The Young Turks - Joe's Gotta Go

Episode Date: September 12, 2023

Chuck Todd asks Gavin Newsom if Trump winning "will break us?" Newsom would pick a caretaker, not Barbara Lee, for the California Senate seat. What Ginni Thomas and Leonard Leo wrought: How a justice���s wife and a key activist started a movement. A Trump supporter had caucused for Bernie. Trump supporters share their thoughts on paid family leave. "None of this concerns you?" HOSTS: Cenk Uygur (@CenkUygur) & Ana Kasparian (@AnaKasparian) 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. Woo! It's up! All right, welcome to the young Turks, Jank and Anna with you guys. We got a hell of a show for you.

As always, lots of drama about the presidential race, let alone all the other news. All right, so let's get going. Anna, what's up? All right, let's get started with everyone from corporate media to the Democratic establishment trying to make Gavin Newsom a thing. President Biden doesn't run. Why shouldn't we consider you a likely? I think the vice president is naturally one lined up and the filing deadlines are quickly coming to pass. And I think we need to move past this notion that he's not going to run. Both corporate media figures and campaign donors are urging Newsom to run for president because Biden is considered too old.

But Newsom says that Kamala is actually the one who's next in line. Let's hear the rest of what he asked to say during this interview with Chuck Todd. President Biden is going to run and looking forward to getting reelected. I think there's been so much wallowing in the last few months and hammering in this respect. But we're gearing up for the campaign. We're looking forward to it. But you hear these calls privately. What do you tell these donors who are wallowing?

Time to move on. Let's go. What do you tell the donors? What do you tell the donors? Because the donors are the most important, right? The donors urging you to vote, I mean, urging you to run for president. Really important. What do you tell them? Now, despite Newsom claiming to have a warm relationship with Kamala Harris and despite him saying, no, no, no, Kamala Harris is next in line. He didn't mention something fascinating in the context of this interview, some bad blood with Kamala Harris allies. We'll get to that in a moment. But, Jake, what did your thought so far? So one of the things that bothers me the most, no, the thing that bothers me the most about Gavin Newsom is how inauthentic he is and how good, smart people can't see it. I can't believe you can't see it. So he goes on so that he can be asked that question by Chuck Todd. He knows that if he goes on, every corporate media anchor is going to ask him, well, you know,

we've been hearing the calls from donors. Oh, okay. I mean, they're so brazen now. They don't even give a goddamn about the voters. Anyway, we've been hearing the calls that it should be you, Batman. He's like, me. Well, golly, gee, I didn't know you were going to ask me that. No, I'm a hero.

I won't do it. I listen to Democratic leaders. And I think Kamala Harris is next. No, you don't. Come on, guys. Look, you see me sometimes attacking the mainstream Democrats. But don't get me wrong. I don't dislike them.

Are you crazy? They're my family, friends, my neighbors. I know them. So I'm asking you mainstream Democrats, you don't know that's inauthentic that behind the scenes he's planning, of course he's planning to run against Kamala at a minimum in 2028. And he wants to drive up speculation that he should replace Biden. That's why he's doing the interview. Please learn politics. Now in the next video, he talks specifically about how, you know, he really respects Kamala Harris. Oh, sure he doesn't want to step on our feet. No, he does. Let's take a look at what he has to say.

And am I supposed to interpret that comment about the vice president, that if for some reason the president chose not to run at this point? Everybody rallies around her. It's the Biden-Harrison administration. Maybe I'm a little old-fashioned. Maybe I'm a little old-fashioned about presidents and vice president. I was a lieutenant governor, so I'm a little subjective. It's your relationship with the vice president? We knew each other before we were both in politics.

Today I got sworn in as mayor, walked across street. The street got sworn in as district attorney. extraordinarily close working relationship, including our time in the Senate. So you can't imagine ever having to run against each other. Of course not. By definition, it won't happen. Now, even though they have a friendly relationship, according to what he says, apparently there had been some jabs directed toward Gavin Newsom.

I want you to just go to this one video real quick. Before you go to the jabs, guys, just on that alone, you can't tell that he's lying. Like, oh, no, I respect. You know, I guarantee you right now ahead of time, I will predict for you. He will, when he runs against Kamala Harris, he will say, oh, things have changed. I didn't know that X, Y, or Z is going to happen. It's now it's totally different. You don't think he's planning to run against Kamala Harris.

Please don't pull a Trump cult and pretend that this guy is authentic. Well, clearly you're not the only one who thinks that jank, because again, Newsom's been dealing with some jabs here and there from individuals aligned with Kamala Harris. Let's go to the next video. We privately continue to maintain a very good relationship inter-personal, just how you're doing, checking in. It's been a challenging few years with COVID, and we've had the opportunity to sit down and have lunch together in the White House. We spend time talking about importance. So nobody's upset.

She's not upset that you're going to debate Ronda Santis. Maybe. Apparently someone in her office is, because I read some off-the-record quotes. I wish I knew that was, but I don't hear it from her. So, and I certainly not hear it from the White House itself. Well, that individual probably knows that you're a massive sleazeback and that you're a liar. And the whole reason why you have set up a debate with Ron DeSantis, who is literally running for president in the GOP ticket, is because you plan to run for president. Like, I can't stand the lies.

