The Young Turks - No Cover!

Episode Date: April 22, 2022

Hour 1 hosted by John Iadarola, Cenk Uygur, and Jessica Burbank | New Audio Destroys Kevin McCarthy’s Credibility | Bannon Allies Plead Guilty To Border Wall Fundraising Scam | Dems Consider Rethinking Messaging On Culture Wars | Marjorie Taylor Greene Testifies In Challenge Over Jan 6 Ties | Activists Protest Corporate News For Ignoring Climate Crisis Hosts: John Iadarola, Cenk Uygur, Jessica Burbank ***  The largest online progressive news show in the world. Hosted by Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian. LIVE weekdays 6-8 pm ET.  Help support our mission and get perks. Membership protects TYT's independence from corporate ownership and allows us to provide free live shows that speak truth to power for people around the world. See Perks: ▶ https://www.youtube.com/TheYoungTurks/join SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE: ☞ http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=theyoungturks FACEBOOK: ☞ http://www.facebook.com/TheYoungTurks TWITTER: ☞ http://www.twitter.com/TheYoungTurks INSTAGRAM: ☞ http://www.instagram.com/TheYoungTurks TWITCH: ☞ http://www.twitch.com/tyt 👕 Merch: http://shoptyt.com ❤ Donate: http://www.tyt.com/go 🔗 Website: https://www.tyt.com 📱App: http://www.tyt.com/app 📬 Newsletters: https://www.tyt.com/newsletters/ If you want to watch more videos from TYT, consider subscribing to other channels in our network: The Damage Report ▶ https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport TYT Sports ▶ https://www.youtube.com/tytsports The Conversation ▶ https://www.youtube.com/tytconversation Rebel HQ ▶ https://www.youtube.com/rebelhq TYT Investigates ▶ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwNJt9PYyN1uyw2XhNIQMMA #TYT #TheYoungTurks #BreakingNews https://youtu.be/rGe6onu7fQo https://youtu.be/DMkhugb_OSY https://youtu.be/x3de_HnsmRQ https://youtu.be/Eu_ch7CjddY https://youtu.be/6cqEp2chyvQ https://youtu.be/rfz9WIUQkdw https://youtu.be/dBJJMzOMlJ8 https://youtu.be/zLvMu83P7M4 https://youtu.be/unukA-P6rKE 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. Trimati, Three-a-Tee, Three-a-T-R-A-T, Prim-a-T-R-A-T, Prim-a-T-R-A-T.

Dream-a-A-T. Drop it. Power power panel so powerful it's still on there. Yeah, that happens sometimes, it's an issue, it's graphics. Okay, here we go. Jake Uger, John Idle, Jessica Burbank's back. Okay, we're going to Burbank. You could take it to the Burbank.

Ooh, okay. There we go. We got sodden, we got something. And I don't know if you guys picked it up, but I was carrying something and then I dropped it. Okay, all right. Anyways. That was good. Okay, thank you, Jessica.

Thank you for entertaining me. All right, Jessica's on Rebel headquarters. You guys know that, right? And I don't know if you know this, but Johnny Pye, not a big deal. up for best show in news and media, okay, on the webbies. The voting's already over. We don't know what's going to happen, but if damage report could be the best news show on the planet, soon, literally.

And as I've said for literally years, I'm in this to get this Webby. So if we win, peace. I'm done. He's gone. That's the upside downside. We didn't want to tell you that before you guys voted, okay? But we're really looking forward to it here at TYT. No, just kidding.

I got turned around on me. A little jih Tzu there. I'm good at jujitsu. All right, seriously, everybody check out the Amity Report and rebel headquarters every day. Of course, amazing first hour, wonderful anger at Republicans, and then quickly followed by wonderful anger towards Democrats. Of course! Okay, so without further ado, the legendary John Iderall.

Exactly. Catch me while I'm here, it might not be for much longer. But anyway, no, it's actually not going to be starting with me. We're going to jump right into Kevin McCarthy. From what I know of them, I mean, you guys all know him, too. Do you think he'd ever back away? But what I think I'm going to do is I'm going to call him. This is what I think.

You know, it will pass the house. I think there's a chance to go past the family even when he's gone. And I think there's a lot of different ramifications for that. Now, I haven't had a discussion with them that. If he did design, would it not happen? Now, this is one personal fear I have. I do not want to get in any conversation about pen's partying. I mean, the only discussion I would have with him is that I think this will pass,

and it would be my recommendation we should resign. I mean, that would be my take, but I don't think he would take it, but I don't know. audio of Kevin McCarthy back just four days after the insurrection talking with other Republican leaders about what can potentially be done by the caucus to censure him to try to get the 25th Amendment to be invoked. But particular to Kevin McCarthy there that he is going to suggest to Trump that he resigned. And I am so glad that that audio was made available. It was broadcast last night on Rachel Maddo because it followed just earlier that day reporting coming from the New York Times, which would be featured in the book that you saw in that video.

that these sorts of conversations had been happening. And between the reporting and the video that you just saw, McCarthy came out and called the reporting, quote, totally false and wrong. His spokesman denied that the Republican leader told colleagues he would urge Mr. Trump to leave office. McCarthy never said he'd call Trump to say he should resign. Well, as you heard, that is exactly what McCarthy said he was going to tell to Donald Trump. Now, we don't know if he actually did end up doing that, and obviously it didn't happen, but it is clear that he was telling Republican leaders that that's what he would be pushing for.

Well, so you got to see right there the response to the original reporting. Now we have the audio. What is their response to that, to their, you know, apparently sort of their bluff of being called? They didn't have a request for comment after the Times published the audio clip on Thursday night. Yeah. Not as fired up to attack the fake news media once you've seen the audio receipts. Yeah. Okay, but don't celebrate too much. So I'm gonna break this down a lot. But first, let me just tell you, like the mainstream media and Democrats are acting like, we got him.

