The Young Turks - Ego Trip

Episode Date: December 24, 2021

Kimberly Potter has been convicted on two charges of manslaughter in the death of Daunte Wright. Joe Biden says a rematch against Donald Trump would “increase the prospect” of him running again. Texas Senator Ted Cruz is hinting at another presidential campaign in 2024, saying that his 2016 run was an incredibly fun experience. A Fox News reporter asked Jen Psaki if there was ‘retribution’ against the staffer who offended Joe Manchin.  Hosts: Ana Kasparian, Cenk Uygur 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. Be my feet. Bexie! Bexie! Bechee! Bechee!

Bechee! Bechee! We got serious news. We got fun news. We got serious news. That's fun. Wait, what? Okay, so, we actually shockingly have a lot of good news today.

Yeah, yeah, we kind of do. And we're going to be doing some dunking on Ted Cruz, he deserves it, plus it's fun. Dunk them into too strong coffee, not a big deal, okay, and Merry Christmas Eve Eve to everyone, which apparently is now a thing, okay? I thought, yeah, I thought my daughter made it up, but I saw Jen Socky tweeted Merry Christmas Eve Eve Eve. Well, I mean if Jen Saki's doing it. Well, if there's a Saki bomb attached to it, it must be real. Right. Okay, all right.

Having said all of that, apparently, the news. All right, big story today. Former police officer Kimberly Potter has been convicted and she's been found guilty on two charges of manslaughter, both first degree and second degree manslaughter in the state of Minnesota. This has to do with the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Dante Wright. Here is the judge reading the verdict, and of course you see her face and her expression as she learns that she will be spending some time behind bars. We, the jury on the charge of manslaughter in the first degree while committing a misdemeanor on or about April 11, 2021 in Hedman County, state of Minnesota, find the defendant guilty. And the verdict was agreed to at the hour of 1140 a.m. and signed by the jury person on 12, 23, 21.

The verdict on count two is we, the jury on the charge of manslaughter in the second degree, culpable negligence on or about April 11, 2021, in Hedling County, of Minnesota, find the defendant guilty. Now, some are a little surprised that she was found guilty of first-degree manslaughter, and I'll explain what went on there in just a moment. But to give you some context into this shooting, which took place in April of this year, the jury of 12 did take more than 27 hours over four days to reach the unanimous guilty verdicts for Kimberly Potter. In fact, they reached the guilty verdict for second-degree manslaughter.

two days ago, and just today they had the unanimous guilty verdict for first-degree manslaughter as well. Potter is the 49-year-old white woman who testified that she had never fired her gun on the police force in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, until April 11th, when she shot a single bullet into the chest of Dante Wright, a 20-year-old black man who had been driving to a car wash. Now, she was taken into custody, and she's being held without bail, obviously. been convicted. Her defense attorney was asking that, you know, she's, what she did was an accident, you know, we shouldn't put her in custody immediately. We should wait until she's sentenced. But the judge didn't buy that argument. Now, here's the reaction from Dante Wright's family as this verdict was read. So here's what happened during the trial. Okay, so initially she was charged with just second degree manslaughter.

But last September, following pressure from Dante Wright's family and the community, the prosecutors decided to also charge her with first degree manslaughter. Some of the things to consider is the fact that she had actually, you know, she was supposed to use her taser, right? She meant to reach for a taser. She alleges that she accidentally reached for her gun. The fact that it was an accident apparently wasn't really contested. But she held the gun in her hand between five to six seconds before shooting it. Right. So that seemed to play some role in terms of what the jury was deliberating on.

The jury concluded Potter also was a veteran cop. He, she had been on the force for 26 years and had extensive training with the taser. So there is a possibility, obviously I'm speculating here, that the jurors didn't necessarily buy the argument that it was an accident considering how long she was holding the gun and how much training she had with tasers, considering the fact she had been on the force for 26 years. Now here's what happened during that shooting. A judge had previously issued an arrest warrant for Dante Wright because he failed to show up to a court date on a charge involving an illegal weapon. So there was a warrant out for his arrest, but that is not why the cop stopped him.

So Potter was actually writing with a rookie officer by the name of Anthony Lucky when they saw Dante Wright driving a white Buick. Apparently, he had an air freshener in his rear view window, which is illegal in Minnesota, and so they wanted to pull him over for that. And then they also alleged that he had expired registration stickers. Now, as the cops were trying to arrest him, body camera videos from April 11th showed that Wright had gotten back into the driver's seat of his car after pulling away from another officer who was trying to handcuff him. Potter testified that in the moments before the shooting, she had seen the third officer

at the scene, Sergeant Michael Johnson, leaning into the car and that he had a look of fear on his face. Okay, so here's how that all went down. The video is a little difficult to watch, but here's how the shooting happened. During that traffic stop in April, officers tried to arrest Wright for a misdemeanor warrant. You're under arrest, don't it? That body camera footage belonging to Officer Michael Johnson. You see him open the passenger door as Wright struggles with the officer Potter was training. Johnson attempts to put the car in park as Wright gets shot. All in a matter of seconds. And then what happened? And then I heard a loud pop. So that loud pop, of course, was the single gunshot that she fired and that hit him in the chest and killed him. By the way, he was in

