Fake Power, the Voting Rights Act, and the Fight for Democracy

In this episode, Carmen and Andrea break down the Voting Rights Act in the simplest possible terms, react to the Supreme Court’s latest blow to voting protections, and talk honestly about racism, fake power, billionaires, and the unraveling of American democracy. This episode is raw, emotional, and grounded in the reality that many people still don’t understand what the Voting Rights Act actually did — or what its dismantling means now.

1. What the Voting Rights Act Actually Did

2. Fake Power vs. Real Power

3. Racism Is Not Over

4. The Supreme Court & the Collapse of the Facade

5. Billionaires & the Hoarding of Wealth

6. California Politics & the Governor’s Race

7. The Emotional Weight of This Moment

If you're interested how we understand this moment like regular working folk do, this is the right episode to listen to. 

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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

[00:00:00] Carmen: how you doing? What's up, Andrea?

[00:00:03] Andrea: I'm still in my like bad vibes mode. I don't know what's going on.

[00:00:07] Carmen: Okay, let me tell you something, Sue, yesterday when I sent you that email, I had just finished watching Eddie gla, who, you know I love.and he was on Nicole Wallace's show Deadline, white House or something, whatever Nicole Wallace's show. I don't know what the name of it is, but you know, if Eddie Gilot is that upset?

[00:00:28] I, I, it, it, it, I, you know what I'm saying?

[00:00:33] Andrea: I do know what you're saying.

[00:00:35] Carmen: so I was really upset about, the Voting Rights Act and, I think a lot of people don't understand what happened, so I wanted to talk about that first, I wanted to talk about in the simplest way possible what the Voting Rights Act is. But I just wanna first say, and this isn't 'cause I know you know what it is, but it's like I don't think people connect the dots.

[00:01:02] Andrea: It's not, I mean, I agree, we, we should talk about it and explain it, but like, I'm gonna semi let people off the hook and it kind of relates to why I'm so upset about it, like. This has just been a part, like it's been there since we have been alive. Like we've just like, this is the way our country is. Like that's the way that we have thought about it.

[00:01:28] Like we have always existed, me and you anyway, in a time of the Voting Rights Act until really yesterday.

[00:01:36] Carmen: Right, but people don't know why

[00:01:39] Andrea: Yeah. I'm just saying like it's one of the, I'm saying people take it for granted, is what I'm saying. Right.

[00:01:46] Carmen: I don't think. Okay. You know what, let's, let's back up

[00:01:49] Andrea: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:01:50] Carmen: I'll just be like, I don't take it for granted. Like I like.

[00:01:53] Andrea: I'm not saying you.

[00:01:54] Carmen: No, no, but I'm just, I actually think people just don't know what it is, and so I'm just going to give the simple answer. In 1965. Prior to 1965 when the Voting Rights Act was initiated after a peaceful protest in Selma with Congressman John Lewis.

[00:02:15] If you wanna, if you wanna make some connections of people, of names, you may know, was it President Lyndon Johnson? I think it was Johnson, who signed the Voting Rights Act. So prior to 1965, which is how many years? 60 years or something? 60. 61 years ago when black people would come to vote, they would make them take a test or they would tell them that they would have to, uh, vote on a different day or they would, uh, tell them that they would have to do different things in order to prove that they could vote.

[00:02:56] And so what they were doing was disenfranchising people. Black people specifically, but it was anybody who wasn't white. Let's just cut to the

[00:03:07] Andrea: I was gonna say they were doing these things to black people and other people of color that they were not requiring or asking even of white people.

[00:03:17] Carmen: of white people to do so. The Voting Rights Act was signed into office in order to. Prevent people from doing trickery, things like this in order to disenfranchise people from voting. It's really that simple. And you know what I'm upset about? Like, I honestly, like, I don't wanna cry on this on my show, like I don't, but it's so pathetic.

[00:03:49] The lengths to which people want fake. Power. Like why are you so obsessed with cheating? If you want black people to vote for you, then make it so that we wanna vote for you. What is this obsession with white folk and cheating? Ron DeSantis cheating Donald Trump? Like just the constant need to cheat.

[00:04:20] Here's what's not going to happen. Black people and people of color are not fucking going anywhere. Like we're not, you are not gonna roll this back. Try as you might. I'm, I'm sorry. Okay. Sorry

[00:04:36] Andrea: don't go on that rant.

[00:04:40] Carmen: Andrea. I am shook it.

[00:04:43] Andrea: They don't, this is gonna go way out there, right? Like I think that they don't want black people or other people to vote for them because they don't want those people to vote. They don't fucking care.

[00:04:59] Carmen: Right, but they don't want them to vote because they want to stay in power. Right.

[00:05:04] Andrea: they see them as less than they want to be overlords, essentially of these people. So there, there's. Like there's a sense of they're less than, I don't have to give them the same rights as me. I shouldn't have to, I don't care if they vote for me. I don't want them to vote at all. They should be at my beck and call.

[00:05:28] It's so fucking twisted and sickening. You can't even truly like wrap your head around it.

[00:05:36] Carmen: I know, but this is like, like I don't, but it's like, this is what happened yesterday. And I was like, am I am?

[00:05:47] Andrea: No,

[00:05:48] Carmen: I know. I mean, it's like,

[00:05:50] Andrea: everyone's.

