Dr. Jerry, you got the whole world waiting.
Been ready for you to start the conversation.
No point of view.
We got the haters confused.
Leave it up to you to bring us all the good news.
Bars are the five lives and the six appeal to Dr. Andre Jerry.
Can I get an interview?
You, you, you, you, you, you.
Hello, everybody, and thank you for tuning in to Live with Dr. Andre.
You know, tonight's a special milestone for our show because we're embarking on our 22nd
episode and tonight marks our third consecutive year in broadcasting.
So special thanks to all of you, our loyal listeners and supporters of the show.
On behalf of the Artist First radio network, I sincerely appreciate your listenership.
Hey, so for tonight's show, we're going to talk about politics.
And pop culture.
As we approach the 2024 presidential election, we're seeing sort of the convergence of these
two worlds in ways that we really haven't seen before.
For our listeners who may not really be doused into politics, I encourage you to hang in
there with us, you know, as we work through some of these political topics because there's
an old saying, all politics are personal.
And with landmark cases like Roe v. Wade being overturned, the Supreme Court granting absolute
immunity from criminal prosecution for former presidents, not to mention the dystopian agenda
for the future that our country is facing from this Project 25.
Just those three things that I mentioned have or could potentially have a tremendous negative
impact to your life and the liberties that we currently enjoy.
I'll be honest with you guys, you know, for a few years, I had completely disconnected
from politics after Trump won against Hillary.
But you know, by the way, I'm not completely sold on the legitimacy of that election.
But anyway, that's another topic after Trump won.
I was just like, you know, whatever, you know, you guys have fun.
I I guess I was in such a state of euphoria and I guess this sense of security during
those eight years Obama was president that I didn't really notice that there was this
underbelly of discontent and racism and white nationalism and hatred.
I didn't realize all that was kind of quietly metastasizing throughout our country.
You know, so while the majority of us were celebrating the four momentum of the country
and this kind of progressive trajectory that we were on in America, there was this silent
minority that was just seething.
And once Trump emerged as a presidential candidate, he gave a voice and a platform to that silent
minority.
And they are not so silent anymore.
You know, they're they're this they've become this loud, obnoxious, ignorant minority who
are just quite frankly have become a really dangerous segment of our society.
You know, so so after Trump won and took the reins of the Republican Party, he just took
over the Republican Party.
I don't even know.
It's not even the Republican Party anymore.
But once Trump took over the Republican Party in the country, there was just too much hatred
in the vision going on.
You start to see an uptick in protest, all types of demonstrations, civil unrest without
a control, hate crimes were going through the roof, just crimes in general.
And you know, then COVID happened.
And my mom died from COVID back in 2020.
She was one of unfortunately one of the millions of unnecessary casualties of that pandemic,
which by the way was utterly mishandled by the Trump administration, utterly mishandled.
Given the state of chaos that we were in during those four years, I really don't blame myself
or anyone else for that matter for disconnecting from politics.
You know, trust me, I get it.
I get it and I understand.
But now that we're potentially facing another Trump presidency, now is not the time to be
disenfranchised or completely aloof to what's happening.
We have an opportunity before us to elect Kamala Harris, who is a dedicated public servant.
She has a proven track record of working hard to improve the lives of her constituents.
And I don't know if I sound like a campaign commercial.
I promise I'm not a surrogate of the campaign.
But I am supporting her.
I'm proudly supporting her for president.
Not because she's black, not because she's Indian, not because she's a woman, all of
that, not because of the historic nature of her presidency, but because she's competent.
Okay, she's educated.
She's accomplished.
She's progressive and not regressive.
She has gravitas.
And most importantly, she has the temperance to be president of the United States, unlike
her opponent.
So that's who I'm supporting in this election.
And I'll use my platform to advocate for her and do whatever I can within my power to influence
and make sure that she is elected.
Just like the other side, is loud and proud for who their candidate is.
I'm going to be loud and proud for mine.
So with that being said, we can talk about the 2024 presidential election.
Okay, so we'll start with the Democratic National Convention.
Did you guys take a look at that?
Did you watch any of that event?
If you did, I'm sure you agree that the energy was really crazy.
