The Young Turks - Justice for Ahmaud

Episode Date: November 23, 2021

Defense attorneys rested their case in the Ahmaud Arbery trial Thursday after calling just seven witnesses, including the shooter, who testified that Arbery did not threaten him in any way. Kyle Rittenhouse's attorney says it is 'disgusting' that Republicans are trying to trade on his client's 'celebrity.' A Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, turned into a scene of deadly horror when a red SUV plowed into a crowd on the city's Main Street. Two longtime, conservative Fox News commentators have resigned in protest of what they call a pattern of incendiary and fabricated claims by the network's opinion hosts in support of former President Donald Trump. Hosts: Ana Kasparian & Cenk Uygur 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. You know, I'm going to be able to be. I'm going to be. All right, welcome the young Turks. Jake Uger, Anna Kasparian with you guys.

Lots of news, as always, it's Thanksgiving week. But that doesn't mean that the news isn't filled with wackiness, unfortunately it is. Generally speaking, bad wackiness, not good wackiness, but literally the jury's out on some of these stories. So in some the jury has come in, as you know. So we've got a lot of fresh news, a lot of follow. follow-ups for you guys. Casper's in the news business, so she's going to take it away.

All right, well, last week was dominated with Kyle Rittenhouse news, but today we should talk about the trial involving the three men who were involved in the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia. So today defense attorneys rested their cases in the trial of three men who were involved in the fatal shooting of unarmed jogger Ahmed Arbery in Georgia. This was in Glen County, Georgia, deep south, and the three men facing murder charges in the case are Gregory McMichael, his son who actually shot the gun, Travis McMichael, and their neighbor, William Bryan. Just to give you some background on this shooting that took place on Sunday, February 23rd, 2020, shortly after 1 p.m., Gregory McMichael, the father of Travis McMichael, the guy who actually shot the gun, you know, is. Suspected that Ahmaud Arbery was engaging in bad behavior because the jogger Ahmaud Arbery allegedly went into a home that was under construction and they claimed that there was a string of burglaries in the area.

Now there's some conflicting data in that regard, which we'll get to in just a second. But under cross-examination by the prosecution, Travis McMichael said that Arbery hadn't shown a weapon or spoken to him at all. before McMichael raised his shotgun. But McMichael said he was under the impression that Arbery could be a threat because he was running straight at him and he had seen Arbery trying to get into the truck of a neighbor who had joined in a pursuit of Arbery in their coastal Georgia neighborhood. Now the prosecutor said this, all he's done is run away from you and you pulled out a shotgun and pointed at him. Now the cross examination was really fast.

There's a moment from the trial that I think is worth watching. Again, this is the prosecutor questioning Travis McMichael. Let's watch. And at this point in time, when you first see him on Burford, he's not reaching into his pockets. No, ma'am. Not running, no man. And he never yelled at you guys?

No, ma'am. Never threatened to you at all? No, ma'am. Never brandished any weapons? Sorry, you're only trying to finish his answer. Yeah, he did not threaten me verbally. No, ma'am. All right.

Didn't brandish any weapons? No, ma'am. Didn't plow out any guns? No, ma'am. Didn't pull out any knife? No, ma'am. Never reached for anything, did he? No.

He just ran. Yes, he was just running. Now, remember, you have Travis McMichael, the person you saw in the video right there, his father, Gregory McMichael, pursuing Amad Arbery, Arbery because they believe that he was burglarizing a home that was under construction. It was being built.

Now they pursue him and the argument here, the defense argues that, well, they had the right to pursue him because state law at the time indicated that they had the right to do a citizen's arrest. And then of course that citizens arrest turned into an extrajudicial shooting and the death of Ahmaud Arbery. And the argument there was, well, Amad Arbery posed a threat, and so Travis McMichael had no choice but to use self-defense. But clearly in that exchange, it's obvious that Travis McMichael was not actually met with

a threat by Amad Arbery. Chink. Two issues there. One goes to the entitlement. He thinks, well, I'm entitled to chase on any jogger in the neighborhood if I think they look suspicious or black, let's be honest about it. and threaten him with a shotgun, but he's not allowed to do anything but do exactly as I command him to do. Okay, now that gets to the incredibly dangerous precedent. So if they're acquitted,

it becomes absolutely literal that anyone can pull a gun on you in this country. And if you do any reaction at all, they can shoot you and claim self-defense and get away with it. Now, there is no reaction that is good enough. In this case, you just saw it. He didn't counter threaten, he didn't have a knife, he didn't have a weapon. He didn't, the guy didn't even think he had a weapon. It was just, what could Arbery have done? He basically tried to run to the other side of the truck.

