The Young Turks - Cenk & Ana on C-SPAN's Washington Journal
Episode Date: June 5, 2023Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian, respectively the founder and executive producer of “The Young Turks,” discuss progressive politics on C-Span's Washington Journal. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pr...ivacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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You're listening to the Young Turks, the online news show.
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You're awesome.
Thank you.
In Journal, my guests for this segment is Jenk Yugar and Anna Kasparian.
Jank is the TYT founder and host of the Young Turks.
And Anna is the executive producer and host of the Young Turks.
Welcome to both of you.
Thank you for having us.
So, Jenk, let me start with you.
You started the network, TYT.
Tell us about that.
Why did you start it and when?
So we started it 21 years ago.
We're actually the longest running show in Internet history.
We're also the first ever YouTube partner.
So I guess we're the original YouTubers.
We have survived the digital news media business, which is a hell of a thing.
And the reason that we started it is because there was no voice for progressives.
on air and by the way twenty one years later
as far as mainstream media goes still there's no voice for progressives on air
and so uh... that's why we got so large because everybody that watches
thought
oh thank god finally someone is saying what i think
and honestly about two-thirds the country think what we think and so
that's why we started there was an absolute need for that's why it grew to be
so large and and and by the way the
important thing to understand is that we do honest news reporting okay the perspective comes second
the reporting comes first and the name the young turks jank where does that come from so it means
young rebels and in fact oftentimes young progressives looking to overthrow an established system
and 21 years ago i was a young progressive uh along with my co-host ben maguiz my co-founder
Dave Kohler. We thought that sounds just about right for us. And Anna, Junk used the term
progressives a lot. How do you define progressives? And is there a clear leader right now for
progressives in the country? Well, I think the second question is much easier to answer. And I
would say, at the moment, no. I feel that, you know, there was a progressive leader in Bernie
Sanders, but he has now, you know, really thrown his full support behind President Joe Biden
and has kind of gone along with Biden's agenda while, I think, trying to influence it to some
extent. But when I think of progressivism, what I tend to think of is economic and social justice,
meaning, you know, not necessarily equity, which is what, unfortunately, has been associated
with the progressive label as of lately like that's something that keeps coming up but equality
of opportunity ensuring that people have the opportunity to actually move up the economic ladder
provide for themselves and their families and really thrive in the country and i do think that
there was an era when the american dream was very much real and if anyone wanted to you know
put their work behind achieving the american dream those opportunities were available progressives want to
bring those opportunities back, and, you know, they're just about the only ones in the country
who want to do so as far as I've seen in recent years. And if viewers would like to weigh in or
ask a question, you can do so on our lines by party affiliation. Democrats, 202-7488,000,
Republicans, 202-748-8, 2001, and Independence, 202-748-8,0002. Well, Jenk, there was a New York
Times article with this headline.
says, for progressive Democrats, new momentum clashes with old debates.
Subheading, a push and pull between progressive and moderate Democrats is shaping the party's policies and politics.
What do you make of that?
So I haven't read that particular article, but I'm rather surprised by it, because I haven't seen the progressives push the moderates much at all.
I would have them push about 2,000 times harder.
Progressives are right. We're two-thirds of the country.
everybody's on our side, and we should fight for those principles and those policies.
Biden didn't mean any of his agenda. He dropped almost everything that was progressive in that
agenda. He's going super right wing right now. Let's go, get up, and fight them already.
The number one problem with progressives in Congress, and I helped to get a lot of them elected,
but I've got to be honest about it, is that they won't fight back against Biden and the establishment Democrats.
So we didn't send them to be there to be buddies and colleagues.
I like the fight that Jamal Bowman's had recently.
I like when Cory Bush did the protest on the steps.
But Biden is not your friend.
Economically speaking, he has had Republican policies in the entire career.
And of course, right now he's going right-wing.
This negotiation over the debt ceiling is totally a sham.
It's theater.
Biden wants to make those cuts.
He volunteers cuts sometimes before the Republicans even.
say it. So he's not your friend, and I don't care that he's your colleague. You're supposed
to fight the corporate Democrats who do not have our best interests in mind.
