The Young Turks - Intercede, Please!

Episode Date: August 5, 2023

Trump calls on the Supreme Court to "intercede" on his behalf. Corporate cash derails the train safety bill. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sues Google and YouTube for alleged censorship. Wall Street stokes culture war to fight swipe fee reform. HOSTS: Cenk Uygur (@CenkUygur), John Iadarola (@johniadarola) and Maz Jobrani (@MazJobrani) SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE: ☞ https://www.youtube.com/user/theyoungturks FACEBOOK: ☞ https://www.facebook.com/theyoungturks TWITTER: ☞ https://www.twitter.com/theyoungturks INSTAGRAM: ☞ https://www.instagram.com/theyoungturks TIKTOK: ☞ https://www.tiktok.com/@theyoungturks 👕 Merch: https://shoptyt.com 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. Three-a-teen, three-a-teen, three-a-chee, three-a-chee, primack-ee, Prim-a-tee, primack-te. We're dropping. I was a lightning bolt I was throwing like justice is coming, as John pointed out. And I kind of threw it forward where you're supposed to throw it down.

But still, you guys get it. We dropped it. He spiked justice, basically. Mm, okay. So, Jank Ugar, John Irola, Maz Jabrani. It's a show called The Young Turks. I think you're familiar with it. The Internet seems to be familiar with it in a lot of different ways.

All right, Maas, good to see you back, brother. Good to be back. How have you guys been? Awesome. Okay, should I do it? It's standard obligatory at this point, right? We're ready doing Uno Ma's show. It's going to be Amazing.

See, that's good. See, Maas always comes up with something. That makes it worthwhile. Yeah. He's the writer. All right, fantastic. All right, look, guys, big show had Trump excuses. Although there's a twist, there's a giant twist.

Marjorie Taylor Green and Lauren Bobart, celebrating that Trump has been indicted. We'll explain why that hour one, hour two, they both have those stories with the twist included. There's a lot of things going on. You know what? Yeah. Let's just get to it. Go ahead. Let's do it.

I actually don't know that story. I'm surprised that she's celebrating, but maybe not. Maybe she has been watching the damage report. Maybe I've swater. Anyway, with that said, let's jump into the news. Less than one day after being arraigned yet again, many people are wondering, what is Donald Trump's legal strategy going to be with this January 6th case? Well, he apparently has come up with something, and it's a sophisticated strategy.

It's a plea to the Supreme Court to please help me. It's filling his bleats these days. Some of them are long. I apologize, but he says crazy, my political opponent has hit me with a barrage of weak lawsuits, including DA, AG, and other combinations of letters, which require massive amounts of my time and money to adjudicate. Resources that would have gone into ads and capital R rallies will now have to be spent fighting these radical left thugs in numerous courts throughout the country. I am leading in all capital P polls, including against Crooked

Joe, but this is not a level playing field. It is election interference and the Supreme court must intercede Maga. Now it would be easy enough to say, that's just something he threw into a bleed, it doesn't mean anything, and the second half of that is definitely true. But no, it's popping up in more of them. So in this next one you can see that because they're filing the cases must be unconstitutional. I don't, like is that a rhetorical question or? I don't know. See, the thing is the constitution is not as long as maybe he thinks having not read it before. I don't think there's anything in there that says that you can't be charged with any crimes. And then, you know, you can go to this last one and again, it's him complaining about the fact that these should have been filed a couple of years ago when he would have been totally fine with it, of course.

And says not fair and perhaps not legal. Again, the like you sue me, no, I sue you defense, I guess is what he's going with. But I don't, I don't know exactly what the Supreme Court is supposed to do. They don't generally. step into presidential elections other than 2000. But as of right now, they're not answering. The CNBC asked for comment. They didn't say anything. The Trump campaign spokesperson that was asked didn't say anything,

probably because this is just a thing that he came up with. And now he's just saying it all day long. But his lawyers are like, what are you talking about? The Supreme Court takes things up on appeal. There's no case. How would this work? Yeah. So look, guys, of course I'm going to make fun.

We're all going to make fun of Donald Trump. I can't believe he was president doesn't know one thing about our system of government. Like not one thing. It's amazing. But there are two twists in the story. One is there's something that Trump said that I agree with. Ooh, twist. And second of all, MAGA should be excited about this indictment. And it turns out they are. Okay, hold for those. But first, let's address the core issue here. He says, Supreme Guard should take this up.

How? How would they take it up? Like, there is no such thing as a case has not happened yet. And the Supreme Court's like, and it has not been appealed to the Supreme Court. It has not been addressed to the Supreme Court. No one has brought it to the Supreme Court. And the Supreme Court's like, that case, we don't like it. That's not a thing. It's like, how can I explain to people who don't understand our system of government?

Not a thing. That's like saying, why hasn't Peter Pan ruled on this yet? You know, this is outrageous. He could just fly over and go, binging. And the case is over. That's not a thing. It's not a, you have to go through the trial. It has to be appealed.

And by the way, there has to be an issue of law for them to look at. And for them to say, oh, we're going to take up the case because that's an interesting controversial, you know, matter of law that the Supreme Court should weigh in on because the third district and the 11th district disagree, et cetera. But I mean, forget the third district and the 11th district disagreeing. Forget the matter of law. He just has no idea how our court system works at all, at all. It's stunning, it's stunning.

Now, having said that, so, you know, part of the reason I tweet, don't tell the guys on Twitter, okay, or on X. Okay, so it's because I want to see the people's reaction. And unfortunately, this confirms for me what I've been seeing with a lot of folks in MAGA. They not only do they also not understand how the Supreme Court works, but they feel super offended when we point out how it actually works to Donald Trump. And they feel like they're getting called dumb. But brothers and sisters, you weren't president for four years, okay? You know, you're a dentist and you don't know how the Supreme Court works. God bless your heart.

You know how teeth work, okay? You're an accountant, you're a plumber. It's okay, it's okay. But he was president for four years. He's supposed to know how the Supreme Court works, and he doesn't have a single clue. And forget the fact that he's deeply unintelligent. I mean, it's shocking how unintelligent he is. But forget that.

