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Hey, listeners, Sam, Saeed, and Zach here. And we have a very special announcement. Before we start the episode, Saeed, Zach, can you give us a drumroll sound? I'm just going to go...
Yes, yes, yes. Oh, that was good. That was good. This summer, Vibe Check is going to have not one, but two live events. They're both coming up very, very soon. We are so excited. Pride is our month, and we are in full effect. First, Boston. You can catch us on Thursday, June 22nd at WBUR City Space.
And then New York, our girlies there will be able to see you live in color in person on Friday, June 23rd at 92nd Street Y with special guest. Drum roll, drum roll, drum roll, drum roll, drum roll. P.
Pin Badgley. We're so excited to see him. Pin Badgley. Pin Badgley. What are y'all going to wear? Oh, my goodness. I got something to die for, you know? I'm going to wear my best human skin suit. Can't wait. Can't wait. Listeners, fun fact.
these are our first live events ever, ever as a group of three people coming together. So please come out and see us. We can't wait to see you in real life. It's going to be such a good kiki. Click the links in our episode description for tickets to the show. We can't wait to see you there. Hello, ladies. Hi. Hello, girls. Hi, girlies. I'm Sam Sanders. I'm Saeed Jones. And I'm Zach Stafford. And you are listening to Vibe Check. Countdown to Beyonce edition.
so
Countdown to Beyonce. Countdown. I've been dreaming of Beyonce every night. Have y'all packed yet? I need to pack. Yo, I've already packed. What's the vision for your Beyonce looks? Have you been studying to be? Oh, I don't know. I don't know. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be wearing tennis shoes or comfortable footwear. I do love my Birkenstocks, but I don't know. My default is just to wear a suit to everything. And I'm like, let me not roll up to this concert with a suit on.
I don't know. Don't do it. I don't know what I thought you were about to say, but it was not going to be I'm wearing church clothes. I was like, what if she sees me and she's like, oh, that young man is very well dressed. Come on stage, sir. I just saw because I think people are able to start entering the stadium at like 5 p.m. Oh, no. Oh, no. And she doesn't go on, I think, until 8. Oh, no. And then the show goes until 1130. So, you know.
Just think about that. I'm in long church services in a suit. And for me, a Beyonce concert is church service in a way. You are a church girl. I'm a church girl. What if I come dressed as a Baptist deacon? With a little, like the little cardboard fan? Yes. With Beyonce's face on it. What if when she breaks out into church girl, I bust out the black church tambourine? How about that?
they're not ready. Will they let you bring that tambourine in? She would stop you and she'd be like, stop. Interference. Julius. Julius, get this queen. It does seem that she is paying a lot of attention to the audiences. Oh, yeah. She was talking to them. What was it? The Swedish audience couldn't hit a note to save their lives and she was not happy. She was very disappointed. And then in Belgium, they were like a little too excited about Julius and she definitely gave them a look like, uh,
My biggest fear, because you know, all these performers at some point in some song, they'll give the mic to someone in the crowd and have them sing a line. My fear is she gets me to do it and I'm off key. I would die. I would die. That's like the menu when he makes the guy cook. You like this so much, why don't you get in the kitchen and make a dish? Sam, is there a song that you think you could do a good job at? No. No.
It's a Beyonce concert. How do you know? I'm just like catastrophizing over her being like, do the opening riff of Countdown now. Four, three, two, one. And I'm like, I can't do it. I'm sorry. Hit you with the mic. Hit you with the mic. Julius, get him out of here.
We have to talk about what we're actually talking about. And honestly, we're very excited about Beyonce, but I have to say personally, I think I'm procrastinating getting into these two topics that are frankly horrific for two different reasons. Friends, this week on Vibe Check, we are talking about something that our sister Zach has brought to our attention. I'm reading from the script and the term is, and I quote, barefoot boy summer. See? We'll get through it together. We should not have gone back outside. What?
You should have stayed in that. Stay inside. You should have stayed in that. Get through it together. And then changing gears, but a different kind of horror absolutely is Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, is wreaking havoc as a campaign strategy. And I think y'all don't need us to tell y'all how bad it is, but we're going to try to make sense of what's going on and what it will mean for people now and moving forward at least into the next few years. So, yeah.
Rhonda Santus. Yeah, obviously we're very excited about all the travel and everything, but let's do our vibe check. How are we feeling, girls? Zach, how are you? I'm good. I'm feeling very excited to go to Europe, to get out of America, to go back. He said, set me free. Did you buy a return ticket? Maybe not. I can handle it. But...
I'm going to Italy for a wedding before I meet up with you all in London. And I'm so excited to go back. It's been years since I've been there, but I'm now remembering all the racism in Italy. So now I'm a bit, you know, feeling excited, but also feeling nervous. You know, it can hold both truths at one time, but we'll see how it goes. I'm really interested to see what a wedding in Italy is like. Italy has become like the destination for white people getting married. And it's my first Italian wedding. Yeah.
Is it the white lotus effect? I think it's the white lotus effect. It's a lot of things happening there. But yeah, I'm just interested in the production. How do you do a wedding abroad? How many people come? Do people get on your nerves? Can you escape? I have lots of questions. So this is my first... Actually, it's my first wedding abroad. So I'll come back with notes. Okay. Logistics. I'm into it. Yeah. My only guidance for going to a party outside of your time zone by a lot, and you know this, jet lag affects your alcohol tolerance. Yes. So tread carefully. Oh.
