The Young Turks - Justice Dem Rampage

Episode Date: August 2, 2021

Pelosi, Democrats call on Biden to extend the eviction ban. Senate finishes crafting the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure proposal, setting the delicate debate in motion. Manchin says there is no guarantee the reconciliation package will pass. When asked about a carveout vote to circumvent the GOP’s filibuster agenda in order to support voting rights, Joe Manchin is a big no. Jimmy Dore and his wife are discouraging people from voting for, or supporting, Nina Turner.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to The Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. All right, welcome the Young Turks, Jake U Granite Kisparan with you guys. So, wild, interesting show today. We will be calling out a lot of people. It had to happen. It's going to happen.

We came to play. Okay. So folks online will be called that. But predominantly, especially in the beginning, Democrats will be called on. But then other Democrats will be given credit because it's called judgment. Look into it. You've got to use your mind. And our audience does and we love them.

And you guys are the smartest audience in the world. All right. So tons and tons of Democrats to call out, unfortunately. And of course, later, some Republicans as well. So let's get started. All right. Well, unfortunately, we begin with some negative news. The eviction moratorium has officially expired, leaving millions of Americans living on the edge,

not knowing whether they're going to be evicted soon or not, but they're certainly vulnerable to eviction. Now, in order to protest the fact that this has happened, it is expired without Congress doing anything about it, without the executive branch. under Biden doing anything about it. Cory Bush and progressive members of Congress slept out on the steps of the Capitol to make a point. I wanna go to a short interview with Cory Bush,

where she speaks to democracy now about what motivated her to do this. You were joined by several Congress members, is that right, Friday night, Ilhan Omar, Iana Presley. All slept out on the steps? Yes, yes. Slept on the steps and let me just say that it's not comfortable. We cannot lay. There is a law here that you cannot lay down on the Capitol steps. So we have to sit up in a chair or sit up on the steps. So that's how we slept sitting up. And we've done that every night since. And it gets cold. at night. It was really cold last night. Last night, I feel

was the coldest night that we've, since we've been out here. It was raining back and forth. And so to have other members out here at night, Representative Mondair Jones came out here last night. We have to have more bodies, more Congress members to show up. This is the thing. We can't take the glory if we're not willing to go through the There's grime happening right now. So go through the grime. And what you're looking at in that video is a group of progressive lawmakers, the only lawmakers who tend to fight for us while corporate Democrats couldn't wait to go on recess. I should also note that it seems as though both the executive branch and members of Congress decided to pass the buck on the situation.

It wasn't until the last moment that the Biden administration responded back to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. to let her know. Hey, you know what? We're worried that the Supreme Court is going to rule against us if we extend the moratorium. So you guys do it through Congress. It's the final hour you have one day. And as members of Congress were packing their bags ready to go on recess, because that's much of what they do these days, they couldn't get enough votes or enough lawmakers to agree to stay behind and vote in favor of an extension to the moratorium. But it doesn't matter. Look, I want to be clear about one thing. The executive branch under emergency situations and a global pandemic is certainly an emergency situation. Rising COVID numbers in the United States is certainly an emergency situation. Biden could have used the tools in his toolbox to call for an executive order extending the moratorium for a little longer until governors finally dole out the federal funding that was appropriated by Congress in the coronavirus relief bill in the form of rental assistance. Okay, buy them time, do it. But of course, of course, Biden's not going to do it.

Biden's never going to go out of his way to help the American people. He's just going to pass the buck and say, oh, Brett Kavanaugh says that we can't do it. Brett Kavanaugh says he can't do it. All right, well, why don't you, why don't you just buy some time and see how it plays out in the courts, in the very least. But we'll see how this plays out for people who are living on razor's edge right now. Right. So let's do nuance here and call out all the people that need to be called out while telling you how I think that this needle could be threat. So first off, and by the way, some things require no honest and others don't.

So first of all, the good guys, no question about it, Cory Bush, American hero here. And so look, I got arrested on those capital steps once, and that was an uncomfortable day. We were protesting money in politics, it was Democracy Spring. And it lasted the whole day. We got the zip tied and all that stuff. And it was a tough day. She's been out there for day after day after day. And she's sleeping out there.

That is much, much tougher, right? And so she's putting herself out on the line and is taking personal courage. Others that joined her, AOC, Ianna Presley, it's Mondere Jones, et cetera. She'd also get a ton of credit. But Corey's leading it. She's the one there the whole time.

But it's not just about her courage, guys. That's not the only reason why she's a hero. The other reason is because she has the courage to call out Democratic colleagues. So now she's doing it in a diplomatic way, but it is crystal clear. And AOC is doing it on television as well, okay? They're both doing it. And so now that gets to the bad guys. Well, who are the bad guys?

Okay, Republicans are gonna vote against an eviction moratorium, of course. And so, but they have no power in the house. So they're bad guys, but irrelevant. So then that leads you to Democratic leadership. There's Pelosi and there's Biden. Now Pelosi says, well, I wanted to do it, but we've got the Supreme Court decision late. It was in June. I think we've had all of July.

