Hey, listeners, a quick reminder before we jump into this week's episode. Sam, Saeed and I will be live at the Ford Theater in Los Angeles this Sunday, July 14.

It's gonna be so good. We have made this live show our biggest one yet. It's a full kiki, an amazing cast of characters. Join us on stage. We've got Lacey Moseley. She is the host of the podcast Scam Goddess, which is just hilarious and amazing. She'll be there on stage with us. And I'm so excited about this. My friend and favorite dj ever, novena Carmel, LA institution. She'll be there to get us all going before the show. She'll be spinning a whole set at the Ford theater that night, July 14. So be sure to get there early. You don't want to miss the dancing.

It's going to be the best time. I am so excited to get on a plane and come pay homage to Kendrick Lamare in LA in person. You know, we're gonna have our not like us moment. No, baby, it's about unity. The girls have come together. The girls have come together. I'm so excited. And so it's gonna be our last live show of the season. It's been an amazing summer. What a way for us to kind of close off these series of events. Tickets are on sale@theford.com. you can also find the link in our show notes. See you Sunday. It's so close. It's almost here.

Hey, ladies.

Hi.

I have no smart opener this week. It's ladies.

Simple, subtle, sleek.

I was waiting with faded breath.

Simple. I love it. Yes.

Yes.

We're just three ladies having a good old time.

Three girls. Yeah, shitting and chatting.

I'm Sam Sanders.

I'm Saeed Jones.

And I'm Zach Safford. And you're listening to vibe check.

And this week we're gonna be shitting and chatting about some bullshit.

We're gonna talk about so much bullshit.

So much in the world today. So much to start. We're gonna be talking about the Joe Biden and some really big questions surrounding his age and his campaign for president. Seems democrats have lost the plot. Don't know what they're gonna do, but we're gonna try this hour to help some folks get their plot back. Cause we have some takes. And then after that, another troubling issue. More bullshit. I'm talking about summer travel. It is. Here we are in the season. Said was just in Mexico looking lovely for a spell. Zach, I don't know where he be going. He just is everywhere, everywhere, everywhere, everywhere. But a thing I think about, whenever I think about summer travel is about how annoying it's gotten because of other people acting a fool while they travel. So we're gonna share our summer travel pet peeves and talk about how to be better travelers wherever we go.

Whew. We were really helping y'all today. We're helping out with your politics, with your movement around the world. We're helping ourselves.

Give us the wheel.

Yes, it's a lot. We are fixing systems and structures, breaking generational curses.

It's the three of us driving into like, the volkswagen being like, don't make us come back there. America, America.

America.

Turn this car around.

America. We will turn this car around.

The ladies are going to turn this car around, dammit.

Which is needed because we're gonna get into this. But Mister Joe Biden has been, you know, what is that thing? What was the horror movie where you say the person, their name? Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice, beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. He's been saying black voters, black voters, black voters. And you know what, Joe Biden, we are here.

Oh, we are gonna talk to you. You wanted to hear from some black voters.

All right, listen up, listen up.

Before we go there, before we turn that car around, let's just check in, ladies, how are you feeling, saeed, how goes Columbus?

Columbus is good. It's good to be home. First of all, I was traveling with you two. We were in Boston and New York. Yeah. Remember that?

New York wasn't that fun.

Yeah. And then I flew to Mexico City and decided to extend my trip. I was just both relaxing but also getting so much writing. And then some research happened. I actually went on like a reporting trip, which I didn't expect to have the opportunity to do so for the book, but I'm so glad. And, yeah, and then I saw, I was like, all of America is in a heat dome. And I was like, you know what, let me see if I can push that flight back another week.

And what I loved, like, I loved just knowing that you were there to write, but you would send me a little behind the scenes photos.

Oh, yes.

Really awesome leather goods and jewelry you got. I don't know what it is, but you have an eye whenever you go to Mexico. Cause I've been there with you. You find the cutest stuff.

I am that girl. But also Mexico City is that girl. I think I'll say of the western world, I think Mexico is the best city for shopping style. If you're interested in interesting jewelry, clothes with really a sense of verve, a sense of personality, a sense of, like, oh, I'm not just gonna be able to find this, you know, in any major city or even online. Mexico City, I think, is a real standout. I love it.

It's a culture that embraces color and whimsy. Things are colorful there, and they're playful.

I love that there's a brand there that I really love. And, Zach, I think we've gone shopping there too, called boyfriend's shirts.

Oh, yeah, boyfriend shirts.

And I always get some really fun, colorful stuff. If you go to my instagram, you'll see me wearing, like, a denim hoodie that I got there. It's my most recent post from Mexico, but it was so cool. I went there. They had an extra line in the store called ex Boyfriend's shirt stop. Where they used recycled clothes from past lines of the store, but their whole concept was like, yeah, you dumped your boyfriend, but you kept his stuff, and now you're gonna make a new outfit out of it. So it was all kind of very creative, and I was just like, that is just so Mexico City. So, yeah, I had a hoot. Yeah, I love it.

I love it. Zach, what's your vibe?

