The Young Turks - A Rebel Mutiny

Episode Date: June 27, 2023

What just happened in Russia? The Wagner crisis, explained. New Senate legislation seeks to revise national labor law that targets port union workers. According to an Oxfam study of 38 developed nations, the US ranks...Proud boys surround & unmask neo-nazis in violent confrontation at Oregon rally. Fox News taps Jesse Watters to succeed ousted host Tucker Carlson in key prime-time hour. "Like he’s some Adonis?" Chris Christie scoffs at Trump making fun of his weight and fires back in kind. For a second time, Trump moans and groans imitating a female weightlifter. Marjorie Taylor Greene claims Lauren Boebert spilled on their spat to the press. Teen who walked six miles to 8th grade graduation gets a college scholarship on the spot. TikTokers are arguing over what counts as "micro-cheating." HOSTS: Cenk Uygur (@CenkUygur), Ana Kasparian (@AnaKasparian) SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE: ☞ https://www.youtube.com/user/theyoungturks FACEBOOK: ☞ https://www.facebook.com/theyoungturks TWITTER: ☞ https://www.twitter.com/theyoungturks INSTAGRAM: ☞ https://www.instagram.com/theyoungturks TIKTOK: ☞ https://www.tiktok.com/@theyoungturks 👕 Merch: https://shoptyt.com 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, what are the young terms? What is this? Uh-oh, America's news anchors back. Oh, please, I get out of here. That's what one of our members called her when, when Anna was gone, and it's hard to disagree.

Hard to disagree. All right, look, we have an important series news show for you guys, of course, as always, filled with lots of politics and foreign policy, et cetera. But the story I'm really looking forward to is, is microcheating a thing? And like, what are the different attributes of a microcheater? Oh my God, I have strong opinions with Jank Yugar. That's later in the show. If the rest of my opinions weren't strong enough, wait till we get to that. Yep.

All right. Now, having said that, we start out with a very serious story of potential coup and mercenaries and disasters. Mutiny. Mutiny is how it's being referred to. Well, with that said, it's get started. For less than 24 hours, there was a challenge to Russia's leadership by a private army who has played a key role in. in Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Over the weekend, the private mercenary group known as the Wagner group launched an apparent

insurrection, although the head of the Wagner group, the now former head of the Wagner group, claims that is not the case. Now, while the alleged insurrection attempt failed, it is worth getting into the details on how it all unfolded. So let's start with this video, which gives us a little peek into how it unfolded, and I'll fill in the blanks for you. Late Friday in Russia, the leader of the Wagner group, Yvgeny Pregozhen, claimed that the Russian military killed an enormous amount of his troops

in an artillery strike and that his forces were going to cross into Russia, calling it the March of Justice. Russia responded by issuing an arrest warrant for Pregocean for mutiny, denying his claims. And a heavy military presence appeared in Moscow. By early Saturday morning, Wagner forces were seen in Rostov, 600 miles south. It's the main logistical hub for Russian forces operating in Ukraine. Pregosian said that his forces had taken the city. All right, a little bit later in this story,

we're going to debate whether it would have been better for Putin to win or this mercenary madman. And that's the state of Russia as we speak. But more facts first. So it's worth understanding who Pregosian is. It's also important to understand that he was made to be who he is today, thanks to Vladimir Putin's help. But he is the leader of the Wagner group. His name is Yignavi Progoshin, and he was a former ally to Russia.

He's no longer an ally considering the attack that took place. Now, he claims that this was not an attempt at a coup. This was really about protesting the issues that he and his mercenary group has had. with the Russian military and the leaders within the Russian military. Now, he is known as Putin's chef. He had been known as Putin chef because he got his start focusing more on the catering business and restaurants. He would later use those businesses to supply Russia's military with meals while laundering money. And he played a key or he played a central role in the war against Ukraine.

First, by deploying his mercenaries on the front lines and later by recruiting heavily from prison. to bolster Moscow's depleted forces. Wagner led the onslaught in Bakhmut, which culminated in Putin declaring the city under Russian control, his first significant territorial gain since last summer. Now, why did this rebellion happen? Well, apparently there have been internal tensions between progogian and the Russian military leaders,

and they've been simmering for months. Apparently, he feels that they have kind of stood in the way of the weapons and ammunition he needs. They have been stonewalling him and his mercenary group. He accused the Russian generals of stonewalling his ammunition requests, and as a result, blame them for his fighters dying in heaps in Ukraine. The dispute reached a boiling point Friday, last Friday, when Prozhen accused Russian forces of conducting a strike on his fighters at an encampment in Ukraine.

So as a result, he decided to launch this attack. He called for Russians to join Wagner against against Shoiku, and he's one of the leaders in the Russian military, and the other individual he's been having issues with is Jarasimov. He also accused the pair of lying about the war in Ukraine and undercounting casualties. He says, quote, this is not a military coup, but a march of justice, end quote. Now with that said, here's how Vladimir Putin responded to the attack and how it unfolded later after the attack started. Let's watch. In a televised address, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded and called for his military to stop the revolt.

