The Young Turks - The Young Turks - December 28, 2020

Episode Date: December 29, 2020

Trump unexpectedly signed the covid relief bill over the weekend. 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. On July 18th, get excited. This is big! For the summer's biggest adventure. I think I just smurf my pants. That's a little too excited.

Sorry. Smurfs. Only theaters July 18th. We're going to be able to be. A lot of the Young Turks, everybody, Jake Uger and Anna Kusparin with you guys. And I need you guys to understand something. Awesomeness is on the way. So we have entered the pathetic stage of the Trump presidency, and it is delicious.

So we'll be having some of that a little bit later in the program. In fact, we're going to start with it right in the beginning because it's too much fun. Unfortunately, we have also begun the Biden administration's appeaseless. portion of our programming, which will last for about approximately four years. So a devastating story on that. Good news from other Democrats, bad news from other Democrats, as always. But it is exciting and important stories we got for you guys today. And speaking of exciting and important, you know how we're trying to get to $2 million with t.yt.com slash go. And it seemed like there was no way in the world that could happen. And there's only

three days left. But all of a sudden, here come the young. Turgs. Only 47,000 left. Can it be done in three days? How is that possible? How is that possible? And I want to tell you guys one quick thing before we get started with the stories. Guys, folks have three ways of funding things, okay? One is giant corporate advertisers. That is the track that 90% of media takes. Then 9% of it is right-wing billionaires, as we're going to tell you about later in this show. So you'll see how right-wing billionaires by Ben Shapiro, Ted Cruz, et cetera, with your own eyes. The only other option is to finance it through your audience so that you serve your audience. That's what t-y-t.com slash goes all about. We're not tied to

fracking empires. We're not tied to any other agenda, but you guys, that's the point of funding through you. So that's why if you go to t-y-com slash go, you did it. You're part of the change and you're part of this program, and we love it, and we wouldn't have it any other way. So I think we might actually be able to make this in the next three days. I know it's still a big, big goal, but I love you guys for it, and especially in tough times. You guys are the best. All right, now let's give you the show that you have helped to put together. Anna, let's do it.

Well, okay, before we get started, though, with the actual stories we've prepared for you guys today. I just want to make a quick note. More importantly, give a huge shout out and thanks to all the wonderful people that you guys don't see on camera. You know, people like Mike Shekels, Johnny, Brandon, Brett. I mean, I'm just naming all these people who have made a nearly impossible situation today with our technical difficulties, a possibility. We're able to do the show. We might run into some technical issues. So please bear with us. Please be patient. It has everything to do with the weather situation in Los Angeles. L.A. is never prepared for rain or thunder or anything

like that. And so as a result of the weather conditions, we've had some issues with power outages and things like that. So thank you for your patience. But more importantly, thank you to everyone behind the scenes that's made the show possible today. You guys are incredible. With that said, yeah, before you go any further, just real quick, I want to talk more about that in the post game because the rest of you that don't live in L.A. will be greatly amused by how befuddled we are by rain. Okay. So we'll save that for the members. D.Y.t.com, join for that. If you're watching on YouTube, just hit the join button below. All right, go ahead, Anna. All right, let's do it. Well, over the weekend, Donald Trump unexpectedly signed the $900 billion

coronavirus relief bill. And that was less than 48 hours before certain relief programs were set to expire. But Trump still waited too long because unemployment benefits did lapse, which means that some individuals who rely on unemployment might have to wait an additional week. week in order to get the newly appropriated funds for the unemployment program. Now, what's interesting here is he had some pretty strong statements in regard to how he demanded that Congress take out appropriations for various parts of the spending bill, which of course was attached to this coronavirus relief bill. And that included various foreign aid programs and things like that.

And he also demanded that Congress provide more funding. in regard to direct checks to Americans. He wanted $2,000. Well, he didn't get any of that. He got none of that. But he was somehow convinced to sign the legislation into law. And so what happened behind the scenes? Well, we found out through Axios that the deal was closed on a Sunday afternoon phone call with Trump, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, and House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy. This is good, Trump finally said. An official familiar with the call told me, I should sign this. Now, again, this is according to Mike Allen over at Axios. We also learned that Mnuchin and McCarthy, aided by Senator Lindsey Graham, who golfed with Trump in West Palm Beach

on Friday, by the way, he's still golfing today, indulged the president's rants, told him there was great stuff in the bill and gave him wins he could announce, even though they didn't change the bill. So the bill is exactly the same. There is no additional funding for direct checks to Americans. The unemployment benefits will only last for 11 weeks as opposed to 16 weeks. That was the initial amount of time that was being negotiated during the beginning of these talks. And so Trump did say this in a statement, though. The Senate will start the process for a vote that increases checks to $2,000, repeal Section 230, and starts an investigation into voter fraud. Big tech must not get protections of Section 230. Voter fraud must be fixed. Much more money is coming.

I will never give up my fight for the American people. Now let me just note that the House, as we speak right now, is voting on $2,000 checks, not the Senate. The Senate is unlikely to pass that type of legislation. And Section 230 is just, it's all part of this grudge that Trump has against tech companies, social media platforms that have fact checked him a little bit during the election. He wants to do away with any type of liability shield they have in regard to how users post on their platforms. But other than that, the important takeaway here is he got convinced by GOP lawmakers that he needs to sign this bill, that they'll go ahead and do what he wants after he signs the bill.

