The Young Turks - Life's a Mitch

Episode Date: April 30, 2021

Hours after Trump said Mitch McConnell should lose his job, Mitch said he'd endorse Trump if he won the nomination. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to The Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. All right, welcome to the Young Turks, Jake, you're Anna Kasperin. I'm in a mood. Look, Casper, I know the post game, it's for the members, they deserve it. We're going to talk about early wakers. Is there someone on the set who might be an early waker and who's guilty?

There might be. I guess. I guess. Which one is it? We're going to find out. Okay. And today it was an early waker, halfway giving away the story. Anyways, and how do I get through the day?

Why am I in such a shipper mood? Could it be too much, too strong? Oh, no. it's actually not a good thing when he's had too much too strong coffee look too strong coffee dot com slash t yt if you need to pick her up or that's how it works it's called coffee all right now seriously we're going to have a super fun post game for you guys we're talking about different lifestyles and stuff and speaking of things for members though part of the reason i brought it up is because old school is switching everything up okay

so starting on Monday old school is live Da-er-na-na-na-na-da-da-da-da-da-da-na-da-da-na-da-a-pppoh. Okay, Casper's got me to work now. This is a new show. This is what we do. It's a new show. It's a new show. But here we are, having fun.

What are you going to do? Stop us? No. Are people talking about the new old school on the streets? Yeah, I heard the chitter-chatter. It's a 7 o'clock Pacific, 10 o'clock Eastern Live. And that's 45-minute episode. You guys all get to see it.

But then, for the members, a bonus episode of another 45 minutes. This. Okay, just a fun announcement for you guys. But we got a lot of news and a lot of that is fun too. So let's get started. Let's get started. Mitch McConnell continues to be someone who Donald Trump is holding a grudge against. In fact, during a recent interview with Maria Bardo, Trump brought up the former Senate majority leader and just showed the world how salty he continues to be. Let's watch. Going into the midterm elections, what do you anticipate?

I think we're going to do very well. We need good leadership. Mitch McConnell has not done a great job. I think they should change Mitch McConnell. And we definitely need. So there's Trump with his raspy voice saying that they need to change Mitch McConnell. And of course, Trump is upset that Mitch McConnell had the audacity to hold him responsible for, essentially encouraging the insurrectionist to storm the Capitol on January 6th.

Trump will not let that go, which makes this story so much more interesting when you keep in mind that Mitch McConnell was asked about Donald Trump possibly running for president in 2024, and how would Mitch McConnell handle it if Donald Trump actually won the nomination? Well, let's hear how that conversation went down. So you said that if you got the nomination, you'd stand by him. Do you still say that today? Well, I'm going to support the nominee of the Republican Party. I do predict, however, there's going to be a robust competition for the nomination.

You know, I've got three or four members of the Senate who are going to be running for president in 2024. Once that all sorts itself out, as the Republican leader of the Senate, obviously I'll be supporting the Republican nominee for president in 2024. And do you think that person will have to have former President Trump's backing? You'll have to win the nomination. And I think once the nomination is secured, the party will come together. and give it our best shot. Okay, so this is actually a very serious political story.

Is it? Is it? Okay, it is. And it has ramification for Democrats and not just electoral ramifications. I'll get to all that in a second. But first, Trump, I mean, what a goofball. It's, we need to change Mitch McConnell. We need to change him.

It's not working. Okay. Listen, this is what people like about him. Yeah. This is what people like about him and now he's not the president of the United States. I can comfortably say that his delivery is appealing, entertaining, people love it. Because people love the drama, people love the conflict. And more importantly, as much as I despise Donald Trump, there's something admirable about authenticity, period.

And he's certainly authentic. He can't stand Mitch McConnell. And he makes it clear in that interview, he doesn't hold back. And that's why people love it. What I find hilarious is that Mitch McConnell has not even realized at this late juncture what happened to the Republican Party. He's still completely in denial about what the Republican base is really about. And you're gonna see more of it as we show you more video of that interaction with Martha McCollum.

But what were you gonna say? Yeah, so look, first of all, Anna's 100% right about how Trump captured the Republican party and some independence. So does the whole country love them? No. The majority of the country despises him, as we do, right? But there is a very sizable minority who loves it. And mainstream media has never understood it. Mitch McConnell's never understood it. And it's actually kind of amazing that they can't understand it. That is how sick the Washington bubble is. The guy sounds authentic. Now that's a super ironic statement and we should make note of that because he's a legendary con man. So he's one of the least authentic people literally in the history.

of America, but he can't, he's not smart enough to be strategic, so he can't hold his tongue. So he just, whatever is in his head, he blurt's it out. He's like, I mean, sometimes to his detriment, to the point of revealing his own con, remember with Saudi Arabia, he said, they give me $30 million for apartments. Am I supposed to not like them? Like, man, he just says it. Like, yeah, they give me money. I do whatever they want, right?

And so people then mistake that for being honest. And there's a difference between can't hold back and authentic in that populist, non-strategic way, and actually being honest. He's not at all honest about his intentions. So that's an important distinction. But the most important part of this story is the politics of it. I don't mean for who's going to run in 2024, and I don't want to get into that nonsense now. I mean, Trump is a blunt instrument.

And he says, me no like Mitch, Mitch, please, okay? Or he would never say please, but he would say the other one. Anyway, so he says, me no like him, me think he's bad. And he called him a dumb son of a bitch, et cetera, all this stuff. Now imagine Joe Biden calling Chuck Schumer a dumb son of a bitch. That ain't never going to happen, right? But that is to some degree Biden's detriment. Now, I don't want Biden going ballistic like Trump and saying, attacking people for no reason

and being irrational and non-strategic, et cetera. But could Biden use some of the Trump? Well, it's not a strategy because Trump never has strategy, but that kind of line of attack. Yeah, that tough guy treatment toward members of his own party who refuse to fall in line. I think that Biden does need, and look, Biden could never get away with speaking the way

that Donald Trump does. It's just not his brand and it's not going to work for him. However, I do think that Biden could use his folksy delivery in basically hitting people like Joe Manchin over the head, not literally, figuratively, in order to get him to fall in line on incredibly important policies that we need to get past, including the Pro Act, including the for the People Act, reforming the filibuster in the very least so we can get these policies through the Senate. Yeah, so, you know, as one of our callers said a long time ago, again, proverbially, he said, beat him with a stick and they will do, okay? And so look at that, Mitch McConnell. Democrats have been saying our whole lives, Mitch McConnell is immovable object. You cannot move Mitch McConnell.

