The Young Turks - The Young Turks 12.07.17: Sam Seder, Tax Bill, Franken resigns, and why Trump should too

Episode Date: December 8, 2017

A portion of our Young Turks Main Show from December 7th, 2017. For more go to http://www.tytnetwork.com/join. Hour 1: Cenk. MSNBC rehires Sam Seder. GOPers having problems with corporate AMT part of taxes. Franken resigns. Sanders: our president assaults women, he should look at whats going on and resign. Tear gas on protesters after Trump declares Jerusalem the capital.  Hour 2: Cenk & Ana. SoCal fires. Tax bill details. Australia makes same-sex marriage legal. Officer that killed Walter Scott gets 20 years. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to The Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. Thank you for watching or listening to this free podcast of the Young Turks. We want to make sure that you get some portion of the show every day. But if you want the full show, which is actually five segments, come become a member and support independent media as well. TYT network.com slash join.

Meanwhile, enjoy the free podcast. All right, welcome to the young Turks. We've got a great and traumatic show for you guys because the world's on fire. So a little bit later on the program, in the case of Los Angeles, it's literal. We're going to give you an update on how about the four fires in L.A. are, which houses a burn down. And today, as if the out-of-control fires weren't bad enough, 80-mile-hour wind spreading that fire, potentially to far more places. So climate change is real and Sonia in a holler. We're in the middle of climate change right now, okay?

And anyone who lives in L.A. realized that. Sorry we had to cancel old school last night for you because Mark Thompson could not get out of his house because of the fires. So, and then Jerusalem now in the Middle East on fire, thanks to Donald Trump. In this case, we don't have any question as to who started it. When this boils over as it is boiling over immediately right now, let alone the days of rain. that begin tomorrow. We know who started. It's Donald F. and Trump.

So in the Middle East, they're always like, no, but then before that was before this. No, no, no. In this case, crystal fucking clear. So we'll talk about that story when we, a little bit later in the program. And by the way, it's, to me, the most amazing part of that story is who helped, quote, unquote, helped to make that decision. Who he listened to most in that decision. Unbelievable. So, all right, that's later in the program. Al Franken has resigned. Next segment,

I'm going to talk about that. I might have an opinion that might surprise you on that. I think that that, that resonates, there was something wrong with that resignation speech, but it might not be what everybody else is saying. And then Bernie Sanders with, as usual, the best point on the Franken resignation. So that's all in the next segment. Before we do any of the story in this segment, though, I want to let you know something that's important. So this Friday and Saturday, that's tomorrow and Saturday, the DNC Unity Reform Commission is having its actual votes. So they've been discussing all these different issues for a whole year, including will they have superdelegates next time around? Primaries or caucuses? Will other people be allowed to

see their budget or will it be kept in the dark, the dark money that the DNC has? So these are monumentally important decisions if you care about the Democratic Party, who's going to lead it and what kind of party it is? Is it really a progressive party or not? Now, the great thing is you guys can see them voting. So it's public. So number one, we're going to carry it on TYT Politics. That's YouTube.com slash TYT Politics. We'll be live. And I'm going to tell you when in a second. But you can also go in person. So if you're in D.C., sure, we're going to be that Ryan Grim and Eric Biler are going to be covering it for us. And if you're not anywhere near D.C., that's okay.

Watch our live stream of it. But if you're in D.C., go watch for yourself. It's great to have actual human beings and the public there, one to know that they, to let the people voting know that they're going to be held accountable and that people are watching. And so the government's always watching over us. Go watch over, in this case, Democratic Party, make sure they're doing the right thing. So where is it?

It said Marriott, Wardman Park, Wilson Room 2660 in Woodley Road, Northwest Washington, D.C. So go check that out. And then it's Friday, December 8th. That's tomorrow 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern and Saturday, December 9th, 9 a.m. to noon Eastern. So that's a shorter session, obviously. They're both going to be impactful votes. So make sure you're checking out

YouTube.com slash t-y-t Politics or Facebook.com slash the young Turks. And then if you're in town, be part of democracy. Go and watch the events there. And I think that they will have great ramifications for who's the next president of the United States of America.

Okay. No exaggeration on that. Okay, here we go. As you saw last time around 2016, it turns out DNC rulemaking matters. All right, now let me go to a very important update. We need to talk about a relatively new show called Un-F-The-Republic, or UNFTR.

As a Young Turks fan, you already know that the government, the media, and corporations are constantly peddling lies that serve the interests of the rich and powerful. But now there's a podcast dedicated to unraveling those lies, debunking the conventional wisdom. In each episode of Un-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 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.

