The Young Turks - Part 1: Day 1 of 2020 DNC

Episode Date: October 8, 2020

Part 1: Cenk Uygur and John Iadarola breakdown day 1 of the 2020 DNC. Speakers: Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, Governor Andrew Cuomo, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Representative Jim Clyburn, Convention Chairman Representative Bennie Thompson, Representative Gwen Moore, Former Governor John Kasich, Senator Doug Jones, Senator Amy Klobuchar, and Former First Lady Michelle Obama 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. All right, well, the Young Turks coverage of the Democratic National Convention, Jake Huber, John and I'd roll out with you guys on the first night. John, how you doing, brother? I'm good, excited for the DNC. You know, anything could happen. It's bad. Jake, do you remember the DNC four years ago?

Yeah, of course. I mean, obviously it wasn't the DNC we wanted that year either, but it was this exciting event, we were in person, there was so much, we were anxious to see what was going to happen. This feels weird. I'm definitely excited for some of the speakers, I mean, Bernie Sanders, obviously, but it just, it feels so weird, like how everything else in 2020 is, it feels like a dark, twisted, mirror version of itself. Yeah. No, you said this a long time ago, John, and you're totally right. We're in one giant black mirror episode. Yeah. And it's even the speaker lineup is a dark mirror.

It's like you'd think it would be Democrats, but it's not. What's happening? Yeah, so let me just say one thing quickly, and then I want to see if there's any speakers up, because that's what we're mainly going to do play-by-play analysis of all the speakers tonight. So I think they're starting with four Republicans in a row. At the at the Democratic convention. You didn't hear that wrong, okay? And Bernie is tonight, Michelle Obama is tonight, Amy Klobuchar is tonight. I always love the Amy Klobuchar.

But we'll also talk about the different context for all of these speakers, but also what positions they might get in the Biden administration. So I'll break the suspense for you, Bernie, nothing. To be fair though, he didn't ask for a position. We'll explain the nuance of that too. But first, Asher, who is producing this for us. I'm gonna talk to her every once in a while. You don't see her on air, it's okay.

I haven't lost my mind. There actually isn't Asher. I'm not talking to my natural friend. All right, anyway, Asher, have the speeches started? Yes, okay, so let's go right away to the speeches and we'll give commentary both throughout and in the middle. They know we are better than this. America is better than this.

And so we choose to act, inspired by the three sacred words that breathed life into our nation, we, the people. Hmm. I'm trying to figure out who this is. John, is that okay? Okay, I'm ready. I'm going to hear you. Okay, we ready? I think I learned this in middle school.

or fifth grade. Can I say this in Spanish? So should I read just this line or the whole thing? Just justice. Trade. That can be liberty. Liberty. Let's do this.

We the people. We the people. We the people. We the people. We the people. We the people of the United States. In order to form a more perfect union. Establish justice.

Insure domestic tranquility. Provide for the common defense. Promote the general welfare. And secure the blessings of liberty. To ourselves. And our past. and our posterity. Do ordain and establish this Constitution

for the United States of America. We the people. We the people. We the people. We the people. We the people. We the people. We the people.

We the people. We the people. We the people call the 48th quadrenial democratic national convention to order. to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God, indivisible with the liberty and justice for all.

Oh, beautiful, or spacious guys, forever wait of praise. I'll say, can you see? Why's the drawn to early light? What's so proudly we have At the twilight's last thing. Okay, let's bring that down a little bit.

This is our proverbial taking a knee as we start this convention. So I want to give you, take this moment to give you some context. Because normally in a convention, there's big breaks. But since this is all online, they're probably. There won't be any breaks, it'll go one after another after another. So it take moments like this to fill you in on what's happening. So if you've never seen a convention, this is like the over the top, patriotic, cornbally stuff that every convention does.

But you know what, Trump has been so mean, so horrible, so everything, that it was actually a tiny bit refreshing to see this propaganda in the beginning. I was like, oh yeah, America, I missed you. Yeah. Yeah, I think look, obviously everybody has a different tolerance for how much they want of this sort of thing. I would say I think mine is probably higher than some like lefties, maybe, but I think it's entirely dependent on who the event is rallied around. Like some of those singers are very cute and everything, but if they were singing and this was the RNC, I'd have

no interest in it. If it was Bernie's convention and it was like he'd gotten all these people progress this from around the country that we're singing this song, it's like yeah, you start to think about what's possible. I think we'd get fired up about that. But it's the mismatch between like the ceremony and the grandiosity and then what Biden actually represents the future, which is a much more restrained sort of thing. And so that mismatch makes me feel really uncomfortable watching these sorts of theatrics. Yeah, I want to say one more thing before they're done, and it looks like they're close to done. Look, the message is in who they feature, and there were a couple of good progressives in there, including Dolores Huerta, who also said

to me in my campaign, can I say that in Spanish? Addie Barkin and stuff, but most of it was mainstream guys, as expected. Let's go to the next speech or talk, whatever it is. Lord, we recognize that we are living in challenging times that call us to live up to the highest angels of our national character. As we confront the turbulent winds of a global pandemic, economic uncertainty, and civil discord, May your gracious hand lead us to the peaceful shores of love, justice, and civility. Help us, O Lord, to be ever mindful of the most vulnerable among us, from our golden generation to our youngest children,

from our immigrants, from our health care workers to our schoolteachers, give us a heart of compassion and grace. This nation, from Miami to Minneapolis and from Portland to El Paso, ask you to shepherd us to a hope-filled vision that does justice. Amala misericordia and walks humbly before you. I pray this in the matchless name of Jesus. Amen. Welcome to our convention across America.

