The Philip DeFranco Show - Prince Andrew Arrested Over Epstein Files & Trump Threatens Iran War at Board of Peace

Starting point is 00:00:00 You don't need AI agents, which may sound weird coming from Service Now, the leader in AI agents. The truth is, AI agents need you. Sure, they'll process, predict, even get work done autonomously. But they don't dream, read a room, rally a team, and they certainly don't have shower thoughts, pivotal hallway chats, or big ideas. People do. And people, when given the best AI platform, they're freed up to do the fulfilling work they want to do. To see how ServiceNow puts AI to work for people, visit ServiceNow.com. Former Prince Andrew was just arrested by police in the UK over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

Starting point is 00:00:34 Meanwhile, in the US, a few people have resigned, I guess, although really not anybody in the Trump administration. Not even Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik, despite his blatant lies about visiting Epstein's island. And the whole thing just seems to be the latest example of the US proving itself uniquely unable to hold almost anyone who associated with Epstein even remotely accountable. But we've got to start with this news that's rocking the UK today because it started this morning when police issued a statement that they had arrested a man in his 60s from Norfolk on suspicion of misconduct in public office. While they didn't specifically name Andrew because it's policy under British law to not name a suspect taken into custody, the details and the statement match what's known about the allegations against him, and police were seen at the same time, add as a state where Andrew's living. Right, and then, you had Andrew's brother, King Charles, confirming the arrest in a statement and adding,

Starting point is 00:01:12 what now follows is the full, fair, and proper process by which this issue is investigated in the appropriate manner and by the appropriate authorities. In this, as I have said before, they have our full and wholehearted support and cooperation. Let me state clearly, the law must take its course. And you had a spokesperson for Charles saying that Buckingham Palace hadn't actually been told about the arrest, before it took place. But whatever the case, right, it has been a long road to get to this point. Andrew's links to Epstein, they have been known for years.

Starting point is 00:01:34 Virginia Jouffray, probably the most well-known Epstein survivor, first publicly accused Andrew of sexual abuse and court filings way back in 2014. Right, she said she had been trafficked by Epstein to Andrew sometime around 2001 when she was a teenager and that he raped her multiple times, though Andrew denied any wrongdoing. And it wasn't really until 2019 after Epstein was arrested

Starting point is 00:01:51 and lawyers for victims called on Andrew to speak to investigators that he started to take a step back from public life. Then in 2021, Jufre sued Andrew in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Andrew then paid roughly $16 million, according to reports, to settle the lawsuit in 2022, without admitting to any allegations against him and, again, denying any wrongdoing.

Starting point is 00:02:07 And then, it was only last year, about six months after Jufre took her own life, that the king finally stripped Andrew of his royal titles and evicted him from his royal residence. With Andrew, then, moving into the massive estate that I mentioned, which is actually privately owned by Charles. But now with the news today, after all this time, there is a chance that he might actually face some real consequences. Though also, to be very clear here, he hasn't actually been arrested in connection to allegations of sexual assault or trafficking. He's believed to have been arrested based on suspicions that he shared confidential information with Jeffrey Epstein while serving as British Trade Envoy. And that was actually only exposed thanks to the files released by the DOJ on January 30th. Those files that you might remember included photos of Andrew kneeling over and touching an unknown woman or a girl lying on the floor,

Starting point is 00:02:43 which brought to mind the accusations that you phrase made against him. And understandably, while most of the attention was there, they also included several emails suggesting that he may have broken the law in this other way. So in one email, he appears to afforded internal reports about an official trip to Asia. In another, he seems to have sent a confidential brief given to a women as official capacity with information on investment opportunities in gold and uranium in Afghanistan. And the potential criminal charges facing is misconduct in public office, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. There was also a very big thing here is you've had legal experts warn that this charge is very difficult to prosecute because the narrow definition of the crime.

