I love having the speaker, Minority Speaker Hakeem Jeffries, because, you know, I'm a political nerd. Like I love talking. Charlamagne hates him. You do. I don't hate him. I just don't think he stands for anything. Well, I think that he's I call him a pack shaker. [00:00:16] Correct. All right. Charlamagne is correct. Now, look, I don't begrudge anyone who likes to have political discussions. I just find it hard to believe that you're really having an in-depth, you know, stimulating talk with Hakeem Jeffries, of all people. [00:00:33] That's not to say that he's dumb. He just doesn't really come across as a charismatic person who has deep thoughts. But nonetheless, on yesterday's edition of The Breakfast Club, Charlamagne was joined by Claudia Jordan and Erica Cobb. And while Jordan said that she absolutely did enjoy having a chance to interview, [00:00:50] House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Charlamagne obviously not so impressed. So here's more of the back and forth with Jordan. Take a look. We did talk about messaging and I actually went to the Capitol and had a meeting with him, and we talked about messaging and how I was like, [00:01:05] the frustration with the party is you all have to get more gangster like, stop going by the politics of the the late 2000, you know, in 2010. And you have to like rise to the occasion and the messaging. And he did. I saw him do more afterwards. Hakeem is a puppet. Hakeem is not doing anything if you don't tell him to do it. [00:01:22] And as simple as that. I think Chuck Schumer is probably important to Hakeem Jeffries. He probably does listen to what Schumer has to say. I mean, they've got to collaborate, right? They're considered Democratic leadership. I think what's more problematic, though, is what really speaks to our lawmakers. [00:01:41] And so when you hear someone like Charlamagne call Jeffries a Pac Shakur, here's what he's talking about. Let's take a look at AIPAC tracker doing great work, showing how much influence the Israel lobby has. And Hakeem Jeffries has collected quite a bit of money from from AIPAC. [00:01:59] So, man, nearly $2 million. So $1,742,105 from AIPAC. That's wild. That is a lot of money. Now, according to AIPAC tracker, Jeffries has taken that money [00:02:14] from the pro-Israel lobby. But Schumer, he's doing pretty well himself. Let's take a look. Okay, similar amount of money here. So Schumer has taken $1,727,974 from pro-Israel lobbyists. [00:02:30] So, pretty identical there. Interesting. Now, both of them are from New York, and they are also both still refusing to endorse the Democratic primary winner for the mayoral race in New York City, which is incredible. [00:02:48] Of course, I'm talking about, Zoran Mamdani. And over the weekend, Dana Bash actually asked Hakeem Jeffries why he's holding out on his endorsement. And here's how that went down. What does he need to do to secure your endorsement? [00:03:06] Well, we had a very candid and constructive and community centered conversation, a few weeks ago, before he went off to Africa. I've, of course, been on the road, for the last several weeks, dealing in part with the Republican effort to try to rig the midterm elections [00:03:24] through the gerrymandering scheme. It's pretty just for context, it's pretty unusual for a high ranking Democrat like yourself to withhold the endorsement of your party's nominee for, for candidate for New York City mayor. [00:03:39] So what are you hoping to hear from him that you haven't yet? I don't think we've withheld an endorsement. We are engaging in a conversation about the future of New York City, about the issues that need to be addressed, particularly the housing crisis. [00:03:57] Does it have anything to do with the fact that he hasn't denounced Announced using the term or supporting the term globalized the intifada. Well, listen, I've raised several of the issues with him privately as well as publicly spoken about some of the concerns that I've had. [00:04:19] The only thing that could maybe help me gain a modicum, not much. A modicum of respect for Hakeem Jeffries is if he just had his mask off moment and said, listen, one of my top donors doesn't like that Mamdani doesn't want to visit Israel. [00:04:36] As mayor of New York City. So I'm not going to endorse him because I follow orders from my donors. Just say it. Just say it. Just be honest. Instead of, like, playing this like, cat and mouse game with the press over why you won't endorse the Democrat who won [00:04:52] the primary for mayor of New York City. It's just it is wild. And guys the globalized. He never said globalize the intifada. He refused to condemn it because he doesn't want to play the games that members of the left are oftentimes forced to play in various interviews. [00:05:13] I mean, just think about how many times people who have been critical of Israel's conduct have been forced. Okay, not not you don't have to force, okay? I condemn what Hamas did on October 7th. It's not that difficult. But when you're like a year and a half into a freaking genocide [00:05:30] that's being