Blue Wave or Rebuke? 2026 Midterms and 2 Chainz vs Keith Lee

Sibling HH 11/06/26

Blue Wave or Rebuke? Election Night and 2 Chainz vs Keith Lee Clash

Bruce Anthony: [00:00:01] Some people get the table ready the second they walk in, and some people wait their whole life. We gonna get into it. Let’s get it.

Bruce Anthony: [00:00:20] Welcome. First of all, welcome. This is Unsolicited Perspectives. I am your host, Bruce Anthony, here to lead the conversation in important events and topics that are shaping today’s society. Join the conversation and follow us wherever you get your audio podcasts. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for our video podcast, YouTube exclusive content, and our YouTube membership.

[00:00:40] Rate, review, like, comment, share. Share with your friends, share with your family. Hell, even share with your enemies. On today’s episode

[00:00:50] It’s the Sibling Happy Hour. I’m here with my sis, Jay Andrea.

[00:00:53] We’re gonna be dilly-dadding a little bit, then we’re gonna be talking about the historic election and ask whether a rebuke is the same thing as an endorsement, and then we’re getting into the debate between 2 Chainz and Keith Lee over special treatment and what fairness really looks like. But that’s enough of the intro.

[00:01:10] Let’s get to the show

Bruce Anthony: [00:01:20] What up, sis?

Jay Aundrea: [00:01:21] What up, brother?

Bruce Anthony: [00:01:22] I can’t call it, I can’t call it. If y’all are watching on the video, cheers to you. All right, look, this is the Sibling Happy Hour. I am sipping, sipping in front of y’all. Typically I hide it, but sipping, sipping in front of y’all

Jay Aundrea: [00:01:37] Well, there’s a lot to celebrate, so you go ahead and have a sip

Bruce Anthony: [00:01:41] Well, uh, I think people are gonna be upset with me at the end of the t- today’s show when they s- hear my perspective o- on everything. But, but, but there are things to absolutely celebrate, uh, about the election and the midterms, and we are going to get into all of that in the second segment. But what I really wanna focus on in this first segment, in this dilly-dally, is just talking about the voting experience because I am 46 years old.

[00:02:11] I have been voting for… Was— The first election for me was 2000, but I did vote in ‘98, so I don’t know how many years this is. That is

Voting Experiences: 28 Years at One Polling Place vs Jay in Atlanta

Bruce Anthony: [00:02:20] 28 years?

Jay Aundrea: [00:02:23] it, so a long time ago.

Bruce Anthony: [00:02:25] It was 28 years, right? And, and there have been some elections that I’ve missed ‘cause y- your local elections will kinda sneak up on you.

Jay Aundrea: [00:02:33] Yes. Yes

Bruce Anthony: [00:02:35] will. Uh, but I’ve lived…

[00:02:37] I’ve been going to the same polling place since 2010, and, in my experience, voting there is always easy and pleasant because I live in an area that got, got a little bit of cheddar cheese. Just a little bit. Not a whole lot, just a little bit of cheddar cheese. So my voting experience is in and out. The poll workers are nice.

[00:03:02] W- One of the poll workers that I saw yesterday, was it yesterday? Yes, it was yesterday. The elections, the elections were yesterday, uh, ‘cause we’re recording this on a Wednesday, the day after the elections. Was one of my neighbors in the building, and I see her all the time, and I was like, “Hey,” you know.

[00:03:20] I didn’t wanna get into a long conversation ‘cause, you know, that’s just how I be.

Jay Aundrea: [00:03:24] I mean, when you want— when you vote, you wanna get in and out. You don’t wanna have long conversations. Yeah

Bruce Anthony: [00:03:29] Uh, but my voting experience is really easy. I walk in, walk out, put my sticker on my chest, took a picture of it, posted it on Instagram yesterday, and, uh, that’s my experience. What is your experience like when you go in to vote?

Jay Aundrea: [00:03:42] Well, I love that you’ve had the same polling place for so long. Mine’s always different.

Bruce Anthony: [00:03:49] Hmm.

Jay Aundrea: [00:03:50] place, uh, every year that I’ve voted since being in Atlanta. Uh, so this year, it was actually at my church, which was pretty cool.

[00:03:59] Jacks- Jackson Memorial Baptist Church here in Atlanta, so I had a chance to vote in Fulton County.

[00:04:05] I went very early in the day, so it wasn’t but me and some senior citizens. I was probably in and out in about 45 minutes so it wasn’t, it wasn’t terrible. Typically, I don’t have any issues in Fulton County. Now, I don’t know what it’s like in other counties but typically where I live, I don’t, I don’t have any issues.

[00:04:34] You know, in the past, I’ve worked as a poll watcher, and you know, I was waiting for something to pop off. Nothing popped off, so then I could, I could help my constituents exercise their rights

Bruce Anthony: [00:04:47] They’re, they’re not your constituents.

Jay Aundrea: [00:04:50] Well, as a poll watcher, I feel a responsibility,

Bruce Anthony: [00:04:54] they’re still not your constituents. No, we just… They’re not yours.

Jay Aundrea: [00:05:00] just feel like it’s about… So yeah, it wasn’t bad. I didn’t really hear a lot of reports across Atlanta or in Georgia in general about it being a really bad experience. Uh, ob- obviously after 5:00, from 5:00 to 7:00, the lines are gonna be long, so that happens. But as far as, like, any negative th- anything popping off, uh, you know, it’s the South, so in terms of like, I don’t know, you know, voter suppression, things like that, obstacles, people just coming and trying to stand by and intimidate and things like that, we didn’t— I didn’t see any reports of any of that, and I didn’t notice that in my polling place either, so pretty smooth for me

Bruce Anthony: [00:05:47] It’s

Long Lines, Voter Suppression and the Resolve to Keep Showing Up

Bruce Anthony: [00:05:48] amazing that when that doesn’t happen, because there have been times where they— I’ve seen news stories in, especially in the 2020, 2022, and ‘24 elections of people in specifically Atlanta just standing in long lines, long lines waiting to vote. And it seems like since there’s no stories this year and the state completely turned blue, maybe, maybe all that waiting in long line and voter suppression worked previously.

[00:06:24] Just saying. Maybe

Jay Aundrea: [00:06:27] I, I don’t think so because, you know, when, uh, last, not the last election, maybe the one before that, it was like really, really bad.

Bruce Anthony: [00:06:37] 2020

Jay Aundrea: [00:06:39] I wanna say 2020. Like, it was like really not great down here. The lines were very long. They had rules that you couldn’t even hand out water

Bruce Anthony: [00:06:50] That was the pandemic though. That may have, that may have been the reason why.

Jay Aundrea: [00:06:53] True.

Bruce Anthony: [00:06:54] Maybe

Jay Aundrea: [00:06:55] It, no, it had to be before the pan— It was pre-pandemic.

[00:06:58] It wasn’t, the pandemic wasn’t the reason, ‘cause when I voted during the pandemic, it was fine. So it must have been before that. But at any rate we still turned out in record numbers, and we, we always do. Like, the more you try to suppress, the more we’re gonna wanna show up and wait in those lines and have our vote count.

[00:07:21] So, Yes, it was very nice that there weren’t any issues. You know I think they said 1.1 million voters cast a ballot here in Georgia. So I’m glad, you know, they were able to cast their ballot and make their vote count and elect the first Black

[00:07:43] female.

Bruce Anthony: [00:07:43] that. I knew you

[00:07:43] was gonna

Jay Aundrea: [00:07:44] know, but I, I, I, I’m just gonna shout it out.

[00:07:48] I’m not gonna say nothing ‘cause I ’

Bruce Anthony: [00:07:50] cause that’s— Okay

[00:07:52] You all the space in the world in the second segment. But

Election Night Rituals: Group Chats, Network News and Junk Food

Bruce Anthony: [00:07:54] something else I wanna talk about because you was texting last night in the group chat between you, uh, me, and our brother.

[00:08:03] A- and you was like, “I’m excited.” And I was like, “All right. Okay. Just it’s early. Just, just relax.” And you ended up being right. I’m always waiting for the other shoe to drop. And then I thought to myself, you know, what are your election night habits? Now, when 2024 hit, I knew what was gonna happen, whether I wanted to admit it to myself or not.

[00:08:24] And so I purposely was like, I’m not watching no news coverage or election coverage. I don’t even— I’m, I’m going off social media. I’m not turning on my TV. I’ll find out the next day, later on in the day what’s going on ‘cause I knew what was coming. But typically, that’s the first election I think I’ve ever done that.

[00:08:43] Typically, I’m up all night

Jay Aundrea: [00:08:45] Mm-hmm.

Bruce Anthony: [00:08:46] watching the results come in ‘cause they don’t start really coming in till around 8:00 PM Easter time, right? And, and, and you know, I got my specific ones that I’ve wa- specific channels that I’ve watched. They’ve evolved dur- during the years. When I first started voting in my college years, it was MSNBC and Chris Matthews.

[00:09:05] You couldn’t tell me nothing about Chris Matthews.

