The Young Turks - Trump's War Of Words With Iran

Episode Date: June 26, 2019

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All right, welcome the Young Turks, big show ahead as usual for you guys, Jank and Anna. And tomorrow we'll both be in Miami and we hope a lot of you will be as well. Please sign up at t.t.com slash rally because we are going to get you some late breaking details on where to meet up and we need to be able to contact you guys. That's why we have t.y.com slash rally if you are coming to Miami, that is for the debates that are on Wednesday and Thursday, as in tomorrow and the day after. So we're going to see you guys there. Emma Viglin is also going to be there.

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Today we've got a huge show ahead in terms of the kids being abused in the attention centers, a whole range of folks reacting to that Trump, Megan McCain, etc. Chris Hayes getting animated. I like that. Go get him, Chris. About damn time. And then we've got, of course, domestic politics and the potential for war, which is what we start with. Yes, while the Trump administration believed that additional sanctions and very targeted

sanctions against top officials in Iran would bring them to the negotiating table, it appears that thus far the opposite has happened. In fact, the president of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, has released a statement. In fact, he also gave a speech where he said, quote, the White House is afflicted by mental retardation and does not know what to do. Well, there is an argument to be made. Now, somebody should let Hassan Rouhani know. We don't use that word anymore in America, okay?

But other than that, he's not alone in thinking that and not just in Iran, but here in America. Now, the Trump administration was dismayed at that comment. Trump himself said the following. Iran's very ignorant and insulting statement put out today only shows that they do not understand reality. So I just want to focus on that first sentence and that tweet because he believes that the statement was quote, ignorant and insulting. Let me just remind everyone of who Donald Trump is.

Take a look. Written by a nice reporter, now the poor guy, you gotta see this guy. Oh, I don't know what I said. I don't remember. He's going like, I don't remember, oh, maybe that's what I said. So let me continue on with the rest of his tweet. Any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force. In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration.

No more John Kerry and Obama. Wait, is he threatening to obliterate John Kerry and Obama? Not entirely clear. Way to make a potentially disastrous and devastating tweet funny. Thank you, no problem. But I love that Pompei also came out and said, I can't believe how immature and child the Iranian statement was. Are you kidding, dog?

Have you met the president? I mean, you always talk about immature and childish. Every single thing he does is that way. Oh, you're my voice bigger than your button. Okay, water surrounded your island, surrounded by water, a big ocean water. And Hassan Rouhani is not the only world leader who has made similar statements about Trump. In fact, if you can recall, when tensions were escalating between the United States

and North Korea, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called Trump the mentally deranged U.S. Daughtered. Okay, dotard just means old fool, but notice the similarity with mentally deranged. So perhaps the North Koreans and Iranians would also like us to use the 25th Amendment. Now, we're not going to take their word for it, but unfortunately, like I said, there is certainly an element of truth in that. But as of course you guys remember, Kim Jong-un and Trump later patched it up, and Trump then said that they had fallen in love. So we are yet unaware that Trump has begun any flirtation with the Iranian president or Ayatollah, but future love letters could be in store if history is any indication. Could you imagine? By the way, maybe I could. I don't know, can you imagine Donald Trump saying, I have fallen.

in love with the Ayatollah? Honestly, I think it is possible. All the Ayatollah would need to do is compliment him, say nice things about him, and all of a sudden Trump will talk about the love letters that they're sending one another. Yeah. Whatever, I'll take it, I'll take it, because that's a million times better than escalating tensions with Iran. We should not engage in war.

They have military capabilities that I think are being underestimated by the Trump administration, particularly, you know, John Bolton and Mike Pompeo who are pushing Trump closer and closer to war. This is a disaster. Yeah. So, and to your point about the compliments versus insults, that's why when I saw the Iranian president's insults of him, I was worried. Because that is much more dangerous than downing a drone or attacking tankers, which they didn't do. They did down the drone. It looks like it was more in their waters than what we're claiming, which is international waters.

They did not appear to attack the tankers. That appears to be neo-conservative propaganda. But all of that pales in comparison to insulting Trump. Because that's how he makes decisions, because he is a dotard, and he is mentally deranged. So that's, he said, wait, he insulted me, this is really a big problem now. I don't know if Tucker was right, maybe John Bolton is right, even though I don't like his mustache. So this is how the child makes decisions. So we have to be really careful, so when I saw that, I was like, more important than any

financial or military operation, if they keep insulting the man child like that, we're gonna have trouble here. So the problem is there's hot-tempered guys on both sides. I don't know if they're hot-tempered. They're just, the Iranians are mad because they're like, now you're putting sanctions on the Ayatollah and his close associates. That's us. And so that hurts us financially.

And if you're a conservative might be like, God, we're hurting them financially. To what end, guys? To what end? Right. Okay, if you had an objective, which is to remove the uranium from Iran, I would agree, except we already did that under the Obama deal. So Trump for no reason, again, except for his ego, ripped up that deal that was actually one of the best deals I've ever seen in my in covering politics for over two decades, okay?

We got all the uranium out, and all we had to do was give them the money back that we stole from them. We froze all their accounts for just to hold it hostage. And I don't know that that was the ethical thing to do, but I'll take it because we got a great deal and we got the uranium out. So if you care about not going into wars, which is what conservatives claim they care about, yeah, you're happy that Trump didn't fire the missiles, didn't listen to Bolton and Pompeo. But this kind of needlessly antagonizing one another is not going to end well, because you

know how thin-skinned your leader is. So- You know it, you know it's all about his feelings. I think you're about to have mixed feelings about the next video that we're going to go to, because on one hand, it's terrifying what Trump is about to say. On the other hand, it goes to what you've been arguing about Trump for a very long time. And that is his lack of strategy. Take a look. Strategy for Iran, if war does break that.