Sam Cedar was fired by MSNBC because an outright provocateur found an old tweet of his, which was a joke that was actually criticizing people trying to excuse Roman Polansky's rape. Sam was 100% right on that issue, but when the alt-right attacked, MSNBC panicked. And this is not an uncommon occurrence with people pretending to be progressive. They have done this a number of times, and including President Obama, by the way. Remember, he panicked over Shirley Sherrod. And the line that always stays with me in that event was an administration official telling Shirley Sherrod, who works at the Department of Agriculture, they had done an edited video

of her that was wildly deceptive. It was put up on Breitbart. And an administration official had said, you've got to resign before Glenn Beck goes on air. And that was during the Fox News days. because they care so much about what the lunatics on the right say. And this is why I think this is actually a really important watershed moment. Because for once, they have now realized that they have made a mistake. And MSNBC has rehired Sam Cedar, nearly unprecedented.

I'm not sure I've ever seen it in media. So part of the folks that Sam has to thank for that is you guys. And part of it is people that work at MSNBC who were frustrated talk to the press anonymously, some like Chris Hayes, who publicly backed Sam Cedar, which was brave, courageous, and the right thing for Chris to do. And then also other journalists like Ryan Grimm and others who were outraged by what happened here. And of course, the public pressure most of all. So Phil Griffin, head of MSNBC somehow still, put out this statement. And sometimes you just get one wrong, and that's what happened here.

We made our initial decision for the right reasons because we don't consider rape to be a funny topic to be joked about. But we've heard the feedback, and we understand the point Sam was trying to make in that tweet was actually in line with our values, even though the language was not. Sam will be welcome on our air going forward. I just, I love the power of the people when it actually works. because instead of having MSNBC have a contributor or on-air host, apologize and then fire them, which has been their pattern for years and years and years now, for you guys to speak out so loudly and clearly

that they then reverse position and they themselves apologize. All right, at least we're going in the right direction here. But look, always credit where credit is due, so credit to Phil Griffin for coming to the right decision eventually. So I'm glad that MSNBC changed and that Phil led in that direction. Okay, so now I want to quote Ryan Grimm here because I think he's the one who started the online petition for Sam Cedar in the first place. I think a lot of journalists saw what Ryan was doing and then spoke up for Sam as well. Ryan Grim works at the Intercept.

It's also contributed for TYT. And he made some great points here at the Intercept that I wanted to share with you guys. He said, institutions respond to both incentives and pain. And MSNBC clearly thought the most pain-free approach was to cut ties with Cedar and move on. But the move brought tremendous fury down upon them from their own viewers and employees, both rank and file and on-air talent. Host Chris Hayes publicly supported Cedar and broke with the network over the decision, while numerous employees gave brutal blind quotes to media reporters.

So I think he's exactly right there. And we talk about this in the context of politics all the time. Carrots and sticks. Democrats usually have carrots, but never ever seen sticks, unless, of course, it's against the liberal, in which case they'll bring out a lot of sticks and some of which are completely unwarranted and unjustified, or almost all of them are. So it's the same in the media, though, carrots and sticks. If you like what a network is doing, whether it's on TV or us online, you let us know,

you support us, et cetera, and Sam picked up a lot of people who supported them on Patreon because of this, which is wonderful. I'll give you that page in a second, too. Over 11,000 people signed Ryan Grimm's petition on behalf of Sam Cedar. That's great. But also say, hey, you know what, there's sticks. The stick is, if you're not hiring progressives, you're caving into the all right. The guy who orchestrated this is an absolutely despicable guy who led the Pizagate conspiracy,

who him while pretending to care about Sam Cedar's rape joke has on numerous occasions that I outlawed yesterday on the show and you could watch that video we has talked about how he doesn't care about rape he doesn't believe that date rape even exists he's a despicable character and who and it he is proud to smear others and try to ruin their careers based on things that he made up

so of course MSNBC shouldn't listen to him and if they do then you decide you don't want to listen to them or watch them, that makes perfect sense. And that applies equally to us. And I know from time to time, some people get frustrated with us and say they're not going to watch anymore. That's fair. You pick the shows and the channels and the networks that serve you, that serve you and only you. So now I want to get the Sam's statement on this.