We thought Biden was going to do it. Well, maybe you should have asked them. But, you know, that's why we all went on a seven-week vacation. Wait a minute, those things don't connect. I'm going to come back to her because she's actually the one, I would argue, most at fault, even more so than Biden. Okay. So then you go to Biden, Biden says, well, you know, I don't really want to do the eviction

mortgage. I mean, I do. Classic Biden. I want to do it. By golly, gee, the Supreme Court won't let me. That's where we really need nuance. So go ahead and then I'll- Yeah, so he's basing his decision on Brett Kavanaugh floating the idea that it is unconstitutional

to extend the moratorium. Test him, test him, do it anyway. time for the American people, because as I said, the coronavirus relief funding for rental relief specifically has not been given out to people yet, meaning that they do not have the financial means in many cases to pay rent or pay for their mortgage to avoid eviction, right? We need to extend the moratorium. But even if it's a few weeks, even if it makes its way to the courts and the Supreme Court rules against it.

But Biden was unwilling to do it, it's not even really much of a risk. I mean, what is he risking in doing that? And then in terms of Congress, look, I don't know, there's a possibility that Nancy Pelosi isn't telling the truth. There's a possibility that AOC isn't telling the truth. But they argue that they have been badgering Biden about getting this extension done, and that he didn't reach out to them until the final hour. So this is according to reporting from Politico, by the way.

Some Democratic lawmakers have privately said that they're outraged by the debacle and the lack of notice from the White House, which on Thursday of last week urged Congress to pass legislation extending the ban to give state and local governments more time to disperse $46.5 billion in rental aid authorized earlier this year. The plea arrived just before the national halt on evictions was set to expire this weekend. And so in response to that, Nancy Pelosi said this, quote, really, we only learned about this yesterday, meaning the White House's decision against extending the moratorium. Not really enough time to socialize it within our caucus to build the consensus necessary.

So that's what she was referring to there. Initially, I was under the assumption that Pelosi was completely unaware of the looming expiration date for the moratorium. But that was a misread. She apparently was referring to the White House and what they had informed Congress about in the final hour. So we haven't even gotten to the main culprit yet, but let me go back to Biden. Then I'm going to come to Pelosi. So the Democrats always have a thousand excuses for not doing their job or not doing what they promised, right?

In fact, I actually want to read a real quick YouTube super chat here. We involve our members in the super chat community on YouTube and Twitch, et cetera, as well. So Peter Hamby wrote in COVID pandemic lockdowns, failures of raising the minimum wage, closures, political shenanigans, but sure, tell the US people not our problems. And we get that from the Democratic Party all the time. And now they're all finger pointing at one another. Oh, Biden, Pelosi, this, that, the other thing, right? So again, to absolutely clarify who the culprits are here.

So Biden could have acted on it early, Biden could act on it right now. And then so his new excuses, well, okay, I could have acted, but I didn't. I might act, but I won't. And so the Kavanaugh says that he might act, so preemptively, I'm going to surrender. And then people are like, that's so absurd, you've got to come up with a better excuse. because your excuse are flailing here, they look ridiculous. So it says, oh, I got a new one, I got a new one. The new one is, what if Kavanaugh and the Supreme Court do act, and it says a new precedent

that allows us to not take action on other things? Oh, don't worry, you don't need the Supreme Court for that. You guys have already got that on lockdown. Yeah, what do you need? So that your argument is I'm going to not do anything just in case the Supreme Court tells us that we can't do anything. Okay, so now look, to you and I, that's an obvious excuse. that's an obvious excuse to Washington media. They think that's perfect.

We got it, good enough. All we're looking for is something to hide behind, right? You give me a fig leaf. Okay, the fig leaf is we're worried about precedent. But even if that were true, which it's not. Okay, what you could do is you could extend the moratorium, then get Congress back in, and then pass it through Congress, and then pull the executive order so that it never goes to the Supreme Court. There, I solved your problem.

And that is, no question about it. Look, it doesn't take a lawyer to know this, but I am a lawyer because it's one of the easiest legal principles. At that point, the Supreme Court cannot consider it. It will be moot. They cannot consider an issue that is already resolved. So they can easily extend the moratorium now and buy enough time for the House to actually vote.

But Biden presumably knows that. God, I hope to God they know that. That is bare minimum legal doctrine, right? But they're not doing anything. So if you're wondering why, if you're new to this. game and you read the New York Times and you watch CNN and you think the Democratic leadership actually are honest and you're shocked by this. Why? Real estate interest, period. It's so obvious. Real estate interests are gigantic political donors. Bingo. Okay, eviction. Those guys that are

getting evicted, they don't have enough money for rent. You think they have enough money for political donations? Okay, there's no way they care about them. They care about the donors. How many reporters are reporting on that nearly zero. But I still haven't gotten to the main culprit, but Anna, go back here. No, I mean, you, you nailed it by mentioning the real estate companies or the, you know, the real estate interests behind this. Because remember, what did Black Rock do during this pandemic? What was their top investment, single family residences, that they purchased not for the purposes of flipping them and selling them, But for the purposes of turning those homes into rentals.

