Kevin Jenkins:

Know what nobody wants to hear from Bernie and nobody wants to hear from a failed congresswoman from the Bronx that her district looks like total garbage. And nobody trusts Bernie Sanders ever. If anybody trusts Bernie Sanders and he's passing the torch to her, keep up the good work. I'm very excited about their rallies. Thank you very much. I appreciate you.

Chris P. Reed:

Let you that right ahead. We on that.

Tony Tidbit:

So Bryan, you used to support, you used to work for Bernie Sanders, so let's hear your thoughts on this.

Bryan Mullen:

Yeah, I mean, uh, to me the, the silver lining of the Trump Reign of terror, part two is that people are beginning to realize that Bernie has always been right.

PUSU Narrator:

The award-winning at Black Executive Perspective Podcast presents Pull Up, Speak Up, where meaningful conversations drive progress, and every voice makes a difference. So what's on the table for discussion today?

Tony Tidbit:

It is time to show up. Speak up and get real Welcome to Pull Up, Speak Up a new series from a Black Executive Perspective Podcast, your safe space for raw, unfiltered, and honest discussions on the tough issues many shy away from. I'm your host Tony Tidbit,

Chris P. Reed:

and I'm your co-host Chris P. Reed. We always like to start by giving a shout out to our partners at Code M Magazine, code M Magazine, whose mission is saving the black family by first saving the black man. That is Code M, magazines two ms.com. Check 'em out.

Tony Tidbit:

Definitely check them out. And you're gonna check out today because our round table will tackle two explosive topics, the signal leak scandal. We're gonna discuss our top officials above national security protocols. And then we're also gonna dive into a OC and Bernie Sanders rallies. Are they driving change or really just preaching to the choir?

Chris P. Reed:

Before we go down this path, let me take a moment to introduce our panelists. You know, our powerhouse lineup, uh, of panelists. You've seen them here before. If you've tuned in, first I wanted to, uh, welcome Kevin Jenkins of Council at Right Turn Strategies. Kevin, welcome back. Thank you. Full of speak Up. Glad to be back. Cool. Next is Tauri Laws Phillips, CEO of Austin, the Austin 100. Tauri, welcome back to Pullup SpeakUp.

Taura Laws Philips:

Thanks for having me.

Chris P. Reed:

Alright, and then rounding out the panel is Bryan Mullen, a former media advertising executive. Bryan, welcome back to Pullup SpeakUp.

Bryan Mullen:

Thanks, Chris. It's a pleasure to be back.

Chris P. Reed:

Alright, so for our, uh, panelists and our audience, we, uh, like to establish great dialogue and one way in which we do this is we have a series of 10 ground rules for making sure that we can have a great, successful, productive conversation. So I'll go through the rules with you guys so we're all on the same page. The first rule is respect all voices. Second rule, listen actively. The third rule, no personal attacks folks. Fourth rule, avoid interrupting. It's gonna get passionate. It's gonna get exciting. We're gonna be heated, but do your best to avoid interrupting anyone when they have their platform in their turn. Number five is stay minded. Number six, speak from your own experience. You don't want to tell a third party, fifth party, seven party story with no real facts or no real perspective that you have of your own. Number seven, let's stay on topic. We have a small amount of time to put out a lot of information and a lot of things that we have, uh, with each other, so let's make sure we stay on topic Number eight, follow the time limits, kind of a subset of number seven. Number nine, challenge ideas, not people. Definitely not personal. We have some personal emotional investment. Make sure that we're challenging the ideas and not the person. So no muds linking. Number 10, and finally, no buts. Generally, when somebody provides a a perspective or their point of view and you put a butt on it, it kind of diminishes what they just provided you. So those are the 10 ground rules.

Tony Tidbit:

I've never heard that one before. Before. See thumbs up. It's actually facts, man. Thumbs up saying you agree to the ground rules. Thumbs up. All right, Pull Up, Speak Up. Let's talk about it.

9 News Australia Host:

The release of damning new text messages has cast doubt on the Trump administration's claim that no classified information was accidentally shared with a magazine editor, but the US president and his team are doubling down calling the scandal a witch hunt. Word games over war plans. The White House relying on semantics as Donald Trump's defense secretary played down what he shared on a group chat with a journalist.

Pete Hegseth:

Nobody's texting war plans. There's no units, no locations, no routes, no flight paths, no sources.

9 News Australia Host:

But there were times journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, who was accidentally invited into the confidential thread on the non-authorized app Signal, has shared more messages about the strikes against Houthis targets in Yemen on the day of the attack. Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth Roche team, update time now 1144 Eastern. We are a go for mission launch. 1215 Easton f eighteens launch later at 1 45. The first strike window starts, hegseth says the target terrorist is at his known location. And at two 15, this is when the first bombs will definitely drop. Do you still believe nothing classified was shared?

Donald Trumpo:

Well, that's what I've heard. I don't know. I'm not sure. You'll have to ask, uh, the various people that involved.

Tony Tidbit:

So guys, you know, based on what you know happened about 11 days ago, um, and then obviously in the clip we just saw, uh, Kevin, I'm gonna kick this off to you. Was this information actually classified?

Kevin Jenkins:

Well, you can classify anything in the government, especially at the presidential level, but you know, I believe it's a nothing burger And, and I think the strategy of Gotcha. Or you, you're doing something that might impact the, the, the, um, the safety of Americans. Well, I can go back over the last 20 years and see that every time you turn on your tv, they're selling you CIA talking points about war. Every time, you know, you're talking about what's happening on the globe, it's always manufactured in some way. Now, do I believe they should be on signal having that conversation? No. But what I find very interesting is that the reporter knew that he should not have been on that call or whoever put him on that call was already had a desire to manipulate whatever was done on that call in any, in a bigger way. Because he wants to say the Trump administration is being careless with, um, intelligence. And I gotta tell you, that's not a good strategy. And I think he was wrong for doing that. He could have put lives in jeopardy. And I, I think he was reckless and careless, and I think it was a nothing burden, but it happens every day. I, I don't understand. I mean, if you look at Hillary Clinton when she was an office who was a friend of mine, you know, if you look at what she did with her emails, it happens all the time. So I, I just don't understand that this strategy of trying to find something wrong with the Trump administration every single second as opposed to trying to work and figure out a way how we can better our group or better this country. And I think they're failing at that. I think every time they do it, people are like, look, do you have something that's gonna bring value to our lives? Do you have something that's gonna make our neighborhood safer? Do you have something that's going to bring a, at least something to the table that's going to do something positive for us? Every day I turn on my tv, which I seldom do. It's like Trump, chump. Trump, Trump, Trump. Never about crime, never about poverty, never about housing, never about anything that brings value to the Americans. And that's why 77 point. Some odd million people, um, um, voted for him and that's why his approval rating is at 56%. So I don't understand the logic of it. Maybe it's just emotional. Maybe that's how they operate, but it's not a winnable strategy. Bryan, what's your thoughts?

