The Young Turks - Pander Bear

Episode Date: August 3, 2023

Latest Trump indictment triggers a MAGA Republican meltdown. Vivek in his 2022 book: "It was a dark day for democracy. The loser of the last election refused to concede the race, claimed the election was stolen, raised hundreds of millions of dollars from loyal supporters, and is running for executive office again." Trump's Co-consprirators exposed. Dems launch a new effort to shore up white voters by leaning into race. The White Stripe project is taking a more “data driven” approach to recapturing a bloc that has been lost to Democrats for years. HOST: Ana Kasparian (@AnaKasparian) SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE: ☞ https://www.youtube.com/user/theyoungturks FACEBOOK: ☞ https://www.facebook.com/theyoungturks TWITTER: ☞ https://www.twitter.com/theyoungturks INSTAGRAM: ☞ https://www.instagram.com/theyoungturks TIKTOK: ☞ https://www.tiktok.com/@theyoungturks 👕 Merch: https://shoptyt.com 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. Welcome to CYT. I'm your host Anna Kasparian and there's a lot to get to today. Many updates on the Trump indictment related to the investigation into January 6th and the attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. We're going to get to that in just a moment. We're also going to discuss Vivek Ramoswamy what he wrote in his book about the attempts to over overturn the 2020 election and what he's currently publicly saying and providing cover for Donald

Trump, why is he doing it? I'm gonna share my theory with you. Later in the hour, we're also going to talk about the United States credit rating being downgraded today. What does this mean for the country and the economy? We'll dive into those details. And we'll also discuss a new strategy, kind of, sort of, by one Democratic group in an attempt to garner support for the Biden administration among white voters without a college degree. You're going to love that. Can't wait to get to that story and more. And of course, in the second hour, John Ida Rola will be joining me to help cover the news.

We're going to lighten things up a little bit. But we also want to give you an important update on BP. It's insane earnings call, how much they've managed to increase profits as we're dealing with one of the hottest summer months in recorded U.S. history. Now with that said, I want to get started with the updates on the indictment, which of course broke news yesterday. Let's get right to it. It's really hard for me to take this seriously.

And I don't think any sensible American should take what's happening very seriously. They should anger them. But the actual charges you can't take seriously, their feelings masquerading as facts, their opinions trying to be passed off as crimes, it's garbage, dressed up with. with a legal fissaurus. Much like all the other conservative elite power players in corporate media, Greg Gutfeld is having a tough time accepting the fact that Donald Trump has been indicted for his alleged role in attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

He's providing cover for Trump, and he's also going further. This is a talking point that I've now seen by multiple people on the right, by essentially saying that this isn't really about the rule of law. This is a political witch hunt. And they're violating a constitutional right of former President Donald Trump by going forward with this indictment. If you don't know what I'm talking about, Greg Gutfeld's about to fill you in on what that talking point is. He has the First Amendment right to say the election was stolen. He can say that all over the country. He can say it all over TV. He has a right to file lawsuit after lawsuit claiming that the election was stolen and tried to stop the certification.

However, where he got in trouble is when they assembled these electors in the various states, after Joe Biden had been declared the winner by the secretaries of state or by the governors, had them sign a certification saying, we are the duly elected and duly certified electors. That's where he's going to argue there was no good faith basis. That's where he's going to say the fraud took place. If I can make an analogy, right, I can come on your show. I can say, I'm Elon Musk's long-lost son, and I'm entitled to inherit all of his billions and millions of dollars when he dies. That was the wrong video. That was my fault. Let's go to the next video featuring the rest of Gutfeld's commentary.

Criminalizing thoughts and it's criminalizing speech. You have every right to think an election might be rigged or fixed. I mean, is every institution perfect? We is, I mean, what if we criminalize the idea that if you said the justice system was flawed? But if we told you that, you know what? You're saying the justice system is rigged? you're going to jail. But that's been a common refrain. So I think it's amazing to me how hatred for Trump has turned the haters into what they claim to condemn. So he's claiming that this is a violation of Trump's First Amendment right. He's arguing that the reason why Trump is being prosecuted, the reason why he was indicted in this case is because he was saying that the election was rigged.

He was saying that there was widespread voter fraud, even though there was no evidence of it whatsoever, even though Trump lost dozens of court cases, even with Trump appointed judges overseeing those cases. But it's not about what Trump said. It's about what Trump did. In fact, if you look at the indictment, if you read the indictment, if Greg Gutfeld even bothered to do so, he would note that on the second page of the indictment, it reads as follows. The defendant had a right, like every American to speak publicly about the election and even to claim falsely that there had been outcome determinative fraud during the election and that he had won. It continues to say, again, this is the exact wording in the indictment. He was also entitled to formally challenge

the results of the election through lawful and appropriate means, such as by seeking recounts or audits of the popular vote in states or filing lawsuits challenging ballots and procedures. Indeed, in many cases, the defendant did pursue these methods of contesting the election results. His efforts to change the outcome in any state through recounts, audits, or legal challenges were uniformly unsuccessful. In fact, Fox News invited a legal expert on their show, specifically to lay this out, and here's what he had to say. He has the First Amendment right to say the election was stolen. He can say that all over the country.

