Kamala Harris is the Democratic presidential candidate in 2020, but is she really running for president? Is she a serious contender? Or is she just running for re-election as a third party candidate? And will it be enough to keep her out of the spotlight until November? In this episode of Stay Free With Russell Brand, host Russell Brand chats to members of the Bongino Army, including Beth Antwelve and Loris Mann, to find out if she has what it takes to become the next president of the United States of America. Plus, a look at why it s possible that a politician so associated with the left could become a MAGA candidate, and what it means for the future of American politics. Stay Free with Russell Brand is a podcast produced and hosted by Russell Brand and edited by Matt Knost. Please take a few minutes to fill out this brief survey. Send us your thoughts and responses in the comments section below, and we'll get them on the show next week. Thanks for listening and supporting the show! Timestamps: 1:00:00 - What do you think of Kamala Harris? 4:30 - Is she running for President in 2020? 5:00 Is she serious? 6:30 What does she have a chance of winning the election? 8:15 - Is Bernie Sanders a viable alternative to Donald Trump? 9:15 11:40 - Is it possible that Bernie Sanders is a viable presidential candidate? 12:00 Is she going to win the 2020 Democratic nomination? 13:00 Does she really have a serious chance? 15:00 Can she be a serious presidential contender? 16:00 Could she run for President? 17:00 What s she really represent the country? 18:00 Are you a serious shot at winning the White House? 19:10 - Does she actually have a vision for America? 21:00 Do you have a plan for America s future? 22:00 How do I vote for her in 2020 or do I m going to vote for Bernie Sanders? 23: Does she have any chance of being a woman? 24:00 Should she have an alternative to Trump or not? 25: Is she really that bad? 26:00 Would you like to be president? 27:00 Will she be the next President of the USA s first woman to be a woman in the next generation?
00:00:52.000Was it functional enough to keep her out of the spotlight until November?
00:00:57.000You will decide, surely, people of America, people of the world.
00:01:01.000Hello there to Mr Galway, who I met in person yesterday.
00:01:05.000I'm talking to our Awaken Wonders there in the locals chat because yesterday we did a live show and all of our Awaken Wonder members can turn up And see us simply by, well we'll put tickets of Russell Brand in the chat there and you can come and see me live.
00:01:22.000Including, and I'm pretty proud to announce this, we have secured from Tucker Carlson's team a handful of tickets for the live event in Phoenix next week where I'll be his first guest as he does a tour in the month of September.
00:01:35.000So if you want a chance to win those tickets, we'll give you the chance to win them over the course of the show.
00:01:51.000You'll probably have to come up with a question or something like that.
00:01:54.000Maybe we'll just be the first five people to apply to them, but I'll give you a moment to get on over there.
00:01:59.000Let's have a look at what we're up to today, you lot.
00:02:55.000I'm still getting comments for, um, turn up the volume in the rumble chat, so I don't know, maybe just turn it up significantly if you don't mind, guys.
00:03:16.000Is it possible that a politician so associated with the left could become a MAGA candidate?
00:03:22.000That's pretty astonishing to contemplate.
00:03:25.000Who would have imagined that Bobby Kennedy would be making a video like this?
00:03:31.000Are you or your loved ones suffering from illnesses such as TDS, also known as Trump Derangement Syndrome?
00:03:36.000Do you dismiss or deny the current issues facing our country, such as historic inflation, illegal immigration, corporate corruption, World War III escalations, and the chronic disease epidemic?
00:03:48.000Are you willing to elect someone who was the least popular vice president in modern history, and who offers no policy or vision for America, simply because your brain keeps telling you anyone but Trump?
00:03:58.000If so, you might be struggling from TDS.
00:04:04.000Independence allows you the freedom to finally think independently once again.
00:04:08.000Instead of believing everything you hear from the mainstream media, independence allows for constructive critical thinking.
00:04:14.000I used to hear people on the news say things like Donald Trump and the movement he has encouraged are a threat to democracy and I instantly believed it.
00:04:23.000With independence, I now realize the media is run by the Democrat elite, who are a corrupt oligarchy that censors free speech, silences political opponents, supports forever wars, and abandons democracy by anointing its candidates.
00:04:38.000If you enjoy being lied to about your president's cognitive abilities, support Orwellian totalitarianism, or are excited about communist fiscal policy, independence may not be right for you.
00:04:49.000Common side effects of independence may include an awakening of rational thought, successfully identifying propaganda, freedom of choice, loss of hatred, anti-narcissistic behavior, and love of democracy.
00:05:02.000I used to blindly hate whoever my party was running against.
00:05:05.000I didn't care about facts or policy because I was hopelessly indoctrinated.
00:05:09.000With independence, I'm much more interested in policies that uphold democracy, and I truly care about the health of our country and its citizens.
00:05:15.000Ask your doctor if independence is right for you, and enjoy your freedoms once again.
00:05:26.000I've put the sunglasses back on because some people said that I ought to.
00:05:30.000This is the kind of placatory attitude that's got us into this mess in the first place.
00:05:34.000What we need are static facts upon which we can rely in a chaotic and Ever-moving world.
