The Young Turks - No Oil

Episode Date: March 9, 2022

President Joe Biden has decided to ban Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia’s economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine. A major religious leader in Russia has come out in support of the invasion of Ukraine and laid the blame on the support of gay rights. The United Nations has emailed staff advising them not to refer to the situation in Ukraine as a “war” or “invasion”, in a move to balance political sensitivities as powerful member state Russia cracks down domestically on those who use the words. Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, doubled down on his pledge to raise most Americans’ taxes if the GOP retakes the Senate in this year’s midterms. A new report says the Department of Homeland Security intelligence division had identified “specific” threats related to January 6, 2021, prior to the attack on the US Capitol, but did not widely share any intelligence it had gathered until two days after the riot. Hosts: Ana Kasparian, Cenk Uygur Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Hey everybody, how you doing? Welcome to the Young Turks, Jake Ugra, Anna Gasparian. This show, on the other hand, is for everyone. Okay, so is it? Is it? Well, come and find out. Okay, so although we're cheery, yes, we have war updates, but some of them are good and and then we've got other news where we make fun of right

wingers and some of that is good by the way some good news on people being put away that are bad guys okay so that's later in the program forward all right let's get to our first story we're banning all imports of Russian oil and gas and energy that means Russian oil will no longer be acceptable at U.S. ports and the American people will deal another powerful blow to Putin's war machine. President Joe Biden announced that the United States will be banning imports of Russian oil. This, of course, goes in addition to the sanctions that have been implemented against Russia. But considering the fact that the United States imports a small percentage of oil from Russia,

This is really meant to be a symbolic gesture to persuade some of our European allies to follow suit. We'll get to that in a moment, but first a few details. The U.S. will be acting alone, at least for now, but in close consultation with European allies who are more dependent on Russian energy supplies, European nations have said they plan to reduce their reliance on Russia for their energy needs, but filling the void without crippling their economies will likely take some time. Natural gas from Russia accounts for one third of Europe's consumption of fossil fuel. In some European countries, it's actually more than one third. The United States does not import Russian natural gas.

In recent months, Russia, you know, the US stopped importing oil from Russia altogether, which is why I say that this is mostly a symbolic gesture, but really an effort to signal to the rest of the world that the United States is taking a stand. And as the U.S. claims European countries, and as European countries are claiming, they're trying to find ways to wean themselves off of their reliance on Russian energy. Now before the invasion, Russian oil and gas made up more than a third of government revenues. Of course, this is for Russia. Global energy prices have surged after the invasion and have continued to rise despite coordinated releases of strategic reserves,

making Putin's exports or Russian exports even more lucrative. And so the whole point here is to continue kneecapping the Russian economy in an effort to persuade Putin to end this invasion into Ukraine. The war is ongoing. We'll see how this plays out. But there was a lot of pressure for Biden to do this. I think it was the right move for Biden, and he has moved forward with it. Yeah, I have a really interesting idea for political jiu-jitsu here for Biden. for Biden, and I'm sure he's gonna take it. I'm gonna get to that in a second, but first, is this a good move?

Yes, definitely a good move a long time coming. I understand why Europe can't get off of it because they would also be devastated. I hope that they can get there at some point and they're trying to get there, which by the way is terrible news for Russia in the long term. So they're not just doing damage to themselves in the short term with their market's tanking, et cetera. Once people get off of Russian oil and gas, they're probably not gonna go back. back on. I mean, this is massive long-term damage to Russian interests, brought to you by Vladimir Putin.

Exactly. So if you care about Russia, this guy's destroying it. So he's destroying it in the world community, being cut off from all banking, including Switzerland, et cetera. And now their oil beginning to get cut off. And as you saw, they're a huge part of their revenue. Without that, they're in a world of trouble. Now, in terms of this particular thing where Americans, is banning their oil. Well, it doesn't have too big an impact on Russia or America. But it's important, it's symbolic. And by the way, we hadn't done it until now.

So it's not like it was cost free or in pain free for America. Biden was worried about gas prices. So now that's where we bring in my idea of doing political jujitsu. Okay, so how do you do it? Right now, Marco Rubio and other Republicans are saying, how dare Biden try to make a deal with Venezuela, to offset the oil we're losing from Russia. It's outrageous and unacceptable.

Of course, some loser corporate Democrats are joining along in that. But here's what Biden can do. Look, man, I was going to do a deal with Venezuela, get us lower gas prices. But Republicans say no, they want higher gas prices. You think that the American people are going to be like, no, I have principled opposition to Venezuela, and I agree we should have higher gas prices.

Look, instantly, you've already changed the debate from is Biden causing higher gas prices to our Republicans causing higher gas prices? So now that's actually really easy to do in the Biden administration. As you all know, of course, will not do any of them. Well, I think the Biden administration, with a few exceptions lately, is pretty terrible in messaging. I think Jen Saki has actually been doing a good job in slapping down Peter Ducey and his ridiculous framing when it comes to the increase in gas prices. We'll get to that a little later in the show. But to your point, Jank, regarding Marco Rubio and even some Democrats like Bob Menendez,

who are against striking a deal with Venezuela, look, I don't know what's motivating Menendez, but in terms of Marco Rubio, he's got a constituency in Florida to suck up to, and that's primarily right-wing Cubans and right-wing Venezuelans. And so I understand why he's attacking it from that perspective. With Biden, though, I just, look, I think that most Americans are just in the dark about how all of this works. I don't think most Americans are aware that there is the OPEC plus cartel and that they intentionally withhold oil and energy production in an effort to artificially inflate the prices of energy. I don't think most of, and look, it's not because Americans are stupid, it's because we have corporate media that doesn't actually give them the accurate information regarding what's happening and how oil prices or gas prices work.

