The Young Turks - Part 1: Day 2 of 2020 DNC

Episode Date: October 8, 2020

Part 1: Cenk Uygur and Benjamin Dixon breakdown day 2 of the 2020 DNC.  Speakers: Former Acting US Attorney General Sally Yates, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Former Secretary of State John Kerry, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester, Former President Bill Clinton, and Former Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden 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, in the Young Turks coverage of the Democratic National Convention, we've got a great coverage for you guys today. I hope great analysis. The speaker lineup is mixed. I'm going to give that to you in a second. But first, I want to introduce my co-host, Benjamin Dixon Joyce again.

I hope everybody's checking out the Benjamin Dixon show. It's fantastic. And Ben, let me start by giving folks the run now. We got Sally H. today who was in the Trump administration and spoke out against him. She's not political. I have no idea if she's a Republican or Democrat. Others might know, but she was, but she talked about Biden's law breaking, et cetera. And look, I hope you fasten your seatbelt, Ben, because Chuck Schumer's out tonight.

Oh, boy. Yeah. Exciting stuff. Yeah, I mean, if there's one word, just one word to describe Chuck Schumer, it's probably electrifying. And then speaking of electrifying, John Kerry will speak next. Then AOC will speak for 59 to 61 seconds. So it's gonna be amazing. Now, by the way, it's the most hotly anticipated one minute in political history. Right. Right.

Well, that's a good one. I should tweet that one out. Anyway, by the way, Ben, you know, I should have looked this up and it's embarrassing. But I'm gonna say it anyway on air because I'm that kind of guy. We have a speaker on here after AOC, Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester. And honestly, I don't really know anything about her, including her district or her party. And the reason I admit to that is because since it's a Democratic National Convention, it's really like pick them. It could be just as likely to be a Democrat or a Republican.

So we saw that last night. I mean, that's the number one thing that stood out. most, no matter how many Democrats they had, they made it a point to put Republicans in there to make sure everybody was nice and calm. Don't worry, guys, we're not going to actually do anything progressive. Yeah, now we will not be going sharp left, as John Kasich put it. Exactly. All right, other speakers tonight, Bill Clinton, okay, and then there's a performance by John Legend, which I guarantee we will skip because I'm not interested in musical performances at any convention. And then Tom Perez, I mean, tonight, wow, action-packed.

And then now the good news is Jimmy Carter. Jimmy Carter usually gets forgotten. So Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter will probably be given 30 to 45 seconds, but great to have him on. And Senator Chris Coons, which just when you thought you couldn't get worse than the rest of the conservative Democrats on the list, they do it with Coons. And then good news, Addy Barkin, who's an actual wonderful progressive, and then the night ends with Dr. Jill Biden, prepare, buckle up. Ben, I know you were on MSNBC last night. I'm not asking you to speak yellow at them. I want you to keep going on, so don't say anything, okay, don't say anything. But I will say that I would be shot if Maddo and the crew

weren't beside themselves with joy, no matter what Dr. Jill Biden said. I was pleasantly surprised last night to actually hear some decent criticisms of the performances last night because it was pretty boring and they made sure to point that out on MSNBC, which was kind of a shock to me. Yeah, right, and then they got to Michelle Obama and they lost their minds. Yeah, okay, but it was a good speech, it was a good speech, it just, you know, it wasn't a 12 out of 10, it didn't make my heart drop any inches at all. Anyway, I hope she convinced some people because look, Asher, I assume they haven't really started

the programming. I wanna, let's just dip in for a second here. And guys, we learned from yesterday that it's largely fluff in the first hour and then more of the heavy hitters in the coming the second hour. That's why they burned Chuck Schumer in the first hour, I think. Oh, by the way, also Colin Powell and Sydney McCain apparently with some appearances tonight. So let's just listen to this video for one second. And then Bette and I will talk about some of the themes.

While working families are struggling, he's looking out for the people who are already doing just fine. The wealthy, the big corporations, the donors to his campaign. He's looking out for himself. But there's one person who's looking out for us. All of us. And that's Joe Biden. Joe called it. We are in a battle for the soul of our nation.

But Joe knows we can never let hard times turn us against each other. And we can never stop doing the hard work. to make things right. That's why we ran for office. Even when people come to us out. Even when there had never been a Latina in the Nevada state Senate. Or a Democrat elected us Florida Commissioner of Agriculture in nearly three decades. Or an openly gay man in the Georgia state legislature.

When Birmingham hadn't had a mayor this young in 120 years. We ran for office because we know the struggles American families are facing. because we've lived them. We've lived the insecurity and the indignity of an eviction notice. I, like many of you, have lived the frustration

of paying off student loans. We have lived the grief of losing loved ones to gun violence and the criminal justice system that unfairly targets our communities. We have lived that feeling

of helplessness when someone you love is very sick and access to health care is a matter of life and death. By the way, Joe Biden has lived a lot of this too. He was raised in a middle class family in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Claymont, Delaware. He watched his dad look for work and learned that a job is about so much more than a paycheck. It's about dignity and respect.

He was sworn into office from the hospital room of his two young sons. After a car crash, killed his wife and infant daughter. He knows what it's like to thank God you have health care. He knows what it's like to work hard for everything you've got. He knows what it's like to send a child off to war. And he'll never forget who he's fighting for. I look around my district in North Texas, and I see the people who built this country, the educators like the single mom who raised me, the men and women on the front lines of our

health care system. You built this country. Small business owners, like the one. Ones whose shops and restaurants line the streets of Birmingham, Michigan. Charleston, South Carolina. Of tribal nations. Line the streets of Philadelphia and bring our communities to life. You built this country.

