The Young Turks - Trump Throws Twitter Temper Tantrum

Episode Date: July 16, 2019

Trump is throwing a twitter temper tantrum. 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. Hey, guys, you've heard of the Young Turks podcast because you're listening to it right now. But make sure that you subscribe and give it a five star rating if you like it. Thank you for listening. Welcome to TYT. I'm your host, Anna Kasparian. Jank is still out.

I believe he's on vacation, but will return later this week. But lucky news, we have David Dayen, the executive editor of the American Prospect to join us. And also, of course, Adrian Lawrence, who's been on the show several times before. David, I just wanted to draw attention to some pieces that your publication has put out. The border crisis is fracturing the Democratic Party. Yeah, we can talk about that. I was out in Philadelphia with, it was the Netroots Nation convention. There were a lot of members there, and the border crisis kind of hung over the entire proceedings.

And, of course, this stupid slap fight between Pelosi and the squad. Don't even get me started with that. My favorite thing was Maureen Dowd accusing AOC of weaponizing race for political means. Yeah. When the House Democrats' Twitter account, the official House Democrats' Twitter account, Weaponized race to push their, yeah. And even when I say in the pieces, when you're winning, you know, everyone's happy and when you're losing, everyone starts pointing fingers and the House Democratic leadership is losing.

They're losing the debate, they're losing to Trump, and they're losing sort of the moral fabric of this country, really, by being so impotent on this serious crisis at the border. And so they're pointing fingers. Absolutely, I mean, they're lashing out because of their own failures. That's correct. So I wanted to get all these live reads out of the way, just so we can focus on the stories and your tweets when we come back from breaks. So obviously one of our favorite partners is aspiration.

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He is a rapper and activist, and he's going to join us on the main show on Tuesday, July 23rd. So that's something you can look forward to, and I'm sure he'll stick around to have a one-on-one interview with Jank during the conversation. All right, let's get to the news. Donald Trump is facing some heat today, not from the GOP, but from others regarding his statements on Twitter in regard to freshman Democrats. He had initially tweeted, so interesting to see progressive Democrat congresswomen who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most

corrupt and inept anywhere in the world, I kind of agree with him here. They even have a functioning government at all. Now let me pause and just say, three out of the four freshman Democrats were born here in the United States. Which is why I kind of agree with Trump, especially when it comes to corruption. But of course, that's not what he meant. He continues to tweet, now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful nation on earth, how our government is to be run.

Why don't they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places? from which they came. So Washington? Like, okay. Then come back and show us how it is done. These places need your help badly. You can't leave fast enough. I'm sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements.

Now that reference to Nancy Pelosi kind of speaks to the infighting within the Democratic Party. Pelosi has been, you know, at battle with freshman Democrats. In fact, she's been fighting them more aggressively than she's been fighting Donald Trump, which really tells you something. But nonetheless, he did get a lot of backlash from members of the left, certainly not from the right. The GOP has been defending him over and over again in regard to what he had to say. But I wanted to open this up to you guys.

Any takes on these tweets? Oh, you know, he is really pandering to his audience, to his community, to his constituents. And creating this us, them persona, as well as really reinforcing these ethnocentric ideologies that people from other countries or that people who look a certain way, that they're somehow deficient. And also really kind of just pushing that trope that anybody who is brown or of a different color in the United States isn't from here or they should not be here or there's some otherness about them that makes them problematic.

And you know, it's really old and it's unfortunate. But the reality is, is that it works, because there are so many ignorant people out there. And we kind of really get that ethnocentric vibe by virtue of saying that this is the greatest nation, the most wonderful nation in the world, when we have considerable issues, as you pointed out, Anna. It did make a lot of people remember the whole birther conspiracy that Trump helped to push in response to President Obama's election. And it's absolutely true.

I mean, why was Obama the one president who had his citizenship questioned, his place of birth question? It had to do with the color of his skin. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think two things. Number one, you know, right before he says, go back to where you came from, he says, how dare these people tell us how to run our government? They're in our government. They were elected duly by their own representatives, and what you're seeing here is not just a demonization. of obviously people of color and people of different races, but a demonization of

Democrats, really, as illegitimate, as, you know, not legitimate enough to lead the country and actually have a say in policy despite having every right, every much democratic legitimacy as everyone else. And the other thing, and I think we kind of touched on this at the beginning, is that, you know, Pelosi's squabbling with these four members, it paved the way for this in many ways. I mean, I mean, he was applauded late last Friday after he released a statement defending Pelosi against these freshman Democrats. And of course, when we say freshman Democrats, we're referring to Representative

Accio-Cortez, Rashida Talib, Ilhan Omar, and Ayana Presley. And then he decided to go even further with these tweets. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I had a chance to talk with Congresswoman Talib over the weekend. And what she was saying is the bickering isn't coming from us. It's not coming from the squad. We're working.

