Canada Did It. Now It’s NYC’s Turn. Elbows Up!
This week, Canadians didn’t just politely shuffle into voting booths: they kicked the door down and destroyed Conservative leader and longtime MAGA fanboy Pierre Poilievre, who lost his seat to Bruce Fanjoy (who we’re now, quite literally, major fans of. More on him in this episode!)
Meanwhile, here in the U.S., specifically kleptocrat-besieged New York City, we’ve got our own political swamp to drain. Mayor Eric Adams, who once likened himself to Biden, now seems more Nixonian, dodging Department of Justice corruption charges by reportedly cozying up to Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson. The result? NYC turned into an ICE command center for Trump’s creeping authoritarianism, part of a wannabe-gulag stretching from New York to El Salvador.
On this week’s Gaslit Nation, Andrea and Terrell Starr of the Black Diplomats Podcast and Substack celebrate Canada’s heroic stand and urge the world to focus on NYC’s upcoming Democratic mayoral primary June 24, one of the most pivotal fronts in the global fight against kleptocracy and for the soul of America.
The Left must reclaim “socialism” as quality of life advocacy, building better schools, healthcare that won’t bankrupt you, and a social safety net for all, not just those who can afford one. We highlight two standout challengers: Comptroller Brad Lander, a fierce Ukraine supporter who led the effort to divest the City’s pension from Russian investments, and Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, who led a hunger strike for taxi driver debt relief.
The question isn’t just who can beat Adams, who’s running as an independent, and predator Andrew Cuomo, desperate for a comeback. It’s who has the record to lead New York in resisting Trump and dismantling the oligarchy.
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Show Notes
Opening clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahh0jINl-PU
Canadian election: https://bsky.app/profile/youranoncentral.bsky.social/post/3lnwgjxcnk22l
Bruce Fanjoy’s Green House: This big blue house runs green and clean https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/08/28/news/big-blue-house-runs-green-and-clean
Here’s who’s running for New York City mayor in 2025 Get to know the candidates in a wide, weird and unsettled field.
https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2025/04/heres-whos-running-new-york-city-mayor-2025/401994/
Ukraine is the front line in the battle against oligarchic capitalism: The war in Ukraine is not just a fight for sovereignty, but a battle against the global rise of oligarchical capitalism, with the future of democracy and economic justice at stake. https://kyivindependent.com/ukraine-is-the-front-line-in-the-battle-against-oligarchic-capitalism/
Adams to skip New York City’s Democratic primary, run for reelection on nonpartisan line: The mayor has been at odds with his party and wants time to recover from now-dismissed federal charges. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/03/eric-adams-reelection-independent-00267865
Judge Ends Eric Adams Case, but Sharply Criticizes Trump’s Justice Dept. Judge Dale E. Ho refused to let the government leave open the prospect of reinstating charges against the mayor. But he acknowledged the president’s power to determine the fate of prosecutions.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/nyregion/eric-adams-case-dismissed.html?unlocked_article_code=1.DU8.N7E9.W-opYY3A0W4N&smid=url-share
Adams Doubles Down on Trump Alliance, Praising F.B.I. Director’s Book: In the mayor’s first comments after a judge ordered corruption charges against him dropped, he urged New Yorkers to read a book by the Trump administration’s F.B.I. director.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/nyregion/eric-adams-kash-patel-book.html?unlocked_article_code=1.DU8.FskD.fhDP-pm2rpfe&smid=url-share
Incumbents are losing around the world, not just the U.S. https://www.marketplace.org/story/2024/11/14/incumbents-are-losing-around-the-world-not-just-the-u-s
ICE Blocked from Rikers as Judge Extends Order Halting Cooperation With Feds https://www.thecity.nyc/2025/04/25/ice-trump-rikers-eric-adams-city-council/
The Great Hack: The Cambridge Analytica documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX8GxLP1FHo
The Bibi Files episode https://gaslitnation.libsyn.com/hitler-youth
Stop Netanyahu's Political Purge of the Defense Establishment https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/editorial/2025-02-20/ty-article-opinion/stop-netanyahus-political-purge-of-the-defense-establishment/00000195-2008-d2a5-a39d-e778797b0000
Russia used hundreds of fake accounts to tweet about Brexit, data shows https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/14/how-400-russia-run-fake-accounts-posted-bogus-brexit-tweets
Trump fraud ruling adds to his string of legal losses in New York https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-fraud-ruling-new-york-legal-losses/
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hearing everyone in unison singing at once. It was so loud you couldn't even hear the lady over the PA system in that moment. It was just Canada.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Was just the fans chanting it, couldn't hear her voice at all. It was loud.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I was losing my voice, just beating off with the energy if that was just pulsing through that building. And it was such a beautiful experience.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
It was loud. Everyone kind of put politics aside. It was a Canadian atmosphere for sure. It was just chills.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Living in that moment. It was just one nation, one body. Everyone was together.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
When Mariners scored the building shook. Literally. That was probably the best hockey game I've ever been to.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
And it was the most Canadian pride I've ever felt.
