880
White supremacy says you can have this friend who's disagreeing with you, but you like this person for other reasons, and I'm not going to hold you accountable for every misogynistic, racist, anti-Semitic statement they ever made.
00:35:53.119 --> 00:35:59.920
But what happens when a black or brown candidate runs for office is everything they say at any given time can be used against them.
00:36:00.159 --> 00:36:08.719
What happens to a black or brown person is by association, if there's any threat that they're associating with somebody who might be considered radical, we throw them out.
00:36:08.880 --> 00:36:13.360
And when I talk about white supremacy, I'm not talking about white people and the way white people think.
00:36:13.440 --> 00:36:26.719
I'm saying this is a system-wide United States approach to seeing things through this Europeanized lens that says even black people will hold him to account to a different account.
00:36:26.960 --> 00:36:30.000
Even Arab people hold a black person to a different account.
00:36:30.239 --> 00:36:33.519
Even Hispanic people will hold a black person to a different account.
00:36:33.679 --> 00:36:38.239
We hold each other accountable differently than we do white people.
00:36:39.519 --> 00:36:56.400
There's we you can say Arab people this and Arab people that, and you have a white woman running against a black man, I mean an Arab man, and you're telling me that white women are better to black people than Arab people are, or white men are better to black people than Arab people are.
00:36:56.559 --> 00:37:02.800
You would not have to not know the history of this city, this state, this nation to believe that, and yet this is what we believe.
00:37:03.039 --> 00:37:06.639
And white people are not put in one group.
00:37:07.280 --> 00:37:19.280
You are allowed to see some white people as good and some white people as bad, but Arab people, black people, Hispanic people, Latino, whatever, Asian people, end up being all one thing.
00:37:20.639 --> 00:37:21.760
The stereotypes.
00:37:21.920 --> 00:37:29.679
And so I believe that there are black people who will vote for Mike Rogers and John James.
00:37:29.760 --> 00:37:30.559
I know there are.
00:37:30.960 --> 00:37:37.920
I know that's always been the case, and I know that we are living in increasingly, you know, this time that we're living in.
00:37:38.079 --> 00:37:39.599
People buy into some of that messaging.
00:37:39.760 --> 00:37:45.280
I mean, Fox News and CBS are putting this stuff out there on a regular basis.
00:37:46.000 --> 00:37:49.920
But I choose to not see things in that way.
00:37:50.159 --> 00:37:58.480
I'm more excited about what I see as the formation of coalitions of younger black folks who are thinking differently.
00:37:59.119 --> 00:38:00.239
That gets me excited.
00:38:00.320 --> 00:38:19.519
And not all younger black people, because I'm sure there's some in that barbershop who are not thinking differently, but many of the young black people that I've talked to are actually really more concerned about the politics, are really more concerned about very specific positions than they are about a political party or um racial identity.
00:38:20.400 --> 00:38:28.960
Yeah, it is interesting how um in the United States political campaigns each year target minorities.
00:38:30.159 --> 00:38:33.760
I wonder, has that always been like how it's happened?
00:38:33.920 --> 00:38:35.440
And I I, you know, you know.
00:38:35.840 --> 00:38:39.280
Yes, I mean they t the they target minorities, you know.
00:38:39.360 --> 00:38:44.719
Um Bill Clinton played the saxophone, and that got people the oh my god, he's the first black president, right?
00:38:44.880 --> 00:38:49.519
Um they do it with such care, you know, tropes and stereotypes and caricatures.
00:38:49.920 --> 00:38:50.239
Of course.
00:38:50.320 --> 00:38:51.599
And it there's two things that happen.
00:38:51.920 --> 00:38:55.920
One, they demonize, they they find people to demonize.
00:38:56.000 --> 00:39:03.280
And so, you know, I grew up in the era when it was the welfare queen, or Willie Horton, this black man who escaped from prison.
00:39:03.599 --> 00:39:11.360
And now it's the Haitians and Ohio eating dogs, or it's you know, the Latino gangs and the MS-13.
00:39:12.079 --> 00:39:17.440
There's always this group that is the group to hate coming from the right.
00:39:17.760 --> 00:39:22.559
Now, you know, Bill Clinton, we are at people my age, we talk about his sister soldier moment.
00:39:22.719 --> 00:39:23.519
You know about that?
00:39:23.760 --> 00:39:24.079
Yes.
00:39:24.320 --> 00:39:34.480
When he called out Sister Soldier during his campaign because she had made some anti-police comment, and he used her as an example of somebody who wasn't good.
00:39:34.639 --> 00:39:39.920
Um, so you've had Democrats who are race baiting too and trying to get other white Democrats along.
00:39:40.079 --> 00:39:44.079
Um, but what I see here right now is there's has there always been that?
00:39:44.239 --> 00:39:49.840
There's there's two things that happen that I think are really interesting.
00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:56.079
One, people talk about the Democratic plantation and they talk about Lincoln freed the slaves, and we're just like Lincoln.
00:39:56.480 --> 00:40:02.000
Um, and then um you know they'll point out the flaws of the other side.
00:40:02.559 --> 00:40:08.639
And sometimes Republicans are trying to get white, I mean black people to vote for them.
00:40:09.599 --> 00:40:13.360
Sometimes Republicans are trying to get black people not to vote.
00:40:14.480 --> 00:40:16.000
So it can be voter suppression.
00:40:16.159 --> 00:40:18.480
If you think both sides are corrupt, just stay home.
00:40:19.440 --> 00:40:20.159
George W.
00:40:20.320 --> 00:40:36.880
Bush probably was the most effective at getting black people to cross over because he had his thousand points of light and he had his faith-based initiative, and he promised to work with black pastors all over the United States to help them be part of what rebuilds their communities.
00:40:37.039 --> 00:40:38.800
And it was really successful.
00:40:39.039 --> 00:40:48.159
And you started seeing pastor after pastor aligning themselves with the cultural conservancy, conservatism of the right.
00:40:48.960 --> 00:41:00.559
You know, there's many people in our community who don't believe in abortion, there's many people in our community who don't support LGBTQ rights, um, and the churches that we occupy a lot of times don't.
00:41:00.719 --> 00:41:04.159
And so you're able to pull them in on that basis.
00:41:04.480 --> 00:41:16.159
Now, if you can just talk about transgendered and they're gonna cut off children's, you know, um genitals or whatever it is that you're trying to do, you can pull some people in on that basis, and that's not new.
00:41:17.119 --> 00:41:18.159
Not at all.
00:41:18.480 --> 00:41:19.360
Not at all.
00:41:19.599 --> 00:41:22.800
We are here at ECN Donna.
00:41:23.039 --> 00:41:29.760
Let's take a break and when we come back, we're gonna talk more about this issue of Republicans being here.
00:41:29.920 --> 00:41:32.000
What did we learn today from John James?
00:41:32.159 --> 00:41:34.400
I just spoke to him in Pontiac.
00:41:34.559 --> 00:41:35.440
Stay with us.
00:41:35.679 --> 00:41:42.400
Gonna be talking about uh this odd political time when we come back.
00:42:10.400 --> 00:42:11.440
Metro Detroit.
00:42:11.599 --> 00:42:19.440
Today, I was just in Pontiac, where Republican candidate for governor John James, of course, uh he is the U.S.
00:42:19.679 --> 00:42:22.079
Representative from Shelby Township.
00:42:22.239 --> 00:42:31.039
He was at a church uh in Pontiac today, Liberty uh Missionary Baptist Church of Pontiac.
00:42:31.599 --> 00:42:47.440
Um interesting folks in there got to meet the pastor and the leader of an organization that is the creation of the Pontiac Housing Commission and an Ohio-based bank.
00:42:47.679 --> 00:42:51.199
This is the 100 Homes for Pontiac program.
00:42:51.760 --> 00:43:00.719
Ahmad Taylor, the executive director of the Pontiac Housing Commission, uh, said that uh he was excited to see John there.