And, Jenk, in one of your episodes, you went even further and said that Biden is a Republican
on economic policy. Explain that. Yeah, because Biden's policies have been throughout
his career. What? Further incarceration, mass incarceration, cut the deficit by doing what?
raising tax on the rich no
actually he helped make the bush
tax cuts which were triple the size of the trump tax cuts
permanent
he has always helped the rich he has always helped the donors
so when it comes to cutting spending for the average american
biden is there
when it comes to uh... cutting taxes for the wealthy
biden is there
so he offered a social security medicare six different times in his career
this guy's always been conservative on economic issues
Honestly, everyone in the country would know that if the mainstream media did their job
and reported the facts about his votes, his policies, and his stances.
And Anna, part of the debt ceiling negotiations concern work requirements for some of the public
assistance programs.
Why is that not a good idea?
Well, it's not a good idea because we have case studies, including what transpired in Arkansas,
proving that not only does it fail to work,
it doesn't do anything to increase employment.
In fact, it ends up costing money
because you need to enforce the policy,
and you need to have a mechanism set up
to check the employment status of the people
who are taking some of these social safety net programs.
And so in Arkansas, it didn't increase employment at all.
In fact, most of the people who were,
who needed Medicaid were in fact working.
The people who were picked off of Medicaid
because they allegedly didn't meet the work requirements.
Turns out a lot of them were working as well,
but the enforcement mechanism of the state
required them to check in online,
and many people either didn't have the technology available to them
or just weren't as skilled using the computer
as others might be.
And so it ended up costing the state $26 million.
and the policy didn't even last two years.
A federal judge blocked it temporarily,
and then later it was completely struck down.
So this idea that, you know, we need work requirements
at a time when we have record employment,
we have a tight labor market.
I mean, it is ridiculous to claim
that you have a bunch of Americans just laying around,
doing nothing, taking advantage of government cheese,
when again, we have record employment in the country.
It's just a way of defame.
the American people and making them out to be bums when in reality the bombs are sitting in
Congress and to some extent the White House as well. And Jenk, a lot's been made of the
invoking the 14th Amendment to stave off the debt crisis. What do you think of that and practically
can that work? Yeah, of course it could work. So look, this is super simple. Every time the
Republicans are in charge, there's no conversation about the debt ceiling at all. They raise it
without any problem whenever democrats in charge
it's not just republicans it's republicans and democrats
that together do a fake play for all of us
and it drives me crazy that the reporters go along with it
the democrats also want to cut spending
they never raise taxes on the rich they never cut defense spending
they always take it from the average american
so that then democrats go oh golly gee let's negotiate over the debt ceiling
even though we never did under republicans
do you think they don't know that yes Biden could use the 14th amendment immediately
why is he choosing not to use it why isn't he choosing to say hey republicans you want to
crash the world economy go for it and then you're going to get the blame you're going
to get the blame because it is 100% their fault how easy is it to speak clearly about what
the republicans are doing the reason that joe biden and the democrats don't do that is
because they agree with the republicans please stop the play this is a ridiculous piece
of theater that we go through every time and by
By the way, the next time that a Republican is president, God help us, you will see there
will be no talk of the debt ceiling.
And there will be no talk of debt or the deficit.
And what will they do?
They will add tremendously to the deficit as they do every single time.
Why?
Because they're going to give it all to their corporate donors.
And what did Trump do?
He created a $7.8 trillion extra in the deficit.
That was an enormous amount of debt.
the republicans complain not one word it's so easy to fight republicans you have to ask yourself
if you're sitting at home and you watch ms mccc n and you think these establishment democrats
are your friends you think they're fighting for you ask yourself wait why don't they ever fight
for me why can't they speak as clearly as i'm speaking now about how fake the republicans are
how they serve the rich how they serve their donors why can't you have democrats fight back like
we do.
All right.
Can I jump in on that?
Oh, yeah.
Go right ahead, Anna.
But I have to add to Jake's point because what he's saying is absolutely true.
And this farce that we deal with regarding the debt ceiling is so incredibly frustrating
because the one thing that congressional lawmakers might care about even more than their campaign
coffers is their stock portfolios.