We're highlighting and uplifting, you know, what's happening down at the border. That is our number one priority. It's these, you know, the leadership that is doing this sort of one-sided squabbling. And now it feeds into this tension now feeds into Trump going full on racist about this situation. You know, in his first tweet, he references corruption. And I found that so fascinating because a lot of the backlash that Trump has been dealing with from progressive members of the Democratic Party has to do with these detention centers, detention facilities where migrants have been getting incredibly sick, at least two dozen

people have died in U.S. custody as a result of these terrible and sanitary conditions. And I bring up that first mention of corruption in his tweet because this is what you're looking at right now in these images, this is the face of corruption. I mean, the amount of money we've given private companies that run these facilities is out to control, just to give you an idea. And this is according to reporting from NBC News, private prison firm Geo Group has reportedly made $500 million for migrant detention centers since Trump's zero tolerance policy began. And that's just one, then there's Southwest Key, which did receive government contracts

under Obama, but also under Trump as well, between 2015 and 2018, $955 million in federal contracts. We're spending $775 per day per migrant at these detention facilities. And we see the conditions that they're kept in. They're not using that money to actually improve the living conditions of these individuals. In fact, they're using this to pad their pockets, and I think it's abundantly clear here. But with that said, I do want to just go to what Iona Presley had to say in response to these tweets, because you're absolutely right, David. What we see from Ianna is very similar to the statements that Rashida Taleb gave.

You, this is what racism looks like. We are what democracy looks like, and we're not going anywhere except back to D.C. to fight for the families you marginalize and vilify every day. Now how has Trump responded to the backlash? Well, let's take a look at his press conference. What are you talking about in your tweet about going back very well? Well, I don't mention, I didn't mention names, and I didn't do that. If you're not happy here, then you can leave.

As far as I'm concerned, if you hate our country, if you're not happy here, you can leave. And that's what I say all the time. That's what I said in a tweet, which I guess some people think is controversial. A lot of people love it, by the way. A lot of people love it. But if you're not happy in the U.S., if you're complaining all the time, very simply, you can leave. You can leave right now. Come back if you want.

Don't come back. It's okay, too. But if you're not happy, you can leave. Well, they're very unhappy. I'm watching them. All they do is complain. So all I'm saying is if they want to leave, they can leave, John. They can leave.

I mean, I look at the one, I look at Omar. I don't know. I never met her. I hear the way she talks about al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda has killed many Americans. These are people that, in my opinion, hate our country. Now, you can say what you want. But get a list of all of the statements

they've made. And all I'm saying that if they're not happy here, they can leave. They can leave. And you know what? I'm sure that there'll be many people that won't miss them. But they have to love our country.

They're Congress people. And I never used any names. But these are people, quiet, quiet, quiet, quiet, quiet. Quiet. Quiet. These are people that if they don't like it here, they can leave. And I'd be, I don't know who's going to miss them, but I guess some people will.

So he's essentially doubling down because leave and go where? Three of them were born here in the United States. And Representative Omar is a U.S. citizen. And the thing is, when he says, you know, if you don't like it, you can leave, that's totally counterproductive to actually being an American and making your country. better, because if you don't like it and actually run for office and you get elected, that's how you make change. And so being a part of that is really important.

But something I'd really like to hit on as well is that there's no coincidence. There's a reason that he's attacking for women of color, you know, who are new in the political sector as freshman Democrats. You know, it's, I've just been a book writing on this. You know, it's just sex-based discrimination to make them feel like they can't have their voice and use it in the process. And so pretending that they can't be there and that their voices aren't legitimate. And essentially harassing them out of speaking up is what he's looking to do.

And unfortunately, you know, a lot of people are playing into that. Unfortunately, they are strong enough and they're pushing back. I mean, love it or leave it, you know, that's a pretty common, right? From like the most ignorant people from the most ignorant people on earth from going back decades. But, you know, there are plenty of white male Democrats who won in 2018 and are, are, you know, just as belligerent in terms of policy towards Donald Trump. And he's picking out for women of color to be the locus of this love or leave it statement. I think there's a reason for that, though. So.

There's a big reason. Yeah, yeah. Well, a reason other than, you know, what we discussed. And yeah, I mean, that's obvious. But there is, there is, I think, a common characteristic among these freshman Democrats that does rub Trump the wrong way. And AOC laid it out perfectly in her tweets. So I want to share that with you. Let's go to Graphic 5.

Mr. President, the country I came from and the country we all swear to is the United States. But given how you've destroyed our border with inhumane camps, all at a benefit to you and the corporation. who profit off them, you're absolutely right about the corruption laid at your feet. And then this was my favorite part, okay? She says, but you know what's the rub of it all, Mr. President? On top of not accepting an America that elected us, you cannot accept that we don't fear you either. Okay, that's it.

Boom. Like that's- I know that that rubs him the wrong way. Because you have these strong women who are principled, they're uncorruptible, they're not there because they're interesting. in having this lifelong career in politics, they were encouraged to run because of what America has become, under Trump's watch, under previous administrations, where Obama didn't deliver on a number of things he should have delivered on, especially when it came to some of the systemic racism in the country.