Starting point is 00:03:12 So you're saying things like a London-based lawyer telling the New York Times. The authorities will be looking to prove that Andrew was a public officer acting as such at the time of the allegations and that he willfully neglected to perform his duty to such a degree as to amount to an abuse of the public's trust in him as the office holder and that he did so without reasonable excuse or justification. Now with all that said, you still have the family of Virginia Jafray welcoming the news of Andrew's arrest saying in a statement, at last today our broken hearts have been lifted at the news that no one is above the law, not even royalty, saying he was never a prince for survivors everywhere, Virginia did this for you. And now, as far as what this process is actually

Starting point is 00:03:43 going to look like, Andrew has already been released from police custody, but he is still under investigation. But if and when, police are assured that a crime has been committed, they'll send the evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service, which will then bring charges of it thinks that there is a real shot at conviction and the cases in the public interest. Now, you know, with all this, there's obviously been criticism that more should have been done sooner. But also, when you look through the reactions, right, Andrew's arrest, it seems to be yet another example of how different the response has been to the Epstein files internationally versus in the United States.

Starting point is 00:04:08 Right in the UK, in addition to going after Andrew, they've been looking into a Labor Party politician and former ambassador to the U.S., Peter Mandelson. He's also being investigated on suspicion of misconduct and public office, tied to sharing sensitive government documents with Epstein. That whole scandal also led to Prime Minister Kier Starrmer, chief of staff and communications director to resign. Starrmer himself has also faced calls to step down since he appointed Mandelson to the ambassadorship despite knowing that the guy had a relationship with Epstein.

Starting point is 00:04:29 The Stummers claimed that he wasn't aware of how close they actually were and accused Mandelson of lying about it. Also outside of the UK, the former Prime Minister of Norway's been charged with gross corruption and connection to his ties to Epstein, a diplomat and her husband are facing a corruption investigation by police. In France, the authorities have said they're investigating reports that the country's former culture minister and his family had financial links to Epstein. Prosecutors and Paris announced this week that they've opened two new investigations into potential sex abuse crimes and financial wrongdoing linked to Jeffrey Epstein. Or with them calling on victims to come forward and share their stories saying, we will listen to all the statements they wish to make. But then in the U.S., like when Attorney General Pambani testified before the House Judiciary Committee

Starting point is 00:05:02 last week, all six survivors in attendance raised their hands to say that they'd still not been able to meet with Trump's DOJ. And Bondi, she not only refused to apologize to survivors, she actually demanded that Democrats apologize to Trump. The Dow is over 50,000 right now. The S&P at almost 7,000. And the NASDAQs smashing records, Americans 401Ks and retirement savings are booming. That's what we should be talking about.

Starting point is 00:05:30 And this was also after her department exposed the names of at least 43 victims and shared dozens of unredacted nude images, young women, and possibly teenagers in the January 30th files release. All while heavily redacting much of the rest of the files, potentially withholding millions more and insisting that it had met its obligations under the law, even while many lawmakers say, that is just not true. And that's also without mentioning the people in or around this administration that are named in the files themselves. Like I said, Lutnik lied about visiting Epstein's Island. Elon Musk appears to apply. about refusing to visit, and according to unredacted files that lawmakers have been able to see,

Starting point is 00:05:59 that Trump may have lied about kicking Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago in the early 2000s. Or if he was telling it truth, according to earlier reporting by the Wall Street Journal, that may have happened after an 18-year-old told the club's managers that Epstein had pressured her for sex. With the story being that those managers relayed the allegations to Trump, who agreed to kick Epstein out, but according to the journal, the incident wasn't then reported to police. Another file suggests that Trump may have told police a few years later that everyone knew about Epstein's behavior, but only after the department had launched an investigation. And of course, with this, you know, there are many others who's

Starting point is 00:06:26 ties to Epstein have been seen as alarming. But of the people we definitely need to focus on, it includes people running the fucking government with the power to try and hold potential wrongdoers accountable. Again, that's not to say that everyone and anyone is guilty because they're in the files, right, guilt can only be determined after a process. The problem is, as more and more information comes out

Starting point is 00:06:42 and people are actually being held accountable, usually outside of the United States, Trump and his DOJ are suggesting that the country just needs to move on, this is over, it's done, and the process, it's never really gonna take place here. And actually, you had Trump talking to reporters about Andrew's arrest today and giving us even more reason to think that's the case.

