22:00

And I think that we decided, a

22:02

lot of young people, some of the folks that are

22:05

here in this crowd tonight that helped us take over

22:07

a state party and really, I think,

22:09

make it look like what North Carolina is right

22:11

now, which is representative of all of our counties

22:13

in our state. We have 100 counties, we have

22:15

to act like it, and we can't cede ground

22:17

anywhere to a party that, quite frankly, would like

22:19

to see the demise of our democracy. And so,

22:22

I had a really cool campaign team, comprised

22:24

of young folks, that

22:27

helped me campaign and organize across the

22:29

state. So, we had

22:32

Dante Pittman on the show, that,

22:35

if you're hearing this, is out on Friday.

22:38

And I asked him this, I'm curious what you think about it, too,

22:40

which do seem to be this sort of, these

22:43

two trends taking place side

22:45

by side. One is a kind

22:47

of North Carolina that I think is represented by

22:49

you and some young Democrats who

22:52

are trying to show how this state is

22:54

changing. And then you have a very

22:56

extreme and anti-democratic Republican

22:59

party that seems

23:02

to be reacting to a changing North

23:04

Carolina, not by changing

23:06

with the state, but by trying to hold

23:08

on to power that it

23:10

can. And can you just talk about how you navigate

23:13

that? I

23:15

mean, I think we take us back. How many of you all in

23:17

this room, I can't really see y'all that well, but how many of

23:19

y'all are from North Carolina, originally? Yeah,

23:21

okay. So, this is gonna be a history lesson for the folks

23:24

in this room. Most of y'all are not from North Carolina, from

23:26

what I just saw by the hands that are raised. And

23:28

yeah, come on, everybody out there. Nashville, did you hear

23:31

that? I heard of Nashville. I

23:33

heard of Tennessee. But I think

23:35

it is, it's important to know, Democrats

23:37

controlled North Carolina for 40 years in

23:39

this state. And under the leadership of

23:41

Governor Jim Hunt, of people like Governor

23:43

Terry Sanford, Democrats that sat down

23:45

40 years ago and they said, man, how do we

23:48

take North Carolina and stop it from looking like a

23:50

state like North, and I don't know if you've ever

23:52

seen this since anybody in your, you're from Mississippi, but

23:54

a state like Mississippi right now. You know, North Carolina

23:57

used to be called the Rip Van Winkle state. parts

26:00

of this state, I sometimes

26:02

think a lot of, especially national Democrats,

26:04

spend more time worrying about

26:08

why rural places, say, have more representation

26:10

in the Senate and less time worrying

26:12

about how do we reach those places

26:14

where we genuinely believe that democratic policies,

26:17

if we get over this sort of divide

26:20

over democratic politicians, could make a

26:22

big difference. What do people miss

26:25

about how to campaign in

26:27

rural parts of North Carolina? Ninety

26:30

percent of politics is just showing up. And this

26:32

year what you're going to see is that Democrats

26:34

are going to show up all over this state.

26:36

We're contesting. 2022, for those of you that

26:39

don't remember, you know, 2018 we had historic

26:42

wins across North Carolina. We finally broke the

26:44

Republican supermajority in our state legislature. We were

26:46

on the upswing in a lot of ways.

26:48

And then we backslid in 2020 and in

26:50

2022. And in 2022, we lost control of

26:52

our Supreme Court in

26:56

North Carolina. You know, Democrats lost our Court

26:58

of Appeals. We lost up and down

27:00

the ballot. Chief Justice Sherry Beasley, who should be

27:02

our Chief Justice in that way, right, and should

27:04

be our United States Senator for that matter, too.

27:06

But she won actually five House seats in 2022

27:09

that we lost by 500 votes as a party.

27:11

And those were in a lot of our rural

27:13

counties that are outside of major metropolitan areas or

27:16

for any of these that for any of you

27:18

that might know the studies that have been done

27:20

at a Duke University in Mack McCorkle. But

27:23

country politics in counties like Alamance

27:25

County and places like Wilson and

27:27

Nash counties that representative hopefully representative

27:30

like Dante Pittman is going to be representing

27:32

next year. But places like that that were

27:34

historically democratic counties that we've lost our margins

27:36

in. And to the point that you made

27:38

earlier, North Carolina's population, you know, 40, 41%

27:40

of our state population

27:43

lives in an urban area, 59% still

27:46

lives in a rural community. And that's hard for

27:48

people to believe sometimes. It's easy for folks out

27:50

here, maybe in Buncombe County to believe though, because

27:53

it's a and y'all aren't all Asheville in

27:55

that sense, I see some Weaverville folks in

27:57

here and everybody else around, you know, out

27:59

my outskirts. of

28:01

Asheville in that sense, but I think it's important

28:03

for folks to realize that this

28:05

administration is actually the first one in

28:07

federal history that can say that they

28:10

are investing in rural economies again, and

28:12

it's something that our party needs to

28:14

wear very proudly when we talk about

28:16

the future of rural communities,

28:18

because for a while what it looked like in

28:20

this country, and especially in this state, is people

28:22

were like, man, we're waiting for the, it's like

28:24

the plane sort of needs to land itself, and

28:26

we're waiting for that decline to happen in some

28:29

aspects, and the pandemic really made it so that people

28:31

could look at it and say, what's the

28:33

rural renaissance sort of look like? What does

28:35

it mean to live outside of cities and

28:37

not be in one place and in one

28:39

centralized location? And that gave an opportunity for

28:42

all of rural North Carolina to look at

28:44

it and take advantage of the American Rescue

28:46

Plan funding that came into our communities of

28:48

the bipartisan infrastructure bill of the IRA money

28:50

that's coming into North Carolina right now to

28:52

say, how can we take this money and

28:55

create and sustain communities here on out in

28:57

our state and give people the opportunity to

28:59

live anywhere? But I just, I

29:01

say that because people ask me, they're like, you're

29:04

26, why are you so excited

29:06

to vote for an 80 year old? And I'm

29:08

like, this is the first person that's ever looked

29:10

at a place like where I come from in

29:12

North Carolina and say, man, you shouldn't have to

29:15

leave it in order to make something of yourself.

29:17

You should be able to sit right there in

29:19

it and do that. So,

29:24

so Mark Robinson, uh, it's

29:29

terrible. Yeah. Say

29:32

that again. Nobody

29:34

can like this guy. Nobody. I mean, it's

29:36

got to be a drag on that. He's got to be a

29:39

drag on the on the on some of these other state right

29:41

races. Got to be. He's got to be. I mean, even Donald

29:43

Trump was reluctant to endorse this guy. Uh, is

29:45

Mark Robinson being at the top of this ticket? Is

29:47

that helping people understand just how

29:50

extreme this version of the Republican Party

29:52

has become? Yes, but

29:54

I'd also like to say that he is still the

29:57

current sitting lieutenant governor. Right. I think a lot of

29:59

people nationally we've seen especially

32:00

because you and I are both Gen

32:02

Z and, you know... No. Ha-ha!

32:05

CHEERING You

32:10

gave yourself away by saying that like that, John. I'm not gonna lie

32:12

to you. We're both Generation

32:15

Z. LAUGHTER Um... LAUGHTER

32:20

I... I understand the frustration.

