The Young Turks - Hour 2: TYT’S 21ST ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL

Episode Date: February 15, 2023

Hour 2: Grab a libation and party with Cenk Uygur, Ana Kasparian, John Iadarola, Dr. Rashad Richey, Sen. Nina Turner, Jayar Jackson, Michael Shure, and Dave Koller as TYT celebrates its 21st Anniversary! Watch classic TYT clips and hear wild stories of the early days of The Young Turks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to 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, back on Young Turks' 21st birthday slash anniversary. I don't know what to call it, but Jake Uger, Senator Neon Turner, Dr. Rashad Ritchie. It's not a power panel, but it looked like one. That's right.

So guys, great to have you here, both tonight and at the network, couldn't be more proud. So what we're going to do in each segment, we got fun little things to do. And here, I'm going to ask you guys, what was the moment that turned you into a TYT fan? But before we get to that, I want to tell you guys the moment that I became fans of you. So I'll start with Rashad. So we had Rishan on the conversation. And I'm like, oh, he's good. And I remember talking to Judith, I had a programming.

And I was like, let's get him on more shows. Then he goes, this is in 2020. Then he goes on damage report with John. He's good. Okay. Then on election night in 2020, he joins as a guest host. And I think that's the first time that I said it, but I've said it many times since that where Rashad made a point where I was like, oh, wow.

I hadn't thought of that at all. Damn, that's a good point. And so then we had him on more and more until, of course, he became a host. But Rashad, I mean, you are, I mean, from day one, you were about as impressive as I have ever seen any guests we've ever had on here. So my hat's off to you. And now, of course, Rashad has won about 28 awards, hottest new show in media. He's got, if you think he's got a lot of awards, you should see his degrees. And Fulton, Canada, where Atlanta is named a day after him.

So amazing. Now, I'm going to get to Nina's story in a second. But Rashad, what was the moment where you thought, TYT? Let me tell you, man. And I was trying, and thank you for all of that complimentary sentiment. I know it comes from the heart with you don't know if I'm deserving of it, but thank you for it. I remember man, and like I'm thinking today, I'm like, what was he talking about? But it was you, Jank.

And I don't remember the topic, but this was about two years before you did the thing at MSNBC. And I was always a passive watcher, a man who was very appreciative of the policy angle. but you got so angry at an adverse policy. And I'm embarrassed that I don't remember what the policy was that you damn near threw your voice out talking about it and that kind of passion, insight, and intellect connected to why the policy was bad, that is what did it for me. And I've always embraced my humanity as someone who reports on the news. I've worked and still worked for some traditional news outlets as a commentator.

And I've never, I've never thought I needed to back away from my humanity in a story. Never. And a part of that is directly attributed to how you deliver the news, dear brother. So that's what it was for me, man. That's what made me a fan of TYT. Yeah, that's amazing. And you know, I'm not used to it, right? So I remember when you told me, no, I've been watching TYT a long time.

I was like, really? I'm like, he's so good and he's been watching us. Okay. I'll play you clips on my radio show. Yes. That's amazing. All right, were you an early Rashad moment in a second? Okay, but I want to go to Nina.

Okay, so Nina, so I'm going to do the same story with you. And I think you know this one. So at this point, I already know Nina Turner. She's already working on Bernie Sanders campaign back in 2016, and she's already had the courage to come over the Bernie Sanders side. And if people don't remember back in 2015, 2016, that was a lot of courage. Almost no one had done that. In fact, one of the reasons Nina stood out in the beginning for everyone else was they're like, oh my God, there's another Democrat that supports Bernie Sanders. It was like breaking news.

And so, but it wasn't then. I watched a speech that she had given. I mean, I don't remember if it was net roots or where it was. I don't know if you remember. But do you remember where it was? I do. It was the people summit. Oh, people summit.

Do you remember what year it was? That was in 2016. 2016, okay. So Nina is giving a speech and she's up at the on stage, right? and folks are down below and all of a sudden she walks off the camera and I'm like where'd she go I never see that in my life right she went to go talk to the crowd within the crowd and I was like wow okay and a camera tries to find her and eventually the camera finds her and then she she takes a 12 year old girl I don't know if she's 12 but a young girl and

says gives this speech about how we're not going to let her down she's been let down too too many times and we're not going to let her down, okay? And I was like, wow. And but I'm like, I'm already like blown back. And then she says, you know, sometimes I get called an angry black woman. And she's like, damn right, I'm angry. And I was like, yes, yes. I found it. Okay. I found the person who's who's the star who's amazing at this. So Nina, what's your recollection of that speech and in our interaction? And remember, I just saw it. online in the beginning. All right, you are bringing back so many memories.

I mean, you actually sent me an email dissecting the entire speech of which I still have your email. And similar to what Dr. Ritchie said, it really, it was you. I mean, to see the level of passion and compassion and you delivering the news uniquely to your personality, that doesn't happen on mainstream media because you're supposed to be all horty toady and prim and proper. And it just blew me away to see you on TYT show all that emotion. I mean, you were speaking my love language because that's how I rolled too.

And that is what attracted me to TYT. So in the black church, when the preacher has given the sermon, we just say amen. And Dr. Ritchie laid out everything I was going to say about you. You are magnetic. And it is your magnetism. People know that you are genuine. even if they don't always agree with your political points or your policy direction, they know that you are being uniquely who you are.