And so all of a sudden you have people who are fighting him from a very genuine and principled place, and they're not fearful, and he can't stand it. And also fighting him from a lower place on the social power totem pole where they're not going to back down. Essentially, they're not going to know their place. They're going to speak up and push back. And so he's trying to hit him with hostility, all sorts of things to say stay in your place, know your place, you know, and the reality is it's like this is Gilead, and they're not

going to let it become that. And so I love that these women are speaking up and pushing back and saying we have every right to be here and to have our voice to own it and use it. Exactly. Representative Omar speak actually over the weekend. And one of the things she said was, you know, it's hard for those in power to make room for those who challenge power. And, you know, she was talking about a lot of people with that statement, not just Trump, but maybe Speaker Pelosi. But I think it was pretty profound. One thing that was amazing about that press conference

that we didn't see there is that he started talking about AOC, and he specifically started talking about the Amazon HQ2 situation in Long Island City, Queens, right? And he said, well, she kicked Amazon out of New York City, and that was terrible for New York City. This is Trump speaking now. Trump has spent two years talking about the Amazon Washington Post, how Jeff Bezos is a terrible person. And then all of a sudden, when he's challenged by a Hispanic woman, woman of color, he gets the back of Amazon and their right to take $6 billion or however much it was out of New York City just for the privilege of them putting a headquarters there. So it just showed that that entire fake fight was just a total fraud on the part of Trump. And his real fight is against people of color, against women, and so on.

Absolutely. You know, I think it makes sense to have a longer discussion. Unfortunately, we can't do it right now. But I want to have a longer discussion about electoral and political strategy. Because what you just mentioned is one example of how Trump fights dirty and isn't principled. So if you're a principled lawmaker and you want to fight Trump, how do you do it effectively, knowing he doesn't really have a strategy, he doesn't have any limits or boundaries. He's willing to do or say anything or change his story at the drop of a hat just to suit whatever agenda

he has at that very moment. And that's a very difficult thing for certainly career politicians to deal with because they're not used to it. But also for progressives who have gotten elected into Congress and do want to fight him, but maybe don't know the best strategy in which to do so. One final thing I do want to add, though, is Nancy Pelosi did come out and say that she's defending the freshman Democrats, which is important given the infighting that's been happening in the Democratic Party. She said, our caucus will continue to forcefully respond to these disgusting attacks. The House cannot allow the President's characterization of immigrants to our country's stand.

And I also want to note that the House is planning on voting on a resolution to condemn Trump's statements as racist? Okay, great. I mean, it makes sense. They were certainly in a rush to do that when it came to Representative Ilhan Omar and what she had to say about the Israeli government. So I would assume that they would want to do this when it comes to Trump because his statements were clearly and blatantly racist.

Like there's no question about it. All right, we gotta take our first break. When we come back though, there's the second part of this story. And it's the most, in my opinion, discouraging part. The GOP rallies behind Trump after these racist statements. Come right back. We need to talk about a relatively new show called Un-F-The-Republic, or UNFTR. As a Young Turks fan, you already know that the government, the media, and corporations

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So search for UNFDR in your podcast app today and get ready to get informed, angered, and entertained all at the same time. Hey guys, welcome back to TYT, Anna, David, and Adrian with you. I want to read a few member comments before we go to the rest of the news today. Megan has, I think, the best comment. She says, make America great again, why didn't he just leave? Right? It's good.

Love her leave it, baby. Meg says Nancy Pelosi's behavior really makes it clear that this is a class war. It has nothing to do with left and right. I think you're absolutely correct. You know, Friday night, after work, where I probably should have been decompressing, I saw that House Democrats tweet and I like lost my mind. Yeah. It made me so angry.

It kind of made me think like there are two groups of people who are worried about the sort of loss of status within the country. And one is Trump and his supporters and the other are the House Democratic consultants. Absolutely. Yeah. And Pelosi herself, I think she is, the reason why she lashes out, and I mean, we said this already, is because what these freshman Democrats are doing in fighting for justice and the American people and, you know, doing away with corruption, it puts a spotlight on Pelosi.

Oh, yeah. Right? Oh, yeah. So I'm sure she doesn't like that. And, you know, it's clear in the way that she comments about that. them in her fluff pieces from Maureen Dowd's fluff pieces. Right. And then Ryan writes in and says, in that video, Trump not only doubles down on his racist

remarks, but reminded us how sexist he is, telling a female reporter to be quiet. Yeah, that's right. No, because it's like, I heard him say that and I'm like, there's no way he's saying that to a white male. I'm like, yeah, now, I see this. I'm good. All right, well, let's get to the rest of the news. Well, we all know that AOC and this crowd are a bunch of communists.

They hate Israel. They hate our own country. That's Lindsey Graham, defending Donald Trump following his series of racist tweets aimed at freshman Democrats like Representative Ocasio-Cortez, Representative Ilhan Omar, Rashida Talib, and also Ayanna Presley. Now, what's incredible following his tweets, where he essentially tells these women to go back to the countries they came from, even though three out of the four were born here in the United States, was that no one in the GOP called him out or had any aggressive criticism

for the racist tweets. In fact, one by one, they lined up to defend him. Senator Lindsey Graham is just one example. Let's hear what else he had to say. So no, he's gonna win. If you'll just, Mr. President, you're gonna win. Just knock it down a notch. In what way?

Well, we all know that AOC and the crowd are a bunch of communists. They hate Israel. They hate our own country. They're calling the guards along our border, the border patrol agents, concentration camp guards. They accuse people who support Israel of doing it for the Benjamins. They're anti-Semitic, they're anti-America. Don't get down. Aim higher. We don't need to know anything about them personally. Talk about their policy. Senator, those tweets were negative? I think they're American citizens who are duly elected that are running on an agenda that that is disgusting, that the American people were reject.