Starting point is 00:06:56 Do you think people in this country at some point, associates of Jeffrey Epstein, will wind up in handcuffs too? Well, you know, I'm the expert in a way because I've been totally exonerated. That's very nice. I can actually speak about it very nicely. I think it's a shame. I think it's very sad. I think it's so bad for the royal family.

Starting point is 00:07:14 It's a very, very sad. To me, it's a very sad thing. When I see that, it's a very sad thing. It's really interesting because nobody used to speak about Epstein when he was alive, but now they speak. But I'm the one that can talk about it, I've been totally exonerated. I did nothing. In fact, the opposite, he was against me. He was fighting me in the election, which I just found out through the last three million pages of

Starting point is 00:07:35 documents. With all of that said, right, there are still lawmakers here that are pushing for more to be done and pointing to Andrew's arrest as a call to action. And so for example, you had Republican Thomas Massey writing on Twitter, Prince Andrew was just arrested. This was the metric I established for success of the Epstein-Files Transparency Act that Repro Kana and I got passed. Now we need justice in the United States. It's time for AG Pam Bondi and FBI Director Cash to act. You also had Democrat Robert Garcia adding in a statement, now it's time for the United States to end this White House cover up.

Starting point is 00:08:01 But as far as one, if anything meaningful is gonna happen here, we're gonna have to wait to see if it leads to any more action, though I wouldn't hold your breath. I'm hopeful, but I'm also cynical. And then separate from that, it's gonna be a while before we find out if anything's actually gonna happen to Andrew and all these others. But also, if we can go back to Donald Trump

Starting point is 00:08:15 in other news, Trump officially kicked off the first meeting of his so-called Board of Peace. Right with Trump's surrounded by leaders of autocracies, dictatorships, and countries accused of human rights abuses, all while the UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, French, Germany, and Italy all refuse to join Russia and China are also not on board, but Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, and Turkey paid the billion dollar entry fee. And so you had Trump with this crowd declaring peace in the Middle East, while then also threatening

Starting point is 00:08:38 war with Iran. And you know, as we've talked about before, this board of peace was initially created a focus on stabilization and reconstruction of Gaza, but then Trump has since tried to expand its vision, painting the board as a major international body like the UN. But also, despite what Trump may believe, that the vast majority of other nations, including the biggest international players, they have cast out on the group's credibility. Or as the Guardian put it, global powers, including the Washington's traditional allies fear the U.S.-led body, is an attempt to sidestep the more democratic United Nations and replace it

Starting point is 00:09:04 with a fee-paying members club run on the whims of a single man. Because among other things, in order to even join the board as a permanent member, nations are required to pay a billion dollar fee. And basically all of America's traditional allies and NATO allies refuse. In fact, the only two EU nations that are on border, Bulgaria, which is a fringe member, and Hungary, which is led by the authoritarian and pro-Russia Prime Minister, Victor Orban. I mean, even Russia and China were like, no, we're good. And so you only had representatives from just over 40 countries gathering in D.C. for the inaugural meeting of the supposed revolutionary organization, and even then, half of those nations were just observers.

Starting point is 00:09:34 And all in all, only around two dozen countries have actually joined the board, and most of them have incredibly questionable governments. Again, we're talking about famously authoritarian or autocratic countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Turkey, India, and Bahrain, among others. You've got people joking, Board of Peace, and it's just the motherfuckers that are always at war. And you've also got a lot of people raising concerns about the fact that Palestine isn't even part of the board that was created to rebuild Gaza, but Israel, which is, Literally the whole reason that Gaza needs to be rebuilt, they've shelled out the $1 billion to join. But you know, with widespread doubts already swirling about the credibility of this group, you had Trump kicking off the meeting and the kind of most Trump way possible. Giving an hour-long, rambly speech where he repeatedly bragged about all his achievements,

Starting point is 00:10:09 endorse dictators, talked about how much he loves women and told anecdotes about groping his wife. Prime Minister Orban of Hungary, who has my complete and total endorsement for election. Not everybody in Europe loves that endorsement. Young handsome guy. It's always nice to be young and handsome. Doesn't mean we have to like you. I don't like young, handsome men. Women?

