The Young Turks - Rudy Giuliani Associates ARRESTED

Episode Date: October 11, 2019

Two men connected to Rudy Guiliani have been arrested. John Iadarola, hosts of The Young Turks, break it down. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad cho...ices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 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. Hey, guys, you've heard of the Young Turks podcast because you're listening to it right now. But make sure that you subscribe and give it a five star rating if you like it. Thank you for listening. All right, welcome to the Young Turks. Interesting like quasi power panel here.
Starting point is 00:00:28 Jank, John Iderola, Ben Manquitz. I feel like we haven't done this combo in a while, and it feels good. Yeah. How you doing, Ben? It feels okay. Okay, got you. Fair enough. I feel like Ben hasn't been on since the midterms.
Starting point is 00:00:40 What do you think? Was it a wave? Yeah, I don't know. I'd like, if we could win 40 seats, I think it'd be good. Yeah, it'd be amazing. Come on, 40 seats? Yeah. Okay.
Starting point is 00:00:49 So, all right, guys, the walls are closing in on Trump. So, huge day for Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick. So Giuliani's in a world of Trump. trouble, panic calls to Mitch McConnell, we're gonna tell you about that a little bit later. And then there's a lot of stories today that are interesting, controversial stories that are not as clear, if you ask me. So we're gonna revisit Ellen and George W. Bush, because that has actually exploded further. Celebrities are taking sides, going to war.
Starting point is 00:01:20 So go to Twitter war, so you know it's serious, and obviously updates on what's happening in Kurdish territory, and speaking of war, the more important war is Fox News versus Donald Trump, so that's also coming up. And actually, apparently war is a theme, because in the third hour, I'm going to be interviewing the two just Democrats running against the two most conservative Democrats in Congress. So running against Dan Lipinski and Quayar, Henry Quay are there, indisputably the two most conservative of Democrats, they've got just Democrats in their primaries. We're gonna talk to those challengers today, and so don't miss that, because those two
Starting point is 00:02:04 seats are super important and incredibly winnable. All right, so we've got a big show ahead, John. Seems divisive. Anyway, yeah. Okay, let's start off with the big, incredibly complicated story of the morning. Donald Trump is already distancing himself from Rudy Giuliani following the revelation earlier today that two of Giuliani's associates were apparently arrested while attempting to flee the country.
Starting point is 00:02:29 We're gonna have the details on what they're being charged with. But first here from just a little bit ago is Donald Trump being asked about it. I don't know those gentlemen. Now it's possible I have a picture with them because I have a picture with everybody. I have a picture with everybody here. But somebody said there may be a picture or something where at a fundraiser or somewhere. But I have pictures with everybody. I don't know if there's anybody I don't have pictures.
Starting point is 00:02:54 I don't know them. I don't know about them, I don't know what they do, but I don't know. Maybe they were clients of Rudy, you'd have to ask Rudy, I just don't know. Just to be clear, the question was, it was either do you know them or what do you know about them? And he began saying, picture, picture, I don't know, is there pictures? Maybe there's pictures, I take a lot of pictures, everybody. Take selfies, I'm like Elizabeth Warren, I got selfie lines up and down the block. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:03:18 Because the photos are out, we're gonna have the photos. We already have the photos. He knows that he's seen the photos, everybody talking of has seen the photos, so that performance needs to go on. Yeah, well, two things about that performance. One, it sounds like a guy who's closeted walking into a room going, I'm not gay. Okay, no one asked. Right, no one asked about the pictures yet, and you're like, it could be pictures,
Starting point is 00:03:40 there could be pictures, but it doesn't mean I know them, well, they've given a lot of money to you. So that's how you might know them, because that's the kind of folks that you usually care about. And then of course, the usual Trumpian, I've got pictures with almost everybody. Here, here's a person you don't have a picture with, okay, thank God. And so it's an absurd claim, obviously. In fact, that reaction, I didn't think that Trump was that implicated.
Starting point is 00:04:05 He took a ton of money from them, but he might not have known that they were funneling the money from foreign countries, et cetera. But his panic reaction makes me think, oh, he knew. And apparently he's more involved. Maybe. It's hard to say. More importantly, at the end of that, he's starting to say, like, oh, you know, you should talk to Rudy.
Starting point is 00:04:25 I don't even know Rudy. Wait, who's Rudy? So we're getting there. I love Rudy, good movie, good movie, good movie, kid couldn't play, got on the team, scored a couple of touchdowns. Yeah, but you're talking, oh, you're talking about a different Rudy, Guayalani, I never heard of him. Yeah, Rudy's like, oh, God, Trump is such a good friend of mine, we're just hanging out on
Starting point is 00:04:45 the side of the road, and there's a bus coming, and now he's picking me up by the seat of my pants. You know, it's funny because I, there was a circumstance where I would have found myself in the position of saying, well, the picture is useful politically, but the picture with the president really doesn't mean anything. They could have been there, obviously associates of Giuliani. He brought him in, get the picture. Trump's like, yeah, great to meet you guys, thanks for all your great work, and he doesn't
Starting point is 00:05:06 know them. But after that little performance, I'm like thinking, oh, no, he knows him. Like really well. Yeah, like extremely well, yeah. I would assume at this point that people would know some of the basics, but let's just run through it really fast, just in case. The FBI arrested the two men, Lev Karnas and Igor Fruman, who were also important witnesses in the House's impeachment inquiry as they were trying to board a Frankfurt-bound flight with
Starting point is 00:05:26 one-way tickets on Wednesday night. As you do, they just, they were, you know, they were going for food, I guess. After lunch earlier in the day, with Rudolph and Giuliani. With, yes. At a Trump hotel. I mean, it's like out of a movie. It's pretty perfect. And as you tweeted earlier, Ben, their name sound like characters out of a film noir, yeah.
Starting point is 00:05:47 Take a look at how our justice- Igor Fruman, somebody responded to me on Twitter that Igor Fruman must be the brother of the sausage king of Chicago, which is a great, Ferris Bueller's day. Abe Froman, the sausage king of Chicago. That's pretty good. So at an initial court appearance earlier today,
Starting point is 00:06:05 prosecutors said they were concerned that they were flight risks, but that they would negotiate with their lawyers about a possible bail package. Did you think? They were like getting on. They'd check their bag all, Already on a one-way flight, that's not actually what happened, but they had one-way tickets
Starting point is 00:06:21 out of the country, yeah, they might be a flight risk. Okay, two things, one, under no circumstances should they get bail. They get bail, that's the last time we ever see them, okay? Secondly, if you want to get away with something, do not buy a one-way ticket. That's the biggest telltale sign that you're leaving and not coming back and up to no good. So like we all know it now, like the 9-11 got terrorists. They all bought one-way first-class tickets, and now every law enforcement authority knows, look for the guys buying one-way tickets.
