The Young Turks - Psaki Bomb

Episode Date: December 3, 2021

Investigators revealed their concerns about the behavior of the Michigan high school shooting suspect leading up to the tragedy. The Michigan school shooter's mom wrote an open letter to Trump in 2016, thanking him for preserving their 2nd Amendment rights, and celebrating his sexual assault. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki responded to a question from Fox News’ Peter Doocy by unloading on former President Donald Trump over his secret positive Covid test and handling of the coronavirus. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell rejected calls for a government shutdown, which is scheduled to take place at the end of the week unless there’s a bill to fund the government. Hosts: Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to The Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. All right, welcome the Young Turks, Jank U Granik is sparing with you guys. A lot of times I start to show in a jovial mood, not today. I am in in a sour mood, if you will, and it's related to the stories. And so muckle up, race for impact, everyone in our path. Okay, with that fair warning, Anna, you've got the news.

All right, let's get to it. We're learning more about the 15 year old suspect in the Oxford High School shooting that took place this week, which led to the tragic deaths of four students, seven others are injured and are still received, Some of them are still receiving treatment for their injuries. Now, we're learning that there were warning signs prior to the shooting taking place. And we're also learning more details in regard to what the teachers were noticing about the students' behavior, the shooter's behavior. And we'll give you more details about his identity. His name has been released.

Ethan Crumbly is his name. And we're now going to show you what the warning signs were and what prosecutors are now saying in regard to the charges. that Crumbly is facing. He faces two dozen charges, including terrorism causing death and four counts of first-degree murder. In terms of the premeditation required for a first-degree murder charge, this just wasn't even a close call, unfortunately. This was deliberate.

This was planned well in advance and disturbingly so. Investigators say they discovered troubling videos on the suspect's cell phone from the night before the deadly incident. While they did not give specifics, he talked about shooting and killing students the next day at Hoxford High School. The Oakland County Sheriff says the suspect had meetings with school officials the day before and the day of the shooting for concerning behavior and another undisclosed issue. In fact, the parents were brought in the morning of the shooting and had a face-to-face meeting with the school. We did not learn of that meeting nor of the content of that meeting until after the shooting. So they detail some of the behavioral issues that the teachers were noticing.

And by the way, detail is a strong word because they haven't really detailed much in regard to what his behavior was, what he was doing that made the teachers concerned. We'll give you more details about what we have at the moment. But there were also other warning signs based on his social media posts prior to the shooting taking place. And also investigators found two videos on the suspect's cell phone made the night before the, before the shootings in which which he talked about shooting and killing students at the high school. Sheriff's Lieutenant Tim Willis said at the arraignment Wednesday. By the way, he has pleaded not guilty to the charges he's facing. Also another piece of evidence investigators uncovered is a journal that was in the suspect's

backpack that detailed his desire to shoot up the school to include murdering students. Lieutenant Tim Willis said during the arraignment as well. And we have, you know, some more information about what the teachers are saying. But Jake, why don't you jump in first? Yeah. Do you know how many shootings there's been on school campuses since just August 1st? So September, October, November, three months, okay? And this is just K through 12.

And we're not talking college or anything like that. 32. 32 school shootings in the last three months. You probably didn't hear about the great majority of. them. Why? Because in America, they're super common. They're so common it doesn't make news. Now, if you live in America, you think that's normal. The rest of the world, they can't believe it. Like really, you allow your students, your children to get murdered all the time, very regularly. Like, well, you think about it, three months, it's about 90 days, 32 shootings,

so one out of every three days, your kids somewhere in the country are going to get murdered at their schools. Now, why doesn't it happen in any other country? And if you're in America, you think, oh, no, no, I'm sure they're shooting people up left and right in the schools in Britain and Kenya and China. No, they're not, none of them, almost no other place. They don't allow their kids to get murdered, we do, why? Oh, I got a hobby, I got a hobby, it's guns.

Guns are cool, man, and I need it for government tyranny. So your kids are gonna get murdered, not a big deal because I got a hobby. So he's a 15 year old, why was he able to kill four people? Because he had a gun. You think he could have strangled four people to death as a 15 year old in the middle of everyone else? No, but with a gun, he does it super efficiently, just like every other killer does in America. We've lost our minds in America, totally, utterly lost. When you allow your kids to get killed, nonstop, nonstop slaughter of children.

Because, oh, the gun companies have to make more money and right wingers, oh, go! Oh, no, guns, guns! To them, their guns are more important than their kids. That's the sick people we have in this country. And of course, legalized bribery. So those gun manufacturers in the NRA pay off Republicans, every Republicans corrupt. So they're like, oh, yeah, I'd much rather take your donation and let the kids get killed. Who cares about the kids?

I took your donation. I have more power, more, you know, fame, more money. So that's why your kids get killed. These are facts. They can make you uncomfortable, but they're absolutely stone cold facts. Yeah, and I mean, what I pointed out on the show yesterday while covering this story was just how, you know, interesting it is to have these two stories happen simultaneously. On one hand, you have this school shooting. On the other hand, you have the Supreme Court hearing oral arguments in regard to Mississippi's anti-abortion law.

And the argument is, well, you know, we got to outlaw abortion because we're talking about, you know, babies. We're talking about babies' lives when it comes to abortion, right? But these tend to be the very same people under the same political group and party that seem to think that we need absolutely no common sense gun laws. I mean, the parents just allowed their kid to have easy access to this gun. And for the first time that I've heard of, the parents might actually face prosecution as a result. And they absolutely should. We'll get to them later in the show. But look, you like your gun and it's a hobby, you like to go hunting, it's your hobby?