Talk about what it means for America to have free health care for illegal immigrants and no criminalization of coming into the country. So he says that Trump should take it down a notch, but he has completely slandered these young women. You know, of course, Representative Ilhan Omar is the one freshman Democrat who got the most backlash because she criticized the right-wing government of Israel. Criticizing a government, especially if you're a progressive and you're talking about a right-wing government does not mean that you hate the people of that country. It means that you are criticizing and critiquing that right-wing government.

And so for Lindsey Graham to sit there and accuse all of these women of anti-Semitism is just slanderous and ridiculous, but I guess that's the way he justifies the type of behavior. behavior we're seeing from Trump. Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. And it just really shows us how much the GOP is complicit in this. And we see from Graham and the GOP, like, that the goal here is really to distract from what's going on at the border with the migrant facilities that essentially are filling their coffers by way of their companies and their friends.

And we just saw that with, what, former White House chief of staff, John Kelly, joining one of the largest child migrant facility boards. You can't tell me he's not getting paid, especially with the former White House chief of staff, with all of this money, what, $775 per person in these migrant facilities, going to these companies that aren't actually using the money except for keeping it in their pocket, clearly from what we've seen from the facilities. So really, they have an incentive to continue this narrative and to ramp up Trump. And what were we talking about in the 24 hours before these tweets came out?

Oh, Epstein. Well, not just that. Oh, yeah. Vice President Pence going down to the border and for some reason taking cameras. And actually providing video evidence of these migrants locked up in cells, barely able to move around, barely able to lay down, sleeping on concrete, these really inhumane conditions. That was the story, you know, on Saturday or whatever. And so, it's a classic deflection away from that, away from what our tax dollars are paying for, and, you know, amping up the racism to distract away from this terrible cruelty that's happening.

Yeah, you make a great point. And we are covering that story in the second hour of the show today. And, I mean, just to give you a quick summary, you see this giant cage that's overcrowded by migrant men, and Pence is just standing there and it's like he's checking inventory or he's, he's, you know, looking at a holding pen for cattle. I mean, it's just, it's so disgusting and difficult to look at, but you're right, I think a lot of the decisions that Trump makes when it comes to social media and, you know, attacking people like this has to do with distracting us, like don't, don't pay attention.

By the way, there's Lindsey Graham, disgusting face. standing there and watching what's happening. And I just wanna, I want you guys to keep this image in your mind. As we give you a quick flashback to 2015, here's what Lindsey Graham previously thought of Donald Trump. Well, I wanna talk to the Trump supporters for a minute. I don't know who you are and I don't know why you like this guy. I think what you like about him, he appears to be strong when the rest of us are weak.

He's a very successful businessman and he's gonna make everything great. He's gonna take all the problems of the world and put them in a box and make your life better. That's what he's selling. Here's what you're buying. He's a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot. He doesn't represent my party. He doesn't represent the values that the men and women who wear the uniform are fighting for. And you know how you make America great again?

Tell Donald Trump to go to hell. Oops. What happened, Lindsey Graham? Look, one of the best episodes of the Daily from the New York Times, it's a podcast, you should definitely check it out. They interviewed Lindsey Graham and tried to figure out why it is that he totally changed course on Trump. And he was very transparent.

It was because he wants to remain relevant. He's disgusting. Yeah. So any thoughts on Lindsey Graham before we go to more members of the GOP showing that they have no backbone? Oh, he's just trash? That's it. For Senate?

Well, now- I'm not supposed to be editorial like that. No, no, please. Serious journalists. Bro, you're good. Yeah. So let's go to Newt Gingrich, who I'd argue was even worse when it came to this issue. Take a look.

He would like to see them as sort of the front page of the Democratic Party. And I think he thinks anything he does to elevate them is to his net advantage. Is he right? Oh, I think so. He's right about what? Like three out of the four freshman Democrats were born here in the United States? Like, what is he right about? Well, what is he right about?

I think what Gingrich is saying is that they want to make just, and by the way, this has been done before, interestingly with Pelosi, you know, every ad that Republicans put out for the last like eight years has Pelosi, San Francisco liberal, you know, and a dominatrix outfit or whatever. They want to make AOC and Talib and Omar and Presley the face of the Democratic Party. That's their goal. And by the way, Democrats in the House are kind of helping them by having no agenda whatsoever. There was a very disgusting poll that got leaked that the House Democrats took of a thousand white,

college educated members of swing districts, asking them about AOC, Ilhan Omar, and the women of color, and getting the result that they wanted to say that, see, this is a real problem for these Democrats in swing districts, literally erasing people of color from this poll. And that was put out by the House Democrats. It was leaked. They didn't actually put it out themselves. It got leaked by Axios, I guess it was done in May. But this is, that's why I say that this was set up by this tension between Pelosi and

the squad. This allowed this racism to fester. Yeah, and it is interesting because, you know, during presidential elections, especially in 2016, if you had Bernie Sanders criticize and legitimately criticized, by the way, Hillary Clinton and her ties to Wall Street, what was the response that we would get from the Democratic Party? Right. You're giving Trump fuel, what are you doing?