Yes. You get drunk on your champagne. It's over. It's over. And, you know, loath as I am to say that a concert is more important than someone's nuptials. It is. But this is Beyonce we're talking about. So it is. And I need you to be ready for London after this one. Don't you show up at London Raggedy.
Thank you. Don't you show up raggedy. Don't you show up in London and embarrass me in front of Beyonce. No, I've considered like not drinking at this wedding, like going for runs every day to prepare for Beyonce. Like I'm like, this is like my like training ground for Beyonce. You turn to that bride and say, I know this is your day, but the reality is that you are the warm up act. The warm up, honey. And I love you for listening, but this is the warm up for Beyonce. Cool.
Congratulations to the couple, Saeed, which is you the best. Wow. To Saeed's point, I wake up the day after the wedding on a flight, the first flight out to Beyonce. You better get to the airport four hours early. Don't even screw around. I may show up drunk still, listening to Brilla Sons, bumping through the Italian airport in Genoa. Sam, how are you doing on the East Coast? Yeah, I am turning the Beyonce continent into like a three-week journey.
♪♪
Brittany Griner is back. She's playing basketball again. She came back to the court in the Mercury Sparks season opener, and it was beautiful. I saw the images. I saw some video. The numbers are out. The broadcast peaked at a million viewers, which is a big milestone. That's really good for that kind of game. So I'm happy for her.
And I'm holding on to that good news in a week where you have Ron DeSantis still being mean to queer people. There's some hope. I do hope that she and the folks around her give her the grace and space to deal with what is most likely PTSD from the experience. This wasn't like she was out for a few weeks because she sprained her ankle. This is a really big deal. And so I'm just hopeful, prayerful that she is rested and taking care of herself. But I...
I'm just happy for her and yay. That's my vibe. I love that. Love it. Oh, man. Saeed, how are you? What's your vibe?
Ooh, my vibe is good. My vibe is summer. My boyfriend was here in Columbus for a week, and then he went back to New York to get ready for London. We're going to meet there in a few days. And then my best friend, Isaac Fitzgerald, drove here. Oh, wow. He drove from New York City? Yeah, he has a Jeep now. We're very excited. The Jeep's name is Rabbit. So he's been here. And then a friend had a 40th birthday over the weekend. Happy birthday, Josh. So it's been a...
It's a lot going on. - Okay, yeah. - And I'm packing tonight to go to London. So yeah, it just feels like, you know what it is?
Often, I feel like most years going into summer, there's a moment where I kind of need to decide for myself. Summer is here, Saeed. We're doing this. This year, it felt like summer came to me. The last week or so, it's just been this in and out and where are we going? And okay, let's go for it. I love it. I've been feeling it since you were in LA for the LA Times Book Fest. It's like...
All of a sudden, something happened around April where the universe said, we're back outside. We're gathering. Your friends are going to be around. Get into it. And I'm like, yeah. Feels nice. Sam, I blame your monthly parties for that. Don't be telling folks I have a monthly party. See now? See now? Sorry. These sometimes monthly parties that happen where you have people over for food. That began... That to me is the beginning of summer. Because I was like...
I am literally outside right now on a Friday. Listen, if you have heard us talk about this backyard party I have once a month, yes, it's true. We full up. My backyard ain't that big. Sorry, y'all. Love you. Mean it. Oh, he's lying, listeners. He has an estate back there. Sorry, we are totally talking all your business. All your business. Sam has an estate back there, I just want to say. Girl, that's a plot of land. I'm sorry.
You're one acre, Sansa Mule. Yeah, where the mule at?
See, listeners, can you tell we need a vacation? Can you tell me out here? We need a vacation. We need a vacation. But also that does bring me next Wednesday's episode. We're very excited because you'll be hearing us join Jene Desmond Harris on the Dear Prudence podcast. You get to hear us give some life advice, love advice, maybe love and robot advice. There is a robot. Dare I tease?
And Dear Prudence is my favorite advice column. I read all of them. I actually love advice columns. Dear Prudence is like the holy grail for me of that. And to be on that show with Janae, gosh, just a treat. Loved it. It was a treat. And it's also another example of how different the three of us are when dealing with someone else's problems. Because that whole episode. Honestly, it's a masterclass in our three contrasting approaches to problems.
It's kind of choose your own adventure. You can choose your own approach. The Sam method, the Saeed method, or the Zach method. Exactly. By our powers combined, we are a pretty good episode in your feeds next week. Yes. There we go. All right. Listeners, before we get into this episode, we want to thank you, as always, for being in touch with us. You send us fan mail. We love it. You reach out on social. We love it. Keep it all coming. Keep the emails coming at vibecheckatstitcher.com. Vibecheckatstitcher.com. With that...
Let's jump in, shall we? Let's do it. Let's go, girlies. All right, so first up, we're going to start off with some chaos. Typically, we'd save this towards the end of the show. We're beginning with this today because I'm stepping out of my house today with no shoes on. No, you're not. I'm not. I'm really not. I was going to reach through this Zoom so quick. I am not. Snatch you up. To set the stage, last week, I was reading the internet and
The New York Post chaotically tweeted a headline that did stop me in my tweeting tracks, and it said, "'Barefoot Boy Summer' Shoeless Hunks Reclaim Hot Girl Season."