Now, keep in mind that Blackstone didn't even really care if there was a moratorium or not, and still evicted people in some of these red states because they knew that the Republican governors would offer the cover that they needed. But now that there's been complete inaction in our federal government in regard to protecting people, what do you think Blackstone's going to do? What do you think BlackRock is going to do? These companies that have invested in single family real estate, they're going to evict people who aren't able to pay their rent because they want to make a return on their

investment. That's really at play behind the scenes. And that's not being talked about nearly enough. Actually, I haven't seen any other show mentioned that. No other show has mentioned that, right? We're not talking about people who are engaging in good faith right now on this issue. And that's the part that frustrates me even more, right? Where they pretend like they're concerned about the best interests of their voters, of the American people. But when push comes to shove after You're having a few meetings with real estate interests. No, I mean, what could we do? We're scared of Brett Kavanaugh.

That's how we fight for you. Please vote for us in the midterm elections. Okay, great. I mean, look, when it comes to the rest of the media, it's tough slog out there because let's break it down real quick. The right wing is saying throw the bombs out. Who cares? We don't care about our fellow people, right?

Oh, if the private equity says it, let's do it. Who cares about actual average Americans? We hate them, right? So that's the right wing. By the way, if you say, oh, that's an exaggeration, go ask any right-winger. They're all against ending the eviction moratorium. So they all want to, I'm sorry, they all want to end the eviction moratorium so they can evict more people. And I mentioned private equity there because real estate interests donate a lot on the local level and the state level,

because that's where a lot of their interests are. But now, as Anna has pointed out, some of the largest private equity companies in the world have gone into residential real estate. And those guys donate at the national level, mega donations, both for the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. Okay, so now that leads us finally back to our actual cooperation. Oh, sorry, to finish up the right-wing media, of course, wants the evictions. Mainstream media says, oh, trust the politicians, Biden and Pelosi must mean what they say. We're just going to report what they say as if it's true when it's not anywhere near true. It's outlandish, right?

And then you go to the crazy left, and the crazy left is like, it's Corrie. Bush's fault. What? It's progressive soul. No, they're the ones fighting back. They're the only ones fighting back at great personal cost. So there's just lunatics all around. The reality guys is look at the power, follow the money, and find out what the real answer is. You could do that with us, you can do it without us, but things that are logical. So in this case, when Nancy Pelosi says, it was Biden, squirrel, Biden, right? Well, there's some truth to that as we just explained, But she could just pass it in the House and then they wouldn't need Biden. So why did she take a seven week vacation?

Because the conservative Democrats in the House don't want it. But it's- But it goes a little more further than them not wanting it. And they're the real culprits. They're the biggest opponents here. They're the ones blocking action. It's not just the conservative Democrats don't want it. They don't even want to vote on it. Because if they voted on it, people would find out that they're the actual bad guys.

And they, and right now, Nancy Pelosi is covering for them because she knows the Democrat, the, it's a funny, Freudian slip. I was gonna say national media and I accidentally said Democratic media, and there's a lot of truth to that, not for progressives, but for Democratic leadership. So if Nancy Pelosi says something, nearly every national reporter will report it as a fact, even if it's absolutely wrong, they know it's wrong, and it's outrageously wrong. They can have a vote tomorrow. They can, she can call them back into the house and say, we're gonna vote.

Hey, you want to vote against it? Vote against it. What do I care? But let's get you on the record. But she doesn't want them on the record because she wants to trick voters into thinking they're good guys. But let them tell their donors, no, we delivered for you. And we crushed the average American on your behalf. And that's the shell game that Democratic leadership plays all the time.

And no one else really exposes for what it is. So now you know who the actual good guys and bad guys are. And to come all the way back around to the good guys. Cory Bush is killing herself out there. And I've seen her in interviews, she slept one hour, you know, she- And she knows what it's like because she was homeless herself before she was elected into Congress. So we're talking about a person who has a real connection to the American people who are struggling right now. This is not some corporate Democrat who doesn't know what the anxieties, the economic anxieties of the American people are.

Which is why she's out there fighting on people's behalf. And it's a sight to see this is what happens when you elect actual real people into Congress as opposed to individuals who are just looking out for their own financial interests. 100%. And look, we told you that just Democrats who are real people and they would have chance to be a hero. And that's what they're doing right now. And again, here they're having the courage to call out their Democratic colleagues and saying, we could vote on it now. They're choosing not to vote on it, right? So one last thing is, go help her. So I remember when we did the 99-hour filibuster, and I did 78 hours of it, I had no sleep, and it wasn't

out in the street, and it wasn't on steps, and it wasn't any of that stuff. So what Corey's doing is much tougher. But I remember it was exhausting, and when others came to help, it was a tremendous relief, and it was tremendous solidarity. Go out and join her, make that crowd a thousand people, 10,000 people, as many people as you could possibly get, so that it further puts a spotlight on it, further embarrasses the Biden administration, Pelosi, and the conservative Democrats, until they actually take action. Solidarity, and don't hound them. Obviously, some all left figures went out there and started yelling at her. Are you insane? Are you insane? Right, because they can't miss an opportunity to be counterproductive. Right. Sid Blumenthal's son, right? And Sid Blumenthal's a long time

Hillary Clinton advisor, he's the one who went out there and harassed Corey Bush while she was let alone others. Okay, anyways. Great. So, but go support her and you never know. And by the way, every hour she's out there and every day she's out there and you're out there, Biden gets more embarrassed. And today, all of a sudden at the White House, CNN reporter asked about, hey, what about the eviction moratorium? Do you think CNN would have asked that if Cory Bush wasn't out there? There's no way they would have asked that. Nobody would have given a damn. She drew attention to it.