Say that he's brilliant. I don't care. Think about how lazy he is, that he didn't bother figuring. He put three people on the Supreme Court, and he doesn't have one clue as to how it works. How lazy do you have to be that you're president of the United States? You didn't ask a single person, hey, how does that case go to the Supreme Court? That's just unbelievable. But if you still like that, there's nothing I can do to help you, Mons.

Well, Jank, he doesn't know how anything works. We've found that out now. We've known that for a long time. He started with his father giving him money, and then he blew it and several bankruptcies. And then from there, he went on with his failed university. He's very good at failing. He doesn't know how anything works. He's not curious.

He doesn't read. He's never read a book. And what you guys are talking about with him trying to get the Supreme Court involved when there's actually no case, it would be like a player in tennis challenging the call before the serve was made. Like they haven't even served yet and he's like, I challenge. And they go, well, the guy has this. We don't know, we don't even know if the ball is going to be in or out.

I challenge. So maybe what we can do is he could expedite if he's really this excited to get to the Supreme Court. He could just come out and say, I'm guilty of all this stuff. And then say, I want to jump from appeals and then get the appeal court. When he goes to appeals, I'm still guilty of all this stuff. And they get to the Supreme Court and see if these people that he put on there that are hardcore conservatives would actually judge in his favor about, I guess he's saying that there's some sort of election interference going on here. I mean, it's what you said you post stuff on Twitter to get their reaction. I just am still shocked at the denialism that some of these people go through

because whether my guy, whether I'm a Obama guy or a Biden guy or a Trump guy or whatever guy, if my guy's committing a lot of crimes, at some point I go, okay, he is the Al Capone of politics. So, yeah, he's guilty, but I'm still, I'm racist enough that I'm going to vote for him regardless. I would at least appreciate that. But they have bought into this line, hook, line and sinker of how this is a big, big election interference thing going on here. They look right past the fact that the guy is clearly guilty. And now he's just throwing stuff.

Clearly, he's still getting legal advice from John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani, who told him, just go for the Supreme Court. That's probably who told him to go for it. Yeah. Yeah, he's got that legal dream team. Sorry, not dream team, set of co-conspirators. Apologies. Yeah, and again, look, they have to say stuff like this because Donald Trump or whoever, his legal spokespeople, they can't do an interview where they say, okay, here's the indictment. This is wrong. We have proof this didn't happen. That's not illegal. They can't do that because it's terrible to even look at it and they know that they're wrong. So they have to ignore all of that and just argue about stuff that's not even up for debate. The Supreme Court should just cancel it. It's about the First Amendment. All this stuff that has nothing to do. with the actual case that we're going to have.

And then honestly, it prepares their base to not understand what happens when it begins to happen. When the actual trial happens, if we get details out of it, they're not going to know what's going on because they think it's about whether he has a First Amendment right to think something or whatever. But anyway, Cenk mentioned that we're going to make fun of him, and I have some material that I think actually will play into that quite well. Donald Trump is clearly mad about all of these indictments. But a few specific things stand out that have angered him more than others. Take a look at this. I am told that the former president, one thing that irked him particularly was during

that hearing today that lasted about 27 minutes was when the magistrate judge referred to him as simply Mr. Trump. That may not sound odd to anyone else, but he is still referred to by his former title, President Trump when he's at his Bedminster Golf Club in New Jersey as he is tonight or at Mar-a-Lago. No. Just called by his name. That's not enough for him anymore. He didn't like that from reports coming from inside of the courtroom. He didn't like having to wait for the judge to arrive. Generally, he's showed up the judges there. This time he had to wait around. He didn't like that. And if that annoys him, then we're gonna get another opportunity potentially for this

because Fannie Willis is expected to seek indictments this month. And we could get those details in the coming weeks. He could be arraigned yet again within a month. And we'll see We'll see if maybe the judge treats him a little bit nicer in that case. Congresswoman Smith or assembly woman Smith. So everybody who goes to Washington gets a giant ego. So I can see a Democratic president, even if they are not foolish enough to make it public, being super mad that not being called President Biden or President Obama. Like if somebody calls Obama just Barack, I bet not only him, but all of Washington would be

deeply offended. So let's keep it real. I mean, they'd be president Obama to you, you dirty, progressive. Okay, you know how it is. Come on. So that, look, I pardon him on that. He's like, pardon. Yes, I finally got one. Okay, but, but that's not the thing that I think he's right about. Look, going back to why a lot of the MAGA guys don't get it. And I did, look, what I'm saying is potentially more insulting. I don't mean to be, but like tons of them because it's not their job to be political folks, but then they think they're political folks. Don't understand. And the basics of a lot of things, like you don't have a First Amendment right to say anything you like. If you go into a bank, as one of our members pointed out yesterday, you go to a bank and say, hey, I have a gun in my pocket. Why don't you give me $10,000 and go, whoa, what, what? Freedom of speech. No, that's a crime. You're sticking up the bank. The fact that the crime was committed by you saying something doesn't mean you have a First Amendment right to it.

But tons of comments online, they don't understand that at all. The minute they say First Amendment, they're like, oh yeah, he just said. You can say anything you want. That's what the Constitution says. No, it doesn't, brothers and sisters. No, it does. Look, look, guys, I, I talked to a bunch of Republicans, and I realized that they didn't think that, like, for me, the straw that should have broke every camel's back to smithereens was when he said, well, maybe we should inject bleach to cure COVID. I was like, aren't we done with this guy? That's the craziest crazy. I can't believe he said it. And I talked to a bunch of Republicans, and they're like, well, it could have work. And I was like, oh my God, the reason why they haven't turned on him is because they think it might have worked. Like the crazy stuff he's saying, they're going, not all of them by a long shot, but a pretty significant chunk are like, oh yeah, why not? Yeah, why not have the Supreme Court just cancel the case? No, that's not how it works, right? So, but the one part I do agree is why did they take two and a half years?