We had hoped to gather in one place, but instead we figured out a safe and responsible way to come together to share our ideas and talk about the future of our country. And that's the kind of leadership we need right now. That's the kind of leadership that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will bring to the White House. Was I'm in favor of Latinos by having someone who's Latino give the prayer and say parts of it in Spanish, they're sending a message loud and clear. Obama sent a message loud and clear when he was elected by featuring Rick Warren,

who is a right wing evangelical preacher. His message was, I'm gonna get my ass kicked by Republicans for eight straight years and still reach out to them. And I'm serious, I mean, his message was I'm trying to reach out. And of course that didn't work, but that's the message he was trying to send with Rick Warren. And obviously, Biden is sending a message that I'm pro-Latino with the person giving the prayer. All right, let's go back to see what other messages there are in there. To begin with the simple kindness, we've been extending to each other a lot lately. We're going to check in with folks around the country and ask, how are you doing?

As many of you know, small businesses employ half of all U.S. workers. Tonight we have Scott. Scott, you are a small business owner from Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. These are real people. Small businesses have been hit so hard in this crisis, so many small businesses. How are you doing? How are you managing? Well, you know, it's been rough, you know, rough is a nice word to say it. My wife and I, 31 years ago, began our business. And quite honestly, over all these years, we've faced some adversity and challenges. But to be honest, nothing, nothing like we are today. We've literally had to reinvent our business. several times since the beginning of the year, just to stay afloat. And, you know, we, our revenue, for example, is off about 40%.

We have half of the employees that we had pre-COVID. And, you know, our customers are a little scared. Our employees are sometimes afraid to come to work because of the COVID. And to be honest with you, I'm just frustrated. I don't understand how we got here. We are the greatest nation in the world. And it just seems to me that maybe if we just came together on this one issue alone, maybe as Americans and being united, we can overcome.

Yeah. Thank you, Scott, for sharing your story. I'm sure many small business owners feel the same way that you're, you're feeling now. We wish you the best for you. That was super real. I'm curious if you keep going there if that's all they got from him. Let's see. 15 years old from West Orange, New Jersey.

She's a literary activist and author, and she is the founder of 1,000 Black Girl books. Marlon, I'm going to comment on people who are struggling with the changes due to COVID. How are you doing? I'm doing all right. You know, I feel better every day. I feel more hopeful. I thought this was going to be a few weeks at first where I would. wouldn't see my friends and I would just stick it out. But obviously as it's grown longer,

I really want to focus on activism and still spreading important messages, given the fact that I can't go out. So I started doing virtual readouts online, which has been so fun getting to interact and meet new kids and encourage and promote the joy that we can find in reading and in learning. It's also super fun to see teenagers like me going on social media and talking about social issues and injustices that they care about because sometimes you don't have that space in school. So I hope that a year from now, you know, we get to go back and be safe and be protected, we will still have these conversations and still have a new possibility in a new world. Yes, thank you so much, Marley. You were such an inspiration. I don't think I was doing

half of what you're doing at 15. And I love seeing how brave and creative your generation is to creating change. So thank you. Thank you so much for your work. Let's check in with Rick. Rick, you are a farmer from Volant, Pennsylvania. Your farm has been in your family for generations. What have the trade wars and the pandemic done to your family's life work? Well, first of all, I'd like to offer the Trump family our indulgence. Keep it real about that collar. He's got to get that collar under control.

And everybody in America knows it. I have so many things to say about these real folks. But let's keep hearing him and we'll come in and out. most probably what people can relate to mostly in agriculture is soy meat tariffs and then whenever you compound the effects of the COVID-19 virus nobody could have prevented that it's a shame where leadership misinformed the people like myself in the country on what was coming down the road you know my biggest my biggest concern is that if these trends continue with this type of leadership I will I will be the last generation farming this farm. Yeah, it's a scary thought, and I'm sure a lot of farmers feel the same way. You know, I don't have the answers, but past experiences is something doesn't work for you. It's time for a change. And that's why I'm supporting Joe Biden all the way.

Well, thank you so much. Rick, I couldn't agree with you more. You know, we need meaningful change and leadership that will support family farms like yours. So we wish you the best. Thank you for sharing your story. Finally, let's hear from Michelle, from my home state of Texas. Michelle, you are a school nurse and a mother in El Paso. How are you preparing for the new school year? Hi, Eva. Well, we've already started school, but it is a little challenging because every day,

something seems to change. We start one way, one day, and we have to change it the next day. And I know that right now it's kind of sad not to see the kiddos when we're back, but I know that that will change. We're going to have to adapt and persevere. But honestly, right now, all I can think about is keeping my kiddos safe. I know back in March, you know, we had them at home and we were doing okay, but now they're wanting us to take them back to school.

And it's a little scary with all the uprising and COVID cases. And so I just want to say that I am committed to take care of my family, my students, and all my staff at my school. I will do whatever it takes to ensure that we are all ready to go back to school safe and healthy. And I know that I am optimistic. to move forward with our life and Joe and Joe Biden will be the one to take us there. I just want to say for everyone to please remember to wash their hands and wear their mask because we're all in this together. Thank you Michelle. I think there's nothing more difficult

for us as moms to and to see our children suffer and so I think you're doing a great job of guiding them through this very difficult time and thank you for the work you do as a nurse. It's truly heroic. I really enjoyed talking to all of of you. I think I have one last question. Do you believe that change is coming? Do you believe that better days are ahead? Yes. Yes. Well, thank you for taking the time to speak with us and sharing your thoughts. You are the we and we the people and you are who this convention is about. In 1776, the Declaration of Independence, we hold these truths to be self-evident. These These words are the basis for the American creed, equality, equity, fairness, decency.

