The Young Turks - 2022 STATE OF THE UNION: TYT Coverage Hour 3

Episode Date: March 3, 2022

Hour 3. Join Ana Kasparian, Cenk Uygur, John Iadarola, and Francesca Fiorentini as they give live updates of the Texas Primary and offer live commentary of the State of the Union address.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to The Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. All right, guys. As soon we're back, TYT, State of the Union, Texas primary coverage, you get it. Jank, Anna, John, you get it. You guys, you get it. We'll get to some of your comments in a second. I'm not saying, hey, look, oh, no, I read Sam, already. Hit the join button below to become a young tourist member. You get it. Okay, so Joe Biden just gave the state of the union speech and we're going to give you the quickest

summary we've ever done. It started out strong because he was talking about Ukraine. He talked about the courage and the strength of the Ukrainian people. That is in arguable. It was cool. His foreign policy has actually been, in my opinion, near excellent. I know that's not a conventional idea. The mainstream media hated that he left Afghanistan. The rest of the country loved that he left Afghanistan. Yes, it was a messy withdrawal, but overall, it was always gonna be messy when you withdraw. I'm glad he did. Now he's handling Ukraine like a pro, so no problem with that foreign policy part of the speech.

In fact, it was good. Yes, he's getting on an age, so he called the Ukrainians, Iranians at one point, and sometimes he's stumbled with his words. But I don't really care about that, all I care about is, is he actually competent in doing well as president, and on foreign policy, that is a very strong yes, for now. On domestic policy, it was repeating his talking points on his so-called agenda, an agenda he's never fought for, sometimes he actively fought against, he had the temerity to talk about $15 minimum wage, and he had his friends that were the Delaware senators vote against the $15 minimum wage. He doesn't mean a word of it, he doesn't mean most of his domestic agenda, he won't fight

for it, and by the way, how do I know? well, the state of the union is what a lot of people are watching. That would be a really good time to fight for it. And he didn't. He just regurgitated talking points, but he made no effort to apply pressure to either Democrats or Republicans who voted no. So it was useless and then boring, full of trite commentary and talking points about freedom, etc. So it was hard to stay awake in the last two-thirds of speech.

Right, like my feelings toward those portions of the speech went from being incredibly bored to being kind of outraged at the bragging that was going on that clearly was not warranted, considering the fact that Biden not only has failed to pass his agenda, build back better especially, but has no plan in place to pass his agenda. And now after the midterms where Democrats, this is one of my favorite words to use, I barely ever get to use it, will expect a shalacking. It's, what is your plan? How do you propose to actually get this past?

He could have used this as an opportunity to finally for once in his life apply pressure to people like Mansion and Cinema. Like, look, the blue checkmark Dems on Twitter gets so angry at me when I bring up the fact that Biden failed to pass, build back. better. And they're like, oh, what about Mansion and Cinema? That's a fair point. Did Biden apply any pressure to these lawmakers? No, he didn't. Never. And not tonight, not before. He's not going to later because he's soft and weak when it comes to domestic policy. He wouldn't fight corporate Democrats of his life dependent on it. He is a corporate Democrat. So when he sees Mansion, he thinks

there but for the grace of God go I. He served that role before. Mansion is his friend. He's not his enemy. He's not his opponent. When Manchin votes no, I think Biden secretly goes, yes. He doesn't want any of his agenda. If you can get, I don't care who gets angry at us, blue check or whatever you are, go on and get angry. It doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is did you pass the bill or didn't you? Exactly. Did you fight for the bill or didn't you? Don't tell me he can't do it if he didn't even try. And I just want his most, ardent defenders to just consider the fact that while he gives these speeches bragging about things he has not accomplished, think about how that ends up working against the Democratic

Party as Democratic voters notice that their lives have not materially improved. All right, let me say one more thing about the blue check folks before I hand it off to John. Anna, remember though, they don't actually care even about the Democratic Party. The voters, those people in the establishment couldn't care less. They think that the voters are a bunch of dupes and you do media and marketing around failures and then you get the mainstream media to fluff you up and everything's going to be fine. We already know that. But they don't even care about Democratic agenda is a joke.

