Mercedes Schlapp joins the podcast this week to discuss the Cuba protests, being a conservative woman in politics, Critical Race Theory, and being a mom to five daughters.

Mercedes Schlapp is a prominent Latina national leader and a political media commentator. She is currently a Senior Fellow at the American Conservative Union Foundation and regularly hosts the online show America UnCanceled. She worked in the White House for two different presidential administrations in senior-level positions. In 2017, Mercedes was Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor for Strategic Communications, where she advised on messaging and served as one of the top communicators. During President George W. Bush’s term, she worked as the Director of Specialty Media in the White House. Before joining the White House in 2017, Mercedes was a contributor on Fox News. She frequently appears on Fox News, Fox Business, Univision, Telemundo, CNN en Español, and other networks.


TRANSCRIPT

Beverly Hallberg:

And welcome to She Thinks, a podcast where you’re allowed to think for yourself. I’m your host, Beverly Hallberg and on today’s episode, Mercedes Schlapp joins us to talk about the unfolding situation in Cuba and about being a conservative woman in politics, including being a mom to five daughters. Finally, she’ll share her perspective on critical race theory. But before we bring her on, a little bit more about Mercedes. Mercedes Schlapp is a prominent Latina national leader and a political media commentator. She is currently a senior fellow at the American Conservative Union Foundation and regularly hosts the online show, America UnCanceled on CPAC NOW. She worked in the White House for two different presidential administrations in senior-level positions. In 2017, Mercedes was assistant to the president and senior advisor for strategic communications, where she advised on messaging and served as one of the top communicators. During President George W. Bush’s term, she worked as a director of specialty media in the White House where she was a spokesperson and created communication strategies that reached out to Americans of all backgrounds. Mercedes, thank you so much for joining She Thinks today.

Mercedes Schlapp:

Thank you, Beverly. Great to be on.

Beverly Hallberg:

I want to start with the heavy stuff. I want to start with Cuba first today. This is an unfolding event. You’ve been very outspoken on this. I follow you on Twitter. I’ve seen a lot of your comments. It’s pretty amazing. This is the largest uprising we’ve seen in the 60 years of communism in that country and it’s significant. But in general, as we look back at what unfolded in July, what do you make of these protests? What led to it? And do you think that the protests alone are enough to try to turn over this government? Are they going to need a lot of support from other countries, for example, like the United States?

Mercedes Schlapp:

Yeah. Well, the first of all, thank you for letting me join you. I’m so thrilled. You all do such incredible work at the Independent Women’s Forum. We follow you all very closely and you really stand up for all women, not only in America but across the globe. But I want to just say on Cuba, as a Cuban American, this issue is very personal to me. My father was born and raised in Cuba. It’s where he met my mom and he was faced during a very difficult period of time when the Castro regime came into power and he really, he was very successful and they took everything away from him. And he ended up standing against the Cuban regime and was thrown into jail for six years. And so, for my family and for so many families, Cuban families out there, it’s been a tragic story.

To watch these, I’m going to tell you, these young Cubans coming out and protesting on the streets as young as 15 years old and the words they are saying are libertad, patria, y vida, which is freedom, homeland, and life. That is their cry. It is their cry for freedom, because they are tired of the Cuban communist regime that has taken away all of their rights. They have no rights for free speech. They obviously don’t have a Second Amendment right like we have here in the United States. They have no economic, no educational opportunities. It’s the Cuban government that benefits from any trade deals or any money that is coming in to the Cuban island. To watch these young people stand up for freedom, it’s not only inspirational for so many of us but we also know that it is tragic in a way because the Cuban people are defenseless.

They don’t have arms. They don’t have a way to overthrow this government. What we continue to see is that hundreds and hundreds of Cubans, many of them very young, have been detained by the Cuban communists and they’re doing everything they can to shut down the Cubans because obviously the way the Cuban people were communicating with each other was through the internet and they were able to expose what was happening on the island. And that has obviously been shut down by the Cuban government. It’s very much under control. It’s what happens in these authoritarian regimes and it’s why this is just so difficult to watch from afar, knowing that right now, the Biden administration is weak. They really have really no power or no say in telling the authoritarian regime to stop it and to find ways to lead to a peaceful transition and a democratic transition in Cuba.

Beverly Hallberg:

And you talked about these young revolutionaries in Cuba, speaking up, speaking against the communist regime, you talked about tragically, your father being in prison. We know prison is part of the punishment that the Cuban regime wants to give to people who do protest. What else are we talking about? At what personal peril and maybe the peril of their own families are, are people facing because they’re choosing to speak against this regime?

