The Young Turks - Thanks, Obama

Episode Date: July 27, 2024

Barack and Michelle Obama endorse Kamala Harris for president. Harris steps out on Israel as she navigates Biden and Netanyahu. Senator Tuberville on immigrants: ""Most of them are garbage."" Oklahoma superintendent vows to force schools to teach about the Bible and issue guidance." HOST: Yasmin Khan (@YazzieK), Ana Kasparian (@anakasparian), Wosny Lambre (@BigWos) 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 ❤ 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 Watchlist https://www.youtube.com/watchlisttyt Indisputable with Dr. Rashad Richey https://www.youtube.com/indisputabletyt The Damage Report ▶ https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport TYT Sports ▶ https://www.youtube.com/tytsports The Conversation ▶ https://www.youtube.com/tytconversation Rebel HQ ▶ https://www.youtube.com/rebelhq TYT Investigates ▶ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwNJt9PYyN1uyw2XhNIQMMA 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. We finally beat Medicare. I'm so upset. Oh my God. Begha! Live from the Polymarket Studio in L.A. It's the Young Turks.

Be watching. Be watching. Be watching. Yesterday was Thursday. Tomorrow's Thursday. Tomorrow's Saturday. That means today is Friday. And we must do what?

Drop it. Anna Casparian, Yasmin Khan and Wozni Lombray with you for today's excellent power panel. Really a joy to be here with you guys. How are you all doing? I'm doing good. It's been a long week. I'll say that. for sure. I just got off of a Zoom with 40,000 black men to raise family for our next black savior. So feeling great.

Nice. You sound like you're feeling great. Well, she's going to come up quite a bit in the first hour of the show. Of course, we're going to be talking about democratic, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. Lots to get to on that front, including what her views are in regard to the ongoing war in Gaza. In the first hour, we also have a pretty important endorsement for Kamala Harris. That'll be at the very top of the hour. Later in the first hour, we'll also talk a little bit about how, you know, people with power in Oklahoma are basically forcing a very specific religion on children in public schools. The situation just keeps getting worse. So we'll have that more. And in the second hour, Jordan Yule will be joining and leading the second hour content.

So definitely stick around for that as well. But before we get to any of that fun stuff, just want to encourage you all to like and share the stream. Have you liked it yet? You should do it. It's a free, easy way to help TYT support us and get the message out about our show. You can also become a member by going to TYT.com slash join. Now with all that in mind, Yasmin, take it away. All right, we're going to start you off with a clip. Let's roll it. Come along. Hello. Hi. Hi. Hey there. Oh, hi, you're both together.

Oh, it's good to hear you both. I can't have this phone call without saying to my girl Kamala, I am proud of you. This is going to be historic. We call to say Michelle and I couldn't be prouder to endorse you and to do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office. So today, Barack and Michelle Obama became the last of the big name Democratic. Democrats to really endorse Kamala Harris. Why did the Obama's hold out for so long, though? That's a question everyone's asking.

Well, remember what Barack Obama said in a statement when Joe Biden announced that he was dropping out of the race, he said this. I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges. So from that, it kind of sounds like Obama might have been pushing for an open primary rather than a coronation. of Kamala Harris, but Stephen Chung, a spokesperson for Donald Trump's presidential campaign, alluded to Obama's belated endorsement yesterday. He was trying to make the case that Trump shouldn't have to agree to a debate with Harris yet, but here is why his statement read, there is a strong sense by many in the Democrat Party, namely Barack Hussein Obama, that Kamala Harris is a Marxist fraud who cannot beat President Trump and they are still holding out for

someone better. That's putting an awful lot of words into Obama's mouth, but Obama and Harris actually have a long history together. According to CNN, Obama and Harris have been in touch regularly, and he has been serving as a sounding board for her as he has for over, as he has over the 20 years they've known each other, a source told CNN earlier this week. So there's There's been a lot of speculation around why Obama waited so long to endorse Harris, but it hasn't even been a week yet. I know it's hard to believe it's been a really long week. But this happened on Sunday, today's Friday.

But Obama is the type of dude who would wait for the initial buzz to die down so that his statement doesn't get lost in all the rest of it. You know what I mean? I'm not surprised that he waited until now to endorse her. But what do you guys think? Is there something deeper here? Anna, let's start with you. Well, I actually think it was a smart idea for.

Obama and Michelle Obama to wait before doing this endorsement. Number one, Obama made clear that he wanted a process in place to pick the best possible candidate. I think he did that because he doesn't want it to appear as though he's putting his thumb on the scale, even though the whole reason why Kamala Harris is now the presumptive Democratic nominee is because Obama was behind the scenes, you know, applying pressure to get Biden out. And I actually thank him for that because Biden was almost certainly going to lose to Donald Trump. And even if he won, I don't think that Biden really was in the right state to run the country for another four years. But another thing that I just want to quickly point out is

Obama deciding to do this endorsement today, I mean, it was in the early morning hours, like 2 a.m. in the morning. But the reason why that happened is so it honestly takes up another news cycle. It's earned media that Harris and her campaign don't have to pay for. So I think it's really savvy in that regard as well. I mean, I think everyone knew that the Obamas were going to end up endorsing Kamala Harris. That wasn't surprising to me at all. And I actually think the timing was a little more strategic than people are giving the Obama's credit for. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I tend to take Obama at his word and his statement in the sense that I don't think he saw Kamla as the sure shot person to back after Joe left the race.

