The Young Turks - Nancy Pelosi Has ZERO Time For Trump And Trump Shutdown Is Weakening FBI

Episode Date: January 24, 2019

Nancy Pelosi has formally cancelled Trump's State of the Union. Trump's government shutdown is drastically reducing the FBI's capabilities. Get exclusive access to our best content. http://tyt.com/GET...ACCESS Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 You're listening to the Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. If you like the Young Turks podcast, I think you'll love a lot of the podcasts on the TYT network. Old school, it's one of my favorites, one of the favorites for a lot of the listeners. Please check that out, subscribe, share it, that makes a big difference, and give it a five star rating. Thank you.
Starting point is 00:00:30 All right, well, in the Young Turks, Jake Uger, John, I don't know with you guys. I tell you it's a big news day, but it is every day. You know, John, it's, so we had Trump creating a maelstrom of news, right? And then he's still at it. But now all of a sudden, we got two other factors. One is the presidential race has begun, you know. It's almost two years from now. But no, it's right here.
Starting point is 00:00:55 We're in the think of it. We've got Kamala Harris. We've got a story about her today. We got, you know, nonstop stories about Bernie and Elizabeth Warren, yada, yada, right? And now, the third thing that has arisen, which is wonderful, is Alexandria Ocasor Cortez. She says something, and then the world explodes. And back and forth we go, back and forth we go. And that part is wonderful.
Starting point is 00:01:18 So a new force rises, right? I don't know, I heard that the real story of the midterm was a new crop of centrist freshman Democrats. Guys, man, I just, I'm gonna tell you again one more time, man. You guys helped to do that. And I think in a lot of ways you helped to change the world. We have unleashed the left upon America. Isn't it a wonderful? You'll hear from billionaires later in the show saying that they are, quote, scared.
Starting point is 00:01:54 Now physically, of course, because that's not what we do. But they're scared for, oh my God, what if you start taxing my billions? They might be physically scared of Cardi B, but that's the only part of it. They may be Cardi B. All right, so all that's in the news today, Alexandria Ocasor-Cortez rocked Davos, and she's not even there. So they're all trying to figure out how to respond to her. And you guys had a part in doing that, that's awesome.
Starting point is 00:02:19 All right, anyways, lots of stories to get to. Oh, one more thing I want to tell you guys. So we got old school tonight members, you know, that's, don't miss. Today we got Michael Shore and Mark Thompson. So that's a great combo, okay, and myself. And then, and so old school fans, I think I'll love that. But on Rebel Headquarters, I'm gonna talk to somebody who's affected by the shutdown. So don't miss that either.
Starting point is 00:02:45 Get all of our shows very conveniently, if you remember, t.com slash join. Actually, I'm gonna just start telling you t.t.com slash, that's funny because I just John. No, no, we're done with that, John. I'd say John, I don't know. Trial, thank you. Trial, yes. Because that just automatically gets you the first week free.
Starting point is 00:03:05 So you can, this is actually great- We're still doing that? Yeah, we are. We decided to continue that. Because that's actually, you can check out hostmates, you can check out the shows from this week. We got Kamala Harris's town hall coming up. State of the Union was coming up, but hold on for the first story, right? And tomorrow's, tomorrow's second hour is just for members.
Starting point is 00:03:23 So perfect time to try at t.com. comes like travel. All right. What's first, John? Okay, let's start off with, got our country is insane. Is there gonna be a state of the union? Well, it depends on what time you're watching this. As of when I'm filming it, no, there is not going to be a state of a union because of ridiculous
Starting point is 00:03:40 back and forth that's gone on throughout the day between Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi. So you might remember that not long ago, Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to Donald Trump informing him that because of security concerns, he was not going to be able to have. have his State of the Union address in the halls of Congress during the shutdown because of concerns about their ability to secure the location. That story didn't seem 100% accurate, but still, if she wants to block him from having the State of the Union, she could probably do that. And Donald Trump's response was restrained at the time, but he did respond in letter form
Starting point is 00:04:14 today setting up a potential challenge. So he said in part in this letter, thank you for your letter of January 3rd, 2019, sent to me long after the shutdown began, it was like days. I don't know what long, but inviting me to address the nation on January 29th as to the state of the union. As you know, I had already accepted your kind invitation. However, I then received another letter from you dated January 16th, wherein you expressed concerns regarding security during the state of the union address due to the shutdown. He then lists a couple of reasons he believes that there was no real security concern and then says, there are no security concerns regarding the state of the
Starting point is 00:04:49 Union Address, therefore, I will be honoring your invitation. We then had a brief pause, and everyone wondered what's going to happen. Is he just going to march into the House of Representatives? Are they going to kick down the door? Nancy Pelosi got in front of that saying in another letter, they're all communicating via letters these days, I am writing to inform you that a House of Representatives will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the President's State of the Union Address in the House chamber until the government has opened.
Starting point is 00:05:17 Again, I look forward to welcoming you to the House on a mutually agreeable date for this address when government has been open. So, it looked like it wasn't actually going to happen. But still, if he's dead set on kicking down the door, he could hypothetically try to do that. And then he was asked about this, and it looks like he has taken himself off of the brink. So here's a couple of video clips. In the first, you're going to see him addressing questions about what exactly is going to happen with the stalemate. Mr. President, Nancy Pelosi just responded, and she said she will not consider a concurrent resolution to have you come to the House on January 29th of the State of the Union. Your response to House Speaker. I'm not surprised. It's really a shame what's happening with the Democrats. They become radicalized. They don't want to see crime stop, which we can very easily do on the southern border. And it really is a shame what's happening with the Democrats. This will go.
Starting point is 00:06:11 going for a while. Ultimately, the American people will have their way because they want to see no crime. So we're all working very hard. We'll have to respond to it. We'll respond to it in a timely matter. Okay, so there's been so many responses already, but apparently he's going to respond again. However, at that same meeting, he, I believe, was fairly definitive about the state of the State of the Union. The State of the Union speech has been canceled by Nancy Pelosi because She doesn't want to hear the truth. She doesn't want the American public to hear what's going on. And she's afraid of the truth.
Starting point is 00:06:46 And the super left Democrats, the radical Democrats, what's going on in that party is shocking. I know many people that were Democrats and they're switching over right now, they're switching over quickly. We're supposed to be doing it. And now Nancy Pelosi or Nancy, as I call her, she doesn't want to hear. The truth? That might be the most brutal nickname he's come up with yet. That's not a thing. Nancy Pelosi, or as I call her, Nancy.
Starting point is 00:07:16 That's, yeah, that's her name. That's worse than the Mike Pence thing. Yeah, that was like when Mike Pence was introduced at the Republican National Convention, and he is governor of Mike Pence, or as we know him back in Indiana, Mike. Yeah, that's because that's his name. Right? Like, they've just, I think they've reached maximum uncleverness. I think the right wing's ready for their own daily show now.
