The Young Turks - The Young Turks - November 25, 2020

Episode Date: November 26, 2020

Donald Trump has announced (on Twitter) that he will pardoning Michael Flynn. Ana Kasparian and John Iadarola 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. See my team. See my team. Three my team. Bigotsie. Bigotee.

Thank you. Hi, party. Hello, friends. You're watching The Young Turks. I'm Anna Kasparian, joined by John Ida Rola, which could only mean it's one of my favorite days of the week. Wednesday, not only is it hump day, we get to experience the good graces of John Iderola, host of the damage report here on this very show. John, how are you doing?

I'm feeling especially graceful today, so look forward to that. Excited for the news. Not politics or anything, but that's what we've got and that's what we're going to cover. Okay, all right. There's other news. We're not talking about it, but like entertainment and stuff. Well, before we get to some of the news of the day, I just wanted to let our audience know that much like other companies in the U.S., we will be taking Thursday and Friday off. So for anyone who's looking for a live show, we will not be having one Thursday and Friday.

I have no doubt, although this is just speculation, that Jank Yugar will be updating you guys incessantly on anything that breaks over the weekend. But we do have new videos that will be releasing on our YouTube channel so you can check that out. YouTube.com slash TYT. Well, without further ado, I want to get right to the latest breaking news story today, which I'm actually shocked is a breaking news story because I thought this happened last summer, but apparently not. So President Donald Trump has announced via Twitter that he will be pardoning Michael Flynn.

Michael Flynn, the former Trump administration official who lied to the FBI not once but twice about his communications with Sergei Kisliak from Russia will be pardoned. Now, again, he had pled guilty not once but twice to lying to FBI officials. That was what he was convicted of. And Donald Trump, just this past summer, was, I guess, flirting with the idea of pardoning him. But now it has been announced via Twitter that he is planning to do a full pardon before his term is up. So this is what Donald Trump is spending his lame duck presidency on, pardoning people who have been convicted of crimes, rather than doing the right thing and focusing

on how he can provide some relief to Americans as they're dying from this pandemic and also going broke because of this pandemic. But that's not really in him. He'd rather golf and pardon his cronies. John. And, you know, why not do both of those things? I mean, look, if my instinct is to say How could it hurt him? And look, I guess he did lose the election, so some stuff hurt him. We can, you know, we will spend the next period of time trying to figure out exactly what it was, what actually mattered, if anything. Maybe, maybe at the end of the day, didn't have much to do with Donald Trump, I don't know. But each individual thing, it really does feel like we can, we can stand back and we can criticize Donald Trump for, for following all of his worst

instincts, doing terrible things, making the country worse in every way. But why wouldn't he do any of these things that like all of the defense mechanisms against his worst behaviors, either it turns out don't exist or don't do what they're supposed to do. A lot of them are fueled by norms and norms like midichlorians are imaginary. They don't actually exist and they don't do anything. Like you, you were saying, wait, didn't he already pardon Michael Flynn? Why didn't he? Why did he wait until now? He could have done it like the night before the election. He could pardon everyone and we will have a problem with it and we'll point out that it proves that the whole Republican law and order thing is a complete sham.

They don't meet any of it. But nothing bad will happen to him. So of course he's going to do it. Yeah, of course he's going to do it. What I found fascinating about this story is how QAnon conspiracy theorists were actually livid that Donald Trump is pardoning Mike Flynn because it's not good enough in their eyes. They think that pardoning him admits to the world that he committed a crime. It does.

Because he did, he lie. I mean, look, any average person, right, Q a non-conspiracy theorist, this includes you. If you lie to law enforcement, to the FBI, you have committed a crime, no one's gonna take it easy on you, but it's a very different situation with Michael Flynn. And what Donald Trump is doing with this pardon is, of course, I guess, repeatedly sending the same message about how much he hated and disagreed with the Russia investigation, Now that he doesn't have to, well, now that he's lost the election, he doesn't have to worry about an upcoming general election. He can do this without really worrying about any consequences. And to be quite honest with you, among the pardons that he's given, this is one of the pardons that's annoying and it's frustrating when you consider the double standard and the two-tiered justice system that so many Americans experience while you have someone like Michael Flynn, lie to the FBI, plead guilty twice to lying to the FBI, and then he gets pardoned, right?

Yeah. But in the grand scheme of things, what Michael Flynn did compared to what other Trump cronies had done is not as big of a deal if you ask me. And what I've never really understood is why Michael Flynn lied to the FBI about his communications with Sergei Kisliak. Because according to what Michael Flynn says, he just basically told Sergey Kisliak, yo, homie, chill, you know, don't get too upset with the United States. We're going to look into these sanctions and see what we're. we can do, right? That's what he allegedly talked him about. You later confess that that's what you talked to him about. So why didn't you just admit it from the beginning? That you wanted to approach Russia in a more diplomatic way. I don't know, the whole thing is really strange to me, but this is where we've ended up. I don't know about a more diplomatic way, a more subversively diplomatic way. But I think the reason he got in trouble, I guess, is because of the lie. And I think the lie was because he, like most of us, believed that these laws and norms and stuff exist. And so he sort of, like, he could have just told the truth and said that he did it, which would theoretically look bad.

