Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] James Keys: The Lyndon Johnson quote really hit me because I think that explains a lot of it. And it's not actually the first part. It's not actually the part about, you know, the lowest white man and the best colored man. It was more about give him someone or give. It was about giving them someone to look down on. And because I thought about it and the MAGA movement is kind of about giving people someone to look down on. It's about who's the real Americans. It's about, oh, you know, this is our stuff, taking our stuff back. And this is about us and all these other people we're going to. Going to treat. You mean, you know, like we're going to, you know, you're rapists and all this other stuff. So it's a. The movement is in many respects about this psychological support to look down on people. So if Lyndon Johnson was right, what he is doing for them supersedes any amount of money that he can make for himself. And so it's almost like he cracked that code and say, okay, yeah, yeah, I will give you someone to look down upon. You know, quite literally from the Lyndon Johnson quote. And then I'm going to use this as an opportunity to stack my pockets. And this is also why I always push back when people say, oh, there's such an incompetent administration. Like, well, they've been very competent on lining their pockets, you know, like, they just don't. They're incompetent on the things they don't care about, about governing and stuff, because they're not there to govern. You know, they're there to line their pockets. And now we can see how successful that's been.
[00:01:17] Tunde Ogunlana: Yeah, no, man, that's a very interesting direction you go because it makes me think of that emotional state that we discussed some time, that the concept of transference, where a population will transfer its anger about its condition, like maybe, let's say example would be poverty or people in the working class not feeling like they're getting a fair shake, but instead of focusing on those who control the levers of the system, so on and
[00:01:46] James Keys: so forth, who seem to be benefiting from the system, that's not giving you a fair shake.
[00:01:50] Tunde Ogunlana: Yeah, they are. But this is why I want to get into the point the way you bring it up, that look, downing the ability to look down on someone else, because that plays into some people's emotional need for a hierarchy and to be told where they stand in that hierarchy. And I think for a lot of people, unfortunately, the way that kind of I guess things have played out in the last generation or two.
This current president showed up at the right time in 2016 with the right type of populist message that for people who were upset at the system in
[00:02:24] James Keys: general, you had the first black president, you had the financial crisis, which was not dealt with in a way that.
That realigned things. And that accounted for the fact that you had very wealthy people sending the economy into the economy, into the tank. Like, that's a really good point. There were a lot of different.
That would have a lot of people dissatisfied about their place. But see, I think that this is where we have a blind spot. Like you and myself, we are not charged up by the idea of having someone to look down upon. Like, so these.
[00:02:58] Tunde Ogunlana: The.
[00:02:59] James Keys: We look at ICE as being, oh, man, you know, like, why are they. Why they got to treat people so bad? Like, okay, you want to do this deportation thing? Why does it have to be concentration camps and people disappearing for months? And why can't it just be, okay, you want to get people out, keep black, send them to where they were?
[00:03:12] Tunde Ogunlana: Like, but, yeah, send them back.
[00:03:13] James Keys: And again, I'm not saying that's what I want to do. I'm just saying there's ways to do different things that either be cruel or that can be humane. And so. But I'm looking at that. But that may be a feature, you know, like, that may be a part of. We need to allow the people who are sensitive to the. This messaging of, hey, I can look down on this person. We need to get them charged up so that they don't Won't mind us making obscene amounts of money at the expense of the American people.
[00:03:42] Tunde Ogunlana: I think what happens is the idea of looking down on others because it's America and the way we deal with humanity. Right. And our caste system here is this color thing the president was able. Is kind of, for some people. Let me be very clear here. I'm not talking about all white Americans here, but I'm talking about the people who still in 2026 find themselves as. As members of the MAGA base and this kind of stuff and still supporting this in the face.
[00:04:05] James Keys: I don't think it's people that are sensitive to this kind of messaging. Like, and I think some people are. And then some people aren't as sensitive to this kind of messaging.
[00:04:12] Tunde Ogunlana: Yeah, it's, you know, and, and. But I think to your point, you bring it up, which is because so many Americans now have been radicalized with this idea that they're being replaced like we read that article that 40% of white Americans and the study showed thinks that the Great Replacement's real. He can convince them that as long as someone who looks like me and you doesn't appear to do as well, and they're supporting a guy who is, in a sense, grifting off the system that they've been radicalized to hate. Right.
That. Then that's okay. And it's an interesting point, James, because they've been radicalized to hate their own country, their own government and all that, but yet he's fleecing off of them personally in a deal like this. This isn't him taking tax dollars, right? That 7 $1.776 billion slush fund he tried to create and all that.
This is him really saying, here's. Here's my meme. Coin. Buy it. These people put their own personal money in there, and then he. Him and his kids siphon it away.
[00:05:09] James Keys: So it's a.
[00:05:09] Tunde Ogunlana: It's a real grift. It's a real misdirection by saying, all these bad guys over here going to get you. I'm the only one that can protect you. But on the flip side, I'm going to be cleaning it out. Your money here.
[00:05:20] James Keys: Put your money here.
[00:05:21] Tunde Ogunlana: That's the LBJ quote, right? Hell, he'll empty his pockets for you if you give him someone to look down on. That's a very. That's what I mean.
[00:05:28] James Keys: That's just.
[00:05:29] Tunde Ogunlana: Your comments made me realize a lot. They're like, whoa.
[00:05:31] James Keys: Yeah, well, no, that's why, you know,
[00:05:32] Tunde Ogunlana: LBJ was profound, actually.
[00:05:35] James Keys: Really, really hit that part. You know, like, to me, that's what really stood out when I first saw this, I'm like, oh, that's exactly what LBJ was talking about.
