WORLD WAR EPSTEIN | KRISTI NOPE | 50 Shades of TI

<p>Thank you <a href="https://substack.com/profile/2073006-reda-rountree-sheher" target="_blank">Reda Rountree (she/her)</a>, <a href="https://substack.com/profile/106448962-pj-schuster" target="_blank">PJ Schuster</a>, <a href="https://substack.com/profile/392818336-m-hope" target="_blank">M Hope</a>, <a href="https://substack.com/profile/227641406-victoria-viste" target="_blank">Victoria Viste</a>, <a href="https://substack.com/profile/74979789-dalai-mama" target="_blank">Dalai Mama 💗</a>, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.</p><p>Let me break this down for anybody who’s confused about how we ended up here.</p><p>February 28th: United States and Israel, in a joint effort, struck Iran. Donald Trump claimed it was to address their nuclear program.</p><p>But here’s the history: there <em>was</em> a nuclear deal. It allowed inspections. Iran committed to using nuclear tech only for energy. Trump killed that deal. Tried to make his own—which would’ve looked basically the same—and that fell through.</p><p>Now we’re here.</p><p>Benjamin Netanyahu has been sounding the alarm about Iran having nuclear weapons since the 80s. Decades. They’ve been “a week away” from developing nukes for 40 years. But now we have an administration that doesn’t care about nuance, doesn’t care about diplomacy, and sees conflict as the first option, not the last.</p><p>After February 28th, March 1st, Iran retaliated. Explosions all through the Middle East. Dubai. Drones flying past buildings. It’s getting wild in ways we haven’t seen in years.</p><p>And then Marco Rubio said the quiet part out loud: “We knew that if Iran was attacked, they would attack us. So we attacked them first.”</p><p>That’s not defense. That’s premeditated aggression dressed up in flag pins.</p><p><strong>The Jasmine Crockett Situation: Being Right About the Wrong Thing</strong></p><p>I started the night with this, and I meant every word. The outrage I’ve been seeing about Jasmine Crockett’s loss in Texas? I get it. I do. When you see Dr. Rashad Richey and other progressives pointing at the electability conversation and saying it wasn’t fair to her, they’re not wrong.</p><p>But here’s the thing—and I need y’all to sit with this—<strong>they’re right about the wrong thing.</strong></p><p>Her electability <em>was</em> tied to her being a Black woman. Texas is the biggest state in the continental U.S. It ain’t Georgia, where you can win Atlanta and some suburbs and squeak it out. Texas has rural areas the size of small countries, and those areas don’t like Black people like that. Specifically, they don’t like outspoken Black women.</p><p>People literally said, “We love her, but she’s not gonna win a statewide election in Texas on some cultural s**t.” That’s the quote. That’s the reality.</p><p>Now, here’s where I need my people to hear me: we can’t abandon the electability conversation just because it’s Jasmine Crockett. Those same people shouting “electability is a dog whistle” were fine with voting for Kamala Harris because she was “more electable” than Joe Biden. You can’t have it both ways.</p><p>In a winner-take-all, first-past-the-post system, if you don’t win elections, the whole thing was pointless. The policy doesn’t matter if you’re not in the room.</p><p><strong>Born and Raised in Texas: A Different View</strong></p><p>I’m from Texas. I live here right now. And watching this conversation unfold from outside the state has been... interesting.</p><p>A lot of people are missing that this was a <strong>primary election</strong>. They’re comparing it to general elections, to Stacey Abrams vs. Brian Kemp. That’s a bad metaphor.</p><p>Most people who voted for James Talarico also voted for Kamala Harris. This wasn’t about Democrat vs. Republican—it was about who we thought could <em>win</em> in November.</p><p>And here’s the timeline people ignore: Talarico was in this race first. People had already made up their minds when it was him versus Colin Allred. When Jasmine got in, nothing she brought to the table made folks switch. Not because she’s not talented—she is. But because in a primary, you’re asking people to abandon a candidate they already believed in.</p><p>I saw a TikTok breaking down legislative accomplishments: Talarico had passed 18 bills. Jasmine had passed 0. That’s not a value judgment on her potential, but in a primary where people are looking at who can <em>actually do the job</em>, that gap matters.</p><p><strong>Toya’s Point: Don’t Take Your Ball and Go Home</strong></p><p>Toya brought the heat on this one, and I was nodding the whole time.</p><p>She said, “Don’t be the fool that’s just like, ‘Oh, another one of them is getting that chance.’ You need to show up and lock in.”</p><p>Because here’s what happens when you fall in love with a candidate and they lose: you stop paying attention. You stop caring about the midterms. You let the real enemy—Ken Paxton, Ted Cruz, whoever—slide because you’re having a pity party.</p><p>Jasmine conceded gracefully. She posted the text. But there were mishandlings in Dallas, people getting turned away from lines. That’s the system working exactly how it’s designed to work. And if you don’t pay attention to <em>that</em>—if you don’t show up for the next election because your girl lost—then the system wins.