Okay, yeah, equality, equity, love it. Okay, so look, understand it's not unusual, conventions are one giant ads, that's all they are. In the old days, they used to have meaning, people would really get picked at the conventions. And my favorite thing in the world is when anchors pretend that's still real. And like in the old days, as in a couple of months ago, Chris Matthews would be like, I don't have to see what happens at the convention, okay, then you could happen at the commission. No, Chris, I got history. Nothing's going to happen at the convention. There's 0% chance that anything is going to change. In the old days, they'd be like,

oh, by the way, we changed vice presidents Tuesday afternoon, forgot to tell you guys. We had a vote. Not everybody was there, but anyway, that'll change the course of history when we replace Henry Walls with Harry Truman. Anyways, we did. that, that's the kind of stuff that would happen at conventions. And it was wild and woolly, and those votes mattered. And it was real. There was a real reason why they were convening. Now it's just four days of advertising. And so, but there are still messages in the ads. So the first four people you saw there were a diverse group. And so you had a Latina mom, You had an African-American kid, basically, a female African-American, and two white guys

who were frustrated going, oh, you know, man, I don't know, I feel like they're both Hillary Clinton voters. So the first guy's like, I fired half my staff 31 years ago, my wife and I almost got divorced. No, anyway, at least with the two middle-aged white guys, their stories were super real. They're like, no, no, no, you don't understand. I'm about to pull the trigger. Like, this is, we're in bad, bad shape. But there was no interaction. It was just kind of comical in its form. But the Republicans will be the same and worse. They won't bother with the same kind of gender profiles and racial

profiles. But if they do, they'll bring on black folks to yell at other black folks. And so we'll cover that next week and you'll see it then. So John, yes. Yeah, I would say in place of the real people, they'll they're just going to have Candace Owens and Diamond Silk and Ted Nugent. That's the real people that they're going to have. I don't know. So look, obviously you're right, it's an ad, it's propaganda. Of the forms that will come, I was more okay with this. Like they are real people, I'm sure that they're expressing what's really going on in their lives. So that's totally real. All those issues, we can totally have empathy for. I mean, as a cynic and as one who feels that progressives are being largely

pushed out of this convention, I'm sure there are other sorts of struggles that will not, You're not gonna have a regular person on to talk about how they lost their health insurance because we for some reason insist on health insurance being tied to employment. And Joe Biden, even after the experience of watching what's happened during the pandemic, isn't going to fundamentally challenge that. So those sorts of experiences that are true of millions of Americans are probably not going to be front and center. Yeah, of course, but you know, if you're watching cable news, they'll cut away the minute

they see non-famous people. They're like, oh, they're real, get away, go, go, go, go, go, go, get out. Go to Jake Tapper, go to Anderson Cooper, right? And look, I'm keeping it real. Sometimes we'll do that, especially in the videos, which are propaganda on top of propaganda. So when Joe Biden started talking about 1776, that's when we came in to do analysis rather than letting him drone on with that stuff. But, and it's kind of fitting that they have an actress, a Latina actress, who's kind of almost playing a news anchor here as she shepherds us through these events. So, so I want to be- She does a lot of like-

like celebrity adjacent activism type thing. Like this is not like a totally new thing for her. That's right. And to give Eva Longoria credit, she's, I think she's great at being an activist. And so I got nothing but love. I'm just noting like why bother with an anchor, we could do an actor that makes it look like it's a host of some sort. And that's, that's okay, I'm just keeping it real on what it is.

So I don't know if we've gotten to the Republicans yet, because they were the first First, celebrities, politicians that are supposed to speak are supposed to be Christine Whitman, former Republican governor of New Jersey. Then you've got Meg Whitman, Republican of California, Susan Malinari, and then John Kasich. So let's check back in to see where they are on that. Is there not? Okay, oh, it's a video, okay, all right, more diverse faces, diverse faces, 1776, Declaration

of Independence, Constitution, Bruce Springsteen, you just saw there, and moms, and et cetera. Okay, so good, America, Wisconsin, hey, that's a swing state by random chance. But anyway, yeah, so this is probably going to be a constant throughout tonight's coverage, but I am going to look at literally every use of time, every minute that in theory could have been given to double AOC speaking time tomorrow. Like you could have one Republican speak tonight. You could have given one of K6 minutes. And so every one of these videos, some of which are probably going to be fine. I just think could you cut 30 seconds from it, given her a full 90 seconds to make the case? Like you couldn't have couldn't have done that. Maybe Castro could have gotten 45 seconds

maybe. We had to argue to get Yang. So that's such a great point, John. So I Look at all of these videos. These videos are like two minutes, four minutes. And they're starting with, and I don't mind Republicans being in the DNC, especially in the Trump era. There is some case to be made, hey, this is crazy. Even if you're a Republican or an independent that leads a Republican, you shouldn't vote for a Republican in this case, because this is really mental and different.

So I get the logic of it, but you can't say you don't have time for AOC if your first four speakers are Republicans. Yeah. And yeah, honestly, random farmer Joe had more time than AOC, and they didn't ask him to be pre-recorded. Exactly, he got to do it live. And we know why. They're worried she'll say something they don't like. But anyway, it's not just AOC. I think that's the most egregious, especially considering how important she has been to the Democratic Party over the past few years and how she's obviously, like they seriously think that Pete Buttigieg is 6 to 15 times more likely to be the future of the Democratic Party than AOC, judging by the distribution of time. But it isn't just AOC, that that bothers me the most. Or for instance, the fact that Castro

is one of the only people who ran for president that seemingly isn't going to be speaking at this convention for some reason, maybe Beto. But also we're give Jamal Bowman a minute, give Corey Bush a minute. Like they're still in races, they could use the time, get a little bit of exposure, make sure that they win those races. And you have these dynamic younger candidates coming in, but they're gonna be focusing on older effectively has been Republican politicians. I get it, you want Kasich, even though he doesn't believe that women should have the right to choose, he hates unions and all of that stuff that the DNC used to attack him for. But cut out one of the other Republicans then and feature a few of your up-and-comers.

