The Young Turks - Supreme Backpedal

Episode Date: June 29, 2022

Ginni Thomas, who had previously signaled she would talk to the Jan 6 committee is now backing out after Hutchingson’s testimony and had her lawyer send a letter to the committee saying he does “not understand the need to speak with Mrs. Thomas. Senior Secret Service agents are reportedly prepared to testify that Donald Trump did not lunge for the wheel of his vehicle or physically attack the chief of his security detail after his speech near the White House on January 6 – as a former aide said he did in sworn testimony on Tuesday. After Sean Hannity says he doubts Michigan would ever ban abortion, a GOP Rep tells him it already has. Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake had a heated exchange with Fox News host Bret Baier on Monday evening after he asked her about about allegations that she was a drag queen’s fan. The cost of buying insurance protection against mass shootings has spiked more than 10% in the United States this year following a string of deadly events. Host: Ana Kasparian ** The largest online progressive news show in the world. Hosted by Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian. LIVE weekdays 6-8 pm ET. Help support our mission and get perks. Membership protects TYT's independence from corporate ownership and allows us to provide free live shows that speak truth to power for people around the world. See Perks: ▶ https://www.youtube.com/TheYoungTurks/join SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE: ☞ http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=theyoungturks FACEBOOK: ☞ http://www.facebook.com/TheYoungTurks TWITTER: ☞ http://www.twitter.com/TheYoungTurks INSTAGRAM: ☞ http://www.instagram.com/TheYoungTurks TWITCH: ☞ http://www.twitch.com/tyt 👕 Merch: http://shoptyt.com ❤ Donate: http://www.tyt.com/go 🔗 Website: https://www.tyt.com 📱App: http://www.tyt.com/app 📬 Newsletters: https://www.tyt.com/newsletters/ If you want to watch more videos from TYT, consider subscribing to other channels in our network: The Damage Report ▶ https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport Indisputable with Dr. Rashad Richey ▶ https://www.youtube.com/indisputabletyt Watchlist with Jayar Jackson ▶ https://www.youtube.com/watchlisttyt Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to The Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. Welcome to the Young Turks. I'm your host, Anna Casparian, and we have a bonanza ahead for you all. John Iderola is off, but I will be joined by the wonderful and lovely Jessica Burbank in the second hour. So a little different from what we typically do on Wednesdays, but it's totally fine because we're super excited to have Jessica join us yet again on the main show. In the show today, we're also going to discuss a wide array of topics, to be honest. We are going to

talk about the fallout following the damning testimony that was given by a top level aid to Mark Meadows, who of course was the chief of staff for Donald Trump. The way that the right wing is reacting to that testimony, I think says a lot. In the second hour, we're going to talk a little bit about what the FCC is proposing in regard to a very popular social media platform. So we'll get into that. And in the bonus episode, you know, we've done stories about the crazy things that rich people are willing to do to themselves, the crazy things rich people are willing to pay money for. And look, to each his own, I'm not trying to ban any of it, except they should pay their fair share of taxes. Now, but what they're doing just for a, in my opinion, short drive from New York City to the Hamptons will blow your mind.

You don't want to miss that. If you're not a member, you can become one by going to t.yt.com slash join or if you're watching us on YouTube, just click on that join button and you can become a member through YouTube. You get all sorts of perks, including exclusive members only programming, and you help to keep TYT sustainable. You help me, you give me my voice, honestly. Anyone who works on this network, if you're a member, you give us the space and the opportunity to share the truth with the world. And we're really grateful for that. Well, I want to get to the first story in our rundown today, because it has to do with the fallout, following the testimony from the House Select Committee hearings yesterday, and Ginny Thomas is front and center, so let's discuss.

New news reports indicate that Ginny Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is maybe no longer willing to cooperate with the House Select panel investigating the January 6th riots and Donald Trump's attempts to overturn. the results of the 2020 presidential election. Now previously she said, I can't wait to testify. I can't wait to talk to them, you know, clear my good name. After there were reports that she had sent text messages to Mark Meadows, Trump's former chief of staff, she had also exchanged emails with John Eastman, the unhinged Trump lawyer who had pushed to implement this insane theory of using

of using sham electors to replace the actual legitimate electors. That was his whole plan to overturn the election. Well, Ginny Thomas, again, said, I'm down to testify. I'm down to cooperate with all of this. But following some damning testimony that recently took place, featuring Cassidy Hutchinson, who happens to be the former chief of staff's aid or was the former chief of staff's aid under Donald Trump. Now all of a sudden her lawyer speaking out and saying, no, no, maybe Ginny isn't going to testify or cooperate. So let's get into the details. Okay. So the committee, meaning the House Select Committee, has sought Jimmy, Jenny Thomas's testimony twice after learning that she was exchanging texts with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and emails with