And so he didn't do it right away. But once the entire party apparatus coalesces behind her, I don't think he had much choice in the matter. If he would have just been like, oh, I'm not endorsing the prohibitive nominee of the Democratic part. Like that's unthinkable, right? And so, yeah, he took his time with it because this Kamla thing did kind of come together basically like 36 hours. Pelosi didn't automatically endorse. Obviously Barack and Michelle didn't automatically endorse.

But about 36 hours later, they'd raised like a quarter billion dollars. They got a bunch of people on the phone, like 1.4 million in grassroots donations, which is nothing to sneeze at. And so this guy knew where the wind was blowing. And so he did what he had to do. Yeah, I agree. I think Obama is very savvy when it comes to, as Anna pointed out, the media aspect of of running a presidential campaign. I thought it was very smart that he waited.

I think that was strategic on his part. And again, it hasn't actually been that long. I know that these news cycles, they cycle through so quickly that we get used to a certain type of pace. But it hasn't been that long. It has not even been a week. So I think it's totally fine. Speaking of Kamala Harris, I actually want to jump into our next story where we find out

what her thoughts are on Gaza. Let's roll the tape. It is time for this war to end and end in a way where Israel is secure. All the hostages are released. The suffering of Palestinians in Gaza ends. And the Palestinian people can exercise their right to freedom, dignity, and self-determination. There has been hopeful movement in the talks to secure an agreement on this deal. And as I just told Prime Minister Netanyahu, it is time to get this deal done. So Vice President Kamala Harris met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday after declining to attend his address to Congress. Bibi also separately met with President Joe Biden.

And there's been a lot of speculation about how her policy towards Israel would be different than Biden's, who has largely avoided criticizing Israel's actions in Gaza and has continued to send them weapons. Harris started her remarks by reconfirming her unwavering commitment to the existence of the state of Israel. And she said that she would continue to help Israel defend itself. But she also said that how Israel defense itself matters, and she spoke to the disastrous humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Take a look at this. I also expressed with the Prime Minister my serious concern about the scale of human suffering in Gaza, including the death of far too many innocent civilians. And I made clear my serious

concern about the dire humanitarian situation there. with over 2 million people facing high levels of food insecurity, and half a million people facing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity. What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating. The images of dead children and desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third, or fourth time. time. We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering, and I will not be silent. Well, she is right. The crisis in Gaza gets more and

more dire every single day. According to Palestinian health authorities, Israel's ground and air campaign in Gaza has killed more than 39,000 people, mostly civilians, and driven most of the enclaves 2.3 million people from their homes. Kamala then turned to the ceasefire and hostage deal that's currently on the table and said it was time to get the deal done to end the war. She also said that she remains committed to eventually achieving a two state solution. So Anna, what do you think? Is she trying to play both sides here? She's already doing a better job at acknowledging the death in Palestine than Joe Biden ever did.

But regardless, is this still just the status quo? There's really no indication that she would be different in terms of policy. Certainly, she's a little better, rhetorically speaking, and drawing some attention to the pain and suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza is an important thing to do. And I think that Biden had trouble doing that. But to be fair to Biden, he had trouble messaging on pretty much everything. And so Kamala Harris, yes, did a good job there.

But when you look into the influences in her life, namely her husband, who is, you know, very proud to declare himself as Zionist, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'm not saying that's indicative of someone who's going to be needlessly cruel to Palestinians. But his focus in every comment that he's made publicly since Kamala Harris became the presumptive nominee indicates to me that he's very much in favor of protecting Israel and doing so. to the detriment of Palestinians. What gives me a little bit of hope is that apparently Kamala Harris's stepdaughter talks about the plight of Palestinians and brings that up during Seder, wants to change or influence U.S. policy as it pertains to Israel and how they're prosecuting this war. I don't know how much influence her stepdaughter has on her. But there's one thing that I'll mention that I think is super important. And it's the influence of people like Anthony Blinken in the Biden administration.

that Kamala Harris is poised to get rid of, and that is a good sign. So Anthony Blinken is an individual who, after working for the Obama administration, founded a consulting firm called West Exec Consultants. And the way that this consulting firm is structured is they can literally have foreign clients without having to disclose that they have foreign clients, right? So they don't have to ever register as foreign agents. They don't have to disclose that they've worked with foreign clients. A former U.S. ambassador to Israel was also part of this consulting firm.

