Bridget Todd
Appearances
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
What a fucked up time to be a young woman on the internet.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
There will be opportunities to go to Nazi marches in D.C. Ample, I'm sure.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Oh, my gosh. I mean, not to, like, I know you've already, you've probably talked about this when you did his episode, but, like, Dr. Phil taking teenagers up on stage and, like, asking if they had breast implants. Right. No. Yeah, this was, like, what was okay on, like, mainstream daytime television.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
When we talked about how much she regrets her wagon full of fat incident, I really think that what she regrets is making like a lot of speculation about her weight personally. I don't think she has any problem with the way that she has like foisted that same level of scrutiny about weight onto others.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I think that she is perfectly fine and in fact complacent in that dynamic that has been so unhealthy for so many people.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Probably my late mother, because she did tape Oprah's and she would watch them on VHS. I have so many like burned in my memory clips of Oprah being not great, but like I probably could not find them.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Like I think Nathan Lane has talked about how when him and the late Robin Williams were on the show, Oprah was really grilling him about his sexuality and that luckily Robin Williams stepped in to make a joke out of it. and take the heat off of him because he wasn't out. She did the same thing to Dennis Rodman.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Like she really, when it came to men and their sexuality, she did some like, I think we would look it back at some of those clips, the way that she was grilling these people and think like, well, that really wasn't cool. But all of those clips are so difficult to find.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Have you spoken like a true gaslighting narcissist, Robert?
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
If you ever want to like win an argument in a certain kind of group house, if like, you know what I'm talking about? Just be like, he's gaslighting me into taking up the garbage.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I saw one that said people that have ADHD can never pick a Halloween costume because there's too many choices. And then the reply on Twitter was like, damn, can't y'all do anything? Yeah.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Well, I actually think like it's incredibly like it's I completely it's like gross. It's toxic. I completely agree. But it's also so enticing. Right. Like I am like I'll give myself as an example. I've been a little down in the dumps, shall we say, since January 20th. And, you know, I like. You can feel very out of control. And there's so much happening that I really can't control.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Somebody coming in and saying, actually, you can control it. Don't be afraid because it's all in your head. And if you just did X, Y, Z or got right in this way, you can control it. That is so intoxicating. And especially as people feel out of control. Like, I get why people like Oprah turn to this because it works. And I have to say, like, I get why it works. I get why it's effective.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
It's like that episode of Rick and Morty when Rick goes to therapy and the therapist is like, I get that this is like flossing for you and it's like not exciting and it doesn't happen all at once and it's just boring maintenance. But like, that's the trick.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Like that's the magic is you do it a lot and you get small gains and maybe over the course of years you feel a little bit better consistently and like, ta-da, like people do want that magic solution and that magic bullet. I get why that's really enticing, but that's just not the way it works.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Yeah, when your kid actually dies of the cancer they had because their vibes were off, you can just be like, oh, he didn't want to live enough or whatever. It's like never the huckster's fault.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I need to know who wrote that and where they are now.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
That's when you know. It's like somebody was embarrassed by that and it was like, look at me pull my name down.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Yeah, I do want to give a plug to the documentary that she pulled out of because it did end up getting produced. It's called On the Record. It features Drew Dixon, who is this very iconic hip-hop producer who her entire career was almost derailed because of people like Russell Simmons. And so, yeah, I also agree that I think that when it comes to Oprah and these powerful men, I think that like...
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I understand why it lends itself to conspiracy theories because powerful, rich, famous people know each other. They work together. They're photographed with each other. That doesn't mean that Oprah had a direct hand in enabling Weinstein's sex crimes, but that's just how it works.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Oh my God, would you? There'd be pictures, there'd be screenshots, there'd be emails, timelines, the whole works.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Yeah, yeah. So there are documented connections with Oprah and men who turned out to be creeps who were not safe to be around.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
But why do you think people... obsess about these bullshit claims about her connection to people like Epstein when there are documented connections between her and people who were genuinely like, that is a smoking gun where she said this guy was safe and endorsed him and then he wasn't. Why do people focus so much on the ones that are bullshit?
