The last thing I want to hear from anybody is I didn't vote, right? And if you didn't vote, you ain't got nothing to say. Don't even show up tonight, but you ain't got nothing to say. You ain't got, you can't complain. Can't do nothing because this is your one day. To show and exercise your citizenship here in the United States. So make sure that you go out and vote. It's the most important thing that you can do. And it's an important thing for our democracy. We'll discuss race and how it plays a factor and how we didn't even talk about this topic because we were afraid.

A black executive perspective.

Welcome to a black executive perspective podcast, the safe space where we discuss all matters related to race, especially race in corporate America. I'm your

host, Tony Tidbit. And I'm your cohost, Chris P. Reed. We want to always start out by giving a shout out to our partners at CODE M Magazine CODE M Magazine, where their mission is saving the black family by first saving the black man. That is CodeM Magazine, 2Ms. com, CodeM Magazine. Make sure you check them out.

Yeah, definitely make sure you check them out. And today we want you to check out what we're going to do. So my partners in crime, Chris P. Reed and the Dr. Nsenga Burton, our contributor on Need to Know each Thursday. And I will delve into crucial discussion on the upcoming presidential election. So we're going to dive into it. We're going to scrutinize the major issues, the policies at stake. We're going to cover the defining platforms of both candidates and evaluate their impact across various demographics. More importantly, we'll examine the complexities of voter engagement and the controversies influencing the political landscape and discuss the broader implications of the election results. Dr. Nsenga Burton, Chris P. Reed, welcome to a Black Executive Perspective Podcast. You guys ready to talk about this or what? We are. Yeah, you just smiling doctor, Dr. Dr. Burton let's go. I can't wait. she talking about the bit. I could tell it's gonna be some trouble though. Look, she, she ain't never lost for, she ain't never lost she words. Right. So I was thrown up. I was like, what? She ain't saying nothing, right? She just smiling. She herself,

she came subtle. She's subtle like a bankrupt. Okay. Alright, so you

I love it. Alright, so. Threw, threw me off big time. Okay. So you guys ready to talk about it? Let's talk about it. So, Dr. Burton, I'm gonna go right to you, right? My question is, what are the key issues at stake in this election based on your perspective?

Well, I think the key issues at stake one, uh. The biggest issue as it relates to the entire election is misinformation and disinformation. Um, I think that there's so many conspiracy theories floating around about so many different things that it's hard for people to parse, uh, between them and to figure out what's true and what's accurate and what's right and what's wrong and who's doing what and what have you. So I think that's a major issue that's impacting, um, this campaign, uh, uh, on both sides. I think some of it's being, uh, trumpeted by, uh, one particular side more so than, um, By the way, I'll just say the Republicans, um, that are running for office, not all Republicans, just the ones that are running for office for this particular office. Uh, and that is a major problem. I think another issue is women's rights. Um, obviously, uh, you know, the threat of a federal abortion ban, you know, against abortion period, uh, with no exceptions, no exceptions to the rule. And we've already seen, um, several cases where that, you know, That plays out and where people, uh, particularly black women in the two most high profile cases have lost their lives, um, because of their lack of access to, uh, abortion and, uh, to follow up care. Um, so I think that that's a major issue. Um, I think the economy is a major issue. Um, we've added a lot of jobs this year. This last quarter, which is good. Um, and so it seems like it's going in the right direction, but with some of the, uh, ideas that are being kicked around by both parties, you know, I guess, depending on where you where you stand, it can be problematic in terms of are we going to go backwards? Are we going to hit? Truly in a different direction. If we have one candidate, are we going to continue on this path? And is it really good for us if we continue with the same party in office? So I think those are the major issues. Oh, and then, of course, immigration, but we can talk about that later. Immigration is, I think, a defining issue, particularly as much space as it has claimed. So I'll stop.

Okay. I mean, you covered a lot my girls, to be honest with you. I was, I was thinking that the immigration, but then I was like, did she, and then you, Oh no. And immigration. I was like, she got them all. Okay. So Chris P. Reed,

what's your thoughts, my brother? I think that as opposed to misinformation, it's just pure education. So when you look at basic blocking and tackling grade school, you earn, you learn about, Politics or the government in three forms, legislative, executive and judicial, right? And so a lot of people tend to the key is, or the game is to make you forget about that and make you think that the macro presidency is all powerful, all encompassing. So, what happens is Barack Obama is running and don't worry, even if he wins, he can't do anything because there's so many different layers and levels and and puts and calls that you have to make in order to make effective policy change. Donald Trump is running. He can magically wand change everything because the president has, you know, innumerable powers to be, you know, exonerated man. So, so the issue is when you look at the executive, you know, uh, thing is your mayors, your governors, your presidents, then you got your judges on the judicial side, which is appointed, which can be appointed, which he did that with the Supreme Court justices, right? Which led to certain things from a judicial perspective, which is Congress, City Council, blah, blah, blah. Those are shorter terms, but we don't focus on that. Everybody thinks that politics and election cycles are presidential. And we've been duped to believe that it's a one time, end all, be all, every four years, like a leap year type situation. I don't have to worry about any of this stuff for four more years, and that's where we lose our way. I think that those, that miseducation, or that misinformation, or the lack of design or desire by the people, that's To really understand the power that they have is part of the issue that we run into. Now, obviously a political party is different than a, a special interest group, but for whatever reason the GOP has melded that dynamic into one consolidated deal where you have special interest group, uh, uh, affinities being presented as political platforms. And that's why it's so confusing is because they're hodgepodge and all this stuff together. And you don't know where you're coming or going. So, basically, you cover your eyes and select somebody and that's what they want, right? You know what I'm saying? I mean, I'm simplifying the hell out of it just for the sake of making sure we meet people where they are, but that's ultimately the game.

Right. Let me ask you guys both a follow up question and I'm going to go back to Dr. Burton because you, you laid out the, the issues at stake. And then Chris, you took it to another level in terms of the American people, lack of information, a lack of more ignorance in terms of how the political system works. Right. So Dr. Burton, you talked about. Um, you said, um, a woman's right to choose. You said the economy. You also said misinformation. Um, you said immigration. Um, this, so, and you said something else, but I, I forgot. But let me ask you this. Going back to Chris's point, a lot of people, unfortunately, because they're not educated really on how the president's, it CEO position. Okay. Okay. Okay. And understanding that the United States, if we had to make it in simplistic terms from a Navy, from a, from a ship standpoint, it's like, I don't want to use the word tight, but it's a big, it's an aircraft carrier. Let's look at it like that, right? Where at the end of the day, for it to make any moves, to do anything right or left, or anything that happens, it takes time for those things to actually, those policies that may be put in place, may not show up. for three, four years later down the road, right? So, so when we talk about misinformation and then I'm going to dovetail it to education, a lot of people think in Chris's point of view, at least from Donald Trump's supporters, that he's going to come in and he's going to make, he's going to do a couple moves in the economy is going to be great. He's going to do a couple moves in the war in Ukraine is going to end. He's going to do a couple moves and, um, um, you know, immigration, you know, he said he's going to come in and he's, it's the second day he's going to deport 15 million people, right? Which we know he can't do, right? We know if we, if we back up, he inherited when back in 2016, when he took over, he inherited an economy from Barack Obama. Okay? See, nobody wants to talk about that, right? But he has people thinking that he came and fixed an economy, which he didn't, right? And that's not, look, let's be fair. Presidents and me and Chris, you and I talked about this a few weeks ago, right? When you get in the seat. Whatever happens on your watch, you either take credit for or you get the blame for. Okay. And so at the end of the day, there's not a lot that you can do immediately, right? Cause what's going to happen, whatever policies you in, you institute are going to show up later because again, this is an aircraft carrier. This is the Titanic. It takes a lot. Nobody can snap a finger and things change. So Dr. Burton talk a little bit about. The educational process, because there's going to be people who are going to go cast a vote. And we want to make sure that they understand, regardless of who they vote for, but they understand that the person that they're going to vote for, and it may be a certain policy or platform that's important to them, but just recognize how the system actually works.