Great. If you're a law-abiding citizen and you go through a background check, you can qualify to purchase a gun legally. But we need to have a system in place to make it exceedingly difficult for people who are going to break the law from getting a gun. You shouldn't be able to access a gun from a private seller without a background check or from a gun show without a background check. There's too many loopholes. Yeah, I know. Anna, I don't know if I'm more of the left, whatever I am. I would, to me, banning guns outside of hunting and having your guns stored somewhere else outside of your house, I would do that.

And yes, right? Oh no, my guns, what do I care about your kids? My guns, right? No, oh, Second Amendment. No, Second Amendment says that you must be part of a well regulated militia. You're not in a militia, and it certainly ain't well regulated. Acquire some reading skills, okay? Oh, but the Supreme Court said, the Supreme Court also said that corporations are human beings.

The Supreme Court also said that giving millions of dollars, even billions of dollars, even billions of of dollars to a politician isn't a bribe. No, the Supreme Court is corrupt. I mean, if they're gonna make the Supreme Court argument, then Supreme Court said that it's a woman's right to choose, right? That it's a privacy issue. So you can't cherry pick what you like and don't like about the Supreme Court. But nonetheless, let's move on to other warning signs.

And those warning signs were all over social media apparently. He had posted this image of himself holding the very gun that he used to gun down his schoolmates. So there it is. I just want to say one quick thing about that. Sure. You see, if that was the UK, that would be a huge deal. And the police would immediately investigate, right?

Here in America, pictures of guns and social media, there's literally millions of them because we have a murder culture in America. So they're like, oh yeah, guns, yeah, ha ha ha ha, guns. Who are you going to kill? Who are you going to murder? Oh, let's go kill, murder everybody. Ah ha ha, ha, gods, guns, guns, guns.

That's America. No other country does that. Oh, well, banning it wouldn't help. Really? You know what percentage of homicides are done by guns in America? 73%. Now, you're probably not surprised by that. Killing somebody, 73%.

That makes sense. Guns are much more efficient. You know how much are, what percentage of the homicides are done by guns in the UK? The UK bans guns. 4%. Banning guns totally works. It saves thousands.

In America, it would save tens of thousands of lives. every single year. But we say, nah, my hobby is more important than tens of thousands of lives, which actually at this point is not surprising because guys, the right wing now says, I don't want to wear a mask, I don't want to get, I take vaccines. I don't believe in the world's doctors, et cetera. So I wrote 77,000 people have died from coronavirus. I don't care.

I don't want to wear a stupid mask. So three quarters of a million people died. I don't care. constantly, the Republican Party is a pro-death party. So every time people die because of their policies, their answers, I don't care, man, freedom. Well, how about the kids who died in Michigan? How about their freedom?

How about their parents? They don't have any freedom because they're dead. But you don't mind that because you have a fricking hobby. Yeah, so, and just a quick side note on that. I mean, you watch the videos from the classrooms where students are barricading themselves. And it's just so abundantly clear that they've been trained to deal with this kind of situation. And that's the other part that's terrifying, right? Because we oftentimes discuss the loss of lives, those who are injured.

We talk about the physical element to it. But the mental health toll is so severe. I was watching one of the students who lost his best friend. you know, the football player, the varsity football player, and he was just absolutely devastated. I mean, it has a ripple effect on the entire community. But going back to what the teachers had noticed about the shooter here, a teacher in the classroom where he was a student saw and heard something, and that she felt was disturbing, and they had a counseling session about it with school officials and a phone call was left with

with the parents, and then there was a separate incident, a separate teacher who also voiced her concerns. On Tuesday, hours before the shooting, a different teacher in a different classroom saw some behavior that they felt was concerning, and they brought the child down to an office, had a meeting with school officials, called in the parents, and ultimately it was determined that he could go back into class. And so the sheriff is now saying that they're investigating why the educators decided that it was okay for him to go back to class because as we know, he later opened fire. And we know more details about what he did on that day because of the, you know, he showed up to court and pled not guilty. Prosecutors said video from school

surveillance cameras showed the suspect with a backpack, then a minute later exiting a bathroom without the backpack and with a hand and with a gun in hand. The shooter began firing outside the bathroom prosecutor Mark Keist said after students started running away he proceeded down the hallway at a methodical pace and shot inside classrooms and at students who hadn't escaped that continued another four or five minutes until he went to another bathroom video from the school shows the assailant fired at the victims at close range often aiming at the head or chest and again we don't we still don't know what his motive was but this is what we

know so far based on what they said in court. So a couple of you made the same comment. Jason Ray did in YouTube super chat and then one of our members with the handle ice cream and cake and cake wrote in, huh? You know who else talked about the, talked about it made videos saying he wanted to shoot people and then did Kyle Rittenhouse. And so he became a right wing hero. The parents of this murderer are right wingers, MAGA through and through.

We'll get to them in a minute. So I don't know why they sent him back to school after, you know, I don't know to the degree to which the school had information that he loved guns and talked about killing his classmates. But in America, again, because of the right wing, I know if you live anywhere else, you cannot believe it, but it's absolutely true. In America, that's like normal. Oh, oh yeah, oh, hey man, Paris got rights, man.

And then you give the 15 year old son who was obviously mentally unbalanced a gun. And they're, oh, so what, he shot him, killed your kids? So what, I got freedom. I got freedom, man. So look, the Republicans pretend they care about kids. Q and on has those conspiracies. Oh, the Democrats are killing the kids and drinking their blood, right? And then they say, oh, we're pro-life, man, Democrats kill the zygotes and stuff.

And now they go go one day, we're going to be people and, well, we care so much about the kids. And then you say, well, kids are being murdered and massacred nonstop at the schools. I don't care about that. No, God, it's freedom. I don't care about the kids getting killed, who cares? Well, I mean, the one lesson that I think everyone has learned at this point is that material goods and private property always takes priority over human lives, always. Always. Yeah, so since a gun is private property, I guess it's worth way more than your kids.