</p><p>Beto didn’t get the support he needed when it mattered. Don’t let that happen again.</p><p><strong>The Constitutional Question</strong></p><p>Here’s where I’m going to piss some people off, and I’m okay with that.</p><p>The Plug asked whether the Constitution is a real check on power or if we’ve been lying to ourselves. My answer? We’ve been lying to ourselves since 1803.</p><p>Let’s talk about the Louisiana Purchase. Thomas Jefferson didn’t have Congressional approval to do that. The Constitution was less than 30 years old and already being reinterpreted by whoever had the power to reinterpret it.</p><p>James Monroe? Monroe Doctrine. Set policy without Congress. Didn’t deploy troops that time, but set a precedent that allowed every president after him to stretch war powers like taffy.</p><p>Harry Truman? Korean War. No Congressional approval.Dwight Eisenhower? Lebanon. No approval.JFK? Cuban Missile Crisis. No approval.LBJ? Vietnam. No approval.</p><p>Every president since World War II has done military actions without Congress. The only difference with Trump is speed and shamelessness. He’s moving faster and caring less about hiding it.</p><p>But here’s what I need y’all to understand: when we romanticize the Constitution, when we put it on a pedestal and pretend it’s always been this pure document that protected the vulnerable, we’re ignoring the material reality. The Constitution was written on the backs of enslaved people. It had to be amended—multiple times—to include the people it originally excluded.</p><p>That’s not a bug. That’s the feature. It’s always been “good for me, not for thee.”</p><p><p>Education Is Elevation is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></p><p><strong>Why This Matters to Black People</strong></p><p>Somebody in the chat asked the question that always comes up when we talk deep politics like this: “What does this have to do with niggas? Donald Trump ain’t droning the hood.”</p><p>And look, I get why people ask that. When you’re struggling to pay rent, when you’re watching your kids navigate schools that don’t care about them, when you’re dealing with police who see you as a problem before a person—international politics feels distant.</p><p>But here’s the thing: <strong>Black people represent 20% of the military.</strong> We’re less than one-fifth of the population, but we’re one-fifth of the people getting shipped overseas to fight these unconstitutional wars.</p><p>When the president decides to bomb another country, those bombs are being loaded by Black hands. When troops get deployed, Black bodies are on those planes. When soldiers don’t come home, Black families are grieving.</p><p>And it’s not just the fighting. When the U.S. engages militarily, domestic surveillance goes up. Local police departments get more military equipment. ICE gets more aggressive. The same “national security” justification used to bomb a school in Iran gets used to raid a neighborhood in Chicago.</p><p>I just came back from Iowa. Shout out to Des Moines. And while I was there, I learned something that blew my mind. The founders of the Divine Nine—the Alphas, the Ques, the Kappas—after they started those organizations on college campuses in the early 1900s, they all got recruited to go to Des Moines to be captains and sergeants leading Black folks in the military.</p><p>The same pattern, different century. The best and brightest Black Americans get funneled into the military machine. That’s the pipeline. That’s the trap.</p><p>So when you ask why this matters, I’m telling you: <strong>the president’s interpretation of the Constitution always has a direct impact on Black livelihood.</strong> Always.</p><p><strong>The Enemy of My Enemy Is Still My Enemy</strong></p><p>Toya raised an interesting point: Iran’s leaders have acknowledged Black American struggles. They tweeted “I Can’t Breathe” during the Eric Garner protests. They released Black hostages in 1979 because they recognized the unique oppression Black people face in America.</p><p>Does that create an “enemy of my enemy” dynamic?</p><p>Short answer: no.</p><p>Long answer: hell no.</p><p>I know about Afro-Iranian history. I know about the erasure of Black Iranians in that country. You can’t convince me you care about Black folks in America when you don’t care about Black folks in your own country. That’s not solidarity—that’s performance. That’s using our pain as a cudgel against America while running the same playbook at home.</p><p>The Ayatollah who was just killed in these recent attacks tweeted support for Black Lives Matter. Cool. But what about the Black Iranians who can’t live freely in Iran? What about the erasure of their history, their culture, their existence?</p><p>We don’t have friends in governments. Not here, not there. Our solidarity is with oppressed people, not the people oppressing them.</p><p><strong>50 Cent and the Weaponization of Trauma</strong></p><p>We couldn’t leave without touching pop culture, and this 50 Cent vs. T.I. situation is a perfect example of how the same dynamics play out in the culture.</p><p>50 Cent posted a picture of T.I. and Tiny, saying he’s developing a “Surviving T.I. & Tiny” documentary—like the one he did on Diddy. And the caption: “Remember how quiet I got before the Diddy doc? I hope this doesn’t mess up your promo tour. You might want to talk to a crisis PR person.”