Why? To not get shot by these random lynch mob guys who just show up out of nowhere with shotguns and surround them with their cars. So guys, it's not just that this is an issue of massive injustice based on race. It's also an issue of, are we gonna have any safety at all in this country? Or the minute someone pulls out a gun, does the victim lose all of their rights? And the guy, they aggressor with the gun, gain instant self-defense no matter what happens. Right.

And in which case, you're gonna have anarchy and nonstop shootings. I mean, look, in both cases, what I think is fascinating, I'm talking about the Kyle Rittenhouse case and in this case, the Ahmad Amad Arbery shooting, is that you have individuals who seem to value and prioritize protecting property, private property, as opposed to prioritizing human lives, right? Now we've talked at length about the written house case, I think that the defense was a lot stronger in the written house case compared to what we're seeing now with the trial involving these three men who were involved in the shooting of Ahmad Arbery.

But again, it's just this environment, this like culture of vigilantes thinking, no, I'm going to take matters into my own hands, I'm going to take my own weapon, and I'm going to carry out the policing here. And that's really the theme that keeps coming up over and over again, certainly when you're listening to the closing arguments by the defense attorney, just this notion that, well, I mean, What could they do? They suspected that Arbery was burglarizing this home that was being built, this home that was under construction.

And so they felt the need to pursue him because there was a string of robberies, or a string of burglaries, I should say, in the area. However, there's a contradiction here. So Arbery was running in Satilla Shores when a man standing in his front yard saw him go by, according to the police report. The man, Gregory McMichael, said he thought Arbery looked like a man. suspected in several break-ins in the area and called to Travis McMichael, his son. Now this is according to the police report, right? Travis McMichael after the shooting

calls the police and here's what he repeats about the string of burglaries. We got a string of burglaries. I was leaving the neighborhood and I just called a guy running into a house being built, two houses down from me. When I turned around, he took off on it into the house. Okay. What did it look like? It's a blackmail, red shirt, white shorts. All right, my bad. That was before he did the shooting, okay?

Now, what was relevant there though is the fact that he mentioned the string of burglaries, right? That's the justification for pursuing him in the first place. However, according to the Brunswick News, they looked at police records. We looked at police records to determine if there really was, in fact, a string of burglaries in the area. Here's what they found. Only one burglary, an automobile burglary, was reported to county police in the Satilla Shores neighborhood between January 1st and February 23rd. Of course, February 23rd is when the shooting happened, according to documents obtained by the news, the Brunswick News, in a public records request to the Glen County Police Department. It involved a Smith and Wesson M&P 9mm pistol stolen January 1st from a pickup truck

outside 230 Satilla Drive, the home of Travis McMichael, according to the police report. Gregory McMichael moved the 2011 Ford F-150 from one spot to another in front of the home at around 9.30 a.m. January 1st, forgetting to lock it afterward, Travis McMichael told police. About an hour later, Travis McMichael found the handguns empty holster on the unlocked trunks seat, the report said. That was the only burglary. Yeah. So when they talk about string of burglaries and how that persuaded them that they needed to pursue Amad Arbery because they're so concerned about the string of burglaries, that was BS. Yeah, not only is it not true, it's in my opinion, completely and utterly irrelevant. So if you live in a large city like we do, you can get

at one of those neighborhood apps where it'll show you that there's crime happening in your neighborhood nonstop. It's true. In our cases in the big cities, it does happen all the time. Does that mean we could all come out with shotguns and just start shooting anyone jogging by or anyone black jogging by? Because in your opinion, they look suspicious. Did they shoot all the white rob joggers in the neighborhood? No, they claim well, it's because I saw him going in to steal goods from the house, from the other house, but it looks like that's not true. So they didn't see him before, it appears. All they saw was a black guy jogging in the neighborhood. And that was enough to chase him down with a shotgun. But again, guys, whether it's

black or not, if you say, hey, there's been a crime in my neighborhood in the last three months, we probably all match that qualification, that condition, right, our neighborhoods do. That means that if they get acquitted, everybody can walk around with shotguns, looking for the criminal to do a citizen's arrest with. And if the person being pursued reacts in any way, like in the written house case, one of the things that was thrown was a plastic bag. In this case, Arbery ran for his life. Any reaction equals execution on the spot. We can They can't live in a country like that. It'll drive all of us insane.

This is totally nuts. So again, remember, the case, the jury's out. The case has not been resolved. Correct. So let's see how it gets resolved here. Right. So there were other inconsistencies concerning the story from the McMichaels. Okay, so what were those inconsistencies? Well, according to the police report, the men grabbed a 357 magnum handgun and a shotgun, got into a pickup truck and chased Arbery, trying unsuccessfully to cut him off.