Starting point is 00:06:51 I mean, maybe they were just, you know, just going to Europe to find themselves. Hashtag live free, just go, you know, don't book return flight yet. You don't know where you might end up. So what did they actually do? Well, according to the indictment unsealed in New York, Parnas Fruman and other defendants, quote, conspired to circumvent the federal laws against foreign influence by engaging in a scheme to funnel foreign money to candidates for federal and state office so that,
Starting point is 00:07:13 the defendants could buy potential influence with the candidates, campaigns, and the candidates' governments. They previously drew the attention of the FEC for donating over $300,000 to a pro-Trump Super PAC, America First Pack. He doesn't know them. I never, I don't know them. There might be a picture, they might be $325,000, but I don't know them. It remains to be seen.
Starting point is 00:07:35 What does not remain to be seen is that America First Pack is taking money from people who definitely are not putting America's interests first here. But anyway, we always knew that it was a sham. So last year, they donated money to and pledged to raise additional funds for a member of Congress who was not named in the indictment but is identified in campaign finance filings as representative Pete Sessions, Republican of Texas. So another name gets drawn into this story. Do you have any more from that article or anything?
Starting point is 00:08:01 About Pete Sessions? No, just about what they did. Because, Jank, you were asking beforehand, and like the New York Times makes it a little clear, Parnas and Fruman illegally funneled money through a company, they set up. masks themselves as its sources, then gave the money to pro-Trump super PACA America. First, according to the indictment, prosecutors said that Parnas and Fruman, along with the other two men indicted Karea and Kukushkin, also funneled money with ties to Russia to state and federal candidates in exchange for potential influence, according to the
Starting point is 00:08:32 indictment. So there's two potential crimes here, and obviously they've been arrested so that now alleged crimes. But one is you can't have foreign countries, companies, or individuals donate to American political campaigns, okay. So the second, not potential, but alleged crime here is that you can't donate under somebody else's name. And so that's also an allegation.
Starting point is 00:08:59 So Fruman was that person actually supplying the funding, but Parnas, I believe, is the one that said he was giving the money. So that's funneling money through someone else to avoid limits, and that is also illegal. So these two guys are in a lot of trouble. And I guess these two guys are the associates of Rudy, the two other guys indicted, one of whom is expected to turn himself in Correa, and then Kukushkin was, he's already, he appeared in federal court in San Francisco. Yeah, now, so those are the things we know, and those are the things that they're in
Starting point is 00:09:35 Big trouble over. What we don't know is how much Giuliani and Trump are implicated. So Giuliani is their lawyer. So if he didn't know any of this and he's their lawyer, then there's no trouble at all, okay? On the other hand, if he did know it, and this is part of a scheme to get Ukraine to investigate the Bidens, and Giuliani is aiding and abetting that, and he's in a lot of trouble. It would be remarkable if Giuliani, who was aggressively, proudly visiting. Ukraine and calling to attempt to get them to investigate Biden, was working with these two guys,
Starting point is 00:10:11 Ukrainians with influence, American citizens also. I mean, these guys are also American citizens, but that part didn't come up. I mean, like we're stretching the bounds of creativity. Right, what else was he working with them on? Like, if he was their lawyer on a traffic ticket, right, or they were brought up on armed robbery and something else, and he was their lawyer, and look at this coincidence. Turns out there, Ukrainian, American, and I've been funneling money from outside the country into Trump's campaign.
Starting point is 00:10:40 And so what were they asking for? Among the different things they were asking for was to get the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine fired. Why? Which worked. Yeah, and of course Trump did fire her, but it's, they didn't have to ask very hard. She was not in favor of continuing the bogus request for the corruption of the Bidens in Ukraine.
Starting point is 00:11:02 So she was not in favor of that. I hear you, but they already, Ukrainian government already investigated that, and it turns out there's nothing to it. So I don't know what you want me to do. And so these guys connected to Giuliani coming and go fire her. And Trump goes, okay, and he fires her. And so they got what they wanted. And look, there's another angle to this because you see all the Ukrainian figures, but you also hear about potentially money coming in from Russia. This is really important and not mentioned in almost any of the news items.
Starting point is 00:11:32 Okay, so why do the Russians care about any of this? Well, obviously they've got the situation where they annex Crimea, which used to be part of Ukraine, et cetera, but there's an even more important reason. The Russians' number one goal is to get our sanctions lifted off their oligarchs. So we put sanctions on them and it has affected their money. Some of their money is frozen and they can't get it. So Putin deeply tied to the oligarchs, himself an oligarch, you think that he might care about that a little bit more than he cares about foreign policy?
Starting point is 00:12:07 Yeah, it's the money, Lebowski. That's what they care the most about. So one of the things that they were pushing Trump to do is, hey, get some sort of deal between the Ukrainian government and the Russian government, so we could then say, hey, everything's solved, so you can lift the sanctions and we can get our money back. So that's also playing behind the scenes here. And so I hope the prosecutors keep digging. I hope they find out who was on the Russian side and what their motives were.
Starting point is 00:12:34 And are they connected to, I mean, they are connected to Giuliani, but are they connected to him in a way that is illegal? And did Trump know who they are? Does he know where that $325,000 came from? Then we're gonna get to the problems in this story that are legal. So real quick, so they face five years for three of the count. They're each facing four counts. these two guys are, I don't know about the other two.
Starting point is 00:12:55 But these two Giuliani associates, three counts, maximum five years for the first three counts, 20 years for the second count, for the fourth count. So that's 35 years, potentially, I'm the doubt they'd get that. But the hope is then, and I'm not a conspiracy theorist, as you know, but in general, that they would be held without bail, because as you point out, they're obviously flight risks, and that then they would start talking because they don't want to go to prison for any amount a ton. But there is, in these situations, with talking, the real possibility that their family would
Starting point is 00:13:30 be killed by- Oh, yeah, you know what, I hadn't considered that. By Putin and his, you know, and I mean, I say that like, it's almost, it sounds funny, but it, he's done it, right? Yeah, look, if they are, in fact- Is that crazy to say, John? No, no, I don't think that's, no, no, no, look, turn up dead. I haven't thought, I hadn't thought of that at all, Ben, but now that you, now that you, put that together, I mean, yes, there's the Russian angle here. Putin has killed people in Western countries before, notably in the UK several times. So whatever you do, do not put them
Starting point is 00:14:03 in the same facility with the same guards that Jeffrey Epstein was in. And I'm not joking. Like, I mean, they better have double and triple guards on these guys because I don't want to hear another story. Like, oh, golly gee, you'll never believe this. I mean, look, and the guards happen to be off duty. They're having away. We're on a 15-hour shit. They're overworked. And they happen to put sheets in there and they happen to take their roommates away. We said that after Epstein got into the brawl a couple weeks before the death. So we can say it now. It's not necessarily going to change anything, unfortunately. What other sort of lighter part of this story? This is the first time I've seen this, but Donald Trump has unleashed something that you can
Starting point is 00:14:44 expect you will see many times until Donald Trump is out of office at least. I told you that there There were photos, everybody knows there's photos. And so it wasn't long before people including Parker Malloy produced something like this. Seriously, they're the nickelback thing. It's gonna be used for every photo from now on. So there you have Don Jr. It's the two people who were arrested and also R&C co-chair, Tommy Hicks Jr. But those two individuals are also in photos. There's one photo with Trump, Pence, and Giuliani and those two.
