The Young Turks - Progressive Backpedal

Episode Date: October 26, 2022

America has suffered its 257th active shooting this year at a St. Louis high school. The United States report card shows the devastating effects of COVID-19 on the American Education System. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez discusses many topics on POD Save America.  During a debate Ron DeSantis looks absolutely out of his element and overall uncomfortable. Adidas has dropped Kanye West. Host: Ana Kasparian 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. Woo! It's up! Welcome friends. You're watching TYT. I'm your host, Anna Kasparian. Jank Yugar is out for the day. He is not feeling well. But don't worry, we will have a big show ahead for you today.

Lots of controversial topics to say the least. A misstep, if you ask me, by the progressive congressional caucus. So we'll talk about what I think was a really bad move on their behalf in regard to their messaging on the Russian invasion into Ukraine. Later, Wazni Lombre will be joining me to talk about some second hour stories, including a pretty vicious ad that was put out by the right wing targeting Joe Biden and accusing him of being responsible for anti-Asian hate crimes. We're going to go ahead and debunk and decode that story later in the show. We're also going to give you an update on a story we covered in our members only bonus show one day with was actually. An update on a story involving a woman

whose dog was beaten to death at a park in Brooklyn. The man who attacked her and killed her dog is still out on the loose and wait until you get a load of how cops have handled that investigation, it will infuriate you to say the least. So stick around for the second hour. It's also going to be a fantastic first hour. And as always, just want to encourage you guys to like and share the stream so you can get the message out there. It helps to promote TYT and the work we do. And if you're not a member, you can always become one by going to tyt.com slash join or just click on that join button if you're watching us on YouTube. All right, I wanted to start off on a story that actually broke yesterday, but I wanted to wait for it to kind of develop further

before covering it. And it has to do with, yes, yet another mass shooting. So let's discuss. Unfortunately and tragically, yesterday marked yet another mass shooting at a school in St. Louis. Now, Monday school shooting was the 40th school shooting this year alone, resulting in injuries or death. And that's according to a tally that was done by Education Week. They started tracking school shootings beginning in 2018. Now here's some information on who the shooter is. I think this story has this intersection of so many societal issues that will delve into in just a moment. But here are the facts as we know them today. Orlando Harris was the shooter. He graduated from Central Visual and Performing Arts High School last year and returned Monday with an

AR-15-style rifle, over 600 rounds of ammunition, and more than a dozen high-capacity magazines, and that's according to the St. Louis Police Commissioner Michael Sack. Now he disclosed more information about the shooting during a press conference. We learned more about the shooter, who is or was, I should say, he's no longer alive because he engaged in a shootout with cops. But nonetheless, the 19 year old gunman who killed two people and wounded several others at his former high school left a note saying his struggles led to the perfect storm for a mass shooter, St. Louis police said. So I'm not really interested in flashing his photo on screen. Yeah, okay, well, thanks for that. But anyway, I wanted to just kind of go to

the fact that these mass shootings happen quite often, and there oftentimes is a perpetrator who wants national attention, and this is the sick way they seek it. But I do think it's important to give you the facts of the story. And then after that, we'll just refer to him as the shooter. But nonetheless, let's move on because I want to talk more about the victims here, the letter that the gunmen left behind and also the strategies that were put in place prior to the shooting happening that were meant to keep the students safe. Basically all the things that Republicans who want to avoid any gun control site as what should be done on these campuses to keep students safe for mass shooters. Now the gunmen as I mentioned earlier later died at the hospital following

a shootout with police. Apparently police were on the scene within four minutes. And they're kind of congratulating themselves because their rapid response and the fact that they didn't hesitate in their minds prevented more people from being shot and killed. But there were two victims who lost their lives, including a 15 year old student by the name of Alexandra Bell and also a teacher by the name of Jean. She was 61 years old and she died while trying to protect her students from the shooter. It's just absolutely tragic and it really does go along with this trend that we hear about other educators who have lost their lives in the middle of mass shootings as they were attempting to protect their students. Now, going back to the handwritten letter that I had

referred to earlier, it was found in his car, the same car that he drove to the campus. And it kind of gave a little insight into his frame of mind. He said, quote, I don't have any friends. I don't have any family. I've never had a girlfriend. I've never had a social life. I've been an isolated loner my entire life. Now let me just preface this by saying that there is absolutely no excuse for what he did. And by talking about this, I'm not providing cover for the vicious act of violence that was committed on that campus that took the lives of two innocent individuals. But with that said, there has been a little more of a national conversation in regard to how alienated people feel. In particular, how alienated young men feel in this country. And I think that there is a

tendency to kind of conflate that with incels and to kind of dismiss it as, you know, in cell discourse that we shouldn't be concerned about. But we have to be real about the fact that alienation and the fact that we're so atomized has been pretty destructive to this country and to other countries, to be sure. This is something that affects everyone, not just men, but it has been particularly pronounced among the young male population in this country. And I think what we do by ignoring the reality of this situation is essentially drive them into the arms of these in-cell factories, right-wingers who essentially use women as the scapegoat for whatever, struggles, personal struggles that these young men might feel. Now again, I want to repeat again because of course people have this tendency to straw man or to put words in your mouth. I am not in any way providing an excuse for what he did.

