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Speaker 1: Fifteen eighty. We always ultra blacker out here. Yes, indeed,

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who said the East Coast and the West Coast can't

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work together? Ultra black?

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Speaker 2: That's ultra black right there.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So speaking of black, one of the things I

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would like to focus on this hour is what I

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call the mystery of the Black Republican, the mystery of

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the black Maga. And we have an African American Republican

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joining us this hour who is He doesn't consider himself MAGA,

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but yet he doesn't abandon his party. It's a conversation

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we've had many, many times, not just with him, but

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with other African Americans who continue to stay in the

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party even though we are firmly and undeniably in the

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Maga era. He's a senior Fellow with a Commonwealth Foundation.

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A Pittsburgh native, he's been an op ed writer, of

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political analyst, and a media staple on outlets from Radio

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New Zealand and Serious ex Am to CNN, MSNBC and

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Fox News. Lenny McAllister has a brand new book venn

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Diagram of One Lenny McAllister.

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Speaker 2: Welcome, Dominique.

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Speaker 3: It's always good to talk to you, ma'am.

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Speaker 1: How you doing today, I'm blessed and highly favored.

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Speaker 2: How are you?

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Speaker 3: I am the same, and thank you for having me

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once again.

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Speaker 1: Indeed, indeed, so congrats on your book.

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Speaker 2: I know that thanks you more than a notion.

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Speaker 1: Getting a book published, getting a book written is a lot.

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Speaker 3: It is, and it's also what you write. You Know.

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What I've learned throughout the process now is there are

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plenty of people that write books and have nothing really

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to say what I wanted. I mean, you and I

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both know this, right.

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Speaker 2: Yes, indeed it comes with being on the radio.

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Speaker 3: There you go. But what I really wanted to do

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was highlight some of the things that we can do

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to turn things around. I mean, to make sense even

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for people that would read event diagram of one, to

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be able to look and say, oh, this is why

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this guy won't leave the Republican Party, even the party,

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even though the party is acting in a particular way.

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He is true to his principles. He was like he's

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in a fight for the next twenty years, not necessarily

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trying to be popular over the course of the next

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twenty minutes. And the book is the very first time

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in my life where I've had longer than an hour

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segment on the radio, or my radio show in Pittsburgh,

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or little segments on CNN and the like where I've

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been able to explain my story, my principles, why I

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take stances where I do, and how people gravitate to

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those stances, even within the Republican Party, because as we

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well know, there are more and more people jumping off

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the MACA ship and they're going to be looking for

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a place to go again that is full of principled

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ideas and has principled leadership. I'm trying to provide that

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where I can.

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Speaker 2: Well, you said a lot right there.

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Speaker 1: What is since we're on origin stories, we were on

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hip hop origin stories earlier in the show today, what's

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your Republican origin story? What landed you there? In the

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g OP, the Grand Ole.

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Speaker 3: Party, the principals were always there as a Western Pennsylvania Democrat,

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conservative Democrat. In fact, my dad, who was a lifelong

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Democrat growing up in Pittsburgh, he switched his registration to

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Republican this year. Now, did he do it because he's

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a Donald Trump? Sam? No, don't even say Donald Trump

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around my dad and without him giving you a look

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and wondering if you have something wrong with you. Mentally.

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Why he changed to the party is because one, he said, look,

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we've always had these principles. Number two, we need other

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people representing the Republican Party that are not on the

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fringe and doing some of the things that have been

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detrimental to this country. And he wants to see a

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change back to what he saw. He was a big

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Frederick this person, he got us on the Frederick Douglass

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when we were young. He wants to see it go

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back to that vein. Now, did I expect an eighty

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four year old to switch registrations. No, but my origin

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story in switching because of those values lead to people

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like that including believe it or not, my name, well,

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I'm his namesake. My dad him doing that as well.

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And I've heard plenty of stories like that from people

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that had been in a Tea Party movement to conservative

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moderate Republicans saying we need somebody that really understands principles,

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not just going along for the MAGA train.

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Speaker 1: I mean, of course, when I hear that story, I

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hear you know a lot of things. One of them

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is Lenny McAllister convinced his dad to switch over to

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the republicas Oh, I did not.

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Speaker 2: He did.

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Speaker 1: No.

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Speaker 3: Here's the thing, Dominique, this is the guy you got

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to understand. Twenty years earlier, this guy walked two and

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a half miles in the rain to vote for Barack

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Obama because this car wouldn't start. This guy was not

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thinking about switching parties, and I hadn't even tried to

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even convince him this week party. That was not something

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I thought I should even do. In fact, much of

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the work that I do is not to tell people

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to switch parties or vote Carte Blodge for the Republican Party.

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My goal was to show principles, be principled in my leadership,

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and then show how to love people through leadership. Doctor

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Cornell West was here in Pittsburgh just last week, and

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he and I always have a good time when we

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interact with each other. And one of the things he's

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always said is you've got to love the people you

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want to lead, and that always stuck with me ever

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since I met him. Had stated a Black Union actually

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out in Los Angeles in two thousand and nine. I've

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tried to take that ethos and let that be part

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of my public life always. I think those examples, those

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type of sentiments are the ones that might get somebody

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to switch political parties. But I'm much more focused on

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that than I am ever focused on Hey, can I

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see your registration car?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 1: And speaking of doctor West, he'll be on this radio

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station next hour, so that there's something to look forward to.