Starting point is 00:15:16 Again, being in a photo doesn't necessarily mean anything. That didn't stop Donald Trump from, you know, tweeting out what he tweeted out. Here's the only thing that it means, and then it gets to, I think, maybe even the most problematic part that is actually legal. So the reason that they're in all these pictures is because they're giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to Trump's campaign, Trump's super PACs, to Republican Congressman, not just P.Sessions, but also to the Republican leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy. So the problem is that if they weren't connected to foreign governments and they weren't using fake names, it's actually perfectly legal to give $325,000 to Trump's super PAC. Now, do you think that that might influence a politician? All of Washington says, no.
Starting point is 00:15:59 Supreme Court says, no, no, of course that wouldn't influence a politician. $325,000, no, they were going to vote the way that they were going to, and that doesn't matter. By the way, it could be $3.25 million. It could be $30 million. has been $30 million, and IRA gave $30 million to Trump's super PACs. Sheldon Adelson has given $30 million to individual politicians. So does anyone in the country, conservative or progressive or anywhere in the middle, think that somebody giving $300,000 is not going to affect a politician, let alone $30 million,
Starting point is 00:16:32 that the intent is not to obviously bribe the politician. Right, I mean, there are probably examples where they gave $300,000. didn't get what they wanted, right? Or the politician said, no, I'm not going to do it. But you're right, the intent is obvious, and I would say that most times probably works pretty effectively. Yeah, overwhelming majority of the time. It works excellent.
Starting point is 00:16:54 We have a version in this story, so Pete Sessions, the congressman that was mentioned. He's a former congressman. Former Congressman, that's what I mean, yes. But he's running again now in a different district. Yeah, maybe this will help him. So Pete Sessions was approached by these individuals, and they wanted him to put pressure to get that the diplomat taken out, Yinovovich, and they raised $20,000 for him. And he wrote a letter to Pompeo complaining about her and saying she was biased against Trump.
Starting point is 00:17:20 So they hand over $20,000 and he does what they want. I mean, there's no more direct, it's just a bribe. By the way, again, if they hadn't used fake names and it wasn't for our money, that would be legal. You can give him $2,700 for his election, and then you can give the rest to a super PAC that's helping him win the election. And in our insane, incredibly corrupt system in America, they say, no, that doesn't influence the politician at all. Even though he did it.
Starting point is 00:17:45 Even though he wrote the letter after he got the $20,000, they're like, no, don't believe you're lying eyes. That is not a bribe. Let me read a story here from the Texas Tribune from a week ago, six days ago, from October 3rd, when Pete Sessions announced his campaign to replace Bill Flores, who's retiring. So he's not running in his old district, as I said he's running in a different district, and that's causing some, it says here, some. unease among local Republicans.
Starting point is 00:18:10 Sessions, quote, my goal is to work together to restore the Republican majority in the House and maintain our control of the Senate and White House session, said in a news relief Thursday afternoon. My support for President Trump is unwavering, and I will dedicate my time in office to help enact his conservative. Yeah, that's because you were both legally bribed by the same guys. That's okay, I piece that one together. Yeah, okay, guys.
Starting point is 00:18:31 Yeah, we're co-conspirators, so I'm with it. Yeah, look, wolf dash pack.com slash join. Because if you don't get the money out, they're going to, if again, not using fake names, totally legal to bribe any politician in the country and completely and utterly own them to get them to write any letter, fire, any ambassador, take any action that you want. In fact, if you're a company or an individual, it's a little crazy not to bribe the politicians because your competitor might bribe them. And it gives you an unbelievable advantage to bribe these politicians.
Starting point is 00:19:08 Our best case scenario is that, especially as you say, companies that make hundreds of millions of dollars, like it's not worth half a million dollars for you to try this. And then, and like our best case scenario is that company X that wants to drill gives $500,000 and company Y, which doesn't want to drill but wants to get a nuclear power plant also gives $500,000 and then we're like ideally reset to zero, you know, like that's. But of course what they're going to do is somebody's going to give 600, the other one's going to give 700,000, what does that sound like? It sounds like an auction.
Starting point is 00:19:41 Right, that's what it is. It's not a democracy. And I don't think even that way, that's not, because here's who's not involved in any of that, people. People. Yeah, that's right, that's right. That's why you got to get the money out. Wolfpack's trying to get the money out.
Starting point is 00:19:53 And there's some progressive candidates running for president who are trying to get the money Until you get the money out, this corruption is going to continue unabated forever. And reporters that don't concentrate on that, don't understand politics at all. Politicians who don't understand that that's the cancer in the system, don't understand politics at all and we'll get nothing accomplished. You know, I just don't understand why in my scenario that sort of grassroots activists concerned about global warming, they need to give half a million dollars to even the playing field. And if they just do that, then we're fine.
Starting point is 00:20:30 This is the absurdity of the American system. So that's why you've got foreign actors coming in. And a lot of times this is dark money. You're not even allowed to find out where the money came from. So how would we know if it's a foreign government or not a foreign government, a foreign actor or not a foreign actor? A lot of times you can't even ask. This is absurd.
Starting point is 00:20:51 The American government is for sale. We shouldn't be surprised that some of the bidders are foreign government. governments. Yeah. They're like if you're for sale, I'll buy you. We should probably take a break. Lots of things we get to. Okay, when we come back, Trump's in trouble, not just for Ukraine, but this, this, what
Starting point is 00:21:11 he did for the Kurds, it is having, I'll say, surprising effect on him. I think it's going to hurt him almost as much as anything he's done, because it's really taking a toll on his support among conservatives. the military and Republicans. So I want to give you the details of that when we come back. So we'll see. We need to talk about a relatively new show called Un-F-Inging the Republic, or UNFTR. As a Young Turks fan, you already know that the government, the media, and corporations
Starting point is 00:21:43 are constantly peddling lies that serve the interests of the rich and powerful. But now there's a podcast dedicated to unraveling those lies, debunking the conventional wisdom. In each episode of Un-F-The-Republic, or UNFRAP the Republic, or UNFRAP, The host delves into a different historical episode or topic that's generally misunderstood or purposely obfuscated by the so-called powers that be. Featuring in-depth research, razor-sharp commentary, and just the right amount of vulgarity, the UNFTR podcast takes a sledgehammer to what you thought you knew about some of the nation's most sacred historical cows. But don't just take my word for it. The New York Times described UNFTR as consistently compelling.
Starting point is 00:22:27 and educational, aiming to challenge conventional wisdom and upend the historical narratives that were taught in school. For as the great philosopher Yoda once put it, You must unlearn what you have learned. And that's true whether you're in Jedi training or you're uprooting and exposing all the propaganda and disinformation you've been fed over the course of your lifetime. So search for UNFDR in your podcast app today and get ready to get informed, angered, and entertained, all at the same time.
