transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:03] Burnout at Work is a tale as old as time.

Speaker 2:
[00:05] Tale as old as time.

Speaker 1:
[00:07] But a new generation may have found the fix.

Speaker 3:
[00:10] We can learn so much from Gen Z and what they are teaching us about modeling the boundaries that would have prevented all of us from burning out in the first place.

Speaker 1:
[00:23] How to win the battle against burnout. That's this week on Explain It To Me. Find new episode Sundays wherever you get your podcasts. Where do the negotiations with Iran stand?

Speaker 4:
[00:36] What can a deal actually look like?

Speaker 1:
[00:38] Does diplomacy still have a chance?

Speaker 3:
[00:40] I personally believe we will get agreement. I think there's going to be an agreement forthcoming of one kind or another. I think the world needs that. I think we desperately need to calm things down.

Speaker 5:
[00:51] I'm Jake Sullivan.

Speaker 4:
[00:52] I'm Jon Finer. We're the hosts of The Long Game, a weekly national security podcast.

Speaker 1:
[00:57] This week, former Secretary of State John Kerry joins us on the pod.

Speaker 4:
[01:01] The episode's out now.

Speaker 2:
[01:02] Search for and follow The Long Game wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 5:
[01:11] Welcome to Raging Moderates, I'm Jessica Tarlov, and I'm very excited to be joined today by Carlos Espina. He's a non-profit director, activist, social media influencer, star, I don't know what the right term is, but 22 million followers? Is that the current count?

Speaker 6:
[01:27] Across platforms, yes. 23 around there.

Speaker 5:
[01:31] Oh, alright. 23 around there. Moving fast. A lot of people like Carlos, and we like Carlos, and are thrilled to have him here at Raging Moderates. Thanks for joining me.

Speaker 6:
[01:40] No, thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Speaker 5:
[01:42] If you aren't already, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube page to stay in the loop on all the politics news. I want to start news of the day, and then we'll get to more stuff where I want to talk about your background, which I find fascinating as well. But it was a big election night last night in Virginia. You're based in Houston. You know about gerrymandering and redistricting firsthand. The results were good for the Democrats. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries really threw his weight behind the effort to redraw the map so that it would be 10-1 favoring Democrats picking up potentially four seats. We spent about $70 million in this effort. It should cancel out the structural edge that Republicans got from their mid-district gerrymander in Texas that Donald Trump commanded Governor Abbott to do. Top line, what do you make of the results last night?

Speaker 6:
[02:36] Well, I'm happy and I'm sad at the same time. Happy, obviously, right, that the Democrats were able to get this victory and kind of balance things out. But sad at the same time that it's even gotten to this. I'm a big proponent, right, that there needs to be a national ban or some sort of regulation on gerrymandering in red states and in blue states, because I feel like now it's just become, you know, oh, who can game the system more? Obviously, this is all a response to what Governor Greg Abbott did here in Texas. So it makes sense, right? I am a big believer that you have to fight fire with fire. But ultimately, I would like at some point, right, for this to stop happening because it does disenfranchise voters all over the country. You know, like someone in Texas, you know, I'm happy, right? Okay, so now Virginia has more districts. But I also would like that, you know, Texas would have some more representation. But unfortunately, that's the game that's being played right now. So obviously, this is a huge victory and a great step forward for Democrats winning back the House in November. But like I said, ultimately, I would hope that this, you know, would get done away with sometime soon at a national level for all parties and all states.

Speaker 5:
[03:40] Yeah, we should note that Democrats did introduce a national gerrymandering ban in 2021. And then there was another version of it in the Senate in 2024 as well. So, you know, we're up for changing the rules.

Speaker 6:
[03:54] It's funny, you know, you see like a lot of Republicans who were cheering on what happened here in Texas and now are saying, oh, this is so unfair and this, this and that. And that's the way I see it. It's like a reaction to something that's being done. If Greg Abbott, well, I guess it wasn't even Greg Abbott, right? It was Donald Trump and Greg Abbott just does whatever he says. If that hadn't happened, they wouldn't have, you know, set off this whole chain of events. So I'm hoping, you know, those Republicans who a few years back were opposed to some sort of national reform will now come back to the table and say, OK, yeah, let's let's get this done.

