The Young Turks - Rational Republicans

Episode Date: June 1, 2022

President Joe Biden sparked anger and frustration in the wake of a Texas mass shooting with remarks about gun safety reform that included describing two GOP congressional leaders as “rational.” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was met with boos as he arrived at a memorial site for victims of the elementary school massacre in Uvalde, which sparked a nationwide wave of grief and anger over lawmakers’ persistent—and industry-funded—inaction on gun violence. A far-right Missouri organization has launched a disturbing map alerting followers to “hot spots” of so-called “woke” activity in the state. The Canadian government has introduced legislation that would put a freeze on importing, buying or selling handguns. Is Top Gun 2 propaganda for the US military? Hosts: John Iadarola, Caroline Johnson *** The largest online progressive news show in the world. Hosted by Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian. LIVE weekdays 6-8 pm ET.  Help support our mission and get perks. Membership protects TYT's independence from corporate ownership and allows us to provide free live shows that speak truth to power for people around the world. See Perks: ▶ https://www.youtube.com/TheYoungTurks/join SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE: ☞ http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=theyoungturks FACEBOOK: ☞ http://www.facebook.com/TheYoungTurks TWITTER: ☞ http://www.twitter.com/TheYoungTurks INSTAGRAM: ☞ http://www.instagram.com/TheYoungTurks TWITCH: ☞ http://www.twitch.com/tyt 👕 Merch: http://shoptyt.com ❤ Donate: http://www.tyt.com/go 🔗 Website: https://www.tyt.com 📱App: http://www.tyt.com/app 📬 Newsletters: https://www.tyt.com/newsletters/ If you want to watch more videos from TYT, consider subscribing to other channels in our network: The Damage Report ▶ https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport TYT Sports ▶ https://www.youtube.com/tytsports The Conversation ▶ https://www.youtube.com/tytconversation Rebel HQ ▶ https://www.youtube.com/rebelhq TYT Investigates ▶ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwNJt9PYyN1uyw2XhNIQMMA 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. One of the hardest parts of getting older is feeling like something's off in your body, but not knowing exactly what. It's not just aging. It's often your hormones, too. When they fall out of balance, everything feels off.

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I am still John to roll. I'm the same person though the show might change, but I am very lucky to be joined. Carolyn Johnson, welcome. Thank you so much. It's always wonderful to be here. Always great to have you here. You've been doing amazing work over at Rebel HQ as a contributor. What are some of the things you're going to be tackling soon on that?

channel. Well, I guess in a, in a little bit of a break from some of the news we've been talking about this past week, I've got a video coming up on what happened to the Mona Lisa over the weekend, which controversial, but I happen to think that's a great painting. So I'll be talking a little bit about why and what happened. It's sort of a bizarre situation. But yeah, stay tuned for that. And then, you know, the regular old, the regular old suspects I'll be talking about as Well, nice, I like it. I'm gonna have to give a heads up to Bart. We might have to discuss the Mona Lisa thing on ice cream Wednesdays. I think that he might want to get into that. But in any event, very glad to have you here. We got a lot that we're going to be talking about. Obviously, you know, the continuing fallout from last week's horrendous shooting in Yuvaldi. We have a little bit of news besides that. A little bit of propaganda bringing in big bucks at the box office. So that's going to be fun. A little bit of dancing. You know, it's it's a normal rundown here at the young Turks, but Carolina, I'm excited to have you along for the ride. Are you ready to jump into this? Yeah, let's do it. Okay, let's do it. Let's start with the fun part with this.

So what that you saw right there was Joe Biden, who made the decision that, you know, since he is president, he should probably do something every once in a while. So he traveled to Evaldi to go to a memorial for those who were tragically killed last week, to listen to the concerns of the people there. And they provided those concerns saying, do something, do something, do something. The exact same chant that we and our viewers have been sending towards Joe Biden for months and months and months. And he said, I will. He in fact gave a thumbs up to the crowd and said I will. That's not how I would have handled it.

that felt to me a little bit like what Donald Trump would have done in that situation. They're not interested in your thumbs up, man. They're interested in you actually accomplishing something. But he would have us believe coming out of that trip that he actually is going to do something. He in fact told reporters yesterday that I think things have gotten so bad that everybody's getting more rational about it. At least that's my hope. Now, he also tempered that comment with a little bit about what he thinks he can and cannot do. And we will dive into all of this.

But Caroline, I know people have the expectation that he as president. He made claims that he would do something when he was running before the election. What do you think about the way that he has responded to this most recent tragedy? Look, I think that time and time again, Joe Biden fails to live up to the probably single most important reason why we got behind. Joe Biden ultimately as the Democratic nominee, and that was for his ability. to work in a bipartisan Congress. And so far, time and time again, not only on this issue, but countless different issues, he has failed to, in many cases,

even attempt to bring people across the aisle. And it's been such a disaster that people in his own party, mansion, cinema, he really cannot get on his side. And again, this was the selling point of Joe Biden. I think that it's, you know, we're coming up on the midterms in a few months, which it's pretty universally acknowledged to be a disaster for the Democrats. And these empty platitudes that once actually we did have a lot of hope for in his ability to get things done and compromise, it's just out the window.