the driver's side of the car. And after shooting him, he drove a very short distance, a little over 400 feet and collided with another vehicle. So by shooting him, she put others in danger as well. Potter is heard shouting that she was going to stun right with her taser, but she had actually drawn her department issued Glock. She yelled taser, taser, taser, taser, and pulled the trigger. Then realizing that she had shot him instead, Potter shouted she had grabbed the wrong weapon, collapsed to the ground, and sobbed. As she said, she was going to go to prison. And so there an argument made by prosecutors that she was more concerned about having made a mistake and how that would have implications for her future as opposed to being concerned about killing someone

and actually issuing some care to him after he had been shot. One more video and then, Jenk, I want to get your reaction. The prosecution presenting this new video as it makes its case against former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter showing the moments right after she's shot and killed Dante Wright. Potter saying she meant to use her taser. Oh my good. What did I'm done? An officer on the scene fearing Potter would harm herself.

Kim, I'm going to take this but give you mine, okay? Don't just let me myself like. No, that's not happening, Kim. Apparently it was happening. Okay, I think she said she was going to prison there. So she said she wanted to die, basically. Oh, no. That's, of course.

the second officer doing the right thing there in consoling her. Okay, so guys, there's a bunch of interesting ramifications of this and reasons why it happened. So number one, Keith Ellison is the Attorney General in Minnesota. And when Keith Ellison dropped out of Congress, he was the first Muslim congressman in American history, to run for the head of the DNC, I thought, well, that's a bold move, and I doubt they'll let a progressive be the head of the DNC.

And then he had a big lead. And as with all progressives, all the establishments spent time, money attacking him, used the press to attack him. And then they basically stole that election from it. Okay, you can say they want it. You can't say they wanted fair and square. But they put in a corporate lackey who did nothing. And you did the usual. Oh, and Keith Ellison will help us.

and he'll be vice chair, whatever the hell BS title they gave him, and it was pointless. And so then eventually, Ellison frustrated realizing they had screwed him and that they did not intend to lead together with him. That was always a trick. I can't believe any progressive ever falls for that. Anyways, decided that he was going to run for Attorney General in Minnesota. And I thought that was just a bizarre choice, to be honest, okay? Boy, was I wrong. Keith Ellison going to Minnesota to be Attorney General has made a gigantic difference.

Look, you can put progressives anywhere, and sometimes it makes a huge difference. The George Floyd death and Derek Chauvin's trial, Minnesota. Potter's trial, Minnesota. Justice, Minnesota. Justice in both cases. Would a regular, you know, either Republican or establishment Democrat have pursued those cases as aggressively and as competently, well, it would be borderline shocking. So if Ellison hadn't gone there, I don't know that we would have gotten either of those convictions.

So I want to thank you for doing a bold and apparently really smart move that made a big difference in the country. Now, I think the most important part of this trial is the message is now getting very clear to police across the country. When you go to shoot someone, you better be careful, okay? because cops will be absolutely outraged by this decision. And by the way, they are already in Minnesota and elsewhere. And her supervising officer is now no longer at that position because he refused to fire her. And he said in the trial, she did everything right. How could she have done everything right?

The guy is dead. He said, that's exactly a police procedure. It's exactly a police procedure to kill people. It's absurd. It's insane, right? And here is a jury of her peers saying, no, that was not right procedure. That guy who shouldn't have been dead is dead because of your negligence, which led to this manslaughter. Yes, and hold that thought because I want to add some meat to what you're saying. While, you know, her superior, who refused to fire her and then later stepped down because of his refusal to fire her, argues that she did everything right and she followed protocol. The prosecutor's actually made a convincing. argument that it is not protocol and she did not do the right thing. Let's go to Graphic 5 here where the New York Times reports that prosecutors argued that Potter in meaning to use her taser had consciously risked harming right because her police department's policies warned against using a taser on someone who is driving a car. So the argument that they're making there is even if she did didn't make that mistake of using the gun instead of instead of the taser, she was in

even supposed to use the taser because of the fact that Wright was behind the wheel, right? And she could have actually caused harm to others in deploying any kind of weapon. So let me read the rest of that graphic to you. The prosecutors who work in the office of the Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison also said that Sergeant Johnson had not been at risk of being dragged because only a small part of his body was in the car when Potter had fired. You can see his arms, you know, reaching in the car. But you don't see like half of his body like in the car to the point where if Wright drove away, he'd be dragged on the road.

Well, that part is really important too. Why? Because in all previous cases of my lifetime, cops would just say, I thought there was 1% or 1% or 1% chance that I might be slightly harmed. And jurors would say not guilty, right? The judge would say not guilty. Everybody would say the media would say not guilty. Oh my God, that guy could have gotten a hangmail. Are you crazy? Of course he shot and killed him. We're done with it, right? Now jurors are saying, no, no, we're not persuaded that there was a tiny percent chance that if he drove off, that your partner might be slightly injured. And that's why you had to kill him and he's dead now, right? No, that we're not persuaded. You're going to jail. That's a giant booming sound across the country. And it's a clear signal to the police.

You better be careful. You're not allowed to just wantonly kill people and go, whatever. I felt like I was in slight danger. That other dude wasn't a tiny bit of danger. And I pulled the wrong one. Who cares? Who cares? My life is more important than everybody else's life.

