The Young Turks - Trump Gives BIZARRE Press Briefing And Denies Saying Mexico Will Pay For Wall

Episode Date: January 11, 2019

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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. If you like the Young Turks podcast, I think you'll love a lot of the podcasts on the TYT Network. Old school, it's one of my favorites, one of the favorites for a lot of the listeners. Please check that out, subscribe, share it, that makes a big difference, and give it a five-star rating. Thank you.

Everybody, welcome to the Young Turks. I'm John Adirola. Anna Kasparian is here. Hi. Jank tried to come back early. We told him, we'll get you. You stay away. Yeah, maybe Friday, maybe Friday.

No. Is he back tomorrow? He is back tomorrow. And hopefully won't have heard any of these things I've been saying at the beginning of every show this week. I know, you've been hitting him pretty hard. Oh, he does the same thing. I'll just be going about my business in an afternoon and then I'll see tweets, oh damn, Anna

on John Adirola. And I'm like, oh, get now, I got to find out what's happening. So if you're a member, a TYT member, you'll know what John is talking about, kind of, because every once in a while I'll share personal stories. John and I are close, you're a friend of mine, and so I'll reveal things about you that maybe you don't want other people to know, but- Live on the internet. But I also say really, like, I say nice things about you because I really like you, so- Well, thank you.

That covers for it almost. Okay, with that, we do have a lot that we're going to get to, you know, obviously The border situation, we're still in the shutdown. So we're gonna be talking about some developments in that, some, what's the opposite of a development, because Trump was speaking? Whatever it was, we're gonna talk about that too. And let's see, how effective is the wall? Apparently tests have been done, and we have the results.

We're gonna have some more testimonials from furloughed government workers who are currently working without pay in fairly desperate situations. We're gonna describe what they're actually going through. And later on in the show, Steve King, he is apparently stealing your budget. brand. He's no filter from now on from Steve King when it comes to racism. All right, well, talk about saying terrible things about your friends. Like, thank you for that slander. You're not a white supremacist, as far as I know, but.

This guy. Okay, but he is no filter. So with that, look, we have a lot to get to one with junkyard. Please stop using Steve King and no filter in the same sentence. Steve Casperian King. No, anyway. What's wrong with this guy? You want to talk about the fact that you paint miniature?

I do. Maybe I do. Okay. You don't know. I do know. Okay. His Twitter account is the point. No, it's not.

I'm just kidding. Anyway, okay, why don't we get into the news? We got a lot of news to get to. We do. I'll think of some other way to throw you in the bus in a nerd. We'll cut to that. Okay, let's talk about the news. Trump spoke to reporters today outside of the White House.

He held an informal little presser before heading down to the border for a photo op. Let's just keep it real and call it what it is. And he addressed a lot of different things because he's, he's a lot of different things. because his mind is addled increasingly with every passing month. And so he was asked about yesterday's meeting with the Democratic leadership. He met with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi to see if some sort of deal could be reached. And according to people who were in the meeting, he had a temper tantrum. And when he asked for the wall and was told that he couldn't have it, he stormed out of the room.

And he disagrees with that characterization, as you'll see. Well, the news incorrectly reported because I said, well, if we go by the and everything's peachy dory, and you say, we'll talk over 30 days. At the end of 30 days, are you going to give us great border security, which includes a wall or a steel barrier? She said, no. I didn't pound on tables. I didn't raise my voice. That was a lie. I very calmly said, if you're not going to give us strong borders, bye-bye. And I left. I didn't rant. I didn't rave like you report it, like, I mean, some of the newspapers, and then Schumer always has his standard lie, he had a temper tantrum.

I don't have temper tantrum, I really don't. Okay, so that's, there was obviously more to the president's temper tantrum, but that's all that we can show you right now. So he doesn't believe that it was fairly characterized. He goes on to say, by the way, I didn't smash the table, I should have smashed the table, But I didn't smash the table, thus demonstrating his mental and emotional stability. And also makes me think he smashed the table. Yeah.

No, no, no, the table's fine, it's peachy dory. It's in a good state. That's not an expression, by the way. That's the president of the United States. Every time I have to listen to him speaking, it's pretty awesome because of this job, it's just a dagger in my brain. It took years of growing up and watching Star Trek to get this idea that maybe humans can get better and we can advance and start to be less selfish and discover things and explore.

And then you just listen to him speak for a couple minutes, it's like, no, no, we're brutish animals. That's all that we are. Well, after watching Star Trek and seeing what humans are really like or what mankind is really like from watching Lord of the Rings. You did. Yes. You did.

I have now mentioned Lord of the Rings on two episodes of TYT in a row. No, I mean, but Trump unfortunately represents the lowest comment. denominator when it comes to human, humanity, right? The deception, the lust for power, the lust for money, I mean, all of those things. But honestly, it's his lack of leadership that is really disheartening. His inability to empathize with others. Look, this whole press conference is funny, you can make fun of it. But remember, and I'm sorry to be a downer, at the heart of all of this,

we have 800 federal workers who can't provide for their families right now, for themselves or their families because of the nonsense that we're seeing day in and day out. Yeah, yeah, I guess it did make it clear. I like setting up how ridiculous his approach. This is because we're gonna go to the actual testimonials, the workers just a little bit later. But yeah, there's 800,000 people, they don't, they're not getting paid, many of them still have to work, of course, and he's only in this for himself, of course.

And look, especially considering that he just described that meeting, and he made clear that he asked for a wall and they said no. Now they've, the Democrats in the House have put forward multiple bills to fund the government, including with tons of probably unnecessary money for border security that does not include a wall, he won't accept it, even though it was nearly unanimous in the Senate before Christmas a bill to keep the government funded. And now he wants his wall. So this is on him, he told us it would be on him.