I'm furious that they took two and a half years to get to do these cases. And was it because they wanted it right in the middle of the political season? I don't know. I don't even, I'm not even foreclosing the possibility that it was because of that. It might have been, I don't know. More likely, slightly more likely is Merrick Garland is such a weak jellyfish blob of a human being. He's like, I don't know, shit, I don't know. And eventually he didn't even do it.

He got a special counsel who did it. So no, they should have done this right away, shouldn't have been anywhere near the election. Because now he gets some whine about the election. And every Republican is like, aha, it's because he's doing well in the polls. Really fast, though. Like if they had done it two years ago, it would be near the midterms. If they did a year before that, it's when we're choosing our candidates for the midterms. They're always going to complain.

John, yes. John's 100% right. They're always going to complain. They're always going to have some excuse. Yeah, distraction from the 100-bide laptop, right? No, I know that, but I care about reality, not their reaction. The reality is, God damn it, now it's right in the middle of his election. Not a midterm election, not Joe Billy Bob's election, but his election.

And he is leading by 40 points on the Republican side. And he is tied with or beating Biden in half the polls. So now it looks terrible. And besides which, forget the looking terrible. You're supposed to do it right away, not wait around and sit. if it's a convenient season. So Merrick Garland, I think, has been a total disaster. So that's my take on that.

I have one other thing, but go ahead, Moss. Yeah, first of all, going back to the fact that he's offended that she called him Mr. Trump, I'm offended that she didn't call him dumb, dumb. That would have been great if she would be like, hey, dumb, dumb, how do you plead? Secondly, I know what you're talking about, Jank, when you say the title, like, you know, they all want to be congressman, congresswoman, I'm originally from Iran. I prefer you guys call me Shah Maz and Jank, I guess your Turkish background. You'd be Sultan Jank, I think.

I'm not quite sure. But Jank Bay. Bay isn't like, sir, honorable, you know, Jake Bay. But listen, the thing about the taking time, I'm like you, I wish they would have started a lot earlier. But the fact is, whatever they did and however they did it, it was beautiful to watch Jack Smith. I actually got tears in my eyes, tears of pride when I was hearing Jack Smith, through the press. conference about all of the stuff and how clear he was about how Trump is guilty of a crime here. And that goes back to what you were talking about earlier, about how his supporters

saying, free speech, free speech. These people, they have people come out. There's talking points. And they just throw things against the wall hoping something sticks. So one of the things they said was, well, he was just listening to the advice of these lawyers who were experts. And And I tweeted about, I said, well, you know, that didn't work out for the Manson murderers because they said, we're just listening to Charlie Manson. And we said kill people. We kill people. So they keep throwing out excuses and they try stuff. And one of the ones you're saying right now is this whole thing with the free speech. And somebody was pointing out very clearly that you can't use free speech to commit fraud. So I can't use my free speech to call somebody and say, hi, yes, I'm a banker. Give me your bank information because I'm going to be putting money into your account and then take money out of your account. count. So clearly, this guy used his quote unquote free speech to be part of this big conspiracy and fraud. And you and I and all of us can see it. But as you said, all the Republicans are doing it as a talking point. And then you see these people that Trump rallies just kind of reiterating. Just they reiterate statements that don't really connect. And they go, yeah, you know,

Deep State, the Bunner, the Bider Hunter, you know, laptop and free speech. They just throw out these words. and none of it makes any sense. And unfortunately, we end up where we are, where, as you said, Trump is leading the Republicans by, I don't know, 70% whatever, he's like 70% approval or 70% want him, which shows you that there's 30% of a dozen of Republicans. And overall, I would say the odds of him winning a general are very low, which again goes back to if you're a true Republican and you really want to have a chance here, you really need to find a candidate that doesn't come with all this baggage. So I don't know what they're thinking and I hope the guy if he does end up being their candidate that he's in a jumpsuit, an orange jumpsuit come election day. Yeah, so last thing is, you know, I again, trolling mega tiny bit put out a statement that you guys have heard me say on air before, which is, hey, you guys, you should be super excited about this case. because if Trump actually won the election, then he couldn't have lied about winning the election because he won it. It was true. He would win the case easily, right? So great, bring out your

mules and your crackens, and you'll get to prove that Trump finally won the election. So I guess you guys are excited about that, right? And then I looked at the mentions, hundreds of comments, totally genuine, you could tell when people are trolling and not, saying, yeah, we are super excited. This is great. He's finally going to be vindicated. We're going to get to show you guys that we won the election. Guys, they genuinely believe it. I know that it sounds amazing and unbelievable, but tens of millions of people in this country, like genuinely think Trump won. And they're like, oh, finally, we're going to show the evidence and he's going to be vindicated. Yeah. So that's why the trial might be more interesting than we realize, because some of those

people doesn't matter what happens, especially if he gets off on a technicality, they're like, we do it. Trump won the election. You'll be like, what? How is that logically connected, right? But some of them might see the truth for the first time in their lives and be like, no, really? No. So we'll see. I think Alina Haba is just going to roll an old school, elementary school TV and play 2,000 mules and then rest their case. I think that's going to be it. I think that the evidence is strong. You know, it's almost too bad. that they weren't able to try to relitigate the election in like 50 or 60 lawsuits right after it. They should have done that and proven that it was stolen. Anyway, I just want to play

one more, the last video. Number three, just because you mentioned how this could potentially interfere with his presidential bid. Well, I guess even I didn't know how much it could potentially interfere. One of the hardest parts of getting older is feeling like something's off in your body, but not knowing exactly what. It's not just aging. It's often your hormones, too. When they fall out of balance, everything feels off. But here's the good news. This doesn't have to be the story of your next chapter. Hormone Harmony by Happy Mammoth is an herbal formula made with science-backed ingredients designed to fine-tune your hormones by balancing estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, and even stress hormones like cortisol. It helps with common issues such as hot flashes, poor sleep,

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So the stated intent of that segment, as well as what she was saying was, this is unfair to Trump. But I kind of feel like that's the segment you run when you don't like Trump very much, because that's a lot to put on one screen all at once. It does not look good for Trump. And honestly, Edwin and I didn't even know about the pyramid scheme thing. So I feel like that's what you do when you kind of want to stick it to Trump a little bit, but maybe I'm wrong. Look, guys, there's no end to the madness. So one, that's part of why I thought the trials should have begun immediately. What do you wait in two and a half years for?