This is terrible, you know, or you're giving the Republican candidate at that point fuel. So we need to be careful, we need unity, unity, unity. All you hear about is unity when it comes to progressives and they're legitimate issues with establishment Democrats. I mean, even when it comes to the infighting between Pelosi and progressives. Pelosi said that, you know, don't use Twitter to air your grievances. And then they turn around and they use Twitter to air their grievances. And I'm talking about the establishment Democrats.

But, you know, Adrian, like, what are we going to do with this? Because it feels like principled progressives are getting it from both sides. You're getting it from establishment Democrats. You're of course certainly getting it from conservatives. I mean, you know, it's like they're on this. island, essentially, where they are progressive. They are the new beginning. They are challenging the establishment.

And so as much as we think Trump and Pelosi are on two different sides, there are things that they definitely do agree on and enjoy. And a lot of that is the money aspect that continues to fill their coffers. And a lot of that is the privilege that comes from continuing to be able to maintain the power structure the way it is and who can get in to actually have a voice. And now that we have these freshman Democrats coming in, it almost signals. to other individuals in society who have generally been marginalized and kept from being a part of that power structure, that they can do it.

And, you know, Trump, Pelosi, and them, they really kind of don't like it because it means that they could definitely be out of a job if we see more uprising from people of color and women who want to actually have their voice and, you know, look out for their country and have things change. It's like the worst thing that you can have in Washington is principles. That's right. You know? Definitely.

Or in the media, I mean, in both places. So before we get to the final right winger who's defending Trump, I do want to note that there was one Republican who did criticize Trump's racist tweets, and that was Texas Republican Will Hurd. His district has the longest border with Mexico. So it is- And he's an African American. Oh, okay, yeah. Yeah, but definitely like people, I don't, I, I, it's very difficult for me to

understand why people go against their own interests. And so when it would serve your interest for this migrant stuff to stop and really for, you know, taxes to change and things like that and it serves your people's interest, yet you continue to vote for these individuals who really do not have your best interest in mind. It's so weird to make. So seeing this one individual stand up and do something is really nice, especially because Texas suffers the most by us messing things up with Mexico. I think there's another guy, Mike Turner, who's a house member from Ohio, that also said, actually used the word racist to describe the comments. And of course, Justin Amash, who declared independence from the Republican Party, he was condemning

the remarks as well. So there's a small subset of folks on the right. Right. You know, I wish that they were persuasive enough to get through to other members of the Republican party, but unfortunately, that's not what we're seeing. Now, let's go to Cuccinelli. So I want to get his, okay, so Ken Cucinelli is the director of citizenship and immigration services, and he was interviewed by Alison Camerata on CNN.

And of course, first he tried to play stupid when it came to Trump's racist tweets against these freshman Democrats, where he tells them to go back to their own country. And so Allison Camerata literally reads every single tweet to him, and here's how he responded to it. I just need to ask you when he says to these U.S. Congresswomen, all U.S. citizens, why don't they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came? Do you see that as racist? No, I see that as presumably political hand grenades, but I wouldn't go that far, no, certainly

not. Telling women of color to go back to the country. You spent a lot of time on Twitter. I've spent a lot of time doing an actual job where asylum is at risk and where we're trying to process legal immigrants who are obeying our rules and to turn away the illegals who are fraudulently trying to use our system. And I have a job to do as well. I understand. I'm not on Twitter. So I don't, I don't actually engage on Twitter. I haven't been on Twitter in the last 24 hours either. So, uh, insulting, uh, the person who's, interviewing you is a great way of trying to deflect. But what really stood out to me was he knew about those tweets.

So he pretended that he didn't know about them. And later in the interview, Camerada called him out. Director Cuccinelli, did my colleague Jake Tapper read you that tweet yesterday? Yes, he did. So you have heard this tweet before and you have had 24 hours to process it. So what? So what? I told you, I haven't been on Twitter in 20.

24 hours. I'm not in there doing the Twitter war. The worst. Yeah. Just the worst. Absolutely. It's just appalling the amount of disingenuous lies that these people tell. First, he tries to effectively change the definition of racism because, you know, a lot of people

want us to think that racism requires white hoods and burning crosses, when really it can be weaponized in language and ways to create an us, them, trope, and continue to play on that and marginalized individuals. And then he ties to pretend that, hey, you know, I actually am doing a job and you're ignorant. It's just, there's just foolishness all around and I'm glad she called him out. So why is it that they're so afraid to call out Trump when he's clearly being racist, when he's flaunting it, and he was proudly displaying it on social media? Because they think Trump's gonna go after them next.

Well, not only that. And Trump certainly will go after them if they go public with their criticisms. That's the reason why a member of his own administration put out an anonymous op-ed criticizing him in the New York Times. They don't have any courage. But remember, I think the majority of members of Congress, both Democrat and Republican, are more concerned about their own political career than doing what's right. And that's certainly true in this case as well.

Ninety percent of Republican voters approve of the job Donald Trump is doing. That's according to Gallup, right? So every month they track what his approval. rating is, again, 90% of Republican voters, look at Trump and they think, love it, he's doing a great job. So they know that there are consequences, you know, electorally speaking, if they speak out against Trump. And it just shows you where the priorities are.