They don't mean it. It's not real when it comes to the mess. But they don't even care about the Democratic Party. You would think, well, that's their golden calf. That's the one thing they would come around. Oh, the party, the Party, the Politburo of the Democrats. And said, no, they only care about their own careers. So if you told them progressives are going to win all across the country and they're

going to revitalize Democratic Party and the Democratic Party is going to have huge majorities, but half of you are not going to be employed, they're like, they're furious. They wouldn't want that at all. I mean, they hate that idea. Well, I mean, aren't they at all concerned about the fact that the party is doing absolutely nothing about voting rights, which puts them at a disadvantage, puts their own personal political careers at a massive disadvantage? No, actually, for the representatives, that's true.

But for the blue check people on Twitter that are Democrats, they're largely lobbyists and consultants and chattering class. They work in media and stuff like that. So their job is literally to do marketing for corporate Democrats. They don't really care if they win or lose. But if progressives win, they will not be employed, and they care a lot about that. Yeah, and generally, these sorts of changes are not as bad for people who are already in office. It's for those trying to get in.

Even like the terrible gerrymandering, in some cases, can help to solidify the districts of some Democrats. They've already made it past the barriers. So they're not as worried about it. They should be for the future of the party. Biden, if he is afraid at all about how devastating these, the midterm elections are going to be, and how irrelevant the second half of the only term for president he's going to get is going to be. He did not indicate it at all whatsoever. He showed that he can provide a little bit of pushback.

After all, he mocked defund the police as a slogan. He got everyone in the chamber to stand up and yeah, his progressive suck. They're the worst. Mansion in cinema, those who killed his entire agenda, nothing. Total fatty cakes. No, no, like obviously, okay, he's not going to stand up and say, you know, it was reprehensible when Kirsten Cinema gave like a theatric thumbs down to people's wages amidst this horrible crisis. He's not going to do that. There was no vague allusions to them being those who killed.

Like he has just, he has gone to sleep. That's it. We should be on a war footing. From now on, these midterms are going to be absolutely devastating. If it's not, it has nothing. to do with the Democrats. It's some act of God, some political thing that has nothing to do with them that might save a few of their seats, some macroeconomic thing or something like that.

But Biden's checked out. He's not doing anything. He's effectively, he spent the first 99% of his life trying to become president, the last 1% will be spent having been president kind of, and that's it. Look, back to social media for one last second because it's relevant to this. If you see anyone saying, oh, you guys don't. You guys don't know fighting for your agenda is so hard, you should just immediately surrender. You should just be happy that Biden got whatever he got passed and good enough, good enough.

You guys don't know how hard it is. Understand that almost everyone who says that either works for the Democratic Party in some way and makes money off of it or is a troll. Like almost no real person, look, even moderate Democrats, there's plenty of actual moderate Democratic voters. They're actually the minority. It's the swing Democratic voters that are tricked in primaries by mainstream media into thinking, well, I mean, I really want universal health care. But they tell me my candidate's definitely going to lose. That's what everybody on TV says. So I guess if I want to beat the Republican or the monster, okay, I got to vote for

this guy. But there are, there is a contingent of Democrats that are actually moderates that like, well, the status quo is not so bad. I'm kind of rich, right? So that exists. Even they're pissed at the fact that they couldn't even pass voting rights, right? So there's no actual Democratic voters who think, mine's done enough. But on social media, half of the blue checks are like, he's done plenty. Let's pack it in. Plus, he did great tonight. You see how he fought for his agenda?

No, I don't see it at all because he didn't. He nearly fell asleep in the speech. He didn't say the name of his agenda. Yeah, no, that's a great point. I know you didn't want him to. No, but that was his thing. He needed to avoid saying the name of his agenda because his agenda was battered so badly in Congress. I mean, saying the words build back better reminds everyone of how much of a failure you've been in passing your own agenda.

