The Young Turks - TYT Extended Clip - April 20th, 2020

Episode Date: April 21, 2020

Trump’s rhetoric is encouraging his supporters to act violently. 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. All right, well, the young church, Jane Hugh Granite Cusperian, on a lovely April 20th afternoon in America. Anna, April 20th, if we're doing it just numerically, what, we're doing it just numerically. Is that, what is that? Is that 420? That is 420, yes. Ah, that's interesting.

For a lot of people, though, in this country, 420 is every day. So it's just another day in America. Yeah. Brett, come to my one shot. I'm not saying anything. I'm just saying. Shop t-y-t.com. Do you have any other t-shirt?

Like, I'm not talking about other shirts. I'm talking about T-shirts that are not T-Y-T-related. We'll talk more about this in the posting because my wife stole a lot of my shirts and unbeknownst to me put them away, thinking that I wouldn't notice, and I didn't for quite some time. But anyway, and I was just looking through them today to find this one. And I've got to say that I have about, I have a couple hundred shirts, I think, T-shirts. And 94% of them are T-Y-T-related. There's a couple of Steeler ones, a couple other free ones that I got, et cetera.

Anyways, okay, we'll do fun personal stuff in the post game. By the way, when we last left you on a lovely Friday afternoon, we were trying to get to $130,000 for the month to keep the young Turks lovely and alive. So we're doing that at t.y.com slash go. And now we have matching grants from Joe in L.A., who's been wonderful. He put him $50,000 as long as we can get to $50,000 by the end of the month. And at $143,000, we'd get there. So we were trying to get to $130.

Did we wrong, $132,023. Now, granted, we also have the weekend. Okay, but still, I love you guys. T.y.com slash go, can I see 135 by the end of the show? Can I see $1.35? You're putting in $12 wrong, $24. You're putting $57 wrong, $114. You can be on the math.

All right. Anyways, lots of stories to get to, including protests, because people would like to lose their lives. All right, so let's do it. I see those kind of protesters with guns, and I understand that for a lot of people watching this show, that may seem very foreign and it may seem violent, but it's perfectly normal to me, and it's perfectly legal in the states that they did it in, and it's a culture symbol. That was Megan McCain on the view today, talking about the armed protesters who have shown up in various states throughout the country in order to express their disdain for the

stay-at-home orders that their governors have issued. Now, we're seeing Trump supporters protesting these state-at-home orders all throughout the country. And even though it appears as though this is the popular opinion of people on the right, the truth is that the vast majority of Americans, including Republican voters, are not in favor of loosening stay-at-home orders early. In fact, they're concerned that the Trump administration is encouraging governors to loosen those restrictions too early. So there was a recent poll by Quinnipiac, and here are the results. Nearly 70 percent of Republicans said that they supported a national stay-at-home order.

95 percent of Democrats backed such a measure in the survey. And so what we're seeing is a number of right-wing groups egging these protesters on. And while it's a small group of people, they're getting much more attention. It's being amplified. And it's made to appear as though there are way more people who are in favor of loosening these restrictions, but that's not the case. What they're trying to do here, specifically the conservative organizations, egging these people on, is to start swaying public opinion in the direction.

of allowing people to get back to work immediately, and that's dangerous, to say the least. So who are the people behind these groups? The Facebook groups, they mobilized using Facebook, target Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. And they appear to be the work of Ben Dorr, the political director of a group called Minnesota Gun Rights and his siblings, Christopher and Aaron. In fact, a Republican lawmaker, former Republican lawmaker from Iowa was quoted as saying, The brothers will do anything to fan the flames of a controversial issue and maybe make a quick buck.

As we shared with you last week, there is a DeVos-linked conservative organization that's also egging people on and encouraging them to go out there in protest. Yeah. So the guy who is doing that as Greg McNeely. He was a campaign manager for Dick DeVos, who ran from governor of Michigan in 2006. And it's the husband of Betsy DeVos, who's, of course, our education secretary. So to me, that's actually more troubling. Some Yahoo's who are trying to make money off of around people up over guns, that's dangerous and it's problematic. But it's not as tied to the Republican Party when you have the education secretary's longtime advisor egging people on to violate that sometimes executive orders of the governors,

but also the guiding policy of the federal government. That would be Trump's government and Betsy DeVos's government. That's more concerning to me. So look, the thing that these guys don't understand, because another cultural signal in the parlance of Megan McCain that conservatives use as ignorance. They like to be ignorant. They are proud to be ignorant.

