Pattie Gonia vs Patagonia and Gerrymandering (Keith Edwards Full Interview)

Keith Edwards joins Vibes Only for the full interview on the Pattie Gonia vs Patagonia trademark fight, Trump's health, and the gerrymandering battle splitting the left.

Our most frequent guest is back! Political strategist, commentator, and one of the fastest growing voices in the space, Keith Edwards sat down with Brian Derrick and Glennis Meagher for the complete, unedited conversation. A slice of this aired in yesterday's episode. This is the whole thing.

Keith opens on the question hanging over everything: is authoritarianism actually happening, or is the Democratic position quietly the strongest it has been in a decade? Then he gets into his running watch on the president's health, the bruises, the theories, and the stretch where Trump went six days without being seen in public.

From there, everyone wades into the fight that took over Threads. Pattie Gonia versus Patagonia. Keith walks through why this is really a trademark case and not the simple corporate villain story the internet wants it to be, how a legal dispute ended up getting argued through Instagram posts, and whether Pattie Gonia took a genuinely good cause a step too far.

That is where the real disagreement starts. Brian and Keith do not see gerrymandering the same way. Keith's whole thing is that you become what you are fighting, and Brian makes the case for caring about the outcome over the method and getting to a federal ban by 2029. Along the way they hit the podcast grift economy, why the parties keep getting more extreme, why Keith thinks most voters do not actually care about AI, the Graham Platner situation and the Maine Senate race against Susan Collins, and a closing round on knowing when it is time to step aside.

Consider this your weekly pause from doomscrolling and consultant speak. Just solid vibes and receipts.

Also: Keith is bringing red hats back - his makes an appearance, the girls are fighting (lovingly), and Keith reminds everyone he is still waiting on a billionaire to come buy his channel. Stick around for the goodbyes.

New episodes of Vibes Only drop every week. If you like the show, the single biggest thing you can do is leave a rating and a review… it's free, it takes ten seconds, and it's how we get in front of more people who need a politics podcast that isn't going to make them want to move to the woods.

Vibes Only is a weekly political podcast hosted by Brian Derrick (Political Strategist and Founder of Oath) and Glennis Meagher (Political and New Media Strategist and Co-founder of Generator Collective), two political operatives turned creators breaking down the news of the week for you in terms of politics, elections, and culture. Consider us your weekly pause from doomscrolling and consultant-speak, just some solid vibes (and receipts) every Thursday morning.