But when asked about if he bears singular responsibility for this, take a look at his response. The buck stops with me over this shutdowns. The buck stopped with everybody. They could solve this problem in literally 15 minutes. The buck stops with everybody. Well, I mean, he could accept the bills that have already passed. That'd probably be quicker than 15 minutes. He could accept the bills that have already passed.

Mitch McConnell can somehow miraculously become a little more courageous when it comes to stepping up against Trump and actually introduce these bills. in the Senate, but he refuses to do so because he doesn't want to cross Donald Trump. He's afraid of the Republican Party, he's afraid of Donald Trump's base. Again, at the heart of what's happening right now is lawmakers in Washington who care far more about their personal interests and their political strategy as opposed to what's best for the American people and what's best for these federal workers. That's really the issue here.

is strategizing and thinking about their political career. No one seems to be thinking about how this is harming the country overall. I mean, we've spent so much time talking about enlisting all the different ways this government shutdown makes the country less safe. How this government shutdown is negatively impacting those federal workers who, again, are not getting paid while they're in most cases expected to work. This has been a complete another disaster, and you have a bunch of children in government right now, putting their dysfunction on full display.

Yeah, I mean, I don't think anyone has ever been as obvious about the fact that this is just about their own perception of I need a win, there's only one way I get a win, I don't care if the country goes up and flames around me. That sort of language is used to describe politicians quite a bit, and I think a lot of the times it's probably exaggerated. We have differences opinion, I don't think that people who disagree with me politically necessarily want to see the entire country destroyed, but Donald Trump is a sociopath, he doesn't care about any of that.

It's very, very clear from his body language, the lives that he's spreading about this, his willingness to go along with BS narratives about immigration, pushed on him by Stephen Miller and people like that, he does not care. And so look, tomorrow, by tomorrow's show, we could have a resolution, that's possible. Maybe Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi Cave and they gave him $5 billion for the wall. Or maybe someone, some responsible person in the White House, convinces him that it's actually in his interest to let this go and just tell his fans, I never said that I wanted a wall, I never said that that was never a part of the shutdown, and they'll believe it. So I don't

think that he actually faces the negative consequences that he apparently believes that he does. But on the other hand, we could be in this for weeks or months. American government, like we talk about norms, and sometimes it's just like, hey, let's be civil to each other. That sort of stuff that generally is used to sort of confine the bounds of debate, but we also do have some norms that have allowed American government to continue. Whereas around the world, lots of governments have failed in that time. And Donald Trump, he doesn't abide by even those sorts of foundational ones that are less about constraining debate and more about just assuming that democracy matters, assuming that it's preferable to alternatives, those sorts of things.

Also, some might argue, well, okay, at this point, the consequences of what's happening are so serious that maybe the Democrats should cave. I've heard a few arguments about how this has gone on too long, and maybe Democrats should just give him what he wants and let's move on. I know that Trevor Noah recently in a very joking way, but he was serious, talked about maybe the Democrats should just give Trump what he wants. But the reason why I think that's the wrong way to go about it is because I have a bet with jank.

No, I'm just kidding. Oh my God. No, no, I'm obviously kidding. No, because it doesn't end with Trump, right? I mean, if you give him what he wants in this case, what do you think it messages to his childlike brain? It messages, hey, this is a strategy that worked. So the next time I want something that Democrats refuse to give me, I'm just going to go ahead

and act like a child and I'm going to act like a child as long as it takes until they finally cave and they give me exactly what I want. It doesn't stop with this border wall. Trump will continue using this tactic and this strategy, especially if it works in this case. And that's one of the reasons why I think that it would be the wrong move by Democrats to concede to Trump in this case. At the same time, my heart breaks for those federal workers. And I really wish that Democrats and Republicans in Congress understood, hey, maybe we put

our political strategies and our own personal political careers aside for a minute, and actually act as leaders and fight for our constituents, fight for the American people, fight for these federal workers, and just do the right thing. Republicans need to step up here. I mean, there have been a few in the Senate who have now broken away from Trump and they're urging some sort of spending bill to pass at this point. But there aren't enough Republicans who are willing to sign on to this, Mitch McConnell being one of them.

Yeah, I would even suggest a more cynical version of what you just said. Rather than wanting them to think of what's best for Americans, I just, let's let them be cynical and just worry about their own political careers, which they apparently think would be harmed more by turning against Donald Trump than allowing this shutdown to continue. We around the country need to put pressure on those Republicans and tell them like Donald Trump might not even be around in six months, but you're still gonna try to run for reelection. you are helping to sustain this shutdown. You need a break from him because if the Republicans put forward a bill, sure, Donald Trump could

veto it, but that is much harder than just not allowing votes in the first place. So let's see what happens then. So put pressure on the Republicans to get them to do that. Anyway, let's move on to one other segment of this. In his address outside of the White House, Donald Trump felt no constraint whatsoever by reality and just started lying blatantly about easily verifiable things, including about who is going to pay for the wall. Just a couple of things, because I know the fake news likes to say it, when during the campaign,

I would say Mexico is going to pay for it. Obviously, I never said this and I never meant they're going to write out a check. I said they're going to pay for it. They are. They are paying for it with the incredible deal we made. Okay, so there's a bunch of issues with that. First of all, he did say that they were going to pay for it, not with a check, but in a one-time payment. That was posted in a two-page memo to the Washington Post. It was also available online. Back in April of 2016, he said, it's an easy decision for Mexico, make a one-time payment of $5 to $10 billion to ensure that $24 billion continues to flow into their country year after year. So we are going to withhold things from you. You are going to pay us $5 to $10

dollars in one lump sum. That is exactly the case. I mean, obviously, we don't need this verification. It's ridiculous. Every person who voted for him thought that Mexico was going to hand a gigantic burlap sack with a dollar sign on it, and that's how the wall was going to be funded. Not through some deal that hypothetically in two years he might set up and then maybe indirectly money's going to move around.