And it makes it look not great when you have all those things coinciding exactly with the election. So that's to be fair to the right wing, right? On the other hand, how do you look at that? It's the Zucker line I keep using when he got ousted from CNN. He said, well, I did have the affair that I shouldn't have had. So I gave him the gun and they shot me with it. And so Trump has given them like eight Gatling guns. And they're like,

Bichichu-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ture. Why did you steal the documents, you idiot? You buffoon, why did you steal top-sec documents? And refuse to give them back. And then have your goons carrying them around Mar-Long with like Benny Hill cast characters. And then go, oh, delete the tapes, we'll delete them. Then they won't see them. Oh, God, you're so dumb and you're such a criminal.

You can't help yourself. But meanwhile, back at the ranch, the right wing is at another planet. And Kerry Lake is like, this is perfect. Yep. This way, when Trump was the case, we'll reinstate him as president right now. Calendar is funny because you see he's got more court dates than he does election dates. It's almost like the election is interfering with his court schedule. It's the other way around.

And it's almost like, I can imagine if like this is what like Pablo. Escobar's calendar musta look like. And on the top, he's like, you know, pick up my kid from soccer, you know, kill my rival. And then these are all court dates. That's the Pablo Escobar version of a calendar. I mean, that guy's busy. He's got a lot going on. Good thing he doesn't pay attention to his kids because they didn't have to spend time with Eric and the rest. So, you know, at least he's got that going for him. Yeah. Well, we're going to have to call it at that. But there's a lot of other. stuff going on around the country. We're going to touch base with some of it after this. Let's jump into this. We're now months out of the tragic derailment in East Palestine that devastated a community. And still nothing being passed to actually make tragedies like that less likely. There is a bill that is being worked on, or at least what's left of it, because will you be shocked when you hear that industry that could potentially lose a little bit of money with new regulations has been trying to undercut it behind the scenes? It's a first for American politics.

I don't like it as a precedent. But we have this information thanks to the lever, and they show that one of the companies that manufactures some of the chemicals that were spilled in that derailment has been putting millions of dollars into the pockets of those who will determine if this bill goes through, if it literally ever goes through. And that is Occidental Petroleum, they've been lobbying on rail and tank car safety, and its lobbying group, the American Chemistry Council, which sounds so nice. So nice has donated $250,000 to the main house GOP super PAC pushing for changes weakening the bill in committee.

So just a reminder of where we started off from, the original Railway Safety Act directed the Transportation Secretary to expand the definition of high hazard flammable trains to apply to more, required a minimum of two crew members on most freight trains, which seems like the literal bare minimum. It would increase the maximum fines that the Department of Transportation can impose for safety violations and issue new regulations around wayside defect detectors that go along the rail lines. So that was the original thing. And actually one of the bill's original co-authors, J.D. Vance, is one of those who are helping to weaken it right now. Back on May 10th, they proposed amendments to that legislation. One of the amendments delayed by three years the the requirement that shippers replace old tank cars that are vulnerable to punctures with upgraded cars. Federal regulators had recommend the 2025 deadline included the original bill, but chemical

and rail supply industry lobbyists pushed for a delay, which sort of makes sense. I mean, these cars are so old that they could break at any moment, so we should definitely let people use them for three more years. Anyway, a lobbying group for both Occidental as well as other oil and chemical producers, which see nearly one million tons of their products transported across the country by trains each year, pushed back against the deadline for new safer tank cars because it said the cost of doing so, quote, would pose significant burdens on manufacturers, shippers, and consumers. And that, of course, cannot be allowed. That is a serious, a serious significant burden. You know, not like something light and easy to get past, like a train derailing

your town and unleashing a massive flaming cloud of toxic chemicals that sickens people and kills animals and makes your town inextricably linked with that tragedy for the rest of American history. That's easy to move on from. We're talking about profits here, people. Anyway, in addition to the $250,000, I'll close for now with this. There's other regulations being stripped out too, but Occidental donated $2 million in June to the Senate leadership fund, the main super pack for Senate Republicans, three weeks after the railroad bill was weakened in committee. So they weakened the bill, three weeks later, two million dollars being handed over. Two million dollars, presumably less than it would cost to buy the cars, one would hope.

But anyway, it just, it seems crazy. I know that we talk about campaign finance a lot here, but these massive sums of money changing hands when like a groundbreaking reform bill, that doesn't even go as far as many would want, environmentalists and industry advocates, but it would at least do something is being debated. They're handing over literally millions of dollars, and all of this is legal, don't you dare call it a bribe. Yeah, this is why I get super mad at corporate Democrats of mainstream media. And you might say, well, Cenk, wait a minute. Isn't, aren't the top people responsible here, the Republicans?

Oh, absolutely. And Occidental has already spent $5.9 million lobbying this year alone. So we're not like the fake left. Criticize Republicans first because they're the ones, the primary culprits in this story. For sure, they're the ones siphoning off, you know, they're doing the, I drink your milkshake, right? And taking all this lobbyist money, and then pretending to help the people of East Palestine, and then betraying them, 100% stabbing them in the back, because they got bribed to. Now, having said that, why am I mad at Democrats and media?

Because it's so easy to fight against this if you're a Democrat, you just out them. You go look at these corrupt Senate Republicans, taking millions of dollars and betraying the people that they pretend to care about. Remember how the Republicans are like, yeah, I bet it derail around there because the town is mainly white and voted for Trump? Like, so why don't you out them and say, hey, know that mainly Trump Republican town, it's your Republican politicians who are crooks, crooks, who took millions from the train companies to totally screw you over. Why don't they say it, even though it's the biggest layup in American politics? Because they also take corporate money. So they never, ever, ever criticize the Republicans for it.

Well, just, you know, there's that old Saturday Life skit with Jim Belushi yelling, just give them the queen while you're at it. Just give it to them. Give them the queen, right? And they do every day the Democrats walk in and go, how do we help Republicans? Oh, let's not point out their number one problem, corruption, that they're the guys who created the goddamn swamp and live in that swamp because the Democrats are also swamp creatures. So they, and by the way, progressives, what the, what are you doing in Congress? Jesus Christ, can you do something?