It's just so frustrating. They don't want people to watch clearly, like they're not interested in expanding their audience for this. What do you mean? Buttigieg and Mike Bloomberg are going to be riveting. So no, look, we're really fast on that, just super fast because somebody pointed out a tweet, like considering the protest movement that has been sweeping the country for literally months now, the idea that they would have Mike Bloomberg, the architect of stop and frisk speak,

but not Jamal Bowman, one of the people who was stopped and frisk under Mike Bloomberg. How read the room, read the country. Yeah, no, they read the room. The room is filled with donors. voted for Bloomberg. And so that's just the reality. Look, guys, if you think you're going to get analysis like this anywhere else, have added horse, but no one keeps it real like the Young Turks.

So if you appreciate that, t.yt.com slash go. So we could be healthy and sustainable and can give you coverage like this, where we tell you what's actually happening, the good, the bad, and the ugly. And there's plenty of good that'll happen at this convention. And later tonight, Bernie Sanders is going to speak. And my guess is he's a little harder to check than freshman congresswoman. So I'm looking forward to them, but they do check all their scripts. Understand that too.

There's nothing that goes on here that is not scripted. Now Bernie gets to write the script, then they probably offer revisions and edits, and probably for Bernie they offer less of those, otherwise they're gonna have trouble. And that's how these things get done. I mean, look, I don't want to assume that you all know all the things that are behind the scenes. Like on TV, they never tell you that they're all on prompters. The only person who I've seen that isn't on a prompter is Trump for better or for worse.

Trust me for worse, although if you see him on an importer, it's a mess. He's even worse than a prompter. I'm fairly sure that at the RNC back 2016 he was, his like I alone can fix its speech. I don't think that was, yeah. And no, we pointed out every time when he's on a prompair and when he's not. It's the easiest thing in the world is spot. But a lot of people don't know that, like a lot of people don't know that the talk show hosts are completely scripted on every talk show. So if you see someone on Jimmy Kimmel or something,

the producers went over in microscopic detail what they're going to say. It sounds like a casual conversation, but it isn't. And politics is very similar. So t.t.com, TRT.com slash go, if you can make that happen so we can make more of this happen for you guys. But let's dip back in and see if they've got any interesting going on. Family, friends, and even complete strangers. George had a given spirit, a spirit that has shown up on streets around our nation and around the world. People of all races, all ages, all genders, all backgrounds, peacefully protesting in the name of love and unity. It's a fitting legacy for our brother, but George should be alive today.

Brianna Taylor should be alive today. Armad Aubrey should be alive today. Eric Garner should be alive today. Stefan Clark or Tatiana Jefferson, Sandra Bland, they should all be alive today. So it's up to us to carry on the fight for justice. Our actions will be their legacies. We must always find ourselves in what John Lewis called good, trouble, but the names we do not know, the faces will never see those who can't mourn

because their murders didn't go viral. Please join me in a moment of silence to honor George and the many other souls we lost to hate and injustice. And when this moment ends, let's make sure we never stop saying their names. Thank you. Okay, this I can guarantee you, we are going to skip every song at the convention, at both conventions. No interest in any songs, okay? So I've never found them entertaining in the first place. I don't know why Jerome Bettis is playing drums. I don't know why. Anyway, I won't keep going. So that was George Floyd's family. That was a nice touch.

And it was touching. And I love the names that they called out and to say, we got to keep on fighting. Of course, Joe Biden has said that he does not believe in defunding the police at all. He even said we should give them more money. Okay, whether you think defund the police is a good slogan or not, the idea of giving these police departments more money is not productive. It's not helpful. So look, I'm going to keep it real on this front too. In a sense, I think the Democratic Party has more theatrics and illusions and sleight of hands than the Republican Party. The Republican Party used to have more of those because they had to convince people they weren't racist when they were. But Trump, the silver lining is he dropped pretenses. So outwardly racist, outwardly hostile, outwardly malicious in a thousand different ways. Whereas the Democrats,

you know, there's a saying grin, F you to death. And then behind the scenes, look, are they better than Trump? A thousand times, please, please let this long national nightmare end. But are they going to do, is Joe Biden naturally inclined to do significant reform, whether it's of police or health care or banks or anything else. Hell no. John, my main hope is that he can be pushed into taking the correct actions. But I don't think anyone on planet Earth thinks that he's gonna do it on his own. Yeah, no, I don't think that he necessarily has it in him. I mean, look, some of the way he presented himself, even during the primary, is not the same as you would have gotten from Joe Biden eight or 16 years ago. I think that there is to some

extent a small version of the evolution that basically everyone in the party has undergone, you know, naturally over time, but especially with the the additional pressure of the Bernie campaign of 2016 and all of the other progressive wins since then. Many of the ideas that he was mocked for presenting in 2016 were presented as ridiculous. And now it's just expected that you're gonna support all of those things while ignoring the fact that he was a big part in making it happen. But yeah, no, I don't think that he's gonna all of a sudden wake up one day and decide that Medicare for all is what needs to happen. The hope is that we can change the makeup of the Democrats and the Senate in the House enough that hypothetically we could get

it through there and he wouldn't follow through on his promises to veto that or potentially try to stop some of the other massive sources of legislation that have been discussed over the past few years. Look, the best chance that Medicare for All our Green New Deal has is Jamal Bowman and Cory Bush. And I don't say that lightly, I don't say it because we backed them. I, it's 100% real. The reason is those two upset powerful Democrats who people in Washington believed they had no chance of upsetting. So now when progressives say, hey, you better vote the right way on Medicare for all, etc., they know that that's at least somewhat real. You remember that famous quote, it's only famous to us, but when about a year ago, an unnamed