And that is something that is very attractive. And people need that they want genuineness and they want authenticity in this moment. And it is rare, again, especially in media, because you got to be so. And that's why I love about TYT because when I was able to come on and first being interviewed, I'm saying, wow, I could be totally, almost totally myself. You don't want to see the whole 100%. I got the whole something back. But I can be 75% myself.

It's just a beautiful, beautiful platform, and we are blessed to have it. I mean, every day on my show, I say to people, thank you for supporting unbossed and thank you for supporting the TYT network. All right. That's beautiful. And thank you, Nina. Thank you to both of you guys. So, and you guys know the run down, right? Damage report, then indisputable Dr. Rashad Ritchie, then you got on boss with Nina Turner,

then you got watch this with Jared Jackson, he'll be on a little bit, and then you got the Young Turks, okay, with me and Anna. So Nina, it's funny because mainstream media, we've all had experiences with it, right? Want you to be in a box, right? And they want you to act in a certain way. whereas I thought I'm looking for people who are not in that box who are not acting in a way that others want but acting in a way that they want because what that shows me is strength that shows me strength of character strength of will right and that's 100% what I saw in both

of you and I thought this this is the answer right and for now in media it is the answer it is the answer and it's proven to be the answer, right? But stay tuned, you never know, a lot more to come, right? In terms of what it could be. But I love that you didn't listen to the rules. So every consultant in the world will tell you, don't say you're angry, don't say you're angry, don't say you're angry. It's wrong, it's wrong. People want people that are genuine and human like you are, Nina. So in fact, let's go to one of Nina's first appearances on TV. I haven't see these clips either, so let's watch. This is Johnny Ruella for the Young Turks at the Democratic Unity Reform Commission meeting.

We're speaking with Nina Turner. You'll see a lot of chatter, particularly on social media, you know, condemning people for lifting their voice about differences that they may have about the Democratic Party. Some of those people, I believe the overwhelming majority of those people want to make this party stronger, want to make it the party of the people. And so unity doesn't mean that just people just fall in line. Unity also means critique. All right, we're here with Senator Nina Turner. It's become a little bit of a ritual after the debates. We must do this every time.

We gotta keep it going. There's a study out that says that it will take 228 years for the average black family to catch up to the wealth of the average white family if we stay on this course. If nothing changes, what that means is that it's never going to happen, that black people are being resigned to a future that says that we are never going to have wealth in this country. And that it doesn't matter if your parents have a college degree or whether or not your parents Your parents are wealthy or not, if you are black in this country, that wealth that was made on the blood, sweat, the backs of chattel slavery in this country can never be undone. And you got a vice president that was totally just, just totally numb to that.

I'm looking at my eyes in that early interview, right? And my eyes are like, whoa, yes, yes, right? Or as the kids would say, these days, yes, queen. So just everything you said there in space. So I'm going to go to one of your clips in a sec. But Nina, I did want to ask you one more question about those days. Do you remember what it was about Bernie Sanders that made you flip and go, oh, yeah, that's the guy. when no one else believed?

Yeah, I mean, first of all, didn't think anybody else was going to run, you know, so that's number one. But then to see Senator Bernard Sanders step to the plate. And when he talked about two specific things touched my heart with him. One is about college for all, and that is because I am a first generation college graduate. And but for that opportunity, I don't know where I would be today, having people believe in me and being able to start off at a community college, which oftentimes students are coming. in particular, do very well starting off at a community college first. And then secondly, and not necessarily in this order, when he talked about Medicare for all, you know this story, Jank, and I think Dr. Richie knows it too, but my mom died at a very

young age. She was only 42 years old, a blood and a brain aneurysm. And so to hear this man stand up there and talk about universal health care in this country and what it would mean to save lives, to give people peace of mind and enhance their quality of life. I saw my mama through that lens. And those two things primarily attracted me to Senator Bernard Sanders. All right, that makes a lot of sense. All right, Rashad, let's show an early clip of an appearance that you had on TYT. Let's watch. Rashad Ritchie is, was actually voted the best talk radio personality in Atlanta by the Atlanta Journal of Constitution, which is pretty badass. Okay, Rashad, I get it, you're fire. Yeah, man, I'm that dude.

You're that dude. I teach college students of all races. I tell them that is more like white preference, where white preference says we would give you preferential treatment because of the color of your skin. Everybody knows that if it was a 25 year old white male jogging through that community, this would not have happened. Seven days after the assassination of King, they signed that landmark civil rights bill that he had been fighting damn near his entire adult life to get past. Why did they do that? It wasn't because they were remorseful over the death of Dr. King. It was because the seven days between his assassination to the signing of that bill, 110 cities in the United States of America rioted. That is a statement of fact.

You know, it's interesting, because I already got something really productive out of this conversation. You made a great point there. You seem very well prepared, certainly more prepared. Of course, why would I not be well prepared? No, you've been barred. But let me drop some facts on Rob, you're kind of bloviating now, filibustering. So let me drop some facts on you. Individuals who are unarmed should not be killed by the police if the cop's life is not

in danger. That's period. Black Lives Matter is a grassroots advocacy movement. And yes, there is a grassroots advocacy organization. The reality is, they bring attention and awareness to issue, issues that are systemic and connected to prejudicial treatment of racism in this country. Now hold on, say that again. It's word too. Okay. Okay.