And of course, he's not going to get any of the concessions that he's demanding, which we'll talk about in a little more, in a little more detail in just a second. But, Jank, why don't you jump in? All right, there are a number of reasons why I love this story. Number one is the utter humiliation of Donald Trump. And what a fool he is. I'll get into that in one second. Number two is now Magas turned on him. They're like, how could you do this? I thought we were going to hurt everyone in the country. Now you don't even want to hurt them. Now you went along with the other people in Washington. We were going to just crush their souls and you won't let us

Do we hate you. So he created this alternate reality that somehow he could veto this thing and get to a better result that MAGA would be happy with. And now that alternative reality is turn around and bit him in the ass. I'm going to get into that in a second as well. So in fact, let me just do it now because it's so much fun. Rahim Qasam is apparently some MAGA dude. And he says, this is part of the humiliation that I love. Quote, if you want someone to blame, Look no further the congressional Republicans, including Kevin McCarthy and Lindsay Graham, for misrepresenting the facts to the president over this weekend. But wait a minute.

Doesn't Trump deserve some degree of credit for not knowing that you can't change a bill after you sign it into law? You need a whole new bill to present to Congress. It has to pass. And then you have to sign it. There's no way in the world that you have time to do that in the three weeks that you have left. And they're about to go away for a break in a couple of days. Like these concessions that Trump thinks he got.

He's like, oh, they're going to look into the voter fraud that's terrible. Right after he signed it, the Democrats are like, no, you moron. We're not going to do any of that. Why would we do that, you idiot? And he's like, and Maga starts to cry. And they're like, oh, my God, how can you do this, Trump? Okay. And so he doesn't know anything, Anna, okay, but I got to go back to one other thing and then we'll fill in all the details. But another conservative complaint, Will Chamberlain. He says, there is no line item video. So I don't know why Trump is talking about redlining things. Well, I know why. Because he's an idiot. Four years into being president, he doesn't know that you can't redline items as president. You either sign it or you veto it. He doesn't know.

that if you wanted the $2,000 checks, which we all do want, you're supposed to enter the negotiations earlier instead of setting crazy tweets about the Crackin and not paying attention. And he just has no earthly idea how the government works for after four years of being the president of the United States. No, you schmuck. McCarthy and Lindsey Graham obviously lied to you because they think you're a baby. They're like, you're baby, Trump, you're baby. We'll come, but we'll do all those priorities afterwards, Donnie. Of course we will.

Well, we'll pass it right away, Donnie. You think, okay, okay. And then once he signs it, they're like a schmuck. All right, and they're done with him. Yeah, I mean, in one of his statements following signing the actual legislation, Trump was quoted as saying, I will sign the omnibus and COVID package with a strong message that makes clear to Congress that wasteful items need to be removed.

Let me be clear. Those wasteful items will not be removed. There's bipartisan support for those wasteful items. And I think what's made those wasteful items even more, I guess, disgusting in the eyes of Americans is now that it's attached to a coronavirus relief bill, people can really see how congressional lawmakers prioritize things. So at a time of crisis, it really doesn't make sense to spend, you know, tens of millions of dollars toward, you know, military infrastructure for countries like Israel, for instance,

right? Maybe we put a hold on that kind of spending to ensure that we help Americans who are falling deeper and deeper into poverty right now. I mean, the $600 checks are definitely an insult. And I just got word right now that the House has voted in favor of increasing the direct checks from $600 to $2,000. So that is a standalone bill that Democrats have voted in favor of. But that means that it's now going to travel to the Senate. And we have some clue as to how Mitch McConnell is going to handle it. Mitch McConnell didn't even want to provide any relief to Americans, especially in the

form of direct checks. And so I think I don't know what motivates Trump, right? I'm not going to try to psychoanalyze him. I don't know why he like flies off. the handle, one day decides that he's going to promote something that's actually tremendously popular, tremendously need, like definitely needed, tremendously needed. He's like rubbing off on me in the way he speaks. But you get what I'm saying, right? But right now, what Democrats have done in the House is actually perfect, because they have passed this bill. They do want more funding

in the form of direct checks to Americans. And now it's really up to Senate Republicans to do the right thing and provide the aid that Americans across the board, regardless of political ideology, desperately need right now. And this could really hurt both Kelly Leffler and David Perdue in the Senate runoff races in Georgia. So. Okay. So look, I love to mock Trump.

Let's keep it real. Because he amply deserves it. And if you're MAGA, you've seen me do that to you too. But I just need folks to focus for a second, right? So how could he not know that you can't red line a bill as a president? That's point one. Because he's never needed to know anything, Jank. Like he's got, think about how much Trump has been able to skirt by on knowing nothing, on

being incompetent. I mean, both in business and also in governance, right? Like, I mean, he's been able to just simply hire lawyers, hire people who can find loopholes in, in laws regarding businesses, and he's able to get by with government. I mean, he's had so many enablers surrounding him at all times. And the ability he has to really resonate with Republican voters for better or worse has also helped to carry him through this entire first term without having to know a damn thing about governing, about our government.