Sear Democratic source told Politico, Justice Democrats, those nerds will never win a primary. Okay, that was after AOC and Tilebe and O. But like, you got to understand, they really thought they were going to beat Rashida Tileve and Elhan Omar this time around. And they thought they had a good chance at beating AOC with establishment hacks. How'd that turn out for you guys? And they never saw Jamal coming from the beginning. By the end they saw him. Corey, they didn't see it even on the night of. They couldn't believe it. Nobody could believe it. So now though, they got a little fear of God on them. And that's the best thing that we could possibly hope for. Otherwise, they just do all of the bidding of their

banker friends and the donors, and that's it. But now there's a another sheriff in town, and that's you guys. So you have power now because of what you did with Jamal and Corey. And so God bless the people of New York and St. Louis for making that happen. I assume it's not Joe live, but let's check in for a real quick second here. started doing activism when I was 15. It was at the intersection of knowing both the perpetrator and a victim, my brother Andre was shot and killed in Philadelphia. And it made me realize that I had a responsibility, almost a collective responsibility to ensure that that didn't happen to other young people. And I think that's what's missing in America right now is our collective responsibility to each other and to realize that the person down the street or around the corner or even across the country, that we have a responsibility to ensure that.

that we're making sure that they're safe, they have access to education. And that in all, we're creating a world in which their differences are celebrated as well as protected under the law. Mayor, how are you prioritizing the many things you have to do as we try to tackle in a way that we haven't before, systemic racism in the city? It really is about economic empowerment. Because if people are lifted out of poverty and they are given an opportunity to feel a stake, in their own future, that goes a long way. We're also challenging, you know, all kinds of institutions from corporations to community

based organizations and think about what they can do better. I just want to give you guys context here. In terms of he's talking to the local mayors, including of the big cities here. And it apparently is actually Joe Biden. I don't know if they pre-recorded this or if this is live. My guess is that they pre-recorded it. That's Mayor Lightfoot of Chicago. So with that context, I want you to go back and listen to it.

First of all, we have to change to public discourse around voting. It should be seen as a democratic thing to do, the most patriotic thing we can do, and not a partisan exercise. Secondly, how do we open up access to voting so we can address some of the systemic problems? Not only should we reauthorize the Voting Rights Act, But we have to go further. Most importantly, voting should be seen as a constitutional right that's guaranteed. And with that level of sight, that all citizens can be assured that they can have unfettered access without being suppressed. This is a watershed moment, and we can't lose this moment. We have got to have action at the national level. We have got to have congressional

action. We cannot have 18,000 police departments. And in 2020, have police departments still allowing the use of a knee on the man's neck in George Floyd. A lot of us were shocked, and I think what gives me hope is that police officers were shocked. Police officers have spoken out, and we're hopeful that we'll have some national standards as it relates to policing, use of force, a national database, you know, abolishment of prohibition on the national standard in terms of chokeholds, and that we actually used the death of George Floyd's and others. to actually make policing, take it to the next level, which is what everyone wants, including all the good cops that are out there, that thankfully there are more of them than

there are bad cops. Most cops are good, but the fact is, the bad ones have to be identified and prosecuted and out, period. Gwen, how are you doing? Oh, well, I'm doing pretty well as well as can be expected. You know, I'm sure that the words of George, Florida, I can't breathe, were not new to you. And they echo in your mind every single day, six years ago when your son died. Well, we can't let this keep happen.

What do you think the next thing we have to do, Gwen? Well, first of all, I know when my son was murdered, there was a big uprising. But then it settled down. We can't let things settle down. We have to go to the politicians and we have to hold their feet to the fire because otherwise the big uprising is not going to mean a lot. So I'm just asking that if you become the president, that you make sure that we get national law as well as state and local law, especially when it comes to police brutality, because that has been an age-old problem. Well, I may be kidding myself, but I think the people are ready. I think people are ready.

We just got to keep pushing. We can't let up. But thank you for what you're doing. I really appreciate it. Thanks for joining me. Thank you. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Thank you. Racism structurally, individually, and systematically is real. Black, brown, no matter what you look like. So that's a pre-recorded. video. So Biden there spoke to a couple mayors, but then obviously went to others. Derek Johnson, ahead of the NAACP. He was on the show last week, right here on the Young Turks. And Arta Acevedo, who's a great police chief in Houston, said, you know, there's more good cops than bad cops, and we got a roll out. And then Biden jumped in. He loved that theme.

