The Young Turks - SHOCKING New Evidence In Trump Tower Meeting Investigation

Episode Date: September 13, 2018

Suspicious money transfers following Trump Tower meeting. Get exclusive access to our best content. http://tyt.com/GETACCESS Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to The Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. All right, well, the Young Turks, Jake, you're going to have to compare with you guys. All right, big show ahead, as always. But elections all week. So Rhode Islands tonight, Matt Brown, and the Ruegenberger Ferg for the, for the,

tenant governor race in tonight. And then Scythian Nixon is tomorrow night in New York against Andrew Cuomo. That's gonna be a heavyweight fight. So on today's show, lots of fascinating news, there's a new pack formed. Now those packs normally, there's a little questionable, but sometimes you get a pack like Wolfpack and not so bad. This one is a little bit like that. It is unique.

It is unique. I hadn't thought of it, and when I read into it, I was like, what? Wait a minute. That's a really good idea. You're hyper today. No, but it's true. But it's true, guys. You guys are going to see it.

And by the way, started by a Justice Democrat. What? That's already in Congress. Oh, yeah. And then the Trump Tower meeting. Uh-oh, what are they doing? Are they scrubbing that money a little bit? It looks like it.

It looks like a little bit of money laundering. hey, over here, then they go to the Virgin Islands, and then all of a sudden they get cleaned out and put that on the other side. We're going to explain that whole chain for you guys a little bit later in the show, and where did the money wind up after the Trump Tower meetings? Jaharams. Okay, so that's a little bit later in the program. No one does a news show like this.

No one. Casper, go. All right, we begin with Hurricane Florence, a very relevant story. The Carolinas and Virginia, very concerned about this upcoming hurricane, and they should be considering Trump's priorities. New documents reveal that the Trump administration decided to take millions of dollars out of FEMA funding and then redirect that money toward detaining individuals at the border. So to be specific, there was $10 million that was taken out of the FEMA budget, and it would come from FEMA's operations and support budget, and it was then transferred to accounts at ICE to pay for detention and removal operations. As we know, the Trump administration continues with their extremely strict immigration policies and our preparedness for hurricanes might suffer as a result of that. The Department of Homeland Security transferred money from accounts at Customs and Border Protection

that pays for border fencing and technology as well. So let's pause there, because they brought it to ICE and then they brought it for, as you just saw their CBP, okay? So border fencing and technology, there's another word for that, it's called the wall. Now it's a little bit different, and if you remember during the election, Hillary Clinton was also for a fence. And so, and at different times, Trump has said, oh, dude, the wall, it's going to be good, it's going to be see-through, maybe like a fence.

So, okay, that's what I thought. Anyway, but in a sense, it is for whatever you want to call it, a fence, or a wall at the border. You know where we could really use a wall in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia today? But it ain't going to keep out of the hurricane either, okay? So they're taking your money against the mythical enemy. Right. And using it against a mythical enemy, when in fact, there are real huge problems that

could wipe out your home, your family, where your family lived. And if you don't move fast enough, your family itself barreling towards us, and they take that real problem and call it a hoax. Yeah. And they take a hoax and call it the real problem. Now, if it was just demagoguery and it was just used to in elections, it would be bad enough because that has consequences as well. But now it's actually money.

They're moving money out of the right places and into the wrong places. Trump said, and we talked about this last night on the election coverage on the Young Turks Live, that he alone could protect you. Well, it turns out he's doing the exact opposite. Just in order to play political games, he's not protecting your family and instead transferring money to things that are going to do almost nothing to protect. Right. And also, as with any political issue, any policy, you have to take it in the context of other policies to kind of understand the weight of what's going on. Because, you know,

this isn't just an isolated story where money's being redirected from FEMA and put into, you know, detention efforts at the border. You have to think about what Trump has been doing when it comes to environmental policy, which would exacerbate the issue of climate change and further lead to more extreme weather conditions, more extreme hurricane seasons, then you have to keep in mind that the Trump administration pushed for and successfully passed. Massive tax cuts for the wealthy, which will lead to less revenue for the federal government. Those tax cuts are going to cost nearly $2 trillion over the next 10 years. And so all of this stuff is an incredibly dangerous cocktail. And we've already seen the ramifications of that when it comes

to Puerto Rico, but with more extreme weather conditions, it's only going to get worse. So by the way, it's not just FEMA. According to these documents, $200 million was moved from the budgets of other agencies to ICE's detention and removals. So we know about this because Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon was able to get these documents and he had an interview on the Rachel Maddow show about it. So I want to toss to this video so you kind of get a sense of how serious this is. 10 million dollars comes out of FEMA when we're facing a hurricane season, knowing what

happened last year, and then look what we've had since. A hurricane just barely missed Hawaii, a tropical storm that almost became a hurricane hit Mississippi, and now we have this hurricane Florence bearing down on the Carolinas. I find it extraordinary. And by the way, Rachel, the chart you put up is the same chart I have in my head. hand right here, it says that money came from response and recovery, right on it. So I would dispute the statement that this has no bearing on addressing the challenges from hurricanes. So I want to also just quickly give you that statement that Senator Merkley referenced at the end

of that quote. He said the DHS, Department of Homeland Security, released a statement on Twitter, and it goes as follows. Under no circumstances, was any disaster relief funding transferred from FEMA to immigration enforcement efforts? This is a sorry attempt to push a false agenda at a time when the administration is focused on assisting millions on the East Coast facing a catastrophic disaster. That is a flat out lie.

The documents 100% indicate that the $10 million, nearly $10 million, was taken out of the FEMA budget, specifically the FEMA's operations and support budget. then redirected to these immigration efforts. In fact, instantly after putting out that lie, the agency, according to New York Times, in an email said that funds taken from FEMA's accounts amounted to less than 1% of the agency's operational accounts. Okay, so you did take it out of the operational accounts. So when you said you didn't take it out of there, that was nothing but a lie.

Does this administration have any credibility left at all? No. And do they think through any of their lines before they say them? So lie number one is, no such thing, it's outrageous, how could they possibly say that? Lie number two is, it's just a small thing anyway. I mean, it was taken out of the operational account, so that first thing we said was total, total, total lie, an obvious, brazen, ridiculous lie, which we're now saying is, yeah, but we only took out a little bit.

Okay, all right, now at least we're clear on who to believe and who not to believe. Merkley, by the way, if you don't know him, is one of the best progressives in the Senate. And this is exactly the type of thing that we, why we have separation of powers and why we need the three branches. So the legislative checks the executive and says, wait a minute, do you have the right priorities? And if Merckley releases that document and the whole country goes, oh yeah, that's great, man, that's wonderful. We really need to build that fence and to build more detention camps.