Mercedes Schlapp:

Well, what’s happening is, is that these Cuban thugs, these military officials are literally breaking into the homes and taking people point blank and detaining them. And in many cases, they’re beating them up. They’re torturing them. In some cases you have several of these individuals who we know have disappeared. They don’t know where they are. And so this is the tragedy of Cuba. It said, “If you stand up against the Cuban regime, you will suffer a huge price.” And I think one of the signs that really stuck with me when I was looking through social media was someone had just with the marker written on a sheet, basically saying, “If we don’t speak up, they’ll kill us. If we do speak up, they’ll kill us. So we’re going to speak up because they’re going to end up killing us anyways.”

And that is so tragic. It’s so sad because I think they’ve been silent for so long. And this next generation of Cubans have seen that their lives are so limited because it’s either you join the communist revolution and the communist regime and do what they tell you to do or become part of the military or the government because that’s your only way to really kind of half succeed, or you’re done. Because the way it works in Cuba is because they have all these different trading partners with Europe and Russia and China and Venezuela, the money goes straight to the military. It goes into the intelligence. It goes to the government. It does not reach the Cuban people. The Cuban people instead receive ration cards, where then they maybe might get a gallon of milk for a whole month if they’re lucky or a stick of butter for a whole month if they’re lucky.

These Cubans have survived with little to no food and them trying to figure out how they’re able to get the supplies they need just simply to survive and feed their families. And this is the dangers of a failed ideology. This is the dangers of communism really taking over a nation where you have this one party system and there is no free and fair elections. There is no opposition voices because those opposition voices are either thrown into jail for 20 years maximum or even more and or killed or disappeared. And that’s their mentality. That’s been the regime’s mentality for the six decades that they’ve been in power.

Beverly Hallberg:

And for how close you have been to the issue on Cuba personally close to it, we’ve had a lot of different presidential terms where different presidents have tried different things. Obama of course, made the most changes and opening up, more easing some of our sanctions on Cuba. When you look at this situation, is there anything that a US president can do? Of course we can be strong and rhetoric against the Cuban regime, which I don’t think president Biden has been. They were very slow to speak on praising the protesters. What is your suggestion on what the US can do?

Mercedes Schlapp:

Well, there’s very simple steps, quite frankly. And we really have to understand that it’s the leftist like AOC and Black Lives Matter and Bernie Sanders, they love putting the blame on the Cuban oppression, basically saying that it’s the trade embargo’s fault. They don’t even blame the Cuban communist regime. And let’s make this very clear. There is some trading happening between Cuba and the United States. But the reality is, is that Cuba trades with so many other countries, including the European Union, it’s not like they’re not getting access to resources. It’s because they have a failed government in play. We know that Biden administration, and this also stems from the Obama administration, their goal was to ease the economic sanctions on Cuba, thinking that that might be a way to change the government. And we know that that is not going to be effective. But some of the immediate steps that I think the Biden administration needs to take is to work with these companies, for the Cuban people to gain access to the internet.

They’ve been shut down; obviously we’re not getting as much information out of Cuba. The simple steps of simply ensuring that we can gain internet access for the Cuban people, I think is critical. I also think that the Biden administration needs to work with other countries, with the allies, to mount an international effort to push for a peaceful democratic transition. Basically admit that this is a failed government, that it is time for change, that people are demanding change in that government and that they need to listen to the Cuban people. Being able to work with our allies and deal with this issue and also engaging, for example, the OAS, the Organization of American States, as well as the United Nations Security Council to condemn what Cuba’s doing to the Cuban people. All of these, I think are important steps for the Biden administration to take. Thus far, we’ve seen little action. I really think that the Biden administration is hoping that this just kind of just calms down in Cuba and that they don’t have to deal with what’s happening 90 miles from our shores.

Beverly Hallberg:

Yeah. And I think what you’ve said about the internet is so important, getting information out for people to see what is actually taking place, being able to communicate. That is always ground zero for people understanding what freedom looks like and maybe fighting for it on their own. And I want to pick up on that because you did work as communications director and strategist, you’ve worked for two different presidential administrations in the area of communication. And I wanted to just get your take on how the current press secretary is doing Jen Psaki. Just your thoughts on her approach to the press and her recent statement. And were you surprised by this, her recent statement in the past few weeks when she said that the administration wants to flag information for Twitter that is misinformation. How do you think she’s doing? And what did you make of that statement?

Mercedes Schlapp:

Well, first of all, I would say that the press secretary job is probably one of the hardest jobs in the administration but she has it a lot easier than the Trump press secretaries, that is for sure. The press barely, barely pushes back on her. Barely has any tough follow up questions. She kind of has it easy, quite frankly. I think she really, I think Jen Psaki has had a real difficult time in terms of explaining some of these positions. And let’s take the one that you just mentioned where it’s about Facebook and coordinating with Facebook on ensuring that there’s no misinformation on this issue of COVID. And so this creates a very big problem and it’s why she actually, I think gave a lot of evidence for the lawsuit that American Conservative Union, along with President Trump and several other groups filed in regards to pushing back on big tech and censorship, which is, we don’t want a big tech company to be coordinating with the government to figure out what is misinformation and what’s not misinformation.