Jay Aundrea: [00:09:07] I

Bruce Anthony: [00:09:08] ki-

Jay Aundrea: [00:09:09] was just great, so

Bruce Anthony: [00:09:10] is. I’ve kinda stuck with CNN, but CNN has got some commentators that just, the mere sight of them rubs me the wrong way. So I was

[00:09:20] watching A- I was watching ABC News. I went back to old school, like ABC, NBC, CBS News. Not the news networks, the news.

[00:09:33] And I was just like, “Oh, this is pleasant.” And then it had some good people on there, and then I was like, “Okay.” And then I didn’t have no expresion— no special election food. I don’t typically do that, but I did eat bad yesterday. I ate junk food because I knew it was gonna be a semi-good day

Jay Aundrea: [00:09:53] All right. Yeah. Typ- yeah, I would say typically I’m the same. I, I’m up all night, I’m watching the results as they come in. And that’s typically what I do. And you are right also, 2024, I went to bed. Like, I did not watch anything. I actually logged out of TikTok, and I have not been back since. So it’s officially now two years that I’ve been…

[00:10:22] Because I, because a lot of my, algorithm was, it was all politics. I was very, uh, active with my support of the Harris Walls campaign. So I had— It was a lot of politicals and I didn’t wanna see it. As I st- as the, as the numbers started to come in, I started to see states turn red, I just turned off the TV and went to bed.

[00:10:46] So, but this time I, I d- I was like, “You know what? I’m gonna watch the coverage. I’m gonna watch the coverage.” And as it started to get better and better, I was like, “Okay, I’m feeling good about this.” I went to sleep probably around 10:00, got up again around 1:30, two o’clock, and checked, uh, MSNBC.

Bruce Anthony: [00:11:09] What? Why?

Jay Aundrea: [00:11:09] Got up…

Bruce Anthony: [00:11:10] purposely get up at 1:30?

Jay Aundrea: [00:11:12] I just ended up waking up. I think it was just because of nerves about the ultimate results, right? So once I saw Georgia called, which was called pretty early for

[00:11:22] governor and Senate once I felt good about my state, I, I did, I went to bed and I was like, “I’ll get up later,” and that’s just when I got up.

Bruce Anthony: [00:11:31] I think John Allsop was the first thing called ‘cause he, I think he was the first thing called and everything is like, “John Allsop won, ladies and gentlemen.” Like he got that.

[00:11:42] I went to bed at midnight But I had turned off the election coverage when they say, “Oh, it, it’s a guarantee that the Democrats are gonna win the House and the Senate.”

[00:11:53] But

Election Burnout and Why We Stepped Back From Politics on This Show

Bruce Anthony: [00:11:54] I also believe our burnout from 2024, aside from the typical burnout during election season, which is ads all over the place, it— the, the million of text messages and calls that your cellphone get, the, the yard signs and all of that stuff. Leading up to 2024, it was like every show that we did had election talk for months, from, from August to November, and I think just you and I…

[00:12:22] And it was— I purposefully did not do it this year. I hardly talked any of the election. Matter of fact, we stepped out of talking politics a

[00:12:33] lot on this show because it was too— I— it was too much on me. I’m not one of those people that could talk politics all the time and it

Jay Aundrea: [00:12:41] And then yes, it’s gonna affect my mood and honestly my just mental wellbeing. It’s gonna, it’s gonna take a toll after a while, especially when you keep getting disappointed

Bruce Anthony: [00:12:59] And we’re not— What’s the, uh, what’s the show that you love where they talk politics, the former speechwriters for Obama?

Jay Aundrea: [00:13:05] Uh, Pod Save America.

Bruce Anthony: [00:13:06] We’re not Pod Save America. We ain’t Turning Point USA. We not The Bulwark, okay? We Unsolicited Perspectives. We like to laugh and joke, talk about some serious issues, talk about what’s affecting us.

[00:13:20] But we gotta make sure, damn it, ‘cause this is all free for y’all, we gotta make sure that we not damaging our psyche. So yeah, we backed off talking about the politics, uh, a little bit, and I think that helped in our personal lives because we weren’t overwhelmed. W- But I will

Black Threads Reacts: No, America Didn’t Stop Being Racist Overnight

Bruce Anthony: [00:13:38] say that I was definitely on social media, and yesterday during, on election day, Threads.

[00:13:44] If you’re not on Threads, ladies and gentlemen, get on Threads. Threads is hilarious, especially if,

Jay Aundrea: [00:13:50] I’m on Threads, but I don’t, I don’t, I’m not, I don’t know. I don’t think

Bruce Anthony: [00:13:54] Let me tell you, you not, ‘cause if you get on there and if you just join Black Threads, I’m telling you, it

Jay Aundrea: [00:13:59] Okay

Bruce Anthony: [00:14:00] it is every… It’s what Twitter was in like 2007, 2008, right? And, and so people were talking about the election, Black and white, and the funniest things were white people, and they were like, especially white women, they was like, “All right, white women, y’all better not mess this up.

[00:14:18] Y’all, y’all better stay on point.” And it was just everybody joining, it was love. But somebody today, and it was a white woman, posted, because of the election results, posted, “Is America no longer racist?” In an excited kind of expression. And you should have read the comments. And they was like, “All right, here we go.

[00:14:39] No, that’s not, that’s not, that’s not what happened.” Two things can still be true. Uh, you got to understand what people were voting for and what they, and what they stay voting against, the oppression and all this stuff. This is the same stuff that came out when Obama won the presidency. America is still steeped in racism and

Jay Aundrea: [00:15:01] Yeah. There, yeah, there’s several things wrong with that. One, y’all said that when Obama got elected, things got worse. Two, Black is not synonymous with Democrat. You can’t just say just because a state that’s n- wasn’t blue before is now blue, that it’s somehow the end of racism. That doesn’t make sense. Y- th- Black is not synonymous with Democrat.

Bruce Anthony: [00:15:23] Well, also when you say racism, you gotta understand that Black is not the only ethnic group that, that can be, that people can be racist towards, right? Like people are absolutely being racist towards Latina people,

[00:15:39] Muslim people, Jewish people, uh, like all of it. So when you look at the re- the election results and all the firsts, which we’ll get into in the second segment, you can look at it and be like, “You know what?

[00:15:52] This is a rain- this is what Rest Jesse, Rest His Soul, Jesse Jackson was talking about Rainbow Coalition. We got it.” Racism ain’t been solved. Let’s just make that clear. It’s

Jay Aundrea: [00:16:02] Yeah. No, those systems are still very much in place. So no, it has not been solved.

Bruce Anthony: [00:16:10] And, and a lot of comments that I saw on Threads was, you know, and it’s mostly, it, it’s mostly white people that are excited about the election results, and they were like, some of them was like, “Huh, I might even go to Thanksgiving this year.” And I was like, “That’s funny.

Jay Aundrea: [00:16:28] that, hey, I don’t know ‘cause it still might be a little tumultuous, okay?

[00:16:32] Like,

Bruce Anthony: [00:16:33] care because they up. They don’t care now because they up.

Jay Aundrea: [00:16:37] True. Like honestly honestly my advice to y’all is if anybody does say something around the Thanksgiving table, you could just be like, “You mad, huh?” While you eat some macaroni and cheese.

[00:16:49] And that

Bruce Anthony: [00:16:50] a lot.

Jay Aundrea: [00:16:51] your answer.

[00:16:52] You mad, huh?

Bruce Anthony: [00:16:53] You mad, huh? A, a, a, a thing that I saw on Threads was and it was a Black person, and it was like some meme, and I don’t know what the meme. And they was just cheesing and drinking something, and it said, “And Elon Musk is called Twitter, bitch.” was just like,

Jay Aundrea: [00:17:13] “Yes. ”

Bruce Anthony: [00:17:14] Yes. Yes.

Jay Aundrea: [00:17:16] We tired. We

Bruce Anthony: [00:17:17] We’re tired.” All right, ladies and gentlemen, we just wanted to give y’all a little bit into one, why we didn’t talk about politics as much this year.

[00:17:27] Two, what our roo- ritual is and routine. And three, yes, me and my bro- me and my brother and sister talk during election. That… It really gets our brother excited. He really jump. Oh my goodness,

Jay Aundrea: [00:17:40] I had a, I had an— Yeah, I had an opportunity to talk to him yesterday. He did call me and he was just excited and it, it’s very nice to hear him excited about, about politics again

Bruce Anthony: [00:17:51] Yeah.

Jay Aundrea: [00:17:52] such a big part of his life

Bruce Anthony: [00:17:53] It was, it was. Uh, shout out to our brother. But ladies and gentlemen, we gonna get into the results and what they mean next.

Bruce Anthony: [00:18:11] Last night, America voted and the message came back loud and clear. Democrats took the House and the Senate, flipped governor mansions in places like Texas and Georgia and Ohio, and made history in about five different ra- ways in one night. But here’s what I want us all to sit with.

[00:18:30] A wave tells you what people are tired of. It doesn’t always tell you what they want. Some voters who backed abortion rights in Virginia also backed voter ID in Ohio by a landslide. So the question isn’t just who won, it’s about what the people were actually saying and who came back, who never left, and whether the folks who are just handed the keys understand the assignment, because a rebuke is not a blank check.

