The Young Turks - National Pride

Episode Date: November 29, 2022

Protests in China have broken out in light of COVID-19 surges. After The United States changed the Iranian flag on their social media, Iran asked for The U.S. to be kicked out of the World Cup. Donald Trump dines with anti-semites Ye and Nick Fuentes, and even the GOP is furious! Ben Shapiro dances around Trump’s dinner with anti-semites but never really says his name. The senate debates on cutting funding for law enforcement that does not enforce gun laws. Host: Ana Kasparian, Cenk Uygur 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. Woo! It's up! We're going to be able to be. All right. Welcome to Young Turks. Jane Hugh, Anna Kasparian, back from a lovely Thanksgiving break with lovely news, kind of, as usual. International news, national news, some things that the Republicans are doing wrong. Of course. So we've got all of it for you guys. Anna. Well, we begin with international news, a story that was developing last week, but it's really blowing up today. So let's discuss.

Thousands of demonstrators are angry with COVID lockdowns, many of them calling for democracy and political freedoms. And an end to President Xi Jinping's regime, police have responded to the unrest with brutality, chaotic scenes of protesters being dragged, shoved, and beaten. Protests are rare in China. However, over the last few weeks, people have taken to the streets to protest the zero COVID policies that take place in China. And of course those policies mean that even with the vaccines available, certain parts of the country will shut down if there is an outbreak and people have to quarantine. And that has led to some unintended consequences to say the least, including unnecessary deaths in one apartment fire, which we'll talk about in more detail in just a moment. But the protests are, again, mostly about the country's zero COVID policy, which means constant lockdowns and quarantines. The 1.4 billion plus residents of China remain at the mercy of the stringent policy.

It's designed to stamp out infections by relying on snap lockdowns of apartment buildings and sometimes whole cities or regions, as well as forcing lengthy quarantines and a litany of tests on residents. Now, this obviously leads to economic issues for people living in China and due to the fact that we're all interconnected, economically speaking, it's causing supply chain issues for the rest of the world. But I think it's also worth discussing what happened during this deadly fire in Arumchi, where 10 people died, and many are blaming these deaths on the COVID lockdowns and how it actually hindered any progress for firefighters to fight the fire.

So without further ado, let's take a quick look at this next video. 10 people were killed and nine injured in a fire at an apartment building. Most parts of Xinjiang have been under lockdown for more than 100 days. The deadly fire sparked nationwide outrage because widely circulated videos, which have now been censored in China, show that COVID lockdown measures very likely delayed firefighters from getting to the scene. State media claims that people in the compound were allowed to leave the building. However, videos show fire trucks.

unable to get close to the scene because the compound entrance was partially blocked. The video shows it's blocked with fences, tents and metal barriers that are normally used as part of COVID measures. The video shows smoke and flames coming from a high floor of the building, but the water failing to actually reach the fire. What adds to the tragedy is that those who died in the fire likely spent their last three months largely confined to that building, if not entirely. So that fire and the number of people who died as a result of that fire certainly fired people up and they took to the streets.

One other thing that I'll mention before going to you, Jank, is that, I mean, think about what's currently taking place on the world stage with the World Cup. And you see all of these world class athletes standing side by side among one another without masks. And I'm sure that some people in China see that and think to them. Well, I'm basically imprisoned in my own apartment right now. I'm not able to go outside, but look what's happening with the World Cup. Look what's happening with these athletes.

And they're frustrated, and I totally understand why they would be. Yeah. If you have the wrong system, you're going to get the wrong results. It happens every time. So there's, I want to take a broader look at it to give you a sense of the context here. So in the case of COVID, Sweden had the wrong system, sort of Florida. I don't worry about it. Hopefully things will work out.

Well, no, that was the wrong strategy. And I know what they were thinking, no, they have absurd ideas about herd immunity and let's get through it quicker, et cetera. And what wound up happening is a death per capita rate that was significantly higher in places like Sweden and red states in America. So, but China had the wrong policy in the opposite direction where they said, and they were nearly taunting the rest of the world, even though it came from Wuhan originally. And they were like, oh, yeah, we're so authoritarian.

We lock everything down. We lock it down forever. And our people are so obedient. They just listen to us, unlike you unruly Americans. And the reality is Sweden and the red states were wrong, but so was China. And it's now an open argument as to which one was more wrong. The correct answer is to be measured and thoughtful and figure out the strategy that causes the least amount of damage.

And you have to take into account every factor, not just COVID, but also how to people react when they're isolated for too long. And by the way, we had a crime outbreak here right after COVID. Was that slightly related? It's studies haven't determined that yet, but there is some argument to be made there. So there's a lot. And by the way, learning for kids in school, a huge part of this as well. So China is wrong about that. We were partially wrong about that for some period of time here in America. So, and look, this is also in cases that have nothing do with COVID. I remember when everybody was excited about Japan and they had bought Rockefeller Center. This is all the way back in the early 90s and Jets said Japan has a better system than us.

I was like, no, it's top down. It allows for almost no creativity. It cannot take off. And it didn't. The Soviet Union totally wrong incentives, wrong results. So this comes all the way back to the issue of authoritarian government of China. In the long run, it is the wrong system. It is untenable. And whether it's COVID or something else, eventually people people will rise up, especially as China becomes more heavily concentrated in the middle class. Middle classes usually rise up quicker. And so that's what China is dealing with now. And they should. That's a good, healthy response to a government that is too oppressive. And, you know, even with the so-called zero COVID policy, right now the number of COVID cases in China is the highest it's ever been.