32:22

I mean, that's part of the reason why I'm

32:24

here. And I think right now people need

32:26

to recognise young people are 60% more likely

32:28

to turn out to vote if there's a young

32:30

person on the ballot, regardless of what political affiliation

32:32

they hold right now. We crave

32:34

representation in politics. And I think that

32:37

there's a level of our sort of...

32:40

Coming into our political... I

32:42

think about any marginalised group in politics right now

32:44

and what I would say is that first comes

32:47

representation and the desire for it, and then comes

32:49

that second level of it when you actually realise,

32:51

like, maybe the people that are representing me that

32:53

look like me don't actually represent my values as

32:55

a person. And they may not represent my interests

32:57

as a person. And young people to me are

32:59

right at that step of, like, we need representation

33:02

right now. We're looking at a system that we

33:04

can't find ourselves in, that doesn't see us. And,

33:06

you know, I joke with... Congresswoman Maxwell

33:08

Frost is a really good friend of mine and it's

33:10

sort of a joke with us because I'm like, I

33:12

don't know another state party chair, another member of Congress

33:14

that actually sit down and chat with each other and

33:17

hang out with each other outside of the workplace that

33:19

they're in. But it's both because we're young and we've

33:21

gravitated to each other in this space. And

33:23

a lot of that has to do with the fact that we

33:25

both really fought to get where we were. Maxwell

33:28

Frost ran in a primary against 14 other people or 13

33:30

other people. And,

33:32

I mean, made himself, like, you know, he was an

33:34

Uber driver for his entire time that he was running

33:37

for office or running for Congress. And

33:39

I fought against a political machine in order

33:41

to get here. And I think that people need

33:43

to realize not every young person is going to

33:45

want to fight to be in a role like

33:47

this, unfortunately. And I know that's hard

33:50

to realize from generations that are sitting in this room

33:52

before me right now that have had to fight for

33:54

everything that they've gotten. And I realize that. But

33:57

I think that in some ways we're still coming up in

33:59

that, like, we're... experiencing the first rights that are

34:01

being taken away from our generation right now and the

34:03

fight that we have to get into that. But I

34:05

think that for young people that feel discouraged about the

34:07

top of the ticket, I would say don't punish the

34:09

bottom of the ballot for the top of the ticket

34:12

in that sense too. I know that there are some

34:14

people that are very, that

34:16

they don't see themselves coming out to vote this

34:18

year and our state legislature, I hope all of

34:20

you are watching what's going on in Raleigh right

34:22

now. I know you're three and a half, four

34:25

hours away from it and it can feel impossible.

34:27

But right now our state legislature this last year

34:29

took money, there's a, and I'm

34:31

sorry, I'm rambling on this one, but like there is

34:33

a church, there's a pastor in Monroe,

34:36

North Carolina, a pastor

34:38

that is giving right now $3 million

34:40

from the state legislature for a school

34:42

that he's running out of his church.

34:44

And he was standing up the

34:47

other day on the pulpit, or not the other day,

34:49

but a few months ago on the pulpit and he

34:51

said, you know, if I'm on a jury and

34:53

a woman is wearing a skirt and she gets

34:55

raped, and sorry for not putting a trigger

34:58

warning on that, but that she gets raped and

35:00

that this person, I

35:03

would believe that this person should be able to walk free

35:05

because of what this woman was wearing. And

35:08

I bring you all that story because I'm

35:10

like, I don't think people understand that this

35:12

election cycle to me is not about Joe

35:14

Biden or Donald Trump, it's about common decency

35:17

and honestly, the demise of the

35:19

world that we live in right now. Like it

35:21

is about what type of future do you want

35:23

young people to walk around in and

35:25

young women to walk around in. And I don't

35:27

know about y'all, but I don't wanna be fearful

35:29

of the people that are in positions of power.

35:32

And that's what Donald Trump is, he's

35:34

fearful to me. And I want a

35:36

president, I want a leader of this

35:38

country that I can believe in, that

35:41

I have hope in, that makes me

35:43

feel protected in right now. And I

35:45

don't think anybody feels protected under a

35:47

Donald Trump presidency, a Mark Robinson governorship,

35:50

or anyone else down the ballot, a

35:52

Dan Bishop attorney general ship, someone that

35:54

tried to pass HB2 in North Carolina,

35:56

right? The bathroom bill, we're looking at

35:59

a Republican. party right now that fundamentally

36:01

doesn't believe in human decency or human rights.

36:03

And that's what we're fighting for. And if

36:05

you don't want to vote this year, if

36:07

you don't want to vote for that this

36:10

year, then you need to take a deep internal

36:12

look at yourselves too. And

36:16

where can people go if people are not? So

36:19

I just want you to do a plug for if people

36:21

are in North Carolina, what can they do? And then for

36:24

people listening at home who aren't from North Carolina, what's the

36:26

most helpful thing they can do? Absolutely. Look, we

36:28

flip and see is outside. We're working so

36:30

hard to make sure that we are taking

36:32

back our North Carolina Supreme court races. It

36:35

is the long haul in North Carolina. So

36:37

y'all need to buckle up, get your walking

36:39

shoes on. And even after 2024, you don't

36:41

need to take them off. Let me just

36:44

tell you, because we've got a Republican super

36:46

majority to break this year, a governor's office

36:48

to hold this year, a Supreme court seat

36:51

to hold this year. And you can do

36:53

all of that with us by going to

36:55

ncdp.org getting involved. We've got canvases going

36:57

every single weekend, door knocking, phone

36:59

banking that's happening. What we

37:02

had when Barack Obama first won our state in

37:04

2008 was the

37:06

most excitement and energy on

37:08

the ground. We had people

37:11

everywhere across this state talking to folks. And

37:13

that's what we're going to do this year

37:16

with the North Carolina Dems. The other thing

37:18

I will tell you and the other website

37:20

to plug realmarkrobinson.com for anybody that you have

37:22

that may not be here tonight, couldn't maybe

37:24

afford a ticket to the show or just

37:27

couldn't join you for it in that way.

37:29

They can still learn all about this show

37:31

and learn all about Mark Robinson on realmarkrobinson.com

37:33

and making sure it's got opposition website. It's

37:35

got everything that the man has ever said.

37:38

He really is a hateful person and we don't need

37:40

someone like that leading North Carolina folks. So thank you

37:42

for being here. Anderson clean,

37:44

everybody. Thank you. This is

37:47

great. When

37:50

we come back, TS Madison.

37:52

And we're back. Move

38:00

over Taylor Swift. There's only

38:02

one T.S. I care about, and she's here

38:04

tonight. Please put your hands together for the one, the

38:06

only, T.S. Madison. Oh, yes, honey, oh, yes! Oh,

38:11

yes, baby, hey! Oh, my

38:13

goodness. North

38:15

Carolina, y'all make some noise in here! Oh, my

38:17

God! Good

38:20

to see you. Oh, my goodness.

38:23

No, no, y'all ain't making enough noise.

38:25

Make some noise in this motherfucker for me. Oh!