Starting point is 00:10:34 I like men. I don't have any interest. I've had a good relationship. Other than in my last speech, they did turn off my teleprompter. I got up there. My teleprompter didn't work. I'm sitting in front of all of you people and more. I had no teleprompter.

Starting point is 00:10:51 I knew I was in trouble because I'm walking up. You know, the teleprompters are over. He had the most beautiful speech ready. And I was all set to knock him dead. First, I had an escalator that stopped. You know that. It's going up, boom. It's lucky my movie star first lady was in front of me

Starting point is 00:11:10 because I put my hand on a certain part of her body and I was able to stop my fall. There was also this moment that's kind of gone viral where Trump appears to say that AOC is attractive while also criticizing her. The people that were at the event in Munich, They didn't graduate quickly from college. They had everything they could do.

Starting point is 00:11:29 There was one young, attractive woman. She was unable to answer questions. But as far as the actual substance of this first meeting, there actually wasn't a whole lot, at least from Trump. When Trump actually stayed on script, he was mostly using buzzwords and platitudes about how all these great authoritarian nations are gonna come together to somehow create lasting peace

Starting point is 00:11:45 in the world. And this particular moment got a lot of attention. And you know, it's peace in the Middle East. We have peace in the Middle East. Think of it. For years you've been hearing about peace, in the Middle East and everybody who's saying it's impossible. With many then saying that it's pretty fucking ironic that Trump would kind of do all this while

Starting point is 00:12:00 the US is on the brink of a major war with Iran. I mean, literally in that same speech, Trump repeatedly threatened Iran if they don't agree to a nuclear deal. We have to make a meaningful deal. Otherwise bad things happen. So now we may have to take it a step further or we may not. Maybe we're gonna make a deal. You're gonna be you're gonna be finding out over the next probably 10 days. But then also one of the biggest things is that even though the board of peace was explicitly created to stabilize Gaza, Trump really didn't focus on at all that much. And then when he did, he chose to downplay the situation, even falsely claiming at one point that the war was basically over. The war in Gaza is over. It's over. There are little flames, little flames. The ceasefire was held,

Starting point is 00:12:36 and every last remaining hostage, both living and dead, has been returned back home. Now that said, various members of the board of peace made a few notable announcements regarding Gaza, where with Trump saying that nine members of the organization have agreed to pledge $7 billion towards a Gaza relief package. And beyond that, you had Trump also saying that the US would be giving $10 billion to the board. efforts, though he didn't specify exactly how that money was going to be spent. Though some are speculating it could go towards building a U.S. military base in Gaza, and people are pointing to reports of contracting records that show plans to build a 5,000-person military compound. And then you also had another official announcing that troops made up of up to 12,000 police and 20,000 international stabilization for soldiers will eventually be allocated

Starting point is 00:13:12 across five sectors starting in Rafa. Then of course, because no Trump event can be complete without some AI slot propaganda, you got that. With the US playing a weird promotional video that blamed Hamas for Gaza's destruction, but made no mention of Israel while. then also featuring seemingly AI-generated images of an imagined futuristic Gaza. And so, you know, with all that, as far as my kind of take here, I'm up kind of two minds. Right, one part of my brain's like, okay, this is kind of a standard run-of-the-mill Trump event. But then also, given all the specifics we're seeing here, like it really doesn't seem like this is a peace organization.

Starting point is 00:13:39 If anything, this looks like an attempt by Trump to consolidate power with autocrats, bypassed democratic institutions, and then try to call that international cooperation. The fact that America's allies are staying away, it kind of tells you everything. Or when the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan, they refuse to join your border peace. but Saudi Arabia and Qatar like, sign me up, baby. It doesn't look like you're building a democratic alternative to the UN. It looks like you're building something else entirely. Don't let the branding distract you from what this really is.