No, but I hear you, Anna, and that's true. And we would have, you know, criticized them for saying really. But on the other hand, what he did was worse. Why? Because he did bring back the things that were in build back better. put them in the speech, but he was too embarrassed to call it build back better. So that's worse. You're theoretically bringing it back, but you're so non-committal that you won't even say its name.

That was his campaign slogan, build back better. There was no winning. It's retreating like crazy. There's no winning in bringing back or bringing up build back better unless you're bringing it up to list all the ways it would improve people's lives. and then pivot to the fact that members of your own party stood in the way of its passage. That's the only way you can bring that up and it'll be a win for you. But he didn't do that. He doesn't have it in him.

He would never do that. Yeah, I would do that. The only thing I would then add on is, and you know what? Honestly, we're going to do everything we can to get them on board and get it passed. But I also know how the system works. And I know that while they should be, you know, at the back of call, their constituents. And their constituents want this. That's not how it actually functions.

So I'm going to use the power I have via executive orders and executive actions to get as much of it done as possible, starting with and then give a list of the things that I'm signing tomorrow. Right. He's going to be a press conference. But he didn't give any promises. He didn't mention executive orders. No, you're exactly right.

It's as if he doesn't know that he has that power. You're exactly right. And look, I get the arguments against doing these things through executive orders, right? The argument is, all right, well, Democratic president passes these things or gets these things implemented through an executive order, and then a Republican gets elected into office and reverses it. Except, is a Republican going to feel comfortable reversing an executive order that Americans have already experienced improving their lives? Yeah, and some of them are relatively unreversible.

One that is completely unreversible is if you forgive student debt up to $10,000, $50,000, it's already forgiven. Right. They can't go back and go, just kidding, four years later, we're gonna bring back your dead. It's not a thing, it's literally not possible. So that is irreversible. He's choosing not to do it because honestly, he was lying the whole time about his agenda. I mean, he continued to lie while he was in, you know, after he was elected.

He claimed, like, I don't know if the executive branch has the ability to unilaterally forgive student loans. I'm going to have my team look into that. And by the way, they looked into it. They gave a report and Biden will not release the report. And I'll tell you why he won't release it. It's because it said you can do it and he doesn't want to do it. So that's why he buried it. The press doesn't care at all.

They didn't press him on that. Really brilliant points by John tonight. The excellent point that he didn't bring up any executive orders. I'll give you one last one. He said that he was going to move marijuana off of Schedule 1. It's an executive order. And what is a Republican going to come in and go, no, I'm moving it back to Schedule 1? No way, because marijuana legalization now is incredibly popular in the country.

A Republican wouldn't go out of his way to bring back an absurd idea like that. So last thing, guys here, oh, this is the Republican. All right, let's go to the report. America forward. It feels like President Biden and his party have sent us back in time to the late 70s and early 80s. When runaway inflation was hammering families, a violent crime wave was crashing our cities. The Soviet army was trying to redraw the world map. Tonight's a duel of historic orders.

Even before taking the oath of office, the president told us that he wanted to, quote, make America respected around the world again and to unite us here at home. He's failed on both fronts. The disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal did more than cost American lives. She's standing in the street. If the trade are allies and emboldened our enemies. North Korea is testing missiles. against at an alarming rate. You're talking about North Korea.

They built countless nukes while Trump was making out with them. Trump fell in love with Kim Jong-un. And now Russia has launched an unprovoked, full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, an attack on democracy, freedom, and the rule of law.

Now all Americans must stand united in solidarity with the brave people of Ukraine as they courageously defend their country against Putin's tyranny as they fight for their freedom. But we shouldn't ignore what happened in the run-up to Putin's invasion, waving sanctions on Russian pipelines while eliminating oil production here at home. Focusing on political correctness rather than military readiness,

reacting to world events instead of driving them. Weakness on the world stage has a cost. And the president's approach to foreign policy has consistently been too little, too late. Nonsense. It's time for America to once again project confidence. It's time to be decisive. It's time to lead. But we can't project strength abroad if we're weak at home.

And that's what I want to discuss with you tonight. It's like a law. The president and Democrats in Congress have spent the last response either ignoring the issues facing, Americans or making them worse. Bobby Jindal. They were warned that spend their children need to soaring inflation.