And I think the crowds in Yuvalde really, really, really show that. I think this is a rarity in cases like this in which, you know, there obviously they had some really strong words for Governor Abbott as well. But I think I think it's telling that they are just as angry at Joe Biden about this situation and the refusal to act. Yeah. Yeah, look, he may not take as much money from the NRA. He may not as aggressively put forward, you know, pro-gun talking points. So the blame in that area is going to go more towards the right. But he is also president. So it's only fair to put some of it on to him. And you're right. He, he picks. himself and his allies, his political allies, his media allies, whether they identified

themselves as such or not, assured us that he would have not only a special desire to work with both sides, but a special ability. Any Democratic president, no matter how lefty was going to have to try to, in some cases, work with the other side. We were assured with him that he would be able to get it done. And I would ask our audience, what would the difference have been if it was Bernie. The thing that they did in a bipartisan fashion was the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Are they implying that Bernie couldn't have gotten that particular bipartisan infrastructure bill passed that like effectively handed huge quantities of money over to special interests? Like some of it's going to have good effects, sure. But they were,

there's not a lot of like corporate interests that were offended by the nature of that bill. I feel like Bernie could have gotten that done. At some point, Joe Biden is going to have to demonstrate where these supposed extra skills lie. And in a time where he's saying we're growing more rational about things, maybe he can grow a little bit more rational about the chances of successfully working with the other side. But we'll see. He has a slightly different view of the other side than I do.

And he's going to articulate this here. He goes on to say, some of this is good, some of his bad. He says the Second Amendment was never absolute. You couldn't buy a cannon when the Second Amendment was passed. You couldn't go out and buy a lot of weapons. and of course, basically nothing like the weapons that are now routinely commercially available were even possible, had even been hypothesized at that point. But he does go on to say, I can't dictate this stuff, I can do the things that I've done,

and any executive action I can take, I'll continue to take, but I can't outlaw a weapon. I can't change the background checks. I can't do that. So that sounds very much like a pumping of the brakes, but don't worry because he doesn't need to do it unilaterally. In his mind, he says there are rational Republicans, and he identifies two of them. Senator Mitch McConnell is a rational Republican. Senator John Cornyn of Texas is a rational Republican. Now, we've got a couple of quotes from them in this area. But Caroline, what do you think in particular about those two fairly senior Republican senators, the likelihood that they are

going to just discard their entire past with the gun lobby and be a part of some bipartisan solution of this problem. Yeah, I mean, it's absolutely ridiculous to say that and label them as that. But what's sort of more infuriating is Joe Biden is saying that these specific Republicans are getting more and more rational, but okay, that's when you step in. That's when you are supposed to go to them, sit down, lock yourself in a room with them, and get things done. If you're so confident that people's Republicans' beliefs on gun control, might be shifting, that's not when you let off the brakes. That's not when you stand back and say,

great, just, you know, let them, let them do their thing. It's going to happen. That is when a leader steps in. This is exactly the moment that, look, that's great. And, and, you know, as we say after these situations, maybe this is the time. Maybe this is the time for change. But none of that change is going to happen if you aren't acting as your role as the leader of the United States and bringing these people in and explaining to them why this is the moment. It's just, it's, it's infuriating. Like, on one hand, he believes that they're rational, but then on the other hand, he's saying, oh, but I can't tap into their rationality because I, you know, I can't do anything. It's, it makes no sense and it's really, really disheartening. And, you know, all of that is to say,

they're not rational actors, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't, you know, really hammer this particular instance, home and try and get them at least to concede on a few things that have Republican support. Yeah, well, look, he's not that sort of person. He doesn't apply pressure. Not to the right anyway, not to his true friends. I mean, the situation that he has sketched out, I think you very accurately described a version of it, the version that if anything is explained to the voters is the version that they'll get. So in theory, we've got this moment where a particularly heinous school shooting happened and that has provided an opening according to him where something can be done. The issue is that in theory, there's at least two different forms

that that opening could come in or why that would be an opening and he is presenting the dumbest version of it. So the plausible possibility, which I don't even necessarily believe, but I can see why some people would be, is that this was so horrible that Republicans can potentially be shamed to doing something, that even they realized, dear God, this was too much, I don't know if I can go forward and just say the normal, you know, the normal lines, the normal, what are the tree of liberty, all that BS. I don't know if I can do that. Okay, and then in that case, pressure them and get something through while they're feeling the pressure. The longer you wait, the less pressure there will be. And I would argue we're already in the waning days of this being

a thing where maybe shame would produce an opening, that is not what Biden is saying. He seems to believe, no, this was so bad that they will genuinely change their minds. They will shift their actual opinions, not because they feel they have to in the moment, but because, oh no, we've gone too far down this road. I've been advocating for the wrong thing. I've taken the wrong money. I shall be reasonable right now. And as much as I don't even think the first version is going to work, or if it were going to, that it still would, who the hell would think the second version it was going to work?