Well, my vibe, you know, actually, I just want to build on said's vibe. Cause it's like a build on the vibe. Build Mexico City. I like this. I was in Mexico City for, like, 24 hours. On my way back home, I wasn't able to see said, but I was able to see our friend Cecilia from Dos Cuerpos, which I know lots of vibe checklisteners go to her store. Her store is expanding. I got to see the sketches for a bar they're building, which is amazing. They're building out a whole bar space. And she's also launching a jewelry line now. So when you go visit her, you can get jewelry too. So there's something just so special about the residents of Mexico City. It's such a global city, and so much art is being made there. So much entrepreneurship is happening there, and I just love it so much. It's so inspiring to be there. So, anyway, I just have to give my love to Mexico City too, because I know Saeed was holding it down there for the past few weeks, and I love it there.

So I'm going to make sure that we have the link for boyfriend shirt in the show notes so folks can check it out, because some of their stuff you can't get online.

Yeah, it's great. It's great. But besides that, speaking of traveling. We are all traveling this week. Syed is coming to LA for the LA show, which is so exciting. But Sam and I are sneaking into the city of Chicago. We can now announce that we will be on. Wait, wait, don't tell me. This week live in Chicago. And then it will be coming out on Saturday before our live show in LA. So we're just hopping into my. What I call my hometown, which is a place I went to school and spent nine years. And I'm so excited. So many friends are going. And I think the show's gonna be great. Spend a little time with Sam in one of my favorite movies and show him my favorite little places to go, maybe. So, yeah, I'm feeling good this week.

It's gonna be so much fun. I am so excited about it.

But, Sam, how are you doing? What's going on over there?

You know, I was realizing this week that my vibe for the summer, I've been traveling a bit less than y'all have. I do have a big trip to Montana planned for August. The dear friends getting married. And I'm sorry, I was like, what? No, I actually spent a good amount of time in Montana during the first big COVID lockdown. Some dear friends of mine are from Montana, and when we couldn't do anything, they were like, come and hang with us. I drove up from Texas and the nature there is heavenly. So Montana is low key. One of my favorite places in the country. So I will be there next month for a spell. Looking forward to that. But until then, my vibe this summer is just hot book summer. I've been reading some good books and I've been loving it.

Hot summer.

Hot book summer. I just finished Dansie Senna's new book, colored television last week. It's not out yet, but listeners, when it's out, go read it. It is the story of a novelist turned almost tv screenwriter with a tv creator from hell. And it is so L. A. And so unhinged. Zach just finished it, too. It's delightful. Add it to your list when it's out. And then I am knee deep in the new Miranda July book, all fours.

Oh, okay.

It's wild. I described this book as feral.

Yeah. That's one of my favorite qualities of Miranda's. Miranda July's writing. I love it.

Yeah. Her character in this book, which is basically her, is a middle aged, semi famous artist who tells her family she's taken a road trip from LA to New York, but ends up stopping at a motel 40 minutes outside of Los Angeles. She hires a designer to redecorate her motel room, and then she kind of goes after that designer's husband. It's wild. And that is not a spoiler. Cause you find that out in, like, the first ten pages. But as a middle aged treatise on sexuality, sensuality, and breaking boundaries, it is just remarkable. This book will be zooming along. She's so funny. The way she writes this character's interior monolog is genius. And you're bopping along, loving this book. And then she does a thing, and when you're like, you did what?

Yeah.

You did what?

Yeah.

Oh, it's amazing. Anywho, I'm reading all summer, I'm loving it. All fours and colored television. Yeah, my vibe is just, you know, call me Levar Burton, baby. I'm reading the rainbows.

We love a literate lady. We love a literate lady.

Okay, listeners, before we get to the Biden of it all, I want to thank all of you sent us fan mail. Special shout out to those of you who have subscribed to our pepperoni if you want to join that group chat. Oh, God, you would have thought you.

Would get to pastrami before pepperoni to be.

Let me cook. I'm getting there, baby. There are many meats. Charcuterie. Charcuterie. Catch us on the charcuterie. Patreon.com. vibecheck. Also, one last thing. We want to let you know, dear listeners, that we're going to have a special ask us anything episode of Vibe. Check. That will be airing in August. But to make a really good ask us anything episode, we need your questions, so send them to us. I know you often ask us for advice, but this time, you can ask us your nosy questions about our lives. Where'd Zach be flying to?

Don't make me Taylor swift. People start tracking me.

Yeah.

And by nodding private. Jazz.

I usually use the Patreon now to talk about what tv shows I'm watching because I don't kind of talk about that on show. Yeah, ask me about my tv opinions. I have strong, very strong interview with the Vampire. I'm all in because of Zach.

Send those questions whenever you want. Vibechecktitcher.com. vibechecktitcher.com. With that, shall we talk about Joe Biden?

Let's dive into the rap.

We must.

Let's do it.

Okay. All right, here we go.

So as a reminder, we are taping this conversation on Tuesday morning, and since the news about Biden's candidacy for president, you know, it's both, like, rapidly developing, but also, I would say it's like a slow moving train wreck that gives me flashbacks to the final destination movies of our youth. Oh, wow. It's fast, slow, and disastrous all at the same time.

Yeah, yeah.

Wait, can I drill into this? Do you all get nervous when you're on the highway and there is a truck in front of you with wood?

Baby, baby, baby. There's a whole scene I've written in the book where Isaac and I are in northern California driving behind a logging truck. And it's all I can think about.

It has traumatized a whole generation of us.

That truck with the foot on it, that is the Biden candidacy.

Oh, please, no. Please, no.

And we're behind it. We're behind.

Oh, my God. So since we are yet. Oh, my God. We're in the car. America's acting up in the backseat. We got this logging truck in front of us.

It's one way to fall off.