Yeah, that's a great point that you're raising and that Chris raised. Uh, it is really, um, disheartening to see how, Ill informed so many of us are because we spend a lot of time on civics in the public school system And actually in the private school system, too We call the civics, you know history things of that nature and that's where you learn about the branches of government and the branches of government are really supposed to be checks and balances right and the press is the next you know fourth estate because it's the checks and balances of the Three branches of government. So you don't have to go to college to know that you don't actually even have to make it to high school. All you have to do is pay attention in elementary and middle school and you should know that information. You should also know how a bill becomes a law. So we had schoolhouse rock, just a little bit. I was just about to,

I got some milk, I'm only a hill, and I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill. Yeah, that was our stuff. I still

remember, that was our stuff. Yes, yes, so we, we had that kind of programming too, and there weren't like a billion channels and stuff like that. So it was just a different time, so we can romanticize it or whatever, but, um, somebody would call me revisionist, because. It was so far away. It was so far removed. But what I'm saying was there was a time when we were intentionally teaching about civics when we were, when it was reinforced in our programming, um, when I, you know, and it was children's programming and it was made for kids and things of that nature. It's a different day. Like that's just not happening. Um, and a lot of people are just not paying attention, but I think a lot of people, um, are engaging what we call willful ignorance, right? Because the minute that Chris said, you know, the three branches of government immediately I went back to Ms. Mack. Immediately, right. I went back to Ms. Mac.

Right, right, right.

Um, you know, I, I, I remembered her specifically and how she taught us that. Um, so I think people are engaging in willful ignorance 'cause, because they are being driven by other things. Right. And so maybe it's xenophobia, if you think about immigration, maybe it's, uh, sexism, if you think about this assault or is this attack on women's rights to their full, uh, healthcare. Right. Their whole healthcare. Um. Uh, their bodies, uh, there are other things that are really driving this, what I call willful ignorance and people don't want to admit it. Right. So they're like, Oh, I'm going to vote for Trump for the economy. No, you gotta vote for Trump. Cause you don't like immigrants. Cause you think they took your job that you didn't go and try to get anyway.

Right. Right.

Cause you've been inheriting jobs for 400 years. Sorry, Tony.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

Inheritance in jobs for 40 years. Now you got to compete for your job and you're pissed about it. Cause now you're in a generation that actually has to compete for the job and didn't inherit the job and didn't have, you know, and you have competition because people before you didn't have competition because there were laws in the books that discriminated against whole populations of people, whether it's blacks, you know, Catholics just fill in the blank. Right. Just fill in the blank. So now you're mad because you got, this is my personal opinion because you got to do what the rest of us have been doing and that is compete for the job and get it or maybe not get it. That's kind of what happens. Compete for the spot. Maybe you get it. Maybe you don't. Maybe the service takes you. Maybe they don't. You got to show up though. Right. Right. Um, and so I think a lot of things are driving others. Other things, ideological things. belief systems are driving, um, this willful ignorance, um, that is leading to disinformation, which is a campaign to intentionally spread misinformation in order to confuse people, which is what Chris is talking about, right? And to get them away from the basic tenets of government, how it works, right? Who the president is, what their role is, what their reach is, even the vice president. I mean, we've seen that with Kamala, you know, them blaming everything on her over the last, you know, four years. And we're like, I'm like, so can you, you know, just tell me, um, what the last vice president, what it might be. Yeah. What, what vice president

writes? Yeah. What vice president writes policy.

Right. Right. I'm sorry. I'm confused. I'm still waiting. I mean, you know, it doesn't matter which party, but I just want you to name something. Exactly. I mean, Al Gore says he invented the internet. Right. So, um, And that's a joke, people. It's a joke. It's a joke. But, you know, I'm like, seriously, when you're a vice president, your job is to support the president and their policies and to help him, her, hopefully her one day to enact those policies, um, in the way that they see fit. And that has to happen by going through Congress and all kinds of things. Right. And then we have state governments, which nobody wants to talk about either. Right. Right. So. Um, I think that is the, the, the thing that we have to talk about, right? What is it that is driving people so forcefully such that they are just unwilling to pay attention to what the reality is of these offices.

Right? What does

it mean, you know, uh, why, like, why, why would you vote against your own interests? Right? Right, right. If you are a pro immigration, why are you voting? Then why are you voting for Trump? It might be because you're a sexist. It might be right. Or maybe you like one of those people close the door behind you. Right. Right. And as an immigrant, you don't need no more, you know, that kind of stuff. Cause your mindset changes, right? Just admit what it is, but stop pretending that you actually know something, um, um, that you don't know and stop hiding behind these conspiracy theories. And I would say these political parties and really say what it is that is driving you.

Chris, what, uh, piggyback on that. So what do you think? What do you think? Based on what Dr. Burton just got for just saying that, at the end of the day, people talk, they can talk policies, they can talk, I believe in this, I believe in that, but do you believe net net? They're voting more for a society type thing was a grievance that they may have versus any type of research that they've done with these candidates. It's time to rethink your protein. ADDRA Labs protein bars are crafted with high quality protein, double the leucine, and enriched branched chain amino acids. Essential. For optimal muscle recovery, there's finally a protein bar that works as hard as you do. So visit addralabs. com and use the code BEP to get 20 percent off. That's addralabs. com. Promo code BEP.

I believe that people don't know or understand the concept of voting and the power that voting has. And so one thing I will say before we get too far away from this, I am of the opinion that the vice presidency symbolizes, uh, business continuity and strength, another layer of support in case something does and has happened to presidents in past. Right. You know, both Lincoln and Kennedy had VPs named Johnson that came in and took the helm after they were assassinated. Those type of deals. Not that this is going to be that at all. I'm not casting any spells, but the moral of the story is that's the the vice president has to stay at the ready. To take the helm with confidence and show global confidence. And that's the biggest Burton that the vice president holds. And that's why I give them so much grace in the background where they don't need to be all in the camera and doing all this and all that, because they getting ready constantly. So, that's number 1, but the other thing, Tony, is that, um, I believe that people are now lemons in the idea of just, uh, unfortunately, we should have life. I'm sorry, art imitating life and because of reality TV and sensationalism and, and it's been like that since, you know, the early newspaper, we did this in Wilmington's lie. Right? Uh, people tend to have a life imitating art. Somebody comes up with something and you see it and you think, oh, that could happen here. That could be this. You're not doing the math at all. And so a lot of people don't do the math. They don't know. Like Dr burton said, they don't know the specifics of why they're doing things. They make it an emotional push. But they don't realize the trickle down effect of an emotional immediate decision as it cascades. And the reason why this checks and balance is not working as constructed is because you have a candidate that threatens people verbally and openly if they don't abide by what he feels they should be doing, even though he has no prerequisite understanding. Of their roles or their jobs, even though he has no backing, no education, no frame of reference as to how that should work. It's so many generals and, and, uh, high profile people who have come on and said, this person is absolutely incompetent to lead me and the division of people in which I lead yet. It's entertaining to see this drama play out on TV. If people really do believe it's a reality show, so, so that is, that is the, the, the, the hardest part as a historian. The one thing I'll say here at this point. Some the hypocrisy we I know we don't have time to get into that. And I know that's one of her. I know that's one of your pet peeves. Dr. The hypocrisy is outrageous. But the concept of I'm all about the Constitution until it's not fitting my needs. And then we need to change things and be progressive when I got George Washington had a quote where he said, um, the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of a party serves always to distract the public council. So And in feeble, the public administration, he was against parties because he knew this kind of stuff happens. And what a lot of people don't realize at this point in time is there are dozens of other parties. There's libertarians, there's tea parties, there's green parties, there's there's been other parties, and if they get 5 percent vote, they can get federal funding. But the desire for control a party's design is to control the government. This is not about you and me and her and rights and this, this is about control. Let's just keep it above. This is about people trying to figure out how to manipulate and stranglehold the control of the U. S. budget, the U. S. power, the U. S. interest rate. As they see fit.

So, and, and, buddy, I mean, you guys, what you've been doing all day, you guys have been pent up. Coming on strong. All right. I love it. I love it. So, I, I want to come back to that because I, I, I want to, let's put a pin in that because I want to come back to your last statement. Let's go here. So, Dr. Burton, I'm going to go back to you. All right. I know you're ready. Okay. So how does this election compare to the previous one in terms of the importance and the public interest in it? What's your thoughts? This

election is important because this next person is going to probably appoint, um, one to two Supreme Court justices. They also are going to have the ability to put justices, um, uh, judges in different, um, um, categories.

At the federal Supreme Court level. At different levels, thank you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. At different levels.