That's why you fight. That's why it's called Good Trouble, right? Now good trouble has come to the White House, and now they've got to scramble and try to answer it when they're obviously the bad guys. So now there's a lot of pressure for them to turn around because their lie has been exposed. Thank you to Cory Bush and the other brave people

who help make that happen. When we come back from the break, we'll give you an update on both the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the reconciliation bill. Progressives are ready to play hardball, which is good news, and I'll give you the details on how they plan on doing it. We'll be right back. All right, back on Young Turks, Jane and Anna with you guys.

All right, a lot more news. Let's do it, Anna. Well, let's do a little update on the infrastructure bill, because there are members of Congress celebrating the agreement among lawmakers in regard to the bipartisan version of the bill, so let's talk about it. The Senate has released new details in regard to the bipartisan infrastructure bill, a much smaller bill compared to what is proposing the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill. The reconciliation bill, of course, includes everything that we'd like to see funded, including

funding for child care, elder care, climate action, and the like. Now, this 2,700-page bipartisan bill does include some funding for physical infrastructure that's incredibly important, but it does have some giant red flags, the number one red flag, of course, being what we've talked about on the show before, asset recycling. And that's something that Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke about during a conversation with Jake Tapper over the weekend. Let's watch. I want to be clear that the investments in the bipartisan bill are not all, you know, candy land. There are some of these, quote unquote, pay force that are very alarming that we need to see the language on.

For example, some of the language around privatizing public infrastructure, putting toll roads, leasing public infrastructure to private entities are very concerning and should be concerning to every American. So we really need to see that language and see what's put in there until it reaches, you know, when it reaches the house. Bipartisan doesn't always mean that it's in the interest of the public good, frankly. Sometimes there's a lot of corporate lobbyist giveaways in some of these bills. And she's right about that. As I mentioned, this bill, as it stands right now, is 2,700 pages long. We don't have too many details because you have to sit down and read every single detail of how that funding is appropriate. And more importantly, you know, there's going to be $579 billion in new spending.

And when they talk about the pay for us, because overall this is supposed to be a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal, they're talking about privatizing public infrastructure, which means that private companies will manage and control our infrastructure and implement various tolls and fees on the American people who need to use that infrastructure to go to and from work or to do anything, to travel, to get from one place to the other. And so I think that AOC is right in raising alarm on that issue. It's frustrating to see Democratic lawmakers celebrate this as if this is a giant victory just because it's being done in a bipartisan way.

You can have bipartisan legislation that's completely disastrous for the American people. So why don't we just hold, wait and see what's actually going to be in the final version of this bill. But more importantly, see whether there's going to be enough of a fight to ensure the passage of the reconciliation version of the bill, which is, of course, far better. Okay, what AOC did there was so important because, again, you've got to call out what's actually happening here. And there's, as we've explained many times now, there's two versions of this bill. There's a so-called bipartisan version that we're talking about here that has less provisions for climate change. less provisions for creating jobs, and we can go on and on. Now, there are parts of that bill that are good, and because of the pressure that progress is put on,

they actually did take out the part about toll roads and all the things that Anna was telling you about that we were deeply concerned about. By the way, when progress is threatened to withhold their vote, hey, look at that. You get leverage and you get results. So the worst parts of that bipartisan bill appear to have been removed because the pressure that AOC and other put on. So send her a thank you note. Now, having said that, we still believe that they should vote on the larger bill in the House first, because if they don't, if they vote on the so-called bipartisan version of it, I guarantee you that's the only thing that'll pass. In fact, not just

Democratic leadership, but the media now is gearing up to put pressure on progressives and everyone else to bow their heads and only pass a smaller version of the bill, the one that the Republicans agreed to. Okay? Now, why do I say that? Now, you might think that this is subtle, and I'm going to read you some of the things from just one of the articles that I read on this, but I see it throughout all the articles, and I saw them do this numerous times, especially on the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill. Okay, so first of all, the Washington Post explains the dollar or says, declares in its headline that this is a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. Only later in the article do they clarify, well, it's not really a trillion. They're repurposing about half of that from the COVID relief bill that already passed. So it's actually only $550 billion. Okay, $550 billion is not a bad number. Okay, in the context of the trillions that we're talking about for infrastructure, it's actually

relatively small. But at least be honest about what the number is, because they already passed the other portions. Claiming they're repassing it is totally pointless. It just gives them extra publicity for no reason, okay? Now, they describe it this way. Second paragraph, the package arrives after weeks of haggling among a bipartisan block of lawmakers who muscle through late night fights and near collapses to transform their initial blueprint into a roughly $2,700, I'm sorry, 2,700 page piece of legislation.