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I remember it very clearly because my mother and my grandmother and I watched these episodes like it was a special family event to get together and watch Oprah in Africa. Like, y'all, this was a big deal. I remember this like it was yesterday.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
If that was your parent, you'd be like, let's keep an eye on it. He doesn't need to go home yet.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Well, this is exactly why I think the point that you two are making a moment ago is so salient, because I don't think that Oprah should have been involved in a school like this to begin with.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Like you cannot take extremely at risk criticism. girls who have been living in extreme poverty, it doesn't matter how nice the sheets are or how the chandeliers are. These are going to be girls who probably have problems. And it's like, of course, this is the kind of thing that's going to happen when they're all taken away from their support systems and their families and all of that.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I think it's the pinnacle of narcissism and vanity to be like, oh, well, certainly my money can foster an environment of safety for these girls. If you care so much, just give the money to people who know what they're doing, who are already doing this. Don't try to set up a school with your name on it. Like it's one of my biggest pet peeves.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
People who think like, oh, I've got money and my heart's in the right place. So I'll start my own nonprofit and it'll be it'll be in my image. And it's like, no, people have been doing this. People know what they're doing. There are people who specialize in working with at risk youth. Give the money to them. Like, don't do it on your own.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
And I really, there is a thing, this needs to be studied, wealthy people trying to open schools, like Kanye West doing it.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
There's something, I mean, I say this as a former educator where when you are an educator, everybody thinks they know how to do your job better than you. People who have never been in a classroom before, people who have never been involved in education before somehow are all, you know, would know exactly what to do.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
There's something about education that I think makes rich people who got successful in one lane feel like they could open a school or that they know how to do it. It's very frustrating. Yeah.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
But and having I remember so viscerally watching the Oprah and Africa specials. And again, like I want to give her grace because I get it right. Like it's like the most beautiful, precocious little girls in green uniforms and like dancing. smiling ear to ear, and it shot with that filter on it that everything looks kind of like the glazy filter. It was beautiful. I remember crying.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I get why this is more... why she would rather do this than just send money to somebody who's already doing it. But it goes back to that idea of like the thing that is boring and kind of like commonplace isn't what you want. You want your name on a school, girls in uniforms lined up smiling from ear to ear. Like that's the thing that gives you the warm fuzzies.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Oof. I have to say as someone who grew up in the church, so I can say this. Yeah. You can get like church folk to hand over money and believe anything. Like if you're like, I. Yeah.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
How are we all feeling? Oh, I'm honored to be part of this like mega episode.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I still think it has, like, I don't know. It's so weird. I find myself rooting for her. When I hear the thing about, like, the Haiti thing, I'm like, damn, I was rooting for you, Oprah. I wanted to be the voice of, like, no, guys, it's really complex and nuanced. But here's shit like that, and it's hard to say that. Yeah.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Yeah, you can listen to my podcast on iHeartRadio called There Are No Girls on the Internet. Check it out. And you can follow me on Instagram at BridgetMarieNDC.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I wasn't even thinking about that. But yes, not even that.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
And I think because the alternative is like airbrushed and perfect and unattainable visions of people, especially for youth, I can understand why maybe deep down, you know, it's like manufactured authenticity in scare quotes. But because the alternative is so clearly manufactured, it's easy to think like, well, this at least feels a little more authentic, even if it's bullshit.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Yeah. I think I've known Sophie. I think I met you, Sophie, before I met Robert.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Yeah. I also think something that she does so well that has really been made clear from the last few episodes is that idea of the personal being the political. Yes. Really being able to blend those things in this way that's just irresistible. It's the reason why her audience was getting up and sharing their sexual assault stories without even really being prompted. Me too before me too was me too.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Robert and I, we went to a, like... You went to a Nazi thing together.
Behind the Bastards
Part Five: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
This idea of really being able to blend those ideas in a way that make people want to connect and engage. Yeah.
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Wow, I love that. You didn't by chance buy that in Maryland, did you? That's giving me big Maryland vibes.
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I got my first podcast job lying about knowing Final Cut Pro, and then I had to go on YouTube and learn how to use Final Cut Pro.
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Can I say something? Because I do think it highlights how unequal the playing fields are for black women in media. I mean, black women across the spectrum of any profession, but like, yeah, like local radio DJs, the people who ostensibly are also colleagues are also in media making it a joke segment about who she is dating romantically, privately. Like,
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
That having to contend with that on top of having to do your job with all these eyes on you. I mean, like, it's completely ridiculous.
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
It's a croupier for roulette. Is that how you say it? It is. You're about to get another people being like, actually, you said it wrong, Robert. It's this.
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I just realized something crazy, which is that Oprah, the character that Oprah plays in The Color Purple, she's married to a character named Harpo. Really? It's like, isn't that crazy? I had no idea.
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Yeah, she's married to a character named Harpo in the movie. That's why I just realized that it's also the name of her. It's also her name backward. Yeah.
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
But I think your point about like this setting Oprah apart, I think it really is a testament to how her troubled background really is something that she draws from and is able to like, like that's, I think that is the secret sauce of what made this connect in a different way. Yeah.
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I love how that's pretty twisted. Oprah was like, I want some freaky deekies in here.
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Oh, my God. Joan was such a bitch. I can't wait to see how mean this is. Oh, she sucks so bad. I mean, I like...
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Although, I gotta say, though, that was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. That is just how people talk to bigger people. People feel totally comfortable saying shit like this to people's faces, and they don't even think twice about it. This is totally how people talk.
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
It's the worst part of being a podcaster. It's like having a public record of stupid shit that you thought, or if you're me, shit that you thought was pronounced one way and it's pronounced another way.
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
So she's, like, she's fucked no matter what. I don't love anybody, like, micromanaging somebody else's weight, but The Color Purple is based on a novel by Alice Walker, and the character she was portraying, like, I get, it's not something I think he should have said, but I get where he's coming from. It's, yeah, I don't know. I don't know.
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Oh, I mean, Color Purple is, like, it is a classic. It's probably the movie I have seen the most times in my life. Like, it is, like, the way that she was in that movie, it was a revelation. Like, even thinking about it now, as good as, like, Whoopi Goldberg is in that movie and Danny Glover is in that movie. Danny Glover, yeah. Oprah is the standout character. Yeah.
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
So probably her big scene in The Color Purple is when she gives the speech to Celie, all my life I had to fight. If you've heard that Kendrick Lamar song, all right, that's where the beginning of that song comes from is Oprah's big scene in that movie. Like that movie, the way it shifted the culture, we like really cannot be overstated.
