When Power Has No Consequences: The Pope, Trump, and the Swalwell Fallout

In this episode of Culture & Consequence, Carmen and Andrea dive into a wide‑ranging, unfiltered conversation about power, accountability, and the public figures shaping today’s headlines. From the Pope’s viral social‑media statements to the political fallout surrounding Eric Swalwell, the discussion explores how influence, ego, and entitlement collide in modern culture.

Carmen and Andrea break down:

• The Pope’s latest tweet and why it sparked political backlash
• The unusual Pentagon–Vatican tension and what it reveals about power
• How public figures react when moral authority challenges political agendas
• The long‑standing patterns of behavior that shape Donald Trump’s public persona
• Why some supporters remain loyal despite decades of documented controversy
• The allegations surrounding Eric Swalwell, his resignation, and the broader conversation about men, power, and accountability
• How entitlement, boundary‑breaking, and social conditioning contribute to harmful behavior
• The emotional impact on voters when leaders they trusted fall from grace
This episode is candid, intense, and deeply human — a conversation about culture, consequences, and the systems that allow certain behaviors to persist.

If you’re interested in the intersection of politics, psychology, gender dynamics, and public accountability, this episode offers a raw and insightful look at the stories dominating the week.

Thank you for stopping by.  Please visit our website: All About The Joy and add, like and share.  

You can now watch the livestream version of the show on YouTube at @CarmenLezeth 

You can also support us by shopping at our STORE - We'd appreciate that greatly.  Also, if you want to find us anywhere on social media, please check out the link in bio page.

Music By Geovane Bruno, Moments, 3481
Editing by Team A-J
Host, Carmen Lezeth


DISCLAIMER:  As always, please do your own research and understand that the opinions in this podcast and livestream are meant for entertainment purposes only. States and other areas may have different rules and regulations governing certain aspects discussed in this podcast.  Nothing in our podcast or livestream is meant to be medical or legal advice. Please use common sense, and when in doubt, ask a professional for advice, assistance, help and guidance. 

Transcript

Carmen Lezeth (00:00.12)
today. Well, let's wait until it starts friggin recording. I don't know. But hey Andrea, it's already been, Ooh, I like the hoops. Wait, why are we dressed up with all the cute makeup? What's happening? I just noticed cause I can see you clearly. You look beautiful today.

Andrea (00:04.717)
Yes, already better.

Andrea (00:18.309)
Thank you. I'm trying to like make my screen bigger, but it's not cooperating. I do. do. Yeah, this is just for you.

Carmen Lezeth (00:25.87)
Cause you want to see me more like,

Carmen Lezeth (00:32.8)
Is it just for, it's for culture and consequence the audience, huh?

Andrea (00:36.845)
I definitely don't have any work calls later.

Carmen Lezeth (00:40.61)
Right. This is, this is normally how you show up. And then I ask you to dishevel yourself, right? Exactly. so we, we have a lot on the agenda. I'm sorry about last week. kind of gave everyone a break. but you had wanted to talk a little bit about the Pope. Did you see his latest Twitter?

Andrea (00:45.497)
I woke up like this.

Andrea (01:09.689)
Pope or?

Carmen Lezeth (01:11.074)
The Pope just laid out the latest Twitter this morning. Let me read you what he just said. You know what, am I gonna lose you if I do this? Can you still see me? What did I do with it? Because I know I opened, okay. Yes, Pope Leo has, of course, social media and Twitter. And because he's unlike Pope Francis in that he's willing to engage and argue with people. He wrote this morning.

Andrea (01:15.493)
Oh, I have not. No, no, no.

I can.

Carmen Lezeth (01:38.306)
woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic, and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.

Andrea (01:53.669)
Ooh, the F word.

Carmen Lezeth (01:58.488)
You know, right? I was like, okay. Yeah. yeah. Anyways. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe you want to give people who maybe don't. didn't know it was going on until you told me because I wasn't paying attention.

Andrea (02:03.247)
He's a troll! I love it!

true American.

Andrea (02:15.639)
Yeah, okay, so we're like, I'll try to do a little summary, right? So, you know, the Pope, Pope Leo, Pope Bob from Chicago.

Carmen Lezeth (02:25.774)
Is that what they call him? Cause his name is really Robert, right? Or something.

Andrea (02:29.805)
Yeah, that's what the cool kids call him. You know, he is American, right? And as popes do, at least in our lifetime, you know, speaks out on behalf of the poor and the oppressed and refugees and immigrants and, you know, all of these kinds of things. And I guess there are certain people.

elements who took particular exception to that, even though he as yet, as far as I know, has never actually named any person or a country or whatever is saying like, I'm specifically talking about you. But, you know, if the shoe fits, I guess.

Carmen Lezeth (03:14.55)
I think it's pretty clear who he's talking about, but yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Andrea (03:16.895)
At this point, yes, for sure. And so back in February, after he gave his, the pope gave his state of the world speech, he was, or his representatives, the ambassadors to the Vatican, or to the United States from the Vatican were called to the Pentagon, which is

Carmen Lezeth (03:37.26)
Wait, are you being, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, Is that a normal thing? okay. I was like, did I miss something? okay. Go ahead. Whoa.