Transcript

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Hey Brian. Hey Glennis, we have a special guest with us this week, our friend and internet provocateur, Keith Edwards. He's our our most frequented guest now for Keith Edwards, our friend, political strategist, internet commentator, and he has one of the fastest growing podcasts right now. I'm excited to get his take on a couple of things. He I think has a very different lane than either of us do And there's a lot of stuff that we just straight up disagree on. So we might have some sparks flying. The girls are fighting. Well sparks flying, flirting, or fighting? Okay. Fists fists flying, no sparks. Okay, Brian, let's get into it. There she is. Hi. Hey Keith. I like this red hat. Are you taking red hats back? It says gay. I don't know if you can see. It says gay somewhere. I think that you are our first three time guest. that's great. I'm excited about that. Hardcore friend of the pod. Yes. we're thrilled. Thank you, Keith. And I cornered you we asked you on only because I'm petty and you didn't respond to my text message. No, I know. And I'm also I'm also teasing. how are you? I'm good. I'm good. I'm really happy to be here. I love hanging out with you guys. But I'm good. I feel like things are good, right? Am I wrong? It feels like it feels like if authoritarianism was gonna happen, it would have happened by now. Right? Am I wrong? isn't it?...In some ways, kind of it it's it's happening. I think that the situation with Trump is as bad as ever, but I think that politically our position is stronger than it's been in a decade. Yeah. there's stories about how Trump is not sure JD Vance can take the mantle. And I'm like, guys, that's a big story because the insinuation there is that Trump is going to leave. You know? So like that's where I'm a little like, alright... okay. But then again I feel confident that the midterms are not going to canceled, that Trump is not going to run again for another term. before we get into news of the week stuff, you are a foremost expert on Donald Trump's ailments. You are like locked into that man's body. Every time there is a bruise, I'm like, I see it only from Keith you. account. Can you tell us how is Donald Trump's health doing these days? Well... as of the time of recording, we have not seen the president in person in six days. Isn't that weird? He did one pre-recorded interview with Fox. With his by the way, we don't talk about this enough. Lara, Lara, however you say her name, I refuse to learn these people's names because that they don't deserve the respect. But his daughter in law doing an interview for Fox, by the way, So ... been almost a week since he's we've seen him in person. Didn't he also just have that medical app like the third medical appointment in like six months? And they're like, he's healthy. Yeah. Right, right, his third annual. Yeah, it's it's very bizarre. I don't know, it's like something feels not right. you're right. what did Judge Judy say? if it doesn't make sense, it's a lie. It's like something like that. I'm paraphrasing Judge Judy. She says it better than me. But I think everyone knows there's something going on. There's something going on with the president's health. And we deserve to know what it I don't understand why the mainstream media is not. going harder on this because it's a big story. And I'm gonna be pissed off if Jake Tapper or Caitlin Collins or someone else comes out with a book in two years and it's like, what was really going on with the president's health? You know? out of my mouth when Jake Tapper's like, Well, we knew at that debate stage, like you knew you wanted to write a book and make money. You didn't do your job for the American people and report on what you were seeing with your own eyes. Did Biden go six days without being seen in public regularly? That sounds like it would have been huge news to me, but I don't remember. I don't remember either. But this happens at the beginning and end of the month. There's like a weird mo there's there's quite often moments where he it's always around this time where he disappears. And it's happened enough now that it's like there's something to it. Sorry, I'm a little like I'm a little like conspiracy pilled around this. that's what I'm fucking talking about. Keith Edwards is locked into this man. in. And like the bruising, they're like it's the handshake. It's like, okay, maybe. But then it now it shows up on the other hand. Come on. it's also like you have a you have a disorder if you're bruising that easily from a handshake and that that's it isn't that like the most mortifying thing for Donald Trump to be like other people are shaking my hand so strongly that I'm bruising from it when he's always trying to like strong arm people. Wait, so the implication being that it's probably from an IV, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. IVs and we don't know what for what it's treating, what they're looking for, and it's going on both hands now. follow Keith for all of the all of the medical updates. our go to sleuth. I digress. Glennis has obviously a pressing issue for you, Keith. press yeah, I do have a pressing issue I'm on the conference circuit so I actually haven't been as online as I typically am. and I got back online on Saturday and I saw that there was this new uh drama