So, a thing that they're ignorant about here is if you go out too early and then the disease rebounds, well, then you're going to set the economy back way more. Because instead of staying indoors for potentially two or four more weeks, we might have to stay indoors, do the whole cycle again, stay indoors for another two months or more, in which case, not only you've heard the economy of the businesses that the Republicans care so much about. But if people are unemployed for two months, that is going to be a massive problem. 40% of this country can't survive a $400 blow. How the hell are they going to survive 20 million people, 16, 17 million people already in counting? How are they going to survive two

months of unemployment, especially once the stimulus money runs out, which is going to be at this point imminent? Exactly. So people who are part of these protests are looking for the short-term benefit of being able to go back to work. Maybe some of them have cabin fever. They just want to get out. I get it. I totally understand that. But as you mentioned, if you undo, all you need is a small group of people to go out there

and undo any of the progress that we've made over the last month. And then we're back at square one. And we have to stay in even longer. So what they're doing is so disastrous and it's so harmful not only to their own health, but to the health of their family members, and also the overburdened health care workers who, by the way, are also testing positive for coronavirus because of the number of patients, right? So why make that situation even more disastrous than it already is?

And why undo any of the progress that we've made? But these right-wing groups on Facebook, I just want to be clear. What they are trying to do is sway public opinion in the direction of opening the country back up. But even worse is that they're praying on people who are easily manipulated because they're in a desperate situation. Like, I have no doubt that there are people who feel desperate. They need to put, you know, they need to make money for their families. And so I think they're hearing what they want to hear from these dishonest actors and they're full-blown extremists.

Like they think that the NRA, I'm not making this up, they think the NRA is weak sauce because it doesn't go far enough. It's not extremist enough in putting guns in the hands of every single person in this country. So when you have that kind of motivating factor behind the scenes, encouraging people to go out there and egging them on, it is a recipe for disaster, especially when they have weapons at the same time. So look, it's not just people on the left who are critical of what's happening right now with these protests. You also have Republican lawmakers, including Governor Gary, I'm sorry, Governor Larry Hogan from Maryland. He was speaking to, I believe Jake Tapper over the weekend. Here's what he had to say.

And the frustration among the people that want to get things open right away. I'm frustrated also. I mean, I wish I had someone to protest to, but look, we're doing everything we possibly can to reopen in a safe manner. But I don't think it's helpful to encourage demonstrations and encourage people to go against the president's own policy. For example, I mentioned earlier, the president's policy says you can't start to reopen under his plan until you have to declining numbers for 14 days, which those states and my state do not have. So then to encourage people to go protest, the plan that you just made recommendations on Thursday, it just doesn't make any sense.

We're sending completely conflicting messages out to the governors and to the people as if we should ignore federal policy and federal recommendations. Yeah, I mean, nothing that Donald Trump does or says make sense. And when it does make sense, there's usually some other conflicting statement that he provides. immediately after making sense, which is the case here. And now you have, you know, governors like Brian Kemp, who plan on opening their state backup on April 27th. That's when restaurants can open and movie theaters can open in Georgia. That's a bad idea. Okay. So let me make sense of it. And I'll give credit to Hogan, who's a Republican governor and then ironic credit to Trump.

So, look, when he comes out, granted, Maryland's a blue state. So if he wants to have a career out of Maryland, which he does, he's going to have to be way more moderate than the average Republican. But still defying Donald Trump is risky and somewhat courageous in the Republican Party, and he's clearly defying him here. And he did in regards to the testing as well, saying it's just not true that there's enough testing. So credit to Hogan. I love giving Republicans credit if they actually earn it. Now, in terms of Donald Trump, well, there is some political sense to what he's doing. It just, it requires

callousness and a disregarder of human life. So basically the idea is this. He will take credit for, it doesn't matter what the life lost is. I mean, he said they'd be zero, now we're about 41,000, but if it could be 280,000, and you'll say, oh, everybody said it was going to be 300,000, I came out of 300,000, I'm the best of the best. That's because no one listens to scientists and doctors better than I do. No one understands this disease better than I do. By the way, something he said at the very beginning, he literally said no one understands this better than he does, and that maybe he should have been a doctor instead.

But the second part of it is really important. The economy is in ruins. He doesn't want to be blamed for that. That is why he is setting up this rhetoric of liberate Michigan, Minnesota, Virginia, et cetera, and let's reopen the country, let's reopen the country. So he could later say the economy wasn't my fault. I wanted to reopen the economy as soon as possible. It's those damn Democrats who wouldn't reopen the economy.