Starting point is 00:23:06 All right, back on a young Turks. First of all, I want to tell you guys, I'm going to Ohio on Tuesday, and I hope to see you guys there. We're going to do a meetup there. It's kind of a rally slash meetup. It's at the Renaissance Westerville-Polaris Hotel at 2 o'clock. Ohio's a big state. I'm looking to narrow it down to one of the cities.
Starting point is 00:23:25 Yeah, yeah, near Columbus, obviously, where the debate is happening. So it's Westerville, Ohio. It's on Tuesday. Xavier Carrigan running for office is a huge progressive, is also going to be there. And so is Morgan Harper, just Democrat. She's also going to be there and talking to you guys. So it's a great opportunity. T.y.t.com slash rally, show up at 2 o'clock.
Starting point is 00:23:46 But once you go through t.t.com slash rally, they get you the information on exactly where and won. I was there for a long weekend in Columbus over the summer. And Columbus is an outstanding city. Okay, God bless. But, you know, every city I go to in America, almost every city I'd rather enjoy. You'll like Columbus more than all those other cities. Okay, well, we're going to find out.
Starting point is 00:24:07 And then, of course, our coverage of the presidential debate starts at 8 p.m. Eastern. So you got the regular show, and then as soon as the debate is over, boom, we're back on analyzing the debate here in the studio. And then I'll be in the spin room and we'll connect that way as we have another debates. Okay, let me run through your comments, a lot of really great ones so as quickly as I can. Lorenzi from the member section says, ah, so excited to see Ben back on the main show. It's been too long, cannot wait to hear his perspective. You're going to be disappointed. Okay.
Starting point is 00:24:39 Jank Tapper writes in, that's funny. That's funny. Double dose of Johnny Pie today. Love it. Skelner writes in. Everyone around Trump goes to prison. Magus still thinks he's St. Trump. And it's curious how many people around him have gone to prison. Jess slash IMTYT writes in, anyone else look at these two guys and think, too wild and crazy guys. Yeah, they do it look over that way.
Starting point is 00:25:05 I saw that Nash up where it was those two and then the two wet bandits from home alone next to each other. So I keep reading that they're associates of Giuliani, and I have not read that he is representing them. I have not. Yeah, I have read that he is referred to them as clients. Okay, all right. Justina Al Cherry on Twitter writes in, wow, Ben on the main show, love it. And then finally, well, actually, Chaco Satsu Coastplay says, can't wait to see Marie for Congress on T.O.T. Live tonight, that's Marie Newman.
Starting point is 00:25:32 She's going to be on in the third hour. So is Jessica Cisneros. Last one, unregistered, Chicano says, Saul Goodman would be proud. Trump didn't just hire a criminal lawyer. He hired a criminal lawyer. Excellent breaking bad. How shocking is it that Trump's smartest lawyer turns out? out was Michael Cohen.
Starting point is 00:25:53 He's like, I'll just take the prison time up front and be done with it. Yeah, right. All right. What's next, John? Oh, I thought you'd want you to do that. Okay, so let's talk about a different poll then, not that one. Fox News released the results of a new poll today. It's an impeachment poll showing for the first time, I think with the Fox poll at least,
Starting point is 00:26:10 majority support for not only impeaching Donald Trump, but also then removing him from office. And Donald Trump received that new poll from Fox with all of the grace that you would expect. He took the poll and then he took Fox News and he took him behind a woodshed and we know where that goes. So look, he tweeted about them. He's not a fan of them. But this time, him casting them aside in favor of another right wing network was as direct as I've ever seen it. So let's talk about a couple of his tweets. He says, from the day I announced I was running for president, I have never had a good Fox News poll.
Starting point is 00:26:44 Whoever their pollster is, they suck. No, we gotta stop right there. Hold on, we'll get to the rest of it. But first of all, it's so telling in so many different ways. You've never had any good polls from any news organization. From Rasmussen. I was going to say that, except Rasmussen, whose polls actually suck, because they're not accurate.
Starting point is 00:27:08 But every other polling organization agrees, you are not popular. So now why is he so mad at the Fox News poll? Because his, it's not just because he's unintelligent. I know that's my go to explanation and write 99% of the time. And still true here, he really doesn't understand what a poll is. But mainly because he assumes corruption, he does projection. So he thinks, why aren't they rigging the poll? Why is Fox News being so mean to me?
Starting point is 00:27:35 Their pollster sucks because he's agreeing with all the other pollsters, when in reality, if he was doing his job right, he'd rig the poll so I look good. Yeah, yeah, if he's saying this. This pollster's bad and then tweets out Breitbart polls that show him with 97% approval. It's not polling accuracy that he's really concerned about there. Yes. But let's continue with the tweet. But Fox News is also much different than it used to be in the good old days.
Starting point is 00:27:59 With people like Andrew Napolitano who wanted to be a Supreme Court justice and I turned him down, he's been terrible ever since, Shep Smith and Donna Brazile who gave crooked Hillary the debate questions and got fired from CNN and others. Fox News doesn't deliver for us anymore. It is so different that it used to be, oh well, I'm president. Yeah. Also, let's remind ourselves that he is president, and he writes things like, their pollsters sucks.
Starting point is 00:28:23 Oh, well, oh yeah, I'm still president. Whoever their pollster is, they suck. So like I said though, really fast, it's very direct, it's get rid of Fox News, and then, well, what should we watch instead? I'd recommend the Dark Crystal prequel series on Netflix, very good, I've been trying to get a Ben to watch it. He has a different idea. He tweeted almost immediately after that one, thank you to OANN, One American News, for your fair coverage and brilliant reporting.
Starting point is 00:28:48 It is appreciated by many people trying so hard to find a new, consistent, and powerful voice. See you tonight at the big, you can just watch the voice. See you tonight at the big rally in Minneapolis. And somebody was watching this exchange and noted it. It is someone who is known for fairness and brilliant reporting. OANN turned their entire front page into Donald Trump. them. It's not only the headline there, but you can also see it's their trending topic.
Starting point is 00:29:15 That's how most journalists behave, sort of, yeah, when people say that they're, when a politician, when the powerful, thank them for their coverage. They're always like, oh, sure, let's great, let's brag about that, let's put that and speak us. That'll be our headline tomorrow morning. So I think there are a couple things worth mentioning, real quick. First of all, Andrew Napolitano, as was last week, and again, this would be one of the things that, you know, you could say when Mitt Romney said something publicly regarding the Kurds,
Starting point is 00:29:44 which we'll get to, and like Lindsey Graham, when Napolitano said that Trump had confessed to a crime at the point where he said he admitted encouraging the Ukrainians to look into Joe Biden and his son. That's a stunning moment. Like maybe it was because Napolitano tried to get on the heat. Napolitano had told his friends. Politico reported that Napolitano had told friends that he was on the short list back in 2017. And so maybe he's bitter, I don't know, but still having a, the most prominent legal analyst
Starting point is 00:30:13 at Fox News suggests that the president had just committed a serious crime was a significant moment. Then the story that broke today, reading from the New York Times today, is it turns out that last night, Wednesday night, William Barr met privately with Rupert Murdoch. And given Trump's clear, Trump's frustration of Fox News, as we know, because he's tweeted before did not start this morning. So I imagine what William Barr was saying, hey, we're going through this difficult impeachment inquiry, and we desperately need spun coverage in our favor.