You're not going to need an exit strategy. I don't need exit strategies. I'm not going to need an exit strategy, disastrous, disastrous. And this is a pattern that you see with Donald Trump when it comes to foreign policy. He had a very similar reaction when reporters asked him what his plan was in regard to North Korea. So let's take a look at that. All right, so let's take a look at that video.

This was before Trump was about to have his first summit with Kim Jong-un. I think I'm very well prepared. I don't think I have to prepare very much. It's about attitude, it's about willingness to get things done. But I think I've been preparing for the summit for a long time. This isn't a question of preparation. It's a question of whether or not people wanted to happen. So he was not prepared, which is why he met with Kim Jong-un, had that summit, and there was absolutely

nothing that came out of it. There was a flimsy nonsense, non-binding agreement between the United States and North Korea. And did Kim Jong-un actually follow through with anything? No. Did they stop their nuclear program? No. Has Trump actually accomplished anything in denuclearizing any country? No, in fact, he's actually moved any progress that we had under the Obama administration

backwards, especially when it comes to Iran. Yeah, in fact, I'll give you a very specific example in the case of Iran. He's now saying we're gonna give sanctions to anyone who will take uranium out of Iran. Why would you do that? We don't want them to have the uranium. So why would you sanction anyone who's taking the uranium out of Iran? What an incredibly weird counterproductive thing to do. So in terms of, look, there's two different mental derangements here.

One is from Trump and that one is obvious. I don't need an exist threat. Come on, guys. I mean, really, even if you're a right-wing, you're proud of that idiocy, I don't need a plan. What happened? I thought he played three-dimensional chess. Which chess player says, I don't need a plan.

And he said he didn't need a plan with North Korea and he blundered it. Thank God we're not in the middle of a war yet, but we got nothing to show for his efforts. Now in Iran, I'll take a stalemate, because I so desperately don't want a war, that's going to lead to the second conversation about derangement. But in terms of, if you think he knows what he's up to, a guy who says, I don't need an exit strategy, clearly doesn't know what he's up to. Hey, when you go in, how are you going to get out? But by the way, this is what he says about the presidency, too.

They put out a video the other day on Twitter about how he's going to be president until 268 or the year 3000 or whatever. Now obviously he's partly tongue in cheek because he won't be around that long, but he does keep joking, prodding about how he might not leave office. That's the second time that he's done that. So he's setting it up for I don't need an exit strategy. And that's how dictators talk. Well, no, well, yes, that is how dictators talk.

But more importantly, that's how the US military, industrial complex talks. They don't want an exit strategy. I don't know if this is really what's going on with Trump when he made that. statement. I genuinely think that he's just unprepared. But he's also kind of saying out loud what members of any administration aren't supposed to say out loud, which is we want war, we do not want an exit strategy, we want this to be a perpetual war, similar to what we're experiencing right now with Iraq, with Afghanistan, let's keep our troops there as long as possible, not because we care about freedom or spreading democracy, because we care about making private

contractors wealthy, we care about, you know, having access to cheap oil. Those are the reasons why we have these wars and have absolutely no exit strategy. Trump is actually saying what we've been experiencing for decades now. Saying the quiet parts out loud, exactly right. Which leads me to the final derangement, which actually is now for the first time Trump derangement syndrome. So Obama derangement syndrome existed in the right wing and in Trump fevered, right? Oh my God, anything Obama did, including the Iran deal, doesn't matter.

the merits, they were opposed to it. Now, Trump has earned the ire of all Americans, and there's a thousand reasons to be against them. But now I'm sensing for the first time establishment people who are like, no, if Trump says it, I'm against it. So if Trump doesn't want to attack Iran, maybe we should attack Iran. No, no, we shouldn't attack Iran. Just think for a second, okay? Don't make the same mistake that the right wing does, which is I'm just unilaterally opposed to that guy. So for example, they're now all of a sudden talking about how George W. Bush was not a bad president.

Why? Why would a progressive ever say that? He was a terrible, terrible president. He didn't think about getting into Iraq, he got into Iraq. And by the way, just like Trump, when we went to go invade Iraq, there's a famous moment where the generals explain what the plan is, and they go, you know, step one, the invasion, step Step two, you get to Baghdad, you occupy Baghdad, you then step three out, you occupy the whole country.

Step four, which is what happens after you take over the country was called, the slide was literally TBD, to be determined. In other words, they didn't have an exit strategy in Iraq either. But a lot of the mainstream media cut him a break because he was an establishment Republican. And today, a lot of so-called progressives and Democrats, and people in the media are like, oh, Bush, Bush was good, Trump is bad. No, Bush was a disaster. And Trump, if he keeps us out of Iran, actually will not be as bad as Bush, assuming that we still have a democracy when, if and when he exits.

But now Trump derangement syndrome has kicked in. So people are like, no, no, that's it. Bush was good. And if Trump doesn't want to attack Iran, we should attack Iran. That's a disastrous idea. Know how to criticize them while keeping your sanity. All right, let's move on to the next story. The only one with a very distinct Medicare for all plan out there is Bernie Sanders.

And he wants to replace the entire health care system, including Medicare, and put a universal plan in place along the lines of Medicare for everybody. That's not going to happen. You know who she worked for? All right, that was Stephanie Cutter, Obama's former deputy campaign manager, who clearly laid out her disdain for Medicare for All in a recent video. Now, she was hoping that video would not end up online. Oops.

