The Young Turks - AOC's Story

Episode Date: February 3, 2021

AOC reveals she’s a survivor of sexual assault while sharing her harrowing account of the Capitol Riots, and reveals she was getting texts warning of violence a week before the Capitol Insurrection – including from other members of Congress. 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. I welcome to the young Turks, Jake Eugataka Sparid with you guys. So nothing but fun today, we all, God, you guys are going to be so excited. We got bipartisan ship in Washington cover. up apparently and you know what that means. That means we're all about to get screwed. The mainstream media must be thrilled, bipartisanship, yay! We'll get to that story in a little bit.

But first, disaster. So AOC shared some harrowing stories and then of course the backlash was stupid. So first let's start with the story itself. So Anna. All right, let's take it away. I'm a survivor of sexual assault, and I haven't told many people that in my life. That is Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who, through an Instagram live stream, shared granular details about what she experienced on the day of the Capitol Hill riots. And she also, clearly from the cold open you just listened to, opened up about something that wasn't previously known, the fact that she's a survivor from a sexual assault. She didn't give any additional details about that, but she was clearly, you know, emotional while sharing not only her firsthand experience of dealing with white supremacists who clearly wanted to murder her, but also how that trauma was compounded by previous trauma that she had. experienced in her life. And so I don't want to put any words in her mouth. I think it's important

for you to hear what she had to say. Let's take a look. The reason I say this and the reason I'm getting emotional in this moment is because these folks who tell us to move on that it's not a big deal, that we should forget what's happened or even telling us to apologize. These are the same tactics of abusers and I'm a survivor of sexual assault and I haven't told many people that in my life. But when we go through trauma, trauma compounds on each other. And so whether you had a negligent or, you know, a neglectful parent and or whether you had someone who was verbally abusive to you, whether you are a survivor of abuse, whether you experience any sort of trauma in your life, small to large. These episodes can compound on one another. There's no,

you know, something really big happening to you. And then you deal with it and then you move on and then when something else happens to you you deal with that and then when you and then you move on all of our experiences make us who we are and and that's also to say that most people live with trauma and it's not to and that doesn't even diminish you know any of the trauma that any one of us may have been through um but it is to say that say that there is a community of so many people who can understand. So I personally really appreciated her. First of all, opening up like that, putting herself in a vulnerable position. And more importantly, not only just talking about what she experienced, but how trauma is compounded by additional trauma. And it was something that I actually didn't even realize until much later in life. Actually last year, it was the first time I realized, oh, it turns out that this unresolved trauma or trauma that you think is resolved still subconsciously

has an impact on you. And it does make you who you are. I'm not saying that it necessarily has to make you think of yourself as some sort of victim or anything like that. But it does fundamentally change you in ways that I think people don't even realize. And so I appreciate that she did this video, Jank. Part of me feels like she did this in addition to explaining just how much, you know, fear she had on the day of the Capitol riots to give an explanation for why she doesn't want to work with certain Republican lawmakers who provoked what took place that day, right? So you have Ted Cruz pretending as if he wants to work with someone like.

like Representative Acacio Cortez to pass Wall Street reforms. But Ted Cruz, like, let's not forget about who Ted Cruz is. Ted Cruz not only helped to provoke those riots and repeated the lies that Donald Trump was putting out there about widespread voter fraud. And he did that, by the way, to raise money. But he is someone who has never been in favor of regulation, has never actually wanted to hold Wall Street accountable. So for people who are like reigning terror on AOC, for not wanting to work with Ted Cruz because of his involvement in inciting that kind of violence, you know, let's really take a step back and think about who Ted Cruz is here, what he actually engaged in.

And maybe let's not demonize someone who actually wants to fight for the policies that we need in this country, policies that would, you know, at least begin to close this. a divide between the rich and the poor in the United States. Making AOC to be some sort of enemy to the point where, you know, I feel like she felt the need to explain what she was going through that day is just unacceptable and ridiculous. But that's my take. And by the way, this video was done for, for anyone who's criticizing her for this video, this video wasn't done for you, okay? Maybe you live in some, you know, nice privileged situation where you've never been a victim of any kind of abuse. But there are countless people, not just in the United States,

in the United States, but across the world, who have experienced similar trauma that she just talked about openly. And that video resonates and means a lot to people who have gone through similar trauma and have felt alone, who felt like they didn't have a voice and they didn't have the ability to connect with someone, you know, regarding this kind of awful experience. So I commend her for it. And I think she's incredible. Yeah. So first, real quick on Ted Cruz, look, if you think Ted Cruz is trying to hold Wall Street, high-end donors, and the wealthy accountable, I don't know if I hate to say it or not, but you're a rube, you're a sucker that's never happened before. It would be a massive change of

position overnight. He is a thousand times more likely. to be exploiting it to be a fake populist. He's never going to actually fight for it or vote for it. And you're being a useful idiot by going along. Oh, Ted Cruz is so great. Why won't AOC work with the progressive Ted Cruz? I mean, come on, really? I mean, you're having some sort of emotional reasons why you're saying something that unintelligent, if that's the direction you're going. Okay, so if it came down to it and Ted Cruz wants to vote something with something that we agree with, Great, well, of course, anybody's going to take his vote. But we're not going to trust them ahead of time, like a sucker and do his marketing for him like a fool. Okay, so let's just make that clear. Number two, so why did she have to even bother doing this? Because already people were raining down, you know, let's just say, to put it very mildly, there's skepticism on her, right? We don't believe you. We don't think your life was in danger. You're being over dramatic. this stuff. So you forced her to tell you the details of what happened. So as it turns out,

she was hiding and a guy comes in and starts yelling, where is she? Where is she? Later they find out that he's Capitol Hill police. But in that moment, she was incredibly scared. Now when she tells you the backstory of why she felt that way, a normal decent human being would empathize. indecent human beings would look at that and go, oh, she's a survivor of sexual assault, and that's why it shook her. I don't care. I don't believe her. She's a phone.