And so that’s, I think a critical part here. And it makes Americans very nervous when it is the government and when it is the oligarch of the big tech company, making these decisions of what is correct information, what is not correct information. We’ve seen this, for example, with the Wuhan lab leak theory, which Facebook banned for quite some time saying, “This is misinformation.” And then all of a sudden we come to realize after some intelligence reports that actually it could be a Wuhan lab leak theory. They’ve done this time and time again.

We saw this with the Hunter Biden story where the New York Post, they break the story on Hunter Biden having access to these foreign clients and the fact that there was a possibility of Joe Biden being involved and benefiting from these interactions between Hunter Biden and these sworn entities and yet Facebook and Twitter and everybody else banned New York Post and said, “This is not accurate.” And now, as we’ve learned more and more information on Hunter Biden, we’re seeing these emails, there’s a real story there.

It just shows how powerful these companies have become. And it’s a big problem when our own government and our own press secretary is basically making the determination that if you’re a doctor and you don’t agree with Dr. Fauci on certain issues and you actually have questions or if you’re an average American, and you’re like, I am very concerned about this particular vaccine because I’m worried about some of the repercussions of taking it, that we should be allowed to voice our opinions, even if they’re different from the CDC, even if they’re different from the Biden White House. And so I think it’s a very dangerous road that the administration is taking in terms of categorizing this information.

Beverly Hallberg:

And you were talking about the way that the press interacts with the current press secretary, Jen Psaki. And I think it’s dramatically different than how Sarah Huckabee Sanders was treated, how Kayleigh McEnany was treated. And I just wanted to get your perspective on being a conservative woman in politics. We even saw recently that Jill Biden was featured on the cover of Vogue with a title, “A first Lady for All of Us”, yet Melania Trump wasn’t on the cover of Vogue, even though she is a model. And so how do conservative women handle the fact that they are treated so differently by the press, by the entertainment, by Hollywood? How have you navigated this?

Mercedes Schlapp:

Well, I got to tell you, it’s through a lot of prayer. I really believe that if I wouldn’t center my life in my faith and in my family, I don’t know how I could get through so many of these attacks that I have had my husband and my family have had, and friends of mine who are conservative women. And it is a huge double standard of what we see out there in how conservative women are treated because it’s not just about well, we don’t agree with her. Then it’s like, we got to call her a bunch of names. And then, they go after every single aspect of your life. And I find that to be unfortunate. I do find that the left can be so hateful and they really try to destroy you as an individual.

And I think every day you got to wake up and say, “What am I doing today to make sure that I do the right thing and that I stand up for my faith and I stand up for my beliefs and not back down?” And I think that’s important. I think for conservative women, we need to speak boldly. We need to know that these liberal women do not represent our values. And there’s many more of us than they think. They really think they have a huge hold on all these women. And I’m like, no you don’t. And I think the more we’re able to share our message, the more we’re able to talk about the facts, I think the more we can really make a difference out there.

And I think for the women who worked in the Trump administration, I think it’s been harder than for example, when I worked in the Bush administration because of the Trump derangement syndrome and the mere fact that if you’re in any way connected to the Trump administration, the Democrats and the leftist media will do everything they can to disqualify you, to call you an extremist, to say, “How dare you work for that man.” And I always have to push back and say, “His policies were the right policies for America. He made America stronger. He made America safer.” More Americans had educational opportunities, more Americans had economic opportunities. He stood up for our pro-life values. He was probably one of the most conservative presidents that we’ve had in our lifetime. You might not like his tone. You might not like what he says, I get it. You might not like his Tweets, but he did stand strong for our First Amendment, our Second Amendment. He stood strong to ensure that America remained stronger and more free and those are the values that I believe in.

Beverly Hallberg:

And you’re also a mom to five beautiful girls, you and your husband and him, a dad of course, to these girls. And how have you helped them think through this lens of being conservative? Obviously they know that their parents are in the spotlight and they receive criticism, that you work for the Trump administration. How did you help them navigate the criticism that the family itself received and encourage them to speak up, even if their opinions may not be viewed as popular by some in our country?

Mercedes Schlapp:

Right. Well, first of all, the girls always, I think they, not that they love their dad more, but there’s something about the girls and their father, it’s the sweetest thing ever. Their dad can do no wrong. I’m kind of like, it’s different. But my girls, they’re such huge blessings. I have three teenagers and then two, one in middle school and then one in elementary school. And they really are amazing. Thank God for them because you can have a tough day at work, you can have plenty of negative articles come out on you and they just bring such a huge smile on your face because you realize that the reason why you’re doing what you’re doing every day is for them. It’s for the next generation, because Ronald Reagan said this all the time, which was, “We’re only a generation away from losing our freedom.”