Oh, I see it in the other lane. And a brand being like, you want to ride? You want to ride with me? Hop in.

So since all of this is kind of swirling around us, you know, instead of doing, like, a play by play, also, because we know y'all are, frankly, very high information voters on this podcast, you don't need us to kind of give you the TikTok of all of this. We thought we would approach the conversation in a different way because it's still a conversation we want to have. So we want to talk about the realities that have been, you know, revealed or emphasized by the fallout from Biden's presidential debate. What has become more apparent, you know, and worth paying attention to. So, to start, since vibe check is all about news, culture, and how it all feels, I wanted to ask y'all, how have you felt about the last week or so since the debate? How have you felt about what you've observed?

I have felt angry. And I caveat this with something my therapist says all the time, which is anger is a secondary emotion. It usually is on top of something.

There you go.

So I'm angry because I'm scared. I'm angry cause I feel betrayed. I'm angry because I feel like people have been withholding important information from me for a while and just lying to my face about it. And part of this, and we'll get into this later, I have also allowed for the delusion to be of my own making as well. I have also seen the signs of things happening and be like, no, it's not that bad. It's not. He's way better he's probably really strong privately in those meetings. Oh, it makes sense. He's not been campaigning very much. He's running America. He's not doing interviews. He's Joe Biden and all these things. Now I'm just angry about it all because it's all bullshit. And we now need to have a very serious come to Jesus with this man and our democratic process and all these other things around us. And I'm also, I'm sad for Kamala Harris and how we've been treating her for so long as a black woman. So there's just, like, a lot. So I think I'm just, you know, busting at the seams with lots of feelings. But it's good. Cause it's energizing.

And I think it's energizing a lot of people because before that debate, people weren't paying that much attention. Loved ones of mine didn't even watch the debate. They were just like, I'll go see a show. I'll do other things. Now we are locked in because we are in a car that's about to be hit by a bunch of wood. So we're all kind of freaking out right now.

I mean, listen, and we will talk about this because it's significant. But when the Biden campaign decided to have this debate, this didn't happen to the Biden campaign. The Biden campaign decided to have this campaign. One of the reasons they were given is that they were like, we want to shake up the race. Well, it's been shaken up. Sam, how do you feel?

I feel lied to. I feel lied to, and I will tell you why. I. The day after the debate, all of a sudden, these major news outlets put out these long, extensive, deeply reported pieces about serious questions about Joe Biden's age. They held these stories until after the debate. And that is part of a larger trend that had taken hold of the entire Beltway. Democratic operatives, White House staffers, people close to Biden, reporters who wanted access to Biden. They never addressed the elephant in the room. They never addressed that the emperor has no clothes on until a debate performance so bad that they couldn't ignore it. So I'm troubled that this is the candidate who is supposed to be Donald Trump, and it doesn't seem like he can. But I'm angry because I feel like an entire political media infrastructure was lying to us for the last several years. And this is the thing. It's like Democrats have said for the longest, we're not the liars. Trump is a liar. They're the ones who aren't telling you the truth. But on one of the biggest questions facing a president and people choosing a president, whether he's physically and mentally fit to serve, I think they were lying to us.

And my voice is getting raised right now cause it pisses me off. So that's my first emotion.

Yeah, I certainly agree with both of you on both of those fronts. I guess I would just add one emotion I have. I use the phrase, I'm like, it's crazy making. You know what I mean? It's crazy making to observe all of this, to know what's going on and to feel like you're not being listened to. Because I feel what's happened is that in contrast to the republican party's version of white supremacy, what Democrats have offered instead of white supremacy is white mediocrity. And white mediocrity always has diminishing returns. It is crazy making to understand, and I'm glad that Democrats, it does feel like, are beginning to understand the importance of emphasizing project 2025, this very disturbing fascist vision from the republican party. Right. But I'm like, well, what's your vision? You have no vision. Your alternative to white supremacy is not a better, thriving, vivid, multicultural America. It is simply a decrepit, aging America. And that's not better either.

Well, and this is what's so frustrating when you hear the defenses of Joe Biden. There's this desire for folks in his camp on his side to say, well, look at his legacy. Look at his legacy. He's done this, he's done that. He's been around. He's been around a long time, and he's a good guy. But legacy on its own is not leadership. It's just a resume.

Yeah.

And to pretend and act like the Joe Biden who was vital 30 years ago deserves to be president 40 years from then because he was nice back then. It doesn't make any sense. And then even if you accept the logic that what he's done before means that he can continue to lead us even though he's past his prime, the leadership hasn't been great. Joe Biden has never been a great candidate for president. The first time he ran, he was rocked by a plagiarism scandal. When he ran against Obama, you remember, he called that black Mandeh clean cut and articulate. You know, this last election before winning the presidency, he was everyone's last pick. He's never been a remarkable candidate. And now he is facing serious questions about mental fitness. And so to act like just saying legacy legacy. Legacy is enough to overcome that. Legacy is not leadership.

Legacy is also not democracy. There's nowhere in the definition of democracy does it say anything about legacy. It's about equal access to voting, to making choice, to checks and balances in our government system. Nothing about someone that's owed something because they've had a job for 50 years or however long he's been in office. Those types of thinkings are related more to the republican party right now around Trump's legacy and what is owed to him for some reason I still don't understand. But beyond that, it takes us to the british empire and other royal families around, families who are owed things. And you run this country. And Joe Biden is an American that won office, and he is the only person who has beat Trump for president. But just because of that doesn't mean he gets it again. He has to prove himself, and he's not proving himself. And we need to be having that conversation.