Yeah, we got him. It's the most obvious lie of all time. He said, I never did that. Then there's him on audio saying, doing that thing he said he never did, calling for Trump's resignation and having a discussion about it with Republican leaders, et cetera. But I'm going to counter with, so what? No, we got him. He lied. Wow. You just heard it. Okay, so number one, this is what Washington doesn't understand the rest of the country does. We all already know politicians are liars. But in Washington, that's like, oh my God, Kevin McCarthy was caught in a lie. This will do them. You guys are hilarious. Second of all, Republicans, how clear do they have to be the voters?

They don't care about lying at all. Their dear leader is a guy who told, what, over 10,000 lies while he was president? And they loved every minute of it. Kevin McCarthy is not at all in trouble with the Republican voters for lying. They don't view lying as a weakness. They view it as a strength. Hey, yeah, if you got a lie to own the lips, then you lie, who cares? Just exert power, right?

No, the only reason that why he'd be in trouble is because they think, oh, he's a fake lunatic. And we would like a real lunatic like Donald Trump or Marjor and Taylor Green. And so, oh, McCarthy's been faking that he's one of us as like deranged, idiotic, pathological liar. It turns out he was even thinking of asking Trump to resign for creating a bloody riot that tried to overthrow democracy. are we they don't think oh okay it turns out Trump did it they think oh it turns out McCarthy betrayed the riot to overturn democracy that we absolutely loved you're not understanding Republican voters that's their to this day the Democratic Party and the mainstream media think like oh man wait to Republican voters get a load of this

I mean they will just be outright just in the same exact way we are no they don't Think like you, get it through your think head. Okay, I got a lot more on that, but I'm going to tease one thing before I go to Jessica. It turns out Kent McCarthy doesn't know anything about Washington either, and neither does Mitch McConnell. And that's amazing given the assumptions that they had. And the quote there that should not be under, we shouldn't be, we shouldn't gloss over is they were having a discussion about Pence pardoning Trump because all of Republican leadership thought, it was obvious that Trump had committed crimes that day. Wow.

Now, now, of course, they all say, well, it's your crimes. We love crimes. We love Republican voters like that. Oh, yes, yes. We committed many crimes that day. I love Donald Trump for committing those crimes. That's what Republican voters want to hear, right? It's not going to look at this and be like,

turns out McCarthy knew all along that Trump had committed crimes. We were all wrong. We'll now be against Donald Trump. All right, Jessica. Yeah, I think the Republicans have created a beast that they can no longer control. And we've got these mainline party Republicans like McConnell and like McCarthy, and they're not populace. They don't identify with the Trump brand of republicanism. And it's at the point where the Republicans need to be telling that story in order to win because they need those voters to win.

Even with the Trump voters, they don't have the majority. And now there's this weird situation where the Republicans are caught in a lie, not this lie, but the lie that the messaging that they need to tell to win is populist rhetoric. The story they have to tell the public is populist rhetoric, but that doesn't match how they legislate. That doesn't match how McConnell and McCarthy legislate. And I think January 6th was really the first taste of what it means to tell this dangerous story, this brand of right wing populism, because now it's affecting their safety personally. Like they can't enjoy the same comfortability and wealth and luxury when the story they have to tell this day in power leads to people violently storming the capital where they work.

Exactly. Yeah, and they know that they live in a system where it's entirely possible that January 6th will be seen as the quaintant insurrection at some point. I'm sure we'll report on that at some point. Yeah. No, by the way, next time they're going to do it right, they're not going to do it right. They're not going to do an insurrection like they did this time. That was pointless anyway. They're just going to go to the fake electors. That was the actual coup. Navarro and Bannon have admitted it. Trump was a part of it.

But the idiot Democrats keep focusing on the people with no power because they think they're easier to beat up on. But when he comes to Republicans with real power, Democrats, you know, wet themselves. And so that goes to the second thing I was going to say about the misunderstanding of McCarthy and McConnell. Throughout the calls, McConnell's like, oh, the Democrats. Democrats will take care of them for us. Have you met the Democrats? McCarthy's like, oh, they're definitely gonna impeach him.

And then we might have enough, we'll probably have enough votes in the Senate, including Republicans, because they need two thirds, to convict Trump. Have you met the Republicans? Well, so it's stunning to me, John, that they don't seem to have any idea how Washington works. And that's the leader of the Republicans in the House. There was no chance that Democrats were going to effectively counter Trump. None. Pelosi and Schumer are the weakest people you've ever seen in your life. And there was no chance that the Republicans were going to convict.

And this is how fascism wins. When they do violence and the other political actors in the country are too weak to resist it and eventually bow their heads to that violence. Well, he definitely did that. And look, many of them seem to think that there could have been some sort of accounting. I mean, every one of them that came out in the days after the sixth and said that it was Trump's fault. Basically all of them have reversed on that, but they were all telegraphing that they thought, well, surely now there will be some sort of consequence. This must have been a line that we can't cross after crossing hundreds and hundreds and hundreds

of lines. But I agree, they would eventually bow their head to it. And if you bow your head long enough and enough of you bow your head, you get to enter into a particularly sick situation, which I'm not going to describe. So I largely agree with you. It doesn't seem like Kevin McCarthy is in much trouble, as we'll soon describe. But I saw an article on the Hill. The headline was McCarthy's future hangs in limbo as Washington awaits Trump's response. So apparently Trump's to be fine with him. I'm going to read the quote in just a sec. But the idea is that Trump inspired a coup. People died as a result. He tried to end democracy. Kevin McCarthy, for a brief moment, responded kind of how maybe we'd want him to. Like, he thought that was unacceptable.

