The Young Turks - Part 3: Day 3 of 2020 DNC

Episode Date: October 8, 2020

Part 3: Cenk Uygur and Michael Shure breakdown day 3 of the 2020 DNC.  Speakers: Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Governor Tony Evers, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the Vice Presidential Nominee, and Former President Barack Obama Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to The Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. Why just survive back to school when you can thrive by creating a space that does it all for you, no matter the size. Whether you're taking over your parents' basement or moving to campus, IKEA has hundreds of design ideas and affordable options to complement any budget. After all, you're in your small space era. to own it. Shop now at IKEA.ca. Hey guys, back on the Young Turks post-game, Michael,

sure with you guys. First, I got to say, Michael, I love doing this with you. Yeah, it's favorite. We've been doing it for a long time now, too. I love it I just love it. Yeah. And it's great to have you both in the conversations that we have, but also in just the great, great knowledge that you have. It's great to fall back on. I have so.

I do. No, by the way, that's the other thing. Your love for it, your passion for it. So it's just, it's been great these last 18 years. That's great. Right. Now you're going to get me zero. So all right, so let's do it.

So summary of the third night of the Democratic National Commission, look, Barack Obama was fantastic. We analyzed that at length. Kamala Harris felt a little flat after Obama. It was a tough act to follow. A couple of people hit Trump here and there. Elizabeth Warren did, Nancy Pelosi did, but she mainly hit Mitch McConnell, which I'm glad she did. I even gave Nancy Pelosi a couple of positive comments in our live coverage, also some negative

comments. Okay. And Obama hit Trump a little bit. There was a couple of policy points about paid family leave. Obama talked about the Recovery Act and how Biden led it. I don't really believe that Biden led anything when they were in the White House. But that's okay. Okay, he's giving him credit, he gave him credit while they were doing it.

So, you know, fair enough to bring it up here. And he said if anybody knows how to get people back to work, we do. That's a super fair point. And one of the reasons why Obama's speech was great. And that's going to be the main takeaway, no question about it. And Hillary Clinton, one of the members said that she was stiff and fake as usual. I actually didn't think so, I think even though she's still angry. passed the election, and we talked about that on the live coverage as well, she feels more

relaxed to me. Like, I got nothing left to lose. So let me tell you, I really can't stand that, Trump guy. Okay, you really, really need to vote. So for anybody, everybody else saying vote, vote, vote, it show me why I should vote. When Hillary Clinton says vote, I'm like, yeah, that's a good point. So now, having said that, Michael, overall, It's just still too much of a nothing burger. And I look, I'm preaching the choir on this one to you, because you have said often and you said it earlier tonight that these conventions don't matter much in swaying voters. But God, this one, I just feel like made, I don't know if it's because a coronavirus and the speeches are shorter, there's less speeches, but everybody's rushing

through with platitudes. One or two good lines here or there, but overall it just feels so cavernous. And it's emptiness. I mean, I'd see why you say that, but they typically are not full of policy. They're full of politics and they're full of, you know, getting the hall riled up and not getting involved in the minutia. The minutia is done by the platform committees earlier in the day and the week before and they all gather. It is, and people forget this, it's a convention in the same way the American trial lawyers

have a convention or the Chevrolet car deal. have a convention. They go over policy and they go over how the the governance of their party, the governance of their committees that are broken off. And so there is a lot of the mundane there. And this stuff is the show. And I'm not apologizing for it. It is what it is at this point in America. The American political convention is exactly what we're seeing right now. And yeah, there are a lot of digs. There may be not even enough digs. You were saying, on the live coverage that you think that they should have gone harder at Donald Trump. Maybe they will, maybe they won't. Everything that goes on in these prime time hours is so strategic.

It's thought out from the very beginning. It doesn't make it right. It doesn't mean it's right strategy. But a coach comes in with a plan. And if it wins the game, then it was right. So I don't know. I know what you're saying, but you're not going to find a cure for that in a national convention from the Democrats or the Republicans, really. Well, I'm gonna disagree with that on two fronts in a second, but first, I've actually spoken at a car parts convention. So I know what you're talking about. I was paying to give that speech. I gave a speech about small business and how you could be big business. And as it turns out, it was awesome, not because of the speech or the convention, but because the next speaker