Bryan Mullen:

My thoughts are, I don't know where to begin with that level of, of stupid, sorry. Um, classified. They talked about who they were gonna attack when it was gonna happen. It was classified, talked to any expert. It was classified. That's one Hillary Clinton's emails. Are you kidding? Hillary Clinton ran for president eight years ago. I mean, be serious. Okay. Please be serious. The reason we're not talking about the other things you talked about, housing, et cetera, is because Trump doesn't talk about it. He's not interested in it. Okay. So this idea that this is overblown is silly, and don't take my word for it. Take experts, take military experts who've been on television. Um, everyone knows this was classified As for the reporter, the reporter actually was the only one in the group who was responsible. He did not share the information because he knew it could put lives in danger. Okay. Um, waltz went on TV the other day and suggested that, um, the Atlantic Reporter, the editor was the one who did something wrong. He was added to the conversation. He also then said, I, I don't know how we got on there. It could have been a mix up. I, I had him listed as someone else. So, I'm sorry, Kevin, but everything you said is untrue. Okay. And, and, and I know we don't like to sort of make it personal, but you saying that is part of the problem, it's because Republicans in general can never admit mistakes. You can never fix things if you don't admit they were wrong.

Tony Tidbit:

Sorry. Let's get your thoughts on this,

Taura Laws Philips:

Kevin. I'd love to, uh, I'd love to respond in a way that is, uh, as, as, uh, respectful as I can find myself to be. Uh. I agree there are a lot of people looking for what is going wrong. I agree with that. I think that that is the climate of American politics and has been for the last 15 years in, and I think that that is like culturally what we're looking for. So I will agree with you on that. I think that the difference between her emails and this particular instance with Signal Gate as I think is really funny to call it, uh, is the timeliness of the information shared and the difference between information shared prior to an event and with people external to the details and data that is involved. So to me, the issue is. Including someone who is not a part of the tactical team, sharing it on a platform that is not the platforms that are within the, uh, sort of approved spaces and doing it prior to with someone external to the conversation. And so I think when we think about the opportunity to put our soldiers in jeopardy doing so with the plans to external people in the media, that is, that that's just simply a mistake. If I. My board is going to look at me and say, you made a mistake. It's okay to have mistakes. It's okay to be human, but we gotta clean it up and be, uh, responsible for what we're doing. And also, uh, cc the media. Yes, we can blame the media, but we also have to include the people who CC'd the media and who none of those people looked at that group and said, Hey, who's this guy? That's what's funny. If all of us were on a text chain and there was a number we didn't know, somebody would be like, Hey, Tony, who'd you include? Because I don't know that number. And that's normal. Like, that's the normal double checking of what you're doing. And maybe it's just that, you know, they're used to other people doing thinking for them. But there were mistakes made in multiple, on multiple sides, and. That creates the issue.

Chris P. Reed:

Let, let me ask you this, Tauri, before I, before we move off, um, uh, national Security Advisor, Michael Waltz, um, said two things recently that stuck with me. One was that, like you said, he, uh, knowing who's on the chain or who's there and who's responsible for that type of coordination, he said that he had never met with, communicated or spoken to, uh, Goldberg. And that quote, uh, he, it was likely that it, uh, that Goldberg's phone number was in someone else's contacts and then it somehow gets snuck or sucked in. It somehow gets sucked into the actual thread. So in that regard, um, because it was like a oopsies, do you believe that there's some type of investigation or overhaul to prevent that? And is that something. That's a administrative thing, or is that something that the company signal? Should be held liable for.

Taura Laws Philips:

It's on both sides. This is why we have approved channels for specific information. So if we decide that tactical information is not classified and we can spread it and use it in any, in any channel, then it makes it a lot easier for, I don't know, saving somebody's phone number under the wrong name. Okay. To set that up. And I mean, it it, that's the easiest setup is if, if we don't have rules or we're breaking the rules, it's really easy to get one over on somebody. I love a conspiracy theory. Listen, if you had hired me as a page, I would be the one saving everybody's phone number incorrectly in everybody's phone. I'll happily go down for getting everybody, but I can't do that, and I can't set anybody up if you're using approved channels. The issue with Hillary is she's using unapproved channels for information that was highly sensitive. Listen, I'm happy you were friends with her. I wish I could be friends with her. I love her till the day I die. That was the issue with what she did. She was breaking and bending the rules so. You open yourself for these types of things?

Kevin Jenkins:

Well, this, this, this, this is the problem. Cannot speak to this the problem. Please cannot speak to this police if, if, if talking about Hillary's emails. Hello? And I speak to, hold on, hold on. Hold Bryan, let let Kevin jump in. Then you can

Tony Tidbit:

jump.

Kevin Jenkins:

I like what I chatted first. That's okay. I I, I heard both of them and, and I think Tauri, I, I said earlier on that they should not be using Signal or anything like this to be communicating. Okay. Anyhow, in Intel at any level. I said that early on, but you know, when you said the loss of, um, of putting out troops in jeopardy, you must be talking about what happened in Afghanistan when 13, um, of our military people died. Now, I can go on and on and on about that, but that's not the issue that I was talking about. I was saying they shouldn't do it and there's enough, we can go through history in, in the last five to six or seven years to suggest that a lot of this has been going on and they, and they should clean that up. But you know, to say that it's silly or to say that, you know, something is in an, in an inappropriate or what I'm saying, it's quite delusional because hisTaurically these things have happened over and over and over again. And this is what I'm saying about the far, far left. They have amnesia. They don't understand that when they do this. People are saying, wait a minute guys, we got other issues to be dealing with right now. And you know what, that is an issue and I think they need to deal with that. It should have never happened. I agree with that, but to say that it's silly or to say that, um, Hillary Clinton's emails did not have an impact or could not have an impact on our national security, that's quite delusional at best or

Taura Laws Philips:

are theys or silly, you decide because if nothing,

Kevin Jenkins:

conversations. Clearly it didn't say not one word, and I was just trying to clean up the end of what my statement was going to be. So my thing is, I think there's enough to go around. I think that they were wrong. I think that that should have never happened, and thank God nobody's lives were put in jeopardy. But if you have to do an hisTaurical analysis, there's a lot of that's going on every single day, and we need to deal with that. I think that kind of stuff is very serious. I didn't make any excuses of for, for that, but to suggest that when I say something about Hillary or I said something about Afghanistan, if I say, oh, that's silly. Well, that right there is counterproductive and there lies the problem. Every time you have a conversation with the radical or far left, it gets personal. Instead of us focusing on the fact that I said earlier on that that was wrong, that should have never happened. The only thing, radical

Tony Tidbit:

real. Hold on real quick, Bryan. I'll let you respond then I'm gonna jump in. Go ahead.

Bryan Mullen:

The only thing radical is everything Kevin has said,

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Bryan Mullen:

because it's steeped in lies who got us out Afghanistan, Kevin. Got you outta Afghanistan. Excuse me. I'm talking, wait a minute. Excuse me. I'm talking no time out. Time out, time out. Guys'. I'm talking, you're not going

Kevin Jenkins:

to, you're not going to attack me in a conversation I'm having. This is the problem. Listen, you need to learn how to really have a conversation. Zip. Bryan, you're out of control, your honor, in liberal. See, this is what I mean. You can't invite me to a show to have a deep conversation, guys, when he's doing this, guys, you're not capable of a deep conversation. Guys, we

Tony Tidbit:

can't have no attacking. Now come on. Everybody can tell that point of view, but no attacking, no person, no attacks.