[00:05:51] Carmen: I know, I know. But that, but see, like, like that is the actual point is, and I can't express this enough. White people think that we are treated equally, like white people think I'm sick of racism, I'm sick.

[00:06:07] We're we're not. We're not post racism. We haven't been Just 'cause you voted in a black president and then constrained him in every way possible. It was like a. Fucking fluke that you voted him in, right? And then everyone and their mother tried to stop him from being reelected. And it's because we have the ability to be nonsensical that we did Reelect a good man, not a black man, a good man to be president.

[00:06:38] And that doesn't make us post like we're not done with racism. Clearly we're not done. And I, the reason why I wanna I keep tearing up is 'cause I'm like, how, how do they not see this? How, how can you not clearly see what's happening? It's right in front of your face. And, and here's the thing too. You know what?

[00:07:03] Okay, let's, let's, let's just say we are post, let's say we live in the fucking la la land that you think we live in. They're cheating. If, if Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, he's just the latest one. 'cause what just happened in Florida this morning, but all of them, right? The Texas guy, what's his fucking name?

[00:07:24] I can't stand him either. Abbott, uh, all of these people, if. If we lived in the world that you believe in, that we're all equal and that I have the same rights as Andrea does and, and we're all equal, then why would you need to cheat? Why would you have to gerrymander? Why would you have to do any of this be we're all

[00:07:45] Andrea: actually believe that they know

[00:07:46] Carmen: know.

[00:07:47] Andrea: true. It's so.

[00:07:49] Carmen: I know that the leaders don't believe that, but white people who are watching our show are gonna be like racism. It's like, because that's, that's what's happening.

[00:07:59] Andrea: Um, yep,

[00:08:02] Carmen: I really don't think Ron DeSantis is watching our show. Andrea, he knows exactly what he's doing. I mean, I hope he is, but I don't think, like, that's not who we're talking to. We're talking to regular white folk who keep supporting this motherfucker and don't see exactly what's happening. 'cause they think racism doesn't exist.

[00:08:26] Andrea: I got nothing girl. I got nothing. I got nothing. Good. We'll put it that way.

[00:08:30] Carmen: Eddie Gilad said, uh, racism still occupies the throne of this country. I was fucking bawling. I thought that was like such a profound, I mean, everyone thinks that's such a profound statement. Um. Other things that they would say to black folks specifically, but all people who were not white before they passed.

[00:08:55] Um, yeah, it was Lyndon b Johnson. The Voting Rights Act is they would say you have to pay money just to register. So they would tell black folk, they'd have to register. They'd tell them it was the wrong day. Uh, they were threatened and scared away. That was the other thing, like, you can't, you can't scare people and tell people they can't vote like that.

[00:09:14] So. So what the law actually did, it stopped unfair tests. It let the federal government step in to protect voters in places with a history of discrimination. It made sure that new voting rules in those places had to be checked first, so they couldn't sneak in new unfair tricks. Right? So it was a kind of like a checks and balances so that we were all being treated equally.

[00:09:40] I don't know what happens next. I know that there are, you know, people like Governor Hoel in New York who are trying to do some things to change, like, and like this is the, the slippery slope we're in now. You know, so like now she's gonna try to change the legislation so that we knock out all.

[00:10:00] Gerrymandering for red, red districts and like I, I don't wanna live in a country where everything is always blue Democrat. I mean, I do right now. I do right now.

[00:10:13] Andrea: let's be clear.

[00:10:15] Carmen: I would like to live in the world in the utopia where the United States has always pretended to motherfucking be where my vote matters as much as Andrea's.

[00:10:24] And we vote and we talk about the issues and we make a decision. And then that decision is what drives who we elect into office. But that's not what's happening.

[00:10:35] Andrea: Yeah, we're in like a gerrymander war. Yeah. I mean. I woke up this morning and I was like, I don't know really what I even have to say about it. I'm just, it's devastating and depressing and demoralizing and which, you know, that's what they want, right? Um, but I don't know how to not feel that way about it.

[00:10:59] Carmen: I was thinking about John Lewis, Congressman John Lewis, who passed away, of course and I was like, he warned us of this. He warned us that they would do this. And what's really interesting, and I say this, with all the disrespect I can possibly muster, if I was sitting in front of Donald Trump and said, can you tell me what the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was?

[00:11:24] He wouldn't be able to tell you. I, I, I fucking would bet everything on the planet. He would not be able to tell you. And yet he was out there tweeting about it this morning because all he knows is, I can keep power. I can keep power. I mean, did, did you see that he wants to put his face on the passports?

[00:11:46] And I know, I know. Like,

[00:11:49] Andrea: I did, I

[00:11:51] Carmen: how do you not see the king?

[00:11:54] Andrea: Did you see the picture also? Like,

[00:11:57] Carmen: fucking nasty. Yeah.

[00:11:59] Andrea: Yeah. It just, he's just so fucking insecure. You know what I mean? Like I gotta have my scowling ass face and name on everything.

[00:12:10] Carmen: How do people not see what he's doing? It's so clear.

[00:12:14] Andrea: I dunno. I dunno.

[00:12:17] Carmen: I don't know either. It's so clear to me.