And I respect Arda Acevedo a lot. And I respect him honestly on this. issue more than I respect Biden. But it's just not true. I don't mean that cops on average are more bad human beings than good human beings. I'm not making a comment on that. They're human beings. Probably a similar mix to most of us. But the culture is wrong. So this whole idea that most cops are wonderful and angelic and you should believe them when they say things, But there's just a couple of bad apples. It's it's hurting progress in fixing the cancer that is in police culture in this country. So I don't think it helps when Joe Biden just goes, oh yeah, all good points, et cetera, and then what we're gonna do is get rid of a couple of

bad cops. Nah, that misses the point entirely. Yeah, I think that there's two, two interpretations of that and either of them is good. One is this is just a messaging thing. That you know, I'll make some changes like you'd want, but I don't want to turn off some people who might be down with the protest. So I'm gonna say that, you know, we still respect cops and all that stuff, which I don't like because I don't think that that's, I think it's dishonest and I don't think it's necessary to win an election. Or it could be that it does accurately reflect the way that he views police, which is probably more in line with what he's thought about them, you know, every day of his life up until a few months ago versus some massive change

in line with the goals of the movement that's protesting around the country. And that you probably should not expect that significant reform out of him. Now, I don't know which it's going to be, but I don't like either of those. And if the candidate was the one I had chosen, I don't think either of those would have happened. Yeah, no, he, I think he actually does mean it. Let's go to Clyburn. He's representative Clyburn from South Carolina. He basically decided this election. I'll give you more context if you need it, but let's hear him. Like the country as a whole. We are stepping out from the shadows of our past

and beginning to lay the groundwork for a more just future. It won't be easy. We can only succeed if we move forward together. So we will need a president who sees unifying people as a requirement of the job, a president who understands the true meaning of community and how to build it through trust and humility. And with so many families experiencing loss in this pandemic,

lost jobs, lost loved ones, and lost confidence in the president to keep us safe, we need a president who understands both profound loss and what it takes to bounce back. But more important than his firsthand experience with loss and hardship is his ability to translate that perspective into policy and solutions. and prioritize hard-working people and persistent poverty counties over partisan politics or personal gain. That's why I stand with Joe

and why he will always be an adopted son of South Carolina. Joe Biden is as good a man as he is a leader. I have said before and wish to reiterate tonight. We know Joe, but more importantly, Joe knows us.

I am Kevin. I do a lot of things in life, but the thing I'm most proud of this, I am a TAPS military mentor. Okay, so if you miss that portion of the primary, well, you missed the whole thing. Because Clyburn's endorsement of South Carolina made all the difference. He's a longtime representative, they're very much trusted by Democrats. by Democratic voters in South Carolina. I don't remember the exact number now, but I think it was around a stunning, over 60% of voters in the South Carolina primary said that Jim Clyburn's endorsement made the difference

for them. And that's where Biden turned around. He got killed in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada. And in my lifetime, I've never seen anyone survive losing all three of those and losing him big. The fourth state was South Carolina, that's where Clyburn rode to the rescue and decided who was going to be president, at least the presidential candidate for the Democrats. Now Clyburn there, look, Clyburn's an interesting character. He's very establishment in some ways, drives me nuts, and in other ways, he's wonderful.

And what he said there wasn't exactly right. He said, oh, you know, he's adopted son of South Carolina, we always believed in him and he always believed in. No, Clyburn made up his mind to endorse Biden at the very end. So one of the things that I fault Bernie Sanders for is apparently Clyburn was not necessarily convincedable to that he would endorse Bernie Sanders. He's just too establishment to do that. But maybe he could have sat it out.

Maybe if Bernie Sanders had had 20 lodges with him. You don't move on policy, you don't move an inch on policy. But guys like Clyburn care about relationships, even if he was never going, even if he was going to endorse whoever was running against Bernie Sanders in the primary, no matter what? Clearly he wasn't sure it was going to be Biden. He thought it might have been Buttigieg or Klobuchar or whoever else. So this is the theater of politics. And again, you won't get this on any other channel. Fox News will just yell at Clyburn and tell you all sorts of lies about him. MSNBC will tell you he's the greatest thing to slice bread. And that

he is 100% genuine. His CNN will probably be most offended if you say that a politician doesn't necessarily mean what they say, with the exception of Trump. And so, and the reality is no, they nine out of ten times they don't mean what they say. Clymer didn't make up his mind until the last minute on who he was going to support. So this eternal love for Biden is a little misleading to say the least. Yeah, exactly. And needless, I mean, I guess as you said, we're going to expect this sort of talk about, you know, both the candidates at the conventions, but like you, we know how long you waited.

Are people gonna forget that? They know what the timeline of this was. It just seems so weird to imply that there's never anyone that I would have ever considered except for Joe Biden. Like you can endorse who you want, you've earned that, but you don't have to present it is something that it clearly isn't. But John, nobody remembers that. So we know it.

Yeah. You know, by the way, I was gonna say the anchors know, but I'm probably only three quarters, two thirds of the anchors know it. Even a third of them are probably like what? Remember, a lot of them are just actors. So anyways. All right. I got more to say on that. And we don't mean to be negative about the whole convention. We want Biden to, I don't know, I'll speak for myself. I want Biden to win. I'm super, super clear about that.

But it's our job to give you a real analysis. So let's watch Cuomo next. Governor of New York, obviously. The divisions have been growing deeper, the anti-Semitism, the anti-Latino, the anti-immigrant fervor, the racism in Charlottesville, where the KKK didn't even bother to wear their hoods. and in Minnesota, where the life was squeezed from Mr. Floyd. Only a strong body can fight off the virus, and America's divisions weakened it. Donald Trump didn't create the initial division. The division created Trump. He only made it worse. Our collective strength is exercised through government.

It is, in effect, our immune system. And our current federal government is dysfunctional and incompetent. It couldn't fight off the virus. In fact, it didn't even see it coming. The European virus infected the Northeast while the White House was still fixated on China. The virus had been attacking us for months before they even knew it was here. We saw the failure of a government that tried to deny the virus, then tried to ignore it, and then tried to politicize it. The failed federal government that watched New York get ambushed by their negligence and then

watch New York suffer, but all through it learned absolutely nothing. So today, six months after it began, the nation is still unprepared. And we now face a second threat, but this time not from Mother Nature. This is a man-made threat by our own negligence. We now see the virus ricocheting across the country from one state to another. Today we trail the world in defeating COVID. We have over 5 million cases. Americans learned a critical lesson, how vulnerable we are when we are divided, and how many

lives can be lost when our government is incompetent. But we learned something else, my friends. We saw the negative, but we also saw the positive. As they proved their way failed, we proved that our way succeeded. That America can still rise to the occasion. We can put our differences aside and find commonality. Government can tell the truth and can build trust. We can judge by content of character rather than color of skin.