That's why the economy did poorly, not because of my incompetence, not because it was overinflation, inflated. It was those damn Democrats who took too long to open up the country. Otherwise, we'd all be fine. And so he's setting that up. And yes, a lot of lives might be lost if people listen to him and open up too quickly. But as a matter of politics, I get that strategy. Yeah, no, you're right. You're right. And it's, he always says two different things so he can lean on the statement that's convenient at any given moment. He's done this since the beginning of his presidency. So we should expect it. Well, let's talk about what else we should expect from Donald Trump. And this is really terrible because we just lacked leadership that we desperately

need in the middle of this pandemic. So Donald Trump continues to fan the flames between protesters and governors who have issued state-at-home orders in their state in response to COVID-19. So recently, during one of his coronavirus press briefings, which we should really call election rallies, because that's what they are. He actually accused governors of going too far in trying to keep their constituents safe. Things are too tough. And if you look at some of the states you just mentioned,

it's too tough, not only relative to this, but what they've done in Virginia with respect to the Second Amendment is just a horrible thing. They did a horrible thing, the governor. People feel that way. You're allowed to protest. I mean, they feel that way. I watched the protest and they were all six feet apart.

I mean, it was a very orderly group of people. But, you know, some have gone too far. Some governors have gone too far. Some of the things that happened are maybe not so appropriate. And I think in the end it's not going to matter because we're starting to open up our states. You know, you can get the same result out of doing a little bit less. What they've done to some people is very unfair. As far as protesters, you know, I see protesters for all sorts of things.

And I'm with everybody. I'm with everybody. These are people expressing their views. I see where they are and I see the way they're working. They seem to be very responsible people to me. But it's, you know, they've been treated a little bit rough. Yeah, look, I mean, just quick fact checks. The governors who have actually gone too far are governors like Ron DeSantis from Florida,

Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia, who says that restaurants and movie theaters can open beginning on April 27th. He doesn't even want to wait until May 1st, and May 1st is too early. In Jacksonville, Florida, the beaches are now open, and there is no social distancing being practiced whatsoever. You see video after video, people in, you know, close proximity to one another. And so for him to say, you know, I saw those protests, people were being responsible about it.

No, they weren't. And in one of the earlier stories that we shared on this, there were, in Minnesota, there were proud boys blocking the entrance to a hospital. couldn't get through, a healthcare worker had to come out and beg them to clear the intersection. So no, it's not all of them are responsible. I don't want to make a blanket statement and say all of them are doing terrible things, but they are taking a huge risk for their own health, their family members' health, and they are moving us backwards when it comes to the progress that we have made in slowing down the spread of this virus. Yeah, so that's the same Ron DeSantis

who can't even put on a mask. We'll show that in the post game. dot com slash join to get the extra half hour of the Young Turks every day. And then that's the same Brian Kemp, who just a little while ago said nobody knew that you could get the coronavirus from people who are asymptomatic, don't have symptoms. No, we all knew that for months. For months and months we knew that. The only person ignorant enough not to know that was Georgia governor, and he's so ignorant, he bragged about not. Nobody knew that. Nobody knew that. Donald Trump want to be. They're having a competition about who's more ignorant. Speaking of which then you go to Donald Trump, that clip that we played for you guys, is there a single

moment of substance there? The governors are looking a little too tough. There's just doing some things I don't like, but I like everybody. I like the protesters. They're a little too rough on the protests. Any specifics? What are the governors doing wrong? Can you name one thing they're doing wrong? Can you name one thing that the protesters are correct about? Nope. It's a little rough, a little tough, and a little too much, and I like it a little this way. I like everybody. He goes out there. I said this from day one all the way back in 2015 when he started running.

He crowd serves. He ab-tests his audience. He just goes out there and just says both things at the same time. And everybody, I've got a very responsible stay-at-home order and a three-phase reopening of the country. And at the same time, go do whatever you want. I love protests. go outside, liberate Michigan, liberate Minnesota, just ignore my three orders, three-part reopening, just do it yourself.

But remember, I did the three-part thing, so I'll brag about that later. He's going to break about it no matter what. He's going to say, I gave you this, and I gave you that. And the sad thing is for people who can't catch on to this very obvious parlor trick. Yeah, exactly. Because I think when you're in a desperate, like, financial situation, it's easier. You're vulnerable, right? And it's easier to be manipulated and make no mistake about it.

A lot of these people are being manipulated by the likes of, you know, right-wing organizations, right-wing politicians who don't care about their lives, don't care about their safety. What they do care about is ensuring that the economy is booming, not for the average worker, but for them, right? So let's get everyone back to work. I mean, so many of them have acknowledged in cable news interviews that, yeah, yeah, lots of people are dying. People are going to die.

But, I mean, come on, come on, that's a lesser of two evils, right? It's just so, so incredibly sad. And I think that this virus has, like, shown us what the priorities are. I mean, everything that we suspected about people in positions of power has really come true, that they don't care about anything other than their own political careers and how much money they make through their stock portfolios. So let's just quickly hear. Go ahead, Jane.

