Modern Wisdom - #870 - Cenk Uygur - How The Left Continues To Eat Itself

Episode Date: November 28, 2024

Cenk Uygur is a political commentator, former attorney and founder of The Young Turks,. The dust has settled after the US election, so what is the post-mortem? As the founder of the biggest Left-leaning show in the world, why does Cenk have so many problems with the way the Left is constructed right now, and how can they improve? Expect to learn if Joe Rogan is more credible than The View, if Elon will give Cenk the resources to run the Pentagon’s budget, whether it's possible for the left to start working collaboratively with Republicans, if the election was more of a right wing victory or a left wing loss, how big of a deal wokeism was in turning the tides of the election and much more… Sponsors: See discounts for all the products I use and recommend: https://chriswillx.com/deals Get up to $50 off the RP Hypertrophy App at https://rpstrength.com/modernwisdom (use code MODERNWISDOM) Get the Whoop 4.0 for free and a 12-month membership for just $199 at https://join.whoop.com/modernwisdom Get a 20% discount & free shipping on The Chairman Pro at https://manscaped.com/modernwisdom (use code MODERNWISDOM20) Extra Stuff: Get my free reading list of 100 books to read before you die: https://chriswillx.com/books Try my productivity energy drink Neutonic: https://neutonic.com/modernwisdom Episodes You Might Enjoy: #577 - David Goggins - This Is How To Master Your Life: https://tinyurl.com/43hv6y59 #712 - Dr Jordan Peterson - How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs: https://tinyurl.com/2rtz7avf #700 - Dr Andrew Huberman - The Secret Tools To Hack Your Brain: https://tinyurl.com/3ccn5vkp - Get In Touch: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/modernwisdompodcast Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello everybody, welcome back to the show. My guest today is Cenk Yuga. He's a political commentator, former attorney and founder of the Young Turks. The dust has settled after the US election, so what is the post-mortem as the founder of the biggest left-leaning show in the world? Why does Cenk have so many problems with the way that the left is constructed right now and how can they improve? Expect to learn if Joe Rogan is more credible than The View, if Elon will give Chank the resources to run the Pentagon's budget, whether it's possible for the left

to start working collaboratively with Republicans, if the election was more of a right-wing victory or a left-wing loss, how big of a deal wokeism was in turning the tides of the election, and much more. This episode is brought to you by the RP hypertrophy app. This app has made a huge impact on my gains and my enjoyment in the gym over the last year.

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This episode is brought to you by Manscaped. If you're still using an old face shaver from three Christmases ago, please join us in the modern world. Manscaped brand new Chairman Pro brings a professional shave directly to your home. It comes with two interchangeable skin safe blade heads, whether you want to go completely clean or leave some stubble. Plus both heads are designed to help reduce razor burn and irritation. So your skin feels smooth and comfortable after every shave.

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He believes in dragons. Oh, well, Joey Behar, uh, believed that Joe Biden was, um, young and dynamic, uh, that he had no cognitive difficulties at all. And that, uh, he was the best possible candidate for the Democrats. I can't find anything less credible than that. Why are these people so out of touch? Like, is it, is it purposeful or is it ignorance? Oh, it's definitely ignorance.

And so Chris, this is really interesting because I, um, I am bilingual. Uh, I speak both populist and establishment and And that's because I worked at MSNBC as a host. I worked at Current TV. I went to some of the same schools that these folks went to. And so I mainly come from their world, but I'm a natural born populist. And so they've rejected me 2,000 times over before I even got to the right wing. Right. And so, and, but I know how they think and they're in their own bubble. Everybody's in their own bubble.

And so in their bubble, they're right about everything and their objective, right. And they truly believe that. Right. And so anyone who disagrees with them, they think is not objective and is to be dismissed and derided and insulted, etc. And so they have no idea how clueless they are. And they're not coming at it from bad intent, which a lot of people won't believe, right? But they actually, they genuinely believe

they have the best of intent. And if you just listen to the establishment one more time, boy, then they'll really deliver, right? And if you cheer for them louder, they'll really deliver. And I swear to God, they genuinely believe it. Are they well-read? Because it seems to me, in order to be able to have that level of self-belief, you need to really know what you're talking about. And I'm yet to see much evidence that that's the case. No, that's the other amazing part. They're actually really well educated, really well read, but since the

bubbles are so strong and thick, they still, it's like asking a fish, how's the water and the fish says what water, right? So what they don't understand, this is the crux of what they don't understand. Is that the establishment is built to preserve the status of the top 10%. And then most importantly, the top 1% and then the top 0.1%. Right. And since it's built on that and almost all the people in the establishment are at a minimum in the top 10%, at least in terms of socioeconomic status.

And they grew up, most of them, not all of them, but most of them grew up in that context. When Joe Biden provides about five to 10% or Barack Obama provides five to 10% change, they think, Oh my God, this is amazing. My life was already great. And these saints have given me 5% extra positive change in their minds, right? Or 10% positive change. How could anyone complain? You guys are nuts.

What I'm trying to get them to see is no brothers and sisters, but for the rest of the country, 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, 5% change ain't gonna get it done. They need 50 to a hundred percent change and you're not getting it because you just don't talk to folks like that. And you're not getting it because you just don't talk to folks like that. And you're not in that context. And when I say that they think I'm the biggest radical ever.

And, and, and by the way, now, of course, the new theory is that's it. I've done the pivot and I'm a right winger and I've abandoned all my policies and, and I, and then, you know, et cetera, et cetera. No, I've been saying the same thing for 20 straight years. Oh, you're not taking a hard turn to the right. No, not at all. So, and here's another thing. I talked about this on, on Lex's show and, and, and I talk about it in my book,

justice coming and, and whenever we can have an actual conversation, I want people to get this through their heads. I just wrote a piece right before the election for Newsweek about it. There's two political spectrums. There's the left-right spectrum, but there's the one that nobody talks about, the populist versus establishment spectrum. So I am populist left.

So you will see me have left-wing positions on many, many issues, the great majority of issues. But I also have a populist position. So that's what discombobulates them. They're like, no, if you're on the left, you have to be pro-establishment. I'm like, no, that doesn't make any sense at all. The left historically was not pro-establishment. You guys turned them that into pro-establishment through all the

corporate donations, et cetera, et cetera. So that's why people are confused. Yeah. What that pivot towards defending the people who have the most money, defending the people that have the most power, defending the people who are the most educated seems to be turning the entire bar stool upside down compared with what traditionally were the values of the left, right? Working class on class on class lines, not based on really that much else.

Uh, is it salvageable? Is it possible to try and bring this back around? Yeah, a hundred percent. So look, um, first of all, Bernie almost won in 2016 and 2020. I mean, he lost by, you know, the skin of his teeth. And that's only after the entire establishment, uh, coalesced and ganged up on him. And not just the politicians rallying around Joe Biden in 2020, but all of mainstream media, most importantly, MSNBC.