[00:18:58] But the scoreboard, like I said, Democrats won both the House and the Senate, and as of earlier today, them s- them House seats is crazy because they,

Scoreboard: Democrats Take the House and Senate, Lead in Mississippi

Bruce Anthony: [00:19:11] it— I think it was NBC had it estimated at over 250. Before the election, they were saying that Democrats would be best case scenario right under 240, and you telling me they gonna top that?

[00:19:27] Then they were saying best case scenario, they might go 52 seats in the Senate, and there’s a possibility of it being 56 seats because they still counting in Mississippi and Alaska. But dig this here, the Democrats are leading in both Mississippi and Alaska, and I wanna talk about the fact that Mississippi, the same state that Noah Wyles can’t get, can’t get a fair investigation.

[00:19:57] I believe Mississippi is the same state where the, w-where, isn’t that where the young little kid got killed as well? And they w- they decided to not

Jay Aundrea: [00:20:05] Back

Bruce Anthony: [00:20:06] with the cop

Jay Aundrea: [00:20:07] I’m sorry

Bruce Anthony: [00:20:09] Isn’t that

[00:20:10] where the…

Jay Aundrea: [00:20:11] you pick that up?

[00:20:11] that I,

[00:20:12] did not want that from me I’m, I’m— My phone is turning on and I’m trying to turn it off. I’m sorry

Bruce Anthony: [00:20:18] Why is it? Just turn the volume off

Jay Aundrea: [00:20:21] Oh, yeah. I hit… Well, I hit the, ‘cause I just saw some texts come through, so I’m trying to hit the

Bruce Anthony: [00:20:27] Yeah, well just turn the volume down. Then, then yeah. Well, no, you gotta do silent and turn it down

Jay Aundrea: [00:20:32] I just did, and I just turned on airplane mode.

Bruce Anthony: [00:20:35] Oh, okay. Yeah, I just turned my… Okay. Go. What was the state, wasn’t it in Mississippi where the cop shot through the window when the woman was trying to get away and killed the little one-year-old?

Jay Aundrea: [00:20:48] I

Bruce Anthony: [00:20:49] else went on in Mississippi. There was something else going on in Mississippi where the state attorney general was like, “We ain’t gonna inve- we not gonna investigate that.” something that.”

[00:20:58] hap-

Jay Aundrea: [00:20:59] It was

[00:21:00] a police officer in Senatobia, Mississippi, fatally shot one-year-old Cohen Wiley

[00:21:06] during an incident in a Walmart parking

[00:21:08] lot on June 14th

Bruce Anthony: [00:21:10] so in that state, in that state that also has the his- history of, uh, killing the, the three Black civil rights activists that went down there to, to try and, uh, get Black people registered to vote. The whole movie Mississippi Burning is based off of that. The movie that they just did with Mark Wahlberg and Matteim Kalibu.

[00:21:33] What’s the boy’s, the, uh, the actor’s name? The actor. Uh, he did, uh, Wonder Man-

Jay Aundrea: [00:21:40] Oh, yes.

Bruce Anthony: [00:21:41] Man- Black

Jay Aundrea: [00:21:43] Yes. Oh my gosh.

[00:21:45] Good question. No, you’re making stuff up. It’s, it’s Ya- it’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen

[00:21:53] II.

Bruce Anthony: [00:21:54] my team right. I knew I got my team right. So they just came out with the movie where supposedly the FBI worked out a deal with a mob figure to go down there and to get results. This is all in Mississippi. And in that state, in that state, they can elect a, a Black senator? Now, I mean, I— when, when the woman said, “Did we end racism in America?”

[00:22:16] I mean, I, if you don’t understand it, I can kinda see where she might be

[00:22:20] coming

Jay Aundrea: [00:22:21] see that. Yes, I could see that. Yes. So the Associated Press has not called that race yet, but he, uh, Scott Collam is leading Cindy Hyde-Smith by, according to Associated Press, 65 votes.

Bruce Anthony: [00:22:39] With like 97 or 98% of the votes in, Democrat, there were Senate flips in Maine, Ohio, Iowa, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kansas, and of course, Texas. About 60 House races are still being counted. Jeffries, Hakeem Jeffries, who is the minority leader in the House, who will be the majority leader in the House, is projecting almost 250 seats for Democrats as the House majority.

[00:23:13] Democrats, uh, flipped five governor offices. Republicans flipped zero. And, and one of the Republican offices that was really crazy to me is not only Geo- Georgia, but also Texas.

Jay Aundrea: [00:23:29] Yes

Bruce Anthony: [00:23:31] didn’t get reelected. That’s crazy to me. Also, people talk about the economy. The stock market jumped more than 1,000 points on

Jay Aundrea: [00:23:41] Wow ’

Bruce Anthony: [00:23:42] cause they saying it’s a new day

Jay Aundrea: [00:23:44] It c- okay. Uh, yeah, shout out to Gina, uh, HinoJosa in, in Texas, new governor of Texas. Decisive win over

Bruce Anthony: [00:23:53] Also, so she’s the first Latina governor

Jay Aundrea: [00:24:00] Yes

Bruce Anthony: [00:24:01] Ever, I, I

Jay Aundrea: [00:24:03] Yeah. I’ll double-check, but I believe you’re right

Historic Firsts From Jeffries to Hinojosa as Black Women Run Georgia

Bruce Anthony: [00:24:09] Well, okay, so here are the first, right? Here are the first. Hakeem Jeffries is in line to be the first Black speaker of the House. Abdul El-Sayed is the first Muslim US senator. Gina, what did you say her last name was?

Jay Aundrea: [00:24:24] I, I think it’s Hinojosa

Bruce Anthony: [00:24:26] Is some- Okay, I’m gonna go, I’m gonna go with that, is the first Hispanic governor, period.

[00:24:33] Okay? Aaron Ford of Nevada is the state’s first Black governor. Amy Acton of Ohio is the first elected female governor. She beat Vivek Ramaswamy. Adam Hamilton of Kansas is the first Democratic senator there since 1932. A record 15 states elected female governors, and there has never been more Black governors serving at one time ever.

[00:25:04] Ever. And then one of those Black governors, Keisha Lance Bottoms, your governor. Just tell me what is, what it was like being in Georgia, Keisha being elected

Jay Aundrea: [00:25:16] Yeah

Bruce Anthony: [00:25:17] based off of… A- and we can’t, we can’t forget my girl Stacey, ‘cause Stacey led the groundwork

Jay Aundrea: [00:25:25] Yes.

Bruce Anthony: [00:25:26] so Keisha could

Jay Aundrea: [00:25:28] fly. Yes. So

Bruce Anthony: [00:25:30] Yeah, all that.

Jay Aundrea: [00:25:31] thank you, Stacey Abrams.

[00:25:34] Because her running in the last two gubernatorial elections here in Georgia, I really do believe paved the way for a change in people’s mind about the capacity of a Black woman to lead. Of course, Keisha Lance Bottoms was the former mayor of Atlanta from 2018 to 2022 and then was advisor to former President Joe Biden.

[00:26:04] So it’s not like she’s not coming with experience. But she had a uphill battle for sure. Like it wasn’t, it, it wasn’t a, a walk in the park for her. She had to convince the party, which she did, i- in the primary, certainly, obviously. She had to convince the party and then convince the whole state, and she did that, and I am extremely proud of the result

Bruce Anthony: [00:26:34] I saw something, and maybe you can look this up real fast as I filibuster. I saw something that Black women done taken over Georgia. Like taken over. The— it’s, it’s Black woman is a governor, maybe lieutenant governor, uh, secretary of— not, uh, secretary of state or secretary of elections. It’s like, it’s like the prominent roles in Georgia state government and the executive branch, Black women dominate

Jay Aundrea: [00:27:06] Yeah, you know, sisters are doing it for themselves. That is definitely that is definitely absolutely true. As I- I’m gonna go ahead and look it up just to make sure I don’t get anybody’s names incorrect. But yeah, you’re right. Like, a lot— I think there was Black women running for sheriff, uh, in another election.

[00:27:33] Like, like we running for the roles and we’re also winning them. And so I’m really proud to be from this state. And let me take a look here. Yeah, so, uh, for Georgia races, you were talking about Black women running and winning. Penny Reynolds, uh, is the projected winner for,

Bruce Anthony: [00:28:01] Secretary

Jay Aundrea: [00:28:02] secretary of state. Uh, we’ve got attorney general projected winner, Tonya Miller.

[00:28:10] So we— Listen,

Bruce Anthony: [00:28:12] Look, Kathleen Joanne Arnold is agrito- agriculture commissioner. Keisha Sean Waiters is insurance commissioner. Nikki Poacher is labor commissioner. Dr. Linda Powell is the state school superintendent. Sheila Edwards is the Public Service Commission. I don’t know what that is, but it’s something.

Jay Aundrea: [00:28:35] It’s something.