During the chase, the McMichaels yelled, stop, stop, we wanna talk to you according to Gregory McMichael's account in the police report. They then pulled up to Arbery and Travis McMichael got out of the truck with the shotgun, but clearly what we see in the video is very different from what these two individuals told the police in this police report.

So William Bryan, who is the third man involved, he is a neighbor of the McMichaels. He's the one who provided a brief cell phone video of the incident. It shows Arbery running along a shaded two-lane residential road when he comes upon a white truck with Travis McMichael standing beside its open driver's side door with a shotgun. Gregory McMichael, his father, is in the bed of the pickup with a handgun. So we're talking about two armed individuals pursuing Ahmad Arbery. They claim in the police report that they just drove alongside him trying to ask some questions.

But then this video comes out, and again, it proves that they lied. Let's watch. So they had boxed Amarad Arbery on the road trying to kind of trap him. And he's trying to run around and think about it. He's being pursued by a guy with a shotgun in the deep south, father is in the bed of the pickup truck with a handgun. I mean, what would you do in that situation? I would argue Amad Arbery understandably felt that he was facing a real threat. Now, does he have a right to self-defense? I don't get it, guys.

Like, according to right wing logic, if Arbery had a weapon on him, he could have mowed down the other two, other three people involved, because they were pointing weapons at him. Remember, they said, oh, somebody deserved to die because they were pointing a skateboarder at written house. So if somebody's pointing a shotgun towards you, you certainly can kill them, right? So Arbery should have had the right to self-defense, but he didn't have a weapon on him. So at some point, as you see in the video there, after right,

after running and trying to hide, he's like, okay, well, I guess I got to stop him by grabbing the gun. Okay, so does he have a right to do that or no? Like, do you have to grovel at the aggressor's feet? Do you have to like submit your life to them? Maybe you are, do you have to allow yourself to be kidnapped, put in the truck, because they were doing a citizen's arrest, which means no, we're gonna lock you up and you hope bringing you to the police, but maybe not. Do we all Do we all have to like get locked up in a basement in order to not be executed by vigilante thugs? It sounds like it. So this is that what is he supposed to do?

He went jogging in the neighborhood. What is he supposed to do? I know for a lot of you, if you're right wingers, you can't relate. You're like, I don't, I'm not a black person. When I go jogging in the neighborhood, nobody ever bothers me. So he must have had a coming. That's because you're a terrible person. Yeah, and let me be clear about something.

There is no evidence that Ahmaud Arbery committed any type of crime, any type of crime. He looked into a building that was under construction, okay? I mean, I've done that. I've done that, of course, almost everybody has. See what it looks like, I'm interested in architecture, like I love that kind of stuff. The idea of that justifying someone just gunning me down because I look suspicious is insane. It sets an incredibly dangerous precedent. And by the way, look, based on how this trial is going, it is clear that the defense

is falling apart, okay? So much so that the defense attorney has asked for a mistrial, and he claims that there needs to be a mistrial because of the so-called woke mob. Yeah, the woke mob. How's that for Iraq? We've got a video of that along with the judge's reaction to it. Let's take a quick look. Just because they haven't put a gallery up, what do you?

They haven't put a podium up outside with a hangman's noose on it. Does it mean that this isn't a trial, despite the best efforts of this court? This isn't a trial that's been infected by mob violence of a woke left mob. And whether people realize that they participated in that or not, I'd like to think that the vast majority of the people outside this courthouse really have no interest in anything but just. I want to believe that. From a lot of people I know out there, I think that's true. But the perception is the reality.

And the media has fed that perception and created a reality, whether it's true or not, just like other people have created a false narrative. And the falsity of that narrative had been made very apparent through the trial of this case. That becomes the reality. This is what a mob-dominated trial looks like in the 21st century. And we're asking for the mistrial. All right. The court, having heard from the Muvant, as well as the parties, denies the motion for mistrial.

I think the court's position has been accurately stated previously. I thought appropriate, given the mistrial filed, that we have it on the record. And that was the right decision to make. The idea of calling for a mistrial because of the woke mob is insane. I think that the defense really lacks a defense in this case, especially after that video featuring the cross-examination of Travis McMichael, just stating plainly that he didn't see Ahmaud Arbery reaching for a weapon, he wasn't threatened by Ahmaud Arbery verbally or physically. It's just fascinating, right?

That their argument is, hey, we have a right to a citizen's arrest, and in regard to actually executing someone, we might not have the right to that, but it was self-defense. Except it wasn't because he clearly stated that Amad Arbery was not. not posing a threat. So guys, in the example that Anna used, if Anna looks at a construction site and a couple of days later and other white girls jogging in the neighborhood, can guys with shotguns go and surround her and kidnap her and say, it's okay, we're doing a citizen's arrest. And you look like someone who looked at a construction site a couple of days ago.