in our, you know, left universe, and you had commented on something and I said, okay, noted There is a lawsuit that is now public between a very established, respected organizer who has done tremendous work, Pattie Gonia a drag performer... She's been in the game for I think over a decade, has done really awesome work for climate activism. Versus Patagonia, the clothing, apparel, outdoor gear brand. Now, people have a lot of opinions on this. Keith, do you have any? Well, what's happened is that Pattie Gonia was selling or had merch that was ripping off Patagonia's logo. And so she's getting sued and I kind of feel like what's the harm, you know, in like a drag queen having a parody logo? that I don't even think she sold for money. I think it was just a mock up. So I don't know. She's getting sued to stop using to for s for copyright infringement. And so I what do you think it is? a drag queen. Like she's a very established company. Like she she makes money as her drag alter ego... And the issue here for me is that it's very clearly in like infringement of the the trademark. Anyone who has a trademark knows that when you file it, you file it for specific purpose. Patagonia had filed the trademark for like outdoor gear, merchandise, et cetera. So therefore Pattie Gonia cannot have that. I think she was trying to sell whether it be the t shirt or like a hydro flask, I think was like the claim in the trademark, you can't do that. I see some comparisons online which I think are good. It's like Trixie Mattel is not trying to sell toys and Trixie has Trixie trademarked or Britta Filter is not trying to sell water filters. And when you start doing that Then you have an issue. And the thing is it protects small businesses too. Like, yes, Patagonia is this like massive company, right? But I do kind of feel that Pattie Gonia like very good PR person, to make this announcement right before Pride Month, and then to have the online masses just totally aligned and coalesce behind her when you know, trademark law does protect small businesses. Like I could I could say, Brian, I'm gonna file a mark for oath. whatever your trademark is in. But if I if I say like, I'm gonna file a trademark for oath but they're gonna be tissues, then I could have it. You're not selling tissues. Yeah. There's like an oath that has a trademark now that's like a pizza brand that we obviously have no issue with because we're not selling pizza. But yes, I feel like the interesting thing here is the information war online because now we're seeing Patagonia release a statement through Instagram and then Patty Gonia will respond with a video and then Patagonia will like make an offer and then Patty- Patty Gonya reacts to it. And it's very interesting. I I don't know that I've ever seen what should uh essentially be a court battle play out literally through Instagram newsfeeds rather than through court filings. It's kind of bizarre. Yeah, and there's only like two outcomes here. Patty like drops the file for the trademark or she loses a lawsuit. So I just feel like No, she could just things she could do and she would be fine. But just not sell outdoor gear I think what's interesting too is a lot of this happened on threads. Like, I think a big part of this was thread. Yeah, threads is how I found out about it. when I originally was looking into it, I was on her side because the way she presented it made a lot of sense to me. And then I read Patagonia's version of things and I was like, uh it kind of feels like you have like you took advantage of the situation. You like took it too far. It sounds like they had like a ba they basically like an agreement that they were totally fine with it. Just don't do these certain things. And then she did. And so I'm a little like just I don't like it seems like they were trying to do the right thing. And if the way that they explained how copyright is like if you don't protect it with everyone, then it makes it hard to protect it when bad actors do it too, because the more parody there is out there, the harder it is for your copyright or trademark to be defended in court. Because they were like, Well, do you really own this? Is this really something you own? So I get that. I just think it's just I actually think it's just so boring. Who cares? there's so much going on. I think it's probably a net Good for both of them to be honest. and also like can we just say Patagonia? They didn't fucking come up with that name. That's like the name of a place. You know, it's like it's that too You know, that's where I'm a little like, come on guys. You know? filing to own I can't believe I'm like defending a corporation, but like they're not filing it to like say we own Patagonia. They just own the name as it relates to their services that they're providing. Like Arizona Ice T doesn't own Arizona. They just own Ice T with the name of Arizona. I hear you. my issue also to Brian's point to zoom out, I didn't realize it started on threads. That makes a lot of sense. A lot of sense. It's just like how the online like Greek choir is just saying all of these things and blindly trusting a person when there's actually law that exists that does protect them as citizens as well. It I think it was an interesting learning moment for like digital media writ large of just like everyone needs to get a grip and take a beat