Starting point is 00:07:45 Yeah. They finally reached it. So first, I like that we've gone old school, like this is almost Game of Thrones kind of stuff where they're writing letters to one another. I wonder if it's on a quill pen and if they stamp it, like House Pelosi, sends this letter to House Trump, right? Yeah, it's just, it's the emblem of the Filet-O-Fish for him. And then there was a drama around the sergeant-at-arms, because it turns out Nancy Pelosi
Starting point is 00:08:11 not only controls the sergeant-arms in the house, for some reason she controls all the sergeant-at-arms. So then there was-old cloaks. Yeah, no, but kind of because the sergeant-at-arms will decide whether to open the door or not. So that's the level we got to, where we're having a real discussion about, will the sergeant-at-arms hold the door? Will he ho-door? Yeah. Against Stephen Miller, just trying to push it open.
Starting point is 00:08:36 Probably wouldn't work. So now, on to the substance of the speech being canceled. I'm with John, yeah, it's canceled for now. But I think now we're getting to a lot of pressure on both sides, but especially Trump. Of course, he's got a wonderful lie in there, which is he can't go two sentences without a lie, usually four within two sentences, but he's like, that's why a lot of people are switching over from Democrats or Republicans now. Nobody's doing that.
Starting point is 00:09:05 In fact, the latest poll shows that the number of people who want the government shut down because to fund the border wall is down to 7%. Seven. Okay, so a lot of people are switching over. No, yeah, they're switching over. That's that part. It's true. But they're going in the other direction.
Starting point is 00:09:26 Unfavorables is now at a record high, 57% saying he's got. They've got an unfavorable opinion of Donald Trump. And the list goes on and on. So the pressure builds and builds and builds. And so I think that, and I've said this before and I've been wrong. And I actually am now I'm going to pay Anna the 50 bucks I owe her for over this bet. And I'll explain that in a second. But he, I think they're gonna get a deal soon.
Starting point is 00:09:54 But don't quote me on that because I've been wrong about, I thought they were gonna get a deal earlier. Right now I thought the Democrats would buckle and they didn't. That's what I'm gonna pay on. That was our bet. And it's now over. No matter what happens going forward, the Democrats did not buckle. I mean, I can't say no matter what, right? So you pull that one back too.
Starting point is 00:10:14 But man, Nancy Pelosi, I have to give her a ton of credit, has been way stronger than I anticipated. And this was a, when you throw the sergeant at arms at somebody, okay, that's badass. And even, and I'll go further because in that initial meeting where they got Trump to admit that it was going to be the Trump shutdown, and I was too tough on Pelosi and especially Schumer, I was tougher on him in that meeting, because he wouldn't look Trump in the eye. It seemed weak. And it seemed weak and the optics didn't look great.
Starting point is 00:10:49 No, they got him to admit that it was a Trump shutdown and it crushed him. And she has not been at all to his will. And it's driving him crazy, and it's lowering his poll approvals, he's not going to be able to give his propaganda speech, which all the state of the unions, whether Republican or Democrats are obviously a large degree propaganda where they get to make their own case the president does, right? Yeah. So, but I think they'll resolve us, they'll eventually be a state of the union. Let's put it that way. Because at some point, they'll reopen the government. And at that point, Pelosi's going to say, now you can give it the state of the union. But it appears that she's broken his back. So great job by Nancy Pelosi. And I thought I'd never say that. Yeah, I predicted that they would fold as well, which I think a lot of people probably would have. And I don't mind admitting that I was totally wrong on that because in this industry for some reason, the more predictions you get wrong, the better you do. So I was dead wrong, by the way.
Starting point is 00:11:41 Please take note of that. Yeah, if you keep going like this, you need a multi-million dollar TV deal. I might, so speaking fees. But I think what happened was any shutdown for the party that initiates it is probably not going to work out your way. He was already unpopular, and instantly, as soon as it started, more and more polls started to come out showing that the people blame the Republicans. And then as you could see day by day, and I saw a Nate Silver, your favorite person in the world,
Starting point is 00:12:09 he was putting the average daily approval rating of Trump as the shutdown was going on, and you could see movement negative every single day. And so I think that the natural inclination of the Democrats to fold, when they see the polling just every day looking better for them, I think that that that's, that's. might have given them some extra spine. Also knowing that if they buckled these new outspoken members of the House would be all over them. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:12:34 And what I thought would happen, which is the markets going down and then Democratic donors panicking, didn't really happen. So the markets went down in the beginning, but then bounced back up for other reasons, unrelated to the government shut down. There's not been the kind of significant downturn of the markets that would cause a panic in the Democrats. So since that didn't happen, that also helped. fortify them.
Starting point is 00:12:56 But all those factors are important and real and relevant, and it's our job to give you that context. But nonetheless, credit where credit is due, at the end of the day, Pelosi stood strong. Again, a sentence I didn't think I'd ever say. And she's got a lot of hype around mainstream media and Washington, et cetera, over stuff she didn't do. But in this case, she did do it. And so, again, great credit to her.
Starting point is 00:13:20 I believe her approval rating is it like a 10-year high. So Trump, that's a gift that he just gave her. Yeah, and by the way, all Democrats take note, when you are strong, your approval ratings go up, they don't go down, okay? Now when Donald Trump calls you the super left, your approval ratings don't go down, they go up, okay? You should be proud to be the quote unquote super left. Yeah, she's even earned a cool nickname, Nancy.
Starting point is 00:13:48 I do agree with them though. I've always felt that left Democrats are pretty super. I do agree with them there. Maybe we should do t-shirts like that on shop CYOTC. Super Left? The super left. I think we should do that. Okay, you wanna move into some of the darker side of what's going on?
Starting point is 00:14:04 Sure. Okay. We're at day 33 of the shutdown and every day it seems like the damage continues to accrue across the government. In many cases, in areas that I would not have predicted would be so negatively affected by the shutdown. And that spans a lot of different areas. I want to touch on many. First, though, is the criminal justice system, the FBI, the courts. Their ability to do their jobs is apparently being constrained in a lot of different ways.
Starting point is 00:14:30 So FBI agents were interviewed by Natasha Bertrand of the Atlantic, and she says one agent, speaking anonymously, said as unit had lost several sources who have worked for months and years to penetrate groups and target subjects due to the inability to pay confidential sources. Quote, these assets cannot be replaced, the agent said. quote, serving my country has always been a privilege, but it has never been so hard or thankless. Another agent reported, not being able to pay confidential human sources risks losing them and the information they provide forever. It is not a switch that we can turn on and off. Others complained that their investigations were being slow-rolled, with dozens of grand jury
Starting point is 00:15:07 subpoenas going undelivered. Quote, the operational impacts of the shutdown are immeasurable, said one agent in the Northeast region. Quote, we have postponed the indictment of subjects due to the shutdown. And when Donald Trump finds out that indictments are not going out, he is not going to allow the shutdown to continue. We need to have smooth running federal investigations. He's like, wait, the FBI can't invest crooks anymore? Great, the shutdown continues.