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Yeah. And they might appear as like wholesome, normal family, but behind closed doors. Uh-oh.
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I have a question, like, what is the production of this like behind the scenes? Like, where did they find this lady? Did they, is it just like, oh, you've got a story about killing babies and sacrifice?
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
That's the person you should give a platform for sure.
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I'm so curious if she... Because it sounds like at one point in her career, she really thought of herself as, like, a news person, a journalism person. What does she think about her career now?
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
That's who molests kids. But it's so much more satisfying to believe it's some like big conspiracy. Yeah. And Andrew, to your point, why would they even need the tunnels?
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
And I'd have to imagine if she did, the answer would be like, well, everybody was doing it. Like, this is what people did on TV.
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Now that everybody's been bummed, way to go. Yeah. I know that was like a tough spot to end at, I guess. Although I will say I'm still thinking about that headline or that title of her review, MLK shot twice. I'm going to be thinking about that one for a long time.
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Oh, do it to me. I mean, I've had to bite my tongue because I have so much to say. Go ahead and spam me on Blue Sky. I want to hear your favorite Oprah takes. I'll tell you mine.
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Oh, it would just be me talking about, and another time on Oprah she did this, and then another episode she did that. It would be so unfun to listen to.
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Fun fact about that, that's why we have flame retardant couches now, because the cigarette industry was like, we can't keep getting popped for this. Personal responsibility.
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Oh, I actually did go to Catholic school.
Behind the Bastards
Part Three: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
And it's wild to me that he like, even in retelling that he's like, and she didn't even find it funny. She wasn't amused, can you believe it?
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
And it's funny because I would peg Oprah as somebody that I would assume would be a good judge of character. And she's a terrible judge of character. It's like it truly is like the worst people who come into her orbit. She's like, let's make you a star. What's up with that?
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
This is what I'm talking about with her. He just was the I am a voice artist, right? Like I've narrated plenty of things. The fact that this guy who already had a pretty problematic history just was a narrator and she's like, ooh, let's elevate you. Let's make you a star. Something must be like, I don't know.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I don't know where I'm going with this, but it baffles me why she would want to be further mixed up with a person like this. Just based on him being a narrator of The Secret.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I do think we're in this... I mean, today, I think we are in a weird golden age of, like, entrepreneurism and tech and, like, bullshit, grifty spirituality kind of coming together. Like, I feel like this was on the, like...
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
This guy was sort of on the early days of what is definitely here because I have heard so many people in tech who are sort of like that woman describes, like not sure what they should do. Maybe they've been laid off. They're not sure what's next for them. And there are so many people.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
hucksters that will take their money and offer them something that they that is meant to be like a spiritual whether it's psychedelics that's like a thing that's really taking off right now in that space it makes me so sad that people who probably could have used like therapy or a career coach would turn to somebody who would so callously exploit them and put them at such danger that they would die and like die paying for the pleasure it's just so disgusting and it like it just it's
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Yeah, it's just these people have no values and they are such hucksters.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
He was definitely going to kill somebody for sure.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Yeah. I also like how he describes it as, like, I was involved in an accident out in Sedona.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
You might think that he means like a dirt bike. He was involved in a dirt bike accident or something.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
When you don't know it's lies, I mean, I remember the opening, it opens with him like coming to on a plane and he doesn't know where he's going. And it turns out he was on a bender and they're sending him to rehab. Like, yeah, it opens and you're like, I'm locked and loaded, like lock in. Yeah.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
And when you find out it's bullshit, you realize like, oh, it really questioned my bullshit detector because I was like, how did I not realize that this was fiction? Going back and reading it, knowing it's lies, like it really reads like bad fiction.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I remember reading a piece about how other memoirists who genuinely lived experiences that Frey kind of like made up or fabricated, like people who genuinely struggled with addiction or like had rough circumstances that they had a hard time selling their books because of him. And like the impact that it made on people who were trying to write about those tough experiences. Really? Yeah.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
This doesn't surprise me at all because this was certainly a well-worn claim about Oprah that she was really interested in mining the trauma specifically of the black community and sort of packaging it and turning it into a commodity. And
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Yeah, I mean, I can't help but see reflections of this and how she might have been thinking about some of those schoolgirls when she was coming up with the idea to launch that school, right? Like, I think that our experiences do often have traumatic legacies and, like, baggage and all of that. But that's not the only story that there is.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
And so I wonder if, like, maybe she does have a preoccupation with, you know, kind of the – kind of traumatic, not just traumatic, but like traumatic in a very specific recognizable way that this author is calling her out for. Yeah.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
And I wonder, like, Robert, to your point about, like, certainly Oprah is not reading these books, you know, on her compound and then handpicking them. Someone's picking them for her. So, like, why not consult, like, a Nigerian? Like, she has infinite resources. It wouldn't be that hard to find somebody who knows what a good pick would be.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Yeah, she doesn't pass the mic. I feel like that is like really the theme here is that she wants it to be about her. She won't pass the mic.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I mean, I hate to brand that as a positive, but I do feel like she was ahead of her time, whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. Look how popular things like true crime are. The idea of packaging suffering as entertainment. I feel like sometimes that's all media is right now. And I feel like I can't...