He says, I appreciate MSNBC's thoughtful reconsideration and willingness to understand the cynical motives of those who intentionally misrepresented in my tweet for their own toxic political purposes. We are experiencing an important and long overdue moment of empowerment for the victims of sexual assault and of reckoning for their perpetrators. I'm proud that MSNBC and its staff have said a clear example of the need to get it right. So good magnanimous statement from Sam Cedar on that and now we'll be seeing him back on MSNBC as well. So by the way, At the end of the day, and the alt-right guy who cooked this up, what did you do? You got Sam Cedar a lot more viewers, a lot more attention, good amount of money from Patreon,

and guaranteed that his contract would be renewed. As usual, total and utter failure on the part of the alt-right. Nice job. So, by the way, let me add to that failure by encouraging you to go to YouTube.com slash Sam C. where you could watch the majority report every day. That is part of the TYT network, and we're proud to have them. And then if you want to support Sam, just to make the pain for the alt-right a little bit more clear, go to patreon.com slash majority report as well.

And we support all of our hosts as they fight back against the right wing and fight for progressive ideology. So it's a wonderful day in America when something just actually happens and that justice is brought to you by you. They didn't want to lose their viewers. They didn't want to lose their ratings and they didn't want to lose their revenue. So thank you guys. Great work. All right. Now, let me go to the GOP tax plan and then we'll do Franken in the next segment.

Okay. Now the total cost of the GOP tax plan is not 1.6 trillion. That's how much it adds to the deficit. It's actually $5.8 trillion, and CNBC, among many other outlets, have explained all the different parts that cost $5.8 trillion. Now, what it adds to the deficit, according to the Joint Committee on taxation, is the $1.6 trillion. I tell you that because it's important you to have the context that there's another $4.2 trillion that almost no one ever talks about. and that is in tax increases for the middle class. So if you deduct a state and local taxes, you're not allowed to deduct those anymore.

That's a tax increase for you. And there's a whole bunch of exemptions that they took away from actual taxpayers. Now, for corporations, they have different rules, and they did not get rid of almost any of their loopholes. In fact, there was a famous moment that we showed you on the program where they had a Republican Congress. on MSNBC and they asked them to name just one corporate loopholder they took away, and he couldn't name a single one. So they're taking away your deductions in order to pay for the bill. They also took away in this bill so far, the mandate in Affordable Care Act, which will actually drive prices up. So you'll have to pay a higher premium on your health care coverage.

So that $4.2 trillion still causes a tremendous amount of damage and pain to the average American taxpayer. And then on top of that, they still couldn't fill the hole, and they got a $1.6 trillion that they are adding to the debt. Now, that is terrible. These are the guys who claim that they don't ever want unbalanced budgets, and they don't want debt or deficits. They were obviously not being truthful about that. Now, I'm going to get to how they're going to make up that $1.6 trillion in a second, and it is devastating. But first, I want you to know where the money is going. So all that money, where is it?

Well, 80% of the tax benefits would accrue to those in the top 1%. Households making more than about $900,000 a year would see their taxes drop by more than $200,000 on average. So 80% of the money is going to the richest people in the country. And in fact, if you're basically a millionaire, you're going to get a $200,000 tax cut. you are, if you're in the bottom 99%, you think you're going to get $200,000, mm-mm. But for the millionaires, they're averaging $200,000 in their pockets because of this. That's who this tax cuts for.

So how are they going to pay for it? Well, now that comes into play. Paul Ryan, who came out with the tax plan in the first place, says, oh, yeah, we're going to get it by cutting your entitlements. They call it entitlements. You know why they call Social Security and Medicare entitlements? because you paid into it, hence you are entitled to get it back. It's your money.

He says, nope, we're going to cut it. We're going to cut your money and give it to the rich. That's literal that you saw where the money's going. So let me give you Ryan's quotes. He says, we're going to have to get back next year at entitlement reform, which is how you tackle the debt and the deficit. But that extra $1.6 trillion in the debt wouldn't exist if you didn't give a giant tax cut to millionaires and billionaires.

Yeah, but I had to. I had to dare my donors. I had to give them all your money. And so how am I going to tackle the deficit that I just created by taking away your Social Security and Medicare? These people are the worst people at earth. Okay, more from the hill. Healthcare entitlements such as Medicare and Medicaid are the big drivers of the debt, Ryan said. So we spend more time on the health care entitlements because that's really where the problem lies, fiscally speaking.

The problem doesn't lie in the $5.8 trillion they just gave to the rich. The problem lies that you're getting too much health care, right? If you're in the middle of Nebraska, West Virginia, Kentucky, Montana, California, New York, wherever you are, you have too much stuff, right? You have too much health care. You're living in the lap of luxury. You're like, I don't know what to do with all this health care. I don't know what to do with all this Medicare.

Oh, please take mine away, right? They're going to take away your Medicare, which pulls at 77%. You know, why? Because it works. They're going to take that away to give to the rich. It's unreal. It's a reverse Robin Hood. It is redistribution of wealth.