Starting point is 00:15:36 So he has literally had dozens of texts attacking his own FBI because they're investigating criminals like himself. So I don't think he's gonna shed a tear over this, but for the rest of us, if you actually cared about his stated reason of shutting the government down, which was, it's a national security problem. Well, then this is incredibly counterproductive, because this is an actual national security problem. So the border has been the same way for decade after decade, and you can say too many people have crossed over without documents, but in those folks on average commit a lot less crime than the average American does, and that's a fact. So there was no new
Starting point is 00:16:10 emergency. That's also a fact. In fact, the number of people crossing the border is lower now than it was earlier. So there's nothing new that creates any kind of national security threat. In this case, this is new, and it is a national security threat, because the FBI can no longer pursue criminals. They've got issues on multiple fronts. So their informants are not getting paid, so they're leaving forever, as John just pointed out to you.
Starting point is 00:16:37 But they're also having trouble getting subpoenas because legal assistance aren't being paid, so they can't subpoena people. They're having trouble getting warrants. The judiciary is now backed up and is no longer taking, you know, less urgent cases. And the reasons pile on top of one another. And so now criminals are literally getting away with their different crimes because the FBI is not equipped to be able to handle these investigations without any money, which makes sense, right?
Starting point is 00:17:08 And so it's not just whether that FBI agents getting paid or not, it's all the support staff and everything is surrounding it. And there's a couple of other national security issues, including TSA, agents not showing up to work. But this is now a real legitimate threat to our security. Yeah, and one of the things that in all of our coverage going back weeks now on this that I've tried to stress is that the right wing wants you to believe that, sure, the shutdown's rough, and man, people aren't going to get paid.
Starting point is 00:17:33 But someday the shutdown will end, they'll get their pay, and everything's back to the way it was. But that's not true, there are a lot of things that you can't take back. who go into debt and have their credit ruined during this because they're not being paid, their credit doesn't just magically improve once they get their paycheck. I spoke with a union vice president for air traffic controllers this morning, and he said that people have left. They're not working there anymore. Their careers have been derailed. And even if the shutdown ends, maybe some of them can get jobs in the field again, but many
Starting point is 00:18:02 are now done. That is a permanent change to their life. These sources that are being burned, that is a permanent change. Now, you brought up the courts. So additional reporting, the administrative office of the U.S. courts said in a statement on Tuesday that the federal courts can sustain funded operations through January 31st, which is like a week away or a little bit more, through an extension made possible by moving funds around. Courts will continue to conduct criminal trials, but some federal courts have had to issue orders suspending or postponing civil cases in which the government is a party, again, an area where hypothetically Donald Trump might benefit, since he is potentially the target of some
Starting point is 00:18:37 of those lawsuits. Similar things like, not only you mentioned TSA, but the IRS announced today that earlier it had been said that refunds would still go out on time, but they can no longer promise that. So now more security matters. U.S. Attorney's officers are dealing with their own employees not being paid and other budget constraints. So there goes the prosecutors. Trump government was going to participate as every U.S. government does every year in a border
Starting point is 00:19:04 security conference, in this case it was going to be in Scotland, 85 different. countries get together and share their notes on how to prevent people crossing borders illegally and all the way up to smuggling in nukes, et cetera. And now that is being postponed because we don't have any money to go to that conference. So now think about it guys, and I almost hesitate in saying this, but terrorists are, you know, they can figure it out on their own, right? Now if you were terrorists, when would you strike? Then there's less TSA agents to monitor people at airports.
Starting point is 00:19:39 Remember, almost no terrorist comes through the border. They come through planes more than anything else, right? And then they use planes as weapons. Now the TSA agents can't check you as well. The FBI is hurt, prosecutors are hurt, and there's very little cooperation between government agencies and things are falling apart. So it's not a joke, and it's not an exaggeration. If anybody was gonna strike, unfortunately, this would be a good time to do it, which again,
Starting point is 00:20:09 that's why I hesitate in saying it. I don't think people are watching it. Yeah, I know. Right, like, oh, okay, yeah, I hadn't thought of that, right? But we gotta go, we gotta open up the government, okay? We gotta have the FBI on the job, we gotta have the TSA guys checking at airports, et cetera. Because, tick, tick, tick, I mean, in this case, unfortunately, almost literally, like, if we don't get this thing straight now, now we have a real danger on our hands.
Starting point is 00:20:33 Yeah, and everything that you said is true, but even implicit in all that we're saying is a bit of normalization of insanity, where you're saying, if it continues, but we are already historically far into a shutdown by a good, like 50% higher than the next longest shutdown in history. But this is just, this is the effect of Donald Trump, everything that you thought you knew about the government and the way things could or should ever function gets thrown out the window. There's only one silver lining here, which is that in most government shutdowns, they're
Starting point is 00:21:04 short, they only affect 25% of the government, the military, the cops, et cetera, keep working. So then people oftentimes are like, oh, the parks are shut down. I guess that's the only thing government does. Now this has lasted so long, and it's affected so many different areas. The Coast Guard came out yesterday and was like, what are we doing here? None of our guys are getting paid, we can't work. So now they're starting to take other jobs, right? So now people are going, oh, yeah, I guess the Coast Guard and the FBI are the government,
Starting point is 00:21:32 aren't they? And so we're prosecutors and all these other people that keep us safe and all other vital things that the government does. Because now that we're falling apart at the seams, that's- The new BMO, V-I-Porter MasterCard is your ticket to more, more perks, more points, more flights, more of all the things you want in a travel rewards card, and then some. Get your ticket to more with the new BMO ViPorter MasterCard and get up to $2,400 in value in your first 13 months. Terms and conditions apply.
Starting point is 00:22:07 Visit BMO.com slash ViPorter to learn more. That's why Trump's numbers are in the tank, they're tanking and they're down to 7% for keeping the government shut down in order to fund the wall. I mean, 93% of the country's against it, because part of what's happened here is American people going, oh, it turns out we need the government. Yeah. And that's your silver lining. Yeah, that's true. And that's 7%. I mean, no matter how you look at it, that's awful.
Starting point is 00:22:33 But that means he's lost the vast majority of his base. Like the core, like teens and Magahots, they're turning against him at this point. Like that's how bad that is. And an AP poll has him dropping from 42% approval last month to 34% now. That's a big chunk. And you look across all of these different polls, he is down. In most of these, he is down to the previous lowest number he'd ever been at was in the wake of the attempt to repeal the ACA and when we were talking about the tax bill initially.
Starting point is 00:23:03 That was his previous low in December of 2017. And he has reached that again. Yeah, 34%. That is a miserable approval rating. That is terrible. So, and by the way, I mean, this is classic Trump. So I didn't get what I watched, I'm gonna shut the government down, okay? I mean, that's what kids do, right?