carried out by Israel. And the first question you have for me is, do you condemn Hamas? It's pretty frustrating. So you have to do all the throat clearing before you can finally address what's happening here and now. So for Zoran Mamdani, he's like, I'm not going to play that game. [00:05:47] And you know what? I respect it, I respect it. He didn't take the bait. He's not going to be pushed around again. His policies aside. And I'm a little bit worried about some of his policies. I'm going to keep it real. Okay. But putting that aside, the more they attack him for these types [00:06:06] of things, the more I like him. Because he's willing to go against the grain. He's not willing to be bullied by corporate Democrats, corrupt Democrats who are far more concerned. Hakeem Jeffries sitting there talking about, [00:06:22] oh, I'm worried about affordable housing. No you're not. No you're not. How long have you been in Congress, you bitch? You've been in Congress for so long. What have you done for affordable housing? Don't sit there and lie to us about how you want to do something about housing. [00:06:39] The Democratic Party in Congress has been absolutely useless on the issues that they purport to care so much about. So do not deflect and tell me, oh, I'm too busy with the housing issue. [00:06:58] I'm going to skip ahead because Dave Smith was on Joe Rogan's podcast recently, and it's really interesting to hear how some of the more open minded people, libertarians, even some people who consider themselves right wingers, how they've been kind of talking about Mamdani because typically you would think [00:07:16] of right wingers as individuals who like fear monger about Mamdani being a muslim. Ooh, this is going to be the islamification of New York City. And to be fair, there are plenty of disgusting, Islamophobic right wingers who say that. But in terms of those who have a bigger platform, they're not saying that. [00:07:34] In fact, they're taking a good, hard look at how Mamdani is being treated by the Democratic Party. And they've got some interesting things to say. So let's hear what Joe Rogan and Dave Smith had to say. I also don't agree that this should be this massive, coordinated campaign [00:07:52] from both sides to make sure that he doesn't get into power. Yeah, because you don't agree with him. Like, I think a lot of the stuff he's saying is ridiculous, like using, New York City funds to pay for transgender surgeries for people who can't afford them. Like I'm a nay on that. [00:08:08] Yeah, it just sounds nuts. It sounds like you're only going for that nutty vote. Like you want that nutty vote. But are we? What is this? Are we allowed. - Right. - To disagree? So I disagree. I don't support that. I don't support a lot of the stuff he's saying. The raising of taxes I think is going to be really problematic. [00:08:25] But I'm not an economist. But what is this game we're playing? Is it the people get to vote because the people voted and they voted and he won the primary. So it's supposed to be the Democrats get behind him and then it's the Democrats versus the Republicans. [00:08:40] Or are we doing something different? No, the people get to vote, but if they vote wrong, then the powerful might have to come in and let the people know that they have erred. And that's what Andrew Cuomo is trying to do. He is appealing to Trump to try to get Trump, to get [00:08:57] the Republican in the race to drop out, thus solidifying the independent vote and I guess the right wing vote for Cuomo so he can maybe beat Mamdani. That's the kind of game that he's going to try to play here, which, screams, [00:09:14] I don't really care about democracy. I don't like the results of the primaries. So I'm going to try to play games in order to give me an upper hand and potentially beat Mamdani. Look, again, take the policy out of it. I want to have a deeper discussion about whether or not we live in a country [00:09:32] that values the democratic process, because I heard a lot from Democrats about how important it is to protect our democracy. But when it's convenient for them, or when they're faced with a democratic politician who's inconvenient for them, all of a sudden democracy goes out the window. [00:09:50] The will of the people doesn't matter. And so I'm really happy that Rogan called the Democrats out on this. And honestly, Mamdani. Just the mere fact that he is different from corporate Democrats [00:10:07] in that he wants to pursue, some of these more, you know, socialist policies when it comes to certain areas of his agenda. That was enough to get the mainstream Democratic Party against him. But then you have the fact that he's a muslim. [00:10:22] And on top of that, he won't bow down to Israel. Oof! Of course he's going to be a target, but nothing has been more of a white pill. I've been talking about the black pill a lot on this show. Right? Nothing has been more of a white pill than to see how unstoppable Mamdani [00:10:39] has been in the face of these ridiculous, unfair attacks. So. And you know what? If he looks poised to win, and if he