I never suffered that. So I don't believe anyone who has. And I don't think it makes any difference because I never experienced it. So it's the conservative prick mentality. And I don't care what part of the political spectrum they're pretending to be in. Okay. But that's exactly how conservatives think. If I didn't experience it, it doesn't exist.

I don't believe it. Right? So she had to spell this out. And obviously she was emotional as she did it for the most, again, obvious reasons you can imagine. So her critics doubled down because they're asses. So now look, I got something out of that video that it wasn't just about January 6th. I am, I never had sexual assault or any kind of assault like that happened in me. Okay, so I come from a privileged perspective and I can recognize that. And so oftentimes you'll see me saying, I'm not in danger. I am the danger for the establishment, for the right wingers to fascists, in a situation

where there is conflict, I'm here for it, okay? So I'm not gonna run from you, you're gonna run from me. But now I get to say that. Because I never experienced that. So when I was a kid, I wasn't traumatized by it. It didn't put fear in my heart. I was super lucky. And with that luck, I try to fight for others. But if you can't see that others have a different perspective, there's something wrong with you. Please open your eyes, your heart, your mind to other people's perspectives that she's trying to deliver. And guys, you have no idea how many people this affects. To me, one of the, and this is very, and this is very,

ironic and has nothing to do with the AOC story. But one of the things that opened my eyes to it is how easily Q&N was converting people. Because the minute they say sexual assault and child predators, giant percentage of the country has had to deal with that and has kept it undercover, under wraps because they were embarrassed about it, etc. And it immediately appeals to them because they remember what they went through. And so this is a much, much bigger problem for the country than anyone has ever recognized. So please let's try to deal with it with compassion and understanding and empathy and get people to write answers and get folks the support that they need. So there's some portion of them that do not go in the wrong direction looking for answers

in the wrong places. Look, I know that as someone who identifies as a believer in the left as part of the left, I mean, a core tenet of that is to want to fight for a world where everyone has a life of dignity, right? Like, that's an important part of being on the left. And I just find it curious that, you know, some of the people on social media today who purport to be giant warriors for the left don't believe in responding to AOC with decency, right? To respect her lived experience. And if you don't have something nice to say, just like, how about don't mock her? How about don't go after her viciously? And also, it's real easy to minimize what it was like to be in the Capitol as that building was breached. As you have these violent people, you know,

coming after lawmakers, you don't have enough Capitol police there to keep control of the situation. You can hear them yelling. I mean, we've seen so many videos of them, you know, breaking windows and doing what they can to get into various offices. So it's easy for you to sit behind a computer and be a little Twitter warrior about how this was nothing and let's minimize it and let's belittle and mock AOC for being terrified that day. But the truth of the matter is anyone, even especially those Twitter warriors, would be absolutely terrified if someone was doing that to their home. someone was breaking into their home and threatening to murder them, threatening to, you know, hold them hostage with flexi cuffs. But AOC did also share some details about the kinds of threats that she received prior to January 6th, which is the day that the riot took place. And I want

to share that with you. So for instance, about a week before the Capitol riot, Ocasio Cortez said she began receiving text messages from members of Congress warning her that she needed to make plans to ensure her safety, and that in particular, I needed to be careful about the sixth. On January 4th, after driving to the Capitol for a vote, she returned to find Trump supporters standing behind her car, heckling her. The following day, the crowds outside the Capitol grew. Also, keep in mind that federal prosecutors have charged one of the rioters with threatening in a tweet to assassinate AOC. So the threats were real, and they were further corroborated by Representative Portman, I'm sorry, Representative Porter, Katie Porter,

who gave an interview and explained what she experienced along with AOC. Let's take a look at the first clip. She saw me, and we waived, I went into my office, and a couple seconds later, she knocked, and she said, you know, could we come in? And I said, of course. and she began to, you know, her staffer was trying to describe what had happened. And Alex is really usually, like, unfailingly polite and very personable. And she wasn't even really talking to me.

She was opening up doors. And I was like, can I help you? Like, what are you looking for? And she said, I'm looking for where I'm going to hide. And the thing that will always stay with me, the two memories that really, you know, especially as a mom, I think were just really. powerful for me was when she said, you know, I was saying, well, don't worry, I'm a mom, I'm calm, I've got everything here we need. We could live for like a month in this office. And she

said, I just hope I get to be a mom. I hope I don't die today. So, you know, Katie Porter was in an office and AOC was looking for a place to hide and, you know, she let her into that room and that's where they had that exchange. Jane, did you want to comment on? it before we go to the next video? Yeah. So the guy who said he was going to assassinate her had made it into the building. And as they were bringing into the building, remember they were chanting, hang Mike Pence, hang Mike Pence. So they were in a murderous mood. There's no question about it. And of course, one of the Capitol Police died during altercations, let alone for other people. So if you still think like that it's fake drama, how many people did you need to

be have killed before you believe other people's pain? So it's just unbearable. Anyway, now in terms of the other comment that AOC made, she said that it was like that abuser coming back and telling you that it was your fault, right? And in so many stories of abuse, it's the gaslighting that really drives folks crazy, right? It drives me crazy hearing it. So, and that is Republican 101. They punch you in the face. And then when you turn around and say, can you not punch me in the face? They go, oh, now look at this. They got victimhood. And now they're trying to milk it just because, and I am offended because they say something mean about, how about the part where you punch in the face, right?