Yeah, just real quick, Senator Kennedy of Louisiana is a good, example of that. Look, you're a senator from a state that's been hit pretty hard, and he comes out and says, look, I know more people are going to die, but we got to reopen their economy, but never mentions the 17 million people who are unemployed. So if you say, hey, look, man, I don't know how they're going to survive with two months of unemployment if we don't get them government help. That's one thing, right? But the Republicans are generally the ones trying to get government help to the biggest companies in the world, but not to the people who are unemployed. So basically what you're then saying is, I know a lot of people are going to

die, but my stock portfolio is down 25%. So, you know, the lesser of two evils is more people in Louisiana dying and my stock portfolio going back up. Yeah, for Kennedy, the vast majority of his assets are in stocks and in real estate. So yeah, he's worried about himself. There's no question. Well, luckily, we still have that adult in the room, and that's Dr. Anthony Fauci. And it's statements like this that we need. But unfortunately, these are the types of statements that make me worry about the stability of his role within the Trump administration. Take a look. Back to those protesters.

Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, the message is that clearly this is something that is hurting from the standpoint of economics and the standpoint of things that have nothing to do with the virus. But unless we get the virus under control, the real recovery, economically is not going to happen. So what you do, if you jump the gun and go into a situation where you have a big spike, you're going to set yourself back. So as painful as it is to go by the careful guidelines

of gradually phasing into a reopening, it's going to backfire. So again, I mean, it's information that we've repeated so many times, but we need it. We need people to understand that, you know, Even if you're struggling right now, we get you. But if you go back out there and we open things up too early, it's just going to make this terrible process drag on longer than it needs to.

So, of course, the protesters in Texas chanted Fire Fauci, Fire Fauci. Him smart. Me not smart. Me no like him. Me no like scientists. Me no like facts. Fire Fauci. Buy your dummy.

Yeah, it's terrifying because we, look, the press briefings are a giant waste of time. The only time it's worth listening to something that happens that's actually substantive is when Fauci's answering questions. That's where we get the information we need to keep ourselves and our family safe. If Fauci's gone, I mean, you know what he'd be replaced with. He'd be replaced with Dr. Ablo from Fox News. You know, like it's just the lowest of the low, someone who's not an expert at all, and the misinformation will continue to spread.

So I worry about Dr. Anthony Fauci, but I really worry about, you know, violence breaking out because of people like Donald Trump, encouraging people and egging people on, telling them to go out there and protest when they should be at home, they should be staying safe, and they certainly shouldn't be showing up to public spaces with weapons at a time like now. Yeah, I'll give credit to Republican voters, which I very rarely do. As we told you earlier on the show, at least 70% of the Republicans, according to polling, believe in the stay-at-home orders, which is more than I would have suspected. So that's good to hear.

Obviously, 30% don't. It's 95% of Democrats believe it. Five percent don't. So, of course, a much larger chunk of Republicans say, I don't really believe scientists or doctors. But it's good to see 70% of them still do. I'm a weird way of getting encouraged by a Republican Party, but I am. For the folks that are not listening and want to fire the Fauci's of the world and just go do their own thing, you're going to have freedom momentarily. But if the disease spikes again, we all have to go back in for a longer period of time.

And as usual, all you've done is just punch yourself in the face. Yeah. I mean, look, I don't know about you guys, but I feel a lot more freedom at home than I do in the office. You know, I'm just hanging out in my robe all day until I have to, like, put a shirt on, I guess. Like, it's awesome. Anyway, I'm just joking around. It's tough. It's tough financially for a lot of people. And so I get that. But I wish we didn't have a president who, you know, took pleasure in manipulating people and egging people on like this. Anyway, we got to take a quick break. When we come back, an incredible video featuring, health care workers who are fighting back against these protesters. 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-F-The-Republic, or UNFRAP the Republic, or UNFRAP, 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 not learn 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, back on Young Turks, Jank and Anna with you guys. As usual, let's go to the members' comments. Irene says they may be a cultural symbol referring to the guns that Megan McCain was talking about, but you can threaten and kill people with them. Yes, I agree. They also fire bullets other than being just symbolic. Shikata Ghanai writes in, I'm a disabled United States Air Force veteran and come from

a family where my dad was career military, 32 years combined, and six uncles and one aunt were veterans and firearms are most assuredly not in my heritage. I stopped playing with guns the day that I took my uniform off for the last time. So I love that comment. I do want to note, you know, there was a shooting in Canada over the weekend. 18 people were gunned down. It's the largest shooting in Canadian history, and Justin Trudeau just promised that there would be gun control in response to it.

So I mean, it's just, it's incredible. I mean, we saw the reaction in New Zealand, for instance, immediate action once people are gunned down like this. But in America, it's just part of our culture. It's just a symbol, supposedly, according to Megan McCain. Exactly. Then we go to YouTube Super Chat. Nick does dozy says, can we get a 420 special members-only postgame blowout?