[00:12:19] Andrea: like. Completely. They're on another planet. Another, like I, I, I, I don't, I don't understand it in any way. I really don't like how your

[00:12:30] Carmen: I.

[00:12:30] Andrea: gets to that place.

[00:12:31] Carmen: I kind of feel bad in a lot of ways, um, because it's so glaringly the downfall of the United States, like you're watching it happen in real time. And the weird thing is, is that the United States has been a facade for so long. So the crumbling of it is quite extraordinary 'cause it was a facade to begin with.

[00:12:59] I'm not saying the intentions right. The absolute intentions seem to be at least somewhat. Um, is that your pooch? Is that your doggie?

[00:13:07] Andrea: no, no. It's

[00:13:09] Carmen: Oh, but who's I hear barking. Is that on

[00:13:11] Andrea: my neighbor's dog.

[00:13:13] Carmen: Wow, that's super loud. That's okay. 'cause we'll just leave it in. You know what I mean? 

[00:13:16] Like with that it's like, um. I just think it's quite extraordinary, you know what I mean? Like I'm just kind of sad about where we're at and the facade of the United States that I fully believed in, fully believed it, look, hook, line, and sinker. I mean, I knew we had problems, but most people believed in the possibilities of what the United States could be, and it's just weird to watch it crumbling right in front of us.

[00:13:42] And what is with the Supreme Court, I don't even get it.

[00:13:47] Andrea: Well, they're, you know, bought and paid for in many ways. Right. You know, they're doing exactly what they were put there to do. Protect Donald Trump.

[00:14:00] Carmen: Okay. All right. So I'm gonna ask the the obvious question. Why? What is it about Donald Trump? Donald Trump is such a loser. Like, could they not have picked someone else?

[00:14:11] Andrea: dollar question. Like what is it about this mofo

[00:14:15] Carmen: Yeah.

[00:14:15] Andrea: that people are so beholden other than he's just like, he's got a, a, you know, the platform and he is not afraid to send people to your house and threaten you. I remember just a few months ago, Roberts was like, it's really dangerous to, you know, call us out.

[00:14:34] Carmen: Right, right.

[00:14:36] Andrea: you know what I mean? Um, I, I don't know. I don't, why are people, every time someone stands up to him, he backs down. Like it ain't that hard.

[00:14:45] Carmen: I know I,

[00:14:47] Andrea: bizarre.

[00:14:49] Carmen: but I guess if you are a white man in office and you are afraid of losing power, you would align yourself with another loser to keep fake power. I'm trying to understand the logic behind why I, and I know, I know I'm not gonna figure it out, but. Like I keep giving people the pass that you don't wanna give.

[00:15:14] Like a lot of people will hood winked, right? The reality show that he did. And people like this idea of money or whatever. And so regular common folk, I will give I, I don't know how you did it twice, but I still give you a pass. I'm confused by the actual intellectual people who went to college, who know better, who have been in office, who understand shit, and they are just treating.

[00:15:39] I mean, like, okay. All right. Let's talk about like someone like Pete Hegseth. How would you confirm or allow Pete Hegseth to be defense secretary? Like, I don't even, I don't, you know what I'm saying, right. Like,

[00:15:54] Andrea: I hundred percent know. It's like shocking. I, I don't understand it either, other than just like, they want that proximity to power and they wanna get theirs. Like I, that's the only

[00:16:07] Carmen: power.

[00:16:08] Andrea: I know, I know it is, but it kind of also isn't right now.

[00:16:13] Carmen: You're

[00:16:14] Andrea: You know what I mean?

[00:16:16] Carmen: so, so I should probably tell people, like when I talk about fake power, I'm talking about power that isn't earned. Power. That is brute force power. Power. That is like, to me, that's not real power. Power that is about money, right? I have a lot of money, so I'm gonna have power over you. Like bosses.

[00:16:33] A, a lot of bosses who are not good bosses tend to have a lot of fake power 'cause they know that you are going to, um, need them because you have to pay your rent and buy groceries. That's, that's not it's power, but it's not real power. When I talk about real power, I talk about. Respect, like when you have an like, I will follow you anywhere because I respect you.

[00:16:59] You know

[00:16:59] Andrea: Integrity, morals, integrity, morals, those kinds of things. I don't think they give it clearly. They don't care about that shit. And they do have power. They have enough power to fill their wallets right now, for sure.

[00:17:14] Carmen: For sure,

[00:17:15] Andrea: So maybe that's all they care about.

[00:17:18] Carmen: And, and, and look it. I live in an idealistic world in my head. Clearly, I want to believe that we care more about integrity and honor and authenticity, and that we care about each other more. But isn't that what we said about the United States? I mean, I think that's what the facade is, is that the United States is this place where we welcome, you know, the people that are, what is it that it says at the bottom of the Statue of Liberty, right?

[00:17:44] We.

[00:17:46] Andrea: oh, now I can't remember. I'm like

[00:17:48] Carmen: remember either, but I'll write it at the bottom. But you know, we, we have this idea that we care so much, but it's all a lie. We don't

[00:17:57] Andrea: I mean, it was a house of cards, right? And it's like, we are crumbling. I've read, so like year, a couple years ago I, someone wrote on like social media, I'd like to live in some unprecedented times, right? Like, I'm tired of everything being unprecedented, you know, like we're living through this like massive change and upheaval in this really sped up real time.

