One of the most disturbing things that I've seen at a MAGA rally. I don't know if you guys remember the MAGA rally of 2016 where you had the folks who were mimicking that they were like apes, that this black woman was like an ape, and they were throwing peanuts at her or him, saying knock him out or treat them cruelly or I'm going to pay your legal bills.
Well, last night there was a woman in the audience who had on a release the Epstein files shirt, and I want to play to you that moment right now. Here it is.
Columbus should not be in Columbus, Ohio. Paid protester.
He's a paid protester. They're all paid. They get paid by the lefties in order to destroy our country. They're scum. But he's going back home to mom.
Going back home to mom. He's going back home to mom. Look at him. Look at that. Terrible. Don't we love law enforcement? Oh, he's got to go on a diet. He's a fat guy. Wow. Wow. Got to go on a diet fast. We all do.
You know that paid protester. That's a very low-class protester. What he doesn't know is that his mother and father voted for me.
Well, as it turns out, that was a woman. And instead of saying don't do it, you know, a la Barack Obama who said the protesters should be allowed to stay. Well, unlike that, he encouraged them and then mocked her weight. And he had nerve, this badass had nerve to call a woman fat or someone fat. Obviously, he does not own a mirror. And he has really no self-awareness.
I want to bring in now Tennessee Representative Justin Pearson into this conversation. Also a member, also a candidate for Congress in Tennessee, as well. Justin, thank you very much. As we look at this video, we can put it up. What was your reaction when you saw this?
You know, it's infuriating. The violence first by the other people who are just attending the rally. Like this person right here, that's just another person attending the rally. That's not a law enforcement officer. That's not anybody. That is assault just by another person who's at this rally. But that's the type of vitriol, violence that he brings. And then you have what the officers are doing and grabbing and yanking this person. I mean, it's horrendous, but it is very reminiscent of past rallies he's had. But as you were articulating earlier, we've seen this with a lot of black folks who've been at these rallies. Just the level of abuse, the level of violence, the level of vitriol that he's spewing from his mouth is actually impacting people. Because those folks that were sitting around her, they go to church, they go to school, they're in our neighborhoods. These are people you see on a daily basis. And just like that, violent impulses from his supporters happen.
Well, look, in this country, you may not like it, and you know this all too well, our Constitution allows us to protest. They have tried to lock you up for protesting, or at least get rid of you for protesting. People don't like it, but again, it is part of the Constitution and part of one of the rights in America. Now, just standing there in a release the Epstein files sweatshirt or shirt, and even yelling, that is not criminal, nor is it violent.
No, or illegal. Right? None of that is unlawful. You may not like it, you may detest it, you may be angry about it, but standing up and saying something is not illegal in the United States of America. But how quickly people who want to talk about the Constitution and the importance of the amendments are willing to, you know, subvert those if the speech that they're hearing, if the viewpoint that they're hearing is something that they disagree with. But this administration, we have to realize, has focused sincerely and continuously on eroding our democratic principles and norms. But the allowance of violence by the President of the United States and by these people who are also attending this rally should make us all sick to our stomach. And there need to be some serious repercussions for the people who started to literally grab this woman's hair and punch her in the face. It's like there's no reason and no place in this country where you should be expected to receive violence, regardless of what you're saying and where. There is no reason why you should be being attacked by other citizens, by other people who are just in a crowd, in a stadium alongside you.
Yeah. Can we play that again? Because I want to go through this with you, Justin, because it appears to me, when you look at it from the beginning, she gets attacked by these men. So, look, and they're punching her, and it looks like there's a stomp there, right? She gets up. So, look at them, okay? And then, after all of this, like there it looks like they're all like trying to beat her up. Like, I don't understand this level of violence. Pulling her hair. Right? And look at that. Yeah. Punching her. And I didn't see her attack them. And then, this person comes in, and to me, it looks like a stomp. I don't, it's not clear there, but it looks like the cruelty is the point. This is from the same administration, Justin, that says that it wants to air, play on TV live, a public execution.
Yeah. I mean, this thing about when you think about it ancestrally, the amount of tens of thousands of people, and hundreds of thousands of public spectators that would go to watch the lynchings of black people in this country. That hatred that would bring someone to the bottom of a lynching tree did not disappear. It's dissipated. Right? And now, they wear red hats. Now, they wear judges' uniforms. Now, they wear suits and ties in Congress, in the White House. Right? Like, that same hatred and vitriol exists. And now, at the highest levels of government, you have the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, saying, 'Yes, let's have a public execution.' Regardless of the crime that someone commits, what you are inviting the American people into, what you're inviting the world into, is to be a part of the cruelty, to be a part of the violence, in an effort to desensitize us to it. Because ultimately, that's the play, right? That we don't start to view the killing and the dehumanization of people the way that we should. We start to video game the killing of people and the bombing of folks off the shores of Venezuela, the killing of people in Iran, even though there's schoolgirls being killed. Like, they want to desensitize us so they can then dehumanize people and make us participants in that.