And I'm telling you all of this because I have no doubt in my mind that these are individuals who worked with Israel as one of their foreign clients. And I think that that's also one of the influences behind Avril Haynes, who also worked at this consulting firm coming out and alleging without a single shred of evidence that Iran is funding the pro-Palestinian protesters here in the United States. Kamala Harris getting rid of these individuals from her White House, should she, you know, win the presidency would be a major improvement in my mind. I mean, obviously it depends on who she replaces these individuals with.

But I was concerned about the Anthony Blinkins and the Avril Haynes as soon as Biden had nominated them for his administration. And so we'll see how this all plays out. But in terms of her rhetoric, obviously, you know, she's very clear that she's unwavering in her support and commitment to Israel. And I think that rhetoric is damning because, okay, but what is the government made up of in Israel? If they're far right extremists, you're going to unwaveringly support the far right extremists or extremist government of Israel. It doesn't make much sense to me. So we'll see what happens.

But I have a little bit of hope, not much. What do you think, Was? You guys will be shocked to learn that my enthusiasm for this Kamala Harris, Kamala Harris thing has done nothing but diminished as the day goes by. And honestly, watching that statement is just perfect. She is going to be a way better Democratic politician, Democratic Party politician and Joe Biden. She's going to say the right things. She's going to look really polished in the process of doing it. But she's going to do like nothing for anybody of substance. Like in all of that speech, at no point did she say she'd be willing to lift a finger to achieve said outcome, right? Like she said, we want to ceasefire. We want the war to stop.

We want to bring the hostages home, yada, yada, yada. At no point did she say, and we'd be willing to go here to see this. We'd be willing to stop with the weapons. We'd be willing to stop funding. We'd be willing to crack a whip on the Israeli government, who was allegedly our partners and our allies, we'd be willing to actually, you know, wield some influence over them to achieve this end that I claim to want to see. That's the bad part, right? To me, she just said a whole bunch of nothing up there. The good thing is, yes, she said, she's already leaked. She's going to fire all of Biden's foreign policy people, which was very heartening. Another thing is, you know, if you follow this foreign policy stuff even a little bit, you know that there are like sort of factions. Like none of these people in the foreign policy establishment are like us who just want to end all of these wars and like focus on what's happening at home.

But there is a, if you want to use the word left part of that faction, right? Like the Ben Rhodes is, for instance, he was Obama's foreign policy guy. And right now, Kamala Harris's foreign policy advisor is somebody who comes from the Ben Rhodes side of thinking, right? These are the guys that were like, look, we're not trying to suck up to Saudi Arabia. We don't want to just let Israel dictate terms to us all day. And they got killed for eight years because of this. Ben Rhodes famously coined the term the blob, right?

like in reference to, you know, like all of these lobbyists and the foreign policy establishment in Washington. And so that's a nice thing to hear. But this statement, man, I don't know, man. It makes me feel like she's just going to be the greatest Democrat ever. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. And do nothing for anybody. Yeah. I think it's also important to remember that she hasn't actually secure the nomination yet. So there is kind of a balancing act that she has to play. We'll see how, you know, the difference between what her rhetoric is now prior to winning the nomination, prior to winning the presidency, if it comes to that in November, versus what she ends up doing with her cabinet and with her policies when she is, if and when she's elected.

But unsurprisingly, she's already done a lot, right? Benjamin Netanyahu was reportedly very irked by Kamala Harris's public remarks following their meeting. Here is his excuse. This is reporting from Barack Ravid at Axios. He said, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was upset by Vice President Kamala Harris on camera, by her on camera statements after their meeting and is concerned it will harm the negotiations over a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal. And Israeli officials said in a briefing with reporters. But it seems like the Israeli government is just upset that she called them out publicly.

It goes on to say that the Israeli official said Netanyahu and his team, were caught off guard by Harris' on-camera statement and taken aback by its tone, which they said sounded much more critical than Biden's. That sounds like they got a little comfortable there. Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm chopping at the bit. Yeah, this guy is used to American politicians getting on their knees and fillating him before the American people. And he can't fathom that anyone would call out, you know, should even call it war crimes or anything like that. He can't fathom anyone, any U.S. politician talking about the plight and the suffering and

the brutality that Palestinians have been experiencing, not just during this war, but for many, many decades now. And so I don't care how hurt his feelings are. And no one should believe for a second that Netanyahu has ever engaged in ceasefire negotiations in good faith. He has not. And there's literally nothing that Kamala Harris. can do to offend him to a point where he would go from engaging in good faith to no longer

engaging in good faith because he never engaged in good faith to begin with. Okay, he doesn't want a ceasefire because a ceasefire would mean an end to the war and an end to the war would mean getting prosecuted for the corruption charges he's facing. It would mean that the Israeli people who despise him, 72 percent according to polls, want him out. They would push him out of government. And by the way, the support that he would get, he's currently getting from the extremists in his coalition government would immediately pull back their support if he actually did agree to a ceasefire agreement. So there is no indication that Netanyahu wants to end this war. And in fact, all of the incentives point in the direction of him prolonging this war,

prolonging the suffering and the deaths of innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Yeah, it just becomes a matter of like how much longer can we go, because for the people living over there, every day is a nightmare. And this has been going on for months already. But to your point, Anna, one Israeli official did claim that Harris's statement after the meeting was much more critical than what she told Netanyahu in the meeting. And then the Israeli official said Netanyahu was upset about the fact that Harris spoke about the hostage and ceasefire deal as an end to the war, while Israel maintains its position that it will be able to resume the fighting after the deal is implemented. So Netanyahu was also angry that Harris criticized

