The Young Turks - Part 2: TYT's 2020 Turks & Jerks

Episode Date: December 31, 2020

Part 2: Turks & Jerks: It's that time of year, when the TYT Supreme Court weighs in on the past year's heroes and goats, stars and flameouts, hunks and lunks - or as we call them, Turks & Jerks. Yes, 2020 has been a big steaming pile, but we'll still find some bright lights who shone, while also identifying the year's biggest stinkers.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I get a free Tilly Dog. Chilly Dog, not included. The Naked God. Tickets on sale now. August 1st. Welcome back to the second half of the 2020 Turks and Jerks of the year. Jared Jackson is now gone, but we're joined by Ben Dixon. Ben, how's it going? Going great, good to be here. Great to have you here. Thank you everybody who's watching this special.

We're having a lot of fun. It's going to become a little bit more positive now. We're going to be spotlighting some of the best people in America throughout the year. But before we launched you, I did want to remind you that there is still a little bit of time where if you are able, you can help support support TYT, keep us stable during the darkest year in recent memory by going to TYT.com slash go. I know it's hard, but anything you can give, even just a few dollars certainly helps us during this time. And so that's tyt.com slash go if you can. Thank you in advance. Yeah, let me do a shout out for a couple of other sponsors. And guys, keep in mind that these sponsors stuck with us through COVID

and they stuck with us through plenty of controversy of material because a lot of them like aspiration are proudly progressive. So if you put your money into aspiration, they don't put it into fossil fuel companies. That's where it goes when you're in other banks, along with many other horrible investments that they make with your money. And every time you sign up, they plant 10 trees for you to try to save the planet. There's a whole Aspiration Forest. And since they don't, since they're online, they're also a significantly better rate.

So it's a win all across the board. So aspiration.com slash t-y-t. And then another sponsor is really easy is everybody needs a VPN that protects your computer so people can't get your credit card information, et cetera. And so if you're going to do a VPN, they're with us. And so they help us and doing it with them. a ton of sense, and they've got like a billion percent off. I think the last offer is 88% off off on a five-year plan. So t-y-t.com slash pure VPN, t-y-t.com slash pure VPN. All right,

John, what do we got on Turks of the Year? Okay, so let's bring it up. We've got some more brackets. I was assuming you were going to. There we go. Okay, so let's see, same as with the jerks of the year, we're going to be moving up based on how much support these people got. In the first bracket that we're gonna be talking about, we've got some awesome progressive. So we're looking at Cory Bush, Jamal Bowman, Rashida Talib, and Ilhan Omar. So we've got some people who are already in government, some are gonna be joining it very soon. What do you all make of that? Who is your Turk of the year out of that group? All right, let's have a new tradition.

For Turks of the year, Ben starts. Okay, no problem. Okay, no problem. I have to pick Corey, right? I love and respect to everyone else on that list, but Cory Bush, not winning last time, keeping that infrastructure coming back and winning and taking out a full neoliberal centrist dynasty, I have to give it to Corey. Yeah, I'll go next.

So Ilhan and Rashida were so strong this year. Ilhan wound up having maybe my favorite political comment of all time. When they asked her, Ryan Grimm, a TYT contributor asked her on the Intercepts podcast. He said, you know, Trump used you as a reason for people to turn out against Joe Biden in Minnesota. And so how do you feel about that? And Elhan said, well, he effed around and found out. That's true. Okay.

Oh, that was so strong. Oh, man. Love how strong that is. I think, not I think, I know, they made a shirt out of it. We were thinking making a shirt out of it. I talked to them and they made a shirt out of it. So go to Ilhan's like congressional support website or whatever and buy that shirt. So but and Jamal, by the time.

he won, it was less surprising because he beat Elliot Engel into the ground. But I don't want you to think that it wasn't a minor miracle. It was. But Jabal Bowman was announced, nobody thought he was going to win. I think that might have been the time that anonymous Democratic aid said to the press in my favorite quote against us. Oh, Justice Democrats, those nerds aren't going to be to anybody in a primary. Oops, okay. And Elliot Engel was a committee chair. So Jamal taking out a committee chair when no one expected.