Starting point is 00:30:47 I mean, I don't think we need to interpret what likely happened there. How do we mend this relationship so that you people get in line? Right, but you know what? Maybe that's a little bit of good news, because that meeting happened on Wednesday, and Fox News hosts continue unabated, and so maybe Murdoch said, no, we are not going to slant our coverage. I mean, it's already massively slanted, but we're not going to give you an extra break. And that's why Trump might be even more furious today.
Starting point is 00:31:14 Maybe. My hunch is he can't restrain himself that today was the day. It's true, the poll didn't come out today, right? Isn't the impeachment poll? It came out yesterday. Yesterday. So, but I mean, he's, so the poll came out yesterday. The meeting was last night, and yet he's tweeting about it today would suggest that whatever
Starting point is 00:31:30 came out of that meeting, unless it was just a friendly meeting among friends. and they didn't talk politics. It didn't work. It didn't work, that's right. So you were sort of jokingly saying, like, this is totally what a serious news organization would do. I mean, I think rational people would look at, like, if a news organization is getting praised by a politician, then probably they're not being as critical as maybe they should
Starting point is 00:31:50 be. But it feels like an increasing number of people just view politics as a series of cults of personality around leader figures in politics and media. And especially when it comes to people like Donald Trump, I had author Jason Stanley on who literally wrote a book of how fascism works, he looks at it entirely through the lens of loyalty, loyalty to the leader. And so this is an incredibly effective way to discredit an entire news organization for people who believe that loyalty to Trump is the only thing that matters.
Starting point is 00:32:16 It's not like they don't need to win awards, they don't need to break stories, they don't need to have a big investigative reporting team, they need to demonstrate the most loyalty and get the literal thumbs up from Donald Trump for that loyalty, and that's potentially all it takes. And we know that that's what Trump values more than anything in his organization. what he's valued throughout his career. Yeah, that's because like the same thing for mob bosses. They value loyalty over competence and it's actually a rational thing to do because if they don't
Starting point is 00:32:43 have loyalty, they're gonna go to prison. If the bank robber is not as competent, they'll live, right? So, and Trump being a lifelong criminal values loyalty more than competence, that's why he has the most incompetent administration anybody's ever seen. But they're loyal. But they're loyal until he fires them, until he throws them under a bus, et cetera. But two more things about facts that are important. One is that poll is damning.
Starting point is 00:33:08 So 51% didn't just say he should be impeached. They said impeached and removed from office. That means convicted in the Senate. Now when a majority of the country is there, by the way, that also justifies exactly what we've been saying all along. All you do was start impeachment proceedings. When Nixon's impeachment proceedings began, only 19% of the country wanted to impeach Nixon. By the end, he had resigned.
Starting point is 00:33:37 So we made the argument as progressives. Nancy Pelosi, for God's sake, get to it. Because one, you present the evidence, and it's talking about 24-7, otherwise it gets buried. And two, Trump unravels and makes more mistakes and acts in a way that is more damaging. And that's exactly what happened. And immediately the polls are already at 51% impeach and remove, even if it's a Fox News poll. And so, and then, and the last part of that is the reason Trump is so mad is because once you burst that bubble, then he's in a world of hurt.
Starting point is 00:34:15 Because his posse watches Fox News. And if Fox News is maniacally saying that white is black and that the sky is green and not blue and grass is blue and not green, they will believe it. It will believe it a hundred percent. I mean, we just, the last three years has been a case study in that. But if half of them are saying, no, the sky's actually blue, they might actually look up and go, oh wow, it is kind of blue, isn't it? And so if Trump's going to go down, that bubble bursting is going to be an enormous part
Starting point is 00:34:48 of it. The only logical reason for no Republicans taking a genuine, you know, Justin Amash, taking a genuine stand against him. And that doesn't just mean criticizing him publicly or tweeting publicly and critical. That means stopping him politically. That means someone who would actually say, I'm going to be voting against my interests because he, I can't have him have any more political power. And I hope you people understand that.
Starting point is 00:35:12 I want to restore conservatism to the Republican Party. And as soon as he's gone, I'm back, but I, right? And the reason that nobody has done that, we have to believe other than being craven blind followers of the dear leader is that they see that 90% approval among Republicans and realize that their own political careers are in jeopardy if they do that, right? I think they're mistaken, but that's what they think. But that number doesn't have to drop from 90 to 50. That number just has to drop to 75, 73, 72 for them to think, okay, there's wiggle room.
Starting point is 00:35:47 If we lost 18%, 18 more will come. So this is a sign, and let me say one other thing, because the rest of the Fox poll came out today real quick. And it restored Biden to a 10 point lead over Warren, 3222 with Bernie at 17, and nobody else worth mentioning. So that was the top three. But then it also did the head-to-head matchups. And now what has to concern Joe Biden, Biden 50, Trump 40, Warren 50, Trump 40.
Starting point is 00:36:17 And Bernie, 49, Trump 40. So all three of them winning by 9 or 10 points, which massively, again, if that trend shows, Joe Biden's biggest argument, which is, I'm the guy who beats him, starts to be undercuts. Just one poll, but I thought it was worth mentioning. Yeah, okay, real quick, I'm going to do one more story related to Fox, so come to me. So somebody from U.S. Special Forces called in to a Fox News reporter and had some devastating things to say. Oh, that was a Fox News reporter?
Starting point is 00:36:44 Yes, Jennifer Griffin is who he called into. We don't know his name. He's a member of the U.S. Special Forces that fought alongside the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic forces. He said, quote, I am ashamed for the first time in my career. He said, Turkey is not doing what it agreed to. It is horrible. We met every single security agreement. The Kurds met every single agreement with the Turks. There was no threat to the Turks, none from this side of the border. Look, I'll give my opinion. I don't think that's completely accurate. I think there is Kurdish terrorism inside of Turkey, and some of it does come from the Syrian side. I don't
Starting point is 00:37:16 think that it merits Turkey going into northern Syria, and I certainly does not merit from America's perspective, America betraying the Kurds who fought with them. And this is a guy who did fight with them. I'm going to tell you about another guy who was in the military who fought with them, who said something interesting too. But this is Fox News reporting it, so it's even more damaging. He went on to say, this is insanity. I don't know what they call atrocities, but they are happening.
Starting point is 00:37:40 And today reports out seven civilians have already been killed in the Turkish incursion into Kurdish territory in Syria, so civilians being killed, obviously, not only bombing from the planes, obviously, but also the ground invasion has begun. And so, look, this is more damaging to Trump, I think, than a lot of people understand. He's losing Republican senators on this. That doesn't mean they're totally gone, but they're super mad. And they're mad for a number of reasons. The military industrial complex doesn't like this.