And I read that and I was like, okay, sure. You're making a mountain out of a molehill that is called Jacob Elrody, the actor from Euphoria, who was recently photographed leaving a coffee shop barefoot. And I was like, okay, he's one person. Does he represent other people? And then I remember that Shawn Mendes, the pop singer,
also was photographed walking down the street. He was not barefoot. It was one of his little groupies with him. Yes, it was a groupie with him. One of his little friends, as our aunties would say. A little friend of his was walking barefoot through the streets of Malibu. And not the beach, like the literal streets of Malibu. And fun fact, if you haven't been to Malibu, Malibu doesn't have many streets. So this was a really intentional thing to do. You were on rock and sand, baby. You were out there. You were out here in these streets.
Here's the thing though, Zach. You say it's not a trend, but if it's three, it's a trend. Can I offer a third that I saw? Yes, third. Go. Drew Barrymore.
Drew Barrymore. Did you see this? Yes. Walking on barefoot. In New York City, not that long ago. In New York, oh my God. In New York City. What's happening out here? She had a mask on, but didn't have shoes on. I feel bold wearing my Birkenstocks in Manhattan. I'm like, look, you're making a choice, but barefoot in New York City? Oh my God. You would think, okay, maybe they're leaving the pool. Maybe they're walking into a pool. Maybe they're going somewhere with water. No, no, these girls are fully dressed, head to toe, full outfits and no shoes on.
Where this hit a fever pitch for me was Sunday morning. I was driving to the gym down Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, and a very hot man was walking down the street, and he was dressed with no shoes on. And I text the group chat, and I just could never get over it. See, that's why I keep my ass south of the 10.
Y'all foolish up there. Y'all foolish up there. But like, let's just begin there. What do you guys think of this? Where is it coming from? Is this an actual trend or are we just seeing rich white people? I will say this. It's never an accident. Celebrities like Shawn Mendes and Drew Barrymore and Jacob Elordi of HBO fame, they're
They know when they're going to be photographed. Don't they usually contact them? Not always, but often they're being photographed because someone's let them know they'll be in front of some fancy bar or restaurant, right? So they did this on purpose and they want us to think that it makes them even cooler. But here's the thing for me. It's like...
What kind of people get to walk around barefoot in public and it's cool for them? And what kind of people don't get to do that? And to your point there, another example we didn't list yet, but we should, is that the show Succession, which I watch every week, a few episodes ago, showed Alex Skarsgård
leaving his private jet and walking onto another jet without his shoes on. And he said in an interview that he felt like this tech billionaire would do this as like a show of power and privilege. And that's how he would enter a plane without shoes on. So this weirdly, and that was filmed last year. So there is something in the ether around rich white people in no shoes. Yeah. And I know, I mean, we mentioned Drew Barrymore, but, but,
since it is interesting, a lot of men who, I don't know, we always think of male celebrities as like trendsetters in this way, right? I think often it's like kind of
feminine coded but to me it feels like I see a bit of a parallel to like women celebrities wearing impossibly high heels to make public appearances or like you know like that kind of thing where like if you're being driven around escorted around I always tell people I'm like real power is that there would be a
car waiting for you the entire time you're at the restaurant or you're at the store, whatever, where you literally like walk right out of wherever you've been and just get into a car. And there's no waiting, there's no pause, there's no looking at your phone on the sidewalk, no intermediary kind of space. And that's such a privileged status. And I just think in the same way, like celebrities wearing high heel shoes and like the Louboutins wear the red paint
literally is designed to kind of come off if you're walking around in those shoes like a normal person. Beyonce ain't doing that. You know what I mean? It feels to me like maybe this is the male version of that class flex. Like, who can afford to kind of, you know, because it was, I doubt that like Shawn Mendes' posse that they were walking around
It feels like a very performative, showy little stunt. You know, and this feels a little aligned with another trend that I've been observing online. Y'all see it on TikTok. There have been think pieces written about it. One of my favorite writers over at The Atlantic, Amanda Mull, wrote a whole thing about it. But this idea of stealth wealth, which really came out of a close viewing of succession, you know,
how do the really, really, really rich dress? And they dress so that other rich people know how rich they are, but a lot of folks who aren't rich can't quite tell. And this is a moment in which I'm examining class indicators and class signifiers. And there's something in the ether with celebrities and rich folks about how they show wealth and power. And they got to be new and cute about it because the old flexes aren't woke anymore. And maybe the barefoot feet is the way they do that.
I don't know. I'm totally thinking out loud, but there's something here. And there's been some writing about that, that there is a version of this that is stealth wealth, but in Australia, that there is a trend with Australian folks who do engage with grounding is a word that you use for this. Oh, and Jacob Elordi is Australian. Jacob Elordi is Australian. But it's about like health and wellness. But isn't that in a field?
On some grass. Doing things outside. Not walking to the coffee shop. Typically it would be, yeah. But there's a way, they do walk around in public without shoes as a way to engage in kind of this like grounding behavior. Well, here's the thing. Here's the, because I just, I just can't stand it. And I refuse. I don't believe in stealth wealth. I don't believe in this grounding. I don't believe in any of it. The only thing that I think is interesting is kind of what Sam, what you're getting to.
