The Young Turks - TYT Hour 1 - November 18th, 2019

Episode Date: November 19, 2019

A new report suggests that Ukrainian President Zelensky did indeed feel pressured by Trump. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian, hosts of The Young Turks, break it down. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Welcome to the Young Turks, Jane Couggar, Anna Casparian with you guys. Look guys, this show is going to be awesome on two counts. One, Jake Hugar, two, Anna Casparian. How about one, Anna Casparian, too, Jake Hugar. How about that, okay? No, seriously, one on Trump being, I'm telling you guys, man, he's like now it's getting super close. You're gonna see in a little bit why the clock ticking has picked

up considerable speed. There's two main reasons why, you'll see, three main reasons why, you'll see it actually throughout the show, okay? The dial of ticking is extra hot, extra fast. Has been turned to hot, okay. So, and then the other thing is the campaigns have turned to hot. Good news, bad news, new leader in Iowa, if you're a progressive, it's not very good news, and it's real, we'll talk about that.

But Joe Bynne with astounding comments, astounding. So there will be fire and fury about that a little bit later in the program too. All right, so a quick programming note, we will be doing a special debate coverage this week. So we're gonna be covering it on November 20th, for obvious reasons, that's when the debate takes place. And you can check us out live at 11 p.m. Eastern time, 8 p.m. Pacific by going to t.y.t.com slash live. John Iderola, Ida Rodriguez, J.R. Jackson, and myself will be doing the debate coverage. And there's also a rally taking place on November 20th in Atlanta at 5 p.m. at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center. So if you want more details on that rally, if you'd like to attend, just go to t.com slash rally.

All right, let's get to some impeachment updates. An exclusive report by the Associated Press indicates that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky did in fact feel pressured by Donald Trump to launch an investigation into Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. Now we know this because two officials who have the details on this story spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, but we also learned some more details about a meeting that took place in early May. in regard to Trump's demands and how Zelensky was feeling about it.

So, in early May, according to the Associated Press, staff at the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, including then-ambassadors Marie Yovanovitch, were briefed on a meeting Zelensky held in which he sought advice on how to navigate the difficult position he was in. He was concerned that Trump and associates were pressing him to take action that could affect the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Officials said in their notes circulated internally at the State Department that Zelensky tried to mask the real purpose of the May 7th meeting, which was to talk about political problems with the White House by saying it was about energy.

So he's feeling pressured by Trump, he wants to talk to U.S. officials about it, but he also doesn't want any information to leak. So he made it appear as though this meeting was just about energy, when in reality it was about the best way to move forward in navigating. these demands by Donald Trump. Okay, so there goes another Republican talking point. He was not pressured. He wasn't pressured.

Well, it turns out the State Department was briefed three times on how much Zelensky felt pressured. Now, look, guys, you know diplomacy, and here you don't have to be a political expert to know it. So when you've got people in public that are state leaders, they're loathe to criticize one another in front of the cameras. And you do diplomacy behind the scenes, and you tell folks, well, this is what I really think, this is my point about negotiation.

or talks or agreements, et cetera, right, everybody knows that. So we're gonna go to show you what the Republicans have been relying on, which is Trump talking to Zelensky. So in my opinion, this is basically a hostage video. I wanna show it to you, and then we wanna, I wanna tell you why it's one of the most ironic things you'll ever see. Let's watch. Have you felt any pressure from President Trump to investigate Joe Biden and Hunter Biden?

I think you read everything. So I think you read text. I'm sorry, but I don't want to be involved to democratic open elections. Elections of USA. No, you heard that we had, I think, good phone call. It was normal. We spoke about many things, and I, so I think, and you read it that nobody pushed me, yes.

In other words, no pressure. Mr. President, Trump, because you know what, there was no pressure. And you know there was, and by the way, you know there was no pressure. All you have to do is see it, what went on on the call. But you know that, but you could ask the question, and I appreciate the answer. Okay, so he said, you read everything. Please don't ask me, I don't want to answer this question. I don't want to be involved in American Democratic elections.

In other words, please don't ask me, this in itself is pressure. So here comes irony. Trump's like looking down the barrel at him, right? And all the international cameras are there and they're like, say there was no pressure, say there was no pressure. He's like, I don't want to be involved, I don't want to be involved, okay, fine, there was no push. Right, right.

Come on, that itself is pressure. And you also have to keep in mind that not only, is he being asked this question in front of Donald Trump. You have to think about the power dynamics there, because Donald Trump has an enormous amount of power over Zelensky, especially when it comes to something that Zelensky desperately needs in order to fend off Russian aggression, and that's the military aid, right? So that's the reason why he's in this difficult position. On one hand, he certainly doesn't want to be involved in U.S. domestic politics, but on the other

He doesn't want to say what really happened with Trump behind the scenes, because if he does, he really does jeopardize future aid from the United States. And one other thing I wanted to note, in previous reporting, it was abundantly clear that Donald Trump was pushing for investigations into the Bidens, even before Zelensky was voted in as the president of Ukraine. So he was trying to get the previous Ukrainian president to launch an investigation into the Bidens. And apparently the impeachment inquiry is going to show the documents that clearly indicate

that Zelensky felt pressured. So there goes another talking point, gone. So look guys, crystal clear, the polling indicates you already think it's crystal clear. Everybody knows the call was wrong, the pressure was wrong, and what the president did was wrong. The majority of country thinks he should be impeached or removed from office, and then another 20% think, well, I I don't know about impeached, but that guy definitely did it, because we all have eyes. So he's like, I withhold the $391 million. And I tell you to investigate the Bidens, pretending to care about Ukrainian corruption.

