The Young Turks - TYT Extended Clip - April 14th, 2020

Episode Date: April 15, 2020

Banks could be stealing your stimulus check! Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur discuss on The Young Turks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to The Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. Welcome to the Young Turks, Jake U. Grant Experian with you guys. We got a great show ahead for you guys. We yesterday kicked off a challenge on the Young Turks, $50,000 matching grant from Joe from L.A.

Some of you savvy TYT viewers might be able to figure out who Joe from L.A. is. Anyway, he's going to put in a dollar for every dollar you guys put in. And we had started at $93,000 because that's where we were in the fundraising at that point this month. Every month, we're trying to reach $200,000. So his gift is gigantic and awesome, but only triggered by you guys. So how'd you do yesterday? We were $93,000 yesterday. I thought maybe we'd get to $100 by the time we get to today's show. Did we? Wrong. $5,510.

TYT.com slash go, but let's make sure that we're getting all that 50,000. I mean, it's wonderfully generous of them, but we got to do it as a matching grant because, you know, you guys are powering the show, and we certainly need it in these times. Yes, trust me that the business end is not good for anyone. for anyone, okay, these days in coronavirus. So let's get started. We got a huge show ahead for you guys, including, of course, Trump's antics. But guys, we were going to do something on the show today that no one else does, which is

to tell you about the sorry state of this country in all of the industries that are affecting us. And unfortunately, in the case of healthcare crushing us. So Anna, take it away. All right. We're going to get to do. Let's give you an update on the economic stimulus. Americans are going to begin seeing the $1,200 stimulus check in their bank accounts this week.

That's only if they gave the IRS direct deposit information when they filed their taxes. Now, David Dayan over at American Prospect has reported something pretty devastating and disturbing about how banks can garnish those stimulus checks in an effort to pay debts that are owed by their customers. The way that the stimulus bill was written did not offer protections from the banks from being able to do that. So again, this is a scoop from the American prospect. This is excellent reporting.

Keep in mind, as we give you the details of the story, that the stimulus bill, also known as the CARES Act, does offer $500 billion. in bailouts for big corporations, but 450 billion of that money can be leveraged into $4.5 trillion. So that's what the massive banks and the corporations are going to get. And then on top of that, they can go ahead and take away what little crumbs Congress gave us in the stimulus money. So Dayan reports, the stimulus money may not make it into the hands of those who need it

to pay bills, buy food, or just survive amid mass unemployment. widespread suffering, individuals might have to fend off their own bank, which has been given the power to seize the $1,200 payment and use it to pay off outstanding debt. Congress did not exempt CARES Act payments from private debt collection, and the Treasury Department has been reluctant to exempt them through its rulemaking authority. The means that individuals could see, that means the individuals could see their payments transferred from their hands into the hands of their creditors potentially leaving them with nothing. So I'll give you a potential scenario where someone receiving this kind of money would see it

disappear from their bank account. Let's say you're in a tight spot. You've been in a tight spot. We've been practicing social distancing for quite some time now. And maybe you were laid off and you weren't able to pay your bills. Many Americans actually do unfortunately rely on overdrafting money from their checkings account. So if this money, this stimulus money, gets transferred into that same account that you've done overdraft charges on, well, then the bank can use that money to pay off your overdraft

charges. It really is sick. And the thing that's also frustrating is that Congress, after writing this legislation the way that they did, knowing that there wouldn't be protections for the stimulus money or the stimulus check, they went to the Treasury Department and demanded that the Treasury Department offer protections. But the Treasury Department is run by Steve Mnuchin, who absolutely did predatory maneuvers in the housing market following the 2008 crash.

His bank, one West Bank, went ahead and did fraudulent paperwork in order to foreclose on people's homes. So what makes anyone think, any lawmaker think, that Steve Mnuchin or the Treasury Department under his watch would do anything to protect average consumers, average? average Americans and prevent these big banks from taking that stimulus money. Yeah, it's like telling a shark, hey, watch out. There's sharks in the water. He's like, yeah, I know. I'm the one who put him there. I mean, he benefited from the worst kind of deregulation from the banking for the banking industry. He took advantage of that, crushed the

little guy, made money off of it. And what does our society do in a situation like that? We don't say, oh, my God, what an embarrassment. How shameful. No, we celebrate him. Oh, he made money. Ha, ha. He's so successful, wonderful. And now he's the treasury sector.