The fate of their labors now rests in the Senate. You see how it makes them sound like heroes? They're bipartisan and they fought so hard. And now all their hard work goes to the Senate. and let's see if something good can be made of it. These heroes, third paragraph, virtually no part of the U.S. economy is untouched by the plan chiefly put together by Senators Rob Portman and Kristen Sinema.

In other words, this is comprehensive and historic and unprecedented. It's exactly what they did with Dodd-Frank. And mind you, how did we find out Dodd-Frank was so weak? Because one out of 10 or 20 articles would tell you the truth. Paul Volker wants his name removed from the bill because it's so weak and it's not going to get any real reform done. They bury that in the middle of the newspaper, at one out of ten or so articles, right?

But nine out of ten articles are on the front page, historic financial reform. Obama holds Wall Street accountable. That just isn't true. And we know that because of other articles they have explaining that it isn't true when they actually get to the details. So what they're framing here is

the bipartisan people are the heroes. Right. And if you don't pass this heroic thing, Oh, you are against any action at all. No, but wait a minute. Progressives want more action, bigger action. No, you, so by the way, as always with our predictions here, you'll get to see it with your own eyes. We told you that they wouldn't do a $15 minute wage.

They all said they would. We told you they were liars, and we were right, and everyone else in national media was wrong. You saw it with your own eyes. Now we're telling you they're going to try to jam this bipartisan bill through, and the media is going to glorify it because they are corporate media, with corporate Republicans and corporate Democrats. Okay, informally so. There's no memo written, but that invisible hand works really well. Now, finally, that is why AOC also calling out in that CNN appearance and saying bipartisan isn't

necessarily good. It depends on what are we agreeing to. Oh, my God, it's the first time I've heard that logical point in decades on television. Maybe in my entire life, we've been made it on the Young Turks thousands of times. Yeah. Who cares if it's bipartisan? What's in it? She nailed that interview.

The entirety of that interview with Jake Tapper was pretty powerful. So definitely check it out. But I do want to give you a few of the, I guess where the spending is going to go so far. And remember, this is the bill as it stands today. It's going to go through debates on the Senate floor. They're going to make amendments to it. So who knows what the final bill is going to be. But just looking at the preliminary numbers, it's already.

abundantly clear that it's not enough funding to improve our crumbling infrastructure, which has not received the robust investment from the federal government that's necessary to keep the bridges from, let's say, collapsing, right? We just experienced bridges collapsing recently, which we reported on this show. Now, senators also said that the measure calls for $66 billion targeting passenger railways, which the White House says is the largest such investment since the creation of Amtrak nearly a half century ago. One thing I want to note is the reason why Republicans are on board in funding some of the physical infrastructure is because corporations need that physical infrastructure.

You think it's just like random private American citizens who need infrastructure? No, if you want commerce to run smoothly in this country, you need to have a functioning infrastructure in order in order to be able to do that. So there are corporate, like the US Chamber of Commerce is totally on board for the bipartisan version of this bill, because they get to benefit from it. They don't care about the American people getting to benefit from it. They want to make sure that federal money is used to improve infrastructure for their business purposes. Lawmakers also plan to set aside $55 billion to improve the country's drinking water. Oh, are they not merciful? Finally, including a program that seeks to replace every lead

pipe in America. This is a good thing, of course. There's an additional $65 billion to expand broadband internet access nationwide and ensure those who do not or do have connectivity can afford their monthly payments. And Senate lawmakers are pursuing additional sums to upgrade key commercial hubs, including potentially $25 billion for repairs at major airports. Now, Anna, all of that is good to really good, right? So credit where credit is due. But now, Now, if you notice, once they have the bipartisan agreement, mainstream media tells you it's wonderful and tells you all the great parts of the package, right? Now, will they do likewise for the $3.5 trillion bill that progressives want and Democrats claim

that they want and will get? Because that version of the bill has all of that times three or four, and then many other provisions that are also excellent and create potentially millions of jobs. So so far we've been had the three and a half trillion dollar version presented by the press as this thing that, you know, Democrats say that they want, but you know, is it really realistic? I don't know how we're going to pay for it. But now the pared down version of it, which again, if you just take into account new money, is one seventh the size of the progressive slash democratic version, right? Well, on that one, they say since we have corporate Republicans and Democrats, Democrats agreeing, it's wonderful. On the much larger one, the things that we told you are wonderful, when you make them even larger are not as good. So that's going to come soon, okay?

But the bottom line on all this, and go to t.yt.com petitions, because we want your help in pushing forward change, is in the Senate, they can vote in any order they like. But in the House, if they vote for the bipartisan one, the pared down one that we're telling you about. If they vote for that one first, we're screwed. You're never, ever, ever going to get the larger one. I don't care what Nancy Pelosi says. I've seen her lie dozens of times in exactly situations like this.