[00:18:25] and it's really disorienting and. Just devastating because it, like where is the good, I mean you have to, you can find it here and there in like individual people or stories or something like that. But like I did a quick scroll this morning and I was like, I cannot, I can't, it's Justing sucks.

[00:18:48] Carmen: Everything does suck, and it's kind of like, I mean. This morning on Facebook, I was posting something and then I unposted it. 'cause I was like, I need to be off of here for a minute. But somebody was saying something bad about Mayor Ani in New York and he's actually the only good thing happening right now.

[00:19:12] Like, and, and, and it was somebody who I've known for a long time and I'm like, you know what? I'm just, I'm so blocking. I can't deal with it anymore. Like of all the people that you want to be upset about right now, he's not one of them. He is doing everything he said he was going to do, and what he's doing is caring about the people that he represents.

[00:19:36] Andrea: Doing it with some joy and a smile on his face.

[00:19:39] Carmen: He's a and and they were like blaming him somehow for gas prices. I'm like, like, and that's what I mean, like the disconnect. You don't even know what you're talking about. And you are posting on Facebook, angry at the mayor about gas prices and how people who work for the state of New York should be able to work from home.

[00:20:00] That was his argument. I'm like. You don't even know how gas prices work and who to blame. Like, oh my God,

[00:20:09] Andrea: I'm pretty sure he also doesn't control where the people of the state work.

[00:20:13] Carmen: exactly. Is the mayor. Yeah. So this is my point. I was like, you know what, I am done. Like if you are stupid, I'm blocking you. That's how it's gonna go. And I am

[00:20:23] Andrea: A very tight circle, Carmen.

[00:20:26] Carmen: I know it's gonna be like five people. No, just kidding. But it, and here's the thing, it's not about that. You don't know what you don't know, but you know what you don't know. You gotta start. I need people to be more fucking humble. I do humble. Be like, you know what I, I think, I think I know, but maybe, let me double check. Lemme do such hard work as to Google.

[00:20:54] Andrea: You literally have all of the information that's existed in the history of the world in your hand. You don't even need to go to an Exci encyclopedia or go

[00:21:05] Carmen: a

[00:21:05] Andrea: it up. Yeah.

[00:21:07] Carmen: fucking library

[00:21:08] Andrea: Although you should. You should go to a library.

[00:21:12] Carmen: All right. Can we talk about the billionaires? I'm just, let me, uh, because I just wanna say this and then you could talk about California. 'cause I did not watch the governor's race. I, okay. Wait, wait. Let me back up. Let me finish what we were just talking about.

[00:21:25] I, I wanna say something. It doesn't matter how they gerrymander anything. If everyone votes blue and Democratic, we can fix this problem. Seriously. What I really don't want to happen, Andrea. I mean, I know why Governor Hoel and governors are getting together to try to figure this shit out. I don't, I know that's what they're gonna do.

[00:21:47] I know what they're gonna do, but I, as, as a person who actually still loves this fucking country, and I don't know why, I don't want us to keep doing this. Tit for tat cheating shit.

[00:21:59] Andrea: I

[00:21:59] Carmen: But we need to get Republicans out of fucking

[00:22:02] Andrea: yeah, we talked about this when we had our vote here in California. Like we had an independent commission to draw the lines and it was working.

[00:22:11] Carmen: Yep.

[00:22:12] Andrea: And it was re, we believed in it. You know, I'm as radical left as they come, and I was like, yes, independent commission to draw the lines. That's the fair way to do it.

[00:22:23] It was devastating, truly devastating to me to actually vote against that.

[00:22:29] Carmen: Right, and we did it because Governor Abbott listen to Trump. When Trump called him and said, change, just gerrymander all of it so I can get extra seats because basically I want to cheat so I can make sure I win and don't go to fucking prison. That's exactly what he was saying.

[00:22:46] Andrea: I don't wanna go to jail. Cheat on my behalf.

[00:22:50] Carmen: Cheat on my behalf. And Governor Abbott didn't say, let me ask the people, Donald, let me see what the people think. No, he just said, yes, I'll do it. And he did it himself. Happily did it. Fucking piece of shit. I don't wanna hear nobody send me nothing about swearing. We we're what, 30 episodes in?

[00:23:11] Andrea: Are people still whining about that?

[00:23:12] Carmen: Oh my God, whatever. I don't even, I, you know, whatever. It's fine. I don't give a shit, but, okay, so, so, so go ahead. I apologize. I just wanna make sure they knew this started because ofdumb ass Texas. But go ahead.

[00:23:24] Andrea: what was I going ahead on?

[00:23:26] Carmen: Uh, we were just talking, oh, I was saying billionaires California. And then you started

[00:23:31] Andrea: about the billionaire billionaires, and I was like, okay, what are we talking about?

[00:23:34] Carmen: So here's my thing. Oh, oh. And then I went off on a tangent and said things, okay, I'm sorry. I said that people need to just vote blue. Just, it doesn't matter. Just vote democratic for this. This one time we just, I mean forever, but this one time for sure to get these people outta office, okay? No matter what they do at all the lines, just fucking vote blue.

