The Young Turks - The FAA Is Forcing Silence On Workers And Someone PLEASE Help Rudy Giuliani!

Episode Date: January 18, 2019

The FAA sent out an email essentially prohibiting employees from discussing the shutdown. Rudy Giuliani went on CNN and made an absolute fool of himself. Get exclusive access to our best content. http...://tyt.com/GETACCESS Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 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. Hey, guys, you've heard of the Young Turks podcast because you're listening to it right now. But make sure that you subscribe and give it a five star rating if you like it. Thank you for listening. Hey, everybody.
Starting point is 00:00:25 Welcome back to the Young Turks, John DeRoll, Anna Kasparian. Hey, we're still here. You guys like this tighter shot? It is tighter, actually. Yeah. I didn't know what you were talking about at first. Okay, well, you're giddy. That's good.
Starting point is 00:00:38 That's a good sign for the hour. Also a good sign. Awesome stories. In fact, in just a couple of minutes, we're going to be starting off with a story from TYT Investigates. Very interesting information coming out of the FAA, which has been a big focal point of the shutdown conversation. We've got that.
Starting point is 00:00:54 We've got a little bit more on, I would say, some indicators as to whether Donald Trump will finally crack. And we are in day 27 after all of this record-breaking shutdown. So trying to figure out if we might be reaching the end of that, I think, is important. We've got some really weird news about Rudy Giuliani and Michael Cohen. None of that makes any sense whatsoever. But then also some pretty scary updates on the family separation crisis of last year. Turns out actually worse than we thought it was even at the time.
Starting point is 00:01:24 And so we'll be breaking that down a little bit later on. Oh, and if we have time, a couple of Justice Democrats have been facing just bald-faced lies attacking them over the past day. Both have had to defend themselves. I'm talking about Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. We're going to be talking about Ilhana Omar's, I would say, insane attacks coming against her over the past day. You know, most of the conversation involving ethical journalism has to do with, you know, whether or not a source is biased, objective, neutral. You guys get the picture we talk about all the time. But there is this emergence of, I want to say fake news, right?
Starting point is 00:02:05 But fake news makes you think of bad actors, foreign bad actors trying to influence our politics. These are American organizations that present themselves as journalistic organizations that are flat out lying, they're flat out lying. And we're gonna give you that story in more. We need a concise word for, it would be really easy to attack you if you said this, And you didn't, but I wish you did, so I'm just going to say that you did. It's amazing, yeah. You got to hear that story.
Starting point is 00:02:32 And then what do you want to plug for the second hour? There's a lot of good stuff in the second hour. Look, previously I mentioned that I'm not a fan of Cardi B's music. I might have to give her music another shot because she went on a rant on social media in regard to the government shutdown and it was fantastic. We're gonna show you that video, I'm gonna react to it, but more importantly, we're gonna show you how lawmakers reacted to it. I don't actually know this part.
Starting point is 00:03:00 So good. So good. My favorite story of the day. Oh wow, okay. Well, I guess I'm gonna go sit over there after the first hour and I'm gonna watch. Okay. But with that, we should probably jump into the news. As this government shutdown drags in its 27th day, isn't it something?
Starting point is 00:03:16 Donald Trump has continued to claim that it's no big deal that all these workers are being paid because actually they support him. The majority support him, even though he will sometimes then say the majority are actually Democrats, so I don't care about it for that reason. Depending on his mood, they either are all Democrats or they all support his positions, hashtag MAGA. Anyway, I think today we're on support his position. But the thing is, the FAA, the Federal Aviation Administration, apparently hasn't gotten that memo
Starting point is 00:03:44 because T.I.T. Investigates has gained access to an internal email from the FAA implying they're going out of their way to crack down on any expressed dissatisfaction. against the current shutdown. So here's a bit of that internal email that Ken Clippenstein was able to get. Employees are responsible for acquainting themselves with restrictions on partisan political activity and for not engaging in prohibited actions. It is important to ensure that remarks made in any forum, regardless if made in connection with work or by a person identified as an FAA employee, comport with governing rules and regulations.
Starting point is 00:04:20 And another section of this says, please be mindful of this guidance. to avoid any unnecessary scrutiny. So those are not technically threats, I guess, but they are effectively threats. That if you are a worker at the FAA, if you're not satisfied with your current pay situation, which is zero, if you don't like that, or perhaps if you think, hey, my job's really critical and it's really not safe that people at the FAA are not working and that the sorts of safety checks and things that they would do are not being done, you could believe those things. things, but you certainly can't say those things because it might hurt your career.
Starting point is 00:04:58 Well, I mean, it does imply that there would be a punitive outcome if someone had the courage to speak up about what they're going through. And so anytime there's a discussion about the importance of free speech, something that I genuinely value, and I genuinely evaluate, even if it's inconvenient for me in any given situation. It's always about like some right winger who's mad at a private company or a university for not giving him or her exactly what they want. But this is a perfect example of censorship that should not happen under any circumstance.
Starting point is 00:05:40 These are federal workers who are being forced to work for free or in some cases furloughed. And I understand that the Trump administration does not want additional criticism, they don't want scrutiny, the FAA probably doesn't want any scrutiny, but these are people who we should hear from because their point of view and their perspective is incredibly important, not just to the American people, but to our lawmakers. So they know exactly what these federal workers are going through. So to try to censor them or shut them up because the federal government doesn't want any scrutiny is pathetic.
Starting point is 00:06:16 They deserve to be scrutinized, especially considering how long this government shutdown has taken place. Yeah. You have to think about their silence, what does that actually create? So you could say hypothetically, well, if you're working with the federal government and you're being paid by the federal government, maybe you shouldn't be out there being really explicit. I mean, I would say that we have a First Amendment.
Starting point is 00:06:37 But I understand that, for instance, the military isn't supposed to be explicitly political when they're wearing their uniform. Maybe the FAA has a uniform, I don't know. Again, you have free speech, but it's not like if someone who works for the FAA was to come out and say, you know what, God, it's rough not being paid, but I support our president. Do you think that person gets fired? I kind of doubt it at this point. I'm pretty sure that they're cracking down on one type of speech, and that is critical
Starting point is 00:07:03 speech. And the thing is, them being silenced in this way makes it so that the status quo that Donald Trump is trying to establish, that everything is okay, there's no big deal if the government stays shut down for literally months or even years, as he said. That is a message that has been spread by right wingers all over the place saying, it's just it's the National Parks gift shop. That's all the government actually does. Well, that's not actually true.