No, but if we criticize the Republicans for taking that money, then some of our Democratic colleagues will also catch feelings. And we wouldn't want to upset Hakeem Jeffries. Get in the goddamn fight, man. And have you heard anyone in Congress halfway as animated as we are about this? All right. But mainly the number one culprit, no, number one is Republicans. But overall, 1A is the media. Every time.

So the lever does this because they're great independent reporters. That's David Sorota's organization. And the rest of the media hates David Sorota. They're like, oh, that guy with his stupid truth again. I hate that guy, constantly spreading things that are true. Who does he even do marketing for? I can't even tell. He seems to criticize Republicans and Democrats.

So what is he getting? Who's paying him for the propaganda? I know it's shocking to you if you're a reporter in BC, but he's not getting paid for propaganda. He's just reporting things that are true. Oh, have I hurt your goddamn feelings? Why don't you report about the bribery once in your goddamn lives? Just retire.

Every reporter in Washington, retire immediately. This is what drives politics, the millions in bribes. No, I've never heard of it, I don't know. I'm going to cover this. Oh, Buttigieg is really trying, being tough on their trains companies. He's told him, oh, knock it off. And then the Republicans really trying to fight for those Trump voters in East Palestine. We'll see how this ideological divide breaks down.

Why don't you just tell me about the, you know, cats and Hamilton, random Broadway plays I named, okay? Because you're not, you're telling me about theater. You're not telling me about what actually happens in politics. Any political reporter that isn't writing about these bribes is not really a reporter. They're in marketing, and they just don't realize it, Maz. They can't afford two people. Like, they're an oil company. I'm a comedian.

When I go on tour, I have to pay for my opening act. There's two of us. They can at least pay for an opening act train conductor. Like, I mean, that's the least they can do. And this goes back to how, like you guys were saying, the difference between Jake, what's going on with what the Republicans do that they're very good at messaging versus what the Democrats don't do, which is they're not as good at messaging,

which is it goes beyond obviously writing articles because people, you and I, we all read articles, but there's a lot of people who are not reading articles. But there should be ads being run in these places, in these states, to show the people who claimed that they were going to come to the rescue of these people, and now they're backing the corporations because the corporations are paying them money. I was just on tour overseas, and every time we would eat and I would go to tip, the people there were like, oh, no, we don't tip here because they actually get a good wage. But in America, the customer is supposed to pay the wage of the service staff or whatever that is

because these corporations are so greedy, and they claim this whole trickle-down economic that doesn't work. And we end up in these situations where these companies that have millions and billions of dollars are saying, oh, we can't regulate our trains because it's going to cost us too much. Well, that's the point. It should cost money to fix them. Otherwise, we're going to end up with situations like we have right now where we've neglected the infrastructure for years and years,

and we're finally getting to it. And that actually goes back to another point that you were just talking about Jen, which is, you know, when these types of things happen, a lot of these Republicans come out and they say, look, this was a white Trump supporting area. And that's why the explosion happened here. And yet those same people that were talking don't show up for their people. It's kind of like, you know, what happened with the infrastructure bill,

where a lot of Republicans were against it. And then you got people like Tommy Tuberville putting out a tweet going, I'm so happy that we're finally getting Internet for my people in my state. and whereas he didn't even back that the infrastructure bill. So, you know, it's all dirty politics to be expected, but you would wish there were some interest groups that would have some money to show and out these people so that the next time you have someone from one of these areas

that's been affected by something like this, they can make an intelligent decision and intelligent choice and say, I don't care whether you're Republican or Democrat, at, you came to my town and said you're going to do something about it. And then you went and voted against the bill that was going to do something about it. Yeah. I'll add one last quick thing. Maas makes a great point there.

So whether you're a Democrat or Republican or independent, whenever a politician talks about this, just ask them, how much money have you taken from this industry? I guarantee you each time they'll go, oh, no, no big deal. I mean, I'll have to look into it. I'll have to look into it. Because they're all crooks. They all get bribed by these industries. no matter what the issue is.

It's so weird that they're not proud of how much they've been given since it's not a bribe. Not at all, it's just free speech. They support democracy, you should be proud of it. Yeah, and those rail companies are just giving for the general welfare, right? They're not expecting the Republicans to deregulate so they can keep having these disasters and make more money off of your desk. No, right, no, it's just they're being charitable. So why don't you be proudly declared Republicans that you take this money from these beloved rail corporations?

I'm going to close with just two more things. One, just to remind people of how serious this is, because as a country we like all got together for a week and a half and talked about East Palestine and then that was it. But the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL, CIO said in a statement, they wanted to remind everyone that there have been more than 1,000 freight train derailments in a year. More than 60 high profile derailments just since East Palestine, including multiple in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Montana, that when you're reminded of that, that is horrifying to regular people. But the industries already know that and they don't care. But to close, I don't want to leave

you thinking, you know, coming out of this big discussion, that what's going to end up being passed is going to be some sort of stripped down pointless bill. That's not what's going to happen. They're probably not going to pass literally anything. It's probably going to be killed in the Senate. Fun little fact, I didn't even know this. The second highest ranked ranking Senate Republican John Thune is a former rail industry lobbyist. And what do you know, he's fighting the legislation. So probably nothing will be done. Look, I guess stay tuned to find out if your town will be the site of the next high profile derailment. And with that said, I think that we should take our second break of the hour. Big stories to come. Don't go anywhere.

Young Turks, Jank, John Ma's with you guys. John's got more news. I do, in fact. Let's talk about it. Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is filing a lawsuit against both YouTube as well as its parent company, Google, alleging that they have censored him. He cites multiple of his videos that have been removed from YouTube, and he specifically attacks YouTube's medical misinformation policies saying that they are overbroad and vague.