The other issue is most people, including, you know, well-meaning progressives, don't know that we export our natural resources, right? And it's because, again, corporations get to control those natural resources and they sell it to the highest bidder. And so when we talk about energy dependence, it's such a ridiculous thing to say because we drill and we frack and we, again, produce more oil. and natural gas than any other country in the world. We're literally number one. The idea that we're going to just go along with this disaster capitalism or shock doctrine type garbage

where oil companies are trying to exploit this crisis to get more favorable treatment and more deregulation from government is just infuriating. Look, the news actors on television are embarrassing. Like, I don't think a single one of them knows this fact. They just regurgitate the oil lobby's talking points about, we need to be energy independent without even thinking for a second. What does it mean to be energy independent? Who is energy independent and how?

Like, if you have 100 bucks and that makes you independent, okay, then you're independent. But in this case, we don't have the oil. The United States of America does not have the oil. The private oil companies have the oil. So they're selling it all across the world. So what are you saying? I mean, they're literally crying on MSNBC today.

Go, oh, we have to drill more, more. Why are we not energy independent? I'm not talking about Fox News or CNN. On MSNBC, they're crying about how they need more oil. But who gets the oil? We don't get the oil. The American people don't get the oil. The oil companies get it, and they sell it to the high spinner.

Do you not know anything? anything, these are the best news people in America. They never once talk about who actually gets the oil and where does it go? So if you guys want energy independence, you could do it today. You wouldn't like it because then the president would say, okay, if you're taking the oil or the gas from America, it's America's natural resources, you're not allowed to sell it abroad. Boom, there we're energy independent. I solved it. You guys want that?

No, then MSNBC and CNN, et cetera. Anchors will be crying about, oh, socialism, how could they do this? The beloved profits of the oil companies, they have been in danger. I mean, Bernie had a tweet. I lost track of it a little while earlier, but the profits that the oil, top six oil companies have made in the last five years is gargantuan in the tens of billions of dollars. You're worried about gas prices? Great, no problem.

Let's tell the oil companies, they're not allowed to charge extra. They'll still make billions of profits, but they're not allowed to price. gouge during this crisis. You want to do that? Yeah. No, all of a sudden, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. The profits, the profits of our beloved oil companies. Oh, that's what I thought.

So why don't you actually tell people the truth? Okay, it's one thing for the politicians to lie because they're getting bribed by oil companies. It's obvious that the oil companies are going to lie about it. But why are the people that are supposedly in media and the press and journalists lying about this? I'll tell you why. Just today, one of our viewers sent me,

the NPR broadcast, which opens with an ad from BP. So if your advertisers, if your funders, if a source of revenue for your programming comes from oil companies, fossil fuel companies, there's certain information that you might withhold from the audience. And so that's what I'm saying when I indicate that most Americans don't know about how OPEC intentionally manipulates prices. Most Americans don't know about the fact that a lot of these natural resources get exported. Most Americans don't know that Joe Biden, unilaterally, without any involvement

from Congress, can do an executive order banning these oil companies from exporting these natural resources to other countries at this time of emergency. But he's unwilling to do it so far from what we've seen. Isn't it amazing that not a single show on cable news is talking about what is obviously true? You all know that oil companies are private, they're not public. You all know that the oil and the gas comes from America, but goes to the oil companies. You all know this, but they never put it together. They just say, oh, energy independence, and there's nothing we could do. And they never tell you about the profits of the oil companies.

They never tell you that there are solutions, but that the politicians would not be willing to do it. Those news anchors would not be in favor of it. They never tell you any of that. Not one show is allowed to say it on television. Isn't that amazing? No, we don't have real media in this country. Everything is smoke and mirrors.

Everything is marketing for corporate rule. So let's let's talk a little bit about this exchange between Peter Ducey and Jen Saki. I actually want to reset for this because it's related to this story, but it goes to the point that we're trying to make here about the wrong framing and how oil companies are trying to exploit this crisis for their own personal gains. So during a recent press conference, Jen Saki was asked a string of questions from conservative reporter Peter Ducey.

And you should pay close attention to how he frames the questions here, because it goes along with this narrative regarding Joe Biden and how his lack of leadership has really led to this explosion in gas prices. Americans are really suffering, which I agree with. However, the causes for these prices do need to be addressed. Peter Ducey has it completely wrong, but I think Jen Saki does a decent job slapping him down. Let's watch. Would President Biden ever undo his executive order that stopped the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline? Are you suggesting that would solve the gas prices issue? Well, do you think that that would maybe affect prices faster than getting the whole country off of fossil fuels?

