The Young Turks - Pros & Neocons

Episode Date: October 23, 2024

Kamala Harris intensifies her campaigning alongside Liz Cheney, aiming to appeal to disenchanted Republican voters. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party, corporations, and the media have become less deferential to progressives who had been pushing them left. During a UCLA event, Ben Shapiro responded to a question about civilian deaths in Gaza, saying, ""I don't just condone the actions of the IDF and Israeli government, I celebrate and laud them.""" HOST: Ana Kasparian (@anakasparian), Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE FOLLOW US ON: FACEBOOK TWITTER INSTAGRAM TIKTOK 👕 Merch 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. Gah! All right, welcome to the young Turks. Jank U Granik is sparing with you guys live from the Polymarkert Studios here in LA. And we've got as usual a hell of a show for you guys, only two weeks left.

So lots of crazy stuff going on. So in case you don't know, which you almost certainly don't, because I think I mentioned it only once. Thursday night, this Thursday night, right after the show, I'm having debate night. I'm going to debate a great number of conservatives, one after another, after another, about Trump. So some interesting folks are going to show up. And then throughout the next couple of weeks, we're going to have more interesting people appear on TYT, like Scott Adams, for example, the guy who is the creator of Dilbert, very pro-Trump, very pro-Maga. Wow.

And so he will be joining us at some point. And so you don't want to miss Thursday night or any of those interviews that we're going to be doing throughout the selection season with two weeks left. And tonight, of course, is Operation Joy for all of you that are members where we're going to do something for the first time that's different. We're going to take live callers, okay, but it's about joy and whether you have a question for me about it or whether you want to share a story. Okay, so that's for the members, that's at the end.

But meanwhile, huge news on polls, who's up, who's down. And of course, you know, the story of the war will not go away. Okay. All right, well, I wanted to start with the election because there was quite a bit of campaigning taking place yesterday in swing states like Michigan and Wisconsin. So why don't we start with that? The Harris campaign really believes that there are enough disenchanted Republicans that could make the difference in this election, especially in those key swing states that's so-called

blue wall that is so critical for Harris to pick up. And you heard Liz Cheney yesterday make an urgent plea to some of these Republicans that they can vote however they want in the ballot box, but they don't have to tell their friends about it. And that is what the Harris campaign is banking on, that there are so many Republicans exhausted in their view by Donald Trump that they may be able to switch at least for this election. Kamala Harris and Republican Liz Cheney held town halls in Michigan and Wisconsin yesterday in an attempt to essentially convince disillusioned never Trump Republicans

to cast their ballots for the vice president over Trump. Now some hawkishness unfortunately ensued because let's keep it real, that's who Liz Cheney is, she is a neocon, and the real question is, while Harris is trying to build this coalition of Democratic voters, traditional Democratic voters, and neoconservatives, does that mean that should she get elected, it will translate to neocon policies within her White House? Now, during the town hall in Wisconsin, Cheney tried to specifically ease the nerves of Republican voters who do believe in the neoconservative philosophy. Let's hear what she had to tell them. I also know, because I have spent time with Vice President Harris, because I have come to

understand what she believes about how she will govern, that she will be a president for all Americans, that she's committed to listening and committed to having viewpoints, some of which come from different ends of the political spectrum. And if you think about how you conduct your life outside of politics, how we all conduct our everyday law. lives. Those are the kinds of people that you trust. Those are the kinds of people you can work with. The strength of our democracy requires a strong two-party system. It really does. It requires that we have healthy debate, that we have healthy debate based on, you know, based in logic and fact and that we debate it out. Have good vigorous debates. Have a good fight over policy.

So, you know, the message there is you might have your reservations about casting a ballot for a Democratic candidate, especially since the neoconservative ideology differs so considerably from what traditionally Democrats have believed in, but don't worry, Kamala Harris is open-minded to our ideas and our influence. That's at least the messaging that I got out of that answer, but I'm curious what your interpretation was, Jane. So look, I get the logic of both sides. And so I read an interesting piece with David Plough, who's on Kamala's team now.

And so they're, of course, trying to get those undecided voters. And yes, they still exist, believe it or not. And yes, now some senior citizens, older voters above 65, are just gradually going towards Kamala Harris a little bit more. and some non-college educated white voters, which is Trump's base, are going towards Kamala a little bit. So trying to reach out and saying she's bipartisan, you can trust her, she's normal, she's, you know, going to bring us back to sanity. I get the logic of that, right? At the same time, saying, I'm open to every idea, including the Cheney's ideas about

foreign policy, not a good idea, okay? And that's not what the voters are looking for. The voters are very anti-war, right-wing, left-wing, it doesn't matter. And the polling indicates that. Dick Cheney was enormously unpopular at 13% in the last poll taken of them. 13%. I mean, wrapping your arms around a guy at 13% and his family and his way of thinking before an election, I mean, they might look back at that and go, wow, that is the most questionable

thing anybody's ever done. Why would you go towards the least popular person in politics? Somebody made a great analogy today. They're like, it would be like Bill Clinton, because it's about the same time frame as he was running, going, you know what? I love Richard Nixon. And I'm thinking of putting Nixon's allies in my cabinet because I'm bipartisan. And I'm in search of good ideas. What good ideas did Nixon have?

By the way, he actually starts some liberal parties, some liberal parts of the government because he was forcing back, because back then it's enormous power and strength. Like the EPA, if I'm not the EPA, OSHA, etc. So actually that's a worse example than Dick Cheney, because I can't think of a single good idea that Dick Cheney's ever had. So what are we going to debate with them? Should we invade Iraq or Iran? Is that a debate or Syria? What are we going to invade? I've never seen Dick Cheney have any good ideas and neither has the American public. So I can see both sides of it. But being this aggressively pro Cheney is almost definitely the wrong way to go. Because guys, it's not just Liz Cheney or no one. You could use. You could use Adam Kinsinger. You could use other Republicans that have turned, right? I have a different proposal. Although the proposal wouldn't really work out for Kamala Harris in regard to fundraising. I mean, she did bring in a $6 million haul from J Street, for instance. But remember, the two states that I was referring to earlier, the two states in which these women just had these two town halls were Wisconsin.

