Karina Soriano- I am here joined by Ivan Llata. My name is Karina Soriano, and we are going to be breaking down a little bit about what’s going on right now in politics. We are really going to be going over the points that we’re going to be showcasing a little bit more on today’s podcast : how have politics changed over the years, who will likely be the 2028 presidential candidates, are we going to be respectful of other people’s opinions, experience should be a factor on who runs for public office, not just finances. And we’ll basically be breaking that down. So, Ivan, do you want to introduce yourself?

Ivan- Hi, my name is Ivan. I’m a staff writer here at Talon Marks.

Karina- And this is your first podcast, right?

Ivan- Yes, correct.

Karina- Okay. Yeah, I’ve done this a couple times, but I get nervous too, so it’s all good. Let’s start with our first talking point, right? How have politics changed over the years?

Ivan- I mean, when I was in high school, I mean, it would just it would just if you’re a Republican, fine, or you’re a Democrat, fine, but it was never, it was never this day where we really had to spread hatred because somebody doesn’t like your opinion, they automatically hate you for it, you know?

Yeah, I get it. I think that—I think that now because we’re a little bit older, and we’re a little bit more aware about what’s going on, as far as politics go, it makes us a little bit more open to seeing what’s really happening on all sides.

Yes. And let’s not start like with misinformation as well. Now we’re living in an era of misinformation, right?

Yes.

So I think that’s how politics have changed over the years is that people started kind of, you know, the veil that was in front of them, they kind of just took that away. And they’re kind of showing their true colors. People are like, this is what I represent. This is who I am. You either like it or you don’t like it.

Yeah. And politics before used to be so finicky about things like that, right? Oh, you better not show that you’re like this, or you better not show that you’re like this, or that your opinion might be a little swayed this way. And you could actually insert a couple things here and there. But, you know, presidents would be looked down upon for, you know, this, like, say what happened with what happened with Marilyn Monroe.

Yeah, that, you know, like things like this, those times were such like, oh, no, like, Kennedy and all of that happening. Why? That was such an uproar at that time.

Yeah. And look at what we’re living in now. Look at everything. If you really disagree with somebody, I don’t want to respect you against that kind of thing, you know, or I’m actually labeled a sexist or a bigot or whatever, you know, or if you vote Republican and you know a Democrat, if the Republicans are going to call them the Democrat woke, that’s not right, you know?

Yeah. I mean, I don’t agree with all the DEI stuff, but I’m not going to just tell somebody who reports a Democrat these automatically woke, you know? I’m not going to do that, you know?

Yeah. I mean, I just try to stay in the center, and I get ridiculed for even trying to stay in the center.

I see what you’re saying.

Yeah. Well, obviously, I’m a Latina. I’m a very brown-skinned Afro-Latina, and I’m a woman. So I think that my opinions, what has happened now is that I find myself not really, both sides aren’t catering to me, you know?

Aren’t or are?

Are not.

Okay.

Both sides are not catering to people like me. You know, one side is trying to take my rights away, and the other side is not really trying to stand up for what we have to say.

Yeah. And if they are, it’s very much finance-based, you know?

Yeah.

So how likely will—oh, who will likely be the 2028 presidential candidates? For the Democratic side, just based on my opinion, I don’t know anything on the inside. I think Governor Newsom has a good chance.

Oh, yeah, that is going to—they’re basically setting them up for that. However, it also depends on how Prop 50 goes. If Prop 50 doesn’t go well, there goes the status. That’s just asking me, but.

Yeah. No, no, you understand. I think that, yeah, that he’s definitely in it for a Democratic candidate, for sure. And I feel like from our side, and from a lot of people’s perspective, he’s one of the only ones that could really challenge Trump up there, you know? And could put up a good fight.

Yeah, but if—yeah, but this is supposed to be Trump’s last run in the White House. But if, because supposedly this is his last chance, but who’s going to be for the other side, I have no idea. Probably his vice. More than likely.

Yeah, that most—more than likely will be it. You know, he’ll be spewing the same rhetoric as he has going on now. Not saying that, you know?

Yeah, but.