It was amazing. But I'm going to go with Ben and say Cory Bush. Hey. Because that was unexpected on top of unexpected. Corey is the most real person you'll ever find in life, let alone in Congress. And Jamal's right there with her, of course. But when she won, it shook Washington. Because by the time Jamal won, they had kind of braced for impact, if you will.

But they didn't see Corey coming at all. And when she did a two by four across this back of their head, they were like, Jesus. Like that night, they always let their guard down for 24 hours. That night, even Politico and everyone else was saying, now anyone can lose. Uh-oh. Like these progressives can beat anybody, right? And my God, I remember I was at Yosemite.

We went a family trip, as Trump calls it. Okay. And I was just, we were in a cabin and I'm jumping up and down doing the video. I'm screaming so much like my sister and wife were like, are you okay? What happened? I'm like, you don't understand Cory Bush won, Cory Bush one. So I'm going Cory Bush. Ida. So only one of these people is have in the middle of an interview and the establishment cut it off.

Oh. It was sitting straight facts and fire. And I do, I'm a Cory Bush fan and supporter. But I'm going to go with Rashida simply because I owe it to her when she said, impeach that mother effa, too, you know what, the great people of Michigan, specifically the people of Detroit, which is a predominantly black and brown community who people look, we, you hear people talk about Detroit. And a lot of times they look down when they talk about Detroit. And I just respect so much how she stood up for the people of Michigan and her constituency and how she shows up for them continuously and humanizes them by including herself with them,

as opposed to separating herself as a politician. I just love the way she rocks for her people. And I love her fearlessness. And I think that her and Ilhan have come under a lot of attack because of the anti-Muslim sentiment in this country, and it ain't easy. And I just, I just, I want to give it to her. I'm just gonna say one quick thing to back up Ida here. Detroit had higher voter turnout than any time in the last 20 years, including the Obama elections. And that is partly because Rashida Taleb worked it. She worked so hard to get to turn voters out. And guess what? cities like Detroit decide the election. So, you know, that's why it was such a betrayal right after the election that they immediately went and attacked, corporate Democrats attacked

progressives. Because I don't know that there's anyone who was more pivotal in Biden's win than Rashida Taleb was. And so that's another reason to vote for her. So it's a great selection. Okay, John, what do you think? Yeah, and by the way, not to mention awesome progressive activists in Georgia as well, and that incredibly clear, close race. Oh, this is such a tough one. This is honestly, like for me, this is maybe one of the toughest of all of the brackets. Like I really want to give it to Cory Bush because for a long time, I considered AOC to be

the perfect example of what we want to happen in terms of getting someone into Congress. This person who comes through activism is out there, you know, working hard for the right things and then just through their like sheer passion and energy gets elected and takes down someone so powerful, so entrenched. But the thing is honestly there's elements of Corey's story that I feel like is even more perfect for that. Like the fact that that she lost the first time and said okay next time and she did it next time. Like that is so tough and she must have questioned herself so much along the way. But she got it done and that's so incredibly inspirational. I mean, Jamal Bowman similarly for taking down someone who I'm always going to remember

Elliot Engel for his appearance in the early months of the pandemic saying if I wasn't in a primary I wouldn't be doing this appearance and getting caught because of that. And Jamal Bowman also is just one of like is there anyone more obviously just a nice positive person who just makes the world a better person around them. Rashida, I think, deserves so much credit, but we'll never get credit for being, as Ida pointed out, like she was calling for his impeachment when basically nobody in elected office was doing it. And eventually, they'd almost all, with like one exception, come around to approving of his impeachment. But she was out there first. But I think I have to say in this one,

I'm gonna go with Ilhan Omar. Because I feel like all the progressives, The progressives, and especially the progressive women, especially the progressive women of color, get attack nonstop. But I feel like, while AOC maybe gets more high profile attacks, Ilhan gets more nonstop, vitriolic, violent attacks. And she hasn't, like, shied away from who she was on day one at all. She stood up to it. She's like, she has this attachment to like the progressive base that few other elective representatives do, like she's out there, you know, playing among us with this awesome rig and she's got the Mecca Ilhan and stuff like that. And I, and she's just been a tireless advocate on so many issues all throughout the year that I feel like I got to give it to Ilhan Omar in