He can say it all over TV. He has a right to file lawsuit after lawsuit, claiming that the election was stolen and try to stop the certification. However, where he got in trouble is when they assembled these electors in the various states after Joe Biden had been declared the winner by the secretaries of state or by the governors, had them sign a certification saying we are the duly elected and duly certified electors. That's where he's going to argue there was no good faith basis. That's where he's going to say the fraud took place. If I can make an analogy, right? I could come on your show.

I can say I'm Elon Musk's long-lost son and I'm entitled to inherit all of his billions and billions of dollars when he dies. I can say that all over the country even though it's false, even though it's stupid, right? But it's First Amendment. Your First Amendment, exactly. But if after Elon Musk passes away, I walk into probate court, hand up a document that says, hey, this is Elon Musk's will. And I know it's not his will. And it says, I'm his son. And I say, I get all his billions of dollars. Guess what? Then I've committed fraud. that I've committed forgery, that I've maybe done an attempted grand larceny. And Jack Smith is going to make the argument that that's where they were not acting in good faith.

I guess Greg Gutfeld totally missed that message from a legal analyst who appeared on his own network. But see, look, I want to just take a step back for a second and comment on something a little broader. When you hear Trump supporters at various Trump rallies repeat over and over again that they don't believe Trump did anything wrong, that it's nothing more more than a witch hunt, that this is nothing more than a political, you know, attempt to destroy his chances of running for reelection again. Just understand where they're getting that messaging from. Understand that they are in this propaganda bubble that consistently provides cover for Donald Trump and his alleged criminality. Okay, that is a huge problem in the country right now, it is what is leading to deep divisions. It is leading to delusions. And I'm not going to

sit here and pretend like there aren't delusions on the left as well. But when it comes to providing cover for Donald Trump, I will say there's a lot more extreme messaging happening in right wing media. I mean, to the point where people can literally sit there and watch a riot take place in the nation's capital and convince themselves the people behind it are either Antifa or their FBI agents or whatever the conspiracy theory, Newsmax, OAN, Fox News throw out there. Now, with that said, I do want to get into what Trump was indicted for because clearly he wasn't indicted for his speech. He was indicted for his actions. For instance, he was indicted on one count for conspiracy to defraud the United States.

And this is, of course, related to the various methods he and his co-conspirators used to try to overturn the results of the election, like, you know, trying to install fake electors. And by the way, those fake electors signed documents arguing that they were the actual electors who had the right to hand over the states that they represented to Trump when in reality those states voted overwhelmingly for Joe Biden. But there's more. That was just one of the counts, one of the four counts. He also was charged with two counts related to effort to obstruct the vote certification proceedings on January 6th, which Jesse Waters seems to agree that Trump did, because according to him, isn't this what the GOP is supposed to do?

Let's watch. First point, they said the defendant impaired the federal government from functioning. Isn't that literally the Republican Party platform to reduce the ability of the federal government from functioning? Oh, is it? So guilty, I guess. But Jesse Waters and his dofist commentary aside, let's take a look at what Trump actually did as the, you know, votes were being certified or at least his vice president was attempting to certify those electoral votes. So reports indicate that Kevin McCarthy literally called Donald Trump as this riot was taking place, urging him to do something about it. Please. send out a message, send out a tweet. Please calm the situation down. And apparently Trump was unwilling to do so. He went back to the White House, sat his ass down, and enjoyed what he was seeing on television. In fact, it took him 187 minutes to put out a tweet urging people to

stop. Something to keep in mind. Now, he's also charged with one count of conspiracy to violate civil rights, and that part of the indictment is related to Trump's attempts to reverse election results in swing states, probably swing states like Georgia. Remember, he gave a call to the Secretary of State in Georgia, Brad Rathensberger, and he had a very direct message for him. Let's listen. So look, all I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780,000. votes, which is one more that we have because we won the state. But you didn't win the state and telling the secretary of state to find just the right number of votes for you so you can flip Georgia from voting for Biden to voting for Trump, voting for him,

is obviously, you know, attempting to overturn the will of the people in Georgia, attempting to essentially go against what the majority of voters in that state wanted, which was not Donald Trump, it was Joe Biden. And look, this is not my attempt to talk about what a wonderful president Joe Biden is, right? Just like most elections, we had two pretty awful people to choose from. But the electoral process is what it is. And to undermine that and to attempt to steal the election to remain in power is absolutely wrong. While it's a sad moment, I think, in United States history to see a former president get charged

in all these different investigations, and especially in this particular case where you attempt to steal the election, overturn the results of the election, it is important to make sure that people get a clear message here, that this kind of behavior is unacceptable, and that no one should try to do something like this again. If there are no consequences, that sends a loud message to, you know, future presidents who maybe get tempted by wanting to stay in power and don't want to engage in a peaceful transition of power. That's why this is important. Look, I don't care about Trump at all, right? Personally, like he can go away.

