Norm Blumenthal – How do you decide who gets your vote

Norm Blumenthal – an attorney for workers and consumers. Selected as one of the Top Attorneys in Southern California. Norm was inducted and recognized as one of America’s Most Trusted Lawyers in Employment Law.

How do you decide who gets your vote

Connect with Bert:  YouTube |  Twitter  |  Instagram

Get a Free Copy of Dominating Your Mind: https://amzn.to/2XuM9Xr While supplies last, limited time.

BERT MARTINEZ:

It’s good to have you here. Let’s see. All of a sudden, my dashboard glitched out, but I’m excited.

Today on the show, we have Norm Blumenthal.  (Playing music on the background) And that’s kind of Norm’s theme song, if you will. I think it applies for most of us. I think that it is, what do you call it? It just seems crazy to say this over and over again. But since we have such weird times, never before have we, what do you call it, seen what we’re seeing today. So it is just a weird time.

And I was talking to Norm before the show. I was telling him I had never prayed for our country as much as, I’ve been praying this year. It is just just a wild time. But, anyway, Norm on the show, he’s an attorney for workers and consumers like us. Selected as one of the top attorneys in Southern California, Norm was also inducted and recognized as one as one of America’s most trusted lawyers in employment law.

Norm Blumenthal. Welcome back.

LAWYER NORM BLUMENTHAL:

Nice to be back, Bert. And, we’re in a situation now. We’re at another election. We’ve done before, and we’ve been pretty successful in in getting democrats, empowered and getting wages up. Sure. You’d like to get inflation farther down and you’d like to get interest rates down, but you can’t have everything. And so wages will keep going up if we keep if we stay with the democratic, regime. But I wanna focus today not just on wages.

I think that this election has much more, that’s frightening than, not being able to raise your wages. And so I want everybody today that’s listening to let’s look at who you are and where you are. Okay. If you’re a resident of a, border state or, a resident of a state that, has laws that have have been passed.

And if you’re a Latino, most important, if you’re a Latino and you’re living in, one of these states, I think it’s gonna be any state, Steve Miller, who works for Donald Trump, has said that if he’s elected, and I’m just passing on along to you what he said, He will impose a project bigger than the building of the Panama Canal to track down every illegal resident of this, staying in the United States and, put them in temporary, holding tanks until they can repatriate repatriate them to this, country they’ve come from. I mean, what a frightening thought.

So there is is an issue that all Latinos should be concerned about because a bet what you’re gonna have is that’s like a stop and frisk law on the street, but it’ll be a stop and prove, citizenship on the street. So it may not if you’re a Latino, you may be born here and you may have residents, but your neighbor may not, Your your, parents may not. And so anybody that you know that you wanna protect, I think that’s the first reason for Latinos who are being targeted by, the Trump group, if reelected, should, beware of. That’s number 1.

Number 2, if you’re a a woman in, a state that has, discriminated against women’s rights, which is is all, you know, basically everywhere. Again, you should not be voting for Donald Trump. You shouldn’t be voting for any Republican because anybody you put in office is going to be in a position where they’re gonna wanna take away rights nationally if possible.

And and it’s a it’s a frightening thought. So I think every woman in this country should be voting for as many Democrats as possible to turn this law around and have enough votes between the president and in congress to, reverse the, archaic, gender discrimination laws that are being put in effect from from 200 years ago, the Comstock Act from over a 100 years ago, and it’s they’re even gonna make birth control illegal. This is what you’re dealing with, and you can’t turn it around unless you have Democrats in in every office.

And if we if we can get that far, not only can we turn this around, we can pack the court and turn around and put back into effect Roe v Wade and these other laws that they’re this court is systematically getting rid of, and put another 6 justices on the court. All democrats create a majority and move on from these, really, right wing, wing nuts.

BERT MARTINEZ:

Well, only that. I mean, not only are they, you know, extremely right wing, but we’re looking at individuals who, in my opinion, aren’t even holding up the the basic tenets of our law. Right? Which is and you correct me if I’m wrong because I’m not a lawyer, but American law for the most part, is based on prior ruling. And now, occasionally, when there is no prior ruling, the then the Supreme Court has to come in and say, okay. This is the interpretation thereof. But bottom line is, they they took, what was it, 30, 40, 50 years of of law, and decided it no longer matters. All all of that, what do they call it? Stare decisis or whatever?