The nurses in Memphis who came out of retirement to treat patients during this pandemic, you built this country. And you know what? You deserve more than the constant chaos that Donald Trump delivers. You deserve health care you can afford. The job that pays you fair. You deserve child care and paid sick leave while you work. And when you pay into Social Security and Medicare, you deserve to know it will be there when you retire.

And that's why we're right. And thanks to the voters across the country in both red states and blue states, we won. A new generation of leaders is rising up. And with Joe Biden in the White House, there's no limit to what we can do. In Nevada, we're making drug prices more transparent. So people with chronic illnesses won't go broke while drug companies get rich. Joe's working to protect and expand the Affordable Care Act. He'll make sure millions of people keep their coverage and no one can be denied for a preexisting condition.

He'll bring down the cost of health care and prescription drugs to giving tax. Couldn't take it anymore. So, I mean, let me, I like watching some of these videos. You know, they don't mainly go on cable news, but it does tell you something about the Democratic Party. So first off, Ben, they're running a video here where they're saying why we ran in one, like these underdogs. I'm sure there's some good folks in there, and I don't know all of their histories. But you found the agricultural undersecretary of the secretary of corn and agriculture in Florida,

but you didn't put Cory Bush or Jamal Bowman or any Justice Democrats or any progressives that are well known for pulling off miraculous upsets on why we ran. video. Right. And even at the beginning of the video, when they started describing this person that was going to stand up for everybody else, I could have sworn they were going to say Bernie Sanders in that spot because it just does not match. It doesn't match Joe Biden. And the thing about this, Jenk, is like, I understand that people have to get excited about a candidate. There's a correlation between excitement and turnout, but they're not really going to be able to successfully make us excited about Joe Biden. I just, I just don't see, I think it's a failed pursuit.

Yeah, you know, it's just a question of who their audience is. And so for us progressives, we actually know facts. And so it's going to be hard to reach us. I'm going to give you specific examples from that video in a second. But for people who watch or read mainstream media, they don't know any of this stuff. So it might work with them. So for example, in that video, they talk about, I mean, if anyone knows that you need health care, Joe Biden. Right. And now I could fill in the rest of the census. And that is why when he said if Medicare for all passes, that would give us universal health care, coverage like every other developed nation, Joe Biden promised he would veto it. So you don't

have universal health care. Like that's the reality. And but if you say that, I mean, that's why I was kidding around with Ben earlier. Don't say anything that will get you in trouble mainstream media because we like having progressive voices on there. But honestly, it'll get your banned. Right. You know, and then later they talked about, oh my God, Joe Biden looking to protect Social Security and Medicare. No, he offered a cut it six different times to make Republicans having. Now, those are facts. They're uncomfortable facts, but they are facts. And so they're not going to show you that stuff. Progressives, because they listen to Ben, they watch the Young Turks, et cetera, and all these other wonderful progressive shows. You guys

know, but no one in cable news world knows. No one who reached the New York Times knows. Like I got a lot of super smart, well educated, excellent, you know, and incredibly well-meaning friends. If I told them that Joe Biden tried to cut Social Security six times, they just flat out wouldn't believe it. Right, right, right. Even their language there, Janky, if you listen, they were really careful not to say have or they're careful to say access to healthcare versus ensuring that everyone had health care.

And I mean, of course, I have access to a Porsche, right? That doesn't mean I can actually afford it. And so they're they're very particular in their language. They're trying to make sure that they send all the right signals to their specific audience. And I think that's the biggest problem here is that they do not view the broader progressive community as their target audience. When in reality, they have a better chance. It's a slim chance in hell to actually get us to turn out in great numbers.

But I think they have a better chance getting progressives than getting these never Trumpers because in reality, the GOP is fully drenched in Trumpism. I think they're going to be dedicated to them at a level that won't give us any significant advantage at the polls. Yeah. One last thing about that video. Oh, Stacey Abrams. Let's see here, Space Abrams. An economic collapse and a reckoning with racial justice and inequality. So our choice is clear. A steady, experienced public servant who can lead us out of this crisis just like he's done before.

Or a man who only knows how to deny and distract. A leader who cares about our families or a president who only cares about himself. We know Joe Biden, America, we need Joe Biden. To make your voice heard, text vote to 30330. In a democracy, we do not elect saviors. We cast our ballots for those who see our struggles and pledge to serve. Who hear our dreams and work to make them real. Who defend our way of life by protecting our right to vote. Faced with a president of cowardice, Joe Biden is a man of proven courage.

He will restore our moral compass by confronting our challenges, not by hiding from them or undermining our elections to keep his job. In a time of voter suppression at home and authoritarian abroad, Joe Biden will be a champion for free and fair elections, for a public health system that keeps us safe, for an economy that we build back better, than before and for accountability and integrity in our system of justice. We stand with Joe Biden, because this isn't just about defeating Donald Trump. We are in this to win for America. So let's get it done. Hello. I'm Tracy Ellis Ross, and how exciting to hear from from young elected leaders from across the country. A perfect way to begin night two of the Democratic.

Okay, look, I love Blackish too, but she's not going to say any relevant. So same with Eva Longoria last night. So you know, a couple of fun things before you get to serious commentary about Stacey Abrams, a tiny little speech there. One is that I don't know who chose this text. 30330. I'm not sure. Is that like, she, what a confusing number of like. He's been struggling with it since the first debate. I mean, Joe three, I'm sorry, I'm trying my best to not say horrible things about Joe Biden in this campaign. But that, that 30303 has been a problem since day one. Yeah, what is that? What do we, is it some sort of programming code? Like cool, like I see cabs that got seven, seven, seven, seven, seven, seven, seven.