We put him in charge so that he could help other bankers rip you off. So, Anna, my only problem with his story is that, like, I'm at near capacity on outrage. I really am. Like, so, you know, all you're getting is $1,200. And without asking you, that's the part that just, you know, all this talk from the Republicans of freedom. Yeah, you know, you know why I'm voting for Republican liberty, freedom, right? And we say, all right, well, shouldn't you have the freedom to decide what to do with the

money that you're getting because of this coronavirus pandemic that's wiped all of us out? Nope, nope, you shouldn't have freedom there. The banks should be able to just take your money without even asking you. So congratulations, that's the freedom that the Republican Party just gave you to get robbed by the banks because they're run by the banks. Right. So I also just want to mention some of the Democratic lawmakers like Sherrod Brown, for instance, Elizabeth Warren, are urging the Treasury Department to write the rules protecting consumers

and average Americans from having this money taken away from them from creditors. However, there have been a few Republican lawmakers who have joined. along with that. But look, I'm not giving anyone brownie points for doing that. The legislation was written in a way that allowed for the banks to do this. Why? Why would you do that? There was an easy way to prevent it from getting to this point. So as day in rights, the payments are defined as tax credits and not federal benefits, making them subject to garnishment in which a debt collector that wins a judgment in court can seize anything of value held by the debtor.

Why did they write the legislation that way? Why didn't they consider this a one-time federal benefit so that money would be protected? The whole point of the economic stimulus was to help out, it was supposed to help out Americans who have been laid off and they don't know how they're going to pay their bills. Really the only good thing that came out of that stimulus plan was the beefed up unemployment benefits, which I will admit are robust. But the only problem with that is the unemployment system is so overwhelmed right now that most people can't even apply.

So people, again, average Americans are completely left, you know, unprotected, screwed over, and we're having conversations about the $4.6 trillion these massive corporations are going to get in bailouts. This is insanity. So Josh Holly is a Republican senator for Missouri. He's on the right side of this too. We're more than happy to give credit to anyone from any party or any wing of any party if they're doing the right thing.

You know, on the other hand, you know, injustice reigns supreme. So almost all the Republican Party is on the wrong side of this. And most Democratic Party barely cares. So yes, credit to the folks who do care like Sherrod Brown and others who are pressing the point. And there's way more Democrats pressing the point than Republicans. By the way, another group of people who don't care. Mainstream media. Are you ever going to see this story on cable news? You know what? Let me just say something. Because when I heard it, my jaw dropped. I did not expect it. Jake Tapper mentioned this story. Wow. Yeah, yeah. No, no. Like, Jake Tapper has these like

moments of clarity every once in a while where I'm like, you Jake Tapper? What's going on? He mentioned And the American prospect, I'm like, are you reading the American prospect? Good for you, Jake Tapper. I know. I mean, this sounds like a backhanded compliment, and it is. It is. Because you don't expect that on cable news, but I am grateful that it was mentioned because this is something that not only Americans should know about.

They need to know how the sausage is made, right? So they need to know how this legislation was written and how unbelievably unfair and uneven the economic relief is when it comes to the little guy versus the massive corporations. Yeah. And so in the old days, I used to say that, you know, as much as Tapper frustrates me, he is from time to time the best of those cable news anchors. Because every once in a while, you know, he'll do a story like this. And it'll be fair. It'll be smart. You know, he, and I say that despite the fact that he has been terribly unfair to me personally. And so it is what it is.

I'm glad he did that segment. We always give credit where credit is due. But, you know, the New York Times of the world, et cetera, on average, mainstream media, they cover things that affect the powerful. Every once in a while, they get a pull of surprise because they did one story a year about the powerless. And, you know, and so the average guy is going to get screwed by the banks. But there's going to be no outrage, right?

And even so, even if they cover it, they're in their ethos, they're not allowed to have outrage. They just have a report of neutral. I mean, some people think the banks should rob you and others think that they shouldn't rob you. And we're not going to call it robbery when they take money from your account without your permission. We're going to call that garnishing. And so, and there's up for debate. Up for debate. Can't quite tell.

And anyway, but what's important is for you to know who's doing this to you. Yes, it's the banks that can do it to you. and now they've been given the power to do it to you, and soon we'll be reporting that they did, in fact, do it to you. That hasn't come yet, because the checks haven't come yet. But the people who made it possible, no question about it. Donald Trump, Steve Mnuchin, they're the ones who made this decision. And so when Donald Trump told you he was a populace, he's okay, you're going to look out for you, the average guy, blue-collar workers, I'm your guy, I'm going to look out for you. No, secretly he says, oh, yeah, the banks, rob him blind. What do you think I

Now, how do you think I built my career? Trump University, Trump Foundation, it's all based on robbing the little guy. So rob away. Those banks are his donors and his best friends. He's an elitist piece of crap, who's a fake populist. That's who Trump is. And Mnuchin is just this hatchet man who knows how to execute the robbery better. That's why he was hired.

You know, Jank, you're fake news. You're phony, you're fake. I took money out of your account. Yeah. Well, and by the way, one other thing to just to add insult to injury, banks have made it much more difficult to apply for loans and to refinance. And one of the reasons why a lot of Americans are looking to do that right now is because interest rates are even lower.

