The Young Turks - Ghost Gun Protocol

Episode Date: April 9, 2021

President Biden unveils six executive actions to curb gun violence and nominate a permanent ATF director. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to the Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. All right. Welcome to the Young Turks, Jake, Youngeratic is there with you guys. Everybody's back. Okay, we're going to have, yeah, I think nothing but fun.

I thought about it. I thought about putting in 8% not fun, rejected it. We're going 100% fun. Is that really true? No, not really. I mean, we'll have rage, we'll have different emotions. But you know, it'll be a roller coaster ride and roller coaster rides are fun. All right, so lots of stories of the news. I've stored up a lot of opinions. I know you're gonna be shocked to hear that. Okay, so why don't we share the news and then share our opinions, kind of like what we do on the Young Turks? What do you think, Caspar?

I think it's great. And we have a lot of great stories to get to a lot. So we're going to keep it tight but give you all the info you need. So let's get started with gun control because that's a big topic today. Agreed. President Joe Biden has decided to resort to executive action on the issue of gun control. Now this is of course in response to the mass shootings that have happened recently and he gave a press conference listing exactly what he intends to do. Let's watch. First, I want to rein in the proliferation of so-called ghost guns. These are guns that are homemade, built from a kit, and include directions and how to finish the firearm. You can go buy the kit. They have no serial numbers. So when they show up at a crime scene, they can't be traced. And the buyers aren't required to pass the background check to buy the kit, to make the gun.

Consequently, anyone, anyone from a criminal to a terrorist can buy this kit as little as 30 minutes put together a weapon. You know, I want to see these kits treated as firearms under the Gun Control Act, which is going to require that the seller and manufacturers make the key parts with serial numbers and run background checks on the buyers when they walk in to buy. that package? I mean, that honestly just sounds like common sense. It doesn't sound like anything controversial. He did not propose or implement an assault weapons ban, for instance, something that he did campaign on but is not planning on doing through executive action. He's just trying to expand what the pretty flimsy gun regulations we have applies to.

And in this case, if you're talking about a kit that's made. meant to literally put a gun together, make a gun, then yeah, it should be regulated as guns are regulated. And it should absolutely have a serial number. This isn't rocket science. I think this is pretty much a no-brainer. Jank. Yeah, so let's acknowledge that the NRA is in favor of criminals. Because even on something as benign as this, they say no, criminals should be allowed to put together guns that have no serial numbers. So we have no chance of catching them after they commit crimes. You know why? Because criminals buy a lot of weapons. And the people who fund the NRA are weapons manufacturers, and they make money from selling weapons. Oh, right, and weapon parts. So is this

a bold proposal? I know people are excited. Everybody every day is comparing Biden to Bernie or FDR or something. No, this is as tame a proposal as you could possibly imagine. Ghost gun is close to a ghost issue. It's tiny. It's not asking for much at all. We're not doing assault weapons ban, and we're not talking about an effective federal background check. He's punted of anything. Those weren't even major. Those were actually relatively normal, you know, a short while back a decade ago, two decades ago for sure, right? And now it's like, Like, whoa, we can't even get something. Federal background checks, I've said this a million times, 97% of Americans agree to them. And he won't even propose the thing that 97% of Americans agree

with. So I know a lot of people are going nuts celebrating these announcements. I think they amount to a giant whoop-de-do. Yeah, I think your read of it is correct, right? Because because these are not major changes in the ability to purchase, let's say, there's nothing about high capacity magazines, there's nothing about assault weapons. I mean, this is just, hey, we've got weak gun laws, but let's expand those weak gun laws to some new innovations in guns, right? And in this case, we're talking about these so-called ghost guns. But he also had one other specific thing that he wanted to regulate. And he's about to talk about that in the next clip.

We want to treat pistols modified with stabilizing braces with the seriousness they deserve. A stabilizing brace hook in a pencil essentially makes that pistol a hell of a lot more accurate and a mini rifle. As a result, it's more lethal, effectively turned it into a short-barreled rifle. That's what the alleged shooter in Boulder appears to have done. I want to be clear that these modifications to firearms that make them more lethal should be subject to the National Firearms Act. The National Firearms Act requires that a potential owner pay $200 fee and submit their name and other identifying information to the Justice Department. Just say they would if they went out and purchased a silencer for a gun. So you just heard the two most,

I would argue, robust parts of the executive order, right? So again, there's nothing about banning certain guns. There's nothing about even banning certain devices that could enhance the gun to be far more lethal. But what he's doing here is just trying to include the necessary background checks, the necessary gun regulations to these devices, to these innovations in gun making or gun purchasing. And so again, this is not that difficult. I don't think this is a big deal. This certainly doesn't take guns away from anyone. So as we enter probably the next day of conservative talking points about how guns are being taken away from law-abiding citizens, just understand that these executive orders do no such thing. And just one other thing I wanted to add,

you know, the issue with executive orders, as much as, you know, we want Biden to use his executive power to pass, you know, regulations or policies that we desperately need in the short term, understand that it's not much of a long-term solution because they can easily be reversed by the next administration, especially if it's a Republican administration. So there are some downfalls to executive orders as well. But Jake, what did you want to add? Yeah, no, look, when I saw the headlines on Biden proposes bold gun legislation, I was really looking forward to it or executive orders in this case. And then I read it, and then I reread it. I was like, did I miss it? I mean, if you'd asked me before these came out, give me your list of top 10

things on gun control, I would not have come up with adjusted pistols and ghost guns. I don't know that they would have made the top 20. So now if you're wondering, wait, why is there disparity between what I'm hearing on the Young Turks and what I'm hearing elsewhere? Let me explain why. First of all, a lot of gun safety groups, they have to be political, it's not their fault. So when Biden gives them an inch, they have to pretend that it was a mile and be thrilled and exuberant, because they never even get an inch, not only in Republicans, but oftentimes with Democrats. So, and they have to try to encourage the Biden administration. So you will see positive quotes from a lot of those groups today.