Nobody thinks he cared about Ukrainian corruption. Not even any mager guys. No one believes that. And then you find out Zelensky did feel pressured. You found out that he did know before the call that the aid was being held. It's over. You've got all these diplomats coming out and saying, yes, it was inappropriate. Yes, it was political.

Yes, it was personal. No, it wasn't part of normal diplomacy or in America's national interest. He did it, he did it, he did it. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. And I just want to quickly talk about what those poll results indicate because ABC recently conducted a poll with Ipsos, and they found that, yes, the majority of Americans do find Donald Trump's behavior inappropriate. So an overwhelming 70% of Americans think Trump's request to afford.

foreign leader to investigate his political rival was wrong. 51% believe Trump's actions were both wrong and that he should be impeached and removed from office. And then one in four Americans, 25% think that Trump did nothing wrong. So we've got a core breach, guys. I've told you this a hundred times. Every poll shows that when Trump hits rock bottom, 28% still hold on. No matter what he did, they're very fine people on the Nazi side.

Nope, you can't break through that 28%. We got a core breach. We're past 28%. 25% say, I don't see it. My eyes don't work. My ears don't work. I don't see it. But we're past the 28%.

70% say, no, he did it. It's obvious he did it. He did it. And then 51, guys, you're not getting the rest of the media, the Democratic Party is not getting the importance of this number. 51% of Americans already, one week in, say he should be impeached. and removed from office. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.

He just lost two out of three seats that he tried really hard for in the South in governor's races. He's losing in the South. He's losing in the South. And another 19% say that, well, look, maybe he should be impeached but not convicted. Or, you know, yeah, it was definitely wrong, but I don't think he should be impeached or convicted. It's just generically wrong, right? You add those together, you get the 70%.

This is good night, Irene territory. I said this from day one, and you saw it with your own eyes. Last time around, they greatly underestimated it. And so why did I not underestimate him, partly because of the populism, but partly because I have eyes that could read poll numbers. And he was winning every poll on the Republican side, and everybody said, no, he's not gonna win, he's not gonna win, I'm like, no, you guys are wrong. You just think you don't like him, but the Republican voters love him.

He is gonna win the Republican primary, and then later I thought he had a very good chance, as you all know, of winning the election. This time around, they're overestimating him. 51% of the country says, kick his ass out already. What are you waiting for? I don't know if Democrats can do math. And look, to be fair, Democrats, they are proceeding with impeachment, and obviously he's, Trump's getting mauled.

So let's focus on the media. But also, but the reason I mentioned the Democrats is because of the Democratic panic, right? Trump, he could beat people, he could beat anybody. No, he can't, he couldn't beat his own aunt. He can't beat anybody. Look, I think, I think that those fears are disingenuous. And the reason why I say that is because the only thing that the Biden camp can latch onto is this notion that he's the only one that can beat Trump.

He's the most electable. So I don't even think they're even buying that. Exactly. Last time around they were like, no, he can't win because Hillary Clinton is their anointed one. This time around they're like, he can win, so you got to vote for Joe Biden. Right, preposterous. Look, there's so many candidates that I don't agree with on the Democratic side, and I don't

think are compelling candidates at all. And I don't mean to pick on Klobuchar, and she's proving me wrong by staying in the race longer than I expect to so credit to Klobuchar. But even with what I think is not her strengths, right? She'd beat Donald Trump with a stick. She'd beat him really, really easily. Bernie Sanders would beat him really easily. Julian Castro would beat him really easily.

There isn't anybody, Andrew Yang would close. So I can go on and on. The guy is the most unpopular president we've ever had. Say it, say it, it's in the numbers, it's super obvious, but they're afraid to say it. All right, well, let's move on to some more news. Donald Trump has started a fight with one of Vice President Mike Pence's top aides, and he's even engaged in some drama with his own Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, which means We're in for another episode of As the White House Churns.

Made some very big mistakes. I asked for his resignation. I'm disappointed in the Attorney General. So the impeachment investigation is not looking good for Donald Trump. And rather than take some personal responsibility for his inappropriate and unlawful behavior, he's decided that he's going to lash out at people who surround him, including one of the top aides for Vice President Mike Pence. Now, this is an aide who did actually comply with congressional subpoenas and did testify against

Donald Trump in the impeachment investigation. Her name is Jennifer Williams, and her testimony was not something that Donald Trump was in favor of, and he decided to lash out against her by saying the following via Twitter. Tell Jennifer Williams, whoever that is, to read both transcripts of the presidential calls and see the just released statement from Ukraine, then she should meet with the other never trumpers who I don't know and mostly never even heard of and work out a better presidential attack. Now of course, this is an individual who not only works for the State Department, but who has

served as a special advisor to Mike Pence when it comes to Russia and Europe. And here's what she said that does not make Trump happy. She began working for the State Department during the George Bush administration, serves as Pence's special advisor for Europe and Asia. She told House Invest, I'm sorry, Europe and Russia. She told House investigators that she took notes while listening to the July 25th call from the White House Situation Room, and she believed that Trump's request to Ukraine was politically motivated.

Here's a direct quote. She said, I believe I found the specific mentions to be more specific. to the president in nature to his personal agenda as opposed to a broad foreign policy objective of the United States. I guess for me, it sheds some light on possible other motivations behind a security assistance hold. So she's specifically talking about the investigation that Trump asked for into the Bidens and the fact that he held up military aid to Ukraine.

Now again, Trump just keeps going after people who testify against him as never Trumpers, even though they worked for his administration. Okay, two things on this. First of all, on her saying it was not diplomatic, it was political and personal, more. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, no. Everyone in the government other than Donald Trump is saying anyone who heard it, anyone that was any at any of the meetings in regards to Ukraine is saying, nope, political, personal, not diplomacy, not U.S. national security interests.