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I can't not see the ways that she was onto something before it had really become like that much of a thing.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Both happen. Yeah. And there are so many things from her story that you've told us that were just pure luck. Like the reaction to her higher ups when she, you know, took the gamble and took the risk on like, I'm going to berate this woman on the show. And like, luckily it's going to be a hit. That's luck. Cause her higher ups could have fired her for that.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Like that could have, her story could have ended there. Luckily it didn't. And they had a different reaction, but like to say like, oh, that was a calculated choice.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
obviously not like I just can't believe that someone would discount sort of like right place right time luck like oh just luckily it worked out that way to their success story everybody has that that in their success story everybody yeah and it's it's this problem of like conflating I benefited from luck to saying like I'm lucky and like especially if you've had as nightmarish an upbringing as she has I get why there's some offense to that but like you know
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I wonder for Oprah, if there's some aspect to where she thinks that like her success was, I don't want to say predetermined, but like, I know a lot of people who believe that they are where they are because it was like, like divinely written that way. And like, it doesn't matter what choices they make because it's all going to work out for them in the end.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Like that's definitely a mindset of people that I, that I know. And I wonder if she feels that way.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Conflicted, I will say. Conflicted, but ready to hear more. Okay.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I love that the specific things that she was praising her for are the most like Karen conspiracy theorist attributes. Like, oh, way to know the Internet. Way to not trust authority. Way to like.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Of all the things I thought you were where you thought you were going to go. If you had said prayer, that would be the only thing like more ridiculous.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
It's like, hey, do you have a condom? Like, no, I've got some tomatoes.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
And like the harm they do, like she's going to be fine. It's like she unleashed this chaos to all of us and she's going to be fine forever.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Ooh, a page from the Amanda Palmer playbook.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
What if the life that I want involves being paid for my labor?
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
She does look awesome spinning fire. She looks dope.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Sometimes I think Oprah should have just been like me in college doing psychedelics and looking at black light posters and just like, like if she had just kept this in like the, the common area of the dorm, we all might've been a little better off.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I think the choice to like lean into it is what is the thing for me. Like that wasn't happenstance. She made a clear editorial decision about what it was, what kind of work she was going to prioritize, what kind of voices she was going to amplify. It's kind of hard to come back from that for me. But I do take your point, Andrew. I do think that a lot of this is like,
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
she really held a mirror up to our worse base instincts and desires and impulses. And like, I mean, I kind of, you know, I'm sorry, please.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Are you saying that the real bastard is us?
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Yeah. Now I'm like questioning my whole media career. Am I just like pumping out stuff that it's I don't realize is going to have it like down the line is going to have a bad effect on society. I don't even realize it yet. Am I early Oprah? God, I hope so.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Not me, baby. Bridget, can I have a car better than a Pontiac? No. Everyone gets Pontiac Sunfires and that's that.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
exactly that and like fundamentally they make public they erode public education they're at least where i live they're like full of like pretty like like they're basically racist in my mind like the way that they talk about school choice it's used as a giant dog whistle to be like you don't really want your kids next to black and brown kids do right right like
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
And I think so even if all of her schools, all of these schools were great, it still contributes to a lot of pretty, I think, messed up things in education.
Behind the Bastards
Part Six: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
He couldn't even watch the assembly with Oprah. Like they, they would like.
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Well, sort of. I mean, I'm in D.C. where they just put up all of the safety scaffolding for the inauguration.
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
That's not in dispute. That's not in dispute.
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I will say there's something about this conversation. I don't know if it totally fits, but. you know i think that a lot of black folks and folks of color when you get older and you think about the way that you showed up amongst your own people growing up like i definitely went through a thing where you know i don't even know how to put it like
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I went for a walk and I was like, damn, it's happening. The city is like... Getting ready. So, like, there's plywood over windows being put up. So, you know, there's no wildfires, which I'm grateful for. But I wouldn't say I'm feeling pumped. It's not the chillest vibe here on the East Coast.
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
you definitely can internalize like they don't, my own people are rejecting me because I like anime or because I'm nerdy and too smart. And then you get a little older and it's like, wait, am I a pain in the ass? And that's why they're rejecting me. And like, it's very easy to like internalize some very self-serving reasons for why you feel the way you feel.
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
And then you get a little more mature and you're like, well, what's that really? What was going on? Is that actually the thing?
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Someone listening is like, what are you talking about, Andrew? What are you talking about? My parents glow whenever they see me.
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I feel like it's got to be more interesting when the bastards are a little bit complex. No, like where it's like, oh, I kind of have sympathy or empathy for them in some ways, but they did it like it's got to be a little meatier.
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I mean, where do you think she learned that behavior? Yeah.
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I have to say though, I used to play school and it only now hearing this, am I like, oh, was it like not fun for the others that I would make myself the teacher?
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
really yeah yeah so I mean not to continue to like make Oprah's story about the traumas and historical baggage of like some black communities but like again this idea that I think is really foisted upon black girls and young women about being quote fast where when you are clearly having a response to like a sexual trauma or something that has happened you know it's
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
it's used to sort of marginalize you and other you and like say something is wrong with you as opposed to like, oh, are the adults around you somehow failing you? The fact that like her 19-year-old, you know, adult cousin was, it seems like not reprimanded and still welcome back into the home.