Starting point is 00:07:28 And an FAA employee, whether it's them talking with a journalist or we've previously covered ones who were engaged in protests outside of airports, they make it so that people know the facts of what happens when the government shuts down. That is what Donald Trump and the FAA do not want getting out. It's not the criticism, it's the truth of the situation. We should live in a country where the narrative of any given national event is not controlled by people in positions of power. The narrative should be accurate and it should be fair to the American people, to the federal
Starting point is 00:08:05 workers. We should know their perspective. I think that it informs everyone on what's really going on. I mean, if you censor these people and you prevent them from sure. sharing their real struggles as a result of this government shutdown, then all you get is one side of the story, and that one side is just flat out false. Trump will have you believe that all these federal workers are either in cahoots with Trump, they agree with what he's doing, or they're just, you know, Democrats who deserve
Starting point is 00:08:32 to be punished. I mean, as you mentioned earlier, he really switches off based on his mood that day or that minute. But I really do give all of these people who have gone to the media and shared their stories a tremendous amount of credit. It is a brave thing to do, knowing that there could be consequences. And just recently there was an air traffic controller who was interviewed on this radio show out of Philly that I love called Radio Times.
Starting point is 00:08:59 And he talked about how, look, we love our jobs, you know, and we take it seriously. And we just want to get back to work or we want to get back to getting paid for. for our work. And it just, it's unfortunate that what's happening on a federal level right now is preventing us from doing that. Yeah, exactly. So they don't want the messages from these employees of the FAA to get out. So sorry, I'm gonna read some right now.
Starting point is 00:09:22 So they've been communicating with TOT investigates. And they do have to be anonymous since they could just be fired. Their career could be ended. But here's some of what they said, quote, these people are not allowed to speak out. They are expected to work without pay though. Not paying air traffic controllers is akin to not paying ER doctors. These people are smart, have incredibly hard training, and literally hold lives in their hands. They are continuing to show up without pay because they truly care about the safety of people
Starting point is 00:09:47 within their care. And then if we could bring up this next graphic, it's going to be an actual excerpt from an email that's mostly redacted saying, isn't there also guidance about getting paid to work and forcing folks to work without pay being illegal? Not so much, no, apparently that's totally legal, you can do that for literally weeks at a time, and everything's supposed to be cool. I'm glad that we redacted that better than how Manafort's attorneys redacted, these documents that they filed.
Starting point is 00:10:11 Exactly, yeah. And yeah, so thank you to everyone who's been communicating with the TWIT investigates and helping us do this sort of work. Yes. Very important that people understand what's actually going on. Absolutely. With that, why don't we turn to another section of this? Donald Trump wants to put forward a strong face in this ongoing class with the Democrats over the function
Starting point is 00:10:30 of government, the ongoing shutdown. But behind the scenes, sources are implying that he is actually starting to understand, at least on some level, that he's not exactly winning this thing. So here's a quote from a New York Times piece. Quote, we are getting crushed, Mr. Trump told his acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, after watching some recent coverage of the shutdown, according to one person familiar with the conversation, quote, why can't we get a deal? And so that's all true, but Aides say that the president believes he's still playing a strong
Starting point is 00:10:59 hand and that any moments of frustration have been fleeting. I would probably generalize that too. Any thoughts or emotions he possesses are fleeting because his brain is just holding a tempest and it moves all over. And honestly, so they make reference there to him responding to coverage of the situation. There are a number of different sources that have been saying that he is glued to the TV, in general, he's been that way for years, but specifically about this, and depending on the tenor of whatever conversation he's watching, that determines how he thinks he's doing.
Starting point is 00:11:31 So I hope he's watching this one. You suck. Your government shutdown sucks, buddy. Hopefully that helps. I'm gonna go ahead and guess that he does not watch this show. That would require him to understand how to like him. We should have gotten him a membership. That would be funny.
Starting point is 00:11:44 Let's do that. And a little terrifying given how unhinged he is once he sees something he doesn't like. But regardless, I would love for him to watch the show. Let him shut us down. We have backup careers and put in our minds. A recent poll that came out indicated that 57% of, of American voters do not support, would not support him if the election happened today. I apologize, and I forget exactly which organization did that poll, but that's telling because
Starting point is 00:12:13 it's one of many stories that have come out as of late showing that his popularity is sinking as this government shutdown goes on. And look, people really take for granted how important these federal programs and these federal employees are to our day-to-day lives. So, for instance, the WIC program that offers food and help to low income women who are either pregnant or who have very young kids, that's suffering right now. And so there are churches luckily getting involved to try to help as this shutdown continues. But they can only help so much.
Starting point is 00:12:52 And so I want to give a shout out to all those churches and all those people out there who are helping these government workers, but we should have a federal government that looks out for us, that takes a leadership role in doing something about what's going on. This is out of control. Yeah. Yeah, and like the story we talked about yesterday about the woman who had to ration her insulin. And after that story got out, people started sending her insulin, which again, not cheap. I mean, that's the whole point of the story, of course.
Starting point is 00:13:18 So look, you brought up the polls, I want to turn now to some of that polling data. I try not to talk about polls as much as I naturally would like to. I like numbers. And I especially try not to do it when she's here because she- You love polls. I do, but I try not to burden you with them. However, in this case, Donald Trump does care about these numbers. And it's not like on a day-to-day basis, he's thinking, should I continue the shutdown?
Starting point is 00:13:46 Well, it's really hurting people, but I think it's in the nation's best interest security-wise if I continue it. No, he's like, will this help me get elected or will this not help me elected? So the numbers do potentially matter. So I'm gonna read some of these numbers. generally bad, there is one surprising good result for the president, which I will acknowledge as well. So overall, among Republicans, Trump has lost seven points since December when the government
Starting point is 00:14:09 shutdown began, dropping from 90% to 83%. So still obviously very supported, but losing seven points in one month, that is not easy. It's not easy, but let's just also acknowledge the fact that Republicans have lost their minds. The fact that he has such a high approval rating among Republicans, I mean, because I, even after all this, I really wanted to believe that there are people in the Republican Party who I might disagree with when it comes to policy, but they're not crazy, right? They're not completely crazy. Like, they see what's happening and they understand that he's a terrible president, but no,
Starting point is 00:14:50 I was wrong. They're crazy. Yeah, did you see the reaction of the Gillette thing? Well, yes. There's some crazy people out there. reaction. Anyway, so let's break it down even more because that was Republicans. So since December, he's lost seven points with white evangelical Christians, seven points with white male non-colle college graduates, and his support among white voters overall has dipped 10 points from 50% to just
Starting point is 00:15:13 40%. I mean, that's, those are his three cores. And obviously there's gigantic overlap between those groups in general, especially white people and white males. There's a lot of overlap. But 10 points among white voters is significant. We also have, let's see, in terms of going towards the next election, because that's really what I think he cares, but not the approval ratings. I mean, he tweeted today that they're all rigged. I don't know how exactly they'd be rigged, or why, what that would prove. But in terms of their plan to vote, so 57% of Americans said they definitely plan to vote
Starting point is 00:15:46 against Trump, including 60% of voters in the Midwest. So considering that, the next candidate probably shouldn't even visit there. That's a waste time. Even among self-identified Trump supporters, 7% said they'd vote against him, and another 17% are unsure. So at a similar point in Barack Obama's presidency, 44% of Americans said they would definitely vote against his reelection. So 44 for Obama, 57 for Trump, I mean, that seems pretty big.
