Charlamagne tha God on Trump, Journalism and that Anti-Trans Ad

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My guest today is Lennard Larry McKelvey, also known as Charlemagne the God. He's one of the hosts of The Breakfast Club, a best-selling author, and a podcaster, media critic, media mogul, and mental health advocate.
He's also in the Radio Hall of Fame, has hosted multiple TV shows, and he's interviewed a raft of politicians, including Vice President Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden, and President Barack Obama. I wanted to talk to Charlemagne for a lot of reasons.
I was on his show once. I thought he was excellent.
I just find it really interesting all the directions he goes in in media. I don't agree with him all the time, but what he's doing is really creative and interesting for a media figure these days, and I always like to talk to those people.
And he also had some impact on the election in both positive and negative ways. No matter what you think of him, and he doesn't care either way, by the way, Charlemagne has tremendous sway in the world of politics and pop culture, and he always has a sharp opinion.

He's also a great entrepreneur, which I always love. Our expert question comes from Nicholas

Kwa, a staff writer for Vulture and New York Magazine who's been writing about podcasts for

about a decade. So let's get to it.
It is on. How are you doing? I haven't seen you since I was on your show.
I know. I see you all the time.
I see you every Sunday morning. Oh, Saturday morning.
Saturday. Saturday morning.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, thank you so much.
I'm actually glad we're doing this after the election. It's actually a lot better.
And I know you hate small talk. So let's just dive right in.
So just overall, how are you liking the Trump transition? Cabinet choices, Alonia, Musk, Matt Gaetz, making RFK eat a Big Mac and fries? What stands out? What are you surprised by? Yeah, I mean, it's interesting, right? As of right now, it looks like he's making all the wrong choices. But I guess that is feeding into his whole outsider thing.
You know, it's like the whole drain the swamp thing that he ran on in 2016. And, you know, if they're an administration that's looking to make major change, they don't want to have any of the, I guess, old DC type around.
So they're trying something new. But, you know, the interesting thing for me is like, I'm not wishing on them to fail.
Yeah, you said that on Daily Show. Yeah, I hope that this works.
I don't think it will, but, you know, I'm hoping that it does. I don't know.
Is there anything you're surprised by? I mean, RFK eating the Big Mac was my moment of favorite because it's sort of like a drug dealer's making the cop take the drugs so that they know if they're a cop or not kind of thing. Man, if we're—like on training day when Alonzo was like...
Try it. Smoke it, smoke it, smoke it, yeah.
For me, man, if we're still surprised by anything concerning Donald Trump, then we have really, really, really normalized Trump in ways that I can't even explain anymore. So, I mean, there's no such thing as being what we this is what we expect.
The surprise is going to come when he does something relatively normal. Like I said on The Daily Show the other night, like if he just plays golf.
Yeah. Do the opposite of everything your political opponents say you're going to do.
Like just completely do the opposite. Don't prove them right.
Just be a regular Republican, you know, president who, you know, ruins the economy, leaves us in the recession. I can deal with that.
Do you have any reason to believe he'll do that? Or is it just wishful thinking on your part or hope? That is a great question. I think it is just wishful thinking.
I think it is just hope. I think it is just optimism.
Because I think the things that we have all felt, oh no, forget the things that I'm about about to say the things that we all feel like he's going to do. No, the things he's actually said he's going to do are too terrifying for any American, you know, to even, you know, wrap their brain around.
So it's like, I have to have, you know, optimism. I have to have hope because, you know, anything else is too terrifying to even think about.
And, you know, people love to say that we have Trump derangement syndrome. Yeah.
We only have that because of the things that he said. Yeah, because he's deranged.
Yeah. Yeah.
He's said things. He's done things.
We watched him, you know, lead an attempted coup in his country. Like, you know, we've heard him say he wants to jail his political opponents.
He wants to jail journalists. Like, we've heard him say these things.
I was having this conversation last week with somebody, and it was like, oh, he just says all of these things. The row, you know, voters up.
He stirs up waters to catch fish. I hope so.
Yeah. You got everything you want now, right? You got all three branches of government.
You got the presidency. Hopefully that's enough.
But you asked him not to be a fascist, right? I mean, is there a worry that they will actually, I mean, I'm a Maya Angelou girl. So I'm like, if someone says somebody shows who they are, believe them.
Yeah. I'm that person.
I've always thought about that with him. Is there one worry that you have the most or not at all? Or is there many, multifaceted worries? I mean, many, I don't even know what know what that you know i only have a history to look to when we're talking about authoritarian regimes right and i haven't read one that i can say to myself oh you know what this will be okay like this is something i want my kids to grow up in like yeah no this is america like that you have people risking their life, you know, to come across the border is because this is supposed to be the land of milk and honey.
Like, you know, there's a certain creed that this country, you know, has that has benefited so many of us. And to see that taken away, to see the potential of that being taken away is like, that's terrifying.
Yeah, you know, on this week's show with Andrew Schultz, he's like your Scott Galloway.

It's terrifying. Yeah, you know, on this week's show with Andrew Schultz, he's like, you're Scott Galloway.
It's interesting. But what he was saying is he wanted you to admit you were wrong, but you said, I still like, meaning you want everything to work out, right? You said, I like America, not him, essentially.
That's the message you were trying to put out. And that's how I feel.
Yeah. So once the election is over, though, you did criticize Harrison Biden for dropping their rhetoric about Trump being dangerous and fascist.
But you were also calling for peace and unity. Talk about why that's different from what they did.
And I know you said they're politicians. You're just a guy.
Well, you're a powerful guy. Well, I'm not the president of the United States States of America and I'm not the vice president of the United States of America.

I'm not a former joint chief of staff. Like, I feel like when they say those things, you know, it holds a whole lot of weight.
And the problem I have a lot of times with the Democratic Party is like, you know, they don't they don't stand for nothing and they don't stand on anything. So it's like, if you went so hard,

he's a fascist, you know, he's a threat to democracy.