They're allowing about 30% of the country, 25% to 30% of the country, who are incredibly hateful, to dictate how everything is run in the U.S., and it's devastating. I mean, that kind of says it all, right? And, you know, that this is not anything new, really. I mean, famously, George W. Bush couldn't come up with anything that he made a mistake on in comments. And this was like about six years into his presidency when he was asked that. So, you know, this is how the Republican Party rolls. They never admit wrongdoing.

They never, and here's the contrast, right? They have Trump's back, right? Where is the House leadership, you know? Thank you. With these women of color. I mean, yeah, they're getting their back now. But where were they just days ago? Going after them?

Going after them, exactly. So, I mean, it's the difference between the parties. Absolutely. We got to take a quick break. When we come back, the ICE director is very upset. at Democratic members of Congress who asked him tough questions during a hearing, heating. Hey, it could have been a heating.

During a hearing. Well, they were putting heat on, so it is a heating in a way. That's true. That's true. Anyway, you don't want to miss this video. It's amazing. We'll be right. At TYT, we frequently talk about all the ways that big tech companies are taking control

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If you want to get the whole show and more exclusive content while supporting you. independent media become a member at t yt.com slash join today. In the meantime, enjoy this free second. Welcome back to TYT. If you're just joining in, David Dayan, executive director, I'm sorry, executive editor of the American Prospect joins me, and Adrian Lawrence is with us as well. Adrian, Anja, from our member comments, loves you, and says Adrian is one of the best guest hosts on TYT.

So kind. Lots of love. I'm second. Megan, who had a great tweet in the previous segment, says, I keep thinking that is Tom Selleck on his David's shirt, and I'm pretty sure it's not. No, it's Che Guevara, isn't it? I don't really know much about communism, so. So, what, Knight Rider, no?

Okay. One or the other, I don't know. I just picked it out of a bin somewhere. Electic miscellaneous says, what I wanted to do. know is, where is Pelosi's resolution condemning Trump's racist comments about foresitting Congresswomen? So that's, well, let me finish your tweet or comment. Ilhan Omar's comments were twisted and distorted and they passed a resolution.

So when is Pelosi going to take some official action against anything Trump does or says? So I believe the House is planning on voting on a resolution to condemn Trump's latest tweets. But I mean, your point is legitimate when you consider all the other things he's said, you know, throughout his stint as president. Finally, I do want to read a few TYT lives. Kibitch says, I too would like to make the freshman the face of the Democratic Party. Yeah, I agree. Kim R says, oh my God, I love, love, love when Adrian Lawrence is on the show.

She brings a great perspective. Also, Anna Casparian, your hair is looking great. Let me just tell you guys something, Mondays are a disaster for me, okay? I have to do no filter and I like ran out of the house with a mess. Like it was just like a giant mess and I just put it back in a ponytail. So thank you. I'm surprised that anyone likes my hair today. All right, let's get to the rest of the news.

Former acting ICE director Thomas Homan testified before the House Oversight Committee in regard to Donald Trump's zero tolerance policy which took children away from their parents at the border as they were seeking asylum. And he also commented on the unsanitary and squalid conditions that migrants are being kept in in these detention facilities. Now, things got heated when Representative Connolly called him out in regard to how these individuals are treated. Take a look. I've sat here and listened to horror stories. I thought it was fiction.

I thought it was a novel reading from Charles Dickens. and the conditions that prevailed 19th century London. Children without soap, children in filth, conditions that none of us would ever countenance with our own children. So that upset Homan quite a bit. He went on his little press tour following this hearing, and he commented specifically on what Connolly had to say. How many lives have been saved?

by border patrol agent, sir? Just this past year, they saved over 4,000 lives, but no one wanted to talk about that today. I was the only one want to talk about it. And yes, I was insulted by him and many others, Representative Gerald Conley from Virginia. You know, he threw out dirt and wouldn't let me respond. This is about political theater.

He ran out of there like a little girl. He's a coward, and he didn't want to hear my response because this was all political theater. Ran out like a little girl. Yep, yep. Yeah, I mean, this is what politics has devolved into. I mean, it's school yard bully nonsense, like nonstop. I mean, you want to talk about how many people have been saved?

I don't know where that 4,000 number comes from. They don't elaborate on that. But 24 people have died in U.S. custody, 24. And it's because of these insane conditions they're kept in. In my no filter segment today, I talked specifically about how Trump, there is a crisis at the border. I think it is legitimate and we should call it what it is. But Trump has exacerbated that crisis.

He hasn't made it better, he's made it far worse. He's done it by pulling foreign aid away from countries that could certainly use it to improve the condition so migrants don't want to leave. That includes El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras. He is so punitive toward undocumented immigrants that individuals who would previously sponsor unaccompanied minors are not coming forward to sponsor them. I mean, this problem has become so much worse because of Trump's ignorant policies and his punitive nature, but they want to stand there and pretend as if he's handling this perfectly.

No, he's been terrible at this. Oh, absolutely. And for someone who represents the immigration authorities in this country, I mean, that's like something nice compared to what we saw in the Facebook. message boards from the Customs and Border Patrol folks. So we know what they really think and believe, both about members of Congress who criticize them and also the migrants themselves that they're charged with, you know, overseeing at the border.

