The Young Turks - Hi Five!

Episode Date: January 18, 2023

A bitter GOP losing candidate was arrested for shooting at democratic leaders. Republicans are justifying their attacks on social security by saying people want to work longer. Biden’s document scandal intensifies ad more and more documents are being recovered. Host: Ana Kasparian, Emma Vigeland 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. Woo! It's up! Welcome to TYTY, I'm your host, Anna Kaspare and you guys better be buckled up because it will be a spicy. spicy show with Emma Viglin, host of Majority Report, good friend of TYT, good friend of

mine, and someone who has interests outside of politics and is now hosting a separate show dedicated to sports. Emma, tell the audience a little bit about that. Hey, Anna, it's so good to be here, good to see you again in the new year. I'm wearing this giant's bomber jacket here, if you can see. And it's part of, well, my sister got it for me. She's got great taste. It's like a vintage thing. So I mean, good for her. She teaches me. all I need to know about fashion because I know nothing. And then also just to celebrate the fact that the Giants won their first playoff game in 10 years. And we covered that all on my sports show, YouTube.com slash ESVN show, ESVN, right?

The Emma Sports Viglin Network show. It couldn't be confused with anything else. Check that out. So we cover that a bit. And I decided to keep this wardrobe for this great show that we have. I love it. I love it. And we do have a great show ahead.

We're going to talk a lot about Social Security and the Republican efforts to essentially cut that incredibly important and popular public spending program. So we'll discuss that in two different stories, including an update from the World Economic Forum, which you do not want to miss. Later in the second hour, which Emma is generous enough to stick around for, we'll talk about, well, there's a lot to talk about, including Shakira's retaliation against her ex-mother. in law. I know that that is a little out of left field. Sports reference. You see me? You see me, Emma? But it's a fun story. You're bringing that energy. I am. I am. But we will also have some substantive stories in the second hour as well. I'm just forgetting at this very moment exactly. Oh, we're going to talk about Martin Luther King, of course, and the controversial statue that was erected recently with, you know, 10 million in funding going to this headless statue. I'm sure some

of you have seen it already, but there's a Tucker Carlson angle to it that you don't want to miss. So stick around for that as well. And as always, just want to encourage you guys to like and share the stream. If you're watching us online, on YouTube, and you can also become a member by clicking on that join button. Members help to keep us independent, sustainable, and you guys get the bonus episode as well. Today, we will not be having a bonus episode since we are doing an MLK Day special titled, They Called Him Radical, a Tribute to King. And so, You can watch that immediately after the second hour of the show at 5 p.m. Pacific, 8 p.m. Eastern. It will be hosted by Dr. Rashad Ritchie, Senator Nina Turner, Ricky, Smiley, and Sharon Reed.

It'll be excellent. So definitely check that out again after the main show. Well, why don't we get to our first story involving political violence. Police arrested Solomon Pena on Monday, describing him as an unsuccessful legislative candidate. He had complaints about his election. were rigged. So he approached all of these commissioners and the senators at their home with paperwork claiming that they were, there was fraud. Back in November, Peña lost his race for state representative decisively. Yeah, but this weirdo would not accept that he lost the election, which is pretty bad considering what he did next. In his last tweet posted nearly a week

after the election, he expresses his support for former president Donald Trump, while writing, quote, I never conceded, now researching my options. Now, police are accusing him of conspiring with and paying four other men to shoot at the homes of two county commissioners and two state legislators. It is not rare to find instances of political violence these days, but suffice to say, Solomon Peña, who was the unsuccessful candidate for New Mexico's House District 14, really takes it to an extreme, especially when you can see. that he was shooting guns at the homes of various government officials in the state

of New Mexico in Albuquerque to be specific. Now what's incredible is when you take a look at the margin in which he lost this race, he didn't even come close. Yet he thinks the election was somehow stolen from him. Pena lost his state house challenge to incumbent Democrat Miguel Garcia by 5,679 votes, or 500 600, 5,679 to 23 or 74% to 26%. So Emma, it wasn't even close. He couldn't accept the fact that he lost and resorted to violence as a result. There are some other details I'll get to in a moment, but I wanted to get your reaction first. Well, I mean, to me, I think that

this is a great example of the fact that there are a lot of people in Washington or in the press that try to draw some sort of distinction between the Republican voter that was duped into voting for Trump and might be more extreme than the respectable, reasonable Republicans on the hill or an elected office, they're one and the same. They're motivated by the same insane conspiracy theories and ideas. And when you have a base that starts to believe these things, it's no wonder that people get activated politically and start to run for office. And so these ideas are not There's no firewall between them. The Republican base and elected Republicans are one and the same.