Now, you might be wondering, how is he going to sue YouTube and Google for this, considering that they are, you know, they're private companies. There's no First Amendment right to have your videos on a private company's platform. Well, he says this, so he filed this 27-page complaint in California earlier this week. He says that those sites cave to pressure to quote silence him by the federal government and his Democratic primary rival President Joe Biden. And he said, or the lawsuit says, under these circumstances, YouTube is a state actor and it violated Mr. Kennedy's First Amendment rights by engaging in viewpoint discrimination, specifically having to do with videos of him talking with Jordan Peterson or Joe Rogan or a speech that he gave in New Hampshire back in March. So the idea that because in his view they bowed to pressure that he says exists, that makes them state actors definitely seems like an untested theory. So we have no idea how a court is going to feel about that. But to give you an idea of some of what the sort of things that he said that's run afoul of these YouTube policies, take a look at this. black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese. There's aluminum in those vaccines, which, you know, operates along the same biological pathways

and does the same kind of damage. It's extremely neurotoxic. And then there's other things, lots of other toxins in the vaccines that, you know, could be responsible. I mean, there's lots, there's hundreds and hundreds of scientific studies that looks at it, but nobody ever reports them. And unfortunately, the vaccines are not safety tested. They're not, there's, in the 72 vaccine doses now mandated, essentially mandated. They're recommended, but they're really mandated. Are American children. None of them, not one, has ever been subject to a pre-licensing placebo controlled trial.

Yes, they have. Those studies have, the only medicine that never gets tested are vaccines. And that is what I object to. So those are the sorts of claims that have gotten in trouble, in trouble with YouTube and Google, and it now occurs to me, might get this video pulled as well. But so you might want to give you a reaction quickly because this video could be pulled at any second. Yeah, look, YouTube is in a difficult situation, as is all of social media, because on the one hand, if you overband stuff, you're going to ban something like the lab leak theory, which is a perfectly valid theory. So you have to be careful and not just have a gut reaction of, oh, some Democrats said it in Washington. Let's ban it.

You can't do that. Okay. On the other hand, with these right wing knuckleheads, including JFK Jr., who is most definitively in the wrong primary, okay? All of his supporters are Republicans. Online, I've never seen a Democratic supporter of RFK Jr. The most zealot MAGA guys are like, RFK Jr. I love Democrats.

Wait, what? Okay, no. Anyway, those are all lies. Sorry, Bobby, you don't know what you're talking about. Vaccines have never been tested. I mean, that's insanity, man. That's just insanity. So, and what?

And he's like, oh, I didn't imply that the Jews did the vaccine. I just said the only ones that doesn't affect are the Chinese and the Ashkenazi Jews. I didn't imply anything. Come on, you don't know, you know all these Jewish folks. And yes, you're friends with Jewish people. I know, I know. You don't know that anti-Semitic trope. And you didn't know that you were implying that at a bare minimum.

That is massive negligence on your part. But guys, to the main point here, what if these cooks then came out with, because they don't believe any scientists. They said 99% of the world scientists say climate change is real. They're like, oh, you're right. And what would all the scientists in the world know, let alone evolution? Like, there's no way they're going to believe scientists on that, right? Of course the earth was created 6,000 years ago. Okay, and then now vaccines, like scientists would know anything about a vaccine.

No, it's just totally untested, filled with aluminum pipes. They're putting in their, like, all right, so what if the new conspiracy theory against scientists and Republicans, you know you're on the right side of things when you've got a war against scientists? You know what a scientist is? All it is is someone trying to figure out what's true. That's all a scientist is. Oh, yeah, the people trying to figure out things that are true. Hate them. Okay, what if the next conspiracy theory is, oh, you know, 99% of the world scientists think that gravity's real?

It's not, man. It's not. Gravity is fake. That's a conspiracy theory. And they started telling people to walk off of rooftops. Like, I feel, I'm a little scared even putting it out into the world because there's like some percent of chance Republicans are going to start to believe it. So is YouTube supposed to allow that? Where they are encouraging people to walk off of buildings because they think the sciences are lying about gravity? Because remember, A lot of these lunatics also believe that the earth is flat. They're going to fall off the earth.

So yes, it's very difficult to know where to draw the line between, yeah, allow the lab leak theory, because that's plausible, and do not allow them to lie brazenly about science or medicine, etc. So, but no, Bobby Kennedy Jr. doesn't make, doesn't do nuance now, doesn't do distinctions. And then he implies that Biden is behind this. Just when you thought like he can't go any lower, Biden told YouTube and Google to do this? Again, I'm not sure he's saying it, but he's definitely implying it heavily by Biden's America,

YouTube and Google. You think Biden's calling YouTube and Google to tell him, I'll make sure you get rid of Bobby Kennedy. Man, that's just cuckoo for Cocoa Buffs, Maas. It gets nuttier and nuttier, like you're saying, Jank. He basically, you've got someone who is a conspiracy theorist, who then turned to a conspiracy theory to bring the case. Because as John said at the beginning of this segment,

you can't just sue the private company for taking you off. It's a private company. They do whatever they want. No shirt, no service. Get the hell out of here. But in this case, they tied it to a government entity to say, look at the conspiracy, therefore you're stopping my First Amendment right. So a conspiracy to fight the fact that you were putting conspiracies on their page.

similar to what Sidney Powell did when she went to Donald Trump with the election conspiracy where she said it was Venezuela and it was Iran and China in cahoots with the CIA to get him out. So all of a sudden it just gets crazier and crazier. If Robert Kennedy Jr. were not a Kennedy who was educated, he could be on a street corner ranting and we'd be like, oh, I'm so sorry. You know, I hope this guy gets some help. He is an intelligent person from the, from, in terms of studying and his knowledge. And it's, and I've listened to him a few times.

And it's amazing how when in his interviews, they go, well, you said this. You don't believe in vaccines or your conspiracy theories. He goes, no, I'm not. And he starts talking a mile a minute. And you get a little confused as to like, wait a minute, what's he saying? And maybe you start thinking maybe there's something to what he's saying. And you quickly realize there really isn't. And just because of who he is, his name,

he had done good in the past with some of the stuff that he did, I believe, with the clean water in New York. He brought some cases in the store. But it's just, it's sad to see how far he's fallen. And then you start the thing, you go, where did he go to this? And, you know, he's had a lot of tragedy in his life. Clearly his father, his uncle, he's lost other people in his life. And I think that there was instability in his life.

