60 Republicans vs Democrats Debate the 2024 Election — Middle Ground

[0:00] Let's be very clear. Respectfully, are you a trans person? I am not. So you're taking up a space where [0:05] I believe a trans woman should be here talking to me to be quite honest because I feel like [0:09] we as trans women need to be having these conversations with each other and respectfully [0:14] you're taking up a space that should belong to a trans woman and trans woman erasure is very real [0:19] because you're participating in it right now. Welcome to part one of this special episode of [0:25] Middle Ground which is also the biggest Middle Ground we've ever done. I am John and behind me [0:30] I have 30 Democrats and 30 Republicans. We are, let's not fight, let's debate. We're going to go [0:47] through the issues that Americans care about the most in this year's election. So let's get into [0:52] our first topic. Americans are worried about inflation and its lasting effects. How can the [0:57] U.S. government strengthen our economy? All right we're going to start with the Democratic side. [1:02] You have five minutes to select a representative that you think best represents your side's [1:07] perspective on this issue and they will go forward and they will debate a representative on this side [1:13] in the middle. Yeah so I have an economics degree and I debate this for six hours every single day. [1:17] It's kind of my speciality so I would recommend putting me up there to be able to go against [1:21] them on the data statistics and economic arguments because they're very weak on them. Very very weak [1:26] and it needs to be called out. Hi um I am not a capitalist. I'm a Marxist. Um and say [1:32] I think that we are in late stage capitalism. I think that our country will continue to um [1:39] just die and and be be atrophied by what we are continuing to do the way that we are exploiting [1:45] the working class. I think that we can't continue on with this so my economic model would be to [1:50] abolish this economic model and create a new one. Thank you. Sounds like you guys uh have some people [1:55] to vote for. In favor of the first gentleman raise your hand. Parker. Parker excuse me. That's a majority [2:02] so Parker has been selected for this topic. All right now I ask that this side you now that you've [2:07] selected your representative we're going to switch to the republican side. You have four minutes you're [2:12] going to manage this time as you see fit. All right before everyone's just hands if you are confident [2:17] in economic issues please raise your hand right now only if you're confident. Thank you thank you. [2:24] Okay I'll give there's two right now I'll give you a minute go ahead. I don't have an agree a degree [2:31] in economics in fact I didn't even go to college but I spent four years living in the greatest economy [2:37] we had seen in this country in decades. I saw the amazing things that happened thanks to the tax cuts [2:42] and jobs act and I saw the record level on record low unemployment for my community and for our country [2:47] as a whole that we saw during the Trump administration and I'm ready to defend those policies against [2:51] somebody who thinks they know better than me. Thank you. Yeah I'm married I have children [3:00] because of what the democrat party has done to America my wife and I are not having any more kids [3:05] and we'd love to have a lot more. We saw how you know something simple as like formula we couldn't [3:11] find that in beginning the Biden administration it was going to the border why was it going to the [3:14] border wasn't it wasn't on our shelves for our children little things like that I've just noticed [3:20] formula going up clothes diapers have gone up like crazy and it's just difficult you can't [3:25] you can't have a kid you can't buy a house interest rates are what six and a half percent with the cut [3:30] it's just that's unbearable. Okay raise your hand for Chandler. All right Chandler versus Parker. [3:47] Hey Parker Chandler you have 10 minutes let's see if we can find a middle ground statement that you both [3:55] agree on. For sure yeah so uh like people on the conservative side don't really know how inflation has [4:00] been caused it happened globally in Africa Asia South America Central America Europe everywhere [4:04] around the world so to say it's caused by the Biden Harris administration I think isn't true at all [4:08] Biden Harris signed 4.3 trillion debt uh related spending into law 2.2 trillion non-covid related [4:13] whereas the Trump administration had 8.4 trillion overall 4.8 trillion non-covid related spending [4:18] signed into law so if we're going to talk about the effect in terms of spending as it relates to the [4:22] economy Trump had a worse effect on inflation if you're referencing that secondly Trump's proposed [4:27] policy in terms of tariffs would absolutely cause uh inflation economists on the left wing and the [4:32] right wing agree on this this is vast across the board almost a consensus in economics. What would [4:36] you target as the direct point of beginning when all this inflation kicked off would you you know [4:40] connect it to COVID-19? Yeah the effect on supply chains. Okay and are there any specific Trump [4:45] administration policies you say or you mentioned spending tell me a bit more about this I want to hear [4:49] it. Yeah so I I don't typically refer to like the level of spending but if people do reference spending [4:54] I do think that that it looks worse for Trump in terms of the overall inflation rate I think [4:58] it has to be something that happened globally you can't just say something that only happened [5:02] in the United States is the explanation for global inflation when the same trend happened in Africa [5:06] Asia South America Central America Europe everywhere. But what we have known for decades is that the [5:09] United States is the global superpower particularly for the economy I mean we spoke about it a little [5:13] before that China is starting to rise in this and that there's you know there's a lot going on in [5:16] 2020 between China and the United States would it be not ridiculous to say that COVID-19 between [5:22] China and the United States had a big impact on inflation and then we had the changing of the [5:26] baton between the Trump administration and the Biden administration and we had the inflation [5:30] reduction act come in when the inflation was starting to go up and we saw it almost multiply [5:36] after that wouldn't you say that there's any connection there? No actually when the inflation [5:39] reduction act was signed like a bit after inflation started to come down I'm not saying it's because [5:43] of the inflation reduction act I actually think the inflation reduction act had a marginal effect on [5:46] inflation reports typically say around 0.1 percent reduction right in the long term which the [5:51] the main point of it was for like uh foreign energy right because it is the case that if we build up [5:56] our production of energy in the United States we're less dependent on foreign oil so we don't rely on [6:00] that also it was deficit reducing to say that that was the cause of inflation is utterly absurd. [6:04] Okay well let's talk about energy in January of 2021 Joe Biden got into office and he campaigned [6:08] almost confusingly so one day for fracking one day against fracking one day for energy independence [6:13] the next day against energy independence we saw him get into office and sign numerous executive orders [6:17] that forbade fracking on federal land almost forbade us to actually have any of that energy independence [6:23] thus making us more reliant on countries in the middle east for their oil thus making us more reliant [6:27] on China for some of their manufacturing why would these things not be factors that would multiply the [6:33] inflation and the so-called inflation reduction act not have any more help on that these things came [6:38] back the inflation reduction act had leases for fracking also as it relates to like the energy [6:42] production in the United States we've signed more drilling permits in the United States under the Biden-Harris [6:46] administration than we saw under Trump so we've had that plus the largest investment in renewable [6:50] energy ever through the inflation reduction act so the most pro-energy policy is through the Biden-Harris [6:54] administration not through the Trump administration this is just a talking point and how many of [6:58] those contracts were actually just re-upping what we previously had in the Trump administration [7:01] and was eliminated via executive orders because that's what we're seeing a lot with the jobs numbers [7:05] for example we say oh yeah Joe Biden created all these jobs no these are the recovery jobs after the [7:10] COVID-19 pandemic with democratic governors all across America unanimously said oh yeah let's shut down the [7:15] entire damn country because people have a flu and I say it was a bad thing yeah I know but we had a [7:22] bad thing happen and democratic governors all across the country wanted to shut down the country and shut [7:26] down the economy shut down the jobs make it so the people couldn't go to work we have jobs come back [7:30] we have the inflation start there's no connection there yeah so I don't think that all the jobs that [7:35] came back under the Biden-Harris administration are because of the Biden-Harris administration that's a [7:38] correlation causation fallacy so I agree just because it happened under the administration [7:41] doesn't mean it's caused by them but seemingly you guys use that all the time for your point on [7:45] unemployment saying it was 3.5 percent that wasn't a record low there's 3.4 percent for two separate [7:49] months under the Biden-Harris administration plus for specifically black unemployment it was lower [7:53] under the Biden-Harris administration compared to the Trump administration because they changed very [7:57] few policies in that time touting those touting those particular numbers not only is it correlation [8:02] causation fallacy but it doesn't make your position look better because it was even lower under the [8:05] Biden-Harris administration I'm glad you admit it's a fallacy because this is actually a democratic [8:08] talking point in fact Kamala Harris is probably campaigning on it right now that she says we [8:12] had the most jobs we're going to continue to have the most jobs most Americans want to ask the question [8:16] right now how are you going to fix the inflation when you've been vice president for something like [8:20] 1400 days and you have Joe Biden who's been the president for the same amount of time and he's been [8:24] in politics since longer than you and I have been alive probably longer than our parents have been [8:28] alive Kamala Harris has kind of come out of nowhere and she previously had extremely Marxist policies [8:32] we saw in the 2019 democratic democratic presidential debate she was absolutely failing in fact [8:37] she pulled as low as one percent but suddenly she gets risen up placed as the vice presidential [8:42] candidate and then placed as the presidential candidate she has had all this time to fix these [8:46] problems and the Biden administration has all has all these times and all the acts that they [8:49] passed like the inflation reduction act to reduce the inflation it has done nothing but push [8:53] place us further into this catastrophe we have right now with the inflation and the economy so I [8:58] just went over that deficit reducing no way it caused the inflation that you're referencing if [9:01] anything it had a reduction on inflation like I referenced in the long run the point one percent [9:05] reduction long term again marginal so it's not like important to reference but for the inflation [9:10] right now it's 2.5 percent annually which is the around the same as what it was annually speaking under [9:15] Trump's administration in 2018 it was around 2.45 percent also like I don't know why we think that [9:20] like Congress is going to be the one that deals with inflation that's the Federal Reserve and they've [9:24] helped bring inflation down we had the fastest recovery from inflation in the G7 so to argue like we [9:29] haven't done something for inflation is utterly obscene right also Trump this would have happened if he was [9:34] president as well to say that that wouldn't have happened is economically illiterate like the Federal [9:38] Reserve is only just beginning to cut our interest rates which is only just beginning to stem the [9:42] problems that we're seeing now people are going to start feeling the effects of this as we continue to [9:47] go on how is Kamala Harris going to do anything to fix this yeah so again Kamala Harris isn't the one [9:52] to do that it's the Federal Reserve that deals with it but I just want to ask you one question because [9:55] you did bring up Marxism what Marxist policy did she support and can you define Marxism so what I can say [10:01] with certainty is that Kamala Harris campaigned in 2019 a very failing campaign about redistribution [10:06] of wealth she campaigned on the policy of breaking out Black Lives Matter protesters when all they [10:11] wanted to do was burn down the country during a pandemic frustratingly and confusingly enough [10:17] these are the policies she campaigned on back then that caused her to lose her presidential campaign [10:20] and now all of a sudden we're trying to place her as the presidential nominee for 2024 it's confusing [10:25] to imagine that she could do anything to fix the economy when her vice presidential nominee Tim [10:29] Walls left his windows open so that he could smell the burning tires in Minneapolis so again as [10:35] it relates to Marxism you you didn't define it there one two as it relates to this in terms of [10:39] like the response to the 2021 protests and riots that you're specifically referencing Trump literally [10:44] said that he totally agrees with Tim Walls's response so I don't know how you're going to walk [10:47] yourself around that but please define Marxism real quick okay listen we're not getting into the [10:51] definitions of this we're getting we're getting into the economy we're getting into the economy [10:59] okay Marxism why do you want me to define this for you because she supports Marxist policies I'm [11:04] asking what is because we had somebody on your side saying we need to destroy our entire economy [11:08] so that we can rebuild it from the ground up that's what Marxism is and that's a better position than [11:11] what you just said because you can't even define it like what is it do you want to define it yes yeah [11:18] Marxism is an economic and political philosophy specifically targeted at looking how capitalism [11:23] affects how people engage socially speaking it's associated with things like socialism and communism [11:27] communism being a stateless classless moneyless society and socialism being the one the workers [11:31] democratically control the means of production so if you want to talk about what these terms are [11:35] let's talk about it but what for what they are not just like some buzzword that you're referencing [11:39] because Trump says it all the time because he said that Kamala Harris deserves some maga hat but then [11:43] also has Marxist policy does she have his policy or is she a Marxist which one is it [11:48] you can't have both I'm gonna just stop you guys here you have a minute and a half Marxism aside [11:55] sure you can start us off but I want you guys to start nudging you towards offering compromises [12:00] what's a middle ground yeah so my specific offer for middle ground would be things like let's expand [12:04] access to health care let's expand access to child care let's make housing more affordable by the 25 [12:09] 000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers for new homes to build up supply in places where people want to [12:13] live for small businesses a 50 000 tax cut in terms of the deductibles to reduce their taxable income to [12:18] make it easier in the first year for businesses those are things that i want to target but the [12:23] tax cuts and jobs act is not the way to do it most of the money went to rich people i can send you a [12:26] paper from a liberal and conservative economist from harvard that only shows it went up in 0.04 [12:30] okay i have to stop you i'm sorry the middle ground i will offer anything in there you agree on i will [12:38] offer and i will agree on that we need more tax cuts for more people i'm not saying we need to send [12:43] government money to health care we've talked about this before where we pull trillions of dollars out of [12:46] nowhere for causes like this and i think they're great causes i think health care access and child [12:50] care access are great things but i do not believe these are things that we need to throw government [12:54] government money at i think we need to reduce taxes on businesses and privatize as much as we can [12:59] to allow corporations businesses small businesses too that operate clinics that operate home daycare [13:04] centers to act to be able to give people parents people that want to own homes access to these things [13:11] without the government saying we're the government and we're here to help i would agree on tax cuts for [13:14] like families for middle class americans not tax cuts for rich people right i don't see any reason [13:19] economically speaking to do that i can agree with tax cuts but i can also say we need to reduce a lot [13:23] of funding for the irs we hired something like 80 000 new irs agents okay it doesn't get the middle [13:28] class we clearly just not judging by parker's reaction we don't agree on that so the middle ground [13:34] statement that i am hearing at the bare minimum you both agree that we should we should do a tax cut on [13:39] the middle class tax cuts on the middle class i'd agree on that tax cuts yeah okay raise up hands [13:56] high and confidently if you agree tax cuts on the middle class put them down raise your hand if you [14:06] don't agree with that okay let's hear from a disagree on that side um so personally i feel like [14:14] a tax cut to the middle class wouldn't help us if i'm being honest as a marxist as a person who is [14:20] extremely skeptical to capitalism i don't understand how a tax cut is going to really help me when i [14:25] still can't take my son to the doctor i don't understand how a tax cut is going to help me when [14:30] i still can't put food in my pantry so i think that the taxes that we pay go towards services that [14:36] people use and that are the lifeblood of our communities we need to be interdependent on each [14:41] other we need to bring each other up we need to bring families up i don't think that this hyper [14:45] individualism of i need more tax cuts i need more tax cuts is really the answer i think that community [14:51] is the answer and like i said a tax cut isn't going to help me get those things that is a lovely [14:56] sentiment i don't know how you legislate community and in the meantime there are real families who need [15:03] help and so i love this in theory but this country is already so divided that like i don't know [15:11] that that will actually happen and so if we're speaking in tangible realities those middle class [15:18] people still need help because this position of like just like we should be in community what is [15:24] the action associated with that sure um yeah i would suggest democratic socialism because i think [15:30] that's a middle ground that we can have between even capitalist systems and people that are more [15:36] skeptical of capitalism you have people like bernie sanders and aoc who have really gained traction [15:40] amongst the youth recently i'm talking about systems where people do have their needs provided [15:45] for where people have their food their housing a basic livable wage provided for and so we in the [15:51] end of the day are actually going to save money as an economy when people are happy and healthy and [15:55] are living sustainable lives thank you both i gotta stop you there okay who on this side did anybody [16:02] disagree with the middle class tax cut i want to hear from you first hi so i disagree that we should [16:09] tax or give tax cuts to the middle class i have been middle class for a long time i'm 23 years [16:15] old i've been in the workforce for a very long time i think that if we are going to give tax cuts [16:19] everyone deserves tax cuts it is not a matter of should we tax the rich more because i don't know about [16:26] all of you guys but i would like to be rich i would like to own multiple businesses i would like to own a [16:32] mansion and how dumb would that sound if i was like yeah we're going to tax the rich and then in four [16:37] years i become rich and i'm like damn it okay well maybe i don't want to be rich anymore it's not going [16:44] to help and i would i would argue that more people on the republican side of the working force are [16:51] tradesmen that are middle class and more people on the right are trying to become millionaires you guys [16:56] always say that republicans are the rich people i would argue that especially in this generation z [17:01] more people are making money online and they're rich so it's it's laughable that you guys argue [17:07] for tax cuts of the middle class when you're not the middle class okay so if not middle class tax cuts [17:12] what's a solution that you want to throw into the hat for fixing inflation improving the economy i would [17:19] say stop spending money overseas when we don't need it i have a husband who has a whole entire family living [17:24] in ukraine and zelensky is an actor and he likes to be rich and his wife likes to be rich and we do [17:31] not need to continue funding you're saying cut i just have to cut you off just for time so you're [17:35] saying cut spending on other cut spending on outsourcing things in the united states keep the [17:41] money in the united states to better our civilization yeah so i'm actually going to agree with the whole [17:45] sentiment as a republican of tax the rich but the very richest people are people who are keeping their [17:53] money on offshore accounts and that's why they're not being taxed because they're not operating within [17:58] the united states so i would like to propose nationalism as an alternative to this whole free [18:03] range capitalism we're doing because if the people if the world's top billionaires many of them who are [18:08] making most their money in the united states were to actually pay taxes then maybe none of us would [18:12] even have to are you in agreement with the middle class tax cut yeah i'm in agreement with that but i'm [18:17] just saying i agree with some things on their side so for time we got to move on thank you guys [18:25] this is our next prompt is systemic racism still an issue in the u.s we're going to go to the democrats [18:32] first to choose their speaker yeah i think i would like to talk on this topic because um i come from [18:37] nigeria where the majority of the people there look like me so i could also use that as experience to [18:41] talk about how that differs in america and how like the ingrained systemic racism affects people of [18:47] color in a way that it doesn't and you know racial um sameness um nations so yeah um hi my name is [18:54] connie i would like to speak on this issue particularly because i um have a lot of intersection in my [18:59] identity as a black and native american woman um and i am also a victim of police violence i'm a woman [19:06] who has a mixed-race son who is black um so i think that i am very qualified to speak on this i do blm stuff [19:12] before we take a vote i would just like to say that i used to be a conservative i used to be a [19:16] black conservative so i am also very well versed on these arguments i would also like to say i'm [19:21] very interested in the theory of racism i love people like angela davis so i can speak from that [19:26] front thank you okay i'm gonna start the vote nigeria raise your hand everyone okay great connie [19:35] looks like connie has the majority okay done all right we're gonna move to the republicans you have [19:43] three minutes to select your speaker all right if you are confident on race relations in america please [19:48] raise your hand so i am speaking from the perspective i grew up in a very far left family [19:54] i was super woke my entire life so much so that in 2020 i was cast to be on a netflix show teaching [19:59] people how to become a blm activist in the process getting ready for that show i started studying the [20:03] counter arguments and it completely flipped my perspective of being black in america and i [20:07] realized being black in america is a very easy life so i would love to speak on this topic it's what i do [20:12] for a living all right i feel like i'm best to argue this uh topic because i'm black in america i experience it [20:18] every single day and it's what created my uh political views and i feel like i'd be pretty [20:23] good up here uh discussing this with somebody so personally my vote wasn't gonna be for me it was [20:28] gonna be who i think should go we have connie on the other side who is a previous uh conservative black [20:32] woman so i think for honestly fairness sake we should have someone who is a previous left-wing black [20:38] man i think that would be a great topic and discussion to have so who votes for xavier raise your hand [20:46] all right xavier's the speaker connie and xavier let's come to the middle that's a very king name [20:59] xavier i know that's right so i don't believe that we have a systemic racism issue in america anymore i [21:05] feel like we have a systemic disempowerment issue and what i mean by that is really two things first [21:10] let's start with the rhetoric that is put on black people so you and i disagree on pretty much [21:14] everything politically and i will fight tooth and nail for you to be able to speak your piece and say [21:18] what it is that you feel but me as a black conservative i'm called a uncle tom and a sellout [21:24] and it makes you just sit and wonder who is it that i'm being sold out from this belief system that [21:29] we have to have this unapologetic unwavering perspective of just loving with the democrats [21:34] tell us to believe is an issue and it goes into the blm thing and how for so long we were told that [21:39] we were supposed to be terrified of police officers who are literally the people who are supposed to be [21:43] protecting us the other part of that is when we start looking at what is actually hurting us [21:48] on a systemic level let's look at policy one of the biggest things that are hurting black americans [21:52] today is policy regarding crime we have all of these woke da's who are putting forth policy [21:58] about like or getting rid of policies i should say with like the three strikes rule which is allowing [22:02] repeat offenders on the street we got rid of the cash bill system which again is letting criminals [22:06] back on the street and all this different list of issues where they're even decriminalizing theft under [22:11] 900 who is that destroying businesses and opportunities and black predominant areas so when we talk about [22:17] why we're still struggling that has a big reason because we're losing our opportunities yeah um i [22:22] would just like to say that i empathize on every position that you have that you explain to me [22:27] especially when talking about people calling you names people saying really mean and nasty things to [22:31] you demeaning you because of your race i would argue i experienced that as a black conservative and it [22:36] was the hardest part of being a black conservative but i don't understand how you can have this [22:40] perspective as a black man in america that there is no racial tension and no racial discrimination [22:46] when we as black women are three to four times more likely to get to die giving birth when black [22:51] men are twice as likely to be killed on death row than white men for committing similar crimes when [22:57] you have the hopi nation of people who don't have clean water to drink there's a diabetes epidemic [23:03] because there is no clean accessible water that they are able to afford i don't understand how you can [23:08] have these positions that there is no racial disparities and that these things weren't set up against us [23:13] when there is so much um going against us in this country i would say as a woman who has experienced [23:18] police violence i was pregnant when i experienced police violence i told them i was pregnant and they [23:25] still mishandled me they did not see me as a citizen they did not see me as somebody to serve and protect [23:31] and by the way there is no constitutional basis for serve and protect they are not constitutionally [23:36] obligated to serve and protect you i just want to tell you this i told them i was pregnant and they still [23:41] mishandled me they didn't see me as somebody to protect they saw me as an that's what they saw [23:47] so a lot to unpack with that and i'm truly sorry that happened to you i think one thing to start with [23:52] the middle ground that we can agree on is that or two things really is that there is still racial [23:57] tension now if that's a systemic thing i wouldn't say are you going to encounter racist people absolutely [24:02] are you going to encounter racist people and positions of power unfortunately absolutely that's a [24:07] very real thing and i do think when it comes to the criminal justice system even black [24:10] conservatives look at the blexit movement we one of the biggest things that the blexit movement which [24:14] stands for black exit exiting the left is criminal justice reform so with that being said i empathize [24:20] with what you're saying and i understand your perspective there but that being said when it [24:24] comes to systemic racism that creep that would infer that there's this whole system that is holding you [24:29] down because you're a black woman but here's the thing is there's not there's two over two million black [24:33] millionaires in america black women are outpacing in education in so many different metrics compared to every [24:39] single demographic i mean just look at yourself i mean just hearing you you sound very educated you [24:43] can't have all of these different success and be self-made in a country that is oppressive to you [24:48] because of your skin color we've seen what that looks like in the past and that is just not the [24:51] situation that we're in anymore because as i look at you as a black woman there is not a single thing [24:56] that this white man no shade can do that you can't do you are capable i would like to disagree with [25:02] you because i think that all throughout american history we we have had black people we have had [25:06] indigenous people we have we have chicano people we have people of all races and colors that have [25:11] beat the odds but that does not mean that those odds are not there that does not mean that those odds [25:16] are not there a lot of people on the conservative side like to say like oh well you have all the same [25:20] legal rights and responsibilities that i have there's no law against you as a black person correct the law [25:25] is not an entity in and of itself law is a social construct we enact laws in everything that we do every [25:32] day of our life and the way that people enact laws is what affects these disparities what allows black [25:39] men to be imprisoned for the same drugs that white men are doing what allows black women to be dying on [25:45] operating tables giving the same birth to the same babies that white women are giving and so i think [25:51] that if we're talking about america in and of itself why are we having these discussions about ahmaud arbery [25:58] why are we having these discussions about brianna taylor why are we having these discussions about [26:02] frank tyson who was killed in my hometown because they kneeled on his chest he was dying and he begged [26:08] them to help him and they said shut the f up and he died there under their knee so a couple quick things [26:15] with that so with the some of the issues you were talking about such as black women dying on the [26:19] operating table unfortunately what that is that's a socioeconomic issue and i feel like what a lot of people [26:23] attribute to being an issue that has to do with systemic racism is really socioeconomic because [26:28] you don't see wealthier black people having those issues at the same rate if it was a systemic racism [26:33] issue it would have to do with race not to do with wealth and then when we look at situations like some [26:38] of the names you said let's start with brianna taylor the way that the media lies to black people to [26:42] gaslight us into thinking that we need to be terrified of police officers is absolutely unacceptable if you [26:48] really look into the t that happened with brianna taylor we relied about they lied to us about that whole [26:52] situation brianna are you talking about the tatum report that one i'm talking about all of it i'm talking [26:57] about the whole system i don't need to look at what brandon tatum has to say about it but i think [27:00] he had a lot of intelligence things to say about it because if you go and you look at the actual [27:05] facts of what happened with brianna taylor she was knee deep in that criminal investigation that being [27:10] said with the reason i bring that up because i'm not saying that her dying was something that should [27:14] have happened however you can't ignore that her boyfriend shot first you can't ignore that they were [27:18] at the right house when i first heard about brianna taylor back then i was a blm activist i was out there [27:23] marching for brianna taylor literally because i thought that this black woman was minding her [27:27] business laying in her bed and a police officer came and shot her in the window okay if we're [27:32] talking about guns you as a homeowner you do not know who is entering your home you have the right [27:36] to shoot they announced no they didn't because there's actually three different neighbors who each [27:40] contested that they did not announce themselves but if i'm being honest it's not even just socioeconomic [27:45] because they did the same study with black women white women of the same socioeconomic stature [27:49] and black women still died more yes why are we poor because this country was set up to make us poor [27:56] because we were given a culture of desperation that makes us poor because we were set down hundreds [28:01] of years down the line we do not have the education we do need we need we do not have the reparations we [28:07] need we do not have everything we need to to thrive and describe they killed our leaders they killed [28:11] martin luther king they killed who's that i'm talking about the cia the fbi the american government that's [28:18] t that's t i actually have a middle ground thing that she yeah yeah so let's let connie start and [28:23] then you respond let's what's a middle ground you want to offer between the two of you i think i would [28:27] agree with you that the black community and many communities of color are currently suffering a [28:34] crisis what i would say i agree with you on is that black people were essentially set up to fail in [28:40] this country but the thing is if we're really going to get into it who set us up to fail the democratic [28:44] party i mean if we look at everything just from the welfare system are you familiar with the whole [28:50] origin of that and then a lot of people try to say oh they switched sites no they didn't that is a myth [28:54] but when you look at the welfare system it was set up to keep us poor i'm not hearing any overlap [28:59] i heard a lot okay let's give you one more chance we need to give our communities of color [29:05] more tools to thrive in this country i think we need to give all americans more tools to thrive in [29:11] this country um and i think that we've already given black americans so many i mean just look at [29:17] affirmative action at dei but no one wants to have that conversation affirmative action actually benefits [29:21] white women the most oh i've seen trust me i know but it's still helping black people too because you [29:25] can see black people who should not be in the colleges that they're in they're there to find a [29:28] middle ground with you i do think that there is still more progress to always be made in our country [29:33] when it comes to healing racial relations i don't think that we need to do things that are too [29:37] artificial to get there i don't think we need to give anyone special treatment however i think we [29:42] need to put more tools and resources in the communities that need it most um i would just [29:47] have to disagree with that prompt i don't think it's special treatment when white people have had [29:50] special treatment in this country for over 200 years i'm sorry you can scoff all you want but it's [29:55] the truth and you know it's the truth so i'm sorry okay so we're going to put a pin in it it's basically [29:59] i feel like we heard a good summary of both of their perspectives so we're just going to take their [30:02] perspectives so based on those statements that we just heard raise your hand if connie's statement [30:08] resonated with you more okay anybody on this side disagree with connie i appreciate your respective [30:21] standpoints and how you both handle this and i think you both had some great points and i agree [30:25] i can say as a woman of color this is a very nuanced topic and i think you guys made some great points [30:29] and i think it was a great dialogue that needed to be had that said so i will just say this to make it [30:34] quick when you're privileged equality often feels like oppression so my thing with why i don't agree [30:40] with connie because that's what we're talking about right we're not addressing this gentleman's yet [30:43] okay so i don't agree with connie although i appreciate your offering is when we say we need [30:48] to give the african-american community more tools it's