Andrea (03:40.375)
No! No!

No, nobody is called to the Pentagon, it's particularly ambassadors, right? It would be like a state department type of thing, but also just the whole thing is weird in and of it. It would be strange if they were called to the state department, but called to the Pentagon and lectured essentially by like a deputy secretary of defense. And we're straight up told like you need to check yourself and get on our side. Like they were.

Carmen Lezeth (03:58.06)
Okay.

Andrea (04:14.831)
told that very directly. And then there were, I will call it, implicit threats allegedly made on the Pope's safety, let's call it.

Carmen Lezeth (04:29.55)
I'm sorry, I just need to back up for a moment. I did not know there was all of this involved in it. Okay, I'm sorry. Meet Hegseth's, like, deputy assistant somebody, talk to representatives of the pope and hold them. Wait, Okay, like a bishop and said, you need to get on board of what? Helping the needy? I'm confused what we're getting on board on.

Andrea (04:36.237)
Yeah, yeah, so...

Andrea (04:46.189)
Yeah, like a- like a bishop.

Andrea (04:55.605)
On like you need to, know, it was something like, I don't remember the exact quote, but you know, the United States will do whatever it's going to do and you need to get on our side.

So like, he's supposed to be like, yeah, know, bombs away.

Carmen Lezeth (05:13.29)
Or like hate the immigrants or something. You know what I'm confused by.

Andrea (05:15.789)
Yeah, I mean, I think this was this was pre Iran. And so it was, I think, primarily focused on like, you know, stop calling us out on the immigrant issue kind of thing. And then, of course, you know, we started bombing Iran and he started to get he the Pope started to get much more vocal. But this meeting happened before all of that. And it was literally like.

Carmen Lezeth (05:26.614)
on the ICE issue. Wow.

Andrea (05:41.69)
We're going to do what we're going to do and you need to get on our side. And then there was a mention of not to get too into the weeds, but the Avignon papacy where the French king like went and arrested the pope. we know which is like a kind of mafia style threat against the pope. So, yeah, that all happened before Iran. And then.

Carmen Lezeth (05:52.203)
Yeah, I read that.

Carmen Lezeth (06:00.054)
Right. Right.

Andrea (06:07.877)
Once that started, of course, the Pope started to speak out more explicitly and directly, and they've continued to take exception to that to the point where, as we saw last week, Trump's post about how the Pope is soft on crime and nuclear weapons.

Carmen Lezeth (06:27.054)
Bye.

Carmen Lezeth (06:32.984)
But okay, you know what, I feel really stupid right now, so I'm just gonna be me. I'm just gonna ask these questions. I feel really stupid. Do they not understand who the pope in general is supposed to be helping and representing? I'm confused why we need the pope. Let's pretend I'm on Trump's side, which we all motherfucking know I'm not. Let's just pretend for a moment that I'm on Trump's side. Why would I care if the pope?

is rah rah, let's get more immigrants in jail. why wouldn't I want to keep that separated? I don't want the Pope talking about war.

Andrea (07:12.461)
Well, I'm going to pretend that I can try to understand what's happening in this person's, you know, minuscule little brain, but I would imagine he doesn't like it when anybody speaks out against him. But also, let's just look at the Pope for a moment and what he represents. percent, I looked up the numbers this morning, 20 percent of Americans are Catholic, right? That's a pretty large number. I know.

One and a half billion people around the world are Catholic, right? So that's a lot of people. That's a lot of, you know, that's a big platform, let's call it, right? And, you know, if we're going to speak in hierarchical terms, theoretically, spirituality comes above politics. So, you know, the pope is above the president.

And then also, if we want to try to get into this person's, you know, Trump's brain for a moment. Look at the Pope, right? He's got the pomp and the circumstance and all of the people who... And real gold! He's got the Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel and the robes and the hat. And you know, poor little unloved Trump wants all of that. You know, please make me the special boy.

Carmen Lezeth (08:21.12)
And real gold!

Andrea (08:38.243)
Right? So there's a part of him I'm sure that is envious of all of that. So when the Pope even indirectly comes and says these things about him, takes it personally. He takes everything personally, right? So he's going to lash out.

Carmen Lezeth (08:53.45)
One thing that I, because I didn't know all of this, know, there's just so much that's being thrown at us. But one of the things that I was able to see was that the original conflict traces back to 2016 when Pope Francis criticized Trump's wall. And it's almost like, his whole Mexico's gonna pay for it, bullshittery, crap, all the thing. And that has stuck in Trump's

or whatever that saying is. And then I guess Trump turned around at one point and said, he wouldn't be Pope Leo wouldn't be the Pope if it wasn't for him. And I was like, okay, I haven't even been following this and I know that ain't true at all. So there is that thing where he just wants to, it's like, there's not enough for Trump. Like he just, it has to be everything.

Andrea (09:33.498)
Yeah.

