The Young Turks - Lindy Li Interview

Episode Date: February 26, 2025

Democrats spot opening to kneecap GOP's budget plans. Democrats Too Busy Raising MILLIONS From Corporations To Fight Trump. Former DNC fundraiser-turned-Trump-supporter Lindy Li joins TYT. Hosts: Ana Kasparian, Cenk Uygur SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE ☞ https://www.youtube.com/@TheYoungTurks FOLLOW US ON: FACEBOOK ☞ https://www.facebook.com/theyoungturks TWITTER ☞ https://twitter.com/TheYoungTurks INSTAGRAM ☞ https://www.instagram.com/theyoungturks TIKTOK ☞ https://www.tiktok.com/@theyoungturks 👕MERCH ☞ https:/www.shoptyt.com 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. For a limited time at McDonald's, enjoy the tasty breakfast trio. Your choice of chicken or sausage McMuffin or McGrittles with a hash brown and a small iced coffee for five bucks plus tax. Available until 11 a.m. at participating McDonald's restaurants. Price excludes flavored iced coffee and delivery. Welcome to the Young Turks, Jake, You Granite, with you guys,

So am I wearing a t-shirt under my blazer in open defiance of Anna Cusparian? No, no, I will allow it. That I will allow. It's not, it's not ostentatious. It's a t-shirt, but it's one color, it doesn't have weird graphics on it. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, okay, shop TYT. But like, that looks a little sleek, to be honest with you. Oh, look at that, thank you, I appreciate it, but then guess what?

Operation Hope. I will allow it. You know what you do? You open it up. Boom, Operation Hope. Okay. That's what she said. And it was fulfilled.

Okay, as will your orders be at shoptyt.com. Anyways, so seriously, guys, we joke around at the beginning of the show because we come in with a good mood, but God help us. The political investigations have started. The enemies list first potential casualty. So we will get to that. And we will get to many stories, including, wait, is everybody getting fired again? Is there a second firing? Are all the Doge staffers quitting? What's happening? Good news. We've got a news show. We're going to tell you all about it. Casper. Well, before we get to the endless trickle of stories involving federal workers, I think it's important to talk a little bit about what's currently happening with the Democratic Party and their strategy in regard to the,

budget that Republicans are trying to pass in the House. So let's get to those details. As Republican House Speaker, Mike Johnson is having a hard time keeping his own party united on a budget bill. Democrats seem to be a little bit worried that some of the older individuals within the party aren't going to be around to vote on the budget bill or vote against the budget bill. At least that's what we're hearing from Hakeem Jeffries. And that's what Hakeem Jeffries also communicated in a dear colleague's letter that he sent to House Democrats. Now, of course, Akeem Jeffrey is the House minority leader. And well, Jank, what do you think about some of the Democrats missing votes because they're too old and frail and ailing? Yeah, this is part of the

problem. One of the guys in the story is a guy kind of generally like, but it does, that's my point. It doesn't matter if I like you or don't like you. It matters whether you do your job. And an interesting little bit of drama around Nancy Pelosi in this story. We'll get to that as well. All right. So let me just set this up for you so you understand the context and then we can get to the juicy bits. So Republicans, as we all know, have a majority in the house. But remember, it's a razor thin majority.

So as we speak, the GOP has 218 members in the house, whereas the Democrats have 215. Now, any disagreement within the Republican party in the house is going to be an individual. issue for Mike Johnson because he's going to assume that the Democrats are going to vote against the budget bill that Republicans are drafting. But there is dissent within the Republican caucus. Remember, you still have the House Freedom Caucus. Those are the Republicans who are further to the right in their ideology, certainly as it pertains to matters of fiscal responsibility. So they want deeper cuts in the budget. And so if Mike Johnson is going to lose several of them, He is going to need to appeal to Democrats.

But the big question remains, will enough Democrats be healthy enough to show up and vote? Okay, so first let me give you some details on where things stand right now with the budget bill. House Republicans are planning a vote on a budget resolution that lays out at least $4.5 trillion dollars in tax cuts and a $4 trillion debt limit increase, that's a lot, as well as $2 trillion in cuts. to Medicaid, nutrition assistance, student loans, and other federal programs. Now this is a side note, but it's important to know it. Just last week, Donald Trump in a joint interview with Elon Musk, told Sean Hannity that he does not want cuts to Medicaid. Now let's see what happens because that provision as it stands is in the budget bill

that Republicans have drafted up. Yeah, look, we're burning the lead on this story, but we'll do more stories on it as this unfolds because this is the actual plan. All like, oh, we're taking Greenland, Panama Canal, nonsense, total nonsense. This is the plan. And Maga, what did I tell you? Four and a half trillion dollars in tax cuts for corporations and the rich. And where are they gonna take it from?