Now, we're going to show you a video in a second of Mitch McConnell laying into Donald Trump, and now look at him today. After Trump gives that interview, he goes, yes, sir, absolutely, sir. I will support him if he's the nominee, sir. it turns out Mitch McConnell is movable. If you try. And what do I always say on the show? If you fight them, it's not to feel good, it's strategic.

But no one in Washington understands that except Donald Trump. And so we give credit where credit is due. And look, he moved Mitch McConnell really easily. And how did he do it? By asking pretty police? No, by hitting him over the head politically. That's just a fact. There's an important component to this, right?

And it's not just, oh, if you just fight, you'll win. There's an important component to it. And it's exactly what Mitch McConnell has in his mind as he's trying to diplomatically answer these questions that Martha McCollum is asking him. So let's go to the second part of what Martha McCollin asked him and what he said to answer. I think this is an incredibly illustrative part of the conversation. Let's watch. Former President Trump this morning saying that it's time for, he said that you have not

done a great job and that it's time for new leadership. What do you say to him today? Well, look, we're looking to the future, not the past. And if you want to see the future of the Republican Party, watch Tim Scott's response to President Biden last night. He's the future. That's where we're headed. We're not preoccupied with the past, but looking forward.

So you don't think that your party listens to what he says about you or about your leadership? What we're doing is focusing on the future, not the past. And if you want to see the future, watch Tim Scott's great speech last night, he laid out what the Republican Party today and tomorrow is going to look like. All right, Jank, I'm going to need you to hold because I have a lot to say. All right, get ready. Three main points. Let's start off with a quick point about how it's important to compare Donald Trump's authenticity to that ridiculous fake smile that you saw from Mitch McConnell. as Martha McCollum was asking the question.

I mean, Mitch McConnell represents exactly what, not just Republican voters, but what voters in general can't stand, the inauthentic, insincere, nonsense, you know, lie peddling that you see in that video right there. You can tell that Mitch McConnell despises Trump. You can tell that Mitch McConnell does not want to endorse Trump in any way. But the reason why he's not being honest and he's being inauthentic is because he understands that Republican voters, right now still find Donald Trump to be incredibly popular. They still approve of the job that he did when he was president. And so McConnell doesn't want to cross them.

When he's trying to do there though, which I think is fascinating, is he's trying to convince Republican voters that like the new hot thing in the Republican Party is Tim Scott. When in reality, if you listen closely to Tim Scott's speech, his response to Biden's speech last night. What you hear is old school Republican messaging bootstraps. I used to be poor, but I worked real hard and look at me now. That was what his speech was about. His speech was about how you shouldn't rely on the government. The government can't do much for you. And what I think is good news for Democrats, if they actually think about this strategically and listen to their voters, is if Republicans keep going in this direction, they're going to lose and they're

they're gonna lose big. But Democrats need to do a little more of what Republican politicians do, which is listen to their voters. So for Joe Biden, he knows that his proposals are popular. So why is he caving to the desires of corporate Democrats when he knows that he has the backing of not just Democratic voters, but independent voters as well when it comes to these policy proposals? And in some cases, even the support of Republican voters. So Biden just needs to fight and he needs to use the support of Democratic voters to basically have corporate Democrats like cinema, Warner, Mansion, fall in line. That's what I have to say.

No, 100%. And again, what they don't understand in Washington is that honestly, Biden, McConnell, Tim Scott, all of these guys, Democrat and Republican, they sound like standard politicians. It's just like a certain drone that they have. So in McConnell's case, it was pretty brazen in that interview because he's just repeated a talking point. People hate it when you repeat talking points like a standard slimy politician.

Oh, we're not looking to the best, we're looking to the future. You just said that in the last answer. That means that's the one thing you have prepared and you're a slime. Look, everybody can tell. Everybody can tell, except people in Washington. But again, people on TV are like, oh,

that was savvy talking points. Oh, please. And then, but, you know, Biden has a certain cadence they think it's foxy and I think that does work with some of the older voters, especially Democratic voters. But overall a lot of, but people know he's been in Washington

for 50 years. But and I don't think Biden has it in him. That's why I think this is this high watermark. I don't think he's able to bully and intimidate his political opponents. And yes, that's the whole point we're trying to tell you guys. It has strategic value. If you do not move mansion

of cinema, you're not going to pass any of these bills. And the way to move them, Trump proved it without a shadow of a doubt. There was a couple of prominent politicians like Mark Sanford in South Carolina who opposed them. And he eliminated them. He made sure that they lost in a primary. You know what happened after that? Every single Republican politician healed.

That's how politics works. And the Democrats either don't get it or don't want to get it. I do have a possible recommendation for Biden where he doesn't have to, I guess, abandon his folksy nature and still find a way to kind of use his position to bully, for lack of a better word, Mitch McConnell, not Mitch McConnell, Joe Manchin to fall in line. So for instance, during his speech, you know what he could have easily done? We need to invest in renewable energy. That's going to be a big part of our infrastructure plan. And what we're gonna really focus on is bringing those jobs to places like West Virginia. I commit to infusing money into a wind turbine

manufacturing plant in West Virginia, like specifically mentioned the states where these corporate Democrats are from, and that's how you do it. I mean, when you think about it, the F-35 fighter jets, right? Remember we did a story about how they're faulty, they have all kinds of mechanical issues. They keep manufacturing them, even though the military doesn't really like to use them because of all the problems they have. But the reason why Congress continued to fund that project is because the defense contractors are like, we'll create jobs in your state.