So, he's over, okay, everyone is testifying against him because it's true, it's obviously it overwhelmingly true that he was doing it for his own political gain. The second part is, hey, you knucklehead, if you don't know who she is, ask someone, okay? Is it whoever she is, I don't know who she is? Then why don't you ask before you tweet about it, you're the president, you have a thousand staffers. Hey, hey guys, who's Jennifer Williams? I'm about to tweet about her.

Who is she? I know, but I don't think that's what he's trying to do. I mean, look, the reason why he says that is because he's trying to minimize her role within the administration. No, no, no, I know, but I would be shocked if he knew that she was a special advisor to Pence. So that's why you should check. That's why you should do just one minute of homework. Hey, I'm gonna just blast this person that's in my administration.

I'm gonna ask just one person real quick, who the hell she is. And then I can deride her all I want. And once I know she's a special advisor to my vice president, I could say, yeah, I don't like her anyway, screw I don't know, right? You can go in that direction, but you should do your homework first. So if you were in any way a smart person, you would say, okay, I hear you, brother. So I didn't like this testimony. But hey, if I do, if I put out this tweet, it's going to get awkward for me and the vice president

because it seems like I'm attacking someone that was his top advisor or a special advisor in this Arena. Well, he didn't say any of that through. He didn't do any of that homework, because he's an idiot. And so he's like, oh, I don't like her. She's a never trumper. I wonder where she worked. In the Trump administration.

Oh, damn it. Classic Donald Trump. Right, and it's not as if we're a few months into the Trump administration. We're now a few years into the Trump administration. And he is using this tactic when it comes to every single official within his administration. who testifies against him. I mean, he did this when it came to Lieutenant Colonel Vidman. He's done this when it comes to U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, William Taylor.

He did this when it came to George Kent. I mean, the list goes on and on and on. And so how does Vice President Mike Pence feel about this? How is he handling it? Well, it appears that he is a coward and he's spineless, so he's decided to distance himself from his own special advisor. Of course. Pence's office called her a state department employee, indicating that if she worked as an

advisor to Pence, she's being moved back to the state department, or she's no longer welcome in his office, it's unclear. And recently, Jeremy Diamond, who is a White House correspondent for CNN, said the following. Clearly there, an attempt by the vice president's office to distance themselves from this official, who is technically a state department employee, but is currently detailed to the vice president's office, like so many other State Department officials who are detailed to the White House as foreign policy advisors. So look, guys, if she wasn't an important advisor to Mike Pence, she wouldn't have been

on the call. The whole reason for her being on that now infamous July 25th call is because Mike Pence's office needed their special advisor on this issue on the call so that he could be read in on it, right? So that's like Trump bullying me and I take one of the top folks at the young Turks and I throw them under the bus because I'm feeling pressured, right? Look, you could do that if you're a coward. So I mean, I get it, it's obviously a different situation because I'm opposed to Trump

and Pence's job is to kiss Trump's ass. We know that, right? But that's a pretty sad job to have. I mean, all of these Republicans, the one thing Anna and I have said, Many times on the show is only silver lining in the Trump era is the debasement of the other Republicans. Absolutely. All these, especially all these, you know, warhawks who are getting called out by Trump.

It's pretty incredible. But there is one other person who is being targeted by Trump, and that's Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State. Now what did Mike Pompeo do wrong? He hired the wrong people, according to Trump. So Trump has fumed for weeks that Pompeo was responsible for hiring State Department officials whose congressional testimony threatens to bring down his presidency. He confronted Pompeo about the officials and what he believed was a lackluster effort

by the Secretary of State to block their testimony during lunch at the White House on October 29th. So look, it doesn't matter, and this should be a warning to Pence, it doesn't matter how loyal they are to Trump, it doesn't matter what they do for him. Trump will perceive anything as a slight on him or something that was done intentionally against him, even if they've done everything he's wanted. How is, first of all, how is Pompeo, someone who I have no respect for, gonna know that Donald Trump is going to push for an investigation into his political rival, soliciting

the help from foreign leaders, by the way? And that members of the administration who he hired himself are going to end up complying with subpoenas against the president to testify against the president. I mean, how is he supposed to know? I mean, I'm not trying to give Pompeo a lot of credit, but my point is when you're obsessed with power and you think you can outplay Trump, just understand that he has no loyalty to anyone. So he will blame anyone around him for his own wrongdoing. Okay, so, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.

It's crazy. Okay, look, man, you throw Pompeo under our bus, and for many different reasons, that bus is gonna tip over. So you're nuts dog going after Pompeo, but again, he has no strategy whatsoever. So let me break this down for you. He has publicly gone after Pompeo. He once said the other problem is, hey, everyone makes mistakes, Mike Pompeo, everybody makes mistakes. reference to hiring Bill Taylor, the acting ambassador to Ukraine. And so, and then he said, and if you didn't notice, this is how politics works, and this

is a heavy blow to Pompeo. When they got Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, they didn't tell Pompeo about it. And he wasn't included in the picture, and he wasn't included in any of it. So that's the kind of thing that politicians live for, like being in the room when we got bin Laden or al-Baghdadi, right? And they left Pompeo out of it because Trump was mad that he didn't staff the State Department with all corrupt people in favor of Trump. Delicious.

Oh, so that's gotta sting. Pompeo is thinking of running for that open Kansas Senate seat. So man, that hurt. And so official says, quote, Pompeo feels under siege, so it's 100% real. Here's another official. He feels like he's getting a bunch of blame for the president from the president, the White for having hired all these people who are turning against Trump. Okay, so now, here's another fun fact.