Um, um, some of them are lifetime appointments. You know, the Supreme Court doesn't only have lifetime appointments. Um, and so I think that's what, what was important about the last election and what's important about this election. I also think that, um, this election is important because we have to, it's kind of a test to see how far you can go with misinformation and disinformation and when on the election. You know, that is this important because even though, you know, we know the president doesn't work alone. Um, you know, the United States president is considered the most powerful office in the land. Right? And so that is going to communicate, you know, across the waters, you know, what kind of country we are, what we're made of and who we are. The majority of us, anyway, who participate in the voting process. Um, All right, so I think that that's important. And I think the same thing that was with the last election election before that is the electoral college. Um, you know, does it really fit? You know, when we think about the Constitution, does it still fit it? It really doesn't. I mean, can you win the popular vote and still lose the election? Yes, we've seen it before. We could see it again. Um, and is that really reflective of what we say we are as a country where every person, you know, each person, one vote? So, um, I think those are the things that are on the ballot. Um, and then of course, women's rights, which I, which I've said before, you know, are we going to be okay? Um, Going backwards when we know what that looks like. We have the history. We have the data, uh, to show that it was awful for women. It was awful for whole families. It wasn't just the women. It was their Children. It was their spouses. It was all things. Um, but it was awful. Um, but are we going to go back to that? And if so, then what does this nation look like? You know, I mean, when other nations, I mean, Ireland has a lot of You know, like, and it's a very, very Roman Catholic, um, but you know, can't ever foresee what people need in terms of health. Um, and to just have that one thing, um, and not to minimize it, you know, cause I know people feel very strongly about it, but to have that one thing in terms of the whole comprehensive, um, um, idea of women's health or reality of women's health. That's what I meant. Reality of women's health. Um, to have that one thing, making that determination and how it affects women in so many different ways, um, and families is, is nuts. So I think those are the things that we should have been thinking about in the last election. Um, and things that we should be thinking about in this particular election, because that is what's on the ballot. Our future is on the ballot.

Right, right. Chris, same question. Um, I think that, you know, one of the things that's on display here is what America we are, right? And so the concept of I used to really fear as an educated person, the things that could be done in anonymity, like the electoral college, you don't have a checks and balance. We talked about, she brought it up, you know, that Burton brought it up to checks and balance. Well, that operating in the background, Donald Trump has never won the public election. Just keep that in mind. You need a popular vote. Popular popular election. So the anonymity that the electoral college can move in is very suspicious of me. But now we add on to the fact that the transformation of the GOP audaciously, it's not just anonymous anymore. They audaciously say whatever they want to say and say, I get to say whatever I want to say. I get to do whatever I want to do with impunity. The danger of switching to a government that is operating under that auspices. Is more pivotal to me than anything else because and we had this show before Tony, where you was like, you know, who he is, you know, how he get down. That's just what he's going to do. And I'm saying, because you got to dress for the occasion at some point. And we can't just let people run a month because we know that they act to ask sometimes. No, this is not the platform for that. And we have more and more people coming at the woodworks. Now, the pivotal aspect of this election is. Yeah. It is my hope that we can return to some semblance of civility if this man loses and lets it go, caveat, and lets it go, because I don't believe anyone, we haven't had enough time to cultivate a Junior Trump mentality. It's a lot of pretenders out there that act Trump is, but it's hard to be that foolish. You know what I'm saying? In a short amount of time in your adulthood, right? It's

hard to live in Georgia. So get married, you know, Taylor green down Marjorie Taylor green down here.

So, okay. You're right. You're right. I just saw something. Yeah. Yeah. No, they close. But go ahead. Chris. But the idea of that type of. Of ignorance or that type of proliferation of misinformation or once again, xenophobia, like some of the things that he rides out with is the worst part of any society, not just ours, any society doesn't want that. And that's some of his, it's not, I'm not gonna say it's a platform because that's irresponsible to say, but if you start listening. There's nothing that says presidential or classic political U. S. political structure about the things that he represents. And once again, if you understand enough, you realize these are interest group type of dynamics as opposed to political party, bringing the country together, galvanizing the citizens. He's segmenting and separating every chance he gets. And now we have a divided line. I'm not gonna go so far as to say civil war, but we have a dividing line to where this is going to show which team you're on,

right? Right. You know, let, let, so here's the thing. Um, and so Chris, I just want to, I want to pick up, I'm going to, I'm going to answer, cause I have my own thoughts with this question. So, but number one is, is this recognize one thing, um, you know, your crew. If you don't have a crew, then you can't act up. But if you have a crew, you can act up. So in other words, the reason he can do what he does, because he's got a ton of people that's behind him. Okay. And so you have to go deeper than just him. Okay, because the bottom line is it, you know, it goes back and see, here's the thing, and I'm a historian too, not on a level you Chris, you Dr. Burton, but I just been around long enough and I remember how things were and you know, and I, I've studied history and the whole nine yards. You know, people don't recognize that when, when John F. Kennedy Jr. was the president, was the president. He was having affairs left and right. Okay. But the, and the press knew about it, but they would never report on it because they felt that that was his personal business. All right. So think about how we went from 1960 to 2024. I remember what was the dude's name? Uh, he was about to run for president, Gary, uh, whatever his name was. And then he Gary Hart. Okay. And there was just a picture of him and Donna Rice on a yacht and done finished. His career was over. Just the look of it in priority was done. Okay. Cause the country wasn't dealing with that. Now you have somebody that can say anything they want to say, lie repeatedly, repeatedly, put his own citizens in harm's way by his lies. And guess what? People accept it. You see? So how much is that him? And how much is that us as a society, you see, because buddy, I know you, you, you, you're like, Whoa, but wait a minute, because I just talked about, and I just gave you small examples. I just talked about years ago where this type of stuff wasn't even, you couldn't, but he couldn't run for mailman. Okay. With that type of stuff. Right. So I'd love to hear you guys thoughts on that.

I'll say this. Ronald Reagan was the first divorce president, right? And that big that's because the rate of divorce had increased. And so it could identify more with people who had marriages that just happened to not work out. Nancy ended up being a wonderful woman, God rest her soul. Um, but those types of things where I, America tried to identify its leader with its own dirty laundry, its own encompassing personalities has run amok. And the idea of this man had an affair with a porn star while his wife was pregnant. That has become public that the if it was just the affair, if it was just a picture on a yacht, I would be like, Oh, no, no, no, no.

But Chris, my point is, this is way worse than that. But that's my point though, right? It is way worse, but the people are accepting of it. Dr. Burton, let me get your thoughts in it.

I think that, you know, you know, former president Trump holds a mirror up to society and, you know, exactly lost the last time people were like, Oh, if, you know, cause it looked like it was going to be so close and it was like, Oh, it's the last gasp, but by these, you know, um, racist, white supremacist, sexist, Patriarchal, xenophobes, anti LGBT. This is the last gasp. We're getting rid of those people. The society is going to be what we want it to be. It's going to look like the real world. All the things. I remember all the pundits talking about this. And what it did, his election and the subsequent loss, which he lied about repeatedly. Is really fuel those very people that they thought were going to go away or were going to die off or whatever. And it actually freed those people who have been quietly like that. Right, but they still want a job. They still want to live in a certain neighborhood. They still want to go to a particular church. You know, they still want their kids to play with a certain person's kids because that's good for them at work. But they've kept all of that, that those evil and hateful parts of them hidden and their thoughts hidden or, you know, they, they think they have safe. What I call people of color, right? So Tony, you're great. Cause you're a different black guy from the rest of them, you know, that kind of stuff, one black friend, they might adopt. We're going to talk about this to Tony tomorrow. They might adopt a black kid, especially from overseas. Right. To kind of give these kinds of cues that they're, they're just like everyone else. And then you start talking to them and listening to them. And you're like, wait a damn second. I had this experience earlier today. I know this for a fact, this is my experience. But I had it today where I was. I was like, wait, is this, so I texted someone, I said, is someone so mentally ill? You know, like literally just went off the rails about some conspiracy theory stuff. And I was just really shocked by it. Um, because the person, you know, educating all the things, but then I realized, oh, that's who she is.

Really is

hidden it from me, right? I don't get down like that, which is why I was like, I'm about to cut her. Is there something else I need to know? Because we can't talk no more. But, um, yeah, so I think that he freed those people to really embrace what they believe the whole time would, um, you know, these hateful things that empower them. Right. See, I told you those people weren't good people, so that's why they don't need to have access to jobs. That's why they don't need to have access to education. They don't know what to do with it anyway. You talk about Ronald Reagan, about when John Wayne famously said that, you know, the natives were sitting over here, and this is on Indigenous Peoples Day. Happy Indigenous Peoples Day to people. But the natives were sitting over here doing nothing with the land, so we had to come take it so we could teach them what they needed to do with it. That kind of mentality. And I think that's what's shocking, Tony. Um, when, especially when you live in a bubble, because we all live in bubbles, nobody wants to talk about that either. So like whoever your crew is. That's your crew. Right. Right. Right. Right. That's why you get shocked when you think your crew is this and then they they're like, oh, I'll vote for this person or I believe this or I believe that or I'm against this or I'm against that. And you're just like, wait a second. I thought you thought we were like,

that is that's an excellent, excellent point. Excellent point. And we've all. And listen, I, I'm, I'm American. You can vote for anybody you want to believe, right? But to your point, when you look at people and you think, when you hear them and you, and you hear their rhetoric, and then all of a sudden they say that, they say something, and then you look at them and they actually believe it. And you're like, you're not who I thought you were, right? And it's a big, it's especially these last. 10 years or so. Chris, jump in, buddy.