Kevin Jenkins:

Tony. Hey, listen, listen. Hey, listen. If that continue, if that, that's not an opinion. Keep talking. Your opinion is out context. You're attacking me without understanding what I said. And there's some real comprehension issue here because you don't know what my politics is. You really don't know. Lemme know when he's done.

Tony Tidbit:

You really

Kevin Jenkins:

dunno what my politics is.

Tony Tidbit:

So, Kev, Kev, I hear you. So, no, listen guys. Everybody's got a right to their opinion. No person. You can't be calling people stupid or anything like that. Right, right. Speak your what you wanna say. If you disagree, totally fine, but just keep

Bryan Mullen:

it from a personal standpoint. Go ahead, Bryan. Tony. Everyone's entitled to their opinion. Everyone is not entitled to facts that aren't true. So this is with Kevin pedals. I mean, I, I just met him, but he's essentially doing talking points. Poor man, Scott Jennings on CNN, where you just obfuscate and you talk about things that are hisTaurically, that are hisTaurical and or untrue. So Trump was the one who did the deal with the Taliban, which put us in danger in Afghanistan. Definitely Biden, uh, made a mistake with the pullout. There's no question about it, but Trump teed him up for that Hillary's emails. The fact they were even talking about this is really sad. It, it it is. It was eight years ago. Okay. People's lives were put in danger. Pete Hegseth was unqualified. This goes back to the idea that most all of Trump's cabinet members were unqualified. They're just Trump loyalists. They're just people who owe Trump their existence. And so they sit in these jobs like Tulsi Gabbard. She sits before congress in special committee, and she lies. She lies. This is what these people do. This is what Trump is doing as president. He's setting us up for failure. He's been office, what, less than three months. How many problems can there be? The stock market is crashing. We're putting people in danger. Okay. People are being grabbed off the street. I mean, please, Hillary's emails. You've gotta, I'm, I, I gotta tell you, I gotta tell you guys on, I gotta tell you. Hold on. Lemme stick to, lemme, lemme stick. I gotta tell you, this is absolutely

Kevin Jenkins:

ridiculous. I mean, this whole thing, this is what I'm saying to you. I'm pointing out various issues that reflect on what we started the conversation about, right? Mm-hmm. And he's saying that it's untrue, so he's contradicting himself right there. So he says it was, it was Trump that cut the deal with the, um, the Taliban. Well, we can go back and have that discussion with many presidents. You know, I, I mean that's, this is what I'm trying to say to you. I mean, we, if we want have these con, if you want me to be a part of these conversations, I don't even have a problem with him saying that, oh, it's not factual. Then I can rebut and say, okay, here's where I'm on on this. But this kind of stuff is why the country is where we are today. This is the problem.

Chris P. Reed:

Lemme ask you this, lemme ask you this, Tony. Tony, in the idea of the severity or the sensitivity, I know that we talked about national security, we talked about different things, but you know, Tauri stated earlier, the timeliness or the temperature of the world at this point in time and in the fact that these were war plants. So it was act of war 46, uh, estimated 46 civilians were killed. So somebody, you know, there was a, a unfortunate, uh, level of life lost. But any idea of culpability is what we're talking about here. And we said that it was a mistake and it shouldn't have happened. But now I see a lot of finger pointing in all shucks. And the concept is, if a junior enlisted person leaked war plans like this, they would've been court-martialed. Gotcha. So why are senior officials when we talk about, um, ability or, uh, the qualifications or whatever, why are the senior officials. Uh, not being held to the same. A lot, uh, amount of accountability. Is there practic, should there be practical experience in military or security to be required for these roles? What, what, what? Say you and Tony, I know you may have a take on that.

Tony Tidbit:

Yeah. So just, just to be clear though, guys, because I think we got off track, and here's the thing though. When we talked about this, this was classified, that was my question, okay? Mm-hmm. To be fair, was this information classified? Absolutely. Mm-hmm. And then more importantly is that at the end of the day, nobody's heads have rolled. Mm-hmm. Because of it. Okay, lemme give you an example. This is an article that was written in NPR March 25th by Bill Chappel. And what this situation is called is spillage. Okay, so I quote What typically happens in a spillage as serious as this is there, people are immediately fired, said Kevin Carroll, who served 30 years in the Army, followed by the CIA and the Department of Homeland Security and the first Trump administration. Okay? He says, listen, they're usually processed, and I'm quoting for being kicked out of the military, and they're referred to criminal prosecution. A lawyer himself, Carol, has defended troops whose accidentally leaked information. Military officers who are sent battlefield assessments that were several years old have lost their jobs for passing the information over an unsecured channel. Carol says he defended a Junior Marine Corps officer in court who set urgently potentially life-saving information to fellow officers in Afghanistan from a non-classified email server, and he was relieved of his duty. Carol says, for the truth, seeing leadership share attack plans in advance on signal, but so far suffer no consequences is toxic to morale. But that double standard is so common. He adds, there's a phrase for it in the military, different Spanx for different ranks. So Tauri should, and look, at the end of the day, we can say it's an accident. We can say that, which you guys all agreed they should not have been using this app. Right? But shouldn't some heads roll for this situation? Tauri, what's your thoughts?

Taura Laws Philips:

Uh, first I just wanna make sure it's okay for me to talk and not be interrupted by anyone. And if I do get interrupted, I won't promise to take my microphone and go home. Okay. Just making sure. Um. Go ahead, Kevin. I thought Go ahead, Tauri.

Tony Tidbit:

Go ahead, Tory. Go ahead, Tauri, go ahead.

Taura Laws Philips:

Okay. So the thing is, is that of course we have, we, we've always had rules. We've always had responses. We've always had, uh, systems to have checks and balances in our government. What we are seeing now is a rebuke of our former systems of government and checks and balances, and that's why no heads are rolling. But of course, there's Of course, of course, yes, of course there should be a response that corrects the issues because those rules were put into place by adults who thought out how it would impact the people who are most impacted. And that's why we have checks and balances. They are currently not being followed on purpose.

Tony Tidbit:

Bryan, what's your thoughts? Should people be fired?

Bryan Mullen:

Of course. I mean, but the real issue is that no one actually believes it's been what Tony, you said 11 days.

Tony Tidbit:

11 days.

Bryan Mullen:

So politically this is, you know what, who's the guy, uh, that told Trump never apologize, always attack. He never, he never takes ownership. He literally said to a Wall Street Journal reporter, I know nothing about it. A couple of days after I know nothing about it. Can you imagine? He knew nothing about the American soldiers that were missing in Lithuania. He always knows nothing about things that are problematic. So, so, you know, he might fire waltz. Like supposedly there's some discussion about like, waltz will be the guy he doesn't want to fire. Because it would make him look soft. Of course, people should be fired. People lied in front of Congress. This is, this is anything but a nothing burger. The biggest problem with this is it'll likely happen again. And what's happening behind the scenes? What are we not, what's happening without Jeffrey Goldberg being on? The chain. I mean, that's what's scary to me.

