The Young Turks - Lying Lindsey

Episode Date: May 12, 2022

Lindsey Graham praised Biden as the ‘best person’ to lead the U.S. after the Capitol riot. A Republican senator compared women to sea turtles and eagles in speech against abortion rights. For many women of means, who can travel and pay for child care, the loss of Roe will be disruptive. For many poor women—particularly poor women of color—the loss will be deadly. This is the coming of the new Jane Crow. In Texas, National Guard members faced painful cuts and absurd assignments by Republican governor Greg Abbott. So they did what many exploited workers before them have done: they organized a union. An American journalist was fatally shot by Israeli forces in West Bank. Hosts: Ana Kasparian ***  The largest online progressive news show in the world. Hosted by Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian. LIVE weekdays 6-8 pm ET.  Help support our mission and get perks. Membership protects TYT's independence from corporate ownership and allows us to provide free live shows that speak truth to power for people around the world. See Perks: ▶ https://www.youtube.com/TheYoungTurks/join SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE: ☞ http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=theyoungturks FACEBOOK: ☞ http://www.facebook.com/TheYoungTurks TWITTER: ☞ http://www.twitter.com/TheYoungTurks INSTAGRAM: ☞ http://www.instagram.com/TheYoungTurks TWITCH: ☞ http://www.twitch.com/tyt 👕 Merch: http://shoptyt.com ❤ Donate: http://www.tyt.com/go 🔗 Website: https://www.tyt.com 📱App: http://www.tyt.com/app 📬 Newsletters: https://www.tyt.com/newsletters/ If you want to watch more videos from TYT, consider subscribing to other channels in our network: The Damage Report ▶ https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport TYT Sports ▶ https://www.youtube.com/tytsports The Conversation ▶ https://www.youtube.com/tytconversation Rebel HQ ▶ https://www.youtube.com/rebelhq TYT Investigates ▶ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwNJt9PYyN1uyw2XhNIQMMA Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to The Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. You're going to be able to be. Welcome to YIC. I'm your host Anna Casparian, and I just want you to know that a Republican member of the Senate is so confused about human anatomy that he decided to compare women to sea turtles on the Senate floor. That is a story that we're going to get to a little later in the first hour of the program. In the second hour, John Iderola will be joining me for a slew of stories that are both fun and serious. Serious story, including. It's a 61 year old woman who was brutalized by cops in Brooklyn because she had the audacity to ask for a police report that she had filed herself. I mean, insane story, you don't want to miss it. In the bonus episode today, we will very likely talk about the latest disposable

diaper options offered by Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow's company. It is probably one of my favorite stories of the day because who wouldn't want disposable diapers with gems on them and virgin alpaca fur, I guess? So we'll get to that in the bonus episode. But the first hour is just chock full of stories that make me feel things. Let me just put it that way. Beginning with Senator Lindsey Graham, a story that broke recently in regard to what he really thought about the January 6th riots and who he really felt needed to lead the country following those riots. So without further ado, let's get to that story. New audio featuring Republican Senator Lindsey Graham on the day of the Capitol riots shows

that he actually isn't very honest about who he purports to be publicly because behind the scenes, he was really rooting for Joe Biden, especially after the riots took place. So this is never before heard audio. It was just released through CNN. Apparently, after the riots had taken place, Lindsey Graham had an interview with Jonathan Martin, one of the New York Times reporters who's releasing a book. And so what did he say in that audio? Take a listen. We'll actually come out of this thing's going to moments like this reset. It'll take a while. People would calm down. People were, I don't want to be associated with that.

This is a group within a group. And what this does, it'll be a rally effect for a while in the country. It says we're better than this. And Biden will help better, right? Totally, he'll be maybe the best person to have, right? I mean, how bad can you get it Joe Biden? So Jonathan Martin specifically asks him, well, Biden would help, right? Yeah, he'd be the best person to lead the country.

That is what Lindsey Graham had said during that interview, an answer that we had never heard before until today. And I think that it is indicative of what you see among many members of the Republican Party. Individuals who are so terrified of Donald Trump and their own base that they will lie to the American people. They will purport to be individuals that don't actually believe the things they're saying. And I just, I love it because it wasn't just that audio. If you can recall, after the riots took place, Lindsay Graham was one of the Republican senators who gave a passionate speech. I mean, Mitch McConnell condemned Trump and his incitements of violence. And Lindsey Graham had his own impassioned speech to give.