00:05:42.000What we need is some virtues and principles that we can feel and resource from within ourselves that are abiding and ever-present.
00:05:50.000Yes, the glory of nature suggests a creator, but more than that, the presence of a still, quiet voice within us that tells us when we're being duped and tricked and lied to.
00:06:01.000You probably saw this on X posted by Endwokeness.
00:06:06.000They post a lot of good things, whoever that is, you know?
00:06:09.000Look at these Time articles prior and post RFK backing Trump.
00:06:17.000There's why ultra-processed foods are so bad for you, which I think we generally accept.
00:06:21.000Passes the kind of blink test, doesn't it?
00:06:23.000The idea that ultra-processed foods are going to have a negative impact.
00:06:29.000What if ultra-processed foods aren't as bad as you think?
00:06:33.000Maybe you should carry on eating them.
00:06:35.000In my conversation with Jay Bhattacharya, The Stanford scientist and outspoken critic of your government's policy in particular during the pandemic period, he, as a scientist who at Stanford would receive funding, agreed that only the clinical trials that are profitable are taking place.
00:06:54.000You can imagine, can't you, The Jubilee that must accompany the augmenting and minting of a new vaccine program, for then you are dealing with populations not having to sell your medication to individuals, but to entire nations.
00:07:11.000That's why you need to take back control of your health.
00:07:14.000Here's a message from one of our partners, an organization headed up by the brilliant and virtuous Pia McCulloch.
00:08:28.000Take control and ensure that you're protected against whatever comes next because you know they've got stuff coming next.
00:08:33.000So that's twc.health forward slash brand and use that code brand to save $30 plus, I can't even believe this, there's free shipping available right now.
00:08:44.000We'll be talking to Tony Robbins in a minute about his new film, City of Dreams, that his exec produced.
00:08:50.000It's a Sound of Freedom-style rallying cry to end child trafficking.
00:08:55.000You'd think that you wouldn't need to make propaganda to end child trafficking, but a lot of people seem to like having children trafficked.
00:09:04.000Not only, of course, for labour, sweatshop labour, terrible enough, but for the most insidious reasons imaginable.
00:09:11.000We'll be having a look at a The trailer from that film, which is out now, as well as chatting with the director and our man, Tony Robbins, who I love.
00:09:37.000Here's the moment where Theo Von and Tony Robbins get a bit mixed up between Tony Fauci, and who's that other guy?
00:09:46.000Who's that guy from the 1940s, little troublemaker guy, Adolf Hitler?
00:09:50.000How could you even make a mistake like that?
00:09:52.000It's like, there's an old phrase that says, tell a lie big enough, tell a lie big enough, loud enough and long enough, sooner or later people believe it.
00:10:20.000Some people are asking whether or not I'm endorsing anybody.
00:10:23.000You must know by now that I believe in Bobby Kennedy.
00:10:26.000You must know by now that I believe the establishment needs radical disruption.
00:10:32.000You must know by now that the greater threat to democracy are not megalomaniac Populist, ethno-nationalist, anti-globalism, throwback independents?
00:10:43.000They're probably wrecking ball, flying the ointment obstacles to the ascension of the authoritarian, tyrannical globalism that we must oppose, that we have a duty to oppose, that we must galvanize against.
00:10:56.000We should bring together communities of progressives, traditionalists, leftists, rightists, in-betweenists to oppose.
00:11:04.000The tyranny that they march so relentlessly towards us while we still can because we have big issues to confront.
00:11:12.000We are being poisoned and they call it food.
00:11:15.000We are being intoxicated and they call it medicine.
00:11:17.000We're being lied to and they call it news.
00:11:20.000If you're watching us on YouTube we'll be there for another couple of minutes but then we'll be available exclusively on the sweet stream of freedom that we call Rumble that protects our right to stream to you freely and unedited.
00:11:33.000When you watch, as I occasionally do, Inside... Is it Inside with Jen Psaki?
00:11:39.000I know it's got a sort of an oddly evocative... The glasses are going back on.
00:11:42.000I mean, it's causing a lot of trouble over there.
00:11:44.000When you watch Inside or within Jen Psaki, it's got some sort of vaguely evocative title.
00:11:50.000You will see how propaganda works and how people can move from White House press office to MSNBC or CNN pundit almost effortlessly.
00:11:59.000Indeed, we'll be watching and picking apart, with great scrutiny, the Kamala Harris-Tim Waltz CNN propaganda gambit after we leave you guys on YouTube.
00:12:09.000But first, let's have a look at one of the great harbingers of state propaganda, Jen Psaki, talking to Don Lemon, Cast out to the periphery, Don Lemon, cast out to the periphery, telling Jen Psaki that not all black people loathe Donald Trump.
00:12:30.000Let's have a look at her astonishment when she learns that.
00:12:35.000Was there anything, what did they think about Harris?
00:12:37.000Did they have anything to say about her?
00:12:48.000We went to a number of different battleground states in Pennsylvania, Ohio, we were in Michigan, Indiana, on our way, obviously, Illinois, on our way to Chicago.
00:12:59.000And it sort of depended on where you were.