Well, turns out, new day in America, that might not be the case. And that's why you'll see cops outraged because they think that they're above the law and that their lives are infinitely more valuable than ours. I love to dissent the opposite message, but I want to make something very clear. From our perspective, this is not like the written house case in that there's nothing to get upset or to celebrate here, right? So it's good for justice, but it isn't a thing like, oh, Potter's a terrible person and ha ha, we got her and that'll show her. No, she made a terrible mistake. It cost someone's life, and now there's justice.

But the entire thing is a terrible tragedy for everyone involved. So, you know, and by the way, don't get me wrong. I don't see anyone on the left going, ha-ha to Potter, because we're not like the bad guys. So one of the decisions that the defense made in this case that was risky, and I think ultimately it didn't help Potter clearly, was that she decided to take the stand herself. And in taking the stand, I think it became abundantly clear that she, you know, made him. mistake, but again, the state asked the jurors to avoid thinking about what her intentions might be, right? And focus on what the ramifications of her actions were. And so her tears here, while they might be compelling to some people, did not play a role in the jury's

decision. Nonetheless, here she is talking about what happened that day. Oh, we don't have that video, my bad, we don't have that video. But she did take the stand. She was tearful. It was an incredibly emotional moment. And then one final thing I did want to bring up is her sentencing. She has not been sentenced yet. She has been convicted of those two charges, first degree and second degree manslaughter. The standard sentence for the more serious charge, first degree manslaughter, is within the range of about six to eight years and six to eight and a half years in prison. The maximum penalty is 15 years and prosecutors have indicated that they will ask the judge to hand down a longer than average prison term. So we don't know the exact

date, the judge will hand down the sentence, but she is looking at quite some time behind bars. There is also a possibility that she could, you know, because of the fact that she doesn't have a criminal record, the judge might use her discretion in offering a lower sentence. So we'll see what happens. It looks like they're going to go for a lower sentence. But the message is already delivered. And that's the important part. And guys, speaking of the message, look, think about it, too, right? They pulled him over because of a wrong turn signal. There is a tiny percentage of cases where that might be dangerous, but it is really rare for that to be significant. And then an air freshener and expired registration sticker. Now, if you're white, you might not know

that is what black people in this country get pulled over for all the time. Is it because the people with air fresheners are more likely to be criminals? No, it's called any old excuse to pull a black person over. And then in that moment, you're now in a potential confrontation with police, thereby risking your life. Now, that's, again, part of white privilege. You don't get pulled over for that, nine out of ten times. So you have no idea that black people are actually getting pulled over for that nonsense. And they're not getting pulled over because the cops actually worried about the air freshener. They're getting pulled over because they're black. And so that was also important in this case. And maybe, just maybe, are

police in this country might actually pull over people who are dangerous instead of people with air fresheners as an excuse to target minorities. So that's why it's more good news on the justice side here. And final thing. But like let's also, let's also keep it real. I mean, he had expired tags, okay, and on top of that, they didn't know it at the time. He did have a warrant out for his arrest. No, no, going to arrest him when he has a warrant out for his arrest is perfectly fine.

And normal and what happened to, I hope everybody, unless they're super rich. Right, in that point, then there are no rules, right? So, but pulling him over for expired registration sticker and an air freshener? That has happened to me. Okay, so it does happen. I guarantee you it happens more to African Americans. Sure, I don't deny that. But I do think that expired registration stickers is a justified cause for pulling someone over.

The air freshener thing is ridiculous. I would be shocked if most people living in Minnesota even know that that's outlawed. But again, guys, these are telltale signs of, I'd like to pull a black person over. Yes, it does happen from time to time to white people and others, right? But it happens at a far more significant rate, and it's because it's an excuse. All right, now last thing is- By the way, my registration wasn't expired. I was just too lazy to put the new stickers on.

Just keeping it real. I have my husband do it for me. Okay, all right. Well, that's an entitlement of a different sort, okay? And a privilege of a different, sir. All right, look, super last thing. Gabby Marita, one of our members, wrote in saying, well, it's a good thing they took her in right away

because her lawyers wanted her out while they were appealing, et cetera. Because she said, then now Tucker Carlson can't do another propaganda documentary. But I don't think he would have. The reaction from the right is interesting here. Writtenhouse was celebrated as a hero. She was kind of left on her own and didn't get a lot of support, even though her case is arguably, you know, as good as written houses, right? I mean, in the past, the cop makes a mistake.

The right wing would have been all over celebrating her. So I thought I was curious that they didn't. Here's my theory on it, for what it's worth. When a lot of those right wingers are young males, and when they saw a written house, they relate to him. With Potter, she's a middle-aged mom, or I don't know if she's a mom, to be fair, A middle-aged woman, maybe they don't relate to her. No, I think there's something to that.