All of that is is a void. It’s just like, boom. Done. Yeah. We have a Supreme Court that no longer upholds the law.

LAWYER NORM BLUMENTHAL:

Yeah. And and I think there has to be some recognition. They they feel like they are in control, and they can do whatever they want. They don’t care about prior rulings. They, look back. They’re called originalists. They look back at the law, at the constitution when it was passed in this in 17 nineties, late 17 eighties, and the bill of rights, and they interpret them strictly as, you know, you you can have any gun you want at any time. You know, the only problem was at that time, there was no automatic weapons, but they looked over that.

So everybody’s got an AR 15, that that wants one and it’s getting even, more crazy. They’re taking away permitting of, and registration, for being able to, have have a weapon. So this is what we’re dealing with in the court, and and that’s something that, again, that crosses state lines and, it’s it’s something you have to talk about, you know, in in your state in in voting for a Democrat.

Now if your other problem, not just with citizenship status, but you have a problem with Social Security and Medicare. The Republicans have decided that they have a better way of handling Social Security and Medicare, and, they’re gonna get rid of the current system and put in a, a system where you make your own investment decisions for your Social Security and Medicare.

They they’re gonna change the age in which you can qualify for it among reducing benefits, taking away the the benefits that the, Biden administration is has. So, again, regardless of where you live in this country, if you wanna keep your Social Security and you wanna keep your Medicare, this these are things that you should be voting for Democrats across the board and especially for president, because the fealty that the, Republican office holders have shown to Trump is beyond belief. They have no positions of their own.

They are a mere cattle, and they basically just move in a pack, and, they’re off the slaughter. And that’s where they’re taking us is they’re gonna destroy this country. And it’s really a serious thing.

BERT MARTINEZ:

Right. And this has been this has been a thing, a part of the Republican agenda for many years. And and just so I’m transparent with everybody, look, I used to be a hardcore Republican. I would always vote the party line. And then, I guess it’s been 30 years, they got in bed with the insurance companies. And they decided that that we, as a people, did not have the right to sue our doctors if they were negligent or if they had harmed us. There was a cap put on there. And so the most you could sue a doctor for if he accidentally hurt you or cut off the wrong limb would be $250,000.

And, of course, they would take care of your medical bills. And that’s I that’s when I broke with the Republican party. I just thought that nobody should be able to tell me what my rights are. Nobody should be able to be able to take my ability to be compensated or to be made whole. I just felt terrible about that. And so we have a a situation just like I explained where I used to just blindly vote down the party line, and you can’t do that. You have to look at what is best for you and your family.

You have to look at what’s best for you and your country. And so, again, we have a history of Republican Party for whatever reason, going after, some of our rights, some of our privileges, if you will. You covered the, the abortion stuff, but they also are now going after IVF. What person, what decent human being would want to take away somebody’s ability to have a family through in vitro, in vitro fertilization. That that’s just mean. There’s there’s nothing I couldn’t think of anything else. They’re now attacking reproduction. They’re attacking the family.

And so for years, they’ve been attacking, Social Security and Medicaid, and and the and the biggest problem with this is that all of these guys are making money. I’ll even say they’re making 1,000,000 of dollars in sometimes questionable fashion, and shifts. They’re  not they’re not bound to retirement program, and and for them to sit up high and tell us how to live rubs me the wrong way, and it should rub everybody the wrong way.

LAWYER NORM BLUMENTHAL:

Yeah. I think that you, you’ve  flipped at the coin, and what I’m trying to get people to do instead of looking at everybody else to look at at their own needs. Yes. And, basically, it it’s a frightening position here because what is gonna end up if you’re a Latino or you’re underprivileged, or you need social security, or you need Medicare, or you need housing, or you need a safety net, or you need a school for your children. All of these things are not gonna happen with a Republican administration at any level.

And because as we talked about many times, the the Republican Party is a party of of management. The Democratic Party is the party of labor, and management, they’re supposed to, and it’s their job to reduce cost and across the board. So that’s the theme of the Republican party.