We can care for one another. That Americans can work together and forge community and a competent government. that of course we will wear masks because we are smart and because I care about you and because you care about me. Of course we will socially distance because staying away shows how close we actually are. Yes, we will set up testing and tracing and do whatever we need to do to mobilize to win this battle because we are America. We win wars and we are the greatest country on the globe. And for all the pain and all the tears, our way worked. And it was beautiful.

We showed that our better angels are strong and that Americans will rise to their call. We saw that even at the end of the day, even if it is a long day, that love wins. Americans' eyes have been open. And we have seen in this crisis the truth that government matters and leadership matters. And it determines whether we thrive and grow or whether we live or die. Now we need a leader as good as our people. A leader who appeals to the best within us, not the worst. A leader who can unify, not divide.

A leader who can bring us up, not tear us down. I know that man. I've worked with that man. I've seen his talent. I've seen his strength. I've seen his pain. And I've seen his heart. That man is Joe Biden.

Joe Biden is what I call America tough. Tough in the best way. Tough that is smart, united, disciplined, and loving. Joe Biden can restore the soul of America. And that's exactly what our country needs today. Thank you. And now we'll hear from Kristen Orkiza. Hi, I'm Kristen Erkisa.

I'm one of the many who has lost a loved one to COVID. My dad, Mark Anthony Orkisa, should be here today, but he isn't. He had faith in Donald Trump. He voted for him, listened to him, believed him and his mouthpieces when they said that coronavirus was under control and going to disappear, that it was okay to end social distancing rules before it was safe, and that if you had no underlying health conditions, you'd probably be fine. So in late May, after the stay-at-home order was lifted in Arizona, my dad went to a karaoke bar with his friends. A few weeks later, he was put on a ventilator, and after five

agonizing days, he died alone, in the ICU with a nurse holding his hand. My dad was a healthy 65-year-old. His only pre-existing condition was trusting Donald Trump, and for that he paid with his life. I am not alone. Once I told my story, a lot of people reached out to me to share theirs. They asked me to help them keep their communities safe, especially communities of color, which have been disproportionately affected. They asked me, a normal person to help, because Don Donald Trump won't. The coronavirus has made it clear that there are two Americas, the America that Donald Trump lives in and the America that my father died in.

Enough is enough. Donald Trump may not have caused the coronavirus, but his dishonesty and his irresponsible actions made it so much worse. We need a leader who has a national, coordinated, data-driven response to stop this pandemic from claiming more lives and to safely reopen the country. We need a leader who will step in on day one and do his job to care. One of the last things that my father said to me was that he felt betrayed by the likes of Donald Trump. And so when I cast my vote for Joe Biden, I will do it for my dad. Thank you, Kristen, for sharing your story. Our nation's

Grieves for your father and all those who have lost, we've lost to this virus. It's a toll that hasn't fallen equally on us. People of color have been disproportionately affected, dying at greater rates than white Americans, but we can honor all of those. Okay, so far Kristen was the best speaker by far. And that was pretty harsh, bringing out somebody whose dad died and saying he died because he believed in Trump, good, I like that, that's true. That's true.

Don't be afraid to say things that are true. And I thought Cuomo did a pretty good speech there. I'm surprised about how short it was, I guess these are all going to be really short. And Cuomo had a great line in there. He said Trump didn't create division. The division created Trump. And I think there's a lot of truth to that. I wish we would listen to that more often.

I wish Cuomo would listen to that more often too. And so, and part of the division is driven by the income inequality, by the basically the classism that we have now. And unfortunately, a lot of Democratic Party leadership has fed into that. But I want to say that Cuomo and then Kristen Kamberwright, that was the best part so far. I mean, it's, we just got started. So it's not that surprising. But we've had a decent amount of critique so far. But I'll tell you that the number one reason I'd vote for Biden over Trump is competence. And I don't mean that Joe Biden is an amazingly competent leader.

I mean that he'll bring Sandy back to government and he'll surround himself with competent technocrats. And there's downsides to that, like when they start wars. But there's tremendous upsides to it when we've had this roller coaster ride led by, I think, a literal lunatic. And especially when disaster like coronavirus hits, we need that competency so badly. The incompetence cost us literally hundreds of thousands of lives. And if you remember, the very first thing I told you about Trump was his number one problem

isn't the racism. It's horrific, it's terrible, but it's his number one problem is his incompetence. And boy, unfortunately, did that prove to be correct. Yeah, exactly. Which is why when he actually chooses someone who knows how to get the job done, it's so scaring, like DeJoy actually seems to know what he's doing and destroying the post office. DeVos has been quite successful. Most of the people he chooses are absolutely incompetent just like him.

Yeah, so I thought that the pointing out that the father died as a result of trusting Trump, I think is a great thing to drive home because it combines the fact that we should never forget how many died and how many didn't need to with the active. misinformation and deceiving the American public continuing until today about what the pandemic is actually like and how much you should care about it. Her father was not the only one, I don't know, no one will ever know how many died as a result of believing the wrong people, but it's definitely thousands, probably tens of thousands who didn't believe that this was serious.