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Meanwhile, Oprah, young Oprah, her response to the sexual trauma is for her to be criticized by her own family is really telling. Like, Who gets demonized and who gets welcomed back with no accountability?
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
He basically is like, can you blame him though?
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
And this is the woman who still denies Oprah sexual abuse.
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I wouldn't want this person in my life either.
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
And Aretha was giving interviews and stuff like... for even in like right before she died.
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Yeah, I was going to say I see some echoes of some of our, you know, we're talking about a school election, but I see some echoes of our current situation.
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
The thing about Hearst, I mean, like, first of all, if you are a black person listening, every black person has been called an Oreo at one point in their life. That is not a unique experience at all. Take it from me. But it goes back to what I was saying of, like,
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Is it possible that it wasn't that the other black kids didn't like her or like because they clearly liked her because she was the person that they picked. Is it possible that it wasn't about the way that she spoke? Maybe she was being an asshole at times and didn't notice it. And like, that's why they were picking on her in this way.
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Like, it's very easy to internalize this as, oh, they were picking on me because I was smart and ambitious and I was I spoke proper and got good grades. And it's like, well, is that really what was going on?
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
It reminds me of what Andrew was talking about in our last episode of how much do you really truly remember as a kid versus how you're remembering how it felt, right?
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Like, what do you, I mean, I think like, and also like the idea that we are talking a lot about these very, very early years in her life in this way of like, well, is she a liar or not based on what she remembered slash felt when she was four, right?
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
When you were talking about her, like, heyday when she was going to Hollywood and winning speeches and elections, it was hard for me to not feel. I was kind of, like, beaming thinking about this time in her life. Like, I was like, yeah, like, good. Like, I'm imagining, like, a montage of her really moving up. And I guess I'm waiting to see how when the other shoe drops. Yeah.
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Oh, all right. Well, you could check out my podcast on iHeartRadio called There Are No Girls on the Internet or my other podcast with the Mozilla Foundation, Makers of Firefox, all about power and people and ethics in AI called IRL. New season coming soon. Follow me on Instagram at Bridget Marie in D.C. Yeah.
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Except DJ Daniel. DJ Daniel is the best. And shout out to Andrew. I love your DJ Screw shirt.
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Oh, well, that is like tale as old as time. I mean, even when you're really young, you definitely get the sense when there's somebody in your family who has a lighter complexion, you definitely are aware of that.
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
And in a lot of families and a lot of dynamics, there's like a very clear difference in how someone is treated and the things that you might think of as your gifts that should be very obvious. Like, I'm smart, I'm well-spoken, I have the gift of gab, whatever.
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
you might not feel like those things are being praised comparatively to someone who's being praised for their complexion, a thing they can't even really control about themselves. I definitely that really rings true to me.
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
And again, I could see how her family would be invested in that. Like, oh, we were never colorist against our own in this family. How dare she say that? That's a lie.
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
Could you say that Oprah is the black Timothy McVeigh? Just absolutely.
Behind the Bastards
Part Two: Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard?
I feel like you're about to say something about a nickname that you had as a youth. And then you stop.
Behind the Bastards
Behind the Bastards Presents: Sixteenth Minute (of Fame)
Friend of the pod, Bridget Todd of There Are No Girls on the Internet says, During uncertain times, people sell easy solutions because our brains in times of precarity crave simple solutions. But often those comforting, simple solutions are just placeholders for the reality, which is that the problem is actually systemic and institutional.
Behind the Bastards
Behind the Bastards Presents: Sixteenth Minute (of Fame)
You're not going to dismantle it in your specific nuclear household and family. If you're only looking within your own family, you're not looking hard enough at the larger issues at play.
Behind the Bastards
Behind the Bastards Presents: Sixteenth Minute (of Fame)
To overlook the influence of Mormon and other Christian mommy bloggers on this shift would be a huge oversight. Mormon mommy bloggers in particular were enormously influential in establishing the aesthetic and tone that came to characterize influencer era online motherhood.
Behind the Bastards
Behind the Bastards Presents: Sixteenth Minute (of Fame)
Mormonism encourages the careful documentation of family life and Mormon mothers were among blogging's earliest and most enthusiastic adopters. Unlike the confessional early mommy blogs, Mormon mothers' blogs broadcast a clean and chipper vision of motherhood, replete with DIY crafting projects and coordinated family photo shoots.
Behind the Bastards
Behind the Bastards Presents: Sixteenth Minute (of Fame)
Many of the most successful Mormon bloggers from the mid-aughts, like Amber Fillerup Clark and Naomi Davis, went on to become mainstream lifestyle bloggers and, although their Mormon faith is no secret, its prominence receded as the years passed.
Behind the Bastards
Behind the Bastards Presents: Sixteenth Minute (of Fame)
I've been thinking a lot lately about my life and just how grateful I really am that I am right here, right now. Two people, one was a past pageant coach, the other a fellow dancer I once danced with, asked me if I was really happy to have given up those dreams for where I am today. Ha! I am so happy. I am so at peace. I have a husband who is mine forever.
Behind the Bastards
Behind the Bastards Presents: Sixteenth Minute (of Fame)
Together, we have a beautiful baby boy who is full of purity and joy. I get to dance and teach as much as possible, and I love that, of course. But there is nothing more rewarding than seeing my family here. Right now, I really feel like the luckiest girl in the world. So, yep, I am happy. Goal for the week, only eat out once.