Yeah, this is a Trump-crated crisis, in my view. And by the way, I also want to just remind you of Ken Clippenstein's reporting and how he spoke to a Border Patrol official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. and this person drew attention to all the various things that could be done to improve the conditions of these migrants, and they're not actually following through with these things because they don't care. There's a carelessness. It's actually quite deliberate, right?

I mean, the cruelty is the point. Exactly, yeah. As Adam Surwer has said many, many times, the idea is to inflict inhumanity upon these people in this ridiculous kind of notion that that would stop the flow of migrants from the border. But as Representative Omar said over the weekend, it's like, you know, if a shark keeps coming into this, it's because that shark is leaving something behind that's far worse. So obviously, it almost proves the point that there is a legitimate asylum claim here. If these migrants will come to this misery and think that it's a better situation,

than what they're leaving behind. Absolutely. Yeah, and it just really, I don't know, it really speaks to me that what they're doing to this migrant community in terms of housing them in these poor conditions and making so much money that they're filling their coffers with is what they've done to the black community in terms of prisons and the privatization of them. And so they're really just continuing to leverage that and take advantage of that, especially because we've seen a lot of laws change recently, like Florida, giving a lot of people,

well, actually people who were in prison the right to vote. And essentially, when there's less disenfranchisement and those private prisons can't make their money, you need the corporations that continue to make money somehow. And they're really doing that by abusing the migrant community. And that's a big problem. I've heard this from Representative Talib and other people that, you know, in the African-American community almost is, this is seen as intertwined, right? This is like a dry run for the militarization of other communities of color, right?

I mean, is that what you're hearing? Oh, that's what I observe, and that's exactly what I see this as. There's so much here that's analogous to what's been done to black communities for centuries, essentially, and they're just really, we need more people to step up and to speak out, because we are finally recognizing that this isn't okay. terms of what happened with the black community, and we see that with these great Netflix documentaries and people speaking out and rising up and making change, but then now it's happening to the migrant community, and we have to stop it.

Just because it's no longer necessarily fully impacting just us is not okay, because it can't happen to anybody. Yeah, and I just want to quickly note that Republican lawmakers in the state of Florida are trying to do away with what voters voted in favor of. giving these previous inmates the opportunity to vote now that they're out of prison. So we'll update you on that story in a more detailed video later. But I also want to know, you mentioned the profit motive. And I've talked about this before.

I know David, you've done really great reporting about the private prison industry and how it's profiting off of Trump's immigration policies and all these detention facilities. Again, Geo Group has made $500 million since Trump implemented the zero tolerance policy. They are getting, and by the way, that $500 million, that's in government contracts, that's our money. U.S. taxpayers are funding the brutal behavior that we're seeing at these detention facilities. Now, there was one other lawmaker who called Homan out and was not holding back in terms of calling him racist.

Representative Hesus Garcia from Illinois accused Homan of being racist and not caring about dying children. And here's how Holman responded to that. Did you catch this retired ICE director Tom Holman attacked by members of Congress on Capitol Hill? Tom, have you calmed down yet from that hearing? I did until you just showed that clip of someone calling me a racist. It said I didn't care about dying children. That's when I broke. That's when I, if you notice, I hesitated a minute before I started yelling because I actually think. about getting up throwing that man and beating right there in the middle of the room.

Great, so let's talk about using physical violence because you don't like the truth about who you are. By the way, back in 2017, Holman admitted to reporters that migrants do not commit more crime than U.S. citizens. And it's incredible to see how in such a short period of time, under this administration, people become more and more radicalized in their right-wing ideology. Because they're given permission to do so. It's a tone at the top.

And it's wild because it's just ignorant. Like, you don't even have facts to support it. And yet these people cling to it and are willing to sacrifice human lives and then say that, no, I care about humanity. No, I care about children. Really? Well, let's switch gears a little bit and talk about domestic policy in the presidential election, starting with Joe Biden.

The question was asked whether we support eliminating private health insurance. Some said yes. I said absolutely not. I believe we have to protect and build on Obamacare. There's former Vice President Joe Biden proudly flaunting his moderate approach when it comes to a very real problem here in the United States, our broken health care system. His proposal is very different from Bernie Sanders, who's calling for Medicare for All, an expanded Medicare program that would cover every single American.

What Biden wants to do is essentially expand the Affordable Care Act. And he details it in this next video. The question was asked whether we support eliminating private health insurance. Some said yes. I said absolutely not. I believe we have to protect and build on Obamacare. That's why I proposed adding a public option to Obamacare as the best way to lower cost and cover everyone. I understand the appeal of Medicare for all.

But folks supporting it should be clear that it means getting rid of Obamacare. And I'm not for that. I was very proud the day I stood there with Barack Obama, and he signed that legislation. Now, Biden also said, quote, we should not be starting from scratch, we should be building from what we have. There's no time to wait. Just keep in mind that the federal mandate for the Affordable Care Act has been repealed. And right now in the courts, there is a chance that the entire, you know, legislation will be repealed. Because without the mandate, a federal The federal judge has ruled that the remaining portions of the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional.