Milk it for what? Milk it for what? Milk it for what? Milk it for what? Milk it for what? Milk it for what? They want consequences for Republican lawmakers who lied to the American people about alleged widespread voter fraud, voter fraud that Trump's legal team couldn't provide a shred of evidence for. But they repeated those lies anyway, further started. choking tensions, riling people up, and inciting people to show up to the Capitol on the day that Congress was certifying electoral college votes. Moking it for what? For a podcast? Is that what she's milking it for? She doesn't have a podcast? These people are pathetic and disgusting, absolutely pathetic and disgusting. To totally mock

someone's experience like that, this is why, honestly, I find it difficult to to even be in a vulnerable place like that, right? Like I give her a lot of credit because I could have predicted that this would be the response. Because people are insanely cruel, narcissistic, self-interested, cynical, and disgusting. Yeah. I have no interest in working with people like that because I honestly think if you're genuinely wanting to do great things for this country, then you respect other people. You respect their lived experience. and you don't mock them and put them down in a moment of vulnerability, in a moment where they share the most difficult experiences of their lives with the public. Sorry, Jank. I just, I'm milking it for what?

Milking it for what? Yeah, so I want to read a couple of our viewer comments because I think they're so on point. Politics tick ticks wrote in, interesting that the political side that most loudly yells about how they need guns to protect themselves from home invasions, etc. Or so quick to minimize someone hiding from people looking to harm her. If an angry mob is no danger, why are you clinging to your guns? I wanted to read that to you because I honestly hadn't thought of that. And it's such a great point, conservatives are always living in perpetual fear. Oh my God, the black man's going to come get me. Oh my God, the brown guy's crossing the border. Oh my God, the Muslim is going to impose Sharia law on me. Oh my God,

Black people are in the suburbs, black people are in the suburbs. They live in perpetual fear. They're the biggest cowards in the country. And then when you, then they go and threaten other people's lives. And after they threaten their lives and say, I'm going to come and kill you, they go, that person gets a little scared because they actually do come and kill people. Then they go, ha ha, ha, as if they aren't the biggest cowards that have ever lived. They murdered a cop using a fire extinguisher. They beat a cop to death using a fire extinguisher. But let's minimize, let's minimize what happened that day.

Let's minimize the fear that people felt that day, lawmakers felt that day. And I'm talking about women of color in Congress who have been targeted by Donald Trump himself ever since they were elected, ever since they were elected over and over again. And by the way, I mean, what did we hear from Trump and his cronies when it came to leading up to the midterm elections in 2018? Migrant caravan, migrant caravan, be scared, be scared, migrant caravan. I mean, yeah, that commenter is absolutely right. All they do is use fear to get people to support them.

And then when you have lawmakers who are just sharing the legitimate fear they were feeling that day, let's mock them, let's put them down. I mean, fear is there bread and butter. And in this case, AOC isn't using it as a political tactic. She's doing it to open up with her constituents, with the American people about what it was like that day. And I would suspect why it is that she refuses to work with a Republican lawmaker like Ted Cruz, who is not interested in regulation. It does not have the same political agenda as the left does, but absolutely did help to stoke tensions and incite violence. on that day and leading up to that day.

I want to give air time to two more members, because we got the smartest audience in the world. So Colorado blue blaze a regular road and absolutely on point, Anna, words failed to convey my fury at these cowards. And then Kuda Morad made another point that I hadn't thought of. When four people died in Benghazi, the GOP wanted investigations for years, but when Benghazi happens in our own capital and even more people died and are still dying, they want absolutely nothing done.

That's what Lindsay Graham is said, and we're going to talk about that later in the show. And finally, that gets to the political point here, which is the Republicans and some of their useful idiots that are pretending to be on the left are saying, oh, let's just move on. Let's just move on. I don't believe any of them anyway. It's all fake drama. My beloved Trump and his beloved mob that murdered these people are so great and they're just real Americans.

Let's just move on. Let's move on. You guys didn't move on from Benghazi for four straight years or however many years they did for those investigations, probably longer through Trump. And he did what, nine investigations of Benghazzo because, oh, four Americans died. Having nothing to do with anyone here, anyone here, here right in front of you, in our capital. Five people die. And you go, it's no big deal, so wide.

Oh, they didn't invade one of our embassies in Libya. They invaded our capital. And you think, yeah, but I like them. And I like that they were trying to overthrow our own democracy. So I don't mind that they murdered people. So instead, I'm going to attack AOC, who was one of the people that they were trying to kill, instead of worrying about the actual rioters themselves that killed those people. And if you're in that camp, well, look, I don't want any business.

bipartisanship with you. You're a despicable person. I want to defeat you politically and then and then get the American people what they actually want, which isn't anything like you. We got to take a break. When we come back, we have some updates on the coronavirus relief bill and the negotiations that Biden had with 10 so-called moderate Republicans yesterday. Stick around. We'll give you those details and more when we come back. We need to talk about a relatively new show called Un-F-The-Republic, or UNFTR. As a Young Turks fan, you already know that the government, the media, and corporations are constantly peddling lies that serve the interests of the rich and powerful.