38:29

I came all the way

38:31

from Atlanta, Georgia. From Atlanta. From

38:34

Atlanta. Atlanta,

38:36

Georgia. You know, they

38:38

ain't doing shit down there, girl. So

38:42

can, if I sit here, they wouldn't see up under my dress,

38:45

would they? That's really up to you.

38:48

Oh. Excuse

38:50

me. I mean,

38:52

can I tell you, the last time that I was in North Carolina, right? Okay, I

38:54

was in North Carolina. Okay,

38:56

it was a long time ago. That's not

38:59

the last time. Okay, I just want to tell y'all, I've

39:01

been drinking that wine back there. Good. I

39:05

think that's good. What is it

39:08

called? What is it? You

39:11

don't know? It's

39:13

a red Cabernet. Honey.

39:17

So the last time, okay, one of the times I was here, I

39:20

stayed at the daisy inn. Okay,

39:23

honey, you know, I didn't have

39:28

as much money as I do now, but I stayed at a daisy inn. And

39:31

so when I stayed at the daisy

39:33

inn, I kind of like was

39:35

trying to get dressed in the mirror, and the

39:38

lights were just too dim. So I

39:40

took the lamp off, the top off the lamp,

39:42

and it just brightened up, and I was able to

39:44

put my rouge on, my foundation, my eyelashes, whatever. So

39:48

I decided to take that lamp with me, to the next hotel

39:50

when I moved to the south. Smart.

39:56

Well, North Carolina let me know, honey. that

40:00

sweetheart, as long as we have your credit card on

40:02

file, we will be charging you for that lamp that

40:04

you lifted up out of here. And

40:07

what was so terrible about it, I didn't even

40:09

remember that I did it, you know, because I

40:11

also gave him a credit card that was... Um...

40:16

...unchargeable. Um... Are

40:20

we outside of the statute of limitations? Yes,

40:23

I'm 47. That happened when I was, like, 9... Oh...

40:30

Wait, I might not be outside of statute of limitations.

40:32

LAUGHTER But

40:35

I got to tell y'all what happened, right? And then we gonna

40:38

do... OK, I'm sorry. So, what...

40:41

So, what happened was, when

40:43

I got to the next hotel, I was

40:45

gonna try to stay at another day's inn. They said,

40:47

oh, ma'am, um, sweetie, you

40:50

have stolen property in your car, honey.

40:52

You can't stay at this day's

40:54

inn anymore. So I end up having to, you know,

40:56

pay for the lamp. Like, the lamp was so cheap,

40:58

and they charged me, like, $200, $300 for the lamp.

41:02

Right, you know? And then I was

41:04

able to stay at a day's inn again. LAUGHTER

41:10

Welcome to the show. Yeah! CHEERING

41:17

Y'all, I'm high as hell. I'm sorry. No,

41:19

it's good. It's good. So, how's

41:22

your pride? Well, I love... A

41:24

pride is amazing. You know, a pride is to be celebrated

41:26

365 days a year, you know? CHEERING

41:31

And so, I just partnered up with House

41:33

Of Love Cocktails, cos you guys know that

41:35

I am a judge on RuPaul's Drag Race.

41:39

CHEERING And so, I just partnered

41:41

up with House Of Love Cocktails, and

41:44

July 1st, they're gonna... They're doing a

41:46

petition where it's called Steel Gay Day.

41:50

Yeah, Steel Gay Day. And it's

41:52

gonna try to extend pride for 365 days a year,

41:55

because everybody should be proud to be exactly

41:57

who they are. You know? Everybody... You

42:03

know, pride is about being loud, loud, and in color.

42:05

And it don't get no more loud, no more live, and

42:08

no more in color than this. Darling. It

42:10

doesn't. I got to do that 365. So

42:13

he has cue cards for me. Wait,

42:15

let's see. Recently?

42:18

Yes. You talked to

42:21

IndieWire about wanting to see trans superheroes. Yes.

42:23

And trans villains. Mm-hmm. Who's

42:26

your favorite trans villain, real or fictional? I

42:29

admit that in the past I've been a nasty. They

42:33

want kidding when they call me well a witch. You

42:40

know, it's Ursula

42:43

is what? I

42:45

didn't know why I loved Ursula.

42:50

When I was a little boy, I fucking

42:52

loved Ursula. Was it her

42:54

tentacles? Yes,

42:57

perhaps it was. But

42:59

I think because, well, I just

43:01

think, I

43:03

think Ursula knew I was gay before I

43:05

did. Of course, darling, of course. And

43:09

then, you know, she was a fish, you know? You

43:14

know, we love fish. And he's understood. So

43:17

here's the thing. I think

43:19

that Ursula is like the greatest Disney

43:21

villain, and I'm hoping that

43:24

they create a backstory on her, like

43:26

they did a Maleficent's backstory. Yeah. And

43:29

so I would love to see the backstory on that. Yes. Yeah.

43:36

Absolutely. Because

43:40

who knows what's going on down there?

43:42

He's a very patriarchal father. It's a

43:45

royal system. Just

43:47

once at the end of one of these Disney movies, I would

43:49

like the stories leading to the prince and the princess are

43:52

going to kiss and be happily ever

43:54

after. But right before they kiss, a

43:57

group of people with pitchforks come in and kill them.

44:00

and say, we're a democracy, and

44:02

we're gonna have a fucking election. Like, they don't

44:05

get to live in the castle anymore. This man

44:07

doesn't get to go from house to house putting

44:09

shoes on people's feet. That's no way to run

44:11

a fucking bake sale. You

44:15

know? Like, what are we doing here?

44:17

Like, her only hope is that a guy likes

44:20

her fucking feet, and that's a good, that's one

44:22

of the good ones. Wait a minute, hold on,

44:24

John, I'm into feet. If

44:28

you got a pretty big toe, I

44:32

may write you a chick. But

44:36

my point being, and I think that that's a

44:38

beautiful thing, and you know,

44:40

don't wanna yuck your yum at all. Are you

44:42

not into feet? You're not into feet? I would say

44:44

that I am sort of feet, they're

44:47

there. You know, I don't hate them, I

44:49

don't love them. They're just part of the

44:51

body, you know? No, the feet can be

44:53

so, or get, is

44:56

it orgasmic? Sure, if that's

44:58

the word you want. Yeah,

45:01

that, you know, if you put

45:03

a foot, like right under your

45:05

nose, like this, sure. And

45:13

you just absorb all of that. Can

45:21

I get a towel? Here's

45:27

the beauty of this show, it contains multitudes.

45:32

We'll get into the challenges of voter

45:34

turnout in

45:36

rural parts of the South. And

45:39

then we'll do feet stuff for a while. And

45:42

that's the beauty of it, you know? And

45:45

that's what I miss most. Madison.