Canadian Voter (01:06):
Oh, if you think that was good Saturday, it's Canada versus the United States. Saturday also happens to be the 60th anniversary of the Canadian flag, so you know what you need to do.
Andrea Chalupa (01:24):
Welcome to Gaslit Nation. Our opening clip was a CBC news clip from about two months ago, showing the patriotic passion and anti-American energy that has swept Canada. Sadly, due to Donald Trump and JD Vance continuing to threaten to make Canada the [fifty-]first state, which obviously will never happen because as we saw in these historic election results, Canadians will not allow it to happen. And patriotic Americans across the political spectrum will not allow it to happen. We will be stopping those Rambo tanks in the street before Canada ever gets invaded by Trump and Vance, should they want to launch some stupid war to clinging to power. It's not going to happen. We're not going to let it happen. So all of this is to say congratulations to Canadians for doing what you needed to do. Here is CNN interviewing a Canadian voter who sums up these historic election results. Let's play that clip.
Canadian Voter (02:29):
Think who I voted for would be the best to take care of Trump because Trump is, I'm sorry to say and ask, and he shouldn't even be president of the United States, but because he is, we need a strong person so that we could stand strong.
Andrea Chalupa (02:47):
Now, this is a massive sea change. Justin Trudeau, just within the last year, he was enemy number one in Canada. There was this massive anti energy, the kind that created horrific headwinds for candidates around the world in 2024, Kamala Harris did remarkably well against these headwinds, but most races around the world, big races did not. And Trudeau, his party was on life support. There was massive anger due to inflation, massive anger due to moral decay over Canada, standing by America's side, while America under Biden and Kamala Harris let Netanyahu carry out war crimes, even though Biden went to Israel and gave a speech saying no war crimes followed international law. And then look the other way. So a change energy, a revolutionary energy, especially in a politically diverse multicultural country like Canada is to be expected in such a tough political year. But then Trump comes along in America and starts destroying everything deliberately, terrorizing, deliberately creating a human rights crisis, a constitutional crisis that's been ongoing since he came to power with Russia's illegal help in 2016.
(04:03):
And then just casually, not so casually saying, yeah, Canada's going to be the 51st state. You're welcome Canada over and over again, and JD Vance and others are backing him up and the Canadians have put their foot down. There have been so many reports of Canadians canceling trips, United States, selling vacation homes, United States, boycotting American products, singing their hearts out at national anthems, especially when it's the US on the other team. And on and on it goes. And the maple leaf shaped cherry on top of all of this. The Sunday of gooey ice cream. Goodness, glory. That was this Canadian election results. Pierre Pev, who has been in power holding his seat since 2004, so over 20 years he's been in power in this seat. He is the conservative leader in Canada. He lost, lost his election. He was the MAGA fanboy, the MAGA tool, and he lost, if you can hear me wherever you're listening to this, I'm smiling.
(05:05):
My voice is smiling. And who did he lose to? Bruce Fanjoy. He a contractor, a builder who is known in Canada for building his family a sustainable, smart, energy efficient home, known as a passive home that creates all the energy it needs to keep the home running. And he's also known for taking some time off from work to watch the kids so that his wife now a doctor can finish up her medical studies. Bruce Fanjoy, we're all a fan, joyfully a fan of Bruce Fanjoy. He represents the kind of men that you learn about when you study early human civilization. Men who were tough, men who were collaborative, men who were cooperative, men who were innovative, and men who in many cases fought alongside women, hunted alongside women. He represents the evolution of the species where Pierre Pev and the Maga Nazis like Elon Musk, Vance and Trump that he was cheerleading represents de-evolution, the cavemen that want to club us over the head and drag us back into time, back into the cave and into the extinction of our species just like Neanderthals.