You're watching clips from that, but also the state of Michigan. And so I think it's telling that Kamala Harris's campaign is far more willing to make a deal with the devil to maybe increase her share of voters in the swing state of Michigan when we already know a pretty simple way in which Kamala Harris could increase her support in the state of Michigan. And what would that pretty easy way be, Jank? So if she just said, I'm in favor of weapons embargo if they don't do a ceasefire immediately. Yeah, Israel. In Israel, you would pick up five points in Michigan and right now she needs it because she's losing in, look, everybody's got different polls and everybody loves to look at the polls that they believe in, okay?

But you look at the real clear politics average of polls, not just the average of polls, but the last seven polls. She's tied in one and is losing in the other six. So the most recent polls. Now, even if you found one where you thought, oh my gosh, she's tied or she's leading, the momentum is clearly going towards Trump and she's losing Michigan now. And in that interview with David Pluff, he acknowledged that Michigan is tough, that the blue wall states are tough, and that it's going to be a razor-thin election.

Now, it doesn't have to be a razor-thin election, especially in Michigan. If she calls for a weapons embargo or cutting the funding of Israel, she'll definitely win Michigan, and then she'll probably definitely win the election. But isn't that amazing? And doesn't that tell you everything you need to know about American politics, that she would rather lose the election than defy any of her donors? Well, she's really under the assumption that she could win the election by moving forward with the strategy that we're talking about here, the strategy of aligning herself with neocons in order to increase her support. But remember, Liz Cheney was ousted from Congress by voters in her district, right?

That I find less relevant, though. No, but like, neocons aren't even popular among Republican voters. No, no, you're absolutely right about that, but she lost because she was against Trump, and Wyoming is Trump obsessed. And so the dear leader- I understand that. The dear leader told them to eliminate her, so they did. Okay, so look, again, I respect Liz Cheney for blowing up her career to do the right thing. Yes, I give her credit for that.

Yeah. That doesn't then mean that I would go out of my way to campaign alongside her with this delusional idea that I'm going to pick up a bunch of Republican votes. Yeah, and that's the thing that's maybe even more important, which is that they don't understand the voters, including the Republican voters and the undecided voters. They think, oh, if I go more towards traditional Republicans by being neocon and loving corporate CEOs and stuff,

I'm going to get Republican votes. But you're on the old political spectrum of right and left, when you should be on the political spectrum of populist or establishment, right? So when you're going more towards the establishment, you're not necessarily pinging up right wing votes. Like they're not interested in Jeb Bush. I mean, there's like seven Republicans left of the country who like the Bushes and the Cheney's. All low energy. Yeah.

And so like they think no. And this is part of their delusion that is so important because they still think that as soon as Trump is gone, no, the Republican Party is going to go right back to Mitch McConnell and Bob Dole and all and Mitt Romney and stuff. because that's how Republican voters actually think, and we're in some period that's an aberration, and that once Trump leaves, the fever will break. No, no, the party has changed completely. Now, Trump is pro-war, and he's a giant liar, but his base is actually anti-war. His base is, that's correct, yeah. And if, when he, why I almost said when, because right now he is winning, but if he wins,

And then he goes and starts a giant war in the Middle East, which he almost certainly will do. His basis, parts of his base, of course, a huge part of his base is going to be like, yes, sir, we always wanted war, sir. What else do you want, dear leader? How can we get you more money, right, et cetera? But as significant, and they're going to be shocked by this. A significant chunk of his base is going to go, we said no war. What part of that was confusing?

In fact, I mean, look, we have fairly recent history to reflect on, right? I mean, I remember when Trump was about to do a strike in Iran and start a war with Iran in his term, his first term, the actual America first crowd within his base were furious about it. And so that is real, right? Like that contingent within his base does exist. So we'll see how this all plays out. But, you know, the messaging from Kamala Harris herself in the context of this town hall was also fascinating. She reflected on her time as a United States Senator, and here's what she had to say about her favorite part of serving in that role.

When I was in the Senate for those four years that I was there, my favorite committee was the Senate Intelligence Committee, and I'm going to tell you why. We would walk into that meeting in a skiff, which is a secure room. We'd have to leave our cell phones outside. The press, with all due respect, we're not allowed in. cameras, people would walk in Democrats and Republicans, take off their suit jacket, roll up their sleeves, and we dispense with who was a Republican and who was a Democrat. We're all funded by the same donors and weapons manufacturers and private contractors. I love to Senate Intelligence Committee meetings. Yeah.

Maybe I'm being unfair, but really, that was your favorite part? That was your favorite part of being a senator. So guys, that goes to the same exact thing. we were just talking about because if you live in a world where you think the fever is going to break and it's Republicans and Democrats, I'm going to get more Republicans if I tell them I'm bipartisan and in favor of the intelligence community that has launched so many disastrous wars and has taken all of our money and thrown it in the garbage or to the defense contractors, etc. Well, yeah, if you were in the 1990s, that would work. I know it's stunning, but that's

Because people only watch television and in television, they told you, oh, bipartisan is amazing. Bipartisan is the greatest thing in the world. When they agree to invade Iraq, it's awesome. When they agree to do corporate tax cuts, it's awesome, right? But if you live in the real world today, saying that you love the intelligence committee is going more towards the establishment, not towards the populist undecided independent slash right wing voters that you want to capture. So you just literally don't understand who the voters.

And so it's guys stuck in in politics that are decades old. Yeah, exactly. And they just, they can't snap out of it, they can't see clearly. So no matter how much they see, they go, no, no, we're gonna get those Bob Dole voters. Bob Dole's not around, brother. You're in a different planet. Senate. One more clip from their Wisconsin town hall.

And then I want to turn to the pressure campaign to reward Liz Cheney. Okay, but first, final clip from this town hall. The world is watching this election and our allies are worried. Because the reality is that when we as the United States of America walk in these rooms around the world, we walk in chin up shoulders back with the earned and self-appointed authority to talk about the importance of democracy and rule of law. And being a role model, this is a room of role models, we know as a role model people watch what you do to see if it matches up to what you say. One of my very real fears, Charlie, to be candid, is I hope that we as the American

people fully understand how important America is to the world. She said that with a straight face. Like she really believe, I think she really believes what she just said. You want to talk about the rule of law? Does that include international law? Does that include international law? No, of course not, no. As the United States is aiding and abetting and providing cover for all sorts of war crimes that are currently being committed by our ally, Israel. Yes, again, they're stuck in the 1990s.