But I do think that the conditions that Americans are expected to deal with and survive in, the fact that people are working longer hours for less pay, pay that is not kept up with inflation, wages that haven't risen since the 1970s. the fact that we're pressured to take on multiple jobs just to make ends meet, that does, in fact, lead to alienation. I think that this is driven by our economic system. It's something that I want to do a deeper dive into on the show tomorrow. But I did want to just provide a little bit of commentary on that in relation to this shooting that took place in St. Louis. Now, police commissioner Michael Sack said that this was the perfect storm for a mass shooter and that it could have been much worse, given the extensive arsenal of the shooter. He had high capacity magazines. He had an AR-15 style assault weapon, as you know. And in previous mass shootings, we've seen a much higher number of individuals killed as a result. Now, the school apparently had a little more preparation for the possibility

of a mass shooting than other schools. So let's get to those details. Authorities credited lock doors, something that Republicans had been calling for, and a quick police response, including by off duty officers for preventing more deaths at the school. DeAndre Davis, director for safety and security for St. Louis public schools, said the security guard stationed in the school district, I'm sorry, the district schools are not armed, but mobile officers who respond to calls at schools are. Now that's interesting, it's a little bit of a mixed report because there are some individuals, you know, involved in the story who have information about how the school security works, you say there are some who are armed.

That statement is completely unclear. So when you talk about mobile officers, what does that mean? How close are they to the campus? Are they on campus? None of that's been really cleared up for me. And to be clear, the police commissioner did say not all of the public safety security officers are armed. So there potentially are some who are armed on that campus. I give you that information because I hope you guys are noticing a trend here. So they lock the doors and the cops confirmed that they had locked doors, something that right winger say schools should do in order to prevent people from dying during a mass shooting. Okay. They have seven security officers on campus, seven, seven of them, some of whom are likely to be armed. Okay. They have

mobile police officers who are nearby, who are very clearly armed, and they also have to go through metal detectors, the students do, in order to enter the campus. Now, the police commissioner was unclear, would not disclose how this 19 year old former student was able to get on campus. There was no information disclosed on that, because according to the police commissioner, they don't want to, you know, broadcast what some of the vulnerabilities are for other potential shooters. Okay. But fact of the matter is, everything that the right wing said needed to be in place in order to prevent people from being killed were in place. And two innocent people were still killed. A mass shooter was still able to enter that campus. Let's go to Shannon

Watts's tweet here, because this is exactly what I'm referring to. The school in St. Louis had metal detectors. Police said the doors were locked. There were armed guards inside the school. Two people are dead. Republicans will tell you the solution is somehow more guns. On November 8th, you need to tell them they're full of it. Okay. So we have to do something about the easy access to these weapons. I've been pretty clear about where I stand on guns. I am not in favor of banning guns. I think a conversation can be had about high capacity magazines for sure. We absolutely need to close any loopholes that currently exist in regard to the federal background checks. So for instance, sales between private sellers, sales at these gun shows that don't

have to go through a federal background check. Those loopholes, very simple, close them. Everyone who is purchasing a lethal weapon should be checked out to make sure that it's not some dangerous individual who's going to use those weapons in a mass shooting or in a crime. I mean, there are endless stories about how our guns are being funneled south of the border to fuel cartel violence. So it's not just terrorizing the people of the United States, it's terrorizing people south of the border with cartels easily getting guns smuggled to them so they can carry out their vicious acts of violence against people in Latin American countries. So to say that we shouldn't do anything about gun control is ridiculous.

I believe in the right for people to defend themselves. I'm a proponent of owning a gun if you're a responsible individual, keeping it safe and keeping it, you know, in your home for self-defense if you ever need it. I have no problem with that. I'm actually a proponent of that. But clearly, the fact that a 19-year-old was able to get his hands on an AR-15 style assault weapon with a high-capacity magazine, we should be questioned. Why we're okay with that?