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Speaker 2: I get that.

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Speaker 1: And when I hear black Republicans like yourself talking about

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Frederick Douglas, Frederick Douglas, Frederick Douglass, of course, we all

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love Frederick Douglass, the formerly enslaved person who rose to

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be the highest levels of power and influence and intellectual

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vigor in this country and globally, and Republican black Republicans

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love to say he was a Republican. Yeah, but back

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then Republicans were not the racist party. Today, the Republican

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Party is the party of white supremacy. So it is

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totally it's like saying, you know, well, yeah, I'm team

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horse and buggy. Okay, are you gonna take your horse

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and buggy on the freeway. That's not what we're doing now,

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That's not what the Republican Party even is now. So

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to me, that's like it's almost like intellectually dishonest. When

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when black Republicans say Oh yeah, we're the Party of Douglas.

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Were we're the Party of Douglas.

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Speaker 3: I understand where you can come from with that, and

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I do think, to be fair, a lot of black

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Republicans put their arms around Lincoln and Douglas and say, see,

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we're the party of this. When I bring up Frederick Douglass,

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I bring up the spirit of pushing back, agitate, agitate, agitate,

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and that means you push back against injustice, regardless of

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where you see it. Folks. That will go by a

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then diagram of one and you can get it audiobook, ebook,

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or hardcover. They'll see me pushing back directly the Vice

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President Mike Pence on stage eye to eye about the

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coded language of law and order during twenty twenty. They'll

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hear me push back in print with a statement against

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Donald Trump in twenty sixteen when he was playing with

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the idea of nationalizing stop and frisk. How I can't

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decide a lot of different things as a Republican. To

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try to remind people of what true Republican values are,

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that's the true spirit of Frederick Douglas, agitating and being

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in position where you can push back with a sense

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of moral authority and history to get people on the

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right track. If you're just claiming Douglas or Lincoln or

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MLK used to be a Republican and then you don't

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live that life, then you're a fraud. The one thing

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I'm trying to do is not live my life publicly

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and privately as that partisan political fraud. And I think

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that A ven Diagram of one has enough stories for

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my life to illustrate that I live the life that

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I profess.

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Speaker 1: Lenny McAllister is my guest, and we are on the

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topic of black Republicans, most especially in my view in

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the Maca Area era Black Republican MAGA era, make it

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make sense. Lenny mckellister will try that's what he's doing,

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and you're invited in if you'd like to comment or

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have a question. At eight hundred and nine two oh

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fifteen eighty I'm dominating Taprema for KBLA Talk fifteen. You're

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waking up with me. But also Lenny McCallister is the

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author of A Then Diagram of One, an American story.

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It's a memoir. I suppose it's a memoir, and it's

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very very relevant to the conversation today about how does

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a black person, especially one who, as Lenny McAllister just mentioned,

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lives his life by a set of principles.

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Speaker 2: How do they.

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Speaker 1: Remain in the Maga party of today even if you

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don't vote for Donald Trump? Now, the Republican Party is

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clearly the party of white supremacy.

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Speaker 2: And it's not just hyperbole. I mean we're talking about.

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Speaker 1: Partying the people who stormed the Capitol and tried to

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overturn the election results, who threatened to lynch the vice president.

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You know, it's not it's not subtle at this point,

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and we're to talking about an administration who has admitted

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not one single black refugee since taking office. The racism

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in the party is not not subtle anymore. How does

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that square with the principles that you live by, that

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you know that you describe in a Venn diagram of one?

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Speaker 3: Well, I will go with two things, and there's two

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separate things. I'll talk about the book second, but I'll

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answer your question first, Dominique, and again I appreciate being

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on and everybody that's woman buy the book, ebook, audiobook, hardcover.

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America is a history of second acts and we can

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I can. I don't want to do it. What about

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it isn't, but we can very easily ask why did

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African Americans flood the Democrat Party to become elected officials

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in the nineteen sixties, literally in the shadows of one

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hundred years of Jim Crow and the Ku Kux Klan

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running the Democrat Party in most sections of the country,

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including Indiana in the Midwest as well as the South,

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where a lot of our people have come from, included

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a lot of Angelino's. The bottom line is we have

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to play the long game. We have to stick to

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our principles and make sure that both parties are meeting

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our needs, and when they don't, there has to be

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change agents that are inclined to stay where they are

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and make sure that we bend history back towards justice.

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That's just how that is. We've seen it happen before

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on multiple occasions. We have to go through that era today.

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That's part of what my role is in my career.

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Now back to a then diagram of one, It's more

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than just a political borglory a public policy book. In fact,

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I would argue that it's more of a love story.

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I mean, I talk a lot about what my parents

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overcame as a couple that first met when they were

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twelve years old, and how they had to overcome racism

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in the fifties and the sixties to go from sea

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students at an urban school to raising three college graduates.

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I definitely think it's that black love story, talking about

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the bond that my wife and I have as she

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overcame domestic violence, as we both overcame being college dropouts,

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for me to graduate from Davidson, for her to graduate

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as an honor student with a biology degree of fifty three,

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there's something to be said about living your principles that

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say so much more than partisanship. And for those that

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are looking for the political or partisan aspects of a

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Van diagram of one, they will see critiques both of

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the Republican Party but also the Democrat Party. Because the

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book is about values and getting back to a certain

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American way of life, regardless of our ethnic backgrounds. It's

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a lot more about that and those type of stories

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of hope than it is about partisanship and why somebody

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should vote this way or that way.