Right? I see like I can think of it was 999 at this point. I know. Rest in peace, Herman Kay, but I'm sorry. It's just lack of power. But anyway, so all right, the other thing is they keep springing folks on us. They didn't mention Stacey Abrams at all. And they're like, oh, by the way, here's Stacey Abrams at the end of this random video.

Okay, look, I think some people might have wanted to hear Stacey Abrams. So it's kind of a weird thing. Now, on the important stuff, she's mainly known other than running for Governor Georgia, obviously, as being a champion of voters' rights. And so that's awesome, love her for that. And so she mentioned that here and emphasized that, as did Michelle Obama last night. And let's keep it real. One of the reasons they do that is they know that African American constituency is a massive,

really important constituency as far as a voter turnout goes. And the consensus in Washington right or wrong is they've blamed a lot of folks for this election. They can't say this one out loud, but they think, hey, in 2008 and 2012, black folks voted in higher numbers, and we won. They voted in lower numbers in 2016. We're allowed to blame the young. We're allowed to blame progressives, but we're not really allowed to blame black voters. But that's what they're trying to do is encourage more black voters. And that's That's why you're seeing this same thing, which by the way, I think there's absolutely nothing wrong with. But I'm just keeping it real on what the strategy is.

Yeah, they, I mean, they did try. I mean, in a couple of places, maybe not the party, it's infrastructure itself, but definitely some of their apparatics tried to blame black voters. But here's a problem, Jenkins, like when you depend on having 65% of any particular community show up to the polls, like 65% of all African Americans have to show up to the polls, and then we have to vote for them at a 90% clip. I mean, you, you know, That should tell the Democratic Party that perhaps you should actually do something for black people so that we can have some motivation to come out beyond just the colloquial and all the performance that they do. Like if you really sit down and say like what have they tangibly done for the black community, it's just like saying what have they tangibly done for working people, which is hard to find. Yeah, and that's why Cece Abrams might have mentioned there, we're not electing saviors.

In other words, don't expect them to do too much, but we got to go out there and vote. That's just keeping it real. That's Sally Ace. Let's just listen to Sally Ace, we're saying. And don't forget that thought. For nearly 30 years, through Democratic and Republican administrations, I worked alongside my DOJ colleagues to advance our nation's promise of equal justice. I served as Deputy Attorney General in the Obama Biden administration and stayed on as acting Attorney General for the Trump transition. Then, 10 days in, I was fired for refusing to defend President Trump's shameful and unlawful Muslim travel ban.

That was the start of his relentless attacks on our democratic institutions and countless dedicated public servants. Like me, these officials didn't swear an oath to a person or a party. Public servants promised to defend our Constitution, uphold our laws, and work on behalf of the American people. But from the moment President Trump took office, he's used his position to benefit himself rather than our country. He's trampled the rule of law, trying to weaponize our Justice Department to attack his enemies and protect his friends. Rather than standing up to Vladimir Putin, he fawns over a dictator who is still trying to interfere in our elections. He's even trying to sabotage our postal service to keep people from being able to vote. His constant attacks on the FBI, the free press, inspectors general, federal judges, they all have one purpose to remove any check

on his abuse of power. Put simply, he treats our country like it's his family business, this time bankrupting our nation's moral authority at home and abroad. But our country doesn't belong to him. It belongs to all of us. Joe Biden embraces that. He has spent his entire life putting our country first. He has never backed down from a challenge or a bully.

He summons the best in us and lives by the values that define us as Americans. Service, integrity, courage, compassion. There are countless stories of Joe Biden reaching out to someone in their moment of need. Well, this is our country's moment of need. we need a president who respects our laws and the privilege of public service who reflects our values and cares about our people we need a president who will restore the soul of america we need joe biden all right um so that was sally aids she's of the leading candidates to be attorney general under Joe Biden. So that's why she's relevant.

That was a disappointing presentation. It was no different than anything we heard last night. They keep going back to the same themes. In fact, there's a good chance that the same speechwriter is helping each one of these speeches and they keep. And one thing is absolutely for sure. Whether they wrote the first, Sally Eates, for example, wrote the first draft, or she edited the draft that the Biden people wrote, there is at a minimum an editor from the Biden administration Biden team, which is normal. Everybody does this, okay? That then edits those. And so my guess is they're putting it into like at least a quarter or a third of the speeches to say that he's going to restore the soul of America. Okay, I know that works on some people. It is what it is,

But at the same time, it doesn't work on me. It's fluff. It means absolutely nothing. I wish he talked about what Trump had done wrong. Let's go to the electrifying Chuck Schumer. The Statue of Liberty, the same site that greeted hopeful immigrants like my grandparents, a symbol of freedom and a beacon of hope to the world. Today, Donald Trump has divided our country, diminished our greatness, and demeaned everything

that this statue represents. even hidden a bunker as Americans were tear gassed and beaten. Millions are jobless. 170,000 Americans have died from COVID, and Donald Trump says, it is what it is. President should never say it is what it is. President Lincoln, honoring the great sacrifice at Gettysburg, didn't say it is what it is.

President Roosevelt, seeing a third of the nation ill-housed, ill-clad, and ill-nourished, didn't say it is what it is. America, Donald Trump, has quit on you. We need a president with dignity, integrity, and the experience to lead us out of this crisis. A man with a steady hand and a big heart who will never, ever quit on America. That man is my friend, Joe Biden. He will be a great president. But if we're going to win this battle for the soul of our nation, Joe can't do it alone.

Democrats must take back the Senate. We will stay united from Sanders and Warren to Mansion and Warner, and with our unity, we will bring bold and dramatic change to our country. Let me tell you some of the things we do. With President Biden, Vice President Harris in a Democratic majority, we will make health care affordable for all. We'll undo the vicious inequality of income and wealth that has plagued America for far too long and will take strong, decisive action to combat climate change and save the planet.