But that's only bad if consequences exist and they don't. It's like it would be like lying to conceal a violation of the Hatch Act or lying to conceal a violation of the Mollumance Clause. Why lie when the lie is easier to catch than to actually prosecute either a violation of the Hatch Act? or the emoluments clause, because it turns out those don't actually matter. Lying in this way also, you didn't need to do it. You could, nothing matters anymore. You did the one thing that's sort of like a shortcut to minor consequences. And I agree.

Like the Republicans said for years that we were obsessed with Michael Flynn. I don't think about Michael Flynn. I don't think about Michael Flynn. I honestly don't. You can add it to the list of weird, suspicious things that they did in that period of time, but I don't care about him. And this is one of the least offensive pardons so far, and I'm sure there'll be even worse ones coming up soon.

And you know for a fact that Donald Trump doesn't think it's a big deal if anyone lies to the FBI, especially someone in a position of power. He admitted so much during an interview with George Sophanopoulos when he was asked whether he would go to the FBI if someone, a foreign government would approach him with any type of, you know, negative information or intel on his political opponents. Like he just confessed during that interview that he wouldn't go to the FBI, even though he's legally obligated to do it. So birds of a feather flocked together.

I'm not surprised that he, pardon Michael Flynn. The most shocking part about this story for me was that he hadn't already done so in the summer when he was already hinting that he was planning on doing so. Well, so that's the big breaking news story. Again, not shocking, but let's move on to something that I came across this morning that I thought was, well, it should be shocking because it's just so wrong. But it has to do with Joe Biden, so let's discuss. Joe Biden took his message of unity a little too far, just a little too far, for me at least,

during an interview with Lester Holt. Let's hear what the question is and what Biden had to say. Have you considered for the sake of national unity selecting or nominating a Republican, someone who voted for President Trump? Yes, and we still have a lot more appointments to make. I want this country to be united. The purpose of our administration is once again reuniting. We can't keep this virulent political dialogue going.

It has to end. But why? But why? But why? This makes, the Democratic Party with the new, like, infusion of never Trump Republicans, has already moved to the right. I don't understand this need to reach out.

People who voted for Trump, not like some people might have voted for Trump in 2016 because maybe they wanted to take a chance. Maybe they realized that we needed a shock to the system. And even though Trump, in my opinion, was a disaster when he was campaigning, it was pretty clear he was going to be a disaster as a president, they decided, no, we'll take a chance, we'll vote for him. But then after four years of one horrific policy after the next, dozens of migrants dying in cages, people going hungry during the pandemic and being completely

abandoned by Donald Trump, more than a quarter million Americans dying during the pandemic. Donald Trump breaking all sorts of laws, including using congressionally appropriated funds as leverage to get Ukraine to announce a sham investigation into the Biden. I mean, the list goes on and on and on and on and on. If someone votes for Trump after four years of that, why would you want them in your administration? Why? These are not reasonable people. These are not people who believe in our system of government. They don't believe in democracy.

They don't believe in decency, the very thing that Joe Biden claims he wants to bring back to the United States. Why would you commit or why would you even entertain the idea of putting a Trump supporter in your administration? understand it. Anyway, maybe I'm going too far. Maybe it's unreasonable to think that it's a stupid idea to have a Trump supporter in your administration. I don't know, John, maybe you have a different perspective. I think that it's important after Donald Trump and the Republicans lost an election that we understand their feelings and more than that that we give them all political power. I think that's what we should do. I think in the same way that when Donald Trump won, he spent years reaching out to the left and to Democrats.

I don't understand it. I don't understand it at all. I mean, look, I do to some extent. There's a few different explanations. One, Biden's going to Biden, and that's it. And he doesn't get who Trump is. He doesn't get who Trump supporters are. He fundamentally doesn't understand it. He thinks that we're still in the Reagan years, which we're terrible, but in a different way. Maybe. It's just Biden being Biden. One is, it's a way to pay back the Lincoln project, part of the Republican Party maybe, except again. No, they hate but they hate Trump. No, no, I'm

saying, I'm saying. Sorry, I'm very fired up about this, obviously. That's conflating like some Republican like John Kasich, but the question was a Trump voter, someone who two weeks ago tried to stop you from being President Joe Biden. Does Joe Biden know that he's the Joe Biden they were opposing?

Maybe he's mixed it up with some other Biden. And the third explanation, I guess, is because some centrist Dems, not even elected, Was this regular, like, centrist Dems out there in the country, they just love this stuff because they, like Biden, want to imagine that everything will go back to normal and everything will be great, we can go to brunch and all that. I know, but normal, but normal before Trump was Republicans are obstructionists, they do not

want to work with Obama, they will do anything and everything necessary to block his proposals or any vision he has during his administration. So even before Trump, the Republican Party has been slapping members of the Obama administration around. And Biden's like, oh yeah, yeah, no, no, people who are even worse than them. I want, sure, yeah, I would totally consider them being represented in some fashion in my administration. And then the question of progressives came up. And I'm grateful that Lester Holt asked this question.