Guys, it's not theoretical. You think it's not going to happen to you? There's literally a mass shooting every single day in America. That's four people being shot, every single day. That's larger than the shootout at the OK corral. And it happens every single day. You think it's not going to happen to you or your kids? It is.

And then somebody's going to get in your grill and they're going to yell, freedom! I got a hobby! About 40,000 people die every year from guns in America. We break every record. No one's even close to us in number of gun deaths, because no one's close to us in the number of gun zone. And when you point out that it's leading to

40,000 deaths to go, yeah, I got a hobby. Okay, well, I got a hobby, it's fantasy football. I love it, I love it, I don't want, I would never ever want to give it up. If they said to me 40,000 people a year are going to die because you play fantasy football, I'd give it up instantly. Who wouldn't? What kind of a monster wouldn't? Yeah, I know, but I really want to draft, you know, Cam Acres when he comes back next year.

Oh, you know, I'm gonna get Tom Brady in the fifth round. So let 40,000 people die. Let 40,000 people die. I would never do that because I'm not a monster. But the right wing goes, yeah, I don't care. Who cares, man, it's your kids, not my kids. All right, I want to reset to talk a little bit about the kind of images that are being used in covering this story. And there was one particular example that stood out and was infuriating.

So let's talk about that. So the suspect who opened fire at Oxford High School, school killing four students has been identified and his mugshot is available. That has been released, he's being tried as an adult, even though he's 15 years old, which means that a lot of his identity can be released to the public. And I noticed that some publications like, to be fair, it's baller alert, decided to go with this photo of the shooter. So let's take a quick look at that.

So that is the 15 year old suspect. Ethan Crumbly, that is an old photo, looks like he's praying, he looks like a sweet, innocent child. This kind of sweet innocent child that likes to shoot his classmates at close range in either the chest or the head. How about go ahead and use his mugshot because that's a little more accurate and a little more descriptive of who this person is. I just, I don't know what people are thinking. Like what goes through your head when you decide to use that sweet innocent looking photo of someone who just gunned down four of his classmates or schoolmates. They're probably right wingers who are pro gun rights. So they're like-

I know nothing about baller alert. I just think- Whoever put that picture up, okay, I don't know about the publication either, okay? But they probably think like, oh yeah, guns are awesome. Oh, he murdered your kids, who cares? He was praying though. To be fair, he was praying earlier. Seems like such a sweet gun owner. Oh, he murdered your kids. On the other hand, I like guns and I like fake prayers. And by the way, after he murders your kids, I'll give you thoughts and prayers. No thanks, keep it.

Look, to be fair, we don't know the exact details of who put that up and why they put it up. So it's possible they made a mistake, it's possible they just grabbed a photo from online. Laisiness is also totally possible. But as we told you earlier in the show, and many of our members wrote in, well, Kyle Rittenhouse made a video about how he wanted to use his guns to kill people. And then he went and killed people, and then he became a right wing hero. So countdown to this guy becoming a right wing hero, this 15 year old kid. Oh, and the parents, parents are totally mega.

They'll definitely be considered heroes soon. And by the way, the parents should be arrested. When they go to get arrested, if they do, then the right wing will definitely make them heroes. Oh, just because your kid, you gave your 15 year old a kid and had to murder people. Oh, now you can't do that? Oh, man, liberals hate freedom. Well, let's take a break before we get to his parents. His mother had written an open letter to Trump.

We have details of that open letter and more when we return. with you guys. All right, Anna's got more news. Yep. All right, well, Oakland County prosecutor, Karen McDonald, is considering prosecuting the parents of the individual who opened fire, killing four of his classmates at Oakland High School. Now, the charges against the Crumbly's parents stem from their ownership of a firearm, which McDonald said comes with legal responsibilities.

Imagine that. securing the gun properly and ensuring ammunition is kept separate. So there are, luckily, in the state of Michigan, regulations pertaining to the ownership of a firearm. So you have the right to own a firearm, you know, but if you do, you obviously need to keep it safe so your children don't have access to it and either accidentally or intentionally shoot someone. And I say accidentally because there have been countless stories of children who come across

the gun in the household, play with it, thinking it's a toy, and then accidentally shoot themselves. And it's tragic every single time it happens. It happens all the time in this country. And honestly, I'm sure that there might be other examples from the past. But as far as I know, this is the first time after a school shooting where the parents might be held liable. And that's a good thing. Yeah, they should definitely be held responsible. And if you're saying, well, Jank, you don't know the facts. No, I do know the facts. They, the dad bought a gun and a couple of days later, his 15 year old son took it and murdered four other kids and shot up the entire school, seven are wounded.

And so I don't care if he did it on purpose or if it was negligence. Oh, I left it on the couch. Who would have thought my son would take it and murder people with it? I would have thought that. I would have thought it. That you should lock it up. If you don't lock it up and you're just negligent, it could. Accessory to murder.

Accessory to murder, definitely, definitely. If you own a gun and you're not locking it up and somebody comes and takes it and shoots people with it, you are responsible and you should go to jail, probably for the rest of your life. By the way, remember the McMichaels, the individuals who just got found guilty of murder in the, murdering Ahmaud Arbery, they had left their truck unlocked and there was a gun in a holster in the truck. someone went into the truck and took the gun. I mean, there should be charges for that as well. Guns are not toys, okay? Like, can we at least be a little bit responsible when we're dealing with something that has the potential, that has, honestly, the only real utility to kill, whether we're talking

about animals or people? But anyway, let me give you more details about the parents here. So the Crumblies joined in on the court date where Ethan. their son pled guilty, not guilty to the charges. So here are the Crumblies. We have a screenshot of them during the court proceeding. Also in November of 2016, Jennifer Crumbly, the mother posted her open letter to Trump on her blog, The Daily Beast reported. Now her husband James Crumbly isn't super political, but he did share that blog and he wrote above a link to his wife's open letter on Facebook. My wife can be spot on sometimes. So we know