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Speaker 1: Well, you know, we can boil it down to partisanship,

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but there's also a reality here, you know. So are

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you saying that you think that black people or black

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people of principle, let me qualify, that will flood back

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into the Republican Party. Are you saying that that's something

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that you would like to see, would like to see

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us reversing that exodus from the Republican Party, in reversing

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the balance within the party itself.

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Speaker 3: No, what I'm talking about is I want black people,

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and let's talk specifically about our folks, our people. I

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want black people to fully enjoy security, empowerment, and opportunity

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once again An America have that in a way where

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they can enjoin those rights fully. Now, if that empowerment

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means they stay democrats, I still love them as children

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of God, and we still got to find a way

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to work together, and we will. If that empowerment means

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that they consider voting for one Republican candidate, five Republican candidates,

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a bunch of Republican candidates, so be it on that

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as well, we still have to work together and love

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each other again. Diagram of One is not a book

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to persuade people to become Republicans. It's nothing of a sort.

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It is a book. It is a book that encourages

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people to go find their values and their empowerment once again,

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so that we can start healing our country and then

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find the best ways to be able to make the

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country better understood.

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Speaker 1: The topic that I chose for today is the mystery

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of the black Republican under the MAGA world. So I'm

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not meaning to imply that that's what your book is about,

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but certainly, you know, we want to let people know

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about the book. And you keep referring back referencing these principles.

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Speaker 2: And morals really that you have.

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Speaker 1: And you said that your father reference when he was

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explaining what made him come back and register as a

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Republican in the middle of a Trump era. That's baffling

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to me. What are those principles?

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Speaker 3: Well, I think those principles number one or empowerment. And

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let me clarify my dad's position. He was less saying

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that he was leaving the Democrat Party because he thinks

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they're koops. That's not what he's saying. What he's saying

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is there are too many people that have lost their

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ethics and their moral compass in the Republican Party. He

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sees his position, as a Catholic of over fifty sixty

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years as being one that does align with many things

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that the Republican Party does. Being a pro business individual,

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even at eighty four years old, he sees that as well.

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But he also sees a need for balance, and he's

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saying that there's no more balance from the Republican Party.

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He's seen me profess that level of balance and stick

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to those principles over the course of twenty years, and

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that's what persuaded in switch. Less about trying to make

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a judgment or the Democrat Party, but making a judgment

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in regards to the lack of balance that we as

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black people have politically moving forward. So I want to

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make sure I clarify that, because it's not as though

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he was making the Democrats when he made that move. Yeah,

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I was, to your point in regards I.

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Speaker 1: Wasn't ald On, I wasn't implying that your dad was

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saying we were koops. But what you referenced was the

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foundational uh, you know, the foundational moral compass or the

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foundational principles that you live your life by, which you

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have described in your book and which your dad says

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he's lived his life by. And so I'm trying to

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figure out what those are and where they are to

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be found within the Republican Party. I mean, it's hard

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for me to even imagine. And I understand you're saying

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you can change it from within. But at the same time,

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if we just forget about partisanship, and we forget about

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even like our platforms, and we just look at the

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grifting alone, that the corruption alone within the party at

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this moment, how I don't know how that what moral

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principle does that line up with?

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Speaker 3: But here, because this is what's happening, Dominique, you're combining

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me saying I'm living by certain principles and that's the

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reason why I'm a Republican. I might be a Republican

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because there's certain public policy positions. You and I disagree

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on the whole school aspect, but that's one of them.

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You know, that might be something. Principles are non partisan issues.

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Speaker 2: You mean the school private value to shoot.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, well, let's see, we disagree on that. We're not

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gonna go down there, but we love each other when

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it comes to when it comes to principles, principles are nonpartisan.

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I'm not you know, I have never ascribed to saying

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that the only way you can have a moral compass

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is if you're a conservative, and thus you're a Republican.

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I know that there are people that say that I

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have never abscribed to that, you know. You know, God

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doesn't walk around with a maga had on so and

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wasn't a Republican before we got to this point in time.

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So the point is, there are certain principles that we

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should live as Americans that allow us to move forward

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with what we do on a daily basis, and then

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from there we can each determine what political party, or

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if they're other than the Big two, that match our values.

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Then we move forward with that and belong to that

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party and try to do the best we can can

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to mold it with our actions.

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Speaker 1: We only have a minute before news, traffic, and sports,

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so you may have to answer this more on the

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other side, but I understand what you're saying. Principles are nonpartisan.

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Sounds good, It's very catchy.

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Speaker 2: I love that.

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Speaker 1: However, certain principles are you know, pretty scarce in the

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GOP right now, and one of them is honesty. You know,

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I mean straight up with that, non prevarication. So how

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does an honest person stay in that environment?

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Speaker 3: With prayer and persistence, That's a pretty short answer. We

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can get to that before the commercial break.

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Speaker 1: That's a very short answer, Lenny McAllister dot com. That's

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where they find the book, right, Lenny McCallister dot com.