Starting point is 00:16:13 But you want to hear the good news for the president? Not really. I mean, I don't know why you ever would. But I feel like we should be fair. Exactly, because we say the numbers. So, I think since December, I think it's a one month thing, he's gained, I think, 15 points with Hispanic Americans. He's up to 50% approval.
Starting point is 00:16:32 In this one poll, to be fair, but that's what all of these are, one poll, 50% approval. That poll's rigged. I'm just kidding. I'm just gonna do what he does. Every time I see something that's inconvenient for me, I'm gonna go ahead and say that it's rigged. Life is really easy psychologically to do that. That is fascinating. It really is.
Starting point is 00:16:49 It might be because he's actually increased the number of foreign workers coming into the country to work at Mar-a-Lago. And so maybe that's why his approval rating it, and that's a story that we'll do later in the show. But I don't really know the reasoning behind that. It's fascinating. Yeah. And I sort of apply this earlier, but I hate that we even have to think about this, or
Starting point is 00:17:11 that this would even matter. I mean, it should be like, it's been how many weeks now that we've been trying to focus on the day-to-day life stories of the people who are either off work or are working and not being paid. We want people to understand the human toll of this. But as much as you care about that, he doesn't care about that. And so it comes down to these considerations, these BS considerations. Right.
Starting point is 00:17:32 And to be fair, those BS considerations happen to be not just the only thing that Trump cares about, but the only thing that politician, every politician involved in this seems to care about. this is all about political strategy. There was a lawmaker in Texas who was interviewed on the daily today. It's the New York Times podcast, and I love that podcast. They do a really good job going in depth with some of these stories. And I apologize for forgetting this lawmaker's name, but he was talking about how the majority
Starting point is 00:18:05 of his constituents, he's in a border town, do not want this wall because they understand that the wall is not going to solve the issue of drug traffic. And so he talks about how the majority of the illegal narcotics go through legal ports of entry, and then he offered real solutions for it. The solutions that he offered had to do more with technology as opposed to a physical barrier. And I'm sharing this information with all of you guys because someone who actually cared about this issue and was worried about border security would be open-minded enough to listen to a lawmaker in the state of Texas.
Starting point is 00:18:43 He's a Republican who agrees that there needs to be increased border security, but does not think the wall is going to solve the problem. Trump doesn't care about that. Again, this is all about a symbol that's going to appease his base, and that's it, nothing more than that. We're not gonna show, we're not gonna talk about for long, but I saw something this morning, I think on media matters, I just have to mention. So as all this is going on, Fox News is attempting to the extent that they can to persuade
Starting point is 00:19:08 people and to move the needle on this. And their idea, and Trump has been encouraging this as well is that there's another caravan. So let's scare people. And so to prove that, they sent one of their reporters, and they were talking to the reporter live in the field, they sent him to, I believe it was Guatemala. And the guy was on the side of a highway talking to Fox News. And whenever someone would walk by, he would yell at them. They didn't talk to him. They just kept walking. And he would say, well, it's two members of the caravan. They don't appear to have any money. It was just two people on the highway. There was no caravan. It was cars going by. And then two,
Starting point is 00:19:43 guys were talking and happy, they just assumed that a random Guatemalan is part of the caravan. And that is their live coverage from the field to convince people that we need a border wall. It's up on media matters. Go check it out. I wonder if we can, look, no promises because we got to make sure we have a producer that can help me out with this. But I want to see if we can find that for the postgame show. Oh, it's, that's amazing. It's Fox News. Yeah. Anyway, okay, we do have to take our first break, though. When we come back, lots We need to talk about a relatively new show called Un-F-The-Republic, or UNFTR. As a Young Turks fan, you already know that the government, the media, and corporations
Starting point is 00:20:19 are constantly peddling lies that serve the interests of the rich and powerful. But now there's a podcast dedicated to unraveling those lies, debunking the conventional wisdom. In each episode of Un-F-The-Republic, or UNFTR, the host delves into a different historical episode or topic that's generally misunderstood or purposely obfuscated by the so-called powers that be featuring in-depth research, razor-sharp commentary, and just the right amount of vulgarity, the UNFTR podcast takes a sledgehammer to what you thought you knew about some of the nation's most sacred historical cows. But don't just take my word for it. The New York Times described UNFTR as consistently compelling and educational, aiming to challenge conventional
Starting point is 00:21:05 wisdom and upend the historical narratives that were taught in school. For as the great philosopher Yoda once put it, you must not learn what you have learned. And that's true whether you're in Jedi training or you're uprooting and exposing all the propaganda and disinformation you've been fed over the course of your lifetime. So search for UNFDR in your podcast app today and get ready to get informed, angered, and entertained all at the same time. Welcome back to the first hour of the Young Turks, everybody, Anna and John.
Starting point is 00:21:45 A lot of comments that came in. The first, not related to what we were talking about, but KS.H.D. Jack says, Rand Paul says universal health care is slavery, yet he goes to Canada for surgery while demanding the FAA work without pay. Who believes in slavery now? And let's see, Lewis said, check if that Latino poll on Trump is from Univision or Telemundo, which a right-wing owned and predominantly conservative, I don't believe that they are. I think it was from the same poll that the other results that we were reading from is actually from.
Starting point is 00:22:14 So far as I know, it's no more rigged than any of those other results are. Also just, I mean, look, I have to look into the poll myself and see what the, who, like, who did they poll, who are the respondents? But I mean, Latinos, it's not like a monolithic group. There are very conservative Latinos, like Cubans, for instance, happen to be, for the most part, this is a blanket statement, but on average, they're Republicans. And so it's not a monolithic group, just keep that in mind. Exactly.
Starting point is 00:22:43 Let's see, one of 19 says Trump thinks polls are rigged because Michael Cohen, his former attorney purchased poll results in the past. Sad, projection. That is true. We're actually going to be talking about that, not too much longer, but very good point. Jack Barnett 77 said, whoever said, you don't want to meet your heroes lied. I got a chance to meet Nomi and Jank last night in Astoria, and it was an amazing time, except for the part where I finally got to talk to Jank and totally froze.
Starting point is 00:23:06 That's awesome. Yeah, she was doing a little meetup. Don't freeze. There's nothing to be intimidated by. No, don't worry. Make him freeze. That's what I say. Okay, so, oh, and I should probably mention also, I want to do shoutouts to two members.
Starting point is 00:23:21 The first, I love this name, Mike Battle. That is a great name. How do you not join the military and just be like major battle? A private battle. We're all engaged in one. Oh, private battle. But anyway, that's a cool name. And Geraldine Argyllis, thank you for being members.