He responded accurately because he thought he was going to die. Sure. Right. And some of the others did. Right. He did, he was finally not awful for a brief moment. And because now it's been revealed that for that brief moment, he wasn't the absolute worst, his future might be over. I mean, it probably isn't. But that's the presentation. Trump isn't going to face any consequences. It's the people who thought this was a bridge too far that might face consequences. And look, apparently, maybe that's not even going to happen. McCarthy apparently called Trump right after the audio was released. The former president wasn't upset about McCarthy's remarks and was glad the Republican leader

didn't follow through, which Trump saw as a sign of his continued grip on the Republican Party, to three people who spoke on condition of anonymity. So who knows? Trump can say one thing in an hour later said the exact opposite. For all we know, he's going to be doing stand-up bits about how McCarthy is a rhino at his next rally. But for now, it looks like he's perfectly fine with him. And it does seem to be a reminder, at least of a time when he had a tight grip on the

party. We can evaluate as the election goes on, if that's still the case. We'll see. Some of the Republicans are, most I would say, are largely defending McCarthy. Matt Gates did tweet attacking him, saying GOP leader, you should have trusted my instincts, not your own. And I agree, actually, from the point of view, Kevin McCarthy, he probably should have. Now, they're not instincts about democracy. There's nothing moral or ethical about Matt Gates's instincts.

He just sort of knew, no, I know what the base is like. They're going to be perfectly fine with this. We're going to find a way to spin it. We're going to call it Antifa one day. And then the next day, it's going to be patriots or whatever. and eventually we'll be perfectly fine and his instincts were right. Yeah, I think we always get this really tight messaging from the Republicans that they invest so much money into. How do we spend this story to keep winning essentially the culture war,

right? And it's very Wizard of Oz and I feel like the curtain was lifted a little bit. And we got to see that actually McCarthy doesn't support this violent insurrection at the end of the day. And I think that's the most interesting piece of this is that of course, course, they're going to keep telling whatever story they have to to win. But that little peek behind the curtain for me is really satisfying to know that there are some people in there who don't actually support, you know, the end of democracy in our country. Well, the only modification I would make is you said at the end of the day, I would say at the noon of the day. By the afternoon, he was back to supporting it. He's perfectly fine with it.

You were right. Initially, he didn't like it. I accept. Yeah, at the sunrise of the day, they didn't accept their own death. the death of democracy, but by 9 a.m., they were totally cool with it, right, and having coffee. So look, final takeaway from this story is the rest of the media will tell you the takeaways that Kevin McCarthy lied and that American people are outraged by it. That is not true. Kevin McCarthy did lie.

Democrats and a small portion of independence are outraged by it. The Republicans are outraged, but not by his lies, but because he wasn't willing to lie quickly enough for Donald Trump and accept his own fate. And if it, you remember, they were chanting hang Mike Pence, who's a Republican, not a Democrat, when they stormed the Capitol. And next time, Kevin, as Trump said to him on that day, remember, that story broke a long time ago, McCarthy called him on that day from the bunkered capital. And Trump said to him, well, apparently those rioters are care more about this country than you do, Kevin. And so basically saying next time, maybe they'll get you. And that's what McCarthy is waiting for. Now politically,

waiting to see if the Republican voters will get rid of them because he objected to a violent riot against our democracy. Yeah. Heads up to the director. I want to skip ahead to A3. Just curious how you'll respond. I mean, I don't think anything coming out of this. And apparently there are more tapes forthcoming is going to break through. I mean, nothing does. Like the Mike Lee text that was gone after a couple days. Ginny Thomas gone, nothing lasts, nothing matters. But one of the things it was revealed was that apparently Kevin McCarthy wanted Twitter and Facebook, these big social media companies that the right loves to demonize to pretend that

they have an issue with to strike back against some of the members of their own caucus. Take a look at this. What McCarthy is talking about is he's hearing from his fellow GOP leaders on this call about about some of the more bombastic tweets from far-right members of the House caucus who were, you know, looking for any rationalization about the attack of January 6th. And McCarthy says out loud on this call, you know, can't they take their Twitter accounts away too? He suggested that those big tech companies that he wants to crack down on actually should crack down members of his caucus. the very members who he is now courting assiduously to try to keep happy so that he has the votes to become speaker next year. And we know that ever since Donald Trump was banned and eventually Marjorie Green, or at least one of her accounts was banned.

She still acts exactly the same. It's the most ridiculous ban ever. The right has loved to talk about that that's like the biggest imposition on American liberty that's ever happened. So again, none of this is probably going to break through, but that's one detail, audio forthcoming. that does it have a chance? Yeah. No. So again, the Republican voters have decided they like Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Green way more than they like Kevin McCarthy. So this will only hurt McCarthy, but not for the reasons that mainstream media thinks, and almost for the exact opposite reasons. But one last thing I want to go back to is, look, they thought that Mike Pence might have

to pardon Donald Trump, because Donald Trump had not only obviously committed a crime, but the Democrats would hold Donald Trump accountable. And I want to note that here we are now almost several years later, and the Democrats have not done anything to hold Donald Trump accountable. The Republicans were so wrong about Democratic weakness. They thought the Democrats would spring into action and hold Donald Trump accountable. And here we are. And the Democrats are the weakest people in America, the Democratic leadership, and have done absolutely nothing and are still cowering.

Like, oh, did we do something? Did we throw it? I don't know. And we're the only ones telling you the reality. You turn on cable news. They think Nancy Pelosi is like a barbarian strong conqueror. No, they're scared of their own shadow. And now I'm sure the Republicans have already recalculated McCarthy and McConnell thinking, oh, we'll never.

make that mistake again. It turns out the Democrats are just little people to be pushed around and bullied into submission. And they're largely right. With this current crop of Democratic leadership for sure. Okay, we've got to take a break, guys. So when we come back, so that was a tease of what I think about Democrats. The meal is coming up next. Hi, back on TYT, Jank, John and Jessica, another member, Brad Ehrlich wrote in, John Idarola, more like John Ayurola. Okay, that's pretty good. That is pretty good, that is pretty good. Because members are calling out. John eye rolling, my dad jokes. All right, so John, forward. Okay, no eye rolls. This is serious stuff. As one of his last acts as president, Donald Trump pardoned that guy, Steve Ben,

who at that point was facing charges for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. In layman's terms, he conned a ton of Trump fans out of their money, and the Trump fans have just totally forgotten about it and don't have an issue with it. It's very weird. But there were a couple people who did not receive that pardon. They weren't lucky like Steve Bannon, and they actually just pleaded guilty yesterday to their role in raising all this money, supposedly to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, but instead they mostly just used the money to enrich themselves. Those two men are Andrew Badalado, a venture capitalist from Sarasota, Florida, and Brian Kohlfad, who we've talked about previously. Now, the funny thing about this is, if you were donating this effort, there were some warning signs. that maybe it wasn't all on the up and up.