But there's also the fact that written, what the intent was. Like in the case of Potter, she very clearly like fumble. Like she made a massive mistake. She had an accident, right? And in the case of Kyle Rittenhouse, they see him as a hero because he presented himself as someone who was going to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to protect, you know, small businesses and all of that. Well, that's exactly where I was going. That's okay. I think the gender and the age is a little bit less relevant. The more relevant part is written house was going to basically own the lips. Oh, I'm going to go in there with a weapon. I'm going to intimidate them. Oh, it turns out I used it and kill them. Okay. And to the right wing, that's a massive win. They think that's awesome. And they relate to him. And that's why they cheer for him. They celebrate him. He went to go own the lips and he wound up killing the lips. That's great. Oh, she just made him.

mistake. She didn't even mean to kill that guy. That's not as interesting. So that's the state of the right wing today. And that's why Potter, I don't think got as much attention and celebration as Writtenhouse did on the right. When we come back from the break, we'll switch gears and talk about what Biden is planning for 2024. Does he plan to run for president again? And what does he think about running against Donald Trump for the second time? We've got that story and a great story about dunking on Ted Cruz when we come back. All right, back on TYT, Jank Anna, Carnage and Buck dancing with you guys. Carnage and Buck just joined. Thank you guys. We love you for it.

Hit the join button below on YouTube or t.com slash join anywhere. Getting the Christmas spirit, which progressive conduct did. Thank you. We appreciate your generosity using super chat on YouTube like that. And with this simple message of, happy holidays, TYT, happy holidays, right back. You Progressive Canuck and all of you. All right, Casper. How does Joe Biden feel about running against Donald Trump for the second time? ABC's David Muir asked him that question.

But before we get to his answer, is Biden planning on running again in 2024? Let's watch. You said you would absolutely serve eight years. elected. Do you plan to run for re-election? Yes. But look, I'm a great respecter of fate. Fate has intervened in my life many, many times. If I'm in the health I'm in now, if I'm in good health, then in fact, I would run again. So let's talk about that before we get to his feelings about running against Trump again. I mean, on one hand, I get it. What else are Democrats going to do? Are they going to have Pete Buttigieg run?

By the way, yes, but you keep going. I mean, I think that they, you know, played around with that idea, but really Pete Buttigieg? No, they believe Pete Buttigieg would win easily. Then why don't they have Pete Buttigieg run? They might. Oh, fascinating. Okay, they're- I don't think they're going to have Biden's transportation secretary run against Biden during the primers. No, no, not run against Biden.

Oh, I see. You mean sometime in the future. So my thoughts on this are, is Biden definitely going to say that he's going to run? Absolutely. Why? Not just because he is obsessed with ego and power and like all politicians are. And of course, you're going to have to rip that power away from, anyway, you get it. You know how the old saying goes. But also because he would become a lame duck president instantly. If he said, I'm not running again, he instantly loses power. He doesn't lose power three years from now. He loses power today. So he has to give that answer to be fair to Biden, either way, okay? But the second part of it is, yeah, you know, a couple of years down the line when they have to make the decision, in about a year and a half or so, the actual people in power, which are the big Democratic donors, are going to get in a room probably at some fancy French restaurant in Northern California or New York. The king makers will choose their next king.

Yes, no, that's exactly right. The oligarchs will get together and they'll choose the next king. And that's how they chose Kamala Harris as his VP. That's how they chose Biden once they thought Bernie was going to win. And those guys, those kingmakers, the wealthy Democratic donors, they live in their bubble. And in their bubble, Buttigieg is the most popular person in America because they all love him. They're like, oh, this guy would give us everything. And we think he's really smart in hiding how corrupt he is.

So at that point, a year and a half from now, they think Biden's going to lose. They're going to start nudging him out. And they had been in love with Kamala Harris for a long time. And we told you about that like five years ago, right, that they were going to pick her. And they did. It's just that she ran such an incompetent campaign for president. They had to make her vice president. But now the big donors have soured on Kamala Harris.

And part of the reason for that is because she's not taking enough of their calls as VP. So all of this is sickening. And that's the game that's actually being played while David Muir, plays fantasy land on television with him, right? He never, he doesn't ask him the real questions, right? Yeah, David Muir hasn't sat down to think about all of these moving parts, and he certainly isn't thinking about kingmakers ever, as people in corporate media typically avoid ever thinking about. But look, my prediction is this, and it's based on nothing but a gut feeling and the fact that ego is a big part of what motivates people in politics.

I think that Biden's going to run again, and I think there's a pretty decent chance that he's going to lose. And why do I say that? As we know, there have been several polls coming out lately, indicating that his approval rating is pretty low, record lows. For instance, a new NPR PBS News Hour Marist poll found that Biden's approval rating has sunk to 41%, a historic low for the president in polls conducted by the groups. 55% of adults in the United States disapprove of the job Biden is doing as president. His approval rating was actually 42% earlier this month on December 6th. So it has gone down just a little bit.

And when broken down by party, remember the independents are the ones that you want to, you know, capture. And 29% of these independents' polls said that they strongly approve or approve of Joe Biden of the job that Biden is doing. while 66% said that they strongly disapprove or disapprove. So things aren't looking good for Biden, and it might have to be, it might have something to do with the fact that he doesn't really look like a leader when there's a senator who's essentially taking charge and blocking his whole agenda. And Biden doesn't even really fight back at all. He just kind of lets it happen.

So I think that there's at least three realities in America. There's the right wing reality, which in this case is not relevant. There's establishment Washington mentality. And then there's the rest of us, okay? And in Washington, they think his numbers are that low because he was mean to mention he didn't compromise enough. And inflation has gone up because he passed too many bills to help the American people. Great. You should take their advice and see how it works out.