Starting point is 00:38:14 Our other allies, Saudi Arabia, Israel, et cetera, don't like this. And now you've got guys in the military going around saying, I'm ashamed for what we have done because of Trump. That's gonna hurt the big guy. It's gonna hurt him, I think, really, really bad. So another member of the military, not to Fox News, but to another outlet explained, you know, you guys keep saying we fought alongside one another, that's actually not true. We would tell them the coordinates, and we would tell them where ISIS is coming, and then we'd
Starting point is 00:38:47 go behind a hill, they would do the fighting. They fought in front of us, not side by side. And I saw them lose 11,000 soldiers and 24,000 more wounded. And we're just sitting here, watching them get killed. So all the military on the ground are disgusted by what happened. That thread from what's your name, Jennifer Griffin? Yes. It's really worth reading.
Starting point is 00:39:10 It's really powerful. that guy's sort of emotional reaction to what he was seeing. You mentioned that why Trump is in trouble on this. I mean, Lindsey Graham, we mentioned before, it's crazy, but I mean, this is a guy, Turkey's invasion of northern Syria attacking one of America's most reliable allies. The Kurds is a nightmare for the U.S. and Israel, he says, Mr. President, your decision regarding Syria is having grave consequences to our national security and that of our allies and partners. Very sad to see a great ally.
Starting point is 00:39:40 The Kurds being assaulted by Turkish Erdogan military using American designed equipment. Expect Congress to act soon against Turkey and aggressively push back. Hope the Trump administration will join this effort. That's not what we usually hear from Lindsey Graham about the president. Yeah, so now another bubble is burst. Not only is this going on Fox News, and Jennifer Griffin, you're right, was she said, I was shaken, I've never gotten a call like that in my life. But it's also pierced his bubble in the military.
Starting point is 00:40:07 So not everybody in the military was pro-Trump, obviously. But he did have a very solid contingent there. Now they're all going, the guy looks like he doesn't know what the hell he's doing, and we just betrayed the guys who are our best allies. I'm anxious for that moment where Jim Mattis feels that it's his time to speak out. Although H.R. McMaster today is foreign national security chief, said when asked, is it wrong to work with a foreign government in our political campaigns, basically answered, Absolutely.
Starting point is 00:40:40 Like, didn't hesitate and was like, it is definitely wrong. To add on to what you said, there was an announcement today, I think he originally spoke with a radio station yesterday, but John Shimkus, Republican of, I believe it's Illinois, said that after he learned about the withdrawal order, he told his chief of staff to, quote, pull my name off the I support Donald Trump list. He says he'll still support for his domestic agenda, but because of this terrible foreign policy decision, I ask that my name be removed from his campaign's official list of supporters. It would be an stunning irony that if the Kurds who unfortunately have no power in the world
Starting point is 00:41:15 and are constantly lied to and have never gotten a state of their own, wound up being one of the major causes that took Trump down and wound up affecting the biggest government, most powerful government in the world. And if the Kurds did that, at least Trump's betrayal of the Kurds led to that, that That would be an ironic show of force. So I would say that if he does not reverse himself on this, and it would be super awkward to reverse yourself on it now and have, you know, how do you run the risk if you reverse yourself of having an armed confrontation with Turkey.
Starting point is 00:41:53 But if he doesn't reverse himself with all this happening, it suggests that there are unbelievably nefarious reasons for doing it. Yeah, and I'll tell you this, you throw Erdogan under a bus, and he will throw you under a bus. No question about that. So Trump has to be incredibly careful. Whatever information Erdogan has about Trump, he will definitely release it if Trump reverses this decision.
Starting point is 00:42:17 Super fast version of this, there might be that stuff. I don't know anything about that, but absent that stuff, I think it's relatively easy to reverse himself because the argument for why this is now happening is not really accurate. They're not invading this area and trying to massacre the Kurds because we pulled four dozen soldiers out of the area. We still have like a thousand soldiers in Syria. It's not like this represents an actual withdrawal from Syria. It's a token movement of soldiers.
Starting point is 00:42:45 The reason they're coming in is because Trump gave them the okay. He just made it clear, probably before, but definitely after, that if they go in, if they invade, if they bomb, it's going to be fine. No, Ben's right. Yes, you're right, John, that that accurately describes the events. But Ben is right that you can't reverse it now. You can't say, okay, Turkey, take your tanks, because now it's. the ground invasion and turn around.
Starting point is 00:43:07 And turn around, they're gonna say no. And when they say no, what are we gonna do about it? Right. They're a NATO ally. What are we gonna go to war with NATO? Are we gonna go to war with ourselves? Are we gonna lend air support to the Kurds and bomb Turks? No, that's more, that's an unacceptable level of insanity.
Starting point is 00:43:26 Because then everybody else in NATO would be like, what the hell are we doing here? Yeah. You just bombed a NATO ally, that's insanity. So he has gotten himself into a mess he cannot get out of, classic Donald Trump. Maybe, because he didn't fully understand the situation. Oh, just maybe. Yeah. No, no, he's thinking about Normandy, man.
Starting point is 00:43:45 He's this three-dimensional chess. All right, we gotta take a break. When we come back, the biggest trouble for Donald Trump, McConnell, okay, he keeps calling McConnell on a panic, and I don't see McConnell out there in front of the press. So let's talk about that when we read. At TYT, we frequently talk about all the ways that big tech companies are taking control of our online lives, constantly monitoring us and storing and selling our data. But that doesn't mean we have to let them. It's possible to stay anonymous online and hide your data from the prying eyes of big tech.
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Starting point is 00:45:14 In the meantime, enjoy this free second. All right, back on a young turst, kinder politics on Twitter rights. And can I get a shout out to my mom, Chris, who's visiting us in San Francisco for the first time because my daughter, Willow, was born September 26th. So, congrats, and shout out to Chris. She's a member two, and we've never been able to watch live together. I'm the one who got Shaheed to sign the Progressive Pledge. I'm doing it because you did that, okay?
Starting point is 00:45:41 So Shahid Bhutar signed the Progressive Pledge, TYT.com slash pledge. He's running against Nancy Pelosi. He's also part of our Road to Revolution series. Check that out on t.com. Death Waldorf writes in, JFK, ask not what your country can do for you. Trump, this poster sucks. Gabby Marita in the member section. In an alternate universe somewhere, Donald Trump is a really great mean girl.
Starting point is 00:46:07 A guy writes in, oh, well, I'm still president. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. Wakanda would make Trump cry, writes in, also Trump on polling, America, your opinion sucks. That's true, and last one. No, to, yeah, Doja Toke 420 says, maybe the younger Murdox are finally getting a say. They've lost business abroad because of their lies supporting Trump. Doja, totally correct. Lachlan Murdoch opposed to this, going in this direction.
