--:-- Noel King: An influential poll from The New York Times and Siena College last month showed that 23 percent of registered black voters said if the election was held today, they'd vote for Donald Trump.
--:-- [Discussion continues without a clear speaker]
--:-- Noel King: Now, this is a big deal. Black voters historically vote Democrat overwhelmingly. Yesterday, I sat down at South by Southwest with Charlemagne the God. Charlemagne commands one of the largest young black audiences in the country as co-host of The Breakfast Club. and he's become known for his blunt and provocative interviews of politicians and his critiques of Joe Biden and the Democrats.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: I'm the type person, I feel like as a black person, I don't see how we're beholding to either one of these parties. I don't understand these black conservative crazies and I don't understand these black liberal crazies either.
--:-- Noel King: I think as a black person, you shouldn't be beholding to any political party in this country because we haven't really seen, Democrats have done more. We haven't really seen anybody systemically help us get out of the situation that we're in.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: Because I think that's something that people never truly address.
--:-- Noel King: Support for Today Explained comes from Saks Fifth Avenue. Fall is here. Might be time to find some nice new pieces you can wear again and again. With Saks Fifth Avenue, it can be a breeze to shop for your personal style.
--:-- Noel King: I am Bracton Booker. I am a correspondent at Politico and also the author of The Recast, which focuses on race and policy and politics. My focus is mainly on voters of color, in particular Black voters.
--:-- Bracton Booker: They seem to be, on some level, up for grabs this election cycle. And, you know, that has different meanings depending on who you're talking to. Black voters are obviously the backbone of the Democratic Party, but there are polls that show that there may be some slippage among Democrats as far as Black voters are concerned.
--:-- Noel King: A recent CBS News poll shows 77% of Black voters would back the president in a potential general election rematch with former President Trump, down 10 points from 2020.
--:-- Bracton Booker: I am concerned that so many of our community are feeling that some of the issues that are more relevant to us are not being addressed.
--:-- Noel King: You use the words up for grabs. And we think about an election. You know, we'd assume every block of voters is up for grabs. And yet baked into what you're saying is the kind of the idea that black voters don't have to be competed for because they will vote Democrat. Where does this idea come from? What's it grounded in?
--:-- Bracton Booker: Well, it stems from the fact that Black voters have been so loyal really since the 1960s and the civil rights movement that Black voters have voted overwhelmingly Democrat no matter who is on the ballot on the Republican side of the ledger.
--:-- Noel King: But what you're seeing now kind of in the modern era of politics is while that still is largely true, we're seeing that Trump has actually made some inroads with black communities.
--:-- Bracton Booker: And polling coming into 2024 is showing that black voters are saying at least to pollsters that some 20 to 23 percent are open to voting for Trump.
--:-- Noel King: And look, it could be the difference in swinging the election for Donald Trump if folks don't show up and vote for Biden-Harris ticket.
--:-- Bracton Booker: And it's still unknown how much like RFK candidacy or a Cornel West or Jill Stein is going to be this year.
--:-- Noel King: But the fact that voters have options and we're seeing protest votes kind of emerge among the Democratic faithful.
--:-- Bracton Booker: It's a win for President Biden in Michigan's Democratic primary, but the results signal discontent among Democrats over the president's foreign policy.
--:-- Noel King: The ballot option, uncommitted, earned more than 100,000 votes.
--:-- Bracton Booker: It's really unclear about where these shifts are going to be and how impactful they're going to be on 2024.
--:-- Noel King: Now, you were recently at Mar-a-Lago for Politico. What do you hear Donald Trump trying to do to appeal to black voters?
--:-- Bracton Booker: Look, he has said some things in recent weeks that has given some people heartburn. Even the sneaker thing.
--:-- Noel King: I was on social media last night. Very interesting. As you see, black support eroding from Joe Biden.
--:-- Bracton Booker: This is connecting with black America because they love sneakers or into sneakers. They love that. You know, there's a big deal, certainly in the inner city.
