The Young Turks - Screwed-y Giuliani

Episode Date: April 29, 2021

Feds executed a warrant at Rudy Giuliani’s NYC home according to the Associated Press. Biden details his American Families plan. 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. Welcome to the Young Turks. I'm your host, Anna Kasparian, and for the first hour today, I will be holding down the fort solo. I'll be hosting the show by myself. But for the second hour, John Iderola will be joining me to cover more of today's news. and he'll stick around for the post game.

Following the post game today, by the way, we will have special coverage of Biden's address to a joint session of Congress, which is super exciting. I mean, this is essentially supposed to be the equivalent of a state of the union address. He's doing things a little differently here. And aside from talking about his first 100 days, Biden is expected to talk about the details of his upcoming American Families Plan, which we'll also talk about a little bit on the main show today.

So make sure you check that out live on t-y-t.com slash live after the post game. That's at 8.30 p.m. Eastern time, 5.30 p.m. Pacific. And as a result of the special, there will not be an episode of Happy Half Hour or Woznia tonight on our Twitch channel. We will be doing the live coverage and special coverage of Biden's address. With that said, why don't we get to our next story? And this one's a doozy broke early this morning. And while we don't have as many details as we would like,

we can tell you that Rudy Giuliani's home has been raided. Federal investigators have executed warrants both at the home of Rudy Giuliani's and also his office. Now keep in mind that he had been facing an investigation by prosecutors in Manhattan. Now it appears that the warrants, which they had been looking to execute, last year have been provided. So federal investigators were able to show up and see if there was anything of interest in both his home and his office. Investigators executed warrants at Giuliani's home on Madison Avenue and his office on Park Avenue and sees electronic devices. Now, what is this investigation about? I mean, so many people have been investigated

in Trump's orbit that is understandable. It's hard to keep track of all of it. However, this investigation does have to do with Giuliani's lobbying work on behalf of Ukrainian officials. So Giuliani was central to Trump's efforts to dig up dirt against Democratic rival Joe Biden and to press Ukraine for an investigation. And this was a politically motivated investigation, of course, into Biden and his son Hunter, who himself now faces a criminal tax probe by the Justice Department. Now, Giuliani also sought to undermine for former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, who was pushed out on Trump's orders and met several times with a Ukrainian lawmaker who released edited recordings of Biden in an

effort to smear him before the election. So we had covered that impeachment in a lot of detail. It was very clear that Donald Trump had engaged in a quid pro quo in attempting to get the Ukrainian leader to announce some sort of sham investigation. into the Bidens, and in exchange, Trump would release congressionally appropriated funds that were supposed to be given to Ukraine without this ridiculous quid pro quo taking place, of course. That's why Trump was impeached the first time. Now, in this case, it appears that Giuliani was doing work on behalf of

foreign officials and did not disclose that information. Fox News had a few more details about this. Let's take a quick look at that video. According to the Wall Street Journal, which is also owned by the same parent company as Fox News, and who quoted Bob Costello, his attorney, the search warrant had to do with the Foreign Agents Registration Act, looking at the possibility that Giuliani might have been working at the behest of foreign agents to lobby the United States without registering as a foreign agent or informing the justice. department. According to Costello, the warrant sought communications between Rudy Giuliani and individuals, including John Solomon, who of course is a well-known columnist who was in communication with Rudy Giuliani about efforts to push for investigations of Joe Biden in the Ukraine. Solomon is also an important figure here. This is an individual who used to work over at the

Washington Times, another conservative outlet. He has been very close to Donald Trump and has really led the charge in putting out positive news articles about Donald Trump and his administration. It's also been reported that Solomon played a key role in persuading Donald Trump to try to get the leader of Ukraine to engage in some sort of sham investigation into the Bidens. So he's a key figure here. Obviously, Rudy Giuliani, not only is a key figure, but really went out of his way to make himself a key figure as the impeachment proceedings were taking place. That was when he really stepped up to be Donald Trump's incredibly ineffective lawyer, effectively embarrassing himself, and then continuing to do so through

the election and even after the election by claiming that there was widespread voter fraud, which of course has never been proven. Now with that said, what I find fascinating about this is that Rudy Giuliani went out of his way to make himself, put himself in the public eye knowing that Paul Manafort had been prosecuted and convicted for the very things that he's being investigated for now, including failing to register as a foreign agent as he was working on behalf of Russian officials. Now, he ended up spending some time in prison as a result of that. And that, of course, is in addition to a bunch of other Trump officials who have been prosecuted and convicted, people like Roger Stone, people like George Papadopoulos. The list goes on and on and on. And so we'll see how this plays out. But for now, all we really know is that this is the vague reason for the investigation. We don't have too many details. We're likely to get more details as the story develops. There have not been any criminal charges filed against Julie. Giuliani yet, and I think that's a key part of this story to keep in mind.