Andrea (09:47.632)
Yes. He has to insert himself everywhere. Everywhere. Because you're right. He is an unfillable void. Doesn't matter what he gets, he wants more.

Carmen Lezeth (10:05.952)
It's such a sad kind of thing to think a man has grown up this way and is like on so many levels. I was trying to figure out, you know, like if Trump wasn't born wealthy and if he didn't get a pass on everything, because let's just be honest, he's gotten away with everything his entire life. And there are very few people who have done as much damage.

As he has, and I'm not talking about even the presidency, even beforehand, he was able to use his power and his name to hurt other people and manipulate people. know, even simple things like not paying people, you know, and I was trying to figure out if a man was not as wealthy as Trump, what kind of person would he be in regular life? Like that characteristic of,

So I'm just going to tell you what I came up with, psychologically speaking, right? He grew up with lawyers, accountants and fixers handling fallout, right? He has aggressive counter, I'm sorry, aggressive counter attack strategy. So he threatens and sues, delays and overwhelms opponents until they give up. You can only do that if you have power. You have money behind you to do that. Yeah.

Andrea (11:29.807)
Money.

Carmen Lezeth (11:31.502)
Right, because it's not real power, it's money power, right? Institutional fear of backlash. So media banks, political parties, and even prosecutors have historically hesitated because he retaliates publicly and relentlessly.

And it's a lifetime of normalization. When someone pushes norms for 50 plus years, people around them become desensitized. So if Trump were a man without wealth, let's pretend his name is Elias Rourke, AI came up with that. A man born with the psychology of power, but none of the resources spending his life manipulating, scheming, and self-destructing.

Andrea (12:03.909)
You

Carmen Lezeth (12:15.554)
he would be leaving a trail of personal wreckage instead of just political chaos. And I just, I think that's kind of interesting, because there's not a lot of people in regular life who would not have hit a wall by now and been put in prison or fall out of their family or their friends. And what keeps happening is people keep enabling this man his entire life. I just think it's an incredible thing.

Andrea (12:45.677)
He's a case study in many ways of what happens when you never have any consequences.

Carmen Lezeth (12:52.878)
None. Right. He has no consequences.

Andrea (12:54.445)
Yeah. And the damage that you can, you know, the sort of havoc that you can wreak all around you.

Carmen Lezeth (13:01.026)
But here's the thing. So I think a lot of Trump support, you know, the psychologists, it just has to, but a part of me is like, people who keep supporting Trump, right? And there's still people, which is mind boggling to me. Is that really what you want? This man is so sad. He's like,

envy people, right? Because we're all human. I envy people who actually like I'll say this straight up. Barack Obama walks in the room. That's a kind and he has that swag. And I don't even think it's intentional. That to me is envious. And I know people who ate Barack Obama are gonna be like, whatever, doesn't matter. You can pick whoever you want. Robert Downey Jr. walks into a room and he's had a lifetime of what do you know who Robert Downey Jr. is? Okay, so

Andrea (13:52.003)
Yes, I do.

Carmen Lezeth (13:54.286)
I don't know. like, you know, like he rebuilt his life after having this horrible, you know, situation with drug addiction or whatever it was. And then he became this huge Marvel figure. And the reason why Marvel became what it became, he walks into a room, you know, there are so many different people we can talk about, you know, I remember Maya Angelou, it doesn't matter. You can name people who are quality human beings. Lin-Manuel Miranda is one of my favorite, you know, like

That's the kind of people I envy and you can put on top of it if you want their money, but it's not their money. It's the respect that they have. Why would you envy what you, this pretend shit that Trump has always had?

Andrea (14:39.375)
Beats me, girl. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, I understand. I totally understand what you're trying to say. I, you know, like, and I don't I, you know, I often sort of, you know, have a have kind of a snarky quip or whatever, you know, paint people with a broad brush. I really don't understand it. Just yesterday, I was driving down the street over here and I saw someone in one of those big ass trucks with a big ass Trump flag. And I'm like,

Carmen Lezeth (14:41.982)
But you understand what I'm trying to say, right?

Andrea (15:09.509)
Still? Really? Right now? Really? And I just, looked over at him. I was actually thinking about flipping him off, but I thought like, I don't even understand what's happening over there. Like, just look like a normal guy. you know, it was just weird. I was like, what, what's going on in your head? Like I just, it's totally foreign to me. I don't know.

Carmen Lezeth (15:11.416)
So, yeah.

Carmen Lezeth (15:33.154)
Well, and at this point, if you're intentionally, like because for a while there, there were people intentionally, and you know where I live, this is like blue city, whatever, right? You're intentionally wearing a Trump hat, you're wanting to fight with people. And the iron is, is people here are like, you're a loser, we're not even wasting our energy. So if you're still doing that now, you're trying to instigate an argument or fight, 100%.

Andrea (15:51.749)
Mm-hmm.