not about giving us anything our ancestors built [30:55] this country and there's people still benefiting so what we're owed is reparations and people seem to [30:59] have an issue with that but why is it an issue when the japanese got it when when people of jewish [31:04] assistant got it as they all should so why when it comes to us we're not asking to have anything [31:08] but what we deserve so i don't think we should be given anything because yes i am educated and i will [31:13] succeed in spite as i said last time i was on here a systematic oppression but it is very real and we [31:19] talk about scholarships nobody talks about legacy scholarships right where if you're uh somebody in [31:24] your family line your parents went to that school usually of an upper echelon you automatically are admitted [31:29] so nobody talks about that so that's why i don't agree but thank you for holding it down [31:34] up there and representing your point all right and then let's hear from somebody who agreed with connie [31:38] i do agree with you connie um from my perspective i'm latina i'm latina american my parents came here [31:44] from central america and what i see in my communities is just devastating i'm from the bay area originally [31:50] and a very predominantly latino community is menlo park menlo park is currently sinking because these [31:57] people are built houses on marshes that because the houses that were built a long long time ago over [32:03] there were built by white people and then what happened was the quote white flight when there was [32:10] more black and brown people coming into the bay area coming to menlo park the white upper echelon people [32:17] moved and they build a highway in between menlo park and what is now known as palo alto which is also a [32:23] spanish word um but what i'm seeing right now the schools if you look at the highway there's [32:30] upper echelon schools on one side and then schools that are just underfunded in the dirt on the other [32:35] side and that's affecting my people so i highly resonate with you okay so let's hear one disagreeer [32:41] with con i've got to say that i almost agree with you on saying that giving more resources to [32:45] minority communities is what we need to do um and i agree with you because we've already been doing that [32:50] the last administration gave uh funding that hbcus used which helped minority communities he also [32:55] gave uh opportunity zones which is to help minority communities same also for the first step act which [33:00] helped minority communities the thing is that uh what us republicans believe in is that we should [33:05] have the tools and we should work on it you don't give a man a fish you teach him how to fish and that's [33:09] how the minority community gets out of their issues and when we step back and continue to blame it on [33:14] systemic raises racism it's not going to help us at all it's just going to bring us down i'm black in [33:19] america and i could do anything that anyone here could do i went to school i'm going to college [33:24] right now and i just transferred to a university i got straight a's because of the work that i put in [33:29] to get there the problem i have with the democratic party over here is they get votes if we believe [33:33] that we're oppressed that's how they get their votes and as long as they keep on thinking that [33:38] as long as we keep on thinking that then they get the votes every single time and the moment they get [33:41] in office the moment they get what they want they kick us to the curb they've been doing that [33:45] every single year so that that's my stance on that's why i disagree with that i think at the end [33:49] of the day we have to give people the the tools and teach them how to use them not just be handing [33:54] out money left and right so then let's get a raise a hand who agreed more with xavier's statement [34:03] i see you we see each other okay why do you agree with xavier i mean i feel like in this subject as a [34:10] white cis you know jeff you know male i don't feel that i you know i think all or none i'm an all or none [34:17] guy give everybody the same opportunity or nobody the same opportunity and i think if you're going [34:21] to give a thing to a group of people you should give it to all of those groups of people not just [34:26] one okay all right let's hear from some agreeers with xavier on this side my name is jack um i i [34:32] agree with xavier because um as an immigrant who has come here there has not been a country in the [34:38] world where black people can go from dirt poor to the most wealthy wealthy and respected person ever [34:47] so i believe in meritocracy i believe in in hard work and this country if you do all that yes there's [34:55] obstacles in every single way i'm an example of that i'm come from a poor country i bought a house [35:01] on my own because of this country i would never be able to do that anywhere else in the world i hit [35:06] the victim mentality and that's it all right we're going to end that topic there hey before we go any [35:16] further we want to take a moment to say thanks so much to straight arrow news for powering the fact [35:20] checks in this video straight arrow news is an app and website that is on a mission to raise the bar [35:25] on journalism in a time of media bias and mistrust their team of journalists believe that unbiased [35:30] news should be the standard and not just the exception so they report down the middle with facts [35:34] delivering news without bias filter or spin plus their media miss tool allows you to discover news [35:40] that's being underreported or not even reported at all by different sides of mainstream media that's why [35:45] we're so happy to be partnering with straight arrow news the work they're doing gives us a complete [35:49] picture of the news straight from our phones and tablets with their app go to san.com middle ground [35:55] or click the link in the description to check it out by clicking that link you're not just supporting [35:59] this channel you're also supporting journalists that are raising the bar on news and focusing on [36:03] serving you unbiased straight facts thanks again to straight arrow news for partnering with us on this [36:08] episode now let's get into it the war in the middle east is escalating what should the us's stance be [36:15] let's go to our democrats first you are going to elect your speaker for this issue so i've been [36:22] speaking about this issue for many years not just since uh the war you know started to happen um i uh [36:29] believe that the united states has allowed israel to act with impunity for too long [36:33] uh with this with our direct aid and support it is against u.s law and international law to supply [36:38] weapons to a country that is violating international humanitarian rights which is something that i can [36:43] demonstrate that um the u.s state department has empirically shown uh via their agencies i diverge [36:48] from the biden harris administration on this but i also do believe that trump would be worse on this [36:52] issue he moved the embassy um the u.s embassy to jerusalem he uh allowed for the legal annexation [36:59] of the goal on heights he uh yeah and yeah that's where i stand um and i am very passionate about [37:06] this issue i i'm gonna say i'm gonna do this in 10 seconds i know who i am i know what the other [37:12] side can do and i know what youtube is gonna do to me they'll denigrate me as an angry arab man [37:16] because my family's been massacred by israel so that's why i think he's better to speak on it than [37:21] i ever will be because we need level-headed people in the room and not people like me sounds [37:25] like we also i spoke with him earlier i spoke with him too my name is evan all right [37:37] and now the republicans you have uh three minutes all right before we begin if you're confident on [37:42] israel relations and the war in the middle east please raise your hand perfect okay so we'll start [37:50] with you um so i think everybody on this side can agree that we are america first that's why it's [37:54] important to emphasize that this is an american issue we still have hostages over in israel i've [37:58] gone there three times in the last year to educate myself on this and what i've realized is they are [38:02] our most consequential ally and we need to stand by them however as much as i've educated myself on it [38:07] someone i've learned so much from is dr sheila so i would love to see you take this topic so i think [38:12] this is a really important conversation to be having especially on the eve of october 7th and i have been [38:18] speaking on this topic for four years now i am a jew i did escape iran under gunfire to come to this [38:25] wonderful country who's given me the ability to have freedom of speech freedom of thought and freedom [38:29] of religion and i do think i am the best qualified person and i am so excited to educate you on the word [38:35] genocide as well sheila sheila raise your hand all right it looks like a majority is supporting sheila [38:42] so we have evan and sheila come forward to the middle all right so just a reminder the goal is [39:01] to try and find an agreement a middle ground statement that you would both stand by and then [39:06] we'll share it with the group but you have 10 minutes to discuss the issue and get to that point [39:10] yeah so i think one thing we can agree on is that it is against u.s law under the leahy law and the [39:15] foreign assistance act to supply military aid to a country that is violating international law abroad [39:20] and we can we know from the u.s department of international aid and development as well as the [39:25] u.s state department for refugees and migrants that israel is guilty of blocking and obstructing [39:30] humanitarian aid to the gaza strip particularly within the first few months of the war and that's [39:34] why the icc chief prosecutor that israel said was their preferable candidate has applied for arrest [39:41] warn applications to top israeli officials it is also why the icj is currently on trial with israel [39:48] for a case of genocide and why the icj has already weighed in on that the illegal occupation in the [39:54] west bank needs to end and we also have had a security council resolution when the united states [39:59] abstained from the security council that once again there should be an immediate ceasefire the only time [40:04] that the most amount of hostages were put back in israel was when there was a ceasefire and a [40:09] negotiation and a hostage exchange between hamas and israel israel has actually killed more of their [40:14] hostages than they've rescued they have shot and killed israeli hostages waving a white flag speaking [40:21] hebrew that is the kind of conduct that israel uses in this war there's a lot that was put into that [40:28] first statement first of all the icc had to push off their case against the genocide of israel for lack [40:33] of evidence number one you're i'm speaking now number two um oh my god there is so much so okay israel [40:42] is our number one ally there is so much work between israel and the united states and i understand the [40:47] america first strategy but you have to understand there is so much intelligence going back and forth [40:51] to keep americans and israeli safe from all of the terrorists coming out of the middle east number one [40:58] number two israel's fighting seven fronts right now they just killed a hezbollah leader that murdered 142 [41:03] marines that had a bounty on his head by america that has happened now twice where israel has murdered [41:09] terrorists because they had killed not only u.s military personnel but also were just bombarding [41:17] israel and they don't care who they kill muslims christians jews uh mosques they don't care they [41:23] just inadvertently bomb bomb the city okay number one number two there is no genocide let me explain why [41:28] the palestinian population went from 500 000 people in the 1940s to 5 million right now as opposed [41:35] to an actual genocide where the jews in nazi germany went from a population of 10 million to 4 million [41:40] i'm not done that is an actual genocide why is israel so good at so many things but they're just so [41:46] crappy a genocide why is the population booming number two oh what else did he bring up occupation okay [41:52] when i did my genetic testing it says in my genetic testing judea it tells me that i come from my [41:58] indigenous homeland is judea no other religion when you do your genetic testing is going to say you come [42:04] from here or from here from here it doesn't say that because judaism predates the current definitions [42:10] of ethnicity and religion it's an ethno religion and this is an indigenous homecoming of jews the [42:15] other thing i know the left always likes to say this is oppressed versus oppressor or it's darker people [42:21] versus white people israel is 70 percent non-white they look like me okay they are people of color that [42:29] have returned home after being sent out from all other places if you look at the populations of [42:34] yemen syria jordan egypt where hundreds of thousands of jews used to live there and now [42:40] there's less than 50 and in a lot of states one jew left so don't talk to me about apartheid arabs are [42:47] allowed in israel not no jews are allowed in gaza don't talk to me apartheid don't talk to me about [42:52] occupation don't talk to me about genocide so the first thing you said that the icc you said the icc [42:59] dismissed the case they didn't dismiss it they pushed it out because they don't have enough [43:02] evidence you don't know what the icc is because it's the icj that is actually doing conducting [43:07] yeah yeah i apologize yeah so the icj is still continuing uh right but they don't have enough [43:14] evidence to close their case yeah well okay if you know anything about for example the rwandan genocide [43:20] or the case in bosnia these sorts of cases take years to finalize they give a from they've already [43:25] given a preliminary ruling that there is sufficient of if sufficient enough evidence that there is a [43:30] plausible case to be made for the case of genocide and the reason for that is because again the icc [43:37] chief prosecutor kareem khan who israel's was preferred candidate has said he has sufficient enough [43:43] evidence to believe that top israeli officials were using starvation as a weapon of war and in terms [43:50] of the wait and then in terms of the debate regarding occupation that has nothing to do with [43:55] genetics the occupation is is is a political reality it matters it depends on what sorts of states have [44:01] legitimacy or sovereignty over a specific land and the icj once again has already made their ruling that [44:09] the that there is that the occupation within the west bank is illegal wait do you dispute whether or not [44:15] the occupation by israel is illegal in the west bank and do you dispute that netanyahu is attempting to [44:21] annex area c i dispute the word occupation wholeheartedly and all together because the tomb of rachel who [44:29] is a jewish matriarch is in the west bank do you know i cannot go visit the tomb of rachel who is in the [44:34] bible because jews are not allowed to go into the west bank without getting lynched number two who brought [44:39] the icj case who brought it south africa why because they were going broke there was about to be [44:45] literally a coup against them and iran came and said we'll pay your debts if you do this for us so [44:50] okay and then but a ton of other countries have joined the ic because they're anti-semitic look at [44:55] the u.n i want to don't laugh i come from this quiet quiet sheila i want to can you just clarify your [45:02] opinion on the settlements in the west bank so i think that everybody should be able to live in these [45:07] areas i don't think there should be parts of israel where arabs cannot go and i don't think there's [45:11] parts of israel where jews cannot go without fear of being lynched so this these things there's no [45:16] reason why we can't live together and i'll tell you why the reason is maybe this is our common ground [45:20] actually when i grew up in iran okay they would tell us as i was in kindergarten they would tell us [45:26] scream death to this death to that death to america death to israel when i was a child and we know [45:32] for a fact that in palestine they're doing the same thing we've shown images of their tv shows where [45:38] it's a fake mickey mouse saying stop the jew stop the jew this is teaching hate from a young age to [45:44] children that don't know any better and it is brainwashing and it is hateful and it is child [45:49] abuse once we raise these children to love to value life to believe that we can thrive and we don't have [45:56] to kill jews and our thriving is more important than killing jews they will have a future they [46:02] will have a future is that your middle ground that is my middle ground netanyahu's own administration [46:06] with people like the national security advisor ben gavir as well as small trades don't even deny [46:12] the existence of a palestinian people wait stop i let you speak um in terms of where we may find a [46:19] middle ground i do believe that yes i believe in freedom within the land and also equal rights within [46:24] the land and that but that entails in the dismantling of an ethno state that is centered around [46:30] prioritizing the religion and ethnicity of one indigenous group over another so so what what [46:35] ultimately what about north africa what about all of the middle east they're not palestinians [46:40] okay but what about those states would you say the same thing those are ethno states would you want to [46:45] dismantle those as well it seems like we're derailing no there's double standards against israel that [46:49] they're not against any other does does does israel have an explicit demographic issue and that they [46:55] would not accept an israel that is majority non-jew yes or no well this is the yes or no no let me [47:02] tell you no stop there's no yes and no because this is nuanced and that's why we are here you cannot [47:07] give majority to a people that want you dead right that is the end of your country so the so the answer [47:13] to that is yes they have an explicit law there's no law yes there is no law they do have a nation [47:20] state law that they passed in 2019 and they that the israel's own supreme court has actually declared [47:25] that there's no such thing as the identity of being israeli because it would undermine the identity the [47:29] jewish identity and jewish character of israel what is what is what is we as as americans and i i heard [47:36] some of that sentiment before once again i'll circle sort of back and and i never heard a response to any [47:42] of the initial points i made i made yeah but we don't have time just what are you trying to [47:46] state that the u.s should not be supplying weapons and aid to a country explicitly violating international [47:52] law we know for a fact the occupation is against