Right? And like, look, for me, I don't know why it's so difficult for people to understand this. Okay, so taking those who have, you know, immunity issues, other health concerns where the vaccine isn't as effective and won't protect them from hospitalization or potentially dying from COVID, for everyone else, once the vaccine's available, once you're able to get vaccinated, once you're able to get boosted, is there some possibility that you still could contract COVID? and get sick? Yes, but what's the likelihood of getting hospitalized? What's the likelihood of dying from COVID? People are going to get sick, either from COVID or from other illnesses. You can't prevent that from happening. You can't shut down society completely to stop that from happening, you know? And it was hubris on the part of the Chinese government to think that they could. Oh, what? You have a culture that you think is so obedient that they will listen to any command, no matter how unreasonable? Well, you were wrong about that. At the end,

human beings are going to be human beings. And also there's a little bit of a factor that is not often discussed here, which is that the Chinese were not able to replicate vaccines that match the efficacy of the ones in the West. And they caught feelings over that. The government did and the leadership did. And so China is not very highly vaccinated. And so they de-emphasize vaccines, which are actually the correct answer. And they emphasize lockdowns, which in the long run as you see here. I mean, Jesus, we're three years in here, right? The rest of the world is out and about, and they're all still locked up. That is clearly not the right answer in the long run. And so there's massive mistakes. That's a really interesting and important piece of

context. Like the DM, I didn't realize they had been deemphasizing vaccinations. Especially Western ones, yes. Oh my God, especially the Western vaccines? Of course, because they want to take pride in a Chinese vaccine. Oh, we don't want that. We're not winning. We're not winning with our world leaders. No, we're not. And this is not just a commentary on China. We're just not winning with world leaders right now. Okay, just failure upon failure.

I just want to also note that there are some demonstrators who are taking the risk of not only taking to the streets, but demanding that Xi Jinping, the leader of China stepped down. Some demonstrators went so far as to call for the Communist Party and its leader to step down. Many were fed up with Xi, who in October secured a precedent-defying third term as the party general secretary and his zero COVID policy, which continues to disrupt everyday life, hurt livelihoods, and isolate the country, which is just demonstrably true.

And one of the individuals who was recently met with brutality by authorities in China was BBC reporter Ed Lawrence, I believe, yes, Ed Lawrence is his name. So we have a quick video of him getting arrested. Let's take a look at that. Take a look at BBC reporter Ed Lawrence being taken into custody in shamed. Shanghai. Again, that is a journalist. Look what police are doing to him, taking him into custody.

The BBC, theality works for, says that Lawrence was kicked and handcuffed for hours. And the BBC released a statement in response to that saying the BBC is extremely concerned about the treatment of our journalist Ed Lawrence, who was arrested and handcuffed while covering while covering the protests in Shanghai. He was held for several hours before being released. During his arrest, he was beaten and kicked by the police. This happened while he was working as an accredited journalist. So, you know, look, we have brutality issues here in the United States in response to protesters.

Journalists get caught up in that violence all the time. So I don't want to pretend like that doesn't exist in the context of the United States. With that said, though, it doesn't help the Chinese authorities to meet journalists with that kind of brutality as these protests are going on. Yeah, and so what's happening is also the cracking of the facade of the Chinese government, you know, doing things that are horrible behind the scenes and then smiling to the international audiences. What, what, us? Where the fire broke out is the Xinjiang province where they have Chinese government is running concentration camps of Muslims. So that beating that you saw of the reporter is nothing compared to what's happening in two Muslims in China as we speak, over a million Muslims in concentration camps. Now, it's also true that we have our own issues here in America.

For example, I've talked about wrong systems. We have one of the worst systems in the world in money and politics. We allow open bribery of our politicians. That wrong system led to the wrong result of all of our politicians being completely corrupt and never serving our interests. And that is why, by the way, you have both Black Lives Matter protests and the capital riots. So both sides super frustrated. Why? Because both Republican and Democratic politicians never ever do what their voters want them to do because we have institutionalized corruption here. So finally, protests, other than violent ones that get out of hand like happened on January 6th are generally a wonderful thing.

because it lets, it's a very rare outlet, whether you're in China, Iran, or America, to let the people in charge know. At the end of the day, there is a wave of people here. And the one thing you cannot stop is a wave of humanity. So go out there and show them what you got. And I think the people doing it in China are incredibly brave. Well, speaking of Iran, we've got a lot of news to get to when it comes to the World Cup and the upcoming match between the United States and Iran. So let's get into it. For around 24 hours, the U.S. men's team displayed posts and a Twitter banner of the squad's matches,

with the Iranian flag bearing only its green, white, and red stripes. Then last night, those images were removed, and the emblem is back on the flag. A spokesperson for the U.S. Soccer Federation explained the modified flag was meant to show support for women's rights as protests shake Iran. Iran and the United States are set to play against each other during the World Cup this week, and there's already been quite a bit of controversy leading up to the game. Now, the United States hasn't played Iran since 1998, and Iran actually did win last time. But aside from the match, the upcoming match, I think it's worth discussing what the United States did, the U.S. Soccer Federation did with altering the flag of Iran and how Iran responded

to it. And it's part of this endless growing tension between the two countries. This is more than just a soccer match. This is about geopolitical relationships and the ongoing conflict between these two countries. Now, Iran is demanding that the United States get booted from the World Cup after the U.S. Soccer Federation changed Iran's flag on social media platforms to show support for the protesters in Iran. The Federation had temporarily displayed Iran's national flag on its official Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts, without the emblem of the Islamic.