I'm talking about literally a day before the election and then right when the election is over it's like welcome back to the white house you know peaceful transition of power it's like so what happened to all of that fascist talk and and see that that's part of the normalization of of donald, because there's people who are who already didn't believe any of the rhetoric that they were spewing. And now that they backed up, backed up off of it, like they definitely don't believe it.
So what would you have him do? You were joking about giving him kombucha instead of Diet Coke. But what would you have him do? Well, I would have I would have President Biden say, hey, look, I am a person who still believes in the Constitution.
I believe in democracy. This is what the Constitution says we should do, have a peaceful transition of power.
But please let me remind you of who this person is. Like they should have took that time while they were in the White House.
He should have been having that conversation to Donald Trump like that. Right.
Likely. Publicly.
He's still Trump's elder statesman, right? Right. And he's been in government for so long, he should have, I don't want to say scolded, but yeah, he should have at least lectured Trump on the things that he's been saying and the things he does not want to see him do, you know, when he becomes the 47th president of the United States of America.
Like, yeah. And you just saw Joe and Mika Brzezinski go down to Mar-a-Lago.
I'm not mad at anyone who's covering the president elect. I'm not mad at anybody who's covering the president of the United States of America.
I think we should you should be covering him. You should be having conversations with him because if you were the people that have been on the air or on TV or on radio or on podcasts challenging him, you should be challenging him to his face.
I do not like people who, you know, have conversations about folks, but don't have conversations to folks or with folks, especially when you have the opportunity to do so. So I think that any of those individuals, especially in media, you know, yes, you should be sitting down there having conversations with him, but you have to challenge him and you have to continue to remind people and remind him of the things that he said and tell him, hey, we didn't forget you did this.
And we don't want the American people to forget you did these things and said these things either. But it's up to you to prove us wrong.
What's the line between covering and kowtowing, though, you know, in terms of, there's all kinds of things he's threatened, networks, for example. I think it's impossible for them not to kowtow because they were kowtowing before he won.
That's why you see, you know, Fox News, they've been on the Trump, you know, gravy train forever, right? And then, you know, MSNBC has kind of, they're completely on the other side. CNN has really tried to toe the line in a lot of ways.
And I think everybody was dreading this moment. Like everybody was trying to play nice just in case he became president of the United the States of America again.
And, you know, now that he has, I don't know if there, if anybody's going to ever truly cover him honestly on cable news. What would you do if you get an interview? What would you want to focus in on? Depends on what he does, right? Well, no.
I think if I was to interview him now, I think you still have to you have to question him on everything that he said that caused people to label him fascist, that caused people, you know, to say he is an authoritarian. Like you have to just bring all of those things to the forefront.
You have to ask him about these statements that he made. What did you mean when you posted on Truth Social? You want to terminate the Constitution to overthrow the results of the election? If that wasn't a coup on January 6th, what do you call it? What do you mean when you say you want to do mass deportations? Like, you know, like you have to question him on all of these things.
Like, don't you think mass deportations will cripple the economy in a lot of ways? Don't you think that's, you know, cruel and unusual punishment? What did you mean when you said you wanted to, you know, turn the guns on Liz Cheney? Like, there's a bunch of different things that you could be questioning the president about. So you went hard at CNN on Anderson Cooper.
You said we talk about him, meaning Trump, being a threat to democracy. We don't treat him like one.
And you said journalistic integrity has been lost. I'd love you to just after this, I saw it and everything else, but I saw a ton of great reporting all over, maybe not by Anderson Cooper, but a lot of great reporting.
Susan Craig, all these things on bad acts, bad behavior. It didn't make a dent.
It did, like, as good as it was, some of it was quite excellent. I'm glad you asked me about that because that wasn't personal towards Anderson.
I was just speaking about the media as a whole. And I even, you know, me and Angela Rye, we were on, we kept saying that to Anderson.
Like, we're not necessarily talking about you. But you're sitting here.
Yeah. You know, so for me, it's just something that I've seen over the almost last decade when it comes to Trump.
Like, it's a normalization of him. Like, nobody ever speaks to Donald Trump like the threat that they say he is, like, ever.
Like, they talk about him like he's just a regular, run-of-the-mill presidential candidate. Right, right.
And he's not. And it's interesting to me how we know they can villainize and demonize people when they want to because it's easy for them to do to the others.
Like they'll villainize and demonize, you know, the vice president for, you know, somebody else saying that she's not black. Right, right, right.
For somebody else saying that she's a DEI hire. And they'll have those conversations, you know, ad nauseum.
Another thing that I see on CNN a lot, sometimes they'll have a conservative on a panel and they'll be having a discussion that they need to have about something. But then this conservative will just come with something so wild and crazy just to derail the whole conversation.
You speak of Scott Jennings. I believe you speak of Scott Jennings.
Scott Jennings, the Kevin O'Leary, I think. Kevin, oh.
From Shark Tank. He's the less smart version of Scott Jennings.
But it's like, yo, and you know, it's interesting because I think Scott does bring a lot of good points sometimes, but sometimes I'm just sitting there watching, and I'm like, yo, you just threw a grenade on the table for no reason. Oh the guy that was on there when when when Mehdi Hassan was on there and he just you just throwing a grenade to throw.
Yeah, that's exactly right. It just derails the whole conversation.
So a lot of times there's conversations that need to be had amongst smart people who are there in good faith. Right.
Because you can't have you can't have bad faith conversations. You can't have bad faith arguments.
If you want to have a good faith debate, sure. A lot of times y'all are there having good faith debates and then boom.
Right. Well, that's the point.
It's entertainment. Scott told me in a break, this is like wrestling.
And I said, step away from me before I smack you across the face. You know what I mean? I was like, oh God, I hate you.
Anyway, I don't hate him. But one of the things is there has been great reporting.
It just doesn't make a dent. I mean, I'm thinking of a wide range of reporters I've interviewed that had devastating recounts that didn't matter.
I mean, the same thing with Matt Gaetz over and over again. It doesn't seem to touch him in some way.
Well, I think that, you know, Donald Trump, he really is Teflon Don. And, you know, I think he's unique in the sense that he's more sincere about his lies than Democrats are about their

truth. And I think that he speaks to people's grievances in a way that, you know, Democrats

don't necessarily. It's not that Democrats don't care about the things he cares about.
Of course,