--:-- Noel King: We're going to remember Sneaker Con. You know that.
--:-- Bracton Booker: But the fact that he is trying to ingratiate himself with Black voters saying, like, look at all this criminal justice system. Look at the legal system. They're coming after me just like they do for you guys.
--:-- Noel King: Look, I don't know if that message hits home, but maybe for some it actually does.
--:-- Bracton Booker: I was a part of a polling group of Black men, and some people said that, yeah, I think these cases that are against Trump, they're politically motivated.
--:-- Noel King: So there is some empathy that is going on among Black men in particular.
--:-- Bracton Booker: I don't think it's widespread, but look, like I said before, you just need small percentages to change their mind or feel like their lives were better under Trump than they are under Biden.
--:-- Noel King: But the Biden-Harris has a message to sell. They will talk to you ad nauseum and give you laundry lists.
--:-- Bracton Booker: The president promised to help Black families build wealth. He's done that by one, just overall lowering costs.
--:-- Noel King: He promised to invest in black small business owners and entrepreneurs, and the rate of black business ownership has almost doubled.
--:-- Bracton Booker: He promised to invest in black communities overall Black child poverty has been cut in half He increased Pell Grants 60 of Black students can now afford colleges Those grants go into them Invested in HBCUs I mean the list goes on and on
--:-- Noel King: The problem is, I think they are having trouble connecting that to how that is improving certainly all Americans' lives, certainly Black Americans' lives.
--:-- Bracton Booker: So if they're focusing too much on the past and not enough on the future, then folks are going to be like, hey, you know, I remember what my pocketbook felt like when Donald Trump was in office.
--:-- Noel King: Donald Trump was a much better salesman about policies, whether or not he deserved credit or not.
--:-- Bracton Booker: We rallied activists and faith leaders and law enforcement and lawmakers alike. We worked across party lines very strongly. After all of the work and effort, we passed the bill and I proudly signed it into law, the most significant criminal justice reform. In many generations.
--:-- Noel King: To ensure that working Americans impacted by the virus can stay home without fear of financial hardship, I will soon be taking emergency action, which is unprecedented, to provide financial relief.
--:-- Bracton Booker: But look, on the other side, I think Democrats have a much bigger and broader set of accomplishments that they can sell.
--:-- Noel King: Obviously, they're going to point to the vice president being the first black woman, first Asian woman, first woman to have that post.
--:-- Bracton Booker: He's diversified what, you know, the government of America looks like.
--:-- Noel King: He appointed Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first black woman on the Supreme Court.
--:-- Bracton Booker: And he's put more black women on the federal courts than any other administration.
--:-- Noel King: And I think that folks are going to say, look, our job is not complete. We have to continue the work that we've been doing. We have to finish the job.
--:-- Bracton Booker: I think that if we allow Donald Trump back into office, he is going to roll back the progress.
--:-- Noel King: So they're both trying to sell this message that, look, there's a lot of unfinished business on both of our ends.
--:-- Bracton Booker: Trump supporters say, look, our administration got cut short. We will rout the fake news media. We will evict Joe Biden from the White House. And we will finish the job that we so brilliantly started.
--:-- Noel King: It was doing so beautifully.
--:-- Bracton Booker: And you're hearing sort of the same messages from the Biden camp as well. We made a lot of progress because of all of you. But there's more to do. So let's finish the job.
--:-- Noel King: People have been looking at these polls and asking if we're at a point in history where Democrats can no longer count on the black vote.
--:-- Bracton Booker: If that's the case, it would be a very big deal, which is why I think people were asking the question, but nobody really wanted to answer it.
--:-- Noel King: Let me ask you if you're comfortable answering. So you're going to put that question on me now? Is that what you're doing?
--:-- Bracton Booker: I sure am, Brackton Booker. Okay, wow.
--:-- Noel King: Politico's Brackton Booker. You know somebody for a long time and look at you. Look at you.
