The Young Turks - Supported Or Silenced

Episode Date: October 19, 2023

Biden visits Israel and expresses unequivocal support for its government as Palestinian civilians in Gaza face certain death and displacement. "On thin ice": Some Biden administration staffers feel stifled discussing horrors in Gaza. Don Bacon's wife received anonymous texts about warning husband to vote for Jim Jordan. Americans now need to make $114,627/year to afford a median-priced U.S. home. HOSTS: Ana Kasparian (@AnaKasparian) SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE: ☞ https://www.youtube.com/user/theyoungturks FACEBOOK: ☞ https://www.facebook.com/theyoungturks TWITTER: ☞ https://www.twitter.com/theyoungturks INSTAGRAM: ☞ https://www.instagram.com/theyoungturks TIKTOK: ☞ https://www.tiktok.com/@theyoungturks 👕 Merch: https://shoptyt.com 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. The new BMO ViPorter MasterCard is your ticket to more. More perks. More points. More flights. More of all the things you want in a travel rewards card.

And then some. Get your ticket to more with the new BMO ViPorter MasterC. and get up to $2,400 in value in your first 13 months. Terms and conditions apply. Visit bemo.com slash the iPorter to learn more. Welcome to TYT. I'm your host, Anna Kasparian, and we have quite a show prepared for you all today. In the second hour, Wazni Lombre will be joining me to talk about the news of the day, along with a novel prescription for mental health.

Can't wait to share the details of that story with you. In the first hour, later on, we will be getting to the latest in regard to the ongoing feud among House Republicans and the battle for the speakership role in the House. Unfortunately, that saga is not quite over yet. And I can't wait to share what happened today, which is not just embarrassing for Jim Jordan, but just embarrassing for the American government and the American people who are not served by this Congress. Lots to get to. Unfortunately, the war in Gaza continues, and there are updates to get to on that. But later in the show, I also want to talk a little bit about the ongoing division that you might not have heard about within the Biden White House in regard to Biden's unequivocal support of Israel and what is currently transpiring in Gaza, incredibly high.

death toll for Palestinian civilians. We also have some updates on the investigation into the hospital explosion that took place yesterday. A lot to get to. But as always, just want to encourage you all to help support the show by sharing the stream or liking the stream. It's a real easy free way to do the support or help support the show. You can also support us by becoming a member by going to t.yt.com slash join or you can

click on that join button if you're watching us live on you. Now with that said, let's get to our first story. I wanted to be here today for a simple reason. I want people of Israel, the people of the world, to know where the United States stands. I've had my great Secretary of State here. He's been here for a lot, but I wanted to personally come and make that clear. The fact is that Israel, as they respond to this attacks, seems to me that have to continue to ensure that you have what you need to defend yourselves.

And we're going to make sure that occurs, as you know. President Joe Biden showed unequivocal support toward Israel during his visit with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv. Now, despite Gaza's exploding civilian death toll, which is caused by Israel's continued blockade of humanitarian aid and its merciless bombing campaign, our president appeared on the world stage to declare that America supports and will continue to fund Israel's brutality toward the Palestinian people. And make no mistake, that is exactly how Biden's words have been perceived in Israel and around the world. Just ask Dan Arbell, who's a senior fellow

at the center for Middle East policy. Israelis are just ecstatic and enthusiastic about it and are very much appreciating this. Obviously, it gives Israel, sends the message that the U.S. stands by Israel, is not tying Israel's hands with whatever Israel wants to do, at the same time providing every military item that Israel will need for this offensive that's planning to do right after probably the president leaves, sort of a continuation of the operation, but on the around this time. Just want to repeat one sentence from what you just heard, that Biden is not tying Israel's hands in what it wants to do.

Just keep that in mind. Now, Biden went even further to show his unwavering devotion to the Israeli government's actions in Gaza and cleared Israel of any blame for yesterday's Al-Ali hospital explosion. I was deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday. And based on what I've seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you. But there's a lot of people out there, not sure. So we've got to overcome a lot of things. Now that statement led to a lot of outrage because it appeared that Biden had just taken what the IDF had said at face value.