Democrats care about the economy. Of course, Democrats care about, you know, the border.
They just don't speak to it in the way that Trump does. Trump was great to be like, hey, the reason y'all don't got no money is because the money's going over here to all of the illegal immigrants.
Hey, the border, y'all need to build the wall. They're coming over here.
They're bringing their worst. They're raping you.
They're killing you. It's like, whoa, it's just as crude as it may sound.
It's simple. Yeah.
And it sticks. It's also a grain of truth and everything.
And he says it over and over and over and over. I think that's one thing that you're speaking to.
It's like, you can have this great reporting with number one, who's amplifying it? And number two, who's saying it over and over and over so it sticks? Talk about that, the normalization, though. You've said Trump is dangerous because he's funny on your podcast.
You have a comedian co-host who is funny and does a great job selling Trump as a great patriot. But is there something wrong? I listen to podcasts.
I was just listening to this last one you just did. And there's distinctly both sides are corrupt vibe, right? Everybody sucks.
Why?

Talk about being a professional contrarian, because a lot of these podcasts are that. You know, it's sort of this cynical attitude, like, you all suck.
I don't think Andrew's being a professional contrarian. Okay, tell me.
I've known Andrew long enough to know that's truly how he feels. Like he's a, he's, he's, he's a liberal from Manhattan who over the years you know who has gravitated towards um you know some of the rhetoric that's coming from the right and I think a lot of it especially when you're a comedian a lot of it has to do with cancel culture because let's be honest liberals do have a way of eating their own right and and liberals do have a way of, you know, taking the one worst moment

from a person and then amplifying that and just trying to, you know, do everything in their power to get that person out of here. And I think that turns a lot of people off.
And I think sometimes in a lot of ways, our common sense has been threatened, right? Like I saw something that Seth Moulton from Massachusetts.

Yeah.

I saw what he said about how, you know, Democrats were easily offended by everything. And, you know, he spoke, I'm paraphrasing here, but he said something like, I should be able to say, hey, I don't want my daughter playing sports against a male athlete, getting run over by a male athlete.
I should be able to say that and not be crucified for it. I'm paraphrasing what he said, but that's essentially what he said.
And I think a lot of people feel like that. Here's my issue, is they make it a bigger issue than it is.
Why is this suddenly the biggest issue of our lives, right? And they're not doing it because they care. They're doing it because it works.
You know what I mean? Well, I we, did, are they making it the bigger issue or did Democrats make it the bigger issue? Because when you have somebody like Joe Biden tweet out trans rights is the civil rights issue of our lifetime, right? Like he said that. So.
He did. But like, then you have Jim Justice over in West Virginia when asked, you know, after they spent all this time passing laws on these issues, asked how many instances there were, there was zero.
So it's kind of, I think it gets used, the bathroom thing didn't work, and so they moved to this. Obviously, a fairness issue is an important issue.
I just, I think it gets, this isn't the biggest issue of our time, and it's become that, but I think it represents something else, right? It's that you don't get to say what you want, right? Without a price, correct? Oh, I'm fine with that. I believe in freedom of speech, but I also believe that you're not free from the consequences of that speech.
But I just feel like, and that's actually one of the reasons I wrote the book, Get Honest or Die Lying, Why Small Talk Sucks, because we just live in a world that makes these micros macros. And everybody always listens.
They listen to me when I talk about the micros turning into macros. But the other part of that is we don't even know how to discuss macros anymore.
Right. We don't we don't know how to discuss the economy.
We don't know how to discuss, you know, the border issue. Like we'll label certain things liberal or Republican based on what the issue is and what the talking points are.
I remember back in January, I was doing an interview with Fox News and the digital guy over there, Joseph, asked me a simple question. He said, do I think the border is going to be an issue come November? And I said, yes, hell yes.
Because for the first time in my life, I'm hearing people in my community complain about what's going on at the border. I got activist friends in Chicago who are telling me, man, it's crazy out here.
Like, you know, not only are they taking over our neighborhoods, they're getting resources that we've never even gotten. You know, when I got a parking attendant in New York City who I see every day come to me in tears, talking to me about, you know, MF-13 taking over his neighborhood, and he knows it's because of the border.
These are white MAGA people. These are black and brown people in the hoods of America having these conversations with

me.

So when I expressed that and said, said to, you know, Fox News, what I'm hearing, MSNBC

runs the headline, Charlemagne Tha God is pushing MAGA messaging.

That's not MAGA messaging.

And I think that's where, you know, a lot of Democrats failed on that issue.

Well, I do.

I don't want to talk about the actual issues. One of the things, though, I have noticed in the last couple of weeks is this, I call it a sore winner kind of tendency.
Did you see the NFL players doing the Trump dance? The Trump dance? Oh, you know when Trump does that weird dance it looks like he's jacking off two horses. Yeah, Bill Maher.
That's what Bill Maher says. Yeah, he's jacking off two dicks.
It really does. It kind of fits it.
There's a lot of that. There's a lot of running around saying, you know, I argue this, but this was Scott Galloway.
They won, and then the right places, but the numbers keep getting tighter and tighter, right? It's 49.2 versus 48.7, right? It's not a huge difference. It's half and half, which creates a problem, right? Do you think there's going to be overreach on that part? Like sort of, you know, the idea of it? No, no, because a win is a win.
And, you know, Democrats would have been doing the same thing if vice president kamala harris won yeah they would have been so it's like sports yeah they'd have been spiking the football too they would have definitely been celebrations because it would have been historic right the first woman president the first woman of color president like they would have better dancer better dancer probably by far there would have definitely been a celebration if the vice president won.

People would have been celebrating the end of the Trump era.

They would have been like, we know that's over.

Like, yeah, the democracy is still restored.

There would have definitely been a lot of reason to celebrate if vice president comes as it wants.

I'm not mad at them for that. But the manosphere is having a good time these days.

You know, Joe Rogan, Theo Vaughn, Andrew, stuff like that.

Are you part of the manosphere?