Let's hear what Biden had to say. What about former rivals from your own party, Bernie Sanders? Elizabeth Warren. Have you talked to them about cabinet positions? Well, what I've talked to, look, as I said, we already have significant representation among progressives in our administration, but there's nothing really off the table. But one thing is really critical. Taking someone out of the Senate, taking someone out of the House, particularly a person of consequence, is a really difficult decision that have to be made. I have a very ambitious, very progressive agenda.

And it's going to take really strong leaders in the House and Senate to get it done. No, you don't. You don't. So far, the names that have been announced for Biden's cabinet, the nominees are not these ambitious progressives. I have not seen ambitious progressive proposals from the Biden campaign. I was shocked to see that he did move a little to the left when it came to climate policy, but then that was immediately counteracted by some of the cabinet nominees that have been announced already. So I don't, there's one thing I do agree with him on in that answer. I do think it's important for Bernie to remain in the Senate.

I think that it's better to have him serve as a check on the executive branch rather than be part of the executive branch where I don't think that Biden is really going to give him much influence anyway. But that's the only thing I agree with him on. When you look at all of the other names that have been mentioned, even the ones that progressives can stomach, that's pretty much it. Progressives can stomach them. But they're not individuals that progressives are like, oh yeah, hardcore leftists, they're

definitely gonna fight for the Green New Deal, they're gonna fight for canceling student loan debt. No, these are people who actually have worked with Biden and the Obama administration. You know, these are not new names, these are not new faces, these are typical moderate Democrats. And then in addition to those typical moderate Democrats, you have a list, a now growing list of individuals who have been very comfortable and financially tied with the fossil fuel industry. And I'll give you some specifics on that in just a minute. But John, I wanted to give you a chance to jump in. Yeah. So I want to play devil's advocate. Before I play devil's advocate, let me ask you a question that I debated when I talked about this on the damage

report. I, like you, agree with, like I would prefer to have Bernie in the Senate. I also think that he knows better than me, so if he thinks he can get more down to the cabinet, I would defer to him. But Joe Biden says it's more important to have them in the Senate. Is that why he's not putting them on the cabinet? He's saying that, that's the reason. Is that the reason? Look, at this, like obviously at this point, we're speculating. I don't know what he's thinking, But I will say this, if you compare the two videos that we've shown you for this story, when Lester Holt asks, would you consider a Trump voter in your cabinet? He answered real quick.

When it came to, have you spoken to Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders about cabinet positions? Like he was struggling, like in the beginning. Suddenly it became one of those, well, look, here's the deal. It became that. Like, no, that's not you being honest. That's you being Joe Biden, the politician, I think. But devil's advocate, I think, look, when he says, says, I have a bold progressive agenda. Okay, obviously we think that's going way too far.

But look, I think for Senate Republicans and some Senate Dems, is his climate plan more progressive than they're probably comfortable with? I think you could make the case, yes. I think some of his plans could be described more accurately as progressive than the people. When he says we already have a lot of progressive representation, like I genuinely want to play devil's advocate and Who? Like, who is he talking about when he says that? Well, you know, there are TYT members who are writing in right now. You can become a TYT member by going to TYT.com slash join. And they agree with you.

So for instance, Craig Cray Souffle writes in and says, what progressives are on your list of cabinet nominations, Joe? I must need new glasses. And then no more trigonometry makes an excellent point. If you just go back in recent history and think about some of the commentary among centrist Democrats in regard to Bernie. This is what trigonometry has to say. Once again, I have to point out the establishment told us nonstop

about how Bernie isn't a real Democrat, but their golden boy Biden is literally talking about letting Trump supporters in his cabinet, pathetic. Yeah. Yeah, I totally agree with you. And Trump supporters aside, even if, you know, he just said that for the sake of unity or said it as a theoretical,

Some of the names that have been mentioned, some of the nominations already are problematic, even if they're not Trump supporters. So first off, he chose Representative Cedric Richmond from Louisiana to serve in his cabinet, and he would certainly have to communicate and serve as a liaison with climate activists. And that's an issue because he is heavily funded by the fossil fuel industry. He is the fifth Democrat who takes the most money, most donations from the fossil fuel industry. So there's a huge conflict of interest there. And then now there's another name being floated for his cabinet. Ernest Monis is currently serving on the board of Southern Company, which is a utility company known for a great deal of pollution. And he's being considered as someone who's going to serve for the energy.

secretary under Biden. So what are you doing? Okay, so where are the progressives? And then you hear names like Janet Yellen, and Janet Yellen's done some great things, but she's also done some not so great things. I wouldn't, I wouldn't consider her like some hardcore progressive, but she was someone that progressives were able to stomach. I think there's an important distinction there. Yeah, like, I guess maybe he has made some choices that he hasn't made public? Like, is he thinking about, like, Deb Holland or something? Like, is it? Maybe he has some information that we don't know, because otherwise, is he talking about John Kerry? Is he talking about Ron Clayne? Like, we know that he defines progressive very differently than we do, obviously,

but, but he's got to know that that, that quote is going out to progressives who are going to interpret the way progressives think of it. And he is not a self-identified progressive, or at least not the way we would define it again. I honestly don't know. I'm genuinely trying to play devil's advocate and I don't know who is on that list. A few super chats related to this story. David Draper writes in and says, been watching for years, became a member after election day, TYT too strong. Thank you so much. And everyone watching, you can also become a member by going to t.yt.com slash join. And Ms. Loops writes in and says, so basically, Biden sounded more eager to recruit Republicans than progressives.

