The Young Turks - They Knew But They Lied

Episode Date: January 15, 2021

The recent Covid surge has caused another spike in unemployment claims. Ana Kasparian and Nando Vila 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. What's up, everyone, welcome to TYT, Anna Kasparian and Nando Vila with you, the entire bands here. Ready to have a good time. Obviously lots of pretty terrible stories in the news today, but we're gonna give you some smart, level-headed, evidence-based, analysis on what's going on in the country. We'll be doing an update on the economic reality for the majority of Americans during the coronavirus pandemic. We don't want to allow that story

to fall by the wayside. Later in the show, Rex Tillerson, Trump's former Secretary of State, more importantly, former CEO of ExxonMobil is an expert, apparently, on foreign policy. So he'll be chiming in on that. And we'll share our own thoughts. But as always, I'm super happy to be here with you guys. Super happy to have Nando on the show. Nando, how you doing? I'm doing well, doing well, ready to dissect the news. Let's do it. Let's dissect it. So look, we know that there's a lot going on with the riots that took place in the Capitol last week. Lots of updates that story. But I do want to start off with an update on coronavirus. And more importantly, how Biden plans on tackling the economic situation that so many Americans are facing today as a result of the pandemic. So let's get right to it. The death toll and economic devastation for average Americans throughout this pandemic just will not let up.

In fact, recent numbers from the federal government indicate that job losses have been spiking. We noticed this last week and unfortunately the report this week is even worse. So a total of 1.15 million workers filed initial claims for state unemployment benefits during the first full week of the new year. And of course, this is based on data that was released by the Labor Department. Another 284,000 claims were filed for pandemic unemployment assistance. And that's the emergency federal program for freelancers, part-time workers, and other normally ineligible for state jobless benefits. Before the pandemic, weekly filings typically

totaled around 200,000. So just to, you know, juxtapose how severe the situation is right now. We're dealing with 1.15 million filed, you know, jobless claims. And before the pandemic, the average was around 200,000. On a seasonally adjusted basis, new state claims totaled just under 1 million, so 965,000. And the government reported last week that the economy shed 140,000 jobs in December, the first drop in unemployment since last spring with restaurants, bars, and hotels recording steep losses. And so we're experiencing some of that here in California, where restaurants are still shut down as a result of a spike in coronavirus cases. In Los Angeles County, it was just reported that one in three people living in Los Angeles County,

have unfortunately contracted coronavirus. So there is certainly an emergency here. And part of the problem is the, you know, just the unwillingness to coordinate and have true leadership at the top with the federal government. And at this point, so many people are fatigued from following social distancing guidelines, avoiding, you know, gathering with friends. People are still resistant to wearing masks. And the rollout for the vaccine has been a bit of a failure. We need to get as many people vaccinated as possible. And because of the fact that there hasn't been a centralized effort coming from the federal government and states have been left on their own to decide how they're going to distribute the vaccine, there have been all sorts of hiccups and we're falling behind considerably in getting as many people vaccinated as possible. But Nando, before we get to Biden's solution for all of this, I wanted to get your thoughts about where we are right now.

Yeah, I mean, it's just the ongoing emergency is just so staggering to contemplate. I mean, and even the numbers that you mentioned, the burden is disproportionately hurting, hitting the poor. I just saw that the Fed came out, one of the Fed governors came out today and issued a report saying that the unemployment rate amongst the poorest Americans is actually 20%, you know, so the, to the extent that the coronavirus economic crisis is happening. It's happening disproportionately for the already poor. You know, the, for the most part, the top, say, 10, 15, 20% of workers are mostly recovered. Most people that can work from home do white collar gigs, things like that. But the poorest Americans, the poorest in the working class are, seeing one in five of them are unemployed right now. So it's just absolutely staggering to think about.

Yeah, I mean, I think it is important to point out the difference between how white-collar workers are dealing with the pandemic versus blue-collar workers. I mean, when you think about it, the industries that have been hit the hardest are, you know, service jobs, restaurants, people who work at movie theaters, things like that. So, you know, they're not, they don't have the ability to work from home. And the problem is further compounded by the fact that Congress really failed in passing robust relief. following the CARES Act, what we got from Congress was a bill that was under a trillion dollars, right? And about around 900 billion. And one thing that doesn't get reported enough about how weak that relief really was is the fact that they didn't really appropriate much in new spending for that relief package. There was money left over from the CARES Act that they

decided to repurpose, which then led to that $900 billion figure. I mentioned that because when it comes to average Americans and providing the relief that they need, we get nickel and dined. We don't have, you know, a federal agency or something like the Federal Reserve that just comes in and bails us out. We have to rely on what gets passed in Congress. And so far what we've seen is is really pathetic, especially, you know, following the CARES Act. But Joe, Biden has made some statements regarding what he plans on doing as soon as he's inaugurated. His first legislative goal is to pass immediate relief to Americans. And there is some debate about whether it makes sense for him to pursue this in a bipartisan

way. Now, hear me out. This is what he is proposing. So let me move on to this graphic. Give me one second. So Biden is expected to pledge. Biden is expected to pledge billions of dollars to underwrite a nationwide vaccine effort, including boosting vaccine production, very important, and delivery, also important, creating public awareness campaigns and providing for emergency hiring in the public health sector. So what he wants to do is try to find a way to expand the number of available jobs and also help relieve some of the ramifications of the pandemic simultaneously. Biden's short-term relief plan will also include an expansion of a key child tax credit,

$2,000 stimulus payments for individuals. And I think this is one of the most important parts, an extension of enhanced unemployment insurance through September. Those unemployment benefits are actually set to expire in mid-March, creating a deadline for congressional action. So Nando, what the debate really centers on is this idea that Biden really wants to. wants to go at this with a bipartisan framework in mind. You have people like Marco Rubio who say that they absolutely want these $2,000 checks.