Do you consider yourself part of the manosphere? No, I'm not part of the Manosphere. I am a man, but I'm not part of the Manosphere.
But you know what's so interesting about those three that you named? I don't even think you should put them in the Manosphere. Oh, all right.
Okay. I really feel that way.
I feel like Andrew, I don't know Theo Vaughn personally. Of course, I know Andrew personally.
He's a good friend of mine. Joe, I know pretty well because of Andrew.
But just listening to Joe over the years, he's really just a curious person. Like, if you listen to his show consistently every week for the past 15 years, he's really just a curious individual.
He doesn't really have like a particular ideology about anything. He's really just a person that likes to sit down and ask questions.
He was a Bernie bro. Yes, he was.
He was back in Bernie Sanders at one point. He's also curious about conspiracy theories, but go ahead, go ahead.
But we all are. And then he, there was a time, and this is something I was even telling Kamala Harris' campaign, the same way Donald Trump, you know, manipulated me and used me in his ads, he could have did the same thing with Joe Rogan.
Joe Rogan said that Trump was a threat to democracy. Joe Rogan said he felt like Trump might be unstable.
And like, why didn't you use that in your ad? So I think Joe is a, I think he's a fair person if you sit down and have a conversation with him. So you don't think they had any responsibility for that? I mean, this idea that everything was up to the manosphere, that Trump won because of that? Oh, no, I think that Trump doing that podcast run on all of those, on all of those different podcasts definitely impacted because,, and I said this on, on Brilliant Idiots last week, Trump went after a demographic that, you know, people never talk to, which is poor white people.
I'm from South Carolina. Like, you know, my first white friend, his name is Thomas Evans.
That's still my friend to this day. We just, we, we didn't know black and white.
We just knew poor. We grew up poor on a dirt road in Mounts Corners, South Carolina.
I know those type of people. He spoke, you know, directly to them.
Right. And then and then this go around, he spoke directly to young males, in particular, young white males and both of those different demographics.
Right. The poor people in rural areas in the young white males in 2024.
Like they don't. Those are blocks that people say don't vote.
So he energized enough of them that I think that, you know, it caused impact. So I don't think, yeah, you got to give the Manusphere credit for this election cycle.
One of the things you wrote in Get Honest or Die Lying, you had a quote that says, change culture and you change lives, right? And the Manusphere podcast helped, for lack of a better word, I'm not going to say the word again, helped change culture and make Trump seem cool to young guys. But is there a responsibility beyond just being curious or not? Not in those spaces.
I don't think, I'm not looking to Theo Vaughn to challenge Donald Trump. I'm looking for Theo Vaughn to be Theo Vaughn with Donald Trump.
I'm looking for Andrew Schultz to be Andrew Schultz with Donald Trump. I'm looking for Rogan to be Rogan with Donald Trump.
I think that is why legacy media still matters so much because legacy media is the ones that have to challenge Donald Trump and hold Donald Trump accountable. To not these guys.
I don't think so.

Like, that's like saying, you know, going on late night television.

Do you expect, like, Jimmy Fallon to hold him?

I remember when Jimmy got in trouble because Jimmy shook his hair

and everybody was saying, oh, you're normalizing Trump.

But it's like, I don't look for Jimmy Fallon to do that.

Yeah, I see.

That's a fair point.

So that's, it's into the question.

We get an expert to send a question for our guests and let's hear yours. Hi, Cheryl LeMaine.
I'm Nicholas Croix, a staff writer at New York Magazine and Vulture. I've written a bunch about the podcast world over the past decade.
One of the bigger narratives from this election cycle is a sense of conflict between traditional and non-traditional media. The Trump campaign seemed to understand more intuitively that they were working with a media environment where no one consumes the same things any longer.
Much more so than the Harris campaign, at least, which seemed to operate with the assumption that the old media institutions still held the bulk of power. As an old-school broadcaster, who's also a podcaster, and who generally practices a full- full court press approach to your profession, to what extent do you share the interpretation that what we saw this cycle is the continuing decline of mainstream media in general and the rise of a media culture where there's no mainstream? Or do you see it differently? Do you see podcasts like The Joe Rogan Experience as a new mainstream? Something else? Thank you for your time.
It's a good question. It's a fantastic question.
I think that there's multiple screams. I think there may not be a main scream.
There might be a legacy media scream. Then there might be a new media scream.
And I don't even know if you can call somebody like Rogan new media. Rogan's been around for 15 years.
Yeah, he has. Me and Andrew Schultz, we've been doing our Brilliant Idiots podcast

for 12 years.

So we've been around.

I think that Kamala Harris,

and I disagree with something that he said,

I feel like the vice president

actually did what you should do,

which is meet people where they are.

Like we live in a world now

where back in the day,

we would say if you build it,

they would come.

But now you got to meet people where they are.

I feel like she met people where they were.

Maybe she didn't go to enough places, but you saw her on the Call Her Daddy podcast.

But then you also saw her on The View.

You saw her on Club Shay Shay with Shannon Sharp.

But then you also saw her on Fox News with Bret Baier.

I feel like she did.

She tried to do it all.

Trump was exclusively with the podcast.

But I think that what we fail to realize is Trump has been campaigning for a decade. And prior to that, he's just been a big star since the 80s.
So he doesn't have to necessarily do the mainstream press, but he still does because he still taps in to Fox News. He still taps into conservative talk radio.
so it's not like he wasn't doing both as well. And I think that's what we that's what we're going to see moving forward.
You just got to find people who know how to do a healthy balance of both. Like I take my radio show, for example, The Breakfast Club.
We do broadcast every morning on terrestrial radio. We have eight million monthly listeners.
We're in 104 markets if you're just listening on the radio. But then we take that show and put it out as a daily podcast.
And that show goes out on YouTube and that show goes out on social media. So you have to meet people where they are.
So in the future, that's what you're going to see. You're just going to see people, more people meeting folks where they are.
You can't be a presidential candidate and have, you know, a bunch of people telling you, just go to The View,

just go do Stephen Colbert,

just go do Fox News,

which, for whatever,

that was a reach for them.

I thought they should have been doing

way more Fox News, honestly.

But I think you're going to see people

mixing it up,

and I think that's the best way to do it.

