Weekly Round Up: From Juneteenth to Freedom 250 and a Local Look at Politics

This week, Natalie and Brian cover Juneteenth and its significance. They dive into controversy surrounding Trump’s “Freedom 250” celebration, including concerns about commercialization, political branding, and funding, and contrast it with the official bipartisan America250 effort.

The episode also highlights Kentucky politics—from Matt Bevin’s legal issues to a key congressional race—and bipartisan criticism of a new Iran deal.

They wrap up with local updates and ways to get involved ahead of upcoming elections.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Blue Dot, Northern Kentucky's premier political podcast, brought to you by the Kent County Democratic Executive Committee. Welcome back to the Blue Dot Podcast for our weekly roundup, where you know that's where we deliver you all the news you need to know in 10 minutes or less. Thanks for joining. I'm Natalie McDonald.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

And I'm Brian Cale. Hey, Natalie, starting off this week with some good history, today is Juneteenth, which is the National Federal Holiday commemorating the official end of slavery. On June 19th, 1865, federal troops arrived in Texas to carry out the emancipation of African Americans who were still enslaved. Over a century and a half later, Juneteenth finally became a federal holiday, commemorating the official end of slavery and the independence of black Americans.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

Yeah, you're right, Brian. America is way too slow in commemorating this occasion. And the good news is, while Trump has not acknowledged the holiday or issued a proclamation since he has been in office, he cannot unilaterally cancel or revoke a federal holiday. Doing so does require an act of Congress.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Well, uh, that's certainly a good thing in the case of Juneteenth, considering the Trump administration's intentional and ongoing denigration of civil rights and equality for black Americans. Even though Trump can't just cancel Juneteenth, he can be as petty and acrimonious as possible. Under his authority, the Department of the Interior removed Juneteenth along with Martin Luther King Jr. Day from the list of fee-free days at all National Park Service sites. But don't worry, you can still get into the National Parks for free on Trump's birthday.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Of course you can. Of course you can. It's unbelievable. But hey, Brian, let me pivot away from that. I have a question for you. If you had sixty million dollars to do something to celebrate the 250th year of our nation's inception, what would you do with it?

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Boy, let's see. I think I would build like a huge claw-like structure on the White House lawn filled with bright lights and surrounded by a 5,000 seat arena, add an amazing sound system, and then invite historians and poet laureates to come and speak about the founding of our nation and what we all must do to return America to being the shining city upon the hill. Cage match, huh?

SPEAKER_00 2:15

No UFC Fathers. Hadn't thought about that. No gosh. We had a million-dollar perceived dinners, we had the commercial exploitation and s as this staggering Trump grift instead. So yours sounds really nice, Brian.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Yeah. Well, of course, this is Donald Trump, and uh he's going to figure out how to make money for himself, his family, and his friends. Uh I mean, the gladiatorial cage fighting and bloodthirst was bad enough, but seeing Trump and the Epstein class basically just print money off of this spectacle, you know, it really rubs salt into America's wound. But this was a celebration of America, Natalie, and every American could join in the festivities for just $8.99 on Trump pal David Ellison's Paramount Plus streaming service. Of course, Trump is in the thick of, you know, Paramount's $110 billion acquisition of media giant Warner Brothers. And don't forget that a few months ago, while planning for the White House UFC extravaganza, Trump purchased several thousand dollars worth of shares in TKO Holdings, which is UFC's parent company. Hmm, coincidental. Yeah, and then there's the profit Trump gleaned from the sale of exclusive Trump UFC Freedom 250 medallions.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Yeah, so there's that marketing piece, and then there's the corporate sponsor piece. So companies like crypto.com and World Liberty Financial, which is a crypto company co-founded by the Trump family. They secured heavy branding on the Octagon Canvas within the vet space there. World Liberty Financial also funded the $250,000 fighter bonus pool, which was paid in. Wait for it. Stablecoin issued by the very company that the Trump family co-founded. Again, all in the guise of a celebration of our 250th anniversary.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Well, I can only hope that that stable coin will uh soon be worthless, which is probably gonna happen while uh the Trump family pockets a fortune.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

But the good news is, and I do hope people know about what America 250 is. So America 250 is the official nonpartisan congressional commission tasked with orchestrating the educational and historical events around the celebration. So they have community programs, concerts, all kinds of really great stuff that that they're offering. Uh so America 250 is not to be confused with Trump's Freedom 250.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

That's right. Uh Trump tied uh tried unsuccessfully to take over America 250's funding and programming. When that failed, he created Freedom 250 and then proceeded to redirect 80% of the funding allocated by Congress to America 250 to this newly formed organization. This is $103 million, guys, that Trump redirected to his own partisan celebration.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

And it's such a shame, Brian, that that this person, this despicable person, Donald Trump, was in the White House during this milestone for our country. Any other decent human being on either side of the aisle would have really made this into something that we could all be proud of. But this is what we have.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

And uh, you know, I hate to say this, but all of this kind of reminds me of the time we had um Matt Bevan representing Kentucky as our governor.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Yes, remember Matt. There are some similarities. Yes, there's corruption. And there's actually been a I mean, there's actually been a bench warrant out for Bevan's arrest since June. And he was just in contempt of court again, but has yet to be arrested.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