Well, what's interesting is, I mean, when we're talking about this on a federal level, what's clear to me is, while Republican politicians might disagree with the MAGA base or the Trump supporting base, they're also terrified of them and will then support things that they otherwise wouldn't support or say things that they otherwise would feel uncomfortable saying, It's all about appealing to the base in an effort to either maintain their political status, further their political careers. It's really not about being a public servant and doing what's right for the country. It's really, it always goes back to their own egos and their own quest for political power.

And that relationship has been incredibly damaging. And it's now really having an effect on some of these local races, including this particular race. the aftermath in Albuquerque. So let's give you guys a few more details about what happened here. So since he didn't want to accept that he lost, he ended up appealing the results to three county commissioners and a state senator. Now, these individuals ended up being the alleged targets for Peña. According to a police spokesperson named Gilbert Gallegos, one of the meetings Solomon

Peña, one of the meetings that Solomon Peña had with local and state leaders got heated, one actually led to quite an argument, I believe. It was shortly after that, the shootings occurred. Now let me be clear before I give you more details. Luckily, no one has been injured, no one has been hurt, but clearly shooting weapons at the homes of government officials you disagree with is pretty extreme and you should face criminal charges as a result of that. Now, Peña was pretty sloppy in his criminal efforts, which is great because it was easy to figure out what was going on here.

Detectives alleged Peña paid four other men cash and texted them addresses. So, you know, there's a digital paper trail where he wanted gunfire to. erupt, Albuquerque police said, and we have a few more details about how sloppy he was in his political violence here. Let's take a look. On January 3rd, the date of the last reported shooting, police say Pena joined the men attempting to fire at one of the homes himself. But the weapon he used had malfunctioned. That morning, less than an hour later, police confiscated weapons connected to the shooting from a vehicle registered to Pena. The driver was also arrested. The evidence that we have is not only firearm, but it's also from cell phones and electronic records, surveillance

video, and multiple witnesses. Over the course of a month, police say four homes were damaged. Two sprayed with more than a dozen shots. Fortunately, no one was injured. Again, fortunately, no one was injured. I want to reiterate that. But it's incredible to me that anyone would think that you're going to get what you want with a political position by opening fire on the home. of government officials you disagree with, but somehow he thought this was a winning strategy. He also has a previous criminal record. He served seven years in prison for what's described as a smash and grab. You know, the reports mention that. I don't see that as something that's connected to this, but that conviction did play a role in the campaigning. I think it played a role

in him losing the election. And he's just incredibly salty about it and thought that he would somehow get what he wanted by carrying out an act or multiple acts of political violence. A few more details for you. Two handguns were found in the Nissan, which police had stopped, one of which appeared to have fired shots outside the home of state Senator Linda Lopez, roughly 40 minutes before the traffic stop and four miles away, according to the latest police statement. One of the guns matches the description of one police alleged Peña took to one of the four shootings with plans to join in the gunfire, but the gun malfunctioned and he left the shooting to one of the men he hired, police alleged. Another shooter fired more than a dozen

rounds from a separate handgun, police said. And in addition to that, I just want to make sure that all of the victims are noted here. A shell casing found in the maxima match those found at the scene of another shooting, an incident outside the home of new state's house speaker, Javier Martinez on December 8th. And one more casing was found in another vehicle reported stolen that police say was used by one of the shooters allegedly hired by Pena. That casing matched to a December 4th report of shots fired outside the home of Bernard Leo County Commissioner Adrian Barboa in southeast Albuquerque police said. And then finally, there was yet another shooting in which more than a dozen shots were fired

at the home of then Bernalillo County Commissioner Debbie O'Malley, which took place on December 11th, and that completes the incidents police say Pena was tied to. There were other shootings that apparently involved government officials in Albuquerque, but apparently he's not in any way, according to police, tied to those incidents. So this is the age that we're living in, Emma. It's just incredibly disheartening to see that even in an election where the results are so abundant, clear where it's so obvious, there's no slim margin here. He lost by a lot. He still can't accept it. It's just the new strategy for some Republican candidates to refuse to concede,

allege that they're victims of widespread voter fraud, which is not sussed out by any evidence whatsoever. I mean, it's, it's kind of terrifying to say the least. Absolutely. And just to clarify what I was saying earlier. There are elected Republicans who speak out about this, but it's not necessarily enough and they will be in the minority eventually. And the reason I say that is because while the Democratic Party kicks their base in the teeth and tells them to shut up and stop talking about defund and stop, you know, agitating and being activists in a way that might make us uncomfortable, stop advocating for Medicare for all, all these things. and puts their boot on them to an extent.