(06:20):
So that's really what this election was about. Evolution versus de-evolution. And Canada chose to be on the side of evolving and the side of international law and the global democratic alliance. And I want to congratulate all the Gaslit Nation listeners. I know many that fought their hearts out, made a lot of sacrifices to show up for their communities to vote strategically because there's a multi-party system in Canada. And also to do everything they could to fact check the disinformation war, the far right. Elon Musk, they all needed Canada to go their way to really prove that they have a working model for the world when they don't. Obviously all they have to offer is destruction. But Canadians, through grassroots power, through patriotism, you fought back. Thank you so much for doing so. You benefited obviously not only yourselves but us here in America because you're helping protect the international order, the international system of rules laws, because we have a lawless convicted felon in the White House right now terrorizing everyone.
(07:20):
So you're building a dam against that. And so thank you Mark Carney, who's going to continue as Prime Minister. He is very much the right person for this moment. He helped weather the storm in 2008 in the global economic crash caused by again Republicans then under the George W. Bush deregulating Wall Street. That was an American created economic terror that hit the world. And Mark Carney helped Canadians weather that storm and be resilient during that. Canada did well because of that thanks to Mark Carney. Then again, Mark Carney happened to be head of the Bank of England, the first non Brit to hold that position. Mark Carney helped the UK get through the chaos, the self-inflicted chaos of Brexit. Again, American Republicans helped engineer that chaos when Steve Bannon and the Mercers come in with their psychological warfare weapon, Cambridge Analytica, a link to a chilling documentary on it. They used Cambridge Analytica in the Brexit vote working alongside the Russians to tip the scales in that extremely close Brexit vote.
(08:25):
The Russians had hundreds and hundreds of bots. The Russians were using their disinformation machine, a big shit storm of kleptocracy tipping the scales in that closed Brexit vote. And Mark Carney was the man who stayed calm, who collected and helped the UK get through that as the head of the Bank of England. And now his third big mission is to help Canada get through Trump and Vance. And we don't even know if Trump going to step aside in 2028. He and Republicans MAGA merchandise are already promoting Trump 2028. They're already threatening to try to make our elections even more voter suppressed than they already are. It's a very scary time for our country in the world. And thank goodness we have Mark Carney to the north and thank goodness we have Claudia Scheinbaum to the south in Mexico who's also wildly popular and also standing strong. So North America is in a sandwich of democracy right now with a bunch of putrid baloney, rotten to the core and green and moldy in the middle. But we're going to cleanse. We're going to get through this America all eyes on you. We'll talk more about the big elections we have coming up that the world should be watching because they impact not just us here at home, but you too, wherever you are. So thank you Canada. Thank you me. Thank you so much. What are your thoughts on that, Terrell?
Terrell Starr (09:46):
The Canadians gathered around, they have one national sense of their own collective security, whereas in our election, we were conditioned to really become more isolated and to find our own individual security. You mentioned a couple things that really stand out. Not only did he lose the race for Prime Minister, he lost his seat in the Parliament and what's really significant, he held that seat in a very rural part of Ottawa. And so he was actually defeated by a member of the liberal party. And what that tells me is that even people in a rural part of Canada appreciate the fact that a well money individual is not working in their best interest, which is something that I wish people here in the United States could understand. But Canada is particularly different for the fact that they have nationalized healthcare. And even as the tariffs are being pushed in the full swing, there was this national unity of these Americans are not going to fear monger us and the United States, everything is based on these illegals are going to come and they're going to threaten our safety. It's going to be the Haitians who are eating dogs and cats. And we have this very hyper sense of empowerment when we feel that and a person who's worth billions of dollars can come in and they can make our lives better even though we're dirt poor, we'll never be a part of their club. Aliens have the sense to distinguish the difference between the two in America is our goal to convince the rest of the working poor who voted for Trump that we need to take the lead of Canada.
Andrea Chalupa (11:41):
I am just feeling so much relief. And this follows the euphoric excitement over the big slapping that Elon Musk got out of Wisconsin when he tried to buy that election with giant Bob Barker checks.
Terrell Starr (11:56):
The Supreme Court seat, that Supreme Court seat.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Yeah, that was a supreme court seat. And so Wisconsin and now Canada and then we had the German election where again, Elon Musk tried to boost the Nazi historically alliance.
Terrell Starr (12:10):
Alternative for Deutschland.
Andrea Chalupa (12:11):
Yes, and that didn't work. Germans slapped back there and now they have an even stronger prime minister, probably one of the strongest prime ministers Germany has had in decades, even stronger than Merkel in terms of his moral leadership of Europe. And so he's saying, give Ukraine what it needs to win the war. Merkel wouldn't even do that. So we are in new territory with fascism coming in and scaring people out of their complacency, showing the rest of the world. You do not have the luxury for a protest vote. Protest votes don't even work. Protest votes are not a thing when you stay home and don't vote. That is voting. You are giving the other side a lift. So I want to remind all Americans we need to not take for granted all that we have left. I know it looks dire out there. I know AI's coming for us.