00:43:01.119 --> 00:43:12.079
The one of the members of the church told me that he had never known of a Republican candidate um visiting the church, visiting um that area of Pontiac specifically.
00:43:12.239 --> 00:43:17.840
Uh community members told me that that was sort of a forgotten part of the city.
00:43:18.000 --> 00:43:22.159
And we toured uh this big old house that was for sale.
00:43:22.480 --> 00:43:29.039
John said uh this well, this was better than the house that I moved into uh after I left the military.
00:43:29.119 --> 00:43:32.559
I could imagine it must have been a nice house because this house was even better.
00:43:32.639 --> 00:43:34.079
This was a big old house.
00:43:34.320 --> 00:43:35.840
And uh yeah, it was interesting.
00:43:35.920 --> 00:43:44.639
He talked about wanting lower taxes, uh talked about the importance of of sustaining uh the middle class.
00:43:45.039 --> 00:43:48.320
Um John James in Pontiac.
00:43:48.960 --> 00:43:59.360
He told us all the best stories that I have um from spending time in Pontiac are from my time as a young man, so I I can't get into those with with all of you.
00:43:59.440 --> 00:44:02.320
He had Some personality uh today, too.
00:44:02.400 --> 00:44:05.920
It was a beautiful day here Monday, September 14th.
00:44:06.079 --> 00:44:22.639
And Donna, I can imagine your thoughts on these pastors, these churches, as we see in the last time Mike Rogers was in Detroit, it was at Lorenzo Sewell's church with Tim Scott.
00:44:22.880 --> 00:44:25.440
Um churches.
00:44:25.760 --> 00:44:31.199
Why are they becoming such a place of Republican GOP activity?
00:44:31.519 --> 00:44:32.320
They always have been.
00:44:32.480 --> 00:44:39.440
You know, I think that, you know, maybe Liberty Temple is a church that hasn't seen GOP, but churches have always attracted politicians.
00:44:39.519 --> 00:44:43.119
And the black church is seen as the way to the hearts of black people.
00:44:43.280 --> 00:44:49.920
And it's certainly true of many older black people, but most young black people are not churched, are not belonging to any church.
00:44:50.079 --> 00:44:53.039
And I think that's another way that our politics are changing.
00:44:53.199 --> 00:44:57.280
This mindset if I just go to a church and shake hands with a pastor, I can get elected.
00:44:57.360 --> 00:44:59.199
I think it's going to take more than that.
00:44:59.360 --> 00:45:15.119
Um, but yeah, I mean, I think that pastors are seen as the leaders of the black community, and pastors are indeed leaders of the community, uh, but there are other leaders, and a lot of times those other leaders don't get heard, respected, or valued.
00:45:15.280 --> 00:45:30.400
Um, so you know, there's there's this, we are in a time of great political change, probably the greatest since Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1981.
00:45:30.639 --> 00:45:36.000
Um he ran in 1980, and it was right before I could vote.
00:45:36.480 --> 00:45:39.599
But um he became president in 1981.
00:45:39.920 --> 00:45:53.119
And I went to the University of Michigan, and you'd be surprised how many um of the people I went to college with were Reagan Democrats, black folks, Reagan Democrats, you know what he makes sense, fiscal conservatism makes sense.
00:45:53.599 --> 00:46:06.719
And I was pretty uh sure I had been born 10 years too late because my sister's generation, my older sister's generation would not have said any of this, and I felt really politically isolated.
00:46:06.800 --> 00:46:13.119
And it took years for people to begin to see what tax cuts meant for the communities they were living in.
00:46:13.840 --> 00:46:28.320
How tax cuts will impact the ability of Detroit to function as a city, how tax cuts will impact the ability to improve schools or housing or any of these things that politicians say they care about.
00:46:29.039 --> 00:46:32.960
Um we can all talk about wanting to increase the middle class.
00:46:33.039 --> 00:46:34.719
Who does not want a bigger middle class?
00:46:34.960 --> 00:46:36.239
Who doesn't like children?
00:46:36.480 --> 00:46:38.639
Who doesn't want to pay less in taxes?
00:46:39.360 --> 00:46:43.440
And so those are the kind of campaign promises that get made.
00:46:43.920 --> 00:46:54.639
But I think for me, I'm trying to connect what they're promising with a public policy that will be impacted by these promises.
00:46:55.039 --> 00:47:00.000
Matt Hall wanted to eliminate property taxes last um last you know, cycle.
00:47:00.320 --> 00:47:00.639
Yeah, yeah.
00:47:00.719 --> 00:47:05.119
There's a candidate running for um exec for county executive that says he's gonna do the same thing.
00:47:05.440 --> 00:47:09.039
Um imagine what our community would look like without property taxes.
00:47:09.199 --> 00:47:12.480
Without property taxes, we could not fund education.
00:47:12.800 --> 00:47:15.679
Property taxes fund public education.
00:47:16.000 --> 00:47:21.119
Property taxes make up revenue sharing, a portion of revenue sharing to our city.
00:47:21.199 --> 00:47:32.000
And so when we start talking about eliminating property taxes without talking about the impact of those eliminations on the most vulnerable among us, we're making a mistake.
00:47:32.239 --> 00:47:37.519
And so um that's one of my issues with John James.
00:47:38.000 --> 00:47:47.760
But my biggest issue with John James or anybody running on the Republican ticket right now is not their personal political philosophy.
00:47:48.400 --> 00:47:54.880
It is the fact that these people are running and saying that the 2020 election was stolen.
00:47:56.320 --> 00:48:06.480
Yeah, that 2020 election was stolen without evidence, without anything, they're saying it because their master, President Trump, demands that they say that.
00:48:07.039 --> 00:48:28.480
And if you are willing to say the election was stolen and you are running for office, then you are also saying that my vote should not have counted, that my vote was illegitimate because I was one of the voters whose tallies were in the, you know, in the um roaming precincts that you think were illegitimate.
00:48:29.039 --> 00:48:33.760
You know, they were trying to get rid of votes in Detroit, in Atlanta, in Philadelphia.
00:48:34.880 --> 00:48:36.719
They were trying to get rid of black votes.
00:48:36.880 --> 00:48:41.840
And you have a black man running for governor who believes our votes were invalid.
00:48:43.760 --> 00:48:47.679
Because he's not saying let's get rid of some of the black votes in Detroit.
00:48:47.840 --> 00:48:53.840
They wanted to throw out and not count the elections in Wayne County because of the fact that Detroit votes.
00:48:54.079 --> 00:49:06.400
And I don't know if you remember they sent um a um shadow electors to DC to try to have them, you know, play into the um place their votes in the electoral electoral college.
00:49:06.559 --> 00:49:07.280
Do you remember that?
00:49:07.920 --> 00:49:08.480
I sure do.
00:49:08.719 --> 00:49:14.480
And that's what led to January 20th when um Mike Pence refused to go along with that.
00:49:15.440 --> 00:49:19.840
This was not a passive act of we just don't think your votes counted.
00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:26.320
This led to, you know, um an attempt to overturn an election through violence.
00:49:26.800 --> 00:49:35.519
And if you are running on the Republican ticket and you don't think that is wrong, then how can I trust you to uphold democracy?
00:49:36.480 --> 00:49:37.679
And that's my issue.
00:49:37.840 --> 00:49:41.440
So it's not personal, it's not personality, it's not oh, I want to see a black man here.
00:49:42.159 --> 00:49:42.480
It's interesting.
00:49:42.800 --> 00:49:45.360
John James has ashy lips or whatever it is people say about it.
00:49:45.679 --> 00:49:52.800
It is so interesting because I, you know, when you meet John, and it's you know, I as I have over the last several years of my life been meeting John.
00:49:53.039 --> 00:49:56.239
John knows who I am at this point, but we don't know each other that well.