Why we currently live in a country that has essentially warranted that. And the other thing is, while Republicans purport to care so much about mental health care, they never vote in favor of funding mental health care programs. Earlier this week, I shared a story about how only one Republican in the House of Representatives voted in favor of legislation to fund mental health. One Republican, that is it. So yes, people are feeling atomized and alienated. Yes, depression, anxiety, mental health issues are very much real in this country.

And people are not getting the help, the treatment, and the care they need. So we do need to do something about it. It's just that the individuals who purport to care about it so much only after mass shootings, never want to fund it, never want to vote in favor of it. They just want to use mental health as a talking point to immediately distract Americans from the other thing we need, which is common sense gun legislation. That's it. And finally, it is a problem that we are so divided.

We don't feel much connection with one another, that people feel so alienated from society. That is an issue. And that's something that we need to grapple with. And it's something that I hope to talk about in more detail on future shows. Now, it's unclear, again, how the gunmen entered the building. But it is important to hear from some of the people who get victimized by these mass shootings. So I want to go to one student who told CNN, this is the last graphic.

The teacher, she crawled over and she was asking for help to move the lockers to the door so they can't get in. And we started hearing glass breaking from the outside and gunshots outside the door. So when we talk about mental health care, it's not just about the potential perpetrators of mass. mass shootings, we need to have health care, mental health care available to the students, the teachers, the staff, to the people who might not have died as a result of a mass shooting, but certainly will suffer the mental health ramifications of having to witness and experience this traumatic ordeal, this tragic mass shooting. A lot of problems in this country.

And there is no one factor or one fix. there are multiple issues that we have to deal with. And the depressing part is we don't really see much of an effort to deal with these issues. We have a two party system that is failing the American people. Both are very much pro-corporate. Both are very much concerned about their own political aspirations and their own profits. And that is to the detriment of the American people and this country. All right, I want to move on to some other news.

Another pretty depressing story today. I can't believe this is where progressives are at. I mean, it reminds me a lot of the Bush era. But anyway, let's move on. Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus are catching heat following their decision to cave to pressure and withdraw a letter calling for the Biden administration to, you know, maybe recalibrate its approach to the war in Ukraine. Now, I want to emphasize that the excerpts I'm about to read to you from the letter have nothing wrong with them. In fact, the letter itself, the entirety of the letter, had nothing wrong with it. It didn't capitulate to Putin.

It didn't demonize Ukrainians. It's not apologism for Putin's actions at all. It was a measured letter calling for the Biden administration to push for diplomatic talks to end this war that is brutalizing Ukrainians, destroying their cities and of course is costing tens of billions of dollars in, you know, military aid to Ukraine and will cost tens of millions more. I'm sorry, tens of billions, tens of billions more very, very soon. I'll give you those details as well. But first, here are some excerpts from the letter that received the vicious response it did. Given the destruction created by this war for Ukraine and the world, as well as the risk of catastrophic escalation, we also believe

it is in the interest of Ukraine, the United States, and the world to avoid a prolonged conflict. For this reason, we urge you to pair the military and economic support the United States has provided to Ukraine with a proactive diplomatic push, redoubling efforts to seek a realistic framework for a ceasefire. So far so good. I mean, I thought the broadly speaking, left was in complete agreement on this, whether you're a moderate Democrat or a progressive, I thought we were all on the same page, right? We should be supportive of diplomacy. But now all of a sudden you hear members of the Democratic Party argue that we shouldn't negotiate with terrorists, which, you know, I'm old enough to remember that was the talking point from

the right wing, from the right wing during the Bush administration. But let me continue. Again, this is directly from the letter that progressives have now withdrawn. This is consistent with your recognition that there's going to have to be a negotiated settlement here and you're concerned that Vladimir Putin doesn't have a way out right now. And I'm trying to figure out what we do about that. That is what Biden had previously said. Let me continue with more excerpts from this letter because I want you to get a sense of what what they were calling for. So you really understand what this is about and how again,

it's not about being an apologist for Putin and his war crimes. We're under no illusions regarding the difficulties involved in engaging Russia, given its outrageous and illegal invasion of Ukraine and its decision to make additional illegal annexations of Ukrainian territory. However, if there is a way to end the war while preserving a free and independent Ukraine, Let's not forget, that's what they're calling for, a free and independent Ukraine. It is America's responsibility to pursue every diplomatic avenue to support such a solution that is acceptable to the people of Ukraine. So the language is important. We want to make sure

this is acceptable to the people of Ukraine. They need to be on board for these negotiations. We want a free and sovereign Ukraine. You guys hear what I'm saying here? They're very clear about how the priority is to end this as peacefully as possible while maintaining the sovereignty of Ukraine and protecting Ukrainian lives. But let me continue, there's more. Such a framework would presumably include incentives to end hostilities, including some form of sanctions relief, meaning sanctions relief toward Russia,