Speaker 5:
[04:27] Yeah, that would be nice. Not holding out hope for it. I do think it's important and makes me sleep a little bit better at night that Democrats have been asking the voters whether they want to do this. It was the same thing with Prop 50 in California as in Virginia. But you mentioned something that's really important, you know, talking about disenfranchising voters and kind of faith in the system and how you look at it and you think everyone is just playing games with my life, essentially, congressional approval, the lowest that it's ever been. Is that something that you're very concerned about and do you hear a lot about that from your followers?

Speaker 6:
[05:03] Yeah, I think, you know, once people fundamentally lose trust in the system, and obviously this has been happening, it really accelerated, you know, after January 6th and everything that happened there. But when people start to question democracy itself and the validity of our system and how it works, then, you know, your country is at risk, essentially, because for the longest time, right, people have said, oh, you know, you win, you lose. But at the end of the day, you know, that the next elections are going to be free and fair. And so there's a lot of, you know, things happening right now that erode trust in the system. And I think we need to recover that trust if we want to, you know, survive another 250 years, right? That's the big celebration this year. And looking at the forecast, it's, I'm not really too optimistic right now, right? So I hope that we can find some, you know, common sense leaders who will come back and say, hey, you know, this has gone too far and we need to re-establish trust in the system because it does lead to people saying, oh, well, why would I vote if, you know, this is not going to count and this isn't that? I'm still a big proponent that everyone needs to vote. I do think my vote counts. And, you know, even in a red state or in a blue state, everyone should vote up and down the ballot. You know, I'm hopeful that it won't turn too many people off, but these are the kind of things that make people, you know, question, hey, what's going to happen to our country? And is this even a fair system anymore? I know that's how I felt, you know, when I saw everything happening in Texas, but then at the end of the day, you realize, well, a lot of these districts that are being drawn as Republican districts, quote unquote, are not necessarily that way. You know, a lot of them are based on Trump's results in 2024. And things have changed since then in the last year and a half. So at the same time, other people like myself have used this as motivation, right? Like the bigger the obstacle, well, the more you work and the more satisfying it will be when we actually win.

Speaker 5:
[06:49] Yeah, I want to, I mean, you're skipping ahead to something I wanted to talk to you about, which is the dummy manders and the shift in the Latino vote. Can you tell us a little more about what you're seeing on the ground? And, you know, so you came out, you endorsed James Tallarico and Bobby Polito, giving them huge lift. So majority of your posts are in Spanish. You are a big, big deal in the Latino community. And your stamp of approval matters a lot on candidates, but also on messaging. So with all of that, talk about the Latino vote.

Speaker 6:
[07:20] Yeah, for those maybe who don't, I guess, know me. And then I'll get into your question, right? I speak to the there's around 60 to 70 million Spanish speakers in the United States. And there's a lot of people, for example, like my parents, who have been here for over 40 years, right? But they still consume media in Spanish. They know English. They're fully bilingual, right? But there's still a lot of people who consume Spanish media. And, you know, it's a lot of working class people. For example, yesterday I was in New Orleans and there was like 12 housekeepers cleaning up the rooms and all of them knew me. And then they were like, we had a big group picture before I left the hotel, you know, like hang it up on the wall type stuff. So that's kind of the people that I speak to. But going back to what you were saying about in Texas, a lot of these districts are like red in theory based on how Latinos voted in 2024. But one of the names you mentioned, Bobby Pulido, I think is a great case study of, hey, these districts are not really that solidly Republican. You know, he's running in a district that's supposedly somewhere between 15 to 20 points for Trump. But he's getting a lot of traction on the ground. A lot of people are saying they're going to vote for him. Obviously, at the end of the day, we're going to see how things really fall. But I do think that there is a lot, at least three of these districts are in play for Democrats. Two of them, I think we're going to have a really good chance in. Because I think a lot of people have just, especially Latinos, voted for Donald Trump for whatever reason. And I don't want to get too much into that because we could be here all day as to why they voted that way. But they're starting to realize, hey, this guy lied about everything, you know. Some of us have always known he's a liar. Other people, it took them a little longer to figure that out. But they're not going to be voting in the same way that they voted in 2024. So I even said this a year ago when all this redistricting stuff happened. People were like, how do you feel about, you know, Texas redistricting? I was like, obviously, it's a disadvantage, but I'm also I don't think it's a lost cause. I think some of these districts are not as safe as they think. And I think they're starting to realize that too, because if you see in Florida, right, they're talking about, hey, maybe we shouldn't redistrict anymore because what seemed like a year ago were very heavy Trump districts are now purple districts, very swing districts. So it's a lot more complicated than people think. And I'm hopeful that things will end up playing in our favor.

