The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 7.23 Dear Youtubers & TikTokers Throwing Pandemic Parties. Unemployment Benefits, & More

Starting point is 00:00:00 Sup you beautiful bastards, hope you had a fantastic Thursday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show. Buckle up, hit that like button, and let's just jump into it. The first thing I wanted to talk about today is just a quick thing. I've seen a lot of questions over this past week

Starting point is 00:00:12 of why we black out certain words. When we post these videos on YouTube, we have to play this exhausting game of, is YouTube going to hit us with the bad stick? Sometimes it's based off of the news that we cover, usually the more horrible stuff gets us hit, but also certain words. Based off of our historical experiences, we get hit far more based off of the news that we cover. Usually the more horrible stuff gets us hit, but also certain words. Based off of our historical experiences,

Starting point is 00:00:28 we get hit far more based off of text displayed on the screen rather than just something I say. In an ideal world, I would never have to bleep myself or something someone else said or black out words, but this is the music that we're dancing to. But yeah, I just wanted to explain that because I keep seeing those questions and I don't want people to think that it's some sort of statement

Starting point is 00:00:41 because we're just trying to survive here. But that said, the actual first thing we're gonna talk about today in quickie news is remember that NFL team, the Washington, I don't know if I can say their name without getting demonetized-eds? Right, a name that's been used by some as a slur against Native Americans.

Starting point is 00:00:55 Though prior to this, owner Dan Snyder had argued that the name honored Native Americans. Well, according to new reports, the team effective immediately will be known as the Washington Football Team. Reportedly, this will not be the final renaming and rebranding for the team. It's just the name they're going to use

Starting point is 00:01:08 until they get a final name. Also, if I may, to the Washington Football Team, I'd like to offer my services. You know, part of having a football team going to a game, you need those audience chants. I got one if you want to use it. It's, hey, hey, Washington, we have a football team. Hey, hey, Washington, we do sports.

Starting point is 00:01:24 Now I will say in general, a lot of the reaction we have seen are people kind of clowning on this name. We saw the likes of LeBron James tweeting, just waking up from my pregame nap to see the Washington football team. Is that real? No way.

Starting point is 00:01:35 Oh man, they had a thorough, intense, long board meeting about that one, huh? Though I will say this may in fact be a genius marketing move. And the reason I say that is reportedly Washington has said that fans will be able to purchase Washington football team merchandise from fanatics and NFL shop in the coming days which effectively means that they're doing a limited

Starting point is 00:01:51 edition drop. And it may also have appeal to even non NFL viewers because it's kind of this weird moment in history product where in 10, 15, 20 years, you break out the shirt and you're like, remember this? Remember when they were the Washington name pending BRBs? And actually on that possibility and note, I'll use that to transition to the next quickie,

Starting point is 00:02:09 which actually involves a limited edition drop at shopdefranco.com. I don't know if you saw this clip, but it is quite something. President Trump was speaking to Fox News about his mental soundness and this supposed cognitive test that he took. And it was 30 or 35 questions.

Starting point is 00:02:23 The first questions are very easy. The last questions are very easy. The last questions are much more difficult. Like a memory question, it's like you'll go person, woman, man, camera, TV. So they say, could you repeat that? So I said, yeah. So it's person, woman, man, camera, TV. Okay, that's very good.

Starting point is 00:02:49 If you get it in order, you get extra points. Okay, now he's asking you other questions, other questions. And then 10 minutes, 15, 20 minutes later, they say, remember the first question? Not the first, but the 10th question. Give us that again. Can you do that again? And you go, person, woman, man, camera, TV. If you get it in order, you get extra points.

Starting point is 00:03:16 They said, nobody gets it in order. It's actually not that easy, but for me it was easy. And the conversation or rambling on that topic continues for at least another minute with him rattling off person, woman, man, camera, TV And now I can't get those words out of my head Which is why for the next few days special limited edition surprise drop on shopdefranco.com You can get your very own person, woman, man, camera, TV, shirt, hoodie, or tank top

Starting point is 00:03:41 I was literally just getting this made for me and then I was like, yeah, sure Why not? Let's open it up. Now, you know, following this interview and specifically this clip going viral, you had a number of people, including some people who administer this test saying, I don't think he knows what this is actually for. Also, if this is what Trump claimed that it is, it would make sense that people in the room said.