--:-- Bracton Booker: Look i i don't think there is a a major realignment where democrats have to worry that large numbers of black voters are going to abandon this party but i also think there are lessons learned from 2020 there are a lot of pronouncements made by companies made by politicians made by business leaders about how much things were going to change after george Floyd.
--:-- Noel King: And I think that, you know, folks are keeping receipts. They're like, man, I don't know if I got all that return on all that investment y'all said you were going to make.
--:-- Bracton Booker: And so I think people are just being a little more cautious and a little more judicious about where they are going to put their alliances, right? Like, folks know that their vote counts.
--:-- Noel King: Folks know that Biden absolutely needs them to show up. And so because they know that and because the polling is showing that he is down and also losing support among his strongest base, folks are like, well, what does my vote get me? What are you going to promise me? What are you going to deliver for me and for my community?
--:-- Bracton Booker: And I don't know if all those answers have been provided sufficiently for a lot of voters.
--:-- Noel King: Coming up, my talk with the man who's been asking those questions very loudly, Charlemagne the God.
--:-- Noel King: Support for Today Explained comes from Chime nobody likes fees and complicated banking says Chime and Chime gets that says Chime Chime is a financial technology company that says they understand that every dollar counts.
--:-- Noel King: I am Bracton Booker. I am a correspondent at Politico and also the author of The Recast, which focuses on race and policy and politics. My focus is mainly on voters of color, in particular Black voters.
--:-- Bracton Booker: They seem to be, on some level, up for grabs this election cycle. And, you know, that has different meanings depending on who you're talking to. Black voters are obviously the backbone of the Democratic Party, but there are polls that show that there may be some slippage among Democrats as far as Black voters are concerned.
--:-- Noel King: A recent CBS News poll shows 77% of Black voters would back the president in a potential general election rematch with former President Trump, down 10 points from 2020.
--:-- Bracton Booker: I am concerned that so many of our community are feeling that some of the issues that are more relevant to us are not being addressed.
--:-- Noel King: You use the words up for grabs. And we think about an election. You know, we'd assume every block of voters is up for grabs. And yet baked into what you're saying is the kind of the idea that black voters don't have to be competed for because they will vote Democrat. Where does this idea come from? What's it grounded in?
--:-- Bracton Booker: Well, it stems from the fact that Black voters have been so loyal really since the 1960s and the civil rights movement that Black voters have voted overwhelmingly Democrat no matter who is on the ballot on the Republican side of the ledger.
--:-- Noel King: But what you're seeing now kind of in the modern era of politics is while that still is largely true, we're seeing that Trump has actually made some inroads with black communities.
--:-- Bracton Booker: And polling coming into 2024 is showing that black voters are saying at least to pollsters that some 20 to 23 percent are open to voting for Trump.
--:-- Noel King: And look, it could be the difference in swinging the election for Donald Trump if folks don't show up and vote for Biden-Harris ticket.
--:-- Bracton Booker: And it's still unknown how much like RFK candidacy or a Cornel West or Jill Stein is going to be this year.
--:-- Noel King: But the fact that voters have options and we're seeing protest votes kind of emerge among the Democratic faithful.
--:-- Bracton Booker: It's a win for President Biden in Michigan's Democratic primary, but the results signal discontent among Democrats over the president's foreign policy.
--:-- Noel King: The ballot option, uncommitted, earned more than 100,000 votes.
--:-- Bracton Booker: It's really unclear about where these shifts are going to be and how impactful they're going to be on 2024.
--:-- Noel King: Now, you were recently at Mar-a-Lago for Politico. What do you hear Donald Trump trying to do to appeal to black voters?
--:-- Bracton Booker: Look, he has said some things in recent weeks that has given some people heartburn. Even the sneaker thing.
--:-- Noel King: I was on social media last night. Very interesting. As you see, black support eroding from Joe Biden.
--:-- Bracton Booker: This is connecting with black America because they love sneakers or into sneakers. They love that. You know, there's a big deal, certainly in the inner city.
--:-- Noel King: We're going to remember Sneaker Con. You know that.