That's what the country needs. Our family's being protected from hurricanes. Who cares? The Trump administration did, according to himself, an unbelievably great job of protecting people in Puerto Rico, even though nearly 3,000 people died. If that's such a great job, if 3,000 people die in the Carolinas, will he also call that a success? An unsung success, will he call it?

And if the country's comfortable with that, like, hey, 3,000 people dying in a hurricane, but at least we got detention camps, then you would say, okay, I'm glad it was the legislative branch showed that. and we applaud it. If you don't like that, then I'm like, you know, we live in a democracy, then you should do something about it. I do want to also touch on Trump's reaction to the nearly 3,000 deaths in Puerto Rico, and also FEMA's honesty in their report following some of these results in Puerto Rico.

So first, as we had talked about yesterday, Trump believes that the disaster relief efforts in Puerto Rico were an unsung success. I'm sure he got heat for that because it was a ridiculous statement to say, but he decided to double down on it today. And he said via Twitter, we got A pluses for our recent hurricane work in Texas and Florida and did an unappreciated job, great job in Puerto Rico, even though an inaccessible island with very poor electricity and a totally incompetent mayor of San Juan. He's unbelievable.

Nearly 3,000 people died. We are ready for the big one that is coming. So that's what Trump said. Now what did FEMA say? Because they did release a report after they analyzed the efforts there. And an after action report by FEMA released in July shows that the agency vastly underestimated how much food and fresh water it would need and how hard it would be to get additional supplies to the island.

The report also describes the initial response is chaotic and disorganized and plagued with logistical problems as the agency tried to get to get. get food and other equipment onto the island. I feel like having my job now is breaking down the stupidity of Donald Trump and explaining all the things that are wrong with it. It turns out the island was inaccessible, as he has previously said literally, it was surrounded by water, big water, ocean water, that's a quote. Okay, yeah, as the president, you're supposed to foresee that an island might be surrounded

by water and that it might be hard to get to. And you're supposed to plan for that. Nobody could have known that an island was surrounded by water. We didn't say, we didn't know that it was big water in a hurricane. And it was very wet. And in fact, that's another quote from yesterday when he said that the hurricane is coming to the Carolinas and that it is going to be tremendously wet. Come on, guys, you're a Trump voter, you're still proud.

You're still proud. You think that guy is smart. A guy who says that water is tremendously wet. And a guy who says, well, I mean, an island was inaccessible. Everybody gave us A pluses, he said, for Texas and Florida. If Obama had said that, one, I'd be mortified, and two, I'd come out here and laugh and criticize him, et cetera. Why?

I got eight-year track record of doing that. When Obama did something wrong, we pointed out. I mean, it's humiliating to have somebody on your own side be such a frickin' doofus. If Obama came out on anything you do, I got an eight-per. plus on that. You know what? Another thing I did? Also an A plus. Everything I do is an A plus. I'm like, oh my God. I'm so sorry I ever voted for. What a buffoon. Who talks like that? What moron goes around saying, the things that I did, all the disasters that I handled were thousands of people died. I got A pluses. I'm like, oh my God, get me out of this room. You're proud

of that? You're a Trump voter. You're proud of that? What an unbelievable idiot. You live in the Carolinas of Virginia. You really think that he prepared? Look, the fish rods from the head down, Scramucci is chief of staff for 13 and a half seconds said that quote. And he's the rotting fish at the head of this administration. They don't plan for anything. Their only plan is afterwards, we'll lie about it and we'll cover up, it'll be fine. So already hundreds of thousands of people have evacuated to protect themselves from the hurricane

that's coming. If you haven't evacuated, please do it. Please, don't take any chances. Don't risk it and don't rely on Trump's words because I don't trust him. I don't trust that he's prepared. He's completely oblivious, he's delusional, he's done a horrible job when it comes to Puerto Rico. He did a good job.

FEMA did a great job when it came to Texas and Florida. But there's no guarantee that that will happen this time around, especially when you see how the funds have been diverted. Yeah, one last thing. His criticism of the mayor of San Juan. So guys, if you live in the area that's going to get hit by the hurricane, understand that his backup plan is, he's just going to call your local government officials incompetent and be done with it.

He said, oh, well, the incompetent mayor who criticized me, how dare she, right? So he's going to blame your mayor, he's going to blame your governor. That's his, that's not his backup plan, actually. That's his plan A. Don't do homework because it's annoying and hard. What people's lives are on the line? Yes. Bob Woodward warned, my God, what happens if we go into a crisis and he's the one that has

to make decisions? I got news for you. This is a crisis. We've had a lot of crises. Certainly every giant hurricane that hits us over and over again is a crisis. And we have a president who doesn't like to do homework, doesn't like to prepare, is monumentally stupid. And so afterwards, his plan is, that's okay. You're fault. Your fault. You're stupid. Not me. I'm like a smart person. That's his plan. Get out of there, man. Get out of there.

And don't listen to anything Trump says. Well, we have more news coming out of Puerto Rico. So let's get to that. More than 2,000 individuals or 2,000 Puerto Ricans specifically applied for funeral assistance after Hurricane Maria, and FEMA only approved 75 of them. Now, FEMA approved just 3% of applications for funeral assistance from more than 2,000 Puerto Rican families who lost loved ones after Hurricane Maria. So one of the things that FEMA does help with, does assist with, is if there is some sort of natural disaster and people have died as a result, FEMA funding can be used to help people pay for the funeral costs. However, there have been issues when it comes to the official

death toll as a result of Hurricane Maria. Remember, those numbers were just recently updated. Now, FEMA had received 2,431 requests for funeral assistance from Puerto Ricans related to the hurricane. They approved just 75 of them, meaning that 97% have either been rejected or have not received a decision almost a year later. So Elizabeth Warren was, the senator who pushed to get some more information about this, this is how we know about it. And when FEMA responded to her, they didn't give her the specific reasons for why all these other people were rejected, but the letter also indicated that to qualify, Puerto Ricans had to provide a death certificate or letter from a government official that clearly indicates

the death was attributed to the emergency or disaster, either directly or indirectly. But unfortunately, that information is incredibly difficult to get. In fact, according to BuzzFeed News, getting that information was impossible for many families because the Puerto Rican government recently admitted that officials were not counting hurricane-related deaths correctly. But, you know, that's the same reason why I actually don't blame FEMA or the Trump administration that much on this one. Because I blame them for not responding quickly enough and getting those people help.