00:13:01.000Pennsylvania, well, I shouldn't say Pennsylvania, I should say Philadelphia, was a bit more liberal and the answers to the questions about her and him were quite different.
00:13:11.000But for the most part, in Pittsburgh, or at the Jersey Shore, in Atlantic City, in Ohio especially, many people did not know who she was, right?
00:13:22.000They weren't familiar with her, so I think she has to reintroduce herself to the public.
00:13:27.000But for him, I think that they thought that he's better for the economy, and that again, that he gave them, that he brought money into the community, or that he was on black people's side.
00:13:38.000Don't actually even know who Kamala Harris is.
00:13:41.000You're gonna have to work on that propaganda a little bit harder.
00:13:44.000If you're watching us on YouTube, we're getting the countdown now.
00:13:53.000It's the fact that YouTube belongs to an alliance of massive media megaliths and corporatists that will ensure that the views that you gain access to make you obedient and compliant.
00:14:31.000Kamala Harris has confronted the naysayers.
00:14:35.000Those that say she's incapable of doing an interview, why don't you feast upon this banquet of platitudes?
00:14:42.000Those of you that say Kamala Harris is incapable of being spontaneous without That sort of living life preserve, that human emotional support animal, Tim Waltz.
00:15:20.000We'll look at the moment where she sort of ludicrously focuses on sizzling bacon in a pan instead of observing that Joe Biden's secession as president would mean that she would be president.
00:15:32.000Which is the sort of thing you would surely notice if you were vice president.
00:15:36.000I mean, the whole thing about vice presidency is that vice component.
00:16:38.000I have Served with President Biden for almost four years now and I'll tell you it's one of the greatest honors of my career, truly.
00:16:49.000He cares so... Anyone that's been vice president, you'd have to, it's not among the greatest honors of my career.
00:16:56.000There's that bit where I was an attorney, there's that bit...
00:17:00.000Where I prolonged needlessly the sentences of jailed people.
00:17:03.000There's this endless attempt to fit in with sets and alliances that seem hell-bent on imposing and controlling the freedoms of ordinary people.
00:17:15.000But also I was vice president for a while and that was Fantastic.
00:17:17.000Yeah, someone in the Awaken Wonder chat has posted a meme about the increasing net worth of politicians while in power, in particular Biden and Harris, who have seen their net worth, according to this meme at least, increase rapidly.
00:17:31.000Certainly it's a commonly trodden path for any politician.
00:17:35.000Increased wealth while serving the public.
00:17:38.000It's the kind of basic principle that we don't get enough time to discuss, isn't it?
00:17:42.000That positions of government ought be truly ministry, and to minister means to serve.
00:17:49.000You should see these people as locked into service for you.
00:17:54.000Not peculiar brokers of arms deals and war games responding to the tug of corporate strings endlessly, issuing on CNN blandness and platitudes amidst their bacon.
00:18:11.000These should be seen as servants of the public.
00:18:14.000There's something about Kamala Harris that I kind of still like.
00:18:18.000Don't you sometimes try and see The obvious humanity that must be present in any individual given that we're made in his likeness.
00:20:30.000I hope that it's not all about extraordinary relationships with balkanised, galvanised, carved up nations.
00:20:36.000I hope it's nothing to do with CIA bases in the Ukraine.
00:20:40.000I hope that Biden didn't receive significant sums from companies and corporations that subsequently employed Hunter Biden.
00:20:48.000I hope that there aren't corporations that prevent legislation ever being passed that would meaningfully impact the ability of the pharmaceutical industry to name but one to continue to profit and exploit ordinary people.
00:21:00.000I hope that America is still won by people with a sizzling pan of bacon and a bunch of nieces.
00:21:06.000I hope that that's still the kind of ominous America that exists somewhere, but I can't help but think that this is a carefully managed piece of TV propaganda.
00:21:19.000You can't allow dear old Tim Walz and Kamala Harris to just take on a duck walk of public conversation.
00:21:27.000You can't allow your views to stream freely into political spaces.
00:21:37.000I think really what we will experience now are a series of mediocre bureaucratic officials, unless there is some sort of another anomalous event, I'm talking something that disrupts, whether that's a Trump presidency or a Brexit or a movement that's outside of the mainframe and the mainstream.
00:21:55.000I don't know where it will come from, the left or the right, I don't think it even matters.
00:21:58.000What I think matters is the disruption of the establishment because without that, I think we're going to be managed into total control, the legitimization of total control.
00:22:07.000You will see the pieces falling into place, this piece of technology, this piece of legislation, these anti-protest laws, this division in this nation, these cultural fractions, these new edicts that determine that people can't grow their own food or even farming in a scale that was recognizable 10, 20 years ago will be pared down and controlled and redistributed.
00:22:31.000Unless something extraordinary happens, seems like that's the way we're going.
00:22:35.000And I don't think that you can disrupt that over a sizzling pan of bacon fat.
00:22:41.000And, um, and he told me what he had decided to do.
00:23:13.000You know, like people try and sell you the idea.
00:23:16.000Yeah, I don't really think about myself when the president calls me and says I don't need a president anymore.