45:48

Yes. We

45:50

here at the pod are currently raising $100,000 through

45:53

our Crooked Pride or House Fund to

45:55

support organizations fighting in states where conservatives

45:57

are banning gender-affirming care and targeting trans

45:59

people. If you're listening

46:01

to this at home, you can

46:03

go to crooked.com/pride fund right now

46:05

to donate to these amazing groups,

46:08

which includes Equality North Carolina. Equality

46:10

North Carolina is dedicated to protecting

46:12

the LGBT community. And so

46:14

it's important for all of us, queer and heterosexual alike,

46:16

to understand that we are part of history and

46:18

as students of queer history, or

46:21

at least someone who had the Stonewall Reader covered in

46:23

dust on my nightstand for a while. We

46:27

want to use the opportunity to catch up on

46:29

the recent scuttlebutt in a segment we're calling Four

46:32

Score and Seven Queers Ago. Okay, come

46:34

on. Oh,

46:37

wait a minute, hold on. Oh my

46:39

God. There we are. I

46:41

look good up there, damn it. Yeah.

46:45

Yes, Four Score and

46:47

Seven Queers Ago. I

46:50

feel as though your statue is good and

46:52

my head is too high up. My

46:57

neck looks weird. Well, are you getting any complaints

46:59

about your head? Yes.

47:09

Yes, you can't even look at me. You

47:14

can't even look at me because of how

47:16

you fucked that up. No

47:21

complaints, no complaints. Is that

47:23

what you were looking for? Yes,

47:26

that's what I was looking for, yes. So here's

47:28

how this works. We

47:31

are gonna go through, have

47:34

you received any complaints about your head? That's not how

47:37

it goes. Yes, that's not

47:39

how it goes. I wanna know, has anybody went to HR

47:41

about your head? Moving

47:46

forward. Okay. Here's

47:48

how this works. We're gonna rate very

47:51

recent moments in queer history on a scale

47:53

from one to eight, one

47:55

being the least to eighth being the

47:58

most historic because eight is. the

48:00

gayest number. Are you ready? I am. First

48:02

up, June 10, 2024, leaked audio of Martha Ann

48:06

Alito, wife of Supreme Court Justice Samuel

48:08

Alito, hit the internet. Here

48:10

she describes a flag she wants

48:12

to fly as a protest against

48:14

the pride flag. I made

48:16

a flag in my head. This is

48:19

how I satisfy myself. I made a

48:21

flag, it's white, and it's yellow and

48:23

orange flames around it. And in the

48:25

middle is the word, Vergonia. Vergonia in

48:27

Italian means shame. Vergonia.

48:31

V-E-R-G-O-G-N-A. Vergonia. Shame,

48:33

shame, shame on

48:36

you. You know.

48:38

Anyway. I

48:42

just, just for, you know, I've always wanted

48:44

a Vergonia. Yeah. Yeah.

48:48

They come, you know. Always.

48:54

I've always wanted a Vergonia. Yeah. Vergonia

48:56

in spring. Yeah. In the spring, in

48:59

a bathing suit, a nice Vergonia. So

49:01

what would you rank it? A 1

49:03

to 8. How

49:06

historic is it? Oh, it's a, it's like a

49:08

5. Yeah. I think it's a 5. Listen, I'll

49:10

forget about a Vergonia by the time I leave

49:12

here, honey. The alcohol is going to be 5.

49:14

Yeah. Yeah. What do you

49:17

give it? I think 5's good. 5 is good. Yeah.

49:19

May 29th, 2024. Pope Francis apologizes for using

49:28

an Italian slur against gay men when asked

49:30

whether the church should admit said gay men

49:32

in a private meeting with Italian bishops. And.

49:36

Wait, they're gay men in private meetings with

49:39

bishops? I think there's more than, I

49:41

think there's a fair number, which is I think what the

49:43

Pope was commenting on. And I know this is not the

49:45

word, but, and I, and I'm

49:47

sorry, but ever since I can

49:49

only imagine the Pope going, and

49:54

I know that's not right, but.

49:57

And then. So

54:00

nobody knows what a convertible is? Nobody?

54:03

There's a hardtop and then

54:06

there's a convertible. There's two types

54:08

of men. There's hardtops and convertibles.

54:11

Some call them turtles. Would

54:19

you consider yourself a convertible or a hardtop?

54:21

So I think we're gonna

54:24

give this... I'm gonna

54:26

give this a two. You're gonna give

54:28

it a two? Well I just don't think it's that historic.

54:30

It's interesting. So we're not gonna remember that? I

54:34

think some people will. I remember the

54:36

convertible. Obviously

54:41

they didn't watch the Danish girl to get

54:44

the tea. May

54:47

24th, 2024 National Park Service reverses

54:49

their ban on park employees wearing

54:51

their park service uniforms in the

54:53

Pride Parade. So now the park

54:55

service people can wear their uniform

54:57

when they're marching. That's nice.

54:59

Yes. Now we

55:01

would give that an eight. That is an eight. I would

55:03

say... That's an eight. I would

55:06

say being a park ranger is an inherently

55:08

queer act on

55:10

some level. Well you know because there's a lot

55:12

of queers in the park. That's

55:16

right. You've never been to Piedmont Park? Why

55:24

does everything have to be so sexual with me? Oh

55:27

my god. I've been

55:29

asking God for the longest to just take

55:31

that spirit off of me.

55:33

I'm like God I've had enough. I've

55:35

had enough. Have you? No.

55:44

You're a sexual being. I am. I'm a

55:46

Libra. Any

55:49

Lebras in the house? I'm

55:53

actually a Libra Scorpio. October

55:55

22nd baby. What

55:58

does that mean? Well that means I'm on the... building

1:00:00

in an area town. CHEERING North

1:00:07

Carolina or not Carolina? North Carolina.

1:00:09

You bet. CHEERING It's

1:00:14

Asheville. And

1:00:17

it seems like you may be hiding

1:00:19

this criminal... inside

1:00:23

of this civilian population. Three

1:00:27

rivers failed recent fecal bacteria testing in

1:00:29

this state. North Carolina or not Carolina?

1:00:31

Hopefully. French

1:00:34

problems, wanna vote? Oh. Hopefully

1:00:36

not? No, it

1:00:39

is. It's here. SoundRivers,

1:00:42

the non-profit that conducts river testing, said some

1:00:44

of their 50 North Carolina testing sites had

1:00:46

fecal bacteria, but hey, think about all the

1:00:49

fecal bacteria tests. You didn't fail. Builders

1:00:53

breaking ground on a posh housing development discovered

1:00:55

the remains of an ancient village, including 2,000

1:00:58

artifacts like fishing nets and human bones.

1:01:00

North Carolina or not Carolina? Not

1:01:03

North Carolina. No, it is North

1:01:05

Carolina. I

1:01:08

don't know where. But North

1:01:10

Carolina's acting state archaeologist Chris Southerly says the

1:01:12

dig is shaping up to me the most

1:01:14

significant discovery in 30 years. Now

1:01:17

the question I have is, you have

1:01:19

an acting state archaeologist? What

1:01:22

happened to the actual state

1:01:25

archaeologist? Did he get

1:01:27

caught in a fucking booby trap? Did he get blow-darted? What?