And like, that is what the media will say, because they have this myth that there are reasonable Republicans, some sort of old school, early aughts version of Republicans that might disagree with us on a few things, but we all just want to make the country of their place. That just is not real. That it's such a like a candy land fairy tale version of how politics actually works. And that's the one that the president talking about people becoming increasingly rational is pushing right now, Caroline. Yeah, I think that's, I mean, one thing you pointed out that is sadly probably the most disturbing thing about this is that you're right. The days are waning when we have that power of energy and of shame to act on these certain things. But I would also just like to point out that a lot of these sort of minimal gun control ideas and legislation do actually have some moderate Republican support.

I was reading today that things like increasing security for gun storage has like an 85% Republican approval rating. So while it's absolutely true that there are certain things that the right will not budge on, including, you know, the ability to have assault weapons at the age of 18. There really are smaller things that we have Republican support, popular Republican support to push. But Caroline, isn't that the issue? Like, so I think you're right.

I think that there's, I think you could list probably quite a few things that the vast majority of Republicans would approve of. But when you say Republican support, as you identified, you mean Republican voters. What is the increasing gun security support amongst Republican senators? I that's actually a good question that I am not certain of because um you know I I this just goes back to the problem of our current political system that is so invested in tearing each other apart and not leaning into the fact that there is so much popular support for certain gun control legislation but you're right it doesn't even matter in our current system if 85% of Republicans want something when their leaders are beholden to. to, you know, not just the NRA, but different moneyed interests, gun manufacturers, etc. It really does expose our government isn't interested in solving any of these life threatening issues. They want, they are invested in tearing us apart when, you know, I happen to think,

and I think this particular Wvalde shooting has really changed my perspective a little bit in that, you know, we're living in this is, this is just an untenable situation for our country to be in. And the more this happens, the more that I just have to sit and rack my brain and wonder how we can get out of this. Because I think it's very clear that our senators, of course, mostly on the right, but even some on the left, maybe it's not in their interest to help us with these gun control laws. And so for that reason, I'm really trying to like look in my inwards, look to my community, my local government to start those changes there. because as far as I'm concerned, you know, again, 85% popular support for certain gun control restrictions and that doesn't move the needle a little bit. You know, John, when do we when do we sort of give up on our senators and really just turn

locally, turn inward? And that's super depressing. And I hate that. But I look, I think you're right. I think and you're right to point people in that direction because I think it's far more efficient in terms of time, energy for what the potential outcome might be. I personally, as long as I can, I'm going to go at it from the point of view of Little Finger from Game of Thrones. We need to fight every battle all the time. Unfortunately, that is a recipe for burnout. And burnout is necessarily a thing that just all of a sudden you're done. You can see its toll physically on what's left of my face. But yeah, I agree. I think that a lot of people can have a much stronger personal impact by going to the local level, the state level. I don't disagree with you there.

Really fast. I want to jump ahead to the chart that we have. Graphic 10 to demonstrate a point that Carolina and I were talking about earlier. This is a graphic that I showed on the damage board this morning. This is social media engagement in the wake of different mass shootings. And so there's a lot there to cause you to lose faith in humanity. The Buffalo shooting, it actually did not generate that much talk, despite how horrendous it was. was the very clear political motivation of it. A couple million mentions for a couple days, and then that immediately tailed off. Parkland never reached the peak of Uvaldi, although of course it was years ago. Social media didn't have as much penetration back then, but it lasted quite

a while. Uvaldi got a lot of discussion for several days, and now it's down to almost nothing. So look, we're still talking about this because we believe maybe something can be done. We're certainly not chasing eyeballs because unfortunately a lot of people who are not 100% tapped into politics have moved on. And it will soon be the case unless Biden suddenly wakes up and decides, oh wait, I am actually the president. Maybe I should do something that we're going to have to go back in hibernation and just hope that the next massacre is, whatever that threshold is, whatever the line is that that will be the thing that causes the Republicans to finally see sense or at least be shamed into not opposing us. We're going to have to see what that's like. And we will eventually reach it, by the way. As horrendous as Evaldi is, Caroline, you and I perhaps will do a show someday where we'll

be covering a shooting that's even worse, where more kids will have been killed in a more horrendous situation. Maybe it'll be a church, maybe it'll be a restaurant, I don't know. America provides a lot of outcomes. They're all bad, but the setting changes. Anyway, absolutely. No, continue, sorry. No, I was just going to say, I think the one thing that may prolong this conversation is

the investigation into. the police department. I think there are some current updates that are saying that the Yuvalde police is not cooperating with the federal investigation as of like a couple hours ago. Definitely need to be fact checked on that. But that might be just police absolute bungling of this situation might be something that prolongs this conversation. And it's awful, but you know, anything to keep in the media. I think that you're right. I think that there's a very good chance of that happening and and you know fingers crossed that will that will help to you know provide some positive outcome my fear that I expressed on the power

panel last Friday was that the more we focus on that the more whether explicitly or implicitly it trains people that the issue here was that the cops didn't do their job ergo the solution is the cops do their job but that's not the solution the solution is not more cops or better equipped cops or faster response times on cops that might be the only situation we have considering the horrible status quo that we've created, but the solution was for this guy to never have a gun in the first place. And so I'll take it if that's the only thing that will keep people invested, but I am a little bit worried about where that could go.

