All Episodes
Aug. 16, 2024 - Dinesh D'Souza
44:20
WHY THEY DO IT Dinesh D’Souza Podcast Ep898
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
Coming up, Debbie and I will do our Friday roundup.
We're going to talk about what motivates Trump and Elon Musk to do the kinds of stuff that they do, take the risks that they take, what Americans should know or don't know about Trump, and why the regime in Venezuela couldn't survive without gun control.
We're also going to talk a little bit about the Olympics and some of the most inspirational and also ridiculous elements of of Paris.
Hey, if you're watching on Rumble or listening on Apple, Google or Spotify, please subscribe to my channel.
This is the Dinesh D'Souza Podcast.
The times are crazy.
In a time of confusion, division, and lies, we need a brave voice of reason, understanding, and truth.
This is the Dinesh D'Souza Podcast.
Debby and I always look forward to our Friday roundup so we can look back at the events of the week, also anticipate what is ahead.
We haven't had a chance to talk together about the aftermath of the Olympics.
And this was something that we didn't really get into in the beginning, but as it gained momentum and it began to focus away from the gymnastics and the swimming more toward the track and field, we became sort of regular watchers of it.
What stood out to you as you look back on the Olympics?
Well, I think really my favorite race of all, of all time.
I think I know what you're going to say.
You know where I'm going.
So, Cole Hawker.
1,500 meters.
Oh my.
Comes from nowhere.
Oh my goodness.
The reason you and I laughed so hard is also his own dad spontaneously goes, what the F?
I mean the guy, which made me laugh so loud because I'm thinking to myself, this is not a guy who evidently expected his son to do that well.
And suddenly he was like, I mean he was delighted, but he was incredulous.
He could hardly believe it.
Yeah, yeah, I think they were shocked, and I think, to be fair, I think even Cole was a little shocked.
He was.
But he was like, I don't know, it was like supernatural, you know, I just, I blacked out the last hundred meters.
You said something interesting about him even giving a sort of a Christian gloss or interpretation afterward in one of the interviews where he, it's almost like he was saying that Almost through divine intervention, a kind of pathway opened up for him, and he knew he had that sprint speed, but he didn't know if he'd have a chance to sort of deliver, and he did.
So he thinks God took him to the finish line.
He said he blacked out the last hundred meters, which is crazy.
happened. In other words, he was doing interviews and saying, oh yeah, I went back on the outside and then he says I went back and look at the video and I didn't go on the outside, I actually went on the inside. So he did blank out.
Yeah, he said he blacked out the last hundred meters, which is crazy. How do you run like that? But I think it was pure adrenaline.
And I think he also said, you know, that he knew that someday he could do it.
He had faith in that he could do it.
But I tell ya, it was so unexpected.
Cause I really thought it was between those two.
You know the, I always forget their names.
What was the great brain guy?
Oh yeah, I mean it was Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
Ingebrigtsen.
Versus the guy, what's his name?
From the UK.
Yeah, Joseph Joe.
Yeah, I can't remember his name, but... Anyway, that guy, Joe Kerr.
Oh, yeah.
And Kerr was the world... I think he was the world... He was.
...champion from the... Yes.
...from the world championships.
And Inger Britsen was the Olympic champion.
Yes.
And I... This was a kind of a moral lesson here, because the two of them were sort of trash-talking.
One was like, I'm better than you, and the other one, no, I'm better than you.
And all the attention, even the media attention built those two up, and then Cole Hawker comes out.
It's like, what are you doing over here?
No, it was crazy because we were watching those two, you know, and then all of a sudden, he comes out of nowhere.
Like, what?
What's going on?
Now, interestingly, there was also some kind of touching vindication because even Ingebrigtsen, you know, who kind of got his comeuppance in the 1500, but guess what?
He came back in the 5000 meters and he won.
Yeah.
And similarly, Femke Boll, who had been upstaged by Sidney McLaughlin, Lebronnie, in the 400-meter hurdles.
She came back in a couple of the relays and just like exploded out of nowhere and showed the kind of speed that makes her a threat.
Yeah.
No, it was great.
I mean, I really enjoyed the Olympics.