We'll manufacture them in your state. Yeah. So, I mean, we know how corporations do it. We know how private companies do it. They entice through, you know, saying that they're going to do job creation in these states. Why doesn't Biden do that? And last night would have been a perfect opportunity to do it. So last thing on this, look, unfortunately, I think we're going to talk about this for the next

three and a half years. But there's a great example of LBJ. He pulls a politician in that he needs to vote with him. And he tells him, the guy's excited, he's in the Oval Office, etc. He says, oh, great news, we're going to go in the other room and we're going to do something together. And they said, what are we doing together? Oh, we have a press conference plan. And so here's the situation.

Like, let me just use mention as an example here and what Anna brought up. If Biden were doing the same thing as LBJ did, he would say, look, we're either going to go out together in that press conference and we're going to talk about how we're going to bring 85,000 new jobs to West Virginia, and you get all the credit because you're signing on to the infrastructure bill, as I have it, okay? Or we're not going to go out together. I'm going to go out by myself and say, for some reason Joe Manchin has decided to cost West Virginia at 85,000 jobs.

85,000 jobs, that's actually 15,000 less than 100,000, but 15,000 more than 70,000 because it's 85,000, until it gets drilled into people's heads. That Mansion just screwed him out of 85,000 jobs. So now Trump, because of his nature, would repeat things over and over again, and that was accidentally super helpful to him, because it pushes forward the framing that you want.

And when you put mansion in a spot like that, man, that's a tough spot to be in. He don't like that. Right. But Biden's never going to, ever, ever, ever going to do that. That's why all the wonderful talk he had last night about his agenda, it's very unlikely to happen. That's it. All right. Well, let's actually take a break.

And when we come back, we'll discuss how all of a sudden the deficit obsession is a huge part of the Biden administration when he promised that he wouldn't pay so much attention to the deficit. We'll give you the politics of that and more when we return. We need to talk about a relatively new show called Un-F-The Republic, or UNFTR. As a Young Turks fan, you already know that the government, the media, and corporations are constantly peddling lies that serve the interests of the rich and powerful. But now there's a podcast dedicated to unraveling those lies, debunking the conventional wisdom, In each episode of Un-B-The-Republic, or UNFTR, the host delves into a different historical episode or topic that's generally misunderstood or purposely obfuscated by the so-called powers that be.

Featuring in-depth research, razor-sharp commentary, and just the right amount of vulgarity, the UNFTR podcast takes a sledgehammer to what you thought you knew about some of the nation's most sacred historical cows. But don't just take my word for it. The New York Times described UNFTR as consistently compelling and educational, aiming to challenge conventional wisdom and upend the historical narratives that were taught in school. For as the great philosopher Yoda once put it, You must unlearn what you have learned. And that's true whether you're in Jedi training or you're uprooting and exposing all the propaganda and disinformation you've been fed over the course of your lifetime.

So search for UNFDR in your podcast app today. and get ready to get informed, angered, and entertained, all at the same time. So, I'm going to be able to be. I'm going to be. I'm going to go. And so. So, you know, I'm going to be able to be. All right, back during the break here.

Look at Obi-Mom Knobe. Of course, jumping in and giving 400 bits for, quote, live old school. We'll do it live. We'll do it live. Thank you, Obi-Mum. By the way, I don't know if Obie-Mom lives in L.A., but I saw a license plate today as I was driving that said Obie-Mom on it, OB-1 mom or something.

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rated. But if you're unfamiliar with Twitch, that's a good thing. And don't hate more, I don't know. It might be love more. I don't know. But we got rated, but in a positive way. That's what's happening on Twitch. My job is just to report the news to you guys. Wow, that's awful. That's a handle

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Cyborg Bellia just joined up, and Antorum is with us for two months again. Oh no, most who won on YouTube Super Chat. But she doesn't want to run for office. Okay, Anna. Hashtag Anna for Congress. They said it. Look, I didn't say it. They said it. Am I in favor of it? No, I'm opposed to it. Okay, but things have been said. And there's no, you can't take it back, okay? So, by the way, Senate. Anyways, eventually, not now, okay. I'm writing my book, I need her.

New YouTube members. Just hit the join button below. Now, look, preemptively, the names I'm about to read. Are they American heroes? I guess. Again, people nonstop talking about on the street. I hear about Andy Soapchick. I was, and my ears perked up earlier today.

They're like, Soapchick, Soapchick, Sochick. Oh, he's going to be a new young Turkish member on YouTube. Okay. And they say, storm is coming. I didn't know where's a storm. Turns out it's Storm Presland who just joined by hitting the join button below. Haddi Nomada, Hudi and Turkish means, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on. Okay, Hadi Nomada, perfect.

And Ellen Rothney, Ellen, are you a hero? Yes, yes, I'm saying it. It's coming out of, the words are coming out of my mouth. Things have been said. Okay. And then John Campbell Reese in our member section, Rice, in the likelihood of the Kurdish GOP nominating a man of color as their presidential cares of as I like Joe Biden for giving student debt.

We'll see you in a second. All right on the Young Turks, Jank and Anna, during the break I was reading some member comments and I had fun with this one. but I want to read it for real. Oh, no, they threw it off. Gone. Gone. But one of our members, t.yt.com slash join. That's how you become one of our members of participating the show,

said the chance of the GOP nominating a person of color for their presidential candidate is the same as Joe Biden canceling student debt, which is approximately zero. So, unfortunately, that's true. But anyway, you guys know it. You know it. That's why you're awesome members. All right, what's next, Anna?

All right. Shortly after President Joe Biden was inaugurated, he made it clear that he would not fall for the scaremongering GOP tactics regarding the deficit. And he said that he was going to focus on ensuring that the American people got what they needed economically to do away with inequality and some of the societal and economic ills we're dealing with. But ever since Biden passed the coronavirus relief package, his rhetoric changed considerably when it came to the deficit.

And now it looks like he's actually pretty obsessed with the deficit. It was actually front and center during his address before Congress last night. How do we pay for my jobs and family plan? I made it clear we can do it without increasing the deficits. Let's start with what I will not do. I will not impose any tax increase on people making less than $400,000. But it's time for quarter. And the wealthiest 1% of Americans have just began to pay their fair share.

