11/7/25: Republicans Cope, Airlines Shutdown, Ritchie Torres Challenger & MORE!

25:39We don't have the data on it because the government's shut down. But when the new data comes in, it's probably going to be shocking. And that that deterioration of the economy has finally sparked the Fed to reduce interest rates, which flows into mortgage rates. So it's like, okay, good job getting mortgage rates down by like 60 basis points, but at the cost of like a deteriorating economy. Welcome to the A-Building. I'm Hans Charles. I'm Menelik Lumumba. It's 1969. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. have both been assassinated, and Black America is at a breaking point. rioting and protests broke out on an unprecedented scale.

26:20In Atlanta, Georgia, at Martin's alma mater, Morehouse College, the students had their own protest. It featured two prominent figures in Black history, Martin Luther King Sr. and a young student, Samuel L. Jackson. To be in what we really thought was a revolution. I mean, people were dying. 1968, the murder of Dr. King, which traumatized everyone. The FBI had a role in the murder of a Black Panther leader in Chicago. This story is about protest. It echoes in today's world far more than it should. And it will blow your mind. Listen to The A Building on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

27:06This is Ryder Strong, and I have a new podcast called The Red Weather. It was many and many a year ago in a kingdom by the sea. In 1995, my neighbor, Anna Trainor, disappeared from a commune. It was hard to wrap your head around. It was nature and trees and praying and drugs. No, I am not your guru. And back then, I lied to my parents. I lied to police. I lied to everybody. There were years right where I could not say your name. I've decided to go back to my hometown in Northern California, interview my friends, family, talk to police, journalists, whomever I can to try to find out what actually happened.

27:44Isn't it a little bit weird that they obsess over hippies in the woods and not the obvious boyfriend? They have had this case for 30 years. I'll teach you sons of bitches to come around here and my wife. Boom, boom. This is The Red Weather. Listen to The Red Weather on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Talking to your kids about the dangers of vaping can be hard. Getting them to listen to hot gossip is easy. So here's some drama you could share with your kid. Dude, did you hear about Cassie and Jake? No, but did you hear that vaping can cause irreversible lung damage and nicotine affects brain development?

28:24Nuh-uh. You don't need to gossip if you want to have an open conversation about vaping. So if you want to get tips on when and how to talk to your kids, visit talkaboutvaping.org. Brought to you by the American Lung Association and the Ad Council. Speaking of economy, go for it. I was going to say I'd like to play the Steve Bannon sot if we've got that. We'll do that and then we'll get to airlines. Yeah. And then because, yeah, while you're pulling that up, I can just update people a little bit on the airlines piece, though, because as the shutdown continues on and Democrats, I think, feel pretty vindicated in their position and given the electoral romp that they were able to pull off this week.

29:08Meanwhile, you have 42 million people who don't have are not receiving food stamp benefits on which they rely. You have a federal judge who first ordered the Trump administration. Hey, you do have emergency funds. You have to tap Trump administration, as they frequently do. Oh, yeah, we'll try. And we're getting around to and blah, blah, blah. Court came and said, no, you have till this Friday to pay out 100 percent of the benefits that are owed. Now the Trump administration is appealing that. So people continue to go. without this food benefits. And, you know, you're starting to see the stories of I had to go dumpster diving in the Walmart parking lot to be able to feed myself and my family.

29:45You know, I have to pick do I put the dollar 50 I have in my back bank account towards half a gallon of gas to, you know, to go to the food bank or to go to the store. Or, you know, if I have to go to work, like I genuinely don't know what I'm going to do. So I'm already because it's not like the food stamp benefits are super luxurious to start with, by the end of the month, they're gone and you're waiting for that next tranche to hit. And so, you know, people really feeling the pain there. And now we already have a lot of chaos in the air because there's been every day you see ground stop here, ground stop there, ground stop wherever, because air traffic controllers are not getting paid.

30:26I saw somebody share online like the zero dollar pay stub that they received for working as an air traffic controller. And now the government is going to enforce a 10 percent cut on all airline flights to deal with the fact that, you know, you still are shut down and people aren't getting paid. And so people are not showing up to work and they're taking their leave, et cetera. Not to mention, like, these are the kind of jobs where you really want people to be like locked in and not having to worry about, am I going to be able to like pay my health insurance premium and make my rent this month.

31:01So, you know, as we head into Thanksgiving here, people with no food stamp benefits and looking at the air travel situation, which is already a nightmare, and wondering if their holiday plans are even remotely possible at this point. I feel like, you know, we're already at the place where these things are becoming incredibly painful. Let's hear a little bit from the airlines. Let's put this all into context. The U.S. handles about 45 ,000 flights a day. A 10 % reduction of that is worse than the worst cancellation day of the past year, every day until the shutdown ends. So this is not a small tweak.

31:41Aviation's a multi-billion dollar industry. And when you slow the system, you slow commerce, air travel, supply chains, deliveries nationwide. The clock is really ticking now. Never in modern U.S. aviation history. Has the federal government done an across-the-board cut of flight capacity like this? And now it seems that passengers are going to be the one paying for it. Yeah, I'm going to a conference in Lisbon on Sunday night. And so I don't think they're canceling the transatlantic flights for like economic and geopolitical reasons. But who knows? We'll see. Maybe. Yeah, we'll get there for security early.

32:20For me on Wednesday, but maybe I'll maybe I'll actually be there. Maybe you'll be around. It's just the idea that everyone is going to see this and blame Democrats when Republicans are in power. It just I mean, like I I understand Democrats are the ones withholding their votes. I get that. But I think what Trump has realized since the elections, if these leaks are to be believed, is that they're the ones that are in power and people are pointing the fingers at them. So when Sean Duffy is the one who's the head of transportation and has to go out and talk about this, they're like, oh, this is the Trump guy.