And then, you know, the rest of the media is divided up into just partisan camps. I don't mean progressive and conservative. That I think is totally fine. They're broken up in the Republican and Democrat. So MSNBC is just a Democratic-run media organization. And so you, if you turn them on, you'll hear like, oh my God, Joe Biden is the hefty. R and LBJ combined, I've got control, the adjusted pistols, everybody knows that was the main issue. No, that just happened in one shooting and it's terrible and I'll take it, right, that the executive order that he's doing. But no, that was not a major issue. Pretending that it was is akin to a lie. So look, the things that he promised on the campaign trail was assault weapons ban,

voluntary gun buyback program, a Senate bill to Congress to repeal liability protections from gun manufacturers, that's super important. And close the background check loophole. And he said he would- super, super important. Yeah, like that is such a no-brainer. That's such a no-brainer. I don't know why he didn't do that. No, because- Get rid of the loopholes. No, look, so the job of the political people is to kiss each other's ass and to try to nudge people in the right direction. The job of the news is supposed to tell you the truth, okay? These proposals are incredibly weak. So, you know, you'll find every host on MSNBC and CNN beside themselves. But it's just not backed up by any of the facts. I'll do one last thing. All the stronger ones that

he said he would do on the campaign trail, he said they were so important he was going to do them on the first day. Now all of a sudden, it ain't the first day. And they use COVID as an excuse for everything, right? Oh, because of COVID I just were we melted, our brains melted down. We can't do anything else. Yeah, no, I don't believe you, that's just not true. You could easily do more executive orders, and yes, you could push for a bill right now. And you're not gonna do any of that because you're worried. You're worried about, in this case, you know, old conventional wisdom that the country loves guns.

What part of 97% do you not understand? And the reality is Democrats these days are just weak. There's one other thing that I wanted to point to, which I think is a positive change, again, done by this executive action. You know, there had been a lot of issues with incredibly weak red flag laws, where if an individual was found to be mentally unstable, violent, domestically violent, it would be incredibly difficult to get rid of their guns or take guns away for them temporarily until that situation was worked out. What he wants to do is provide, actually, I take it back, because it's not like

he's single-handedly doing something about these weak red flag laws. He's just saying, we're going to provide resources for what we think the red flag law should be. The president will also direct the Justice Department to publish model red flag legislation for states that want to enact such laws that enable family members or members of law enforcement to petition for court order to temporary bar people in crisis from accessing firearms if they present a danger to themselves or others. So just to be clear, focus on that issue is important, and I'm not taking away from that, but in terms of what this executive action really does, effectively nothing. It's just publishing what the desired model would be and hoping that states would then replicate that model in their

own home state. That's unlikely to happen in these red states, of course. So, That's what the reality is, just keeping it real. Yeah, agreed. Yeah. All right, let's move on to our next story because Mitch McConnell is just in this vicious cycle of making a fool out of himself, who doesn't know what to do. Senator Mitch McConnell is now backing away from demanding the corporations, stay out of politics. As you all know, he had that reaction following some of these companies speaking out against Georgia's voter. suppression law, and he's not so happy about it. So he had initially released a statement

saying that these companies really have no business in politics unless they fund me. Well, it turns out he's now backing off from that messaging saying, quote, I didn't say that very artfully yesterday. I didn't say that very artfully yesterday. They're certainly entitled to be involved in politics. They are. My principal complaint is they didn't read the darn bill. So that is a talking point, Jank, that I'm sure you've come across, our audience has come across, this talking point about how Georgia actually did not restrict voting. They expanded voting because now there needs to be a minimum of one ballot drop off box in every county. And previously, these lawmakers didn't really care too much about the rural

parts of the state because they didn't have ballot drop off boxes in some cases. So under this law, they will ensure that rural parts of the state that maybe didn't have drop off boxes previously will now have at minimum one drop off box. But also understand that the law will limit the number of drop off boxes in the most populous parts of the state. And the most populous parts of the state also, of course, happen to be the most diverse and happen to have the larger percentage of African American voters. So don't buy the lies and deceptions that these Republicans are trying to put out there. It's a false narrative. But at the same time, what he's upset about is that Republicans are being called out on the fact that they're so unpopular that the only thing they

can do is rig elections in their favor. It's all they do. Yeah. So the rural point is actually hilarious because what there's, you know what kind of voters are rural voters in Georgia, generally speaking white, okay? And so they're saying, yeah, no, look, I hear what you're saying. We limited voting in black areas, but on the other hand, we increase voting in white areas. No, that's not really on the other hand. Okay, that's saying I'm being purposely racist, and this is definitely a Jim Crow law. Now, am I against expanding voting opportunities in white areas? Absolutely, I love that.