--:-- Bracton Booker: But the fact that he is trying to ingratiate himself with Black voters saying, like, look at all this criminal justice system. Look at the legal system. They're coming after me just like they do for you guys.
--:-- Noel King: Look, I don't know if that message hits home, but maybe for some it actually does.
--:-- Bracton Booker: I was a part of a polling group of Black men, and some people said that, yeah, I think these cases that are against Trump, they're politically motivated.
--:-- Noel King: So there is some empathy that is going on among Black men in particular.
--:-- Bracton Booker: I don't think it's widespread, but look, like I said before, you just need small percentages to change their mind or feel like their lives were better under Trump than they are under Biden.
--:-- Noel King: But the Biden-Harris has a message to sell. They will talk to you ad nauseum and give you laundry lists.
--:-- Bracton Booker: The president promised to help Black families build wealth. He's done that by one, just overall lowering costs.
--:-- Noel King: He promised to invest in black small business owners and entrepreneurs, and the rate of black business ownership has almost doubled.
--:-- Bracton Booker: He promised to invest in black communities overall Black child poverty has been cut in half He increased Pell Grants 60 of Black students can now afford colleges Those grants go into them Invested in HBCUs I mean the list goes on and on
--:-- Noel King: The problem is, I think they are having trouble connecting that to how that is improving certainly all Americans' lives, certainly Black Americans' lives.
--:-- Bracton Booker: So if they're focusing too much on the past and not enough on the future, then folks are going to be like, hey, you know, I remember what my pocketbook felt like when Donald Trump was in office.
--:-- Noel King: Donald Trump was a much better salesman about policies, whether or not he deserved credit or not.
--:-- Bracton Booker: We rallied activists and faith leaders and law enforcement and lawmakers alike. We worked across party lines very strongly. After all of the work and effort, we passed the bill and I proudly signed it into law, the most significant criminal justice reform. In many generations.
--:-- Noel King: To ensure that working Americans impacted by the virus can stay home without fear of financial hardship, I will soon be taking emergency action, which is unprecedented, to provide financial relief.
--:-- Bracton Booker: But look, on the other side, I think Democrats have a much bigger and broader set of accomplishments that they can sell.
--:-- Noel King: Obviously, they're going to point to the vice president being the first black woman, first Asian woman, first woman to have that post.
--:-- Bracton Booker: He's diversified what, you know, the government of America looks like.
--:-- Noel King: He appointed Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first black woman on the Supreme Court.
--:-- Bracton Booker: And he's put more black women on the federal courts than any other administration.
--:-- Noel King: And I think that folks are going to say, look, our job is not complete. We have to continue the work that we've been doing. We have to finish the job.
--:-- Bracton Booker: I think that if we allow Donald Trump back into office, he is going to roll back the progress.
--:-- Noel King: So they're both trying to sell this message that, look, there's a lot of unfinished business on both of our ends.
--:-- Bracton Booker: Trump supporters say, look, our administration got cut short. We will rout the fake news media. We will evict Joe Biden from the White House. And we will finish the job that we so brilliantly started.
--:-- Noel King: It was doing so beautifully.
--:-- Bracton Booker: And you're hearing sort of the same messages from the Biden camp as well. We made a lot of progress because of all of you. But there's more to do. So let's finish the job.
--:-- Noel King: People have been looking at these polls and asking if we're at a point in history where Democrats can no longer count on the black vote.
--:-- Bracton Booker: If that's the case, it would be a very big deal, which is why I think people were asking the question, but nobody really wanted to answer it.
--:-- Noel King: Let me ask you if you're comfortable answering. So you're going to put that question on me now? Is that what you're doing?
--:-- Bracton Booker: I sure am, Brackton Booker. Okay, wow.
--:-- Noel King: Politico's Brackton Booker. You know somebody for a long time and look at you. Look at you.