In any event, why don't we move on to our B block? I think that we have a little bit of time for another story and it's somewhat related. So I like seeing politicians get booed. We showed Biden, let's move now to this. We need to be Gov and Ryan, Happy Moody Townie! We need change! We need change, Governor!

That is the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, being booed at the Evaldi Memorial. Now to be very clear, there's a lot of video of that going around, and the reason it was able to be filmed was because Greg Abbott had the call to go to that memorial after everything that he knows he did and didn't do in the months in the years leading up to this tragedy. He went and he deserved far more than the booing that he got. But that's what he got right now. Let's talk a little bit about what effect he's had in this area, legislatively. In the last two legislative sessions for Texas, they have loosen gun laws, most notably by passing permitless carry back in 2021. This is less than two years after mass shootings in El Paso and

Odessa took the lives of 30 people. And while we are going to talk about mass shootings, for very good reason, especially in the context of Texas, generalized gun violence, especially against kids has also gone up in Texas. Annual child gun deaths there have more than doubled just while he's been governor. Deaths for children 17 and under went from 54 back in 2015 to 146 back in 2020, which is the latest year that we have that data for for the CDC. Youth gun deaths rose every year over that period except one and they in fact have more children dying by gunshot than any other state. But despite that, they have have still been loosening gun restrictions.

I guess believing that, sure, there are a lot of bad guys targeting kids there, but perhaps if the kids just get their hands on some firearms, we can stop the needless additional 100 or so deaths per year. Now we have other updates in terms of what he's done, the funding that he's cut, but Caroline want to give you a chance. What do you think about Greg Abbott managing this period immediately following the shooting? Yeah, I mean, as we just sort of finished, regardless of the police situation and the response, this is, this is Greg Abbott's fault. He, you know, diverted billions of

dollars to protect the border at the expense of mental health services for Texas. And that just, you know, raises the other, the other ridiculous point that Republicans make in the aftermath is telling us to focus on the fact that this is a mental health crisis, specifically relating to young men, which is absolutely true. And so maybe we should do something about that. And maybe we shouldn't keep cutting funding to these services for mental health and psychiatry for young people, for everyone. So that's sort of a digression. But yeah, the leading cause of death among children in America is guns. And that fact should haunt us. I'm sure for many of us, it does. And I think going back to this video, what I think is really, really strong and important

about this video is that those are Texans. I mean, you know, as far as I believe and can tell, those are Texans there. Those, you know, oftentimes the right claims that, you know, it's the blue states are driving this conversation and let us do what we want in our red states. But those people, I, again, you know, I can't say for certain, but those people are community members of Texas. They are not, they are not, you know, people on mainstream media calling for this. sort of thing. And I think if there's any hope that we can have in this moment, again, it's that the communities most affected by this have the, should have the biggest platform in this conversation. And I think instances like this are really, really powerful in showing that the people most affected also want change. I agree. Yeah. And I like having those people there to give that response. I hope that they that they pressure their state legislators. I hope that they pressure, you know, officials there in Yuvaldi. I hope so. We can talk a little bit about what they're trying to do. Democrats in Texas are trying to call for an emergency legislative

session. So bear in mind, they've already done an emergency legislative session in Texas recently because they just had to pass a bill to suppress the vote. So they can do it when they want to. In this case, Democrats want them to do so to endorse a passage of laws, including raising the minimum age to purchase a firearm to 21, requiring universal background checks for gun purchases, restricting ownership of high capacity magazines, and other changes. Literally any one of those would have stopped or severely changed the outcome of the shooting that we saw. If you had been, had to be 21 to get that rifle, the shooting would not have happened. The background check potentially could have caught him as well and potentially with

smaller capacity magazines. Maybe the death toll wouldn't have been so high. Maybe the kind of wouldn't have been terrified of getting in there. And so that is all very reasonable stuff to expect. And it is the only thing that's not reasonable, I suppose, is to expect that it's going to work in Texas, that they're going to get the Republicans to go along with it, that Greg Abbott, a guy who has spent the last year thinking that the greatest threat to kids in Texas schools

is grooming teachers or trans swimmers maybe, they've been fear-mongering about that, not worrying so much about the fact that they are potentially arming the next mass shooter. Yeah, critical race theory. I mean, the things that get the most headlines are culture war issues that have absolutely no material impact on the health and safety of children. And when it's clear as day that even one of these reforms would have, has the potential

to have such an impact on the lives and safety of children and the fact that they are distracting us with these things that truly, truly do not. not matter in the grand scheme of the safety of children is it's it's just an embarrassment. Yeah. And by the way, you mentioned the border, how we put all the money towards there. Well, he also, he cut $211 million from a mental health commission. Now, the fact that he has dragged hundreds of millions of dollars out of dealing with mental health issues in Texas did not stop him from once again talking about mental health being responsible for all these shootings, it's amazing that they can do that, that there wasn't immediate pushback,

that he wasn't shamed into abandoning that position, pretending that he cares about mental health as he defunds it. But this is the same sort of approach that we, that Greg Abbott provides for, like when their energy grid failed and people died as a result of it, he pretended that that was due to the fact that the Green New Deal had already passed. That was how he defended against the initial horror at the fact that they had allowed their grid to fail so disastrously. And then once the media attention had moved on, they didn't do anything. They didn't change it.