[00:28:37] Not to mention our, our House seats. So District 5, Nikema Williams, uh, District 6, Lucy McBath. So we out here,

Bruce Anthony: [00:28:48] Yeah

Jay Aundrea: [00:28:49] here. Uh, District 13, Jasmine Clark, so we out here

Bruce Anthony: [00:28:52] Everybody

Exit Polls Decoded: Young Voters Surge and Black Voters Never Left

Bruce Anthony: [00:28:53] is wondering what happened, what moved. So these are what the exit polls were saying about how there was this big shift. One, Trump’s approval. In exit polls, it was around 38%. About 60% said Trump factored into their House vote. Voters under the age of 30, Democrats were plus 11 in 2024. They’re plus 47 now, right?

[00:29:20] So that’s a 37-point jump in two years for Democrats with young voters, voters under 30 years old. Latino voters, they were 51% Democratic in 2024, 62% now. That’s an 11-point jump in two years with Latino voters. Men overall, look, men are trash overall. Republicans were plus 12 in 2024, but they’re doing better ‘cause it’s even now.

[00:29:50] They ain’t plus 12 no more. Young white men voted Democratic by 17 points. Black voters, 89% Democratic. Black men were 85%. Black women, 92%. The only 8% were the women that got kicked out the Trump rally that one time. You had the woman that was running for governor in Virginia, uh, and just a few others, just a few

Jay Aundrea: [00:30:16] Yeah, just honestly a handful and it’s just a, just a handful of the usual suspects,

Bruce Anthony: [00:30:24] the usual suspects, Candace Owens, yeah.

Jay Aundrea: [00:30:26] you know

Bruce Anthony: [00:30:27] Uh, Black voters shifted only seven points, and I know everybody’s gonna say that it was the Black vote. Nah. Black people never left. They was always here. Only about one in 10 voters were under 30. So even though there was a huge surge in young voters, it was still only one in 10 voters were under 30.

[00:30:51] So it was still older people still determining these, uh, elections. I

Abortion Rights, Same-Sex Marriage and Why Voter ID Is a Poll Tax

Bruce Anthony: [00:30:56] know in my state, in Virginia, we did abot- uh, abortion rights passed by 62%, and same-sex marriage ban was removed with 57% voting to remove it. Missouri repealed abot- uh, re- Missouri’s repeal of abortion rights failed, ‘cause it’s Missouri.

[00:31:14] Idaho abortion rights measure failed. Ohio voter ID passed 65.3%. And look, everybody talks about what’s the big deal showing your ID? It’s a poll da- it’s a poll tax, right? Because you have to buy ID. You have to go— You have to have time to take off to go to the DMV or the MVA or whatever state that you live to go get your ID.

[00:31:36] If it becomes that the states are giving you IDs for free, I actually have no problem with that.

Jay Aundrea: [00:31:41] Yeah, no

Bruce Anthony: [00:31:42] actually have no problem with that whatsoever. If states are going to pay for it and say that everybody at the age of 18 gets a free identification, you just gotta find time to come down here and get it.

[00:31:54] Okay, and then open on Sundays. Make it seven days a week so that people that work Monday through Saturday can come down on their Sunday and get their ID. Then, then I find it difficult to find excuses not to have IDs. But if you’re asking people to pay for them, nah,

Jay Aundrea: [00:32:11] Or I don’t know, you know, make it something you can do online, right? If you could fill out your I-9 paperwork for employment online, then I think you should be able to send them a copy of your, your passport or your birth certificate or whatever, and proof of residency get your ID in the mail

Bruce Anthony: [00:32:34] Especially now when I’m thinking about all the that I have on my phone that have to identify my face, and I have to do the face scan— I have to send in the photo ID, and then I have to do the live face scan where it scans my face as I turn right to left. Yo, you can do that. They even got this thing in Virginia now where we can even attach our ID to our cell phones, that

Jay Aundrea: [00:33:00] Yes. W- we also have that, uh, in Georgia. I know Maryland and DC also have that. That’s the, the digital ID. Yeah. Yeah, and it, it, it’s right on my phone

Bruce Anthony: [00:33:16] Yep. When you woke up at 1:30 and you saw it wasn’t a wave, it was a tsunami, right?

Jay Aundrea: [00:33:28] Yeah

Bruce Anthony: [00:33:29] What was going on in your mind? ‘Cause I didn’t get— You didn’t send us a text until this morning

Jay Aundrea: [00:33:35] Mm-hmm.

Bruce Anthony: [00:33:36] to let us know, “Yeah, no, this, I know what’s going on now.”

Jay Aundrea: [00:33:39] Yeah. ‘Cause

[00:33:40] I needed it to settle. Yeah.

Bruce Anthony: [00:33:43] Uh-huh

Jay Aundrea: [00:33:44] It— I couldn’t believe it. I think the, the biggest thing for me was Texas. Kansas is up there too, but, like, the biggest i- like, the— But seeing Texas, even now when I look at the map, and Texas is blue on that map, I still can’t quite… Like, my brain is not connecting this.

[00:34:11] W-

Bruce Anthony: [00:34:12] backfired on they

Jay Aundrea: [00:34:13] Oh, boy, gerrymandering failed. It failed. So congratulations. That was— You tried it, and it failed. Because, because of that, pretty much the entire, like, coast, right? The border with Mexico, all the way up to, like, San Antonio, blue.

Bruce Anthony: [00:34:41] Mm-hmm.

Jay Aundrea: [00:34:42] Latino voters

Bruce Anthony: [00:34:44] Yes. Well,

Trump, Mike Johnson, DeSantis and Musk React to the Blue Tsunami

Bruce Anthony: [00:34:45] we’re gonna get into that a little bit later, but some of the reactions. Hakeem Jeffries said America is back. Afford- affordability is first thing in January. Trump, his responses have just been golden, baby. They’ve just been golden, pony boy. Trump says Democrats did a good job. Okay, that’s nice.

[00:35:03] And this was not a referendum on him. Okay. Trump blamed the losses on him not being on the ballot, but he said, “Vote like I’m on the ballot.” That’s what he says.

Jay Aundrea: [00:35:14] Mm-hmm.

Bruce Anthony: [00:35:15] Says he doesn’t want to spend two years vetoing everything and is willing to, to like, “Hey, we can make some deals.”

Jay Aundrea: [00:35:22] Yeah.

Bruce Anthony: [00:35:23] Mi- Mike Johnson called it historically normal.

[00:35:27] No, it’s not. The numbers say this has, hasn’t happened in a very, very long time, like before our parents were even born. And, uh, said his job now is, is in question. He announced earlier today he wasn’t gonna be running for the minority, uh, of his House when they, when they come back. So he gonna step down from leadership.

[00:35:54] That’s what he said. Thune said he will still run for minority leader in the Senate, and he depended— he defended his GOP record. Ron DeSantis, the former governor of Florida and somebody who will be running for president in 2028, said the GOP may not retake the Senate until 2032. Now, 2032 is six years away, so that’s a long time.

[00:36:17] Musk. Elon Musk, ladies and gentlemen. He lost about 224 million betting on Texas Republicans alone. He spent that much money in Texas alone. And I have some theories as to why he did that we gonna get into the after-hours. So the go- ladies and gentlemen, sign up for the after-hours to really feel— to really hear what we really feel about the election that we can’t say on this show, ‘cause unfortunately now the podcast is a, is a paid, monetized po- podcast, and we gotta follow certain rules on the

[00:36:50] main show. But in the after-hours, we ain’t gotta follow no rules, ‘cause the only way that’s monetized is if you pay for it. Musk posted that data centers in space look pretty appealing. I don’t know how data centers in space can work when they need a lot of water

Jay Aundrea: [00:37:11] Yeah.

Bruce Anthony: [00:37:13] So unless he’s gonna tap into the m- to one of the mo- moons on Jupiter that they actually think might have water, I don’t know where he’s gonna put no data centers, but that’s okay

Jay Aundrea: [00:37:25] Yeah. Okay.

[00:37:27] Still listening to him?

Bruce Anthony: [00:37:28] ‘cause he’s still the richest man in the world. Jay,

Jay Aundrea: [00:37:31] Eh.

Did Democrats Earn the Wave, or Did Trump Hand Them the Victory?

Bruce Anthony: [00:37:33] everybody is excited, and I said at the top people are gonna be a little annoyed at me today.

Jay Aundrea: [00:37:37] Okay

Bruce Anthony: [00:37:38] Because Democrats, y’all did a good job, but I don’t really think that it’s because of what you did. I think y’all won by default. I think y’all won because, uh, the leader of the Republican Party is doing such a bad job, such a historically bad job, that people just were tired of them and their bull, and they’re willing to give you a shot.

[00:38:05] You need to take this shot. You’ve been given the ball. There’s a big hole, and that offensive line has opened for you, and you can see the touchdown. You just gotta run. You’re gonna have to trip over your own feet. But it was handed to you. You didn’t quite earn it. Not really What do you think about that?