So he says he's going to have this initial relief package. And then it'll appeal to Republicans, they'll vote for it. And then after that, he's going to push for something more robust. I want to get your thoughts on that because there are upsides and downsides to that approach. And people do need relief right away. I guess my issue would be, I think that he has to do something as quickly as possible. And it strikes me that making a big bill that includes the $2,000 checks that includes money for state and local governments, that includes a child tax allowance, which is an incredible policy, all these things, like the more you include onto it, the longer it would take to pass if it could even pass at all. You know, because these things have a habit of, you know, time does not work in your benefit in these things.

Like the longer the debate happens, the less of a chance of anything good happening. So I would, if I were Biden, I would make a clean bill for just the $2,000 checks, nothing else, maybe some coronavirus vaccine funding. Because I do believe that there are 60 votes in the Senate for that. I think you can peel off 10 Republicans or 11 Republicans if Joe Manchin doesn't hop on to it. But I do believe it because it because of what happened in Georgia, which really that race turned on the sort of very clear issue of $2,000 checks and you have to seize that moment. And so that's what I would do. I would pass a clean bill on just a $2,000 check, not include all this other stuff, which is good stuff. Don't get me wrong. I think that's good stuff. But it only works to delay any sort of passage. Even in like the most optimistic timelines of something like this, it would be it would be.

probably months before anything happens. And the last thing you want to do is lose the momentum of what just happened in which we just saw like the political terrain really change around this very clear, discreet and specific and easily understandable issue, which is the $2,000 checks in your pocket. Well, Nando, I actually have some very good news. And this is what gives me a lot of hope. Because really at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what Joe Biden's strategy is. And let me make my case. So I remember about a month ago, you and I had a discussion about whether or not it made sense for Bernie Sanders to remain in the Senate where he could have maybe more influence in pushing Biden in the right direction. Or should he be, you know,

should he continue pushing for labor secretary in Biden's cabinet? I am elated that he stayed in the Senate because the truth is, you know, if Biden tries to pass a relief bill, You know, there's the filibuster to worry about. You need, you know, 60 senators to vote in favor of that bill for it to pass. However, when it comes to the budget committee within the Senate, all you need on budgetary matters is a simple majority. So this is great news. And here's what we've learned. Bernie Sanders is not happy with what's being proposed by Biden. And so he wants more assistance provided to Americans right away. He is going to be the chair of the Senate budget. committee and he is putting forward a massive stimulus bill that could pass under these special budget rules with a simple majority. So all you would need is 51 senators who sign on to this. Now Joe Manchin could serve as an obstacle to that. We'll see, but I like that there are two options here. I like that there's the possibility of Biden, you know, putting forward something a little more simplistic that could appeal to Republicans and pass right away. But we also have

that other option with Bernie Sanders, you know, in this powerful position within the Senate. So we'll see how it all plays out, but I just, I feel a little bit better about policy under this new Congress. I'm sure they're going to be frustrating moments, but it's so critical to have just rational people, more rational people in Congress that actually understand the severity of this situation for so many people. You know, there was just this callousness coming from Republican lawmakers, especially under Trump. And so we'll see how this plays out.

But what do you think about the tactic that Bernie might use? No, the budget reconciliation process is something that they should absolutely use to pass all kinds of good things. And it's the kind of thing that you can use to pass things like the child tax allowance tax, things that you will never get a single Republican vote on. You know, like we, I get the same. sense that you can get Republican votes probably as early as next week or the week after around the $2,000 check thing. The budget reconciliation process, as far as I understand,

and I could be wrong, because these things are super arcane and complex inside the Senate. It's like the most insane parliamentary body ever designed. As far as I understand, you get like one shot a year at the budget reconciliation thing. And so the Biden administration will have basically three shots right in the next three years or whatever to pass these things. And like, You know, so you can do a lot through that, and they should do as much as they can. They should pass, you know, some sort of public infrastructure thing to really, because we're seeing now with the roll out of the vaccine, just how depleted our little literal ability to just do very basic things that other governments find easy to do. We can't do like the most simple, basic kind of infrastructural demands that we would have. So there's a million good things that they should do in the budget reconciliation process.

As far as I understand it, you get kind of like one shot a year to do it. And so that's why I think like do all that smorgas board of good policy as much as you can in the budget reconciliation process, 100%. But I think that the $2,000 checks, I mean, we just saw the economic numbers, I think the $2,000 checks, if you passed it as a clean business, bill, if it was just that, I think that there is hope that you might get Republican senators to vote on it. If you pass this like big legislative package with all these Democratic priorities on it, there's not a single Republicans in it, not a single one, even if it includes a $2,000 $2,000. And if Republicans are on record saying they support the $2,000, they'll just say like, oh, no, but it's got all this other bad stuff that I don't want. I can't vote for

that because it's got all this other bad stuff. I mean, that's just, that happens every single time. Like it becomes like a poison pill within the bill. But if you have Republican senators on record. Yeah, Congress loves poison pills. Yeah. So that's why I would say just dare Republicans to oppose a clean $2,000 check bill and see what they do. Yeah. I mean, it's just, it's so easily understandable by the public, so popular. I mean, it's like, I mean, the polls shows it's like plus 80%, you know, and it's something that everyone can understand, you know, then it's just, I don't know.