The thing that they warned you about is because it was projection. They were always doing redistribution of wealth. And this is one of the greatest American robberies of all time. I have more quotes. So the hell points out, wait a minute. During this, his campaign, Trump repeatedly promised not to cut Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security. So what's going on here? Well, Paul Ryan's asked about that on a radio show.

Listen to his answer here. and are you thinking about trying to do any reforms with social security or medicare at this point or do we you know president trump hasn't seemed interested in those things yeah he has not shown as much interest and so we're working with the president on the on the entitlements that he wants to reform that he's supportive of do you do you get the sense that you're making a little bit of an impact on him when you talk to him about the importance of medicare reform i do uh that as you know ross because you and i've known each other for years this has been my big thing for many, many years.

I think it's the biggest entitlement that's got to have reform. And I think the president's understanding choice and competition works everywhere in health care, especially in Medicare. So if you were unclear that they were coming for Medicare, they are. Progressives want Medicare for all

because it works. It keeps prices low, and it gives you the health care that you need. It's actually a remarkable success, given that the rest of the health care insurance industry is an absolute mess with skyrocketing costs and not nearly enough coverage. So he says, no, instead of doing that popular thing, we're going to cut that popular thing,

drive you back into the arms of, he calls competition. You know what that is? Privatized insurance. How's that working out for the rest of us? With prices that keep going up and up and up. The government does not run insurance for people under the age of 65. Private industry does. And then they turn around and every once in a while, blame the government.

No, you're the one driving up prices. And they say, no, no, no, I want to make sure that happens to people above the age of 65 too. This is grotes. Now, it's not just Paul Ryan, Kevin Brady, who's one of the worst of the worst. He's in charge of the budget, unfortunately, in the House. He's the head of the House and Ways and Means Committee, which is the most important committee when it comes to the budget. And he says, welfare reform is up next, okay? And by welfare, is he talking about what they would call handouts? No, but again, in the case of Medicare and Social Security, You paid into it.

It's your money. They're going to rob you of that money. Gross beyond imagination. Now we go to Jeb Hanserling, Republican from Texas. The most important thing we can do with respect to the national debt, he says, what we need to do is obviously reform current entitlement programs for future generations, i.e. make sure you don't get them. If you're saying, hey, so far I've heard Medicare and I've heard Medicaid,

but I haven't heard Social Security yet, Jake, no problem, can do. Here's Marco Rubio. He says we need to institute structural changes to social security and Medicare for the future. Rob from the average American to pay the richest American. Income inequality didn't happen magically. It didn't happen on its own. There were a set of rules that were put into place by corrupt bought-off politicians that redistributed the wealth. We didn't have this level of income inequality.

But in 1978, the Supreme Court said corporations can put money into politics and put into the pockets of politicians. And from there on, they put millions and hundreds of millions and eventually billions of dollars into those pockets. And slowly change the laws to redistribute the tax burden from corporations and the rich onto the average middle class. And one of the taxes that went up as a percentage of the taxes paid was the payroll tax. The rich don't even pay the payroll tax, only the middle class of the poor pay it. And that has gone up. Corporate taxes as a percentage of taxes paid overall has gone down. Now in this bill, they're going to bring the corporate taxes down even further and redistribute the wealth to themselves.

And the tax burden on to you guys, this is not a tax cut for you. 10 years from now, according to their own admissions in this bill, everyone making under $75,000 is going to get a tax increase, let alone the fact that they're going to cut your Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and your health care. Now, as if all this wasn't enough, one final thing, and leave it to Orrin Hatch to rub it in, when people were concerned and they said, hey, wait a minute, these people paid into Social Security and Medicare their whole lives. Now we're talking about cutting that to give a $200,000 tax break to every millionaire in the country.

Orrin Hatch said, quote, he had a rough time wanting to spend billions and billions and trillions of dollars to help people who won't help themselves, won't lift a finger, and expect the federal government to do everything. their disdain for you is limitless. If you're an average American and you pay your taxes and you work hard, you bust your ass, you go to work, your wife goes to work, your husband goes to work, you guys sometimes work two jobs at a time, you make, if you make minimum wage, God help you, man, that's $15,000 a year. You've got to have two jobs, your husband has to have a job. If you had those three jobs, you'd get all the way up to $45,000. $25,000.

That's one person working 80 hours a week. That's another person working 40,000 a week. And they say that you're a bum and you don't want to lift a finger to help yourself. But some of the rich just inherited the money. Not all of them, but some of them. They didn't do anything to get that money. But for them, tax break at hundreds of thousands of, for some of them, millions, for guys like the Koch brothers. And by the way, also on the left.