00:23:22.000I don't really think about the connotations.
00:23:25.000I suppose that does make me president.
00:23:27.000I better... I better turn this bacon down, actually, because it seems like we're on the brink of, like, massive wars all over the world.
00:23:34.000I should probably do something about that.
00:23:35.000And it seems like, actually, the whole government's been captured by a corporate class, and we've condemned and damned through propaganda, like, half of the population, and created, like, a metropolitan elite class that spends all of their time sneeringly damning blue-collar and working men.
00:23:50.000I should probably do something about that, now that I'm president.
00:24:28.000History, Churchill would tell you, is written by the victims.
00:24:31.000History, Foucault would tell you, is deliberately superficial and amounts to propaganda.
00:24:36.000History is a set of ideas that are pushed in order to put you in a particular perspective.
00:24:41.000That's why if someone comes up with Interesting and novel ideas about perhaps ancient civilizations or why someone pushes, if someone pushes a spiritual purview.
00:24:50.000They're condemned as maniacs and lunatics.
00:24:55.000History is merely the undergirding of the current order.
00:24:58.000And if history did have any objectivity, it'd go, Joe Biden, hmm, career politician, utterly corrupt, corrupt in every way conceivable, you can look at his voting records, you can look at his career, he was completely in the hock of corporations, completely in the business of war, seems to be a man without ethics, and I'm beginning to wonder if he even had a fight with Corn Pop.
00:25:17.000In so many ways it was transformative, be it on What we have accomplished around finally investing in America's infrastructure, investing in new economies, in new industries.
00:25:30.000What we have done to bring our allies back together and have confidence in who we are as America and grow that alliance.
00:25:39.000What we have done to stand true to our principles, including one of the most important international rules and norms, which is the importance of sovereignty and territorial integrity.
00:25:50.000And I think history is going to show not only has Joe Biden led an administration that has achieved those extraordinary successes, but the character of the man is one that he has been in his life and career, including as a president, quite selfless and puts the American people first.
00:26:13.000He was dragged out of that office, wasn't he, by Pelosi and the Clintons and the Obamas.
00:26:20.000His own wife, in the end, out to throw him under a bus.
00:26:23.000It was an absolute spectacle of elder abuse and lunacy.
00:26:28.000And look at what has spawned yet another Political candidate who can only be accommodated in environments that are plushy and cushy and soft and platitudinous that don't allow for interrogation when it comes to war or even civil tax policies actually that have been announced like a capital gains tax which sounds pretty bloody confusing to me is an
00:26:55.000Outrage is ludicrous and ridiculous and even CNN in their own post-mortem seem to be in damage control mode.
00:27:05.000It wasn't a huge, I don't think she moved the ball that much forward.
00:27:08.000I don't think there's a policy separation that they've created with Biden.
00:27:12.000Obviously she gave a kind of personal defense of him.
00:27:14.000Now you might not like the way she answered him but she answered him as a capable qualified leader and I do think she I think she moved the ball forward a little bit.
00:27:23.000You know, maybe she didn't score a touchdown today.
00:27:24.000I think the two biggest issues coming out of Biden for her are the economic policies, which she clearly wants to embrace, but also the immigration policies.
00:27:32.000Dana asked her if she had anything to say about what they did for three and a half years leading up until the back and forth this year.
00:27:38.000Completely sidestepped it, did not answer it.
00:27:41.000She goes back to her time as attorney general, but again, absolutely nothing, nothing.
00:27:46.000No responsibility, no reflection at all on the day one executive actions or anything else they did for three and a half years or anything she said in her previous campaign which was to have the most permissive immigration structure.
00:27:57.000She's trying to skip a block of time at the debate.
00:28:04.000Let me know what you're going to be doing with your electoral rights this coming November.
00:28:09.000Let me know how you plan to sustain the onslaught of banality that will be coming your way.
00:28:17.000Encourage to lay down supine amidst the anodyne and drink it Like a fine wine, when in fact you are too refined to even imagine that this is anything other than another empty, hollow candida incapable of spontaneity and openness.
00:28:36.000I pray, I pray for the day Where the true humanity of Kamala Harris and all of the people that the centrists trot out before us can be experienced and can be lived.
00:28:47.000At the moment really I would have to say that this campaign is doing dark work indeed.
00:28:54.000Furthering corporatism, furthering globalism, furthering division, distracting us from war and massacre, disillusion and despair, and potentially there could be a chance to disrupt it.
00:29:08.000Firstly, I would suppose by pursuing spiritual principles individually and by recognising that new tectonic political plates are beginning to shift.
00:29:20.000At least that's my hope of what could be born out of the Bobby Kennedy, Trump, Tulsi Gabbard, shifting and changing anti-globalist movement across the world.
00:29:45.000Now, if you are already an Awakened Wonder, you'll be aware that I do live events and that you can attend live events with me anywhere in the world simply by becoming a member as these people have.
00:29:58.000This is just a little bit of me in a very small, intimate gig last night.
00:30:37.000There's not one of you that's not redolent stinking with Asperger's.
00:30:43.000There you go, that's the sort of thing that comes out of my mouth if I don't think too carefully about what I say.