was Kurt Warner and we had a blast in the green room. I'm like, I got to mean, Kurt Warner, that's awesome. Okay. Did it convert you? No, and Kurt Warner is very religious and I am certainly not. And Kurt Warner is conservative and I'm not, but he's a lovely human piece. He's the nicest man in America probably, right? Yeah. I think it's Kurt Warner who goes out for dinner with his family and they, whenever they go out for dinner, they by anonymously buy dinner for another table at the restaurant. So if it's not Kurt Warner, somebody does that and I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's Kurt Warner. First of all, it was the pre-Trump era,

so I didn't automatically look at anyone who's conservative with enormous scorn. So, but look, if more conservative right winger Christians could be like Kurt Warner, it'd be a better world. Anyways, now, the reason I'm disagreeing, Michael, though, is about where you said, is because I remember the Bill Clinton speeches. He gave one here, it was shorter, but he still did it a little bit here in this context. But the great Bill Clinton speeches at the conventions, he would go through a lot of policy. And he would explain why it matters in your life, and he would explain what they did to make your life better through those policies.

Actually, I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone do policy speeches, obviously with the possible exception of Bernie Sanders, better than Bill Clinton did. You agree or disagree on his mechanics of execution in how he governed? But in those speeches, he would explain the policies brilliantly. And not every convention has to be boring. I guarantee you next week for the Republicans, they won't be boring, it'll be nuts. I mean, whether or not they're boring is different than what. I was really just addressing the notion of going down a laundry list of initiatives.

and ideas and legislative agenda. And you're right about Clinton, but he was always the exception at that because he was so good at it. He could make a laundry list of legislative ideas sexy in the way he was able to deliver it. And he even did that for Obama. If you'll recall, I guess it was in Charlotte in 2012, he came out for Obama and he went through it. So Obama didn't have to when he spoke the next night. And he did it brilliantly. Like he went through exactly what those things were supposed to have been.

I know what you're saying. I'm not really arguing with you. I just, I'm, I don't take these to be much more than what they are. I don't think anybody who's going into either a post office or a ballot box on, on, on, in November 3rd is going to think about what, you know, Nancy Pelosi or Elizabeth Warren said on August 18th in, you know, from their home. So that that's what I mean. I don't think that anything's going to settle anything from this. Yeah, I hear your last thoughts on this. Look, it's just that you gotta give people a reason to vote for Biden, not just against Trump. Now, as it turns out in this election, you might not have to. I was gonna say you, they didn't have to in the primaries.

That's true, but Michael, we're all still shell-shocked from 2016. And that was a major mistake of Hillary Clinton's. That she did not give people much of a reason to vote for her. She mainly talked about voting against Trump. Now, after having survived four nuclear years of Trump, you would hope it's different. Yeah, that it's different and just voting against Trump is enough. It certainly is for me. And it is for a lot of our hardcore audience who are very progressive, definitely enough. But it would be nice to also tell us what you're going to do and how great it's going to be, not just in platitudes, but a little bit better explanation of it.

So if we're gonna put it this way, like if the conventions are one giant ad, which is exactly what they are now, this one is kind of a boring act. Yeah, I mean, yes, I think it's boring though, not because of the content as much as the circumstance. So, and I don't think there's any way around it. And I think they made it as unboring as they could in many spots and they got some great speeches. And I think the roll call worked out well for them. And again, I don't want to overhype it, it won't matter. Okay, all right, we'll end on that section on that. But before I get to the explosive 2024 topic, explosive, okay, I want to finally answer

Ashgon's question that he asked last night, and he's right, I forgot to answer about Colin Powell. So, you know, the essence of it is what do we think about Colin Powell these? days. Look, I'm happy to have him support Democratic presidential candidates like he did with Obama and now with Biden. And I don't mind him speaking in an R&C. I mean, I'm sorry, the DNC. I prefer way more progressives, but it's okay. And he, did he actually kind of get tricked into giving that UN speech by Cheney? Yes, is that good enough? No. Well, it was It was your job not to get tricked by Dick Cheney, so that doesn't speak great of you.

And by the way, you made sure that you were part of that administration and you tried to be. And so whether or not you were reporting to Dick Cheney, part of that is on you anyway. So you just to have been in that position and not done anything about it, that's not an excuse. Yeah, so the final analysis on Colin Powell's career. We get to do that, right? We'll judge his entire career right now. And his appearance here is, look, he goes down in the lost column, okay? But he does not go into the Hall of Monsters. So the Hall of Monsters are Cheney, yes, Bush, even though there's now insane revisionist history on that, Trump, Bolton, you name it. There's so many people.