They go to have lunch at some point, and Trump's yelling at Pompeo. Why do you have State Department officials following the law? Remember, I told you to break the law. Why will they listen? Why are they listening to law? I'm paraphrasing, by the way. Okay, no, but in all seriousness, Trump's yelling at Pompeo because his people aren't loyal enough to him, right? And Pompeo tries to explain, there's 75,000 people who work in the State Department.

In essence, what Pompeo is saying, did you want me to fire all of them and then just hire complete Trump lackeys, whether they would follow the law or not follow the law, just pledge allegiance to you and not the country? And how quickly was I supposed to fire 75,000 people? And how quickly was I supposed to find 75,000 people who would be willing to break the law for you? Right now, of course, he doesn't say it in those terms, but he does trying to point out how big the state department. department is, et cetera. Trump, of course, doesn't know any of that. The only organization he's ever run is a Trump organization, which honestly is like three to

six people. Do you know how small it is? It's nothing, right? And so that's part of the reason why he constantly goes bankrupt. Okay, but so Pompeo's trying to explain it to him like he's a child, but he's not going to understand it. He doesn't give a damn, he's like, no, they betrayed me by telling the truth that I violated the law.

I'm curious of Pompeo. So look, it's only a matter of time. And there's no allies left after Pompeo. After Pompeo, there's nothing left. And if Pompeo goes to run for that Kansas Senate seat and he just got thrown under the bus, what's he gonna do? He's gonna go to his Republican colleagues in the Senate and say, guys, there's no hope. He's gonna come after all of us.

I mean, Jesus Christ, Jeff Sessions was one thing, and you thought he couldn't get worse than that, the most conservative guy in the Senate. Now, after all that I was loyal to him, after how incredibly right wing I am, he threw me under the bus. What do you think he's gonna do to you guys? Good night, Irene. You know, if he gets rid of Pompeo, they're gonna convict him, okay? So you think, oh, no, no, no, no, the Republicans in the Senate will never break, well,

they'll never break. No, no, of course they will. So not because they're good guys, anyone who thinks that is an idiot and doesn't know anything about politics or they found courage no no no way oh they realized country over party ha ha ha ha no way no it's the goddamn poll numbers when they think they're gonna lose their own seats and pompeo comes and goes yeah first of all he lost all the governor's races he has no leverage left right he has no political capital and he'll come for all of you guys they're gonna throw the last guy under the bus is gonna be donald j trump tick tick tick tick tick tick tick

Pompeo's not out yet, maybe Trump can reel it back in, because he's not, but he's not really that guy. Yeah. He gets rid of Pompeo and Pompeo's pissed, it's over. I guarantee it's over. He has no allies left. You can't win, even in a Republican Senate, if you have no Republican allies, let alone Democrats. Well, Trump does have some Republican allies in Congress and Representative Steve Scalise is

one of them. When we come back from the break, we're going to show you his disaster. master's interview over the weekend with Chris Wallace. And then, of course, talk a little bit about Trump's attacks against Wallace when we return. We need to talk about a relatively new show called Un-F-The-Republic or UNFTR. As a Young Turks fan, you already know that the government, the media, and corporations are constantly peddling lies that serve the interests of the rich and powerful. But now there's a podcast dedicated to unraveling those lies, debunking the conventional wisdom.

In each episode of Un-B-The-Republic, or UNFTR, the host delves into a different historical episode or topic that's generally misunderstood or purposely obfuscated by the so-called powers that be. Featuring in-depth research, razor-sharp commentary, and just the right amount of vulgarity, the UNFTR podcast takes a sledgehammer to what you thought you knew about some of the nation's most sacred historical cows. But don't just take my word for it. The New York Times described UNFTR as consistently compelling and educational, aiming to challenge conventional wisdom and upend the historical narratives that were taught in school. For as the great philosopher Yoda once put it, You must unlearn what you have learned. And that's true whether you're in Jedi training or you're uprooting and exposing all the propaganda and disinformation

you've been fed over the course of your lifetime. So search for UNFDR in your podcast app today. and get ready to get informed, angered, and entertained, all at the same time. All right, back into Young Turks. I'm going to reverse order to get to our members last year for a change. Patty Pepper's in YouTube Super Chat says, hashtag, I still believe Dr. Ford. Back to attacking Dr. Blasey Ford. Because she won an award.

The ACLU gave her a courage award. And so they're going after her. And Charlie Kirk is one of the guys who's doing it. He's trash. Absolutely trash. Yeah. All right, Matthew Kaczynski on Twitter with a fantastic question. This is the kind of thing that you should do in a YouTube super chat AMA with us.

We do that every once in a while. Anyway, my question is for Jenkin Anna. Also anyone else who wants to answer, if a deal was made that Trump would be removed but not prosecuted, would you take that deal? You know what, let's say before the post game. I'm sorry to do this to you, but because I want to take some time with it and we got a lot of things to go through, if you don't mind, t-y-t.com slash join, okay, you get the last half hour of the Young-Turts member.

In fact, Amanda A.F writes in, waiting on membership for a highly sought Christmas present, but I may cave and member up before the debate Wednesday. Okay, do it, do it, do it, t.yt.com slash join, because every day we give you special stuff for the members. So it's a great, Matthew, I hate to do this, but it's a great question, let's take some time in the last half hour of the Young Turks to answer that for you. I have an answer, by the way. Now, let me go to some, the most rando comments ever in the member section.

Gianna with, that doll has turned as hot as Jane with a perfect, pierced nipple and in skinny jeans. Why is this a thing now? I don't know. Why is this like a meme or a talking point or whatever this is? I just wish it would stop. You wish you would stop. It's super inappropriate.