I actually don't think it would. The Keystone was not an oil field, it's a pipeline. Also, the oil is continuing to flow in just through other means. So it actually would have nothing to do with the current supply imbalance. So gas prices are approaching an all-time high per gallon. How high would they have to get before President Biden would say, I'm going to set aside my ambitious climate goals and just increase domestic oil production,

get the producers to drill more here, and we can address the fossil fuel future later? Well, again, Peter, the US produced more oil this past year than in President's. year than in President Trump's first year. So she's right about that. And the fact that the oil companies have gotten all of these so-called journalists to repeat this line about the Keystone XL pipeline is infuriating because what they're calling for here is the continuation of the construction of that pipeline as if that would make a huge

impact on, you know, counterbalancing the increase in gas prices. We're seeing an increase in gas prices, yes, because of this war, because of the, Russian invasion into Ukraine. But more importantly, because we are reliant on oil producing countries that have, of course, a financial motive here to manipulate gas prices by lowering production of energy. And then if you want to talk about energy dependency here in the United States, as Saki says, we're already the top country in terms of producing oil and natural gas. But it is not nationalized, it is not something that the federal government has much control.

control over because it's privatized. It is owned by private corporations that seek to do what jank? What do private corporations seek to do? Do they seek to do right by their consumers and customers by keeping gas prices low? Is that what they do? No, Anna, they're actually legally obligated to maximize profit and they do a spectacular job of it. Yeah. And so I want to add one last thing here, look, corporate executives are smart enough.

They hire, they pay money into think tanks to create false experts that then go all over television and all over print papers. And no one ever explains that they've been bought by those corporate interests. Literally their opinions have been purchased by, like for example, we did yesterday Stephen Moore. He works at Freedom Works. That's paid for by Coke Industries. They're in the oil and gas business.

So his opinions are purchased by Coke industries and no one ever clarifies that. So some people are smart, there's no question they're manipulating things behind the scenes and they're largely giant corporations. But the so-called reporters at the national level in this country, we just have to come in terms with they're painfully unintelligent. And it seems like no, come on, they're on TV. They made it all the way there. It's got to be some substance, et cetera. Think about Ducey's question. So should we put aside our, but the Biden's drive for renewable energies so that we can,

lower energy prices now, wait, how would creating more energy stopping the creation of more energy help energy prices? It would hurt energy prices. Why would you randomly stop other sources of energy? What a weird, insane question to ask. But he's too stupid to even realize he's doing a corporate talking point and he's just like, is it time to stop renewable energies so we could have more oil, oil, oil, oil so we can have lower prices. But why would that lead to lower all prices? Do you have two brain cells in your head?

Do they ever collide and form a thought? Or do they just feed you the corporate talking point? And like an absolute idiot, you go and embarrass yourself on national television. Do you think if we have less energy, we'll have lower prices? How? How would that work? Have you ever studied supply and demand ever in your life, you moron of morons? Yeah, I mean, clearly not just the United States,

United States, but even the more liberal European Union is incredibly ill prepared for the moment that we're experiencing right now because of the incredibly like, I don't know, just like this aggressive and stubborn reliance on fossil fuels, right? We could have been better. We could have been further down the line in terms of having alternative, renewable sources of energy to kind of offset what we're experiencing right now at the gas. pump with rising energy prices and all of that, we're ill prepared. So that's, but to your point about Ducey embarrassing himself, he embarrasses himself among people who know what's really going on, which, as I argued earlier in the show, which is a smaller group of people. No, Anna, you're absolutely right. Like the rest of the press corps, unfortunately, not that much brighter than him. I don't care if they have prestigious New York Times or NPR behind their name.

Why doesn't somebody raise their hand and go, hey, schmuck, I mean, you could do it in the form of a question of Asaki, and you don't have to call them names, just point out, wait, if the country had listened to progressives earlier and we had, we're now getting more of our energy from renewable energy, we would be less reliant on oil and gas, wouldn't we? Isn't that the most obvious thing in the world? Instead, they flipped the frame from, oh, now you see how we're hooked on oil and gas? That's why we should be more hooked on oil and gas. Yeah, it's crazy. It's unbelievable. Like here at T.YT, we're trying to snap people out of their brainwashing. It's not just Q&N people.

Mainstream media brainwash you into the most insane things. And by the way, Democrats suck at their jobs. Yes, Saki did a decent job of answering that particular question, decent. barely. But look at how you could flip the framing. Right now, they could be super aggressive, but every day in the press briefing, say, if we switch the renewable energies, we wouldn't have any of these issues. We told you, Democrats told you, we should have switched the renewable energy 10 years ago, and then we wouldn't have any of these problems. But Republicans didn't listen. This was all the Republicans' fault. Look at the gas prices. The Republicans

did that to you because they refused to switch to more sustainable energy that Democrats pushed for. I mean, such an easy win. In fact, I mean, it's a perfect opportunity to point to the fact that Donald Trump, one of the first things that he did was implement higher tariffs for solar panels that were being imported into the United States. And look, the United States should be manufacturing its own solar panels. Let's be clear about that.

But in terms of our dependence on having to import them, because this country is so backwards in actually looking forward to the future and alternate ways, alternative ways of of, you know, gaining energy, she just didn't see, she didn't take advantage of that opportunity. It's like they're afraid, like, Republicans have been so good at bashing and battering the Green New Deal that Democrats just cower now when they get asked about it. And I'm talking about corporate Democrats, right? I'm sure that if AOC were in that room, if she were asked that question, she'd find a better way to answer it.