They think we'll just lie and no one will catch us, we'll pretend we're for the rule of law and we'll let Israel break every law there is, commit every war crime that is, and we'll fund it, and no one will notice because we'll have. Chris Matthews, who you're going to see, he's back in a second and morning Joe and all those guys lie and tell everybody that Israel's a moral army that isn't breaking any laws. So, but the internet exists. The entire Democratic leadership class is frozen in amber in the 1990s. And they still think like, oh, we'll just get morning Joe in the view to tell our propaganda and we'll win this election. No, people aren't interested.

Look, here, guys, another giant point. So these are super rough numbers, but it doesn't matter what the numbers are because the scale is there is right, right? So a lot of people make this point online. There's about four million Republicans that you could potentially maybe get if you're the Kamala Harris campaign. But there's 26 million progressives, okay? I know, but who cares about them? But those progressives are not sure whether they're going to vote for you or they're going to vote third party or they're going to stay home because they're so bothered by your policy on Gaza. and they're bothered by the fact that the Democrats barely ever deliver.

Did it ever occur to anyone on Kamala Harris' team? And this is a legitimate question. And I think the answer is no. Did it ever occur to any of them that you might want to pick up progressive votes? Isn't that amazing that it seems like it's never even occurred to them? Do you see Bernie Sanders being pushed out? Do you see a town hall that Kamala Harris is doing with Bernie Sanders or someone along those lights? And talking about health care and talking about higher wages?

Health care is not even on anyone's radar in this election. Okay, the opportunity to actually use the very temporary influence and power progressives had in this country was squandered. It was, and we're gonna talk about that later on the show, it was squandered, and now there is no discussion about improving our healthcare system. There is no discussion about any of the economic populist ideas that progressives purported to care about, but didn't fight for, okay? fought for other things that ended up leading to a lot of backlash among the electorate. And that's why we are here today talking about the Democratic Party moving toward the neocons. And I'm pissed about that. Yeah.

But I'm the right winger, right winger, I'm the right winger. I'm the right winger because I don't like the neocons, because I don't like the wars, because I want economic policies, not this garbage. So look, I get- I'm the right winger. On that front, if you don't know what Anna is referring to. So I get that people who are looking at it at a surface level and didn't watch Anna's interview with Julia Michaels or any other things that she said on this show in other places, they might go, oh, she's really discontable to the Democratic Party.

I am. Okay, and hence, in my binary mind, I think that means she's a right way. I'm not. Okay, but what I can't understand is that people who did watch the interview and people who do hear you on the Young Turks going, oh, she really upset at Democrats for being pro-neo-Con. pro-corporate CEOs, she wants them to be more populist, care about universal health care, higher wages, getting out of Gaza. That's why she's a right-winger.

But wait, does do facts matter anymore? No, they don't. Does reality matter anymore? Because the aesthetics of progressivism is far more important than actual progressivism, actual policies that lift people up, that actually help marginalize people across the board. universal economic policies that do lead to increased wages and things like that. That stuff doesn't matter. That stuff doesn't matter because we have fragmented activist groups who have their little pet

project that they shove down everyone's throat. And if you don't agree 100%, well, then you must be a right winger. I'm done with this dumb politics, okay? This is dumb, totally dumb. So now that brings us to Chris Matthews, because Chris Matthews is going to tell you who the new Democratic Party is. And then you tell me if the new Democratic Party is to the left of us or to the right of us. Yeah, tell me how this tastes, progressives. Take a look.

I wouldn't think a few years ago, I would ever be singing the praises of a Cheney member of the family, a member of that family. I really did not like the Iraq war. And I didn't like the neocons. And Cheney was leading them all. And he took us into that war and it killed almost 200,000 people in Iraq. And it served no purpose. Those two women, as you say, on that stage is remorse. because there's such courage there from Liz Cheney. And I cannot say anything that would stop me from saying she's been unbelievable. I also want to say something about the Democrats.

If you're going to use her, repay her when you get in office. Don't just act like you're giving a little nod to a Republican. Clean up some of your act. You've got problems, Democrats. You don't have all the answers. You got to do much tougher action on the border. You have to get serious about it. Okay, so Chris Matthews, and I'll tell you what role he's played in mainstream media, if you're too young to remember, because it's an amazing role.

And he just played it again there. I like that they brought back like a legend of the television screen, news actor extraordinaire to give this speech. So he's like, now remember Democrats, be more Republican and make sure that you're not just using the Cheney's as window dressing. Give them real power. Yeah, a cabinet. So we can go back to starting war war. A cabinet position. But remember, Chris Matthews was against the Iraq war and against the Cheney's.

Was he? Because I was around. We've been around 22 years, long as running show in internet history. And we covered Chris Matthews when he was massively for the Iraq war. Later, like Trump, he lied about it. Okay, I got the quotes to prove it to you. I know because I put them in my book. T.y.com slash justice to get justice is coming.

Here's some of the quotes. May 1st, 2003. You remember when Bush landed on the aircraft carrier with a giant mission accomplished banner? In fact, that was the one thing that Bush said was a mistake because he preemptively declared that we had accomplished a mission and that Iraq war was over and we had won and they had thrown roses at our feet, right? And then, oops, it turns out we hadn't won and it was a disaster. This is what Chris Matthews said on that night when he gave the worst speech of his presidency, George W. Bush, and was humiliated so much so that he admitted it later. Matthews said about Bush, he won the war. He was an effective commander.

Everybody recognizes that, I believe, except a few critics. Okay. Then he said that this landing on the aircraft carrier pretending to be a pilot when he hid the entire Vietnam, on war, not being a pilot. He said, this was, quote, an amazing display of leadership. He didn't actually go into the war. He did a photo op, you schmuck. But wait, it gets worse. Last one. We're proud of our president. Americans love having a guy as president, a guy who has a little swagger, who's physical, who's not a complicated guy. They want a guy who's president. women like a guy who's president.

Check it out. The women like this war. I think we like having a hero as our president. It's simple. He just told you that he was against the Iraq war. This morning, on Morning Joe. Yeah, and he also demanded that the Democratic Party should Kamala Harris win, provide a cabinet position for Liz Cheney for her incredible leadership.