So that's what I would do is, is pass a clean $2,000 check bill. Dare Republicans to oppose it. And if they don't, if they do oppose it, then you do it through reconciliation along with all the other stuff. But you can do that right now. Yeah, yeah. No, I hear you. And I think that's, it's not a bad strategy. So we'll see how this plays out. I do also want to note that the, you know, you mentioned how much this country is failing because the infrastructure that we're supposed to have in place has been depleted. And Americans are unfortunately paying the consequences of that when you look at the sheer number. of people who have died from this virus.

I'm just going to go to this quick graphic that gives you those numbers. The United States has the highest case tally in the world at 23 million and the highest death toll at 384,784 or more than a fifth of the global total. By the way, the number is probably higher at this point. The United States added at least 230,476 new cases yesterday alone, Wednesday, and counted at least 3,922 deaths after setting a record of more than 4,400 deaths on Tuesday. Like, the numbers are out of control. Staggering, staggering. And it's just, it's frustrating to see how easily people are distracted from this crisis. I mean, us as well. Like, it's so hard

to keep up with this new cycle, which is why I wanted that story up at the top today. But we're gonna to take a break. And when we come back, we'll give you some of the updates, some of the news that we're learning, you know, after the capital riots took place, including some pretty powerful people, not only inciting violence, but engaging in the riots. There have been some arrests made. I'll give you all those details when we come back. We need to talk about a relatively new show called Un-F-The Republic or UNFTR. As a young Turk's 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-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 have learned 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. You know, Hey everyone, welcome to our social break. I'm going to read some member comments. Members help to keep us sustainable.

So special thanks to all of you who have stuck by us throughout everything. So let's start with Progressive Defender, who says I started getting more active here because I am the most isolated. I have been during COVID. I love seeing all of the member names that I I recognize. So progressive defenders referring to our TYT community, thank you so much for looking out for one another and providing some, you know, camaraderie and friendship at a time when so many people are isolated. Kate Nix says, saw a report shared by David Serota and Farron Cousins that Biden wants to work with Republicans on the stimulus package. The Dems have the House and the Senate. They don't need the repugs. Just as we feared Biden is trying

to make the deals. Look, I mean, I agree in being critical of Biden's like delusional rhetoric about like, oh yeah, we could totally heal and work with Republicans. In this case, I think part of the reason why he's trying to pass a relief bill with Republicans on board right away is to get money into the hands of the American people as soon as possible. But what gives me hope, as I mentioned in that story, is Bernie Sanders saying, no, I have a pretty powerful powerful position within the Senate and I'm going to try to pass something more robust that would only need a simple majority. Breathe Reema says regarding her personal experience with the vaccine rollout, Anna, calling

the rollout of the vaccine of failure is an understatement. Hospitals are scrambling to get enough people to work at the vaccination sites, leaving a lot of us even more short-staffed than we already were. It's been an exhausting year in healthcare and it just gets worse. I've been working three people's jobs at work all year. Now I'm working for. I mean, God, my heart goes out to you guys. That's the thing that I often think about when it comes to these just deniers of what needs to be done for COVID because you guys haven't gotten a break.

You guys have been dealing with this nonstop since the beginning of the pandemic. And a lot of, you know, people in hospitals, nurses, doctors, a lot of them have contracted COVID. and lost their lives. So thank you for doing what you're doing. Please stay strong. And we'll do our best to make sure people know about what's going on. Jim writes in and says the vaccine rollout is crazy. My wife is eligible. But the catch 22 is there is nowhere to go to get a shot. The state's website says they are working on a list of providers. Then they report 200,000 doses unused. Yeah, I mean, it goes back to the discussion that Nando and I were having about the infrastructure. And one of the good things that Biden wants to do is expand the number of jobs

available by creating new healthcare jobs that specifically deal with coronavirus and vaccine distribution. So again, we'll see how that all plays out. But for now, let's get back to the show where we're going to give you updates on the fallout from the Capitol riots. What's up, everyone, back to TYT, Anna Casparian and Nando Villa with you. Let's give you some updates on what we're learning following the riots that took place in the Capitol. One of the more worrying aspects of the Capitol Hill rioters is the fact that as we're learning more details about the planning and coordination that was taking place behind the scenes, a lot of pretty powerful people were

involved. People in law enforcement, as we've talked about, in the military, including a SIOPS officer who has resigned from her specific position within the military. And really, I mean, if you're worried about some sort of government takeover, if you're worried about an actual coup succeeding in this country, you should be concerned about the number of people in positions of power who have been very supportive of this. So let's start off with the head of the Arizona Republican Party. She's put out some pretty terrifying messaging prior to the riots taking place. For instance, on December 19th, Kelly Ward, who is the head of the Arizona GOP, fired off a tweet

urging President Donald Trump to cross the Rubicon, referring to the historical event that led to Julius Caesar declaring a dictatorship in ancient Rome. The tweet was shared by former Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, who, by the way, as we know, Michael Flynn also wanted Trump to consider martial law in order to steal the election. On January 4th, Ward's Arizona Republican Party tweeted or retweeted Ali Alexander, one of the organizers of the event that culminated in the Capitol siege, who said that he was, quote, willing to give my life for this fight. The Arizona GOP said he is, are you? Later that day, the Arizona GOP also tweeted, this is what we do, who we are, live for nothing or die for something. And so we're

