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Gaslit Nation Transcript 30 June 2021 Why Are The Democrats Keeping Louis DeJoy? https://www.patreon.com/posts/why-are-keeping-53098447 Intro Music: “I Can’t Change” by Danny Golden: https://open.spotify.com/track/62Y5aVtY4DCjus0ynnIRDg Danny Golden: I can’t seem to see the forest for the trees Bent down on the floor and I’m bent down on my knees Might be what you want but I know I’m not what you need Sarah Kendzior: I'm Sarah Kendzior, the author of the bestselling books, The View from Flyover Country and Hiding in Plain Sight. Andrea Chalupa: I'm Andrea Chalupa, a journalist and filmmaker, and the writer and producer of the journalistic thriller Mr. Jones, about Stalin's genocide, famine in Ukraine. And the opening song you heard ... Oh, sorry. Do you want to say what the show's about? Sarah Kendzior: That would be good, yes. This is Gaslit Nation, a podcast covering corruption in the United States and rising autocracy around the world. Andrea Chalupa: And the opening song you heard is called “I Can't Change” and it's by Danny Golden. Danny Golden is an Austin-based singer/songwriter, a rock and roller and a lifelong searcher for truth and people to share it with. He says the artist's job is to investigate the depths of our world and bring some meaning back to the surface. His projects have included members of Austin music staples like the Black Pumas, White Denim, and Shakey Graves. Shakey Graves is a really cool name for a band. Andrea Chalupa: Golden's 2021 EP Changes is his first release in almost two years. It's a lifetime look at a man coming to terms with themself and struggles, both inner and external. It kicks off with a cymbal crash and a wall of guitar sound as Golden begins to examine a descent into a painful period with the single “I Can't Change”. It's a search filled with dead ends and “I Can't Change” documents the songwriter grasping for clarity. We can all relate to that. Andrea Chalupa: After a fruitless search for answers outside of himself, Golden finds himself forced to look inward, and the music reflects a reckoning from this place of self-honesty. This most recent collection of songs is another powerful statement in Golden's growing discography: bold and broken, but putting itself back together one chord at a time. Andrea Chalupa: He goes on to create a statement for why he submitted this song: "Creating this song helped me get through a difficult period of depression, and releasing it has given me a chance to hope that my art touches the hearts of listeners who need some light in the dark. A lot of elements put me in that place, mainly the destruction of a very unhealthy relationship and the emotional fallout from that, but also very much the daily struggle of trying to exist in Trump era America and the search for positivity and meaning amid that." Andrea Chalupa: "Huge fan of Mr. Jones," thank you very much, "and the podcast." Thank you. "Your work is so important and incredibly well done, and I'm proud to be a patron." You are our supporter on Patreon. Wow! That is not why we chose you. We chose you because the song is excellent. Sarah Kendzior: [laughs] Andrea Chalupa: We want to say that, Danny, personally speaking, I listened to your song and I read this and it was inspirational. You helped me center and get focused in my own creative process currently, and I want to thank you for that. Andrea Chalupa: And I want to just say how grateful I am to our production manager, Karlyn Daigle, who came up with this idea to connect us with all the Gaslit Nation listeners out there through their art by featuring their songs. It is so needed, personally speaking. It is so wonderful. And it reminds us that we're all in this together and that we're all jumping out of bed and facing what we must face together. Andrea Chalupa: We're going to continue to do it because what we're doing matters and we matter, and art is a great, great way to resist and rage against the machine. We appreciate you, Danny, for your music. Thank you. Andrea Chalupa: Now let's get our little group of hobbits together and enter this journey of Louis DeJoy, who is the poster child of breaking up the country and selling it for parts. Louis DeJoy is, of course, the big time Trump donor who was installed deliberately as the postmaster general, as Trump was openly trying to steal the election in 2020. Andrea Chalupa: One way that Trump was telling us he was trying to do this was by deliberately slowing down the mail and he had Mr. Privatization Louis DeJoy to thank for that attempt. The mail did indeed slow down at a time when we were in a pandemic—a once in a century pandemic—and dependent on the mail in order to cast our votes. Andrea Chalupa: And so, this was part of the pressure cooker our democracy was under, was would they succeed with making sure that ballots didn't arrive in time? We obviously had to overcome this challenge, among many others that Trump presented along with his Kremlin friends to try to steal 2020. Andrea Chalupa: DeJoy is proudly trying to deteriorate our treasured US Postal Service with a very long, proud history, a postal service that people depend on for their social security checks, for their medicines. Rural areas depend on them. It's a lifeline, especially where you have limited internet. Andrea Chalupa: Louis DeJoy does not care about that. He cares about, first and foremost, making money and dodging accountability. Right now, he appears to be doing both. The FBI is currently investigating DeJoy for some shady political donations that he made. From Slate, I'll read from that now, just to give you an update. Andrea Chalupa: "Overlapping with the election controversy was DeJoy's role as a major Republican donor prior to his government service in a possible illegal straw donor scheme he allegedly orchestrated during that time. The Washington Post first reported on allegations by former employees of DeJoy's company, that he pressured workers to donate to Republican causes and then reimburse them via bonuses. All of this would be a clear violation of the law, and it is what the Department of Justice is reportedly investigating now after local law enforcement in North Carolina said it would not be moving forward with the case." Andrea Chalupa: [Sigh] So this whole pressuring employees to donate—which is political representation, it's putting your political voice out there—that reminds me so much of how Yanukovych tried to steal the 2004 presidential election in Ukraine. Part of that sweeping effort of Kremlin-backed election stealing in 2004 in Ukraine included pressuring employees to hand you over their ballots, and then using those ballots to stuff the boxes for Yanukovych. DeJoy did something very similar here. Andrea Chalupa: He currently remains the postmaster general. All of us thought when we were making phone calls and getting out the vote for Biden and Kamala Harris that one of the many things we would get with a Biden presidency was DeJoy being replaced by somebody who actually cares about preserving and improving and protecting the US Postal Service and making sure that we all get our mail on time, especially the checks we depend on, the medicines we depend on. Andrea Chalupa: That has not been the case. DeJoy is still there and it is a horrific, horrific testament to the fact that we have not been getting the accountability that we so sorely need to not only bring people to justice for their wrongdoing, but to ensure that they don't get away with their schemes, they don't get away with their damage, that people do not suffer in the process. Andrea Chalupa: Right now, we all remain vulnerable to DeJoy, because what is he going to do to our mail? How is he going to milk us for further profits? How is he going to increase prices? How is he going to deprive people of the connections they desperately need and depend on? Lives are literally at stake. This is not hyperbole. Literally, lives are at stake. Andrea Chalupa: I've noticed that I've been working around all the issues of slowed down mail myself. For instance, I walked two hours in the snow with a baby carriage to hand-deliver my updated voting status to the election board in New York city, because I didn't trust the mail that it'd get there in time. I had a week, but I didn't trust the mail that it'd get there in time. Andrea Chalupa: I recently sent out some checks. They did not arrive. I had to spend $90 canceling those checks, $90 using digital Venmo and other things to pay people. So I’ve been feeling it. So if I'm feeling it in New York City, I can't even imagine what people in more rural areas are experiencing. Andrea Chalupa: Let me tell you something, Biden administration and the Democratic Party, whatever people are feeling wherever they live across the country, that's reflected on you. DeJoy is reflected on you. All of the bad services he's providing, those are Biden services.