32:56Right. Like that's just the association people make in their minds. This is this is the Trump administration who's telling us about these shutdowns. And it all goes back to them. Yeah. Well, Trump has been saying, you know, energy costs are down, which we have a clip of right here. So he's true. This is his pivot to affordability. Let's take a listen. Talk about the cost of Thanksgiving and the cost of living through Thanksgiving and enjoying Thanksgiving for the cost of enjoying 25 percent than it is for me at a later time. Our energy costs are way down. Our groceries are way down. Everything is way down.

33:34And the press doesn't report it. The press reports whatever the con people say. You know, I called the Democrats con men and women. All right. So, Crystal, you have been debunked. Actually, everything is cheap and everything's down. Well, I did see there was a community note, which are getting, I think, rarer at this point. But on this on this clip of the president, apparently the Walmart basket of goods he's talking about contains like eight fewer items than it did last year. And they swapped in like the Walmart brand for the brand names or whatever. So we're not comparing apples to apples here.

34:06Not that any of you needed me to tell you that because you all exist and presumably eat food and purchase it at some store somewhere. And so have some awareness of what the prices are doing right now, which is really the problem. Like, you know, I think we're not getting economic data from the government because of the shutdown. Even before that, there was a question of whether we're getting data at all or accurate data. I think there was a sense from the Trump administration that if they just fudged the numbers that they'd be able to lie to people about what was going on with the economy. That is not going to work because people have their own direct, tangible experience of what's in my bank account.

34:41Can I afford the things that I could afford previously? Am I making it to the end of the month? Do I have sufficient money for rent? Can I ever dream of owning a home or paying my health insurance premium? You know, so I don't need like a government statistician to tell me how things are going for me economically in my own life. Go ahead, Ryan. No, I was just saying exactly right. Trump's consolidation of the media is like, obviously, that's helpful to him. But controlling CBS News is only going to get you so far because exactly like people live in the world. They go to the grocery store. They see what a bag costs.

35:15They know what it used to cost. They see their checking account. They see they know what they used to have at the end of the month. And now what they now have at the end of the month. And, you know, nothing Barry Weiss tells them is going to change that. So you can only you can only go so far with the control of the media. Yeah, that's that's totally true. So I don't know. I mean, Ryan, do you think I saw before the election there was some sense of Democrats being like, oh, maybe we'll take a deal. Then I saw there was, you know, Bernie Sanders was trying to rev up all the troops like, you know, you got to stand strong at this point.

35:51I saw an Axios article that was like Democratic members of the House and activists are telling leadership there will be hell to pay from the base if you guys cave at this point. So where do you think, you know, things stand in terms of how Democrats are thinking about this? I think I think Republicans are also and curious for Emily's take on this very motivated in the Senate to get a deal because Trump is putting enormous pressure on them to get rid of the filibuster. They don't want to get rid of the filibuster. They probably don't even have the votes to get rid of the filibuster. And so in order to get rid of that pressure, they need to get out of this shutdown.

36:29So, you know, they're talking about Democrats want to vote. They're like, just give us a vote. Like, we're not demanding the subsidies. Like, just give us a vote on the subsidies. And we expect that if you put it on the floor, it will pass. And then we open the government back up. So that I feel like Democrats are dug in on that on that point. Which means I mean, so Republicans are never going to do that because it forces them to look like they're voting against the subsidies. Actually, I don't know if it was Hakeem Jeffries idea. It seems like a Schumer idea to me, but that's quite a quite a clever trap.

37:04But what that will do is force Republicans to come to the table and give a little bit of something to get out of that public relations nightmare. Now, the substance of it is obviously a nightmare for everybody who's about to see a massive spike and is already seeing the massive spike. But that's how DEMs are negotiating by putting Republicans in a little bit of a PR pickle by making them vote on it. So that means Republicans are going to have to in all likelihood give something. And that's what Trump has been absolutely resistant to doing. And if the midterm or the off year elections kind of broke his resolve on that question, seeing what happened just basically across the board with some running up the margins, maybe that's the maybe that's the sign that John Thune and Mike Johnson need to actually go to the table and have serious conversations about what policies there's give and take on.

37:58Yeah. Well, and part of the reason why Republicans are very adamant about not getting rid of the filibuster is I think it's starting to set in for them that they are not going to always be in power, that some of the wilder things that are being done by the Trump administration, they're starting to imagine. What if what if President AOC had those powers? What could she not that she would, because I don't know, Democrats don't seem to use power in the same way Republicans did. But you are it's also a different day. You just had, you know, normie liberal voters vote for a guy who threatened to murder his opponent, political opponent.

38:33So it's a different vibe out there than it used to be. We're no longer doing the like you go low, we go high thing. That's that's out the window. So, you know, with the like the Supreme Court and the tariffs, right, they were floating. OK, well, could a future president declare a climate change emergency? I saw some reporting about Republicans privately being like, you know, if Biden had sent, let's say, Illinois National Guard troops into my state of Arkansas or Oklahoma or whatever, we would have lost our damn minds. Not so sure about this precedent. And, you know, it's the same thing with the filibuster where they're like, OK, if we get rid of that, they could add senators from D.C.

39:12They could add senators from Puerto Rico. They could you know, they could add ceases Supreme Court or at least term limit or age limit. The Supreme Court, these things would be much more on the table and would change some of the balance that right now is, you know, in favor because of Republicans' rural dominance is kind of electorally favorable towards Republicans. So in that vein, there was a clip from the clip from Steve Bannon that I've been itching to get to where he told my audience like, hey, listen, if they win the midterms, some of us, including me, are going to jail. Let's go and take a listen to the way that he frames this.

