The Young Turks - KBJ Confirmed!

Starting point is 00:00:00 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. Hey, we know you probably hit play to escape your business banking, not think about it. But what if we told you there was a way to skip over the pressures of banking? By matching with the TD Small Business Account Manager, you can get the proactive business banking advice and support your business needs. Ready to press play? Get up to $2,700 when you'll open select small business banking products. Yep, that's $2,700 to turn up your business.

Starting point is 00:00:36 Visit TD.com slash small business match to learn more. Conditions apply. All right, well, they're young Turks, Jake U Granite Kusparian with you guys. We have good news today. Well, so that's every day that there's one piece of good news. It's a miracle in America. So God bless, we enjoy that. We'll get to it soon. And then, of course, we have the usual stuff where the Democrats disappoint and Trump clowns.

Starting point is 00:01:37 So we got some new ones or old ones. As Bush, you say, you know, a lot of little ones and make a lot of big ones. All right, Casper. All right, let's get started. On this vote, the A's are 53, the nays are 47, and this nomination is confirmed. Under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the president will immediately be notified of the Senate's action.

Starting point is 00:02:24 Judge Katanji Brown Jackson has officially been confirmed as The newest justice in the United States Supreme Court. And the video you just watched really does make history. Not only because of the fact that the Supreme Court will have its first African American woman serving as a justice, but because we had the first African American woman who serves as vice president making that announcement. Of course, Kamala Harris presided over this Senate confirmation vote. And as she noted, the Senate voted 53 to 47 to confirm Judge Jackson. with three Republicans voting in favor of confirming her, including Lisa Murkowski,

Starting point is 00:03:04 Susan Collins, and Mitt Romney, Jank. So first of all, that's fantastic news. So let's not bury the lead. She appears to be an excellent judge, well qualified, and fairly progressive, okay? So it's historic that she's the first black woman on the Supreme Court, and that's fantastic. But I would argue more importantly, she's also the first public defender on the court. So there's going to be a perspective on the court that did not exist before. Not the first. My understanding is the first in several decades.

Starting point is 00:03:43 Oh, that's interesting. Okay, did I apparently read that wrong? I did read that in a couple of places. But thank you for the clarification. So that's really important on the court. And why do I say more importantly? Because obviously, identity, politics doesn't rule everything. It's important to have an African American female perspective if it generally presents and represents that perspective, right? But obviously Clarence Thomas is on the Supreme Court, and he doesn't represent anything near the majority African American opinion in this country. He's, in fact, very, very far from it. He might be the furthest away from it. So just appointing people based on race and gender isn't

Starting point is 00:04:23 going to do the job. But that's not one of the scenarios here. here. That's why I want to be super clear. She's intensely qualified, wonderful candidate, and apparently pretty progressive and probably as progressive as you're gonna get in either a Republican or Democratic administration. So whatever other things that Biden has done wrong, and that is a very long list, this one gets to go in his pro column, positive column, forever. And that's a big deal. It is a big deal. And, you know, I'm happy that she was confirmed. We have given credit in the past to these three so-called moderate Republicans, even though

Starting point is 00:05:04 far off in the not, they would go along with whatever Trump wanted. But let's also just note for the record that it's easy for them to vote to confirm Biden's nominee when this doesn't in any way change the balance, the ideological lack of balance that we have in the Supreme Court right now with, you know, the conservative justices overpowering the few so-called liberal justices that stand in the court or sit in the court. So I'm excited. I'm happy about this. I'm glad. Like, can I just be honest? Axios kind of framed this as, you know, everyone expected this to happen. No one really questioned whether she'd be confirmed. Really? Really? I questioned it. Not because I think that she's in any way

Starting point is 00:05:51 unqualified. As Jake mentioned, she's certainly qualified for the job. I think she handled herself really well during those hearings. I mean, with patients that in my opinion is unprecedented. I don't know if I would have the patience to deal with that line of questioning. No, I wouldn't. I would not. And I would not have gotten confirmed if I were in her shoes. But anyway, putting that aside, fully celebrate knowing what the Supreme Court is like, the overwhelming conservative ideology that overpowers the court, and some of the incredibly important cases that the court is going to hear very, very soon. I also want to just quickly note that Justice Stephen Breyer, you know, he's the one who said that he would retire, which paved the way for Katanji

Starting point is 00:06:37 Brown Jackson to become a justice. He's going to stick around until the court's current term ends this summer. So he is going to be able to weigh in on the landmark abortion case that the Supreme Court is going to hear soon. That could very well reverse Roe v. Wade. We'll see how that all plays out. But yeah, it's just hard just knowing how successful the Trump administration was in confirming three incredibly conservative justices who are not only socially conservative, but they're also incredibly pro-corporate. Yeah. So to your point, Anna, in the next term when she will be a sitting Supreme Court

Starting point is 00:07:15 justice, they're likely going to consider an affirmative action case. So we don't know how she'll rule on that, but even if she voted in, you know, the left wing column in favor of keeping affirmative action, there's no chance she's going to win. It's 6.3. On the other hand, I want to go to one of our members. We do the show with you guys, t.yt.com slash join to become a member. Joseph Knight wrote in, pay attention to third party people. Elections have consequences. Yes. And that is definitely true because if enough people had voted for a third party, in fact, you only needed 43,000 people. And that was even smaller margin than 2016 in those critical swing states in the three swing states.