I can't stand the man, period. So I'm going to be clear with the audience, I already have a massive bias against. Gavin Newsom over his handling of California, his leadership in California, over his willingness to bail out a utility company that burned down entire towns in this state and destroyed lives led to dozens of deaths in the state. Okay, he bailed them out. I can't stand the guy. But on top of it, he's a sleazy liar. And that makes it even worse. So I'm not quote-to-go bias against him. I think he's a corporate Democrat, like all corporate Democrats and PG&E were his sponsors, in a sense, give him $10 million. We've told you all of his downsides, we've told you some of his upsides.

But to me, it drives me crazy that they can't tell that that conversation between Chuck Todd and Gavin Newsom is totally contrived, 100% theater. They're putting on a play for you guys. And so, and you could tell from his answer about Kamala Harris's office that they're not getting along. So look, if you're a mainstream Democrat, let me lay down a marker for you guys. So if Gavin Newsom doesn't run in 2024 or 2028 because Biden and Kamala Harris are in those races, then you guys win and you shouldn't watch the show apparently, I don't know what I'm talking about. But if I'm right, can you come back and go, okay, oh, I get it. It turns out mainstream media lies so it's 24-7 and it's all theater and you guys were right.

Of course Gavin's going to run in 28 at a minimum and he doesn't give a goddamn their Kamla Harris runs or doesn't run, okay? And in the only, that's not the question. The only question is whether he's running in 2024. And he won't run against Biden because he's a standard corporate Democrat and they follow orders, okay? But if something happens to Biden, they're sending in Gavin, the very next second, he's already prepared. Yeah, and he's preordained. I think it's important to keep that in mind as well. It's probably why someone from Kamala Harris's office isn't so happy with him. which she pretended to not understand.

But I do think it's a legitimate question. Let's hear what she had to say. But even Democrats are worried about the president's age. The Wall Street Journal had a poll showing two-thirds of Democrats say Joe Biden is too old to run again. Are you prepared to be commander-in-chief? Yes, I am, if necessary. But Joe Biden is going to be fine. And let me tell you something.

I work with Joe Biden every day. under Joe Biden's leadership, we have transformed and are in the process of transforming America's infrastructure. Are you taking the threat of a second Trump presidency seriously enough? I don't understand the question. You were dismissive of some of the Republican criticism of you and the president. When you look at current polling, the frontrunner for a Republican nomination is the former president, the 45th president. We will win the election. We will win. We will win. There is too much at stake, and the American people know it. And I feel like that is what the Biden administration is planning to hang its hat on, right?

more of this fear mongering campaign about what a threat Donald Trump is, which isn't gonna work this time around. I am concerned about that. You look at the polling. You look at the average of the polls that have come out already, basically showing how Biden would perform against Donald Trump if the general election were to take place today. And it is too close to call. It's within the margin of error. They're neck and neck. So that is a legitimate question. It is a legitimate concern. But there are significant upsides and downsides. to both scenarios, the scenario where Biden decides, you know what, I'm going to drop out, I'm not going to run for re-election, and also the scenario where he decides to run for re-election,

because again, there is a decent chance that he could lose if he is up against Trump in the general. Yeah, so let me break down all the ways that this doesn't make sense. First of all, I don't, what do you mean you don't understand the question? Are you pretending to be surprised that Trump might win? He's winning right now in the polling. He's beating you in the polling right now. If you're surprised by that, retire, because that means you don't have any idea what's happening in American politics. If you're not surprised by that, why are you, what do you mean you don't understand the question?

What's the hard part of the question? I don't get it. She's just asking you, hey, you guys are tied? Are you taking him too lightly? And in a sense, she validates the question by taking him too lightly. She's like, oh, we're just going to win. Don't worry about it. We're going to win.

No, I'm worried about it. I'm really, really worried about it, which goes to the main thing she said. I know this is the most important election of our lives and said it. Then why are we running you guys? Both you and Biden are super unpopular. You're sitting in the 30s, in the 30s. Someone sitting in the 30s has almost no chance of winning, especially an incumbent. So why are we running you guys?

If it's the most important election of our lifetimes, by definition, we should not run you guys. Biden squeaked out of victory last time. He's down 15 points since then, 15 points, almost a 0% chance of winning. Okay, so I'm asking you guys to do this. TYT.com slash drop out, sign the petition, please drop out, please drop out. It can't be the most important election of our lifetimes, and we should run Joe Biden who can't finish a sentence. Sorry, it doesn't make any sense.

Well, over the weekend, he had some difficulty finishing a thought he had during a presser, he was holding in Vietnam. This was following the G20 summit in India. And I don't want to give too much away. Let's take a look at what happened. As a matter of fact, I think it's less likely to cause that kind of conflict. I don't, anyway, I just think that there are other things on leaders' minds and they respond to what's needed at time. And look, nobody likes having celebrated international meetings if you don't know what you want at the meeting. If you don't have a game plan, he may have a game plan. He just hasn't shared it with me.

But I tell you what, I don't know about you, but I'm going to go to bed. It's just not good. That's not good. It's very, very bad. So just to give you further context, he was asked by, a VOA reporter, whether him not meeting with Xi Jinping for the last 10 months is an issue, if that's leading to increased tension between the United States and China. And in answering that question, you can tell he kind of just trails off at one point and then announces his bedtime.