They should expand voting opportunities in every area, including rural areas, deeply white areas, deeply Republican areas, everybody should vote, okay? We're principled on that. principled on that. McConnell and the Georgia Republicans go, yeah, no, no, no, we're expanding voting for white people. The black people though, hell no, hell no. And then Mitch McGowan says, oh, you're playing the race card. No, suppressing black voters is playing the race card. Okay, so let's be clear about that. Now, secondly, I love this story because now you know who the boss is. So Mitch McConnell comes out and he looks like a tough guy and he's the leader

Republicans. I remember that he did this once before. He did it with Trump. He voted in favor of quitting him in the second impeachment. Then he turned around and said, oh, but Trump did this thing. That was so wrong during the capital rights, it's unacceptable. And within a week, he realized that, oh, no, all my voters love that. And they love Trump and they're beginning to hate me. So he backpedal, backpedal, backpedal, back. I mean, Trump's good. Trump's good, I like Trump. Trump's still the leader. I like him. I like him. Okay, all right, I get a turtle, you're putting your head back into your shell. So now this is even bigger deal because McConnell built his career on corporations.

So I just want to give you the quote again from yesterday. He said, I found it completely discouraging to find a bunch of corporate CEOs getting in the middle of politics. That's hilarious. Mitch McConnell has been the number one plaintiff in cases where they argue to keep corporate money in politics. He is patient zero. Worse than Pelosi, worse than Schumer, worse than every other Republican. The most corrupt man in America who brought more corporate money into politics than anything else, anyone else in the country, that's literal, right?

And he's like, heaven forfend, it turns out there's gambling in this establishment. Oh, really, okay? So, Sue, the hypocrisy is there. But Anna, just to finish the thought real quick, And I want to make one other point of the slides, but like now you know when he backpedals, that means he's not in charge. He's just a waiter, he's a butler, he's a servant, okay? The corporate CEOs are in charge and they kind of twisted his ear there and they were like, hey Mitch, get back out there and tell him we're in charge. And he's like,

oh yes sir, yes sir, such a scared weak man. All these bullies, paper tigers. Exactly. And I wanted to read the previous threat because he did issue a threat to corporations, which is hilarious because corporations own him, right? He like created this monster. He had fought for money in politics and legalized bribery all the way back to the 1970s when he was apparently some sort of professor. I mean, I can't imagine wasting money on taking that class. But he advocated for infusing, you know, more money or yeah, more money in politics decades and decades ago. So he built this Frankenstein. And he said in response to some of these companies that spoke out against that law. And again, I want to repeat this. It's just empty talk, right?

With the exception of the MLB, it's empty talk. It's just, all right, all right, all right, we want consumers off our back. So let's release a statement. And that's what got Mitch McConnell so up in arms. And so he says, he said that he basically said that there would be serious consequences if they become a vehicle for far left mobs to hijack our country. So that was his previous statement. And now he's like, yeah, maybe that was an artful. Maybe that was an artful. It's not so bad. Because what are you going to do, Mitch McCall? Like, you're right, Jank. I mean, who owns who? All right, you don't like these companies. These companies aren't going to fund your campaign. These companies are not going to fund, you know, people who are aligned with you.

And so, yeah, like, you're not the boss. You're not like, it's what I tell Charlie every once in a while, my dog, when he thinks that he owns me. I'm like, no, you don't, you don't own me. I own you. You have to listen to me. And that's exactly what these corporations are saying to Mitch McConnell right now. That's why he's backing off. Yeah, and so guys, that's not a small issue.

That's one of the largest issues in politics. So, conservatives misunderstand where the seat of power is. They keep saying the government is too big, and the government is making the poor corporations bribed them. No, no, you're totally misunderstanding power. It comes from money, and the corporations are now buying the politicians, and so whatever bad things that the government is doing, it's because corporations told them to do it. They own these politicians, corporate Republicans, and by the way, corporate Democrats, and

definitely people like Joe Manchin, they own them lock, stock, and barrel. So they're the people in charge. So if you're worried about accumulated power, you're right. If you think the source of that power is the government, you are wrong. The source of that power today in this version of America are corporations that bought our government and now completely own it. So one more thing here, Mitch McConnell says it was in. inartful. That's a funny term, isn't it? Not I was wrong, I'm, you know, corporate Mitch.

No, it was in artful. It's a way of saying this is all art. You're watching a theater, a sitcom, right? This is, and I'm an actor. So I flubbed my line. What I meant to say is, corporations are beloved creatures that are above human beings and I hold them up on a pedestal. I wish they would not do this one slight thing. But I am so sorry for ever bringing it up. And so I forgot my line. I swear I won't do it again. I'll read all my lines in the trailer. I'll get them from the think tanks that will give me ideas, which are talking points. And then I would regurgitate them like the Mitch that I I am and the actor that I am. Okay. So that's American politics. All right, we got to take a break.