Well, he has taken their advice. And this is how it has worked out for him. Okay, so the rest of us see profound weakness, and we don't, it's hard to root for a leader who, A, hasn't gotten anything done, and B, it is just gets pushed around by everyone. And so that's apparent to all of you. That's why I'm telling you the Washington point of view, because they live in a different planet, and my guess is it would surprise you to find out. And for them, they think, they don't believe me. They think you all think that Biden is too strong, too progressive. etc. And I mean, that's a joke, but that's the world that they live in. So that's the dynamics of that. And look, I don't blame Biden for running again if he's okay. He's president, et cetera. I blame him for sucking at his job and putting us in a situation where the Democratic candidate,

whether it's him or someone that they insert in a panic who's going to be just as corrupt and just as establishment as him, is almost certainly going to lose to a Republican. That's, now he's He could change all that, he's only a year in. It's not a feta complete, and we're not like, we're not naturally biased against Biden as in, oh my God, we want him to do poorly so that a Republican will have a chance of winning. No, I don't want a Republican having any chance of winning, right? So I would love it if he turned around and he broke match his kneecaps and got billed back better passed and voting rights passed, et cetera.

But you know, he's gonna do a quarter of that and then they're gonna try to do marketing around that pig and put some lipstick on it. And it's not going to work. No, it's not. And then they'll blame us. I mean, we've seen this movie a thousand times. A thousand times, absolutely. And I think you're actually being generous in saying that he's going to get a quarter of

that agenda done. He's not even going to get that done. In fact, I mean, you've seen some acts of desperation from the Biden administration just this week where the Biden administration said, no, we're going to make students, you know, start paying back their student loans on February 1st. know if ands or buts about it and then of course Mansion blocks his agenda. And they're like, yeah, we're going to, it turns out we're going to actually extend it to May. And look, give us a pat on the back.

Aren't we doing so great? The fact that the Biden administration agreed to give out 500,000 COVID tests after Jen Saki totally bungled a question in regard to COVID tests earlier this month. And so you're seeing these acts of desperation. But it's so reminiscent of the Obama administration where he campaigned on such fundamental change. I mean, Biden didn't do that. But Biden, in the beginning of his presidency, did put out pretty robust policy and expectations were pretty high, especially for someone like Biden. And just like Obama, he bungled it and decided to, you know, do little things around the edges with the hope that it would have enough of an impact to get his approval rating up.

but that hasn't happened. Now let's get to the Trump question. How does he feel about running against Trump? A rematch against Donald Trump? You're trying to tempt me now. Sure. Why would I not run against Donald Trump for the nominee?

That would increase the prospect of running. Yeah, I don't find that surprising at all. And that's a perfectly fine answer. What was he going to do? Oh, Trump's running? Then I don't want to run. I mean, like, I think the question is actually kind of absurd, but he knew that it would get headlines, and it did. So, and here we are covering it, to be fair to David Muir, right?

But of course, he's going to say that's going to make it more likely to run. And if I was Biden, I would have rubbed it in more. I'm like, well, I beat him already by 7 million votes. That gives me some degree of confidence. That would be based. Like, if he, like, really rubbed in the fact that he beat Trump, especially because Trump is still. like in a corner crying about losing the election and trying to find any excuse for how, no, no, I actually won.

I actually won, even though we did multiple recounts in states like Georgia where I lost, I actually won. I mean, it's embarrassing. So it'd be fun. I would actually have a tiny, tiny bit more respect for Biden if he was willing to like rub it in. Oh, 100%. But not just because it's fun or it's a nice white event and ha ha Trump, but it's also could

be strategic. You say, hey, listen, I beat the guy by 7 million votes. He can cry all day long about electoral college and this and that. But 7 million votes is 7 million votes. And so that's an ass whoopin. So if he'd like that again, I'm here for him. Okay. So now, why do I say that's strategic? Because then I guarantee you that Trump will pretend that the margin was actually of cheating was over 7 million votes, which is even more preposterous, right? So right now, it is true that actually Biden only won by 43,000 votes in three states because of the electoral college. The popular vote he won overall in the country by 7 million votes.

So it was actually a very close election, but not in the popular vote. And so if you rub it into Trump, instead of Trump pretending that they cheated by 43,000 votes, he'll then start pretending that they cheated by 8 million, 10 million, 100 million votes, right? and he'll look more and more ridiculous. But Biden couldn't begin to understand strategy like that of his life depending on it. This is beside the point, but let's just agree moving forward that we're more careful with our wording because the phrase rub it into Trump makes me very uncomfortable. I feel violated right now.

Okay. You got nothing to say about that. All right. All right, let's just take a brief break. And when we come back, honestly, the story involves. Ted Cruz that I've been looking forward to sharing with you all all day. Come right back. All right on TYT, Jank and Anna with you guys. Moondragon. Very Merry Christmas to all of you at TYT, you as well, brother. And Peter Hamby says, merci beaucoup, TYT, Rainbow. And to those

in the chat for reviving my poetry, with that in mind, my last haiku of the year is this. For feeling too strong, truth for next year will sharpen. Happy holidays. We'll love. I love it, Peter, and both Peter and Moondragon, thank you for your generosity. We really appreciate it, and we love everybody that's a member in using Super Chat. It helps us get the message up. All right, Anna. Ted Cruz. Ah, Ted Cruz.