Starting point is 00:14:03 And then, y'all, there's more we're going to dive into in just a minute. First, let me thank a sponsor and say, you know, the fastest way to ruin a good mood is wet socks before 9 a.m. And that's exactly why you need today's sponsor, Vessi in your life. They're known for their waterproof shoes that don't look like you're gearing up for an Arctic expedition, right? They just look good. Personally, I've been reaching for their stormbursts lately, worn them through rain, slush, wet sidewalk, spilled coffee,

Starting point is 00:14:21 and whatever liquid lives in grocery store aisles. And my socks, they stay dry, mood stayed intact. They're warm enough for winter, but breathable enough that your feet don't feel trapped by noon. And also, the traction is what it needs to be. Slick sidewalks, icy patches, sketchy parking lots, these suckers are stable. And comfort-wise, they're built for real life.

Starting point is 00:14:35 Cushion, supportive, easy to pull on, and no painful break-in period. Also, style-wise, they work with everything I wear, which is great because I'm not planning outfits around shoes. And they come in different cuts and colors, so whether you want subtle or bold, you've got options. And they're also made with more sustainable materials, which is rare for shoes built for weather chaos.

Starting point is 00:14:50 And Vessi backs them with a one-year warranty and 30-day hassle-free returns. So if you're done sacrificing socks to the weather gods, go to vessi.com slash DeFranco or scan that QR code to get 15% off your first pair. That's vse.com slash defranco. But then diving right back into the news, we've got to talk about how FCC chairman Brendan Carr says that James Tilarico just invented the Colbert controversy to raise money, calling it a hoax. But then he also confirmed that the FCC open enforcement proceedings against the view for interviewing Tilarico and said that he would have gone after Colbert if the interview had aired. so that's not denying censorship, that's threatening more of it. So let's break down the specifics. During a press conference yesterday, he said this.

Starting point is 00:15:24 The claimed equal time issue in the Colbert instance had to do with Democrat on Democrat violence. This was about James Tilarico looking to get a sort of a click and a view and maybe a vote and a money boost over his two opponents than Democrat primary. Right, as we've talked about. Earlier this week, you had Colbert saying that CBS blocked him from airing an interview with Texas Senate candidate James Tilerico,

Starting point is 00:15:48 citing the FCC's equal time rule. And that's that rule that states if a network gives one candidate airtime, their opponents are entitled to equal airtime on the network. In Talorico's case, the argument is that would mean that his Democratic primary opponents, including Jasmine Crockett, need to be offered CBS airtime. But, and it's a big, but went to Brazil, got a BBL, but talk shows are historically exempt from this rule. You've had people accusing this Trump-run FCC of over-enforcing the rule to punish Trump's critics, and many feel like CBS is at the very least complicit. Brendan Carr, he dismissed those concerns, accused the media of falling for a hoax, and thinks that the whole thing was pre-planned.

Starting point is 00:16:19 You had a Democrat candidate who understood the way that the news media works. And he took advantage of all of your sort of prior conceptions to run a hoax, apparently for the purpose of raising money and getting clicks. And the news media played right into it. I think yesterday was a perfect encapsulation of why the American people have more trust in gas station sushi than they do in the national. news media. And actually, the one thing that he just said that is true is that this may have helped Taylor Rico's campaign. But even though his Colbert interview wasn't aired on broadcast TV, it went on

Starting point is 00:16:55 YouTube, all the social media places got millions and millions of views, people talking about it on TV, his campaign raised $2.5 million dollars following the news cycle. But that also doesn't mean the other stuff he said is true, and it doesn't mean that the FCC and CBS have clean hands. You even had that FCC commissioner yesterday saying this is an example of corporate capitulation in the face of this administration's broader campaign to censor and control speech. You've got a lot of people agreeing with her, which is not surprising for a number of reasons. including during yesterday's press conference, Carr confirmed that the FCC has started enforcement proceedings against ABC and the view over equal time issues related to their interview with James

