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Unknown A
In order for it to go really go crazy, I think it would kind of have to be kind of like a Jorge Flores type situation where someone gets something may or may not look, something that looks bad on camera, even if it's not something that looks better on camera, that it can then kind of spark that way.
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Unknown B
There are currently protests that are happening over ICE raids in California. Now, these things do happen nationwide. I think the reason why, like we stated earlier, you know, it's riot season because protesters aren't as motivated to get out when it's 20 degrees outside as they are when it's balmy and they're kind of bored and looking for something to do with. I think what Netanyahu's visit was an exception.
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Unknown C
It was pretty cold, though.
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Unknown B
Yeah, that was an exception to the whole season thing. But what are your sense, or what is both your sense as to how much juice is in the left looking to rightide, do you think that they're looking to protest? Do you think that the issues that are probably the most volatile, do you think they have enough to actually become a nationwide phenomenon, or do you think that it's going to be just pockets?
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Unknown A
I think. I think it's mainly going to be pockets, but obviously. But those pockets are the big cities, right? Los Angeles, Chicago, New York. And so, because I was. I was in Los Angeles a couple weeks ago covering, Covering these protests. And throughout the week, it was mainly high school students who were walking out of school to. To. To protest ice. Not. I know a lot of people kind of like to, you know, discount that by saying, oh, they just want to skip school. Don't get me wrong. I think that was a part of it, especially, especially the one that happened on Friday. That Friday. But also, you know, they were Latinos, so I mean, they do have skin in the game, so to speak, at least in their eyes. And so I think it's still too early. But I mean, it's not unreasonable to assume that once the deportations really start ramping up, which I know people are criticizing the pace right now, but it's only been a month.
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Unknown A
But, you know, once they ramp up, once they start to fully envelop more people than just the hardened criminals, I think at that point, then, yes, because, I mean, you see like, with the TikTok videos, right? Like, you see people do, like, reporting, like, the sightings. You had that radio station out in, I think, San Francisco giving out live reports on whether this is ISIS in this neighborhood at the street. So the resistance is certainly there, I think, in order for it to go really go crazy. I think it would kind of have to be kind of like a Jorge Flores type situation where someone gets something you may or may not know, look, something that looks bad on camera, even if it's not something that looks bad on camera, that it can then kind of spark that wave. But I mean, 2020 was just really unique because it wasn an t election year.
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Unknown A
There was that Covid background to it. And then, I mean, yeah, it's no coincidence that it popped off in May, like at the end of May. Right. So just from my point of view, it is going to be a movement for sure. It just needs, I think, a little bit more time to kind of build up any sort of them in order to have any sort of significant impact in places like New York City or Chicago.
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Unknown B
Richie, you're always on the ground, too. So do you feel the same kind of energy in the protest that you've been to, say, in the past two years leading up to the recent election down? Because one of the things that I think. I think that the president does matter. There's a lot of people on the far left that were very comfortable calling Joe Biden Genocide Joe and stuff, but I feel like that element is a constant. And I think that you need some kind of motivation for people that are more loosely affiliated with politics to get them involved. So what's your sense about.
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Unknown C
So, Julio, were you out in. In front of the Columbus statue at Union Station over the summer? Was.
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Unknown A
Yeah, I saw you.
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Unknown C
Yeah. Okay.
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Unknown A
I'SAY I thought you were retired, but.
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Unknown C
That was the biggest, like, anti Netanyahu, anti Israel protest, Palestine protest of that year. And that was pretty crazy. That was almost at 2020 levels recently. This winter, after the election, I was at Netanyahu's last visit to the White House, and there were like, you. A couple thousand people outside. But actually, what was bigger was the USAID protest that was happening on the same day. It was like twice the size. And the thing that I was.
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Unknown B
That was protesting. Protesting Doge, right? Was.
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Unknown C
Yes, sorry, that was Doge protest. It was before the USAID stuff. But that group of people, I've been out at a couple of those protests, and that's a much oldlder crew. So it's like a lot of people who are federal employees. And I was just out there this week for a protest in front of the Capitol, and I was just amazed. I mean, it was a couple thousand people, so it was a sizable protest, but it was a much, much older group. And I think that group is Much different from the pro Palestine, anti Israel group, which is a lot younger. So I think it depends on what the topic is and what's happening. But I definitely think moving forward, we're going toa see protests around immigration, protests around what's going on in the Middle East, Ukraine and obviously the Doge.
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Unknown B
So you guys feel, do you, do you agree that there might be protests on Ukraine? The fact that you mentioned that is interesting to me because I don't feel like there is a lot of motivation in young people about the Ukraine situation. I mean, granted how the negotiations go and what ends up happening in Ukraine, it's possible that that could change, but it's my sense that it's not, it's not a topic that really puts fire in the belly of the young people that are most likely to get out and get the most rambunctious. What's your, what's your thought?