And so the banks have been able to take advantage of that, but now they're making it difficult for people who wish to refinance so they pay less interest on their loans. It's just disgusting. Yeah. Well, the last thing about banks. So look, the banks are facilitating the small business loans from the CARES Act. And they're doing a fine job at that because they're getting paid a commission. So they're motivated and incentivized to do that.

Nothing wrong with how they're executing that so far as far as I can tell, okay? So we're always fair. It's not like, oh, boo, we hate all banks. No, what's the bank doing? And let's look at a program by program and tell you if it's good or not good. Now, on the other hand, every once in all the right wingers will say, oh, no, no, we're giving money to the banks because they're going to facilitate lending on their own. It's going to be easier credit.

That means you don't know anything about banks. It's hilarious. Like the banks are going to be like, oh, sis, I have free money. I will give it to you in the middle of a crisis where I'm less sure about your financial standing. But out of the goodness of my heart, because the government gave me money, I'll give you easier credit. That's not a thing. Anybody who thinks that's a thing is a total idiot or obvious, much more likely, brazenly lying to you. To be specific, Chase now says you need a credit

score of 700 to be approved for a loan or for refinancing. Wells Fargo is even higher. Last week they announced your credit score needs to be 725. So again, the average American doesn't get to take advantage of all the goodies that people at the top get to take advantage of. So let's move on to other news because Trump did hold a circus last night and everyone's talking about it. And let's discuss tyranny, something that Republicans are supposed to be concerned about. But apparently they don't care in this regard. So when somebody's the president of the United States, the authority is total.

And that's the way it's got to be. That was Donald Trump during his coronavirus press conference, or at least what he tries to pretend as a coronavirus press conference. It's really nothing more than an election rally. He was arguing that he is the individual who has the complete authority to force governors to open their local economies, open up their business in the middle of this pandemic. Let's hear a little more from his argument. If a governor issued a state home, when you say my authority, the president's authority, not mine, because it's not me. This is, when somebody's the president of the United States,

the authority is total. And that's And that's always got to be. Your authority is total. It's total. It's total. And the governors know that. So if a governor's not of it, no, you have a couple of bands of, excuse me, excuse me, you have a couple of, could you rescind that order?

You have a couple of bands of, uh, of Democrat governors, but they will agree to it. They will agree to it. But the authority of the president of the United States having to do with the subject we're talking about is total. So he says he has total authority over the states, um, turns out that that, that's not the case. But, Jank, go ahead. Tell me what you think. Yeah, that's what he says now. But I want to give you two quotes from President Schump. Did I just call him President Chump? It's a good fraudulent slip.

So as you just saw there in the video, he said, when somebody's the president of the United States, the authority is total. Now, remember, earlier, when asked about his response to the coronavirus pandemic, he had said, quote, I don't take responsibility at all. So, let get this right, you have complete authority, but no responsibility. How does that work? And by the way, I put that up on social media, and Trump supporters literally are defending it, saying, no, those are two different things, man. Authority is like when you make people do stuff, which is awesome.

But responsibility is like when you take responsibility for it, but that sucks and nobody wants to take responsibility. So Trump is right, you should be able to make people do things in the name of freedom. And then, but like don't have any individual responsibility at all, because that's what the Republican party's been about this entire time. No individual responsibility, no personal responsibility, just authoritarian rule that's totally against freedom. So let's watch one more video because he was challenged by CNN's Caitlin Collins on this

issue. Maybe he'll elaborate more and maybe it'll make some sense. Who knows, Jenk? Let's take a look. You said when someone is president of the United States, their authority is total. That is not true. Okay, you know what we're going to do? We're going to write up papers on this.

It's not going to be necessary because the governors need us one way or the other because ultimately it comes with the federal government. That being said, we're getting along very well with the governors, and I feel very certain that there won't be a problem. Yeah, please, go ahead. Has any governor agreed that you have the authority to decide when they're state... I haven't asked anybody because you know why?

Because I don't have to. Go ahead, please. But who told you the president... has the total authority. Enough. Please. So in this regard, the president does not have total authority. It's just not how our country works.

And I want to decode a little bit of what he's saying, because it's important to understand his motivations and his intentions. The reason why he doesn't want to take responsibility for his failures is because he wants to be able to tell governors that it's not his responsibility to provide ventilators from the national stockpile that he failed to replenish and maintain. He doesn't want to take responsibility because taking responsibility would mean that it could potentially hurt his political career, his chances of getting reelected. But when he talks about forcing governors to reopen their states, the reason why he wants

to do that is because, as always, it's 100% self-interested, right? He doesn't want to take responsibility when it's not going to benefit him, but he certainly wants to have total authority when it comes to making a decision that, positively impacts his personal finances, the economy, which could potentially help him in getting reelected. It's all about me, me, me, me, me. It's not about keeping you safe. It's not about ensuring that as many lives as possible get saved. It's not about, you know, working in a coordinated effort with governors to provide the medical supplies they need. So our doctors and nurses remain safe and they don't die from this pandemic. He is the least suited person in this country,

if not the world, to be the leader because he is the most narcissistic, thin-skinned, egotistical monster imaginable. I mean, this is the perfect case of Murphy's law. Just when you think it couldn't get worse, a pandemic hits while Donald Trump is the president of the United States. It's all about him and what benefits him. That's it. That's all that matters. So I want to mainly talk about as ignorance. First, real quick, he tells a female reporter, enough, right? So, and she's asking the most legitimate question you could possibly ask. And that leads to Trump's ignorance.

