The Young Turks - The Young Turks - December 15, 2020

Episode Date: December 16, 2020

Nina Turner is running for congress! Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur discuss on The Young Turks. 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. All right, welcome to the Young Turks, Jake U Granite, Consparing, with you guys. I promised you an excellent guest at the top of today's show. I believe I've delivered. Joining us now, Senator Nina Turner and Future, we hope, Congresswoman from the 11th District of Ohio. Senator Turner, welcome back to the Oog Turks. Thank you, so great to join you, Jink, and Anna.

Anna. Great to have you. Yes, and I'd like to say Nina Turner.com slash hello. I heard you found that link before it actually went public. I heard people were blowing up. Jake, is this real? I don't know how you said that thing, but she did. thing, but she did. Well, you know, I'm not saying I'm a journalist. I'm just saying.

No, all right. So listen, for the folks who don't know, Need Turner, of course, campaign co-chair for Bernie Sanders, former state senator in Ohio, former Democratic nominee for Secretary of State in Ohio, and former councilwoman in Cleveland is running for the 11th District of Ohio, because Marsha Fudge has gotten appointed to Housing and Urban Development Secretary, we hope obviously that she gets confirmed, and that would make this seat open. And Senator Turner had not declared yet, but she has today. So that's what brings her here. So let me start with the most obvious question, which is what makes you want to run for this particular seat in the United States Congress? Well, Jay, it's a continuation of my public service. The people needed is for

times such as this. There's so much suffering in my district and all across this country and the type of voice that I would bring in the work and the fight to ensure that in the Congress, the Congress is uniquely positioned, particularly the House of Representatives to deliver for the people. And I want to be among those members who are willing to deliver. I want to congratulate my current Congresswoman for being selected by President-elect Joe Biden to serve as the Secretary Terry HUD, I believe that she would do an extraordinary job. And I am looking forward to continuing the legacy of that district. A lot of people don't know the history of that district.

It was created because of the Civil Rights Act. Mayor Carl B. Stokes fought very hard to get that district. Congressman Lewis Stokes was the first. That district has only had three congresspeople in almost 51 years. And Congressman Lewis Stokes was the first African American to go to Congress from the great state of Ohio. Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, who died suddenly and unexpectedly from a brain aneurysm in 2008. She stood up for the people. She stood up for health care and she voted against the Iraq War.

And then we have Congresswoman Marsha Fudge. So there is a history in that district. I want to not only continue that history, but take that history to another level. And that is certainly what I plan to do, fighting for $15 an hour. I want to double the wage here in Cleveland. And that will help people all over this country. Certainly health care is vitally important for folks. COVID has just disrupted and peeled back the fissagers of a system gone mad, gone wrong, where the everyday or the work of day people of this country have suffered. And my district certainly has bore the brunt of that suffering. So I'm going to stand up for the people of this district. And by extension, my state and this nation. Right. So now the link that we had told you about and found before Senator Turner announced was

Nina Turner.com slash hello for fundraising purposes, which is absolutely critical for progressive running. So I wanted to just say, look, I never really thought about it that way until you just laid it out. But there's obviously some folks who are in Congress like John Lewis who were legendary in and of them in their own right, right? But with Stokes and Tubbs Jones and Marshall Fudge and you, this could be the most story district. Certainly one of the most story districts in the country. I mean, that is some powerhouse. Yes. No, it is. I mean, that think about that fight in the, in the six, I mean, the year that I was born, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. came to this city to help Carl B. Stokes become the first black mayor

of a major city. The history of this city of producing those types of public servants that create the footsteps. They create the footprints. They create the path. The city of Cleveland is the nucleus for that, greater Cleveland by extension. This district now is different because of redistricting, so we have portions of Cahoe County, portions of Cahoe County and Summit County, but absolutely continuing that long history of fighting for what is right, for what is just, and for what is good. It is one of the most storied, historically significant districts in the country by far. Senator Turner, right now there is, you know, I think understandably a pretty ferocious debate among the left regarding how effective progressive members of Congress have been and

whether or not they're actually willing to fight for us. What I think is pretty demonstrable regarding your style is that you do not hold back in any way, you're a tough fighter, you're a strong communicator, and I think that's important in, you know, garnering support for the policies that we know that Americans desperately need. How do you translate that messaging into strategy? Have you thought a little bit about how you would maneuver as a member of Congress in order to actually get these policy proposals passed? Thank you so much for that question.

The progressives are can be more of an influence now than they ever have been. As our numbers continue to climb in that Congress to form a block and that block is to make good trouble in the words of Congressman John Lewis, this is the time because so many neoliberal types of moderate Democrats lost in this last election cycle because they didn't stand up for Medicare fraud. They didn't have an economic message, but progressives prevailed. And so we can form a unity. You're talking about a unity pack. A shown up unity pack can happen with progressives in that Congress whereby we can control a lot of the flow, maybe not 100%, but more than ever before of what happens and start to make a demand. And when we make that demand,

It needs to be a consequence if that demand is not met. And that demand is for the people. Medicare for all, fight for 15, green new deal. We standing up and we got to stay united in that and let the chips fall where they may. So this is the time for progressives in that Congress to start flexing for the people. And I'm here for it. So Senator Turner, that goes to what I was going to ask as well. So as Frederick Douglass said, power never concedes without a demand.

And you mentioned the good trouble that John Lewis talked about. But of course, most of the mainstream media is opposed to good trouble. And so when you have a so-called compromise like the one we're going to discuss later today on the show of basically $188 billion in new money when the Democratic Party started with a $3.4 trillion demand, and would it look down to that? Well, how are you willing to draw the line and what would you draw it for in this context, For the COVID relief, though? Well, definitely have not, first of all, I'm trying to contain myself because it's certainly, it's immoral.