Let's go to this video. And now, here are your hosts, Stephen K. Bannon and Brian Colfage. Welcome back, this is Stephen K. Bannon. We're off the coast of San Trope in southern France and the Mediterranean. We're on the million dollar yacht of Brian Colfaj. And Brian Colfaj, he took all that money from Build the Wall. No, we're actually in Sunland Park, New Mexico. Mexico at Mall Marker 1.

Credit to the acting ability of Colfaj who like, he looked at him as they, the guy identified the literal crime they were in the process of committing and then had to smile at the camera, Ken. And didn't John, didn't he just admit that crime? That's what he pled guilty for. Yes, exactly. Yeah. No, but it's amazing.

It couldn't be more specific. That's the crime they were committing and they were doing it in part to buy a boat. Bannon, I don't know, was that like the most subtle shiv in the back that you've ever seen? Everything that he said was accurate. And now, Bannon doesn't care, Stephen K. Bannon is doing just fine, but Colfadge and the other guy are actually in trouble. And look, a judge says that they repeatedly and falsely assured the public that they wouldn't be taking a penny in salary or compensation, which obviously is not true. Colfaj eventually admitted that he conspired to illegally receive money, even though they're saying they weren't going to do that. They defrauded hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Now that is a crime, a different sort of crime. It's not actually illegal, but it infuriates me is that they were able to raise $25 million from regular conservatives who trusted these chuckleheads to build a wall at the border as if that was a thing that they could do no matter how many millions of dollars they had. Eventually, banning himself, the guy who gets off totally scot-free in this, he siphoned more than $1 million out of the project, in part to pay Mr. Colfadge, but in part to use on other things. Colfadge, by the way, took about $350,000, a significant sum of money, and used it to renovate his home, buy a luxury SUV, a golf cart, cosmetic surgery, maybe he got a permanent smile attached just in case his crimes were pointed out in live streams in the future. But also for this boat, a 40-foot vessel named the war fighter, which, you know, for all the other issues I have with it, that is way too many flags for one boat, it ain't a warfighter. God, these guys love to pretend that they're alfas. It's a dinghy. It's a dingy. It's a fine boat, I'm sure. But you're not going to war in it. Anyway, so look, Bannon, he's fine. He's off doing shows. The Trump fans don't have. have a problem with the fact that he scam them out of a ton of money, but those other two guys are in trouble. They could go to jail for years. Yeah. Trump supporter warfightership, go F yourself.

And you did. Okay, so he pled guilty. By the way, like to John's point, Bannon makes a joke and he's like, uh, that guy's going to jail. He pled guilty. Okay, I mean, I assume he's going to jail. We're going to do sentencing later, but those are serious crimes. Now, guys, here's the thing I want to focus on. For the right wingers, they didn't steal from me. They stole from you. So, I mean, this is your, their reaction to the story is going to be really interesting. Because do you not mind? I don't think you mind.

That's my guess. I think you're going to say, so what? Okay, it's your money, brother. I ain't got nothing to do with it. Okay? So next time Steve Bannon asks you for money and he's going to use it on yachts, etc. And so are his friends. And now you know they're guilty.

you're still going to send it to them. That is, to me, that's one of the saddest things I've ever seen. It's, you know, we kid around about the beta busts and stuff. But are we kidding? Because they celebrate these guys like they're alphas. But if you, what is that a reference to? It's a reference to that, to really, the animal kingdom and apes. And there are real alphas and betas among different apes.

And when there's an alpha, his supporters are betas. and they constantly literally give bananas to the alpha monkey. And here they are, literally like here, take my $25 million, use it for your yachts, lie to me. I'm okay. Republican voters in mass are kind of admitting that they're all beta's. And they literally give their bananas abandoned. Bannon proudly stole it. And then Trump proudly pardoned him.

And now the vote, I assume voters are like, that's awesome. I love the way they stole from me, right? Because remember guys, look, it's hard to tell what their reaction to ban on it is. They seem to generally like them, the Republican voters, right? But for Trump, the reaction is clear. They love them. But Trump pardon the criminal that stole from them. He didn't steal from us.

It's amazing. He stole from you guys and you're celebrating the guy who let off that criminal. That's amazing. And that's the power of brainwashing. And that's what's happened in this country. That's why any time the media or Democrats react like, oh my God, this time the Republican voters are going to turn. No, there's literally nothing you can do to turn a Republican voter. You could take $25 million of theirs and they'll still give you the next $25 million.

They're happy to be taking advantage of. They're proud betas. Okay, Jessica. I think you're right that this is sad. Like, that's what I take away from this is how sad it is. that these folks ran a campaign to fundraise money saying that they were going to build a border wall. And you have working class people around the country who are struggling economically. And they're told this story that the reason you are struggling is because immigrants are crossing the border and they are taking your jobs.

When we know that corporations are exploiting their labor, skirting laws because they can pay immigrant workers less than the minimum wage. That's the story that's the truth, but it's not the story that they have told. And so these people are very angry that immigrants are crossing the border, which by the way, a lot of them are refugees coming from countries that US imperialism has destroyed. And now these people are told that they should donate to build the border wall so things will get better. And that money goes to luxury goods purchased by the people that are your supposed heroes. I mean, there isn't something that could paint the picture of the bait and switch that the Republican Party does better than this.