Israel for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and for killing civilians. I guess it makes sense that he's upset about that. But meanwhile Netanyahu is scheduled to meet at Mar-a-Lago today with Donald Trump, who he is less likely to get any public pushback from. So why is Netanyahu meeting with a the private citizen. Who knows? I don't know. But Bibi is bold and he is manipulative and unapologetic in the most delusional and destructive way, really. If Harris wins in November, she's going to have to work with this guy while somehow fostering peace for the Palestinians. But Israel is saying, even once we get our hostages back, we're still going to keep bombing the Palestinians and just let us. I can't believe she won't let us. Wads, let's start with you. What do you make of

this. I mean, why would they believe anything other than that? All the kids and they're freaking blown off limbs all over social media, all over people's timelines and feeds. That didn't do it. They bombed the hell out of a refugee camp the other month. That didn't do it. They bombed the hell out of Jose Andres's, you know, humanitarian aid trucks. You know, They killed some Westerners in the process. That didn't do, like, no matter what they do, they keep getting aid and weaponry and support. So like, why would he think that anything would come in the way of his objective to just keep finding stuff to bomb? Because it's obvious there's no actual, you know, military operation or objective being executed here.

They're just finding new things to bomb. They're not engaging with some army out in a war zone. They're just finding places to bomb and pretending that they're making progress. That's such a good point. And let me just say, anytime Benjamin Netanyahu or any of these other extremists in the Israeli government purport to care about the hostages, just remember the fact that he came onto U.S. soil and demanded that American taxpayers not only fund the bombs that he is terrorizing said hostages with, in Gaza, but that we do so faster. Okay, that's what Netanyahu said.

He doesn't care about the hostages. He doesn't care about the Israeli people. He failed in keeping them safe. And he certainly doesn't care about the lives of the Palestinian children who are getting blown to smithereens thanks to his foreign policy and his actions in Gaza. He's a disgusting human being. He is not engaging in ceasefire negotiations in good faith. And as long as we allow for moneyed interest to have sway and influence over our politicians,

nothing is going to change in regard to U.S. policy toward Israel. That APAC money is super influential. Our politicians are absolute cowards. And that was on full display during that joint session of Congress as Netanyahu was giving that speech, standing up over and over again, clapping like trained seals toward a liberal war criminal. He wore a suit. He wore a suit. Yeah.

He wore a suit to honor his Lord and Savior, Bibi Netanyahu. It was embarrassing, dude. Well, let's wrap up the first segment. We got to go to break, but when we come back, we've got a lot more news to get to, including an insane story out of Oklahoma that will be sure to make its way to the Supreme Court. Don't miss that. We've got that and more coming up. We'll be right back.

Welcome back to TYT, Anna Kasparian, Yasmin Khan, and Wozni Lombray. I am not used to bringing us in because Jenk does that. So apologies for the weird pause. Anyway, Yasmin, what else is going on in the news today? Yeah, a lot. At the top of this, I'll say I hate this story, but let's roll the tape. I'm Bill Eichael. I'm running for governor to crack down on illegal immigration.

He is Bill Aigol and tomorrhick against the immigration illegal. Ah, coramba. Well, that incredibly unbelievably racist campaign ad comes courtesy of Bill Aigel, Missouri State Senator and the Republican gubernatorial candidate. And believe it or not, it actually gets worse than what we've already showed you. So stick around for that. I'm sure you all can't wait.

But first, we have another bigoted Republican to hear from this time, Well, it's everyone's favorite bigot is the United States Senator Tommy Tuberville. He was asked about Kamala Harris and he decided to slander immigrants while criticizing her. He's multitasking. Take a look. We got no chance for somebody like Kamala Harris. She is even father left and Joe Biden. I didn't think they could pick anybody any worse, but they did. Some of the people up here starting to jump on the ship, but that makes no difference. You know, the American people have seen what's happened and they've had to live what's happening.

Larry, that's the main thing. They've had to live through this sorry economy that we're going through the open borders that Kamala Harris herself has been in charge of. I mean, how can you put somebody in charge of a situation where you let 15, possibly even 20 million people come in our countries? Now, some of these people are good, but most of them are garbage. They come from jails and prisons from other countries. And they've known that. And we're going to live in very tough times in years to come because of a lot of these people that have come in here with different agendas other than live. in the great country that we live in now. Okay, in case you missed it, let's play that one more time. Listen to this. Some of these people are good, but most of them are garbage. Yep, that's what he said. This story, it actually makes my ears hot, which doesn't happen very often, but garbage, he said that they're garbage.