And so, yeah, it doesn't surprise me at all. Of course he didn't know. The second thing is the things that he redlined were his own proposals, but he's too lazy. He never bothered to ask people inside his government. The people who are actually president are Jared Kushner and Steve Mnuchin. Kushner does most of the foreign policy and does the internal palace intrigue. Mnuchin does most of the domestic policy. So Mnuchin was part of the negotiations.

And then, but Trump didn't bother to ask him about any of the details. So he's like, look at this outrageous proposal here. They're like, Mr. President, this is really embarrassing, but that's your proposal. He's like, no, it's not. And it's just like, Jesus Christ, man, just ask me. I'm the one doing the negotiation theoretically on your behalf. He doesn't know anything. But all of that has proved amply by his bluff.

He's like, oh, that's it? I want section 230. I want $2,000 checks. Even though I never asked for it earlier when we were negotiating it, including my representatives, I never asked for it because I'm incredibly lazy and incredibly stupid. But now, now that it's too late, I'm going to bluff. And now everyone can understand this. I'm not going to sign it, okay?

I'm not going to sign it unless you give me the $2,000 and section $2.30 and whatever else I want, right? They're like, yeah, no, you will. And then he's like, okay, fine, I will. They called your bluff so easy. That's why MAGA is so mad right now. You go online, they're like, this is so weak. Why do he do that? What's the strategy?

Because, dude, he doesn't have three-dimensional chess. He doesn't have four-dimensional chess. He doesn't have two or one-dimensional chess. I guarantee you he could barely play checkers in real life. So he's like, okay, I'm all in. Okay, never mind. I want my money back. I'm so sorry.

I fold. I fold. And now there's like furious at him for folding. And they're like, what was his strategy? Knuckleheads. He never had a strategy the whole time. Doesn't know a thing about government. So he got clown.

And I love it. And I'm here for it because on his way out the door, even some of the most hardcore mager guys are like, wait, is he an idiot? Yes. Yes. Finally you get it. Yeah. Well, we'll see how he reacts to how Senate Republicans handle the $2,000 stimulus check proposal because now that's in their court. And I love. this. I mean, look, okay, let's just get to the story because I can't wait to share the details of what's currently going on with the direct checks and how this really puts Purdue,

Leffler, and McConnell in a tough spot. So now that Donald Trump, now that Donald Trump has signed the coronavirus spending and relief bill, Democrats are voting on, well, they already have voted in the House to approve $2,000 direct checks to Americans. This is what Trump demanded, and Democrats have delivered. They voted in the House today and they have agreed that Americans absolutely do need $2,000 direct checks. Now, there were some Blue Dog Democrats who voted the wrong way. I'll get to them in just a second. But I do want to remind you all that in a video posted to Twitter last week, Trump called on Congress to increase the ridiculously low $600 stimulus checks to $2,000 and outlined a list of provisions in the overall package of legislation that

he described as wasteful spending and much more. He did not mention that the $600 stimulus check came from his Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. But nonetheless, he called for more direct aid to Americans. And Nancy Pelosi took him up on that offer. The House voted in favor of that today. Now the bill goes to the Senate where Mitch McConnell needs to bring it to the Senate floor for a vote.

Now remember, Mitch McConnell is not in favor of providing relief to America. He wasn't even in favor of $600 direct checks to Americans. However, Kelly Perdue and I'm sorry, Kelly Leffler and David Perdue, the two incumbent senators in Georgia are facing a runoff race, and this could certainly hurt them if they don't vote the right way to provide relief to their own constituents. So we'll see how this plays out. It's unlikely to pass in the Senate, but politically speaking, this is a bad move for Senate GOP, a pretty good move for House Democrats.

Yeah, so let me give the kind of the chronology of how this went down on the Democratic side, then I'll turn back to Trump. So when Trump said, let's do $2,000 checks, Pelosi sensed the political win. So she jumped in and said, okay, deal, let's do $2,000 checks. Everybody cheered. Everybody called her a master legislator, so she was super psyched about it. And then people we're like, okay, so let's see what the Senate does. And she's like, oh, no, no, no, I was just kidding. We're going to do this. We need unanimous consent. Well, you'd never get unanimous consent from Republicans. And Kevin McCarthy last Thursday did not agree, and he blocked it. And so then progressives put a lot of pressure. Wait, are you just messing around with us? Or did you

actually want to pass this bill? And now, that is all fact. My experience tells me, and this is the part where I'm going to tell you something that is that is not fact, but my guess as to what happened next, that Pelosi then kind of sensed that the Republicans were going to vote, no. If they were going to vote, yes, my guess is that she would have left it alone and just ask for the unanimous consent and be done with it. Because she doesn't actually want it. And so now, if you don't believe me, that's okay, no problem. You just go, Pelosi's awesome. She's a master strategist. You got it, okay? But I'm telling you, based on all the experience I have of following Pelosi, Democratic leadership, Republican leadership. It appears to me that

Pelosi put her finger in the wind and was like, oh, no, the Republicans are actually going to block it. Great. Then we can pretend to be in favor of it. Let's do a real vote. Now, the real vote still needed two thirds to pass the House. And then they said, well, if that doesn't work, then we'll go to just a straight majority. So that's good. That's what we wanted. So look, you could put my skepticism aside, and I'm happy to give credit where credit is due. She got the job done and it passes the House, right? My guess is she did that because she knows it's not going to pass the Republican Senate, so she gets the political win without actually having to fork over the money, which would be great for Americans, but not great for her donors.