1:01:32

The fuck? A

1:01:37

YouTuber was charged for shooting fireworks

1:01:39

at a Lamborghini from a helicopter. North

1:01:43

Carolina or not Carolina? Not

1:01:45

North Carolina. That's correct. That

1:01:48

near-guitaristry took place in the state I

1:01:50

call home California. The video, since taking

1:01:53

down, was called The Emptiness of Spectacle

1:01:55

in a Technological Dystopia. Oh, no, no,

1:01:57

I'm sorry. It was called Destroying a

1:01:59

Lamborghini with Fire. fireworks. Huh.

1:02:04

Smoking chunks of metal that fell

1:02:06

from the sky in this area were confirmed to

1:02:08

be part of a SpaceX rocket that broke apart

1:02:11

upon re-entry, North Carolina or North Carolina? Not

1:02:13

Carolina? Nope, North Carolina. No. Keep

1:02:17

an eye on the sky, Asheville, because Elon

1:02:19

Musk is raining hellfire in your backyards. There

1:02:23

it is. Look

1:02:25

at that. Beautiful.

1:02:29

Back in January, a bizarre flaming shape flew across

1:02:31

the night sky as seen in this video. I

1:02:35

don't know what that is. Yes.

1:02:40

Yes, it was North Carolina.

1:02:53

Sadly we're not, that was not aliens ushering

1:02:55

in a new age of prosperity and peace.

1:02:57

It was North Carolina's bandit flight team doing

1:03:00

a fancy flyover for the Charlotte Checkers

1:03:02

hockey team, Outdoor Classic. And

1:03:06

finally, this Friday, June

1:03:09

21st, a strawberry moon will be visible

1:03:11

in the night sky, North Carolina or

1:03:13

not Carolina? North Carolina.

1:03:15

No, everywhere. It's the fucking moon.

1:03:17

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

1:03:20

It's

1:03:23

a trick question. That's the

1:03:25

moon. We

1:03:29

come back to the rant wheel. And

1:03:35

we're back. For

1:03:40

the rant wheel. We

1:03:43

are so close to the release of our book,

1:03:45

Democracy or Else, How to Save America and Ten

1:03:47

Easy Steps. We're going to New York for a

1:03:49

book event moderated by Alyssa Mastromonico on June 25th.

1:03:52

And on the 27th, we're headed to Boston for

1:03:54

another book event hosted by none other than Dan

1:03:57

Feinfer on the same night the

1:03:59

presidential debate is happening. And finally,

1:04:01

I'm closing out the week with

1:04:03

a late night live show for

1:04:05

Pride in Boston, Kathleen Turner, legend

1:04:09

among the guests. So

1:04:11

to get tickets for all of those book

1:04:13

events and shows, go to cricket.com/events. And if

1:04:15

you want to help get us on the

1:04:17

New York Times Best Seller list, because

1:04:19

that's what it's all about. You do the work

1:04:21

to get the thing that proves you did well,

1:04:24

because doing well is the point of the work,

1:04:26

not the work itself. You do the work,

1:04:29

then when the work is done, you say, am I

1:04:31

getting the credit I deserve for the work? Then

1:04:34

you fight like hell to get the credit. Then once

1:04:36

you've gotten that credit, that credit's gone. Time to do

1:04:38

more work. cricket.com/books.

1:04:45

I've been beseeching you. I know. Listen

1:04:48

to this goddamn show. We've been putting it out.

1:04:51

It comes to your pockets every goddamn Saturday, where

1:04:53

you poop or walk the dog or go to

1:04:55

the gym. It's

1:04:58

free of charge. Hundreds

1:05:01

of episodes. Buy

1:05:03

the goddamn book. All

1:05:06

right. Please welcome back

1:05:08

Anderson and T.S. Madison. I

1:05:17

love the way you came over here and got me. Look

1:05:21

how you welcome me. I feel... Wait a minute.

1:05:23

Wait a minute. Did I leave all this glitter

1:05:25

here? Shit.

1:05:28

Now it's time for the rant wheel. Here's

1:05:31

how it works. We spin the wheel

1:05:33

wherever it lands. We rant about whatever

1:05:35

topic we'd like. Where's the wheel? Here it comes.

1:05:38

So I got to go first. Okay.

1:05:49

Yeah. So I was out last night. Right.

1:05:52

And like all of my friends were ordering

1:05:54

octopus. Why are

1:05:56

y'all eating octopus? I just can't do it. Have

1:05:59

you... I was like, octopus in here? Why?

1:06:03

I was like, those things

1:06:05

are too smart to be

1:06:07

frying, grilling, salt-hand, baking, eating

1:06:10

raw. Like, I can't do it. It

1:06:13

just made me so angry to just see

1:06:15

all those plates of octopus just floating

1:06:17

around. I'm like, y'all could have been

1:06:19

eating vagonia instead of

1:06:21

octopus. I

1:06:24

remember I saw the documentary, My Octopus Teacher,

1:06:29

which was a little bit, I would have liked more

1:06:31

octopus in that film. If

1:06:34

you've seen it, you know what I mean. It's like, I

1:06:36

prefer the parts of the movie that are underwater.

1:06:39

That's just a note for that film. It's

1:06:42

like, this is a movie about an octopus. Why

1:06:44

am I spending so much time on fucking land? The

1:06:49

reason I bring that up is

1:06:51

because after I saw My Octopus Teacher,

1:06:53

I was at a dinner and

1:06:56

I didn't order it. I never order it. I don't like it, but I was

1:06:58

like, I'll try it one last time. And I was like, no, I'm out. I'm

1:07:01

out. They're too smart. They're too smart. I

1:07:03

don't want to eat anything that smart. That's

1:07:06

why I stopped eating men. Wait

1:07:10

a minute. I'm lying. You know, they can be

1:07:12

dumb sometimes, Eddie. I can eat one of them

1:07:14

up right now. And

1:07:20

my favorite octopus movie was James

1:07:22

Bond's Octopussy. What

1:07:25

a time you could just call a movie that. Octopussy.

1:07:28

That means eight pussies at one time. Octopussy.

1:07:32

Yeah. I always forget

1:07:34

if it means eight pussies or an eighth

1:07:36

of a pussy. Whatever it is, it's octopussy.

1:07:41

Let's spin it again. Anderson,

1:07:47

thank you for being here. I'm

1:07:50

enjoying it. Such a serious charm. I

1:07:52

was like, oh my God, please don't let me go. Octopussy

1:07:55

is entertaining. They looked at me backstage and

1:07:57

they said, don't talk about politics. I

1:08:00

know that I know much else to talk about. But

1:08:03

a fun fact for everybody, rural broadband is

1:08:05

the other thing that I am very knowledgeable

1:08:07

about. And

1:08:10

North Carolina is randomly one of

1:08:12

18 states that has a

1:08:14

ban against municipal owned broadband access

1:08:17

right now, which is boo. It

1:08:20

means that unfortunately, even though we have

1:08:22

42 billion dollars headed into broadband

1:08:24

access, thanks to the Joe Biden

1:08:26

and Kamala Harris administration, for

1:08:29

infrastructure, it means that in

1:08:31

order for public money to be actually put

1:08:34

into the public, it has to go through

1:08:36

a private entity in order to be able

1:08:38

to do that. And so none of our

1:08:40

municipalities across North Carolina can own or operate

1:08:42

their own broadband infrastructure. And we're one of

1:08:45

18 states that have that ban,

1:08:47

which I think is so interesting. And so

1:08:49

it's a really big restriction on municipal governments.