The IDF claims a misfired rocket by the Israeli jihad, not Hamas, hit the hospital. But then Biden later told reporters that he made his statement based on, quote, the data I was shown by my defense department, end quote. The Pentagon referred questions to the White House. So just let that sink in for a second. Biden, after making that statement on the world stage, said, oh, no, no, I made that statement after the defense department gave me intel and showed me that Israel was cleared of any wrongdoing. Reporters reach out to the Pentagon to ask some questions about that,

and the Pentagon tells reporters, talk to the White House. Now, White House National Security Council spokeswoman, Adrian Watson, says they're continuing to collect information on the incident, but that our current assessment based on analysis of overhead imagery intercepts and open source information, meaning not an investigation on the ground, is that Israel is is not responsible for the explosion at the hospital in Gaza. The IDF released what they refer to as evidence that has not been verified by independent sources. The Israeli military has released evidence of what it says is proof that this was a Palestinian Islamic jihad rocket, which misfired. They're pointing to two things. One, drone footage over the hospital, which they say shows that there is no crater outside the hospital.

if this was an Israeli air strike with a heavy ordinance, there would be some kind of crater. Two, they have released what they are saying is an intercepted conversation between two Hamas officials where these officials seem to acknowledge that this was a misfired Palestinian rocket that caused the explosion. We should be really clear. NBC News is not able to verify either of these Israeli claims. We are not able to get to the hospital ourselves. The Israel-Gaza border is sealed. The Egypt-Ghasa border is sealed, so we are not able to verify this ourselves. The Palestinians are adamant that this was an Israeli airstrike. They are saying that hundreds of people were killed.

It is worth saying Hamas and Islamic Jihad do not acknowledge that their rockets do fall in Gaza, which does happen. But it is also worth saying that this is a much, much larger death toll than what we would normally associate with Palestinian rockets, which are deadly, which are Danish. that they do not normally kill hundreds of people. I want to give NBC News credit for doing a good job in making clear that there is a lot that is still uncertain about that hospital explosion. And to be quite frank, I personally feel uncomfortable trusting the IDF or the United States

intelligence on this. For one, the US is committed to unwavering support toward Israel, regardless of what its military does. But that commitment is a lot easier without acknowledging war crimes. And look, even if a truly independent party conducts an adequate investigation clearing Israel of any wrongdoing specifically in the hospital explosion, are we just going to pretend that the high civilian death toll in Gaza is a sign that the IDF is engaging in a careful and precise military operation to root out Hamas?

What about, you know, the West Bank, the occupied West Bank where Hamas does not have control? What about the brutality Palestinians are facing there? Biden's comments happened with the backdrop of mass protests around the world, expressing outrage over what happened to the hospital. Thousands of protesters converged on the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. We're here to let the Arab people wake up. In Turkey, demonstrators rushed the Israeli consulate in Istanbul. They're all reacting to what Palestinians call a massacre.

That explosion at the Al-Ahali Hospital in Gaza City. I heard an almighty screech followed by a large explosion. Part of the ceiling of the operating room fell. Bodies can be seen laying on the ground. Children among the victims. Now keep in mind that just days ago on October 14th, the World Health Organization, which is the United Nations Agency for Public Health, condemned Israel for ordering the evacuations of 22 hospitals treating 2,000 Palestinians in North Gaza.

The forced evacuation of patients and health workers will further worsen the current humanitarian and public health catastrophe, they wrote. The lives of many critically ill and fragile patients hang in the balance. Those in intensive care or who rely on life support, patients undergoing haemodialysis, newborns and incubators, women with complications of pregnancy, and others all face imminent deterioration of their condition or death if they are for. forced to move and are cut off from life-saving medical attention while being evacuated. There are verified reports of deaths of health care workers and destruction of health facilities, which denies civilians the basic human right of life-saving health care and is prohibited under international humanitarian law. And look, even while the hospital explosion is getting all

of the attention and there's this big debate about who is responsible for it. There's other examples of hospitals being targeted that are not getting as much attention because the death toll is much lower. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said the blasts targeted multiple residential buildings and main streets in the area of Al-Quds Hospital and the main headquarters of the organization in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood in western Gaza City. That was just reported today. As a result of this bombardment, shrapnel has penetrated the building where more than 8,000 displaced individuals are located along with the organization's staff, according to the Palestinian Red Cross. And it's not like the Al-Ali hospital hadn't been

targeted by the IDF previously. In fact, that hospital is an Anglican-run hospital. And days prior to the hospital explosion, the Archbishop of Canterbury released the following official. statement. The hospital was hit by Israeli rocket fire last night with four staff injured in the blast. Other hospitals have also been hit. I appeal for the evacuation order on hospitals in northern Gaza to be reversed and for health facilities, health workers, patients and civilians to be protected. The evil and barbaric terror attacks on Israelis by Hamas were a blasphemous outrage. But the civilians of Gaza are not responsible for the crimes of Hamas. But as we've all seen, Palestinian civilians have suffered the burden of Israel's retaliation, not just during this war, but in past wars