I really have no words that I can say on this show to describe the anger that I feel. You know, I work for one of the mayors of the city of Cleveland. He used to say to his cabinet, if your hair is on fire, your hair is on fire. And so I act like my hair is on fire. I can be cool, calm and collected while people are suffering. So the Congress itself, and this president, no doubt, should be ashamed that they have left millions and millions of people out in the cold and being so cavalier about it and using them as as ponds on a board.

I want the American people to understand that. One, cash payments, the current iteration of that stimulus must have cash payments. and not just a one-time cash payments. How is it that other industrialized nations can make sure that their citizens are taking care of? They're uplifting businesses to keep their workers productive. And the hegemon nation itself can't do it. And playing political games during a presidential election

that is totally unacceptable in this crisis moment. I get it. I'm a politician. Sometimes, you know, you've got to maneuver and do some things. But when you have the level of people, hundreds of thousands of people die, millions of people have COVID, people being evicted from their homes, not knowing where their next meal is going to come from. And you still want to play those kind of games? Cash payments, Jane, period. And it needs to be a guaranteed basic income.

And why can't we open up Medicare for all, especially for all the people who are suffering from COVID right now? Let's do that. Why can't we do it? It's about political will. Yeah, I think you're absolutely right about that. And, you know, it reminded me of a statement I heard by Matt Stoller recently. He was being interviewed and he made an interesting point about messaging by progressives regarding these policy proposals and how the framing has really been that these proposals are radical, right? They're so different. It's almost like fringe. But when you really look at these proposals, I mean, when you look at, let's say, free college, free public college specifically, these are things that we had in the United States. They

They were chipped away through decades of neoliberal policy. And so what do you think about that framing? And how do you intend on really selling these policies to people who might have fallen victim to some of the corporate media propaganda regarding how, quote unquote, radical it is? One of the beautiful things about my, one of the beautiful things about my ability to be able to travel all over this country and take the great takes. the city of Cleveland, this district with me everywhere that I went, is that what they call radical, I define is right on time. And so the way we're going to have those conversations with people, because most people either know somebody or have somebody in their family that has been impacted by COVID. And so when I say to Ms. Johnson or Mr. Gonzalez, do you know what

Medicare for all, what universal health care would do would mean for you and your family? See, They understand that. They might not label themselves as progressives, but we're going to talk about the issues. What they call radical is right on time. Most of the American people are right where we are, those of us who identify as being progressives or liberation fighters, but it's just having those kinds of conversations without the label. Do you believe that you deserve $15 an hour? What some folks call radical, we call right on time. Do you believe that student debt should be canceled? Well, what they call radical, is right on time. What's radical is to continuously bail out the ultra, ultra wealthy in this country and lead the average citizen to fend for themselves. That is what is radical. Not only is it radical, it's immoral. So on the whole, most of the American people, no matter how they identify politically, are right where we are when it comes to canceling student debt, $15 an hour minimum wage, the Green New Deal, they're right with us. And as leaders, in this movement, we just have to speak their love language.

That's it. And get them to move and to make the demand. And we got to have a consequence for the demand. You know, our sisters and brothers and other countries rise up. And they take it all the way to the streets on a regular basis. And I know COVID makes it harder to do that. But we got to remind people that they deserve so much better than what they're getting. And we can afford it.

If the military industrial complex that continues to blow up every single Congress, they have no problem with enriching the military industrial complex. But when it comes to making sure a big mama got health care, you got a problem. You want to know how we're going to pay for it. So we need a complete paradigm shift and a reimagining in this country. And I want the American people to know they're worth it. They deserve it. It's their money. And we need a new social contract.

Oh, I need a turner.com slash hello. Okay. So when you talked about fighting for big mama, I was it. And look, you're speaking the language that voters understand, which is you're worth it. Like the politicians aren't supposed to serve the corporate donors. So let me do a quick question that I want to do a larger one. Are you going to take corporate pack money in this run? No, no corporate pack money for me.

grassroots. Senator Sanders certainly showed us the way. Yeah. It's a long way. And I know the presidency has a lot more cachet, but people can throw it out the window that it can't be done. He did it twice. And it's worth, I believe in campaign finance reform in this country. I know it's not going to happen overnight, but we're going to keep fighting for it. So no pack money for me, no super PAC money for me. So if there's if there's no super PAC money, then you got everybody, Nina turn.com slash hello. I mean, that's that's how progressives win. And so, but let me get to the larger issue here. Now, if I cannot imagine that if everyone in the district saw a debate between you and the other candidates, that the other, I don't know who they are, but I can't imagine how they'd stand a chance, right? I mean, you are a seasoned professional. You are great at this. And that is why you rose up from, you know, being a state politician to being the co-chair of one of the major presidential candidates in this country. Of course, that's not how it works. Folks get their news filter. through the media. And the media hasn't been overly kind to progressives historically. And so one of the first things I saw from the media was, well, this is a Biden heavy district. Okay, I don't really know what that means. Does that mean that the folks co-signed on to not having Medicare for all? Do they know that, et cetera? So how do you navigate this, given what a strong progressive of you are and a so-called Biden district. Again, maybe you could help clarify if that means anything at all.

I've won in portions of this district when I was a state senator, a portion of the 11th is in my district. Over 330,000 constituents vote rocked with me and I rocked with them. So I think I know a little bit about this district and what they want, what their whole and dreams are. I'm just going to take it straight to the American people. It's fine. Those things are not mutually exclusive voting for me.