former president Donald Trump's lawyer, John Eastman. Now her lawyer has responded to the committee's formal request with an eight page letter questioning why her testimony was needed at all. He said the emails with Eastman, texts with Meadows, and a letter she sent to state lawmakers in Arizona, by the way, about alleged election fraud provided no basis for an interview. Now, just to juxtapose what her lawyer is saying and what Ginny Thomas had previously said, in an earlier report, after talking to the Daily Caller, Ginny Thomas said, quote, I can't wait, I can't wait to clear up misconceptions. I look forward to talking to them, meaning the House select committee. Well, who knows where she's at? What's clear to me at this point is that her lawyer is

trying to prevent her from cooperating further. And I don't think her lawyer would be doing that unless he thinks that her cooperation would actually incriminate her further rather than clear up her name or clear up her reputation. Now, her lawyer seemed to address the fact that she wanted to testify, so he didn't forget that. But he had a weird excuse for blocking it from happening. Okay, so he says, quote, as she has already indicated, Mrs. Thomas is eager to clear her name and is willing to appear before the committee to do so. However, based on my understanding of the communications that spurred the committee's request, I do not understand the need to speak with Mrs. Thomas. Oh, that's interesting. I mean,

he's a lawyer. I'm guessing he probably gets paid a lot more than I do. So it's weird that he doesn't understand why the House Select Committee would be interested in interviewing her, considering the damning evidence that we've already seen in the form of text messages and email exchanges that Ginny Thomas had with all sorts of unsavory individuals who are assisting Donald Trump in stealing the election from Biden, overturning the results of our democratic process, canceling out the votes of literally tens of millions of Americans. But since he doesn't seem to understand, he doesn't understand, let me explain it to him. First off, there were dozens. 29 text messages exchanged between Ginny Thomas and Trump's former chief of staff,

Mark Meadows, in the days both before and after the 2020 election. Now, what did we learn from those text message exchanges? Why don't we watch? The committee getting its hands on on at least two dozen texts sent between Jenny Thomas and President Trump's then chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and the days after the election. In one, Thomas, writing, quote, help this great president stand firm, Mark, Biden and the left is attempting the greatest heist of our history. And in another, just days after the 2020 election, Thomas writing, do not concede. Other messages show Thomas pushing false conspiracy theories, urging Meadows to tell officials in the West Wing to buck up. We're going to walk down

to the Capitol. Thomas attended that rally at the White House before rioters stormed the Capitol on January 6, but telling the Washington Free Beacon in a recent interview that she got cold and left early. Yeah, and that's the other thing. She was at the rally. And then she left right before the riots took place. Did she really leave because she was cold or did she know that something was about to go down? And what we've learned from the recent hearings was the fact that you have Giuliani and Mark Meadows communicating with Cassidy Hutchinson. Again, that was the aid for Mark Meadows, that something was going to go down on January 6th. If Ginny Thomas is communicating closely with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, is she also someone who happened to be aware

of what was going to take place on January 6th? Did she really just leave because she was cold? I mean, these are legitimate questions that I'm sure the House Select Committee would like to ask as part of their investigation. But that's just the tip of the iceberg with Ginny Thomas. Okay, that is information that we learned about her three months ago. Three months ago. More recently, we learned other damning information, which I'll get to in a moment. But keep this in mind, after January 6th, Ginny Thomas told Meadows in a text that she was, quote, disgusted. Let me repeat that again. Disgusted with Pence who had refused to help block the certification of Biden's electoral college victory. She wrote, quote, we are living through what feels like the end of America. This woman is a lunatic. It feels like the end of America because we haven't succeeded in convincing the vice president to do something that he has no power to do.

It's the end of America because we can't overturn the results of an election that we have failed, absolutely failed to provide a single shred of evidence had any widespread voter fraud involved. Now this woman and the fact that her husband, by the way, is Justice Clarence Thomas, someone who could be handing down decisions in regard to, you know, this case with Donald Trump and his cronics tried to do with stealing this election, overturning the results of this election. It's a massive conflict of interest. And to question why investigators would want to talk to her is one of the dumbest arguments, like dumbest questions I could ever imagine. Now, it gets worse. She was also communicating closely with John Eastman, as I mentioned earlier.

And John Eastman is the unhinged Trump lawyer who came up with the sham elector idea in the first place. And here's what we know. Thomas also pressed Republican lawmakers in Arizona to help keep Trump in office by setting aside Biden's popular vote win and to choose their own electors. Homegirls hitting them up in Arizona. She's like, yo, listen, let's get rid of these electors, these like legit electors. And let's just install our own cronies and steal this election from the rightful winner. And look, let me be clear, I'm very critical of Joe Biden. He was not my preferred candidate in the Democratic primaries. There's a lot.

I mean, he's a target rich environment in regard to his failures. But what's right is right, and he won the election. And yes, I'm happy that he won against Trump. He's certainly somewhat better than Trump, especially Biden's, you know, national labor relations board. But there's more to this. So the email claimed that the responsibility to choose electors belongs to voters under errors, yours and yours alone, and claimed that the legislature, had the power to fight back against fraud and ensure that a clean slate of electors is chosen.