in Gaza as well. In 2014, Amnesty International put out a statement condemning Israel's targeting of hospitals in the Gaza Strip. The continuing bombardment, they wrote at the time, of civilian homes in several areas of the Gaza Strip, as well as the Israeli shelling of a hospital, add to the list of possible war crimes. The third floor of the Alaksa Hospital in Deer al-Bala was struck by Israeli shelling, killing four people and wounding dozens, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health spokesperson. The Alwafa Rehabilitative Hospital was severely damaged after being attacked twice by Israeli forces. In addition to that statement, the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem, Hosam Naum, said the hospital had received,

at least three Israeli military orders to evacuate in the days before the blast. It was hit by Israeli shelling Sunday, wounding four staffers, he said. And while the Hamas terror attacks that killed 1,400 Israeli civilians were horrific and absolutely should be condemned, those who do so would be heartless hypocrites to dismiss the rising Palestinian civilian death count. The Gaza Health Ministry said 3,470,000. people have been killed in Gaza and more than 12,000 wounded, with most of the casualties being women, children, and the elderly. Another 1,300 people across Gaza are believed to be buried under the rubble, alive or dead, health authorities said. The numbers will continue to grow.

Demonstrating brazen disregard for civilian lives, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on Friday, that all civilians, all civilian citizens of Gaza are responsible for the attack Hamas perpetrated in Israel. Here's this quote. It is an entire nation out there that is responsible. It is not true this rhetoric about civilians, not being aware, not involved. It's absolutely not true. They could have risen up. They could have fought against the evil regime which took over Gaza in Akutatah. Right. So the civilian Palestinian population of Gaza is supposed to go against a terrorist organization

in possession of all sorts of weapons, including rockets. And if they don't, then they're culpable for the terror attacks that Hamas carried out in Israel. That is the line of thinking that leads to the absolute undermining of the civilian. of the severity of targeting civilians, killing civilians. Insider also reported that images released specifically by the Israeli military show that the IDF is using unguided munitions. Gaza is a densely populated area, and unguided bombs increase the likelihood of civilian

casualties. Here are the images in question. It appears that the Israeli Air Force may be dipping into stocks of older, less accurate, unguided munitions. At least two recent Israeli Air Force posts display the use of 750-pound M-117 unguided bombs. There you see it? There are more people involved in this story, more experts who looked at these photos, and here's what they have to say. Michael Bonert, an engineer and analyst at the Rand Corporation, said that in the images, there was no visible GPS guided J-dam kit or laser-guided Paveway kit, the bomb in this picture is unguided and likely

highly inaccurate, he said. Justin Brank, a senior research fellow for air power and military technology at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, who's also a professor at the Royal Norwegian Air Force Academy, also identified the bomb as a 750 pound M-117-17 dumb bomb. the weapons used, the evacuation orders toward hospitals, the previous targeting of health facilities, and the overall disregard for civilian lives has led to the rage that protesters in the Middle East are expressing today. So as rage spread through the region because of the hospital carnage, Jordan's foreign minister said that his country is deciding to cancel a regional summit that was scheduled today in Amman. Biden was supposed to meet with

Jordan's King Abdullah II, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, and Egyptian president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. Now that's not going to happen. The war between Israel and Hamas was pushing the region to the brink, Jordanian foreign minister Ayman Safadi told state-run television. He said Jordan would host the summit only when everyone had agreed its purpose would be to stop the war, respect the humanity of the Palestinians, and deliver the aid they deserve. Biden's visit to Israel led to one concession from Netanyahu. Israel said that it will allow Egypt to deliver limited quantities of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu's office said the decision was approved in light of a request from

visiting U.S. President Joe Biden. In a statement, it said it, quote, will not thwart deliveries of food, water, and medicine, as long as the supplies do not reach Hamas, the statement made no mention of badly needed fuel. In addition, Biden announced today that the United States will be sending aid to Gaza. I just announced, he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, $100 million for humanitarian assistance in Gaza and the West Bank, this money will support over one million displaced, conflict affected Palestinians, and we will have mechanisms in place so this aid reaches those in need, not Hamas or terrorist groups.

And in an update to this story, which we just received, apparently the Egyptian president Abdel Fata al-Sisi agreed to open the Rafa crossing into Gaza for humanitarian aid after President Joe Biden spoke with the leader for more than an hour on Air Force One. He agreed that what he would do is open the gate to do two things. One, let up to 20 trucks through to begin with, Biden told reporters who were traveling with him on his way back from Israel. My ambassador is in Cairo now. He's going to coordinate this.