Starting point is 00:46:39 The younger Murdox are like, we've got other business interests. And this Fox News supporting Trump like a madman is killing us. And that is having a big effect. 30 seconds less that I heard from a number of people who had worked at Disney. And I don't know how this is eventually going to shake out. But that they, initially there was considerations. that movies would still be released under the Fox banner when Disney acquired Fox, but that the big concern with that around the world was the name Fox, that the Fox News had so tarnished
Starting point is 00:47:12 that brand that they were, and it appears they are, not going, there's not going to be any movies from Fox. There'll be Fox Searchlight, but no Fox movies. Yeah, by the way, I have a different source confirming the same thing. I don't know anyone. Okay. Okay, let's jump into the news. Let's talk about McConnell. Everyone's favorite time of day.
Starting point is 00:47:32 Mitch McConnell is apparently playing an increasingly important and daily part of Donald Trump's, both his defense and his strategy, as he's feeling more pressure. In private, Trump is increasingly leaning on the Republican leader in the Senate. In a return to the president's panic behavior during the height of the Mueller investigation, Trump is calling McConnell as often as three times a day, according to a person familiar with the conversations, and obviously you know you're doing well when you're talking to Mitch McConnell that often. Trump has been lashing out at GOP senators, he sees as disloyal, according to the person familiar with the conversations, telling McConnell he will amplify attacks on those Republicans who criticize
Starting point is 00:48:07 him. It would be interesting to see if that includes Lindsey Graham. Possibly. Yeah, okay, my first comment on this is, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. So if Trump is not panicked, why is he calling senators? So remember, impeachment is in the House. So that's pretty much a foregone conclusion. I mean, look, the Democrats can screw anything up, but he should be calling about House Republicans,
Starting point is 00:48:36 like, hey, what can we do to take advantage? Can we start to hurt the Democrats in the Trump districts, et cetera? And they've already got ads running there, and they're already doing that. But he's not focusing on the House. I actually think it is rational to focus on the Senate where he might be convicted. But apparently Trump thinks being convicted in the Senate is on the board, that it is a possibility. that it is a possibility, calling McConnell three times a day in a panic. And so now the second telling part of this is, I don't see McConnell anywhere.
Starting point is 00:49:05 Turtle's gone into his shell, and he is the only thing he said in the press in the last two weeks is, yes, if it came to the Senate, we would have to have a trial. That's absolutely true, but McConnell has not cared too much about the Constitution in the past. He's known for legendary epic obstruction, but in this case, not a moment's hesitation. Oh, yeah, we'll definitely have the trial. And normally, if he thinks he's got a winning case, he's all over the press talking about how the Democrats have overstepped and it's outrageous and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, no turtle in sight, that is really bad news for Trump.
Starting point is 00:49:42 It's not like Trump's not trying to get him out there, he's calling him nonstop, and still McConnell's not in the press. He did, I thought then at the time he did say, oh, there'll be a trial, I'm not saying how long it'll be, like he would give them four hours to present. Well, we'll see. I'm curious, do either you remember, like, we can occasionally come up with a time when a particular Republican has criticized Trump, maybe for the grab-em-by-the-comment, or now Lindsey Graham on the Syria move.
Starting point is 00:50:07 Has McConnell ever openly criticized Trump? I don't remember, but it's a good question, because at least the thing of, if McConnell's not out there, not out there with pom-poms on, that's. That is as close to criticism of Trump that McConnell will get to. Probably, yeah. And so, look, McConnell is at 36% in Kentucky. He's up for reelection in 2020. He's not just worried about his caucus, and he's definitely gonna lose Cory Gardner in Colorado,
Starting point is 00:50:42 very likely Susan Collins in Maine, maybe Martha McSally in Arizona. I mean, they're in a world or heard, and he will likely be the minority leader. But that's if he survives. He has got to be worried I might go under. And so if the idea that Nancy Pelosi originally had that, oh, Donald Trump is looking forward to impeachment. Now some people in the press are trying to rehabilitate her by saying, oh, it was so smart to wait, please.
Starting point is 00:51:12 Can those same people at least acknowledge that she was 100% wrong about him looking forward to impeachment? cold sweat, panic. And his buddy, Chris Roddy, that runs newsmax out there saying it would be a mortal blow to him if he was impeached. So that is no longer in any dispute. And then the Republicans quietly consulting each other without going out there and publicly backing Trump is a terrible sign for Trump.
Starting point is 00:51:40 Last thing for me, at least on this, the, you know, we keep hearing of Republicans telling each other, oh, this guy's a fool and an idiot. and has no business being the president, but, right? So I'm not expecting this, and I don't want the cascade of, obviously, this won't happen. But, you know, there are still some old guard Republicans who I just thought have to bristle. They'll probably do nothing, conceded. But they have to bristle at a complete stonewalling of congressional oversight. I mean, they have to.
Starting point is 00:52:11 On some level, to me, Chuck Grassley has to think, Jesus, Mike Pompeo, you're just not going to, You're just not going to comply, you're just not going to give the people's house what they want. I'm sure they'll do nothing. But at some point, again, when the polling changes, right, then those feelings which they've squelched start to bubble up, maybe. The most important thing for whether Trump will survive or not is if polling starts coming out for those Senate seats that are up in 2020. And if the polling has those Republican senators now dipping into the 40s and maybe even the 30s,
Starting point is 00:52:46 Bye, bye, because they're the ones who decide his fate. You read this all the time, that Nixon, it took months to get Nixon, the country over 50% for getting rid of Nixon. And in the end, he wasn't impeached or convicted because they told him, you're going to be impeached. And then when he gets to the Senate, you're going to be convicted. And that's when Trump makes a deal and goes, well, how about I get immunity and all my kids get an immunity? And I'll see you guys later. And then he goes out, and then he says, I didn't want it anyway. This is stupid.
Starting point is 00:53:19 I would have won easily. I would have won easily. But, you know, I'm a better man than that. And I brought the country together. I win, everybody else loses. Right. Okay, you say anything you like, buddy, as long as you're out of the White House. And then he's arrested in the state of New York on state charge.
Starting point is 00:53:33 Well, he probably wouldn't think that through. Okay. And then I get married to Emma Watson. It's all coming up us. Well, let's see what happens. Yeah, yeah. Well, except the Emma Watson part. Well, you're right, that's never going to happen.
Starting point is 00:53:47 Okay, let's go to one more topic, just a little bit of fun to close it out. Ellen has received a lot of pressure over the last week because of her continued friendship with Georgia Debbie Bush. She appeared at him with him at a football game and got a lot of criticism. So she put out a video, you're seeing it over here, explaining that she just thinks that we should be nice to everyone, including people that we disagree with, sort of misreading what people's criticism was about. But that video and an Instagram post related to it did get her a lot of support, not necessarily
Starting point is 00:54:17 from the masses, but a lot of celebrities were in favor of what she was saying. So take a look at, this is just random screenshots from her Instagram, from that. You're seeing a bunch of celebrities there, Reese Witherspoon, Lenny Kravitz, a bunch of people I don't know. And then moving on, you got, hey, you got Snooky and Kendall Jenner and Jamie Fox, Jennifer Garner, a lot of people. Well, to be fair, Kendall Jenner and Snooki have never agreed on. something that was wrong.