But the Green New Deal is not a thing. The Green New Deal, we couldn't even get Biden's agenda passed. Okay, the idea that we're experiencing what we're experiencing right now as a result of the Green New Deal is ridiculous considering it didn't pass. It didn't even come close to passing. Yeah, last thing for me on this, look, going all the way back to Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter had put solar panels on the White House to begin symbolically moving towards renewable energy because he saw that it was a national security issue for us to be hooked on oil and gas. Reagan came in, even though, It helped in every way, there was no downside to it, including cause. He ripped them off. He tore down the solar panels of the White House, because it was symbolic to say,

we will stay hooked on oil as long as Republicans are in charge. We will not do anything smart under penalty of law. Now, Democrats could be pounding Republicans over that. Remember the idiot Reagan? Remember that moron who couldn't even remember his lines? And he made us made sure that we were hooked on oil. Remember the Republicans said, oh, get hooked on oil and gas. And now look at what Russia's done because of it.

It's all the Republicans' fault. But yet do you hear any of that on television? Do you hear any of that in print? See any of that in print? Do you see any Democrat ever fighting back? That clip we played for you in the beginning with Jasaki. It was like a morsela fight back. And we're like, wow, that's amazing, right?

But all these arguments that they could be making, they never, ever make. Because they're, they're, look, they also take their corporate. They take the corporate money, they're in the same game. It's good, bad cop, and they're the good cops who are supposed to go, golly gee, there's nothing we could do, right? I'm so tired of this game. And now, by the way, it's costing Ukrainians with their lives. All right, we gotta take a break.

When we come back, we're going to get into some of the propaganda involved. in this Russian invasion in Ukraine and more topics that you should be informed about. So come right back. We'll give you the news and more. All right, back on TYT, Jane Canana with you guys, more news. All right, well, let's talk a little bit about the propaganda associated with this invasion into Ukraine. So there we go. All right, so Russian propaganda meant to justify Russia's illegal invasion into Ukraine is pretty much all over the place and really does conflict with what Putin claims to be an invasion meant to denazify Ukraine. The person you're seeing next to me is a religious leader in Russia, Patriarch Kirill, who apparently during a recent sermon argued that the reason we're seeing next to me is a religious leader in Russia, Patriarch Kirill, who apparently during a recent sermon argued that the reason

why this is happening to Ukraine is because they're a little too friendly to the LGBTQ community. The patriarch here, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, during a sermon called Russia's military operation, which of course it's an invasion in Ukraine, a conflict over which side of God humanity will be on between Russia and Western countries that embrace more progressive values. He called attention to Ukraine's support of gay rights and the presence of gay Pride parades, and this is according to the Moscow, Moscow Times. Now, I do want to give you some quotes from his sermon, because again, remember what Putin said. Putin claimed that he wanted to do this invasion to denotify the Ukrainian people to liberate them from their oppressive government.

Now, this religious leader said pride parades are designed to demonstrate that sin is one variation of human behavior. That's why in order to join the club of those countries, you have to have a gay pride parade. Yes, that is a fast and, you know, that is a serious rule. You know, you have to show the West that you are with us by having gay pride parades. It's written a document somewhere. By the way, gay pride parades, nothing wrong with them, lots of fun. But let me give you more. He further says that the gay pride,

parades serve as like a loyalty test to the west. Further, he claimed that the breakaway regions of Ukraine at the heart of this current conflict, collectively known as Donbos, have fundamentally rejected such values. If humanity accepts that sin is not a violation of God's law, if humanity accepts that sin is a variation of human behavior, then human civilization will end there, he said. Whatever, dude, shut up. And in Donbos, he says, there is a rejection. Okay, a fundamental rejection of the so called values that are offered today by those who claim world power. We know that if people or countries reject these demands, they are not part of that world. They become strangers to it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, so look, unfortunately, this has some chance of working, and I'll tell you why in a second. But first, let me go off on this guy. So there's nothing sinful about being gay. There just isn't. People are born that way, and if they're born that way, guess who made him that way? God made him that way. So you got a problem with it, take it out with God. Are you saying God made a mistake?

Is that what you're saying? Orthodox religious leader? Is that what you're saying? That God's a screw up? What kind of an insult to God is that? Do they occur in nature? They clearly occur in nature. Clearly, clearly.

Who created nature? God did. So don't tell me, no, no, no, you don't understand. So we think a rabbi wrote this 2,500 years ago when we didn't know anything at all. And we thought that the stars were little pinholes that God created in the sky to let the light of heaven through. And I'm still believing that nonsense. And I'm oppressing people with it. I'm killing people with it. I'm ruining their lives with it because I'm saying, you're sinful.

You're sinful for doing something that is 100% natural to you. So no, religious leaders like that are the ones who are deeply, deeply immoral. They're bad people, they're evil people, and they bring sin into the world because they bring hatred and fear of others that God created. He's against God. He's a demon. Well, okay, just to speak their goddamn language. Let me just jump in real quick, Jank, because think about what he's calling for, right? He is justifying the invasion, which has killed, as an underestimate, a severe underestimate, hundreds of Ukrainian civilians, innocent individuals, okay?

He is justifying that death. He is justifying the damage that's being done to this country, to these people. He's justifying all those family members who have died as a result of Russian airstrikes, of shelling, all of that. And he somehow considers himself the righteous one. He considers himself the good one, right? All those innocent people dying, not a problem. Let's blame what's happening to the Ukrainian people on the fact that they're more accepting toward the LGBTQ community.

Oh, and by the way, according to Putin, they're liberating these people, right? They're liberating the people of Ukraine who are now dying as a result of their invasion. Yeah, all right, so that's a great word, righteous. And so look, there are wonderful religious leaders in the world. In fact, my hero is a religious leader. I have to said this many times, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., Reverend William Barber today in America is a hero of mine. Okay, but when you look at the fundamentalist religious leaders, the top ones throughout the world, most of the time, they are evil, and they do, they don't believe in God, they don't believe in spirituality, they believe in power, and they believe in fear and hatred, and they push that hatred to everyone. It's a poison.