He has my authority to do what is needed to get it done, Biden said. But honestly, it's not clear when the aid will begin to enter Gaza. Egypt's Rafa crossing has only a limited capacity, and Egypt says it has been damaged by Israeli airstrikes. On Sunday, for instance, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the Rafa crossing out of Gaza, which leads into Egypt and is the only exit point from the strip that does not lead into Israel would reopen. Egyptian officials echoed that message, and on Monday, the U.S. Embassy to Israel told the

hundreds of Americans trapped in Gaza to head to the crossing. Then Israel bombed it for the fourth time this month, and it remained closed all day. On Tuesday, far right Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gavir declared that the only thing that should be allowed into Gaza until Hamas and Allied militants free their nearly 200 hostages captured on October 7th are hundreds of tons of explosives, not an ounce of humanitarian aid. So I'm not going to hold my breath, hoping that that humanitarian aid is going to reach Palestinian civilians soon. I hope it does, but we keep getting conflicting reports.

And it's easy to say that the Egyptian government is going to open, you know, that border to allow humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza. But that's difficult to do when that area is constantly riddled with airstrikes. Now, at the same time, Israel refuses to allow aid into Gaza. from its territory, and the Associated Press reports that the Israeli strikes on Gaza continued Wednesday, meaning today, including on cities in South Gaza that Israel had described as safe zones for Palestinian civilians. Let's keep it real.

This is relentless brutality toward Palestinian civilians and does little in creating a safer world for Israelis. The indiscriminate bombing of Gaza could expand this war. to neighboring countries, including Iran, Syria, and Lebanon. Biden has made clear that the United States will not pressure Israel to pump the brakes, and Americans with a conscience feel powerless as our money, including a possible additional supplemental military aid package for Israel, flow toward this asymmetrical and brutal war.

That's the reality of the situation. Regardless of whether Israel is finally really cleared of that explosion in the hospital, it would be a mistake to just focus on that one instance. Should look at the broader war, look at the death toll, and look at the endless statements coming from Israel's far right government, making it clear that the lives of civilians really don't matter that much. We got to take a break. When we come back, we have more news for you, including members of the White House,

feeling that they cannot voice their dissent in regard to the Biden administration's policies. toward the Israeli Gaza war. That and more coming up. According to the media in Sweden, Israel's foreign minister has said that after the war, Gaza's territory will shrink. Is anyone really surprised by that? Of course, why do you think they're evacuating half of the country right now? Is this the beginning of a second, Nopka, Nopka that Palestinians fear? I fear that it's even worse than that, but I'm not going to be irresponsible and state things that I feel instinctually,

cannot back up with evidence at the moment. But we're going to keep covering the story. But let's move on because there's another Israel related story that I think is worth sharing with you all, especially in light of the White House claiming that Israel is cleared of any wrongdoing in that hospital explosion. Members of the Biden administration and federal officials are telling Huff Post that they feel silenced and unable to engage in legitimate debate about what is happening on the ground in Gaza. As a civilian death toll among Palestinian sky rockets, those who want to talk about Israeli restraint or humanitarian protections for Palestinians feel particularly stifled.

And we have some quotes to share with you from that report. Now, several of these staffers across multiple federal government agencies, most of whom do work on national security issues told Huff Post that their colleagues worry about retaliation at work for questioning Israel's conduct. Now, the period since the Hamas attack represents the first time in the administration that there was a real culture of silence, one official said. It feels like post 9-11, where you feel like your thoughts are being policed and you're really afraid of being seen as anti-American or an anti-Semite. In fact, one civil servant who spoke to Huffington Post or Huff Post expressed tensions,

expressed tensions between their job and also challenging human rights abuses. They don't want to lose their jobs. They don't want to deal with retaliation, but they have concerns, moral concerns about human rights abuses. I'm trying to educate people about Palestine through social media. but I'm worried I'll lose my security clearance for criticizing the president or blaming the United States for civilian massacre. I feel like there's no place for me in America anymore. And I'm on thin ice with my clearance because of my heritage and because I care about my people dying.

Obviously, this civil servant spoke to the press anonymously and refers to his or her heritage. So I'm guessing that this is either a Palestinian or an Arab individual. But some officials say that the administration is now falling back into bad old habits rather than taking advantage of the personnel it recruited. Remember, the Biden administration really loves to pat itself on the back for the diversity within its administration. But oftentimes, to me at least, it feels like they engage in tokenism and aren't actually concerned about the input that a diverse staff might want to provide? And I think this is an example

of that. One reason to want a diverse staff is to have a variety of inputs into your decision making, not just to check a box on a little quota sheet. You want to benefit from the more informed decision making that happens from a broader set of experiences having a seat at the table. But there's more. Others said that the inner inner circle on these issues is not at all diverse, does not completely explain the monstrous disregard for innocent Palestinian lives. Or does that completely explain the monstrous disregard for innocent civilian lives? No, but it's hard to think these things are entirely disconnected.