international law the icjs which is the highest [47:57] land we don't agree here but what were you saying about an individual state with equal opportunity a [48:03] secular bi-national state where there is equal rights and freedom of movement for all those within [48:08] the land what where can where can arabs and muslims in israel they their physicians you know when all [48:16] the all the physicians got pulled into the the war guess who was the physicians in israeli hospital [48:21] saving lives they were the arab physicians there's arabs in the judiciary there's arabs in the government [48:27] show me that in gaza show me that in gaza show me that in the west bank wait that's it okay there's [48:34] plenty of disagreement i think that's very clear respect both of your passion but it does sound [48:39] like there could be some middle ground on one state solution with equal representation i'll let you [48:45] both take a swing at that i'll take a swing at that knowing and coming from the middle east and knowing [48:51] what they teach children the only way that there can be a one state the only way that there can be peace [48:56] in that region is when you stop teaching kids to hate and the same thing we did in nazi germany with [49:02] denazification and de-radicalization of the youth needs to happen to these innocent children in gaza [49:08] and the west bank to teach them that their lives and their ability to thrive and their opportunity [49:13] matters more than killing jews yeah i believe that the best and most effective way of de-radicalizing [49:20] people is not giving them a reason for armed violent resistance which is an end to the occupation [49:25] and an end to the human rights abuses and in granting palestinians full autonomy and sovereignty over [49:31] their homeland even if it means your children die in a bomb no i i don't advocate the war you do no i [49:37] don't we never stop we never started any wars i'm gonna give you never this is not a war we wanted [49:44] i'm gonna give you both one more chance as every war was started by every single one okay okay okay [49:50] as succinctly as you can a middle ground statement it's de-radicalization of these innocent children [49:56] that are being taught to hate from birth which was the same thing that was happening in certain parts [50:00] of iran when i was growing up and i've seen it firsthand we need to teach our kids to love [50:04] each other we need to okay i i have to stop you though i think we do have that and then [50:09] what would your statement be in the shortest form possible evan um that the united states shouldn't [50:13] be supplying military aid to a country violating international laws and humanitarian rights abroad [50:19] okay so we didn't find middle ground here i'm gonna bring it back to open this discussion up we're [50:24] just gonna focus on sheila's statement first we're gonna hear agreeers and disagreeers there then we're [50:29] gonna move on to evan's statement who here agrees with what sheila said and would stand by that as [50:34] the middle ground solution okay why who wants to speak for why that's not a solution on this side [50:45] i mean there are so many lies and falsehoods and and just flat-out bullshit i've been listening to the [50:50] past 10 minutes but that's been reality for almost 30 years in this country i will tell you this but i i'm [50:56] going to tell everyone this who supplied serbia weapons to bomb bosnian children who supplied weapons to [51:03] serbia to bomb kosovar children was it the united states it was not it was found in the same icg case [51:10] this young man brought up who did it israel was tacitly supporting serbia by giving those weapons [51:17] to murder people and el salvador as well i'm not debating you i am not debating i am not debating this [51:24] person okay i'm not debating zionists period okay i hear what you're saying quiet quiet let's reel it let's [51:32] reel it in why is that why is her statement not a solution i'm going to reel it in i'm going to [51:36] quiet quiet quiet why did i bring that up why did i bring that up why did i bring this up well let me [51:41] tell you why so if israelis really love their babies if they really love their children why is it that [51:47] they go and they kill people like my relatives in gaza why are my parents even here my parents are here [51:55] because of a hateful ideology a racist ideology and i i do not care to debate a zionist i am not [52:03] debating a zionist you can put this in the youtube cut ten times i won't do it okay i just judaism [52:09] is a religion of love zionism is not judaism yes it is 95 no it is not a majority of jews support a [52:17] fire we are not we are not debating zionism right now i understand that there's plenty of opinions [52:24] about that we are talking about the solution that sheila offered does anybody else i you got to sit [52:31] down does anybody else want to voice why they don't feel like that was a solution okay i love the [52:38] sentiment however i don't think it is a proper solution to what's going on i mean i've been following [52:46] this quite closely and i think the proper solution evan i absolutely agree with you i think there is [52:54] hate being taught on both sides yes let's let her say can you please can sheila you can't you gotta [53:02] i'm so sorry but can you please let me talk thank you i have first-hand accounts of one of my good [53:10] friends who was born and raised in israel they told me that they have been taught fear [53:17] mongering sentiments towards palestinians for as long as they can remember from their family from [53:25] their institutions and please let me finish talking please let me finish let's hear the end of her [53:33] opinion and then i think how many of them agreed with what hamas did to quiet guys we've already heard [53:38] the middle i don't i understand that you're passionate about this but so am i and can you please let me [53:44] talk okay thank you let's finish sheila sheila sheila i'm so sorry but i will not talk to somebody [53:57] who is disrespecting me in this way well but you're disrespecting but you're different sheila please [54:05] please just talk i think that hate is being taught on both sides and that should stop immediately and i [54:12] think both of your sentiments are great and if we combine them into one that is something absolutely [54:17] that i would agree on so one agreeer on sheila's side and then we're going to talk about well yeah [54:22] i think the gentleman that stood up shows exactly the problem and exactly what sheila is talking about [54:27] why because he won't even he won't even come to the table with a zionist like that is so hateful like [54:33] let the whole point of this series is to get people to sit down to talk about the hard issues and if we [54:39] don't have the heart to do that with one another then we're never going to get anywhere and a question [54:45] i'd like to ask is who attacked who it was hamas that attacked israel they have a right to self [54:51] defense and hamas is supported by the palestinian state and so i mean they have a right to defend [54:59] themselves all right so now we're gonna see a raise of hands regarding evan's statement okay okay so we're [55:10] going to come to some of you in a minute but let's hear from this side first his statement actually [55:15] resonates kind of with like not even just our side but american society there's actually a cbs news [55:20] poll done in june that said that 77 of all americans agree that a stop supplying weapons to israel is [55:28] the accurate you know next step in order to you know for whatever the reason is but that's just [55:34] what the majority of americans agree on and so they get to a ceasefire exactly and he also spoke to [55:39] truth with saying that the majority of israeli hostages were released when there was a ceasefire [55:43] in place and joe biden actually spoke out and said a few days ago that he didn't feel like netanyahu is [55:49] operating in good faith and he wants to get trump elected and so it just it's very clear that the [55:56] next step forward to safeguard all lives in the region is one that is not a military solution because [56:02] in history no military solution ever has led to less deaths less civilian casualties there's no [56:09] historical context for any of that ever happening all right so it was actually unexpected i saw a lot [56:13] of agreeers on this side who raised their hand and wants to speak to why okay so i i would hope that my [56:17] statements do not come off as anti anybody i think first and foremost i'm america first and i feel like [56:25] when you consider our economy when you consider the state that we're in here now we just can't afford to [56:31] fund any foreign nation for anything so we need to bring all aid back home and worry about us and at [56:39] this point in time and i think we all can agree on that all right let's hear from another agreeer really [56:46] this is this is stupid the idea was stupid altogether um israel is a sovereign nation and we should defend [56:53] our allies it what does it what hits them will hit us so we care about our nation and our protection [57:00] that's our ally we got to have our teams back and protect them when they can and what's your name [57:05] glenn can i push uh on you a little bit just say so evan said you know evan said that he believes [57:12] israel is violating international law that's convenient right but what's your response to that [57:16] do you want to prove it prove it so i did okay no you didn't you just said a lot of words you said [57:21] words and stuff you didn't oh you don't listen to no no you didn't okay okay so we're not words and [57:27] we're not engaged i will slowly demonstrate we're moving we're gonna move on illegal immigration [57:33] continues to be one of america's biggest concerns how should america solve the current crisis at the [57:38] border you have five minutes to choose your speaker on this topic it begins now uh this is a topic i've [57:49] been reading about a lot lately and it seems like a lot of the republican talking points we hear very [57:53] often are just based on complete lies or just complete misinterpretation of the facts whether we're [57:58] talking about people that actually cross the border illegally or people that are seeking asylum that they [58:02] just call illegal immigrants but like it's much more complicated than that and i think there are [58:06] a lot of talking points that i've heard from the right that i have pretty good rebuttals to if you [58:09] actually look at the numbers the narrative they're painting is just not true at all so um this is a [58:14] topic i'm also passionate about i agree with a lot of what you said literally all of the statistically [58:19] sound data does not support the republican position on this issue um for instance um native-born americans [58:26] are more likely to commit crime than immigrants um and that's just the truth so i would love to get into it [58:31] with data um but i um it doesn't have to be me all right so it seems like we've got kind of two [58:37] people that we're leaning towards adam and ryan let's get a raise of hands for ryan ryan is a far [58:45] corner all right and then can i get a raise of hands for adam i think it should be a person of color [58:55] i'm going to be honest i think a person of color should speak on the image since it's even split let's [58:58] let ryan and adam decide you guys got five seconds i think um i i think it makes more sense to come from [59:04] you than me all right so adam's our speaker if you feel confident in debating immigration politics [59:13] please raise your hand right now okay we'll start with you hi i'm luke um i mean i'm just going to be [59:20] simple and realistic with you guys this is my passion this is my bread and butter i work within [59:25] human trafficking i know a lot of the gang involvement that's going on at the border this [59:29] basically this this is what i do and so i know all of us would be really good at debating these topics [59:34] but this is what i'm most confident on this is one of the main reasons that i am a republican [59:38] thank you hey so my name is josh um i'm very passionate about the legal immigrant situation [59:43] just because i worked at border patrol and i know all about it i've worked there for [59:47] um a while while i was out there so i could give you stats every single day of what happened and [59:52] what's going on um so yeah i think i'm the best candidate for talking about the situation thank you [59:57] i think luke or josh should be the top two all right so quiet quiet josh you stand up first let's get a [1:00:03] raise the hands for josh i think that's majority yeah that's majority so josh you're the speaker [1:00:10] for this side all right so our speakers are adam and josh come to the middle josh and adam you've [1:00:25] both been selected by your sides to debate this issue you have 10 minutes let's see if we can find [1:00:30] a middle ground statement that you both agree on yeah so i think it's important to start out by [1:00:33] drawing a distinction between illegal immigrants and people that are seeking asylum there's a lot of [1:00:38] conflating that happens here and people say there's millions of people coming in illegally what's [1:00:42] actually happening is that we have a lot of people showing up at the border who are seeking [1:00:46] asylum and because we don't have enough immigration judges enough border patrol which by the way was in [1:00:51] the bipartisan bill that trump killed because we don't have enough of those people we now have a [1:00:55] situation where hundreds of thousands or millions of people are waiting to have their cases heard i [1:01:00] think there's something like three million cases right now on backlog so if you want to fix this [1:01:04] issue the way is not with executive order the way is by passing legislation but unfortunately we have [1:01:10] a person in trump who cares more about political power and playing political games with these issues [1:01:14] and demonizing people than actually making the the system more efficient which is what the real [1:01:19] the real issue here is so for our standpoint where the asylum and legal immigrants like it's the same [1:01:27] thing they're still coming in illegally like at the at the end of the day if you're crossing the that [1:01:33] border and you're not signing documents you're not trying to come in through that legal process [1:01:39] you're illegal and you're already committing a crime um and i feel like what trump was trying [1:01:43] to do was just slow the process down but without that wall being up for now it's just unleashed hell [1:01:51] on america and the whole entire process so when i was i worked at border patrol i worked with them [1:01:58] when we were standing on post and doing uh operations out there there was about a hundred a day [1:02:05] maybe more at different times just because you know winter time no one's coming through you know [1:02:10] it's cold um i've actually apprehended it apprehended three kids i would say teenagers they were uh 15 18 [1:02:17] and 21 and they were out in the cold like these kids don't know where they're going whatsoever they [1:02:22] don't have a map they don't have anything they're trying to go over these mountains in uh san diego [1:02:27] and we're just like hey what are you guys doing like hey like it's really bad down in uh mexico like we're [1:02:33] just trying to get through here um and we don't you know we're trying to just really just find safety [1:02:38] which you know that asylum that you know they want to get here you know they just need help but there's [1:02:43] a process to that and a lot of them just try not to go i know it's a long process but it doesn't have [1:02:48] to be if we pass the bill but at the same time you want to defund police which doesn't give i don't [1:02:52] want to defund police that's a straw man but that's with what democrats have done which but you're [1:02:57] talking to me most of the border patrol agents are hispanic they are some kind of nationality that [1:03:05] is not um that are they're trying to help their people as well so they go to border patrol they [1:03:10] put them in the back of the vehicles they speak in their you know their native tongue and they're like [1:03:13] hey like there's a process to this you can do this but we have to do it legally so we have to send you [1:03:18] back this claim that illegal immigration is just going to go down if trump is in office is objectively not [1:03:23] true and again you're trying to get rid of this distinction between illegal immigrants who are [1:03:27] called getaways and people that are seeking asylum through legal means and the issue we have again [1:03:33] is that there's an influx of people coming after covid right you talk about the difference [1:03:36] between biden and trump's border policy there's actually not a lot of difference other than that [1:03:40] biden tried to make it a little bit more humane but title 42 gave trump emergency powers because [1:03:45] of covid biden kept that in place for a few years the only real difference between the two is that [1:03:50] biden had a more humane policy on trying to keep people together keep them out of harm's way when [1:03:54] you talk about things like remain in mexico i know people on the right really like that but the whole [1:03:59] point of seeking asylum is that you're trying to get to the us for safety so there's plenty of people [1:04:02] who are going to do remain in mexico and their life is going to be in more danger versus if they're [1:04:06] staying here if you look at the bipartisan border bill that was suggested if that had been passed we [1:04:11] would have had still a cap on people that can show up but it would have been i think around 5 000 after [1:04:16] which the president can say he wants to shut down the border or temporarily cease people from coming in [1:04:21] we have three million cases again on backlog the issue here is not that democrats want people to [1:04:26] just flood into the country and eat all the cats and dogs that's a made-up talking point and it has [1:04:30] no basis in reality the fact of the matter is that we have a situation where as people were saying [1:04:35] earlier the us has destabilized a lot of other countries and for other reasons as well these [1:04:39] countries are experiencing instability and if you look after covid we had a skyrocketing of people [1:04:44] showing up at the border and the way you solve that number one is not by demonizing them it's not by [1:04:48] getting rid of the distinction between getaways and people that are seeking asylum it's to make [1:04:53] sure we have a system which i think you should be able to agree that is efficient in handling these [1:04:57] cases if we have more immigration judges then all these people that are seeking asylum that are waiting [1:05:02] for one two three years in the u.s they're going to have their cases heard sooner and you're probably [1:05:07] going to see the number of people here seeking asylum go down as some cases are accepted and some are [1:05:11] rejected right so the main