We'll protect him, our nation's, of our government, of our countrymen, of the threatstance. Residents of Rostov stocked up on gas and cleared grocery store shelves. Meanwhile, Wagner vehicles, were on the move. They went along the M4 highway, which goes northward straight to Moscow, where roadblocks began going up. About halfway 300 miles from Moscow in Veronish,

Russian military helicopters opened fire on them. A warehouse and fuel tanks were destroyed, and Wagner forces reportedly shot down six Russian helicopters and a plane. Wagner forces continued to move north, but by the time they were with 125 miles of Moscow, a deal was reached. Now, the deal was brokered by the Belarusian president, and you should be a little skeptical of it.

At least I feel skeptical of the terms of this deal. So Alexander Lukashenko allegedly offered, you know, Progogian a place to stay in Belarus, right? So he will be an exile, he will remain in Belarus, and he will not face any prosecution or criminal charges based on this deal. However, that deal is already incredibly shaky, right? So for instance, Russian state media said that Progosian was still liable for prosecution and the warlords whereabouts were unclear. In an audio statement, Progosa gave no indication that Wagner was being wound up defending his troops as a crack force and saying that Lukashenko

was open to allowing them to stay operational in Belarus. So I'm gonna get into more details about the disputes he has had with the Russian military in just a moment. But I wanted to give you a chance, Jane, to jump in. Yep. So look, this guy's a complicated guy. I think it's really interesting, especially the dynamic between him and Putin. I think what happens next is very interesting. So first of all, everybody's universally saying that this shows Putin is weak. In a sense, for sure, of course, he's got an internal rebellion that shows some degree of lack of cohesion, weakness, wrong strategy, et cetera. The points of progression is.

making about the defense minister and the other minister involved seem like they are accurate and that they have really bungled a war. You should know this Wagner group was unfortunately the most effective fighting force for the Russians inside Ukraine. But on the other hand, he's now gone. Who else is going to challenge Putin? So I think ironically it might have made him stronger. I'm not sure that there's a lot of internal enemies left anymore. I don't necessarily agree with that. So whether or not this makes Putin weaker or stronger, I think, really depends on whether these mercenaries are going to be absorbed within the Russian military.

Because the Russian military is in fact depleted, which is why they relied heavily on these mercenaries to carry out this war, or at least help them carry out major missions and operations within this war. So without this group, I'm really curious to see what Putin is going to do to kind of make up for the fact that they no longer are able to help with this terrible war that they've conducted in Ukraine. Right. So there's two things about that. Let me give you some details. So the groups, I don't know if it's still this size, but at its height was about 50,000 soldiers. That's a lot of folks, right? But within the context of the Russian army, it's not to end all be all, but they are the best fighting force that they have, apparently according to all the experts. So now, this particular conflict started when the defense minister tried to gain control of the Wagner Rup and everything else.

Yes. By getting them to sign loyalty pledge to the Russian military. Remember they're mercenaries? And that defense minister, Sergei Shogu, who, you know, Progogian has had issues with. He's accused him of stonewalling and he is accusing Shoygo. And it's a correct accusation of trying to absorb these mercenaries within Russia's army. So in the beginning it looked like, oh, the Russians are saying, okay, those forces can come. Now after the conflict, right, they could come into the Russian military now and prognosian by himself is going to go to Belarusia.

And he was like, Belarus, he's like, no, they're coming with me, as you saw in that last quote that Anna read you guys. So we don't know how many of them have gone exactly. But if the entire 50,000 went to Belarus, well, that's probably stronger than their entire military. That country's military, right? So that's a big, giant question mark hanging out there. And what are they going to do next? Because remember, they don't just operate in Russia. In dozens of other countries.

They nearly took over the Central African Republic. They run the diamond mines there. And that progosin is now a billionaire. Okay, so when I say he's complicated, complicated in a lot of directions, you got to, like he's a, in a lot of ways, a madman. No, he's not just a madman. He is an awful, evil individual. I'm going to get to that. The mercenaries within this group, you know, they're recruited from prisons, and they're rapists, they're murderers.

They, the way that they rape and murder while they're in war is pretty clear and well documented. So, look, I just want to be clear and get this out off my chest right now. there is no conversation about like, oh, who's the good guy and who's the bad guy? Both Putin and Progoshin are absolute garbage. Yeah. So I completely concur with that. Let's continue the conversation. So number one on Progosion, the one thing I'll give him is the dude's a billionaire and he's still on the front lines.