That would be the president if they're acquitted. And if that person in any way reacts wrong, I don't know what that's. the right reaction is they are they allowed to execute her on the spot and and why was why does that sound absurd to you when it is this same exact fact pattern but it happens to be a black male so for a lot of people it sounds just as absurd when it's a black male unfortunately for a lot of people in this country they go yeah but come on of course you're not going to do that to a young white woman but of course you would do it to a black male of course you would because he seems like a threat and she doesn't think about what's going through your head look at what is

is actually running through your head. Okay, so now back to the defense attorney, look, I know you're not supposed to hold defense attorneys accountable because they're doing their, they're supposed to try as hard as they can to get off people, including terrible people. But this defense attorney has been abhorrent, his argument is saying they, we shouldn't allow black pastors in the courtroom, there's just too many of them, I mean, with all their blackness running around, and now blaming the people looking for justice. of being, he didn't just say a woke mob.

He said it was mob violence, even though none of them have been violent. Exactly. And maybe his defendant, his clients could go out there and kill a couple more people. And then he'll turn around and go, well, they don't mob violence out there with all their opinion and free speech made us kill them. I mean, this is an insane, and by the way, an insanely racist argument to make that the innocent protesters outside just because they're blank. And they're pastors, they're pastors are somehow violent. His closing argument, I mean, it's lengthy, I can't get into detail about everything he said, but one of the things that the defense attorney said during his closing arguments that really

stood out to me was this notion that Amad Arbery is jogging in a neighborhood that he's never jogged in before. Why was he there? What? Is, are there laws preventing people from jogging in neighborhoods that they don't live in? And by the way, he lives near that neighborhood. What are you talking about? Just completely, just completely made up. I jogging neighborhoods I don't live in all the time. I talk about in this show, sometimes I'll go to Beverly Hills, I'll go drive out of my way to go there. Because they have nice houses and they have a nice flat area in L.A., which nobody does.

Oh, here, here's a brown guy in Beverly Hills. Let's murder them just in case. No, this is insane. Every part of this is crazy. Now, a few other notable things for you to know about. So William Bryan is the third man involved, right? You have the son and father, Gregory McMichael and Travis McMichael. and Travis McMichael.

Travis McMichael is the one who actually shot the gun. Then you have William Bryan, who is the person who filmed that video, and he is a neighbor of the McMichaels. Well, William Bryan said that after the shooting took place before police arrival, while Mr. Arbery was on the ground, he heard Travis McMichael make a statement, effing N-word. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Richard Dyle said, okay, so that was reported by the Associated Press. Also, the aftermath is pretty relevant because it was abundantly clear that the prosecutors had no intention of prosecuting these three men.

They weren't even arrested until 74 days later. And part of the reason why is because Gregory McMichael is a former Glen County police officer and also a former investigator with the local district attorney's office. So they had a massive bias in his favor. Then you had the prosecutor change four different times in this case because of conflicts of interest, all right. And by the way, in September, Jackie Johnson, who had been voted out of her job as chief prosecutor for the area, was indicted on a charge of violating her oath by showing favor and affection

to Gregory McMichael, the former investigator in her office, and on a charge of obstruction for telling two police officers on the day of the shooting not to arrest Travis McMichael. So we'll see how this case plays out. My guess is the right wing hasn't latched on to this Amad Arbery case the way they did with the Kyle Rittenhouse case, because really there isn't a defense in the Ahmaud Arbery case. But you never know how these trials play out. I really don't know which way this is going to go. All I can base this off of is what we know, what the evidence is, and what we think is likely to happen if justice is to be served. You will often hear right wingers say, well, that black defendant had to be shot in the back by a cop because he was running away.

And we had to apprehend him right away. I mean, he was pulled over for, you know, shaded windows or a missing decal or something. It was a real danger to the neighborhood. So as soon as he started running, the cops have a right to shoot him in the back, right? These guys weren't arrested for 74 days, even though they shot someone in cold blood and let him die in the streets. they were never going to arrest them unless there was media pressure. The media pressure is what led to crooked local prosecutors finally going, we really like these guys.

They're fishing buddies and they help us. And so now they don't get to murder black people. All right, this damn liberal media. Okay, I guess let's arrest the guys who murdered the other one in cold blood, even though they're poor good white folks from around here. And that guy lying on the road, well, you heard what Travis McMichael said about him. So 74 days, they were never going to give us justice. All right, we got to take a break.