He can continue giving his ridiculous speeches, whatever. It's not about him, okay? It's about the message it sends to allow a former president to essentially do what Trump did. And it didn't work the first time. But if there are no consequences, who's to say that a sitting president won't try it again in the future? That is the problem here. Now, in a prepared statement, the Trump campaign, well, told the American people just how upset Trump really is about all of this, which is unsurprising. But of course, his wording here in this statement is beyond the pale.

I want to read it to you. He says that the lawlessness of these persecutions of President Trump and his supporters is reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. The former Soviet Union and other authoritarian dictatorial regimes, President Trump has always followed the law and the Constitution with advice from many highly accomplished attorneys. Yeah, those highly accomplished attorneys that they're referring to in that statement. They're listed as the co-conspirators in the indictment. Now, they're unnamed in the indictment, but their identities have been revealed through some investigative reporting, and we'll get to that a little later in the show. But the idea that holding Donald Trump accountable, following his attempts to overturn

the election, to essentially go against the will of the American people, to essentially throw away what the American people wanted. To compare that to Nazi Germany is insane to me. In fact, the only person in this entire scenario who salivates over the idea of a dictatorial regime is Donald Trump himself. That is what dictators do. They throw democracy out the window and they just rule over people regardless of what they want. Your voice doesn't matter, your vote doesn't matter. For Donald Trump, the only person who matters, and this is abundantly clear in so many of his actions, is Donald Trump, that's all he cares about. And the fact that you have all of these pathetic, want to be strong men surrounding him, knowing full well what he did,

but still providing cover for him, really makes me question. Do these Republican politicians really have a leg to stand on when they sit there and try to pretend as though there's a masculinity crisis in America because of the feminists? because honestly, what kind of man will provide cover for someone who has no problem taking our constitution, taking our electoral process, and throwing it out the window? I don't want to hear a word about masculinity or strength from another one of these Republican politicians, again, period. Now, I want to go to some other people who have provided cover for Donald Trump and

they're women, okay, got to be, got to be fair here. Let's go to the failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate, Carrie Lake, who never misses an opportunity to kiss his ass. She says, this is the most egregious case of election interference in the history of our country. This is a battle that a unified Republican, I'm guessing, yeah, unified Republican Party must fight. Otherwise, we will lose this country forever. That is why I am calling on all Republican candidates for president to a meeting. suddenly suspend their campaigns, stop wasting hard-earned donor money, and rally around our nominee, President Donald J. Trump.

Yeah. Why don't we just hand this guy the nomination for president, and everyone else, sit down, make sure that you provide a path for victory where Trump doesn't even have to compete in the Republican primaries. And we need to do this because he tried to owe. overturned the election and is now being held accountable for it. And we're mad. And so let's make his life easier by basically pressuring every other Republican candidate to sit down and drop out.

And also, I mean, let's just go back to that graphic because when she says we will lose this country forever, I just want you to ask yourself, what makes America great? Is it allowing for someone to just rule over us and go against the will of the American people? Or is it the fact that we are a democracy that allows for people to vote for their preferred representatives, whether it's on a local level, state level, or federal level? What makes this country great is that we have a say in who our leadership ends up being. Yes, it is flawed. Yes, there need to be improvements. But the idea that we would lose our country by allowing Donald Trump to essentially serve as dictator of the United States.

If we don't allow him to serve as dictator of the United States, it's so incredibly ridiculous. But look, I think that this is yet another example of one of the biggest problems in America, where all of us are conditioned to think that the most important person on the planet is us, me, you, whatever. Carrie Lake is doing this for Carrie Lake. Carrie Lake sees this as somehow politically advantageous. She thinks that Trump has a good chance of winning the nomination. She thinks Trump has a good chance of beating Joe Biden.

Unfortunately, I hate to admit this. I think there might be some truth to that. And she's hoping that Trump picks her as VP. Carrie Lake is looking out for Carrie Lake. Carrie Lake doesn't give a damn about Donald Trump. All of these Republicans providing cover for Trump, they all hate him. Every single one of them at different times in the past have been caught either on camera or in writing saying horrible things about Donald Trump.

But they're afraid of his base, they're afraid of losing their political positions. They're afraid of never getting reelected again if they actually speak their minds. and speak the truth. So in other words, they're willing to sell out the American people, they're willing to sell out our democratic process in order to provide cover for Trump because it is advantageous to their political careers. And finally, let's go to Marjorie Green, who wants us all to believe that this indictment is really an insult to Donald Trump supporters.