issue we have here it's a lack of funding and funding can't come from the [1:05:15] executive branch it comes from legislation and i think it's important to note that what mit romney [1:05:20] said is that trump called republicans and he didn't say i don't like this bill he said this bill is [1:05:25] going to give biden a win on immigration and we don't want him to have that so i'm not saying that [1:05:29] you believe that but the person that represents your party is playing political football with this [1:05:33] and there's no basis in reality to anything he's saying would you say that we should have more [1:05:38] border patrol agents and more immigration judges to adjudicate these things we do need both but at the same [1:05:41] but at the same time you said defund it like you we don't have enough funding right that comes from [1:05:45] legislation why haven't they passed that because trump called republicans and said don't vote for [1:05:49] this legislation it was a bipartisan bill it was written by one of the most conservative people in [1:05:53] congress it had support from mitch mcconnell and mit romney both of whom have said on record [1:05:58] that the former president does not want us to work on this issue because they want to keep immigration [1:06:02] an issue for the election and this is common sense because if trump didn't have immigration to [1:06:06] scapegoat and run on what would his platform even be like tariffs that's it business yeah so [1:06:11] business trump trump is a businessman like yes like he has he says some harsh things maybe not [1:06:17] the best speaker at times but at the same time he wants to create a better america which i know you [1:06:23] can agree on as well or trump wants to create he wants to try to create a better america he wants to [1:06:27] let him finish his statement though okay but at the same time with that being said like this is about [1:06:32] legal immigrants and we know that the border is a very hard process we can make that better but at the [1:06:37] same time we need funding you can't have anybody without that funding i don't believe that trump [1:06:42] was trying to say hey i don't want to sign this bill because it's not going to fund them he wants [1:06:46] to fund the military he's a big military guy um the board or the border patrol is not part of the [1:06:51] military military but with uh with that being said like you're talking about asylum seekers and illegal [1:06:58] immigrants regardless it's the same thing because if they're coming in illegal which are the [1:07:04] asylums going through are they marching down the roads of mexico which i've seen they're either [1:07:08] coming to courts of entry or other points at the border and then people are going to ask them are [1:07:11] you in fear of your life there's a certain standard they have to meet then they're going to have a [1:07:14] case sent to an immigration judge and because we don't have enough of those judges these people [1:07:18] are kept waiting in the u.s for years but anybody can say that down there though exactly and if you [1:07:22] have more judges the people that are lying about it will be dismissed how do you feel about the wall [1:07:26] the wall it's silly to me because if you want to have better security at the border you have more [1:07:31] border patrol agents you can have advanced technology to sense people coming in and i don't [1:07:35] think any democrat is going to disagree that we want to have a secure border what democrats disagree [1:07:40] on is mistreating these people scapegoating them making them all out to be cat and dog eating [1:07:45] criminals this does not do anything for anyone and the thing that they also object to is that [1:07:49] it's used as a talking point when trump doesn't even want to solve the issue this is all right [1:07:54] sorry sorry to cut you off but not everyone at the border is trying to you know be harsh to them so [1:08:00] once you saw in the cages you know that's texas everybody has different leadership they do [1:08:04] different processing so with the process that we went through it was all humane we put them in [1:08:08] the back of a truck that's good we take them to um one of the the posts we talk to them you know we [1:08:13] put them in a jail cell just because we don't know if they are gonna um do anything crazy or anything [1:08:18] like that but minors as well minors different case but like someone's in there with them talking to [1:08:23] them you know giving them you know candy and stuff like that to make them feel safe okay but for the [1:08:27] adults it's different because you know you have those ones that harm uh that want to harm you and [1:08:30] stuff like that okay so we're up on time so let's focus on middle ground statements i'm going to let [1:08:36] you two what what's something that you think you can both agree on i think we can agree that trump [1:08:40] shouldn't have tried to sabotage the bipartisan border bill right we need more let's let's hear let's [1:08:48] hear his response i would say we do need more funding i think there needs to be just a better policy [1:08:54] of what can um better just help america at this point honestly um i think building the wall is [1:09:01] a thing that is needed just to slow the process down i'm not saying that is the only thing that [1:09:06] needs to be done um but funding that wall and funding the uh protection of the united states [1:09:12] can i just add something in real quick there's this tick tock of a guy just climbing the wall so [1:09:15] it's like i don't know how hard that really is it's very i agree i agree we need better security at [1:09:20] the border we need better treatment of people we need better funding i don't think a wall is a one [1:09:24] size fits all solution i think it's another example of trump being super reductive and acting like [1:09:28] this one small thing is going to fix all our country's problems all right are you guys hearing [1:09:33] any overlap what what are you hearing more funding for the border we just need to come together as [1:09:38] people and not just emotionally um you know fight over everything i think we just need to be civil [1:09:45] and just agree that we need more funding for just america and the united states all right so i'm [1:09:49] going to bring our middle ground statement back to the larger group and we're going to hear from [1:09:55] people on both sides who supports that middle ground statement all right i'm seeing more hands [1:10:06] up over here i'm seeing less over here who wants to say why they disagree okay so i mean i have a lot [1:10:12] to say what i'd start with saying is we don't need increased funding we need to funnel our funding in [1:10:17] the right places we don't need to give 150 billion dollars to ukraine a nation that doesn't need our help [1:10:22] at this time we don't need to give a billion dollars to these illegals and we run out of fema [1:10:26] money to help our own citizens that are struggling in the hurricane so we don't know how to distribute [1:10:32] our money and we're giving illegals have up to five to ten thousand dollars a month that the government [1:10:36] is giving them for housing for food why do we call them illegals because they're here illegally [1:10:41] we have veterans that gave their life to this country who are being kicked out of their own housing [1:10:46] so that we can house these illegal immigrants if you guys can support that i respect all people but [1:10:52] i lose a lot of respect for you because you guys are putting illegal immigrants outside of our nation [1:10:57] ahead of our own citizens that fight and that just work hard to be here i i simply have one question for [1:11:04] you my friend you talked about the citizens giving their lives for this country and i appreciate that [1:11:09] believe me i have a family who are veterans but what about the non-citizens who did the same thing [1:11:14] plenty of u.s military are not citizens of the united states my friend okay i mean i would just [1:11:20] simply ask do you care about the 14 000 murderers that are coming into our country i will answer [1:11:25] your question if you will answer mine can i do you think about the non-citizens that gave their life [1:11:30] i appreciate them giving their lives but that is not what we're talking about that's exactly what [1:11:34] we're no what we're talking about is funding right now what we're talking about is how our country [1:11:38] does not distribute our funding properly we use our own government tax dollars to pay for minors to get [1:11:44] transitional surgeries that they don't need all the talking points i'm just i'm just simply wanted [1:11:48] to know what your view is i appreciate their service like i appreciate anybody others anybody [1:11:54] else's service all i really have to say about this is that i feel like what's been happening recently [1:11:59] on the context of immigration is that you know i'm only 26 years old so i'm like basically you know [1:12:04] i'm very young i guess but i remember a time back in this magical land it was called 2020 [1:12:10] where this man named joseph robinet biden jr claimed he was going to give people who came to [1:12:15] this country illegally citizenship and now the conversation only four short years has turned into [1:12:21] well the democrats are actually the real border hawks what what we're never going to convince [1:12:28] people that we're going to be border hawks unfortunately that's not that i don't believe [1:12:31] in a universe or a context where that's ever going to take place can i ask so i don't want to [1:12:35] keep debating on the on the grounds of a right-wing framing but i guess i want to ask you why do you [1:12:39] disagree with uh the proposed solution of just increasing funding well i don't want to give [1:12:44] funding to militarize our border further the militarization of the border only really started [1:12:48] after a place called 9 11. 9 11 was a time that was very traumatic for the muslim american community [1:12:55] that was very traumatic for my specific community because we had our imams deported we had people put on [1:13:01] profiles there's a mosque not far from where we're sitting today that had the fbi surveil it why am [1:13:09] i going to empower people to militarize the border further thank you thank you so i hear a concern about [1:13:14] this funding militarizing the border all right let's hear from we are we do have to move forward so [1:13:19] i'm just gonna have one more voice and it sounds like lori's it okay so um as far as the senate bill [1:13:25] number one it never passed bipartisanly bernie sanders did not vote for the senate bill [1:13:32] hr2 did pass the house and chuck schumer sat on it for over a year now people are dying immigrants [1:13:39] are dying on human suffering this money funding these ngos bringing migrants through the darien gap [1:13:46] there are 325 000 migrant children missing some found just recently working a lot of them want to go [1:13:54] home and they can't giving more money for human suffering and misery on the migrant side as well [1:14:00] is not the answer to this we need to secure the border we need to know who's coming into our [1:14:04] country as he was stating we have 425 000 criminal migrants in our country today and no one knows [1:14:13] where they're at all right thank you we're going to move on to our next issue our next topic is trans [1:14:19] identity different states have different policies but what should the government stance be on trans [1:14:25] issues i'm going to go to the republicans first so you have four minutes to choose your speaker [1:14:30] really quick only if you're confident on this issue please raise your hand right now two of you [1:14:35] perfect well or three of you we'll start with you first hi i'm melissa and i'm a transsexual [1:14:40] conservative and i am studying to be a doctor and to be a psychiatrist and i strongly am up against [1:14:48] children um receiving gender-affirming health care services because i was a victim when i was a child [1:14:54] and also i don't believe that trans women should be participating in women's sports that should be [1:15:03] separate they should if a trans woman wants to be in women's sports then they should uh only be in men [1:15:12] and thank you hi my name is chrissy i'm 21 years old funnily enough i'm also studying to be a med [1:15:19] student i'm studying to be a nurse and i think that i'd be really great for this proposition simply [1:15:23] because a i'm gen z i've grown up in the environment that is being most discussed when it comes to the [1:15:29] trans topics and b i was also a former member of the organization gays against groomers i still agree with [1:15:35] a lot of what they have to say um but i am well versed in this subject and like i said i've lived this [1:15:41] experience especially for the generation we're talking about currently thank you my name is jalen [1:15:46] and same as you i'm gen z so i feel like i've been around it a lot but honestly i think truth be told [1:15:54] it's a mental illness and i don't mean that in any type of negative way i feel like on the left they [1:15:59] take it very personal when that's said there's nothing negative about the term mental illness many [1:16:03] people have that but i think it's a mental illness because it stems from self-hatred yeah i'm gonna clock [1:16:09] that teeth because if you love yourself i don't think you're gonna go as far to chop off your own [1:16:15] body parts and sterilize yourself thank you thank you all right raise your hand for raise your hand [1:16:27] i see two people let's get a clear vote sorry um just real quick i personally i would want to hear [1:16:32] from a transgender person on this so i so either of you guys for gays against groomers i would vote for [1:16:37] you i'd nominate yeah okay so let's get votes raise of hand for chrissy i'm seeing a little bit more [1:16:46] one two three four five six seven eight and then what's your name jay jaylin jaylin raise the hands [1:16:53] for jaylin one two three four five six seven eight it's jaylin all right jaylin's been selected on this [1:17:00] side we're gonna go over here you have four minutes now you know i'm ready to have a republican sandwich [1:17:08] with my side of soda i'm ready to devour let's go i'm a black trans woman i live this experience [1:17:14] i'm a big believer that the trans experience is very expansive and not narrow-minded like what the [1:17:19] republicans think that we are so i think i'm your best girl i'm ready to shake it up i just want to [1:17:25] say you know as somebody who's on the trans spectrum myself um i think more people should consider [1:17:31] that gender is a personal issue and whether or not you choose to discuss uh your gender is entirely [1:17:39] up to you and if more people were educated about gender expression versus gender identity versus [1:17:45] pronouns and if you knew what gender dysmorphia was i think more of you would realize that you have mental [1:17:51] illness than you think if that's how we're going about it but if you know i'm willing to open the panel [1:18:00] for anyone to this yeah um i'd rather um somebody that's actually trans um tackle the issue but i [1:18:05] think i would do a good job at dismantling the idea that children are cutting off their body parts [1:18:11] but gender dysmorphia would actually make that that it's them doing more harm um staying in the body that [1:18:18] they are then good and i feel like a lot of people think that um what like these children will be fine [1:18:24] had they not um transitioned and i think that needs to be addressed all right so you have to you have [1:18:30] to select your speaker i think we've got blossom all right raise your hand if you'd like blossom [1:18:35] to represent us on this topic okay so we have blossom thank you blossoming jalen all right and then [1:18:50] quiet quiet we want this debate to focus on what you think the government's stance should be and [1:18:55] ultimately we're going to be trying to approach a middle ground that you both agree on if you want [1:18:58] to share your personal experiences go ahead i know you just said it's a government thing personally [1:19:05] however i feel that transgenderism is more of a personal issue and a philosophical debate more [1:19:11] than a political debate because i just don't think being transgender really has anything to do with [1:19:17] politics when you turn 18 like i'm really against children getting gender affirming care type [1:19:24] shit so like i think once you turn 18 and you're a legal adult you know you can go to the military and [1:19:29] everything drink i think once you become a legal adult you should be able to make those decisions for [1:19:34] yourself and do whatever you need to do live your life however you want however i do feel like it's [1:19:40] being pushed onto people these days especially my generation it's just a fact there's a lot of people [1:19:47] in gen z who are transgender i mean when i was a little boy i played with barbie dolls and shit but [1:19:52] like i imagine like what if i told my parents like i think i'm a girl and they wanted to take me to a [1:19:59] doctor give me hormones i love being a guy and it's something that children experience at a young [1:20:06] age but i think as they get older they mature they grow into their own i don't think that's the [1:20:10] experience for everyone you being an example but i think the government should not be allowing kids [1:20:18] to run away from their homes uh tell their teacher to call them a different name refer to them as [1:20:25] a different gender and not even let the parents know about it i don't have any hate in my heart [1:20:30] i think i get along with all kinds of people and i respect people's opinions and all i ask is i get [1:20:37] the same grace back absolutely i have no problem with that first of all no disrespect i don't entertain [1:20:42] a mental illness conversation because it's too low vibrational for me so i want to talk about kids okay [1:20:47] so when we talk about trans kids let's be very clear kids are not having surgeries you have to be a [1:20:53] particular age respectfully you have to be a particular age around 16 or 17 and there is a [1:21:00] process there is a mental process you have to have a mental evaluation there is a physical evaluation [1:21:05] there is a process there that ironically republicans tend to forget let's be very clear and those [1:21:12] decisions should not be on the government's door it should be in that person's personal home the parents [1:21:18] the child and their doctor should be making those decisions who are you to sit up there [1:21:23] and put your business in their business worrying about what their body what they're supposed to [1:21:29] do with their body they should have the right to their own autonomy i am a firm believer that republicans [1:21:35] have a basic level understanding of what trans people are in the first place i am a firm believer that [1:21:41] trans conservatives are an oxymoron you know that and i'm just going to be quite honest with you and [1:21:47] the reason why i believe that is because trump is not