talking about people in political positions, Nando, and I'll describe all the other people in positions of power who engaged in this kind of stuff. And we're actually in the Capitol building after it was breached. But what do you make of this? I mean, we had Peter Navarro just today regurgitate lies about voter fraud and how Trump had the election stolen from him. It's just they don't want to de-escalate it. Well, I guess I'll say two things. I think one thing is that, again, I mean, I constantly think back at this Alex Perrine piece that talks about how the lunatics are running the asylum in the GOP, in that for forever,

for decades, they basically like whipped up what they would call like the rubs with like insane right-wing media. But now those people that believe all that stuff, like it used to be that the conservative establishment kind of read different things from their base. And now the people who are in power in the GOP read the same insane shit, insane stuff that everyone in there. So, yeah, I just think about that all the time because the consequences are what we've seen in the Capitol and in what we've seen come up in the last, last week or so. I guess the one hopeful thing that I will point to is that they're doing it in service of Donald Trump, the man, like as a political figure, not in the service of any real kind of political agenda outside of him. Like, it really is like a cult of personality in some

ways. And in that, in many ways, that's a kind of a good thing because he's, he's not going to be, he's not going to be, he's not going to be, he's not going to be in power anymore. You know, So like they're not going to be able to do that again with someone else. Like I just don't think that they're going to find some other person that's going to replace that ability for to whip up votes in the way Trump did. Yeah, no, I hear you. It's just that these people don't just go away, right? So the conspiracy theories still exist.

You know, you have conspiracy theorists within Congress who are threatening to impeach Biden, like as soon as he's inaugurated, which is more lunacy. But then you look at what, like who was in the Capitol building, who was part of the organizing and planning that took place. And to be sure, this wasn't something that just organically happened on the day that had happened. This is something that was planned for quite some time, right? And so there was a video that surfaced showing these, you know, insurrectionist.

discussing what their game plan was when they were inside the Capitol building. We have two videos to share with you on that later in the show. But I do want to give you some more details about lawmakers who have been implicated in this. For instance, West Virginia State Senator, Mike Asinger, who was part of the Capitol Hill riots, said in a radio interview Monday that he hopes that President Donald Trump calls us back and added that the crowds loyal to Trump are, quote, inspiring and patriotic. He also said this, he says, I think the president laid out the point of the mission, it was to pressure the Republican congressman to challenge the electoral votes. And by the way, there were at least six Republican state legislators involved, you know,

with what happened on January 6th. In fact, only one lawmaker, though, has been arrested, not arrested, has resigned. One lawmaker was known to have gotten inside the Capitol and since has been charged with a crime and resigned. That's West Virginia State Delegate Derek Evans, who resigned last Saturday. A day after federal prosecutors charged him with entering the U.S. Capitol, he had actually livestreamed himself with a mob of Trump supporters. And here's this classy fellow who's now going to have to deal with the consequences. There he is. Yeah, I love the idea of like live streaming yourself while you're doing crimes, you know, like, that's just the, that's just the funniest thing. That's just the funniest thing ever to me. I mean, it just strikes me as like, you know, they were, they're all disappointed that Trump didn't support them, you know, and it's just like, it's kind of poetically perfect because Trump sells out everyone that he deals with. You know, like he has contempt over them because he's a con artist has contempt for his marks, right? That, you know, They really hate their marks.

They think that they're stupid and they have total contempt and Trump has always absolutely hated his base on some deep level. So it was only inevitable that he would sell them out in the moment of truth. They were like, but wait, you told us to do this and now where are you? You're not going to protect us or anything like that? And he's like, yeah, no, sorry, you're on your own. Take it easy. Well, I mean, he has pardoned all sorts of awful criminals and I'm talking about war criminals

as well. So maybe that's what they were thinking. But to your point about how they were live streaming, taking pictures of themselves, most of them weren't, you know, trying to cover up their identities, they felt entitled to do what they did, right? They really, I don't think that any of these people expected to face any consequences for what they did. And that's terrifying. Well, on some level, like, on some level, like, if they're fans of Trump and Trump is the president, and the president says, go do this, it's okay. Like, he is the boss guy. He's the head of the government, you know?

Like on some level, you know, that there's there's that going on where if the president tells you to do it and then you go and do it, you don't expect to face any consequences. I mean, obviously, like, we wouldn't think that because we don't like the guy. But like, yeah, I mean, I think that there's an element of that, like, just watching the videos of them crying when they're like being arrested at the airport, when they land and things like that. Like it's very funny on some level, but like also the president of the United States did tell them to do what they did. You know, and so like that's what that's what happens when when the boss man tells you to do something. A lot of people are going to go ahead and do it.

So I want to name some other people who are even either close to power or are in positions of power. For instance, the son of a Brooklyn judge was also arrested for his role in the capital riots. His name is Aaron Mostovsky, and he was taken into custody in Brooklyn and faces four federal charges, including theft of government property. The criminal complaint also said the police vest he wore, which included body plates and side ballistics, had a value of nearly $2,000. The riot shield, it said, is valued at $256. And he even stopped, by the way. This guy was not covering his identity. He was in the Capitol building, having no problem, you know, engaging in the rioting that we saw. And he stopped to give reporters. Reporters is a very generous label here.