And then they'll say, oh, there was nothing we could do. Josh Gottheimer voted against it. And so did three other corporate Democrats. Oh, golly gee, right? No, you've passed the $3.5 trillion version first, then we could pass this version. And that's what the petition asked people to do. Not only show your support by signing it, but send it to legislators. And if you get them to say, yes, I agree with them.

this, please let us know, because then you're effectuating change in a positive way, and then we can get that to the press, and then the press will go, oh, no, now progressives are actually trying to do the right thing. So now they have power and they have leveraged, and now we're going to have to negotiate to see if we can get a larger deal. All right, let's take a break. When we come back, we'll talk about the progressive Democrat strategy in ensuring the passage of the reconciliation bill. We'll be right back. All right, back on TYT, Jankanana with you guys. We got more on reconciliation.

All right. When you brought up the federal deficit at a Democratic caucus luncheon on Tuesday, you were booed. I'm not sure. You were booed. I don't know if it may be boo no or no boo or something. Well, Senator Joe Manchin certainly deserves the booze because he's starting to make it more and more clear that he is not necessarily going to vote in favor of the Senate reconciliation bill on infrastructure. That's the $3.5 trillion bill that includes all of

the agenda items that both the Biden administration and congressional Democrats claim they want a champion that they want to pass. But unfortunately, corporate Democrats are standing in the way. Joe Manchin happens to be one of them. Now, Senators Kirsten Cinema and Joe Manchin and John Tester have expressed concerns that the Go It Alone plan, and of course their concerns about the go it alone plan means they're concerned about the reconciliation version of the plan, which can pass with a simple majority in the Senate. Mansion said he supported what the plan entailed, but was concerned about the price tag. And cinema spokesperson said the senator would give the package, quote, careful consideration.

John Tester told CNN the price tag was a quote, big amount. But he wasn't ruling anything out. And so the real question is, what are Democrats planning to do? We need to be clear about what Mansion is cooking up. But more importantly, what are progressives planning to do to fight back? And what are they doing with the leverage they have in the House? Before we get to the progressive Democrats, let's hear more from Mansion in this next video. Arizona Senator Kirsten Sinema, who is one of the other moderates among Democrats in the Senate.

She made headlines this week saying that a $3.5 trillion bill is too big for her to support. Now, I know you've said you're keeping an open mind. Sure. But you've previously said you're concerned about the debt and inflation. You've suggested you could back $2 trillion. Would you prefer this bill be smaller? Well, let me just say this out of respect for all of my colleagues who've worked so hard. And I respect them too.

hopefully they respect us for what we've been doing. The more moderate group or conservative group of the Democratic Party. But with that, you have to have a blend. So where they are right now, everyone should be concerned about debt. We're at $28, almost $28.6 trillion of debt. And our debt goes up $4 billion a day. If you're sleeping, if it's a weekend, whatever, it goes up $4 billion a day. Someone should be concerned about getting your financial house in order.

So I'm worried about that. I'm worried about inflation. But with that, we're going to pay for it. So let's see what to pay for is, if they're real. Let's see if the tax adjustments were gonna make. I didn't vote for the 2017. I thought it was weighted to the wrong side. So if we make some adjustments, are we gonna go overboard and make ourselves non-competitive?

I wouldn't be for that. Yeah, yeah, I'm sure Joe Manchin is really concerned about the debt. You know, he doesn't ever mention what the Federal Reserve is doing in keeping interest rates artificially low, which of course contribute substantially to inflation. Never ever mentions that. I'm sure that his own personal financial investments and dirty coal in the state of West Virginia has nothing to do with the fact that he's opposed to the reconciliation version of the infrastructure bill. I'm sure, I'm sure that this is all about good faith concern, Jank, about the federal

deficit. Because, you know, Manchin was concerned about the deficit throughout the four years of the Trump administration. He was constantly like ringing the alarm about it. No, let's keep it real. Let's stop pretending like this is a good faith argument. We know about his financial investments. We know that he's looking out for his own profit motives. This is not about the federal debt or the deficit. He does not care about that at all.

And reporters need to be clear about that when they're interviewing him and when they're covering the story. Okay, I'm going to put on the decoder ring in a second. But first, let me just say, it isn't just about mansion. It's all the politicians and all the media. So during the four years of Trump, we almost never heard about the debt or the deficit. Remember, they passed $2 trillion worth of tax cuts for the rich and for multinational corporations. Nobody talked about inflation. Remember anybody talking about?

No, there wasn't, right? And did anybody talk about debt and deficit? No, all of a sudden, we're counting down to the day how much we're spending. And there's a Democrat out there telling everybody, you better panic about the debt and the deficit. You didn't need to panic under Trump, but you need to panic now. But it's not just about Trump. It's not Democrats and Republicans. Remember here, the corporate Democrats and Republicans agree, and the corporate media agrees.