They cut like a couple of bucks here and there. You think that's gonna cover four and a half trillion dollars? Oh, way, no, they're gonna take it from you, from Medicaid and from other programs that average American relies on. So how is this populist when you take from the average American and you give to the richest people in the country, meet the new boss, same as the old boss? Exactly. That's exactly right. And so, look, Trump talks a big talk, especially when he's on vanity and he says, no, no, no, no, no, I don't want to touch Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security. Let's see what he actually does once the House passes, you know, a version of the budget that obviously would include

cuts to Medicaid. Now, believe it or not, some Republicans think not enough. Let's actually rob the American people of more funding for these programs that essentially fund social safety net programs within the federal government. One example, for instance, is Republican Congresswoman Victoria Sparts. She's a Republican from Indiana. She said that she's a no on the bill as it stands, while others are privately expressing concerns. She wants deeper cuts. Johnson can likely only afford two defections at most. And that's where the Democrats come in. Can he convince Democrats to vote for the budget? And believe it or not, apparently, according to some of the Democratic leadership who spoke to Axios, there are some centrists and moderates

who are considering it. Yeah, oh really? Well, that's going to lead to our next story in a minute. if you're watching a live show 6 o'clock about how Democrats are now starting to take money from the same exact donors. Starting. Huh. So will they defect because they were literally paid to? Maybe. So that's to come. But first they got to be able to show up. So let's talk about that. Now Axios reports that that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is in fact worried about older and ailing members that have regularly missed votes in recent years, especially since the beginning of this year. So he wrote a letter to Democrats in the House asking them to, you know, maybe consider doing

their effing jobs and show up. And if they're unable to, because of their frailty and their age, maybe consider retiring. He didn't word it that way, obviously. Again, the guys as boring as watching paint dry, but he did write this. In a dear colleague letter, Jeffries said that given the expected closeness of the vote, it's imperative that we are present with maximum attendance, he wrote. We must be at full strength to enhance our opportunity to stop the GOP tax scam in its tracks. So the letter to his colleagues, by the way, came after House Minority Whip, Catherine Clark also stressed the importance of every Democratic member of the House showing up on the day that they vote on this legislation. Now, who are we talking about here? Let's actually

name some names. For instance, Representative Raul Grahalva, Democrat from Arizona, who is 77 years old and was diagnosed with cancer last year, has missed every House vote since the January 3rd speaker election. His office did not respond to a request for comment. Nancy Pelosi, who is still recovering from hip surgery, does plan to show up to vote. So I guess credit where credit is due. But again, another concern for Jeffries is that some of the centrist who tend to break ranks with Democrats on key bills might do the same when it comes to the budget and vote along with Republicans. Because look, if they are also taking money from corporate donors who want the tax cuts, they're going to deliver on behalf of, you know, the people they really care about, their donors as opposed to their voters. So yeah. So the reason I like Raul Gerhava is a personal one I, well also a policy one, I wouldn't ask a couple of Congress people to join just Democrats back when we started that.

And it was a tough ask because we were asking them to do two things that were difficult. One was don't take any corporate pack money anymore and be okay with primary incumbents. So that means your your colleagues were going to run against and you're going to be okay with that. Those are very tough ass. Only a few people joined Rokana, of course. Pramila Jayapal, interestingly enough, and Ronald Gorhalva. And when I was in his office, he asked his staffer, hey, do we have any corporate pack money? And she comes back, yeah, we have one. And he's like, what is it? And she tells him. It's like, yeah, cancel it. I'm joining this group.

Okay, so I like him. And he's been fighting for the average record for a long time. But brother, I love you. But why are we running again if we have cancer and we're 7? and are struggling to, you know, to do your job to make it into into the office, right? And you've done good work. Let's, let's call it a day, right? Look, I don't know your personal health situation and he's a good guy, but you've got to show up to the votes. These votes are absolutely critical. And so he's not in the usual batch of older Democrats and older Republicans who are good return on investment for corporations, and that's why they're around forever, which brings us to Nancy Pelosi. So she apparently

broke her hip and she's recovering from that. Yes, but again, you're, what is she 84? I don't know. I mean, like, come on, what are we doing? So now, speaking of just Democrats, my co-founder, Shortcut Charcot Charcot Party, who believes in economic populism like I do, is actually running against Nancy Pelosi. I don't know if he's 45 years younger than her, but somewhere in that ballpark, we'll put his, the link to his congressional website or his candidacy website down in the description box. My point isn't a shortcut in particular or the, you know, I don't like Pelosi or Grohava. No, I even like Grohava. The point is you got to show up. Stop running when you're, you know, 98 and 112. It's absurd. It's absurd. And so a lot of times the ego

gets in the way as well. So will they be able to muster up enough votes with their geriatric caucus? I don't know. And if, and if they lose by one because they couldn't make it out of the senior citizen center and then that costs Americans an enormous amount of money, resources, et cetera, that is going to be a very, very bad look for this Democratic Party. Yeah, and look, I think it's important to draw a distinction here, right? There are plenty of elderly lawmakers in Congress who do show up and they're able to do their job. So it's not necessarily an age thing, it's more a health thing, right? You look at Bernie Sanders and he's even older than Joe Biden is, but are you really gonna pretend like they're the same?

Obviously, Bertie Sanders is able to show up, do his job, he's still fiery, he's like freaking doing a countrywide tour right now as we speak to speak to people and do a town hall. I don't know where Joe Biden is, but the point is, it's not really an age thing, it's a, it's a health thing, and if you're unable to do your job, it is your responsibility to do what's right on behalf of your constituents and just, I mean, please retire. someone else's shot. Yeah, it doesn't have to be you for the rest of time. It's okay. And really, I mean, Grohlva was such an exception, but the rest of you, you're all corporate robots anyway, you're just going to be replaced by another corporate robot who's going to

vote 100% in the same direction, literally 100%. You all follow exactly what the donors tell you. So what difference does it make other than your ego? You've already served a billion years. Ego satiated, please move on. Well, let's move on to another story having to do with the Democratic Party and how they're spending their time in Trump's second term. I'm trying to figure out what leverage we actually have. What leverage do we have? They control the House, the Senate, and the presidency, it's their government.