Yeah. Yeah, if Adam and Kate put it in a movie, they would say it's over the top. Okay, and look, one of our members wrote in, Dragon with a Girl tattoo wrote in, you can't fraud the willing. Now hold on, don't give them ideas, because there's one guy who still has not been tried among the four of them. He has not, he was going to plead guilty and I think he decided not to, right? So he's got a trial coming up. He might literally call the people that they defrauded to the witness stand and have the Republican voters go, oh, no, I don't mind.

I know he stole from me, but I love it. I'm a beta to his alpha. So I'll get more money right now, I'll do it in front of the jury. And I know that it's going to go to his limo ride and his champagne and et cetera. I'm happy to do it. If he calls like two or three of those witnesses, he might get off. Yeah, and you'll be able to find some. I mean, look, there's always people that don't like it.

The Trump University, there were some people who sued him with Trump with the recurring payments where he drained senior citizens bank account of like $8,000 in two months. Some of them had a problem, but not nearly enough, the movement didn't dry up. So something like 99% are perfectly happy with this happening. Now a little bit more information, Colfaj originally could have gotten up to 46 years in prison, but thanks to his plea deal, he's not going to face nearly as much. Maybe four to five years, still seems like a lot, I wouldn't want to go for four to five hours. So have fun with that.

Bottolado could face three and a half to about four years. It could have been as much as 20 based on the charges he was facing without the plea deal. As Jank pointed out, Timothy Shea backed out of his deal. That might actually bring Bannon back into court, which will be interesting. We have no idea what will happen after that. I do want to add one extra potential wrinkle and I hesitate to even focus on this because I don't have any hope for the future and I don't want to give you false hope. In theory, Steve Bannon is still under a separate investigation by the Manhattan District

Attorney's Office. And of course, as you probably know from the last year and a half of American political discourse, those pardons that were dished out like candy apply to the federal charges not to state-level investigation. So in theory, they could eventually get banned in here. But who the hell is going to invest their spirit in that outcome? No, and keep in mind, Manhattan DA's office is- led by a Democrat.

So of course, it's totally impotent. He's refusing to prosecute Donald Trump on several brazen, blatant crimes. Is he really gonna prosecute Steve Bannon? He's probably wetting himself thinking about it. Like, I don't know what if Bannon calls me a mean person. The Manhattan DA is one of the biggest cowards in the whole country. So don't hold your breath waiting for that prosecution of Steve Bannon. Democrats in leadership in mass has decided that they will bow down to Donald Trump.

and his criminal gang that that's a fact it's almost like Bannon and his co-conspirators in making that video it's like someone who's robbing a bank going to the bank with the people they're robbing the bank with him saying like ha ha like we're going to go rob this bank and then saying just kidding we're making a withdrawal like usual just usual business and then they actually robbed the bank and it's like we have a prosecutor like looking at this video of them saying they're going to do it and then there's evidence that they actually do it and they're like, no, we're not going to actually like prosecute crimes like this. It's ridiculous. Yeah, it's like, it's like final thought. It's not like Bannon

is just like a like a Roger Stone figure in the background, like a consultant or something or like he organizes like hit pieces or something. He has a show like conservatives tune in to hear him looking into the eyes and listening to the voice of a guy that defrauded them for hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars. I will never understand it. Anyway, with that said, we do have other news to get to. So why don't we reset for something maybe a little bit more optimistic? couple of months, the Republicans have made basically all of American politics about the fact that everyone they disagree with are groomers. Pedophiles, maybe child cannibals. They're not sure they're

working on that. And the Democrats really haven't had much of a response, but there are some signs that maybe they are starting to develop a hypothetical backbone on this issue. And one of the things that might have been the inspiration for them to finally fight back is the woman that you're seeing next to me right there, Mallory McMorrow, a state senator, who had a viral moment earlier this week fighting back against these sorts of charges. In case you missed that, here's a little bit of what she had to say. People who are different are not the reason that our roads are in bad shape after decades of disinvestment or that health care costs are too high or that teachers are leaving the profession.

I want every child in this state to feel seen, heard, and supported, not marginalized and targeted because they are not straight, white, and Christian. We cannot let hateful people tell you otherwise to scapegoat and deflect from the fact that they are not doing anything to fix the real issues that impact people's lives. And I know that hate will only win if people like me stand by and let it happen. So I want to be very clear right now. Call me whatever you want. I hope you brought in a few dollars. I hope it made you sleep good last night.

I know who I am. I know what faith and service means and what it calls for in this moment. We will not let hate win. Well, when she said that, she was speaking for herself, maybe some of her colleagues, but now other Democrats are talking to the media saying, hey, you know, people liked it when she fought back against these absolutely discussing fact-free charges. So maybe we should do that. It's even gotten as far as Politico, their playbook. They had a little analysis of how generally, you can see in this first graphic, generally the Democrats don't engage on culture war topics. They either don't say anything or behind the scenes.

They ask their colleagues to avoid overly, quote, woke rhetoric. Again, that word has been so stripped of its meetings, it has to just be a joke at this point. But anyway, apparently back in D.C., her speech has triggered a conversation among Democratic strategists about whether there's a model for how the party can hit back on culture war issues. And when they say if there's a model to do it, they mean literally doing it at all. Like trying in any way to fight back. They're shocked at the prospect that that might work. And so you've got James Carville, apparently, if we could jump ahead saying he's said in the past, wokeness is a problem for Democrats and has blasted his own party for messaging that he describes

as faculty lounge BS. He said McMorro's speech was an enormously effective piece of communication. I'd show this clip as an instruction video, why anyone would still be listening to James Carville, I will never understand, but many in D.C. do. We should also bear in mind, McMorrow raised a bunch of money in the wake of that. So maybe that's the incentive the Democrats need to start trying to come up with a response. What do you all think? Oh, here's what I think about that. Of course, it's the money, Lopowski, it's the money.