I mean, there's so many great parts of that. One, the conservative going, that was a lot of words. Right. And Rashad, I got to be honest. I got to be honest, brother. We looked younger just three years ago. But you means well, you look good. You look mature now.

Me, well, okay. But anyways. Like a fine wine. There you go. Yeah. That's not supposed to wine. Well, some sort of wine. So I remember now that I think that might have been the first appearance,

the one in June 2020, when you. you said that the riots helped pass the bill, that was another moment where I was like, nobody says that. But that's definitely true, but nobody ever has a courage to say that. I was like, oh, this guy's different. And we like different. Okay, and bold and courageous and honest. So, all right. And so, all right, Rashad, hasn't been since. Okay, so you come on, you know, you watch the show before. You do a couple of appearances. And then what's you've been to your experiences then? First of all, let me say this, I love it, I love it, 100%.

And a lot of it has to do with the response I received from the audience with my first few appearances. I'm doing John's show, I'm coming on the conversation, we're having these great opportunities to profess true. And the audience, I mean, goodness, the love that they show. Now remember, at this time, I'm working at CBS News Atlanta. I'm still their political commentator. I'm doing some hits with Fox News debating Tucker Carlson and sometimes on MSNBC in the morning time. I did MSNBC for about a year and a half every Sunday morning at about 6 a.m. There's a different, there's a different response there because I have to be offensive to everybody.

at some point, it's required when you have a policy directive rather than a partisan directive. And when you have a policy directive, you cannot avoid offending all parties at some point in your commentary, right? And Jenk, you say something really interesting about authenticity and media. I think it goes even deeper than that. I think it permeates to everyday lifestyle. I think authenticity should be who we are. And authenticity wins. It happens that I'm in the media profession, right? So I give two examples of authenticity winning, even in mainstream media. Number one, when I first started at CBS News Atlanta, as their political commentator and political analyst, it sent shockwaves through Atlanta

Because I'm missed opinion. I'm missed aggressive, I'm rough around the edges, but I just got hired by this major local news station to do commentary. And sometimes I was able to do commentary nationally for CBS throughout the country. So what happened in that first year? That first year, the news director said to me, Dr. Richard, no matter what you do, do not change who you are. That one person had an opinion contrary to that of the corporate managers.

And he made a move, an affirmative statement to make sure I knew that he had my back, right? So I do my thing. And yes, I'm rough around the edges. Yes, I show a motion. But within that first year, I get Emmy nominated. And I become the first political analyst in the history of CBS News Atlanta to get an Emmy nomination. And that was just one of those points in my life where I realize this is not just about delivering content. This is about delivering content with heart, with authenticity. And if you're upset, you're just upset. And if you got to call something out, you call it out. And there was another opportunity where I'm doing a debate, live TV.

It's the big Atlanta mayoral debate. They give me a bunch of questions to ask that have been vetted by, I don't know who, probably the campaigns. And I'm on the microphone next to a very seasoned news anchor. And she says, where are your questions? I said, madam, they are up here in my mind. She says, well, they gave you questions to ask. I said, I know. She says, so what are you going to do?

I said, I'm going to ask the questions that my community would like me to ask. She said, oh boy, they're not going to like that. I said, ma'am, we're on live TV. What they're going to do? Take me off air? So it was that. And then at the end of it, the news director calls and says that was out of sight. I did not ask one question that told me I had to ask.

Authenticity makes room for you in this life beyond just media. It makes room for you in everyday life. Sometimes we aren't comfortable enough to be our authentic sales because the world tells us who we really are. It's not good enough for the world we live in. I do not believe that whatsoever. So that's part of it. Okay, it's amazing how similar the three of us are, okay?

And because here, I'll tell you two stories, it's just like Richard's. One is at MSNBC, I go and I'm a host now and we got like six, seven, eight different producers. And on the first day, my executive producer panics because we're about to go on air like in an hour or something, which is no big deal, right? But to them, that's like really close to Showtime. And he's like, Jenk, there's a huge problem. There's no questions written in the prompter for the guess. I was like, yeah, I know. I didn't narrow in my head.

And he's like, what? They can't be in your head? Are they really in your head? He never seen that in his life. I'm like, yeah, I brought the guy on for a reason. I got all these questions I want to ask him. I don't need to put it in the prompter. What am I going to read them?

I know what the questions. I'm just going to ask them. And he'd never seen that before. So nearly, I, you know, very similar to the story told. And Rashad, one time I'm going to go to, I got a radio spot. It's just a tryout. It's down in Florida. And the guy says, okay, it gives me all these rules.

I think every rule is nonsense. And he says, but whatever you do, do not talk about your personal life. Nobody cares about you. Okay. And I thought right now the number one host on radio is Howard Stern. All he ever does is talk about himself, right? This is total utter nonsense. So I knew that he wasn't going to hire me if I did this.

But this is my point about you and about how we're similar. We can't help ourselves. So I went on and did two straight hours of a personal story, a story of where I had tremendous personal disappointment and I wanted to share it with the audience and tell them it's okay. We're all going to make it because I know you had one too, right? I had a guy who was a guy at the office who was like a fratboard kind of guy, you know, gave off Republican vibes and stuff. This is Florida. So program director calls me afterwards.