What leverage do we have? While Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries makes clear that they don't really have a plan or strategy or intention on doing anything on behalf of their Democratic base, he sure does seem to have a lot of time to raise millions of dollars from questionable lobbying firms. In fact, we're talking about lobbying firms that work on behalf of companies like Planeteer. Palantia. Palantir. Sorry, we both struggle with it. Palantir, I think. I think it's Palantir. Palantir. I think you're more right. My bad. Okay. And SpaceX as well, which I don't know if you guys know this is one of Elon Musk's companies. Now here's what

you need to know about it. So on January 22nd, a lobbying firm called Invariant, hosted a fundraiser that featured Hakeem Jeffries, House Minority Leader or Speaker, Democratic Representatives Pete Aguilar and Suzanne Del Bean. Now, the fundraiser was for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which I'm sure many of you are already familiar with. It's the D-Triple-C. And the D-Triple-C, for those who might not know, is responsible for, you know, the House Democrats campaign arm. Now, according to the federal commission filing that Sludge looked into, the D-Triple C raised over $2.5 million from Invariant in the month of January. Okay. Now, invariant represents quite a few moneyed interests. So it had almost 200 clients last

year, and two of them happen to be Palantir, which is actually in variance top paying client and SpaceX. So Palantir is an analytics company and defense contractor that's co-founded by Peter Thiel. According to its websites, its software can be used to automate operations from the factory floor to the front lines, achieve AI-driven combat superiority from space to mud and autonomously deploy, monitor, and manage software across any environment. Now, the company's software is also used by private companies as well as state, local, and international governments. Palantir paid in variant $720,000 last year alone for lobbying on behalf of the corporation. And Palantir has been considered one of the top stock

pick of the Doge era, as the company's artificial intelligence powered software is well positioned to win contracts to replace functions eliminated by Doge's slashing. So lots of money making opportunities here for private industry, and it's tied to the fact that the Trump administration, with the help of Elon Musk, who of course has conflicts of interest, is mass firing federal employees. Now, invariant lobbied for Palantir on potential contracts with agencies like, oh, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, and the Internal Revenue Service. So I'm going to pause for a brief tangent because, Jank, this is the thing, right?

We know that money in politics leads to pork barrel spending on behalf of corporate interests, and that infects pretty much every federal government agency. So do I think that waste, fraud, and abuse exists? I do. I do think it exists. I'm in favor of slashing that waste, fraud, and abuse. But we also have to acknowledge the fact that the root of that problem is the lobbying that is allowed in this country and the money that flows into the campaign coffers of politicians

in both political parties. That is the heart of the issue here. That is what leads to the waste, fraud, and abuse. That is what leads to the redistribution of wealth, of working, like, hardworking American citizens up to the very top to all these corporate donors, corporate executives. executives, you get the point. Yeah, so this is one of Peter Thiel's biggest companies and one of his biggest bets. And so, and he's not a minor investor in this, he's a founder of it.

So there's a big difference there. And so there's another, he's a founder in another entity called J.D. Vance. He totally bankrolled his Senate campaign when he started paying J.D. Vance through campaign contributions. By the way, J.D. Vance used to work for one of his investment companies as well, so he's owned him, I mean, bid friends and colleagues for a long time. Then he gave him about $10 to $15 million when he, before he gave him that, J.D. Vance didn't even register. Afterwards, he started climbing up the ranks, came into second place in that race, and then eventually got put over the top by the entire, you know, ecosystem, Trump ecosystem, right? So Palantir has, a lot of contracts with the Pentagon and by the way also kind of could be critical and spying in on us. So a lot of high tech intelligence work as well from what I've read in the past about them. And so and then you've got SpaceX and so that's obviously Elon Musk. So these are the new tech donor class and they've decided we can buy this government. If Soros could

buy it. If all the other donors in the past could buy the oil companies and the banks and A-PAC and all these other lobbies can buy it, wait a minute, we're richer than them. Why can't we buy it? And to me, there was already a five alarm fire when I read the Hegs of Plan on the Pentagon, how he was going to cut $50 billion a year, just kidding, not cut it, but redirected. To AI? Yeah. And so once you, let's all see it with our own eyes, right? We're all going don't watch it together, it doesn't matter if you're right wing and skeptical and say, oh no, our donors are lovely. And don't worry, your donors right now are also Democratic donors. So the unit party's back baby, and they've just coalesced around a new donor class.

But if you don't believe it, let's see what they redirect the Pentagon spending two. My guess is there'll be a lot of Palantir in there and some SpaceX in there. And my further guess is that the Democrats won't object. Why, they just got bribed not to object. Bingo bingo. So look, right now there is a bill in the House of Representatives, the budget bill that rhetorically speaking, Democrats are going to push back on. But when push comes to shove, do they really hate that budget bill? Sure, I'm sure. I'm sure a handful of those Democrats do hate that budget bill. But make no mistake about it. They usually don't fight back aggressively or at all when it comes to cuts to things like Medicare, Medicaid. things like that.

In fact, James Carville just wrote an absolutely abhorrent piece in the New York Times today, arguing that Democrats should just allow the Republican Party to destroy Medicaid. And then the competent Democratic Party will come in and save the day once the American people see just how bad the Republicans are. Yeah, but James, you're missing something critical there. They're not competent. Well, that's also true, but even bigger part, that means Medicaid is already destroyed. So then you're coming to take advantage of that situation for the power and ego of Democratic politicians.