And people who voted for Vice President Biden, now President Elect Biden, who want to vote for me. Those two things are not mutually exclusive. Vote for me. You need somebody in Congress who's going to have your interest at heart all of the time who is willing to take it to the hole for you. And so I'm going to fight for every single vote. That's how I'm going to win this district.

And quite frankly, labeling the district in that way doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I would say that this is Mayor Carl B. Stokes district. I would say this is Congressman Lewis Stokes' district. This is Congresswoman Seventy Tubbs-Jones district, Congresswoman Marshall Puzzle, but this is the district of the people and not any one politician, even me. Yeah. Owns or controls.

Yeah, I mean, I'll just say that if you want a huge portion of the district before, it is a lot more of a Nina Turner district than it is a Joe Biden district because you literally want it. Yeah, you're right. That's right. Thank you. I did. I did serve half of the district.

So yes, it's my district too. So it's enough room at the end for everybody is my message. I wanted to ask a little more about your views on how the grassroots can be active in spurring real change in the country. Obviously, they've been pretty effective in getting progressives elected into Congress, especially progressives who have been willing to challenge some of these Democratic incumbents, who certainly do take money from super PACs and have shown that they're far more interested in represent. their donors as opposed to their own constituents. And so I'm wondering if, you know, you believe that progressive members of Congress can

work with the grassroots in order to organize something like a general strike in order to apply pressure to Joe Biden when it comes to a lot of these policy proposals, like the Green New Deal for instance. Now Joe Biden has said on two different occasions that he is willing to veto Medicare for all if it ends up on his desk. And so that shows me that even if we win congressionally, there needs to be direct pressure toward Biden specifically to ensure that he actually implements these types of policies. What are your thoughts on that? Amen to that.

And I know he has said that and hopefully there was room to evolve on that. I can't imagine that he really meant that. He said it. So we shall see that that, that especially in this day and time, what's happening with COVID is totally unacceptable. The only way that people like me, the people who get a chance to have the fancy titles are able to advance justice. What is good, what is just, and what is right is because of the grassroots. They are the wind beneath our wings. And it is our job to be in conversation.

It's first to understand and then to be understood. But they are the reason and the only way that people are going to move, the constituents of this nation, The voters of this nation, the people of this nation are going to have to get in there and show the elected officials that in the words of Fannie Lou Hamer, they're sick and tired and sick and tired. They're not going to take it anymore and that there will be a consequence that we cannot fall so in love with any politician, that including me, any politician that you won't challenge them, especially if they're not standing up for your best interest. So the progressive caucus needs, we have to have the grassroots to help us advance in the general. Because hope is one thing, putting pressure on people is another. And both of those things go together. Hope and pressure go together.

100%. So let me end on this question then. So you mentioned good trouble earlier. And Danny Glover and endorsing you today in your announcement said that you invite people to participate in their own rescue. And I thought that was a great way of framing it. So in terms of your campaign, and then as Anna alluded to later, if you win, how you run this office, how do you plan on bringing people in to participate? Because usually the politicians are walled off, right? If you got a big check, they were willing to see you.

And I remember when Diane Feinstein was running in California, and she didn't even have a volunteer tab on our website. She didn't understand what that even meant. Why would I want the people to participate? So I'm wondering how you're going to make that materialize within your campaign and beyond. It is a larger district and a larger task, and I certainly understand that. But I want to do, Jink, just what I did when I was a councilwoman. You know, I used to have talks with Turner sessions. I would go to different libraries in my ward and meet the constituents where they are.

I did walks with Turner, talks with Turner and walks with Turner. And I remember walking through the community with my elders who were very concerned about what they were seeing. And they were on patrol. It was called the CB patrol. And it was men and women. I'm just smiling because just to think about how my elders got out there with their walkie-talkies and they're out there protecting the community and me being right there by their side. It's the same thing that I did when I was a state senator. Again, a bigger district, but the method is still the same.

It is my job as a public servant. I'm not elected to be a celebrity, a rock star. are put up on a pedestal. I am elected to serve. And one of the ways that you serve is to be in constant contact with your constituents. So they can be assured that the training that I had all the way to this moment, even from being a big sister, as I joked about in my speech, which is my first training that I'm the oldest of seven children.

That entire life experience to this point has helped me to understand and to know how important it is to keep the pulse of the people. And one of the ways you do that is to meet them where they are. Luckily now, we have more tools at our disposal to do that. So I'm going to go in 3D. God knows, hopefully COVID will be, you know, we got the vaccines. We got to get it out and we got to see how things. But when 2021, 2022, I will be there 3D throughout the district.

That is Cuyahoga County and Summit County. People will know will be able to touch me, will be able to talk to me. And Jake, I'm going to tell you something. The people who work in my staff, they will know that they serve the people. people, everybody, whether we can give them exactly what they want or not, deserve to be served. And I will not tolerate as I have never tolerated in any of the offices that I have served in. My constituents not knowing that they can reach us, that we are here for them because but for them, we would not have the pleasure and the privilege to serve.

I am at the service of the people. Now, that doesn't mean the people are going to always agree with me, but I am at their service. I work on their behalf. Yeah, it sounds like both to Congress and your constituents, your first two words are going to be, hello somebody. All right, Nina Turner's former state center from Ohio, now running for U.S. Congress from Ohio. Nina Turner.com is the website where you could volunteer as well and get hooked up with the campaign. Nina turn.com slash hello is where you can donate to a people-powered progressive campaign. And for all of you who don't know the progressive world, just check out the website, look at the issues, and make up your mind for yourself and have the courage to participate in your own rescue.