And this is a long, long known phenomenon, right? But that sense of like when a rich person or when a white person walks around barefoot, they're regarded in one way. It's a trend. It may be cute. They're certainly not imperiled. Whereas if a black person or a brown person were to walk down the streets of LA barefoot, suddenly, you know what I mean? You might be getting arrested, actually. You might be accused of public loitering all of a sudden. Well.
This is a display of wealth and power, but it's also a display of race. It's very much a display of race. And we have been thinking and talking about this since seeing, you know, barefoot hot boy summer become a thing. Like what are other things? I know, right?
Also, the fact that they're calling it Barefoot Boy Summer as like a ripoff of Hot Girl Summer, which is from Meg Thee Stallion, just feels also racialized. I just felt Megan just roll her eyes somewhere in Houston. But it's like, for me, it's like, what are some other things that the wealthy and the celebrities and wealthy white celebrities can do that anybody else just can't do? And there's so much. Not paying taxes, sorry. Not paying taxes is a very
Yeah. Rich white person. Drug use. It's chic. Because I think what we're getting to is, sure, there's the privilege, but there's a sense that it's chic and it's cool when a certain type of person does it. When another type of person does it, it's regarded as poor or your life is falling apart as opposed to being like a playboy. I remember when there was – this was well over a year ago –
a raging internet debate over celebrities taking showers or not. And there was kind of a privilege afforded to the rich to be like, well, you know I'm rich anyway. I don't have to shower. Right? Like this is a whole thing.
Yes. And to name names, Ashton Kutcher, who's very wealthy, famously only wipes his private parts every day, you know, under arms and doesn't shower. Jake Gyllenhaal has started showering less. Matthew McConaughey and Dax Shepard both have not worn deodorant in over 30 years because they like the man smell they produce. Wait, so his face is like, really? I don't know.
No, see, this is where I'm going to come out and be the black hippie in this one and say, there's a lot of weird stuff in deodorant. So I get it. Oh, my God. Deodorant is weird. Expose her. Deodorant is weird. She's sitting in her little compound in L.A. with her so-called plot of land with her mule not wearing deodorant. Because I'm in my house, girl. Shoot. I do get not wearing deodorant because that stuff is weird.
I am very interested. I can hear the emails being written, Sam. I can hear the keyboards clicking and tapping. But let's do some other examples. What are some other examples? So, you know, there is a very clear way in which things become trends. And the trends sometimes tell you a lot about race, class, sexuality.
wealth, all these things in the world. And they're just kind of interesting indicators around how culture is produced. So, you know, the fact that the New York Post, which is a very famously racist newspaper, would have huge headlines telling men to walk barefoot this summer in order to be interesting. And then for me to see when walking down the street is just another example of like, you know, how we as black men are reading the news and be like, oh, the world, that's not fair.
That's not for me, I guess. I could never do that. I don't know. Let's lean into it. You know, go up to a rich, straight white man in your life and say, yeah, walk barefoot. If you were really a man, you'd go step on that dirty needle. Prove it. How tough are you? Oh my gosh. I like this. Okay. Look, it's time to play dirty. They do. I'm dead.
I just think it's just gross. I mean, one, it's not safe. You should not be walking around in public spaces barefoot, like just straight up. But people I hate, by all means, go for it. Please, please. Endanger yourself. Yes, please. We're okay with that. Ron DeSantis, Elon Musk, Donald Trump. Be barefoot in the street. Also, also, I am willing to bet.
I am willing to bet that the very kinds of people who would pointedly not wear shoes in public are also the kinds of people who won't take their shoes off when they walk into your house. I think this is a chance, if you want to, to read up on the creation of class and the creation of these signifiers. I'm always obsessed with the way...
things that are downscale over time are turned upscale. Like there used to be a time if you had an exposed brick wall in your house, it meant you were poor. And after a certain point, exposed brick walls were desired and became a sign of wealth. The open floor plan loft usually meant that you couldn't afford a single family home and now it's desired, right? There's a constant in America...
recycling and upcycling of trends and things from poor people to rich people. I'm obsessed with that. It's always tied to race, but this is actually part of that for me. It also, I guess, the barefoot trend, which is so ludicrous, and all trends are shallow inherently, right? But there's something here that just feels so threadbare.
And I just – to me, it feels like this intersection of late capitalism collides with this crisis of celebrity. We don't really have celebrities in the same way that we used to, you know, in terms of the like –
A-list. Julia Roberts, George Clooney. The George Clooney era. The juggernauts. Right. Where it felt like, I don't know, there was something about that caliber of fame and celebrity where it felt like even with the trends, there was something to offer. And it just feels like there's nothing. It's like celebrity culture on fumes. I'm like, Barefoot Boys, that's what you got for us. You know what I mean? All right. So like the most Shawn Mendes can give us is his friend walking barefoot. And that's how you stay relevant. Yeah.
It seems as if like in this era of fractured monoculture and celebrities everywhere, they're giving you less actual product, but more things to just stay in your feeds. And that can be tiring. Like that can be tiring. It is tiring. And it's when you compare this to Meg Thee Stallion's huge trend of Hot Girl Summer, which was about embodying yourself. And that was real. Being sexy, being in the public, going back outside. And particularly like a black woman embodying her body. Exactly.