Yeah, but the only problem is corporate America along with GOP lawmakers and corporate Democrats refuse to raise taxes on the rich. In fact, you can't even get corporate Democrats to agree to increase the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% when before the Trump administration cut taxes for corporations in the rich. rich, it was 35%. So Biden's own economic advisor even made a point about the deficit recently during Medi Hassan show. Let's watch that. But what he wanted to make sure to do is he wanted to make sure they were able to, we were able to pay for it and not put this burden on the American, on the American people. As it comes to health care, Biden has said this, President Biden has

said this over and over again. He believes health care is a right. So if you believe that health care is a right, why are we having negotiations about whether or not we should treat health care as a right and how it should be paid for? I mean, it's just, it's fascinating to me, Jank, because on one hand, you have Biden now saying like, oh, I will show you the pay for us, right? It's this whole pay go mentality. Pay for, pay for, pay for. But then you have lawmakers in Congress, including again, corporate Democrats like Mansion, Cinema, Warner, who refused to raise taxes on the rich. So what does that leave us with? Yeah, the answer is no legislation. So I don't know if he's trying to kill his own agenda or he doesn't know what he's doing or he's trying to thread the needle. He's trying to have it both ways, but he doesn't quite realize that that's not possible. So what do I mean by have it both ways?

He wants to get all of his donors money, right? And that's just a fact. So if the mainstream media wants to cry about it and Democratic hacks want to cry about it, that's okay, let him cry. But does Joe Biden care about his political donors? Of course, he's a very standard politician. So the Chamber of Commerce doesn't want most of his agenda passed, like the Pro Act, no way. They're dead set against it, the $15 million wage, dead set against it.

And look, I saw politics over a decade ago, you're welcome, it's actually very simple. What does the Chamber of Commerce want? Well, they'll get 95% of what they want. It doesn't matter if it's a Republican president or a Democratic president, okay? So in this case, they need a plausible deniability on killing the parts of his agenda that the Chamber of Commerce does not want. Okay? So that is why they say, oh, the deficits. All of a sudden, the deficits matter. Now, while Trump was an officer of four years, nobody talked about deficits.

$2 trillion tax cut for the rich, $4 trillion COVID relief bill, most of which went to giant corporations under Trump. Nobody talks about the deficit, no deficit talk. You name it, whatever they did, nobody cared about the deficit. And by the way, the media, again, I'm sorry, but it's true.

They suck at their job. For four years, they don't talk about the deficit. Democrat gets into office. They're instantly like, deficit. The collective amnesia is insanity. It's infuriating. But to be fair to the media, Joe Biden helps them.

So now he comes in and he's like, now remember everybody, we don't really want to do anything. So deficit, everybody, deficit, right? If you wanted to get it passed, you would say, I mean, look at what his spokesperson said there. She said, we don't want to put that debt on the American people. That's Republican framing. Yeah, it is. That's, no, it creates jobs, which this one actually does. And it actually helps the economy.

But instead, you've butchered your own framing to hurt your own programs. only logical explanation is they're doing it on behalf of their donors, and this is some kabuki theater, how could you not know talking about the deficit, and then decoupling the taxes? When you do that, there's no way to pay for any of the programs. Then they turn around and use your own points against you. They said, you said you didn't want to burden the American people, and you said that you were going to pay for it. And now since we killed your way of paying for it, which is the taxes, well, then you obviously can't do it. And then he's cornered. Yeah, exactly. And look, I would like to quote the great philosopher Pitbull who said once, and I think this is important, scared money don't make money.

And so in this case, we're not just talking about like, oh, we're going to spend a bunch of government money and then it's gone. No, it's an investment into the future, which is why like the whole notion of PAYGO is so stupid, especially in a context like this, because we are investing that money, the proposed $4 trillion with both the infrastructure bill, and the American Families Plan, we're investing that money for the future, right? To first of all, just update our country when it comes to our infrastructure, but also get it more up to date in order to deal with climate change, which is a huge problem, right? But the way that it's being treated is as if it's like money that's going to go down the toilet and we're never going to see it again. No, that's not how this is going to work out.

David Dayan wrote a fantastic piece about this in the American Prospect. I do want to read you a few excerpts from it because I think that he puts this case out very articulately, possibly more articulate than Pitbull, but I don't know. You judge for yourselves. So he writes, Council of Economic Advisors member Jared Bernstein has consistently made appearances touting how the deficit will not increase. There's just no question that this is a preoccupation of the White House. In fact, if you go back to the campaign, this was the plan, emergency funding to rescue the country and then back to the the days of pay go politics. So he's right about that. I totally noticed that that was happening and he perfectly outlined it. If you can't get consensus on the pay for's, and if your rhetoric of fiscal responsibility demands that everything be offset, the only result is the narrowing of the tax plan necessarily reduces the spending, right? So if they're not going to increase the taxes necessary to pay for the bill, then that means they're going to strip the bill of the provisions that we desperately need. That's just the only way that this could possibly work.

And then he writes this, this is the important part. If there's any type of spending that doesn't require pay for, or pay for it, as they are investments that pay off in the future, it's infrastructure spending, be it physical or human infrastructure. The fact sheet on the American Families Plan cited a paper showing that every dollar invested in early childhood education yield $7.30 and benefits. So why are you paying for it then? Why do you have to front the money ahead of time like that? Or say that we must balance it our budget this year. So let me explain. From a business context, sometimes you need to do an investment up front. As he's alluding to, the studies have already shown, you put a dollar in, you're going to get $7.30 back, right? But if you

need to balance the budget every year, you might not be able to put that dollar in. And that would actually be counterproductive because it prevents the $7 from coming in. Businesses know this. That's why they do investments all the time. By the way, personal families, you also know this. Did you pay for your house all at once? No, almost no one did, right? You put a down payment, and then you get a mortgage. What's a mortgage? It's debt. It's an investment in that home. And so if you had to balance your budget every year, you could never buy a home. You'd have to pay for the whole thing. Yeah. So this is a very logical investment. But Biden, in essence, politically, punched himself on the face by saying, you know what,

but we got to balance the budget, deficits are terrible. And we already know, as Anna said in the beginning, the corporate tax cut was from 35 to 21. And now he's only talking about bringing it backing up to 25. That's never going to pay for it. So then it's over, his entire, all that wonderful stuff you heard last night. And it was a great speech. It's just not realistic based on what Biden is doing

and no one else in media has the courage to actually tell you that or maybe they just don't understand politics and they don't know what's going to happen next if you need to balance the budget to do this stuff no president could do it then you could never make an investment in the country like infrastructure