that category. Yeah, I mean, look, you guys all make incredibly compelling points because Ilhan might have single-handedly changed the dynamic about how we view lobbyist groups like APEC and whether they can be questioned or not. I mean, how strong. do you have to be, to take one of the strongest lobbying groups in the country and and to question and diminish their power. Because remember, there's a lot of wonderful Jewish American groups. APAC is a right wing group. And the Democrats would bow down to the right wing group. And she said, no, I don't. And she got viciously attacked for it. And she stood her ground. And I would say in the long run, she won. And so, I mean, that is, that is an amazing

group of progressives. And they've done so much in such little amount of time. It's really remarkable. I wanted to double down on everything you guys said. All right, but let's, let's find out who won? John, who won in this? So in that category, they're all winners, according to us. But According to our audience, it is Cory Bush, winner of the bracket, and the number five Turk of 2020. Yeah, absolutely. I love this. And look, I'll say one last thing. First, side note, technically I know you're not right. Rashida Tili got cut off by mainstream media, but so did Jamal Bohm. Jamal was on TV. They asked him about his position. He stated a progressive position.

They're like, oh, we got breaking news, we gotta go. We'll get back to John. Oh, that's right, that's right. And they never got back to him. Wait, didn't he also, who got cut off when they were talking about Rahm Emanuel recently? Didn't someone get cut off? That was Jamal. That was Jamal.

That was Jamal Bowman. Yeah. And so, but I want to say one last thing about Corey, and I'm glad you guys picked her. She had the least support. So by the end, Jamal had been endorsed by almost everyone, which is great, everyone on the left, right? But they kind of left Corey on her own. And so every time I think about it, I get a little emotional. And you know what kind of strength it takes.

And so I don't even want to list the people who didn't endorse her because it's not a good list, okay? And so, but you got to give credit to just Democrats who stuck with her through thick and thin, Alexandra Rojas there. Great decision to back Corey when nobody thought she could win. could win. And look, I give a little bit of shout out to you guys, you know, for all of you who contributed to her and worked for, et cetera. So what, you know, we're here for folks. And and it's not me, it's you guys, right? And it's not Ben and John and Ida, and they're all wonderful, et cetera. But you guys are the ones that give the money, the volunteers. You guys are the ones that have hope in your heart and you believe. And so Corey's a perfect representative

of that. She would not bend. She would not go away, and she almost did it single-handedly. So all the credit in the world of Corey. Yes. Yeah. Next bracket. Yep. All right, the next bracket, remember, this bracket did not win overall. So this is like we thought jerks of the year was hard. Okay, get a load of this, okay, Turk of the year bracket, Bernie Sanders, AOC, Nina Turner, Dr. William Barber. Oh, come on, come on. Ben's angry. I mean, so Reverend Barbara is the moral core of so many of our movements. So there's a progressive movement, the civil rights movement. And here's another guy. quietly working without anywhere near enough recognition and always shows up and it's amazing. Apparently I'm going first. Ladd.

Goinke. So Reverend Barber is one of the, there's this bracket as two living legends. I often talk about the five living legends that I, in my mind and Bernie Sanders and Reverend Barbara or two of them, and they're both in this bracket. And then AOC obviously has changed the dynamic in this country. I mean, she put Green New Deal on the maps. Not single-handedly, just Democrats' Sunrise Movement, the progressive movement overall, new consensus, you know, Choycott, Chukharbardi, Zach Exley, there's so many other people

involved. But she was the most pivotal. And so a tremendous action, that was, you know, partly last year, partly this year. And then Nina Turner is legend. And maybe she'll be Turk of the year next year. Cross your fingers, right? But at this, in this category, I still got to give it to Bernie Sanders because the one last push and he didn't win, but he moved the country. And right now, under 45 year olds, this is roughly in the primaries, I can give you specific states, but 70% of them voted for Bernie Sanders in the primers.

