The Young Turks - TYT Extended Clip - October 2, 2020

Episode Date: October 3, 2020

Trump has been taken to Walter Reed Hospital. Ana Kasparian and Ben Dixon 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. What's up, what's up, everyone, welcome to TY, Anna Kasparean and Benjamin Dixon with you today. Slow news day, Ben. Slow news day. Very slow. Is there anything happening in the world? We actually have, as you guys probably already suspect, a giant newsday, which we'll get to in just a minute. But since Ben is joining me on the show today, first of all, thank you, Ben. It really is a pleasure to have you as always. You're going to be hosting

the vice presidential debate coverage for TYT along with Jank Yugar and John Idarola. For all of our viewers, you guys can check that out live on Wednesday, October 7th. You can watch live on tYT.com slash live or on one of the many platforms we're on, including YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, YouTube TV, Roku, Zumo, Pluto, you guys get the picture. And of course, the vice presidential debate against Kamala Harris and Mike Pence is still scheduled for next week. So if anything changes based on some of the other news that's going on, we'll definitely fill you guys in on that. But I think it makes sense to get right to some of the breaking news stories that are happening. A lot of updates are happening as we do the show

today. So just bear with us as we try to keep up with everything that's going on. So let's get started. Donald Trump is going to be airlifted to Walter Reed Medical Center. That is the hospital that he was getting a checkup in just a few months ago. And what we're learning is that Donald Trump, yes, has tested positive for coronavirus. So has First Lady Melania Trump. When this news broke last night, the condition was described as mild symptoms. But it appears that the situation is getting a little more serious. CNN is reporting that Donald Trump's symptoms are now moderate, or at least considered moderate.

He does in fact have a fever. And if you look at footage from the White House, as we speak right now, you will see a military helicopter right in front of the White House. And it's meant to airlift Trump from the White House to the hospital where the administration has claimed he will be working out of for the next several days. We haven't heard anything from Trump regarding his coronavirus treatment or condition since last night. Last night was when he shared that he did in fact test positive and that he and First Lady

Melania Trump will begin their quarantine. But other than that, we really haven't received much transparent information from the White House. Ben, I wanted to get your thoughts on the story so far before I give the audience some more details. Yeah, you know, this is, of course, obviously major breaking news. The thing about it is it's hard to decide and determine or decipher what's actually true coming out of the White House because at first they said he was asymptomatic and then they said it was moderate. Then they said he had a slight fever and then he said he has a high fever. And so now with them taking him via Marine One to the Walter Reed, it seems as though it is probably far more significant than they're ready to tell us.

But, you know, we're just keeping an eye on it like you're saying. And I'm trying my very best to speak about this in terms of just the facts versus everything else that surrounds a person like Donald Trump, who's responsible for so many people dying of COVID-19 now contracting it himself. Yeah, I mean, I totally understand what you're saying. More than 200,000 Americans have died from this virus. The United States, one of the most wealthy countries in the world, has been uniquely terrible in keeping its citizens safe from the spread of this virus. Donald Trump has engaged in a very intentional misinformation, disinformation campaign in regard to this pandemic. And hundreds of thousands of people have died. And many of those people could have easily survived or prevented themselves from even getting the virus if Donald Trump

didn't pressure states to open their schools and their businesses prematurely. If he encouraged people to wear masks, if he actually took this pandemic seriously, as he did during his taped interviews with Bob Woodward, where he acknowledged the severity of the virus, but said that he was intentionally downplaying the virus to the public. And so I totally understand the urge to get political right away. In fact, I welcome it, because I think that it's important to talk about the seriousness of his missteps and the fact that he has consistently put his political aspirations, his political agenda, and his financial interests above the well-being of the very people who he is supposed to be keeping safe and governing. And so without further ado,

I just want to give you guys a quick reminder of what we heard from Donald Trump throughout this pandemic and how incredibly damaging it's been to this country. Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. You know that, right? Coronavirus. They're politicizing it. We did one of the great jobs. You say, how's President Trump doing? They go, oh, not good, not good. It's going to disappear. One day, it's like a miracle. It will disappear. And this is their new hoax. Hydroxychloroquine? I'm taking it.

Hydroxychloric. When? Right now, yeah. A couple of weeks ago started taking it. Because I think it's good. I've heard a lot of good stories. And if it's not good, I'll tell you right, I'm not going to get hurt by it. When it dies out, and it is dying out, the numbers are starting to get very good.

When you test, when you do testing to that extent, you're going to find more people. You're going to find more cases. So I said to my people, slow the testing down, please. It's going to go away. It's going to go away. You know, in some states, thousands of people, nobody young, below the age of 18, like nobody. It affects virtually nobody. It's an amazing thing.