[00:23:54] Even if you hate the person, vote blue. Okay, so. I was saying, I think it needs to de be a disqualification now to be a billionaire. Like if you're a billionaire, you are bad. If you are a billionaire, you are worthless piece of shit. Here's my theory and then this is why I'm gonna talk about my feelings about Tom Sawyer and any billionaire, and I'm including all of you.

[00:24:19] Andrea: Tom Steyer,

[00:24:20] Carmen: What, what did I call him?

[00:24:22] Andrea: Tom Sawyer.

[00:24:31] Carmen: All white people. No, I'm just kidding. Like, no, no. Oh, that's terrible. Tom Sawyer, isn't that from a character? From a book Shit, I'm sorry. How come Mary Finn? Right.

[00:24:42] Andrea: What? Yeah. Yeah.

[00:24:44] Carmen: Huckleberry, sorry. Sorry. That's actually funny. On layers and layers upon shit. But anyways, sorry about that. No offense to Huckleberry Finn, although I'm sure most people have not read that either.

[00:24:59] I have. Okay, so here's my thing about billionaires, and I'm talking about the Oprahs, the Mark Cubans, all of you, Beyonce, and I don't care. There is no reason to be a billionaire when there are people who are homeless. There are people who don't have childcare. There are people who don't make enough money to make ends meet.

[00:25:18] There are people who are suffering all over, not just all over the world, but in the country that you have basically stolen and to, you cannot be a billionaire without having manipulated and done some negative bad shit to become a, a billionaire. I'm sorry. I'm done. Now that I'm understanding tax law in a very different way, because I have my own business and I have an LLC and I just got screwed royally because I tried to do the same thing billionaires do.

[00:25:50] Now I get it. I, and I didn't really do it, my tax person did. Right? So it's like try to make sure you not hide your assets, but you write off as much as possible. So you don't have to pay as much taxes, but when a small little company like me that makes like $200,000 a year or something, does it, I get screwed for it.

[00:26:11] But billionaires do it all the time. So we will get audited, we will get you'll, you'll get denied credit, you'll get denied all this stuff because regular people doing the same thing. Don't get the same advantages unless you are a billionaire and you can pay someone to hide it. So I, I'm done. It's not that I wanna be a billionaire, I'm just saying I get it on a whole other level because billionaires should be ashamed of themselves.

[00:26:41] Like, unless you are, what's that woman's name, Bezos wife, whatever her name is.

[00:26:46] Andrea: Mackenzie Scott,

[00:26:48] Carmen: Yes. Mackenzie Scott, unless you're every day giving away your money, is she still making more money as she does

[00:26:54] Andrea: she literally cannot give it away fast enough. It continues to grow.

[00:26:59] Carmen: I wish she would give it over here. Hello.

[00:27:01] Andrea: I, I can, I can take some of it off your hands if you're having some issues, girl.

[00:27:06] Carmen: I know, but they, but again, she's only giving and I, you know what? I shouldn't say that. Well, I'm not gonna diss her. I'm not gonna dis her 'cause she doing good.

[00:27:13] Andrea: Mm-hmm.

[00:27:14] Carmen: Too many people give money away only to other nonprofits. And that's the other problem. You know what I mean? Like just, you have so much you'll never suffer.

[00:27:23] Just give it to people. Anyway, that's my take on it and I don't wanna, Hmm, here's the other thing I don't want to hear. Don't tell me they earned it. Shut the fuck up. Because again, you don't understand how it works. In a simple way. They don't actually have cash. It is not cash. They don't get a salary.

[00:27:48] Andrea: I agree, girl. I agree. I agree a hundred percent. And I, they, you know, I mean, look, most of these people, I would think they could probably drive 10, 20 minutes away from one of their, many, many, many homes, um, that are tax shelters, by the way.

[00:28:05] Um, and see absolute, utter devastation. Right in their own cities, people who they could, they could walk by these people and hand them a hundred thousand dollars in cash and it would be like me dropping a quarter and not even look, I mean like, oh, I don't have time to pick it up.

[00:28:24] I mean, I would pick that up, but, but I'm just saying like, that's the idea that like, They somehow earned it and deserved to have it. When you have all of these horrific situations, all of the things you mentioned, people who can't afford their medication, you know, can't afford healthcare even to get the medication.

[00:28:50] I mean, like there's just so people, as you said, like living on the streets. I mean, there are so many just regular people. Let's forget about just regular people in, you know, places who just need a little bit of a hand up and these people are hoarding it, hoarding it.

[00:29:10] Carmen: they're hoarding it and I think what's worse is that people, regular people see that as some something you want to become and, and the truth is. This country is based on capitalism, so it makes complete sense to me that everybody thinks money is the be all, end all, and I'm gonna say it till I'm blue in the face.

[00:29:30] I have worked for way too many rich people to tell you. It does not make you happier. It does make you crazier. It does make you have different problems, but it does not make you happier and. I am beside myself with the idea that people have so much money and are worth so much money, and then you find out what their actual finances are and you realize they, they actually don't have the cash.

[00:29:57] You know what, let me, lemme put it in simple terms. In simple terms, the way in which I understand it. I own. Let's say I was gifted a property, right? Let's say my mom bought her house and then she died and it was left to me. So I have this house and then I turn around and I tell the bank, I have this house.