It was wonderful, especially day two when they did the roll call.
And we'll get more into that later.
But it was a really fun, energetic convention.
I was pleasantly surprised.
Now I'll admit, for day one, they got off to sort of a slow start.
At first I was like, okay, what is this?
We can't follow the Republican National Convention with this.
This is not going to work.
But it started to pick up as the night progressed.
My only feedback would be that the headlining speakers were scheduled too late in the evening.
Especially for those of us who were on the West Coast.
I was struggling myself to stay awake to see some of the headliners.
But other than that, it pretty much was a slam dunk for Democrats.
They understood the assignment.
For the first time in a really long time, I can say that I'm very proud of the DMs.
So I don't really consider myself a Democrat or Republican.
I voted in both primaries.
I voted in Democratic primaries, Republican primaries.
I vote based on the candidate, based on their platform.
It just depends on what ideals they're putting forth.
I'm not really a party guy.
I'm not going to just vote down Democratic lines or Republican lines.
I really do take a look at the platform.
And I'll be honest, sometimes I do vote based on race.
A lot of people won't admit that.
I will sometimes just vote based on race.
We had a local election not too long ago in Warner Robins.
And I voted for a candidate solely based on their race.
The other people do it.
Other races do it.
Whether it's an Asian candidate or a white candidate, Latina candidate.
Other people do it too.
It only seems to be a problem when black people do it.
But yeah, we've been locked out of so many segments of society on certain things.
Yeah, sometimes I just, I got you, I got you brother.
I'm going to vote for you.
If they're a complete fool and ebbed for the seat, I'm just not going to throw my support
behind them in that case.
But yeah, if they're competent and they don't have to have the most glamorous yard signs
or the most polished website, but if they're campaigning in earnest and have great intentions,
yeah, I'll give you my vote just because you're a brother or a sister.
Sure will.
And a lot of people don't notice about me, but I ran for office back in 2008.
It seems so long ago.
God, it seems so long ago.
But I ran for state senate in Atlanta.
I moved to Atlanta in late 2006, early 2007 and ended up getting, you know, turned on
the politics.
I remember going to a neighborhood meeting with someone I was dating at the time and
the local state senator had came to speak to members of the neighborhood association.
And when she spoke to the neighborhood association, which mostly was comprised of black and brown
people, I remember, and this was an older white lady, I remember her being so condescending
in her approach and it turned me off and I was really offended by it.
You know, she was all like, yeah, I just came down here to speak to y'all and see what
y'all need from me and just to show my faith.
It was just very condescending.
And I'm like, who is this lady?
And they were like, that's our state senator.
And I was like, well, why does she represent a majority black district?
And you know, the response that I got was that no one ever runs against her.
And I was like, hmm, why is that?
And you know, no one really had an answer for it.
And so being the Maverick that I am and the Daredevil that I am, I said, well, I'll run
against her.
Mind you, at this time, I knew nothing about politics.
I didn't know about the qualifications about, oh, you have to live in a district for a certain
number of years and this and that.
So at that point, I met most of the qualifications, but I had pretty much made up of my mind that
I'm going to challenge this lady.
Yeah, it's state senator.
That's a big seat.
Most people start with something like city council or something like that.
But I just, the lady offended me.
I just did not like how she was talking to my people.
And so it was almost like a protest campaign, you know.
And thankfully, the person I was dating at the time was a political consultant and had
run for office themselves and had a lot of experience.
And was able to kind of help me to hit the ground running, put me in front of the people
I need to be put in front of, make sure I met all the qualifications, made sure that
my candidacy was legitimate and not written off as some half hazard mess.
So I ran a really great campaign.
I didn't have a lot of funding.
I pretty much used my own money that I had saved up and I bought my own yard signs and
what have you.
And it was a respectable campaign.
I got my ass beat, you know, more so from a lack of money.
It takes a lot of money to run for office.
And taking $10,000 or $15,000 out of your savings is not going to cut it when you're
trying to run for a huge state senate district.
And so I did respectable in my numbers though.
I remember getting 33% of the vote, which is huge.
It was huge for a first time candidate running in a huge state senate district in the heart
of Atlanta, by the way.