00:30:49.000And I hope that I'll be able to think a little more diligently when I appear with Tucker Carlson in Phoenix on September the 4th, which is just next week.
00:30:58.000Now, this competition's available to our subscribers and our community members over on local, so I'll use that special camera.
00:31:05.000Now, there's free pairs of tickets available For Phoenix, Arizona.
00:31:09.000Don't bother entering this if you can't get to Phoenix, Arizona, because I don't want to waste the tickets.
00:31:13.000We had to ask Tucker Carlson's team, give us a few pairs of tickets so that we can give away to our subscriber community.
00:31:18.000Here's the question, and the first three of you to answer this in the chat correctly will win a pair of tickets to see Tucker Carlson and me.
00:31:59.000We do live stand-up all the time in order to facilitate that stuff.
00:32:03.000Now, is there anyone other than Bobby Kennedy that you would trust to get this kind of information into the mainstream?
00:32:11.000Surely even the doubters and the haters have to acknowledge that what Bobby Kennedy's endorsement amounts to is the reassertion of issues into this election campaign.
00:32:24.000In particular, the health of children.
00:32:27.000Bobby Kennedy has become adept at getting these issues discussed on the mainstream.
00:32:31.000Let's have a look at his conversation recently, where he was able to bring that right to the forefront.
00:32:37.000In a minute, we'll be bringing you my conversation with Tony Robbins to talk about his new film, City of Dreams, with its director, Mohit Ramchandani.
00:32:45.000Mohit Ramchandani is the writer and director of this new film, which is about child trafficking.
00:32:50.000So obviously, he's getting You know, repressed and stuff, because people for some reason don't want to talk about child trafficking.
00:32:56.000I don't know what's going on out there.
00:32:57.000People trying to keep it quiet for reasons I've not fully understood yet.
00:33:01.000Okay, so let's have a look at this with Bobby Kennedy.
00:33:05.000Why should people be worried about these kind of products?
00:33:09.000Seed oils are one of the most unhealthy ingredients that we have in foods.
00:33:19.000And seed oils, the reason they're in the foods is because they're heavily subsidized.
00:33:25.000They're very, very cheap, but they are associated with all kinds of very, very serious illnesses, including body-wide inflammation, which affects all of our health.
00:33:39.000It's one of the worst things you can eat, and it's almost impossible to avoid.
00:33:43.000If you eat any processed food, you're going to be eating seed oil.
00:33:46.000Right, and it's interesting, the government subsidizes it.
00:33:49.000Why would the government want to subsidize something that's going to make people sick?
00:33:53.000And then, in the end, we all end up paying for that in terms of healthcare costs, which are skyrocketing.
00:33:58.000Yeah, because that is a direct result of corruption.
00:34:03.000About 75% of FDA's budget comes from regulated industry, and that means food processors and pharmaceutical industry, all of them profit from a sick population.
00:34:14.000You know, a big item that, and by the way, it's getting very expensive, are cereals.
00:34:18.000Why is the food coloring in particular bad?
00:34:21.000The food coloring you see here, yellow food coloring, that is a petroleum product.
00:34:28.000It's associated with really, you know, with depression.
00:34:34.000It's associated with autoimmune injuries and ADHD.
00:34:39.000These and red dye also is, you know, is very bad in Europe.
00:34:45.000These same companies are producing the same products, but they're using natural coloring, but here they can get away with it.
00:34:53.000We have about almost a thousand chemicals that are in our food that are either outright banned in Europe or actively discouraged, so you wouldn't be able to buy this kind of stuff in Europe.
00:35:04.000You ask about why it's so cheap, why it's so ubiquitous.
00:35:11.000It's because we subsidize the worst foods.
00:35:14.000We subsidize it with about 70% of our food stamp program is to process foods, which are all poison.
00:35:21.000One other thing that's interesting is you'll see on labels, natural flavors, which is this catch-off phrase that I guess was lobbied for, but the ingredients in natural flavors are not really natural.
00:35:50.000If you have the image of a conveyor belt onto which you are Clopped as a larvae tot, you travel through the world, vaccinated sometimes whether you need it or not, fed food that will make you sick, given media that's full of lies, led by a government that wants to rule and control you and hand over your individual freedom and your nation's freedom to globalist corporate powers.
00:36:13.000You remain on this conveyor belt, a blob, a blob from whom taxes can be extracted, sickness can be inserted, Lies can enshroud and control you unless you awaken.
00:36:28.000My hope and prayer is that something extraordinary may be about to happen.
00:36:33.000That the world is changing fast, rapidly, and it's beginning with you.
00:36:41.000But the candidacy and alliance of Bobby Kennedy, I believe, represents the kind of progress that could disrupt the terrible trajectory of global corporatism.
00:36:52.000Believe you me, it's going to take a lot more than platitudes to bring down the globalist, corporatist elites that run various organizations and institutions, bureaucratic and financial, militaristic, And that employ a managerial professional class to keep us all in check, duped, lied to, banalized and controlled, sick, allergic, maltreated and malnourished.
00:37:21.000Why don't you let me know what you think in the comments and the chat.