It's funny that we all remember that. They were told that their anti-energy policies would send gas prices to new heights. Oh my God, so good. But they plowed ahead anyway, raising the price of the pump by 50% and pushing inflation to a 40-year high. Four decades ago, when our nation was last

reeling from inflation, I was a young working mom just starting out. My husband Kevin worked a day while I watched our girls. And then we would literally switch. We would pass in the yard as he was coming home, and I was leaving to work evenings at the local grocery store. From across that checkout counter, I saw the pain of inflation on my neighbor's faces.

I saw what happened. That's a very specific pain to see. The Biden administration believes inflation is a, quote, high class problem. I can tell you, it's an important. I can tell you, it's an everybody problem. I saw moms and dads paychecks by them less and less. I watched working people choose which essentials to take home and which ones to leave behind.

And remember, the GOP response to inflation is to cut whatever we have, whatever's left of social spending. That's their same thing. And make sure that there's no higher wages. Right, exactly. I promised Iowans that I would never lose sight of who I was working for. working for. That I wouldn't become detached from the problems they were facing.

From the problems that I had faced myself. And Marjorie Taylor Green would say I'm useless because I don't own a business. That's true. To see what high inflation does to people. You just need to step outside of the DC bubble. Talk to Americans about what's on your mind. Ask them, what are your concerns? What keeps you up at night?

And they'll tell you. And I can tell you what's not on that list. They won't tell you that spending trillions more in bankrupting their children is the answer to their problems. Totally not true. They would say, yeah, spend money on child tax credit, on paid family leave. They would definitely say that. That's directly related to their children. And we know it because of the polling.

You're a liar. You're a boring, uninteresting liar. States like California, New York, and New Jersey. But that's what the Biden administration has been pushing for over the last. year, and that's all part of build back better. Thankfully, the president's agenda didn't pass because even members of his own party said enough is enough. Well, the American people share that view.

Yeah, I know, right? Enough is enough. And it's not just with D.C. spending. Americans are tired of a political class trying to remake this country into a place where an elite view tell everyone else what they can and cannot say. That's you. That's you. They're tired of people pretending the way to end racism is by categorizing everybody by their race.

They're tired of politicians who tell parents they should sit down, be silent, and let government control their kids' education and future. Frankly, they are tired of the theater, where politicians do one thing when the cameras are rolling, and another when they believe you can't see them. That's the definition of you. For governors and mayors enforce mandates, but don't follow them. Where elected leaders tell their citizens to stay home while they sneak off to Florida for sun and fun. Or cancute. Where they demand that your child wear a mask, but they go maskless. So you've heard the excuses.

They were just holding their breath. Constantly for sudden fun. Who are waiting to exhale, waiting for the insanity to stop. Oh yeah, because the Republican Party really ends the insanity. Four years of Trump was total like. Liberal prosecutors. No, no, she just referred to protecting people's life as insanity. Like, who would be that insane?

Let's just kill each other for no reason. Everything is backwards. The Biden administration requires vaccines for Americans who want to go to work or protect this country, but not for migrants who illegally cross the border. The department is just made that up. Just made that up. So, oh, you're crossing the border illegal. Come on in. Oh, vaccine, you don't need one. Come on. No, they stopped them and prevented. They don't even let them in. If they have them, it's not like they're like, oh, I caught you, but it's okay, you don't need to go ahead. But his actions over the last 12 months don't match the rhetoric. It's not what he promised when he took office. Yeah, he promised to be way more progressive. True.

There is an alternative. Am I crazy? Is it that older voters like when you talk like this? Like, she knows you're supposed to seem interested in what you're saying. You're supposed to be passionate. You're supposed to try to pretend that you're not reading it directly. I'll tell you what. So it's a good question.

Her speech sucks. It is totally boring and is standard B.S. Republican-Dongued. So I'm gonna talk over it a little bit. But we also have to mean government action. You know why, John? It's because they're now, they don't need the voters. Like money wins them elections.