Starting point is 00:23:38 You get access to all the shows, obviously, and you support the network and make everything stronger and better. Yeah, and we don't get fired, which is good. Okay, with that, well, I can't speak for the rest of the day, but up until today we haven't been fired. So with that, why don't we move on to the rest of the news? I don't know, I'm in a really weird mood. My head hurts.
Starting point is 00:23:55 I'm gonna keep it real. This is CNN. When my head hurts, I say it on air. I feel like, okay, I know I am for sure, but based on your symptoms, you're probably the same boat, we're like on the verge of getting really sick. So like the room is kind of moving right now and I'm trying to keep it together. Yeah, yeah, I did the damage report this morning, dizzy half the time actually. But I think it was okay.
Starting point is 00:24:16 Anyway, okay, Rudy Giuliani is Rudy Giuliani and he was even more Giuliani than usual with Chris Cuomo in the last day where he contradicted virtually everything that the Trump's team has been saying for two years about possible coordination with foreign powers in the 2016 election. Here it is. Never said there was no collusion between the campaign or between people in the campaign. Yes, you have. I have no idea. I have not. I said the President of the United States, there is not a single bit of evidence. The President of the United States committed, the only crime you could commit here, conspired with the Russians to hack the DNC.
Starting point is 00:24:50 Okay, so I love that for so many reasons. So first of all, Chris Cuomo looks like he's physically in pain during that interview. And Rudy Giuliani really sells a point when his eyes shoot open while he's talking. He doesn't look crazy then. No, there's something wrong with him right now. I don't want to speculate as to what's going on, but he seems different. I think he's under a lot of pressure. I think he leads a very stressed life, and I think in 2019 he should practice self-care. But anyway, what he said there is that they've never claimed that the campaign didn't collude with a foreign power.
Starting point is 00:25:23 They have always said that it was just Trump that didn't. A little bit more on that. he said he didn't he didn't say nobody how would you know that nobody in your campaign he actually did say that rudy he said nobody and then he said as far as i know that he said that he said it well as far as he knows that's true i don't know that it's true president knows and as far as i know how did paul manafort do all these things and nobody else knew he was only there for six months or four months he was only there for six months how long is a campaign 30 years six months is a long Anyway, obviously, that is not true.
Starting point is 00:25:59 Obviously, Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump and everyone around him have consistently said for literally years that there is no collusion or if there is collusion, that it was either the deep state that did it or Hillary Clinton or Debbie Wasserman Schultz or something. Maybe somebody colluded, but certainly not anyone affiliated with their campaign. Jared Jackson put together, this is a brief montage. This could go on for a very long time, but here is some of the refutations to what Rudy Giuliani said. There is no collusion between me and my campaign and the Russians.
Starting point is 00:26:28 No collusion whatsoever? There has been no collusion, no collusion. They all say there's no collusion, and there is no collusion. I can only say this, there was absolutely no collusion. It has been determined that there is no collusion, when they have no collusion, and nobody's found any collusion. There was no collusion with Russia. You can believe this one. With me, nothing.
Starting point is 00:26:48 No collusion, no nothing. To say it one time again and I say it all the time, there was no collusion. Everybody knows there was no collusion whatsoever. They have found no collusion and they won't find collusion. He could have done a last ding there. He didn't do the ding. Anyway, that is of course is Trump and perhaps Rudy Giuliani would say. Well, I was speaking for myself.
Starting point is 00:27:10 Okay, well, Rudy Giuliani tweeted in September of last year, according to sources close to Manafort Defense. The cooperation agreement, there I'm saying it correctly, even though he didn't spell correctly, does not involve the Trump campaign, there was no collusion with Russia. So that again, Trump campaign. And let's see, Donald Trump had tweeted in 2018, Russia started their anti-U.S. campaign In 2014, long before I announced that I've run for president, the results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong, no collusion.
Starting point is 00:27:38 And just a couple of weeks ago, Donald Trump, how do you impeach a president who has won perhaps the greatest election of all time? Done nothing wrong, no collusion with Russia. It was the Dems that colluded, again, only the Dems colluded. And let's see, last August, Giuliani was on with Sean Hannity and said the only collusion on the case involved the intelligence community launching an illegitimate investigation based on the steel dossier. And look, we could just go on it on.
Starting point is 00:28:03 We know that that's ridiculous. Everybody knows it's ridiculous. That's why Chris Cuomo looked like he was about to have a stroke. I'm having a difficult time understanding why it is that they keep having Rudy Giuliani on television. Because he should not be on television. He should not be making any public statements. He is really, really bad at his job.
Starting point is 00:28:27 And I don't understand, I mean, I don't mean to give anyone advice on this, especially a group of people that I have absolutely no respect for. And I don't know without a shadow of a doubt what the reality is and what Trump's relationship is with Russia. I can tell you what I suspect, and I suspect that there was collusion. But Rudy Giuliani later in that same interview went on to say, and he's made this point before, that collusion's not a crime, even if there was collusion, collusion's not a crime. Conspiracy is a crime, right?
Starting point is 00:28:56 And so if Trump is guilty of everything that we suspect he's guilty of, it's conspiracy that is a crime. Just stop talking. Why are you talking? What are you doing? Well, they've either, I mean, they've either made the decision that this is actually somehow helping them, or he's the only one who'll do it. It's not, but that's my point. Like, he shouldn't be doing it.
Starting point is 00:29:20 Like, as Trump's lawyer, he should not go on cable television and attempt to defend him because, one, he's really, really bad at it. And two, in the middle of such a high profile case, even if he were a good lawyer, which, again, he's not, it's just not a good idea to go in public and make any statement because it can be used against you in the middle of this investigation. And look, as we always say when we cover the bits and pieces of this Russia investigation as news breaks, it's not just about this one story, it's about looking at the bigger picture and taking a comprehensive look at everything related to this Russia investigation.
Starting point is 00:30:01 The fact that Paul Manafort gave this campaign data to Russian officials. The fact that they keep switching their statements about collusion, whether there was collusion. And then once it appears that there was collusion, they'll be like, yeah, but collusion's not a crime. You know, it's just all these different things that keep adding up. There was a story that broke today regarding how the Senate essentially allowed Trump to lift sanctions on Russia.
Starting point is 00:30:29 Republicans, I mean, they control the Senate, so of course Trump can pressure them to do it. And they did it. They're saying that, you know, they're allowing him to do it. Why is he so desperate to lift sanctions on Russia? It's pro-business. Come on. Come on, guys.