We will protect voting rights, fight systemic racism in the criminal justice system and in our economy, and restore a Supreme Court that looks out for people, not corporations. We'll rebuild our infrastructure and make sure every home from inner city to rural America has broadband. We will save the post office and we will save the post office and we'll rebuild our infrastructure and once and for all defeat COVID-19 this evil disease. And beckoned by the lady behind us, we will reform our immigration system so that immigrants yearning to breathe free

will at last become American citizens. Together, we can reignite the hope, once felt by millions of men and women, huddled masses on creaking ships who glimpse this mighty woman with her torch, knowing they could build a better life here in America. And out of this long national nightmare, America will finally awaken to a brighter future and a new day.

All right, I'm going to let Ben go for some of this. Yeah, so I think, Jank, the problem is that they have had a defined audience for some time that they use. that they believe that they could speak to, that they trust, and these talking points work on them. But what they missed was that that demographic has shifted and changed, and they're dealing with a generation of people who don't care about anything that that man just said, because everything he said came off as an empty platitude. And I'm not saying this just to attack them, I'm saying this because they're fighting the last war. They're actually fighting the war from like three generations ago. And if they're gonna beat Donald Trump, they have got to

speak to us in a language that immediately connects with us. Tell us what you're going to do. Give us policy solutions about our problems instead of just getting us platitudes. And because they've been able to win elections for the last couple cycles with platitudes, with exception of 2016, obviously. Yeah, and so to, I mean, there's the standard stuff like calling COVID an evil disease. I don't know what that means. It doesn't, it's like to appeal to some sort of moralism that, that, of bygone era. Okay, but more importantly, when he says like, oh, we're any of to appoint people to Supreme Court, we care about people and not corporations. Really?

Because I remember Bill Clinton and to Barack Obama bragging about how, hey, don't worry, our nominees are socially liberal, but they're business friendly. That doesn't sound like we're fighting corporations. So then he said, oh, we're going to, you know, fight income inequality. Really? Because you've had a couple decades to do it, and you haven't done it at all. But I'll I'll give him credit for this, two things. First, he didn't look ghoulish tonight, which he usually does. I thought they had a nice framing on him and he looked good. Way to be Chuck, look good. Okay, so's a random point, okay? But now on the substance, I liked his line on Trump quit on you, and Biden won't quit on you in regards to coronavirus. I was like, that's pretty good.

Yeah, I mean, in a sense, Trump did quit on people, but said, ah, it is what it is, what am I going to do? Okay, so what, 175,000 of you died? And a lot more are going to die. I don't really care. is the essence of that quote. And so I thought that Turner phrase about how he quit on you was pretty good. So those are the Kennedys. I've got no interest in them. Vote Ed Markey in Massachusetts. All right, well, the Carter's I have an interest in. Let's hear to see if they're going to say, are they on? Let's turn up the volume for a second. million unpaid caregivers in our country who are juggling work and other family responsibilities and putting their own physical and mental health and well-being at risk.

Joe knows well, too well. Yeah, I couldn't tell if that's Rosalind Carter. I guess it is Rosalind Carter. Yeah, they're not going to show three pictures of murder if it is in her. All right, fine, go back to it. of their lives. He knows caregiving is hard even on the good days. Jill and I also know the challenges of caregiving for those who served in the military and returned with visible and invisible wounds. And we know those caregivers need a leader in the White House. Jimmy and I are voting for Joe because he recognizes the challenges facing our families and has the heart and the talent to make life better

for all Americans. When I ran for president in 1976, Joe Biden was my first and most effective support in the Senate. For decades, he has been my loyal and dedicated friend. Joe has the experience, character, and distrously to bring us together and restore America's greatness. He deserved a person with integrity and judgment, someone who's honest and fair,

someone who is committed to what is best for the American people. Joe is that kind of leader, and he is the right person for this moment in our nation's history. He understands that I understand dignity are essential traits that determine not only our vision, but our actions. More than ever, that's what we need. During these uncertain times, Joe Biden realizes that many American lives can be saved each day to the use of masks and testing as recommended by our medical experts. Joe Biden must be our next president. Good evening.

A presidential election is the world's most important job interview. At the end, we hire a leader to help us solve problems, create opportunities, and give our kids better tomorrow's. That's a tall order this year, with the COVID-19 outbreak on a path to killing 200,000 people, and destroying millions of jobs and small businesses. How did Donald Trump respond? At first, he said the virus was under. control and would soon disappear. When it didn't, he was on TV every day bragging on what a great job he was doing, while our scientists waited to give us vital information. When he didn't like the expert advice he was given, he ignored it. Only when COVID exploded in even more states

did he encourage people to wear masks. By then, many more were dying. When asked about the surge and deaths, he shrugged and said, it is what it is. But did it have to be this way? No. COVID hit us much harder than it had to. We have just 4% of the world's population, but 25% of the world's COVID cases. Our unemployment rate is more than twice as high as South Korea's, two and a half times the United Kingdoms, more than three times Japan's. Donald Trump says we're leading the world. Well, we are the only major industrial economy to have its unemployment rate triples. At a time like this, the Oval Office should be a command center. Instead, it's a storm center.

It's only chaos. Just one thing never changes. His determination to deny responsibility and shift the blame. The buck never stops there. Now, you have to decide whether to renew his contract or hire someone else. If you want a president who defines the job as spending hours a day watching TV and zapping people on social, media, he's your man. Denying, distracting, and demeaning works great if you're trying to entertain or inflame.