I need Dr. Burton to give me a vocabulary lesson. And so unfortunately I need you to go into a mind of a woman, a female in the concept of how do you convince me that racism is actually xenophobia when the fact is you and your running mate have spouses. That are from, that are from, or, or, or one removed from who are immigrants, who are immigrants, and it's not, so that's not xenophobia. Let's just specifically talk about Donald Trump xenophobia. If people don't notice, it's a fear of foreign people, foreign interest, foreign domination, blah, blah, blah. Racism is, is his, in his perspective is black and brown. So he's cool. He's cool enough to marry a foreigner, but talks about foreigners like dogs. How does she reconcile that in her own spirit, in her own mind? And my husband is constantly talking about other countries like dogs. Yet I'm not from this country or of this country

because anti black racism is pervasive It's worldwide the more you travel even and when you go to the continent when you go to the continent, um, you know I mean, it's shockingly, uh, uh, present. Um, anti black racism is the one thing that the rest of the world has and they have in common. And that is why we allow for

them to call it xenophobia instead of just calling a spade a spade. Ironically.

Well, I think what he's doing, like targeting certain groups, like the Haitians. Right? Because that is racism and that's xenophobia, right? Because they're black. So, you know, and I think that people have a very different idea, even how people come over to the United States in terms of what the policies are, right? So, you know, if you are a white or European, like Melania is, you know, white presenting, that's what I'll say, white presenting immigrant, um, then, you know, people are like, cool, because, you know, you come over and until she starts talking, she looks like, you know, Absolutely.

She could pass. It looks like. Sarah Jane.

Right. But then they're saying, yes, yes. And so they went, but when other folks come over and, um, they look like us, black people, or I would say multiracial, or, you know, like, you know, the young people call exoticals or whatever you want to say, um, all of these things, they're like, wait, wait a second. This is changing the look and feel of America. This is changing. It's moving too far. Um, and so what they do is couch it in terms of, um, People taking things, right? Taking things. Oh, they come over here and I can't get any money when I'm down on my luck, but they can come over here and get social security numbers and money and housing and food and all this kind of stuff. We can't get anything, you know, which we know is not true. I mean, you do have to be on your ass to get anything in the United States. That is true. But, um, but, you know, when people are trying to escape certain situations, um, you know, that's not necessarily true when we think about those things. Um, But I'm just saying, when we think about what they do, right, it's like, oh, they're taking your jobs. So they don't want to say, oh, it's because these people are from Mexico or from Central America. Oh, they're criminals. They're coming over here and killing our people, right? You know, like the, the young woman, unfortunately, who was killed in Georgia that they've now made a political issue. And, you know, people are like, oh, they were from out of the country. Well, they, the, the killer's brother worked at UGA. So I'm like, well, how do you get a job at the governor's alma mater if he's so anti immigrant? It was okay for him to work there. As long as he's doing that, but, you know, if he's not working for you for whatever, you know, whatever you want, um, for whatever fees or whatever, um, that you think is desirable for you, then they have no use and that's just.

So let me, let me ask you guys this. So what I'm hearing, and while I'm listening to both of you, I'm, you know, I'm, I'm, uh, reflecting on certain things that I've seen on television. Um, I don't know if you guys ever remember the Twilight Zone. You ever watch Twilight Zone with Rod Sterling, right?

Absolutely. And then there was this I watch it every weekend, actually.

Okay. So there was this

Science fiction.

I saw this episode, I probably was 15, 16. And you know, Twilight Zone was made in the late 50s, early 60s, right? And they had this one episode where the TV, I mean, the show comes on and this group of people, they're having dinner together. Right. And they're all around the table and they're having a good time. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Then all of a sudden the kid runs in and said, Daddy, I just heard on the radio that, um, I think we're under attack. Right. And everybody's like, what? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Right. And so they break out and they think they're being, uh, this was the nuclear scare. Right. So this is back in the day where everybody, so the one person, uh, had a bomb shelter. Okay. The neighbor. Right. And all of a sudden these people. That we're best friends. Best friends having dinner together. One of them was a Mexican. Okay. And then the dude, and then they were trying to get into the bomb shelter. My man, the neighbor, right? And he wouldn't let him in. And then the dude turned to the dude, he was hugging and said, it's your fault. You came over this guy and then socked them. All right. And they were just friends. Why do I bring that up? I'll tell you why, because what I'm hearing from you guys. As esteem as you are, as smart as you are, what I'm hearing is policy don't matter. Execution don't matter. What this election is about the sum of all fears. Okay. It's about getting people to be afraid. Okay. And when people are afraid, they're irrational. Facts don't matter. Disinformation goes out of the way side. Okay. Policies don't matter. It doesn't matter because now it's all about fear. They're going to take this from you. They're coming in this country. They're doing this. They're going to rob you. And so even the most rational, I still see that picture of people sitting around the table, having dinner together. Now, They're not friends no longer. They're not neighbors. Now they're enemies because now I don't see you as my neighbor, as a fellow American, I see you in my dreams as something that's going to take from me. And I don't want it. And it comes out and I'm voting this way because it doesn't matter if this person lies, doesn't matter. He's been convicted. It doesn't matter that he tried an insurrection, all those things that we should be afraid of. It shouldn't even be a contest. Okay. It shouldn't even be a contest. All those things that we should, from a rational standpoint, we should be afraid of. We're not even thinking about that now because he's going to save me from them. Let me hear you guys thoughts on that.

I'll let you go first, ma'am.

Yeah, I mean, I think it's true. I was sitting here thinking about, um, why I used to teach a class called intercultural communication, which we talked about these kinds of issues. And at the beginning of the class, I used to ask, what would you be, what are you willing to give up so this, so that other people can be free? Right. And at the end of the class, after, you know, 16 weeks, I'd ask, what are you willing to give up? So, and this is after all the teaching and learning, all the teaching and learning, all the teaching and learning, all the wonderful experiences, all the things, the answer never changed. It's nothing. It's nothing. And that is the problem. That's the issue. Right. You know, and I'm not saying we should come from a, a, a scarcity model. Like there's not enough. We got to do this. We got to do. I'm not saying that. What I am saying is that at times in life, you have to decide what you're willing to go for, for go right. In order to help someone else. Right. Like you just have to do that, right? And a lot of people, Americans, are not wired that way. That's not what our culture is. It's like bootstrap. Every man for himself. And I mean that. Every man for himself. Um, and so it's a different type of ideology that we're fighting against. It's a very strong ideology about what it means to be an American. What does an American look like? We've had the media reinforcing that for years. That's right. That's right. Right. What does an American look like? Uh, what does real hard, what does hard work look like? Um, you know, all of these things are just so, so, uh, defined in a very, uh, limited type of way. And so you are right. People are focused on fear. They are dealing, um, out of emotion. You know, it's like if you are looking at, because even today when I was prepping for this, I said, okay, let me just do a little, Checks and balances policy on this policy policy. I mean, if you are a logical person, you should be able to look at their policies and make a decision.

Correct? That's it. If you just

look at

the policy, what's

important to you, you should be able to make a decision. All these people are undecided. I don't know how you're undecided at this point. You know, that is emotion. You mad at Trump because something he did 30 years ago. You mad at Kamala cause something she did 30 years ago. Okay. We got a whole lot happening right here, right now. We can look over it. You know, he's the former president. She is the vice president, senator, all the things before that. They got records. You can look at their stuff. You can see what they have done. Look at those things and make an informed decision. Make the decision that is best for in most cases you, but in some cases other people, do you.