that he in the very least agrees with her political views. Now her political views are relevant to the story because she does talk about firearms in her open letter to Trump. She says, as a female and a realtor, thank you for allowing my right to bear arms, allowing me to be protected if I show a home to someone with bad intentions. Thank you for respecting that amendment. And I just think that that perspective is fascinating. I'm curious if she's reflecting on that even a little bit today. Because while she sees the gun as an incredibly important, you know,

a tool to protect her life in case she ever is dealing with a threat. She wasn't responsible enough. Her husband wasn't responsible enough to keep it in a safe place. So the community could be protected from their murderer son. Yeah. So she has a whole bunch of things kissing Donald Trump's ass all over online. and including saying, do I mind if you grab people by the women by the generals? I have that. You want me to read it to you? Yeah, go ahead, yeah.

Let's go to graphic five here. Mr. Trump, I actually love that you are a bad public speaker because that showed sincerity and humility. You changed your mind and you said, so what? You made the famous grab them by the P word comment. Did it offend me? No. I say things all the time that people take the wrong way. Do I mean? them not always. Oh, that's nice. She also says, do I agree that you should have shown your tax returns? No, I don't care what you do or maybe don't pay, whether you do or what you do or don't

pay taxes. I think those are personal. And if the government can't lock someone up over $10,000 of unpaid taxes and you slipped on by, then that shows the corruption. Of course, none of that makes any sense. Okay. Right, like, oh, okay, so you didn't pay your taxes on some other guys. I went to jail for not paying his taxes, but only 10,000 and you didn't pay $100 million.

You snucked by, that doesn't show that you're guilty, shows that everybody else is guilty. Okay. Whatever, I don't care. Look, so they're MAGA, and so I don't agree with them. That doesn't have any bearing on whether they should be prosecuted, obviously, right? but their point of view on firearms is super relevant because it led to four kids being killed and everybody else being shot, seven shot and the rest of the school terrorized. So that is directly relevant to whether you broke the law or not. So it's obvious that they're super flipping about guns.

The dad bought the gun a couple of days before the kid used it. So the very first police should pull them in instantly. If they haven't already been questioned, it's a travesty. Did you allow your kid to use the gun? Knowing how much you think it's awesome to use guns. Did you encourage your 15 year old murdering son to use the gun? That's a super fair question because your son got the weapon and murdered other people's kids. Those kids are dead.

So we'd like to ask you, were you just a negligent moron, in which case we will definitely prosecute you for leaving the gun around going, who cares leaving on the couch? So what? We got 15 year old in the house. He seems mentally unstable talking about violence all the time. So what? Let him have it. Maybe he'll murder other people's kids. So what? Then you should be prosecuted. But if you encourage them to get the gun, you gave him the gun, you should go away for a life. Those other kids aren't coming back. If I was a family member of those other kids, what about their freedom? What about their freedom? Do other parents have any rights?

Do any of us, the rest of us have a right to live? No, I mean, I mean, we've seen time and time again that the freedoms, the opinions of anyone who isn't right wing in this country don't matter. So if you have a school, a student going to a public school and right wingers have targeted that school because they don't want students to learn American history, they're going to get their way because they harass and terrorize school boards until they get exactly what they want. So who cares if you actually give a damn about your child getting a decent education? They're going to deteriorate everything that's left in this country that could

actually benefit you and your family. I mean, again, like who made them the arbiters of what freedom is? Freedom to them is being able to do whatever the hell they want, whenever they want, however they want. But our freedoms don't matter at all. A woman's freedom to make decisions about her own body, doesn't matter. They don't like it. They don't like it. So they have this long-term project that's now coming to fruition with rolling back reproductive rights with this super conservative Supreme Court.

Okay? Yeah. Anna, you're making a great point. You know, all those parents went and yelled at the school boards over critical race theory that isn't being taught. And all, you're trying to protect our kids' lives with the masks and stuff like that. And they were like furious about it.

Are they all? And they all claim to be pro life. Are you all going to go yell to school board members now all across the country for the violence, for the deaths? No, you're cool with that, right? Oh, the kids got murdered? No big deal, no big deal. Oh, a thing you're not teaching. I'm really angry about it.

You're trying to protect my kids. I'm really angry. Oh, you let him die? Who cares? Who cares? No, we're not worried about that. We're the pro-life party, but we don't mind kids getting murdered in schools because I got a hobby. I got a hobby.

And I'm part of a well-regulated militia. You don't know it. It doesn't exist. But, hey, you know what? guns, guns, guns, guns, guns, guns, guns, guns, I'm pro-life. My ass, you're pro-life. 40,000 people a year die because of guns in this country. It does not happen in other countries.

The number is astronomically lower because they don't allow everybody to have a gun and go around shooting up schools. We have right to live. We have a right to freedom. We have the same rights as the right wing, and they do not have a right to kill us. They do not have that right. It is the very first law in every religion and in every society. You're not allowed to kill other people.

But now the right wing are legitimately having a debate in this country. Well, if I have a contagious disease, can I smear it all over you? So what if you die? I don't care about your life. Aren't I allowed to kill you? Okay, oh, I got guns and I got to let my 15 year old grab it. Shoot your kids. So what? So what? I got freedom. They're literally having a debate about whether they should have the freedom to kill us. That's insanity. Insanity. But it's never going to get fixed. You know who's as angry about this within the Democratic Party? No one. No one. Zero. I haven't heard a single person. The shooting happened yesterday. No, two days ago. Sorry, two days ago. It happened two days ago. Where are they? I'm sure that Biden sent a strongly worded letter to someone. To the ether.