And one official initially felt unable to even highlight concerns about the consequences for Palestinians in policy discussions. It took me till Wednesday or Thursday, I'm assuming this is after the October 7th Hamas terrorist attack, to have the courage to say, I don't think it would be good for America if we are seen as responsible for killing Palestinian children. There was awkward silence, like a pin could drop. And I'm like, are they going to report me to the House Un-American Activities Committee? And things have. apparently gotten so tense within the Biden administration with this dissent over how the United States government is just showing unwavering commitment to the Israeli government, regardless

of what it does, that on Sunday, presidential personnel office chief Guatam Raghavan actually organized a call with close to a dozen current and former high-level Muslim appointees to discuss their concerns. They felt that their voices weren't being heard. Some staffers said that they felt unsafe voicing their opinions around colleagues, according to a person on the call, which has not been previously reported. Now, I share this with you to note that there are people within the Biden administration who have deep concerns with the ongoing brutality toward Palestinian civilians. I also share this news with you because it is clear to me that the United States government

has decided to support whatever Israel does. And so when President Joe Biden goes on the world stage and claims that Israel has been cleared of any wrongdoing in that hospital explosion and that his state department provided data that leads him to believe that, you have to excuse me for being skeptical because it appears that there is currently an environment in which Biden wants to hear certain things and silence dissent. And if that's the case, how are we to just trust what's coming out of the Biden administration in regard to their intelligence in Gaza? That's why I would like to wait a little longer for an independent third party investigation into what happened

in that hospital explosion. That's what I would like to do. You're free to believe whatever you'd like to believe. But again, outside of that hospital explosion, we cannot ignore other health care facilities that have been targeted. Entire residential buildings leveled, entire residential neighborhoods in Gaza leveled. The fact that 22 hospitals in Gaza were given evacuation orders by the Israeli government and the IDF, why do you think they wanted to evacuate those hospitals? Inpatient hospitals where people are on life support. babies that are in the, you know, the ICU unit. Elderly people who need dialysis treatment.

My mom had to go through dialysis. I can't even imagine not having access to that and being told to evacuate a hospital when you are in need of medical care. So all of these things matter. And what I definitely have a huge problem with is that there seems to be a double standard. where we acknowledge, and I think this is the right thing to do, the disgusting terrorist attacks that killed Israeli citizens, civilians, absolutely abhorrent, disgusting behavior that has been condemned on this show multiple times.

But if you were disgusted by those attacks and the brutality that Israeli civilians face, you can't then turn around and just minimize the brutality toward Palestinian civilians. And that's exactly what the United States government is doing right now. It's embarrassing and I can't stand for it. The two wings of the party are just at war with each other. Yeah, it's not normal. And frankly, it's not even particularly interesting. CNN's Jake Tapper is just bored with the ongoing Republican fight over the speakership role in the House of Representatives.

And it's good to know that I'm in good company here because I agree. I am so incredibly bored with this ridiculous and embarrassing story. Now, the House of Representatives rejected GOP congressman Jim Jordan's bid for Speaker for the second time today, second time. And that's despite insane pressure that members of the Republican Congress received in the lead up to the vote, the first vote. But it backfired. The pressure backfired. We're going to get to that in just a moment. But here are the latest details about the second vote that Jim Jordan failed. Jordan won 1199 votes, and Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the Democrat of New York,

won 212 votes. Four Republicans who had voted for Jordan on the first ballot rose to oppose him. But two Republicans who had voted against Jordan on the first ballot changed their votes and supported him. But it doesn't really matter because he didn't get enough votes and is not going to be Speaker, at least for now. Now, Jordan lost the second vote even after his allies engaged in a pretty intense pressure campaign to rally support for his speakership.

For example, the wife of Representative Don Bacon, a Republican from Nebraska, reportedly received anonymous texts from text messages and emails, by the way, from some anonymous person basically warning her that if her husband does not vote in favor of Jim Jordan, there will be a price to pay. Can you just imagine that being a wife of a sitting United States congressmen and getting these like threatening text messages and emails? Because that is literally what happened to the wife of Representative Don Bacon. I'm going to give you some examples.