The last few days of the Olympics were great.
The running, even the gymnastics, you know, as you know, I did gymnastics.
Love watching it, but one of the things that I noticed, and in fact we talked about this when we had dinner with Myra on Monday after the podcast, because all we saw were Kamala Harris commercials.
Oh, right.
I was like, where is the GOP?
Where are the Trump commercials?
Why isn't there a Trump PAC putting on a commercial?
And Myra claims that they said that conservatives don't watch the Olympics.
And she's like, I watch the Olympics, and we watch the Olympics.
So it's like that.
Well, I mean, undecided voters watch the Olympics.
Exactly.
So I have no idea why they missed the boat there.
Hey, here's the thing that we haven't talked about that I found interesting.
We didn't see a single case of anyone, like, taking a knee for the national anthem.
The athletes were consistently patriotic, and this was, of course, especially true of the ones that we know are conservatives, and there were quite a few of those.
But, you know, I even saw Brittany Greiner.
This was the woman who had been incarcerated in Russia, And not only was she putting her hand on her chest, she was actually weeping, which was a real transformation.
Now, that hasn't gotten a lot of comment, but I was like, that's interesting because it is a change of heart.
Now, as far as I know, she hasn't commented on it and the commentators didn't comment on it, but there it is.
That was her spontaneous and unrehearsed reaction.
So pretty interesting from the Olympics.
Yeah.
No, I think for the most part, I think most of the athletes were very patriotic.
I mean, really, how can you not be when you're representing the very country that puts you there?
Well, that's my point is it was an anomaly where by and large people come from other countries.
They're all proud of their countries.
They all stand for their country's anthem.
And then you've got these U.S.
athletes who are all taking a knee and sort of dissing the country that sent them.
So it looks like... Yeah, but I didn't see that.
Yeah, we didn't see that this time around at all.
So, and you know, the reason we're talking about this stuff is for a couple of reasons.
I mean, one is it comes every four years, so it's not a common event.
It's not going to occur again.
And we want to try to go when it comes to LA, but good luck getting tickets, right?
Well, I don't know how you do.
We'll have to try to navigate our way.
If anyone knows how, let us know.
Well, we'll figure it out by that time.
But let's talk about, well, the conversation you had with Myra was really interesting.
And we also had a really nice dinner with Myra Monday night, where we were able to catch up on her life, but also on things going on in the Valley.
And she is just a really wonderful person, I think.
I mean, a person of really good character.
Oh, yeah.
And she's in it for all the right reasons.
I mean, absolutely.
And I even told her, I thanked her for being so good to my mom, because as you know, my mom was elderly and she loved people.
And during COVID, she didn't see anybody except maybe, you know, her caretakers and her sister every once in a while.
And she was very, very lonely.
And so Myra and a lot of other people, were very kind to my mom.
And Myra was a kind of a regular visitor.
She was a regular visitor.
And she didn't have to be.
No, she didn't have to be.
There was nothing in it for her.
She really enjoyed my mom's company and they chatted for like, I mean, when Myra would come and I was there, Myra would stay an hour, hour and a half, you know, just chatting with mom about this or that.
And, and I just thought it was just a, she was just an incredible human being.
And she was also telling us that, you know, with Brandon, if Brandon gets to Congress in January, there will be innumerable demands on his time and all kinds of people telling him he has to do this and he has to do that and he must do this.
And she was like, no, you've got to actually realize that this is your job, but it's also, you also have other things in life.
You have family, you have You've got to go to church on Sunday.
You've got all these other commitments, and you should not allow your work to overrun all of that.
Now, Meyer, of course, was briefly in Congress.
She's now running in a difficult district that is where the Democrats have an advantage, but we still think it's a competitive race.
Well, you know, again, I think that she's made headway down there, and every time she runs, she gains momentum.
Well, she said that her district has been moving approximately 8 points.
In each election cycle, right?
And she said that as of last count, well, she lost the last race by eight points.
So that tells you that if the trend persists, she's essentially running even with Vicente Gonzalez, and I think she might take it.
Are you feeling overwhelmed by the increasing cost of health insurance?
Have you had enough of not having control over your health care dollars?