It will go away. You know it is going away. The president admitted to Woodward, in audio obtained by the Washington Post, that he deliberately misled the country about the danger. Well, I think, Bob, really, to be honest with you. Sure, I want you to be. I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down. I'm going to go away, hopefully, at the end of the month.

And if not, hopefully we'll be soon after that. When you said you asked your people to slow down testing, were you just kidding? Or do you have a plan to slow down testing? I don't kid. Let me just tell you. Let me make it clear. We're saying things like, I think it's a problem that's going to go away within the other days. It will go away.

Your second question was, I couldn't hear you. Can you take it off because I cannot hear you? I'll just speak louder, sir. Okay, good. You want to be politically correct. Go ahead. No, sir. just want to wear the mask. Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.

It's going to leave. It's going to be done. This is going to go away without a vaccine. When they hear you say everything's under control, don't worry about wearing masks. I mean, these are people, many of them are older people, Mr. President. What's your evidence of control? Yeah, under the circumstances right now. I think it's under control. I'll tell you what.

Hell, a thousand Americans are dying a day. They are dying. That's true. And you have, it is what it is. It is what it is. And Ben, as you know, during the first presidential debate, that just happened this week, Donald Trump took time during that debate to mock Joe Biden and his willingness to consistently wear a mask when he's out in public. Yeah, and it is that behavior, the politicization of wearing a mask, right?

And forcing people back into public, encouraging Big Ten football to start back up. It's one thing to try to open up schools, but you've also politicized wearing a mask. So you've created the exact conditions necessary for 205,000 Americans plus to die from COVID-19s. And to that extent, I think the narrators of the writers of 2020 have hit this one on the head. This seems to be apropos for a president who has been this reckless in the endangerment of American people. And with regard to that debate, there was some news by Chris Wallace just today during an interview with Fox News. Chris Wallace made it clear that Donald Trump arrived to Cleveland too late to get tested prior, prior to that debate. And when it comes to testing, why don't we hear what Donald Trump had to say?

You have to understand. If you look, I mean, I have a mask right here. I put a mask on when I think I need it. Tonight, as an example, everybody's had a test and you've had social distancing and all of the things that you have to. But I wear masks when needed. When needed, I wear masks. Okay, let me ask. I don't have, I don't wear a mess like him. Every time you see him, he's got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away from it. He shows up with the biggest mask I've ever seen.

He shows up with the biggest mask I've ever seen. Well, look, Joe Biden did get tested. So did Joe Biden's wife. And fortunately, neither one of them have tested positive for coronavirus. But I should note that there were, there was some suspicion that Donald Trump would test positive for coronavirus, following word that one of his closest aides, Hope Hicks, had tested positive. She was aboard Air Force One along with Donald Trump and a number of other Trump administration officials as they were headed to a fundraiser. And so it doesn't surprise me. I mean, this is the perfect

scenario under which someone would contract the virus. It wouldn't surprise me that Donald Trump would contract it. If he's on Air Force One with Hope Hicks, she tests positive. None of them wear masks. In fact, today, after news breaks, you see Trump administration officials, you know, gathering together without wearing masks. Mark Meadows does a press conference, his chief of staff, he's not wearing a mask. And so it's just nonstop, it doesn't end, nonstop, irresponsible behavior that not only risks their lives, it's one thing if they're private citizens and they decide they don't want to take this seriously. It's a completely different situation when you're talking about Trump administration officials, Donald Trump himself,

people who unfortunately look to them for their leadership and use them as an example. If they don't take the virus seriously, if they don't wear masks, it doesn't surprise me that their supporters don't wear masks. Trump has held indoor rallies during the pandemic where wearing a mask isn't even encouraged. So these are things to think about as we move forward in discussing this story and, you know, the condition of Donald Trump. No one wants to say that they want people, they don't want to, you know, wish bad things upon people, right? But at the same time, there needs to be some responsibility by this administration. We've seen none of it, none of it, zero percent of it. Yeah, I, you know, Anna, it's it's so egregious the fact

how much they just don't care and how much they have totally devolved into a full blown death cult. The fact that they still don't wear a mask and they're still mocking it and they're still putting people in danger. I mean, I really, the people I'm genuinely concerned about are the support staff members, the members of the Secret Service who have to protect them. The staff of Air Force One, the White House staff, the butlers, the maids, the cooks, the chefs, everyone who has been exposed by their recklessness and because of their casual disregard for human life and because they know. And they know that them wearing a mask protects everybody else, not protects them. So they have no regard for it whatsoever. Yeah, you're exactly right. And for all the right wingers on social media who think that this is a perfect opportunity