But he spoke to people from the New York Post. And he said this, we were cheated. I don't think 75 million people voted for Trump. I think it was close to 85 million. Oh, okay, great. because, you know, he's a, he's an expert on the election and, you know, did a hand count himself to make sure that, you know, the election wasn't stolen. He's just, but there's more. There are cops, of course, who are now facing consequences for taking part in it as well. Among those arrested and released on Wednesday were Thomas Robertson, 47, and Jacob Fracker, 29 of Rocky Mount Virginia. Both officers with the Rocky Mount Police Department, they have been placed on administrative leave. There's video evidence, photos of them, you know, in the building.

Robertson was allegedly quoted on social media saying CNN and the left are just mad because we actually attack the government who is the problem and not some random small business. The right in one day took the US Capitol, keep poking us. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, again, it's great. Again, I just, I have to cling to this idea that because Trump is so sweet, generous and that there's just no one like him in for good and bad, that, you know, all these pretenders that are going to try to replace him, like no one's going to be able to get the same amount of insane devotion that he's been able to foment amongst a certain chunk of the population. Like I just don't see it happening for any of these other jokers, right? Like I just, there's something about Trump that he is, that he's just. different. He just is different from all there. No one's really like him. So once they've gotten that that hit of the drug, I don't know that they're going to be able to go to the soft stuff like, you know, Marco Rubio or Josh Holly or something like that. Oh, no, Marco Rubio is super charismatic

and can definitely create a following just based on cult of personality. Yeah, absolutely. Little Marco, very little, very tiny. No, but we look, we need to do something about like the rot within the military and these police departments. Like, it's an issue. And it wasn't just those two cops who are now, you know, forced to resign. There was a cop from Houston who had to step down after he's facing charges for being part of the riots, being part of the riots. And dozens of other cops are currently being investigated. Two Capitol police officers have also been suspended pending an investigation. We don't know specifically why those two Capitol police officers are specifically being investigated.

But some reporting indicates it has to do with Bake Alaska Stream, which showed them taking selfies with these insurrectionists. So look, I just, but it's a longstanding issue in the country, right? even before Trump, the fact that white supremacists have infiltrated both the military and the police departments, all you need is a dog whistling president who is a little savvier than Trump. And I'm worried that, you know, in the future, they might be able to pull off something more than what they did. And it's, I just never thought that, you know, in my lifetime, or even in the future, we would see people breach the Capitol the way that we saw last week. And the fact that they were assisted by people in positions of power is something to be concerned about.

Well, let's move on to an awesome report, excellent report from our good friend Kenny Clips, who's now over at the Intercept, by the way. So definitely follow his work over at the Intercept. After the capital riots happened, the military argued that they had no intelligence, they just couldn't have known that the riots were going to occur. But new reporting from Ken Klippenstein over at The Intercept proves otherwise. So apparently there was an internal Defense Department intelligence assessment that has been obtained by the Intercept. And that assessment indicated that, yeah, there's definitely need to worry. there was intelligence indicating that these types of events would occur leading up to Biden's inauguration. Here's what the DOD intelligence report said. While the presidential election is

finished, a large segment of the population views the results as invalid or fraudulent conspiracy theories amplified by social media echo chambers are likely to both increase the potential for civil disturbance activity and intensify the level of civil disturbance activity as well. They also wrote in this intelligence report that as the results of the election were announced via several media outlets, various protest groups around the country began protesting the media and their perceived role in the election. It is very likely that these protests will appear again as a result of the election are cemented and inauguration day approaches. And look, they were planning this in plain sight. I mean, now you look back at some of the social

media posts and then some of the video that's emerged. And it's pretty clear that these, you know, Trump supporters are planning this, coordinating this, organizing this. Now that many of their accounts have been permanently banned from social media, they've moved over to encrypted forms of communicating like signal, for instance, but their communication is much more fragmented. So, but it doesn't matter. I mean, we're supposed to have intelligence agencies that can predict what's going to happen based on keeping an eye on these things. And it's just amazing that after 9-11, I mean, so many of our privacy, so much of our privacy, was sacrificed in order to keep us safe, right?

But when it comes to these white supremacists, right-wing extremists in the country, how are they not able to foil this plot? You get what I'm saying? Well, I mean, I guess that's the key right there. I mean, you identified the key problem with this whole thing is that the trade-off isn't less privacy for more security. It's just less privacy and the same lack of security or even less of it, right? That they're not really out there to protect the best interests of American citizens.

That's just not what these intelligence agencies are designed or built to do. That's just fundamentally not what they're going to do ever, right? I mean, it's just so I mean, because you look through this report, the Ken Clippian report, which was excellent, you know, and it's an incredible scoop that he got. I mean, but you look through that report and they also identify Black Lives Matter as a threat to national security, you know, and what, so I guess like the thought of like the military, the U.S. military, which has done so much damage abroad and just destroyed countries and absolutely destabilized entire populations and killed hundreds of thousands of not millions of people in the last in the war on terror. Like the thought of them now just training their eye on us like is not exactly. something that I'm very much happy about, I guess. You know, I would be, I would be very wary of that. And just the proof is that this, these kind of thing will always end up targeting things like Black Lives Matter activists. And there's, it's almost certain that there is already been infiltration by cops and, and, you know, federal agents into Black Lives Matter and things

like that, you know, already. So yeah, I don't know, there's just everything about this, everything about this whole episode has me incredibly weary of everything because it's, it's, it's the kind of thing where like a very bad thing happened and it's very troubling the sort of social forces that led to it. And so something has to be done. And I'm just seeing that the responses that are available are also incredibly troubling. Like there's just there's, I'm feeling very little political outlets for something productive. And I'm only seeing political outlets for something that can be potentially very destructive. Yeah, I mean, I haven't really seen any solutions proposed by anyone that would, because the problem runs deep, right?