And for those of you who do know Nina Turner for the progressive hero that she is, this is the time. Okay, so just in time, just as you were saying. All right, Senator Nina Turner, thank you so much for joining us. on the Young Turks. Thank you both so very much. My pleasure. I look forward to coming back. Absolutely. Thank you, Senator Turner. Thank you. All right, guys, we're going to take a quick break now. When we come back, we've got so much news for you guys, including the big dogs have finally weighed in on Trump versus Biden. Who won the election? Vladimir Putin's going to tell us. No, Mitch McConnell. We'll talk about it when we come back.

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All right, time to give you guys some of your comments. Jess wrote it in the member section. Since 2050, when I first saw Miss Nina Turner, she has inspired me in a way that nobody, I mean nobody has ever inspired me to care about politics before. She gave me chills and brought tears to my eyes because her passion for our country and our people is inspiring. Here, here, Jeffs, I totally agree. Next, TYT reporter writes in, once you're elected, we really need you in leadership.

We need you trying for leadership every chance you get. And so I agree with all these, just to say that up front. LMG15 says, need a turner running for Congress is the 2020 plot twist we need. Totally. Totally. At the end of 2020, a plot twist we didn't expect, which is awesome. John writes in, what this radical stuff is, is trickle up economics that would save this country. And in the end, the rich will get their money, but after it goes through the communities a number of times, this is what the country needs to make it great again. So that's a twist on trickle down. I can always has triple trickle up economics.

Roger Meadows says, I was hoping Nina would run to unseat Portman in two years. We need more progressives in Senate to stop corporate-friendly judges, justices from getting appointed. I hear your brother, one thing at a time. Okay, so Ray Turner writes in, I'm a Brit living in the UK. Is it legal for me to contribute money for politicians to run for office? If not, is there anything I could do from here? So the answer to that is, no, you cannot contribute if you're not a U.S. citizen. So I'm keeping in real.

On the other hand, progressive media helps. And you might not have seen Nina Turner if you didn't have the young turrets. I'm not saying anything, I'm just saying. It's both self-serving and true. So Isaac writes in, hello somebody, vote with your dollar, vote with your volunteering vote, contribute monthly, y'all. Alexia Bell says, Nina Turner for Congress, hello somebody. Captain Lieutenant writes in

Nina Turner isn't just Ohio's candidate. She's America's candidate. Time to pony up. So first of all, thank you all for using super chat. We appreciate it. Secondly, yes, nina Turner.com slash hello. These folks just signed up to be young tourist members by

hitting the join button below on YouTube. Anne Delaney, Samuel O'Nodden, Nikki just me, Michael Christensen, and Jessica Hartman, upgraded to Essential so you get the post games. out. And Obi-Mom Knobe gifted 50 subs on Twitch are the best. I've got more from Twitch later. Stay right here. All right on the Young Turks, Jank and Anna with you guys, lots of stories, Anna, let's do it.

All right. As more and more Americans slip deeper into poverty as a result of this pandemic, congressional lawmakers, especially a bipartisan group of senators, have decided to offer up smaller and smaller versions of the COVID relief bill, which makes great content for our latest edition of the dumb and the feckless. One of my prayers is that the Republicans will take back their part of it. Things keep dripping out, drip, drip, drip, drip, and the truth comes out. What's incredible is how self-congratulatory these senators are, starting with Senator Joe Manchin,

who decided to open a press briefing with this ridiculous bragging about, oh, how difficult it is to come up with a solution, but here we are with it. But what is this so-called solution? Before we go to his video, let me just note that this bipartisan group unveiled one $748 billion package that includes new unemployment benefits, small business aid, and other programs that received broad bipartisan support. But that $748 billion price tag is significantly less than what the House passed through its Heroes Act, which of course would spend about $2.2 trillion. In fact, prior to the general election, Donald Trump himself had offered up $1.8 trillion. But now, of course, since he's been voted out, he has no incentive to keep pushing for a relief bill that actually makes any sense. And so what's the response to all of it? Well, every week we get another proposal by a bipartisan group of lawmakers that does not include direct checks to Americans. And to be quite honest with you, it doesn't even really rely on much in new spending.

I'll get to those details in just a second. But before we get to Mansion, just remember this bill and the other bill that I'm going to detail, complete horse crap. But here's Mansion bragging about it. I know there's an awful lot of you thought that can't be done. You surely, the goodness, couldn't everything agreed on and put into a bill. Well, guess what? We did. There's the bill. And then, and to make matters even better, we have too, because with every good negotiation,

you want to make sure you've covered everything. The only problem is it doesn't cover everything. It does not provide direct checks to Americans. Something that Bernie Sanders has said is a non-starter. In fact, he argued it astounds me how just a few months ago in May, the Democratic House passed a hero bill, which was, by the way, $3.4 trillion at the time. What kind of negotiating is that? And I think that he's right. Democrats just keep playing ball with the demands by GOP lawmakers. And so, Jank, why don't you jump in and share your thoughts on all of this?