For instance, the Associated Press reports that although the warrants do not mean that charges are near or even expected, it nonetheless represents a significant escalation in the investigation and means that law enforcement officials have persuaded a judge that there's probable cause to believe a search warrant or search of Giuliani's property will turn up evidence of a crime. And this really was a warrant that was, you know, the Justice Department did seek this type of warrant a year ago. But unfortunately, the prosecutors here were unable to get that warrant from the DOJ, I should say. So the prosecutors tried to get it from the DOJ and top officials over at the DOJ would not allow for that warrant to go through. Now under the Biden administration, the DOJ is much more willing to allow for this investigation.

to go forward with the search of Giuliani's home and his office. Now with that said, Giuliani and his lawyer have responded to this, and they argue that this is nothing more than legal thuggery, which is an interesting phrase to use because legal thuggery sounds pretty cool. Illegal thuggery does not sound very cool. But they referred to this as legal thuggery. And I do want to read you a few quotes from Robert Costello, who is Rudy Giuliani's lawyer. He says, quote, why would you do? this to anyone, let alone someone who was the associate attorney general, United States attorney, the mayor of New York City, and the personal lawyer to the 45th president of the United

States. Just let that statement sink in for a second because what he's saying there is, well, this was a man in several different positions of power. Why would you ever want to prosecute someone like that? Well, no one is supposed to be above the law. And so if there is any criminality here, any actual wrongdoing, then regardless of what Rudy Giuliani's past career was, he needs to face the consequences for it. I should also note that in a statement during a press conference, his lawyer was livid about the fact that the DOJ is even conducting this investigation. He believes that the DOJ should not be involved in politically motivated investigations, which I find hilarious, if Giuliani was acting as a foreign agent and did not disclose that to

the United States government, that's a crime. He would have to face prosecution for that. That's what's happening right now. But the idea that the Justice Department should be independent of the executive branch or independent of the president is something that I actually do agree with. The only problem here is that the lawyer is arguing for something that the Trump administration certainly didn't practice themselves. Donald Trump did not see the attorney general as an independent person who shouldn't be influenced by the president. Remember, Donald Trump got rid of Jeff Sessions, because Jeff Sessions decided to recuse himself correctly, by the way, from the Russia investigation.

And then after firing Jeff Sessions, he brought on William Barr. And what did William Barr do? Was he independent? No, he carried water for Donald Trump. He intentionally misrepresented the findings of Robert Mueller. report on the so called Russia investigation. So this idea of the DOJ serving as an independent body, I think is the correct idea. It's just that we did not see that with the Trump administration, and I find it hilarious

that Giuliani's lawyer is now accusing the Biden administration of getting the DOJ to do its dirty work. I'm not buying that at all. There is a ton of criminality in regard to people who had been surrounded by by, by, by, Trump administration officials, people who are part of Trump's campaign. And so we don't know how this is going to end. All we know is his house got raided here, his office got rated. And as we learn more about the story, we will definitely fill you guys in.

For now, I do want to read a few comments from our members and from the super chat section. Al Belzo writes in and says, lucky for Giuliani, Trump pardoned him. Oh wait, that's right. I mean, there was a lot of pressure for Trump to implement these preemptive pardons. Remember, Matt Gates, Congressman Matt Gates also was asking for a preemptive pardon. And luckily Donald Trump didn't do that with people like Giuliani and Matt Gates. So, you know, this is the law and order president and all of his cronies, right? All of these people surrounding Donald Trump have faced serious criminal charges.

In many cases have been convicted. In this case, his own lawyer is facing a very serious investigation with the DOJ. And Parker writes in and says, I'll say it tonight. Tonight's a historic episode of the Young Turks first live special in studio since the pandemic can't wait for the Biden coverage. Thank you so much. And you guys can definitely check that out after the postgame show tonight. And since I'm hosting the first hour solo, I definitely encourage you guys to send in your super chat comments and questions. I'm going to read far more of them during the live show. All right, well, moving on to our next story.

President Joe Biden will be addressing a joint session of Congress tonight, which is the first joint session that he will be addressing. And he's planning on outlining the details of his American family's plan. We're going to talk a little bit about that right now. What does that plan include? What would it do to improve the lives of Americans? And more importantly, what's the likelihood of something like this passing? Well, the American Families Plan is expected to cost between $1.5 and $1.8 trillion and will include universal pre-kindergarten, sounds good. A federal paid leave program sounds real good. Efforts to make child care more affordable, super important, free community college, which is long overdue. And of course, he is going to provide permanent tax credits meant to fight poverty. So these are the tax credits that would apply to families.

the so-called child tax credit that is set to expire a year from the passage of the coronavirus relief plan. So I'm going to be honest, everything that I've read in the preliminary reporting on this seems fantastic. But of course, we need to be realistic about the roadblocks ahead in regard to the Senate and how it's structured. More importantly, how Republicans are going to fight pretty aggressively to prevent the passage of incredibly important legislation like this. So let's talk about some of the specific provisions that are likely to be proposed tonight. So the federal government would cover about 75% of the average community college tuition cost in each state when the program is fully implemented with states picking up the

rest. If all states, territories, and tribes participate, about 5.5 million students would pay absolutely nothing in tuition and fees. And that's according to the White House and its own analysis of this. So this is incredibly important, ensuring that at the very least, community colleges are free. Now, obviously, there's room for improvement there. Public colleges and university should also be free. I should also note that Joe Biden has failed to cancel a dollar of student loan debt, even after he had committed to canceling in the very least $10,000 worth of student loan debt for each federal borrower. He has not done that. But it does appear based on the preliminary reporting on this proposal, he is focused on at least making community