Starting point is 00:17:25 Tilerico. And that, even though the show is produced by ABC News and news programs are not supposed to be subject to the rule. And then also later in the day, you had Carr going on Fox News and he suggested that he would have opened a probe into Colbert if he had aired his Tilarico interview. Would you have gone after them for violating the equal time rule, as Colbert said? Well, we've said, as we've been very clear, is that broadcasters have a unique right and privilege, a license and one thing they have to do is comply with the equal time rules. But complying with equal time would have meant- When has that been enforced? Once the last time that's been enforced against sub-bris?

Starting point is 00:17:55 I used to work for CBS many, many years ago. It's been a while, but complying would mean more air time. For more Democrats, we're gonna enforce the law and hold broadcasters accountable. That FCC Commissioner is right. This is corporate capitulation. Just remember, that hoax claim, it's gaslighting. Carr says that Tilarico engineered this for clicks while simultaneously proving CBS was right to fear of FCC retaliation. Both can't be true, and Tala Rico didn't create the threat, CARD did. But then, actually, switching gears, next up,

Starting point is 00:18:20 in the news today, you might find this hard to believe, but labor unions actually shrank under Biden and have grown under Trump. Union membership hit an all time low in 2022, then hit an, I guess, even aller time low in 20203. And then the allist time low in 2024. Is that how English works? That left about 14.3 million workers in unions

Starting point is 00:18:37 by the time that Trump put his hand on the Bible and said, I don't Donald John Trump, who solemnly swear. And then of course, his hand caught on fire. He then flew into the sky and said, The Epstein files are a hoax. Excuse me. Sorry, it's been a very long week and I've been sick. But then, over the course of the following year, as one of the most labor hostile presidents in modern American history shredded worker protections, union membership reverse. Over the ranks of organized labor growing by over 400,000 in 2025,

Starting point is 00:18:59 bringing the total number to 14.7 million and pushing union density up by a tenth of a percentage point to 10%. And actually, when you count workers who aren't members of a union, but they're still covered by a union contract, that number hit the highest level since 2009 at 16.5 million. So that brings up the question, Well, is Biden actually a corporate chill and Trump a working class champion? Well, no, it's actually quite the opposite, right? A big part of the reason for this shift is that the labor market was doing pretty good under Biden, and it sucks shit under Trump. I believe that's a technical term.

Starting point is 00:19:24 There was a post-pandemic recovery, and even through 2024, the U.S. economy added 2.2 million jobs, so non-union positions grew faster than union ones, pushing their relative share down. But then last year, you had the labor market growing at its slowest pace outside of a recession since the early 2000, so unions grabbed a larger share back. Also, I definitely need to clarify that you can't just boil the shift to changes in relative percentages. There was an absolute decline in Biden's last year in a rise in Trump's first. That actually seems to have more to do with the tireless work of labor organizers than less to do with anything that Trump can take credit for. He's been ruthless toward workers.

Starting point is 00:19:54 He cut down the federal workforce by some 300,000 people so far. For those still there, they've described feeling fearful, hopeless, and stressed the fuck out as he stripped them of protections. Right, one of the places we can start is with Trump taking away collective bargaining rights from over a million federal workers at over 40 government offices covering roughly two-thirds of the federal workforce. That was a move where you had a labor historian calling it the largest and most aggressive single act of union busting in U.S. history even worse than Reagan's infamous assault on air traffic controllers. They have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated. But it didn't stop there, right, because Trump also ended automatic payroll deductions of union dues, which

Starting point is 00:20:25 deprived them of funding. And in fact, as a result, the American Federation of Government employees had to lay off 30% of its staff in August. The next up, you had several agencies canceling their contracts with federal unions as well, as several more fighting lawsuits to get their contracts canceled. Then to talk about something more recently, last week, you had the White House telling those agencies, hey, don't even wait for the lawsuits to finish. Just end the contracts now. And in the face of these relentless attacks, who had public sector union membership

Starting point is 00:20:47 growing throughout last year as tens of thousands of federal workers joined to defend themselves. And understand, that's just with the federal workforce. There's another war that's being waged in the private sector. Right, in there, yes, Trump has less direct control, but he is still causing a lot of damage.