Andrea (15:56.728)
Yeah, 100 percent. Right. You're trying to trigger people and like getting, like you want something to happen. But still, it's like, what? Yeah, no, for sure. Yeah, you're absolutely a loser. But like, yeah, I mean, I really did have that thought kind of similar to what you're asking now was like, what is going on in that person's head? You know, other than like, I want to, you know, start some shit. But like, why? What is it that you actually support?

Carmen Lezeth (16:02.7)
Yeah, and now we just really think you're pathetic. I'm sorry, go ahead.

Carmen Lezeth (16:18.541)
Yeah.

Carmen Lezeth (16:26.242)
Right, because sometimes you could understand, even if you didn't agree with it in the past, other Republicans or people that you don't agree with, you could at least understand the logic behind why you thought you should support them, right? Even if I was completely against why you were supporting them. But this is like, the man is, he's,

By the way, I just want to say he's always been exactly what some of you are just starting to see. There has nothing, nothing has changed. He is not more deranged. He is not more out of it. This is who he has always been. And I think that's important because people are trying to be like, Oh, he's old now.

Andrea (17:05.197)
Yeah, the dementia is kicking in. Like, now he's always been this kind of an asshole.

Carmen Lezeth (17:07.628)
No.

Carmen Lezeth (17:11.626)
Always, and he's always been cruel. He's always been about himself, you know, and you can go back to the Central Park Five, and I'm gonna bring that up, because that's when I first realized who this man was. And I lived on the East Coast, I was in Boston, and that happened in New York, but that takes, it had nothing to do with him.

And yet he put it upon himself to put an ad in the paper to basically say that these young boys needed to still be in prison, even though they were found innocent or whatever the whole, he, had not, like that's a deranged individual. That is a horrible human being. And that is somebody who is so outright racist. Everything about him was bad back then. Nothing has changed. And I don't care.

I don't care that you're just seeing it now, just go with the idea that you were wrong and you're realizing it. So maybe you don't know as much as you think you know about Donald Trump. know, stop trying to correct the rest of us who have been here from day one. We actually know more about Donald Trump than how you've been so hoodwinked because you were in a

I don't know, cult or whatever. don't know what excuse you need to give yourself. Because I know what Andrea's thinking. You racist, homophobic.

You need to do some inside work on who you are as a person. keep saying this over and over and over again. You may not like the word racism. You might not like the word transgender or homophobic or all of these word isms. You may not like them, but it's you don't like them because you haven't done the work to figure out why you are being labeled that way. There might be an ounce of truth to it if you would just take a moment and stop resisting.

Andrea (19:04.325)
Yep.

Carmen Lezeth (19:06.05)
Seriously, I'm so over it. Okay, let's switch gears and talk about another motherfucker. So sad. Andrea. We can talk about how great Democrats are though, because you know, we're like, okay, done out, but what the hell is with men in this country? We're talking about Swalwell.

Andrea (19:29.653)
Every every angle of this story pisses me off so, so much. Like I am enraged about this. And yes, Democrats handled it really quickly, but also. What the fuck? Why? If everybody knew it was and it was an open secret, why didn't anybody tap him on the shoulder and say, girl, set this one out?

Carmen Lezeth (19:45.912)
What the fuck?

Carmen Lezeth (19:59.116)
You know, this is like the Bill Cosby thing and that's why it also pisses me off. You know what mean? Like, okay, so for people who don't know, Congressman Swalwell, I don't even remember his first name anymore. What's his fucking name? See, I'm already dismissing him already.

Andrea (20:09.889)
Eric, Eric.

Andrea (20:14.991)
It's already gone. Yeah.

Carmen Lezeth (20:18.528)
has been accused and baby there are videos now there are videos that are not AI so anyways you know what here you know what i'm gonna back up he's been accused of raping and sexual assaulting and all of this stuff and you know what i don't even care if it's true or not i believe it's true i do but let me tell you why i don't care whether it's true or not let me tell you something and this is a long-winded way to say this but i'm gonna try to explain

to fucking men what you need to do if you are going to be a human being on the fucking planet with women. This is just one way to handle it. Okay? So this is going to be way off the cuff here, Andrea, but I'm fucking pissed about this. I'm so pissed. Cause I don't know what's wrong with you motherfucking men. I don't know who is raising you or what is influencing you, but you men have got to change. You have got to change.

Andrea (21:12.313)
Get it together.

Carmen Lezeth (21:14.894)
what is wrong with your dumb asses. But let me just say something. had, I'm gonna give two examples because when you are vulnerable as a woman, this matters. Okay. So I've had two doctors that I'm going to talk about. One of them was Dr. Unger, who was my internist, like your regular doctor that you go in. And he also was my GYN doctor.

Right. He also did like for and I'm gonna use the words, OK, like pap smear, whatever, blah, blah, blah. He did the GYN exam, OK, which women have to get every year or whatever. And there was never a time that Dr. Unger was in that room with me without a nurse practitioner or another person in the room, another woman in the room, because he understood that not only was I in a vulnerable position, but he was also protecting himself.