The Republican Party does the opposite. Even the ones that don't agree with their base, they'll do a dance with them where they won't condemn their most egregious, sometimes violent actions, lies, et cetera, and try to harness that energy for electoral benefit. I mean, the most glaring example of this was Trump with January 6th in election denial.

And we saw that there were deadly consequences with that. So it makes total sense. that there are going to be people extremists who might not be mentally well in this instance here who take those that inflammatory rhetoric and cause violence with it or attempt violence with it. And as fewer and fewer Republicans or as not enough Republicans tried to push back against this or there are enough Republicans who want to harness the energy, that line gets blurred more and more. I mean, they're going to be more and more election deniers who are in elected office.

And we're seeing Carrie Lake is going to run for Senate, most likely, in Arizona, just over the border. And so my point is, is just that this is how these kinds of extremist ideas get normalized within the Republican Party. I agree with you. And just to get even more specific with the January 6th, I mean, I remember immediately after the riots took place, now House Speaker Kevin McCarthy gave a speech accusing Donald Trump of, you know, inciting violence. It was a very bold speech considering how he's been a lap dog for Trump. Once he noticed that it didn't play well with the Republican base, he immediately backpedaled, visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago, and Trump released

a photo of the two of them, you know, standing side by side as if they're good but that was Trump's way of saying, you know, good job Republican base, you got this guy to heal. Well, there are consequences to that for the Republican Party overall. And I think we saw just a sliver of that during the midterm elections where everyone was expecting some red wave. And the red wave never came to fruition. Because while the extremist Republicans might do well in Republican primaries, at the end of the day, a lot of these elections come down to independent voters who are not really turned on by the extreme right wing candidates. You know, people like, you know, Herschel Walker, for instance, people like Carrie Lake.

So I'm really curious to see how the, for lack of a better word, moderate Republicans deal with this conundra moving forward. But I'm definitely enjoying watching them suffer the consequences of the Frankenstein they created. Yeah. And I mean, it's incumbent upon the Democratic Party. to make it clear that this is not some fringe person, this is the result of a culmination of rhetoric and election denial and lies and conspiracy theories. This is inherent to the Republican party. This is not just Trump. This is the party. And I feel like this is one of the many examples that you can stack on top of the others for that purpose. Absolutely. Well, why don't we move on to the first of two social security related stories we're going to talk about today.

Actually, no, this one is not related to social security. But it is related to, well, the elites and how they basically do what they can to prevent any legislation that would actually materially benefit your life from passing Congress. Let's do it. So I think that this is an opportunity for us as, as a country, to look back and say, is this partisanship serving us? I would posit to you that it's not. And so while some would say that there were reluctant folks working in Congress in the last two years, I would actually say that that was the big. basis for the productivity for some incredible achievements that made a difference for the American people in the last two years.

And we still don't agree on getting rid of the filibuster. That's correct. Thank you. Well, you just watched two of your least favorite people in the Senate give each other high fives over their legislative filibuster, over maintaining the legislative filibuster, which makes it nearly impossible to pass legislation that would materially benefit the lives of ordinary Americans. Kirsten Cinema and Joe Manchin were at the World Economic Forum,

high-fiving each other over the fact that that legislative filibuster is something that they have viciously protected in the Senate. Now, if you're wondering why Cinema and Mansion are even in attendance, I can give you the details. More than 600 CEOs will be in town, including Wall Street executives such as JP Morgan's Jamie Diamond, David Solomon from Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley's James. Gorman, Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, are also in attendance. So is weirdly FBI director Christopher Ray? So he's there. And in addition

to that, there are 51 heads of state from around the world attending the World Economic Forum, where essentially the world's elite conspire on how to essentially keep neoliberalism alive and well. I can give you more details on that in just a moment. But Emma, I saw this story after you tweeted about it, and it's just infuriating how much Senate Democrats like, well, cinema's no longer identifying as a Democrat, but you get the point. She was elected as a Democrat. But to see her and Joe Manchin basically rub in our faces that they served as obstructionist to Joe Biden's agenda is pretty gross. absolutely and i mean the filibuster is an anti-democratic principle and the fact that she is she and mansion side by side are getting applause from that crowd is not shocking because elites capitalists are terrified of direct democracy because you know the house has a lot

of problems, right? I mean, with Nancy Pelosi, she's no longer the leader of the Democrats, but for her entire tenure, she did what she could to stamp out more progressive legislation for sure. But at the very least, you don't need a 60 vote threshold for that. You just need a majority. And what Cinema and Mansion are doing at this forum is auditioning for corporate donations for power players in that room and essentially saying, without us, you might actually have the American people deciding on things, and that won't be very good for you. So it's not entirely shocking to me that Christopher Ray is there, giving corporate America's fealty to and, like, friendliness with the intelligence community. And also just the fact that both of them are there at the same time.