Don't ever, ever allow them to call themselves righteous. They are not at all righteous. Look at him, look at all that murderer that cleric is in favor. Why? Well, why we had to murder them in order to liberate them from not hating gay people. Now this, he's disgusting, he's an evil pig. Now, why is it gonna work? Because unfortunately, the whole, the world is still hooked on religion.

We're hooked on oil and we're hooked on religion. We've got to get off the reliance on religion. So because we're hooked on religion, the minute he says something hateful, people are going to be like, well, God said it. No, God didn't say it. That idiot jackass said it, right? He doesn't talk to God. He doesn't.

He's just an evil, evil man who hates other people. He doesn't talk to God. But yet, all the Orthodox people now that believe in him, oh no, oh, great leader, who should we? We hate great leader. And so it'll rile up all the religious fundamentalists in Russia. And by the way, in other countries, and it'll help Russia rally all the religious zealots across the world.

Oh, you guys hate gay people as much as we do. Go kill Ukrainians, go kill Ukrainians. So we can all hate gay people together. It'll work, why? Because we're still hooked on religion. Get off of religion, that's the problem. Okay, so, and then they'll take this stuff and say, oh, can you believe that? He's against God.

But I didn't say that, did I? I'm against these demonic, so-called religious leaders who are pure evil and only care about power and profit. By the way, we expose these guys over and over again. TYT and Veskees showed how the National Prayer Breakfast, it loves the Russian influence. Why? Because the Russians are in the Russian government is anti-LGBQ. That's why they brought in the Russians in the first place into the right wing in America. And then those that national prayer breakfasts, which the Democrats shamelessly still go to,

then takes the representatives from America and spreads that anti-hate, anti-LGBQ hate all across the world to places like Russia. It's a sick right-wing zealots in this country that actually drives a lot of that. Yeah, I mean, and it shows you how religion is used as a tool for otherizing the people who are being brutalized, right? You see it happen all the time all over the world in various conflicts. You know, it gets painted as a religious war when in reality, religion is just utilized as a tool to other eyes and to justify invasions and brutality.

That's really what's going on. So this is the kind of propaganda that some Russians unfortunately are being fed in addition to propaganda in state-sponsored media. Remember, any type of independent news source is now completely banned in Russia. Another thing to mention is the steep penalties and fines that people will have to deal with. If they dare call this invasion what it is an invasion, journalists could face 15 years in prison if they call it an invasion. That's an example of the type of censorship that's currently going on in Russia. So when we talk about the protesters in Russia who really put a lot on the line to speak out and protest this war that's being waged by

the Russian government, they're insanely courageous because of how much they have to lose, because of what they're likely to be met with. Brutality, prison time, just awful treatment by this authoritarian president who does not want the world to really know and doesn't want his own people to really know what's transpiring with this invasion. Yeah, so I'm done babying religious fundamentalists. You call anyone gay evil, I'm going to call you evil. You're immoral, you spread hate, I'm gonna fight. I'm gonna fight to protect our brothers and sisters. So, and look at this evil son of a bitch who says, kill your cranius, kill him,

murder them, murder their babies, so we can hate gay people together. No, my answer is no, you're deeply immoral, you're deeply immoral, and we're not gonna stand for it anymore. So I don't care who he, what other insane religious zealots, he gathers together, they're Oh, somebody wrote it thousands of years ago, we have to hate gay people. No, I didn't know you're immoral, you're immoral, you're terrible, terrible people. And I'm not going to stand for it. So, okay, oh, and now you know who he's attacking, by the way?

He's saying the problem is the West. What happened, right wingers in America? I thought we were protecting Western civilization. Now the top cleric in Russia is attacking Western civilization. Well, they would agree with that analysis. Because they're also hateful. immoral, evil people. Right wing is evil.

You say to people, you're born that way and we're gonna hate you? No, you're an evil person. Just use their words and stop running. Oh, well, I mean you don't hate gay people, they're not bad. What do you mean they're not bad, you're a terrible person. Am I clear enough? Let's go fight. Let's go fight for Ukraine.

Let's go fight for each other against these goddamn zealots. All right, let's take a break, we'll be right back. All right, back on CIT, Jank and Anna with you guys. All right, Anna. All right, so when it comes to the Russian invasion into Ukraine, there are all sorts of justifications that we're hearing from the Russian side, let's be clear, this was an illegal invasion, there is no justification. With that said though, I wanted to address the claims of denazifying Ukraine.