Okay, it's something. Okay, of the fighting. Okay, he's on the battlefield as far as we can tell. Oh, I see what you're saying. Yeah. Whereas, by the way, when he started advancing to Moscow, apparently Putin ran to St. Petersburg. So it is what it is. Okay, now to the bad side, guys, look, it shows you how depleted and,

awful the Russian military is, that they have to rely on mercenaries to recruit from Russian prisons. And you know how you get Russian prisoners out or any prisoners out in any country and get them to volunteer for potential death? You promise them terrible things in return. And that's what Anna is referring to. And not just in Ukraine, but in Africa and other places they have operated, rape is a normal form, apparently, of their warfare. And so this is some old school horrific mercenary crap, right? And so they are not good guys in any way, shape, or form. That's why throughout the weekend, I was thinking, as everybody's like kind of weirdly excited, right? Like, oh, there's an internal battle in Russia. I'm like, wait,

are you sure that it would be better for these crazy mercenaries to take over Russia and have control of the nukes? No. Right? I don't, but here's the thing. I'm not sure. So when this story first broke and everyone was referring to it as a coup attempt, I mean, I was skeptical of that narrative because how exactly would they succeed in that? Do you get what I'm saying? 100%. And that was going to be my next point, which is, look, as he's advancing to Moscow, I thought, I don't think this guy's thought of through. No. So for all that he's apparently effective at fighting and apparently good at corruption and whatever other skills he might have,

he's not the world's greatest strategist. I'm like, if you were going to make a move on Putin, you have to be right next to Putin. You can't be like days away, like 500 miles down the road. You're never going to make it. The Russian military is not that depleted, right? So you were never going to make it to Moscow. So what the hell were you thinking? So I don't know.

I don't know what he thought. I don't know if he got worked up and just made an error in calculation. I don't know what happens to them next. But as he was advancing towards Moscow, I was like, I guess it's good news that the Russia's in dissension, but I do not want this guy to win. As much as I despise Vladimir Putin. So the only thing that I can see worth getting, for lack of a better word, excited about is without the help of this mercenary group and with a depleted Russian military, there

is some chance, some chance, I think a small chance, that this war against Ukraine, could come to an end, right? I think that's probably what people might be excited about. They might see a little opening there. And that's really what I want. Because at the end of the day, the people who get harmed are the Ukrainian civilians, Russian civilians, if this war continues to, you know, happen within their borders. And, you know, we've seen some attacks by the Ukrainian military on Russian soil. And I don't want innocent civilians to get harmed as a result of this madman, Vladimir Putin, and his invasion into Ukraine, and his decision to employ a terrible, evil mercenary group, right?

Yeah. So now I think we're at the stage where we're in an assassination game. They're so far apart from one another that, I mean, Putin has done this many, many times. You cross him, and two years later, you're eating a pastry that turns out it's filled with chemicals that are going to kill you in about 13 seconds, right? Or you fell from a hotel balcony to your death. Right, or you committed suicide by tripping over the couch and falling out of the balcony. And so in Progoshin's case, though, he's the chef.

So I suspect that he has some assassination attempt, you know, bona fides as well. And that's the kind of game we're playing. But the best news guys is that there was a rift in the first place and that the guys out of the country. Because him taking over the country would have been the very worst. case scenario. Now that he's out of the country, out of Russia and out of Ukraine, if he doesn't come back in, now the incompetent defense minister is in charge. And he was the one bungling the war so badly that they needed these mercenaries in the first place. And let me mention one other issue that Progogian allegedly had with the higher ups in the Russian military.

So I had already mentioned Sergei Shogu and the issues he's had with Shogu. But there's also Valerie Jerminisov, Jerminismov. And apparently, Gerazimov, sorry, Jarasimov tried to bar progoshin from further recruiting mercenaries from the prison system, and he got real angry about that. So those were like some of the growing tensions that he was experiencing with the leadership in the Russian military. And after the, look, if it was really an attempt at a coup, which I think would be incredibly stupid and really not strategic at all, later he turned around and said, no, no, this wasn't really

about a coup, okay? This was really about showing our disdain for how, you know, our group is being treated by the Russian military. He said, quote, we did not have the goal of overthrowing the existing regime and legally elected power. We turned around so as not to spill the blood of Russian soldiers, he said. So, you know, in, in regard to why he made the decision to take the deal that was brokered by the Belarus and president. Yes, and I actually believe him. It's good politics for him to say that, so you never know. But it looks like he threw out, and I read about him before, he was super mad at the

defense minister and the Jarasmo Park guy. And so, and that they had really been trying to undercut him. He was undercutting them. Remember the bombs that went off in Moscow, that might have been also related to the Wagner group and these guys have. this internal dissension, another important point is, as they were going through these towns, they were getting high fives from the citizens. Because remember in Russia, this guy, and there's one last twist, but this guy's known as a super tough fighter against the Ukrainians. He's not