He's like, I guess you're a moron. No, you're not getting this job. I told you not talking about your life and that's all you did, right? But the frat boy guy comes the next day on Monday and goes, I listened. And brother, I cried. I cried listening to that. And so what I'm telling the audience now is the same thing I said back then, which is give them what you got, okay?

That's exactly how Rashad got here. That's exactly how Nina got here. They didn't give people what other people had. They gave them what they had, okay? And that's what I respect about Rashad and Nina. So I'm thrilled that you're here with this. All right, look, before we go back to Nina, I want to read a. couple of comments here about you guys from our members.

Biden flavor corn park wrote in, I started really paying attention to Nina Turner after my white former brother-in-law said she irritated him. I love that one. And then added, you go, Nina, girl, bold, et cetera, et cetera. All right, now Rainbow Bright wrote in and said, I really want to thank both Nina and Dr. Ritchie for constantly speaking up for the LGBTQ community. community, and said black LGBTQ, we don't have any people from the black community that stands for us like they do.

I wish we had one million Nina Turner's and Dr. Ritchie's. Thank you both from an older black LGBTQ. Bless you. Yeah. Yeah. And so we fight for someone who isn't us. That's the whole point of progressives, right? And so, and, you know, I remember the Anti-Defamation League stepping up when Trump tried to do the Muslim ban and said, no, not on our watch.

Okay, and I love them for it. And when Jews are attacked, we stand up. When LGBTQ is attacked, we stand up, black folks, white folks, it doesn't matter. We stand up, we fight for all of us. So thank you for sharing that audience. I love it. Is Nina on? I know we had a little technical issue.

Okay. So, Nina, I want to ask you about the future. So what, you know, look, we've had an amazing ride coming up to here. And I'm not asking about your future in particular. I'm asking what a lot of people have in their mind right now, which is where do progressives? Where do we, in general, go from here? I mean, when we talk about that authenticity, and Dr. Ritchie is absolutely right. That authenticity is really about this movement being who it is. You know, I had an opportunity to speak to the Florida progressive Democrats last weekend. And I said, if you're going to comport yourself like the neoliberals and take progress about your name, but the people of the great state of Florida need, especially in the face of a governor that is so wicked. And I don't agree with President Trump on Munch, but calling him de sanctimonious, he got that right, that you have to be totally different than the status quo Democrat.

And if you're not going to be different, then forget it. People need you to stand up for universal health care. They need you to stand up for workers' rights. They need you to stand up for brutality in the legal system itself, from top to bottom. They need you to be different. And if you're not going to do that. So to me, the future of the progressive party, progressive movement is very much embedded in the future of America. Because as all three of us know, the majority of the American people, no matter how they identify, agree with the policy positions that the progressive movement is advocating for.

And when you break it down so that big mama and big papa can understand it, it is about elevating people's quality of life. It is about changing material conditions. It is about ensuring that people make a living wage, that they can walk up and down their streets at night. That big mama and big papa don't have to worry about their babies getting shot walking up and down the street. That they don't have to worry about police brutality, that they don't have to worry about losing their jobs, that they don't have to worry about people with the power coming to crush them.

And my God, if you live in East Palestine, Ohio by way of example, that the government, both the state and federal government, will have your back instead of their owner donors. This is what the progressive movement is about. It is about being a humanitarian. It's a humanitarian effort. That's exactly what it is. So the future is bright because it's about us. And we can't sit around and wait on people with fancy titles to change things. That has never been the reality in this country. And as we reflect right now on Black History Month, What better stories to deepen our understanding or what it means to overcome the odds. I mean, not just the odds against you, but that it is sealed in your fate, that generation after

generation that after generation that you will be chattled in this country. And black folks for first Africans and then their descendants were able to transcend that in a mighty way. We still have many more miles to go, but you don't get a better example than that to to hold that change will come when conscious minded people put a little extra on their ordinary and they defy the status quo, that that is when miracles happen. All right, well, we are out of time, but you can see there why you got to watch OnBoss with Nina Turner and indisputable with Dr. Rashad Ritchie. And part of the reason we got to go is because Rashad now has 12 shows he's going to do in the rest of the day. And he's going to get probably on average

two more degrees before the next indisputable starts. We'll try. All right, wonderful to have you guys. 21 years old. Happy birthday. Happy birthday to all of you as well. All right. We'll be right back.

All right, back on the youngest, 21st birthday. Thank you for Michael Schroger, I'm Jackson with you guys. What's up? Of course, host a watch list. Now the lead-in for the, young Turks. So that's at 5 o'clock Eastern, 2 o'clock Pacific. Michael Schoer, as everybody

remembers, of course, the host of legendary program, 2012. Right. So. When did that air? Oh, 2012. It's been off the air for a long time. It wasn't supposed to be a shot. That was more of like what year that come out in because it was 20. We know. Geez, I'm going to make sure this isn't seen as any shot. Right. No, no. But come to think of it, I'm not sure that show was built to last given the name 2012. Well, it could have gone to 2013 because we had this great logo where TYT was in the middle of it. So it went twin TYT-12, right?

So it could have gone twin TYT-13. So it would have been- By 2014, we would have been all out. Yeah, yeah. But we could have been, we could be going every year now and you guys haven't called me back for it. Oh, interesting. The T-YT is still in the middle now. It was built for the 20s. It was built for that now.