and bring together the international community to establish security guarantees for a free and independent Ukraine that are acceptable for all parties, particularly Ukrainians. The alternative to diplomacy is protracted war. True, they're right about that, with both its attendant certainties and catastrophic and unknowable risks. So far, everything is 100% accurate. There isn't anything callous about this letter toward Ukrainians and what they've been going through. This is a call to be supportive in regard to diplomatic talks and negotiations. There was nothing in this letter saying that Ukraine should just give up huge portions of their territory. No, no, no. The whole point is, hey, what can we as the United States do, to support the notion of Russia and Ukraine coming together with, obviously, the United States

serving as some sort of mediator, to get to a peaceful solution. So there's no more blood spilled. But no, according to moderate Democrats, that amounts to negotiating with terrorists. Again, a right-wing talking point that we heard incessantly under the Bush administration. And this is what the problem is when the Democratic Party absorbs the never Trump Republicans. Trump wasn't just disastrous for the country. He was disastrous for the Democratic Party. When you have people like Liz Cheney serving as like some sort of hero for Democrats because of her involvement in the January 6th investigations, we're in a little bit of trouble. We're in a little bit of

trouble. And I'm seeing a lot of these Bush era talking points in regard to foreign policy being regurgitated by by Democrats, and I think it's sick. Finally, they write, in conclusion, we urge you to make vigorous diplomatic efforts in support of a negotiated settlement and ceasefire, engage in direct talks with Russia, explore prospects for a new European security arrangement acceptable to all parties that will allow for a sovereign and independent Ukraine and in coordination with our Ukrainian partners seek a rapid end to the conflict and reiterate this goal as America's chief priority. And again, apparently, that is incredibly offensive to some Ukrainian officials who have now

become very used to us sending tens of billions of dollars in military aid and economic funding to Ukraine. And it certainly upset some moderate Democrats. So Pramila Jayapal today announced that she will be withdrawing this letter from the Biden administration. We also learned that this letter was drafted in June of this year, but they just hadn't sent it out. And Pramila Jayapal is claiming that members of her staff put the letter out there without her permission. And so even though it has 30 people who have signed it, 30 progressives who had signed this letter, many of them spoke to the press and said that they were completely unaware that the letter was going to be released in the way that it was released. But I do want to give credit to some of these progressive lawmakers who said that they still support the overall message here,

which is we should be pushing for diplomacy, not endless war. I'm going to go to them in just a moment. But I want to remind you of the double-edged sword when it comes to military funding. Because if the U.S. is military funding toward Ukraine is giving the Ukrainian government the idea that maybe diplomacy isn't the right way to go because we're being bolstered by the United States. And so maybe we don't need to negotiate. Maybe we need to just fight this war and avoid going to the negotiating table for a possible ceasefire. In April of this year, pretty early on in the war, Zelensky wanted diplomacy. He said this, I'm quoting him verbatim. I want to stop the war to end it. There is a diplomatic path, he said. There is a military path. So any mentally,

healthy person always chooses the diplomatic path because he or she knows. Even if it is difficult, it can prevent the loss of thousands, tens of thousands. And with such neighbors, hundreds of thousands and maybe even millions of lives, there may be losses of millions of people. We don't want that. And any leader, whether he wants it personally or not, has no right to cancel the diplomatic path. Now, since then, Ukraine has received a great deal of military funding. And I do want to go to those details in just a second, the actual numbers. I should also note that Politico reported recently that Ukraine is not ready for negotiations at this point. So they went from being ready for negotiations to no longer wanting to engage in negotiations, especially because it's

months-long counteroffensive has been successful to date. And there's no indication Putin is ready to deal either. So again, getting that military funding from the United States with like no strings attached communicates to Ukrainians that maybe we don't need diplomatic talks. Let's just keep fighting this war because the U.S. is going to continue bolstering this effort. Now, I don't have a problem with the U.S. fulfilling its commitments to Ukraine because the U.S. succeeded in getting Ukraine to give up its nuclear weapons in the 1990s in exchange for security guarantees. And I think it's important to fulfill those promises. But my interpretation isn't that those security guarantees just meant blank checks to military contractors and weapons, you know,

manufacturers. And when you look at the numbers, we've already given quite a bit. And we're poised to give a lot more, again, in military aid. So let's take a look at these numbers real quick. Let's go to the first graph, graphic 10 here, and there is a group known as the Kiel Institute for the world economy. It's a European group, so they measure the amount of money given by the EU and the United States and other donor countries through euros, right? So the United States, for instance, gave 52.3 billion euros between January 24th to October. 3rd of 2022. And this is specifically for government support. So just, you know, funding that might go toward like a humanitarian effort as well.