And you should hear what else she had to say. House Democrats are having a hearing on Medicare for all. Most of the candidates, on the Democratic side, all 24 of them. I don't know if anybody has joined the last 24 hours, have either commented on Medicare for all or have signed onto it. But what does that really mean? That's a really good question, because nobody knows exactly what for all means. The only one with a very distinct Medicare for all plan out there is Bernie Sanders.

And he wants to replace the entire health care system, including Medicare, and put a universal plan in place along the lines of Medicare for everybody. That's not going to happen. First of all, I don't think Bernie will be president. Don't tweet that because there'll be a lot of hate on my Twitter. But I don't think he's going to be the president. Well, she's certainly getting a lot of hate on Twitter today because that video was made public. And I want to give you some more details on who Stephanie Cutter is. Now as I mentioned, she used to work for the Obama administration.

In fact, she helped with his 2012 reelection campaign. And then she went on to be a co-founder for something known as precision, precision strategies, which does consulting work for various corporations. politicians, in fact, I wanted to do a little more digging on her. There hasn't been a lot of reporting on her, but Precision Strategies does get a considerable amount of funding from the private health care industry. No. It's weird because she didn't mention that there.

Of course she didn't. So let me give you a little bit from her bio, and you can find her bio at Precision Strategies website. It says at Precision, Stephanie has improved the brand of one of the nations. largest health insurers during a controversial merger. Oh, good for her. She also successfully launched a news network, I don't know which news network they're referring to, restored the reputation of a multinational financial institution.

She must be so proud. It goes on and on and on. Now, once you look at the funding for precision strategies, it all really makes sense. So these aren't all of the donors, but these are some of the top donors in 2016. There's Renaissance Technologies, which is a hedge fund manager. You have Blackstone Group, $1.26 million, Carlisle Group, $755,814, Microsoft Group, $689,07888, Comcast Corporation, Goldman Sachs. The list goes on and on.

But once you look at the top industries that donate to this organization, you'll find that the health Services and HMOs have actually contributed $4,936,712 to precision strategies. In 2016 alone, by the way, these are the health professionals who have contributed the money. If you look at health services and HMOs, they've contributed $2,533,315, again, in 2016 alone. So she has all the incentive in the world, millions and millions of dollars to go ahead and defend these private insurers, the private health insurance company, to the, you know, detriment of Americans who are suffering under this current system. Yeah, the first list that you read with Blackstone and Goldman, et cetera, is all the top

financial companies. So they basically she represents the big banks, big financial institutions, and the big healthcare companies. So it is not surprising that she would come out and be completely opposed to any kind of progressive change specifically in healthcare. So, look, Obama gets a lot of deference, both from Democrats and from the mainstream media. Now compared to Trump, you can see why, right? I mean, the guy was sane, he was relatively logical, he was even tempered, he was an adult,

he was a good manager and steward, okay? And so he maintained the economy, he brought down the deficit, all those positive things, right? But that's where it ends. Was he a great leader that accomplished a lot of policy positions that brought us a ton of change? No. That's why he said he was a good manager of the economy and of the government. But he didn't really try for big change. The only thing he tried for was the Affordable Care Act.

Now he got that, it was an improvement on the system. But no one disputes that that was originally a plan cooked up by the Heritage Foundation, which is a right wing think tank funded by the Koch brothers. So if you're a big claim to fame is I got a Heritage Foundation plan passed when I had a super majority in Congress, it is hard to make the case that you made dramatic changes. In fact, the only way you could make that case is if you're so biased in favor of the establishment and the status quo, that you then say, or you just don't know that much about politics. And that's fair, a lot of people have other jobs, right?

But in those cases, you could say, oh, wow, he was amazing. But if you know politics, you say that's not a lot of wins to put. up on the board if you're all of your campaign placards read change. But it's one thing to criticize Obama, I think, on these legitimate issues, and there are many others. It's another thing when they take that reverence and put it on everyone who worked in the Obama administration. Whoa, whoa, whoa, no, we're not even close.

So Obama hired a ton of people who are totally pro establishment, did not want change at all. People who were lobbyists before, people who are lobbyists now. I mean, it was the same old Washington group. And Stephanie Cutter is a great example of it. So you're telling me, just because she worked for Obama, I'm supposed to respect her, sorry, no deal at all. So now she says, I'm not going to not only not fight for positive change, I'm gonna fight tooth and nail against it, why?

Because I get paid to do that. That's right. That's fine, you can do it, but you are part of the corruption. So you can get all hurt over, like, I can't believe they called me corrupt, just because I took five million dollars from the health care companies and then two and a half million from other health care companies, some are insurers, some are HMO, some are health professionals. And then I took millions about millions of dollars from the Goldman Sachs and all those guys. And you're calling me corrupt.

Yes, yes, I am calling you corrupt. That's how corruption works. They bribe you in this case legally, then you go do their bidding. And that's your job. And you say, what, that's, what am I supposed to? I'm a lobbyist. Okay, that's fine, you can be a lobbyist. But then I get to call you corrupt because you are serving those people and you're working

against the interests of the American people because you literally get paid to do that. And then when you come in with your snide little, don't worry about it, because Bernie Sanders isn't ever going to win. Okay, yeah, not remotely interested in your opinion that was literally paid for by those same corporations that Bernie Sanders wants to hold accountable. What I also found interesting about what she said in that video is how she does. differentiated Bernie Sanders from the rest of the Democratic candidates. Essentially, I mean, maybe this is just her analysis, and maybe she's wrong, but it did raise

a few red flags in my mind. She specifically pointed to Bernie Sanders because Bernie Sanders is genuine in wanting to fight for Medicare for all, right? And so you hear a lot of candidates saying that they support Medicare for all, and then in various interviews or in various situations where their aides will talk to the press. They kind of backpedal on that. And I just want to be clear about something. In the primaries, it needs to be abundantly clear who does and does not support Medicare

for all. And for me, I mean, there are these conversations and these debates about litmus tests. That is a litmus test for me in the primaries, period, right? This whole notion of improving the Affordable Care Act is not good enough, not even close. So I think it means something if they're specifically targeting Bernie Sanders. I think that he's definitely genuine and I think that worries them. So look guys, there are some things that are clear and there are some things that are not clear.