So that's an email that she sent on November 9th to 27 lawmakers in the Arizona House and Senate. So she not only was communicating with all these people who were very close to Trump, who very much wanted to overturn the results of the election, she was scheming with them. She put into action what John Eastman was suggesting should be done to overturn the election. So for her lawyer who seems to be confused, I think that there are legitimate reasons for these members of the House Select Committee to sit down with her, ask her questions, whether it's in a deposition or maybe even during testimony in one of these hearings, it is important. And I hope they subpoena her. And if she refuses to do it, she should be held in

contempt. Merrick Garland should file charges against her as well as he did with Steve Bannon, for instance. Now we'll see if that happens. But the other part of this is it is a problem that one of the Supreme Court justices is married to this woman who tried to help Trump or return the results of the election. Will he recuse himself? Probably not. Will he be adequately pressured to recuse himself? Probably not. And so when we think about why it is that so many Americans, on the left and the right have lost trust in our institutions. This is why. This is part of the reason why. And this isn't one incident in a vacuum. It's a system that's told the American people, if you're not part of the elites, if you're not a powerful person, you don't really matter.

But if you are, if you are a part of the elite, if you are a powerful person, you can literally play a role in trying to overturn legitimate results of an election. So your preferred candidate wins and there'll be no consequences for it. That sends a damning message to the American people. And this is not a time when Democrats need to continue engaging in the same old, mealy-mouthed, weak politics. Merrick Garland hasn't even said a damn thing about charging Donald Trump, even given the damning evidence and testimony that was provided in recent House Select Committee hearings. So we'll see what happens, but make no mistake about it, Ginny Thomas absolutely should be subpoenaed. She should be forced to give a deposition in the very least.

All right, well let's move on to our next story. It's kind of related to this, but it just shows you how powerful the testimony was recently because Republicans are freaking out. I love to see it, Maga World and right wing media have gone into panic mode, following damning testimony that was given by former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, aide, a woman by the name of Cassidy Hutchinson. This was testimony that she gave during the January 6th hearings and her testimony was so compelling that you have one pro-Trump right winger after the next trying to essentially dismiss her, write her off as someone who is not credible, someone who wasn't actually privy to the kinds of conversations that she testified

about and I want to start off with some of the compelling testimony that MaguWorld is so upset about. So for instance, some of the most compelling testimony was when Cassidy Hutchinson described the moment when Trump had lunged at the Secret Service agent who refused to drive him over to the Capitol as the riots were about to take place. Let's watch. Tony described him as being irate. The president said something to the effect of I'm the effing president, take me up to the capital now. To which Bobby responded, sir, we have to go back to the west wing. The president reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. Mr. Engle grabbed his arm, said, sir, you need to take your hand off the steering

wheel. We're going back to the west wing. We're not going to the capital. Mr. Trump then used his free hand to lunge towards Bobby Engel. And when Mr. Ornado had recounted this story to me, he had motioned towards his clavicles. Now I want to be clear about something. When I say that it's some of the most compelling testimony she gave, what I specifically mean is she paints a picture of who Trump is. Just this unhinged person who's willing to engage in violence in order to get what he wants. But when you look at the grand scheme of things and what really matters in terms of terms of Trump's criminality or alleged criminality, that's not the most important part of

her testimony. The most important part of the testimony is when she makes it abundantly clear that Donald Trump was fully aware that his supporters were heavily armed. He was fully aware that his supporters were marching to the Capitol while chanting Mike Pence. And when Trump had specifically, when Trump was specifically asked to do something about it, he refused to do So in fact, he argued that maybe Pence deserves it because he refused to overturn the election. Now Trump supporters thought that they caught Cassidy Hutchinson in a lie when she gave that testimony about how he had allegedly lunged toward a Secret Service agent who told him, no, we're not gonna drive you over to the Capitol. So the supporters say the vehicle that he was

allegedly in, it's nicknamed the beast, often and it often transports the transports the president is so heavily fortified that there's there's no way. There's no way that Trump could physically lunge at a secret service member in the front of the car. Well, Trump said that it wouldn't have been possible for him to do such a thing as well. And Kellyanne Conway echoed that same talking point. Let's watch. Look, I've been in the beast many times. I've been in those SUVs countless times. I would find it very difficult to lunge into the front. and be able to do that, particularly in the beast, it's not developed that way. The president has denied this.