I’m not trying to be biased, but yes. I want you to—I want you to say previously how neither side is—is—is getting to you. What are you going to say for like, because there’s some—there’s some women who are—who are conservative, but also, because a woman who’s conservative, she’s a—she’s, shall we, shall we say a trap? Because she was conservative. That’s not right either, you know?

Oh, like a trad wife?

Huh? Is that what you’re saying? If a woman, if a woman votes conservative or Republican, she’s automatically a trap or.

Oh.

Yeah, or.

Yeah, no, I don’t believe that. I feel like everybody has their own views. With all due respect, that’s where the Democrats are, that’s what the Democrats are painting, are painting that picture. I don’t necessarily think that’s true. I think that a lot of Republican men make sure that they are with women who have the same views as them. So therefore they tend to sway Republican. And they tend to be wives and mothers and businesswomen and all of these things, right?

Yeah.

I feel like because sometimes their business allies sways them into that direction because they’re business, because they’re business owners, because they look at themselves in a certain way, then they automatically are like, oh, the Republican Party is for me.

Yeah.

You know? So I think that’s what’s going on a lot right now, especially what we’re dealing with is, I don’t know if you’ve seen this whole trad wife thing going on. And basically, a trad wife is a woman who stays home and she cooks and she cleans and she farms. That’s not cool. She takes care of her kids. This isn’t the 1950s or not even 80s anymore. You know what I’m saying?

Yeah.

That’s what a trad wife is. And it’s a big uproar on social media because these women are going online, kind of making a big name for themselves in online platforms, which means they’re getting paid for these things. They’re getting paid to show their life. And then they’re telling other women that this is the life that they should be living. But they’re financing, like they’re financing all of these things for themselves, because social media makes money. So at the end of the day, they’re still working.

Yeah.

But unfortunately, that’s the type of environment we’re living in right now. Just like how they want to pass that law about women not being able to have bank accounts. So that’s also.

Wow.

Yeah. So yeah. But going into that. So basically, I basically believe that a Democratic lead would be Gavin Newsom. And you agree with that?

Yeah, I agree with that.

So, you know, as far as the Republican lead, obviously, it’s going to be the vice president. Right now, I feel like they’re going to try to push that forward as far as the Republican agenda, because it’s somebody who’s already been there. It’s somebody who already knows everything that’s happening with Trump and kind of has the same beliefs as Trump. Speaking of Trump, there is no way he should be in the White House right now. And I say that because there is no way. Yeah, he has a degree or whatever in real estate, but that should not be a qualification enough to run for president. You have to have some degree in like some kind of like social, some social like, you know, you have to have some kind of like experience in like social issues, you know what I’m saying? Rather than just real estate, you know?

Well, I feel like because you should have at least one term from there. You have to have at least some political experience.

Yeah.

And for this dude to just walk in like he did eight or nine years ago, without any political experience whatsoever. This is before everything that went down. Without just to walk in here in 2016. And with no political experience whatsoever, I don’t believe in that.

Yeah.

You know?

Well, you have to see all the other presidents beforehand. They’ve, you know, gone to school. They’ve, you know, worked in politics. They’ve been mayors.

Exactly. Exactly. And we should, we should, they should have, they should, when now that I think about hindsight being 2020, there should have been a lot, some kind of law or kind of rule saying that you have to have at least some political experience. At least that’s what I believe.

Yeah.

Because you think that in like looking at it, coming in to a presidency with somebody who has no experience at all. It’s kind of hard for me to say something, to say something like that. Because for me, I know, I know someone who, who supports him and doesn’t support him. And I kind of like, well, I mean, I’m, I’m, I’m really afraid, afraid, afraid to have a conversation with, with, with my dad now. I’m really, I’m really afraid to have conversations with, with my friend, you know, cause, you know, cause the, the Republican Democrat, you know, it’s hard to, it’s hard to, it’s hard to have a conversation about politics nowadays.

Yeah, for sure. I feel like, um, it’s scary. It’s scary.

Yeah.

Because you’re afraid of what the other person might think about your opinion. And if your opinion doesn’t kind of go towards their direction, they’re going to cut you off. Right. Or they’re going to be like, Oh, like you’re not afraid anymore. That’s what I’m literally afraid of. Or, or I disown you cause you’re my son. But if you don’t agree with me, I disown you or something like that.

Yeah.

I’m really afraid of that. That’s, that’s what I’m really afraid of.