Tony Tidbit:

So, Kevin, let me ask you this. Um, and I think one, I think it was, I don't know if it was Bryan or Tauri who said it, right, but at the end of the day, one of the things that the Trump administration is doing is they're, uh, eradicating, DEI, across the organization, across the administration, right, taking down DEI, their dismantling programs in the whole nine yards, saying that they want the best and the brightest, um, and they wanna make sure that everyone is qualified for their jobs right now. Question I have for you is this DEI when it comes to Pete Huett. Alright. Number one, we know he was in the military for 10 years. He was an officer, right? But never ever was at the level of overseeing an administration. Alright? Where now, I don't know, is it 2 million people under his, under his watch, basically. He was a Fox News host. Mm-hmm. Right? And he became the defense secretary. Okay. Yeah. And so now, right under his bike, I, I think somebody just said we are not even 90 days into the administration. Um, this situation happens on his watch. And then obviously we didn't get to this just happened. And look, I don't know if this is a big deal or not, but evidently he brought his wife to a, a, a, a, um, you know, some type of, um, um, um, secure conference. And again, I'm just talking high level, but net net is this DEI Is is Keith, he said, is he qualified to be the, the, the defense secretary?

Chris P. Reed:

Let, let me ask you Kevin Cameron, before you go, but let me, let me, let me preface this because I was initially relieved that the brother General CQ Brown Jr. Had already been fired as the Joint Chiefs of staff because first thought was, if they don't blame it on Susie or Tulsi or Mark Rubio or Alex Wong, you know, of the 19, if, if any of these had have done this, I think the reaction would have been somewhat different based off of evidence that has been presented thus far over the first 90 days. So when you keep that in mind, do you believe Pete has said. Is A-A-A-D-E-I hire or, or does not meet the qualifications of such a high mantle in military. Uh, well,

Kevin Jenkins:

he was confirmed by the Senate, right? He was confirmed by the Senate. So that I, I, let's move on from that conversation, I mean, quickly because I don't even understand the rest of, stop a second. Hold on. Lemme lemme, hold on buddy.

Tony Tidbit:

Hold on. No, no, no. I'm gonna let you let court, he was confirmed about the senate. But that doesn't mean that he's qualified. It doesn't make a difference. Doesn't there's a turn, been confirmed by, is the senate,

Kevin Jenkins:

is the kind of stuff that I'm talking about. You asked a very specific question. I answered your question very specifically. You asked about if it was A-D-I-D-E-I hire. I said he was confirmed by the Senate, right? He was, he was con Wait a minute though. He was confirmed by the Senate. I can go and look at every, um, possible person that was, um, um, um, pushed up by Biden and say the same thing about a bunch of them. And as far as the, the joint chiefs of staff, he was hired by Trump. He just didn't choose him for this next round, for this, uh, for, for, um, for his administration. So I, I don't understand that. When you say is he A DEI, he was confirmed by the Senate. So what are we talking about here? And this is what I mean, you spent a lot of time saying, well, you know, was he qualified? He was confirmed by the Senate. Right there. That answer that answers your question,

Tony Tidbit:

Kevin. Kevin, Kevin? No, it doesn't, it does. Listen. Who, who, who has it? The power in the Senate, Kevin, the Republicans. Okay. Wait a minute. They could have, they could have busted.

Kevin Jenkins:

Wait a minute though. They could have Phillipa busted this guy. They could've done anything possible to stop this guy's appointment. They didn't. They guess what? When the co, when the Democrats are in power in the Senate, in the Congress, they control what the flow of, um, the leadership should look like in their administration. This is pretty normal. This is not uncommon. So you asked me a question about DEI and I said, well, he was confirmed by the Senate. He was not appointed. He was confirmed by the Senate. In your mind, he's qualified. What? The Senate said that he was qualified.

Bryan Mullen:

That's not an in my

Kevin Jenkins:

mind. No, no, no, no, no, no. See, do you not I, I'm, I'm a pro at. You are not going to get me to get personal. The Senate qualified him. Personal. No, not asking. I'm saying to you, no, I'm not making a personal statement. I'm saying to you the Senate, right. Confirmed him. That's all I'm saying to you. It's not a personal about you or me. I'm saying it's not. I'm making it could.

Tony Tidbit:

Yeah. So here's the thing though. So here's the thing though. Here my question, I'll ask it again. Okay? Okay. 'cause because just to be clear here, right, I'm asking you, you are saying, so basically you're saying, well, the Senate, uh, uh, confirmed him. He's, he's qualified. That's basically what your answer is.

Kevin Jenkins:

The Senate confirmed him, so they said he qualified, he and in he's qualified.

Chris P. Reed:

Let's ask it different. Did the Senate make a mistake in your opinion? Kevin?

Kevin Jenkins:

I can't. Well, did the Senate make a mistake? I, I can't. I can't really, I I can't really say what, what they were thinking about at that point. They were trying to get their appointment through. He came in before the Senate. He sat there for two days or one day, and he said, this is why I should leave the military. That happens every day in government, every time. Listen, there's every day there's someone going before the Senate, going before the Congress making their position, whatever that is, and they agree or don't agree. They agreed, and they appointed him, right? They voted on him. This

Chris P. Reed:

plausible, this incident showed that it's plausible that they probably made a mistake.

Kevin Jenkins:

Well, I think they made a mistake I used in signal. I, I really believe that. I don't think they should have ever done it. And I said that I qualified that earlier in my state and

Tony Tidbit:

we, and we accept that. So we, so we definitely, I think we're all on the same page with that. Right. But here's the thing, Kevin, and here's the thing, man, you are a smart dude. You know, politics. Okay, so the question I'm asking you is not farfetched. We know in politics Okay. That the president and, and, and there's a lot of closed door backdoor deals that are done behind the scenes to get somebody to vote for something. Okay. We know that. You know that. Okay. So just to say, oh, the Senate conferred him, he's qualified, you know, at the end of the day, you know, let's be fair now. Okay. You know, that happens. It happens all the time. That doesn't mean the person's qualified. Okay? That means that. The person in power wanted this person and he made lean or she made lean on certain individuals to vote a certain way. You know that.

Kevin Jenkins:

Okay. Welcome, welcome Topol. Welcome to Politics. You asked me me a very specific question and I'll respond.

Tony Tidbit:

My point, no, so, but you gave me a political, okay, so at least you said you gave me a political answer. You asked, you said alright. You said something about dei, Kevin Jenkins. I said, Kevin, you Saidi Kevin. I asked Kevin Jenkins. Alright, the person of right strategies, I asked Kevin Jenkins, do you think he's qualified? Alright, you said, well, the Senate confirmed him, so he must be qualified. That's a political answer. We know the games that are played in the background. Alright, Bryan, thought process real quick. Is he qualified to do the job? In your opinion? In your opinion, is he qualified?

Bryan Mullen:

I, I, I think it's a silly question. We all know the answer. The answer is he's not qualified. He was a Fox News host. Usually if you wanna make a loyalist appointment, you do it for ambassador, you do it for some job that frankly doesn't have a lot of oomph. This is a high level cabinet position, okay? He's been accused of so many things. He's been truth, like found out of so many things under no other president would. A man liked Pete. Ha notice he's a white man. Um, no one would get chosen like him, ever. And no one has ever been chosen like him because it's a serious, serious. Marco Aruba. Marco Ar Rubio was the only person on his cabinet that in theory is qualified. You may not agree with his politics, but based on his experience, he's qualified the rest of them. He just, he, he just pardoned a couple of people because they gave money to his, to his, you know, to his coffers. I mean, everyone sees what's happening except people that are carrying his water.