Starting point is 00:30:45 Cut them regulations, that's what it is. It's just amazing. That's probably what it is. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I would say, regardless of what you think is going to eventually come out if Mueller does issue a report, which, by the way, there's no guarantee that he actually will. There's nothing saying that he has to do that, or that it would become public or that if it becomes public, William Barr won't either heavily redact it or keep massive portions
Starting point is 00:31:06 not released at all. He made no promise of that in his confirmation hearings earlier this week. If it does come out, okay, then we'll see what's in there. I mean, we can wait. It doesn't matter until then. But you probably would not have to continually revise your story. You wouldn't have to move the goalposts every two months for two years if what you were initially saying was remotely in the neighborhood of the truth.
Starting point is 00:31:29 Exactly. And we know, I mean, you can find the maps online of the date-by-date changing of the story, starting all the way from right after the election with Hope Hicks saying, No one on the campaign has had any conversations with any foreign officials all the way up to, okay, maybe literally the highest placed officials in the campaign did collude, but Trump didn't. That is, no matter what else do you think about this, that is movement, baby, that is movement. Anyway, let's move on to something a little bit weirder.
Starting point is 00:31:58 Okay. Weirder than you saying baby? I watched a lot of Seinfeld recently and George Costanzi gets in there, you know? Yeah. No, it's great. I'll keep watching it. Anyway, it's one of the best shows of all time. I'm not gonna lie to you.
Starting point is 00:32:12 But my head does hurt right now. Maybe that's influence in my evaluations. Anyway, let's talk about the news. All right. In the run-up to the 2016 election, Michael Cohen, who was then the personal lawyer of Donald Trump, paid a man to rig online polls to make it look like Donald Trump was more popular than he actually was. I say he paid him.
Starting point is 00:32:30 He didn't pay him as much as he said he was going to pay him. So in early 2015, a man named John Gawger, who runs a small technology. technology, showed up a Trump tower to collect $50,000 for having helped Michael Cohen, then Donald Trump's personal lawyer to rig those online polls. In his Trump organization office, Mr. Cohen surprised the man by giving him a blue Walmart bag, as you do, containing between $12,000 and $13,000 in cash and randomly a boxing glove that Mr. Cohen said had been worn by a Brazilian mixed martial arts fighter. I just- This is the worst timeline, as many people have noted.
Starting point is 00:33:06 This is so great, like the Walmart bag and like the boxing glove. I prefer a burlap sack with a dollar sign painted on it in black. This is, this feels very mobby to me, but anyway, continue. Yeah, exactly. And what bothers me the most about this is that the article doesn't make clear if there was a certificate of authenticity for the glove. I don't even know if it was actually worn by it. I love that you care about that.
Starting point is 00:33:32 I'm kidding, I don't actually care about it, but it's really weird. But I will say, just briefly, no, once again, a person who put their trust in Donald Trump lied for Donald Trump getting ripped off and not actually paid. He was never actually paid the whole amount that he was supposed to be paid, by the way. Just a quick, before you move forward, a reference to a story we did earlier. So polling indicates that due to this government shutdown, it's now on the 27th day, Trump's approval rating is being affected, polling indicates that more Americans are against voting for him if the election were to happen today.
Starting point is 00:34:05 And Trump's reaction to those polls, or that poll, was that the poll was rigged. And I bring that up because, again, clear case of Republican projection, right? If they accuse the other side of doing something, it's very likely that they've either already done something similar or plan to do so in the future. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Amazing. And that goes from the like offhand comments all the way up to defining mottoes of people.
Starting point is 00:34:32 Like Donald Trump loves to scream in all caps, which, hunt. He's the guy that did the birth certificate thing. Like, there's nothing more like a witch hunt that went on for literally years and continues. He's never refuted that than that. Anyway, let's move on. So what did this guy actually do? Well, back in January of 2014, Mr. Cohen asked Mr. Gawdger to help Mr. Trump score well in a CNBC online poll to identify the country's top business leaders by writing a computer
Starting point is 00:34:56 script to repeatedly vote for him. Mr. Gawdra was unable to get Mr. Trump into the top 100 candidates. In February 2015, as Mr. Trump was preparing to enter the presidential race, Mr. Cohen asked him to do the same for a Drudge report poll of potential Republican candidates. Mr. Trump ranked fifth with about 24,000 votes or 5% of the total with the bot network that was helping him at that point. So look, it is possible that there were other instances of this. I know that Matt Drudge, the front page of Drudge report as of us filming this is they bribe
Starting point is 00:35:30 to win this Drudge Report poll. I'm sure he's gonna be very vigilant in the future that that does not happen. But Michael Cohen was asked about this and he tweeted, as for the Wall Street Journal article on poll rigging, what I did was at the direction of, and for the sole benefit of real Donald Trump, I truly regret my blind loyalty to a man who doesn't deserve it. Well, no one deserves blind loyalty. But with that said, this is yet another example of the right wing, and not just the right wing. I mean, you see it happen with Democrats as well, but not to this extent, at least as far
Starting point is 00:36:06 as I'm concerned, as far as I've seen. They try to influence the electorate by making it appear that someone is much more popular or unpopular than they appear, right? So you see that a lot on YouTube, for instance. So you'll have these bots go in and downvote videos. And the whole point is so when someone knew. clicks on that video and they see the like to dislike ratio and it appears that it has much more dislikes versus likes, well then the majority of people are not into this or think poorly
Starting point is 00:36:40 of this content. And so maybe I'm gonna click out and find a different source or whatever it is. You see it all the time. And so all of those metrics, whenever you're doing your online research or you're trying to judge which source is credible, yada yada, don't rely on those metrics because unfortunately The internet is now swimming with all sorts of robots, and you need to dig deep and kind of figure out for yourself whether or not a source is credible or whether or not you like a certain type of content.
Starting point is 00:37:08 Yeah, it's really frustrating. So I'm a little bit interested in the Michael Cohen thing. I'm more interested, as you've been saying, in the general thing, I try for my mental health not to dwell on Twitter too much and go too deep, I should say. Always stay on the top couple layers, don't go any deeper than that. But occasionally I'll see a really critical comment, and I'll wonder, like, is this a representative of something? But if those comments always come from people whose account is less than six days old, that seems
Starting point is 00:37:33 a little bit suspicious. A little bit, just a little bit. And the thing is, I'm sure there's real people that hate me, why don't they tweet me? Well, they do. But here's, for our purposes, here's the unfortunate part of all of this, right? I like when, like for instance, when we did the story on Tulsi Gabbard earlier this week, a number of our viewers, our actual real life living, breathing viewers, tweeted me additional content and information about Tulsi Gabbard that I thought was really valuable.
Starting point is 00:38:05 So we were able to do an update on that story yesterday as a result. Because of these robots, I miss really important constructive criticism or additional research that someone wants to bring to my attention. And so it's a mess because social media has this really great way of democratizing information, but it also unfortunately gets misused by people who have bad intentions. And I want to say one other thing, and this is going to, I think I'm going to reveal something. I've never revealed on the air that you will probably enjoy. You're familiar with it, but I've never revealed on the air.