We'll be back in a minute.

For more information, visit www.fema.org We'll be back in a minute. Today Explained here with Eric Levitt, Senior Correspondentox.com to talk about the 2024 election.
That can't be right. Eric, I thought we were done with that.
I feel like I'm Pacino in three. Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.
Why are we talking about the 2024 election again? The reason why we're still looking back is that it takes a while after an election to get all of the most high quality data on what exactly happened. So the full picture is starting to just come into view now.
And you wrote a piece about the full picture for Vox recently, and it did bonkers business on the internet. What did it say? What struck a chord? Yeah, so this was my interview with David Shore of Blue Rose Research.
He's one of the biggest sort of democratic data gurus in the party. And basically, the big picture headline takeaways are...
On Today Explained. You'll have to go listen to them there.
Find the show wherever you listen to shows, bro. There's been endless punditry on the Democratic's failure.
If you had to, like, I don't want to retread old grounds. It's worth getting your thoughts, though, because you ended up having an unintended, as you noted, role in Trump's media strategy, despite being somewhat of an unofficial surrogate for Harris.
You've said that she talks like a politician. I do believe people didn't get to know her as well, and he's so well-known.
So I thought she did pretty well, given the situation. Who sounds authentic to you? Do you think anyone would have had a better chance of beating Trump? Oh, yeah.
Such as? Well, I want to say I think that, you know, the VP showed a lot of flashes of her authentic self while she was running. You know, I just think, you know, people didn't see it enough.
But I think there's a lot of people. I think Gretchen Whitmer, Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
Big Gretch. You know what I'm saying? If you read her book, which I have upstairs, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
It's a quick read. And the thing that she starts the book off letting you know is she likes dirty humor.
She does. And you hear it throughout the book.
And if you've ever sat down and interviewed with her, she's just kicking it. She's clearly the governor, but you can just tell there's a very authenticness about her That's just very it.
Like, you know, she's clearly the governor, but you can just tell like there's a very authenticness about her. That's just, that's just, that's just very relatable.
I think, I think Governor Shapiro too. I think he's very polished and, you know, we make the joke that he's Barack Obama, but it's like, but, but he's, he's still like, there's a, there's a, there's a authenticness to him.
I think Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. I think I think Governor Westmore.
I think Governor Westmore to a certain extent, I like West, too. But, you know, I think that there's a lot of people who really do speak the language of the people.
And I think Democrats cannot be afraid to do that moving forward. I'm not a fan of Gavin Newsom, but I'm a fan of his scratch.
Oh, one more, Secretary Pete too. I think Secretary Pete, and he's been, one thing I give Secretary Pete a lot of credit for, Secretary Pete has never stopped coming to Breakfast Club.
He comes to Breakfast Club when it's not election season. Right.
And I think that's something that the audience likes. They're like, okay, this person isn't just coming around when they're trying to get us to vote for him.
You know, he's coming around because he really cares that we care about what they're doing. But back to Gavin Newsom, I'm not a fan of him.
I'm not a fan of any politician, but I like his media strategy. I like that he goes on Fox News.
I like that he has a podcast with Marshawn Lynch right now. Because I think those are the things that help a person build an audience outside of the bubble of the Democratic Party.
You're almost like a boxer. You got to get out there.
He called me when he was doing this. I said, just get out there and start talking.
That's it. Even if you stay stupid things.
One of the, I like Vice President Harris a lot,

and I've known her since she was a district attorney.

And I never thought she genuinely got out there in the way she should,

in the way I happen to know her, because she's very funny and other things.

And I think it's hard for her to do that.

She's a cautious person.

So do Democrats have to, like, take more risks?

I think Donald takes risks like crazy.

Yes. He took a risk on Musk.

He takes a risk,

even when he says shitty things,

that's a risk, right?

But there's no,

it's very clear who he is.

That's the thing.

I've said this for years.

The language of politics is dead

because Donald Trump killed it.

And so when you have these people

who have the experience, who have the intelligence to articulate themselves in great ways, just go out there and trust yourself to do it. Like you said, I've I've spent personal time with the vice president.
You know, I love I love hearing her laugh. I genuinely love hearing her laugh Because she is a person that likes to laugh

Right?

So it's like

You don't have to be all buttoned up anymore. That's not the world we live in.
And we live in a world where people sniff that out. Like they know you're being a politician.
Like they know that you may not necessarily believe what's coming out of your mouth, but you're saying it because that's what you sat around with your team.

And that's what y'all came up with to say.

Like, no, like just go out there and have a real authentic conversation.

You know, one thing about the vice president that I think that that hindered her a lot.

She is like the incredible hope.

She is at her best when she's angry.

Yeah, she but she can't be. She said it to me.
She can, you can't be angry. I'm not allowed to.
Because she's a woman and she's a black woman and it's the whole angry black woman stereotype. But man, was this year or the last couple of years not the time for women to be furious? Right.
Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Women's reproductive rights are under attack. All of these old men are trying to tell women what to do with their bodies.
If there was ever a time for women to be furious. Yeah.
Publicly. Now was the time and everybody would have understood.
And if they didn't fuck them. Yeah, that's true.
She did Joyful Warrior. I don't think there's any such thing, in my opinion.

So one of the things, as you said, you were an effective spokesperson for the Trump campaign.