He had addiction issues a long time ago. I think that that's all come back at this point to bring him to the point where he is. And this lawsuit is just a joke because, again, him saying that this is something that the Biden administration is doing is just cuckoo. Because if you look at it, other social media companies were doing it to other people before the Biden administration. They were doing it under the Trump administration. People were getting banned from misinformation or they were getting tagged from misinformation. I've been tagged for saying something that the algorithm thought was somehow wrong and they've taken that video off. I didn't turn around and go, well, Instagram is clearly working with the government to get me.

But that just sounds like a conspiracy theorist talking about their conspiracy. So in his brain, it's all just twirling and it's all about him. The problem with conspiracy theories is the whole world is out to get you. But the reality is, no, you're just saying some cuckoo stuff. And those videos got to go. And as John said, the fact that we showed a few clips of his, this video might go. We'll have to see. And when it comes with lawsuit, it seems like that would be a difficult one to win on.

But perhaps we'll see. Perhaps we'll see. We don't often get to cover a story like this on The Young Turks, but we have an example of a bipartisan group of legislators working together to curtail, at least in one specific area, corporate greed. But unfortunately, the corporations are not going to go quietly into that good night, and they're fighting back against this effort, not just in the normal ways that they do, but by invoking the exact sort of horrific culture wars, that the right is always focusing on. So what we're talking about here on the good side is a bipartisan coalition led by Senators Dick Durbin and Roger Marshall, who is a Republican, aiming to alleviate the burden on small businesses through the Credit Card Competition Act.

So it's not lost on me that the time in which they're fighting against corporate greed is to protect smaller corporations, but whatever, I guess it's an improvement. So the CCCA that we mentioned is meant to stop Visa and MasterCard from setting unfair prices for what are considered swipe fees, which disproportionately harm small businesses. So every time, you know, somebody swipes their card, which is the vast majority of transactions, there is a fee for that. They are setting prices for that that the businesses consider unfair. And we have an explainer about exactly how this works.

So let's take a look at that. When you use your credit card, the transaction runs through a source processing system through the credit cards network to your cards bank. And there are fees throughout these steps. The processing system's fee is generally fairly low, around one-tenth of a percent of the total purchase. There's a large market the merchant can choose from, which can keep this cost down. Then there's the credit card's network fee, around a quarter of a percent. And the largest fee of this system also happens here, the interchange fee.

It's usually around 2 to 3 percent. It's set by the card networks, but it's paid to your bank that issued your credit card. You get rewards for every purchase. Everything? Essentially, that fee helps to fund the rewards that we all get when we use our credit cards. Merchants, paid banks and other credit card issuers interchange fees, set by Visa and MasterCard, roughly $55 billion just last year. Interchange fees vary by card. Generally, a higher rewards card will come with a higher interchange fee. And businesses have little control over this. They can't choose to not accept a high rewards card because of the fees.

If they want to accept any of a network's credit cards, they have to accept all of that network's credit cards. So what is the proposed solution to this, to the system where the cards are the ones that determine these fees? Well, it's something that in theory you'd imagine all of these Republicans and Democrats would like. They're all good capitalists. It would be that you set up a system of competition where the cards can have their version, but there can be other third parties that will set up competitor networks to make. the processing and routing. With competition, that would potentially drive the prices lower and everyone would, in theory, save money.

But obviously, if you currently have a monopoly on that, you're not going to be happy with that and you're not going to allow it. So there is some fighting back going on. And again, like I said, it's not necessarily in the form that you would expect. In a recent ad campaign, shadowy right-wing groups have been issuing mailers and other advertisements, claiming that the CCCA is a liberal handout for woke big box retailers like talk. target. One set of mailers was bankrolled by the conservative accountability foundation, which I guess is anti-capitalist, a newly formed organization based in Senator Marshall's home state of Kansas, but without a listed address or phone number. You can actually see an example of

one of these ads right here. So because in theory, every business would pay less fees, what they've decided to do is choose the business that they think is most divisive and then say, well, look, it's helping them. So we should shut down the whole. thing like yeah and theoretically your purchases of Bud Light would have lower interchange fees too but pointing that out doesn't actually benefit the consumer and I can only hope that people aren't dumb enough to actually be won over by this yeah I'm worried about that hope okay so bunch of things here because this is an amazing story so number one this is mainly business on

business crime so before I get into the amazing parts I'll Let me just say, this is not going to pass, because once you have business interests bribing on both ends, so you've got Target Walmart and the small business on one end, you got the big giant credit card companies and Wall Street on the other end, they're just going to both give millions of dollars to the politicians. The politicians are going to be like, you know, pigs in a trough. They're going to be super happy, but it's going to go, oh, filibuster, I guess there was nothing we could do.

So that means Wall Street and the credit card companies are going to win. Okay, so that's your spoiler alert for what's going to happen. You could take it to the bank, ironically. We're never wrong about legislation. All of legislation is determined by bribes. Anyone telling you otherwise is a fool, doesn't know anything about politics. But now the interesting stuff. So now the Republicans, and now forget Republicans, like the business lobbyists have realized,

oh, we don't, the truth is totally irrelevant. Before we would like hanging on a pin a little bit like, oh, well, is a 2% truth to this and then we extrapolated the other 98% and mainstream media would say not guilty, perfectly good. Yay, corporations and your lies, right? By the way, they're our advertisers, but shh, right? So now they're like, we don't need the 2%. There's no accountability. The media's on our side that we got them in our back pocket. So what are they doing now? So you saw the Chinese flag and they say, oh, this is going to help communist China. Let me quote here from actual journalists. The CCA includes provisions blocking foreign owned company.

companies and specifically China Union pay from participating in the transaction routing networks. So you, the Chinese literally cannot use this system. It's in the bill. And the lobbyists are like, who cares that it's in the bill? Let's pretend it's not in the bill. Let's just brazenly lie about it and then say that it's helping China. And is the media calling them out on it other than the American prospect? No.

totally going to get away with it. And they realize they've already gotten away with it. Now let's look at it, hey, if you're a Democrat and you're like, oh, yeah, that was terrible Republicans. Yes, that's true, but don't get too happy. Big Tech has used the same strategy to win over Democrats. Get a load of how terrible this is. Big Tech killed an antitrust bill last year. And now here, let me just pause here. I don't actually agree with the antitrust bills against Big Tech. I've talked about that on the show. But most progressives do. Most of the left does, and certainly that all the Democrats are pretending that they agree with it, right? But meanwhile, secretly, they're killing that bill.