00:49:56.639 --> 00:50:03.199
Um I'm sure that I will get to know him pretty well uh before November.
00:50:03.840 --> 00:50:05.360
I'm hoping so at least.
00:50:05.679 --> 00:50:13.920
But everything that people say about him that are not political ideologues is pretty warm and friendly.
00:50:14.079 --> 00:50:17.199
Like he's kind of unassuming and just like there.
00:50:17.440 --> 00:50:20.639
Like he's not gonna be like rude to anybody in public.
00:50:20.800 --> 00:50:40.079
He actually, when entering this house, that you know, is of course like being sold and having open houses and stuff, he is the only one of like 15 people that walk into the house, his team, the 100 homes for Pontiac program leaders, members of the the Pontiac Housing Commission, and then the media.
00:50:40.159 --> 00:50:48.719
It's like me Spectrum News, um uh Russ McNamara and Sam Schreiber of MERS News.
00:50:49.119 --> 00:50:51.519
He is John was the only one to take his shoes off.
00:50:51.599 --> 00:50:55.679
Like he liked you know, made you know, he made a point to take his shoes off going into somebody else's house.
00:50:56.000 --> 00:51:02.719
Polite polite politeness, polite gesture, and he so he he and a lot of people tell me this too.
00:51:03.039 --> 00:51:14.000
If not for other people telling me this, this is not really my opinion, but people say like Wayne Bradley, he was the GOP black outreach chair for a while.
00:51:14.079 --> 00:51:19.039
He told me that if not for Trump, John James would be like viewed as a moderate Republican.
00:51:19.280 --> 00:51:24.400
And if if it but it but there is Trump, and there is John James rhing on his endorsement.
00:51:24.880 --> 00:51:26.320
Well, you can't go against Trump as we've seen.
00:51:26.559 --> 00:51:28.880
You can't go againstin Amash and Mr.
00:51:28.960 --> 00:51:29.280
Meyer.
00:51:29.760 --> 00:51:30.000
Fine.
00:51:30.079 --> 00:51:35.920
So you can't go against Trump, and you've decided it's important enough for you to be governor that you will vote with Trump.
00:51:36.239 --> 00:51:36.960
So fine.
00:51:37.119 --> 00:51:46.320
I'm not gonna hold you accountable for that because apparently, since you can't be Republican and win without going with Trump, I should not care that you're going with Trump.
00:51:46.480 --> 00:51:49.599
I'm trying to understand the logic that these people are bringing to the conversation.
00:51:50.159 --> 00:51:52.480
Because as governor, here's what you can do.
00:51:52.719 --> 00:51:59.280
As governor, you can agree to try to change laws and policies in accordance with what the president is saying.
00:51:59.440 --> 00:52:06.800
As governor, you can send my voter rolls to Homeland Security so they can decide which people should, which vote should count.
00:52:06.960 --> 00:52:16.800
As governor, you have the power to either go along or to fight the agenda that we know is harmful to communities like Detroit.
00:52:17.039 --> 00:52:23.039
So I'm looking for a governor who will say no, not a governor who feels beholden because you can't go against Trump.
00:52:23.519 --> 00:52:25.679
Once you're governor, you can't go against Trump either.
00:52:25.840 --> 00:52:27.119
So now we're stuck.
00:52:27.280 --> 00:52:32.639
And I think when people base politics, it should not be on personalities.
00:52:32.880 --> 00:52:42.000
Nice people, really friendly people make political decisions I don't like, I don't trust, I don't believe in.
00:52:42.159 --> 00:52:49.599
I vote based on policies and what's likely to happen, not just to me, but to the people I love and care about.
00:52:50.159 --> 00:53:04.639
I'm 63 on Saturday, and um I don't have children in school, I don't have elementary school children, I'm towards the latter half of my career.
00:53:04.960 --> 00:53:09.039
Social security will probably survive these next rounds of you know, whatever.
00:53:09.360 --> 00:53:13.360
But when I think about my grandchildren, I get upset.
00:53:13.519 --> 00:53:27.360
When I think about what the climate is going to be like for them, when I think about what racial justice is gonna be like for them, when I think about we have a president who is willing to post racist kinds of policies, the Department of Labor.
00:53:27.519 --> 00:53:34.639
Look at the kinds of things the Department of Labor has posted that are really, you know, um white supremacy.
00:53:35.679 --> 00:53:53.360
There was an something that was posted last week, I believe, by Homeland Security, I think it was last week, where they were showing um a man who was, I guess, Indian, and they were like, get out of the uh the United States, and it was really, really racist.
00:53:53.440 --> 00:53:54.000
And they took it down.
00:53:54.079 --> 00:53:58.719
They said, Oh, people are overblowing the racism, but this is what's coming out of this White House.
00:53:58.800 --> 00:54:00.559
And John James is fine with that.
00:54:01.199 --> 00:54:06.559
John James is fine with rolling back the um the voting rights.
00:54:08.320 --> 00:54:15.920
If you're okay with rolling back my voting rights, you could be the most polite person, and maybe I'll have you over for dinner, we can have drinks.
00:54:16.079 --> 00:54:19.599
But we are not, I'm not going to vote for you.
00:54:20.480 --> 00:54:22.960
That's what the gentleman in front of the church told me.
00:54:23.119 --> 00:54:27.760
He was a member of the church, and of course, uh, he told me that he was a lifelong Democratic voter.
00:54:28.000 --> 00:54:38.400
Said that he will be voting for Abdul al-Sayed and does not plan to vote for John James, but he did take a take a picture with John in front of the church and said he's got nothing against John James.
00:54:38.480 --> 00:54:40.719
It's just that he's allegiant to Trump.
00:54:40.880 --> 00:54:47.039
And I told him, doesn't sound like folks over here are are all that keen on the president right now.
00:54:47.199 --> 00:54:50.719
And he said, he laughed and he said, No way, they're not.
00:54:50.960 --> 00:54:52.639
And so that's pretty much the story.
00:54:52.800 --> 00:55:03.199
Even folks who may be able to be won over from a candidate like John James, John is not able to get out of the shadow of Trump.
00:55:03.440 --> 00:55:05.679
Uh I do not trying to get out of the shadow.
00:55:05.920 --> 00:55:06.239
No, sure.
00:55:06.320 --> 00:55:07.920
He's trying to insert himself into the shadow.
00:55:08.000 --> 00:55:21.280
And earlier on, uh, part of the conversation was how a lot of grassroots Republicans, a lot of uh, you know, ultra-mAGA Trump voters actually did not like John.
00:55:21.599 --> 00:55:30.400
Um, of course, the Perry Johnson and the Mike Cox, they were trying to get the more conservative voters.
00:55:30.639 --> 00:55:42.400
Perry Johnson's campaign um and and who supported it, that was compromised of Republicans who were to the right of of John, frankly.
00:55:42.559 --> 00:55:55.920
And John was able to get the Trump endorsement because Perry Johnson, um, according to you know folks in DC, was not viewed as a serious candidate able to take on a legitimate candidate like like Jocelyn Benson.
00:55:56.079 --> 00:56:03.119
So I I do feel like if there were a better, more conservative John James, that he probably wouldn't have gotten the Trump endorsement.
00:56:04.320 --> 00:56:08.159
What Trump is looking at is not whether or not you are better or worse.
00:56:08.239 --> 00:56:09.840
What he's looking at is can he win?
00:56:10.079 --> 00:56:10.159
Sure.
00:56:10.400 --> 00:56:12.159
And he sees him as a pathway to win.
00:56:12.400 --> 00:56:18.559
The pathway to win in a purple state like Michigan is having somebody come for as um pretend moderate.
00:56:18.639 --> 00:56:24.400
I remember when Rick Snyder ran and he was wanting to become governor, and he said he was one tough nerd.
00:56:24.639 --> 00:56:29.039
But the way he described himself was listen, I've got the heart, I care about the people.