These things are not the same. Like we should not be comparing Meg Thee Stallion's Hot Girl Summer with Jacob's Barefoot Boy Walking. And it just is like mediocrity. I'm just laughing at the fact that like white boys in Brooklyn are going to be walking barefoot through Williamsburg after they gentrified it from- I love it. Again, get out there. Go for it, buddy. Take off those socks. You know, like we were like touch grass. I'm like, step on glass. Don't touch grass. Step on glass.
Put that on a t-shirt. Put that on a t-shirt. Okay, I think we're there. All right, well, listeners, thank you for being on this ride with us. And thank you to the poet Saeed Jones for giving us a word just then. But if there are trends that you see emerging this summer that you're like, huh? Or if there are things you just don't understand, like why Sam doesn't wear deodorant, et cetera, et cetera. See y'all.
I'm telling you, in that moment, you set the course of the rest of your year. We are going to be talking about, I'm telling you, I know how this goes, Sam. You have chosen a path for yourself. Look at you. All right. Well, let's take a break. But stay tuned. We'll be right back with more Vibe Check. Vibe Check.
This message is brought to you by McDonald's. Did you know only 7.3% of American fashion designers are Black? Well, McDonald's 2024 Change Leaders Program is ready to change the face of fashion. The innovative program awards a monetary grant to five emerging Black American designers and pairs each with an industry professional to help them elevate their brands.
I know specifically and distinctly how McDonald's can support and empower not just black Gen Z, but black people. My first job was McDonald's. I learned a lot there about customer service and how to relate to people. I still love that place and go there very often. Look out for the change of fashion designers and mentors.
at events like the BET Awards and the Essence Festival of Culture. And follow the journey of the 2024 McDonald's Change Leaders on their Instagram page, We Are Golden.
Here's an HIV pill dilemma for you. Picture the scene. There's a rooftop sunset with fairy lights and you're vibing with friends. You remember you've got to take your HIV pill. Important, yes, but the fun moment is gone. Did you know there's a long-acting treatment option available? So catch the sunset and keep the party going. Visit pillfreehiv.com today to learn more. Brought to you by Veve Healthcare.
All right. We are back and we're going to switch gears and talk about something not fun at all, but it's important. So we're going to discuss it. Talking about Florida. We have on the show before talked about some of the really, really harmful policies coming out of Florida right now. But this week, I want us to look at all of it holistically and talk about the fate of the one man behind all of this drama,
current Florida governor Ron DeSantis. He is set to announce his run for the presidency next week or by the end of this week, but it feels like he's been running from Florida for at least a year now. You've all been seeing what we've been seeing. Currently in Florida, DeSantis has signed bills that ban children from gender-affirming care.
Thank you.
He's limited immigrants' access to health care. And lest we forget, he started a fight with Disney that has so far cost his state billions of dollars and possibly thousands of jobs. I want to talk about what all of that means in the context of Ron DeSantis announcing his run while political watchers are already saying he's dead in the water.
What the hell? How do we feel when we see this juxtaposition, Zach and Saeed? He's done a lot to convince his base to vote for him, but it hasn't worked for him, and yet real people are still hurt. Yeah, I get confused.
confused by Ron DeSantis because I don't know what type of Republican he is and who he's trying to be. So he's in a really complicated position because Donald Trump continues to lead the Republican Party and still has a very fervent base. And he never stops leading, even after the insurrection. Exactly. He led that. He led afterwards. He'll lead the next insurrection probably. You know, that man loves chaos and trying to take down democracy as we know it.
Ron DeSantis, you know, is a politician traditionally. He was a congressperson out of Jacksonville, Florida. He rose to become governor. And he's become like the most famous person since, I don't know, Jeb Bush to be the governor of Florida.
But what he's not fully is Donald Trump. He doesn't have the same MAGA base as Donald Trump, but he tries to kind of do drag as Donald Trump a little bit while also fighting with Donald Trump a lot. So we don't really know who he's going after. The Never Trumpers do like him, but they also don't think he could ever be president really. And then the MAGA folks will never go to him because Donald Trump is Donald Trump and running. So-
I don't really know the game he's playing besides destroying people that look like us, our lives in Florida. It's like he's trying to play a game, but all of those things that we've listed, they hurt real people. And it's like, it seems as if he's trying to make up for his lack of Donald Trump charisma with just legislation. But it is violent. Yeah. Typically a traditional politician, not someone like a business person who decides to get into politics just so they can run for president, which...
is now something we're seeing, not just in the United States, all over the world. What I'm trying to say is that typically someone who's already in office or has been in office for some time, when they decide to run for, let's say, president, they would tout their legislative public policy victories. They would say, look at what I did for the taxpayers, the working class, look what I did for whatever.
And this is true for Democrats or Republicans or independents. They would point to the things they got done as proof that when they are given more power, they will be able to do more things for more Americans, right? What is, to me, unusual, at least, I'm not a political science expert, but what feels odd about Ron DeSantis, though, is that he's using public policy in the state of Florida kind of the way Trump used Trump.