And the idea that anyone in Congress would stand in the way of raising the debt ceiling, which
would crash the global economy and have a massively negative impact on their precious stock
portfolios is laughable to say the least. They literally have a vested interest in lifting the
debt ceiling. They're going to lift the debt ceiling. It is exhausting to go through the same
faux drama, you know, every time it comes up as if it's not going to happen. It's going to
happen because the only thing that congressional lawmakers care more about than the American people
is themselves and how much they stand to benefit from the policies they pass.
All right, let's talk to viewers. John is first in Valhalla, New York. Democrat, good morning.
Good morning. How are you? Good. My question is this. When the last time the government gave
out free money to the taxpayers, okay, and it's on record where the Secretary of Treasury
came out and he said he missed place $500 million
and nobody investigated it.
The FBI, and it's all on record if you check the news in the back
when it was said.
Donald Trump, I believe, took the $500 million
and he paid off the hotel that he bought from Washington,
China. Please, let's check it out with him because he's a cook. Thank you. All right,
a junk, you want to take that? I do. So look, I don't know that Donald Trump took $500 million
and put it in his pocket. I'm not sure that he wouldn't want to, but I haven't seen evidence
of that. But I will tell you this, every time the Republicans get in office, they do hand out free
money, but it is not to the average American. It is to the richest of the rich. Donald Trump gave
$2 trillion in tax cuts to the rich. That is a giant giveaway for himself, for his donors,
for everyone in his cabinet, which was the richest cabinet in American history. They robbed us
blind. George W. Bush, $5.6 trillion in tax cuts for the rich. Robbed us blind. Ronald Reagan,
tax cut after tax cut for the rich. This idea of trickle-down economics is total and utter nonsense.
Guys, when they go to do the robbery, they do it in a legal way. They just bribed the
politicians, those are called campaign contributions, then they do ads in mainstream media.
And all of a sudden, mainstream media can't see the robbery. And meanwhile, they take
the trillions of dollars out the back door while we're distracted fighting the culture wars.
So focus on economic issues, focus on the great American robbery that's still happening
today.
Anna, we've got a question for you from Twitter, from Mark, who says, why would the DNC cancel
all primary debates, effectively silencing?
opposition voices like Robert Kennedy Jr. or Gavin Newsom or whoever may enter the field.
Can't he debate anymore? What do you think of that and primary challenges to President Biden?
I think that's a great question. And we can, of course, speculate as to why they're doing it.
And you know, you can also look at recent history as context to explain what's going on today.
I don't think the DNC really wants to have a democratic process in place and allow for Democratic voters to make a decision about who they favor during the Democratic primaries.
And so they prop up their preferred candidate in this case.
It's, of course, the incumbent, Joe Biden.
And I think they're playing with fire to say the least.
Joe Biden is a liability to the Democratic Party as we speak.
when you consider some of the, you know, policies that he's been implementing behind the scenes,
when you consider what's currently transpiring in these blue cities that have much of Joe Biden's base within them protesting right now over the migrant crisis and the lack of resources to these cities that are necessary in order to deal with the migrant crisis.
I mean, Biden just thinks that, you know, he can have the DNC protect him.
he can stay away from any type of public appearance that might make him look bad.
And as long as he's got that DNC, you know, Democrat establishment apparatus propping him up,
everything is going to be fine.
But right now, if it ends up being between Biden and Donald Trump, he's got to keep in mind,
Donald Trump does not have the stink of coronavirus following him around.
Sure, there are a bunch of investigations taking place, prosecution, possible convictions.
and I think Democrats think, oh, this is great.
This is a perfect situation.
Let's prop up Trump.
Let's prop up Biden.
And it'll just be a repeat of 2020.
I do think they're playing with fire.
If you ask ordinary Americans whether their lives have changed in any material way
from the Trump administration to the Biden administration,
I guarantee you the vast majority of those individuals will say, no,
their material conditions have not improved.
In fact, they have continued.
to devolve and get worse, especially with higher interest rates,
the Federal Reserve openly talking about how we need to increase unemployment
in order to tamp down inflation.
I mean, it is disaster upon disaster.
And I just think that the DNC, in an effort to protect Biden
and increase his chances of winning,
is essentially squashing any potential Democratic opposition during the primaries.
All right, let's talk.
Oh, sorry.
Mimi, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, I got to jump in on that.
So I'll tell you right now, I guarantee it.
There will be a very vigorous primary against Joe Biden.