Eisenhower couldn't have built the highways and the bridges in the first place if we had that rule so at a minimum everybody in media should be asking why is Biden trying to hurt his own agenda? Well, let's move on to the coronavirus vaccine, because as you guys know, we've been talking about this quite a bit. There have been calls to lift the vaccine copyright, so poorer countries can manufacture generic versions.

But there are various industries that are standing in the way of letting that happen. So I want to share those details. Recently released disclosures show that Hollywood and major publishing companies, along with the music industry, are standing in the way of lifting the patent or the copyright for the coronavirus vaccines. In fact, they have sent letters to the White House urging them to avoid doing so. Why? Why would Hollywood be so concerned about lifting the patent for a coronavirus vaccine or the coronavirus vaccines when, point, Poor countries desperately need to be able to manufacture their own. Well, it turns out that they're concerned that this could be a slippery slope that could lead to piracy hurting their profits. So as Lee Fong over at the Intercept writes, the Motion Picture Association, which represents major movie and television studios, deployed five lobbyists to influence Congress and the White House over the waiver.

The Association of American Publishers, as well as Universal Music, have similarly revealed that they are active. lobbying against it, against it. So the industry sources say that the lobbyists are actually concerned that the waiver will be too broad in scope and could open the door for increased piracy, but the copyright industry push relates to a provision of the proposal that would waive copyright enforcement for the prevention, containment, and treatment of COVID-19. This doesn't apply to the Hollywood industry at all, at all, not in any way, shape, or form. They claim that the wording in the request indicates that it could affect them, but that's not true.

So, for instance, a spokesperson for the Recording Industry Association of America told The Intercept, as originally drafted, the proposal waiver would have extended to wholly unrelated areas that have nothing to do with the global fight against COVID, like copyright in creative works. But when they were asked for the language that they're speaking of, they didn't respond. They didn't provide any evidence for what they're claiming there. And the draft text for the waiver notes that the waiver in paragraph one shall not apply to the protection of performers, producers, and phonograms, meaning sound recordings, and broadcasting organizations under Article 14 of the Trips Agreement. So what's the problem? Yeah.

What's the problem? Well, so I'll tell you why they're doing this and how it's inevitable, but we have to be super cognizant of it, but we're not. Okay, so why are they doing this? Because there are certain employees within that lobby that know that if you loosen copyright restrictions, it might eventually affect them. Okay, even if it doesn't affect them in this case, they're worried about precedent. Now, is that a high probability? No, it's not a high probability. But if you're a lobbyist for this industry, you don't care about high probability or not.

You're gonna fight any attempt to expand waivers on copyrights, okay? That is core to their business model. So us wishing that they wouldn't do it or hoping they wouldn't do it is naive. They're definitely going to do it. And us thinking, well, that seems really inhumane. I mean, you're worried about this tiny chance that is not. It's going to affect you down the road. Meanwhile, people are dying in India and you say, don't do a waiver on a drug that I got nothing to do with, because one day you might do a waiver on movies down the road.

God, that's so callous. Yeah, that's called capitalism. Yes, exactly. When profits go over the lives of people. But in our system, look, you don't have to design capitalism that way, but we did. In our system in America, we told corporations, public corporations, you must. must maximize profit. If you don't maximize profit, you will be fired, okay?

That's just a stone cold fact. So they're not going to care about the people of India. They're just never going to care. That's not how it works, so stop being naive. Now, does that mean, okay, well, that's it, we give up and say, no, if you're aware of that phenomenon at least, then your politicians, if they actually were functioning in a democracy, would then fight on your behalf, democracy would check capitalists. At TYT, we frequently talk about all the ways that big tech companies are taking control of our online lives, constantly monitoring us and storing and selling our data.

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not close. But we don't do that here in America, why? Because we legalize bribery. So those guys give tons of money to politicians. So now when they give millions of dollars to politicians, what do you think politicians are going to do? How much did the people of India, you know, the people dying in Calcutta, Mumbai give to senators here in America. Zero. And theoretically, the government of India cannot give money to our

politicians. But corporations can, movie companies can, truck companies can, and they're number one in giving. So when all these companies unite and they bribe all of our politicians, then our entire laws are skewed. And then we become inhumane. America then through our politician says, no, we don't want to help dying people all across the world. Why? Because Warner Brothers and Pfizer, you know, or name any movie companies or drug companies, paid me off. And they say that it might affect their profits by a couple of dollars. So that's it. All the people that are suffering in Brazil, Russia, Corona in India, you name it. Go die. because America has set up the wrong system.