I mean, just based on those two clips that we showed you, and you can go back, rewind and watch it, that appears to be the case. But, you know, we'll see what the final result of Biden's administration will be. And of course, we're going to keep updating you guys on all of that as the story develops. But for now, we're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, we'll tell you why Rahm Emanuel still sucks. We need to talk about a relatively new show called Un-Fing 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-B-E-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.

Hey guys, welcome back to TYT, Anna and John with you. I wanted to take a quick look at the thermometer to see how we're doing with our fundraising effort. This is the, we're at the home stretch, right? So the month of November is almost over. The goal was to raise $200,000. We're not close, but it's okay. I'm super grateful to everyone who's contributed to this effort. We're at $119,050.

You can contribute and help keep TYT sustainable by going to tYT.com slash go. And this is the part where Jank does some cheesy like, can I get X amount? 120,000 by the end of the show. That's, I feel like that's, I believe in you guys. I think we could, wait, what was the number again? Can we go back? Was it 119? Yeah, we can do better than that.

Come on. Let's do. Let's do. Okay, if you get to 120, you please me. If you get to 122, you please Anna. Don't you want to please me? Let's get to 122. All right, we'll see what happens.

Let's see what happens. All right. So Samsung, we're doing some stuff with them. That's right. So there are multiple ways that you can watch TYT, but you can also download the free Samsung TV Plus app and take TYT with you wherever you go. Anywhere you go, you can watch us. So for instance, today is all about paying tribute to the damage report and the upcoming holiday season. I like how they randomly want to pay homage to the damage report.

I like the recognition. All right, no, let's not celebrate the main show. Let's not do that. Today is all about the damage report, guys. Well, I think considering the honor we've been getting, I think it should be the damage report in TYT. The main show, that nomenclature is getting a little bit old, I think, at this point. All these honors.

Do you want to get cut? There's a reason I was looking away from you while saying that. You can download today by going to t.yt.com slash Samsung TV. Again, that's tyt.com slash Samsung TV. You can also find TYT on channel 1032. 1032, check it out. Also, ShopTYT is still doing its 10 days of Black Friday. It's day eight of that sale.

So if you want to, by the way, I've totally mixed up two live reads and one. This is where we're celebrating Damage Report, not with Samsung TV. Look, I think to be fair, I think it's across both. Yeah, yeah, okay. Samsung, I'm on to you. Samsung, you're off the, you're, you know, you're good. But anyway, here's the sale, check it out. So the damage report holiday sweater has dropped.

I love it. And that is by the way my wife. Yes, beautiful and sweet. And I couldn't think of a better model, so I love it. So make sure you check that out. There's no better way to get into the spirit of the season, the dragon season, that is, order now to ensure your order arrives in time for Christmas. Nice. It's a TYT exclusive. No other store is carrying that sweater.

Hot topic, we're talking to them. All right. And then finally, you should be protecting all of your online activity, and the best way to do that is through a VPN. Check out PureVPN. Go to tYt.com slash PureVPN to learn more. You can get 88% off of your five-year plan with VPN, with Pure. VPN's biggest Black Friday discount. And that only comes out to $1.32 a month. And that's nothing considering the peace of mind that comes along with protecting your online activity. All right, moving on. Let's talk about Rahm Emanuel. I know we've been talking about him a lot lately, but the story just keeps on developing. Progressives have been fighting

the possibility of Rom Emanuel serving in Joe Biden's cabinet. At first, there were rumors about Rahm Emanuel possibly serving as transportation secretary. And then after a great deal of backlash, there was word from some sources within the Biden campaign that maybe they'll give him a less visible role like US trade representative as if people wouldn't notice. Of course they would. And there are a number of incoming freshman progressives like Jamal Bowman who want to share their displeasure at someone like like Rahm Emanuel serving in Biden's cabinet. And so he went on CNN to make the case, and then this happened.