Starting point is 00:07:57 If they had voted for a third party instead of Biden to show the Democrats, we would have had Trump as president. And right now the Supreme Court would be 7-2, let alone the fact that democracy wouldn't exist. So I, and by the way, we've been around long enough that I've told you when elections don't really matter. And I was massively criticized for saying that Romney and Obama weren't really that different. That was not that important in election. And the mainstream media was furious. No, you have to pretend that they're very, very different. No, Romney and Obama are nearly identical, certainly on economic issues. I mean, look, to be fair to Obama, it's not like

Starting point is 00:08:37 he would ever suggest that we should cut social security or anything like that. Like Romney would. He did, of course. Oh, he did, that's right. Okay. So we can go on and on about that. But I give you that as juxtaposition to Biden versus Trump. Is Biden generally terrible on domestic policy?

Starting point is 00:08:53 Yes. On the other hand, he's great on foreign policy and very competent, which Trump would not have been. He actually cares about American interests and allies, which Trump would not have. and he put Judge Jackson on the Supreme Court, which certainly Trump would not have. And it right now would be 72, and it would be hopeless for decades on end. So that's important context. And then one last thing, as they were applauding her, the Democrats were, normally what would happen is the other side wouldn't necessarily applaud. But, you know, they're in the chamber already.

Starting point is 00:09:28 They just voted. And that would be that. I give Mitt Romney credit, he stood along with the others and applauded. The other Republicans made a huge point of standing up and walking out. They're like, they're such clowns, it's unbelievable. They're like, I mean, we put a liberal black women on the Supreme Court as an outrage, an outrage. We only have a six three lead, right? And the six are monstrously right wing and outrage.

Starting point is 00:10:02 We didn't allow this non-white person to be on the court. So they walked out in protest. Oh, protest over what? She couldn't be more qualified. You know what it's about. They're disgusting. You know, and look, I agree with everything that you're saying. But the one thing that differentiates the right wing from the left wing in this country.

Starting point is 00:10:21 And when I say left wing, I'm just broadly speaking, generally speaking. is that what we're experiencing in the Supreme Court as of today, right? Not with the confirmation of Katanji Brown Jackson, but just the overall ideological makeup of the Supreme Court is the conclusion of a long-term, well-thought-out, well-organized project, well-funded project, by the right wing. And I really want to emphasize that, because while the left engages in this ridiculous infighting where they minimize the impact of essentially helping to elect a person like Donald Trump. And they minimize the impact that would have on the Supreme Court.

Starting point is 00:11:03 What do you think the right wing was up to? I mean, they were making sure that they paved the way to get as many conservative federal judges appointed and confirmed, along with changing the ideological makeup of the Supreme Court to their liking. So my point here is the left, I mean, I don't know if there's any ideology that gets more distracted by squirrels than the left does. Okay, nonstop, you know what? Apparently the left is so powerful that at this point we need to look within and start attacking our allies in Congress. I guess that's the right strategy. Well, again, the right wing well organized, well funded. they carry out their strategies and it works while we're all being distracted by squirrels. It drives me crazy.

Starting point is 00:11:53 Do you get what I'm saying? Of course I do. Although I'll add a caveat here. Historically, Democrats have been awful like getting the judges on the Supreme Court and on the federal bench overall, and that's very important. And Republicans have been great at it, which leads to the point we always make, which is that it's interesting that the Republicans are always competent on things like that. And the Democrats, otherwise known for competence of things like foreign policy,

Starting point is 00:12:18 oh, just can't find a way to get more people in the federal court system, right? More judges on there. Usually it's because, again, of the economic pressures from donors, right? And so there's not a lot of incentive to push a lot of pro-labor judges onto the federal bench. In fact, there's tons of pressure on Democrats not to do that from their donors. Now, having said all that, I said caveat because here's another situation where Biden has actually done a pretty terrific job. He's put a lot of judges in the federal system, not just Judge Jackson onto the Supreme Court. So, I mean, as you'll see later in the program, we are not at all shy about massive criticism of Biden.

Starting point is 00:13:04 But this is not that area. So I have how he's handled foreign policy and the judges as clearly. There's a win for Biden, and it's a win for the country because judge and now Justice Jackson is going to be, it appears terrific on the Supreme Court. And then one final thing I want to say because I've been a downer and I don't mean to be. Because there is something that I found like that video of Kamala Harris for all the problems I have with her, including how for some reason she keeps painting herself as incredibly incompetent, which drives me crazy. But nonetheless, putting that aside, that video of her announcing the confirmation of Kataji Brown Jackson was incredible. And I didn't expect it to have the kind of impact on me that it did.

Starting point is 00:13:53 But it made me feel like, wow, in some ways, there is progress in the country. It's hard to focus on it. It's hard to get excited about it when there's all, there's this like terrible right wing onslaught at all times with Democrats being incredibly weak and refusing to fight. back. But with all that said, with all that pushed aside, that video was incredible. It made me feel good for a moment. And I'm really grateful for that. Look, it sucks that that's our history that historically black people, overall, women overall, and especially black women have not been given equal rights, have been systematically

Starting point is 00:14:32 discriminated against on a massive level. I mean, the injustices against black women in this country are untold. Now, to see a black woman vice president announcing the confirmation of a black woman Supreme Court justice, that's definitely progress and we'll take it. Well, let's move on to something else that Biden did that was a win, but don't worry, Jen Socky made sure to try to roll it back. So let's talk about it. President Joe Biden decided to do something great by aligning himself with organizing workers and unions during a recent speech that he gave to North America's building trades union. But later, Jen Saki decided to weirdly walk it back. But before we get to her statement, why don't we take a look at a snippet of Joe Biden's speech?

Starting point is 00:15:46 That's what unions are about, my view, about providing dignity and respect for people who bust their neck. That's why I created the White House Task Force on worker organization empowerment to make sure the choice to join a union belongs to workers alone. And by the way, by the way, Amazon, here we come. Watch. What I particularly enjoyed about that video was like the snazzy, like, mobster pinstripe suit where he's like threatening Amazon.