Behind the Bastards
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Thank you for having me. It's actually my first time on It Can Happen Here. I'm, like, a little, like, nervous. I hope it goes well.
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We were talking off mic like I need to figure out a self-care plan. And part of this is on me that I feel like I am one of those people that has kind of checked out a little bit. I'm like, oh, who I am. I got to take a step back from this. And now that I'm taking a step back in, I'm like, I need a plan for how I'm going to pace myself and not lose my fucking shit every fucking day.
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I'm also doing dry January and trying to eat healthy.
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So I have no outlets. I can't drink. I don't do drugs. I'm fucking eating lentil soup every night. I got nothing. There's nothing I can do to cope.
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I'm going to go out to the mountains. I don't want to be here. Yeah.
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Like that, you're joking, but like almost literally that.
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And I mean, I was in, so I live in D.C. I've lived in D.C. most of my life. I was in D.C. in my apartment when January 6th happened. And I remember being so scared. There was a curfew in D.C. Like, it just, shit got really real really quickly.
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I remember I was on a wall staff, like, beginning of the year planning work call, and somebody just on the Zoom was like, hey, um, something's happening, and... Everybody who lives in D.C. should maybe check the TV. And then the line went dead. That's what I remember the most. So I was planning on getting out of town. And then I thought, fuck it.
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Why should these people drive me out of my own city? I want to be out on the streets. I want to be out in my community. I want to be connected. And so, yeah, I went out to the People's March protest. I went out as far as I could to Inauguration downtown just to get a sense of what the vibes were.
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Weird as hell. This is something that I think people might not really think about a lot. So like being from D.C., living here most of my life, people really obviously think of it as like a seat of national power. And they sometimes forget that there are over 600,000 D.C. residents who just like live here, work here, have their lives here. And so
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This stuff all plays out like practically in our backyards while arguably we have less electoral political power and less agency in some ways because D.C. is not a state.
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Our congressional representative, Eleanor Holmes Norton, she can like vote in committees and introduce legislation and stuff like that, but she can't vote. And so all of this matters for... It's so fucked up. It's... Dude, don't even get me started.
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It is. And it's like, I mean, like, there are so many reasons why it sucks that D.C. 's not a state. But ultimately, it's like, we deserve to have political power. We deserve to have a state.
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And I mean, I could talk all day when Republican lawmakers get on TV. And I remember they would shit on D.C. by saying things like there's not even loggers who live there. It's not even a real place. Like as if the only way to actually meaningfully exist in the United States is like you have to have loggers who live there.
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So all of this background really matters to Trump's kind of tense relationship with D.C., like the district. Trump, as you all might remember, spent quite a lot of time just talking straight shit about the district and announcing these like big plans to take over D.C. The background is a little bit complicated, but the quick and dirty version is that D.C. has what's called home rule.
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So that's like the ability for D.C. to govern, like for our local government and leaders to like make decisions about what happens to the district. And on the campaign trail, Trump was saying he wants to change this, that D.C. 's home rule would be revoked and that the federal government, basically him, would dictate how D.C. is run as a city. Because D.C.
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is not a state, technically any president could have that authority to interfere with how D.C. is run. So, yeah, any president could, like, take over the police department and take over the powers our mayor, Muriel Bowser, currently has over the city. Right.
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I mean this in the most literal sense. Nobody. Zero. I was out there flying solo and I had multiple friends be like, you're crazy to go down there. Like what? Like everybody.
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And I guess that's something else that I wanted to talk a bit about, which is that, you know, the first time around during Trump's inauguration, I was like out on the streets. I was like, it sounds so silly now, but like, I mean, almost don't even want to get into it, but the idea of like resist, that had not yet become a cliche to me.
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And in the aftermath of Trump's first election, I was really clinging to that for like whatever hope or power. I didn't know it was going to turn out to be like a bunch of grifters and like people saying like hashtag resist and like meaning nothing. At the time, I really clung to that. This time around, total night and day difference. And I think the mood on the street, I think, reflected that.
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I think that D.C. is exhausted. The people that generally I know who are, like, radicals, who would be out on the street, a lot of those people were like, we're sitting this one out.
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That was like a refrain I hear from a lot of black and brown organizing folks here in D.C. Like, this is not our fight. We are we are sitting this one out. And I don't blame anybody. Right. Like, it's a lot. We've all been through a lot.
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The last time Trump was in office, y'all remember like the Women's March and pussy hats and all of that? I actually staffed the Women's March that time around. I was one of the digital street team folks. So I was like very invested. This time around, they changed the name. They rebranded to the People's March. And they only had a couple of thousand people out there.
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And so, you know, I think it really goes back to what you were saying, Robert, personally. I have a hard time with the idea that what we did then is what we should be doing now, that that that that playbook is still going to work. And frankly, like 69 percent of white women voted for Trump. Right.
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And so, like, the idea that I would feel safe and feel solidarity with a bunch of women out on the streets, like being like, boo Trump. It's just like. I understand why the turnout was so low because I feel like solidarity and march on the street is clearly not where we're at. So that is not how we should be meeting this moment.