So based on Biden's elections so far, do you see anyone that's progressive enough for you? Well, first, let me say off the top, thank you so much for having me. When I hear names like Ram Emanuel being floated as part of Biden's cabinet, considering the fact that he covered up the murder of Laquan McDonald in Chicago, considering the fact that he closed over 50 elementary schools and 30 mental health institutions. It's incredibly alarming. So we lost the Congressman Alec there. Sorry about that. So of course that's led to a lot of speculation about CNN.

him off the air because of some of the harsh criticism and I think justified criticism that Bowman had for Rahm Emanuel. I think what's telling is that they never had him back on to finish his point. So there could have been technical issues. I have no confirmation about what CNN's intentions are. What I do know is that the right thing to do is to have him back on and they haven't. And I think that's an issue. Because what Jamal Bowman was was expressing there is incredibly important for people to know, especially because I get the sense among some moderate Democrats that progressives are being unreasonable in their disdain for Rahm Emanuel. But there are very good reasons for why progressives do not want him associated

with the Biden campaign. And I'll go over those reasons again for you guys. But John, why don't you jump in? Yeah, when she starts to go over them, could you cut her video feed, please? No, yeah. And by the way, you can pick and choose. If you want to know why he should have no place whatsoever in the Biden administration, you can take his time working for Obama or his time since working for Obama. Honestly, either is just as bad. You know, what he did when he was relatively independent, the cover up that Jamal Bowman was trying to talk about there. Yeah, that by itself, no. How? How at any point, especially in 2020, considering all of what's going on around the country and how much work? Joe Biden needs to do to reassure people that he gets the message that America has been sending. How could you put him above anyone else? I think he might literally be one of the worst possible inclusions that Biden would consider for that reason alone, let alone his political strategy under Obama was absolutely abhorrent. John, I want to actually immediately go to the details of what Jamal Bowman wanted to share in that segment, because this is, in my opinion,

and in a lot of people's opinion, disqualifying, absolutely. So you know, you might have heard of the Lequan McDonald's shooting. He was shot and killed by cops in Chicago. He was shot 16 times. And of course, Rahm Emanuel is the mayor of Chicago at that time. And although Lequan McDonald was shot in 2014, we didn't get to see the footage of that shooting until well over a year later. And that timing was very coincidentally convenient for Rahm Emanuel since he was. running to, running again for mayor of Chicago. So at the center of liberals distrust and dislike of a manual, by the way, liberals don't seem to have a distrust and dislike.

I'm specifically talking about progressives here, leftists, they're the ones who have a dislike toward Emmanuel. So Chris Saliza should get that right. But anyway, in which an African American teenager was shot 16 times by a white police officer in 2014, the video of the shooting was not released for more than a year, and its release came on the same day the officer involved was charged with murder. Now, later he did get convicted. So there was, it was actually one of these shocking cases of a cop who shot and killed a teenager, black teenager, and then had to suffer some consequence. He stood trial. He wasn't convicted of

murder. It was a lesser charge, but it was a serious charge, I believe homicide. And so what happened was the video didn't get released until after, like right after Rahm Emanuel got reelected. And then after the footage came out and after people were upset that it seemed as though he was trying to hold onto the tapes or avoid releasing the tapes, he decided not to run again for mayor of Chicago. He's a disaster, absolute disaster. And that's in addition to all of the other awful things he did, including closing dozens of public schools, offering all sorts of sweetheart deals to real estate developers who did nothing to actually help disadvantaged communities in the area. In fact, all they did was build more of these luxury condos and apartments

that priced people out of the communities that they lived in for decades. I mean, he was a disaster, absolute disaster. His so-called leadership led to an exodus of 200,000 African Americans from Chicago. And so there are good reasons for why progressives want nothing to do with to do with Rahm Emanuel. And the idea that he's still being considered is just shameful. Yeah, and it's, you know, I mean that this is America. Like you just, you just stick around. You don't have to do, like whether it's politics or media, like you can just be awful, get it wrong over and over and over again, but apparently you know the right people and they've known you for a long time. So I guess we gotta find something for Ram Emanuel and I'm not well

connected, I don't network, maybe I just don't get this whole thing. I was in a frat. But why? Why do you have to have any position for Rahm Emanuel. I don't know how much Ram Emanuel's worth, but I'm willing to bet it's enough. I think he's going to be okay. I don't think he automatically gets a place in a Democratic administration just because he happened to be in one before and he's still technically a Democrat. You could not give him any job, hypothetically. He could go do something else.

I don't understand why we have to fight about, like the best we can hope for is that he's only in charge of trade. What has he done? What has he done over the last few years? The Democratic Party has changed a lot. Lots of awesome new talented people are working their way up. What has he done during that time to aid them? Independently, what has he done?

Why do you just get to slide by? Why do you not have to actually produce anything for the Democratic Party? Just because they happen to know your name from before. This is the sort of thing that makes people hate politics. It makes them distrust politicians. No American, regular American, working class American, is calling for Rahm Emanuel to have any place in this administration? Yeah, I totally agree with you.

And I want to make sure I give you guys all of the correct facts. So Jason Van Dyke was the white cop who shot and killed Laquan McDonald. He was only 17 at the time. He was facing murder charges and was ultimately convicted of second degree murder. So, yeah, I wanted to make sure that you guys knew what he was actually convicted of. And the fact that Rahm Emanuel decided to hold onto those tapes, refused to release them publicly until he was reelected as mayor, I think is telling, certainly telling. And he, even without that horrific story and those horrific actions he took in regard to what happened to Laquan McDonald, all of the other actions he took while serving in Obama's administration, how much disdain he showed for progressives. And then everything else he did in Chicago with shutting down public schools and, you know, creating all these sweetheart deals and opportunities for real estate developers.