Starting point is 00:23:26 And we told you all along, he was a spoiled child, he's been a spoiled child in his old life, never understood the consequences of his actions, never read past the page. So this is what happens when you don't understand the consequences of your actions. All of a sudden, people go, oh, it turns out the president is a spoiled child, and the brat is now affecting our lives, and we can't stand it. A couple more random polls, just because I thought they were really interesting. So in his first two years, so historically, he is. the only president on record who never passed overall 50% approval in the first two years
Starting point is 00:23:58 in office. That's amazing. That's amazing. Some significantly higher, you know, in the wake of 9-11 or whatever, much higher. He never was able to do it. The overall support for his impeachment is higher than his approval rating, which is pretty amazing. I randomly saw, and when you see this number, understand that it includes many Republicans,
Starting point is 00:24:16 57% of the public say that they believe Russia has dirt on Trump. That they have compromising information on our president. And 57% of the country believes that. I mean. And that I just use, all of his numbers are getting bad at this point in every area related to the shutdown or not related to the shutdown. And that leads to a point I often make. Like people are still think that Trump has some sort of magic and that he could be deeply
Starting point is 00:24:41 unpopular as he was in 2016 and still win elections. There ain't no magic to winning an election when 57% of the country thinks you're working for the Russians. So people like, oh my God, we can't let Trump win. Don't worry, Trump's got that on lockdown, okay? I mean, the only way you could possibly lose is to put another terribly establishment candidate up against them. That couldn't happen.
Starting point is 00:25:03 I know, I hear you, I hear you, but don't be afraid of him is my point. Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer stood up to him here, and all of a sudden it worked. And there is no magic. And the more you stand up to him, the more he seems like a spoiled little brat, because that's That's what he is. And the worse his numbers are. So he's not, there is no real power here. When 57% of the country hates you, right, and thinks you're working for our adversaries,
Starting point is 00:25:37 there is no power. You should just bulldoze him, as Pelosi very accurately and effectively showed what this government has shut down. Yeah. Want to see the first break? Yep. Let's do that. When we come back, the billionaires of the world are apparently scared crapless, is that a thing of Alexandria Garcia-Cortez? Yeah, they're literally talking about
Starting point is 00:26:02 how afraid of her they are. Love it, you'll love it, come right back. We need to talk about a relatively new show called Un-F-The Republic or UNFTR. As a young Turks fan, you already know that the government, the media, and corporations are constantly peddling lies that serve the interests of the rich and power. But now there's a podcast dedicated to unraveling those lies, debunking the conventional wisdom. In each episode of Un-B-The-Republic, or UNFTR, the host delves into a different historical episode or topic that's generally misunderstood or purposely obfuscated by the so-called powers that be. Featuring in-depth research, razor-sharp commentary, and just the right amount of vulgarity, the UNFTRTR podcast takes a sledgehammer to what you thought. you knew about some of the nation's most sacred historical cows.
Starting point is 00:26:54 But don't just take my word for it. The New York Times described UNFTR as consistently compelling and educational, aiming to challenge conventional wisdom and upend the historical narratives that were taught in school. For as the great philosopher Yoda once put it, You must have learned what you have learned. And that's true whether you're in Jedi training or you're uprooting and exposing all the propaganda and disinformation you've been fed over the course of your lifetime. So search for UNFDR in your podcast app today
Starting point is 00:27:25 and get ready to get informed, angered, and entertained all at the same time. All right, back on a young Turks. Let me read some comments for you guys. Let's go to the member section first. Lofar says, I know more Republicans jumping off the Trump train. Because I have not met a Democrat that is now a Trump follower. Me too.
Starting point is 00:27:54 I haven't seen a single progressive or a Democrat or go, you know what? I didn't believe in Trump, but he's really proven me wrong. I mean, who would think that, right? Trump is on Twitter all the time and there's those hashtag exit things every once in a while, and he sees that and he thinks, oh, this is representative of reality. Yeah, that old dem exit or walk away, they're all propaganda paid for by right-wing billion. It's hilarious. It's not remotely true.
Starting point is 00:28:22 But Trump, of course, is an idiot, you're right. He probably sees that. He's like, oh yeah, they're walking away. I hear they're walking away. It's got to be true. Like the funny thing is it's meant to trick the average American, but it accidentally tricks Trump instead. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:28:34 More gullible than the average American. Well, by a long shot. Juliet writes, Trump is so scared of Pelosi, he can't even give her a proper nickname. Maybe that's right. He's like, lying. I say, well, I don't want her to mess me up again, though. Man, look, all right, I don't want to get into it. Give her credit on today, okay?
Starting point is 00:28:56 I can't help but say it. I'm afraid she's going to use that credit later to fight against progressives. But still, we have to be fair and honest, credit where credit is due. All right, the neon donkey says the lives of the children in cages on the border are changed forever as well. Another good point. Laura Gellezunis writes in on Twitter, referring to Nancy Pelosi, otherwise known as Nancy. I think everybody should know that by now.
Starting point is 00:29:21 Yeah, she's a lifelong professional politician. She knows how government works, who the players are, and how to play them. He is so out of his league, bigly. I think that's exactly right. Okay, so guys, tomorrow hour two is just from members, but that's okay, you can sign up at t.t.com slash trial, you get a week free anyway. So try it out, go look around the website, watch hostmates, see John get embarrassed. That's a spoiler.
Starting point is 00:29:49 I mean, spoiler. No, you never know what happens. You could come out on top and watch old school tonight, watch our coverage, not only hour to tomorrow, but on Monday, we're doing special members only town hall for Kamala Harris. We're not doing the town hall, CNN is we're covering it and we'll give you our analysis of how she did and her policy positions. So if you're a member, don't miss that. dot com slash trial to get a free week of membership to try on all these programs we have for you
Starting point is 00:30:21 guys, including rebel headquarters tonight, where I'm going to have somebody on from the air traffic controllers talking about how the shutdown has affected that. Okay, John, what's next? Okay, lots is next. For the past month, new representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been helping drive a debate over raising the top marginal tax rate, up to 60 or 70%, which is significantly higher than it is now, although significantly lower than it has been historic. And while this is going on right now, and that's something that's just commonly being talked
Starting point is 00:30:51 about, you have Davos in the World Economic Forum, you have all these billionaires getting together, and when asked about it, they are equal parts, like feigned, they think it's funny, and also pretty anxious, and you can see that coming through in some of their statements. So here are a few of the things that have been reported on. So when billionaire chief executive Michael Dell was asked to explain why raising the top tax rate It would harm economic growth, he said, name a country where that's worked, ever. One of his co-panelists and MIT professor jumped in to say, the United States. I love it.
Starting point is 00:31:26 After decade, after decade, which is a point we've made many times. And Michael Dell knows that, right? He has to know that. No, no, I bet he doesn't know that. I think the propaganda in this country, I gotta keep it real with you, not just from the Republican Party, but the mainstream media has been overwhelming. All this talk of trickle-down economics, you just keep. give the rich money and eventually it comes back to you.
Starting point is 00:31:48 And they never report the stagnant wages. And so that propaganda worked. They've diluted themselves into thinking, no, of course, you give taxes for the rich, and that's the only way the economy can improve. When in reality, they are quite literally ignorant. They're ignorant of our history that our biggest economic booms were from the 1940s to 1980 when we had marginal tax rates, marginal tax rates. Not everybody, only for dollars above a certain threshold.