She raised $285,000 because that thing went viral. And all of a sudden, all the Democrats, you know, those cartoons where the eyeballs become. dollar signs, ching, ching, ching, ching, ching. And the tongue rolls out. Yeah, uh, right? And so you think they learned something about, you know, substance? No, they just learned a new way to make cash. So incoming fake, tough guy's speeches from Democrats in three, two, one,

you'll see it all over the place now. I will tell you this, I am so outraged. It turns out that we, I am fighting against Republicans. They are not so good, not so good. Not so good. Okay, you will see a lot of that going forward. So look, I think this is a hilarious story. I think this is one of the funniest stories I've ever read.

The Democrats are going on. Here we are guys, 40, 50 years, right? And they're like, oh, maybe we should fight the other side. Oh, maybe, oh my God, maybe we should make our own case. You don't say, Sherlock, huh? You finally figure that one out. Guys, I'm sorry I keep bringing it back to this, but this to me shows you how pathetic mainstream media is.

Wait, why? How did I get there? Because the media thinks that the Democrats are brilliant, that they call Nancy Pelosi on a regular basis, almost all of them, a master legislator. He's an idiot that doesn't even know you're supposed to fight for your own. side. You remember when Biden first got in office? This was after the Trump coup and all this stuff. And McCarthy and McConnell are worried that Pelosi is going to prosecute Donald Trump. And they're thinking, can Pence pardon him on his way out? And Pelosi gave a speech about, I just want the Republicans to be

stronger. Oh. So it's occurred to Pelosi, Biden, Schumer, et cetera, for the first time in their lives that maybe they should be fighting the other guys. I saw unbelievable. They're the dumbest people in America. And when I say, I swear to God, if anybody in Washington media watches this, they're like, I want a radical, I want an outrageous radical Jane Gugher is. I mean, obviously these people are should be prayed to worship. They are our dear, beloved, strong, genius, four-dimensional chess playing democratic leadership. No, dumb as rocks. Jessica. Seriously, the thought that they are above participating in the culture war or fighting the culture war is a problem. They're comfortable enough to not need to stay in power.

They're doing fine. They don't have a real stake in the fight. And I think that's that's really important to look at. But also we've got the culture we're being defined by the right fighting the center. Democrats are in the center. And it's neoliberalism versus the right. And the right has populism. And neoliberalism is a weak argument, making neoliberal arguments against right-wing populist

talking points isn't working in mainstream media. But you also hear people say, the last thing I want to do is talk about politics with my conservative family members because they actually have talking points. Because Tucker Carlson, whether we like it or not, is doing political education every single night for like five to 10 minutes of just straight political education. So the right has talking points. Neoliberals who are watching CNN and reading the New York Times don't have a rebuttal. The only thing that can combat right wing populism is left wing populism. We need a progressive message.

When I was knocking doors for the Bernie Sanders campaign, I knocked someone's door who said, you know, I see you're knocking for Bernie, but I'm a Republican. You know, I think people should be shot when they cross the border, which is an intense thing to say. But I said, hey, listen, like, I understand you're concerned about having jobs in this country. And I don't agree with what every politician says on every issue. But, you know, something Bernie's fighting for is Social Security. I'm worried about my parents' retirement on Social Security. And the same person who just said that very violent piece of rhetoric nearly broke down and touched the side of his house and said, yeah, like me and my wife are really struggling.

She had to move away to work on a farm. And then he committed to caucusing for Bernie Sanders. It just tells us that we need to be telling the story and fighting the culture war with the progressive left. And that's what the mainstream media doesn't want to do. They don't want to abandon neoliberalism. No, I've got to double down on two things Jessica just said. There's such great points. First of all, I focused on how politically unintelligent democratic leadership is.

And that's an overwhelming and obvious point to anyone that doesn't work in media. But even more important is what Jessica is saying, they don't even care about the policy. I mean, look at that political court. They said they would try to avoid overly woke rhetoric or policy prescriptions they believe could hurt the party politically. Like they don't even believe in the things that they're saying at all. So when one person fights back, they're like, oh, we could pretend to care about policy like she does. We could pretend to care about LGBTQ people or black people or our voters. Oh, good thinking, good thinking.

No, you're actually supposed to care. You're actually supposed to care. And the second point that Jessica said, that's absolutely right. Our number one enemy, and that's why I keep going back to it, if you're wondering why, in terms of getting something that could actually help this country, is the mainstream media. Because the establishment is, in the long run, is never going to beat populism. They're not going to beat right-wing populism. They're not going to beat any populism because the country.

is mad at corporate rule. They're having their lives squeezed out of them, slowly gradually got them so mad. They're ready to shoot other people, right? So when the mainstream media and Democrats say, oh, you should elect another bureaucrat who's really good at managing, just like they've done for the last 40, 50 years, they hear definitely vote against that person. You give me anything and I'll vote against that person. And they did.

They gave him Donald Trump, the most maniacal, pathological liar, etc. And they're like, good enough, good enough as long as it's not those sons of bitches that have been ruining my life for the last 50 years, right? And the Democrats in the media do not get that. So they attack left wing populism with all of their might, with all of their might. And so, and they've convinced over 55 year old Democratic primary voters do not vote for your own interest. Make sure that you vote against your own. Listen to Rachel Maddo, listen to New York Times, listen to NPR, and they will tell you sweet little, they'll whisper sweet nothing's into your ear about, oh, yeah, corporate Democrats are great. Oh, neoliberalism is wonderful.

You'll love it. Don't vote for Bernie. Don't vote for progressives. They're dangerous. Go back to the Democrats that do nothing. Well, that is a recipe for disaster, and we're living in that disaster. The only thing I'm going to add on really fast, because we were talking about, James Carville and you said, you know, don't support the left-wing politicians.