--:-- Bracton Booker: Look i i don't think there is a a major realignment where democrats have to worry that large numbers of black voters are going to abandon this party but i also think there are lessons learned from 2020 there are a lot of pronouncements made by companies made by politicians made by business leaders about how much things were going to change after george Floyd.
--:-- Noel King: And I think that, you know, folks are keeping receipts. They're like, man, I don't know if I got all that return on all that investment y'all said you were going to make.
--:-- Bracton Booker: And so I think people are just being a little more cautious and a little more judicious about where they are going to put their alliances, right? Like, folks know that their vote counts.
--:-- Noel King: Folks know that Biden absolutely needs them to show up. And so because they know that and because the polling is showing that he is down and also losing support among his strongest base, folks are like, well, what does my vote get me? What are you going to promise me? What are you going to deliver for me and for my community?
--:-- Bracton Booker: And I don't know if all those answers have been provided sufficiently for a lot of voters.
--:-- Noel King: Coming up, my talk with the man who's been asking those questions very loudly, Charlemagne the God.
--:-- Noel King: Support for Today Explained comes from Chime nobody likes fees and complicated banking says Chime and Chime gets that says Chime Chime is a financial technology company that says they understand that every dollar counts.
--:-- Noel King: Yesterday, I sat down with Charlemagne the God at South by Southwest. He's host of The Breakfast Club, a show that has millions of listeners.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: I'm a very curious person. My mother was an English teacher in South Carolina and she always told me when I was young to read things that pertain to me.
--:-- Noel King: And so being that she told me that I would read everything from the Source magazine XXL magazine the Mad Judy Blume books.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: And so it the same thing when I'm sitting around, you know, watching any of these elected officials. I'm just always wondering, like, why aren't they asking the most obvious question?
--:-- Noel King: That's how I always used to feel when I used to see people interviewing different celebrities. Like, why aren't they asking that question?
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: So it's the same thing with politics.
--:-- Noel King: The Democrats recognized Charlemagne's influence, and they've been frustrated by his critiques of President Biden.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: He says Biden has no, quote, main character energy, and he questions whether Biden can win in 2024.
--:-- Noel King: When I invited Charlemagne, he asked to bring along his close friend Angela Rye. Angela hosts the Native Land Pod.
--:-- Angela Rye: I was born to an activist and an educator, and I was always taught that I had an opinion and whatever I wanted to do in this life, I could.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: I was a part of a polling group of Black men, and some people said that, yeah, I think these cases that are against Trump, they're politically motivated.
--:-- Angela Rye: I still don't really know how that happened or why.
--:-- Noel King: I started by asking Charlemagne about one of his most viral moments. It's 2020. Charlemagne Tha God is interviewing candidate Joe Biden. And you're trying to get a couple more minutes with him. You're telling him, hang on, hang on, like, don't end the interview yet, which is something every interviewer does.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: Exactly what I said to him in that moment. Like, you know, it's not about Trump. It's about me wanting to, you know, make sure that the Democratic Party is going to show up and do things for our people.
--:-- Noel King: I didn't even disagree with his statement because I think what he was, I hate trying to say what white people are trying to say, But what he was trying to say was like, if you're black and you vote for Donald Trump, you're voting against your interests.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: So this is before Biden is elected. In that moment, did you believe that to be true? What? That if you vote for Trump, you're voting against your interests?
--:-- Noel King: Yeah. I believe that to be true now.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: You believe that to be true now? Absolutely.
--:-- Noel King: Sometimes people aren't sure. I mean, this is the thing. People will say Charlemagne is critical of President Biden. That means he is directing his audience toward Donald Trump.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: Yeah, I think we really insult, black people especially, we insult our own intelligence when we make those kind of statements.
--:-- Noel King: When we say things like, you can't be critical of whoever the elected official is and still know what's in our best interest to do when we get into the voting booth come November.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: All right, so we have all been watching the polling the last couple of months. And one thing that we've all seen is that President Biden does appear to be losing some segment of black voters.
--:-- Angela Rye: What do you think is happening here with President Biden and his support in the black community? Has he done something wrong? Has he failed to do enough right?