00:37:25.000We've got Tony Robbins coming up in just a matter of seconds with Mo Ram Chandani talking about his new film, which is called City of Dreams, a film that you're going to love.
00:38:40.000Put aside Whatever it is you breathe into, could be a vape, could be a crack pipe, I'm not here to judge, breathe into your lumen first thing in the morning and you'll know what's going on with your metabolism.
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00:39:29.000Optimal metabolic health translates to a bunch of benefits, including easier weight management, improved energy levels, better fitness, and sleep.
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00:39:46.000That's L-W, excuse me, L-U-M-E-N Thanks, Lumen, for sponsoring this episode.
00:39:58.000Time now for our fantastic guest talking about a pretty fantastic film.
00:40:03.000You may know Tony Robbins for his incredible work with personal development.
00:40:06.000He's produced some great films and was involved in the great success of Sound of Freedom.
00:40:10.000He joins us now with Mohit Ramchandani.
00:41:01.000I'm very excited to be participating in the launch of City of Dreams, which strikes me as a kind of film that will hugely benefit all of the people that see it.
00:41:13.000It's the kind of film that people have sort of stopped making these days.
00:41:20.000Seems that it's got some very good executive producers, not least of all you, Tony.
00:41:29.000One of the things we know from the success of Sound of Freedom is that it seems to be controversial to speak out against child trafficking these days.
00:41:38.000So you've taken a risk in speaking out against child trafficking for all those people out there that like child trafficking are going to be disappointed because this is an anti- just to clarify, It's not good to traffic children either for labor and certainly not for more insidious purposes.
00:41:57.000Tony, tell me what your personal journey is with the film, why you felt that you had to be involved?
00:42:04.000Well, you know, I think I've been involved, my wife and I, for about eight years with saving children in this area.
00:42:10.000We had somebody at one of our events one day, we were always promoting people, you know, we fed a billion people over ten years, saying, like, what's your moonshot?
00:42:17.000And this woman talked about she wanted to save all these children, and she was crying, telling me about a friend of hers that, you know, whose child was stolen.
00:42:23.000So I said, well, what's an organization that does it?
00:44:09.000And Mo is built with You know, Slice the Loan, you know, Peter Guber, people that are incredible filmmakers are coming out and saying, this is a masterpiece.
00:44:18.000It got a hundred percent in the first test, which is unheard of with the critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
00:44:24.000Even now, it's still 86 with all the mass input to it.
00:44:27.000So it's a film people will love, but it's also a film that'll save lives.
00:44:31.000Mo, this must be an extraordinary moment for you to realize this project, particularly with it being such an important subject.
00:44:41.000I recognize you must be competing for air with some people who are hardly shy when it comes to public speaking, and it's on that basis that I appreciate your haircut.
00:44:52.000Tell me, Mo, what... Yeah, it's like I got electrocuted.
00:44:59.000Tell me mate, it must be very exciting to hear your film being spoken about as a potential Oscar candidate.
00:45:07.000Tell me what the journey has been like for you as the director and creator.
00:45:14.000Well, you know, it's been a really, really long journey.
00:45:16.000It's been six years, and I've been working on it.
00:45:22.000I put her life insurance money into getting this movie made, because nobody wanted to make a movie about a mute kid from Mexico who sold to a sweatshop.
00:45:30.000You know, no superheroes, no werewolves.
00:45:52.000And things started to turn in February of last year.
00:45:55.000The New York Times did an expose on migrant children being exploited in supply chains of American corporations.
00:46:02.000But I went through sort of like a dark period because all my investors, everyone sort of walked away and was like, we don't know what's going to happen with this movie.
00:46:09.000And I just started going to yoga every day.
00:46:12.000And I was in the changing room at yoga.
00:46:15.000And this older gentleman comes out and he's completely naked and he goes, Hey kid, can you get me a towel?
00:47:20.000I was like, Sound of Freedom came out, it showed us that people are interested in this topic, and I want a much wider release.
00:47:26.000And then it was this journey of You know, getting more people to support it and getting more marketing money.
00:47:33.000And that eventually led me to Sean Wolfington, who's one of the executive producers on Sound of Freedom.
00:47:40.000And he was like, hey, I'm going to get you ambassadors.
00:47:43.000We're going to create this ambassador program, like we did for Sound of Freedom, of people who believe in this issue and people who will respond to the movie as well.
00:47:54.000And actually, Tony, I've never told you this.
00:47:56.000He was driving up to your house and he said, Hey Mo, I'm going to Tony Robbins' house and I'm about to show him the film and I like flipped out.
00:48:03.000I was like, you know, last 20 years of my life I'm watching Tony Robbins videos.
00:48:34.000And I just fell on the floor and wept.
00:48:37.000You know, like, it was just such a great moment for me, like, having Tony, who's been a hero of mine, come on, and a lot of people have joined.
00:48:43.000I mean, it's kind of surreal, you know, to have all these people that I've admired for so long come on and support my first film as a director, but it's been a tough journey, I'm not gonna lie.
00:48:55.000Even your answer to that question was a rollercoaster ride when it began with a naked man in a changing room.