And the Democratic Party leadership doesn't care about the Democratic Party voters.
They just care about protecting their own power.
Biden is sitting at 36%.
That is a disaster.
If an incumbent is under 50% they're likely to lose.
Under 40%, it's unheard of for them to win.
Unheard of.
The Democratic Party wants to walk us into this defeat.
We're not going to let them.
There will be a very vigorous primary, and the reason they don't want debates is because
everyone knows that if Biden goes up against a strong progressive in a debate, he will melt.
No one thinks he can handle it, and if you think he can't handle a progressive, you're going
to send him against Trump, you're going to send him against DeSantis, you're going to send
a guy who, by the way, when he beat Trump, was at around 50 percent.
Now he's 15 points lower.
You're going to take an incumbent who is deeply unpopular, who's afraid to debate anyone,
and you're going to send him to fight Republicans.
That guy loves Republicans.
He does every time he goes out.
He's a go, I want the Republican Party, be stronger.
My friends in the Republican Party.
That's not the guy who wants to fight Republicans.
Send us in.
We'll do the job.
Tim, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Republican.
Good morning.
Hey, good morning.
I want to get the Young Kirk's view on the situation.
where the government, notably the Department of Justice, the FBI, the CIA, have turned political.
And the Durham report confirmed a lot of this, but all the other stuff, like the 51 intelligent agents came out and said the Hunter Biden laptop was Russia disinformation just before the last campaign.
and basically the news media, I want to view on this, in the Constitution, was set up to protect the public against an oppressive and corrupt government.
And the news media has joined the government that we have.
Obviously, if Trump's in there, the news media certainly looked at Trump in every possible way.
But Biden and the Democrat administration, news media, really refuses.
It even didn't report on the Durham investigation.
So I'd like to get the comments on the one-party government, the bureaucracy tied with the Democrats, and the agencies.
All right, Tim, let's get a response.
Which one?
Go ahead, Jank.
Yeah, so, look, half of what he's saying is wrong, but the other half is actually correct.
So let me explain.
So the Republicans right now are like, oh, my God, the FBI is targeted conservatives.
Are you crazy?
The FBI has targeted the left wing in its entire history.
They've literally executed left-wingers, people who are organized blacks, Latinos, whites together, et cetera.
So, no, it's the first time that the FBI is actually investigating the right wing at all.
And so the right wing is caught feelings.
They're like, it turns out we have to abide by the laws too?
Yes, brother.
It turns out when you say rule of law, it doesn't just mean oppressed minorities.
It means rule of law for all of us equally.
So as you can tell, I deeply disagree with the first part of what he's saying.
But the second part is true.
There is one-party rule, and the press does help it.
But it's not what you think it is.
It's not the Democrats, and it's not the Republicans.
It's the corporate Democrats and the corporate Republicans that join together,
that have fake fights over culture wars, oh, what gender should the M&Ms be, et cetera.
But meanwhile, on economic issues, they always agree.
What do they always agree on?
Tax cuts for the rich, giant subsidies for corporations, including defense contractors.
And what is the press do? They cover it up.
They do the theater.
Oh, my God, Democrats or Republicans, they really disagree.
Oh, wonderful bipartisan agreement.
Golly cheat.
Another tax cut for the rich.
Who could have seen that coming?
Oh, it's more deregulation.
of giant multinational corporations.
Oh, I bet they're fighting.
They're not fighting.
They're on the same team.
All right.
Let's talk to Paulette next.
She's in Washington, D.C., independent.
Good morning, Paulette.
Good morning.
I'm calling us concerning the dead ceiling
when the Bush tax cuts were made permanent.
That was made permanent
so we could raise the debt ceiling.
Additionally, people compare the poor people
with the rich people.
Nobody knows what middle class is.
It's $70,000.
If I'm making $20 an hour...
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i pay social security on 100% of my salary
if i make a million dollars a year i pay social security taxes on
less than 11% of my salary this country needs to know what rich is
98% of the people make less than 400,000 dollars a year
that's my comment
Anna what do you think
i loved her comment and she's absolutely right about that
I think that the middle class has been completely gutted in this country, and the majority of
people who do pay their taxes pay a far larger percentage or share of their annual income
to prop up the federal government with their taxpayer money, and where does that money go?