So they've become uninteresting. And in fact, they're a little bit more interesting since Trump. Before Trump, they were even less interesting, right? They're all corporate robots and they're like, I already have enough money to win. You will not even hear my opponent's side of the story because they don't have enough corporate donations. You won't even know they exist. I'll be incredibly boring, you'll vote for me anyway, we're all goddamn robots.

That's why. And in an Iowa, she'll win easily. She'll win easily. She'll have way more money, nobody will even know who's running against her. And she'll steamroll them. And she'll say, oh, they made you wear a mask. trying to protect your life, goddamn Nazis. And the people like, oh yeah, don't protect our lives.

And you should win easily. They put critical race theory in your bathrooms. That's why I was the first state in the nation to require that schools open their doors. I was attacked by the left. I was attacked by the media, but it wasn't a hard choice. It was the right choice. And to help kill my citizens, it was an easy choice. That's why I got this response to the president, which is a key

huge marketing win for me because I chose to kill my own citizens by making them, you know, more susceptible to a pandemic. Parents matter. They have a right to know and to have a say in what their kids are being taught. Then parents don't matter at all. Or gay or black or Muslim or name it. Then parents don't matter. What she's saying is white parents matter.

Stupid parents who want to endanger their kids, who don't want to teach actual history or science, only stupid parents matter. Okay. They've refused to provide the resources to stop human trafficking, to stop the staggering influx of deadly drugs coming into our neighborhoods. They've refused to protect you. Purdue Pharma, that's who brought it in. And McKesson and the distributors did, Cardinal Health. And we've actually gone to the border, something that our president and vice president have yet to do since taking office. Oh, God, this is so boring.

We actually went to the border and looked at a line in the sand, and that made me smarter, did it? That made me more informed, did it? Soaring, Republican leaders around the country are balancing budgets and cutting taxes, because we know that money's... Republicans are cutting taxes for the rich across the country. You know why? Because we know that a certain small percentage gets funneled back into our campaigns through donations. That's why we do it. But then we tell you it's okay. Me white, vote for me. Also, it directly impacts almost all of them because they themselves are millionaires generally. Just four years ago. And it shouldn't come as a surprise that out of the top 20 states with the lowest unemployment rates, 17 have Republican governors.

Republicans may not have the White House, but we're doing what we can to fill the leadership vacuum. And on the issues that are affecting Americans, Republicans are leading. We're standing up for parents and kids are number 48, 49, and 50 in education, poverty. Almost every category, you look at the bottom of the list, almost the entire top 10 are Republicans, states with Republican governors. independence. And that includes biofuels. We're getting people back to work, not paying them to stay home. Most of all, we're not going to give you anything that you're a voter. We're going to drive you back into the minds. Behind me stands Iowa's Capitol, where we display our state motto. Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain. And those aren't just empty words. It's a belief that the greatness of this state. We're going to switch to Rashida to leave an actual interesting person with an interesting point of view.

You know what the rest of that dribble was going to be nonsense. We've heard it a thousand times. Let's go to Rashida. Congresswoman to leave. Progressive response. She's doing it for the working families party technically. Almost. I'm going to go to her in any second now.

Coming up. We guarantee health care as a basic right. Because after two years of this pandemic, we can allow corporate profits to determine who lives and who dies. We'd stand up to big pharma and insurance companies, and we'd make drug prices for life-saving medicine like insulin actually affordable. And we'd make abortion care a phenomenal right so that no Supreme Court could ever take it away. We'd pass the In Child Poverty Act that Representative Mandeer Jones and I introduce so that parents like India Becum and millions more could provide for the basics that every child needs to thrive. Could be. We'd fight.

We'd fight together for respect for all of our workers. That means a minimum wage of at least $15 an hour that rises with inflation. The freedom to join a union without harassment or intimidation. She's saying the same thing as Biden, except she means it. So that's a giant difference. From the baristas at home in my home community in Great Lakes coffee to the teachers in Minnesota to the Amazon workers in Alabama. Workers are speaking up for a voice. She's acknowledging this in a way.