So when they did $4 trillion through the Fed for COVID relief for businesses, for large businesses, let alone the trillions they put in for large businesses through legislation, there was no talk of inflation. You're telling me that the Fed is going to print trillions of dollars, and at that point you're not concerned about inflation? that now you're concerned about inflation when we would actually create real jobs for average Americans. Now when it helps average Americans, all of a sudden they're all concerned about inflation.

When the Fed is printing money and handing it to the banks and handing it to corporations, trillion years of dollars at a time, not a peep about inflation or anything else. Guys, the hypocrisy is obvious. Every day these guys look like they're trying their hardest

to prove Noam Shomsky right. It's all about manufacturing consent, okay? And so in this case, let's put on the decoder ring and now decode what Manchin is saying. We just told you about debt and we just told you about inflation. So when he says inflation, that means business interests are not as interested in this. Okay, we took all the money, us and our donors, and now we don't want higher wages. Sometimes we don't necessarily even want higher jobs.

But most importantly, we don't want clean energy replacing dirty energy. Exactly, because Mansion, remember, a story that we covered just last week, Mansion makes half a million dollars a year off of his personal investment in dirty coal in the state of West Virginia. He makes more than double his congressional salary off dirty coal in the state of West Virginia. That's what this is about. And of course, listening to what his corporate donors want him to do like a good boy. He's just being a good boy for his corporate donors. That's who Mansion is.

And don't forget it. And finally, the last thing to decode is when he says that we're going, are we going to go overboard? In other words, no, when it comes to helping average Americans cut, cut, cut, cut, and make ourselves non-competitive. That's business lingo for, you know what, if we start actually, you know, holding corporations accountable or helping new industries, not old industries, I'm going to say, oh, all of a sudden we're not competitive. It's the oldest trick in the book. Oh, and then, oh, but they might have to move jobs abroad. They might have to move jobs out if we're non-competitive. It's a threat.

He's threatening your job. You better get back in line and do exactly what the corporations tell you. Meanwhile, we told you last week in a separate story, Joe Mansion is not doing anything about outsourced jobs from West Virginia. From my land, the company that's in West Virginia, and, well, it might have some. to do with his daughter getting a $30 million golden parachute for selling off that company to a company that's going to outsource all those jobs in West Virginia. So when it comes to actual jobs, he doesn't give a damn about being competitive or non-competitive.

This is all a scam to help the ruling class with what they want and him saying, oh, to pay for us, they have to be real. Even in his bipartisan version, they're not real at all. You know why? Because there, Biden at least half-heartedly, and the Democrats half-heartedly, said that they wanted this infrastructure bill paid for by raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations. Not by the whole amount that Trump cut taxes. Biden was arguing for about half, then a quarter, and now it's down to zero.

You want to pay for it, Mansion? It's easy. Let's tax your corporate buddies. Oh, you don't want that. You actually did agree with Trump, didn't you? Right? It's because of your corruption. Were any of those questions brought up or asked during the interview?

Of course not. It's corporate media. They played along with the Kabuki Theater. Now on the same episode of Jake Tapper's show, he interviewed AOC. So while Jake Tapper was interviewing Representative Alexander Ocasio-Cortez, he asked if there's a strategy in place in regard to corporate Democrats of the Senate, like Joe Manchin, Kirsten Cinema, John Tester, hinting that they would vote against the Senate reconciliation bill. on infrastructure. So how does AOC respond to that? Let's watch. We can't just have one body

driving the entire legislative agenda for the country. And frankly, 20 senators within that one body. And so we need a reconciliation bill if this bipartisan bill is going to get, if we want this bipartisan bill to pass. Now I know the infrastructure deal that they're talking about and Mansion said they're going to introduce it today. They're going to bring out the language is obviously a lot smaller than you wanted a lot smaller than a lot of your fellow progressives wanted. It still does include things that you like, including funding for electric vehicle charging stations, public transit, clean water systems, broadband, more. When it comes before the House, as it looks like will happen, will you vote for it?

It has to, we have to hold out to that, we have to hold on to that bargain. If there is not a reconciliation bill in the House, and if the Senate does not pass the reconciliation bill, we will uphold our end of the bargain and not pass the bipartisan bill until we get all of these investments in. And keep in mind that there are enough progressives in the House to block the bipartisan bill. And so that's the threat that AOC is issuing there in that interview. And in fact, there was a follow-up, and she doubled down on what she said. And I'll get to that in the second, but Jake.

Yeah. So this is using your power. That's exactly how you use your power. Okay, Manchin says, and Cinema says, we have to respect them. Well, they gotta respect us. We need their votes in the Senate? Well, guess what? You need my votes in the House.