This isn't just an indictment against President Trump, but against all his supporters and the fundamental rights of Americans. If an innocent former president can be targeted, then no American is truly safe. President Trump is just standing in the way. Now, I see Marjorie Green as a little different from the others, because she might be dumb enough to actually believe that, genuinely. I mean, just listen to her talk about anything. So she might be one of the ones who actually believes what she's saying. But you want to know who doesn't believe what he's saying, how Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who after the January 6th Capitol riots gave a floor speech, a loud aggressive one, something that you don't see for McCarthy too often, where he condemned Donald Trump's

role in inciting the riot that took place. He pointed to Trump, made sure that everyone knew that he felt that Trump was responsible, and then soon after that, ran over to Mar-a-Lago to kiss his ring and apologize. Now, what did he have to say about this latest indictment? Let's watch that and how former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reacted to it. The current Speaker of the House, your successor, Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy, he responded to the latest indictment by posting on the social media site formerly known as Twitter, quote, House Republicans will continue to uncover the truth about. One of the hardest parts of getting older is feeling like something's

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They saw the danger, the danger that we were in. They saw the lack of response from the President for not sending the National Guard, which we pleaded for him, pleaded for him, and Chuck Schumer and I kept pleading with him also to call off his troops, but to send in the National Guard. They saw that. They saw the danger. They made statements about it that recognized the involvement of President Trump. And then they all, so many of them, majority of them in the House voted to not to reject the peaceful transfer of government. She's right about that. So Kevin McCarthy and all these other Republican law, Lindsay Graham is another example in the Senate. I mean, they had absolutely no problem, condemning Trump immediately following the riots that took place on January 6th.

But then once they realized, oh, Trump's base, they're mad. And I'm scared. They turned around, reversed their commentary, and pretended like Trump did nothing wrong. Listen, I want you guys to understand, if Donald Trump were a Democrat, or let's just say it was Barack Obama who tried to pull the same stunt that Donald Trump did, I would call for the same prosecution. Because this isn't partisan for me, and I wish it weren't partisan for others. This is about protecting what we have left of our democratic process. This is about protecting the one area at the moment where Americans have a voice

and have some say in the leadership that governs this country. If you don't care about that and you don't value that, then I just suggest that you take a look at what authoritarian regimes look like and what it's like to live under one. Because the idea that one man can reverse the will of the American people and force his way into power is unacceptable to me. And it should be unacceptable to everyone else. We got to take a break. We'll be right back. Welcome back to the show, everyone, Anna Casparian with you. Let's get to our next story. We do not want to become a country where the party in power is able to use banana

a republic-like tactics to eliminate its political opponents, yet I'm sad to say that's exactly where we are. The allegations in this indictment fall flat. It is wrong and incorrect and inaccurate to place blame for what happened on January 6th at the feet of Donald Trump. Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramoswamy, who is of course running against Donald Trump in that Republican primary, is going out of his way to defend. his primary opponent following news of the latest Trump indictments having to do with Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Now, Ramoswamy is having a bit of a moment. He's noticing a rise in the polls, and it might be because of the fact that people have kind

of soured on Florida governor Ron DeSantis. And I think that his attempt to appeal to the MAGA crowd here by defending Trump is done specifically as part of his electoral strategy. I'm going to give you more on that in just a second. But first, why don't we take a listen to the rest of that video? And then I'm going to tell you what Ramoswami actually had to say about Trump in his book. I would not have made the same judgments that Donald Trump did in how he handled that day. But that's different from saying that he committed a crime. He did not. He specifically told the protesters that day to behave peacefully. The First Amendment in this country gives political protesters the ability to express

themselves and their opinions freely. Donald Trump was not responsible for what happened on January 6th. You want to know what was responsible? I said this in the days after January 6th, 2021, just as I say it today, systematic, pervasive censorship in this country. Censorship? Censorship. He said censorship. Yeah, it's censorship that persuaded a group of violent, like a group of violent MAGA guys to show up at the Capitol and do the riot that they all engaged in. It was censorship that persuaded Trump and the lawyers surrounding him in his campaign to try to implement a slate of foe electors to essentially overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. It was censorship? Look, Vivek Ramoswamy is actually a very smart guy, okay?

He's not stupid. He is incredibly accomplished for his age. He's actually the same age as me, 37 years old. He's not dumb. He knows what actually happened that day, and he knows the crimes that Donald Trump was involved in. How do I know? Because he wrote about it in his book. He published a book in 2022 titled Nation of Victims, Identity Politics, The Death of Merit, and the Path Back to Excellence.

And in it, he talks about Donald Trump's refusal to engage in a peaceful transition of power. I'm going to read you a few excerpts. It was a dark day for democracy. The loser of the last election refused to concede the race, claim that the election was stolen, raise hundreds of millions of dollars from loyal supporters, and is considering running for executive office again. When my candidate lost the election, I was dissatisfied,

but I also felt a sense of peace. The election was done, and it was time to move on. No one likes a sore loser. That's one of the worst victimhood complexes of all. Accepting the outcomes of elections and having a peaceful transition of power is part of what it means to be a constitutional republic. Further, he writes, I was especially disappointed when I saw President Trump claim voter fraud. He filed scores of lawsuits over various claims of fraud, as was his right. But they were nowhere close to changing the outcome of a single state, let alone swing states whose results he needed to overturn.