(13:03):
The Peter Thiels of the world went to eradicate us and establish these fiefdoms and turn us all back into barefoot and tattered peasants. I understand it looks very scary, but we still have the luxury of a lot of democracy left that parts of the world like Georgia, like Georgia, the country of Georgia would dream of, right? We still have the luxury of democracy. It's not slipping away from us yet because we're putting up a fight and we're showing that when we fight, we can absolutely win. And that brings us to an extremely important election. People have to pay attention to us here. I know people like to shit on New York for whatever dumb reason because they see us as like, I know Donald Trump came from here. We're sorry we didn't like him either. We tried to warn you. Our investigative journalist like Wayne Barrett tried to warn you.
(13:49):
And so New York City has always represented the worst and the best of America. Wall Street sprouted up with the massive money maker, the blood money maker of slavery because you had all these slave ships that needed to be insured and so on. All these banks that sprouted up on Wall Street, but then you also had the abolition movement that was growing strong here. John Brown was given speeches and collecting money here so he could start his raid, which would kick off the Civil War, eventually shift the energy in the country. If you go to Greenwood Cemetery here in Brooklyn, it is monument after monument to Americans that risked everything to try to fight for a better America, to force our nation to finally live up to its founding principles. And so we have a New York City mayor's race this June 24. Early voting starts June 14, you can get your absentee ballot, the Democratic primary.
(14:50):
That's what I'm about. It's the primary because the actual race itself is November 4th, along with Virginia's governor race and New Jersey's Governor Race, other Bellwethers people are going to watch as we head into the midterms of next fall. But the primary, the Democratic primary takes place this June and the Democratic primary significant because whoever wins it basically becomes the next mayor of New York. But now things are different because our deeply corrupt mayor, Eric Adams, who was the target of a sweeping DOJ investigation into all sorts of corruption, including taking money from foreign nationals to look the other way when it came to allowing unsafe building construction conditions. This was a hazardous condition that Eric Adams' administration was allowing that could come back to take lives. But he looked the other way for money. This is what they do in Russia. So Eric Adams and his whole administration would fit right in Russia, but they wouldn't take him because they're black.
(15:46):
So Eric Adams, deeply corrupt target of A DOJ investigation. All of local radio here in New York City was just this. And then suddenly Trump comes along, the big deal maker, the big pro quo. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Eric Adams made a deal to Trump. He let Trump's storm troopers known as ice come in legally set up shop in Rikers Island, a prison known for human rights abuses that mayors had promised to shut down. But no one actually went because through with that, because no one wanted to take on the powerful industrial complex as well as the NYPD. And so he allowed, Adams allowed Trump to illegally set up shop in Rikers so they can strengthen and build their international gulag that stretches from Rikers all the way to El Salvador. And so Adams is basically just a tool in the gulag for Trump's Gulag fetish dreams and we need him gone.
(16:41):
But of course, Eric Adams being Eric Adams and being all ego talking in the third person going to Ros, an exclusive restaurant with his Republican mobster friends, he is so shameless that he refuses to leave and he is running as an independent. So it's scary times that could split a vote. We don't know. Andrew Cuomo, a confirmed predator is also on the ballot for the Democratic primary. And he is somebody that's openly at war with progressives. And so it's not a done deal that we're going to get some solid Democrat to win the Democratic primary and then make it through the final round and become New York City's next mayor. Remember, we need a strong mayor here in New York to stand up to Trump to stand up against global kleptocracy because so much of the oligarch filth of this world, they funnel their money here. They buy up our real estate driving up rent and housing prices. New York magazine did a whole expose on this where they showed how Chinese oligarchs were buying up penthouses for their unborn babies. Russian oligarchs are hiding their money here.
Terrell Starr (17:50):
There's any city in America that's consequential to the world and how things operate. It's New York. And what's really troubling and should make people uneasy about Eric Adams is that in America's biggest city, the Turkish government, according to the indictment by the Department of Justice that was later thrown out, the former indictment is that he would receive luxury international travel upgrades, wealthy businessmen from the Turkish government. And essentially what they were, and this is starting back when he was the Brooklyn Royal President. And so basically they were just trying to warm him up slowly but surely upgrading his travel, putting him up in expensive hotels. He was accused of knowingly accepting illegal campaign contributions from Turkish businessmen who hid their contributions of up to $2,000 each by saying that there are residents or people who are legally able to donate to US campaigns. And we have matching funds in New York City, according to the DOJ Adams received up to $10 million matching funds for a New York City race that is a lot of money.