which is something that some leftists think that progressives are like running away from. When the fact of the matter is it's propaganda and not the real reason why Putin has done this invasion. However, why don't we address it? Let's talk about it. Let's talk about the Nazis in Ukraine and what the reality is. So Putin claims that he had no choice. He needed to do this illegal invasion into Ukraine to root out the Nazis and liberate the Ukrainian people. Fact of the matter is, while there are some Nazi groups in Ukraine, they are not such a problem, such a huge security risk or threat to Russia, that it would justify some sort of invasion into Ukraine. Now, when it comes to Ukraine's history with Nazis, I do think it's worth noting that during World War II, Ukraine was one of the countries where Jewish people were

brutalized and murdered as a result of, you know, Nazis, Ukraine wasn't completely free of that. So that's part of its history. It's worth acknowledging. Another thing to acknowledge is the so-called battalion, the Azov Battalion, that keeps getting referenced by right-wingers and even some leftists as a genuine issue within Ukraine. And the fact of the matter is, the Azov battalion wasn't even an issue until Putin decided to annex Crimea. This was a battalion that formed and really grew as a result of what Putin did with that annexation. But over the last five years, they've actually lost a lot of support within Ukraine. And their attempts to become a part of the Ukrainian government, a real influence within the Ukrainian government has really

failed. So bad faith actors, again, say that this is a real thing. In fact, the Azov Battalion has been absorbed. This is one kernel of truth that's worth knowing. They've been absorbed within the Ukrainian National Guard. But it's similar to what we see in the United States military or within local police departments where you have neo-Nazis, white nationalists, and all sorts of unsavory figures getting absorbed into legitimate law enforcement, right? So should we be invaded? I would argue, no. I would argue the American people would not take kindly to another country invading our sovereign country with the excuse of rooting out Nazis within law enforcement. Can I just interrupt one quick second on that? So we saw the

Nazis march in Charlottesville, Virginia, and they chanted blood in soil and the Jews will not replace us, then they killed someone. They attacked a synagogue. We saw all of that happen. So should we have, under that logic, attacked Virginia? And who should have attacked Virginia? Yeah, which country should invade us? Yeah, should it be Mexico that attacks Virginia because America has too many neo-Nazis in it? Or should it be North Carolina or Maryland that attacks Virginia because it has too many neo-Nazis in it? It's, and one rhetorical trick that they do that you should be aware of, and it's particularly craven is when you point out that every country has neo-Nazis, and that's not a reason to invade it, they go, oh, are you defending neo-Nazis?

No, that's absurd. We despise the Nazis. But under that logic, you would invade us. You wouldn't, there are not, neo-Nazis almost in every country. Should we go and invade Indonesia? It is such an obvious BS talking point directed to try to distract you, from the actual violence and killing that the Russians are doing of the Ukrainians. Yeah, that's exactly right. So for anyone who refused to give any credibility to that argument, it's not because they're running away from having to address Nazi elements within Ukraine. It's because it was a BS excuse and a lie that Putin used to justify his illegal invasion into Ukraine.

And let me just say, if you're a leftist and you're like, why isn't anyone talking about the Azoff Battalion? Why aren't you talking about the Azov battalion? We could talk about that, sure, but I do find it interesting that it's all about addressing that without, honestly, without being very clear about the fact that this is an invasion that should be condemned, it's an illegal invasion. That should be the starting point. The starting point should be this is a BS piece of propaganda from Putin. It is not the reason why he's invading and this invasion should be condemned. With that said though, is there some truth to Nazi elements within Ukraine? Sure, I just find it super curious that people want to discuss that right now.

But fine, we're discussing it, we're discussing it right now. Eastern Europe overall, every Eastern European country has a problem with neo-Nazis. Okay, but the question is, are they representative of the governments in these Eastern European countries? Are they controlling the policies, including the foreign policy coming from these eastern European countries? Is this really a giant factor within the government of Ukraine? And the answer is unequivocally, no, it is not. Now, while it got absorbed into the Ukrainian National Guard in order to fight Russian forces

in eastern Ukraine, the fact of the matter is they have no real political power. In fact, they got less than 3% of the vote in the latest parliamentary elections. So there you have it, we're having a discussion about the Nazi elements. Does that justify Russia invading Ukraine? I want the leftists to answer that question. I want them to answer it. Yeah, I don't know if they, I guess they think they're leftists supporting brutal regimes as they murder Ukrainians.

That's not at all left, that's an idiotic position to have. And so in this case, Idaho has a significant. neo-Nazi camp inside of Idaho. And if you took the Nazi per capita percentage in Idaho versus Ukraine, I'm afraid what you would find. I'm afraid that Idaho might have a higher percentage. So are all of those so-called leftists and the right wing talking about how we have to invade Idaho and we have to kill the governor of Idaho, who's a Republican, and make sure we denazify

Idaho? I'd like to denoesify Idaho through ideology, through rational means, but invasion, are you mental? Who's invading? Well, I mean. But in this case, you're trying to, of course the ironic thing here is in case you haven't figured it out, Putin is doing exactly what the Nazis did. Oh, well, we have Germans in the Sudeten land and in all over Europe, and we have to protect

the ethnic Germans, it's literally what Putin is saying. He's saying the same exact thing, take out the German, put in the Russian, and we have had to cross the borders, we had to do it to protect the Russians and to protect the homeland. And you know, it's, it's the Nazi playbook, 101. Well, I love that you brought up, you know, Putin and maybe some of the issues that Russia has with the very thing that they're trying to root out in Ukraine. Russia is the big daddy of Nazi issues. Okay, so for instance, and again, every Eastern European country unfortunately has this problem, the United States has this problem. Now the Russian imperial movement is an extreme right, white supremacist

militant organization based where in St. Petersburg, Russia. Oh, fascinating. Something else that's pretty relevant to this. Well, are Nazis applauded, accepted by government officials in Russia? That's important, right? A guy named Dimitri Utkin helped start Russia's Wagner mercenaries, he's been awarded medals of honor by Putin. Utkin is a full-blown neo-Nazi with Wafin SS tattoos to prove it, and there is evidence of the Wagner Begrade is chock full of radical white nationalist militants. So great, so does that mean that we should advocate for the invasion of Russia? Yes, no, we have to.