Now, if you want to convert the numbers, according to NBC News, Congress has already allocated $65 billion in funding for Ukraine. Okay, now let's go to the next graph. So this shows you how it's broken down specifically by military aid, right? right? Not humanitarian or economic aid, just military aid. And you can see that the United States has given the most. So that's a huge amount of money. Weapons and equipment, financial aid with military purpose. And so you've got, again, tens of billions of dollars in military aid. And if you think it's just going to end there, keep in mind that just last month, Congress agreed to allocate $12 billion to Ukraine's war effort. And they are poised to approve a $50 billion military aid

package to Ukraine before January. They want to get that passed prior, prior to Republicans taking charge in the House of Representatives. Now, Kevin McCarthy had put out a statement indicating that if they win the House, they're going to potentially put a stop to military funding toward Ukraine. Maybe the timing of this letter is what was so jarring to people because they felt that progressives were aligning with Kevin McCarthy on on this issue. But I will say it is not a good look when you have Republicans of all people positioning themselves as the anti-war individuals. And you have Democrats positioning themselves as the party that doesn't believe in negotiating with our foes or negotiating with terrorists.

This weird realignment is super uncomfortable, but the weakest part about all of this is the fact that progressives caved to pressure and decided to withdraw the letter. And Pramila Jayapal is looking for some, you know, more power. She's positioning herself for leadership roles in the Democratic Party. And that might be playing a role in why she decided to go through with this incredibly weak move. But she says in a statement, let's go to Graphic 9 here, the proximity of these statements created the unfortunate appearance that Democrats who have strongly and unanimously supported and voted for every package of military, strategic, and economic assistance to the Ukrainian people are somehow aligned with Republicans who seek to pull the plug on American support

for President Vladimir Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian forces. I mean, it's, it is incredible. Go back to the Bush era and the idea that you have Republicans trying to, look, I know that their motivations aren't really anti-war, so let's be clear about that. But in terms of optics, in the way that this looks to American voters, it's not a good look, right? When you have people really suffering and struggling here with it. our borders, hundreds, pretty soon, hundreds of billions of dollars being funneled to

defense contractors for this war in Ukraine. And then you have Democrats saying, no, we should not be supporting diplomatic talks. By the way, who knows if Putin is even interested in it, if you would actually engage in that in good faith. But the point is we should try, we should at least try to end this as soon as possible to prevent people from dying. That's it. That should be the main goal. And based on the reaction that I'm seeing from the Democratic Party right now, that doesn't appear to be their goal. And that's really disturbing. All right, we got to take a break. When we come back, we've got more news for you, including the outrage over AOC appearing on the Pod Save America podcast. Come right back. Welcome back to the show, everyone.

Just want to read a quick comment from strategic diversity dragon over in our member community. You can become a member by going to t.com slash join. Loneliness is much lower in Denmark, which by the way is not surprising to me. It clearly is a social problem that we should fix for many reasons. I like the example of of Denmark because when you live in a country that has a robust social spending, you know, culture, when they have social spending programs, when they have the safety net that they do, when they have the healthcare that they do, all of these things really help to foster the kind of environment where people are not atomized, where people don't have to work themselves

to death. I remember doing stories about Japan and the insanely low birth rate there and how less and less young people were interested in getting married or being intimate with one another. And it's because people were overworked. And so Japan started experimenting with like the four day work week, trying to encourage people to work less. So I do think that the capitalist model has a lot to do with this. But again, we'll get into a deep dive about it tomorrow because I want to spend some time doing some research on it and give my take in the best way possible. But before we get to any of that, which will happen tomorrow, we have this. While you're out here, will you be going to in and out?

And is there anything you can do at a federal level to take on the quality of the fries? Thank you for saying this. People need to talk about it. Thank you for saying this because every time I come out here, everyone's like, oh my God, in and out, in and out. And I'm like, my controversial, non-political opinion is that it's overrated. You just watched the absolute tail end of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's interview with Pod Save America. And that is the clip that the left has kind of been losing

its mind about online. Now, if the entire interview was just nonsense talk about in and out, I'd be pretty frustrated. I'd be pretty annoyed. You've got other things to talk about. The nation is grappling with so many issues. But I want to reiterate after watching the entirety of her interview, that was literally the last part of the conversation. And I will note that she is correct about in and out fries specifically. All right. Now with that said, I wanted to provide one example of someone I like, someone who's a friend of the show, someone who agrees with us on many political issues, and that's David Serota. He highlighted that clip, which was tweeted out by Podsave and said, I think it's really something that elected left leaders will eagerly be invited

