Clock It with Symone & Eugene

There are fewer than 100 days until the midterms commence in November. Republicans are reported to have amassed more than half a billion dollars more than Democrats to spend for midterm campaigns and as a result, all eyes are on Democratic Party Chair Ken Martin. Symone and Eugene debate whether or not the DNC is in trouble, how they'd grade Martin’s tenure as chairman, and if Symone herself would even consider taking his position. One thing is for sure, a race that Democrats need to win this year is Michigan, which is why our hosts discuss the secret influencer campaign supporting Haley Stevens in her primary campaign. They also give their takes on The New York Times’ investigation into the hundreds of AI-generated health influencers infiltrating the wellness space.

Watch The New York Times' investigation into AI wellness influencers here.
Read Brandy Zadrozny’s report for MS NOW on secretly paid influencers in the Michigan Senate primary here.

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On this special episode of Clock It, Eugene and Symone welcome the sage advice and enlivening presence of Jenifer Lewis to the groupchat. The iconic “Mother of Black Hollywood” talks about being diagnosed with bipolar disorder in her 30s, surviving a harrowing fall in Africa, and her political awakening that began during the AIDS epidemic. She shares her unfiltered thoughts on President Trump’s “twisted and sick” administration and why her life is “now 10 percent show business and 90 percent activism." While she has entertained the masses on Broadway, TV, and the big screen, Lewis says the people must be unafraid in their political fight, as history is on the people’s side. “They can't kill our history, darling. They don't have that kind of power.”

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This week, Maryland Governor Wes Moore entered the groupchat. Fresh off the announcement that Maryland would hold a special session this August to focus on redistricting, the governor sounded the alarm on the attacks on our nation’s democratic principles. Republicans’ willingness to play dirty and change the voting power of minority communities is only making America poorer and morally bankrupt, according to Gov. Moore. “ I think that we have a real obligation,” he said, “to think about not just how do we correct for [President] Trump, but how do we actually build a society that's fair?” 

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From oyster farmer to progressive star to Democratic party pariah, Graham Platner has been on a bumpy ride. His campaign survived questionable Reddit posts, sexts outside his marriage and a Nazi tattoo, until this week's accusations of sexual assault hit the press. Symone and Eugene ask how all of these red flags could have been missed – or ignored – by the strategists behind his campaign. And they react to the photo of a Black woman on the D.C. Metro surrounded by the Patriot Front (or, “nasty little racists,” as Eugene calls them). “ These are fear tactics, people,” he adds. And to wrap up the show, Symone argues it’s a good thing Congressman Tom Kean was paid during the nearly four months he was being treated in a hospital for depression. But Kean and Senator Mitch McConnell (going on his fifth week of an unexplained absence) shouldn’t be out here voting against paid leave for other Americans.

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Despite feeling somewhat conflicted about the 4th of July and the semiquincentennial of the country this week, Eugene and Symone went looking for hope. They found it watching the crowds at Democratic politicians’ campaign stops. They heard it when reporters like MS NOW’s Maya Eaglin sent in tape from talking to people on the street. And they point to it in polling. Eighty-eight percent of the people Gallup spoke to in May said they can think of at least one reason to be optimistic about America right now. The most popular reason? People willing to stand up for what they believe is right. Our hosts find even more inspiration when they’re joined by legal scholar Melissa Murray, who’s written an annotated guide to the Constitution. Don’t be overawed by the Founding Fathers, she says. “They were just random guys who found themselves in a moment and thought their way out of it.” And though they were very, very flawed, we could look to them to help us make choices right now. “They were ordinary people living in extraordinary times, taking extraordinary risks, and, in the end, doing something that was extraordinary. We can all do that.”

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