Twitter, you know, going into the White House, which is to say, using it to create his own reality. These are not legislative victories. He's just, you know, he has full control of both houses in Florida, so he's just ramming it through, you know, and it's not making people's lives better. No. Well, and pretty much all the things that I listed...
won't actually be implemented yet because they're going to be caught up in court for years. They're going to be caught up in court for years. All of the things he's doing around bathroom access and school curriculum and immigration, uh,
The ACLU and lots of other folks are already suing. The fight with Disney has gone to court. It won't be over for years. What is also maddening about DeSantis' strategy these last few months and years is he knows this stuff won't work, and he still does it anyway because he wants to get those Fox News headlines out.
Yeah, and can I underscore one element? So the package that Ron DeSantis just signed is called the Let Kids Be Kids package. And we've talked about before the kind of rhetorical trick that so many fascists are trying to do where they're saying like, well, we're passing these policies to protect our children when, as we say again and again, they don't care about your kids. They don't care about their kids.
This is a part of an escalation. And as soon as they get bored with bullying kids, they immediately move on to bullying trans adults. And in this policy, if this does come into law, and like you said, go through all the court systems and all that kind of stuff, adult trans people in the state of Florida would need to obtain written consent on a form adopted by two oversight boards.
whose members were appointed by Ron DeSantis in order to get their help. Which means they don't have to be medical professionals. Exactly. They're just friends of Ron DeSantis. Exactly. And this is in the current legislation as a part of the Let Kids Be Kids legislative package. You know, they're already going after it.
And Saeed, I love how you're framing this as he's treating Florida like Twitter a la Trump because what is actually happening, and I think the real violence that's happening out of what he's doing is the cultural reactions we're seeing. So to Sam's point, a lot of these laws are going to get tied up in the legislative bodies and the legal systems and they will be put to a stop or pause for a little bit. But that does not mean that the people of Florida will not embody them themselves and try to enact them themselves.
on the people. And we're seeing moments of that around the country where people are policing bathrooms more. They're calling out people. They're attacking drag queens. They're showing up in Columbus with guns at drag shows. And these are all cultural productions of fear-mongering that we're seeing out of Florida right now.
Well, and this is the thing. I think political watchers are saying, well, Ron DeSantis is already dead in the water. He's never going to beat Trump. So perhaps we don't have to worry about this so much. But what Ron DeSantis has done is unlocked a playbook that certain parts of the country are going to use. You know, so the ACLU has kept track of all the anti-queer bills across the country. There have been more than 50 introduced bills.
this year already. And they will do it more as they see folks like Ron DeSantis keep pushing this stuff. And so it's almost as if like...
He's opened a Pandora's box. Whether he is president or not, he has given parts of the far right the license to antagonize an entire group of people. And so whether he wins a primary or not, you've still got women and men in Florida policing bathrooms, policing kids' bodies, and it's spreading. And I wonder—
what we do about that. You know, I'm less concerned about Ron DeSantis, but it's like, how do we put the shit back that he's unleashed? Especially because to me, it feels, I'm trying to, I'm trying to really be careful. Yeah. But it feels to me that intentionally or unintentionally, Ron DeSantis has turned his state into
essentially into a neo Jim Crow state. I mean, think about it, right? Like colored and white bathrooms, water fountains, books. Yeah, I mean, all of these new policies often have like direct analogies to a lot of different Jim Crow. And it all sounds, I know it often sounds ridiculous and laughable, but I'm here to tell you at one point in US history in the state of Mississippi, it was illegal for a black person to beat a white person playing chess.
Sit with it. But it's because all of this is indicative and symptomatic of the broader atmosphere. They're trying to change reality. Like you said, whether these laws and policies actually make it into the law books or they're stalled in courts, it's like the words are out there. And particularly, I mean, think about it. If you're a young person, if you're a kid-
you know, trying to figure out your identity and all this kind of stuff. It's like just hearing, just hearing the adults around you, just kind of seeing the headlines. It's really, really scary. And we know that queer young people, black trans people are disproportionately at risk for suicide, mental health crises, you know? And so I just think really what Ron DeSantis is trying to do is he's trying to kill off
an entire portion of his own state's population as a campaign strategy for a failed campaign. For a failed campaign. It's already failed. I do wonder what's the best way to approach all of this. You know, the NAACP advised this week against travel to Florida. You know, the largest and most historic Black organizing group in the country has said, don't even go there anymore. What do we think will work, you know, beyond Ron DeSantis to just kind of
pull things back, especially when it comes to the way people in this country have felt like they're allowed to treat trans people. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know either, but I've seen moments in which I'm like, that's the beginning of something. So a version or a moment of this was this week with Ellie Dodgers, who took on Ron DeSantis' point of view and said, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, which is a very famous charity group that came about in the HIV AIDS epidemic in the
the 80s and 90s, could not be at Pride Night for the Dodgers game, which is wild to ban drag queens. After they had announced that they wanted to honor this group on their Pride Night, then there was backlash from Marco Rubio and others, and they pulled back the honor and said they can't come anymore? Exactly. It's ridiculous. But now they've reversed it, and now they're coming, and they're being...
So we're seeing here in LA the creep of these very fascist ideas into Los Angeles, literally down the street from my house. And we're seeing pushback. So people should push back where they can. - Often there's a tendency when something in the South or something in a rural state or in a state like Florida or Mississippi or Texas, you see a lot of people who don't live in those regions, who don't live in those places,
kind of try to outsource or distance themselves from the bigotry. - It's not us, it's them. - Yeah, and you know, a lot of the rhetoric is, oh, well, you should just leave. Everybody can't leave. Everyone can't afford to leave. No one should have to leave if they don't want to leave a state. But also I guess, I think the only solution to save all of our lives is to kill it at the root.
