The Young Turks - Stop Manchin

Episode Date: May 7, 2021

Chris Cuomo clashes with Joe Manchin on push to work with Republicans: “They don’t want it to work!” Biden to push for his big infrastructure plan in a GOP stronghold. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to The Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. All right, welcome to the young Turks. on in. It's friendly over here. Well, unless you're a Republican or a corporate Democrat or mainstream media. Jake U. Granger and is sparing with you guys. Look, is this studio sometimes called Rebel headquarters? I guess. Is it called the Department of Justice? Maybe. Not yet, but I'm starting to hear the chitter chatter on the streets. Okay, so got a great show ahead

for you guys. Joe Biden does something interesting. We wish he would do something more interesting. How is that for a tease of a story? Chris Cuomo does something good, but we're going to celebrate it in a second. And we've got petitions for you. We've got funny stories. We've got important stories.

That's why it's called the Youngers. All right. Anna Kasparian. I want to begin today with a discussion on the whole notion of unity. Senator Joe Manchin has been towing the line of the Republican Party by pushing back against any of Joe Biden's proposals, whether we're talking about the coronavirus relief bill, the infrastructure bill, the American Families Plan, Joe Manchin has said, I will be the obstacle, I will be the cop that stops it. And it's interesting because he does so by claiming that what he cares about is unity. By partisanship, he wants to work with his Republican colleagues. And I have to be honest, it felt really good to see Chris Cuomo challenge him on that. Let's watch. And all due respect to your party, I don't think you guys play power politics as well as the other side. And I think that if you were to get

rid of the filibuster, McConnell would use it against you guys when he gets back in power. And it's only a matter of time in a way that you never even thought of using it. So I hear you on that. Well, he couldn't use it already. But I'm just saying, Senator, right now, you have infrastructure, you have needs for families, you have a lot of gross deficits that you're dealing with, there's a chance that you get none of it passed. Forget about, you know, background checks or anything like that. Let's see what you've done already, Chris. Yes, sir. Look what we've done. One point nine trillion dollars. Look what we did last year in all bipartisan way. Look what we've done this year. We didn't do it with a bipartisan way, but we did it because it needed to be done

with the pandemic that we had. We did it at 1.9 trillion. But you didn't do it bypartisan. put from the, no, we, we had a process of bipartisanship to a certain extent. But then no votes. But there wasn't. But there was one, well, we never, we didn't try. We had some votes as far as in the, in the process. But they went through the reconciliation process, Senator, as you know, you went through reconciliation because they weren't going to work with you on it.

That was awesome. That was awesome. That was such a fantastic way of handling that interview. And it gives you a sense of just how. weak Senator Manchin really is, once he's challenged on the very lies that he tells his own constituents, the American people in passing these policies that are tremendously popular. They're wildly popular. Two and three American voters favor the proposals coming from the Biden administration. And then you have this clown talking about how, no, no, no, we got to

work with the Republicans. We need unity, we need bipartisanship. They don't want to work with you. And finally, someone on cable news calls it out for what it really is, Jake. It feels really good to see that. It does. Unfortunately, the exception proves the rule, right? Because we're doing a news story about it because a journalist asking a very standard, but good question to Joe Manchin, is considered giant news. We're leading the show with him.

I know. It's a rarity. Like, he asked them, what you want to do bipartisanship, yet the last time you tried that, you got zero votes. And Mancho was totally blindsided by it, because he's used to almost all the press kissing his ass, right? And being like, oh, you're so conservative and moderate Democrat and you're representing the people of West Virginia.

And tell us more about that and how you're trying to save unity and bipartisanship in the Senate, dear senator, right? Someone on television, especially, ask him a real question. You saw his answer there. You could rewind the tape. He took a deep. breath in the beginning of that clip. I don't know if you guys noticed, but it was after Cuomo had mentioned the fact that Republicans are better at using their power than Democrats are. And that's

undeniable, absolutely undeniable. Well, look, we're going to get more on that in a second. Then we're going to tell you about what the leader of the Republicans says about unity and bipartisanship. But there, Manchin didn't even bother coming up with an answer before he went on because he's never asked the simple question, why do you keep insisting that there's bipartisanship when over the last 12 years, they have never agreed with you on anything? And on this last bill, in the era that you want for the bipartisanship in, you got zero, zero, not a little, not microscopic, zero votes from the Republicans. He doesn't have an answer because there is no answer because he's not negotiating with Republicans.

He's negotiating with his donors. Now, before we get to the other clips of this wonderful interview, I think it's important to go to what Mitch McConnell recently had to say about his number one priority. Former Senate Majority Leader, he is continuing the same obstruction that Biden was familiar with during the Obama administration. And here he is laying it out clearly. Yeah, 100% of my focus is on stopping this new administration. 100% of my focus is on standing up to this administration. What we have in the United States Senate is total unity from Susan Collins to Ted Cruz in opposition to what the new Biden administration is trying to do to this country. That was clear.

There was no equivocating. caveat to that statement, McConnell's number one priority with a unified Republican caucus in the Senate is to fight back against anything being proposed by Joe Biden. With that in mind, the follow-up question to Joe Manchin is, so do you still want to work with these people? After, first of all, you got burned with the coronavirus relief bill, not a single Republican in either the House or the Senate voted for the coronavirus relief bill. And they plan on behaving the same way with upcoming legislation as well.

Okay, how much clearer did he have to be then? We're going to oppose 100% of Biden's agenda. 100%. Manchin's like, oh, no, I think we could work with them. Look, I asked this question on Twitter. I didn't bother asking you guys because I know how you guys are going to answer, right? But I was curious what, you know, Jen Pop thought about it. Or do you think Manchin is dumb or corrupt?