Starting point is 00:16:26 Like Amazon, here we come. I'm like, I'm here for that, Biden. Let's see more of that. Yeah, well, it reminded me of the famous line from the Haifa movie that Jack Nicholson, you got to do what you got to do. Okay. Now, you know they're going to ruin it because they're Democrats. Oh, my God.

Starting point is 00:16:45 That was really good. That was really good. So tell them how they ruined it. Yeah. So let's go to Jen Saki, who gets asked a question from a reporter. I think it's important to listen to the framing from the reporter as well. Let's watch. President Biden told union members, Amazon, here we come.

Starting point is 00:17:03 Was he endorsing the efforts of workers to unionize Amazon facilities? What he was not doing is sending a message that he or the U.S. government would be directly involved in any of these efforts or take any direct action. Except the National Labor Relations Board does just that. It's a federal agency that deals with these issues. What he was conveying is that is his long-time support for collective bargaining, for the rights of workers to organize, and their decision to do exactly that in this case. I don't know why she did that. Well, I do.

Starting point is 00:17:44 I apologize. I know exactly why she did that. But understand that supporting efforts to unionize is a. popular stance to have as a politician. But the thing that makes that kind of support, that kind of encouragement, a little complicated is if you rely on campaign donations from corporations like Amazon. And it turns out that a former Obama administration official, Jay Carney, is now an executive over at Amazon, and he no like that, he no like that at all.

Starting point is 00:18:20 So let me give you the details on what happened. So Oliver Knox, who notably is a Washington Post journalist, Washington Post owned by Jeff Bezos, says watch your inbox, White House Chief of Staff. So that's a statement to Ron Clayne. For those not in on this, senior Amazon executive Jay Carney, who was Biden's communications director for a spell in the Obama administration, has reportedly been emailing Ron Clayne with complaints. Oh, is he? Strongly worded letters. But here's the problem. And of course it works.

Starting point is 00:18:52 It worked, exactly, that's the problem. But I should also note that Biden received quite a bit of money in the form of campaign contributions from Silicon Valley corporations, including Alphabet. Google, of course, contributed around $21 million to Democrats in 2020. With Amazon contributing around $9.4 million, then you've got Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple, which contributed $6 million, $12.7 million, and $6.7 million, and $6.7. million to Democrats respectively. The majority though of each of the big tech firms contributions went to Democratic candidates and excluding Microsoft, the Biden campaign was the top recipient. So not only do you have one of your bros, Jay Carney, working over at Amazon telling

Starting point is 00:19:40 you to stop it, you also have that campaign money that's probably being used, you know, as a way to, like it's leverage essentially to ensure that Biden remembers what what his role really is, which is to look out for the corporations. 100%. So, so I actually think the question from the reporter was perfectly good. Hey, does Biden support? Was it? I think so, he said, does Biden support the efforts to unionize Amazon?

Starting point is 00:20:10 Okay, can we cue the first video up again? Because listen, I don't think that any question is off limits. Reporters are free to ask whatever question they want. But I just feel like he asked, It's so obvious. It's obvious what Biden was saying in the video. Yeah, he is supportive of the effort to unionize. No, but apparently not, though.

Starting point is 00:20:29 So no, no, no, hold on. So he asked it in kind of a snarky way. So I know what you're saying, right? Like, is it true that you're actually supporting unionizing, you sons of bitches? Right? I get it. That's how it came across. I get that that's how it came across.

Starting point is 00:20:43 So we don't have to replay it. But apparently it was a good question because he might have known, oh, there's, it doesn't matter why he asked. God damn it, maybe you're right. It's a good question because it should have been a layup, right? It should have, it was a softball in his sense. And Saki says, you know, of course we support the unionization's efforts at Amazon everywhere else. We're pro-union, we're pro-American worker.

Starting point is 00:21:08 It's the easiest answer to the world. Lay-up. Easiest, nothing hard about it at all. No, it sounded like she was waiting for that question so that she could say, well, not exactly, okay? And so, no, there was no endsips or butts about that answer. That answer was, no, we were lying to you. We're Democrats. We just talked, da, da, da, da, da, we never take any action.

Starting point is 00:21:32 In fact, we'll do the opposite, right? So why don't all of you in the press give us credit for Biden's tough speech being pro labor, pro-American worker? And then, but if you're asking me what we're really going to do, of course we're not going to support that average American worker. They didn't donate $6 million to us. These incredibly wealthy executives did, so we're going to serve them. And Jay Carney's our friend, our friend. Okay, so I'm going to give a tip to anyone who's actually interested in doing reporting, real reporting, breaking a news story.

Starting point is 00:22:04 There should be a freedom of information request into Ron Clayne's emails coming directly from Jay Carney over at Amazon. Yeah. I want to know the details. Because one other thing that I want to, I already mentioned this during the Saki video, but I want to reiterate and emphasize, the federal government does weigh in on these issues. That's what the National Labor Relations Board is all about. In fact, it's because of the NLRB that the Bessemer, Alabama warehouse workers were able to hold another, a second

Starting point is 00:22:40 unionization vote because the NLRB had determined that Amazon had interfered with their first election, right? And so like, don't worry, don't worry, federal government's not going to get involved. Federal government's not going to get involved. But they have, and that's a good thing, and you should be celebrating and more importantly bragging about it. But again, they have, they're tied up, right? They're tied up because they got to do right by their corporate donors and their homeboy Jay Carney. Yeah, no, I'm going to double down on the things that you said, because she makes it sound like the federal government taking action on behalf of the American worker is a bad thing. Why would you pay that as a bad thing? Yes, the government is supposed

Starting point is 00:23:25 to help the average American. That's what it's supposed to do. It's not supposed to help your corporate executive friends, Jen Saki. I know MSNBC right now. I was like, oh, Jen Saki, she's so good to when she crushes the average American worker. We love it. We're the left leading chairman. Right on brand. Okay, yeah, it's very on brand for MSNBC. Okay, so And to your point about the emails, and by the way, just when you plate the federal government is bad, and them helping workers as even worse, that's a Republican talking point. And then you wonder why Biden's losing to Trump in polling now by six points. Kamala Harris is losing by 11 points.