They all said, oh, Bernie's a Nazi. He's going to execute people in Central Park, et cetera, et cetera, which, oh, who else did they call a Nazi? Oh right. Donald Trump. So, and so anytime anybody's an outsider, now I have massive problems with Donald Trump and, and I think that what he did in 2020 was he call a Nazi? Oh right. Donald Trump. So, and so anytime anybody's an announcer, a sounder. Now I have massive problems with Donald Trump. And, and I think that what he did in 2020 was unacceptable and un-American.

So we can go back if you want to discuss and debate that, but he is trying to be a populist in his own way. I think it's a little fake. We can again, debate and discuss that, but at least he's going in that direction. And Bernie is clearly a populist. And that is why the establishment hates both of them. But remember they barely beat Bernie two times. So it won't be Bernie again.

He's too old. But next time around, if we have an actual populist in the Democratic primary, we can recapture the party in the way that Trump has captured the Republican party. And if we don't, we're doomed. That establishment can't win elections. They're too fake. They're too phony. They serve the donor class too much.

They're too elite and, and nobody's interested in that bullshit. You asked Elon Musk to put you in charge of cutting the Pentagon. How'd that go? Uh, it's official. I'm now running the entire Pentagon. Cause that's how it works. Uh, it's official. I'm now running the entire panic. Cause that's how it works. Uh, no, look, I thought it went great.

And, but the left doesn't think it went great. So let, let me explain. Uh, so Elon says I want to cut 2 trillion from the, from the budget. In reality, there isn't 2 trillion to cut. Uh, all discretionary spending is only 1.7 trillion, but there is one place where you could have massive savings and that's the Pentagon and that's because they never pass an audit. This is their seventh straight audit that they failed. And, uh, they say that they generally can't account for half the money,

which is over $400 billion. So I said, uh, on X, Hey, Elon, put me in charge of the Pentagon. I'll cut 400 billion overnight. And Hey, all of a sudden you're 20% of the way home to your goal. Right. And he said, give me suggestions. So let's pause there. Um, no democratic leader has ever asked me for suggestions, even though I run

the largest left wing media network in the country. They've never asked why. Oh, populist. What would a populist know? He doesn't even support the donors. Terrible. We're never going to ask him. Right. So Elon asked already that's progress.

That's already better than I was what I was getting from the other side. And so then the left goes, no, don't say that. Okay. But what do you want me to do? Lie? Do you want me to tell you that Kamala Harris and Joe Biden call me every other day, like, oh, we're really interested in what populists left thinks. Oh, we're super interested in what our base wants.

They're not at all interested in what their base wants. They pretty much hate what their base wants. So, so that's great. And then I, and then he's that I gave him a suggestion, which was, Hey, listen, if you want to cut a, in a real way, you'd have to of course do it line by line. So if you bring me in and, and we both went to Wharton, we both run businesses. His are of course much larger, but Hey, I run a top 10 media network in the country. So both of us know how we can go line by line and cut things that are

actually wasteful, inefficient. And by the way, some of it is just corruption. work in the country. So both of us know how we can go line by line and cut things that are actually wasteful, inefficient. And by the way, some of it is just corruption, just massive pork barrel spending. Okay. But for now I can give you a suggestion of stop having the generals work for defense contractors. Cause the minute they retire, they go work for the military industrial complex. And since they're going to get millions of dollars from those guys, what do they do before they retire? They give those same companies billions of dollars, sometimes hundreds of billions of dollars in contracts.

That's an obvious, massive conflict of interest that any business person would understand anyone with common sense would understand. And so then Don Jr. Trump jumped in and he said, that's a good idea. We're already discussing it. Great. Okay. So,

so you've got Elon certifying and you've got the son of Trump stepping in as well. That's right. And then, and then Donald Trump Jr. came back in and said, again, Hey, this is just common sense. And we should be going in that direction. So now if the left wants to complain. If now it's if they do it, cause they haven't done it yet. If Elon and Trump and et cetera, cut the Pentagon or, and, or do a great rule

about conflict of interest for the generals that the left has wanted for the last 20, 30, 40, 50 years, if they complain, oh, they did the thing we wanted. I guys, then I can't help. Right. Yeah. Does this can't take the win? I can't help. Does this sense a lot of the time that purity is more important than victory?

Oh, a hundred percent. And unfortunately that's one of the defining hallmarks of the modern left that I'm rebelling against. And so w w and look, I know. So both sides, again, misunderstand each other. And again, I'm bilingual. I used to be a Republican. I'm a progressive populist.

I've been at in both camps. I understand both camps and I speak both their languages, but they do not speak each other's language. So the left thinks, Oh, it's all a trick. Right. And there's, there's good, valid reasons for thinking that. Okay. Uh, but they think, oh, everyone on the right is a fraud and that is not true.

And they think, okay, if the minute you agree with them, they're not going to actually do that thing instead. They're going to use it to cut Medicare, Medicaid, all these other programs that we care about, and they're never going to actually do the thing. Instead, they're going to use it to cut Medicare, Medicaid, all these other programs that we care about, and they're never going to actually do the thing that they set. Now, maybe that's true. And if that's true, well, okay, then I'll call them out on it. Problem solved.

Right. It's not like I'm going to go, oh, okay, they promised it. So I will let them cut all the programs that I care about and I will not say anything. No, man, if anyone hasn't learned yet, I am uncontrollable. Okay. So you're not going to control me from the left or the right, the democratic party or the Republican party.

So if they do stuff I don't agree with, I'm going to not only call it out, probably going to yell at them. Right. But if they say yes, and then they do it, I am going, unlike everyone on the left, I'm going to take the fucking win. Right. I don't think that part is complicated at all. You've been talking a lot about something that I've been fascinated

around the last few years, which is the intolerance of dissent from within the left, this hyper sensitivity around that. How frustrating is that to try and navigate? Yeah, but okay, so that is super frustrating and there's an extra layer of it for me, but I also wanna talk about the right a little bit too in a second. So on the left, there's the thesis that

if you agree with the right, even 1%, they will abuse it. So never agree with that. Um, okay. Yeah, but that's going to lead to very unproductive conversations. Right. Uh, and then there's a, also a thesis of if you're not at the most extreme maximalist position, your, your strategy is wrong. We should always defend the craziest shit our side has ever

come up with in human history. I don't agree. I think that's a terrible strategy and that's how we wound up in defund the police. That's how we found out the wound up with transgender undocumented immigrants getting free surgery, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like you, I told them that is 98% of Americans are not going to be in favor of that. You're just flat out wrong. Like, and so if you tell someone on the left, they're wrong.

They get so hurt by that. They, there's, they just, they cannot stomach that. And, and one thing I'll give the right credit for is there's way more debate. Right. I think in the old days, as in like first Trump term, there was no debate. Trump, daddy Trump says, there was no debate. Trump, daddy Trump says it. Everyone does it period, period.