That's what led to the deaths in the first place. And that's, you know, the overwhelming majority of the problem. But in the case of the funerals, you do need a death certificate that says it was connected to the storm. And at the time, they had not connected those deaths to the storm. They just did recently. So I tend to think they were following their rules. So I'm not that outraged by this story.

Yeah. So I am outraged, but I agree with you that it's not. It's not FEMA's responsibility to issue the death certificates, right? It's the local officials, the politicians in Puerto Rico. But the way, there was wrongdoing on the Puerto Rican side as well, and I'm specifically talking about some of the politicians, right? The fact that we couldn't get updated, accurate numbers regarding the death toll was ridiculous. I mean, it was what, 65 people or something around there in the 60s, and it wasn't

until a couple weeks ago where researchers went in. I believe it was researchers with George Washington University, and they were able to find a more accurate count, although even that number is a bit of an underestimate based on other estimates that were done. But nonetheless, let's say we take that at face value, nearly 3,000 people died as a result of the hurricane. We now have an update, and it's on those politicians to do the right thing and ensure that these people get the right death certificate, and FEMA issue the money that these people deserve so they can bury their loved ones. A lot of people were, I mean, they've already been buried, to be fair. A lot of people were cremated. Even though family members didn't want to cremate, they felt like they had no choice because that was the cheaper option.

So, look, not every story has to be about blame, but we can't fix things once we've got information in. So now that they know that those deaths were related to the hurricane, they should just simply pay for those funerals in hindsight, because that's the rules that apply to everybody. It applies to people in Texas, Florida, and in Puerto Rico. well. So I think it should be a relatively easy fix. If they resist the fix, then you've got a problem, because that's fundamentally unfair.

But I think we should give them an opportunity to do so. So with that said, I mean, that was yet another issue that came out of Hurricane Maria and Puerto Rico. And I just want to remind you guys of what Trump thinks about their efforts, okay? Let's go to video three. One lesson do we take from what happened in Puerto Rico? How do we apply the lessons you took from Puerto Rico? Well, I think Puerto Rico was incredibly successful.

Puerto Rico was actually our toughest one of all because it's an island. I actually think it was one of the best jobs that's ever been done with respect to what this is all about. And the problem with Puerto Rico is their electric grid and their electric generating plan was dead before the storm's ever hit. It was in very bad shape. It was in bankruptcy, had no money. The job that FEMA and law enforcement and everybody did, working along with the governor in Puerto Rico, I think, was tremendous. I think that Puerto Rico was an incredible unsung success. Texas, we have been given A-pluses for.

Florida, we've been given A-pluses for. I think in a certain way, the best job we did was Puerto Rico, but nobody would understand that. gotten a lot of receptivity, a lot of thanks for the job we've done in Puerto Rico. No, we have a clown in office. Look, as I just told you, not everything is Trump's fault, is government's fault, etc. And you've got to judge it based on the facts of the situation. So I'm not blaming him for the funerals at this point. But who trusts that guy to run the White House, to run the country?

Right. He said that Puerto Rico where nearly 3,000 people died worse than Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, was, quote, one of the best jobs ever done. Yeah, but look, the reason why I brought that video back is because the question from the reporter was, what lessons can be learned, right? And his answer is no lessons. It was perfect. So as more and more of these stories come out about the aftermath in Puerto Rico, I mean, just be a human for once and just acknowledge. that mistakes were made, and we're going to do better next time, and we're going to do what we can to rectify the situation.

But he doesn't have that in him. As we talked about yesterday, he's a sociopath. Lacks empathy, doesn't understand, you know, the pain and suffering of others, doesn't want to take a leadership position and write the wrongs that occurred in this case. Yeah, and what did I tell you? I said that he would blame you afterwards. We were talking about it early in the show. If something goes wrong when the storm hits the East Coast.

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oh, well, you know, they had problems in Puerto Rico already. It's not our fault. It's their fault. Well, it's your job to go out there and help him and not shoot baskets with paper towels. Later, when asked about this insensitive way of dealing with victims of the hurricane, he said there were, what was it, something like beautiful towels, soft towels. They were the softest. There were the normal paper towels in plastic. I don't know. He's such a fool.

Anyone who can't see that he's a fool, I really, I pity you. Apparently, you just, you look at that and you think that's a smart person. Wow, God, that's so embarrassing. I can't help you. Good luck with your life. Yeah. All right, let's take a break when we come back. Brad Pitt had a charity that helped victims of Hurricane Katrina.

But did he? But did he? All right, back on a young Turks. I'll read comments a little bit later in the show because I just want to use time to talk a little bit about something that a lot of you guys have asked about. and then we'll go out with the show. So, you know, we're doing a membership drive. I'll just quickly show you where we are now, t.yt.com slash join. I want to come back and talk about this a little bit later in a sec.

And that's a good number. And we appreciate it. That's about 3,000 higher than when we started about a week ago. And you guys are amazing for doing that. Now, I wanted to make sure that you guys understood something that happened here at TYT. So, look, we built this. this network 16 years ago, started as a radio show. And then we started doing online video in 2005. And we're actually the longest running show on the internet, which is kind of

amazing. But it's not just the Young Turks. The network has a lot of shows. And we tried for a long time to also build an entertainment part of the network. So we had all these wonderful shows that we believed in and that I thought we could make it work. It proved to be a little bit too ambitious on my part, and so that's on me. But I love those shows. So what the flick was the second show we ever did. And the original hosts were me, Ben Manquitz, and Matt Achity. And you see the very long-time host there. Ben took it over with Matt, and then Christy Lemire joined, and then Alonzo Duralde. And they did all the movie reviews there, Matt Achity, Alonzo. And you could follow them at those accounts, obviously.

Christie, these are all great friends of mine and people that I really admire and respect. And we did Game of Thrones reviews there, Anna, me, John, Ben, Matt, all those guys. We'll continue, we'll find a way to do Game of Thrones. They did so many TV reviews. Anyway, it's obvious that we put our heart and soul to those shows, but recently we had to retire them. There's a couple of reasons why, and the primary one is we've decided to focus our resources on homo-progressives and on progressive politics.

Now, that's the heart and soul of what we do, and you know that, and then that's a lot of the reason why I hope you watch the Young Turks. And I wish we could have made those shows work, but we had to go in this direction and make sure we're focusing on the core mission as 2018 and 2020 are coming. And we've now got wonderful new political shows, too. And some are on our podcast network, and obviously members get all of those. But so I want to tell you that the shows that basically you can call it anything you like, but we're saying we retired are pop trigger, what the flick, think tank, which

used to be TYT University, which Anna started back in the day, Anna and John used to do that, and Nerd Alert. So I just want to thank some more people from those shows. So you have Grace Baldritch who is on Pop Trigger. And by the way, some of these folks were on many of our other shows, including The Young Turks, and will continue to be. So I can't wait to work with them again in the future and throughout. But Grace was mainly on Pop Trigger.