Let's watch that video and then I'll give you more. It is over. The final thing, Joe Biden, I've traveled the world with Joe, I hoped he lost, I prayed he would lose, he won. the legitimate president of the United States. I cannot convince people, certain groups, by my words, but I will tell you by my actions that maybe I, among any, above all others in this body, need to say this. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are lawfully elected and will become the president and the vice president of the United States on January the 20th. So as you can see, Lindsey Graham was willing to give up the act, especially the day that the riots took place.

He saw firsthand, as every other politician who had enabled Trump had seen that day, that maybe paying lip service to the more extreme elements of our party is not such a great idea. There are actual ramifications that result from that. And I have no doubt that every single Republican member of Congress who experienced the riots that day were terrified. I mean, you have them, you know, essentially having to evacuate the building, go to a safe space because of people not only charging at them coming into the building, rushing into the building, you have people who were armed. You have people who were chanting things like hang Mike Pence, all because they didn't like the results of the election. But I don't want you guys to forget about the fact that the very people who decided to do what they did that day in the Capitol riots were empowered with the pretty little lies that they were fed by Republican members of Congress, by people like Senator Ted Cruz who decided, you know what? Why don't I pretend as if there's some legitimacy to the claim that the election was stolen from Donald Trump? Even though he knew full well, as did every other Republican member of Congress, that Trump's campaign had lost dozens of court battles, more than 60 to be exact. And so in that moment, Lindsay Graham had that moment of clarity, right? The riot was fresh in his mind. He had just experienced it.

But pretty soon after that, he changed his tone. Pretty soon after that, he did what he does best. He provided cover for Donald Trump. he provided cover for the rioters, why did he do that? What changed his mind? Well, two days after the riots took place on January 8th, Lindsay Graham was met at an airport by the MAGA crew. Let's take a look. You traitor, you traitor, you're a traitor. Lindsay Graham, you are a traitor to the country. You know it was rigged, you know it was rigged. You know it was rigged, you garbage human beings. You know it was rigged, you garbage human being. I mean, he's being swarmed by Trump supporters who don't like what he had to say on the Senate floor,

on January 6th, following the riots. And so what did they do? They beat him to submission. In fact, later that night, all of a sudden, he has a much more friendly tone. more friendly tone toward Donald Trump and in fact had urged Democrats to avoid doing something that would hold him accountable for the incitements of violence. Let's watch. I want to thank the police who came to my aid. I know people are frustrated. I wanted President Trump to win so badly. I thought he was a consequential president. I think he made the world safer

and more prosperous. I'm a constitutional conservative. I believe in federalism, even when I don't like the outcome. There's a process under our constitution. I followed it the best I knew how I stand by my vote. But now tonight, I'm calling on Vice President-elect Biden to pick up the phone and call Nancy Pelosi and the squad to end the second impeachment. Please don't impeach Trump. Please don't do it. Please just don't even start that process because I'm terrified of Trump's base and I'm hoping that this will be an opportunity for me to, you know, make amends. Hopefully they'll forgive me for having the audacity to call the outcome of the election exactly what it was, a free and fair election that ended up electing Joe Biden,

who by the way, I mean, we're very critical of Joe Biden on this show. It's not like we were super excited that, you know, the transition of power was going to go from Donald Trump to Joe Biden. I mean, there was the added benefit of no longer having a complete moron in charge. But what I wanted to talk about, about in the context of this story, like the commentary I want to provide actually has very little to do with Republicans and how they operate. I think we've had so many different examples of how easily they will cave to the extreme elements of their party. We've seen so many examples of Republican lawmakers who had terrible critical things to say about Donald Trump, certainly during the 2016 primaries. And then all of a sudden turned around and not only

enabled Donald Trump, but just kissed his ass, went phone banking for him in the case of Ted Cruz. No, I give you this example because I think it's a teachable moment for Democratic voters. Why is it that Republicans have made such a big deal over, in my opinion, the super mild protests that have occurred following the leak draft of the SCOTUS decision on overturning Roe v. Wade? Why are they freaking out so much, even though they have minimized the brutality and the violence that we've seen on the right? Why is it? Could it be that they understand how effective it could be when a base, when the electorate is actually fired up about something where they're not going to shut up, where they're willing to protest, where they're willing

to meet you at the airport and tell you exactly what they think about you. I mean, we have senators like Susan Collins literally, this happened. She called the cops because pro-choice activist wrote a pro-choice message on the sidewalk in front of her home. She referred to it as, I believe it was debasing public property. It's chalk. And you know what the authorities told her? Yeah, we can't really do anything because this message isn't really threatening violence or anything like that against you. But they freak out, they panic. When the left gets fired up about something. When they want to voice their opinion, when they want to demonstrate, when they want to assemble, it's a big threat. And I've been wondering why. Is it just politics?