It just, he's unqualified. We need to get that kind of rot out of government. Okay. And I'm sure he'll do fine as a contributor on CNN or wherever, which, what, is it CNN or MSNBC? I forget. He's on one of them, like constantly. So he'll be all right. Anyway, let's move on.

30 states seeing a surge in new cases this week, and an uncontrolled spread of the virus across New Mexico, up 104% compared to last week. COVID-19 so rampant across America that one model projects the U.S. will reach a staggering 20 million cases by January 20th. The coronavirus spike continues to surge throughout the country, and it's absolutely disastrous when you consider the fact that Donald Trump's. Inaction and lack of leadership to begin with was awful, but he has completely abandoned doing anything to help the American people, to help slow the spread of this virus, to help keep Americans alive. And so we're seeing some pretty devastating numbers when it comes to new coronavirus cases and also a surge of deaths that come along with these confirmed cases. Tuesday's tally, for instance, of 2,092 COVID-19 deaths is the highest the United States has seen since May 6th,

when 2,611 deaths were reported. Nearly 12.6 million U.S. cases, and 259,000 fatalities have been reported since February. So record numbers of fatalities were reported in nine states. Ohio, Washington, Indiana, Missouri, Wisconsin, Oregon, Maine, Alaska, and North Dakota, and that's according to data tracked by the Washington Post. So when you compare the United States to other countries, European countries, for instance, you can see that we're uniquely awful in responding to this pandemic. We're very much in the second wave, but what makes the United States different from all these other countries is that they decided to take strict measures early on weeks ago, once they noticed the second surge,

and they've been able to slow the spread of COVID. While, as you can see in this graph, with that green line representing the United States, we're seeing this giant spike. And all of the issues that we ran into in the beginning of the pandemic, a lack of PPE, a shortage of PPE, I should say, hospitals getting slammed with patients, people with other illnesses getting turned away because the hospitals are overwhelmed with patients. We're seeing that again. And some of these states have already begun shutting down businesses. Some of these states are considering a second lockdown or stay at home order, which means

that small businesses will suffer further. People will continue losing their jobs. And of course, the federal government has also abandoned us when it came to another, you know, another COVID stimulus package. So John, it's just the situation is bleak. And you know, you and I talked on damage report about the increased travel over the holidays. So I don't know. I don't know what to do at this point. I mean, all you can do is share information with people and hope that they take responsible measures. Yeah. And it's felt like that way for a long time. We, we report it. We try to get people to take it seriously. We are hampered by the fact that Unfortunately, our audience probably is predisposed to take it seriously, but a lot of people

aren't in our audience. And a lot of people are not going to take it seriously, and they're going to get COVID soon. And so I don't know if this is true for you, Anna, or maybe for you watching, but I have a new tradition. It's been stretching back a few months. Around 4.30 every afternoon, I start hitting refresh on Twitter to see what the COVID tracking project's numbers are going to be. I can't, I can't.

Because it's just devastating. And today I'm going to be doing it, like around the time of the post game. And I'm going to be wondering, is it going to be above 2,000 again? Or is that, is that going to be like a good number that we look back on in a month and think, oh my God, remember when it was just 2,000? I don't know because this is all before Thanksgiving. People are already traveling. They've been traveling for a couple of days.

It's going to go up even more. And they're going to go to a place possibly giving it COVID or possibly getting it and then bringing it back to the place we're at. Millions and 50 million Americans or something like that are going to travel. Some close and some far. and like we hit 2000 again, I apologize, we hit 2000 again and a significant portion of the media is not going to, like they're not going to respond how you'd expect if we were at five deaths even. Like Fox isn't going to even say that we've hit 2000 again. Yeah, and you know, just going back to the increased travel for the holidays, you showed

this insane, you know, video that showed like it's one. One thing to talk about the 3 million people who traveled over the weekend, which is, by the way, the largest number of travelers since the pandemic hit, it's another thing to visualize it. And when you look at that image of all the different planes traveling across the United States, this is what happened over the weekend, guys. This is the kind of travel that took place. So it gives you a sense of, you know, I don't want to say that people aren't taking it seriously, right? But the reason why I don't want to say that is because you're right, John. Not everyone watches this show. Not everyone is paying attention to the, you know, outlets that are trying to do the right

thing and give people accurate information. Some people just hinge on whatever Donald Trump and his cronies have to say. The right wing media is still minimizing this. You have governors, like Christy Knoem, for instance, who's just absolutely defiant when it comes to any piece of responsibility that can help slow. this virus. They just, they just don't care. And so, and then on the other hand, I think this is important to bring up as well, it's, it's hard for people to trust politicians when they seem to be operating in a way that is untouched by this virus, right? Like, when you see our politicians

out having dinner or being out in public without masks or, you know, you see our politicians travel to the French laundry in Napa Valley to have a fancy dinner with lobbyists without wearing masks and things like that. People look at that and they say, well, Gavin Newsom's hanging out, having a good time at the French laundry. Why can't I go see my family? So it's really important for our politicians to lead by example. And there's been failure in that regard across the board. So it's, and people are paying the price. So real quick, I also wanted to share some potentially positive news. I say potentially because it does depend on FDA approval. But Pfizer is estimating that 6.4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses will be distributed by mid-December.