We're going to be advantaged by a few billion dollars here and a few billion dollars there. None of them thought that, obviously, and it's untrue, in fact, as well. I remember in 2012 during the general election, the phrase flip-flopping was a big deal. So if any politician had a particular position and then later changed their mind, or it's not even changing their mind, just change the position completely for political purposes, it was considered flip-flopping, that person was considered inauthentic, disingenuous, it was a big deal. Untrustworthy. Untrustworthy, that's the perfect way to describe it. But for some reason, Trump has shown us time and time again that he can do more than just

flip-flop. He can say one thing one day when it's very convenient for him, and then months later, even in some cases days later, say something completely different, the antithesis of the previous statement and claim that he had never said the previous statement. And how do, how is it that a third of the country still supports him after this? Is there something that I'm missing? Is there a possibility that maybe they're not seeing what I'm seeing? I don't understand how it is that he can consistently do this and not lose favorability among

that base. Well, that's one of the reasons the lessons of Star Trek haven't kept with me over time. But I had an author Jason Stanley on the damage report this morning and he talks about how demagogues use language and why they lie, not just why they lie to get what they want, But why they lie ostentatiously and in ways that are obviously untrue, because the loyalty that their fans have to them is not based on their relationship with reality, it's a sort of admiration. And when they can lie and the media and the opposition is unable to do anything about it, it's

a demonstration of their power and their authority. I can lie, I can say whatever I want. You can try to point out how it's untrue, but it doesn't matter, it doesn't move the needle at all. Their fans love that. That's a version of owning the libs. But I don't know if I see anything remotely close to that on the left. And I'm not saying that as a-

We're not authoritarian. Well, that's a good point. But I don't know, I feel like if I were in a position of power where I'm representing people and I'm leading people and I have a tremendous amount of power over their lives and their livelihood, I just feel like I would not feel comfortable lying to them. And I wouldn't want them to- I wouldn't expect anyone to continue. You're supporting me if I did what Trump does. It's amazing how we get away with it.

There's a chance that you're a good person. No, but I don't know, I've never seen anything like this before. It's pretty- I know. I don't know that we have in America, certainly not for a very long time. Let's turn to another aspect of this, relatively breaking news, not long before we went live on the Young Turks today, NBC News came out with sort of stuff that had been rumbling in the backgrounds, including some reporting that Ken Klippenstein did today actually for two IT interviews about how money in the federal government is being redirected away from what is intended

to be used for to potentially fund the wall. And so here are some details of that. President Donald Trump has apparently been briefed on a plan that would use the Army Corps of Engineers and a portion of $13.9 billion of Army Corps funding to build 315 miles of barrier along the US-Mexico border, according to three U.S. officials familiar with the briefing. So, when it's referred to as funding for the Army Corps of Engineers, it's like, I guess it's Army money. I know, that's kind of vague.

But it turns that we have a pretty good idea of exactly what that money was supposed to be spent on. The money was set aside to fund projects all over the country, including storm damaged areas of Puerto Rico through fiscal year 2020. But the checks have not been written yet, and under an emergency declaration, the president could take the money from these civil works projects and use it to build the border wall. So look, obviously that's absolutely horrendous. We know that much money was never spent there.

Some could theoretically be spent, but it's been held up for a number of different reasons that are fairly obvious. But it goes beyond just Puerto Rico. Under this proposal, the officials that briefed NBC News said that Trump could dip into the $2.4 billion allocated to projects in California, including flood prevention and protection projects along the Yuba River Basin and the Folsom Dam, as well as the $2.5 billion set aside for reconstruction projects in Puerto Rico, which is still recovering from Hurricane Maria. Now I will supplement that with some of the details from Ken Clippenstein's reporting today.

There's also, there were various projects from FEMA that have been suspended, even in advance of the shutdown before the shutdown happened, including a number of firefighters in California and other projects like that. That is, it's not as directly linked to this just yet. But that money were it to start to accrue because it's not being used for the disaster prevention and relief and repair efforts that it's intended for would be in an account that could potentially be raided in the future. And so if the money's not allocated by the Democratic leadership, and if he feels like,

you know what, screw it, I'm going full authoritarian, I'm going to declare a BS national emergency and I'm going to steal this money from these accounts, then that is going to not only be hurting Puerto Rico and other areas throughout California, disaster relief of a number of different ways, some we might not even know yet. Yesterday, during the show, we had a story about how Donald Trump was threatening to cut off FEMA funding to the state of California in response to wildfires, forest fires. And it's a very punitive move because whenever Donald Trump wants to punish anyone, it's usually a state that didn't support him during the election.

And I'm bringing that up again today because it very much fits. into the context of this story. So why is it that the funds necessary for disaster relief and prevention in California and in Puerto Rico are the funds that Donald Trump is looking at in order to basically fund this nonsense border wall? Yeah. I mean, again, it's a punitive move by the president. It's another obvious attempt to punish political opponents, to punish those who he doesn't agree

with in order to fund something that's largely a giant symbol for his political base and nothing more than that. Yeah, and it's interesting because when he tweeted that, we talked that day, why is he talking about this? I mean, why is he thinking about wildfires in California right now? It's not big news, there's not some gigantic new fire or anything like that. And I can't guarantee this, but if this plan that apparently is brewing is being talked about In the White House, we know what he tweets.

He tweets the last thing that he heard. And so if there's talk of money being redirected, then maybe that's why California wildfires are on his mind. That are Fox and Friends talked about it, but I don't watch that show, so I don't know. He's putting Americans in danger through this government shutdown. You have TSA workers in record numbers either quitting or calling in sick to work. You have aviation officials who do inspections on planes to make sure they're safe. working right now, they're furloughed, okay, so we don't have the necessary inspections

of flights that are happening right now at this very moment. So he's putting people in positions, he's putting people in danger because of the government shut down alone. And then to add insult to injury, he's possibly going to take funds away from people who have been victimized by natural disasters and funnel that money to a border wall. And what was the purpose of the border wall again? It was to what? Do what again?