They are the most important soldiers for corporations and for wealthy people within the Democratic caucus more largely because they have made promises that they are going to ensure that despite the fact that the Senate in and of itself is an incredibly undemocratic institution. I mean, when it was 50-50 split, the Democratic 50 represented 40 million more Americans than the Republican 50. They want to add an extra layer of undemocracy on top of it, meaning you need 60 votes to get almost anything done except for budgetary things in the Senate. And so what they serve is corporate America, and they make it abundantly clear with their attendance and with their rhetoric at this conference.

Yeah, I mean, it is incredible, because just to go back and provide a little more context and help the audience understand the level of disdain, people like us have for the Joe Mansions and Kirsten Cinemas in the Senate, they are the ones who succeeded in defeating key provisions in the build-back better agenda, provisions that would have- One of the hardest parts of getting older is feeling like something's off in your body, but not knowing exactly what.

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And who funds Medicare, us, the U.S. taxpayer, who gets price gouged on pharmaceutical drugs, Medicare recipients. And these goons are the ones who, again, served as the obstructionists to those key provisions. Funding for child care, which this country so desperately need, so many women have not been able to reenter the job market because of the fact that child care is astronomical in this country right now. There were all sorts of things included in that build back better agenda, which were effectively stripped out thanks to Joe Manchin and Kirsten Cinema. I do want to also talk a little bit about what the theme of the World Economic Forum was this

year. They're very concerned about the tight labor market. Gee, I wonder why, Emma, why would they be concerned about a tight labor market? Meaning less workers are willing to, you know, take the garbage wages and the terrible working conditions that some of these companies are basically forcing upon their labor force, right? So it gives these workers a little more leverage in a tight labor market. They hate it and they want to squash it. I'm really curious to hear your thoughts on that. I mean, this is what you hear constantly from business news. People like, you know, I don't know, CEOs, Fortune 500 company

folks. They are terrified of the, as you say, tight labor market, which essentially means that right now, workers have more leverage than is comfortable for, for these folks. And that's why you have cinema and mansion saying, hey, everything's going to be okay. A lot of stuff isn't going to get past because we promise you that we're going to hold the line on your behalf. But they also understand, I mean, a lot of what inflation has been over the past year, which it's abated a lot recently, but especially the first half of 2022, I should say, it's more 2023 now, but was corporate price gouging. That's what it was. And there wasn't really a paper trail to show that that was the case, but there were supply chain bottlenecks. And there was an

understanding among these corporations that, hey, we can we can gouge. We can do whatever we want. And the Fed is a one-trick pony. All they're going to be able to do is raise interest rates and discipline the labor market. So in the end, it's kind of a win-win for us. We can make sure, term profits as inflation goes up. And we can, you know, create it in essence ourselves. And at the same time, have the Fed run by a original Trump appointee that Biden kept on, continue to raise rates at the expense of workers in this country. And in the end, who's going to end up making the money twofold? The same people that are they're in that room. And what's so incredible is, They seem to focus all of their inflation related arguments on labor.

They seem to think labor is the scapegoat here. What they always fail to mention is how the assets market, like the stock market, housing, all of that has been inflated by cheap money that was provided by the federal reserve. The same federal reserve that is now raising interest rates specifically, and they're very transparent about this, raising interest rates to increase unemployment and essentially coerce workers to take what they can get. Take the bad treatment, take the terrible working conditions, take the low pay, because you've got no other choice. You have this Federal Reserve interest rate situation that makes joblessness more of an issue for people. It makes people more desperate

and willing to take jobs that they otherwise would be unwilling to take. I also want to note a few other things about the World Economic Forum this year. So the World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report this year says this. Stagflation remains a severe risk for many economies. Current crises such as the war in Ukraine and lingering impacts of COVID-19 are still impacting basic inputs, including labor, energy, and food. Continued tightness in the labor, in major labor markets may exacerbate wage inflation. Get a load of that. Wage inflation. Meaning there may need to be a material increase in unemployment. I mean, they're just so brazen about it, Emma.