It's as likely to happen this coming winter as it was at any of the past ones. And if it does, he'll talk about windmills again. And he'll talk about solar panels. And why not? He's getting away with it with like the funerals of these kids still not having happened. I don't think that he's going to be shamed from these ridiculous, transparent talking points. Any further thoughts, Caroline? No, it's, no, I, yeah, it's very, I will say, again, trying to find a kernel of hope in this, it does seem like he is at least a little bit aware that this is his fault and this is on him.

Some of his statements he's made recently going, going back to the investigation and saying flat out that he was lied to, I do think that we can find tiny threads of a shift. But again, if the pressure isn't there and if people like President Biden and and other other senators who so far have shown interest in having bipartisan talks about this, if they don't keep that pressure on, then any sort of kernel of hope we have is is dead in the water. So I think once again, circling back to the Democratic response, we need to take these little clues as far as we possibly can that this might be it. Every single time this happens, we have to approach it as this might be the one that we finally get change here. And I do think there is some hope to be had in his recent statements in the fact that he is going to these funerals, in the fact that he, you know, video conferenced into the NRA thing, which again is is cowardly. But, you know, at this point, I will literally take whatever I can get. Okay. I like the optimism. We'll leave it with that. We're going to respond to some of your comments. In the social break, when we come back, we get a lot more to talk about, so don't go anywhere.

you do with this news. We're gonna jump back into, do everything? There we go. A far right organization operating in Missouri called Liberty Alliance has decided to warn people about spots in their state that might be too woke. And so they've put together a map. It's got 12 different locations right now, although that number will grow. All of them have to do with education effectively. And so they've got these different links and videos and tweets attached to these different locations. All of them are trashing things like critical race theory and diversity training. The information named at least 12 specific schools or school districts.

And of course bear in mind, this is coming at the tail end of we're still talking about the fact that someone just targeted a school and killed a bunch of people. Well these are the scary spots in Missouri. They all happen to be schools. So you can take a look right here at the actual map. It is a woke heat map. And so if you're in Missouri, watch out for that. That looks like just, it's just a string of locations along the highway that crosses east-west through Missouri. But that's what you should be worried about.

Now, they say on their website, they are committed to fighting back against the woke agenda that's permeating Missouri. I think everybody watching this knows that Missouri is like a den of wokeness these days. They say the first step in fighting back is uncovering their crazy ideas from critical race theory to grooming toddlers with sexually explicit books. That is why we have officially launched the woke heat map and interactive. tool designed to expose the insane actions of the radical left, insane, maybe equally insane as creating a map like this that they call interactive, it's not actually an interactive

map, it's just a map. The word interactive has a definition. In fact, you could probably learn it if you went to a school rather than just demonizing them. In any event, Caroline, this is designed to like with libs of TikTok, this is designed to provide targets for people. Cairns and other conservative busy bodies that want to know who to harass, who to bother, who to bother, who to potentially target for violence. They now have a number of different locations in Missouri that they should look into. This is, I mean, this is really, really deranged, disgusting behavior, especially on the heels, as you said, of this massacre last week at a school. I mean, I literally cannot think of a more convenient way to alert people to where they should target with these assault

weapons. I mean, it almost, the timing of this release almost is, is, it's too alarming. Again, there, when you read this story, what else comes to mind other than the fact that, you know, we have a school shooting epidemic in this country and now people are putting money. And there are, there's a lot of money behind this campaign to make a convenient, if not interacted, as you noted to make it convenient for people to see. It's almost like they are directing, you know, directing people who, who have absolutely no grip on reality and the real issues facing children in schools. And they are directing them to specific places that what deserve to be, to have

violence against them, at least harassed. It's mind boggling. And again, the timing could not be more egregious. Yeah, you say it's. It's almost like, it is almost like that. It is almost like that's what they want. Look, it's absolute madness. I want to focus on one thing. I apologize if this is a weird tanship, but I want to go back to Graphic 3 for just a minute because, you know, Liberty Alliance USA, I'm sure they consider themselves very serious. They've got really passionate advocates

who are literally just spreading the exact same talking points that everyone else on the right is. It's critical race theory and it's grooming toddlers with sexually explicit books. So bear in mind, that is just they're trying to have sex with toddlers. That's the argument that they're making. You go to these 12 different sites across Missouri and what you will find is people who are trying to have sex with toddlers. And can we stop for a second? I might be wrong with what I'm about to say. And if I am, if you've noticed this on like right wing Twitter, right wing forums or on Tucker Carlson or whatever, feel free to correct me in the chat. Isn't it a little bit weird that apparently all across America teachers are trying to have

sex with kids, they're grooming them. Everyone on the right knows that and is very focused on stopping it. And like four months ago, none of them were talking about that. Is that a little bit weird? That they all accept it, 100% as given. All schools are dens of pedophilia. Six months ago, none of them said that. I mean, generally, they were worried about QAnon and people eating babies or whatever, but like, I just, when was the last time that we on the left just came up with a new thing? And all of a sudden, we all agree on it. None of us had ever spoken about it. Now we're as passionate as can be about it. Does that strike? you as authentic. I just think it's madness, but they all agree. Every teacher. I went to school,