Well, you will get a post game, and we are taping old school today. Karen Flannery, Meredith from the office, is going to join me and Ben, and it's going to be goofy. We should do Kate Flannery. What did I say? I thought I said Kay Flannery. Okay, anyways, so we did once back in the old days with Wes and Jimmy and Ben, we did wants to a 420 style old school, look that up. I'm surprised they didn't look that up during the campaign.

Anyways, Vivi Blue 1201 writes it from Germany, I can't complain about anything since the leader of my country has a doctorate in quantum chemistry, sending one I can and lots of love from Germany. Thank you. We appreciate it. Zergut, thank you. Casey Haskins does $40 and 20 cents on YouTube super chat and says, how? Happy 420 just smoked a bowl, and now I'm listening to TYT while taking an afternoon walk with

my dog. Pepperoni Tony. He says hi to Anna and Charlie. Okay, I wish we look gassy. No, I love you a lot. And your day sounds fantastic. Enjoy. Absolutely. And by the way, this shirt that I'm wearing, my 420 special, which I've had for years actually, this shirt, shopTYT.com. I found out. which I should have known earlier, 15% off. You got to use a promo code, what? Go green. So yeah, there it is. That's why I was leaning into the camera. Go green. And if you use that code, you'll get 15% off of all of our green stuff, including Green New Deal for Earth Day in a couple of days. All right, last couple of your eclectic mistralaneous is these crazy gun-toting conservatives

are risking themselves and everyone else around them with these crazy protests during a pandemic. They're taking, I'll give you my gun when you take it from my cold dead hands much too literally. And I agree with that, unfortunately. And Malik learns everything, says, watching TYT live helps me keep sane during my isolation. Wouldn't know what I do if I didn't have Jankana John and the regular cast looking forward to every day. So thank you guys, all of you. Speaking of thanking you guys, let's take a look at t.com slash go because this was a great last half hour, and as you can see, we're now at 133-908.

Guys, if we get to 135, by the end of the show, that would be amazing. If we get to 143, we hit the matching grant and get another $50,000. Every dollar you put in now is doubled by Joe in L.A. So thank you, Joe. Thank you, you guys, for participating. And what's next? What are China? What are you?

What you just watched was a standoff between the Trump supporting protesters who are demanding, lifting the stay-at-home orders, and health care workers who staged a counter-protest. to what you're seeing with all of these little protests that are popping up all throughout the country. Now, this happened in Denver, Colorado. And what you heard was this woman telling this healthcare worker, someone who is risking his life on a daily basis to keep people alive, that he should go to China if he wants to be a communist. How wanting to keep people alive ends up being twisted into communism is kind of incredible. But this is the type of stuff we're seeing all throughout the country right now.

People who are not following through with stay-at-home orders, they're not keeping themselves safe, they're not keeping their family safe. In many cases, they're showing up with firearms. And these healthcare workers are like, no, we're gonna go ahead and block these protesters by standing in front of these cars at the intersection. I mean, considering this country's very dark recent history, with people counter protesters getting run over. It's just so incredibly brave to do this. But even if he hadn't done this, it's brave that he puts his life on the line to keep people alive in the

middle of a pandemic. And he wasn't the only one. He was joined by a female colleague as well. Yeah, two wonderful nurses there. So let's note a couple of ironies here. She mentioned as China, but actually he looks like the protester from Tiananmen Square, who was in favor of democracy. And she looks like she's operating the tank like the communist Chinese were at the time. Another irony is a guy I'm meaning to do well right there tapping him on the arm. Don't do that. That's against social distancing rules. He meant well.

He was trying to support him. But don't touch each other like that at this point. Okay. And wear a mask. For God's sake, just wear a mask. There's a big outbreak in Denver. You've got to be wearing masks and gloves. no matter where you're going.

So anyway, back to the woman who does not mean well. I know she keeps saying land of the free, and I can't see if there's an of and a the written lightly on that poster. All I could see is. There is. Okay. Yeah, yeah. All I can see is land free.

Really? Land free. Me free. You know free. You communist. Why don't you go to China? Support bankers. I don't know.

We're making things up about communism, so why not just say absurd things like that? You know, the thing that's crazy. She didn't like about bankers. Yes. She's a caricature, right? And these people exist. These caricatures exist. I mean, it's like everything from the shirt to the ignorance to the sign.

It's just, it's all so short-sighted. It's all so, and I'm going to say it, it's ignorant, right? You're turning this health care worker, this nurse, into your enemy? Because, I mean, look, there are people, first of all, who have no choice but to work in this pandemic, right? Their job is essential. And we should be thanking them. We should be showing them our gratitude. Instead, she's sitting in her car with a stupid sign, yelling at someone who's probably already burnt out.

overworked, stressed. And again, he's putting his health on the line to do his job. And you have this moron, you know, yelling at him like this. And she's being manipulated. That's the truth. All these protesters, while I think for some of them, their frustration and their anger and their desperation is legitimate, they want to be able to go back to work and make money and provide for their families, that desperation is being manipulated by the very people who couldn't care less if they lived or died. And I just wish there was a way to get through to them, right? But we have to fight back against all of this propaganda.