[00:30:20] Can you give me a loan for $300,000? And they say. Sure Carmen, we're gonna give you $300,000 against the collateral that is that house. And then I take that $300,000 and I turn around and I use it to invest in something else. And then when I have that something else, let's say it's a, a, a, I don't know, a boat.

[00:30:41] Let's just make it different. I buy a boat, then I turn around and I tell the bank, Hey Bank, I now have a boat. Can you now give me another loan for $500,000? Right, Sue? I'm not making any money actually doing anything. I'm just taking collateral, which I was gifted, borrowing against it, buying something else and then borrowing against that.

[00:31:08] That is the simplest way I can explain something like Elon Musk, like that is how it happens. So when people tell you that they have property or they own things or whatever. And that I, you know, no, I, I, I, I made it on my own. Yeah. You made it because you kept borrowing against gifts that were given to you.

[00:31:29] Does that make any sense?

[00:31:31] Andrea: Well. Definitely, and it, I think an important thing to note is because they are not making any money, that's not income. There's no taxes on the 300,000, the 500,000. You are getting that to use to fund your life, to buy your next investment, whatever, and you're, there's no taxes on any of that, but you are not

[00:31:54] Carmen: on any of

[00:31:54] Andrea: giving back to the system that supports you.

[00:31:59] Carmen: Right. So, so that's how it works. You don't have a salary. You don't have a salary, you're not getting taxed anything, and you're just reinvesting over and over and over again and it doesn't. That sound good? I'm, I'm reinvesting, I'm reinve. No, you're just buying more and more stuff. And so that's the, look it, that's the simple version, but that is kind of the basis of how this is working right now.

[00:32:24] Andrea: Well, and what, what happens there is that, you know, ultimately you're not participating in the society in which you live in any significant way. Right. You're not contributing to it. You know, that's a whole other like. The big thing is like try to, you know, among Democrats, like, we're gonna reduce taxes.

[00:32:42] Like, um, we actually fucking need some taxes. I hate paying taxes as much as the next person, but like, we have to actually fund our society. Right,

[00:32:51] Carmen: So the people that are funding the society though, are not the person that I just talked about because they don't have a salary.

[00:32:57] Andrea: right, right,

[00:32:58] Carmen: Right, so it's me and Andrea and you, right? We're the ones with our little, you know, $30 an hour, you know, getting only $23 an hour, because $7 of that hourly thing is going to federal and state taxes.

[00:33:12] But somebody like Trump or somebody like I, I can't even say Trump's name, but what's the Tesla guy? I forget it. Elon Musk or whoever. Mark Cuban. It doesn't matter who it is. All of them are not paying their fair share because they're not getting a salary.

[00:33:30] Andrea: And I think, you know, look, there's a lot of people who are like, well, hey, that's smart. They're not paying any taxes. You know, like that's, we should. And it's like, do you understand how like. That you can't, okay, then this is what we end up with, right? A non-functioning society. This we are at the end game of what this looks like, where you have 15 people, let's say maybe a little bit more, maybe a little bit less, I don't know, who have literally like taken money out of the pockets, out of the bank accounts of millions of people.

[00:34:08] If you are hurting right now financially. Look up. It's fucking them. It's their fault. It's true. It's a hundred percent true. And as I said, they're not participating in society in the same way that all of the rest of us are. And they're completely isolated in other ways. They, they, they are not living in a reality that the rest of us are.

[00:34:30] They literally don't even understand the problems we have.

[00:34:34] Carmen: Right. Well, let's slide into talking about, uh, I just watched. What's her name? Ms. Porter. What's her name? Katie Porter. She was on some interview or whatever. I did not see the governor's, debate. I know you had texted me.and

[00:34:50] Andrea: I don't ever wanna watch another debate without you, by the way. I'm just saying.

[00:34:54] Carmen: I'm sorry I didn't even, you know what I was, I was, I'm sorry. I was, I was,

[00:34:58] Andrea: I was watching it with my kids and you know, I was doing what we do, what I do, right. And my, you know, I was going, you know, running the gamut from like, why is his neck yellow? The lady, the makeup artist did him dirty. That's fucking Reagan falls, you know? I mean, I'm doing back and forth and my daughter's like, are you gonna do this the whole time?

[00:35:18] I was like, yes, I

[00:35:20] Carmen: don't get it. They don't get it. Okay. Wait. We should tell people. Usually when we watch debates, we usually text each other during the debates. We make fun of everything and everything, like what they're wearing, what they look like, whatever. And that, and in between there we talk about their answers,

[00:35:37] Andrea: your substantive commentary in there as well.

[00:35:40] Carmen: Yeah. But it's very funny because we're very petty. Um, but I first of all didn't even know about it. And secondly, I was, um, otherwise occupied is all I'll say. Like, yeah, sorry. Uh, I'll tell later what I was doing, um, but I. so I, I, I didn't watch the debate and I'm kind of glad I didn't, but I watched her today and I know, I know she's probably one of the people we're gonna vote for, but she gave an example that I didn't like, and this is what I mean.

[00:36:09] You have to stop doing this. She was saying, I mean, or, or maybe not, maybe it's just me. She, they, they asked her what is the difference between her and Tom, whatever his last name is, 'cause I'm gonna say the wrong

[00:36:21] Andrea: Soyer.