Republic. A now deleted graphic of the group B standings posted on Saturday displayed the Iranian flag only bearing its green, white, and red colors, as you guys saw in the video earlier. Now, U.S. soccer has said that it just wanted to change the official flag for 24 hours to make a point that they support the protesters in Iran. And after that, they would change it back, which they did. But I can also understand the outrage that Iran might feel over this. Just consider what the United States would feel if Iran did the same thing in altering the U.S. flag. Now, U.S. soccer says, quote, the change was a one-time graphic. We have the main flag on our website and other places. And I do want to go to the USA soccer team reacting

to this form of protest. Let's watch. The intent of the post was to show support for women's rights. It was meant to be a moment. We made the post at the time. All of the other representations of the flag remain consistent and we'll continue to. We support women's rights. We always have. We always will.

That message will remain consistent. And what we're doing as a team is supporting that while also trying to prepare for the biggest game that this squad has had to date. And it is the biggest game for the U.S. team, because the U.S. team must win in order to advance to the next, I guess, round of matches. So, so Jank, what do you think about this? Because on one hand, when it comes to these sporting events, whether it's the Olympics or the World Cup, there's always been some form of protest, some form of political commentary by the athletes and it's been kind of important for them to speak out. On the other hand, though,

I do kind of feel like antagonizing Iran in this context isn't really helping the situation much. You've got a problem there, Anna, which is that you're doing nuance, which people don't like. Oh, so I don't actually have a problem. You have to just blame one side or another and keep it simple. I was like, wait, why don't have a problem? Why don't have a problem? So here, let me explain. So I I loved it when Iran's team showed solidarity with the protests by not singing the Iranian national anthem on their first game. See, that is a powerful message to the people of Iran. We're actually on your side, not on your oppressor side. When we do a gimmick like taking the logo off of the Iranian flag, it presents a couple of problems.

One, it makes our side needlessly political. Number two, it makes it look like America's meddling in their own internal affairs, which is not helpful, it's counterproductive, right? And number three, some people might take offense of the fact that it's removing something Islamic. I don't think that's the intent at all, okay? Yeah. But people are going to find a reason to find offense at things like that, right?

And then it takes us off the moral high ground, and then Iran gets to say America should get kicked out. When in reality, this bracket here is a really fascinating bracket, both in terms of soccer and geopolitics, right? This is what I'm calling the revolution bracket, okay? Because you've got America against England, well, we did a revolution against them. By the way, Wales is also in there, so you could throw England and Wales together for Great Britain. In America and Great Britain helped to do a coup and a revolution in Iran, which led to a counter-revolution.

And now we're in the third round of that potential revolution because of what we started in America and England against Iran. So each of these games, I mean, the America, US, England thing is not as low to obviously anymore now that we're very strong allies. But each of these games has a really interesting historical and political backstory to it. But the one that's most obvious is the one that's coming up tomorrow. So not only do you have these current day machinations with the Iranian government protesting a little too much here.

And what they're trying to do, reason why is it's counterproductive for us to do it. is because it gives the Ayatollah in Iran a way to say, oh, we're all fighting against the Americans. And especially as they're about to play a very emotional game where both teams, basically World Cup is on the line, right? It's basically an elimination match, a de facto one. So the Iranians are going to be really pumped up against America. And this allows the oppressive government to go,

you see how America disrespects us and what they did to our flag? And it becomes counterproductive. trying to get the Iranian side to be with the protesters and support a democratic revolts, let's say, in Iran. And while this isn't necessarily directly related to the unrest and protests that are taking place in Iran, the United States also lacks moral high ground in regard to its geopolitical conflict with Iran, considering we're the ones who pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal under the Trump administration, Iran was following all of the rules that went along with that

Iran nuclear deal, and we were ensuring that they weren't developing nuclear weapons. Trump pulls out and then immediately implements all of these crippling economic sanctions on Iran. So that's all to say that while the United States, and certainly the U.S. State Department, likes to position itself as, you know, the group that has the moral high ground here, in reality, if they genuinely have concern about the people being brutalized in Iran, the lives of women in Iran, they should probably consider the impact of those sanctions on the people of Iran, especially during the pandemic where obviously they needed resources to keep people safe and alive.

So anyway, that's a little bit of a sidetrack, but I think it's important to bring it up in this context. With that said, though, maybe we should take tomorrow off to watch the match. I really do want to watch the match and I'm not really a sports person. No, no, no, no. I'm going to find a way to keep it on the second screen. Oh, let's keep it real. Okay, so listen, guys, last things on this. You know, in sports now, common lingo is revenge match.

So when Tom Brady plays the Patriots, it's a revenge match, his revenge match. This is a revenge match in all directions. Because we can consider a revenge match for the hostages. They could consider it a revenge match for Soleimani. Remember, we killed their top military leader. Yeah, and but by the way, you know, half of Iran probably cares about that. The other half is like, whatever, right? Because they're revolting against their own government that Soleimani was a part of.

But, but Anna's right, the real, I mean, this is, you'll never see in the news, but the real revenge match part of it for Iran is the sanctions that has been brutalizing the country. And by the way, that we, America, are completely wrong about. But, and then last note is on the soccer itself. The U.S. team for the first time ever in history, in my opinion and the opinion of a lot of others, is an exciting team. It's a young, exciting team that is not stale and boring and plotting as all the other American teams have been. And they almost beat England.