Introducing ShareRite.
It's health care done the right way.
At ShareRite, you're not just a number, you're part of a caring community.
And forget about paying excessive premiums.
With ShareRite, you stand to save 30 to 50 percent compared to health insurance.
So think about what you could do with all those savings.
But it's more than just savings.
ShareRight ensures you have access to the care you deserve precisely when you need it, from routine checkups to unexpected emergencies.
With ShareRight, your healthcare is their top priority.
Empower yourself today.
Take control of your healthcare costs.
Visit shareright.org slash Dinesh.
Learn more.
See how much you can save.
Visit shareright.org slash Dinesh again.
It's shareright.org slash Dinesh for healthcare done the right way.
You asked and MyPillow listened.
They're finally bringing you the most requested offer ever.
Right now, you can get the queen-size premium MyPillow for only $19.98.
Wow!
MyPillow is made with patented adjustable fill.
It adjusts to your exact individual needs.
Regardless of your sleep position, it helps keep your neck aligned.
and holds its shape all night long, so you get the best sleep of your life.
But that's not all.
Get their six-piece kitchen or bath towel sets, just $25.
The brand new mattress topper, as low as $69.98.
The famous MyPillow bed sheets for as low as $25, and so much more.
Here's the number to call, 800-876-0227.
The number again, 800-876-0227, or go to MyPillow.com.
When you use promo code Dinesh, you get huge discounts on all the MyPillow products, including the premium queen-size MyPillow, just $19.98.
That's the lowest price ever, so don't delay.
Order today.
Go to MyPillow.com.
Make sure to use the promo code.
It's D-I-N-E-S-H, Dinesh.
One of the things we've seen this week is the prominence of Trump but also of Elon Musk.
There was of course the remarkable spaces conversation the two of them had and that has gotten just an astronomical number of views.
I mean it's gotten more views than there are people in the United States which means that a lot of people in the world Uh, sort of dropped in, eavesdropped in, if you will, for that conversation.
And I think it's very good of Trump to do these unrehearsed things because you see dimensions of the man that you don't see in his other sort of prepared formats.
Because one of his formats is his posts on Truth Social.
His other format is The Rally.
His third format is The Media Interview, and he's done interviews with Fox and with others.
So he has... you've seen Trump in those modes.
But sort of when he, you know, you can say takes his jacket off and goes in a kind of a freestyle, it's very illuminating because you notice that the guy speaks with authority on topics that you had no idea that he was even interested in.
And that's something that many of the people on Twitter, you know, it's a very diverse group, were commenting on.
That Trump and Elon are now talking about Trains, locomotives, and their joint interest in trains.
And in fact, this resonated with me a little bit because when I was really little, now I don't know if my grandfather had an interest in trains, but I apparently would utter the word train, and then my grandfather would immediately take me down to the train station to actually see a train.
And so I was fascinated by trains from a really young age.
But no longer, right?
Not particularly now, I wouldn't say, but that memory does stay with me.
Just like there were certain things that fascinated me as a kid, and even though my interests have developed and evolved and so on, I haven't totally, you know, that still remains part of the way I think of myself.
Yeah, and mine was airplanes.
Right.
Because I flew on airplanes as a baby.
I mean, in utero, you know?
Right.
And so, I was enamored with flight attendants and pilots.
I thought they were just amazing.
Well, you mentioned the old Pan Am with the uniforms.
Oh, yes.
Yeah.
And of course, you had unbelievable, you know, the pilots all look like Clark Kent.
Yes.
And the stewardesses all looked like they were right out of modeling school.
Yeah, yeah.
There was a glamour to it.
They were very glamorous, and I wanted to be one too.
Yeah.
And so I would, we had a flight attendant that lived in our condo, and in fact, sadly, she was tragically killed in an airplane crash, along with her pilot fiance.
I mean, it was extremely sad.
Yeah.
Back in, I guess it was 1969, I wanna say, maybe 70.
Come back to Trump and Elon Musk.
We were talking about Here are two guys, and it's worth thinking about what it is that motivates them.
Because, let's start with Trump.
You might think, well, what motivates him is he wants the power of the presidency.