So here's what we know based on reporting from the Hill. Pfizer last week asked the FDA to issue an emergency use authorization for its vaccine, which was found to be 95% effective in clinical trials. It's not clear when the FDA will make a decision. An agency advisory committee meets on December 10th to vote on whether they will recommend the FDA should authorize the vaccine. Also, officials expect 40 million vaccine doses to be ready by the end of the year. HHS secretary Alex Azar said he expects vaccines to be available for the general population in the second quarter of next year. And while I don't trust Alex Azar, I do trust Anthony Fassar. I do trust Anthony Fauci, and he had a similar estimate in regard to when the vaccine will be available for

widespread use. Yeah. And look, the 6.4, if they knew that, and actually distributed, because being ready and being distributed to all corners of the country, very different things, obviously, that 6.4 million will, in theory, take care of, like, our frontline medical practitioners, registered nurses, doctors, and things like that. And obviously, you have a lot of really old people that are incredibly vulnerable to this. There's going to be millions and millions more of that, the second quarter of next year feels so, so far away. And one of my fears is that the every bit of news between now and when it's universal, whether that's a year or whatever, is going to make it seem less serious.

Like it's good news, it gives you some optimism, but like, what was it, a Geraldo was on Fox talking about, like last week, we were entering into a dark winter until this good news about the vaccine. No, no. It's just so irresponsible. No, no, we don't have the vaccine, like it's gonna come, but we don't have it now. And I worry that a lot of people are gonna be at least as responsible as your average Geraldo and think, well, you know, they probably have it.

If I get sick, they'll probably just shoot me up with the vaccine or something. That's not how it works at all. You are just as much at risk right now. The more people that get the vaccine, theoretically a little bit better, it'll become, but we're still months and months away from that having an actual substantive effect on your day-to-day life. Let's take our final break of the hour. When we come back, we'll talk a little bit about what the economy is looking like for the average American, especially with the surge in coronavirus cases.

At TYT, we frequently talk about all the ways that big tech companies are taking control of our online lives, constantly monitoring us and storing and selling our data. But that doesn't mean we have to let them. It's possible to stay anonymous online and hide your data from the prying eyes of big tech. And one of the best ways is with ExpressVPN. ExpressVPN hides your IP address, making your active ID more difficult to trace and sell the advertisers. ExpressVPN also encrypts 100% of your network data to protect you from eavesdroppers and cybercriminals. And it's also easy to install.

A single mouse click protects all your devices. But listen, guys, this is important. ExpressVPN is rated number one by CNET and Wired magazine. So take back control of your life online and secure your data with a top VPN solution available, ExpressVPN. And if you go to expressvpn.com slash t-y-t, you can get three extra months for free with this exclusive link just for T-Y-T fans. That's E-X-P-R-E-S-S-V-N dot com slash T-YT. Check it out today. Let's take a quick look at that thermometer, okay? I wanted to get to $122,000.

John said he'd be satisfied with $120,000. TYT.com slash go. You're not satisfied. I'm not happy, but we love you guys. We love everyone who's contributed. You guys are incredible, fantastic. Obviously, we're just joking around. Any little bit helps, and I'm super grateful to you guys.

So, all right, cool. So we're both on the same boat. Like, I'm happy that, you know. We're both frustrated. Yeah, yeah. Not really. We're not really frustrated, but we'll pretend to be. For the sake of this cutesy little thing we're doing here.

So let's also talk about Twitch a little bit. We have a Twitch channel for those of you who might not know already. Twitch.tv slash TYT is where you can watch the show and other Twitch exclusive programming by TYT. And I wanted to give a shout out to a lot of incredible people, including Hottie Meter, who gifted 50 subs yesterday during the post game show. We didn't get a chance to say thank you. So thank you so much. Obie Mom Kenobi, MVP, man, most valuable player. Handing out those gift subs, like, um, sub, 25 gift subs.

Thank you for that. Siren 114, five gift subs, platinum Yeti, five gift subs and a three month re-sub with Prime. RTSD, three months with Prime, Gil Rax, two months, tier one, yass. I don't know what any of this is, I'm just reading, I'm just reading exactly what it says. Spideon rules, two months, long time watcher, new to Twitch, love you guys. We love you too. And Meg C says, or Meg C is new with Prime. Sherry Young, new with Prime as well. Thank you guys. You're rock stars. We appreciate you so much. I got to read these super trots real quick too. I know I'm being jank right now. Ryan D. I like

this show. Happy Thanksgiving you too. Have a nice break. Thank you so much. Der Look O says a suggestion for Rahm Emanuel, ambassador to Indonesia far, far away from Washington. I don't even want that. I don't want him to be ambassador to anything other than his personal life far away from us, not involved in politics at all. Well, but bear in mind if he'd have to live there, he'd be pretty far away. Yeah, but like the proximity doesn't bother me. The power is what bothers me.