Okay, now they get to you, Naomi Ridley. These are our own members. Says, one day I will smoke a bowl with Anna. Yes. Say, speaking it into existence now. Okay, there you go. That's the secret. That'd be fun.

Bernie Picard 42. I had an idea over the weekend, TYT lingerie. What? Okay. I don't know what is going on. No, there are normal clothes at shopt.com. Normal clothes. Normal clothes.

Whatever that is. Anyway, I don't know what you guys are on. I think I like it, but I'm not sure. And now, Brianna with a really nice comment, and then a challenge to me is what will end on. Brianna says, nothing realized my fire like TYT. I just signed up for a third job and I'm looking for a fourth. Wow.

When I felt my fight leaving me, sure enough, as soon as I hear the TYT theme music, my fight comes back and I need that as a ring tone. Yes, I love that. Last one is big Doc D. Nice coming for me, saying, I would love to debate Jenk on his stance on the merit of capitalism. I would literally take his lunch and give it to the poor. Ooh, I'd like to see that. And he says, just read chapter 14.

War is the health of the state of a people's history of the United States to start, set to parameters. I'm coming for you, bro, I love you, but you're one million percent wrong. Okay, I love that you disagree, man. We do the show together. And I had the, if you're a member, you can get adjut prop where I had a two hour debate with Hassan Piker, one of our other hosts, on the merits of capitalism versus socialism, basically. So check that out, t.yt.com slash join.

But look, let's keep talking. I think it's just words if you ask me. But again, I had a two hour debate on it, please check that out. And I love you guys for participating. And even when you disagree, all right. All right, a few announcements. First of all, lots of exciting things happening this week. On Thursday, November 21st, I will be with Ramesh Sirinivasan at Skylight Books in Los

Feliz, California. Oh, look at that head. Okay. No, look at that. Alright. Okay, sorry, I just did not expect that headshot. Doesn't it look good? Okay, Cassie Hanks.

She's amazing, she put that together. So he has a new book coming out called Beyond the Valley. Actually, it's already out and it's a great book. I will be interviewing him and talking about the book with him at this event. Again, it's on November 21st, 7.30 p.m. at Skylight Books in Los Feliz, Los Angeles. Also, we have a Thanksgiving special. Look, we're people too. Okay, we're gonna take a little bit of time off during the Thanksgiving break, but we have some special programming that we're gonna have pre-taped for you.

So in lieu of the live show next Thursday and Friday during Thanksgiving, for our members specifically, we put together some extra special content, which will be available by Thanksgiving morning on TYT.com under special coverage. So you can sign up to become a member by going to TYT.com slash join. All right, love it. Let's do it. Okay, so. Republican lawmakers like Steve Scalise are scrambling to defend Donald Trump in the impeachment.

impeachment investigation. And recently, Scalise was interviewed by Chris Wallace, who has been pretty principled in the coverage of the impeachment investigation. Scalise doesn't like that, and nor does Donald Trump. Take a look. Congressman Scalise, if Gordon Sondland, who met with the president a half dozen times this summer, testifies on Wednesday, yep, the president said to me, we're not releasing the aid until they announced they're going to investigate the Biden's in Burisma, doesn't that blow a hole in the President's defense? Well, the President's defense is that those things didn't happen.

And it's not just the President's word. President Zelensky himself said that the aid wasn't conditioned and there was no pressure. First of all, a dozen people listened in on the phone call, and a number of them were immediately upset because what the President said about Burisma. Well, those were shifts witnesses. But wait a minute, no, sir, they're career foreign service officers. And these are people who worked in the Trump administration. Shiff's witnesses.

There are other witnesses. You had a woman yesterday. You had a woman, sir, you had a woman yesterday who was on Vice President Pence's staff. She said it was inappropriate. It's incredible to me that Republicans will still agree to go on national television to defend Trump when interviews end up disastrous for them. I mean, they can't defend Donald Trump on the substance because there's so much evidence against

And Wallace is absolutely right, Jank. I mean, he pointed to the various Trump administration officials who have already complied with subpoenas, who have already testified against him. And just today, the Associated Press had an exclusive in regard to a meeting that Zelensky had in early May where he was communicating to U.S. officials that he's concerned about what Trump is asking him to do. He doesn't know how to proceed because he doesn't want to meddle in U.S. elections. No, it's over.

Chris Wallace, journalist. Nice job, Chris. He's doing a good job with this. No, no, no, no, it's over. No, I'm not relaxing. It's over. And look, here's the thing. So do I disagree with Chris Wallace often?

Yes. And you'll find an oclips of me disagreeing with him and getting furious at his point of view and the way that he's gone after other people. But look, it appears that Chris Wallace is a principled journalist. I don't know that he'll admit that he has a conservative perspective. I think he does, but there's nothing wrong with that. As long as you're an actual journalist and you're willing to call out Democrats and Republicans. And Wallace has proven it now one too many times to take that away from him.

Look, it matters most when things are on the line and you're getting a ton of pressure from your own side. Do you hold, do you hold the line or do you buckle? And Wallace did not buckle. He has been aggressive in questioning Republican after Republican with correct questions. From now on, free reign to question, look, if you do it one-sided, and all you do is blast Democrats and then you play patty cakes with Republicans, you're not a real journalist, okay? So Wallace, on the other hand, has now proven his medal. So he wants to blast Democrats, he's earned it, okay?