Apparently, he hasn't given up on his dream of becoming the President of the United States. So despite the fact that he embarrassed himself incessantly while running for president in 2016, might be considering it again in the future. Let's watch. What are your thoughts on the field of potential candidates going in in 2024? And would you ever consider another run for president? Absolutely. In a heartbeat, you know, I ran in 2016. It was the most fun I've ever had in my life. We had a very crowded field. We had 17 candidates in the race, very strong field. And I ended up placing second. And, you know, there's a reason historically that the runner up is almost always the next nominee. And that's been true going back to Nixon or Reagan

or McCain or Romney that has played out repeatedly. You come in with just just enormous base of support. In 2016, we raised over $92 million. Well, things don't usually work out that way for candidates or potential candidates who are disliked by members of their own party, which I'll get to in just a second. But I do want to just address one brief statement he had in that lengthy answer, where he said running in 2016 was the most fun he's ever had in his life, which is one of the most depressing things I have ever heard out of the mouth of Ted Cruz. And to be fair, he has said tons of depressing things that have, you know, humiliated himself.

And I say that because here is a JR rated video, it's a compilation of the most humiliating moments for Ted Cruz during the 2016 election. You know, the amazing thing is that basketball ring here in Indiana. And it's the same height as it is in New York City. It's not easy to tick me off. I don't get angry often. But you know, you know, with my wife, you mess with my kids, that'll do it every time. Donald, you're a sniveling coward and leave Heidi the hell alone. So will you support him as the nominee?

I'm gonna beat him. People know exactly what New York values are. The values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro-gay marriage, focus around money and the media. When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on earth could have handled more beautiful. beautifully, more humanely than New York. You had two, one hundred. That was a very insulting statement that Ted made. Five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of

Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD. Sorry. Oops. Stand and speak and vote your conscience, vote for candidates up and down the ticket, who you trust I appreciate the enthusiasm of the New York delegation. And God bless the United States of America. You hear the booze for Ted Cruz over there. That pledge was not a blanket commitment that if you go and slander and attack Heidi, that I'm going to nonetheless come like a servile puppy dog and say thank you very much for maligning my wife and maligning my father.

Hi, this is Ted Cruz calling. I was calling to encourage you to come out and vote on election days. I just wanted to encourage you to come out and vote. Thank you and God bless you. Oh, so delicious. I'm full. I don't think I ever have to eat again. I'll tell you, all you have to do is have Ted Cruz say anything and play that clip.

Okay, Ted, please run again. Okay, we're asking. you, okay? Don't make us beg, okay, please run again. It's going to be so much run. And if Trump is running, then definitely run again. Because that's going to be hilarious, okay? Now, what do you think I'm going to be a servile puppy dog? Please vote for Trump. I mean, right when you're talking about betas, I mean, I'm serious, I've never seen a bigger rate. No, that's not true. Lindsay Graham, okay? But outside of Lizzie Graham, that's the biggest beta I have. ever see it in my life.

The one upside of the Trump presidency was the, like, revelation that most Republican male lawmakers are incredibly weak and incredibly pathetic. I mean, it was so easy for Trump to unmanned them. And that was the only thing I enjoyed, you know, to be completely honest with you guys. But I also wanted to make like most religious people and cherry pick something from 538 because I don't really like 538. And I don't really follow their work because oftentimes Nate Silver is wrong about things. But I did like this quote from 538.

Harry Enton of all people wrote this. To win the Republican or Democratic nomination, you need the backing of at least some of the party apparatus. At a minimum, your fellow party members shouldn't hate you. And the crew's hatred doesn't stop at the edges of the Senate cloak room. Influential party actors dislike him too. And if you're wondering, why did he debase himself at the end? Because he said, oh, man, if you come after Heidi, blah, blah, blah, you guys saw. By the way, idiot Ted Cruz, don't ever say 2016 was fun again.

You're inviting everyone to say he called your wife ugly and he said your dad was a murderer. And then you licked his boots. Which part of that was fun, Ted? I mean, was that fun? Does that picture look fun to you? It's so obvious that just as a political matter, you should never refer to 2016. ever let alone as fun if you're Ted Cruz. I just want to be careful because humiliation is a kink for some people.

That's a good point. And I'm not judging. We're not kink shaming. Okay, yeah, we're not judging Ted. Hey, listen, you like being under a boot, that's your call. Okay, but now to the point about how even party members don't like him, that's not as relevant. But what is relevant is party donors. And so if you're wondering why he turned into that puppy dog after he talks so tough,

It's because that speech that we should, that JR had in that compilation was at the convention where he said, go vote your conscious. And he did not endorse Donald Trump, even at the, as late as the convention back in 2016. What happened next is what changed his mind. So he goes upstairs to the Mercer's. They were his largest donor. Remember how he mentioned the $92 million in donations? The Mercer's alone gave him 13 out of the 92, okay?

And he goes up to their suite, because of course, they were. They've got like King Palace at the convention and they slammed a door in his face. And he was like, what happened? They're like, no, you lost and you're our dog. Now Trump won. We're supporting him because he's going to give us tax cuts. Now you kneel dog. And that's when Ted Cruz showed his true colors.