00:49:02.000I thought oh this is a bit of the old Hollywood that we're trying to get away from but thankfully it slowly morphed into an inspiring tale of bringing people together in support Of an important and powerful project and it seems like the kind of film that could really bring an important message that extraordinarily seems to be one that is being prevented from reaching a large audience.
00:49:26.000I find it very hard even to speculate as to why the establishment wouldn't want as many people to know as possible that there are 12 million people, 12 million children under conditions of slavery to this day.
00:49:38.000some of them the most forms of slavery that are difficult even to imagine.
00:49:42.000And and of course, the story of Jesus in your film, City of Dreams, is a story about a child trapped in labor
00:49:52.000And as Tony has already pointed out, it's we focus on this boy and his dreams,
00:49:57.000the mechanics of child slavery, the business of getting a kid over the border.
00:50:01.000Why is it true that and Tony, maybe you'll take this one, I see now that Mo can handle a soliloquy himself, that
00:50:09.000influencers are being shadow banned and prevented from talking about the film.
00:50:15.000Do you think that's because of the issues of the film or the economic model and the threat that films made outside of the establishment present?
00:51:33.000They haven't updated, but we're requesting they clean it up as soon as possible, and hopefully they will.
00:51:38.000Yeah, it's an important film for people to see, both in terms of its subject, but also it's an enjoyable film.
00:51:45.000Mo, how did you tackle the fantasy scenes with the protagonist who dreams of making it as a football star?
00:51:54.000What kind of techniques were you using to make those films in particular?
00:51:59.000And was it important to you to contrast the kind of transcendent glory of the child's imagination and innocent wonder with the kind of despair that ultimately ends up being the conditions of his labor?
00:52:14.000You know, that was one of the decisions I made was I don't want to make a docudrama.
00:52:19.000I feel like docudramas and documentaries, they scratch the surface of our intellectual curiosity, but they don't kind of hit you.
00:52:26.000They don't, you know, pull at the heartstrings.
00:52:28.000And I wanted to make a slumdog millionaire, a city of God, you know?
00:52:31.000And I remember Lee Daniels did this movie called Precious, where there was a woman who was, you know, a young girl being abused and she would go into like her fantasy world.
00:52:39.000And I thought that was so interesting.
00:52:41.000I kind of was like, well, I want to tell the story just from this kid's point of view.
00:52:45.000And given that he doesn't speak because he represents the voiceless, the 12 million, I wanted to show how he felt through his dreams.
00:52:55.000So, you know, that was one of the things I thought also that would broaden the audience for the movie.
00:53:00.000And I knew I would get A little bit of slack from critics who want to focus more on the politics and this and that but I wanted to reach the most amount of people and I think most people want to go on a ride they don't want to be preached to so those fantasy scenes of him on the soccer field and the nightmare of the shaman and who the shaman turns out to be were very important and you know for me technically I shot them at a different frame rate.
00:53:25.000So I shot the whole movie, you know, at 24, and then I shot those sequences either in slow motion or at 28 frames, which I borrowed from Mel Gibson in The Passion of the Christ, because he shot that whole movie in 28 frames, which I thought was really interesting.
00:53:39.000So it gave it kind of a flowy sort of feel.
00:53:44.000Now, when we left the territory of India, we did our very best to responsibly partition it in ways that would cause no problems or wars or religious conflicts down the line.
00:53:57.000America, for your ongoing imperialism.
00:53:59.000That said, is it true that you have personal family history when it comes to the conditions of child labour?
00:54:14.000So, you know, my parents, both my mother and father, were actually born in Sindh, which is now in Pakistan, but used to be India.
00:54:23.000And during 1947's partition, what happened was my mom had just been born, so she was a baby, my dad was seven, and his father was a public defender.
00:54:32.000And they'd been kicked out of their homes and they'd been sent across the border and for a long time my dad worked you know as a t-boy in sweatshop conditions you know in order to provide for the family and it kind of it it it really had a toll on him because in the movie He is Jesus, but he's also the abusers.
00:54:53.000Because growing up, he was incredibly, it was like, get straight A's, marry an Indian girl, or you choose between the belt and the stick.
00:55:02.000It was very, you know, black and white with him.
00:55:05.000And it was a result of the trauma he'd suffered.
00:55:07.000So working on this film, In a way, for me, it was a way to forgive my dad.
00:55:14.000In Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces, he says atonement with the father is one of the most important boons for the hero, and the hero has to recognize that the ogre aspect of the father is a reflection of the hero's ego, because the father's actually preparing him for the office of life, whether consciously or unconsciously.
00:55:31.000So I really was inspired by Joseph Campbell, and that was one of the reasons I wrote the movie as a hero's journey.
00:55:39.000You know, when Mo was 12 years old, he was sharing with me what his father said, you know, Indian girlfriend, do great in school, don't be in trouble.
00:55:47.000He said, I was doing the opposite of all three of those.
00:55:49.000He got my book and started listening to my stuff.
00:55:53.000And this film really has that Rocky feel to it, because it's really about this person who overcomes unbelievable odds, and really does do it.
00:56:01.000But he didn't just save himself, he saves others as well.