So if he has no power in government, I'm happy with that. Testimony Ali says, Heavenly Father, pour out healing and forgiveness upon our whole nation and fill us with love and joy and peace and help us get along better. That was sweet. I appreciated that. All right, so let's talk about the economy. Weekly unemployment claims continue to be higher than expected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the labor market keeps taking a hit as a result of coronavirus-related restrictions and shutdowns.

Now, we're experiencing the second wave of coronavirus. Obviously, it didn't need to be as extreme as what we're experiencing right now. But since we don't have a great deal of leadership, especially on a federal level, some states are just completely ignoring the reality of this pandemic and this situation. And it's translating to people losing their jobs. So weekly jobless claims totaled 778,000 last week higher than the 742,000 from a week ago. Obviously, the industries that are hit the hardest include the hospitality industry, because, Because some restaurants have been forced to shut down in Los Angeles County, for instance, outdoor dining was allowed until tonight. Starting tonight, outdoor dining will no longer be allowed. And restaurants can only remain open for takeout and delivery, which means more people are going to be experiencing some economic pain here. And the total receiving benefits actually rose from 20.45 million for the week that ended on November 7th, up 133,000. $5,297 from the week before.

That compares with just under $1.5 million a year ago, underscoring how much damage remains in the labor market. And across the country, Americans are finding themselves in extremely long lines for food banks, sometimes waiting as long as five hours. Watch. Look at these cars lined up for miles in East Rutherford, New Jersey. And what's perhaps even more astonishing here is that some willingly waiting, three, four, five hours, right, just to get this food donation to feed their families.

And in many cases, this is not just about a holiday meal. This is about daily survival. CNN's Bryn Jinngrass has been at that distribution point all day. And Bryn, the need there like we're seeing in so many places across the country, is sadly far exceeding the demand. It's true, Erica. And when you see people come in their cars and they're literally crying as they receive those meals in the trunk of their car. It just shows you how desperate people are feeling and how important

these causes are. I want to show you the line of cars. What you saw earlier, you just showed your viewers, that was from this morning's distribution here at the Meadowlands YMCA. Right now, as we zoom in, you see those cars lined up. Every single car is a family, multiple families in some cases who are waiting to get these free meals. Further down, I can see a family right now who brought a soccer ball just to keep their kids occupied because they've been waiting here for two, three hours just to get those meals. On the episode of the daily podcast today, they spoke to people who are waiting in these food bank lines. And it's just, please listen. Like, I don't normally plug other people's shows

unless I think it's worth it. And so please check out that episode because I think it's important to hear these people's voices and understand what they're going through and share that episode. They talked to this one woman who's Muslim and she talked about how grateful she is that she wears a headscarf because she doesn't have to deal with the humiliation of waiting in a food bank line. So there's, you know, the poverty and the stigma and unnecessary shame that comes along with that poverty. And there are people, you know, in that line who were totally fine before the pandemic. You know, living normal middle class lifestyles, you know, didn't think that they would find themselves in line for a food bank. And now they're waiting five hours just to get food on the table for themselves and their families. Yeah, and like that woman, they feel shame for being in the line, but we should all feel shame for being in a country that allows that line to exist in the first place.

Yeah. And to be a country at the same time that frequently will use the specter of lines to wait in food to warn people away from supporting socialist, scary socialist candidates. We can't have that sort of thing. That'll result in Soviet-style lines for bread. those lines are here like they're they're all over the that video there's huge ones in Texas there's there's a line actually on overland I drive by sometimes and see yeah there's lines there no that's America that's cap best capitalist economy in the world right then why do we have these massive lines why should we be afraid of some alternate system the worst like outcome of which they can scare us away from is something that we're seeing

every day. You know, and what doesn't get talked about enough is just like how much this experience is going to impact these kids, you know? There are certain memories from my childhood that I didn't realize were like subconsciously like messing with me, you know, just like there was one one anecdote, one story that was shared in that episode of the Daily today where a mom had to explain to her children why they weren't able to eat the kinds of foods that they typically eat, like fruits and vegetables and things like that. And it reminded me of a conversation I had with my mom after my dad's

welding job was shipped overseas. You know, and I like that, I remember it vividly. So I think about all those kids who aren't able to go to school, aren't able to play with their friends. On top of that, have to wait in these insanely long lines for food banks. Their parents are stressed out. The federal government has completely abandoned them. But hey, guys, don't worry. The Dow Jones did really well yesterday. Record numbers, 30,000. Sacred number, actually. Sacred number, according to Donald Trump. This was the graph that we showed you guys yesterday showing that spike, up 6% since election day 2020. And it's all based on speculation, of course. We all know that. But it just goes to

show you how utterly disconnected Wall Street continues to be from the real life experiences of average Americans every day during this pandemic. Anyway, postgame is next. Become a member. Go to t-y-t.com slash join. And for all of you who donated to our fundraising effort, thank you so much. You can also support the show by being members.

We love you and have an awesome Thanksgiving. We'll see you next Monday. Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work. Listen ad-free. Access members-only bonus content. and more by subscribing to Apple Podcasts at apple.co slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.