to point to the left as heartless and egregious in their commentary in regard to Donald Trump's symptoms, I just want to remind you all that they have absolutely no leg to stand on to try to take the upper hand in terms of morality is laughable, especially when this is a group of people who have celebrated extrajudicial killings on our streets by law enforcement, who have celebrated a 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse shooting and killing two protesters in cold blood, and who have no problem with tweets like the one I'm about to read from Donald Trump in 2014, when the Ebola outbreak was happening, luckily that outbreak didn't impact the United States. Trump had tweeted this, President Obama has a personal responsibility to visit and

embrace all people in the U.S. who contract Ebola, essentially encouraging the thought of our president contracting a lethal disease. I mean, he said it. That's what he said. And that That was totally fine with them. But in this case, we all have to share faux thoughts and prayers so we're good people. Yeah, if the right wing thinks I'm a bad person for holding Trump accountable for how he's handled this virus, have at it. I'd rather be considered a bad person by them than be part of this ridiculous group of people on mainstream media right now who are sharing their faux thoughts and prayers.

Right, and that's all it is. It's extremely fake, especially because just two weeks ago, these people celebrated to the top of their lungs, the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And so I'm sorry, people who have no mercy get none for me. And one final note about what the White House is doing in response to this news. You would think that if the First Lady and the president have contracted this virus, well, maybe then they would take it a little more seriously. But no, the Associated Press is reporting that an official says masks will still not be mandatory at the White House. Even after the president tested positive for the virus, the official described facial

coverings as a personal choice despite overwhelming evidence that they help stop the virus. Yeah, okay, personal choice. Have at it. You do you, boo. I've got nothing to add to that insanity there. Yeah, yeah. Well, let's move on. on to Mark Meadows, who did give a press conference today to update people on the condition of Donald Trump. So Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, gave a press conference to update the public on Donald Trump's coronavirus positive test and his current condition. Now, I should note that since Mark Meadows gave this press conference, Donald Trump's condition has seemed to have worsened. He was originally going to get treatment in the White House, but now we have received word

that he will be airlifted to the hospital where he says he will be working out of for the next several days. That is an indication that his symptoms have gotten worse. At first, we heard he was asymptomatic. Later, we heard that he had a mild fever. After that, we heard that he actually had a fever, a serious fever, high fever, and that he was fatigued. And so we're not getting a lot of transparency from the White House, but the optics of it does not look good. And so let's go to the first video of Mark Meadows discussing Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump and their positive coronavirus test. How would you describe his symptoms and is he taking hydroxychlority? Well, I'm not going to get into any particular treatment that he may or may not have. He has mild symptoms. He's in the

residents now. And in true fashion, he's probably critiquing the way that I'm answering these questions. And I can tell you that a number of us will be reporting back to him. Now again, since that press conference, Trump symptoms have seemed to worsened. He's actually taking experimental drugs. I don't really think someone with mild symptoms. would subject themselves to an unproven, untested drug that hasn't been approved by the FDA. But nonetheless, he is taking an experimental drug in response to his positive coronavirus test. Yeah, that's interesting to see that he's going that far, that fast, and that he's been impacted this quickly. You know, we don't have a lot of information about the different types of cases and how they generally proceed, but the fact that he's already been airlifted to the hospital.

that he may have a very severe case, but you add on top of that his age, you add on top of that his lifestyle, his eating habits, the lack of sleep, all those things that are impacting regular Americans who have the same type of eating habits and weight and everything else. I mean, it doesn't play out well for most of Americans. And while we may not know the specific case that he has, we know that he's in a very troublesome demographic for it. So no telling how this will play out. Yeah, I mean, he's definitely in a risky demographic when it comes to contracting the virus. We should also note, I mean, the treatment for this virus has seemed to have improved since the beginning of the pandemic. And so he's, of course, going to get the absolute best treatment. There's no question about that. There have been other world leaders who have contracted this virus, right-wing people like Jaire Bolsonaro, and he seems to have recovered from coronavirus. So I'm just giving you a full, a full picture of what is likely to happen. Also, I wanted to note that Hope Hicks was reported as testing positive for coronavirus before

we found out about Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump testing positive. I only mention that because there have been reports indicating that Hope Hicks and her condition was kept secret in order to move forward with a fundraiser that was held for Donald Trump's reelection campaign. Mark Meadows was asked about that. Let's hear what he had to say. What day in time did you find out that Hope Hicks had tested positive and did you sit on it until after the president went out to his fundraiser in New Jersey?