Jay Aundrea: [00:38:30] I think that you are completely wrong

Bruce Anthony: [00:38:32] Okay. Well, explain to me why I’m wrong

Jay Aundrea: [00:38:35] I don’t think you’re completely wrong. I was

[00:38:37] being…

Bruce Anthony: [00:38:38] you just said I was completely wrong, but,

Jay Aundrea: [00:38:40] I do think that you are wrong.

[00:38:42] I don’t

Jay Pushes Back: Not a Referendum, a Repudiation of Trump’s Agenda

Jay Aundrea: [00:38:43] think that you are completely wrong. So yes, this election, obviously, I, I say it’s, it’s not even a, a referendum on the Trump administration. It’s a repudiation of the, of the Trump administration, right? So yes, that’s gonna be part of it bec- but I think that Democrats did a really good job, by and large, of Addressing things that voters actually care about.

[00:39:20] And it’s not trans people, it’s not the ballroom, right? It’s not, uh, it’s none of the things that he cares about. And I think at this point, he’s said… It, it’s not hidden, like he said the quiet part out loud. He, he promised to lower prices. He didn’t. They’ve increased, in fact. He doesn’t care. He said s- as much.

[00:39:45] The only thing that man cares about is that ballroom and, and trans people in sports. And the people don’t care about that. And so, yes, a lot of the, the party platform was like, “W- we need to do something about Trump. We gotta do something about him,” right? But it’s also like, here’s why, because the economy is bad, right?

[00:40:11] Like, everything is more expensive for you, and he’s… Nothing he’s doing is making it cheaper. Like, so I, I do not think it was handed to them. Nothing is ever handed to you. I don’t think any, any election is ever just handed, especially as decisively as a lot of Democrats won. I think that it’s not j- it wasn’t given to them.

[00:40:39] It wasn’t. I, I think flipping certain seats and flipping certain states… Uh, actually I heard a really, really good, I think I wanna say it was on Morning Joe, about James Talarico, a Senate, uh, elect for Texas, that he’s not a great man in the sense of Trump trying to, perform greatness, right? Like having, uh, these military celebrations for his birthday and things like that.

[00:41:15] Yeah. So he’s not a great man, he’s a good man, and that’s what the American people want right now. They want good people who care about the things that they care about, and we just happen to get… Not happen to, we h- we got great candidates who I feel like stand for something and who care about the issues of the, of the American people

Bruce Anthony: [00:41:42] Okay,

Candidate Quality vs Political Climate: Why Jay and I Disagree Here

Bruce Anthony: [00:41:43] and, and this is where I would push back, and maybe I didn’t explain myself clearly.

Jay Aundrea: [00:41:48] Mm-hmm.

Bruce Anthony: [00:41:49] I didn’t say that they didn’t put work in, ‘cause they obviously did. Everybody put work in to get elected. You don’t go out there and, and coast. S- maybe some people do. What I mean by them that it was handed to them is that this administration was so bad that even marginal candidates, if they just showed some competency, were gonna be competitive in races because the opposite of what they were competing with was so horrible.

[00:42:20] Just look at the governor race in Ohio. Look at Vivek and Amy Action. This is what I’m talking about. If you actually look at Amy Action, there’s nothing about her that says, “Oh, yes, I definitely want her…” There’s nothing about her that moves you. And not, and, and, and it, it’s not just her. There’s a lot of— There are not a lot of John Allsops out, out there, right?

[00:42:43] There’s not a lot of people, there’s not a lot of people like Abdul. There’s not a lot of people that you see and that you gravitate towards.

Jay Aundrea: [00:42:50] Yeah

Bruce Anthony: [00:42:52] There are a lot of people… Hell, a lot of people were talking about they knew about Talarico’s, uh, campaign. They had no idea that the governor race in Texas was up for grabs.

[00:43:04] That’s what I’m talking about, and if this administration wasn’t so bad, it wouldn’t be up for grabs. Because there was a man in Texas that ran twice, Beto O’Rur- Rourke, who was just like James Talarico. Matter of fact, more so because he had that thing. He had what the young kids call ore. He had that thing that you gravitate towards.

[00:43:28] He ain’t win. Stacey Abrams I think is better than Keisha Bottoms. She has that thing, and you know that she has that thing because of the work that she’s gotten done there. So that’s what I’m talking about, it was handed to them. There were poor candidates that they were running against, and also people can’t stand this administration.

[00:43:50] But it wasn’t like Democrats went up there and grabbed it and took it. They worked hard for it, and in the end there was a stumble and they got propelled. Because if, if Iran, if we never go into that war with Iran- I don’t think we get this blue wave.

[00:44:12] It’s been misstep after misstep after misstep from the administration.

[00:44:17] And, and what I’m saying is, is like, yeah, you’ve been running, Democrats have been running on affordability. You got your shot. This is your shot. You got two years, and it’s not like this is gonna be easy because Trump still has veto power, and you need two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate to override a veto.

[00:44:34] And if they might have it, they might have it in the House, they’re gonna be falling about 10 votes shy in the Senate, which means you’re gonna need 10 Republicans to go against their party to override a veto. So they could put all the legislation that they want in the world, and Trump could say, “Yeah, I don’t wanna veto everything.”

[00:44:54] But we also know that we could take that with a grain of salt, ‘cause what comes in his mouth one, one day is gonna come out his butt the next day ‘cause he don’t mean it. And I don’t know what that really meant, but y’all know what I’m trying to say. Just,

Jay Aundrea: [00:45:07] know that they do, but,

Bruce Anthony: [00:45:11] I was just going, and I had to come up with an analogy, and that’s the analogy. You talking, you talking, saying one thing out of your mother— mouth and it’s coming out your ass.

Jay Aundrea: [00:45:19] Sure.

[00:45:21] So yes, I agree with you that the environment has to be right. Right? The… You keep making hand

Bruce Anthony: [00:45:30] Yeah, the hand gesture was for you to raise your mic up

Jay Aundrea: [00:45:33] It’s directly in front of my mouth

Bruce Anthony: [00:45:36] No, it wasn’t. Now it’s better. That’s, that’s what that signal was. So ladies and gentlemen, if you’re watching the video and you see me do this, I know that you know what, what the hell I was doing, but my sister never does anything wrong. But, oh, go ahead

Jay Aundrea: [00:45:47] I, I mean, the mic is… All right. Anywhos,

[00:45:51] anywho, yes, I agree with you that the political environment has to be right for this type of thing to have occurred, right? Like we typically see in midterm elections, uh, you know, the House or the Senate flip based on to the opposite of whatever, whoever is the president at, the president’s party at the time.

[00:46:13] Like, we typically see that, right? This is a, this was that to the nth degree, in my opinion. There are some really historic, elections, uh, that occurred yesterday that I think, just the right environment was not enough for these candidates to have won. What I think is, it’s a combination of several things. Republicans throwing money at things instead of developing candidates. That’s why their candidates sucked.

Bruce Anthony: [00:46:49] Yeah

Jay Aundrea: [00:46:51] we’re developing candidates, and we put forth good candidates. Do we have a solid platform? No, we never really do. But that, it was enough of, I think, an economic message that we were able to overcome that.

[00:47:07] Now, do I worry about us over-promising or under-delivering? That remains to be seen. But what I will say is, yes, several things had to be in alignment for this blue tsunami to occur, but what happened was those things ended up being in alignment. But I don’t think that that means that things were just handed to the first Latina governor,

[00:47:30] the first

Bruce Anthony: [00:47:31] that’s not what I meant. That’s not what I meant. That’s

Jay Aundrea: [00:47:34] Okay. Say it another way because that’s what I’m hearing

Bruce Anthony: [00:47:37] Yeah, the, okay. So I, I, I said it a few times, but

Jay Aundrea: [00:47:40] I

Bruce Anthony: [00:47:41] let me…

Jay Aundrea: [00:47:42] it’s not clicking, Steven

Bruce Anthony: [00:47:43] Okay. All right. All I’m saying is Yes, Democrat candidates were better than Republican candidates. That’s a factor. What’s also a factor is this administration is one of the worst rated as far as poll numbers is concerned, uh, approval ratings, in a really long time,

[00:48:04] right? That’s what I mean. If, if his poll numbers weren’t so bad because of certain things that he’s done recently, recently, and if they had better candidates, it would not have been this drastic. That’s all I’m saying. So when I say that they handed it to him, they handed it to him because the administration was poor, and they chose poor candidates.

[00:48:30] And a lot of it was Trump’s own doing, ‘cause he wanted Ken Paxton. And you

Why I Feel Bad for Lindsey Graham’s Sister After Losing His Seat

Bruce Anthony: [00:48:35] know who I really feel bad for? And this is, this is gonna shock you. Lindsey Graham’s sister. Because we keep, we keep looking at, at Lindsey Graham, and I did not like his politics. I don’t know him as a man, so I can’t say that I liked or disliked him as a man.

[00:48:52] I did not like his politics. But his sister lost her brother, and when you go into the research of how close they were, how he took care of her, and it only happened four months, and it was sudden.

Jay Aundrea: [00:49:07] Yeah

Bruce Anthony: [00:49:08] Think about, think about if the whole world looked at me and, well, you know, if I ever ran for office, it’d be really polarizing.