Where do you get this so-called authority? What are you referencing? So is it something in the Constitution? Is it in a law? Was it passed, in your administration, was it passed earlier? Under what authority would you tell the governors to open back up. And what does that mean to reopen the states or the economy? So the reality is there are actually specific answers to these. So the different governors have put in different

laws saying that there are fines and penalties if you violate certain orders of this state governments. The federal government does not have policing power. So they would have no authority to tell the cops in New York or Alabama what to do or not to do, who define or not define within their state. They can impose other penalties on a federal level if that law was passed and Trump signed it into law. But Trump doesn't know any of this. He's a child. He doesn't know what's in the Constitution. He's three years into his term. And he doesn't know what the federal government does versus what the state governments do. And any pathetic attempt in trying to excuse his ignorance is exactly that. I mean, you look really stupid and pathetic when you go, oh, no, I bet he

knows. I bet he knows. He's just choosing not to know. And, you know, I mean, it's not in the Constitution. And I pretended as a conservative that I really cared about the Constitution. And I pretended that I cared about states' rights. But I'm going to pretend that the president has authority that's not written anywhere to do policing powers within the states. Really? And by the way, are you sure you want to agree to that? Because if we have a Democratic president and he says, oh, yeah, Trump just said I have absolute authority over all the states. Alabama, you no longer have any of the laws you thought you had. Now Joe Biden is going to decide your laws. And maybe he'll bring in Hillary Clinton to help him. Okay? That's not how our government works,

but Republicans are generally too stupid to know that. And what is interesting, is when it came to Republican governors who refuse to practice social distancing and shut down their states, there was a lot of pressure for Trump to say something and to do something. And he would say over and over again that he wants to leave it up to the governors. So he would use that line in protecting irresponsible Republican governors who don't care about their own constituents and would rather keep businesses open because all they see is money, right? it comes to forcing states to open up their businesses and stop the social distancing

guidelines. Oh, that's when the president has total authority. I mean, he's, he is not fit to lead. He's not fit to lead. And by the way, 24 hours, less than 24 hours before his little dictatorial rant, he tweeted this, governors, get your state's testing programs and apparatus perfected. Be ready. Big things are happening. No excuses. the federal government is there to help, we are testing more than any country in the world also gear up with face masks. So he's telling states like, yeah, get your testing apparatus together, okay? You gotta perfect it.

Yeah, yeah, we'll help, we'll help, but it's really on you. We're here as like a supporting actor kind of situation. But again, when it comes to getting these states to do what he wants for his own personal, political gain and financial gain, he has complete authority. Anyway, we've been over this. But if we had testing already, they could actually open up the country much quicker. But the moron didn't order more tests. So now the states need more tests that the federal government could have coordinated from

the very beginning, but he took the whole month of February off. He didn't do any of that. And then in mid-March, after everyone told him, my God, this is going to be way worse, he finally began to realize that the governors were right in act. ahead of him. And now he has the temerity could turn around and say, oh, hey, why don't you guys order more tests or something? And by the way, even though I'm not going to do anything, I'm just going to be a stupid moron that gives these press conferences and shows how ignorant I am, I'm going to claim that I have complete authority over you. Do you know who he was meeting with

on February 27th as a coronavirus was raging? Silk and Diamond, or Diamond and Silk, whatever their name is. He had a meeting with them in the White House. That's why, right now. He's like, oh, we have it under control. No, you don't, you moron. We have the most amount of cases in the world. We have over 600,000 positive cases of coronavirus in America, more than triple anyone else. And now we have 25,000 deaths. And we lead the world in number of dead people with coronavirus, because our president is an idiot who didn't do anything. Well, I'm going to give you some of the governor's response when we come back from the break. Stay tuned.

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-F-The-Republic, or UNFTR, the host delves into a different historical episode or topic that's generally misunderstood or purposely obfuscated by the so-called powers that be. Featuring in-depth research, razor-sharp commentary, and just the right amount of vulgarity, the UNFTR podcast takes a sledgehammer to what you thought you knew

about some of the nation's most sacred historical cows. But don't just take my word for it. The New York Times described UNFTR as consistently compelling and educational, aiming to challenge conventional wisdom and upend the historical narratives that were taught in school. For as the great philosopher Yoda once put it, you must unlearn what you have learned. And that's true whether you're in Jedi training or you're uprooting and exposing all the propaganda and disinformation you've been fed over the course of your lifetime. So search for UNFDR in your podcast app today and get ready to get informed, angered,

and entertained all at the same time. All right, I'm back on a young Turks. Jay Canana with you guys. So I'm going to start with Twitter comments first here, go in reverse order. The math magician says just came in after World War Z food shopping. Figures how the banks would find a way to steal even the crumbs that the little people are getting from their tables. The riots are coming.