Okay, okay, what is new is, what is old as new. Right. Okay, so I'm going to read one comment here and then we'll do our fun games. So first, thank you to everybody who wrote in, who are members on all the different platforms. And thank you to all the people who are being super generous on super chat. We appreciate it. And of course, you can join by hitting the join button below on YouTube. You know that.

T.Y.T.com slash join. And so Jesse Holberg, Russell Pierce, William Thames. Thank you all for the well wishes and for the generous donations. But T&TO wrote in, I randomly discovered TYT one evening in 2010. And although not American, I felt like I'd found my people. I'm now 50. When did that happen? And as still a devotee.

Happy 21st, progressive forever, rock on, peace and love, Tish from Toronto. Tish, that's beautiful to hear. And that all these messages of people being with us from 2008, 2007, 2009, 2012. etc. Amazing. Thank you. And we've kind of shared a life together. And so sometimes people come up and talk to me or hug me or whatever and say, I already know you, right? And that's not like, hey, I know you because you were an actor and I think you did a great job playing Charles Manson. No, no, you guys know us. This is how we actually are. All right, so now Now, let's go to craziest moments that you experience at TYTJR.

Oh, I feel like I bring this up whenever we do have these things because it will stick, it'll stand every time. One day, of course, on the weekend, we're trying to promote, do more for this show, everything. Jankos, you know, you guys, I got a lot of work to do this weekend, you and Anna and his suits. Let's promote, we got some extra t-shirts in the back, let's promote, go out in the streets. We're like, oh, we can paparazzi the paparazzi. We'll go up to Beverly Hills because Jake always like to go out and hang out where celebrities are and just maybe see where they are. And we said, we can do that without junk. So we did it. And we found some paparazzi.

I didn't get along with one of them. And it ended a little badly. So let's watch. This is Anna Kasparian from the Young Turks reporting live in Los Angeles. We're about to find some celebrities and some paparazzo and give away this gigantic. thing of young turks t-shirts we got red we got blue we got green no we don't have yeah all right we're gonna find lindsay lohan are you guys ready are you ready are you excited i'm ready to make this happen right behind me directly behind me there's a paparato from tmz who refuses to let us interview him we just wanted to give the mofo a shirt but he won't even pay attention to us jr is confronting him

There might be a blowout. This is J.R. Jackson, live at the Ivy. Check this out. I've never been here before, but I'm very curious. It's why the fence is sold and why it kind of looks like it's going to fall over. These are things that I've always wanted about, about nicer rich places. People want to have old, raggedy things in their nice new, ritty-dicey-ditsy $50 a plate places. I don't know.

I've never been there, so I don't know what's $50 to play. But when I come back up here, they're going to know who I am. I'm like a time look at me in the eye. I'm like, you know who the fuck I am? You know who I worked for? TYT. Okay, so the Ivy is a place where a lot of the celebrities go in in L.A. historically. And so that's why Paparazzi hang out by the Ivy.

Or is and I think I said Paparazzo. And I've gone a couple of times. And as I was late, I forgot that it's just the Ivy and there's Popat. And Paparazzi came up to me and interviewed me. Oh, yeah. Yeah, and I was like, what? That was like one of the first, I think it was probably the first time that someone interviewed me on the street like I was famous.

And they said, remember that guy, J.R. Jackson, who came up to me. Here's what I want you to tell. I liked it. I like the enthusiasm in that clip. I like that you got into a fight for no reason. Can we notice? There's not the second half, right? That's not coming.

Because what happened was he threatened me. And he was really short. He was about neck height. And I was like, you guys know how I think. I was like, I've got all these vulnerabilities open. I got my tors open. I got my throat open. And this guy is threatening me.

So I was like, okay. And he's trying to be undercover because he's holding his glasses down. He says, don't put that camera on me. He's cussing at me and everything. Because Hesu says across the street filming me interact with him. So he said he's going to go and do something, Jesus. And so I blow up and I get out loud. And I was like, oh, you don't want attention.

So I gave him a whole bunch of attention. So everyone can look. There's this black guy screaming in the middle of Beverly Hills. and this guy is the reason. And he ran off. So that guy was paparazzi? I don't know if it was that particular, what the one I got into it was, yes.

Yeah. Okay, get a load of that guy. It's ironic, right? That's the most ironic thing in the world. Like, he's there to ambush celebrities. Right, right? And give them attention that they didn't ask for and didn't want. But the minute you turn it on him, he's like, he's outraged.

No, no, that's right. There was a guy named Ron Gilella in New York, whose whole existence as a paparazzo, which is correct on Anna's part, was following Jackie Kennedy. That was everything he did. Jackie Onassis at that point. Anytime anybody came up to him and gave him crap about it or took pictures of him stalking her,

he would go bananas. It's the same thing that you ran into. Is this in Papua Ratsal school? It's been such a long time. It was before 2012 that I went. So, and it's such a JR thing to be like, I got vulnerabilities. What if this short guy punches me in the throat?

My torso's open. My neck's open. I would never even think that. I've been into a lot of fights when I was younger and I never even thought that. Never get caught slipping. I've never been in a fight. There's a reason why. All right.