And he became this dog for Donald Trump because the donors told him to. And then at the end, he has a temerity to brag about the $92 million. he had in bribes. He said, oh, you know, I had a strong base of support. I thought he was going to mention the voters. And he's like, no, I got $92 million in bribes. And I don't do anything for those guys. And I proved it. I licked Donald Trump's boots with my tongue after he insulted my wife. I mean, I work for the donors better than anyone. Congrats, Ted. That doesn't really give you strength. You look incredibly weak there. This is, by the way, I do want to go to the tweet that Trump had put out there, which of course was meant to insult his wife.

and compare Ted Cruz's wife to Melania Trump. It's just no need to spill the beans. The images are worth a thousand words. And I just, I can't imagine being married to a man who refuses to defend me. Like really defend me after, like he went bone banking for Trump after that. It's just, it's amazing. Anyway, we do want to ask you a question. And we might have primed you a little bit for this poll, but we do want you to be

independent thinkers and answer this question, go to tytt.com slash polls. Does Ted Cruz have a shot at winning the 2024 election? Yes or no? Yeah. Well, look, guys, honestly, there is one caveat there, which is who's running, right? They're all going to be, if it's not Trump, then it's a free-for-all and anybody could win. But I just say this last thing. He oozes weakness and has no idea, because he's sitting there, even when he was talking about how he came in second, He's like, you know, look, historically, what Romney came a second and then I'm second and then, you know, then the next person, no, no, no, no, no, no, the right way to do it is go, am I going to run? Well, of course I want to run. I almost won last time.

Why wouldn't I run this time, right? And that's because I kick ass and people really like my policies. And that's why I have a strong base of support among the goddamn voters. That's how you do it. Now, like, well, came in a second, historically. He doesn't have it in him, Jank. You know it. You know it. He just doesn't. Like, even if you, if that was the message you wanted to send, he doesn't have the capability of making a strong statement like that.

That's true. But, you know, I really wonder what would have happened if Trump never ran at all, right? Because one of those other 17 had to win. And they're all weak. Yeah. Right. So I don't know if Ted Cruz would have won the nomination, right? Remember when Jeb Bush was the favorite? Uh-huh. Jeb Bush. Yeah, no, but he was never the favorite. The polling never indicated he was the favorite.

It's just that corporate media loved Jeb Bush because of, because he's corrupt. And they would have taken money from their sponsors and done exactly what their sponsors ordered Jeb Bush to do. So they're like, Jeb Bush, Jeff Bush, frontrunner, which poll? Show me a poll. His frontrunner, right? And the only other guy who's got a shot is Marco Rubio. He also will give everything to the donors. I'm like, show me the goddamn poll.

I said, like, in October for sure, that was three months before any of the voting in the primary that Trump was definitely going to win the Republican primary. Now, why did I say that? Because he was leading in every poll. And everybody in corporate media was like, oh, no, there's no way he's going to win. There's no way.

It's going to be Jab or Marco. We know because we love those guys. That's why when I tell you Washington's in a bubble, that's what I'm talking about. They really don't get it. They just love corruption so much. They can't see straight. Well, we got to, I guess, get off of that fun story and talk about something that might enrage you. Right-wing media is assisting conservative Democratic Senator Joe

Manchin in expressing just how much his feelings were hurt by, you know, pesky Joe Biden and all that badgering that he engaged in just to get Manchin to support his buildback better agenda. Now, of course, I'm being sarcastic when I mentioned the badgering because Biden barely did any fighting for his own agenda, barely applied any pressure to the likes of Joe Manchin to get him to vote in favor of the build back better social spending bill. But Fox News reporter Jackie Heinrich asked Jen Saki if, you know, there might be some retaliation among those within Biden's administration who hurt poor Joe Manchin's feelings. Let's watch. We now know that he ultimately pulled the plug in that interview on Sunday because he was upset with White House staff naming him singularly in the Thursday statement from the president.

And we've been told about some of his objections to that that were shared with the White House. Has the staffer who is, we suppose, responsible for putting his name in there, have they faced any retribution for this or been spoken to about it? You know, Jackie, I haven't seen all of the comments that Senator Manchin has made on this. I know that there's been reporting on this, but I haven't seen him speak in depth about the specifics of what has upset him. I can dig further if that exists out there beyond the reporting. But what I would tell you is that we have been working with Senator Manchin for months now. The president has known him for years. Many of the White House senior staff have known him for years as well.

It doesn't mean that there aren't moments of disagreement or frustration. Of course there are. This is legislating. That's the nature of sometimes how it gets done. Oh, poor, poor Joe Manchin. Won't anyone think about Joe Manchin's feelings, please? I mean, yes, they're starving Americans out there. People dying on sidewalks because they don't have housing, but poor Joe Manchin's feelings, jank.

Yeah, look, there's two elements of the story. One is it gives you an insight into how Washington thinks. Who cares about the voters? Yeah. Right? Oh, one of the powerful elites had his feelings hurt for a second by a staffer. So in retribution to that, Mansion killed the entire bill so you can't get the child tax credit or paid family leave or anything else that might actually help your family. And everybody in Washington finds that perfectly normal.

Well, of course, if you hurt the feelings of someone who is an elite, millions will have to suffer because he was offended. That is not normal. That's sick. That's depraved. But everyone in the room treats it as perfectly normal question. Yeah, has the staffer been fired for offending one of the elites? It's absurd.

And the second part of it is the response. Yes. She's walking on eggshells. It's 100%. You know what an actual socky bomb would be? I'm not even going to humor you with that ridiculous question. Next. Or here, I got an answer.