So they're the lobbyists and the corporations that have been sucking off the American people and ripping us off all this time by legally bribing politicians. getting their subsidies, not allowing us to negotiate drug prices. That's borderline criminal, right? And they did it because they bought off Bush, then let's keep it real. Obama, the Obama people say, no, no, no, he had to do it. He had to do it. Otherwise, we couldn't get the Heritage Foundation plan passed, okay?

That's a curious argument for had to do it. But Obama said in his ads in 2008, that's why I supported him. I supported him over Hillary Clinton. He said it's outrageous that we're not negotiating drug prices. Turned around, made a deal. Made a deal with the people that are now financing his former aides like Stephanie Cutter and said we will not negotiate. Then Trump said, oh, we got to negotiate.

Trump gets in, the most corrupt out of all of them and comes in and goes, I'm not going to negotiate, I want to give the drug companies whatever they want. It turns out they give me money, that's all I care about. I'm sick of the corruption. So one thing we know for sure is the corrupt say, not Bernie Sanders, whatever You do, not Bernie Sanders. Okay, you guys are very clear about that, thank you for that clarity, okay? The other side is also clear, Joe Biden.

Joe Biden says, went to a room full of rich donors and said, I'm not going to change anything. Nothing will fundamentally change, and I promise I'm gonna look out for you. He literally said those things. So the donors are like, yes, Biden, great on Biden, wonderful on Biden. The parts that are not clear are people like Kamala Harris. And look, I think Elizabeth Warren is really close to clear, but I've got to get to make I'll make an important point about that in a second. Kamala Harris says she's for Medicare for all, but yet a lot of the Hillary Clinton donors

love Kamala Harris, and then her aides walk back her comments right after the town halls. So it leads us to wonder, and only Kamala Harris can answer the question, but it leads us to wonder, do those donors and lobbyists know something we don't know, right? Now, there was some question about exactly where Elizabeth Warren stood. And she just recently signed the progressive economic pledge that's on t-y-t.com slash pledge. A lot of you have signed it as well. But it's a big deal for her to say, yes, I will fight for Medicare for all. So it is absolutely clear in that sense.

But I think that at some point it is going to become incumbent upon her to say, these people do not speak for me. Because there's a lot of people jumping out there without getting her permission and the third ways of the world and the Stephanie Cutters and all these people going around saying, oh yeah, yeah, Warren's good, Warren, don't worry about Warren. Bernie, you gotta worry about it. They're not doing Elizabeth Warren any favors at all. So at some point Elizabeth Warren's gotta make a decision and go public and say, thanks, but no thanks.

I am not interested in your support. I hope she does that because that'll make it extra clear. Absolutely, yeah, I agree with you there. We got to take a break when we come back, ABC News World tonight, edited a video deceptively and it had to do with a police brutality story. We're going to show you how they cut the video. We're going to show you the original video and give you the details on the story when we return. 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 UNFTRTR podcast takes a sledgehammer to what you thought you knew. 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,

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all at the same time. All right. All right, back on a young Turks. Let me read a couple of tweets for you guys first. First member section, Gabby B says, oh good, I'm glad our international diplomacy has been reduced to literally the language of third graders when they try to bully each other. I'm not the R word, you're the R word.

Yeah, that's literally what's happening. Unbelievable. All right. Progressive Pete says, how's Medicare for all confusing? Medicare is an existing, nonprofit, government-run health coverage provider, and all means everybody. The only reason why it's confusing is because some of the politicians want to have it both ways. They want to stay there for Medicare for all so they can get your votes. And then turn around and tell the donors, I don't really mean it.

Okay, so all right, now on to less important, but fun things to read. From Twitter, queen.fah writes in, Anna serving us the fashion. Colors are beautiful on you, girlfriend. Thank you. Jenk, you're pretty too. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thanks guys, I really appreciate that.

Okay, I like how they didn't even bother showing me when I said it. All right, anyway, last one is Pietro Basso writes in, really hope Bernie will use the footage of Steph gutter for former Obama staffer, shilling for private health insurance companies and saying Bernie will not be president. He's got to add that into a Medicare for All video. The establishment's disdain is the ultimate endorsement. And I think that's really true. I wrote that recently.

Actually, the establishment is really hurting Elizabeth Warren with progressives. If they wanted her to win, they're ironically doing more damage to her than they realize, because they're just such knuckleheads. They think, oh my God, I bet the American people love the establishment. So we'll say we all hate Bernie, but not Warren. No! And then in a weird turnaround, some establishment people were like, oh, see, Jenks began against Elizabeth Warren.

No, I've been defending her from day one, and I think she's a wonderful progressive. I'm genuinely worried that these endorsements she didn't ask for are going to be an albatross around her neck. They think Stephanie Cutter is popular? Nobody knows Stephanie Cutter. All they know is some lobbyist says not Bernie, but Warren's okay. That's terrible for Warren. If you cared about her, you wouldn't do that.