Starting point is 00:24:04 And they're polling is off a cliff because they do dumb things like, well, I mean, the Republicans are so right that workers should be crushed, right? And they don't even say their Republicans are right, which then leaves you with a feeling that the Democrats are the ones crushing the workers. And in this case, they are. And to your point about Jay Carney and the emails, I want to see all the emails, the ones that went to the government email address, and the ones that didn't go to the government email address.

Starting point is 00:24:28 Because what did Jay Carney say? Did he just make it ideological, philosophical point? My ass he did, okay? No, it was either, hey, hey, what do you guys doing? We're all friends here. Remember, I'll get you a job afterwards. Now, is Carney smart enough to not write that down, of course, right? So we but but we but it'll be hints and winks and nods and et cetera remember how I used to be in your role now he wasn't chief of staff but he was white house spokesperson and and and then I got millions of millions of millions of dollars not in campaign contributions but then I put directly into my pocket and if you want to get rich you support Amazon and not the goddamn workers and that's Jay Carney that's the Democratic Party and obviously it worked because that's why jess sake he came

Starting point is 00:25:13 out here and said, we're so sorry for ever slightly questioning corporate rule, we will obey our masters and make sure that we never stray from corporate rule. By the way, you saw those campaign contributions. They largely went to Democrats. I wanted the Democrats to win because they're running against fascists like Donald Trump. Not hard to understand. Having said that, all those contributions should be banned. They're totally unacceptable. I don't care if a corporation is giving to Democrats or Republicans, if a company is giving to a politician, it is a bribe, okay? So it's legal, it's legal, but it's a bribe. They're not doing it for their health. And they're not like us. They actually care about principles and philosophy and

Starting point is 00:25:57 ideology. If it was, you know what, you could even say for some of the radical right wingers that they're mainly heirs and they're just sitting on their fat asses living off of grandpa's money, Maybe it is ideological, okay? But for the corporations, public corporations that are behemists, they're not allowed to have an opinion. They're strictly buying votes. And yes, if you're a Democratic voter who got brainwashed by MSNBC and CNN, when a corporation gives a bribe to a Republican, it's bad. You agree, right? When they give a bribe to a Democrat, it's also bad.

Starting point is 00:26:33 I know MSNBC convinced you that Democrats are angels, and they take. take the bribes and buy ice cream with it for the poor and then do the right thing. But it's not true. They do things like this where they go, just kidding, we're going to screw over all the workers for our friends who are the executives. When we come back from the break, we're not getting off this topic because we have a new poll that shows you how the loser dens just can't stop losing. We've got that and more coming back.

Starting point is 00:27:09 All right. All right on CY TY Chankana with you guys. News. Well, I think it's worth seeing how the expiration of the child tax credit has had an impact on voters' feelings toward the Democratic Party. So let's talk about that. The Democratic Party has lost support among a key voting block following its ineffective behavior in getting Congress to pass legislation to keep the child tax credit permanent. So since the child tax credit has expired, it appears that the

Starting point is 00:28:07 recipients of that child tax credit have now switched over their support to the Republican party. Oops. I'm not kidding. This is according to polling from morning consult. And so here are the details. Among parents or guardians with at least one child under 18 in the household who received the expanded child tax credit payments, 46% said they are most likely to vote for Republican congressional candidate this year, while 43% said they're inclined to back the Democratic candidate. The narrow GOP advantage among this group stands in contrast with Democrats' lead of 12 percentage points in late December before the benefit expired. So you can kind of draw some dots here, or, you know, connect the dots. Yeah. Where it's clear, I mean, Democrats were doing

Starting point is 00:29:00 well with this demo just a few months ago, December. And then the incredibly popular program expires. And immediately we see the ramifications of that. And look, the fact of the matter is, you need to have something to offer voters that contrasts with what Republicans want to do. You have to offer them something that's better than what Republicans offer voters. And what do Republicans offer voters? They might use rhetoric that might convince some people that they're economic populists.

Starting point is 00:29:34 They're not. What they really do is they peddle fear, their smear merchants when it comes to people of color, immigrants, but fear sells. And fear is especially effective when the opposition to that party doesn't really have much to offer. Let's just keep it real. And that's what the Democratic Party is dealing with right now. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:29:56 So look, up by 12 child tax credit ends down by three. So that's not a little swing. That's a massive swing. And so politics is actually not that hard, guys. So the young Turkish audience probably understands it better than almost any reporter, or I would dare say almost any politician in the country. So where, what do people care about the most? The things that affect them the most, they were getting a check for their,

Starting point is 00:30:25 in the form of the child tax credit, and it was helping them tremendously. And we had lifted half of the kids that were in poverty out of poverty through the child tax credit. When your kid used to be in poverty, and then they're not anymore, nothing affects you more. And so at that time, they're thinking Democrats not so bad, and Democrats are leading, right? Despite all of the other problems that Democrats have, they're terrible at messaging, we can go on and on. But they're leading because people are going, okay, that is positively affecting my life. And apparently Democrats did it, right? Every Republican voted against it.