Yeah, look, guys, he basically did the equivalent of a red eye to get there and I get it. But this is not time to be self-effacing, especially as you're giving a meandering answer. that no one could really discern what you were saying. And you gotta stop saying things that make you look 200. So also in that trip, he referenced climate deniers and was insulting them. Great, awesome, no problem. He called them the same thing he did on the campaign trail in 2020. Lying dog face pony soldiers.

What is that? If that's a reference for the 1950s, it's lost on the rest of us. us. Stop it. Stop it. But he can't help himself. Because guys, once you're in your 80s, I love you. And it doesn't happen to everybody, okay? But sometimes you get stubborn. And sometimes you can't see things straight. And he's like, no, I'm gonna run. I'm gonna go take a nap. You lying dog face, pony soldier, corn pop, etc. This is madness to go into the election with Biden. Total madness. I don't care what anyone who, corporate media says. This is a near guaranteed defeat. So go ahead, go ahead. Oh,

you're helping Trump by pointing out things that are obvious. No, I'm trying to win the election. If it's really important, we have to win it. I'm not even worried about progressives anymore. None of them had the courage to run other than Marianne Williamson. I don't give a goddamn about them. I just want a human being who can beat Trump, which is the easiest thing in the world. Pick a guy off the street. Pick a guy off the street and he'll beat Trump. Because Trump is so on popular. The one guy who might not be able to beat him is that guy. But nope, nope, nope, we all have to bow our heads to power. Power is so important. Power can kiss my ass. We got to beat Trump and that's not the guy who's going to do it. Look, this is one of the hardest stories

I've had to make my mind up about in my entire career, really, because again, there are negatives to both scenarios. First off, I think that we're kind of discounting and downplaying And it's not our fault as part of the Biden administration's failure in marketing their accomplishments and their achievements. But I can't emphasize enough how good the NLRB has been under Biden, right? The fact that, yes, he squashed the railworker strike, but behind the scenes secured the PTO that the rail workers wanted, okay? The fact that he actually reworked, he didn't give up.

He reworked his student loan plan, forgiveness plan, and finally got something to pass that stands that will not be struck down by the Supreme Court. There are good things that have come out of the Biden administration. I am concerned about what will replace Biden. Just because I look at the options and I'm not happy with the options. But at the same time, I acknowledge that based on the polling, based on the average of the polls that have come out, there's a very good chance that Trump could beat Biden as it stands today. And that is a concern as well. So I hear what you're saying, but it is not as easy and it is not as black and white. It is, it's super black and white. Let me explain why I think that is. Okay. So it's not that Anna is wrong about what she's

saying. Biden accomplished 15, maybe even 20% of his agenda. Which is more than most Democratic presidents. Yes, for a Democratic president that's like, whoa, he bothered to do anything at all. True. Bravo, bravo, bravo. And not everything he said was a lie. Our bar is so low for Democrats. that when they do 15% of their agenda, we're like, well, that's not so bad, right? FDR 2.0. He didn't do voting rights. He didn't do higher minimum wage. He didn't do paid family leave.

He didn't propose public option. He didn't do 80% of his agenda at all, at all. So let's just be clear about that. But this isn't about that because I don't even have a progressive to run against them. Like literally no one will run because, oh no, what will the media say about me? Okay. Okay, go ask the congresspeople yourself. Go ask the politicians yourself.

You want to run, Jank. Okay, who would you wish progress? No, don't pull a mainstream media and tell me who would I rather? No, no, but I'm genuinely curious because I'm thinking about possible progressive candidates. Do you think I haven't thought about this? Of course I thought about this deeply. I can't think of a progressive that would have a shot at winning, genuinely, right? Honestly, what are the progressives I like is Rokana?

Okay, does Rokana have the name recognition necessary to eke out a win in the primary, especially against a sleaze ball like Gavin Newsom? So they're good to great progressives in the country. Of course, if they ran, would it be in this current environment with Biden still in the race? Would it be hard to beat Biden? Of course it would be hard to beat Biden because all of mainstream media is going to pile on top of you, crap all over you and say, how dare you raise your head? And they're going to try to banish you from the Democratic Party forever and ever,

let alone the character assassinations that are definitely going to follow. By the way, as they're urging Gavin Newsom to run. Yeah, of course, all the Chuck Todd's, all of them, all of them, they would go, come on Gavin, get in, get in, come on Gavin, come on Gavin, come on, you grow Connor, any progressive, you better not do it, okay? So I see, you see it with your own eyes, they, like the minute any progressive is suggested, they go, ha ha ha ha ha ha, and they laugh like that, they're maniacs. And meanwhile, he's fluffing Gavin, come on Gavin, you show you're the best corporate

candidate, I love how slick your hair is Gavin, okay, so I know you're gonna get hit with all of that, but I'm asking someone in politics, because if you're outside of politics, unless you're a billionaire, the press will hate you and will try to bury you, okay? So if you're in politics, I'm asking you to run because I need someone with courage, but we don't have anybody with courage. Let's keep it real. They're all following orders. So that's why I'm telling you, Anna, I've gotten to a Nader where I'm saying, I don't think we're going to get a progressive candidate to run other than Marianne and she's not pulling any closer right now. So I'm saying, I don't want to lose to Trump. Forget, forget anything but losing to Trump. And Biden is a near

guaranteed loss. His chances are near 0%. So I know you, that sounds crazy because they're tied in the polls, right? But incumbents have a massive disadvantage. That is why when an incumbent is under 50, he's in big trouble. This brother's down under 40. He's down under 40. He has almost no chance of winning. And the only reason why we're having this discussion is because corporate media tells you, you must bow your head to any Democratic leader.