on the side of the Ukrainian. He's not on the side of the Ukrainians. He's like the guy against the Ukrainians. It seems like his issue is that he feels Putin and the current Russian military is not Machiavellian enough in this war. And not vicious enough, right? So as he's getting high fives from the Russian civilians. The downside of that is they're high fiving a guy who's kind of a butcher, right? The upside of it is, well, now you got some serious dissension within it with it. I don't know that there's any power brokers left anymore, like I said earlier, that would have enough strength to go get Putin, but the country's starting to split apart at the seams a little bit. Maybe that's going to, but one last

bogey out there. And I will give progosium one more epicuret, so that'll be two amongst otherwise horrific human being is that finally when he all of this started, he did put out a statement saying like, I don't know why we went into Ukraine. Because the excuses we were told that they were about to attack us and that they were going to get NATO together and attack us isn't true. And I was like, oh, interesting. That's a twist I didn't expect. Okay.

So that's a slightly positive thing. The worst case scenario, and I kind of lived through this, from afar in Turkey. There's two people in Turkey that are very similar to this. Both terrible guys, one more fundamentalist than the other. When they were together, they were invincible. When they split, they started fighting against each other so much that they became a little bit more manageable.

But the Erdogan won, but the other guy's worse. And this guy's, this is very similar. But the worst case scenario is Putin goes, yeah, I don't know what I'm doing with this loser defense minister. You're fired slash assassinated slash a bathtub fellow. on you. Okay, and progosian, you're the new defense minister. That's your worst case scenario. Oh my God. But I, I see Putin as a bit of an egomaniac. So I don't know if he would be able to do that. Yeah, we'll see. Yeah, I agree. I think that his ego will probably get in the

way. But if I was him, I would certainly be considering that. Well, we're going to take a break. That is terrifying. I'm glad that you are not Vladimir Putin. When we come back, we'll talk about how Republicans are attempting to further weaken labor power among port workers. We'll be right back. So we now have valor. Valor has joined, and now is one of the young Turks. They did that by hitting the join button below the video on YouTube. You could do it at T.Y. Stop.

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T.com slash join. and Chris Birch has gifted a Young Turks membership and thereby helping your cause. But wait until you get a load of Samantha Tider who gifted five. So you guys are amazing. Thank you. Does Chris Birch know that his last name always reminds me of my favorite kind of wood? No, he does not. I don't think he knows that. And yet he's gifted all these memberships nevertheless. So just keep in mind every time you write in or donate or whatever, I just, you give me the warm and fuzzy feeling of beautiful fireworks.

Okay. Okay. Let's move on. Interesting. Okay. What's next? So random. Let's talk about labor. One back. I pulled a joke. I know. I know. I realized I was talking about wood. Okay. All right. Labor. Go. This morning at West Coast ports, where everyday products arrive and are then shipped across the country, there's growing concern. Dock workers may not show up to work again, creating a potential supply chain slowdown. Over the last four days, some of the nation's busiest ports have sat idle as the International Longshore and Warehouse Union battles the Pacific Maritime Association over a new contract. Now, that was about two weeks ago, and the ongoing labor dispute among port workers and the Pacific Maritime Association continues today. Now, that labor dispute is something that caught the attention of Republican lawmakers in the Senate, who are now proposing legislation to further dismantle and weaken labor unions that have to do with work at the ports, especially on the West Coast, where intentional labor slow. downs have hurt the bottom line for some of the major corporations that operate out of the United States. So the idea of this legislation is to essentially deter labor slowdowns at these ports, which

again had occurred in the West Coast last year, and to some extent continue today. Now the legislation sponsored by Idaho Republican Senator Jim Rish would amend the National Labor Relations Act and the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947. to deter labor slowdowns and prohibit labor organizations from blocking the modernization of ports through automation. So that is one of the sticking points in these labor negotiations. The port workers and the unions representing them are trying to ensure that there are certain safeguards in place to prevent the automation of various jobs.

And that is a reasonable thing to want to fight back against because that means that people would lose their jobs to automation. Now the bill, getting back to the legislation, co-sponsored by Republican Senator Ted Bud and Republican Senator Mike Fine, I'll say Crapo, would update the National Labor Relations Act to define a labor slowdown by maritime workers as an unfair labor practice. Under the proposed legislation, unions found in violation of the law would be subject to paying damages in an amount equal to two times the amount of damage sustained by their labor actions. And if you want to get an idea of just how much money is on the line,

there was an analysis done recently by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Considering it's from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, I would say that these numbers might be a little inflated, but no question, there is a lot of money on the line. So if this legislation goes through, I want to give you an idea of how much the workers would be liable for if they were found guilty of unfair labor practices. During recent West Coast port issues, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimated that a serious work stoppage at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach would likely cost the U.S. economy nearly half a billion dollars a day. It estimated a more widespread strike along the West Coast could cost approximately $1 billion per day. And should the workers

be found liable for that, or the union representing the workers be found liable for that, they would essentially have to pay damages twice the amount that was caused by the either labor slowdown or work stoppage, Jake. Yeah. So look, this is actually a really significant story because this goes along with the trend that Republicans have been pushing and Democrats have not been fighting back against, as always the notable exception being Bernie Sanders, where conservatives are now saying no, corporations have to be guaranteed profits.