going to be here to save trans people [1:21:51] that botox that lip filler that cosmetic surgery that a lot of trans conservatives get trump wants [1:21:56] to take that away trump wants to dismiss trans people trump wants to exterminate trans people [1:22:02] and the government should be pushing for trans rights we deserve access to care as trans and [1:22:10] non-binary people the trans identity is expensive i think non-binary people are also can also be trans [1:22:18] trans can also be intersectional trans people can be gay trans people can be straight trans people [1:22:23] can identify as non-binary and so let's just be clear that the trans experience is very expansive [1:22:28] and we have to be mutable to that expansiveness okay i will bring it into a philosophical level to [1:22:35] prove a political point i'm very philosophical okay cool so i want to explain why i think it's a mental [1:22:40] illness real quick i know you said you don't want to get into that but i'm here to talk my [1:22:43] shit so that's what i'm gonna do thank you sir i think it's a mental illness i actually heard it [1:22:47] from the vaik ramaswami first and when he first said it i was like this is really harsh way of [1:22:52] putting it i don't know how i feel about that but the more i thought about it i was like well [1:22:56] i think if you're willing to go so far to sterilize yourself mutilate your body chop off your and turn [1:23:04] your vagina inside out chop off your like that's stemming from self-hatred not self-love if you love [1:23:11] yourself you're not going to do that and i think it's not i think there's a stigma around it the [1:23:17] way you're kind of getting reactive i see your body language i feel like it's upsetting you but i don't [1:23:21] think it should upset i'm not upset by it i believe that it's actually empowerment to have those surgeries [1:23:27] as a person that i want to be because if i have gender dysphoria let me align my body with how i feel [1:23:33] because i love myself enough to have the surgery so let's be very clear that's just your opinion because [1:23:38] respectfully are you a trans person i'm not so you're taking up a space where i believe a trans [1:23:43] woman should be here talking to me to be quite honest because i feel like we as trans women need [1:23:48] to be having these conversations with each other although she could be a trans conservative and i could [1:23:52] be a trans liberal that's how we move the needle together to get understanding and respectfully you're [1:23:57] taking up a space that should belong to a trans woman and trans woman erasure is very real because [1:24:02] you're participating in it right now i'm not trying to attack you in any type of way i don't want [1:24:11] you to feel attacked not either um you know i think it will get it does get to a point like i [1:24:16] know i said kids but i think it really is just a topic that people should be open to speaking about [1:24:24] and conversating about that it's just kind of low-key going against the laws of nature i ain't even gonna [1:24:31] cap like i'm not religious like i'm what are the laws of nature and who created them who created that i'm [1:24:37] more of a free-spirited person so if you're a free spirit then why are you conducing yourself to these [1:24:42] laws of nature because i feel like it's created like i said i'm not religious but if i was this [1:24:48] shit like it's low-key demonic to me honestly how is it demonic like somebody will say that your [1:24:53] expression they all i don't know if you know about they all like the deity in the bible type [1:24:57] shit like he's a transgender deity all that like it like even in the bible and when i say free-spirited i [1:25:03] think there's truth in all religions and not to make it like a religious debate whatever but like [1:25:08] i think there's truth in our religions and i think it's worth looking at and worth talking about [1:25:12] sometimes it feels like i'm living in this psyop where it's like the government wants to see how [1:25:17] far they can go with the people living inside america and like when it comes to transgender people [1:25:23] i feel like it's like when you give people so much freedom this is what happens like our country is [1:25:28] just in a up state right now and there's a lot of and trans people are suffering the most so let's be [1:25:33] very clear our rights are being taken away as such alarming rates what rights are taking our rights [1:25:39] to gender-affirming care our rights to just basically exist in this country like as an adult [1:25:44] like when you're 18 all trans people trans youth are having to fight for their rights when they're [1:25:49] nothing more than friends exactly they're nothing more than kids they should be children they should [1:25:55] not be at the government level trying to fight for their basic rights just to exist and you're part of [1:26:00] the party your party in particular is the root cause of the problem to be quite honest with you [1:26:07] at least with kamala harris she's willing to move the needle forward at least with kamala harris [1:26:12] she knows there's work to do at least with kamala harris she helped pass legislation for for trans [1:26:17] people who were in prison to be able to get gender affirming care which is super super important [1:26:22] my side of the aisle has done that work what is y'all's side done kamala harris is a freaking joke [1:26:27] first of all she's like an alcoholic jaylin i want to just pause because we've got two minutes [1:26:32] okay between the two of you i'm hearing the topic of minors come up and gender access to [1:26:37] gender affirming care at that level maybe we should hear what's a compromise or what's what's [1:26:41] something you think you need to your side needs to have regarding minors and gender affirming care [1:26:47] i think children should be out of the conversation completely until they turn 18 21 whatever [1:26:52] it's it goes into identity politics we're always telling people about their sexuality their religion [1:26:58] their gender identity and i feel like lgbtq the t don't even need to belong there because it's about [1:27:03] sexualities and not gender identities anyways though when you are constantly living in a state of [1:27:11] identity politics i think it causes more division than it causes unity and i feel like you guys honestly [1:27:18] offend yourselves because you hear another person explain their opinion and get so angry about it [1:27:24] but you're taking it like that i'm not angry i'm not angry i'm chilling my middle ground i guess would [1:27:29] be i don't think minors should have any access whatsoever to gender affirming care and i put [1:27:35] quotations out it because this is new shit like it hasn't existed that long and it's just like kind of [1:27:39] weird my middle ground statement is trans kids are not having surgeries i'm sorry they're just not [1:27:44] i that's where i stand firmly i think they should be treated for mental illness okay that's too low [1:27:49] vibrational for me so like i said i don't get into that conversation it doesn't seem well then i think [1:27:53] that reflects on your part that democrats are unwilling to have these well republicans just don't [1:27:57] have the intellectual capacity to have conversations about trans people so i'm gonna leave it at that [1:28:01] it doesn't sound respectfully it doesn't sound like a middle ground is reaching yeah i'm just giving [1:28:06] my statement i guess i don't think i can reach a middle ground okay so let's hear each of you restate [1:28:11] your statement in as brief of a way as you can i think transgenderism is a mental illness and the [1:28:16] government shouldn't be so quick to affirm it i believe that trans people should get access to [1:28:20] care at any age it doesn't matter so we're gonna bring it to the back we did we obviously did not [1:28:26] reach a middle ground i'm gonna pull the larger group let's start with jaylen's statement who agrees [1:28:32] with jaylen raise your hand tall and proud who agrees with blossom raise your hand tall and then who [1:28:42] agrees with neither okay i think transgenderism used to be a mental illness what i mean by that [1:28:49] is now we have to draw a distinction between transgenderism and depression and suicidality [1:28:55] it seems like depression and suicidality is often used as a way to convert children [1:29:00] when we can always treat the depression and suicidality separate right it seems like we combine [1:29:05] those two when it's convenient to push surgeries to push medications but when it's not convenient to [1:29:11] combine them we want to separate them so either they're depressed and suicidal and we should treat [1:29:16] that or they're transgender and their gender and their sex don't match and we should leave that alone [1:29:22] right if gender and sex are different why do we want to change the sex sexual organs sexual features [1:29:28] of the individual doesn't really make a whole lot of sense so i think the issue that comes up is like [1:29:33] this idea of gender affirming care that children are receiving younger being permanent and that is not the [1:29:38] case puberty blockers that happens before the no it's not when you take puberty blockers at a young [1:29:43] age that is reversible care but if we're talking about protecting children we need to understand [1:29:48] that suicide and children wanting to die as a gay person my community was lifted up by black trans [1:29:53] by black trans women we would not be here if it was not for our pioneers right and so for you i don't [1:29:58] mean to throw shade but for you as a black gay man to not know your history enough to look a black [1:30:02] trans woman in her face and disrespect her the way you just did is absurd and dejected from history [1:30:07] and if we're really talking about the children we need to understand all the elements of gender [1:30:10] affirming care they're not chopping their dicks off at age 10. that's not happening y'all just [1:30:15] because you read it on 4chan does not make it real baby that's not what happens that's not what happens [1:30:19] so let's get let's get ourselves educated about what actual health care is if you're not trans don't [1:30:24] talk about it it's not your business if you were a cisgender person stay out of it don't talk about guns [1:30:30] yeah we're not talking about guns we're going to this side can we respond let's hear from a trans [1:30:36] voice on this side hi so for starters i want to say thank you for saying that i deserve one of [1:30:42] us deserve to be up there so i just want to get that out of the way um second of all i want to [1:30:47] bring up a statement that was made by um you used to called it oh no no not you hun sorry you are very [1:30:52] pretty but um the glasses boy you referred i am very pretty too sorry um and what's your name what's [1:30:59] your name albert okay so you refer to gender dysphoria as gender dysmorphia so i want i'm sure some [1:31:05] people on here would actually thank you for um insinuating that being trans is something that can [1:31:09] be changed and fixed uh body dysmorphia is being trans is not um so that's let's just get that out [1:31:15] of the way for starters i think you keep laughing um so i think one big thing that i do agree with both [1:31:22] this side and this side about to an extent is yes i do believe gender affirming care whatever you want [1:31:28] to call it should be accessible to adults because i do believe gender dysphoria is a very real mental [1:31:33] illness and it is a mental illness because if you were not mentally ill i'm sorry but you wouldn't [1:31:37] be living this life if i was not born the way that i was i would not want to change i'm very sorry [1:31:44] and you have been raised to think that oh i'm sorry but you're not talking so um albert you're [1:31:49] gonna respond next let's hear from them and then albert you haven't either so let's just bring that up [1:31:53] too so a really big question i guess i'll just wrap this up so quickly is do you guys truly honestly [1:31:59] believe that someone as long as seven can really decide what they want to do for the rest of their [1:32:05] lives someone brought up hold on hold on shush yes it is um lupron so we wanted to bring up puberty [1:32:12] blockers my best friend of the entire world is another trans woman and prior to her transition and [1:32:17] she was an adult when she went on puberty blockers she was around 18 years old when she went on puberty [1:32:21] blockers however the effects of them were horrible i knew her through the whole time she did it [1:32:27] and she would come home after the lupron injection having horrible pain she was self-harming during [1:32:32] that time because the lupron was messing with her body chemistry and you guys really expect someone [1:32:37] who according to studies uh the average age of these kids coming out as trans is underneath 13 [1:32:44] between 11 and 13. you're expecting 11 to 13 year olds to make decisions about their bodies because yes [1:32:49] hormone replacement therapy all that does castrate you and you guys can you're welcome to not believe it [1:32:54] but the science is not on your side on that so no it really isn't can i please really so if i can [1:32:59] do a fertility test right now it'll say that i'm fertile right okay if i do a test right now it'll say [1:33:03] i'm fertile please quiet we gotta wrap it up albert first and foremost the conversation is always [1:33:09] seemingly excluding intersex people i would have liked that topic to have been discussed a little bit [1:33:14] more moreover i'm i'm sorry that you you know have come to see your beauty and your light as a mental [1:33:21] illness yes there is the topic of mental illness that is a kind of coinciding with this topic and [1:33:28] i think that it's a little bit nuanced you you can't just take what i want to say and you know [1:33:33] bits and pieces and fragment into what you want to say i would have liked to hear more about your [1:33:36] personal story as opposed to you imposing that everybody else who goes through any chance [1:33:41] transgenderism or any type of ideation is mentally ill children as young as six start to know about gender [1:33:48] roles so it's only logical that they start to see where they fit into those gender roles [1:33:52] nobody wants that decision made for them if you as young as six can know boys are supposed to like [1:33:58] girls boys are supposed to marry girls boys are supposed to play with cars girls are supposed to [1:34:02] play with barbies there's implications to that and all of that stuff is very personal to you no [1:34:08] government should be able to tell you the personal implications of your gender identity that is [1:34:13] personal to you okay so fast 10 seconds i know there are a lot more opinions on there we are just [1:34:21] out of time let's cool off and take a break and we'll come back roe versus wade was overturned in 2022 [1:34:28] this remains a very divisive issue and the legality of abortion is uncertain how should americans come to [1:34:34] a compromise on the topic of abortion really quick before we start if you are confident in abortion rights [1:34:40] and abortion issues in america please raise your hand right now very quick talking points we'll [1:34:46] start with you go ahead okay well i'm a pro-choice republican so that's probably going to be most [1:34:49] likely unpopular against you guys but um i was liberal my whole life i think it's i think this is [1:34:55] a very black and white topic for most americans i completely respect both sides of this i'm just saying [1:35:00] i can i can defend both sides which i think sometimes is kind of neat in these things thank you [1:35:04] all right uh i did speech and debate for four years so i'm very trained when it comes to these kind of [1:35:09] conversations the main issue is what is the unborn and if we can and that's what the sides disagree on [1:35:16] if we can come to an agreement on what is the unborn policy becomes very very clear on what we should [1:35:23] do and so i've had training in this area and i know how to have conversations my name is jaleesa i am [1:35:31] a child of a rape victim my mother said i mean she claims i don't know for sure but she's told me that [1:35:37] she was raped and i come from a very christian conservative household and i cannot be more [1:35:42] thankful for conservatives for fighting for the lives of rape victim babies of incest babies and [1:35:48] any baby that would be up for abortion thank you yeah um my name is glenn when it comes to abortion [1:35:53] really what it comes down to it's a woman wanting to get out of not being accountable for [1:35:57] her actions bad reproductive it's bad reproductive choices they want to get away from it somebody has [1:36:03] to say you got to be accountable anybody want to nominate somebody i'm hearing micah who else [1:36:09] micah for sure can i get a raise of hands who would support micah for this that's majority so micah you [1:36:17] are our speaker we're going to now bring it to the democrats this is a messy process but you got to elect [1:36:21] your speaker hi my name is gabby i think it's interesting that the argument was made that an [1:36:27] abortion is just a woman not trying to be held accountable for her actions when women are raped i also [1:36:33] think it's very interesting that you guys are saying that we are killing unborn babies what about [1:36:37] the millions of babies and children in foster care that are homeless those people are dying every [1:36:42] day and we're not doing about that hi i'm brianna um so personally i myself was one of those women [1:36:49] um that got that abortion because of rape so i feel like when it comes to accountability um that's [1:36:55] an interesting point to make um so thank you for that um so yeah i i think i personally had to have [1:37:02] a personal take on the matter hi uh my name is ren and this is basically my entire reason that i'm [1:37:09] here i am a huge feminist a huge person that advocates for women and at the end of the day [1:37:14] women that are here already who already have made a lot of relationships with people around them are [1:37:19] dying every day and pro-life seems to exclude the life of the living so let's move on down hi i'm jasmine [1:37:26] i'm pretty passionate about abortion rights i'm pretty well versed on roe v wade and dobbs and the legal [1:37:30] doctrine that it rested on and that was undermined that has a chilling effects on a number of other [1:37:34] rights that we very much care about like contraception etc that the republicans are blocking for some [1:37:39] reason and has led to crazy state legislation like the alabama ivf ruling and full-on abortion bans the [1:37:46] only thing i will say is that i believe personhood starts at the ability to deploy consciousness which [1:37:50] is perhaps a little bit more restrictive than roe which rests on viability so if that's not what the [1:37:55] majority of the people here believe then you can definitely give it someone else you guys as a group have to [1:38:00] select your speaker who wants to vouch