They're going to find out that starvation and personal arsenal. ain't a good mix. Seriously, math and magician, everybody else out there, I'm definitely worried about that. Like, they think, of course, the establishment and their infinite arrogance and short-sightedness, things that we're encouraging people, et cetera. No, I'm trying to stop it. And some in the left are now annoyed at me for trying to stop things that I can clearly see coming. Wait until you see our story later in the show about health care. Now, people are going to start to riot. They're not, you can't afford this stuff. You just can't, and we're dying.

They're going to riot and then they'll blame us. No, it's your fault for setting up this horrific system. Anyway, Lauren Harrington says, I've been a member since 2015 and T.I.T. has kept insane and less alone over the last five years. I'm pretty devastated by extra $20 a month donation. Can't go to Bernie Sanders campaign anymore, but thrilled to give it to you guys, keep it up. Thank you, Lord. Yeah, that's amazing.

We really appreciate it. And that's what we're trying to do here, you know? I was talking to Anna about this off air. Okay, so we got a number of years back in the wilderness. Well, we were born in it, raised in it. And so we're going to be the light in the darkness, and you've got to keep those lights on. So we appreciate everybody that's giving to t.com slash go or becoming a member. Let's take a look at the thermometer real quick.

So 106.523. Yeah, that's wonderful, guys. We got the matching grant now. So when you give your donation is basically doubles. So we really appreciate that. Please keep it going at t.t.com slash go. Let me go to YouTube super chat. Anthony says unemployment in Michigan, total breakdown, site always down. Oh, that's great. Dana Kramer with a really interesting point. In 2009, I took a temp job at One West. I did not feel right about what I was seeing and hearing during training, so I quit. Imagine my shock to find out I was 100% right about the shady practices.

See, there are people with a conscience, but they're the ones that either quit or get fired, and they're eliminated from their positions until the people with no conscience wind up doing it. Boothshaw 24 in the member section says, TYT is keeping me going, sending love to everyone who supports them and watches the show without TYT, the progressive left would be seriously S-O-L. Well, we all really appreciate what you're saying there. Some people apparently don't think that, but we appreciate that you do.

TYT.com slash join to become a member and support the show that way, too. And last one is Badger Girl saying, you're right about the amount of outrage, Jenk. I'm exhausted with it. We all are, but we've got to keep pointing it out and keep fighting back as much as we can to try to straighten this ship. All right. Anna.

And then one quick announcement, John Iderola will be hosting an Earth Day special to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. The special show where he will be interviewing climate activists and scientists will be on April 22nd and will begin live at 7 p.m. Eastern time, 4 p.m. Pacific. So please make sure you check that out. It's Wednesday, April 22nd, and it'll be awesome. All right. With that said, let's move on to some other news.

Was that time right? Because that's when we do the main show. Anyway, we'll figure that out later. So multiple governors have responded to Donald Trump, alleging that he has complete and total authority over when governors open their states back up in the middle of the pandemic. But Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York,

is not buying it. Let's hear what he has to say. He says, when someone is president of the United States, the authority is total. He said it was total, and he said the governors know that. Do you know that? Nope. If he ordered me to reopen in a way that would endanger the public health of the people of my state, I wouldn't do it.

We will have a constitutional crisis like you haven't seen in decades. I don't know what the president is talking about, frankly. If he says to me, I declare it open, and that is a public health risk. risk or it's reckless with the welfare of the people of my state, I will oppose it. We don't have a king. We have a president. And that was a big decision. We ran away from having a king and George Washington was president, not king Washington. So the president doesn't have total authority. We had this argument. It was done a long time ago, people by the name of Hamilton and Jefferson and Madison and Washington. And they concluded this. They wrote a

document that's called the Constitution of the United States. And it says the federal government does not have absolute power. So it's the exact opposite that the president said. So not only is that clear, Anna, that's what the Republican position has been for my whole life. Now, mind you, they've always been hypocritical about it. They never meant it. And in Bush v. Gore, they said state rights don't matter at all. We just want to make Bush president. They say it about marijuana laws, etc. So really, what was the so-called states' rights arguments from conservatives all these years? It was the ability to hate black people and pass laws against them in the South. That's what states' rights were all about. And now Donald Trump has shown once and for all