George Soros, they make him the boogeyman, he's also going to get billions of dollars in tax cuts. Okay, now in his case, he didn't ask for it. The Koch brothers definitely asked for it. Murdoch asked for it. All those guys, the corporations ask for it. But either way, all of those billionaires are going to get untold amount of money for some of them tens of billions of dollars in tax cuts. But you're the bum. You're the one who doesn't want to lift a finger and work hard enough.

If you vote for Republicans to steal your money and give it to the rich, you ought to have your head examined. Every single Republican is voting for this. And the Senate Bob Corker voted against it. Everyone else, including the so-called moderates, which moderate Republican? There are no such things. Susan Collins, oh, yeah, that's okay. McConnell told me we're not going to touch Medicare.

Oh, it turns out we're touching it, we're killing it, we're cutting the hell out of it. Who cares? I'm going to vote for it anyway. There are no moderate Republicans, everyone in the House and everyone but one senator in the Senate. All of the Republicans voted for this. If you want them to keep robbing, you keep voting for them. Look, I got no love for the Democrats. That might be a separate issue.

But if you vote for Republicans, why just take your wand out and hand it to them. Unless you're rich, in which case, hey, it's a good return on investment. There's nothing better you could buy in America than a Republican politician. We'll be right back with Al Franken. and perhaps my surprising opinion on his resignation speech. You're right in the middle of this podcast. We've got another great segment coming up for you. If you'd like the full show, which is actually five segments,

go to t-y-tnetwork.com slash join. You become a member, you support the show, you support independent media, and you get the whole two-hour show ad-free every day. Let's go do it now. All right, back on the young turks. bunch of tweets for you guys here have your own opinion says i'm ready got my drink got some food in the slow cooker and i will like that uh now all i need is some t yt also considering what's

going on in cali really appreciate everyone showing up in order to bring us quality reporting seriously thank you man uh a lot of the folks that work here are far more affected by the fire than i am for example although it's about 10 minutes from my house but but there are no roads block for me or anything along those lines uh and a lot of people went past those block roads past the fire and left their houses to come work here. So right along with you, I deeply, deeply appreciate them doing that. Okay, Gabby says totally understandable old school canceled last night. I just want everyone at the Young Turks to be safe and this stays too strong.

Thank you, Gabi. El Duende Chingon writes in, I'm sure the DNC will reform by sliding further to the right. Dylan C. DeL. says, has included a picture of him protesting net neutrality in a T-YT shirt and says, sorry I can't catch you tonight, TYT Live. I'm a little preoccupied. Still repin, though, save net neutrality. Bless your heart, Dylan.

It's a wonderful work. Go protest wherever you can, however you can. On December 14th, the FCC is going to vote to take away freedom on the internet and... Disheartening times, man. All right. Space Man says, glad to see MSNBC

did the right thing for Sam. And Jamal says, Bravo, MSNBC. Your corporation has listened far better. than our representatives. Well, there's actually a reason for that. As much as I get frustrated by a lot of the multi-billion-dollar corporations, especially how they buy off politicians,

they at least have to be responsive to their customers. The politicians only have to be responsive to the people who sign their checks. If you're a customer, you sign the checks of those companies. If you're a politician, who signs your checks? They're donors. So they don't give a damn about you. They only care about

the rich. That's just the reality of it. All right. Anyway, I don't want to take away from the little bit of good news that we had in Sam being rehired at MSNBC. I also want to note, look, I know Sam and Jimmy Doer have their issues. It's a weird thing to talk about on there, and I don't want to belabor it. But also support Jimmy. I think they're both great, even though they've got their issues with each other. I don't have issues with either one of them.

So go to Jimmy Doorcom. Go to Jimmy Doer's YouTube channel and support him as well. well okay all right now let's go over here and talk about frankie at t yt 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 big tech and one of the best ways is with express vpn express VPN hides your IP address making your active ID more difficult to trace and sell the advertisers express VPN also encrypts 100% of your network

data to protect you from eavesdroppers and cybercriminals and it's also easy to install a single mouse click protects all your devices but listen guys this is important express vpn is rated number one by cnett and wired magazine so take back control of your life online and secure your data with a top vpn solution available express vpn and if you go to expressvpn.com slash t yt you can get three extra months for free with this exclusive link just for t yt fans that's e x p r e s vpn.com slash t-y-t check it out today okay

Al Franken is resigned is a Minnesota senator and he had been besieged by eight different woman coming forward with all theations of inappropriate behavior towards women and of course we've been concerned about that as well and I thought

an ethics investigation should happen it turns out it's not going to happen because a lot of the Democrats pressured him to resign, and he did that today. Having watched his speech, I'm not sure he should have. So let's take a look at it together, and I know a lot of people are criticizing this speech, but I might go in an opposite direction here. So let's watch the first part. I felt that we had entered an important moment in the history of this country.