[00:49:16] There’d be people who absolutely hated me and absolutely loved me, kinda like Lindsey Graham. And then I died all of a sudden. You’re dealing with the grief of losing your brother, but the president, say it’s Barack Obama. The President Barack Obama calls to you and says, “I want you to take over his seat for these last couple of months.”

[00:49:34] You say, “Okay, I can do it for the last couple of months.” Then he comes in and says, “Well, now I want you to run for office.” You ain’t never ran for office. You ain’t never been no politician before. And you follow in the footsteps of Lindsey Graham, who was a career politician, an important politician, somebody who was influential in domestic and foreign policy. You are not prepared for that at all, but the president has asked you to do it. So you feel like it’s your duty to do it. You are unprepared, and you lose. You lose. I felt bad for her because she was embarrassed on the debate stage because she wasn’t prepared, ‘cause she’s not a career politician. She was embarrassed last night losing that seat, and she just lost her brother.

[00:50:18] No matter what you think about Lindsey Graham and his politics, a sister lost a brother. And if you are a sibling out there, just turn to your sibling if y’all like each other, ‘cause some people don’t like them, right? And think about, think about that, and think about also the world is watching you.

[00:50:38] They’re mocking you because you’re tied to a person who has a 38% approval rating And you lose a seat that has not been lost for generations. I felt bad for her. I really— I’m happy as hell Democrats won that seat, but I felt bad for her. And that’s another example of that Democrat was essentially handed that seat because that was such a poor candidate that was chosen by somebody who only has a 38% approval rating.

[00:51:08] That’s what I’m talking about handed

Jay Aundrea: [00:51:11] So several things. One, I am— I also feel for her and the loss of her brother. Do I feel bad for her with this election? I do not, because nobody hold, held a gun to her head and told her to run. She could have said no for X, Y, and Z. One, I’m not a career politician. Two, I’m not prepared. Three, all of the above, right?

[00:51:35] Like there, nobody told her she had to run. She was asked to run, and she decided to do it. That’s her choice. She’s a grown adult. So I’m not gonna say that I feel bad that she got embarrassed. She should’ve prepared better. If you talk about people being prepared in a short amount of time, Kamala Harris, former Vice President Kamala

[00:51:54] Harris, who had very… True. But

[00:51:59] that could’ve, that would’ve def- d- yeah, you’re running for president, which nobody can say, uh, except for somebody running for re-election, that they’ve ever run an entire country before. Most people don’t have that on their resume. So that’s one thing. No, I don’t feel bad for her. What I’m saying, I hear what you’re saying, but I’m, what I’m saying is that you can have a candidate who is trash that the people will still vote for

Bruce Anthony: [00:52:31] And half

Jay Aundrea: [00:52:32] and have because of their party affiliation, and what happened was that that did not occur.

[00:52:39] And I don’t th- it, it, it, yes, it’s the environment. Yes, the candidates were bad, but we’ve been in situations before where the candidate’s been bad and the environment sucks, and that candidate still won because that’s your party and you’re gonna vote for your party.

Bruce Anthony: [00:52:54] Ted Cruz

Jay Aundrea: [00:52:56] Precisely.

Bruce Anthony: [00:52:57] think, okay, you know what I think? I, the, I, I’m talking about not the macro, I’m talking about the micro, right? So y- the overall Democrats earned this, but there was a lot of this wave that you could say this was handed to them. Certain spots, certain victories, okay, they, they, they, that was a handoff.

Jay Aundrea: [00:53:26] I would’ve

Bruce Anthony: [00:53:27] was hit the hole and you’re gonna gain 10 yards

Jay Aundrea: [00:53:29] I would say some of them weren’t as much of an uphill climb as others.

Bruce Anthony: [00:53:35] Okay. The semantics

Jay Aundrea: [00:53:37] yeah, semantics because words are important. To say handed to them, I

Bruce Anthony: [00:53:43] that’s my expression

Jay Aundrea: [00:53:44] I think is, is

Bruce Anthony: [00:53:51] That’s not my intent. That’s not my intent. Uh, you know, I did— like I said at the beginning, I’m not saying that they didn’t work hard. I’m just saying that this go around, i-if it, if it was 2024 uh, you didn’t. You wouldn’t see this type of movement if it was the same

Jay Aundrea: [00:54:10] No,

[00:54:11] because everybody, everybody, was for some reason in the twilight zone

[00:54:19] and voted for

The Real Swing Vote: How Latino Voters Turned Texas and Florida Blue

Jay Aundrea: [00:54:20] a

Bruce Anthony: [00:54:21] it wasn’t everybody. And, and, and, and this is the, this is a key point. It wasn’t everybody.

[00:54:26] Black folks stayed the same. White women basically stayed the same. White men basically stayed the same. You know who changed this election? The Latino vote.

Jay Aundrea: [00:54:36] Yes.

Bruce Anthony: [00:54:37] The only place where it didn’t change, even though Miami-Dade turned blue.

[00:54:42] Last I checked, it turned blue. Florida was, if the, if it’s Nixon five, Florida was that one loss. But when you look at Texas and turning blue, that was a Latino vote. The biggest factor in these elections was a Latino vote. And when you look at some of the policies that this administration implemented over the last two years that would affect the Latino people, it makes complete sense.

[00:55:12] Complete sense. It was a Latino vote. ‘Cause Black people, we, we been here. We ain’t changed

Jay Aundrea: [00:55:17] We, by and large, uh, there was some shifting in 2024 with Black men. It wasn’t— It was marginal, but, by and large, we gonna vote and we gonna vote Democrat. Sure. It i- I 100% agree with you that it was definitely Latino vote. If you look, if you look at each state and look at the maps of where the blue is popping up, these are, especially in Texas and Florida, these are primarily Latino communities.

[00:55:51] So yeah, I think it is also, uh, a referendum on conservativism within the Latino community, right? So a lot of them, uh, voted conservatively, realized that those policies are also applying to them, and they didn’t think that they would.

Bruce Anthony: [00:56:12] Hmm.

Jay Aundrea: [00:56:13] up for a, a rude awakening, right? Because our immigration policy is abysmal.

[00:56:21] ICE is, well, I got words for that that we can’t say because

[00:56:27] we’re monetized. yeah,

[00:56:30] I’ll talk about it there.

[00:56:32] So yeah, there, the, yeah, a lot of things had to align and coalesce for this to have happened. I will not dispute that, but I also think that we had great candidates run great races, and that too was a deciding factor.

[00:56:53] Yes, some of them didn’t have as big of a uphill climb as others, but still, you know, people vote against their own interests all the time

Bruce Anthony: [00:57:03] So I,

A Rebuke Is Not an Endorsement: We Land on 70/30 and Get to Work

Bruce Anthony: [00:57:04] I think where me and you are missing each other as far as understanding where I’m coming from is I’m, I’m saying by and large, not every race, but by and large it was more a rebuke of the current administration than it was an endorsement of the candidates. By and large. But there are a lot of, like James Talarico, like, like, uh, uh, Bottoms, John Allsop, like, like, yes.

[00:57:30] But I also, like, I think it was more of a rebuke of the current administration than it was saying, “I love all these candidates.”

Jay Aundrea: [00:57:40] I’ll say, yeah, 70/30,

Bruce Anthony: [00:57:42] Oh, okay. All right. Well, we agree. W- I’m gonna give you the parting shot on, on this segment. Is there anything that you wanna say about how you felt about this blue wave? ‘Cause everybody’s gonna be like, “Well, Bruce done shitted on the whole thing.” That was not the point. The point was to just say, hey, look, it’s great.

[00:58:04] Now there’s work to be done. That’s all I’m saying. There’s work to be done now. Celebrate, win, get this out of your system. Enjoy today, which is Wednesday. Everybody’s hearing this on Friday. By Friday, ain’t no more celebrating. It’s time for work. As Denzel said in Remember the Titans, “Let’s go to work.”

Jay Aundrea: [00:58:22] Yeah. Yes

Bruce Anthony: [00:58:24] do you wanna leave the people with in this, in this last little bit of the election? ‘Cause we done talking about the election after this segment

Jay Aundrea: [00:58:29] Okay. Uh, yeah, so I, I think, yesterday was fantastic. I think that these results will reshape the rest of Trump’s term. In what ways? We’ll see. I still think there is, just like you said, that there is a lot of work that needs to be done, and there’s still a lot of obstacles, right? Because I believe Trump has said that he has no plans to change anyone in his cabinet.

[00:59:09] So, you know, we’ll see. Uh, his— He didn’t consider the election a personal defeat. He said the voters just didn’t like the candidates. That’s true, but it’s, it’s also y- you asked for them to vote like you were on the ballot, and I think they did.

Bruce Anthony: [00:59:28] Mm-hmm.

Jay Aundrea: [00:59:29] I think they did. So yes, we should enjoy this as, as Democrats or as people who care about the issues affecting the American people, but the Democratic Party is not perfect. It’s far from that. They do have a lot of work to do. You’re absolutely right. Enjoy this time, but n- then we have to get to work

Bruce Anthony: [01:00:02] so like I said, we’re gonna detour from the election, uh, a little bit. I wanna get into 2 Chainz and Keith Lee got into it.