So, so, uh, Mr. Miyagi, he agrees with you, right? He's like, you supposed to be thinking about me right now while you're on this

podcast. Oh my gosh. Okay. I'm gonna have to get a studio for real. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, uh, these are the things that we have to be thinking about and why is it that people are still on the bubble? Why are people still saying crazy stuff? Like, I mean, they're just the same people. They're not the same people. They're not the same candidate. If you actually read through their policies, they're very different. If you look at project 2025, I mean, which has, you know, Donald Trump is like, I don't want to have anything to do with that. He's in the opening, like, he's written part of it. Right? So it's like, yeah, you know, the policies are very different. Like, you go get, you don't get something different. If you vote for this person, then what you get with this person. And so that's what we have to talk about. But nobody wants to have that conversation because it's too hard. Cause then you have to look at yourself and be like, I'm a racist. I'm a xenophobe, I'm a sexist, I'm conservative, or I'm too free. Whatever you want to do, but you have to look at yourself and figure out where you are and why you are so worried or bothered by how other people live their lives.

Right. Right. Chris, real quick, buddy. And I want to

move something else. No problem. My fear is that we exist in this Lord of the Flies for so long that it becomes normalized. And then secondly, um, and more importantly, is that if you take away the color, the, uh, gender and the sexual orientation, then what you have is what a leadership strive for is a utilitarian dynamic where you do the best good for the most amount of people. What am I doing that's going to affect the most amount of people positively, but I have to take away race, gender, I have to take away sex, gender. I have to take those. And then like Dr. Burton said, now you just have policies, agnostic policies. But the fact is people see a policy and love it until they see my picture there, right? Until they see a woman there, right? Until they see a transfer, they, they, they take all of the goodness out of it because of the bias that they bring into it. And that's the, that's where we're losing ground because we're focusing on those things as opposed to focusing on the meat and potatoes. Buddy, buddy,

I mean, I'm going to have to, we got, we got to get Chris, we got to get him, he got to get out there on the book tour or something because he breaks it down very succinctly and tight. I love it. I love what you said. So I'm going to come back to you on this. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Um, so let's go, let's go to some policies. Let's go to Kamala because we've been, to be fair, we've been talking more about Trump. So based on what we just got finished, you guys got finished saying include myself. Why isn't she further ahead? Why is this even a close race? I'd love to hear some thoughts on that because, and again, and again, um, look, I ain't got no problem saying I ain't voting for him. Okay. I'm just being straight up, right? I want everybody to vote. I want you to vote whatever you think you're an American. This is people died for this, right? So you vote. Okay. Um, but at the end of the day. based on all, and we can look at, um, from, like you said, if they, if it wasn't, um, You take gender, you take race, you take all your biases out and you just look at the policies, right? That should help you narrow down who you want to vote. If you like what you hear and you want to join us on this journey of making uncomfortable conversations comfortable, please subscribe to a Black Executive Perspective podcast where Ever. You get your podcast, hit subscribe now to stay connected for more episodes. That challenge, inspire and lead the change. Thank you for being part of our community. But then even if you throw in character and you gotta throw in character, okay, yeah, let's be fair. Okay? You gotta throw that in. Okay. Can't be biased on that, right? When you throw that in, I mean, it shouldn't even, and again, I don't wanna say that. Why do you think she's still so, why this still is a tight race?

Racism, sexism is in a, I mean, I hate to sound like a one trick pony.

I love

it. I went through all that. Everybody's looking Racism, sexism is in

the way, Tony. I thought you were summarizing, I thought you were summarizing what just had been established.

Exactly, exactly. No, I was like, why is

she? Okay,

go ahead, go ahead. Our most qualified president ever. She has been in all levels. So

when you say, when you say most, so give us, give us some facts behind been in all levels

of government. She's been a Senator. She's been a vice president running for president, right? That just does not happen. Attorney

General. Attorney General.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. District Attorney. Like, I mean, she's got every local, state, Federal. She's been in every form of government, right? Every, and, and worked and done things, authored bills, like all the things, right? So she's done all of that. But in addition to that, when you think about her policies, her policies about the people, right? She wants to tax billionaires, which doesn't often happen in a way that makes it good for the rest of the country, right? So, What happens is the middle class and there's no real middle class in the United States is really wealthy people and people without and there's very few people, um, who meet any of the like real economic definitions, but let's just say the so called middle class. Um, it's just tax to death under Republicans because they wanted, uh, because the idea is that, um, corporations will then hire more people and will stimulate the economy and blah, blah, blah. It does not happen. They just keep the money and they give it to their investors. Um, then you have Democrats who then are like, okay, we're going to tax the big corporations and then, um, You know, we'll use that money to underwrite some of these programs that we really want to do to make America run better. So that's why you and what does work with that is that's why you get the infrastructure. You get the bridges fixed. You get the roads fixed. You get the things that you complain about. That's what happens because you have more money, um, working that way. So when you talk about Kamala Harris, she's talking about. Entrepreneurship, you know, um, giving people money to start businesses, which is hard to do. And it's not a lot of money. It's 20 K, which is a lot of money for some people. Right. Right. Right. Right. It's 20 K. Look, Tony and I'll take, Chris will take it. You know what I mean? Do something with it, flip it, do it, but you know, where do I sign?

I'll take 10.

But these are also policies that are going to help everybody. But it's really hard. Entrepreneurship. You know, I've been a director of entrepreneurship center. I've been entrepreneur for almost 20 years. All of the things I teach business, things of that nature. Being an entrepreneur is one of the most difficult things that you can do. She's launching a national health equity initiative that focuses on black men. Now, this is why I'm like bugging when black men are like, I'm not voting for her. I can't. And it's not all of you all, of course, but it's just some, it's a small percentage. I can't. It's a small percentage. Right. But I was just like, have you looked at the policies? Cause all of this stuff meets you, entrepreneurship, national black health equity initiative. She wants to legalize marijuana. I'm not saying that's a black thing, because I know a lot of white folks who smoke weed, I'm just saying. Oh, but she wants to legalize marijuana, but a lot of us were in jail for long periods of time, for smoking, getting caught smoking, dealing a little bit of marijuana, or what have you. Um, lowering costs, um, uh, on price gouging at the grocery store. That's a big deal. If you buy groceries, or if you have bought groceries, please. That is a big deal. Um, so, because we are clearly being gouged, their profits and through the roof, they're doing great. They got us bagging our own stuff. They got one person and bringing it up. Everybody else is standing around bagging their own stuff and they got the profits through the roof and then everything is even more expensive. So I'm like, why is it so expensive? Cause I feel like I work here. I feel like I need a spot and a name tag. Cause I feel like I work today. I got to carry my grocery tip. I mean like, So, okay, so she's doing all of those things and then she's doing lowering rent, rents, which are out of control everywhere and providing more down payment assistance. So she's really focusing on building a middle class. And helping people who are in the middle class who can't get over that hump because they can't get that little cash infusion to take their business to the next to scale their business to the next level, or they can't figure out if they can't save enough just to get that down payment together for that house that they would be able to afford the house note on if they could just get that down payment together. Right? Um, so she's doing things that are going to help. Everybody, not just black folks, not just women, not just what have you. She's doing those things. That's going to help everybody. So those are what I like her policies. I mean, you know, the other stuff that people are mad about. I don't, I'm not thinking about any of that as a woman, as a mother of a child, who's a woman, a girl, I want us to have her, her full health care options, period. So I'm not talking about the religious aspects of abortion or what you do, you know, say people against abortion, let, uh, cheered when they put that, um, innocent black man to death last week. Right. So I'm just like, I don't even have time to hear about the, the, the pro life stuff. Cause you don't care about kids once they get here as an adoptive parent. We'll talk about that tomorrow to Tony. Um, y'all don't care when they get here, you don't do anything for them. For half a million is sitting in foster care right now. Half a million, but you're like, Oh no, no, no, bring them here. We're going to do, stop it. So, um, that's, those are the policies I think that are most interesting. She has lots of them. Um, and, you know, actually fixing the immigration issue, right. Making it, um, more streamlined and making it more clear and defined about how you become an immigrant. Since there's so many different ways that you can do that depending on which country you come here from.

Right, right. So, Chris, I want you to follow up on that. Again, why do you think, why do you think this, oh, I'm sorry, you guys answered that question already. So, Chris, let me ask you this, my friend. Um, anything you want to, uh, follow up on with Dr. Burtonson and I have a, a question directly for you.