Right? He was also making sure that he was not going to be accused of anything. And then the other one is our delicious, yummy, beautiful Dr. Gerhard. Right? Getting my, and I'm saying their names on purpose. You know what I mean? Like I'm saying it on purpose because I want you to know that these are actual examples. You're in a vulnerable position. This was the person, the surgeon who did my hip surgery. But before doing my hip surgery, I had to go meet with him like six or seven times. Cause I got

cortisone shots, I did physical therapy, and then I would go meet with him and he would check things and whatever, okay? And it's a hip surgery, so you're gonna be naked from the bottom down. every time he's checking you, he is near your parts, you know what I'm saying? So never was that man in a room alone with me. He always had a nurse practitioner or some other person in the room for my comfort and for his protection.

And it's like, I don't understand Andrea, how these fucking men are thinking it is okay. So whether you look at, believe he did it. I do. really do. I don't fucking care. But let's just say you're accused of it. You wouldn't be accused if somebody else is in the room with you.

Carmen Lezeth (23:28.278)
I don't know what else to say.

Andrea (23:32.056)
Yeah, mean, all kinds of things wrong here, right? But yes, I mean, and I believe all of it too. And then some there's probably stuff we don't even know about, right? Allegedly. But and I like, yes, all of the really horrific stuff to the side, it's important. It's awful. You know, I support the victims. All of that. Like, like you're saying,

Carmen Lezeth (23:41.777)
of course.

allegedly.

Andrea (24:01.379)
The stuff with his staff, you know, he was flirty. he was Snapchatting. What? Like, you know, going out for drinks with staff members. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

Carmen Lezeth (24:07.564)
What the fuck?

Carmen Lezeth (24:12.448)
No, no.

No.

Carmen Lezeth (24:21.463)
It is wrong.

Andrea (24:30.627)
until you get your shit together, all of you. it's so enraging.

Carmen Lezeth (24:36.426)
It is so enraging and I'm.

I'm also heartbroken for us because I think for me, I believed in him so much. was like, I was ready to vote for him. I'm like, I'm a vote for him for governor. Cause he was running for governor for California. I was excited. think there are way too many people running, but that's a whole other conversation and we'll do that next week or something. That's another frustration. I cannot see California having a Republican governor. So I'm just saying you 23 % who are undecided, fucking figure it out. And the bottom.

four of you get the fuck out the race okay that

Andrea (25:12.013)
If you're polling under 10%, I don't want to hear from you. Shut the fuck up and go away.

Carmen Lezeth (25:15.008)
Get the fuck out. Yeah. And also what's his name? What's his name? Tom sire Sawyer. Yeah, I'm over him too. He needs to get out, but he's actually, yeah, he's pulling higher. Okay. Anyways, but, I will say this because it needs to be said and it needs to be said over and over and over again. Democrat do not fucking play. Democrat heard somebody.

Andrea (25:20.719)
fire.

I'm over all of them, but anyways, yes, that's another conversation.

Carmen Lezeth (25:41.686)
We did this to the guy from Saturday Night Live and that actually pisses me off. I forget his name. Who? Al Franken, because he had a picture that he had hands on boobs of a woman and we took him out of office immediately. And I think that was actually bad call on our part. But it was the right call because we have integrity and character. And I don't give a shit what you people think about the Democratic Party. They acted quickly, swiftly.

Andrea (25:45.259)
Al Franken. Al Franken.

Carmen Lezeth (26:10.592)
And it's done. He's resigned from Congress. He cannot run for governor. He's done. And that's how it should be. Within a week.

Andrea (26:17.955)
Within a week, within a week. This all happened last week, right? so, yeah, it like over the weekend.

Carmen Lezeth (26:25.282)
Yeah, it happened quickly. Yeah, we're not gonna make him president. You know what mean? We're not gonna allow him to keep doing things over and over again that are illegal. We're not gonna allow him to put his name on buildings that he has no business putting his name on or destroying buildings or starting wars. We're not gonna allow a sexual predator to represent who we are as citizens in this country. And yet,

Andrea (26:35.61)
Right.

Carmen Lezeth (26:53.74)
You guys keep supporting Donald Trump. Whatever. Whatever. That line, I mean, I think way before the line of grab him by the P, he should have been knocked out. There's so many things, like in that first moment when he spoke about Mexicanos being murderers and rapists, and I think some of them are okay, or whatever the hell that line was, that was right there. I was done. I mean, I was done before that, because I thought this man was a fool, but whatever.

Andrea (27:09.635)
Yeah.

Andrea (27:20.153)
Yeah, yeah.

Carmen Lezeth (27:20.866)
But if you couldn't get past that and you were still supporting him, then grab him by the P in that, that you like, this is what I don't understand. You called it locker room talk.

Stormy Daniels!

Andrea (27:35.151)
Well, these are the men, people that we're dealing with, right? Like that's like, when we say boys come get your boys, these are the fucking people that we're talking about. It's not just locker room talk. It's not just locker room talk. It has real horrific consequences for people.

Carmen Lezeth (27:47.233)
is not like a new talk.