Also, don't expect anything from your own politicians, obviously. James Carville, apparently this week came out with like new advice and it was quote, don't talk about what Biden hasn't done. And if you search on Twitter right now, you will find any number of centrist, moderate people bots, I don't know, spamming, don't talk about what Biden hasn't done. It is the most self-destructive, like it is a parent, a parody of substance-free moderate Democrat positions, and that's their official, the message that's been sent to them by James Carville. And so I was seeing it in my chat this morning

because we were criticizing Biden. It's absolutely ridiculous. And it is a recipe for disaster, for the Democrats losing and the Tucker Carlson wing of the party taking over of the Republican Party. Unfortunately, that's all the time we have for right now. We should definitely take a break. We come back, though. Marjorie Green has been testifying throughout the day to allow her to run for re-election again, we're gonna see how she was, she's done with that after this. a look. Ms. Green, if somebody tried to unlawfully interfere with the process of counting the electoral votes unlawfully, that person would be an enemy of the Constitution, wouldn't you agree?

Does it define that way? Does it define that way? Indeed. That's Marjorie Green, who's been testifying throughout today in an attempt, a legal attempt to stop her from running for reelection, arguing that under one of the provisions of the Constitution, because in the words of those beginning this legal effort, she gave aid and comfort to the insurrectionist.

She became an enemy of the United States government that she should be barred from running for office. And a lot of the testimony went just like you saw there. Attempts to pin her down or question her about particular things that she said and did in the run out of the insurrection, that she would answer with a blank stare that I bought 100%. I don't think it was an act. I think there was nothing underneath her stare there,

but saying that she didn't remember what she said, or she doesn't understand what tweets mean, or she can't be held responsible for her social media activity because anyone could have liked post calling for the execution of Nancy Pelosi. So we're gonna give you a little bit more, try to get an idea of how successful the lawyer might have been in pinning her down. Here is a little bit about whether the January 6 rioters should be considered enemies of the state.

So if someone broke the law in an effort to interfere with the counting of the electoral votes, that person would be an enemy of the Constitution. Am I right about that? Breaking the law is unlawful. There's been over 700 people charged or what happened on January 6th. Right, and those people were trying to interfere with the lawful process of counting the votes for the election. college, right? I would assume, yes, they did. They stopped the electoral count. Right.

And so those people would be enemies of the Constitution. You would agree with that, right? I don't know. I don't know. I think that that's honest. That's genuine. I think there's a lot of things that she doesn't know and they were very much on display. She was trying not to get pinned down.

Like she knew enough to know that. She's obviously not a quick thinker. particularly like witty person, quick person, anything like that. But as I was watching that, my thought process was, if you are trying to make the case that she should not be able to run for office, I would dispense with any of the attempts to get her to be an active part of making that case, present the evidence. And we're gonna give you some of it, the things that she said, the times that she's called for political violence, that is either going to convince the courtroom or it's not.

I wouldn't have tried to get her to define herself into being an enemy. of the Constitution. And I've been pretty clear in my previous coverage of this on the damage report that I'm a little bit dubious about this entire case anyway. And we have more video, but that said, I'm curious what both of you think about this. Yeah, I share your slight skepticism, John, or maybe significant. So I think that saying that just she should not be able to run is going to feed into the usual martyrdom of the right wing, right?

Like, oh my God, cancel culture, et cetera, right? Now, but I ask the Democrats to act tough, prosecutors to act tough all the time. So the answer is either apply it equally to everyone who supported the insurrection or don't. But when you pick out one person, you're not helping the overall cause. It sounds like it looks like you're targeting her because you don't like her as opposed to being principled against everyone that supported the insurrection. Right? So, and I know it's different jurisdictions, and so that makes it much more complicated and harder, but, you know, it creates an issue. Did she actively support it? Of course. And, you know, do you think that that means she should be barred from running for office? Well, I think you could make that case, but again, you'd have to make it uniformly for everyone who did.

Jessica. I think she's giving the same kind of answers that she gives on like Fox or Newsmax, right? like dancing around the truth, but she's under oath here. Like she has to answer the questions truthfully by law and by her not doing that. She's making herself look really silly. She's like, I don't know. What does the constitution say? Why don't you tell me?

And she looks ridiculous, but I think you're right, John, that she's probably not going to give a straightforward answer and incriminate herself on the stand. Yeah, I wouldn't expect it. And look, when I say that I'm, I've been, I've been uneasy about this. It's not, I'm not even really making a case that I think that you couldn't make the case under the Constitution. I think that in theory you could.

To me, I share some of the same concerns with Jenk about applying it evenly. Now look, the organization and one of the lawyers backing this is with free speech for people. Like, you know, it is perhaps they're doing this to set of precedent. There's also a similar case that hasn't gone as far so far against Madison Cawthorne because different judges have adjudicated it. Maybe they're just trying to set up a precedent that could then be applied to other people. For me, my preference would be she should be unacceptable as an elected official to a broad base of people. She should never have been elected in the first place.

We already knew more than we needed to know before she was first elected. You don't even need all this stuff about what she did about the insurrection. Like she's, she should be unacceptable to the voters. And if not to the voters, then to her party, they should have cast her out any number of times for what she did. This feels, it feels almost like a cheat to me. And I'm not making a constitutional case here. I'm not saying that that the constitution, the constitutional provisions about insurrection shouldn't apply in this case. It to me, it shouldn't be this way.

She should have been weeded out at multiple other steps. She never should have won the Republican primary for that seat, let alone a general election, even in a red district. We should be better than this. The Republican Party should be better than this. Nobody is apparently better than this. But I just, this isn't the way I would want it to go down. Yeah, I mean, there's a great irony that John is alluding to here. I really want to get to the other clips, but which is that the Republicans are voting for people in favor of ending democracy.