Starting point is 00:03:56 They say, that's amazing. How did you do that? Right, a cognitive test is not meant to measure intellect. It's meant to be easy to pass and is usually used if a person might have dementia or another form of cognitive decline. And I will say, I'm genuinely concerned we have our president, the president of the United States,

Starting point is 00:04:11 bragging that he aced a test where he remembered five words several minutes later. He said it was like 15 or 20 minutes, all the cognitive tests that I've seen, it's like five minutes later. But also, is that like the bar? Also, side note, if you'd like to see a version of maybe what he's talking about here,

Starting point is 00:04:25 there's been a version of MOCA, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment that's been going around. It has the recall and delayed recall stuff that Trump's talking about. So I imagine this is what he's talking about, or at least a version of it. And if you're bragging about acing this, I think there is a problem.

Starting point is 00:04:39 Some of the questions on this thing include naming an animal you see, tap your hand at each letter A, subtract by seven, starting with the number 100. Once again, I'm not saying that is definitely the exact one that he took, in part for a number of reasons. One part, the president has offered two different timelines for when he took this test.

Starting point is 00:04:52 As The Hill notes, he initially said it was administered roughly a year ago, but later explained how he asked Ronny Jackson, who stepped down as White House physician in early 2018, to administer the test. And there they note, Jackson told reporters after Trump's 2018 physical exam that the president answered every question correctly on the Montreal cognitive assessment,

Starting point is 00:05:07 but also adding the White House has not indicated in the two years since whether Trump took a cognitive exam as part of his yearly physical. And also when Trump was talking about this on Wednesday, he said, I said to the doctor, it was Dr. Ronny Jackson. I said, is there some kind of a test, an acuity test? And he said, there actually is. And he named it whatever it might be.

Starting point is 00:05:22 Yeah, I guess the main point of this quickie is a person, woman, man, camera, TV. Now available at shopdifranco.com. And then let's talk about a story that I know some people are gonna equate this to drama in some way. It is not drama. I'm also going to try to not be overtly angry, even though the story does make me angry.

Starting point is 00:05:41 Right, so as I'm recording this story, California has surpassed New York as the state with the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. All right, so as I'm recording this story, California has surpassed New York as the state with the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. In fact, just yesterday, California passed its new single-day record, breaking 12,000 new cases in just a day. And I'm starting this story off by mentioning that

Starting point is 00:05:53 so you understand, you know, we're in a serious situation, but also it kind of explains why there is so much outrage. This, in part, to recent reports that social media influencers have just been partying in LA. One of the main gatherings generating a ton of outrage was Hype House member LeRay Merritt's 22nd birthday. The festivities there reportedly began

Starting point is 00:06:08 with a dinner at Boa Steakhouse, later turning into a night of partying at a mansion in the Hollywood Hills. And based on several posts to social media, the party was packed with tons of maskless or poorly masked YouTubers and TikTokers. Guests in attendance included the likes of James Charles, Tana Mongeau, Nikita Dragun, Charlie and Dixie D'Amelio,

Starting point is 00:06:24 Emma Chamberlain, and others. In fact, in an interview with the Hollywood Fix, which if you don't know is this guy who seemingly follows young influencers around with his camera, which feels like a story in its own right. But there you had Hype House co-founder Thomas Petrou estimating that 60 to 70 people were inside the house. Also keep in mind there were other people as well, right?

Starting point is 00:06:40 There were groups of others who were being turned away outside the door. And so understandably, after seeing all these influencers ignoring social distancing guidelines, mask policies, many took to social media to call them out. One of the call outs that blew up the most was from YouTuber Tyler Oakley, with him initially tweeting, if your favorite influencers are at huge house parties during a pandemic and are dumb enough to post it on social media, they are bad influences, unfollow them. A short time later, he then decided to tag some of those, especially large creators, writing hi to them

Starting point is 00:07:05 and any others who have been partying in large groups. Please consider social distancing, mask wearing, and using your huge platforms to encourage responsibility during a worldwide pandemic. As of right now, it appears that only LeRae has responded publicly saying, I understand 100% where you're coming from and it was a dumb thing to do.