1:08:51

And so when we're looking at our state

1:08:53

legislature, not only are they restricting our bodies,

1:08:55

but they're also restricting your ability to be

1:08:57

able to have the great equalizer, which

1:09:00

is what I like to call the internet everybody.

1:09:02

So being able to have access to that is

1:09:04

extremely important right now. And we're working on it,

1:09:07

but that's why we gotta get better state legislators.

1:09:09

Shout out to Representative Lindsey Prather who represents Buncombe

1:09:11

County. Yes, come on Lindsey. North Carolina state legislature.

1:09:13

Come on Lindsey. She's amazing, so yeah. That's

1:09:16

my right hand. Hell yeah. Yeah.

1:09:18

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

1:09:21

Yeah. They preemptively wanted to prevent showing

1:09:24

people that government could do good. Is

1:09:26

that right? That's basically what it is. To make sure that

1:09:29

the profits of telecom companies were

1:09:31

protected. Well, I was about to say, it really had

1:09:33

to do with money coming into their pockets. Right. And

1:09:35

the fact that lobbyists, which also if y'all are

1:09:37

not following the legislature right now, they

1:09:40

just recently put into another bill, like

1:09:42

a little separate piece of the bill

1:09:44

about campaign finance laws that have changed.

1:09:46

And so in North Carolina now, lobbyists

1:09:49

used to not be able to give money to

1:09:51

legislators during session when it's in session, which we

1:09:53

are in short session right now for the general

1:09:55

assembly, for those of you that may not know,

1:09:59

but what's happened now. is that the laws

1:10:01

actually enabled it so that lobbyists can give

1:10:03

money to folks that are running for office

1:10:05

and Republicans have once again changed the laws

1:10:07

in order to try to rig it for

1:10:10

their side of things in that sense too.

1:10:12

So thinking about how people are making campaign

1:10:14

finance laws more restricting but also using them

1:10:17

to pump more money into politics right now

1:10:19

which is something that this party is honestly

1:10:21

against. And I

1:10:23

just I think we talk

1:10:27

a lot about Republicans attacking democracy

1:10:29

and I think sometimes we don't

1:10:31

talk enough about why democracy is

1:10:33

good. It is not

1:10:35

a coincidence that anti-democratic politicians,

1:10:38

politicians who try to draw

1:10:40

unfair maps, try to restrict

1:10:43

people's ability to vote, that

1:10:47

these are also politicians that pursue basically

1:10:50

legalized corruption. Democracy

1:10:53

is a great check against corruption.

1:10:56

Knowing that you are accountable to people, that

1:11:00

your voters choose you and you don't

1:11:02

choose your voters, it is a defense

1:11:04

against corruption. It is one of the

1:11:06

great defenses against corruption and the more

1:11:09

you see and there's a reason that we

1:11:11

have an anti-democratic Supreme Court that is also

1:11:13

a court in which you see Supreme Court

1:11:15

justices deciding that they can fly on private

1:11:17

jets and and go to these kind of

1:11:19

private meetings and share their thoughts but not

1:11:21

share them with the public. Like there is

1:11:23

a connection between corruption and anti-democratic politics and

1:11:26

I don't think we draw that connection enough

1:11:28

and I think we should. But

1:11:32

that's not my rant. Let's spin it again. Are

1:11:35

we gonna spin it again? Spin that

1:11:37

wheel. I

1:11:39

think it might land on me. I hope

1:11:42

so. There we

1:11:44

go. I would

1:11:46

like to talk about

1:11:49

the Biltmore. So

1:12:00

And I would like to do it with

1:12:02

the photos I took this

1:12:05

very day. So

1:12:08

this is the Biltmore. I

1:12:10

saw it. Magnificent. It's

1:12:13

a beautiful, gigantic building. Who

1:12:15

built this incredible space?

1:12:17

Now, they hand you a little audio device

1:12:20

that you're supposed to hold up to your

1:12:22

ear, but fundamentally, that's embarrassing to me. So

1:12:24

I don't know anything. But

1:12:27

let's go to the next slide. Two

1:12:30

billiard tables? OK, calm

1:12:32

down. Calm

1:12:34

down. Two pool tables. What

1:12:37

do you do when all these people want to

1:12:39

play pool at the same time? Fine. OK. OK.

1:12:42

Next room. A

1:12:45

fireplace that's three fireplaces side

1:12:47

by side? I

1:12:51

know it's old. Just because it's

1:12:53

old doesn't mean it's not gaudy

1:12:55

bullshit. People,

1:13:01

some really old antique

1:13:03

stuff is gaudy

1:13:06

bullshit. Wait a

1:13:08

minute. I feel attacked. Next was

1:13:10

Tabah. Never you. I thought

1:13:12

it would be excluded from this narrative. Yeah,

1:13:14

you're not. Next slide. Again,

1:13:18

that's a lot of fucking antlers

1:13:22

on the wall of the dining room. Though

1:13:27

I would put this on my Pinterest board. It is

1:13:29

stunning. And then I think to

1:13:31

myself, well, who would have created this space? And

1:13:34

then you see the picture. Girl.

1:13:41

And then, now you may not be able to see

1:13:43

this. So let's punch in.

1:13:47

Girl. For

1:13:52

those listening at home, Van

1:13:55

Gogh smearing the word gay

1:13:58

in oil painting. could not

1:14:01

capture the fucking mincing

1:14:04

queerness wafting off

1:14:07

of this Vanderbilt portrait. This

1:14:09

is the gayest motherfucker to

1:14:13

ever live. Is he,

1:14:15

are you a Vanderbilt? I'm sorry, sir.

1:14:18

Is he offended? He's actually

1:14:20

offended? Or he just wants a drink?

1:14:25

George Vanderbilt was a friend of mine. You sir, no,

1:14:28

George Vanderbilt. All right. And

1:14:31

where is this picture? It is

1:14:33

hung between a photo, a portrait of his

1:14:35

mother and

1:14:38

his wife. Oh,

1:14:41

beautiful fur. Oh yes. Then

1:14:45

we have his bedroom. Oh.

1:14:49

And then you walk down a very

1:14:51

long hallway. Very

1:14:53

long hallway to get to her bedroom. Wait,

1:14:57

wait, wait. So there's

1:14:59

a he's and her's bedroom. Now that

1:15:02

was apparently common at the time, but

1:15:04

nevertheless. Right. Nevertheless. We also have,

1:15:06

that's Kennedy and Chris in the shot. Next

1:15:10

slide, please. Then

1:15:12

you start to notice the

1:15:15

air of fagaccini. Next

1:15:22

slide. Oh. Maybe,

1:15:26

maybe the air, maybe fagaccini. Ooh,

1:15:30

fagaccini. Al

1:15:33

Francis fagaccini. And

1:15:35

then I'm sorry to say, let's serve

1:15:37

it. That's, that's

1:15:39

a little gay boy. Yes. Serving,

1:15:43

honey. And then I included

1:15:45

this one because it's like, wow, we get it.