So, but at the end of the day, no matter how you slice it, well played for Pelosi, okay? Now you turn to Trump. Well, you know, when Trump wants something, he knows how to apply political pressure. Mean tweets, I'm going to prime, you say, you know, get somebody to primary you, you're a disgrace, you're this, you that, etc. So is he going to do that when the Senate Republicans don't want the $2,000 checks? Well, we're going to find out, right? My guess is no. And if he does, maybe enough of them buckle and it passes and that would be amazing. And then I would actually give credit to Donald

Trump. I think he came into this negotiations way too late. I think he bluffed in a way that made no sense. But if he bullies the Republicans enough to get the checks, then I'm happy to give him credit because we want Americans to get those checks. But my guess is, and you'll get to find out now with your own eyes here that he'll go, yeah, it'd be great if you guys did that. And then Mitch McConnell and everybody else will ignore it. The Senate Republicans will vote it down. You won't get the money. And Trump won't do a damn thing about it. He doesn't even know his own mind. This same bill, the overall COVID relief bill, he called a disgrace. And then turned around and signed it exactly as it is, the bill that he called a disgrace.

and then said, well, you're welcome because I saved you for a minute, Great Depression. What do you mean? Did the bill? It's the same exact bill. You cannot change the bill. You can either just sign it or veto it. He signed it. So was the bill a disgrace or did it save us from the Great Depression? He has no idea. All he wants is credit without everything through any strategy. Well, I mean, it reminds me of his foreign policy as well. I mean, he starts off with escalating tensions with North Korea. Kim Jong-un, you know, talks about how his button is bigger than, you know, Kim Jong-un's button. And then later takes a more diplomatic approach and, you know, de-escalates the tensions. And then gives himself a pat on the back for de-escalating tensions after he had already

escalated them, right? And then he got no concessions from North Korea and still was self-congratulatory. So I think that there's absolutely no reason to believe that he's going to handle this situation any differently. Like, he's shameless. He doesn't care and he governs in this incredibly chaotic, unpredictable way. But now that this bill is in Mitch McConnell's court, the question is, what is he going to do? We know what he's likely to do, which is ignore this, refuse to bring it to the floor for a vote. I mean, he just won his reelection, so I don't think that he's worried about any type of political ramifications. However, for himself, however, there could

be political ramifications for Kelly Leffler and David Perdue, who are running for re-election in Georgia's, you know, Senate seats. And so they released a statement after Trump had put out that Twitter video demanding more in direct checks to Americans. And they weren't intentionally vague. As Reuters reports, they said, thanks to President Trump's leadership, COVID relief is again on its way to millions of Georgia families and businesses who need it most. They said in a joint statement that echoed Trump in criticizing the Democrats for prioritizing wasteful, irresponsible spending over the welfare of the American people. But the wasteful spending is exactly what Kelly Perdue and Kelly Leffler and David Perdue are in favor

of, right? They don't want to provide the direct checks to Americans. And they wanted to kind of hide from that fact. So it doesn't actually hurt them in their chances of getting reelected. Now, with this news and the unlikely, you know, the fact that it's unlikely to pass in the Senate, it probably will hurt them. So it's interesting to see how that plays out. One other thing, Jake, that I wanted to mention is, you know, even though it passed in the House, I think it's worth talking about some of the Blue Dog Democrats who voted against $2,000 direct checks to Americans.

One of them is Representative Kurt Schrader from Oregon. He voted against it and he argued that he felt uncomfortable sending these relief checks to people who are earning six figures, and he's intentionally lying about that. Because the way the legislation is written indicates that this money will be means tested. Once you hit $75,000 for your income in 2019, it starts to taper off, right? The amount of money that you get. you hit above $99,000 a year in take home pay, you don't qualify for any government aid according to this legislation. So he's intentionally lying to the American people in regard to why

he voted against this relief that Americans so desperately need right now. So classic corporate Democrat lie. It's actually a lie on multiple fronts. So first of all, it misrepresents what's in the bill. Second of all, 54% of his district, David voted to sound are, would get the check because they make under $75,000. They'd get the full check because they make under $75,000. There's another percentage that would get a partial check. So it would actually help his voters. Corporate Democrats always say, there's nothing I could do, man.

I have to do exactly what the Republicans do. But wait a minute, in this case, 44 Republicans voted for it in the House, because Trump told them to. So if 44 Republicans can vote for it, you can vote for it. You can vote for it. I know you want to be a Republican, although you're pretending to be a Democrat, but most of, not most, but a lot of Republicans did vote for it. Second of all, your district would need it and would love it.