Starting point is 00:30:56 So then think about it. What happens next? Mansion kills the child tax credit. And mansions a Democrat. So the whole country hears, a Democrat killed the one thing that they loved and was most impacting their life. A Democrat killed it.

Starting point is 00:31:15 Now what are they supposed to think? You think they follow politics as closely as we do or a lot of you do? No, most people don't follow politics that closely at all. They just hear who killed it? Oh, a Democrat killed it. Now, this is the most important part because everyone leaves it there. Like Chris Hayes tweeted today, he's generally a good guy, MSNBC hosts, probably the best of them.

Starting point is 00:31:35 But still, he misunderstands politics completely. I don't think he's doing it on purpose. I think he genuinely misunderstands it. He says this is single-handedly Mansions' fault. That's not at all true. It's Biden's fault. Because if Biden had then taken on Joe Manchin, then what would the country have heard? The Democratic president is trying desperately to keep the child tax credit.

Starting point is 00:32:02 He's fighting for the child tax credit. God damn it, Manchin's like a Republican. And by the way, Biden could literally say that. I don't know why we have a Democratic senator agreeing with every Republican in killing the child tax credit. How many times did Biden say that? Zero. How many times did Saki say it's zero? How many times did any Democrat outside of the progressive?

Starting point is 00:32:20 just Democrats say it. Zero. So instead of the country hearing a Democratic lion president fighting for child tax credit, they heard him basically agreeing with Mansion. Oh, so was the Democrats who killed it. What are they supposed to think? Of course, that's why the popular of the Democrats fell off a cliff. It doesn't take a rocket scientist. More importantly, I mean, Look, I think that the Democratic Party is also under this weird assumption that the average American voter is going to hear about the Senate filibuster or the parliamentarian and excuse the ineffective nature of the Democratic Party as they have control of the executive branch and Congress.

Starting point is 00:33:09 Let me just say, the average American voter is not going to buy the argument that all we need to do is elect more Democrats. Nobody's going to buy that. There's only one set of people in a sorry to interrupt that would believe that. And that is older MSNBC voters. And you could say, hey, I'm being a jerk, but I'm being factual. So those people are completely brainwashed by Rachel Maddo and the rest. Oh, the parliamentarian is the most important thing. There's nothing Biden could do. There's nothing Biden could do. And I see them, then they'll come on Twitter and they're like, oh no, poor Biden, he's impotent. He can't do anything. anything. He's an invalid. He's just sitting in the White House drooling. There's nothing

Starting point is 00:33:51 you can do, Jake. He has no power at all. And fighting's bad. Fighting's terrible. You should never fight Republicans. You should never fight corporate Democrats. You should always just give into them. Just surrender. Please surrender. So, but outside of those MSNBC voters, which I, the reason I emphasize it, guys, is because unfortunately, that's a powerful block in the Democratic primaries. They swing a lot of Democratic primaries. MSNBC brainwashes them into make sure you pick the weakest and most corrupt Democrats. And they go, oh, no, nothing you can do, nothing you can do. We should lose.

Starting point is 00:34:26 Just lose. It's okay. Just lose, right? But the rest of the country, independence, progressives, and honestly, all other Democrats are going, are you insane? What is wrong with you? Why don't you fight back? Why don't you fight? Guys, even if Biden doesn't win, rhetorically, it's super.

Starting point is 00:34:46 important that you see the president fighting for you. That's so true, that's such a good point, Jank, because listen, we've been making this argument ever since the debates over Build Back Better began, right? And some people in the audience would say, well, I mean, okay, you want Biden to use tougher rhetoric, you want him to use sticks, but what if that doesn't work? Just the nature of, you know, just the optics of the president fighting on behalf of what the American people want, even if he fails in the end, matters. But what we got from Biden during that debate, during that so-called battle, was a bunch of

Starting point is 00:35:25 complimentary statements about mansion, about cinema, referred to cinema as smart, mansion's a great guy. I mean, there was nothing but, you know, complacency among Biden administration officials, excuse after excuse. And then, you know, when you don't see the president fighting on behalf of his own policies, it gives off the vibe that he doesn't really stand for anything. Because he doesn't. And that's the problem. And guys, that's the underlying problem.

Starting point is 00:35:56 Why doesn't he ever fight for a so-called agenda? Because it's not really his agenda. It was all marketing so that MSNBC hosts can go out there and tell everybody, oh, Joe Biden is in favor of the child tax card. Oh, Joe Biden is in favor of lowering drug prices. Joe Biden's in favor of all these incredibly popular things. But there's nothing he could do. I mean, we have the House, we have the Senate, we have the White House.

Starting point is 00:36:17 But there's nothing we can do because the parliamentarian and Mansion and cinema and all my other BS excuses, right? No one cares about your excuses. No one cares. All they see is either you actually agree with Mansion. That's my vote. I think Biden never meant any of his agenda. I think that he loved that Mansion killed it. I think he totally agrees with Mansion.

Starting point is 00:36:41 Now, okay, every MSNBC host, go conspiratorial. I can't believe that. I mean, just because they have the same exact donors and the same exact policies. I mean, remember Biden though is pretending to have different policies. Wow, you're so convincing. Okay, but let's say I'm wrong. Well, then what's your other explanation? The only other explanation is Biden is impotent.

Starting point is 00:37:00 So MSNBC hosts go out there and celebrate how much of a loser your president is and that he can't ever fight back. And if he did, he would automatically lose. He has no chance. He shouldn't even try. He shouldn't even try to fight back. And you think that's a winning strategy in politics? No one could possibly be that stupid.