Yeah, I mean, look, it's interesting because I used to think the same way that capitalism can be reformed. I mean, the United States managed to do that in the New Deal era, right? I mean, that's what Roosevelt managed to do. But what happened after that? Business interests will always find a way to beat back any type of regulation or any type of check on their power or profit-making abilities, which is why this problem could have easily been solved by, decommodifying the healthcare industry, like pharmaceutical drugs, right? Get like the industries that we rely on to live, right? Whether it's housing or, you know, the healthcare companies and all of that, there should be no profit. Prisons, no profit motive. Once you introduce

a profit motive to those industries and you commodify it, well then yeah, you're gonna get screwed, and regardless of how many regulations you path, I mean, there are cases where corporations just literally don't follow regulations and they get away with it. It's called Wall Street. Yeah, well, it's actually called almost all the industries because, again, the bribery, etc. So look, I don't want to even do a long debate about capitalism. I'm not convinced that there is really a functioning second model. But the definition of capitalism is much broader than people realize. Everybody thinks, oh, it has to be the American version, the extreme version where there

are no rules and corporations completely own the government, and they could do any cruelty that they want. So Anna's right, things that affect our lives like cops, fire departments, and yes, health insurance must be public. And you could do that in a capitalist system. All of Europe does, okay? But I don't think the drug companies should be. But so how would you solve this problem if we didn't have legalized bribery in this

country? It's actually very simple. When we gave $18 billion in subsidies to the drug companies to develop those vaccines, we attach a condition like any investor would. You say, hey, if I'm giving you $18 billion, here's what I want back. And one of the things you would have said, because it's the most obvious thing to think through is, what is it going to cost the American people? And then once we're done with the American people, if you're just looking at it from a selfish American perspective,

how are we going to make generic drugs from these vaccines and how much is it going to cost the rest of the world? You would have thought that through. You would have negotiated ahead of time. And then we wouldn't get into this mess now where we go, oh, golly gee, nobody could have thought that one day we might want to use the vaccine in India. Of course we were going to use it in India. Of course we were. Why did they not pre-negotiate that as the government?

Because they're bought by the drug companies. This is not, oh, we couldn't see it coming that the rest of the world would want a vaccine. They purposely didn't negotiate it. So they can now turn around and say, well, there was nothing we could do. They had to charge super high rates or let people die. There was nothing we could do. No, it's a lie. It's a scam.

They knew there was something they could do, and they chose not to do it because they're bought and paid for by largely the drug companies in this case, but even things like the movie companies. Well, let's take a break, and when we come back, we'll talk about how no one ever really talks about the fact that quick and quick trials don't happen in America as often as we would like. So when it comes to injustice, we need to have that discussion. We'll have it when we come back from the break. I'm going to be.

I'm going to be. I'm going to be able to be. I'm going to be. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.

Wow. Wow. All right. All right, I can't get enough of Twitch, so I'm going back there. Persie gifted five subs, so did Ritori Koo. No, the rhetoric who did gifted a sub, but we love you either way. Hate Me or gifted five subs wasabi dragon. How fun is that?

I'm already addicted to you. Gifted five subs. True Seattleite, who's been with us for four months, said, is Jenk worth a subscription? I guess. Thank you for guessing in that direction. I appreciate it. Love you guys. Idra Gustin, also with us for five months, says five months and free basing the knowledge

by now. TYT Gateway to fact-based news. There you go. There you go. Love it. And by the way, speaking of free basing, we're going to tell you about a CEO that got relieved of duty for doing LSD at work. Let him go. Right or wrong. We'll have a conversation about it later. Let him go. Okay, apparently that's the way she's going to go. Maybe we should do a poll on it. Anyway, Delta Quadrant Dragon. Oh, we forgot talking about the poll. Mitch McConnell or Donald Trump. I know. Okay, t-y-t.com slash polls. Who's worst?

Mitch McConnell or Donald Trump. Enjoy that one. I don't know the answer. I'm looking forward to your answer. All right, Delta Quadrant Dragon says, does TYT like Bezos bucks? I guess. Come on, you guys are the best.

All right. Stephen Matthias says, as a musician, I can say that record companies use copyright to abuse artists. And Stephen, thank you for using YouTube Superchat. and YT pre-nude says send the tech anyway and tell big

pharma to F off. Well, that's what we would do if we had Democratic capitalism. What's Democratic capitalism you ask, Jank? Don't worry, I explain it in Justice's Coming Coming.com. So you'd want to go to justicescomingbook.com to pre-order justicecombeck.com.

Let's hope it actually is. All right. I love this one. Gina Gallegos, also wrote in on YouTube Super Chat. My mom told her coworker she was fully vaccinated. Her coworker said, OMG, you're going to die in three years. My mom said, that's okay, just cremate me when it happens. L.O.L. I love your mom's attitude because, yeah, that's where I am now. When people are like, oh, yeah, I think you're doing this because of this or I think you're that. Oh, I go, okay, that's like your opinion, man. I don't care at all. That's good. Bless your heart. Okay.

Drives people crazy. But I really mean it. I think that makes them more crazy. Anyways, the Screamo Dragon in our member section said, Jen, give me a dad joke. I need some new material for the kids. They're stuck at home with strep. You know, I read that comment like 30 minutes ago.

It's been stressing me out ever since. These dad jokes, I don't have them prearranged. I don't have them scripted. They've got to come out naturally. So stay with me. We'll figure one out. So, I'm going to be able to be. All right, back on TYT, Justice Dragon and Salt Dragon, let's proceed.

All right, well, let's talk a little bit about our justice system, which we know is broken, but there's one issue that doesn't get enough attention. The justice system in the United States is supposed to grant those who have been accused of a crime a fair and speedy trial. However, more often than not, that doesn't actually happen. And during the pandemic, there have been cases of people who have spent over a year in prison waiting for a court date. The nation wrote a fantastic piece about this, and it talks about a specific jail where people have been incarcerated for a long time, haven't had their day in court, and have been protesting, engaging in uprisings to try to get the public's attention so they can get justice. On Easter Sunday, for instance, about 60 people incarcerated at the St. Louis

City Justice Center jail in downtown St. Louis, escaped from their cells and joined together in an uprising to demand their day in court and improved conditions inside the jail amidst the deadly pandemic. It was the second major uprising in the CJC since February and at least the fourth coordinated protests there in the last five months. And you can understand why they're doing this. The Easter rebellion began around 8.30 p.m. when protesters smashed the third floor window of the jail and dropped a sign painted in white toothpaste that read Help Us. A few months earlier on December 29th and January 1st, groups of detainees refused to return. turn to their cells protesting a near complete lack of COVID-19 protections.