But now there's a podcast dedicated to unraveling those lies, debunking the conventional wisdom. In each episode of Un-B-F-The Republic, or UNFTR, the host delves into a different historical episode or topic that's generally misunderstood or purposely obfuscated by the so-called powers that be featuring in-depth research, razor-sharp commentary, and just the right amount of vulgarity, the UNFTR podcast takes a sledgehammer to what you thought you knew about some of the nation's most sacred historical cows. But don't just take my word for it. The New York Times described UNFTR as consistently compelling and educational, aiming to challenge conventional wisdom and upend the historical narratives that were taught in school.

For as the great philosopher Yoda once put it, you must not learn what you have learned. And that's true whether you're in Jedi training or you're uprooting and exposing all the propaganda and disinformation you've been fed over the course of your lifetime. So search for UNFDR in your podcast app today and get ready to get informed, angered, and entertained all at the same time. Thank you. You know, I'm going to be able to be.

All right, we're back during the break. I'm going to try to get through as many of your comments as possible because they're so good. Starting the member section on the website, per particular time says the backlash to AOC wasn't stupid, it was rank evil. We're going to talk more about that in the post game from people that are theoretically on the left. Unfortunately, including someone that once worked here. Okay, anyway, you get that at the essentials level if you join on t y on youtube everybody who joins on t yt dot com slash join gets it no more trigonometry says took a lot of strength coming out about that it's already hard enough but especially when you

consider who she is her role and the hate she gets from the right along with someone on some on the left i mean look at how the right treated christine blasey ford after she testified against caverno so again that is unfortunately very true uh t yt user 1766 62 13 wrote in as someone who went through verbal abuse at a young age, I cannot appreciate and love AOC all the more, meaning I can't like her more than I do, I think. Trauma knows no income political party or philosophy. Chromomatic Canuka writes in, they brutally murder someone belonging to an organization that they supposedly respect. Imagine what they would do to anyone who they don't respect. Now, it's again, 100% right, super scary moment there for those folks.

People who just joined on YouTube Baranick, Jessica Garrison, Janie Mahaffey, and Andrea Barlow just upgraded the essentials. And Andrea, thank you, we appreciate it, and you'll get the post game today as well. So here's some super chats from YouTube, Sir Smoker, Right, 74 wrote in, Jank, what can we do other them post on her IG and Twitter to show we are here for AOC, we need her to stay in government, and she's the truth. So look, under normal circumstances, if it was a political issue, I'd say she has a PAC, you could donate that to her, or donate her to her to help other progressives, because she really doesn't need it. She used it to help get more progressives elected.

This is not one of those situations. So honestly, you know, I don't really know what more you could do, just support her in every way that you can. If you're anywhere near, anywhere near where she lives and is a representative, volunteer in the community and help her that way. Atticus Emerson says, my wishes that I can bring a little hope and positivity to other sexual violence survivors by sharing this. After two years in court, I won my case. So that is great to hear and thank you for that positive note.

Andrew Rue writes that I was sexually assaulted as a child, someone stepped up and I got protection. Many aren't so lucky. Thankfully, I've been able to use what happened to me to help others who have not been as fortunate. Andrew, thank you for sharing that. And Sayorsi Cook wrote in, remember therapy, everyone needs a therapist in my opinion, and they can help treat the symptoms of your situation. And Blade Runner, O.O.1 says, Anna, your compass is always on point. We'll be right back. All right on Young Turks, Jane Canana with you guys. Now let's move to politics,

because that is going to affect your life in the form of a bill that they're going to pass and how much relief are you and your family going to get? Well, Bakulah, brace for impact. Anna. All right, well, if you've been following the news regarding the coronavirus relief package and the $1.9 trillion bill that Biden is trying to get passed, you're likely to come across lots of demands for bipartisanship, partly because Biden claims that he wants to do this in a bipartisan way, and partly because all we keep hearing from reporters who frame the questions is whether or not this is going to be done in a bipartisan way. So why don't

we check in on the state of our unity? With unity, we can do great things, important things. We're going to unite. You must remember. Republicans are talking about unity. Let's have trial by combat. How quickly people forget about Republicans and their behavior just a few weeks ago. Do we really want to unify with them? Looks like Biden is still open to it because he met with 10 Republican senators just yesterday for a two hour meeting. And during that meeting, which was organized by Senator Collins, it was clear that Republicans have no interest. in passing a $1.9 trillion relief package. In fact, they countered with something that we gave you

details about recently, a measly $618 billion coronavirus relief package that would cut a lot of the economic relief that Americans need right now, including the direct checks to Americans, which they would cut down from $1,400 to $1,000. They would also lower the amount of money that people would get through unemployment from $400 per week through September to only $300 per week through June. And then most importantly, they would cap the amount of money that someone can make in order to lower the amount of people who would qualify for the economic relief. So at $50,000 per person. The Republican version of this bill would disqualify someone, if they make more than $50,000 a year. If it's head of household, it's $75,000 per year. Now, they left that meeting

without any real agreement, which I'm happy about, because the Biden administration should stop wasting its time trying to negotiate with people who have no interest in providing economic relief to Americans, which, by the way, is very popular with constituents and of each political group, whether your Democrat or Republican doesn't matter, robust economic relief is polling extremely well because Americans are desperate right now. But the update to this story, Jank, which we found out about pretty soon before we went live today is that some senior Democrats are looking at lowering the threshold on stimulus payments so they can start phasing out above $50,000 for single taxpayers, $75,000 for heads of household,

$100,000 for married couples. So Democrats are considering this, which is why they have consistently been disappointing and ridiculous. And there's absolutely no need to negotiate with these people. There's absolutely no need to capitulate to Republicans, to take seriously anything they have to say, pass a robust bill through reconciliation in the Senate and move on with your lives. We're wasting our time and this is ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. We'll go to video in just a minute, but Jank, I want you to jump in. Well, I'm going to go to the usual suspects here. The people who are at fault are Democratic leadership, conservative Democrats, and the media, because those are the people that are obsessed with bipartisanship.