Now that battle is kind of playing itself out within the courts, we'll see what happens. But to say that the Affordable Care Act is great, and all we need to do is maybe improve upon some components of it, I think is misleading. But just to give you a quick rundown before I open it up to the panel, what Biden is calling for in his proposal is federal subsidies to make Obamacare cheaper. the public option program, which he highlighted in the video you just watched. He wants to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices, which I think is a no-brainer. So what do you make of this, David?

Because I know, you're very involved in this type of policy analysis. So thoughts? I mean, you know, there's, it's not like anything that Joe Biden is proposing here is necessarily bad. I mean, he wants to lower. the rates that people would pay through Obamacare. He wants to expand the subsidies. The subsidies being not good enough is really one of the major reasons why Obamacare costs

too much and why the deductibles are too high. He wants to pay for it by increasing taxes on the rich. He wants to raise the top rate to around 40%, which is what it was under Obama. I mean, Joe Biden is now a noun of urban Obama. That's basically everything that he says, he hides behind Barack. You know, he wants to create this public option and put everyone, everyone who qualifies for Medicaid into this public option, which is kind of interesting because he says, I don't want to get rid of Obamacare. But of course, the Medicaid expansion is over half of the coverage increases in Obamacare. He wants to get rid of that and put it into, you know, the public option.

That would be a robust public option, but we don't know what the rates would be for providers under that. We don't know a whole lot about that. You know, none of these things are that bad, but they're not great. But they're not, I mean, they're not single payer. They're, they're an attempt to take the sort of Rube Goldberg, rickety system that is Obamacare and put a few more props under it. And that might work, and that might be better for people.

I think we shouldn't deny that, that it might be better for people. under that system. And it's not like he's trying to take anything away from people. He's trying to pay for it in I think a pretty legitimate fashion. But it's not single payer. And that's where the fight is going to be. So one of the things that happened following the passage of the Affordable Care Act was the federal government offered resources and funding to state governments to expand the Medicaid programs.

Or was it Medicare? No, Medicaid. Yeah, it was Medicaid. Yeah, so the federal government is like, here's some money, expand your Medicaid program. So people who aren't currently covered will have the coverage. And a number of red states actually rejected that money. And honestly, did their constituents dirty by doing that. So is Biden right in providing under his proposal a public option that would essentially

transfer these patients for Medicaid to a Medicare program? Yeah, I mean, I want to hear from you on this, but one of the things he would do is take those individuals who qualify in states that did not expand Medicaid and put those people into the public option. So it's really rescuing those folks, which, you know, desperately are in need of rescue. And it would also take people, Medicaid patients out of these states where they put work requirements in or these kinds of very punitive kind of situations, places like Indiana, New Hampshire. So, you know, again, better than before, and certainly to the left of where Obama was when

he put Obamacare in to begin with. So Biden has been moved, but he has not been, you know, moved all the way to single player. No. I like the idea that Biden is doing more. You guys are definitely more the experts on this than I, but I'm anything short of universal health care is just, it's not good enough for me. A few weeks ago, I was traveling in a foreign country, and I fainted. And they sent a medical team over.

They helped me. They did my blood tests and all these other things. And my biggest fear is I'm going to get some kind of big bill from, and no, they had universal health care. They were totally cool, took care of me, sent me on my way. It was wonderful. And I just think of how much so many people fear just, you know, maybe something going wrong with her body or, you know, anything happening, and they can't afford it.

And so I just want people to be taken care of. And also we have the money for it, it's just we're putting it in the wrong pockets. You know, it's interesting because when I get sick here, there's always panic. And I have employer provided health insurance, it's pretty good, but I still panic, because there's always like some surprise bill that you get, either from the lab or whatever, something that wasn't authorized by the private insurer. Whenever I'm in a European country, like Portugal, I think was the last country I was in, where I got sick, I lost my voice, I had laryngitis, I think, I just showed up to a pharmacy and

they take care of you, you know, and there's no fear. That financial freedom, I mean, that's a part of financial freedom. It's something that we should be providing to our citizens, and we don't, especially when you consider how we have the resources to do it, we just don't do it. One final part of Biden's proposal that I think is relevant and important to mention, And I want to go to graphic four, Biden's plan specifically states he would repeal the Hyde Amendment as president, which prevents the use of federal funds to be used on abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or harm to the mother's life. I bring that up because previously, Biden said he was, and when I say previously, I mean like

a month ago. He was in favor of the Hyde Amendment. He was in favor of that ban on federal funds toward abortion. And now he's proposing, repealing the Hyde Amendment. Amendment in this health care proposal. This has become a consensus position within the Democratic Party at all levels. You better see in 2021 actual legislation. You probably should see legislation in this Congress.

If every single standard bearer who wants to lead the party says we need to get rid of the Hyde Amendment, you know, Nancy Pelosi, where's the legislation to repeal the Hyde Amendment? That's right. All right, well, that does it for the first hour. Thank you so much to David Dayen and Adrian Lawrence for joining me. In hour two, we're gonna have J.R. Jackson and Brooke Thomas join in. And we are gonna talk about Trump's new rule for asylum seekers, which is terrible. And there are some legal concerns moving forward.

And then later on, we're going to discuss how Megan McCain does not believe Trump is representative of the Republican Party. She's wrong, and we're gonna tell her why. 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.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.