Talk to your husband. Tell him to step up and be a leader and help the Republican Party get a speaker. There's too much going on in the world for all this going on in the Republican Party. You guys take five steps forward and then turn around, take 20 steps backwards. No wonder our party always ends up getting screwed over. Punctuation, not a strong suit for this anonymous threatener. But there were more messages, including what I'm about to read to you. This is more of an exchange with Don Bacon's wife.

So the anonymous person writes in and says, why is your husband causing chaos by not supporting Jim Jordan? I thought he was a team player. She responds, who is this? Oh, now you have nothing to say. And the anonymous person says, your husband will not hold any political office ever again. What a disappointment, or what a disappoint and failure he is. I guess Borat is the one sending these messages.

She responds, he has more courage than you. You won't put your name to your statements. Go get them. Go get them. All right. Now, these pressure tactics, which were implemented prior to the first vote for Jim Jordan, clearly backfired. So one of the Jordan friendly commentators on the right, Benny Johnson, spent the day of the speaker's race singling out Jordan's possible opponents.

In a move that is likely to further rankle already wary Republicans, Fox News host Sean Hannity's staff posted a list of the 20 Republicans who didn't vote for Jordan along with their office phone numbers. He's lost support because of this, said another House Republican, who was granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations, pointing to a barrage of complaints from GOP lawmakers about Jordan allies tactics, constant smears, it's just dishonesty at its core. Let's name some specific names because there were some Republican congressmen who were willing to speak out, including Representative Carlos Jimenez, who voted against Jordan on two years. Why just survive back to school when you can thrive by creating a space that does it all for you,

no matter the size. Whether you're taking over your parents' basement or moving to campus, IKEA has hundreds of design ideas and affordable options to complement any budget. After all, you're in your small space era. It's time to own it. Shop now at IKEA.ca.ca. Tuesday, despite outreach on Sunday, vowed after the first ballot on Tuesday that he wasn't switching his position, especially now in light of these pressure tactics. He supposedly said, stand down, and they haven't stood down. Leaders are followed. Okay, Jimenez said, lamenting that some friends of mine are actually believing conservative

claims that he's prepared to vote for a Democratic speaker. Now, Jimenez is not the only Republican lawmaker who's been dealing with this pressure and is not taking kindly to it. Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, a Florida Republican, says the one thing that will never work with me, if you try to pressure me, if you try to threaten me, then I shut off. And guess what? Republican Byron Donalds agreed that the bullying was a bad idea and did in fact backfire. Talk to a couple of members where they felt that that's just not what they needed. I don't think that's what we should be doing right now. And listen, for all of the voters in our country, I think it's important for members to hear your voice, and I totally respect that.

But I think that there are members up here who they want to be able to make this decision on leadership and then move forward. I think some of the pressure campaigns have backfired. They have not worked. They have not worked. Remember, the pressure campaigns happened prior to the first vote. And they frustrated some of these Republican lawmakers so much that they decided to pull support, even after supporting him in the first vote. So with that said, what is likely going to happen now?

Now, Jordan's second defeat was the party's more mainstream wing of the Republican Party, like basically flexing its muscles and breaking away from the far right freedom caucus types within the Republican Party. They're showing their defiance. And look, they're doing it for a number of different reasons. We've talked about this before. But what's really stood out to me about their refusal to support Jordan is that they are running in districts that voted in favor of Joe Biden. And so they do see the more far right wing of the Republican Party as a liability. They do see their potential support for Jim Jordan as a political liability. Many of the holdouts to Jordan's candidacy represented districts that President Biden won in 2020.

who have tried to establish more moderate credentials. Others are veteran members of the powerful appropriations committee who are deeply distrustful of Jordan's approach to spending and the types of cuts he has endorsed. And we can't forget that Donald Trump endorsed Jim Jordan for the role, specifically because of the fact that he is a Donald Trump lackey. He is a Donald Trump lap dog. Jordan helped Trump try to overturn the 2020 election and has used his power in Congress to

defend the former president. He has a long track record of opposing compromise that prompted a previous Republican speaker to brand him a legislative terrorist. There are also some serious allegations against Jim Jordan, which we've talked about on this show multiple times. And he's facing those allegations having to do with his time as an assistant coach at Ohio State University. Now, Ohio State University doctor Richard Strauss has been accused of sexually abusing members of the wrestling team during Jordan's time there. Will Knight was a former Ohio State University wrestler who accused Representative Jordan of ignoring sexual abuse while working as a coach at the college and guess what? Knight spoke to the press, CNN specifically, and tore into Jordan's house speakership bid and even mocked the suggestion that Jim Jordan is a fighter. So let's take a look

at what that interview look like. When people always call Jim Jordan a fighter and I always wonder who he's fighting for because he had a real opportunity to fight for us and the people that he coached and the people that he recruited at the Ohio State, and all he's done is just turned his back on us. So I don't know what the fighter thing is. I know he used to be a fighter. I know he used to be a good wrestler, but he's not a good fighter for anyone else that I know of. I guess if you want to fool people and if that's what they do up on the hill, he's, you know, I guess that's what he's good at. Like I said, it's just disappointing because he still has an opportunity to do right by us.