Now, Liz Cheney did the right thing once in her career. fighting back against what Donald Trump intended to do in overturning the 2020 presidential election. For that, she deserves credit. She blew up her whole political career in order to do the right thing. She deserves credit for that. Her policies have been and always will be dog crap. And I don't want that to be absorbed into the Democratic Party. Okay, you should want to support a party that actually represents your values. Yeah. So guys, last thing on It's just like, what's the point of supporting a party that doesn't represent your values, unless all you care about is the name brand?

That's what it is, 100%. So, and yet, of course, I'm voting against Trump, and I'm going to vote for Kamala Harris because I'm voting against Trump because Trump's a lunatic. And Republicans try nominating a non-lunatic. You might win in a landslide. Anyways, so I told you, what's the role of Chris Matthews in American media? His job is to be the pretend Democrat that pushes the Democrats to the right. So that's why he worked for Tip O'Neill, and who was a legendary Democrat back in the

1970s, and they would always use that in their marketing. Chris Matthews, lifelong Democrat who worked for Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill, even he agrees, Dick Cheney's absolutely right about everything. George Bush is an American hero who won the Iraq war and saved all of our lives. Even Chris Matthews agrees. So they brought him back to do that. Why? Because Joe Scarborough, who is also a Republican, Nicole Wallace is a Republican, Michael

Steele as a Republican, Nicole Wallace is a Republican, almost entire MSNBC lineup are Republicans. And they've taken over the Democratic Party. And here they are, two Republicans pretending to be Democrats telling you, we got to bring back the Bushes and the Cheney's so that the Democratic Party could be more grown up. And if you don't remember, Chris Matthews also said, when they all panicked that Bernie might win in 2020, he did a segment where he said if Bernie Sanders wins, we might get executed in Central Park. because he's such a communist, okay? So that's who these guys are.

And if you think they're to the left of us or the old Democratic party or Bernie Sanders, you just don't understand anything. Okay, you literally don't understand politics at all. No, they've gone massively right wing and it is not populace. It is pro establishment. It is corporate media and corporate politicians saying, this party's ours. We want the Democratic Party and we're in control the Democratic Party. So it's a fair criticism to say, then Jeng, why are you even voting for that?

Because the other guy says, hey, if I don't like my vice president, he should be murdered. And we should terminate the Constitution. So please, someone nominate a non-lunitic, non-warmonger, non-corporate pleaser. But you know, America, because bribery is legal, that is near impossible. All right, we'll be back. All right back on TY Janganana with you guys and KZK Dragon, thanks for the contribution through tytt.com slash team. You guys are amazing, you're the best, I appreciate you.

Thank you for allowing us to do this show. And to be honest, you know, I'll tweet about this later, but you guys are our audience. You don't need to hear this, but isn't it amazing that like, you know, I criticize Kamala Harris from time to time on social media. We obviously criticize Democrats on the show and on other programs and we're honest about it. And then people like will get surprised when we criticize Trump more because they live in the binary world, right? And so, but forget the like, okay, the left, I don't see anybody criticizing Kamala Harris and Biden outside of us. That's amazing. Maybe I'm missing it as possible.

But also on the right. So no one else in media can find criticism of both sides? People just get super loyal about their tribe. And anyway, they avoid the criticism because they don't want to help the other guy win. But the truth matters. And how is your side ever going to improve if they never get any feedback? Like, you know, about what the voters don't want, what they don't like, why it's likely that they're going to lose. But anyway, we've got a lot to get to.

All right, so I wanted to talk a little bit about, you know, there's been several pieces written in the last week alone about the changing dynamics in ideology in this country, especially like the direction the country is headed in. And so I wanted to talk about this piece in Vox and something that Dave Weigel wrote in Semaphore about how, whether we like it or not, the country is moving right. So let's get into it. The pendulum is swinging to the right in America. At least that's what Andrew Prokop argues in a new piece for Vox, but so does Dave Weigle in a piece that he wrote for Semaphore. And I think that they actually do have a point. So the Vox piece that I'm talking about is titled The Big Political Shift that explains the 2024 election. Progressives felt they were gaining, now they're on the defensive.

So he's careful to note that there have been. some gains by progressives in recent years that remain. They have not been reversed. It's not as if progressives gains over the past 20 years or so have been entirely wiped away. The Democratic Party remained significantly further to the left than it was a decade ago and certainly two decades ago. And he does provide good examples for what he's talking about here. You know, he talks about the fact that, you know, we have legalized gay marriage, for instance. Some of the at least lip service that you'll hear from Democratic politicians in regard to what we need to do about the environment is certainly more left than what we had 10 years ago.

But he also provides examples for why he believes that progressives have lost influence in American politics. He talks about the members of the progressive squad who have either acquiesced to the mainstream Democratic Party or they lost in the primary. So Cory Bush and Jamal Bowman are two examples. He also mentions the progressive prosecutors who have either been recalled or voted out of office. Pamela Price, for instance, in Oakland is currently facing a recall. San Francisco's former DA, Chesa Boudin, was recalled. Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon is poised to lose his reelection bid to a tough-on-crime District Attorney by the name of Nathan Hawkman.

And in a piece written by Dave Weigel for Semaphore, he notes some really interesting polling data that I actually hadn't come across. So he writes that in the summer of 2020, for instance, Gallup had found that 34% of Americans actually wanted an increase to immigration. So think about it, it's the summer of 2020. This is like right in the beginning of COVID, really. And you have 34% of Americans wanting an increase in immigration, which believe it or not, that was the highest recorded percentage of Americans wanting that. And only 28% wanted a decrease in immigration. But let's fast forward to June of this year, Gallup found that only 16% of Americans wanted higher immigration levels, while a whopping 55% wanted a decrease, which is the

highest share for that position since the weeks after 9-11. And in June of 2020, 47% of Americans said that they were satisfied with federal anti-crime policies, but this summer, only 28% of people agreed with that sentiment. Sixty-nine percent of participants in the survey said that they were dissatisfied. And so you see it in the polling. You also see it in the way the Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris, is basically running her campaign. Politicians who is studiously cultivated left activists are now increasingly tacking to the Senate. most notably Vice President Kamala Harris, who has abandoned many of the position she took while running in the Democrats' 2020 presidential primary. And further, Weigel writes that the Democratic

Party, after two decades of leftward post-Clinton drift, has jerked abruptly right. Facing Donald Trump for the third consecutive election, Democrats are making rhetorical and policy concessions they didn't want to or think they needed to in 2016 and 2020. they've adjusted to an electorate that shifted to the right toward the Trump-led GOP on issues that progressives once hoped were non-negotiable, immigrant rights, LGBTQ rights, climate change policies, and criminal justice reform. So there's more details to share with you all on this, but I think you get the general point about the thesis here. And I actually think that it's correct. I mean, you see it, the proof is in the pudding and how it tastes, and Kamala Harris certainly is running as a moderate, whereas in 2020, that was not the case.