[01:00:11] So 2 Chainz sat down with Keith Lee on the Kirk Franklin podcast and basically said the quiet part out loud. Celebrities get perks, and he earned his. He doesn’t wait in airport lines, and he’s not waiting 40 minutes for a table at a restaurant. Keith Lee came right back with the other side. He said he sent his mother-in-law into 10 Atlanta restaurants, uh, and she could barely get served, but the second that he walked in, the table was ready.

[01:00:39] So here’s the question. Is special treatment something you earn, or is it proof that the business isn’t treating everybody right? Because a restaurant that only shows up for the famous person isn’t giving good service. It’s giving a good performance. So what do you think, Jay?

Jay Aundrea: [01:01:02] I think it’s

2 Chainz and Keith Lee: Are Celebrity Perks Earned or Simply Given?

Jay Aundrea: [01:01:03] both. I think that people do earn special treatment to a certain extent given their celebrity, right? But it is also a sign of the business treating, not treating everyone with, uh, equality, right? So I can understand from the business perspective, uh, from a marketing perspective, having some celebrity at your establishment and they enjoy their time there, that’s a, that’s a boon for you.

[01:01:36] So I get, trying to like prioritize celebrities, food critics, typically get better treatment if they’re recognized as a, as a critic, right? Like you go the extra mile for a person with a certain status. I think that that’s true of not just restaurants, but any place where the public is served. You, you can see it even in hospitals, like it’s, it’s insane, right?

[01:02:07] Like, but so I understand it from that perspective. I think, I think what I don’t like about that argument, maybe it’s the word earned, right? I think special treatment is given. It’s not earned. That— and it’s, it’s the thought that it’s earned that I get special treatment because of who I am and I earned that and therefore I’m entitled to it.

[01:02:39] I think it’s the entitlement part that, that gets people a little bit like, uh, okay. Like if you, you don’t wanna wait in line, nobody wants to wait in line. You don’t wanna wait 40 minutes for a table? No one does. I don’t know anyone who is like, “I can’t wait to get in line for 45 minutes to an hour.” Like nobody wants to get handed that little thing that lights up when your table’s ready and vibrates.

[01:03:10] Nobody wants that.

Bruce Anthony: [01:03:11] Actually, I don’t mind it ‘cause that means I can go to the bar and get a drink

Jay Aundrea: [01:03:15] No, I wanna be sat. I’m here to eat and I don’t wanna wait. I wanna

Bruce Anthony: [01:03:19] that’s the difference between you and me. I don’t really care about the eating part. I’m more of, you know, I just wanna get in, get out ‘cause I don’t even wanna be there in the first place. But I get

[01:03:28] what you’re saying. Nobody wants to sit around or… And, and he said that. He said that. He said, “Yeah, I’m not going to wait around for a restaurant table, and I shouldn’t.

[01:03:36] I bust my ass to get here so I don’t have to.” And, and it got some backlash for that

Jay Aundrea: [01:03:41] Yeah

Bruce Anthony: [01:03:42] because it is entitlement. So what? You think, you think just because you’re a wor- just because you can put words to paper.

Jay Aundrea: [01:03:50] Mm-hmm.

Bruce Anthony: [01:03:51] And he is talented, but I, I

Jay Aundrea: [01:03:53] I love 2

[01:03:54] Chainz

Bruce Anthony: [01:03:55] I, I don’t consider him one of the most exceptional rappers.

[01:03:58] He ain’t in the top, he ain’t in the top 1% of rappers

Jay Aundrea: [01:04:02] would I put him in my top 10? No. Do I like his music ‘cause they’re bops? Yes

Bruce Anthony: [01:04:07] Hmm, when’s the last time he had

[01:04:09] a bop?

Jay Aundrea: [01:04:10] time he’s tried to have a bop? He hasn’t— He— I don’t know when that… He’s

[01:04:13] so

Keith Lee’s Atlanta Reviews and Why Regular Customers Deserve Better

Jay Aundrea: [01:04:14] busy

Bruce Anthony: [01:04:15] this all came up.

Jay Aundrea: [01:04:16] if he’s in the booth

Bruce Anthony: [01:04:17] It’s not his podcast, it’s the Kirk Franklin podcast, The Den of Kings, which, okay. Kirk, listen. Den of Kings, Den of Thieves. I thought you were supposed to be… I don’t know about this, okay? Maybe it’s a little twist on the word play, what have you. But 2 Chainz wanted to go at Keith Lee because remember, ‘cause you were in Atlanta, uh, and I was visiting Atlanta a lot in 2003.

[01:04:41] Keith Lee came through Atlanta in 2003. He gave a lot of restaurants some bad reviews, and they wasn’t feeling that. They was like, “Don’t come down here.” And 2 Chainz thought that w- one of the bad reviews was Keith Lee. He got him confused with somebody else, and he’s like, “Why you gonna give me a bad review?”

[01:04:58] And it’s just like, I’ve been to Atlanta restaurants, and let me tell you where you don’t go for great customer service is Atlanta restaurants. They have a piss poor— And this is somebody who was in the restaurant business for years, restaurant managed, all that. They got a piss poor record of customer service.

[01:05:17] Not all of them, but the good ones out there. Atlanta is giving you a bad name. You getting lumped in with them because overall it’s been too many times I’m like, “I’m ready for some water. Can I just get some water? I don’t need that flaming lemon pepper margarita. I don’t even wanna try a lemon pepper margarita.

[01:05:36] What I want is some water right now for these salty chicken wings and waffles.” Huh?

Jay Aundrea: [01:05:41] And I believe that is a real

Bruce Anthony: [01:05:42] It’s, it absolutely is a real thing. And so 2 Chainz was like, “How you gonna give my restaurant a bad review?” And Keith Lee is like, ” Look, if your restaurant got a bad review, maybe you should examine the service in that restaurant” Because it should not be a situation where my mom, my mother-in-law goes in and she’s getting this horrible service, and then I come in and I’m getting this great service.

[01:06:06] Because just because I come in one time doesn’t mean that I’m frequenting your place. Yeah, you gonna get this pub ‘cause I came in, but the everyday people, those are the ones that you need to be treating with the, the— Your regulars are the ones that you need to be treating with, uh, the utmost respect.

Jay Aundrea: [01:06:29] Yeah

Bruce Anthony: [01:06:30] yeah,

Jay Aundrea: [01:06:32] 100% agree. I think, I think the idea, like, 2 Chainz’ position of like, “Hey, celebrities get perks, I earned this.” Okay, but what is inherent in that is you think you’re better than me because you’re a celebrity, and that you deserve preferential treatment because you’re a celebrity. You think you’re better than me, and the average person is gonna push back on that.

Bruce Anthony: [01:07:00] Mm-hmm.

Jay Aundrea: [01:07:01] So like,

Bruce Anthony: [01:07:03] 2 Chainz… I, I didn’t mean to cut you off, but I gotta add this part ‘cause I know this one’s gonna set you on

Do Black-Owned Restaurants Deserve More Grace From Food Critics?

Bruce Anthony: [01:07:08] fire.

[01:07:09] 2 Chainz also argued that Black-owned restaurants deserve more grace from critics, and then asked Keith Lee if his MMA diet had affected his palate, may that be the reason why he doesn’t like certain foods.

[01:07:24] And I’m like, first of all 2 Chainz might be kind of right where Black-owned restaurants might deserve a little bit more grace from critics

Jay Aundrea: [01:07:39] Why?

Bruce Anthony: [01:07:41] ‘cause the pal- the food, the seasoning and everything is different

Jay Aundrea: [01:07:45] But the critics know that

Bruce Anthony: [01:07:48] Some critics, because you got these TikTok online critics that don’t. These aren’t, these aren’t those old school critics that wrote for newspapers or magazines that traveled the world and had a certain palate. There’s a lot of people who are food influencers, and they’re like, what gives…

[01:08:07] Like even Keith Lee at a certain point you gotta be like, “Well, wait a minute. When did you study food? Where did you learn how to cook? Are you a former chef? Like how do you know how the ingredients mix together and, and, and what should taste well and what shouldn’t taste well?” If it’s Gordon Ramsay becomes a food critic, my man’s got a lot of background.

[01:08:29] If it’s somebody who’s like, “I love to eat,” no. No, because you’re not an expert in that. You, you didn’t earn the right to be a critic. So if

Jay Aundrea: [01:08:39] But

Bruce Anthony: [01:08:40] saying that he should get more grace from people like that, I agree

Jay Aundrea: [01:08:45] I think that if you are a restaurant that cooks only to a specific palate

Bruce Anthony: [01:08:53] Yeah, well, yeah, you’re right.

Jay Aundrea: [01:08:55] You know what I’m saying? And, and I’m not saying that all Atlanta restaurants are bad. You said this. There are a lot of really, really delicious restaurants with great service here in Atlanta. But there’s too damn many of y’all whose service don’t have no business being that bad because the food is not good.