He's denied this publicly, he's denied this privately to many people today. So again, let me repeat. This is not the most important part of her testimony. And when I say her testimony, I mean Hutchinson's testimony, but it is being used as a way to essentially dismantle her as someone who is not credible, as someone who's not to be trusted. And it turns out that while all of these Trump cronies and lap dogs think like, got him, caught her in a lie, he was riding in the beast, turns out that's not necessarily

the case. So Carol Leonig, who is a reporter for the Washington Post, wrote a book about the Secret Service, and she actually quickly debunked this talking point, the so-called smoking gun. So let's hear what she had to say. It would be very, very, very difficult in what is really called the beast, the limousine, the old Cadillac. It would be very difficult over the communications equipment. I'm informed by people who ride in that vehicle rather regularly for the president to have lunged over it towards his detail leader. But sorry Rachel, there's a big but which is this wasn't the beast. This was he was riding, the president was riding on January 6th

in what is called a suburban. This is one where it would have been possible. A lot more easy for the president to lunge forward towards the right front seat from the back. He wasn't in the beast, ladies and gentlemen. He was in a suburban. But in the grand scheme of things, as juicy as that part of the testimony was, again, for the purposes of investigating Donald Trump's role, for the purposes of possibly filing charges against Trump, that part of her testimony doesn't really matter that much anyway. But again, the right wing I think is using it to kind of present her as someone that's not worth trusting. And then at the same time, it's a distraction from her other testimony, which even right wing pundits, even people like Brett Bear over at Fox News,

even people like Mick Mulvaney, who was part of Trump's administration, argued was super persuasive, super compelling, and they do not think that she was lying about it. So let's go go to their next tactic, right, because they're trying to play around with this whole car situation. They're trying to make her seem like she's not to be trusted, not a credible person. And then what else are they doing? Well, they're trying to pretend like her role as a top aid for Mark Meadows, Trump's former chief of staff, wasn't really that big of a role and she wasn't really around much. And she wasn't really privy to the conversation she claims to know so much about. So let's go to Trump advisor and garbage person, Jason Miller, making that point.

You knew Cassidy Hutchison, what kind of a, you know, I've met her a few times, but I didn't really have much contact. What kind of person is she? She's an extremely junior low level aid. I don't think I ever had a conversation with her that I can at least recall of any substance or death. But to Molli's point, this is a Rorschach test for your sanity. If you heard this story and you thought, man, I believe every word of this, I'm going to

go online and say something about it energetically, something is wrong with you. So that was Stephen Miller. I'm sorry, I think I accidentally misspoken said. Jason Miller, my bad, Stephen Miller. So yeah, so you can see there, she's just, he's just trying to dismiss her as like, I haven't even had any substantive conversations with her. Hey, Jason, what would a substantive conversation sound like with a guy like you? I mean, I would argue that the only thing that this guy would find substantive, any conversation would have to be with like a neo-Nazi or a member of the KKK. Any other conversation. No substantive conversation. It's just not, not substantive. She's not a substantive person. She's a woman after all, right? Untruth social, Trump also claimed that he hardly knew her, called her a third rate social climber, and went on to criticize her handwriting. That is what he has been reduced to. How pathetic is that? Again, the theory that Hutchinson was a nobody was quickly debunked. So let me get to that. During the first impeachment trial, Hutchinson grew close to Mark Meadows. as a legislative affairs staffer in the White House, former advisor said.

This is according to the Washington Post. Once he was named chief of staff in March of 2020, he immediately elevated her. And she eventually became his principal assistant. She was given an office next to his, which in turn put her a few doors away from the Oval Office. The other thing I want to just note is the fact that when Trump during his speech at that rally prior to the riots said that he was going to march to the Capitol with the rioters, the first person that Kevin McCarthy called was Cassidy Hutchinson. He called Cassidy Hutchinson, was like, hey, you guys promised that he's not marching over to the Capitol and no one's marching over to the Capitol. What's going on? And she had to clarify what was going on, that, you know,

there was an agreement that Trump would not be going to the Capitol. Why? I would Kevin McCarthy immediately call Cassidy Hutchinson and ask for clarity if she was just some low level social climber. Makes no sense. In Trump's White House, Hutchinson had extraordinary access. And in the eyes of many White House staffers, she had inordinate power. Some derisively called her Chief Cassidy. And even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi staff asked White House aides, why she was in on legislative meeting. She was everywhere. Look, she seemed like an ambitious woman. She wanted to be at those meetings. And apparently high level officials in the Trump administration, including Trump himself, were warned about her. So here's Brendan Buck. Okay, he's a former

staffer on the hill. He says, I don't know Cassidy Hutchinson. And I can't speak to how things worked at the White House. But when Meadows was on the hill, he always insisted that she'd in every meeting he had no matter how small. It was odd then and doesn't seem to be working out for him now. I'm sorry, sorry Meadows. Look, I love that he allowed her in all the meetings because we now have some pretty damning evidence against Donald Trump, against Mark Meadows.

The right has also devolved into labeling Cassidy Amber Heard 2.0, which, listen, I watch nearly every minute of the Amber Heard Johnny Depp trial. If that's all they've got, they're in a lot of trouble. I don't think anyone can watch the testimony that she gave and even compare it to Amber Hurd's presentation or performance during the trial that she was in. Cassidy Hutchinson was clear. She was prepared. She came with receipts. And you see the right wingers just absolutely freaking out about it.