And how do you reduce cost? You reduce your your tax burden for Social Security, your, wage, requirements for for taxes, you reduce your minimum wages, You reduce, the Medicare and Social Security taxes you you have to pay. So that’s the concept and reduce labor costs to the extent you can and make as much profit as you you can, and that’s a capitalist system. That’s the system we live in, and that’s that’s not gonna change.

Democrats or Republicans. So we live in a capitalist system, but we have to understand it’s a 2 party system, it’s an adversary system, and you need to advocate the position that would be most favorable, not only to yourself, but to your family and to those in in similar position. So you have that’s why you have to look at it. You have to look at it as a a racial group. Latinos and African Americans, need to, and Asian Americans need to look at it in terms of that there’ll be no discrimination against them and no singling out of them for any type of discrimination.

And that’s only going to happen because that’s something the Democrats care about. The republicans, you know, that’s not something that management has is really concerned with, and, there’s some real issues here because they’re they’re really ending up is shooting themselves in the foot because if you don’t allow cheap labor into this country, you know, legally, which is what they’re doing, not allowing it happen. Right. You’re you’re not gonna have people to be able to, you know, do the menial jobs that exist.

There’s 8,000,000 jobs out there now that nobody’s taking because for what whatever reason. And you know, they just don’t make ends meet. They all they whatever reason, they’re not there, but the bottom line is they they need help in re relocation and a place to live and a job to work at.

We need a better safety net, and it’s not gonna happen with the Republicans because that’s not for their benefit.

BERT MARTINEZ:

So Right. I mean, look look what they just did. I mean, look. The a great example of what you’re talking about, the Biden administration, actually, it was a bipartisan bill that that included the border changes that the Republicans wanted. I think it included, like, 80% of the border changes that Republicans wanted. And it had some money set aside for Ukraine and, I think, Israel as well. And, I would say that a large majority of the Republicans were for this bill. That’s why they passed it.

The the house speaker, I believe, was for it as well, and then comes along Trump and says, no. Don’t pass it during the Biden administration. Wait till we get back in power. Something along that line. I’m paraphrasing. That’s exactly what happened. Yeah. He was able to kill a bill.

I think they finally got it passed, but it goes to show you he didn’t he didn’t kill it because there was something wrong with it. He killed it because it was a it was a bipartisan bill, and it would look it would it would make Biden look good. He couldn’t have that.

LAWYER NORM BLUMENTHAL:

That’s exactly right. It was and it was a reasonable approach to securing the borders, ending this this this ridiculous asylum, system system that they have, and allowing the borders to be protected and having people across the border get work permits and be able to work here, but it would not be a path to citizenship.

It’d be a job where they they make money and they have place to live and they can send money back to to their family, from where they came, but it was an excellent bill. And it it would it would’ve stopped the illegal crossing of the of the border. But, the the Trump said no because they’re actually gonna pass they wanna pass something much more restrictive, which is going to be to go after people in this country that have been here for years. Right.

But if they came here, years ago and have worked hard and and paid their taxes, it would not matter. If they couldn’t prove citizenship, they would be sent back to their, country of origin after being, processed through detention, centers that they plan to build.

So, you know, when they talk about the Latino vote, the Latinos should think long and hard. Is this something that they wanna have happen? Because they are in the bull’s eye.

LAWYER NORM BLUMENTHAL:

Yeah. And they still can’t. And it’s worse worse than ever now. They just can’t get this this labor. But if you start checking IDs for these laborers, without them having been processed, correctly to get a work permit, there’s gonna it’s gonna be worse than you can imagine. And this is what they’re talking about, and it’s, it’s something that’s serious. So between women and Latinos and African Americans who have always, unfortunately, been discriminated against, and it’s getting worse.

They’re taking away the the voting rights act of of to allow them to vote their gerrymandering states so that the African Americans do not have the vote they’re entitled to in many states. I mean, they should have more congressional representation.

They don’t because of these gerrymandering laws that this supreme court has allowed to be, implemented state by state. And so it’s all African Americans should vote for Democrats to get their rights back that they don’t have because the congressional distribution in these states and state legislators and in congress is is set up state by state to discriminate against African Americans. And they’ve proven it over and over again, but the supreme court, will not act.