We were finally beginning to listen to women. about the ways in which men's actions affect them. The moment was long overdue. I was excited for that conversation and hopeful that it would result in real change that made life better for women all across the country and in every part of our society. Then the conversation turned to me. Over the last few weeks,

the last few weeks, a number of women have come forward to talk about how they felt my actions had affected them. I was shocked. I was upset. But in responding to their claims, I also wanted to be respectful of that broader conversation, because all women deserve to be heard and their experiences taken seriously. I think that was the right thing to do. I also think it gave some people the false impression that I was admitting to doing things that, in fact, I haven't done. Some of the allegations against me are simply not true.

Others, I remember very differently. I said at the outset that the Ethics Committee was the right venue for these allegations to be heard and investigated and evaluated on their merits that I was prepared to cooperate fully and that I was confident in the outcome.

He shouldn't have resigned. He doesn't think he did it. Now, I don't know whether he did it or not and I don't know what the ethics investigation would have concluded. It is entirely possible that it would have concluded that he did do it. There are eight women. Now, but if you think you didn't do it, don't get pressured by Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer,

whichever other Brahmins in the Democratic Party think it's a genius political move for you to resign so they could maybe, maybe win the Alabama seat. Look, if you think you didn't do it, fight. If you think you did, you know, if you did do it, then, admit that you did it. So it's possible that Al Franken is doubly wrong here that he knows he did it but he's now saying I'm resigning

but I didn't really do it. In which case then that is incredibly disrespectful to the women that made these allegations. But if you think you're in the right, you fight. So I don't

look if you're wondering why in this case I'm a little extra skeptical and that's not even right I'm not scared I don't know that's why I think the investigation should have happened

but is there a little bit of doubt here yes and I'll tell you why Roger Stone tweeted about the first accusation before it came out so the right wing hatchet men knew that an attack against Al Franken was coming the first person who

accused him of that I'm definitely not getting into her personal life but she works at a right wing radio station. Okay, if she just worked at a right-wing radio station, okay, leave it, right? Roger Stone is the hatchet man in the Republican Party. Something doesn't feel right here. Most of the people who accuse Al Franken are anonymous. The last accusation was that he touched a woman's waist while taking a picture. I'm sorry, but that's not a thing. If she felt uncomfortable about it, that is an interesting conversation they should have, right? And

The investigation could look at it if you don't dismiss it out of hand. But touching it, a waste, I don't know what, a waste while taking a picture is, that's not a thing. So, and again, I want to triple emphasize. I don't know. It is a lot of women. And if he did do it, then by all means you should leave. He, look, and I'm not biased in favor of Al Franken. If you watch this show, you know that I've criticized them over and over again.

I don't think he fought enough for progressive policy positions. But right is right. And here I'll give him credit on things he did fight for. He was a co-sponsor of the bill to reauthorize and strengthen the violence against women act in 2012. He introduced a bill in 2015 to make it easier for victims of workplace sexual harassment to seek justice. Now, if he did those things and grop women anyway, it doesn't matter. And he should resign. But if there's a question, that's what the ethics investigation is supposed.

supposed to be for. So here's more from Frank's resignation. You know, an important part of the conversation we've been having the last few months has been about how men abuse their power and privilege to hurt women. I am proud that during my time in the Senate, I have used my power to be a champion of women. And that I have earned a reputation. as someone who respects the women I work alongside every day. I know there's been a very different picture of me painted over the last few weeks, but I know who I really am. Serving in the United States Senate has been the great honor of my life.

I know in my heart that nothing I have done as a senator, nothing has brought this honor on this institution. And I am confident that the Ethics Committee would agree. Nevertheless, today I am announcing that in the coming weeks, I will be resigning as a member of the United States Senate. Either admitted or fight it. So he says he's sure that. I think the investigation will clear.

By the way, let's note here that he said nothing he's done as senator would dishonor the Senate. I don't know if he's being lawyerly there and saying, well, I might have done it earlier, but I didn't do it while I was in the Senate. That's not a great distinction. It's some distinction, but it's not a great distinction. I don't know if that's the one he was making. Again, here, I'm not biased in favor of Al Franken. And if you're talking about politics, he's gone.

And he's going to be replaced by another Democrat. In that sense, it has no political ramifications. I hope the next Democrat fights harder for progressive issues. So I'm, you could agree, you could disagree, but I, this one feels weird. Here's part three. This has been a tough few weeks for me, but I am a very, very lucky man. I have a beautiful, healthy family that I love, and that loves me very much. I'm going to be just fine.