And so if we can’t fight for our freedoms now, that’s going to impact them. And to watch right now, parents desperately trying to protect their children for being indoctrinated from radical ideology, whether it be socialism, communism, critical race theory, the transgender policies, the list goes on and on and they’re living in this chaotic world. And it’s important for these children to realize that their parents are doing everything they can to say, “No, we got to stop this. This is not healthy for America. It’s not healthy for American families.” And I got to tell you, especially my oldest girls, they’ve developed very tough skin. They really have. I remember that it was a bad article that came out and my oldest looked at me and she’s like, “Mom, toughen up. You got to toughen up. Come on, get over it.”

And I think it’s because they’ve realized that they get it, they get that there’s going to be people that are going to hate us, that’s going to hate them. But they realize that there’s also that, with love and with faith and knowing that you’re doing God’s work, that we’re going to be okay, that we’re going to get through this together as a family. I’ll tell you one quick story of my daughter, her freshman year of high school, they did this thing called diversity day. And she goes to an all Catholic girls school but it’s planned by the liberal group in their school. And so they did a Second Amendment argument and I would always be in the minivan driving around and you’d appreciate this Beverly too because you do TV. Fox needed talking points so I’m like, “Viana, can you write talking points up on Second Amendment?”

She’s writing them up, sending it to the producer and so they asked her a question to all those kids. It’s about 50 kids, 50 faculty. And they’re like, “If you think that the Second Amendment needs to be rewritten, stand over to the left. If you think that it doesn’t need to be rewritten, stand over to the right.” And my daughter was the only person standing on the right.

Beverly Hallberg:

Wow.

Mercedes Schlapp:

Alone and as a freshman. And she was completely horrified to say the least, but she made her case and look, it was very tough for her but sometimes you’re the only one standing alone. But it’s like as those brave girls did on the U.S. soccer team, those three girls that stood up and literally put their hand over their heart to hear the national anthem, those are the strong people. Those are the leaders of tomorrow. When you teach them and give them facts and say, “This is what you need to stand for.” We cannot allow these socialists and communists to come over, indoctrinate our kids and change America to the worse. We have to save this country. And it’s not only going to fall in our hands, but it’s going to fall in the hands of the next generation.

Beverly Hallberg:

And final question for you on that is related to critical race theory and the fact that we have seen so many parents stand up and speak up at school board meetings and even children’s speaking at meetings, it seems that there is a turning of the tide where people are realizing, I have to say something. What encouragement would you give to a parent out there who maybe first of all, is worried that their child isn’t going to be supportive if they speak up? Or just to a parent out there who is like, I’ve never used my voice before in this way and I’m terrified. From a strategic communication standpoint, what would you say to them?

Mercedes Schlapp:

Well, first of all, they’re heroes. This is an organic movement that we’re seeing happen, where parents are set up and they have made a choice that they are going to speak up. And I think it starts there. I think that parents need to realize that their voices matter. That they are the ones in charge of their children’s education. That they are the ones that need to keep telling the truth, which is that we cannot push this theory of the white people are the oppressors and the Blacks are oppressed and the white people have to pay the price. And it’s so unhealthy. It’s dividing us. And so, here’s the deal. For these parents, go to the school board meetings, show up, give comments, don’t be afraid, go to the media, tell your story. It’s the only way we can win our country back and push back on these school boards.

And I know in Loudoun County, they are recalling several of these school board members, they’re signing petitions. It really has been remarkable. It shows the power of the people and the power of parents saying, “We’ve had enough with these leftist teachers’ unions trying to destroy our children’s education.” We’re lagging behind as a country in math and science. With the pandemic, our children have suffered more in terms of mental health issues and in developmental delays. That should be the priority, not trying to divide us by race and that would be my message to these parents.

Beverly Hallberg:

Well, we thank you so much for that message. And for you, you’re using your voice on such a large platform. Mercedes Schlapp, we thank you so much for joining us on She Thinks today.

Mercedes Schlapp:

Oh, thank you so much for having me.

Beverly Hallberg:

And thank you for joining us. Before you go, Independent Women’s Forum does want you to know that we rely on the generosity of supporters like you and investment in IWF fuels our efforts to enhance freedom, opportunity and wellbeing for all Americans. Please consider making a small donation to IWF by visiting iwf.org/donate. That is iwf.org/donate. And last, if you enjoyed this episode of She Thinks, do leave us a rating or review on iTunes. It does help. Also, we’d love it if you shared this episode and let your friends know where they can find more She Thinks episodes. From all of us here at Independent Women’s Forum, thanks for listening.