So I'm being honest with you guys. Like, I like that they killed the bill, but the way they did it is unbelievable and outrageous and horrible. They're not arguing on the ideas. So what do they do? Big Tech killed an anti-trust bill last year, in part by arguing that the bill would harm minority small businesses and by painting anti-monopoly groups as anti-trans. What? What do you?

What kind of insanity are you talking about? No, it doesn't matter because they know how to get to Democrats. With Republicans, you just appealed to their greed, the bigotry, whatever it takes. Oh, yeah, these target, they're helping gay people be gay. Chinese, we hate them, right? And the Republicans are like, kill the bill, kill the bill, right? With Democrats, they're like, oh, they're hurting not big businesses, like Google and Facebook. That would be, we can't, that's not going to work with the left.

Oh, they're hurting minority small businesses. Wink. And Democrats 100% fall for that. They're hurting the trans community by being against my monopoly. Wink. And then Democrats are like, oh, I did any politics. Yes, yes, yes. Kill the bill.

Kill the bill. I love big monopolies. Wait, what? I have a principled disagreement about that particular industry, right? But it's not, but I acknowledge mine is not the left wing position, right? The left wing position is to be against the monopolies of these giant companies. But somehow, that's anti-trans? Nah, these guys are all liars and they're playing you, 100% playing you.

They're playing the right wing by appealing to their problems, and they're playing the left wing by going, oh, identity politics. And so, and then none of the reporters report anything other than the American prospect, deliver and intercept, and us. That's it.

There's like four actual news organizations in the country. Everybody else is a bunch of liars doing propaganda and marketing for different corporations. Moss. You know, it feels pretty hopeless because you hear the term dark money, and I'm always like, who are these dark money people?

I always think of like a Halliburton or an Eric Prince type. But as you said, you know, it is from both sides. And it is anytime it feels like there's a good thing that we can do, we were just talking about the train regulations a minute ago. We talk about gun legislation. We talk about a lot of stuff that coming out the gate, everyone goes, well, this sounds like a great idea. And quickly, the dark money gets involved and crushes it. And this is another one of those cases in which I think helping small businesses would be a good thing now throwing in target and these other big mega stores into the mix they're not small businesses clearly but um it's just interesting how these flyers show up and it

confuses the constituents and the constituents are against it and in this case as you said it's it's it's the woke they're saying it's for the the woke stores i'm surprised maybe the next one they'll be like you can you know they're they're going to do something that these these companies can you can take uh credit cards to give abortions and use it sex shops and groom your children. I mean, just that's how they scare people on the right nowadays. But it's just, again, it feels hopeless. I don't know how we ever get anything done that actually helps consumers and helps smaller businesses when you have someone who's got a monopoly.

I was thinking about whoever's got that middle ground of the percentage that they're getting every time of transactions being made, someone's making a ton of money doing that. And they have enough money to get these lobbyists, to get these cards sent to their constituents. And then, as you said, nothing gets done. So horrible way to go into a weekend. But hey, yeah, don't use your credit card. Use cash this weekend. Yeah, look, by the way, Maz, I did that after I read the story.

I literally used cash instead of a credit card because it got infuriated me so much. Look, guys, look at what they're doing and how they're playing you. So one side in order to maintain a monopoly says, oh, the bad guys are woke. And the other side, in order to maintain their monopoly, says the bad guys are anti-woke. When in reality, it has nothing to do with woke or anti-woke. It has to do with the money, Lubowski, the money. The culture wars are a giant distraction. There are fireworks going off as they funnel the money out the back.

They're two to three percent of every transaction. They're making billions upon billions upon billions of dollars. They expense some small business owners and you, the customer. Meanwhile, they're getting you to fight over nonsense cultural war issues, and everybody's falling for it, hook, line, and sinker. And the number one problem is I explain them in my book, Justice's coming. There are no refs left anymore. If there are no refs, the bad guys are always going to win. Like, would Michael Jordan, I won a single championship, the greatest player to play, or LeBron James?

No, they wouldn't want a single championship if there were no refs. You know why? Bill Lambier would have come in and just, bam, jackhammered Michael Jordan, probably break his ankle and maybe give him a concussion and go, what, there's no refs? Why would I let the best player play? That's insane, right? So that's what these companies are doing. They're just lying and lying and lying and lying and bribing and bribing and bribing and bribing. And the mainstream media is like, I don't see it.

I don't see it. So that's what the problem is. Everything is intensely corrupt. All right, but we're going to end on a good note. here for the first hour. Jay Blackzilla said the same thing that John said during the break, and I got to share it with Maz. When Ma's said, the elections are interfering with Trump's court dates, he said, the joke of the year. So nice job. Yes. Yes. And where can people find out where you're doing your shows next? I've got a special on YouTube. It's called The Birds and the Bees.

It's my comedy special. People can check that out. And then I'm on tour all over the U.S. Then go to masjabrani.com or any of my social media at Mazjabrani and come see me live. We'd love to see you guys out there. I've been having a lot of people come up to me and say, I've seen you on TYT. Even down, I was just an Australian, New Zealand, and a few people came up and said that. Nice. Of course. All right, I love it.

All right, great to see you, Maz. Appreciate your brother. Everybody check out Damage Report, John's great show. And we'll be back. And we have Marjorie Taylor Green and Lauren Bowers, super excited that Trump got indicted. We'll tell you why, so stay right here. Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work, listen ad-free, access members-only bonus content, and more

by subscribing to Apple Podcasts at apple.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Jank Huger, and I'll see you soon.