Is it just because right wing politicians want to paint left wing voters as these dangerous people? Sure, I'm positive that that has something to do with it. But I mean, they've experienced firsthand just how persuasive a fired up base can be. Just how easily a fired up base can be. Just how easily a fired up base can take these slimy politicians and essentially get them to bend to their will. Now look, I'm not advocating for violence, but I'm also not buying that the pro-choice protesters who gathered in front of Brett Kavanaugh's house were in any way an actual threat to Brett Kavanaugh or members of his family. There were a couple dozens of a dozen of them. They were chanting. I didn't see a single example of anyone carrying out any type of act of violence. But maybe

there's a possibility that they're concerned that, you know, maybe if Democratic voters, maybe if left wing voters started acting a little more, I don't know, engaged as right wing voters, maybe Democrats would feel the urge to actually do something, to actually listen to what they want. There is a difference, I think. And this is not to place all the blame on activists or voters or whatever. But the right wing is very good at painting a picture, oftentimes an inaccurate image of the left. I think that they do a good job in getting people to just quiet down, quiet down. And it doesn't help the Democrats engage in the same type of rhetoric, right? Oh, we can't have this, you know, don't, don't protest in this way, don't protest in

that way. When we covered the story about the pro-choice protest, we gave the example of like Jen Saki in the White House saying that they basically condemn anyone who would demonstrate in front of the Supreme Court Justice's homes. But did you see the Trump administration put out those kinds of statements when right wingers were protesting in actual violent ways? I mean, remember what Trump's response was to the Charlottesville protesters who were carrying the teakotches and chanting things like the Jews will not replace us? He's He said, there's good people on both sides. Democrats, of course, like they'll go after their own.

It's not a problem. But the point that I'm trying to make here is don't let them intimidate you and don't let them convince you that you need to back down. They're taking our rights away. You know, it's starting with reproductive rights, but we know where this is going. They've been hyper focused on the LGBTQ community on a state level. You think they're not going to be focused on that in a federal way through federal legislation, knowing full well, knowing full well that the Supreme Court doesn't really care about precedent. They're willing to overturn anything. So look, we need to have a better strategy. We need to think through how we can empower people who are doing the hard work on the ground, how we can organize with them. This is going to be a decades-long project. The right wing in America, through the federalist society, has been chipping away.

at reproductive rights since Roe v. Wade was decided. So anyone who's delusional enough to think that all we need to do is snap our fingers or do enough protests and we'll get all of our rights given back to us, it's not going to work that way. However, I do think that there is a difference between right wing voters and left wing voters, right? Republican voters versus Democrat voters. Because what do we notice when Democratic voters are critical of their representatives for not? not serving them for not serving their best interests. Oh, how could you do that? This is so, it's irresponsible.

What you're doing is super irresponsible because the midterms are coming up. And if you keep saying things like this, the Republicans are going to get reelected. I don't know, I just don't see much of that on the right with right wing voters. If we're not going to hold them accountable for being failures and not serving our best interests, then they're not going to serve our best interests. They're not going to just decide out of nowhere to change their behavior out of the kindness of their hearts. I think we've had decades to prove that. Anyway, those are my thoughts on the Lindsey Graham thing. Is he a cuck? Yes, of course. But he admitted that during an interview that I

always go back to when it comes to Lindsey Graham. When he spoke to the New York Times, he specifically said that he was kissing Donald Trump's ass because he wanted to remain relevant. For Lindsey Graham, this is all about Lindsey Graham. It's all about remaining in a position of power. and if that means sucking up to the most extreme elements of his party, he will do it. I want to be better than the right wing, but I do think that there are some lessons we can learn from right wing voters and essentially how they ensure that they hold their elected leaders accountable for their failures, their perceived failures. All right, we got to take a quick break. When we come back, I'm going to talk about how we actually live in a pro-death

country, it's not because of Democrats, it's not because of reproductive rights, has a lot to do with death loving right wingers. We'll get into that story and more coming right up. Welcome back to TYT. For those of you who are watching us online, you notice some technical difficulties during our social break, but everything has been fixed, and the show should run smoothly moving forward. So I'll get to your comments and all of that in the next social break. For now, though, let's get to our next story. The Second Amendment is very clear. If you were to take or destroy the eggs of a sea turtle, now I said the eggs, not the hatchlings, that's also a penalty, but the eggs. The criminal penalties are severe, up to a $100,000 fine and a year in prison. Now why?

