Not So Civil Inauguration and Immigration Raids | 01.22.25

Civil Union Podcast: Trump's Inauguration, TikTok Ban, and Political Insights

In this episode of 'Civil Union,' Alex and Ryan discuss the political events of the week, sharing their opinions on Trump's second inauguration, which some have called one of the darkest in history. They cover notable attendees including billionaires and influencers, as well as controversial executive orders and policies, such as Trump's gender executive order, education reform, and immigration raids. The hosts also delve into the temporary TikTok ban, the surge of social media as a news source, the pardoning of January 6th rioters, and the future of Democratic leadership. The episode concludes with a lighter look at the surprising resurgence of Heidi Montag's music career amidst personal tragedy.

00:00 Introduction to The Civil Union Podcast
00:34 Trump's Inauguration and Controversies
02:09 Billionaires and Oligarchy Concerns
03:11 Trump's Executive Orders and Policies
06:42 TikTok Ban and Social Media Influence
15:04 Protests and Pardons
18:43 Operation Safeguard and Immigration Policies
23:12 Democratic Party's Future
25:09 California Fires and Heidi & Spencer's Story
28:53 Conclusion and Contact Information

Music: What's The Angle? by Shane Ivers -
https://www.silvermansound.com

Transcript

0:07

Welcome to the civil union, where we, Alex and Ryan bring you our informed opinionated takes on this week's politics as a married couple living in a conservative state. We're here to combine honest conversation with insights on issues that matter to you. Join us for real talk on the issues that affect Americans at the margins of society. Now more than ever, we need our voices heard. So the inauguration was earlier this week. Trump, who was our 45th president is now officially also our 47th president. Ryan, what were your thoughts on the actual pomp and circumstance of it all? It was one degree this morning, not even an S after that, just one degree. The cold weather was clearly a representation from yesterday's inauguration. Some people have said it was the one of the darkest inaugurations of our nation's history. Like, what did we just witness? His speech sounded like a State of the Union speech, not even a gratitude of acceptance. We also saw Elon Musk and that weird salute he did. And what was Melania wearing? She reminded me of Lydia from the movie Beetlejuice, you know, where she was wearing that dark veil covering her face, but I also heard comparisons of Melania's outfit to the Hamburglar from McDonald's, which. Could absolutely be the statement she was trying to make, as McDonald's is rolling back their DEI programs, but I'm digressing. I watched as much as I could handle, which wasn't a lot. I'm not a big fan of overhead lighting and would have preferred it to be outside, so I immediately lost the little interest I would have had in it. I had people randomly texting me throughout the day, exclaiming they weren't watching, but I just so happened to be on one of those news websites that were streaming it. So I started to watch from my phone and literally could not put my phone down. What were your thoughts as well? Like it was just very unsettling to see so many billionaires present. It was a stark representation of what Biden warned in his farewell address, which was that an oligarchy is taking shape in America. I mean, an oligarchy is basically a form of government, which power rests with a small number of people who have wealth. Fame or political military control. In this case, it's the wealth and political military control in the form of Elon Musk. There was Mark Zuckerberg from Meta present, Sundar Pichai from Google, Jeff Bezos from Amazon, Tim Cook from Apple, Sam Altman, Zhou Zichu from TikTok, and Rupert Murdoch. All were present. These people either get a lot of government contracts or are worried about possible government regulations. Of course, as Republicans always do, they had to take a swipe at a minority. Doesn't matter who you are, where you're from, they just have to make it known that some people do not support people. Of different backgrounds. In that speech, Trump talked about signing an executive order, making it formal that there are just two genders, male and female. Do we really need that? This was clearly a swipe at the LGBT community. And as of right now, this day and age, the Republicans, they are going after the trans community. It makes me sick. President Trump at one point said that we have an education system that teaches our children to hate our country, like literal quote, there is no doubt he is going to shake up education in this country, whether that be by getting rid of Department of Education, or pledging on the campaign trail to take money from school districts that teach quote, this is from him, quote, critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content onto the shoulders of our children, like he's going to make waves with the education department part well, and then also when did naming a body of water become a thing? Are you really spending your time changing the name from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America? Who actually names continents and bodies of water? This is truly just a decoy to get Americans talking about one thing While the Republicans are going after a million other things like taking away our freedoms We have got to stay on top of these issues. This is one of the reasons why we wanted to start a podcast. The floodgates have opened. I am tired of discussing this over the dinner table. I am