Increase in unemployment to contain consumer inflation. Right. That's the real problem here that workers, by the way, even now with so-called wage inflation, those wages have not kept up with inflation. I mean, going back to the 1970s, wages have not kept up with inflation. inflation, Americans are producing more, they're more productive than ever, yet they're getting paid less than ever. And we're starting to see a little bit of labor militancy as a response to the treatment they've been dealing with for decades now. And you have these elites getting

together at the World Economic Forum trying to find ways to squash it. And that's what's so infuriating about it, that you have self-identified Democrats who purport to be representatives of the working class in America, join in on these antics and join in on a conversation specifically to crush labor. It is disgusting. Yeah, you hit the nail on the head there because there is a consensus among economic elites, as you say, capitalists, business owners, people that are going to get like Janet Yellen to Jerome Powell. It doesn't really matter who heads the Fed when they're given the pool that both Republicans and Democrats. Biden are looking at, they all subscribe to a false notion that inflation needs to be curbed by

disciplining labor. But we've seen, as you've said, Anna, throughout history, that there really is not that connection. And yet there is still this orthodoxy that that there is that connection. And so the reality is is that these mega corporations rely on that fiction in order to use their leverage against the government to help them discipline labor. And that's why it's more important than ever that people unionize, that people understand the value of their labor. And fortunately, we are seeing that. The problem is just that in this country as compared to other countries, we have such terrible labor laws that favor corporations and bosses to a degree that we don't see in other countries. And so you can have like, you know, Amazon, for example, pay fine after fine

after fine for labor and union busting violations. But they see it as kind of the cost of doing business to prevent Starbucks is actually really the egregious example there, the cost of doing business to tamp down unionization within their mega corporation. This is just one of the many problems that we have in this country when it comes to labor. And it's because of the commitment to that fiction as well as laws that are completely stacked against workers in this country. Absolutely. And I think one of the specific and recent examples was how Congress was willing to crush the rail workers and prevent them from striking. And what they were asking for in order to prevent the strike, what the workers were asking for was something so incredibly reasonable. Please give us a few days off per year without retaliation so we can deal with family emergencies and other unforeseen issues we might have living our lives. something that we all experience, right? And the fact that they couldn't get something as reasonable as that,

and the fact that Congress weighed in, they put their thumb on the scale on behalf of the employers here, tells you everything you need to know about our elected officials and what their real priorities are. We need to have, and I've said this a billion times before, I'm going to say it again, a well-organized outside pressure campaign that can hold elected officials,

namely Democrats accountable, and more importantly, an organized pressure campaign that can compete with the corporate interest and the corporate money flowing into the campaign coffers of these elected officials. So it's something that we're going to keep talking about. We're going to keep exploring more as the days, weeks, and months go on. But for now, we're going to take a brief break. And when we come back, we will discuss what the Republicans are planning to do to Social Security. hopefully the Democrats won't let them.

It's kind of a sucky situation when you have your fingers crossed on something as serious. But we'll give you the details on that and more when we come back. Welcome back to TYT, Anna Casparian, and Emma Vigland with you. Let's talk a little bit about Social Security and how the GOP is planning on destroying it. What reason the age of retirement? You know, that's interesting that you ask that question. People come up to me, they actually don't work on it. We'll go up to Republican representative, Rick As well,

in and they tell him, I don't want to retire at 65. I want to work longer. Now, if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you and you are the most naive person on the planet. There might be some people who maybe work at office jobs, maybe sit in front of a computer all day, who might want to work a little bit longer. But to make a sweeping statement about workers like that is insane, but there is a motive behind it. We are, after all, talking about a Republican. Now, let's hear a little bit more from Rick Allen, and then I'll tell you what the real plan is here. So that's on the table you're saying? Well, you know, people want to work on it.

Maybe you need to give them an incentive to do it. Okay. Yeah, there's a way to solve every one of these problems, by the way. I know, I know. And actually grow wealth at the same time. Mm-hmm. It just takes that right there. Yeah, grow wealth at the same time while you are forced by the government to work longer

into your elderly age without being able to retire without a penalty for taking money out from your retirement account or trying to get Social Security. This is, to be very, very clear with you guys, a way of cutting an incredibly popular government program, Social Security. Okay, when they say that they want to raise the retirement age, don't be tricked into thinking that this isn't cutting social security, it's just raising the retirement age because Americans are living longer than ever, except that's actually not true. The life expectancy of Americans has actually been going down in recent years, and life expectancy

in the United States is comparable to that of people living in Cuba, a country that we have banned trade with, a country that the United States has made the unfounded claim that sponsors state terrorism. And of course, that's an effort to prevent other countries from doing trade with Cuba. Even with that disadvantage, again, Cuba's life expectancy is similar to that of the United States. And that's because people are living in terrible conditions, thanks to the legislation and the efforts coming from politicians like Rick Allen. So I've got a lot to say about this. Nothing infuriates me more than these goons speaking on behalf of workers in America when in reality they try to undercut workers at every turn.