Actually, as we look at this, I'm not going to get into the TikTok. I can tell you in terms of Hope Hicks. We discovered that right as the Marine one was taking off yesterday. So he was down playing that. I don't know what the truth is. What I do know is that when it comes to anything that helps Donald Trump with his reelection campaign, they'll squash any worries or concerns regarding coronavirus. I mean, we've seen Trump hold indoor rallies during this pandemic. He did it in Tulsa, Oklahoma. That was the first place he did it. Masks were not mandatory. They weren't even really encouraged. Donald Trump had said multiple times, including, including during an interview with the Wall Street Journal, that he believed that people would wear masks to make him look bad. The way this man thinks is always about putting himself first and how certain activities of others would make him look. It's not about governing properly or keeping people safe. He doesn't really care about how much of a national security risk this

has been, doesn't care about how many people have died, downplaying it and ensuring that people don't panic was more about ensuring that the markets aren't rattled by the pandemic rather than ensuring that, you know, people don't get scared. And so we've seen over and over again how these missteps have unfortunately led to hundreds of thousands of Americans dying. And also, there are other Republicans who are now reporting that they're testing positive for coronavirus. For instance, R&C Chair Ronna McDaniel was reported to. who have tested positive for COVID-19. Let me give you some details on that.

Spokesperson for the RNC told the Hill, after a member of her family tested positive for COVID-19, the chairwoman was tested for the virus. On Wednesday afternoon, she got confirmation. She was COVID-19 positive. She has been at her home in Michigan since last Saturday. Others who have been in close contact

with the president have tested negative, including his Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, as well as daughter Ivanka, Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, both senior White House advisors. But we did get word that there are other people who have been in close contact with Donald Trump, who have tested positive for coronavirus. We don't know who yet. Those names are going to be released, I'm guessing, throughout the day and the coming days.

But keep in mind that there have also been reporters in the White House press pool who have been in close contact with Donald Trump and other administration officials. So people who are worried are justified in being worried and it didn't have to play out this way. This is, all of this was preventable, all of it. The one thing that I'm concerned about is the incubation period, right? They may not be testing positive right now, but, you know, I think what we're saying, two weeks to 21 days in some cases for it to actually show up, which really brings me back to Joe Biden. I know he currently is testing negative, which is great.

We hope that it remains that way. But for people who got those immediate tests, I mean, I hope that there is a succession of tests that take place to make sure that they don't become a vector because it's just, Donald Trump is a super spreader. His events were super spreader events, right? His press corps is very possible that he and his staff have spread this so far and wide that I think it is a major concern at this point for everyone to continue to get testing while they're in that incubation period. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you just held a rally in Minnesota this week. I can't remember. I don't remember if it was an indoor or outdoor rally. We'll get some confirmation on that. But I do know that there were a ton of people there, you know, cheering them on. Many of them were not wearing masks, whether it was indoor or outdoors. The truth is, if you're in close contact with people who have this virus but are not wearing masks, you can contract it. And so again, it goes back to the fact that he felt the need to politicize things that did not need

to be politicized. Wearing a mask doesn't make you look bad. In fact, it makes you look like a competent leader who's interested in keeping the public safe. He did the opposite of that. We shut down the country and like two weeks later, he's encouraging the entire country to reopen by Easter. And we hadn't even had access to widespread testing at that point.

We've never done testing and tracing, which is what successful countries have done. He has bungled this from the very beginning. And again, innocent people have died as a result of that. That is the heart of this story. Make no mistake about it. Yeah. All right. Go ahead. No, it was an outdoor rally, but indoor fundraiser. I just wanted to correct the record on that. Go ahead, Ben. Yeah, that's the thing. Donald Trump had a pathway of ensuring his victory, right? He was worried about his reelection. He certainly could have been reelected without any issue whatsoever. Had he handled this properly and put Americans in a position where they could be safe and quarantine at home with a basic stipend on a monthly basis, everyone would have

looked at the president as a hero. Instead, he's now being airlifted to Walter Reed. Yep, you're absolutely right. Well, we're going to talk about what this means for Joe Biden when we come back from the break. Some are suggesting that maybe he should suspend his campaign. I'll share what I think about that. We'll be right back. We need to talk about a relatively new show called Un-F-The-Republic, or UNFTR. As a Young Turks fan, you already know that the government, the media, and corporations 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, Christopher Yoda once put it. You must have learned what you have learned.

And that's true whether you're in Jedi training or you're uprooting and exposing all the propaganda and disinformation you've been fed over the course of your lifetime. So search for UNFDR in your podcast app today and get ready to get informed, angered, and entertained all at the same time. Hey everyone, welcome back, Anna Casparian and Benjamin Dixon with you. Make sure you check out Ben Dixon show. The Ben Diction show, I don't know why I'm like getting tongue twisted with that.

Ben, tell everyone where they can find your programming. They can find me right on YouTube or anywhere that you get podcast, iTunes, Spotify, all the above. And you're, follow his Twitter feed if you're not already. It's excellent. Yeah. And Benjamin P. Dixon on Twitter. Awesome.