Yeah, first of all, it's kind of interesting. The last line of Bernie Sanders there is more powerful, but it's now being left out of all the stories, which I'm surprised by, because usually I like powerful lines, but he said it's not a negotiation, it's a collapse. And that's exactly right. I mean, if you started a 3.4 trillion and you wound up at 188 billion, I mean, do I need to do the math for you? Probably this, but it's tiny. That's a tiny, tiny, tiny percentage. What is that, like 5% of what you originally asked for? And by the way, what did I use to say about Barack Obama and his establishment enablers. I'd say it wasn't change, it was pocket change. We asked for a dollar and we got a nickel. And that's exactly what happened here, almost to the

dollar, okay? And so, Anna, one of the things I got out of that press conference is, I just figured out who the next president is. And it's not Donald Trump or Joe Biden. It's Joe Mansion. Mansion is now running the place. The people you heard clapping there were Republicans and Democrats. Joe Manchin, nice job on the nickel. Tell everybody that the nickel's so shiny. It's so wonderful, right? And by the way, the press is clapping along. Every article I read about this is enormously complimentary. And, you know, and he said it there, you thought we couldn't get bipartisan compromise. No, maybe the mainstream media thought that. We've been telling people, no, you guys would get compromise super easy and quick. You just agree. The rich should get

everything, right? Right, right, right. Hey, look at that. We're all agreed. Bernie Sanders and Josh Hawley disagree. But outside of that, we're all agreed the rich should get everything, but we're back to bipartisan compromise. The problem isn't that you can't compromise. It's what you compromise on. Yeah, that's exactly right. And one of the Democratic senators who's a little too willing to compromise in the direction of what Republicans want is the second most powerful Democratic Senator, and that's Dick Durbin, who, by the way, is certainly willing to sign on to legislation that does not provide funding for state and local government, which, by the way, if they don't appropriate funding for that, keep in mind that states right now are also

suffering from this pandemic and states are also responsible for their own statewide unemployment program. So if the federal government does not provide the funding that these states desperately need, not only will their public employees suffer, but the people in these states will also suffer because the state is not going to have the funds necessary to pay their unemployment benefits. So it does affect everyone when Democrats agree to cutting funding for state and local government. And so I also want to share a few other details about this legislation and why it's such issue. The legislation includes 16 weeks of unemployment benefits at $300 per week for jobless Americans, as well as 16 week extensions in base unemployment benefits and the unemployment

program for gig workers and independent contractors. I will say it's positive that they're thinking about gig workers and independent contractors who far too often are not covered by certain regulations or certain protections. And so it's good that they're thinking about them. But $300 per week and unemployment benefits is obviously much smaller than what Americans received through the CARES Act, which was $600 a week. I also want to just quickly note that there's no language here about retroactive unemployment benefits. Because the fact of the matter is Americans are, they owe back rent as soon as the moratorium

is lifted. And that's thousands and thousands of dollars for many Americans. And that isn't being addressed at all with this ridiculous. slim package. I also want to note that there was over $500 billion left over from the CARES Act that remains unspent. What they're planning on doing is using that unspent money in order to fund this relief package. So when you consider that and then you look at what they're willing to spend on this package, you can see that the newly appropriated money isn't even anywhere close to $748 billion because they're again relying on unspent money through the CARES Act.

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That's E-X-P-R-E-S-S-V-P-N dot com slash T-YT. Check it out today. Bottom of the third, no, the fourth article that I read about this. Almost no one clarifies, by the way, this ain't 908 or $748 billion. It's just $188 billion. The only person who's clarifying it is Bernie Sanders. And so if they quote him on it, at the end of one of the articles, you'll see it. Otherwise, you won't see it at all.

The media is right back to doing what they used to do before Trump. The Democrats are back to doing what they used to do. I'll only give Biden, not a pass, but jury's still out. They claim he's going to do a big coronavirus bill once he gets into office. Okay, and maybe he will. And so if he does, fantastic, then I'm here for it, and we'll give him the leeway to propose that. But right now, as things stand, they're working on the bill right now. Joe Biden publicly hasn't weighed in at all.

I mean, if you're asking who's more in charge, I mean, he beat Bernie Sanders in the primary, but Bernie Sanders is in the fight. Joe Biden right now doesn't appear to be in the fight. The only way that he would be in the fight is if he's quietly behind the scenes telling Joe Manchin, go get him, do that deal. We're going to get a whole 5%.

We're back to my Obama-Biden days where we get 5% from Republicans and celebrate. If that's how these next two years go, let alone four years, they're going to get slaughtered in the midterms. It's not only terrible policy, but it's also horrific politics. Exactly. And of course, it would be malpractice to not mention that this bipartisan effort also includes a liability shield for corporations, and it would be retroactive. That means that for these corporations that have cut corners and refuse to protect their employees during this pandemic, they would be cleared of any liability or any lawsuits if this legislation passes. And so think about the workers from the Tyson meatpacking plant who have filed wrongful death lawsuits against Tyson as a result of their malpractice,

their unwillingness to protect workers. Dozens of these employees have died. their lawsuit would be null and void as a result of this legislation passing in the way that it's being proposed right now. And so we're going to talk a little bit more about how Joe Manchin is very much supportive of that portion of the legislation later in the show. But just understand who this so-called Democrat Joe Manchin really is. He's someone who has taken this opportunity as a Democratic senator to proudly serve as an obstacle to passing legislation that actually benefits the American people, including his own constituents.

Yeah. So I want to say the last two things here, because the media mischaracterizes progressives completely. So they say, oh, my God, you guys are not settling for a nickel. You're so radical. No, is there anything we would compromise on? Sure. But we got to get at least close to 50% before we get to a deal. So it's not that we never have a deal, it's just that we don't want terrible deals.

If you can't see that obvious point that we're making, you're trying really hard not to see it. And it's weird that the national media tries really hard not to see the truth. Okay, and point number two is Joe Manchin says, I want you guys don't get it. you progressives are such knuckleheads. You can't win in a red state like mine if you're a populace and you're looking out for the people. You have to look out for big business. That's how you win in a red state. Wait a minute. Then Josh, how's Josh Hawley winning in Missouri as a Republican? And he is saying that people should get the $1,200 checks. And guess what? They love it in Missouri. He beat a corporate Democrat just like you. He beat Claire McCaskill.