So No, it's it's amazing. He's not being apprehended because according to court reports, he's been residing in his vacation home in Bethel, Maine. I I'm not exactly sure how that gets him off the hook, but apparently it does.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

Yeah, I'm I'm not sure either, but local Republicans don't have an issue aligning with him. Local Kent County representatives Stephanie Dietz and Steve Doon even attempted to pass a bill that would benefit him. So during the most recent legislative session, they introduced House Bill 707 in response to his widely publicized family court dispute with his estranged adult son. The bill sought to change Kentucky family law by preventing children from intervening in their parents' divorce cases and placing strict limits on a child's ability to seek child support or obtain legal standing in those situations to help him out a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Yeah. And you know, on a on a side note, Republicans also probably don't want you to know that his running mate, Ralph Alvarado, is running for the highly contested sixth house district.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

He sure is. He hasn't brought that up. But uh what he what he has brought up is he's leaning really hard into Mega and Trump's endorsement. He has Trump and Mega and anti-woke all over his webpage, but not much about how he can improve the lives of Kentuckians. So they're just sticking with that same theme.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

Yeah, it's par for the course. Uh, there's going to be an awful lot of attention on this district, though, as Representative Andy Barr, who currently holds the seat, won the Republican primary to run for Senate. So Bevan's buddy Ralph will be going up against former federal prosecutor Zach Dembo.

SPEAKER_00 7:12

And Zach is an extraordinary candidate. If you look at his website, it is pretty much the antithesis of Ralph's. He was a Navy Jag officer, a federal prosecutor, and a teacher in an underserved community. If that's not enough to like him, Governor Andy Bashir appointed Zach to be his policy advisor and eventual legislative director. This guy's laser focused on prioritizing the working class, which is exactly what we need.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

Yeah, that's right. And there's one more thing we have to touch on before we wrap it up this week. Uh, we finally found out why the Trump administration has been so hush-hush about the Iran deal or the memorandum of understanding or MOU as he calls it. And that's because it is a complete failure and embarrassment.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

Yeah, if you don't believe the Democrats that are saying that, you know, you can just listen to what some top Republicans have said. Senator Bill Cassidy's out there saying it's the worst foreign policy blunder in decades, and that Reagan would be rolling over in his gray, and so many others just because this is just a complete disaster.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Yeah, we are so much worse off now than before Trump's excursion. We're ending sanctions against Iran, unfreezing assets, giving oil waivers, and access to three hundred billion dollars in reparations. I mean, even Ted Cruz said in response, history teaches us that giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is not a good idea.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

And you know, God love them, Thomas Massey pointed out that $300 billion is five times as much as Congress spends on our own roads and bridges annually. And it's just astonished to me still that this guy, who's a fiscal conservative, was fired by so-called conservatives in the primary for not being a yes man to all of the disasters that Trump does. You know, but then again, Massey should have probably talked about that rather than gaslighting marginalized people. But what do I know? What's done is done.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

I mean, uh remember the uh pallets of cash that Obama gave to Iran, it was like 1.7 billion or something, and it was actually Iran's own money that were frozen assets. But now 300 billion access to that and not a word, it's okay. Hey, it's a great deal. You know, it's uh it's a killer deal. Well, you know, I just can't wait until November when this blue wave hits, and hopefully it's gonna be more like a tsunami. I mean, Democratic candidate Melissa Strange is going to win that seat, and she will not be bowing down to Trump's every quest. When the Democrats take back the Senate and the House, Trump will be left with little power.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

Yeah, that's that's the one thing we can bank on. I mean, he's not going anywhere, so we have to take away his power, and that's why we keep fighting, and our candidates keep showing up. And as mentioned as uh last week, the Canton Dems were having so many events. The Dems were having two canvassing sessions each month on the second Sunday and fourth Tuesday of each month, having virtual volunteer training sessions on the second Tuesday of each month through September. We're having World Cup watch parties at Molly and Malone's. I went to the one last Friday. It was so much fun. And then uh candidate Will Ann Stangle, who's running for Kentucky State House District 69, is having a community event at the Erlinger Depot Park from 6 to 8 on Monday, June 29th. And it's gonna be a really fun, great family event and a chance to meet with and and talk to Will Ann if you haven't already.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Yeah, those are those are great events. Uh, encourage everybody to, you know, take part. And I also want to take this opportunity to remind all of the Dems out there in Northern Kentucky that the July 4th parade is the one in Fort Thomas, and we are working to get a massive Democratic turnout for this event. We want 100 plus Democrats walking in the parade, supporting our candidates, waving flags, making a lot of noise, and putting Northern Kentucky on notice that we exist and we plan to win big this coming November. It's time to turn around our local, state, and national politics to supporting working class families with kitchen table solutions and bringing the current corrupt ruling class to justice. So please contact your local Democratic representatives for more information. There's going to be a lot of us on July 4th, ready to walk and make some noise.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

Ready to make some noise. That is fantastic. And we'll talk a little bit more about that next week because our 10 minutes are up. Until next time, stay curious, keep the fight some focus, never stop fighting for what matters. Peace out, everybody,