People coming into the United States after many and most of them are looking for better economic opportunity for themselves and for their families, or they're trying to escape violence and persecution. They are garbage, according to a sitting U.S. Senator. But we have to ask, beyond the clearly bigoted nature of that statement, is he right about many of these immigrants coming from prisons? As we know, that is a favorite talking point of Trumps who constantly says that migrants are coming from jails and insane asylums.

But according to multiple fat-checking organization, surprise, surprise, he hasn't cited any reliable evidence for any of his claims. Reporting from CNN said this, Trump's campaign failed to provide any evidence that South American countries are emptying mental health facilities to somehow send patients to the U.S. CNN then reached out to a pro-Trump super PAC asking for evidence for Trump's mental institution story, but a spokesperson just did not respond. CNN said that they next turn to two groups that advocate for reduced immigration, the Center for Immigration Studies, and the Federal. for American immigration reform, which would be good candidates to be aware of any such evidence. They said they hadn't seen anything that would corroborate Trump's claims. Of course, it's true that some people who come in are in fact criminals, but there's no proof

that they're flooding in because countries are opening their jails and mental institutions. Not to mention the fact that plenty of American criminals here were born and bred in this country. Look at Donald Trump, for example, but none of that has stopped Republicans from spreading here. hate about immigrants, which brings us back to our other lovely fellow Bill Eagel. Here is the rest of his ad. I'm Bill Eichel. I'm running for governor to crack down on illegal immigration. No more taxpayer handouts for illegals, period, NADA, siltch, zero. No more illegals, no more dinners, no more fiestas.

We're throwing them in jail. and sending them back where they came from. Hi, Garamba. Andre, Andre. It's time to take Missouri back. He's sending them back to the jails where they came from. I'm almost, almost at a loss for words with all of this. Some of the best people that I know personally are immigrants,

including my parents. And for the majority of the immigrants that I personally know, and I know a lot of them, they didn't come here to commit crimes. They came here to get educated and they came here to work. is what they did. Some of them suck, sure, but a lot of Americans suck too. But you all know that. Everyone watching the show knows that. The people who don't know that are the people who are watching guys like Tuberville on Fox News. I will never understand racism or xenophobia. I'll never understand how someone can think that they're better than literally anyone just because they look

at certain way or because they were born on one side of some imaginary line. But I know people, I live in Texas, right? I know people who watch Fox News and I know that they are very antagonistic towards immigrants, whether they're legal or illegal. They will tell you that it's just the illegal ones that they have a problem with. But the truth is they have no way of knowing who's legal and who isn't and they will always assume the latter. And they have to assume because they don't actually interact with very many immigrants in their daily lives. So it's easy for people to be fearful of the unknown of what's out there and they don't go out there. They sit at home and they They watch Fox News and they pretend to know something about the world when they know nothing.

Okay, so why is you talk now? What do you think? You know, I think the three of us on this call all have immigrant parentage. So obviously we're biased towards liking immigrants. That goes without saying. But, you know, look, the Tommy Tuberville thing, that's just, that's just hardcore racism. Damn near Klan speak. There's no other way to put it.

That Missouri gubernatorial candidate, he put a lighthearted spin on his racism, but, you know, it was racism nonetheless. And what I will say is that the immigration thing, they're not speaking to anything, like, factual. I feel like that's a big feelings topic. People just have a general feeling that there are folks coming here and getting over. taking advantage. And there are people who are already here who aren't getting what they need and resources are being drained by people who didn't wait their turn to come. And again, I will say this, I'm not gonna, I don't agree with immigration hawks, but I don't think you have to be as foaming at the mouth with racism as Tommy Tuberville in order to see, you know,

the illegal immigration situation as a problem. In fact, a lot of immigrants in this country see the illegal immigration situation that's going on right now as an issue, right? And I think the Democrats need to improve their messaging on said issue. But what I will never get tired of saying it, and I will say it every single time, these people are coming from places that have been directly and adversely impacted by U.S. policy. They are the victims of horrible regimes, horrible US-backed policies that have made life in places like Guatemala unlivable for some.

And so for them to come to America after we've ruined the place where they live, because don't make no mistake about it, these places in what we call the global South Central America, South America, unless it's like Brazil or even like Argentina, kind of, they don't really have much sovereignty. If the U.S. comes up there, it says, we want you to do X, Y, and Z, that's what happens. You know, a lot of people are going to say, oh, well, they have autonomy, like, you're taking away their agency. No, the U.S. dictates terms to these smaller

countries. And when our policy ruins these folks' lives, we can't then have them come up here trying to find a better life and turn them away. Like, that can't be our policy. And believe me, Anybody you know who's turning up there knows that these quote unquote illegal aliens or whatever the hell they're calling them. Like think to yourself, you think these people left Guatemala because they were dying to live in Missouri? Are you freaking kidding me? Are you out of your mind? That's insane, dude. Oh, my God.