I don't even think he did that. I don't even think he's probably a coward who's sitting in the bunker going, oh, no, don't criticize the right wing, no. What if I say something about guns and it cost me votes? No, he's going to change the country for the better through the art of persuasion. How's that going for you, Joe? How's that working out for you? Have you persuaded the right wing yet?

Have you? Come on. Look, we're all doomed because the Republicans are monsters and the Democrats are I'm talking about the politicians and given that it's a recipe for disaster and we live that disaster every single day in America. The next story is kind of a positive one. So I kind of want to take a break and just decompress a little bit. When we come back, we're gonna give credit or at least I'm gonna give credit to someone I

don't typically give credit to Jen Saki because I think she handled a question from Peter Ducey really, really well, we'll tell you what it is when we come back. All right, back on TYT, Jank Anna and Cindy Martin. Cindy just joined on YouTube. There's a bright green button if you're watching with a lot of arrows pointing down to the join button on YouTube. I don't see it. Okay, yeah, I think it's on there. So that is where the button is.

And that does mean you are bringing real reporting, real news. and real change to this country, because we cannot do this alone. We all do it together. Every member is part of the Young Turks as we bring you this news. So thank you guys. All right, Anna. I don't often give White House Press Secretary Jen Saki a lot of credit. In fact, I feel like the liberal press is too in love with her.

It drives me a little bit crazy. However, she did handle a question from conservative reporter Peter Ducey really well. And it had to do with the number of COVID deaths under the Biden administration versus the Trump administration. This is the latest talking point from the right wing, and I think she handled it pretty well. So let's watch. In 2020, when roughly 220,000 Americans had already died of COVID, Joe Biden said about Trump, anyone who is responsible for that many deaths should not remain as president of the United States of America. Is that still the standard now that more Americans have died under President Biden and the President Trump?

Well, I think the fundamental question here is what are you doing to save lives and protect people? And the former president was suggesting people inject bleach. Right, and then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning? because you see it gets on the lungs and it does a tremendous number of the lungs. He apparently reportedly didn't even share with people he was going to interact with that he had tested positive for COVID himself. We learn also from what the Guardian is reporting about Mark Meadows book,

that Trump was actually symptomatic, right, throughout this whole process. As early as September 26, he was a little tired. They suspected he had a little cold. And this went on for days, obviously, until we found out many days later that he was positive. He continued to provide a forum from Mississippi. misinformation, which probably led to people not getting, not taking steps forward to get to protect themselves, to wear a mask, to eventually get vaccinated. Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it's ultraviolet or just very powerful

light. And I think you said that hasn't been checked, but you're going to test it. And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way. And I think you said you're going to test it. And I think you said you're going to That too, sounds interesting. This president has made the vaccine widely available. He's relied on the health, the advice of his health and medical experts, and he is trying to be a part of solving this crisis, getting the pandemic under control. And I think there's a pretty stark difference between their approaches.

And there is a stark difference between their approaches. And we should talk about COVID deaths under Trump versus under Biden, because the talking point isn't accurate. Wow, what a shocker. Let me just quickly give you the numbers, Jake. Thus far, according to data from the CDC, Biden has presided over about 353,000 deaths in little over 10 months, compared to about 425,000 deaths for Trump in his final 10 plus months.

So there have still been fewer deaths under Biden than under Trump in a similar time period. But you got to actually have a nuanced argument. Like look at the numbers and why there's still so many deaths happening, Where are the deaths happening? And wow, what a shocker. If you take a look at the numbers, blue states have far less deaths because people who identify as Democrats are far more likely to get vaccinated.

And if they might have a breakthrough infection, they're not gonna get hospitalized or die from it. It's very unlikely that that happens. But you look at the numbers and most of the deaths are happening among unvaccinated individuals in red states. People who are in a conservative filter bubble, the conservative media bubble. And I'll give you more details into that in just a moment.

But Jake, why don't you jump in? So I agree with you. She does deserve credit. It's the first time I've seen anyone in Democratic leadership even tweak Republicans. So congratulations, okay? I do more of that. Yeah, you're not gonna be surprised when I tell you I would have gotten much further. I would have said, well, most of the on back, oh, the overwhelming majority of the

unvaccinated are the right wing and Peter they watch your channel and you misinformed them on a daily basis and hundreds of thousands have died because of the misinformation largely coming out of your channel. So don't ask me how we're doing when we're trying to get people to take the vaccine and you're trying super hard to make sure they don't take the vaccine. And honestly you're killing your own voters. So I would ask you and the C.E. of Fox News and most especially the owner of Fox News, how you feel about killing your own viewers. Okay, so, but of course Democrats, oh my God, they would never do this is as far as they'll ever go.

But it is good, it's way better than any other Democrat. I can't believe, I mean, it's so, the exception proves the rule. Like, since the Biden White House never, ever, ever, ever fights back against Republicans, the one time they do a tweak, we're like, yes, yes, right? It's true, it's so true. Like guys, look, did we inserted the clips? of Trump saying what he did in between Saki's comments. Why didn't the Democrats run that 24-7 as an ad?

Totally. So there's no, you know, you couldn't debate whether Republican voters, you know, what their intelligence is, or if they're really stuck in a bubble as Anna says, and I think they are, right? But you cannot debate Trump's intelligence. You saw it. We all saw it with our own eyes. No, but Jake, they can insert the UV light, either through the skin.

or by some other means, like by what, like through your butthole? Like what are you talking about? He's like, they could take the light. What did he say? The light into the body, they could put the light into the body. Okay, so look, if you're a dentist, well, actually you're in the medical field. You should know too. Let's pick another, you're an architect, okay?