I'm not at all interested in that. I'm interested in stopping them from destroying Medicaid. So like James Carter was like, oh, I came up with a great plan to make our careers better. Wow, thanks a lot. I really appreciate it. Could you come up with a plan to make your voters lives better? Could we do that for once in our lives? And Carville's a guy we've agreed with a lot lately as he's criticized Democratic Party,

Biden and Harris and how they ran their campaign. But he's from the old school. And unfortunately for the last 40 years, the Democratic Party hasn't been trying to help their voters at all. I know, at all. It's time to wake up and see the Democratic Party for what it is. You know, the glory days, the FDR, the party of FDR, those days are over, okay? And the reason why those days are over is because

their campaign coffers are stuffed with the same corporate cash that Republican campaign coffers are stuffed with. So look, by the way, if you don't believe me, take a look at this because the DCCC is totally celebrating their little hall here. They posted this on X, basically bragging about how Democrats, House Democrats just crushed House GOP fundraising. Photo of Hakeem Jeffries with the $9.2 million figure, and then you have a sad looking photo of Mike Johnson with a $5.9 million figure. It's awful any way you cut it, and this isn't something you should celebrate when you just had a presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, raise, I mean, over a billion dollars,

personally for her campaign, way more than Donald Trump's campaign raised, and she failed, miserably, okay, the money's not going to save you if the American people think that you're not going to do a damn thing for them. Yeah. So look, I, to me, Hakeem Jeffries is the face of incompetence. And what did I tell you guys? They weren't going to learn a single lesson. And here we are. They're bragging about how they outraised the Republicans in campaign donations, almost all from corporate interest. Everybody else stopped giving because we're so everybody's totally dispirited on the Democratic side. That's not grassroots money. And he's like, yes, we're more beholden to corporate donors than the Republicans in Congress.

You moron, that's why you lost in the first place. And then he does that press conference we showed you in the beginning. Oh, there's nothing we can do, man. We're total losers. We're totally incompetent and don't know what to do. Right? So, and that incompetent corrupt guy, when you criticize him, what are the losers in, in Washington, to do. Oh, are you just saying that because he's African-American?

We get to do it because he's black, so we get to hide behind his identity. And they're like, but wait, I said the same exact thing about Chuck Schumer. By the way, this is not theoretical. They've already done this. They did it to Ken Klippenstein. Do it all day or a day. I don't care. Okay, you can go ahead and call us whatever you want. Incompetence is obvious here, obvious. The corruption is obvious here. You're not going to shut people up by trying to hide behind. identity issues. It's not gonna work anymore.

People are sick of it. And honestly, Democratic voters deserve way better. But they've been getting this garbage for years now, for decades. Yeah, and remember what we've told you that entire time, why do they do nothing and say when they're in the majority, there's nothing we can do? And now with Hakeem Jeffries, he's literally saying when we're in the minority, there's nothing we can do. Because their donors don't want them to do anything.

Palantir and SpaceX are about to take a giant, load of money off to American taxpayers. You know what the day we want the Democrats to do? Nothing. Just let the robbery happen, walk right in front of them, right? And then, so, and then of course, Hakeem Jeffries will come out and say, there was nothing we could do. Did you need the check clear?

Check clear? Okay, everybody's racist, everything's good. Okay, good, all right, good. See, we did nothing, we're champions. Yeah. Well, we're gonna take a break when we come back. We will have former Democratic fundraiser, Lindy Leon, and I've got a lot of questions to ask her. There might be fireworks. It might get fiery. So it's interesting conversation anyway,

you slice this. So let's go have it. All right, back on TYT, Jankana with you guys. Now we have an interesting interview for you all. We sure do. Why don't we get right to it? I believe you could be a Trojan horse. I believe that someone who spent, you know, the better part of the last election supporting Biden and Kamala Harris all of a sudden sees the light after Donald Trump wins an election. I mean, you're not that much different from Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos.

I know that I have a long to prove, but give me a chance for to prove that. Don't shut the door. I have a lot of offer. And I am, you're not going to find a harder worker. I'm already working hard to make sure that we nail the midterms because this is absolutely pivotal. We can't go back to spoken, the trans insanity. I am done with that. Well, the woman that you just heard, conservative Eric Bowling, accused of being a Trojan horse for MAGA is a former fundraiser for the Democratic Party. Her name is Lindy Lee. If you're politically engaged, you've probably seen her interviews. on cable news and lots of other different shows. And after helping Joe Biden and later Kamala Harris raise millions of dollars for their campaigns, including Biden's reelection campaign, Lee went on

to defect from the Democratic Party and support Donald Trump. Lindy Lee, it's a pleasure to have you. Thank you so much for having me. You guys, I've been watching you since I was out of college, so this is very surreal for me. That's awesome. All right, well, I wanted to kind of to start off by kind of understanding how you kind of got to the place you're at right now. So let me start by kind of giving a little bit of the explanation you provided on Pierce Morgan show, and then I'll clarify what I'm asking you specifically. Let's take a look at why you soured on a portion of the Democratic Party back in 2016. Ideologically, it's a massive, massive move to go from somebody who supports just a

Biden and Kamala Harris to somebody who supports Donald Trump. I've always been on the conservative wing of the party and there's a paper trail. Five years ago, I went to war with the Bernie Bros. That's how I emerged on the public scene. That's how everyone, that's how I got my start. I as a conservative refused to vote for Bernie Sanders because he went against everything I believed in. Okay, so you were against the Bernie wing of the Democratic Party, which I identify as like the economic populist wing.

of the Democratic Party, wing is a little generous. I would say there's like maybe two people in the Democratic Party who identify that way. But you also soured on the economically or fiscally conservative but socially far left wing of the Democratic Party. Let's take a look at that. When I first became a Democrat, it was actually pre-abama. We believed in middle class values, fiscal responsibility, like moderation. We didn't think that biological men should be in women's sports. That's a fairly recent development, I think. Like in the past five years, I'm not in favor of that.