And if labor costs them any money through a work slowdown or a strike, they have to give them the profits that the company would have made otherwise. That's insane. No one's ever heard of that before. That is not a standard that would end all labor rights instantly. How to hell are normal longshoremen or anyone else going to pay for the billions of and profits. And why are companies guaranteed profits? That's not a thing. That's not free market. That's not capitalism. That's the opposite of capitalism. You know what capitalism is?

Supply, demand, et cetera. And when you have leverage, using that leverage. The bankers never hesitate to use their leverage. Lobbyists never hesitate to use their leverage. So in this case, when you tell me, hey, it could be half a billion to a billion dollars a day. Yeah, that's called leverage. And so those workers are saying, hey, if I'm that valuable that apparently my work frees up a billion dollars a day, then why don't you pay me? Exactly. Oh, wait, no, we can't do that. Wait, what do you mean you can't do that? You never say that when it's the bankers. You apparently, you make plenty of money from this. Look, guys, this is against my interest because, yes, I get it if they do a labor slow down. It could create more inflation because

The supply chain issues, it could cost all of us money, I get it, but they're just doing what any other profession, especially white collar professions, would do, and now they're going to be barred by law from using their leverage as workers, as average American citizens because of these incredibly corrupt politicians. So I want to provide one caveat before we continue, because I am in complete solidarity with the workers here. And what these Republican lawmakers in the Senate are attempting to do is essentially do away with the one area of leverage that organized labor has, right? And that area of leverage is a potential strike. Those strikes tend to pressure the employers to engage in

good faith negotiations and actually compromise with the workers as opposed to, you know, exerting their authoritarian nature on the workers and forcing the workers to just take whatever deal they demand. There's one area of concern I have, and it has to do with medication, right? So unfortunately, because of how disgusting and corrupt the politicians in this country are, they have paved the way for outsourcing of the manufacturing of pharmaceutical drugs and medication that people need to stay alive. I am worried about the ongoing shortages that we're experiencing when it comes to drugs that people need. I'm worried that it'll be further exacerbated by a potential strike.

I don't know how we would, you know, maybe have a carve-out or some solution to ensure that people are getting the medication they need. But aside from that, aside from that, right, I don't really care about other products. I don't care about having to wait. I don't care about products costing more. Because at the end of the day, these are organized workers who want to have good faith negotiations with the employers here. And it is very clear that these negotiations have not been engaged in good faith. And what they're asking for is what you would expect in any labor

negotiation. Better working conditions, better pay. And some safeguards when it comes to their jobs being taken away or destroyed as a result of automation, which I love every article referring to it as modernization of their jobs. Good sarcasm on that one. And I actually think that's the one thing they're not going to win on. We can get back to that. It's off, take the ties off, there's a goddamn crates, you move them, okay? So there's a thousand solutions. And guys, two things that are super important here. In all the articles, and I don't want to make that mistake on air here, in all the articles

they say, if the workers do this, it is then it will cause this to the economy. No, the workers are saying that the company that is incredibly profitable is not taking the action they need to support their workers. So the correct framing on is, if the company continues to be greedy, it will cost America a billion dollars a day. So the problem is with a goddamn greedy company that makes profit on top of profit on top of profit, but won't pay their workers. Why does no one, almost no one in the media, ever frame it that way?

And second of all, there's a ton of things that hurt us, right? economically. For example, when the bankers raise interest rates, that hurts us economically. It costs us well over a billion dollars a day in aggregate for the whole country. How come there's never any articles written about the bankers raise the interest rates again? And that costs us $8 billion a day. And it came out of my pocket, at your pocket, et cetera, because the bankers are holy and they can't ever be touched. The powerful and the rich are awesome. And now look at the what this about the labors. And by the way, if you're a right winger, these are all Republican senators. Are you guys all CEOs?

Or do any of you work for a living? Because if you work for a living, you get that they're coming to crush you? So I actually want to go to the next video because the next video is telling. It provides some details about the individuals behind, you know, essentially pressuring the federal government to weaken these labor unions and do away with the one area of leverage they tend to have. Let's watch. As negotiations over pay, benefits, safety, and automation have dragged on for a year, the ILWU says some of its 22,000 rank and file members have begun to voice

their displeasure by not showing up for work at critical ports. The PMA counters, the disruptive work actions effectively shut down operations at some marine terminals. The problems brewing here could eventually impact you at home. This is sort of a slow burn that could get to a boil pretty quickly. The National Retail Federation urging the president to intervene because roughly 40% of our nation's imported goods arrive here at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Our partners at CNBC report, it could take weeks to clear the short backlog already created, saying many of the containers delayed now are back to school and holiday products. So the National Retail Federation has reached out to the Biden administration to try