colleges free. It also provides an increase to the Pell Grant. This is a federal grant to college students to make college a little more affordable. When it comes to family leave, which I would argue is probably the most important part of this, the American Families Plan would provide workers with a total of 12 weeks, 12 weeks of guaranteed paid performance. family and personal illness slash safe leave by the 10th year of the program, which sounds like it's very far away because it is. But the plan would also ensure three days of bereavement leave annually, starting in the first year of the plan's rollout. So I would like to understand why it would take 10 years for this provision to be fully implemented. To take 10 years to implement

this is incredibly, it's an incredibly long time. And think about how much changes within 10 years, what could happen with a different administration coming in and essentially stripping this legislation of all of the provisions that we like. I mean, that kind of stuff does terrify me a little bit. And it would be easier to do that because if it's not fully implemented yet, well, people aren't enjoying these benefits. And it's a lot easier to get rid of the benefits before people even realize how

productive they would be for their own personal lives. So I'm a little concerned about that. Also, workers would receive up to $4,000 a month through the National Leave program. With a minimum of two-thirds of their wages replaced, the White House estimates the program will cost $225 billion over 10 years. Also, when it comes to the child tax credits, as I had mentioned, the initial idea was to get one year of child tax credits pass through the coronavirus relief package, and then Democrats would find a way to make it permanent moving forward. The proposal would extend or make permanent enhancements to several key tax credits that were contained in the Democrats $1.9 trillion rescue bill, which Biden signed into law last

month. The proposal contains about $1 trillion in investments and $800 billion in enhanced tax credits. So let's, let's pause for a second and just pay close attention to the wording there. Because if you notice, there's already a little bit of a cave because they're not just talking about, no, we want this to be permanent. The Biden White House is open to simply extending the child tax credit. What does that mean? Will it be extended for one year? And And considering how difficult corporate Democrats have been in the Senate, and how it's very unlikely a single Republican will vote in favor of this legislation, despite how popular it is. It's unlikely that they will make the child tax credit permanent.

And so when we have these discussions or this analysis in corporate media that intentionally compares Biden to Roosevelt, we need to push back against that because Roosevelt did things that structurally change the economy. He provided permanent programs like social security, for instance, like Medicare. Those programs are still used today and are incredibly popular today. These were structural changes to our economy. And they were permanent structural changes to our economy. If Biden doesn't make the child tax credit permanent, please stop comparing him to FDR. It's just, it's a ridiculous comparison. Now, on the upside, you have a president, a Democratic president who's finally willing to spend more money on the American people as income inequality

continues to be a problem, as the wealth gap is ever widening. And that's a positive development with the Democratic Party and with Biden's administration. But to compare him to FDR before he has secured a single permanent restructuring of the economy, I think it goes overboard, to say the least. The proposal also comes in addition to Biden's infrastructure proposal. So understand that this is a separate piece of legislation. And he plans on using much of his political capital in getting the infrastructure plan passed. I don't know how feasible it is to get that pass and immediately move on to the American families plan and genuinely think that you have a chance in passing that. In order to do it, you need to fight.

And what I've noticed from the Democratic Party is they are far too willing to cave to the demands of clowns like Senator Joe Manchin, as opposed to listening to their own constituents. And when you talk to constituents, when you do polling, you find that the infrastructure plan is incredibly popular, even among Republican voters. I have no doubt that this will be a popular proposal with the voters specifically, because it provides actual economic help that is long overdue. Ronald Reagan came in and completely gutted child care in America, which is why so many Americans are struggling to pay for child care for their children so they can get to work and get, you know, what they need to get done, done, right? And so this is

good news. It's good that there's a focus on these issues. But proposing the right policies is half of the equation. The other half has to do with fighting for it and doing what's necessary to apply pressure to people like Kirsten Cinema, like Joe Mansion. It would require actual rallying and campaigning in Arizona and in West Virginia. And what we've seen from the fight for a $15 an hour minimum wage is that the Biden administration isn't really ready or willing for that fight. And so I want to give them credit, but it's really, really hard to do it unless I see a clear plan of attack until I see a commitment to fight for this legislation. And if we don't get that fight, if they're unwilling to engage in that fight, it's just not going to pass.

I want to read a few comments from our members on this. John says, I can see the community college enrollments increase as students take their first two years there. This in turn could affect four year college enrollment. I am curious to see if four year colleges lower their tuition to make their institutions a little more appealing because now there's actually a pretty good reason to avoid going to those four year institutions for two years. It would make far more financial sense to go to a free community college for two years.

and then transfer, that way you're saving on college tuition for two years straight. All right, well, we got to take a quick break. I encourage you guys to send in your super chats. I'll read your questions and comments during our social break. And some of them when we come back from the break as well. I'll see you in a few minutes. We need to talk about a relatively new show called Un-F-The-Republic or UNFTR. As a Young Turks fan, you already know that the government, the media, and corporations

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-B-The-Republic or UNFTR, 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 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 have learned what you have learned. And that's true whether you're in Jedi training or you're up. 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. Hey, friends, welcome to our social break. I'm going to read a few super chat questions,

starting with Quelly Walker, who says in regard to Giuliani's home and office getting rated, The reckoning has begun. We'll see. I mean, there have been so many Trump-related officials and lawyers and all these clownish people who have already faced prosecution, who have already been convicted, who have already been pardoned by Donald Trump. In this case, he can't pardon Giuliani if he's actually convicted of any wrongdoing. But it's just so repetitive at this point.