39:49And I will tell you right now, as God is my witness, if we lose the midterms and we lose 2028, some in this room are going to prison, myself included. They're not going to stop. They're getting more and more and more radical. And we have to counter that. And what do we have to counter it with? We have to counter it with more action, more intense action, more urgency. We're burning daylight. If you look across every aspect of this, we have to codify what President Trump has done by executive order. Right? We have to codify it. some tepid applause for yeah if he's worried we've got our blood covered we're not we're not letting then we're not letting the AOC regime put Steve Bannon in jail come on we got you man don't worry I am not aware of any recent Steve Bannon crimes I mean he did already go to prison for some things but I you know we had the whole build the wall fraud whatever I'm not aware of any new Steve Bannon crimes I do have some other people in mind who are committing crimes um I don't think Stephen Miller should feel comfortable with his, you know, ongoing freedom in a few.

41:00I think some of these things will be litmus tests in a Democratic primary. I don't think he's wrong about that. But they're you know, their sense, accurate or not. Right. Because, again, I don't see Democrats using power in the same way that Republicans do their sense, whether that is accurate or not, that this is existential. I'm sure Emily is going to color the you know, their approach to politics and the way that they conduct themselves from here on out. Well, yeah, I mean, I think it already is. I agree. Yeah, I think Bannon went to prison for defying a subpoena, a congressional subpoena. It was almost unprecedented.

41:37It may have literally been unprecedented. Maybe it happened one other time or you would know this. But it was I mean, that after that, it changed the way a lot of people saw these things. Actually, I doubt that Stephen Miller is fully comfortable. I'm sure he understands that there could be significant legal challenges or whatever mounted by Democrats when they're back in power. And a lot of this, I mean, Biden declared an emergency to do student loan relief. And honestly, nobody really cared. Like that wasn't a major issue that the public backlash was crazy over. And partially the reason that a fairly career moderate establishment guy like Joe Biden did that is because Donald Trump violated lots of norms.

42:21And again, nobody seems to care. Maybe the one norm that there's been significant backlash to is lawfare against Trump. I think the public had a reaction to that that was overwhelmingly negative. But otherwise, something Ryan said, I don't know, six months ago, just like stays with me and haunts me. It's like you don't want to be the type of country where anybody who runs for office does so with the expectation that they could go to prison because the incentive structure is just a disaster in that case. And it just creates a total rot that we've always been priding ourselves. So we've always prided ourselves in sort of having a system that's better than that.

43:02And the system depends on the people. and that's where things are looking I have a question to Ryan on that that doesn't make sense to me because doesn't that just give people that like you once you get into office you can commit any crime isn't like so many of our problems built around the fact that none of these people go away there's no elite accountability this can be true the architects of like the Iraq war like everything like all the people are still around so like what do we have to do about that both things are true if you accept like that You know, there are some norms that are that we abide.

43:38And like, let's say we don't torture people and that when Obama comes in, he launches an investigation into torture. And did people break the law when it comes to torture? And if the public broadly across the board accepts that that behavior was outside of the norms of what we allow, then that does not create a precedent that everybody then assumes if they lose office that they're going to go to prison. Because there are a lot of countries where that is just an accepted kind of part of cost of doing business. I'm going to get into politics and I know at some point I'm going to get thrown out of office and I'm going to go to prison.

44:13And then I'll probably get out of prison. Like basically every prime minister in Pakistan has gone to prison at some point. And then oftentimes comes back and becomes prime minister again. It happens, the current one, in fact. But if you start prosecuting people for things that are within the norms, that's when just because they're your opponent, that's when it creates this unwillingness then to to cede power. And you don't get prosecutions for like, well, I don't know, war crimes, like crimes against humanity. You get ham sandwich prosecutions where it's like cooked up stuff. Like this mortgage fraud nonsense where like it's clearly James has like a second home where her niece lives in it.

44:54And the Trump administration gins up this fake prosecution to say, oh, it's like she's this is actually a rental property. And she claimed it as primary. It's like rental. Who's the renter? There's no renter. it's her niece i get i get it for the fake crimes but like so are we saying that stephen miller shouldn't like go to jail for his crime so that's against the mass so that that's what that's why i'm saying that you have to have full public buy-in to go after people for crimes they committed while in office like nixon like nixon like let's say he wasn't pardoned the public was bought in on prosecutions because what he did was assumed to be outside the bounds of what was acceptable.

45:36The public was outraged about the pardon. Yeah. And people were okay that nobody's above the law. And so if you get the public's buy-in in both parties, then you can do it and you don't create a cycle of everybody just throwing each other in prison. So that's the distinction there. It doesn't mean you can't have accountability. It just means if you throw everyone in prison for being on the other side, then you really undermine the ability of the elections to actually see a real peaceful transfer of power. So you can break the law, but you need a popular mandate. So people can break the law, but you need a popular mandate to break the law.

46:21Yeah, let's say Biden went through, like the Supreme Court's like, no, you can't do the debt cancellation, which they told him. And he's like, no, you're wrong. I can do that. Like, I disagree. And he just does it. Yeah. And the public is like, good. Yeah, F the Supreme Court on this. Like, who's the Supreme Court to come in? They're wrong. And then the public's with you, then you don't lock Biden up for that. But this is why Bannon is scared, because Bannon went to prison for a fairly norm breaking prosecution over subpoena defiance. And nobody cared. The right cared, of course, like hardcore MAGA absolutely cared.