Because if you take him at face value and he says, oh, the other guy says he's going to work against us 100%. And then his party's completely unified because Manchin's always like, oh, we'll get Susan Collins. No, he just explained. No, Susan Collins to everyone is 100% against everything you propose. So if you say, and by the way, of course, Mitch McConnell has an excellent history of delivering on that promise. So it's not like it's divorced from context. The context is when McConnell said that Obama, about Obama, he delivered that about Obama. Okay, so Mansion has to be incredibly stupid to think that McConnell will out of the goodness of his heart become bipartisan.

So that's why I asked it on Twitter because, and I didn't ask you guys, because you guys are the smartest audience in the world. You're not going to say he's dummy. It's not doing it because he's dumb. He's doing it because he's corrupt. It's super obvious. Now, when it comes to issues that might be unpopular with independent and possibly conservative voters in West Virginia, I can understand how Manchin would want to differentiate himself from the Democratic Party.

But that's not what we're talking about here. We're having a conversation about popular proposals, whether we're discussing the coronavirus relief bill, the infrastructure package, or the American Families Plan. These are pieces of legislation that have polled wonderfully, even among, right wing voters in states like West Virginia. So I'm not buying any argument coming from Senator Joe Manchin on why we need to cave to the demands of the party that is not in charge right now. With that said, let's look at the next piece of this exchange between Cuomo and Mansion. Joe Biden has got more done in a hundred days, but not with any president in my time that I can

not with them. Basically he got more done. He's put a plan out there and he got more done. But not with them. And we got it done, okay? And we're not with them. But you've heard Joe Biden, he wants it to work. It will work. But they don't want it to work. He just told you, I'm stopping the administration.

He just said it to you. You don't know. You don't. He just said it. That was one person. He's the head. That's one person. He's the leader.

He doesn't, he's not controlling all of that. I can assure you. Man, that was a pathetic display for Mansion. Absolutely pathetic. And she's just one person. I mean, he's the leader among the Republicans in the Senate, but I'm just going to keep spouting the same talking points as if what Cuomo is challenging me with isn't it being said at all?

Just completely pretend as if he's not saying anything. It's amazing. Yeah, this is such a funny thing to say. But I'm proud of Cuomo. Because he was basically the only person who ever had any progressive on his show on cable news. That includes MSNBC. And now he's actually, and there's a ton I disagree with Chris Cromo on, right?

But here he is actually holding someone in power accountable. Also pretty much the only person in cable news doing that. I mean, from time to time, you'll see little shades of it here and there. But that was as good in exchanges you'll ever see on cable news. And mansion's stone cold busted. Totally. No, I don't believe McConnell is telling the truth. I think he secretly wants to work with Democrats and help them pass their agenda.

Come on, Joe. Nobody believes that. And you don't believe that. Now, look, this is asking too much of Cuomo or anyone on cable news. One last follow-up would have been great, which is, so who are you negotiating with Senator Mansion? Because it ain't the Republicans. You know you're not going to get any of their votes.

Now, I can show you a list of your top 10 corporate donors, which is actually. exactly what I did on this show when Joe Manchin was on this show. And I could show you exactly how you voted with those donors. And on this show, he said, oh, I don't even know who my top donors. Come on. Now we've been insulting our intelligence. No, because in the old days, even my good friends of mine, because the New York Times and NPR said it, they would believe that people like Joe Manchin, well, he's a Democrat.

He means well. He's just, there's nothing he can do. There's not, no, donors. Oh, that, no. No, no, corruption. No, New York Times told me there is no corruption. NPR whispered of how they're wonderfully civil and great in Congress, et cetera. And I don't know what you're talking.

Now it's becoming so obvious and social media is having a huge impact. And then moments like this where I think even like hardcore, actual moderate Democratic voters are going, yeah, that guy's lying. I don't know what the truth is, but that guy's definitely lying. Yeah. Look, this is a swink or swim moment for the Democratic Party. And so the Biden administration has a decision to make right now. And that decision is, do we fight for the very popular proposals that we've put out there and actually get it done to ensure that Democrats increase their popularity among voters? Or do we cave to donors to the GOP and accomplish nothing after promising to accomplish big things? And then a blood bath in 2022. That's the question. That's really the only question that matters at this point. Look, guys, the bottom line on this is going to be not decided by us or Chris Cuomo or anyone else, or even Bernie Sanders or anyone else. That would be great if progressives fought against Joe Manchin. You know, they huff and puff as sometimes they do a tweet. Okay, but they've made

no demands in Congress as far as I can see. Joe Manchin has made a thousand demands, right? So they've kind of unilaterally surrendered in actual legislation. They'll say, no, that's not true. I got a tiny little thing that was passed for six months. Congrats. Anyways, but at the end of the day, it's going to be decided by Joe Biden. Do you have the fight in you or don't you? Are you going to let Mansion be president or are you going to be president?

Who's the boss? Who's the boss? And look, let's be honest about one thing. My guess is, I'd be thrilled if he proved me wrong. The reason Joe Biden doesn't fight Joe Manchin is because he is, Joe Manchin. He actually, Biden actually agrees with everything Manchin's saying, and he likes to use, Manchin is using the Republicans as an excuse to do what his donors want, and Biden is using Manchin as an excuse to do what his donors want. So look, for example, if you're an honest

actor and you're a senator like Manchin, you could easily say, hey, here are the things I disagree with the Democratic Party on, and hence I am moderate, et cetera. So I'm against the gun control bills that they want because the people of West Virginia don't want it. In my cases are progressive, I'd say I'm against the corporate tax rate coming only to 28%. It should go to 35%. But what would I do? Would I end the filibuster so we could actually vote on these bills? Of course.