00:56:04.000And so Sly's a friend, and so when he told me that Sly was such a huge influence in his life, I reached out to Sly, and Sly saw the film and loved it, endorsed the film, but also...
00:56:16.000Mo was so moved, he gave me a message back about how moved he was, and I sent it to Sly, and it moved Sly.
00:56:21.000I said, look, you're a hero, you're giving back to your hero.
00:56:24.000It's been a really beautiful experience.
00:56:26.000People are getting moved all over the place.
00:57:03.000I'm sure that your parents will be extraordinarily proud of this incredible achievement and it seems that given that you are receiving such guidance and tutelage from the great man with by whom we are joined and getting the kind of ridiculous experience of having Sly Stallone sending you weeping messages after you've made your own plucky underdog story about redemption It seems that things are really working out well for you Mo, so it seems like you're kind of realizing dreams even as you're telling stories about precisely that phenomena.
00:57:49.000Is that what you think I'm going to deliver you?
00:57:51.000Just I'm going to come out here and not examine it and give you something unique, Mo?
00:57:57.000When you were at the London School of Economics, you must have been aware that one of the defining figures of British culture was good old Russell Brand.
00:58:07.000Yes, definitely, definitely, but I'll tell you that Tony, you know, this was only a few weeks ago, I was driving back to my place, I live in LA from Whole Foods, and Tony sends me a message, Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday, and I'm like, is he, he's either drinking or he doesn't know that he sent it to me, because, I mean, I don't usually get a message like that from him, and then I get this video from Stallone, And I just was paralyzed.
00:58:32.000Like I just sat in my car and I cried and I said to myself, I said, all right, no matter what happens from this moment onwards in my life, this movie can fail.
00:58:42.000I cannot achieve my dreams of making an impact in the world.
00:58:46.000I'm not a failure anymore because I was able to move the person that moved me and I made that decision.
00:58:53.000I said, anything I see that's negative, I'm going to turn it to positive.
00:58:56.000So that's one of the greatest gifts anyone has ever given me.
00:59:00.000And it's funny because I sent Tony a really nice polished message, a thank you message to send Sly.
00:59:18.000You know, as Sly talked about, you know, it's so easy, you know, you live in this business to get, you know, hardened a bit, and to see this, that you were so inspired by what he did so many years ago, and that really was touching other kids, it really touched his heart.
00:59:32.000So, you know, we all have a way to give back in some way, but I really think this film, you know, our goal with this film you know, Russell, obviously, it's a call to action. It's
00:59:41.000an absolute thriller. You're on the edge of your seat. It'll grab you. But it's also really
00:59:47.000about like, what can people do? So, afterwards, there's a call to action. People go to the
00:59:50.000website, and there's all kinds of things you can do. Where you buy your clothes, you know, Mo,
00:59:54.000you might talk a little bit about what can be done in that area.
00:59:58.000It plays such a role because of all the subcontractors.
01:00:01.000You know, you can save a child's life these days.
01:00:03.000There's one organization that I work with, my wife and I have been working with for many years.
01:00:08.000They use this incredible AI and this machine learning.
01:00:11.000And in some cities in Indonesia, they've actually taken down these groups by 91%.
01:00:35.000Somebody writing the story, a storyteller waking people up until people said, enough of this.
01:00:41.000And we think this hopefully will be the beginning of that process and waking people up.
01:00:45.000But Mo, you might share about, you know, what happens when you sign a contract.
01:00:49.000And I'm sure that, that Russell, you know, I've, I've listened to some of his stuff before, so I know he's going to be on board with this.
01:00:54.000Like, I presented this to the labor department last year and I said, all the organizations and saving children and all that, I totally get it, but I have a very simple solution that is proven and that I know that will work.
01:01:22.000And I said, why does this law not exist for all other businesses?
01:01:26.000Why is it that Gap or Reebok or Whole Foods or whoever they are can subcontract and not have a compliance officer in that facility?
01:01:35.000And I presented this at a meeting that the labor department had and the lawyer You know, came up when he goes, hey, man, that was a really good idea.
01:02:23.000So we're working with some people to see if we can get legislation into Congress.
01:02:27.000We've got people on both sides of the aisle to see what we can do to give it a push.
01:02:31.000So it's an entertaining movie that tells an important story that has, as part of it, an activist approach to changing the law that will help children become free from child slavery.
01:02:46.000It is the very sort of thing that we need to shadow ban at once.
01:02:50.000Where are we supposed to get our child labor from with films like this?
01:02:56.000No, I want to congratulate both of you on this important project and of course on your assessment of what could provide a further solution beyond the important work of telling stories that help to reach the emotional resources required in order to motivate change and that is staggering that there is so little
01:03:16.000control over child labour and the ability of big corporations to exploit that. Next you'll be
01:03:23.000telling me that the FDA is funded by the pharmaceutical companies that it's supposed
01:03:29.000to regulate and that could lead to all sorts of problems. It's the sort of thing we need to
01:03:35.000look into Mo. Mo and Tony, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, Russ.
01:03:40.000Sea of Dreams is out on... Is it out now, guys?