The most watch cable news channel is Fox. And what have they been doing throughout this pandemic? They're also egging these protesters on. It's disgusting. Yeah. So the healthcare professionals in this country have been absolute heroes. You know, in a lot of places, including in Ohio right now, we have a person who works at TYT, whose mom works at a hospital in Ohio, it says, oh, no, they can't, none of the staff

can be tested. There's not enough tests. So, and we've heard the stories in the past of not enough masks. So asking nurses to go in, sometimes doctors as well, without masks to treat patients. It's unconscionable. And it's hard to tell from that video, the exact traffic situation there. So it's hard to tell if it was just symbolic what the nurses were doing there, or if it was also physical and literal.

because some of these protesters are blocking entrances into hospitals, which, I mean, it doesn't get any more counterproductive than that, let alone the spittle that she's throwing into the air without a mask, and God knows who that's going to land on. But really, most importantly, blocking the interests of the hospitals, at least in one instance, and if that's what was going on here, and the nurses put their bodies in the way to make sure that those entrances are not blocked, it's an extra level of heroic service. and they pay nurses more. I want to just go to one of the incredible photos that was taken of this counter-protest.

Photojournalist Alison McLaren took this picture. And just I want to show it because it really does emphasize the point you just made, Jank. Here you have the nurse standing in the street, right, in his counter protest. And there's a protester wearing a bull's jersey yelling at him to his face. the protester yelling at him isn't wearing a mask. I mean, these people, again, it's it's manipulation, it's ignorance, and it's propaganda that feels impossible to counter, right? Because it's just so powerful. Like the messaging from Fox News, the messaging from Trump himself is a giant

obstacle in keeping people safe and actually fighting this pandemic in an efficient way. It's just I don't know. It feels helpless. I feel helpless and hopeless right now when I see stuff like this. Look, I always go back to we won with younger generations. 70% of under 45 rules in Democratic primaries voted for Bernie Sanders and for progressives. It's a matter of time before progressives are on the country. And we will. There's almost no question about that. It's already baked in. And it's partly because of online shows, because that's where, young people get their news. And so I'm so thrilled that the establishment was stupid enough not to pay attention to it. And so that's our hope. But yes, Anna, for the people who watch

Fox News, they've been brainwashed. And in a sense, it kind of is hopeless reaching them because they're not going to watch online news. And even if they watch mainstream media, there's barely pushback. They're afraid to challenge the right wing. But they're not even watching them. I just keep going back to, you know, So people I know that Muslim immigrants who watch Fox News and then voted for Trump, it's total brainwashing. So those folks, they're doing things against their own interests, both from a health perspective, but also from an economic perspective.

As Dr. Fauci explained, we're all going to stay indoors longer if you keep going out prematurely, and that's going to hurt the economy more and you're going to make less money and you're going to be unemployed longer. You're hurting yourself in every way, shape, and form. But conservative Facebook groups, Fox News, and Trump told you otherwise. And so it's nearly impossible to reach that 30% of Republicans. When we come back from the break, we're going to switch gears just a little bit and talk more about the economic component of this.

Turns out that the small business stimulus money isn't necessarily going to small businesses. We'll give you those details and more. 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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That's EXPRE S-SVPN.com. TYT. Check it out today. All right, back on a Young Turks, Jank and Anna with you guys. Craig Cuffley writes in and says the nurses don't just deserve mass, they deserve capes. Gabby Marita says, I bet all these obnoxious protesters were the same people insisting that all lives matter just a year or so ago. Seems like they pivoted away from that with such rapidity. It almost makes you think that it wasn't a genuine moral principle.

Aaron Graham. They're also the same people. They're also the same people who will make excuses for children. dying in cages at the border because they didn't follow the rules, right? They have no problem. It's okay for them to not follow rules. Exactly. Aaron Graham on YouTube super chat says, time are hard out here. So I'm giving what I can. Love TYT and Anna and Jenks coverage from Boston, Massachusetts. Thank you, Aaron. Ryan Choate gives $4.20. This is Mary 420, TYT family. Brother Muker says, gave so much abuse

to trolls on one of your clips yesterday. I troll the trolls. And he says he enjoys the victim's tears. And Nakalina on YouTube super chat as well says, Mahalo for your existence. I hope this money helps. You guys are awesome. Sauce. Thank you. Captain Lieutenant writes in the woman in the truck is trending as hashtag COVID Karen, which I love. Okay. And the other thing that I love is t yt.com slash go because it's keeping us alive right now matching grant time. Every dollar you give is doubled. Where are we at right now, Brett? Holy cow, 134, 522. It looks like we might be able to make $135,000 by the end of the show. Let's keep that going. Anna, speaking of your show, you got news on Earth Day and True North. Yes. So let's start off with True North. True North is an incredible