I wouldn't say, hey, I don't think the corporate tax rate is high enough. Hence, I will block all legislation from going forward. No, that is obviously disingenuous. The reason you do that is because you don't want anything to pass because you work for the goddamn chamber of commerce. That's facts. Well, Biden did make a good move just recently that I wanted to share the details about and it has to do with his infrastructure bill.

So let's get right to it. President Joe Biden has a fascinating and I would argue smart strategy in campaigning for his infrastructure bill in GOP strongholds. The latest example is in Louisiana where he was rallying today in support for his infrastructure bill. Biden will push the case for his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan in the reliably Republican state of Louisiana, directly challenging GOP lawmakers who say that low taxes for corporations and the wealthy will fuel economic growth. The same trickle down economics nonsense that has been proven incorrect, inaccurate over and over again for decades now. What I love

about this is that the message that Biden has here is popular across the board. Whether you're a Democrat or Republican, conservative, progressive, it doesn't matter. Everyone sees the crumbling infrastructure. Everyone knows that the country needs an infusion of federal funds in order to improve all around. And that's the case that Biden is trying to make today. Biden chose to speak in the city of Lake Charles in front of a 70-year-old bridge that is 20 years past It's designed lifespan. And I think it's also smart that he decided to go to this particular location because it has been ravaged by hurricanes in a very short period of time. Here's a vice news report that really helps you understand just how devastated that community has been.

Some breaking news in our national lead where Hurricane Laura is rapidly intensifying at this hour. The latest warning described unsurvivable. The governor says emergency crews will start search and rescue missions as soon as it's safe to do so to help out our friends near the Lake Charles area and other parts of southwest Louisiana. Now, Delta made landfall in the same area hit by Laura and the people there are still trying to get back on their feet. If you would have looked out this window a couple months ago, you would have actually seen a lot more tarps on buildings. You would have seen a lot more blue roofs. And so that's kind of a good show of progress or sign of progress is you still still. We still see a lot, but it's not as many as it was 60 days ago.

There's not a lot of communities in this country that can say right now that they went through everything else that 2020 has brought us in addition to two major hurricanes. And we have gone through that here in Lake Charles. Do you know anybody out here that I could go stay with? We lost everything, and this is everything we own now. This is what we got left. They came this morning and told us we were too loud last night. that we are getting kicked out.

Every day somebody gets kicked out. My most time it's two and three people. I need help, and I don't know where I'm supposed to get this help from. I'm hurt, I'm angry, I'm confused. I don't know what to do. They could have left us back home, and we would have been a lot better off than we are right now on these streets of New Orleans.

It doesn't feel good at all. This is wrong. Imagine finally going to the American people with solutions to the problems that they've been suffering for decades. And the fact that Biden has chosen this location, I think is strategic, I think it's smart, and I think it's the right thing to do. Jank. So the Republicans have proposed an alternative to a $2.2 trillion proposal, a $568 billion proposal. That would be paid for with regressive taxes. Yes.

Gas taxes and things like that. Yeah, well, I want to get to that in a second. So, but that's $1.7 trillion less roughly than the Biden proposal. So it's a fraction, okay? Number two, they stripped out everything that has to do with taking care of people, nursing folks, et cetera. And of course, as predicted, renew deal like proposals, anything having to do with renewable energy. So now they want to negotiate on those grounds. Manchin will of course agree.

Cinema will of course agree. And then Biden, well, we're going to see. Is Biden just the same exact person as Joe Manchin? And this is all huffing and puffing and posturing about Republicans. And then at the end of the day, the Republicans can't kill it. Only Manchin and cinema and other corporate Democrats can kill it. If Biden lets them and doesn't fight them, that means he actually is a corporate Democrat, just like Joe Manchin.

And he's using them as an excuse. So all of this is just a photo op and theatrics and nothing else. If he actually fights against Joe Manchin, then you know Biden's for real, right? Because understand, Mitch McConnell cannot block the bill. He does not have enough votes. He needs other corporatists like Manchin in the Democratic Party. And so look, we want to encourage him to go fight Manchin too. And we've got a petition on that.

and we're asking you to participate because we want to get the message out. Stop Mansion. So we say, look, you're the president, not him, set up shop in West Virginia, and let voters there know who's really stopping vital federal funds from getting to that state. And the entire country, by the way, back on track. And it's corporate Democrat Joe Manchin. Everybody knows that. Biden knows that.

T.YT.com slash petitions slash stop mansion. So it's wonderful that you're going to get in the grill of Republicans in Louisiana. I don't just say that lightly because usually Democrats are too scared to do that. Obama almost never challenged Republicans. And Pelosi says she wants them to be stronger. Biden's constantly bear hugging them normally. But here he is. Now actually making his case in a deeply red state in an effective way.