(19:06):
So this man essentially used the system to illegally get millions of dollars in public funds by illegally accepting money from the Turkish government when influence. And they also got him or accused him of pressuring the fire Department of New York City to approve a building for the Turkish government acquisition that wasn't up to code. And this indictment has all of the receipts. It has text messages, multiple witnesses, et cetera. Former Senator Menendez from New Jersey where the Egyptians were giving him gold bars and money and all these other things. Essentially Adams, he was a cheap trick essentially. So all you had to do was flat this dude out, try him nice, give him fancy dinners, and you got him. That actually makes it worse. The corruption is worse enough, but the fact that you are a chief hoe really says that we can do anything for you that should scare the shit out of us.
(20:09):
It should be terrifying. And then you got a man who likes to grab him by the Pussy Cuomo, right where the Attorney General t James conducted an investigation after that investigation was covered. There are multiple women who said that he did wide range things that were inappropriate. And here's the wild thing about this. Look, I don't care whatever sexual interest or freakiness that you have, but god damn, you can't control your dick at work. So we got a guy that grows him by the pussy and then that's running from there. Then we got a guy who is being flewed out from the Turkish government because he's a cheap ho. Those are your top candidates right now that stand a fighting chance. This is fucked up. And so what we really need to do in New York City is we need to get people to believe that their lives can exponentially improve by getting away from this machine politics.
(21:04):
The machine politic has money. Well, Eric Adams had money because he was essentially, according to the document, stole it. Okay? Essentially stole it illegally. So that's how he had the money. And then you have this legacy political family like the Cuomos who came in. But essentially as New Yorkers, we have to believe that there's another way of thinking that there is a new way that we can exist without all this corruption that doesn't benefit us. And so there are so many good candidates on the ballot right now, so many of them that you can choose from. There are so many people who have a more progressive forward thinking outlook for this city. One of the main things that we have going on in New York City is the housing prices are under control. I live in a hole in the box. I pay thousand dollars for rent, which is way too much for what I pay.
(21:53):
It's little amount. But for this little spot, it's ridiculously small amount of money. I mean, it's an incredible amount of money for the size of it. There's a guy long voting for named is Zohran Mendani assembly member from Queens. And so what he wants to do is he wants to make, he wants to freeze rent, he wants to make, he wants to provide affordable healthcare. I believe he either wants to free or incredibly affordable. And then he also wants to make public transportation free. Alright? And the main thing too is that he has an eye on the world and saying that what Israel is doing is wrong. He's a strong critic of Israel and rightfully so. We need somebody in the city government who will be able to defend these students at Columbia and elsewhere in this city who are being bullied by government that's telling the city what the to do.
(22:42):
And so when we talk about the importance of this election, do we really feel safe here in New York City with all the things that we have talked about and all the things that he's rightfully accused of? And that case was dropped against him by the Department of Justice because Trump wants him in his pocket. And so what we have right now is a man who's not only corrupted by Israel, not only corrupted by Turkey, but he's corrupted by the president of the United States, who in the state of New York is convicted of fraud. We have this politically incestuous pool of corruption. Roughly a quarter of the people who are eligible to vote come out. We need more than that. If we can get that up to 50%, Cuomo can lose. The only reason why Cuomo who wanted to be president, president who believes that he can win the mayor's race is because that's the seat that's available to him.
(23:36):
That's the only reason why he's running. He has nothing else to run for. And so if these people win, the corruption will continue. Cuomo will be a Democrat in name, someone who will be embolden, that he can sexually harass people. And if Adams wins, he pimps out the race card 24 7. The reason why Governor Hutzel of New York isn't removing him, which he has the power to do, by the way, is because in part she fears that Adam's contingency of black supporters going to come out and play the race car. You think that this is what black excellence is about? No, this man is being pimped out by the Turkish government. The indictment has it all. I'm going to stop here. But anyway, I'm voting for Zohran Mendani. I believe that we need a radical shift in this city's politics. The rent is too high. We have a homeless epidemic that's getting out of control.