He has an opportunity to help us out, to help us remedy this thing with Ohio State. And he choose not to do it with, with hundreds of athletes that he was associated with, that as a coach, you're just supposed to help protect and mentor into manhood. Pretty damning. Doesn't look good for Jim Jordan. And I do not begrudge Republican lawmakers who would feel uncomfortable voting for him to be Speaker of the House. An incredibly powerful position. So again, what now? I mean, how is the House of Representatives supposed to, you know, conduct business, do what they are tasked to do by voters in their districts if they do not

have a speaker? Well, Republicans were expected to turn later to the question of whether to empower Representative Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, who's currently serving as the interim speaker to essentially carry out the chamber's work until this deadlock is broken, if it could be broken. Now, that could be happening through January 3rd, we'll see. Jordan told reporters today that he supported holding a vote on whether Republicans wanted to do this, wanted to essentially have McHenry carry out official house business through January 3rd. He told reporters, call the question, let's find out. Basically, let's hold a vote. So that's where we stand right now. But I got to be honest, I think that this is a pretty good example of how the personal interests

and the power struggle among these members of Congress seems to be more important than serving the American people representing the best interests of their constituents. Who cares about that? We're engaging in our little, you know, power struggle cat fight. That's more important to us at the moment. That's the Republican Party for you. And they wonder why Congress has an incredibly low approval rating. Maybe it's because they just can't do their jobs, never serving the American people, refusing to engage in bipartisanship that makes sense.

Just unbelievable, absolute nonsense. It's boring, but it's also pathetic and embarrassing. All right, we got to take a break. When we come back, we'll talk a little bit about where we are in the housing industry. A pretty incredible report about how much money you need to make to afford a median house in the United States. And if we have time, we'll get to some more news, including basically the latest having to do with catalytic converter thefts in the U.S. And a big crime ring that was just busted by federal authorities. In the second hour of the show, Wozni Lombray will join me to talk about the news of the day, including a big crime ring having to do with catalytic converter thefts,

getting caught, getting prosecuted, lots of details to share with that story. But before we get to that, I did want to give you all an update on our housing market and ongoing housing crisis. We are in the midst of an ongoing housing crisis that is so brutal that Americans need to be making six figures just to afford a median priced home in the United States, which is why the U.S. government should stop private equity firms from buying up entire neighborhoods of residential. homes. They should ban foreign investors from buying up residential properties to launder their money in. And they should, you know, aggressively push to build more housing. If the federal government has the ability to basically snatch up land that belongs to people and do whatever they want with it, how the hell are we still dealing with a housing crisis

due to a limited supply of homes? Now, I tell you all that. That's a big press. to get into the details of the latest report showing just how much money Americans need to make to afford a house. So this new report determines that you have to make over $100,000 a year to afford a median priced home in America. Obviously, the situation is much worse in some of these big cities where the available inventory of homes is much lower. So how did we get to this situation? How did it get so bad? Well, there are two separate problems today, which include incredibly high mortgage rates. Obviously, that makes borrowing to buy a home much more expensive. And then there's also the low inventory of homes. So mortgage rates are at their highest level in two decades because the Federal Reserve has decided to tamp

down inflation by increasing interest rates. So that has an impact on the interest rates that mortgage lenders implement in the mortgages that they sign off on. And so usually higher interest rates, and I was waiting for this, I was hoping this would happen, but I was so naive. Usually higher interest rates will lower the price of homes because it becomes more expensive to buy homes. However, there's something happening this time around. Mortgage rates are high. Americans who already own homes are unwilling to sell their homes. Because if they were to sell their homes and look to buy another home, what do you think is gonna happen?