Great. Now let's take that to show to West Virginia where it would actually make a difference. Yes, I totally agree. I think that it's time for Biden to play hardball with the corporate. Democrats in the Senate that I think should begin with Senator Manchin because he's been the most vocal in stating that he will be an obstacle to passing the legislation that the Biden administration is proposing. But he needs to also take that fight to Arizona. He needs to take it to Virginia, where Mark Warner is. He needs to ensure that his little buddy, Chris Coons,

fights on behalf of the legislation he's proposing. And you're right, Chank, if he doesn't take that fight to these states and ensure that corporate Democrats do what they need, to do to get this done, then we really need to question whether or not he really wants it. Yeah, and so this petition, and we'll have a link down below if you're watching this video later on YouTube or Facebook. It's easy, just click on it. It'll get you there. But this petition isn't to hurt Joe Biden, it's to help Joe Biden so that he could say, hey, I've got pressure. I've got pressure from progressives, I got pressure people on the left. I got pressure from all my Democratic voters who are saying that I got to fight mansion

And they're right. Otherwise, I can't pass these bills. I mean, I can pass a $569 billion version of it. That's about, what, a quarter of my original proposal. You know, Democrats always bragging by getting half a loaf, although they never really do. This is like, that would be bragging about at most a quarter of a loaf, right? So he can either settle for a quarter of a loaf because that's actually what he wanted, or he could say, hey, look, look at this petition and all the pressure that's on? Well, look, I got to do, I got to deliver for my voters. It's, look, everyone watching, even if you're the most moderate Democrat that's ever existed, you know I'm obviously right, because you've got to get the 50 votes. There's no hands of sorts of butts about it.

It's just math, right? And so finally, back to the Republicans, Anna's right, their proposal for covering this tiny amount, quarter of Biden's proposal. I forgot who was president for a second. is to say, oh, yeah, by the way, we'll pay for it, not by taxing the rich, never, never. Those are our best friends, by the way, we're populists. They don't want a 3.6% extra tax on the rich. They think that's just a crime against humanity, okay? But they don't mind taxes. They're willing to pay for it by taxing you.

You're a gas tax, which is a hot, much higher percentage of your income than it is for a rich person's income. A gas tax doesn't bother a rich person at all. It's minuscule to them. But it kills you when you're trying to get back and forth from work, right? And they want to pay for the roads by doing toll roads. So every time you drive and where does it go? It goes to the private companies that built those roads. And who are they?

They are the donors to the Republicans and the corporate Democrats. So Manchin and McConnell and all these guys are going to get rich off of the so-called compromise. and their donors are going to get filthy rich because every time you drive, they're going to take money out of your pocket. All in an effort to make sure that giant corporations and billionaires are not tax one penny more. It's all going to come from you.

Look, if Biden went there and gave that speech, whether it's in Louisiana against Steve Scalese, who's one of the leaders in the House for the Republicans or against Mitch McConnell, or against John Kennedy, their senator who's going to run. run for re-election soon, or he went to West Virginia, did it against Mansion, or he went to Arizona and did it against Chris's cinema, everyone would understand it and go, I don't want to pay toll, nobody wants to pay a toll on the road, I don't want extra gas tax, and you're telling

me that Mansion is cinema and these Republicans want me to pay because they want to protect their rich donors, they would be furious and Biden would win easily. Now, the only question that remains is, does he really want to win? Or is this all just a game so that they could make their corporate donors happy? If they pass the Republican version, corporations would get richer, okay? And not one thing would take a penny out of their pocket, but you guys would have to pay for those roads and those bridges for the rest of your lives. And guess what? Biden, he wouldn't get any cookies. When we come back from the break, there's another group that doesn't deserve any cookies. I'll tell you who they are and give you the details. Come back 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-Bing 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 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, entertained all at the same time. You know, I'm going to be able to be. All right, back to the break.

Is Elaine Kelly a bit of an American here? I guess. She hit the join button below on YouTube, became a young tourist member. she's bringing change in the world, not a big deal, slash huge deal. Crazy Hawaiian in Pennsylvania already obviously a legendary hero, we know that. So she wrote it on Twitter. Hard to believe it's been a year on Twitch and too many to remember on tYT.com. Would a hero keep both subs going simultaneously?

I guess. But in all seriousness, Mahalo to the TYT family for bringing the truth to the masses. Well, Mahalo back to you. You're always awesome. Thank you for being with us for a year on Twitch and so much more. on the website. We appreciate it. Dissident PM writes in also on Twitch, living in rural

northeast Georgia, the TYT has kept me sane and let me know I am not alone. These are my people. This is my family. Dragon is my squad. So, Dissident PM, I got news for you. You're exactly right, brother. And that is the same message we have now had being sent to us for

about 19 years straight. And it keeps us going and we love it. Because unfortunately, when we start there was no progressive media. Now, still, there's barely any progressive media. And so that's why you guys feel alone when in reality, you're the majority of the country. But the corporate media never tells you that. I could show you, and I will in my book, Justice is Coming, book.com. I'm not saying anything I said it. Okay. That in dozens of polls, not just dozens of polls, progressives are the majority of the country very clearly on almost every issue.

All right, I got more. Peter Hamby writes in on YouTube super chat. It makes me wonder what Jank taught Cuomo when he was on his CNN show. Regardless, Manchin will not move on his pointless bipartisanship before 04. No, no, I didn't teach Chris anything. And we still have wild disagreements. We do DM each other every once in a while. But he still thinks that I'm like borderline radical, which is hilarious.

That's really funny. I know, right? But at least he's got an open mind. It's like we have a really, really low bar, and he clears it easily, right? But almost no one else clears it. Like, do you even have an open mind? Can you have a rational discussion with a progressive? 98% of cable host, news host are like, no way.

Would never do that. But not Cuomo, so that's why we like him. All right. Swart of words said, invite Cuomo on TYT, invited you, return the courtesy, and it would be fun. Oh, of course I have. He's dying. He's dying to be on TYT. No, he kind of is.