by corporate Democrat hosts who created neoliberalism that destroyed the left, but rarely ever accept interview requests from actual left outlets that might ask real questions. Okay, so there's a lot there. While the hosts of Podsave are certainly those who promote and provide cover for the neoliberal policies that have definitely destroyed the Democratic Party and the country, I think it's unfair to say they created neoliberalism. But nonetheless, they are certainly, they certainly promote it and did so under the Obama administration. And it was a disaster. So, you know, that point is well taken, but let's not overstate their involvement. involvement. They didn't create neoliberalism. They're just adherence of neoliberalism. And obviously, I'm not for that. But the other thing that David Stroda mentions is that AOC, you know, agrees to go on this Pod Save America show. But, you know, hasn't really been doing a lot of left wing media. She has done some left wing media in the past. But just from personal experience, yeah, she could be doing more. I'm not going to disagree with that. She kind of has gone in a completely different direction. in terms of her media appearances. She's probably a little uncomfortable because it's difficult to decipher in this independent media space who the good faith actors are and who the lunatics are. So I don't know if that's what's scaring her a little bit, but she should definitely talk to more left wing media outlets because it's not a good look when those who supported your campaign helped you get elected are the very people that you're no longer having

any communication with. That's not cool. But I also don't want to make this about like, oh, she won't come on our show. Let me be clear, I don't care. I don't, I'm going to talk about AOC no matter what. Like, I don't need her to come on the show. For us, she should come on the show for her, right? She should be talking to left wing voters because that bodes well for her, her campaigning, and also what she purports to want to accomplish in Congress. So I just want to be clear about that. But with that said, I do think it's important to like watch the entirety of the interview because I think she made good points, right? So sure, be critical of her refusal to go on left wing media. But let's start with this first video that talks about, you know, a topic that we

discuss here on the show quite often, how Dems need to do a better job talking about corporate greed and how it's contributed to inflation. I think that we can beef up and be more. aggressive in talking about root causes of inflation being corporate greed this is not you know inflation is kind of spoken about as this really vague kind of floaty concept but that we're all feeling right prices of things are going up but we don't really talk about why and we need to have a real confrontation about the consolidation of market power and the fact that increasingly the most basic goods that we have, housing, food, etc., are concentrating into oligopolis and that it is these huge corporations that are price gouging just because they can, just because they want to.

She's right about that. I show you that clip because to basically sum up her appearance on Podsave as nothing more than, again, nonsense talk about in and out is ridiculous. Again, that was like at the very end of the interview. She talked about the failures of the Democratic Party. And she also kind of weighed in on recent polling that shows fears of losing our democracy don't happen to be a priority for most American voters. And she addressed that in the next clip in a way that left me wanting more. So let's watch that and I'll explain why.

You ask most voters what they care about and inflation tops the list, abortion access tops the list. And I think in the New York Times poll, it was like 7% of people said Democrats, threats of democracy in the way that we think about. it, election denier, a lot, that kind of other stuff. There was also like 40% of people would be willing to vote for an election denier. How do you balance the need to make sure people understand the threat that we're facing with also speaking to people's immediate concerns? A lot of elections, a lot of times are driven by very short-term issues, thinking, and priorities. And when you see this jockeying over narratives. It's about what we make urgent and how we respond to the urgent issues in our society right now.

What I want the Democratic Party to understand is that they're campaigning that mostly focuses on threats to our democracy if Republicans win, maybe isn't as effective because if you're saying like electoralism is what's going to save you, clearly it has not saved the American people, right? I mean, think about how Democrats might campaign on certain things. Like let's say, you know, passing a voting rights bill, which is incredibly important to do at a time when red states are engaging in voter suppression legislation. When you have states like Arizona grappling with vigilantes showing up at ballot drop off boxes to intimidate voters. Yet we need to support, bolster security around our electoral system and ensure that people who are eligible to vote can easily vote without intimidation without fear.