They used a clip from the brackets. So one of the things, as you said, you were an effective spokesperson for the Trump campaign.
They used a clip from the breakfast clubs in one of their ads. Let's hear it so people remember it.
And I'd love to get your reaction to it. Kamala supports taxpayer funded sex changes for prisoners.
Surgery. For prisoners.
For prisoners. Every transgender inmate in the prison system would have access.
Hell no, I don't want my taxpayer dollars going to that. Kamala supports transgender sex changes in jail with our money.
Kamala even supports letting biological men compete against our girls in their sports. Kamala is for they, them.
President Trump is for you. I'm Donald J.
Trump, and I approve this message. This ad was everywhere.
You filed, just to be clear, a cease and desist, but it didn't stop them from using it and making it one of the centerpieces of their closing messages. And you and Andrew discussed it on Brilliant Idiots.
Talk a little bit about what happened here. Yeah, I mean, what happened was I was reacting to the commercial.
Right. Because that commercial was, there was a commercial that was just like that before.
It was myself and my co-host DJ Envy in it. And so what I was explaining to my listeners was what I saw that weekend.
I was like, yo, did y'all see that commercial that came on during the football game that said Kamala Harris wants to support, you know, whatever with your taxpayer dollars, I was repeating what I saw in the commercial. Right.
And then I was like, yo, if you're sitting there watching that, when you're sitting back watching football, the first thing you're going to think is, hell no, I don't want my taxpayer dollars going to that. So it wasn't like we were saying Kamala Harris supports gender reassignment surgery and wants to use your taxpayer dollars for gender reassignment surgery.
Or like Trump said, you go to high school one day and you come back a woman. Like, you know, that ridiculous.
Man, they took it and they ran with it. And, you know, from what they said, it was the most impactful commercial of his campaign.
How do you feel about that? Ooh, it's not a good feeling. It's one of those things where, like, you get around people and you think that they're whispering about you.
That's the guy who cost Kamala Harris her campaign. Like that's literally what people are saying even though that's not true.
I don't, like there's no one thing that cost her campaign. And also, you know, I support the vice president not just as a elected official official.
She's somebody I really do consider a friend.

I know her and her sister Maya.

I met Maya back in 2015 when she was working with Hillary Clinton,

and then I met the vice president in 2018.

That's the first time I had her on Breakfast Club when she was still a senator.

So she's somebody that I not just interview, I have conversations with.

And the thing that really bothers me the most about the commercial is they didn't do anything to combat it. Right.
And to me, it wasn't a hard thing to combat because that piece of legislation was also legislation under Donald Trump. You know where I learned that from? From the vice president.
And I learned that from other people who started writing. The New York Times did a great article about it, you know, about that ad he ran, but also how that was a piece of legislation under him.
If I was the Harris campaign, I would have ran the same commercial with the same rhetoric. It would have just said Donald Trump wants to use your taxpayer dollars for gender reassignment surgery for inmates like cause confusion in the marketplace.
Because it makes you seem anti-trans. that's for sure.
I can see that. But I would have ran the same commercial.
I would have literally, I would have ran the same commercial. I would have just flipped it on Donald Trump if I was them.
But they didn't do anything. Like, I even asked her about it when she called into The Breakfast Club because when I interviewed her in Detroit, we were supposed to have a conversation about it, but then decided not to, because I guess it was still kind of early, and people didn't realize how big that commercial would end up being.
And so when she called in the Breakfast Club, I asked her about it, and she just was like shrugging it off as just misinformation, you know? But I think that that was a mistake. It should have been really combated.
I'm not sure anyone would believe, you know, it's an easy thing to twist, given people's feelings on this issue are more emotional than logical. I mean, that is very true.
But she answered it flawlessly on Fox with Brea Bear. But it's like, once again, there was nobody to amplify that and say it over and over and over and over and over.
So when you think about that, when you think about your impact, then, is that, you know, do you worry about, you talked a little bit about cancel culture and comics. I don't think they're quite as canceled as you think.
I think sometimes they overdo it, right? Like, for example, you make a ton of gay jokes on the pod, and I love comedy.

There isn't a lesbian joke you can offend me with, I don't believe. Maybe.
I doubt it. I like them.
But do you worry, for example, about that, about doing that anymore? Do you think you're hindered? You know, everybody has a different take on it. Yeah, I make gay jokes for two reasons.
um

number one

cause

people

I like

people for whatever reason

love to say I'm gay

yeah

which is on it. Yeah, I make gay jokes for two reasons.
Number one, because people, for whatever reason, love to say I'm gay. I've heard that.
Yeah, so I do that just to really mess with them, but also, man, I like to make men uncomfortable because if you're so secure in your sexuality, why does certain conversations make you uncomfortable? Right. Why do certain jokes make you uncomfortable? Like, you know, we like to do pause in our community, right? Like pause, like pause.
If somebody says something that is considered gay, you say pause. But it's like it's like it's like after a while,, all right, I get it.
But some of the pauses are ridiculous. It's like, if I drink, if I'm drinking water and I take a sip, somebody goes, pause.
It's like, all right, come on, knock it off. So a lot of times I do it just to really make, I do it to make people feel uncomfortable.
Do you think there are some things that are, are finally let's move along, right? You certainly, I, of all things, Three's Company. Remember that show a million years ago? Do I? Not only do I remember that show, I have a very, very, very, very fond memory of that show.
Don't go watch it again then because you won't when you watch it. You're like, whoa, date rape is good, right? Like, I know it sounds crazy.
Oh, that was the whole 80s, though. That was the 80s.
Right. I get it.
But I thought it was funny at the time, too. And then when I went back, I'm like, yeah, maybe not.
Maybe that wasn't so cool. But I don't know what is because today is we know more or whatever.
Do you think things lose their funniness? Or do you think there is too much of a you should be able to joke about anything? I know the bro comics think you should be able to joke about anything. I'm using the word bro broadly.
I think there's an Overton window and here's the thing about all of those comics. All of those comics got a line.
They got personal things that they don't want to joke about. They act tough with everybody else but every single one of them has something that will push a a button in them to make them be like all right that's enough right but you know like a they don't the problem is they don't have that empathy with other people sometimes right and what do you worry about that if say a young gay person listens to your podcast and hears the jokes do you think about it or not yes because my my intention is never to offend you know i would hope that uh i would hope people are laughing with us and i hope we're all laughing with each other you know um if i with one of my gay friends or somebody gay was to come to me and tell me hey man you know i didn't like when't like when you said X, Y, and Z or that offended me.

I'm not going to be like,

oh man, I'll F you.

It was just a joke.

I'm going to listen to the person.

I'm going to listen to the person

and I'm going to take into consideration

what that person said

and I'm going to definitely think about that

the next time.

I'll tell you,

I was going to say my three's company thing,

but you know what?

I keep it to myself.

No, go ahead.

My father,

who is an old sovereign man,

and my cousin Rel, who was another old sovereign man,

him and my father grew up together.