And I want to show you all what these protests look like. Chaos inside this St. Louis jail. Inmate objects ablaze and throwing items outside shattered windows. This is at St. Louis City Justice Center downtown on Tucker. Officials say it all started with a fight overnight. Inmates able to break out of their cells after jimmying the law. That detainee got into a scuffle with our correction officer who was then jumped by others that were detained inside one of our units on the fourth floor. The smoke scarred windows full of inmates, some holding signs, others raising their fists as daylight broke.

Activists say this comes after an ongoing protest against conditions at the jail. So not only are they concerned about the conditions in the jail, which by the way includes overcrowding during a pandemic, they're also concerned that while they may have been charged with a crime, they haven't had a single day in court. And so if you can't afford the cash bail, you're stuck and you don't get your day in court in order to defend yourself. It's insane. In fact, St. Louis City has gone a little over one year without a single jury trial. Single jury trial. It's unbelievable.

All right, guys, the great injustice of this is easy to understand. So they're asking for cash bail for minor offenses. And then they're saying since because of COVID, we're not doing jury trials. So you just have to sit in jail, right? So on average, people are waiting five months for a probable cause hearing. That's the first time they go in front of a judge and see if there's even any cause to hold them at all. And by the way, as it turns out, most of them are then dismissed. A lot of them were picked up without a warrant and there's no evidence against them.

There's no paper trail. There's no nothing. So they get released. So what the hell did you keep them in jail for five months for if they didn't do it or if you don't have any evidence on them? And the answer is, well, we needed, they needed to bail money, guilty or innocent. It doesn't matter. We're not going to let you out without bail. Now, think about it.

If you're wealthier, you have the money. You're out. And it doesn't matter again, if you're guilty or innocent, it doesn't matter if you cut three people's heads off. You give the bail money and you are released. Now they can deny you bell if you cut three people's heads off. But overall, rich people can leave jail instantly. Most of middle class can leave. Only the poor remain.

And their crime is not what they were charged with. Their crime is being poor, because if you're charged for the same exact thing, but you have money, you're free to go. And then you show up for your probable cause hearing in five months. These people's freedoms are taken away. And a great majority of them are then released later because it turns out we had no evidence on them. I mean, imagine spending. Look, there's one activist who says, I know some people that have been waiting there for six years. That's six years without ever walking outside.

That's insane. And look, what I actually want to bring up is something that I think impacts our police departments. and now, I mean, clearly it's impacting our justice system. What we do in foreign policy comes back to bite us, and that's exactly what's happening here. When you have this like flippant attitude toward prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, who very often haven't been charged with anything, they've just been imprisoned with, you know, in some cases no evidence, they haven't been charged, they're just held indefinitely in Guantanamo Bay.

And when we as Americans tell the U.S. government that we don't really care and we just kind of let that go, well, then that emboldens them to do the same thing to us. Yeah, and they are doing it now to us. And that's why we were against in the first place. It doesn't mean you let everybody can go on Toronto Bay go. If it turns out that you have evidence, and some of them, we do have evidence, and they have been convicted, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was one of the masterminds of 9-11. Great, we got them.

We should put them in a maximum security prison in Colorado. make sure you never sees the light of day. But a lot of those guys were just picked up on bounties. And we've been keeping him for decades and going, we don't care. We're never going to give him a trial. That's not America. And now, I mean, look, I know there's a phenomenon that existed before Guantanamo Bay, but now it's, you know, the cash bail is absolutely out of control,

and it's used to subjugate, oppress, and take the freedom away from people who don't have enough money. And it's sickening, and it's not justice for all, that's for sure. Look, guys, there's been 119 acts of collective resistance in just the first 90 days after COVID began, okay? Why? They're packing everybody into these tight places. People have COVID-like symptoms. They can't tell because nobody gets tested.

And then as a sickness starts to spread like wildfire in the prisons, you don't bust out and start a fire and do the toothpaste thing and the signs and all that stuff. you know what's going to happen you know they're going to come in eventually with tear gas kick the living crap out of you and then move you to the place in St. Louis called a workhouse which is a notorious jail worker

you're going to be stuffed in worse conditions you don't do that unless you're desperate right so the people running this facility came out after this event and said oh we have no idea why they're doing it they have no reason to do it at all I guess they're vicious criminals oh shut up

Shut up. You know, I'm paraphrasing on the vicious criminals, but they said, we have no idea why they're doing it. No. Well, come on. Imagine being, you know, accused of a crime. The Constitution states that you have the right to a speedy trial. You've been there for over a year. You haven't had the first day in court.

Imagine that. And especially like if you know you're innocent, you don't even get an opportunity to defend yourself. That's insane. So obviously I can understand why. inmates would want to protest that. But as you mentioned, they are treated even worse once they do say something, once they do engage in these protests. And they're sent over to this medium security place called the workhouse. And that place is notorious for mistreatment of prisoners. For instance, correctional officers will randomly and indiscriminately use pepper spray on inmates. Water being turned off

as punishment. There have been reports of intentionally placing inmates in cells where other inmates are clearly showing signs and symptoms of coronavirus. And there's also, of course, overcrowding, which is disastrous during a pandemic. Yeah. So I'll say the last two things here. Look, ending cash bails are no-brainer, except, of course, our politicians don't have a brain, or they get bribed by private prisons, et cetera. Why it's a no-brainer? You should do it based on the level of danger of the inmate, potential danger of the inmate. And you should have a fair standard that applies to everyone. So you can keep people in jail if you have good reason to believe they're really dangerous

and we shouldn't let them out. But if you do it based on wealth, that makes no sense at all. Why are we doing it based on wealth? It's inequality built into the justice system. But the second point is also important. Guys, we were trained since we were kids. I know I was by the American media to think that all, that the system is binary. You're either a good guy or a bad guy.

You're either good or evil. And we were taught that all the prisoners are evil. Oh, they're bad guys and they're terrible and they're incorrigible. And if I saw that as a kid, I say, oh, look at them. You see that? And mind you, I was a Republican when I was a kid, et cetera. Oh, they're starting a fire. Somebody could have gotten hurt.