Starting point is 00:07:19 I will do better and will actually take this shit seriously. Still though, reactions to this have been mixed with a lot of people pointing to a tweet that LeRae put out in March, it's still on his page, that tweet reading, the fact that there is a virus going around and some of y'all really going out, risking your health to go to a party with people you don't even like is so stupid, but shit, I'm bored,

Starting point is 00:07:35 send me the Addy next time. But also, aside from Merritt specifically, you had people generally unhappy with what seems to be widespread disregard for such a serious, fast-spreading virus. I mean, this thing has killed over 143,000 people just in the United States. And I mean, just as far as the number of cases,

Starting point is 00:07:49 in the past two weeks alone, the United States recorded more than 915,000 new cases of COVID-19. That's more than what was reported across the country for the whole month of June. And on top of that, the United States surpassed four million total cases today. Also of note, to be fair, this last party is by no means

Starting point is 00:08:03 the only example of influencers facing backlash for ignoring coronavirus safety measures. And I mean that as far as generalities, right? We've seen frustrations building up against influencers still linking up and collaborating for TikTok and YouTube stuff. On top of that, more specifically, earlier this month, Jake Paul faced similar criticism

Starting point is 00:08:18 for throwing a massive party at his Calabasas mansion. And there's a large number of people there. You see this packed house. And in fact, after seeing videos of that gathering, Calabasas Mayor Alicia Weintraub said that she started receiving a flood of phone calls from outraged constituents. Going on to say they're having this large party,

Starting point is 00:08:31 no social distancing, no masks, it's just a big, huge disregard for everything that everybody is trying to do to get things back to functioning. Also going on to talk about other non-influencer events, saying she learned about a recent baby shower that brought in over 200 guests, as well as a wedding reception that had a big crowd as well.

Starting point is 00:08:46 And so as a result of all of this, you had the mayor issuing a press release announcing a city council approved order. An order saying those not wearing a mask in public may be fined $100 for their first offense. With her also specifically referencing the lack of proper coverings that she's seen, as well as parties even naming Paul specifically.

Starting point is 00:09:00 And also adding that there will be no more warnings. Instead, local sheriffs are now ordered to immediately break up large gatherings with the mayor Also going on to say regarding Jake Paul I'm hoping he will turn it around issue an apology and start promoting wearing a mask Although I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say I don't see him doing that and even if he did it I imagine it would be kind of one of those I just said something but then I'm not gonna live a certain way the reason I say that is when this news broke you also

Starting point is 00:09:21 Had Tyler Oakley tweeting fuck you Jake Paul Jake Paul seemingly not phased or finding it amusing even retweeting that post. And with all of that said, I think where I'm going to end this story is kind of with, a modified version of angry old Phil. If you are one of these influencers, some I've had on my podcast, some I genuinely like, stop being a piece of garbage.

Starting point is 00:09:39 You, based off of some sort of uneven mix of good looks, talent, luck, hard work, luck, have an audience. You have influence. If you are using that influence to promote behavior that is not helpful to society, not helpful to this new normal that we're living in, and some even going further and promoting negative behavior because it's just so much fun.