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: This is always, when I hear this, people say this nowadays, I'm like, why are they just focusing on the black voters when you see him getting, when he's holding the vote with everybody?
--:-- Angela Rye: That's why, for a long time it was a gimme. I think that's overstated.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: I don't see 23% of black people voting for Donald Trump. I could be wrong, but I don't, I think it might go up, but I don't see 23%.
--:-- Angela Rye: But I think that it is one of those things where we are not, we end up talking about this and then black voters are to blame in November if that's what ends up happening.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: So I don't think that that's fair. Again, we've carried this country long enough, right?
--:-- Angela Rye: But I would say that it's not about what Joe Biden himself has done or not done for black people. I think this is about an institution, an establishment that has regularly failed folks who look like me.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: Folks who feel voiceless and unseen.
--:-- Angela Rye: You get questions about this because... Well said. You get questions about this, I think, in part, again, as a radio person myself, because you take calls on your show, which means you have this intimate connection with people that... It's the best. It's so cool.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: But it means that people sort of ask you to be a representative of the people that you're hearing from who call in.
--:-- Angela Rye: And I'm asking you now to do the same thing. I want to know what you are hearing from people that is undeniable this year about this election?
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: The biggest thing is, you know, my guy Tim Ryan, he talks about the exhausted majority. And he says he feels like, you know, most people in this country, they're not leaning to the left, they're not leaning to the right. They're just tired.
--:-- Angela Rye: So I think it's up to, you know, both candidates right now, but especially, you know, Democrats. How are you going to energize those people who don't want to get up off the couch in November?
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: So that's the biggest thing I'm hearing from people. They're just tired. Like, they're just fed up with the political process. all across the board.
--:-- Angela Rye: What do you think Biden has gotten done? What do you hear Biden has gotten done?
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: Student loan forgiveness is a big one, you know. I mean, honestly, that's the biggest thing I've heard people from our community talking about, because people like to see tangible things.
--:-- Angela Rye: They like to see things that absolutely they can touch and they can feel. Like, you know, when people wonder why folks keep bringing up these stimulus checks, it's because it's something that they could actually touch and they could feel and they could see.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: And I think it's the same thing with the student loan debt forgiveness. But outside of that, I personally haven't heard much.
--:-- Angela Rye: When you say tangible things, I hear the economy. That's it. That's literally all it's ever about. Like, when they ask people, well, what do black people want? You want the same thing everybody else wants in this country, upward mobility, money, people like cash, cash rules, everything around me.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: This is where we disagree, too, though. But it's true. There's nothing we can talk about on this stage that money doesn't revolve around.
--:-- Angela Rye: So it's not just money that we need. We need safety. We need the same folks who are there to protect and serve other communities to protect and serve us not shoot to kill I want a Department of Justice that serves us I want some folks that are really aggressive on the voting rights cases Like this is a big deal
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: He not going to be able to get to the finish line in November if they don't really start taking these voting rights issues really seriously. The voter suppression is going to be so real come November, and Democrats' only defense against voter suppression historically has been, we got to have the largest voter turnout in the history of America, this election.
--:-- Angela Rye: I don't know if you get that in 2024. So if you don't get a large vote, it turned out, how are you going to stop the voter suppression?
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: Truthfully, I think one of the criticisms is even saying something like that could lead to people sitting home and staying on the couch.
--:-- Angela Rye: You're not advocating anyone to sit home and stay on the couch.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: I disagree. What are you basing your disagreement on? Because I think that if these elected officials were doing what they were supposed to be doing for the people, it wouldn't matter, you know, what somebody like me says.
--:-- Angela Rye: If literally me just having these conversations, because the only question I've ever asked, you know, that is considered critical is, are they still a winnable ticket come November?
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: I think that's a very valid question to ask if we have a threat to democracy on the other side. Like, what's wrong with asking that question, are they still a winnable ticket?
--:-- Angela Rye: When you look at the polls, when you look at the approval rating, what's wrong with asking that question?