Now back to the car issue, right? The idea that Trump had lunged over at the Secret Service, there's one other detail that I think is worth sharing, which is the fact that according to Carol Leonic, the person we heard from a little earlier, sources tell me Secret Service agents dispute that Donald Trump assaulted any agent or tried to grab the steering wheel on January 6th. They agreed Trump was furious about not being able to go to the Capitol with his supporters. They offer to testify under oath, which is great, you know, if they want to clarify that. If they want to share their side of the story, sure, go ahead and do it. But I would also caution against two things. Number one, letting this part of her testimony suck up all the energy because again, it's not the most important part of her testimony.

And number two, yesterday during the hearing, Liz Cheney closed by mentioning that some of the witnesses were dealing with intimidation tactics. There was some witness tampering going on. And so here's the Secret Service spokesperson. By the way, so I want to actually go to the last graphic here because this is what she was alluding to. So Liz Cheney remarked that witnesses had been tampered with. She gave two examples of how witnesses described their interactions with Trump,

with the Trump campaign or administration official. So for those of you who might have difficulty reading that, It says what they said to me is as long as I continue to be a team player, they know that I'm on the team, I'm doing the right thing, I'm protecting who I need to protect. You know, I'll continue to stay in good graces in Trump world. And they have reminded me a couple of times that Trump does read transcripts. And just to keep that in mind as I proceeded through my depositions and interviews with the committee. So that was one person who had told the House select committee that he or she, they didn't identify the person, but that he or she was being intimidated. A person also, this is another example, a person let me know, you have your deposition tomorrow. He wants me to let you know he's thinking about you. He knows you're loyal and you're going to do the right thing when you go in for your deposition. So my question is these secret service agents who want to testify and say, no, no, no, Trump was very upset that we refuse to

drive him to the Capitol, but he didn't lunge at us, have they been tampered with? Have they been intimidated? Like I'd like to know more details about that. But either way, at the end of the day, her testimony about Trump lunging at them, not that important. His testimony regarding wanting to essentially, her testimony about him wanting to allow heavily armed supporters to like hang Mike Pence, it's a lot more damning. A lot of her testimony was incredibly important to this investigation. We'll see if Merrick Garland does anything about it. But I think watching the desperation from people close to Trump in response to her testimony

is both amusing and tells you a lot about what's really going on, what really went on, and how many people within the administration knew about what was about to transpire on January 6th. All right, we gotta take a quick break. When we come back, we've got more news for you, including Sean Hannity trying to let you guys know that you don't need to worry about a damn thing regarding abortion bans on a federal level. Just be calm, complacent. And in the background, they'll implement a federal ban on abortions and just completely catch you off guard. We've got that story and more. Don't miss it, we'll be right back. Welcome back to TYT. I'm your host Anna Casparian.

And in response to the story we just did in the previous segment regarding Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony during the House Select Committee investigating, you know, the January 6th riots, there's a comment from Stock Market Bro, and I got to be honest, you're, your handle caught my attention. Trump has clearly committed multiple crimes. Will he pay for them? I doubt it, the elites always stick together, they do. And I think part of the reason why is, look, you start prosecuting high level White House officials,

you know, Trump administration officials. I think there are people on the general left. When I say left, I don't mean leftist, but I mean members of the Democratic Party, You think that they don't have their own skeletons to worry about? I think they're worried about being investigated themselves for other issues, other reasons, right? Especially issues pertaining to corruption. And so I think that's part of it. I think they do in a way look out for each other.

And what I would hate to see is these hearings just turn into nothing more than a political matter, right? Just political theater with the hopes that this will somehow help the the Democrats in the midterms. If that's what they're doing this for, it's just such a bad strategy. I think it's going to end up being counterproductive for Democrats in the future. Anyway, let's move on to our next story. I want to talk a little bit about what the right wing is up to when it comes to further destroying our reproductive rights. The abortion is not illegal. It's not going to be illegal in your state of Michigan. I'd bet my last dollar that's not going to be the case. Am I wrong?

Well, no, it is illegal in the state right now. In 1931, Michigan passed one of the first anti-abortion laws. It says that there is no abortion. They have a trigger provision, but wouldn't you expect with Governor Whitmer and the legislature as it's currently configured, wouldn't you expect that the likelihood of them changing that is going to be pretty swift? What you just heard was yet another example of a right winger who has supported the anti-choice movement, who has supported a political system that has installed right-wing religious zealots in our Supreme Court saying like, hey, don't worry about it, ladies. Don't worry about it, ladies and gentlemen. Abortion isn't illegal in every state. And what I love is that he's speaking to a state lawmaker from Michigan where they had a trigger law in place, meaning the second row was reversed,

abortion is banned in the state of Michigan. Now for the time being, there is some chance that the state legislature will reverse it and will provide abortion access and reproductive rights to women for now, for now. But I wanted to bring this story and this conversation up because one of the worst mistakes the left can do, along with those who might not identify as part of the left, but do want to restore reproductive rights, do want to protect reproductive rights, is to get complacent and to trust, to trust that the right wing in America, that these religious zealots in America are satisfied now, that they're, they're done, they're unrolling their sleeves, they're sitting back, they're watching the housewives of New Jersey, they're chilling, they're