Tony Tidbit:

So I'm gonna turn this to Tauri, then we're gonna pivot to the next. Is he qualified in your opinion, Tory?

Taura Laws Philips:

No, I think we can move on to the next thing. 'cause I'm like, listen, no, because I'll, I'll add the color. Uh, not just jokes. Um, he's not qualified because he hasn't been in a position of creating strategic plans before. The position in which he was within the military prior to, he carried out. Decisions and strategy. He wasn't a strategy maker, nor had he been in the position to create strategy in the past. So I think that it's probably a bigger job than he's capable of on his own. And I don't think that we, without even touching the emotional points for me, I don't think that he's shown the aptitude to be able to make the strategic decisions for such a large organization. I would've rather seen somebody from the private sector who has actually made strategic decisions multi in the position than him. I just don't think, I think he a great, great for something for somebody. I don't think that he has the tactical knowledge or past to be able to make decisions in for our entire military at this time.

Chris P. Reed:

So with, with, with that and our military being an international arm, or us being a primary power, let's bring it back to something more domestic and something more serving the, the actual citizens, uh, in a, in direct fashion. And there's a, a clip that we have with, uh, Sanders and a OC From a rally perspective,

Denver News Reporter:

tens of thousands of people descended on Denver's civic center park today to listen to two stars in progressive politics, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, and New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Now, this is the latest stop on their nationwide fighting oligarchy tour after a rally in Greeley earlier in the day now, the message Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez delivered wasn't just anti-Republican party. They were also trying to galvanize those disenchanted with the Democratic Party, with Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez touring the country. Denver delivered a loud message of support

Bernie Sanders:

in the hundreds of rallies that I have done. We have never

Denver News Reporter:

ever had a rally as large as this. An estimated 30,000 people filled Denver Civic Center Park Friday night, both also had pointed comments For Democrats.

Bernie Sanders:

There is today profound disgust at both political parties, and

AOC:

that means communities choosing and voting for Democrats and elected officials who know how to stand for the working class.

Denver News Reporter:

Rally goers we spoke with agree. The Democratic party needs to change.

Chris P. Reed:

Alright, so, so in the idea of the clip that we just heard are progressive and I'm, I'm gonna stick with you, Tauri, on this because we got you riled up. Are progressive rallies still moving the needle or have the left's message become more of an echo chamber than a engine of change? Where do you feel like we are on this, on this hamster wheel?

Taura Laws Philips:

I think that. People who haven't attended rallies in the past. I think, uh, I think that when we had, uh, George Floyd and Black Lives Matter and Me Too, uh, the Pink Pussy Hat Posse, I think we, I think that era got out as many progressives, uh, as it possibly could. I think everybody who was naturally had an affinity to going to rallies went to rallies then. I think that we have a larger group of people who are not sure what it is that they can do now, and I think that rallies now are grabbing people who wouldn't traditionally have gone to rallies and who are searching for how they can express their voice. I don't think that we have a centralized force, uh, pushing that. And I think that Bernie and a OC are trying to stir that pot and coalesce, uh, a group of people and give them some space for their voice. I think. So I think that people who haven't been to rallies before are going to rallies now is what I'm seeing in the groups I am and in the area where I am. I think people are going, and it's people who never would've gone before.

Chris P. Reed:

And so Kevin, I'll go to you. Same question. Um, and I know, like I said, you have a, a, a breadth of knowledge on both, on all things, you know, from a political perspective. Do you believe it's more of an echo chamber or are we actually, you know, driving an engine of change? Not are they driving an engine? Not

Kevin Jenkins:

only is an echo chamber, I hope they keep up the good work. I hope they continue to keep doing what they're doing. They have no message. It's highly dysfunctional. They're on the defensive and I'm praying that they keep up the good work because they won't be elected for the next 20 years. Thank you very much. Keep it up. Keep going to the rallies. 'cause everybody's figuring out that it doesn't do anything to solve their problems at the local level, in the state level in this country. And you know what? Nobody wants to hear from Bernie and nobody wants to hear from a failed congresswoman from the Bronx that her district looks like total garbage and nobody trusts Bernie Sanders. Ever. If anybody trusts Bernie Sanders and he's passing the torch to her, keep up the good work. I'm very excited about their rallies. Thank you very much. I appreciate you.

Chris P. Reed:

We on that.

Tony Tidbit:

So Bryan, you used to support, you used to work for Bernie Sanders, so let's hear your thoughts on this.

Bryan Mullen:

Yeah, I mean to, uh, to me the, the silver lining of the Trump reign of terror, part two is that people are beginning to realize that Bernie has always been right. I mean, radical ideas, healthcare, college, minimum wage that can pay your bills. These are not radical ideas. These are actual truths that are happening across the world in democracies. Go to Europe, go to France, go to Spain. These are countries. When you meet young people overseas, they don't worry about student debt. They don't worry about their parents getting sick, right? So the great thing about these rallies is that Doge

ADDRA Labs Promo:

Doge

Bryan Mullen:

is impacting so many people. Do you realize that most of Trump's policies, all these idiotic decisions are impacting his voters more than Democrats. If you look at the data, red states are more impacted by the firings or the loss of services. So that's why these rallies are impactful, because people who literally voted for him thinking, he'll close the border, he'll make things right, we're weak, blah, blah, blah, are now finding out that his policies, their 401k is worth 8% less than it was if they're in retirement age. Like myself, you have less money you had than when Biden was president.

Taura Laws Philips:

Oh my God.

Bryan Mullen:

Guess what? I go to, I go to the store every week. I haven't been able to get eggs in forever, and when I do, they're really expensive. So, so Kevin talked about, I'm very solving problems. Trump has created problems. He hasn't solved a single problem. Okay. That's what I'll say.

Kevin Jenkins:

I, and you know what? You can respond. I, I, I am stunned. After 12 years after, after, in the last 16 years, 12 years, democratic Party had, when Obama came in office, had control of the Congress and Senate and got nothing done for Americans. So your $15 an hour, all of that stuff you're talking about, you had an opportunity when the Democrats was in office to save the world. You did nothing. And now you're attacking this guy that's been around for 50 days, 60 days, and you're saying, oh, he's done nothing. No, no tax on overtime. No tax on tips, no tax on social security. What are you talking about? The economy is going to get better. You talking about eggs? I, I built a supermarket right across the street from me, right? That I can go in and buy some damn eggs. And by the way, the prices have gone down. I'm soak, you know, these radical talking points are quite scary to me. I have not been in a goddamn place anywhere. Excuse me in America that I couldn't buy eggs. Okay? And the eggs prices are going down and I eat grass fed eggs. And so what are you talking about? This is the kinda stuff that I'm always shocked about. After 12, 16 years, 12 years of 16 years between Biden and Obama. Nothing got done. And you are whining. So everybody says sit down, be quiet 'cause you got nothing done for America at all.

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Taura Laws Philips:

You got it? Come guys,

Kevin Jenkins:

man. Come on. Here we go. Come on guys. On on.

Tony Tidbit:

Hold on. Stop. Stop. Lemme Tauri, jump in. Go ahead. Yeah, Tauri jump. Lemme,

Taura Laws Philips:

lemme start here. Kevin, I worry about your blood pressure.