Speaker 5:
[09:34] Do you think that Latino voters are going to become more of a swing category or that they'll more faithfully come back to the Democratic Party? Because we used to be able to really depend on them as a voting bloc, not quite as much as black voters, but was certainly a strong contingency for the Democrats.

Speaker 6:
[09:53] Well, I think the answer to your question really depends on what the Democrats do when they get back into power, because at the end of the day, if you recover the House and potentially the Senate, but then things go back to business as usual, and people will ultimately swing away. So I think Democrats in this moment have a golden opportunity to really not just win the election, because it's not just about winning, it's about delivering results once you're actually in power. And if that were to happen, I do think you could shore up a lot of these and create a lot of long-term voters for the Democratic Party. One thing I always say, right, though, when it comes to Latino voters is, the reality is neither the Democratic nor the Republican Party historically were created and their platforms aligned with Latino voters in mind, not necessarily because they were systematically excluded, just were relatively new, at least to most of us to this country. Here in Texas, I speak to, for example, white voters who will tell me, oh, well, I vote Republican because my parents vote Republican and my grandparents vote. It's almost part of your religion of sorts. And then you go speak to black voters and they'll say, well, you know, my grandparents grew up in the civil rights movement. My parents vote this way, I vote this way. Whereas you ask a lot of Latinos and many of them are first time voters. Their parents never voted because they immigrated to this country. Their grandparents never even lived in the United States. And obviously there's complexities, you know, here in Texas, you have Latinos who have been here for hundreds of years. But I would say the vast majority of Latinos are relatively new to this country. So they don't necessarily have a set political home, if you want to call it that, as you know, maybe some other communities might, which allows people to swing one way and then swing the other and then swing back and forth. But I think if Democrats are able to get power and then really deliver, you can start to shore up and have more sustained support over the years.

Speaker 5:
[11:41] I think those are all really good points, and Ruben Gallegos talks about that a lot as well, kind of like the sustained engagement and the delivering, which I think starts with your pocketbook, right? That's the same for everybody, that the color that matters is green in all of this. But I'm curious to get your thoughts on what's going on with foreign policy and how that is affecting voters on the ground. So we are in the midst of a three to five day, I think, based on Trump's latest true social post extension.

Speaker 6:
[12:12] I don't think anyone knows what's going on right now, you know? Maybe he'll post something right now while we're speaking and everything will change. Who knows?

Speaker 5:
[12:19] Yeah, I outdated within 20 minutes always with this president, which is probably why I talk really fast, to make sure I can get it in before it happens. But one thing that is happening in this conflict that I find fascinating is the use of AI slop, essentially in this and how the Iranians are doing it. I wanted to play you their latest ribbing of President Trump and talk to you about this new frontier.

Speaker 2:
[12:53] We are having very great negotiations with Iran.

Speaker 1:
[12:59] If Iran doesn't come to negotiate, we're going to bomb them.

Speaker 4:
[13:07] So where are the Iranians? This is from Iran.

Speaker 5:
[13:15] So a little bit different than the Lego videos that we've all been seeing, and I think they're using Alec Baldwin's voice, obviously he played him on SNL, but what do you make of this change in strategy for how a war is being conducted?

Speaker 6:
[13:29] Well, I think it's going back to the earlier questions we have. The biggest issue with this administration is people just fundamentally don't believe in the government anymore. I mean, obviously, there's always been skepticism about is the government saying the truth? This isn't that, but like we have seen an administration full of lies. I mean, it started with the immigration stuff where they would say, we're getting the worst of the worst criminals and this. And then it turns out it's like, you know, a dad and his child. And, you know, they said the same thing about all these cases. Liam Ramos being one of the big ones. So, you know, like all these things, they said the same about Alex Pratt. He's a domestic terrorist, you know, like so this administration has a long history throughout their time and power of just lying about literally everything. And so it doesn't surprise me that these lies have now extended to this war. I think most people just genuinely don't believe it anymore. Like he'll be like, oh, you know, this is open. Now it's closed. Now there's peace. Now there's war. And people have just kind of like tuned them out. At least a lot of people that I speak to in the sense of like, we just want to get over this guy. We're ready for the midterms. And like, he's clearly not not doing very well. I mean, there's been reporting, right, that he's been excluded from very important meetings and stuff because they just don't trust them. I think even people around him know this guy's gone insane. I mean, there's no other way of saying it. He's lost his mind and when it comes to people on the ground, I don't really know how many people are really taking his like true social post and his negotiation tactics to heart. Clearly, you know, the Iranian government is not. So I don't think people are either. But who knows? This is just a disaster all around. And going back to what you're seeing on the ground, the fundamental question people are asking is, why are we even in this war to begin with? I mean, there's so many other issues before this all started. I mean, people can't pay rent, people can't pay groceries, and then you just go and enter a war that all it does is make things a thousand times worse. People are like, what is the point of all this? The message, whatever Trump's message is, I don't even know what Trump's message is. It's just not breaking through with people, and it's just making him less and less popular.