Emma, I want to hear your thoughts on this because, as you know, Social Security is incredibly popular, not just with Democrats, but also with Republican voters. Yeah, I mean, the Social Security talk is. plentiful here on the majority reports, as dry as it may sound, it's incredibly important. And you hit the nail on the head, of course, Anna. Another, another lie that Republicans will throw out there is that they want to, you know, cut Social Security for wealthy people. So, and so they don't have to pay into it because they shouldn't, they don't deserve that kind of protection that should just be for everybody else. But when that happens, the fun that fund Social

security gets cut. That's another roundabout way to cut social security. And undercut the universality of the program. I mean, what some Democrats, but all Republicans are afraid of, is universal programs because they're the most resilient. They are harder to take away from people because, you mean, you see the popularity of things like social security and Medicare. They're through the roof because everyone has access to them. It's equal under the law. And everybody, once they reach a certain age, is able to get Social Security and Medicare. And that's why they're the most beloved programs in this country. And that's why Medicare for all would be if it was able to get passed. But they're also the hardest to pass because people are terrified, wealthy people are

terrified that they'll have to pay more in taxes to continue to fund them. And so, There's more to say on the story, Anna, but I'll weigh in that after you give more details. Right. And one of the things that I want to just quickly note, whenever you hear the fearmongering from Republicans, and in some cases, conservative Democrats about how social security is, will be insolvent soon, and it just doesn't have the funding to keep going. So very, first of all, I usually don't even believe that argument. You do a little bit of digging and you find out that they're lying and they're just trying to convince Americans to turn their backs on an incredibly important and popular approach. program, but let's say you take what they say at face value. Well, there's an easy fix to that. Just raise or lift, like completely get rid of, I would say, the social security cap.

There's a tax cap, which every year the number changes, but past a certain amount of income, wealthy people stop getting taxed entirely for social security. And so if you just get rid of that cap, I mean, the funding is clearly there and there's really no good reason for why the cap even exists in the first place other than wealthy people don't want to pay their taxes. And they solve this problem with Medicare in the 90s. They raised the cap on that as well. So they could do the same thing for Social Security. But wealthy people are afraid to do that. And that's like that's one of the many solutions because in essence, these programs are self-funding. You pay into them for your entire life. And what Republicans are

trying to do is rob you of the money that has gone into that fund to pay for your retirement and undercut your retirement by raising the age, which also gives more leverage to bosses that feel like they need more leverage over a labor market that's gotten out of their control, meaning workers have more leverage right now. So that's all a part of this stew. I'm glad you raise the cap point, Anna, because that's key. Yeah, absolutely. And I want to just give you a few more details on what Republicans are planning to do. Now keep in mind they have a slim majority in the house. There's been a lot of talk about how they are going to hold the debt ceiling hostage unless they get concessions from Democrats that would essentially cut Social Security and potentially

Medicare as well. What they want is to gradually raise the full retirement age from 67, which by the way, 67, I think, is too far into our lives to retire. I would like to see that actually lowered to probably 60. But nonetheless, they want to raise it from 67 to 70 years old. Keep in mind that the average life expectancy in the United States is 79 years old. They want to partially privatize social security and they want to means test benefits. You know, just to buttress what Emma was saying earlier about, you know, finding a way to do away with that universal, the universal nature of Social Security, which makes it so durable, even with the kind of political climate that we're dealing with. During a House Republican Congress meeting last week, a slide presentation indicated that the GOP intends to use its narrow majority in the lower chamber to push for reforms to mandatory spending programs.

category that includes Social Security and Medicare. And that would be a terrible, terrible idea, not only because of the impact it would have for retirees in this country, but also it could hurt them politically as well. Let's take a quick look at this poll that was done by data for progress. It shows you that actually a bipartisan majority of voters would rather pay more into Social Security than have its benefits reduced. 76% of voters, including 83% of Democrats, 72% of Republicans and 70% of independence would rather pay more into Social Security to ensure it remains fully funded than have the benefits slashed. And final thing I'll say before going to you, Emma, is that the thing about Social Security

that makes it so critical is that it is a retirement program that is not tied to risk. Every other form of retirement is tied to risk. It is tied to the markets. So if you're about ready to retire and the market crashes, you're going to lose a huge portion of your retirement savings because it is invested in the stock market. Social Security takes the risk out of the equation. So if you've got your pension or your 401k or your IRA, in addition to social security, there's a lot more financial stability in your elder years as opposed to just relying on this privatized model or retirement accounts that are tied to risk. Any final thoughts, Emma?