Kevin Jenkins:

My blood pressure's good, my blood pressure's praise God.

Taura Laws Philips:

Praise God. I'm so happy for five miles a day.

Kevin Jenkins:

I'm 62 years old. I'm young than some of you,

Taura Laws Philips:

Kev.

Kevin Jenkins:

Good luck.

Taura Laws Philips:

Just lemme start here because I, what I refuse to do, Kevin, is let you continue to be disrespectful when I am attempting to be respectful to you because you first got upset when I, when I cut you off, but you've cut everybody else off and you, you really are so in like you, you go so big. So lemme start with this. Like, that's why I worry about you because I worry about you out of respect because I look to the people that came before me. You are just a, a little smid older than me. That's not a dig. That's just that I look up to the people that are before me and I look to and the best period. And that's no, no shade. The way at which I've, you responding feels a lot and it's wow. So two blow up and you blow hard and you come hot and you change the, you change the topic. It's important for the people gonna, the rallies to be there and to have a voice, whether you give a damn about them or not. And it's clear that you don't because of how you talk about them. So, uh, for Bryan and I, we're happy that they have that space. Whether you don't trust them or not, or whether they're their, where the world looks like trash from your point of view, they matter and their voices matter. And then being Americans still matter. And so they should have a voice and they should have a space. And they do have a protected space. As long as we have the constitution, we have, I'm sorry, Tony, I had to, I can't. No, no,

Kevin Jenkins:

no. I, I, I did not, I did not say anything negative about those people that go into the rallies. I didn't see, this is what I mean. I mean, you, you living in a bubble. I didn't say any of those things. And as far as having an engaging conversation, that's pretty normal when you're talking about politics. So I, I apologize if I offend you with my. Extra latitude in my voice when we are having these kind of conversations. But at the end of the day, I never said anything about those people. I say something about A OC and I said something about Bernie Sanders. That's fair too. Are should we talking? So I don't understand where all of those other things came from. And I, and I backed it in by saying in 12 years out of the 16 years, 12 years, they had the opportunity to change the world and they did not. I think that's a pretty

Tony Tidbit:

statement. So, so, so, but here's the thing. I can challenge that, but I'm not right now, I wanna ask, I wanna ask Bryan this question. Okay. So Bryan, one of the things though, to be fair, um, you know, they're getting large r getting large people at these rallies, right? But the media is not really covering it. Okay. Not at the level that they're covering all the other things that, that are happening, right? So do you see that being a, a, a, a a a negative. Um, that the media is not behind it and it's just more of local news carrying these rallies and talking about how people feel

Bryan Mullen:

it. Well, first of all, it's being covered on social media a lot, which is curated, so I get it. Yeah, like to me, the biggest, one of the biggest issues now is that Trump has effectively scared people to death, whether it's college universities, whether it's law firms, whether it's media companies. So they're not, you know, you have people that are having conversations with Trump and much like someone on our panel, they lie, but they don't get caught, they don't get challenged. In other words, someone says something and isn't true. It's not challenged. Therefore, people who hear it think it's probably true. The media, what the media should be doing right now is challenging Republicans, I. And Trump on their lies. Did you see VicTauria Spartz, who is a congresswoman, she's li um, Ukrainian in Indiana. She had a town hall. Now she's a Republican. Um, it check it out, okay, because Speaker Johnson is telling all of his people do not have town halls. Don't do it because you can't defend those. You can't defend firings, you can't defend incompetence. So I apologize, Tony, to your point. I think, look, we have a lot of years before midterms, um, I think is tragic that these rallies are not being covered. But the word is getting out. I mean, I think you mentioned to me the other day that more people get their news from podcasts and from cable. So I'm hearing a lot about the rallies and what I'm hearing now, which gives me a good feeling, is that. Middle of the road Democrats, people that are corporate Democrats who, you know, push paper and try to defend democratic things, but don't really work that hard for the good stuff like healthcare, like college are starting to see the power of Bernie. Bernie's not gonna run for president. That's not happening, but progressive ideas are gonna become more popular. Bernie would've beaten Trump in 2016. He absolutely would've beaten Trump. The Democratic party actually sabotaged themselves by making, um, making the election all about Hillary and it was her turn, et cetera. There's a lot of dysfunction within Democratic Party. 100%. Look, Bernie and a OC will either lead the Democrats to victory next time or they will start a party. I mean, a third of Americans are, are independents. Already people are, uh, democratic party, what a 25, 30% approval rating. The time is right.

Chris P. Reed:

Oh, I was just gonna, uh, ask, uh, a question and it is, uh, involving the concept of the rallies and the media coverage and even the protest and the fact that, um, freedom of speech has been a question mark recently, whereas Trump has stated, um, and I position this to you, Kevin, you know, to kind of round us out the top of the hour, um, what he stated that A, B, C should be sanctioned and I. And, uh, taking off the, you know, uh, put in jail and things of that nature. And these other media outlets should be, you know, round up and, and taken, have their license stripped and things of that nature. Do you believe those Gestapo tactics are appropriate? I. For that office and how we approach our media and our freedom of speech.

Kevin Jenkins:

I am not here to defend every comment that Trump says. Mm-hmm. What I'm saying to you is this. I'm saying that as, as it relates to this administration, in prior administrations, they all had the ability to change things in this country, and I'm hoping that he continues to stay focused on the real basic issues that are impacting everyday Americans in this country, and that's where I want him to stay focused, period. All of the other shenanigans, I'm not here to defend that I'm not a partisan. Mm-hmm. I'm not a cult member. Mm-hmm. Right. So, so let's start right there. So when I'm having a conversation with you, I'm having a conversation with you with my point of view. So, knowing government and knowing how it operates from every level. I understand there are trading horses all the time. I'm hopeful that we have no wars. I hopeful that he's fixed this, this fixed this economy, and I hope we start addressing the issue that are impacting everybody's lives in this country. That's what 77.6 million or 0.5 million people wanted. The country went red, right? So this is what they're looking for. All of this other stuff I don't think should even be discussed, right? And I think he should be focused on these local issues, period.

Chris P. Reed:

So Tauri, as a media member, do you feel hesitant to report certain things or to put certain terminology in your publication because it may be shut down by the powers that be?

Taura Laws Philips:

Uh, luckily what I do at work is pretty non-partisan. Uh, can. Go

Tony Tidbit:

ahead.

Taura Laws Philips:

Go ahead. So Kevin, that was a lot words for you to say. No, you don't agree with that part and I in that way. But do you think that, do you think that we're willing to sacrifice one to get the other? So if we have a better economy, but no longer have media rights or freedom of speech, are you. For the other. And I, I, well, I hear you saying, is that, like, that's shenanigans in that a lot of people say that that is sort of like, that's the stuff that just keeps the left stoked. But if there's movement on that, is it, are we willing to give that up?