You're a smart guy, et cetera, but this is not your field, right? So you don't know that injecting bleach into your lungs is a bad idea. I'd be a little surprised by that, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna let you're it go because it's not my job to, you know, rule your life, right? But when the president of the United States in the middle of the worst pandemic of our lives does not realize that you should not inject disinfected into your body, he is incredibly stupid. Like one of the dumbest people I have ever seen in my life. Yeah, I will allow it. That is correct. Yes. Is 100% correct. And does everybody acknowledge? And that's the thing that why I

rip my hair out, if everyone in the country said, oh, no, obviously Trump's a moron. We all saw it with their own eyes, you know, the disinfectant and the UV rays and all that stuff going into the body. And he talked about the lungs, he said the lungs, injecting the disinfected into your lungs. Yes, obviously he's a moron, but I like him anyway. Okay, well, that's a different conversation. No, but that, that is the case. Like, you know, I think that there is something lost in translation, because to us, hearing

the leader of the country say incredibly dumb and dangerous things is not appealing, not in favor of that. Like I would like a leader who knows what he's doing. I want to feel safe being led by someone, you know, as president of the United States. However, there is a portion of the country that actually gets super turned off by, you know, us calling him dumb or mocking his intelligence because they identify with him. Yeah, no, I get that, I get that. And so, but like that's, that's where it's coming from.

No, but Anna, look, if it was that, that and that alone, I say, hey, look, it is what it is. And it's a democracy, by the way, okay? If you like that, you like, hey, maybe we should. Maybe I should inject lead or hey, I like leaders who are dumb. We will get lost, it'll be an adventure, it'll be great. Like a bunch of people will die, but look, it'll be more fun and more adventurous, right? Okay, fine, that's, definitely not fun or adventure.

No, not for me, but apparently for the right wing, they love it. Okay, that's fine. Okay, what is not fine is Anna, we, they do not agree to that. They think Trump's a genius. And part of the reason why they think that, and you think the mainstream media is tough on Trump, I think they haven't, they barely laid a glove on him. So the mainstream media, nonstop talks about Trump's strategy. And he's doing this as a distraction and his strategy for this. And how is he, you know, contemplating the attack on 24 and it's a strategy?

What are you guys talking about? The guy's a blithering idiot. But they won't say it because, oh, that's offensive. Well, if the news is offensive, then go be a plumber and or be a now. architect, it's a good job. But don't do news. The news is the news, whether you find it offensive or not. He did say those things. He is a moron. Anyone who doesn't say he's a moron is not in the news business. Oh, that's an opinion. Really? Is it? You think it's debatable? You think it's debatable. If you think it's just an opinion, you're saying it's debatable whether we should inject bleach

into our lung secure coronavirus. I just can't get over the UV light and how the UV light would be applied. Like that's my thing. Yeah, I feel like that was really, um, underplayed by the press. We should have focused on that more. Anyway, let's get back to the substance of the argument that we're hearing from the right in regard to COVID deaths. First of all, let me just note. Hundreds of thousands of COVID deaths under any president is awful. And I'm not giving Biden like a round of applause. He has handled COVID better than Donald Trump. However, he's so terrified of doing anything that requires real leadership because it would offend the right wing. And to be sure, his mild vaccine mandates, which have all sorts of loopholes for private

businesses, is now being challenged in the courts, right? So yes, the Republicans fight tooth and nail to ensure that as many Americans die from this virus as humanly possible. Great. But nonetheless, let me go to what the real numbers are. Because if you look at the number of COVID deaths state by state, you see a difference between blue states and red states. So Let's go to, okay, the vaccine, okay, in October, in October, 25 out of every 100,000 residents of heavily Trump counties died from COVID, more than three times higher than the rate in heavily Biden counties, meaning, you know, counties that vote, voted for Biden. So in those blue counties, it's 7.8 per 100,000 deaths.

October was the fifth consecutive months that the percentage gap between the death deaths in Trump counties and Biden counties widened. So we're still see, not only are we still seeing more deaths in red states and red counties, that gap between blue counties and red counties, it continues to widen, meaning less Democratic voters are dying from COVID because they're getting vaccinated and more Republican voters are dying because they refuse to get vaccinated. The vaccines are remarkably effective at preventing severe COVID at almost 40% of Republicans or Republican adults remaining unvaccinated compared with about just 10% of Democratic adults.

Look, they ruin it for everybody else in a thousand different ways. You've got their immunocompromised and we're all still having to wear masks and the variants keep popping up because of the unvaccinated. But overall, I'm exhausted from trying to save your lives. And so you're dying at three times the rate that we are. Here we are ripping our hair out trying to save Republican lives. And they're like, oh yeah, hashtag freedom. I got the right to die.

All right, okay, what am I gonna do? Go, go for it. So now, to Biden, Anna, I look, I think Biden has fallen flat on a thousand things. If you watch a minute of the Young Turks, you know how harsh I am on Joe Biden, and I will be in this context too in a second. But in terms of what's he, what he's doing to fight it, he is a hundred times, a thousand times better than Trump. Yeah, I agree.

He's trying, he's desperately trying to get people to take the vaccine. to save their lives. Because Trump was like, I don't care, man. No wear a stupid mask. Oh, who cares, who cares? Trump was all about the vaccine when he thought that it would help him politically. But once he realized that the vaccines wouldn't be developed

in time for him to use it as a campaigning tool, then all of a sudden he doesn't care about the vaccine at all. Remember, he wouldn't shut up about, what was it, Operation Warp Speed, exactly. He wouldn't shut up about it, right? And in fact, he tried that in his speech in Alabama after the election, right? That happened fairly recently.

That's a point Anna's making. And when the crowd booed, he was like, oh, ditch it. He's like, oh, I meant freedom. Yeah, freedom not to do the vaccine. Operation freedom. Okay, so, but Biden is terrible on getting the vaccine to the rest of the world. He says, oh yeah, I lifted the waiver. No, he did, he didn't do a single thing after that.