Yeah, I mean, that's so key. We've seen a massive transition from pension funds to things that are funnel more money into the stock market. How lovely, more insecurity for you, more money for the people on Wall Street. And so that's what makes social security so, so key and needs to be untouchable. one in three seniors above the age of 65 are in economic insecurity despite social security. And so it needs to be expanded, not cut. And the Democrats need to be proactive about this. Ryan Graham wrote a piece in The Intercept about how the Republicans were able,

ended up holding on to something in their rules package going into this year now that they've taking control of the majority. And that thing is called a discharge petition, which allows for a bill to come out of committee and forces it to come out of committee. AOC tried to do this recently with the stock trading ban, which Pelosi ended up kind of sabotaging later on. But Democrats need to proactively file a discharge position because the Republicans are going to, in June, try to use Social security and Medicare against Biden in this debt limit fight. They're going to try to hold it hostage and force cuts to these programs so that they don't tank the entire United States economy. And that's the way that they're going to try to get Biden to own cuts to social

security and Medicare because it's happening under his presidency, even though they're the ones that are holding the entire world economy hostage on its behalf. So just keep this in mind in January, because this is exactly what we're going to see in June. This is the prelude to it. And Democrats need to know who they're dealing with. I almost swore there, who they're dealing with here. Because once you understand your enemy, then you can actually put safeguards in place, like getting this process for a discharge position and get the ball rolling. Because otherwise, McCarthy has made promises to his far right members that he's going to hold the economy hostage in order to force cuts to these programs that they're so widely beloved, as Anna

described. Absolutely. And let me just say, if Democrats appear to be flat-footed on this issue, when that when that time comes, just know that they knew it was coming. There's no reason for them to be flat-footed. And also, they should just call Republicans out on their bluff because there is no way they are not going to raise the debt ceiling. They're all so heavily invested in the stock market, you think that they're going to want to see their stock portfolios take a nosedive by refusing to raise the debt ceiling? I just, I doubt it. And so if Democrats try to use that argument to scare all of us into thinking we need to concede to Republican demands, you'll get a better sense of which team they're really fighting on or fighting for. Yeah, Obama

tried to do that. I'm hopeful that Biden actually learned a lesson from that because never forget, Obama was trying to do a grand bargain with Mitch McConnell to cut Social Security and Medicare. Remember that. Absolutely, yep. All right, well, we got to take a break when we come back. We'll give you an update on the classified documents issue with Joe Biden. And yes, there is some hypocrisy on the right. So we'll give you all of those details and more coming right up.

Biden's got documents everywhere, Emma, okay? The dude, I mean, he didn't know about it allegedly, but he's got documents all over the place. It's not a good look. We got to talk about it. Give the audience some updates on what has been discovered. And I don't know, maybe talk a little bit about what should come next. So let's get into it. At the end of the day, my biggest concern isn't the classified document, to be honest with you.

Representative James Comer is about to admit that his hypocrisy regarding classified documents is totally fine because at the end of the day, it's all politics and he'll do anything to protect his daddy, Donald Trump. My concern is how there's such a discrepancy and how former President Trump was treated by raiding Mar-a-Lago, by getting the security cameras, by taking pictures of documents. on the floor by going through Melania's closet versus Joe Biden. They're like, okay, you're your personal loggers who don't have security clearance. They can go through, they can just keep looking and keep looking and, you know, determine whatever's there. That's not equal treatment. It's not equal treatment because the two individuals in question handled the classified

documents differently, Representative Comer. And he knows that. But what's incredible, Emma, is how he is admitting that he doesn't actually care about the classified documents at all. All he really cares about is the politics and the framing and the intentional conflation that we're seeing from Republican lawmakers in making it seem as though Donald Trump and Joe Biden are exactly the same. Now, mind you, Donald Trump was asked repeatedly by the National Archives to just, please

just give us our documents back, please, please, we're just asking you for months and months and months and he just would not do it. At one point, Trump's lawyers told the federal government, you guys have all the documents. He is not in possession of any more classified documents. And then they did a raid because guess what? He still had classified documents. Now, you look at Biden, the situation is a little different because while it is definitely not a good look that Biden also had classified documents at his, you know, office in D.C. And now documents were found at two of his residences in Delaware. Not a good look. But for all I can tell, and based on the reporting, Biden and his team seem to be cooperating and self-reporting

on this matter fairly regularly. Yeah. As our producer here, Matt Lex said when we watched that clip earlier on the show. Yeah, forget about the principles. I just care about the hypocrisy, right? Which is, that's the tenor of that, of that, of that statement there. I mean, I honestly feel like this whole classified documents thing from a political perspective. It doesn't move one person. Like, everybody who already hated Trump goes, oh, yet another example of him being a crook and not abiding by the law. And that's the truth, actually. That is the reality for Trump.