But they're so, they can't see outside of their own bubble. Inside Washington, they're like, oh, everybody loves lobbyists, right? Everybody loves lobbyists, right? No, nobody likes lobbyists. Yeah, so let me tell you about Aspiration. It's a financial institution and we love them. The reason why we love them is because it's one of the few places, if not the only place where you can put your money and they will not invest it in any shady companies, including

the fossil fuel industry. So check them out, go to Aspiration.com slash TYT. Okay, and it's a win-win, look guys, it's good for us, it's good for you guys, good for Aspiration, and companies that become more progressive because you guys like it is a wonderful things, so you go support that, and you can just move a little bit of your money in there, and it only takes a couple of minutes. So one last thing, the rally in Miami, now we've got new speakers, and you guys are going to be live and you're going to be part of the show, 8 o'clock to 8.30 Eastern.

So I'm going to speak, Anna's going to speak, but also Adam Green from P.Triple C, former just Democrat Pam Keith, who ran for office there, who was a wonderful progressive. Kai Newkirk, who led Democracy Spring, the movement to get money out of politics, led civil disobedience there. So all those folks are going to show up. And it looks like we are soon going to have some presidential candidates confirmed. So they will come and speak at the rally as well. Don't miss it.

You've got to get information on it through t.yt.com slash rally. When you give us your email or any way to communicate with you guys, the phone number, et cetera, we can text you information on exactly where to meet. because we're also going to have a watch party afterwards, and we're going to try to get you guys as much media and presidential attention as we possibly can. We do this together. It worked wonderfully in Iowa. Let's go do it again in Miami. And don't forget, the whole point is sign the pledge, because we now have Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, four presidential candidates overall, AOC, Rokana, and Jamie Raskin, et cetera, have all signed. And the more you guys sign, the more pressure there is for politicians to say, yes, this is what Progressives stand for.

So t-y-t.com slash pledge, let's go make that happen. And Anna and I will see you tomorrow in Miami. Yes. All right, let's move on. Metro transit police in DC are launching an internal investigation following surveillance of an officer using a taser on an unarmed black man. Now, this story by itself is pretty terrible, but there's an added layer of bad behavior when you consider the way ABC and World News Tonight specifically deceptively edited the video of the

encounter. Now, we're going to show you the way they edited the video and then we're going to show you the full context. Take a look. So my name is Shemar, we're going to say right here and we're going to make sure that everybody is taking care of, okay? Hold on, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, he's all right, he's all right, he's all right, he's all right, Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, eh. Not necessary, not necessary, just get down. He's not even resistant, he's not even resistant, he's not even resistant. He's all right, he's down. How many cases I could take to take down a grown man, he's down.

Now the officers were responding to calls involving two minors who are allegedly threatening people with sticks, so they show up and they start investigating, and then there was a A third man, a black man that got tased, who was asking questions as these two minors were being confronted by officials, not by officials, but by the cops. And so things escalated to the point where a third officer shows up and he starts tasing the black man even though he was unarmed and even though his hands were up in the air. But if you looked at that ABC News World Tonight footage, you would think that the black man posed some sort of threat to the cops.

Now let's take a look at the full context. And by the way, a hat tip to Jordan Yule who posted about this on Twitter. Let's take a look. So my name is Shamir, we're going to stay right here. And we're going to make sure that everybody is taking care of, okay? What I don't want is one of these colonizers trying to get on y'all about stuff. Then I'm going to have to go off. And I ain't got my nails done, all right?

All right, all right, all right, all right. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, he's all right. He's all right. He's all right. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey. I'm racist. You get the baby. Chill.

Chill. Chill. Not necessary. Not necessary. Just get down. Just get down. Just get down. Yo.

Not necessary. That is not necessary. Yo, that is not necessary. He's not even resistant. He's not even resistant. He's not even resistant. He is okay. Stop.

Yo, yo. I'm right here. He's not even stop. He's not even stop to play down. Stop, babe. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. Like, go, let him the fuck go. He's all right. He's down. He can't move. He's down. Leave him alone. He is down. He is down. God damn. New round the match right on. How many tases is got to take to take down a grown man? He's down. So I'd argue that the full context is important because it tells a full story of what really went down. And there also seems to be some mixed messaging coming from the Metro police in D.C. So let's go to Graphics 17.

Metro, according to NBC Washington, also said the third officer in the video used the taser because the man who had not been detained was interfering in the police investigation. and quote, exhibited behavior consistent with preparing to fight the officer. Can I joke? I gotta jump in there. Okay. So there's no winning. They, you saw the video, he put his hands up.

And so, but you're supposed to put your hands up with the cops. And they said the fact that he raised his hands was an indication that he was getting in a fighting posture. But wait, if you, they tell you to raise your hands. So if your hands are down, like Philander Castiles was, you're gonna get shot and killed. If your hands are up, you're gonna get tased. So now, did the guy push the officer or did the officer push the guy? You just saw it, you just saw it. And was the guy's hands up?

Yes, it was. And it wasn't enough, so he tased him. By the way, that guy took a taser like nobody's business. That's what upset the cop in the beginning, right? He tases him once, it didn't have an impact, and then he proceeds to tase him over and over again. to the point where the man is on the ground and he is unable to move and they're still tasing him. No, and this is the number one problem, which is that we teach our cops all across the country

that you don't take anything from anybody, okay? You put them down. And so when you teach them to rage and you teach them that no one is ever allowed to quote unquote disrespect you and nobody's ever allowed to talk back to you, well, this is what results, This is what happens. You shouldn't be surprised. Stop being surprised. If you teach them to do something, they'll do it.