Oh, is he really? He would love it. But no, these, they're not allowed to do it. Unless they've got a book coming out, a lot of these folks, even now there's one progressive on mainstream news, and he's not allowed to do it either. So that's frustrating. But we're trying, brothers and sisters.

We'll be back. I'm going to be able to be. All right, back on TYT, Jen Canana with you guys. Look, we got a bonus episode for you today. I mean, for the members. Why? Because you guys make the show possible. And you're part of what brings changes in the world.

So today we got a fun episode about a hilarious Republican legislator trying to cover his tracks almost literally. You're going to love that story, okay? And I'll throw in a cutesy kid's story. I'll tell you a story about my kids. You'll love it. Okay, t.y.t.com slash join, cute little join button on YouTube. You hit it on Amazon. If you have Amazon, on Twitch, if you have Amazon Prime, what? It's free. Okay, go to tuit.com slash prime to figure out how to do that. It helps the show so much free for you, but we get the Bezos bucks.

All right. Casper. All right. Not a single GOP lawmaker voted in favor of the coronavirus relief package. Not a single one, But that hasn't stopped them from trying to take credit for it, meaning that they're looking to take credit and get some cookies. But you know what I feel about that. No cookies for you, I'm sorry. The Associated Press has found multiple examples of Republican lawmakers going back to their own states to tout their accomplishments with the coronavirus relief package. But again, not a single one of them voted in favor of it. The AP writes that since the early spring votes, Republicans from New York and Indiana to Texas and Washington State have promoted elements of the legislation they fought to defeat.

So there's a reason why you would do that. You would do that if the legislation you fought to defeat is actually wildly popular with your own constituents. And that certainly is the case. In fact, two in three voters have consistently supported the $1.9 trillion package in recent polling, while individual elements such as the $1,400 direct payments to individuals are even more popular. And so here are some specifics of GOP lawmakers trying to take credit for something they deserve zero credit for. GOP lawmakers have been especially bullish about promoting the rescue plan's restaurant revitalization fund, which devoted $28.6 billion to the struggling industry.

Specific people include House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. He topped the group of at least eight Republicans who have encouraged constituents to apply in recent days. The others included Senator Roger Wicker, representatives Elise Stefonic, Greg Pence, Jamie Herrera Butler, Butler, Still unsure how you say her name. Beth Van Dune, you also have Troy Balderson and Anthony Gonzalez. All of these Republicans taking credit for something that they worked very, very hard to defeat. They get no cookies. Okay, so there's so many quotes.

But let me go to Representative Alex Mooney, Republican of West Virginia. He wants to brag about the $41 million that were given to 12 health care centers in his district. Well, I mean, that's a good thing to brag about. That's a lot of money, and those they really needed it. So that's why he wants to take credit for it. And he said, quote, I am glad that this funding has been secured. Are you? He voted against it.

So here's how you could have shown that you were glad that that funding was going to be secured by voting for it. That would show you were glad. I vote yes, and I get it. I'm so glad my district got it. My voters got it. Now the way to not do that is to vote, no, like I don't want him to get it. I don't want him to get it. And then turn around and pretend like you were in favor of it after it passes and goes,

I'm so glad it got secured. Thank God all the Democrats voted yes and defeated us. If it wasn't for the Democrats, you wouldn't have gotten it. And so congrats. I mean, you voted for me. That was a really dumb idea, right? I mean, I voted no, I didn't want you to get it. But thank God for the Democrats.

Oh, he didn't mention that last part, interesting. See, look guys, if you watch the Young Turks regularly, you know I beat up on the mainstream press all the time for very good reason. But on this issue, they've actually done a pretty good job because it's an easy gotcha. And but still, hey, credit where credit is due. So they're going around busting all these guys. And by the way, four or five years ago, they wouldn't have done this. No, they would have both sides did. 100%. And they're not in this case. And I'm happy to see it because, again, they deserve zero credit. If they had their way, there would have been nothing in the coronavirus relief package.

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And if you go to ExpressVPN.com slash TYT, you can get three extra months for free with this exclusive link just for TYT fans. That's E-X-P-R-E-S-S-V-P-N dot com slash T-YT. Check it out today. $1 billion in spending, the vast majority of which would go to businesses, and then you guys could F-off. That's usually what you see for Republicans, and we'd be lucky if we even got that. So I love the fact that we're getting the truth in the reporting in regard to who actually

fought for and accomplished that relief package, and it was not the Republican Party. All right, and I like the White House spokesperson here, Andrew Bates, with a nice snarky message, too. He said, it's hardening to see Republicans in Congress reaching across the aisle to endorse it, even retroactively. I know. Okay. So I like that kind of salt. But in your neck of the woods, this is an easy one because you don't have to keep track of which congressperson voted for it or against it. If your congressperson is a Republican, they voted against it.

every single one. That's not hyperbole, it's literal. So if you voted for a Republican, they wanted to make sure you did not get that $1,400 check. Those healthcare centers didn't get their money, that you got no relief, none, right? Anything else is just political correctness.

You can check it a thousand different ways. That is a stone cold fact. They all voted now, and since it's popular, now they're all bragging as if they voted yes. And yes, that means they're all liars. Now, I think an important part of the story, though, is what are Democrats doing to counter this messaging? Because remember, politics, it's not just carrots and sticks.