We knew it. It confirms they're bad guys. That's what the media told us our whole lives. And guess what? It's a lie. Remember, most of the people there, when they finally get their hearing, are released. We didn't have evidence on them. And a lot of people are in jail for smoking a joint all across the country.

Are they like evil? No, no, the government and the media lied to you your whole life. It's way more complicated than that. There are some people who do terrible things and we do need to lock them up. And then we have basically a prison industrial complex here. that has robbed millions of Americans of their freedom. And the media, instead of having to curse a fight back against that, enable that system.

Well, let's move on to this next story. Luckily, there was some justice in this story. And that came in the form of an FBI investigation. We'll talk about Giuliani later, but this is different. So, an FBI investigation found that an ex-Georgia cop had bragged in text messages, about basically beating black people in the community and also specifically charging them in such a way that it would make it difficult for them to vote. So he got caught, luckily because the FBI was investigating this, they were investigating

his texts, and initially this was an investigation into illegal weapons. During these text exchanges, which were with other extremists, by the way, Cody Richard Griggers of Montrose was fired last November after the FBI contacted the sheriff there about the investigation into illegal guns and their alleged ties to a California man said to have made violent political statements on Facebook. Now Griggers, that's the cop here, in Tex was said to have claimed that he was making and gathering illegal firearms and explosives. So naturally the FBI is like, we better look into that. And they did. FBI searched Grigger's patrol car and found a machine gun. With an obliterated serial number, a weapon he was not allowed to have in his patrol car.

An unregistered short barrel shotgun was found in his home. The statement went on. In all between the defendant's residence and duty vehicle, officers found 11 illegal firearms. So he has already pleaded guilty to that, and he's facing a maximum of 10 years in prison as a result. Luckily, he's an ex-cop. He's not a deputy or anything anymore. But the second part of this is how he was communicating to other extremists about the way he feels about black people in the community. So he, of course, tweeted, I'm sorry, texted all sorts of racist and bigoted things.

He expressed viewpoints consistent with racially motivated violent extremism, including the use of racial slurs, slurs against homosexuals, gay people, and making frequent positive references to the Nazi Holocaust, Prosecutor said in a statement announcing Griggers's plea. I'm going to give you an example of something that he had written. I beat the expletive out of racial slur Saturday. Expletive tried to steal gun magazine from the local gun store. Sheriff's Department said it looked like he fell, meaning he beat him up so much that he looked like he fell and suffered a serious injury. The affidavit noted, quoting Griggers.

Griggers went on to write that the beating was for him. sweet stress relief. And he also bragged about how he was intending to charge the guy and ensure that he would be unable to vote in the future. Yeah. So those last two

things are so important. One is I mean look at this. We have deeply racist cops. Not all of them in this. Like I'm not, look, I think their training is horrific throughout the country and it teaches a culture of

extreme violence towards the citizens. So that does apply unfortunately to everyone. Some people can resist it, but it's a few good apples, okay? But when it comes to racism, not all the cops are this over the top white supremacist races, but there are a lot. Now I want you to think about a couple of things about that. Okay, if you're not black, it doesn't affect you at all. So presumably if you're white, right? And so you never notice it. But think about if you were black. There are certain percentage of cops out there. there who have a gun and a badge and pretty much a near, you know, untouchable status. And some of them are vicious racists. And they can't wait to beat the living crap out of you

to just get what he said was, quote, sweet stress relief. How does that make you feel? And that guy, is he going to be hesitant to use his gun against an unarmed black man? And so, I mean, think about the terror of walking around knowing you don't know which one, but a certain percentage of cops can't wait to attack you for just who you are, just for being black. He doesn't know a thing about you, but he wants to attack you. Now, that's not every cop, but just the fact that it's a lot of cops, it's so unbelievably disconcerting. And the fact that other people can't have empathy for that is just borderline shocking. I also find the hiring process for local police department shocking.

I know that there's no uniform policy and I'm sure it differs from one department to the next. But just experiencing what it was like to witness my husband go through the very extensive background check process to become a firefighter, which he didn't end up doing. But we went through the process. It is incredibly invasive. I mean, we're talking about being a firefighter. They show up to the building you live in. They knock on every neighbor's door. They interview every neighbor.

They called me and asked me if I've ever dealt with any domestic abuse. I mean, it's just very thorough. It's just like a robust investigation into the person applying. And I just get the sense that with some police departments, that type of background check isn't taking place. Like, this guy is not only an extreme racist, but he had 11 illegal weapons. I mean, how did this guy get hired? That's what I want to know. And, you know, how does he stay on the job until they discover this stuff?

Does no one heard him saying outrageous, racist things? Which he says, apparently, on a regular basis, no one at the department heard him. No, thin blue line, you know what happened. People heard it, and they covered up for it. And they thought, who cares if it beats up black people or maybe even kill them? them at some point. What's more important is solidarity for our gang. Keep it real. If you don't think there's a thin blue line, you're nuts. Of course there is. They brag about it, right? So that what does a thin blue line mean? That means we protect criminals in our midst. It's just,

it's like literally what it means. And I don't want you to gloss over that sweet stress relief thing. Again, it's not every cop, but are there some decent percentage of cops who beat up people because they think it's cathartic and they get off on it and they're frustrated about their lives and they think, I could beat up people with impunity. And they do it for basically for fun. Again, if you think that doesn't exist, you're incredibly naive. So now, because we know that's part of human nature, we should guard against that. We should have a lot of precautions to make sure that police do not abuse their authority like that. Instead, we encourage them to do it. Oh, if anybody disrespects your order for even a split second, you know, make sure that you

viciously attack them to show who's boss. And that's why we see the videos of a 73-year-old woman getting mangled. Right. You saw the elderly gentleman in Buffalo get his skull cracked. Because if anybody crosses you for a second, you get to have sweet stress relief. And it is encouraged by police departments all across the country. Keep it real. That's just the reality of our lives. That does it for hour one. When we come back for the second hour of the show, we're going to lighten things up a little bit. All right, we're going to dunk on Rudy Giuliani because how could we not? So stick around for that and Giuliani's son when we come back. Uh-oh.

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. Thank you.