And when we come back, a lawyer representing Matt Gates's close political ally, the same guy who's facing charges for sex trafficking, weighs in on the allegations against Matt Gates, and you do not want to miss that video. We'll see you there. We need to talk about a relatively new show called Un-Fitting 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-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 unlearn 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. Programming note after today's show and after the post game, we're gonna take a deep dive with Jordan Yule. He's going to have Imazale on and it's at 8.30 p.m. Eastern. It's at Twitch.tv slash t-y-T. If you're interested in a dive and you should be, go for a deep one with Jordan. Okay, so current American heroes, Rane, just hit the join button below. Interesting. Also a bit of an American hero. Just hit the join button below to become a young tourist member on YouTube. The button is right there. It's very inviting, almost seductive. Let's be honest about it. It's awkward, but we had to say it. Okay, at the 499 level, by the way,

you get today's post game, and it's gonna be a doozy. Hold on, I gotta tell you what's in the post game. Oh, Alabama Republican got caught with a mistress. Oh, no, I know, Oh no, no, you got tape. You're gonna love that story, you're gonna love that story. Is that a slight mocking of the Republican Alabama expert accent? Maybe, okay, all right, of course Democrats down there don't sound like that. All right, too strong for Democrats, right, sit in our members section,

hence already an American hero, says this would be awesome. Grassers, orgs helping voters without driver's license, obtain, one so they can drive and also vote. And nullify failure GOP attempts to suppress the black minority poor voters. I hear you, and that's a great idea, but I gotta keep it real with you on a couple of fronts. Number one, I've been involved in a lot of campaigns. The campaigns can barely get the low hanging fruit. They are so under-resourced. The idea of getting people's driver license, getting people a driver's license so they can vote, they have zero capacity to do that at almost any level. So I wish they did, but they don't,

Okay, and then number two is a lot of people don't have the money for a car. So like that's a huge issue. And people that live in cities, they don't sometimes they don't need cars. So we should not go in 1% in that direction. All these ideas are horrific. And you're not your idea. Any idea to limit voting based on something like a driver's license is horrific. All right, Peter Hamby writes in on YouTube super chat, does that make you a bit of an American hero? I guess. Peter writes in, I don't believe McConnell's confession. He's still going to receive his donations. He's a tiger, never changing his stripes, and he's been like that for around 35 years. Peter, don't mistake what's happening. No, he's not saying I'm not going to take donations. In fact, that's why he panicked

and backpedaled. He's like, no, no, no, I mean, I'm definitely taking the money. I'm definitely, definitely taking the money. I just meant I didn't agree with them once. I'm so sorry. Okay, Octosquitties wrote in on Twitch. First of all, they've been with those for 10 months. That's full hero status. They wrote in 100% fun and gifted five subs. I'm in favor of both of those things. Also in favor of 10 gifted subs from the real blue tech. Awesome.

Be right back. Jake. Hey, welcome back to the Young Turks. Jake and Anna with you guys. All right, Casper, I believe you have more news. I do. I do have more news. Update on a story that we've been following from the beginning.

Matt Gates and his continued legal trouble. legal troubles. Now this update, look, we were going to skip Matt Gates today, but the story is developing rapidly, and you guys are going to love this update. So the media asked Joel Greenberg's attorney. This is a close associate of Matt Gates. Whether Gates had anything to worry about given the facts that he knows about the case. Now, Joel Greenberg was a tax collector in the state of Florida. He had been in, he was being investigated by the Department of Justice. Federal prosecutors were looking into sex trafficking charges that, you know, he was accused of. And in the process of that investigation, the Justice Department expanded its research into

Matt Gates, because apparently they came across something indicating that he had possibly paid for the travel of a minor, a 17 year old, in order to have a sexual relationship with her. Once you do that, it triggers federal age of consent laws. And on a federal level, the age of consent is 18. So this is a serious accusation against Matt Gates. And so the reporters wanted to ask Joel Greenberg's attorney, is Matt Gates in a lot of trouble? And to be honest with you, this is not looking good for Gates. Take a look. Does Matt Gates have anything to worry about? Does Matt Gates, that is such a brunt. When it comes to what happened today, does he have anything to worry about? And you're asking me to get into the mind of Matt Gates,

right? And, uh, well, from your mind. From my mind. Based on what your client does. Based on what my client knows. Okay. See, I thought if I kept on talking and talking without avoid these questions and not to say, I'm sure Matt Gates is not feeling very comfortable today. All right? No, that video alone is one thing, but let me put it in further context so you guys understand how serious this is. Greenberg is cooperating with the feds. And he is expected to take a plea deal very soon. So if he has any dirt on Matt Gates, that dirt will certainly be disclosed to federal prosecutors. One other negative sign for

Matt Gates is that the relationship between the defense attorney and the prosecutors seem to be pretty chummy. And that's not my word. That's what was reported by Politico. They report that a chummy relaxed atmosphere prevailed between prosecutors and Greenberg's attorney prior to the hearing with lawyers for both sides at one point moving to a corner of the courtroom to confer outside the earshot of journalists sitting in the gallery. So we'll see how it plays out, but we're getting more of a feel regarding the trouble that Matt Gates is really in. Yeah. So that was hilarious, the clip. Da, Matt Gates, you said? That's Gitt's Gates, Gates, Matt, Maddy, Maddy, Maddie, Maddy, Mattie, Mattie, Gates. What do I say about that? Okay, dude, just say you don't know.

on. That was a hilarious moment. Anyways, look, let me tell you one other reason why Matt Gates is at massive trouble right now. Because yeah, his buddy, who by the way, apparently sometimes maybe oftentimes according to the press reports, they used to have the same girlfriend, okay? So when that guy turns evidence on you, you're already toast. But then the second layer of That is, that means they definitely did it. Because Greenberg is saying, turning evidence means we did it, I'm cooperating with you, you were right, okay? So no, nah, nah, nah, that looks bad.