And mind you at this time, this, you're looking at someone who was very shy, was not comfortable
in front of an audience.
I had a fear of public speaking and so I really had to come out of my shell to run for that
seat and to put myself and offer myself a public office.
So looking back, it was a great experience.
It taught me a lot about politics.
It taught me a lot about myself.
It taught me a lot about the inner workings of the Democratic Party, the Republican Party.
Back then the Democrats weren't very nice to me.
It was a different party.
They weren't very inclusive or welcoming to young people.
They didn't take kindly of someone just coming out the blue young man.
I was 28 at the time running for a strongly entrenched incumbent that had been in politics
for 30 plus years.
They were offended by my candidacy.
So I was not embraced and welcomed like, oh yes, look at this young black man coming through
the gate and he's involved in politics.
It wasn't like that at all.
It was like, who do you think you are and where did you come from again?
It was that type of treatment.
So no, I was not welcome at all.
Now the district, my constituents, they loved me.
I learned about retail politics, going door to door, meeting voters, going to different
events.
I learned a lot about that aspect of campaigning, but in terms of the inner workings of the
Democratic Party, they were not welcoming at the time.
It kind of gave me a bad taste in my mouth where Democrats were concerned.
And I remember when I ended that campaign, I was disenchanted with, not politics, I kind
of had fallen in love with politics to some degree, but I was disenchanted with the Democratic
Party because of their treatment of me.
And so it's really refreshing to see this sort of new Democratic Party that's emerging,
that's more abrasive of the younger generation.
So I'm happy to see that.
Back to the Democratic National Convention, so day one of the DNC featured a lot of great
speeches from key Democratic figures like AOC, which of course is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
This was her first DNC appearance.
And keep in mind, she was someone that was elected to Congress back in 2019.
So if you think about what that means, despite having the national profile that she had and
the popularity, she was either not invited or not considered as a speaker in the last
DNC that we had where Biden was nominated.
And some may argue that it was too soon in her political career that she hadn't paid
her dues, so to speak.
But if you think about the message that that sent to young Democratic voters and young
political upstarts, it sends a message that, hey, we don't value you.
It sends a message that your voices are not really important enough to make you a centerpiece
of our platform or a centerpiece of our policies or even a centerpiece of our convention.
And then so many people wonder why we end up having voter participation among millennials
and Gen Zers that were not great.
They were abysmal, especially during the last presidential election, because people weren't
speaking their language.
They didn't feel as though they had a seat at the table.
And for those of us like myself, like AOC, like Jasmine Crockett, who we'll talk about
later, we demanded a seat at the table for our party and in our party.
And we were oftentimes treated with contempt from the very people that should have been
more welcoming to us.
We got a lot of resistance or this attitude that we hadn't earned a seat at the table.
You remember how I told you they treated me when I was a candidate.
So there was a lot of us in my generation, Gen X, who were like, look, OK, I get it.
I'm not 100 years old.
I haven't held office for 20 and 30 years.
But that doesn't mean that I can't participate in this democracy.
And so a lot of us made an impact and left our own imprint in politics as candidates,
as staffers, as consultants, advisors, and pundits.
And so now I'm really proud to see how subsequent generations, starting to sound so old, but
I'm really proud to see how subsequent generations have kind of picked up the mantle and have
demanded their place in our democracy.
The AOC, the Jasmine Crockett, and other young leaders in Congress and Senate who are
blazing their own trails.
So anyway, let's get back on track and talk about some of the more notable speeches from
day one.
So like I mentioned earlier, AOC, she gave a really fiery speech where she talked about
her story of growing up middle class in New York and working as a waitress and bartender
to support herself through school.
And she tied her story to that of Kamala and her running mate Tim Walts, who both grew
up in middle class environments.
And what I like about them is that they understand issues that are facing working class Americans.
And one of my favorite lines from AOC's speech was when she talked about her Republican counterparts
in Congress and how some of them ridiculed her over the years and saying stuff like,
oh, you need to go back to bartending, insinuating that she was somewhat out of her depth as
a legislator.
And her reply, and I loved her reply, her reply in that speech was, you know what, I'd
be happy to because there's nothing wrong with working for a living.