I think that's absolutely just lunacy. These are recent developments. The woke and the trans insanity, the DEI stuff, I didn't sign up for that. I just didn't. And I was terrified of vocalizing my opposition. So who did you like in the Democratic Party? Because those are the two separate wings. And I'm curious if you might have just always identified as conservative, but wasn't really fully

self-aware. What do you think? First of all, thank you so much for asking questions with respect. Over the last couple of weeks, I've been kind of on edge of my seat waiting to be attacked because of my views. Thank you so much for being gracious about it. I, as the years went on, I don't think I really like anyone. I most closely identify with my friend, Governor Josh Shapiro, but even he is to my left on several issues. I think as, and, you know, it's weird because you and I have gone through similar experiences on the Sean Ryan show, I talked about how I was assaulted just by standing

outside. I think I mean, that's something that you've been, you've been through as well. And it didn't just happen once. It happened several times in a progressive run city. We have an extremely left-leaning DA, who's funded by George Soros, and he doesn't prosecute minor crimes. And it results in unlivable streets. And this is the state of American cities today. I mean, it's just one of the many reasons why I decided to leave. It's been extremely hard. This is not easy. If I wanted a easy life, if I wanted peace, I wouldn't have done any of this.

But it was necessary, I no longer fit into this party, into this cult. Yeah, Lindy, I'm curious, as a conservative Democrat, why were you so animated by the Democrats in the first place? Why go through the, you know, significant effort of raising money for them? This is just my entire life. I grew up in the age of Obama. He was left in 2008. I was 20, I was 17 years old. And I remember being just so ecstatic, so rejoied that this would be the era of hope and change.

And obviously we were quickly disillusioned, but it was my most formative era. It was my default position. I grew up in suburban Pennsylvania where the default was, you know, moderation, social, conservative Democrats. that it's essentially what the Collar counties of Pennsylvania are known for. There's, it's a swing area and I didn't really have a reason to question my entire belief system until the last couple of years and this took me a long time to come here, but over the last couple of years, it didn't just happen suddenly as people say, this has been a very gradual process and it's also been deeply personal to me and one thing that I've never

said before is something that happened to me over the course of this past decade, I was put on birth control in 2018 because of health issues and it completely upended my life. How so? This is, I really never said this before, but it's really had such a traumatic and tremendous impact on my thinking. I feel like I wasted five years of my life because I was on birth control. And when I decided to come off in May 2023, I felt like I reclaimed my life And realize that conservatives were right about birth control. You know, they completely hijacks their hormones.

It makes you extremely anxious. And I would just expect it to just take it without question. I tried to express my concerns to my doctor, but she was living in this liberal ideology where you could just medicate yourself to, you know, to recovery. But now that I've been off it for two years, I feel like I'm a new woman. And I finally have full control over my mind. And I'm finally free to be who I am without being shackled.

So, Lindy, I'm sympathetic to what you're saying. Look, I do not, my body does not respond well to, you know, hormonal birth control. But that had nothing to do with my political identity, right? And where I stand on specific political issues. Now, I feel alienated from the Democratic Party because I, first of all, I don't even know what the Democratic Party at this moment represents. They sometimes run on these big, bold policies, never deliver. And for me, I am very much economically left wing.

I agree with you on some of the extremities of what's happened to the Democratic Party in recent years. But I actually view that as a symptom of the corporate cash flowing into these campaign coffers. And then you have like this party that essentially is similar to the Republicans in wanting to pursue policies that are way more beneficial to corporate interests. and the elite in this country. And so what do they campaign on and what do they actually do when they're in power? They lean heavily into some of these social issues and they get more and more extreme, you know, every election cycle and in the end, they went too far and people kind of turned their backs on the party.

That's how I kind of view the situation. So when I look at the political landscape, I personally feel homeless because the Republican party isn't really economically left. And the Democratic Party, I don't know what they stand for, but I know where I stand on the issues. And I'm trying to kind of figure out what your real political identity is outside of your personal experiences. Sorry. If I were to boil it down, I would just be, I would identify myself as a conservative environmentalist. I've cared deeply, deeply about the environment.

It's just, it's like my reason for being almost. I'm a dedicated environmentalist and have been my entire life. It's my number one issue. I do want to say one thing, though, having been on the inside, another reason why I had to leave was a deception on many different issues. I saw that they were lying about Biden's age. And when I did in 2022, that's when they first started really lying about it, like Gunn Hogg aggressively lying about it.

I tried, I leaked to the press that they were. And I did everything I could. But you know, you would be ostracized. You would be destroyed if you dare to say that Biden had cognitive decline. They just would not allow you to say, you couldn't even question internally. But that's all donors were talking about. All of us knew what was going on. It was like an emperor has no close situation.