BERT MARTINEZ:

And I wanna point this out as well. One of the agendas of the new Republican Party, I say it like that because it’s no longer the Republican Party that is recognizable by by a lot of people, but the new Republican Party, which is a I wanna say 95% Trump, people, you know, they are filing one of their agendas, and you can look it up on, Google, YouTube, Fox News. One of their agendas is to file many lawsuits to restrict voting.

So so, I think to date, I saw a clip, on Fox News where Lara Trump said that they filed something like 88 lawsuits. I and I think she might have been mistaken, but they have started filing a bunch of lawsuits. And any they’re attacking mail in votes. They’re attacking, how the vote is, they wanna shorten the time so the vote can’t be counted and, as long. Because right now, if you mail in your ballot, the the it takes a couple extra days for that vote to count.

And so one of the lawsuits that they’re that they’re that have filed is that they want all the votes, all votes to be counted on this one day. And if any votes come in after that, then, they can’t be counted. So that would provide some of our servicemen and women, in some cases, to get their vote in. So it’s just stuff like that that is unnecessary, but this is what they’re going after, our family, our voting.

LAWYER NORM BLUMENTHAL:

This is where we are when that you can come in if and after 64 lawsuits, we’re all dismissed saying the election of 2020 was, fair and, no fraud and, properly the votes were properly counted. And then for, Trump to get up and say that he was, he was cheated in in the vote without any basis in fact is one thing.

But for all of these people who are supposed to have some type of at least a little bit. At least Mitt Romney had some integrity, and a few others managed in the and most of them that had integrity have, left office because they couldn’t stand to work with, the Republicans without integrity. So we’re left with all of these people who have their loyalty, not to this country, but to Donald Trump. And that is the frightening thing just like it’s happened with Mussolini. It happened with Hitler. It happened with Tojo. It’s have you know, it’s happening across the world now.

The the loyalty is not to the country. It’s to an individual, and that’s the beginning of the end of democracy. And that’s really what we we’re seeing. It’s not something that I’m telling you that’s an overreaction. These are facts.

BERT MARTINEZ:

Right. And by the way, I wanna again, this is an old adage, but for evil to prevail, good people need not do anything or something along those lines. I’m killing it a little bit. But bottom line is your vote is more important today than ever before. And yes, we want you to get it out there and vote. And it’s such a you and I have talked about this before. You know, we have somebody who neither of these 2 guys should be running for office.

LAWYER NORM BLUMENTHAL:

Yes. And just make it, you know, one person who believes in the democratic principles and, loyalty or to our country and the other person that doesn’t believe in democratic principles and his loyalty to to himself. And that’s what you’re you’re dealing with.

So it I, you know, I have trouble with people that that don’t respect their own vote. Oh, you know, I’ll just go vote for Trump. He’ll make trouble, you know, and that’ll be great. It’s not gonna be great. It wasn’t great for the Germans under Hitler, and it wasn’t great for the Italians under Mussolini, and it certainly wasn’t great for the, Japanese under Tojo.

BERT MARTINEZ:

Well, I mean, look, you and I grew up in an era where if a politician was, caught in even a slight scandal, they would have the integrity to to drop out and try another time. Right? You know, there I remember oh, god. Now his name is blanking on me.

But this guy, his poor wife was at home sick. He had, they somebody got a picture of him with a female on his boat sitting on his lap, and, that ended his career. Right? I mean, that was enough. And again, just generally speaking, if a politician had anything questionable, they would drop out, just to make life easier on all of us. Now we have a situation where that’s no longer the case.

I guess it’s shame is no longer a thing. So here you have the the Republican nominee, former president Trump, who has just so much questionable integrity. Guy can guy has a very difficult time with the truth. And yet he’s the nominee.

LAWYER NORM BLUMENTHAL:

Yep. And that’s the scary thing because I don’t think I just in my heart of hearts, I don’t believe people are really for Trump. I think it’s just more of a TV show to everybody. And they’re just basically saying, okay. You know, Trump is more entertaining than Biden. Biden’s just an old guy trying to do his job and, keep the country safe and, you know, do the best he can. But Trump is, you know, he’s entertaining look. You know, is a philander. He fools around. He doesn’t care. All these people are afraid of him. And, boy oh, boy. It’s really gonna be something when he comes in because he’s gonna shake it all up. Well, shaking up is not the answer.