I'm almost done. I'll read you one more excerpt from his book here, where he also argues that of the 62 lawsuits, he and his supporters filed, he lost all but one, a minor victory in Pennsylvania that affected few votes. The Supreme Court with a strong conservative majority ruled against President Trump twice. So what is Ramoswami up to? I mean, he writes this in his book, he's pretty clear, he sees the situation through a pretty sober lens. But then he goes out of his way following word of Trump's indictment to essentially provide cover for Trump and pretend as though Trump did nothing wrong. He did nothing wrong. In fact, the riot that ensued was because of the lack of freedom of expression, everyone. That's what it was about.

Yeah, what you're seeing there? It must have been because of the New York Post article being censored on Twitter. I'm sure that's what caused it. Which, by the way, you know, after finding out that there was actually a lot of accuracy to that piece, Twitter absolutely should not have censored it. But that's beside the point. The argument that the riot happened because people were frustrated. over the inability to express themselves in a country that has a First Amendment and they're

allowed to express themselves. I mean, we can't stop listening to what they have to say about the election. It's incessant, it's endless, whether they want to express it on social media, whether they want to express it through conservative media, it's all over the place. Who is trying to go after their freedom of expression? And if you don't like the censorship on privately owned platforms, well, then let's have a conversation about what we do about that. But the idea that Trump did nothing wrong, which is the point that Vivek Ramoswamy is trying to get to, is insane to me. And he knows it's insane.

But in my opinion, this is part of his strategy. I believe that he is under the impression that should Trump either drop out of the race because of the fact that he's got mounting legal issues, I mean, he has now been indicted criminally in three different cases, he's probably hoping hoping, well, if Trump's gone, I want to make sure I can scoop up that MAGA crowd. Maybe they'll vote for me. And he is experiencing a little bit of a rise in the polls. I mean, he's nowhere near even second place at this point. He's a distant third. But that's what he's doing here. And that's what drives me crazy about where we are as a country, where an individual's personal ambition matters way more than the damage that they are doing

to the country. And also the damage they're doing by spreading a false narrative that unfortunately people believe they buy into. And that kind of disinformation, that kind of propaganda leads to the kind of violence that we saw in January 6th, riling people up and making them think that this is a gross injustice when in reality there is obviously clearly evidence implicating Trump in what he did here. It's just wrong. And so for those who know what the evidence is and they're spreading the lies because it's either appealing to their audience and in conservative media or because they're trying to pander to the MAGA crowd. Like, is it really worth it? I don't, I just, I don't understand it. I really, really

don't. But this is, in my opinion, what Ramoswamy is up to. And it really is a shame. I mean, this is the guy who wants to raise the voting age from 18 to 25. I mean, he's out there, like, spouting off about how he wants to make it even more difficult for Americans to vote. I guess that's what his values are, I don't know. But rather than actually finding a way to be appealing to people, giving people hope, expressing how it is that he would be a better candidate than someone like Donald Trump, he's providing the cover, probably secretly hoping that he does end up dropping out of the race so he can benefit from it by appealing to his supporters, Trump supporters specifically.

But I would suggest that Trump supporters avoid falling for the garbage because that's all it is. Read his book. You don't have to read his book. Watch this video, read the excerpts. That's what he really thinks about Trump. And he was right in his book. So ask yourselves if you happen to be a conservative watching this show right now, a Trump supporter watching the show right now. Why would you allow yourself to be lied to either by Trump or Ramoswamy?

And why would you value a single person, Donald Trump, more than what this country is supposed to stand for and more than our democratic process? It just doesn't make sense to me. Would you want to live under authoritarian rule? Would you want to live under a dictator? Do you want to throw our democratic process out the window? And if you think that you wouldn't be doing that by supporting Trump and what he has done up until this point, you would be mistaken.

Please, I'm begging you, get out of that bubble. Try to consume media that has perspectives that differ from your own. Because we can't keep going in the direction we're going in. It is not healthy. And I'm worried about where we're going to end up if we keep going in this direction. Now I wanted to share some other news with you, including who the co-conspirators are. There were six co-conspirators listed in the indictment. However, they were unnamed and they're unindicted at the moment.

So let's talk a little bit about that. Various media outlets, including ABC News and CNN, were able to identify five out of the six co-conspirators that were mentioned in the criminal indictment of Donald Trump. Now, that indictment had to do with Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. And while the co-conspirators were unnamed and unindicted in this indictment, we do have some details about who they are, and some of our suspicions have been confirmed. So co-conspirator number one is apparently Rudy Giuliani, which is unsurprising to me. So the indictment describes this conspirator as an attorney who was willing to spread knowingly false claims and pursue strategies that the defendant's 2020 re-election campaign attorneys would not.