ready to start speaking about our frustrations that this administration is going to be putting us through. This podcast is also a wake up call for Democrats. I get it. We are tired, but we can not back down. This is the most crucial time of our lives. You know, Trump also in his speech went on to say that God saved him to make America great again. God saved him. Did he not make America great the first term that he had? Wow. I know. And he also gave a shout out obviously because of the day, but he gave a shout to MLK day, which I found just really rich when he doesn't want kids to be taught critical race theory in schools. I mean, this would include teaching kids about the Tulsa race massacre, which I find highly important to learn about. Also, little fact, Trump won 46 percent of Hispanic voters Harris won 51 percent and Trump won only 13 percent of black voters while Harris won 86%. Now those percentages are strong for Republicans, but for him to go out of the way to think those demographics of people, Harris actually performed better with those people according to exit polling conducted by Edison research. One other thing I found very interesting about the inauguration was that congressional spouses were not allowed into the Rotunda after it was moved indoors. But wait, the wives of billionaires were allowed. Also, I thought it was nuts that influencers were there. I don't know if anyone noticed, but Jake Paul and Logan Paul were both in attendance. Both are known for social media and also got in the boxing, but Jake Paul is the one that fought that Mike Tyson fight and that Netflix match that we were basically forced to watch because it was on the TVs at the bar that night, but I had no clue what was going on, but they were there. It's crazy what this country has come to, but I did notice also Michelle Obama and Nancy Pelosi decided to opt out, which I don't really blame them. All right. Right before the inauguration, there was another pretty huge news story. Unless you were living on a rock, you felt the repercussions of it, which had to do with tick tock. What was your experience with that? So over the weekend, I started seeing social media posts of screenshots. that, we're showing like a TikTok ban and the screenshot basically read, sorry, TikTok isn't available right now. Alol banning TikTok. Has been enacted in the U. S. Unfortunately, that means you can't use Tic Tac for now. It also went on to say we're fortunate that President Trump has indicated he will work with us on a solution to reinstate Tic Tac once he takes office. Please stay tuned. Like that's what the post read. And then after 14 hours of the ban, I went back on the app and it was up and running again. The message said, As a result of President Trump's efforts, TikTok is back in the U. S. Let me just say this. Trump was the one who started the legal litigation against the social media platform back in 2020. Let's also remember the stunts that we saw over the weekend was An absolute mess. The app went offline on January 18th. Trump wasn't president. The app went back online on January 19th. Trump still wasn't president. Biden said he wasn't going to do anything to shut it down, but. All these voters now believe Trump saved Tiktok. He started the fiasco four years ago. So, yeah, I mean, the Supreme Court ruled that Tiktok would get shut down because the ownership is still under Chinese control. There is this idea that the amount of data collection the app gathers from the 170 million Americans that use it is a national security risk. I mean, Tiktok's parent company, ByteDance has said that more than half of the company is owned by global institution investors and that the Chinese government doesn't have a direct or indirect ownership stake. But ByteDance is headquartered in Beijing and is therefore still. Technically under China's control, with all this going on, Trump has to certify to Congress with the 90 day extension that he just enacted that there is a relevant binding legal agreements toward a sale. But with Congress now under Republican control, I mean, he could just instruct them to enact new legislation or I mean, not far fetched. Maybe Elon Musk will buy it, but I mean, who knows? More than 50 percent of TikTok users are 18 to 34 years old, and the average adult spends more than half an hour a day on the app, which is crazy, but it is highly popular. One of the government justifications for the law was that TikTok spread covert disinformation. With that said, I feel like this is a problem with a lot of social media. Millennials and Gen Z. Get a lot of their news from social apps, yet there is so much disinformation floating around. You have to be really aware of your sources, and there is a distrust today on how people view legacy media and cable news networks. So the younger generation is feeling like, what's the difference if I get my news from socials over a paper or a TV channel that I can't trust? Can you blame them? There are a lot of people who literally can't afford cable TV right now, and the Republicans have continued to stoke their supporters to distrust what the news media says. I have always trusted our research. I make sure to read and listen, not just to one source, but multiple sources for real information. It's sad so many smaller news organizations like local newspapers are shutting down because They can't afford to pay their bills. I also believe that this is just one of the reasons why such large media outlets. Like the Washington Post, LA Times never went out to support any presidential candidate. Not that I think that would