for somebody you heard from i hear a nomination for ren anybody [1:38:05] else want to throw jasmine ren why don't you stand up anybody else want to throw a nominee into the hat [1:38:12] brianna wren jasmine okay so let's vote raise the hands for brianna yep in the front right here one [1:38:20] two three four five six seven eight um jasmine is next here in the blue one two three four five all right [1:38:27] right right now it's between uh jasmine and brianna you too all right jasmine's saying brianna should [1:38:35] go brianna and micah you now have 10 minutes to try and come to a compromise that you could both agree [1:38:50] on on the topic of abortion whoever wants to start yeah i just want to say the main issue is what is [1:38:57] the unborn right and so we have to talk about that then we can talk about policy because if the unborn are [1:39:03] not human or not valuable human beings then i would agree the woman does have autonomy over it but if [1:39:09] it is a valuable human being it has the right to life and therefore we cannot be killing it would you [1:39:15] agree with that framing i agree that a human life is valuable um however i do believe that again it should [1:39:23] be the woman's autonomy it should be her choice ultimately if she has a husband if she does not have [1:39:28] a husband it should ultimately be up to her because at the end of the day she will be the one to take care [1:39:32] of that child so i have a question for you does a woman have the autonomy to kill their infant [1:39:40] we're not talking about infants no no i'm asking you a question we're not talking about infants i know [1:39:44] we're not talking about that's a different conversation no no so see you because you want [1:39:47] to avoid it because here's the thing a woman does not have the autonomy to kill an infant why why because [1:39:54] an infant is a valuable human being yes again so the framing of my conversation is correct you [1:40:01] disagree that the unborn are valuable human beings is that right i disagree that what is unborn does [1:40:07] not have a point in time right now they are not a living breathing human being they do not have a [1:40:13] thinking mind they do not have a beating heart therefore they're not a living human being that that [1:40:18] we're talking about we're not talking about an infant we're talking about what's inside of that woman [1:40:22] at the end of the day that woman's life that has to be viable in order for that child's life to come [1:40:27] into place so if her rights are are completely stripped away if she does not have autonomy over [1:40:32] her body that baby can't live you can't make a baby we have to make the baby so if we don't have [1:40:38] right well it takes two to tango it takes two to tango it does but what about the ones that didn't [1:40:43] want to tango when it was forced upon them so okay so that's like that's like that's like no we're not [1:40:48] talking about that we're talking about the fact that there are women who are forced to have babies [1:40:52] that they did not want to make that's what we're talking about okay we're talking about [1:40:56] lies that are not here listen and maybe this is a compromise can i can i speak now because [1:41:01] no because it's not making sense we have to make sense of the fact yeah you're just gonna steamroll [1:41:06] me so it's not it's not boring here's here's the thing here's the thing rape and incest make up like [1:41:10] 3.5 of all abortions right and so for me personally when it comes to policy i'm i'm willing to allow that [1:41:17] exception if we say hey the rest of abortion is okay and so if that's a compromise you can make [1:41:23] i'm fine with that is that something you're okay with because i don't think so because i just think [1:41:28] it's a talking point to kind of distract from the main debate which is what is the unborn and so you [1:41:33] mentioned viability the problem with viability is that this changes over time based off of technology [1:41:40] we do not want to put what a valuable human being is based on something that can change over time [1:41:46] something like uh and so you talked about you know they cannot think an infant a newborn cannot [1:41:53] think but we're not that doesn't but okay so a born child so a born child so now somehow magically a [1:42:02] child becomes a human being once it passes through the woman like that that doesn't make any sense what [1:42:09] what about being born gives you value as a human being we have to think about the fact that once that [1:42:14] baby becomes a living breathing soul that person has to eat it has to sleep it has to be clothed it [1:42:20] has to be educated if there's no access to education if there's no access to health care if there's no [1:42:26] access to any of the many things that it takes for a person to have a viable happy life why are we going [1:42:33] to force upon others to have a child that they don't want if they don't want it that's their right okay [1:42:38] so i want to mention a couple things so first you brought up a lot of other topics that have nothing to [1:42:44] do with this all the pro-life movement is saying do not intentionally kill a human being that's what [1:42:50] the pro-life is saying and so now and then we say listen the fetus is a valuable human being right and [1:42:57] so that's that those those other issues are irrelevant they have no they they're irrelevant to whether [1:43:04] yes they're irrelevant to whether we should intentionally murder innocent babies that's irrelevant [1:43:10] but secondly you talk about the democratic party you talk about someone like tim walls [1:43:15] who allows abortion up to nine months and then refuses to sign a bill to protect babies who are [1:43:21] born and so if you want to look at it as a democrat republican issue even if you don't agree with me [1:43:27] that life starts at conception the democratic party is way extreme on this case and most americans [1:43:33] absolutely disagree with some of the things that they're doing and that's the problem there you said [1:43:38] it perfectly and thank you for saying that it's not a democratic or republican issue it's a human [1:43:43] issue it's a human issue well forget forget what side you're on forget what side you're on we're [1:43:49] talking about life it's it's an overall issue that you have to take account for other things because [1:43:54] that child once it's here those other things matter yes i agree those other things matter but it's like [1:44:01] it's like if the debate was like on whether we should intentionally kill infants it's like i'm not [1:44:06] going to bring up health care and the economy and all these other things you should though no you [1:44:11] shouldn't because because the great injustice the great injustice is you killing an innocent human [1:44:17] being and we're saying that you should not do that i'm going to stop you both there because we've [1:44:21] got three minutes i feel like we've got a good sense of where you're both coming from but now i'm [1:44:26] going to nudge you both to start offering what you think a middle ground could be between the two of [1:44:31] you i mean i i offered a middle ground um i think you know we can allow exceptions for something like [1:44:37] rape incest when the life of the mother as is at risk um and so that's a middle ground i'm willing to [1:44:44] take policy-wise it's hard for me to find a middle ground only because i believe that it should be solely [1:44:49] that person's choice to either keep their child or get rid of that child um so it's hard for me to find [1:44:55] a middle ground there because i believe that it should but we agree but we agree that economy isn't [1:45:00] unlimited right we agree that i can't go murder people i can't go murder infants right i don't have [1:45:07] that autonomy right and so autonomy isn't unlimited so you can't just use that as a trump card because [1:45:15] life is at stake intentional killing of innocent human beings are at stake okay so now we have to [1:45:22] consider everything again so for instance andrew amber thurman um her life was at stake but her life [1:45:29] was lost because of policies that we're trying to defend um she why was her life at risk her life was [1:45:36] at risk because she decided to have an abortion she did that was her choice and that was her right [1:45:41] her choice and her rights she chose to have that abortion and she sat in the hospital for hours and [1:45:47] doctors watched as her life slipped away and they waited until they had to cut her open they had to [1:45:52] cut her open so question where in republican policy no we're not we're not we're not going there the [1:45:59] fact of the matter is people are losing their lives and and doctors healthcare administrators are sitting [1:46:04] there and they're allowing for women to lose their lives because of policies that people that people [1:46:10] like that are deciding are more important than the lives that are already here the lives that are viable [1:46:15] so now amber her son is without a mother because there's policy in place in the state that she [1:46:19] is from that states that if she is losing her life because it is an abortion they cannot help her [1:46:26] they have to let her die so now not only is a child dead amber's dead her vision's dead what policy [1:46:32] what republican policy banned that from happening because you can't find that you know i heard he was [1:46:37] saying you know everything would stand as is but one thing that he would be willing to compromise on [1:46:43] is allowing abortions when the life of the mother is at risk and in the case of rape and incest and [1:46:49] i'm just going to kind of let you you can either say no that's not a compromise that works for me [1:46:54] or is there anything else you want to offer as a compromise um no i do agree that when a life is at [1:46:59] um stake then it absolutely should be permitted however i do believe that it should be permitted um [1:47:04] at any point at any point really even nine months okay so we're not so the majority of americans [1:47:13] a woman that wants an abortion is not waiting nine months so so we've we've run out of time but do you [1:47:18] want to at least say yes i'm willing to at least say the compromise can be abortion should be allowed [1:47:23] for when the life of the mother is at risk and in the case of rape and incest no i believe that she [1:47:29] should have the choice to have her boy should if that is her choice yeah so you're you're pro-choice [1:47:33] in all circumstances correct yeah so one more time micah start with you what's your middle ground [1:47:38] statement that you would offer yeah i would say as a middle ground policy wise if i'm a policy maker [1:47:44] i'd be willing to compromise on uh cases of incest and rape and when uh the life of the mother is at [1:47:53] stake as long as all other uh abortions are banned okay and then brianna what's your statement yes um [1:47:59] i believe women should have the full autonomy over their bodies to have the right to that abortion if [1:48:04] that is their choice all right so i'm going to move to the back you guys stay here let's give them snaps [1:48:09] for a good debate regardless of whether or not they could agree we have to acknowledge when people [1:48:16] give effort and are vulnerable in the front okay who agrees with micah's middle ground statement who [1:48:22] would be willing to own that as a compromise who would agree with that i see two over here and [1:48:30] raise them high because we're going to count on camera all right and then who supports brianna's [1:48:35] statement pro-choice in all circumstances not necessarily a compromise in any way just pro-choice [1:48:43] across the board we'll kind of tap we'll tally this up all right did anybody not raise their hand [1:48:52] um let's go back to blossom why not it's not that i don't disagree i think it's also [1:48:57] important that we include trans men and non-binary people in the conversation around reproductive [1:49:02] rights because my community is being left out it's very important to understand that my community is [1:49:07] being left out and trans men and non-binary people should also be able to sit at the table it's not [1:49:11] just cis women and i want to encourage my side of the room my side of the aisle to be more expansive and [1:49:17] inclusive of my trans siblings and my non-binary siblings pro-choice republican uh i i think i have a [1:49:23] middle ground between you two um first of all i grew up in the night scene nightclub scene in los [1:49:27] angeles uh rape is very real i do understand you said 3.5 percent i thought it was lower close to one [1:49:33] also when i think of women getting raped i'm like did you get raped did you go to the police report [1:49:37] you know did you do all these different things and uh that's not always the case a lot of women lie [1:49:42] and i'm sorry that's a fact so we need to factor that into everything when you have an abortion that is [1:49:48] a life you are taking a life that is murder you can dance around that all you want but that is [1:49:52] that is a fact when they say women aren't using this as birth control they are i know several they [1:49:57] take plan b's they have abortions frankly it's actually disgusting i'm very against that but that [1:50:02] is a real thing i think you know there should be a limit and when you say it's not happening after [1:50:07] eight nine months it is you can call planned parenthood right now ask for an abortion they'll say yes by [1:50:11] the way planned parenthood the founder uh she founded it to eliminate the black race so that's [1:50:15] also why i don't support emily can i emily i want to i want to push you though between these two [1:50:24] options did you were you going to accept micah's compromise you know where do what do you think [1:50:29] the solution is what is the compromise you would be i think first of all i think this is one of the [1:50:32] dumbest things we continue to argue about if it was state by state i'd be perfectly fine with that [1:50:36] i think most people in state want it i would i would be somewhere between you two i'm not gonna lie [1:50:40] if i had to choose a side i would go to her side so you're more pro-choice in all circumstances okay [1:50:45] that does sound contrary to the sentiment you were how is that contrary there's a there's [1:50:50] a strict i'm just saying like that that surprised me i don't i think she's normal i don't think she [1:50:54] wants to abort babies at eight nine months even if she thinks it's not happening yeah i'm giving her [1:50:59] the benefit of the doubt i appreciate you clarifying yeah okay let's go uh to this side so a couple [1:51:04] things have always been true there are some things when we ban them make them illegal they don't stop [1:51:09] they just get more dangerous and more people die and uh another thing that's always been true is when [1:51:14] the government tries to legislate parameters for things those parameters tend to fail in the real [1:51:18] world and cause harm and one thing has always been false the idea that late-term abortions are an [1:51:26] elective procedure that have something to do with someone not wanting to be a parent the reality is [1:51:30] they're rare but when they do happen it's pretty much exclusively because someone is about to die [1:51:35] or that child will die once it's born and that isn't okay so let's be clear here we want to make a [1:51:42] distinction but the middle ground is women are viable breathing human beings pregnant people are [1:51:50] but if we're going to be in the business of the government deciding when that viable breathing [1:51:55] human being is superseded by somebody else i think we have a real moral dilemma here and i think we need [1:52:01] to step back and it's not assume we know everything because what we don't know for sure is when life [1:52:06] actually starts unless we're religious hi everyone i just come from a little bit of a disparate different [1:52:12] perspective i'm actually a physician and i've actually witnessed two abortions in my training [1:52:17] i witnessed a three-month abortion and a five-month abortion and i want to explain to you what it is [1:52:22] you know when you get your makeup done and they mix the foundation on that little mirror they actually [1:52:26] have a little mirror and they rip the legs off they rip the arms off the body and the head and they [1:52:32] put them and they count them do you know why because if you don't get all of the parts of the fetus out [1:52:36] the mother's uterus continues to bleed and it's called retain parts of conception okay it was [1:52:43] absolutely the most horrific thing you could witness and i want you guys to know that i say [1:52:51] there should be limits i also don't want people in alleys putting coat hangers up their vaginas trying [1:52:55] to self-abort but you need to understand it needs to be rare please watch a video of what it is that you [1:53:02] are choosing because it should be a difficult decision it should not be let me speak i'm speaking [1:53:08] i'm speaking all right watch a video if you make that decision if you make that decision i will [1:53:14] understand how heartbreaking and how terrible that decision was for you to make but it is not a [1:53:19] decision to be made lightly and certainly not one that should be made 27 times she sheila i want to [1:53:27] so i would say a really easy middle ground since they focus so much on these late-term abortions [1:53:31] eight nine months executing babies out of the womb i am totally fine with limiting that because it's [1:53:35] not happening and i want to mirror what kamala harris said when she said it is insulting to american [1:53:40] women to insinuate that they are executing their babies after they're delivering them at nine months [1:53:45] it is absolutely not happening and all you have to do is a google search to realize that okay and then [1:53:50] jasmine where do you stand as far as like what your your end statement is do you have a middle my [1:53:54] middle ground would be third trimester okay so you're saying third trimester that would be not allowed [1:54:00] yeah because that's what they're focusing on they always focus on these late-term abortions which [1:54:03] are not happening so that should be an easy easy thing okay we have to stop there this is an [1:54:09] incredibly divisive issue i ask that you respect each other's differences we have to move on and i [1:54:15] think everybody who spoke and gave a specific middle ground the u.s has one of the highest gun death [1:54:21] rates in the world how should our country address gun violence let's go to conservatives first you're [1:54:27] going to select your speaker all right again if you guys are confident on gun relations or gun issues [1:54:32] in america please raise your hand all right cool so i feel confident on this topic because first off [1:54:39] i lived through the school shooting age i know it still happens everywhere but when i think it was at [1:54:44] its worst i was in middle school i was in high school i also have a lot of experience with guns i'm [1:54:48] a gun owner