I just loved that.
I thought that was the perfect retort because it was such a nasty remark to a young single
woman who had the dedication and the drive to pursue her degree full time while working
a part time job in the service industry, which by the way is not an easy profession and not
in the state of New York either.
You know?
And on top of that, what I like about AOC is that this young lady, she had the balls
and the ingenuity to run a successful campaign for Congress and she defeated a 10-term incumbent.
You know?
So the audacity of her colleagues, some of them, to try to make her feel unworthy of
being a congressman or making comments like go back to bartending, like there's something
wrong with being a bartender or working in the service industry.
You know?
I just found that offensive and a lot of people did.
Funny fact about me, I used to want to be a bartender back in the day.
I even went to bartending school.
This was years and years ago.
I always wanted to be a bartender knowing that I didn't have really the personality
for, you have to be sort of outgoing and vibrant and I can certainly be that, but it's not
my default personality.
I'm more of an introvert.
But I remember going to bartending school and one of the things that held me up was
that I could not, I can do it expertly now, but I could not open a bottle of wine.
Using the old fashioned course, I could not do it.
I could not do it to save my life.
And so I didn't fare well in bartending school.
It was a great experience.
A lot of people don't know this about me too.
I was a delivery driver for Jason's Deli when I was in grad school.
That's how I kind of worked my way through college and earning extra money.
And so when people make comments like that, like they did to AOC about, you know, go back
to bartending or something like that, that is just really is a horrible thing to say.
To someone and I took great offense to it.
She's more than capable.
She has a lot to bring to the table.
She has a lot to bring to the Democratic Party.
And I applaud her with a great, great, great speech.
Another notable speaker in day one of the DNC was representative Jasmine Crockett.
Now if you don't know that name by now, I don't know where he's been.
She's been on all types of clips online on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram.
She's been on Jimmy Kimmel, The View, all of the cable news networks.
In large part due to her reputation of relentlessly calling out her Republican colleagues for
hypocrisy and just overall foolishness from the Republicans.
But most famously, she's known for corning the phrase that we all know now, beach, blonde,
bad built bush body.
She coined that phrase and it went viral earlier this year and it has generated actually
a huge amount of profits in merchandising and in licensing, which by the way is not going
into her pockets.
She's using the proceeds from the merchandise and from the licensing to fund other Democratic
candidates that are running in these down ballot races at the state and local level.
And so I just love that.
Yes, she made that jab at Marjorie Taylor Greene, who I can't believe represents my home state.
I just, I can't believe we elected her.
But I appreciate that Representative Crockett had the business acumen to quickly obtain the
intellectual property rights for that phrase and then turn around and leverage it as a
monetary asset.
I love that about her.
That was so something I would have done.
But Jasmine Crockett gave a really, really heartfelt speech that connected with a lot
of people, it connected with the audience at the DNC, it connected with me and it gave
a glimpse into Kamala Harris's sense of compassion and empathy.
She told this story about how when she was first elected to Congress, she felt as though
she hadn't made the right decision.
She didn't feel like she belonged.
She felt somewhat lost in what was at the time a very chaotic and divided Congress.
And she had just won her congressional seat.
And you know, of course, as a new member of Congress, you just won your seat, you should
be exuberant.
You should be, you know, on top of the world.
But Kamala saw her and could tell that something was off.
So Kamala pulled her aside and asked her, what's wrong?
And you know how it is when you're kind of going through something internally and everyone
thinks you're okay, but you're really not.
When someone sees you and hits you with that, what's wrong?
And if that question hits you at the right moment, those walls are going to come down
and you're going to cry and you're going to just break down.
And that's what happened with Jasmine Crockett that day with Kamala.
And in that moment, Kamala gave her the reassurance and the encouragement that she desperately
needed at that time.
So it was really touching to hear Jasmine recount the story about how the most powerful woman
in the world listened to her story and wiped her tears and reassured her that she was right
where she was supposed to be.
And shortly after that, Jasmine Crockett did her thing.
She went viral for the first of many times and she's secured her slot within the Democratic
Party as a force.
So for me, that was the highlight of her speech, her DNC speech, sharing that story.