To protect Americans? Yeah. To keep Americans safe? Yeah. To keep Americans safe. He is so disingenuous when it comes to that. It's unbelievable. Yeah.

You want some more lives? It makes me so depressed. Okay, go ahead. We have a little bit more. I want to talk kind of, I want to talk a little bit directly to Trump supporters because Trump is, he's worried that he's not going to get the wall. One way that he can get it is if you stick with him. And so he wants to scare you into doing that.

And so he's, they've got some new tactics. some new tactics like he's heading to the border, that's sort of new, but they are not opposed to using the classics as well. But what's interesting is that this is one, this argument that I'm gonna show you was rolled out and self-debunked inside of just a couple of weeks, and yet it's coming back again. Let's take a look at this video. All you have to do is look at the borders, rent a helicopter, except you don't want to know the truth, and watch, and by the way, here's the story.

There is another major caravan forming right now in Honduras. And so far, we're trying to break it up. But so far, it's bigger than anything we've seen. And a drone isn't going to stop it. And a sensor isn't going to stop it. But you know what's going to stop it in its tracks, a nice powerful wall? Okay, so it's another caravan. So he's facing a lot of pressure, the Democrats aren't yet.

buckling to him. So what do you know, another caravan's coming. And look at the way he describes it. The story is, there's another caravan forming. And he believes that his followers are so gullible that they will buy this again. So there was a caravan, right? Right, there was a really dangerous, scary caravan that we had to deploy, literally deploy the military to the border for, even though the people who were just regular people, some

without shoes, were thousands of miles away from the border. But because they were coming, we deployed the military just in time for the election. And then when the election passed, what happened to the caravan? Fox News stopped talking about it, Trump stopped talking about it. If it invaded America, it was a pretty quiet invasion. Maybe they found some sneakers along the way and they just snuck in in the dark of night. But now he's in trouble again, and what do you know, another caravan forming. And I expect that our president will be dead set covering this story day after day until

it's no longer politically beneficial to him. He exploited members of our military for his political stunt. These were men and women, again, in our military, our troops who were deployed to the border for a political stunt. And this was during the holidays. Many of them were not able to be with their family members, I believe during Thanksgiving. And for what? For what?

They missed the holidays with their family for Trump's political stunt. So anyone who was in favor of that political stunt, anyone who's part of Trump's base who bought into this nonsense and still continues to defend that nonsense, you don't ever get to say that you support the troops, that you love our military, you don't ever get to point to someone like Colin Kaepernick and demonize him for protesting during the national anthem because he's disrespectful to the troops. You don't care about the troops. We don't care about our military veterans.

You use them and exploit them as nothing more than political props. And it's a depressing thing to consider, especially when you supported keeping them away from their families during Thanksgiving. I mean, this is where we're at now, where the political party who argues they support the troops the most are the ones who are either complicit or supportive of Trump when he exploits the military for his political stunts. Yeah, especially to try to influence an election. Right.

Yeah. Okay, we do have to take a break. When we come back, some interviews with people down at the border, there's been a lot of talk about how dangerous it is down there. We're going to find out from people who've actually lived their lives within sight of the border and where a wall might go. We need to talk about a relatively new show called Un-F-The Republic or UNFTR. As a Young Turks fan, you already know that the government, the media, and corporations are

constantly peddling lies that serve the interests of the rich and powerful. But now there's a podcast dedicated to unraveling those lies, debunking the conventional wisdom. In each episode of Un-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

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. After this. Welcome back to the show, everybody. We've got a lot more for you. But before we get into that, I do want to read some comments and do a couple of member shoutouts.

I acknowledge that those are the same names, but you know what? I'm just going to read them again. You guys get double acknowledgments. So Heather Gois, Jeffrey Wallace, you've now been in the iPad for like three days. Let's see how long you stay. I'll keep saying your name until they change it. I'm going to say some new names. Oh, sure.

Chris Duran. Where does this name come from? He is a member, a T-Y-T member. We communicate with one another. Al Belzo, another T-YT member. That's true. See, I memorized TYT members. I know who Al Belsso is.

Al Belsso is a really nice guy. Very nice guy. Okay, so I do want to read some comments as well. And let's see, member comments first. Vanessa takes on, says, so it seems Trump might go full on Frank Underwood and raid federal emergency funds. There is a chance that's where he got it from. But it's kind of a deep show.

I don't think he would have made it that far necessarily. Pezzosaurus says the Pentagon has $5 billion in loose change under the couch cushions. That is apparently true, that reporting from a couple of months ago about the mismanagement of funds. No, that was the first, that was the first, the first audit of the Pentagon. The first. Just let that sink in for a second. I don't think we should have a second. It's too scary.

You know what the response was from the Pentagon? Yeah, I mean, mismanagement of funds, but no one expected us to allow the audit to happen, so we got to get some credit there. I'm paraphrasing, but that's essentially what they said. I love the idea that he would dance like that in that particular way. Let's see. Florida fly fishing on the super chat said, even if the leadership gives in, do you think there will be enough votes from the House and Senate Dems if a wall is included? That's a good question. I mean, you assume all the Republicans will say yes.

Are there enough Dems? I don't know. I've been trained to think maybe. Maybe. I don't know. I mean, the interesting thing is I saw a poll showing that, you know, the percentage of Americans that support a bill to fund the government that includes funding for a wall? 34%. That is pathetic. That means that like Trump has gotten 25 people that aren't a part of his hardcore base to sign onto it. And other than that, he's got nothing. Okay, with that said, we will read some more tweets a little bit later on. So continue to send those in, you know, tweets, Two-a-He-Live, Super Chats, all of that. But let's move on to some other topics. So Donald Trump is headed down to the border. He's going to be viewing sites for the potential

wall and, you know, doing a photo out, basically, in McAllen, Texas, which actually I spend Christmas right outside of McAllen. It's a very nice place, seems very peaceful, it seems to be booming economically, but they're going to attempt to convince you that it is some sort of waste land. So let's show you a video of what you can expect once he gets down there. What are they going to show off? You're going to see the drugs, you're going to see the human trafficker situation, right in your face, you're going to see the technology we have along the border, you're

going to see that we need more of it. He's going to outline exactly what's going on directly to the American people. Okay, so maybe not what you're actually gonna see, but that's what they're saying you're gonna see drugs. Right in your face, right in your face. They throw drugs. They didn't even value this stuff. That's how it works. You show up to a place and if there's a, you know, drug activity happening, they show it to you right in your face immediately.