Matt Gates is in a world of trouble. I mean, look, he knew all this. That's why he asked Trump for the preemptive pardon before he left office. And of course, Trump being the knucklehead that he is, he had to be apparently tactical with the ground a couple of days ago when he was thinking of going defending Matt Gates publicly. They're like, no, you're already on the record is defending other child molesters like Jeffrey Epstein's girlfriend. Guelaine Maxwell? Yeah. Delay Maxwell. I hope she's doing well. What's what Trump said on two different occasions when he was asked, right? So by the way,

you know, we used to make fun of Q and on. I mean, the idea of the top leaders in a political party in America would lead, it would be child sex traffickers. Now all of a sudden we got, Matt Gates. We got Trump defending Gislayne Maxwell thinking about defending Matt Gates. Maybe they just had the wrong party. Yeah, it's just, honestly, while you were talking, Jank, I couldn't help but think of former Democratic lawmaker Elliot Spitzer and how he was forced to resign after it was disclosed that he had paid for an escort, essentially. And he was targeted specifically, because he was pretty much a wolf on bankers and corporations when he was a lawmaker. So he was specifically targeted for those reasons. And look, I think that prostitution,

I should say sex work, sex work should be legalized and regulated. In the case of Matt Gates, though, the situation is worse because we're talking about a 17 year old and he's in his late 30s. This does break a federal law. So we don't know what the evidence is yet. We don't know those details. Obviously, we're waiting to find out. But there are some people, Jank, that are willing to defend Matt Gates. I think it's worth mentioning that, to be fair.

It's just that they won't list their names in their defense. So there was a statement that came out by his female staffers. And as the statement reads, Gates has, Gates has always been a principled and morally grounded leader. At no time has any one of us experienced or witnessed any less than the utmost professionalism and respect, no hint of impropriety, no ounce of untruthfulness. But as the Hill reports, the statement was not signed by any staffers, and it did not specify how many women in Gates' office had signed off on it. It was signed by the women of the office of U.S. Congressman Matt Gates.

Absurd. It's absurd. You can't say, I mean, that's like some PR version of mansplaining that I've never seen before. The women of my office really like me. I mean, none of them will say it on the record. None of them will publicly admit to respecting me. So I'll send out an anonymous letter and hope that you believe me that the women of my office were mortally ashamed of me, are publicly supporting. Okay, if you say so, does seem a bit counterproductive. And finally, last I heard, he was about to speak to a woman's group in the Republican Party, right? Like he was invited to speak, oh, well, oh, look, to be fair to the group, I'm sure he was invited before they found out that he was probably likely to be charged as a child sex

trafficker, right? But they hadn't canceled for, I mean, until like, I don't know if it's still ongoing or not, but last I checked, they're like, oh yeah, come on in. Tell us about women. Yes, it's amazing. Republicans are nuts. And I want to also make one clarification, just so we're 100% accurate in talking about this. As far as we know, the DOJ hasn't officially charged him of any crime yet. But it does appear that their investigation has expanded. It becomes more and more serious by the day. So as soon as he is charged, we'll let you guys know about it. But we did ask you a poll question about what's likely to happen to Matt Gates. Ryan Grimm was on the show with me and his prediction is that since he's a representative

from the Panhandle, who by the way is refusing to step down, it's unlikely that he'll actually suffer any real consequences for this. But, you know, a pretty significant percentage of you so far in this poll, and you still have time to participate if you'd like, think that there will be some consequences. So 35% of you voted already and said yes, there will be consequences. He'll lose his job as a congressman, and 65% of you said no. I'm curious how the poll results will change given this new information. So take part in that poll if you'd like to. We'd love to to hear what you think about it. For now, though, let's move on to our next story. We are deep in the heart of taxes, Ainsley. Yeah, we are. And it's heartbreaking, making us all

want to move to Florida, right? Because our taxes are going. Or Texas. Oh, hmm, Fox and friends, they aren't too friendly when the millions they make each year is possibly subject to in. V.I.P.I. Porter MasterCard is your ticket to more. More perks. More points. More flights. More of all the things you want in a travel rewards card. And then some. Get your ticket to more with the new BMOViPorter MasterCard and get up to $2,400 in value in your first 13 months. Terms and conditions apply. Visit BMO.com slash ViPorter to learn more. increase taxes to pay for Biden's infrastructure bill. Yep, you know what time it is. It's time for when rich men cry. I care. That's it. One talking point that you're very likely to hear from right wingers, especially those in right wing media, is that increasing taxes on corporate corporations and the wealthy, meaning people earning more than $400,000 a year, would actually

negatively impact their taxes. Ordinary working Americans would see their taxes go up too. I mean, there's no evidence of that, but listen to this argument. This corporate tax, it's going to affect you, even if you don't own a corporation. Larry Cudlow said it's very bad for our economy, he said, and then your taxes are going to go at big time, he said, and then there's much more coming when Biden gets to the individual tax code and the capital gains and the small business. He said, get ready for that. So she's arguing that the corporate tax rate will impact ordinary Americans who don't own corporations, which makes no sense. And since she wants to talk about economic advisors,

why don't we go to Gary Cohn, who was literally Donald Trump's economic advisor? And the corporate tax rate, you know, I'm actually okay at 28%. You know, the level we got to in our tax plan on the corporate side was actually a bit lower than I thought we needed to go. So he thinks that going down to 21% for the corporate tax rate is too low. Biden is proposing to increase the corporate tax rate to 28%, which by the way is still far lower than what the corporate tax the corporate tax rate was before Trump implemented his tax plan. Originally it was 35%, and of course, when you consider the deductions and corporate tax loopholes, they get to take advantage of.