When we come back, the lawyer representing Kyle Rittenhouse has a few words for right-winger's who are now fundraising off of Kyle Rittenhouse's celebrity. We've got that and more when we come back. All right, back on TYT, Jen Canana with you guys, a lot more news. All right, let's get to it. I had more worries about some of the other things that happened much earlier in this case. The Lynn Woods, the John Pierce's, who are basically, you know, I think we're trying to hoard this kid out for money. That was Mark Richards, the attorney representing Kyle Rittenhouse, who's now I'm speaking out in regard to right wingers who are fundraising off of written houses,

right wing celebrity. He's making it clear that he thinks it's pretty disgusting that prominent Republicans are attempting to cash in on his client. He tells insider this, there's a lot of people trying to profit on this, and I don't think people should. They're raising money on it, and you have all these Republican congressmen saying, come work for me. They want to trade on his celebrity and I think it's disgusting. So what exactly is he talking about? Well, you might have come across some of the tweets by conservative Congress members,

including Representative Paul Gosar, who on Twitter wrote this, that he would arm wrestle Representative Matt Gates in order to get dibs for Kyle as an intern. Gates on Wednesday of last week said that he was interested in hiring Writtenhouse as an intern. And even Madison Cawthorne got in on the action. He posted a video on Instagram that included the text. Kyle, if you want an internship, reach out to me. And of course, Cawthorne also posted this video, which went viral online. Kyle Rittenhouse is not guilty, my friends.

You have a right to defend yourself. Be armed, be dangerous, and be moral. And by the way, Richards had some negative things to say about Donald Trump Jr. as well. Richard spoke negatively about Don Jr., Don Jr. tweeting that a gun rights organization would award Writtenhouse with an AR-15. In a since deleted tweet, Trump Jr. wrote this exactly. Gun owners of America is sending Kyle Rittenhouse in AR-15. Sign the card in support of Kyle. Americans have a fundamental

right to defend themselves and to keep and bear arms. The verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial is a recognition of those rights. As I said, that tweet was later deleted. But Richard, wasn't too pleased about it. He said he's an idiot, I don't have to expand on that because it speaks for itself. Cenk. Yeah, well, he is an idiot, but he's your idiot. So look, I think what the defense attorney is doing here is saying, I was just the attorney.

I don't agree with the crazed right wingers who think that this was a lovely thing that two people got killed and three people got shot. And he's distancing himself from the right wing who support a written house. to written house. And he has every right to do that. He did his job in spades. He got ridden house off. That was his job. He does, his job is, does not entail supporting right wing lunatics who appreciated the killings for the rest of his life. So he's coming out and saying, yeah, no, of course. People trying to get things like this to happen more often are unstable. And so none of that is surprising so far, although I'm sure it will earn him great hatred in the

right way. Even though he got their hero off. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So there was also an interview that Richards had with Chris Cuomo and CNN. I thought that there were a few highlights worth sharing with you all. So why don't we get to the next video? Word that you guys had a film crew embedded with you from Fox News from Tucker Carlson. I want to know why that decision was made. I did not approve of that. I threw them out of the room several times. They were, and I'm not suggesting that Fox or some other network, I don't think a film crew is appropriate for something like this,

but the people who were raising the money to pay for the experts and to pay for the attorneys were trying to raise money, and that was part of it. So I think, I don't want to say an evil, but a definite distraction was part of it. And I didn't approve of it, but I'm not always the boss. Okay, so he's going to get into who did allow it and why this happened in the first place in just a minute. But I wanted to break there to kind of talk a little bit about just like how easy it is for someone who turns into like a right wing icon to get. limited resources from people, right?

Through crowdfunding, through fundraising specifically for his defense. And I mean, just think about the people who have been wrongfully accused of crimes they have not committed. They're either living in poverty or don't just have the resources necessary to hire the best defense attorneys. And their trial doesn't play out the way that Kyle Rittenhouse's trial plays out. I mean, when you talk about our justice system and how it's set up, you have to have significant resources to have a decent defense attorney and everything that's necessary to fight the accusations against you, the charges against you. Yeah, well, look, this is a separate

problem, which is that people either crowdsourcing or just sometimes right-wing billionaires can influence things just with money, right? So they're like, we want that guy who shot people we disagree with to get off. So we're going to give him millions of dollars. because we like that result. And if you do a shooting like that, we might give you a couple of million dollars too. But there's going to be strings attached, we're going to shoot a documentary and then claim that their left wing is even more terrible and horrible and stuff. And you know, if more people were heroes like Kyle Rittenhouse, I wouldn't shot them. You know, then we could do a documentary about you and make you famous.

You know, as long as you're willing to do what? Propaganda. So that's how they got some left wingers to now be right wingers and speak out against their own. How money? And then you, and what is what do they have to do in return? Propaganda. So and here the lawyer who seems like a smart person in general is a little conflicted. Let's be honest about it. His money came from that same film crew, right? Or the people who paid for that film crew. So he threw them out a couple of times. But overall, he probably couldn't draw the line. Otherwise, they couldn't pay him.