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Yeah, I mean, Garrison, you really said it. And in this moment, personally, I am really wondering, like, what my role is. Like, where can I fit in? There was a time where, you know, just being out on the street yelling, like being so frustrated, I have to take to the streets and scream in impotent rage. That would feel like something.
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And I just think in 2025, I have to figure out, like, what it is I can contribute and contribute that. And I don't know that it's protest as it used to be. Like I used to be somebody who like protest was my thing. Like, you know, I really got my start in the anti-war movement when I was in college. And like that felt like something. I don't think that that's what it is for me anymore.
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Maybe it's just age too. You age out of it or something.
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So yes, and I don't know that I see some of the institutional powers that be, even people who are like ostensibly like on our side, doing that pivot, right? Like I'm very much in this sort of like nonprofit industrial complex. All the organizations who were like, oh, well, where should we put in our money and this and that? The first time around, I just see them doing the same old thing.
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And it's like, I don't know that that is what's going to save us. And like, Don't get me started on how useless the Democrats are because I'll go all day. But like when Trump announced that he was moving the inauguration inside, they printed little jokey shirts that said snowflake. I'm just so sick of that. Like that sort of like sneering, dunking.
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useless stuff that doesn't translate to meaningful action. I'm just so sick of it. I wanted to gouge my eyes out.
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Okay, I'm not even sure, like... I have so much to say about this. So I have been saying this for a very long time. And, you know, we were all at the Democratic National Convention. I have to admit that I was there as an influencer. But the thing that annoyed me so much was like that exact sentiment and that exact sentiment.
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fucking lost and the thing that the thing that pisses me off now is the complete unwillingness to be like where did we go wrong maybe the memes and the jokes and the calling them weird and then this and that that maybe it felt good in the moment but it actually didn't translate what happened unwilling to do that completely unwilling
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I could not agree more. And yeah, I mean, I agree. I think the weird stuff could have like had legs. I think that they were kind of like scattershot at that point. And they were like, oh, people seem to like this. Let's lean into this. Oh, this new thing. Let's lean into that. The thing that I remember very clearly was when Tim Walz was talking about how, oh, we have a saying in Minnesota.
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It's mind your own damn business. Yes. Yes. Yeah. So like my partner is from Minnesota and he was like, oh, that is like absolutely a Minnesotan thing. Mind your own damn business. Yeah.
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So I agree. But yeah, the like calling Elon, Elmo, like all these little cutesy things might feel good and like get you a hit of dopamine and get you a few, you know, likes on whatever. But it just it's not going to save us. And I'm so sick of it. I feel like in some ways it's all anyone has to offer right now and I'm sick of it.
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Not a gaggle. I saw one lone one. I'm sure it was like, I've lost my groove.
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And I mean, what do you make of like, I guess I knew it was coming, but when all those J6 goons got pardoned and so like you have like the leader of the Oath Keepers, the leader of the Proud Boys getting released from D.C. jail, like what do you make of that?
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I think that's where a lot of my anxiety comes from. The not knowing of like it could go this way or that way. Both are bad. But what flavor are we going to get? Like that's the thing that is really getting to me right now.
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Yeah. So as you said, this was the first time that they in mass came to D.C. since January 6th. And they marched through the streets of D.C. holding a banner that said, congratulations, President Trump. And they chanted, whose streets? Our streets. Which, by the way, that is such like, again, as someone who kind of like came up on like street protest. Yeah. Y'all are doing the chant all late.
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Yes. And I saw this... I mean, speaking of J6 rioters who were all, you know, pardoned, I saw this video that really kind of broke my heart. It was a video that some MAGA dipshit took outside of the jail where all those people were being held. And so... There's a black DC elder who clearly is just like minding her business, walking down the street in her city.
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And she gets baited into an on-video screaming match outside of the DC jail where this MAGA guy yells like, like, Like, oh, we didn't do anything wrong. No crime was committed. And she's like, you all killed a cop. No cops got killed, which is not true.
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Like, it goes back to what you were saying, Robert, about how there is this need to quickly have it be like something that wasn't that big of a deal. And one, to see that in person in this video was wild to me. But two, seeing like a DC elder like take the bait broke my heart because I wish I could have could have been in that moment to be like, honey, you don't need to be screaming.
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This guy wants you to be screaming at him. He wants this video of you screaming at him on the street. This is like exactly what he wants.
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you know, the biggest takeaway from being out was just how sparse it was. Like, you know, the first time around, I probably had four different people staying with me, two of whom got arrested during the big anti-Trump protests. This time around, I didn't have anybody. I didn't know anybody who was there. And I do think that reflects kind of where people are at. I think people are exhausted.
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People have been through a lot. People are maybe pacing themselves and sort of like don't want to blow their rage wad on the first week, which I totally understand. But I think it really remains to be seen, like whether or not this vibe is going to take us through the next four years. Are people just tuning out? Are we checked out?
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Are we so exhausted and overstimulated already that we're not going to really be paying attention? And in some ways, like, I feel like that's exactly what authoritarians want.
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Oof, I love that. Something I know that isn't working is I'm glad that we're not doing... I thought you were going to pivot to ads.
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You're so good at ads. Like you could teach a class on it.
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Something that I'm glad we are not doing this time around is remember during the first Trump administration how the Washington Post changed their tagline to democracy dies in darkness and everybody gave them a shit ton of money because it was like, yeah, we need like good investigative journalism, traditional media. That's going to save us.