Absolutely. So, uh, from what I've seen from the GOP, uh, first of all, xenophobia is not a policy. Um, you know, some of the things that they predict some, some of the things that they present as policies aren't necessarily policies. They aren't solutions. They aren't documented understandings of how things work out. Obviously they stray away from the things that failed in the past. Think about Obamacare, which is not called Obamacare anymore, but he stated that that was going to be eradicated day one. It wasn't. So if you just look at somebody that already held this job, right? They've shown you who there is no way you get a job, fail, even with the qualifications of COVID and can get that job when it's the most important job in the world. Again, that's a disqualifier to me, but the lack of policy in that regard is very, um, overwhelming. She spoke about the policies that Vice President Harris has before her. I haven't seen anything from the GOP that's resounding from a policy perspective because the simple fact is policies cascade and in the concept of the economy. So this misnomer that republicans are for business Would lead you to believe that Democrats are anti business and that's absolutely fraudulent. That's absolutely not the case because she just talked about the proliferation of entrepreneurs. She just talked about more businesses, more opportunities. The fact is now it's becoming a gateway for more people. More diverse diaspora of people, and that's where the issues come. So you have special interests that are going on, and I'm not gonna beat the stage drum, right? The fact that you can have a rally, and I'll be brief here, Tony, that you can have a rally, and you have at least corporate backed interest being audaciously presented is weird in politics to me. But at most, foreign backed interest in the form of Elon Musk. That's a rallies. Right. Right. If somebody else would have did that and had a foreign actor, a Putin giving you a thumbs up on your election, you're getting likes by Kim Jong on it. Why are we even right? This is ignorant at this point. It's right. Right. It's exhaustive. And so when you have the, then, you know, that's what's going on is pockets being lined it. And when you talk about deceitful, duplicitous business practices, this is not just business practices. These are life practices for this candidate, right? And therefore it's hard to think that he would divorce that. The last thing I'll say on that is when he was elected, my quotation fingers are up for all those on audio. The first time the good man, Barack Obama said, give him a chance. He was dead wrong and it's okay.

Yeah. But you know what though, buddy? So here's the thing. So number one, thank you both for that. I really, and again, excellent insights from both of you guys. And I hope the audience is listening because as you can hear from Dr. Burton and Chris P. Reed, they're, they, they do their research. They're citizens and they show their citizenship by being involved, okay, by being educated on what's being said, what, what's really happening and then pushing back the fluff. So I hope that you really appreciate what they're talking about. The one thing I will say though, Chris, is that the Republicans are for business. Big business. Okay. They're for the massive corporations, right? Because they want to give corporate tax breaks and stuff to that nature, right? So they're not for the, they say they're for small business, but they're not. They're for big corporations. All right. Now, let me ask you this. And I would love to see if you have a night, uh, uh, a thought on it, Chris, and then Dr. Burton, I'll turn it over to you. And then I'm going to ask you guys for your predictions. Um, and then, uh, implications. It's the other person, whoever wins. Why isn't, I, I, I'm missing something here. Um, and look, black people are not a monolith. Let's be fair, okay? Black people, let's, and again, let's just put this in the right context. Black people, until, uh, and, and Dr. Burton, you and I talked about this, until, uh, until civil rights era, the majority of them voted Republican. Okay. Just to be clear here, right? Cause, well, we're talking to different parties now and then. Okay. The Democrats back in the prior to the sixties was the Klan. All right. There was the ones that was against civil rights and Jim. They were all Jim Crow, blah, blah, blah. Black people voted

for the Dixiecrats. Thank you.

Thank you. Dixiecrats. Right. So they wasn't voting for them. Okay. Black people vote mostly both voted. Republican. Okay. Now we know it's a different world. So I just wanted to say that. However, the question I have for you, Chris, and then I'm going to turn to Dr. Burton before we get final thoughts and predictions. Why is it we're hearing that? Um, and let me say, let me, let me, let me, let me position it this way. We have a first black female woman running for president. Okay. Let's be, and that's a historic thing. Okay. Historic. We had a black president. Okay. Now we have a black female vice president that has a chance three weeks away. Votes go her way to be the first, not just female president in the United States, but black female president of the United States. Okay. Now we talked about policies and stuff to that nature. Dr. Burton did a good job. Both of you guys broke it down, right? Why are we here? And again, black people are not a monolith. So we know that people vote, black people vote, all different types of people. But why are we hearing that black men, and it's a small percentage, but they struggle. They don't want to vote. For Kamala Harris. So can anybody give me some insight in that and the audience some insight on why this is an issue and why, if it is an issue, and it must be because you've heard it enough. Why is it that those individuals don't want to vote for her?

Let me, I can do that. Let me start by saying as a leader in big business, you're nothing without the people. And so I don't want people to believe that you think big business is just one percenters. Big business is the people is the employee. It is the machine, the frontline workers and things of that nature. So, Those people who exist in those roles, you are big business. And so they should be residing and resonating with you as well as just the people at the top. That's number one. Yeah. Now why are black men or folks not voting for Kamala Harris? A lot of it is called a conditioned response. The psychological conditioning is just getting over the concept of change. Change is something that people are psychologically natural to resist and therefore they're hesitant. And when you make it, Easy to not have to change because the reality of it is also. No one wants to be on the losing side. Let's just keep it real. Right? And so if you think I could come out on this being, everybody wants to be part of the chat. This is why bandwagons exist and things of that nature. Right? So the concept of if I vote for her, I'm going to have to do extra work and understand why I'm making this decision because it's quote unquote against the grain, not realizing you're not kept. You haven't kept up with the times you haven't kept up with the pulse of things.

When, when, just so I'm clear here, when you say against the grain, they don't want to change change from what? From a male

dominated United States government. Okay, so then

say it that way, Dan, right? Okay. Say it that way, because I thought you, I thought you were talking from an administration standpoint, right? Yes and both. But she's in the administration. She's in the administration. She's the incumbent. She is the incumbent. But

the recognition, the emotional recognition, she gets slighted for things that if a man was doing the same things in her, if it had been a male vice president, forget the color, He would have gotten so much more credit for the things that he's been wanting.

Okay, so I'm okay. I'm clear. I'm clear. Than anything

else. So any idea of, and another thing, Tony, and good, bad or different, I don't know what to believe. Like, you're, you're, you're, you're regurgitating things that you've seen on quote unquote reputable outlets as far as she's behind or she's ahead or people don't want to rock with or whatever. To me, that's propaganda. You're an ad guy. You know how ads work.

No, but, but buddy, buddy, I, so before I give you my thoughts. Dr. Burton, let me hear your thoughts on that.

Sure. Um we have a former president who is involved with an insurrection, is a convicted felon, he's facing, a zillion charges. He owes a ton of money. Um, he was negligent with how he handled COVID. He didn't want to handle that the way we handled other pandemics, um, which is why it landed here in the U S it was completely avoidable. Millions of people dying. All these people with long COVID, all this stuff avoidable because he didn't want a public relations issue on his hands. Uh, I don't know. What any free thinking black person, because I don't know how many black people y'all saw die in COVID or get sick in COVID or how many babies you saw left with no parents in COVID. I saw a lot, um, went in there, right? Mine vote for this man because he promised them a tax cut, but let me just go ahead and help you. If you make under 250, 000, it's not going to come to you anyway. The only person that's going to get a tax cut that's going to come to you is going to give you 1 is going to be Kamala Harris. It's going to be about 2500 dollars. That's it. All right. So neither 1 of them are like, really going to be able to give you anything. Both of them have said that they want to do a child care credit. Trump wants to do 5000. That's the 1 thing they agree on. And I agree with both of them. And Kamala says she wants to do 6000 dollars. Um, those are good things, right? But if you look at this man's performance beforehand. And I'm really mad at the Republican party. Let me say this too. I used to work for the Republican party. People don't know that about me. That's how I actually came to have these very, uh, informed opinions about things. And I understand that not all Republicans are Trump Republicans. And I understand that people think differently about things or what have you. But out of all the people that you got out here, you chose him. Like you think that's the best that you can do,

right? Right. Right. You

think that's the best that you can do in terms of the president of the United States? That is sad. If, if he's the best that you can do, they need to disband the party and start over.

Right. Right.