Yeah, that's, that is Fox News. There is no subtlety. It is like, they're coming, they're going to rob you of your job and murder you and rape your family. That's literally what they say on Fox & Friends. Hide your kids, hide your wife. Yeah, it's like, don't go on the internet. They're gonna steal your identity instantly. Instantly, it's that sort of like fear-mongering to, well, a little bit, yeah, but it's the sort of obvious fear-mongering that only affects, like, grandparents that are trying to keep up, but it's really hard, and that is what their audience is. No, of course, that's not what McAllen is actually like. So let's go to some footage that Jim Acosta actually took of a site of the border in McAllen.

You see the drugs? Okay, there's no drugs, it's grass. Yeah, it's peaceful, rolling. What's interesting is that as peaceful as it obviously is down there, that is at least a part of the border that hypothetically you could build a wall on. It's relatively flat, it's not mountainous or anything. Like a lot of the wall, like there couldn't be anything there. This at least there was a chance.

Well, I feel like there is some sort of wall from that footage. Yeah, in some areas. So they have a fence there. So I've been to, I've seen sections near McAllen where they have some border fences and things like that down in San Diego their section. So there are sections of the border that have barriers and stuff like that. The idea that you can wall off the entire thing is of course ridiculous and we've debunked it many times.

So he was sort of jokingly doing that footage down near the border. But let's have just a couple of excerpts of interviews that Jim Acosta did with residents of McAllen. And I was just wondering, do you find that there are immigrants coming from Mexico and hurting people over here, shooting, murders, that kind of crime going on here? Well, I've been here about 10 years, and I've never personally seen any of that. And you're not finding a situation here where the immigrants are coming over or the Mexicans are coming over or whoever and causing a lot of crime and mayhem?

No. No, I haven't. And is it pretty safe to live here in McAllen? Is it pretty safe around here? Here in McAllen, I've been here for, like I said, 11 years. I'm originally from Virginia, and here's actually very calm, very safe. Okay, I want to show just one more interview because there's a line that's pretty awesome. So here's a little bit more from Jim Acosta. What is your sense of the crime situation here? Is there a lot of crime?

Not at all. Not at all whatsoever. Not at all whatsoever. It's been a peaceful city, all the valley, family people. And are there migrants coming across the border? Mexicans who come in, do they cause a lot of crime? Are they killing people? And that's right?

No, they're not. It's a total line. And what do you think when the president says these sorts of things? It's a natural born now, yeah. Okay, so obviously there are going to be people there who agree with the president that the thing a wall is going to be good or whatever. But the idea that this is some sort of Mad Mac style wasteland that just desperately needs more drones, a higher wall, steel bollards and all that is of course ridiculous.

And when I say ridiculous, by the way, that is to preempt that he is down there and they are going to be, he's to be interviewed by Sean Hannity. I mean, they are going to be portraying it in ridiculous apocalyptic terms. So oftentimes when there is some sort of natural disaster or some sort of emergency in any given state, let's say there's a hurricane for instance, the governor of that state will of course recognize that problem and the state will need additional funds to deal with that problem and they will immediately contact the federal government and ask the federal government to help them declare a state of emergency so they can get the resources necessary

to deal with that issue. So I'm really curious about the governor of Texas. So I mean, it's usually red states get very frustrated when the federal government gets involved in things that pertain to their state, right? So the federal government in this case is getting involved and arguing that the state of Texas, this particular part of Texas is dealing with a state of emergency because of immigrants coming in with drugs and there's violence and there are rapists and all this stuff, all this fearmongering's going on.

So why is it that the federal government saw this as some sort of federal emergency, right? Whereas the state of Texas hasn't petitioned the government, the federal government for funds, for some sort of problem that's happening at the border? Look, are there cases where there might be bad actors trying to cross the border? Are there incidents, anecdotal cases where someone might commit a crime near the border? Of course, I'm not trying to minimize that. But to say, I mean, if you believe the way that area of Texas has been illustrated by Fox News, by the Trump administration, isn't it strange that we haven't really heard anything

from the governor of Texas? Wouldn't he be concerned about what's going on in his state? I don't know, I'm just curious, I'm just curious. Yeah, I, my initial reaction is I don't want to hear from the governor, but I get what you're saying. No, exactly. Yeah, and the idea that they're going to use eminent domain and they're going to, I've read today that they might take down this, they might have to destroy this historic Catholic church

because of it. I remember, I'm old enough to remember when conservatives were worried about Operation Jade Helm, and it's like the government is sending people down to the south, like God knows it's going be a UN plot or something, suddenly deploy a national emergency and taking money from the military to send the military down to the border to build gigantic structures, that's okay now, that's fine, despite the deep state, mind you. Okay, with that, why don't we move on to some other related news? NBC News, oh, no, no, no, we're going to, I'll get to that in just a little bit, don't

you worry. NBC News has acquired photos of a test of a possible steel barrier that could theoretically be deployed at the border, and it shows how easily that, you know, it shows how easily that, that barrier was actually defeated in the end. Let's take a look at this photo and you're gonna see the steel barriers, the sorts of bars, the see-through wall that you hear about, all of that. Apparently someone took a hacksaw and cut through it. Because while it turns out, metal is strong, it's not adamantium.