i'm a gun shooter i'm a proud believer in the second amendment and i also am a big believer that [1:54:54] restricting guns is not going to solve this problem taking away guns does not solve this problem and so [1:54:59] i am confident on this stance and i do have stats to back everything up okay so real quick i am a gun [1:55:04] owner i am a firm supporter of the second amendment i think that there's other things that we need to [1:55:09] focus on in order to lower gun violence and unfortunately we have people with evil evil hearts [1:55:15] and if they're not going to use a gun they might use a knife if they're not going to use a knife they [1:55:19] might use a bomb um i'm happy to give you this um because i think you're going to do a really good [1:55:24] job at it so have at it brother thank you laurie all right really quick so i think we have luke so far [1:55:29] is we got most of those for luke who's going all right okay we'll go luke we'll go luke on that [1:55:38] democrats you have three minutes to select your speaker okay so i'm going to give every reason [1:55:43] why i'm the most qualified person to speak about this issue um i think that number one we all have [1:55:48] the right to speak about it because we're living in a place where we can die anytime and we have a [1:55:51] public health crisis with that i got that information from the office of gun violence [1:55:54] prevention twice this month when i was invited by the president of the united states our current [1:55:58] sitting president biden to the office of gun violence prevention to roll out the plan and [1:56:04] and i was there when two executive orders were signed why was i there i was there because i was [1:56:08] invited the week before at march 4th and i went with a bunch of victims of mass shooting when they [1:56:12] told me their stories that i can advocate for i'm also a teacher who fears for my life every single [1:56:17] day so i know the stats and i'm a gun owner so if you try to come about the guns i will dismantle [1:56:22] that too because i have one [1:56:30] i just want to you guys do have two minutes that's [1:56:47] go ahead lady first so honestly i don't have too much to say to start this is a [1:56:51] um public health crisis and to me this is just common sense which is what we're lacking and we [1:56:57] look insane to the rest of the world so the statistics that we have more mass shootings [1:57:02] combined than the entire world is absurd so to me i want you to tell me why you don't think that we [1:57:07] need do you let me ask you this do you think that we need to reinstate the assault weapons ban [1:57:11] so my first question and this isn't you know something to try to get at you genuinely want to ask [1:57:16] because i think liberals get so caught up in this can you tell me what an assault weapon is because [1:57:22] they won't define what it is there's no definition yeah so an assault weapon what the assault weapon is [1:57:27] to be able to kill multiple people in a very short period of time you do not need that to protect your [1:57:32] family i am a gun owner i'm not trying to take anybody's gun i believe in the second minute rights [1:57:37] i can tell you why i have a gun because i had a stalker my life felt at danger at risk right but i don't [1:57:42] need to have a weapon of war i don't think that any citizen in our country needs to have a weapon [1:57:48] at war especially when people are dying every day at alarming rates so the the area that i struggle [1:57:54] with this ban on assault weapons is because there's no clear definition the liberal government can take [1:58:01] away all of our guns because they can define any gun as an assault weapon and that's not good so we talk [1:58:07] a lot about a big stat people talk about is that we have 30 000 deaths per year by gun we need [1:58:12] to keep into account two-thirds of that is from suicide and frankly i think that's the biggest [1:58:17] answer to this is we need to have stricter background checks which i do believe that will [1:58:23] be our middle ground yeah we need to have stricter background checks i'm a big believer in having [1:58:28] background checks every like year every two years because you know mental illness can develop these [1:58:33] things can develop we need to be on top of this and if you look at school shootings in particular [1:58:39] from 19 i believe it was 1989 to 2024 we've had 174 mass school shootings out of all those 174 [1:58:50] 15 of them which is too many too many 15 of them were from individuals that had no clear signs of [1:58:55] mental illness that means the rest of that 159 i believe they all had mental illnesses that is where [1:59:02] our focus needs to be yeah so may i interject there so i think you bring up a great point right [1:59:07] so are you familiar i'll ask you a question are you familiar with any of the gun prevention [1:59:11] legislation that the new office which has only been around for a year of gun violence prevention [1:59:15] and the white house has put into place through the vitamins administration are you familiar with any [1:59:19] of the legislation okay i'll admit that so and that's okay because that's why we're here right okay [1:59:23] because i think that nobody wants kids being killed right nobody wants to feel unsafe none of us [1:59:28] that's this should be a non-partisan concept right so in the uh bipartisan safer communities act passed [1:59:37] in 2009 by uh president biden there's three major things that happen there okay one is that folks that [1:59:43] are under 21 years old they have to go through more extensive background checks so we get pushback [1:59:50] all the time from conservatives because people think we're trying to take your guns no we're trying [1:59:53] to save lives here anybody trying to take anybody's gun but if you can't drive a car you can't get [1:59:57] alcohol why should you buy a gun why should you have a gun it's absurd and it seems when we're [2:00:02] having this common sense discussion that there's no issue there but yet we get pushback on that so [2:00:07] that's one thing that that that that act did right all right this the the second thing that it did is [2:00:11] it incentivized states to have universal background checks all right so the national uh system of instant [2:00:18] background checks nc in nsic checks for the federal government after this legislation was passed [2:00:26] including part of the five billion dollars from the uh build back better act right so they did some cvi [2:00:33] work which is community violence intervention work that was one of the things that that happened but [2:00:38] there also there was universal background checks you know what resulted there were 38 million [2:00:43] background checks happened after that passed and this part came in 2021 guess how many guns actually [2:00:48] got taken away just give me a number what do you think no because y'all really always want to say [2:00:53] that we try to take people's guns guess how many people did not get did not get guns out of that 38 [2:00:58] million 300 000. okay so the biggest thing we can do and my biggest focus on this is school shootings [2:01:06] because that's what we hear about the most and i'm because if we yeah so if we break down the numbers [2:01:10] like i stated it's about 30 000 per year two two-thirds of that is estimated to be suicide that other [2:01:16] one-third the majority of that one-third is urban violence and gun and gang violence so if we restrict [2:01:23] guns if we increase background checks these individuals that are doing illegal things [2:01:28] they're still going to find guns and i i sorry let me just say this my argument with this is similar [2:01:33] to what someone said on abortion if you say you restrict all abortions that's not going to end [2:01:38] abortions that's just gonna people are just going to be doing abortions illegally and there's gonna be [2:01:42] more harm and that's why nobody's trying to take it but if you do that with guns spreading that rhetoric [2:01:46] because people are dying that's what they're pushing for but i'm but you're saying that's what they're [2:01:49] pushing and i'm literally telling you because i just came from the white house twice and let me tell you a little [2:01:53] story i went at the beginning of last month to the white house right for a briefing of the gun uh the [2:01:58] office of gun violence prevention it's a new office right they told us what they did i went home in the [2:02:03] seven days and i was invited back for the actual event where there was an executive order signed by [2:02:07] the president and the vice i'll get i'll get to that by the president with the vice president president [2:02:11] i'll get to that in a second but the point is guess what happened that interim time my school was on [2:02:16] a list to be shot up twice okay okay so what we're doing is we're traumatizing these kids having these [2:02:22] experiences if we regulate guns not take them away but simply regulate them then we're making a safer [2:02:28] society and this has been proven in other countries i used to be i used to live in rome i know it they [2:02:32] don't want to just stop at regulating but you're saying that and i'm trying to because she's spoken [2:02:36] out okay but i'm telling you with school shootings i'm a big believer that if we want to prevent school [2:02:41] shootings we need to give proper training and we need to have either armed security guards or we need to [2:02:47] properly train and back check teachers to have guns right the shooting that just happened in georgia [2:02:53] the horrendous school shooting officers and people who have studied this have came out and said the [2:02:58] only reason more people did not die is because there was an armed guard on the campus okay so let [2:03:03] me tell you something as would you be in approval of armed guards on every so glad you asked you that [2:03:07] because as a teacher i should not feel like i'm risking my i got you one minute i should not feel like [2:03:11] i'm risking my life every day because i chose to educate our students but that's how that's the world [2:03:15] we live in do you want my answer so let me give it to you because i'm actually in agreement there [2:03:19] needs to be more security however that is a band-aid we should not task our educators and traumatize our [2:03:25] children and our educators let me tell you something as a gun owner that's very versed in how to use it [2:03:29] because i've been trained because i had to because i was afraid for my life right they're not signing up [2:03:33] for that now we do need more security but guess what if we keep protecting the nra and we putting [2:03:38] preceding uh capitalism which is not necessarily a bad thing in its entirety but when we're taking the nra [2:03:44] and we're letting them run our country and our kids are dying that's foolish and that's great [2:03:48] country big farmers running our country oh no trust me they're both running our country so the reality [2:03:54] is we let me answer your question we need to have security we're out of time all and we need common [2:03:59] sense gun laws okay what i'm hearing what i'm hearing as middle ground our statistics and our deaths say [2:04:05] otherwise okay what i'm hearing from shootings they're from suicide what i'm hearing no suicides are down [2:04:09] 10 percent quiet quiet what i'm hearing is concrete they are what i'm hearing is concrete solutions [2:04:14] that have been offered by both sides i'm hearing increased background checks mandatory background [2:04:19] checks for all gun owners i'm hearing increased security at schools to prevent school shootings [2:04:24] that might have been an agreement and i'm hearing um something that you just offered was uh we need to [2:04:31] reinstate the uh ban on assault weapons and a ban on assault because no american needs a weapon of war [2:04:36] walking the streets you can't define it so they're going to use that against them i just said okay so [2:04:41] do you as a citizen you cannot get access to a fully automatic weapon they have ghost guns illegally [2:04:48] we're not going to rehash that so it sounds like my common ground is that there should be higher [2:04:52] security on school campuses to lower school shootings that that's it and i i think we can you're [2:04:59] actually pulling back on the mandatory background checks well no i said like three things my biggest focus [2:05:04] because we're seeing so many school shootings we need to have an increase in security i believe that [2:05:10] we should have an increase in background checks and all that but that's my one sense those are the [2:05:13] two things i hear you agreeing on do you agree i know there's a lot you know i want to say so much [2:05:17] there's a lot you don't agree on all right no it's all i got a good i got a good team you disagree [2:05:20] with me i got a good team all right my middle ground is is that we need to have i don't not including [2:05:27] arming teachers we need to have safer campuses for our teachers and our students i do agree on that okay [2:05:33] and a huge paramount part of that that is imperative is reinstating the assault weapons [2:05:37] ban and common sense gun laws okay but i'm just strictly saying can we agree that we should have [2:05:42] armed guard on campuses at every elementary school middle school and high school in this nation [2:05:48] uh so here's the thing i think i've already stated that but let's be but we have to here's the thing we [2:05:52] have to say why do we need that but we're just trying to find middle why do we need that but but [2:05:55] that's okay so it sounds like why we agree doesn't matter more so as if we can just okay i really [2:06:01] appreciate how close you got on that second point but it background we're going to stick with [2:06:05] background checks okay that's what we got to we we may have different reasons why we agree but i just [2:06:10] want to get to the point as a teacher yes i agree okay so make schools safer you're welcome all right [2:06:15] let's let you say it what was your middle ground my middle ground is that i believe we should have [2:06:19] armed security guards at elementary schools middle schools and high schools throughout the nation [2:06:23] and as well increasing our united background checks i agree that we need to to have background checks [2:06:33] to buy a gun in this country i agree that we need to keep our schools safe that's all you're gonna [2:06:39] get from me that's all we're gonna take okay thank you we have one statement to agree on who agrees [2:06:52] that's pretty good okay who disagrees all right i see some hands sam you uh disagree with that why um [2:07:07] i don't disagree with it in the broad sense i do have concerns with armed personnel's not fulfilling [2:07:16] their duties i remember um when parkland happened uh and i believe uvalde the armed um security officer [2:07:24] did not go in so in terms of a solution i do agree that it is a band-aid um i'm from florida there is [2:07:33] no requirement for a concealed carry i don't have to get a permit i can walk in and i don't even think [2:07:41] they are requiring background checks i might be wrong but i'm pretty sure that's how it is [2:07:45] and i just think it's not enough i think semi-automatic weapons semi-automatic rifle rifles [2:07:50] um with those being 57 of the weapons used in the most of mass shootings in america i think there is [2:07:58] a problem um and i think with the republicans not many solutions are offered um so that's kind of [2:08:06] where i'm at why i can't fully agree okay thank you and let's go to who disagreed on this side i think [2:08:12] it was glenn why why are you glenn why um why is easy because we already have gun laws and and [2:08:17] in background checks why do we need more like but what do you have i guess what do you have against [2:08:22] those specific ones background checks and uh so are we are we going to have more background checks [2:08:27] are going to make it more harder because you know laws the laws only affect the law-abiding citizens [2:08:32] like you're you're only making it harder for law-abiding citizens to exercise their second [2:08:35] amendment right which is the right to bear arms and protect ourselves against any threat foreign and [2:08:40] domestic and to fight against tyranny so what why do we need have more so you don't want to [2:08:45] increase background check yeah just leave it as it is all right let's hear from an agreer who [2:08:48] stood by their middle ground and why no i agree with increasing both those i also think it's [2:08:53] extremely important that the teachers are safe i will say though i live in california it is near [2:08:58] impossible to get a ccw you have to prove you are in extreme extreme danger you're also put on wait [2:09:03] list that now my friends are six years plus if you use that gun you are 100 going to jail i do think [2:09:09] liberals have an issue with all these school shooters because they are liberals they're usually [2:09:13] transgender and they're always liberal at least the past 10 that's why you guys don't like this [2:09:17] okay let's please not take the bait let's just hear why do you agree with the middle ground that [2:09:25] they who wants to speak on that we haven't heard from you i agree that it was a band-aid like both [2:09:29] you guys said too i'm 22 i grew up in a generation where we had lockdown drills from early elementary [2:09:36] school where we had to shuffle into the corner turn off the lights board up the door like that's a [2:09:41] thing that like my generation has to live with and that our kids generations are going to have to [2:09:45] live with and like it's i i get what you're saying that like it's a fact of life but it shouldn't have [2:09:50] to be a fact of life it doesn't it didn't happen like this in the past and there's so many there's [2:09:55] so many issues and there's there's a point that you use one second there's a point that you made about [2:10:00] how like if we have universal background checks or if we ban assault weapons that they're going to take [2:10:04] all of our guns that is purely just the nra telling you that so you guys can keep parodying that [2:10:09] that's not what's going to happen kamala harris owns a gun my family owns guns so many liberals [2:10:15] own guns it's not gonna no one's gonna take away our guns that's not how it works welcome to part [2:10:21] two of our biggest middle ground ever donald trump is not a politician he's a regular joe average [2:10:33] would you vote for someone held civilly liable of forcefully penetrating a woman's vagina against her [2:10:37] will raise your hand if yes meme for a reason give me a break and you're telling me that what [2:10:49] he said was what you've all been thinking that's already inherently racist let's go back to policies [2:10:54] instead of silly questions trying to make us seem like bad guys so we have heard the two sides [2:11:01] endorse their candidate we are now going to do an election one by one these participants are going to [2:11:06] go up and submit a vote and then we will tally them and read the result out loud to the room