Starting point is 00:37:20 But yet, seemingly intelligent hosts like Rachel Maddo, every night, they come out and tell you, submit, bend your neck and vote for weak Democrats who never even fight for you. And they get people to believe that. All right, we got to take a break. When we come back, we'll talk a little bit about tough guy Greg Abbott and his anti-immigration announcement he made. But there's an underlying story that's not being talked about. I'll give you the details on that and more. Come right back.

Starting point is 00:38:08 All right, back on TYT, Jay Hanna with you guys. Anna, go ahead. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has announced his latest immigration policy, but what isn't being reported is the Republican infighting at play that involves Trump administration officials, and it is delicious. So we're going to get to that underlying story that isn't being focused on. Before we get to it, though, here's what Greg Abbott has proposed.

Starting point is 00:38:44 Abbott announced that his state will start busing and flying undocumented immigrants to the nation's capital as part of a broader crackdown amid rising illegal crossings and fears that restoring old policies will overwhelm border communities. For two years, a federal health order called Title 42 has allowed the government to expel more than 1.7 million migrants in the name of controlling COVID-19. Now, Title 42 is set to be, you know, is basically set to be expired. They're not going to use it anymore because it turns out that it has really nothing to do with COVID. But more importantly, there are certain rights that people have.

Starting point is 00:39:29 Asylum seekers are supposed to have their asylum cases heard. And so there's been a lot of pressure on the Biden administration. to do what he is supposed to do and stop extending a Trump-era policy that really had nothing to do with COVID and had everything to do with just immediately expelling asylum seekers at the border. Now, the state, meaning Texas, will start offering bus rides to migrants released from federal custody while their court cases are pending. Abbott and other conservatives have derided current immigration policy as a strategy of catch and release, while advocates for migrants say it's the most humane way to hand. the many people seeking asylum in the US. Now, I thought what was interesting was how Abbott talked about this on Fox, because it's very clear the state will start offering bus rides to DC.

Starting point is 00:40:20 So that means it's a voluntary thing. He was asked about it, but decided to skirt the question. Let's watch. Tell us more about your plan. And also, I understand that there was a press release that was issued later last night that explained that the migrants would have to volunteer to get on a bus to go to to Washington, D.C. Is that right? Well, let me explain how this whole process works.

Starting point is 00:40:41 First, the big goal that we're seeking to achieve, and that is Joe Biden has refused to come to the border to see the chaos that he has created by his open border policies. So we're going to take the border to him by transporting the people that he is dropping off in these local communities in instead of Texas and sending them to Washington by plane or by bus. What was happening is that there's an increased number of people coming across the border that they, the federal government are processing and then letting loose. And what has been happening so far is those people will be getting on buses and going to San Antonio or Houston or other places like that. And so I think they just need longer bus rides.

Starting point is 00:41:22 My favorite part of that interview that he had on Fox News was that he was kind of going after Joe Biden for not coming to the border. He won't come to the border to see what's happening over at the border. But just yesterday he said this, quote, we'll be taking unprecedented. unprecedented action, Congress has to stop talking about it, has to stop complaining about it, has to stop going to the border and looking at it. Congress has to take action just like Texas is taking action. But going back to the question that was clearly posed there, is this a voluntary program? Or are you going to force migrants onto these planes and buses?

Starting point is 00:41:59 He's asked again, here's the follow up. Let's watch. governor in summary then you will make the offer and it's up to them to say yes or no to get on board that bus and and bill here's the deal this has been happening for weeks if not months now so we know the process already works it's just a matter of relocating the drop off point as opposed to san antonia or Houston or some other place so i love this because the right wing like they want these migrants to be forced, like kidnap him and put him on a plane or put him on a bus and ship him over to DC. But he can't do that. I'm sure there are laws preventing him from being able to do that. And really, at the end of the day, what Abbott is doing here, and this is what's not being reported

Starting point is 00:42:46 on, Jank, he's responding to the pressure he's getting from former Trump administration officials who are calling on governors in states like Texas and Arizona to call an emergency to declare an emergency because their states are being invaded. And since it's an emergency, since their states are being invaded, these former Trump administration officials argue that you can then use state troopers and the National Guard to deal with the border. Yeah. And he's not willing to do that, which I think is the right thing to do. But he's got to give them a substitute. And this is his tough guy substitute. Okay, there's a twist here for me. I don't really mind this policy.

Starting point is 00:43:31 So I'm going to explain why. But first on the hypocrisy of, he won't come to see the border. All he's doing is seeing the border. My 11-year-old son would say, bruh. Okay, make up your mind. All right. Now, here comes a twist.

Starting point is 00:43:49 So even if you thought it was involuntary, and that obviously is a huge problem because it's not maybe kidnapping, it's definitely kidnapping. You can't grab people when you have no legal authority over them and make them do something, including going on a bus, many states away. But even in that scenario, like, they think like, oh, it's a big thing like, ha ha, we got you. Now we're going to send the undocumented immigrants of Washington.

Starting point is 00:44:20 So what? We think that they should be processed. We should see if they have legitimate asylum concerns. And if they do, then they should be admitted into the country. But most of them, unfortunately, don't. And then they do show up for court, about 84%. And then eventually, once the case is resolved, they do go back to their home countries. So they do that in D.C.

Starting point is 00:44:43 They do that in Texas. I don't really care. So it's not like a big gotcha, right? And okay, well, what if it was your city? Yeah, sure. I don't care. I just want to do the right thing. But then on top of that, when Abbott acknowledges, well, it would be kidnapping, so I can't do it.