He's a tough journalist to both sides. I can't commend him enough. And so in this case, obviously correct. But you know what? It's still really hard being obviously correct on Fox News. And it's actually very important because he's breaking through that bubble. I think part of the reason that now 70% of Americans say, yeah, what Trump did was clearly wrong is you've got people like Wallace and Napolitano saying, sorry, guys, it's obviously

unconstitutional, or at least Napolitano's saying that, and Wallace is asking questions that Republicans just simply cannot answer. Exactly. He's hitting them with follow-up questions that they need to, you know, answer to. And they haven't really been, they've been treated with kid gloves by the media for so long that they're almost blindsided by it. And another good example of that is this next clip featuring Wallace and Scalise. Let's talk in reality. Why don't we look at the three witnesses who actually did testify this week? All three of them were asked by whether it was John Ratcliffe or whether it was Chris Stewart, all three of them were asked, did you see any impeachable offenses?

Did you see any bribery? Any of that? Not one of those things were mentioned. Not one person said he saw a crime committed. Sir, with all due respect, with all due respect, that very badly mischaracterizes what they said, they were asked, William Taylor, for instance, the acting ambassador in Ukraine was asked whether or not these were impeachable offenses. He said, I'm there as a fact witness. I'm not there to pass judgment. But he made it clear what he thought about what the president was doing. So again, Wallace is 100% correct.

If anyone pays close attention to what the testimony was, and if you watch it, it's abundantly clear that they have all this damning testimony against him, but they don't want this to be political on their end. They just want to give the House, all of the details, everything they know, but it's not up to them to determine whether or not it's an impeachable defense or impeachable act. That's up to members of Congress to decide. So one last thing from the poll that we talked about earlier in the show, 70% of Americans said that what Trump did was clearly wrong. 51% say that he should be impeached and removed from office.

But another amazing fact is only 17% of Americans were surprised by Trump's actions tied to Ukraine. You know what that means? That means even the Republicans are like, well, I'm not surprised he did it. So look, even the Fox firewall to protect Trump, it's got holes in it. It's a big, beautiful wall, but it's got a door, okay? The door is called wallace, okay? No, seriously, seriously guys, it's not working, man. Even the Fox News audience, even the right wingers are going, I'm not surprised the guys

corrupt and ask for a personal political favor. Even some of those guys are like, I don't mind, I don't mind that he did that, but I'm not surprised. Yep, all right, we're gonna take a break. When we come back, we're gonna switch gears, move off of Trump for a second, and talk about some of the ridiculous comments that Obama made about the Democratic primaries. Come right back. At TYT, we frequently talk about all the ways that big tech companies are taking control

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If you want to get the whole show and more exclusive content while supporting independent media, become a member at t-y-t.com slash join today. In the meantime, enjoy this free segment. All right, back on the Young Turks. Sanders Warren Dream Team writes in. Okay, hey, TYT, I love that you guys are taking a break because we all need it. But the fact that you think of us, members, that you think of us, members by pre-tapping content really makes me appreciate you more. If we members don't say it enough, here's one more time, thank you, you keep me and most of us saying, thank you.

That's wonderful of you. In fact, the Thanksgiving show is a lot about you guys, so don't miss that. And t.y.com slash joining if you want to be a member, this is how we do independent media. home of progressives. Proletariat rising says, TYT is my favorite cooking companion. Okay, we're glad to be part of your meal, if you will. Marijuana's mine, but thank you. Okay, everybody's got their own, you know, issues. And upside, so we'll get to Biden in a second. Issues. No, no, no issues at all. Jim, with a C, writes in, Jank Wallace, Jank Wallace is principled with this impeachment. He's not a principal person on a regular basis,

So don't inflate that virtue. It's like saying Bush was a great president comparing him to Trump, not. No, I don't agree. So yes, for the people going around saying Bush is a great president, you're nuts. No, he was terrible, terrible. And if Trump wasn't a danger to democracy itself, Bush would be worse. So, no, I'm not in that camp, right? But Wallace is principled in being a really tough interviewer of Democrats and Republicans in times good.

bad, in my opinion, that is principled, okay? So, but we do allow disagreement. So anyway, thank you for writing and thank you for being a member, Anna. All right, one final part of that Wallace slash Scalese story that I wanted to share with you. So, Representative Steve Scalise had a disastrous interview with Chris Wallace on Fox. Scalise, of course, was trying to defend Trump and he failed miserably. And so now Trump is salty about it.

he's decided that he's going to attack Chris Wallace again. And so via Twitter, he wrote, Steve Scalise blew the nasty and obnoxious Chris Wallace will never be his father, Mike, away on Chris's lowest rated, unless I'm on morning show. Jesus Christ. This kind of dumb and unfair interview would never have happened in the Fox News past. Great job, Steve. Now, in reality, Steve suffered miserably because there's no way to defend Donald Trump. Trump on the substance of the impeachment investigation.

He's guilty, and it's based on testimony from numerous Trump administration officials. Yeah, that entire tweet was projection 101. I'm the best. Yeah, no, and narcissism. They should teach psychological courses on that tweet alone. So we'll never be his father, Mike. In other words, I'll never be my dad, my dad, as bad a guy as he was, was smart and a good businessman. And that's just been gnawn at Trump his whole life.

All of his insecurity is around that. And so then he goes on to say, it's dumb and unfair. Who do I know who's dumb and unfair? That'd be Donald Trump. Okay. And then he just can't help himself. It's low rated. Not, hey, am I guilty or not guilty?

Did he do a good job of defending me on the impeachment? I don't care about that. What's the ratings? What are my ratings? Where's the spotlight? Oh, me, me, me, me, me, me. are your bad ratings, so I win because you have bad ratings. Unless I'm on, I'm the best, right?

So pathetic. I mean, how do people like this guy? Look, Muhammad Ali, when he would talk about how he's the greatest of all time, he winked. He nodded. He was having fun. He was being playful. There was irony to it. You were supposed to play along with him.