So was Jason Carter. And also on the Young Turks from time to time, Darren Dean. I heard she just got in a nursing school. She's continuing her modeling and acting career, but great to have Darren with us. And again, Matt Aitchie, Christy Lemire, Alonso Duraldee that I told you guys about. And I also want to do a special shout out to Amir Nekui, who was the executive producer of both Pop Trigger and What the Flick. And you saw him on air from time to time, and including on Pop Trigger and what the, and murder with friends. It's another great, great show by Grace Baldridge.

and Amir helped to put all those together. So I want to thank him. I also want to thank Hannah Cranston, who did such great work on Think Tank, and you saw Hannah a lot on the Young Turks as well. And of course, Kim Hortcher from Nerd Alert on the show recently, obviously, and then built Nerd Alert, and we want to thank her for that. And they've got nothing but love here in the crew and in the building. and like I said, I hope we can work together with them again.

And look, I just mentioned the host because you guys are more familiar with the host, but there was also wonderful editors, graphics, stage crew, production people involved in those shows. And I want to thank all of them as well. And appreciate their effort greatly. And so if you want to see some of the old episodes, and we've gotten a lot of requests for that, especially for, well, for all the shows. That was a great picture that Kim put up. Murder with Friends, for example, et cetera.

So go to t-y-t.com slash archive, and you will be directed to those shows. And by the way, archives are the shows that are still on, and we've got over a dozen shows that are on that you get as part of membership, are also in the archives. So if you want to go back and listen to old old schools or watch old schools or aggressive progressives, they're also in their archives. So please take advantage of that. And look, just two more things real quick. One is that I just want to explain why and how this stuff happens.

Look, sometimes there's just normal changes in the course of a network. And so, for example, we changed TYT University into Think Tank. And some people didn't like that because they loved the show that Anna and John used to do what it was called TYT University. But these are normal changes that come along. There are small changes. And then there are big changes like this one when you decide. to go in a certain direction for reasons that have to do with where you're taking the network.

And so if you ask me, will there be other changes in the future? Will there be smaller changes? Of course there will. We'll adjust and we'll add programming. Sometimes we'll retire some shows. We used to do shows for the members called All Star Tuesdays. You guys didn't love it. So we stopped.

There's other shows that you loved. Now, these shows, the entertainment shows were, I think, had great. great fan base and we're beloved here and in the audience. So that wasn't the case in that situation, but sometimes those happen. So do we want any more big changes? No, we don't. And that's obviously part of the reason why we're doing the membership draft. So what I'm telling you and what I'm promising you is, if we get to 100,000 subscribers,

then we are a rock. Then everything after that is additional. Hey, then we can add more shows, we can experiment, we can add a podcast, we can add a video show, we can do all these things and make sure that we build home of progressives. But we got to get there so that we have that progressive rock for you guys that no one can take away under any circumstance. That's why we tell you to go to t.yt.com slash join. We hope that you do.

We hope that you become an activist member. That's 10 bucks instead of $4.99, you get. extra town halls, you get the swag bag, et cetera, and you get to be first at all the TYT events. And then finally, I wanted to let you know that I am doing a town hall where I'll be taking more questions and I think we're arguably the most open and honest show in America. And so especially for our members, and that's the town halls are just for our members. Monday, September 17th, that's 7 o'clock Pacific, I'll take your guys questions in that town hall, t.t.com slash join to become a member and be part of that town hall.

Thank you guys. Thank you for all the people who watch those shows. And by the way, one last thing. On the YouTube and Facebook channels, we're doing one last video for them. The one for Pop Triggers is already up. It's pretty moving. Brett did that as an homage to everyone who worked on Pop Trigger. Also, don't forget, the original host Sam Schalker and Brie Estrog, who are now doing other things and moved on. earlier, but they helped to build that as well. So each of those channels will get one final video, and I hope you guys check that out as well. All right, thank you guys. Okay, now let's go on with the rest of the show. All right. Following Hurricane Katrina, Brad Pitt wanted to do something

to help residents who had been displaced, whose homes had been destroyed as a result of the hurricane. And so he created a new charitable organization that would build new homes and offered to sell them to people who had lost their homes in certain parts of New Orleans. Now, unfortunately, that charitable foundation has been dissolved, and some of those homes, actually all of the homes, are dealing with severe issues because they weren't designed to deal with the humidity and the rainy weather in the area. As a result, mold ended up being a huge problem. Now, Make It Rights mission was to build 150 well-designed green affordable homes in the lower

ninth ward, the area that was actually hardest hit by Katrina. But as of 2016, the group reported spending $26.8 million building 109 homes. Okay. But the organization, according to NBC's reporting, has been dissolved. And we know that because some of the homeowners who spend $130,000 to buy some of these homes are not getting any responses when they need help with repairs. Now, I want you to watch a little part of the NBC report on this, and I'll fill in some blanks. We'll have a discussion.

Take a look. I think of a father who once had a home here and raised my kids, raising my kids here. And if I lost everything and had no way to return, that would make me feel. But the project that initially had planned to build 150 homes, selling for roughly $130,000 each, built only $109. Look at my welcome bed. And today, homeowners like Camaria Allen. There's a big water leak right here. Say many of the homes that were built are falling apart.

This has been years of ongoing lives and broken promises. We were promised green, healthy, energy efficient homes. And we have everything but those things. Alan bought her home in 2011. I put that key in the door the first time and I did a happy dance for like five minutes. But then she says the problem story. started. Rusty power sockets, mushrooms growing from the home siding. She sold the house back to make it right as part of a settlement in 2013. NBC News spoke to 11 other residents, 10 on the

record, who said that many of the make it right homes are rotting and dangerous, and their calls to the organization go unreturned. Some say repairs are only done if residents agree to sign non-disclosure agreements. At one point, I felt optimistic that Make It Right was going to make it right. But at this point, I feel like they have abandoned not only my family, but my community. 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-Boh-The-Republic, or