Carmen Lezeth (27:54.742)
I did a little, I was trying to understand why men, and by the way, I was like, is there a race differentiation in this? And there isn't, it's men. It's men, it's of all, the reason why we hear more about white men is because white men have more power than anyone else, so they're more highly visible, and that's why I on purpose brought up Bill Cosby. And the thing with Bill Cosby that pisses me off is it's kind of the same thing you were saying.

How was a black man in the 70s and 80s getting away with hurting people? It's because studio executives who have not been called to have to pay for this as well, because they should be, were making so much money off of Bill Cosby, they were not talking about it. Again, men, what is wrong with you? All right, so here's why men.

have issues. Okay, I'm sorry. know. I'm sorry. All right. I know. I know. We're going to lose like half of our audience. I'll give a fuck. All right. Get it together. Men commit the overwhelmingly majority of sexual assaults. Typically 90 % plus are identified offenders. We're not saying all men. We're saying the men that are identified are

Andrea (28:55.365)
god.

Andrea (29:02.105)
Get it together then.

Carmen Lezeth (29:18.676)
Men, they're not women, okay? 90%. Okay, why does this happen? Entitlement conditioning. Many men are socialized from childhood to believe they are entitled to women's time, women's attention, women's bodies, women's compliance. The entitlement is one of the strongest predictors of sexual aggression. I did not know that. So men walk around thinking they can have access to women at a moment's notice, is that what it is?

Andrea (29:49.062)
I mean, a version of that, yeah. I think a lot of men feel like, I mean, it's the like, I took you to dinner. I mean, you know what I mean? It's that vibe.

Carmen Lezeth (29:51.992)
Yeah.

Carmen Lezeth (29:57.014)
okay, I understand now, right. I took you to dinner, now what? I'll be like, and thank you very much. That's why I paid my half, bitch. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, okay, I'm not saying you have to, but I know.

Andrea (30:06.373)
Even if you didn't right like okay, I'm entitled to What right like that's that's the that's the line of thinking

Carmen Lezeth (30:14.41)
I got it. Okay, that makes sense. Okay, power dynamics. Sexual assault is overwhelmingly about power, not desire. Men who offend often show patterns like believing rules don't apply to them, yup. Assuming they won't face consequences, Using status or authority to override boundaries, unbelievable. This is why men in positions of influence show up in headlines. Whatever.

Okay, we only have three more. Well, I think it's important because you know what? I don't understand. I don't understand why men do this shit. I don't get it. Like, what is wrong with you? Anyways, poor boundary recognition. I thought this was interesting. I did not realize this. A lot of men are raised with weak emotional education, poor empathy development, normalized aggression, normalized pursuit.

Andrea (30:48.418)
It is!

Carmen Lezeth (31:11.726)
I don't know what that means, normalized pursuit and normalized dominance. The combination leads to boundary violating behavior.

Andrea (31:19.791)
think normalized pursuit is the like not taking no for an answer like you know I need to continue to pursue she likes it when I come after her you

Carmen Lezeth (31:29.164)
Right, she said no, but she really means yes. That bullshit, see? This is helping me, because now I'm understanding some of this that I researched, because, you know, okay. Number four, impulse control and externalization. Men are often more socialized to act first, think later. That is so fucking true in every way. Externalized blame, and women internalize blame, which is so interesting, I get that.

Andrea (31:31.843)
Yes, exactly. It's the Pepe Le Pew argument.

Carmen Lezeth (31:58.744)
They minimize harm, right? So they pretend it wasn't that big of a deal, you know, whatever. See rejection as a challenge. That's what you're talking about, right? I said no, but she really means yes. This creates a risk profile that skews mail, you know, whatever. Okay, and the last one, cultural reinforcement. This is the big one, people. And that's why I'm calling it out. This is why I'm calling it out, because we don't talk about this part enough, about that it is mostly men.

Andrea (32:03.482)
Right.

Andrea (32:08.377)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Carmen Lezeth (32:27.254)
and it matters, we need to change this dynamic. Many cultures still reinforce boys will be boys. Conquest mentality, male sexual dominance and silence around consent. That environment produces offenders. Interesting, yeah. I just, you're a mother, I'm not. I know you don't have boys, but.

Andrea (32:49.39)
Mm-hmm.

Carmen Lezeth (32:55.146)
I just don't understand how we're raising. I'm not blaming it on all parents, but something's off. Something's off.

Andrea (33:05.004)
Yeah, I don't I mean

really have an answer for it. mean, you know, obviously, if I if I did, I, you know, be in a different place. But like, yeah, we would monetize that somehow. Right. I mean, I know some boys, some teenage boys, you know, based on my kid's age, and they're all really good kids with really good parents. So like, I see what's around in my life. And I'm like, I don't I'm not seeing

Carmen Lezeth (33:16.782)
We'd have a lot of money because somehow I'd latch on.

Andrea (33:39.161)
the disconnect, like I don't understand where some of these other kids are coming from. I guess if you sort of look around at some of these, know, know, Trump supporters or whatever, it's like, okay, well that makes sense that you would end up with a kid like that. But.

Carmen Lezeth (33:43.148)
where it happened.