Okay. All right, Michael, how about you? Well, my torso was open. So a couple of things. I mean, there's sort of two different roles I've had here, both as, you know, an anchor and a host and, you know, and a jack of all trades and then going out in the field. So I think one of the things, when you talk about craziest things, you meet people. and you talk to them and you what I the way I do it is just let them have the platform I'm not I'm not there to argue with them or to you know get in their faces and you're amazed at some of

the things you hear not just from the Trump people who like Trump and you can't understand why perhaps but it's the people that go a level deeper and when you're presenting them with facts and I think of one guy in Florida and I don't think we have that but this is an example that who was defending slavery to me days before election 2016 long long it seemed like a smart guy well thought out well spoken but defend you know the slaves had it pretty good basically was his premise and that video did well uh you know in in the ways that videos do well here and then recently i was out when when the former president was doing his tour before the midterms and i spoke to It was another African-American voter who came out to a Trump event.

This one was in Michigan, I believe, and I think that's what we're going to show, who I gave him the, we were talking about making America great again, and I pointed out that, you know, the again that they're talking about is like the times when there was Jim Crow. You set them up and they sell like in the 50s when, you know, black people had to sit upstairs at the movie theater and all that. Anyway, he sort of thought that maybe going back to Jim Crow was good. If I remember, this is one of those. Donald Trump about making America great. And he said back like in the 50s in the Eisenhower years, when it was post-war, a lot of construction, highway bill. But in the 1950s, black Americans had to sit

upstairs in a movie theater. They couldn't sit in the same buses. The South had Jim Crow laws that the fighters and soldiers of the civil rights movement had to undo. So it wasn't great for everybody. I mean, those were, at that time, those were the least of our concerns. At that time, as black people, we were all still one, even united amongst each other. But as you see now, as time went on, we're not anymore. You know, we have a very high rate of a very high murder rate, very high unemployment rate, and things of that nature. So since that time, blacks have actually, our wealth has went down.

Those things you can't use the bathroom. It's a new day now. It is, but he says make America great again. And then he says, like in the 50s. And I'm saying, America in the 50s, not so great for everybody, right? I mean, that wouldn't seem like a bad thing to me. Going back, you know, as long as we keep the peace, I wouldn't mind everybody. So if there was Jim Crow laws in the South, but there was peace and prosperity, you'd be okay with it?

Yeah. They still had better lives here than they did back in Africa. Slaves, they had better lives here. There are some that would argue that. You can look that up. They're descendants. The descendants of those slaves have much better lives here than descendants of people who would have never gotten on those slave boats in Africa. And that's a provable fact, you know, because we have given them all those freedoms.

I don't know how you do. It's a provable fact. I was going to say the same thing. Provable fact. And my favorite from that crazy slavery guy is, you could look it up. Yeah, I guess I could find you were lunatic argument online as well. that doesn't make it true. He went on and on and on.

And then, you know, just the idea that it wasn't, it was the first guy when he said, that was the least of their concern back then, where Jim Crow lost. Yeah, I was like, no, I think it was pretty high on the list. It was up there anyway. You know, I guess agree with him. I'd say maybe the thing that they were concerned more about was the murder.

The murders, the lynchings, the lack of any kind of judicial recourse from those killings. you know, people get maim taken from their families, all that type of stuff. Yeah, so I guess sitting back the bus in different water fountains and educational systems separate, all that stuff. Yeah, secondary to the murder part. Right. I guess you'd want to go back to that part. You know, that's interesting.

And that's part of why they did this, I don't want to get too deep here. We're going to go ahead and do fun questions, but why they're doing this attack against theoretically critical race theory, because the closer we get to teaching actual history, the more uncomfortable it gets. Because when I was going to school, we were taught about the Rosa Parks and the boss, because it's relatively benign, right? Like, but we weren't taught the lynchings. We weren't taught you light people on fire. You take pieces of their body home, right?

We weren't taught those things. The closer you get to actually teaching things that really happened, then you begin, then people start to realize, oh, right, no, that was at the top of people's concerns. Right. Right. And so. But also when I was first learning about this stuff, not to age myself, you're learning it like 10 years after it happened. You know, like the civil rights bill was the mid-60s. So it was even to anyone growing up in the 70s, 80s, 90s, it's pretty recent, right? It wasn't just, it wasn't like the American Revolution. You know, so it's a totally different thing. And these people who are younger than me, both of them, still though, it's been carried so long that people talk about it still.

in ways that, like you said, they didn't talk about it before. And with the horrors accentuated, and they don't really seem to be faced by it at all. Yeah, all right, super last thing on this. What, like, so, were you surprised by the Trump followers? I mean, because, you know, when you first started talking to them and doing those man-on-the-street interviews and stuff, we didn't quite know the level of crazy yet at all, right? So do you remember thinking like, whoa, what is this? Yeah, it's sort of when you hear when you, because everybody's pretty nice to you, right,

no matter where you go, whether you're talking to Democrats or Republicans' crazies on either side, whatever it is, people are generally pretty nice. And then you get the camera on, then you're asking them these substantive questions. And you start thinking, oh my God, this person's freaking nuts. And I'm thinking in my head, I'm not saying it. I never, ever engaged them. I just sort of, okay, and try and problem. them as you saw there because that's the only way you get what you really need and and so i was