Nazi elements? No, we have to. The leftist told us we have to be against anyone who has Nazis and approved by the president. My God, we have to denotify Russia right now. Should we launch the nukes? I mean, look, I'm using your, I'm using your stupid, stupid logic. And so when you have a guy acting like the Nazis in Putin and he gives medals to Nazis, and then you claim that maybe it's not such a bad thing that he invades because he's denazifying Ukraine. How do we denotify the Nazis? Which is what the Russian government is doing right now. And you want to cry a tear for the Russian government, I don't care.

I don't care. Go cry. Oh my God, the young Turks, they won't kiss Russian ass. They won't kiss Putin's ass. Oh my God. Good, yes, you're right. We won't because we're journalists. We actually care about what's true and what's not true.

He invaded Ukraine. He's butchering those people right now while you go around do some BS. You think pseudo intellectuals, you think you're intellectuals, pseudo intellectual circle jerk. Oh, like, oh, yeah, did you know America also as Nazis? Oh, I'm the only one who figured that out. Did you know Ukraine has some Nazis? Maybe we should just let Russia take it. No, I'm such an intellectual.

No, you're a moron. So, okay, now I have to be clear. In case you still didn't get it, okay, back when the Nazis were in Ukraine, actual Nazis led by Adolf Hitler, they rounded up a Jewish family in Ukraine, they shot the mom and the dad and three out of the four brothers. They killed them off. The one remaining brother is the grandfather of President Zelensky. He's the leader of Ukraine. The Nazis murdered his family. Ukraine is not led by Nazis. That is deeply, deeply offensive to imply that.

I don't care if you're a right winger or do you think you're a left winger. That's a terrible thing to say, it's not remotely true. So stop lying to your audience, to your viewers, and to your readers. There's someone acting just like the Nazis, and it ain't the Ukrainians, and it certainly isn't Zelensky. It's the Russians. So now you say, oh, no, you can't do it. Look, I love the Russian people. Those Russian protesters are the bravest people on earth.

The Russian reporters are the bravest people on earth. So don't come at me with your fake talking points about, oh, how can you be against the Russians? No, we're against the Russian government led by the tyrant Vladimir Putin. You defend Putin, you're not, don't ever, ever say that you're on the left. You're not on the left. You're supporting a guy who gives medals to Nazis for being Nazis. Okay, two can play at that game.

All right, well, let's switch gears a little bit. There is other non-Ukraine related news that I wanted to talk about, namely what Senator Rick Scott is pushing for and how he's getting slapped down by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, let's get to it. I'm not raising anybody's taxes, but here's what's not fair. We have hardworking Americans, they're paying all these taxes, or retirees pay them, who's not? We've got some billionaires not paying it.

And we've got people that want free government stuff and they don't want to have any skin in the game. I mean, if people pay like even $100 in taxes a year, at least you know that's what it is playing taxes and you don't want people to get bankrupt, obviously. That was Republican Senator Rick Scott, who has decided to double down on his proposal to raise taxes, not on the rich, but specifically on the lowest earners in society who typically have such little income that they are not paying federal income taxes. Because as you heard in that video, you know, we've got some billionaires who don't pay taxes, but let's push them aside for a second. And let's focus on low income individuals who want free government handouts.

That is his target. Now, what's fascinating about this story is the fact that he has chosen to double down on this insane policy of targeting low income Americans. When he got, he got not slapped down by a member of his own party. Specifically, Senator Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader. Now before we get to his response to it, I think it's worth giving you a little more context about what Rick Scott is trying to do here. Last month, Scott unveiled a plan that stipulated that, quote, all Americans should pay some income tax to have skin in the game, even if it is a small amount. Currently, over half of Americans pay no income tax. And look, they have been public enemy number one for the Republican Party.

Mitt Romney really got into hot water back during the 2012 presidential elections when he decided to attack the 47% of Americans who pay nothing in federal income taxes. Turns out targeting the poor is not really a popular political strategy, even among Republican voters. Now, when asked on Fox News if Rick Scott wanted to raise taxes on most Americans last month, Scott straight up lied by saying his plan would not do that. He received no pushback from host Sean Hannity. And as you could see in the video we showed you earlier, he also received no pushback from Laura Ingram when he opened by saying that he's not trying

to raise taxes on anybody. He is, he's trying to raise taxes on the most vulnerable people in the country. Now, again, Rick Scott's proposal is so toxic that even people like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have slapped it down and done so publicly. Now before we get to his explanation for why he's against this, there was a press conference where Rick Scott had some statements. He made some statements. And then he ran away before Mitch McConnell can slap him down. Let's watch. So, I hope all of us do our part to do everything we can to hold Putin accountable

and make sure the Ukrainian citizens keep their independence. Leader McConnell, can I? Yeah, there is. Senator Rick Scott, he's introduced an agenda that Democrats have seized on includes tax increases. It's been very controversial. I wonder what your thoughts on this are. Well, Senator Scott is behind me and he can address the issue of his particular measure. No, no, gone. He's gone. Rick Scott's like, oh no, he's about to come after me.