Nobody in the country actually wants it. It's bipartisan only in Washington, D.C. is not bipartisan the rest of the country. In fact, bipartisanship does exist on this issue. It's on the other side. The Republican voters, Democratic voters, and independent voters, they all agree. Three quarters of the country agrees that we should do the higher relief bill, not the lower relief bill that the Republicans are proposing. So Joe Biden, who are you unifying with?

You're not unifying with Republican voters who you say you're reaching out to. They want your version of the bill, not their own politician's version of the bill. not their own politicians version of the bill. So you're unifying with low-life Republican politicians who are working for their wealthy donors and working 98% on time against you. So why would you do that? Why would you do that? Because he is in a group think and that group think is driven by their own donors.

So we're not negotiating with Republicans. There's absolutely no need to negotiate with the Republicans. They have no power at all, we can pass almost everything through reconciliation. And if Manchin is cinema, we're actual Democrats, we could get rid of the filibuster and pass anything we want, period. We're negotiating with donors. That's who we're negotiating with. Understand that. Is there anyone in mainstream media who can actually think for one second and go, oh, right, bipartisanship by itself doesn't really mean anything.

What are we agreeing to? You're going to applaud both parties agreeing to screw over the average American voter who does not want that bill, who does not want it to be bipartisan, who does not want it to be lower. They're saying make it higher. And all of the national media, cheers, yes, yes, we did it again. All of us powerful elites agree to screw you guys all over again, and we will celebrate. with a bipartisanship party, not interested. No one can defeat from the jaws of victory better than Democrats.

Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. And what we're getting is mixed signals, mixed messaging from the Democrats, right? So on one hand, following the meeting that Biden had with the 10 Republican lawmakers, his White House press secretary, Jen Saki, came out and said that they just wholeheartedly reject the proposal that Republicans are putting forth $618 billion, which cuts benefits to Americans. She released a statement saying that the president also reiterated his view that Congress must respond boldly and urgently and noted many areas which the Republican Senator's proposal does not address. He reiterated that while he's hopeful that the rescue plan

can pass with bipartisan support, a reconciliation package is a path to achieve that end. The president also made clear that the American Rescue Plan was carefully designed to meet the stakes of this moment, and any changes in it cannot leave the nation short of its pressing needs. And let me be clear about something. Biden's plan is obviously better than what Republicans are offering. But Biden's plan doesn't go far enough in providing what people actually need, right? We're not talking about reoccurring direct checks to Americans, which by the way, every other developed country was able to provide, whether you're talking about European Union countries or you're talking about Canada, which has provided 2,000 Canadian dollars to its people every

month. I mean, if you really take a step back and you look at the bigger picture, Biden's plan ain't that great. But to try to scale it back further by listening to what Republicans want is absolutely ridiculous. Another sign of mixed messaging comes from Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, who have already filed budget bills designed to pass through reconciliation, meaning that all they would need is a simple majority in the Senate in order to pass that bill. So the question here is, what exactly is Biden negotiating with Republicans? Is he really planning on moving forward with this plan of passing a watered down bipartisan bill through a bipartisan effort, right? And then later passing a more robust bill through reconciliation.

And if he does that, I think it's a terrible idea because it does away with the urgency of the situation, right? Republicans are already arguing that they passed a $900 billion stimulus bill not too long ago. So why are we working on another bill now? So why would you provide any more material for that ridiculous argument by passing a skinny bill, which Republicans can point to and say, look, it's a win. We did it. We did it. We passed relief. And then what? You think they're going to, you think that like mansion is going to want to work with you once you've passed a skinny version of the bill? And then you want to pass a more robust version of the bill through

reconciliation. Just get it done through reconciliation right now. Don't waste your time. What are we doing? So, look, this is when we were about to, right before the show, as Anna said, that's when the news broke that they were going to cave for no reason. We were going to give them credit for what Jan Saki said, like that they were going to hold a line. And yesterday we gave Kamala Harris credit for going to West Virginia and Arizona, pressuring mansion and cinema, that's a strong move like that a lot, gave Pelosi and Schumer credit

for saying were they going to pass it through reconciliation. So they had it, they had it. They had an issue that three quarters of the country agrees with them on, that they could get real unity with Republican voters on. And there was no reason at all to give an inch. But they just can't help themselves. So again, another brilliant point by one of our viewers and members, t.yt.com slash join to become a member and literally participate in the show, be part of, in a sense, one of our hosts.

So Gabby Marito wrote in, when Republicans have power, has the media ever admonished them for a lack of bipartisanship with Democratic lawmakers? That's of course 100% right. We just had four years of Trump. I mean, did anyone say, hey, Mitch McConnell, why aren't you being more bipartisan? Never, never, never. It was as soon as Republicans are elected, no one ever talks about bipartisanship. Because corporate media and corporate politicians don't actually want bipartisanship.