I met a lot of teachers. I wonder which of them wanted to have sex with me. It's got to have been a couple, I suppose, just buy the numbers. Anyway, if you're worried about overwokeness in your state, they actually have a form, a submission form, so that you can get something on the woke heat map. It says that we know that there are woke efforts happening all across the state. They need your help and identify them. So again, it's the Karenization of politics, it's the business, It's the busy bodies. Like, you think Liberty Alliance USA is going to be like rigorously doing due diligence and all the accusations that are made?

They just want to fill up that map with little pins. So you just say like someone looked at you wrong, they're going to put it on there. In fact, it'd probably be pretty easy for our viewers to manipulate this and to get them to put crazy things on there. Now, don't do it, you know, don't do it, do it. But don't do it. I'm just saying, I have a feeling it's not going to be particularly rigorous. Yes, Caroline, any of the thoughts about this?

Yeah, definitely do not go on that website and input some spam information. No, I mean, I think to your point that all of the suddenness is a huge issue. You know, in my mind, really what I can only think of is that for decades, you know, generations even the right has been trying to undermine the public school system. And so I think like any sort of any sort of way that they can rally behind defunding schools and disparaging teachers and bringing children back under the wing of the family, they really are just going to jump on whatever bandwagon has the most momentum at the moment. And then lastly, I just think it's hilarious that this group is called the Liberty Alliance,

and yet they want to create a register of people doing bad things so that they can have their civil liberties and freedoms taken away from whatever. I mean, it makes no sense. It's it's ideologically, cognitively, just really, really backwards and off. And what is really upsetting is that the right, the leaders on the right, senators, congressmen, they take these things seriously. I mean, part of me is frustrated because I know that if the left ever, you know, if and when we do get behind something that we really care about that in our opinions is actually important, like healthcare for all, etc. Our leaders just do everything they can to make it so we don't get any progress there. But the difference on the right is that their leaders take any ridiculous

idea they have and bring it to the top levels of their conversations in the government. And so this isn't just like a funny, a funny website. This like really is the groundwork for just continuing to defund schools using this rhetoric. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. And it's just, it's very intentional. Like, it's almost a parody. Like if you're a conservative, they are trying to get you to focus on your local school. Why? Well, if you're focused there, where are you not focusing? Honestly, like they're literally pointing you away from DC, away from them. Like, they keep telling you the elites are responsible for all your troubles. Well, how elite is like,

your third grade social studies teacher. Like, does that, does that seem like, yeah, they're probably behind everything. Come on, like open your eyes. I mean, I'm not telling you to get woke or anything. Just wake up in general. Maybe you can accept that. Okay, unfortunately, man, this hour is just racing by. We're going to take another break.

When we come back, a country is actually doing something to regulate guns. We're going to evaluate their plans. And then we're going to dive into Top Gun, which had an interesting partnership that we want to talk about. We'll have that for you after this. Welcome back, everyone, John Arula, Caroline Johnson. We got a couple more stories for you, and definitely stay around for the second hour, because Francesca Farentini and Wazi Lombar, are going to be here and you're not going to want to miss that. That said, you're ready to jump back into it, Caroline?

Yeah, let's go for it. Okay, let's go to maybe something a little bit more optimistic, potentially, starting with this. We're introducing legislation to implement a national freeze on handgun ownership. What this means is that it will no longer be possible to buy, sell, transfer, or import handguns anywhere in Canada. In other words, we're capping the market for handguns. That was Justin Trudeau announcing some of the details, and there are a number about what they are doing up in Canada to deal with gun violence, going way further, lapping us, more than lapping us here in the U.S. in terms of that. I mean, look, there's other details to it that we'll get to, but that core detail that they are ending the new sale of handguns. Caroline, can you even conceive of like, what if Beto O'Rourke said that on a debate stage?

Just like the idea that we would potentially stop the sale of all new handguns. Can you imagine that? No, I mean, given what happened to him when he suggested taking away assault rifles and that sort of tanked whatever election he was running at the time, I really, really can't. I mean, you know, we can talk further about this. I think that Canada is doing, you know, personally, I think it's a wonderful thing. I really don't know if the, I don't know, I'm curious what you think, what sort of lessons we can learn from this. I happen to think our cultures regarding guns and so many things are so different that it is a little hard to extrapolate anything from this decision other than, yes, we all always want to move to Canada at any time.

But yeah, let's let's get into it. Yeah, definitely. It is at the very least a reminder that there are governments that function, whether we might agree with the particular thing that they're doing or not, and we can get into that. There are, in theory, governments that can identify a problem and actually do something to solve it. That's novel. It doesn't really happen in the U.S.