So we're continuing with our fundraising effort, everyone. We want to keep TYT sustainable and in order to do that till the end of the year, we're trying to raise 200 grand a month. We didn't meet our goal for the first time last month and we're hoping that we will this month. So let's take a look at the thermometer, see where we're at for the month of October. Okay, pretty strong start. We're already at 20,428.

That's good news. Let's try to keep it up. Please go to tyt.com slash go to donate any little bit counts. And to be quite honest with you guys, I would much rather be funded by you, our audience than any other way. So thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak the truth in an unfiltered, uncensored way. That's what we do here at TYT and we literally could not do it without you. Thank you so much. Also, some programming notes. We do have some fun content coming up tonight. Common Room and happy half hour. So after the post game for members and on Twitch, comedian Eddie Pepitone and Brett talk about Eddie's new special for the masses and what drugs Don Jr.'s doing, which is gonna be a fun conversation.

And then after that, you should check out Common Room tonight at six, I'm sorry, 9 p.m. Eastern Times, 6 p.m. Pacific exclusively on Twitch. You can go to our Twitch channel by logging on at Twitch.tv slash TYT. And tonight it'll feature John Idrola, Brett Ehrlich, Jordan Yule, and the very funny Al-Abelina, Sabrina. Did I do it? I did it right. Awesome. Okay, great.

And then a few member comments and we'll move on to the rest of the news today. So Seattle Progressive writes in in our member section. You can become a member by going to t.y.com slash join. Hey, Anna, love the show. You're my favorite. Thank you. Would love to hear your thoughts on how Trump's COVID diagnosis and other senators like Mike Lee, who by the way also tested positive, will affect the Supreme Court nomination. How can we get Democrats to delay it? You know, to be honest with you, I haven't really had a chance today to really think about that yet. I'm very curious to see how that plays out, really, because there is some question as to how

Trump's diagnosis is going to impact the rest of the presidential debates. The next debate is going to happen, I believe, 13 days from now. And the quarantine period is about two weeks. And that's assuming he has a speedy recovery. I don't know how this is all going to play out. It's very likely that certain things will be delayed. Brett's my daughter's husband writes in in the member section and says, wow, yeah, wow, Ben Dixon is in the house. I walk. I watched the stream, I'm sorry, I can see Brett's face right now, that's why I'm laughing. I watched the stream with your mom last night, then got to see you in the early morning. Ben Shapiro sent me over the edge with his tweet too, great to see you on TYT again.

Ben, do you want to just quickly mention what the Ben Shapiro tweet is? Yeah, yeah, so it's Ben Shapiro trying to lecture us about being kind in this moment to Donald Trump, trying to take him the moral high ground. And of course, everyone remembers that Ben Shapiro built his career off of his mockery of Trayvon Martin dying or being killed by George Zimmerman. And so when I just put those, when I remembered it, it just kind of triggered me. And we did like a four o'clock in the morning stream. What about a thousand people really just letting Ben Shapiro know that people, to put it nicely, people who have no mercy, get no mercy from us. Yeah. No, I absolutely hear what you're saying. Also, I mean, look, when something

terrible happens to someone and they had no control over it, you know, that's one thing. There are a lot of people who didn't contract coronavirus because they took social distancing seriously, they wear masks, and they listen to the scientific data and evidence. They listen to Anthony Fauci, whereas Donald Trump has consistently spread disinformation about this virus and has risked the lives of others since the beginning of the pandemic. So, yeah, I totally agree with you, Ben. All right, well, let's move on to the next story, which might answer the very first member comment a little bit, at least in terms of how people are discussing what Trump's COVID diagnosis will do for all of these presidential events that are coming

up. So, White House correspondent, or I should say CNN White House correspondent, Caitlin Collins, who used to work at the Daily Caller, which is a right-wing publication. I think that's relevant to this story is floating the idea that maybe, just maybe, the Biden campaign should shoot itself in the foot because Donald Trump has now tested positive for coronavirus. Now, I don't want to put words in her mouth. So let's hear what she has to say. That raises questions about Joe Biden's campaign to Don and whether or not he's going to suspend his campaign. We're thinking back, someone much smarter than me pointed out tonight that back in 1912, when Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt had been an assassination attempt, Woodrow Wilson suspended his.

his campaign and waited for him to recover. So is this a situation like that where the Biden campaign takes a step like that? Do they continue campaigning over the next few weeks knowing that the president can't? We are in a critical time frame. It was already basically a pressure cooker inside the Trump campaign. And now this diagnosis is their worst nightmare dawn. So Ben, what do you think? I mean, based on what happened in 1912, should the Biden campaign suspend its campaign? since Donald Trump was irresponsible and contracted coronavirus when he could have easily prevented himself from contracting it. It is what it is. That's the first thing that comes in mind from Donald Trump. The second thing is what he said in regards to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, elections have consequences. Well, ignorance has consequences.