They just want the Republican conservative plan to pass. So if Republicans are in charge, we never discuss it. We never discuss deficits. We never discuss any of that. Just pass the tax cuts for the rich. Tax cuts for the rich, just give it to us, give it to us. Democrats would, hey, I need bipartisanship. Now whatever you do, don't take away the tax cuts for the rich, don't give anything

to the average American and deficits, deficits, deficits. You're telling me everyone in the media is an idiot and they can't see that happen every single time. And apparently, in a best case scenario, the answer is yes. They were all born yesterday. So I do want to go to the video featuring Senator Collins, essentially celebrating her own efforts in doing this faux bipartisan meeting as if it was meant to actually come up with any type of real agreement. Let's take a look at what she had to say. And then I'll share more details. It was a very good exchange of views. I wouldn't say that we came together on a package tonight. No one expected that in a two-hour meeting. But what we did agree to do is to follow

up and talk further. I think it was an excellent meeting and we're very appreciative that as his first official meeting in the Oval Office, the president chose to spend. so much time with us in a frank and very useful discussion. Finally, let me just say that we have demonstrated in the last year that we can come together on a bipartisan package dealing with the COVID crisis. At TYT, we frequently talk about all the ways that big tech companies are taking control of our online lives, constantly monitoring us and storing and selling our data. But that doesn't mean we have to let them. It's possible to stay anonymous online and hide your

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Except you didn't. Except you didn't come together for a bipartisan package. You didn't. But thank you to the Biden White House for providing an opportunity for Republicans to come out and make themselves out to be the reasonable ones here, you know, who are just working real hard to get the American people a relief package. Because this is what you just saw is exactly what Republican lawmakers want. They want to give the appearance of fighting for their constituents. They want to give the appearance of wanting to work to pass common sense relief to Americans during the coronavirus. But the fact of the matter is all they do over and over again is serve as massive obstacles to getting people the relief that they need.

Now, there weren't any real negotiations when it came to massive handouts to corporations, right? When we're talking about trillions of dollars in bailouts and aid to corporations, there was very little debate about that. That passed right away. But once they managed to do that through the CARES Act, I mean, there's a reason why you, as an ordinary American, as a worker, as someone who's actually negatively impacted by this pandemic, there's a reason why you've been abandoned by Congress since they passed the CARES Act in the beginning of the pandemic.

They got their handouts for their buddies. The rest of it, whether it's funding for vaccine distribution, whether it's money to ensure that people are able to pay their rent, whether it's state and local funding to make sure that people are, you know, these municipalities are able to keep public workers working, they will nickel and dime the hell out of that. It makes me so angry that Biden is the one who provided an opportunity for these ridiculous. Republican lawmakers to position themselves as like the moderate ones. We're the good ones. We're so reasonable. No, you're not. And Collins is not interested in passing a robust coronavirus relief package that Americans need, period. So look, every ad in Georgia very clearly said, if you vote for the Democrats, you're going to get a $2,000 check. So, and Biden very clearly said that. So why would you go back on that promise? That's just, it's the dumbest,

politics in the world, except Anna's right, you can compound how dumb that is by helping the Republicans do marketing. Hey, why don't you invite them to the White House and legitimize them pretending to care when they're actually offering something that is one third of what you claim you want? And so again, our viewers are exactly on point. So they did this so-called skinny package. Anna said, you know, what did you guys do? They did a so-called skinny package. They couldn't get bipartisan agreement on a real deal. Captain Cornball writes in, interesting tactic from the GOP, take a skinny package before the election, and then turn it into an even more malnourished one. And then Biden wraps it up in a nice bow for them and

let them market it as if they're fighting just as hard and you can't tell who's right and who's wrong. And they have agreement. Now, the best comment in my opinion is our member Dragon with a girl tattoo. That's funny already. That's his hand. or her handle, they say, if I was Biden, I'd tell them, if you don't make this deal, I'll hand the whole thing over to Bernie to negotiate. Well, there you go. Okay, if you actually wanted it passed and you wanted to play hardball, they're exactly right. What you would do is say, hey, listen, you can take this deal or we'll pass Bernie's version

through reconciliation. Your call. Hey, Susan, all of you guys, come to the White House, and I got a surprise. for you. Okay, and I would have Bernie with me. Can you imagine that would be strength? Biden and Bernie meet the Republicans together and they go, you can take the Biden plan or Bernie's got a different plan and you can take that one. Which one would you like? Then they come out crying and say, okay, we'll take the Biden plan. There you go, there you go. But that's not what happened. Instead, now they come out, they're bragging, the media is giving them credit,

and Biden is saying, yes, I'll needlessly give in to their some of their demands. There was no need for it. All right, let's take a break. We'll be back with more news, including Senator Sanders' response to all of this madness. So back on the young Turks, your comments are amazing who wrote in, Republicans are the obstacle that Democrats want. Democrats promise what they have no real intention of delivering, then invite the Republicans to reject the promise, therefore making the failure to deliver, look as if though it was due

to being blocked. No, you have politics figured out not only 100%, but 100 times better than any national media reporter. That's exactly the game that's played. It's what Eric Olson was saying in basically the race that I was running, he was a local Democrat who was a progressive. And he's saying in California, for example, the Democrats have a supermajority and they constantly negotiate with the Republicans. Why? You have a super majority? They're not negotiating with Republicans. They're negotiating with donors.