Starting point is 00:32:19 Garcia-Cortez's suggestion is above $10 million, not the whole $10 million. And that's per year, by the way, right? So they're making $10 million, if you're making $10 million every single year, every dollar above $10 million would get taxed at 60 to 70% and that is how it was in this country for decades. And that was our top economic growth time. It ranged from 70 to 91% for the highest marginal tax rate. Not in Venezuela, not in Norway, here in America, and that was when we did our best.
Starting point is 00:32:49 Yes. Now let's go through a few more of these quotes, because I have a feeling you're probably going to like some of them. So we have a global CIO of Guggenheim partner, Scott Minnard, who said, it's scary. By the time we get to the presidential election, this is going to gain more momentum. And I think the likelihood that a 70% tax rate or something like that becomes policy is actually very real. So there you have a bit of anxiety.
Starting point is 00:33:12 Yeah, look, I live in a weird world where I intersect a lot of these different bubbles. So I know Guggenheim, and none of these folks are bad guys. Well, some of them are not Guggenheim, but some of the other guys that are bad guys. But they're good folks, they just live in their own bubble. And in their bubble, the idea of being taxed at 70% for their $10 million is frightening. Like, well, what would I do? I mean, really, but they haven't, guys, when I was on TV and I'll talk my more about this in the post game, and I'll, and there's some things that Cascio-Cortez said
Starting point is 00:33:46 and now started a conversation that I have to confess that I'm proud that I took some small role and we'll talk about that in the postgame to TYT.com slash join to become a member and get all of our shows including the post game, which is just for members. Anyway, but, and I made good money when I was on TV, okay? That's what I'm going to talk about more in the post game, but so I know how much good money is and how much you need, even in need. Right? And how much you can spend, et cetera, right? 10 million, you cannot spend $10 million a year.
Starting point is 00:34:20 Oh, see some yachts. I know. But like, they literally have parties where they have camels and, you know, and famous stars that come. They just don't know how to spend the money, why would you bring a camel to a party? So 10 million every single year is, unless you're insane, is more money than any person can spend, let alone the billions that they have. They have a psychological problem.
Starting point is 00:34:47 They do, because it's about their ego, because you can go on any fancy trip, buy any fancy car, by almost any fancy house in the world. You can buy your house, you can do all that stuff before you even get to the 60% marginal tax rate. But to them, the idea that once, that any above 10 million every year will be taxed a little bit more. They're like, what will we do? And Ocasio-Cortez makes a great point.
Starting point is 00:35:17 She's like, we got people in Alabama that have ringworm because we have no health care. And you could name the state, we got, so what's a bigger, what's a bigger thing to be frightened of? You know, that 40% of this country goes paycheck to paycheck in any little variation. $400 bill knocks them out, knocks them out financially until they have to borrow money from a friend or an institution, et cetera, right? Is that a bigger problem? 40% of the country, is that a bigger problem?
Starting point is 00:35:45 Or a couple of guys at Davos are worried that their $10 million is going to be taxed a little bit more. Any rational person would know what the real problem is, but they can't see straight at Davos. Let's go through a few more of these. So in an interview with Bloomberg TV, investment banker Ken Moles, who's net worth hit $1 billion last April, claimed AOC's idea, quote, would be disastrous for the economy, suggesting that people in the U.S. would no longer have a reason to work.
Starting point is 00:36:11 I would stop coming to work. No, but think about that. What would be the point? No, I mean, look, so again, you don't have to demonize these folks because if Mollus, his company is interesting and a good company, right? That's my opinion on it. But he really believes that if you can't make one point. Hey, we know you probably hit play to escape your business banking. not think about it.
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Starting point is 00:37:04 Well, why would anybody show up to work? Like, no, they live in their bubble too much. He went on to say, even in the US, what's going to happen to the two work worse family? You forget where 70% starts to kick in. Do you really think that people are having both the people in the household work, both the adults in the household work because they think they can get to $10 million a year? No, they're both working because they can barely scrape by.
Starting point is 00:37:30 He's implying that the other partner has to work, even though one of them makes $10 million a year. That's insanity. They have no idea how clueless they sound. Two people are not working to get to $10 million. They're working to get to $40,000, $50,000 a year combined. Do you know what the minimum wage is? There's no way Ken Most knows what the minimum wage equals for a year.
Starting point is 00:37:53 I say this is-750,000 a year. They probably think that, right? So if you work 40-hour week, 50 hours or 50 weeks or 52 weeks a year, you know, it's- It comes out to a little over $15,000 a year, $15,000 a year. So if two people work minimum wage jobs in that family, they'd get to $30,000. And this guy's saying, well, you know, then people wouldn't work, both adults wouldn't work in the family if they couldn't get to $10 million. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:38:25 I mean, this is worse than Marie Antoinette. Well, then why don't they eat cake? Let the meat party camels. Yeah, I mean, who would work if they could only make $9 million a year? Yeah. And by the way, it's not like you can't make more than $10 million. It's just a $10 million gets taxed in 60 to 70%. They're unbelievable.
Starting point is 00:38:46 Yeah. Yeah, I try to, like, I know our audience obviously understands this better than most, but I just continually say, you will never be affected by this new top tax rate. And it is likely you will never meet anyone who will be affected by this top tax rate. They are at fancy mountain resorts and off on their own islands. They're living lives that don't make any sense. by our standards. It doesn't even make sense by their standards.
Starting point is 00:39:07 This is all fantasy money. If you have $1.3 billion, it doesn't matter. Getting to $5 billion doesn't change your life. It's all just, it's zeros written on paper. There's no difference to an actual human at that point. Now I do want to give you at least a little bit of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's response to this because of course it's been all over the place today that the billionaires are either laughing at her or shivering in their boots, expensive boots.
Starting point is 00:39:32 She said on Twitter, it's wild that some people are more scared of a marginal tax rate. than the fact that 40% of Americans struggle to pay for at least one basic need, like food or rent. Imagine if we focus positively away from fear of the former towards solving the latter. So I wanna talk about the second half of that, because I already talked about the first half. Now, think about it, right now the media is going nuts, because they're going and asking all the billionaires. Are you scared?
Starting point is 00:39:54 Are you okay? Do you need a safe space? Have you been triggered, et cetera? All that time and effort. Imagine if they spent that time and effort to go down to Alabama, Kentucky, West Virginia, Or it doesn't matter, pick a state, Rhode Island, Hawaii. And they talked to people and they said, hey, what happens if you have to pay $400 for your car because it broke down?
Starting point is 00:40:16 Where's that story? All those stories of like hundreds of millions of Americans, nowhere to be found in the media. Because look, unfortunately, a lot of folks, especially on TV, they're in the Ken Molescript. They're not billionaires, well, some of them are. But they all live in this, in the bubble, in the class where everyone is extremely wealthy. So when she says 60 to 70%, they flip out, they look, oh my God, that would affect me, that would affect me. We gotta cover this.