Republican Senator Steve Daines of Montana is about to demonstrate that he doesn't actually know why. Why do we have laws in place to protect the eggs of a sea turtle or the eggs of eagles? Because when you destroy an egg, you're killing a pre-born baby sea turtle. or a pre-born baby eagle. Yet when it comes to a pre-born human baby rather than a sea turtle, that baby will be stripped of all protections in all 50 states under the Democrats bill we'll be voting on tomorrow. My favorite part of that video is that he said something so incredibly moronic, but really thought to himself, nailed it. I got a prop and everything. Nailed it, totally nailed it.

A few things that we should keep in mind, first of all, humans are a little different from sea turtles. Humans are also a little different from endangered species, which is why there are certain penalties and fines for destroying sea turtle or bald eagle eggs. But I'm sure he either knew that and decided to be deceitful in his argument there or is just so incredibly ignorant that he had no idea. Also, it's worth noting that not all eggs are viable. And the real point here is, you know, maybe humans shouldn't get involved in the reproductive process or decisions of other living things, including sea turtles, including other women who should be able to make decisions about their own bodies. But Republicans who purport to be in favor of liberty and freedom have no problem in forced pregnancies and forced childbirth, because that's exactly what they're advocating here for. Now, that speech that you heard was one that he gave during the, I get the debate over whether or not the Senate should codify reproductive rights to ensure that even with the reversal of Roe v. Wade, all women would have access to abortions.

We already expected that vote to fail, and it did in fact fail. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, came out and said that he would vote against the legislation. No surprise there. He seems to bask in being a piece of crap. So there you have it. But I do want to talk a little bit about Senator Daines, who he is and how much of a hypocrite he really tends to be, much like other Republican lawmakers. Some of you might have great memories. He's the same Republican senator who interrupted Senator Elizabeth Warren as she was on the Senate. floor reading a letter from Coretta Scott King when the Senate was making decisions about Jeff Sessions. He didn't like that. So you kept interrupting her to kind of prevent her from reading the letter from Ms. King. But I also want to talk about how there's a lot of death.

There's a lot of despair in the country that actually impacts not zygotes, not embryos, but living, breathing human beings, and that death and despair is empowered by right wingers in this country. So why don't we take a look at the latest data that was released in regard to gun violence and people who die as a result of gun violence in America, something that right wingers want to do absolutely nothing about. For instance, homicides from guns rose 35% during the first year of the pandemic to the highest level since 1994, according to CDC, morbidity and mortality weekly report, the homicide rate from firearms increased to 6.1 per 100,000 people in 2020 compared with 4.6 per 100,000 in 2019. So we knew gun violence was already a massive problem

in the country prior to the pandemic. I mean, it was a regular topic on the show. We talked about the mass shootings that happened on school campuses, at Walmarts, all over the place. It actually got worse during the pandemic. And we had previously shared some statistics showing just how many guns were purchased in the first year of the pandemic as well. I'm guessing that this is a result of that. Now, excluding suicides, more than 19,000 people were killed by guns in 2020 compared with more than 14,000 the year prior, according to the CDC report, which is based on death certificates. So methodology seems pretty sound. They're relying on death certificates, so that's good. But the results of the report, not so good. Because again, lots of living,

breathing human beings who needlessly ended up needlessly dying because of the fact that guns are easily accessible to anyone and everyone. Let me give you more. So the homicide rate, I'm sorry, the study did not include accidental gun deaths or deaths where intent could not be determined, okay? So the number could actually be much higher. They were very narrow in how they interpreted these numbers. Homicides from gun violence increased among people of every age, among people in most racial groups. So this isn't something that's only impacting one racial group or one group of people depending on what their age is for men and women in cities and rural areas and in every single region of the nation. So if you

You are someone living in a blue state and you love to celebrate the more restrictive gun laws in your state, you shouldn't celebrate that because it doesn't matter. We live in one country, your state is not an island unless you live in Hawaii. But you get what I'm saying. So if you have super laxed gun laws in places like Texas where anyone can buy a gun without a background check, without having to worry about any type of obstacle in the way, Well, you could just cross state lines with those guns and wreak havoc in whatever state that you'd like to wreak havoc in. And that is what we're seeing.