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 consistent. 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 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. So there's two elements of this story from my perspective. The second one's going to be controversial. But the first one was when I first saw the report and it said Brad Pitt sued for a charity

where he was trying to help build homes in New Orleans. I was like, Jesus Christ, what are you guys doing, man? He's trying to help and now you're going to sue him. Then you read into the story and you watch the story and you go, oh, no, they bought the homes. They bought the homes for $130,000. Yeah. And I really want to emphasize that because it's not as if they gave people homes, which, you know, I don't really know where the charity comes in because this is a long time ago, and this is not, like, this isn't the Los Angeles Hills where if you get a home for $130,000, it's a bargain, it's a steal. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

No, I do, I do. But look, I think that it's certainly started with good intentions, is my understanding of it based on what I've read about it. And I think some of the residents were excited because it was rebuilding the area. They don't often get investment in this middle class too. Working class neighborhood. And it seemed like they were excited about the prices. So I think the charity part comes in at a pretty nice house in that area for a decent price. But it's, again, it's a little bit of a charity, but you still have to buy the house and

And it's still a big chunk of money. So when you spend $130,000 on anything, you're going to want it to work. And it seems, look, facts matter. Every story, we have perspective on the show, but what we really, really hope is that it doesn't color our look at the story and look at the facts. So as you look at the facts here, well, they didn't deliver what they said they were going to deliver. And so that becomes a huge problem.

And then it looks like they began to disband the operator. Obviously, they didn't build all 150 homes, but much more importantly is that they refused to take the calls going forward. Well, then you really don't have any recourse. And then the last part of it that really won me over was apparently the residents didn't go after them for a long time because they thought, well, look, Brad Pitt's trying to help us here and we think he's genuine and I still think he's genuine about it. So do we want to make a big deal out of this thing?

It's going to get him in trouble when he was trying to help. So, I mean, they did everything right in that sense based on the reporting from NBC. And at the end, they had to kind of throw off their hands and go, I'm sorry, man, this house has got mold all over it. It doesn't function. Yeah. I gotta get my money back. So and also, first of all, the design flaw that didn't take into account that this

is an area that gets a lot of rain, a lot of humidity, like, just think a little bit ahead before you build some of these homes. But nonetheless, it was a mistake. Mold remediation, and I know from personal experience. experience is super expensive, right? It's a lengthy process, it's hard, it's expensive, it's difficult to go through. And so it ends up being more of a burden than something that actually helps them. And if you don't get that situation solved quickly, the mold continues to grow.

You have black mold, you have health issues, right? You have respiratory issues as a result of living under those conditions. Some people complained, went to the doctor, have medical records indicating that they've suffered. the health consequences of living in those conditions. But the point that I wanted to make about this story is a broader point. Whenever it comes to cuts in entitlement spending or when it comes to cuts in government social safety net programs, the argument that the right wing will make, the Christian right wing specifically will make, is we don't need the government to help anyone because we'll

have charities and we'll have people out there who will help their fellow American. out of the kindness of their hearts, right, out of the goodness of their hearts. And I don't want to rely on that system because this is, I know this is just one example of a charity that has gone wrong, but this is one of many examples. And we need to have a stable system, a safety net program that does help our fellow Americans in their time of need. I think that's the most patriotic thing to do. And so just brushing it off and just saying, nah, charities will take care of it, is not

the way to go about it. So, I remember one of the dumbest points I used to make when I was a Republican back in the day was that mold wasn't real. You made that point recently when I was going through my mold remediation process. Okay. Yeah, don't pretend like that was when you were just a Republican. No, no, no, no, no, no, when you were doing it recently, I was kidding. And even back when I was a Republican, I was a quarter kidding.

But I thought it was over, I thought it was overhyped. It's not. But see, that's what I'm saying. Facts matter. Okay, it's overhyped. on what? You have to actually look into the facts, right? But anyway, I point that out as just a way of saying, look, we could all grow and we could all get to more logical conclusions. So if you were in the camp of like, oh, charity will take care of it all. And you see, well, no,

sometimes charity doesn't take care of it all. And that it's not a systematic way of handling these issues that affect American citizens. There's a thing that's supposed to serve the citizens. It's called the government. And a democracy is supposed to represent us and serve us. All right. Now, the last thing is the controversial point. Look, man, I love New Orleans. I love Miami and South Beach in particular.

I am not convinced that those are great places to build. Why is that controversial? I think you're 100% right. No, people get really, really upset, especially from those cities. It has nothing to do with your city. It has nothing to do with people there. It has everything to do with our current, like, environmental conditions that will only get worse. It's based on facts, scientific facts.

It's terrible, and it's tragic, and I feel horrible for those communities. But we have a government, currently we have a government that's undoing any progress that we've had with environmental policy to combat climate change. Yeah. I would not build in those areas. So look, you can get upset if you live in Minnesota and I tell you snowstorms are coming, but they're coming. And that's just a fact. And in New Orleans and South Beach, you are perilously in the line of danger. Not just for hurricanes that hit all across the seaboard, but you're too close to the sea level

and sometimes under it. And so those two cities in particular are in grave danger as we climate change continues. So it's not hyperbole and it's not trying to scale. people, it's a reality. The storms are getting more severe. They're getting more frequent. And if they hit Charleston, Charles, I don't know that I've picked a good example, but it might be able to survive. But how many storms can New Orleans survive? How many storms can South Beach survive? So it's not to blame the people who live there. And if you grew up there and you care deeply about it, I get it. I grew up in New Jersey and I love New Jersey. And I don't want it to go away.

But we got to start being a little bit more realistic here because continuing to build in areas that are clearly in a very significant path of danger is an issue. We need to take a break. But when we come back, there is a pharmaceutical executive that will make your head explode. Okay? And it's not Martin Schrelli, it's someone else who might be worse. Yeah, and their view of morality is really instructive. I mean, it's both enraging, but it really does give you a worldview into how other people think that is greatly disconcerting.

All right, we'll be right back. We hope you're enjoying this free clip from the Young Turks. If you want to get the whole show and more exclusive content while supporting independent media, become a member at t.com slash join today. In the meantime, enjoy this free second. All right, back on a young Turks. Let me read some comments for you guys. I got a good one from YouTube Super Chat that I'll read at the end. Smooth writes in from the member section on t-y-t.com.

My parents just arrived at my apartment. I'm in Greenville, North Carolina. I'm glad my fellow journalists in TYT are reporting on the reallocating of disaster relief funds. My parents' home of 30 years may flood in New Bern. I hope everyone remains safe. Jeez. Yep. We've got to figure out what the real problems that are.

I mean, they're worried about Sharia law in Oklahoma. Jesus Christ, man, we've got too many real problems for you to chase after ghosts. Anyway, Tiana Hartwell says, first time using the member chat and not just watching live on YouTube, I'm excited. Well, Tiana, we're excited to have you. Jatine writes in, did you know that my first name pronounced backwards? My real first name is Tiana? Tiana? Mm-hmm.