Speaker 5:
[15:33] Yeah, I think that's definitely right. And obviously reflected in his approval ratings, which are now hovering in the mid 30s. I think that's what's aggravating him more than anything, more than the fact that people are telling him, I can't afford my basic necessities and gas. It feels like a real historic opportunity is squandered, especially when he got such support from Latino voters and also from young voters. And that's another demographic that you're hugely popular with. I've seen the surveys of the swing, between 20 and 30 points back for the Democrats. But what's your read from the people you're interacting with, or even how you're seeing the scene yourself?

Speaker 6:
[16:16] Well, so what's happening right now, right? And so this is like one of the big, like, unmentioned things with like the swing in Latino voters. What I noticed, the biggest swing in 2024 was not so much Democrats to Republicans. It was more people who voted Democrat to just not voting in 2024, especially a lot of Latinos who were like, obviously, I don't like Donald Trump, but I'm not happy with how things are right now. So I'm just going to sit home. Now, I'm seeing a lot of swing of nonvoters to voters who have, you know, really like not a lot of political knowledge. They've never really been involved too much in the system, but they see everything that's going on. They see the persecution. They see the war. They see prices going up and they're saying, I'm going to vote for the first time. So I'm thinking the path to victory here for Democrats is like, there's always a focus on like, how do we turn Trump voters into Democrats? But the real, I think, golden opportunity is how do we get the, you know, millions of millions of people who didn't vote in 2024 because they thought, oh, nothing's going to change. Both parties are the same, ta ta ta, to now be like, OK, yeah, maybe I should be voting this time around. And that's what I'm seeing on the ground. A lot of young Latinos who are going to be voting for the first time. And you ask them why, a lot of it comes down to their family right there. There's a dynamic in the Latino community where it's very common for the children to be born here in the US., but the parents, you know, can't be mixed status or undocumented, they can't vote. And so you have a lot of 18 to 22 year olds, I would say, who have never voted, who are saying, hey, I'm going to vote for the first time, not for myself, but for my parents, you know, they're being persecuted, they're being attacked. I'm going to vote for the people I care about who can't pay rent, who can't pay groceries. And I'm also just going to vote to get some sense of normalcy back into our society. And so that's what I'm really seeing as the golden opportunity, not like millions of obviously, there's people who regret their vote for Donald Trump, but there's more people who didn't vote in 2024, who are now realizing, hey, maybe I should vote in the midterms.

Speaker 5:
[18:11] Yeah, it's an uncomfortable reality that if more people had voted, we just would have lost by more. We don't talk about that much because it's usually the Democrats are saying, we want the most amount of people possible to be able to vote in for it to be as easy as possible, but the margins would have been larger in our defeat if that had been the case. Let's take a quick break. Stay with us. Support for the show comes from Soul. If you're anything like me, your day and night routines are not always routine. Whether it's doom scrolling that's keeping you up or hangovers that are keeping you down, bad habits can throw off your rhythm. If you want to redefine your idea of relaxation, try Soul instead. Soul is a wellness brand that makes delicious hemp-derived CBD and THC products designed to make feeling good simple. Soul's new Mood Gummies have precise dosing, clean ingredients and formulations designed for predictable effects, so you can choose how you want to feel while staying in control. Their uplift gummies are perfect for daytime plans or beating the afternoon slump. When it's time to wind down, their Mellow Gummies are ideal for cozy nights and fully unplugging. If you want something in between, their Balanced Gummies give an easy, versatile feeling. Whatever the moment, there's a Soul Mood Gummies to match. Make today a good day and get yourself some Soul Gummies. Right now, Soul is offering our audience 30 percent off your entire order. Go to getsoul.com and use the code MODERATES. That's getsoul.com, promo code MODERATES for 30 percent off. Support for the show comes from Homeserve. Owning a home can be full of surprises. One moment you're relaxing, enjoying the house you've worked hard to make comfortable and the next thing you know. Can help protect your home systems and your wallet with Homeserve against covered repairs. Plans start at just $4.99 a month. You can go to homeserve.com to find the plan that's right for you. That's homeserve.com. Not available everywhere. Most plans range between $4.99 and $11.99 a month your first year. Terms apply on covered repairs.