Starting point is 00:38:39 So the frustrating thing about this is not that these tools exist to make yourself look popular in these polls or to get views on YouTube or to get Twitter followers or Instagram followers or anything like that. It's that it works. It works, yeah. That if you make it seem as if you're popular, you become more popular. It's the social proof thing. There's a reason they spent $50,000 on this. There's a reason people bought all those Twitter followers.
Starting point is 00:39:03 Hopefully some have been purged. I hear about that from time to time, but it does tend to work. Do you know what I'm going to say? No, no idea. So I just want to say this. It's petty and I don't really care anymore, but it's fun and screw him because he supported Bolsonaro in Brazil. So I remember at a time, I found a tool.
Starting point is 00:39:19 This is years ago, I found a tool and what it did was, and I've never seen anything like this before, it shows you on Twitter a day by day for 30 days of how many Twitter followers you've gained or lost. And it's really interesting because you don't generally see that. You just sort of have an idea if you're gaining or losing subscribers. So I looked at myself and I was not doing well, and I looked at some other people. And I came across one person. It was very interesting.
Starting point is 00:39:41 Do you know what I found? I don't know. I looked at Dave Rubin. And do you know what I found? I found that for roughly 20 days, each day he had lost a few Twitter followers. Yeah. And then he had a sudden spurt over three days. He gained 5,000, 5,000, 5,000, and then began losing them again every single day over a 30-day
Starting point is 00:40:03 period. I took a screenshot, I do still have it. And so it's interesting how that works out. But the thing is, they do that because if you get this fake notoriety or fake following, then some people will take you more seriously. It's really sad that that exists. Yeah. What I find even more sad is that even though he went through the trouble of doing that,
Starting point is 00:40:20 no one takes him seriously. At least anyone who can think for themselves and see that he has absolutely no real political ideology, principles, like all of that, intelligence. But either way, like you do see it all the time. And I was also aware of it because I was his friend at the time. So anyway. And I'll just say in terms of to buttress what you just said, if you support you support Or Bolsonaro and can't pronounce Bolsonaro, don't talk about politics, okay?
Starting point is 00:40:49 I think that's pretty safe. He had no idea how to say the man's name, but supported his fascist agenda for Brazil. Anyway. And if you're interested in talking about ideas or maybe even, I don't know, experimenting or exploring with new ideas, don't be so afraid to debate Sam Cedar. Just putting that out there. Yeah, just putting that out there. You know, maybe spread it to him.
Starting point is 00:41:13 Maybe do that. Anyway, we are going to take our second break. When we come back, let's see. We've got updates on the family separation policy, the actual toll that it took on our country. And then new representative, Ilhan Omar, is being incredibly deceitfully attacked online. We'll break down that after this. At TYT, we frequently talk about all the ways that big tech companies are taking control of our online lives, constantly monitoring us and storing and selling our data. But that doesn't mean we have to let them. It's possible to stay anonymous online and hide your data from the prying eyes of baked tech. And one of the best ways is with ExpressVPN.
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Starting point is 00:42:29 Check it out today. We hope you're enjoying this free clip from the Young Turks. If you want to get the whole show and more exclusive content while supporting independent media, become a member at t-y-t.com slash join today. In the meantime, enjoy this free sign. Hey, everybody, welcome back to what remains at the first hour of the Young Turks. I want to read a few of your comments before we get back into the news. Let's see.
Starting point is 00:42:55 Unconsciously evolved says Joe Biden is apparently the most popular Democratic presidential candidate, according to mainstream press, talking about the polls that we were talking about. I mean, look, the thing is, I think that if Biden does run, and it's a really contested primary, which it's obviously going to be, it is going to be very difficult for him to maintain that huge favorability. But the thing is, up until now, partially because they've never really had to scrutinizing too much, like people do tend to like him. Biden? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:43:21 Yeah. I mean, I don't know for a lot of people how deep it goes that they like him. I don't think it's because of these 10 policies I like him, but they get a general idea that they like him. So, I don't know. I, that's not necessarily going to get him through a Democratic primary. But, yeah, I'm not looking, I'm not looking forward to any of it. Yeah, I honestly think I've, I've now updated my, if Biden runs, like, is it going to be the same thing?
Starting point is 00:43:46 I think if he runs and Beto runs, I think Beto will fill the role Biden would fill. I think so, too. More than Biden would. Maybe. Biden's got a longer record, so there's more to look into it. That record's going to hurt him in some areas. Oh, yeah, especially like, like for me, and I know that this is, I know that there are other things. This isn't the end-all be-all, but for me, the Anita Hill hearings, like, do not sit well with me.
Starting point is 00:44:12 So I've been, every day I've been asking on Twitter, what are the biggest issues that Blank would face if they ran the primary? And today I asked Biden, and the Anita Hill stuff came up a lot. Yeah. I mean, people have not forgotten about that, and especially considering the time we live in, that is going to hurt him. By the way, where did you ask that question? On Twitter? Oh, I thought you were going to say damage report. No, no, on Twitter.
Starting point is 00:44:32 You should do a segment like that on damage report. That could be really interesting. Yeah. For now, it's Twitter.com slash Johnny Rolla. Anyway, let's see. Oh, two more comments. So Raymond Cremant says, ha ha, Anna cracked me up there with a baby comment. I'm not reading any more comments.
Starting point is 00:44:49 No, I'm kidding. I'm gonna read one more just because I was scrolling through TYT live and I happen to see this one. So Emma Grana says, in all caps like Trump, hi, this is Emily and Nate. We're new members. Please read our tweet. We're from New York and my husband's scream texted me at 4.20 p.m. on his way home from work. I just met Jank, I just met Jank. I am the one who discovered TYT a few years ago, and he's the one who gets to meet him.
Starting point is 00:45:11 Angry bull snorting face. That is not fair. We're going to set up that someday, Emma, you're going to meet Jank as well. Oh, I also want to promote one more thing, not just my Twitter, which is Twitter.com. Which is Twitter.com slash johnny rola. So The Damage Report has a Facebook page. I have one, too, by the way. You do.
Starting point is 00:45:25 Yeah. And everyone follows it, apparently. So Facebook.com slash the damage report, TYT is a great place to see the content, as well as behind the scene, stuff, all sorts of stuff like that. So, Facebook.com slash the, uh, right there. You can, you can follow that right there. And it would be really great if you followed that right there. Thank you.
Starting point is 00:45:42 I'm going to be watching the numbers. Okay. I'm going to know. Okay, okay, okay, I'm talking to you in particular. Okay, okay, okay, not the whole, just you. Oh my God, please move on. Okay, let's talk about the news. No filter.
Starting point is 00:45:50 My Instagram, no. Sorry, sorry, go ahead. The point. Okay. Anyway, let's jump back into this. Oh, yeah, it's a serious story now, so this is going to be a fun transition. The family separation policy is obviously one of the worst domestic policies of the Trump era so far.