It doesn't matter if he's 80. It doesn't matter if he can't finish a sentence. It doesn't, nothing matters. Nothing matters. You must listen to authority. And that is not a left-wing position. That is not a progressive position. Our position should be give us the best candidate and let him run.

Maybe one of the governors is halfway decent. Maybe Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania is not so bad. I don't know, give me any Democratic governor, even to the corporate stooges. In fact, most of them are corporate. I'm past that. Give me someone with a pulse that knows how to fight and can beat Trump. Instead of just sitting there like a lump on a like, he hasn't said one word about Trump. He hasn't said one word about what is, what he would do.

in his next term. He's barely running. He's barely breathing. And we're all supposed to bow our heads. No, this is not a close question. Give me anyone else. I'll take Bob off the street. Biden's going to lose. Here, I don't want you to quote me later. I don't want it to be Biden. I don't want to be proven right. We'll put the link down below. T.Y.t.com slash dropout. Get it to a million. Get it to a million. maybe the chucktons of the world will listen because they'll get excited that it'll be their friend Gavin Newsom or Gretchen Whitmerer or Pete Buttigieg. All right, when we come back from the break, we'll get into this pretty stunning interview that Chris Christie had on Fox News. He is not backing down from Donald Trump. That and more coming

up. Don't miss it. I don't know about you, but I'm going to go to bed. Stop. Do you know how fast you were going? I'm going to have to write you a ticket to My new movie, The Naked Gun. Liam Neeson. Buy your tickets now. I get a free chili dog. Chili dog, not included. The Naked God.

Tickets on sale now. August 1st. Donald's duty Barry, I'm amused by all of these, Charles Melanson. They all joined, everybody who joins is part of TYT and helps make this show possible. Thank you for bringing a little hope into the world and for letting us do honest news coverage. All right, let's move on to the Republican side of the election. Well, if he doesn't do any of the debates, Howie, you know, we're going to give him another chance. I'm sure he's not coming to the Reagan debate.

We'll give him another chance in Alabama. But if he doesn't come there, then I'm going to follow him around the country. wherever he goes, I'll go. And we'll wind up talking to each other one way or the other. And he knows that's true. You're going to change your travel schedule to go where Trump goes, just so I'm clear. You bet. Chris Christie is not backing down from Donald Trump.

In fact, he demands a debate with Donald Trump. Of course, he skipped out on the first GOP primary debate. And Chris Christie says, you know what, I'll follow him around the country if I need to in order to secure a debate. Now, he's very critical of Trump's decision to skip these debates and essentially skirt his responsibilities as a GOP candidate. And he even calls him a coward for avoiding the debate with eight qualifying candidates. He said, quote, there's no other conclusion to come to that he's both afraid of me and he's afraid of defending his record. And if I had his record, I'd be nervous about showing up too. So look, he still has a massive gap to close. Trump is still ahead by a lot. He's first

in the polling for the GOP primaries. Let me give you an example. This is the national GOP RCP poll averages, real clear politics, of course. So the average indicates that Trump is at 53.4%. DeSantis is at 13.9%. Ramaswamy is 6.8%. Haley is 5.9%. Chris, Chris, Christy doesn't even register on that poll. So it doesn't look good for Christie so far, although he seems to be doing pretty well in Iowa right now. So I don't know, I think maybe these attacks could be helping him a little bit. What do you think, Jank? He's not doing bad in Iowa, he's doing pretty well in New Hampshire where he's now pulled in his second place tie with Ronda Santis.

So the voters in Iowa in New Hampshire get a lot more politics than the rest of the country and a lot more attention. So they know the candidates a little bit better. And if you win in Iowa in New Hampshire, it could change the dynamics over all of the race. And so Chris Christie's a rare Republican candidate that could beat Trump, in my opinion. It would be extraordinarily difficult, near miraculous. I don't think it's easy by any stretch of the imagination. And he'd have to somehow went over the Trump guys who now despise him. And that are the great majority of the Republican Party, I'm aware of the odds, okay?

But the reason why I've said all along that he has a shot, because at least like the rest, unlike the rest of him, he's not a He's not afraid of hitting Donald Trump. It didn't take him months and months of polling and consulting to get to a point where he could lightly criticize Trump, which is where 80% of the other Republican candidates are. So look, now to the downside of Christie, he's done this before, which is follow Trump around the country. But back then he was his lap dog. That's right, and it didn't work out so well for him.