Yeah. Cause my dad supports Trump. And I also, and I also had a, had a friend of mine that supported, that supported the Democrats.

Yeah.

Yeah. So that makes, um, you know, I get that. I feel like this is why you’re kind of in the middle, right? You’re kind of in that space where I’m trying to be in the middle. I’m just literally trying to be in the middle, you know?

Yeah. And a lot of people will say that right now is not the time to be in the middle because of the way that like politics is really going. But I believe that, you know, what you’re doing is the best choice for you. It’s what works for you. It’s what works for your life. And people aren’t living how you’re living. People aren’t living in your shoes. They don’t understand, you know, what happens in your mind, what happens in your life, the stress that this brings to your life.

Yeah. And honestly, and I know, I know we’re kind of slipping off, kind of like off talking points here, but I did not vote because I couldn’t look myself in the mirror knowing that I voted for either one of them. Neither one of them did it for me. I didn’t vote. I did not vote at all.

And when you look at that, when you look at who you’re going to vote for, when you look at who best represents the points that matter for you, what would you say those are?

Points that matter to me are like, just like gun control, obviously, because of the gun violence.

Yeah.

And just public education. And like, education, I mean, education. And also, the, also, how, which party is going to help, is going to help the mostly disabled because obviously I’m disabled, so you know.

Yeah. And then I’m sure that’s a big, that’s a big issue, right? People who are going to come in. And I’m going to be honest, when it came, in terms of the disabled, neither side gave a definitive answer, neither when it came to gun control.

Yeah. I mean, I mean, look at what’s happening now. I mean, can we just like, I mean, I don’t care who, I don’t care who, I mean, what, I mean, it seems to me like it doesn’t matter whether Republican or Democrats in office, gun violence has been happening and it’s really heartbreaking, you know?

Yeah, for years.

Yeah. And it doesn’t seem to matter if a Republican is in office or a Democrat is in office. I mean, I’m not going to see, I’m not going to see that they’re both, both on the take, but.

And it’s affecting both parties, right?

Yeah.

You’re seeing affecting everybody.

Yeah. It’s affecting children, it’s affecting mothers, it’s affecting fathers, it’s affecting everybody.

Yeah. And I feel like you, when you ever, you bring that up, especially to a Republican party member, it’s very much like, oh, like, you’re trying to comfort us, or why would you, you know, we need more guns. But obviously, we know that’s not true. We obviously see the damage that it’s done. We see the damage it’s consistently doing. Personally, I’m anti-gun, but at the same time, I know somebody who owns a gun, but.

Yeah, you know, I feel like we have people in our circles that obviously, you know, have like armor and have things to be able to protect themselves. And I’m not saying that that’s wrong, but I’m also knowing that the people that I know end up having it in a safe way, you know?

Yeah.

End up taking the classes, end up having to, like, gun safety is important. And I feel like that’s very, very key, right? How important gun safety is. I mean, a lot of these people don’t believe in that. They don’t believe that gun safety should even be a thing, which is astonishing, to be quite honest. I mean, if you can’t even, I mean, this is probably out of the book here, if you can’t even park your car correctly, you shouldn’t even own a gun. Maybe I’m wrong there, but.

No, what you’re saying.

Yeah.

You’re like, if you can’t even read the manual to kind of.

Yeah.

Yeah, I see, I see what you’re saying. And if you, in the story, I’m sorry, if you have arthritis in your arm or hand, you shouldn’t even own a gun.

Yeah.

Why can’t, why can’t people like, uh, diagraph, uh, telegraph kind of, it seems kind of simple to me, but I don’t know why, why can’t it, why isn’t it simple to partition with the Republican and Democrat? I don’t, I don’t get it.

Yeah, I see. And then also we grew, we’ve grown up in a space where we see gun violence on the regular.

Yeah.

You know, so, and you wanted to, going back to our talking points, you did want to talk about how are we going to be respectful of others’ opinions, people’s opinions?

I hope so. I mean, like, I hope so. It’s like, what do you mean by that?

Um, as far as respectful as going to back and forth. Going back and forth. If you’re, if you’re, if you’re like, if you’re, if you vote, if you voted for Trump or any kind of Republican, you’re automatically a sexist or a bigot or a pig, you know? It’s just, just without even, without even knowing the person. And like I said, if, if you vote Democrat and that this person is automatically woke, like I said, without even knowing the person, you know?