47:01But the media didn't come to his defense. I mean, but it is also Emily. I mean, let's not downplay what he did either. They wanted him to testify and he was just like, fuck you. And like that also doesn't allow your system to function. Like if people if Congress, you know, has a subpoena power and power to investigate and they're going through, you know, the proper procedure and you're subpoenaed and you're just like, no, I'm not going to do it. And if you're doing that, you can't we can't operate this way. Right. And I think there's a Ryan, you raise this possibility like that may be what we're facing.

47:37If if when Democrats take control of the House, for example, you could see, you know, a lot more of that where they in theory have some power. But if it's if people just refuse to, you know, refuse to submit to the subpoenas, the administration refuses to comply, then you're at the mercy of, you know, whatever judicial process to say, like, no, actually, they do have this power and you have to comply. So I just think when it happens in one direction, I was just saying when it happens in one direction, that's where Bannon is like, people don't care. People like it doesn't doesn't matter. What's another?

48:09I mean, what's another equivalent? Comey, right? Like we were arguing about Comey the other week. I mean, it's different, slightly different crime, but I mean, kind of similar setting. Comey didn't commit. I mean, I think the Comey prosecution is total and complete bullshit. And that's not to say I'm a Comey fan. But like, give me an equivalent situation. There may be one. I'm not saying that there's not. I'm just not aware of an equivalent situation where you had a Democrat who was subpoenaed to testify before Congress. And they're just like, not doing. No, I'm not going to do it. so it has happened before um it's definitely happened before where other people have done it but going to prison um let's see i'm looking up i'm grokking it right now not really i think a lot of it came from like uh cold war watergate days yeah it looks like the last one before bannon was like in the mid 80s um and it happens to journalists like journalists get subpoenaed for their sources and journalists refused to give the sources Judy Miller she went to prison again this is not like that's you know that's not the same either because that's like a principle but it shows didn't want to say anything that was inconvenient for Trump you know yeah yeah but the point is the point is it's not unprecedented to go to prison for refusing a subpoena yeah so like that yeah so your point is even journalists who have like a good reason to refuse it have still been imprisoned for it.

49:35Right. And that was a really awkward time for people because Judy was, you know, one of the most discredited reporters out there. But you still had to stand by the principle that protecting your sources, even if they're awful, like, yeah, it's an important principle. Even if you like to smog out of prison, yes. Yeah, other examples like Eric Holder, Lois Lerner. Those are good examples, but also Karl Rove. that's one of the things Ollie North was pardoned for and Elliot Abrams was pardoned for actually I'm going deep now but anyway yeah it's a bad situation so it's bleak it's bleak welcome to the A building I'm Hans Charles I'm Menelik Lumumba it's 1969 Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.

50:25have both been assassinated And Black America was at a breaking point. Rioting and protests broke out on an unprecedented scale. In Atlanta, Georgia, at Martin's alma mater, Morehouse College, the students had their own protest. It featured two prominent figures in Black history, Martin Luther King Sr. and a young student, Samuel L. Jackson. To be in what we really thought was a revolution, I mean, people were dying. 1968, the murder of Dr. King, which traumatized everyone. The FBI had a role in the murder of a Black Panther leader in Chicago. This story is about protest. It echoes in today's world far more than it should.

51:08And it will blow your mind. Listen to The A-Building on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Ryder Strong, and I have a new podcast called The Red Weather. It was many and many a year ago in a kingdom by the sea. In 1995, my neighbor, Anna Trainor, disappeared from a commune. It was hard to wrap your head around. It was nature and trees and praying and drugs. So no, I am not your guru. And back then, I lied to my parents. I lied to police. I lied to everybody. There were years right where I could not say your name. I've decided to go back to my hometown in Northern California, to interview my friends, family, talk to police, journalists, whomever I can to try to find out what actually happened.

51:57Isn't it a little bit weird that they obsess over hippies in the woods and not the obvious boyfriend? They have had this case for 30 years. I'll teach you sons of to come around here and my wife. Boom, boom. This is The Red Weather. Listen to The Red Weather on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Talking to your kids about the dangers of vaping can be hard. Getting them to listen to hot gossip is easy. So here's some drama you could share with your kid. Dude, did you hear about Cassie and Jake? No, but did you hear that vaping can cause irreversible lung damage and nicotine affects brain development?

52:36Nuh-uh. You don't need to gossip if you want to have an open conversation about vaping. So if you want to get tips on when and how to talk to your kids, visit TalkAboutVaping.org. brought to you by the American Lung Association and the Ad Council. All right, joining us now is Michael Blake, former mayoral candidate, former vice chair of the DNC, former assemblyman from the Bronx, who has launched this week a primary challenge to Representative Richie Torres. Michael, thanks for joining us. Great to be with you. How are we doing today? We're all doing good. You're joining us from Puerto Rico, I understand, which it seems like everyone in the New York echelon is there.

53:16Mamdani, I've seen a bunch of other people are in Puerto Rico. What is what is what's going on there? Like why did everybody decamp? Kathy Hochul. Kathy Hochul. Hochul. I mean, the elected officials that care about New York are here, which is why Richie Torres is not. And so we are here at the Somos Conference. It is one of three major political events that happened for New York throughout the course of the year. And when you think about the Bronx and you think about New York, Puerto Rico is obviously intertwined. And so just yesterday, I was able to go spend some time with Powerful Puerto Rico, local nonprofit, doing incredible things.

53:53Today, I'm leading a session around democracy in the community. And if you care about New York, you care about Puerto Rico. And if you care about the Bronx, you care about Puerto Rico, which is exactly why I'm running for Congress, because you need to have someone who's actually going to fight for the people in the Bronx. And Richie Torres, once again, is absent. Griffin, can you cue up his Michael's launch video so we can all get a taste of that? Everybody watch closely because there's a bit of a cameo from some folks that you might know here. And as I was living in these slum conditions, the city was spending more than$100 million on a golf course.