Starting point is 00:40:45 Hey, producers, let's get on this, right? Whereas the ringworm, no one they know would ever, ever get ringworm. The idea, like when we repeat this fact, and Bernie Sanders and Accio Cortez, Joe Sandberg, who's on this show's on a wonderful job of fighting for it in California. repeats the fact that $400 knocks out 40% of the families in America, they literally can't believe that. They're like, no, that couldn't be true. $400 is a bad hand in Vegas.
Starting point is 00:41:12 Not a bad night, a bad hand in Vegas. They can't believe it. So it's not about evil, it's about cluelessness, and they aren't, because they're in their bubble. Yeah. And I just want to clarify that she, I mean, much of it applies to ringworm as well. She clarified that she meant hookworm, which is a more serious parasite. But regardless, so you talked about what if you talk to everybody?
Starting point is 00:41:35 Well, we know, since she brought it up, a poll found that 59% of voters were in favor of her idea, even 45% of Republicans liked it. Turns out a lot of Republicans aren't billionaires. That's right. See, that's what's stunning to the people in television. They're like, what? 45% of Republicans, there's not a single Republican. I know that wants to raise taxes on the rich.
Starting point is 00:41:55 Yes, because every Republican you know is really rich. But most of the Republicans in the country are not rich. And so look guys, it isn't about, and this is the propaganda they do on television every single day. It isn't about taking money from the rich, no, no. It's about how do we build a functioning society where we all, we lift all boats, where we don't give equality of results, we give equality of opportunity. So is there a tax rate at which you say, hey, you know what, the folks that are making
Starting point is 00:42:24 $10 million a year or a billion dollars, et cetera, they're great, they're in good shape. Now let's use some of that wealth creation that was by the way also made possible by our schools, our hospitals, our police, our roads, our bridges, et cetera. Let's use some of that money to give that same kind of opportunity to other people so they could also live the American dream. Actually, that would allow Republicans, Democrats, et cetera, to actually make it to the $10 million. That would actually support the American dream. But again, the media is too blinded by their own social circles.
Starting point is 00:42:59 So, and then Ocasio-Cortez also said some other things that I thought were fantastic. She said, I'm not saying that Bill Gates or Warren Buffard are immoral, that's funny, I mean, it's very similar language obviously that I use all the time, but a system that allows billionaires, and it's independent, we obviously didn't talk about that, but a system that allows billionaires to exist when there are parts of Alabama where people are still getting ringworm or hookworm because they wouldn't have access to public health is wrong. She went on to say, maybe this idea of idealizing this outcome of maybe one day you two can be a billionaire and earn more than millions of families combined is not an aspirational
Starting point is 00:43:35 or good thing. So that's where she goes further than me. Like I get it if you want to be a millionaire and I support that as long as you don't crush people on your way, et cetera, right? But she goes deeper and says, why are we all striving to get to 10 million or a billion? What are you gonna do with it? Wouldn't we, maybe how about if we strive to help our fellow man? I mean, she doesn't say this part, but wouldn't that be a more Christian thing to do?
Starting point is 00:43:59 Or by the way, Islam focuses on the poor, maybe more than any religion. Wouldn't that be a Muslim thing to do? Wouldn't that be a Jewish thing to do? Wouldn't that be a decent person thing to do, right? And for her to start get people thinking about questioning that, hey, maybe the priorities that television told us for these decade after decade, get dynasty, Dallas, apprentice, Get rich, get rich, get rich, get rich, get rich. Maybe that isn't the only goal.
Starting point is 00:44:27 And so if she has begun to unravel that myth, wow, I mean, that is more good than anyone could have imagined. And finally, now reporters including Business Insider are talking about how acknowledging that her campaign was centered around economic justice. Exactly, all the things that the right wing told you. about her? Oh, all she cares about is racial issues or that's why she, the Democrats said, oh, that's why she got elected because of demographics aside. No, it was about economic justice. Social justice too, of course, but economic justice was the center of that campaign.
Starting point is 00:45:06 I know, because that part I was involved in. Look, we named it Justice Democrats. That's the group she's from because of social and economic justice. It's not an accident. So now it's working, And I want to talk more about that in the post game, too. The fact, I mean, you guys helped to launch things that might literally change this country. Last thing as part of that. And now they're referring to how she has banned corporate PAC money from her campaign and helped to start that trend. We were trying to start a trend, and it looks like we have. And so you, in a sense, the Young Turks audience, have launched this goodness into the world to combat
Starting point is 00:45:46 the evil that actually does exist. Some are in the middle, some don't know how clueless they are, and then there's a guy's like Trump who are prime evil. Okay, depending on how you want to characterize it, and if you're not a religious person, all he cares, like I'm not, all he cares about is himself, and he has no empathy for others. And what we've done and what she's done and what is start a conversation around what if we helped one another instead of only being selfish. And that's just an unbelievably great conversation to start.
Starting point is 00:46:18 You know who is that conversation? You do. All of us do. So great work. And if the billionaires in Davos are a little scared, well, I could live with that. Second break. Let's do it. When we come back, we've got Michael Cohen.
Starting point is 00:46:37 Why is he actually not going to testify now all of a sudden? And does that relate to another crime for Donald Trump? I actually, obstruction of justice, I think this is the best case for it. You know, I was, he's done a thousand things about obstruction of justice, but I actually think this is the worst. We'll explain why when we come. At TYT, we frequently talk about all the ways that big tech companies are taking control of our online lives, constantly monitoring us and storing our data.
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Starting point is 00:48:17 From the member section, Cognosco writes in, Ben Stein compares Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Stalin, Hitler, Mao, et cetera. Yep. I mean, to them, they're like, if you take by $10 million, okay, you are Mao and Stalin combined. Okay, I mean, whatever, you keep saying that and see if the country's with you or not. He said that raising the top marginal tax rate to 60 or 70% would lead to genocide. He's an idiot.
Starting point is 00:48:43 We had it higher than that. Yeah, just because he wears glasses and talks funny, doesn't make him smart. Yeah. Okay, what is what the Republicans who, their main claim to fame for being smart is talking funny? I don't know if you're thinking. Ben Stein, Ben Shapiro, and Jordan Peterson. They all got like this, so I'm really smart. No, I don't think so.
Starting point is 00:49:01 I don't think that's how it works. At least Ben Stein was in Ferris Bueller. I mean, he's got that going for it. Okay. Don, with a lot of letters, I mean numbers after it on Twitter, says, I occasionally listen to Rush Limbaugh to see what lies and madness is headlining. AOC has been one of his subjects daily for over a week. He calls her That Cortez.
Starting point is 00:49:21 He just makes up things, false equivalencies, and every kind of trash talk, of course. Okay, so related to that, Sean Hannity on his radio show had a guest on, and they were coming up with nicknames for her. Oscario, oh, socialist, oh, but they decided that one was. It was too long. Oh, they're so clever. Next thing you know, they'll come, they'll be like Trump, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or as I call her, Alexandria.