I remember when Jack Tripper, God bless the dead,

I remember when he passed away.

Yeah.

And I remember just sitting around my daddy's shot,

because my daddy has what we call a little juke joint in the South, right?

So that's where they sell their beer and everything else, play pool. And we we just sitting in there.
And I remember it came across the news that he died. And I remember my cousin saying to my dad, ah, man, I'm glad he died.
I'm glad he gone. He sat in that house with them two women all them years and didn't sleep with either one of them.
And I'm like, well, it was a TV show, first of all. I know, that's true.
But I just remember that. And that always, it always sticks out in my mind because it always makes me realize why I have the type of humor that I have because I grew up around guys like that.
What is your line? I got a lot of lines. I mean.
No, but what's the thing that offends you that would be like, that's not funny. Don't you dare say that kind of thing.

What would offend me that's not funny? I don't think that, hmm. I think when people get, I'm just speaking, I think when people get killed in like really gruesome, brutal ways.
like you know the years, I've heard some really bad jokes about stuff like that. And what I've always tried to tell comics is you do realize that person has a family, right? Right.
So if that person's family hears this joke and decides to run up on you and beat your ass, you kind of earned it.

Yeah.

You know?

So it's like stuff like that.

Like, you know, you got to think about people that are here. I think it's fair game to joke on anybody that's still here to defend themselves.

You know, if you're not here to defend yourself,

you know, I don't think that's right.

I think it would be my kids.

Anything about my kids.

I don't like a joke.

Or about kids.

The kids in danger.

I agree with that,

but that's the reason I don't showcase my kids.

Like, I really don't know why people do that.

I mean, I don't know why people put their kids on social media.

Social media is like the most toxic place ever.

And that's why I say I'm here to defend myself. You're here to defend yourself.
Kids are kids. Like, they're not asking for any of this.
Like, so, why put them online and then open them up to all type of scrutiny? my son calls me a sharent. I have to stop.
I stopped. Oh, because you shared too much? Yeah, a sharent.
I took him off. He asked.
People are cruel. Like, I mean, so I don't know why folks would even, yeah, I don't know why folks would showcase that.

So you're not on social media at all?

Or you are?

I'm on Instagram.

You're on Instagram.

You're on Instagram.

So you're not on X.

I guess you're not on X.

Oh, no.

I got off X back in 2018, 2019.

Yeah.

Oh, pre-Elon.

Yeah.

I just don't feel like that's the way.

I don't feel like your brain, I don't feel like your brain is wired to receive all of those opinions at once. Yeah.
Like, I don't care that much about the opinions of other people that want to take them in daily. And I think we're all in verbally abusive relationships with our smartphones.
And Twitter and XO, whatever you call it, plays a big, big role in it. It does.
I'm off of it too. I had a million and a half followers and I came off.
I just don't, well, Elon also wants to kill me, but that's a different story. We'll be back in a minute.
You founded the Black Effect Podcast Network in partnership with iHeart about four years ago during the podcast boom. Since then, some podcasts like this one have done very well, but overall ad revenue has slowed, although not for the big ones, that's for sure.
So how is the business of Black Effect Network going, and how do you look at its prospects? Business at Black Effect is booming because, you know, what you said is true. Like, you know, the podcast market is very oversaturated, but there are some podcasts and some networks that do very, very well.
And you just have these corporations who want to put their money, you know, on short bets for the most part. So they're going to go where the audience is.
Like, you know, Black Effect is, I think we're at a billion downloads, you know, total with the 30 podcasts that we have. 30 podcasts.
So you just want to make more of them. Which are the top ones? Breakfast Club is a daily podcast is the top one.
But then All the Smoke with Matt Barnes and Steven Jackson. Drink Champs with Nori.
85 South Show with DC Young Fly, Chico Bean, and Carlos Miller. Horrible Decisions with Mandy and Weezy.
Like Sarah Jake Roberts. We got some really good ones that we partnered with.
What's the through line of what you're creating? What would you say if you describe it? Amplifying Black voices and letting people know that Black people are not monolithic. Like there's not one train of thought that exists in the Black community.
Like there's a lot of diversity of thought. Like every single one of those podcasts I named are completely different.
Matt Barnes and Steven Jackson, they're sports. 85 South show is comedy.
Sarah Jake Roberts is a pastor, right? She's Bishop TD Jake's daughter. We got people like Debbie Brown on our pod on, on, on black effect that we're partnered with.
And she's one of the most renowned mental health mindfulness experts in the country. So it's like, you know, just showing people that Black people aren't monolithic and we have a diversity of thought.
So, you know, I'm not telling you that you can come to Black Effect and know exactly what's going on in the Black community, but you can get really close because of all the diversity of thought. Right.
And you're mixing information and entertainment and something you said several times, which is authenticity or genuineness, right? Do you think as these get infused with politics, how do you get people to get good journalistic news sources, if that's where they're getting their information? I think you got to have good journalists. Yeah.
Like, I think that's where it starts. It starts with, you know, who are the good journalists and pointing them in the right direction.
Like, you know, for me, I watch everything. I watch CNN.
I watch Fox News. I watch MSNBC.
I can point to different journalists on those networks or different personalities and say, that's somebody I listen to. That's somebody I trust.
I also also watch a lot of YouTube I think the Young Turks network is fantastic I think what they do on the Young Turks network is incredible like they've been around a while too and they've been around a long time and I think that they're going to end up they're going to be a real major player you know in in in in the future just because of the fact that they've been around so long. And I'm watching everybody try to get into that space now.

Everybody's going to be trying to run to create infrastructure like they have,

but they've already got it.

So I think they're going to really, really be major players over the next—

I think it's the left's Joe Rogan, but I don't think there's any such thing.

Can we talk about that?

Yes, please.

I hate that left Joe Rogan rhetoric.

I do too. I hate it.

How about just get some balls and go on Joe Rogan?