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Speaker 3: They can go there, they can go to Barnes and Noble,

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they can go to Amazon wherever books are sold. You

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can get an ebook, audiobook, hardcover of and diagram of

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One in American Story wherever books are sold.

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Speaker 1: Lenny McAllister's here, we're talking black GOP, Black Maga when

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we come forward on KBLA talk fee eighty. He is

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an author, a Senior Fellow at the Commonwealth Foundation, a pundit,

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and his new book is A ven Diagram of One

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in American Story. Lenny McAllister joins me this morning speaking

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on the mystery of black Republicans in the Maga era.

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And you going back to these principles, you said, these values,

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you said empowerment.

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Speaker 2: What else?

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Speaker 3: Security, empowerment and opportunity and these are things that let's

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just be real, Republicans use to stand for a long

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time ago. Constitutional protections. You know, one of the things

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I talk about with security is security of self, security

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of citizenship, are you an equal citizen? And then security

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of potential. Do you have the same opportunity to fulfill

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your potential in America than others do. That's something we

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don't do as much as Republicans anymore. And you talked

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about the grifting. Grifting goes back to the whole prospect

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of I'm going to get something just because I'm connected

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to power. It's the same thing with the DEI quote

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unquote didn't earn it. Well, what was Jim Crow? It

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was one set of people getting advantages over a different

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set of people, and those individuals got the advantages that

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they didn't earn. They got it by way of racist laws.

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That security has to be put back in place. We

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start talking about empowerment. Empowerment through education, entrepreneurialism, and not

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just making a business dominique, but being able to reinvent yourself,

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being entrepreneurial with your personal brand on a regular basis.

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Do you have the empowerment to do that? Many people

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oftentimes they want power for themselves. Again, let's go back

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to the grifting. But I can get power for myself.

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I don't care if you're empowered. If you're truly about

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constitutional protections, if you're a constitutional conservative, you want every

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American to have constitutional protections, to be empowered, not just

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have power over them. Again, these are things that constitutional

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conservatives say that they're about until you watch how they've

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been over the last fifteen to twenty years.

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Speaker 1: That when I would argue, I mean I would argue

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longer than that, But I understand what you're saying. It's

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more blatant now. But among the values, I.

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Speaker 2: Don't see justice.

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Speaker 1: I don't see equity or equality. I don't see truthfulness.

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I don't see compassion. I don't see fairness. I don't

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see a lot of the things that you know I

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would think of as from my perspective as a progressive patriot,

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I don't see to me, those are American values also.

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Speaker 2: Ya, But you don't list those.

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Speaker 1: You list empowerment, security, and opportunity, which you know could

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I mean that could be you know President Bouque's list.

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Speaker 3: If you're if you're secure in your citizenship, you cannot

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have the will pulled over your eyes. You cannot have

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the law put against you. If you're empowered through education,

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you not only know the laws, but you know yourself.

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If you're empowered as an American citizen, you're going to

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be entitled and you're going to have access to the truth,

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you're going to be treated fairly, you're going to have justice.

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You can't be in powered.

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Speaker 1: So we so justice is implied, equality and inequity is implied.

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We just have to say it's included. But don't you think,

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given what's happening in our country today and and actually

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some of the atrocities on which it stands, we need

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to explicitly state that justice and equality are in fact

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not just equality but equity are in fact values morals

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that we intentionally stand on.

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Speaker 3: At the risk of sounding like a salesman, my dear sister,

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it's in a vent diagram of one. I do lay

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that out. I'm not with that hopefully. Yeah. The themes are, yes,

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you have you have the thematic themes of security, empowerment

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and opportunity. But as I break down, whether people listen

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to it on audiobook or read a e book or hardcover,

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they'll see me talk about those very specific things and

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talk about how when you get away from the grander themes,

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those other things can't be there for everybody. So in

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order to make sure that there are certain protections for everybody,

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including the injustice, that we're referring to including the fracturing

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of the truth that we've seen over time. You have

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to get back to those those principles. So yes, they

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are specifically called out civil rights, honesty, honesty.

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Speaker 2: Honestly that one I mean.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I'm thinking about Carolyn Levitt right, she's stepping

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down from her job at the tender age of twenty

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eight to quote unquote spend time with her family, which

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means zero because everyone says that all the time.

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Speaker 2: I'm always but I.

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Speaker 1: Mean, this person is highly successful and rose to the

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top of the Republican Party.

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Speaker 2: In this moment that we're in.

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Speaker 1: Not that she's black, but it's to me, it's emblematic

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of where the party is at. And she blatantly lied

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all day long, like when the truth would do just lie, lie, lie,

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lie lie. How can a person of principle affiliate with

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the group that's I understand this impulse to reform, but

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if people are lying every day and one of my

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core values is honesty, I don't want to be around

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those people.

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Speaker 3: Well, there's two things to that. Number One, in the book,

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I am honest even when I had flaws, So for example,

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my dad's shooting, I talk about the tensions he and

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I had just two weeks prior. I talked about the

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mess that my life was as far as not following

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up on my potential, not doing the things I needed

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to do in the moment right before he was shot.