But if Muhammad Ali was actually like, no, I'm the greatest of all time, people wouldn't have liked them, right? So, but this guy does it with no humor, no irony, no nothing. So look, you keep attacking Fox News, your last bastion of defense, right? Have at it, Ha' at it, Haas. And now the Fox News hosts are starting to split into two different categories. Now you got people brazenly, Napolitano, Wallace, even, who's the guy I can't stand on Fox business? Caputo, right?

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. No, not him. Cavuto. Kudo does not sound right. I know, no, no. Anyway, Neil Cabuto.

And so all those guys are now openly like, nope, nope, not buying it, he's wrong, okay? So there goes his fox firewall, not completely obviously, still most of Fox is in his favor. But you just can't burn down this many people and have no allies left and hope to survive. He has no strategy whatsoever, and he has no off button on nuclear. So any slight to Donald Trump, his skin is so thin that boom blast off. And he has the biggest button, so. Yeah, I have a big button much bigger than Kim Jong-un. Of course, he said that before he literally said that he fell in love with the North Korean

dictator. Fell in love with him. All right, if you support this guy, I don't think I can help you. All right, well, let's switch gears a little bit because Obama's in the news and he has some thoughts about the Democratic primary. Obama warned of the Democratic Party moving too far to the left during a speech before wealthy liberal donors. Now this was at the annual meeting of the Democracy Alliance, and I want to give you the statements

he made. Now first, the New York Times reported that Obama raised concerns about some of the liberal ideas being promoted by some candidates, I wonder who, citing health care and immigrant. as issues where the proposals may have gone further than public opinion. So he was quoted as saying, even as we push the envelope and we are bold in our vision, we also have to be rooted in reality. The average American doesn't think we have to completely tear down the system and remake it. Also, Obama urged the party's candidates not to push too far as he urged them to adopt

a message that would allow them to compete in all corners of the country. And in that regard, he said, I don't think we should be diluted into thinking that the resistance to certain approaches to things is simply because voters haven't heard a bold enough proposal. And if they hear something as bold as possible, then immediately that's going to activate them. That's the thing he's most wrong about it. He is absolutely wrong about that. And look, I want to give you the response to Bernie Sanders before we open it up. Let's take a look. Maybe what President Obama was suggesting is that Democrats might be going too much to the left in order to win the general election against President Trump.

What do you think? I don't think so. I honestly don't. I think the issues that we are talking about are in fact supported by the vast majority of the American people. You go out and you ask people, you ask people, should we make public college? and universities tuition free. Should we cancel all student debt in this country by imposing attacks on Wall Street? And I think the answer you're getting here is in fact the answer you're getting all over the country.

I mean, Bernie Sanders is one of the frontrunners, and that's not an accident. The discussion about Medicare for All is part of the national discourse because of the fact that Bernie Sanders has pushed for it, and it's a popular proposal. So, guys, did you notice what happened? That was the California Democratic Convention. They booed what Obama said. So a lot of Democratic Party officials think you're not allowed to criticize Barack Obama. It's just not allowed.

Or it's really bad politics, right? So they'd like to play these silly political games. Did it look like bad politics there? So for them, it doesn't matter how you criticize Obama. And this has been true from the first day that Obama stepped into office, right? And we said, no, it does matter. If you're criticizing it from the right for absurd things like holding a cup of coffee while saluting, wearing the wrong color suit, we're putting mustard on his burger, then you're an idiot, right?

He's faced a million unfair criticisms. Now, but if you criticize him from the left and you're right, well, that's obviously a totally different ballgame. So I'm going to get back. And to be fair to Obama, he said things that are also helpful. He said, and it's not being focused on. He said, look, I don't mind robust primary. So everybody's saying, hey, everybody's got to get out of the race. I don't think they're right.

Remember, I had a robust primary, and then I won. So that's 100% true. And you should focus on that too. I'm going to get back to some of Obama's comments in a second. But I don't want to leave this topic until I say one more thing about what you just saw there. I was also the California Democratic Convention. I wasn't at that particular event. But what I saw with my own eyes is totally confirmed by that tape.

The floor of the convention, those are like core Democratic voters and activists, not politicians, voters and activists, okay? They love Bernie. When I was there, it was at least 80% Bernie. I didn't see a single Kamala Harris supporter. I didn't see a single Joe Biden supporter. And as much as I've famously like Elizabeth Warren and support in other ways, I endorse Bernie Sanders, though I think he's more progressive, et cetera.

We've been through that. But I didn't see a lot of Elizabeth Warren supporters. I saw Walde Wal-Wall Bernie. Yep. That's California, and it votes on March 3rd. Wal-to-Wal Bernie. There's some chance. Look, in Iowa, 62% of voters say they haven't really made up their mind yet.

They haven't made up their mind yet. There's some chance that Bernie is gonna have an uprising like no one's seen before. And it's gonna absolutely shock the establishment. Well, from your mouth to God's ears, not that I believe in God, but still. Still, okay? But one thing that I did want to point out since you mentioned Warren is that her response to Obama was very different from what we saw from Bernie. So we have one more Bernie video, but before we get to that, here's what Warren said.

So reporters approached her and she said, quote, I so admire what President Obama did. He's the one who led the way on healthcare and got healthcare coverage for tens of millions of Americans when nobody thought that was possible. Those are huge changes in this country and they have made a difference for millions of people and I will always be grateful, not buying it. So look, that is true, but it really requires a second half. Yes. And if you don't give the second half, then it's missing important context.