That hall is now filled to the rim. But Colin Powell's not in that category. That's my take. I agree. I also think, I mean, I understand why he was at this convention. I understand why John Kasich was at this convention. I'd rather see other people speaking. But if 300 Ohio voters who like John Kasich or Republicans who may have voted for Trump last

time decide that because Kasich was a, you know, says it's okay, I'll do it, that's fine. I don't think there's anyone who's going to vote for for Biden who's going to go into the booth in November and say, oh, but you know, John Kasich in August, he was at the convention. I'm not going to vote for Joe Biden. I think that there is strategy here. And I think you balance it that way. And Colin Powell, you know, allowing some people in the military who may feel intimidated to vote against Trump for some reason, some crazy reason, even though Trump has decimated it. I just, I see why they use these people and why these people want to be part of it. it in terms of strategy. I don't think it matters that much either way. But in terms of where Colin Powell sits in the Pantheon, I would say that but more than, you know, a loss, a huge disappointment. But you know, an accomplished guy who rose from the South Bronx to be a general and an ambassador, that's a pretty good biography. But it's also when he got to where he did ultimately get, he was a real disappointment. Yeah, all right. So main event, let's do it. So let's say that Joe Biden,

wins. And we're going to 2024. So look, Michael, if I'm being honest, which is what I do, I'm just hoping he makes the next two and a half months, like in good shape and physically healthy and great. And if he wins, having made it that far, I'm going to breathe the biggest sigh I have relief probably ever breathed in politics. But running in 2024, I don't see him doing that, but I could be wrong. So if he doesn't run, they're gonna wanna say no primary, it's gotta be Kamala, that's my guess. And there's not a chance in hell, there's not gonna be a primary. There will be a vigorous spirited primary with people who are not just

not just progressives, not just there are going to be people that will if Joe Biden says he's not running, Kamala Harris is going to be part of a spirited primary. And who even knows if she's going to win that or even have the upper hand among Democrats who are not part of a progressive movement. So I think unquestionably there will be a primary. I also, I mean, now that I'm here, I don't think Biden would run again next time. I think he wants to, he wants to be president. He's wanted it for a very long time. I think at the age of 80, 81, he's not going to want to run again for president. Okay, so what you're saying then is, 24, we're right back out of Battle Royale. No question. I think there'll be fewer people. I don't think you'll see 27, 29 people run for president.

But I do think you'll absolutely have a primary that year. And there will be people that will challenge what will likely have been and we'll see obviously how we come out of whatever the damage of the COVID pandemic is. You'll see people that are critical of the way the party behaved. If the Democrats win the Senate and they have the House and they have the White House and there isn't enough that's done, there's going to be criticism of that from within the party as well. I don't think there will be a free ride for Kamala Harris. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think it's going to be that kind of a vice president incumbent strength because everybody knows that there's something different about this election compared to others.

So what I'm hearing is Jamal Bowman, Corey Bush, 2024. That's what I'm- I don't think you heard it from me, Jane. It's some chance I might have heard it for myself. So the chance you've whispered that to yourself. But I do, I mean, unquestionably, there's going to be a primary. Okay, so then, you know, I love this conversation because Because it makes me realize that it is incumbent upon Kamala Harris, if we're right about this, and there's a good chance we're right about both aspects, that Joe Biden doesn't run,

and there is a big primary, then Kamala Harris is put in a position where she's got a fight like hell for progressive policies to get passed in the first four years. Otherwise, people are going to say, you didn't get anything done, right? So on the other hand, if she can say, look, I got $15 minimum wage, I got paid family leave, I got federal background checks, we legalized marijuana, we got permanent protection for the dreamers, et cetera. As we talked about earlier in the show, that's what I'm calling minimum viable product, right? That's the minimum you could do, but it would be a lot, right?

That's a lot of minimums, because we built it up over all these years. of not getting the things that we needed. She needs all of that at least, and then if she could deliver actually one progressive priority, then she's got a good case to make. If they don't deliver that, and what they do is they come and go, oh, we need a lot of jobs, so we're gonna pass another stimulus bill, and 80% of that is gonna go to the top corporations in the country, she ain't gonna win that primary. Right, right, and there are a lot of other factors that go into that as well.