It's not just the spread of disinformation on social media. It's the fact that these are, like, these people genuinely believe that the election was stolen. These people genuinely believe that Oh, wow. What a coincidence. Every single one of my political opponents is a pedophile. Like, that's what the QAnon extremists believe, right? Like, what do you do about that, right? Like, how do you, how do you appropriately respond to that in a way that's effective that doesn't do away with people's, you know, civil liberties? And I don't know what the answer. I personally don't know what the answer is. And I've been, you know, searching for someone who might have solutions that go beyond the typical, you know, solutions that were proposed after 9-11, right? Like,

I don't want another Patriot Act type policy passed, but I do want to do something about this. I do want to see solutions. And it's just so obvious that there was pre-planning and coordination taking place. This video came up, I saw it this morning on CNN, and it was just jarred. Like, you have these people who know exactly what they're doing, how they can break in or breach the building. Let's go to the first one so you see what I'm talking about. There's a door through the right. That's a cop. Down upstairs.

Back to creeping around. We're going to get over. I don't need to get over. Doors are open. You just need a plan. We need enough people. People, we need to push forward. Okay.

The door right here. Not going that door. I mean, downstairs, we go back to. Okay. Like, I love the woman who's just taking a selfie in the middle of that. It's great. I mean, just like, like she's just having a great time. Like, oh, I'm just, you know, engaging in some criminality here.

But let's go to the next one because the next one is the video that, like my, I get knots in my stomach watching this kind of stuff. Because of how successful they were in getting in and doing what they did. So let's take a look. Hey, guys, I've been in the other room, listen to me. And the other room on the other side of this door, right here where these veer standing. There is a glass that if somebody is broken, you can drop down into a room underneath it. There's also two doors in the other room, one in the rear, and one to the right when you go in. So, people should probably coordinate together if you're going to take this building.

Well, all right, we've got another window to break to make it in and out easy. At this window here needs to be broken. Yeah, what's here? 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 our data. But that doesn't mean we have to let them. It's possible to stay anonymous online and hire your data. data from the prying eyes of big tech. And one of the best ways is with ExpressVPN. ExpressVPN

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Three more people. So, Nando, imagine the incredible things the left could actually accomplish in this country if they were as organized as those right wingers were. But I hear that organizing isn't important, I don't know. But yeah, I mean, obviously they knew what they were doing. And they were planning in plain sight. And to have, you know, the defense department say, like, we couldn't have known. I don't know, we had no intel.

No, you had the intel. I think clip and sign has made that clear. Not just that, but you don't need to be the James Bond super spy to have seen what was going on. I mean, this, like you said, I mean, I think that this was just happening pretty out in the open. It's not like, it's not like you needed to monitor chatter on encrypted cell phone communications, like this was happening on Facebook. I don't know, like it's not, that's what I find so, so bizarre about like people saying like that this wasn't, you know, that you, we didn't, this was like some sort of intelligence failure. Like it's just, that's just not what what this was in any way. I mean, it's just, yeah, I mean, seeing, seeing those videos, I mean, you just see, like,

when you're asking about solutions, the, there is, it's very clear that there, we're living through some, like a broad social collapse. Like, we're just, we're, we're living through some sort of collapse of societal norms and behaviors and trust. And, and, you know, and, and, You know, obviously the way that works is very amorphous and it's not like one policy is going to fix everything. But in general, you just need to do, you just need to do a better job of governing the country. I don't know, like there's been so many, there's been so many leadership failures in the last 20 years in America, like starting with 9-11 and in the Iraq War and Enron, the Catholic Church abuse scandal, the financial crisis, the baseball sterile. Like the pandemic, I mean, you could just go, the last 20 years is just a litany of elite failure on every single major issue, just absolute failure. And that eventually catches up with you and you live through a sort of social collapse and you live through what we're seeing.

And this is bizarre behavior from a huge chunk of the population in which like, yeah, like you said, like they're in there selfying as if they were at Burning Man or something or Coachella. Like it was like, you know, that it was, this was like, this was basically what it was. It was like Maga Coachella and they were all like thinking like this is like how cool this is. I can't wait to tell all my friends and show like I'm posted on my Instagram. I don't know. Like it just this is what you get when you when you when your institutions collapse on basically every single level. You get social upheaval and social collapse and the only real response. And you get an asymmetric and you get an asymmetric response to.

Black Lives Matter protesters versus what we saw from law enforcement and the intelligence community at the Capitol last week. So there's plenty of blame to go around, you know, and it's it is a failure on pretty much every single institution from the, you know, again, you have members of the military involved, you have veterans involved, you have cops involved, you have literally lawmakers involved, you have people across the board engaging in this, encouraging it, enabling it. And I just, there needs to be, like, nothing's going to change unless we actually do something to change those institutions. But, you know, that's what Black Lives Matter was about last summer. And there was so much pushback against something that's obviously a giant issue

in this country with white supremacy infiltrated within local police departments. I think that's the reason why you saw this asymmetric reaction. And, you know, we'll see how it goes. But for now, we got to take a break. When we come back, a proud boy member or fan has been arrested. We'll give you the details on that and more. I'm going to be able to be. Hey everyone, welcome to our social break from our members section, someone who likes Bernie Sanders wrote in and said, Kenny Clips is on fire. I know it's weird to be proud of him, but he's been doing fantastic work. And as a TYT alum, I I feel like we get some credit for this whole career, for his whole career and getting him started. I don't know, I mean, he's just, he's fantastic, he would succeed no matter what, but I will say I'm really, really proud that he was someone that we worked with.