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I talk about other instances of being a college dropout,

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going from an Ivy League school the South to being

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a delicate Clark making four dollars an hour. That level

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of honesty in regards to this is where I was

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allows people to see the vulnerability of being honest with

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themselves and moving forward. But back to the other point

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that you mentioned in regards to reform, This country is

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built on people to find a way to reform the

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things that they see that are broken. How has it

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been working out for African Americans in the Ruby red

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South when we don't have access to a level of

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political balance. How has it worked out when Republicans run

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all three branch of the government at the federal level.

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I'm sitting in Washington, DC right now. How has it

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played out for those that did not want the National

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Guard here without having some same voices speaking up for

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constitutional values that they professe, that they stand up for,

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but they don't live out in principle. The bottom line

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is there are some of us that simply do not

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have the option of walking away from doing the hard work. Now,

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we may get critiqued for it along the way, but

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I'm trying to be historic, not trendy. That means I'm

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gonna have to take some of these bows and arrows

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coming at me. I'm gonna have to take some of

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the slurs sometimes coming at me because I got a

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as I'm leading and as I'm doing what I'm doing.

475
00:26:11,559 --> 00:26:13,920
I talk about this in event diagram of one. I

476
00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:15,839
gotta love people more than they may like me in

477
00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:18,160
the moment, because that's what leadership's all about.

478
00:26:19,839 --> 00:26:22,440
Speaker 2: Oh boy, okay, I hear you. Ah.

479
00:26:22,559 --> 00:26:25,119
Speaker 1: I mean, those are choices that we make. So is

480
00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:30,440
your ultimate vision that more and more people of principle,

481
00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:34,279
presumably black people of principle, will become more and more

482
00:26:34,279 --> 00:26:37,119
influential in the party. Because when I look at the

483
00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:41,400
Republican Party now, which seems to be under the full

484
00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:47,400
headlock of you know, trump Ism, I don't see those

485
00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:53,519
dissonant voices being successful at all. You know, even with

486
00:26:53,559 --> 00:26:59,240
the confirmation of Todd Blanche we heard lame duck senators

487
00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:03,519
who have already been primaried by the president.

488
00:27:05,079 --> 00:27:07,880
Speaker 2: Or at the president's behas.

489
00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:10,720
Speaker 1: Still falling in line and voting for this guy who's

490
00:27:10,799 --> 00:27:13,359
clearly set out of his own mouth that he's the

491
00:27:13,359 --> 00:27:16,559
president's personal lawyer, and has clearly set out of his

492
00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:21,680
own mouth that he intends to go after people for

493
00:27:21,799 --> 00:27:25,960
their political proclivities and continues to be an election denier.

494
00:27:26,799 --> 00:27:28,920
They said they weren't going to confirm him, but in

495
00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:31,559
the end they did. In the end, they all caved.

496
00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:34,440
So I don't see where there's any room in the party.

497
00:27:34,559 --> 00:27:40,519
I don't see where there's any any space for any

498
00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:46,319
kind of debate, dissonance, or even slight conversation that does

499
00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:51,319
not support the absolute monarchy of the resident, as I

500
00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:53,000
like to call him.

501
00:27:53,359 --> 00:27:55,920
Speaker 3: Well, you and I have talked about this story before.

502
00:27:56,799 --> 00:28:00,640
I have to live and work for the America we

503
00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:04,200
want two, three, five, ten years down the road, not

504
00:28:04,359 --> 00:28:06,720
just today. I told you this story. I told you

505
00:28:06,759 --> 00:28:10,960
this story before working with the Reverend and I I

506
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:12,640
told you this story I was working with the Reverend

507
00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:15,920
Jesse Jackson Senior, who said this same exact thing to

508
00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:18,400
me in twenty thirteen and said, Lenny, you are a

509
00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:20,720
good Republican and you're a good man, but your party

510
00:28:20,759 --> 00:28:23,680
is more concerned about confederacy than they are about democracy.

511
00:28:23,839 --> 00:28:26,640
They're never going to change, I said, Reverend, out of

512
00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:29,039
all due respect. When you went to college in the

513
00:28:29,079 --> 00:28:32,000
nineteen sixties, Jim Crow was around for one hundred years.

514
00:28:32,039 --> 00:28:34,160
You kept going to libraries that they arrested you for.

515
00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:36,720
You kept getting arrested, going to bathrooms in the restaurants,

516
00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:39,079
and they told you, Jesse, what are you doing. All are

517
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:40,720
you gonna do is get yourself hit upside the head.

518
00:28:40,759 --> 00:28:43,640
They're never going to change. I came to North Carolina

519
00:28:43,640 --> 00:28:45,359
to go to college. Twenty years later. I can go

520
00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:47,839
to any library I wanted to, any restaurant. I wanted

521
00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:51,160
to any restaurant I wanted to. Things don't change until

522
00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:56,119
they changed. And even the progressive two time presidential nominee said,

523
00:28:56,160 --> 00:29:01,119
mister Lenny, you have a point to put that work in.

524
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:07,119
Speaker 2: So I mean you have a point. I'm not sure

525
00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:10,599
what the point is in Jesse Jackson's case.

526
00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:14,559
Speaker 1: Even in the sixties, they were making progress. There was

527
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:18,559
evidence that there could something could be salvage or something

528
00:29:18,599 --> 00:29:21,200
could be moved. I'm not seeing it. I see the

529
00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:27,279
corruption doubling down. I see the white supremacy amping up.