Huh, interesting. My name is Anahit. Yes, and Anna pronounced backwards is Anna. Whoa. Just some trivia for you. Okay. Jank pronounced backwards is Kinej. Okay.

Well, that one didn't work well. Anyway, Jatine, I think, is how it's pronounced, says, I've been watching TYT for three years now, but was never a member. Now I am an activist member. I love you guys, and you guys are the only truthful media I have found. I do my own research and everything you guys say, is backed up by my research, hashtag TYT Strong, hashtag Home of the Progressives. Thank you, brother.

Appreciate it. And I also appreciate you doing your own research, and that's how we'll learn and grow together. Last one is from YouTube super chat, Tuk Chod, writes in, speaking of backwards names. How fitting is that? Okay. Hey, Jenk, I've recently rewatch Alex Jones snippet. I just wanted to shout out to Ben Mankowitz. That dude saved you so much trouble.

I want a friend like that. So you know, at such a great point, we never, I never quite thought about it that way. That Ben and I spent years saying we shouldn't have got into Iraq before we went into Iraq and after we went into Iraq. And one of the analogies we would often use to applaud our friends like the French government was that if your friend's gonna go into a disastrous bar fight, holding him back isn't hurting him, it's helping him. Yeah, right.

Oh, yeah. And then Ben actually lived that out when Alex Jones comes on her set, and I'm about to lose it, and Ben helps me to cool down. He was France. Yeah, and also, I don't know, Ben was kind of amazing throughout that whole thing, because he remained calm, right, which others did not, including myself. And then he also, as things were starting to possibly get physical, he just very calmly took his jacket off.

Yeah. Right? Like, just, okay. No, no, but it goes towards our personalities. The ones that lost it were me, Anna, and Jimmy. And the ones that remained calm were Ben and Michael Schur. And John. John was on the stage, too.

Yeah, my, oh, I forgot about that. He was so calm, I forgot. Michael Scher just had this quizzical look on his face the entire time. He's like, I will note this for the epic record book. Anyway, all right. And to all the folks, if you want to be in the members chat room too, of course, T. 20.com slash join to become a member. All right. What's next, Dana? All right. A pharmaceutical executive recently had an interview with Financial Times, and he argues that as a pharmaceutical company,

price gouging is the moral thing to do because you want to return as much money as possible to your shareholders. And I'm not kidding. This was a statement that was literally made by someone who has no shame. So the pharmaceutical company executive I'm talking about is Nirmal Muliai, and he is the CEO of Nostrum Laboratories, and he just recently engaged in some price gouging of his own, and he was asked about it. So he compared his decision to increase the price of, his decision to do this to an art dealer increasing the price of a work of art, okay? So let me give you, yeah, I know, because a work of art is what you need to survive. Now, the drug that he increased the price for is for people suffering from bladder infections.

And Nostrum Laboratories more than quadrupled the price of a bottle of nitrofurintone from $447.75 to $2,300 and $2,000, I'm sorry, $2,000, Jesus Christ, $2,392. I apologize. Okay, so why? Why? Why did that happen? Well, the FDA realized that there were impurities with the gel capsule version of this drug. And so as a result, the FDA took that drug off the market and then the pill form remained.

But since the pill form remained and the capsule liquid gel was taken off, essentially what happened was there was a shortage in supply. And so this executive's like, there's a shortage of supply, there's less competition. So guess what I'm going to do? I'm gonna increase the prices, even though the World Health Organization has said that this is an essential drug for healthcare. Now here's what he had to say. His quotes are insane.

He says, I think it's a moral requirement to make money when you can to sell the product for the highest price. No, that's not a moral requirement. Sometimes it's the opposite of a moral requirement, but there is no moral requirement that says you must maximize your profit. You wanna maximize your profit, no problem, I understand it, but it's not a moral requirement. It's a profit requirement. Let's keep it real.

Moral requirements and profit requirements are two very different things. That's gonna get to the perspective of a lot of these folks in the business community in a second. I'll talk about that. He also says, the point here is the only other choice is the brand at a higher price. It is still a saving regardless of whether it's a big one or not. Let me explain why he says that, because there's one other factor that's leading him to drive up to price.

It's that there's only two competitors. And the other one is Casper Farma. So no wonder Casper over here is not talking about them. No, no, I mean. I'm kidding. I mean, I would if you gave me an opportunity to finish. Oh, okay. So anyway, Casper Farma raised their prices to $2,800 a bottle.

Yeah. Okay. So, and now his company is sitting there at $474 going, well, there's only one other competitor and they're $2,800. Oh, I got an idea. If I just go a little below them at $2,392, everybody's going to buy mine, and I'm going to quadruple the price. And presumably, he was already making money at $474, otherwise he wouldn't have sold it.

Exactly. I know how business works, okay? So all the rest of it is margin. All the rest of it goes straight into your profits. So it's not like, oh my God, I couldn't have made this drug that helps you with urinary tract infection if I don't charge $2,300 for it. No, I could have made it and made a really good living and have a very successful company at $474.

But this is called an oligopoly. So the two of us have cornered the market here, you don't have any other choice, or You can just continue to have a urinary tract infection. So we know you don't want one, so we're going to price couch you and then call that moral. 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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He decided to price gouge medication for people who are suffering from AIDS. By the way, he's currently in prison because of how he defrauded his investors. But anyway, here's what he had to say about Schrelli. I agree with Martin Screlli that when he raised the price of his drug, he was within his rights because he had to reward his shareholders. So let's just stop for saying. People's lives don't matter, right? I mean, we often talk about how corporations are amoral.

But no, a lot of corporations are immoral. Like, if you are the CEO of a pharmaceutical company and you know that price gouging could lead to the deaths of people who rely on that drug, you're amoral. There's no question about whether you're immoral, not amoral, like you're just a bad person. This guy's like, well, yeah, of course my shareholders are way more important than the people who need this drug. Screw the people who need this drug, we want to make money. A couple of things here, and they really do live in a different world and I have a completely

different perspective. And that's why they can't even understand this. He doesn't even understand those are controversial comments. So, one part of it, and I want to give you more context to, Schrelli, took pills that were $13.50, which is already, for every single pill, you have to pay $13.50. It was already really high. He raised it to $750 per pill. I mean, it's, and he's like, well, if you don't take the pill, you're going to die. So pay me. Now, he went to jail for a different reason. And by the way, it was defrauding his shareholders because in the business world, the most sacrosanct principle and morality there is is deliver for shareholders. Yeah, I mean, really let that sink in for a second.