That's what's happening. The Republicans are just a nice proxy. It's a figly for them in the media to pretend. that they're doing something positive when they're doing something really negative. Okay, eclectic miscellaneous rights, and politicians in Washington pundits like using code words. Unity equals shut up and get in line progressives. Bipartisanship equals shut up and get in line progressives. Actually that's what pretty much everything they say means. And unfortunately he's right. The progressive defender writes in, it might have been a two-hour meeting, but the pandemic has been raging for almost a year and what have you done? Nothing. Now to be fair, they didn't do nothing, they passed several trillion dollars worth of help

for multinational corporations immediately. That was their first priority and the very first thing that they got done. Once the corporations were taken care of, the rest was just negotiations to try to give you as little as possible. New members that just signed up on YouTube by hitting that join button right below the video. Emmy Hines, DJ Smarty, Blue Knight, Shanice Kastenescu, sorry for the bad pronunciation, Adrian, John Superitz, April R. Coleman, and Jonathan Feliciano. Now, more great comments from YouTube super chat. British 32 wrote in, hijacking anna, enjoying TYT, shouldn't affect Laceda DNC, make full use of Magicku with billboards, adverts, etc., because it's the best gift to show the public what the evil corrupt

Republicans really are. And then ends with AOC 2024. Yes, if you actually want to fight Republicans, you would use that politically. If you didn't, if you actually want to help Republicans, you wouldn't. Gabby Mathis writes in, Biden should have met with the unemployed and evicted people instead of Republicans. Yep. Yes, yes. Think about how amazing that photo op would have been. And I hope that he would have meant it, so it wasn't just a photo op. But if he brought in people who were suffering to the White House first, instead of bringing the Republicans who want to aid and abet that suffering and make it worse, that would have been an infinitely better move. But no, no, Democrats, can't wait to help Republicans. Prince Sabine

writes in on Twitch, yay, six months of Bezos's bucks to TYT, keep fighting everyone. So yes, if you have an Amazon Prime account, it is free for you to subscribe to us on Twitch. And Prince Sabine's has been doing it for six months, and we get the revenue. So we appreciate it. We love you for it. We'll be right back. I'm going to be able to be. All right back on a young church and Anna with you guys, all right, Anna, you've got more. Senator Bernie Sanders spoke to Chris Hayes on MSNBC regarding the coronavirus relief package. And he certainly wants to move forward by doing this through reconciliation, which would only require a simple majority in the Senate to pass the package. And considering there are 50 Democrats in the Senate with Kamala Harris serving as the tie-breaking vote, it's something that can certainly be done.

And he shares more details on this in the next video. Let's take a quick look. Look. Now is not the time to count pennies. Now is the time to address these monumental crises, but worries me as so many by the millions of our people are giving up on democracy. They really do not believe that the government is listening or understands their pain and can respond. We are the majority right now because two great candidates ran in Georgia. And that Georgia election really became a national election and promises were made in that election, not just by the candidates, but by many of us. And what we said is, you know, if Democrats, if you elect Democrats and we take control, we're going to get you, you know, $1,400 on top of the $600. We're going to extend unemployment.

We're going to significantly increase the child tax credit. We're going to get money to states and cities. going to deal with education. Those were the promises made. And it would be totally unacceptable for any Democrat to renege on those promises. That is why people are giving up on the political process. One day before the Senate runoff races took place in Georgia, Joe Biden was rallying to try to help get the Democrats elected. And guess what? He realized how popular $2,000 direct checks are to Americans during this moment of crisis. And he said, you know, let's get the Democrats elected. Let's get Purdue and Leffler out of office. And we won't have that obstacle anymore.

We'll get you $2,000 relief checks. And guess what? That has not happened yet. And that is an issue. And so I love that Senator Sanders is bringing that up. One point that I need to mention, it's a point of clarification. So even though we have a new Senate now, even though we have Democrats with a slim majority in the Senate, the Senate rules package hasn't passed yet, meaning that when it comes to the committees and who chairs the committees, the Senate is still functioning or operating as it was in the previous Congress. So you still have, let's say, Lindsey Graham, for instance, as the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. But once that rules and procedures package passes, they've already agreed on it,

once they vote on it and it passes, at that point Bernie Sanders will be the chair of the Senate Budget Committee. And that's why he has the power to pass a more robust coronavirus relief package through reconciliation, through that simple or yeah, that simple majority. Now, who's serving as an obstacle to all of this. Well, unfortunately, Biden appears to have some economic advisors who are pulling him in the wrong direction. Bloomberg reported at least two of Biden's top economic advisors, Heather Boucher and David Kamen, have privately expressed reservations about the size of the direct checks and at what level they would begin to phase out for higher income people, and that's according to three people familiar with the internal discussions.

So these economic advisors are going with the same talking points that we're hearing from Republicans who are trying to nickel and dime Americans who were suffering during this economic downturn, of course, tied to the coronavirus. Just to give you some numbers, 18 million Americans were receiving unemployment benefits as of last month. Also from December of 2019 to December of 2020, unemployment rates increased significantly in 45 states and the District of Columbia. The national unemployment rate currently sits at 6.7%. But it's been unchanged over the last month. I should note that the unemployment rate is 3.1% percentage points higher today compared to December of 2019. Now, why am I giving you that time frame? Because when they mean

test who qualifies for the government aid, they do it based on your 2019 tax filings. And a lot of people lost their jobs since 2019 because of the pandemic. Means testing people right now to begin with is an awful idea. Applying more means testing so less people qualify for financial aid right now based on 2019 tax filings is even worse. Biden would be making a huge mistake if he listens to the idiots who are advising him on the economy right now. Yeah. So neoliberal is going to neoliberal. And again, it's the group think, and they think, oh, no, no, no, we, oh, the deficit and oh my God, and, and, you know, we got to work with the republic. Why? Why? Okay, so, first of all, not a single American cares whether you pass it through