And then can we talk about the President of the United States before we talk about other things? The President of the United States, I did not hear him say, as I mentioned, stop. Do you remember Barack Obama when there were protesters behind him and then security came over and tried to remove them? He goes, 'No, no, no, no, no. This is what America is about. Let them stay.' And then he gave them a talk and said, 'Okay, but let me finish my point and do whatever and you'll have your chance.' We don't have that anymore. And why is he, I mean, that's so far beyond the other thing that just happened. He's encouraging. Look how fat. That's what they are paid. Why not say, 'Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, no violence here. That's not what MAGA is about. That's not what America is about.' Why not that?
Well, because he loves the violence. Right? We got to remember this is the same president who led his supporters to an insurrection against the United States government and who were shouting that they were going to lynch his own vice president, Mike Pence. Right? This is the same president who has harassed, intimidated, and talked down to people over his entire life from the innocent five young men in Central Park to this incident here. He's always being derogatory, being evil, being vile. You've got people like my own Trump-endorsed opponent in my campaign who's like, 'Yes, no, I love this.' Right? 'We need more of this. We need more of this hate. We need more of this vitriol. We need more of this violence.' But it comes at a significant cost. This person obviously has been physically abused in Charlottesville, right? Heather Heyer, she was run over by someone in a car. Right? There are consequences to these words and to the actions. And there's recent reporting about the increase in political violence happening all across the country. We deserve better than this. And as a country, we should never look at this and say, 'Man, that's just the way things are. That's what happens at rallies.' Because that's not the way it's always been. There've been hecklers since the Lincoln-Douglas debates, right? Like there've been hecklers for a long time. But that has never okayed the president of the United States celebrating the violence against another person.
Yeah. I can't, as I watch this video, I seriously, I didn't want to stick too long on this, but Justin, it just, you know, what gets me, I hear people who come on television all the time, even Republicans, and they think that they are, you know, they think that they are criticizing the administration and what's happening, and they say, 'That's not who we are.' And I look at that and I go, 'Yeah. That's who we are. That's what you have created by co-signing everything that this president does, by making excuses for him, by not standing up to him, by relinquishing your power of the legislative branch to him. Yes, this is who we are, because if it wasn't who we are, we wouldn't be doing this violence shit.'
Yeah. I mean, you remember those pictures, right? Where at the bottom of lynchings there'd be like these children. And that's what I was looking for right now. Like you see young people and they're taking out their cameras. You see people taking...
There's a kid right there with a hat on, right?
Exactly. With the phone. Not saying, 'Stop.' Nobody's being like, 'Oh, wait, y'all chill out. Don't do this.' Like they're active participants in this dehumanization. And you take out your phone instead of telling people who are not even law enforcement, right? Who are just attacking her because they don't like that she's saying release the Epstein files. They don't like that she's speaking up against the president of the United States. This is an American constitutional democratic republic. If anything is more sacred, it is the ability to speak out against the tyranny of government. It's the ability to speak out when government is doing wrong, when it is overreaching its authority. And a president has made $2.2 billion for himself, has $6 billion in contracts going to his children, has refused to make sure that there are real investigations for the victims of Epstein, including himself, who participated in the harm to these young women. Right? Like we are supposed to be a country that says there are immense protections of the First Amendment and of the protester, because that is a core tenet of our democracy. But for people to hear someone disagree with them and believe that it is okay to be violent. It's okay to punch them. It's okay to kick them. It's okay to slap them and pull their hair. What is wrong? Like this is very much who a segment of our country is, because again, these are people who you go to work with, these are people who might go to the same church, may go to different churches, but these are people who are in community with us, who became violent immediately. Immediately, because they heard something that was different. But that is the air, right, that has been created by this president. It is one of violence, it is one of tyranny, it is one of hate, and that is what led to this horrible incident. But unfortunately, it is not uncommon, because he's been doing this for a long time.
Mhm. Well, we talked about, you know, who and what America is, and again, I believe we are right there. People often, I often get criticized, Justin, for saying that MAGA, when I say MAGA is racist, and people will tell me, 'Well, not everybody in MAGA is a racist, and that's insulting.' I was like, 'Well, I don't believe everybody is there, but I believe all the racists voted MAGA.' And I said I do believe that a big part of MAGA is racist. People get upset. But I do believe that's true. I believe that again, this is where we are right now. And so Senator Tim Scott has gotten into some trouble, I think, or at least is getting criticism, I should say, for what he says America is and what America isn't. I want to play those comments for you, but first I want to get a word in from our sponsors. Just give me one minute and we're back with Justin Pearson.