Yeah.

It’s like, we need it, we need, I just hope that we can, we can have an opinion and be respectful about it, you know? We need to call, we need to call BS when, when either, when either side, when either side does it, not, not, not just one side, you know?

Yeah.

Both, you know, we need to come, we need to find the common ground. That’s what, that’s what I’m trying to say, you know?

Yeah. But I wish, I wish I could be, I could be more, more clear about it.

No, you’re, that’s pretty clear. You’re saying you want to find, like, that common ground between both. It used to, it used to be that, that way when I was in high school. It was, remember that? When people were voting or people were going up there and speaking on each other, it wasn’t speaking badly about them in that way. You’re speaking about their families or speaking about their wives or their children or things. I feel like those things were very much, like, don’t touch those topics. Don’t do that. And I feel like with this presidency, all that went out the window and obviously, you know, people are just going to spew their hate, unfortunately. And I feel like that’s the only thing I—it really saddens me. It’s, it’s, it’s the simple stuff too. Like, when, like, when you see, when you see on television and with today’s day, because what you see on television and you blog about it, like, like, like, for example, Ahsoka. I, I saw those, like, for the first two or three episodes and it literally made me fall, made me fall asleep.

Oh, why?

And I, and I posted, I posted it and, and, and people, and people from, and people that say that people are literally calling me, calling me, oh, you’re, you’re, you’re, you’re a racist. You’re, you’re, you’re anti, you’re homophobic and you’re, and you’re this and that. I mean, no, dude. I just, I was trying to simplify it. It made me fall asleep. I didn’t find it exciting at all.

Yeah. So it wasn’t really the storyline for you. It was more that it was just not exciting.

Yeah.

It wasn’t about it being a woman. It wasn’t about, um, you know, her being a brown woman or it wasn’t any of the things that people automatically would start attacking you for. Right. It was basically you’re saying the storyline was not exciting to me and I fell asleep.

Yeah. And, and as soon as I posted that, people, people get a bit ignored and said, oh, you’re, you’re a homophobic. You’re a, you’re, you’re sexist. And.

Yeah.

Yeah. Because especially the fan base will start going after you and kind of thinking that you’re stating that because of their, um, you know, what the, the, the topics that people are already looking at as far as that show, you know, and them saying, oh, well, it’s the first of this kind and it’s the first because of the, you know, the woman aspect and it’s first because of, you know, the storyline and all of these things. And yeah, they’re going to attack you for it, unfortunately, because they’re going to think that you’re attacking it because of those points when you’re just basically saying, I’m a fan of the franchise and this was boring to me.

Yeah.

Yeah. So I get it. And I feel like that’s what politics, right? You’re going back to the whole politics thing. I feel like that’s the way people are looking at it. If you have somebody, if you were to say something about Trump and you were to say it on social media and it could be something as simple as, oh, like that suit he was wearing was not flattering at all. And people would be like, oh, like you’re a big hater, you know, they’ll start coming after you. Right. And they’re going to start attacking you in some way on social media because of your perspective, because they think that you’re being a quote unquote hater or quote unquote, like, you know, you know, anti whatever it might be.

Yeah.

So I get it. You know, I don’t feel like there’s going to be any end to this anytime soon. Even when he leaves, even if he leaves in 2028.

Yeah.

I think that it’s going to stay around for a while. I feel like he’s opened the gateway to that kind of thought process. You know, he’s opened the gateway to people. The one thing that I have seen that has come out from this is people aren’t hiding who they are anymore.

Yeah.

And I think that at least we’re getting to see people’s true colors because people are not hiding anymore, you know. But that’s still also very scary, because when you no longer hide, you’re very upfront. You’re very like in people’s faces. You’re more subjected to use hate because you believe in that.

Yeah. I mean, I know we’re going off talking points again. I mean, I did not I did not agree with everything Charlie Kirk said or did, but it’s just wrong to wish death on somebody. I mean, it’s just wrong to wish death on somebody.

Yeah.

And when I saw people on social media singing, dancing over it, that was that was not right. I mean, like, well, you know, I feel like you’re—we’re talking about people who also, you know, his fan base or his followers who are very much spewing hate as well.