Starting point is 00:49:47 All right, last one, last one. Jay Glory 82 on Twitter says, sounds to me like there's going to be an avalanche in Davos with all the snowflake billionaires scared out of being taxed more. That's funny, it is Switzerland, could happen. All right, what's next? Okay, let's turn to a little interesting. interesting wrinkle in domestic news today. Former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen has apparently postponed his house testimony, which
Starting point is 00:50:13 was scheduled for just a couple of weeks from now, referencing ongoing threats against his family from both the president and the president's now lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. So a statement from Lanny Davis, Cohen's legal team spokesman came out that said, due to those ongoing threats against his family from Trump and Giuliani, as recently as this weekend, as well as Michael Cohen's continued cooperation with ongoing investigations by advice. of counsel, Cohen's appearance will be postponed to a later date. We don't have any idea at present when that later date would be, although bear in mind that Cohen is scheduled to start a three-year prison term on March 6th, and so that means
Starting point is 00:50:48 that he's got to fit a lot into his social calendar between now and then, although hypothetically he could be subpoenaed in some fashion to do it afterward. I do know that House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings said, we will not let the president's tactics prevent Congress from fulfilling our constitutionally mandated oversight responsibilities, this will not stop us from getting to the truth. So those threats referenced, we do have some of those available if you'd like to see them. So Trump had tweeted not long ago, quoting Kevin Corky of Fox News, quote, don't forget, Michael Cohen has already been convicted of perjury and fraud. And as recently as this week, the Wall Street journalist suggested
Starting point is 00:51:25 that he may have stolen tens of thousands of dollars. And then Trump adds, lying to reduce his jail time, watch father-in-law, which sounds like a terrible new NBC series. Watch it, everybody. But we also have a little bit more. So here is Trump on a video. In order to get a sentence reduced, he says, I have an idea. I'll give you some information on the president. Well, there is no information.
Starting point is 00:51:48 But he should give information maybe on his father-in-law because that's the one that people want to look at. Because where does that money? That's the money in the family. And I guess he didn't want to talk about his father-in-law. He's trying to get his sentence reduced. What is his father-in-law's name? I don't know, but you'll find out and you'll look into it because nobody knows what's going
Starting point is 00:52:09 on over there. Oh, yeah, I will. So she is just desperately trying to do his job for him effectively, and that's what she's there for. But she accidentally makes him look ridiculous because she asks a simple fob question. This guy that you continually tell us is behind all this illegal stuff, what's his name? Trump doesn't know, is no idea. That would require one minute of homework.
Starting point is 00:52:30 And by the way, that was his personal lawyer. So if you thought his father-in-law was so shady and that that made Michael Cohen get involved in dirty affairs, why did you hire him? So by the way, I love the constant reference to how Michael Cohen was his fixer. Do you have a fixer? I know I don't have a fixer. You know why? Because I never broke anything.
Starting point is 00:52:52 That's what you need a fixer for when you break laws all the time and you need somebody to go run after it and try to fix it. So there's two things here. One is Michael Cohen's reference to safety of his family and the constant threats from the president and his followers. So I believe him and I don't believe him. I believe that he is constantly being threatened. I know because I'm constantly threatened.
Starting point is 00:53:15 We're daily. Trump followers and right wing nut jobs threaten our safety every single day. It's actually a story that doesn't get talked about at all in the press. But the right wing terrorizes people they disagree with. They constant threats of harming you physically. Now, if I get it that bad, imagine what they're doing to Michael Cohen, right? So that's part of it. But I think that he's partly using that as an excuse because he's probably been getting
Starting point is 00:53:42 that for months now since he's turned on Donald Trump. Yeah. And no, what Trump has done, this is the important part, is by putting the father-in-law out there, he's saying people should look into him. That is a signal that if Michael Cohen goes to testify, the other Republicans will ask some questions about his father-in-law and then in an effort to get him to lie and get him in bigger trouble or admit things about his father-in-law. So now his father-in-law probably is like, don't go to, I don't, I have no idea what
Starting point is 00:54:13 his father-in-law is done, okay? So all this might be terribly unfair. But whatever that threat was, it seems to have worked. So he's worried that the Republicans are going to do Trump's bidding and attack his family. Now, rightly, wrongly, I have no idea what his father-in-law is up to, okay? So now he's backing out. You know what that is? That's witness intimidation.
Starting point is 00:54:37 That's obstruction of justice 101. You should watch your family. If you're gonna go testify against me in Congress, yeah, okay, well, let's see what my guys do to your father-in-law. Now Giuliani says, well, no, no, that's not obstruction of justice because he didn't threaten to kneecap anyone or kidnapped their kids. That's literally what he said, okay. But if you threaten their financial well-being and whether you're going to start a prosecution
Starting point is 00:55:03 of someone right or wrong, that's also a threat, and that's definitely illegal. I think this is actually the worst obstruction of justice that Trump's done, and he's done a lot already. Yeah, like anything having to do with Cohen, I am automatically suspicious of. I don't think that anyone should or that anyone does take anything he says without verification as necessarily being true, and I'm sure that if we ever see any kind of report out of the Council's investigation, they will not rely on anything he says without documented evidence. That said, the goal in continually bringing up watch father-in-law was to scare a witness.
Starting point is 00:55:39 The goal in continually floating pardons and saying that some people are rats and some people are like, you know, maybe we have pardon, maybe we don't. Those are all obvious obstruction of justice. That's why I get so frustrated when people continually act like, oh, we're waiting for the big one, we're gonna find out if he does anything that merits impeachment or some sort of legal proceedings, we have continually seen it in plain sight on Twitter and on Janine Piro's show and all of that. It is ridiculous at this point to pretend that we are still awaiting some sort of big smoking
Starting point is 00:56:07 gun. The smoke is in our eyes, maybe that's why we can't see it anymore. Yeah, he fired James Comey, who was the head of the FBI in charge of investigating him and then admitted on national television that he fired him because of the Russian investigation. That's like going on national television and saying, well, of course I did a bank robbery, I needed money. So I went into a bank with a gun and told them to give me the money. They did and I put it in my pocket.
Starting point is 00:56:32 And then you were like sitting there going, wait, did you just admit to a bank robbery on national television? And since he did, people were like, well, I guess that's not illegal because he just admitted it on TV. So I guess we'll wait for the smoking gun. No, the smoking gun was when he said it on TV, right, including this one. When you intimidate a witness, just doing it brazenly doesn't make it any better, right? it on national TV or on Twitter, doesn't make it any less illegal.
Starting point is 00:56:58 You want one more, a little bit of brazeness? So asked about whether this is witness intimidation, Trump responded, he's only been threatened by the truth. Which sounds like he's admitting that he is threatening him. Of course, because Trump is an idiot, he doesn't understand, hey, don't say I'm threatening him, even though it's with the so-called truth, right? Him and Giuliani, I mean, they're gonna do a movie, it's gonna be a sequel, dumb and dumb And I can't believe that Giuliani is the dumb in that equation, because no one's going to
Starting point is 00:57:31 be dumber than Donald Trump. They say I'm threatening him, so what if I threaten him with the truth? You know what I'm saying? Why's the father-in-law? Republicans make sure you ask about the father-in-law, try to intimidate him. What? All right, we're out of time. All right, we got a great second hour coming up for you guys, the LA teacher strike.