The effective tax rate has always been much lower. But Jank, I wanted to hear what you think. Yeah. First, so Fox News is hilarious. They're like, I mean, this affects corporations and corporations only. That's why it's called a corporate tax rate. But maybe it affects you, I don't know, we'll just say it, okay. And if you noticed, she's then kind of mumbled, and they might get the individual tax rates

later. In other words, they didn't get the individual tax rates now, right? That's not what this is about. And hence, the whole premise of this segment is a lie, okay, all right, let's just be clear about that. All right. So now the same part of Gary Cohen was the CEO of Gomez-X. So this is, I mean, as died in the wool, right-wing capitalists as you can find, okay?

At least on economic issues. And again, Trump's top economic advisor, he's like, did we steal a little too much? Yeah, it looks like people are getting mad, right? Let's just maybe we move back to 28, back to 28, maybe that could be okay, right? When the former basically head of Goldman Sachs, he was a number two guy there actually, tells you that the rich and the corporations might have taken too much, wow, did they take a lot, right? So, but this is the most important part, guys, they're playing a shell game on you. Good cop, bad cop, corporate Democrats and corporate Republicans. So Trump cut the rate not from 28%.

He cut it from 35% down to 21. Now everybody, including Joe Biden, is pretending that they're bringing it back to 28%. No, if you were bringing it back, or if you were building it back, better, you would go to 35%. And not only is he going only to 28%. And they do this every time, by the way, I've seen we've covered this. We've been around for 20 years. We've covered this shell game when Bush and Obama did it. And by the way, who was the guy who made that deal happen? Literally negotiated in the Obama administration, it was Joe Biden. He negotiated with McConnell. So the Republicans cut taxes to the bone for the rich. Democrats come in and go, grumble, Well, we will increase it by a little bit.

And the rich and the corporations come away with a giant tax cut. And in this case, Biden, after saying 28, no one in the media noticed, everyone says bringing it back to 28, et cetera. The media sucks as usual. It's a fact. It's not an opinion. It was at 35. Do your goddamn job. Anyway, then Biden says, well, 28's my starting position.

We can negotiate. Oh, for Christ's sake. So Biden is going to be to the right of Gary Cohn. And to your point about corporate Democrats, Jank, earlier this week, we did share the statements coming from, of course, Senator Joe Manchin and Mark Warner as well regarding their disdain, I guess, for increasing the corporate tax rate to 28%. They want to be a little more moderate on that and would prefer to see it at 25%. So what you're saying is absolutely true. Ainsley Earhart, though, does not say things that are true.

She continues to lie to Fox News's audience in this next clip. Let's take a listen. It tightens the tax code loopholes. So if you find loopholes to save some money for your family, so you don't have to give it to the government. Joe Biden wants to tighten that. Normal people, ordinary Americans, workers don't get to take corporate tax deductions. because they don't own corporations. She is lying to you. And what we should discuss is, first of all, how incredibly unpopular Trump's tax cuts for the rich really were. But the damage that it actually did to the economy specifically for workers while continuing

to make the people at the very top even more wealthy than they previously were. So when Trump passed his tax cuts for the rich, what happened? Did these companies create jobs? Did they increase wages? No, you know what they did with that extra money? They bought shares of their own stock. In fact, just look at this short time period, right? We're talking about three quarters here.

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A single mouse click protects all your devices. But listen, guys, this is important. ExpressVPN is rated number one by CNET and Wired magazine. So take back control of your life online and secure your data with a top VPN solution available, ExpressVPN. And if you go to expressvpn.com slash t-y-t, you can get three extra months for free with this exclusive link just for T-Y-T fans. That's E-X-P-R-E-S-S-V-N dot com slash T-YT. Check it out today. Buybacks totaled $579 billion for the first three quarters of 2018. That's the first year that the tax law was implemented and smashed the previous annual record of

$589 billion set in 2007. Remember, that's a full year. So in 2018, by the time we hit the third quarter, there was already a record in corporate stock buybacks. Okay, and you're comparing that to a full year in 2007. My point is, it did not help the economy. All it did was make shareholders wealthier. All it did was allow for corporate executives to take advantage of this and artificially inflate the stock market. And that's something to keep in mind every time you hear one of these goons talk about how wonderful the economy was under the Trump administration, and then they point to the stock market as the metric for the evidence to back up that point. The stock market is built on a house of cards. It's built on a house of cards based on

corporate stock buybacks and the Federal Reserve pumping money into banks and corporations. And finally, of course, just to complete the absurdity loop, they then turn around and complain about Joe Biden using tax loopholes. Wait, I thought you just told us that tax loopholes were awesome and that anyone who could should legally take advantage of them. And in Joe Biden's case, he actually is an individual. Like the ones that you said really, really should do the loopholes, right? So that makes no sense at all. But it's Fox News. It doesn't have to make sense. It's just Democrats, bad, corporations, angelic, wonderful, wonderful. You know how they keep your wages low that pay no taxes? So cuddly. Five different corporations, including Nike, HP,

these giant corporations last year paid zero in taxes. In fact, I'm gonna give you one last quote here from one of our viewers, R. Stone used YouTube super chat to make a great point. He said, Jeff Bezos in the record saying he is on the record saying he agrees with the corporate tax increase, who paid $0 in taxes for quite a while. So what are we doing here? Now Bezos himself didn't pay zero in taxes as far as I know, but Amazon did. And they're a trillion dollar company for year after year after year. And so when even the owner of Amazon's like, our taxes are way too low. My God, and Fox News is still out there going, no, no, poor Bezos, poor billionaires, poor corporations, won't anyone help them? Look, if you're a conservative out there, Fox News

ain't on your side, they're working for the corporations to help trick you into voting for their tax cuts. That's the robbery that they're a part of. We got to take a break. But when we come back, we have more news for you guys, including, yes, another story of Senator Joe Mansion standing in the way of actually accomplishing anything in the Senate. All right, back on TYT during the break here, I want to read more of your comments. I'm gonna go Twitch first now because let's be honest, I love some of these comments. Chum Bucket has been with us for six months using Amazon Prime, said no offense to the other TYT host, but I came to TYT for the jank and stayed for the jank. Welcome back.