This is why confronting January 6th direct head-on was so important. And prosecuting. This is why, for example, taking Access Hollywood, it was such a crucial and missed opportunity for us to head off a lot of harm and violence. Because if you don't kill it at the root, it spreads. And my goodness, there are a lot of seeds germinating. And I just think like –
What's happening in Florida is happening and will continue to happen across the country and in places that you may think because you're in California, oh, we're good. It's a blue state. No. We see how quickly this spreads like wildfire. So I think it is really important to loudly, vocally, financially take on Ron DeSantis and his supporters for these policies in every way we can because I don't think it's like, well, we can contain it to Florida. I don't think that's like possible.
And, you know, it's never just Florida. It's never just one politician. All of these things are bigger than you think they're going to be before you know it. Just this week, Ron DeSantis also alluded to should he become president, ensuring a
a conservative Supreme Court majority for as long as possible. He has said seven to two. That's what he wants. So this thing is big. And I don't know, I guess my hope in this conversation is to have folks realize whatever happens with his run for president, which he announces this week or next, that can't be the only thing that we look at and observe and fight against because it's bigger and it's not stopping. When he does eventually drop out of
of the presidential race. What's gonna happen is that legacy media will move on. Legacy media will no longer be as interested in Ron DeSantis. And that also means that they are going to stop covering a lot of these issues regarding immigration, trans people, schools. It's not gonna get the same legacy media scrutiny, but we cannot forget.
Media, those producers and executives, they are going to move on as soon as there's like a bigger dog in town. But I do think it's really important for us as citizens, as people, as family members, as neighbors to continue to say, what's going on over there? I know y'all don't care, but we still care about these policies. To your point, Sam, that it's not just about this election. It's not just about this campaign.
Everything Ron DeSantis has been trying to do in Florida, Greg Abbott is trying to do in Texas. He's just not as good at publicizing it. You know, like there is a lot to watch. Keep your eyes open, y'all. And to Sam's point, there have been over 50 bills across this country and there have been hundreds in the past few years. So it's not just Florida. It's not just Texas. They happen in Illinois. They're happening in New York.
They may not be going as far, but the seeds are getting planted in every state. So watch where you live and look at the dockets of your current electorate and see what they're talking about. So just one more example, because I do think
I think the tide of these bills can feel like, and I think I did literally use the language of wildfire, like this conflagration that can't be stopped. But the people behind it, like it is weirdly finite, which gives me hope. So the Washington Post just this morning published a new story from Hampton.
Hannah Nattinson. And basically the headline is Objection to Sexual LGBT Content Propels Spike in Book Challenges. And they did some research. And it's like, as we know, there have been like hundreds, right, of these bills and books being pulled and everything like this. This reporter was able to track it down. Quote, an analysis of book challenges from across the nation shows that the majority of these book challenges were filed by just individuals.
11 people, 11 people. And so that to me, when I think about Ron Descends, it's easy for me to feel scared and just feel like, God, there are legions and legions of these people who are doing such harm, but actually, no, I actually think it can look like that. They're just more persistent and louder.
They're more persistent and louder. And so there are far many of us. Yeah, you must be as persistent and as loud as they are. So maybe that's the guidance in this conversation. Be persistent, be loud. And it has been that way forever. If you look at the group, A Million Moms, that has made a lot of news over the past 10 years, which is the big anti-LGBT group that's supposed to represent a million moms, there was less than 100 people in that group.
But yet they got treatment by Fox, NBC, everybody, like they were millions of people. So do research. Fact check the fact checkers that you're watching on TV and really show how big these people actually are because they're not that big most of the time. Yeah. Anywho, I've had enough of Ron DeSantis. For now, we're going to take a break, bring the vibe back up. Don't go anywhere, listeners. We'll be right back.
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All right, we are back. And of course, before we end the show, we'd like to share something that's helping each of us keep our vibes right this week. Sam, you want to get us started? Yeah, I want to tell all of you to go listen to the new album from one of my favorite artists of all time. Her name is Emily Kane, K-I-N-G, crown for Kane.
And I've loved her music for over a decade. Her new album is called Special Occasion. And it's just some beautiful singer-songwriting. I tell folks who don't know her work, it's like, imagine if India Arie and Sheryl Crow were wrapped up in one body and even better than themselves. I've never thought of her that way. This is Emily King's music. I just, it's so good.
Every song on this album is great. The song Metal, you can dance with it in your car, but she's just good stuff. I actually had the chance to go to one of her shows in LA this weekend, and she's one of those artists where all of her fans have good vibes, and they come together, and it's just even more good vibes. There's a kind of positivity in her music, whether she's singing about love or heartbreak or whatever. It just, I don't know, it boosts the mood. Emily Kane, the album is called Special Occasion. Trust me, it
It's good. I love it. I love that. She's great. She is actually wonderful. Zach, what's your recommendation for the week? I'm embarrassed to share this, but I have to. And it is the new season of Selling Sunset on Netflix, which is just... I had to let go of them. Really? I let go of them. And then I had a flight from New York to LA really late on Friday. And I downloaded the whole season just in case I was needing a break from like a crazy week in New York. And...