So stop teaching them to constantly abuse civilians who question cops. They're supposed to be our cops. I know it sounds funny, right? Because they seem to mainly protect the rich and obviously we've seen it over and over again, another on-arm black guy. And then they turn around, they're always surprised that people are angry. Like, oh, I guess people are upset about it. I mean, just be, yeah, we know you've been doing it for decades, but now we can see with our own eyes.

So as I mentioned, at first, the Metro Police told NBC that the man had not been detained. And then later on, after this video, the full context goes viral, they put out a different statement. And I want to tell you what that statement says. After the subject disregarded warnings to move back, the officer deployed his department-issued taser. and was able to take the man into custody. But wait a minute, at first, it said that he was not detained, right? That's what NBC Washington was told by this very department.

So I don't get it, why are they now saying that he had been detained? And a police department in America would never lie. The police are angels. I mean, look, they ask juries, hey, if a cop is on the stand, he's more credible than the average citizen. Really? that anymore? I mean, it seems preposterous. And then they were surprised when OJ got off. I don't think he should have gotten off, but there was a jury pool that had seen for their

entire lives, African Americans in this country abused, lied about, beat upon, and framed over and over and over again. And back then there wasn't as much video. That was the beginning of video when we saw the Rodney King beatings, right? And whenever African Americans said, You know, they're beating us up nonstop. People are like, oh, sure, you're right. Who are we supposed to believe? The entire African-American community in the country, tens of millions of people, or a bunch of cops we paid to kick your ass.

No, we're going to believe the cops. So, yeah, we're tired of it. We're tired of it. And when I say we, I mean, all decent Americans. Well, let me just, let me just say one thing. For the longest time, I thought that people would deny what was really going on with excessive force and brutality. And then I realized that, no, they're not simply denying it.

They know the truth. They know what's really happening. It's just that acknowledging what's really happening would, you know, maybe lead to some changes and they don't want changes, right? So what made me realize that is what's happening with children at the border right now. Children who are literally dying, six of them have died so far in border patrol custody because of the conditions that they're being kept in. So there's evidence of that now.

There's no denying it and people know. And so what has the right wing response been to that? So what? They don't care. They don't care. So they acknowledge what's happening, maybe not publicly, but they know what's really happening with police brutality. The thing is, they love it.

They don't want it to change. No, but there's an important caveat. Unless it's the Bundy Ranch people. Right. It's right wingers. It's white right wingers. Oh, forget about it. How dare the cops point weapons at beloved white right-wing ranchers, just because the right-wing

ranchers pointed guns at them and threatened to murder all the cops. No, the cops should stand down. This is police abuse. It's police abuse when the cops look to protect themselves from right-wing extremists who are threatening to murder them. That's apparently police abuse by kicking the living crap out of minorities, year after year, decade after decade, not police abuse. Gee, I wonder if they're racially motivated.

And then the great irony is they'll turn around and go, oh, you guys are making about race. No, you were making about race when you constantly attack minorities in this country and then give ridiculous, insane privilege to right wingers who happen to be white. And then you say, well, I don't see any race. all I see is white people that are right winger should all be protected and the cops should bow down to them and the government should bow down to them. But if it's a minority, the government has every right to kick them and beat them and do whatever they want to them.

What you're doing is crystal clear. Little tiny extra piece of irony in this particular story, this happened at the metro stop of U Street, but it's also known as African American Civil War. Memorial Cardozo Station. So it doesn't matter. In Washington, D.C., African Americans are the majority. But somehow, they get abused anyway, because that's what power does. And yes, it's about damn time, we fought back, I don't mean physically, I mean legally and politically.

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

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Right back. We hope you're enjoying this free clip from the Young Turks. If you want to get the whole show and more exclusive content while supporting independent media, become a member at TYT.com slash join today. In the meantime, enjoy this free section. All right, back on the Young Turks, Jenkinana, Ignoratio Elenchi writes in from the member section. Unbelievable, the argument of their just bad apples keeps getting proven wrong. When will people just admit that the police have a systemic issue when it comes to police brutality?

Couldn't agree more. We were just talking about that during the break. Michael Davos says, that's what you get for traveling while black. So it is deeply discouraging to see this happen over and over again. It's not an accident. Next Wednesday, hellboy actor Ron Perlman will come join us. He'll be part of the panel. And then, of course, also from Sons of Anarchy and a million other shows.

And then I will be interviewing him in the conversation about his career as well. He's a huge progressive, tyt.com slash live next Wednesday. Make sure you check that out. All right. The Texas Tribune is reporting that Border Patrol is not allowing Americans to donate needed supplies to children who are being detained in these camps. Now, that includes diapers, soap, toys for the children. And this is following reporting by the New York Times outlining just how horrendous the situation is in Texas. So, for instance, some of the children are suffering from the flu.

They're being quarantined. Some of them have already died as a result of the unsanitary conditions. Their diapers haven't been changed in days. Some of them are still wearing the same dirty clothing that they arrived in. So luckily, there are people from all political. persuasions showing up trying to help out. And unfortunately, border patrol is turning them away because the law pretty much forces them to. And I'll give you the details on the law in just a second. But, Jank, do you want to jump in? Yeah, some of them have not had access to a shower

in over a month. And a lot of kids now have lice. We can't do this, man. They transferred him out of this terrible facility in Clinton, Texas, now they're transferring him back into the facility, it's an absolute mess. And what was one of the things that I warned about in regards to Trump? Everybody talks about what a monster he is, and that's right, and we do as well. But equally dangerous is how incompetent he is. He couldn't manage his way out of a wet paper bag. Those six bankruptcies are not an accident, they're a pattern.