So they tried your method in Missouri and Josh Hawley at right winger came out and said, no, let's help the people instead. Let's give him $1,200 checks. Let's be a populist. And he won. So you look, no matter what you think of Josh Hawley's other positions, and I don't like his other positions, you cannot say that a populist position cannot win in a red state because it just did. Yep, absolutely. Well, we'll give you a little more. about Joe Manson's position on the relief package after we come back from the break. So definitely don't miss it. And please like and share the stream. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. Stay right here all throughout tonight because we got a free post camp for everybody. And then we got Turks and jerks tonight. Who's going to be the jerk of the year and the Turk of the year? It's exciting times. So now let me, let me, go to your comments here and change my Borg destination, writes in in the member section, Nina understands Trump's secret, branding, repeat the message in as many mediums as possible, as simple and straightforward, and it works. You're 100% right about that. Warlock is saying something that I'm seeing more and more in our comments. He's saying at one time I respected Joe Manchin for civil compromise, but then I learn more about what the fossil fuel companies do under his nose, which he allows. He's theoretically laudable, but his earnest spirit of compromise

This is actually a trumpet of defeat. If that which you fight for is insufficient, your efforts are at best mood. First of all, that's very eloquent. So thank you, Warlock. Second of all, I used to see in the comments all the time, I was a right winger, you guys flipped me to being a progressive. I used to be a conservative, I used to be evangelical, et cetera. What I'm seeing more and more now is folks saying, I used to be a mainstream Democrat because

of what the media told me. Then when you guys told me something else, I looked into it and I researched it and oh my God, you were right, okay? And that's what's making people progressive. All you got to do is take that veil of the mainstream media off their eyes and then they can see clearly. In fact, we had a donor at t.wit.com slash go, Greg Drakowski. I don't know how much he donated that I don't care. He just had a great comment that I wanted to share with you guys. He said, he's a Pennsylvania-based critical care paramedic. He provides care by transferring the sick and injured between hospitals.

And our guys told me that he's one of the strongest TYT supporters and obviously wanted to say thank you to Greg. But he also said that he's watched since 2016 and that the YouTube algorithm led him to a clip of jank. Before that, he described himself as a brunch liberal, but not a true progressive. Oh, I love it. I love it. Do you know what that's a reference to, Jing? Sorry, I had to joke. But I already love it. So brunch liberals are the ones who are like, if we could just get Joe Biden elected, we can go back to Rose all day and just brunch again. Like those are the brunch liberals. like who think Biden's perfect, there's no problem, and that Trump was like uniquely awful.

But in reality, money in politics makes a lot of politicians pretty awful. Yeah, to be fair, A, I love brunch, B, I'm looking forward to Rosé all day. Okay, Craig says is in its own words, there's a ton of pressure in corporate media to tow the line. It's not useful. That's why it's so important to have independent progressive media. People need to hear this. TYT.com slash go. We love you guys.

Thank you for getting our message up. All right, back on a young Turks, tons of show to get to. Casper, go. Well, Jank, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin has decided that rather than standing up for the best interests of his constituents, he's going to go ahead and kow to Republican demands on. on a COVID relief bill, which makes him pretty dumb and pretty feckless. One of my prayers is that the Republicans will take back their party. Things keep dripping out, drip, drip, drip, drip, and the truth comes out. Now, it's certainly worth focusing specifically on what Joe Manchin is willing to accept in a COVID relief bill.

And something that should be a non-starter for every single Democrat is what's referred to as a liability shield for corporations. Now, this liability shield would prevent companies from facing lawsuits regarding wrongful deaths or illnesses tied to coronavirus as a result of these companies failing to do what's necessary to protect their workers. Now, Joe Manchin apparently is very much in favor of this and decided to make it abundantly clear through public statements. Let's take a look. Now, Chris, the bottom line is on there's a lot of parts to this bill. And in the spirit of compromise, you have to work through all of that. But at the end, you can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. We're trying to get through the toughest first quarter of our country that we've ever faced.

And we've got people without nutrition. We have people without shelter. We have people without paychecks. They're unemployed. We have hospitals of bringing overburdened. We have health care workers. We have schools that need to be attended to. This covers all of that.

And we get all the small businesses a chance to survive. Now he's certainly embellishing what this proposal would do. We've talked about it in great detail in a previous story, but it certainly does not provide the economic relief that Americans desperately need right now, including retroactive unemployment benefits. It certainly has far less in unemployment benefits compared to what we saw under the CARES Act, which was $600 per week. versus the now proposed $300 a week. And it also doesn't provide direct checks to Americans at a time when they're certainly suffering and concerned about evictions. And so draft legislation regarding the liability shield, circulating the U.S. Senate would shield employers and healthcare industry executives from legal consequences when their business decisions injure or kill

workers, customers, and patients during the COVID-19 outbreak. So the way that it's written, by the way, would be retroactive. So the current lawsuits that have been filed against some of these major corporations would be void if what Joe Manchin and his centrist buddies are proposing actually does pass. Yeah. So look, this is a pretty clear case of the difference between us and corporate media. And so that's why we love being people powered. That's why we tell you to go to t.yt.com. slash join to be member and go to t yt.com slash go to to help us do this show. So here is a case where you can look it up yourself and see who's right and who's wrong. So as a matter of style,

we're obviously different than corporate media. We just call this segment the dumb and the feckless and it's referring to corporate Democrats. Meanwhile, if you look up any mainstream media article, you will see that they generally praise this deal. Oh, bipartisan compromises back. That by definition is good. Well, hold on now. You're saying it in a very positive way. But just as a match, you don't have to look this up. This is a sheer matter of logic. What's in the deal, right? Like just saying we got a deal doesn't mean anything. You would logically have to know what's in the deal. Is it to figure out if it's a good deal or a bad deal? Somebody says to you and you say, hey, congratulations. I'm giving me 20 bucks. You feel pretty good.