It's incredible. Shadow Dragon Dreamer says, Biden is no FDR, more like FDR life. Biden's just willing to throw more money at the systemic issues that we have in our economy. And more money is good, I'm not trying to take away from that, but it's not a robust and long-term solution to the inequality that we're facing. I think that's the issue here, right? I mean, when you look at housing, there's as far as I've seen, and I could be wrong, because remember, it's really based on preliminary reporting, there's really no talk about what to do to make housing

more affordable for people. That is a huge problem right now. And there's a little bit of it in his infrastructure plan, but most of it is focused on like retrofitting homes to make it, you know, better for the environment. And that's great. But what are we going to do to make housing affordable? What are we going to do to prevent private equity firms from buying up entire neighborhood so they turn the community into rental properties as opposed to homes that people can actually afford and buy? These are real problems that I would like to see addressed. L.J. Wombology says on the away from phone, when the Republicans start their foibles, think about our women, poverty, hunger, and all its stressor impact on our women.

They stress our women the most. Yeah, I mean, look, we're all stressed out. Let's just keep it real. We're all very stressed out. And whether you're a man or a woman, you see your wages remain stagnant. You see the cost of living continue to go up. The climate continues to bring more and more extreme weather conditions that are terrifying. I mean, all of this stuff, everyone's really suffering under it, with the exception of a few incredibly wealthy people who could find a way out. Moon Dragon says almost every other country in Europe has free college. Guess who's better educated than us? True, true.

Moving on to our member comments, we have Vicky who says, the news of a proposal taxing the 1% put a smile on my face this week and today, feds raid Giuliani's office, big smile and love Anna's new hair. Thank you. Hair's not new. Hair's been like this, but I do appreciate the compliment. And that's right, Biden plans on paying for his proposal by increasing taxes on the rich. All right, let's get back to the show.

Welcome back to TYT, Anna Casparian with you. And we did get a comment from one of our top TYT members. I wanted to read that comment, and it's in regard to Biden's American Family's proposal. Jank Uger says, really good point about it being a standalone bill, this means it's less likely to pass. So he's giving me a compliment because I do think that Biden's probably going to diminish the, his political capital on the infrastructure bill. And is Congress going to be willing to pass another $1.8 trillion American families package?

They could be if they're pressured to effectively. But again, that really takes a fight that I just don't see the Biden administration engaging in. I don't see corporate Democrats engaging in. And also the way that Biden proposes to pay for it is through tax increases for the wealthy. So there would be a capital gains tax increase. and then those in the highest tax bracket would also see an increase in their taxes as well. So we'll see if that actually happens. But right now with the infrastructure bill, there's a lot of pushback by corporate Democrats

and the GOP in regard to increasing the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%. So it kind of gives you an idea of what the fight is going to be like moving forward. Let's move on to the state of journalism in America, a story that does. It didn't surprise me, but seems to have surprised many others. So, a New York Post writer has decided to quit the Rupert Murdoch owned tabloid, the New York Post after somehow realizing for the first time that she's going to be pressured to write negative news articles about people like Kamala Harris. And according to her open resignation, that's exactly what happened.

the tabloid ready headline cam on in, the post claimed that copies of a children's book written by Vice President Kamala Harris were provided at taxpayer expense in a welcome kit for unaccompanied migrant children at a shelter in Long Beach, California. And of course, just as you would expect with any tabloid, you get cheesy covers that look like this. And of course, they show an image of one, just one children's book. and they put out an entire fake story about it. And to be clear, the story is fake.

The narrative here is unfounded. There was absolutely no evidence that this was actually happening, that taxpayers were footing the bill for Kamala Harris' children's books. But it was written, it was published, and you also got that incredibly goofy cover. Well, the aftermath is pretty fascinating, because it turns out that the writer has stepped down because she claimed she was forced to write this piece

and that it was completely inaccurate. No books by Harris were provided by government officials at the shelter and the sole copy seen in the photograph that the post published on its front page had been donated through a neighborhood toy and book drive for the migrant children. So Laura Italiano is the person who wrote the article. And so just last night on Twitter,

she shared with the world an announcement. Today I handed my resignation to my editors at the New New York Post, the Kamala Harris story, an incorrect story I was ordered to write, and which I failed to push back hard enough against, was my breaking point. And then she says, it's been a privilege to cover the city of New York for its liveliest, wittiest tabloid, a paper filled with reporters and editors I admire deeply and hold as friends. I am sad to leave. But guess what?

The damage is already done, because this is how the. right wing media ecosystem works. You put out some false narrative, some false news story. I mean, it just happened with these accusations regarding Biden rationing red meat in order to save the environment. That was a completely made up story. And the media just ate it up. They went with it, conservative media, of course. And Fox News covered it as if there's going to be a rationing of red meat. You had all sorts of right wing politicians repeating it on Twitter. And that's exactly what happened in this case with the Kamala Harris story. So the headline, for instance, on Fox News, by the way, which still stands today.