But in a real crisis, it collapses like a house of cards. COVID just doesn't respond to any of that. To beat it, you've got to actually go to work and deal with the facts. Our party is united and offering you a very different choice, a go-to-work president, a down-to-earth, get-the-job-done guy, a man with a mission to take for responsibility, not shift the blame. Concentrate, not distract, unite, not divide. Our choice is Joe Biden. Joe helped bring us back from a recession before, and he can do it again. In 2009, Barack Obama and Joe Biden started with the worst economy since the Great Depression. And when they were done, they delivered more than six straight years of job growth. What did Joe do? He accepted responsibility

for implementing the Recovery Act, his work created a lot of new jobs and started many new companies and communities across our country. Now Joe's committed to building America back again. How? He's given us smart, detailed plants to invest in areas vital to our future.

Innovative financing for modern factories and small businesses, good jobs in green energy and conservation to combat climate change, a modern infrastructure that brings small town and rural America the connectivity and investment others take for granted. And a plan to ensure that black Americans, Latino Americans, Native Americans,

women, immigrants, and other communities left behind are full participants in our economy and our society. Joe Biden wants to build an economy far better suited to our changing world. Better for young people. Better for families working and raising their kids. Better for people who lost jobs and need new ones. Better for farmers tired of being collateral damage in trade wars. Better for workers caring for the sick, elderly, and people with disabilities.

Better because of a living wage and access to affordable higher education and health care, including prescription drugs. And to child care, a secure retirement, and for the first time paid family and medical leave. Joe won't just put his signature on a check and try to fool you into thinking it came from him. he'll work to make sure that your paycheck reflects your contribution to and your stake in a growing economy. In this job interview, the difference is stark. You know what Donald Trump will do with four more years? Blame, bully, and belittle.

And you know what Joe Biden will do. Build back better. It's Trump's us versus them America against Joe Biden's America, where we all live and work together. It's a clear choice. The future of our country is riding on it. Thank you. All right, so we had two former Democratic presidents there. Obviously, they're saving the big dog for later. That's Barack Obama. I see what's the most interesting part of Bill Clinton's the speech is when it was,

at 930, buried in the middle of the first hour of Tuesday's coverage here of the D. DNC. So in the old days, Bill Clinton would be saved for very near the end. And he was considered the most persuasive Democrat, the most popular Democrat. And here, it's almost as if they're a little embarrassed of him. And they've kind of burden him in the programming. He's still an effective speaker. We just got started tonight, but that was the best speech of the night. And he actually made policy points, which he's also the first one, other than Bernie Sanders to do that on both nights. For example, he reminded people, including me, that buying this for paid family leave. And that's a rare thing I believe him on in terms

of positive progressive policies. And so good, I'm glad to be reminded of that. I'm glad to remind you guys of that. But on others, he was less convincing. I'm going to put you guys through this pain. But we'll come back, but let's listen to Tom Perez for a second. But good leadership means being able to adapt to any situation. And I want to thank the people, Milwaukee, for being such gracious and flexible hosts. It's also great to be back in Wisconsin where I was lucky enough to marry my wife, Anne-Marie, a little more than three decades ago. The progressive movement has deep roots here. And since today is the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment's ratification, we should point out that Wisconsin was the first state to ratify it.

What's more? In its one word motto, forward, Wisconsin captures something so important about America. The way that no matter what challenges today brings, we always believe a better future is possible. That's what my parents believed when they emigrated to this country nearly a century ago, fleeing the iron fist of a brutal dictator in the Dominican Republic. This nation welcomed them with compassion, and they quickly learned that their hope, of building a better life through hard work was shared by generations of Americans. Indeed, every American story is a story about that hope, that sense of possibility.

It's what unites us, defines us, and it's what sustains us now. We will work to meet our extraordinary challenges because progress is made by the hopeful, not the cynical. And we will do that work together because movements are built by the many, not the few. And as you watch tonight's decidedly unconventional roll call and reflect on the diversity of our nation, remember, you too are part of the American story. And no matter where you come from or where you're watching from tonight, you have a place in Joe Biden's Democratic Party. Delegance and distinguished guests, under our procedural rules, two Democratic candidates, submitted nominating documents to our convention secretary for the office of president.

Okay, so what you're about to, what they're about to do there is just mechanics. They're gonna officially nominate them and they're gonna go through a regular role that is enormously out interesting. Look, I showed you Tom Perez. I'm willing to show you that level of uninteresting, but not anything beyond that. Okay, so Tom Perez, of course, the DNC chair. I'll say one thing here, then I wanna go to Ben, and then I wanna go to you guys too. So first thing is, whenever I see Tom Perez, I think Keith Ellison. Now I remember Keith Ellison was set to win the DNC chair, he had the votes, then Barack

Obama behind the scenes, as he's done now a couple of important times, went and lobbied for on behalf of Tom Perez. In fact, Obama asked Perez to run to make sure that Ellison didn't win. And then they tricked Ellison with talk, happy talk of how they were going to be co-chairs or some BS like that. And I said, don't believe the hype, they're just going to squeeze them out. And what did they do? They squeezed them out.

It was all theatrics. He had no power at all. The minute he lost by one vote, progressives were screwed. And Tom Perez ran the party in favor of the establishment, 110%. So that's who Tompresent. Brez's. So when he starts talking about building movements, please spare me about building movements. You're actually hired to destroy movements. So Ben, before we go to you, I just want to get shout out to all the folks who are participating tonight, because we can't do this

show without you guys. So whether you're given at t.yt.com slash go, and it makes nice like this possible, and we really, really appreciate it. Or you just became members. So these These folks just became members during the broadcasts. They became YouTube channel members. Cindy Martinez, Ray Lanning, Josette Van Cartier, Tilef Curtis, Bob Bro, Tanisha Liles, and Diane Vasur upgraded our accounts. So we love you for all of that. By the way, there's a reason to upgrade your accounts.