While the richest people get to benefit from the low taxes that were already low prior to Trump,
but Trump further lowered them without doing away with corporate tax loopholes
and other deductions that only the wealthy can take advantage of.
You know, they get away with all of that.
And we, the taxpayers, end up funding endless wars abroad,
endless military spending.
At the same time, we keep getting nickeled and dined
when it comes to any social safety net program.
We get told that we're bums and that we need work requirements
as if we're all laying around doing nothing
if we end up needing a little bit of help from the government
because these corporations have, I mean,
starvation wages. I mean, wages have not kept up with inflation in the United States since the
1970s, and our wages were further degraded thanks to inflation that was the product of price
gouging and corporate grief. So I love that comment. That statement was 100% correct. And if you
really take a step back and you see this country, not through the lens of partisan politics,
But through the lens of understanding that corporations own our media, they own our politicians from both parties, and they're the real decision makers.
They're the ones who actually impact the policies here.
And guess what?
They're not our friends.
They're not looking out for us.
They're looking out for themselves.
And it's pretty clear when you consider how much they pay in taxes compared to what ordinary working Americans are paying in taxes.
Stephen is in Baltimore, Maryland, Democrat.
Go ahead, Stephen.
Hello, big fans of you guys and watch child boost what you guys do on YouTube.
I'd like to know, why can't we convince the American people that we should have the kind of safety net that they have in Europe?
That they get child care, they get medical, they get time off when they have a baby, and they take time off.
In America, we don't even take time off.
we let our vacation days just, just go.
Jenk, what do you think?
Oh, sorry, whoever wanted to answer that.
I would love to jump in on that, sorry, because I'll tell you why.
You look at polling and you'll notice that the vast majority of Americans love those policy proposals,
paid family leave, the ability to, you know, get paid more for the work that we're doing, you know, raising the minimum wage.
I mean, all of those progressive policies that we see in, let's say, Scandinavian countries tend to pull really, really well here in the United States.
And so where is the disconnect, right?
If the majority of Americans want it, why don't our politicians actually fight to pass those types of policies?
Well, it's because they're moneyed interests, the very people who are funding their campaigns, do not like those policies.
Because in order to successfully implement them, you would need resources.
You would need to ensure that the wealthiest people who are getting away with,
right now are paying their fair share. And so they legally bribe our politicians to avoid passing
those policies. And so elections increasingly become culture war battles, right? So it's part of the
reason why the transgender debate takes up 95% of the air in the room right now, because it's a
perfect culture war issue to pit ordinary Americans against each other and distract them from the
fact that the corporate wings of both parties are in cahoots and working on behalf of
money to interest. That is exactly what's happening right now. And my plea to the American people
is to be privy to that strategy, be privy to what's really going on here, and do not allow
them to distract you from the economic justice that Americans deserve. Yeah, I got to jump in
on that. Sure, go ahead. Listen, the progressive policies that the caller's talking about are
deeply popular in the country. The only reason why they don't pass is because of corporate
politicians and corporate media. And let me give you specific examples so you know what I'm
talking about. Number one, $15 minimum wage polls at about two-thirds, three-quarters of the
country. Very, very popular. Whenever it's a ballot measure, it doesn't matter if it's Arkansas
or Missouri or Florida, whichever red state, it passes easily because the American people want it,
including a majority of Republican voters. So why don't we have it? Well, the Democrats pretend to be
in favor of it Joe Biden comes and says I'm going to do $15 minimum wage the very first
interview he does after he gets inaugurated he says well we're probably not going to do it
oh so you never meant it you were lying in fact we know that he was lying because Bernie
Sanders force a vote on it and the two Delaware senators his two top allies in the Senate
voted against $15 minimum wage that's Joe Biden saying I never meant it I was lying the whole
time is there any reporters in the country you didn't notice that the two Delaware senators
voted against $15 minimum wage paid family.
leave polls at eighty four percent seventy four percent of republicans want it in estonia
they don't get eighty two days they get eighty two weeks off after having a baby we get
zero none we send our mothers are the people who brought us into this world back to
the assembly line back to the coal mines the day after they have a baby it is unconscionable
and is joe biden who is pretending to be in favor of that is he doing anything about it
why don't you force the republicans to vote against three quarters of their own voters
because he doesn't want it
it's all theater
and the minute you propose anything that helps average american like medicare for all which is
universal health care that every other developed nation on earth as
all of a sudden what is the media do how are you going to pay for that
did you ever see that when we talk about the giant defense bills where we throw all that
money in the garbage
the defense contractors they rob this blind i don't see jake tapper go how are you going
to pay for that? The media helps the average American free college. How are you going to pay for that?