So what do you do when a democracy votes to kill itself? I don't know. And that's kind of where we are. Jessica? Yeah, exactly that. That's exactly what I was going to say. We've got these people attending the trial who are supporters of Marjorie Taylor Green saying stuff like I don't like them trying to keep her off the ballot as if they care about

the sanctity of elections. Why are we having this trial at all? Because she posted things on Facebook like you can't allow a just transfer of power. or peacefully like Joe Biden wants and allow him to become our president because he didn't win this election and stolen. And so yeah, I think like potentially the insurrectionist disqualification clause of the Constitution applies here. But yeah, I agree with John that it's disgusting that we have to prosecute it in a court of law and that she's a viable candidate without that. Exactly. Yeah, my, it's not a solution. And it's not by the way,

I'm not saying any of this because I don't think that she is a grave threat. I think that when it comes down to even more political violence than we've already seen, because we've already crossed that bridge several times, I think she's going to be perfectly happy. The woman who poses and ads with an assault rifle next to women of color and politics is perfectly fine for triggers to start being pulled. That said, like, I think the answer is more democracy. I think the Democrats should get off their ass and actually pass a bill that'll make it easier for people's voices to be heard, to stop the gerrymandering, to stop the voter suppression,

and all of this, but they're not doing anything. They're just sitting by and watching this happen. But that said, we do have more video. So let's get to her quibbling over the word peaceful in this. In your tweet, you mentioned earlier that your words join hashtag March for Trump in D.C. On January 6th, the fight for Trump, that you were urging people to come to Washington for a peaceful demonstration, right? peaceful demonstration absolutely yeah that word peaceful is nowhere in this tweet right have a look that word peaceful is not in this tweet there's only half of it there

let's get give the representative a paper copy of that one just want to make sure i'm not missing it now it was scrolled up just a second ago okay peaceful's not in there is it um well you know like is the word peaceful in there miss green does not say peaceful right my question but you're asking me and I said for peaceful demonstration, just like people have the right to do in their First Amendment. I'm asking you didn't, there's not a secret code in there that's supposed to be peaceful, right? Well, I never mean anything for violence. Yeah, look, we know that that is obviously not the case. I mean, not only are the videos that I believe Jessica alluded to earlier where she on video said Joe Biden wants a peaceful transfer of power and we can't allow that. That's fairly clear. Or even

Even outside of the context of the debate over the results of the election, she was speaking with Chris Dore, a gun rights guy, and says that the Democrats are going to steal your guns. This is an interview from a while back. She said, the only way you get your freedoms back is it's earned with the price of blood. Like she has repeatedly, she liked the tweet calling for someone to put a bullet in Nancy Pelosi skull. She has often called for that. I would say there's many pieces of evidence that can and should be used.

I found that one, the absence of the word peaceful, a lot less effective than some of the times where she was very clear that she wants people to fight or not to allow a peaceful transfer power. I think that's a little bit stronger and hopefully the judge paid attention to that. Yeah, I didn't find that portion particularly compelling. You write a thousand tweets without the word peaceful in it. So, but yes, the ones where she actually says, oh, I like the idea of murdering the Speaker of the House, that seems to be more compelling. Yeah. I'm going to, from my point, end on a member here.

and t-y-t.com slash join to be part of the show, and we love the points that you guys make. Chicago and I wrote in, why hasn't she been censured, if not removed from Congress? Well, actually, on January 6th, Cory Bush introduced legislation to remove or to not seat all the Republicans that objected to the election. The logic was, well, you guys said the election wasn't fair, so why would we seat you? But because you're telling us, no, no, no, our election was fraudulent. Okay, then you're, we're not going to see you. Yeah. And of course, it was like, oh, people loved it.

The Democratic voters loved it. The media covered it. It was really well received. It was a great idea by Cory Bush. And then Democratic leadership was like, oh, let's just drop it. And they're just hopeless. They're just hopeless and feckless. So this will be another thing.

And then the Republicans will spin it to their advantage. the Democrats will do nothing, she'll be on the ballot, she'll win easily, and it'll only add to her fame because the opposition here is just the most impotent thing you have ever seen. Jessica. Yeah, I think the precedent-setting facet of this trial is really interesting, right? It's the first time a member of the GOP is testifying about what happened on January 6th. And I think we should understand it and keep our eyes on it with all of this context. as well. But I have this fear that it could be also the last member of the GOP to testify about January 6th. But we'll see what happens.

Yeah. No, look, you're forcing me to say one last thing. The Democrats are doing a January 6th commission. Oh, all Washington is a flutter over it. It hasn't done a damn thing. Oh, a little bit here, a little bit. Oh, one day, 17 years from now, we might get Trump to testify about something, maybe a civil proceeding. Okay, no. When somebody defies your subpoena to testify, you put them in jail instantly within the hour. Okay, have the police ready when you send the subpoena or whatever the, you know, the time restriction is on when to reply, okay? Put them in jail, keep them in jail for a long time. Well, if you think they actually did things that are criminal like Donald Trump, it's half a dozen very clear crimes, then you must prosecute them.

If you don't prosecute them, it's a giant, glaring green light. It's okay, you can break the law any time you want, you can go forward. So that's why there's a little bit of it at least some, you know, feeling of, hey, at least somebody's been made to ask, answer a question, a legitimate question. So there is something very positive in the proceedings in that sense. But I'm afraid Jessica's right that it'll probably be the last time you get any kind of accountability because the Democrats are historic. historically, preposterously weak. Okay, we got to go. Everybody check out Jessica on Rebel headquarters or she's killing it.

John, of course, on Damage Report. We'll get back to you guys on if he wins the Webby for Best News Show online. And we're going to come back with Jared Jackson, host of Watch List and more. And in the next hour, there is several stories that are, enraging so you'll have that to look forward to but one other thing for for our uh the people who get to social breaks uh we're also going to release the first rebellion pack out in the next hour on the nina turner race so it's called frederick douglas and i think you might enjoy it and you might recognize a voice on there 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.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.