Starting point is 00:46:04 But it turns out that it was actually even worse than we thought at the time. More children over a longer period of time were separated the border than commonly known, according to an investigator with the Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General's office. That's told reporters Thursday morning, quote, how many more children were separated as unknown by us and HHS because of failures to track families as they were being separated, he said. HHS officials involved in caring for the separated children of reunite. Unifying family estimated that thousands of additional children were separated at the border.
Starting point is 00:46:38 And look, I'm glad that we have this information right now. But the thing is, at the time we talked about the 60 different databases that they were tracking these people with. And we talked about how they seemed ill-equipped to deal with the sheer volume. They seemed ill-motivated to deal with it. They didn't seem to care. And so we worried at the time that far more people would actually end up being separated. It turns out, lo and behold, it actually happened.
Starting point is 00:47:01 And it's announced sort of quietly to reporters when there's all this big other news breaking, perhaps hoping that people wouldn't cover it. And this is exactly the type of stuff. I mean, for those who think that our immigration issue isn't necessarily a crisis when it comes to increased violence, but you're worried about the economic toll of immigration. This is the kind of stuff that taxpayer money ends up getting used on, and it doesn't need to be that way. Like separating children from their parents, what do you think happens to those kids?
Starting point is 00:47:35 As they're detained, as they're in U.S. custody, I mean, a lot of federal taxpayer money ends up going to privately run institutions that essentially imprison them, jail them. But look, that's the economic toll of it. And I care far less about that. And I care a lot more about the fact that these kids were separated from their parents. In a lot of cases, even before we knew about these updated numbers, a lot of these parents were deported, the US government didn't keep track of where the parents were, and the kids are still in U.S. custody.
Starting point is 00:48:11 And it's impossible to get them back in touch with their family. That is unacceptable. I mean, the lack of compassion, the lack of empathy, just this unwillingness to care about the well-being of little kids is disgusting. And that's what we're seeing right now on a federal level by the Trump administration. And if you ever have the goal to go after Trump over this issue, he'll try to turn around and accuse previous administrations of doing the same thing. No, previous administrations did not do the same thing.
Starting point is 00:48:45 They did not purposely with complete punitive intentions separate children from their parents and then just failed to keep track of where the parents went. That is not what previous administrations did. It's just disgusting what's happening right now. And you mentioned it, but it can't be mentioned enough. There are still children who have not been reunited with their families and are likely to never be reunited with their families. I'm very glad that the media stayed focused on this for a couple of months and that people
Starting point is 00:49:14 were really invested. I remember how big the families belonging together protests were, but it's still an issue, just how many people are actually tracking it. And again, you said punitive, it was done. to scare people off from coming here. It wasn't done because they genuinely believe that it was better for the families or would provide better care for the kids. They did it to scare people.
Starting point is 00:49:37 And it did scare people. That's one of the reasons I think they were destroyed in the midterms. But turns out it wasn't just the sheer numbers that are bad thing. Another update, pretty scary too. The Inspector General report said that some family separations continued even after President Donald Trump in June of 2018 ended the policy amid uproar and a federal court ordered his administration or reunify the family. So it's not just that more were separated, it's that even once they said they were not
Starting point is 00:50:01 separating anymore, they kept doing it. Do you want to know how long they kept doing it? HHS received at least 118 separated children between July and early November, according to the report. DHS provided limited information about the reasons for those separations. So we had an election in the first week of November, which means at the same time we were having that BS, I almost swore, that BS Conversation National. about a caravan, they were still separating families in those days leading up to the election.
Starting point is 00:50:31 That's right. So look, the Inspector General's office says that it's planning additional reports that will investigate how the children were housed who cared for them, the effects on the children's health, and the administration's approach to reunifying families, which means that there is still a lot of information that we do not have. But what we've gotten so far implies to me that what we're going to learn is not going to be good stuff. And thankfully, we, some other people in the media, will be keeping an eye on it.
Starting point is 00:50:56 so that we get a full idea of how absolutely abhorrent this policy was. And mind you, two minors died in border patrol custody. And I just, when you look at the cruelty that's being inflicted on these families, on these children, I just want all of the right-wing evangelical Trump supporters to back off when it comes to women's reproductive rights, because you have no leg to stand on. You do not care about the well-being and safety of children. You don't. You don't even really care about them when they're zygotes.
Starting point is 00:51:32 Because right now with this government shutdown, pregnant women who need WIC in order to, you know, get the nutrients they need as they're pregnant are not getting those nutrients because of this government shutdown. You do not care about children. You do not actually care about the well-being of pregnant mothers. You are nothing more than a fraud. And I just want them to accept that. Just accept what you are.
Starting point is 00:51:56 You are a fraud. That's it. Yes. Can we do this one relatively quickly? Absolutely, yeah. Awesome. Thank you. Representative Ilhan Omar is facing incredibly dishonest attacks today from mostly right-wingers, some
Starting point is 00:52:08 people in the mainstream media, suggesting that she has attacked Senator Lindsey Graham in a homophobic fashion, something that she did not in any way actually do. And the source of these attacks are that she is saying that his about face on his about face on Donald Trump, going from saying, not that he opposes him, but that he is a danger to the country, that he will destroy the Republican Party to being his most vocal supporter. They are saying that her acknowledging that is saying that he is secretly gay and that that's a bad thing. So why don't we go to the video that they are saying is evidence of this, and as you watch
Starting point is 00:52:43 this, I want you to see if there is anything even approaching, approaching some talk about his sexuality, his personal life in any way. Here she is. So over the last three years, we have seen many times where Senator Lindsey Graham has told us how dangerous this president could be if he was given the opportunity to be in the White House. And all of the sudden, he's made not only 180 turnaround, but a 360 turnaround. And so I am pretty sure that there is something happening with him, whether it is. something that has to do with his funding when it comes to running for office, whether it has something to do with the polling that they might have in his district, or whether
Starting point is 00:53:37 it has to do with some sort of leadership within the Senate. He is somehow compromised to no longer stand up for the truth. So there she gave multiple potential explanations. Whether you agree with any of those, all of them were political explanations. She never said anything about anything, but I saw that that video, that exact video was being retweeted thousands of times with the quote, she attacks him spreading a homophobic conspiracy theory about him. Was there anything in that?
Starting point is 00:54:12 She did not talk about his personal life in any way, shape, or form. She did not mention his sexual orientation in any way, shape, or form. And what I find fascinating is that in an attempt to smear Representative Omar, some on the right felt the need to throw Lindsey Graham under a bus because they're the ones who are bringing up his sexual orientation, right? And so are there rumors about his sexual orientation? Sure. Do we ever talk about that on this show?