[01:09:16] So if you, you gotta pick a struggle. If your service is bad, the food better be bussin’. Like, and just too many places where you eat and I’m like, “This is not even good, and your service sucks.” So you get— you— no, you get called out for that. And Keith Lee has never said that he is a professional food— people just like his reactions.

[01:09:40] I do, I do. I lo- I love his reactions.

[01:09:44] It—

Bruce Anthony: [01:09:45] an influence. He

Jay Aundrea: [01:09:46] He ha- absolutely and I love that he uses it to highlight, uh, you know, struggling businesses, the businesses that just honestly have delicious food but just need the marketing. Like, people don’t know they exist. Like, I love that about his platform. He gave Atlanta restaurants a shot, and all of us here in Atlanta was like, “Don’t come here for food.

[01:10:11] Don’t do it

Bruce Anthony: [01:10:12] Well, the food is always good. I don’t know that I’ve been to a place in… I don’t know that

Jay Aundrea: [01:10:18] I have s- I have never sent food back more than since moving to Atlanta

Bruce Anthony: [01:10:22] Oh, okay. Everything… Well, I don’t… See, 2 Chainz would be right attacking me with my food palate ‘cause it’s just like, “Oh, this is good.” And, and people be like, “No,

[01:10:30] this isn’t.”

Jay Aundrea: [01:10:31] up chicken tenders

Bruce Anthony: [01:10:32] Oh, well, yeah, there’s that too. Uh, and actually it’s not hard ‘cause I’ve had some bad chicken tenders.

Michael Jordan, Celebrity Safety and Where Special Treatment Fails

Bruce Anthony: [01:10:37] Look, I will say this in what 2 Chainz was saying.

[01:10:43] To, to, to, to play the other side, it can be dangerous also for celebrities to be waiting, right? Like, there’s a reason why Michael Jordan used to come through the back of the restaurant and they used to have him in a special section where not a lot of people could get to him, because he’s Michael Jordan.

[01:11:00] So 2 Chainz can’t wait that line for 40 minutes because it could be dangerous to his health

Jay Aundrea: [01:11:10] Uh, yeah, cer- uh, s- or it can certainly be annoying, right? Like you just wanna come out to have dinner or whatever, and you have a bunch of people coming up to you all the time. I, I, I’m sorry, if it was me and I’m trying to enjoy my meal and people keep coming up to me, yeah, that would be highly annoying to me.

[01:11:31] But yes, also, uh, uh, for safety or security, for sure, I s- definitely see putting celebrities in a, like a priority area or VIP area or something like that. And I— like I said, it’s not that special treatment doesn’t happen. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with it. I think when you start to believe that you deserve it, that’s where the problem comes in.

[01:11:57] And so you have celebrities, a lot of times you get a certain amount of status, and you get a certain amount of fame, you get a certain amount of money, and suddenly you don’t remember what it’s like to be a person, the a-average everyday person. You’re not an average everyday person, but you still need to be in touch with what the average everyday person is going through.

[01:12:22] So if you go on a podcast the average everyday person is listening to talking about, “I deserve special treatment, I’m a celebrity,” you gonna lose me, player, because I’m out here paying $88 a gallon for gas, and you talking about you don’t wanna wait in line at a restaurant. Like I can’t… We’re not on the— I can’t vibe with you on that.

[01:12:45] So that’s the part that like takes my nerve and just twists it a little bit

Bruce Anthony: [01:12:51] Yeah. Look, there is preferential treatment all over the place. It’s in hotels, airports, uh, planes, trains, automobiles. Sometimes people pay for them. You know, our brother has a special Sky Lounge thing whenever he flies on a certain airline. I ain’t got that. I would love to have that. You know, I, you know.

[01:13:12] Me and our, me and our cousin was, was trying to find out if we could just pay for the day one time when we was in the airport. “Can we pay for the day?” “Nah, you can’t pay for the day. You got to sign up and you got to pay pay.” And it, it was like, okay, this kinda suck. And we was just in the food court just looking around.

[01:13:27] We ended up eating some BK. That’s Burger King, ladies and gentlemen. I wanted all the shrimp that they had in that smorgasbord in the, in the little special treatment area. But that’s just the way the cookie crumbles. Sometimes you get special treatment, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes it’s earned, quote unquote.

[01:13:46] Sometimes it’s not. Uh, but I think it’s important for all of these organizations to realize that even if celebrities are coming to your establishment, those people that are paying those dollars every day to your establishment should also be treated as if they are special.

Jay Aundrea: [01:14:07] Mm-hmm.

Bruce Anthony: [01:14:08] But that’s just my opinion.

[01:14:09] Jay, what do you want to leave the people with?

Jay Aundrea: [01:14:13] I 100% agree with your last sentiment. If two people come into your restaurant and they get very different treatment, you’re not a good restaurant. That’s just, that’s— You’re not a good establishment, period. Like, if, if you are not treating your customers, which fund your business with respect, the same respect you would give a celebrity You’re not, you’re not a good business, and you deserve criticism for that.

[01:14:51] I think it’s 100% fair and nobody is entitled to anything in this world, to be honest with you. If you are so lucky to get special treatment or priority or preferential treatment or what have you, you need to be grateful because we are all one decision away from being kicked out of places

Bruce Anthony: [01:15:15] Hmm. Or being canceled

Jay Aundrea: [01:15:18] Or being canceled. So grateful heart is a virtue

Bruce Anthony: [01:15:27] Hmm. Damn, that’s a

Closing Thoughts: Who Gets Your Best Effort When Nobody Is Watching

Bruce Anthony: [01:15:28] bar. For me, I wanna bring this all back around for a second. On the surface, today looked like a bunch of different conversations. We talked about voting, we talked about the election results, we talked about 2 Chainz and Keith Lee arguing about celebrity perks. But the more I sat with it, the more I felt like all three conversations were really asking the same question: who gets your best effort?

[01:15:54] Think about how we started today’s show. We were talking about standing in line to vote, get the sticker, staying up late, watching coun-counties change colors on a map, the little traditions that come around every election season, and all of that is built around ordinary people showing up. Not politicians, not celebrities, regular folks taking the time out of their day because they believe their voice matters.

[01:16:19] Then we get to the results. Everybody’s talking about the winners, everybody’s talking about the firsts, everybody’s talking about the wave. And they should, because it’s important. History got made, but one thing stuck with me. Black voters voted overwhelmingly Democratic again. They weren’t the surprise story.

[01:16:40] They weren’t the comeback story. They’re the story that never left. And when somebody keeps showing up for you year after year, eventually you’ve got to ask, “What are you doing to earn their loyalty?” Not during campaign season, not when the cameras show up, all of the time. Now hold that thought, because that’s what made the Keith Lee conversation interesting to me.

[01:17:03] His mother-in-law walked into these restaurants and got one experience. Then Keith Lee walked in and got another. Look, I understand what 2 Chainz is trying to say. VIP treatment is real, and it happens at airports, it happens at hotels, it happens at businesses. But Keith Lee point is a bigger point that should be focused on.

[01:17:24] If the experience changes depending on who’s standing in front of you, what are you really measuring? Because consistency is the brand. That’s true in business, it’s true in leadership. Hell, it’s even true in relationships. And that’s why I keep coming back to the same idea. A rebuke is not a blank check. A first is a door opening, not the work getting done. You gotta show me. Show me what happens after the celebration. Show me what happens after the election. Show me what happens after the ribbon-cutting, the press conference, the victory speech. Show me what happens on a ordinary Tuesday.

[01:18:02] But here’s the uncomfortable part people don’t wanna talk about. If we’re really being real about it, most of us aren’t different. We all have people in our lives we’ve gotten used to, people that always show up, people that always support us, people that always answer the phone, and because they’re dependable, we start treating their presence like a guarantee.

[01:18:23] That’s just being human. But it’s also how good relationships get neglected, and honestly, that’s how organizations lose trust too, because anybody can show up for the VIP. Anybody can show up when the cameras are rolling. The real test is what happens when nobody important is watching.

[01:18:39] The customer who isn’t famous, the voter who never left, the employee who’s been showing up every day, the family member who’s always had your back. Those are the people that you can’t afford to take for granted, because eventually every campaign ends, every headline fades, every camera gets packed up and goes home.

[01:18:59] What’s left is how you treat the people who were there before all of that started. So maybe that’s the question that we leave with today. Who gets your effort? Ladies and gentlemen, I wanna thank you for listening. thank you for watching, and until next time, as always, I’ll holla

[01:19:23] Woo! That was one hell of a show. Thank you for rocking with us here on Unsolicited Perspectives. If you enjoyed the show, follow, subscribe, like, comment, and share. Catch the video podcast and YouTube exclusives on YouTube, but the real party is on our Patreon and YouTube membership with after-hours uncensored with my sister.

[01:19:41] Hit up unsolicitedperspectives.com for merch, blogs, and donation. Every donation goes to improving our equipment, and I wanna say thank you, thank you, thank you, and I’ll catch you next time. Audi 5,000. Peace.