Speaker 1:
[20:46] Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has been talking about the war in Iran in distinctly biblical terms, citing Psalms, the Resurrection of Jesus, and the Book of Quentin.

Speaker 4:
[20:56] And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to capture and destroy my brother.

Speaker 1:
[21:03] President Trump is comparing himself to Christ. Vice President Vance is fighting with the Pope. Watching all of this is the increasingly influential pastor Doug Wilson. He co-founded the church that Hegseth attends. Wilson's a Christian nationalist who would like the USA to be a theocracy. He'd also like to help us get there, though he doesn't think it's going to happen anytime soon.

Speaker 2:
[21:23] I believe that it is accelerating. I believe that we're making significant gains. I see us assembling resources and I'm encouraged in that labor. But I don't expect to see what we're praying for in my lifetime.

Speaker 1:
[21:37] Pastor Doug Wilson and how much you should worry about his plans on Today Explained from Vox. Weekdays, afternoons, wherever.

Speaker 5:
[21:47] Welcome back. I want to talk to you and you've mentioned a few central figures in the story surrounding ISIS overreach, obviously the Alex Pretties of the world. Can you, I guess, talk about how you see the issue now? Because I feel like the administration is very intentionally taking it off the front burner. They had to fire Kristi Noem, had to get her and Corey Lewandowski and Greg Bavino out. Stephen Miller is still lurking around. But it does seem like they know that it's a massive liability. Texas is such, all border states are so fascinating because you have the realities of immigration butting up against the fact that you want to have a humane legal system with still asylum privileges, obviously. But you need a secure border, right? If you live in Eagle Pass, you can't have more people who are there undocumented than people who are there as American. So what's the vibes on the ice front?

Speaker 6:
[22:45] Well, so I think obviously they've realized they went too far. And this is what I always say, people aren't against deportations. They're against the deportations of certain people. I'll be the first one to say, if you're in this country legally and you're committing crimes, I think, yeah, you should be arrested and you should be deported. But at the same time, I like, I would say the majority of people also think that if you're here working hard, paying taxes, contributing to society, hey, maybe it's in the national interest to let you stay here and continue to make your life. Recently, I believe it was the Wall Street Journal said that over the next 10 years because of Trump's mass deportations, we're going to lose millions or billions and billions of dollars in tax revenue. I mean, those are things that are fundamentally not good for the national interest. And so the issue here was there's a lot of people who voted for Donald Trump, because we have to be honest, things did get out of hand under the Biden administration when it comes to immigration, but who voted for essentially going after criminals and after bad people and after all these things. And then you start to see, you know, they're raiding meatpacking plants and they're raiding farm workers and they're raiding, you know, they're getting school children. And then everyone's like, OK, this is a little too far. Now Trump maybe has realized that it went too far. But my sense is that it's just too little too late. I think no one's really buying whatever narrative shift he's trying to do. And the reality is, yes, they're maybe being a little bit more discrete now. They don't have Gregory Bovino on the streets, you know, having his agents go rogue and do all these insane things. But at the end of the day, you know, raids are still happening in a much more discreet way. For example, here in Texas, the way it happens is there's a lot of collaboration that didn't exist before between state, local authorities and federal authorities. So you have a lot of people, you know, who are just on the way to work. They get stopped for whatever reason. The sheriffs or state troopers call ICE on them and then they get picked up. Obviously, it doesn't generate as much media attention because it's not, you know, so combative, so in your face, but it's still happening. And the people who are aware of what's going on on the ground are still realizing like, yeah, maybe things have gotten like a percent or two better, but things are still not where people want them to be. Working class people, working class immigrants, their family are still living with fear, they're living with worry, they're living with anxiety, and all these things are going to translate to a very negative results for the Republicans. I feel in the midterm elections.

Speaker 5:
[25:07] Yeah, so what is your midterms prediction?