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Unknown A
Yeah, I don't think that's going to be. That might be kind of like, you know, it might be out of protest. You might see like a Ukraine flag. Sure. Of course there's alwaysn toa be that one person. Right. But in terms of like, for a whole movement, I don't, I don't see that being like a big catalyst. I mean, look, anything can happen, right? I mean, it's kind of hard, it's hard to predict these things because they're just so chaotic by nature and that's what makes them fun. But they, this is, I think the main thing is just going to be that it's going to be mainly focused on immigration because as we're talking about before we went live, like the Palestinian protests have like really lost steam compared to where they were because even like. So, for example, like the DNC last year in Chicago, everyone was kind of expecting that to be crazy.
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Unknown A
And there were moments, don't me wrong. But even though the turnout was not nearly as big as the protesting groups were projecting, people were guessing it was. People were saying like up to like a 100,000 and like I think the busiest was like close to 20,000 like that. And I'm not discounting that, but it just shows that at least here in the United States, you know, you know, England is probably a different.
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Unknown B
Sure.
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Unknown A
Different circumst just by again, by pure numbers. But like here in the United States'it doesn't have that widespread of people like BLM did at the beginning. And so, but obviously we have a lot more Latinos here in the United States. So I just put on a numbers Game and same thing with Ukrainians. Like we don't have that many Ukraians. Like yeah, the people are gonna care about that or like the people in the beltw way because the money'being threatened now. But I don't think they're gonna burn down the White House or anything, or anything crazy like that. So I think it's going toa be mainly focused on immigration.
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Unknown C
Don't you think? There's some fatigue too because everybody's been screaming about Trump as a fascist for the last almost 10 years now. And at this point it's like it's been a five alarm fire for nearly a decade. And you know, at what point, that's one thing that I've noticed as well is with the Doge protest, people have turned their iree towards people like Elon Musk because Trump is just not the galvanizing figure that he was during BLM.
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Unknown A
Where he's not new.
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Unknown C
Yeah, exactly. So it's like Elon is now kind of public enemy number one.
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Unknown B
I mean, I think that it makes sense that Donald Trump is, you know, a known quantity now to most Americans. But I think that the fact that he, he has such a high approval rating now as well, comparatively. Oh yeah. I mean he's got, he has, you know, if you told a Democrat, if you told him three years ago, Donald Trump's go going toa win again. He's going toa win with the popular vote and when he wins, he's going to have an approval rating that is on par with any other Republican. They would have lost their minds and they would have said, you're crazy because they had convinced themselves that he was this, you, this unique evil and unique threat. And now with, like I said, his approval rating is very, it's normal. It's what you would expect from a normal politician. I don't think that most Americans look at him as to your point.
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Unknown B
I think that, I don't think most Americans look at him as a threat to democracy or a threat to the United States the way that they used to. Do you think that that could change if he does actually become more draconian in his methods or if he, he directs the Immigration and Homeland Security to become more draconian their methods surrounding deportations.
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Unknown A
Well defined draconian, I guess. What would you consider?
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Unknown B
So everyone that's over a certain age remembers the picture during the Bill Clinton administration where Emilio Gonzalez, I think his name, and there's a dude literally pointing an MP5 at the father trying to grab the kid. Everybody remembers that and that kind of imagery can motivate people. And in the modern era where everyone has a cell phone and. But just because everyone has a cell phone that records video doesn't mean you get an understanding of what's going on. Because you look at. I think it was Philindo Castile that set off the Ferguson, right? No, no, no. Was.
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Unknown A
No.
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Unknown C
Michael Browny. Michael Brown.
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Unknown A
Michael Brown.
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Unknown B
No, no. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. Not Fredison. I'm thinking where Writtenhouse was, you were there o.
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Unknown C
Could bl.
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Unknown A
Oh, Jacob Blade.
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Unknown C
Jacob yeahacb.
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Unknown B
Blade. Everyone saw that. They didn't know the context. They didn't know that he had just committed sexual assault. They didn't know that he was trying to kidnap kids, that he had a knife in the car. And they were like, oh, that's clearly a bad shoot. Kamala Harris went and took pictures with him. So even though PAS twice right before.
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Unknown C
The video picked up, too. So it was just escaping from the police grasp. But he had been tased twice before that.
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Unknown B
But it was still enough.
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Unknown A
You couldn't see that in, like, that, seven, eight seconds.
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Unknown B
No, no. But it was still enough to basically burn down all of Kenosha.
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Unknown A
Yeah.
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Unknown B
So is it your sense that we're in a position where a photograph or a video that is misunderstood could set things off the way that they did still.
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Unknown A
Yeah. And that's what I was referring to about, like, calling, like Jo. Jorge Flores.
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Unknown C
Thanks for watching this clip from the Culture War podcast.
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Unknown B
We're live every Friday, 10am to noon, so subscribe and come hang out.