You know? It’s just not the answer, and it and it’s and, unfortunately, it’s not a joke. I mean, this is a serious matter, and everybody’s vote is serious when they go into the booth to be able to to to vote for somebody that has their best interest at heart, not the not the person coming into office.

BERT MARTINEZ:

Right. And again, look, if you look at Trump when he was running for office the first time, he had a very clear plan for America. We’re gonna do this. We’re gonna do that. Here’s how we’re gonna create more jobs. He doesn’t have that. His his plan now is is retaliation and retribution, and one of the motivations, it’s obvious, one of the motivations for him to get back in office is that he’s hoping to to be able to squash some of these lawsuits and investigations that are that are ongoing, these federal trials. He wants to be able to pardon himself.

I think that’s something that he would do. It is just he’s certainly somebody that that that does not deserve to be in that position. And I I’m I was really shocked that, attorney general Barr William Barr, who who was Trump’s attorney general. You know, in his book, he he and he’s he’s said this many times on on on all the media channels. He he has come out and said that Trump is not fit is not fit for office, that he is not, he doesn’t have the temperament for the office. And and, and I was just shocked that, again, he’s gonna vote the party line. He says I’m I’m gonna still vote Republican. I I don’t understand that.

I don’t always agree with, mister Barr, but I always felt that, he did things for the right reason. And now it’s like it’s like the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, voting just to vote.

LAWYER NORM BLUMENTHAL:

Yeah. It’s kinda sad that he totally lacks integrity, and all he is is prostituting his, his vote. And, you know, we just have to live with and he’s not alone. I mean, we saw them all in court the last couple of days in the back of the courtroom, all these senators and congressmen showing their loyalty to to Donald Trump without regard of the fact that he’s on trial for voter fraud. That, doesn’t seem to, bother anybody. So this is the world we live in, and it’s gonna be up to the citizens of this country to step up and vote up and down the line. Democrats or women need to do it. African Americans need to do it.

Latinos need to do it. Asian Americans need to do it. And, otherwise, we’re gonna live in a country of white supremacists. That’s where we’re headed.

BERT MARTINEZ:

Absolutely. We’re definitely gonna we’re definitely going to live in a very chaotic and, I believe, violent time. If you guys recall, during the last Trump administration, it was chaotic. And, you know, things are not gonna get done. As it is now, things aren’t getting done. Somebody, a Republican, a Republican, I can’t remember his name, he had come out senator had come out and said, hey, you know, just a few years ago, they were able to pass, I forgot how many different bills. It was, like, close to a 1000 bills. This year, they’ve they’ve barely gotten 98 passed because there’s so much turmoil.

And as you pointed out, you have so many Republicans who are quitting. And the good thing about that is if we have enough Republicans that quit, then the senate will be controlled by the Democrats, and I think that would be a nice, what do you call it, balance of power there if Trump takes over.

That would be a saving, a saving grace for us. Either way, I think to your point, we need to get out there and vote. We need to get out there and vote and keep Biden in the office. Even though he might not be your favorite person, he’s definitely better than somebody who wants to be a dictator, who wants to spend time retaliating, who has no vision for the next 4 years.

LAWYER NORM BLUMENTHAL:

Yeah. And we’ll just between now and the election, we’ll get the message out. And I think it’s gonna be loud and clear, and I’m hoping that, they have the debates so that it can be front and center exactly what we’re dealing with.

BERT MARTINEZ:

Absolutely. Thank you so much for stopping by.

Good stuff there from Norm Blumenthal. Norm Blumenthal, maybe you disagree with what we’re saying. Maybe you’re thinking, man, I’m voting republican no matter what. And look, that is your right, and I want you to exercise your right. But I also want you to think about how important your vote is. So maybe you don’t vote for Biden. Maybe you decide not to vote. Maybe you think I’m absolutely crazy wrong.

You know, you probably think I’m some kind of communist or liberal. I’m neither of those things. I am kind of, you know, a centrist. Right? I do believe in trying to cherry pick the best of both sides now. It’s kind of my point on that. But give me your thoughts. Looking forward to your comments. Maybe you agree, maybe you disagree, but either way, share this episode with everyone you know.

Let’s get everybody out there to vote, and let’s do it as, yeah, let’s get everybody out there to vote. Remember, you were created to succeed.