And this is an opportunity for Joe Biden to run up the scoreboard because let's not forget, despite the fact that everyone wants to have sympathy for Donald Trump having COVID-19, Donald Trump was still on the edge of destroying this country with this rhetoric with organizing 50,000 poll watchers who are basically pro-boys with AR-15s. Donald Trump has been and still continues to be so long as he's alive, an existential threat to this country. So we need Joe Biden to continue to just dunk on him. I have no mercy for people who have no mercy for us. You know, so I of course agree with what you're saying. But what I find interesting is that Joe Biden has been criticized by the Trump campaign for

refusing to hold as many in-person rallies. I mean, Joe Biden has taken the pandemic very seriously, which is why he has tested negative for coronavirus. Both he and his wife have tested negative. And so, you know, at first I was actually really worried about that tactic because Donald Trump has been out and about. He's been campaigning pretty aggressively. He's been holding in-person rallies with tens of thousands of people gathered in close quarters. without wearing masks, and he's been spreading his message, whereas Joe Biden, you know, we saw during the debate, Joe Biden actually doesn't punch back very hard. He's very careful in what he has to say. Joe Biden is a little, for lack of a better word, weak when it comes to attacking Donald

Trump. And so I don't think that he's ever going to be that person, even though I totally agree with what your analysis is, what Biden should do. But I am rethinking some of my criticism toward Biden earlier when I felt like he was kind of hiding out and refusing to do campaign events. And also I criticized Biden for not having any type of strategy on the ground in some of these incredibly important swing states. Like for instance, there was a report a few weeks ago about how there was no canvassing happening in Michigan. So I don't know, how do you feel about all that? So I agree with you on that assessment, right?

And I think they're trying to find a balance between canvassing, the need to canvas, but also being careful because of COVID-19. And I think, honestly, I think a lot of people would appreciate that, but they still can do phone banking. They still can do online events. They can continue organizing and canvassing the way that they have been virtually. But personally, I don't want anyone knocking on my door in COVID-19. And I appreciate politicians not coming to knock on my door in COVID-19.

There are other ways of reaching me, and I think Joe Biden's campaign needs to continue doing that and enhancing that and pushing it even further. Right, you're exactly right. And in regard to the comparison that Caitlin Collins outlined in that video, I want to share some commentary by Tommy Christopher over at Mediite, who I disagree with time to time, but I think this line is actually on the spot. Like it's perfect. He says, despite the Roosevelt Wilson example or JFK's campaign suspension while Richard Nixon recovered from a knee surgery, there is no precedent for this because Nixon didn't go around holding knee smashing rallies. And Roosevelt

didn't wage a campaign to downplay and lie about the risks from assassins. The worst thing Joe Biden could do for Trump, the COVID patient, is stop trying to unseat Trump the COVID ally. I think that's a powerful line. And I think he's on the money there. I think he's completely right. And for Caitlin Collins, instead of helping Donald Trump out by floating this ridiculous idea, let me just remind you of who Trump really is and how he feels about the press, including people like you. I was blocked from intending an open press event here at the White House because the White House did not like the questions I posed to President Trump earlier in the day during an event in the Oval Office with the President of the European Commission.

And then later, I was called into the office of Bill Schein, the president's latest hire, who was his right-hand man for communications. It was him and the press secretary, Sarah Sanders, who told me that I would not be invited to an open press event here in the Rose Garden moments later at the White House because they thought the questions that I posed to President Trump were inappropriate. It's truly shocking. It's really unheard of. I've never heard of that this is an open event. So it does, it does amaze me how quickly reporters do Donald Trump's bidding for him. No, Biden should not suspend his campaign. He has no reason to suspend his campaign. Biden has done what a responsible individual would do during a pandemic. And as a result, he's not suffering

from coronavirus right now, he should move forward. He should continue campaigning because guess what? That is exactly what Donald Trump would do. Donald Trump would laugh, absolutely laugh at any mention, any suggestion that he should suspend his campaign because Joe Biden has fallen ill. He wouldn't care. He would keep going and he would probably continue mocking Biden while doing so. And can I add real quick with Caitlin Collins, It's funny how when it was something personal to her. You see how much energy she had was I. This happened to me. They didn't let me in. That's the only time I could feel that energy from her. But now when it has something to do with the American people in general, it's like, oh, no, you need to suspend your campaign. So she loses that energy. And that's really typical, really typical of conservatives. They become extremely progressive and they become extremely on the offensive against Donald Trump when it has something to do with them personally. But when it's somebody else or the American people in general, they don't really care as much. Maza from our members section, and you can become a member by going to tyt.com slash join. Members help this show happen. They keep it sustainable and they keep us independent.