530
00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:33,440
I see the oligarchy settling in and digging its teeth,

531
00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:38,680
and you know, keep hope alive. I guess what you're saying, It.

532
00:29:38,599 --> 00:29:40,759
Speaker 3: Is what I'm saying. I mean, the bottom line is, Dominique,

533
00:29:41,119 --> 00:29:43,559
we some of us have to do the work where

534
00:29:43,599 --> 00:29:46,480
we are. And it doesn't make it look, it doesn't

535
00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:49,480
make it comfortable. It doesn't mean I coalesce, it doesn't

536
00:29:49,519 --> 00:29:52,359
mean I agree, but and it does mean that there

537
00:29:52,359 --> 00:29:55,200
are times I'm going to be uncomfortable speaking of truth

538
00:29:55,480 --> 00:29:58,240
when I'm speaking it alone. It literally says that on

539
00:29:58,279 --> 00:30:01,240
the back cover of a N diagram one. There are

540
00:30:01,319 --> 00:30:03,440
people that have seen me do this over the course

541
00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:05,640
of twenty years. There are stories of me doing that

542
00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:08,279
over the course of twenty years. And yes, it might

543
00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:11,880
take a while, but we and I'm not just staying

544
00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:14,039
about African Americans, because again, one of the book is

545
00:30:14,079 --> 00:30:15,960
not just for black people, but it is written from

546
00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:18,680
an African American perspective. And two, it's not just the

547
00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:22,799
political book. But with those two things in mind, we

548
00:30:23,079 --> 00:30:27,759
have to have more access to everybody in government, everybody

549
00:30:27,759 --> 00:30:31,160
that writes laws, everybody that has their fingerprints on the

550
00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:34,400
way we live our lives in modern day America. And

551
00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:37,079
in order to do that, you have to have some sensibilities.

552
00:30:37,359 --> 00:30:40,559
You have to have some compassion and some respect for

553
00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:45,400
constitutional rights for all Americans, emanating from both sides of

554
00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:49,519
the political spectrum. I'm doing my part for the America

555
00:30:49,559 --> 00:30:51,160
that I want to see from my children and my

556
00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:55,359
grandchildren much less in contemporary times, in a shift sooner

557
00:30:55,359 --> 00:30:55,759
than later.

558
00:30:57,599 --> 00:31:01,920
Speaker 1: David McAllister is my guest as usual. You're invited in

559
00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:05,000
if you have something to say, a question or conversation. Oh,

560
00:31:05,039 --> 00:31:07,119
they are going at it in the YouTube chat. If

561
00:31:07,119 --> 00:31:09,519
you want to hop in there. That's a KBLA fifteen

562
00:31:09,559 --> 00:31:11,960
eighty on YouTube dot com.

563
00:31:12,359 --> 00:31:13,480
Speaker 2: I'm Dominique Diprima.

564
00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:18,079
Speaker 1: This is KBLA Talk fifteen eighty talking with Lenny McAllister.

565
00:31:18,359 --> 00:31:21,400
He is a political pundit. He's a senior Fellow with

566
00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:25,480
a Commonwealth Foundation and the author of a ven diagram

567
00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:29,400
of one. He also happens to be a black Republican,

568
00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:31,000
and I'm trying to understand.

569
00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:32,640
Speaker 2: I've never quite.

570
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:37,079
Speaker 1: Fully understand stood, although I actually do have some friends

571
00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:43,240
and colleagues who are Republicans, what the draw is and

572
00:31:43,319 --> 00:31:45,880
I understand what you just said, we have to work

573
00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:50,920
where we are. Everyone has a role to play, everyone

574
00:31:50,960 --> 00:31:54,240
can stay in their lane. On the other hand, my

575
00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:59,119
friend jas Mechanic, who is a delegate in the La

576
00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:03,400
County Democrat Party, makes an interesting point too when I

577
00:32:03,839 --> 00:32:06,759
you know, when we hear some black people talking about

578
00:32:06,839 --> 00:32:10,599
leaving the Democratic Party, not to run to the Republican Party,

579
00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:15,079
but to find a find or found a third party

580
00:32:15,279 --> 00:32:19,119
which would be more in alignment with the needs and

581
00:32:19,279 --> 00:32:23,839
aspirations of black people in this country. And she says,

582
00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:25,960
I like to be where the black people are, and

583
00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:29,079
the black people are in the Democratic Party.

584
00:32:29,079 --> 00:32:32,559
Speaker 3: What do you say to that, I can be with

585
00:32:32,599 --> 00:32:35,759
black people and be with all different types of people

586
00:32:36,319 --> 00:32:39,559
and not necessarily align on one aspect of my identity.

587
00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:41,880
And I think it's one of the things that unfortunately

588
00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:47,960
Black Republicans have stuck on their foreheads and worn more

589
00:32:48,039 --> 00:32:51,319
than anything else, which is they use it as their identity.

590
00:32:51,759 --> 00:32:54,279
That's not my identity. That is part of what I do.