Exactly, yeah, that's a great point. Now, in this final clip, he discusses, you know, who made the decisions in regard to Tucker Carlson's film crew and all of that. Let's watch. Who were the people who were paying? The people who were raising money. This defense was crowdfunded through donations. Right.

But who were the people making the calls about who got to have access to the process? to the process? Kyle's family and his advisor. Or were you worried that your client was becoming an agent of animus? You know, I mean, Fox News is one thing I used to work there. Tucker Carlson is a different animal. You know what he means in the political dialogue. Were you worried that Rittenhouse was going to become kind of a stooge of that fringe

of our political spectrum? I had to talk with Kyle. You know, all I can say is what I say. And Kyle's going to have some hard choices in his life about the direction he goes and what he stands for. Those will have to be made by Kyle eventually. And as Corey and I told him yesterday while we were waiting alone for the verdict, he needs to learn how to take responsibility and to tell people no. So I think that's good advice.

The likelihood of Kyle Rittenhouse taking that advice I think is unlikely because he's been sucked into honestly a political ideology that he was already like pretty much leaning toward anyway. No, absolutely predisposed to. Yeah. You don't go to what you consider to be a Black Lives Matter riot, that's what he thought it was, with a gun because you were predisposed to agree with them. No, no, he was, he was already massively, like I don't know why we're kidding ourselves. I mean, he said a couple of good things after the acquittal, but I don't know why we're he, of course he's a massive right winger. And that's why afterwards he took pictures with right wingers, that the white supremacist

signed. No, there's not much complexity to that part at all. So he's already leaning in that direction. Now there'll be enormous financial benefits to, to be used as that propaganda tool. So that'll be very hard to resist, and it sounds like worse yet, his family, is already headed in that direction. So if his family's putting pressure on him, oh yeah, yeah, be a useful idiot for the Republicans

that are, I mean, for the right wing and oh my God, yeah, encourage more vigilante violence. Well, he's still only 18. I'm, you know, it's, it is his personal responsibility for sure, but that's, he doesn't live in a good environment to begin with. If you think I'm judging his family, I absolutely am. His mom is the world's worst mom, drove her son into what she thought was a dangerous riot with a weapon and just

then left him there. Oh, a 17 year old son out here, take an AR 15, go into the middle of what I think is a riot. And good luck with that, I'll come by and pick you up later. So you think that person is going to help Kyle Rittenhouse make correct decisions? No, they're probably going to continue to make monstrous decisions. So now, I don't want to do just last couple of things here on everybody involved. This was a great interview by Cuomo.

Did he ask the right questions, et cetera? I can't help but be frustrated while I used to work in Fox News so it's not so bad, but Tucker Carlson's bad. No, Fox News is terrible through and through. Yes, there's some people like Chris Wallace who are not monsters on there and are good journalists. But he is definitely an exception. The rule is Monsters Incorporated. So don't tell me you worked there, I'm not interested in that, but it was a good interview.

Okay, and now by the way, that's how many times did I tell you? I told you a hundred times, the reason why everybody on cable news used to Fox News is because they all thought either I worked there before or I'm going to work there later. So now they realize, oh, I'm not getting jobs anymore because now we're more clearly delineated. Now I could finally criticize them. So thanks for that profile and courage. But back to Cothnor for a second. The most dangerous of all of this that we just covered is a United States congressman saying be armed, be dangerous.

Be dangerous. No, they're pretty transparent about it, right? They're so transparent about it. And look, in regard to Writtenhouse and you gotta make some tough decisions, all of the incentives are in the wrong place, right? He's being celebrated. He has become a right wing icon. And when it comes to Congress members or any politician that's fundraising off of Kyle Rittenhouse, but of course they are. What else would they fundraise off of?

the great policies that they passed to better the lives of their constituents. No, like, the thing that's really interesting to me is how everyone assumes, because the right wing latched onto that story and couldn't stop talking about it all year long, that everyone else is just hyper focused on that one case and not talking about anything else. No, the right wing, as soon as there's some sort of controversial issue involving one of their own carrying out an act of violence, someone they want to defend, that's all. all they latch on to until the trial's over. Because what else are they gonna do?

What else are they gonna focus on? Are they gonna focus on their policy proposals? What policy proposals? Are they gonna focus on their legislating? What legislating? No, they're obsessed and had been obsessed with this case because that's all they've got. This for them is part of their culture war,

is part of something that they could use to distract from the fact that they're all losers who have failed to propose or pass any legislation to better the lives of their own constituents. This is it, this is all they've got. So it's not surprising to me in the least bit that this is all they focused on. And this is what they're now using to fundraise off of. So Anna makes this point often about how they're trying to distract you because they have no policies.