Maza writes in and says, no, Biden should not suspend his campaign. Do you think Trump would if Biden got coronavirus? No. So there's some agreement in regard to how we feel about Caitlin Cotland's and her statements. And so hopefully Biden doesn't do what's being suggested here. Hopefully, he continues campaigning because time is of the essence, and we need to get Trump out of office. All right, we need to take another break. Wow, this show is flying by. When we come back, yes, we are going to talk about the tapes featuring Melania Trump, basically downplaying the viciousness toward migrant children at the border.

We'll be 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 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. And it's also easy to install.

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I'm going to read some super chats and we'll move on to the rest of the news. Hoot USMC Brown says that Pence is more dangerous to society than 45, meaning Trump at this point. That's assuming he has an IQ above the spectrum. I hear you, but the thing that's missing from Pence that really helps Donald Trump out is charisma. I really think that if it were an election between Mike Pence and Joe Biden, Joe Biden would have a good chance at winning, a much better chance at winning, to be honest with you. Vicious C writes in and says, not religious, but I like to think that what happens next is between God and St. Bader Ginsburg. It's a good comment. Roger Meadow says, well, God don't like ugly and karma can be a B. You know, I'm not saying

these things. I'm just saying what our viewers are saying, okay? And I like that. I like give you some more. And then Francis says, this should be this show, this should show everyone how dangerous this virus is and how contagious that this virus is in fact. I totally agree. Carla says, I just hope this encourages his supporters to take COVID more seriously and to perhaps start questioning the veracity of his many crazy statements. I totally agree.

Ray Riley says, I was introduced to Bend through TYT. I now follow his show on YouTube, amazing insights. And I love that he's become a TYT regular contributor. I agree with all of these statements, especially that last one. So Ben, it's always so good to have you on. And why don't we talk about Melania's tapes next? So Melania Trump was secretly recorded by her former friend and senior advisor in the summer of 2018.

Now this woman, Stephanie Winston Wolkhov later published a book about her relationship. with Melania Trump and ensured that people could listen to their conversations that she's secretly recorded. So I want to be clear that she's not a good guy. There are no winners in this story, only terrible people and losers. And what you're about to hear is Melania Trump in the summer of 2018 discussing Christmas and immigrant children at the border. Watch. They say I'm complicit. I'm the same like him. I support him. I don't say enough. I don't do enough. No. Where I am, I put the, I'm working like a ass, my ass, I know, Christmas stuff that, you know, who gives a fuck about Christmas stuff and decoration, but I need to do it, right? Yeah, but, correct? A hundred percent. You have no choice. And, okay, and then I do it. And I say that I'm working on Christmas, planning for the Christmas. And they said, oh, what about the cheese?

they were separated. Give me a f***ing break. Where they were saying anything when Obama did that? I know. I cannot go. I was trying to get the kid reunited with the mom.

I didn't have a chance. It needs to go through the process and through the law. But here's my thing. Do you hear what you just said? But instead of that, if you just, you're messaging, you were so loved.

They were not do this. story. We put it out. They would not do the story. You would not believe it. They would not do the story because they are not. They would not do the story because they are against us because they're liberal media. Yeah, if I go to Fox, they will do the story. I don't want to go to Fox. personally listening to that was an emotional roller coaster because it started off pretty good actually. It started off with me really agreeing with what she was saying. You know, people love Christmas. I don't take that away from them. But I do think that it's pretty gross that like the first lady always has to do these annoying like, oh, holiday decorations and like the rose garden, you know, is it remodeling? I don't know what you do with a garden, re-landscaping. Like if the first lady wants to do it, cool, but I think it's super annoying that it's just assumed that the first lady is going to like come in and do like the holiday decorations and all the like womanly things. Like I would I would lose my mind if I was supposed to do decorations for any holiday and that was like the role that I had to play. I had no choice. But then she gets into all the gross stuff regarding immigrant children. And I want to debunk what she.

had to say there. But before I do, Ben, why don't you jump in? I, you know, I, you can tell that there was something to Melania in terms of her being able to just be with somebody like Donald Trump. And we can clearly see the type of monster that Donald Trump is, I almost said was, he is a monster. But to hear that second part, because I agree with you, and I hadn't taken that into context about her being forced as a first lady to do that, I agree with you 100%. But the second half really shows the viciousness of her character. Yes. And I remember when she had gone to visit the border and she was wearing that outfit that said, I really don't care, do you? And I was like, I don't, I mean, was that intentional? I don't know why I felt the