Yeah. You tweeted about that earlier, yeah. I saw what a union met for my family growing up as my father was a member of the United Auto Workers. This smile, this smiles because of the UAW. They ensured that our family had access to dental care. So this is our time. This is our time to take on corporate polluters who get rich poisoning us, and we fight for environmental justice. With the Green New Deal, we rebuild our country by creating millions of union jobs in the clean energy industry of the future. Imagine turning the rust belt

into a green belt that is a center of American jobs and innovation for the next century. That's a much better line than water. Because I know we can't build back better if our children can't live healthy lives. A working family's majority would take on skyrocketing housing costs, which have left to half a million Americans homeless on any given night and millions more struggling to pay the rent. That means building millions of accessible, new, affordable homes, and providing long overdue rental, down payment, and home repair assistance.

We would provide a real path to citizenship for our people who want nothing more than to contribute to our nation. We would transform our broken immigration system into one where immigrants are welcomed, not vilified. Over the past few days, we have all watched in horror as Russia launched an illegal and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine. We stand with the people of Ukraine. The United States and our allies must work together towards an immediate ceasefire and a diplomatic resolution to help save lives. We must pursue targeted sanctions that put pressure on Russia's billionaires, not the everyday Russians who have no choice in this conflict and are courageously protesting the war as we speak. We need a humanitarian response to this crisis. We must welcome Ukrainian refugees

from all walks of life to the United States. And I know we can't seek peace by continuing to spend three quarters of a trillion dollars every year on weapons of war, making defense contractors and in companies wealthier, we must, we must put human rights and dignity first and prioritize cooperation and diplomacy to address the challenges that no one nation can confront alone, like pandemics and climate change. Nothing is more important than keeping the people we love free from harm. We all deserve to be safe in our neighborhoods. The path to community safety is investing in what people need to thrive, like access to jobs, quality, education and real opportunities.

We can't police away homelessness, poverty, or mental health crisis in our country. Care, care, not more criminalization is how we ensure lasting safety for all. And we should end the war on drugs, fund legal defense, and enact criminal justice reforms like ending qualified immunity that would transform our discriminatory legal system. And we should add a justice for working people to the Supreme Court by Comptiq. confirming Khantanji Brown Jackson without delay. Over the last two years, the richest people in America doubled their wealth. As profits skyrocket, corporations have the nerve to blame inflation while increasing

prices on essential goods and services. He talked a lot about inflation, but I don't know if he acknowledged that that's a much better explanation. Extortion. We need to tax billionaires and mega corporations that dodge their fair share. And we need to fight back against unchecked corporate power that increasingly shape our lives. Those policies I named, they are popular. But we have a system that makes it too easy for elected officials to answer to donors instead of their constituents.

Disproportionate representation in the Senate distorts the democratic will of the people. The filibuster, a tool perfected to defend Jim Crowe, continues to be used to block progress. We must abolish it in the Senate, like the House did more than a century ago. Republicans are trying to destroy our political power of working class families, and they're willing to tear down our democracy to do it. They say the violent insurrection on January 6th is, quote, legitimate political expression. And that corporate super PAC spending dominating our elections is just free speech. The Republicans act like the real danger to our

democracy is having enough voting boots in black neighborhoods, mail and ballots, fair district lines. If we really want a democracy that responds to the will of the people, then we need voting rights protection and democracy reforms immediately. While we continue building supporting Congress, President Biden can use his executive power now to take action to deliver for the people. She gets it. He can cancel federal student loan debt, which would be a lifeline for millions of Americans and a transformative economic stimulus. And he can ban federal fossil fuel leasing, drilling, direct federal agencies to reject permits for new fossil fuel projects, and regulate carbon emissions.

He can fix our labor rules right now to allow more workers to access over time pay. And he can change how we calculate the poverty line so that more Americans become eligible for life-saving federal benefits. Seriously, that needs to happen. We can take action to break up pharmaceutical monopolies that make life-saving medicines affordable. The midterm elections are coming up fast, and this year we can elect working families' majority we all need.