how fraudulent that position was. And by the way, it's not just Trump. Every Republican supporter now of his, I don't mean every person on TV, the Napolitano's of the world on Fox News, actually know what the law is in the Constitution, and he says, of course, that's outrageous and not remotely true. But all Trump's MAGA heads will bow down and go, yes, the president has total authority. We never meant state's rights. We just hate black people. Okay, as long as we're clear. So Greg Abbott, who's the governor of Texas, is taking a slightly different approach. Now he has refused to extend his stay-at-home order. It's set to expire on April 30th, but he actually gave a press conference following Donald Trump's little dictatorial press

conference yesterday. Let's take a quick look at what Abbott had to say. This is not going to be a rush the gates. Everybody is able to suddenly reopen all at once. We have to understand that we must reopen in a way in which we are able to stimulate the economy while at the very same time ensuring that we contain the spread of COVID-19. How much are you being guided by what's coming from the White House in terms of your own timetable, or is that really your own discretion? This is all done in collaboration. We maintain constant contact with the White House, so you'll know over the weekend. I spoke with both the President and the Vice President about these and other strategies.

And so this is something where there's not something unusual or new to governors coming from the White House. This is something where the White House and the White House team has been communicating with governors for weeks now. And so they've been preparing us for what to expect, want to anticipate, and talking about the way in which we will all be working in collaboration to ensure that we will be able to slowly, strategically, smartly, and safely begin to open up the expansion of economic development in the United States.

So hearing him say that he wants to be cautious in reopening the state might give you a little bit of confidence. But keep in mind, according to various reports, Abbott has faced criticism for being slow to respond to the coronavirus crisis, just like Donald Trump. And if you can recall, the lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, who's just as powerful in the state of Texas, suggested that senior citizens would be willing to die for the United States to, quote, get back to work. So he's a little more careful in avoiding any type of contentious relationship with Donald Trump, obviously. I'm glad that Cuomo doesn't care and he's saying, no, Trump isn't the king and I'm not going

to do what he demands that I do if it means that people are going to die in my state. And I have to say, before, you know, I get to your comments, Jenk, I'm really proud of how some of the states on the West Coast have handled their response to COVID-19. I want to give you the details on that after we hear from Jenks. So what do you think about all this? Yeah, so if Hillary Clinton had won the presidency and told Greg Abbott, I have total authority over Texas, and I will decide when you open things up and not. And I will decide what laws you will enforce and not enforce in Texas.

Greg Abbott would have lost his mind. But Trump says the same thing, and he acts like a little puppy dog. Well, we're working coordination, and I'm sure. Yeah, okay, whatever the boss man says, whatever the boss man says, I wouldn't want to cross them. So sad. So the West Coast and now the East Coast governors too are working together to figure out what the reality is because, guys, these are, in this case, state laws that we're talking about. Is there a penalty for violating the stay-at-home order? Well, what was a stay-at-home order?

Well, that depends on the state. They all had different ones. For example, in Texas, he didn't issue a blanket order. up to the localities. And by the way, if you want to do criticism of Governor Cuomo, he says Trump doesn't have authority over him. I think that's true. But then he demands authority over New York City and won't give authority to de Blasio. So there are nuances here if you're actually a person who cares about reality and facts. But half the country doesn't care about any of that. They just say, oh yeah, of course, we should have a king and his name should be Trump.

Yeah. And the reason why I'm giving the West Coast credit, you know, states like Oregon, Washington, California is because they acted quickly. They took drastic measures early on. And in California, we're noticing that the number of new coronavirus cases has begun to decline. And that's a good sign. But the state lawmakers are celebrating that very cautiously because, you know, we want to make sure that this is a pattern that persists.

But they're already starting to work with lawmakers in Oregon and Washington as a pact in order to coordinate their loosening of the social distancing guidelines. And I like seeing that. I like seeing drastic action when it's necessary to protect people. And I like seeing how they're cautious in reopening various businesses in these states. And as you mentioned, Jank, later some of the states on the East Coast followed suit. And that coordination is important because, remember, we're not all living in like an island, right? We're not all little nation states, even though Gavin Newsom sometimes refers to California as a nation state.

I kind of wish he didn't. But we're all one country. And we do need to do this in a coordinated way, even though there are different guidelines in various states. We have to think about how travel and how just opening the government or opening the economy up too quickly could lead to another spike in this pandemic. So we'll see how this plays out. Look, there's one thing is the laws. And the governors control the laws of their states. There's no argument about that.

There's only one person making the counter-armony argument, and that's Donald Trump, and he's an idiot that's never read the U.S. Constitution. So that's, like, legally it's not an interesting question or debate at all, right? But there's also the force of the marketing and PR that Trump puts into any. anything. So when he says, go out there, all of his dumbass magahads are gonna go out there. So in fact, they did a poll and found out Republicans are three times more likely than Democrats to rush back out. All they're waiting is for the go ahead from Donald Trump. The minute he says, go, they're gonna go out there and rub their face hands all over each other's faces and sticking

up their noses and go, ha ha! Who cares about coronavirus, baby? Right? And so I'm the polling indicates. They're three times more likely to do it, three times dumber. So when Trump says, I have the authority, he doesn't have the legal authority, but he does have the authority to control his cult. And his cult is about 40% of this country. And they will not listen to reason or science. They'll only listen to their dear orange leader. So, and if they start spreading the virus more, it's going to ricochet back to us. And then we're all going to have to go back home earlier and stay there longer and close the businesses longer. We all want the businesses back open and healthy. It affects all of us, including the Young Turks.