00:56:29.199 --> 00:56:35.199
He said, I'm not worried about the um right to work, I'm not worried about any of these things, these social issues.
00:56:35.280 --> 00:56:39.039
I'm really focused on, you know, balancing budgets.
00:56:39.360 --> 00:56:43.679
And as governor, we got Flintwater.
00:56:44.079 --> 00:56:47.360
As governor, we got bankruptcy in Detroit.
00:56:47.599 --> 00:56:50.559
As governor, we got right to work legislation.
00:56:50.800 --> 00:56:55.119
As governor, we got business tax cuts and an increase in taxes for the middle class.
00:56:55.280 --> 00:56:56.880
But he didn't run on those things.
00:56:57.039 --> 00:56:58.480
They don't run on those things.
00:56:58.639 --> 00:57:01.840
Rick Snyder, I was last time I saw Rick Snyder, I was at the Renson.
00:57:02.239 --> 00:57:13.440
Um, we stayed overnight during the fireworks, and we were waiting to get on an elevator, and there was a black family woman who had several children with her, and she, I think, may have been disabled.
00:57:13.519 --> 00:57:16.880
And he graciously held the door for her and escorted her children in.
00:57:17.039 --> 00:57:22.559
He doesn't hate her or her children, but his policies could harm her and her children.
00:57:22.719 --> 00:57:31.199
And that's the issue that I have with people who are running as good guys for these public spaces, where good guys can make really bad decisions.
00:57:31.280 --> 00:57:40.239
And I just think that voters have to vote based on issues, not based on race, not based on gender, not based on this is a cool person.
00:57:40.320 --> 00:57:41.280
They said George W.
00:57:41.440 --> 00:57:43.280
Bush, you want to have a beer with him.
00:57:43.360 --> 00:57:47.599
Well, I never wanted to have a beer with him, but apparently a lot of voters did, so they voted for him.
00:57:47.840 --> 00:57:53.440
It feels like you're almost dumbing down the electorate when you, you know, vote on those base that basis.
00:57:54.000 --> 00:57:59.760
So um, you you're saying that the the congregation you spoke to was not persuaded, though.
00:58:00.000 --> 00:58:02.400
Well, just I just spoke to one of the guys there.
00:58:02.559 --> 00:58:03.920
Um, I'm gonna can't lie to you.
00:58:04.000 --> 00:58:11.199
I think there was like a total of six people actually in the church when James spoke who weren't like members of his team.
00:58:11.440 --> 00:58:14.719
So it was a lightly attended um event.
00:58:14.880 --> 00:58:18.480
I guess you could say it wasn't like a public event, but just a campaign stop.
00:58:18.800 --> 00:58:24.719
He did meet off camera with um a supporter who lived a little bit further down.
00:58:24.800 --> 00:58:30.559
We didn't get to see that interaction, but there was another supporter who was a white woman named Karen, I forget her last name.
00:58:30.719 --> 00:58:31.920
Uh interesting story.
00:58:32.079 --> 00:58:38.239
This woman uh said she moved to Pontiac to live in the same community as her church.
00:58:38.400 --> 00:58:48.320
She said that her and her husband in the year 2020, as the pandemic began, moved into the former mayor's mansion.
00:58:48.480 --> 00:58:54.880
And uh she gave an interesting story, some Republican voter from Oakland County.
00:58:55.119 --> 00:59:09.840
Um and in Oakland County, you know, of course, there's another conversation happening um within the Jewish community there over whether or not they're gonna be able to support the Democratic candidate at the top of the ticket.
00:59:10.320 --> 00:59:14.079
Um yeah, Jeremy Moss, you know, I'm I'm gonna be honest with you guys.
00:59:14.239 --> 00:59:22.719
If I were on polymarket, I would invent the uh the question, will Jeremy Moss endorse Abdul al-Sayed?
00:59:22.800 --> 00:59:25.679
And then I would put all of my money on yes.
00:59:26.480 --> 00:59:28.480
So that I'm just gonna put that out there.
00:59:28.639 --> 00:59:34.639
Uh, I do think Jeremy will actually end up coming through and endorsing Abdul al-Sayed.
00:59:34.880 --> 00:59:45.360
Um, Jeremy is an interesting character within the Michigan legislature, and he's going to be um sort of anointed once he gets to Congress.
00:59:45.519 --> 00:59:50.639
He views himself as sort of a power broker in this um election cycle.
00:59:50.719 --> 01:00:12.159
Of course, Abdul Al-Sayed uh speaking in front of the Jewish caucus uh at the last Democratic convention, the fall convention, he apologized for the way he handled his statement after the Temple Israel attack, saying that context that he tried to provide was not appropriate at the time he tried to provide it.
01:00:12.320 --> 01:00:27.440
Um, in that meeting, I can report to you that that apology uh, you know, uh it does not happen without the um requests of members of that community, including Jeremy Moss.
01:00:27.840 --> 01:00:36.079
Um Abdul has distanced himself from something that Hassan Piker said about Jeremy Moss specifically.
01:00:36.480 --> 01:00:50.480
Um and so it does appear that um there is work happening to capture some of the more moderate um Jewish members of the Democratic Party.
01:00:50.639 --> 01:00:54.960
You know, you're seeing these Democrats for Mike Rogers.
01:00:55.199 --> 01:00:59.199
I don't think we've seen a Democrats for a John James group pop up on Twitter yet.
01:00:59.440 --> 01:01:11.280
But very similarly to Cuomo in that election against Mamdanny, you know, we do not know who the actual Democrats for these Republican candidates are.
01:01:11.360 --> 01:01:15.840
I mean, are they Democrats that were Democrats in 2012 when they voted for Obama?
01:01:15.920 --> 01:01:17.440
And that was the last time they voted for a Democrat?
01:01:17.679 --> 01:01:21.920
Were they Democrats when they you know, so Michigan is an open primary state.
01:01:22.000 --> 01:01:24.559
You can really just vote for whoever the heck you want, whenever the heck you want.
01:01:24.800 --> 01:01:25.039
You can.
01:01:25.519 --> 01:01:29.119
There is no real such thing as a registered Democrat in Michigan or a registered Republican.
01:01:29.519 --> 01:01:32.480
Yeah, when you vote, you can only vote one ticket in the primaries.
01:01:32.639 --> 01:01:32.880
Yeah.
01:01:33.440 --> 01:01:34.320
You can vote for either ticket.
01:01:34.639 --> 01:01:35.920
You can vote for either ticket.
01:01:36.159 --> 01:01:49.920
But I do want to say um that, oh my goodness, I think one of the questions is around um Abdul El-Sayed's, you know, um persona, around whether or not he's sincere.
01:01:50.079 --> 01:01:54.480
And I've heard from people who've worked with him, you heard from the same people who had wonderful things to say about him.
01:01:54.559 --> 01:02:04.880
So I also want to say that uh there's people who um had political disagreements with him, and I understand those political disagreements, but I think that to know him, he's a pretty gracious person.
01:02:05.199 --> 01:02:13.679
And I think he is not a person who would intentionally offend Jewish voters, and I think therefore that his apology was sincere.
01:02:13.920 --> 01:02:27.599
I don't think he just said it because he was asked, I think he misspoke or just misunderstood the moment and learned something about how to respond when there's conflict, that sometimes you have to pull the politics out of it and care about the people at that time.
01:02:27.679 --> 01:02:29.760
And so I'm glad he apologized to them.
01:02:29.920 --> 01:02:34.320
But I don't think he was ever intending to minimize what happened.
01:02:34.400 --> 01:02:38.239
It's just that people can't hear your apology.
01:02:38.559 --> 01:02:46.320
Unlike Hassan Piker, who is often antagonistic toward Zionist Jews.
01:02:46.400 --> 01:02:50.400
I mean, not just antagonist, he's he is in opposition to them.