And so, on the other hand, Iran's a young, exciting team. So it's kind of a revolution within soccer. No, I'm serious, this time around, there's a lot more parity throughout the world before the bigger teams would just dominate and steamroll. But this year, everybody's beating everybody. Japan's beating Germany, Saudi Arabia is beating Argentina. Brazil beating Serbia? Could you believe it? Well, that one's a little bit more believable.

And then Iran beating whales to nothing after we lost the whales. So after, I'm sorry, after the US tied whales. And so it's topsy-turvy in both in football, as the rest of the world calls it, and in politics. So, I mean, the whole world should be watching tomorrow. And both sides are, like I said, playing for their lives in the World Cup. And one of them will advance to the round of 16 and be an exciting team. So pretty much everything's on the line in this match. We got to take a break, but we're not done with Iran when we come back.

An Iranian reporter accosts a U.S. soccer player will tell you how. All right, back on TYT, Jank and Anna with you guys, but also Melissa Stoner, aka Melly Puff Dragon. That's a fun. I see you, Melly Puff. Okay, that's awesome. And Amanda Tucker, I often read your comments. Amanda Tucker became a member.

So thank you for doing that, guys. You helped make this show possible. They did it by hitting the join button below the video on YouTube. You can do likewise or t.com slash join. All right, Casper. Well, a U.S. soccer player was accosted. Let's watch. Are you okay to be representing a country that has so much discrimination against black people in its own borders?

And we saw the Black Lives Matter movements over the past few years. An Iranian reporter confronted U.S. soccer player Tyler Adams during a press conference. And this is part of the ever-growing tensions between the United States and Iran. It's really come to a head at the World Cup in Doha. And so let's see how Adams responded to the provocative question. You're pronouncing our country's name wrong. Our country is named Iran, not Iran. Please, once and for all, let's get this clear.

Second of all, are you okay to be representing a country that has so much discrimination against black people in its own borders? And we saw the Black Lives Matter movements over the past few years. Are you okay to be representing the U.S.? Meanwhile, there's so much discrimination happening against black people in America? My apologies on the mispronunciation of your country. Yeah, that being said, you know, there's discrimination everywhere you go. You know, one thing that I've learned, especially from living abroad in the past years and having to fit in in different cultures and kind of assimilate into different cultures is that in the U.S. We're continuing to make progress every single day.

You know, growing up for me, I grew up in a white family with obviously an African American heritage and background as well. So I had a little bit of different cultures, and I was very, very easily able to assimilate in different cultures. So not everyone has that ease and the ability to do that. And obviously it takes longest to understand. And through education, I think it's super important. Like you just educated me now in the pronunciation of your country. So yeah, it's a process. I think as long as you see progress, that's the most important thing.

Now, I'll just say one thing before I go to you, Jank. I just really appreciated how he handled that because it's easy to have a knee-jerk reaction, especially when someone's like, that's not how you pronounce our country's name, right? Like, it's easy to kind of get defensive, and he didn't do any of that. He immediately apologized for, you know, the mispronunciation of Iran. And then he went on to explain, you know, how he deals with the discriminatory practice. here in the United States and he mentions that there's been some progress. I think the progress element of it could be debated, but nonetheless, I think in the context

of this press conference, he handled that as well as anyone possibly could. Yeah, loved it, okay. So part of the reason I loved it is because a lot of the questions posed to athletes on all teams, not just the American team, is a lot of like, ha ha, and how do you answer for your country doing this? Okay? And so the reality is it's possible that people within the country don't agree with what the government is doing at all. And so you're asking a biracial player there, hey, what do you think about the oppression of blacks in America? Well, not a big fan. Okay. Unsurprisingly. But he gives a nuanced answer about, hey, here's how we're trying to get better. Here's why it's a problem honestly everywhere, right? And that we should all go towards.

towards it. Oh man, it's it's refreshing to see an athlete that is so young, be so composed and mature and intellectual and give a great answer. And I agree with what you said 100% Anna about him not being defensive either. Yeah. And so it's hey, listen, I'm not trying to come at you by pronouncing it wrong. I just didn't know. And thanks for correcting me. Yes. It's like you never hear that. Everybody's always so defensive or offensive. Right. I mean, you could tell that he, He's just so emotionally, mentally mature because of how he didn't get defensive. And like, not only apologize, but thanked him for, thank you for educating me on the correct pronunciation.

It takes a big person to do that, to say that. And I loved seeing it. The other thing that I'll just mention quickly is, look, we definitely, definitely have issues here in the United States. We are seeing the brutality that protesters in Iran are being met with. But it wasn't too long ago when there was unrest in our country in the summer of 2020. And we saw protesters get shoved into unmarked vans, you know, by the authorities, not knowing where they were going, where they were being taken to.

At the same time to that Iranian reporter, listen, bro, like a 22-year-old woman was very likely beaten to death after she was detained for allegedly wearing her headdress incorrectly. So like, let's have a moment of self-reflection on both sides, okay? Like this, this need to defend your country in any and all ways is unnecessary. You can have a nuanced view. You could love your country while simultaneously acknowledging where there are huge flaws that need to be addressed. So Ricky Strom on TYT sports makes a really good point.