591
00:32:54,359 --> 00:32:58,000
That is an aspect of who I am, but it

592
00:32:58,079 --> 00:33:01,480
is not the identity who I am. I'm a child

593
00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:04,319
of God, I'm an American, I'm a black man, I'm

594
00:33:04,319 --> 00:33:06,240
in fact, i'm a black man before I'm an American,

595
00:33:06,680 --> 00:33:11,680
and as a result, I have to act from that first. Now,

596
00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:14,680
obviously there are going to be certain policy positions that

597
00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:21,319
I gravitate towards as a Republican, certain policy issues that

598
00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:25,359
I'm going to believe in, and I will articulate them.

599
00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:27,799
But even with that, there's a way to articulate those

600
00:33:27,839 --> 00:33:31,880
principles without doing it with the animists that we do

601
00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:35,640
see from Republicans. And sometimes, let's just be fair, from

602
00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:38,480
some black Republicans when they're talking to the black community.

603
00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:42,559
That's not leadership either. So yes, I like being where

604
00:33:42,559 --> 00:33:44,799
black folks are. I make sure I am where black

605
00:33:44,799 --> 00:33:47,599
folks are. But you can do that more than just

606
00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:50,440
where black folks are. Politically, the bottom line is we're

607
00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:53,400
supposed to be there for our communities, regardless of you know,

608
00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:57,279
being Catholic versus being Muslim versus being Jewish. It would

609
00:33:57,279 --> 00:33:59,359
be the same with political parties and then fighting for

610
00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:02,400
the things that people need with the political philosophies that

611
00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:05,039
you think will work best short term and long term,

612
00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:06,440
and pushing back where you need to.

613
00:34:06,880 --> 00:34:09,159
Speaker 1: Of my apologies, Lenny, I do not think your name

614
00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:14,920
is David. Apparently I was rushing. But Lenny McAllister is

615
00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:17,880
my guest, and a couple of things you touched on

616
00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:19,400
that I would like to follow up on. We only

617
00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:21,159
have a few minutes here. One of them is the

618
00:34:21,159 --> 00:34:25,920
civility question. And okay, I'll give you that there are some,

619
00:34:26,639 --> 00:34:32,559
you know, impolite to put it, mildly, democrats, but the

620
00:34:32,679 --> 00:34:36,119
sort of crassness, the boorishness, the insults, you know, the

621
00:34:36,199 --> 00:34:39,719
hurling of insults has been popularized by the current resident

622
00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:42,400
of the White House. And I wonder if we can

623
00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:46,480
put that genie back in the bottle politically, regardless of

624
00:34:46,519 --> 00:34:48,840
where you are on the spectrum, Yes we can.

625
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:50,800
Speaker 3: I mean, in the nineteen seventies, You and I grew

626
00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:53,440
up in the seventies, and people thought that they taught

627
00:34:53,519 --> 00:34:56,159
was a way of life for the rest of our existence,

628
00:34:56,199 --> 00:34:59,039
and that the United States had lost its way. By

629
00:34:59,039 --> 00:35:02,159
the nineteen eighties, celebrating the eighty four Summer Olympics in

630
00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:06,280
la and jobs started coming back into the economy, and

631
00:35:06,320 --> 00:35:09,880
within ten years the Soviet Union didn't exist anymore. You know,

632
00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:12,079
four one hundred years we were told that, we were

633
00:35:12,079 --> 00:35:15,159
told that black folks were inferior and they were going

634
00:35:15,239 --> 00:35:17,559
to have separate but equal, and we'll just make it

635
00:35:17,639 --> 00:35:19,639
more equal even though it's still going to be separate.

636
00:35:20,039 --> 00:35:23,119
And then twenty years after legislation was passed in the

637
00:35:23,199 --> 00:35:26,360
nineteen sixties, we have Barack Obama. So do I think

638
00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:28,000
that I don't know if.

639
00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:32,800
Speaker 1: Those examples no, well my analysis, but I understand your points.

640
00:35:33,119 --> 00:35:37,199
Speaker 3: The point is the grossest of injustices. We have found

641
00:35:37,199 --> 00:35:40,239
ways to get passed, not completely get passed from time,

642
00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:43,840
and I mean, yes, have there been regressions, Absolutely, and

643
00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:47,440
it's shameful. But the question you asked was, do I

644
00:35:47,559 --> 00:35:50,400
believe that this genie can be put back in the bottle?

645
00:35:50,760 --> 00:35:53,159
I do believe with the right type of leadership. And

646
00:35:53,159 --> 00:35:55,920
I'm not saying we're publican leadership or democratic leadership, but

647
00:35:55,960 --> 00:35:58,079
I am talking about the type of leadership that I

648
00:35:58,119 --> 00:36:02,440
do talk about an event diagram of one which supersedes partisanship,

649
00:36:03,119 --> 00:36:06,760
with that type of leadership from everyday people. I do

650
00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:11,920
think that much of what's dividing us in essence really

651
00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:15,840
hampering our existences collectively. I do think and be put

652
00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:17,960
back in the bottle. I do think we can find

653
00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:18,519
a better way.

654
00:36:20,039 --> 00:36:22,360
Speaker 1: And then, you know you talked about at the beginning

655
00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:25,280
of the conversation, you said, your book of n Diagram

656
00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:29,639
of One is a store a black love story or

657
00:36:29,639 --> 00:36:32,079
a story of black love, and you referenced your wife

658
00:36:32,079 --> 00:36:36,199
and my colleague at this radio station, John Wood Junior,

659
00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:39,920
is also a Black Republican, and I said one time

660
00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:41,480
on the air that I think he's the only Black

661
00:36:41,519 --> 00:36:45,760
Republican I know with a black wife.