And she also stayed on brand as well.
She took some jabs here and there at Donald Trump and ridiculed him a bit, calling him
a career criminal and juxtaposing his candidacy to that of Kamala Harris, who is a career
prosecutor.
So it was good stuff.
That was definitely a highlight.
Senator Rafael Warnock also delivered a very passionate speech.
He focused mostly on the need for unity.
And he's a very likable politician.
It's hard to genuinely like most politicians because they can be so full of it.
But Senator Warnock is a Georgia boy like me.
I can also relate to him as a black man growing up in the South.
He just comes across like a normal guy.
He speaks very plainly, yet poignantly.
He knows how to get his message across.
And most importantly, he knows when to get the hell off the stage.
And that's a very important concept for a politician to learn, trust me.
And he also just kind of sings like the guy who would pull over on the highway and help
you to change a flat tire.
You know, he sings like that type of guy.
But his speech was really good.
He was very Martin Luther King-esque.
You know, he's not really the type to throw jabs and little insults.
But he's very genteel and very gentlemanly.
You know, but overall his speech was definitely a highlight for sure.
Now the headliner for day one of the DNC was definitely Hillary Clinton.
And I'll admit I was very excited to hear Hillary's speech, you know, for a couple
of reasons.
Of course, you got the historic nature of Kamala's campaign.
And Hillary is someone who put the biggest crack in the glass ceiling with her historic
candidacy.
Ultimately, of course, she didn't win.
Trump beat her.
But I just kind of wanted to see Hillary's reaction to what was happening.
I mean, imagine how she felt.
You know, she was the first woman to really make serious inroads in becoming the first
woman elected president, and I know she wanted that for her almost entire life, I'm sure.
And to come so close but not get it and to lose to somebody like Donald Trump, who just
has no substance, no real grasp of the issues, not a statesman at all, you know, that had
to hurt her.
And then to see someone like Kamala come through and kind of finish the work that I just wanted
to see how she would react to that.
Like, would she be kind of salty behind it or was this really a true authentic endorsement?
Was she really happy for Kamala?
And you know, from everything that I saw from from Hillary, she was really proud to be a
part of this moment.
Of course, she wished that she could have been the one that broken through.
But I think she's done enough reflection and done enough of the work to understand that,
you know, it wasn't meant for me to be the one.
But I think she understands now that she plays a significant role in ushering the way for
a Kamala Harris.
And so that's what came through in her speech for me.
I was really kind of blown away by just her approach to that.
And her speech really was a nod to all the women who supported her.
It was like a look.
We all need to get in line.
We need to get behind Kamala.
I wasn't the one to do it, but we have an opportunity before us and we got to do what
we need to do to make sure that we get her in this seat.
There's too much at stake.
And so her speech was really, really good.
I think she was the one to set the tone for the DNC.
So I'm glad that they put her as the headliner for day one because it set the tone, you know,
because she was the one that became so close in years prior.
She was the best one to deliver the message to let's all get behind Kamala.
And she took her own little jabs at Trump, which was entertaining.
At one point when she was talking, the crowd was chanting, lock him up.
They were chanting a lot of things throughout all the days of the convention, but they were
chanting, lock him up, lock him up.
And you know, normally what you would expect is, you know, acknowledge the crowd and, you
know, but kind of pivot and move on and not indulge in those chants, but Hillary let them
chant it for a good while.
And you could tell she was enjoying it.
And she had this smile on her face like, yeah, yeah, that's right, lock his ass up.
And so it kind of humanized her for me because I was not really a Hillary person.
I kind of associated her with, she was like the national version of the candidate that
was running against in, when I ran for the state Senate in 2008, she was like the national
version of Nan Oruk.
And so she represented for me the old guard of the Democratic Party, the old guard that
did not welcome younger exuberant energetic candidates that wanted to participate in the
process.
That's what she represented for me.
And so I didn't support her when she and Barack were running for the presidency back
in 2008.
I supported Barack.
And I supported Barack because I identified with him.
And I thought he was the better candidate.
And I thought that he was what we needed at that time.
And so yeah, I wasn't a Hillary person.