But first of all, he's already had that.
He's done that.
Second of all, he had a massive celebrity before that.
And not only did he already enjoy that, but the moment that he entered politics, he has experienced a level of attack and torture that we have seen no equivalent of.
We can't think of anyone else, not even Reagan, comes close to the kind of just sheer You know, hatred, vitriol, animus that is directed constantly toward Trump.
And I gave the example of the, after the assassination attempt, I looked to see, I wonder if Trump is going to be invited to talk about that on The View?
No.
Good Morning America?
No.
Jimmy Kimmel?
No.
Nowhere.
And then you ask yourself, if this had happened to Kamala Harris or Obama, they would have been elevated to immediate sainthood.
They would be everywhere.
Everyone would be talking about their heroism and the display of character.
So, with Trump, I mean, this guy is treated... So, a normal person in his position would be like, well, you know what?
Enough.
I've been president, why do it again?
So what do you think motivates a guy like him?
And Elon Musk is obviously different, but the same question could be posed about him as well.
I think the only thing that makes sense is their love of country, their love of America.
Because I can't imagine why else, why they would want to be tortured like this, hated like this, you know.
And as if you recall, when we met Trump for the first time in 2019, I was not really on, I guess, on the Trump train at that point.
You know, I knew who he was.
I admired his policies, all those things.
But when I saw the real person, I was like, they're attacking this man who has a family.
He's a grandfather.
He's a human being.
And they're attacking him in a very unfair way because he doesn't need to be doing this.
He can be enjoying his money and his family.
He doesn't need to be tortured like this.
The other thing is we saw that, and this I think came as a surprise, that Trump is actually kind of an unassuming fellow.
Yeah.
And you don't expect that because he, in public display, puts on that he is the world's biggest egotist, you know?
And it is true.
He loves praise.
He loves people to say he's the greatest president.
As you know, he leaves voicemails for us where he says, you know, it's your favorite president calling.
So that's Trump.
At the same time, you realize that he even knows it's a bit of a shtick.
And I think that is what people don't see about him.
That a lot of the things he does, even some of the way he attacks other people, is a shtick.
And the reason you know it is, is he gets over it like instantly.
Yeah, yeah.
And he's a very funny person too.
In the new movie, that's gonna come out.
Become quite clear, yes.
Yeah, it's gonna come out.
But he really, and part of me wants to think, Like, why else would he be doing this if it wasn't for love of country?
He knows that there is a, well, and you know I've been talking about this for years, but now he's talking about it.
How we can become Venezuela if we're not careful.
If we elect Democrats You know, to every office between now and, you know, in 20 years.
We will lose our country.
That's what happened there.
And it will happen here.
We're not immune.
Just because we're bigger than Venezuela doesn't mean that we're not going to go down that same path.
Look how telling it is in Venezuela.
They had a fraudulent election.
Everyone admits it was fraudulent.
Yep.
And yet, Maduro seems to be relatively secure in his power.
No one inside the country can push him out.
He has rigged the court.
He has got foreign support.
The Electoral Commission.
The Electoral Commission.
And that's why you were almost, you were rolling your eyes when he said, I'm gonna have the Supreme Court and the Electoral Commission look into these charges to see if there was any fraud in the election.
And you're like...
Yeah, this would be similar to Stalin, you know, saying, oh, I'm going to have the Communist Party of Russia investigate this question of due process.
Exactly.
Once the system is sufficiently rigged... Yeah, there's no going back.
You can only overthrow it from the outside.
You really can't.
The outside, yes.
No, there's no other way.
There is no other way.
There really isn't.
It's very sad.
But on that line, Elon Musk tweeted out the other day, this is what happens, you know, the taking away your guns, this is what happens when you have a dictatorship in Venezuela, right?
And a lot of people thought he was talking about Maduro, but Hugo Chavez did this in 2012 under a program called Desarma la Violencia, disarm the violence.
So, it was under the guise of helping fight crime, right?
So, he thought that too many people had guns.
Private ownership of guns became, at first, it was voluntary.
I think Kamala Harris had something similar, didn't she?
Like turning your guns.
Turning your guns, right?