I also took it technical. Hillary beat him, too. Hillary got millions more votes than Donald Trump did.

Exactly.

Okay, but go ahead.

Also, I would add, and I do want to broaden this to the Democratic Party itself, but something that is significant is, you know, this debate did not have to happen. I didn't think, frankly, I didn't think there was going to be presidential debates this go around because why?

They were hiding him. They had been hiding Biden from major press for a year or more.

And if Trump's people were smart, they would continue to hide him, too, as they have in the last week, by the way. But the situation that Biden and his team have put him in, as an analogy, it's kind of like you're having an argument with your partner and they say, you seem really angry, and you go, I'm not angry. I'm not like, the moment someone accuses you of being angry, there's actually no, you can't say anything. You can try to be calm. They're like, well, you're denying it. You can act angry. And they're like, you know, like everything you do actually becomes evidence. And it's kind of like, now, unfortunately, that argument, instead of being one difficult night between two partners, it's Biden in the United States for how many months do we have until November? And really, if he wins in November, it's the next four years. Right? Any very human mistake, any gaffe, any weird, you know, it's just, this isn't going to go away. And mental fitness is actually, you know, it's just, it's an impossible position to be in. We should not be here.

You know, I get really mad when people just want to say that he just had a bad day. Ignore the mental fitness questions. We're seeing reports now that doctors had been visiting the White House several times to look for signs of Parkinson's disease in Joe Biden. I Parkinson's doctors at the White House, and they didn't tell us until they had to.

It's not comforting.

Well, I would say to even drill more into that. They're still not telling us if that's exactly what was happening. They're being very vague about why that doctor was there so often. They're saying, there are lots of people that work at the White House that are military personnel that require medical access. So it could be for them, but they're not answering the questions directly, and that doesn't make us feel confident at all. Leaves a lot there for us to imagine.

Yeah. And to open it up. You know, I think it's clear, the three of us feel that Joe Biden in 2020 should have committed to being a one term president. And now we see why. I want to draw attention to an op ed from the Guardian written by Osida Nanuwe titled, Democrats don't just need a new candidate, they need a reckoning. And drawing attention to people like Dianne Feinstein and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, this person notes that it's clearly difficult for Democrats to dislodge their most important figures, even when political reality suggests that they should. All told, the Democratic Party is less understood as a political party organized to enact or protect specific policies than as a professional association committed to protecting its most valued members. And as a reminder, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Dianne Feinstein both died while holding their positions. What do we make at that point.

To drill into the RBG of it all? Ruth Bader Ginsburg considered stepping down while Obama was president, and that would have allowed him to appoint a liberal Supreme Court justice to take her seat. She said, no, I want to stick around for the historic significance of a woman, Hillary Clinton, choosing my replacement. When you think about that, it just, how do you not get burnt up over it? I hear all these points about the Democratic Party being a party of legacy and how that's not serving people. But I also think right next to it is a political, media, and journalism apparatus that has built itself in the same way on legacy and access. You know, from the day that Trump took office, the kind of political journalism that was valued in this country was the access journalism that Maggie Haberman and others could provide. Everyone calls Maggie. They talked to Maggie. She tells you what they said. And that access journalism, getting scoops, getting gossip, that was the primary currency of how politics was covered. When in reality, the political journalism that did the best work to push back against Trump, it was investigative journalism.

It wasn't access journalism. It was reporters who were hated by the White House who got in there anyway. And I think if we had a political media infrastructure that favored investigative work over access journalism, we would have known sooner than about all of these concerns over Biden's health and how they were hiding the truth about his health and his age and his wellness, because those access journalists didn't want to tell that story a year ago. Cause they would have lost access. So my question right now is, like, how do we look at the party itself and talk about how they favor legacy, how they favor elites, but how do we ask the same questions of the reporters in the newsrooms who cover that? Because it takes two to do this tango. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah. I mean, I think whether we're talking about reporters, insiders, or the Democratic Party itself, there's this phenomenon where vulnerable people are saying, something's wrong, we need to make a change. Right? Something's off, we need to make a change. And then the power holders go, no, no, no, everything's fine. You know, he's been using. Yeah. Whether it's a reporter who pitch poshes like, you know, criticisms of access, whether it's a reporter who's, like, holding onto a scoop until the book comes out six months later, which keeps happening, or, you know, leaders in these parties who say, no, Biden's fine, and then when the problem becomes impossible to ignore, then they go, well, it's too late to change course now.

Which is like an insane thing to even suggest now when we have evidence in the past few months around the world of people changing quickly. Look at the UK, four months. France did it within seven days. People are moving. When you need real change, when you need real radical change, I'm reminded of Angela Davis says, radical is getting to the root of something. And that's what really when you make something radically changes, you're changing the systems in which you are living in. We are not radically changing anything by having Joe Biden in office. And that is proven with his appointment of a vice president who made history for being a black south asian woman, who he then shut up for the past almost four years, who they have not prepared to take over when it is her literal job to step in when he can no longer do the job. And he does these interviews like he did on morning show this week, where he says, who else could do this job? Only I can do this. Only I can do this. When he has a black woman sitting down the hall from him waiting to do the job, it's just so offensive.

And he's not taking care of us in those moments at all.

And four years ago, when he was telling us, here's why Kamala is a great pick, he said, I'm picking her because she could do the job.