Okay. And the right wing also has this massive intolerance, right? Intolerance for anyone on the left's opinion, uh, generally speaking, although now we're building some bridges, but also intolerance for I don't like that lifestyle. So that lifestyle is bad. Hey, brothers and sisters, do you did you mean freedom? Or do you not mean freedom? If you if you mean freedom, let anybody do their any fucking lifestyle they like what is it of your business? Right? So but again, I think these are times are different. I think Trump 2.0 and I and I

might be naive and I might be too hopeful And I grant that to my friends on the left But I sense an actual right-wing populist movement that might even push back against Trump So and I think the first place that push backs probably come is Israel, but we'll see maybe I'm wrong Maybe I'm a sucker and maybe you guys will all just say daddy. I don't mean you I mean right-wing populists We'll just go no daddy Trump daddy Trump, you Chris. I mean, right wing populists will just go, no daddy Trump, daddy Trump, whatever daddy Trump says we want. Right.

We'll see. We'll find out. Do you think that you're closer to right wing populists or left wing establishment people? It depends on how you would define it. Right. Because if I say right wing populists, people will then say, well, right-wing populists, some right-wing populists believe X, Y, and Z.

And those X, Y, and Z positions are awful. And I would never agree to them. Right. Um, but if I say, uh, left-wing establishment, they believe a whole bunch of kinds of positions that I don't agree with. Right. So, and what I want everybody to understand is that, you know, a left-wing establishment, they believe a whole bunch of that I don't agree with. Right. So, and what I want everybody to understand both on the left and the right is maybe

we are individual human beings and we are not born with an ideology that fits pre-existing buckets. So there's this bucket of left-wing ideology and a bucket of right-wing ideology. And those are all on different issues, foreign policy, domestic policy, spending, social issues, et cetera. And they say, no, this was set 100 years ago, 200 years ago, 20 years ago.

You have to agree with every position on the left or every position on the right. Why? My number one question to Americans is why? why do I have to agree to a preset ideology? Why don't I say, Hey, you know what? I like that on the left. I like that on the right.

I like that in the middle. And that's because I'm a human being. I'm an individual. I'm an American. And so stop listening to your leaders telling you what you have to believe. And especially for right-wing populists that, that think and often do, but think that they cherish freedom. If you do brothers and sisters, you have to prove it, not just by

cherishing your own freedom, but by cherishing other people's freedoms too. It's. It's interesting to think about the, the way that the incentives align, you know, I had Anna on the show a couple of weeks ago, really interesting conversation for her too. And I asked her the question, can you see the incentives and the dynamics that cause people to go from left to right? Because I don't see very many people going from right to left. And I think that it's because of this sort of puritanical purity nature that there wouldn't, you wouldn't be accepted with open arms. And it does seem like until the left is prepared to let go of this incredibly

high bar, the maxim, maximizing, uh, number that you said it can't be 98% can't be 99% must be 100% agreement with absolutely everything that the party line is saying that you have to agree with, whereas the rights like, yeah, you're most of the way there. Come on over. So yeah, I mean, it, it just seems so obvious to me about why you get this slide to the right. I mean, even you talking to Donald Trump, Jr. talking to Elon Musk, like that doesn't happen in reverse.

It doesn't happen the other way round. Oh, well, that's definitely true. I mean, I, I, because as you were saying, I was laughing inside at the idea of Kamala Harris saying to Charlie Kirk, Oh, that's an interesting idea. What other suggestions do you have Charlie? Come on. That's never ever, ever going to happen. I mean, that's never, she never say that to me, let alone Charlie Kirk, right.

Let alone anyone on the right. And so, and that's because again, that going to happen. I mean, that's never, she's never going to say that to me, let alone Charlie Kirk, right, let alone anyone on the right. And so, and that's because again, that's not the left, right thing. That's the populist establishment thing. Cause the people in the establishment think that the people in that are populists are dirt and they think that they're not, they're not in the elites. Why would I listen to them? Right. So like they, they find the idea.

Uneducated masses. Yeah. And they find the idea of taking advice from us just laughable. You know, you just laughed out loud at the, at their intransigence and they would, they would laugh at the idea. What would we learn from Charlie Kirk or Jake? He'd laugh and laugh and laugh. And that's why sometimes I'll get into a conversation with somebody

who's an establishment Democrat and they're talking down at me. Like almost every time I've, I've barely ever had a conversation with anyone who's an establishment Democrat where they weren't doing this, looking down their nose at me the entire time, right? Like who the fuck do you think? It's a highly, it's a highly unlikable party. It's a highly unlikable party. doing this, looking down their nose at me the entire time. Right? Like who the fuck do you think you are? It's a highly, it's a highly unlikable party. It's a highly unlikable group to be around.

Yeah. So look, from their perspective, they would say, well, how about you guys? You guys keep attacking Muslims and transgender people and gay people and black people, et cetera, from their point of view. I know I know a lot of the right wing would disagree, right? people, etc. From their point of view, I know a lot of the right wing would disagree, right? But as someone who is as close to neutral as it gets in terms of at least the populist then, no, the right wing does attack those people. And maybe not to the degree that the view says and maybe not in the same way that the view says, but are there attacks? Are there actual bills passed, etc.? Yes,

definitely. Okay. So both sides have reasons to distrust each other. But, but what I'm saying about the establishment Democrats is that they don't just distrust the right. They distrust populists that are on their side too, because they're elitist by nature. And by the way, that also is true of Republicans. And, but the, but why I give the populace right credit is because they led a rebellion and a successful rebellion against establishment Republicans.

So if I tell a Democrat, Mitch McConnell is a piece of shit who took a billion dollars from corporate donors and does anything a corporate donor asked him to do, they'll say, oh, of course that's true. Yeah, Mitch McConnell is the worst. If I say Nancy Pelosi did the same thing, they'll like, Oh, how dare you. She's an angel. When she took the same billion dollars, she did it for our wellbeing.

I'm like, did she, did she? Cause I can show you all of our staffers that worked at health insurance companies and drug companies. And then all of a sudden we can't negotiate drug prices and all, you know, and I can go on and on and on. Right. But on the other hand, so now when I be in the old past, when I talked to Republicans, they would say the same thing like, no, how dare you, Mitch McConnell

is the beloved Mitch McConnell who has given us everything we want, including the giant corporate tax cuts we wanted. Well, now when I talk to right wing populists, they're like, yeah, fuck Mitch McConnell. I'm like, all right, there you go. We're making ground. Yeah. That's right. Well, now when I talk to right-wing populists, they're like, yeah, fuck Mitch McConnell. I'm like, all right, there you go. We're making ground. Yeah, that's right.

You don't have to agree with me on the policy, but we, the bare minimum that we all have to get on the same team on is, and by the way, the right's not completely on this team yet, okay, Which is that the donors control everything. The politicians serve their donors there. That's why they do talking points. They're empty shells. They're almost all crooks and whatever donor money is given to them. They serve that money. 100%.

Does that mean if the donors are so important and you know, I've heard this, I had Dean Phillips on the show at the start of the year and he was, I was digging deep into just how much time is spent fundraising and having to shmoos at cocktail hours and so on and so forth. It's like way more time than you spend actually legislating or doing your fucking job. Is there something different now about Elon being a large contributor, financially, strategically, et cetera, operationally, but being out front being, owning it, being like, Hey, I'm here, I'm on stage.