Starting point is 00:20:58 And so, for example, you had him purging the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission with a men trying to refocus its attention on white discrimination. Are you a white male who's experienced discrimination at work based on your race or sex? You may have a claim to recover money under federal civil rights laws.

Starting point is 00:21:12 Also, you've got OSHA, the occupational safety and health administration, not in great shape. With Elizabeth Warren and five other Senate Democrats writing a letter to Trump's Labor Secretary complaining that there were 20% fewer work site inspections between April and September compared to the same six months the year before. Meanwhile, the inspections that were carried out, 42% fewer found willful violations, which is a category that carries some of the highest penalties for employers. And the agency has lost nearly 300 employees since Trump took office. Right, and actually with this, you have experts warning that OSHA already did so few inspections before this, and since it can't investigate everything,

Starting point is 00:21:39 its effectiveness as an agency depends on deterrence. So now they're worried that employers are just gonna go, well, fuck it, who cares? We'll break the law, the odds of getting caught and held accountable they're so low anyways. Plus, the Trump administration is repeatedly signaled that worker protections are on the chopping block. Or with the closing offices that protect coal miners,

Starting point is 00:21:53 revealing plans to stop requiring proper lighting at construction sites and moving to ease evaluations of protective equipment for workers regularly exposed to dangerous chemicals. And then it's the same story with the National Labor Relations Board, whose chair, Trump fired without cause, for the first time in the agency's 90-year history.

Starting point is 00:22:06 And so for most of last year, or didn't even have enough members to perform its normal duties. Right, and then you compare that to Biden's NLRB, which aggressively enforced labor laws and went after huge corporations like Amazon and Starbucks for illegally union busting. In fact, during Biden's term, filings for union elections doubled

Starting point is 00:22:19 and union victories reached their highest level in a decade. But also with this, I do wanna know that if you pull out, it's not as simple as like Trump, bad, Biden, good, it's all the now. The erosion of organized labor in the United States, it predates either Trump or by. Back in the 1950s, nearly a third all workers who were represented by a union, today,

Starting point is 00:22:34 it's just like 10%. And there are a lot of reasons for it. A few of the big ones, being the shift toward a service economy, the proliferation of right to work laws, and the general rise of neoliberalism since the 1970s. I mean, even had public support for unions falling to an all-time low of 48% in 2009, right at the peak of the Great Recession. But also over the past decade, it is roared back, reaching 68% last year, which is really a level we haven't seen since the early 1960s. But also, notably with that, if you break it down by political

Starting point is 00:22:57 party, it becomes a little more complicated. Support shot up to 90% among Democrats, remain steady at 69% among independents and dropped to 41% among Republicans. It was support increasing across all three groups compared to 2016, though Republicans, their peak was in 2022 at 56%. But that, my friends, you beautiful bastards, is where your Thursday, Philip DeFranco show is going to end. Well, of course, I'll see you right back here on the channel soon with these daily dives into the news. If you want something same but also different, you can check out one of my other two new shows and podcasts this week, whether it be me diving deep into and with Alex Friedland or crashing out with Alex Perlman. There's really no bad choices, but hey, stay well, stay good, stay safe.

Starting point is 00:23:31 I'm going to ask you a question here in a second. You can tell me to go fuck myself and cut it. So I'm just going to preface that. You're thinking. That's a great one. How did you find that? What kind of research are you doing? Here's a map right here. We're either 100% in fucking full agreement,

Starting point is 00:23:44 or you can suck my- I remember team speak. We got all these facilities to make sure that we put all the voters in them.

The Philip DeFranco Show - Prince Andrew Arrested Over Epstein Files & Trump Threatens Iran War at Board of Peace

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