At the highest level, you get all of our videos and all of our coverage anytime you want. And if you're on YouTube, you just hit the join button below. If you're not, we're thrilled to have you, and you can do. t-y-t dot com slash show no no it's aOC we're missing precious seconds of immigration and foreign policy that turn away from the violence and xenophobia of our past a movement that realizes the unsustainable brutality of an economy that rewards explosive inequalities of wealth for the few at the expense of long-term stability for the many and who organized a historic grassroots campaign to reclaim our democracy. In a time when millions of people in the United

States are looking for deep systemic solutions to our crises of mass evictions, unemployment, and lack of health care, in the spiritu del Pueblo, and out of a love for all people, I hereby second the nomination of Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont for President of the United States of America. Thank you, Mr. King and Representative Ocasio-Cortez. We now turn to nominating and second in speeches for Vice President Biden. In a moment, we'll hear from Senator Chris Coons, who holds the Delaware Senate seat once held by the Vice President and Representative Lisa Blunt, Rochester, my colleague in the House.

But first, we'll hear from Jack. Okay, well, they at least found out Lisa Blunt Rochester is apparently a Democrat. All right, so that was slightly weird. So Michael sure was here, he'd explain to us why was he just nominated Bernie Sanders and not Joe Biden. But it goes to the comedy of why, of how they only gave her 60 seconds. It takes us like five seconds to bring it up, and I'm like, oh no, we just missed It's like 10% of her speech. That was the depressing part about it. But it's even worse now that I realize what they assigned her to do, right?

They just, they assigned her to give the nomination of Bernie Sanders, which I think it's just a formal procedure, right, for the people who submitted the documents. But to that end, it still seems like they snubbed her in a pretty significant fashion, but she made the best that she possibly could of it. Yeah, and remember all the speeches are pre-approved, especially the ones that are pre-recorded like AOCs. And so it looks like they mainly wanted her to talk about Latino issues, right? That's what she's in moving. I can't stand this guy, but I want to hear what I can't stand. So let's watch. Out in their community, Joe fights for us because he knows our struggles and

hopes. He knows the pain of loss and the worries of working parents. And he's always brought that same personal concern he showed for Jacqueline to getting things done. our senator and then as President Obama's vice president. Joe's tackled gun violence and climate change. He stood up to dictators and supported our troops. He led the recovery effort after the last recession and delivered on a promise to make our health care system fairer and stronger. Through it all, Joe Biden's never forgotten where he's from.

He's been sustained by his faith and his family through the toughest of times. And he has the heart and the compassion for this moment. For all of these reasons and more, it's my honor to second the nomination of my good friend, Joe Biden, to be the next president of these United States. I'm Congresswoman Lisa Blunt, Rochester. In some history class in the future, children are learning about this moment. They're learning about our pain, our grief, our worry. But they're also learning about a man named Joe Biden about how he restored deep.

decency to our government and integrity to our democracy. They're learning about how we conquered a pandemic, stood united for racial justice, and built our economy back better than before. They're learning about how his leadership gave their generation a fighting chance. They're learning about us too, about the resolve and the unity we showed against the forces of hatred and division, about the work we will do over the next 11 weeks. And about the night when despite our distance, we came together to nominate Joe Biden for President of the United States. A nomination I'm honored to second.

Thank you all. Pursuant to our convention rules will now proceed to a roll call by states on the selection of our parties candidate for the president of the United States. Okay, there it is. The roll call is the least interesting part of a. the generally uninteresting conventions. So, and I say generally uninteresting, because look, did anyone say anything interesting there, Coons and Lisa Blunt, Rochester? You know, as I've now comically admitted several times, I don't know representative Rochester at all.

And so I got no beef with her, but Coons at her said absolutely nothing. It's okay, not everybody has to dazzle and they have a short period of time, and Coons couldn't dazzle of his life dependent on. He's the senator from Delaware, who is one of the most conservative senators in the country. He has a progressive challenger, Jeff Scorraine, and you should check out Jess. She's excellent. Coons is not, to say the least. Coons is up for potentially Secretary of State in the Biden administration. So having one of the most conservative Democrats is potentially Secretary of State is not positive. But, but I was gonna say, probably Susan Rice will take it, but really what difference does it make?

Susan Rice is incredibly conservative. So by the way, since we've been speaking, Elliott Pleasant, Darla Day and Brian Doyle also just became YouTube channel members. Love it, hit the join button below if you want to join them and help support the Young Turks and help make nice like this possible. All right, I have so much more to say, but Ben, jump in on So many of those speakers, Clinton, Schumer, et cetera, go ahead. Yeah, so I think the big difference is authenticity. And I think the problem is that they feel like, you know, Tom Perez feels like you can feign like passion, you know, you can't, you can't fake that, right?

People can see through that and no matter how much you raise your voice, lower your voice and do all the inflections, people could see right through Tom Perez versus Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton actually, you know, I think he gave a great speech in terms of leadership. So he's speaking from a perspective of obvious experience, job application. And he was his regular old Bill Clinton self, which was authentic. Like him or love him, it was authentic. And I think that's the real difference that a lot of these politicians just have absolutely no clue about because I don't think they have authentic bones in their bodies.

Yeah, you know, as I was listening to the state or watching Stacey Abrams give her speech, which was earlier in the night. Her facial expressions changed dramatically when she was talking about Joe Biden and Donald Trump. But I believed her. I don't know, some people might do it on purpose. But when she talked about Joe Biden, she was smiling, big smile. Whenever she talked about Trump, there was this like Facebook following me, like, and then there's Donald Trump.