So here is something that you should keep in mind when she makes that point. In the last about 12 to 14 years, the only positive thing that the Republicans have voted for and passed is tax cuts for the rich. That's it. Even if you're a right winger and you wanted them to pass laws against immigrants and you wanted them to build a wall, et cetera, no, they never actually passed any of those laws. Like the two inches of wall that have been built was Trump just bullying a little bit of action on it. But the Republicans didn't vote, yes. They didn't, like, authorize a giant 2,000 mile wall. So they don't ever give you the things that you want. Exactly. Right? Yeah.

So let alone the things that would actually help your wages, your health care, etc. So that's why, whenever there's a Dr. Seuss thing or oh my God, so a black guy got shot or somebody had a black protests got shot. Yes, yes, yes, yes, let's go support the shooters. Don't worry about us stealing all of your money or our donors, more specifically, or our advertisers. And then lastly, guys, for the three congresspeople, at least, that offered him an internship, his only qualification is killing people they don't agree with.

That's it. He never worked in politics, he has zero relevant experience to their office. And what they're saying is, if you killed someone I don't like, you're welcome here. That is a good enough qualification to work at a Republican congressional office. And you know what? I think that's true. I think that's true. What, they're gonna hire someone who knows policy, who knows politics, who knows how to write legislation.

They don't want that. I mean, Kyle Rittenhouse is just as qualified for the job as. as most of the Republican members of Congress are. Just, and just Marjorie Taylor Green is a member of Congress guys. Okay, Lauren Bobert. I mean Marjorie Taylor Green thought that it was unconstitutional for Muslim members of Congress to be sworn in on the Quran. She's an idiot.

Yeah, but- And I don't like calling people idiots, but I mean, come on, you gotta call a spade a spade. Yeah, so guys, it's, but it's actually literally true, because not the shooting part, but the main qualification right now to be a Republican is hating the others. So I hate the libs, I hate immigrants, I hate black people, I hate women's rights, I hate gay people, I hate trans people, whatever, pick them. For a lot of you, it's almost all of them, right? But for some right wingers, no, no, no, I don't

mind gay people, I just have a problem with Mexicans. No, no, no, I don't mind black people, I hate trans people. Whatever, hatred of the others is the defining trait of the Republican party now. So someone who shot people at a protest that was considered left wing in the minds of Republicans, they think that's a great qualification. That's so nearly a perfect qualification to be a Republican these days. And that is really, really sad and true. All right, there was a tragic event in Wisconsin over the weekend that I want to share with you all when we come back from the break. So don't miss it. We've got that story and more when we return. All right, back on TYT,

Jay and Anna with you guys. More news more tragedy unfortunately in today's news. All right, well, five people and five people have died and dozens of others were wounded over the weekend after an SUV plowed into a holiday parade in Waukeshaascahaw, Wisconsin. Now we have details about who the perpetrator is and let me just get this off. off my chest before we continue, this was not a terrorist attack, this was not politically motivated, but here's what we do know. Just before 4.40 p.m., the driver of a red SUV stormed past barricades and barreled through the crowd, striking dozens. At least five people

were killed and more than 40 people were injured, and the numbers could change. Now, I do want to read the names of the victims so far, and again, the numbers could change, the number of fatalities could increase. There are still people in the hospital in critical condition. William Hospital, 81, died. Virginia Sorensen, 79 years old, also died. Leanna Owens is another victim, 71 years old. And we have Tamara Durand, a 62 year old.

So those are some of the victims that we know about. And as I mentioned, there are dozens of others who have been injured as a result. Now the suspect is Darryl E. Brooks. The police department is recommending five counts of first degree intentional homicide, and he does have a lengthy rap sheet. So he's been charged with 10 crimes since 1999 alone. The suspect or the suspected driver, 39 year old Daryl Brooks is facing five counts of first degree intentional homicide.

Police said he was allegedly involved in a domestic dispute moments prior to driving onto the parade route and court records show again that he has an extensive rap sheet dating back to 1999. And look, we have video of it. We've been pretty careful in choosing video that isn't too gruesome, but I still want to give you a graphic warning before we toss to what that scene looked like. Let's watch. There are other videos online that are far more gruesome, but it, you know, it gives you a sense of, what we showed you gives you a sense of what the scene kind of look like.