We know what happens when the Republicans take power. They protect the rich, target and target the rest of us. They attack and undermine voting rights, women's rights, workers' rights, immigrants, people of color in our LGBTQ community, and they block progress on climate change. So if you voted or knocked on doors or donated in 2020 to defeat Trump, I implore you. Pay attention because this year is just as important, and we need everybody to help. Blocking the far right is just not enough.

We also need to elect the next generation of working families champions. It starts with staying engaged in voting in every election, in every primary for candidates who will put working people first. I know that we can get closer to the world we all deserve when we build a bigger movement. Bring people in, not cast them out. I was taught by a pastor in Detroit, that we aren't a country that is divided. We are disconnected. We must connect on the dreams we have for our children, the hopes we have for our communities, and so much more. When we connect with the one another, building our solidarity, we can outwork the hate and show that the very people show them that who basically want to ensure that we never have a seat at the table.

We can show them that we aren't going anywhere. So I want you to think of the people you love, the place you call home. For me, it's my two boys, my family, the communities I represent. Who is it for you? That's who you're fighting for. And I want for them, what we want for all Americans, the opportunity to thrive and flourish, a country where no one person's dream is too big to become a reality. I know what's possible when we all come together.

So if you're ready to be part of our movement, join us. Join us by texting W-I-N-W-W-N-W-3. Working families are the majority. Together, we will win a nation that can truly stand up for. for all of us. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining me this evening. Have a wonderful night.

Okay, so Rashida Taleb just gave the basically the progressive response of the State of the Union. And it was by far the best speech. Now you're gonna say, of course you guys are progressives. Tim Reynolds was good, but yeah. The Republican response was comically bad. Like, if we just gave the rich a little bit more, I think we're gonna be okay. be okay. We don't like blue states. We like red states. That was a Republican response. So now, look, it's not that just because we agree with Rashida Tilead Moore.

There are facts in the world. So, so for example, she said, well, Biden could use executive orders. Well, that's what we said after Biden's speech. John made that point. Well, that's a fact, right? So did Biden use his power? Didn't he use his power? Well, he didn't. So she's saying, well, these are the things that I didn't say you were going to do. She didn't say it antagonistically the way I am, right? But she calmly explained, these are the agenda that not just for progressives, but for the Democratic Party. So use your executive order power. Well, that's a fact.

He can, and he's choosing not to. Okay. So then she explained why we don't get anything done. She laid out the same exact agenda as Biden, except Biden doesn't mean it. Rashida Taleb does. Now, how do I know? Why am I imputing that? Well, Biden didn't fight for that agenda. And Rashida Taleb is saying, look, I'll tell you why I didn't pass because of corporate donors. First of all, let's note that that is a big sea change. No Democrat would ever say that for like the last 30 years. I mean, they all protect their own. Oh, you're taking corporate cash.

You're taking corporate cash. Don't tell people what's actually happening. Well, these progressives, they don't take corporate PAC money. So she's assessing, and by the way, even if you're a Republican, you know you agree. You know all those politicians are corrupt. Who corrupted them? The corporate cash, the money that people give them, the giant checks that people give them. So who do you think has the facts? Biden, by the way, the Republican response who says never mention corporate donors, never mentioned

any of that, talked about how she wants to do more tax cuts for the rich, but didn't mention that's because she gets funded by the rich. Who do you think is telling the truth? Roshina's telling the truth. Even if you don't agree with some of her policy positions, you still know, well, that's true. That's true. They do work for the guys who signed their checks. And she's the only one brave enough and honest enough to say it.

And then things like rising prices. Everybody's like, oh, inflation, inflation. So Democrats say, okay, Republicans, you win, it's a big deal. I'll do everything. The Republicans say, oh, it's all your fault. I'll tell you what. You try to give too much to the American people. That's what the Republican response was.

We're going to stop that spending. spending on who child tax credit that goes to you to take care of your children paid family leave that goes to you when you're right after a pregnancy instead of having to go right back to work you could actually take care of your baby for a short period of time all these things the spending was for you that Biden theoretically proposed and the Republicans say don't spend on you we already gave two trillion dollar tax cut to the rich we don't want to spend on you now when Rashida Taleb says well no wait a minute we do want to spend on you you're our voters That's who we're supposed to serve.