That's part of the reason why we're doing t.com slash go. We don't want businesses hurt, but these guys are too stupid to understand reason, and we got to live with them in this country. And so it does make you, you know, daydream of a nation state called California or the West Coast. where we could actually be reasonable and maybe jettison these clowns in the rest of the country that are just opposed to facts and reason. All right, we'll be right back.

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 express,

ExpressVPN. ExpressVPN hides your IP address, making your active ID more difficult to trace and sell the advertisers. ExpressVPN also encrypts 100% of your network data to protect you from eavesdroppers and cybercriminals. And it's also easy to install. A single mouse click protects all your devices. But listen, guys, this is important. ExpressVPN is rated number one by CNET and Wired magazine. So take back control of your life online and secure your data with a top VPN solution available, ExpressVPN. And if you go to ExpressVPN.com, slash t-y-t, you can get three extra months for free with this exclusive link just for T-Y-T fans.

That's E-X-P-R-E-S-S-V-P-N dot com slash T-YT. Check it out today. All right, back on a young Turks. Bernie Bade with a mobility aide, writes, and everything I learned about states' rights as a Republican is why I'm a progressive now. Wow, that's super interesting. And Tuffy Wrightson, just donated. on top of my monthly membership, TYT, you are the light. As far as talking media goes,

thank you. Thank you, Duffy. We appreciate it. TYT.com slash go is where we're taking those donations to stay healthy and press on. And you guys have been wonderful, even throughout today's show. Let's show you the latest number here at TYT.com slash go. It's now up a couple of thousand dollars since we last showed it to you guys, 108,788. That's wonderful. We got to get to about 143 so that we can get that matching grant. All of your donations are doubled right now when you donate. So thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Anna, what's next? All right. So breaking news story, the World Health Organization will see a complete halt from payments coming from the United States. This is an announcement

that Donald Trump has made during his coronavirus presser, which is ongoing as we speak. Trump announced that the U.S. is placing a hold on funding for the World Health Organization over its handling of the coronavirus because he feels that the WHO has failed in its response to it and has completely bungled it, even though he is the one who has failed to act swiftly enough in order to prevent the more than 25,000 deaths that we've already experienced in our own country in the middle of this pandemic. Earlier this week, the New York Times reported that Trump was warned as early as late January about the severity of the pandemic, and he didn't take it seriously. But Trump is arguing that the WHO blew it and said that the organization no longer deserves

U.S. funding. Trump's national security team has rallied behind him, believing that the U.S. needed to go behind public statements and make the World Health Organization feel feel some pain for its missteps. So over the past week, officials within the White House, White House's Office of Management and Budget have been working on different options in how to stop the payments to the World Health Organization. So one thing that they could do is, you know, move this over to other international organizations that can administer it for comparable purposes.

So that's the most likely option. The money will just be reappropriated for a different organization. But understand what Trump is doing here. I don't want us to get distracted because that's what his whole point is. The person who messed up is Trump. He has been reeling from the New York Times article that was published recently showing that he was warned about coronavirus and he didn't act. It took a backseat to his negotiations, his trade negotiations with China.

That's what this is about. It's not actually about the WHO bungling anything. I'm so sick of this, man. I'm disgusted by him on a daily basis. He cut the pandemic office, pandemic reaction office completely eliminated it. Oops, then we had a pandemic. I mean, on that alone, he should never, ever be reelected. I mean, if any other president had done that, they would say the most grotesque incompetence. He did nothing to prepare for this. He cut the budget for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Disaster Number 2. Now he cuts funding to the World Health Organization in the middle of a pandemic. Why? He wants to blame someone

else. So he can say, oh, no, no, it wasn't my fault that we had a pandemic. It wasn't my fault that America leads the world a number of coronavirus cases and leads the world a number of deaths. And he was the internationalist, the globalist. It was the World Health Organization. They did something wrong. It was them. I don't take any responsibility at all. That's who Donald Trump is. Pathetic through and through.