to get the Biden administration to intervene. Considering Biden's track record with intervening on potential strikes and work stoppages, you know, and of course primarily thinking about the rail workers here, I am concerned that he will step in when he feels it's necessary, right? Yeah, and don't get it twisted. He's not going to step in on behalf of the workers. No, no. Like Republicans are like, oh, he's probably going to help labor. Dude, your labor, your labor. Anyway, no, don't worry, he never does. He always backs the giant companies or as donors. But before I forget this point, I just really want to make it because in the beginning

of that video, they mentioned people not showing up to work, right? Intentionally, to make a point. And so if the current workers are unhappy with their pay and their working conditions, there's nothing that legally marries them to that job. They could move on, they could find another job, they can stop working in the ports, right? And if the working conditions in the pay are not competitive, are not desirable, how are they They're gonna hire other people to fill those roles in these jobs. You know what I'm saying?

So it's not just about this current moment, it's also about the future. And if this job is not desirable for other workers or other employees, how exactly do they plan on attracting labor to fill these roles? It's incumbent upon the company to make a deal. But regular rules of capitalism don't apply anymore. Republican politicians believe in corporatism and that they don't want competition. They don't want labor having any leverage. Look, I got to make the last couple points.

Look, I think on the automation part, that's going to be the toughest because that saves the company so much money. They're going to, in the long run, probably steamroll you. But keep fighting brothers and sisters. And if that's going to happen in the future, you better get as much as you can today. Okay. So now that leads me with the last two points. One is from a member, Trump's lady lumps wrote in, so a dude from Ivy.

A lot, a landlocked state that has zero ports is right writing legislation on ports. Yep. So that's a great point. I love how smart our members are. TYt.com slash join to become one of them. And we obviously read some of your comments on air in the middle of stories as you see here. And the reason it's a great point is, and why does that happen? Because that guy takes tons of money from corporate donors. That's why even though he doesn't have any ports, he's animated about ports. Senator from Idaho should never even talk about ports, let alone go on a war path on them. You only do that when you're bribed, when you're legally bribed by these companies.

And again, no articles talk about how every single Republican senator that is pushing for this takes bribes from corporate interests. I'm sorry, campaign contributions, but they're so honorable, they don't listen to those campaign contributions. Wink, and by the way, now this Rich has taken it to the next level, because he's saying not only do the workers owe the company, their guaranteed profits, they owe twice the guaranteed profits. Twice as much, right? It's a deterrent, Jank. It's all meant to intimidate the workers and prevent them from even considering a strike,

because if this type of legislation passes, the Senate in the House, if it becomes law, that means they are now on the line. They are now liable to pay double the damages that were incurred as a result of that strike or that work stoppage. No one can afford that. No, of course not. That's just saying you can't strike anymore, you can't do these work stoppages, you can't do anything to fight back against companies. You must accept the corporations and big business rule you all. And guys, again, if you're a Republican voter and you think these politicians are on your side, you got a big surprise coming to you.

After they're done talking about trans issues and M&Ms, they screw you so hard and try to take every dollar out of your pocket and give it to the CEOs that are funding their campaigns. Now, Rish has actually tried to pass similar legislation two times before. Luckily, both times they failed. He did this in 2017 and also in 2020 last year. And so he's optimistic this time around because he claims that with the Republicans taking over the house, There's more appetite for this type of legislation. And do I think that the Senate would have the 60 votes necessary to pass this type of anti-labor legislation?

I do think they have that. So we don't know that. But the only reason I'm not at all sure of that is because the union bribes the Democrats. So the unions bribe the Democrats and the corporations bribe the Democrats and the corporations bribe the Republicans. So that's why corporations have a two to one advantage and they almost always win. But when it's a core issue like this, the unions go, hey, this was the whole point of our campaign contributions. So you might have enough Democrats hold the line, but not for the right reasons, just because they're getting bright from the other side. All right, we're going to take a quick break.

When we come back, we've got more news for you, including where the United States ranks among developed countries when it comes to labor treatment and protections. And later in the show, we will lighten things up and talk about a chud scuffle that took place in Oregon. And really interesting one. Proud Boys versus Nazis, or was it? We'll be back. All right, back on T.Y.T. Jank Anna and Jack McKinn just joined. I say it that way because he sounds like he's in a spy thriller. All right, and then look at this American hero. Daniel Della O upgraded membership, and you could upgrade through the same join button below the video. Amazing, Casper.