Now I did support her, albeit not enthusiastically, but I did support her against Trump because
there was just nothing there for Trump.
He was an entertainer.
And I'm a person that responds to substance and there was just nothing there.
So I won't say reluctantly, but I definitely supported Hillary in that election.
I wish she could have pulled through, but it just, for whatever reason, we needed to
go through a Trump presidency.
But anyway, but like I say, Hillary didn't disappoint in her speech at the DNC.
And she reminded all of us about what's at stake in this election.
I think, like I said, she was the perfect closer.
And she set the tone for the entire rest of the convention.
So lastly, for the first day of the DNC, we had Joe and Geo Biden.
And they pretty much closed the night with what was really an emotional farewell speech
that focused on Biden's legacy, rightfully so.
And it ended with sort of this heartfelt call to action for every one of us to emphasize
hope and not fall into negativity, to emphasize resilience in the face of this political division
that we are facing in this country right now.
It's time for it to end.
It really is.
We've been the divided states of America for too many years now.
And I think it's time that we finally closed this chapter, canceled this reality show that's
called Donald Trump.
And just move our country in a more inclusive, progressive direction.
And that's forward.
So listen, on that note, we're going to take a quick commercial break.
But please don't go anywhere.
When we come back, we're going to discuss more of the DNC highlights and also what we
can expect from the upcoming presidential debate on ABC and then also the vice presidential
debate on CBS.
We'll also touch on the role of celebrities in shaping our political discourse.
So stay tuned to live with Dr. Andre Gerry.
We'll be right back.
I'm going back to Saudi just in the nick of time.
I'm going back to Saudi.
Hey everybody, welcome back to live with Dr. Andre Gerry.
Thank you so much for sticking with us through the break.
Oh God, just listening to that song again makes me kind of want to go back to Saudi.
I really do.
But anyway, listen, if you're, shout out to my friend, Reginald Bullock, by the way, who
told me he loved that song.
But anyway, listen, if you're just joining us, tonight's show is about politics and the
2024 election.
And before the break, we talked about some of the highlights from day one of the DNC.
And I just wanted to take a moment to congratulate the DNC leadership and everyone who was involved
in this year's Democratic National Convention.
It was like a four day block party in Chicago.
It really was.
It was inclusive.
It was entertaining.
It met the moment for the culture.
And most importantly, it embraced young people and it unified the party, which I'm particularly
proud of.
Like I said, my biggest issue with the Democratic Party in previous election cycles and in previous
years is that it seemed to really resent youth and energy and they used to eat their own.
They were very cannibalistic.
And it always frustrated me because, you know, Republicans on the flip side, you can say
whatever you want about them.
They are unified.
I don't care if the person at the top of a ticket is a child molester or fool or whatever.
They will all unite behind that fool.
And they will turn the other way to whatever errors or whatever is going on with the other
person.
And I was just so frustrated.
I'm like, why can't the Democrats do the same?
We give each other more hail than the Republicans do.
It always used to frustrate me.
So it was really refreshing to really see the unity at this Democratic National Convention.
And it also was great to see the Democratic Party reclaim patriotism.
I have been so sick of this fake patriotism that's been going on for the past, you know,
eight years or so.
Really, it's white nationalism masquerading as patriotism.
It's so disingenuous and so stupid.
And I was just really happy to see how there were so many American flags at the DNC, how
the overall theme was freedom, you know, unity, patriotism.
We kind of took back that word because the Republicans just kind of took it and just kind of
bastardized it.
It was really horrible to watch.
But yeah, DNC leadership, you guys did a great, great job.
And considering you, you know, had to quickly pivot from your original programming that
more so centered around a Biden candidacy, you guys did a really great job.
Okay, so what were some of the other highlights from the DNC that stood out?
Night one was great.
Night two was a different type of vibe.
We saw a modern twist on the traditional roll call.
So the roll call is basically, it's the most boring, traditionally the most boring part
of both conventions, the Republican and the Democratic.
They go through each of the states and, you know, their attendees and delegates have to,
you know, Wisconsin, what say you?
And it's just just long, you know how many states we have.
It just takes forever.
It's boring.
But I love how the Democrats put this modern twist on it.