definitely surprised but you know if you think about it though half the country first of all they elected him half the country you know comes out to these concerts and you know where he goes around or half the county when you're there to see him and they pick the places where they know they're going to get the people so you know who's there so the surprise has waned but at the beginning absolutely after after the first debate that i saw him in in in cleveland ohio and 2015, people were on the street talking to me about Donald Trump and how they thought he did pretty well. I thought, what? You know, that was the Megan Kelly died. I was talking to some people here, Dave, and Judith about it before. That was, that was a shocking night. But people from the get

go were like, oh, he's interesting. Yeah, no, they liked what they perceived to be as raw honesty. Yeah. It's an ironic honesty where he lies, right? But it appears honest because of how authentic, it seems, authentic in that he's speaking off top of his mind, not scripted, not talking points, et cetera. And I think that's what resonated. But I remember I watched one of your interviews, and it was a, this is the one that stuck in my mind. A guy was an accountant.

And he sounded so reasonable until he started talking about politics. And he's like, oh, no, of course, if Biden wins, we're going to move to Panama, because all of the riots are going to start and every city is going to burn. And anyway, I got to go back to quick books and, you know, do, uh, Bobby's taxes here, but right now, I'm like, what is? There's Bubba's taxes. Yeah, Bubba's, that's right. Anyways, all right, so let's have fun, let's play this game.

We're gonna ask questions, and then we're gonna see if we can get these Young Turs trivia, basically, right. Question number one, who called TYT the young turds? Was it Jimmy Dore, Laura Lumer, or Alex Jones? Kianas Moth Macho. We want this one? Okay. I mean, do we get, would you just say one, two, three guests so we don't. So we don't.

No, no, just okay. Just have it in your mind. Okay, faith is this time. Okay, Michael go first. Alex Jones. I'd see. Alex Jones. I also have Alex Jones.

What is the correct answer? I mean, I saw a video yesterday where the young turds were saying that they are the number one internet news show. I mean, I'm on over 100 AM and FM stations, XM, but on the internet, just look at my website on Alexa compared to their website. Look at my videos, more views. I mean, you're full of crap. crap, I'm number one in alternative media, period globally, even Rolling Stone, New York magazine, all they've done actuaries, I'm number one. He's number one, period.

Yeah. By the way, here's one thing he's missing. It's a shirt. Yeah, I just. And then I showed numbers showing that, of course, he wasn't number one. Well, New York Magazine said he was. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But he really is nuts.

Why did he do that video without a shirk? Unbelievable. Talk about having your torso open. Right. Indeed, indeed. All right, let's go to question number two. Who called J.R. Jjar? A disgruntled Bulgarian viewer,

Pastor James David Manning, a random caller on a TYT voicemail. I have my answer. Yes, I definitely have the answer. definitely have the answer. I mean, this is one that you guys have more information on than I do. I'm going to go with the caller. Pastor James David Manning. He wouldn't have been in there actually. It was terrible answer, but he wouldn't have been in there specifically among two vague random things. Yeah. We're not in. You know, the other

answer I would have put in is Roland Martin because you guys beefed. Do you remember when you were beefing with Roland? It was quite a short beef over, no, it wasn't. It was Santorum. Yeah, it was a Rick Santorum. Yeah. And by the way, Roll, Martin, now part of the TYRT network on Facebook. Okay, so let's watch. This group, the young Turks, who are they anyway? I mean, are they people from Turkey or are they some sort of a street gang? I mean, I've never heard, you know, this is a guy's name.

I think his name is Sink Yugar, you know, what kind of name is that anyway? I mean, where is he, where was he born? He's born in the Baltics or West, Bosnia? This guy, J.R. Let me say a word about him. I don't know where he got in the, J.R. Jackson, he's, he's, he's this guy, uh, chinks, Tonto. So you call Chink, the Long Ranger, and this guy J-Jar, call him Tonto. But let me go back to this guy, J-J-J-Jar.

I see he's got all that dumb dreadlocks in his head. Well, you know, you know what, you know what? Can I tell you something about black men that wear dreadlocks? They are, they want people to think they're bad. That's the first time I'd heard that, that assumption about guys who were dreads. Usually it's that they smoke too much weed, but that's always the number one thing. But then after that, then it goes to that they're bad. Well, Pastor Manning, of course, had a lot of novel theories and the most legendary one that

he came and actually shared on the show. We had him on the show and he said it. He's the guy who said Starbucks is trying to turn everybody yay and they're putting semen in the coffee. because that makes it so much more delicious. And I was like, does it? He definitely made his coffee in the morning and west. You know, it's missing a little something, a little extra pizzazz. Okay.

Hunt, I'll be right back. Jesus. So we had him on and we asked him, really. I mean, do you think that? He's like, well, obviously. It's like, wow, would not make it taste better? So he was, of course, a conservative pastor. But with all these guys, whether it's Phil Davidson or Pastor Manning, I think whatever

happened to them, right? Well, that's true. Right. Yeah. So I think I saw him in the news the other day, but I can't remember. Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I worry, we'll look it up.