Yeah, so it's definitely correct, and it shows you really important view in American politics, but it also has two giant caveats that I want to put on it. So first, how it's correct. So guys, look at politics, right? So you know that Kamala Harris said that she was not going to take corporate PAC money in 2019 and 2020. Now she's bragging about raising a billion dollars, mainly off of corporate PAC money. You know that she was for all of these positions that now seem enormously extreme, like free gender change surgery for undocumented immigrants who are detained. And look, even if you're in favor of that, you've got to recognize that is really far out there

on the political spectrum, okay? If you don't recognize that you're in a bubble, about max 5% of the country agrees with that policy, okay? So now all of a sudden, she doesn't care about any of that stuff. Oh, she said that she was for Medicare for all. Now she's not for anything in relation to health care other than, oh, we'll continue, you know, negotiating one drug price per year for the rest of time, leaving tens of thousands of oil, et cetera. But no, Medicare for all is gone, universal health care is gone, public option is gone. Everything is gone, right?

So it's the same person and she had this massive shift in opinion and ideology. No, they're politicians. So before she thought that was hot, now she thinks this is hot. And so, and why did they think this is hot now? Because they tried half of that and that's going to get to the caveats. They tried half of those policies, the absolute worst half, and it didn't work in the American people didn't like it. So then they were like, okay, panic. We're switching now and we're going to be right wingers and that we're going to take Democratic Party to the right. Okay, but

what do we mean by right and left? So that's the first caveat. So it's always on social issues. Yeah. And so this brother here on Vox, right, it's a good, interesting article. But like almost every other smart pundit, okay, that's writing interesting articles, they still miss the big picture on those two giant cabinets. So the first one is, which part of progressivism are you talking about? The social stuff or the economic stuff? Because if you're talking about the social stuff, I get what you're saying, you're totally right. Look at the polling, whether we agree or disagree. And actually, I've agreed that we shouldn't be doing those policies from day one. That's part of why some portions of the extreme left hate us. Because we were

never on board for that stuff. Like I remember when the extreme left said, let's decriminalize border crossings. And I was like, no, no, no, no. I'm an immigrant, I want, I'm first generation immigrant, I want to protect immigrants. I don't want any of these demagoguing and I want a fair system, etc. But you can't decriminalize border crossings that we'll have three billion people in the country by the end of the week. That means you don't have a border. That means you don't have a border that's nuts. You can't do that.

It's not practical. It just doesn't make any, have you ever thought that issue through at all? Have you given it like one second of thought? So we, at the young turks, we were never for that and we drove the left crazy on that stuff. Why? Because it doesn't make sense. It's not, that's not progressive to go, ah, no barters, no prisons, no cops, no reform the police because they're beating people up, et cetera, et cetera. So on the social issues, they go, okay, that's progressive. But how about the and that's unpopular, fair. How about the economic issue? Yeah, how about the economic

issues? Enormously popular. The progressive policies on the, on economic issues, all pull above two thirds. Medicare for all, higher wages, paid family leave. You can't name an economic issue where progressives don't pull through the roof. But even smart pundits are like, no, progressive bad. They're all in the same group, lump them together. I hate them all. That's why corporations should win.

You should live under corporate rule, and you should never do any of the economic suggestions of progressives. I disagree. I want to give you an excerpt from the piece. Let's go to Graphics 6 because he flushes it out even more, saying that Democrats in cities disavowed police cuts as they struggled with rising crime and complained they couldn't handle a migrant influx. Let's just pause, come back to me because a lot of people get upset at the messenger But all you have to do is just live in real life to understand that when people start getting victimized by some of the, I'll just be generous and say unintended consequences of these poorly implemented policies, like what I've seen from the Democratic Party is a denial that those negative consequences are even happening. You can deny it all you want and you can gaslight about it all you want. But the people who are impacted by it know it's happening. So you can't brush it under the rug. because people are actually experiencing it.

And when they experience it and get gaslit about it on top of that, they get real mad. Yeah, go talk to Democrats. I'm not talking about Republicans, go talk to Democrats in LA, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, New York, okay? And what you will get is wall-to-wall people going, why did we decriminalize sexual assault? Who said yes to that? And the answer is no one said yes to that, except some weirdo extreme leftists who we're hijacked the agenda, and instead of giving everybody health care and paid family leave,

they're like, we got a great idea. Let's decriminalize a whole bunch of things that people absolutely hate. And it'll scare the living crap out of them. So they'll never vote for a progressive again. And so look, my frustration is, like, when an election happens, the candidate who wins has political capital in the beginning, right? And at some point, progressive certainly had some political capital. We had some sway and some influence over the Democratic Party.

And I'm upset that I feel like that opportunity was squandered because that opportunity could have been utilized to implement universal economic policies or real reforms to our health care system. If we had just actually focused on those things, avoided infighting about garbage nonsense, and ensured that that was the focus, that's what we would accomplish. and that would have improved so many people's lives. And now it's over, guys. Like, no one in this election, no one's talking about improving health care. You're right, Jank, every time anything related to health care comes up. Kamala Harris will be like, oh, we did some wonderful things. We capped the price of insulin.

Okay, great, I'm glad you did that. But that doesn't fix our health care system. Our health care system is broken. There's still tens of millions of Americans who have no health insurance whatsoever, no coverage whatsoever. These are real problems that impact a lot of people, including, if not more, marginalized people in this country. Yeah, so I wanna correct something I said, because I just said, as I was talking about

decriminalized sexual assault, no one did that, but what they did do, for example, in California and there's a ballot measure now to reverse it, is that they moved some serious felonies like sexual assault to misdemeanors, depending on the kind of sexual assault, right? And so, and you read that list of stuff that they moved down to misdemeanors and you're like, why did they do that? Why? Why did we do that? How does that have anything to do with police beating up and shooting black guys?