Does that add a, an amount of transparency, legitimacy, scrutiny to him that gives you a, a sense of confidence? Um, not yet. No, uh, proof is in the pudding. Okay. And so proof's always in the pudding. Um, and so look, uh, you understand the structure of what I'm saying here, though, right?

Of course I do. Yeah. Yeah. So let me, let me address it in a couple of ways. So first of all, does Trump serve the donors? Sorry guys, but definitely yes. So Sheldon Adelson gave him a hundred million dollars in 2016 and then another a hundred million in 2020 and campaign contributions through the PACs.

And then Miriam Adelson, his, uh, you know, his, his wife, he's, he's now passed away, gave him a hundred and thirty seven million dollars in this, um, uh, cycle. So that's three over $330 million that the Adelsons, let's be honest, bribe Donald Trump. Okay. It's a legal bribe. And yes, the Democrats definitely do it as well. Both sides claiming only the other side does it is insanity, not remotely true.

So what did Donald Trump do for the Adelsons? He moved our embassy because Sheldon asked him to. The one, one of the upsides of Trump is that he can't help himself. He just says whatever's at the top of his mind. And that gives us a sense of authenticity. But the downside is he does confession after confession. And so he's like, okay, yet Sheldon gave me a lot of money. And so I moved the embassy.

No, you're not supposed to give away foreign policy to a donor. Sorry. And then she, he gave Miriam Adelson the presidential medal of freedom. For what, brother? Come on, for what? That's like our highest honor and you're giving it to a donor's wife. So now what's important is not the past, but right now.

So he appointed four people that are team Miriam. Marco Rubio at state, Elise Stefanik as UN ambassador, Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel, and Mike Walsh as national security advisor. All four of those are neocots. State, Elise Stefanik as UN ambassador, Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel, and Mike Wallace as national security advisor. All four of those are neocots. They're war hawks and they want more war, not less war. That is not what the base voted for.

That is team Israel versus team America. I'm keeping it real. And by the way, I say the same exact things about Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. They totally sold us out because AIPAC gave over $11 million to Joe Biden throughout his career. It's his number one donor. Uh, they've given different groups have given over 10 million now, 5 million from APAC, 6 million from J street to Kamala Harris.

That's why they, they were willing to lose Michigan and the entire election rather than defy their donors. So now proof's gonna be in the pudding. So that's one of his donors. I can give you many other examples. Now, when you turn to Elon to your question, well, so on the one hand, he's more transparent about it. That's good.

That's true, right? The Koch brothers hid in the shadows and the Wright would argue, and I think there's some truth to it, that George Soros was in the shadows, right? And a lot of times the right would argue, and I think there's true, some truth to it that George Soros, uh, was in the shadows, right? And a lot of times the right will say, Oh yeah, would you ban George Soros' money from politics? And I'm like, yeah, of course I would.

Like, I, ah, would you ban union money from politics? Of course I would. I would ban all money from politics. That's the point. I don't want to cheat. And so that's the difference between a genuine populist and a partisan, right? So now Elon has a lot of interests, right? Let's keep it real. He, and one of the people, and when he's doing efficiency in the government, if he gets rid of every regulator who

regulates his businesses, That's super fishy. Right. So is he going to do that or is he not going to do that? And you know, there's, and even Trump, he said it in one of the rallies because he can't help himself. So I used to be against electric vehicles, but Eli gave me a very strong endorsement. So now I'm pro electric. Brother, you're not supposed to say it out loud. Right.

So I'm hoping against hope that right-wing populists actually hold them to account. And my side thinks I'm a sucker for that and that right-wing populism is not genuine. It's all fraudulent. They're all going to do whatever Trump and Elon says. So we'll find out and their actions will tell us who was right and who was wrong. I've heard you talk about just sort of leaning back and saying, you know, you're going to be a great leader in the future. You're going to be a great leader in the future. says, so we'll find out and their actions will tell us who was right and who was wrong. I've heard you talk about just sort of leaning back into the criticisms that occur internally.

And I do think that you're right. Uh, the right, not particularly good at taking criticism in the past, but recently it seems to be at least prepared to have the argument. But I've heard you highlight something I've noticed too, which is the democratic leadership finding it offensive. If you ask them hard questions, this sort of, um, what are you doing? Like, are we not on the same side? Uh, which obviously doesn't allow you to sharpen your sword particularly well, because you can actually do it constructively in a way that's aiming to improve and move toward things, speaking the same language, uh, with

the same goals, the same outcomes, et cetera. Uh, but yeah, the, the fact that it's not taken well, internal criticism and difficult questions aren't taken well. Yeah, there's, there's two elements to that. So one is they believe that the role of the media is to do marketing for them. So anyone who doesn't do marketing for corporate politicians overall, but now it's mainly become corporate Democrats, they find that to be deeply offensive. And unfortunately, they've trained a lot of Democratic voters to find it offensive. So when I criticize the Biden administration, I get pushback from

actual Democratic voters saying, no, Jane, Jane, you're supposed to do only say only positive things about them. Don't say anything critical because that'll hurt our chance of beating Trump. They've trained their own voters to believe in propaganda as a concept. And, and I love democratic voters. And so I'm not, I want to snap them out of it. I want to say, Hey guys, you guys are generally kindhearted folks who want to look out for other people.

But you cannot have this ideology of no criticism because if you do no criticism of your leaders, you will have very shitty leaders. Okay. They will get absolute power corrupts, absolute power corrupts. Absolutely. And it'll make your side weaker and weaker and weaker. And so for 10 straight years, I've been arguing for stronger primaries, actually way longer

than that. But it's, it's, I say the last 10 years because they had the ideology of, no, we will anoint a leader and democratic leadership is geniuses playing four dimensional chess and I swear to God, they would literally say that to me. They're playing four dimensional chess. Your little mind can't understand it, Jake. Okay. So we picked the, the one who's the most pro corporate and who'll, you know,

pleasure the donors the most. And that is the anointed leader who has the best chance of winning. And then they send every robot on MSNBC, best chance of winning, best chance of winning, best chance. And then, okay, but Bernie's like, he went from 1% to 48% in a miraculous run with no media coverage.

That was unbelievable, right? So how about that? That looks successful. No, he has no chance of winning. He is not a corporate robot, has no chance of winning, right? So how about that? That looks successful. No, he has no chance of winning. He is not a corporate robot has no chance of winning, right? And they got Democratic voters who are good people to believe that bullshit, right? So I'm trying to snap them out of it. And one of the things that I point to is they're like, no, we should have no primaries. We should just have an anointing and a cheerleading. And you're ruining the cheerleading check. Okay. How'd that work out for us? Because in 2016, the DNC did everything they could, including illegally funneling

money to Hillary Clinton's campaign through the state parties to make sure that it was Hillary Clinton and not Bernie Sanders, right? And they did as small a primary as they possibly could. And then on the Republican side, there was a free for all. You remember the, um, old, I don't know if they still do it in WWE, but, uh, they were everybody's in the ring. And then they Republican side, there was a free for all. You remember the old, I don't know if they still do it in WWE, but, uh, they were, everybody's in the ring and then they, uh, the Royal Rumble. What's that? Is it a Royal Rumble or battle Royale?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Both of those. Uh, and in the, what they started calling the Royal Rumble, um, it, you got to throw everybody out of the ring. Right. And it's one against all.