The bastard, right? I think one of the detail, though, is that they really, I have a hard time. I don't know if it's possible. And Jank, I'm sure, like, even the people who this audience has catered for, this material is catered for, I don't know if they're they can honestly make people excited, like the last speaker try to speak from the future perspective. There's students who are learning about Joe Biden. I don't think anybody honestly looks at Joe Biden as the savior, like Stacey Abrams mentioned. At best, he's going to have a very effective team to come in and manage COVID-19, which is, in my opinion, a good enough

reason to get Donald Trump out of there. But in terms of him coming in and being this dynamic hero figure that history is going to remember, stop. That's not it. Like right there, that's the summary of the whole thing, that's not it. So everybody knows it, just yeah, I'm totally with you, Ben. Don't bother pretending, okay? Nobody thinks Biden's a historic figure. And other than the fact that like that he's so old, he's historic in terms of age. Again, no disrespect, Bernie's just as old, I'm just saying, okay?

And every time I think about Biden being president, I can't believe it. He's such a run-of-the-mill politician. And so, look, I happen to think that Donald Trump was the last gasp of the angry white man. But, and I hope to get on right about that, 2-2-2, okay? Run out the clock, let's go, two and a half months, please Joe, let's go, Joe, right? And I think, and I hope that Joe Biden is the last gasp of the establishment. We're gonna trot out the most standard Democratic politician you've ever seen, who's really indistinguishable from a Republican. And, and, you know, the establishment's last guys wheeled in,

in a sense. And then, and then we're gonna see what happens in 2024, because that's gonna be a mess. So it's, we're, Ben, we're interesting and strange bedfellows with the mainstream media right now, because both progressives and mainstream media agree that Donald Trump is abhorrent. But as soon, if let's hope, as soon as Biden wins, then we're gonna be at each other's throats, because we're gonna tell them things that are true, and the media is largely going to lie and try to bully us. So the number one gaslighting thing they do is, there's no difference between establishment Democrats and progressives. There's no difference between Biden and progressives. What are you talking about? Is a giant, if there's no difference, great. When are we passing

Medica for all? Right, right. So I mean, honestly, like not only the mainstream media, but also the Democratic Party. Like, I mean, Donald Trump absolutely has to go. I don't think it's a stretch to say 250,000 people will be dead from COVID-19 alone if Donald Trump is really is reelected. I don't think that's a stretch. That said, when he's gone, the Democratic Party is going to have a lot of hell to pay. They have a lot to answer for because of the policies that they are not advocating for. More importantly, the direction that they're moving in terms of the Republican party, Rom Emanuel's piece in the Washington, I'm in the Wall Street Journal, basically saying they want this to be the home of Biden and Republicans. So that means that you're going to

give up something because Republicans never give an inch. Democrats always give a mile. Yeah, no, I'm not interested in building any home for Biden Republicans. If that's the only set of people in the country, I don't mind being homeless. So anyways, I love the Eric man who wrote in on YouTube super chat saying, what is Bob Dole speaking? By the way, Bob Dole, amazingly, still alive. And he could. I mean, if anybody's going to show up at a Democratic convention day, he's He said it could be Bob Doe. Jake, I love how you said like figuratively will in the last man of the establishment.

I don't know how much figurative it actually is because I mean, Bob Dole, yeah, he's up there in age, but Joe Biden is really struggling there. So this, they might have to wheel him in to, maybe not the convention, but into the Oval Office, it might be that time. Yeah, all right, I wanna read more names here. Ethan Gruhl, just sign up to be a YouTube channel member for TYT, love you guys. Dean M. Samantha Dore, Alicia Leachie, you guys make this show possible. And especially special coverages like these guys. That's where we really need help at t.com slash go. The more resources we have, the more we could put these on for you guys. And it's really important, especially get us through 2020. And so we can stay healthy and sustainable. We can press on

and deliver the news and coverage like this for you guys. All right, so I want to go back to earlier speeches for a second. Bill Clinton mentioned, it's not his words, it's the Biden's campaign. They are so clunky sometimes that 303 is, I don't even know if they're the right numbers. And I feel bad about saying the wrong numbers, whatever the hell you're supposed to text. I don't even know what happens when you text it. Anyways, but Clinton did their other awkward slogan, build back better. What is that?

That doesn't even make any sense. I get build, I get back, I get better, but build back better is not a thing. When you put them together, I, so ah, okay. But Clinton did make a good point. He said, look, Trump is best at demeaning people, attacking people, zapping people on social media, as Bill Clinton put it, he said, but that just doesn't work on coronavirus. You know, I would have gone further, but I love the analogy. I would have said, look, you can't demean coronavirus and hurt its feelings and

intimidate it and have it go away. That's not how illnesses work. So he's just absolutely ill-equipped for this moment. And I thought that was probably the best portion of Bill Clinton's speech. But now, in terms of the problem, the part that I found most problematic, he talked about how Joe Biden is going to fight for a living wage for you. Is he? And that's where I would have, if they mean it, it would have helped to be much more specific.

Look, I'm going to fight for $15 minimum wage, the house already passes. These are layups, because Biden theoretically believes in this, okay, theoretically. I'm not at all convinced, but so he could have said $15 minimum wage, hey, that doubles the minimum wage, actually more than doubles the minimum wage. Can you imagine if you're a minimum wage worker, us doubling your salary, that actually motivates people more than you could imagine. It's so obvious that that would motivate people, but they don't want to say it, why don't they want to say it? It's because of their corporate interests and their corporate donors. Okay, hold on one second, did we lose Ben? Did he lose power?

Okay, Ben's in an undisclosed location in a bunker somewhere. So wherever that is, he lost power for a second. And so we'll get him back on, okay? And I'm gonna read some of your comments here too, but let me go through it. do some of other speeches while we have time. Jimmy Carter was on, you know, actually Jimmy Carter was less progressive when he was president. That's why Teddy Kennedy actually primaried him from the left. But since then, he's been a wonderful progressive.