1:15:47

You saw a Goya. That's

1:15:51

also for no one. But

1:15:53

you know, I picture George Vanno being like,

1:15:55

I saw something amazing when I was in Madrid.

1:15:57

Can you do something like that? Yeah.

1:16:01

You know? I don't

1:16:03

know, because again, I'm not

1:16:05

going to hold that thing to my ear. So

1:16:10

I have no idea. I have no idea what

1:16:12

was going on in that house. Some more gay art with

1:16:14

Kendra. Next

1:16:17

frame. Now, I

1:16:19

wanted to pause here because this is the bowling alley.

1:16:24

And it's like, oh, wow, bowling alley. But

1:16:26

then you look a little bit closer. And

1:16:29

what you see there is there's

1:16:32

a fucking alcove in the wall. Why?

1:16:35

So a servant could stand there while

1:16:37

fucking bowling balls go hurtling past. And

1:16:39

then when the coast is clear, run

1:16:41

out and set the pins up and

1:16:43

then get back in the fucking alcove

1:16:45

to hide from the Vanderbilt's fucking balls,

1:16:47

which he probably had to do in

1:16:49

other places in this castle as well.

1:16:56

Next slide. Wait.

1:17:03

Here's another point. This

1:17:05

is in the lower levels. So

1:17:07

I include this portrait because this

1:17:09

shows the dining room in the

1:17:11

servants' quarters. And what I

1:17:14

thought when I saw it is you

1:17:16

could get away with calling this cottagecore

1:17:18

and charging a lot of money for

1:17:21

this look. Next

1:17:23

slide. This is

1:17:25

the moose Tommy killed. It's

1:17:30

just an inside joke for people that know about the moose

1:17:33

Tommy killed. Tommy was... And he said he didn't listen to

1:17:35

the tour, folks. That's

1:17:37

not even... Yeah. Tommy, one of my

1:17:40

co-host, the Ponce America, he was in a

1:17:42

van in rural New Hampshire. And they hit

1:17:44

a moose. And then they had to

1:17:46

drag it to the side of the road. Moose dead. Well,

1:17:49

did y'all make some ground beef out of it? You

1:17:52

never had ground moose? When life hands you a dead

1:17:54

moose, you make... Ground moose.

1:17:57

You make ground moose. You make moose. Next

1:18:01

slide. And

1:18:04

that was our adventure at the Vanderbilt. And

1:18:07

you can even see one of those glass statues in the

1:18:09

back. And I want to thank the person who took this

1:18:11

photo, even though if you zoom in, we're each of us

1:18:14

making a different bad face, and the framing is atrocious. Look

1:18:18

at the framing of this photo. We're not in the middle, but

1:18:20

we're not on the third. The building

1:18:22

is kind of in the picture. This sucks. This is

1:18:25

a terrible composition. If we're all going

1:18:27

to be... This is the final point I'll make. Anderson,

1:18:30

thank you for being here. There's

1:18:35

two things that we're all doing constantly,

1:18:38

but not seeming to get better at.

1:18:40

Driving and taking pictures. If

1:18:43

we are all photographers, let's

1:18:46

learn to frame things up a little bit. Just,

1:18:48

that's it. That's it. Just learn to

1:18:51

just try a little bit. It's

1:18:55

a beautiful home. It's

1:18:57

very big. It's

1:19:00

a big house. It's very

1:19:02

big. It's a big house. But

1:19:04

it is stunning, and I think it speaks to... It

1:19:07

is pride, and obviously I don't know

1:19:09

anything about George Vanderbilt. And

1:19:11

based on the portraits, they had at

1:19:13

least one child, so he

1:19:16

had sex with a woman at least once, I suppose. But

1:19:20

who can really say what goes

1:19:22

on? The hallways

1:19:24

are long. You didn't see that picture? No,

1:19:27

yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Thank

1:19:32

you. And

1:19:43

guys, give it up for Anderson Clayton. Amazing.

1:19:47

And T.S. Madison. When

1:19:50

we come back, we'll end on

1:19:52

a high note. And

1:19:55

we're back! Kendra's

1:20:03

out there. If you want to share a high note

1:20:05

live tonight, can we bring the lights up please? You

1:20:07

can line up behind Kendra. You got to go to

1:20:09

Kendra for the high notes. Hi, what's your name? What's

1:20:12

your high note? I'm Caroline. Hi Caroline. So I just,

1:20:14

I actually sent this in as a lowly highlight, but

1:20:16

it didn't make it. So I wanted to do it

1:20:18

live. My brother

1:20:20

is a paramedic here in Western North

1:20:23

Carolina and we just got, we

1:20:26

were notified by him very quietly

1:20:29

that he received a citation from

1:20:31

the Haywood County Emergency Services that

1:20:33

he recently saved three lives. And

1:20:36

to him, that's not a big deal because that's

1:20:38

what he does every day, but to those three

1:20:40

people, that's a really big deal. So I'm really

1:20:43

proud of him and

1:20:46

he needs all the applause we can

1:20:48

give him. So, yay. That's cool. Isn't

1:20:53

it funny that citation can be good or

1:20:55

bad depending on the context? What

1:20:57

a funny thing. What's your name?

1:20:59

What's your high note? Hi John, I'm Julia. My

1:21:03

high note is tomorrow's my daughter's birthday, my

1:21:05

oldest daughter. Her name is Maya. So happy

1:21:07

birthday Maya. Oh great. Thanks.

1:21:09

Happy birthday Maya. Hi, what's your name? What's

1:21:11

your high note? Hi, I'm Kevin.

1:21:14

I worked as a software development for

1:21:17

a private aviation company, which is kind

1:21:19

of like fun, but really uncomfortable because

1:21:22

private aviation. And

1:21:24

they made the decision for me and cut our

1:21:26

whole team with no notice and two weeks of

1:21:28

severance because, you know, whatever.

1:21:31

And I realized I didn't

1:21:33

want to be a part of 9 to 5. It wasn't

1:21:35

for me. I'm back at the bar that I started working

1:21:37

at when I was a kid or when I was younger.

1:21:39

And when I was a kid, I

1:21:41

was a bartender. It was crazy. And

1:21:44

I realized I've been fishing my whole life

1:21:46

and I want to be a fishing guide.

1:21:48

And my entire life has been changed with

1:21:50

this decision I had no part in. So

1:21:52

that's my high note. That's beautiful, dang. You

1:21:54

did make a decision. Thank you. You could

1:21:56

have done a lot of things when you

1:21:59

leave that. job. You're choosing to

1:22:01

do what you want to do. That's a beautiful

1:22:03

thing. That's cool. Thank you. It's great to meet

1:22:05

you. Hi,

1:22:07

what's your name? What's your high note? Hi, my name is Erin.