I saw this headline this morning after it was already abundantly clear that the story was fake, that the writer had stepped down, said Kamala Harris's office stated ignorance of how her book was available for migrant kids at California shelter. It's currently the headline. I would argue you should probably change the headline. They updated the story, but most people see headlines, and that's it, it's over. And they get ideas in their heads, and they're already misinformed about what the situation really is. So why didn't Fox News change their headline?

I'd love to know the answer to that question. Updating it at the bottom of the article isn't enough. Also, Laura Italiano gets no cookies. You get no cookies, you don't get any respect, you don't get any props, because you decided to write the article and then you quit. I would argue that a smart person who finds it reprehensible, who finds it problematic, unethical to write fake news stories would step down before writing the fake news story. But she decided to write the fake news story first and then she quit, no cookies for you, I'm sorry.

But I think the biggest takeaway from the story is the fact that this is not rare. This just isn't rare. This happens all the time to different extent, right? To a different extent. So in this case, it was clear that they had a fake news story and they decided to run with it, even though it was just wholly inaccurate. In other cases, there's pressure to avoid doing negative news coverage on your sponsors. In other cases, you might not want to cover a negative news story regarding your political,

you know, people you agree with politically. I mean, this kind of stuff happens all the time. And sometimes it's explicit. Sometimes it's a little implied. But when you have six major corporations own 90% of the media, you're going to have a problem. You're going to have biased media. You're not going to have a diversity of opinions or a diversity of perspective for a publication that's owned by the Murdox.

You're just not. You're going to get a very simplistic worldview based on so-called conservative values. And conservative values are not anything that they would describe. It has nothing to do with family values. It has nothing to do with American patriotism. We know what conservative values are. Conservative values are corporate values. And guess what?

You see the same thing in corporate mainstream media as well. This effort to immediately question how to pay for robust policies that would dramatically improve Americans' lives. You don't get that same type of commentary or that same type of criticism when it comes to defense contractors, when it comes to engaging militarily in Asia, for instance, which we've certainly been doing since the end of the Obama administration when he had his so-called pivot to Asia. We started arming in- 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 our data.

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We started selling record numbers of weapons to countries in that. area in an effort to try to intimidate China. You never hear any critical coverage about stuff like that. Because a lot of these defense contractors are sponsors for the corporate media. A lot of them are actually tied to the major corporate conglomerates that own 90% of the media. So look, this is my way of saying that corporate influence in media, political agendas in media, is as common, I mean, it's as common as jank, you know, doing a cheesy dad joke on the show. It's just every day. Every day the coverage you get is thought through carefully. And sometimes, you know, you just have that thought in the back of your mind.

I don't want to upset my sponsors. Other times, they don't want to be talking about corporate influence. They don't want to talk about money in politics because it's really hard to pass judgment when your media organization is funded by fossil fuel companies. So this is a more extreme example because it's just such a false story and they reported it as if it was true. And what I also find interesting is that all these journalists running around or all of these editors who clearly have a political agenda have to immediately stoop to the lowest common denominator in order to smear their political opponents. I'm not saying,

that Kamala Harris is perfect. I'm actually saying Kamala Harris has quite a few things that you could legitimately criticize her on. But they don't want to do that work. They would rather go to these made up narratives, manufactured controversies in order to attack her. Why not do your jobs? If you actually do some reporting, if you're a true journalist, I'm sure that you can find things in regard to Kamala Harris's performance as a prosecutor in California, for instance, her votes in the Senate. I mean, there's actual substantive things they could focus on, but they decided not to do that. Because A, they think their readers are stupid. And so they try to find ridiculous scandals to scare them. And B, they're lazy. They don't want to do anything tough.

Real reporting takes resources, money, and courage. And they don't really like to hire people like that. So Laura Italiano, I apologize for your joblessness right now. But maybe you should have thought of that before working for a right wing tabloid, as by the way, she referred to it as tabloid herself. All right, why don't we take our next break? When we come back, we have more news to get to, including my thoughts on Joe Manchin's statements about reforming American democracy. Turns out he's against it. Wow, who would have thought? See you in a few minutes. Kid tested, Pollitt Bureau Prove says new TYT segment has to be Anna's, you get no cookies. With the sound bite being no cookies for you, sorry.

Yes, I don't even know where that came from. I just started saying it. But I think it's because whenever I think about being rewarded, I think about receiving cookies for some reason, like, you know. So yeah, no cookies for Italiano, who, by the way, has an awesome last name. I hate to admit it. Mm-hmm, exactly. All right, well, let's move on to some other member comments. Max's mama says the scandals, if the Biden-Harris administration are so nonexistent, that the right-wing media have to make them up.

One could say the scandals are trumped up. I mean, there might not be actual scandals, but they're certainly poor governing. And when all you need to do, by the way, is just look at the polling and see what Americans genuinely want. And then take a look at the actions of politicians and whether or not they have actually carried out the best interests of their constituents. And more often than not, they don't. It's just that reporters don't report on that. They look for sex scandals. They look for whatever salacious nonsense they can latch onto in order to smear their political opponents.

I mean, you see it all the time. It's incredibly frustrating. Poetry for Anna says, great job solo. Great job hosting solo. Anna, thank you so much. I really appreciate that. I'm weirdly nervous, even though I shouldn't be. And also our TYT members on YouTube, new members, are Andrea Kaven and also LW.