He's about to slap this down, it's going to be embarrassing, gone. But I love how Mitch McCall's right behind me, he can't answer this question. Nope, gone. Yeah, he's not behind you brother. So they're having an internal fight about, probably about who's going to lead the Republican Party in the Senate. And so Rick Scott has decided to go to the extra mile and say, hey, you know what? It's not enough that we gave everything to the rich. Now we have to actively rock. the poor we have to take money out of their pockets and even the heart of darkness Sith Lord Mitch McConnell's like that might be a bridge too far they might not because he's worried about robbing the poor he's basically been doing that in an institutional way for decades he's like I think they're gonna catch us no he's way savvier look Mitch McConnell is more dangerous than Rick Scott Rick Scott is a dopey MFer okay where he's like I'm gonna I'm gonna attack the

poor. I mean, isn't that a winning political strategy? It's actually miraculous that he's gotten this far in his political career, considering how incredibly stupid he is. With that said, though, Mitch McConnell's like, we can rob him, but can we just rob them in a smart way where it's like covert, it's not so out in the open? Yeah, and we'll get all the cable anchor or news anchors to agree with us and call it bipartisan. Instead, you're giving away the game here, right? And so look, to be fair to Rick Scott, he's a blunt instrument and it's worked this throughout his life. So when he was the CEO Columbia HCA,

they did the largest Medicare and Medicaid fraud in American history. They were convicted for it. They had to pay a $1.7 billion fine, which means that they actually made more than that. And you could tell they made more than that because they paid Rick Scott, the criminal who did that largest fraud in American history,

they paid him $300 million. So Rick Scott, to be fair to him says, look, I robbed American taxpayers. Literally, I did the largest robbery of the American taxpayer at that the country had ever seen at that point. And I got paid $300 million for it. There was no consequences. I just became stinking rich.

Yep. And because there's no rule of law. The rich can do anything in America. And then he said, on top of that, I ran for governor twice. I ran for the Senate and these idiot Democrats couldn't beat me. I'm one of the biggest criminals in American history. And the Democrats had no chance of beating me. I beat them silly each time.

Every time I see Rick Scott, by the way, I think that's a walking poster for the failure of the Democratic Party. I mean, they could, I- How do you not find an effective way of messaging to the American people that this man committed this, just, he just stole. He stole from U.S. taxpayers. Like, how do you not make that abundantly clear to voters? They're just so, they're terrible at all of this. So to be fair to Rick Scott, he might be very. You're right, he might be telling McConnell, you're being too subtle. Just go, steal the goddamn money, put it in our pockets.

I've done it before, that's how I got to be the, I think he's the richest guy in the Senate. Oh my God. So look at that lower third, out with the old, in with the new. Oh, it's amazing. Let me just explain to you guys what the new strategy actually is among the Republicans. It's a lie, but it's the, you know, phony right wing populism. the rhetoric implying that they understand the economic frustrations that Americans are feeling. But their solutions are basically to continue doing what they've been doing

when it comes to their economic policy, but really doubling down on the ethno-nationalism, right? Ensuring that we close our borders, don't allow any person of color to come in, that's really what their solutions are. I mean, just listen to Tucker Carlson. I think he's pretty transparent about that. Now, with that, And that said, after Rick Scott had run away, minority leader Mitch McConnell did decide to slap down the policy that's being proposed by Rick Scott. And pay close attention to what he says here because it goes beyond raising taxes on low income earners. Let's watch.

And let me tell you what would not be a part of our agenda. We will not have as part of our agenda a bill that raises taxes on half the American people and sunsets, Social Security, and Medicare within five years. That will not be part of a Republican Senate majority agenda. I love the people behind Mitch McConnell, because as he says that, there's a lot of like, really? Are you really saying this? Because he doesn't, look, Mitch McConnell would love nothing more than to allow for Social Security and Medicare to essentially go away, to to sunset.

And the way that that happens is by ensuring that you cut the funding to those programs, by refusing to rework our tax system to ensure that wealthy people pay their fair share. Remember, Rick Scott is not focusing on the billionaires who are evading their taxes. He's focusing on the large percent of Americans who live paycheck to paycheck, who are below the poverty line, who don't pay federal income tax because they don't have the means to pay federal income tax. That's who they're targeting. So if you don't fix the injustice within our tax system and ensure that the tax evaders at the very top pay their taxes, what happens to the social spending programs that we do have?

Now this is sick, man. I don't know how long we can continue this without some sort of rebellion because the Republicans just did a two trillion dollar tax cut for the richest people in the country when Trump was in office. Now they're turning around and half of them are saying, since we lost all that revenue because we let the rich take everything, let's just get it from the bottom 50%. It's insane. Let's just hit them again and again and again. Let's take every dollar that they have and give it to the rich.

That's who the Republican Party is while they claim to be populist. What a joke, a party of the rich, buy the rich for the rich. Rick Scott is a perfect model for them, a guy who robbed American taxpayers. to get his ill-begotten gains and is now celebrated by Republicans as he attacks the poor and the middle class in this country. But as I see that, if Trump has ascended, Rick Scott will probably be the next leader of the Republicans in the Senate, and that'll be the end of Mitch McConnell. They'll say you were too subtle in your robbery. Just go through the front doors, rob all the money, they're not going to do a goddamn thing about it.

Besides which all of the media is in our back pocket, they'll tell them, oh, don't worry, The stock market's going up. The economy's doing great. All right. We are going to take a break. When we come back, we've got more news for you, including an update on the capital rioters. Turns out that the first person charged in the capital riots has been found guilty of all counts. We'll give you the details on that and more when we come 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. driving to Apple Podcasts at apple.co slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.