1:22:10

That rainbow building that you showed

1:22:12

was recently donated the land and

1:22:14

the building to Piscalegal Services, which

1:22:16

is who I work for, and

1:22:19

it's a nonprofit law firm helping

1:22:21

low-income people in Western North Carolina,

1:22:23

and we just launched our Trans

1:22:25

and Queer Health Project, which my

1:22:27

team created, started, launched on

1:22:29

the website. It's to hopefully help Trans

1:22:32

and Queer people in the 18 counties

1:22:34

of Western North Carolina get the care

1:22:36

they need and deserve and are entitled

1:22:38

to and help them find the resources they need. That's

1:22:40

great. Hi,

1:22:45

what's your name? What's your high note? Hey,

1:22:47

I'm Gary. I am Comms Director for the

1:22:49

Young Dems of North Carolina. We

1:22:54

just elected our youngest president ever at

1:22:56

20 years old. Her name is Anna

1:22:58

Rios, and she is also our first

1:23:00

Latina president ever. It's cool. And we

1:23:03

are doing everything we can to turn

1:23:05

out young people to selection, and we

1:23:07

have a badass president at the helm.

1:23:09

Nice. That's cool.

1:23:14

It's like, well, how young is this one?

1:23:17

You to see the campaign that she ran is

1:23:19

incredible. Hello.

1:23:22

Hello. My name is Katie, and

1:23:25

I'm here with my best girlfriends. One of

1:23:27

them is an abortion care provider in Georgia.

1:23:33

That's my high note. She's a badass, wonderful

1:23:35

lady who cares for so many women every

1:23:38

day, and we love her. That's

1:23:40

great. Hi,

1:23:43

what's your name? What's your high note? Hi, my name is

1:23:45

Kristin Robinson, and I'm the first vice chair for the

1:23:47

Buncombe County Democratic Party here in Asheville. Nice. And I

1:23:49

just want to highlight we are doing canvassing and phone

1:23:51

banking every single week, and I see just a great

1:23:53

group of folks, and I would love for y'all to

1:23:56

come get involved by our Democratic Party. We're trying to

1:23:58

change things here, and I just I just appreciate everyone

1:24:00

being here. And if y'all can come knock one single

1:24:02

door for me, make one phone call, I promise you

1:24:04

will make a hell of a difference. So just thank

1:24:07

you and thank you for being here as well.

1:24:09

Thanks, thanks for having me. And

1:24:12

you know, I feel

1:24:14

like I get into, I remember, I have to remember

1:24:16

that like, yes, we've made pitches like this before, but

1:24:19

they're sometimes worth making again. And one of them is

1:24:21

if you haven't knocked on doors before, if you haven't

1:24:23

made calls before, at the

1:24:25

beginning it feels like there's like a, like

1:24:27

a learning curve or just sort of, it's a

1:24:29

stressful, you're not sure how it's gonna go, but

1:24:31

then you really do find that it's not just

1:24:33

a good thing to do, it's a good thing

1:24:35

for you. You feel good doing it. And like

1:24:37

politics, when you're just on your phone

1:24:40

is negative and subtract,

1:24:42

it feels like subtraction, but politics, when you're out

1:24:45

in the world, it feels more positive and more

1:24:47

like addition and it's a good feeling. So

1:24:50

go volunteer. Hi,

1:24:54

my name is Lane. I'm from Texas. I

1:24:56

live in Texas. And my parent, I live

1:24:58

on a ranch and I've been bottle feeding

1:25:01

this baby calf that's lame for

1:25:03

three weeks. And I just got a text this morning

1:25:05

that he's walking on his own. Cool. I

1:25:09

know you like it. I know you love it more.

1:25:12

I know. I'm

1:25:15

gonna try to top baby calf. I'm

1:25:17

Catherine Harvey and I'm running for Congress

1:25:19

in upstate South Carolina. Nice. I'm

1:25:25

the chair of the Spartanburg County

1:25:27

Democratic Party and I'm challenging William

1:25:29

Timmons and he is an extreme

1:25:31

congressman and we could use

1:25:34

the North Carolina support down

1:25:36

the mountain. So I just wanted to introduce myself

1:25:38

and thank you for being here and shout out

1:25:40

to Anderson for all she's doing. Thank

1:25:43

you. Hi,

1:25:46

what's your name? What's your high note? Hi,

1:25:49

I'm Karen Valentine. I am visiting from

1:25:51

West Virginia. And if anybody knows anything

1:25:53

about West Virginia politics, enough

1:25:56

said. So I

1:25:58

also am here with my. daughter

1:26:00

who is running as a Democrat

1:26:03

for a state delegate in

1:26:05

the 97th District, Lucia Valentine,

1:26:08

and I'm so proud of her. I raised

1:26:11

three daughters in a very difficult

1:26:13

state of West Virginia for

1:26:16

women and

1:26:18

my daughter has been an environmental lobbyist. I

1:26:21

also have another daughter who is a new

1:26:24

transplant to North Carolina and she

1:26:26

is a proud public school teacher

1:26:28

here in North Carolina and

1:26:32

a marine biologist in the state

1:26:34

of Mississippi. So we are representing

1:26:37

some really hard states here and

1:26:39

I did it as a single

1:26:41

mom and we have to keep

1:26:43

pushing forward. Everybody has to keep

1:26:45

pushing forward. Sounds like

1:26:48

three amazing daughters. That's

1:26:50

cool. Sounds

1:26:53

like a sitcom honestly.

1:26:55

Marine biologist running for

1:26:57

Congress, running for public

1:26:59

office. That's the show. And

1:27:02

that's our show. If you

1:27:05

want to leave us a high note, leave

1:27:07

them as a friend of the pod subscriber

1:27:09

or you can email them to us at

1:27:11

lowlyhighnotes@gmail.com. That's our show. Thank

1:27:14

you so much to Anderson Clayton and T.S.

1:27:16

Madison. Thank you to Asheville and the Orange

1:27:18

Peel. Thank you to everybody for coming out.

1:27:21

Go buy a book. I'll be out there

1:27:23

signing books. Go sign up to flip North

1:27:25

Carolina. There are

1:27:27

134 days until the 2024 elections.

1:27:31

Have a great night and have a great

1:27:33

weekend. Love

1:27:44

It or Leave It is a Crooked Media

1:27:46

production. It is written and produced by me,

1:27:48

John Lovett and Lee Eisenberg. Kendra James is

1:27:50

our executive producer. Chris Lord is our producer

1:27:52

and Kennedy Hill is our associate producer. Hallie

1:27:54

Kiefer is our head writer. Sarah Lazarus and

1:27:56

Jocelyn Kaufman, Peter Miller, Alan Pierre, Will Miles and

1:27:59

Mohamed El-Sheikhi are our our writers. Evan Sutton

1:28:01

is our editor, Kyle Seglen and Charlotte Landis

1:28:03

provide audio support, Stephen Cologne is our audio

1:28:05

engineer, and Milo Kim is our videographer. Our

1:28:07

theme song is written and performed by Sure

1:28:09

Sure. Thanks to our designer, Bernardo Serna, for

1:28:11

creating and running all of our visuals, which

1:28:13

you can't see because this is a podcast,

1:28:15

and to our digital producers, David Toles, Claudia

1:28:17

Shang, Mia Kelman, and Matt DeGroat for filming

1:28:19

and editing video each week so you can.

1:28:30

Love it or leave it. It's love it

1:28:32

or leave it.