TRAINER'S EYE #135 - "Pokemon Trainers Over Billionaires" ft. The United States of America

Let's chat about things. Pokemon included. Promise.

Sources
Opening Song: "Forget You" by Alex_MakeMusic from Pixabay
"Hostile Government Take Over (EDM Remix) @AGiftFromTodd"

Transcript

David Hernandez: 0:42

Welcome to another episode of, as the pokeball turns, where we interview people about their experience with Pokemon. My name is David Hernandez. So normally I do my best to keep politics out of this podcast. I've always tried my best to provide information, entertainment. and hopefully nostalgic Pokemon interviews. However, this episode is not going to be that, if you haven't even noticed by the title. But don't worry, Friday's episode is going to be back to the status quo. But I needed to talk about this because I think it's important. as you know, the U. S. has a new president in town, and it's being felt across the states. And some could say it's probably being felt across the world, depending on where you're at. You either like it, you either hate it, or simply don't care. And for me, I do care. And I don't like it. And I want to talk about why. Not as a way to persuade you. I'm not here to change your thoughts, I'm not here to really influence you in that way. I'm not here to talk trash. I'm not a political expert or a pundit. That's just not my jam. But, as I've always done with my Pokemon interviews, I want to ask a question. And you're going to be the one to ask it too. But before we even get to the question I want to share a little bit behind the scenes. For those who don't know, I have a bachelor's degree in social work. Because I always had the idea of wanting to help people I've always had this idea of I've wanted to help people. I didn't think about the pay. My economics teacher tried to warn me and sorry, mysteries. I didn't listen, but that's what I went into going to want to do. You know, I used to work in the courts with both family and criminal. I used to work and still actually do work with mental health, uh, with IDD and personality disorders. You think schizophrenia, bipolar autism, you know, the whole nine yards, really. I've done refugee. Asylee services where I helped displaced families. From war and persecution find homes here. You know, more recently is really just an Afghan evacuation. You know, when we pulled out, I helped with the Cuban crisis and the famine they're going through when they try to migrate over here. Cause you know, they don't have any food and people are obviously not happy about that. And plus medication, it's a whole mess. I'm not going to go into that. And of course you can't forget Russia, Ukraine conflict that's been kind of going on. They moved over here and. I've also done homeless veterans through the HVRP grant, where I helped veterans get connected with services for housing, for the VA services, for employment, accessing benefits. And I say all this to give an idea of where I come from, because I think that's so important when we have these conversations to where we have to understand where each person kind of comes from to be able to find a connecting point. I know I don't know it all. I'll be the first to admit that. I know there are always multiple sides to everything. There's not even two sides to one coin anymore. It's probably four or six at this point. But that's just my side. for those who don't know, Doge is trying to wipe out the money in the grants. The federal money. The systems that are in place. And they are there for a reason, and I think maybe we've either not thought about it, or maybe we just don't know how to even find out about it. from my standpoint, I think it's just a lot of what's going on is due to that lack of knowledge and understanding on how these systems really work. They're slow as hell, don't get me wrong. But they do work. A good example. Is back when Trump did an executive order and eventually he even elaborated saying that they are not going to freeze or cut any grants that directly service people. The one problem with that is that it doesn't exclude the grants that pay staff who give those services. for those who don't know those grants. That pay staff and that help, you know, put whatever, whatever person you want in there are completely different. you ever gone to a store and there's like one checkout line. That's kind of what's happening now. While yes, you may not cut services to people who need it. You cut the people who could provide it. if you know anybody who's in nonprofits, they're freaking out because they don't have the money anymore. They're having to make cuts. They're having to send people home. They're having to reduce services because the money's been cut based on DOJA's evaluation. that's why the VA, the Veterans Administration, Had to drastically cut staffing and didn't transfer that money over into the account that service veterans. Otherwise they lose it. And it's not just the VA. It's just, it's a lot of other organizations that are having to do that. And if you don't believe me, go ask anybody, like call up your nonprofit and see like, Hey, how are these affecting you? And I'm pretty sure they might, I don't know how detailed they would get into, but. I'm pretty sure you get an idea by that, but that's the question though. It's like, how many people know that? How many of you know that? I'm not sure. I really don't know. That's why I want to talk about this, now knowing that funding for both the staff who provide the services. As well as the funding for the services that go to, again, Is that what we want? back in, uh, 2013, around that time, I remember there was a lot of conflict to where veterans were having to waste, months and months. Because there just wasn't enough staffing. There are more people who need the services than there are people who can provide it sometimes. You know, if you ever read up on the farmers and what they're kind of going through A lot of them are kind of scared of going bankrupt because their funding has been taken away. And you know, farmers send money to our grocery stores by the way, so stay tuned for that. I'm not an expert on that, so. We'll find out together, ultimately, my question is what do we want as Americans, they came in and they promised that we're going to give the money back to the people But is it going to be kind of worth it knowing that some of these programs and some of these services are going to go away, if you ever visit their website, doge. You know, they're currently going through the funding and they've currently saved us 8, 497, 568, 305 as of February 19th, 2025. And it's on their website. So I got that total by adding up all the numbers in their savings below the wall receipts. And then after you divided by the population of the U. S. Which I decided to round down because, you know, it's an estimate and I didn't want it to be, inaccurate you get a savings of 25 per every person. Hey, 25 guys. Yeah. 25 bucks. We, we did it. I mean, they're not done, but we all got 25 saved. But wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on. I know some of y'all thinking, what about the kids? What about the immigrants? What about the people who don't put money into this program? Obviously it's gotta be a little bit more, right? I got you. I got you. I did this math. Trust me. I did this just in case I wanted to make sure I'm thorough. So on average, there's like 51 million immigrants who are in the U. S. And of course, 85 million children, because you know, they're too young to put taxes into the And so if you take them out from, again, the original 340 million, you get 41 and 65 cents. And that's assuming every American residing here, is working pays the same amount. and again, that assumes that everyone's paying the same amount. You know, and I'll put the math in the show notes and you can do it yourself. See, makes that way, you know, I'm not always lying. No, do it yourself. That's what I did. I would encourage you. Check my work. at this point, I'm almost able to buy a Switch game at this point. Hey, Pokemon Z8 is coming out. Maybe, uh, I'll get enough for that. But going back to my question though, what do we want as Americans? What do we really want for each other? And what do we really want for the future of this nation, whether you're Republican or Democrat, or maybe independent or apathetic, wherever you fall on, we have all been at one point of our lives that we've needed help. some of us have lost jobs. Some of us know what it's like to have to work two, three jobs just to get by. Some of us knows what it's like to not have food on the table. Some of us knows what it's like to not have medical care. growing up for me, I had to walk around my whole life. I didn't have a car till I was 26 and my original city didn't believe in public transportation. They still don't to this day. I know what it's like to not have food. I know what it's like to lose a job. To not have no food in my apartment, to face eviction, to having to call the suicide caught line because I'm battling thoughts of just ending it at that point. I know what it's like to be down in the dumps. And and when you turn to a family who've always said that they value your independence. And that they said that you could always come to them if you ever needed anything. And then the one time you do, and they look in you and I and say, I'm just going to pray for you. I know what that's like. And the only reason that I was able to get out of that moment. Was some of these programs sometimes. But let me ask you this. Do you think that they know what it's like? Do you think they know what it's like to not have food on the table? To not have medical care? To not have transportation? What do you think they really know about a regular person's life? They're both trust fund babies who were born into wealth. I mean, unless you have multiple commas in your bank account, first off, why aren't you on my Patreon to get sick Pokemon wristbands? But secondly, how do we know that they have our best interests at heart? How do we know that these decisions are of really the best American interest? Last thing is this post by Elon Musk, who is, of course, I guess part of Doge at this point, where he said on X, And you can look it up, like I said, February 12th. Why 90 percent of America loves Doge. And it's the meme to where, uh, the chick's just looking up. I don't know who she is. I know she's somebody famous. I obviously don't know famous people that well. But, it says, watching Trump slash federal programs knowing it doesn't affect you because you're a member of the parasite class. And I know, Elon, he's a troll or jokester. But is that something you really joke about again, you know, the federal money that they're going through, it affects people's lives. It's not just waste. Some of it, I'm sure there is, let's just be honest. Like a lot of us could do better trying to manage our bank account, but again, is that something you really want to joke about that day? I learned that I'm just a parasite at the end of the day. But, let's really break it down. Let's really sit down and say what this means. If you're autistic, you're a member of the parasite class. If you have depression, you're a member of the parasite class. If you have really any disability, you're a member of the parasite class. If you're a veteran, you're part of the Parasite class. I mean, that's what he said, right? Joke or not, that's what he posted on X. If you're a victim of domestic violence, you're a member of the Parasite class. If you're a farmer, you're a member of the Parasite class. If you're a senior citizen. You're a member of the parasite class. If you've ever stayed in a homeless shelter, you're a member of the parasite class. If you're a small business owner, you're a member of the parasite class, but let's put words. Let's be real. Let's put worse. So that's what he said. If you've ever been a victim of natural disaster, whether it be a hurricane, the flooding. Anything. You're a member of the Parasite class. If you've ever taken public transit, you're a member of the Parasite class. If you've ever been in public schools, congrats, you're a member of the Parasite class. You get the idea. Again, my question that I have for you. What type of future do you want? What do we want at the end of the day? Do we really believe that they have our best interest in mind? Even if it's too late to vote, it's never too late to make your voice heard. It's never too late to get involved within your community. You know, some people, they decide to protest. Some people decide to contact their sander or house rep. Some people like me decide to make an entire podcast episode about this. Okay, Pikachu, uh, Jigglypuff, uh, Mewtwo, there, there's your Pokemon references. That's all I had. You still got some Pokemon the day. But I've always had this strong belief, and I've always said this, if you've ever talked to me personally, or even whether it be through the podcast or just here within the DFW Metroplex, and it's even what drives the podcast now, I've always believed, whether you're Republican, Democrat, apathetic, whatever, that the community is always going to be stronger when we're all more involved. Anyway, I just want to talk about that. I'm not going to bring it up anymore. as I said, back to normal schedule on Friday. But let's leave the episode on a good note.

14:28

We're in the middle of a hostile government takeover. I want to talk about it but I've been late for work. And if you're saying wait a minute who we have to stop this, we have them but you didn't want that lady in office. Na na na na na, hostile government. Na na na na na, takeover. Na na na na na, hostile government. Oh Oh, wow, that we're a part of a Nigerian Prince, damn. Surprise, surprise, I ended up being a white man. Oh, I just wanna know, what the hell do I do? Probably drink, drink, drink. And if you say, wait a minute, who we have to stop this? We have one, but you didn't want that lady in the office. Office, office, office. Hostile government.