54:28Richie Torres invested in weapon makers. Just exposed for secretly investing in genocide. All these things I'm seeing about Richie Torres. Since 2021, Richie Torres has represented New York's 15th congressional district, the poorest congressional district in America. In 2025, Richie has nearly$15 million on hand, largely from AIPAC, while many of his constituents barely have$15 to get by. So he spent the last 15 days hearing from the people about why they're ready for a change. I saw Richie Torres on Adam Friedland. I know he suffered, but what happens to you is you get on. It is so hard to keep your moral integrity once you start taking the money.

55:09He profited from it. He talks about that place far more often than he talks about the Bronx. You were criticized for Blackstone donation. The architects of the housing crisis. What a asshole. You cannot be a representative in a second year and you talk like that. Richie Torres sucks. Not as always as in Congress. Richie Torres is a white man. Richie Torres cares more about BB than he cares about the Bronx. is more about AIPAC than it does about your academics. So do you want to stay with someone who only wants to care about himself? Or do you want to have someone in me and Michael Blake who actually wants to care for the people?

55:44I'm reimagining what the city can look like. I'm named after Jamaican prime ministers Michael Manley, Alexander Bustabanti, Grove Crested and Burnside. Remember the days back in the day when you go to Woolworths to go shop, Skakee, go kick it. Whose track record has spoken for itself for years. So when we think about why elect me, think about cost of living and affordability, we can get people a better chance. Think about a new vision when it comes to education. I will not make sense of education plan. And lastly, show the vision of how we can bring real change to the district.

56:17So, Michael, I think the ad speaks for itself. The launch video speaks for itself in terms of the case against Richie Torres. I also will say I don't know that our audience needs the case made against Richie Torres. I think they're all on board with with, you know, wanting to see a change there. But just give our audience a little bit of a sense of who you are. How'd you end up in this place? You know, your sort of political journey to this moment. This is home for me, Crystal. I'm born and raised in the district. I grew up crested in Burnside. I always tell people, you know, I'm a PS79, 118, deal with Clinton High School kid.

56:49My elementary school is the one that Jonathan Kozel wrote about in Savage Inequalities. My high school is the one that has the largest alumni association in the world. So James Baldwin, County Cullen, Charlie Rangel. And we have for decades been the poorest congressional district. We're a place that's constantly disrespected. My family's from Jamaica. I'm actually going to be going down next week to go check on families in Jamaica and figure out how we mobilize in the community. My full name is, I'm named after Jamaican prime minister. So I always tease my mom that her and daddy are the reasons I am this.

57:24You know, I am the epitome of a Jamaican stereotype of tree jobs. So I'm a preacher, I'm a public servant and a journalist. I'm doing this because we deserve better in the Bronx. I'm doing this because right now we have someone who is not focused on what's actually happening on the ground. We're actually not helping people buy wages. We have longer pantry lines. Crystal Ryan, earlier this week, I was at a seven-day Adventist church where there were more than 400 people standing in line at a weekly food pantry. So you have a scenario where we're not being helped, we're not being represented, and someone in Richie Torres who just doesn't give a damn about us.

58:06And when we think about the moment that's at stake right here, as we just saw with Zoran's win, who I proudly cross-endorsed. We cross-endorsed each other in the mayoral primary. I said very clearly, if it's not me, it should be him, because we were talking about the most important issue that people cared about, which is cost a living. And people are ready for a new generation of leadership. And they are tired of these folks who don't give a damn about them. and Richie Torres is that. That's why I'm running for my opinion. Yeah, for people watching the book, Savage Inequality is a searing portrait of the education crisis of inequality in America.

58:42That's amazing that you went to that school. Everybody should check that book out. I was there at the time he wrote about it, Brian. James Carter. Did you know him? Didn't he teach at the school for a while? I knew I actually got to meet Jonathan afterwards. James Carter was my principal. And I said often, Principal Carter was, I think, the only black man I could remember in an education role until I got to college. Wow. Wow. Wow. So we want to talk about the Bronx soon. as your launch ad makes clear, like you're hitting him from both directions, saying that he's too focused on his support for Israel and not focused enough on the Bronx.

59:31What has been your own journey when it comes to support for Israel? My understanding, correct me if I'm wrong, you took an AIPAC-funded trip, which is the thing that most politicians are offered, an AIPAC trip to Israel to get the propaganda version. When was that? What was that trip like? And what has your journey been like on the question of U.S. relationship with Israel? Absolutely. Like all things, life is that journey. It has been that journey to see the truth. So for context, I was an Obama staffer who came back to New York. I got elected to office in 2014. In 2014, I took that trip. I've been to Israel twice.

1:00:17I went to Israel, AIPAC once, and I went with JCRC as well, Jewish Community Rural Council. And what you see very quickly is breathtaking in many ways of, yes, you can acknowledge and recognize the power and beauty that happens in all parts of our world. But I remember being a part of a meeting where an individual said apartheid is happening and then the meeting was stopped.

1:00:49I recognize and saw the power of when you have someone who was from Ethiopia who talked about the recognition of Israel and that dynamic. I get that. I saw that. I appreciated that. But Ryan, Chris, and everybody, the journey continued thereafter because you start to then realize slowly that you are being given a side that's not giving the full picture. 2017 i spoke at an apac conference and particularly it was around black and jewish leaders coming together for that moment right uh and i said within one of those events apac had changed my life forever in that moment because quite frankly it allowed me to go to israel which i had never been before to see it which i'm also an ordained reverend which obviously adds to this dynamic you know i was able to baptize people in the river jordan i was able to pray at the western wall, I was able to lead the Sermon on the Mount.