and like read a book or even like something about like how law works in the United States. And then let's move forward. It was giving like a little like MAGA mob energy to me a little bit. Well, I love when people trust creators without any thinking. That's that g that works for me. Yeah You're like when it's me, it's great. Yeah. I know, I know. Whatever, we have belabored the point. mean. Pattie Gonia has been in my DMs. I never responded though. I think she wanted a date. I was just like I don't I don't know. You know, I can't even respond to Glennis, Pattie know! okay, speaking of court cases, I wanna hear if your thoughts have changed at all around the gerrymandering battles, because I feel like you and I have Well, I will say... first off... for everyone everyone listening slash watching, I wasn't aware of this topic until five minutes before recording. I didn't come with any facts or knowledge. Okay. So I am coming into this fresh, no lube. Okay. So all right. I I don't want to debate! but I no. I will just say this. I'm gonna say this, and I really do mean this. You become the thing you are fighting if you try to use the tools the enemy does to win. And I don't think it's the right thing to do. I think that the main criticism of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party is that they're both the same. And when shit like this happens, I'm like, well, you're kind of right. what happened to persuading voters? Why can't we explain to voters... Hey, Republicans are trying to rig this. They don't even want your vote. They're trying to rig it. And we're not gonna do that. Instead, we're gonna try to ask you to vote for us because we do want to change this, but we also know that it's wrong. I that sounds persuasive to me. Maybe maybe I'm dumb. That sounds persuasive to me. I understand why they're doing it. But raw power... this like the like Lord of the Rings is about this. It's like or whatever. just seeking raw power doesn't ever work out in the favor for anyone. So no, I'm against it. A hundred percent. Okay. Yeah. I definitely understand your argument and I think that I was more in that lane before, but I've switched from a means focus to an outcome orientation I want a national ban. I want a national ban on gerrymandering and I'm not being picky about the means to get there. That's all. But how? How are we gonna get there? Because we can't even pass minimum wage legislation. ironically, and it as fucked up as it is, I think that passing a federal ban on gerrymandering is much easier than passing a national uh increase on minimum wage. The minimum wage is the federal minimum wage is seven dollars and twenty five cents. How what aware. But there's so much disagreement about what the change should be that it's actually hard to get consensus on the solution itself. Whereas a ban is a ban is a ban, and you can ever there is broad agreement in the Democratic Party about what the solution to gerrymandering looks like at the federal level. We've already introduced and come very, very, very, very close to passing that legislation many times. now we just need the Senate and White House and we can do it. So are you saying though the means to get there is to gerrymander enough seats so that we have the congressional power to create that legislation? The problematic path is if Democrats are able to flip both the Senate and White House by 2028 and hold majorities in both, but are unable to hold the House of Representatives because Republicans gerrymander every single black district out of their seat between now and 2028, so that we literally cannot get to a majority. without winning, as Keith is saying, we would then need to win districts that are currently Trump plus twelve plus fifteen types of districts. so therefore we couldn't pass a ban. So yes, Glennis, we would want to neutralize the Republican gains in the South through states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and Minnesota, by passing new maps in those places. But I get it. Keith, I like I like hear you I hear your your point. Yeah. I just and then what, you're gonna how you're gonna pass it in the Senate? You don't have sixty votes. You don't need sixty. You just need a democratic majority that's willing to suspend the rules to to pass it. Well, the only thing blocking that from happening before was mansion and cinema. My God, I forgot about them. And they're gone. So a new democratic majority, now we have Fetterman. That's that is absolutely correct. Where did he just what show did he just do? Tucker? don't know, probably Steve Bannon. just did Katie Miller's. Right. Oh, be like little media. buy it. Did you know that? They're gonna buy the show. Yeah. Yeah. yeah. You know, everyone's making money. You know, I get views. Where's my money? It's like be on a network like Paramount if they're buying Katie Miller's podcast is fake. awful to get three million dollars. Or whatever it is. Barry Weiss is one fifty million for her ten thousand views per video on her YouTube channel. No, she has no followers. It's it's literally crazy. It's a fake podcast by which they can spew propaganda for their MAGA movement. White nationalist movement. Wait, Keith, that is crazy. I did not know that. Yeah, look into it. I don't know. I just think with gerrymandering I just don't like it. also I feel like you agree, Brian, the