Let me ask you something. When politicians say religious freedom, whose religion are they talking about? Because this country has Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and millions of Americans who don't practice any religion at all. So, religious freedom has to mean freedom for everybody. The right to believe, the right to worship, the right to question, the right not to believe. That principle matters whether there is an election coming or not. The Freedom From Religion Foundation works to protect constitutional separation between church and state and represents free thinkers, atheists, agnostics, humanists, and non-religious Americans. And separation of church and state protects religious people, too, because government shouldn't be deciding which faith gets favored. If you want to learn more about their work, go to ffrf.us/don or text don to 511. That's ffrf.us or text don to 511511. Text fees may apply.
Thank you to our sponsor. So, Justin Pearson is still with us. He's running for Congress in Tennessee and he's taking the fight straight to Republican territory. Justin, I want to turn to something that is deeply troubling. We're going to talk about what Senator Tim Scott said, but federal agents yesterday searched Congresswoman Ilhan Omar's home in Washington, D.C. three weeks before the midterm elections. Omar says that she is being politically targeted. The Justice Department says agents were executing a court-authorized warrant as part of an ongoing criminal investigation. Senator Tim Scott has been on Fox News attacking Abdul El-Sayed and others who are running for Senate in Michigan. It's nuts. What do you think? First of all, tell me what you think about this, and then we'll talk about folks attacking people who are Muslim and people who they deem to be others.
Well, I mean, the congresswoman has been attacked by this president and by this administration since day one of the first administration through now. And it is because she's Somali, right? And the xenophobia is real because they don't believe that she should be serving in the United States House of Representatives. And, you know, I run up against this. People don't think you deserve to be in a position of power because of the way you look, because of the way you speak, because of where you're from. But it is not surprising that a man who said he was going to go after his political enemies is creating enemies and using the weight of the federal government to go after them. That's what's happening. And again, we cannot be okay with this. We have to speak out against it because right now it's the congresswoman, but tomorrow it can be you, right? And you know that directly. But this can happen to us if we continue to allow this president to act as a dictator, to act as if there are no reins on his power. He will continue to abuse it.
Let's talk about... We hope the congresswoman is okay. And look, I want to know what... The initial reports are that it was something that her father may have done when she was a child. And they are looking for information about that. But she was a child, her father is dead, it's three weeks before an election. I want to know what the point is. Do you understand what I'm saying?
Absolutely. Also, and I mean, the point is what it always is. It's intimidation. It's to scare you. It's to put her in the news. It's to put her family and her life at risk. It's to hurt her reputation. Right? They know for him it is also cruelty and theatrics. And we see that a lot with this administration and people who love authoritarianism like the folks who are in power in Tennessee. The spectacle is a part of it so that it can hurt and ruin your reputation. It can make people question you and it can increase the level of hate that she already receives.
Yeah. Look, we saw the Freedom From Religion Foundation that ran the ad that aired. And the reason that I run that ad on this channel is because number one, Justin, I am a Christian, right? I wrote a book about religion and my search for God in America and all those things, but I don't wear it on my sleeve to affect other people's lives or try to dictate how other people should or should not worship, right? You are free not to believe in anything in America. That is your right and I respect that. And you're free to be a Christian, a Muslim, Jewish, you want to be Seventh-day Adventist, whatever it is, a Sikh, whatever it is that you want to be in America, you're free to do that. All of a sudden, all of these folks are going because we have these candidates and they're Muslim, or, you know, Ilhan Omar, Somali, or whatever. You have Tim Scott going on Fox News attacking Abdul El-Sayed who is running for Senate in Michigan, suggesting that El-Sayed wants to change the very DNA of what it means to be American. Again, he's Muslim, he's American, he is running for public office. Roll the tape.
And more importantly than all of that, he wants to change the very DNA of what it means to be an American. And I got to tell you, Charlie, this country made me possible. That ticks me off. America's on the ballot. Vote against Abdul El-Sayed and let's keep the America that we love as opposed to electing someone who runs around with people who say America deserved 9/11. That is disgusting.
You know... Okay, first of all, the grammar. It's people who say, not people who says. The other thing is, like, the America that... Does he understand? He doesn't obviously... Does he know that he is black when he talks about the America? If he wants to otherize people, he should know all about otherizing people in this very racist country, or I should say, and very racist party that he's in. But what is wrong with him? What exactly is the DNA of being an American? What is that?