need to give her the benefit of the doubt. I just felt like people were too quick to assume that that message was specifically to people who are concerned about migrant children. But now I'm pretty sure that there was some intention there. But nonetheless, even if there wasn't, that's not the heart of the issue here. The heart of the issue is how she wanted to use that visit as nothing more than a photo op. And she's angry that the story that she did specifically for positive PR didn't get picked up by the mainstream media, which to be fair, does like to serve as stenographers and PR agents for people in positions of power. And so apparently she's not a big fan of Fox. She didn't care if Fox

was willing to cover it. But let's also talk about what she had to say about, you know, give me an effing break. Obama did it. Except no, that's not true. And you have to really contextualize what happened under the Obama administration. Not giving him brownie points for his immigration policy. He did deport a lot of people. There's no question about that. But when it comes to separating children from their parents, what's the truth? Did Obama do that? And was it as widespread as what we've experienced under the Trump administration? Under former President Barack Obama, children were separated from parents only when authorities had concerns for their well-being or could not confirm the adult was in fact their legal guardian, but not as a blanket policy as well-

was done under Trump, until a judge forced the administration to stop. So we all remember that the judge was like, what are you doing? You need to reunite these kids. And the administration was so incompetent and so callous and careless that they did not even keep documentation of which parents' children belong to and had a difficult time reuniting these kids with their parents. Okay, that's what happened under Trump. Let me give you more. The U.S. actually held record number of migrant children, immigrant children in detention centers in 2019. That's according to a report by the Associated Press. So there you have it. There's the headline if you want to read that report for yourselves. To give you specific numbers, 69,550 migrant children were held in the U.S. government custody over the past year. So that was in 2019. Enough infants, toddlers, kids and teens to overflow the typical NFL stadium. That's That's more children detained away from their parents than any other country according to United Nations researchers.

And it's happening even though the US government has acknowledged that being held in detention can be traumatic for children, putting them at risk of long-term physical and emotional damage. And by the way, I should note that six, six immigrant kids have died under border patrol custody. Okay, you wanna know how many kids died under border patrol custody during the Obama administration? Zero. Zero kids died. That's relevant when I go to other comments made by Melania. But let's listen to the next tape. A lot of, you know, a lot of like moms and kids, they, they are teach how to do it. They go over and they said like, oh, we will be killed by gang member. We will be, you know, we will be, you know, we will be, you know, we will be. it's so dangerous so they allow to stay here do you understand i do and they're the ones that are the bad ones yeah and they are not you know it's not it's not true that they would you know what i mean

some of them they're using that lines that you know they're they're not professional but they are they're teach by all right people want to say to come over and to you know to to let them go to stay here Ben, reaction? You would think that an immigrant would have compassion for other immigrants? Just like I would think a human would have compassion for other humans, I'm not an immigrant. But when you look at the numbers, you're right, the numbers that you laid out, the number of people who have been taken from their kids taken from their parents, the number that

have died, not to mention the sexual assault that has been reported, you have empathy and compassion, but seeing Melania completely separate herself from people who have immigrant stories much like her own, it's unbelievable. It really is. And we have one more video to share with you, so let's quickly go to that. You understand? I do. So what, so what prompted you to want to buy that check? I'm driving liberalist crazy, that's for sure. And that's, you know, that's what, and they deserve it. You understand? I know. And everybody's like, Oh my God, this is the worst. This is the worst after. I mean, come on. They are crazy, okay?

Yeah, they are crazy. Says the woman who feels that the Trump administration treated these immigrant kids really, really well, so well that six of them have died under the Trump administration. In fact, the report that I mentioned earlier, actually a report by pro-public. says House Democrats are ramping up pressure on the Trump administration to explain how six migrant children died after entering the United States. The six who died in government custody between September of 2018 and May of 2019 were the first such deaths in a decade, in a decade. Melania Trump thinks, oh, no, no, they're lying about fleeing violence in their own countries because they get treated so much better here in the United States. give them a comfortable bed to sleep on. I mean, we all saw what those detention centers

look like, children packed in these cages, sleeping on the ground, covered with those foil blankets. It was absolutely hideous and disgusting. There were stories of migrant children who died surrounded in their own vomit. And this woman has the audacity to say that they're liars. These kids are liars. They're being trained to lie to come to this country because we treat them so well. And by the way, I haven't even gotten to the numbers of migrant adults who died under Border Patrol custody during the Trump administration. These are the realities. These are the facts on the ground. And this woman is diluted enough to think that she's somehow a hero and she's owning the libs by wearing her ugly overpriced designer clothing that makes

no sense at all. Whatever. I mean, I'm glad that she doesn't have any friends. I mean, her Show her friends will secretly record her to put out books and profit off of her nonsense. And that's what she deserves. I'm sure it's driving her crazy. Postgame is next. Benjamin Dixon will join us. Don't miss it. We have breaking news.

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. dot co slash t yt i'm your host jank huger and i'll see you soon