And that's what 2016 was. And Trump came out of the ring, right? And it's one against all. And that's what 2016 was. And Trump came out of it. And I keep asking them like super simple question. Can you remind me who won in 2016? Oh, right. Donald Trump won in 2016. The Republicans won in 2016 after they had a super tough and I would argue vicious primary in 2020.

There's no primary on the Republican side, but there's a significant primary with 27 Democrats, uh, on the Republican side, but there is a significant primary with 27 Democrats on the Democratic side, Democrats win. So in this case, again, they cancel the primary. They say the guy with dementia is the anointed one and don't tell anyone that his brain is melting. I'm like, guys, he shakes hands with invisible people. We all already know his brain is melting there isn't enough propaganda in the world to get people to believe that joe biden is mentally healthy

no there is any goes out of my uncle was eaten by a cannibal i'm like. I mean if you can't recognize that this brother is in bad bad shape. You're trying to deny reality and it is such a dumb strategy. Forget that it's wrong and it's immoral to lie like that, et cetera. If you want to win, you don't want your candidate's brain falling out of his ear. Like this is not complicated. And that's why I had such blowups with Alan Lichtman because even after the debate, the professor with the keys, he came on the

young church, he's like, no, Biden's the right guy. I'm like, he said he wanted to destroy Medicare by accident. Do we think that that's the right guy? And he's like, no, the keys decide always go with incumbent, always go with the establishment guy, Joe Biden. I'm like, okay, look, if you guys are going to be lunatics, I'm not on board for that. Right.

And so that I challenged Biden in the primary. We had a petition 14 months ago to get him the hell out of the race. So that kind of, you must cheerlead, you must do marketing, you must do propaganda. I despise it. And that is why we're oil and water. Like the establishment Democrats probably hate me more than they hate any Republican. If they, if you said to them, you're forced to go to lunch with Cenk or Trump, I think every one of them picks Trump, everyone. They're like, Oh, fuck Jake.

No, no, no, no. I don't want any piece of that guy. I was listening to, uh, the rest is politics. They did, uh, a number of post-mortems, I guess, after the election, uh, trying to break down what was going on. They had this guy on, I can't remember who it was, but he worked with Trump during his first administration. And he was telling this story, you know, sort of one of these classic ones about Trump's fragility around knowing things or not knowing things, this sort of egotism that seems

to be pretty endemic, although at least the snappier parts of it are nerfed publicly. And I can't remember what it was. There was something about the Middle East. He needed to know this thing about the Middle East. And one person tried to teach him something really important that would help to future-proof them against the situation that was coming down the line. And Trump is like, nobody knows more about the Middle East than me. I've read the book on it. I know all the rest of it, but he really needed to learn. He really needed this to be given to him.

So this dude that used to work there went in and took a different tack. Cause he seems like quite a canny shrewd sort of dude. And, um, he said, have you ever seen this movie brings up a movie and Trump's like a best movie that's ever been made, maybe the best movie that's ever been made. Uh, and he said, well, interestingly, there's a, there's a backstory to that, uh, that I'd love to tell you about. And he teaches Trump through this sort of odd acrobatic dance that he has to do to sort of get himself to the stage where this information is to be accepted.

This is, you know, if there are character flaws in Trump that people really, really do not like and that are sort of out front, this is one of those big ones, this sort of fragility about knowing things, the, the, um, brittleness, uh, around this sort of stuff. And it's wild to me that the very thing that most people on the left would point their finger at around Trump and the narcissism, the egos, you know, all of the accusations that typically get thrown at him are precisely the thing that they have decided to embody as if you ask me an offensive or difficult question, that's dissent, that's treason, this is mutiny, you can't do it.

And I'm like, you are aware you're taking for your own playbook. The exact thing you see is the biggest weakness from the other side. There's this weird ironic tragedy around that. Yeah, God, that's such a great point. And I hadn't thought of it that way. Uh, so, um, it's absolutely true about Trump and it's, it's kind of hilarious. Uh, he, he's often accidentally very funny. So, you know, like the clean coal one is an example,

but there's like dozens of these. He says, oh, you know, could clean coals, when they take out the coal and they wash it. Like, no, it's not. Okay. But that's not the important part that he got that wrong. The important part is, if I was gonna give that speech, I would think, do they?

Do they take out the coal and wash it? That seems unlikely. Let me ask someone, right? But Trump never thinks, let me ask someone, right? Hey, if you put the disinfectant inside the body, ask that off air. Don't ask it on air, right? Learn, like, and he comes out, he's like,

no one knew healthcare was this complicated. No, like, no one knew healthcare was this complicated. No brother, we all knew healthcare was super complicated. You didn't know it because you didn't study it. And I'm, and like, I get mad at the Democrats for all the things that they do wrong. I'm surprised that the right wing doesn't get mad at Trump for all the things he does wrong. Like he never does any homework.

He's never done a piece of homework in his life. And that's probably because his daddy got him through school. Anyway, but you're right that the Democrats now have that same kind of imperious attitude, whereas yeah, maybe they read books and they went to Ivy league schools and they did all that stuff, but, but if you say to them, Hey, I have a suggestion for you. Their gut reaction is fuck off. Can we, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait.

Okay. But you said Trump was terrible for not taking any suggestions. Why won't you take any suggestions? Because they find the idea of taking a suggestion from someone who doesn't have status as an, as an anathema as something deeply troubling that they would never even consider this gatekeeping based on background, position, social class, social group, whatever is a very British thing. Like it really feels like it's sort of inhabited the posh versus proletariat

discussions that they like, they're just endemic to UK culture. Right. I never, I've never once heard an American person use the word posh in the UK. It is used every single day by every single kid in school because class permeates everything. Everyone is aware of it front and center. And it's so odd to see Americans who, you know, we criticize the left for not uplifting the working class for not sufficiently focusing on the working class.