Yeah, exactly. He said, I'm a bridge to other people.

The last week has exposed many things that I think we've long intuited because we're not new to the game, we're true to the game. But regarding Kamala, I think what we've seen is that black people have always and will always only be listened to by Biden if it is to support his ego. He was never going to entrust Kamala Harris to be a leader. She was only going to be useful to him to support his own ambitions, which is kind of the entire problem with Biden. Like, when he keeps, you know, he tries, he does that thing where he, like, drops his voice, you know, and he thinks he's made, he's like, this is what it's all about. This is like, no, what it's all about is recognizing that if you do agree that Trump and these Republicans are an existential threat, which they are, and you feel that you are not able to take them on, you don't have the mental acuity. You can't communicate in the same way that you need to, you know, to do the messaging. You can't pivot, you know, and emphasize important points, whether that's during a debate or whether it's during meetings where decisions are being made.

If you can't do what you need to do to take on an existential threat that is dangerous to all of us, then you have to change. You have to change. In this case, it means step down.

And this is the thing, the bubble they've put this man in, where he only hears people who are boosting him up, telling him things. It has gotten so bad now, there are reports that when Biden was having meetings, post debate, to decide to stay in or not, one of his most trusted advisors in the White House for those meetings, Hunter. Hunter, bye. Was up there telling papa Joe to keep going. You are getting bad advice from the wrong people. He's getting bad advice from the wrong people.

Not Hunter saying, let's keep the party going.

I'm sorry. Hunter said to like Hunter and to build on that. And my last statement on this before we move on to travel, because I need that relief right now. I'm talking about some travel, is that Joe Biden has a historic and special moment in which, for the first time in many, many years of elections, he literally could go to the swing states and meet the few thousands of people who are about to decide this. It isn't millions of people about to decide this election. It is that close.

It's Ohio, Michigan, Michigan.

He could hold town halls there and talk to these people to their face and meet all of them, actually, and.

Say, what do you want?

But he's not even doing that. He's not even doing that. He's in North Carolina making black people sign up for him and using us in Pennsylvania and wherever and just using black people as a shield instead of going to the places where he could make a real change. And that's the problem. He's not really doing the work at all. He's not even doing interviews.

Barely at all.

Yeah, listen, what don't come out in the wash comes out in the rinse. We are nine months into a goddamn genocide. And activists and people have been saying this for a very long time. If this man will look you in the eye and say, there is nothing voters can say that will make me change my on a fucking genocide. Oh, you think he's gonna listen to you now? Welcome to the party. Welcome to the party. Maybe we should keep the party going, Hunter. Cause I guess we all gonna be learning some stuff tonight. Anyway. We will leave it there for now. Who knows where this will go, but we're gonna take a quick break, and then we're gonna talk about, like, a different kind of irritation, a different kind of bullshit after the break.

All right, listeners, we're back. And for this segment, we're going to talk about the do's, don'ts, and things that just get on our nerves when it comes to traveling. So as all of you know. And someone even posted this question on our Patreon last night. They asked, can you give us some travel tips? And I was like, girl, you must have a crystal ball, because we're literally going to be talking about this tomorrow. So something to tee up this conversation is a story that I'll make really brief, but it happened this weekend that really illustrates some things I have issues with when on the road. So I was out of town. I was with Craig. We were on a pool on a Sunday. And we were like, there will be no kids here because it's Sunday and parents will leave. Sure enough, kids showed up and we're like, ugh, this sucks. But we're cool. We can deal with kids. We have lots of nieces and nephews. Whatever family pulls up next to us, the daughters start freaking out because they want to rearrange the pool deck chairs, and they want to make it look a certain way so they have access to the water and their food and all this stuff, but they just made it their living room in many ways.

They start doing this. The dad is telling the kids, no, don't do this. The kid starts hitting the dad, which is wild. I grew up in a family. If I hit my dad, I wouldn't be doing this podcast today. That's all I have to say about that one. But they do it. They let them change all the pool deck chairs and a family next to us who doesn't have their kids ghosts, y'all, don't worry about it. We have three little ones. We know how it goes. I looked at Craig and said, we have zero little ones. I don't know how this goes. I'm not built for this. So that's where we're beginning this today is. What are some things, when you guys are on vacation, traveling, that really get on your nerves? And I just wanna start high level. What's the vibe this summer as you've been on the road, Saeed, are you picking up on anything as you re entered the country last week?

Oh, yeah. I mean, I think the vibe. And, you know, we've obviously been talking about this in the group text, and I can't remember. There'll be a book nerd listener that will help me remember this. But the term ugly American comes from a piece of writing about how terrible Americans act abroad. We're loud, we're crass, we're demanding, and, yeah, and so, you know, that's not new. You know, this isn't a new trend. It's not a new phenomenon. For once, we can't blame something on TikTok, as we love to do. It's just colonialism, quite frankly. It's empire. But I will say, yeah, as a frequent traveler, the number of times lately I've been, you know, particularly at airports and on planes, but also, like, at hotel check ins, the number of times I've just been looking around me and I've been like, people have lost their minds. They do not know how to. What is. Is everyone okay? That's real. Like. Like a sense of bewilderment is often what I kind of feel when I'm traveling. What about you, Sam?