Maybe he was right. Maybe they're like, you know, it turns out the pastor. That's why they're doing the labor movement at Starbucks. No, all right, no. Okay. All right, question number three, which of these wrong predictions was said by Jenk on air? Wait a minute. Tucker Carls's Fox News show will have lower, we'll have low viewership. Trump will not run for president in 2024. The Steelers will win the 2011 Super Bowl. Which of those wrong predictions? Can I have my answer? I have my answer. You guys have an answer? Only I can remember which Super Bowl, the Steelers won that would make, that would totally help me eliminate. Steelers, and what was the, oh, Trump will not run? I think it was Trump will not run.

I'm going with Tucker. I'm going with the Steelers. Let's find out. Guess who's back? Tucker Carlson. He's been hired as a television host again. How is that possible? The man had the worst ratings, possibly in cable news history.

Everywhere he's gone, it's CNN, at M. MSNBC his shows have done disastrously proven over and over again that he's a complete and colossal failure. No, I saw the ratings when he was on MSNBC. It was hideous. It was... Our YouTube channel would crush his ratings. And he's on freaking television.

So, of course, he's now recycled again. Guess where he's going? Fox News' chef. But I'm glad they hired Tucker Carlson. Because the only thing Tucker can do is this. Tucker can do is destroy Fox News ratings. So if anyone can fail on Fox News, it's Tucker Carl's. That was the first time. That was his first go round. Yeah, yeah. So that was not the prime time show yet. And so to be fair to me, I think the first go around his ratings did suck.

They did. I think they did at that time. Yeah. And he wasn't the worst rated because the worst rated show, I believe, especially at that time, I'm sure it was in cable TV, hosted show was John McEnroe had a show on MSNBC at night that I think is known as the worst rated show in cable. Don't worry, John, they're catching up to you now because the numbers are diving so much. Okay, so, but I didn't remember that at all, obviously. I got the answer wrong even though it was me. But another, to be fair to me, all those facts were right. And the reason that Tucker started doing great now is because he pivoted.

And he pivoted from the bow tie and being an elitist that which is that he was like known as like the guy who was the most establishment, the most mainstream in a lot of ways. That's why he fit in at CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. He hadn't no, didn't seem to have any guiding principles, right? And but when he made the turn and that's why it's interesting and became like a a populist in his own in the right wing way, which is like, oh, you got to suntan your testicles to get be smarter and make up all these things. It is literally a strategy.

And so it's the least authentic thing you have ever seen. Tucker wasn't like that at all. He just turned on a dime based on strategy. But nonetheless, a spectacularly wrong prediction. Okay, so let's be fair about that. All right, question number four. Which viral dance did the TYT office do for a video? Macarena, cha-cha slide, Harlem Shake.

I know this one, for sure. When I discovered I was gaining too much weight, and I was like, this has to change. I saw myself on camera, I was like, who is that? Okay, we're about to see it. I can't go first every time. I learned. No, but we know. We know which one is.

Well, that's why I can't go first. Well, Macarena was too early. So I think it's the, what is the cha-cha slide and the other one? Harlem Shake. Harlem Shake. I think it's the, I think it's the cha-cha slide. All right. Let's see.

It's a Harlem Shake. Of course. It's hard to tell who's my favorite in that video. Dave Kohler, John, I roll a bare feet there. That was weird. Can I answer that? It's Dave Kohler. Yeah, Dave's old.

Was that L right in the middle? That was L right now. That's totally outside of what I would have thought she would do. Right in the middle of the whole scene. With John doing it. Yeah. Yeah, if you go to t.com slash cheers and you're drinking along with us, you'll see all of our favorite drinks. And Dave's is at the end, and it's carrot juice.

Fresh carrot juice, like right through the juice. And email went out asking what your favorite drink is. Your favorite cocktail, I think it was. Yeah, and he's like, well, that are characters. We had three or four hosts and contributors and folks that absolutely love that answer. They gave me apple juice, carrot juice, and cranberry juice. Come on, you get it. Yeah, okay, all right, guys, we gotta go.

So check out watch list. It's at 5 o'clock Eastern, and, but hold on, members. You got a bonus episode, extra birthday present for you guys. So Michael's gonna say, the legendary Dave Kohler is gonna come and join us. And we haven't yet gotten to the craziest video in TYT history. Michael picked it and he's correct. We all agree. And we did a poll of you guys asking what was your favorite TYT moment of all time?

It will be revealed in the bonus episode. So if you're on YouTube, hit the join button below the video. If you're on the cell phones, you've got to scroll down a little bit. And everyone else, tyt.com slash join. Come join us with a little bit more fun tonight. Right back. It began on the internet, a news show that redefined hard news. Progressive Politics with an Edge

These are the Young Turks Pesus Godoy J.R. Jackson Dave Kohler Anna Kasparian and Jank Yugar as The Host Steve.

Oh, Dave, yes. Yeah, I'm going to tell a really stupid little story. Oh, that's awesome. Yay! Okay, hold it. No, no, no. I like that one. There you go.

So I went to the supermarket this weekend, and these two women who looked just like Kardashian sisters got out of a car. They were like way the other side of the parking lot for me. That might be them. This was in Beverly Hills. And so I walked to the car. I saw the car was a Toyota. Oh, forget it. So I went into the supermarket, but I still had doubts.

So I went up to her. I said, are you two of the Kardashians sisters? and she said no and is all right well thank you and that's it I like that's so I like that's so big

that's awesome 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 podcast at Apple.

slash t yt i'm your host jank huger and i'll see you soon