So people criticize them for saying that. Well, look, again, if he did it, he should profusely apologize to the woman that he took advantage of in those moments, right? And he shouldn't be concerned about himself. But has it been a tough couple of weeks for Al Franken? It has also been a tough couple of weeks. Now, if he did it, he deserved it to be a tough couple of weeks,

and then he should have thought of that before grabbing women and putting them in a terribly awkward position. They should have the ethics investigation. Now we will literally never know. All right. One last part here where I definitely agree with him. I, of all people, am aware that there is some irony in the fact that I am leaving while a man who is bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office

and a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls. campaigns for the Senate with the full support of his party. But this decision is not about me. It's about the people of Minnesota. It's become clear that I can't both pursue the Ethics Committee process and at the same time remain an effective senator for them. Well, look, the last point I don't agree with, it depends

like this whole idea of distraction what does that mean distraction so it's like what the thing the Democrats say right before they throw one of their own under a bus so yeah I think you could be an effective

look the senators basically do nothing they do very very very little work so you can still continue to do that work while pursuing the ethics investigation to its conclusion but the part I wholeheartedly agree with is okay if L. Franken is resigning we know that Donald Trump did worse

There's 16 to 20 allegations against Donald Trump of allegations including all the way up to sexual assault, even his ex-wife, in court papers saying rape. And that's because, according to her, not, look, these are all uncomfortable conversations. But if Al Franken is resigning in the divorce papers, Donald Trump's wife said that he was mad at her because she just suggested a doctor for her hair transplant. The buffoon got a hair transplant, but he said it was painful, so he took it out on her by raping her. But Al Franken has to resign, but President Trump doesn't have to resign. Hell no, hell no. So, look, this is the tiny little bit thing we can do, but we're trying whatever we can. Petition, t-y-tnetwork.com slash resign.

Now that Senator Al Franken has resigned for inappropriate behavior toward women, President Donald Trump must also resign for far worse behavior toward women. Where's the question? Where's the question? I don't understand where the question is. If the new standard is you get accused by women, there is no investigation, you resign. I understand. And a great number of accusations does definitely raise the eyebrows.

And it does it about Franken. And I don't know if he did it or not. And if he did it, of course, he should resign. But if Franken resigns based on far less accusations, is a far look, and in Trump's case far worse behavior, well then of course Trump should resign. We should have 100,000 people, a million, 10 million, 100 people sign that petition until the song bitch resigns. Why do we have two different standards for Democrats and Republicans? It's totally outrageous. So I got no love for Al Franken, but if he thinks

he didn't do it, then he should do the ethics investigation. We should find out. If he thinks I did do it and I don't want the ethics investigation that I'm stepping down, then that was a terrible resignation speech because you're getting rid of your responsibility because you know you're going to get caught and then turning around and saying you didn't do it. But I don't know which one of those things is the case. I do know if Frank and resigns, Trump should definitely resign. No ends ifs or buts. And we should, I don't know, surround the White House, surround Washington, D.C., March

every day until he resigns. I fail to see under what possible standard should Franken resign, but Trump shouldn't. Makes no goddamn sense at all. Okay. If that's not clear enough, let's go to the next story.

Okay. So there's only one guy, in my opinion, making sense. And unsurprisingly, it's Bernie Sanders again. It's on the issue of Al Franken and inappropriate behavior towards women. So he went on CBS. Let's watch. But I've talked to both Democrats and Republicans who say this.

Senator Franklin may likely step down today. Senator Moore possibly may be joining the Senate. And he has been accused of far worse than what Senator Franken is accused of. What is your take on that? How do you square that? Let me take it a little step further. We have a president of the United States

who acknowledged on a tape, widely seen all over this country that he assaulted women so I would hope that maybe the president of the United States might pay attention to what's going on and also think about resigning that is impeccable logic as usual the establishment in Washington goes oh Bernie Sanders making sense again a hundred percent right again no no no of course Donald Trump's not going to resign but he admitted on tape that he grabs women by the genitals and we have

stories from people like Jill Hart who says he did exactly that he cornered me in a room and he grabbed me by the genitals he groped me he attacked me we have 16 different women at a minimum charging that Donald Trump has done these things and worse he admits on the tape that he asks he kisses women without permission the exact charge against Franken that's the smallest of the charges against Donald Trump and he admits it and Billy Bush just came out and said yes he said it right to me there's seven other witnesses there's no question that Donald Trump has admitted it, and then we have women saying, yes, he did it to me. So if Al Franken has to resign, why doesn't Donald Trump have to resign?