[00:36:22] Carmen: What is it? Steyer, right. Tom Steyer, uh, because he is a billionaire and she talked about how, like how she goes to the grocery store and she still has three kids who are teenagers and listen.

[00:36:36] I, I don't want you to be like me. I want you to be smarter than me. I don't wanna know that you, like, I get it. I get it that people are out of touch and Tom, whatever his name is, doesn't go to the grocery store. That doesn't, that does not equate to. You are gonna be a better governor. That's not gonna be the answer.

[00:36:56] So, so to me, that bothered me a bit. Okay. Um, I do think billionaires need to just, just, just go live your fucking lives. You need to not be in office anymore. And we should not be voting for any more people who are billionaires. I'm sorry. Enough we're done. Or fake billionaires. 'cause Trump wasn't a billionaire till he got into office, by the way.

[00:37:15] Just to clear that up. Okay. But what's your take on the debate and how do you feel about Katie Porter and. Tom, whatever, and all these people,

[00:37:24] Andrea: the debate was an absolute shit show. I will say that. Um,

[00:37:28] Carmen: we're talking about the California governor's

[00:37:30] Andrea: the governor's debate, the last one that was on Monday. Um, you know, a lot of people, uh, self included, where like the moderators were absolute crap. And that's true.

[00:37:40] Carmen: Really? Wow. Okay.

[00:37:42] Andrea: It was so bad. It was so, so bad. There was, I made that joke in the beginning, like there was one woman they did, they switched to Monterey.

[00:37:49] They did it like in thirds, 30 minutes. 30 minutes, 30 minutes. So it was like 90 fucking minutes long. Um, and so the second lady was just so condescending and just kept talking and talking and talking and then kept telling people, I will cut your mic. I will. I was like, somebody needs to cut this bitch's mic.

[00:38:04] Like, shut the fuck up. You, you're not running. Shut the fuck up.

[00:38:09] Carmen: Okay. Wow.

[00:38:11] Andrea: Um, anyway, so, but there was, they, they had like eight people, so you had some of the like, lower polling folks,

[00:38:19] Carmen: That's a waste of

[00:38:20] Andrea: it was a waste of time, but it was interesting. I'll just say that. Um, I can't say it moved me in any direction. Um, I don't know who, I truly don't know who I'm to vote for.

[00:38:34] Like I, here's what I will do. I will vote for one of the top two Democrats.

[00:38:38] Carmen: Right.

[00:38:39] Andrea: That's who I will vote for. Um,

[00:38:42] Carmen: That's sad.

[00:38:43] Andrea: is sad. It is sad. And I was, you know, I think I wrote to you like, number one, truly, like, I think it's an absolute tragedy that there was only one woman on that stage. I, I just have a hard time believing that we don't have any more qualified women.

[00:38:56] But, um, whatever. Um, he, my, one of my biggest takeaways is, um, the sheriff, I can't remember his name. The super racist guy. Um. super, I am excited, I guess, is, I am fascinated to see what percentage he ends up with because he, he is a lock for the racist vote. So I wanna see like, all right, well how many of these people are walking amongst us?

[00:39:26] Like, how many people are gonna vote for this mofo? Uh, 'cause that motherfucker's crazy. Um. I don't know that I have another take. I mean, it was, it was a lot of like, you know, men being petty and complaining and whining about their time. I was like, okay, if you have limited time, then say something like, we are in a dire situation here.

[00:39:48] Say something valuable. Don't whine about your fucking time. So I, you know, I don't know. I, it, it was, it didn't move the needle for me in any way. Let's put it that way.

[00:39:56] Carmen: I'm, I'm so sad because. You know, I guess we're gonna really appreciate Governor Newsom, like we've always said, he was our pain in the ass or whatever we would say, you know, but he was such a good governor. He is a good governor. And, um, and I, you know, I, I thought about this the other day. I wish, uh, you know, Kamala Harris had decided to run for governor 'cause it would.

[00:40:18] Would've been really easy. But in the same respects, I understand why she didn't. Um, and she has the right to do whatever she needs to do, but I feel like California is such a huge, big deal, um, of a state, and we are, it, it just feels like all of these people are not worthy and, uh, that's sad for me to say.

[00:40:39] Andrea: Okay. You wanna talk about, have you gotten your voter's guide with

[00:40:43] Carmen: Not yet. It's at, it's my, at my PO box.

[00:40:47] Andrea: okay, so. We get a voter's guide for all, you know, before every election. This one just contains the information on all of the people running. Okay, there you are. I don't know off the top of my head. 30 40 people running for governor.

[00:41:03] Carmen: I did not know that.

[00:41:04] Andrea: two rows of people, and then there's a whole other host of, you know, I don't know, 2030, who are running for Lieutenant Governor and Board of Equalization and all that.

[00:41:12] Carmen: and whatever. Yeah.

[00:41:14] Andrea: it's just the top. It's not. Anyway, so. Inside this booklet, they all, not all of them, many of them, some of them have candidate statements. Okay. I sat down the other day and I read through all of the candidate statements, and let me tell you, uh, my number one takeaway is we need. To raise the motherfucking bar, like literally and figuratively.

[00:41:41] I looked up, I was like, okay, how do you qualify to get on the ballot for the governor in California? And number one, that information was not particularly easy to find. And number two, I'm not even sure what I found was accurate because it said something like, you need 40 to 60 signatures. And I was like,

[00:41:58] Carmen: What?