And specifically, the indictment says it was Trump and this particular co-conspirator who called Speaker of the House Rusty Bowers to ask him to use the legislature to circumvent the process. regarding fake electors, in the conversation this conspirator, Giuliani, said something to the effect of we don't have the evidence, but we have lots of theories. Bowers has publicly recounted this conversation in his testimony to the House's January 6th committee and named Rudy Giuliani as the individual who said this. So that's the reason why the press through investigating this has determined. that co-conspirator one is, in fact, Rudy Giuliani. Now, the second co-conspirator is John Eastman, another one of these wacky Trump campaign

lawyers who wanted to overturn the election, or at least assist Trump in overturning the election with a scheme. Now, the indictment describes this conspirator as an attorney who devised and attempted to implement a strategy to leverage the vice president's ceremonial role, overseeing the certification proceeding to obstruct the certification of the presidential election. So in one specific instance of the indictment, it alleges that Trump and this co-conspirator called the chairwoman of the RNC to ensure that the plan was in motion and that during the call, this co-conspirator told her that it was important for the RNC to help the defendants

campaign gather elections in targeted states and falsely represented to her. that such electors votes would be used only if ongoing litigation in one of the states changed the results of the defendant, in the defendant's favor, okay? So in her testimony before the January 6 committee investigating January 6th, RNC chairwoman, Rona McDaniel made it clear that the person, the co-conspirator who's listed here, was John Eastman. And so he turned the call over, so she had said during her testimony, Trump had called her, called her, and he turned the call over to Mr. Eastman, who then proceeded to talk about the importance of helping the campaign gather these contingent electors in case any of the legal challenges that were ongoing

changed the results of any states. The third co-conspirator, do I really need to tell you? Sydney Powell. So the indictment describes this co-conspirator as an attorney whose unfounded claims of election fraud. The defendant privately acknowledged to others sounded crazy. It continues. Nonetheless, the defendant embraced and publicly amplified co-conspirator 3's disinformation. The indictment continues. And according to the January 6 committee's final report, Hope Hicks testified that Trump and Powell spoke by phone after a press conference, during which she She repeated the same claims of foreign interference in the election she had made at the press conference. And during that call, according to the report, Trump muted his speakerphone and laughed at Powell and told people in the room, this does sound crazy, doesn't it?

It didn't stop him from using her claims to bolster his allegation that the election was stolen from him and that there was widespread voter fraud. Nonetheless, co-conspirator number four is Jeffrey Clark. The indictment describes this co-conspirator as a Justice Department official who worked on civil matters and who, with the defendant, attempted to use the Justice Department to open sham election crime investigations and influence state legislatures with knowingly false claims of election fraud. And finally, the fifth co-conspirator that was named, well, was not named, but reporters. have been able to name him by gathering all the details and looking at the clues that were listed in the indictment is Kenneth Chesabro. So the indictment describes this co-conspirator as an attorney who assisted in devising and attempting to implement a plan to submit fraudulent slates of presidential electors to obstruct the certification proceeding. The final thing I'll say

about this is it's very clear that the investigation done by the January 6th select committee was really important and was utilized in this indictment, right? So all of the evidence that was unearthed from that committee's investigation has led to this indictment. So in In December of last year, that committee did refer criminal charge recommendations to the DOJ, and that's how we ended up where we are today, right? So all of that testimony very clearly was used, and it's unclear whether these individuals, these co-conspirators will be indicted in the future. If I had to bet my money on it, they are likely to be indicted.

It is also possible that Trump could face additional counts in this case. We'll see how that plays out. But for now, that's what we know of the five out of six co-conspirators. The six co-conspirator, we are still unable to identify. But I think it's important for you all to know about all the different players involved. It is unsurprising to me that Trump's weird campaign lawyers were involved in this, including, I think I think the craziest part about this is that you have a Justice Department official implicated here as well, and that's Jeffrey Clark.

So there you have it. Those are the co-conspirators. Obviously, we'll fill you all in on more regarding this story. Trump is expected to be arraigned tomorrow. So I'm sure there will be some reporting on that as well. For now, though, we're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, we'll talk a little bit about what the Democratic Party is planning to do to attract.

White voters without a college degree, the Republican Party has captured that demographic. What are Democrats planning to do to recapture them? That more coming up. Back to the show, I'm Anna Casparian, and I want to talk about something a little different from what we've been discussing in the first hour so far, because as the election is heating up, there are some Democrats who are trying to find ways to appeal to white voters without a college degree. How do they plan on doing it? Well, let's talk about it. Democrats and one particular Democratic organization is launching what they're referring to as a data-driven effort to recapture white voters who have stopped supporting the party for the past few years.