It was curated by DJ Cassidy, which a lot of people I know, Reggie, I know you know who
DJ Cassidy is, but that's the DJ, the famous young DJ that got us all through the pandemic.
We were locked in the house for two years.
But he curated that whole roll call and was like the maestro of it.
And he created sort of this celebratory atmosphere for, like I said, was typically known as the
most boring part of the convention.
And so each, as they went through each state's roll call, each state has its own song.
I can't remember the song for all of the states, of course, but some of the ones that stood out,
California had California Love by Tupac, which really got the crowd going.
Georgia, I was really proud of Georgia.
They, I think our song was, God, what was it?
I know they brought out a little John.
And I can't remember the exact name of the song, but it was just, it changed the whole vibe.
But Georgia really represented during the roll call.
I don't know why I can't think of the name of the song that they presented for us, but it was just a really
different spin on the roll call.
And I know that there, you know, the Republicans are going to bite this the next time.
I know they are.
But I think that we're going to see more music infused in the roll calls moving forward because it just,
it really was a new and different way to approach that aspect of the convention.
So shout out to DJ Cassidy on that.
Did an excellent job.
There were also performances by Patty LaBelle.
I love Patty LaBelle.
Common was also a performer.
And so it was really great to hear from these two and to see these two be part of the convention.
Patty added a layer of emotion and inspiration.
Patty did her song Turn Down for What.
Thank you, Reggie.
Turn Down for What was the song that was the theme for Georgia's roll call.
Thank you, Reggie.
But yeah, Patty LaBelle in common, they added some layers of emotion and inspiration to the DNC.
Patty performed her song You Are My Friend.
So the song was a backdrop to a lot of people that have lost their lives over the years.
So it was a bit of a tribute.
Common was reaching more for the Gen X, Millennial, Gen Z audience.
And I saw where the crowd was really responsive to that.
So they infused a lot of aspects that cater to different audiences.
And I really appreciated that.
Of course, the Headlining Act for Night 2 were the speeches from Michelle and Barack Obama.
They always give unforgettable speeches.
Michelle was more, she gave us more that, you know, that mom's speech that, hey, look, we got a lot of work to do.
This is not going to be easy.
But she kind of laid out what our charge was and she threw a little jabs and red meat out there for the bass.
And that's something that I appreciate too, because, you know, traditionally Michelle and Barack, they're very serious.
You know, of course, Barack is going to have this speeches that are, you know, in more of his charismatic style.
And he's a little bit more lighthearted than Michelle. And Michelle is more serious.
But I like the jabs that she took at Trump.
She made the comment about who's going to tell Trump that this job that he is applying for is one of these black jobs.
You know, so just a little jabs like that.
We don't really want to hear this when they go low, we go high. We don't want to hear that right now.
The Republicans have been acting a fool for years.
They just have.
And they, to say they go below the belt is just not even an accurate description.
And so there's sometimes where, yeah, you're going to have to take the high roll, but we're not at a high roll moment right now.
Sometimes you got to get into dirt and fight just as dirty as your opponent is fighting.
So I appreciate that people in their speeches are taking jabs and making little digs about how weird JD Vance is and, you know, how Donald Trump is obsessed with crowd size and all of that.
That type of stuff energizes the base. You have to give your base something to laugh at and to be energized about.
And when you're being poked fun of, you know, repeatedly, like the Republicans have been doing on their side towards the Democratic side, you know, don't want to take the high roll.
You know, sometimes you want to make ugly remarks too.
You know, so I'm glad that we're doing more of that, you know.
But Michelle and Barack gave wonderful speeches.
It was kind of the cap to the second night of the DNC and kind of got us energized for the remaining two days.
And, you know, I'm not going to go through all of the days and the different speeches, but there were a lot of keynote speakers that really left an impression.
Hakeem Jeffries, who's a dynamic speaker and hopefully the next majority leader of our house, he gave a great speech and he threw some of that red meat out there too.
You may have seen clips from his speech where he referenced or likened Donald Trump to a boyfriend who just won't go away, who's trying to get back with you.
And he gave that one line or of, bro, we broke up with you for a reason, you know.