I mean, when we were discussing having this conversation on the show this week, my first thought was, just like, the kid of it all. Zach, I'm so glad that you brought it up, because probably my biggest pet peeve when I'm traveling and around other travelers. It's not having your kid with you on a trip. It's your kid. I get it. It's acting like your kid is my kid. It's acting like I gotta be nice to your kid. It's acting like I have to change my vacation plans to accommodate your child being a Bebey's kid up in the space bay. Bay's kids.

Can you define Bebes for people I don't know?

No. That's a deep cut. You know what? We're gonna gatekeep that. And if people get Bebey's kids, they get it. Damn it. I forbid you to explain Bei bass people's modern classic.

But all this to say, you know, I have had situations where people act as if the entire space is the kid's playpen.

And the families. It's not just the kids. Sometimes. Yeah.

And they act like I should applaud their child for being a badass. Oh, it's so cute. He's jumping around. He's acting crazy. No, I've been on planes where I've been asked to move to accommodate a kid. I've been on a flight once where the mother was asleep. The kid starts throwing up. I gotta hold his throw up bag.

Oh, no.

Oh, I'm a nice guy. And I think that, like, there's a. I know. Chantel.

Sam, that's wild. Chantel, who doesn't react very often, by.

The way we were landing this plane and this poor little five or six year old boy. It just started happening. And I was like, sweetie, I got you. And I woke his mom up, and she looked bewildered. And I was like, I should be looking bewildered. Anywho. Anywho.

No, that's a good pet peeve, because I call that the living room vacation of public spaces. That's kind of like you were saying by the pool, where sometimes it's like, God help you if you're traveling. And it's like a college team is traveling, because suddenly they act like the entire plane is just their locker room and you just happen to be an intruder. Well, okay.

Beauty does do a lot.

News, culture, and how it all feels. Listen, that's real. Where you're like, we are in a shared space. This isn't your home.

Yeah. I would say my big theory for all this is that just because I think I'm on a plane every ten days or something.

You are.

It's like very, very often. And whenever I enter the airport, I look around and realize that everyone is the main character in their own story, that they're going through that moment. I think travel, because, especially when it's vacation, people have saved up, they've taken off work, they've rearranged their life, and they're wanting to indulge in this fun getaway. And I get it, but they lose all sense of that. They are part of a community of people.

There you go.

And some of us are moving around the world for work or to visit, to go to a funeral, but it's not just about you. And people forget that when they travel. And that's what gets on my nerves.

And this is the thing I think about deeply and philosophically, that main character energy. Sometimes parents have it the worst of. Because I think some parents, not all, they think that their choice to be a parent is a moral choice and a morally superior choice. And they think that having kids makes them a morally better person than those who don't. Which means that they think that they're allowed to do whatever they want to do on vacation because they're more morally just right and pure than those who didn't have kids. I hate that. A dear friend of mine, Tracy, she said to me, having kids or not having a kid is not a moral choice. It's just a choice. You made a choice. And just cause you did it doesn't mean you're better than those who didn't. But I see that parent privilege, when people vacation with their kids, they think they're better than us and deserve more than us because they had a kid. No baby, no.

Yeah. Well, another quick one that feels related to that sense of. I mean, and I think so much of this is about, like, entitlement. Cause it's kind of like, I don't know. I go on vacation, I'm there to mind my own business generally, particularly before I've reached my destination. Goal is to be as. To have a good time. Yeah, but to be as unobtrusive as possible. You know, that's how I think of the travel point of it all. But, yeah, you know, people on planes, and frankly, I've seen this at gates as well. I'll be honest and listen, I love my birkenstocks. I usually am traveling while I'm working. But why do you have your feet, like, up on seats? On planes? Why are your feet on the bulkhead? That's like, at one point on my way to Mexico, I felt that I was.

You take your socks off?

Yeah, I was just surrounded by feet. I on the way to Mexico, I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it. It's gross.

Yes, it's gross.

It's very gross. And I do think people lose all sense of etiquette when traveling. And planes, I do see it compress more once you enter the plane. So airports are bad. Even getting into the airport's really stressful. Traffic, blah, blah, blah. You get through, you don't know where you're going. You're running late. Sure, I can rationalize some bad behaviors inside, but once we get inside the plane, that's where I'm like, okay, pull it together, guys. We are here in this together. And something that gets on my nerves so much is there's always someone on my flights across the country that when we are taxiing, realizes that they need to go to the bathroom. All of a sudden, they've been in the airport forever. They've been sitting on this plane, and you can use the restroom as people are boarding. It's annoying, but it can happen. But we're taxiing, or we're landing and taxiing, and someone gets up, and I just. It blows my mind. I'm like, you know, this is not what you do. And same with, like, exiting a plane. People lose all sense of logic when the rush to get up, very bad.

Not just people. It's men over 50. Men over 51,000 tackle you off of a plane. And I pray to God I don't become that man. I pray to God, can I share one of my other pet peeves that's kind of internal to my friend circles, and we've had this conversation, and we're better now. Omar, you know I love you, but I've got a.

Omar goes, I love you, Omar's name.

Go on, go on.

I'll never forget, and I call this phenomenon spreadsheet vacation friends, your friends who want to spreadsheet and plan it out and map it out and plan your whole day. I'll never forget. I was in Paris with Omar years ago, one of my favorite trips. And omar and I travel very well together, but it was me, him, and our friend Andrew. And on one of the days, he was like, all right, we got to get ready for the tour. And I said, what tour? He said, oh, the Paris walking tour. I said, how long? He said, it's 5 hours long. I said, you just. You booked my day, sweetheart. So I said, darlings, I'll meet you at the bar after your tour is done. And I did. And then we worked shit out. But I think that there is a certain need in friend circles to understand what kind of pace to a day everyone wants. And to know that people don't always want the same pace of a day doesn't mean you can't vacation together. But how do you give people space to have their day?