Well, actually, for several years now. Now, how do they plan to do it? By leaning into more talk about equity and race. Now, organizers say traditional methods. in wooing white voters are ineffective, often relying on knee-jerk recommendations from an elite group of Democrats that pushes a race-neutral economic message. White-stripe organizers, that's the name of the organization here, say this approach is misguided. They are calling for a more targeted and data-driven approach that they argue will be a better return on investment. Now, before I continue,

I really want to make a clear distinction here, okay? Because what this organization, white stripe, is trying to do is specifically attract white voters who do not have college degrees, okay? They have flocked over to the right and the Democratic Party really believes, you know what, we can get them back, we can get them back. Now, Aaron Haney, who serves as the executive director of this organization, showing up for racial justice is the name of it, says courting white voters is critical if the Democrats want to win. And that makes sense. I mean, they're the majority of the population. She says that white voters

have disproportionate political power. She told organizers and remarks during the Monday afternoon launch of the project. We need a strategy for engaging and organizing them alongside communities of color. Now, I don't think that's an impossible thing to do. I think you can totally do that. It's just the strategy they want to implement here. And to be quite honest, they're not very specific about how they intend on implementing the strategy. I just don't think is going to work. Now, according to Politico, Democratic activists are frustrated with the party's efforts to specifically target white voters with college degrees. And to be sure, the Democratic Party has increasingly attracted upper class white voters. Over the last four election

cycles, for instance, white voters without college degrees have flocked to the right. Now, while Joe Biden performed better among the group of white voters without college degrees in 2020 compared to Hillary Clinton just four years earlier, Republicans still dominated. According to the Pew Research Center, Biden carried 33% of this block, while then-President Donald Trump carried 65%. But there's a caveat. The caveat, according to Pew, was that the vote total Trump carried with non-college educated whites was nearly identical to what he pulled in 2016. So let's pause and understand what that means. So the argument here is, all right, Trump had the same amount of support from white voters without a college degree

in 2020 as he did in 2016. Now Biden managed to increase his support among white voters. voters without a college degree, meaning that an increased number of white voters turned up to vote and they cast their ballots for Biden. So what they're trying to do here is encourage more of these voters who typically are non-voters to get out the vote and support Biden. Now the white stripe project thinks that these white voters are getable. And the way to attract them to the blue side of the aisle is to dive deeper into culture wars. That's literally what Steve Phillips, who's a longtime Democrat and a Democratic strategist, told Politico, he is described as a thought leader. Now, he says that far too often, Democrats and deep pocketed donors settle on narratives

about past elections that then inform future contests with little empirical data to back up those entrenched beliefs. Now get a load of this. One of those narratives, he said, and other activists say, is the notion among the donor class that a focus on racial issues should be abandoned in favor of a more race neutral message centered around the economy. What? Donors, you think donors are showing up to Democrats, offices and lobbying them to like focus on improving their material conditions. What? No, that's not what donors do. Donors like deregulation. They like they love their tax cuts. The last thing donors want is for our politicians to push for economic policies

that improve the material conditions of everyone. That would mean more. spending, which means more taxation and possibly more regulation. Now, Politico mentions that Phillips is the chair of the Sander Phillips Center. So I was curious about that organization, never heard anything about them. So I did a little bit of digging to figure out what the organization is all about. Since Politico reported that the people behind the project, Project White Stripe, are progressives. Well, the organization is chaired by Susan Sandler, who on the group's website is described. as follows. A philanthropist and political donor. She was the first and largest donor behind

the independent efforts to support Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. She was also the lead investor in the independent activities supporting Kamala Harris's 2010 campaign for California Attorney General and Cory Booker's 2013 election to the United States Senate. So look, in other words, she has been supportive of the type of neoliberal Democrats who have emphasized identitarian and cultural war politics in lieu of economic policy. Another person who thinks the White Stripe Project's electoral strategy is a good idea, though she's not part of it, is Liz Smith. Remember her? She was the senior advisor for Pete Buttigieg during the 2020 presidential election. But look, to her credit, she also knows.

that Democrats have been losing support among working class voters from all backgrounds. She says that Democrats have been underperforming generally with working class voters, whether they're white, Latino, or black. And that's an issue that we need to work on. But the solutions won't be found in turning our back on some of our most devoted voters. And I agree with her on that. Now, she's right. Economic conditions have hurt the Democrats. along with Latino voters. They have lost support among them. Let's take a look at what happened during the midterm elections. While Latinos lean Democrat and preferred Democratic control of Congress, support for the GOP is up 10 points over five midterm cycles. It's why some are calling

the Latino voter the sleeping giant. Republicans figured out how to connect with Latino voters culturally. This is not about policy. This is about people's view of the country. What are the things that, the issues that are on the minds of voters right now in this district? Inflation, gas prices, good jobs. Number one is like, la cosa tamoima. Things are really bad. Inflation, gas prices, good jobs. When people tell you who they are and what they want, you have to listen to them. just laid out for you right there. Now, the Associated Press reported in June that Democratic candidates won 57% of Hispanic voters during the, during last year's midterms.