Was, you're amazing. Okay. Man, I have a lot of thoughts. I agree with pretty much everything you said. And, you know, Republicans who spew that kind of vile rhetoric seem to get a rise out of triggering the left. So I'm not going to give them the satisfaction of offending me. even though their rhetoric is gross. But I do want to focus on the actual policy

and something that you touched on was, which is the way Americans feel, like what the vibes are in regard to illegal immigration, right? And so first, let me just know that there was a successful effort to get a bipartisan bill crafted in the Senate to reform immigration. And honestly, it was more a giveaway to what Republicans have been wanting for many decades in regard to immigration policy. And I love that they're literally campaigning on immigration when the Republican Party

squash that bill to essentially give them something to campaign on, right? Like they're one-trick ponies and they love to, you know, really focus on this particular issue because, you know, there's a fear-mongering element, yes, but at the same time, I think it would be a mistake to assume that there aren't actual, like, tangible consequences to certain communities that have been seeing an influx of asylum seekers come into their cities, right? So I've been talking a little bit about this because I'm worried about it, right? I want Democrats to have a good solution to it, because if they don't have a good solution to it, well, then you actually create a situation in which these anti-immigrant ideologues seem to have a leg to stand on.

It gives them credibility and merit when I don't think they have much credibility or merit at all, right? We do have a broken immigration system. We do need to reform it. We need a pathway to citizenship. We need to bring back protections for DACA recipients. So these are people who came to the country through no fault of their own. Their parents brought them here when they were literally children. Okay.

And they've been here almost their entire lives. The idea of deporting them just doesn't make much sense to me. Besides which they are a part of the fabric of this country. They're a big part of the economy in this country. The idea of just deporting everybody is just so dumb and gives you a sense of the ridiculous black and white thinking that you oftentimes get from right-wing ideologues on this matter. Now, with that said, though, we really should not discount how communities like those living in Chicago are feeling, how people in Denver are feeling, how people in New York. I think it got a little bit better in New York,

but New York was also, you know, just struggling with providing the resources necessary to house, shelter, feed, this massive influx of asylum seekers. And I'm going to keep it real. Biden definitely dropped the ball on this issue, 100%. And Biden set Kamala Harris up for failure. Look, I don't, I'm not going to be gaslit about this, okay? Because now you have CNN, MSNBC, all of these, you know, cable news networks and network news alleging Kamala Harris was never the immigrations are, never the immigrations are. Guys, come on. There's video. What was she doing when she I said don't come. What job was she executing when she told us not to come?

So he did name her immigration czar, which is why one of the first things we saw from Kamala Harris as a vice president was her trip to Latin American countries and that infamous speech where she said don't come. But guys, it is up to Congress to pass legislation. It is up to the president of the United States to use the bully pulpit and to work with members of Congress to pass legislation. really going to pretend like the vice president really has any power at all? I mean, maybe the vice president behind the scenes has some sway, but in terms of actual raw power, the VP is really mostly a ceremonial role and an individual who would break a tie in the Senate, should there be one, and an individual who would have to step up to the plate if something actually happened to the president, he could no longer be the president. And so again, naming her immigration czar was

really stupid on Biden's behalf. It did set her up for failure. And I don't think the right approach is to like gaslight the American people and pretend like she wasn't named the immigrations are. She was. And what I would do if I were Kamala Harris is immediately talk about what you would do on this issue, right? What you were unable to do as VP because of what the position actually means. But what you envision for the future should you be given the honor by the American people to serve this country as president of the United States. Yeah, I think that transparency would go a long way too, right? If she would just kind of take off the blinders to, you know, bring down the veil a little bit

and just say, this is what I was able to do. As far as vice presidents go in this country, you can either go one of two routes. You can be like a Mike Pence or you can be a Dick Cheney. And for Kamala Harris, I know we were kind of talking about this earlier in the show, we haven't really seen a whole lot from her in the four years that Biden has been president. the way that she's coming out now, it is good to see, but she really needs to start talking about what she's been up to for these last four years. And she needs to address the immigration policy. And to your point, Anna, I do agree with you that there is a way to deal with

illegal immigration in this country that is not so hateful, that is not dripping with hateful rhetoric. But I think on the left especially, we just want to pretend that it's not happening sometimes or pretend that the issue is not as bad as it is. But there is an issue at the border. There is a legal immigration happening. There is a way to deal with it. You can find a way to deal with it. It doesn't have to be putting border police on horseback and whipping people, which is what they were doing at one point and putting them in cages or whatever. It doesn't have to be inhumane, but it does need to be addressed as a matter of policy. And I think going forward, Kamala Harris does have a good opportunity to address all of this and hopefully do better than

Biden did. So yeah, just don't don't don't run away from the issue right right address it head on do so forcefully confidently and and show that you actually have a vision for America's future and a vision for what we're going to do moving forward on this topic. But see and this is what folks need to understand like that that message that she read you know when she's talking about Israel like that's nothing that's that's not political skill right there. Actually dealing with the issues that you don't have the right away. And like talking about abortion, that's easy for you when you're a Democrat, when you know that's a winning

issue. Where you show your talent is how you deal with the issues that are a little bit tougher to navigate. And Kamala Harris has to show that she has the talent to effectively message to the American people that she has an idea, a plan, and one that's humane for what's going on at the border and how we handle all the undocumented folks that are already here. Yep, totally agree. All right, we got to take a break. When we come back, more news for you. Don't miss it. There might be a J.D. Vance appearance that you will definitely enjoy. So stick around. We'll be back with more. And we're back on TYT, Anna Casperian, Yasmin Khan, and Wozni Lombray.