And at first it was voluntary, until it wasn't.
And the reason they don't want citizens to have guns, why do you think?
Then you become... Exactly.
You're essentially completely vulnerable.
Exactly.
In the face of the crushing power of the state.
Big election year this year, big movie coming out, and if you'd like to support my work, here's the best way.
Check out and consider becoming a subscriber to my Locals channel.
I post a lot of exclusive content there, including content that's censored on other social media platforms.
On Locals, you get Dinesh Unchained, Dinesh Uncensored.
You can also interact with me directly.
I do a live weekly Q&A every Tuesday.
No topic is off-limits.
I've also uploaded some cool films.
I've got a Dinesh's Movie page on Locals.
2000 Mules is up there.
The latest film that came out last year, Police State, and the new film will also be up there.
Coming out this fall, you're not going to want to miss it.
Hey, if you're an annual subscriber, you can stream and watch this movie content for free.
It's included with your annual subscription.
So check out the channel.
It's dinesh.locals.com.
I'd love to have you along for this great ride.
Again, it's dinesh.locals.com.
I'm back with Debbie for the final segment of our Friday roundup.
And we're talking in the last segment about Trump and Elon Musk, but we didn't really look at the motivation of Elon Musk.
Now, what's interesting is that Musk, to this day, says that he is a moderate Democrat that has been abandoned by the Democratic Party and now finds himself In the Republican Party, because the Republican Party, he says, is the party of moderation.
Now, I think that this is true not just in a kind of generic rhetorical sense.
Trump himself is quite moderate in his actual policy positions.
I mean, let's look at them.
He did the Trump tax cuts, but he's not talking about doing the kind of radical tax cuts that Reagan did.
Trump, on the other hand, is very quick to say, I will not cut Social Security or Medicare by one penny.
So in other words, he's someone who is willing to spend money on behalf of the government.
He thinks it's part of what the government, you know, so in other words, he accepts the bargain, not just of the New Deal, but also of the Great Society.
Trump is not, in that sense, a spending cutter.
And Trump's policies on social issues are, again, quite moderate.
Even, look at the pro-life issue.
Trump is like, I think he feels like, I did the big thing that needed to be done.
I got abortion sent back to the states.
Now, I think a society needs to adjust to that and not just say, well, what can we do next?
Not to mention the fact that he's, he pragmatically realizes that you don't have the political There's no power to go beyond that and have some sort of a federal law on this topic.
So there's an element of pragmatism and realism.
And I think Elon Musk is, he is becoming radicalized, though, in a way.
I think it's maybe because he's a very independent and stubborn guy, and he realizes that there are some very bad people on the left who are out to get him.
And so far from running away from all that, he's like, okay, I'm going to take them on.
Yeah.
I don't understand, though, what's a moderate Democrat?
How can you be a moderate Democrat?
I don't think that exists.
It doesn't exist in the Democratic Party anymore.
But I mean, here's what a moderate Democrat would have said if you flashback to the Reagan years.
And there were these moderate Democrats, and here's what they would say.
They would say, Reagan is taking the tax rate from 70% marginal rate.
So they would be like, that's too extreme.
We will support tax cuts, but not of that degree.
Then they would say things like, you know, we would favor some modifications in welfare.
But you've got to realize that people don't just have illegitimate kids because they're getting money from the government.
They also are in this position because the men in the black community can't find jobs in these communities.
But who caused that?
Right, so the Democrats always... Their own party!
Yeah, but they always think in terms... So they're like, let's have a jobs program for the inner city.
So the fallacy of the Democrats is always to try to bring about an... How do you think of it?
How does government create a job?
How do they create even one job?
Forget about creating thousands of jobs.
Let's just say you're the government and you're supposed to create a job.
How do you actually go about doing that?
What do you do?
You pay some guy and tell him to do what?
Clean the streets?
Knock on doors?
Dig a hole and take out the dirt and then put it back?
How do you, you know, the market knows how to do this because the market goes off of the laws of supply and demand.
The government doesn't.
So the moderate Democrats, I agree, there's no long-term solution there.
But what, the moderation just comes from their temperament.
Yeah.
Maybe.