The media is corporate. The politicians are corporate. We live under corporate rule. It's time for a
rebellion. Stephen in Baltimore, Maryland, Democrat.
James in Oakdale, Louisiana, Republican.
Yes, thanks for taking my call. I wanted to ask the panel, how do they feel about the Federal Reserve.
should it be dissolved or disband?
Thank you.
I do think we need a solution for the Federal Reserve.
It's an unelected body of individuals who have way too much control and power
over our economic situation.
What they did with quantitative easing,
which is essentially funneling money to banks
in an effort to lend to small businesses and ordinary Americans,
that didn't actually end up happening.
they took the money. They did corporate stock buybacks. That is precisely why we're seeing
inflation in various assets, including in the stock market, in the housing market, completely disastrous.
We do need to find a solution. I'm open to the idea of dissolving the Federal Reserve.
It's just that what do you do with Congress as well, considering how it is now such an ineffective
body of people who seem to engage in self-dealing more than anything else these days?
I'll give a real simple answer to the Federal Reserve that everyone can understand.
The Federal Reserve makes decisions mainly through the New York Federal Reserve, and their board is the one that makes the decisions.
Their board is filled with the CEOs of the biggest banks in America.
So the giant banks decide to print trillions of dollars of money and give it to themselves.
There, I just explained the Federal Reserve, and does that make sense for the American people?
of course not it's a preposterous system that the rich have set up to benefit themselves all right
Doug is calling us from elkville illinois democrat good morning Doug um yeah hello um yeah uh first off
i'd like to talk about the debt ceiling um yeah it needs to be raised and as miss casparian said
they they over hype the drama and they wait till the last minute to do it it should be done okay
And the other thing is that Durham report, the guy, one guy said it was a mountain out of a molehill.
No, it's a mountain out of a molecule.
I mean, there was really nothing there to it.
But another thing I want to say is I'm a liberal Democrat, but during the 2016 election, I'm on Facebook and I'm hearing stuff from the Hillary people and the Bernie people and the Trump people.
and I could say all kinds of things to praise Bernie.
But if I said any one thing to criticize or disagree with him,
then I got lambasted by these Bernie people.
And on the flip side, in the interest of being fair,
if I said something bad about Hillary,
then I got called sexes.
But the bottom line is the Bernie people,
I wish they could have foreseen what was going to happen
because their refusal to vote for Hillary either,
by staying home, voting for Trump or voting third party, they got the opposite of what they were trying to aspire to with their progressive agenda because we ended up with a conservative court six to three and Trump getting away with, you know, all these judges.
And then, I mean, it's just some of these changes need to be incremental.
And I also want to say that if Hillary had been president, then there would have been a lot fewer deaths from COVID.
because Trump was trying to blame the Obama administration
for the lack of inventory and supplies
when he'd already been in office for three years.
All right. Jane, go ahead.
Yeah, so listen, it sounds like the caller has really good intent,
and I hear you, brother, and there's way too much vitriol online
in all directions, right?
And it could drive good people away.
And so why were the burning people so animated?
Because we feel like we were gaslit,
and the whole country was gaslit by corporate media.
And any time Bernie would say something that was true, corporate media would gaslight you
and give you totally false impression of what was happening.
So I think that's part of why you were seeing that reaction.
But I need you to understand the truth about what happened in that election.
Bernie Sanders did over 40 rallies for Hillary Clinton.
It was unprecedented.
He tried to help in every single way.
After progressives lost the primary, we said to vote for Hillary Clinton.
And for the people on the extreme left, they get bothered by that.
Oh, you can't vote for Hillary Clinton.
And guys, what is the option?
What are the choices?
If you say, hey, progressive versus Hillary Clinton,
well, I personally fought Hillary Clinton as hard as anybody could fight her in the primary
so we can get a progressive that actually does the people's agenda.