Damn, man. No, you know what? I love it. I love it. I get a lot of love from the audience and I always appreciate it, but I want you to get some love too, so I love it. But come on, don't hate on me. Okay, I mean, look, the queen has bestowed her mercy upon me. So I appreciate it. And I appreciate you, Chumbucket. And here's another comment I love. Goku just saying, it was been, and it says four months on Twitch, 12 months on YouTube, watching TYT overall for 10 years. Am I a hero? Kawakun attack, I guess. Okay, can I jump in real quick? I have no idea if that's how you say quacken attack? Is that cracking? Is that a Goku reference?

I don't know. All right, yes, Anna, go ahead. So I wanted to watch Waza's show last night. I couldn't catch it live because I had already committed to do a stream on The Shining, but, you know, I ended up watching his stream later. And then I like ended up just browsing the TYT Twitch channel, which I typically don't have time to do. I didn't go to sleep until like two in the morning because I was watching content on there, including like happy half hour. I usually listen to the podcast version of our shows. But I also noticed that on Twitch, there are like highlights and clips. And so from yesterday's show, I kind of stumbled and bumbled through a Stalin quote that I wanted to share with the audience.

It was, and that got clipped out. And so it's on the Twitch channel, it's hilarious. Anyway, check it out if you haven't already. Twitch.t. Yeah, I'm not sure I'm gonna celebrate that news. Okay, Captain Cornball writes in, same on, I'm still on Twitch, eight months and using Prime and says, as I'm in the UK, these aren't Bezos bucks. They're the pounds of the Amazon. Okay, very good. Appreciate it. Ancient gamer, get smart, all wonderful, creative samurai just gifted a sub. In Keokin, 11 months using Amazon Prime, which is awesome. Sally on YouTube super chat just says, welcome back, Chink. Hey Sally, how you doing? Much love.

And then last one here, kit tested, Paul Brewer approves says every time the excellent when Richman Cry clip comes on, I think, who the hell goes on TV with a comb over coming from the back? That's a fair question. Americans want to know, we'll be back. All right, back on a young church. Jake Hugh Grant is with you guys. Also with us, fun. Casper forward.

I mean, I don't know about this next story because Mansions involved, but conservative lawmaker, who's still somehow registered as a Democrat, Joe Manchin, has now backed away from his openness to possibly reform the legislative filibuster in the Senate. In an op-ed that was published in the

that was published in the Washington Post, Manchin argued, quote, there is no circumstance in which I will vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster. The time has come to end these political games and to usher a new era of bipartisanship where we find common ground on the major policy debates facing our nation.

Wait, how exactly do you find bipartisan solutions to issues when the Republican Party literally try to overturn the results of the election. How do you work with them? How do you have the, I'll say guts, to speak to the American people and argue that the people playing the tricks are the ones who want to do away with the legislative filibuster that effectively allows for bills to go to the Senate to die. It's just so pathetic and ridiculous, I can't stand this man.

He also writes, every time the Senate voted to weaken the filibuster, in the past decade, the political dysfunction in gridlock have grown more severe. Okay, great. So I guess the solution is to keep a legislative filibuster that requires 60 votes to pass any legislation in a 50-50 split Senate. Okay, the political games playing out in the halls of Congress only fuel the hateful rhetoric and violence we see across our country right now. I would argue that what fuels the violent rhetoric is violent rhetoric coming from lawmakers and politicians like Donald Trump. But I think all the anger and rage in the country right now also has something to do with the fact that Congress is broken, does not actually address the

material needs that Americans have. And they continue to nickel and dime average ordinary people while with no problems, doing what corporations want them to do with lowering tax rates and deregulating industries. That's what Congress does effectively at this point, because they're bought off by these corporations, which I'm sure Jenk has a lot to say about. Yeah, I do. How did you know that, Caspar? So I'm kind of amazed at how little reporters and even politicians in Washington know about politics and what's actually happening in this country. I am, I'm flat out amazed by it. So I had kind of assumed that everybody knew that Joe Manchin was working for his donors because it's so blindingly obvious. So for example, on minimum

wage, he says, I'm a moderate from West Virginia, it's a red state, and so I'm for lower wages. How is that position a moderate position or a conservative position? In fact, when they pulled it in West Virginia, they found out, no. Shockingly enough, the voters of West Virginia overwhelmingly want higher wages. They're in favor of $15 minimum wage. Joe Manchin was lying all along. Now, why is he lying? Does it never occur to a reporter to ask, why is he lying? Why does he actually want lower wages? Could it be the millions of dollars he's gotten from corporations who want lower wages? No, scandalous. I have more than- Yeah, Jenk. It's not, and with Joe Manchin, remember, it's not just that he's been bribed