Third of all, you completely lied about the bill because you're out of all reasons to vote against it. By the way, if you're wondering, why the hell does this guy who calls himself a Democrat vote against this? Because he's in the group of corporate Democrats that say, all of the money should go to my donors. And none of it should go to you. guys. They call that fiscal austerity. There's never any austerity for corporations.

Other job creators, job creators, we need them so bad, right? But how about the guys actually who are trying to get the jobs or something? No, I don't know. Who cares? No, okay, we're right out of money. We need fiscal discipline, austerity, right? So they, in a sense, guys like him are worse than Republicans, because they're Republicans who are posing as Democrats to help the worst part of the Republican agenda. So now, look, that, leads us back to the Republican Party and where they stand now. 130 of them did vote against this. It needed two thirds to pass, as we told you earlier, and it got two thirds, because enough

Republicans defected because of Trump to get them past the two thirds in the House. Now, when they go to the Senate, if Trump applies pressure, they actually could get enough Republicans to flip to actually pass this thing. And you guys could actually get $2,000 checks. That's why I think it'll be interesting to see, my guess is, since it's not a actually directly about him, Trump will not follow through, he will not apply any pressure, and the Senate Republicans will vote it down because Trump didn't put any pressure on him. And it'll be definitively because the Republican Party, corporate Democrats, and Donald Trump

let you down. Everybody else was ready to send you the $2,000 checks, and the people who fought the hardest for it are progressives. So understand how this game is played. And so anytime that, And by the way, anyone in Main Street media tells you guys like Schrader are on our side, remember, they actually do not vote with us. They vote against us. Hence, they are definitely not on our side, no matter what they call themselves. All right. Well, we got to take a quick break.

When we come back, though, we'll discuss something that Donald Trump has vetoed and Congress is fighting back. I'll tell you what it is. Give you all the details. Don't miss it. We'll be right back. 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. Back on TYT, Jankana with you guys.

Remember how at the top of the show I said we need $47,000 to finish the year on 2.y.com slash go. Wrong. Now we need $45,000. It went down by 2000 because we only have the best audience in the world. And look, I don't know that we're ever going to get those bills passed. That's my driving force. I want that change for you guys so, so, so badly.

But if we ever do and we helped to do that, you did that. You should be so proud of it. Love you guys. All right. One last note on the end of the year, you can still give the gift of TYT, too. Spread the message to progressives, non-progressives. By the way, especially to corporate Democrats that listen to MSNBC, they might be shocked to find out what the truth is.

So if you do, by the way, it's at t.com slash gift, obviously, to give the gift of membership. It doesn't cost very little, obviously, as you know, it's like five bucks a month. But we throw in a $5 coupon for you guys at shoptyt.com if you do it now. So plenty of good reasons to do that. All right, let's go to our existing members. Trigger incarnate says, fun fact, because of the delay, unemployment benefits are going to lapse for about a week. So just to review, unemployment payments of $600 a week are going to lapse for a week, which pretty much negates that $600 check they're sending out for the stimulus.

So I just want to be clear about that. I'm glad you brought that out there. It actually does get added that extra $600 to the end of the benefits you were supposed to get. But that doesn't help you this week. So if you needed that $600 really badly, you will not be getting it. And that's because of Donald Trump's dumb-ass delay. He didn't change a word in the bill. He couldn't possibly change a word in the bill.

He changed nothing, but he just did it to err his grievances. And he cost you dearly. So I want you to understand that. Okay, no more trigonometry rights. And I couldn't think of a better way to end and start the year than with Trump versus McConnell here, here on that. And last one from the member section says, Black T. Dragon is the name of the user. Jank, when you say the Senate will vote it down, does this mean you expect McConnell will put

it up for a vote? Okay. No, look, I don't want you to be confused about that either. I'm not exactly sure what tactic McConnell is going to use. I'm not even positive that it's going to get voted down. So there's some chance that it will get introduced and it will miraculously pass. And so I hope to God that that's what happens. And I would be super happy to give Pelosi and Trump and everybody else and any Republican who votes for it in the Senate credit. So we're kind of in the ballgame in a totally unexpected way,

but my best guess is that McConnell will find a way to kill it. And he's been clear that he doesn't wanted. And then finally, from YouTube super chat, British 32 writes in, hi, Jen Canana, good to see you back after Christmas because I enjoy watching TYT and watching Progressives play 3D chess while Trump, right-wing Republicans and corporate Democrats try putting shapes in the right hole. Have a happy New Year's from the UK. Bye back at you, brother. Really appreciate it. I hope this vaccine comes soon so we could reemerge in the world. And I'd love to see you guys in the UK one day. All right, Anna, what's next? All right. Well, as we mentioned earlier, Congress, the House specifically voted in favor of increasing the direct checks to Americans, but they voted

on something else as well. So, the House is voting on overriding Donald Trump's veto of the defense spending bill, also known as the National Defense Authorization Act, which they had previously appropriated $740 billion toward. Now, it passed in the House, it passed in the Senate, ended up on Donald Trump's desk, and he vetoed it demanding that there would be certain concessions written in the bill that he was in favor of, including repealing something known as Section 230, which provides a liability shield for tech companies, specifically social networking platforms, it protects them from any liability if someone posts, let's say, copyrighted material on their site or anything illegal on their site. Trump wants to do away with that protection

because he's been extra salty toward Facebook and Twitter for mildly fact-checking him during the election. And so what's incredible about this legislation and how likely it's going to be for both the House and the Senate to override the veto is that it's happening at the same time that Congress is voting on $2,000 direct checks to Americans. That is unlikely going to pass. It's unlikely that it's going to pass in the Senate, even though it passed in the House. Now, when it comes to providing aid, or I should say funding to the Defense Department, to the Pentagon, that's not a question. If Trump's going to veto it, you better believe that they're going to do whatever it takes to override his veto and get that funding through.