And by the way, as I say all the time, it's on all of you conservatives. My whole life, conservatives have been arguing that we should not work with the rest of the world, that we should be antagonistic and not cooperate with anyone. Well, that is a dumb position. And here we are again. In the middle of a pandemic,

conservatives going, yeah, let's not work with anybody. work with anybody. Let's not coordinate health care at all across the world in the middle of a pandemic. They celebrate their ignorance and stupidity on a daily basis. So in a sense, Trump is the perfect leader for them. Well, not only is Trump making poor decisions internationally, he's also making poor decisions here. So let's get to our health care crisis in the middle of this pandemic. So new reporting indicates that private insurers and employers are concerned about a sharp increase in health care insurance premiums next year in response to the ongoing coronavirus

pandemic. And they would like Congress to step in and do something about it because they are likely to pass over the cost to their employees. And it's going to cost quite a bit. So companies are actually asking Congress to fund a program in future coronavirus bills that would help insurers and other employers with a high cost of claims associated with the pandemic. Let me just Note that while Congress insured that testing for coronavirus is free, it's still not free to be treated for coronavirus. And these costs are starting to really pile up. So one analysis estimates insurers and employers could face $34 billion to $251 billion

in costs related to COVID-19 testing, treatment, and care. The analysis commissioned by Covered California, the state's insurance marketplace, said premiums for private plans could increase as much as 40% next year from COVID-19 costs alone, depending on how many Americans need testing and treatment. An easy way to skirt a problem like this would be to have a health care system like Medicare for all. But we squander that opportunity. So now we're in this position. Okay, I'm going to say something that will be misinterpreted. So I'm giving you ahead of time a warning that I'm not encouraging this. I don't want this to happen. In fact, I'm desperate for

did not happen. But we're going to have riots in the streets. You can't increase people's health care premiums 40% and have them still afford it. They can't afford it. They can't afford it. There's a story today that's going viral of a hospital worker, a nurse, that exposed wrongdoing at the hospital. They were not sufficiently protecting the doctors and nurses with protective equipment. So they fired him. But the problem is, other than being fired in a horribly wrong way, his wife's got cancer. So now they don't have health insurance anymore. So his wife's going to die. People are going to riot. I mean, this is insanity. How many times can we tell people, oh, yeah, we're going to kill you. We don't care. You're wife's got cancer. Go die. I don't

care. You couldn't afford the 40% premium. Oh, you didn't have the right job. You were in between jobs. I don't care. Go die. Well, then they're going to say, hey, you know what? I don't care about you either. Okay? And so this is going to get super ugly. I'm not telling you that because I'm looking forward to it. I'm telling you that because I'm trying to avoid it. The way to avoid it is Medicare for all so we don't let people die in the streets. But nope, nope, we're going to brutalize us more. And oh, yeah, it's free testing. Free my ass. It's not free if we have to pay for it next year with a 40% premium. And free treatment, they put out that mythology everyone's on all. There ain't no free treatment. And it says there's no,

free treatment, what are you going to increase our premiums 40% because you gave us free testing? Nah, this oppression of the private insurance industry is grotesque. And by the way, the lies, the lies of the mainstream media are unbearable. Do you know that if people found that not only do, there's a huge percentage of the country, well over 50% in every poll want Medicare for all, not only do 60 to 70 to 80% of Democratic voters want Medicare for all, but if when people find out that Medicare for all does not take away your prevent. It only replaces your insurance, but you can still go to any doctor or hospital. 62% of the people who are opposed, then flip and are in favor of it.

The country is desperate for Medicare for all, but the mainstream media will tell you non-stop lies about how people don't want it and how it's unpopular. Yeah, yeah. And we really have no real options when it comes to voicing how we feel in the general election, because on one hand, you have Donald Trump, who has no interest in helping the average American. On the other hand, you have Joe Biden who said he would literally veto a Medicare for all bill that makes it past Congress. He would veto it. He would veto it. So this is all happening, by the way, at a time when health care costs were already rising to a point where, of course,

millions of Americans couldn't even afford health care. For instance, out-of-pocket costs, including premiums and deductibles, have outpaced inflation and increases in wages for several years now. An analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation found employer plans in 2018 paid an average of $20,292 for hospital admissions of patients with serious pneumonia, which of course is an illness that has some similarities to coronavirus. No, this is out of control. This is outrageous, and this system is broken. But anytime anyone tries to change it, fix it, offer a better plan, a better solution, they have no voice. And it's because of the issue that you bring up all the time, Jank.

It's money in politics. The private industry has way more of a say than the average American. And the media oppresses us all. Look, man, the quicker we replace them, the better off this entire country is going to be. TYT.com slash go, make us stronger so we can actually bring truth to people. They won't even report the polling accurately. They're unbelievable liars. And next year, when they crush you again and raise your rates sky high again, they'll tell you,

oh, people love their private insurance. Total ridiculous, false alternate reality. Finally, to your point about Biden, they said, oh, eventually we want universal health care, us corporate Democrats. And then he says, no, just kidding. I'll veto it. And then they demand that we not only vote for Biden, but that we be excited about it. Hey, make sure your audience has pom-poms on when they vote for Biden.

Really? When you get that premium increase, you're not going to be excited. All right. In the post game, we'll talk about Chris Cuomo having a very honest moment about his time at CNN and more. We'll see you in the postgame. TYT.com slash join. 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. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.