We've got a lot more news to get to, and Yasmin's going to take it away. Well, the Bible could be coming soon to a school near you. How exciting. In Oklahoma, State Superintendent Ryan Walters has mandated that schools teach the Bible from grades 5 through 12, And he promises to crack down on rogue districts that aren't doing as they're told. So here's what he wants to actually happen. Each teacher is to be given a physical copy of the Bible, the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and of course, the Ten Commandments.

The Bible is to be integrated within the curriculums of several different subjects, discussing its historical context, its literary significance, and its influence in the arts. When faced with the backlash over the mandate, Walter said this in a post on X. He said the Bible, along with the Constitution and many other documents are foundational in education. We will not allow rogue districts and administrators to indoctrinate hatred of America by refusing to teach foundational Oklahoma standards. You cannot rewrite history. The left does not like it, but it will be taught it being the left, I guess. As part of his crackdown, he says that school districts and even teachers who don't comply with the guidelines could have their accreditation and their certification.

revoked. But Walters is telling a very thin line here. He can't actually mandate that religion be taught in schools because that is a violation of the First Amendment. So instead, he's arguing that the Bible is a foundational document for the United States and that it would be taught in a more secular way. The guidelines say that teachers should emphasize only its historical, literary, and secular benefits, ensuring compliance with legal standards and precedence, and that the Bible should be used for its historical, literary, and secular value, not for religious purposes, such as preaching, proselytizing, or indoctrination. And Walters also clarified, we are not evangelizing to kids.

We are making sure our kids understand American history. The Bible didn't happen in America, by the way. All right, there's more, but this is actually really interesting to me because I was raised Muslim. I'm not religious now, but I have read the Bible both as a religious text and as a religious text. a work of fiction. I have a degree in literature and I can personally attest to the fact that yes, when studying literature and history and art for that matter, knowledge of the Bible and its stories is extremely helpful and relevant. I actually took a class in college. It was called the Bible as literature. Shout out to Dr. Ferguson over at U of H. And it was easily one of the best

and most interesting college courses I've ever taken. But again, I took it in college and I didn't have to take it. It was elected for me, just like the rest of my literature degree. But Even before that, in grade school, the study of religion, not just Christianity, but all kinds of religions in literature, history, and the arts, it just kind of came about naturally as you were studying different things. There was no need for a teacher to have a physical copy of a Bible in their classroom, and it wasn't necessary to mandate that teaching of the Bible. So I get what they're trying to argue, which is troubling, because there is some degree of rationality in their explanation, but come on, we know what this really is. And we know that this is just the beginning of what they want to do. We know who these people are and what kind of agendas they're pushing. And we know that the things that they believe in are not widely felt across the United States.

So they have to mandate these types of things. We know what kind of America they would like to live in. Was, what are your thoughts on that? I don't know why they think this would work in any meaningful way. And also, I'm old enough to remember when these guys used to cry every day about how Sharia law was going to come and choke our babies in their cribs. And I don't see how this isn't Christian Sharia, okay? Like I don't see how this is any different than some level of, you know, hyper-fundamentalism.

Like the idea that these kids need to learn the 10, which is a load of crap, by the way, the 10 Commandments. Like if you really sat and read them like, oh, you got to honor your mother, you can't cover your neighbor's wife. Like, who's actually listening to that stuff, guys? Come on now. No, but seriously, though, I don't, I don't think this will work. They will get smoked in the courts the second any parent who is, you know, whether they're Muslim, Jewish, non-religious, challenges these guys in the courts. They're going to get smoked. This is all just like peacocking for the camera and getting attention for himself. This is already being challenged in the courts. And it's being challenged by. religious people who identify as Christian is being challenged by superintendents at various school districts within the state of Oklahoma who do not agree with this and do not feel that educators should be forced to teach religious doctrine of any sort, right? This isn't just about Christianity. It's about ensuring that public funds don't go toward the promotion

of religion in a country that's supposed to have a separation of church and state. And so what I found really interesting, you know, I'm always curious when we do these stories from out of state, I want to know how it's being covered in local media. What are people from local communities within Oklahoma saying about this? And there's a lot of pushback from a lot of people, including pastors, who are like, what is this? I mean, okay, if you're going to teach the Bible, so what interpretation of the Bible, right? What form of Christianity? Like, you know, like there's a bunch of questions about this. Obviously, it's unconstitutional. And obviously it's an effort to force a specific religion onto the students of these public schools. And it's just, I don't think that it's going to make it through the courts. I think that it's probably going to get struck down. But it does reveal quite a bit about how both sides, in my opinion, are totally full of crap when it comes to avoiding using public schools to push religious beliefs or political beliefs onto kids.