parties are getting more extreme. For sure. And s that this is only gonna make it worse. I in part agree with that and in part don't.'Cause then primaries are where you pick your representatives, and primaries are where the loudest democratic voices vote and where people are as progressive or conservative as possible to capture that democratic base. I mean, look at Republican primaries all year long. where you have like the Cassidy seat in Louisiana, you have Cornyn and Paxton, you have the Thomas Massey stuff, like people are trying to be seen as the most extreme MAGA in order to come out of the primary. So I that I do agree with. the actual map drawing gets more complex as to whether you're creating R plus 30, R plus 40, D plus 40 seats, or whether you're creating more plus 10. that's kind of neither here nor there. I agree with you in principle that as the media environment has shifted, tribalism has accelerated, which has accelerated the polarization of Congress, which has increased gridlock. Which has incentivized more polarization among voters. So it it's like this vicious cycle. And I do think that it is pouring gas on that fire. So I'm I'm in agreement there. And the only way that I'm able to see that as the path is to put a very clear, big, bright neon sign on a federal ban in 2029. Well, I think we can all align on the fact that whoever is in democratic leadership, this year, next year and beyond, well, we're looking for some serious accountability and some big moves to be made. Yeah, Keith, leave us with a hot take on AI, data centers, Graham Plattner I don't think most voters care about AI because most voters don't make enough money and they don't work in fields where AI is actually gonna affect them. AI was so supposed to make it so that the people who were boxing the products weren't gonna have to. Actually what's happened is it's come for the graphic designers and the music producers. So I don't know, where I come from, people don't have careers, they have jobs. And I think most people who have jobs aren't so worried about AI. So I think it's a hot topic for us, but I don't think it's a hot topic for the average American worker. and Graham Platner looks hot in the picture. Let's just say it. He looks hot. Like I'm like, okay. I I saw that. I was like, Well Vote secured. Woo! but no one cares about texting anymore. I don't think. I don't think people care about texting like that. for me, I'm just like, you do not have to be perfect to get into office now. That's kind of how I feel. Whatever Donald Trump did, I think he broke a lot of things. I don't I think that's probably one of the better things he broke. We're all people. We all have complicated lives, we're complicated people. We all have histories. That's okay. That's okay. as long as you show growth. Now I don't know if there's been growth there. I don't know. But I certainly don't want shaky ass Susan Collins in there for another six years. Her fucking tremor ass self. I can't. Like get out. You are too old. You are too old. And by the way, she is not like she doesn't believe in anything. She just wants to stay because I don't like I don't understand this thing where people just stay for so long. Like you You are not the only one who can do this job. Maxine Waters, you're not the only person who can do this job. And in fact, you're definitely not the best person to do this job anymore and to be able to recognize that. Yeah, I mean you just like basically in ninety seconds had the conversation that Brian and I had about Graham Platner. my thing is like growth and judgment. Let's see. Let's see. But I mean, whatever. Who cares? Republicans are literally assaulting people and get off the internet. I used to respect you. Like, get off the internet. She's taking swings at everyone. She's responding to accounts that don't have real names or real faces on their profile. Like, what are you doing? I don't even do that. We need to have you back on like later where like strategists or people in the industry feel like they have to step into like the content creator role or like online battle war. And it's very like disingenuous and weird to me. I'm just like, people have their lanes, maybe stay in them? Yeah. If you're in line to serve in the next administration, stay in line. in line. Stay in line. Tanden like your tweets got you in tri I think you are the only person to not get confirmed by the Senate because of your tweets. She's an addict. It's like girl, like baby, get out of the bar. Get out of the bar. Put the drink down. she's a former she was head of CAP, Center for American Progress. Yeah, she's back. She's back there. She's back. Yeah, I mean the thing is if fucking everyone fails up. I want where's my billionaire buying my YouTube channel, Nira Tandon? You wanna help? Turt put the tweets down, get the donors in my phone. Keith, we love you. I didn't say happy pride. Happy pride. Happy Happy pride. Glennis is so performative. I I no I'm not. without Charlie Kirk. Sad. Sad. It won't be the same. rip. Rip. thank you. Gay rights and gay wrongs. Mostly gay wrongs In over here for sure. thanks for coming on, Keith. It's great to see Bye. Okay, Brian, so that's the vibes for this week. come back next week and we'll help you check the vibe of what really matters in American politics and what you can ignore. See ya. See ya.