He was hoarding classified documents and then concealing them from the National Archives and from authorities. For God knows what reason. I mean, you can speculate, but he's been prone to blackmail and using leverage in the past. That's my guess. Wanting to hold on to material because it could make him some money at some point potentially and then refusing to return them, as you say, Anna, and having to, after repeated

attempts to get them back, authorities having to go to Mar-a-Lago and take them back, as opposed to Biden happening upon them or his team happening upon them, having to disclose it and doing so proactively because, well, I think they were worried politically about what would happen if it was found out that they covered it up. And that really is the difference there between Republicans and Democrats, is that, you know, Biden at the very least is trying to appear principled.

And I think he is. I mean, in that instance, he doesn't wanna hold on to classify documents for any nefarious purpose. It was sloppy during the Obama presidency. He had some hanging around. And they've returned it and they're trying to kind of brunt

the critique or the blowback by being more upfront about it. Right. And I mean, of course, for those who actually want to be honest about it and suss out the differences between Trump and Biden, these details matter. But regardless of what Biden and his team end up doing, Republicans are going to Republican, right? They're going to pretend like the two instances are completely the same and there are no differences between the two. What I'm curious about is what is the process? Like, who is in charge? As soon as the administration is over, they're moving out of D.C., which body of individuals, which government agency, which assistance, I don't even know who, like, who determines which

documents go where? Because clearly there is some sloppiness here. I don't think that Biden was trying to hold on to classified documents the way that Trump clearly was, but there is, this doesn't look good. I don't want anyone to think I'm just giving Biden a pass. He had classified documents at his office in D.C. And now we find out that there are more classified documents that have been discovered in two of his residences in Delaware. I also want to give you a few more details through this next clip.

Let's watch that. And then I'll tell you what Republicans are up to in response. On November 2nd, 2022, Biden's attorneys find documents at the Penn Biden Center immediately notify archives. November 9th, 2022, DOJ launches its assessment. Then December 20th, 22, Biden's, President Biden's attorneys find documents at his Wilmington residence inside the garage and they notify the DOJ. Then just last week, January 11th of this year, Biden's attorneys find one potentially classified document. Again, one single document in the Wilmington residence. And then January 12th, DOJ takes possession of those five additional documents

found at the Wilmington residence. And that was a new revelation over this weekend. Like, what's going on? Look, I think that there are likely too many documents classified that don't need to be classified. That might be part of the problem. But if we're going to make a big deal about classified documents, what is the process in determining what can and can't go with, you know, a vice president and a president after they leave office? who determines that, who looks at the documents, who is culpable here. That's what I want to know. And, you know, I hate how everything immediately gets politicized.

I hate how Republicans are again conflating this issue. And look, I already know what's going to happen. This is my prediction, Emma. There will be no consequences for anyone, including Donald Trump. I think that's how this is going to end. Of course, of course. I mean, well, I should say with the jank intonation. Of course, right?

Of course not, right? Like, the Trump story was just another example of him feeling like he was above the law. I don't think that's the case with this with this story. Here's an idea, guys. Just use a digital copy of documents. I know you're all a million years old and everything needs to be printed out for you. But for top, or these are just classified, right? There's also a difference because apparently some of the documents that Trump was holding on to.

we're in another level of classification, I should say. Yep. But just for these kinds of documents, just use an iPad. How about that? That might be a little bit easier, huh? Yeah, I mean, maybe. I don't even know what the solution is. All I know is clearly whatever process is in place to protect these documents

and make sure that they are exactly where they need to be is flawed. And look, for Republicans who are like, you know, the first. First batch of documents were discovered on November 2nd. How come we didn't find out until after the midterms? I don't know. I mean, we can speculate. And if their speculation is that somehow the Democrats succeeded in keeping it out of the headlines until after the midterms, I don't think that's a far-fetched speculation.

So what? You already know the answer. You already know the answer. What are you going to do? The idea, the thing about the classified documents is that the controversy is not that. that Trump had classified documents. The controversy is that he withheld them from authorities. So I don't really care about this Biden thing because he returned them.

There might be slight controversy that he withheld it for like a more politically advantageous time. I don't know. But it does seem like now that they discovered those other documents, they're doing a large research and that's why this stuff is coming up. I mean, from my angle, it's not really a story. The story was always that Trump was hoarding them and refusing to return them, which is not the case here. And lying to the feds about whether he was still in possession of classified documents. That was the issue.

Yes. Well, we got to wrap up our first hour, but don't worry. When we come back, we will talk about a very flaccid Senator Johnson and his inability to handle mildly difficult questions asked by someone who is clearly not a leftist. That more coming up in the second hour, don't miss it. Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work, listen to ad-free, access members-only bonus content, and more by subscribing to Apple Podcasts at apple.com at apple.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.