But that, why would a guy abusing his wife have anything to do with the police reform that we wanted? And in fact, in that ballot measure in California, they literally hit it. They did not say in the ballot measure what they were doing at all in moving them, which crimes they were moving, et cetera, it was the most deceptive ballot measure. maybe in American history. And that makes me go, wait, what is this? Is this some sort of weirdo false flag operation?

I don't think it is. But if I was a right winger who wanted to destroy the idea of economically populist progressive proposals, I would take the crappiest progressive proposal and make it even crappier and hide it from people and then have it pass and then go, you see, progressive stand for out of control crime and sexual assault. You see that? I mean, if they weren't a right wing plant, they were so horrifically incompetent that it's plausible that they were a right wing plan. We don't even know, Jank, we don't even need to go to the right wing, okay? Because what what did neoliberal Gavin Newsom actually accomplish in the, what did he fight against the hardest in this state? Two things. He fought against increasing the minimum wage for all workers. fought against a Medicare for all system in the state.

Those are the two things he fought aggressively against. But that neoliberal was very happy to implement the other policies that we're talking about. Oh, that's a great point. Okay, because that disempowered progressivism. So what, so first of all, vote for Prop 32 in California. If you live in California, that's the increase the minimum wage. And 36. You know why it's a ballot measure?

Because Gavin Newsom said, hell, no, I'm not gonna raise wages. You're gonna have to put that on the ballot and go around me. me because all my donors say don't raise wages, don't do anything about healthcare. By the way, another thing is don't bury the phone lines that cause all the fires because that would cost one of my top, in fact, my top donor, that's Gavin Newsom gave him, PG&E, gave him $10 million. That would cost them money. So I'd rather have your towns burn down.

Exactly. But, but the one progressive thing I'll do is release all the criminals. Yeah, shut down four prisons with no plan, no investments in rehabilitation. Whatsoever, county prisons end up getting overcrowded. I mean, it's just a complete nightmare. So can you understand why voters would be upset and why voters would go from being open-minded to progressivism to now being distrustful toward progressivism? Yeah, of course. And so that one, now the second caveat for me, which to this article, otherwise good articles, both of them, right?

Making a good point about how this giant shift back to the right for the Democratic Party. But is it right and left? We talked about the policies and broke that down for you. But remember, I'm sorry if I keep repeating it, but it's not that simple, it's populace versus establishment. So when you look at it from that lens, the Democratic Party hasn't moved to the right as much as they move back to the establishment. And so when you jettison the economically populist plans of the progressives in that lurch

to the right, you become less populist and hence less popular. And so it's the inability to discern between economic and social issues when it comes to progressives, it shows unfortunately a massive ignorance in how politics is analyzed in this country. I've got to give you these stats because they're so amazing. Lucks has a group that did this polling, he's a good progressive, sometimes I get frustrated because these days he's so raw on Kamala Harrison, and that's because he's an old school Democrat, et cetera.

But he did a poll that shows you exactly what is correct, okay? So when they asked Americans, 67% of voters agree that, quote, one of the biggest problems facing America today is that a handful of corporations have too much power and government is doing too little to hold them accountable. Let's not do anything about that. So two thirds of Americans say go left, go populist on economic issues and fighting corporate rule. Half of them, 49% of them say that strongly.

Usually strongly is a tiny category, but half the country is going, will you regulate corporations already? And Democrats are like, we're going further towards corporations. Kamala Harris released a letter of 90 CEOs saying she's the best of the best. Today there's a story out about how Jamie Diamond might become the treasury sector for Kamala Harris. What are you doing? Look at the numbers. What is wrong with you? Don't you have eyes?

Here, let me read you two more. 71% of voters, that's a monster number. Agree that today, quote, today a handful of enormous economically powerful corporations wield a massive amount of influence over the quality of our lives with almost no accountability or transparency to the public. at the phrasing, the phrasing sounds extreme and still 71% go, that's right, they have no accountability. They should be totally regulated. Last one, 76% of voters, over three quarters of Americans agree that, quote, today a handful of enormous monopoly corporations wield a massive amount of influence over the quality of our lives with almost no accountability or transparency

to the public, the country is massively economically populist and on those issues, on economic issues, massively progressive, three quarters of the country, but not one reporter in America can figure out, oh, progressive social issues, culture war nonsense versus progressive economic issues that the country loves. Yep, all right, we got to take a break. we come back, Ben Shapiro spoke at UCLA yesterday about the ongoing war in Gaza and Lebanon and pretty soon Iran. But anyway, there was a moment that really stood out. So we want to discuss that and more. Don't miss it. I am scary. I am threatening. I'm Darth Vader.

on TYT, Janganana with you guys, Box, thank you for gifting the five memberships on YouTube. H.H. wrote this on Super Chat. How to hold Harris accountable without not voting for her. I get it. I'm going to vote for Harris. A lot of our audience is going to vote for Harris, but that doesn't mean we just go, hey, it doesn't matter. No, it matters. So the reason I read that now is because I'm going to start talking about a populist revolt, no matter who wins the day after the election. So I'll be talking a lot more about that as we get closer to the election. We don't know who's going to win, but I know we need a populist or revolt either way. All right, Anna.

Well, let's move off the topic of the election and talk a little bit about this. I want to ask you, as an American Jew, how can you continue to condone the actions of the Israeli government, condoned by the U.S. government, in the Gaza Strip, where over 40,000 people have died, including Palestinians and Israelis in large numbers of children and civilians, how can you continue to condone those actions? Okay, so, okay, hold on. I want to correct you, I don't just condone the actions of the Israeli defense force in the Israeli government.

I celebrate and loud them. I'm not morally apathetic about what's happening. Ben Shapiro spoke at UCLA yesterday and, as you just saw, literally cheered on Israel's genocide in Gaza. And I don't use that word lightly, I say it because I mean it, and I want to show you why I believe that that's what's going on in Gaza. Now, after saying that he lauded the IDF's actions, he then went on to claim that they've taken extensive measures to prevent civilian deaths despite over 42,000 Palestinians that have been killed in the Gaza Strip alone.

Take a look. Khamas could end this war today by surrendering. They've chosen not to surrender. Instead, they spent billions of dollars building terror tunnels below civilian areas. It is not incumbent on the Israeli government to surrender just because terrorists are evil enough to hide behind civilians. The Israeli government has gone through such extraordinary efforts not to kill civilians that it has managed the best civilian. billion to terrorist kill ratio in the history of urban warfare, and it is not close. Israel, with their complete air superiority, certainly would have had the ability to commit full-scale human atrocities had they wanted to.