That's why he's usually not featured in Democratic conventions. So I'm glad that they at least had him on. They had a video where he spoke and his wife spoke. And Jimmy Carter is the only guy who brought you peace in the Middle East. That Israel UAE deal that Trump is bragging about, absurd. Israel and UAE were already excellent allies. They're trying to trick you by having go, hey, Israel made a deal with random Arabs. UAE, I know you can't tell them apart from anyone else.

They already had an alliance. Anyway, Jimmy Carter actually brought Israel and Egypt together, which was near impossible. So that was one of his shining accomplishments as president. After president being president, he eradicated an entire disease off the face of the earth getting a warm disease. In fact, given that history, if there's anyone you'd want in terms of expertise in finding a disease, it'd be Jimmy Carter, we need them right now. By the way, Jimmy Carter at age 90 some odd years old, I've lost track, or Donald Trump biggest no-brainer of all time. I don't even want to entertain that conversation. But Jimmy

Carter or Joe Biden, if it's just a matter of who I get to decide Carter, Carter, Carter, Carter immediately, not even close. I don't care if he's a hundred and eight. Okay, and Sally Yates was on in the beginning. And unfortunately, she gave a fluffy speech about how, you know, Joe Biden's going to restore the soul of the country. But you were acting Attorney General under Trump for a while, as she explained, until she was fired for opposing the Muslim man.

And you know, where you worked in the Biden, Obama administration, et cetera, but you had experience with Trump, don't tell us fluffy stuff about Biden. And if you do, if you have good stuff about Biden when you work with them, give us specifics so that we could all be encouraged, including me. Like if you had an amazing story about working with Biden during the administration, great, that's a thing you should share. Apparently you didn't. And then, but what would have been more helpful is if Sally is focused a lot more on what

was wrong with Trump. I know they're trying to build Biden up, but Biden's not a spring chicken. It's not like Biden is a person that the country doesn't know. If you had a young politician, if Jamal Bohm is running for president there, I just said it for the first time. Okay, then you have to build them up because a lot of people don't know him. And you gotta give his background, his history, et cetera. For these speeches, we're wasting time if we're trying to tell people about Joe Biden.

Everybody knows Joe Biden. And so if you got policies like Bill Clinton mentioned paid family leave, emphasize that. So we learned something about Biden. Most importantly, the audience, the voters at home, the independence at home learn something and emphasize it how it could help your family and how it could, my God, imagine having paid family leave when you have a kid. And it's so crushing right now that we don't have that throughout the country and giving people faith that they can have that. That's important, that's relevant, that would be helpful.

Oh, here's my fan, a fan, not fan, friend, also not friend, but still you get it. Amy Klobuchar. I'm sad that we're missing her mom jokes, but it's only going to last a second by the time we go to her and it'll be someone else. What's her famous line that I want to do a sitcom around? Who does that? We still got to plan that one out. And so, And if you're just tuning in, this is a roll call where all the politicians from different states say, oh, I'm nominating Joe Biden because he loves cantaloupe. And we make a lot of cantaloupe in Minnesota. And so God bless Joe Biden.

So this is not really that interesting. All right, or not at all interesting. Or what Sally H. could have done is told it a compelling story about how Donald Trump is awful. And my God, do not make that mistake. So I want to talk about the rest of this with Ben a little bit. So let me see if I could save it until he comes back on about the difference between Trump and Biden. But in the meanwhile, I want to read some of your comments.

So I'm going to go to our members, t.yt.com slash join to become a member. Wicked writes it, affordable, I'm so tired of hearing affordable. We want Medicare for all, we deserve Medicare for all. So there's two parts of that, and I'm really glad you wrote in Wicked. So number one, don't tell me, as Ben mentioned earlier this year, don't tell me that I have access to healthcare. Yeah, we got access to Ferraris and mansions and yachts, we just don't have the money for it.

Then you tell me that it's going to be affordable, well, that's what every Democrat, including Barack Obama said, and it ain't affordable. Just give us the goddamn health care. That's what every developed country does. They don't let people die, they have universal health care. So I'm not interested in stuff in that. Progressive Pirate writes in Jimmy Carter was the last great president. Wow, someone who likes Bernie Sanders has this comment.

Biden is Robert Barathean. He will replace the mad king, but then do nothing for his whole term and the aftermath is a bloodbath between factions. I gotta hand it to you, that's an excellent analogy. That's so good, I'm thinking of stealing it. I want to credit you, but I'd have to credit you as quote, someone who likes Bernie Sanders. People are like, what? What are he talking about? Anyways, yeah, yeah, I mean, we definitely have a mad king, we definitely have to replace him.

But when Mr. Status quo, I don't really want to get anything done as an office, that will invariably lead to massive fighting between the factions. By the way, the two biggest factions, that are going to fight in the Biden administration is progressives and Republicans. So those two will fight it out for influence over Joe Biden. Given how this convention is going, I'm worried about how that's going to turn out. And now let me do one more, J.M. Frazier writes, and honestly, show up to vote for Joe to stop the bleeding. But they can get in the streets and drag him, him and the DNC to the left, whether they like it or not. They don't represent us. The poll numbers on the issues clearly show

that, it's time to force them to start. Again, 100% right. And I love how educated and how smart our audiences. So the reality is we have to do triage. There's no what this is what I want to talk to Ben about. And hopefully we'll get a chance later and then I talk more about this too. We got to get rid of the Mad King. There's no answers or butts about it. And every day I get more and more nervous. You know, I've been very confident throughout for literally the first day in his office. I didn't even think he was going to make it four years, as you all know. But from the day one to yesterday, I've been super confident that he's going to get blown out and have a landslide.

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 podcast at apple. at apple.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.