And so when he talks about Iran, he says, I don't need an exit strategy. When he talks about North Korea, he says, I don't need a plan going in. He never has a plan. So he's like, okay, let's lock up the kids. Well, how are we gonna take care of them? No plan. So there's no soap, there's no toothpaste. Some of them are so hungry that they can't sleep at night.

And now they got lice, they got the flu, six of them have died, 24 overall, six kids. That's because he never had a plan. And he doesn't care. So maybe my perspective on this is a little too dark, but I think it's even worse than that. I think this was the plan. And the reason why I'm saying that is because, look, at first I was under the assumption that these children did not have sponsors who could take them in as they await their court hearing before they finally see a judge to see whether or not they can be granted asylum.

And then I realized, no, these are not unaccompanied minors. These are not unaccompanied minors. These are people who showed up with family members. And they're still being taken away from family members. They're still being put in these detention centers. And what's even worse is there have been sponsors who have come forward. There are family members who are already in the United States legally, who have reached out and attempted to get in touch with these kids and they want to take the kids in.

And you know what the Trump administration's doing, holding them hostage? This is on purpose. This is on purpose, period. Well, look, the answer could be both. Trump is a buffoon doesn't pay any attention to the details. He just sanctions the abuse. And then guys like Stephen Miller come in and go, oh, you know what, we'll send a message to them.

Don't let the kids shower for a week and let the disease faster. And then you know what we'll say? We'll say they brought the disease in. In fact, that's literally what a Republican congressman told Chris Hayes the other day. So that part, you might be right, Anna, that there are some monsters on the Republican side that plan to have the kids, you know, in these miserable conditions. So that they could then later blame the kids. And while they fight tooth and nail to get in between me and my doctor about decisions

I make about my own reproductive health, right? And they argue that they want to do that to protect life. Six kids have died in border patrol custody so far under the Trump administration, six, six, and they're still holding these kids hostage. So let me go ahead and show you video from a Republican lawmaker, Michael Burgess, who I'm sure is so-called pro-life. But here he is making excuses for what's happening at the border. I would imagine you and your colleagues agree that these kinds of conditions are appalling

and unacceptable. Well, certainly hasn't been my experience. I visited ORR and CPP facilities on a lot of occasions. They've always, it's always been tough down there. It's tougher than it's ever been because of the numbers of people that are coming across. You and I agree that the conditions described by that lawyer and others who have actually been in the facility in Clinton. I don't know. I have not been to that facility. I can't speak to that.

But do you think she's making it up? Chris, I don't know, because I was at Tornillo three times. And the stuff that I was hearing reported the news was not what I was seeing at Tornio. The stuff that I saw at Homestead Air Force Base, not what I'm, not what I was hearing on this video. You think this is fictional? I don't know. I don't know if it's hyperbole. I know the hatred for this president is so intense that people are liable to say anything. You know what?

There's not a lock on the door. Any child is free to leave at any time, but they don't. You know why? Because they're well taken care of. The hatred for the president is warranted. It's warranted. Six kids have died in border patrol custody. It is warranted, okay?

The Republican Party does not have a leg to stand on as long as they hold these children hostage in these concentration camps. And as long as these children keep dying under border patrol custody. I mean, he's talking about how he hasn't even been to the detention facility. And he's making these statements on cable news. In fact, when they were talking about that facility in Clint, Texas, the worst of the worst, that's where the reporters went in and so the kids haven't showered in a week. They've got lice, they've got the flu, there's, I mean, this is an absolute, they're sleeping

on concrete floor with aluminum blankets, the lights are on 24 hours, they can't sleep, they haven't gotten food, some of them for a long time, they're hungry, et cetera. And you know what Burgess said to Chris Hayes in another part of that same interview? He said, those children arrived with lice. And Chris Hayes said, you don't know. Where did you get that from? What's your source for that? No, he doesn't know that.

He wanted to be able to say, you see that? They came in with disease. No, you're the ones who created that problem. Look guys, I don't know, man. There's no appeal in Republicans. So this, you know, the Democratic leadership has this weird theory that at some point we're going to break through. And like Obama said a long time ago, that the fever is going to break for the Republicans.

And somehow they're going to go, oh, right, we're abusing little kids in detention cams. Yeah, I didn't mean to do that. No, it's not the bug, it's the feature. 100%. That's why they voted for Trump. They had 17 choices. He said, I will be the most vicious.

Remember all the things he said? He called the Latino immigrants criminals and rapists. Now, ironically, he's got two felonies that have been clearly proven against them while president and just charged with alleged rape. So if you wanted to keep criminals and rapists out of the country, we should have kept him out. Anyway, but that's what he called Latinos. He said, I will be vicious towards them. He said, Muslims, I hate him, I'm gonna ban all of them.

That's what he said during the campaign. I gotta build a wall because I gotta keep these Latinos out. Mexico is sending the worst of their people to us. All these vicious things, and let alone what he said about women. And the Republicans saw that and said, I don't want a normal Republican. That vicious son of a bitch, that's my guy. And 90% of them still lockstep with Donald Trump. So don't tell me Republicans care.

That is among the biggest lies of the mainstream media. They don't want to hurt their ratings, so they say, oh, I can't offend Republican voters. No, this is what Republican voters like. That's what they signed up for. They see it, and they go, yes, way to hit those kids hard. It'll send a message for them to not come here. By the way, last thing, you knuckleheads, did it work? And there's actually now a 13-year high under Trump for people crossing with no papers.