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I'm glad that this time around we've all cut the shit and it's like, no, they're part of it. They're not going to do a goddamn thing.
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And like, so even, I mean, I'm sure y'all have talked about this to death and I have been thinking about it nonstop, but Elon's seeing how the traditional press reported on his salute. It's like, oh, what did he do? Like the way they will contort themselves to not just come out and say it is astonishing to me.
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You actually just gave me a little bit of a silver lining that I had not realized, which is like, it kind of is useful to see so clearly where these institutions and power holders stand. And it's like when, like, I remember watching tech companies like change their logos to Black Lives Matter or post the black square. It's kind of freeing to be like, we don't have to do that shit anymore.
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We all don't have to pretend and we don't have to pretend either. We know where you stand. You've made it very clear. You could not make it. You could not have made it clear where your alliance is. And let's go from there. It almost is sort of like trimming the fat a little bit. We no longer have to take these institutions as serious as allies or something.
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But even that, I feel like there's, I mean, it's grim shit, but there's a kind of hope in it that, like, we've been, people have been here before, right? Like, you know, there have always been queer people, trans people, black and brown people, immigrants. Like, we are America. And, like, we've always been here, baby. We're always going to be here.
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And, like, making our way and, like, holding on and bracing ourselves and doing what we got to do and enduring, like, that is what we fucking do. And so in some ways, as grim as that is, it's kind of hopeful, question mark, also? Yep.
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that's so insightful. Yeah. I think when things feel hopeless, reading about how folks, you know, our elders, the folks who came before our ancestors, how they dealt with stuff like this has been really hopeful. And it's like, yeah, I guess I just try to tell myself we've been here before and people found a way to make it through. And, you know, it,
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feels uniquely tragic, but in some ways it is not. And as scary as that is, it can also be sort of like grounding.
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I think it's the writer Sarah Kendozer who has this line that I always think of. If you can't be brave, be kind. I think that like people who we see doing acts of big acts of bravery right now, like that's I mean, it's just there are so few of them. And I think especially when I look at like the tech leaders, they have so much fucking money.
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Somebody said on Blue Sky, what is the point of having fuck you money if you never say fuck you to anybody? Right. Like the way that these people turned out to be such yellow bellied cowards is wild to me. And so people actually having conviction and actually speaking to power, I think we should be lifting that up wherever it happens.
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Well, this is going to sound a bit random, but I have to just make sure that this gets in there because, you know, I'm talking about the impact of Trump's inauguration and what the next four years will look like for, you know, not just for people nationally, but folks right here in D.C. where this is happening in our backyard. And I have to give it up for the service industry folks of D.C.
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the last couple of days because they... Oh, my God. I, like, have heard...
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horror stories and I just I guess that's what I mean is that don't forget that there are real people who have to like put up with these people's bullshit and do it with a smile or they might get fired and you know in Adams Morgan which is like pretty close to where I live a woman at a an Irish bar had to be removed by a staffer because she was screaming white power at the bar like
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these people do not get paid enough to deal with this. And they are like the backbone of our city. So I just wanted to shout them out, especially since, you know, Trump switched up the inauguration because of the cold question mark.
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And so a lot more of these people were just sort of wandering around the district on inauguration who otherwise would have been confined to like a very specific neighborhood downtown. And so they were going into our bars, going into our restaurants. And yeah, I just really feel for my industry folks who had to deal with this.
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You know, they're not paid enough, but they really are the backbone of our city.
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You know, I started this conversation talking about all of the horrible things that Trump has said about D.C. and how he's going to take it over federally. And like, you know, he has said, like, we will take over the horribly run capital of our nation and Washington, clean it up and rebuild the capital. So there's it's no longer a nightmare of murder and crime, but rather hellhole.
Behind the Bastards
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I know this like hellhole where like people live and raise their families and go to parks and ride bikes and have great times. Yeah. You know, I had a chance to talk to the mayor about this, and I will say our mayor, Muriel Bowser, is not convinced that any of this will happen. She is saying like, you know, I think that Trump says a lot of things.
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I think at the end of the day, he is probably not going to mess with D.C. 's home rule. And so I just wanted to say that if you're if you're in D.C. and you're listening and you're thinking like, what does Trump, you know, mean for D.C.? Are all these big threats that he has made going to come true? All I can tell you is that our mayor does not think it is likely.
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So if that is useful to you, I hope it brings you some comfort.
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motherfucker is not out here trying to genuinely govern like come on no so in some ways that is heartening of like oh well he's gonna like do his scams and whatever whatever like if he were to actually take over dc that's an incredible amount of work and labor and i don't think he's got it in him so maybe in some ways some of these threats will like fly under the radar i don't know yeah guess we'll see guess we'll see bridget where could people find you
Behind the Bastards
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Well, you can listen to my podcast, There Are No Girls on the Internet, about the intersection of identity and tech. And you can follow me on Instagram at Bridget Marie in D.C.
Behind the Bastards
Bonus: The Bastards of Oprah
Hi, I'm Todd. Nice to meet you. How are you feeling? Can you walk? Barely. I have to have help. Sorry. I'm very. That's all right.
Behind the Bastards
Bonus: The Bastards of Oprah
Yeah, I'll go. So that's all I want to play of that. He can barely move.