Alexandra Pelosi Ventures into 'Trump Country' for New Documentary
*By Max Godnick*
Attending a Trump rally can be daunting for any self-proclaimed liberal ー even more so if your last name is Pelosi.
But an experience with her political opposites left Alexandra Pelosi, the documentarian and youngest daughter of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, feeling hopeful.
"We all need to burst out of our own bubbles and see what the other people are thinking," Pelosi said Monday in an interview on Cheddar.
Pelosi directed, produced, and shot the entire process for her new documentary "Outside the Bubble: On the Road With Alexandra Pelosi," that follows the filmmaker and her family as they leave the confines of the Manhattan echo chamber and enter the heart of Trump country.
The trip brought her to what she called "the fault lines of cultural divide" including Charlottesville, Va., the U.S.-Mexico border, and a Pennsylvania coal mine.
"My takeaway was, it's hard to hate up close," Pelosi said of making the film.
Despite Pelosi's famous last name, which she described as a "curse word," many of her interview subjects invited her to dinner, opened their homes for the night, and ended their conversations with a "big hug."
While she tackled immigration, the environment, and the #MeToo movement, among other topics in the film, Pelosi said she was struck by most Americans' fixations on a single issue: jobs.
"It's easy to sit here and say global warming is the most important issue in the world," she said. "If you don't have food to feed your family, global warming is not the most important issue."
Pelosi is particularly concerned about the importance of having a "balanced media diet."
She banned MSNBC and CNN from her household in an effort to discourage her kids from becoming "pod people."
By watching and reading a more diverse slate of news and opinions, Pelosi thinks Americans will grow smarter and more accepting of each other's differences.
"We can't just read our New Yorkers and our New York Times and think we're fully-educated people because we're not," she said.
"Outside the Bubble: On the Road With Alexandra Pelosi" debuts Monday on HBO.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/alexandra-pelosi-steps-outside-the-bubble-in-her-new-documentary).
Big Apple workers who deliver for food apps like Doordash and Grubhub will now receive a number of legal protections provided through a package of new regulations that have started going into effect. These updated rules include more control over their deliveries, pay and tip transparency, a higher minimum pay rate, and access to restaurant bathrooms during the workday. New York City Comptroller Brad Lander joined Cheddar to elaborate on the regulations and how the platform holders reacted. "I have to say it's a mixed bag," he said. "Grubhub actually welcomed the legislation and said they recognize they need to do better by their deliveristas, but DoorDash, unfortunately, has actually been pushing back against the legislation."
Thomas Hoenig, Former CEO of Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and currently Distinguished Senior Fellow with the Mercatus Center, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says the Fed's decision was no surprise, but believes the Fed is behind the curve on raising rates.
Legal cannabis businesses are having a hard time surviving in California with the high cost of doing business and a still-thriving illicit market. In response, nonprofit Supernova Women, founded by women of color, is advocating on behalf of Black and brown shareholders in the cannabis industry. Amber Senter, co-founder, executive director, and chairman of the organization, spoke with Cheddar News about calling for changes in the Golden State's taxation system for legal marijuana. "We're really leaning on the legislators now to support the industry and make sure that this industry, in particular craft cannabis, can survive," said Senter.
After being among the hardest-hit industries by the pandemic, restaurants are still having a hard time staying afloat, with owners claiming that business is worse now due to closures from staff shortages and customer decline than it was three months ago. Mike Whatley, vice president of state affairs and grassroots advocacy for the National Restaurant Association, spoke to Cheddar News about how the sector is reaching out to lawmakers for help. "Working with Senators Wicker, Sinema, and a whole host of bipartisan leaders, we're trying to get the Restaurant Revitalization Fund replenished," Whatley said.
Communities of color are disproportionately affected by climate change and continuously feel the impacts. Mark Magaña, founding president and CEO of Green Latinos joined All Hands to discuss.
The memoir, "COMPROMISED: Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump", tells a familiar story from a bit of a different source: Peter Strzok himself, former FBI Counterintelligence Agents and Agency Veteran who spent most of his very long career investigating some of the most controversial inquiries, most notably in recent American history. Those inquiries were Hillary Clinton's email to even Trump Russia investigations. Former FBI Agent and Author of "Compromised" Peter Strzok, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
President Biden's first year did not come to the close that he had hoped after last night's Senate vote blocked the voting rights bill, a priority that Biden has promoted since his inauguration. Joining us to discuss the voting rights bill, and many others passing through congress is congresswoman Lori Trahan, representing Massachusett's 3rd district.