It's also about messaging and ensuring that voters are fully aware, fully knowledgeable about who actually accomplished things that benefited people's lives, that materially improve people's lives. And I'm happy to see that Democrats are engaging in this messaging war. For instance, a DNC spokesperson said this, between now and next year's midterm elections, we're going to make sure every voter remembers how Republicans try to stand in the way of this economic boom and our return to normalcy, that's really important. And you can count on Democrats to call Republicans out for their hypocrisy when they try to

tout the same programs they voted against. And they've put some action behind those words already. For instance, the Democratic National Committee has already launched digital take of local news websites in Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, Nevada, New Hampshire, Florida, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania to thank Democrats and highlight the Republican obstruction. The White House's political arm has also put up billboards in 20 states, calling out Republicans and focused on the Republican opposition. So they do need to engage in a very aggressive messaging battle here, because if they don't,

you know that the Republican Party is shameless. They will absolutely try to take credit for the very legislation that they fought so aggressively against. And so the other positive thing, and I hope that the Democratic Party keeps moving in this direction, is that it appears that they're aware of how popular these types of policies are. Policies that put money in the pockets of ordinary Americans, American workers, people who have largely been neglected by the Democratic Party in recent decades. These are policies that poll really well.

So if they want a shot at maintaining power in the midterm elections and obviously in the next general election, this is the direction they need to go in and they should be bolder and propose more. Yeah, last funny quote from the Republicans, Representative Nicole Malio Takas is a Republican of New York. The New York Republicans generally tend to pretend to be moderate Republicans. There is no such thing. They all vote no on every bill.

They all vote with Trump back when he was president, over 90% of the time. They're all massive right-wing Republicans. And in this case, of course, you voted no. None of the Republicans voted yes on this, but it's really popular in our district. So she says, these grants were among the 9% of funds dedicated to COVID-19 relief that I was always in support of. No, Nicole, there was one time you were not in support of it the day you were voting. See, the way you show support is you vote yes. And then you say, hey, I brought this to you.

When you vote, no, I don't want my voters to get this. No, no, no. And then turn around, I was always in support of it. You know what that makes you? A liar. That's it. No cookies for you. We got to take a break.

And when we come back, I'll tell you what Republicans are up to in the great state of South Carolina. Spoiler alert, firing squads. Come right back. I'm going to be able to be. All right, back on a young Turks, let's go through a couple of things here. Colorado Blue Blazor Regular writes in in our member section, correction Anna, Republicans are mansion's friends, the Democrats are mentioned as colleagues. Yes, he definitely likes them. There's no question about that.

In the Ethernet writes in, they came to the donors. Donors own our government. That is the one bipartisan issue in politics. Unfortunately, that's true. Someone who likes Bernie Sanders wrote in about the Battle of the Joe's, as it were. The problem with fighting Joe Mansion in West Virginia

is that Manchin won his election there by three points, and Biden lost to Trump there by 40 points. Maybe Biden can ultimately win that fight, but that's an uphill battle. Instead, Biden should buy, mansion, give them some pork and get them on board. I don't actually disagree with that. It depends. I would try to win them over with carrots and sticks. I would threaten the sticks. And what I would do is I would tell allies to unleash ads on Mansion. Then I would go and say, look, Joe, there is

one way we could make a deal here. I could have them do stop doing the ads. And then, and I can get you a lot of money in West Virginia. But you're going to have to vote yes on all these things. I don't mind any of that. What I mind is no effort at all. Oh my God, he's a corporate Democrat. How could I possibly challenge him? What ads could they run against Joe Mansion? How about a Rebellion Pack ad we already have and have run in West Virginia?

Now, if we had more money, we'd run this until he was out of office completely. Or said no Moss, you win, you win. We'll get rid of the filibuster. Let's show you the Rebellion Pack ad. Joe Manchin betrayed you. He could have doubled your salary, but he decided to serve his donors instead. They gave him millions to make sure he kept your pay low so they could make more money. He says the people of West Virginia don't want higher wages.

That's ridiculous. Why don't we cut his salary and see how he likes it? Or we could just fire him. Tell him you'll never vote for him again if he sides with big business instead of the hardworking people of West Virginia. I'm not saying you should go to RebellionPack.com to help. By the way, you can see all of our videos there, too. But in all seriousness, that is how you would go after him. That was about the $15 minimum wage that Joe Manchin voted no and killed it, along with seven other Democrats who are all corporatists, all work for the Chamber of Commerce.

We should be running those ads against all of them. But by the way, two of them are Biden's top allies in the Senate, the senators from Delaware. There's no real journalism in this country. Otherwise, everybody would know that Biden was actually against the $15 minimum wage. So split mentality 12 wrote in on YouTube super chat. Hi Anna, you were right. Joe Mansion, all bark, no bite. The mildest pushback had those barks turning into whimpers.

Thank you, thank you. Because I remember there was a viewer who, I said that Mansions all bark, no bite, and a viewer wanted me to elaborate. I did elaborate later, but I'm glad that this callback is important. Because, yeah, he's a coward. It's just that he's not being challenged by Biden. And that's an issue. Totally.

Nutritionist Liz wrote in unity that could be an excuse. Every time, Liz, every time. Love you guys. We'll be right back. All right on the Young Turks, Jenkin' out with you guys. We do news here. So let's do it.

Let's take a little trip to South Carolina, where we have unfortunate news. Under a new bill that is set to pass and be signed into law, death row inmates in South Carolina would be executed either by the electric chair or by firing squad if the lethal injection drugs become unavailable. Now, there have been issues with some of these states that have continued to do executions.

It is much more difficult to come by the lethal injection drugs. And so what can South Carolina do? I mean, they gotta find other methods to murder people or kill people. And that's the case here. The bill was approved by a 66 to 43 vote and it will require condemned inmates to choose either being shot or electrocuted if lethal injection drugs aren't available. The state is one of only nine to still use the electric chair and will become only the fourth to allow firing squad.

So Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Utah also use firing squad as a way of executing death row inmates. Okay, so, you know, this is an interesting topic for me because I used to be a Republican, and one of the opinions that I had I have changed is on the death penalty. And so it's not that I'm against this form of justice out of hand. So why did I change my opinion? Because it turns out we were killing the wrong people. And so the last people that we executed in Arkansas, for example, there's four people executed for a crime.

And we found out later, oops, got the DNA of someone else for that crime after they were executed, we found out. We can't have it. We just can't have it. Now, what, 21 people have been released from death row who were innocent? So we were going to kill those 21 people who had not done it. They already spent all that time in jail. And we're going to, in that case, we were going to murder them.

Yeah. Look, guys, if you're a progressive and you're a better person than I am, it's wrong in a thousand different ways, right? But if you're an independent or a conservative still holding on to it and you say, if they did a vicious crime, I want the state to kill them on my behalf, do you also want the state to kill innocent people on your behalf? That's the question you got to answer because that's exactly what's been happening. Now obviously here we're talking about the state legislature, but when you look at how the vote broke down, there's some interesting facts there. So seven Republicans in South Carolina state legislature actually voted against the bill. One Democrat voted in favor of it. And even though it has not been signed into law yet, it is very likely going to be signed into law because the governor, Henry McMaster, has committed to

signing it into law, just to give you the whole process of how this came about, the Senate already had approved the bill in March by a vote of 32 to 11. The House only made minor technical changes to that version, meaning that after a routine final vote in the House and a sign off by the Senate, it will then go to the Republican governor, Henry McMaster, who has said that he will sign it. Now, going back to what Jenks said earlier about innocent death row inmates being exonerated, The numbers are actually insane. Now, there's a difference between those who have been exonerated by DNA evidence and those who have been exonerated by other means, and I want to give you the accurate numbers right now.

So for instance, the death penalty information center reported that new research by the death penalty information center has found 11 previously unrecorded death row exonerations, bringing the total number of people exonerated after being wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death to 185. It's insane. The data show, the data now show that for every 8.3 people who have been put to death in the United States since executions resumed in the 1970s, one person who had been wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death had been exonerated. And then when you look at the work that the Innocence Project does, they primarily focus on exonerating people with the use of DNA evidence. They found that to date, 375 people in the United States have been exonerated by DNA testing, including 21. who served time on death row.

Yeah, so a couple of things here. 185 innocent people we were going to execute. Okay, 21 on the DNA evidence. Thank you for that, clarification, Anna. And I just, I can't live with that. I don't know how you could live with that. And so now to the point of how to execute these folks, you know, some fundamentalist religions,

including fundamentalist Islam, stone people to death. In the old days, a lot of religions did that. And so ISIS did that recently. Saudi Arabian government used to do that, okay? So let's think about how much different what South Carolina is going to do is. They're going to line up someone, and instead of throwing stones, they're going to throw bullets, and they're going to watch him die. They're going to watch him bleed out and go, okay, good, we murdered him, okay?

Is it really that much different if they take stones instead of bullets? Now, when it's stones, America flips out and goes, oh, that's a brutal, Muslim, terrible, horrible, horrible. Can you believe how inhumane these people are? We do it humanely with, we line up at about the same distance, and we just fire projectiles into them a little quicker than a stone and just murder them that way and riddled them full of holes and watch them bleed out. Yeah, I don't really want to engage in this. conversation, but I'm going to because I think there is a difference. They're both brutal and I have a moral problem with the death penalty. Aside from the fact that we end up executing innocent people, I just think that it sends the wrong message to use death to punish those

who have, you know, killed others. But aside from that, yeah, I mean, stoning someone to death, It's executing someone by firing squad, if it's done correctly, is supposed to be faster and relatively painless compared to stoning, right? Yeah, by the way, that's what they said about the electric chair, and oftentimes it would take forever, and they'd have to do it four times before the guy died, and they're frying him to death. They're cooking him to death, right? So I hear you, Anna, that's true.

Stoning does take longer. All of these are barbaric. Absolutely. And I used to think back in the day, well, lethal injection, that's better. lethal injection stopped working, and then they had to do that three, four times. Meanwhile, the guy's writhing in pain, et cetera. No, no, we, as a state, we should not kill people like this. This is, it's okay to do life without parole, right?

There are some crimes that are awful, awful, awful. And we've got to make sure those folks are not in society, right? But we don't have to be as vicious in return. So far, by the way, the firing squad is real. It's in a bunch of states now, but the one state that has actually executed, if you will, so far is Utah. They've killed three people by firing squad since 1977. So those Mormons that are so friendly, unless, of course, they're in a firing squad. Hey, you know, right to life.

If it has to do with a woman's reproductive organs, but not when it comes to anything else. Yeah, and by the way, where does it come from? comes for the church. And the church says that they are against abortion and that they are adamantly against the death penalty. And Republicans in this country go, I'll take that one. But not that one because, of course, what God says is optional. Yeah. I mean. Whatever suits my purposes. The Bible. It's the top a la carte menu for the GOP. Yep. Now that COVID's almost gone, they can go back to that buffet and pick whatever they like.

Oh, hatred against gays. Murdering people with firing squads. Oh, helping the I don't want that. I'm awful. Yeah, we see you. Well, we're not celebrating that news from South Carolina, but there are folks who are. So let's discuss that. In a truly despicable prime time segment, Fox News decided to celebrate the fact that South Carolina is on its way to passing a bill and signing into law, execution by firing squad. Let's take a look. Third one, this is a new one. Shoot them, stick them, or fry them. There are now three ways to die in South Carolina if you're a death row inmate.