It's just in the U.S., 79% of homicides and 53% of suicides involved guns in 2020, according to the CDC. More than 24,000 suicides involved firearms in 2020. So I give you all those numbers, right? Because again, whenever it comes to common sense policies, like honestly, mild gun regulations, closing the loopholes to ensure that the federal background checks apply to everyone, closing the gun show loophole, closing the loophole that allows a private seller to sell to an individual without background checks, all those loopholes should be closed. Is it going to impact law abiding citizens who want to get their hands on a gun for hunting

or whatever hobby they have? No, if you're a law abiding a citizen, you'd still have access to a gun. But the point of a federal background check, one in which loopholes do not apply, it's all about ensuring that bad guys don't get their hands on lethal weapons like guns. It's very simple. And guess what? That is the type of simple legislation that Senator Danes not in favor of. In fact, he was asked about this during his reelection campaign. Let's hear what he had to say. The Second Amendment is very clear. The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. The NRA has endorsed me and gave me an a plus rating. And as we have studied this issue, the conclusion is guns are not the problem.

More gun control would not have prevented many of these tragedies we see across our country. This is an issue fundamentally of violence of mental health. The second is not about hunting. It's about liberty. It's about freedom. individual, regardless of their criminal background, can get their hands on a lethal weapon like a gun, is all about liberty. It's all about freedom. I mean, who cares about the liberties and the freedoms of women in this country? Who cares about that? But when it comes to something that has proven to be a huge problem in terms of violence, in terms of taking lives prematurely, doesn't want to do a damn thing about it. He mentioned how this isn't a gun problem. This is a mental health problem, everyone. It's a mental health. health problem. But if he genuinely thought that it was a mental health problem, shouldn't his record prove that? Shouldn't his record demonstrate that he cares about human lives so much?

And he really genuinely does believe that gun violence is the result of mental health issues. So his record should absolutely show that he has fought by sponsoring legislation to fund health care in America. His record should show that he's really going out of his way to ensure that we're properly handling this mental health crisis. But his record doesn't show that, of course, because he's a Republican, he's a liar, and he doesn't actually care about human lives at all. As I've said a billion times on this show, I'll repeat it again. This is not about life and death. This is about control. This is about political brownie points from right wing evangelicals, who by the way, prior to Roe v. Wade, were actually pretty split on reproductive rights. They were not fired up about abortion.

They didn't want to strip a woman of her right to choose. But a right wing evangelical named Paul Wierich realized, you know, we need an issue, something that the right wing can make its own in order to accumulate power. And guess what? That strategy was first implemented by Nixon in his presidential campaign. And Pete, you know, managed to get right wing voters, religious, right wing voters to back him after he started running on an anti-choice message, but the person who really succeeded with that message was, of course, Ronald Reagan. It's all about political power. So let's go back to Danes' record, because I'm curious, what does his record show in

regard to health care? Because health care, by the way, is important to keep people alive in in general, alive in general. But health care is also important if you genuinely think that gun violence in the country is a mental health issue and that we can solve it by getting people mental health treatment, ensuring that people who need prescription drugs for their mental health issue, you know, can get their hands on those drugs without astronomical prices or other obstacles that stand in the way. Let's look at his record. 2013. 2013, Danes voted for a total repeal of the Affordable Care Act, Danes voted for HR 45, an act to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and healthcare related provisions in the

Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. Fun, okay, great. So essentially take a, what was originally a Republican healthcare plan from Mitt Romney in his state of Massachusetts. Take that and all of a sudden be against it because a Democrat is the one who is trying to push it through. As Democrat is the one who succeeded in getting it passed. And so repealing it would mean less people would be covered in America. That means less people would have access to mental health treatment, less access to affordable pharmaceutical drugs for their mental health concerns. But he wasn't done. In 2015, Danes voted to repeal most of the Affordable Care Act.

Danes voted for legislation that gutted the Affordable Care Act by eliminating the insurance exchanges and subsidies and repealing the Medicaid expansion accepted by 30 states, including Nevada. The Medicaid expansion ensured that the poorest people in these states had coverage. That's what the Medicaid expansion component of the Affordable Care Act did. A lot of red states didn't like it. A lot of red states with their right wing politicians did not want to expand Medicaid, which would cost them nothing, okay? It was the federal government subsidizing the expansion of Medicaid in their states to make sure poor people who don't have health care are properly covered. That's what the Medicaid

expansion component of the Affordable Care Act was. You know what that does? That keeps people alive. That keeps people healthy. But Senator Danes, you know, he ain't about that unless he gets to regulate what a woman can and can do with her uterus. That's when it matters to him. Let me give you more. 2017, he was real active in 2017. Danes voted for the fiscal year 2018 budget resolution, which included $473 billion in cuts, in cuts to Medicare over. 10 years. If you cut Medicare, what do you think happens? People don't get the coverage they need to do what? To stay alive. Yeah, Mr. C-Turtle guy. Maybe consider that. But he knows, he knows this. He totally knows this. He's just a liar. Let me give you more. 2017, again,

Danes voted for the fiscal year 2018 budget resolution, which cut funding for non-Medicare health programs, most notably Medicaid by $1.3 trillion, a 20% cut over the course of 10 years, increasing to a 29.3% cut by 2027. So that's who that guy is. And just in case, just in case, I need to remind you guys of what that would all mean. If you actually succeeded along with the other Republican authoritarian and getting these bills passed, what would it mean? It would mean that protections for 425,900 Montanaans with preexisting conditions if they by would not they would lose those protections if they buy their coverage on their own. Improvements to Medicare including reduced costs for prescription drugs.