Also the fact that Americans kind of almost deny that it exists, it gets all squirrely and it's recently been put into race or it's been put into sexual orientation or into the area that you live in or whatever. And yet this just sounds like a lot like class gatekeeping, uh, but just coming out in different ways. So there's a really good reason for that. You're absolutely right about the observation. And the reason is because establishment Republicans and establishment Democrats

for my whole lifetime have been trying to make sure that we don't talk about class. They want you to talk about race and sex and gender and, and, and both sides do identity politics and if you're a right winger and you think, no, we don't, you're nuts and I'll prove it to you in a second. Okay. So, but what they want us to do is they want to divide us on cultural war bullshit so that we don't realize all what we have in common is that we're the 90%. If the 90% realize that that we're united on those grounds, the top 10% that are

all rigging the rules to their benefit would be fucked and they know that. So they're like, okay, here's some red meat on trans issues. Now masses go fight each other. Right. So the reason why I tell the right look you guys are full of shit too you do nothing but identity politics on your own right so here's an example Nancy Mace comes out after the election does a look at me daddy move with the trans bathroom with bathrooms and go no trans

people in the woman's bathroom that's that's the big issue in Congress. I mean, we're got $36 trillion in debt. Uh, you know, we're a mess. We're not funding. Uh, we don't have paid family leave. Every other nation on earth has paid family leave. Every time that I fucking hear that stat, it blows my mind. I mean, again, that's because we live under corporate rule and we've had these corporate Republicans and corporate Democrats Democrats getting us to fight one another for decade after decade and doing

mass propaganda through mainstream media. Hey guys, don't focus on the fact that you're slowly getting crushed by corporate rule, that trash compactor scene in Star Wars. We're all getting squeezed and squeezed. So that's why Americans don't even know that the rest of the world gives moms 12 weeks off after they have a baby because they are human beings and they understand that of course moms need three months at least to bond with their baby. That is a very right-wing position that is a very

left-wing position that is a very human position position. That is a very left wing position. That is a very human position. And that is why 84% of Americans agree. And these bulls**ters in Washington tell us, Oh, there's no way we can pass it. And so I say this about Biden the same way that I would say it about George W. Bush or Donald Trump. Don't tell me that you can't pass a bill that has 84% popularity. And then tell me that you're a good politician. Cause those two things are not possible.

If you can't pass that bill, that means you suck as a politician. And the reality is it's not that they suck. It's that they don't want to pass the bill because corporations would lose a whole seven and a half cents over that. And remember I run a company. I know how much they're bullshitting you. Right. It's not that big a deal for companies to give paid family leave at all for,

especially for trillion dollar companies. They're doing it out of unbelievable cruelty. And so they bought all of our politicians and they get them to go, Oh, it's paid family leave is impossible. Higher wages is impossible. Universal healthcare is impossible channel leave is impossible. Higher wages is impossible. Universal healthcare is impossible. Everything is impossible. Anything that helps you is always impossible.

And anything that helps the rich all of a sudden, oh yeah, giant corporate tax cuts. Here you go. All of a sudden that's the easiest thing in the world. How much do you think the equivalent middle management, bureaucrat, government officials are shitting themselves about having Elon Musk and Vivek breathing down their neck if this thing comes off. Well, a lot, uh, but, and they should be, um, so look, I'm so, uh, if they're talking about actual efficiency and they actually want to cut pork barrel spending, like I said on X, like I've said on every show and I'll say here, I'm here for it.

Okay. Put me in coach. Let me at them because these sons of bitches have been wasting our money this entire time. I give one more example from the Pentagon in 2015. They buried a report. Why? What did the report say?

That they had wasted $125 billion. Billion. How do you lose and waste $125 billion? You do it by saying, don't ever cut the Pentagon. You're endangering our security. We're all going to die unless you let me steal this $125 billion. Bullshit.

They've been robbing us blind at the Pentagon my entire life. Now they're not the only department that does it. And if you find other instances of waste abuse, great, I'm happy to take it out. But what I'm worried about is they're not worried about the abuse or maybe they are. But on top of that, they also have another agenda, which is, Oh, Lena Conza pain in my ass, regulating my businesses. Oh, she doesn't want me to have monopolies. Yeah. She doesn't want me to have monopolies. Yeah.

She doesn't want you to have monopolies because monopolies are against capitalism. They destroy capitalism. So JD Vance said he was in favor of Lena con. Let's find out. Let's find out. Cause Elon Musk is against them against her. And so is all of Kamala Harris's top donors, Mark Cuban, et cetera. They were all against Lena Khan.

That means she's actually trying to protect the average American. Okay. So if you cut Lena Khan, that isn't saving anyone money. It's costing a lot of people money. Right. I give that as an example, but we go on and on, but, but what's going to happen is they're going to cut until they get to a point where the American people are going to go, nah, we don't like that.

Right. So I think where the rubber hits are going to go, nah, we don't like that. Right. So I think where the rubber hits the road will probably be department of education. And if they go to cut the entire department of education, as they've threatened to do multiple times, I think the American people are going to go, no, no, no, we asked you to close the border. We asked you to end inflation. We asked you to care about the average guy. We didn't ask you to destroy education and replace it with private education,

which you're all going to get rich off of. Right. So let's see how that goes. Yeah. After, now that the dust settled, you know, we're a few weeks hence from, uh, the, the election, what's your sort of post-mortem being able to tie everything together now the fog of war is fucked off. Do you think this was more a right victory or a left loss?

Where was your sort of head fallen on this? Yeah, I think it's actually super clear. Um, so, uh, people voted for change and they almost always vote for change because the neoliberal system, they sometimes they call it neoliberal. Sometimes I call it corporate rule. It's basically the same thing. Uh, corporations have gained so much power, which by the way, in my book, Justice Coming, I explained the founding fathers did the American revolution, not just

against the British empire, but against the British, British East India company. Right. So the Boston tea party was not against the British government. It was against that corporation. They went and threw their tea overboard because they were tired of their bullshit. And so the founding fathers kept warning us, be careful with corporations because they will accumulate so much money and so much power, they will use it to choke off democracy. And they were exactly right. So that's what's happened all across the world. So people are like, I don't get it. Brazil's going left and right, then left.

And Argentina is going extreme left, extreme right. I don't, I don't understand what's happening. I can clear it up for you. They're voting against the incumbents. They're voting against establishment. They're voting against a corporate rule. So, and they're doing it all across the world. So in this case, Kamala Harris Harris was actually people have already forgotten this there was a brief window

When she was up in the polling by about seven points now the polling turned out to be wrong by about Three or four points. It wasn't off by 30 or 40 was off by three or four So in that window, she actually could have won the election if they had held the election that day. So why was she popular back then? And then she lost all of her popularity. Yeah. Well, because she came out with populist positions in the beginning. She said, I'm going to end price gouging by these sons of bitches corporations.

I'm going to go after what they're doing on housing and I'm going to lower the prices of housing. I'm going to pick Tim Walls. And I know a lot of the right wing now have problems with Tim Walz, but Tim Walz was a populist in Minnesota that passed paid family leave, et cetera, et cetera. So she started out in a great direction strategically and she sky Biden was down eight. She's up seven. Holy shit. She gained 15 points nationally, which is so hard. And then her moron corrupt brother-in-law, Tony West, who's a corporate lawyer for Uber was like, no, I've got a great idea. Let's go kiss corporate ass.

So he convinced her to put out a letter saying that 90 corporate CEOs were on her side. And he convinced her to put Mark Cuban all over cable news. I got no beef with Mark Cuban. I have agreements and disagreements with him. That's fine. Right. But strategically it was a massive mistake to put Cuban on cable news.

Go. No, she loves big business. No, she loves corporations. No, don't worry. She's not going to do any of that price gouging stuff. She's going to let the corporations keep fucking you. Right. And then her lead evaporated the whole end.