I mean, that's why he's the captain of the team. you pick the captain based on some level of maturity and the ability to bring people together. Check out Ricky on TYT sports when you get a chance. And one other thing, look, some of these countries that have authoritarian governments have some of the bravest reporters in the world, right? So I can't believe anybody does independent journalism out of Russia. It's just so brave, I can't even imagine it. Totally agree.

And if you're doing independent reporting out of Iran against the wishes of the government, incredibly brave. But understand that sometimes the ones that get sent to cover things are ones with official backing. And if the government is sending, allowing a reporter to be sent in a completely authoritarian situation, that's why you might be seeing what sounds like a non-traditional reporter, instead of asking your question in a way that is in some ways neutral or objective, He comes in red hot with, you're pronouncing the name of our country wrong, right? Well, I mean, he did come in hot, but not with tone. He had like a lovely English sounding accent and everything.

He sounded very calm while he was asking, but let's not kid ourselves. Like the line of questioning was meant to be provocative. Yeah, and sometimes it's the government, you know, basically process friendly to the government trying to needle Americans and try to start a fight, right? And that's why he might come in like that. And don't get fooled by the accent. They can grow up anywhere and still be government lucky. We have, most of our reporters speak perfectly good English and they're total lackeys, okay, for our government in different ways, mainly our corporations.

So, and then finally, look, it could just be national pride, right? So I could see a Turkish reporter being saying like, it's not Turkey, it is Turkey. And everybody else being like, dude, chill, chill, right. But anyway, bottom line is wonderful answer by the American captain. And I bet you that the players on Iran and the players on America probably agree with each other a thousand times more than the American government and the Iranian government. And if they were in charge, we'd probably have much better countries in both places. All right, well, let's switch gears a little bit and talk a little bit about some domestic politics,

including gun control and the now growing problem of certain counties across the country refusing to enforce gun laws. to supply funding to law enforcement in counties that refuse to implement state and federal gun laws, red flag laws are wildly popular, right? You're just temporarily taking guns away from people that- Do you want to withhold money for law enforcement? I think we have to have a conversation about whether we can continue to fund law enforcement in states where they are refusing to implement these gun laws. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy is furious with law enforcement failing to enforce gun laws, including red flag laws, and wants to have a discussion about

potentially stripping federal funding from police departments that refuse to enforce such laws. In fact, why don't we take a listen to his argument with more context? Let's watch. Virginia and Colorado, where these mass shootings took place over the last 10 days or so, they already have red flag laws in place and they did not prevent those mass shootings. What we've, I think, learned in Colorado is that the county in which the shooting happened is a so-called Second Amendment sanctuary state. And I think the country is going to have to learn about what's going on in this country. The majority of counties in this country have declared that they are not going to enforce state and federal gun laws.

They have decided that they are going to essentially refuse to implement laws that are on the books. That is a growing problem in this country. And I think we're going to have to have a conversation about that in the United States Senate. Do we want to continue to supply funding to law enforcement in counties that refuse to implement state and federal gun laws? Now, Jake, I know you have some strong thoughts on whether or not defunding police departments make sense in this context. But first, let me give you some details, some stats here. And I think the comparative stats with Colorado Springs versus Denver is illuminating to say the least. So Murphy is correct that so-called sanctuary gun counties exist. And yeah, Colorado Springs happens

to be one of them. Of 64 counties in the state of Colorado, El Paso County, home to Colorado Springs is one of at least 37 counties that have declared themselves a second amendment sanctuary and openly defied the state's gun laws. El Paso counties commissioners did so in response to the state's proposed red flag laws in 2019. In fact, let's give you a statement from Bill Elder. He is the El Paso County Sheriff who says, we're not going to pursue these on our own, meaning red flag, potential red flag cases. And he said that as the law was being debated in the state legislature, meaning that sheriff's office is not going to run over and try to get a court order. Elder has said that the sheriff's office would not enforce court, would enforce court

orders, but that it wouldn't pursue petitions on its own except in some extreme circumstances. Because remember, in order for someone who might have, you know, violence issues, mental health issue, someone who isn't suited to own a lethal weapon like a gun, well, that case needs to be made. A petition needs to be made in regard to that individual, and it can be filed by law enforcement, which in this case, the sheriff's department is like, we ain't going to do it, or friends and family of the individual in question. Now, Elder has been true to his word. So take a look at these stats, it's incredible. In Colorado, red flag petitions can be filed by law enforcement or a family or household member. An analysis of court records by nine news found that

between January of 2020 when the law went into effect and November of 2021, just 39 risk protection order petitions were filed in El Paso County, the most populous county in the state with more than 737,000 residents. Only eight of those petitions or 21% were granted. And guess what? Not a single one of was filed by law enforcement. Again, that's in El Paso County where Colorado Springs is. By contrast, in less populous Denver County to the north, law enforcement and family filed 63 petitions and judges issued a risk protection order in 79% of those cases. Of the 50 orders approved, 47 were filed by law enforcement. So Murphy has a point here.

When he says that the majority of counties in the United States are sanctuary counties, that's not true. We don't know that. But we do know that at least, as I mentioned earlier, there are 37 counties that have declared themselves gun sanctuaries. Cenk. Yeah. So there's three different issues in this story.

Issue number one, should the local authorities abide by red flag laws? Of course they should. And this is a perfect example of, unfortunately, what happens when they don't. This Yahoo, Sheriff Elder thought, well, gun rights are the most important thing. I'm going to interpret the Constitution on my own. Okay, and I say off, screw out protecting people. Okay, that guy, by the way, that guy threatened to kill cops and said he had a bomb and he was going to blow up the whole house and God knows what else in the neighborhood.