Even at the very end, even when no one thought he could win, still under 45 year olds were voting for him at a 70% clip. And I interviewed Noam Chomsky, who is another one of the living legends I have on my list, a couple of months back. And he was weirdly hopeful. And that was the same interview that he said Trump was worse than Hitler. So I asked them after the interview, a little bit on air and a little bit off air. I said, why? And he said, we already moved the ground from underneath the establishment. They just don't know it. So the young are so progressive that they're going to rise up and get into positions of power and their culture is different. And that culture will move this country and will move the planet. And so I've got to give

Bernie Sanders a world of credit for that. And if we ever pass $15 minimum wage, does anybody think it was that he wasn't the most pivotal person in making that happen? and Medicare for all, and name any other issue, right? So I still give it to Bernie. Ben, I got too excited there and jumped in. But no, no, it's good. You know, Bernie Sanders is Bernie Sanders, and everything that you said is absolutely right. There's a lot of people, the establishment only has one of future, and that's a progressive future. And that's because a lot of the work that Bernie Sanders did. But then you said AOC, and I'm looking at AOC, I'm like, well, she is, She is the future. She's one of the people leading the future. So I wanted to give it to AOC. But then you said

Nina Turner. And I'm like, what are you trying to do to me, man? He has to wear me out here. Because, I mean, it's Nina Turner. Then you put Barbara on there. Like, he is a living legend. He tweeted one time one of my articles. And I was like, I really was a fan boy running around the house excited because of how significant he is in the work that he does. But I still have to, I have to give it to Nina Turner. I have to give it to Nina Turner because it doesn't matter when I hear her speak. You know, I've been doing this for a while. Nina can set anybody on fire and she means what she says so much that she has put so much

on the line and lost so much on behalf of her beliefs. And I just kind of kind of identify with that kind of push. So she has to get it for me. I know, I feel like Ben, I feel so cheated at this. this moment. I think I agree. I think Bernie Sanders has been consistent in what Bernie stands for. Even when they spit in his face, when they stab him in the back, he still turns around and continues his journey because he's truly about the people. I think AOC is going to have her shot. And I wanted to take this moment as an opportunity because people were tweeting

me about the white men who kept antagonizing AOC and Nina Turner that are progressive. And people are like, well, they're progressives. Should they not be able to question these women? And I said, I just want people to understand that progressivism does not, you're not exempt from being a racist because you consider yourself a progressive. There are a lot of white men who broke when they saw, they see Nina Turner, Barack Obama, AOC, the audacity of these people of color to be who they are and feel like they should be able to question them. I'm gonna rock with Nina Turner as well because she sets it a blaze

everywhere she goes, but I stand in solidarity with her and AOC because in addition to being progressive, they are women of color and they are women and they are constantly being attacked by everybody. So they should get an award every day. By the way, you can give them that award. She's running for Congress. Nina Turner.com slash hello, go put her into Congress and then we'll all get rewarded. Right. Right? Because you'll get higher wages, you'll get healthcare. She's not going to do it single-handedly, but I don't know that there's a single person in the country. I'd rather have in Congress than Nina Turner. Yeah. All right, John. Yeah. Oh, God, this is such a tough,

this is such a tough one. This is like the Trump and COVID one, but for the exact opposite reason. You don't want to not choose any of these names. The new BMO ViPorter MasterCard is your ticket to more. More perks, more points, more flights, more of all the things you want in a travel rewards card, and then some. Get your ticket to more with the new BMO ViPorter MasterCard and get up to $2,400 in value in your first 13 months. Terms and conditions apply.

Visit bemo.com slash the iPorter to learn more. Like Ben was saying, so I've now had Nina Turner on, I don't even know how many times. And it's just like it is, it is like a recharging of the batteries to do all of this every time. Like there's people I bring on because it's fun, we have good chemistry, there's people where I'm like, I really want you to hear their perspective. And she's all of that, but then also it's just like, it's not like even if the camera and wasn't working, I need it, like to keep doing this. And Owen, relatedly, she's going to be on my show tomorrow and we're going to talk about her run.

So that's going to be awesome. But there's also Bernie Sanders and AOC in this category. And I'm going to guess that there is maybe one out of 100 people watching this that don't think I'm going to give it to AOC because I have said any number of times that she is my politician, like even more so than Bernie Sanders. In terms of representing what I believe, how I want what I believe to be expressed, how I want to organize around it, there's nobody who's more in line with me than AOC. But I got to give it to Bernie Sanders here after this year. And it's not that all these people aren't amazing. But Bernie fought, he fought again.