Thank you. Can we talk about that? Yes, please.
I hate that left Joe Rogan rhetoric. I do too.
I hate it. How about just get some balls and go on Joe Rogan? Yeah.
Or just create a show that's not compared to something, right? Or create a show that's not compared to something, but these shows exist. Like, go on Joe Rogan.
Like, go on Joe Rogan, have the conversation. You think Gretchen Whitman wouldn't be great on Joe Rogan? Yeah.
You think Governor Josh Shapiro wouldn't be great on Joe Rogan? You think the vice president wouldn't have been great on Joe Rogan? Like, just go on Joe Rogan and kick it with Joe. Have the conversation.
Yeah. He never has me on because he's scared of me.
That's what I heard. You think so? I don't know.
No. You know, I remember at Andrew's wedding.
Yeah. When I was at Andrew Schultz's wedding two years ago, it was the day after I had Vice President Kamala Harris on my TV show.
And that's when I was asking her who's the real president, Joe Manchin or Joe Biden. And Rogan was there and Rogan said to me, Rogan goes, how do they keep sitting down with you when they have these moments in these gaffes? Right.
But they won't ever come sit with me. Yeah.
So it's not like he doesn't want to have the conversation with him. Yeah.
I don't know. You've written extensively about your struggles with depression and anxiety in your books and how therapy and meditation helped you heal.
And you're a mental health advocate. You hosted a mental health expo for the fourth time.
But in your book, you write that some people see you as a fake mental health advocate. That's not like a fake HHS head like Robert Kennedy.
I don't care. I'm teasing.
You've been very open about your struggles and how awful therapy has been. I'd love to understand how do you look at that now and has what's happening now in our country affected your mental health and any advice you would have for anyone who's feeling badly about it? Oh man, I struggle every single day.
Like it is an absolute process. Like you have to wake up every day and go seek out joy.
Like you have to make sure that you go out there and find reasons to be happy. When I say that we're all in, you know, mentally abusive, verbally abusive relationships with our phones, I truly mean that because I can wake up in the morning like I do every day, say my prayers, go get ready for work, read out of my affirmation books, get in my car, put on some 90s R&B or a podcast or just something to stimulate my mind or an audio book.
as soon as I get on the radio and turn that phone on and got to log into the world, immediately, whatever I built up in those first couple of hours is challenged. Literally, it's literally challenged.
Whatever joy I built up in those first couple of hours is challenged immediately. But that's what therapy is for.
That's what meditation is for. That's what, you know, going outside and taking your shoes off and walking in the grass and doing grounding is for.
That's what hugs from your significant other are for. That's what hugs from your kids are for.
That's what conversations with your family and friends and people that you love are for. That's what writing is for.
That's what journaling is for. That's what whatever artistic expression, you know, you have that you use to, you know, get out whatever emotions you're feeling in the time.
That's what all of that stuff is for. Yeah, you do realize you do realize you're a white San Francisco lesbian, but go ahead.
I'm a straight white man, but go ahead. Move along.
but that's why I do things like the Mental Wealth Expo, and that's why I do, you know,

advocate for mental health so much,

because I just want to show people that there's resources and tools. And I don't know anybody who's got it all together.
I don't know one person who's got it all together. That's what you have these tools and these resources for.
And it's like, I look like this right now because I just finished working out, right? Like me and my wife, we got a trainer. We work out three times a week.
Every day I'm on my bike. I get on that stationary bike and I do 45 minutes every day, 250 calories, got to get burned every day.
That's the same thing when you're dealing with any mental or emotional health issues. Like it's a everyday thing.
So how does our country get back to that? Like, because there really is a mental health crisis for teens on these phones. I have four kids.
Most of them, my older ones don't use the phones at all. They got off of them in a lot of ways because they made them feel bad.
My oldest son said that to me. What do you advocate then? Because people are in a state right now after this election with the, you know, social media.
Whether you like Elon Musk or not, he won't the fuck get out of your face. Like, you know, everyone is in your face all the time.
How do you, what would you say to people right now what they should do? I would say that we are in the United States of anxiety. And, you know, you should do all of those things that I just mentioned, because we have to have tools nowadays to keep ourselves mentally healthy.
As far as social media is concerned, you know, I got to salute guys like Frank McCourt. I don't know if you've heard of Frank McCourt.
Yeah, I do. I know Frank well.
Yeah, Frank's trying to buy, you know, TikTok because he just wants to make social media a healthier place. And, you know, when you listen to him talk, he's doing it because he's thinking about the future of our kids.
And he's absolutely right. And it's like, you got to have healthier options.
Like we don't have any healthier options when it comes to social media right now. Like none.
Like there's no healthier option. Like you have your Facebook, you have your Instagram, you have your TikTok, you have your Twitter, but all of these spaces are the wild, wild West.
You can curate, you know, I'm on Instagram because you can curate it a certain way. You can mute certain words and, you know, you don't have to follow certain people, which is great, but you do need healthier options.
So, you know, we need more guys like Frank McCourt who have the money and who have the resources and who aren't just trying to, you know, capitalize off of people's time and capitalize off people's attention. Like he's actually trying to use these platforms to better people.
Or their anger. Or their anger.
I always say enragement equals engagement. That that is a fact.
So, yeah, I just think that, you know, we just all got to find these different tools that we have to make ourselves more mentally healthy.

And we need more people like Frank McCourt trying to, you know, buy social media platforms to make them healthier spaces.

Yeah, the business plans don't call for that.

They call for constant attention deficit disorder, I think, on people's part.

Anyway, this has been fantastic.

I appreciate it.

This has been a wonderful discussion.

And keep doing what you're doing. I appreciate you.
Thank you very much for having me. On with Kara Swisher is produced by Christian Castro-Russell, Kateri Yoakum, Jolie Myers, Megan Burney, and Kaylin Lynch.
Nishat Kirwa is Vox Media's executive producer of audio. Special thanks to Claire Hyman.
Our engineers are Rick Kwan and Fernando Arruda,

and our theme music is by Trackademics. If you're already following the show,

you're a San Francisco lesbian like Charlemagne. If not, too bad for you.
Go wherever you listen to podcasts, search for On with Kara Swisher, and hit follow. Thanks for listening to On with

Kara Swisher from New York Magazine, the Vox Media Podcast Network, and us. We'll be back on Monday with more.