Starting point is 00:54:42 I have no idea. I think the actor who played Legolas wrote a comment that said, kill him with kindness, which considering our criticisms, George W. Bush, I would have worded it differently. But a lot of support for her. Not every celebrity was supporting her, Mark Ruffalo tweeted, until George W. Bush is brought to justice for the crimes of the Iraq war, including American-led torture, Iraqi deaths, and displacement, and the deep scars, emotional and otherwise, inflicted on our military that served his folly, we can't even begin to talk about kindness.
Starting point is 00:55:15 Now that is, that's a good comment. So Mark Ruffalo swung me, and this is funny, because we have a poll, and as I was voting on the poll, I kept going back and forth between yes and no. So you guys did not. You were very clear. We asked, is it appropriate for Ellen to be pals with George W. Bush? t.t.com slash Ellen is the URL for it. You can keep on voting, but 26% said yes, 74% said no.
Starting point is 00:55:40 It is inappropriate, Ellen should not be friends with George W. Bush. By the way, I liked it. Ellen's going to take that under advisement. It's going to be like, oh, the TYT audience says it. Okay, I'm going to reconsider. But she should reconsider because I was more undecided yesterday because, and I made the case for it for yes, I've made the case for both, hence undecided, because Ellen brings a lot of people in to progressive.
Starting point is 00:56:10 positions. So a lot of people watch her that maybe are Republicans and conservatives, but they like her, they like her a lot. And she reaches out to them. And then they start to think, well, maybe lesbians aren't so bad. Maybe the LGBT community is not so bad. Maybe we, you know, maybe they should have the same rights as us. Maybe they should corrupt our students. But seriously, that's, that makes a giant difference. Ellen's entire career has made a giant difference. And part of it has been not harsh, not judgmental, but welcoming. So that's a really compelling case for it, yes. Compelling case for no is that all the obvious stuff, Bush is a monster, a million
Starting point is 00:56:47 dead Iraqis. But most importantly, in this context, I would say, the Iraq dead Iraqi civilians is, of course, the most important overall. But in this context, he not only was against gay rights, they ran their 2004 re-election campaign, specifically against gay rights. They had ballot measures in all the different states that they planted, Carl Rove did, on purpose, because they knew how much Republicans hated gay Americans and that they would show up to vote against gay Americans and vote for Bush in the meanwhile.
Starting point is 00:57:21 And it worked. Bush got elected, and a lot of those ballot measures that put hatred into law in those states got passed. brought people out. Yeah, so then, all right, a lot of people would think that's not a hard question. That's why we've got three to one here. Curious what you think. But the reason Mark Ruffalo swung me is, I thought, wait a minute, he's never apologized.
Starting point is 00:57:46 It's one thing to forgive someone after they've apologized. But he never came out and said, hey, I'm sorry for targeting gay Americans and driving fear and hatred against you. He never said that. He's still going around, joking around, like, ha, ha, ha. And when he did all these loads, I'm saying he never apologized to the Iraqis, never apologized for the dead millions of civilians in Iraq, not just soldiers, civilians. So hell no, nobody gets redemption, definitely not no, but not just redemption, you don't get friendship, you don't get smiles, you don't get to be friends with people, if you're that
Starting point is 00:58:20 kind of monster and never even had the decency to apologize. Yeah, I'll keep it short, I mean, I agree with both of the areas you focused on there. I talked about this in the show earlier this week, and I got some pushback for talking about those sorts of ballot measures and things like that. And I think that the pushback was right, although I feel that it's right to say that he was wrong in that area, because I'm not a member of the LGBTQ community, I should feel uncomfortable telling her how she should think about that and who she should support. So I'm perfectly fine focusing on a rock as the single biggest issue.
Starting point is 00:58:52 My biggest issue with what Ellen said is that she didn't come out and defend why you should should be able to be friends with someone who has done these things. She came out and defended why you should be friends with people who disagree with you. And that's not the issue. It's not that it's some regular conservative who like doesn't like Iraq. It was the guy who did these things. She wasn't, speaking of Iraq, she wasn't with Kid Rock, right? You know, where you'd be like, oh, look at Ellen, kid Rock, he supports Trump, well, you
Starting point is 00:59:21 know, whatever. They could be friends, they're both football fans. And first of all, I really don't think this is an important, I mean, it's an anti-important story. exact kind of thing that social media sidetracks. I don't care whether Ellen spends a day with George Bush yucking it up. I think it is puzzling that she didn't- I know, but you're wrong. It's okay, you've been wrong before, Lord knows you'll be wrong again. No, it, I mean, I think she made it a bigger story than it ought to have been.
Starting point is 00:59:45 She should have said, look, man, I'm in a football game and I did connect with him on a human level. I hear all your points and I get it, but what am I going to do, turn away from the former president or throw a drink in his face? We laughed, we had a hot dog. I still think what he did in Iraq was monstrous. And then- That would have been good. Right, that would have been different.
Starting point is 01:00:03 So to me, I don't know, because I don't really think they're best buddies. I find that very, very hard to believe. I think they were friendly to each other at a social gathering, which is the decent thing to do. You know, folks online also made a point that I'm a little embarrassed that I hadn't thought of, which is there's a little bit of a feeling of the club here. Like, hey, we're all famous, we're all rich. It's a good club. Yeah, it's a good club to be.
Starting point is 01:00:28 Don't rock the boat. The way I saw it worded was it's class solidarity masquerading as a call for old-fashioned civility. That's a devastatingly good point. Somebody else said, if George Bush had killed a million white women instead of a million Iraqi civilians, would anybody be yucking it up with them? Yeah. No, I got it.
Starting point is 01:00:50 That says something that's worse. What that says about us. I mean, I don't think Ellen has to make that call. I don't think in that situation we put it incumbent on Ellen DeGeneres to take that stand. It was peculiar that she turned it into the thing that she turned it in, which is what made it more of just a story of Ellen DeGeneres and George W. Bush seen together at the cowboy game, which could be nothing if she had allowed it to remain nothing. Okay, we're out of time. Everybody, check out the damage report. And if you're watching us on Roku, Pluto, YouTube TV, or Zumo, we've got a 12th.
Starting point is 01:01:25 24-hour channel and like me, you could turn on at any time and be like, hey, look at that. John Ida-Rolla, doing the damage report. So, and it's doing great on YouTube, check it out there as well. Roku, Pluto, Zumo. Yeah. Oh man, my dad's glad he's dead right now. All right, and if you're a member, check out me and Ben with Kevin Smith on Old School this week.
Starting point is 01:01:50 Yeah, it was a hell of a thing. If you're not a member, t.yt.com slash join. remember just to watch that episode all right guys uh we'll see you in a minute 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

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