And that idiot sheriff is like, I don't see a danger. I think he should be allowed to own guns. Okay, so not enforcing red flag laws is a disastrous idea. Number two, this idea of the sanctuary cities. Okay, so now remember guys, shoe on the other foot. You always have to be ideologically principled, okay? Because there's sanctuary cities in regards to immigration laws, okay? And those are on the left.

So what is the correct standard for sanctuary cities? It has to apply to both, right? And so the reality is that, yes, local law enforcement, can't does have some flexibility when it comes to things that where they have to be proactive and where they have discretion okay so now there is one giant difference in how it's applied between the second amendment ones and the immigrant ones in the case of the sanctuary cities and immigrants with the local authorities and remember it's the cops that are mainly saying it are saying no we don't want to ask for their papers and do the law enforcement job not of ours but of the

federal authorities and immigration divisions within the federal government, right? And the reason we don't want to do it is if I'm going to investigate a rape or a murder or something else and they're worried that I'm going to ask for their papers, they're not going to talk to me. Exactly. So the cops need that as a tool to protect everyone, not just immigrants, but the non-immigrant community too. In the case of the Second Amendment one, the local cops, sheriffs mainly, are saying, yeah, this puts the community in greater danger. And it puts even me and my in greater danger, but I don't care.

Because of my personal opinion about the Second Amendment, I'm going to say, I'm not going to follow it. Now, does he have the authority to not follow it? Well, I think he does under the same concept of sanctuary cities when it comes to immigrants. But is it the correct decision? No, it is not the correct decision because all of those sheriffs are purposely choosing to make their communities unsafe. And that's exactly what happened in Colorado, right? And then the last part of it is the framing, and that's the politics, not the policy, right? When it comes to the politics, there's a lot of ways to frame this so that you put the onus

on the sheriffs and make them look like bad guys, which they are, right? But instead, Chris Murphy framed it as if they don't do as we tell them, we're going to take away funding from cops, which sounds like defund the police, which is electoral disaster. Okay, so you can say, no, I jank, I love it, and we should run into an issue where it polls at 20% and we should choose to lose elections because of that. But I would disagree, okay? I just, can I just jump in real quick? Why not pass like a federal law that would punish, like the sheriff's departments that refuse to enforce the laws, right?

Or the state, right? Like the state lawmakers, the state legislature should have some consideration. concern over the fact that local sheriff's departments are refusing to enforce the laws that they have passed through their legislature. Like this whole thing about, okay, this is our default one size fits all response to cops we don't like. Let's defund them. Okay, but we're having a conversation about cutting funding to a social service that is flawed,

that is flawed, but is that supposed to keep the community safer? I don't get it. Yeah, so the sanctuary stuff's a little bit tougher because it's really on the edge of with their discretion, but there's oftentimes when cops do the blue flu where they just don't show up to work because their feelings were hurt, oh, there was protests of us. Oh, yeah, then we're not going to show up. And there's a thousand other ways that cops disobey orders that come from a legal source, right? Whether it's the mayor, the governor, whoever it might be, right?

See, what I would do instead if I was a Democrat is say, look, I'm going to get more funding for mental health treatment so that this all doesn't all go out, land on the cop's doorstep. I might even do more funding for police depending on the situation, but it would be tailored towards things that are actually lead to reform, right? But I'm also going to fire the guys that are not following the law. In a freaking heartbeat. Yeah, and I don't know, like they're so deathly afraid of doing that, especially Democratic mayors. Like, they often puff sometimes about police and sometimes they do counterproductive reform, right? But what they never do is actually hold the police accountable. I've never seen it. Never, right? So when you say, hey,

There's a guy who's not the cops in general, not making the community feel unsafe. No, that guy and that guy and that guy are not doing their jobs. They're fired. They're fired. It's that simple. But when it comes to cops, they get so nervous. Oh my God, it was strong union. And oh my God, the publicity will be bad.

Well, grow, pair and be a leader. Yeah, and look, there is a difference between a police department and a sheriff's department because a sheriff is elected. And here in Los Angeles, a ballot measure just passed, you know, during the midterm elections, that indicates that the board of supervisors can basically do away with the elected sheriff if he's found engaging in any kind of misconduct, right? Now, I don't know how I feel about that ballot initiative overall because an unelected body of people making that kind of decision about an elected individual doesn't make me feel too great.

But at the same time, I do think there needs to be some system of checking an elected sheriff who's refusing to do his job, which is definitely the case when it comes to this particular sheriff in El Paso County, Colorado. All right, we have to take a break. When we come back, we've got more news for you, including the now infamous Nazi dinner that Trump attended during the Thanksgiving break. We'll be right back. All right on TYT, Jankana with you guys, and also Muna.

They just became a member. You're never going to figure out how. Oh, you did. It's by hitting the join button below on the YouTube. Okay. Bing. Yep. Casper.

All right. Time to talk about some more unsavory individuals. I'm Yay, welcome to America First. We've got a great show for you tonight. Kanye West was opening for Nick Fuentes' show, America First. And if the green screen situation is any indication of the quality of that show, not a great show. Not a great show. But it's more than the tech issues.