And by the way, Brooks has been charged three times in less than two years with recklessly endangering the safety of others. Most recently in an incident in which he is accused of running a woman over with his vehicle in Milwaukee. So we showed you that video, partly because I want to show you a sense of like the how incredibly scary it is so as I was watching that young girl in the foreground of that video the first time. I was like, no. And so in that case she was fine, but many others are not. One hospital alone had 18 wounded children, six of them who are are in critical condition, a lot of the people who died were part of the Milwaukee dancing grannies. And they come out and try to, you know, give joy in the Christmas

season. They helped the needy. They were wonderful, wonderful human beings who everybody in the community loved. So what went wrong here? In this case, it is not at all political, it appears, okay? So unfortunately these days, whenever there's a mass killing of some sort that everybody asked the same questions. In the old days it used to be, are they Muslim? I guess people still ask that, but now mainly is it right wing terrorists, or is it just a crazy person? And in this case, it's a bad guy, and he's, that rap sheet, I've read all the details

of it, it is, it's a nightmare, it's a nightmare. And so the one political question that comes out of this is, how could this guy be out Yeah, exactly, exactly. No, there's a lot of stuff happening in the country right now in regard to crime that I don't understand. In New York, a man pleaded guilty to raping four women and he was given no jail time. He's only been given eight years of probation. I don't understand it. Listen, when we talk about criminal justice reform, we're not talking about letting dangerous people just walk the streets willy-nilly.

Okay, prison is first of all, yes, supposed to take people who are a risk to public safety out of the public to rehabilitate them. Yes, there's a punitive angle, but they're supposed to be rehabilitated. Obviously our justice system doesn't do it. But when we talk about reforming the criminal justices, and we're talking about nonviolent offenders, people with drug possession, there's stuff happening in the country that I just do not understand right now in regard to the rising crime rate and the reaction in response to it.

But with that said, Jake, you mentioned, look, people are asking for that. questions as we're trying to find details about what the motive was here, what motivated this guy. But look, if you are a public figure, if you're on a news channel, for instance, it's the responsible thing to do to just kind of like wait it out and see what the details are. But that's not what Fox did. In fact, Fox brought on Nigel Farage, okay, who's not even an American citizen, he's the architect of Brexit, to come on and fearmonger about immigrants. So I want to go to that video real quick, and then we'll discuss. I don't want to make connections where they might not yet exist, but here's one thing we can't observe very objectively.

These kind of mass gatherings become vulnerable targets for those who wish to do ill, and you've seen that already in Europe, Nigel. Yes, of course. You know, we had the truck bombings of Christmas markets, you know, when large numbers of families were gathered together, having a nice evening out. You're right, the bigger the crowd, in a sense, the easier the target. they are. Now we had a failed terrorist attempt that took place here on Sunday the 14th of November somebody strapped to a suicide bomb vest and it went off and I think this matters perhaps particularly in America because of what's happening at your southern border. This

individual had illegally come into the UK applied for refugee status, been refused and yet not being deported. And he had pretended to embrace Christianity, but in fact, he was a radical Islamist terrorist. It has nothing to do with what happened in Wisconsin over the weekend. Nothing to do. It has nothing to do with immigration. It had nothing to do with radical Islamists. It had nothing to do with anything political. But they couldn't wait. They couldn't wait to immediately to get Nigel Farage on to come in and talk about radical Muslims, even though, again, this had nothing to do with religion or politics or anything like that. So anytime a Fox News host starts with, I don't want to, but I guaranteed they're going

to do what they said they don't want to do, quote, don't want to do. Say in a while, get a load of the irony of them bringing on an immigrant to blame immigrants. Oh, I forgot, he's a white immigrant, so it's totally okay. That's not who we're demagoguing against, okay? So, and of course, as Dana pointed out, not only is this person not an immigrant or Muslim or any of those things. He seems to be someone from the neighborhood who's done a lot of crimes in the neighborhood, including his shooting is, it appears shooting his girlfriend in the stomach. It includes getting into an argument with another woman in a parking lot of a gas station and then punching her in the face and then running her over with his car, and yet he's still

on the street. And so they even reduced his bail at one point, I think, to $1,000 and that's how we got out. Exactly, yeah. So criminal justice reform is about, hey, cops shouldn't shoot unarmed black guys. And there should be accountability when there's abuse on the part of the police and there There should be fixes to things like private prisons because it gives an incentive to arrest as many people as possible, whether they did it or they didn't, so they can make money off of taking away our freedoms.

It has nothing to do with let go of super dangerous criminals for no goddamn reason after they abuse, first of all, abuse and assaults so many, but including women, random women and their girlfriends and commit domestic violence, and then you let them literally run through the streets like this? No, that's insanity. It's not about this guy being poor, middle class, or anything like that when it comes to bond. In this case, it was a very dangerous set of crimes

that he was accused of. He had no business being outside. Yeah, agreed. All right, let's take our break. When we come back, there's been a bit of protest over at Fox News in response to Tucker Carlson's conspiracy theory filled January 6th series. So we'll get into that and more when we return.

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 at apple.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.