Yeah, so now all of a sudden he's a tough guy and he's fighting against Trump. But at least he's unreserved about fighting against Trump, and he's very clear. about it and I think that the voters in those two early states are are noticing. In fact, I would give him more suggestions on how to attack Trump as coward and weak, which are good lines of attack as opposed to racist or sexist, which is not a good line of attack in a Republican primary. So he's got the right strategy. Let's see if he can get some momentum in New Hampshire and Iowa, and if that translates into

any further momentum nationally. Now there are two other clips from his conversation with Howard Kurtz that I think are important to look at, especially because there's a different. line of attack, it's not quite the coward. He did obviously call him a coward, but there's something else that he's been calling Trump that I think could be effective. So let's take a look at the next video. There is a number in the latest Wall Street Journal poll. It really jumped out of me. It said that there was a 73% negative or disapproval rating among Republicans for you. And I wonder, is that the price you pay for coming out swinging? That's the price you

pay for telling the truth. And you know what, Howie, I don't believe that number will last. I absolutely, one, I don't believe it's accurate, but two, I don't believe it will last in whatever form it's in. But you can't decide whether they tell the truth or not based upon some poll that they take out of snapshot in time by the Wall Street Journal. What you have to do is tell the truth. Look, I agree with the sentiment, but it's not just one poll. He's not even registering in a lot of these polls. And what we showed you earlier was the average of the GOP primary polling. However, I do want to go to one more video, and I'll talk a little bit about what I think

Christie is doing right here. If Donald Trump had quietly retired to Mar-a-Lago and not contested the election, would you have run? Well, look, you know, I don't know what I would have done, Howie, but I would tell you this, that what he did on election night to me disqualified him from being president of the United States again. When you go in front of the American people and lie to them on election night and say that you know the election's been stolen, when you had no evidence then and you have no evidence now that it was stolen because it wasn't. He lost to Joe Biden. Now, I know his fragile ego can't deal with.

the idea that he lost to somebody like Joe Biden who had never beaten anybody outside the state of Delaware before. But guess what, Donald? You lost to Joe Biden. And everything Joe Biden is done to harm this country since then is your responsibility because your selfishness, your self-centeredness put him in the White House. I really think that the line of attack in calling Donald Trump a loser could also work, right? A coward and a loser. Oh, you don't like Biden? You don't like what Biden's done with the country? Obviously, I'm speaking as someone who would try to appeal or make a persuasive argument to Republican voters. If you don't like the Biden administration and everything that it's brought before you, consider the fact that Biden wouldn't be here if Trump weren't such

a loser, right? That could be an effective strategy. I mean, I could be wrong, but I'm very curious to see how it plays out. No, it's definitely the right strategy, definitely. But he needs to add more meat to those bones. So you've got to provide an example every time you go on TV. He's a loser, like his six bankruptcies. He just keeps losing. Then he lost to Joe Biden. Come on. Who loses to Joe Biden? Or next time you go on, who loses to Joe Biden? I can't believe he lost to Joe Biden. Isn't Joe Biden? Oh, nearly brain dead? I don't believe that. But I'm saying like, I wouldn't go that far. Let's put it that way. But for Republicans, they love that kind of talk. And then you You add, oh, remember, like he lost the case on Trump charity and the Trump University,

and he lost both those cases, and had to pay $25 million, and I had to pay $2 million because he was running a fake university and I would give a hundred other examples of how you knock him down with Republicans. But at least Christy is on the right path, and I don't see any other Republican on the right path. All other Republicans are either going corporate robot path, which is no chance of winning. or you've got Vivek Ramoswamy going on the, I love Donald Trump.

I would kiss Donald Trump on the left ass and the right ass. Yeah. Well, how are you going to beat him if you're too busy kneeling down and kissing his ass? So the only person that has any chance of success is Chris Christie in that primary, even though he's polling so badly. And I'm not in the mainstream group that's like, hey, I agree with Chris Christie. I bet Republicans agree with me. No, right now they don't agree with us.

But there's at least a pathway where you can get there as opposed to the others. But I wanted to quote one of our members because there's such a good point. Our guy wrote in, got to respect Christy's fighting spirit. Wish we saw some of that on the Democrat side. And that's what I, every time I look at Chris Christie, I think, how pathetic is the Democratic Party? There isn't a single person in the Democratic Party making the same point as Chris Christie is. You know that you guys are going to be very, very likely running against Donald Trump. He has a 40 point lead right now in the Republican primary.

But Joe Biden's like, no, I'm above it. Above it, above it, no, every day you don't attack Donald Trump on things that could hurt him, you lose voters. You lose more and more and more potential voters because you were too lazy or too ignorant about politics or too adult to figure out that Trump's your opponent and you've got to go fight them. If you leave the fighting of Trump to Chris Christie a Republican, that's basically Democrats saying we're losers. We don't even know how to fight. We're just going to just sit there and hope we win because our name isn't Donald Trump. It's pathetic.

All right, let's switch gears entirely and move on to the Senate, where, of course, we have a number of senators who are pretty up high there with their age, and Diane Feinstein is no exception. It's my job, it's my responsibility. If we have to do it, we'll do it. You can abide by your pledge? Yeah, interim appointment. I don't want to get involved in the primary. You would not appoint anybody on that is filed for this race. It would be completely unfair.

California Governor Gavin Newsom made it pretty clear to Chuck Todd over the weekend that if Senator Diane Feinstein were to resign before her term is up as a result of her age and as a result of her cognitive decline, of course, he would not appoint someone already vying for her Senate seat, namely progressive Barbara Lee. Now this is a prediction that Jank and I have had on the show. It is unsurprising to me that he is basically now taking back a promise he had made earlier. Newsom pledged multiple times in the past that he would appoint a black woman if Senator Dianne Feinstein were to step down like he did in this interview with Joy Reid back in 2021. If in fact, Diane Feinstein were to retire, will you nominate an African American woman to restore the seat that Kamala Harris is no longer in the United States Senate? And do you have a name in mind?