</p><p>Here’s my problem with this: it’s the second time somebody’s taken a rap battle somewhere it didn’t need to go. This is Drake energy—going to the law, going to the legal system, using the courts and documentaries as weapons instead of bars.</p><p>Why can’t you just rap about it? What happened to the craft?</p><p>And more importantly: you’re weaponizing trauma. You’re commodifying victimization to get at your opp. You don’t care about those women’s suffering—you care about the “aha, gotcha” moment. You’re moving like a sleazeball.</p><p>We saw this with the Diddy doc. A lot of those claims were refuted. A lot of it wasn’t factual. But the damage was done because trauma sells.</p><p>At this age, at this point in hip-hop’s history, we need to be better than this.</p><p><p>Education Is Elevation is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></p><p><strong>Where We Go From Here</strong></p><p>We’re in a wicked time. Congress has refused to check presidential power. The House voted 219-212 against a war powers resolution. The Senate did the same, with Fetterman—remember that name—voting to block efforts to stop unconstitutional war.</p><p>Parents are sending their kids to war for a president who said he wouldn’t start any. The definition of when this war ends? They said “we’ll know it when we see it.” That’s the pornography defense applied to military conflict. No clear goals, no exit strategy, just vibes and bombs.</p><p>Donald Trump said four weeks. Four weeks. We all remember George Bush standing on that aircraft carrier with the “Mission Accomplished” banner. We’re still in Iraq.</p><p>And while the bombs aren’t dropping on U.S. soil, we’re going to feel it. Gas prices are up. Shipping costs are up. The economic squeeze is real, and it’s going to hit the people who can afford it least.</p><p>But here’s what I need you to take away from all of this: we have to pay attention. We have to stay engaged. Not because the system works—it doesn’t—but because the people who benefit from it working against us are counting on us to check out.</p><p>They’re counting on us to say “politics ain’t for me” and go back to scrolling. They’re counting on us to fall in love with candidates instead of movements. They’re counting on us to let the grief of losing make us quit the game entirely.</p><p>Don’t give them that satisfaction.</p><p>Stay woke. Stay engaged. Stay ready.</p><p><strong>Related Readings</strong></p><p>* <em>The Condemnation of Blackness</em> by Khalil Gibran Muhammad</p><p>* <em>The Souls of Black Folk</em> by W.E.B. Du Bois (for that double consciousness conversation)</p><p>* <em>Dark Ghettos: Injustice, Dissent, and Reform</em> by Tommie Shelby</p><p>* <em>How to Hide an Empire</em> by Daniel Immerwahr (for understanding U.S. military bases globally)</p><p>* <em>The Half Has Never Been Told</em> by Edward E. Baptist (for the real history of American capitalism)</p><p><strong>Major Takeaways from Episode</strong></p><p>* <strong>Electability is class reductionist, but it’s real.</strong> We can hate the game while acknowledging we’re stuck in it. Jasmine Crockett lost because Texas rural voters weren’t ready for her. That’s not fair, but it’s facts. And facts don’t care about our feelings.</p><p>* <strong>The Constitution was never pure.</strong> It was broken by Jefferson in 1803. It was written by enslavers in 1787. Every president since WWII has ignored its war powers provisions. Trump isn’t an aberration—he’s acceleration.</p><p>* <strong>Black people are the tip of the military spear.</strong> 20% of the armed forces, 14% of the population. When the bombs drop, our kids are dropping them. When soldiers die, our families grieve. This is our business.</p><p>* <strong>Iran ain’t our friend, even when they cosign our struggle.</strong> Performative solidarity is still performance. If you oppress Black people in your country, I don’t care what you tweet about Black Lives Matter.</p><p>* <strong>The culture is sick too.</strong> 50 Cent making trauma docs to win rap beef is the same energy as the government using “national security” to start wars. It’s all weaponization dressed up in respectable clothes.</p><p>* <strong>Don’t take your ball and go home.</strong> Your candidate lost? Show up anyway. The midterms matter. The local elections matter. The sheriff matters. The judges matter. All of it matters.</p><p>* <strong>War costs what you don’t have.</strong> Gas prices, grocery bills, shipping—it’s all going up. We’re paying for these bombs whether we wanted them dropped or not.</p><p>* <strong>Checks and balances died when partisanship won.</strong> Fetterman and company blocked war powers resolutions. That’s not a bug—that’s the system working exactly how it’s designed when party matters more than country.</p><p>* <strong>The imminent threat is always manufactured.</strong> Iran can’t hit the U.S. mainland. They don’t have the missiles. So what are we really fighting for? Oil. Always oil.</p><p>* <strong>Niggas ain’t got no friends in government.</strong> Not here. Not there. Our solidarity is horizontal—with the protesters, the oppressed, the people getting tear-gassed. Not the people doing the gassing.</p> <br /><br />This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://theconsciouslee.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_2">theconsciouslee.substack.com/subscribe</a>