Starting point is 00:54:43 Absolutely not, because it's none of our business. And if he happens to be gay, it's on him to decide if and when he ever makes that public information. But the right wing feels the need to throw him under the bus because they want to smear a representative who brings up a very interesting point. So I want to address that quickly because I also noticed that Lindsey Graham had a complete 180, right? He went from being highly critical of Trump to all of a sudden being one of Trump's strongest
Starting point is 00:55:13 cheerleaders. It was certainly evident during the hearings involving Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh. He had that huge outburst. And that was when it became very clear to me that he had done a 180. And I didn't know what the influencing factor was behind the scenes. I don't know if he's been compromised. I don't know what's going on. My theory was that he's trying to sabotage Trump by appearing like he's his friend.
Starting point is 00:55:39 And then he gives Trump all sorts of bad advice to destroy his political career. I think that's interesting. Yeah. I don't believe that. That's interesting. I mean, look, it's a little crazy, right? So like we're having fun. I'm not like going on national television, well, I'm kind of on national television, but anyway.
Starting point is 00:55:55 You just said it to a lot of people. Let's move on. Yeah. But look, the point that I'm trying to bring up is sometimes he has these little cracks where he goes back to criticizing Trump. Like when he said that Trump is a one pager kind of guy during the hearings with William Barr. I mean, he was just openly and transparently talking about how stupid Trump is.
Starting point is 00:56:14 So I don't know, I don't know what's really going on behind the scenes with Lindsey Graham, but it is an interesting point, and to get people distracted, the right wing is throwing Lindsey Graham under a bus and mentioning his possible sexual orientation in an effort to smear her. Yeah, the thing is, like, I have no idea if Ilhan Omar does or has ever thought that he was secretly gay, but I do know that I have no psychic ability to see into her heart or her brain. I have to go with what she actually says, and there's nothing there. But that does not stop the right from implying that they know what she's secretly thinking. So if we can bring up this front page headline from Breitbart.
Starting point is 00:56:52 It says Representative Ilhan Omar furthers homophobic conspiracy that Lindsay Graham's compromise. Fox News said hard left Ilhan Omar faces backlash over this conspiracy theory. And she responds, you see, I love how revealing the right is and their assumptions of me. Pro tip, just because you were homophobic doesn't mean everyone else is. Deal with your own bigotry and Islamophobic views of me and stop with the hateful smears. You know who's spreading conspiracy theories about Lindsey Graham? Bright Barre. Bright Bar just did it, actually.
Starting point is 00:57:23 Yeah. So she goes on to say the right thinks being homosexual is compromising. Well, I have news for them being LGBTQ plus isn't something we should be ashamed of. You all know my tweet had nothing to do with his sexuality and everything to do with his blind cooperation with Trump. Let's focus. So you have now seen most of the arc. There might have been other tweets and stuff, but that's the majority of it.
Starting point is 00:57:42 She thinks that he's been compromised. She goes on CNN. She gives multiple political explanations for that. She's attacked viciously over it, with many people simply spreading the video without after watching it and realizing that she doesn't talk about that. She defends herself making clear that not only is that not what she's talking about, but she doesn't care at all about his sexuality. And then it's not just Breitbart.
Starting point is 00:58:03 If it was just Breitbart and random Twitterers, I don't care. S.E. C. Coup tweets, no. A member of Congress jumped on the patently homophobic, quote, Lindsay must be hiding something bandwagon and offered precisely zero proof, only wholly invented baseless hypotheticals. That's irresponsible and also ignorant, homophobic, and unacceptable. What the hell is going on? Says that while providing literally zero evidence that Ilhan Omar thinks that. She is a highly paid on-air person in the mainstream media who possesses the mutant secret
Starting point is 00:58:37 power to delve into the recesses of a freshman congresswoman's brain and know what she's It secretly means that it's not supported in any way by what she actually says on TV. This is insane. I mean- It's insane, but also not particularly surprising. Now, I'm not saying about this in particular about S.E. Cup or any individual person. But I don't think that who Ilan Omar is can be stripped away from this attempt to smear her as homophobic. I do believe, and Representative Omar implies something to this effect in one of her tweets,
Starting point is 00:59:09 there is Islamophobia here, there is a belief that she is different in some fundamental way and that she's probably thinking about those things. I mean, we know how much Muslims hate those people. She probably hates them too. I, again, I'm not a psychic. I can't look at anyone's brain, but it feels like that's probably some of what's creeping out there, particularly on Breitbart. We know what Breitbart's like.
Starting point is 00:59:30 S.E.C. Cup should really reconsider who and which sources influence her opinions on issues. If you are being influenced by Breitbart in any way. then you have absolutely no, you have no reason to be a trusted news source, right? Like, Breitbart is not to be trusted, and the fact that Breitbart influenced her is concerning. Yeah, and I would say best case scenario, S.E. Cupp and others did what, look, unfortunately, a lot of people do. They saw a quote about a video, they didn't watch the video, and they clicked retweet. If that's the case, don't feel like you have to double down, just come out and say that you didn't watch the video.
Starting point is 01:00:12 And you take back what you said, implying that this new representative, the first Somali-American ever elected to Congress, is a homophobe. S.E. C.C. Cup is not a random person on Twitter. I get that people do that. She's not a random person on Twitter. She is a person with a platform who works for a news organization. Yeah. Right? And so you have to take that as a serious responsibility and just take the extra minute to watch the video and understand the point that Representative Omar is trying to make, and then decide for yourself whether or not she's trying to spread some sort of ridiculous anti-gay conspiracy.
Starting point is 01:00:47 But that is not what's happening here, and the fact that she was influenced by Breitbart, again, is concerning. Yeah, and I will just briefly end by saying that I think these theories are interesting about him secretly working to sabotage Trump, but I don't think he's been compromised in any way. I think that he is a no-core politician that believes that the political wins are still with Donald Trump, and so he's supporting him. I think that's what it is. But let's have some fun.
Starting point is 01:01:12 I think he's a cynical politician. I think that's what it is. Well, all of them are. So I disagree with Representative Omar. I just also don't think she's a homophope. Anyway, with that, that's probably the end of the first hour. It's not probably. It is.
Starting point is 01:01:23 It's the end. We know a little bit about what's coming up on the second hour. Who is coming up on the second hour? Well, we are going to have Mark Thompson and J.R. Jackson on the show. It's going to be great. And we have some original reporting about the teachers' protests in the L-A-USD. So some really great footage and we did speak to some of the teachers and the parents who are on the picket lines and protesting. So you don't want to miss that and we're gonna have a lot of fun.
Starting point is 01:01:50 I mean, look, Mark Thompson is the most peppy person I've ever met in my life, so it's gonna be a good time. Other than your husband. Yeah, he's really peppy too. And your dog. It's kind of annoying when you live with the person, but like at work it's good. I'm just kidding. No, no, no, my husband's awesome. Yeah, so thanks for bringing him up.
Starting point is 01:02:11 And we're going to go to break, and we'll be right back, guys. 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, Jan Jueger, and I'll see you soon.

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