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: When David Axelrod says that, nobody says anything. What's the guy who wrote the article for the New York Times? Ezra Klein. When Ezra Klein writes an article like that, nobody says anything.
--:-- Angela Rye: But when the black guy from the hip-hop station in a hoodie says something, then everybody has a problem with it.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: Any power that I have is derived from the people. Like, I'm literally only asking the questions that I hear, you know, everyday working class people ask of me when they call into the radio station in the morning.
--:-- Angela Rye: Or when I'm walking the streets of New York or when I'm home in South Carolina, these are the things that I'm hearing people say.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: I'll give you an example. I remember back in January when I was having a conversation with Fox News and the guy said to me, hey, do you think the border is going to be an issue come November?
--:-- Angela Rye: And you said, hell yeah.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: And the reason I said hell yeah is because for the first time, I'm having people that I talk to on a regular basis come to me and they're having these conversations.
--:-- Angela Rye: You know, you have people in Chicago, you have people in New York complaining about the resources that they feel the migrants were getting that, you know, people in the community that have been there forever aren't receiving.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: And you literally had MSNBC run a headline that says Charlemagne Tha God is pushing MAGA messaging. Now, two months later, that's all everybody's talking about is the border.
--:-- Angela Rye: So literally, my answer came from talking to people, regular, everyday people, like not listening to no politics.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: You know, what a campaign strategist said, this came from the people. So how is it MAGA messaging if it's coming from the people?
--:-- Angela Rye: If people think Donald Trump is stronger on the border, if people remember getting stimulus checks for Donald Trump, if people think Donald Trump and the Republicans take crime more seriously than Democrats, that 23 percent, that doesn't seem unrealistic to me.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: Some of the things you're saying—
--:-- Angela Rye: We've got to stop saying that in regards to black voters, though. Like, when you look at Joe Biden's approval ratings, he's getting his ass kicked everywhere. It's not just black people. It's fair.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: So I think that, you know, in order to really get that campaign on the right track, they got to start looking at the totality of what's happening with that campaign and how different groups of people feel about him.
--:-- Angela Rye: In 2020, you endorsed Joe Biden. This year, you have not made an endorsement. You hear how I speak. You hear what your friend, your very well-informed friend says is at stake. Are you going to endorse anyone this year?
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: No, I'm endorsing democracy, though. I think that you should go out there and, you know, you should vote to keep this democracy, democracy alive.
--:-- Angela Rye: So, you know, it's clear as day. All you got to do is, you know, and we're not even talking hyperbole. No, we have these conversations. We got it. We got it. We got some pretty good examples, you know, of what he's capable of.
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: I don't you know, I don't know. January 6th, 2021 was a pretty, you know, pretty cut and dry situation. Like, you know, that was that was an attempted coup with his country.
--:-- Angela Rye: And then, you know, you also have a man who doesn't believe in the Constitution. like you know when you say you should suspend you know the constitution to overthrow the results of an election you know you have his lawyer saying well he didn't you know sign up to say he was going to support the constitution that kind of tells you where we're going all right
--:-- Charlemagne Tha God: Angela Wright, thank you guys so much guys let's give him a big hand thank you for coming out thank you thank you for having us thank you noel thank you noel
--:-- Noel King: That was Charlemagne Tha God live on stage with Angela Rye at South by Southwest last night.
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--:-- Noel King: You also heard Quentin Foulkes of the Biden administration listing some of Biden's accomplishments in the first half of the show.
--:-- [Closing music continues to play]
--:-- Noel King: Thanks to the team on this one, Hari Mawagdi, Miranda Kennedy, Laura Bullard, Patrick Boyd, and Rob Byers. I'm Noelle King. It's Today Explained. Thank you.
--:-- [Closing music ends]
--:-- Noel King: VitaDrinks.com. Use code VOX20 for 20% off. Must be 21+. This product may cause intoxication. This product has not been evaluated or approved by the FDA. This product may contain up to 0.3% THC.