Starting point is 00:10:01 You are, in this moment, garbage. I'm not gonna say that's who you are at the core Although with the likes of Jake Paul I think that's something that he's been pretty consistent in promoting that he is not with him calling himself that mind you I just mean His actions and I just really hope that these people do not deflect in this moment that when we see people going like oh I learned That that's real though I am tired that we are having to still have learning experiences in this thing that just continually happened for months now We're seeing that story almost every day of someone going like,

Starting point is 00:10:26 I didn't think it was that big of a deal, but learn from my mistakes. Apparently no one's learning. Also what makes it kind of more infuriating is some of the people involved in this have been seemingly, I don't know if it was like a staged campaign where money was transferred or they were just trying to get views,

Starting point is 00:10:38 but a number have promoted safe behavior. And then they're seen just not abiding by that same stuff. And understand a lot of where my frustration and anger is coming from, it's not because I'm worried about the health of TikTok fuck boy or professional mess. The way that life was right now is you got it because your bad behavior

Starting point is 00:10:53 and you didn't give it to anyone else and you were the only one that suffered, great. Go fuck yourself. But by not abiding by the recommendations, the guidelines actually in the words of Dr. Fauci, by allowing yourself to get infected or not caring if you do get infected, you are propagating a pandemic.

Starting point is 00:11:07 It doesn't end with you. The chances are you're going to infect someone else who will then infect someone else and then someone who's vulnerable will get infected. That could be someone's father, mother, or grandchild. It could be a sick child who's immunodeficient. The numbers that we talk about every day aren't just numbers, those are people.

Starting point is 00:11:21 Go tell the family who's lost someone because of COVID-19, ah, the death rate, it's not that crazy. Because that's who I care about. I don't give a damn about these influencers. I care about the other people who get affected because of them. In this situation, for example, the essential workers who served them dinner,

Starting point is 00:11:33 are the people that have to be there. They're trying to survive, they're trying to just pay rent. They're not an influencer who can make 10 to hundreds of thousands of dollars for one post. People who live in the real world while you visit it like it's Disneyland. And I understand that these people collectively have audiences 20 to 100 times my size and maybe there's waves of hate, but people have to say this. I genuinely feel crazy when I look to social media

Starting point is 00:11:54 and there are people apparently existing in a completely different world even though they're just miles away. Or apparently COVID just doesn't exist anymore. Okay, I'm done now. Thank you. Just had to get that off my chest. And then finally, let's talk about a number of things, but at the center of it is unemployment, right? It is Thursday and that is what Thursdays are now. So this morning, the government reported that 1.4 million people filed for unemployment last week, which was the first time unemployment claims

Starting point is 00:12:16 have actually increased since March, so this is a huge deal. And the thing is, that's not even everyone who filed for unemployment last week. Another 980,000 new claims were filed by freelancers, part-time workers, and others who do not qualify for state unemployment benefits, but can receive aid under the emergency federal program. Now notably, and potentially good news,

Starting point is 00:12:34 the government did report that the number of continuing claims, or the people who are already receiving unemployment and filed again, did drop from 17.4 million for the week ending July 4th to 16.1 million for the week ending July 11th. But also, as you can see, that data is reported on a week lag. So it doesn't show any of the closures

Starting point is 00:12:50 or restrictions that have been put into place over the last two weeks. Here's the thing, while this week's numbers are still much, much lower than the ones we were originally seeing back in March before they started steadily declining, the fact that this is the first uptick since then is incredibly significant because it shows a broader trend.

Starting point is 00:13:03 As Joseph Brusuelos, the chief economist at RSM, a multinational network of accounting firms, explains, what you're seeing is that as the economy slows, the pace of claims picks back up, which really puts at risk the monthly jobs report over the next few months. The July numbers are going to be tenuous, but it's August that I'm worried about.

Starting point is 00:13:19 And all of this is incredibly significant because as we discussed on Tuesday, it comes as the additional $600 in federal unemployment benefits are set to expire in just over a week, right? And in addition to the 20 to 30 million people who will lose benefits if and when they expire, many economists have also warned that it would have

Starting point is 00:13:33 a very serious effect on the already faltering economy. According to Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, there is one clear takeaway from this morning's unemployment insurance report. Not extending the weekly $600 benefit supplement would be unconscionable. Families will be evicted from their homes, poverty will soar, children will go hungry,

Starting point is 00:13:50 businesses will shutter, and the economy will tank." So when you hear that, the question that maybe pops into your head is, well, what the hell are we doing about it? And when I say we, I mean the government. And you know, with that huge deadline getting closer and closer, we've seen Senate Republicans and the White House still hashing out the details of another coronavirus stimulus package. But what we've seen for weeks now is that House still hashing out the details of another coronavirus stimulus package.