And he could use just a, just a smidge of his power to make sure that it gets to the rest of the world. Because we're not even using it. Our right wingers won't take it. They won't take it. So give it to the rest of the world. You know how many people have died since our greedy, greedy, greedy, greedy drug companies have said that they're prioritizing their profits over people's lives across the world, because we will not share the vaccine.

Over 4 million people have died from COVID, since we could have shared the vaccine, but chose not to. Right. That's on Biden. That's on Biden. And this is about lifting the patent to allow other countries to manufacture the vaccine themselves. And we're, I mean, Biden just said, yeah, I will allow it. But it takes more than that. It takes conversations with other world leaders who tend to be more favorable toward the drug

companies than to their own citizens. Yeah, no, he has to apply pressure. And he has chosen on purpose, not do that. And there's reporting that in internal conversations, he's basically winking and nodding to the other countries. Hey, listen, I just said we'd lift a waiver here as a PR move. Okay, and the mainstream media in this country works for me. So they'll tell everybody I lifted the waiver and give me credit for saving people's lives. But then make sure that we're all supporting the drug companies and we don't actually lift the waiver. And that's what happened and four million people died, okay? And a lot more are gonna die because our politicians are bought off by drug companies.

And apparently they are in Norway and even other countries as well, because they're all, Europe on this issue. Europe normally is way better than us on many policies. On this, they're awful, they're despicable what they've done to protect drug companies. Last thing, and it's important, and we shouldn't gloss over it. Trump clearly knew at a bare minimum that he might have been COVID positive because he tested COVID positive. He also tested COVID negative. But guys, if you get two tests once it's positive and the other one negative. You don't get to pick the one you like the most. And you all know that you're taking a risk. Like here's how you know, right?

If you tested positive and negative, and you didn't even bother doing a third test, would you go hug your grandparents if they were unvaccinated? I hope to God you wouldn't, right? Would you breathe all over them? Would you share the same food? I hope to God you wouldn't, right? And Trump, knowing that he might have coronavirus, which it turns out he did, right? Went to that debate with Joe Biden in an enclosed room.

And this is important, this is important. He refused to get tested. They were supposed to get tested and he said, oh, I showed up late. So I don't want to get tested. He met with Gold Star families. Oh, yeah, I know for right wingers, I guarantee you they think, oh, that's smart, man. Because then if he goes to the debate, then Biden gets COVID because Trump gets COVID and then Biden dies. Because that's the right way in this country.

They would have loved it if he murdered his presidential opponent. I'm not joking. If Trump had given COVID to Biden and Biden had died, I guarantee you the majority of Republicans would have celebrated. I guarantee it. They've become a party of death here. It's a death cult. Okay, but do you guys care about anything you've ever said in your lives? Oh, support the troops.

He went and in that meeting with the Gold Star families, he actually literally hugged them and kissed them. No, he might be COVID positive because it might have given him a little bit bad PR if people found out he was COVID positive. And so that was a super spreader event. The Rose Garden event for Amy Coney Barrett turned out to be a super spreader event and people didn't know they're like we everybody was tested well how could they so many people at that Rose Garden event gotten COVID well guess the

one person who refused to get tested before the event and who knew he might have COVID Donald Trump and he gave it to his own Republican colleagues and allies on the other hand he tried to murder his own voice of vice president they said hang my Pence and he encouraged them and he never apologized for it the guy is a fascist he's a he's a he's a he's a he's a he's a he's a He's just, and the guy, the reason I get so animated about it is if we all agreed that he's a monster, but you like him anyway. We all agreed he's a moron, but you like him anyway, I could live with it. But when people deny obvious reality, if they said to your, about your business partner or your best friend, people try to murder him and hang him, and it was because of something you said, wouldn't you apologize the guy?

Oh my God, I'm so sorry. I never meant it. I can't believe they tried to kill you. Trump's like, no, you shouldn't have certified the elections. It's amazing. He's a monster through and through. And if you like him, what does that say about you? Well, later he'll be bragging about crowd sizes from January 6th. I'm not even kidding. So you do not want to miss that.

It's an incredible story in the second hour today. And I'm going to squeeze in one more story. I think we can do it quick before we end the first hour. And it's about the spending bill. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell shockingly pushed back against the more extreme elements in his party when it comes to the spending bill. Now, the House has just passed a stopgap spending bill, which would fund the government and avoid a government shutdown. I'll give you some more details about that in just a moment. But before I do, why don't we hear what Mitch McConnell had to say about what some members of his own party are urging him to do?

I don't think shutting down the government over this issue is going to get an outcome. It would only create chaos and uncertainty. So I don't think that's the best vehicle to get this job done. I think the courts are likely to get it done. Just to put a fine point, you're saying you can avert a shutdown or not, sir? Yeah, we're not going to shut the government down. That makes no sense for anyone. Almost no one on either side thinks that's a good idea.

Now, why would anyone think it's a good idea to shut the government down? Well, the potential of a government shutdown is what some Republican senators like Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, Roger Marshall, are using as leverage in order to do away with Biden's vaccine mandate. A pair of Republican senators, more than a pair, by the way. Mike Lee of Utah and Roger Marshall of Kansas add Ted Cruz to the mix are threatening to delay the government spending. bill if funding to enforce vaccine mandates is included in the bill. Okay, so let's just acknowledge that what Mitch McConnell said is not at all true. He said nobody wants to shut the government down. Well, then why are we talking about it?

Then it would pass easily and we wouldn't shut the government down. Why are you on TV talking about it? Oh, right, because your party actually does want to shut it down. So those are facts, there's no question about it, but he comes on TV, lies. Of course, nobody calls him out on his lie. And but, but at the same time, McConnell is apparently against shutting down the government. You just heard him say it, right? And you might be wondering why, isn't he his right wing as Ted Cruz, et cetera? Well, in a sense, yes, but who does Mitch McConnell work for?