But once we lost, it was Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump.
That is not a close call.
And it is not an endorsement of Hillary Clinton, who I think has been a corporate candidate
her whole life, okay?
No, it just means the other guy is way, way worse.
That is not a hard question.
But is that the impression that you got?
And here, in fact, I'll give you one more fact that's really important.
After Hillary Clinton lost to Barack Obama in 2008, her followers were known as Puma.
Some of you might remember that.
You know what Puma stands for?
Party unity, my ass.
Hillary Clinton barely did anything to help Barack Obama, and twice as many Hillary Clinton primary voters in 2008 voted against Barack Obama as Bernie Sanders supporters voting against Hillary Clinton.
twice as many.
Hillary Clinton did a terrible job
of driving Democratic voters to Barack Obama.
But yet, you never heard a word of that in mainstream media.
Isn't that funny?
All right.
Let's go to Millie next, who is in New Haven, Connecticut.
Democrat.
Good morning.
Good morning to you, and I love you both.
I listen to you on YouTube all the time.
We're moving into the 2024 elections
and want to find out what should we progressive voters be looking
for in a candidate because I voted Democratic and if you can educate us a little bit more on
what we should be looking for. Thank you both and I'll be hanging up. All right, Anna, you want to
take that? Sure. I would say when you're looking at a candidate's platform, what is their
platform really about, right? So is there actual policy there that would materially improve your
life? Or are you seeing a lot of, you know, cheap, shallow nonsense that just weighs in on the
culture war, weaponizes identity, and in the end, we'll do nothing to improve Americans'
lives. And if anything, if they actually get elected, will probably lead to more hostilities
between people when, you know, in the Democratic Party, in the country, we really do need to
have a united front against corruption. So I'm going to say this and then toss it over to
because this is his issue and he care so deeply about it but it's whether or not the candidate
actually gives a damn and is genuine about doing away with moneyed interest having as much
influence in our elections that they do yeah look progressive policy issues poll at about
two-thirds of the country consistently everybody wants them even even the republican voters want
them they just don't know it and the only reason we
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have them is because of money in politics. And so I would tell the Justice Democrats in Congress, I would tell Bernie Sanders, I would tell all those guys. Listen, if you're not addressing money in politics, you're kind of wasting your time. I love you, but you need to focus because your colleagues are corrupt. And if you don't call it out, then the country's never going to have a national conversation about it. Weiss on the Young Turks said that Biden was never going to do build back better, that he was never going to do build back better, that he was never going to.
to do that agenda they called FDR 2.0. And everybody said, oh, you guys are too cynical.
Oh, you guys are to this and to that. No, we're just too correct. We know that those corporate
Democrats agree with the corporate Republicans on almost all the economic issues. And what were they going
to do? They opened up more drilling. And Biden goes more Republican every single day.
How did we accurately predict? And if you watch the show, as the callers are telling you,
We predict these votes and the elections, and we almost never get it wrong.
It's not because we're smart.
It's because it's super simple.
Follow the money.
The money always wins in Washington.
So until you stop the private financing of elections, you'll never get politicians who work for the public interest.
They'll work for the private interest who funded their campaigns.
So look, there's this great organization, Wolfpack, Wolf-Dash.
PAC.com. They are totally nonpartisan. They've got Republicans, Democrats, conservatives,
progressives. They got everybody in there. And their number one drive is a constitutional amendment
to end the private financing and the legalized bribery that we have in this country.
It has unfortunately made America the most corrupt country on earth because we're the only
country that legalized bribery. And it drives all of our politics. The political scientists
say that the bottom 90% of this country has almost zero effect on politics.
policy. Yet no one in the media noticed it. That seems a little bizarre.
All right. That's Jank Yugar and Anna Kasparian. They're the co-host of the Young Turks. It's a
TV program as well as a podcast. Thank you both so much for being on the program with us.
Thank you.
And that's it for today's Washington Journal. We'll be back again tomorrow morning, 7 a.m. Eastern,
right here live on C-SPAN. In the meantime, have a great Saturday.
See Spans, Washington Journal, every day, we're taking 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 dot co slash t yt i'm your host jank huger and i'll see you soon