You can become a member by just clicking on that join button and you get options, three different tiers that you can join. And as a member, you get all sorts of exclusive members-only programming. We're having a special tonight, so you have access to the specials. Everyone has access to the specials. Sometimes we have exclusive members only content attached to that as well. And you get access to our archives. Like yesterday, I decided, you know what?

I want to watch an episode of Damage Report from a few days ago. And I did because I'm not paying for membership. I'm an employee, but I have membership access to the app, which is fantastic. So I watch all sorts of content on there. And I think that the access to the archives is my favorite thing about it. All right. Puff the Magic Weed Dragon says, Biden's not up to a full term, in my opinion. My concern is that he's just trying to accomplish as much as possible, as soon as possible,

sacrificing quality for quantity. Well, remember, so far he's passed one thing, and that's the coronavirus relief bill. And it took a while to pass it because getting legislation through this broken and divided Congress is difficult to do. I'm just worried that by breaking up his proposals into like all these different bills, it's very unlikely that we're going to get some of the provisions that are going to be presented in the American Families Plan. And I love some of those provisions.

So that's likely to be an issue. All right, let's get back to the show. Listen, we want to get you guys addicted to our members only programming. And every day after the show, we have. a member's only post game show, which today will be open to the public. So get a little taste, okay? Get a little hit of that post game. See how you like it and then help support the show by becoming a member. You can do that by clicking on that join button and deciding which tier you'd like to join. We have three different tiers and we made sure to make it as affordable as

possible. We know that times are tough. But when you support this show, you help to keep us independent, you help keep us sustainable, and we really, really appreciate it. And you get a lot of perks on top of it. All right, well, let's move on to my favorite person to dunk on these days, and that's Senator Joe Manchin. Conservative Democratic Senator Joe Manchin apparently has a huge problem with fixing our broken elections. Now, lately, he's had a problem with all sorts of things that would benefit his own constituents, like a $15 an hour minimum wage, doing away with the Senate filibuster, which serves as a massive obstacle and getting important policies passed. And now we're hearing that he is not in favor of passing the so-called for the people

act. And this would be legislation that would really reform our elections, get money out of politics, and ensure that everyone who's eligible to vote has the ability to do so. So the Senate filibuster reformers, according to Vox, hoped a GOP filibuster of Democrats' big voting rights bill, the For the People Act, could spur holdout senators to change the rules to pass it because it's so important. Mansion, though, recoils at the very idea. He recoils at the very idea of doing what's necessary to reform our elections, which of course have been incredibly problematic, if you're a worker in this country, especially a wage worker, being able to take a little bit of time off to get to the polls and stand in an incredibly

long line to vote is an issue. There are all sorts of problems, especially when it comes to election security, right? I mean, Republicans claim that they care deeply about preventing voter fraud. And so why is this an issue? Why is it so difficult to pass the For the People Act and why is Mansion unwilling to, in the very least, reform the filibuster to open the path for this important legislation to pass? Well, this is what he says. How in the world could you, with the tension we have right now, allow a voting bill to restructure the voting of America on a partisan line? Why, why is this going to be a partisan issue, though? I mean, when you really think about it, all Mansion and corporate Democrats would need to do, or Democrats

overall, anyone in favor of this kind of legislation would need to do is make the case that for months after the general election, you had one GOP lawmaker after the next, one Trump lawyer after the next, one Trump campaign official after the next, crying, whining, and complaining about how our election system isn't safe enough. secure enough. We need election security. Well, this legislation addresses that. Why not call them out on their own hypocrisy? But what Manchin is supposedly worried about is that if this type of legislation passes by reforming the filibuster, well, we should be terrified of another January 6th happening. We should be worried about Republican voters storming the Capitol again.

We should be scared of people breaking the law and doing terrible things. That's what Manchin is saying here. Do I believe him? No. But this is the dog crap argument that he's giving us right now. He says that 20 to 25% of the public already doesn't trust the system and that a party line overhaul would guarantee that number would increase, leading to more anarchy like that at the Capitol on January 6th, I just believe with all my heart, he says, all my heart and soul, that's what

would happen and I'm not going to be part of it. Now in reality, Mansion is presenting himself as this reasonable Democrat, someone who's trying to protect the country, someone who wants to ensure that lawmakers work together in unity, in solidarity to carry out the best interests of Americans. When in reality, this is about his donors. When in reality, this is about him, knowing that once you get rid of those obstacles, like the legislative filibuster in the Senate, then you might actually pass a $15 an hour minimum wage. You might actually pass Biden's infrastructure bill. You might actually pass the American Families Plan.

And his donors, they don't like that. They don't like that. That's what this is about. And in the meantime, he'd rather present himself as a little punk who's afraid of Trump supporters. rather than take ownership of the fact that he has been bought and he has no interest in protecting this country's democracy and ensuring that every American who's eligible to vote has the ability to vote without obstacles in the way. So let's also keep in mind that Mansion will go out of his way to insult his own constituents

and insult the American people in an effort to strike. rip down some of Biden's proposals. And he did that recently when it came to his infrastructure plan. As we've reported earlier, Biden's infrastructure plan calls for more than $2 trillion in spending. Mansion is going along with the GOP talking point about how no, it should be like around $600 to $800 billion and it should just focus on roads and bridges. And when he was asked why he believes that, get a load of how he insulted voters. There seems to be a bit of a disconnect on how to define infrastructure here.