And they ended up with that position because they trusted the wrong politicians and they watched the wrong news channel, honestly. With Cuomo, I thought that his address was probably good. And although it boggles my mind, he's obviously a very popular nationwide politician. I think that there's a lot of issues with the way he responded to coronavirus in New York, but they did get it under control. So that's going to look good in hindsight. The thing about him saying that the quote about the division though is it strikes me as everything gets taken, like acknowledging that Trump is not this unique problem that he is perhaps in some way

and an inevitable outcome of so much of what was wrong with our government is a thing that like so many people fought to get people to understand. And now it's a line that's thrown into a Cuomo speech. But it's not just the division that led to Donald Trump. That's like the easiest, shallowest part of the problem to diagnose. It's the policy as well, the allowing huge amounts of money and corruption to, you know, to shake people's, you know, belief that their elected representatives will ever represent them. It's all of that. And and I just don't like seeing it taken to its shallowest, easiest to criticize form, basically. Yeah, so we're gonna dip back in in a second. In fact, let's take a look at who's on screen right now at the DNC. Okay, so they're

doing more of this. All right, so sometimes at convention's careers are made. So one career was, Mario Cuomo, Andrew Cuomo's dad, who was also governor of New York. And he had an amazing speech at a convention that propelled him to national fame. And everybody thought he was gonna run for president, everybody thought he was gonna win. But he chose not to run. That's a whole other story, so why he chose to do that. But another guy who had a speech that was electrifying about 20 years after Mario Cuomo was Barack Obama. In 2004, he gave a career defining, career changing, history changing speech at the DNC, the audacity of hope speech. And I remember covering, doing play by play on that with Ben. We were live at that convention. And I wrote down

audacity of hope that I had never heard that phrase before and circled it like a hundred times as he was speaking. I was like, wow, that's good. And it was one of the best speeches I've ever seen in my life, but Barack Obama probably has three out of the top five or 10 speeches I've ever seen in my life live. I don't mean Martin Luther King, he would have 10 out of 10, right? And then we get the JFK and FDR, etc. But that was one of them. I don't know if we're gonna have any of those electrifying moments at these virtual conventions. And it looks like they don't have a lot of time to speak. They're, you know, they're on, with that, they don't have an audience, it's awkward. So I'm just curious to see if anyone

knocks it out of the park. And remember, like for the, the establishment won this election in this primary. So I'm keeping it real. Other than somebody like Barack Obama or Bill Clinton, the establishment almost by its nature does not have very dynamic speakers. So close, When she goes to speak, and my guess is Grecian Whitmer, same thing. But you could pick any of these examples, including Joe Biden. They'll get up and tell you, we just got to go back to pre-Trump. And that's just not that electrifying. We should kind of have a little bit more health care, but not a lot more health care,

is not electrifying. That fighting for the status quo, by definition, is not electrifying. And I gotta tell you, like the stuff that me and John are saying to a lot of you viewers out there, whether you're progressive or not, will seem so commonplace, it's almost obvious, you'll think. But understand that we're committing sacrilege here. In most of the media, not falling head over heels in love with Joe Biden, they think, no, that means you're in favor of Trump, and that's it, your persona non grata. And they're pretty open about it. It's really quite amazing. And same

certainly in democratic circles. So that's why you won't get this anywhere else. And look, in our source of power is you guys. So that's why I keep telling you about tytt.com slash go, because if you fund us, we have to serve you. And we have to give you this honest commentary, no matter where the chips fall. Whereas other folks have to cater to politicians and advertisers, et cetera. So you power us through things like t.yt.com slash go. And we try to give you our best take on what the reality is. So, and there's plenty of reality go around here, the DNC good and bad. Let's dip back in to see if they're doing anything interesting or or not. No, there's tons of videos today, John. I'm actually really surprised it's 10 o'clock

Eastern. And we guys still have singing in videos and we've only had really Cuomo of the big guys speak. And I guess I must have seen the wrong schedule. I thought they were leading with Republicans, but they certainly didn't. So, um, so um, um, What is this? Why did they waste the most critical 9 o'clock to 10 o'clock hour with that stuff? Well, yeah, I don't know why they did it in this order. But I think what they're trying to do is if they know that the convention is supposed to be about spectacle. And so much of what makes it a spectacle is impossible. It's going to be people effectively on Zoom. There's no spectacle to that. You're not going to have live reactions to the speeches. They're not going to get fight. I remember the speech you talked about in 2004 with Obama. Like you could feel him getting worked up with the reaction to the crowd. That can't happen, really. But what they can provide at least a little bit of production quality too is these pre-filmed musical numbers. And they wanna have music. So I think that that seems like a sort

of shortcut to that. But it's not the sort of thing that's for us. Maybe Central Democrats eat it up, I honestly don't know. I don't think about if it was, if it was Bernie Sanders convention and he had like, you know, it's a public enemy video or something like that. And then Cardi B does a song, that could be exciting. Like there's a, there's a world where this works. It's just not meant to appeal to you or I. Yeah, no, no, I want to be clear about something too. The songs and the real people videos are meant for cable news commercial breaks. They know that CNN, MSNBC are going to take a break. And when they do, that's when they, for usually for the people at the convention,

but now for the people watching online, they have the music and the real people, et cetera. I wish everybody saw Kristen's speech, the one that talked about how our father passed away from coronavirus. I think that's by far in a way the best thing we saw in the first hour. But I'm just surprised that they didn't have more quote unquote big speakers that the the CNNs of the world will feature in the first hour. So I know that they largely think about things in that way. So I'm surprised they didn't go in that direction. I assume it's got to be packed in the next hour. Otherwise, they'll never get enough people in. So, and Bernie Sanders is certainly coming up. How long do you think Bernie Sanders is going to get to speak for,

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