Again, $740 billion. Now, there are two representatives in the House, Republican representatives who said that they would vote against this legislation. The two top Republicans in the House, representatives Kevin McCarthy of California and Steve Scalise of Louisiana have said they will vote to sustain the president's veto. Only 40 Republicans voted against the bill earlier this month. The chamber passed it 335 to 78, meaning the House could still vote to over. override the veto even if a few dozen Republicans switch their votes.

I also want to note that on the Senate side, we have Senator Bernie Sanders, who has clearly stated that he will vote against the defense spending bill. He says, quote, this week on the Senate floor, Mitch McConnell wants to vote to override Trump's veto of the $740 billion defense funding bill and then head home for the new year. I'm going to object until we get a vote on legislation to provide a $2,000 direct payment to the working class. And so we'll see how Mitch McConnell handles the $2,000 direct check legislation, but it is very likely that he will do what it takes to override Trump's veto when it comes to defense spending.

So I don't know that there's a better industry that represents the swamp in DC more than the defense contractors. So Republican President Dwight Eisenhower warned you about them as he was leaving office. He said, watch out for the military industrial complex, because if there's profit in war, they will create more war, and every missile we build and every ship we build will be stealing from your children. Okay, so go read his actual speech. I'm paraphrasing it there.

It's amazing that a Republican president gave that speech. Of course, everyone immediately ignored his warnings. Why? Because the defense contractors, like almost all of the rest of this corrupt system, were easily able to buy almost all the legislators. All you have to do is give them a campaign contribution. You literally write them a check. We legalize bribery. So they're like, wait, we give them a million dollars. They give us back a billion dollars. Well, who wouldn't do that? So all the defense contractors did it. But then they also strategically put different places where they

build the weapons into different districts in America. Not because the legislators actually care about jobs in their district. It gave them an excuse for voting with defense contractors, no matter how bloated the budget is, no matter how insane the amount of spending is. So they said, oh, no, no, it's not that they gave me a million bucks. It's just that I really care about the jobs in my district. The jobs in my district, that's why I'm voting this way, okay? And so they took over all of D.C. They took over the Republican Party and then easily took over the Democratic Party. So will Trump's threats mean anything? Nothing, zero. That's that's real power, that's the swamp, he has no chance against that. They will easily override

his veto. Now, what should progressives do? They should go, just like they did with a $2,000 check, they should be like, all right, great deal. We agree with Trump. Let's vote it down. Because it's bloated. It's outrageous. If you took a third of the defense budget and gave it towards education, gave it towards health care, we wouldn't all be panicked about whether we're going to die or get bankrupt every time we get sick, I can go on and on and on. So I don't know why any progressive would ever vote for these monstrous, awful defense bills. So they should say, hey, no, we vote no, no, no, hard no, no way. Now, some progressives, I hope will vote that way, but will there be enough of them within

the Democratic Party to actually, because if there were enough Democrats, which is really, really easy in the House, because remember, they need a two-thirds majority to override his veto. So they'd only need a fraction of the Democrats to vote to not override it. And then the defense bill would have to get renegotiated. Will they do that? Almost certainly they will not. The Democrats are almost as corrupt as the Republicans. Right.

And so look, the point that I want to make about this story, especially as you juxtapose the fate of the defense spending bill to the direct $2,000 checks to Americans, is that Congress clearly does not fear the American people. They're not worried about any type of uprising as a result of prioritizing funding toward the military industrial complex as opposed to Americans during a time of crisis. They're not worried because Americans aren't organized. They have no power, especially relative to the insane amount of funding they get from their donors, including private military contractors. And so simply, look, I think that social media activism has become a pretty giant negative to our political system. Because I think people are under the

assumption that simply writing mean things on social media toward these lawmakers is political activism. It's enough to persuade them to do the right thing. But it's not. They're not afraid of the American people, think about that. They feel comfortable voting against, in some cases, Democrats like Schrader from Oregon, they feel comfortable transparently voting against robust relief to Americans during this time of crisis. Why do they do it transparently? Because they don't fear their own constituents. They don't fear the American people. They don't fear any consequences as a result of prioritizing industries and the military as opposed to the American people. That should tell you something, right? So, yeah.