He's just such a great person and, you know, just remember Ken Clippenstein when some of the other TYT alums come up and you question judgments made here. Tomorrow, by the way, Ken Clippenstein will be in our power panel, which I'm super excited for. And Jordan Yule. So it'll be Ken Clippenstein, John Iderola, and Jordan Yule in hour one. And Malika will be joining me for hour two. And I've just forgot who the third guest was. Don't be mad at me. Brett, you told me this morning. That's right. Lance from the serfs is going to be on with me as well. So looking forward to that. There was one other. It's a show on Twitch called The Serfs. And I think they're on YouTube as well.

I've watched a few of their videos. I really like their content. Also, let's go to some other, no, I'm going to read something from the math and magician. See, I'm not ignoring you. Bernie as budget chair does happy dance. He's got enormous leverage now and I really hope he chooses to use it. I'm sure he's going to try to make deals and get things done. But you can be sure the starting position for negotiations is going to be much further

left and the country hasn't needed that since the Great Depression. Yeah, I mean, we need real relief. Moving on to Super Chats, I'm going to go to Anthony Thornsberry, who wrote in and says, I work for a major communications company and have been working throughout this whole pandemic. Biden better not do another bailout for major international companies. You know I agree with that, absolutely. Juicy Dragon writes in and says, donation strictly for the Laura Palmer photo. Oh yeah. Right there. What?

Laura Palmer. Oh. Oh, I'm like, nice, nice. Yeah, yeah. All about Laura. Cool. I mean, I'll put some pictures behind me if you guys want to donate. I mean, it depends on what the picture is.

Steve Pip writes in and says- You're opening up Pandora's box. I know, I know. You can't come back to that one. I know, be careful. I guess we should be happy that the administration had nothing to do with the creation of the vaccine because they would have failed at that too. So there's a fantastic piece in Jacobin about that, about how the vaccine was developed and how funding and development for that vaccine

has actually been taking place for a long time. And research for it, like the framework and main structure for the vaccine was developed in Canada and publicly funded. We got to get back to the show. See you there. Hey, everyone, welcome back to TY-T-Y-T-Y-T-Y-T-Y-T-Y-T. Hey everyone, welcome back to TYT. If you like the show, please like and share the stream. It's one of the easiest ways to help us out and get the TYT message out there. Now let's move on to our next story about what's going on with state capitals and what kind of security measures they're currently focusing on. So the FBI is expecting pro-Trump insurrectionist

to riot not only in the capital, which has essentially been shut down at this point for Biden's inauguration, but also in all 50 states, specifically state capitals leading up to inauguration day. But there are some worries that law enforcement isn't prepared for what could come, right? And there's a reason for that. First off, let's talk about why the FBI is worried about this. There have been, you know, pieces of evidence indicating that they're planning on having these armed demonstrations, if you want to be generous to them, riots, if you want to be realistic. More than a dozen flyers are circulating online advertising pro-Trump rallies at state capitals, according to social media analysis by NBC News. So some of these flyers include

you know, freedom is a right. One popular flyer reads, refused to be silenced as another. Some of these flyers have also been circulating for a long time, even before the capital riots took place. Most of the posters for upcoming state events were circulating online weeks and months before the Capitol riot. I mean, how could the intelligence community know? How could they have expected the riot? One inauguration day event billed as the Million Militia March was first promoted in December. I know, I know. On a conservative alternative to Facebook. All right, I'll stop right there, but I have more details coming, including why local police departments aren't necessarily, you know, prepared to deal with this. Go ahead.

I mean, you know, every sort of bearded college lefty who's read Noam Chomsky and stuff like that will tell you that the law enforcement agents and the intelligence agencies are like just the arm of the of capital. And if as long as you're not a threat to capital, they're going to let you do whatever the hell you want, even if you, even if you destroy some buildings or, you know, raid the capital building. And so that, I mean, I think that that's what's going on in some ways, I mean, you know, to put like a finer point on it, that that's, that's, that's, that's just like why these intelligence agencies kind of can lay down over something like this, whereas you better believe if any, if there was any sort of left-wing attempt to take

the Capitol, they would have been mowed down easily, you know, and what, What I am thinking is like there's going to be, obviously Biden's inauguration is going to have like a massive troop presence in Washington. And like just that image is also one that is kind of terrifying in many ways. You know, the inauguration of U.S. presidents surrounded by tanks and, you know, thousands of military personnel and things like that. I mean, it's just, it's, it's, it's a horrible moment that we're living through. It's just, it really is, it really is awful. And until we, until we kind of do something from below, I mean, the thing is the, the response is only going to come from below.