I mean, how well liked she is in the first place. and what her public persona is like, how she gets along with Joe Biden. People like Joe Biden, I imagine when he's president, he'll get a lot of incoming, but there will be a lot of Democrats to protect him. And so there are so many dynamics that change over that time too, and what becomes of a vice president. You have the docile ones and then you have the aggressive ones. And I think generally speaking, they're all somewhat docile. So how much influence she has on a Biden presidency will determine a lot about whether or not

you know, what her fortunes are as a candidate for president. Also, how early she's allowed to run. I mean, you have to now in this day and age begin running early. So if Joe Biden waits till very late to say he's not going to run for president, in fact, that's what his plan is. That could hurt his vice president because it allows other people to already begin criticizing her for not doing enough. And it's not an easy job being vice president because you don't really get that much influence. You get projects and you get to run with them, as Obama alluded to. with Biden, and as we've known from Al Gore and others. But it's not, there's not really a ton to do when you're vice president. Michael, though, you make a great point there. And if we follow

that logic out, the other thing that you get from that logic is, if Biden's not running and Kamala Harris is will obviously run, she needs minimum, minimum of one year to run. The caucuses start in January. So that means Joe Biden, Biden's last year is gone. It's a lame duck session. I mean, it doesn't have to be gone. If they have to send them in the house, they could do anything they want. But it does push him into lame duck earlier than any other president. Probably. It would have to be two and a half years into his presidency that he says, guess what, folks, I love this country. And I think it's time to pass the torch. And I'm glad the way we've

ushered ourselves out of the era of Trump, yada, yada. And here's what we've gotten done. And now, you know, I endorse Kamala Harris and then, you know, then they see what happens. But certainly there's going to be pressure on Harris to try and get some things done. But it's going to be tough. It's not easy to run as the vice president when it's not obvious that you are going to be the nominee. Remember George Bush was vice president after eight years of Ronald Reagan. Same went for Joe Biden after Obama. And he didn't run because Clinton was.

And there's all, but that's kind of how it usually goes and gore after eight years with Clinton. So at the end, you're automatically handing it off. This is going to be a little different if it happens that way. Yeah, indeed, because it's at the end of a first term. And we end the show with me being super jazzed for an awesome fight in 2024. Game on. By the way, let's hope. Let's hope that's what happens. And Trump doesn't win and it's Biden's first. That's a whole different conversation. But yeah, we're talking in the hypothetical that we have a president, Joe Biden. And I'm not as worried about his health as you are and his mentation.

But I do, his age does come into play for me. And I think that I've said this for a while. I think that he knows in his mind that he's a one-term president. But when you get there, it's tough to say, hey, you know what, I don't want to do this anymore. Yeah, very few. Very few have, Jank. I mean, they go kicking and screaming. That's definitely true. One super last thing here as we leave. You know, I have such mixed feelings about Biden, because knowing his record, there's so many things I object to in there. He was terrible on the war on drugs, terrible on the crime bill, terrible on the Bankruptcy Act,

offered to cut Social Security and Medicare, the way that he compromised with the Republicans, I can't stand it. Having said all that, it's so hard not to root for him as a person. And he's wanted to be president for so long, so badly that if he gets there, there's a part of even me who wants to say, oh boy, you did Joe, you did it. Yeah, no, no, I agree. And look, You know, legislation is what it is at the time it happened, all of the, with the exception of the bankruptcy bill, which he regrets and openly regrets, the legislation of that was of the time, you know, and not to excuse it, and looking back on it, it was terrible, and if you were there at that time, you should have done better like with anything. But I do think that

he is somebody who is very malleable, which is not necessarily a compliment, but I do think that he, and you said it earlier tonight, Jank, that he's, whoever he's in the room with, he wants to, you know, he wants them to like him. I think that he wants to please a lot of people. And I think he wants to please many different factions of Democrats. And I think that that's going to come out in some way over however long a Biden presidency lasts if he lasts if he wins. So we'll see, you know, for a lot of people, he's the guy that can that can not be not Donald Trump. And that's enough. But for a lot of people, it won't be enough.

Yeah. All right, guys. We're done. We love you guys. That's why we'll do a whole new show tomorrow. And then on top of that, we'll do coverage again tomorrow night for Joe Biden. So no joke. No joke, guys.

This isn't political. This is not political. This is not hyperbole Joe Biden. Not hyperbole. It's not hyperbole. All right. Thank you, Michael. Appreciate it.

Great to be here. Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work, listen to ad-free, access members-only bonus content, and more by subscribing to Apple Podcasts at apple.com at t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Yugar, and I'll see you soon.