Anna, there is a right way to do it. And look, it almost never happens. But Dave Weigel from the Washington Post, which is part of the mainstream media, did actually give credit a couple days ago saying the only group that's effectively ever challenged centrist Democrats is justice Democrats. And so we did it. We've got 10 Justice Democrats in Congress. Does that mean the mission is accomplished? No, it's a million years from being, I hope not a million years, a million miles from being accomplished. But it can actually happen a lot quicker than you expect. But the way to do it is to actually get the votes so you have power and can use that leverage to get the bills pass, or in this case, blocked. So that's real politic. That's how you do it. In order to do that,

though, you've got to actually support challenges against establishment Democrats. You've got to help those folks who are progressives running without corporate PAC money and have them win their primaries. By the time you get the general election, you're raging against the machine and you're yelling into the abyss, all of the actual action on changes in the primaries. So, and guess what? Good news. Young Turks audience, you already did it. You're the ones who help to get, have those 10 people win. And now they already have some leverage and they've already used some power. Do I want them to use more of that leverage? Absolutely. We're going to find a smart way to do it. All right, back on a young church. At TYT, we frequently talk about.

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That's EX, P-R-E-S-V-P-N dot com slash T-YT. Check it out today. Shank and Anna with you guys. So let me go to our member section. As always, good news, everyone writes in, lucky enough to not need dependents that they are offering people as quote unquote stimulus, sending $50 of that good fortune to t.com slash go. Keep up the great work, guys.

Love you for it. By the way, down to $44,000 needed. Almost there. You guys are amazing. But don't do it if you can't afford it, okay? Jess, I am anti-racist rights in. The only thing politicians are afraid of is being primaried. This is why I love Justice Democrats.

Damn right, justdemocrats.com. By the way, right now, there's a primary going on that could make all the difference. Nina Turner.com slash hello, go help there. It makes a giant, giant difference. Okay, and then YouTube super chat. Andrew Borth wrote in, wouldn't it be great if schools had the money they needed and the army had to have a bake sale to buy another tank? My mom in the 70s, he wrote it. Okay, and yes, your mom is right. That would have been amazing. Unfortunately, that's not the situation now.

Anyway, on Twitch, a brief genius, got five months of subscription and said five months on Twitch, five years as a TYT member, too strong. Love it. Twitch.com. t-y-t. You know the advantage of Twitch, and if you remember anywhere else, you can still do it on Twitch. If you're an Amazon Prime subscriber, it doesn't cost you anything, and we get the revenue. It's awesome. Please do that if you can. And Faith's Fury wrote in, love TYT. You keep my hopes up during this mess of a year. Two months so far, Radio Bluff three months, Uncle Bobby B, three months, Puffy Dragon, four months. Love you guys. All right, Casper. All right. Well, in fighting, happens in places other than the left, so let's discuss that. So there's some disagreement

among Republican lawmakers in regard to Donald Trump's tactics in trying to overturn the results of the general election. Now, it's abundantly clear Joe Biden has won. The Trump campaign has lost over 50 different legal battles in regard to the election. But that's not stopping GOP congressman, Louis Gohmert, along with 11 other plaintiffs who have filed a federal lawsuit against Vice President Mike Pence in a last-ditch effort to overturn the results of the general election. So let me tell you how they're planning on trying to make this work. Gohmert and the others, a group which includes Arizona Republican Party chair, Kelly Ward,

are bringing their case before Trump-appointed Judge Jeremy Kurnodal, noodle. I don't know how to pronounce his name, but he's a Trump-appointed judge. judge, they are seeking to give Pence the ability to appoint a sham slate of pro-Trump electors rather than the duly elected appointees chosen by the public on November 3rd. The filing states that Gohmert will indeed lodge an objection during the joint session of Congress over which Pence will preside on January 6th. Now, my understanding is January 6th is mostly like a traditional thing that happens, right? It's like their plan here is nonsense and it's not going to work. But nonetheless, this is another attempt to try to overturn the results of the election.

Yeah, I love the awkward place that it puts Pence as a matter of optics. So Pence is going to just pound the gavel. It's called pro forma because it just means we're just, There's nothing to do here. This is just like a formality, okay? And, and they're like, no, no. I want you to block it. Okay, but even if you did that, okay, and it looks like some Republicans are going to do that, they're going to do that in Congress. Gohmers trying to get them to do it through the courts. Then the House and the Senate vote separately. The Democrats have the House. So they have zero percent chance of winning the vote. So it's all, a show for no reason at all, full well knowing that they're going to lose. So what is the actual reason? It's politics. And think about how dirty Gomer and those guys are. They're throwing Pence under the bus.

They're throwing all of their fellow Republicans under the bus who believe in the Constitution. They're saying if you don't vote for a coup, we're going to call you guys Republicans a name only. We're going to say that it was your fault. we're going to try to take credit for supporting Donald Trump. Even though they all know with 100% certainty that they have no chance of succeeding, it's really, it's wonderfully callous against their fellow Republicans. No, and I love it. I personally love it because they've made their bed. I mean, they know, I'm talking about the Republican Party overall, Republican lawmakers overall, throughout the last four years, they have enabled Donald Trump and all of his actions. They've made excuses.