(24:29):
Developers have too much power and influence in City Hall, and we need, and people are having children in the city need to be able to have affordable options where people can go to work and order that their kids be taken care of and they don't have to give away half of their freaking check to do it. We need food prices that can be controlled. We need students who come to this multicultural city to study if they're Muslims or if they have any more clarity about Palestine, they can go to school and then they can leave class, not worry about ice coming to pick them up and detain them and sending them to New Mexico for the simple reason of being Arab and speaking out against a genocide. This election is so critical to how the rest of this country is going to move. And if we don't take a moral stand and step out by fear of what we know and make a bold choice, it's going to be a very bold indicator of what New Yorkers who are participating in the election really think about ourselves. If we allow somebody like Cuomo to win or Adams to keep his seat.
Andrea Chalupa (25:36):
I feel like this is a very precarious crossroads for our city and also the country and the world because it's New York City, it's practically its own country, and it needs to be a safe haven against these kleptocracy anti-democracy forces. When you talk about Eric Adams rap sheet Netanyahu, he and his wife both investigated for corruption, both indicted. We did a whole episode recently on it called the BB Files, which I'll link to in the show notes with Alex Gibney and Alexis Bloom on their damning documentary told by leaked audio sent to them, which features Israeli prosecutors, the best of Israel, investigating the worst of Israel. An Netanyahu has purged that government surrounded himself with convicted terrorists, the worst of Israel, just like the Steven Millers in the White House today in America. And he's turned Israel to this lawless kleptocracy aligned with Russia, which backs Hamas as the must watch documentary.
(26:38):
The Bibi Files shows Netanyahu was making sure that Hamas was getting the funding needed in the lead up to October 7th. And then you have Erdogan in Turkey who also mentioned who just had one of his top rivals, the mayor of Istanbul, arrested leading to weeks of protests in the street, including by an activist dressed up as Pikachu. Got handcuffed, right? So we've got net lawless Netanyahu in Israel, lawless Erdogan in Turkey, and then lawless Trump in the United States, convicted criminal in the White House, filling his administration with the least qualified disinformation rotted, Russian rotted, fascist boot liquors, and endangering, not just us, the rolling back regulations with illegally mass purging the government stripping people of their livelihood, stripping people of lifesaving aid leading to deaths. There's been reports already of people dying because of what they did to U-S-A-I-D-I alone and then giving a green light to Russia that Russia can do what it wants in Ukraine.
(27:41):
I don't care that Trump and Zelensky had some hallmark card of a photo taken outside of the Pope's funeral in the Vatican. That doesn't change anything. Putin knows what he is dealing with. What an easy Mark Trump and the sycophants around him are that he can have their way, his way with them. So Eric Adams is basically a tool for these anti-democracy kleptocratic forces, and then Cuomo a predator. I do not want to raise my two little girls in a city with a predator as mayor in a country with a predator in the White House. I cannot do that psychologically, I cannot do that. One of the major concerns I have, I don't think the left has it together. We don't have that cohesiveness to strategically vote. The French had to strategically vote to stop lap pen Canadians, Canada. Canada's a multi-party system. They had to vote strategically to get this historic outcome that's going to boost their country, not just for their own quality of life, but their global standing. And I don't see the left in New York City rallying around saying, here's the way we vote strategically. I still think there needs to be some sort of strategy where the left has to unite in a diverse coalition and say, this is how you cast your vote. You rank this person one, you rank this person two by doing that, then when we all come back together again as friends and the November election to stop Eric Adams.
Terrell Starr (29:11):
But you know why that's not happening? I feel like there's a spectrum of progressive that we don't talk about enough. Ani, for example, who is a socialist, I'm going to support him because number one, I don't have a problem with socialism in the ways that, in the very simple,
Andrea Chalupa (29:26):
Well, I just want to be clear. He's a socialist in the sense of Fox News worst nightmares when it comes to how they see the left. But he's just your run of the mill EU elected leader, right? He's a thing though. Bernie Sanders would be a, when it comes to the eu. And so when we talk about socialist, we're not talking about a Marxist and a Che Guevara t-shirt who wants to collectivize everything. We're talking about your average EU elected leader. Go on.
Terrell Starr (29:57):
Yes. Which we have to talk about for the very simple reason that that's different for US politics. And I think the exact reason why I'm saying that is that there are people for whom he is who are on the far left. Even he is considered not progressive enough. And so that gets to my point in that there is so much perfection that we seek out the candidate. There are too many people here who have a purity contest, and we were talking about this the other night, a lot of left wing progressive people, they're not fun people to be around.
Andrea Chalupa (30:34):
So we were saying the other night that blue sky feels cliquish like it's a Washington DC bar, and everyone's too serious. You don't really want to spend time there.