Maybe that's the case.
But regardless, I like that he is on the side of truth.
And I believe that conservatives are on the side of truth.
And he definitely has helped with free speech.
I mean, look at his platform.
He's opened it up now.
That being said, I'm still shadow banned on Twitter.
You are horribly banned on Twitter.
I am.
Debbie has been at like 97,000 followers for, what, two years?
Oh, four years almost.
Yeah, yeah.
Three and a half years, I guess.
And even if I share your content, you don't get more followers.
Oh, it doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter.
So I can't really... Something's wrong.
You're being lassoed in by some sort of algorithm that needs to be dismantled.
But beside that, I think he has done a lot of really good things for Twitter and just for free speech in general and just having the conversation, right?
Well, I think he's gone much further than that.
He started out that way.
He buys Twitter.
And I think our expectation at that point was that, okay, he's going to run this as a neutral platform.
And he has.
He hasn't banned any leftists or anything like that.
So he didn't do to them what they were doing before.
Not at all.
But that he himself would play a low-key role and not Develop the kind of strong voice that he has.
I mean, just for him to step in and not only endorse Trump, but give money to Trump and to the Trump packs.
And then to recognize that because of the media tilt, I think this is why he did the spaces with Trump.
He's like, guess what?
You know, I've got a giant platform here that's bigger than the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the LA Times, and NPR, and CNN, and MSNBC, and the comedians combined.
So, okay.
You know what?
We'll put all of them in one category, and you should have seen the vicious commentary about the spaces.
It's like it was uniformly panned by the very media that has recognized that And with Elon Musk, this is not just ideological.
He's also recognizing that there is a shift of technology, but a shift of people's habits.
People are getting news from X. And I noticed this with myself.
You do that all the time?
I do that, but it happened without me really noticing it.
I used to go to about seven or eight designated sites, and I would read articles that were essentially pulled together, aggregated, from multiple traditional news sources.
And then I realized I'm not doing that so much anymore, and I realize it's because I'm getting the full diet of information.
From X. Yeah, you're getting the full thing, the full picture.
But no, I mean, I think it's great.
And the other thing that they talked about was that somehow Elon Musk wants to help Trump with like some kind of a financial commission or something, like to help with, you know, diversify costs and bring costs down and help people have more money in their pocket and like clear the national debt, all these things.
He wants to be a part of it.
So here's a guy who has, first of all, he put a sizable chunk, which is about one-fifth of his entire net worth.
It's a big net worth, but that's also a big number, $44 billion into buying Twitter.
Not content with that, he's developed his own voice.
Not content with that, he is funding the Trump campaign and related types of PACs.
Not content with that.
Now, we say this because we know quite a few rich people and we're always amazed at, in general, how little they do.
If we were to take proportionately what we do, leaving aside making the movies, I'm just talking about just in terms of financial commitment.
You have to always look at it in terms of the percentage of your net worth.
And we noticed that you got guys who have a hundred million, five hundred million dollars, and they go, well, I maxed out to Ted Cruz.
And what they mean is they gave thirteen thousand dollars or whatever is the kind of campaign finance limit.
You can give an unlimited amount of money to PAX.
So these are people who, on the one hand, say that the country is in danger.
They say that the American dream is at stake.
And yet, they put the equivalent of 50 cents to save the country.
And I say to myself, it doesn't just puzzle me.
I mean, it infuriates me because I say to myself... We don't have a Soros.
We don't have a George Soros.
Yeah, and I say to myself, you know, if you stop saying that the country is in danger, you stop saying how bad these policies are, then I can understand.
It makes no difference to you.
It's worth 50 cents, so that's all you put in, proportionately speaking.
But if you claim that things are a desperate pass and the country is in real danger, Then your behavior becomes not only inexplicable, but really quite repulsive because your level of stinginess is just truly horrifying at a time when it's really needed.
When it's necessary, when you want to save your country and you have the means to do it, why not?
I mean, we go into races on the conservative side.
We're outspent 4 to 1, 5 to 1.
Take a small case.
There was a case in the Midwest.
I forget if it was in Milwaukee.