And he waited three years to fight again to try to make it happen. He fought through a heart attack. He had a heart attack and he's 300 years old and he still fought. He fought against so much lies and manipulation and propaganda and not mostly from the right, it's mostly from inside of his own party and centrist media. And he still tried to try to do the right thing. And even after he got screwed over and after all of that, he's still working. to get Biden in office and he's not getting nearly enough credit for it. He's active,

like the what we're gonna get from Bernie Sanders, we don't even know yet because it's not even to hear all of it. Like it's gonna be paying dividends and he's inspired so many of the other names on this list to get involved in politics. So no, I gotta, I gotta give it to him and probably I don't wanna get ahead of myself, but he'd probably be my turk of the year. It still breaks my heart that he lost again, but it's gonna be Bernie Sanders here. And John, who one of winning. So because we split, we split between Nina Turner and Bernie Sanders. And by the way, I mean, we were this close. He, he won the first three states. Yeah, I thought it, I did a video. Oh, God, I don't want to go back there. I thought it was done. I mean, I have no idea who Bernie

would have picked for VP. But it literally could have been Bernie Sanders, Nina Turner right now. Yeah, I could have. Ah. Well, what we do have at least is our number four, Turk of the year. And in this category, the people have chosen Bernie Sanders. All right. Bernie, perennial Turk of the year champ or contender at least. But we have three more brackets. So you're going to want to see the folks in those brackets. They're amazing. And one of them won. So we're going to take a quick break here. When we come back, we'll do the last three brackets and tell you who won the Turk of the year. We'll be right back. Welcome back to the Turks and Jerks of the Air with me, Jank and Ida and Ben, having a lot of fun.

And now that we've gotten past those minor league Turks like Bernie Sanders, we can move into the real big hitters. But first, Jenk. Yeah, so real quick shout out to two more sponsors. One is tyt.com slash trees. So this So this is super simple. If you want to round up your change when you use your credit card or debit card to plant trees, every time you round up your change, they plant a tree for you. So you get your own little forest in a sense. It takes, it's really simple. It takes very little time. If you don't want to round up your change, then don't do. But if you do, and they plant a tree for you every time, then this is perfect. So to go to t.yt.com slash trees, And that's how you do it, okay? And the other sponsor is you guys. You've been sponsor us all

year through tyt.com slash go. And look, you know, when we talk about all these folks, Jamal Bowman, Nina Turner, Cory Bush, you know, who makes that happen? They do and a lot of other people in the country, but you're a giant part of that. Imagine if they didn't have this media network to hear them out, right? All they'd get is nothing but hate on mainstream media, either ignored or hated. And so the fact that you make the young Turks possible is everything to us, and to those folks to some degree. So t-y-t.com slash go, and this is the last month. So in a sense, it's your last opportunity to become part of the young Turks. Don't blow it. I'm kidding. You know, it's tough times, guys. If you can't do it, of course, of course,

sometimes people are like, oh, I feel guilty. No, no, no, don't, don't. But if you can, and it makes you feel good to give to a progressive media network so we could push for positive change in the world, then fantastic.t.com slash go. All right, John. Okay, we've got our third bracket. Right before we go to the third bracket, though, I do want to throw an honorary Turk of the year. I'm sort of technically leading, so I guess I get to do this. This is going to be the Twitch Turk of the year. And look, there are a lot of people who have supported TYT in so many different ways and love every one of you. And so to some extent, focusing on one person makes me feel a bit bad.

But Obie Mom Canobi on Twitch has gifted a significant portion of all of the subscribers of our Twitch channel. She has been an above and beyond ambassador for the channel and for the network for month after month. And so that is my honorary Twitch Turk of the year, Obie Mom Canobi. Thank you, Obie Mom. Yeah, Obi Mom, only you can save us. I like Star Wars a little bit less now. Anyway, I'm kidding. Okay, so now our bracket.

Ooh, these are some tough ones. So we've got Stacey Abrams on a lot of people's minds recently. Thanks to all that's going on in Georgia. Dr. Fauci, essential workers, and Li Wenliang, one of the first people to sort of raise concerns in China about early COVID infections and deaths in obviously a country where bad information leaking out is usually not good. It doesn't go well for the people who do that. So that's a tough group. I'm just seeing if I should give some time for Jank to jump in. No, I'm just kidding.