If that's the best that you can do, if you have people, uh, stepping over themselves to, to, uh, bow down to this man who's in bed with all of our, our like lifelong opposition, like our lifelong, uh, people that we don't, uh, Fool with at all. I was like, did we forget about the baby? Have we forgotten about all

those things in bed with all

these people? You claim to love the military, but you are in bed with Putin. You claim to love police officers, but you got them out here going against people, uh, with, um, all these automatic weapons. You sending them out here to go against people with automatic weapons. You claim to love the kids. You've got the kids getting shot up with these automatic weapons at school every other month. We got some kind of some kind of warning coming over our phones talking about somebody calling a threat. So this is my point. Black men. Black women have raised you. We have loved you and we have continued to do so, and we'll continue to do so. And I know people don't want to say this to black men, but I say this shit. You owe us. You owe us. 70 percent of us been raising your babies for over 25 years by our damn selves. You owe us. So no, you don't get to partner with the white man because he has a penis. You don't get to do that. No, you don't. You don't get to pretend like the most qualified candidate ever to be in the, uh, to be running for president has no qualifications. You don't get to be mad because she was a prosecutor when we didn't have black prosecutors and most prosecutors, 90 percent of prosecutors are white men anyway, and half of them are in Congress and you haven't said anything to them about it. You know, she was prosecuting crimes against the environment and sexual crimes. So if she put your cousin in jail, which I see all the time online. I'm sorry if your cousin is a rapist or whatever, they need to be in jail. All right, so I don't know what the problem is. All the stuff I just said in her policies directly affect black men. You are going to gain from it. I haven't seen anything in his policies other than the child care credit and that's if you're taking care of your child, which you better be doing, that will affect you positively. Not one thing.

Great, great.

So that's, what I have to say. You owe us, damn it. You want to be our protectors? And our providers? Vote for us in this election. That's it.

Tell us how you really feel, you know what I'm saying? Yes, I

got a black dad. I had two black grandfathers too.

I'll say this, uh, on behalf of, of, of black men, um, educate yourself, look at the policies, look at all the things that we've derived throughout this entire episode. And then at the end, use the fact that she is, you know, uh, uh, uh, a black woman as a bonus point. All right. So because she'll win, if you just look at those other things, like I said, take out those three components and just look at the stuff that the meat, you know what I mean? Then she'll win or she'll gain your favor. But then if you add on what Dr. Burton was saying, the fact that she's a black woman, you know, queen of the earth type situation, that should just send you over the threshold, so to speak. So just keep that in mind.

So listen, I want to get you guys, cause we're, so this is, and we're going to keep rolling, but this is really, really good. But I just got to say something on this. I do feel. that it is a sexist thing. I feel that those black, it can't be a policy thing. That makes no sense. Okay. And I remember, I don't know if it was Obama or somebody spoke. Uh, I think it is. We're not, I'm not voting for her. Because she's a woman, she's this, and she's a black woman. And these are from black men. And again, I'm not speaking to them, but this is my sense because it can't be no, it can't be a policy issue. Can't be all right. And at the same time, it can't be that they think that Trump, and at the end of the day, we got you, you, and let's be fair though, too. And I hear everybody's policies. I hear her policies. You know, he, he may have some policies, but at the day, You know, you own your own destiny. Okay. Nobody sitting up in any political office can control you or, or make you successful or make you fail or make you a failure. All right. At the end of the day, you have the ability to make, to govern and run your life. Let's be fair here. You know, I don't care who's been in power. Right. Since this country has been indoctrinated in 1776, people of color have had a challenge, regardless if it was a Democrat or Republican. Okay. It didn't matter. So my point is, is that for you to sit back, if that's your case, and for you to say, I'm not voting because she's a woman. Okay. Makes no sense. Number one. Number two, you would rather put you give you a vote to some other this other guy who I don't even want to get into it because Dr. Burton just went through his background. How does he make you better? That's what I want to understand, please. So it has to be more of a chauvinist type situation. All right. And black men, Have always, I want to use this as, because I don't want to say all, because it's not fair, but some black men have had a, had a problem with black women, strong black women, leading. Okay. And they don't want to say it. They'll come up with a million other reasons. All right. My mother was a strong black woman. She always had tough relationships with men because she would call them out and hold them accountable because they wasn't living up to their point of what they were supposed to do. Okay. And so at the end of the day, that's just my opinion. Okay. Some people, you like his policy better. Okay. Say that, but don't just make it about. She's a woman. All right. We got to, I mean, we, we've been, we've been going off. So I want to get your, I want to get you guys predictions, who you think going to win. And then I love to hear if who you don't think going to win, what's the implications for the country. Chris, you go first, buddy. Cool, no problem. Yeah, yeah, because we'll be another 30 minutes with Dr. Burton. You know what I'm saying? No, no,

no. So the concept is this, um, without any, any significant emotion and just kind of using the old adage, I just follow the money. She raised a billion dollars, fam. So, Let's just keep it like I follow the money. And so I believe that if you use that old adage, she's going to win because the money is behind her. So, therefore, the interest are behind her. And and I do believe that people have a good heart intrinsically. So, think about it like this, and I'll say this, the 1 thing is, there was no loss of civility, and it was very encouraging when the vice presidential debate landed. All the news outlets were talking ironically about how civil and diplomatic the two gentlemen were when they spoke to each other. So the fact that we can still identify it and recognize it is good. When we thought that politics is just muckraking and slanderous and, and, and forgetting about the mute and talking over people and talking down to women and all of that type of stuff. Now, we realize it don't have to be like that. And I think that that taste actually hurt the campaign for the GOP, because they realize some, even the outlets that rock with them said that the civility of the vice presidential campaign was refreshing. So we're longing as a country For some, some sense for some maturity. And so I believe because of that, she would win. The implication as it relates to the other party is he's currently figured out how to fleece the people of whatever he can when this don't happen. And he's going to whiny baby this thing. And he's going to tap into the side of the people who. inappropriately feel downtrodden or disenfranchised, regardless of the records and the census and all this other thing, he's going to tap into the base, primal, negative nature of his constituents, of his people, and going to try to figure out a genius way around all of this, because that's what he does. He has desire to be a lifelong dictator. He ideal, he, You know, idealizes these, um, these dictators, the Kim Jong Un's and the Putin's, the people who win unanimous, you know, the guy that's in Hungary. He loves these guys because he feels like. This too is possible. These are his mentors. These are the people that he looks up to and he brings it out. Unfortunately, in your face in conversation. Right? And so I think that we need to brace ourselves and prepare ourselves for the, for the construct of him, not winning, but the party and Dr. Burton said this earlier, the party is going to have a hard time recovering from this. You guys have to realize there's been wigs. There's been Federalist. There's been so many different parties. This party is not beyond reproach. This party is not beyond reformation. They called it the new Republican party years ago. Well, maybe they put a two news on it this time, but it's going to have to change is going to have to change the way in which it does business. But so are the Democrats. They have to make sure that they're prepared appropriately with a candidate in the future. We have to reform the way that we do things because just throwing somebody up there because they're famous. It's not a reality TV show. It's our lives and it's our government and it's our future.

All right, Dr. Burton, keep it tight now. Keep it tight. Let me hear from you. Thanks, Chris.

Kamala in four hours. Um, yeah, I think, uh, Kamala is going to pull it out. Vice President Harris is going to pull it out. She is the most qualified of the two. We need a grown up in the room. Um, and we need somebody to restore, restore dignity and who isn't facing it. All kinds of charges, you know, um, even if the Supreme Court is going to let him off the hook, you know, um, we need to restore some dignity to our office, um, of the presidency. We need to get some stability. I mean, it has been a frenzy, uh, since Donald Trump came into national politics, uh, and people, um, has really changed the, not only the political landscape, but really the landscape of this country. Um, and that is powerful. So that's why we can't under. Um, value what that role is and how it can impact and influence society. But yes, I am hoping it's not only the money. I think that she is the most qualified. I think the people who are hating on her and saying they're not going to vote for her because she's a woman probably aren't going to vote anyway. Um, Because I'm just, I don't even know who those people, how you can even say that in 2024. Right,

right.

Wives and daughters and mothers and aunts and stuff. I just, I just don't know those people. Um, but yeah, it's Kamala in 2024. And, um, hopefully she'll have the support that she needs, uh, in order to succeed in the job. And then we, you know, we got to get to work on Congress so that she can actually put some things in place that could actually pass, right?