Speaker 6:
[25:11] Well, I would say, you know, my optimistic would be that I think, well, I'm going to be honest, I don't think this is a prediction. I think Democrats would really, really have to screw up or Trump would have to make some sort of miracle for the Republicans to win the House in November. I think even they're starting to realize that that's just a lost cause. Now the Senate, I think that's what it really comes down to. It's going to be very, very close. How close? I'm not sure. Obviously, I'm friends with James Talerico. I've supported him. I've campaigned with him. I would be optimistic but also realistic at the same time. I know that there's still a lot of people who are not convinced by the Democratic Party's message or just still very in with Donald Trump. So it's hard to predict, but I would say the odds are pretty decent that the Democrats could potentially win back the Senate. Obviously, I can't go and say they're going to because odds are more against us than for us, but I'm optimistic about that. Then there's also a few governor races that are very looking interesting. We're looking at Ohio and other places where, hey, some change might happen. Iowa, maybe even Florida, I don't know. It's hard to, because I don't like to let myself be taken by polls, you always see, I don't know. I just like to go off what's on the ground and I can tell you what's happening here in Texas. And I do think things will be very, very close, but it also requires a lot of work to be done. And then also for Democrats to really polish their message in the sense of everyone, you know, I feel is realizing Donald Trump is a disaster. Not everyone, but a lot of people are. But what's the Democrats alternative? You know, the polls don't show Democrats being too popular either. So that's like the counterbalance. This idea, right, that every anti-Trump person is going to turn into a Democrat voter is not necessarily the case. So I guess we'll just have to see how everything plays out. And in the meantime, just keep doing the work.

Speaker 5:
[27:03] Yeah. So you are the top influencer, certainly for young and Latino voters, that Democratic hopefuls want to hang with. And I shouldn't just say hopefuls for president. Obviously, James Teller, you and you guys have a long friendship, but folks like Pete Buttigieg and Ro Khanna and Ruben Gallego have all sought you out to get your advice and counsel and also a photo opportunity, I'm sure. What does that feel like and what do you tell them about the environment?

Speaker 6:
[27:34] Well, yes. So at this point, I think I've met with about nine or 10. It's because, you know, I know everyone says, oh, I'm not running for president, but it's okay.

Speaker 5:
[27:42] No, they just want to chat.

Speaker 6:
[27:45] Yeah. But yeah, I've been with Gavin Newsom a few times, Governor Pritzker, Andy Beshear, other people like that. And basically what I tell them is what I tell you, it's like we're at a point where we focus so much on showing how Trump is horrible. And I think that's what needs to be done in this moment. But there has to be a shift at some point of what are the Democrats' proposals and I think those candidates, for example, if you look at James Talarico and the speeches he gives, the reason I like him so much is yes, obviously, he criticizes Donald Trump, but more than that, he provides a different vision for America, a different vision for a path forward. And I think that's really what a lot of these candidates need to polish, like what is their vision? Because at the end of the day, everyone on the Democratic side is anti-Trump. Now what's going to make the difference is what do you stand for and so obviously we're very early right now. What I try to do is just get to meet people, say, hey, this is what people are feeling on the ground, bounce ideas off one another. But obviously, pretty soon now the message will have to shift, especially after the mid-term of, okay, now what are we going to propose? What is America post-Trump going to look like under a Democratic governance, and will people support that or not? So that's mostly what I've seen, but I just take these opportunities to advocate for my community, try to do the best that I can to represent people who maybe don't feel heard, don't feel seen, and at the same time, try to make some important connections with the hope that whoever ends up being president, if they ever need some advice on what's going on in the Latino community or anything else, knows that they can talk to me about it.

Speaker 5:
[29:20] Yeah, I hope that we will have a Democratic president and that you will have their ear. And I love the stories you mentioned, the housekeepers you took a picture with, I saw you did another interview where you talked about how it's always the kitchen staff that know that you're there.

Speaker 6:
[29:35] It's funny, it's happened a few times I'll be like with politicians, right? And like people like, well, it depends where you go, right? Obviously, but if you go to like a very Latino heavy place, like people will recognize me more than them. And not in a bad way, it's just kind of like interesting, right? You know, I think they appreciate it and they see like, wow, you know, this guy has a lot of reach. It's happened with a few people, you know, I've gotten to places with like Ro Khanna, I've gotten to other places, there's just a lot of, and they're just really impressed of like, wow, like all these people know you, you know, like the power of social media. So like Ro Khanna is one of the guys that I have like a very close relationship with, he's brought me out to like a few events. And I think because he realizes that like, you know, one thing is having, you know, power on social media, but then also for people to recognize you in person, that's obviously a benefit. So then we can be like, you know, people might not know who extra white politician is, but they know me and then we have a good discussion and they're like, oh, I really like this politician too, you know. So like it's confidence or trust by association, I think is a really cool thing. So yeah, I think I enjoy it. I enjoy it.