Starting point is 00:14:05 But what we've seen for weeks now is that the process has been stalled by internal divisions within the Republican Party, both because they're divided on specific issues, as well as some Republicans just do not want another stimulus bill. But what we ended up finally seeing yesterday is that Senate Republicans announced

Starting point is 00:14:16 that they had reached a tentative $1 trillion deal with White House officials. And according to a draft summary, which was obtained by the New York Times, there are a few areas the Republicans have agreed to, including 26 billion for vaccine development and deployment, 25 billion for COVID testing,

Starting point is 00:14:29 a total of 105 billion for education, 30 billion of which would be set aside for schools that reopen, and very notably, a second round of PPP loans to small businesses with more loan forgiveness, among other things. Notably, that document also said there would be another round of stimulus checks, but it did not say how much they would be

Starting point is 00:14:44 or who they would go to. Another major part of this plan and something that Republicans have been pushing for a while now are the proposed liability protections for schools, businesses, and medical providers. This make it harder for them to be sued by their employees if they contract coronavirus while on the job. Also of note is what was not in that summary.

Starting point is 00:14:58 The plan there as seen explicitly says, "'Republicans will not give any money to state "'and local governments to help with budget holes "'and layoffs.'" Though it does note that aid will likely be added back in during negotiations with Democrats who want hundreds of billions of dollars to go to states and cities. The summary also does not include a payroll tax cut,

Starting point is 00:15:13 which was something that was pushed by President Trump for both this stimulus package and the last one, which is also not completely surprising. It was something that was rejected by Democrats and Republicans both times. With Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin also confirming this morning that the payroll tax cuts definitely will not be in the legislation.

Starting point is 00:15:26 I see of some saying it appears that there is compromise being made between Senate GOP and the White House. But despite all of that, there are still things that they are struggling to hammer out. You know, according to reports Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was hoping to roll out this package this morning, but instead what we saw were yesterday's negotiations bleeding into today.

Starting point is 00:15:40 And reportedly one of the major things still up for debate is unemployment benefits, you know, that little thing. And in general, it major things still up for debate is unemployment benefits. You know, that little thing. And in general, it appears that while the Republicans agree they do want to cut the jobless payments from the current $600, they disagree on how much they should cut. According to some reports, Senate Republicans

Starting point is 00:15:54 had previously floated the idea of decreasing the benefits to just $200 per week. But then yesterday we see CNBC reporting that they were considering extending the benefits through the end of the year at just $100 per week. But then just this morning, you had Mnuchin saying that the extension will be based on 70% wage replacement. Which means that the benefits would amount to about 70% of a typical workers income while they were employed. And so as far as what that would look like, according to an economist in the Treasury Department under the Obama administration

Starting point is 00:16:16 who spoke to the Washington Post, 70% wage replaced would put the extended benefits at about $175 per week with him adding, if they lowered it to to 200 a week, "'30 million workers would wake up with a pay cut "'from a third to a half overnight.'" While 200 is marginally better than full expiration, the United States will still take a major economic hit from this summer and this fall as a result from it. And even then, many lawmakers have also pointed out that giving out benefits based on wage replacement

Starting point is 00:16:40 would be tricky, with Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon telling reporters that even Trump's Labor Secretary had said earlier that it was not possible to quickly implement unemployment benefits tied to a specific level of wage replacement. And while that would be on top of state unemployment, those benefits vary drastically, and even more, they often fall short.