Why do we always have two different standards for Democrats and Republicans? Democrats must concede, Republicans never concede. Well, I'm goddamn sick of it. And you should be, too. So here again, t-y-tnetwork.com slash resign. Now that Senator Al Franken has resigned for an inappropriate behavior toward women. President Donald Trump must also resign for far worse behavior toward women. Make him resign.

Look, Democrats constantly throw themselves under a bus, and Franken might have had it coming. I don't know if he did it or not. If he did do it, that I'm glad he resigned. I said from day one there should be an ethics investigation because you have to take those charges very, very seriously. Even though on the first day, Roger Stone came out, actually before the first day, came out and said, Al Franken is next. That means he knew the right-wing hatchet man knew they were targeting Al Franken. I said it on the first day, but I'm sorry I didn't emphasize it enough throughout. That is a huge telling sign. Most of now, look, most of the women against Al Franken are

anonymous. Normally, that's fine because there's a ton of pressure not to come out, and there might be consequences, et cetera. I understand that fully. But when you have a hatchet man, the hatchet man of the Republicans, snickering. about a plot against Al Franken and then you have a bunch of anonymous quotes okay but again if you accept what that Al Franken did something wrong and I am perfectly

happy to accept that if the investigation had concluded that no question about it then you must hold Trump to the same standard if we don't hold them to the same standard what are we doing here why why do Democrats have to

constantly concede and the Republicans never concede. I'm so goddamn sick of it. So, no, I don't know how we're going to do it. I don't know if a billion people sign that petition, I don't know that he wouldn't do it. But at least it creates pressure. At least it gets the rest of the knucklehead media to talk about it.

There, Gail King did a good job. But right now, if you propose to the mainstream media, then obviously there should be pressure. There should be pressure on Trump to resign. Today, Frank and resigned, Trump should resign. They'll say, oh, no, that's not going to happen. Well, why isn't it going to happen? Why do Democrats have to constantly be held to a different standard than the Republicans?

It should be the same standard. They did it, they got to go. And if Franken asked to resign, t-y-tnetwork.com slash resign, so does Donald Trump. God damn it. Sick of this stuff. No, he's... Have an answer. Go ahead.

We've talked about this before. There's a target audience for politicians. Republicans, we know many of their block audience are people that are willing to accept things. After the war, more things came out, people even, after they twisted themselves and knots to defend them and say, no, it didn't really happen 40 years ago. They said, oh, by the way, if it did happen, I don't really care anyway. So you can completely implicate someone in their voting bloc will still support them, no matter what, because there's a lot. care about those policies. Many Democratic voters, liberals, middle of the road, Democrats will see these allegations, enough will believe, and say, oh, yeah, I probably did happen. Look, I see

those pictures. Look at that groping picture when they're on the flight. All these things happen. And even if he stays in office, he's pretty much done anyway. They're going to lose trust in him because generally those voters don't want to see that and they will vote against them or they won't support him in the next time coming up or won't support whatever else he does because they can't stop seeing that guy for doing what it seems that he did. You're right. I think there's two different factors I play. One, I think the Democrats are just, their leadership is incredibly weak.

I do. And you can say that's not appropriate in this case. You can say whatever you want. I think they're weak. So they love to give in. They love, love to give in the pressure. But Jarre is absolutely right about the second part. Democratic voters are moral human beings.

So if Conyers has done something immoral, he's a civil rights legend. He's a political legend. Still, he's got to go because we're moral, and we don't think he should be a lot of grow up women and do what he did. Now, they're not anonymous. A lot of them have come forward. They send it on TV. They explain the things that he did.

He's got to go. Anthony Wiener's got to go. I'm not going to vote for him again because we're moral. Whereas a lot of the conservative Republican voters have no morality. They have no morality at all. So they're like, I don't care that you're a child predator. as long as not my kid I don't care go do whatever you want

I just I'm going to choose not to believe it even though those charges are enormously credible not anonymous backed up by witnesses at the time even written down by more it doesn't matter they're not moral human beings they don't care they're like as long as he votes for

taxists for the rich and hates Latinos Muslims Jews and whoever else and black certainly then I'm going to vote for him you know why because conservative voters a lot of them, not all of them, but a lot of them, especially the ones down in Alabama, are deeply immoral, deeply, deeply, immoral. They will vote for child molesters, as long as that child molester hates the same people

they hate. That's the difference between Republicans and Democrats, Young Turks. Thanks for watching. We're listening to this free version of the Young Turks podcast. You know that the full show is at t-y-tnetwork.com slash join. If you become a member, you get the full show ad-free. We love you for watching or listening. Either way, there's going to be a new free podcast tomorrow.

You can keep on doing that. But if you want to get the full show ad-free, t-y-tnetwork.com slash join. 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 at apple.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Yugar, and I'll see you soon.