That's what the Affordable Care Act would do or does. They would repeal that. He was against allowing kids to stay on their parents' insurance until the age of 26. He was against the ban on annual and lifetime limits on what you pay for health insurance. He was against the ban on insurance discrimination against women, which isn't that surprising to be quite honest with you. He was against the limit on out of pocket costs for Americans on health care. He was also against, as you know, based on multiple votes, Medicaid expansion currently covering roughly 85,000 Montanans. So it turns out for Senator Danes, lives don't matter at all, not even a little bit. What matters to Danes is controlling people, controlling women, taking

their freedom away, taking their autonomy away. I mean, the guy compared us to freaking sea turtles and bald eagles. He's a clown. He's a joke. And the only thing that frustrates me is that he's winning along with all of the other right wing authoritarian in the country. Finally, from 2007 to 2020, Danes has received $110,000 in contributions from pharmaceutical companies. I just give you that last piece of news, because lives apparently matter kind of unless he's looking out for his campaign coffers. Unless he needs to bow down. to the pharmaceutical companies and to the private health insurance companies.

That will always take priority over human lives, always. It's incredibly frustrating. These people are complete and utter liars. They refuse to do anything that would solve unnecessary deaths of actual viable living, breathing human beings in this country. And then they turn around and they pretend as though they're the self righteous ones. They pretend as though they're the ones who are looking out for unborn fetuses. Okay, don't buy it for a second. It's all about control. And it's sick that this is happening in this country. But it's what you have when one party is super organized. They have a strategy in place. They're willing to take decades to get what they want. And then the other

party, the opposition party really has no plan at all. It's infuriating. All right, we gotta take a break. When we come back, we've got more news for you, including contraception bans. We're gonna talk about how realistic it is that right-wingers will ban contraception in this country. We've got that and more coming right up. Welcome back to the show. Please like and share the stream. If you're watching us on YouTube, there's like a bell somewhere on the page. You should click on that bell because that helps notify you about what we're up to, what we're

doing. We want you to monitor us, okay? We want you to surveil us. We want you to get notifications about it. So click on that bell, help support the show, and we love you for doing it. Let's get to our next story. So one of the common arguments that you're likely to hear from right wingers is what's the big deal? What's the big deal if we overturn Roe v. Wade? Just don't get pregnant. You know, there's ways to prevent pregnancy from happening. And then they'll point to all the different forms of contraception that Republican lawmakers are now looking to ban. Don't forget that, they're looking to ban certain forms of birth control. And I'll tell you exactly who is planning on doing it, how they're planning on doing it.

And really, there is nothing in place to stop them from doing it. So there's a great piece in the Atlantic written by Michelle Goodwin. I want to give you a few excerpts where she says, what is to come? immediately after Roe v. Wade is reversed. First, high rates of maternal mortality will persist, and black and brown women will disproportionately experience the blow and brunt of these deaths. We'll get to some of those numbers a little later. Medicaid will not be expanded in anti-abortion states, nor will welfare benefits increase to meet families' needs. I think that's an important perspective,

something that we've been talking about on the show as well, because it's one thing to, force women to carry out a pregnancy. It's one thing to force women to give birth, which is, you know, I think I think we minimize the risks associated with giving birth. A lot. Women die when giving birth. Far more women die through childbirth than they do from an abortion. So another thing to keep in mind. But she also writes, second, states will turn to civil and criminal punishments of women and girls who seek abortions through medication or by traveling out of state. Even now, before Roe has fallen, lawmakers are working on such legislation. And third, just as the Jim Crow era sanctioned racism and racial profiling, the Jane Crow era will be marked by greater

surveillance of pregnant women and the curation of laws, practices, and policies to justify stalking, watching, and policing women's bodies. That is our near future, and she's right about that. In fact, just a few weeks ago, we shared a story of a lawmaker in Montana who is drafting legislation to prevent women from being able to travel out of the state to access an abortion. And I have no doubt that once Republicans take charge in Congress, Once we have a Republican president in place, they'll do away with the filibuster if they need to to ensure that they have a federal ban on abortions. Now, let's talk about what is likely to come