Let's talk a little bit about the United States and how it ranks among other developed countries on labor rights. Oxfam has confirmed what we already suspected in regard to how labor fares in the United States compared to other developed countries. In fact, they compare the United States to other developed countries, and unfortunately, the United States ranks near the bottom in most categories. In fact, in one specific category, the U.S. ranks dead last. But before we get to that, and you want to know what that category is, let's get to how the data was collected, how it was analyzed and why the United States is ranking so low among these developed countries. So Oxfam decided to collect data from 38 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation

and Development, so the OECD, which mostly contains countries in Europe, but also several from the Middle East and also Asia. The study only accounted for national policy. So for example, while the minimum wage might be high in some states or higher in some states, what Oxfam did is they focused on the federal minimum wage when doing its analysis. So they gather data on 56 different policies pertaining to labor and then group them into three categories, which include wage policies, I think that's self-explanatory, also rights to organize. How easy is it for labor to organize in these various developed countries? Are they able to unionize, bargain and strike without retribution?

And then the final category, which happens to be the broadest one, is worker support, which includes paid and sick leave, whether or not healthcare is tied to employment, policies against workplace harassment, and more. Okay, so Oxfam took all 38 countries and ranked them in all three categories, and how did the United States do? Well, let's start with wage policies. Here are the top 10 countries, okay? Coming in at number 10 is Australia, then you have Slovenia, Luxembourg, New Zealand,

Germany, Spain, South Korea, Netherlands, France. Coming in at number one is Belgium, doing real well with wage. Wait a minute, Ann, I just want to point out something. Belgium, France, Netherlands, they're all socialist countries, interesting. I mean, they're mixed economies. Yeah, yeah. And so I hear socialism is super scary. Again, remember, I'm a capitalist.

I don't call myself a socialist. He lives his life like a capitalist every single day. Every day, apparently. So we suck on wages. Why? Because we live under corporate rule. We suck in every one of these categories. Everybody's surprised by it. You should not be surprised at all. Remember, these are OECD countries. So you've got Japan and Canada and Finland, et cetera, in there.

But you also have Costa Rica, Mexico, Turkey. And so we're getting our ass handed to us by everybody. Why? Because some of those countries are great to their workers. Some are just mid, right? But we actively hurt our workers to help corporate rule. Because our politicians are all bought by corporate don'ts. So as you can see from that list, the United States was not in the top 10. In fact, the United States wasn't in the top 15 or the top 20 or the top 30.

Let's see where the United States actually ranked when it came to wage dimension 36. Out of 38, out of 38, the United States. ranked 36. That's because we're trying to screw over our workers and we're succeeding. And when I say we in this case, I mean our government and our politicians, both Republicans and some Democrats, but all Republicans are against higher wages when it comes to any legislation and against any, and let alone worker rights and protections, which is what we're getting to next. Now, the United States could have even ranked lower in that list because there is a technicality.

And I think you should know about that technicality. We've talked about it on the show in other contexts before, and it has to do with the fact that Denmark is only behind the United States because of how they determine wages in their country. The survey notes that neither Denmark nor Sweden ever enacted minimum wage laws because their wage levels were almost entirely set through the collective bargaining of their labor unions, which in Sweden for decades represented close to 90% of the nation's workers. Wow, 90%. You know what the US is? Private industry? 6% union.

Sweden has 90%. And guess who has better wages? Way, way better wages for the average person. Sweden does. Because in America, nobody cares. No politician cares about the average person. All they care about is the corporate CEOs who are giving them campaign contributions. So let's get to the other category.

The United States does a little bit better, a little bit better when it comes to rights to organize. Although, as we covered on the show earlier today, Republican senators, are working on diminishing that. But nonetheless, let's get to the ranking for the right to organize. And if you look at the, you know, top countries, you have Spain, Norway, Israel, Finland. All of those are tied at number nine. Then you have Portugal, Netherlands, Italy, Iceland, Denmark.

They're tied at the fourth place. Then at number three, you have France. Number two, you have Sweden. Number one, you have Slovenia. Okay, great. Now, where does the United States land in this ranking? Well, not in the top 10 again, but we did place a little higher than the wage issue. So we're at number 32, tied with Turkey.

Okay, we made it up to Turkey's level. Congratulations to us. My family moved from Turkey to here for a better life. But did we get it? And it wasn't, look, I think it's really important to understand it wasn't always like this. Back when there was far more labor power, in fact, so much so that it pressured the president of the United States, Roosevelt, to do something about the way workers were treated through the New Deal.

Like, that was when, I mean, that was like the golden era for workers in America, right? Yeah. The American dream was very much real. People were able to work jobs that actually paid not only a living wage, but had like the benefits necessary to live well and thrive. People were able to buy homes. Oh my God, can you imagine being able to easily buy a home from, you know, a blue collar job in America today? Yeah.