Oh, she loves Liz Cheney and Dick Cheney. Are you guys idiots? Dick Cheney's last poll was at 13%. Who the hell do you think you're going to win with Dick Cheney? If they just can't get it through their heads. So as soon as she turned around, Anna and I on the Young Turks started saying terrible strategy, we're, um, we're worried we're doomed. And that's exactly what happened. started saying terrible strategy. We're, um, we're worried we're doomed.

And that's exactly what happened. How big of a deal do you think the woke stuff has been? Because everybody's heard 30% of the Trump campaign budget went on this one ad, the most effective political ad in modern history, talking about they, them, and for you and us, uh, which on the surface probably makes it feel like, well, that was the, well, that was a linchpin issue or the linchpin issue. How much do you believe that? Yeah.

So at Young Turks, we have a total open mind. So I have people to the left of me. I have people that are more established than me. And so, uh, we had this huge debate after the, um, uh, election. I was on the side um, uh, election. I was on the side of it made a difference. We had two other hosts that were more leftist than I am who said, no, the ad didn't make a difference. Okay.

I'm going to have the same debate with my nephew, Hassan Piker, uh, on Thanksgiving, we do a thing called Jenksgiving on his stream. Uh, and he's more of a leftist than I am. And so we fight for an hour or two, and then we go eat Thanksgiving dinner together. Okay. So we're going to have that same fight. And the essence of that fight is they think, no, go maximalist position and say that, you know, every other, uh, president should be, uh, African American,

trans disabled person and we'll win all the elections. And I'm like, nah, it's not going to work. It's not going to work. And I had this huge fight with Hassan earlier about crime and he's like, no, it's imaginary. I'm like, okay, if you'd like to get your clock cleaned, tell the voters that they're imagining being in danger when they're actually in danger. Okay. You're going to get annihilated.

And what happened? Prop 36 was a referendum basically on crime in California in California with massively democratic voters. It passed with 70%. That is democratic voters going, yes, there was crime. Yes, we were pissed about it and cut the shit out. Okay. Move those misdemeanors back to felonies. We're not interested in domestic assault being lightly treated.

We're not interested in having our toothpaste locked up at a CVS, right? This shit is real. Okay. So now, but it connects though, it connects with our earlier conversation because the end of that trans ad was okay. So that position is so extreme and they don't get it. They think it's not extreme. No asking me to pay for your surgery when you're not a citizen yet and you're a detainee brothers and sisters, I got a thousand priorities.

And maybe we disagree on whether I would pay for that surgery if I had all the money in the world, right? But we don't have all the money in the world. We don't even have paid family leave. What are we doing giving surgery to prisoners or detainees in that case? Anyways, at the end of the ad, it says Kamala Harris is for they, them, and Trump is for us. See that connects it back to populism. So Kamala Harris seems to be generically for they them, whether it's an extreme position

on on trans rights. And by the way, I want to be clear, I'm 100% for trans rights, constitutional rights. I am not for AI have a right to play in the WNBA. No, you don't. That's not a constitutional right. Okay. But if you try to take away their actual rights, I'm going to fight you to the end on it. Okay.

But that idea of there for other people, Democrats, whether these extreme transpositions, whether it's sometimes criminals, it's such bad framing Democrats, what are you doing? Okay. Or it's corporate goons.. What are you doing? Okay. Or it's corporate goons there for them and not for you. And the reason why it resonated so much is because that establishment Democrats

have proven over and over again, they are for them, not trans people, not black people, not immigrants, but for corporate donors. So they will never ever listen to the people play. That's why that commercial resonated so much. Yeah. It plays into a wider narrative, this sort of skepticism or this suspicion that people have, it kind of feels like that might be the case. And then it legitimates any claim that then follows along that same set of train tracks. Yeah, that's exactly right.

And so those two things collided in a way that was toxic and ultimately proved fatal for the democratic chances. And by the way, again, on the Young Turks, what did we say? We said, don't go that extreme left. We were right. And don't go corporate. And we were right. And so we did that at the risk of losing some of our audience.

And we did. We lost some of our paying subscribers. It hurts financially, but it matters if you're being honest or not. It matters if you're authentic or not. And so what I'm hoping for is at the end of the election that those, there's three wings of the democratic party, the corporate wing, the establishment wing. That's one they're the dominant ones. Unfortunately, that's Biden, Harris, Hillary Clinton, et cetera.

There's extreme left wing, the identitarian left, et cetera. What you guys, what right wing would call woke politics. And so, but there's a third wing that's our wing, the populist left wing, right? The Bernie Sanders 2016, take care of the average American way. So honestly, that wing was the only one that was correct. The other two wings were totally discredited in this election. Now, will we be able to convince democratic primary voters of that in 2028? That's the big question.

I just had an idea. So that three pronged layout that you've had, I wonder how much of the democratic party, if that's true, let's just assume that that framing is accurate. I wonder how much of the democratic party, if that's true, let's just assume that that framing's accurate, I wonder how much of the democratic party actually likes both the right and the left obsessing over the identity politics woke stuff, because it creates a specter that people can throw stones at that isn't the corporate side, that isn't the establishment side, that it allows them to hide behind the much sexier, much more headline grabbing, uh, a little

nefarious, uh, underlink that occurs for the, for the Dems. A hundred percent. And guys, what you don't know is that a lot of those culture wars are started by the Republican donor machine. So what they do is they go, okay, let's try to dig up something that the American people will hate that's on the left. So on the trans issue, for example, they started with, okay, if you remember in the first Trump administration, he thought about banning them from the military.

And that turned out to be unpopular because people were like, well, they're risking their lives for the country. That seems nice. That seems good. No, don't do that. Right. So then they moved to the bathroom issue and then eventually people were like, what are we going to do?

Check people's genitals and bathrooms to see which bathroom they should go in. That didn't prove to be popular. So then they moved to, okay, trans women in sports. Oh, boom. They got it. Right. So why are they doing that? Why are they going through all those things? Because

they're trying to find a way to have a wedge between us. That's why they're called wedge issues. Right. So they're trying to find a thing that is unpopular on the left. So they could use that against the left. Why? Because of the same reason that the establishment Democrats do identity politics, because they don't want to talk about the economic issues. Cause on the economic issues, we're all united against them. So they have to divide us. And so I would ask my right-wing brothers and sisters, stop falling for the trick.

Okay. Well, the nut picking occurs on both sides, right? The opportunity for you to find something on the left, which is a ridiculous Marjorie Taylor Greene, whatever she's got up to this week, or, you know, even earlier on today, like you can not pick the nut picking. You can almost use, this is the recursive reactive cycle of story occurs, someone reacts to it. The reaction occurs to the reaction, the meta reaction about what

everybody's saying happens. It's so predictable. And in fact, we predicted it. So on the Young Turks, we love doing predictions. And so, for example, like I said, about 14, 15 months ago, I said, Biden has approximately a zero percent chance of winning this election. And right before he dropped out, his staff said, we believe he had a 0% chance of winning this election.