in regard to contraception. Because one of the cases that's coming up is Griswold v. Connecticut, and that is the 1965 decision that said married couples have the right to contraception access. It struck down a Connecticut law that outlawed the use of birth control devices. Okay, let's just pause for a second. This is a bit of a tangent, I guess, but how insanely intrusive and creepy is it for the state to get involved in your bedroom and tell you what you can and can't do? So like, what is the, like, are you only supposed to have sex for reproduction purposes according to the right wing? And if that's the case, I totally understand Ben Shapiro's take on Cardi B's music. Like I totally get it. But I don't know, I don't know about you guys. Like I love my partner.

I'm super attracted to my partner. I don't want to get pregnant every time I sleep with my partner. He's my husband. What I do in my bedroom is my own damn business. It's our business. Sometimes it's your business because I share too much, but you know what I'm saying. How freaking creepy is that? Okay, there was a law in Connecticut saying that, Married couples can't use contraceptives. Insane. Similar laws in other red states, there were also laws banning sodomy, which means like, hey, the state doesn't want you to get a blowy, no anal sex for you, super creepy, none

of the state's business, okay? Now going back to Griswold, Griswold was a landmark case ruling against Connecticut on the basis of a married couple's right to privacy. Privacy is the key word there guys, because privacy is what was cited in regard to Roe v. Wade. Okay, now if that's the same thing that's cited when it comes to contraceptives, and now there's precedent of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade because they believe, well, the Constitution doesn't say anything about abortion.

It just opens up the floodgates for them to use the same kind of thinking or the same type of rationale to basically overturn Griswold v. Connecticut. The rest of the graphics says it set the stage for future decisions ensuring contraception access for unmarried couples, same-sex marriage rights, and of course, abortion access in Roe v. Wade, okay? Now Trump's lap dog, Marsha Blackburn, Senator, total weirdo, had already given us a hint that right wingers in America were going to focus on overturning things like Griswold. So here's the video from a few months ago.

Institutionally unsound rulings like Griswold versus Connecticut. Kelo versus City of New London and NFIB versus Sebelius. Confused Tennesseans and left Congress wondering who gave the court permission to bypass our system of checks and balances. Oh, did it confuse Tennesseans? I didn't, I didn't, are Tennessee, so Tennesseans are confused that what they do in their bedroom with their partner is their own damn business and what kind of contraception they take is their own goddamn, that it's their private matter. Are Tennesseans confused about that? No, but that was a red flag. That was Marsha Blackburn making it abundantly clear that they're not.

going to be done after they overturn Roe v. Wade. They are going to focus on overturning Griswold because they want the states, at least they claim, they want the states to decide what they do ban, what they don't ban. And then eventually, I'm sure that'll be expanded to federal policy once the right wing has the power to do it. Now, in Arizona, an Arizona GOP Senate candidate by the name of Blake Masters has on his website that he would only support judges who understand that Roe and Griswold and Casey were wrongly decided. And then we get to, I think, the best example, okay, which is Louisiana, which by the way has incredibly high maternity, maternal mortality rates.

Now Louisiana Republicans advanced a bill that would charge abortion as homicide and grant constitutional rights to a person from the moment of fertilization. That language could also restrict the use of emergency contraception and other methods that seek to prevent a fertilized embryo from implanting in the uterus. Okay, so let's pause. Let me explain that a little better. So in Louisiana, a fertilized egg, even before it is implanted in the uterus, already should be considered a human that has the same constitutional rights as we do, as living, breathing, viable human beings. So I think you guys know that it happens quite often. The fertilized egg doesn't end up implanting in the uterine wall for whatever reason. And so does that mean it's a death of a person if your body expels that fertilized egg that failed to implant in the uterus?

Lawmakers in Louisiana claim, yeah, yeah, definitely, that was a death. We should have a big funeral. We should have a big, you know, ceremony, maybe a burial. Maybe we could somehow find that egg and bear. No, it's it's insane. It's absolute insanity. But the reason why they're wording it this way is because they're setting the stage to ban contraception. That is what they're doing. Anyone who thinks otherwise is asleep at the wheel. Mississippi governor, by the way, Tate Reeves said he thinks that life begins at conception. So very similar language to what we're hearing in Louisiana, but he repeatedly avoided answering whether he meant at the moment of the eggs fertilization or when an embryo attaches to the womb. Actually, his interview with