I have multiple names in mind. We have multiple names in mind, and the answer is yes. The answer is yes. Except, of course, one of those black women happen to be a progressive, and the Democratic establishment is trying to install an establishment politician in that seat instead. Now, Barbara Lee, who has entered the Senate race in California, is a black woman. She is a progressive. Katie Porter and Adam Schiff are also vying for that same Senate seat.

But as I mentioned earlier, Schiff is the establishment favorite to replace Feinstein. And that's the reason why Gavin Newsom doesn't want to appoint a black woman, because as soon as he does, she is then the incumbent, right? She would have to, of course, defend that seat in the Senate race. But there's a better shot at her actually remaining in place. And Gavin Newsom is very, very concerned, allegedly about keeping keeping the election fair and therefore will not choose her as his appointment. One more video. Let's take a look.

We're aligned with with Feinstein in her office. Sounds like you hope you don't have to make another appointment. No, I don't want to make another appointment. I don't think the people of California want me to make another appointment. Because you'd end up pointing both seats. Yeah. Yeah. And I don't think that's, you know, that said, it's my job. It's my responsibility. If we have to do it, we'll do it.

You're going to abide by your pledge? Yeah, interim appointment. I don't want to get involved in the primary. So you would not appoint anybody on that is that is filed for this race. It would be completely unfair to the Democrats that have worked their tail off. That primary is just a matter of months away. I don't want to tip the balance of that. But you're going to abide by it would be essentially a caretaker, an African-American one.

We hope we never have to make this decision. But I abide by what I've said very publicly on a consistent basis, yes. And look, the other disadvantage that Barbara Lee has at the moment is that, of course, Schiff and Porter have outraised her in this election. So they have far more resources to run against her. But, you know, it is incredible to me that Gavin Newsom is pretending like his top concern here is fairness. And also this notion, like he wants the cookies when he's asked by Joy Reed whether he will appoint a black woman, right? He wants to appear inclusive. He wants to play the identity politics just right for the Democratic voters.

But when push comes to shove, when the situation gets real, and when he has an opportunity to appoint a progressive black woman, well, she's a progressive. And my buddies in the Democratic Party want shift in that seat instead. So no, I'm not gonna do it. That's what's really going on here. So look guys, I feel like sometimes I hurt people's feelings when I say things that are about politics. So like you guys know, right?

Most of you that watch the show know. Like they're, none of this stuff is true. So he's like, I just don't want to make another appointment. You've made countless appointments. Now you're drawing the line all of a sudden when it would be a progressive. Now all of a sudden you're worried about making appointments. Just wants to be fair, James. Now every time you made an appointment, it was for a corporate establishment Democrat.

But the minute you said a black woman and Barbara Lee's the obvious choice, all of a sudden you don't want to make appointments anymore, okay? You just found that that was somehow that was a straw that broke the campus, not because she's progressive. No, no, no, no, no, no. Just because that was just the exact right limit number of appointments. Come on. And with the voting months away, is it? It's not that close. No, it's not. And by the way, Feinstein has been in the situation for years. But you didn't want to appoint Barbara Lee because she's a progressive and you want Adam Schiff to win because he's from your wing of the party, corporate establishment, Democrat, and you guys and

Nancy Pelosi are work very closely together, you have an alliance, and then you pretend that you care about Diane Feinstein, like you guys are real friends, he said that many times in that interview. If my friend clearly had dementia, I wouldn't wheel her into the Senate for my own political purposes. It's disgusting. So I don't believe a word you're saying, and we know exactly why you're not appointing Barbara Lee. And by the way, I'm not necessarily in favor of Barbara Lee for that Senate seat. I might rather vote for Katie Porter. I haven't made up my mind.

And yes, it would give Barbara Lee a little bit of an advantage over Katie Porter. But I, unlike Gavin Newsom, actually care about things that are right and fair. You said you to appoint an African American woman. Clearly someone has to be appointed. Diane Feinstein no longer has a mind. Sorry if that hurts your feelings. But she doesn't. She literally has no idea what's going on.

None and everyone knows it. It's a joke, you're making a mockery of the system. And then you wonder why people lose faith in institutions. Yeah, I mean, look, there are two issues here in my opinion. So issue number one is we literally have a United States Senator in the Senate who is unable to do her job and cannot function due to her cognitive decline and her her age. I mean, we see it, we've all seen it. She missed several months of the session because of the fact that she was ill with shingle.

And then they wheeled her into the Senate, you know, and she looked like a mess. It is insanely cruel and it's awful. So there's that side of it. There's also the fact, and this is a bigger, broader point that I'm trying to make about the Democratic Party, namely slimy politicians like Gavin Newsom. They want all of the kudos and they want all, like they want the admiration and the applause for appearing as though they care about diversity, appearing as though they care about equality in America. when in reality all they want to do is engage in theater and shallow gestures that they're hoping they'll never be held accountable for. But here it is, Gavin Newsom all of a sudden, his worst nightmare comes to fruition where people are holding his feet to the fire and asking him, well,

now's your opportunity, are you going to hold to your promise? And he's refusing to do it while pretending to be the moral one, right? That's the other part that drives me crazy, the moral grandstanding, pretending as though you're doing this because you're trying to be fair. How is it fair for the people of California to currently be represented by a United States Senator who cannot do her job, who doesn't even remember the fact that she gave her daughter power of attorney? Yeah, she doesn't remember that she said she wasn't going to run again. She doesn't remember the thing Chuck Schumer told her just a minute ago. She doesn't remember which hearing she's in. This is absurd. Guys, do you see it?