Starting point is 00:16:54 According to reports, state benefits on their own generally replace only 40% of wages. And finally, the last thing we need to touch on with this story is the issue of timeliness. You know, regarding that, Trump administration officials have emphasized the need to act by the end of next week. This, including Mnuchin, who told reporters this morning, "'Let me just remind people the time-sensitive issue

Starting point is 00:17:11 "'we're talking about is next Friday "'on unemployment and schools.'" Some of this stuff, if it takes us a couple of weeks to work with the Democrats and agree on all the pieces we can. But also, according to reports, McConnell has said this timeline is unrealistic, which I will say, I don't often agree with Mitch McConnell,

Starting point is 00:17:24 but I do agree with him here. Because here's the thing, Republicans haven't even agreed on this bill within their own party, and then once they do, they still have to face the Democrats. And the Democrats have been pushing to extend that $600 through the end of the year, which is a provision that was included in the $3 trillion stimulus bill that was passed in the House back in May. And even beyond the unemployment debate, many Republicans are worried that they won't be able to get Democrats on board with their proposals at all. This including North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer who told reporters yesterday that even if Republicans do overcome their internal divisions,

Starting point is 00:17:49 they would be unable to bridge the pretty big gap with Democrats. The Dem bill that was passed would not only give more money to individual Americans who are on unemployment, it also prioritizes multiple things that Republicans oppose. And so what we're seeing is in order to meet some of the pressing deadlines, we've seen some Republicans saying they intend

Starting point is 00:18:03 to propose a series of bills rather than just one big daddy bill. With Senator Roy Blunt, who chairs the rules committee, saying they would be doing this so, we'll have one appropriations bill, we'll have several authorization bills that explain in more detail how that appropriated money will be spent.

Starting point is 00:18:15 And obviously there will be a bill that will talk about any money that is distributed in direct payments or any other way. And that plan seemed to be supported by members of the Trump administration, including Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows. But already we've seen Democrats rejecting that plan,

Starting point is 00:18:28 with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying this morning. This is a package. We cannot piecemeal this. And what we have seen so far falls very short of the challenge that we face in order to defeat the virus and to open, in order to open our schools and to open our economy. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also echoing that statement saying, we're not going to take care of one portion of suffering people and leave everyone else hanging.

Starting point is 00:18:58 That's what they may want to do. Take care of this and then they'll go home. No way. This is a comprehensive proposal that addresses the many problems of COVID and we have to address it as a totality. One of the reasons we're up against this cliff is because the Republicans have dithered. Adding that he and Pelosi have urged Republicans to come to the table three weeks ago, but they never responded.

Starting point is 00:19:15 Now that Senate Republicans have finally woken up to the calamity in our country, they have been so divided, so disorganized, so unprepared, that they have struggled to even draft a partisan proposal within their own conference. They can't come together. Even after all this time, it appears the Republican legislative response to COVID is ununified,

Starting point is 00:19:42 unserious, unsatisfactory. And that is unfortunately where we are with this right now. If the bill is not rolled out today, it's very likely it will not officially be announced until Monday, which of course puts the lawmakers on even more of a time crunch. And until then, everyone, including the tens of millions of people most impacted by this, kinda just have to wait.

Starting point is 00:20:00 And in fact, as I was recording, we got the news that the Republicans again failed to reach a deal today with Mitch McConnell announcing that the Trump administration is reviewing the agreement in principle and legislation will be introduced next week. That's where we are. We're ending today's show not on a great positive note. Fortunately, it appears to be more and more the norm these days. But with that, I would love to know your thoughts on this story. What do you think will happen? What do you hope happens for those who have been impacted and those who have been receiving those unemployment checks? What happens to your life if that 600 turns into a 200?

Starting point is 00:20:27 And then I guess also additionally, those who haven't been hit, you know, you haven't lost your job, maybe you're an essential employee or you work for yourself and you haven't been impacted, what are your thoughts on what should happen here? And that is where I'm going to end today's show. As always to the last three people here,

Starting point is 00:20:40 thanks for watching and also maybe supporting the show with a like, a share. Also, hey, if you're new here, you want more dives into the news, definitely hit that subscribe button, tap that bell to turn on notifications. If you're looking for more to watch, maybe you missed one of the last shows

Starting point is 00:20:51 we've been getting hit by YouTube this week. But with that said, of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love yo faces and I'll see you next time. I hope you liked the video. Subscribe if you like it.

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The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 7.23 Dear Youtubers & TikTokers Throwing Pandemic Parties. Unemployment Benefits, & More

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