01:02:51.039 --> 01:02:57.679
We forget that Abdul Al-Sayed did not grow up in Dearborn, he is not from Detroit.
01:02:57.920 --> 01:02:59.119
Where is he from?
01:02:59.280 --> 01:03:01.360
He's from Ann Arbor and West Bloomfield.
01:03:01.440 --> 01:03:06.320
Yeah, and so he has been among Zionist Jews his whole life.
01:03:06.480 --> 01:03:19.199
I mean, really, the idea that he is it probably would have come out by now if he were to be on the level of antagonistic, and it you know, we we probably would have heard it by now.
01:03:19.440 --> 01:03:23.920
Um, it is interesting just because that issue is so polarizing, right?
01:03:24.000 --> 01:03:30.239
There are people who, of course, as as Haley Stevens said, will have to make uh uh a private decision.
01:03:30.400 --> 01:03:42.719
I think a lot of of Jewish voters are are just you know completely feel threatened by people like Abdul um attaining any power at all.
01:03:42.880 --> 01:03:45.760
I think they it's a hard time to be Jewish right now.
01:03:46.239 --> 01:04:01.440
I think um, and I have friends who are Jewish, it's a really hard time to be Jewish because um there is legitimate concern about what's happening, and there's also a lot of anti-Semitism that is being justified by what's happening in Gaza.
01:04:01.679 --> 01:04:14.559
And um, so as a Jewish person, you can hate what's happening in Gaza and at the same time love your people and sometimes feel really good about Israel and or feel like Israel has the right to exist.
01:04:14.800 --> 01:04:20.000
And trying to work through all of that in this world stage, which people are just horrified.
01:04:20.239 --> 01:04:23.199
Um, I I've talked to a few people and they're struggling.
01:04:23.360 --> 01:04:27.519
And so it is a private decision, it's a very private decision.
01:04:27.679 --> 01:04:31.440
Every vote is a private decision, you know, unless you just choose to make it public.
01:04:31.679 --> 01:04:33.760
Um you mentioned about his personality, though.
01:04:33.840 --> 01:04:36.719
That was something when I asked him directly, I think the day before the primary.
01:04:37.440 --> 01:04:40.000
What do you make when people say you're arrogant?
01:04:40.079 --> 01:04:41.679
You know, what are you what are you gonna do?
01:04:41.760 --> 01:04:45.920
This is probably the most attention that you've ever had on you at this moment.
01:04:46.079 --> 01:04:49.440
We were at Dally in the Alley on Saturday, right?
01:04:49.599 --> 01:05:04.239
And I'm I'm watching him being parade, being literally paraded through you know, this the streets on off Cass, Canfield, and whatever the streets are around their Hancock coming splitting through the alley, right?
01:05:04.320 --> 01:05:07.039
And you could just imagine this scene of a swarm.
01:05:07.199 --> 01:05:09.440
He was swarmed by supporters.
01:05:09.599 --> 01:05:13.840
It was a rock style star style appearance, right?
01:05:14.000 --> 01:05:20.000
When people Abdul, Abdul, people stopping where they are to take their phones out and been like, oh my god, oh my god, it's Abdul.
01:05:20.320 --> 01:05:21.679
No, he's a television star.
01:05:22.000 --> 01:05:23.599
That has to go to one's head.
01:05:23.920 --> 01:05:24.400
Does it not?
01:05:24.639 --> 01:05:25.599
I mean, oh my God.
01:05:25.760 --> 01:05:30.320
I mean, and I'm I'm making eye contact with him like, dude, like, is this not insane?
01:05:30.480 --> 01:05:37.599
There's no way that he's ever at any point experienced anything that would make you like feel so good about yourself.
01:05:37.920 --> 01:05:50.559
Well, you know, I think that um you have to have a certain level of um, and I don't I'm I'm about to take this the wrong way, but when you're running for those offices, you have to have a certain level of um ego.
01:05:50.719 --> 01:05:56.239
I'll just say I'm not gonna label it, but a certain level of ego when you run for office.
01:05:56.400 --> 01:05:59.599
And I think it's safe to say that he has that level of ego.
01:06:00.159 --> 01:06:08.719
Um, yes, but I think it's one thing to have ego, and you know, the then you just have to pray that somebody is there to help hold him accountable for that.
01:06:09.199 --> 01:06:11.119
Same same kind of thing happened with Barack Obama.
01:06:11.280 --> 01:06:14.880
I mean, I remember Philip, my son had Barack Obama gym shoes.
01:06:14.960 --> 01:06:20.719
We had Barack Obama hats, we had um people it was Barack was huge.
01:06:20.880 --> 01:06:24.960
And imagine what watching little kids walk with your picture of your face on their gym shoes, you know.
01:06:25.119 --> 01:06:37.440
Um it it and and yet Barack had Michelle, and Michelle was going to um, and then she he also had Michelle's mother living in the White House, and I think they kind of kept him grounded.
01:06:37.599 --> 01:06:54.159
I don't know um um Abdul's wife, but I would imagine that a good part of her job is to help keep him centered, um, his inner circle keeping him centered because he is getting that kind of rock star treatment.
01:06:54.320 --> 01:06:58.079
Yeah, he told me when I asked him, what do you think when people say that you're arrogant?
01:06:58.320 --> 01:07:07.440
He told me, uh, not everybody's gonna like me, but I'm gonna be me, and I don't expect to change after the primary.
01:07:07.599 --> 01:07:15.280
Uh I think that most people that have worked with Abdul that have known Abdul as I have for you know almost like a decade now.
01:07:15.360 --> 01:07:19.440
Like it's been a long time this guy has been in our community doing stuff, popping up.
01:07:20.239 --> 01:07:32.800
Yeah, he has always been confident and he has always sort of been um kind of shark-like in conversations, right?
01:07:32.880 --> 01:07:35.679
He's he's he's a dominator, he's vivacious.
01:07:35.840 --> 01:07:37.119
And I'll I'll just put it like this.
01:07:37.199 --> 01:07:38.400
I mean, he's Trumpian.
01:07:38.639 --> 01:07:41.519
He is Trumpian a bit in his communication style.
01:07:41.840 --> 01:07:42.960
I I I disagree with you.
01:07:43.199 --> 01:07:44.079
He never answers our question.
01:07:44.159 --> 01:07:45.199
And I'll just say this right now.
01:07:45.280 --> 01:07:45.679
He knows it.
01:07:45.760 --> 01:07:49.440
He doesn't answer questions, he'll say, Well, what's the better question to really ask?
01:07:49.519 --> 01:07:50.480
Well, you guys should really be asking.
01:07:50.639 --> 01:07:52.400
And he might be right when they ask him a million times.
01:07:52.960 --> 01:07:56.400
So when you say Trumpian, Trump tells lies as often as he speaks.
01:07:56.559 --> 01:08:00.079
He speaks in word salads, and a lot of times he's dishonest.
01:08:00.159 --> 01:08:04.320
And so he evades answers, is what politicians do.
01:08:04.639 --> 01:08:11.519
Trumpian is speaking in word salads, being dishonest, and um using a lot of hate, hateful rhetoric.
01:08:11.760 --> 01:08:14.559
And so I don't want to normalize Trump and say so normalized.
01:08:14.800 --> 01:08:16.640
But when, but you're normalizing him right now.
01:08:16.880 --> 01:08:18.640
Well, he's been our president for the last.
01:08:19.199 --> 01:08:21.279
He has been our president, but Trump is Trumpian.
01:08:21.439 --> 01:08:25.279
And I think that you got to give Trump, he's very unique as a politician.
01:08:25.439 --> 01:08:28.399
He can say horrible things about people and get away with it.
01:08:28.560 --> 01:08:33.600
He can bash people, he can say people come from shithole nations, he can just say anything.
01:08:33.760 --> 01:08:39.359
There is no person of color who can say everything he says and still remain in in politics.
