America’s Unaffordability Crisis, and ICE Protests (with Jelani Cobb)

Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams

Crooked Media

Society & Culture

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 20 January 2026

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, Stacey begins by offering a response to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ ridiculous assertion that Americans could save money if only they limited their dinners to a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, and a corn tortilla. Then she speaks to Jelani Cobb, Dean of the Columbia Journalism School and Author of “Three or More Is A Riot” to talk about what historic parallels can teach us about authoritarianism and activism in this moment. As protests grow in response to violent ICE encounters in Minnesota and other parts of the country, history offers insight into what ordinary Americans have done to stand up for each other, and offers a hopeful blueprint for our future. Learn & Do More: Be Curious: Pick up a copy of Jelani Cobb’s book “Three Or More Is A Riot”. Solve Problems: A group of cyclists known as CyclingXSolidarity are riding across Chicago, buying out food carts from vendors who may be undocumented, so the workers can stay home without losing wages. And they are distributing the food they purchase to help those in need across the city. Check them out at cyclingxsolidarity.com to support them, and consider taking similar action in your own communities. Do Good: Last Tuesday, the Supreme Court held oral arguments on the constitutionality of state bans on transgender women and girls participating in sports that align with their gender identity. Volunteer with and donate to organizations like The Trevor Project at thetrevorproject.org to support LGBTQ+ youth at this difficult time.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams is brought to you by Built. It's 2026, and if you're still paying rent without Built, resolve to make a change.
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1:02.5	Earn rewards and get something back, wherever you live.
1:06.3	Join the loyalty program for renters at joinbilt.com slash assembly. That's j-o-in-b-l-t.com
1:15.1	slash assembly. Make sure you use our URL so they know we sent you.
1:23.6	Welcome to Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams from Crooked Media.
1:31.6	I'm your host, Stacey Abrams.
1:34.1	Before we get to our guests, I'd like to talk about affordability.
1:37.5	But to give context, I want to introduce a clip of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rawlins
1:43.5	in an interview on News Nation.
1:46.4	I think the question you're asking, and it's a really important one, is while we're asking
1:51.4	Americans to reconsider what they're eating, are we actually asking Americans, especially
1:55.9	those who are living on the margins? Are we asking them to spend more on their diet? And the
1:59.7	answer to that is no.
2:01.2	We've run over a thousand simulations. It can cost around $3 a meal for a piece of chicken,
2:08.2	a piece of broccoli, you know, corn tortilla, and one other thing. And so there is a way to do this
	...

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