It's the tradition, Jane, let him go. So Stacey Abrams, work, New Georgia project, or everything down there, fair fight, everything that's happening here in Georgia, Stacey Abrams has been amazing. She should be the governor of Georgia right now. And since they messed around and stole that from her, she is making them pay for it every step of the way. So definitely see all of the work that she's doing. Dr. Fauci, you know, I have to give that man credit for not, you know, for holding out that long. How do you handle when the boss is doing such a bad job that now hundreds of thousands of people are dying? And he found a way to stick it through because he felt like it was more important for him to be there than to not be

there. So shout out to him for that. You said essential workers. And then the final one was who? Lee Wyn Leung. Okay, I'm gonna give it to the essential workers. Give it to the essential workers because they are literally putting their lives on the line for us right now while most of us are safe at home. So shout out to them. They get it for me. Yeah, so I'll go next again. So Dr. Fauci is an excellent candidate because he, you know, for folks who say they work within the system, but try to get, make the system better, nine out of ten times it ain't true. They're just doing it for their own careers, right? And they're trying to find a way to sleep at night. But I think Dr. Fauci was actually a shining symbol of the ones that are the one out of ten,

where you really, you're doing the best you can. He's like doing sign language, like, right? Don't listen to him. Do not inject bleach. She's like miming in the background, right? And he survived all the purges and try to give you the best information that he could. Stacey Abrams, she didn't run for president, which everybody thought was a mistake. They were wrong. Instead, she did the hard work of organizing and winning Georgia for the Democrats. That was just, for however much credit that everybody gives her, it's not enough. And so, I mean, you said they messed around and took the governorship away from her, which she would have won if they hadn't done the voter purchase. But they messed around and found out.

That's right. And so they, you know, and then they lost Georgia for good because of Stacey Abrams. It looks like, cross your fingers. Let's see what happens. So essential workers are obvious. They're on the front lines. I mean, just think about the Tyson plan, where they put them all back on the assembly line inside, all next crowded next to one another. And then the managers bet on who would get sick and potentially die. Okay, so I think essential workers is an excellent pick here. They all are. But of all of those, believe it or not, since I think that these Turks and jerks are more symbolic than anything else, I actually went with Lee Wenlang. And the reason for that is he stood up to the entire Chinese government. That is not a thing that's done, okay? And he said they're lying, it's real, it's here, and it's killing people. And then he went back to work. And he tried to save as many people as possible when it first began. And God knows how many lives he saved by doing that.

And how much, not only in China, but the effects of that worldwide, and then he got COVID and he died. And so to put your life on the line like that and to show the incredible courage he did, I voted for him in the bracket. Wow. Ida. So I think that was noble and, you know, who knows if he died of COVID, but they did, you know, I just, you know, I'm sorry I say what I think, which is not always the best. Well, can I just say though there real quick to interrupt you? Like the Chinese government is a dictatorship. So it's not. And so come, you know, it's one thing if folks in our government say, you should be skeptical, but look for evidence and proof, etc. The problem with the Chinese government is impossible to come out with any real proof. And so I'm just stating that for the record.

Anyway, yes, I have no idea exactly how he died. They said he died from coronavirus, and he did get coronavirus. So, okay, Ida, go ahead. Oh, no, Ida froze for a second. Oh, you're back, Ida, go ahead. Ida, can you hear us? So yeah, can you hear me? Yeah. Yeah. So what I was going to say was that Stacey Abrams, of course, here we go again with black women showing up to save America and it's democracy.

And you can't celebrate her and what was done enough. But what I will say is I'm sure that Stacey Abrams would want me. to select the essential workers because those are the people that this country in its, you know, celebrity worship, capitalistic attitudes, Donald Trump elitism, those are people that are looked down on and that those are the heroes of this year who showed up at the grocery stores, the hospitals, I mean the nurses, the people who work in the food industry. And I just think that I would be remiss if I didn't say the essential workers who showed up, who are many of them are black and brown. We lost many of them in this battle. People who have to fight for their