Anyway, it had to do with a judge who would decide, who would tip the balance on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which would decide the fate of the Dropboxes in Milwaukee, a swing state, Wisconsin.
And the Democrats, of course, immediately knowing the importance of the race, put a bunch of effort and resources.
The Republicans don't.
We lose the race.
So this is just baffling and dismaying because that was a winnable race.
It would have made a lot of difference and it could be the difference in a close election.
And so Our side needs to ramp it up.
I mean, I think this is what I'm saying about Elon Musk.
This is a guy who deserves kudos because he did ramp it up.
That's right.
I'm in Chapter 7 of Booker T. Washington's Up From Slavery.
He is just beginning with starting with setting up the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.
And he says that he found a dilapidated shanty near the colored Methodist church.
So there's a Methodist church.
It's in times of segregation, so it's an all-black church.
And he says he picked that site to start the school.
He says, both the church and Shanti were in about as bad a condition as was possible.
He says that the place was in such disrepair that when it rained, he says, the older student, one of the older students would leave his lessons and hold an umbrella over me while I heard the recitations of others.
So he's taking lessons.
People are telling him what they know.
And a student has to hold an umbrella over his head.
The other students, of course, are just in the rain.
And then he says, I also remember that on more than one occasion, my landlady held an umbrella over me as I ate breakfast.
So, this is starting things from the very basics.
And he says also, at the time I went to Alabama, the colored people there were taking a considerable interest in politics.
And here again Booker T. Washington goes into one of his somewhat folksy and amusing anecdotes, but one that we have to pay careful attention to because of what it says and also what it doesn't say.
He says, on several occasions people came up to me and said, with a good deal of earnestness.
Now I'm going to quote from Booker T.
He goes, these are the black people talking to Booker T. Washington.
We want you to be sure to vote yes, like we votes.
We can't read the newspapers very much, but we know how to vote, and we want you to vote just like we vote.
And so Booker T. Washington is a little curious, and he's like, well, sort of, how do you decide who to vote for?
He doesn't say this, but all of this is conveyed with his expression.
And this is what the black people around him reply.
We watch the white man, and we keep watching the white man till we find out which way the white man's going to vote.
And when we find out which way the white man's going to vote, then we vote exactly the other way.
And we know we're right.
Now, this is intended as a little bit of wry comedy on the part of Booker T. Washington, but in fact, the blacks who are thinking and talking this way are actually pretty smart.
Why?
Because you've got a white democratic stronghold on the South.
It's just emerging.
It started in about the 1880s and 1890s.
It continues in the early 1900s.
and 1890s. It continues in the early 1900s. And so this is, these are the people who don't wish And so blacks are right to say, hey listen, if those guys are all voting for the Democrats, we better vote for the Republicans.
And Booker T. Washington actually agrees.
He's a Republican.
And yet, even though he's a Republican, He sees a little bit of a problem here.
He foresees that there's a problem when all the whites vote one way and all the blacks vote another way.
He doesn't think that that's a healthy long-term way for the South or for the country.
So look how farsighted he is.
Look how prescient he is.
And this is what he says.
I am glad to add, however, that at the present time, the disposition to vote against the white man, merely because he is white, is largely disappearing, and the race is learning to vote from principle, for what the voter considers to be for the best interests of both races.
So, Booker T. is saying that, in the end, We would like to have a race-neutral democracy.
We'd like to have whites and blacks, and we recognize that we're kind of all in it together.
Now, this is not the situation in the South at this time, and Booker T. knows this, but he also knows that there's always a balance to be struck between the way things are and the way things ought to be.
You have to realistically live in the world as it is, but you also want to be constantly moving toward the world as it ought to be, making the world, if you will, better.
And in that better world, both blacks and whites would say, hey, not just what's good for me, but what's good for all of us?
What's good for the country?
By the way, it's very interesting to know that today, We are finding that the democratic stronghold, not on the whites, but on the blacks, is breaking.
More and more blacks are now voting Republican.
They're voting for Trump.
This is happening in droves in the Hispanic community.
So it's almost as if it's taken us over a hundred years.
But we are coming a little closer to Booker T. Washington's idea, which is that whites and blacks decide for themselves which party to vote for and don't vote just out of racial animus in one direction or the other.