They're chillin. They're not chilling. They want a federal ban on abortion. Let's be 100% clear about that because we're already at a disadvantage. What we're seeing in the country right now is the culmination of decades and decades of the right wing strategizing, organizing, doing anything and everything necessary to get us to the point where many red states have already completely banned abortion and more states are poised to do so as well. They're already moving on to their next goal. What's their next goal? Oh, they want a constitutional amendment that would ban abortion federally. That's what they're working on. So while Sean Hannity is telling you to chill out,

I would advise you to do the exact opposite. So let's talk about what they're up to and the dark money that's being funneled to these right wing organizations who are now organizing and lobbying for federal ban, for a federal ban and also for the time being focusing on states that have legalized abortion to get it banned there as well. Now who's behind it? Well far right lawyer and federalist society fundraiser Leonard Leo handpicked Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, and Neil Gorsuch for Trump's list of nominees to the Supreme Court based on their alignment with his terrible, terrible agenda, which included reversing Roe. He was also instrumental to the appointment of Alito and

John Roberts and worked on the confirmation of Clarence Thomas. So the Federalist Society handpicks right wing zealids to install in the Supreme Court. Trump took that list of list of zealots and was like looks good to me and he succeeded in confirming three of them. Okay, that's part of the reason why we're experiencing this disgusting draconian reversal of Roe as we speak. Now what is he up to? Leo now helms a web of dark money groups that have raised over $580 million in recent years and has been trying to roll back decades of precedent on reproductive freedom, LGBTQ plus rights, environmental protections. 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. The separation of church and state and more. And he is working closely with a specific group that has a very specific goal. Students for Life has Leo as co-chair of its board and has led the charge in promoting extreme anti-abortion bills in state legislatures.

Let's just pause for a second. Come back to me. So if you're living in a blue state and you think I'm safe, I live in California, blue state, it's a blue state. politician. And politicians from what we have experienced in recent decades are certainly not principled people. So if there's a ton of money flowing into their campaign coffers from people who want to roll back our reproductive rights, is there some possibility they'll be persuaded by that funding? Remember, the Democratic Party used to be the party that represented ordinary Americans, ordinary workers. It was the party of FDR, the party of the New Deal. And now, as you guys can probably tell, in terms of economic policy, it's really difficult to draw a distinction between the right and the left in Congress.

So I give you that as a red flag, a warning sign for anyone who's living in a blue state who thinks like, no, we keep electing Democratic lawmakers in our state. We're safe. No one's safe. No one's safe. So there's that. On a state level, they have a plan. Let's continue reading that graphic, though. Students for Life has taken credit for authoring and introducing 27 bills in 19 states in the last two legislative sessions, including its signature life at conception bill already passed in Oklahoma and Arkansas, which bans abortions, even in cases of rape or incest. And that's the other thing, this is an extremist group. These are extremist theocrats, okay, let's not make any mistake about it, and what they want to do is force pregnancies, forced childbirth, regardless of the circumstances.

Now, it's also worth mentioning that these zealots are not in any way interested in bolstering social spending programs to ensure that children living in poverty don't die as a result of starvation or not having a roof over their head. They're not interested in that. No, they're interested in controlling your life. Okay, the party that purports to be in in favor of freedom and liberty wants to get involved in your bedroom. They want to get involved in what you can do with your body. That's who these people are, students for life, students for life. So let's continue. The legislative push is part of the post row blueprint crafted by students for life. The organizations, I'm sorry, Students for Life Action, which is the organization's 501C forearm.

The blueprint is a six step plan meant to ensure rose reversal leads to a blanket ban on abortion without exceptions for rape or incest in all corners of the country. Students for Life leader Christian Hawkins announced at the 2022 National Pro Life Summit that the group's ultimate goal is a constitutional amendment barring abortion throughout America. I'm sorry to do this to my team. I just want to cue up that video featuring Sean Hannity again. Because you're going to hear this argument from the right wing over and over again. Because guess what? Banning abortion super unpopular. Republicans right now are concerned that what they have done to women in this country, in stripping them of their reproductive rights, stripping them of their agency, autonomy over their own bodies.