have swayed any voters, but they are obviously bending to the right so they can keep their subscribers. Yeah, TikTok does have importance. Social media has importance. Did help shape the conversation around the Israel Hamas war last year. But on the other side of that spectrum, there was a lot, I mean, I remember a lot of misinformation during COVID circling around on socials to the point that social sites enacted. Fact checking posts to kind of clarify all that noise that was going on at that time. The thing I remember is our generation when we would be sick or when we needed information, we would go to Google or I remember we used WebMD. But today. I feel like a lot of people tend to search TikTok or they search other social media sites before they even, I don't even think people use WebMD. I don't know. Maybe they still do, but per the Pew Research Center, 59 percent of users get their news from Twitter. 52% from TikTok, 48% from Facebook, 57% on truth social. A Pew research study back from 2024 showed that 52% of 18 to 29-year-old users get their news from TikTok. That is crazy to me that over 50% of the population of the younger demographic actually utilize TikTok for the news. When it comes to the actual election, according to navigator research, exit polling data from November last year, base Trump voters were the only group that got their news a few times a week from cable news networks. Yeah. In this case, most of them got it from obviously Fox News, but in contrast, base Harris voters were around 30 percent for CNN and MSNBC, 45 percent of swing voters. So swing voters are people who didn't stand with one political party at the start of the campaign. But 45 percent of swing voters got their news from social media, 52%. Of new Trump voters got their news from social media. So that just shows you how effective. Social media was with turning that last election now with the change in how people get their news. It is interesting how social media is taking a front seat and how people get their news. Social media was a huge tool and how massive demonstrations were organized back in 2017 through 2020 along with the Black Lives Matter protests. Now, in 2017, it was the Women's March, which was estimated to have drawn in over 200, 000 people down in Washington. But there is this idea that there's a shift, that even if there are demonstrations, it probably won't take the same forms moving forward. What are your thoughts? I know there was a Women's March here, but I was unable to attend. I'm not sure what kind of turnout there was here in the Midwest, but, um, Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Democrats right now are, I think, dealing with an identity crisis and there is also this idea of optics. I mean, when it comes to protesting the outcome of a fair election, especially with after January six and Trump did win the popular vote. Even if it was a slim margin, I mean, Indivisible, an organization that helps build and guide grassroots actions per state, had said in Trump 1. 0, we embrace the aesthetics of protest instead of using them as part of strategy. You shouldn't start with tactic. You should start with a goal. There is this idea that Trump as president, Republicans will make it harder for protest by enacting laws that suppress it. Whether Trump stands by his previous statements of deploying the National Guard at protesters, Republicans could still, at a state level, In act laws that would make protests that we saw back in 2016 through 2020 less common because of these laws. What will we do to the way we protest or speak out against this administration? Will people be too scared to, or I don't, I mean, I don't necessarily see us having these mass demonstrations in the next four years just because of what the Republican Party is threatening. So speaking of protests and riots changing in the next administration, what are your thoughts on the pardons of the January 6th rioters? Okay, I'm absolutely stunned, shocked, but not speechless about this topic. We had a hundred plus police officers injured by rioters on January 6th. He literally pardoned everyone. House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said it best, I think, he said quote, house Republicans are celebrating pardons issued to a blood thirsty mob that violently assaulted police officers on January 6th. What happened to backing the blue end quote? I mean, just to be clear on what happened, President Trump pardoned 1500 people who had taken part in the January 6, 2021 capital insurrection and commuted the sentences of 14 people. He'd also directed the Justice Department to drop the 470 ongoing criminal cases against January 6 defendants. follow Katie Herrick on Instagram and she always posts some very intriguing news articles. And today she had an Instagram carousel. I think that's what you call it. A carousel where you just like swipe through all the photos where you slide through all the photos from that day. And she, she shared images of some of the convicted rioters who were either. jailed or fined for hurting law enforcement officers literally. And, I just recommend everyone to go there and look at it and read those posts because it's pretty sad that we elected Trump into office and he just pardoned these people for literally injuring and assaulting law enforcement officers. Yeah, I mean, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said 211 people have already been released from federal facilities following Trump's order. Now, what I found interesting is that some Republicans have actually come out today not in support of