It's also the fact that Nick Fuentes is a giant pile of garbage. and openly says anti-Semitic, racist, and terrible things. And so perfect match for Kanye West to be there, I guess. So here's what happened. By now you're probably aware of Kanye's recent anti-Semitic comments. Those remarks did end up costing Kanye West all sorts of business deals. But they also earned him a vile new group of friends, including Nick Fuentes. Now, on November 17th, Kanye was spotted leaving dinner.

with Fuentes and the following day, Nick Fuentes posted a cartoon of himself and Kanye shaking hands on telegram. Then on November 20th, Kanye invited X-17 online video to his studio for a video interview. And Kanye officially announced that he is running for president in 2024. And Milo Yanopoulos is making a comeback because he will be serving as his campaign manager, and if you look closely at the video, you can spot Nick Fuentes in Kanye's studio. Now, on November 22nd, Kanye was spotted at the Miami International Airport with Fuentes. The two were traveling to Marlago to have dinner with Donald Trump, because of course. And two days later, on November 24th, Kanye posted a video on Twitter in which he talked about

what happened during that dinner. That was amusing. Let's watch. Most perturbed about me asking him to be my vice president. I think that was like the lower on the list of things that caught him off guard. It was the fact that I walked in with intelligence. So Trump is really impressed with Nick Fuentes. And Nick Fuentes, unlike so many of the lawyers and so many people that he was left with on his 2020 campaign, he's actually a loyalist. Imagine being one of the top artists in the country and then devolving into that. Well, just to give you some more details about the dinner, according to the New York Times,

during the dinner, according to a person briefed on what took place, Fuentes, as Connie likes to call him, described himself as part of Trump's base of supporters. Trump remarked that his advisors urge him to read speeches using a teleprompter and don't like when he ad-libs remarks. Fuentes said Trump supporters preferred the ad-libs, at which Trump turned to the others, the person said, and declared that he liked Fuentes, adding, quote, he gets me.

Now, there was a lot of backlash toward Trump for having this dinner with two well-known anti-Semites, and we can talk about some of that backlash, and Trump's response to it in just a moment. But, Jank, this, in my opinion, is the least surprising development of all time. I feel like 2024 is going to be, in some ways, a repeat of 2016. Well, look, Trump's a white nationalist, and everybody keeps getting surprised

that he hangs out with white nationalists. Yeah, exactly. So remember, during Charlottesville, they chant, the Jews will not replace us, and he said there's very fine people on both sides. So we're surprised that he's meeting with neo-Nazis. He said that they're very good people on that side. And I know what the big defense is from the Trump people. No, he was saying that about the people who love the Confederate generals that whipped and murdered and lynched black people.

He said they were really good people on that side, celebrating those wonderful guys. No difference to me, none, okay? He celebrates vile, racist, and bigots, both from the past and today. Okay, so now, when it comes to Nick Fuentes, so you understand why people are flipping out about him, as opposed to the many other hateful people that Trump have met with. he has said that all the Jews should be thrown out of the country. He denies the Holocaust. By the way, he also says awful things about black people.

Of course, says the military should occupy black cities, et cetera. But Kanye being the self-hater clown that he is, he's like, oh, you think about black people are inferior. Oh, great, wonderful. I got this great guy, Nick Fuentes, and I'm going to bring him to the other clown that I know, and it's a three-ring circus. And by the way, guys, think about it, okay? So maybe some of you think, well, look, man, I don't know who a friend brought to a dinner the other day.

Yeah, but that's because you're a rando, right? He's the former president of the United States. Shouldn't there be some process by which people are vetted? Remember, he has, he had top secret and might still have some top secret documents at Mar-a-Lago. Neo-Nazis are walking in like, la-la-la-la, no big deal, walking around the place, no security, nobody's stopping anybody. and they just go sit down and have dinner with Trump. I know he's escorted by Kanye, but also Kanye is an obvious, admitted, anti-Semite.

Yeah, so let me actually get to Trump's response to the critics. And one of those critics, by the way, happens to be his vice president, Mike Pence. We'll get to that in a moment. And one of his critics has Ben Shapiro, who I'm going to magically agree with for the first time ever. So first, here's what Trump posted on Truth Social. He's been melting down ever since the backlash.

began. Yay, formerly known as Kanye West, was asking me for advice concerning some of his difficulties, in particular having to do with his business. I mean, that's one of the biggest mistakes Kanye West could make. We also discussed, to a lesser extent, politics, where I told him he should definitely not run for president. And then he quotes himself, any voters you may have should vote for Trump. Anyway, we got along great. He expressed no anti-Semitism. Oh, well, on that night, okay, well, thank you.

And I appreciated all of the nice things he said about me on Tucker Carlson. Why wouldn't I agree to meet? Also, I didn't know Nick Fuentes. I mean, I just knew that Kanye West had said a ton of terrible anti-Semitic things publicly and regularly. And I agreed to have dinner with him, but I don't have. I didn't agree to have dinner with Nick Fuentes, allegedly. By the way, you're a former president.

Don't you have Secret Service? And wouldn't Secret Service, like, wouldn't you be informed to some extent on who Nick Fuentes really is? You're just willy-nilly meeting with Randos at Mar-a-Lago. Really? Really. So a couple of things about that. Nick Fuentes is, unfortunately, relatively well-known. Marjorie Taylor Green and Paul Gosar have done events at his white supremacist conferences.

and that was in the news a lot, right? Number two, Kanye is a mentally unwell person. When he brings a guy you don't know to dinner with the former president, not just Trump, but Secret Service to Anna's point, should be like, whoa, whoa, whoa, we don't know this guy at all. And he's being escorted by a well-known lunatic. Right. Right.