That's terrible. That's terrible. Listen, they wrote it. I'm reading it. Late today, the State House there, this is a real story, voted to reinstate the firing squad as an alternative to lethal injection and the electric chair due to a nationwide shortage in lethal injection drugs. Okay, so not only do I not not only do I not have a problem with it, I would suggest to you it might be a more preferable means of

execution. So first of all individually, you got to come to that conclusion morally. Statewide you got to have this debate. But here's the thing. Firing squads are at least more honest about what you're doing. I think sometimes when we do lethal injection or whatever, we're trying to ease

us as a society. Go to sleep. We're trying to ease our own pain that we're doing this to that we decided deserves it. Firing squads are just honest. We should be honest about how often death row inmates have been exonerated, either using DNA evidence or otherwise. Because the fact of the matter is we're executing innocent people. And the fact that they're so giddy there is it's sick. And we'll get to that in a second.

But I want to reiterate that the death penalty, even if you have no moral issues with it, moral issues with it, which I do, but they clearly don't. You should have moral issues with the fact that we have a justice system that's deeply flawed, which leads to inaccurate convictions. For instance, new research from the death penalty information center found 11 previously unrecorded death row inmates, death row exonerations, I should say, bringing the total number of people exonerated after being wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death to 185. The data now shows that for every 8.3 people who have been put to death in the United States since executions resumed in the 1970s, one person who had been wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death

has been exonerated. So yeah, let's stay on that for a second. So these guys, as Anna pointed out, I think this is hilarious, right? Or we could fry him, like where we basically, we electrocute him to death, they'll fry him to death, right? so funny. I guarantee again if a fundamentalist Muslim was laughing about frying someone to death, imagine

if like a Black Lives Matter protester jokingly did a chant about fry them like bacon, maybe they'd call them terrorists for the next 10 years. Oh, they did do that and they didn't do the frying and they were joking with a cop when they

said that. But it doesn't matter. But here they're like, fry them, yeah. Or stick them. or shoot him. But guys, if you're in that camp, look at that sad an I just read to you guys. So that means about 12% of the people that were on death row were actually innocent. Let's call it one out of ten to round, down actually. So imagine that you're in favor of the death penalty and like the Republicans in South Carolina. You say, yeah, let's do fire scott, who cares?

Then you line up 10 people who are on death row. You say to the people who are about to shoot them and murder them, one of them is innocent. But it doesn't matter. Let's shoot anyway. And I'm asking you guys, whether you're left wing or right wing, et cetera. I'm a left wing, I'm pretty sure. But really, if you're independent or right wing, I'm asking you, if you got 10 people who are lined up, nine of them are guilty, and one of them is innocent, and you know that based on the numbers,

would you shoot anyway? Would you kill them anyway, knowing that you're about to kill one innocent person? Well, that's what we're doing as a state. Yeah, absolutely. And I also want to just draw attention to the fact that they used cutesy little emojis in a story that has to do with executing people by using firing squad. Let's see if we can get that lower third down. There we go.

So you see it at the bottom of the screen. I mean, you have the squirt gun and the couch representing the story that they're talking about here. As if this is some sort of like laughing matter to make light of, it's not funny. And I mean, I wouldn't expect Fox News to have the kind of discussion that we're having now where we have legitimate concern for people's rights to live. their right to live, especially if they're innocent, right? They're not gonna talk about the flawed justice system, because they're good, they're not worried about being victims of that flawed justice system.

They're not worried about suffering the consequences of that flawed justice system. To them, it doesn't, Jake, you think they care? I don't really think they care. I think if we came to them with this argument right now, they would not change their opinion at all, at all, because this is what conservatism in America is. It's the same tough on crime nonsense ideology that has created more criminals in this country than we needed to have. Where you take nonviolent people, put them in prison where they become hardened criminals,

where recidivism is higher in the United States than in any other country in the world, where we literally imprison more people than any country in the world. Are Americans inherently more violent? Is that why that's happening? Or is it because the justice system that those goons advocate for turns all sorts of innocent people into hardened criminals that in their eyes, in some cases, deserve to be shot in the head to be executed. That's who they are.

Absolutely disgusting. And by the way, what a moron. Hegsith. They wrote it, so I read it. Yeah, because you're nothing more than a pathetic little actor who can't think for yourself. But that's exactly what cable news wants. They just want a robot who just regurgitates with someone else writes for him on a teleprompter. Clown, absolute clown.

But I'm sure he means that he's bloodthirsty. He's been bloodthirsty on almost every topic that they've ever covered on Fox. And he almost accidentally executed someone during a Fox News segment. We covered it back of the day. They were doing axe throwing in the middle of a New York street. And Hegseth overthrew the target and hit someone with an axe. So nearly killed him. He got sued later.

So, and probably didn't care at all. Like, who cares? Was it good for the ratings? Was it good for the ratings? We're Republicans. We have no empathy for any other human beings. Well, like the guest said, at least they're honest about it. Yeah, they're bloodthirsty.

And the idea of killing someone right in front of their eyes probably is kind of appealing to them. It's just gross. Anyway, we're going to take a break. When we come back, we're going to do a deep dive on the. situation in Colombia. There have been protests for over a week. I'm going to tell you why and what is likely to happen in the future. So let's take a break and we'll be right back. 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 at apple.combe. I'm your

host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.