And then we all had to pretend that Biden was just some like God, this demigod who was so magnanimous and couldn't do wrong. And then he leaves. And on the last day, pardons his entire family, family. It's just so destructive to all of our institutions and undermines any arguments about Trump being corrupt when you can just point to Biden, you know, doing the same thing essentially. So I'm just sticking tired of the blatant hypocrisy, the excommunication tactics, the fact that you can't ask any questions. I tried to reform the party from within, but they

wouldn't have it. They banned me the first moment, like within a week of me asking questions. I was taken off all the lists. And at that time, I was just asking questions. I wasn't even criticizing. And they wouldn't even hear it. So it was just unbelievable that they were so quick to ostracize me just for raising questions. After I raised millions for them, after I organized, after I gave everything, I gave everything I had to the party. And but even over this past year, my mind was starting to change.

I just didn't want anything to do with much, you know, a lot of their policies. I'm continuing to be curious about the fundraising because it wouldn't have to me to become a fundraiser at all for either party. money from? Why did you go into that? Why did you go in that direction? First, I want to say once and for all that I wasn't paid a single dime. People say that I was consultant or, you know, I was just grifting off the Democratic Party. I'm a donor. I give. I raise money and I give. I do not take. I haven't paid. I haven't been paid a single dime. I did get like care packages with like cookies and stuff. I guess if you

count that as payment, then fine. I don't even eat cookies. I gave them away. But I was not paid to do this. I did this because I wanted to. They recruited me in 2022. They came over to my home, actually. It was pretty aggressive. And they asked me to base because I ran for Congress and I was able to raise a sizable sum then. So they saw that I had a record. They recruited me to be a part of the National Finance Committee. And you know, you had to raise millions of dollars to qualify for that. And that became my world like my friends. And I'm kind of, I'm kind of introvert. They were just my entire world. They were We're the only friends on you essentially.

It's actually kind of sad and that I've had to rethink everything. Yeah. So that it sounds a little skull and bones. They tap you on the shoulder. Okay, we're gonna ask you to raise. Yeah, it's very, it's very one on one. And having been recruited, I now, I've then recruited others. So it is very skull and bones.

It's actually a great analogy. And so you, they recruit you and then you recruit your friends. And it's kind of this pyramid scheme. And then the higher you go, the more access you have. And so I ended up raising millions. Wait, wait, wait. Wait, Lindy, that's super important. So look, obviously you run in a wealthy circle, right? Like if I went to go recruit money for my friends, I'd raise $50, $75,000, maybe a couple of them, right? And then God bless, et cetera.

But so, so that's interesting that in the, if we're being honest about it, in this wealthy class of folks, they're getting recruited for the Democratic Party, the Republican Party. That's like a common occurrence that the rest of us are totally unaware of. So that's already interesting. But you said- I guess it's normal to me, so I don't even realize it. Yeah, so yeah, that's so normal to you. For the rest of us, that's, we're totally unfamiliar with that. And it feels like there's a little bit of a Scientology kind of thing going on here where you move up the ranks. So if you move up the ranks, what extra access

do you get? I wish I could show, I actually have a PDF that details exactly what you do you do. you get for example at the convention would you say can you send that to us that PDF um can I send it to you after and you can show you yeah yeah yeah I don't know it's somewhere in my emails but let me just describe it now at the convention there were different gradations like if you were to raise 100,000 I think it was like oh you get to go to an event with the president like the bare minimum but if you raise two million I think was the highest you got like your VIP sky box, you got your own, you got your own lounge, you got to meet privately with Harris

after her speech. They laid it out so carefully for you. And I even at the time, I was like, isn't this, isn't this like blatant pay to play? I even raised concerns. I was like, you don't want this floating around, do you? Because they laid it out so clearly. It was, it was like legalized bribery. Yeah, that's exactly what it is. involved at the time too. But I'm sure both parties do it. I don't think this is, I haven't obviously seen that Republican, I wasn't part of the Republican convention, but I'm assuming they had something similar. Yeah, Lindy, there's absolutely no question that both parties do it. Yes, 100%. They both do it. No question. That's partly why they're called a unit party.

Which leads me to my last question. I'm genuinely curious about this too, Lindy. So why go all the way? Like, why not, okay, like, for example, I'm horrified by Democratic Party leadership. You know, you say you'd get, you know, excommunicated, et cetera, if you challenged Biden's age and competence. I lived all that. I did it. You know, excommunicated in every possible way, et cetera. But that didn't make me like Trump anymore.

So, like, I don't, yeah, Biden's terrible. Harris was terrible. The corruption in Democratic Party is terrible, but the corruption in the Republican Party is, at a minimum, just as terrible. So why go all the way to Trump and Maga? First, I didn't intend for any of this to happen. I was recruited by the Republican Party. I guess this is kind of like what were you saying before. Well, they're smart.