[00:41:59] Andrea: yeah, what?

[00:42:00] And then you pay like $1,700.

[00:42:02] Carmen: Right.

[00:42:03] Andrea: So like. We've got to raise the bar. I'm sorry, because not, not even just the people who are up ahead, but like we cannot have 40 people. One guy's candidate statement was a full on antisemitic rant. It was so bad and that they had to print and send out to people. It was so bad that it had a disclaimer from the Secretary of State.

[00:42:27] That's how bad it was. What the fuck?

[00:42:35] Carmen: I say this respectfully, that's why you have someone like Donald Trump, who's president. Because the bar is so low everywhere, like the education, that's why, you know, live streamers and, podcast bros and people who don't know what they're talking about, everybody's an expert on everything, but they have nothing to back it up.

[00:42:55] I mean, our education system, I mean, I, I hate to go all the way there, but the United States is so pathetic on so many levels. Education being one of them, you know, so. That's why like there's the, there's a part of me that's like, yes, the people, anyone could become president of the United States or, and, and I'm like, you know what?

[00:43:18] Andrea: No, it.

[00:43:22] Carmen: It should be harder. want, right. I want the governor to be smarter than me. I want, I want the President of the United States to be, and I know he ain't. You know what I mean? Like I just, I want people who know what they're doing. I want people that I revere who are like. You know, and say what you want about Governor Newsom.

[00:43:43] He knows what he's doing. You know what I mean? And everyone can be mad at him or whatever, but no one said he didn't know what he was doing. They just hated that sometimes he was

[00:43:50] Andrea: They didn't like what he was

[00:43:51] Carmen: doing. Right, right. But he knew what he was doing. And I think that's what it is too.

[00:43:55] Like I don't want any more dumb people in office.

[00:43:58] Andrea: Oh yeah. I've only,

[00:44:00] Carmen: Remember we used to make fun of Dan Quail. I know.

[00:44:04] Andrea: he is fucking Einstein compared to these people.

[00:44:07] Carmen: Fucking Einstein. But we used to make fun of him 'cause he couldn't smell potato or tomato or something, you know? He made a mistake. But it was big. It was huge. It was a huge mistake. And then like that followed him forever.

[00:44:19] And now I'm like, oh my God, I'd give anything for him to be in office.

[00:44:23] Andrea: Right. Sadly. Is he

[00:44:27] Carmen: All right. Well I don't know. So you didn't help me with the governor's, right? I thought you were just gonna tell me

[00:44:31] Andrea: I don't know. I don't, I don't have a person.

[00:44:34] Carmen: All right. Well, I guess that's kind of sorta of it. I don't know. I think we've covered everything. Oh, let's just, just a few minutes on this. Um, I, I don't know what's going on with Ms.

[00:44:46] Melania, uh, but

[00:44:49] Andrea: Nothing good.

[00:44:51] Carmen: why is she speaking at all?

[00:44:55] Andrea: Why is she speaking?

[00:44:57] Carmen: But Andrea, she came out with this whole thing about trying to get Jimmy Kimmel off the air. 

[00:45:04] I have no idea. But, and then of course, Jim, James Comey has been indicted again because he wrote with seashells, um, 86 47.

[00:45:15] Seriously. Like, you saw that, right? You saw that. Um.

[00:45:19] Andrea: Yeah.

[00:45:21] Carmen: Is the level we're at, and it's because Donald Trump is so pathetic.

[00:45:25] Andrea: Uh, and dumb. He has to make everyone else dumb around him. That's kind, that's what I feel like is like we're all just dumbing it down.

[00:45:35] Carmen: No other president would ever bother, and no other first lady. They would just never even like, that's what makes Donald Trump so small is all the pathetic things that he tries to. Put himself, like he tries to force people to love him. I'm gonna put my face on everything. I'm gonna put my name on everything, whatever.

[00:45:59] And it's like, if people love you, they will do that on their own. You know what I mean? Like,

[00:46:04] Andrea: Right.

[00:46:06] Carmen: like, we'll be like, oh my God, we should put his name on something. 'cause we love him so much. We don't, we don't love you. So he is forcing it.

[00:46:14] Andrea: There will be literal dance parties with champagne flowing through the streets when it finally happens.

[00:46:22] Carmen: When, when he leaves office? Is that what you're talking about? Because we, we would never do something like Comey and say 86 47, although I think that's gonna be the name of this episode, because I swear to God it might be perfect. I don't know, but. All. Well look it. I thank you for letting me vent. I appreciate it.

[00:46:43] Um, I, I don't know what we're gonna do, but we're going to fight. We're going to fight this, and I really am gonna keep telling people, you need to vote blue if you wanna save the United States. Seriously, I don't even think I'm being dramatic. You need to vote Democrat. Completely, fully, no matter what they do with redistricting.

[00:47:03] If you are really not racist and you really think that I have the same rights as Andrea does and I have the same say as anyone else who is white, then you are going to vote blue because you are going to see exactly what's happening in our country in this moment in time. It really is that simple.

[00:47:25] Andrea: It really is.

[00:47:26] Carmen: Yeah.

[00:47:27] Remember at the end of the day, it really is all about the joy. Thank you everyone. Bye.