Carmen Lezeth (33:57.132)
Right, but Eric Swalwell wasn't that, right? mean, Bill Cosby wasn't that, right? We would assume. So look, I'm not saying I know where it comes from. I'm just saying we need to get real about this shit, enough already. And then I'm flip this and this is where I'm really gonna get in trouble. I know it's hard for victims to speak on this shit and I know it's hard for people around this stuff to talk.

But I think we need to start teaching our girls and young women and other people. Talk about it, say something, scream. I have quit jobs for less. I quit jobs because the person who owned, who was the client, you remember this, talked badly to a housekeeper. I had no money, I was going to live in my car but I...

Andrea (34:43.842)
Hahaha

Carmen Lezeth (34:49.384)
I'm not saying I am right about, but we need to change the culture of not speaking like women need to figure. I know it's painful. I know I have dealt with this myself. I know that there is a process that happens. You're in denial. You think it's your fault. We need to change that. We need to start changing. It is not your fault. It is never your fault. It is not your fault. You need to speak on it. I think we need to change how we approach this.

Because what ends up happening is men keep thinking it's okay to fucking do.

Andrea (35:21.583)
Well, they think they can get away with it. He clearly did, right? He absolutely believed he could get away with it.

Carmen Lezeth (35:25.462)
Yes, but this... How long has this motherfucker been in office?

Andrea (35:29.977)
Right, right, he did get away with it for all this time, right? And you know, and the people around him, that's what I was saying that like pisses me off. Well, everybody knew.

Carmen Lezeth (35:39.83)
Yeah, I get so angry about that. Right. Yes.

Andrea (35:42.063)
Then fucking say something! Say something to him! Jesus Christ! Somebody actually go confront this man and say that's not right!

Carmen Lezeth (35:50.56)
Exactly. And that's what I'm saying. I think we need to start having a real conversation, especially with our young girls, young women. We need to let them know, if you come and talk to me about something, I'm going to scream it from the rooftops. Right? I understand. I understand everybody's afraid of losing their job. Everybody's afraid of the retaliation. Everybody, you know, stop. We're creating a world we don't want to live in.

And you know what? I am so angry about the Eric Swalwell thing on so many levels. It's not just because I feel betrayed. I'm like, how the fuck did someone like that end up not just being in office for as long, but all of us thought he was clean and good and a good, decent man? And it's because nobody told the public. Nobody told us.

And if the victims can't speak for themselves, then you be a person of courage and speak the fuck for them. I don't get it. And you know what? This is, look, I'm coming from a place where I was sexually assaulted as a kid. And the problem is, is most women have been, and that's what's so fucking annoying. And when I said my piece, when I finally was able to say it, people were like, you were just kids. It was a long time ago. It's not a big deal. You know what I've done since then?

Those people are completely out of my life because I understood immediately that I was not going to be believed. I knew it. But the people that did believe me, my friends, the people that cared, they were also like, fuck them, we're done. And it's like, that's what I'm trying to say is like, I'm angry because people should not be elevated anywhere, anywhere in my life or in public life and making money and taking

from people who, can you imagine? Okay, and again, I am not trying to blame the victims. I'm trying to make a point. When you don't speak, when you don't find the courage to do something because you are in pain and struggling and sad, when you allow him to hurt other people. And that's what I'm angry about. When I finally spoke, I didn't give a fuck they didn't believe me, but you know what I know for sure?

Carmen Lezeth (38:11.758)
They didn't let their children around that man. No, they did not. Not alone. I know that's stuck in their motherfucking head. I don't give a fuck. And I'm angry. You know, my whole ghetto's coming out because it's when I was a kid. And I'm just angry. We need to be better about this. Have courage for people who are going through something. Protect them. Speak on it. I don't understand how Eric Swalwell became

Andrea (38:20.773)
Hmm.

Carmen Lezeth (38:38.76)
Even in my head, a good guy. I did not know a fucking thing about him. Did you know all this time?

Andrea (38:47.063)
I didn't know. mean, I didn't I wasn't particularly excited about him. I, know, in any real way, I just thought like, OK, he's, you know, normal guy or whatever. But I had no idea any of this stuff was going on. Right. And it was. But some some people did. It was an open secret.

Carmen Lezeth (38:59.468)
No, I mean, No one did.

No, no, I mean, no, no, I know. mean us, the public who kept. Yeah.

Andrea (39:08.707)
I know, but I think that's your point. know, it's like people knew something. There are people all around Washington, apparently, and maybe even, you know, in Dublin, where he was a representative of, know, people knew it in some way. And those are the people. To me, like...

Carmen Lezeth (39:29.068)
Yeah.

Andrea (39:30.339)
Yes, maybe you can't get, you you don't have evidence and you don't want to be slandering or whatever, but you need to say something at least to other people around him. Be like, don't go to a bar with him. Don't be alone with him. Don't Snapchat with him. You know, like there are things that you can say to speak up.