Like the only real kind of progressive response will come from below. It's going to come from us. And we have, we have to be those people that, that kind of build that. You know, if we leave it in the hands of, of the people in power, it's, it's not going to be pretty. And so how do we do that? Like what do you think would be a successful tactic, right? Like, do you try to appeal to these people and deprogram them? You know, like I don't. And you know, there is this like ongoing debate that I mean, I'm becoming more and more clear on in terms of

where I stand. But like this idea of like, no, no, no, like the populist left should work with the populist right and things will get much better. But like, these are the right wingers. We're talking about right now. I don't want to work with them. I don't I don't care if we might agree on some economic policies. These are people who don't in any way value the rule of law, right? But more importantly, who have like intense hatred for black people, for people of color, for pretty much anyone who doesn't fall under their very specific demographic. So how do you, How do you, I mean, and it goes back to like what Biden says about like, oh, we need to heal. Okay, how?

How do we heal when we have people who are willing to engage in this kind of criminality out in the open? And they feel emboldened. Like they feel like they did the right thing and they want to keep doing this. Yeah. No, I mean, I did my, I did a whole weekend segment on Jacobin with you on right wing populism. I mean, I am not a believer in right wing populism. I think that there's, we can make a distinction over what like Bernie did with Josh Hawley. over the holiday break at rather $2,000 checks in which they found common cause in a very specific

instance inside kind of the Senate. That's like that's one thing. Like I don't think Bernie should be like, I am not working with Josh Hawley. He's that fascist. I'm like no, I think that in a discreet kind of bill like the $2,000 checks thing, it makes total sense for him to kind of present a united front with someone like Josh Holly or even Marco Rubio, who I'm sure he hates on so many levels, but like that these are political leaders, like they should be doing, they should be behaving differently from from what you and I do. I think that in general, I agree with you. I don't know that like that it's worth trying to convince Trump supporters and mass. I mean, I think that it's just like, where do you even begin to find common ground? I mean, I think that the,

I mean, the sort of standard left response to that question has always been the same one. And it's, it's not, it's not necessarily easy. It's a very difficult one. But it's doing. which is appealing to the massive low engagement and low information voters who are the people who just don't participate at all in the political process, right? I mean, it's just- The non-voters, yeah. The non-voters and study after study shows, I mean, like, sometimes like the liberal responses, like, we just need more education and we just like, you know, kind of educated people or we had better media, it would change.

But, like, study after study shows that the people who believe that are most susceptible to conspiracy and, like, insane fake news are more highly educated people in general. I mean, this is like why you keep on saying the people that showed up at the capital are often well-to-do CEOs, the thing. People in army intelligence and people in the Air Force. Like, I mean, they're believing all this insane stuff as well. And it's really like the sort of people who have been completely fallen out of the political process because they're just completely shut out from. I mean, that's really who we have to be engaging with. And it's not easy to activate a person who's being completely checked out because they have rightly concluded that no matter what they did, nothing changed for them, that their

downward trajectory has been pretty linear for the last 40 years, no matter who's in power. But that's the only hope is to activate that base. That's really the only hope. It's difficult, it's a monumental task, super difficult, but it's our only hope. Well, there was a great discussion moderated by Francesca Furentini for the Michael Brooks show is doing a series that honors his life and his work and his legacy. And so one of the latest conversations they had was with Jane McAlevy and Joshua Khan Russell specifically about organizing that works.

And Jane McAleavy, I mean, she's a union organizer, and she's obsessed with winning. But like, we need that, we need that. We need people who are obsessed with winning as opposed to perpetuating the societal issues we have right now, you know, just so you continue doing whatever grifty thing you're doing. But I love the conversation because it talked about, you know, specific, she gave specific examples of what it's like to deal with unsavory people that you're organizing with, right? So these online discussions about like purity tests or whatever are not helpful when it comes to the actual work on the ground. And I agree with you. I mean, the largest voting block in this country consists of nonvoters.

And so what can we do to engage them in the best possible way in this process, get them on our side because people power is definitely, I just think it's more effective than anything else I've seen proposed. it's just that it takes a lot of work. Yeah, there's a chicken and egg element, too, in that they're cynical because government has done nothing for them. And then, but it's so that it's hard to, like, it's hard to just tell them, like, oh, if we, if we kind of did something about it, then government would do something about it. You know, like, so, I mean, that's why, that's why something like the $2,000 checks policy, I find to be like a potentially good organizing principle around because it's so simple and so easy. And it's like, the government's going to just like

give you a check and it's like something that people can can understand and and it can provide some sort of example of way forward of a way forward that in which the state can be used to help your interests right so like you you have to find kind of victories to to rally around just that we haven't had one in so long in this country that it's hard to point to people I mean I know you're reading the Lyndon Johnson biographies I mean he ran he the first time he ran for Congress. He electrified his district. He brought electricity to the hill country in Texas for the first time, and he ran on that forever. Forever, because he could point to it. It's like, I brought you electricity. I changed your life by bringing you electricity. You know, it's like

the government delivered an unbelievable thing to you. It's hard to overstate how drastic that was in changing people's lives. And there you go. That was his power base forever, forever. So, you know, it's a chicken and egg thing is you have to deliver the goods if you're going to get people activated. But you have to get people activated to deliver the goods. So it's it's a little bit of both. Yeah. No, I love this discussion, but we got to move on. We got to take a break. So let's do that. When we come back for our second hour, we'll talk about a proud boy supporter who tried to threaten the life of Raphael Warnock. Well, he's been arrested luckily. And then later, Ben Shapiro. saying dumb Ben Shapiro things this time about zip ties you don't want to miss it we'll be right back

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 dot co slash t yt i'm your host jank huger and i'll see you soon