They have complete air superiority. They could have used F-35s and simply turned the place into a parking lot. They did not, in fact, do that. They moved vast scales of population. In fact, believe it or not, there have been more births in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of this war than there have been deaths in the Gaza Strip from the war itself. That is a very poor way to conduct a genocide. But Israel is being more meticulous in the conduct of this war than any army in human history and certainly than the United States Army in its vast role in the history of urban combat. That is that is uncontested. I'm going to be generous. And instead of saying there were a lot of lies in that statement, I'm going to say that

he is misinformed about what the reality is. Now, just quickly going through the numbers in Gaza, and it is difficult to get updated numbers because so many people have been slaughtered there, including journalists. But the exact death toll numbers to, you know, the kill ratios are nearly impossible to figure out at the moment or gauge because of the utter destruction of Gaza's medical system and infrastructure overall. There are also bodies still buried under the rubble. So those individuals haven't even been counted in the death toll.

But there's no doubt that Israel has taken out thousands of civilians. The United Nations says most of Gaza's 42,000 people who have been killed are women and children. A September analysis from Oxfam, for instance, found that more women and children have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli military over the past year than the equivalent period of any other conflict over the past two decades. Conservative figures show that more than 6,000 women and 11,000 children were killed in Gaza by the Israeli military over the last 12 months. Data from 2004 to 2021 on direct conflict deaths from the small arms survey estimates that the highest number of women killed in a single year was over 2,600 in Iraq in 2016. So referring to the IDF is the most moral army as you literally have American doctors coming back from Gaza to report that they kept seeing children as young as five with gunshot wounds to their heads. is a bit much. I'll put it that way. Go ahead. I will not be generous. I will be accurate. He's definitely lying. He's lying on purpose because he thinks killing Palestinians is no big deal.

He thinks the 1,200 Israeli lives lost on October 7th are the most precious lives that have ever existed on planet Earth. But the 42,000 people that Israel has slaughtered in Gaza, and we're going to show you some tape in a second of what's actually happening in Gaza. So you can see for yourself what a liar, Ben Shapiro is. So he's pretending that they have the best civilian to military kill ratio. The exact opposite is true. They have the worst civilian to military kill ratio. Worse than the terrorists, worse than any other conflict.

They've killed more journalists than any other conflict. Do you know that they've killed more journalists, 128 of them, than any conflict since 1992? Why? Because they don't want you to see the videos we're about to show you. Because if you saw how they're butchering the Palestinians, you would not believe the outrageous lies and propaganda by people like Ben Shapiro who go to, oh, we're the most moral army. Who cares if we slaughter Palestinians, 11,000 kids. They're not Israeli kids. They're just Palestinian kids.

They think of them as future terrorists and Nazis and parasites. They dehumanize them. ironically just like the Germans did and they emaciated kids look like just like the Jewish kids in Germany but no since they're not Israeli Ben Shapiro couldn't care less and he's saying they didn't slaughter them enough sick I know look we got to live together and we're all Americans and we're going to debate issues and we're going to have some agreements on some disagreements but this is a core moral issue where he's a deeply immoral person so deep He's totally immoral.

He's talking after the giant military, the Goliath of Israel, has crushed the Palestinians and already killed 2,400 people in Lebanon, twice October 7th, already in Lebanon. In Lebanon alone. Right? Yeah. And like, who cares? Lebanese lives, Christian lives, Muslim lives, Arab lives. Who cares?

We're the most moral army. It's outrageous, is sickening. It's vomitous. You look, he's supporting an actual genocide right now. And all that never again talk, it turns out. again talk, it turns out he meant never again for us. Exactly. For you, as long as it helps us take land and have more control, we'll do it to you over and over and over again. Fifty-seven years of brutal occupation, Ben, and you don't give a damn. You kind of like it, don't you, Ben.

Yeah, we get the Lord over them now. Who's in charge now, right? You feel powerful, you piece of crap. All right, so let me get to some of the other things he said, because, you know, he says, that the IDF, you know, they're operating exactly the way they're supposed to, but have they taken measures to protect women and children? Let's hear from Dr. Takrid al-imawi, who's an OBGYN at Kamal-Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. Here's a statement from that doctor. The situation is beyond horrific and is very difficult and indescribable. We have seen more than 23 pregnant women among the injured coming to the hospital since last week, wounded either by shrapnel or gunfire suffering from fractures. And remember, the starvation plan has already been implemented

by Israel. They have not allowed humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, in the northern portion of the Gaza Strip since the beginning of this month. Today is, what's the date today? 22nd. Today is the 22nd. So imagine. They're starving to death right now. But hey, they're only Arabs, Ben, so I'm sure you love that they're starving to death. UN reports also show that over the last 18 years, no other conflicts killed a higher number of children in one year than the current war that's going on in Gaza right now. And many of the kids who haven't been killed are now orphans. And I'm gonna try to keep it together while I go to this part, but one displaced girl

whose parents are believed to have been killed, so she's orphaned. She has an injured little sister carrying her on her back through central Gaza in search of treatment. You're not going to see anything gory in this video, but this is one of the most heartbreaking things I've ever seen. This is in Gaza. These are two little girls who don't have parents anymore. Take a look. Are you? Do you? Do you? Do you?

Where do you? Where do you? Where do you? I'm going to hear you. The bridge? Yes. And, come you with me. Let's take you with me.

You'll take it with me. You'll take it with me. You'd have your your wife you, you, you? You know? Come on you. Al-a-Shal him. If they survived the war and they might not, Israel might kill them.

If they survive the war, that little girl is going to see her older sister carrying her to safety. Look, we're all going to see it, and they're going to make movies about it later. And then we're all going to pretend, oh, nobody could have known at the time. No, we know at the time. We know they're committing a genocide and ethnic cleansing. We're about to show you the Jabalia death march. So they shot this little girl just like her, hint, five-year-old.

In the, they telephoned into the Israelis to the IDF, to the most moral army. There's a five-year-old, the IDF has already killed all her or her family. She's sitting in the car with the dead family map. were sending an ambulance to go get a five-year-old girl. The Israeli showed up. Okay, good. They murdered everyone in the ambulance and the five-year-old. Okay, so, and the hundred doctors from America say an extraordinary number of headshots.