I would say, have we punished our own staffer for pointing out that Senator Manchin says the bill is dead? No, we have not punished. the staffer for being accurate. And by the way, I mean, his feelings got hurt on a tiny passage. I had to read it three times to understand what he took offense at. It was just the fact that his name was mentioned in the context of negotiations. By the way, you know what, guys? His feelings weren't hurt. It's a stupid excuse. 100%. Why are we having this dumb, dumb conversation? The reality is he did it for his donors, but no one in media is honest. So they're having this insane conversation about, did his staffer hurt his feelings?

Should we fire the staffer for hurting the feelings of the elites? It's, that is, his name was mentioned. That's not a thing you get offended by. It's a lie. Joe Manchin is a liar. Here, I just did more news than all the media combined. Now, it's rare for corporate media to ever ask follow-up questions, but I commend this Fox News reporter for asking a follow-up question in this context, because this is a very

important issue. The fragile ego of Joe Manchin is important here. So here's the follow-up. There's going to be a softer, I guess, approach in dealing with Senator Manchin and some of the other Democrats in the party who have been very vocal about being disappointed in him. Is there sort of a shift in strategy since this all blew up over bullying? Well, again, I wouldn't characterize it that way, Jackie. But I would tell you that Senator Manchin is some who has won many tough, tough fought fights in West Virginia. He comes proudly from a coal mining family. He's a pretty outspoken advocate for the things he believes in and the things he doesn't.

And I would doubt he's a withering flower on the side of the road. But he's being bullied, ladies and gentlemen. One of the most powerful men in the world is being bullied. Yeah. No, guys, it's Alice in Wonderland, man. it's absolutely upside down. So Mansion bullied Biden and said, I'm the president. And if I don't want a bill named after your entire agenda, build back back.

That's what you ran your campaign on. If I don't want it to pass, it's not going to pass. And then he backhands them across the face. And all Washington is talking about was Joe Biden too mean to Joe Manchin? Right. And should Joe Biden, I swear to God, this is a real conversation. The reason why it's being asked is because several articles have been written about it. It's had bunch of segments on television about it.

Should Joe Biden apologize to Joe Manchin for killing Biden's agenda? Manchin killed Biden's agenda? Why the hell would Biden apologize to the mansion? But in Washington, they're like, now remember, you ask something that the donors did not agree to. They disagree 1%. Apologize! Because they're not asking him to apologize to the mansion. They're asking Biden to apologize to the corporate donors.

Yeah. And look, I think that this is so indicative of everything that's wrong in America today, right? Because as you see from this interaction, and Jake is absolutely right, this isn't just about one Fox News reporter asking this line of questioning. This is something that's been regurgitated by various members of corporate media, both in broadcast and in print, all week long. Okay, this is just the narrative that they're going with. Oh, what could Manchin do? He was bullied. So as a result, he decided to screw over his own consent. and the American people in general by robbing them of an opportunity to pay far less for pharmaceutical drugs, to have access to universal pre-K, to have access to child care so mothers can go back to work. What can he do? His feelings were hurt. The fact that they ain't and abet that garbage is exactly why conspiracy theories prevail in this country. Because who were the ones who were supposed to be checking, fact checking the conspiracy theorists? Corporate media that has lost the trust of the American people. People don't trust the media for a reason because they don't represent ordinary Americans. They represent the elite, they represent the powerful. The fact that they're concerned about the alleged hurt feelings of one of the most powerful people on the planet right now

shows you just how little they take even a second to think about the pain and suffering that ordinary Americans are experiencing today. So look, I get the frustration when it comes to like QAnon and all of that. But can you really begrudge people for not trusting the fact checkers, for not trusting the media, for not trusting in our institutions? They have failed us, and this is the chickens coming home to roost. Yeah, I'm going to say one more thing. Guys, I'm now on the warpath. We've got to get a White House reporter. So if you can help out, t.com slash change, become a member, do whatever else you can, all right? Because imagine if the question was from a TYT report, and the question was,

Joe Manchin says that his feelings were hurt because his name was mentioned in a press release, and that's why he's denied the child tax credit, and now 30% of kids in America are going to go back into poverty. Isn't that the actions of a monster? Yes. that it would endanger the lives of millions of kids because his feelings were hurt? I don't know how Genesaki would answer that question, but I guarantee you that's they've never gotten a question like that in their lives. They probably, I mean, I don't know that they've ever gotten a single question at the White House

for a Republican or Democratic president from a progressive perspective. I mean, you want to talk about a sake bomb, that whole place might explore. How dare you? Oh my God, this is a reporter challenging the powerful escort him from the building, okay? All the reporters are supposed to kiss the ass of the powerful and protect their feelings. This report is not protecting the feelings of the powerful. TYT.com slash change. We've got to make that happen.

I want to see them humiliate themselves by saying you shouldn't do reporting and hold a powerful accountable because they will say it. When we come back for the second hour, we'll talk about local lawmakers in the state of Oklahoma banning or limiting, I should say, any education on slavery because. of course we knew it was going in this direction we'll be right back thanks for listening to the full episode of the young turks support our work listen ad free access members only bonus content and more by subscribing to apple podcasts at apple dot co slash t yt i'm your host jank huger and i'll see you soon