A smaller percentage than the 63% of Hispanic voters Biden won in 2020 and the 66% of Hispanic voters supporting the party in 2018 when Democrats took control of the House, according to an Associated Press, vote cast a sweeping survey of the national electorate. Meanwhile, 39% of Hispanic voters backed Republicans last year, a tick up from the 35% who supported former President Donald Trump's reelection bid. And as we shared with you earlier this week, the Democrats are also experiencing less support among young black male voters as well. black voter turnout overall dropped by 10% in last year's midterms compared to 2018.

Now, Brittany Smith, who's the executive director of the Philadelphia-based black leadership pack, told the Washington Post that, quote, when you think about election cycle to election cycle, black voters have been telling us for a long time what matters. They want to put food on the table, a roof over their heads, send kids to good schools, live in neighborhoods that are safe. I don't think the issues are new. It's the way we talk about them and the way we're centering the voice of the people who live in these communities.

So look, considering how much the Democrats have hyper-focused on identitarianism and pro-corporate neoliberal policies, how exactly does the white stripe project think that using better data is going to make this failed tactic work in the future? It's like coming across a burning building and deciding that pouring more lighter fluid on it will put out the blaze, as long as you have some statistical data telling you that lighter fluid works. Now universal and race neutral economic policy would have broader appeal among the electorate. In fact, the Push for universal economic policies that emphasize the diversity of the working class is really the only way I see Democrats implementing a successful strategy here. Focusing on class does not mean that you abandon marginalized communities.

Class politics is the most intersectional type of politics in America. Marginalized communities are overrepresented in the lowest rungs of the socioeconomic ladder. black and Hispanic workers are disproportionately employed in minimum wage jobs. In fact, let's take a look at the numbers. So 31.3% of black workers and 30.7% of Hispanic workers would receive a raise if the minimum wage was raised to $15 per hour. If you want to compare that to white people, 18.4% of white American workers would also see a pay raise if the minimum wage was lifted.

Meaning that black and Hispanic Americans are disproportionately affected by these lower wages. But you get more support for a policy if it universally benefits people. If you try to sell something as a policy that only benefits one group based on what that one group's identity is, it's gonna be harder to pass it. You guys get what I'm saying. Now student loan debt relief. Another example, that would be a universal economic policy. policy, it's not based on race or gender, right? It benefits all borrowers. However, black borrowers are disproportionately burdened by student loan debt. As of 2019, a typical black student loan borrower will still owe 95% of loans 20 years after starting college compared to only

6% for a white borrower. Now, a single payer health care system would also be universal and marginalized communities stand to benefit from it the most. Look, I'm going to give you one example, and I think this is super important. Members of the transgender community who have chosen to transition will need medical attention for the rest of their lives, which is a path to financial hardship and bankruptcy given our broken health care system. On the other hand, identity politics, which highlights our immutable differences and front loads these characteristics in democratic campaigning divides us. The culture wars distract from what binds us together as workers. It encourages members of different races, sexes, sexual identities, and religious beliefs to fight

for the scraps left behind by the elite who successfully pit us against one another. It conditions us to celebrate the tokenization of marginalized groups in government roles and corporate boards, knowing that these acts do little to improve the lives of anyone other than those symbols of false progress. And as the rich hoard even more wealth, the political left, in my opinion, delude themselves into thinking they're fighting for justice and equality. In reality, organizing labor becomes more difficult because we're all conditioned to think that our personal identity is the most important thing in the world. And that any of our peers who

disagree with us should be shamed and treated as outcasts. Apparently the Biden campaign, though, has caught on to how important it is to center economic messaging while also discussing how these politics benefit marginalized communities. Biden plans to visit Representative Marjorie Taylor Green's district in Georgia for the groundbreaking of a new solar facility. And he released a campaign ad using video of Green's own speech, talking about Biden-Bidenomics and comparing him to Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson. Joe Biden had the largest public investment in social infrastructure and environmental programs that is actually finishing what FDR started that LBJ expanded on. And Joe Biden is

attempting to complete programs to address education, medical care, urban problems, rural poverty, transportation, Medicare, Medicaid, labor unions. And he still is working on it. I just love that Marjorie Green listed those things as if they're unpopular. And she really thought She was taking some digs at Biden there. But good job for the Biden campaign, basically using that to their advantage. And look, honestly, I think comparing Biden to FDR or LBJ is kind of laughable. But at least he seems to understand how popular those presidents were. One of them created social security, the other Medicare.

These are two wildly popular and universal social programs that materially improved people's lives. that's how you win. We're going to take a break, but when we come back, John Ida Rola will be joining me for the second hour. We'll talk about the United States credit rating being downgraded and more. Don't miss it. We'll be right back.

Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work, listen to ad-free, access members, only bonus content, and more by subscribing to Apple Podcasts at Apple. dot co slash t yt i'm your host jank huger and i'll see you soon