Okay. So now on this ground, I'm not telling you all this stuff about, uh, I, my disagreements with the extreme left now as a Monday morning quarterback. And after the election, we started saying it two years ago, we started saying, Hey guys, this is wrong direction. And we got into huge fights over it. And so, and one of the, and what I was trying to explain to them is guys, the other side is digging to find something unpopular on our side.

They will eventually find it if you dig long enough. And so when they do find it, can you please not help them by falling right into that trap? And their resounding answer to us was no, fuck off. So, so when they got to trans sports, then like that portion of the lab fell right into the trap. They ran into the trap. They're like, yes. No, there's no difference between trans women and biological women. I'm like, guys, a trans woman entered a weightlifting

contest, she's in her 40s, okay? And notice I'm saying she, I respect all of her choices, I respect all of her rights. But she enters that contest and wins by 200 pounds, even though she's in her forties. There's a biological difference. Of course there is. And they're like, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.

We're gonna fall into the trap. And I'm like, okay. So you think I'm like, look, give LeBron every hormone on planet earth, put him in the WNBA. He scores 200 points a night. They're like, no, he would be an average player. Okay, look, I can be an average player. Okay.

Look, I can't. So they wouldn't listen. And I'm asking right wing populists now. Can you guys please listen every time they do a cultural war issue, they're trying to distract you. It's a fucking squirrel. Okay. Focus on things that matter in your life.

Does your daughter have healthcare when she needs it? Are your wages higher or lower? Like here, $15 minimum wage. The right wing was trained through propaganda from corporate Republicans. You should hate the minimum wage. You should hate the minimum wage. They, and the propaganda is, Oh, if you have higher wages, it'll drive up inflation. No Dick.

Inflation is already here. Higher wages at least allows me it'll drive up inflation. No Dick. Inflation is already here. Higher wages at least allows me to keep up with inflation. So the one you're saying we should move up the price of cars and bananas and, and houses. The only thing we shouldn't move up is your wages. Now fuck off. So you can tell me anything you want about trans bathrooms in either direction,

but at the end of the day, fight for your wages, fight for your healthcare, fight for your family. Does that make sense? It does. I mean, ultimately the job of the political party, first job, the first job is to get into power. Because if you're not in power, you're not really doing shit. So do you think that there will be a reckoning on the left? Do you think there will be a reassessment of the things that have been focused on?

Will it result in genuine change of any kind? Or you said that you like predictions. What's your prediction for this? Yeah. So, and I'm also one of the few people in media that acknowledge it when I'm wrong, right? So I thought that 2020 online media was already strong enough to beat mainstream media and then that's why Bernie Sanders would win against Biden because mainstream media is a propaganda machine and they despise Bernie more than they despise

Trump. They hate him with every fiber of their being because he's a true populist left person who's actually looking out for the average guy and nothing bothers the elites more than that. So, but I thought he was online media that was backing him and the uprising etc would be enough to overcome Biden and it looked like for the first three primaries that Bernie won, he won all three, it looked like we were right but it turns out no. When they coalesced and Obama pulled them in and Clyburn pulled them in and said, Buttigieg, Globuchar, all you guys shut the fuck up and back Biden.

And hey, Morning Joe and CNN, everybody shut up except just everybody called Bernie the most successful Jewish candidate in American history a Nazi and his followers Nazis. Just go do that. Smear the shit out of them. Let's go. And when they did that and Obama gave it and Clyburn gave that order. Um, and he didn't, to be clear, he didn't give the order to MSNBC and CNN. That's more group think. Okay.

And so, but when that happened, uh, we lost because it turned out mainstream media was still bigger than online media. Okay. So I was wrong about that. not mainstream media was still bigger than online media. Okay. So I was wrong about that. Now in 2024, for the first time, online media has been stronger than mainstream media and you see that because mainstream media all said in unison, must vote for

Kamala Harris, Trump is great danger. Trump is the worst hurt human alive. And look at this, a bunch that I agree with them on about Trump. I think we can get into that another time. He's egomaniac. He should have never said terminate the constitution, et cetera, et cetera. Okay. But don't tell me that Kamala Harris is perfectly fine.

We, she could barely speak, right? She speaks in talking points. She looks like a corporate robot. So, but those bullshitters for the first time in my life lost. Right. Why? Cause Rogan, Theo von, all those podcasts that Trump did got them more views than all the paid media that Kamala Harris got and all the mainstream media that she got.

So that gives me some hope, not because of Trump or Republicans, but because in 2020 primary that we might be able to win in the primary and have a truly populist left candidate, which would finally give Americans a real choice. Wouldn't that be amazing? Hey, do we go in that direction of that guy genuinely trying to help the American people? Or if you guys come up with a genuine populist, that person trying to genuinely help the American people, but in a different direction, now let's let the American people decide.

So I hope that our side's online media, including the Young Turks is strong enough to overwhelm MSNBC and win those primaries because this is really important. People misunderstand politics. They think, and this is the mythology that television has been putting out there my whole life. Oh, the two sides got together, everyone in the country watched the debate, then they analyzed the policy issues, and then they decided which candidate they liked better. No.

One side got brainwashed by one set of media, the other side got brainwashed by another set of media, and then some people broke free of that brainwashing and they're floating out in online media right now, etc. So what decides elections is almost exclusively media. So the media wars are going to determine who wins the 2028 election as they have throughout. It's just that for the first time our side as an online media, which is more populist is now winning. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I appreciate the heck out of you. Thank you very much for today.

What is coming up for you guys next? What can people expect? So one of the things that we're doing at tyt.com is we got a populist plank and I'm super curious to see if the right wing agrees with those positions. And what I'm saying is let's do a voting block. And so if your side is true and they deliver on these things, I'm not playing around with anybody.

I don't care what the teams are called. I don't care if there's an R or a D on your helmet. You deliver paid family leave, anti-war, money out of politics, whatever those positions, then I'm going to vote for you. And that's what signing that pledge means. Okay. Whichever side delivers, I vote for them. And if you don't deliver, fuck off. Okay. So I'm not going to vote for you if you don't actually do the things that we want. You could tell me how terrible the other side is and you could both sides fear monger. Oh my God, they'll let trans people in all the bathrooms.

Ah, right. And the other side's like, oh my God, they're going to turn the country into, you know, the fourth, right. Ah, right. You could say that all you want, but those six policies are all super popular with right and left. So you deliver on this. We deliver our votes.

If you don't again, in unison, we should shout out to them. Fuck off. So, but I don't know if the right wing will like it or not like it. So go check it out on tyt.com. Look at the thing. If you like it, sign the petition, watch the show. We do live shows six to 8 PM every day, Monday through Friday. And every right winger that watches it goes, holy shit, they're honest. I didn't expect that.

Right. And we criticize both sides. And by the time we criticize Trump, they're like, Oh, I get it. They actually give a shit and they're not criticizing him just to be a dictadrome or just to be on the opposite side, or just because they're Democrats are on the left, they're doing it because they have genuine concerns. So come check out Young Turks on YouTube or on tyt.com anytime, sign the pledge if you like it and, and at least hear our case so you can make an informed

decision about which side to go with. Appreciate you mate. Good to chat. Thank you you brother.