by corporations that do not want to pay a $15 an hour minimum wage. Remember, Manchin himself is personally invested and owns a hotel that does not pay its employees $15 an hour, and he certainly doesn't want to cut into his profits by doing so. And that conflict of interest, by the way, remains legal in our country. Politicians can be invested in individual stocks. Politicians can be invested in businesses that obviously provide some sort of bias or conflict of interest in regard to regulations and actual policy that would impact those businesses. And so the whole system is broken. Like I know that this is about the legislative filibuster, that's a huge problem. But I think a bigger problem, if you take a step back, is this system of,

legalized bribery, we talk about it all the time, but also that these conflicts of interests are like totally okay. They should not be invested in individual stocks. They should not be invested in businesses. I mean, it's just crazy, but that's how our system works. And that's why they don't listen to or care about what their own constituents think. Yeah. So the story that Anna is referring to is on t.yt.com slash investigates. We broke that story, So you should check that out. Okay, now look, on every issue infrastructure bill, Joe Manchin says, no, the moderate position is that people don't want their roads and bridges fixed and they don't want higher paying jobs. Well, they pulled it, it turns out 65%

of Americans do want it. Only 21% are opposed. So what's the moderate position? Two thirds of the country is the moderate position, which is hell yet it, Joe Biden's infrastructure plan, and by the way, his plan to increase corporate tax rates. He says maniacal things like the people of West Virginia while lower taxes for corporations, they don't want big business to pay their fair share. It's insane, anyone who takes that at face value is honestly stupid. Okay, but so that's my bad that I thought people had a monocum of intelligence in Washington, and I withdraw, okay, that presumption earlier.

So when Joe Manchin says the people of West Virginia want something, just take out the words people in West Virginia and put in my corporate donors. You will have the correct answer 100% of the time. Now look, with Joe Manchin now saying there's no hope, I'm not gonna budge at all on the filibuster. There goes for the people act. That's the one that allows people to vote, that expands the ability and the opportunity to vote. That is the most core democratic policy initiative. Now it's great on policy, but it's also absolutely essential for the Democrats on politics.

So now, let alone, of course he's gonna protect corporations at every turn. So Democrats, you now have a choice, but particularly progressives, you have a choice. Are you ever gonna fight the guy? Oh, well, I mean, my dear colleague, blah blah blah, blah, blah, and I wouldn't want to offend him, why? The Republicans are irrelevant now. Your main political opponent is Joe Manchin. That's a fact. That fact makes you uncomfortable because then it forces you to either action or surrender.

And honestly, 10 out of 10 times, if history is any guide, recently progressives have surrendered. They've never chosen to call out the corporate donors of their Democratic colleagues. That's a fact, that's a fact. That's a fact, okay? So are they gonna do it this time or not? If they don't, all of their priorities are gone. There is a 0% chance that a single Republican would vote for for the People Act. That's HR1. There's a 0% chance and everybody knows that. So are you ever gonna fight the guy or are you gonna surrender? Okay, so look, I gotta pull it because I'm curious. So I, and I'm kind of mixed on this poll, go to t.t.com slash polls and you'll see it.

We're asking about progressives, right? So we're saying progressives in Congress probably boast of not accepting campaign contributions from corporate donors. I know because I literally invented that rule, yet they seem unwilling or unable to criticize their fellow Democrats who do engage in this corrupt practice. Why do you think that is? They're afraid to challenge fellow Democrats, they don't believe it's an effective strategy. Now, how could you not believe?

But the reality is, again, maybe I overestimated people. they literally have no idea, and this is actually totally possible, guys, that they have no idea how to fight, that they have no idea that the most effective way to get Joe Manchin to relent would be to pound him into submission. That is Politics 101. You lower his poll numbers and you attack him and attack him and attack him until this poll numbers drop below 50%. But they would never do that to a fellow Democrats. So I don't know, are they not aware of politics? Are they afraid? So now, look, last things here. Number one, if you question whether any politician is afraid, you will offend their delicate, delicate, delicate sensibilities. And they'll say,

okay, that's it. Now I don't want a $15 minute in which because you offended me. Okay, then you suck at your job and you think this is all about your ego and not about 33 million voters that would get lifted out of poverty. So that's kind of sickening, okay? And then for Joe Manchin, he does the same BS about politeness and etiquette. Well, if anybody challenges me, then I'll dig into my position even more because I'll be offended. I don't give a goddamn about your emotions, okay? I don't care if you're offended, grow up. Which side are you on? This is politics. It's not a game. In politics, every one of these decisions affects millions upon millions of Americans. So I don't care at all if Joe Manchin is offended. Honestly, I don't care of any single

progressive or all the progressives in Congress are offended, you're gonna have your force, this is, it's over, it's over, you're forced into a decision. Manchin says, I'm not moving on the filibuster, I'm gonna defeat every progressive policy. So if you sit there and take it, then you betrayed us. Oh no, my feelings are hurt again, my feelings are hurt, my feelings are hurt, my feelings are hurt, my ego is more important than my voters. Get up, do your job, and fight against the Democrat. Fighting against Republicans is both easy and meaningless at this point. So do your job. And if you don't like that, I don't care that I hurt your feelings.

All right, that does it for our first hour. And when we come back, we have a story about someone who considered himself a progressive, Howard Dean, and how he's fighting on behalf of pharmaceutical companies to prevent the generic production of the coronavirus vaccine. It's an insane story can't wait to share it with you see you in the second hour 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 yugar and i'll see you