Speaker 5:
[30:38] Yeah. Well, who doesn't like it when real hardworking people connect with you and things that you're representing them?

Speaker 6:
[30:46] We had another cool, for example, I was with Governor Shapiro. We were in Reading, Pennsylvania. We went to a restaurant, right? And like, obviously, a lot of the people there know him because he's the governor. They see him on television, but they know me from TikTok, right? And so we're like, we're having a conversation and I'm just kind of like the mediator between, you know, the governor and the kitchen staff at this restaurant. And for him, it's like, wow, this is pretty cool. Because like, you know, we're just having like a kind of roundtable, focus group, whatever you want to call it, like in the kitchen of a restaurant. And it's like, there's a real value to that, right? Because what I've experienced, and I think this is what a lot of these contenders are realizing, when you're just like, you know, a working class person and you might know a politician, but maybe you don't trust them fully or enough to like, really express what you feel, right? And so like, when you have someone like me in the middle, they're like, oh, I trust him. So like, hey, this is what I, you know, it just inspires more like natural and organic, you know, conversation. And that can also be very helpful for whoever it is that I'm with in that moment. So those are experiences that I've enjoyed and I've really found valuable as well.

Speaker 5:
[31:56] I'm sure it's quite the scene also when, you know, like a meeting of worlds, like there's my governor and there's Carlos, who was just telling me.

Speaker 6:
[32:02] What's going on here? Well, yeah, yeah, yeah, I see.

Speaker 5:
[32:04] But as a last question, I just wanted to ask you, this is a time when people with the biggest social media accounts are fleeing politics because it's so polarizing, certainly on the left. And, you know, we know about Donald Trump in the Manosphere, but Democrats have really struggled to get people with big platforms to want to get involved in politics, let alone to advocate for them. How do you think about that? Or why did you decide that that was the best use of your power?

Speaker 6:
[32:36] Well, so the thing is, I mean, I started on social media in 2020, but I started doing work in, you know, politics on social issues since I was in high school. So I was a senior in high school in 2016 when Trump got elected for the first time. And, you know, 2015, 2016, that's when I started to get really involved, you know, doing a lot of non-profit work, community work.

Speaker 5:
[32:59] With your soccer foundation.

Speaker 6:
[33:00] Yeah, we're doing a bunch of different things, you know, community involvement, teaching citizenship classes. I went to Vassar College in New York from 2017 to 2020. I was there for three years because I graduated a year early, but I studied political science, Latin American studies. And so I was like doing a lot of work during the first Trump administration. I had this project where I would write letters and send money to immigrants to attain a nice detention center. So I was like doing all of that. And the reason I started on social media is because I was home for spring break, about to graduate in May. And that's when the pandemic came in 2020, got stuck at home. All the nonprofit work that I was doing kind of, you know, fell through, figuring out what to do with my life. Started just posting on social media, things that I already had in my mind, things that I was already doing, and it just kind of took off. So since my beginnings, I would say, my content has always just been political. And I think that's what really stuck out to people, right? Because in a time where a lot of creators or just people in general don't want to touch politics, a lot of other people really want to engage with it, right? And I have a track record of, I wasn't talking about immigration and ICE detention since Trump got elected. I've been talking about this for many, many years now. So you build a track record that people trust, that people admire, and then I think that positions you for when things get really bad, you're the first person of confidence a lot of people turn to.

Speaker 5:
[34:22] Well, I'm glad that people turn to you, and I'm glad that you took some time to hang with me. It was so cool to meet you.

Speaker 6:
[34:28] No, it was great meeting you as well, and thank you so much.

Speaker 5:
[34:31] Before we go, our reminder that Raging Moderates is now on Substack. Subscribers get ad-free episodes, a place to connect with me, Scott, the whole ProfG universe, and access to the new Raging Moderates newsletter, the Monday Rage, which is out now. Plus, we're going to be doing some live streams that will only be viewable to our Substack subscribers. So get joined up. Find us at ragingmoderates.profgmedia.com. That's all for this episode. Thank you so much for joining us.