Can I just interject before you finish? Because I do want to hear what you have to say. But Republicans understand how to build power. And so while Democrats can't wait to purge you, Republicans are waiting to take you in because they want to build coalitions and they want to win. And I think that's what happened in this last election cycle. So can you talk a little bit about how they recruited you? What do you mean by that? It happened almost immediately. By the way, over the last couple weeks, though, I've had to take a step back because the far right fringe of the Republican

party. Honestly, it's been miserable. It's probably been the most difficult time of my life. And this past week, I was under so much stress. I was like spitting blood. So I'm not even sure. I'm in a very difficult place right now. And as you said, I'm kind of, I'm without a home. You know, I, on the one hand, I'm being attacked for leaving, but how do you stay in an abusive a relationship and then the family that I'm trying to join is abusing me too. Well, Lindy, let me just give you a word of advice because I'm obviously going through something very similar because I disagree with some of what's been going on with the Democratic Party. But I think what guides me is my own moral foundation, but also where I stand principally

on the issues. And so if my principles guide me, I'm not going to be wooed by either political party. And so if for the time being, I'm politically homeless, it does suck. But I'd rather be an independent voter and make decisions as the elections come rather than constantly declare my loyalty to the Democrats when time and time again, they've disappointed me at best or infuriated me with their corruption. At worst. Yeah, or the Republicans.

Yeah. But Lindy, I just want to go back and let you finish. So how do they recruit you? A number of people in the leadership reached out to me very graciously. In a very human way that I never got from the Democrats. And I've been with the Democrats for 15 years. I never got them out of, it was just like, they understood, these are individuals. I don't want to, you know, put a target on their backs because they get harassed.

as in me. But they reached out to me because I did see that I was in pain. And it's been very hard. And I do want to say, I know exactly where I stand on issues. The problem is I'm right kind of dead in the center. I think a lot of Americans are. I'm sorry. I think a lot of Americans are. Right. So it's very difficult. And I'm in a demo, you know, in Philadelphia, where there's a one to seven or one eight voter registration, no one talks to me anymore. Because Because they're just so, you know, so shocked that I'm conservative. So, but again, you know, it's just been very difficult. Lindy.

I don't know what else to do really other than to just keep telling the truth and just being who I am. Can I ask you? But it's just been very harrowing that people lie about me. And it's hard to prove a counterfactual. Yeah. And they just, they, I'm sorry. Yeah. Yeah, look, been there.

So we know how you feel. People lie about us all the time. And then if you try to prove them wrong, they say, oh, you're being defensive. And it goes in loops, right? So but I'm curious about the other thing that you said, how is the far ripen terrible to you? If I vocalize their lies, I give them more airtime. But I'm sure you can just, they see these very despicable things about me that are entirely not true. and they will never forget some of them.

Most of them have been amazing. I just want to say. But there's this fringe that just can never forgive me for being who I am. And they're upset that I'm getting air time and they're not. They feel like I'm jumping the line. They even said so. This is not me extrapolating or imagining. They said this.

They said, you know, we've been mad at this entire time. But why are you putting this person on air? And she's just been here for a little while. So they feel like I usurp their role. And I just want to say that I'm not here to take anything from anybody. We can all coexist. I don't want a job in the Trump administration. You couldn't pay me to work in the government.

I'm okay with being who I am. I don't need to be on anyone's payroll. I just want to be myself. I care about the environment. I care about social conservative values. That's pretty much it. I care about our country. I would do anything for America.

And so for these people to accuse me of being a traitor, to our country, it's just so obscene, it blows my mind. Lindy is sometimes I'm just stunned. I'm just stunned that's happening. Look, did it get racial? Again, it's not everybody, you're just those. Yes, I can't even say it because it's just so horrible. And if I say, you know, if you're, you know,

the political trope is if you're explaining or losing. And I don't, it's like the stric end effect. I don't even want to repeat it. It's so bad. Yep, I get it. So I want to come back to the final question. that I had theoretically spinal bag bam, which is so, but why then race for either side? Why not just say, hey, look, these MAGA guys aren't for me either and the Democrats aren't

for me. And I'm in no man's land and I'll wait for someone that resonates with me. But I'm not going to go help MAGA because there's a lot of things I disagree with them on. Well, I actually, I agree with them basically on almost every social issue, I think. except the environment. And right now, this is also just something that I happen to be really good. I enjoy. It's just what I do. It's just very easy.

I know people say that fundraising is very hard, but I happen to have a really, it's just very enjoyable. It's like a game. It's almost like gamification for me. I've been doing it for like a decade. I did it for my college, my university before I entered politics. It's just something that I do. It's just like, it's just fun for me.

I can tell you're good at it, Lindy. I can tell you're good at it and I don't begrudge you for enjoying something that you're good at doing. I would say, though, that it's likely that you're feeling what you're feeling right now and being politically homeless because of how much that money has destroyed our political system and incentivized our politicians on both sides of the political aisle to basically F us day in and day out on behalf of their corporate donors. So I think there are other areas where you can fundraise and excel at it, and it would actually do good. I just don't think it's helpful in the political realm, but that's just me. But thank you. I do want to say one thing.

My donors are not corporate. These are like everyday Americans in a variety of industries. They're not from corporations. And I want to say, I agree with you, but one party cannot unilaterally disarm. Both have to at the same time. So until both parties reform at the same time, until we do something about Citizens United, it doesn't make sense for one party to just say, okay, we're not going to do this anymore, you know? And but yeah, both parties just, it's just, especially with the admin of

super PACs, just been insane. I've had people give tens of millions to, you know, packs like future forward and whatnot. So they're not wealthy. No, they're wealthy. I don't mean that they're not corporate. You know, a lot of them, it doesn't, They could be any, like I had someone who owns a vineyard. They're not necessarily corporations. Got it. It could be anything. Some of them are immigrants who worked hard all their lives to get here.