Terrell Starr (30:43):
With Zohran Mendani, he is somebody who I think if we give him two turns, our lives will be infinitely better and we need to create a support system around him. Because the ideal situation is that, and we need to get people to say that even though people use the term socialist, we need to take that term and claim it and say it's not bad, and here's why. And so we don't need to run away from these terms because it's not a bad thing. Let's just be perfectly clear.
Andrea Chalupa (31:14):
Mean socialists, you mean quality of life advocates.
Terrell Starr (31:17):
Right! Those are positive things. This current structure, are you happy with it right now? And so we all need to stop running away from language. That's good. Socialism is not bad. When I was in Austria, for example, I had some issue with my head that required a dermatologist to look at it. And so long story short, I booked a appointment at a private facility. I got in, I booked it at 1130, got my appointment at one 30, went to the one 30 appointment, signed some paperwork, and I'm thinking that I'm going to have to come out a thousand dollars for this procedure, or they may not even take me that day. I signed the paperwork, I go into the doctor's room, she looks at it. She said, okay, we need to lance this. Let's get ready. I was really shocked. I said, you're going to do this now.
(32:09):
She said, yeah, going to do it. Now. I made my evaluation and she did the little Lansing on my head and I said, okay, well go get some medicine. I went outside to the reception and she said, okay, 300. I said, excuse me, I thought I missed the 1,300. No, she said, $300. And she said, Terrell, this is so expensive. You don't have a government card because this is way too expensive. I don't understand why you're paying this amount of money. I said, oh, it's cheaper. She said, yeah, do you have your government card? I said, no. She said, this is so expensive. You stay here long term, you should get your government card because this would be much less, maybe under a hundred or something like that. I don't know. But my point is that anywhere that I've gone throughout Europe, this is the norm.
(32:57):
Okay? This can be the norm in New York City. This could be the norm across the country because it should be, because we should not have to go bankrupt in order to live as human beings. Okay? Capitalism has our minds all screwed up, and we need to take the time to educate people on all these things that we've been taught to be the boogeyman. But what can in fact save our lives? And that's the one thing that progressives rip large have to come together to realize. Tell you, one of the biggest things that I have an issue with Progressives law is at least online especially where it's kind of rare.
Andrea Chalupa (33:35):
We are progressive, to be clear. But some of our own are sabotaging our larger collective movement to get the progress we all talk about.
Terrell Starr (33:42):
But you know what though, Andrea, the thing with us is that because we support Ukrainian, because we support that, because we believe that they have the right to have arms to defend themselves. We we're supporting the mass military industrial complex. And so all this stupid shit, people don't have the intellectual and emotional dexterity to realize that yes, we believe that what's going on in Gaza is a genocide. Yes, America needs to reverse. Its very imperial colonial outlook and actions in the Middle East and South America and Africa, we all agree on that. We believe in reparations. We believe that Africa needs a Marshall plan, all of that. You can get us on board with that. But what you can't do is say that Ukraine doesn't have the ability, you shouldn't have the right to use us arms to defend themselves. And we don't have to operate on this stupid theological notion that just because you put arms in Ukraine's hands that you're making Russia mad and you're using NATO in order to threaten the country. That's also as equally as colonial as the American country that you're calling out. And so we have all these stupid, idiotic, morally inconsistent arguments over things don't help any of us in the long run.
Andrea Chalupa (34:54):
I want to support Zohran Mendani, but my litmus test or true progressives, if you are serious about taking on the oligarchy, then you have to be serious about supporting sovereignty for Ukraine. Ukraine has one of the most robust, resilient civil societies in the world. This is a group of anti-corruption activists, independent journalists who have suffered so much over the last decade plus, not just in their coverage of this war and still fighting their own government and forcing their own government to be better in this war. But in the many years prior, so I'd say the last 20 years alone, they've gone through so much. One of their colleagues was killed in a car bomb in the heart of Kiev. One of their mentors was beheaded, likely by a former Ukrainian president. And then they had your Oh Myan where they had government snipers coming after them, and on and on it goes.
(35:50):
And still, Ukraine fought corruption at home and abroad by doing this. And they educated newsrooms around the world. They help newsrooms around the world expose their corruption at home because it's all linked. It's all linked. And Robert Moeller in his 2011 Iron Triangle speech told us it's all linked. The mafia of today is not sitting in some Italian joint in Canarsie plotting how to carry off its next heist. It is the oligarchs funding puppet candidates all over the world, and they all work together, and they launder their reputations through fancy PR firms and law firms in capitals across western countries. And so when I see a progressive hero like Zohran Mendani, because he's very much the favorite. He's coming from the Democratic Socialists of America, the DSA, which is pretty staunchly anti-Ukraine, and I
Terrell Starr (36:47):
I think they're also annoying.