And the whole mainstream media goes, oh, my God, you got 20 bucks. They're like, oh, well, by the way, I forgot to tell you it's for your house. Get out of your house. I just bought it for 20 bucks. Well, now, are you happy with that compromise? No, of course you're not happy with a compromise because you need to know the details. So in this case, almost every article and almost every one on air is telling you that it's a $748 billion bill. What almost none of them are telling you is that over $500 billion of that was in the CARES Act.

And so it's just repurposed, repackaged. But it was already passed. So the new money being passed is $188 billion. So now you could look that up and you can see, are we right? Or is the entirety of the rest of mainstream media right? Now, that's a hell of a thing, right? Oh, you're pretty confident, jank, telling me that you're more right than that. Now, you could find it.

It's in the bottom of the articles. So not in every most of most of the articles, but in some of the articles you will see at the bottom. Oh, yeah, the new money is only $188 billion. How come that wasn't a headline? Remember, the Democrats originally asked for $3.4 trillion. We did the math on it earlier today. That's 5% of what they originally wanted. Now, if you were writing a good article that gave you the right information, including the context,

you would say Joe Manchin settled for 5% of his original demand. Now, if you wrote that headline, Manchin doesn't look as good. So you be the judge on who's giving you the news accurately and who isn't. Yeah, I completely agree with you on that. The way that these headlines are framed certainly does make Joe Manchin seem like this reasonable Democrat who's willing to do what it takes to pass a COVID relief bill. But of course, it could actually cause quite a bit of harm, a lot of damage when you consider how it does away with certain labor protections, worker protections related to this pandemic. So for instance, Michael Duff, who's the former National Labor Relations Board official, said the following, we are wiping out the laws of negligence. What they want to do in this bill is throw every lawsuit out before it conceivably gets to a jury. It means that a judge has the authority to dismiss a case right up front because there's no way that plaintiffs are going to be able to meet the standards, by the way, that are outlined in this bill.

and the standard is gross negligence. The legislation essentially says that the plaintiffs here would have to prove gross negligence, which is a conscious voluntary act or omission in reckless disregard of a legal duty. And that's an incredibly high standard. So the bill does outline what the standard is. The issue is the standard is so high that it's going to be nearly impossible for workers to meet that standard. if they choose to file a suit against their employer. It also restricts the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Occupational Safety Act, and the Civil Rights Act,

protect healthcare executives against negligence, as we've mentioned. And it gives the Attorney General the power to render all COVID-related lawsuits meritless. So it gives people in positions of power, nearly unlimited power in responding to these lawsuits, and it minimizes any power that the worker has. And so it's devastating and to see someone proudly support it and not get criticized, or at least not have it be framed properly by the media is beyond shameful. Yeah, so look, there are things that are arguable and things that are not. So if you're a business owner, you know the frivolous lawsuits exist.

And so, okay, I hear you on that. And I might have a different position than Anna does or the daily poster does on some of some of the details. But it's, but one thing that's not arguable is you should know the details. So for example, do you know this part? This is, I think, the worst part of the litigation issue in the suit. And again, outside of a couple progressive places, I haven't seen it in any article. So it says that if someone does a frivolous lawsuit and they lose, they're going to be charged $50,000. Wait a minute, wait a minute, that's a totally different ball of wax. So now look, that's over-correcting a problem. Even if you thought there was frivolous lawsuits, there's also good lawsuits.

And so obviously the way you tell that is you go to court, right? But if you're a worker and you don't have $50,000 and what they don't tell you, and this is really important, is that not only can you not sue because it'll bankrupt you if you lose, and they have all the lawyers in the world and you don't, especially at giant corporations, right? But no lawyer might take your case. In which case, that's it. All cases are shut down and you can't tell which ones are the good ones and which ones are the bad ones. Now, did anyone in mainstream media tell you that? My guess is no one told you. If you found one, you're like, oh my God, they're actually telling me the truth. That's amazing, right? You could look it up for yourself. These are facts. You can argue about policy positions. You cannot argue about facts. So we're right back into alternative facts, just in favor of the establishment. now instead of being on the side of Donald Trump. And again, on the issue of the percentages, you could say, if you say that any bipartisan

compromise is good and Joe mentioned getting just 5% of what Democrats originally wanted as good, by that definition, isn't 2% or 1% or half a percent also good because you had a deal. Again, they don't share any of that information with you. You might have a different opinion if you knew that it was only 5% of what the Democrats original answer. You might still agree with it. But that's for you to decide once you have all the information. We share that information with you, and we're not against compromise, and we're not doctrinarian. We have a range of opinions about these different issues. But it's supposed to be

the job of the media, to be honest with you. And that's what we do here. And I wish that others would take that kernel that they got from the Trump era of challenging the powerful and actually apply it to the most important thing, which is establishment Democrats. and establishment Republicans who actually run this country. Well, speaking of establishment or corporate Democrats, let's get back to reporting on Joe Biden's cabinet picks because there's a lot of bad stuff coming up, including a story that we'll talk about in greater detail tomorrow. He has, there's word that he's going to choose Pete Buttigieg as his transportation secretary. Again, we will discuss that in greater detail tomorrow. But for