But it's also important to understand that when you keep talking about how important our democracy is, maybe that doesn't really resonate with people who have engaged in the electoral system and have noticed a pretty significant decline in their quality of life. When you have Democrats specifically in Georgia doing whatever it took to ensure that two Democrats won those Senate runoff races following the 2020 presidential election. And then they get told by the Democratic Party that they're not even going to try for voting rights. When voters are told that the federal government, you know, under the leadership of the Democratic Party, is going to pass much needed police reform and then it doesn't happen. So, when you talk about the importance of protecting our democracy, I totally agree, but you also have to understand that maybe the public, at least some portion of the public,

is looking at our democracy and thinking, I don't know, I mean, what is our democracy done for us? And that's dangerous. Like, that's a dangerous place to be. So I would have liked to see more talk of those failures by the Democratic Party, the fact that they did not deliver on simple things like increasing the federal minimum wage. I think that has more to do with why a lower percentage of Americans put threats to democracy as their top priority when it comes to voting issues. So the other thing, of course, is we have a two-party system that has been completely taken over by corporate interests. And luckily, AOC did weigh in on that. So let's go to that video.

are overwhelmingly beholden to special interests. Our entire political system is designed to be very, very acquiescent to money. And the difference is that Republicans, that's not a, that is part of Republican ideology is to support corporate America. I think the Democratic Party, we really struggle because we're supposed to be the party of the working class, but in reality, there's a lot in our big tent, it's highly segmented. And I think that there is a lot of objections from that within our party, which prevents us from being as forceful on these issues as we can be.

So nothing is forcing, what she said there is right, but I also want to follow up by saying nothing is forcing the actual progressive wing of this big tent Democratic Party from fighting back against the nefarious corporate controlled wing of the Democratic party. And I think a lot of the frustration toward AOC is that we haven't seen much of that. So for those who have been critical of AOC, I'm not saying, like, don't criticize her. There's never a time you should go, no, you should criticize her when it makes sense. And there's been this acquiescence, I think, with the moderate Democrats, at least the optics are there, that make progressive voters pretty frustrated with her. But the other thing I want to mention, because this is super important, is that any real

change that's ever occurred in this country was never accomplished through electoral politics alone. Electoralism and electoral politics, honestly, engaging in it is the bare minimum. The utility is overstated and I think intentionally overstated to discourage people from doing more. And what do I mean by doing more? By organizing, by having a strategy in place, an outside pressure campaign in place that incentivizes the progressive wing of the Democratic Party to do what they were elected to do. If there is no accountability, if there is no outside pressure campaign, a well organized outside pressure campaign, I'm not talking about random little podcasters or progressive shows just tweeting their outrage. I'm talking about actual organized labor like we've had

in our nation's history, which did bode well for the New Deal era. If we don't have that now, we're not we're not going to get what we want. Change doesn't just happen by casting a ballot and then going to brunch or going home and hoping for the best. The reason why the Republican Party does what it does, unfortunately, is because they've got this right wing media ecosystem, of course, that's very supportive of what they're up to. But more importantly, I mean, think about how scared Republican members of Congress are of their base. And it's because they apply the right amount of pressure to get what they want.

And I don't see that on the left. So that goes to just the bigger point. There are no saviors in Congress. There's never going to be a day in which we elect one fire breather and that fire breather is going to save us. That's not going to happen. I think that's an incredibly childish way of looking at politics. And also it completely erases some of the successes, the left and in particular, organized labor has had in this country in the past.

So I'm just keeping that real. And again, you want to criticize AOC for not talking to left-wing media enough, fine. But let's be realistic about the utility of electoral politics. And let's also be realistic about the lack of organized pressure on the outside to basically hold progressives accountable when they don't do what we want. When you have an AOC who's willing to abstain on a vote that gives the right wing Israeli government an additional $1 billion in military aid. She felt the pressure from her fellow moderate Democrats, but clearly she didn't feel the pressure from us. And that's saying something. All right, we got to take a break. We'll be right back.

Welcome back to the show, everyone. Now that we're getting closer to the midterm elections, there are all sorts of spicy debates going down, including this. If you look around the country, they do have programs, unfortunately, well, they will take a student, look at their race, say, okay, you're white, you're an oppressor. If you're black, you're oppressed. And think about what that does to a six or seven-year-old kid. That's wrong.

You're seeing that. You have people that are teaching, and actually his running mate has said this in the past, that teaching the United States was built on stolen land. That is inappropriate for our schools. It's not true. The U.S. was absolutely built on stolen land. That's not even something that is disagreed about. It was stolen from Native Americans. There was a genocide committed by. settlers from Europe, we all know this. So to say it's incorrect and inappropriate to learn about, tells you everything you need to know about Ron DeSantis. This is what he does. And you could also hear the audience losing its mind as he makes that inaccurate claim. Now this is during the Florida gubernatorial debate between the Republican incumbent

Ron DeSantis and his opponent Charlie Christ who's running as a Democrat, but make no mistake, he is no lefty, not by any stretch of the imagination. He was supportive of efforts to keep gay marriage banned in this country. He's just not, he ain't your savior, let's just put it that way. So someone isn't necessarily our friend because we might share the same enemy. And let's be clear, Charlie Christ has no chance of winning. But that doesn't mean that there weren't some interesting spicy moments during this debate, particularly the fact that Ron DeSantis was basically shadow boxing Joe Biden the entire time.