And these women delivered the season. Chris Shell is now queer. They brought in Nick Cannon's baby mama. As she finds out that Nick Cannon's having more children outside the marriage. It is just everything. And these women are delusional and rich and just appalling.
And the houses are so ugly. They're so ugly. This house is $57 million, but all of the surfaces are hard, mean, and cold, and nothing is comfortable. Have no personality. And you're on a cliff. Everything about this is fake, but you watch the show and you're like, all of
this is scripted. None of this is real. And it's so like unreal that they've already filmed the next few seasons and do a teaser at the end of the season. So anyway, if you need a break from reality, watch Selling Sunset. And it actually, I read, it boosts tourism to LA. More people in UK now come to LA on vacation because of the show. Lord, who are these people and keep them away from me? That's why people walk around LA barefoot. Right? Yeah.
There we go. We figured it out. We figured it out. Oh, my goodness. Saeed, what's keeping your vibe right? My recommendation, it's going to have to come with some coffee outs. But last night, my friend Isaac and I went to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. That raccoon, yo, it gets to you. Now, listen.
If seeing animals in cages, if the idea of, I mean, obviously this is like science fiction, so like animal crazy mean experiments from a mad scientist. If the thought of that makes you uncomfortable, I think you should trust that feeling and maybe not see this movie. But I really enjoyed the movie. I think it's actually one of the best Marvel movies in a long time.
I think it's one of the first Marvel movies in a long time where I cared about what was happening the entire film. I cared about the stakes. Because as I said to Isaac, I was like, "You know, in the end, seeing someone, or in this case a group of people, fight to try to save a friend, or in their case, a chosen family member, will always be more compelling than seeing someone fight to save a world."
It just is. You know what I mean? And I just, I don't know. I mean, I've loved the Guardians movies and I hate Chris Pratt. So for me to be recommending this movie, I hope you understand that it's like a testament to how good he is as this character. But the whole cast is...
Good. I loved it. I saw it last week and I really, I'm not the biggest fan of Marvel because I think they've actually decimated the film industry. And I remember you mentioned it and I thought, I was like, you know, Sam really doesn't like these movies. I don't really like Marvel. And he spoke well. Yeah. Here's why it worked for me. It worked for me
It worked for me because Chris Pratt wasn't necessary to make it a good film. What made the film good is just getting the raccoon's backstory. And it was told with like a lot of care. It's hard to overstate the way that they really humanized these CGI animals to tell a story of loyalty and betrayal and friendship. And before you know it, you're crying. Yeah.
Over the CGI raccoon. Yeah. And like, you care for him. Right. If you don't want to cry, I would also say don't go see this movie. Well, it's funny. I saw Cameron at my little party at my house, which Zach has told everybody about. But we were talking about Guardians of the Galaxy and he was like,
I kind of am worried about Saeed seeing this movie too soon after what happened with Caesar. Isaac turned to me about five, and it's intense basically from the very beginning. And just as a good friend, he said, look, if we need to leave and just go hang out at the bar for the next few hours instead of watch this, we can do this. As I mentioned, I'm a Marvel nerd. So I knew a bit about,
of Rocket Raccoon's backstory, which is incredibly dark. And so I did the work. But yeah, but I was delighted. I think Marvel--
has lost its way generally. I just think a lot of these projects have been actually worse than mid. They've just actually been very kind of depressing to see all this money kind of being wasted on mediocre storytelling. And this felt like a great blockbuster. And I appreciated, I don't know, there's something about the catharsis of like an intense and emotional action movie. And you're a little exhausted by the end, but it felt good. It felt good to just see
see a movie and just be so emotionally engaged and kind of locked in and then you know by the end you're just like we did it together yeah and a very fun soundtrack very fun soundtrack what they're known for this part of Marvel is the music is so integral to the movies and how they use it to move story and the atmosphere around so I really want to see it I haven't had time to see it it looks amazing but it also is a great example of when CGI is used to originate characters I'm
really on board. I can do it. But when you're using it to create like a deja vu effect of a movie you've seen, it loses me. So Guardians is pretty strong, I think, as a franchise. It made me excited. It made me excited. I like that. All right. Those are our recommendations for the week. But friends, what are you feeling or not feeling? What's your vibe? If you're walking around barefoot, don't tell us. Just keep that to yourself. But otherwise, you can check in with us at vibecheckatstitcher.com.
Thank you listeners for listening to our very chaotic episode of I've checked this week. If you love the show and want to support us, please make sure to follow the show on your favorite podcast, listening platform and tell a friend, tell another friend, tell your mother, tell your brother, tell your sister, tell your lover, tell you they, them. I love it. Huge. Thank you to our producer, Chantel Holder, our long suffering producer.
And listeners, we want to hear from you. Don't forget, email us anytime, anyplace. We're at vibecheckatstitcher.com, vibecheckatstitcher.com. We'll see you next time.
Also, keep in touch with us on Instagram at Sam Sanders, at Zach Staff, and at The Ferocity. And use the hashtag VibeCheckPod. All right. Till next time, wear deodorant if you want to or not. I don't care. And Jacob Valorti, if you're listening, I know we said your name like three different ways this episode. But honestly, until you start wearing shoes again consistently, you're just going to have to cope. Goodbye. We'll see y'all next week. Bye.
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