1:01:44But as soon as we came off stage, Bibi Netanyahu was speaking virtually. And when the reference of President Obama was made, the room started to boo. And that's when you start to realize that you are being pushed a message from AIPAC that is not fully true and direct and sincere about what is happening. Now, people will say to me, well, why did you continue to go to some of the meetings? Because, you know, at the end of the day with any journey, you want to learn what's happening. But then you get to a point where you say enough is enough. And what has happened? What has happened is that you have an organization in AIPAC where just early this year was reported that 46 percent of their donors in Democratic primaries had also given to Republican races for the purpose of having a Republican-like Democrat in these races.

1:02:37What has happened is that you have a genocide that is occurring. And as a human being to ignore that, and it's not just Michael Blake saying that, that's the United Nations and so many others that are stating that. You cannot ignore that. Let us also be very clear that to tell a black man who has endured racism and poverty and challenges, who also preaches that me being critical of a government does not make me anti-Israel. In the same way, I've said to folks, if you could criticize Donald Trump, that does not make you anti-American. And we have allowed right now this game where people are trying to push me into a box and push others into the box from what's actually true.

1:03:18So where we're at right here today is that that journey is a continual one. And unless you were with me where I prayed and cried with people because it was Jews, Christians and Muslims, they would have prayed together. who at the same time have now elected a 34-year-old Muslim South Asian man as mayor, who at the same time can acknowledge the magnitude of it. And then lastly, on a final personal note, in terms of that journey, World Central Kitchen and Jose Andres, many people have seen as a dear friend. Jose has been a blessing to me. He brought World Central Kitchen to the Bronx during COVID, which I will say that in 2020, when we were focusing on feeding families, Richie Torres focused on raising money.

1:04:06One of the people in World Search and Kitchen, Zuri, was one of the individuals that was killed by the attack that came from the Israeli government where they said, well, it wasn't our intention and that was not the case. And so when I ask people is to look at the breadth of it all, the journey has been very real for me. It's one where you understand that information is being given to you that's not fully comprehensive. But where we're at today is you can say at the same time. That, yes, what Hamas did is inhumane. And at the same time that Palestinians losing their lives because of a genocide is inhumane.

1:04:48You can say at the same time that we must end anti-Semitism while at the same time we've got to end Islamophobia. and others who are unwilling to say that should not be in office. One question I have from the ad, based on everything you just outlined, it seems to me a calculated strategy. When you mention Richie Torres and APAC, you tie that right back to what you discussed as your sort of central motive for running for office, which is affordability and cost of living. And I was just curious if that was intentional, if that is part of how you see making this argument, because it's easy, especially when you're in the online discourse, to get down the rabbit hole of elite obsessions and having some of these fascinating conversations about history and all of that.

1:05:36But for a lot of average people, they're just trying to put food on the table. So was that a concerted strategy to tie these all together? And how do you see the connection between Torres being the kind of guy who takes money from APAC and is also maybe behind on economic populism? That you that he's not focusing on the number one issue, which is cost of living. He's not focusing on how people need help. You know, look, I'm that kid that understands when we had to sell dinners on Saturday afternoons to pay rent. You know, that first year in the assembly when I slept on the couch because I couldn't afford the dynamic of going back in Albany.

1:06:10Like the reality is people are struggling. Even if they have multiple jobs, they are struggling. They're wondering how they're going to pay their bills. And I wanted to be very clear that his focus on APAC and supporting APAC as it is and continues to be is not having a focus on what the people need right now, which is better housing. For example, Richie said himself that NYCHA, New York City Housing Authority, public housing is federal oversight. There was an explosion that happened at the Mitchell houses just recently. Richie also was the chair of housing in the city council. So when we think about the dynamic, it's been a continual failure of not fixing the problem when it comes to housing.

1:06:56When I talked, as I said in the ad, what would I do? End credit scores being used for housing applications and have a local median income because area median income is not working for us on the ground. So to your question, Emily, I'm able to say, let me focus on helping people when Richie has not been focused on helping the people. When we talk about what's going on as it relates to Puerto Rico, the need for self-determination, he has not been focused on this. When we talk about what's going on in the Caribbean and Jamaica, immediately I said, how do we help our Jamaican, our Dominican, our Haitian communities all at the same time?

1:07:33When we talk about what's going on in education, where schools are wondering right now, how is it that we're going to be able to help these kids go to school and graduate from school? I want to be very clear that all of those things have gotten worse under Richie Torres. And Richie Torres has made a decision that his focus is not the people of the Bronx. It has been to APAC. Michael, tell people a little bit about what would your specific policy priorities be? You know, are you are you a Medicare for all guy? Are you you know, what are some what are some of the things that you're really wanting to prioritize if you were elected to Congress?

1:08:14First, everything's gonna be around cost of living and the economic issue. So I've talked about credit scores for housing have to end. it is a institutionally racist discriminatory policy that you're telling someone who pays their rent on time, that pays their bills on time, that the reason why they are unable to get access to a new home is because of a credit score, because someone might have missed a bill by a day, but they paid their rent. It makes no sense whatsoever. It's purely to block people out the game. When we think about local median income, area median income does not work. When you have Westchester County and other counties being a part of what's calculated for AMI in New York, it's making it more expensive for us to have a home in New York.

1:08:58These are federal policies that have local dynamics that I talked about in the previous race because they're all intertwined because it impacts us here in the city. When it comes to healthcare, we do need the Medicare for all. We do need to be very focused on how we're helping more people to have coverage because what are we watching right now? We're watching every single day, people genuinely wondering, Will I be covered for my health care? I'm wondering, do I have money for prescription drugs? I'm wondering what happens for these bills. And so we have to be serious about this. As you all know, and when I work President Obama and the Affordable Care Act, there are things we could have gone further and we should have gone further.