Their snipers are not only killing journalists, not only killing Americans, but they're killing little children. They have become what they most despised. If I saw Jewish kids like that being treated by anyone on this planet like the Israelis are treating the Palestinians, what wouldn't I do to stop it? What wouldn't I do to make sure it never happens again? Well, I'm- Because you see them as humans, right?

They're humans. How is it that we're able to see the humanity of Israeli civilians? We were furious as we were covering what Hamas did to innocent civilians in Israel on October 7th. And I just, I can't accept the fact that people can dehumanize Palestinians, including children as young as the little girls that you saw in that video, to the point where you celebrate what the IDF is doing. And this isn't even, this isn't even all of it. This is even close to all of it. Others are suffering from hunger, disease, horrific living conditions. In June, Reuters reported that one in three children in northern Gaza are acutely malnourished or suffering

from wasting, okay? And then the UN says that currently acute malnutrition is at serious levels, 10 times higher than before the escalation of the hostilities. Seasonal diseases and increasingly limited access to water and health services are likely to worsen acute malnutrition, especially in densely populated areas where the risk of epidemics is already high. Yet the head of UNRWA says Israel is continuing to prevent humanitarian missions from reaching northern Gaza with supplies, including food and medicine. And I want to fast forward to this image because, Jenk, you requested this image. It is a difficult image to see.

But human beings, innocent civilians, of all backgrounds, of all faiths, should be protected. The IDF is not going out of its way to protect innocent civilians. They're not going out of their way to protect children. Okay, head shots on five year olds is not indicative of a moral army that's protecting children. Do you want to go to this side by side video, a photo? Yeah. So let's show you the photo. So on the left is a Palestinian child on the right is a Jewish child from the Holocaust.

So if that bothers you, it should. And not because it's anti-Semitic to show. this comparison because it's heartless not to see this comparison. So that's not a random kid. A third of the kids are in that state right now. You know who blocks humanitarian assistance from reaching little children? Monsters. And do you know that the Israelis blocked injured children from getting medical help?

Their children, what difference would it make if they got medical help outside the country? No, we don't want him getting medical help. Come on, man. Look, guys, he said in the beginning of that video, in absurd fashion, they want Israel to surrender. What are you talking about? Israel is one of the largest militaries in the world. It has the Iron Dome. It's the only country in the world that no one can even touch because they have iron dune that we gave them.

It has the U.S. military backing up. It has destroyed 80% of the buildings in Gaza. 90% of the humans in Gaza, 2.2 million people displaced, and now they're moving them out of northern Gaza, and the Lakud party, Netanyahu's party, has did a seminar this weekend on how to resettle Gaza. So, Ben, let me ask your goddamn question. So when they start moving settlers into northern Gaza to steal that land, and they murdered all those kids to steal that land, are you going to say, oh, no, you guys were right?

Or let me guess, I'll tell you ahead of time, exactly. what Ben Shapiro is going to say. Oh, a new excuse, human shields, terrorists, bad guys, Israel's right, moral army. We had to do it. We had to create a buffer zone. There was no choice. We have a right to defend ourselves. You know who said they had a right to defend themselves as they took more and more land?

The Germans. They said this is for defense of the homeland. We didn't take the Sudanan land because we're an aggressive, imperialist, colonialist army. We took it because we needed some breathing space. And Ben Shapiro is going to say something akin to breathing space when they take northern Gaza. And he's going to say, well, we had to take it from those dirty terrorists. You know how they are. You just slaughter their children because you're moral.

Why did Israel stop allowing severely injured Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip from the Rafa border crossing? They were allowing people to leave from the Rafa border crossing if they had severe injuries and needed severe medical attention. But ever since Israel and the IDF took control of the Ratha border crossing, they haven't allowed people to leave. Why is that? Why is that? Why would the moral army prevent civilians from leaving the Gaza Strip to get medical attention?

Okay, so I'm going to say this as I do almost every story. Guys, we, unlike Ben, are not tribal. I don't give a goddamn what your religion or your ethnic background is. I don't know why anybody would care. And let me be further insulting to the morons like Ben Shapiro. You are so unintelligent if you think there's a difference between Jews and Muslims and Christians, and your stupid tribe and another stupid tribe. Oh, my tribe is good.

My tribe should be protected. All other tribes, oh, the Muslim tribe is bad. We'll kill their children because they're the bad ones. No, you moron, we're all the same. We're all human beings. We should fight like crazy to protect Jews, to protect Muslims, to protect Christians, to protect all of us. But no, no, if it's their beloved Israel, Ben Shapiro, and the monsters of Israeli right-wingers will say, ah, who cares?

Slaughter them, ethically cleanse them, because we're the moral army. No, you're sickeningly evil. If you look at those pictures, you look at those videos, and you go, good, they had it coming. sick, sick person. Okay, do we have the Jabalia video? Yeah, so this is a difficult video for me to watch, but it's Palestinians who are forced to flee northern Gaza, flee from Jabalia, the video, just, I mean, it helps you visualize what's happening on the ground there.

So the Palestinians are guilty? The Palestinians are oppressing the Israelis? That the world is asking Israel to surrender, not the Palestinians? Those are not Israelis. Those are Palestinians. All the buildings around them are leveled because Israel has destroyed them all. Even their own hostages said when we were hostages, we didn't know why they were bombing the buildings we were in.

Hamas was in the tunnels. They weren't getting Hamas at all. All they were doing was slaughter after slaughter after slaughter. Any goddamn liar in American media who does a report. as a genocide. You will have that on your record and you will live with that shame for the rest of your life, that you are a so-called reporter in the middle of a genocide, one of the worst genocides we have ever seen. And you said 50-50, I can't tell who's right, the Germans or the Jews. Oh, I'm sorry, in this case, the Israelis or the Palestinians. You can't tell

who's right and wrong after seeing all the numbers, all the overwhelming evidence. No, there's something really wrong with you morally. If you are ambivalent about this, if you create a false equivalency between the people doing the slaughter and the ethnic cleansing and the people suffering from that ethnic cleansing, there's something wrong with your heart and you should look into it and get help. All right, we got to take a break. We'll come back for the second hour in just a few.