Even in the midst of the pandemic, we had very little action from our government to do something about it. This is, I think, more immediate, faster, broader than we've seen for any problem, like since, I mean, I don't even know how much credit I want to give to the ACA. It just doesn't really happen here. But let's first give people more details on what it is that they're planning to do. So Canada had already planned to ban 1,500 types of military-style firearms and offer a mandatory buyback program that will begin by the end of this year. Trudeau said that in theory, you could keep your assault weapon, but it will be made inoperable. It'll no longer be a firearm at that point.

They've also expanded background checks. And Trudeau had this to say about the changes. We cannot let the gun debate become so polarized that nothing gets done. We cannot let that happen in our country. This is about freedom. People should be able to go to the supermarket, their school, or their place of worship without fear. And it's expected that all of this is going to pass because of the nature of their government at this point. And look, there's a lot that's different about Canada from the U.S. obviously.

It's not that nobody in Canada has a gun. Nobody wants to defend their home. Nobody goes hunting or sport shooting or anything like that. It doesn't feel, at least, as an outsider to Canada, that there is the obsession, like the worship of firearms, the deliberate attempt by right-wing media and politicians for many, many, many years. And by the way, aided by the Democrats up until very recently, Democrats, like we now think of them as being more opposed to guns, but they were super defensive on that up until the very recent past.

Convincing people that a gun is not just a symbol of liberty and freedom, it's the only thing that will keep it. It's the only thing stopping the U.S. from devolving into tyranny or whatever. I don't think that they have the impact of political money coming in from the gun lobby or just the gun, like the equivalent of the NRA being so influential on the political. culture of the right Caroline. So as you said, it's difficult to know exactly what lessons to draw from this because there is so much different between our two countries, despite the fact that we border each other. But they are going very far. There's a lot of different components to this. Yeah, I mean, it's super interesting. A part of me is kind of big. It's just rude at this point. Trudeau, like we, we get it. You guys, you have a lot of power and interest in

this. What I'm curious, though, is he says, you know, we can't let this polarized topic, you know, get us from not enacting gun control. And I really am just curious if it is as polarized in Canada or he's sort of just doing this now, I don't know, in response to what has happened in the United States. And I do think that this is a time where we as people who are in support of regulations like this have to look at the numbers and have to look at the makeup of our country. And for whatever reason, we do have a gun-obsessed country. Handgun sales are higher than they have ever been. There is only 19% of the country thinks that there should be a ban on handguns. So whether or not we agree with Canada's recent position, we have to acknowledge that it

will not work in America. And in that regard, I do think that we have to have a more holistic approach to our conversations about gun control. And I think that this is where the mental health, this is where arguments about the soul of our nation really do need to start coming into these conversations. Because as I said, during the pandemic, trust in our institutions, trust in the police, it all was crackling. And whether we like it or not, Americans really believe that they have to have a gun for whatever reason. And so to sort of like tout Trudeau and Canada and say, you know, very vehemently that

this is what we need to do. This is the only path. It's just, it's not only unrealistic, but I think that we're missing a really big conversation about the health and soul of our country. and we need to sort of dig deeper and really try to understand why. I mean, you know, you and I know a lot of reasons why people have so little trust in our institutions. But again, I think, you know, going back into our communities, looking within ourselves, this decision by Canada really, I think is something that should shine a light on

America's obsession with guns and not in a way to shame, shame gun owners because the numbers, the numbers don't lie in terms of their support. And again, I think it's depressing, but I think it means we need to shift our tactics a bit. Okay, well, I'm going to close with this. This is some of the immediate reaction on the right, because we're covering this so that you know about the facts of it, everyone, but you are going to hear a lot from the right about what Canada is doing, not the facts, just insane hyperbole. So for instance, Thomas Massey saying, The dystopian future Trudeau is manifesting in Canada is coming to America if U.S. citizens don't get involved. Somebody cracked open there, the source today.

Okay, let's see. Wendy Rogers says Canada is turning into New Zealand and they're also trying to do it here. Sound the alarm, we must never give up our guns. Yes, Canada is turning into yet another country that doesn't experience gun violence like we do. And Dave Rubin says Justin Trudeau is a really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, bad man. I is that is that a parody is that what he really he's he's really he's doing his best it's difficult like it is difficult to make not I'm not going to say like a logical argument for your position on the right because those are those are in rare supply but it's hard for him

to even pretend with the same passion that like a Wendy Rogers or Thomas Massey does when he's just cosplay being a devoted right winger in the first place he doesn't actually care about this thus the really really release you're really really bad at this you know that But anyway, with that said, why don't we move on to one last topic. Caroline, our hour is unfortunately quickly passing, so let's jump into this. a sequel, Top Gun Maverick, a sequel to the 1986 action film, it has come out, and it is raising concerns initially raised after the first movie that the close relationship between movie producers and the military might not be the best thing. But first, let's give you a little bit

of the trailer so you know what we're talking about. Captain Pete Maverick Mitchell, you were here at the request of Iceman. He seems to think that you have something left to offer the Navy. We're all due respects, sir. I'm not a teacher. I just want to manage the expectations. What the hell? Good morning, aviators. This is your captain's speaking.