1:09:33And this is the moment to do so right now. And I also think, Crystal, to the question of where do we stand in this moment? because you're going to have individuals that are going to try to paint me and paint anyone that is critical, understandably, of being anti of communities. What people are looking for is how do you communicate a vision where everybody can win and thrive? And I can't represent an area like the South Bronx in the 15th district without understanding that everybody has to have a voice. multiple times throughout the mayoral election, including the Thursday before the election, Richie Torres refused to endorse Zora Mamdani, specifically because he said of one community within the district, he stood by a man who had sexually assaulted women, stood by a man where thousands of people died during COVID, stood by a man who had done all those things.

1:10:33and so while there's also policy priorities that I've just laid out crystal there's also just the humanity that you got to have someone who's actually going to care for you and care for everybody and actually create a space that we can have some real conversation and not have someone richie torres who literally said when someone came up to him that he disagreed with to go fuck yourself that's not what you need as a representative I know that surprised people that a reverend would cuss but I am jamaican from the bronx So you just got to be ready for that kind of thing. Michael, can you talk a little bit about my understanding is Richie's approval rating in the district is pretty, pretty favorable.

1:11:10And, you know, can you talk about the difference between perhaps how he's perceived in in the Bronx versus his his image nationally? Certainly. Well, I also would say favorability and job performance are not all intertwined in terms of how someone can get elected or reelected. You had many people that had high favorability ratings who lost races itself, whether that be Eric Cantor, whether that be Congressman Crowley and AOC. I mean, we have seen that. And when you have that communication to let people know about what has not been happening, they shift pretty quickly within the district. right when you see the energy that has happened for us on the video where more than two million views have happened on it thus far that's not just nationally of course that's all across the board it's people feeling that he is not being a voice for them that he's not helping and not representing them in a serious and continual way somebody can show up to your church they could show up to your community center.

1:12:11They could show up to your local school, but it doesn't mean they're actually fixing the problem. And what we will communicate is that you might like Richie Torres because he might smile in your face and try to be kind to you, but he's actually not helping you and your life has not changed for the better. And when you make that clear comparison, people understand that. Now, nationally, because people have been clearly watching and what has been going on consistently. I think we can see how people feel about Richie. They feel that this is a man who by his own data, I think the last was like 2 ,300 % talked more about what was happening in another country than in his own community.

1:13:01People pay attention to that. And again, I want to keep being real clear to everybody listening, because what you're going to have happening and watching because what you're going to have happen is like, well, are we trying to pull people apart? No, I'm just trying to keep it real. Try to be real with you that at the end of the day, just because someone shows up when it's convenient doesn't mean that they're helping you. And Chris, I'm going to make it real practical. Horst congressional district in the country. People wondering if they're going to have food. People wondering how they're going to get groceries.

1:13:31People wondering how they're going to pay their bills. The man got$15 million. Why is he not using that money to help you? Why is he not putting it towards community efforts immediately and consistently at a higher and continual degree? Now, he'll say, yes, I helped you. I got some federal funding here and there. But how you use this moment of leverage is real. And so people see him for who he is. Which is why we have the energy that's happening right now. It's why we're going to start rolling out endorsements next week. It's why we're going to be showing momentum consistently. It's the reason why we have had people of all different spectrums from across the district already saying we're ready.

1:14:14there was i right go for it and i got a question just just real quick yeah there was some real hope when he was elected in 2020 that as as somebody who he grew up in public housing in the district um obviously like a very very bright like you know hyper intelligent guy especially compared to you know the rest of congress which i as somebody who's covered it for 20 years i can you they it struggles down there um that man now that he would be you just gave ryan to the rest of them but i appreciate that right that he would that he'd be a a voice for the poor like that somebody who who came up in the poorest district and is now representing it and was able to articulate a vision of of uh fighting back against against that that that finally there'd be because So many of the poorest districts are represented by people who take corporate PAC money, represented by people, Republicans in the Freedom Caucus.

1:15:10And they don't stand up for their district. They stand up for the people that fund their campaigns. And that hope from Torres was dashed that, you know, because he, as you said, all he's talked about, you know, as far as the public understands is Israel. and whether you agree with them or disagree with them on it like that's what does that have to do with the Bronx so if you were able to get in like how would you be that voice for the Bronx like what are what are the what are the issues that you would try to force into the national conversation that that aren't there because these poorest districts in the country just generally not there's some exceptions don't have representatives who speak on their behalf Well, to that question, Ryan, let's start from even the visual behind you about the squad, right?

1:15:58Like Richie is not only just demeaned what's been happening elsewhere. He's demeaned his own Democratic members who are not aligned with him consistently, repeatedly. You know, the disrespect he's had towards AOC to Ilhan to Rashida and others. And as relates to even locally with the DSA, which he called a Mickey Mouse club and a Mickey Mouse party. This is the rhetoric of Richie Torres that he regularly does. Going back to the 2020 race. And I do think this is important because it's good context. I pretty much for about four to five weeks spent my time feeding people, getting out PPE, getting out masks and helping people in the community.

1:16:37Richie was running a divisive campaign effectively saying that we should not let one other person in the race because of their stances. And in particular, that was around saying that the homophobe is what his language was around Ruben D.S. Sr. Right. That that was Richie's argument on why he should get to Congress fundamentally. Right. And what has happened throughout? out. You have someone who stated that Governor Hochul is feckless and can deny her own abilities, but then he turned when he saw that Zoran had won the primary. This is a man who had crossed, endorsed Tish and then Zephyr Teachout, quite frankly, for his own political protection.