Right, right. Guys, I want to thank you. You guys have been awesome. This has been a lot of fun, very educational. Um, I learned a lot from listening to both of you guys. Listen, you guys are plugging in really, really tight. So I want to thank you. You know, I want to leave just a final thought. Um, you know, look, obviously our platform is for having, um, people come on, share their stories to educate. the mainstream. And it's very important that we did this, this episode on a presidential election because at the end of the day, and I know I said earlier about regardless of who's in power or who's sitting in that seat, you still have the ability to go out and do your thing or not do your thing. Right. However, all that being said, this is an important election. Um, and you heard it from Dr. Burton and Chris P. Reed. You know, this is either moving forward or moving backwards. Okay. And I, I had no problem on telling you guys today that I will not vote for Donald Trump. All right. And at the end of the day, let me tell you why. Real simple. Okay. So mostly you don't know, but I am a registered Republican. I've been a registered Republican since 1990. Okay. I voted for the father Bush. Okay. I voted for Clinton. Then I voted for the son Bush. Okay. I voted for Obama. Okay. Alright? So at the end of the day, I voted for Clinton. At the end of the day, I believe in certain things, okay? But at the end of the day, to have somebody who has done what he has done to this country. from the time that he started running, who's been so divisive. A president is about bringing people together, regardless if you look, there's people that became president. I ain't like them. Right. But at the end of the day, they're the president. Okay. And that's how you supposed to look at this office. And they held themselves all right. To a certain decorum, because as Dr. Burton said, this is the most powerful office on the planet. And what we say or don't say reverberates around the globe. Okay, and you cannot take that lightly. Okay, it's very important. And I have a man that tried to, and Chris, we did Wilmington's lie. Dr. Burton, you came on and we did a reckoning of Wilmington's lie. We cannot, we talked about what happened in 1898. And this was almost a mirror of that in 2020. Okay. On the insurrection on January 6th. I'm sorry. I would never vote for anybody that would do that. All right, because they lost and then tried to create civil war. And you can throw in all the other felonies and stuff of that nature. But once you go to that level, you ain't got my vote. Because here's the thing, I know what you will do if you get back into office. It's not about the country. It's about you. And to what Chris P Reed said about being a one to have dictator rule, dictatorship rule and stuff to that nature. And then how the Supreme court now is given presidential immunity. You wouldn't be able to stop this dude. And we didn't even get a chance to talk about once you come into power, the people that you put around you, Okay. Those people will now be putting policies and it will be chaos. It would be armed. I mean, this country would take a huge step back domestically and internationally. Okay. Now let me say this too. I wasn't a big Kamala Harris fan. I'd be straight up. Okay. Flat out. I didn't know a lot about Kamala. And I remember when Biden made her his vice president, I was like, okay, he's probably getting them over the top. But there was a couple other people that I liked prior to that. The, I forget her name, who was the police commissioner or the sheriff down in Florida. I forget her name, whatever. It doesn't matter. All that what, yeah, you know, I'm talking about all that being said. Back to Dr. Burton's point, when you look at qualification, she's qualified to be president. You look at the policies that she put in place. Some of those, if she becomes president, some of those become real, some of those won't become real, but that would be no different than any president. Okay? So at the end of the day, based on the choices that we have, that's clear. There's, in my opinion, there's no other, this is me, this is Tony Tidbit, there's nobody else I would vote for, okay, but Kamala Harris. Now my prediction, I don't know, okay, I think it's going to be a toss up, right, because here's the thing, there's one of two things that's going to happen. Either she wins in a landslide because you can't believe it. The polls. Okay. And we've seen that happen before, right? Because going back to what you were saying about time and, and Chris, you were saying about there's a, and the money, you know, so you can't get caught up, but if it's not that, then it's going to be a nail biter. But I know where I'm going to vote, and I'm telling our audience, you vote for whoever you feel. And yeah, this episode was a little one sided, right? But guess what? This is what we believe. You know, I didn't talk to Dr. Burton. I didn't talk to Chris B. Reed prior to this episode. We're just gonna come on and talk about it. And guess what? We gave what we believe. We gave our thought process. And guess what? We've done our homework. And we're asking you to do the exact same thing. And at the end of the day, What if, uh, if, if, if, if you flipping a coin, but if you go out and vote, that's really the most important. The last thing I want to hear from anybody is I didn't vote, right? And if you didn't vote, you ain't got nothing to say. Don't even show up to that, but you ain't got nothing to say. You ain't got, you can't complain. Can't do nothing because this is your one day. It's the most important thing that you can do, and it's an important thing for our democracy, right? So, final thoughts, real tight.

Okay. I'll go first. Go first, buddy. I want her to finale. Yeah, yeah. And then we gotta, we gotta go, but go. Cool. So the situation is, um, we always talk about, go out and do your own research, your own homework. I cannot back someone who talks about my taxes, who's a multimillionaire and pay 750 in taxes. Look it up. Okay. That's number one. You, and then people who don't have my interest, don't have my vote. Okay. Real simple. Um, and so not that she has all the interest because even in the concept of over 250, 000 all the brothers. It's not worth the amount of money you would gain there to sell yourself. You know, that's right. Okay, bro. Okay. So

we know where you going. And look, you can go anywhere you want to go. I ain't going to get mad at you. But at the end of the day, as long as you vote, Dr. Burton, final thoughts.

Yes. Well, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Ukraine, all these people who want to support Ukraine and vote for Donald Trump. You cannot do both. If he gets in, the money's cut off to Ukraine period. He's in. He's already said it, read the policy, read the website, read, read, read the stuff. Um, LGBTQ populations, um, are under attack and losing rights at the state level. Um, and so, uh, we do need to have someone in office who is attuned to that and, um, comes from a place where they have done that work before and have had policies at the state level. Um, and can enact those policies to protect those populations as well because they deserve civil rights and protections as well. Um, Um, Thank you. I think that, um, you know, a lot of times I say we vote with our dollars, and I think we do when we buy products and support certain businesses. Uh, but this time I think you really have to decide, um, just to bring it home. Um, are you voting for the past or are you voting for the future? Like, what do you want America to look like? And what do you want the office of the president to look like? To look like to other people as well, not only to you and to this country, but to the rest of the world. All right, so think about it and definitely I'm with Tony. I mean, I really believe vote. You don't have to vote the way I vote, but participate in the process because I do not want to hear it. If you did not vote, or if you voted third party, knowing that they're not even on most of the balance in most of the states, if you waste your vote in that way, do not talk to me. We, we cannot be friends, but vote. Vote.

But vote but vote. Thank you, Dr. Dr. Burton and Chris P. Reed. Thank you. So I think it's now time for what? Tony's tidbit. All right. So the tidbit today is this democracy. Democracy thrives when informed minds engage. Make your voice heard. Make your vote count. And you heard that today from Dr. Nsenga Burton and Chris P. Reed.

So obviously at this point in time, I would be remiss. Absolutely. If I did not remind you to tune in to the weekly segment, need to know what the singer, where you have the powerful, magnanimous, uh, beautiful, wonderful Dr. Nsenga Burton, uh, represent a black executive perspective podcast, where she dives into crucial and critical topics of all shapes and sizes that help our community and our world become a better place. Sometimes it's political. Sometimes it's, it's, uh, educational. Sometimes it's social, sometimes it's spiritual, but she's always bringing this energy that you've seen today on steroids in a bite sized compact way so you can take it with you and you can share it all week with whomever you run into. So please do not miss that. It's a wonderful resource.

Absolutely. If you never checked out Need to Know with Dr. Nsenga, you just got a version of it right here on this episode. So every Thursday, definitely check her out. So I hope you enjoyed today's episode, Decision 2024, Navigating the Presidential Election with Insight and Expertise.

All right, so at this point in time, we definitely want to make sure that you understand that we are always trying to decrease, decrease discrimination wherever we can, and we do that with our call to action, which is less L. E. S. S. That L is learn. Educate yourself on racial and cultural nuances so that you can feel better about how you navigate this world and understand other people.

Absolutely. And then after you learn E stands for empathy. Now you've learned about your friends and colleagues. So now you should be more empathetic to what they go through because you now can be able to walk in their shoes.

S stands for share. And that means to share information with an informed information, factual information, fact based information, um, with people so that they understand better understand not only the things they're being educated about and the things that they're having empathy about. Um, but also so that they can pass on the knowledge that they gained from those other two categories.

Absolutely. Right. And then the final S is stop. We want to stop discrimination as it walks in your path. So if you at the Thanksgiving table and grandma says something inappropriate, you say, grandma, We don't believe that we don't say that and you stop it. Right? So if everybody can incorporate less L E S S we'll build a more fair, more understanding world. And guess what? You'll be able to see the change that you want to see because less will become more.

We want to remind you to tune into all of black executive perspective, podcast and segments. Look at some previous ones to catch up to where we are now, but we absolutely want to encourage you to go to the website, sign up for the newsletter, leave us reviews, subscribe wherever you're listening to us. Keep us informed so that way we can keep you informed on things that matter to you. And where can they find us for these things, Tony?

Thanks. Excellent question, Chris. So you can follow a Black Executive Perspective podcast, wherever you get your podcasts, and you can follow us on our socials on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook at A Black Exec. For my esteemed, fabulous, hyphenated, Guess doctor, Nsenga Burton and the co host with the most Chris P. Reed. I am Tony tidbit. We talked about it. We learned a lot about it today. And guess what? We love you and we're out

a black executive perspective.