662
00:36:46,079 --> 00:36:47,320
Speaker 3: Maybe I know that anymore.

663
00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:49,280
Speaker 2: Now I know too, at least.

664
00:36:51,320 --> 00:36:53,280
Speaker 1: At least And I say that not just to be

665
00:36:53,320 --> 00:36:56,840
a smart alec, but also because I think there is

666
00:36:56,880 --> 00:37:01,039
a perceived rejection of our blackness, and certainly are black

667
00:37:01,079 --> 00:37:05,960
women in the embracing of today's Republican party and all

668
00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:08,599
the way down to you know, hundreds of thousands of

669
00:37:08,639 --> 00:37:11,639
black women being pushed out of their jobs by this,

670
00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:14,199
you know, the fake outrage over.

671
00:37:14,079 --> 00:37:19,519
Speaker 3: DEI listen, you love who you love. I get that,

672
00:37:19,639 --> 00:37:21,880
And I want everybody go to heaven as a Christian.

673
00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:23,480
That's where I said, but.

674
00:37:23,719 --> 00:37:26,480
Speaker 1: Everybody, you want everybody in there with you.

675
00:37:26,559 --> 00:37:30,719
Speaker 3: Okay, what's the alternative? I can't even imagine what hell is,

676
00:37:30,719 --> 00:37:32,920
So I don't want to wish up on anybody. But

677
00:37:33,039 --> 00:37:39,239
that said, I have a unique, special, respectful and very

678
00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:44,320
vibrant love for my black wife and that ain't going away.

679
00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:46,920
And there have been instances where I've had to push

680
00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:49,639
back on people that have been surprised that I've been

681
00:37:50,239 --> 00:37:54,960
more than willing to express that level of love and

682
00:37:55,039 --> 00:37:58,480
respect for my soulmate, my best friend, and my gorgeous wife,

683
00:37:59,039 --> 00:38:00,480
which you can be all three of those things at

684
00:38:00,519 --> 00:38:02,400
the same exact time in a regular basis. And I

685
00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:06,800
know that generally speaking, they're not used to Black Republicans

686
00:38:06,920 --> 00:38:09,719
walking around with a sister on their arm that they're

687
00:38:09,719 --> 00:38:12,400
still opening the door for. But that's also part of

688
00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:14,480
the reason why I wrote a vent diagram of one

689
00:38:14,760 --> 00:38:21,000
to show folks that political affiliation is not your principles,

690
00:38:21,039 --> 00:38:24,719
they're not your values, they're not your way of life. Ideally,

691
00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:28,480
those things project back into your partisanship, which is why

692
00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:30,400
I keep saying, you know, folks, go read the book,

693
00:38:30,480 --> 00:38:32,800
go listen to the book. You'll see it's much more

694
00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:35,800
than just as Black Republican talking about being a Black Republican.

695
00:38:36,119 --> 00:38:38,760
It's about living a certain life, trying to get back

696
00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:41,400
to values that have worked for us over time, and

697
00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:45,159
then saying, well, I've done these things as a Black Republican,

698
00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:48,000
which is much different than saying, Hey, I'm a black Republican.

699
00:38:48,039 --> 00:38:52,719
Speaker 1: Look at me, well said, remind them one last time

700
00:38:53,239 --> 00:38:55,360
as we run out the clock. Here about how to

701
00:38:55,440 --> 00:39:00,119
find your brand new book Event diagram of one.

702
00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:02,440
Speaker 3: You can go to Barnes and Noble. You can go

703
00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:05,840
to Amazon. You can order it through Target or Walmart.

704
00:39:05,920 --> 00:39:10,719
You can buy it wherever books are sold. Ebook, audiobook, hardcover,

705
00:39:11,079 --> 00:39:14,119
a ven diagram of one an American story by Lenny mcgallish,

706
00:39:14,159 --> 00:39:16,239
or you can also go to my website Lenny mcgalisher

707
00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:18,800
dot com. I will be on the Takeout with Major

708
00:39:18,840 --> 00:39:22,000
Garrett this evening. I will be on MS Now with

709
00:39:22,079 --> 00:39:24,400
Michael Steele, who wrote one of the co forwards of

710
00:39:24,440 --> 00:39:26,840
the book. I will be on with him tomorrow night,

711
00:39:26,920 --> 00:39:30,519
Friday night at seven pm Eastern four pm Pacific as well.

712
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I'll be on with Newkingridge next week as well in

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his podcast. So Dominique, I want you to I want

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you to get a copy. I want you to read

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it and read I'm talking.

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Speaker 1: We got to leave it there though, because it's time

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time to pass the mic. But thank you so much,

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and I absolutely will I always appreciate that.

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Speaker 3: God'll bless you.

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Speaker 1: Doctor Cornell West Neoby Carter, and many many more featured

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Next Hour. You don't want to miss it. I'm Dominique Diuprima.

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Like my mama, the late Great Dianedaprima used to say

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in her poem called Rant, the ultimate famine is the

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starvation of the imagination. Until tomorrow, My KBLA delegation with

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our Friedman Friday Reparations Conversation, One Love,