Starting point is 00:57:52 And now we got a new birth of theory, of course we do, of course we do. Is it about Biden? Yeah, I wonder what it's about. Oh, really? Okay, you know what, actually, speaking of Biden, let's do the Biden story. I messed up by saying Biden then. Just when you think you're out, they pull you back in. Sorry, well here, we're giving you more show.
Starting point is 00:58:15 Okay, there you go. There's something going on outside of my vision, but okay, last October in the immediate run-up to the midterm elections, former Vice President Joe Biden went to Michigan. And he went there to give a speech. He was collecting $200,000 from the Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan to address a Republican leading audience, according to a speaking contract obtained by the New York Times and interviews with organizers. The group of business-minded civic organization is supported in part by an Upton Family Foundation.
Starting point is 00:58:44 So Fred Upton is a representative in that area. Importantly, a Republican representative in that area. So it is odd that Biden was giving a speech to an organization that was linked with the Upton. So he got that money. And while he was there, he spoke favorably of Fred Upton, specifically in an area that, of course, Joe Biden has sort of a special history in that has to do with fighting cancer. And he pointed out Fred Upton's bipartisan history, especially in this area, saying that he is one of the reasons that we are going to to defeat cancer in the end.
Starting point is 00:59:22 And because this happened just a couple of weeks before the election, if you're a Democrat in that area and you're trying to take out Fred Upton, and if you think he's one of the big targets, finally he could be eliminated, the former vice president, the Democrat, going there and giving a speech so favorable to him, that certainly looks bad. And yeah, he talked about the Upton's support for landmark medical research law, called him a champion in the fight against cancer. one of the finest guys I've ever worked with. And those remarks were quickly integrated into Republican advertisements, both in video form
Starting point is 00:59:55 and in flyers, pointing out that these are his bipartisan credentials, Fred Upton. He's a guy that can work across the aisle. Look, even Biden likes him. And if you're one of the Democrats working in that area, you're very frustrated by that. So Eric Lester, a retired physician who chaired the Democratic Party in a county in that area during the midterm said he viewed Biden's supportive remarks about Upton as a betrayal. Lester, who attended the speech, said he had confronted an aide to Biden in the hallway, telling him the former vice president had badly damaged the Democratic cause.
Starting point is 01:00:26 Now importantly, Upton went on to win that election, I believe by about 4.6 points. So fairly close, especially historically for Upton. No, very close. The Democrat could have won that election, we had a way, we picked up 40 seats. And so now there's, let's do all the different angles here, because there's a bunch of of different angles, including the trap that was laid for Biden that he fell into. So first off, you know, credit where credit is due. I complained before that the mainstream media, including the New York Times, does one critical
Starting point is 01:01:01 piece after another after another about Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, but almost never touches the establishment candidates. Biden is an establishment candidate and is a critical piece about him. So okay, fair is fair, nice working in being even handed on that, okay? Number two, I do, Biden messed up here, but I do feel a little bad for him, and I'll explain why, okay? So he has a bunch of rules that are really good rules about his speaking engagements. He doesn't talk to big banks, he knows that burned Hillary Clinton, okay, but at least he learned
Starting point is 01:01:34 that lesson, right? He doesn't take money from foreign countries for his nonprofit, good, that's another lesson from Hillary Clinton. He doesn't let schools pay if he's going to speak at a school with funds that come from the government or from extra fees charged to students. So those are all good things. Now in this case, he should have known better because it's $200,000, $150,000 for a speaking fee and $50,000 in travel allowance.
Starting point is 01:01:59 I don't know if he had to go around the world a couple of times to get there, but anyway, that's okay. And in the pamphlet, they clearly said that this will be, quote, to speak to primarily older conservative Republicans and local community members. So this was a speech designed for Republicans. So he goes to a close district, 6th congressional district of Michigan, and helps the Republican. I mean, I don't know if he knew how much it would help Upton, but when he called him one of the finest men I've ever known, they immediately, as John told you, took that and put
Starting point is 01:02:34 it on television, on Facebook, they did memes around it, and the group called, um, um, um, defending Main Street, spent a lot of money taking Biden's quote and running ads in favor of Upton. And then when his opponent asked for, his opponent was named Long John, asked for Biden to clarify and say, hey, no, I support the Democrat in the race, Biden wouldn't do it. Now if you got paid $200,000 and then you say good things about that guy, and then you don't back the Democrat, I mean, they say Bernie Sanders is not a Democrat. Somebody say this one around the country, campaigning for dozens of Democrats in this election,
Starting point is 01:03:17 trying to help them raise money, get awareness, win the elections, okay. Now- Biden says that he did endorse a lot of Democrats as well. He did, he did. In one Republican, kind of. He, to be fair to Biden, he endorsed 135 Democrats. But then, on the other hand, if you endorse 135 and this guy asked for your endorsement and you don't do it, that also sends a message, right? And further fair to Biden, Upton is terrible on everything else, but he was great on the cancer
Starting point is 01:03:45 bill. And Biden's son died from cancer, he cared, that's why he cared so much about that bill. I think for him to say, hey, we worked across the aisle and Fred Upton should get a lot of credit for that, that's a fair statement. But when you're giving a ringing endorsement overall, well, that's a little bit of a different ballgame. Especially when in a slightly zoomed-out view in that topic, in 2017, he helped craft a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Starting point is 01:04:08 So, okay, you're good in cancer, but you want to take away people's health insurance. So yeah, that's disastrous. And finally, we get to the trap. So the Republicans invite him, give him $200,000, then he uses quotes to help a Republican win the election. And then it's a different Republican group, America Rising, that does a freedom of information request to get the speech, which they know about, to then release the story out to the public so the New York Times covers it.
Starting point is 01:04:37 So they laid a bear trap for Biden. And he walked right into it, did what he normally does. He goes over the top and praising whoever he's talking about. And then they turn around and go, you see that, he's such a bad Democrat. The Republicans are releasing this story telling us how bad a Democrat Biden is. Don't ever trust the Republican. I've said it on the show a thousand times. And that is actually one of the problems of Joe Biden as a candidate.
Starting point is 01:05:02 If he becomes president, what's he gonna do? He's gonna do the same thing Obama did so that Biden has been doing for decades. Reach out to Republicans hoping to get compromised and reasonable negotiations with them. That is not going to happen. The only thing they're ever going to do is set a trap for you. And I'm not interested in having four more years of trying to reach out the Republicans. Yeah. All right.
Starting point is 01:05:24 Yeah, you got $200,000 for it. I hope nobody traps me like that ever. Don't do it. Okay. John will not fall for it, okay. But you should try. All right, we gotta take a break. And we got a great second hour for you guys.
Starting point is 01:05:38 coming up we'll be right back thanks for listening to the full episode of the young turks support our work listen ad-free access members only bonus content and more by subscribing to apple podcasts at apple dot co slash t yt i'm your host jank huger and i'll see you soon

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