So you can actually get through it. And it did not require any sort of specialized, complicated equipment or anything like that. This is stuff that can be taken by one person and transport. It's not particularly expensive. Now this photo was leaked to NBC, one of many that were initially redacted from a U.S. Customs and Border Protection report, first obtained by a San Diego Public Radio, KPBS, following a Freedom of Information Act request. So we're gonna return to that.

Initially redacted. I don't know why, I don't know why they wanted to hide that initially. So I wanna give you a little bit of context around what produced that photo. There was testing by DHS in late 2017 of eight different prototypes, and all of them, including the steel slats that you just saw were vulnerable to breaching according to an internal February 2018 U.S. Customs and Border Protection Report. So they did these tests and you might remember actually Donald Trump going to the border to view these. When I was in San Diego talking to a congressional candidate, he was doing a trip to San Diego. Well, we didn't hear too too much

about the testing because they failed. And it was redacted. Obviously it would be far too embarrassing for that to get out. The idea that someone could, you know, stop by a hardware store, get a saw, and then break it to our country is a little bit depressing if you've spent $5 billion to stop them. Well, maybe Trump will come up with some concrete solutions to this problem, right? Like, this is so stupid. This whole thing is stupid. I mean, I don't know what else to tell you. I don't know what else to tell the audience. This is insane. Yeah, well, hold onto your butts because it's about to get stupider. Donald Trump was actually asked about that leaked photo and about the test of the wall variance, and here was his response.

There's pictures this morning showing steel barrier wall being sawed to break through. What could is a steel wall if they could stop through it? Well, that's a wall that was designed by previous administrations. There's nothing that can't be penetrated, but you fix it. But it's a very difficult thing to do. But that's a wall, and they have other walls, we have many walls under consideration, even concrete. There's acid that can go through concrete, but what you do is you fix it, and it's very much limits.

It's very, very hard. The wall that we're doing is very, very hard to penetrate. Okay, so- He just said, he just said, I'm quoting him verbatim, anything can be penetrated. So- Anybody can be beat, you might remember that quote. So this is, yes, I do remember that quote. So this is basically a giant nonsense debate over something that's not actually actually a crisis, and it's all about some sort of structure being funded that could be penetrated regardless of what it's made out of.

That's what's going on right now. There's only one thing that cannot be penetrated, and it's Donald Trump's brain. Okay? I was really worried where you're going with that. Yes. Well, I would say his argument is impenetrable in terms of logic. Information, it just will not penetrate his brain. Well, I don't know, he learned something about acid.

That was impressive. I have a feeling that's probably simpler. By the way, if you are gonna break through the border wall if it's ever made, okay, like Hacksaw totally safe, you can pick one up for like 12 bucks or whatever. Don't carry gigantic vials of acid with you on your way to the wall. That is just, that's a disaster waiting to happen. Look at how cute that little kid is. Yeah, yeah.

Okay. So look, the walls obviously they can be destroyed. And his argument that, oh, those were walls designed by a previous administration. No, you okayed the prototypes and then went and talked about how awesome they were. And okay, yes, so technically those are the sorts of walls that have been used in other contexts by earlier administrations, but it was deployed in 2017. He visited it multiple times in 2017 and 2018. It only becomes Obama's dumb wall once you cut through it with a hacksaw.

And I got news for you. You can design it in a different way. It's still steel. But is it, is it a big, beautiful American steel? Make it bigger. It's still steel. I have a feeling that you can probably still hacksaw through it. I don't know what about your amazing design that you're considering.

What mark two advantage is going to make it impenetrable? What new design of a concrete wall won't be able to be breached by a big bucket of acid if it comes to that? This whole debate is so stupid. Keep in mind that while government workers, 800,000 of them are not getting paid right now, members of Congress, members of Congress who have refused to do anything about comprehensive immigration reform are getting paid. Because in previous spending bills, they made sure to get their salaries covered.

Their salaries are covered through this fiscal year. Okay? They're getting paid while Americans are hurting right now over this nonsense. And credit to AOC for saying that their salary should be suspended during that period. Absolutely, absolutely. And Americans should not have to pay their federal taxes for this dysfunction. If we have a government shutdown and we're not getting the services that our tax money is supposed to be paying for, then why are we paying our taxes?

Well, I mean, if this shutdown continues, what's the difference? I mean, I would like my tax money to go toward federal workers who are being forced to work right now for free. Yeah. I mean, of course, they're supposed to get paid later, but how is that going to help them pay their bills right now? Well, exactly. Well, why don't we talk about how they're going to hopefully pay for some of those bills

on the other side of a break? Let's. Let's. We are going to talk about those furloughed workers, and then Representative Steve King has made news. Probably not for the reason he'd hope, though. We'll see after this. 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

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Before you jump back on the news, I want to read a couple of comments. I saw a member comment from James who said, it would be illuminating if TYT showed video of the more remote sections of the border where it would be extremely difficult and expensive to build a concrete wall. I would love to do that, but unfortunately, it's extremely difficult to get there. It sounds tough. That's sort of the whole problem, but it applies to me as much as it does to migrants as well. Donzo, Tokyo 1 said hearing Trump say anything can be penetrated was creepy.

That is correct, yes. Anyway, with that, why don't we jump back in the news? On yesterday's show, we read testimonials from furloughed government workers who have had a turn to go fund me to try to pay their bills, to pay for the rent and their car, medicine and food to keep their families together while this shutdown goes on. And bear in mind, it is almost the longest shutdown in U.S. history. We will approach that in just a couple of days. Many of these people are obviously extremely worried, scared about what's going to happen to them if this shutdown continues for weeks or months or a year, as Donald Trump says.