And so they're committing to what we wanted and what progressives were. wanted and what we would have a petition about that you should sign and send to others, t.y.com slash petitions. We're not going to vote on your version of the bill, the Republican version of the bill until we vote on the Democratic version of the bill. So I don't understand why any Democrat wouldn't assist on that. So unfortunately for pretty much my whole life, we've had Democrats even once pretending to be progressive in the past that would never insist on their positions. And their go-to mantra was because they were paid to lose by their donors was, well, there was nothing we could do, right? Now here's AOC saying, no, there is

something we could do. We could vote no, and we will. If she sticks to that, it'll be excellent. It'll be exactly how you're supposed to do politics, including hardball, and they will get a larger package because they're now finally at the negotiating table. And look, progressives should receive positive reinforcement when they issue these types of threats. Because they are, it's clear that they understand the leverage that they have. Now it's really up to them to use it and to flex that muscle. And so when she was asked about it again, here's how AOC responded. So when it comes to the infrastructure package, you disagree with your fellow Democrat,

Congresswoman Alyssa Slotkin of Michigan, who told political, quote, strike while the irons had. If you get a deal and if it's significant money, don't let it sit. It does not age well. You disagree. Well, we have, we have a deal. And the deal is reconciliation for the bipartisan. and infrastructure bill.

Okay, yeah, you've made your point. You have called out Arizona Senator Kirsten Cinema for saying she does not support the budget reconciliation package, $3.5 trillion for all sorts of priorities. You wrote, quote, good luck tanking your own party's investment on childcare, climate action, and infrastructure, while presuming you'll survive a three vote House margin. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing, this is a deal. And we have a tight margin in the Senate, I respect that we have to get Senator you know, cinema and mansions vote on reconciliation. They should also respect that there's a very

tight house margin and that we have to be able to uphold our end of the bargain as well. And House progressives are also part of that, of that majority. How many House progressives do you think are with you on this? I believe a very large amount of the Progressive Caucus. The total amount is about 90. I, you know, I'm not the whip of the Progressive Caucus, but what I can tell you is that it's certainly more than three, and it is in the double digits, absolutely. Enough to prevent it from passing. More than enough. Good. And AOC and the rest of the progressive lawmakers in the House should not be intimidated

by whatever fear-mongering is to come from corporate Democrats and from the corporate media. They have the leverage, they should flex that muscle. Mansion has no problem doing it in the Senate. So there's no reason why progressive shouldn't do it in the House. That was perfect. Now, look, we're the ones who told you that AOC and other progressives were not using their power on $15 minimum wage when they could have. And they could have made a difference by holding up the COVID relief bill. It would not have meant that the bill would have died. It would have meant that they would have been at the negotiating table.

Now, so, and, you know, and that costs us access and all those things, and I don't give a damn. We did the right thing for the right reasons and the right strategy. Okay. Now, when I tell you, that's right, that is how you gain leverage, that is how you win, you understand that it's true, right? You gotta know when to put pressure on when not to it. In this case, she's putting pressure on other Democrats in a perfect way. And if you notice, Tapper in the beginning is always trying to bully her. And that's what the media does, and Tapper's media, Main Street Media 101.

Well, your fellow Democrat, Slotnik, says this. That's a preview to, hey, you better, if you don't say the same thing, you're causing disunity. That's right. That's why AOC keeps going back to the point of, wait a minute, we already had a bargain. We already had a deal with all of the Democrats. And so don't tell me, I'm not violating the deal, they'd be violating the deal. Exactly.

And Tapper laughs at that, you've made that point a couple of times. So his first attack, and it really was an attack, did not work. So then he goes to cinema and he's like, oh yeah, you need to revoke. That's the essence and the framing of the question. And then you wrote this tweet, this mean tweet, saying you can also vote. How dare you? Yeah, and he basically asked her like, are you really going to withhold your vote? I thought only corporate Democrats like Sinema and Mention could do that.

And she goes, no, it turns out, Jake, breaking news, we also can vote in the House. And so then that's when he finally lets it go. And he's happy because he made some news, and later they will frame it as, can you believe how unreasonable AOC and the progressives are? And if we're right about all that, you will see it build to a crescendo. This is just the beginning. Later, the Tappers of the world will come out there and go, they have a bill on the bipartisan version.

Why don't they just take it like Slotnik and the corporate Democrats say? Right. Oh my God, these progressives are causing life, you know, disunity and dissension. I can't believe they would dare vote on their ideas and principles when they should know to bow their heads. You will see that pressure with your own eyes and it won't be democratic leadership. It'll be mainstream media that does it on behalf of corporate Democrats and corporate Republicans. That's right. That's a prediction that I would not take a bet on. I think you're absolutely correct.

And you guys are going to see it play out in real time as progressives if they continue to hold and continue to carry out the threat that AOC just mentioned in that video. I have no doubt that the corporate media will become increasingly aggressive against them. But that's what I mean when I say it's important to provide positive reinforcement when progress. are going in the right direction because they need that support. They need to know that their base is behind them and supports them as they're doing something that's sure to bring on a lot of aggression from corporate Democrats, but more importantly, the messaging from the corporate media, which is sure to be even more aggressive. So all right, we gotta take a break, but great news.

When we come back for our second hour, we're gonna have a wonderful guest on. He wrote a piece in The Daily Beast about how some of these questionable YouTubers who spout out all these lies and propaganda become multi-millionaires. So we'll have a discussion about that and more when we return. Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work, listen to ad-free, access members only bonus content, and more by subscribing to Apple Podcasts at apple.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Jank Huger, and I'll see you soon.