01:08:39.520 --> 01:08:42.800
If Obama had said half what he said, he would have lost his seat.
01:08:42.880 --> 01:08:46.000
They he would have been impeached, or they would have the 25th Amendment.
01:08:46.159 --> 01:08:52.800
The reality is that Trump is a very unique demagogic, get demagogic politician.
01:08:53.039 --> 01:08:53.439
Yeah.
01:08:53.760 --> 01:09:02.800
And Abdul is a person who is very media disciplined and doesn't get off word.
01:09:03.279 --> 01:09:06.319
Um but what's the risk of him doing it?
01:09:06.880 --> 01:09:07.199
I don't know.
01:09:07.359 --> 01:09:09.600
Media discipline, he just tweets off his phone.
01:09:10.079 --> 01:09:15.119
The discipline he has is that when you try to get him to answer a question, he turns and he refuses.
01:09:16.000 --> 01:09:24.000
He stays on message, he stays on message, and that is a certain level of discipline, especially when you know that people are trying to catch you out.
01:09:24.159 --> 01:09:29.279
You slip, and if you slip, that's going to be all over the news to the extent he's ever slipped.
01:09:29.439 --> 01:09:30.640
It's everywhere.
01:09:31.119 --> 01:09:34.560
There's no slips allowed when you are a black or brown person.
01:09:34.640 --> 01:09:35.840
There's no slips allowed.
01:09:36.159 --> 01:09:39.520
You have to come perfect if you're going to make it to certain seats.
01:09:40.640 --> 01:09:45.359
And you don't get things like, oh, that was a youthful, I was youthful, that was a youthful escapade.
01:09:45.439 --> 01:09:49.680
I mean, George Bush was doing things in his 40s, and they're talking about his youth.
01:09:50.960 --> 01:09:53.199
You don't have a youth as a black person.
01:09:53.279 --> 01:09:57.760
People will go all the way back to your high school and try to see what you said and did then.
01:09:58.000 --> 01:10:01.039
And so for him to be able to stay on message, I think that's good.
01:10:01.279 --> 01:10:10.399
I, you know, think as having to listen to all of those speeches because the speeches are pretty scripted, and you hear it over and over and over again, and you have to listen to all of those speeches.
01:10:10.880 --> 01:10:12.079
That's any politician, though.
01:10:12.239 --> 01:10:14.159
But Trump doesn't stay on script.
01:10:14.479 --> 01:10:16.560
Trump leaves the script and just says whatever.
01:10:17.119 --> 01:10:25.680
I just kind of mean like the style in which they carry themselves and operate with such a confidence that is or almost indignant.
01:10:25.760 --> 01:10:31.760
He has sort of an indignant confidence that we don't see him often apologizing for his statements.
01:10:31.840 --> 01:10:42.000
And when he does, it is done in such a way that is, and if I if if I did offend, he he went in front of the Jewish community and apologized.
01:10:42.319 --> 01:10:42.720
He did.
01:10:42.960 --> 01:10:45.359
He said, I said this and I regret it.
01:10:45.600 --> 01:10:48.960
And a lot of people with his supporters felt like he shouldn't even have done that.
01:10:49.279 --> 01:11:03.199
But because a lot of people feel as though he is held to a double standard and always being asked to apologize for the slightest thing when what has Mike Rogers had to apologize for saying in the press?
01:11:04.560 --> 01:11:05.439
They don't do that.
01:11:05.520 --> 01:11:09.439
They don't look and see who has he assigned to who is he talking to.
01:11:09.680 --> 01:11:20.079
He can say things, he can be lie, he can, you know, be dishonest because he's there's whole posts where he's done dishonest, but when they interview him, they don't say, You said this dishonest thing, do you regret saying it?
01:11:20.239 --> 01:11:21.119
Can you prove it?
01:11:21.279 --> 01:11:32.319
This is the so when you look at how you get to run for office when you're a white man, and sometimes even a white woman, how you get to run for office as a black or brown man, it's different.
01:11:32.800 --> 01:11:47.039
Again, I've never heard anybody have to apologize for knowing the worst Lewis Farrakhan was the litmus test by which a black man would be decided if they could be president.
01:11:47.279 --> 01:11:57.760
Jesse Jackson was running for president and he made a mistake and referred to New York as Jaime Town, and it derailed his entire campaign.
01:12:00.000 --> 01:12:02.880
I've watched too many black people failed by that.
01:12:03.119 --> 01:12:13.039
I watched my friend Keith Ellison getting attacked for things he wrote when he was a high he worked, he went to Wayne State and he was a you know, he wrote for the student newspaper.
01:12:13.359 --> 01:12:18.560
And he was being attacked for things he wrote in the student newspaper when he was running for Congress twenty years later.
01:12:18.960 --> 01:12:21.199
That's what it's like to run as a politician.
01:12:21.279 --> 01:12:25.439
So I think of of color.
01:12:25.760 --> 01:12:28.800
I just think it's we're we're in a different kind of world.
01:12:29.359 --> 01:12:36.960
Certainly are one where uh, you know, you're doing TikTok videos with dancing and all the rest that comes along with these campaigns.
01:12:37.199 --> 01:12:39.039
Uh and I and I'm I'm tired of that.
01:12:39.279 --> 01:12:40.880
You don't like the the dancing?
01:12:41.119 --> 01:12:55.359
I think it's I think it's for the people on Facebook that are like, you know, not able to understand that it's not Abdul that said America deserved 9-11 and that it was Hassan Piker.
01:12:55.520 --> 01:12:57.039
I'm hearing from those folks.
01:12:57.199 --> 01:13:03.199
I'm hearing from Democratic voters that are telling me, well, he said, and I have and I say, Well, that was a Twitch streamer.
01:13:03.279 --> 01:13:04.800
Do you know who Hassan Piker is?
01:13:04.960 --> 01:13:08.880
And then and some like the guy today, he's like, I don't even know, I don't know who that is.
01:13:09.039 --> 01:13:10.880
But it's like, how are you on the TV?
01:13:10.960 --> 01:13:13.439
You're listening to the TV, but you're only taking in so much of it.
01:13:14.159 --> 01:13:17.439
Because they're hearing from people, and that's the selective.
01:13:17.920 --> 01:13:20.800
That's another reason why you have to have that media discipline, though.
01:13:20.880 --> 01:13:23.039
Because you're being blamed for saying things you didn't say.
01:13:23.199 --> 01:13:29.279
Now, I think a little bit of dancing on video goes a long way.
01:13:29.600 --> 01:13:31.760
Yeah, Garland did it with Jasmine Crockett.
01:13:32.079 --> 01:13:37.760
Yeah, you don't want this to be a cult of personality, you don't want this to be, oh, isn't he cool?
01:13:37.840 --> 01:13:40.800
You want to stay focused on the messages and on the stuff.
01:13:41.119 --> 01:13:45.359
Because when you turn into a cult of personality, it's never going to be my preference for a campaign.
01:13:45.600 --> 01:13:49.439
And so anybody who's listening, yes, sometimes be a little fun.
01:13:49.600 --> 01:13:52.399
Show your fun side, but then get back to the rest.
01:13:52.560 --> 01:13:52.880
Okay.
01:13:53.279 --> 01:13:58.319
We want a serious candidate who is focused on the issues and not the cool guy.
01:13:58.640 --> 01:14:02.560
And to the extent that that is happening a little bit, I don't know.
01:14:02.640 --> 01:14:03.920
I'm not in the those circles.
01:14:04.000 --> 01:14:12.079
I don't watch TikTok, but I Well, I'm I see all the things that they put out, and uh sometimes they put out videos and stuff that are like themed.
01:14:12.159 --> 01:14:17.760
Like they did a Love Island style video where he was like a contestant on Love Island, you know.
01:14:17.920 --> 01:14:24.159
Like so sometimes it's just trying to hit different fandoms, you know, with Taylor Swift, right?