And since we did that yesterday, hundreds and hundreds of additional accounts have gone up on GoFundMe. So again, because I think the individual experiences of these workers often gets lost among the gigantic numbers and the political back and forth and all that, I want to read a few more of those testimonials. But bear in mind that these campaigns, which often seek just a few hundred to thousands of dollars to cover necessities, they've altogether raised $100,000. That is an average of just $100 per GoFundMe account, to give you an idea of how difficult it is, even with crowdsourcing, to get the money that you need. And to put it in perspective, all of those workers that have been furloughed have missed out on $1.4 billion in wages every week that this shutdown has gone on.

So very soon, the amount the government workers have lost out on will eclipse the wall funding that Donald Trump so desperately wants. So first, let's go into one example. This is a corrections officer, Brandon Tyron. He's been working without pay for the Bureau of Prison since the shutdown began, has already missed a payment on his car, worried about keeping food in the refrigerator, gas in his tank, and says, and go fud me, you can't really sleep just wondering if it's going to get better. There's a photo of his wife and his five-month-old son on the page.

He has a goal of raising $1,500. So far, he has raised $115. Oh, my God. And that, look, I was combing through quite a few of these, which we're going to get to, to compile up many. And there were a few that had raised $1,000, $3,000 that were sort of trending on GoFundMe, but there were hundreds and hundreds that had $20, $10, or $0 at this point. So later in the show, we're going to discuss some of the solutions that Congressional Democrats have.

to protect some of these federal workers as these debates about the government funding bill continue, but it's devastating to think about how many people are impacted by this, because it's not just the 800,000 federal workers, it's their family members who rely on them, who rely on these people to put food on the table for their kids. And I wish, you know, I wish there was something we can do, you know, like, you know, like, Well, hypothetically, at least in these cases, there is a go fund me. There is a go fund me, yes. But I mean, that's obviously not an efficient way or sustainable way to help these federal

workers provide for themselves and their families. And in the meantime, and I keep bringing this point up, not because I don't want to pay my federal taxes, but because I think this is an important point, why are we paying our federal taxes if our money isn't being used for the things that they're supposed to be used for? Why are we paying federal taxes when federal workers are not getting paid right now? When they're expected to work for free or while they're being furloughed. This is unacceptable. And so, I mean, in essence, this Go Fund Me campaign for various federal workers who have resorted

to it is a way of getting U.S. taxpayers to help them out during this difficult time. But you know what U.S. taxpayers should be able to do, have their U.S. taxpayer money go toward what it was supposed to go toward, which is these federal workers. Yeah. Yeah, and while most of these accounts are for the individual or their family, there are people who are raising money for their friends. I also wanted to give credit to, we read quotes yesterday on the show from Johanna Petracelli, who's a NASA engineer.

So she actually has set one up for her coworkers at that NASA facility and has raised a few thousand dollars, I think, for that. There's about 200 workers at the NASA facility now. It normally has 3,000, all but the 200 are not going into work. They're not essential. They're not being paid, obviously. And those 200 are only there because they are necessary to keep the astronauts and the ISS alive while the government shutdown goes on.

So, yeah. But while we continue to have this shutdown, here are some individuals I'd like you to keep in the back of your mind. Tony Nicole Taylor wrote on GoFundMe. This is the wife of a veteran government contractor said, My husband is a veteran, and I'm a stay-at-home mom to our three blessings. He still has to report to work like many others, but no checks. We have three small kids, seven, five, and a three-year-old.

Doing one of these was something we never intended to, but this was something we didn't expect to have happen. We still don't know when it'll open up and things will get right. And as the wife and mom, I can't help but worry about how long this will take. So mama bear kicked in, and I listened to my parents and did all that was at my means. Another worker said every day is more anxiety and more stress, especially when you're a federal worker on furlough. Paycheck was very short, last pay. Don't even know when next check will be coming. Rent is due and other bills are due. Bills will not wait for the next paycheck

if it comes in March. How is this okay? Taylor Futch, the wife of a park ranger, said he has, as of today, been furloughed for 20 days. We have two beautiful girls, ages four months and four years. Oh my gosh. We have a mortgage, car payments, insurances, groceries, diapers, wipes, formula, gas, medications that we budget for every month, we have never asked for help because we are responsible with our money, but we can only budget when money is coming in, and now we are holding our breath as we watch the politicians in D.C. use our family, as well as 800,000 others as pawns. We have no say in this, no choice, and I'm mad as hell. And finally, Erica Gibbs says, the 2018 government shutdown has created a hardship for our family of eight. It's difficult

to keep afloat as we're feeling the first effects of working without pay, and now not knowing when we will receive our next paycheck. Unfortunately in Maryland, we don't qualify for assistance such as unemployment while not getting paid. Please assist our family as we struggle to make it through this shutdown, working, waiting, hoping, and praying. By the way, as I was scrolling through these, people can, when they donate, their name can appear, and they can also post comments. And most of the comments, as you'd probably expect, were supportive. On one of these, I saw a comment that said, live within your means or get a different job.

So disgraceful, you have to resort to begging on GoFund Me. Well, people like that are usually very unhappy individuals, so we'll just leave it at that and move on because, you know, for some reason that person thinks that it's a good idea to go ahead and insult people who are in a difficult financial situation at no fault of their own, at no fault of their own. But this is a little bit of a long point, but bear with me. So Freakonomics has this great podcast, Freakonomics podcast, you should check it out. And in one episode they were talking about the happiness that people in Denmark feel.

They're among the happiest people in the world. And so of course, the whole point of that podcast is to look at different economic structures, what works, what doesn't. And in Denmark, one of the reasons why their economic structure, which focuses a lot on social programs works is because there's a lot of trust in the federal government. And I remember listening to that podcast and thinking to myself, what is it about the United States that leads to so much distrust toward the government? This is it.

This is the kind of stuff that leads to Americans not trusting our elected officials, not trusting our leaders to actually lead and do the right thing for the American people, as opposed to the right thing for their own political careers. This is dysfunction in American government at its finest. And just quickly going back to that comment that you read, the insulting one, the reason why that kind of dysfunction is allowed to happen is because we do have Americans who focus on the wrong people, right? They focus and blame the wrong people for everything that's happening in the cruncher.