They're gonna have to take out another mortgage at a much higher interest rate. So everyone is staying put. No one's moving out, no one's selling their homes. And that is at a time when the housing market was already dealing with incredibly low inventory of available homes for Americans to purchase. Greg McBride, bank rate chief financial analyst,

told NBC News that as rates go up, people who who bought their homes years ago and locked in mortgages at three or four percent interest rates become less and less likely to move. And honestly, I don't blame them. I mean, it is outrageously expensive to take out a mortgage right now. So inventory, which was already low, is now even more limited, and that's why prices are shooting up through the roof. Those high prices would normally incentivize homeowners to sell, but again, no one wants

to sell and then be caught in a situation where they're looking for a place to to live, they might need to take out another mortgage, and then they have to deal with higher interest rates. Now, the outcome of this catch-22 is an awful housing market for just about everyone. A home buyer must earn $114,627 to afford the median priced U.S. home, and that's up 15% from just a year ago, and up more than 50% since the start of the pandemic. That's the highest annual income necessary to afford a home on record. I mean, something's got to give. It really does. The situation is untenable. The notion that the American dream is alive and well is laughable to say the least when people are working great jobs, they're making good money and they are still

unable to afford a home, which by the way is still the only avenue in which most working Americans can build wealth in this country. Now, the average existing home sale exceeds $310,000, according to the K Schiller U.S. National Home Price Index, nearly double the cost just a decade ago. Year to date, home prices are up more than 5%. I just want to share a personal anecdote with you all. So I grew up in Recita, California, an overwhelmingly working class neighborhood, overwhelmingly Latino neighborhood. I have fond memories of growing up there. But I also remember growing up and thinking to myself, oh my God, I'm going to work really hard so one day I can afford a home, a place to live in a nicer neighborhood. Okay? You want to know

how much homes cost in Recita, California right now? $800,000 is the cheapest home that I've seen on the market in Recita, California. My parents bought their home for a little over $100,000 back in the late 1980s, if I'm not mistaken. Anyway, moving on, here's the issue. Most Americans don't make $114,000 a year. The typical American household earns about $40,000 less than the income needed to buy a median priced home.

The median household income was roughly $75,000 in 2022, the most recent year for which annual income data is available. And hourly wages luckily have risen in 2023, but not nearly as fast as the income necessary to afford a home is rising. So the average US hourly wage has increased by about 5% over the last year. So we have an obvious problem here. And we need to increase the inventory of homes. If we don't, what's likely going to happen is the rich will keep getting richer because they will have the means to purchase these homes, oftentimes in cash, or they'll have the means to help out their children when they're ready to buy homes. And everyone else just falls behind and has essentially almost no avenue to build wealth or have a stable

housing situation. So there are some examples, by the way, according to a Redfin survey indicating that this trend is ongoing. So an eye-popping 38% of recent homebuyers under the age of 30 used either a cash gift from a family member or an inheritance in order to afford their down payment. And in the Redfin survey, which asked how recent homebuyers accumulated the money for their down payment, And 509 respondents were under the age of 30. Among those young home buyers, 23% used a cash gift from a family member, and 21% used inheritance money for their down payment.

So that means Americans who are not from well off, well to do families are just not going to, in most cases, be able to buy a home. And again, this is a manmade problem. because of the lack of housing, because of the fact that we're not building, because of the fact that we keep pointing to the nimbies as the excuse for why various municipalities, like Los Angeles, by the way, failed to build housing. But what's really interesting about that argument is I keep seeing buildings with luxury apartments getting built all across the city. I know that this is happening in other big cities as well. So the idea that construction isn't happening is laughable to me

because we all see the construction happening with our very eyes. The question is, why are we building unaffordable housing that sits empty when we need to increase the stock of affordable housing? A little strange, right? And as people get pushed out of the housing market, unable to buy a home, what happens? They look for a place to rent. Increasing the number of people in the rental market, which drives the price of rent up. It is a disaster for everyone.

And the fact that there's really no discussion about alleviating the pain that hardworking Americans are feeling right now is incredibly frustrating. But don't worry, we've got hundreds of billions of dollars to funnel to various war efforts across the globe. We totally have the resources for that. As Janet Yellen, Treasury Secretary unequivocally said just this week, of course we have the resources to fund Israel's war in God. and Ukraine's war against Russia.

Now look, I don't begrudge wanting to help the Ukrainian people. I do have a problem with funneling money to the Israeli government with no strings attached as Palestinian civilians are being murdered and brutalized in the Gaza Strip. But if we've got endless resources for war efforts, how about we build affordable housing for the American people? Just a crazy novel idea, I know. Anyway, we've got to take a break. When we come back, we'll talk about a catalytic converter theft ring that was busted by federal authorities. And Wozni-Lombri will join me to help cover that story.

Don't miss it. 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.