documentary series that John Idaolla shot. And we're going to begin air. it actually started this week. Every Monday at 3 p.m. Eastern time, 12 p.m. Pacific, you'll see an episode of True North. It's really well done. It's such an incredibly important topic too, something that John's passionate about, which is climate change. So definitely check that out. And since John is our resident climate change expert, he's also going to be hosting an Earth Day special. So you can check that out Wednesday, April 22nd, at 7 p.m. Eastern time, 4 p.m. Pacific. He's going to interview a number of climate change experts and scholars. And it'll be, you know, it's going to be a great discussion. All right. Excellent. Let's keep it going. So the $350 billion stimulus money

that was meant to save small businesses in response to the pandemic is not necessarily going to small businesses that need it. And we've learned that through various reports showing that a lot of that money's been going to massive chain restaurants and corporations. So for instance, Politico reported that Potbelly Corporation, the nationwide sandwich shop operator and Ruth's hospitality group, which runs a chain of steakhouses, are among the large companies that have disclosed receiving the government-backed loans before the COVID-19 outbreak. They reported employing thousands of people. Keep in mind that the small business loans are supposed to be given to companies that employ 500 people or less. And in this case, you have like a giant umbrella company,

right? And then there are all these other like little restaurants that fall under that parent company. And so it's still a massive corporation that's taking advantage of funds that ran out very quickly last week. And their funds that actual mom and pop small businesses desperately need to stay afloat. PopBelly also told investors that a subsidiary was granted a $10 million dollar loan by J.P. Morgan Chase under the Paycheck Protection Program. And then Ruth said in its SEC filing that two of its subsidiaries were granted loans on April 7th by J.P. Morgan for a total of $20 million. Keep in mind the maximum loan amount a company can receive under the Paycheck Protection Program is $10 million. And so now, and I'm happy that this is happening,

there's a number of like Republican lawmakers, Rick Scott being one of them, who's speaking out against this. And he's saying, it seems like these banks have decided to give this money to their pre-existing customers instead of, you know, giving this money out on a, you know, need basis, right? Because these companies have done well. Shake Shack, for instance, has a hundred million dollars cash on hand. So I don't see how they're in desperate need of this stimulus money. Yeah, the banks give it to people who have pre-existing relationships. Of course, but that, of course, actually is not meant purely sarcastically. I think this story requires a good deal of nuance.

So, first of all, let's note that Ruth Chris has a delicious steak. I do it. Just one. Yeah. No pepper, double butter. That's how I got this way, but you know it's amazing. Okay. That's steak oligenka.

Anyways, seriously, I get company. is trying to do the best they can for their company. And so if they think that it's available, they're going to try to take it. The loophole that they're using these large corporations in this case is, well, you're saying, according to the law, that as long as not one of my restaurants has over 500 employees, then I could apply. That's why Ruth applied twice. Theoretically, they could apply actually dozens of times, and they wind up getting $20 million.

So, and then for the banks, I also understand why they're going with people that have preexisting relationships with them. And of course, they're going to cater to those people. And honestly, they're going to cater to their biggest clients because they want to make their biggest clients happy. All that is logical. And then, so it doesn't mean that it should happen. It's just that's how it would normally proceed if you think about it.

And the banks, to be fair to them now, are not in a position to be able to judge who needs it the most. That is not something the government asked them to do, and honestly something they're not equipped to do. Now, having said all of this, don't be cheesy and go out there if you're a giant corporation with, in reality, employees way above 500 people, and go take this money, especially if you're laying people off. The point of this money is to make sure you don't lay people off. So let people and actual small businesses that are following the rules do that first. And Shakeshack did the right thing by giving the money back. Yes.

So Shakeshack did give the money back because there was backlash. And I think that backlash was well deserved. And, you know, just some props to Poppy Harlow from CNN because she did ask the CEO, Shake Shack, a question that I think needed to be asked. So let's take a look at his answer. At your numbers in your latest SEC filing, you guys had more than have more than $100 million of cash on hand, 104 million. So I think a lot of Americans look at numbers like that would ask, why did you even apply for the money in the first place?