this move. they don't support it, especially him partying the protesters that did do harm in assaulting law enforcement officers. There is a difference between what some of them did, which was, I mean, damage property and stuff. But there, I mean, there's another. level to the people that actually caused harm to other humans. And the fact that all of them are being grouped, like they're all the same is nuts to me. Senator Susan Collins of Maine, Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Senator Thomas Tillis of North Carolina, Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. I mean, they're all just, that's just some Republicans who have spoke out about this pardon. A two day poll, Ran by Reuters, Ipsos conducted, started immediately after Trump took office on Monday, found that 60 percent of respondents said he should not pardon all the Capitol defendants. I mean, from day one, he is already acting on ego over party. He's making decisions that benefit him and make him feel good by blindly supporting people who supported him. I agree. Nancy pelosi also said in a post last night that these pardons absolutely undermined our justice system. And you know what? She's right. These pardons do undermine the prosecutors, judges, any juries, all of it. These criminals, Even though the charges remain on their records are getting a get out of free jail card a free pass for what went down that day I still can't believe we have to talk about this four years later. This is just not okay It's crazy that that I mean that he actually went through with this President Trump is quickly rolling out goals and executive orders this week He's already done a handful right after his inauguration But one of those goals is Is the largest deportation operation in American history. Which starts this week in Chicago. The plan is called Operation Safeguard. There are supposed to be 150 ICE agents in Chicago for these raids. Now, Chicago mayor, Brandon Johnson has said he opposes Trump's deportation plans in his city and the Chicago police department came out with a statement saying it will not assist federal immigration authorities to deport And we'll not share information with federal immigration authorities. I find these stances very important. I think it's very respectful that they, I mean, they obviously can't do anything, but they're not going to help make it worse. They're not going to help the, this department. President Trump has said he has no problem deporting parents. Who are in the country legally, but have U. S. born children. The fact that people are okay with that is crazy to me. I mean, those are basic human rights. You're tearing families apart. And it's just crazy that we did not learn anything from the first. Go around of his. I mean, did we not forget that Trump put families in literal cages and warehouses stacked full? I mean, it was crazy. Um, now the Cato Institute. I mean, this was a while ago. This is in 2018, but the Cato Institute in Texas showed that Texas police made 907, 767 arrests. Legal immigrants accounted for 5. 3 percent of that. And illegal immigrants accounted for 4. 4 percent of that. So for Trump to kind of throw this narrative out there that immigrants are dangerous, and this is the main reason he's going through with this is complete BS. You know, when you become a nation who gets to say who gets to stay here and who doesn't get to stay here. This is a situation where I think Democrats lacked on the path to citizenship is just too hard and complicated here. We need to create a clear and achievable way, for undocumented immigrants who meet a certain criteria like no criminal records, steady employment. We also need to modernize the visa system, such as expanding this and streamlining visa categories, such as. Labor shortages in agriculture, healthcare, and even the technology sectors. We also need to permanently, protect the DACA recipients or the Dreamers recipients, and offer a pathway of citizenship for individuals brought to the US as children. Yeah, I mean, it's been a longstanding policy that ICE agents can't make arrests in sensitive locations. That includes schools, hospitals, and churches. But it is important to note in Project 225, there was talk in that, that they may rescind that policy, and that's not far fetched. Parents are worried about leaving their kids in school. They're worried that they're going to do that and never see them again, or that they'll be deported, or whatever the case is in school districts. for joining us. are having to plan what to do if I shows up. I mean, in New York City, in Chicago, I was, I was seeing that numerous leaders in these departments are having to come up with plans, whether that be calling the school district lawyer or educating principals on policies like federal agents having to show warrants, or even that there is an imminent threat to public safety before entering a school. It's just, it's very disappointing. And scary that we are having these conversations. I just don't, I just don't know how a border wall is going to stop people from entering our country in the first place. I mean, can't you just buy a plane ticket and fly to a different city? Also, Republicans are so gung ho about states having their own rights. Why hasn't very red Texas or very purple Arizona come up with a solution that works yet? Now, not only are these raids kicking off Trump's plan with deportation, but within minutes of his presidency, Trump also signed various executive orders. With this administration, and even our talks about how the grassroots movements of before may