Starting point is 00:45:01 He said it in that interview with Fox. So then let me get this right. You're offering them a free ticket to go somewhere else in the country if they want to. It sounds like, that's kind of awesome. Yeah, where's the money going to come from? Totally. So are you going to use state funds for this? Cool.

Starting point is 00:45:19 I mean, no, I want, I need voters in Texas to understand that Greg Abbott is. using your money for free trips for undocumented immigrants to all across the country. It's because it's totally voluntary. If they don't want to, they can just stay right there. If they do want to, they're like, oh, you're going to fly me to D.C.? I've got family in D.C. Well, I'd like to see D.C., why not? I'll do it at the, you know, taxpayers expense in Texas.

Starting point is 00:45:44 Super happy to do it. It's voluntary, and there's nothing you can do about that. So, boy, you really got us, Greg Abbott. Okay, now, but I want to give more, more on the twist, He has proposed all these different things because, as Anna pointed out, he's in an election. He's got to try to appear the most draconian out of the right wingers. And so there's some awful things that he suggested, like low water crossings with a razor wire. No, don't, there's kids there.

Starting point is 00:46:13 You really want them ripped up by razor wire? Don't answer the question if you're a Republican, I know your answer. You don't care about kids. You don't care about life. You don't care about any of that. I know you want them ripped up by razor wire. Okay, but for the rest of us who are decent moral human beings, that's atrocious. But some of the other stuff, I think, have at it, Ha'Hoss.

Starting point is 00:46:32 He's like, oh, we should do boat blockades and increase lighting in prominent smuggling areas. Oh, okay, sure. Why not? I don't mind you putting a light at the border. If you're going to try to block people and then apprehend them, you're supposed to apprehend them. if they're coming in undocumented, if you're seeking asylum, then you turn them over to go through the process. You think you got us? You didn't, I don't. And then we should routinely inspect commercial vehicles entering Texas. You don't? Yeah, you don't. Like, I don't. What is wrong

Starting point is 00:47:07 with these people, right? Like, my favorite thing was just yesterday, like, Mitch McConnell, like, complaining about the lack of border security after we had four years of Donald Trump, touting how he had bolstered border security. So what happened? What happened to border security? What happened to the tens of billions of dollars that went toward Trump's stupid wall? He keeps talking about how it was built. He keeps talking about how it was successful, a huge success.

Starting point is 00:47:36 What happened? No, it's amazing because there's a huge admission there, right? They're admitting their own failure in implementing the security measures they claim to champion. Anna, then you're going to love the last part of the story where they have another spectacular failure that they had to actually walk back. So they were going to get tough on immigrants. So last year, they deployed thousand members of law enforcement in Texas to go and arrest these people. Now, normally, border control is a federal issue. So federal officials do it, not local state officials like Texas.

Starting point is 00:48:15 But they found a loophole, so they thought. Okay, but you're trespassing so local cops can arrest you for trespassing. So they started doing that. Critics said the push for arrest backfired in straight border towns, creating a new crisis within the local criminal justice system. So all the border towns, I read from the Washington Post Day, all the border towns were furious. They're like now there's like actual criminals and there's no jail sales for them

Starting point is 00:48:43 and the whole justice system is clogged up. Those immigrants didn't actually do anything and there's criminals running around everywhere. Big brains. Oops. And they had to go, but weren't we arresting for trespassing? We didn't mean they arrested for trespassing and they walked it all the way back. Why? It's clown orama.

Starting point is 00:49:01 It's all theatrics to appease a hateful right wing base. Don't worry. We hate the immigrants. Oh, they're so brown. Well, we don't want those brown people in our state. We're going to do the razor wires and we're going to bust them out and we're going to arrest them. But it's all just theater. They're not actually doing anything.

Starting point is 00:49:24 And it's all a joke. And it's a joke played on right wing voters. So have out it, Hoss. If you like these guys, go for it. Well, believe it or not, there is room for criticism toward Democrats on this issue. So I want to get to the Dan Crenshaw part of this story. Congressman Dan Crenshaw, Republican is, of course, very supportive of Governor Greg Abbott's political stunt, where he says that he will have migrants volunteer to get loaded on

Starting point is 00:50:15 to buses so they go to D.C. Now, Crenshaw, though, has a suggestion that involves Kamala Harris. Let's take a look at that. Governor Abbott has a good idea. He's going to, he's going to take a bunch of charter buses and send them to D.C. I like the sound of that. Now, he says he's going to send them to the U.S. Capitol. I would kindly ask the governor to also consider sending them to Kamala Harris's house. She, the vice president's houses in the Naval Observatory, perhaps send them there. because look, Kamala Harris has forgotten she's the border czar. So maybe if you put some busloads of illegal immigrants right in her backyard,

Starting point is 00:50:51 I mean, there is a wall there, so they're gonna have to figure that out. But put them there so she can finally start paying attention to this crisis at our border. I didn't notice until now. Yeah. There's one host. I'm not familiar with him, but the look on his face as Dan Crenshaw speaking is amazing. No, it's hilarious. Yeah, I noticed that too. It's it's the black eye on the left. Look at his face like, what are you saying? He's like, what?

Starting point is 00:51:19 I know, you've got Kilmead and Ainsley like, yep, yep, business as usual, everything's normal. And the new dude's like, what did I just step into? It's amazing, okay. But no, the reason why I wanted to show that video was actually not to go after Crenshaw, because Crenshaw is doing what Crenshaw is supposed to do. This is who he is, this is his brand, right? He's puffing up his chest and making it appear as though Kamala Harris has been super easy on the immigration issue, right? Even though, let's just remember, the Biden administration has extended Title 42, which just expels asylum seekers at the border, doesn't even hear them out.