Jake Tapper earlier this week was just fascinating because he didn't seem to want to take ownership of the ramifications of overturning Roe v. Wade. This is what he said. Take a look. The state of Mississippi will force girls and women who are the victims of incest to carry those childs to turn. Can you explain why that is going to be your law? Well, that's going to be the law because in 2007, the Mississippi legislature passed it. I will tell you, Jake, and this sort of speaks to how far the Democrats in Washington have come on this issue. But in 2007, when the trigger law was put in place, we had a Democrat Speaker of the House, and we had a Democrat chairman of the Public Health Committee in the Mississippi House and Representatives

passed this particular piece of legislation. Why is it acceptable in your state to force girls who are victims of incest to carry those child children to turn? Well, as you know, Jake, over 92% of all abortions in America are elective procedures. When you look at the number of those that actually are involved, incest, it's less than 1%. I enjoyed that video. I enjoyed that video because he knows how unpopular this is. And he's trying to blame Democrats for it. The only blame Democrats deserve is being incredibly weak and not having a plan or strategy in place to prevent this from happening.

So Democrats deserve blame in that regard. But Democrats aren't the ones forcing incest and rape victims to carry out a pregnancy that resulted from that abuse, especially in states like Mississippi. It's a state law. So own it, Tate Reeves. Own it. He doesn't want to own it. Because 70% of Americans did not want to overturn Roe v. Wade. Republicans know that. There's a piece in the Washington Post today where Republicans are like, oh, I don't know, is this really going to hurt us in the midterms? We're worried. So they've decided to amplify their messaging on inflation, because inflation touches everyone. In inflation has an impact on everyone. They want to run away from what they have worked on for decades, what they have finally succeeded in. They want to run away from the fact that they want to control people's private lives and force a woman to honestly just serve as like a rental unit for a fetus, be completely forced to carry out a pregnancy with absolutely no support. No support whatsoever, okay? No help with her medical bills. There's no plan in place to ensure that

she doesn't get fired from her job if she needs to take some time off work. Nothing. There's no support system, no social safety net. They don't care about that. It ain't about that. It's about control. Finally, let's go to Missouri. So under Missouri's trigger law, plan B, that's the morning after pill. IUDs and possibly hormonal birth control could be banned because the law defines an unborn child to include fertilization or conception. So any type of birth control that might prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterine wall or on the uterine wall, that would be banned in these red states. It might be challenged, it'll go through the courts, it might make its way to the Supreme Court. And guess what the Supreme Court is poised to do? So for all the idiots who keep saying, well, just don't get pregnant, just don't get pregnant,

we know what you guys want. We know you guys want to do away with methods that women turn to to avoid getting pregnant. And then when you bring that up, what is the response to that? Well, then just don't be a slut, don't have sex, because that's what this is really about, right? That's what this is really about. Finally, I just want to talk about red states and how States and how terrible they are. Let's take a look at the next graphic. This is the number of infant deaths per 1,000 live births. The numbers are from 2020. So again, the number of infant deaths per 1,000 live births. And at the very top of the list is Mississippi, Tate Reeves, Mississippi with 8.27 deaths per 1,000 live births, followed by Louisiana, West Virginia, Arkansas,

Alabama, South Dakota, North Carolina, Kansas, Indiana. You guys get the picture? Do you guys get the point? We're not done yet. Let's go to maternal mortality rates and which states tend to have the highest rates. Hmm, fun, Georgia comes in at number one. Let's see, and I want to make sure I give you guys the appropriate numbers here. Yeah, per 1,000.

So per 1,000 live births, I guess, you have, I mean, it's just insane. It's insane how high the numbers are, Georgia, Louisiana, Indiana, New Jersey, Arkansas, Texas, Missouri, South Dakota, South Carolina, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, Florida. They don't care about lives. If they cared about lives, they would take a good, hard look at the fact that they're not providing the support, mothers need, the support children need, to actually have a healthy safe pregnancy, healthy safe childbirth to ensure that not only their medical needs, but that there's a support system in place so parents can succeed at being parents. All of that completely stripped away

in these red states. I mean, it's bad all across the country, even in some blue states. The point that I'm trying to make is they don't care about your life, they don't care about your children's lives. They don't even care about you having a happy, healthy pregnancy. All they care about is control. That's it. That's all it is. All right, God, I took a long time with the stories today. Apologies, we gotta take a break. I'm getting the sign. So when we come back, John Iderola will join me. We've got a lot more to get to, including what has gone down in Israel today. A journalist was shot and killed. A lot of controversy around that. We'll give you those details and more coming right up.

Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work, listen to ad-free, access members-only bonus content, and more by subscribing to Apple Podcasts at apple.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Janke Huger, and I'll see you soon.