Kevin Jenkins:

Well, I don't know where you've been since 2019. Um, the Biden administration for four to five years have, um, really pushed against, uh, um, freedom of speech in this country. Let me tell you why I'm a prime example of it. My face was brought up at the, uh, at the, um. At the press, um, um, when the press secretary gave their, I forgot her name, where she gave her speech about the misinformation. 12 misinformation, no, before her, the misinformation I was a part of that this government tried to take my freedom of speech away from me by using a foreign agent to attack us in this country when we were fighting against Covid. Now, think about what you're saying to me. The Democratic party, A Democratic president, right? Used the power of the government to sequester my voice, my freedom of speech. So I, I don't know what you're talking about. Here I am an example of it. I will fight for free. I'm a purist when it comes to freedom of speech. Period.

Tony Tidbit:

So, so, so, Kev, Kev, she didn't, she was just asking you. No, she was saying, I know I

Kevin Jenkins:

wanted to address the freedom. I wanted to show by example that I have been impacted by the former administration that was pushing back against freedom of speech. That's why they were doing mandates. We couldn't fight back against it. They was saying if we fight back against it, they're gonna take us off of Facebook. If we fight back against it, they're gonna take us off of Twitter. If we fight back against it, they're gonna take us off. And I was, uh, uh, I was actually attacked that way.

Chris P. Reed:

So you sympathize for those in that, this administration in doing that too? Yeah. And I don't

Kevin Jenkins:

think

Chris P. Reed:

anybody should

Kevin Jenkins:

do it. I don't think I'm a purist when it comes up. Freedom of speech. I don't think you should stop college students on campuses from and, and, and using their freedom of speech. I will never defend that ever. 'cause I've been a victim of it. So I would just give an example, a personal example.

Tony Tidbit:

Okay buddy, you answered the question. Alright, there you, you go. Appreciate that. There you go. So, so, so all good. We all got some nods on that? We

Kevin Jenkins:

got some? No, I wanted, see, I wanted to show you by example. See that not that rheTauric example we're with you.

Tony Tidbit:

So buddy. My man, my man, we are so we're on the same plate. Look, at the end of the day, it's really about, and I think this is what the theme is, right? Is that a person can believe what they wanna believe, okay? If you have, this is your value and that's your value. The key is, is that we, we shouldn't be pushing false information out, right? To, to persuade or influence other, inform other people, right. With not facts. All right, so let me back up and I, lemme give you example, prime example. You said, and look bro, I like you. So now you know, I, I I did. But here, lemme just say this. You said you like me. When the, when you said the Democratic, uh, uh, uh, administration, Obama, uh, Biden, they had power for 16 years and they didn't do, they didn't get anything done. That's not true. All 16. True. What did they get done? What did they get done? So what about Obamacare? That, that a lot of people Hold on. Stop. You see now you see how you shaking. I'm waiting for you to finish. You already anticipating what I'm gonna say. What about, but I'm looking at your face. Okay. I'm Obama. So minute, let give you my facts. Lemme give you, you can cantor, lemme give you my facts and give you my, lemme just give you my facts. So let's just, and be clear, you are hisTaurian. Let's just, let's follow along. When Obama took over. In 2008, we're in a financial collapse. Okay? We had major financial organizations go out of business. Who was the president prior? That was George Bush. Okay. Just to be fair, let's be fair. These are facts. Okay? The the auto industry came to Washington with their hats in their hand, looking for a bailout. Okay? Unemploy, all those things were at the highest, it was called the Great Recession. Alright, let's be. Two terms brought us outta that. Okay. And brought us to an eco, built an economy that Trump inherited. Let's be fair, let's just be fair here. Obamacare, that a lot of people in rural America, okay, is using for healthcare. They even tried to tear it down and they still couldn't. Alright? So there was a lot of things that the administration did do from a positive standpoint. Now if you wanna say, they put too much deregulation on. Okay? That's fair. Alright. Did they do everything perfectly? Absolutely not. No administration does. But to say they didn't do anything for the American people is not factually accurate.

Kevin Jenkins:

Okay. So let's talk, let's start from where you started, where you began. You said about Obamacare, right? Obamacare is a dismal failure. And lemme tell you why. The Heritage Foundation that y'all complained about for the last year, about 2025, wrote. Obamacare. Romney, they took it from Massachusetts, the ingredients from Massachusetts and the Heritage Foundation wrote it. You know what they did? They gave 35 million new customers to the insurance industry, and every year premiums are going up and up and up and up, which is not making it affordable. So that's Snap Snapshot back to 2008, 2009, where the economy crashed. Right? Here's the deal. Everybody and all of the corporations and all of the financial institutions got bailed out except Americans. Americans didn't get bailed out. They came back with this program that, oh, if you call this, oh, we'll try to give you assistance on your mortgage, it's Obama had to do is say, corporate America, wall Street, I'm going to bail you out, but let's reset these mortgages for these people so we can stabilize our economy. Because everybody lost their values in their houses. So you talking about strategy, right? So when I say that, I'm only talking about, 'cause you brought these elements up, I'm saying to you. That's why I'm saying he did nothing. Now, if you go to every major city in America that black people live in, or Latino people live in, they will tell you when you sit down with them that nothing has happened for them and nothing happened for them under the Biden and under the Obama administration. You know why I know that? 'cause I've traveled 839,000 miles and I've been to major a majority of all of these cities in this country, and they will tell you that black and white, they did not feel that strong economy that you're talking about, Obama fit. They don't feel that on the ground. They didn't see that. So now I hope I answered your question as eloquently as I can with some hisTaurical analysis to it.

Tony Tidbit:

So Bryan, you uh, your thoughts on that?

Bryan Mullen:

I don't know what to say. I wonder how black Americans feel now with their prices going up and, uh, their 4 0 1 ks going down. I mean, I, I you, you have such selective choices. Kevin. I really, it's hard. I. It's hard to fathom. Okay, going back to Hillary's emails, Obama, like, it's just insane. Trump right now, we're not even three months in. The stock market is collapsing. The Atlanta Reserve is telling us that we're gonna have a recession. The GDPs gonna be down 3%. There is no metric that any of us on this panel would point to. Okay? As you know, are things good? Are things bad? That is positive. Trump is doubling down on tariffs. He's making enemies of our allies and allies of our enemies. The world is upside down. You wanna hear good leader talk? Listen to the Canadian. Leader, oh my God. Listen to the Danish leader. Listen to the British leader. Okay. Okay. These are people with integrity. These are people who speak the truth. We are becoming isolated. Our country is in big trouble, but we have people like Kevin who pretend otherwise, but the, the, the regular people know, they know what's going on. Look at all the mass firings. The country is in a free fall. That's what's happening. We all know it. Okay? We're all living it. People are being fired. Social, your social security information is being accessed. Elon Musk, who gets billions of dollars daily in government subsidies. Is is, you know, wants to save money for the government, but then why doesn't he cut his own subsidies? I mean, it's, it, it's almost an snl.

Kevin Jenkins:

You know what

Bryan Mullen:

I'm

Tony Tidbit:

call,

Bryan Mullen:

lemme give

Tony Tidbit:

Tory the last word, buddy. Yeah. Give the, the last word. God bless you. Last

Kevin Jenkins:

word. Yeah.

Taura Laws Philips:

Come on God. Go ahead Kevin. Go ahead. No, I have nothing. I have nothing to say. I have

Kevin Jenkins:

nothing to say. Go, go ahead. Sorry. I'm well, I'm you. Go ahead.