01:14:24.239 --> 01:14:30.239
You put the Taylor Swift song in there, and then all the Swifties will, you know, it's just something for the for the people.
01:14:30.399 --> 01:14:34.960
And I will tell you who did that very well in 24 was Donald Trump.
01:14:35.039 --> 01:14:37.279
You know, he had all the rap, he had all the viral TikTok tragic.
01:14:37.520 --> 01:14:43.199
So what you're talking about is that there's this cult of personality aspect to the campaign where people are.
01:14:43.680 --> 01:14:44.880
Yes, Abdul has that too.
01:14:44.960 --> 01:14:46.479
He has the cult of personality.
01:14:47.119 --> 01:14:48.880
Yes, there's a personality thing that's going to be.
01:14:49.039 --> 01:14:49.840
I love you, Abdul.
01:14:50.000 --> 01:14:51.359
Oh my God, I love you, we love you.
01:14:51.840 --> 01:14:53.840
I wish I lived in Michigan so I could vote for him.
01:14:54.000 --> 01:14:56.560
He's on all of the he's he's great for TV.
01:14:56.720 --> 01:15:00.560
And I, you know, um this is his moment.
01:15:00.720 --> 01:15:01.039
Okay.
01:15:01.279 --> 01:15:08.239
Um there was a time when Keith Ellison, this was Keith Ellison's moment, he was on every TV show and he was in Congress and he was talking about things.
01:15:08.399 --> 01:15:13.920
And so the Muslim guy, especially he's attractive and well-spoken, is always gonna get the TV cameras around him.
01:15:14.159 --> 01:15:17.600
Yeah, and he will be uh, you know, if he if elected to the U.S.
01:15:17.760 --> 01:15:22.079
Senate, automatically and immediately one of the most visible politicians in America.
01:15:22.239 --> 01:15:31.520
And something that's I don't think we are truly recognizing that consequence when we're thinking about Abdul as a U.S.
01:15:31.680 --> 01:15:37.119
senator, he is immediately going to, and I mean he he was a CNN contributor.
01:15:37.279 --> 01:15:41.600
He was, um, of course, Haley Stevens reminded us, the host of a podcast.
01:15:41.920 --> 01:15:46.479
So not only is he like media trained, but like he almost is the media himself, right?
01:15:46.640 --> 01:15:52.239
That is why I think a lot of the times he gets upset about the questions that we ask him because he feels like we should be asking better questions.
01:15:52.560 --> 01:15:54.079
I think you should be asking better questions.
01:15:54.159 --> 01:15:59.199
I think anytime somebody asks about Hassan Piker, they're not asking him about what he's going to do.
01:15:59.359 --> 01:16:06.960
I think that there is a certain um type of question, and you see these um the questioners just staying on that message.
01:16:07.119 --> 01:16:08.800
Well, could you ever do this?
01:16:08.880 --> 01:16:12.079
And it's like, I'm not gonna answer this, but you're gonna keep on pressing this.
01:16:12.159 --> 01:16:13.920
You're not interested in what I'm running for.
01:16:14.159 --> 01:16:16.079
So I get frustrated by that.
01:16:16.159 --> 01:16:27.119
Um, quite frankly, I don't watch television news, so I only see the little clips, but I get frustrated by this different way for us to um narrate the campaign of this man.
01:16:27.279 --> 01:16:29.439
It is make putting him in the spotlight.
01:16:29.600 --> 01:16:35.199
He will be in the spotlight, but he will fade from the spotlight if he is elected because I don't know.
01:16:36.079 --> 01:16:37.600
There's gonna be bigger fish to fry.
01:16:37.840 --> 01:16:38.560
I I don't know.
01:16:38.640 --> 01:16:40.079
I mean, I I I don't know.
01:16:40.399 --> 01:16:41.600
You think he's gonna stay there?
01:16:41.840 --> 01:16:56.880
I mean, he's gonna be like, you know how the talk of the squad dominated for a while because they're just that was a small like he is going to be his own squad and he is going to be a leader among the progressives, truthfully.
01:16:57.199 --> 01:17:06.000
Like among the small minority of progressive US senators and among progressive Because he's he's it's the upper chamber.
01:17:06.159 --> 01:17:08.960
We've never had like this is unprecedented.
01:17:09.039 --> 01:17:17.680
If Abdul gets into the US Senate, there will never be a more like there's never been anybody that is further left ever in the his in the history of the chamber.
01:17:17.920 --> 01:17:19.920
Never been a Muslim in the history of the chamber.
01:17:20.000 --> 01:17:24.479
And so it will be like a national cult around him.
01:17:24.800 --> 01:17:33.840
Well, I think after he starts voting, after he starts making people mad, after he starts doing things that politicians do, right, some of the glamour wears off.
01:17:34.079 --> 01:17:39.359
And I do think now we are in the honeymoon version of his candidacy.
01:17:39.520 --> 01:17:44.159
But when people get elected to office, um it they're they start being held accountable for it.
01:17:44.319 --> 01:17:50.800
Thinking about the critics, I do think, and this is something that you know I'm just speculating right now.
01:17:51.600 --> 01:17:54.239
Don't don't take this with more than a few grains of salt.
01:17:54.640 --> 01:18:07.119
But he could be more like AOC than Rashida in terms of he could capitulate more to a wider audience out of the well, I could have I could go further with this, right?
01:18:07.279 --> 01:18:17.039
AOC was a true, and then she realized, well, if I just do a little bit of this, maybe I could be president and we could take my progressive leftist values all the way to the highest.
01:18:17.199 --> 01:18:26.319
Rashida knows that she's never gonna be president, she doesn't want to be president, and so she's voting ideologically every single time, no matter what, no matter anything, right?
01:18:26.640 --> 01:18:39.680
I do think you could have Abdul, who very famously in 24 sort of not abandoned, but pissed a lot of people in his own community off when he endorsed um Kamel Harris.
01:18:39.920 --> 01:18:41.760
I will receive a lot of criticism.
01:18:41.920 --> 01:18:52.960
And so I don't think he is one to do things that make people like I think he's completely comfortable doing things that make people mad if he feels like there's a greater goal.
01:18:53.279 --> 01:18:57.279
He's he's written books on Medicaid for all Medicare for all.
01:18:57.520 --> 01:19:02.479
He has his um he's very clear money out of politics.
01:19:02.640 --> 01:19:09.920
Um, he also says very clearly, I am a capitalist, I am not a socialist, and so he's not aligning himself with DSA right now.
01:19:10.159 --> 01:19:10.960
Which makes some people mad.
01:19:11.119 --> 01:19:18.239
Uh which makes some people mad, and I think some people felt like he was DSA in the past, and so he's already possibly moved towards the center.
01:19:18.560 --> 01:19:23.760
Even apologizing to the Jewish caucus, that elicited tons, right?
01:19:23.920 --> 01:19:28.880
Dozens, if not hundreds, of comments under his post complaining and criticizing him for doing so.
01:19:29.199 --> 01:19:30.560
And so he's running as a politician.
01:19:30.720 --> 01:19:39.680
I think Rashida is an amazing politician who's done an amazing job of helping build power of progressives in the state of Michigan, um, especially in the Detroit area.
01:19:39.760 --> 01:19:49.039
And I just always want to give her hats off because we would not be where we are if Rashida had not been such a trailblazer, so forcefully out there with our positions.
01:19:49.199 --> 01:19:50.640
Um, so we'll see.
01:19:50.800 --> 01:19:56.880
Um, and you know, I say that to say that politicians almost always moderate when they get into office too.
01:19:57.039 --> 01:19:58.560
It's a normal happening.
01:19:58.800 --> 01:20:01.279
And so when AOC is doing it, that's what they do.
01:20:01.760 --> 01:20:04.319
And there's a whole lot of dialogue around there.