He didn't go to prison for price gouging AIDS medication. He went to prison because he did his shareholders dirty. As I told you during the Bernie Madoff scandal, the one thing that you will not be allowed to get away in this country, is robbing other rich people. You rob the middle class all day long. Poor people, they don't have any power. They're never going to be able to fight back. You rob other rich people, then they're going to make HBO shows about you at movies,

et cetera, right? And then you're going to get famous and you're going to go to prison. So that's what ultimately happened, Mr. Kelly. This guy is probably going to have no consequences. But because among the powerful, they really, really do believe that. And look, do you have an obligation to your shareholders? Of course you do. Of course you do.

So it's not to say like, oh, who cares about your shareholders? No, they put money into you, they trusted you, et cetera. So I get what he's saying when he says there's a certain moral obligation to them. That's not nothing, right? But you also have an obligation to your customers. And in this particular field where it is their lives on the line, you have an extra obligation. Yeah, there's the thing, I don't know, I feel like the drug industry. When it comes to health care, it should be run completely differently from other private

companies. No, I understand. It's different. It's not like a fast food restaurant. It's not McDonald's where it has its investors and shareholders. This is different. No, but look, it's nuanced because I agree with you when it comes to health insurance. There's almost no need for the health insurance companies.

They don't exist except for a tiny sliver of the market in the rest of the developed world where they have single payer health care because they don't want to let people die if they don't have health insurance. That is deeply immoral, that every other country has decided that except us in the developed world. So I agree with you completely there. When it comes to the drug companies, it's a little bit harder because there is something to that profit motive that gets them to do these amazing drugs that do save people's lives.

But there is a role for the government. As Adam Smith talked about, a free market will run amok. It will create monopolies and oligopolis, and that is where the government should step in and say, especially a field that affects people's lives, there's certain, we're not going to take your profit away, but there are certain rules and regulations you have to follow. If you corner the market, you don't, there's no competition and people's lives depend on it. So I don't think that government has to take over the drug companies.

I don't think that would be fruitful, but it does have a role in regulating the markets. Yeah, I mean, I'm, look, I'm not, I don't have enough expertise to, to make a strong point here. But I do want to look into, you know, just different systems because, look, I believe in competition driving innovation. But at the same time, you know, you do hear stories about, let's say Cuba, for instance, like Cuba's health care system, it has its flaws. I'm not trying to pretend like it's perfect.

But you have researchers there who have come up with a cure, a possible legitimate cure, for lung cancer, right? And they're doing this all under a communistic regime. I hear you, Anna. Or communist regime. Well, look, of course, if you get into the nitty-gritty of the health care of Cuba versus the U.S., none of us are going to on the spot have enough expertise to have that debate, right?

But having said that, that is one thing you hear out of Cuba. Have we developed a lot more drugs in America? No, no, no. You're right. You're right. But, you know, maybe there could be a case made that, well, first of all, one thing I want everyone to consider is that the federal government in the United States does provide taxpayer-funded grants for research that these pharmaceutical companies do. So just keep in mind that we as taxpayers,

okay, have contributed to the research and the development of these drugs, which then these private companies turn around and price gouge us on. Well, that's the corruption of government that I can't stand. Because if the American taxpayer paid into creating those drugs and you're making this huge profit, well, we should get a piece of the profit. Why do we constantly privatize the gains and socialize the losses? As Naomi Klein has pointed out over and over again, and it's a great, great point, and it applies here too. Finally, look, one of the things I'm concerned about, and it is because of a structural issue in America, is that a lot of folks, not everybody, but a lot of people in the business community have gotten used to this perspective that, yes, it's my moral duty

to make as much as humanly possible, and if it hurts you in any other way, it raises your prices. Sometimes they'll buy parking meters in a particular city, and then they'll raise the prices, and they'll give you more fines. And if you're poor, that's devastating to your life, they don't care. They think my only morality and my only moral duty is to maximize profit. No, that's a perverse system. And that perverse system is set up because of our laws. In the law, it says that a corporation, a public corporation, private corporations actually

are a little different, but certainly a public corporation must, they must maximize profit. So it's incumbent upon us as American citizens to regain our democracy and the past laws that say otherwise that you should make a profit, but that you are allowed to have other considerations like the lives and deaths of our fellow citizens. Other countries have done so, we should look at those and learn from experiences that have worked that have created stable economies while actually caring about the lives of its own citizens. Finally, I want to leave you with two more quotes from this CEO because it really speaks

to what you were just saying, Jenk. He says the following of Martin Schrelli. If he's the only one selling it, meaning the drug, then he can make as much money as he can. This is a capitalist economy, and if you can't make money, you can't stay in business. I'm sorry, just real quick on that. There's a huge difference between you can't make money you can't stay in business. That's absolutely true. That's just math, right? And I make plenty of money. I'm already in business. I'm now going to quadruple my price, raise it by 400% or Australia did 5,000%. No, no, you're choosing to do that. And you could, you know, that's when

And if there's real competition, then hey, you get to do it. If you've eliminated competition in an unnatural way, then the government should step in. It depends on case by case, but it's not something like, oh, poor nostrum laboratories was just about to go out of business until they raise their prices 400%. That's not anywhere near this fact pattern. And finally, he wants to justify everything that he's saying by comparing the importance of pharmaceutical drugs to other consumer products. We have to make money when we can.

The price of iPhones goes up. The price of cars goes up. Hotel rooms are very expensive. Well, you don't need any of those things to survive. You don't need to stay in a very expensive hotel room. But if you've got a urinary tract infection, apparently you need your medicine. And so this is not a normal situation. And yes, we are all responsible for our...

our fellow man. And we need to look out for each other. And that doesn't mean that we get away from capitalism. I know some think that. I don't happen to think that. But I do think that going all the way back to Adam Smith, every thoughtful person that has looked at a capitalist system said it obviously needs rules and regulations as any system does.

And America, unfortunately, we have run amok. And there's only one rule left, maximize profit. And now they've turned it morality on its head as if that is the only moral thing to do when oftentimes in cases like this, it is actually deeply immoral. All right, one more story before we go to break. There is one progressive lawmaker who is pushing for a system that would help Democratic candidates who want a Medicare for all system. And that representative is Pramila Jayapal. She is a Democrat out of Washington, and she has created a political action committee, something that we will usually have negative commentary toward here on this show, but this political

action committee is very different from the super PACs that help to corrupt our political system. Now, Representative Jayapal is founding a political action committee to contribute money to congressional candidates who support single-payer health care, commonly known as Medicare for All. In fact, she gave a quote saying the following. The goal is to really lift up and support candidates who are excited about and supporting the idea of Medicare for All. It's really that simple.