And so it's just little stuff like that that really gets the base excited and get them to laugh a little bit and break the monotony of just an overly serious speech.
You know, we know this is a serious time.
We know there's a lot on the line, but this room for humor, you know.
They also brought out Republicans for Kamala.
Some notable Republicans came out.
And it's not easy for these Republicans to come out against Trump.
You know, it's not.
Trump is a very vindictive person.
He's the type of person that if you work against him, he'll get revenge on you and he'll run people against you or just flat out have people try to assassinate you so to speak.
You know, so it's not a simple thing for some of these Republicans that have been vocal and to come out for Kamala.
That's really a big deal.
It shouldn't be.
But in today's political climate, I really do applaud those people.
You know, what else was a highlight?
They had their, their retired US Capitol police officer come out.
I can't remember Sergeant Gono and killing no Gono.
He gave out and came out and gave a compelling speech to parents of one of the hostages that are being healed by this Hamas in Gaza.
They came out and gave a really emotional speech and gave us a powerful reminder that this issue of, you know, Gaza and this whole thing that's going on out there.
It's not a political issue.
They're real people, real humans, real lives that are impacted by that.
And it's unfortunate to view it in a political issue when it's really a humanitarian issue.
Even myself, it was educational for me because I was of the mind of what do we care what's going on over there?
We got our own problems.
We got our own shit we need to figure out in this country.
So, you know, I'm not so you hung up on what's going on in Ukraine and Hamas, but I could really appreciate those parents of that hostage speaking because it reminded me and reminded all of us that there's a human and a humanitarian aspect to these conflicts that are abroad.
You know, it's not as simple as saying, oh, that's not our business.
You know, so it's always good to have those types of reminders.
Bill Clinton gave a great speech.
You know, he's getting older.
He's getting up there.
He's not as old as Trump, but, you know, he's gotten older.
He's still a great eloquent speech speaker, but he got his point across.
He injected humor.
Oprah even came out and, you know, many people weren't expecting her to make a formal endorsement rather, but she came out and gave a motivational call to action.
And just heavy hitters.
You know, I love how the Democratic Party has used celebrities to weigh in and give their opinion and endorsement of Kamala.
Some of that stuff really makes a difference.
Senator Elizabeth Warren came out.
She got a very, very long standing ovation and warm greeting.
I think because of all the work she's been doing and advocacy for student debt, student loan debt, cancellation, she's really been championing that for many years.
And it has been a progressive voice in the Senate, a much needed progressive voice in the Senate for a lot of years.
And so I just think that warm, long ovation that she got was just a thank you to her and for all of her work.
And let's not forget she ran for office too.
She ran for president.
And, you know, her, her candidacy didn't go too far.
And Trump beat her down with all types of jokes, calling her Pocahontas and stuff like that.
Just a bully.
Trump is a bully.
You know, so it's unfortunate that we have someone like that at the top of a ticket and offering themselves for president.
I just can't stand by that type of stuff.
So I'm very excited to support Kamala Harris.
And like I said, yes, it's historic, but there's just too much at stake to get caught up in personalities and all this other stuff that distracts us.
Oh, goodness, we're coming up on the end of the hour.
Guys, I really have enjoyed this conversation.
I didn't touch on everything that I kind of wanted to peel back on in terms of politics, but I think it was a great discussion.
And I hope you enjoyed it.
I hope you took something positive away from it and perhaps learned something that you didn't know before.
Like I always say, it's always my intention to leave you guys more informed than when you came.
So, you know, we're going to close tonight's episode, but remember that more so than ever, all politics are personal.
You know, like I said, we have a lot of ex-state here, and now is not the time to be distracted or disengaged or disenfranchised.
And, you know, if you're currently not registered and you would like to register to vote in the 2024 presidential election,
there's plenty of time to get registered.
Register online at vote.gov.
That's vote.gov.
Okay, you can also register by mail and in person if you want to at your local election office.
So, that's it for tonight.
Be sure to join us for our next episode of Live with Dr. Andre, which of course airs every 4th Wednesday at 8 p.m.
Eastern, exclusively on the Artist First radio network.
Thanks for tuning in and good night.