What happened? I thought getting tough was supposed to work. No, it's viciousness for the sake of viciousness. Absolutely. It didn't even work. When people tell you who they are, believe them. The Republican Party, both the lawmakers and their constituents, have told us who they are, loud and clear. So believe them.

And every time I see a Republican, or I'm sorry, a Democrat, Freudian slip, I guess, like Joe Biden arguing that, hey, maybe we should be playing patty cakes with the right wing. No, you're canceled, you're canceled. No, there is no negotiating with them. There is no working with them. All that leads to is weak Democrats making concessions to horrible, cruel Republicans like this. No interest. No. We need a fighter.

We need someone who's gonna fight, who's gonna go out there and make them bend to his or her will. Bingo. Let's talk about Wayfair. Wayfair is a major online furniture company, and its employees are planning a massive walkout following news indicating that Wayfair had sold beds to some of the detention facilities that are detaining migrants at the border. According to a Wayfair employee who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, Wayfair employees learned last Wednesday that a $200,000 order of bedroom furniture had

been placed by BCFS, a government contractor that has been managing Can. at the border. So Wayfair walkout is a movement that is growing and going viral at the moment. On Twitter, they wrote that Wayfair sold beds to furnish border camps. 547 employees signed a petition to ask that we cease all business with border camps. CEO said no, employees are walking out tomorrow at 1.30 p.m. We ask that Wayfair donate all profits made from the sale to races. So there is the hashtag that you can follow if you're on Twitter.

So that group, by the way, helps undocumented immigrants and make sure that they are treated humanely, that's all. Yes, exactly. So there's also an employee letter that I want to read from. It says, we believe that the current actions of the United States and their contractors at the southern border do not represent an ethical business partnership Wayfair should choose to be part of. At Wayfair, we believe that everyone should live in a home that they love.

Let's stay true to that message by taking a stand against the reprehensible practice of separating families, which denies them any home at all. So I have actually mixed feelings about this. There's a part of it that I, there's two parts of it that I really like. In one part, so the kids need beds, so there's a little bit of irony in the protest. So I kind of do want them getting the beds. On the other hand, donating the profits to charity in this instance makes perfect sense. In fact, Wayfair, what are you waiting for?

I mean, I'll guarantee you ahead of time right now, they're gonna donate the profits to charity. It'd be crazy not to, it'd be a PR disaster not to. So they should have done it before the employees walked out because they've already gotten a hit with a PR disaster, one that's only gonna get worse if they say, no, I'm gonna make money off of it. Look, they're a for-profit company. They got every right in the world to make money in all other instances. In this instance, your employees being decent people are asking you to do something similar.

I think it's a $7 billion company. And I think the profits from the beds are about $68,000. You'll be all right, you know, and if you acted ahead of time and you came out proactively and said, look, we're gonna get them to beds because they need the beds, but we're not keeping any of the profit and we're gonna give it to charities that actually help these kids. It would have been a huge win-win. Your employees were trying to help you, not hurt you. So the other part that I like is the employees standing up.

up and saying, no, we demand decency and humanity. Absolutely, 100%. And I agree with you for the most part. The issue here though is that the Trump administration has families that these children at the border, for instance, can be released to, but they're holding these kids hostage right now. And so, yeah, there is a need for more beds under the games that the Trump administration is playing.

But at the same time, they are exacerbating an issue on purpose because they see it beneficial to basically hold these kids hostage. So the retailer has responded so far, I want to give you their response, and I want to note that their response is likely to be updated in the near future. But for now, they released the following statement. As a retailer, it is standard practice to fulfill orders for all customers, and we believe it is our business to sell to any customer who is acting within the laws of the countries within which we operate.

We believe all of our stakeholders, employees, customers, customers, investors and suppliers included are best served by our commitment to fulfill our orders. And AOC, real quick, also tweeted about this saying, Wayfair workers couldn't stomach that they were making beds to cage children. They asked the company to stop. CEO said no, tomorrow they're walking out. This is what solidarity looks like, a reminder that every day people have real power as long as we're brave enough to use it.

So let me clarify some of the numbers. I was doing it from memory. It's $86,000 that would be in profits. But it's not a $7 billion company. They have $7 billion in annual sales. So that is a giant company. $86,000 is nothing to them. They've already lost way more than that in the PR damage that this has caused.

That's why I think they'll turn around, not because they're doing the right thing, but at this point, because they've cost themselves so much more money that they'll get, they'll realize that that statement they put out sounded like they're saying that they were complying with a dictatorial government. They're like, well, we've got to follow the laws of the country that we're in. It makes it sound like they're selling in North Korea. They're like, what can we do? Kim Jong-un says he's got beds and concentration camps.

And so, well, to be fair, Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump do have a relationship where Trump said he fell in love with him. So maybe he's emulating him. Anyway, the bottom line is that this should have been a no-brainer for them. But if you're this obsessed with being greedy about keeping every single cent, no matter where it's going, well, you could have made a similar argument in Germany. You could have made a lot of arguments about, hey, listen, man, I got to make a profit, right? And by the way, some American companies back in the 1930s did make that argument.

They said, look, you don't know what they're going to do. And I got a new business with Germany, I've got to do business with all these countries. So we're not there yet. I hope we never get there. But when people stand up and endanger even their own lives and livelihood to stand up for others, that's how we make sure we don't get there. When you say, not on my watch, I'm not going to wait until it comes to me, when you see those kids, I don't care if they've got papers or they don't have papers, they're human beings and

their kids, and we're going to stand up for them, even if it costs us everything. Well, that's what I love, and that's what America is supposed to be about. We'll be right back with some pretty devastating news for Turning Point USA. 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.