Now, here's the world of Tuskegee in the 1880s, and part of what I like about this book is it very vividly portrays, through telling details, what life must have been like at this time.
He says, I reached Tuskegee early in June 1881.
in early in June 1881.
He says, and he got there both to get to Tuskegee and when he's at Tuskegee, he's traveling through rural Alabama.
And he says, I got to... I spent a good deal of time doing this to learn the life of the people.
He says, the most of my traveling was done over country roads with a mule and a cart, or a mule and a buggy wagon.
I ate and slept with the people in their little cabins.
He says, very often people told Booker T, come stay with us.
But they didn't have a bed.
So they would put him on the ground.
Or they would stick him in a bed with some other guy.
And again, this is not some kind of, again, you know, that people tell, well, obviously there's something going on.
Nonsense.
This was a case where things were scarce.
People are very poor.
They, quote, contrive some place for me to sleep, either on the floor or in a special part of another's bed.
The common diet of the people was fat pork and cornbread.
And he says that it was sort of ironic because he says the soil was so rich that you could grow all kinds of fruit and all kinds of vegetables, but people never did that.
Why?
Because the culture was cotton plantations.
And so even though there was soil available, cotton wasn't being planted, people were like, oh no, that's for cotton.
We're not gonna sort of grow our own food, even though there's the chance to do that.
So Booker T is like, let's, Adapt to our new situation.
He also makes a point that he's alluded to before, and you can see right here the severity of his mindset.
He says, in these cabin homes, and he's just described them, there's almost nothing in these homes, no furniture, nothing at all.
He says, and yet, he says he'll sometimes see in one of these homes a clock.
He calls it a showy clock.
Or he says he finds an organ, a musical organ.
And he says, he asks about it and people tell him, oh yeah, we bought this clock for $12 or $14 and we're paying on an installment plan for the clock.
And he says, For the organ, the organ is even more money and again they're paying in installments.
One time he's sitting in one of these homes and he says that when they serve dinner and part of what he says is that normally in these homes there's no quote dinner served at all.
They're only doing this for him.
He goes normally the wife kind of Produces some food.
The husband grabs the food and eats it on his way out to work in the fields.
The children grab the food and eat it outdoors while they're playing.
Usually the wife eats by herself.
So he goes, there's no such thing as mealtime.
Nobody sits down and has a meal.
The only reason they're doing it is because he's there.
So they're like, okay, well, we got to sit down and have a meal.
And he notices that in these meals, there's often no utensils.
In one family, they have a single fork, no knife, no spoon, but a single fork that is used by five members of the family by passing it around.
And here's Booker T. Washington, and he notices that that family has a clock.
And he goes, what the heck?
He goes, I'm not quoting him, the family has not a clock, they have an organ.
And he goes, he goes, one fork and a $60 organ.
So you can see what he's getting at here.
He says like, yes, he goes, these people They have no sense.
Now Booker T has a lot of sympathy for them.
They're very poor people.
They want to sort of acquire nice things.
They don't have the money for it.
They're trying their best.
So he has sympathy for it, but at the same time, What he's saying to these people is, don't go into debt.
Don't pay money with a clock that often stops and isn't even working.
It's just there for show.
He even says the organ, he goes, he asks the people who have an organ and they're like, oh sorry, we don't have anyone who knows how to play it.
We're waiting for someone who can actually play the organ.
We just want to have the organ.
And so...
Booker T's philosophy is the philosophy of common sense, the philosophy of starting with where you are in life, the philosophy of frugality, deferred gratification, learning skills, developing yourself through education and then actual practice.
And this is what he's getting at.
He doesn't get at it through... These days you can watch, you know, on YouTube a video, seven ways to learn how to play the guitar, seven lessons of investing.
So Booker T's style is not that.
His style is autobiographical, whimsical, anecdotal.
But you can see consistently through these chapters and through these anecdotes, It's the same message that's coming through, but it's delivered with so much clarity, whimsicality, variety, good humor, and yet sort of very pungent and precise wisdom that it's impossible to read the book and not get the message.
Export Selection