This is the gaslighting that media does. Like, this is not a debatable issue. She has no ability to do that job right now. But it's become a debatable issue because why? Because now it's like, well, how much, on the one hand, she's clearly not capable of it. On the other hand, we must kiss the ass of the powerful and never question them. That's not an on the other hand. No, she's got to go.

Look, if you said to me, he's going to put Adam Schiff in there, I would still say yes. even though that was unbelievably unfair and the exact opposite of what he said. Why? Because we don't have a senator right now. We don't have a senator. You're destroying our faith in the institutions. One last thing that's a total nightmare about this. Because of Feinstein, they won't criticize McConnell, who also is having massive cognitive issues.

So the Democrats have unilaterally surrendered on criticizing the heart of darkness, Mitch McConnell, because of Feinstein. And by the way, it's not her fault. She doesn't even know what's going on right now because of Gavin Newsom and Nancy Pelosi that are doing this facade and this charade with Feinstein's seat. So Barbara Lee responded to Gavin Newsome's statements in that interview with Chuck Todd. I want to give you her statements which she posted on X. I'm troubled by the governor's remarks. The idea that a black woman should be appointed only as a caretaker to simply check a box

is insulting to countless black women across this country who, have carried out the Democratic Party to victory, or carried the Democratic Party to victory, election after election. And she goes on to talk about the history of the Senate and how little black representation there is in the United States Senate, especially among black women. So, you know, she's right in all of that. But it's, look, if you're expecting Gavin Newsome to stay true to his promises, you're putting your faith behind one of the sleazyest politicians in the country. All right. I mean, look at what? what he's saying basically. He's saying, I'll only appoint an African American woman if she's a

token. Yeah, that's exactly right. But that's what they do, Jank. That's unbelievable. That is what they do. That is what they do. They weaponize race. They weaponize identity for their little political stunts. But when they have the opportunity to prove what they mean, they never do. Because they don't care about those issues at all. They never have, they never will. What they care about is their own political power. Gavin Newsom has proven that time and time again in this state, in California. So in this case, they're saying the quiet part out loud. They're saying if it's going to be Barbara Lee, and by the way, for those of you who don't

know, Barbara Lee was a sole vote against the war in Afghanistan. That lasted 20 years. It was an absolute disaster. She had the courage after 9-11 to say this is not the right war. This is imperialistic, okay? So they don't want to put in a strong, independent-minded black woman. They're literally saying we will only do this if it's a token black woman who will do what she's ordered to do. It's disgusting.

All right, we got to take a break. We'll be back with a pretty crazy story involving Ginny Thomas, that is Justice Clarence Thomas's wife. And a non-profit she founded just a few days prior to Citizens United. The story's incredible. Don't miss it. We'll be right back. Jenk, Anna, Derek Taylor, and Kerry Patterson. They just hit the join button below and became American Heroes. We can't do the show without the members and we love you guys. For it, Vegas, Vegas Jester, gifted a membership, CDN, Norse Dog Dragon, Dog Dad, sorry, gifted five, and Croker 47 gifted five.

Thank you for doing that for others. Fight for someone you don't know. Love you. Casper. All right. It's well known by now that former President Donald Trump really went to great lengths. in attempting to conceal or hide the fact that he was in possession of highly classified documents. But according to a new exclusive report by Jonathan Allen over at NBC, that wasn't the only place,

Mara Lago wasn't the only place where Donald Trump was hiding some of these confidential materials. In fact, let's watch Allen explain what the latest reporting and the latest revelations in this story entail. Donald Trump has a post-presidential office, as all presidents do, already set up, paid for by the taxpayers, but he's handling things a little differently outside the, sort of outside the lines. Here's a guy who says that his name, Trump, the brand, is worth billions of dollars. If you go visit his office in West Palm Beach, Florida, it'd be hard to find the address because they don't publicize it. You would find that there's no name on the door. There's no official seal, no unofficial seal. But in addition to that, there's some really interesting things about this office.

Number one, there was classified material that was sitting in that office when Moralago was rated. That was later moved to Marilago. That's part of the reason that the Justice Department prosecutors asked Trump's team, his legal team, to start searching other places. And so this office was searched by a private firm on behalf of Trump's lawyers. But it has not been searched by the FBI, or at least there's no indication that it's been searched by the FBI. People who have seen it have said that there are boxes, bankers' boxes like the ones you saw in Marlago

piled all over the place. So there's some concern that this little-known office, that Donald Trump has, contains more of these classified documents, and what's really interesting about the reporting here is that it appears that Trump is going to some pretty great lengths to also hide the existence of this office. So as you heard from the video, Alan mentions that Trump doesn't even have his name on the office, and he loves to put his name on everything, including his offices. And a Trump spokesperson even denied the existence of this office, even though we know that it does in fact exist, as you heard in the video, Trump's lawyers

have searched this office to see if there were any additional classified documents within it. And the spokesperson told NBC News, I've never even heard of a North Flagler office, and that's from Trump spokesperson Stephen Chung said to NBC News when asked about the suite on Wednesday. And there is also record of employees affiliated with Trump working at that office. So that office does in fact exist, several Trump aides on the payroll of his Save America Political Action Committee, his 2024 presidential campaign, or both have worked at the post-presidential office since it opened two years ago, according to campaign finance records and people familiar with the office. I don't understand why this man is making it so difficult for

himself, because had he turned over the classified documents, as soon as the federal government asked for them. He would have never been raided, and he would not be prosecuted on this issue. I know the answer. And I'm, but I'm very curious what MAGA's answer to that is. Why won't he turn over the documents? What's wrong with him? Because the excuse was, oh, that's just his memorabilia. His memorabilia is so important to him that he keeps risking whether he's going to win the election or whether he's going to lose to Joe Biden. He's, You guys think Joe Biden winning is like the worst thing in the world. And he's risking that for memorabilia?