But the problem is everybody in the house is a lunatic. And so they're having a conversation inside an asylum. So as they're bouncing off the white walls, right? They're saying weird stuff to each other, but Trump assures us that at that dinner, Kanye was not at all anti-Semitic. Thank God. I mean, that makes it all better, right? Yeah. Okay, let me give you more.

But hold on, let me just say one quick thing about that. So when Trump says the last part of that comment, but he said nice things about me on Tucker Carlson, why wouldn't I want him? That's all that matters. Think about it, guys. He's saying, oh, you could be, you could wish death con three on all Jewish people, and you could praise Hitler several times and say you look up to him. But as long as you say nice things about Trump, Trump likes you. Because Trump doesn't care about anyone but himself. You could be the most racist, anti-Semitic, bigoted piece of crap in the world. And as long as you like him,

he's good with you. And to be fair, he proved that already with Kim Jong-un, the worst dictator in the world. And he said, he wrote me a nice letter. So I like him now. In fact, he says he loves Trump said also on truth social quote, so I help a seriously troubled man, meaning Kanye West, who just happens to be black, yay Kanye West, who has been decimated in his business and virtually everything else, and who has always been good to me, that's always the heart of like, what he thinks about people, right? Are they good to me? By allowing his request for a meeting at Mar-a-Lago alone so that I can give him very much needed advice. He shows up with three people, two of which I didn't know, the other a political person

who I haven't seen in years, I told him don't run for office, a total waste of time, can't win. Fake news went crazy. Okay. So let's show you why people would, I don't know, not be so happy with Trump meeting with Kanye West and Nick Fuentes. Let's take a look at this compilation video. There's just a little taste of who Nick Fuentes really is. Maybe just get rid of Congress altogether after that happens. Here's the pathway.

We have one more election where white people can make the decision. But white people got to make the right decision and then Trump's got to get in there and never leave. I don't believe in democracy. I do not believe in universal suffrage. I don't support women's rights. I don't support LGBT rights. I believe in race and gender essentialism. I'm Catholic.

I'm a Catholic reactionary. I believe that organized Jewry is extremely influential in the United States. We need to go back to burning women alive more. The Jews had better start being nice to people like us. Because what comes out of this is going to be a lot uglier and a lot worse for them than anything that's being said on this show or has been set on this show. left-wing people, in their heart of hearts, they know they're wrong because, like, they know that black people are violent. You know, I will say, hey, black people are violent. And then they'll go, I bet you wouldn't say that in front of a black person. Why? Because they're a thug that'll hit me.

Hitler was a German statesman. Not even joking this much, I would prefer Taliban rule in America to this. You want to know why? Because at least if black people were fighting at the airport, they would get their hands cut off. Gee, I wonder why people would be upset that Trump would take a dinner meeting with someone like Nick Fuentes. And I don't believe for a second that Trump didn't know who Nick Fuentes was. I don't believe for a second that he didn't expect Nick Fuentes to be there. I just don't buy it.

I don't believe it. This is what he does all the time. It's always the BS plausible deniability line. Well, the first thing I tweeted over the weekend when I first saw that was like, Bernie Sanders doesn't accidentally wind up at a dinner with white supremacist. Right. You know why? Because he doesn't know any white supremacist.

He doesn't know any biggest. He doesn't know the anti-Semitism. Not to say that he doesn't know a single person and is unaware of it, right? But it's that Trump hangs out with people like that all the time. Kanye West is the best known anti-Semite in the country at this point. It's not like it was like a surprise to him. Would an anti-Semite bring another anti-Semite to dinner? Very, very, very likely.

Okay? So that's why he's like, oh, golly chi, did the guy who hates Jews bring someone else who hates Jews? Oh, God, I couldn't have seen that coming. I mean, come on, this is absurd. And if you notice, they keep referring to Kanye running for president. Who cares? I mean, the guy's going to get three votes like he did last time. He's a literal lunatic, literal lunatic, okay?

But for them, since they live in an asylum, that's a perfectly rational conversation. And Kanye asked Trump to be his VP. Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, right? not completely detached from reality. And then Trump, you could tell in his two comments, caught feelings over that. And he's like, well, I was giving him business advice. Dude, you had six bankruptcies.

Everything is in an alternate reality, like where he's a great businessman. You've lost $400 million twice. Two different times you lost $400 million. You're the worst businessman in America. But in his world, he's like, and I wanted to tell Kayan, now, of course he shouldn't run for office because, you know, I'm running for office and he's going to, take voters away. Guys, you're having a nonsense conversation. The real issue is you're all

deeply hateful pricks. And unfortunately, one of you is in charge of one of the major parties in America, still to this day. And lastly, the Republican voters get by far the majority of the blame. Guys, you don't know Trump? They know. You know. They know. You know, and Trump himself has said a thousand anti-Semitic comments. And you love to hide behind the fact, oh, he's not a son-in-law is Jewish. Oh, some of his top of his advisors are Jewish. No, he's constantly saying that they support Israel instead of America, that they like to negotiate and renegotiate deals,

anti-Semitic tropes nonstop. And for the Republican voters, though, as they see that monster at Mar-a-Lago, they don't think it's the bug. They think it's the feature that he hates all those groups. Well, we'll get to the second half of the story involving Ben Shapiro. When we come back from the break, we'll also show you what Mike Pence had to say about Trump's dinner meeting with Nick Fuentes and Kanye West. Stick around. We'll be right back. I am scary. I am threatening. I'm Darth Vader.

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