reconciliation or a filibuster or anything. All they care about is, wait, are you going to deliver your promise or aren't you? Are we going to get the money and the relief and the vaccines? Or aren't we? I don't give a goddamn if you pass it through reconciliation or something else. Come on, media, come on media. Have you ever met a normal person, an actual human being that votes? Have you ever seen them talking about, oh my God, I hope they don't do it through reconciliation, there is Senate etiquette to be concerned about. I mean, they're just unreal. So, and then Biden and the Democrats, if you weren't going to give people $2,000 or you weren't going to do the other things that you promised, what you should have said in the campaign ads

and on the stump was, and now everybody, remember, if you vote for the Democrats, we're going to get you that $2,000. Well, of course, unless Joe Manchin disagrees and he almost certainly will, and then unless the Republicans filibuster, and then unless I agree to their filibuster, and unless Susan Collins agrees, and then you might get 1,400, but not most of you won't, though, because we'll lower the qualification down to $40,000. Okay, then you should have been honest and said all of that. You shouldn't have told them you're going to get the $2,000 check because it turns out you didn't mean it.

And the thing is, you actually had a good bill, the $1.9 trillion bill, the one that you proposed. So normally we ask for more, because normally the Democratic leadership offers a paltry. amount. This one wasn't bad. It could have been better, but I told you just yesterday. I actually think it's not that bad, right? And of course, you got victory? No, we got to snatch that away and put defeat in there because of how in common there. Okay, now last point, guys, just think about it logically, and this is indisputable. When they say, even though, and they, and the White House spokesperson said this the other day, so they know it for a fact, even though three quarters

of Americans, not just Democratic voters, all voters, want the higher relief bill. We are going to prioritize our relationship with Republican politicians over the voters and give you the lower amount that you don't want because Mitch McConnell and Susan Collins and Joe Manchin wanted us to. So the voters matter less than Republican politicians. That is the exact message that Joe Biden is sending if he makes this deal with the lower amounts to appease Republican politicians. And if you don't think that's dumb politics, you're just wrong. That's why Democrats have lost all of these elections. They lost a thousand seats under Obama. And you know, Biden only won by 44,000 votes. He was supposed to blow Trump away after all the monstrous things that

Trump did for four years. He won by 44,000 votes, barely squeaked to squeaked it out. Why? Because they constantly tell you the Republicans are right and that they are wrong. It is the world's dumbest politics. I mean, this is such a layup. There's a reason why Joe Manchin was furious with Vice President Kamala Harris when she went to West Virginia to do you know, local news interviews to talk about the coronavirus relief bill. He was upset because that That relief bill polls real well with his constituents. And Jenk, to your point, I do want to give you some statistics on where Americans currently stand nationwide regarding coronavirus relief.

This was one of the latest surveys done by Pew Research Center, and here's what they found. Following the passage of a second stimulus package in December in response to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, 79% of U.S. adults say another economic assistance package will be necessary. Just 20% say another package will not be needed. Nearly two-thirds of Republicans and Republican-leaning independent, 65%, say an additional package will be necessary compared with about nine in 10, 92% Democrats and Democratic leaners who say more coronavirus aid will be needed. Direct checks, if you take direct checks as a standalone bill, $2,000. direct checks to Americans and you pull on that. Tremendously popular, 67% of Americans are in favor of

that. Meaning that even Republican voters are in favor of that, because guess what, people are struggling right now. But Democrats, Biden administration, let's run away from the idea of ever being popular. Let's run away from actually representing the best interests of people during a crisis. I mean, this is such a layup, and they're of course bungling it. Because you're right, Jank, the part of the equation that doesn't get talked about enough is what the donors want. And the donors do not want to increase their taxes. They don't want to, you know, deal with any type of wealth redistribution to people who, by the way, have worked hard, who have paid their taxes, who have done everything right, but through no fault of their own, we're laid off and now are struggling economically because of the pandemic. They don't want to help them out.

It's just so it's, Biden needs to wake up because two years from now, the midterm elections, it's going to be a bloodbath. Democrats are going to lose the majority in the House and the Senate easily. And then four years from now, if this trend continues, I'm worried we're going to have someone worse than Trump in the White House, someone who might be just as awful and, you know, authoritarian and fascistic, but might be a little more clever than Trump. was. Yeah.

Last thing, you mentioned 80% of Americans want to relieve 20% say no. An amazing coincidence, the relief for the Democrats was cut off at 75,000, right? 82% of Americans make under 75,000 a year, 18% make over 75,000. 8020, kind of an interesting coincidence. Now, do you want to know what percentage of large donors are in the 20% that make more than to 75,000, 100% of the large donors are in that class. So even though they're a tiny sliver of the political pie of the voting electorate, they're the entirety of the donor class.

And huh, look at that. It looks like they might win again. I'm sure it's an amazing coincidence. Media, you wouldn't want to cover the donors. People might find out the truth. When we come back from the break, we'll give you updates on where Trump's legal team stands with their impeachment defense. And also, Liz Cheney is being attacked by Republican lawmakers. How will Kevin McCarthy respond to that?

We'll have those details and more when we come back. Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work, listen to ad-free, access members, only bonus content, and more by subscribing to Apple Podcasts at Apple. co slash t yt i'm your host shank huger and i'll see you soon