Carmen Lezeth (39:47.68)
Yeah, and I'm sure some of the people will be like, yeah, we did. You know what? He should not have been in his office as long as he did. So there are so many levels where this broke down. So many places.

Andrea (39:57.668)
Yeah, that's the part that really pisses me off. Like I said at the beginning, like, so it was an open secret everybody knew and nobody thought like, hey, maybe don't run for governor. Hey, maybe this is going to come out. Hey, maybe you should really think about elevating your profile, you know, versus what's happening here.

Carmen Lezeth (40:17.442)
Well, that's the dumbassery of who he is, right? That's like stupid, entitled motherfucker. And again, alleged, but I'm sorry. I don't care. I go back to the explanation. you, there is no reason for a man of any age, a man to be in a room with somebody they work with alone in a hotel room. don't, doctor's office, lawyer's, whatever.

Be a smart human being. And I am not saying all men, but I am saying get your ass together and talk to your other men and teach them. I never.

Andrea (40:54.829)
Yeah, if you're if you're not all men, man, then this frankly is on you to handle. That's my take on it.

Carmen Lezeth (41:01.602)
That's right. It's the same conversation with the whole, it's not all cops. Shut the fuck up. If cops are not going to police other cops, then I don't know what to tell you. You know what mean? And if you're just transferring bad cops around, you're part of the problem. You know? So it's kind of the same thing. And here's the thing. I have never felt unsafe with the two doctors or you know what mean? Like because they're so professional. And that's kind of what I'm saying too. It's like we have got to get to a place

where you are smarter. Like be a smart person. If you're a man and you're dealing in any situation where people feel that you're an authority figure. And by the way, this isn't just towards women. It's

towards other men too because men rape other men and sexual assault other men as well. And then they're the ones who are saying that they're into traditional violence, but that's a whole other conversation. Like whatever that means. But this is my point is be smarter about how you do things if you don't want to be accused of shit that you're saying you didn't do. Because I'm sorry.

The biggest problem with Eric Swalwell right now, besides the fact that I believe the victims, especially after all that stuff I saw that I did not need to see, it's not going to get out my head, is you put yourself in a position that you should have never been in, because then this would not be a problem. Cause you would have never done any of those things. You know what mean? but yeah, wow. What was the guy's name from Saturday Night Live? I still think that was a bad call. Yeah. What do you feel about that? mean, I think.

Andrea (42:34.243)
Franken.

Carmen Lezeth (42:38.168)
Remember he had the picture where he had his hands on another comedian's boobs or something, I think. I don't know if it was.

Andrea (42:44.387)
Yeah, I mean, I don't know if it warranted him being run out of Congress, but, know, he did. He did apologize for it. You know, I mean, like. I don't know, you know. It was maybe a little bit of an overreach, I guess, but. Yeah, yeah, but it was definitely it was like at the height of me, too, and they just wanted to really like sort of, you know, not have any appearance of.

Carmen Lezeth (43:03.704)
From the Democrats, mean? Kicking them out? I think so, too.

Carmen Lezeth (43:11.438)
Right.

Andrea (43:14.317)
you know being okay with with anything like that and so i think you know yeah stuff like that's gonna happen maybe you're gonna overreach and and maybe that's okay because there's so much of the other shit where nobody's even bringing it to the forefront

Carmen Lezeth (43:28.76)
Clearly. Right. And I think that one too is really weird because it was like when he was younger, like it wasn't like last week. was like while he was in office, it was like he was younger and I get it. And I keep thinking to myself, like, that's the other reason why I would never run for office. Cause I keep thinking like, what pictures do I have? Might be questionable. I don't know.

Andrea (43:53.216)
Yeah.

Carmen Lezeth (43:54.23)
I don't have any pictures like that I can just tell you right now. But you know, they're going dig and stuff and I'm sure he thought like nothing of that because they were comedians or whatever it was. wasn't, you know.

Andrea (44:04.437)
He probably didn't even really think it was a thing. Like he probably had didn't even remember it. And then it came out and it was like, yeah, I did that. And, you know, apparently that was, you know, she didn't like it. So I need to apologize, you know, but she did.

Carmen Lezeth (44:12.27)
we get more.

Carmen Lezeth (44:16.078)
Yeah, well anyways, I don't know. Okay, is there anything else you wanted to share? I don't know. I feel like we got a full...

Andrea (44:23.526)
Yeah, think that covers it for today. I there's all kinds of God knows what, but that's enough.

Carmen Lezeth (44:28.782)
There's so much going on, I know, right? That was a lot. I know I got very emotional, but yeah. All right, well, thank you everyone for hanging out. I appreciate you. And remember at the end of the day, it really is all about the joy, which I love that because it is, you know, it would be joyful if we had men stop sexually assaulting women or other men. You know what mean? Like, can we just stop?

Andrea (44:33.861)
You

Andrea (44:49.005)
Yeah, Help us live joyful lives, men, and come and get your boys.

Carmen Lezeth (44:55.66)
Yes, thank you. At the end of the day, it really is all about the joy. There, feels better. Thank you. Bye, everyone.

Andrea (45:03.428)
you