I intend to push movements. Show me what you're made up. Nice. Having any fun yet? Top Gun Maverick. Okay, so it finally came out. I think they, like many movie studios, the makers of Top Gun Maverick, were banking on their being nostalgia for this past project. And it turns out they were really, really right in this case.

Over the weekend, it made $160.5 million during a four-day weekend, $300 million worldwide. So already a success. It is the biggest Memorial Day opening weekend ever since Pirates of the Caribbean at World's End, which earned $153 million. Really? Did that earn $153 million? But here's the issue. Like with many movies featuring military hardware, planes, vehicles, those sorts of. of things. This was not done independently of the military. There was a partnership there.

In fact, they worked with the Department of Defense, as many movie producers do. Top Gun Maverick received support from the DoD in the form of equipment. They got jets and aircraft carriers, personnel, people who could provide technical expertise, and this was authorized by the DoD Entertainment Media Office, which assists filmmakers telling military stories. Now, the Department of Defense entertainment media office sounds a little bit dystopian. It sounds like something you'd hear about in China. The right, not bothered by this notably. But the DoD is not new.

They've been working with Hollywood for like a century. The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard all have these liaisons in L.A. That work with movie studios. They did it in this sequel, just as they did it in the original Top Gun. Back then, they were provided $1.8 million, and in exchange, the DOD provided four aircraft carriers, two dozen F-14 Tomcats, F5 Tigers, and A4 Skyhawks, and they provided pilots to pilot them as well. Now, Caroline, the issue here isn't just that they get access to the hardware or whatever, it's that then the military can weigh in. They get script approval and how the military is actually

presented what sort of lens is provided on it or the conflicts that we engage in abroad is only going to be allowed if they believe it's in the interests of the military, which, well, you want to have that equipment. So I guess maybe you'll give that allowance for the script. That means that over time, as people see all these movies, they will get a very biased view of the military by the very nature of these partnerships. Yeah, absolutely. I'm, you know, I have to say I'm a little torn on this one just. because I am such a movie buff and we all know what happened to movie theaters during the pandemic. So it is, you know, it does make me feel good that this is making a lot of money

and people are going back out to the theaters. But yeah, on the other hand, the connections between Hollywood and the military industrial complex are absolutely entrenched. And I really encourage viewers to look into this. There's a lot of really interesting articles online. We unfortunately don't have too much time to talk in depth about it, but these ties are so historical and go back to the very beginning of the film industry in the early 20th century. But the problem now with things like Top Gun is that the United States and the United States military is so unilaterally powerful in the world. And we don't necessarily have one common enemy that we are super threatened about. Of course, you know, there's the war in Russia, there is China. But,

you know, we, our military really is unparalleled. So for things like World War II when they were making anti-Nazi films, you know, you could argue that those were really important to defeat fascism. But as our enemy, specifically after the Vietnam War, as our enemy becomes more intangible and we don't really have one, you have to ask yourself, yeah, What is the point of this constant military propaganda? And just finally, I really do think that this type of propaganda, this military equipment in movies that is designed not only to show the power of the U.S. military, but also make it look really cool. This energy trickles down into police departments across the country. It absolutely does.

Police departments are outfitted with military grade uniforms. And I really do think this this culture of this propagandistic, militarized culture has absolutely everything to do with movies like Top Gun and the trickle-down effect they have in society. Yeah. Yeah, look, I personally, I haven't watched it yet. I'm not particularly interested, not because of the military propaganda thing, just because I wasn't really that interested in the first Top Gun. But I like saving Private Ryan. I like movies with the military in it. I watch the Marvel movies.

They often have a bit of that. So that's not really a reason. But I will say, we don't have time to dive into this. I might cover more of the damage report tomorrow. I just saw an analysis of this by media matters, but the right is like super excited about Top Gun doing well. They see this is like a repudiation of like woke movies with their diversity hires and all of that. Now finally, somebody's making a movie for red blooded men, strong American men. I would just raise one concern to the right though, did you watch that trailer?

You know, it's a female pilot that's like sort of at the heart of this. Like, I'm just saying, I'm just saying, maybe it's a little bit more woke than you think. But anyway, good to see, because we do have many, we have female pilots. We have a lot of women who serve in the military. That's just to remind the right, because they've been what, maybe watching a lot of Tucker Carlson. He's been demonizing them for quite some time. With that said, unfortunately, we are out of time. But Caroline Johnson, I want to thank you for joining us.

Where can people watch more of your work? Yeah, you can follow me on all platforms at Caro Johnson 917, and I am regularly contributing to Rebel HQ. You can find that on Facebook and YouTube at Rebel HQ. Awesome, thank you, Caroline. Everyone at home, Francesca Fiorentini is about to take the reins, and Wazi Lombray will be joining her. So don't go anywhere. We're going to take a couple of minute break, but we'll be back after that. Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks, support our work, listen to ad-free, access members-only bonus content, and more by subscribing to Apple Podcasts at apple.com at apple.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.