for their justice and equality and at the same time show up for you every day. So I'm going to have to go with my essential workers. Yeah, I'm going to say I almost word for word exactly the same kills me not to have it be Stacey Abrams. Stacey Abrams did so much. But they risked their life more. So I'm going to give it to the essential workers. Like inside of politics, she did so much work for so long and is getting some credit, but probably not nearly as much as deserved. But the essential workers for what they did for so long. And, and you know, doctors the nurses obviously, but that definition is obviously needs to be a lot broader. Anyone who kept working and especially for those who had to do all of this because they not only did it

at risk to their life, but they did it while their government largely abandoned them. I gotta give it to the essential workers. And who won, John? Well that one, you're gonna be shocked to find out. Went to the essential workers. It's difficult in 2020 to not choose the essential workers. They certainly earned it. Yeah, no question. All right, so now let's go to the pen ultimate bracket. I like to use that word in the rare cases that it's applicable. So, Black Lives Matter activists, Sunrise Movement, Justice Democrats, and them my favorite K-pop fans. And of course, they're the guys- Yeah, I mean, I let's

I let's George Flory protest this summer was a transformative moment in American history. And that was done during the pandemic. And you just can't really discount or overstate the impact that Black Lives Matter has had on this country. And it is an impact that goes far beyond Black Lives. Everything that Black Lives Matter is fighting for has been something that's beneficial to every part of this country. So my vote's going to Black Lives. Lives Matter. Yeah. So the K-pop one is fun because of how they humiliated Trump in Oklahoma.

But it's of course not in the same league, if I'm being honest. And just Democrats gave us some of the people we talked about earlier, Cory Bush, Jamal Bowman. And so they've done amazing work. But at the end of the day, yeah, Black Lives Matter activists, no question, in my mind. It wasn't just how pivotal and important they were during the George Floyd protests and all the other ones. It was that they moved the nation. I saw signs in a largely white suburb for almost half the houses had Black Lives Matter signs on their lawns. That is not

a thing that would have happened at any point in my life. And so like I was referring to Noam Chomsky saying earlier about how progressives have moved to culture, Black Lives Matter activists have moved the culture. And in as noticeable a way as I have ever seen. So the fight is long from over, right? The struggle continues. It always does for our side. But man, they made enormous strides this year? I'm going to have to agree. So in Puerto Rico, they had a really big Black Lives Matter movement in the Dominican Republic, and you're talking about people who didn't know that they could advocate for

themselves in that way because of where they live, that they were seen. And it was the, it was the voices from the American black people who made it known that black skin matters. And for those of the people who are always attacking Black Lives Matter as an organization, I want to stand up for the ideology and say that Black Lives Matter was all of us that stood up for Black lives. And so when you try to talk about the organization and the specific individuals associated with the organization, I'm talking about the movement that made people come out of their houses and say this is enough and who actually use their voices and to speak out of the injustices that black people have been experiencing in this country

for a very long time and have been continuously getting swept under the rug. So I have to say Black Lives Matter and I will continue to say that Black Lives Matter every day, all day, and day. John. I mean, you know, I love the sunrise movement and everything, but I really do. They're great, you know, thank you for all your work, looking forward to you next year and all of that. Justice Dem's great. You want some races, that's awesome. K-pop. I don't really listen to it, but you seem like a really fun group, but I mean like, come on, it's, you know, it's the movement of our lifetimes. And, you know, so everything that you all said, but in addition,

I would say, you know, like rate, like putting a spotlight on all of this injustice, but then also doing it day after day while experiencing that injustice, experiencing brutal police violence every day. And the police doing it, even though they're being filmed. Like every day we were seeing video of them running people down with their cars and brutalizing people and cracking skulls and all of that, but they still kept doing it. And so millions of people would watch that footage and and say, nope, I'm not staying home. I'm still gonna go out there and I'm still gonna do it.

And so yeah, it's gotta be Black Lives Matter activists for that. Yeah, so I'll say one last thing about that. It's come full circle because when they first arrived on the scene, Bill O'Reilly did a segment calling them terrorists on Fox News. And then just other day, Proud Boys attacked a black church and ripped down the Black Lives Matter banner and then burnt it in front of the church, like a cross burning. That's what terrorists do. And so, and so, and they persevered through all of that to change our culture.