have to take a different shape or form, the future of the Democratic Party is on a precipice. So there's more importance on who is chosen to run the DNC. There is a name being thrown around right now, and that's Ken Martin, who is currently chairman of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor Party, president of the Association of State Democratic Committees, and a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. Ryan, what are your thoughts on this pick? You know, the Democratic Party, uh, needs new blood. I hope Ken Martin can help recalibrate and restructure how the Democrats are going to reach out to voters in 26 and 28. I'm just glad that I'm not in his shoes because it's going to be one heck of a ride to get us back into the house and Senate. After Vice President Harris is lost. The DNC is trying to move the party forward. It sounds like he's very promising in the fact he wants to refocus energy and outreach efforts on a state level. And I think he understands there needs to be a huge overhaul in their messaging. I mean, they need to go back to the message of economy and less trying to find this identity of what Democrats should look like he's he's received a lot of endorsements. Clearly, you have to reach out to the people who are going to be voting for Biden. You know, you as a leader and you know, I'm not too well knowledgeable on who's actually voting him to be the leader of the DNC. But honestly, I personally would like to know more about him and his plans for the future Democratic Party and where we're headed. I mean, we got to start making movements now. Absolutely. The national committee members will be meeting February 1st to elect their next chairman. So it's something we're going to have to look forward to. Now, with all that going on in Washington, there's still so much going on in California. One story to kind of end our week with this week is the sudden success of Heidi and Spencer. Um, what are your thoughts on that? Well, I wasn't. never knowledgeable on who Spencer Pratt or Heidi Montag was, I would see them in like the Like tabloids and stuff. Um, so I know they were like a reality TV show. Was it, was it the Hills? Yeah, they were on the Hills and then Heidi made a very brief appearance on Laguna beach. Got it. I had no idea she had a, an album actually, which is kind of funny because it, it went to number one, like here in America on iTunes. And then it went number one, like several other countries around the world. Like they, they tragically, sadly lost their house. And. The Palisades fire. But it's, it's a really, weird circumstance that right around the 15 year anniversary of her album release, it's now number one and getting all these listeners and stuff. And I actually listened to a couple of songs and they're pretty catchy. Um, I like, I'll do it, but, um, yeah, I think it's crazy that the album released 15 years ago and now it's, it beat bad bunny on charts. I think it went number one, like you said, on numerous. Spotify, iTunes, all that. And it even surpassed the Wicked soundtrack, which is kind of cool. Kind of crazy to me because I hear that everywhere. But Heidi can say she, you know, ranked higher than them. Spencer has come out saying that he doesn't know how much these new album sales have netted him. But when it comes to TikTok, he has been just alone and on TikTok has been making 2000 a week. And On a TikTok live he had done, he raked in like 20, 000, he said. And he also has gained over 1 million followers on TikTok. I mean, the couple got married in 2008. They have two kids, Riker and Gunner. Uh, they lost their 2. 5 million Pacific Palisades home, and they did not have homeowner's insurance, which I think I think a lot of people in that area, they have the same problems with insurance will be very interesting moving forward when it comes to recovery efforts, how the insurance issues are gonna fall out because I think a lot of people even recently right before the fire dropped their insurance. Well, yeah, and I'm also interested to see how Gavin Newsom is going to be handling the situation because a lot of eyes are on him because He will be a contender for the presidential nomination on the democratic ticket in 2028. Well, and especially since Gavin Newsom and Donald Trump don't have the greatest history of a working relationship. I mean, they've had fires in that state before and Trump and him. I mean, Trump with has withheld support for California in the past because of his relationship with Gavin Newsom. And now that this is all falling in this time period, it'll be very interesting to see what Trump does. Now, on January 20th, the Palisades fire, this is the most recent update on the date of this recording, but it has burned 23, 700 acres and is only 59 percent contained while the Eaton fire has burned over 14, 000 acres and is 87 percent contained, which is pretty good. A lot better, but with that said, early Tuesday morning, two fires broke out in San Diego. They're called the Lilac Fire and the Pala Fire. Those are very new. That's time of this recording, so I don't have much to say on how those will fare out, but hopefully California can start catching a break here really soon. Okay, that wraps up our first show. We hope you enjoyed listening. Please give us a follow on Instagram at the civil you. That's just the letter you and Hey, send us an email, letting us know your thoughts, questions, what we got wrong, uh, or anything that you think we should discuss. That email address is the civil union, 25 at gmail. com. Thank you for listening. Thanks guys. Bye.