Why don't you guys ask him? Hey, knucklehead, why do you keep holding on to documents? Have you turned everything over? I guarantee you if you ask him right now. He's just, oh, of course I have. And then when you find out new documents that he lied to you about, you're going to go back to no lies are awesome. I love lies.

Keep telling me lies. And memorabilia is so important, you should risk the Republicans losing the election to Joe Biden. Go ahead. The same guys who chanted, let's go branded, are going to be like, yes, let's make Joe Biden have a better chance of winning. Because Donald Trump wanted some papers left over from Kim Jong-un, his love letter that he bragged about. Okay, okay, it's your funeral in that says. I mean, look, I think the Democrats are nuts to go into this election with Biden, and I think the Republicans are nuts to go into this election with Trump. Both parties are trying so hard to lose this election. I've never seen, and they both say it's the most important,

election of our lifetimes. So why don't you guys pick someone with a pulse? Anyway, back to this story. FBI, you better go to West Palm Beach right now and raid the living crap out of that office. Because now, not only do we know that Trump is hiding documents there, but the whole world knows. The Chinese and the Russians and everyone else is probably rushing to that office right now to break in. So go, go, go, go, and don't worry about the politics. Oh, but Donald Trump's going to cry. Who cares about his stupid crying? Go get the document. You know, they never even found the one that he was bragging about at Benminster, where he's like, you see, this is our war plants to attack Iran.

They never found that document. I don't know if it's with Ivanka right now. I don't know or Ivana. I don't know if it's in West Palm Beach. But hey, clown of the earth, Donald Trump, where's the goddamn document about our plants to invade Iran? Nope, no, go ahead, go ahead. Oh, we love the traitor. We love the traitor.

Go ahead. He's anti-establishment. There's a million people who are anti-establishment. Pick someone else. Again, I just can't emphasize enough. Had he just returned the documents when he was asked to return then, he would not have to deal with special counsel Jack Smith prosecuting him for refusing to turn the documents in.

He wouldn't be prosecuted for the mishandling of classified documents. This is really a huge issue that he brought upon himself. So when you talk about the baggage that Trump has, the legal baggage that Trump has, You have to consider that this isn't some baggage that the Democratic Party forced upon him. It's baggage that he packed those bags himself. He's still packing him. And I don't understand. Like, I mean, look, you explained what you think he's doing here or what his motivations were.

I think that's a good, you know, piece of speculation. But how do you continue the nonsense after you've been indicted in the classified documents case? Because he's I just, he's pathologically stupid. He's pathologically criminal, and he's pathological liar. He can't help himself. If you said to him, hey Donald, there's a document there that you could sell the Saudi Arabia for millions of dollars, but it could cost you your freedom. You have a 75% chance of going to jail to turn the document over.

He's like, no, I don't have the document. Because he can't help himself. That's why it's pathological. He's an unbelievable liar. So, okay, MAGA, here, ahead of time. Maybe it's fake news. I don't know, I didn't do the reporting, right? Maybe they go into the office and it's not true, okay?

But if it is true and he was still hiding documents when he said he turned everything over, will that affect you at all? And you know what the answer is? No, you'll pretend he was persecuted. Who the hell made him put it in the West Palm Beach office? Who made him lie? Pence and Biden voluntarily did their, looked into their own apartments, the houses, etc. some documents and handed it over.

Why doesn't he just hand them over? All right. And guys, look, I'm going to say it. I've said it before. Yes, this part is speculation. Okay, the rest of it is facts. This part is speculation. Why does he hold on incredibly valuable documents? To sell them, because he's a loser. He never made any money. He spent his dad's money. He's out of the money now.

He spent NBC's money. He doesn't have any left. That's why he's hawking T-shirts and you've seen it. He's hawking t-shirts. Which billionaire hawk's t-shirts online when he's running for president? No, the loser lost all his money. And all of a sudden some money comes from where? Saudi Arabia for golf tournaments. Huh, who did he help tremendously?

Saudi Arabia. And all of a sudden, his son-in-law gets $2 billion from the Saudis. Who did he help? The Saudis. And you all know it? And you all know it? And you know who would love that document about how to invade Iran? The Saudis.

the top enemies of Iran. Okay, no, no, Donald Trump would never sell something, even if he thought he could get a billion dollars for it. Okay, believe any pretty little lies you want. Nothing I could do to help you. All right, that does it for the first hour. When we come back for the second hour of the show, we sent our very own Michael Shore over to South Dakota

to speak to Trump supporters at a Trump rally. We'll talk a little bit about their views on economic populism and specific issues like paid family leave when we come back. Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work, listen ad-free, access members-only bonus content, and more by subscribing to Apple Podcasts at apple.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.