So let's watch that. Look in the eyes of the people of state of Florida and say to them, if you're reelected, you will serve a full four year term as governor. Yes or no? Yes or no, Ron? Will you serve a full four year term if you're reelected governor of Florida? It's not a tough question. It's a fair question, he won't tell you.

Homeboy is not going to answer that question. He's planning on running in 2024. The question is, will he run even if Donald Trump announces that he intends to run? We don't know for sure yet, but he, look, I mean, to some extent, like, he didn't say, yes, I make that promise. He didn't say no either, but like, it's clear. clear that he's not willing to serve the full term if, you know, he's definitely thinking about running. So that's clear. Now, why did Chris hit him with that question? Because the entire time,

Ron DeSantis was campaigning against Joe Biden. This is a gubernatorial debate about who will serve as Florida's next governor. And polls do indicate that Ron DeSantis is poised to win. He's got a massive lead over Charlie Crist. But before we get to those numbers, I just want to provide this fund compilation, giving you a sense of just how often DeSantis mentioned Biden. You know, Charlie Chris has voted with Joe Biden 100% of the time. He supports Biden's energy policies. Well, first, I think we have the worst inflation of 40 years. It's much more expensive to replace a roof today than just three years ago, thanks to the Biden-Christ policies. Why are fuel and natural gas prices up because of the Biden-Krist energy policies. Well, we know that

these are the effects of the Biden-Krist policies, the worst inflation in 40 years. And Charlie Chris votes with Biden 100% of the time. You say you're for the secure border, but this is all happening under the Biden administration and the policies that Charlie Chris supports. DeSantis is already on that campaign trail. One thing that I wanted to highlight was the fact that DeSantis had mentioned that insuring your home in Florida has become much more expensive under the Biden administration. He completely left out the fact that insurance companies, you know, I mean, look, the whole point of insurance companies is to make money, right? So they do the calculations. They realize that extreme weather, hurricanes, for instance, have been happening

more and more often and they're far more extreme and that it's maybe, you know, did they do the cost benefit analysis and they realize, yeah, maybe we don't want to insure people in Florida. So after Hurricane Andrew, a lot of those insurance companies decided we're not going to do business in Florida. These hurricanes happen too often. It's not really great for our business model. It's not great for our profits. And Florida, interestingly enough, after that, decided to subsidize insurance. The state started to subsidize insurance in cases where private insurance wasn't, you know, willing to provide the coverage that homeowners needed in the state.

So that's interesting. But now that these hurricanes are happening more and more often, and now that they're more more intense thanks to a fun thing called climate change. Yeah, these insurance companies are charging much higher premiums or they're deciding not to offer insurance in Florida at all, which means homeowners have less choices and it's going to cost them a lot more money to insure their homes. I mean, you could try to blame that on Biden and honestly with the lizard brain situation that we've got in this country, people are going to buy it for sure. But no, Well, guys, climate change is costing all of us.

If it's not our lives or our health, it's costing us a lot of money through the endless, you know, natural disasters that are exacerbated by climate change, through droughts, through emergencies that we keep hearing about, whether it's flooding or, you know, hurricanes. It's just the reality of the situation. And you've got one party that wants to completely deny that it's something we need to be concerned about, and that's the party that Ron DeSantis comes from, Republicans. And then you have Democrats who are also beholden to corporate interests. So they put out, you know, relatively milk toast policies to combat climate change.

Obviously not nearly enough to do what needs to be done to respond to the emergency effectively. So here we are with two pathetic parties that are just self-interested entities looking to increase their campaign coffers through pandering to corporate interests who look to increase the amount of money they've got personally by investing in individual stocks, which makes them personally invested in the very corporations that they're supposed to regulate, then that's, I mean, we've got the fake debate. You look at that debate stage and I don't know, some people, I guess the corporate media might have you believe that there's like a significant difference between the two. But Charlie Christ is no enemy to corporate interests. And he's definitely

not our friend. And certainly Ron DeSantis doesn't fall under the category of comrade either. And it's the false choice that Americans have in every election cycle over and over and over again. The whole system needs to be reformed. And getting money out of politics at this point is the bare minimum. Anyway, depressing show. I know, what can I do? We're going to take a break and hopefully Wozni Lombre will cheer us all up. Come right back.

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