Yeah, that's always an interesting point of, like, particularly early in a close friendship, because how you interact at home and when you're texting and everything, like, people vacation in truly different ways and you kind of don't know until you're going, but it's important, you know, and you.

Should check in with each other. It's the same as I was saying earlier, like, main character syndrome, people go through go just traveling when they get on the vacation, they're like, well, I'm here. These are the things I want. This is what I need, which is great, but you have to communicate that to others. If there's a group dynamic at play, you have to say, you know, I like to plan out every minute of my day and so that you, Sam Sanders, can be like, that's cute for you. I do not. I need to float through this day and that we both have to agree to these versions of a vacation because people are spending a lot of money to do this. So you should have what you want, but you should communicate, too.

And like, my general vibe and I know it now, and I say it to friends on a vacation or even lovers that I vacation with them. I want to have one eating activity, set, a nice dinner, nice drinks. But I want my day to start leisurely, and I want to just wander and see how I feel. That's what I want, and you got to say it.

And one quick thing that I'll just add that I saw, and I see this a lot in Mexico in particular. It's around language. My preference is if you are in a place, if you're visiting France, if you're visiting a spanish speaking country, if you end up in Indonesia, I can understand you nothing, understanding the native tongue or something, you know, I will forgive someone not just being like, sorry, I don't know, Mandarin, you know, or whatever, but, you know, if you're in places where it's like, you could know some phrases, I think it is always best to try politely to defer to the language. I don't like the phenomenon of american tourists walking everywhere, stomping all over the world, really, with this expectation that everyone should speak English and being, like, mad at particularly service industry people who don't speak the language. You know, I'm like, if you're traveling to another country, you need to understand you are a guest, and that's something you're gonna have to engage. I understand Parisians are assholes, but I.

Would argue, and what I hear from my friends that live in France, the French do expect us to say bonjour in mercy just to begin. Especially. The one thing I know that really will get you in trouble in France is if you don't have say hello in a native language when you enter their shops. Cause then they can be like, oh, you're american. Great, I'm gonna switch. Cause they can hear it. But if you don't even try, people get turned off really quickly.

I just think it's a sign of respect. I think it's healthy. I think it's good to work on learning other language, but I also think it's a sign of respect.

But I think it varies by region. Like, I have found that when I try to do full French to order even a latte, they're just like, come on, stop. Whereas in Mexico, when I try, I find in general, every person in Mexico I deal with to buy something. They're really kind and generous, and they'll help me with my language. Yeah.

But what I will say is, the underlying thing is that when we are in Mexico, I would argue Mexicans treat us black people much better than the French treat us in many ways. Well, so there is just that.

There is niceness. There is that. Oh, I do, actually, I have a very quick, nice travel story we can end on. A positive. I want to thank. He was an older gentleman. He looked like a grandpa of middle eastern descent. On my flight back to the US from Mexico, I left, actually, a very important book that I've been using for research. It was, like, highlighted, tabbed up. I left this very important book, and he actually chased me through the airport, through customs, and waited at the DFW airport till I made it to the other side of customs to not just hand me my book, but my highlighter, like this total stranger. And I was like, thank you. And he was like, you walk very fast, so there are good. You know, really? And I would say he's a great traveler. So thank you, sir.

That's good. That's very sweet. We love small acts of kindness. Will really make someone's day. I love that. Well, listeners, we're going to leave it there, but share with us. What are your big no nos when traveling? What are the things that are getting on your nerves? Send them our way@vibechecker.com. dot. And with that, we're gonna take a quick break. But don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with recommendations.

Also, don't come at me saying I hate all parents. Not what I said.

Sam, I was worried that you're gonna.

Get a lot of let go of the entitlement parents. You're not better than us.

I mean, it's the hit dog holler. Like, if you minding your business, you know, Sam's not talking about you, but, yeah, that's, that's your inbox. Not mine, though.

All right, listeners, we are back. And before we end the show, want to say again, not all parents, just the daddy ones, anywho. Cause I already know. I already see the inbox.

No, you'll be fine. Listen, the parents will be too tired to mess with you.

They're like, listen, anywho, before we close the show, as we always do, wanna end with recommendations, things keeping our vibes right this week, because I unwittingly stole your recommendation, we're gonna start with you, Zach. I'm sorry.

This is why, you know, vibe check listeners, we all don't spend every day together. Cause if we did, then it would all be the same thing. And Sam and I have spent a lot of time together, so we both read the same book. So we were like, oh, we're gonna do the same book. So I also agree color television Dansyson is great. It comes out on the 30th. We'll talk more about it later then. But to replace that recommendation, I would like to suggest for our listeners that love Charlie XCX, that they should go to YouTube and watch her boiler room set that she did about three months ago in Brooklyn before the album even dropped. And it's remixes of the entire album woven in with Benny Benassi's satisfaction, Rihanna's music. It's a really beautiful set. And you get to see her with her, her fiance, he's helping her do the set. And it was, it's just so, it's so electric. And I do sometimes love watching a really skilled dj who is a musician spin live. And Charlie is definitely that type of musician. So it's just really cool to watch because the, she's had a meteoric rise over the past few months.