They're worried it might hurt them in the upcoming midterms. They're concerned. So they have all these goons downplay the damage that has been done, the damage that we are likely to experience if we get complacent and think we're safe because we live in blue states. Here again is an example of the lies you will be told over and over again by the right wing and every time you hear it, you must reject it and be clear about what the right wing is up to. Let's watch one more time. abortion is not illegal it's not going to be illegal in your state of michigan i'd bet my last dollar that's not going to be the case am i wrong well it no it is illegal in the state right now in 1931 michigan passed one of the first anti-abortion laws it says that there is no

abortion they have they have a trigger provision but wouldn't you expect with governor whitmer and the legislature as it's currently configured wouldn't you expect that the likelihood of of them changing that is going to be pretty swift Here's what I would expect. I would expect the right wing to do what it always does. Lie to the American people, claim to be the party that believes in liberty and freedom while they simultaneously strip us of our rights and enjoy themselves while they do it. That is what the right wing is about. They'll tell us that they care about lives while they cry like little children over wearing a mask during a global pandemic dealing with a high

highly contagious and lethal virus, that is the right wing. They are liars, they don't believe in freedom, they don't respect our constitution, and what they want more than anything is to rule over us, control us, and have a say in every part of our lives, again, including what we do in our own bedrooms. Clarence Thomas sitting there worried about but love in his Supreme Court decision, Why are you thinking about but love? A little creep, Jesus Christ, man. We knew you were a creep during that investigation into your sexual harassment.

But imagine, imagine writing a concurring decision in reversing row to warn people that you're going to try to ban but love. These people are creeps, we got to take a break, we'll be right back. Welcome back to the show. I'm Anna Kasparian. In the second hour, Jessica Burbank will be joining me to talk about more news, including what the FCC wants to do to one of the most popular social media platforms. platforms. And so we'll get to that a little later. But for now, I want to talk about essentially Republican candidates who have meltdowns when they get called out on their BS culture war narratives. And Kerry Lake is really front and center for this story. So let's do it. The Trump backed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Carrie Lake was appalled, just absolutely

outraged that someone over at Fox News would ask her a difficult question. Now, as a Republican who's going on a Republican friendly network like Fox, she would expect to be given a round of applause, a bunch of fluff and softball questions. But shockingly, she was asked about Richard Stevens, who's a popular drag queen from Phoenix who claimed that Lake had been a close friend of his, that Lake would go to his performances regularly, and that Lake even invited him to perform at an event at her home with her children present. Keep that in mind with her children who were in elementary school at the time present. Important part of the story. Now when she was asked about it, she didn't like it. So why don't we take a quick look at her exchange with Brett

bear. The Washington Post has a story today. It says Arizona GOP candidate who criticized drag queens was once a fan, according to a drag queen. This is the quote, Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Kerry Lake, who has attacked drag queens as dangerous to children, attended the shows of drag queen Richard Stevens for more than 20 years and once hired him to perform at her home. Do you care to address that? I do care. I actually do care to address that. And I'm really shocked. I'm actually appalled that Fox News would take defamatory story like that. And we are pursuing legal action against this drag queen. I'm appalled that you would bring that up. Which drag queen is she appalled by? She's appalled by being asked questions about this drag queen. The one that she's posing

in a picture with right here. Again, Richard Stevens is his name. The one that she invited to her home to perform at an event with her children present. That drag queen? Is that what she's talking She's going to sue him. Good luck with that. Looking forward to that defamation lawsuit to see where it goes. I'm guessing in the trash, if it ever gets filed in the first place. But putting that aside, why are you shocked that anyone would ask you about these allegations when really the entirety of your gubernatorial campaign centers on hating trans people? I mean, this is what Republicans do. Republicans don't have anything to offer you. By the way, Democrats have their own flavor of this, so they're not innocent, okay? But Republicans lean in heavy on the culture war narratives because that's all they've got. Watch Ben Shapiro show, it's all he talks about, culture war, culture war, be afraid of the gays, be afraid of the trans people, be afraid of abortion, be afraid of this, be afraid of that. Various groups of people, culture, culture, culture, that's all they talk about.

Because what is the other alternative, would they talk about reforming economic policies that are increasingly, you know, causing more and more poverty among the working class in this country? Is that what they would talk about reforming the economic policies that their corporate donors are paying them to maintain? That their corporate donors love and don't want to change. Is that what they would campaign on? People of Arizona, please elect me because I would I would do favors for my corporate donors and I will continue protecting this economic landscape that puts you at a significant disadvantage. Is that what she would campaign on? Is that what Carrie Lake would campaign? No, she's campaigning on. Look at me, I hate trans people,

even though I used to be good friends with one and invited one over to my home to perform with my children present. Why are you shocked that anyone would ask you this question? You made your bed. You made your bed. This is what you want your issue to be. So let's talk about the issue. Let's, in fact, go to the next video. When you have not talked about our stolen election, you failed to talk about that. We just spent three questions, Ms. Lake, talking about this. I just asked you a number of questions about it. I played the Arizona house speaker. Let's address this story that's in the Washington Post. Every candidate takes tough stories. I'm asking you to respond to it if you'd