1:17:21Right. This is a man that turned on city council when it comes to the right to know act around criminal justice. This is a man who has attacked women when it comes to those that have been a part of the women's march i'm saying that to say for context that richie has been this before he even got to congress and now people are seeing the consistency that he will throw you under the bus in a second for his own game and so for now let's elevate what i have done in new york with the my brother's keeper program where we're still the only state in the country to have a funded program where black boys and brown boys young men of color can go to school and graduate for school, and it has now been expanded to a My Sisters Keeper program so that more of our students of color can go to school and graduate at a higher rate.

1:18:07Let's expand out a true effort around local median income because clearly the poorest congressional districts, not just us, will be substantially able to benefit if the housing that you are getting is more affordable, right taking those kinds of steps will impact us in a very real way and we talk about hope right like you know i clearly i was in there you know yes we can the hope fund that's about that's the order we came out of with president obama and that that through line we need to be able to believe in our people right now right none of us are perfect there is no perfect candidate right You're going to have people you disagree with.

1:18:49But I do believe that I can restore a vision of what's possible within the district. A district, by the way, that voted for Zorin in the general election this past week. A district that is 41 % Black, 37 % Latino. A district where my previous assembly district is 100 % within the district. So people know our track record. And now it's about telling the story of how we're going to help and fight for you. and say that if you are ready to move on from Richie Torres, my name is Michael Blake, and I'm asking that you rock with me so we can go to Congress and fight for you. I got another question, Michael, for you, something else that's affecting your community, which is ICE.

1:19:31The day after the election, Mayor-elect Zoran Mamdani said that he would warn ICE officers against breaking the law in his city. But then recently from the NY Daily News, there was this scoop that the NYPD commissioner, Jessica Tisch, got a heads up from the Trump admin that ICE agents were about to conduct their aggressive Canal Street immigration raid. Do you think that Mayor-elect Zora Mondani should fire the NYPD commissioner to someone that's going to better follow his policies of fighting ICE? And what would you do to support your community to defend them from ICE? So I'll separate. Appreciate the question.

1:20:10So that's obviously for the mayor-elect to decide on if he keeps her or not, because it's not really a fire. It's like he's going to be the man in charge on January 1 there. I think it's very concerning that a heads up was given that ICE was going to raid on Canal Street. And there was not real protections that happened for folks. For anybody that doesn't understand New York City, Canal Street is effectively immigrant entrepreneurs. Right. That's who's there. And as, you know, my son of immigrant, myself, my family's from Jamaica. If you got a heads up that people are going to roll on Canal Street, you understand that a lot of people are going to get arrested and lives are going to be destroyed.

1:20:44And now we'll have that PTSD sitting with them of at any moment will ice come back here. Right. So it's a problem. It's a deep problem that cannot be ignored in any possible way. What would I do? First, we got to be very clear that we designate our facilities, in particular our schools, our community centers, our places of worship as safe havens automatically so that it is very clear that ICE is not permitted into those spaces. That is something that is not currently happening, which is kind of wild to think about that, right? Right. It's a reason why so many of us who are preachers have to be thinking regularly about virtual sermons, because as we saw recently from National Latino Evangelicals, that they've had less people attending their services because they're afraid that ICE will show up there.

1:21:34Right. Second is that we have to make sure that it is in multi languages, access to lawyers that can represent you immediately, as well as the communication that is available, especially when you are dropping off your kids each another way. There was video that just came out just this morning of ICE detaining someone in a car while the man was holding on to his baby, having a seizure. And what was more important to them was to try to rip him away than his child being protected. Third and finally for now as it comes to this, we got to make sure that we're not empowering and putting more money into NYPD surveillance efforts that would be helping ICE to attack our communities.

1:22:24And one of the many questions that has been lingering around Richie is his support around drones has been very nebulous at best. And if you are helping ICE to make it easier to grab our immigrants, then you should not be representing our immigrants in the South Bronx. And as a son of immigrant myself, I actually going to say very clearly, I know how the federal government should be working for us. And it is not right now because of Richie Torres. All right. Well, thank you very much, Michael. Yeah. And if you can tell people where they can follow your campaign, how they can support you if they're interested.

1:23:08I hope everybody's interested after hearing us right now. Come on, not if right now. Come on, y 'all. So go to Michael Blake for Congress, michaelblakeforcongress.com. Follow us on social. You'll see the handle MRMikeBlake. You'll see the handle Blake for the Bronx. And we need you right now. Look, this is going to be a grassroots campaign. We need you to donate. We need you to knock on doors because a lot of people are going to be coming for us that don't want us to win. But the people have shown right now, the people are ready to win. And so if you're ready and say we deserve better for the Bronx, my name is Michael Blake, and I want to be a member of Congress and rock with us at michaelblakeforcongress.com.

1:23:43One last question before you go, because I think people will want to know how sharp a contrast we're talking about. Would you support a full weapons embargo on Israel? There should be. I mean. There we go. Like, how can you, I know we got to go. I just like, like, how can you watch what's happening and be the same right now? And again, I think what is happening in this space is that there will be people who hear what I just said and say, well, you're anti-Israel. Absolutely not. It's not about being anti. It's about I care for humanity. Right. Yes, you deserve to have safety. Yes, you deserve the security.

1:24:27But if you're watching babies and families, every dollar we are spending on that, we are not spending on books in the Bronx. We are not spending on making sure people have food and get all the pantry lines. We're not spending on making sure you can actually pay your prescription drug bills. It's a question around priorities. And mine is the Bronx. All right. Thank you, Michael. And we hope Breaking Points makes more cameos in your ads in the future. We're excited to see where our next clip appears. So thank you so much for your time. I appreciate you. Thank you. Take care. Thank you. All right.

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