You think he works for the people of Kentucky? Welcome to America, it's nice to have you here. No, he works for his donors. Those are the people who write checks for him, millions and millions of dollars, and he serves them. Every real American knows that. Even if you're a Republican, die hard Republican. If you're a diehard McConnell fan, is there a single one of you out there that's like that? Anyway, you know that McConnell works for the people who've written literally hundreds of millions of dollars in checks to McConnell and the Republican Party. He's collected them. So those donors are like, you're going to shut the government down and hurt the stock market? No. No. I don't care what Trump is saying. I don't care what anybody's saying. I don't care what Ted Cruz is saying. Yeah, yeah, yeah, use it as leverage to do whatever barbaric thing to get us more tax cuts, et cetera. But this vaccine thing, no, that's not, that doesn't even help us. corporations want vaccine mandates, right?

So no, Mitch, put that stuff away and go out there and tell everybody, nobody's shutting the government down. And that's why you're seeing what you're seeing. And the reason why corporations want vaccine mandates is not because they're actually concerned about the safety and well-being of their employees. They're worried about being held liable if their employees get sick or die from COVID. The one thing that I will give Democratic lawmakers credit for is they did not allow any type of provision in COVID relief bills that would clear corporations of liability if their employees

get sick with COVID. Yeah, and that's incredibly important because then it pressures companies to be in favor of vaccine mandates. Yeah, and is 100% right about the lawsuits. They're very concerned about that, but they also care about productivity. And if their workers are sick or dead, they're not as productive. So they won't remember how obsessed they are with the labor shortage and they want to drive everybody back to work and get and lower your wages.

again, right? And so there's two reasons why they're in favor of vaccine mandates. And that's why they're telling Mitch McConnell, get out there and make sure that you're fighting not to shut the government down because that would hurt our stock market. Plus, we love the vaccine mandates, and we love the thing, we're not the ones doing it. The government is making us do it, right? So that's why they're huffing and puffing and it's, in a sense, it's real because the Republicans are the ones that are saying, let's shut it down.

But in another sense, it's all obviously a bluff. and they're not going to shut it down. They all work for multinational corporations. One final thing that I'll note is, you know, I mentioned earlier that the House has an agreement on a government funding bill, but they're really just kicking the can down the road because of the disagreements between the two parties. So House Appropriations Committee chairwoman Rosa DeLoro has said that she announced today that the House Democrats have agreed with Republican negotiators to move forward,

with a continuing resolution that would keep the government funded only through February 18th. So if this passes in the Senate, don't worry, we're gonna come back to square one in February. Yeah, guys, this is definitely also the Democrats' fault. We're the only show that it tells you exactly what the problems are with both parties, okay? So why is the Democrats' fault? None of them want to shut down the government. The Republicans are the ones that want to shut it down. Well, it's Democrats' fault because they could just get rid of the filibuster and be done with this. But they're like, oh no, we don't want the Republican permission to pass any bill.

And so we will not end the filibuster. This and the debt ceiling. My God, the debt ceiling was worse. We breached the debt ceiling and we're going to have a massive economic collapse. And by the way, you will not be able to get your social security check, your Medicare check. You won't get any of that. It will be a global economic meltdown. And the Republicans are playing with that danger.

And the Democrats are like, yeah, I know, but on the other hand, the filibuster. And the parliamentarian, she hasn't given us permission yet. And the filibuster was mainly meant to protect lynching laws, like we, there was anti-lynching laws and we did, they didn't want that. They wanted the Republicans back then, and by the way, not just Republicans back then, there was Dixiecrats, there were Democrats who were also deeply racist back then. They all used the filibuster to make sure they can keep lynching black people. And that is the deep, wonderful Senate tradition of the filibuster.

It was used almost exclusively for that. And 100% in time to prevent civil rights. So Manchin says, I love that so much. I love the deeply racist history of the filibuster. It now allows me to protect my corporate donors. So me and Sinema are gonna block you getting rid of the filibuster. So we're gonna play chicken with the entire US economy and your jobs and your social security checks and all of your well-being because we would rather need to ask permission

from the Republicans, because it's not really about the Republicans, they're asking permission of their donors. My favorite thing is seeing tweets from the Democratic Party about the midterm elections and how we need to elect more Democrats. Oh, shut up Democrats, okay, you have no idea how exhausting you are, right? Oh, you guys, progressives are not sufficiently pro, idiot, weak, corrupt Democrats. It's your fault. Isn't it your fault that you're corrupt in the first place?

No, you didn't cheerlead for our corruption enough. And so, no, if you give us more corrupt Democrats, then we might pass things. Really? Are you gonna get rid of the filibuster if we do? No, no, no, no. We need 60 Democrats in the Senate. How the hell are you gonna get 60 Democrats in the Senate? It's embarrassing.

It's, it's embarrassing. Oh, no, no, no. What we need is 52 senators so we don't need mansion of cinema. Are you guys crazy? If they don't need mansion to cinema, guess what's going to be? going to happen. Two other Democrats are going to pop up. Totally. And say, oh, no, no, I love the filibuster too. I was just hiding behind Manchin's skirt. And so, oh, surprise, here's Benendez. Surprise. Here's Coons. And they'll all come out. Oh, no, no, no. I love the racist lynching

history of the filibuster. And I want to keep it to. Corporations are you happy? Give me more money. Give me more money. So it is the vile Republicans and the corrupt Democrats that have left us in this situation. All right. I promise there are some fun stories in the second hour. So let's take a break and when we come back we'll get right to them thanks for listening to the full episode of the young turks support our work listen ad free access members only bonus content and more by subscribing to apple podcasts at apple dot co slash t yt i'm your host jank huger and i'll see you soon