So John, I'm assuming, I'm kidding, I've seen the numbers. So I was going to pretend to say I assume Black Lives Matter activist won, but I know they did. No, well actually it was close. We checked the numbers again. There's a recount, there's an alternate suite of electors, and they voted for K-pop fans. So we're just gonna respect that as the court cases go forward. No, it was Black Lives Matter activists. Well, our fans would respect Black Lives Matter, but if they knew the poll was happening in, they might have won. Yeah, exactly. And so that is-

They wouldn't do it, but- Yeah. All right, last category is, these are all super hard. Michael Brooks, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Katie Porter, and Cara Eastman. And I put Cara in there because I don't want just the people who win to get the glory, okay? People who fought like Paul Jean Swerns and Amy Vallelella and Kara Eastman and Jessica Cisneros, etc. There's some of the toughest, most wonderful fighters there are. And I don't want you to forget them. And I don't want to get swept up in the, in what the rest of the media does. We fight for everyone, win or lose. Ben, go ahead. Who do you have here? Yeah, y'all messed me up, man. Michael Brooks forever. Michael Brooks. One of the first

dudes give me a shot in this scene, brought me on the majority report years ago. And one of the downest brothers I've ever known, hung out with them in person whenever we were in the same city. And he meant every word of everything he ever said. And so Michael Brooks forever. Yeah, so we're obviously biased here in a couple of ways. One, we all knew Michael, we all love Michael, and he does what we do. And he was a, and he was a light in the darkness. And he co-hosted a show with Anna and, but I'll tell you something, I know that he advocated for Ben. So I love that. You can't beat that. People sticking up for each other. And well, he didn't know you in the beginning, Ben. So helping someone he didn't know. So that was Michael Brooks.

And that's why he's got so much love. So that's my vote too. But I admit I'm biased. Ida. So I am going to, so Michael, of course, but I have to give an honorable mention to Katie Porter and her dry erase board. When she decides that she is going to gather someone up, she gathers them to the depths of hell. And I just, I just, there's such a connotation about Orange County in California. And when we dealing with, especially dealing with coronavirus. And I just want to say Katie Porter has, she showed up, she showed up for the people. And I just wanted to make sure that I mentioned her because I don't think, and I know people get tired of me saying this about being women, but we have to deal with the extra thing that we're women. And I watch the attacks and the attacks, you know, it's like Anna says, they don't just say, shut up. They say you deserve to die and get raped and all the other horrible stuff. So when

people stand up like that, I just want to make sure that we we amplify their names. We get, we say their names because she's, she comes for it. So I just shout her out. I just real quick, I mean, this list, this bracket is filled with strength. Cara Eastman, Katie Porter, so strong. I love the way she breaks those folks in the hearings. And then Ruth Bader Ginsburg, not just as a Supreme Court justice, but when she fought for women's rights, when there weren't very many women who were even allowed in the building. And so, I mean, let's keep it real on that too.

So John, go ahead. Yeah, you know, obviously unending respect to the career of Ruth Bader Ginsburg deserves to be taught. kid should learn about her, but this is specifically the Turk of the year, which is a different sort of thing. And she's awesome, obviously, but it has to be Michael Brooks. For, you know, for the reasons that you all gave, like, I really do think that, like, a person can be measured by, like, how wide the scope of their compassion is. And, you know, some people are wider than others, but his was the entire world. He cared about what was happening to everyone in every country,

and that is not true of everyone. This is an industry where, where everyone says that they're authentic and real and not nearly as many are as say they are, but he was. He actually did mean what he said. He was not doing it to clout chase or to make money or to get Patreon followers or anything like that. And he was willing to point out the grifters and all of that. He was great, he brought an intellectualism to it. Like he didn't feel like we need to. Yeah. Anyway, there's a lot of reasons that we don't have time. But his, his legacy is is very well deserved. And hopefully he'll be remembered for a long time. And so we're running out of time. So I'm going to conclude here. Michael did win that category

based on your votes. And you guys are probably biased as well. But you all knew him, you loved him, and for all the right reasons. So the overall winner this year, our beloved late friend, Michael Brooks. Thank you guys. Thank you for voting, for participating. We love you guys. It was a fun show. It was an important show.

Ida Rodriguez, Ben Dixon, John Iderola, and myself. We all appreciate you, and we appreciate it, Michael. All right. Love you guys. See you tomorrow. 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 dot co slash t yt i'm your host jank huger and i'll see you soon