But they're not, I don't mean, they're not part of like huge conglomerates or anything. At least my donors are not. I can't speak to like everybody. Yeah. But, um, okay. Yeah. Yeah, I understand. All right.

Look, really interesting perspective. Hang in there. I'll send you the graph that I talked about. I'll send it to your producer. It lays it out. you'll be stunned to see what the incentives are, I think. It's really, very eye opening. Thank you, Lindy.

All right, Lindy Lee, thank you for joining us, appreciate it. All right, we're gonna take a quick break, guys. A lot more to come, including the political prosecutions have begun. So that's breaking news from today. We'll tell you all about that in a minute. All right back on TYT, Jank and Anna with you guys. And Remura Tempest, the Slime Dragon, thank you for gift in 10 memberships on YouTube. I'm gonna read two comments here, one from YouTube, one from t.wit.com.

Hunter Drake said, my heart goes out to Lindy. It's hard to have nowhere to turn, especially when you're in a hostile area. Many of us are feeling the same. Yep. Yeah, so Hunter, again, you're not alone, and that is a very common phenomenon these days, nowhere to turn. And then that goes to one of our members from t.com. The one true coffee dragon said, big shocker, she discovered the Republicans are also hypocrites who demand you tow the line. Same crap, different hat.

So look, guys, there's a lot of binary thinking in the world. Oh, the Democrats are angels, Republicans are terrible, vice versa, right? You guys, our audience are amazing because the great majority of you have put that aside. And so you now realize same crap, different hat, right? So, and of course, ironically, the heart of the problem is what Anna mentioned, which is the donations. And so, and it's, look, it's not just corporate money. Do they also serve wealthy interest? Absolutely.

And look at what we just found out through that interview, that there's like this whole infrastructure within the wealthy class that we are not even aware of where they move up the pyramid either on the Democratic side or the Republican side. And so it's this mutually beneficial system where those donors serve the parties and then the parties serve those donors. And none of us are invited to the party. All right, why don't we take our hour break and then come back for the second hour and do the rest of the rundown.

Do you want to read a few more comments before we do that? Sure. Look, I'll read two more. because I love getting the audience involved. Be a member either on YouTube or TYT or Twitch wherever you want. Again, annual membership two months off on TYAT.com. Idiocracy Genius said about the interview and Lindy, my spidey senses off the charts on this one. Look guys, I think what you guys are sensing is that she's more conservative than us. And so her flipping over to Republicans was much easier for her, right?

So I agree with you guys. I think she, and she's, as she agrees with you, she said it, right? She's very conservative on social issues in a way that we are not, and on economic issues, we're very left wing, and it doesn't appear she's very left wing. She really, the only thing that was keep her in the Democratic Party was that they tapped her on the shoulder first. Yeah. And she's into the environment and wants to protect the environment.

That's really it. Whereas, you know, us and a lot of you guys are just on economic policy, we're left wing, no question, right? So, and I think that's the correct way to go. And we care a lot about it, not everybody, even if they're giant donors and bundlers to Democrats or Republicans, you'd be surprised that they, those folks, that's what they're good at. That's the thing that they know how to do. It doesn't mean that there is animated about the issues as you and I are, even though they're a

much bigger part of the system. A lot of them barely care about the issues. All right, last one, Michael from Oklahoma said, I think it's good that TYT gives voice to various viewpoints. I think some of her points about Democratic Party inside game are interesting. Calling out the party line thinking is good. But I feel it, but it feels somewhat insincere. And I find myself questioning the truth of what she's saying. And personally, I don't like any of her positions except on the environment. She seems manipulative to boot. So Michael, that's your perception. And I don't begrudge you that at all. My perception is that she was never

really a Democrat. Yeah, I agree. Right. And she just happened to go in that direction for the two reasons we just discussed. So you're feeling like, well, that's such a big switch. It makes me uncomfortable. Is she earnest? And my conclusion, and I might not be right, is that she is earnest. It's just that when she was a Democrat, she really wasn't, right? I agree. I had the same exact read. Does it make her a bad person? And look, when you get kind of, when you get that tap on the shoulder and you kind of get recruited into a political party at 17, you don't really know where you stand on the issues at 17. Some people think they do, but you grow, you change,

and you can tell that she's always been kind of socially conservative and economically moderate. And so when you have a Democratic Party that's now more, well, economically moderate for sure, but further to the left on social issues, you can understand why she would kind of sour on them. And then she felt like the Harris campaign lied to her because they did. And the Biden campaign, which of course they did. And then last thing, when you add on top of that, the minute you go, wait, but Biden is kind of old and they start punishing you and excommunicating you and then attacking you, how would a normal person react? We stick with our policies no matter what because we're not normal, right? But a normal person would go, well, if you hate me and I don't really care that much about the issues anyway, then I'll just go to the other side, right?

So I think that's what I haven't you. Okay, guys, as we go to the break, look, lots of ways to help to show. subscribe for free on YouTube, ring the bell. Of course, those take about five seconds apiece, keep in touch with us. And then if you love our content and want to get all of our member content, like tonight, we're gonna do Operation Joy for the members, and we're talking about life plans and how you could get to success. That's an interesting topic, that's for the just for the members. So hit the join button then on YouTube or t.t.com slash join.

And as I've been saying, you get two months off for annual subscriptions on TYT.com. All right, we love you guys, we're gonna come right back and we've got some super interesting news, including the politicization of the Justice Department.