today, let's talk about what we can maybe do to prevent a terrible cabinet pick moving forward. So, TYT investigates has found that one of Biden's top aides is being considered as a cabinet pick. And it's a disastrous situation because of his past in trying to privatize public education in the United States. His name is Bruce Reed. And he's reportedly up for a role within the new administration. It's unclear what that role will be. There's already been some backlash to these rumors. But again, he is someone who has tried to privatize public education. After, you know, leaving the Obama White House, he went on to work for organizations that actually worked pretty closely with Betsy DeVos and even funded organizations that Betsy DeVos was involved with

with the whole effort of privatizing schools. So tax records, as Jonathan Larson at TYT investigates reports, show that while Reid was president, while Reed was president of one of these organizations meant to privatize schools, it's known as the Broad Foundation, supported several groups tied to DeVos, one long time DeVos associate employed by some of those groups

now leads a policy for DeVos at the Department of Education. The Broad Foundation has drawn scrutiny for its attempts to reshape public education in its hometown of Los Angeles. Broad and his foundation directly and indirectly backed political candidates favorable to his agenda. And he has trained superintendents and others to run public schools around the country his way or to shut them down. Now, Reed has been an outspoken proponent of charter schools for decades, championing their rise inside the Clinton White. House where he led the domestic policy council. But although Reid has publicly drawn the line at for-profit charter schools and vouchers, the Broad Foundation funded organizations that supported both. So it gives you a sense of where his priorities have been and what kind of work he did

when he wasn't working for the government. And look, the DeVos name is a shiny one that we're all familiar with. But this group that Reid led also worked with tons of Republicans in different contexts, all to do charter schools and privatize education. So another group they worked with was led, it was called Foundation for Excellence in Education, and it was led by Jeb Bush. Please clap. And Jeb Bush also had, you're never going to guess this, who he had on the board, Betsy DeVos. So it keeps going back to the same characters. And Reed's group gave a ton of money to Jab Bush's group. And because they agree, they agree, this education should be privatized. Look, and to be fair to

Bruce Reed, this is establishment Democrat 101. Arnie Duncan, the education secretary for Obama, is also in favor of charter schools and is mentioned in a lot of these same groups. Then you've We've got Mike Bloomberg, Bill Gates, the Walton family. So this is establishment Republicans and establishment Democrats working together to privatize your schools. Now, has that worked out? Well, look, it's a mixed bag. If you're rich, it's worked out great.

You have wonderful private schools and you don't have to deal with the rest of us. If you're the rest of America, it has worked out disastrously. schools in California went from near the top in the country and in the world. And then after we cut the tax base for them and began to privatize schools, where the broad foundation is, it's in Los Angeles, California. You know what happened? Public schools now in California are among the worst than the nation because they starved them, absolutely starved them into submission. And then ironically, they then turn around and say, well, now you see you need more private schools where we, by the way, our friends, not, we didn't do it because of that, we didn't do,

but our friends do make a lot of money off. Yeah, no, absolutely. And I mean, when you take a step back and you look at Biden's cabinet picks as a whole, you see the problem with the revolving door of politics. People who worked with Biden, you know, when he was either in Congress or in the White House. And then as soon as they're no longer working for him, they're working as lobbyists for whatever industry. That is a huge problem that we see come up over and over again with Biden's upcoming administration. And it's not promising when it comes to a whole host of issues that we want to address, including preventing cuts for food stamps, preventing the privatization of education. And it's something that we'll continue holding Biden accountable for. But there

have been members of Congress, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who are doing what they can at least to apply pressure so Biden doesn't go with someone like Reed in his administration. But as we've seen from other picks that have been confirmed, he seems to be unwilling to listen to those critiques and very much willing to do favors for people who have either helped him in the past in his political career or helped him win this election. And Pete Buttigieg, which we'll talk about in more detail later in the show, of course, did him a huge favor by dropping out of the race and endorsing him. him and now he's likely to be the transportation secretary.

So we're going to keep seeing this over and over again. And I want to be clear about this. And I love that we broke this story. Of course, our reporting team was originally funded by you guys. Thank you for that. Appreciate it. And they get to break great stories like this. But I want you to understand from an analyzing your point of view from policy, I overall, I would have been open to charter schools. I still am in some context.

Why? Because I'd like to experiment. And I like to see what works and doesn't work. And so when they paint it that way, it's perfectly fine. But we did, we experimented. And the results did come in. And it turns out the charter schools on average aren't any better than public schools. But they create a giant problem, which is that they start to bleed out the money and the funding for public schools.

And then you get into a vicious cycle where the public schools head downward. Now I'm still in favor of experimentation like there's some schools that are public charter schools. So you still have the teachers that you would have in the public schools, but they're allowed to experiment around the edges. Great, I love that, right? But now in a situation like California, my kids are in public school. Once you get to middle school, the public schools in California have deteriorated so poorly that it's almost not a choice.

And then you don't have the money, you're totally stuck. And they put you in a corner you can't get out of. So if these so-called Democrats like Reid, who could have a very powerful position in the Biden administration, if they were to acknowledge the giant downsides and say, okay, here's how we're trying to alleviate it, here's the, maybe public charter schools are an interesting way to go. So you're not privatizing the education and you're not taking the money out of public schools, et cetera. Okay, that's one thing.

But when they all get together and funneled giant amounts of money, what it's doing is It's creating segregation, but this time it's not between whites and blacks, it's between the rich and everyone else. And these schools are separate and not at all equal. Well, we got to take a break, but when we come back, we're going to shift gears and talk about, you know, this new influx of Republican lawmakers who are acknowledging the elections reality. And of course, we will be dunking on some of these conservatives who have made a giant deal over titles. Ben Shapiro's latest meltdown when we return. Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work,

listen to ad-free, access members-only bonus content, and more by subscribing to Apple Podcasts at apple.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.