But this was taped before the album was released. So you get to see, even then, as people are hearing the music for the first time, it begin to click. So it's a really.

Oh, that's exciting. Cool, too.

I love it. I was playing her this morning on a run club class. It's my mile five song. It gets me there. Syed, what's your rec this week?

I have been getting my life these last few weeks from Kendrick Lamar. I was in Mexico when the pop out live show happened, so I was just like sitting in my airbnb by myself, just kind of like living. Yeah, happy fourth and all of that. So. And the music video is so good and everything. God, also, Whitney is so beautiful. Oh, my God. I'd never seen Kendrick's partner before. Wow.

Stunning.

Wow. So I thought I would read a poem from the book Imperial Liquor by Ahmaud Jamal Johnson. It's his third book, and it's all about Compton, California in the eighties. So I was like, oh, boom. He writes a lot about music in this book. And so this poem is called do I doo wop? You have to know something about wanting to be saved by a song or have seen like a post apocalyptic wave. A whole generation of hard hearted men built for terror and self sacrifice all shatter against a single curb. My mother turned up every love song and sang as if the notes were liquid filling her lungs. I think what scares me the most is that I've never seen her drunk. And in every car, the same tune is playing as if that cry is holding the air, as if we are dying, as if we have never lived again. That poem is titled Doo wop, and it is from the book Imperial Liquor by Ahmaud Jamal Johnson. Just a really great book, all about, you know, I mean, there are poems about crips and bloods and imperial liquor is a liquor store in Compton.

It's just very rooted, you know, specifically in that place and time in the eighties.

That's perfect. Perfect for Kendrick.

I just had a thought. I want you to interview Kendrick Lamar and talk about poetry.

I would love to talk to Kendrick poetry.

Cause I find that whenever he does interviews, there's a lot of discussion about the symbolism of his work. Like, he had to do so much press when alright became a black lives matter anthem about the movement, but no one parses the words with him.

Yeah. Oh, I would love to talk about his writing process, how he does it. I mean, he particularly in not like us. It's not double, it's like triple quadruple entendre pretty consistently.

I want to diagram his sentence.

How do you do it? And design? I think it's esthetic. Yeah. Oh, I would love that. Kendrick, come on the show. Please.

Come on the show, Kendrick.

Get invited. Sam, what's your recommendation?

Y'all know I love movies. Y'all know I love going to Alamo Drafthouse. And the most fun I had last week was going to see the new movie Thelma at the theater. It is a go get em movie with a twist. The hero, the protagonist, is a 94 year old grandma named Thelma who was out to get the online fraudsters who scammed her out of $10,000. Okay, Thelma with Richard Roundtree, take an electric scooter to get the bad guy. It is delightful. It is so cute. It is so heartwarming. And before you know it, by the end, you're weeping and wanting to call your own grandma.

Set it off, Thelma.

Go see.

They set it off.

Set it the fuck off, Thelma. I love it. June Squibb is a national treasure, as is Richard Roundtree, the grandson in this film as well. Fred Heckinger. So cute. It's just a delightful movie. Go see it.

That's what Biden needs to be, need to be doing. He needs to be on a little electric chair chasing down frost. Take to the streets, Biden.

Take to the streets.

Joe.

I've heard it's such a delightful movie. I haven't seen it yet, but I will say to those of you who have been allured by the Austin Butler, the bike riders film, I saw it. It's fine. You can wait until that's on streaming. Go see Thelma and see, go see Thelma. No need to rush those bike riders.

And like thelma is good for all ages. Take your mom, take your grandma to kids. It's delightful.

I love that.

Anywho, listeners, let us know what's getting your vibe right. Let us know your recommendations. And as I said before, I didn't mean all parents don't put that in the inbox.

You're so scared, girl. Public radio fucked you up. I know you used to get some crazy. I can see the trauma in your eyes, baby. The trauma in your eyes, Sam. Scared.

Emotional memory. Anywho, email us vibechecker.com. vibechecktitcher.com. Drive this car home. We got to go.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, listeners for staying with us on this ride called Vibe Check today. If you love the show and want to support us, please make sure to follow the show on your favorite podcast listening platform. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts and leave a review and most importantly, tell a friend. Also, if you're not in LA this week but know people in LA, have friends, buy them tickets, get them to the show. We still have a few left. We'd love to see them there.

We're gonna have a dj. Y'all might even see me do the perk later on stage. Who knows?

That's worth the money. Just there. Yeah.

All right. Huge. Thank. Thank you to our producer, Chantel Holder, engineers Rich Garcia and Brendan Burns and Marcus Holm for our theme music and sound design. Special thanks to our executive producers, Nora Richie at Stitcher and Brandon Sharp from agenda. Also, shout out to Ayesha Ayub. She makes our social content and our memes and our TikTok videos, and they're great and we appreciate her. And thanks to our intern, Ella Barnes.

We want to hear from you. Don't forget, you can email us@vibechecktitcher.com and keep in touch with us on Instagram on our new page, vibe check pod, and our patreon, where for $5 a month, you can get direct access to our group chat that we've decided we're going to start calling the vibe chat.

I like this.

See what we did there? Again, that's patreon.com. vibe check. Stay tuned for another episode next week. I'm sure all this bullshit would be gone by next week. Everything's gonna be fine. It's gonna be super chill.

Yeah.

Bye.

All right, till then, goodbye, Stitcher.