I'm happy to address it, but I'm really disappointed in Fox. I thought you were a little better than CNN. These pictures of you with him, Richard Stevens. And what about the post? I've performed for Carrie's birthday. I've performed in her home. I've performed for her at some of the cediest bars in Phoenix. I don't want to ask these questions. I ask you to address them. That's it. Actually, I think you do want to ask them, but you don't want to ask about 2,000 mules. Okay, so that's her other campaigning topic, the other big issue, helping Trump overturn the election, spreading conspiracies about the election, that's all she's got. I mean, these people are clowns. And what I would just suggest to Republican voters, listen, I get it, I get it. Politics

has long devolved into this ridiculous tit for tat tribal garbage where you're willing to do anything and everything to support your side, even while they're punching you in the face. But I would just ask everyone, including Democratic voters, to take a step back for a second and look at these campaigns and really ask yourself, how is this hatred toward another group of people going to make my life better. How does this help me put food on the table for my family? How does this help me pay my rent, my mortgage? What does this do to enrich my life and my family's lives? And I will guarantee you that with the vast majority of candidates, the answer is nothing. And maybe it feels good for right wing voters, right? To hear

some woman who looks like, you know, she was a soap opera reject talking about how much she hates trans people, great. But turns out she doesn't really hate trans people. She's just using this exploiting fear about people who are already incredibly misunderstood, people who have no power, people who have incredibly high suicide rates as a result of the kind of commentary and rhetoric you're hearing from her. She's just exploiting them for power. That's it. Not for you. Power for her. She couldn't care less what happens to the people of Arizona. Soap opera career failed, she needs another gig.

By way, I'm kidding about the soap opera thing, but doesn't she look like she's a soap opera actress? Like, let's keep it real. If you're going to make the culture war your front and center issue, then yeah, you should be asked about it. The only thing that's shocking is that she was asked about it on Fox. And maybe that's why she's so outraged. But you should be prepared to defend yourself if again, this is your main topic. And you have been accused by a famous drag queen of being a good friend of his who has also invited him to your home. Now one other thing I want to note is, look,

fact of the matter is this is an issue that we see among most Republican politicians. In fact, on a state level, you have Republican politicians proposing, legislation that would ban gay ban trans athletes from participating in school sports with the gender they identify with. And I thought this was a great headline because it's absolutely accurate. Lawmakers can't cite local examples of trans girls in sports. Interesting. Let's dig a little deeper. Legislators in more than 20 states have introduced bills this year. This is from 2021, one by the way, that would ban transgender girls from competing on girls sports teams in public high schools. Yet in most every case, sponsors cannot cite a single instance in their

own state or region where such participation has caused problems. Wow, are you surprised by that? Because I'm not. It almost seems like they want to give the illusion of governing, of legislating, when in reality, they're collecting checks. They're chill in, they don't care about you. More in South Carolina, for example, Representative Ashley Trantham said she knew of no transgender athletes competing in the state and was proposing a ban to prevent possible problems

in the future, in the future. Oh my God, look at them, they're taking initiative. That's what politicians are known for, right? They act before there's a problem, except you know that's not true. Let me give you more. And by the way, let me be clear, I don't see this as a problem, okay? I see what they're doing in exploiting this issue or turning it into a not, you know,

turning a non issue into an issue for politics, for power accumulation. This is what they do, but there's more. Otherwise, she said during a recent hearing, the next generation of female athletes in South Carolina may not have a chance to excel. I got news for you, bitch, most kids at this point don't really have a chance to excel? How are you going to excel when you have to dig yourself into hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt in order to get a decent college education, which is required to get a decent job? You want to talk about people excelling? These are politicians who stand

in the way of people excelling every single day. Let's go to Tennessee, House Speaker Cameron Sexton. Well, we should ban that last name. It has sex in it. It seems very bad. Conceded, there may not be transgender students now participating in middle and high school sports. He said a bill was necessary so the state could be proactive. Sexton wants to be proactive. I mean, there are issues that are, you know, really impacting the people of his state as we speak. Issues related to their economic anxiety, but who cares about that? He doesn't want to be proactive about that. No, that'd be a waste and it would probably upset his donor.

So instead, let's go after the powerless. Let's demonize them. Let's turn them into scapegoats and continue to stay in power because people let it happen. Voters let it happen. Wake up, guys. I don't understand the hatred people have in their hearts for groups of people who are powerless in the first place. But even if you do, how does it make your life better to support politicians who give you nothing, offer you nothing other than more hatred, more division, more destruction in this country. And Carrie Lake crying about being asked about the number one issue she talks about on the campaign trail is rich. If you can't take the heat, get the hell out of the campaign. Anyway, we got to take a break. When we come back, Jessica Burbank will be joining me. And there's some breaking news that is enraging. So come right back for that and more. Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work, listen to ad-free, access members-only bonus content, and more

by subscribing to Apple Podcasts at apple.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.