And it turns out that Medicare for All does have support among some Democrats in Congress right now. It has the support of more than one third of the Senate Democratic Caucus and also a majority of House Democrats and also the former President Barack Obama. Belatedly, just the other day. Very belatedly, yeah. Okay. So now let me give credit to some other packs.

First of all, Pramela Jayapal is a just Democrat, one of the three incumbents who are super proud of her, super proud of this proposal, which I think is borderline genius. I'll explain why in a second. Secondly, the just Democrat organization pressured a lot of those House Democrats in the first place to sign up for Medicare for All. It was not a majority when just Democrats started campaign in every single district to try to pressure those Congress people into it. And now it's a majority of Democrats in the House.

That's a big, big difference, especially as the Democrats might take over the House. Now Medicare for All, as we said from day one, and we were right. And people like Congresswoman Jayapal were right, is deeply popular. That is what the American people want. They can't stand their healthcare costs anymore. And the stress that comes with not knowing whether their family is going to be protected or not. So great credit to that.

Now look, I start a wolf pack and that was to get money out of politics. It's not a single issue. And the idea there was we can use the flaw in the system against it. So we'll raise money and vote out anyone that doesn't vote for getting money out of politics. It's a trip, right? But it works. And in fact, in places where we've done it in Connecticut and Maryland, the other side is howled. And they say, well, how could you want to get money out of politics, but you're spending

all this money on people that voted against you? Well, we say, well, there's one way to fix that. You get money out of politics and I can't spend it, okay? So that's wolf-dash-pack.com. But this is, I hadn't thought of it at all, and I want to give Jayapal and everybody that worked on in tremendous credit, because the minute I read it, I was like, oh my God, why didn't we think of this earlier? Because in this case, if you love Medicare for all, as 70% of the country does, then you give

money to the politicians that are for Medicare for all. And guess what's going to happen? Soon you're going to have more politicians who are for Medicare for all. It begins to even the odds. So that's why it's borderline genius. And also, this political action committee is seeking small dollar donations. Is that right? Yeah, small dollar donations, yeah.

So this is different from a super PAC that Lockheed Martin gives money to get, you know, Lindsey Graham reelected. It's just, it's, and by the way, another really important distinction from this political action committee and other efforts that we're seeing is that they're only going to help politicians who specifically say, no, no, Medicare for all. No nonsense about, okay, the first, we're going to support the first step, which is, you know, what Barack Obama did, you know, okay, the Affordable Care Act, we're going to maybe expand Medicare coverage, maybe lower the age in which people are eligible for Medicare.

They don't want to fund any of that. They don't want any part of those politicians. They're only going to help support politicians who specifically say that they want a Medicare for all system, period. No, Jayapal's not playing. Yeah. She's like, no, you don't get to be cute here. You're either for Medicare for all, period, or you don't get any of the money.

If the money drives politicians, well, okay, then let's raise money for this issue. I think you can go issue by issue. Look, and by the way, I want to be, make sure that you guys know, the website is pass medicareforall.org. We'll have a link down below in the description box later if you're watching on YouTube or Facebook and go help them, pass Medicare for all.org. So look, it's one thing when I start in 20,000. 11, a pack, and it's, you know, an online show doing the best they can.

And for whatever reason, it's hard for people to understand give money to an organization to get money out of politics. That throws them for a loop. I don't think it's that complicated, but it does. It's another thing when an sitting incumbent says, you want this issue passed, well, what's the number one way to get issues passed by giving money to politicians? It sucks that that system exists, so give money to Wolfpack to get rid of it. But as it currently exists, well, if we raise a ton of money, and my guess is that this is

going to raise a lot of money, and then we give it to only politicians that will vote for Medicare for all, two twos, as my ex-girlfriend used to say, all of a sudden, you're going to have a lot of politicians for Medicare for all. Before they're getting money from the pharmaceutical companies and the health insurance companies, etc. So that created a natural incentive to go, as Larry Lessig says, great professor from Harvard, who's a godfather of getting money out of politics movement. He says, the politicians follow the green, okay? So they see that money and they go run towards it. It's always the same thing. They lean towards the green, he says. And in this case, well,

okay, now we got the green, okay? If you guys donate to it, et cetera, and I'm, my guess is correct that they'll raise a lot of money. And then yes, all of a sudden, all those politicians will lean to the green. Yes, absolutely. And I just want to leave this with some facts about what's happening with our current health care system, because there was a story that I found really important. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to do a video on it. But I want to share some of the statistics. So there is a record number of elderly people filing for bankruptcy during their retirement years, during their retirement age. And part of the reason why, big reason why, is because of unaffordable health care here in the United States. So there have been a number

of studies done, but one of the more recent studies indicates, let's go to Graphic 55. The rate of people 65 and over filing for bankruptcy grew nearly 204% from 1991 to 2016. And the percentage of seniors among all U.S. bankruptcy filers increased by nearly five times over that same period. And one of the main causes, again, was high health care costs and then reduced incomes, obviously, because they're retired. And there's the decline of pensions. But the biggest issue is health care. People get sick.

If they get sick with a chronic illness, they're screwed under this system. No, I'm telling you, man, I talk to politicians every day and I talk to reporters who talk to politicians all the time. And right now, what they're getting back from the American people is a giant scream of please stop, this health care issue is killing us, literally in the case of health care. And they're done with it, they're up to here with it. So they need a solution. And unfortunately, Obamacare wasn't it, it was not a half measure, it was a quarter measure,

right? And certainly Trump's solution of getting rid of the quarter measure and going back to the terrible system, which still dominates, is not an answer, and people are beginning to understand that. So this Medicare for all thing might happen much quicker than you realize. And then you move on to issue number two. You could do this again and again and again, right? So the second biggest issue, I'm hearing from all of those politicians knocking on doors, talking to average Americans across all parties, student debt. So in Washington, they barely, on cable news, they barely, barely talk about it because they're all millionaires. And they're like

student debt. I paid that off immediately, right? So, but everybody else in the country said Albatross around their neck, let's do Medicare for all and let's go issue by issue, okay? Well, you know, what would be best is get the money out first, okay? And then that makes everything much easier. So go support all those wonderful groups. Let's take a break. When we come back, there's some droms involving money laundering. That Trump Tower meeting, it turns out money immediately flowed after the meeting, where to flow to, that's super interesting. 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.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.