Starting point is 00:52:01 That was an Obama-era policy that the Biden administration extended into their administration, and now there's talk of them lifting that regulation at the border. But I also want to remind you, Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party overall has gone to great lengths to appease Republicans, to make them happy by showing that they're also tough on immigrants, right? In fact, if you don't remember, Kamala Harris gave a speech in front of Guatemalans during her trip to Guatemala, and here's what she had to say to those who might come to the border to seek asylum. Let's watch. I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous track to the United States-Mexical border. Do not come. Do not come.

Starting point is 00:52:55 The United States will continue to enforce our laws and secure our border. Let me also just note that the United States orchestrated a coup in Guatemala and D.S. stabilize the country. So we kind of have a little bit of a responsibility to hear these asylum seekers out. But nonetheless, I bring this all up to make the point that Democrats will go against what their own voters want. They will turn their backs on their own voters to try to appease the very Republicans who will ignore their efforts at appeasing them, who will still go on Fox News channel and make it seem as though the Democrats have an open border policy. Stop trying to appease people who have an interest,

Starting point is 00:53:46 whose entire political careers depend on making you out to be the bad guy. They're not going to like you. They're not going to accept you. What do you do? It's like log cabin Republicans trying to like, you know, garner support from the Republican Party. They don't like you. They think that you're demons, okay?

Starting point is 00:54:03 Same with Democrats trying to appease the Republican Party. What are you guys doing? Get it together. They'll never get it together. They're never going to learn to establishment Democrats. They have to be defeated. They're never going to have it come to Jesus moment. They're never going to go, all right. Being Republican lights a bad idea.

Starting point is 00:54:22 Never. To the end of time, Kamala Harris, Biden, et cetera, are going to think, man, if we're just a little bit more like Republicans, the American voters will love us. They're useless. We have to defeat them in primaries. Okay, so now, but I got criticism for both here. Kamala Harris and for Dan Crenshaw. Yeah, I almost said something bad. Okay. So anyway, first, Kamala Harris, repeating things for dramatic effect is super annoying. It's super annoying. You see what I just did there? Don't come. Pause, pause, pause, don't come. I just. I'm so tired of her. Okay, and to, of course, to Anna's main point,

Starting point is 00:55:09 you thought you're going to be a tough guy and get right-wing voters by yelling at Guatemalans. Did you get any? Did you get any right-wing voters? Does the polling indicate that? Does it look like they like you now? No, they want to now drop everybody off in your backyard. It's stunning to me that they never learn. It's stunning.

Starting point is 00:55:30 I mean, it's just, it's embarrassing. unless you're watching or, you know, mainstream media or listening to NPR where they'll tell you, she's nailing it, doing a great job, just be a little bit more Republican. Okay, now on Crenshaw, look, this whole target them personally is dangerous. So I told you in an earlier segment on today's show just now, hey, Abbott wants to do this goofy PR trick where he gets undocumented immigrants and then puts them on a bus, voluntarily and pays for it or get put some on a plane, pays for it, brings in the D.C. I don't mind at all, okay?

Starting point is 00:56:08 But if you say, hey, let's put them on somebody's front step, no, that's not how America works. And it is, as usual, an implicit threat of violence. And then he, look, you can't docks the vice president. People can look up where the vice president lives, right? We knew where Cheney lived and they all live in the same place, right? Now, having said that, in this moment in history, there are crazed right-wing terrorists running around and looking to hurt people on the other side. And he just tells all of them, remember everybody where she lives, I'm going to repeat it on Fox News for you all.

Starting point is 00:56:46 Remember, she's the enemy. And I'll also, by the way, mispronounce her name to make her sound more foreign. And then tell you where she lives, wink, wink. Okay, we, all right. Look, I hear you, I hear you. And like they have no standards, right? So on one hand, they'll they'll all simultaneously whine and cry about Tucker Carlson being approached quietly. So someone could just tell him that he's a terrible person because he is.

Starting point is 00:57:15 But then they'll go ahead and direct all sorts of rabid, right wing domestic terrorists toward politicians they don't like. They also love to whine and cry when activists or protesters approach them. directly as they're enjoying a meal to call them out on policies or issues that they don't like. It's just, it's amazing because they love to make themselves out to be victims of left wing mobs. At the same time, they love directing people who are part of militias, who brag about their weaponry and arsenal of weaponry toward politicians they don't like. They do it all the time. The thing that makes me a little calmer about this situation is we're talking about the vice president, I mean, obviously she's got a lot more protection than the average bear, right?

Starting point is 00:58:01 Well, that's true too. But I mean, but still, he's directing them towards her and saying go to her house. And then in the minute anything is said about them, they cry forever. Look, let's keep it real. Someone I'm related to says something mean about Dan Crenshaw. And Dan Crenshaw cried for days and days of milked it off. I'm the victim, somebody said something made about me. A Twitch, a Twitch streamer said something made up. Oh, my God. Okay, then all of a sudden, he's like, oh, why don't we send dangerous people to Kamala Harris's house? Because remember, not only is he directing right wingers, in their minds, they think undocumented immigrants are dangerous.

Starting point is 00:58:44 That's why he's saying put them in Kamala Harris's house, right? So that's not true. But what is true is right-wing terrorists are dangerous, and he's directing them towards him. And then, of course, if you say anything about him, I'm such a victim of Dan Crinshaw. Gid, get, yeah. All right, that does it for our first hour. When we come back for the second hour, we'll talk about the similarities between Janine Piro and Joe Biden. What?

Starting point is 00:59:15 It's a good story. Don't miss it. We'll be right back. 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 at apple.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.

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