Taura Laws Philips:

I think to assume that you know all people because of the people you have access to, uh, roots of arrogance. That's my first shot fired at you, Kevin. Just to be clear. So just because the people you have met, see it one way that doesn't make it true for all people because black people are not a monolith. Thanks, uh, evident by the fact that. What is happening is evident to so many people. Just as what was happening to people during the Biden administration was so evident to the people it was happening to. I think that what we have to do if we're gonna continue to have a country, is to recognize that both experiences are highly relevant and still happen to all of us because we're all American. What happened to you and your life experiences given during the Biden administration are completely effed up? Uh, I would say the word, but I. In anyone's view. But what is necessary is that we have to look at what is happening to people in the last 90 days and recognize that it's despicable for them. And if we don't have that shared humanity or respect for humanity or, uh, even acknowledgement of humanity, we'll cease to exist because siloing those experiences to not caring about them is what will make us most easily divided. So if we can't look at what happened to you and say, that is so Ed and not okay, then we can't look at what's happening to other people and say what's happening to them is not okay. And so my experience as a single mother is. Almost impossible to feed these two kids. 'cause I now have an almost teenage boy who eats like it is his, it's his primary job. And groceries are impossible to the point where despite the fact that I have always lived a privileged existence and always been, uh, very comfortable in my life, I'm now considering what to cut from the budget. I'm now considering getting rid of my prized possession, my car, I'm go, like the choices that have to be made because of the constraints are staggering and the money doesn't go as far as it used to go. And the policies that I see coming are going to make it continuously harder. And so I know that there might be a great place on the other side, but the fallout is not okay. Um, that's the fear because I'm the call out.

Chris P. Reed:

So, so as we come to a close today, I definitely agree with all the sentiment of we have to begin to look towards the future collectively, and we have to come together if we're gonna be in this thing. And you said if, and I'm just saying when Tauri, like the country's gonna make it right. I just have a, a false belief or, or optimism. Optimism. That we're gonna make it. And, and if we're gonna make it, we have to do it collectively and we have to do it strategically. And the idea of us continuing to, um, hash over, you know, previous things and thinking that two wrongs make a right. So because this people did it and that people did it, then this gives these folks the right to get their lick back. Um, we have to move on beyond that. We have to move on beyond the petty and beyond, you know, some of these things. And we have to be smarter and be more transparent. In the vision that we have for the country, I think that all of us do have a little bit of head scratching as it relates to the vision on both sides. As to where we're headed and how we're exactly going to get there. There's a lot of themes and a lot of opportunities that exist. There's a lot of meat left on the bone, but we gotta come up with some type of a strategy to eat this elephant one bite at a time. And so I appreciate you guys giving your particular perspectives on how to attack this meal that will be the future of our country. Right? And so, uh, great situation. I wanted to thank you guys all specifically and, and, and, uh, collectively and individually, uh, great conversation today. Tony, did you have anything you wanted to impart up on them before we, you know, put a close to this?

Tony Tidbit:

No, that was it, buddy. I think you, you, you close it out perfectly. I love what you said, and you're a hundred percent right, right. At the end of the day, we're all Americans and, you know, our, our mothers all, I believe all our mothers said this when we were kids. Two wrongs don't make a right. Right? That's right. So, and every, and Tauri, thank you for your sum summation as well. At the end of the day, uh, you know, everybody's situation is different. And we can't just say, this happened to me, so it's good. Or I, I chatted with these people and they said this was happening, or, or at the end of the day, um, we're all Americans and we have to have empathy for everyone, right? No matter where, what, how they vote, no matter where they live, and the whole nine yards, right? So I think it's now time for Tony's tidbit. So the tidbit today, when systems of power selectively silence voices, erase cultural icons and manipulate rules to protect their own, they reinforce a flawed and unjust status quo. These actions are not isolated incidents, but systems of a larger deliberate strategy to maintain control and avoid accountability. All right, so that is the tidbit for the day.

Chris P. Reed:

At this time, we'd like to remind you to tune in, uh, to the show we have here on a Black Executive Perspective Podcast. Need To Know With Singa, make sure you tune in each week to check out, need to know. Dr. Singa Burton, uh, brings and dives into timely and, and crucial topics that shape our community and world. We wanna make sure that you check that out. Her passion, her energy, her education and her experience are un renowned and we gotta make sure that we, uh, support this.

Tony Tidbit:

Absolutely. And don't forget to check out the next episode of a Black Executive Perspective Podcast, or we continue to bring these hardcore conversation powerful insights on the topics that matter most. It's not just a discussion, it's a movement. Don't miss your chance to be tuned in to be inspired and join the conversation.

Chris P. Reed:

And then we also would be remiss if we didn't remind you that the reason why we do this and have these dialogues bring these great people together is that we have a goal here. To eliminate all forms of discrimination wherever we see it, and to achieve this. We incorporate LESS. And so we're asking for everyone to embrace less. Um, and I'll kick it off with the L stands for learn. We want to educate ourselves on racial and cultural and political nuances and have these type of dialogues to where we can learn a perspective or an uh, um, uh, point of view that maybe we hadn't before based on age, geographic location, education, and things of that nature. Absolutely. So the L is for learn.

Tony Tidbit:

Absolutely. And after you learn, you have e for empathy, right? So be open to diverse views. You know, like our friend Tauri said, at the end of the day, we all have to put ourselves in the other person's shoes, right? Walk a mile in their shoes and have empathy and understand where they're coming from.

Chris P. Reed:

And then the first S is for share. You wanna share your insights to enlighten others. Don't hide it, divide it. Don't be ashamed of it. You know, speak openly, speak proudly, and make sure that you're sharing the things that you've learned.

Tony Tidbit:

And absolutely. And the final S is stop. We all wanna stop discrimination as it walks in our path. So if I Jenny Uncle Joe, say something at the Sunday dinner table that's inappropriate, you say, I'm Jenny Uncle Joe. We don't believe that. You don't say that and you stop it right there. So if everyone can incorporate less, LESS will build a more fair, more understanding world and we'll all see the change that we want to see because less will become more.

Chris P. Reed:

I wanna remind you to tune in to all of the programs on the platform, as well as tune into the next episode of Pull Up, Speak Up, where we'll have another group of powerhouse panelists to bring their passion, energy, and information, uh, to this, uh, to this show. And, uh, we wanna remind you to tune into the newsletter or, you know, sign up for the newsletter and go to the website. We want, we want the reviews, we want for you to comment. We want you to give us information that we can know where to reach you and how to, uh, make sure that we are, uh, appeasing your appetite. Subscribe to us and make sure you're listening to the podcast. Where can they reach us? Tony

Tony Tidbit:

Buddy. You can watch a Black Executive Perspective Podcast on YouTube, apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And you can follow us on all our socials of LinkedIn, X, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook at a black exec, or our fabulous passionate guest, Bryan Mullen, Tauri Laurie, Tauri Law Phillips, and Kevin Jenkins for the co-host with the most, my boy down in Dallas, Chris P. Reed. I'm Tony Tidbit. I mean, man, we talked about it today. We learned about it, we screamed about it, we fought about it. Um, but you know what? We're gonna still strive about it. We're still gonna thrive about it. We love you. And now it's time for us to get out

BEP Narrator:

A Black Executive Perspective.