So I'll give you an example from, like obviously I'm a million times against what's happening in Oklahoma right now. And I do think that in the end, people like us who are against it are going to win. But then, you know, in some of the more liberal states, I'll give you an example of something that was done that was super damaging, right? Moving away from teaching kids how to read through phonics, because I don't know who came up with this allegation, but phonics is allegedly racist. So they moved away from phonics and reading levels decreased significantly, significantly, okay?

These are the schools J.D. Vance was talking about that band Mountain do. Like these are the same schools. No, no, no, but in all seriousness, right? Like what I really want to emphasize here is that we got to get back to a place where we teach our kids what they need to learn to thrive and to succeed in life. Okay, we got to teach them the basics, yes, math, English, all that. But instead of focusing all of our energy on indoctrinating kids in one way or another, how about we bring back music, art, drafting, woodworking, all of these other wonderful elective programs that have been cut from public school systems all across the country that, you know,

actually sparked some interest in these students. You know, if they actually wanted to graduate and go toward a vocation or a trade, that was how it happened. They learned about that trade through the electives that they took when they were in high school. Those are being cut left and right. They've been cut left and right. And so I want to go back to just again, equipping these kids with what they need to thrive in life. And I just, I get so disgusted by these efforts to indoctrinate them. And right now, you know, the right is certainly laser focused on things like voucher programs to pull money out of the public school systems and into private schools that typically tend to be religious private schools. And so that's

also happening as these indoctrination strategies are playing out. Yeah. So to your point, as far as what the people in Oklahoma feel about this, you know, there is a lot of pushback in Oklahoma itself. And despite what Walters and others like him claim, the real goal here is painfully obvious. It is to shoehorn religious teachings into the secular public education system. system. Stacey Woolley, the president of the Tulsa School Board, is vocally and publicly against the state mandate, saying that the focus on teaching the Bible as history or literature and not as religion is disingenuous, which is what we've been saying. But Woolley also gets to the real heart of the story here. Republicans love to challenge the judicial system. And during a time when we have an extremely conservative Supreme Court, they're getting quite bold. Wolley said this. She said, I firmly believe that the intention, of the state superintendent of schools is to get separation of church and state in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. And to that, Walters isn't denying anything. He said that if it comes to that, he's confident that he will emerge victorious saying, quote, President Trump has laid out that path

very clearly to us. And this is what we were all afraid of when we got Trump for the first time whenever he was in office. We knew that he was going to stack the court in a certain way. And we knew that that stacking of the court was going to have a long-term repercussions that we would have to be dealing with long after the Trump presidency was over. So Anna, let's start with you. What do you make of this Republican strategy where they basically are trying to evade having to pass legislation because they know it wouldn't be popular by utilizing the justice system instead? Well, that has been increasingly the tactic that the right wing's been using. You know, the judicial system is now stacked in the conservative arena, which is unfortunate to say the least.

But I will say this, I know that people are going to think I'm naive, but just hear me out. I really don't think the Supreme Court is going to uphold this policy in Oklahoma because I think they're smart enough to understand that this opens up the floodgates. And it, you know, if you're going to teach the Bible and make this ridiculous argument that it's not really about the religion, it's about you know, teaching about the historical context or whatever garbage that they're trying to sell. Well, you could make the same argument about the Quran. And so, you know, if there's a district with someone more liberal pursuing a similar type of policy just to kind of call, you know, this law's bluff or these politicians bluff, I just think the Supreme Court is going to know

that that's going to open the floodgates. I really don't think that they're going to side with, you know, these policymakers in Oklahoma. The one of the one of the Supreme Court is going to know, the other thing that I'll say is the Supreme Court, even though it is very conservative, the one thing that's been clear to me is that they're obsessed with being viewed as legitimate. And they don't want to undermine their own legitimacy by upholding ridiculous laws like the one in Oklahoma. So I actually have faith that they will strike this down, should it make its way all the way to the Supreme Court? Were you sharing? Well, as well, I mean, yeah, I mean, yeah, I, yeah. I'm kind of with ANO in a sense that as unhinged as they seem to be at times.

And as far as I'm concerned, they have no credibility with me. I'd like to see a world where we get rid of the entire operation. But they are very obsessed with their public image. They are. And they do try to keep a sense of when they're going a little bit too far. And mandating the damn 10 commandments in public schools would be so obviously way too far. Yep.

All right. Well, that does it for our first hour, but definitely stick around for the second hour. Mondale Robinson and Jordan Yule will be joining us. Special thanks to Yasmin Khan and Walsley-Lombay for joining us in the first hour. You guys are awesome. And I hope you guys have a great night. Enjoy your weekend.

I'm jealous. I have to work for another hour and a half, but it's okay. I'm going to stay strong. I'm going to stay strong. All right. So we're going to take a break. We'll be right back. I don't know.

I'm going to be. I'm going to be. I'm going to be. I don't know. I don't know.