For the very reason, I think, as it was intended, right, to take care of our team and employ as many people. Oh, look, our team members have equal value to any other team member in the world. And what we're trying to do, as any company is, is make sure, no matter how long this lasts, we've set up the necessary liquidity to take care of our team and continue to come out on the other side of this. And the good news for us is, as a larger public company, we also have access to capital in different ways. When we were able to continue to do that, we're able to have an additional fundraise last Friday to really ensure long-term stability. Yeah, I almost think shake shack did nothing wrong because they applied for it to maybe keep employees. I hope they're

telling the truth about that. But even if not, I get it, they're trying to take care of their business. But when people pointed out, guys, you have way more than 500 employees, then they gave it back. They do have enough liquidity. And they did the right thing. So if you really have under 500 employees, you should apply for this. It's critical. If you have above 500 employees, don't do it. Also, though, keep in mind that they're still open, right? They're not allowing people to dine in, but you can order from Shake Shack and pick up and bring home. So look, I think it depends on a case-by-case basis. In the case of Shake Shack, they have enough money on hand. They're still making money, but I'm sure they've taken a hit, just like

anyone else. But there are small businesses that had to shudder completely. And so I do think they should have taken a beat to really reconsider whether or not it was necessary for them to apply for this money in the first place. One other story before we go to our post game. So there's been a lot of misinformation coming from both Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence when it comes to the availability of testing. Watch.

As our experts said yesterday, America's testing capability and capacity is fully sufficient to begin opening up the country totally. And we believe today, as Dr. Birx has said, as Dr. Fauci and others have said, is that there is a sufficient capacity, of testing across the country today for any state in America to go to a phase one level. That is a lie. And it's a lie based on what we're hearing from governors, including

Republican governors like Larry Hogan from Maryland. So let's hear from both Hogan and from Governor Northam. Take a look. Northam just called that delusional, the idea that states have enough testing. What do you think? Do you have enough testing to move into phase one? The administration, I think, is trying to ramp up testing. They are doing some things with respect to private labs, but to try to push this off to say that the governors have plenty of testing and they should just get to work on testing, somehow we aren't doing our job. It's just absolutely false. Every governor in America has been pushing and fighting and clawing to get more tests, not only from the federal government, but from every private lab in America and from all across the

world. And we continue to do so. Look, we've increased our testing in Maryland by 5,000 percent over the past month, but it's nowhere near where it needs to be. But it's not accurate to say there's plenty of testing out there and the governor should just get it done. That's just not being straightforward. So, Jank, we're testing about 150,000 people per day. Researchers from Harvard say that we need to triple that number in order to have adequate testing. Yeah, I read in a different story, quadruple the number, 500 to 600,000 tests every day. Guys, if you're wondering why, is it just gratuitous? No.

Is it political? No. Again, Hogan is a Republican governor of Maryland. The reason is that's the best way to combat the disease, because then you know who has it. You know who they've been in contact with, and it's easier to contain and mitigate the disease. which allows everyone else to go out. It allows people to get their jobs back. It allows the country to get open again.

But you cannot do it if there's no testing, then you're flying blind. That is why all the governors are saying, for God's sake, get us more tests. And when the federal government says they have nothing to do with it, it's not true on a couple of levels. One, of course they should coordinate the states. That's their whole job in a pandemic like this. But number two, a lot of times the federal government is buying a lot of these supplies instead of the states, like superseding the states, and then giving it out based on political favors.

And we saw this happen with ventilators in Colorado, for example. We told you about that last week, where Colorado was going to buy 500 ventilators, this FEMA, the federal government stepped in, bought them instead, and then gave 100 to give for Cory Gardner, the Republican senator from Colorado, to give to his state. So Colorado got 400 less ventilators, and the Republicans bragged about how many ventilators they gave them. So they're playing these kind of tricks with all of these medical equipment in, and also with the tests. And it's totally unacceptable. We got to get as many tests in the field as humanly possible, not just for health reasons, but for the health of the economy

as well. Yeah, exactly. And I mean, look, the testing has been a problem since day one. Donald Trump refuses to take responsibility for all of his mistakes early on, including the inability to get widespread testing available for everyone. And, you know, he's gotten away in the past with just lying and saying, you know, the opposite of what's actually happening. And then people believe him and he gets away with all of his mistakes. I think in this case, it's going to be much harder for him to get away with lying because

people are experiencing it in full time, in real time. If you suspect you have coronavirus in many places throughout the country, it's nearly impossible for you to get the testing you need, including if you're experiencing. if you're a healthcare worker yourself. So people are seeing their family members die as a result of this incompetence from the Trump administration. And I'm glad that Republicans are speaking out as well. So in our post game today, we're going to show you Trump's little show and tell with swabs.

I mean, you feel like you're in elementary school because he's a child. And then later we'll do some more stories, including Ron DeSantis, struggling to put a mask on. a member go to t yt.com slash join for everyone else we'll see you soon thanks for listening to the full episode of the young turks support our work listen ad-free access members only bonus content and more by subscribing to apple podcasts at apple dot co slash t yt i'm your host jank huger and i'll see you soon