President Biden has broader ambitions. He, for example, has a plan inside his big proposal that includes $400 billion for in-home care for elderly Americans and those with disabilities, also billions more for child care facilities. Do you support that? Well, here's the thing. All the things he has stated that's needed is needed. I do think they should be separated because when you start putting so much. into one bill, which we call an omnibus bill, makes it very, very difficult for the public to understand. I think American voters are stupid.

They don't understand how beneficial childcare and elder care could be. So let's take it out of the bill. I mean, I'm paid to say that. I mean, he's such a clown. I can't, I can't stand lawmakers insulting our intelligence. I can't stand it. As they stand there and serve as prostitutes for corporate interests, they turn around and insult our intelligence like this.

And I can't stand it. In fact, why don't we look at polling in regard to the for the People Act, which again would reform our elections, take money out of politics. Looks like the majority of voters, according to data for progress, are in favor of it. Overall support, 62%. opposition, only 23%. So the net support among likely voters is a whopping 39%. Why don't we take a look at how this breaks down among party lines. Likely Democratic voters definitely support reforming our election. 79% are in favor of HR1. Likely independent voters also like this, 61% are in favor.

And even among the GOP, 43% of likely Republican voters favor this legislation. And I think it's important to really remind you all of what this legislation includes. Because it is comprehensive and there are provisions in here that we desperately need. For instance, same day voter registration for federal elections. Pretty important considering what we're seeing in some of these now purple states like Georgia, Texas. you know, the states that didn't like the fact that they're seeing more and more democratic voters. Georgia certainly didn't like that it flipped from Trump to Biden in the last general election. So they passed all sorts of restrictive voting laws. So HR1 could undo that, but

Manson's not really interested in it. Require states to hold early voting for at least two weeks, and it would establish automatic voter registration. It would make election day, this is important, a national holiday so people can vote. It would also require states to provide online voter registration, which by the way, has already been adopted in 39 states. It would establish criminal penalties for people who corruptly hinder, interfere with, or prevent another person from registering to vote, and for voter deception and intimidation. I know Republicans like to engage in that.

There were a lot of threats about that during the last general election, but it would be nice if people can feel safe and free to go cast their ballot with no fear of intimidation. And HR 1 would do that. The bill, by the way, also requires election officials to notify any voter tagged for removal from the rolls. So I can understand why the GOP doesn't like that because they love to purge their roles and make it difficult for people who would typically vote for Democrats to vote. It also offers additional protections for those with disabilities, making it easier for them to vote. And as I mentioned, there is a big part of this that includes election security, something that the GOP claims to care about, something that everyone

in the country should care about. It mandates paper ballots. And Republican voters would love this. All voting machines used in federal elections must be manufactured in the United States. They claim they like this stuff. So why would the GOP be against it? Why isn't mansion asking those questions. That's right, he's paid not to. He's paid not to ask those questions. And when it comes to getting money out of politics, the bill would introduce voluntary public financing for campaigns, matching small donations at a 6 to 1 ratio. The money would come from a new freedom from influence fund under the U.S. Treasury, which would collect funds by charging a small fee assessed on criminal and civil fines and penalties or settlements with

banks and corporations that commit corporate malfeasance. So there's really no reason to be against this. There's no reason for Senator Manchin to go along with the GOP when the GOP is really full of it on this issue. They claim to want election security, but once they have an opportunity to vote in favor of it, they run away. Because to them, election security is nothing more than a political tool that they will use at their convenience.

That's all. That's all it is for them. They don't actually care about it, they'll just pretend to care about it when an election doesn't go their way. And Joe Manchin is pathetic enough to go along with their nonsense because he's afraid to stick up to his donors, because he's afraid to do the right thing by the American people. And then you'll hear others say like, no, but you know, he comes from a conservative state. West Virginia is a conservative state.

No, West Virginians wanted a $15 an hour minimum wage. Joe Manchin told them to shut up, essentially. And Joe Manchin keeps talking about passing legislation in a bipartisan way. After he stripped down the coronavirus relief package, you know, when he took the weekly unemployment benefits from $400 a week to $300 a week, when he succeeded in implementing harsher means testing, so less people qualified. for the direct stimulus checks, how many, how many Republicans voted in favor of that stimulus bill? How many? Zero, zero. So Joe Manchin has no credibility on this issue. He wants to be a

tough guy, he wants to stand in the way. Well, I would argue that Democrats need to get active, and they need to campaign in his state, they need to campaign in Arizona, and they need to hold him and other lawmakers who stand in the way of this important legislation accountable. They need to call out their own. Republicans do it. That's how they get every single member of the GOP to fall in line. Why don't Democrats do it? Might be because they have the same donors.

Might be because they don't want to fight on behalf of the very bills they claim to support. The very bills that their own president that they fought so hard to put in the White House has presented and proposed to the American people. All right. Well, let's move on to a little bit of international news. The story about coronavirus in India just continues to get worse. And it's important to talk about what's happening there. So, India is suddenly suffering the world's worst coronavirus crisis that has crushed the country's health care system. But unfortunately, instead of being a little more cautious about political campaigning that's currently taking place in the country.