And whether you agree with Bernie or not, you have to give him credit for having the courage to say the second half when every political advisor on the planet will tell you, no, do not criticize Obama, you're in a Democratic primary, you must be nuts to do that running for for president. And he had the courage to do it, even if you disagree with him. But I do agree with him for reasons we're about to get to. So I do want to go to one more Sanders clip. This is about the notion of tearing down the system.

Does he agree with Obama that voters don't want that? President Barack Obama just recently, he gave an interview and he said the following. The average American doesn't think that we have to turn down the system and we make it. Is he right? Well, I mean, it depends on what you mean by tear down the system. The agenda that we have is an agenda supported by the vast majority of working people, vast majority of Americans, and certainly a vast majority of Democrats. When I talk about raising the minimum wage to a living wage, I'm not tearing down the system,

we're fighting for justice. When I talk about health care being a human right and ending the embarrassment of America, being the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to every man, woman and child, that's not tearing down the system that is doing what we should have done 30 years ago through Medicare for all. Yes, that's my only response to that, yes. He gets it. So the mainstream media still has Bernie at no chance of winning.

They're so monumentally wrong, he has an excellent chance of winning. Okay, now to Obama. So look, when he says it's tearing down the system, that border is on a Republican talking point. So wait a minute, I thought you all said that you were for single pair. Remember Nancy Pelosi even says she has a poster of single pair buried in her basement. Obama came out a couple of months ago and said he was for Medicare for all. Now he's backtracking to it's tearing down the system?

What system? And if you're talking about money in politics, yeah, then guilty. is charged. I want to tear down that system of bribes from corporations. All progressives want to tear down that system. Bernie wants to tear down that system. If that's a system you're defending, you're not going to get a lot of support in the Democratic Party or anywhere else. So now, look, I hope that Obama's not going in that direction. And then on every major issue, he says, look, we should push past my achievements. Great, I love that he said that, right? But he said, we shouldn't push too far.

All right, what does it mean two part? Like, guys, if you say there's a view that's extreme and does not fit what the all of America believes, okay, then we're having a different conversation. But all these proposals are intensely popular. Everybody wants universal healthcare, everybody wants it. Now others like Buttigieg give lip service to it and say, I'm not really gonna give you universal health care, I'm gonna maintain this current system with a tweak, right? Now Obama now coming out and saying, wow, the tweak sounds pretty good.

No, it doesn't. So if you want to, and look, this current privatized healthcare system is corrupt. And so it costs us way too much money and we die when we don't have insurance. So if you say, hey, don't keep that system intact, no, I don't agree. I don't agree, Sanders doesn't agree, the Democratic voters don't agree. By the way, the whole country doesn't agree according to the polling. So sorry, I don't. And the last part of it is, oh, you know, oh, if we just, he said that the idea is that

voters haven't heard a bold enough proposal and if they hear something as bold as possible, then immediately that's gonna activate them as Anna read to you, right? Yeah, that is true. I think President Obama's wrong about that. So he says, oh well, hey, if we're bold, then people might agree with us. Yes, that's right, people might agree with us if we're bold. But if you whisper your ideas or you're not bold with your ideas, then they'll believe the other side.

So by the way, Obama didn't campaign like that. This is very important distinction. When Obama campaigned, he was a lion. He destroyed Mitt Romney. That coffin ad, I'll never stop talking about it, is one of the best political ads I've ever seen, and he was vicious to Romney in a way that I found to be wonderful, right? But as president, when he was governing, let's reach out, the fever's gonna break, let's do a tea gathering or have beers with them, let's play golf, et cetera.

How'd that work out? Honestly, progressives were right, and the establishment was wrong. So here comes Obama to talk to millionaire donors on the left, telling them basically what Biden said, nothing should fundamentally change. We should just tweak things around the edges. No thanks. One final thing I have to note, what was the line that Obama used when he first ran for president?

Hope and change, hope and change, hope and change. And he's turning around and telling a candidate like Bernie Sanders who's actually genuine in wanting hope and change. No, change is bad. Don't do change, bad. Look, I'm gonna say one other thing. There's also the politics of South Carolina. So they want to, the establishment, I don't know if they talk to him, I don't know what the situation is, or if he's doing it on his own.

But Obama obviously knows political calculation. And I don't mean that in a negative way. That's how we got elected twice. He's good at that, right? The idea the establishment has is if you can get Bernie Sanders or if you can get Bernie Sanders or or any of the other progressives to disagree with Obama, it'll hurt him in South Carolina. So they're kind of trying to goad Bernie into criticizing Obama, because in their mind, ha ha, we got you.

And you know what they're doing? They're underestimating Democratic voters. Now, we'll see how it turns out. But my guess is it's not going to work that way. And so I think Democratic voters are going to make up their own minds. And they're going to see that that guy that up there who just, fought for you on Medicare for all and higher wages and all the things that he's promising has courage.

And so I remember, you know, one guy saying when I was on current TV, that he, I was not there to be honest. It was a friend of mine, and he was talking to this guy and relayed the story to me. He said, oh, he said, what do you watch? He said, I watched MSNBC back then. It was like this was 2013 or so, right? And he said, and he said, oh, wait, wait, there's one guy I like better than MSNBC. Who?

Jenk, he's on current TV, right? It was a very nice story, so flattering to me, I appreciate it, but that's not the point of the story. He said, why? Why do you like Jenk more than MSNBC? He said, because Obama's my guy, but I want him pushed in our direction, not their direction. And that's what Bernie's doing right now.

And that takes courage, and it's the right thing to do. If the other Democrats want to rail against them for that, have at it, but I don't think that's smart politics either. And luckily, the primary is very. around the corner, we're about to find out. Well, the debate with moderates versus progressives rages on when we come back from the break.

Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work, listen to ad-free, access members-only bonus content, and more by subscribing to Apple podcast at apple.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.