Andrea Chalupa (36:49):
Exactly. And so I looked him up and I couldn't find a single thing he said about Ukraine. And that makes me think, okay, I know he went on a hunger strike for 15 days to help support and bring much needed debt relief to taxi drivers across New York. So he obviously somebody that's willing to put his body on the line for progress, and I admire that, and I'm seriously considering voting for him and rank choice voting. But it's just such a red flag for me when these progressives are like, we're going to fight the oligarchy. How can you do that by disparaging Ukraine, by not even bothering to bring up Ukraine as central in that fight to for all of us. So Brad Lander, let's get to my first choice in rank boating New York City comptroller, Brad Lander, whom I love, and I worry about him because he's not flashy by any means.
(37:40):
He just puts his head down and does the work. He's a good old Missouri boy. He's got a big war chest. He's got an endorsement from working families, parties. Actually, a lot of his endorsements overlap with endorsements from Ani. So that's a good sign. And Brad Lander, I love, love, love because a lot of hardcore grassroots activists and protest organizers that I know through Gas Nation, they're Gas Nation listeners, they've always shared stories. What it's like to work with Brad Lander's office over the years. He's always shown up for them. And I feel like he's someone that we could get a meeting with if we needed something in regards to Ukraine, he would take it seriously. We wouldn't have to sit there and pull out a PowerPoint presentation to fact check Russian disinformation. It'd just be a very easy conversation. And Brad Lander led New York City in divesting funds from New York's pension, the fourth largest in the country.
(38:37):
They divested from Russia in response to Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine. Brad Lander led the fight to divest New York City pensions from Russia. He took that initiative and he led that fight and won it. And so he understands. He understands. And he's also staunchly anti Netanyahu's lawless regime in Israel that countless Israelis are protesting and have been for so long now, even before October 7th. So Brad Lander, I feel, is the right mix of all things. And he's also fighting for affordable housing, affordable healthcare, and humane treatment for the mental health crisis in New York City. We've had this inflation crisis. We've had a flood of money leaving the city because you have these billionaires that made their money here. They go to low tax states like Florida so they can escape paying taxes, and they're pulling their money out of New York. And so New York has been struggling, and this has all been accelerating since the New York City became ground zero in America for the once in a century pandemic of Covid, the mental health crisis, inflation crisis, economic crisis, and the money flight crisis.
(39:47):
And so Brad Lander, as New York's controller, has been trying to plug those gaps for the most vulnerable in New York City, in this cutthroat, cannibalistic, hyper capitalist society where we're all expected to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and smile through our own starvation as these oligarchs are enriching themselves and have all these dreams of enslaving us for their own ego gratification. And you have so many people who are just one missed paycheck away from homelessness, from food insecurity. You don't have a middle class anymore. And it's a horrible anxiety that even people doing well, relatively speaking, live with, because they think, by the grace of God, that could be me. And so I feel very safe with Brad Lander. I feel that he is sure like a socialist in terms of the EU elected public servant variety. He would fit right in his politics, his way of leadership would fit right in as a European Union leader. But I feel that he has a stronger sense, a more sort of diplomatic, inclusive, not really tribal or cliquey, high school cafeteria clique approach to dealing with issues holistically.
Terrell Starr (40:51):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
And I feel a lot more included and heard, and where I feel like Zohran is somebody who's very much a dark social media darling, and that can feel very clique-ish and shallow and off-putting. And I want New York City to become a resilient social democratic safety net. Like what Europeans enjoy. I want people to live here, go to school here, work. And if they should hit tough times through a medical emergency or a loss of a job, they have support. They have a place to land safely. They can get backup on their feet, the community, the taxpayers, everybody has their back. I want that more than anything because I myself live with that. I don't want to have to work until die. I want my kids to be taken care of, not just by me, their parents, but the state. I want my kids to have a safe, strong social security net.
Terrell Starr (41:43):
I agree.
(41:43):
And you cannot build that if you don't understand the reality of what we're up against, which is kleptocracy and Russia, not just Israel is an extraordinarily destructive, powerful node in that global virus of kleptocracy. So Zohran Mendani, if you are listening, come on Gaslit Nation. Tell us how you feel about Ukraine, what your stance is on Ukrainian sovereignty and this war because you're running for mayor of New York City that is practically a country in terms of population size, certainly and in terms of wealth, GDP. So you need to have a stance on this because Ukraine is the front lines of this global war of kleptocracy.
(42:32):
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(43:40):
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