01:20:04.399 --> 01:20:07.680
I want to get Keith Ellison on here to talk about some of that stuff.
01:20:07.760 --> 01:20:12.800
Um, he was here in town last week and we sat down, but unfortunately we weren't recording that day.
01:20:12.880 --> 01:20:14.000
It would have been a great conversation.
01:20:14.319 --> 01:20:15.039
Would have been.
01:20:15.119 --> 01:20:16.000
Uh, let's do it.
01:20:16.159 --> 01:20:21.760
We're gonna take a quick break, and when we come back, we're gonna finish it off with our weekly shout-outs.
01:20:28.319 --> 01:20:35.600
Interested in renting space for corporate events, meetings, conferences, social events, or resource fairs?
01:20:36.000 --> 01:20:44.239
The Stottermeyer Wellness Hub and Mac Market are available for rental by members, residents, businesses, and organizations.
01:20:44.960 --> 01:20:54.960
We offer rentals for activities such as corporate events, social events, meetings, conferences, art classes, fitness classes, and more.
01:20:55.520 --> 01:21:04.319
To learn more about our rentals and reserve space, visit ecn-detroit.org slash space rental.
01:21:08.319 --> 01:21:09.520
Welcome back.
01:21:10.079 --> 01:21:24.159
We want to remind you guys if you have topics that you want discuss on Authentically Detroit, please hit us up on our socials at Authentically Detroit on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, or you can visit our website at authentically-detroit.com.
01:21:24.319 --> 01:21:26.800
It is now time for our weekly shout outs.
01:21:26.880 --> 01:21:28.000
Let's start with you, Donna.
01:21:28.159 --> 01:21:29.840
You got anybody to shout out today?
01:21:30.079 --> 01:21:30.880
I have two shout-outs.
01:21:31.039 --> 01:21:37.279
I want to shout out um Daniel Baxter from the um the Austin Sweet House Foundation.
01:21:37.439 --> 01:21:46.000
He had an opening or an event on Saturday where he honored many people, including um Judge Victoria Roberts.
01:21:46.079 --> 01:21:56.159
It was a beautiful event, and I'm just so excited about the way that he has helped cement that history in, you know, creating this really beautiful place for people to come to.
01:21:56.479 --> 01:22:11.840
I also want to shout out um MMOP, um, the people who put together Michigan Money Out of Politics, um, which is Voters Not Politicians, um, where I'm on the board as one of the organizations on the steering committee to help put that there and put a lot of money into that effort.
01:22:12.159 --> 01:22:13.520
Um, we're on the ballot now.
01:22:13.600 --> 01:22:30.880
And so people in Michigan have a chance to decide whether or not they want to um get money out of politics and whether they want to stop large corporations, people with contracts with the state, and regulated monopolies from being able to donate to political campaigns.
01:22:31.279 --> 01:22:39.600
I think that um that gives citizens more voice, gives voters more voice, and takes away some of the power from big money.
01:22:41.119 --> 01:22:41.760
All right.
01:22:42.159 --> 01:22:51.039
I want to shout out uh Steve Jobs for no longer being alive for Apple to make that terrible iPhone that we just saw.
01:22:51.359 --> 01:22:55.760
Um you know, there I used to be a really big fan of like technology and stuff.
01:22:55.840 --> 01:22:57.680
I used to watch all the Marquise Brown videos.
01:22:57.760 --> 01:22:58.720
Is that that's his name, right?
01:22:58.800 --> 01:22:59.439
Marquise.
01:22:59.680 --> 01:23:00.720
You know the guy?
01:23:00.960 --> 01:23:01.600
The guy on YouTube?
01:23:02.000 --> 01:23:03.439
Yeah, whatever his name is.
01:23:03.760 --> 01:23:10.720
Uh I used to love Apple and stuff and like the the idea of it because when I was in Midland, they just gave us like iMac.
01:23:11.840 --> 01:23:18.239
And um, so I just wanted to say today that I was really sad to see the foldable phone come out the way.
01:23:18.319 --> 01:23:21.039
It did it looks nice, but like it doesn't look great.
01:23:21.119 --> 01:23:31.760
And I was just like so kind of excited for a new era of perhaps the just generic black screen that you know you sits on your phone, everybody has the same-looking phone, but the back has a little bit.
01:23:32.000 --> 01:23:37.600
I was excited for like what could be, and I feel like maybe like you know, American innovation is over.
01:23:37.680 --> 01:23:38.800
Like, I don't I don't know.
01:23:39.039 --> 01:23:43.039
There are that duo, iPhone duo, you can go look at it.
01:23:43.119 --> 01:23:47.359
Um, there's like a million other models of the same exact phone made in China and stuff.
01:23:47.520 --> 01:23:56.960
And so if anybody has some good inventions that you want to like show me to be inspired of the next generation of our country and manufacturing and creativity innovation.
01:23:57.359 --> 01:24:05.039
Well, you know, it's consumerism, consumerism says I have to have this new thing, and I have to have this new thing, and I have to have this new thing, and this is a new thing that looks like.
01:24:07.760 --> 01:24:10.720
Like the camera's still the same, the same memory.
01:24:10.800 --> 01:24:13.680
It's just like maybe a little bit faster processing.
01:24:13.760 --> 01:24:15.760
And so it's just like, what are we doing?
01:24:15.840 --> 01:24:22.640
And I I truly wonder like who is gonna come out with something that makes people say I'm done with Apple iPhone.
01:24:22.960 --> 01:24:26.960
What they actually did, which I think is cool, is iPhone Air.
01:24:27.199 --> 01:24:29.920
iPhone Air is like I do have an iPhone Air.
01:24:30.000 --> 01:24:30.720
I'm gonna take this case off.
01:24:31.039 --> 01:24:32.399
That didn't have a good enough battery though.
01:24:32.560 --> 01:24:33.359
It's light and everything.
01:24:33.680 --> 01:24:35.119
It's the battery is almost as good.
01:24:35.520 --> 01:24:36.319
But the camera is just one.
01:24:36.640 --> 01:24:37.600
The camera is not as good.
01:24:38.159 --> 01:24:40.960
So make this into a better camera, but this is a really cool phone.
01:24:41.039 --> 01:24:42.880
Look, it's so small, it's so lightweight.
01:24:43.199 --> 01:24:48.560
But to me, that solves a problem for me because carrying the phone is kind of hard on my fingers.
01:24:48.640 --> 01:24:52.239
I'm saying that if you're gonna solve create something new, solve a problem with it.
01:24:52.399 --> 01:24:54.880
Yes, if you solve a problem, fine.
01:24:55.119 --> 01:24:59.199
But having a foldable phone that gets big and gets small does not solve a problem.
01:24:59.279 --> 01:25:00.079
It's just weird.
01:25:00.239 --> 01:25:00.880
So I agree with you.
01:25:01.520 --> 01:25:06.479
Yes, shout out to all the people at the downtown Apple uh store, that new store downtown.
01:25:06.640 --> 01:25:14.640
They helped me uh when I had to buy a portable charger because I was walking around town interviewing people for three weeks straight.
01:25:14.960 --> 01:25:16.479
My phone kept dying.
01:25:16.640 --> 01:25:20.960
And so the people at the Apple store downtown, great.
01:25:21.039 --> 01:25:23.119
There is so much new stuff downtown.
01:25:23.279 --> 01:25:27.119
Like it is just something else walking down there most days.
01:25:27.199 --> 01:25:32.319
I'm not downtown every day, but um, shout out to all the people downtown that say hello and that say hi.
01:25:32.479 --> 01:25:40.640
I saw a lot of you guys at Dally in the alley, and so uh again, thank you all for listening to Authentically Detroit.
01:25:40.800 --> 01:25:42.960
We're gonna be back with you guys next week.
01:25:43.039 --> 01:25:44.000
Keep it locked.
01:25:44.159 --> 01:25:45.039
Thank you so much.