They'll look at their fellow Americans, they'll look at people who are not in a position of power, people who are struggling, and they'll blame those people for everything that's wrong in the country. No, no, don't punch down, punch up. Because the dysfunction in government right now is a reflection of people like you, because you're allowing politicians to get away with this nonsense. You're blaming Americans who have no reason to be insulted at all in this case. We need to step up as Americans, and we need to expect more from our politicians.

We need to educate ourselves and know what's really going on, and we need to primary people in Congress who aren't actually representing us. This can't keep going on. Politics in America has devolved so much that we're now in this situation where people can't provide for their families, even though they're working, they're working, they're showing up, they're working, and they're not getting paid for it. Exactly. Yeah, and having to resort to this. And we talked about the Coast Guard, their recommendations to officers that they should have garage sales and sell off their belongings while this bickering is going on in terms of government. I want to go to one video of a federal worker who's affected by the furlough, and one of the things that they're considering doing to make ends meet. You know that the Coast Guard had put out tips to their employees that say things like have garage sales, take odd jobs, do some babysitting.

Lisa, does that make sense to you? I mean, a lot of that is easier said than done, you know, and I mean, it probably will come down to it to where you could drive for, you know, ride sharing service or, and I don't know. I just hope that it doesn't drag on for much longer to where we will have to start selling our family's heirlooms, you know. Yeah, and the thing is, while you can theoretically get another job, you can't do that if you're not being paid but still, working. If you're still working a full-time job, it's very difficult to work another job at the same time. And that's a situation they're being forced into. And so while this could be resolved tomorrow, it could be resolved in six months. And maybe you get back pay. Although for many government contractors, even that will not be an option. They literally will not be paid for

this time that they missed. But even if that's the case, if your credit was damaged as a result of this experience, that does not simply get wiped away. If you sold family heirlooms, you don't suddenly get them back. These people are gonna be harmed, and for the most part, harmed in the darkness. We'll never know exactly what ended up happening to them, what ripple effects it had through the rest of their lives, the lives of their children, and all of that. It doesn't suddenly become okay again if someday, you know, in D.C., they shake hands. So with that, why don't we move on to one more topic before transition?

I know that we're a little bit over, but this is really important. Representative Steve King, a Republican, gave an interview to the New York Times, and in it he said this. White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization, how did that language become offensive? Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization? I will have to take his word that he sat in a lot of classes and paid attention because he seems like a moron to me. But he legitimately said there, he's not disputing it, that he told the New York Times, when did white supremacy become an offensive thing? And that's the same argument that you hear from the very same people who

decided to do that hate march and that led to the death of a counter-protester, Heather Hire. They make the same argument. I'm just really proud to be white. What's wrong with being extremely proud of being white and thinking that whites are better than everyone else? What's wrong with that? I mean, Steve King has a long history of saying, things and tweeting things that essentially regurgitate what white nationalist, white supremacists, neo-Nazis have said here in the United States and abroad. And so it doesn't surprise me that he would have this defensive reaction while being interviewed

by the New York Times. And what's amazing to me is that even though he's shown us over and over again who he is, you'll still have people deny the fact that this man is a white supremacist. I mean, he just said in this interview that he's a white supremacist, what more do you want? Well, or at the very least, why would it be a bad thing to be a white supremacist? And I would say that the Venn diagram of white supremacists and people who think it should be perfectly fine to be a white supremacist is a circle. Okay, so let me be clear, I think it's bad to be any type of supremacist, to think

that every other race is beneath you and that your race is superior. Now, the reason why white supremacist has the negative connotation that it does is, you know, because they've killed a lot of people. There's been a lot of that. They've done a lot of violent things in America's history and the history of other countries as well. So white supremacy has led to death, destruction, and violence. And so, yeah, maybe that's the reason why people have such a negative knee-jerk reaction to that phrase. I don't know.

Maybe I'm wrong. Especially from a sitting congressman. So white supremacy inside of an individual is, that's a bad thing and that's a scary thing, but white supremacy institutionalized into a country is far worse. And so when a politician is pushing for this, that's scarier because he has, he can and has voted for the sorts of laws that do advantage one race over another. White supremacy, if you look up the definition in the dictionary, is not about bigotry in a person's heart.

It is about setting up a society where one race is above others. where the government is designed to benefit those people in all the different components. And we could go through, as you said, all the tweets and everything. I trust that if you're watching the show, you're probably familiar with many of his ridiculous statements. So I will simply go to his apparent rebuttal of what he said to New York Times, which you'll note in this, he does not deny saying. But he does say, today the New York Times is suggesting that I am an advocate for white nationalism

and white supremacy. I want to make one thing abundantly clear. I reject those labels. and the evil ideology that they define. Further, I condemn anyone that supports this evil and bigoted ideology, which saw in its ultimate expression, the systematic murder of six million innocent Jewish lives. Under any fair political definition, I am simply a nationalist, he capitalized it. This conviction does not make me a white nationalist or a white supremacist.

Once again, I reject those labels and the ideology that they define. As I've told the New York Times, it's not about race, it's never about race. But for some reason, I talk about race constantly and definitely think that one is better than the others and do not understand why you would ever have any problem with that. That's the congressman. That's the Republican Party. Yeah, that is. Yeah.

Okay. So I wish that we had more time, but there is going to be an awesome second hour. Yes, I'm looking forward to the second hour. Matha al-Hasson, who's always lovely to have on the show, is going to be here. So is No Me Prince. And I love having conversations with Nomi about anything related to the economy. And the head of the Federal Reserve did raise some red flags about debt here in the United States, debt that Americans owe, debt on a federal government level.

And so we're going to dig into that, talk about that, among other things, when we return. Yeah, okay, we'll see in this field. 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