wins, I hope he proves me wrong on some of the policies I'm worried about. Look, I'm worried about some of his more anti-police policies, right? [00:10:56] Because I've seen how they've played out in LA. It's bankrupting us now because we pay so much for police overtime and were short about 1500 deputies. So you have to be smart in pursuing these policies. If you're concerned about police brutality, [00:11:12] then you need to reform policing. But if you have an anti-police approach, I am worried about that. Okay. I just am. So I'm going to wait and see. But here's one other thing that I will say. If you look at the, you know, political landscape for this mayoral race, I mean, [00:11:28] what other options do you have really? The guy who killed a bunch of seniors by taking elderly people with Covid and and forcing nursing homes to take them back in when they still had Covid. That guy, Andrew Cuomo? No, I don't think so. [00:11:44] The Curtis Sliwa guy, you know, he's a little bit of a kook. He's fun. I don't think I want him to be a mayor. You get what I'm saying? I don't think the people of New York City want him to be mayor. That's why he didn't win. But again, this idea that the Democratic [00:12:00] Party is not reneging on all sorts of things that they have previously said about supporting the Democrat, making sure the Democrat wins. Unless the Democrat is inconvenient for their donors and for their, you know, [00:12:16] economic agenda, which is far more corporatist and less concerned with doing what's right for the people. So one of the things that Mamdani gets a lot of heat for is he's vocal about what's happening in Gaza, and I know what it's like to be vocal about what's happening in Gaza and be [00:12:31] met with all sorts of hate and threats. But nonetheless, you know, he I'm going to give you an example of something he said recently. He says leading global experts just confirmed what we've long known Gaza is in famine. At least half a million Palestinians are facing starvation, acute malnutrition and death. [00:12:47] And it's likely to spread. The US government is not a bystander to this genocide. We can end it today. By the way, his views on Israel and Gaza. Chef's kiss. It is nice to see a politician openly, openly talk about these things. [00:13:06] Honestly talk about these things. A friend of the show, John Fugelsang, recently stunned a CNN panel by stating that Mamdani's policies are actually far more Christian than the right wing Christians who are fuming at Mamdani for calling Israel out. [00:13:22] So why don't we take a look at that? Zoran Mamdani, who is running for mayor of New York, maybe you've heard of him. His policies are much closer as a muslim. His policies he's fighting for for families, for mothers, with children, for food, for transportation, [00:13:38] for expanded housing, much closer to the actual teachings of Jesus Christ than the Christians who can't stop smearing. Zoran Mamdani for being a muslim socialist. His policies are closer to the gospel. Christ never talked about abortion, never condemned gay people, never condemned immigrants, would not shut up about poverty. [00:13:55] It was like his Layla at all of Jesus's speeches. He's actually doing what Christ called for as a muslim, and it's infuriating. - Right wing Christians. - Okay. - Go ahead. - A little lighter than that. Fuglesang is great when it comes to, you [00:14:12] know, sussing out the, you know, fakers, the, the religious people who are really just fakers. And I love what he had to say there. Look, I'm excited about the fact that it does appear that the Democratic [00:14:28] voters are hungry for something different, and that's what we need. You know, I'm hard on the Democrats. And when I say that I'm hard on the Democrats, I specifically mean those in positions of power who have abandoned their voters, who have not done right by their constituents, [00:14:43] who are corrupt, who are feckless. We need to stop providing cover for them merely because they're Democrats. You can't change these issues unless you admit that you have a problem. And right now, Democratic leadership is a problem. [00:15:03] Being someone who identifies as a Democrat who won't back down, who actually is a fighter is really nice for a change. And so we'll see what happens in the general. But he does appear poised to win, and we'll see how his policies play out. [00:15:19] But the fact that we finally have a Democratic politician who is openly criticizing the genocidal government of Israel, and the more he does it, he doesn't really get hurt by it is fantastic. And by the way, huge, huge portion of people who voted for Mamdani [00:15:36] happened to be Jewish New Yorkers. I love it, absolutely love it. So sorry Jeffrey's sorry Schumer. I can't wait for the day those guys are voted out of office so we can get real Democratic leadership to represent Democratic voters, [00:15:54] because right now we don't have much. We really don't. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets its wings. Totally not true. But it does keep you updated on our live shows.