Inconceivable. Look, I love this country. That's why we came. So, and between 1938 and 1978, 1978, I mean, we can't, coincidentally, my family came at the exact pivot point, okay? 1938 to 78, we've got great media, great labor movement, and great results. Social Security, Medicare, so many things. happen in that stretch, right? And workers' rights and OSHA and protections, everything, right? And then corporate rule starts, and I explain this in chapter four of my book,

Justice is Coming. And corporate rule changes all the rules because they allow them to bribe the politicians. From there, then on, productivity is still sky high, but wages and workers' rights plummet, because corporations are now in charge. Look, we can regain that great America. the way that the Trump guys think. It was great because they actually cared about the workers, the average American citizens. And it was led almost exclusively by Democrats who back then were actually progressives. But just, look, you mentioned the like Trump supporters, the MAGA crowd. And I think that there is an important kernel of truth to, you know, mention when it comes to their frustration over policies that have been enacted by other presidents and other administrations.

Look, they're not wrong when they're expressing their rage at globalization, right? Because a lot of those well-paying jobs in the middle of the country, in the Rust Belt, for instance, were outsourced. They were sent over to other countries. And so they're furious about that. And when they hear someone like Donald Trump claim that he's going to bring those jobs back, that's what they support, even though he didn't actually do that. 100%. That's why they like him so much. Why do you think they like them?

You think it's just the racism and bigotry? No, a lot of this is this incredible, but it's totally misdirected. So look, if you're angry globalization, that's a nuanced thing, because those forces are going to be hard to reel back in. But what the government is supposed to do is to fight for you so that you have balance as those economic forces are playing out. And so they are supposed to stand up for the average American worker. When the Democratic Party did that, it dominated American politics for 40 straight years.

When they started taking corporate donations and stopped doing that, the Republicans, who had always been for big business, started pretending that they're for the little guy. Oh, they're like, oh, yeah, globalization, bad, yeah, bad. You guys say bad, wink, they all vote yes. And then afterwards go, oh, we will bring those jobs back. Now, you shipped them out in the first place. And Trump didn't bring any of them back. But at least he says it. So it seems like, hey, somebody's fighting back.

And he says it. The Democrats are so stupid. They don't fight back and they don't even pretend to fight back. But, Jank, listen, the reason why the Democrats don't talk about it. And same with mainstream Republicans. And the reason why Trump just acknowledging the reality of those jobs being sent abroad, like they don't want to talk about those issues because of how their campaigns are funded, right? Their donors love the fact that they can exploit cheap labor abroad, and they've been exploiting

cheap labor abroad through various trade agreements that Trump did, you know, vocally criticize on a regular basis. Again, even though he took advantage of those policies himself. And then at the same time, look, look at what's happening in the country among the electorate, right? Everything has become far more extreme, right? You have the extreme right, the extreme left, they're constantly fighting each other. On what issues?

On what issues they fight each other on all day, every day. Culture war. Culture war issues, right? So like everyone is at each other's throats, everyone has forgotten that we're all Americans. And it's because we're pitted against each other through these culture war issues. While at the same time, there is actually pretty broad agreement when it comes to what needs to be done to improve the situation for the electorate economically. Yes, and look, that's, Anna's absolutely right about how Democrats are embarrassed, which leads,

and that's why they don't talk about these issues at all, which leads to the last culprit, and then we'll give you the last ranking. Yes. The last culprit is the media. Did you ever hear that we're number 38 out of 38 in a lot of these categories? You never heard that, right? What do you hear on media all the time? We're number one, we have the best system.

It might not be perfect, but it's the best in the world. Why? Why do you randomly say it's best in the world when every ranking in almost every category says we're nowhere near the top, let alone the best? Because they want to lull you back in to say, don't complain, don't complain. We're not number 38, we're number one. It's a total lie. So the last category is worker protections. And US did not do well in this category at all. So let's take a look at the top 10 that actually did rank well.

Number 10 is Lithuania, followed by Belgium, Chile, Italy, Portugal, France, Austria, Norway, Finland, and Germany. Okay, the U.S. dead last. 38 out of 38. Yes. Okay, guys, Estonia was second of last, and we were nowhere near them. We're like a factor of two worse than Estonia, which ranked 37th, okay? Lithuania is so far away from us, we can't even see. see it. Those countries protect their workers, care about their workers, and get their workers

higher wages. We do not. We are not number one. We are near the bottom because we live under corporate rule. The only reason you don't know that is because of corporate media, the most important tool in corporate rules arsenal. That's the one that makes you go back to sleep and not be an open rebellion against this twisted corrupt system. All right, we got to take a break. When we come back for the second hour, we'll talk about the proud boys getting into a bit of a scuffle in Oregon with neo-Nazis. What's that about? Some conspiratorial thoughts on that coming from the proud boys as well.

And then later we'll discuss Fox's latest new lineup, which I don't care too much about. but I think maybe you guys will find it interesting. I know Jank does. And then later, I don't know why I preface it that way, but I'm just keeping it real. I can't lie to you guys. That's so unusual, Anna, keeping it real. I didn't see that coming.

And then we'll also talk about Chris Christie's ongoing spat with Donald Trump. Come 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 slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.