The ruling party right now, Modi's party, has decided to go full steam ahead. So that is part of the reason why likely we're seeing such a giant increase in coronavirus cases in India. India crossed a grim milestone of 200,000 people lost to the coronavirus in a devastating surge of new infections. In a new global record, Indian authorities logged three. 360,960 infections in a 24 hour period, bringing the total number of cases to more than 17.9 million. India also reported 3,293 deaths, even as experts warned that many virus fatalities were going uncounted. By the way, you know, as I mentioned, the high number of cases is likely fueled by the fact that there's all sorts of political activity and campaigning taking place right now. And what's also happening because of the high numbers of new coronavirus cases is the same shortages, really, that we faced here in the United States.

Unfortunately, the situation in India is even more dire, though. So India's hospitals have faced severe oxygen supply shortages as the devastating wave of cases overwhelms the country's health care infrastructure. Many Indians have taken to social media to crowdsource oxygen cylinders and life-saving drugs or even plead for information on. open hospital beds and that's the thing they don't have enough hospital beds. We certainly experienced how horrible that was here in the United States. I do want to go to this CNN report that really helps to illustrate how dire the situation is in India. Take a look.

I'm standing outside a COVID emergency ward at a top hospital in New Delhi. It is here that a lot of people have been coming and almost begging for beds and oxygen for their loved ones. If you look at all these cars starting from here, almost a dozen of them parked right outside this emergency ward. They're asking just for beds and oxygen which they have been denied as of now because there are no beds available according to officials inside this hospital. They're old people here.

Old women, old men, they're even younger people who are gasping for breath in these cars. They're just waiting for that one lucky moment where they get a bed inside this facility. I brought my father here. are no beds. There are people who are in the corridors lying on the floor. And the very first question says that show your RTPR test, what is the infection rate? Am I carrying oxygen cylinder? Which I wasn't aware of. I thought this is what the hospital would provide. Relatives of patients who are suffering from COVID-19 have been waiting for ambulances also to take them home. But these ambulances have been so busy getting patients here or to crematoriums.

That has been extremely difficult for them to get their sick ones home after being denied a bed. One of the images that's hard to forget, and honestly reminds me of what we experienced in New York with dead bodies being piled on top of each other in the back of trucks is, you know, how they're backed up in cremations for coronavirus patients who didn't make it. So I do want to warn you, the next video is difficult to watch. But it does again provide a devastating illustration of how bad the situation has gotten in India. These raging fires will continue all day and through the evening. The surge in case has been so much that there's a waiting really for these bodies to be put on the pyre by family members.

There's a queue outside just waiting for the final rights to end for a family member who has died of COVID-19. One of the most heartbreaking scenes I witness was when a 27-year-old was picking up the ashes of his 49-year-old mother. His brother is still in hospital recovering from COVID-19 while his father has just got home after recovering from infection. Much like other right-wing leaders in places like Brazil, in the United States under Donald Trump, you just have these politicians who are far more concerned about their political aspirations. and their political careers, then doing the right thing to keep as many people alive as possible. And that's certainly the case with Narendra Modi, who's the leader of India and his BJP party. I had mentioned the elections taking place, and I do want to give you some more details about it,

because, again, that activity that's taking place is creating super spreader events, and that's why you're starting to see this explosion of new coronavirus cases in India. While India has become the COVID capital of the world, the country is at the same time busy in the assembly elections in four of its states and one union territory. Most of these continue to be enacted in the politically crucial state, West Bengal, which India's ruling party, BJP, desperately wants to win. So again, we're talking about a Modi-led party that will stop at nothing to ensure that they win. And if that means that they're going to hold more of these political events and cause more of these super spreader events, then so be it. In fact, Modi has gone to extreme lengths to silence or censor anyone who's critical of his policies related to coronavirus. And this is what you get when you deal with self-interested right-wing narcissists who,

So again, are far more interested in doing what they want to do to maintain power, as opposed to doing the right thing as leaders. And as far as the United States, there is some talk about providing raw materials to India so they can develop, not develop, but produce their own vaccine, that's some good news. There's a little bit of concern though, because the United States still refuses to waive the patents for the coronavirus vaccines and as a result, there are many poor countries around the world who want to be able to produce their own vaccine, who want to at least be able to produce a generic version of the vaccine, and they're unable to do so. The fact that the United States

and the World Trade Organization still refuses to waive the patent, tells you everything you need to know about how dealing with a global pandemic will be a failure if you think about profit motive above preventing deaths. And that's what's happening right now. I get it. I get that pharmaceutical companies want to increase their profits. They want to protect their profits. You know, in many cases, they claim, oh, we're not going to innovate. I mean, it's just so expensive to develop all of these drugs, even though the government pays for our research and development. But we're talking about a global pandemic. You are not able to combat a global pandemic in a global economy unless you work together and put profits aside for a minute,

just for a minute, waive the patent. Once you do that, then I'll actually believe that the United States and the World Trade Organization is serious about effectively combating this pandemic. Otherwise, it's all talk. Raw materials, that's nice. But get rid of that patent. It doesn't make any sense. All right, that does it for hour one. You do not want to miss our two. John Iderola will be joining me to discuss Joe Rogan's recent comments about why he believes young people should not be getting the coronavirus vaccine. We've got that story and more for you when we return. 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 I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.