Yeah.

So I feel like, yeah, wishing death upon somebody is wrong. That’s never right.

Yeah.

But also, you know, trying to say that slavery is OK or trying to say that, you know, women shouldn’t be in certain spaces or especially, you know, me, brown women, black women shouldn’t, you know, have a voice. And we’re belittled for, you know, the people or who we are is also wrong.

Yeah.

You know, because obviously we’ve gone so far just to go back. It’s really like, I mean, it’s going to sound weird. Shouldn’t we shouldn’t we just left them alone and just let them live that way and like just like. That the higher power judge, if you know what I’m saying.

I see what you’re saying.

Yeah.

You know, but then again, if this is going to go sway and to the all this. But then again, like the person who has been arrested for that crime, obviously, I don’t know if you saw who he is, but he is, you know, a white male. And I feel like there was also that big conspiracy behind that, like, oh, automatically it was probably somebody brown. Like what happened in Kennedy, right?

Yeah.

Yeah. You know, like that. So, yeah, I feel like like I said before, I don’t feel like this is going to come to an end anytime soon. I feel like going into the presidential candidates and going into, you know, the voting and going into that space, it’s going to be really tough this time around. It’s going to be way more stressful than it was before. I guess I’m going to continue this transition and not voting for what we’re going to do. What are you doing? You’re just going to spread hate or.

Well, I don’t feel like that’s automatically true. I feel like what’s happening now is that the presidential candidates are trying to meet Trump where he’s at.

Yeah.

So they want to meet him with him, his same energy. So that’s the whole thing. Like you want to come at me like this. Well, then I’m going to come at you like this because this is the only way that my opinion is going to get across. And I’m going to be able to, you know, have your respect in a way.

OK.

So, yeah.

Yeah. Any other points that you want to touch on?

No, I didn’t. Yes. Yes. Something to add.

No, I think that we covered everything. I think that you got to learn a little bit more about me and I got to learn a little bit more about you. And that was the whole point.

Yeah. I mean, like I said, you and I may have disagreed here, but that’s the video. I don’t want to go back to where we could disagree and just be like, still be friends, you know, and still give each other a hug, so to speak.

Yeah. I mean, that’s what I was literally afraid of.

Yeah.

Yeah. No. You know, for me, I’m like, I’m in a space where I want to hear your opinion. I know a lot of people who voted for Trump and a lot of people who are Republican. And I do also know a lot of Democrats and I know a lot of liberals.

Are they good dudes? Are they good dudes? Are they, you know, because both sides are like.

Some of my best friends. If we vote for the other side, you’re an asshole. I’m sorry to curse here, but.

It’s OK.

One of my best friends is a Republican. So, you know, he’s a businessman. He’s done really good for himself and he’s very much, you know, and one of my husband’s best friends, a couple of them are Republican. They work for Newsmax and Fox. I mean, we’re kind of in this space where we accept it for what it is. You know, we go to those parties and we know that people who work for Fox and Newsmax are going to, you know, have their own perspective. I just want to go back to the day we had different opinions and just give each other a hug. You know, I just want to go back to those days, but like I said, it doesn’t seem like those days are coming back anytime soon.

No, I don’t feel like it. And like I said, I really much prefer somebody with an actual political experience than to say that somebody who has a degree or experience in real estate. To me, to me, like, you have to have more qualifications than real estate, you know?

Yeah.

It says president that you could be like somebody like The Rock and run for president. Yes, I’m a wrestling fan, but because I’m a wrestling fan, just because I’m into wrestling or somebody that used to be into wrestling like The Rock, I’m not going to automatically vote for him because he was into wrestling, you know?

Well, look at Arnold Solskjaer.

Yeah.

Yeah, but he wasn’t like this dude, in a way.

No, but he still, you know, ran for office like in a way that for us, like government in a way, right? So I think that we’re in this space where like money talks, right? And it’s unfortunate because that’s the trajectory we’re going to go on for a while.

That sucks.

Yeah, I know. Well, it was great having this talk with you, Ivan.

Gee, thanks. I was really nervous.

It’s okay. You did great.

Thank you.

Yeah. Okay, signing off. Bye.