They've been apologists for his behavior. And so now the chickens are coming home to roost. There are some Republicans, though, who at least feel comfortable enough calling this what it is. And Representative Adam Kinzinger is one of those Republicans who essentially went on CNN and said that these attempts to overturn the results of the election, it's just a grifting scam. by some Republican lawmakers. Let me give you his exact statement. It's a scam, he says. It's going to disappoint the people that believe this election was stolen,

that think this is an opportunity to change it. But instead of being disappointed in the people that led them on this grifting scam, they will somehow, you know, try to convince these people that it was the rhinos in Congress or something like that, and not the Constitution that prevents this from happening in the first place. We talk about the Constitution. Talk about the Constitution, we have to follow it. And I'm sorry if that doesn't mean the outcome was what you wanted.

And Representative Mo Brooks, a GOP lawmaker who's probably one of the top Trump enablers, responded to that on Fox & Friends, essentially arguing that, no, no, we have so much evidence. We have so much evidence of widespread voter fraud. I mean, I don't have enough time to detail that evidence right now during this interview. But here's what he said. Mo Brooks was asked by Will Cain on Fox and Friends to explain his strategy for when he intends to dispute Congress's certification of the electoral college results, Brooke once again claimed overwhelming and compelling evidence of mass voter fraud and election

theft, but again, declined to elaborate because it takes more time than you're allotting me. And then he says, it's sad to the extent that we've got Republicans who are unwilling to do their homework or unwilling to make tough decisions. And unfortunately, Adam Kinsinger falls in that ballpark. If he would do his homework, he would understand that the evidence is overwhelming. There is no evidence, which is why he couldn't provide it during this interview or any other time. And he can either surrender to the people who support voter fraud, election theft, or he can fight

for his country on this particular issue. There is nothing more important to the republic than having an election system that is honest and accurate. Well, it turns out that we do have an election system that's honest and accurate, which is why the Trump campaign has failed to provide any evidence of widespread voter fraud to overturn the results of the election. So they're having an argument over who's the traitor, not only the Republican Party, but to the country, and Kinsinger is saying, look, you clowns, you're trying to do a political

coup here, even the New York Post agrees. Now Rupert Murdoch, who runs Fox News, agrees. It's an attempted clown coup, okay? So you guys are betraying the cost. Constitution, Mo Brooks turns around and says, no, you're betraying it because I have all the secret evidence. Well, wait a minute now, I can actually settle this for you guys. Because if you're MAGA and you believe Trump and Giuliani and Mo Brooks and the Cracken that they have overwhelming evidence, well, that's interesting because they've never presented it in court. That's why they've lost every single case, including in courts where they're only Republican appointed judges, including in front of Trump appointed judges. And every one of those judges have said, you presented

no evidence. So if you're MAGA, then you know who the traitor is. It's Mo Brooks, because Mo Brooks says he has overwhelming evidence, but he won't share it with Trump's team in court. If he only shared it with them in court, they would obviously win instead of having zero evidence. They'd have overwhelming evidence. He let them lose over 50 cases in a row and would not share the evidence. Mo Brooks traded to Trump and the report. Republican Party. By the way, there's no way you could logically dispute that. The only way you could say, no, Mo Brooks is not a traitor is, oh yeah, he's obviously lying. We don't have any evidence. Because if he's not lying and he has overwhelming evidence and they've never presented

it in court, he's the one screwing over Trump. Yeah, I mean, look, we'll talk about the New York Post story in more detail later, but the editorial board there made a devastating point. I mean, we've made a similar point on this show. I mean, the Trump campaign spent $3 million on a recount in Georgia, a hand count. And following that hand count, they discovered that Biden actually won by dozens of more votes than previously known. Like, it's over. It's over. Give it up. It's embarrassing. And what's also deeply disturbing is just how far some GOP lawmakers will go to show their loyalty to Donald Trump, even knowing that it could potentially dismantle our democracy in our democratic process. That's how self-interested they are. They're willing to put everything

on the line, including this country's democracy. It's just pathetic and disgusting. I want to point out one other thing. And in case you don't know, New York Post is, again, owned by the same owner as Fox News, one of the most conservative media outlets in American history. And, but they recounted twice in Georgia. So they have three different counts, including two recounts, including a hand recount. And the New York Post made a good point saying that, well, you guys claim you have evidence of Venezuelans fixing the voting machines. But in Georgia, they did a hand recount.

You can't fix people's hands. You can't rid their hands. So there was no machines to rig at that point. It's a hand recount. out. So you guys are on a different planet. And even the Fox News owned, you know, Murdoch, or Murdoch owns Fox News and Post, even those guys are saying, no, you guys are actually literal lunatics. So that's who Mo Brooks is. Every, that's who Louis Gomerid is. And every Republican that seen, my God, over 100, 126 Republicans said, oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah,

Oh, yeah, man, Hugo Chavez, yeah, that definitely, they rigged the Republican hands in Georgia to count it the wrong way. Yeah, man, we would have won, man, we had overwhelming evidence, man, all of them. The Republican Party now split into two camps, not establishment on right wing, not rhino and non-Rino. They're split into sane and insane, no joke. Yeah, and the sane group is actually pretty small compared to the insane group. All right, well, we got to take a break, but when we come back, we'll detail that New York Post story for you. The editorial board had some pretty harsh words for Donald Trump in his campaign, including people like Sidney Powell. You don't want to miss it.

I'll give you those details and more when we come back. 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. Apple.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.