That's a fact, right? And then on top of that, raising rising prices, when I started with inflation. Well, who raised the prices? Businesses did, right? I mean, if your car is more expensive, God didn't raise the price. Biden didn't raise the price. By the way, Mitch McConnell or Donald Trump didn't raise the price. It was GM, Ford, and all the car companies.

The CEOs he pointed to in the line. Yeah, Biden was like praising the, CEOs. Oh, way to go, CEOs. Oh, I wonder where inflation came from. It came from that dude, right? And Rashida Taleb had the facts. Well, the people who raised the prices were the corporations. Now, there's macroeconomic influences, but at the end of the day, those corporations as we've shown you on the show, are still making billions of dollars in profits. So they made a choice to take advantage of those economic situations to price gouge and they make even more profits and make you pay more. Exactly. That's a fact.

So Rashida Tilibe had the best speech by far, even if you don't agree with everything, you can't argue that she's the only one who was honest. Yeah, I mean, how could anyone argue that it wasn't the best speech of the night? I mean, in presentation, in charisma, in obviously on the issues, yes, we agree with her. But I do want to add one more thing in regard to the corruption by corporate interests. That's obviously a huge problem in the country, but I would like to see progressives weave in the fact that members of Congress are investing in individual stocks because that is a huge problem as well. And even if we miraculously do away with money in politics, if you have these lawmakers personally invested in these corporations, they're always going to root for the corporate interests over the best interests of their own constituents. Yes, and I would add that I would have done one more thing or a, she should have called

out people by name. So we don't mind critiquing progressives at all, we've done it many, many times. You know why? We actually care about the news and we're honest. So she should have said mansion and cinema screwed us, screwed the whole country. And by the way, if it wasn't mansion or cinema, it would have been two other corporate Democrats because they're not really on our side. I know she's not going to get that honest.

She talked about the filibuster, that was as close as she came. was the racist legacy and people's willingness to uphold it. But yeah, didn't name by name. Let me just say something quick on that. Does the filibuster have a racist legacy? It does. You might say, hey, I like it anyway. I don't think that's what they're using it for now.

You'd be wrong, but that's okay. You could say that well, yeah, they use it against voting rights, but I don't want people to have voting rights. Whatever you say. But you can't say the filibuster doesn't have a racist legacy. That's the whole point. It was meant to protect Jim Crawl laws. It's a fact on the bills.

on the bills that they used it for. There's no question about it. Did the House get rid of it? Yes. Did the Senate get rid of it right now? Is it in the Constitution? It's not in the Constitution. Yes, the Senate can get rid of it. Again, on the fact, she's 100% right.

Yeah. All right. Sorry, I'm seeing the signal. Okay, no, that's all right. So, no, I know we've got to take a break, but just give me a quick-sisterneros update. Okay, that's what I was considering doing. Okay, so the short-term, news is pretty good. We are now up to 60% and she had previously dropped about a half point

below 50%. She's back up to 50.3% to 44.8 for Henry Quare. But, and this is something we're going to have to dive into in our later coverage and I'm going to be watching it. In terms of what is remaining to come in, there's one very large county that Chatter online is saying is expected to go for Quayar. So just because she's up by a little bit right now does not mean that she's out of this thing, not at this point. Damn it. So we'll see. I'm going to be looking at the results from 2020 at the county level and try to figure things out.

By the way, if we were greasy, Republican or Democratic politicians, we'd be like, the facts are irrelevant, she's already won, and we're moving on. Totally. Has anyone considered alternate electors? I know, right? Who does a ceremonial role in Texas? Let's go raid their house. All right, guys, we've got to take a quick break.

More on Cisteros, more on Texas primaries, and from time to time, more rage. We'll be right back. Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work, listen ad-free, access members-only bonus content, and more by subscribing to Apple Podcasts at apple.com at apple.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.